2 Weeks Old!

Sweet Noelle turned 2 weeks old on Monday, and we went for her 2 wk checkup yesterday. Ideally, babies are back up to their birth weight at this check-up and Noelle breezed right by that checkpoint, weighing 9 pounds exactly (73rd percentile), 22" long (95th %), head circ of 14.75" (83rd %).
The best news was that her heart murmur was gone. At the hospital, we were told that she had a murmur, that it was really common, that it would go away on its own in a few days, and that we should take her to the pediatrician a few days after we got home to make sure it was gone. Well, we took her, and it wasn't gone so we had to go to Texas Children's Hospital for an echocardiogram, where they found 2 holes in her heart. But the cardiologist still told us not to worry and that they would most likely be closed by her 8 week checkup, and if they weren't, we would plan a new course of action at that time. Well, Miss Noelle showed everyone by healing much faster, and the holes are already gone. And all that "don't worry" talk that was going around?...let's just say it fell on deaf ears and I was extremely worried the whole time. I don't care how 'common' it is...when someone tells you that your 7 day old newborn has 2 holes in her heart, you worry. A lot. And you cry. And you pray. And you say thank you when you're given the news that you really don't have to worry anymore. (And if any of you reading this are mad/sad that we didn't tell you what was going on...take comfort in the fact that we didn't tell anyone. Telling people would have made us worry even more, which wouldn't have helped anything).
Noelle currently eats every 3-4 hours, stays awake for 20-30 minutes at a time, and sleeps the rest of the time. When she's awake, she's very alert and tries so hard to keep her heavy little head up! Her eyes are definitely thinking about staying blue, and several people have commented on the strawberry blonde tint to her hair. And her chubby little cheeks are the cutest things ever.
Delilah is still being very sweet with her. Noelle was crying in the car and I told Delilah it was b/c she was hungry, to which Delilah replied, "she can have my snack, Mommy". She's also lifted up her shirt several times and offered to feed her 'like Mommy does'...it's pretty funny. The hardest thing is convincing Red that when the baby is sleeping, she's already happy so she doesn't need a pacifier shoved in her closed mouth, or super-tight hugs. :)
Chris and I are so in love with our new angel and fight over who gets to hold her...the winner is always promptly declared a 'baby thief' by the loser.
And here are some pics of Noelle's first visitors. As I downloaded them, I realized we completely dropped the ball on taking pictures and, thus, we have no pics of her being held by my brother, my stepbrother, numerous cousins, or dear friends. Oops!!!

Mimi

Pop Pop

Aunt Jenny
Slie & Heather
Ali

Avari

(Kurt & Joie: I know this isn't the best pic of my gorgeous goddaughter, but I had to include it. Noelle is in the middle of spitting up profusely on Avari & this was Avari's look of disgust right before she practically dove off the couch to get away) :)