It's a miracle

So Monday I got a call from the Moran Optical Center saying that Elizabeth's glasses were in and looked perfect. So that afternoon my parents(who ever so graciously helped us pay for the expensive tiny glasses) picked us up and got us some lunch, then we went to pick up her glasses, she fell asleep the 5 or so minutes we were in the car going from Wendy's to the Moran Center, and she stayed asleep until we got to the optical center and I had to wake her up so we could test the glasses on her and I thought for sure she was going to be a huge pill, since she was tired AND having to wear glasses! They carefully put the glasses on her head, and what occurred in the next 20 or so minutes what truly a miracle!! Elizabeth's eye's went wide, and then she smiled and just took in her surroundings, for the first time probably ever that she can remember. She walked over to the glass doors and didn't run into them, but saw through them! Then they had to tweak the glasses fit a bit so they took them back and the moment they left her face she braced herself. They tweaked them just a couple more times, then she was off exploring her whole new world! She went over to one of the many full length mirrors they have there, and saw her reflection for the first time, she smiled so big, waved and said hi, then proceeded to give it a "love"!(I'm getting choked up just thinking about it) She looked at everything with such amazement! She didn't even touch her glasses! What they say takes pretty much all kids her age 2 weeks to 2 months to learn and figure out Elizabeth got in 2 seconds as soon as the glasses were on! That everything was clear and better with the glasses. The lady who was helping us with them was in tears, watching her discover the world she'd been missing out on. She told me a few times that this experience with Elizabeth had made her day, and love her job. Since then Elizabeth has been really good about wearing her glasses, not at all the battle I was anticipating, and I couldn't be happier or more proud of Elizabeth, she truly is a very smart girl! The more I watch her and noticed the littlest of things the more I realize how very much she was missing! She never pushed buttons on her toys before...she couldn't see them, she wouldn't smile back at me...she couldn't see me smiling at her, she used to pick things up with her whole hand sometimes both hands...she couldn't see single objects. She can now get in and out of her new rocking chair she got for Christmas all by herself without any trouble! She points to specific things in her books now that she's never been able to see. Everything is new and amazing to her and it's been such a joy to see the world open up to her! And I just cannot get over how freakin' adorable she is in them!!!!

Glasses

So here's the picture Tony took of Elizabeth with his phone, these were the display frames, and yes it took a dumb dumb in each hand for her to keep them on!! She's so naturally cute that the glasses just make her cuter!!

15 Month check-up and so much more!

So Tuesday I took Elizabeth in for her 15 month wellness check-up, and oh boy was she a little show off!! Which I found kinda odd cause she hasn't been like that in a while! But as soon as her pediatrician came in she pulled out all the stops! She was signing and talking and dancing and singing. Her dr was rather impressed, and pulled out the 18 month chart and she was already doing about half the things on that chart! Her newest thing is trying to dress and feed herself, she's not real good but that doesn't stop her from wanting to do it herself. And she usually only signs around me I haven't been able to get her to show anyone else, granted she really only does it in context now, so she'll only sign milk if she wants some and can't get it herself, same with mommy and daddy, more, all done, and thank you. And her talking is totally mood oriented some days she says lots of words others none at all, so. Now to stats! She weighed in at just over 21 pounds, which was in like the 30% she's 31 and 3/4 inches which is in the 75% and her head circumference is in the 8%(that'll come into play later on) but all in all she a very happy healthy...smart little girl. Her dr did notice her eye seemed worse since she saw it just a couple weeks before, and that she seems very clumsy, so she pulled some strings and got Elizabeth into see the Pediatric Optometrist(theres' a fancy name for it but I can't spell it or pronounce it for that matter!) on Thurs. So we went to yet another part of Primary's to see Dr Larsen, he looked at her eyes and said that her right eye was not actually lazy...yet, but it did look like she was struggling to focus, he then pointed out(without even having to ask us) that Tony was farsighted and I was nearsighted! tony and I looked at each other like wow he's good!! So he dilated her eyes to figure out whether Liz was like mom or dad, after waiting over an hour after dilating her eyes, he looked at them and then put different test lenses in front of her eyes, then said she was very farsighted, and that she was going cross eyed to focus, and though it works to an extent it's obviously not good for her eyes so she'd need glasses. I wanted to cry right then and there! THERE IS NO NO NOOOOOO WAY SHE'S GOING TO KEEP GLASSES ON HER FACE!!!!! I considered super glue but I'm pretty sure that falls into the abuse category;) He then told us that finding glasses small enough to fit her tiny head could be difficult and suggested the Moran Eye Center Optical, so we went over there and talked with their pediatric specialist who tried on 4 or 5 pairs of little glasses that weren't quite little enough, finally they got the smallest pair they had and they fit...mostly, she has a little growing room but they at least stay on her face! They look like they're for a cabbage patch doll!! Then she gave me some great techniques to transition Elizabeth to wearing them, and we'll see soon enough how well they work! Surgery is still not totally out of the equation but put off a bit to see if just the glasses will correct her eyes. So that's where we're at with that! I must admit though she looks absolutely adorable with her tiny glasses on!!! Tony took a picture with his phone we'll try to get posted soon.

Lots of pics!!

So I'm going to update on life tomorrow but for now here's lots of fun pics from our new camera!! Sorry there are so many it's been a while!

Oooo I found mommy's wallet!!

Balancing!

Standing by the front door signing dad..I think she wants Tony home!

Grandma you need your shoes!

Decorating G-ma & G-pa Holbrook's Christmas tree






Seeing Santa


Happy she got a candy cane at least!

Daddy and his little elf!

Loves her doggie!

First time playing in the snow!





This stroller is for me right?

Rings OR bracelets whatever works ;)

I've seen these people before?!



The only picture I have of Thanksgiving right now

Our Canada tree!

Not much really

So I was going to post lots of super cute pictures but we're having technical difficulties with our new memory card. So sorry the wait continues.
Not much has been going on here, we're all decorated for Christmas which I LOVE! Elizabeth's Christmas is all done wrapped and under the tree. YAY!! As is Tony's! But in my defense I have alot more time than he does, the most important thing is that I came in right on budget maybe even a little under! I was soooo proud of myself! A couple weekends ago, we went up to help my parents decorate their big tree, and they in turn so kindly watched Elizabeth for us while Tony went with me to see New Moon. It was actually pretty good, we both enjoyed it. A few days ago Tony experimented and made some peanut butter fudge...it's delicious!! I have to watch myself or I'd down the whole pan in one sitting!
Well I think that's about it until we can figure out what's up with the memory card then you'll be bombarded with tons of cute pictures!!

Life goes on great and good!

Well it's been a while, but I survived the worst week of my life! I was fortunate to be able to miscarry naturally at home, and everything seems to have gone smoothly and is over now. I thank everyone so much for their love, concern and support through this difficult time, it meant so very much to me. I'm really ok with it now that it's done and gone. I promised my Father in Heaven in a talk I gave in January that I would put my complete trust and faith in Him and HIS plan for me no matter what, and I can now see so very clearly why He inspired that talk for me! I don't know why He's chosen this path for me but I'm gripping His hand tightly with both of mine, and will "go where He wants me to go". I know He loves me and is leading me to the women He needs and knows I can be. I'm truly doing good because I have the Lord by my side, and that's all I'm going to say on that.

Well lets see since then I've had a nice visit with a good friend, and her cute little girl who gave Elizabeth a good lesson in sharing! I spent a great afternoon with a lifelong friend, in Happy Valley. Got out of the house with my mom while our new carpet was installed in the living room, which looks absolutely AMAZING!!! The room looks so much bigger now the carpet doesn't cut off at strange places. And there's nothing better than flipping a switch and having a light in the middle of the room come on! And the ceiling down there looks soooo much nicer! The whole room is just so enjoyable to be in now! The Friday we got our carpet in Elizabeth had her first sleep over with my parents so we could spend all Saturday doing much needed cleaning around our little place. She did so well, I was so happy and proud of her!
We hosted Thanksgiving for my family at my parents house, and man is it alot of work!! But it went off without a too much of a hitch and was a great success! Lots of yummy food, and great company what more could you ask for?! That night after getting everything put down and away, my mom and I looked over the Black Friday ads, and etched out a plan, and with some unexpected help from Tony we had great success!! And I only have two things left for Tony and my Christmas shopping is done!!(as Elizabeth is already done, also due to some unexpected help from Tony!) That night we stayed up at my parents to help finish up some things for the Canada tree we're doing for the Festival of Trees, we also did some work for it on Sat. then my parents helped us haul our Christmas stuff to our house(since we're storing it in their garage) And Sunday we got all ready for Christmas! We had considerably fewer decorations this year due to Elizabeth, and have the tree fenced off but it looks great anyway!! I LOVE the holiday season!!
Today I got up bright and early(actually it was pitch black since the sun wasn't up yet) at 6 am to get ready to go with my parents to decorating day for the Festival of Trees! It took about 6 hours to get done, but the tree looks amazingly Canadian!! It looks great! We did a sledding hill AND a pond for a hockey game! Lots of work but it's so worth it when you see the finished product, and we owe Primary Childrens! It's the least we can do for taking such good care of our little girl time and time again. Speaking of Primary Childrens...Elizabeth is going to see a specialist there about her lazy eye that was too bad for her pediatrician to attempt to treat. That new adventure awaits us in January!
Well I think that's about it for the update, I of course have lots of fun pictures but none of them are on the computer yet so I'll have to work on that and post them later!

The 2nd ultrasound

So yesterday I noticed more spotting and was already cramping(I don't think I've stopped cramping since like 6 weeks!) anyway I brushed it off cause it wasn't very much and went about my business for the day which was to hit up Target Shopko and Walmart to see if I could find the perfect stuffed bears and moose for the Canada tree We're helping with for the Festival of Trees. I went to Target first and there they were...the perfect stuffed bears and moose!! I was so relieved as I was getting worried I wasn't going to find any that would work, and was going to have to settle with something I didn't really like, but these were PERFECT!! I was elated!! Then Lizabeth and I went and found the table top hockey game my mom told me about, that's super cool!! Then we wandered a bit more checked out and headed to Shopko just to make sure there wasn't anything better out there. There wasn't. Then we stopped at Walmart and picked up a few things we needed, and headed home for naptime. That's when I noticed the bleeding was getting heavier, so I called Tony in a panic, and got him on his way home, then I called my dr and they set up another ultrasound for that afternoon. I called my sweet neighbor who agreed to watch Elizabeth until Ketty was off work and could get her. And after waiting nearly an hour at radiology, we were taken back for the ultrasound. Which didn't turn up any good news this time. By the time they had the results it was after 5 so they got a hold of the on call OB who told me that the baby's heart rate had gone down to 85. It went from 128 to 85 in 6 days not good. She told me that I would most likely miscarry once the heart stopped, and that my bleeding would just get worse. Well I think the heart stopped last night because the bleeding has indeed gotten much much worse. Now I'm just hoping it will pass at home and I won't have to have surgery, but we shall see. I'm doing a lot better with it than I thought I would. I'm sad but not despaired. It helps having Elizabeth's sillyness around she's always making me smile and laugh, and I'm so busy attending to her that I hardly have time to think on it. So that's where we're at with life. We'll keep ya posted.

What a week!!

So I've been super worried about miscarrying, for no real good reason other than it's happened to a lot of women close to me lately, so when I started getting cramps Sunday I just kept telling myself "it's fine, it's normal, don't stress out about it, it's nothing." When I had some light spotting Monday and then again on Tuesday, self-talk was useless, it was all I could do to keep myself together! So I called my dr as calmly and I could muster myself, and they told me to come in for some blood work, so thanks AGAIN to Ketty for taking Elizabeth while I went and did that. It was sooo not fun as my veins just suck, and being the nervous wreck that I was they were even harder to find, it took three tries and they finally had to get a special butterfly needle from the ER!! But they got it. Wed morning they called and said I have a positive blood type(which I was fairly certain I did)so the RH factor wasn't a factor. But that my pregnancy hormone was a bit lower than they expected to see for someone at almost 8 weeks, so they scheduled an ultra-sound mostly to reassure me and the dr a little. Thanks to Sandy for coming and staying with Liz for this, it helped us out so very much!! Of course I'm not far enough along yet to get the heartbeat from the outside, you could see the tiny little bouncing bean, but that's it, so they had to go in, which wasn't nearly as bad as I was psyching myself up for it to be, and right away they got the heartbeat good and strong, I exhaled for the first time all week! The only oh say odd thing they found was that, and your not going to believe this...The embryo measured a week smaller than the Gestational Sac!! Surprise surprise! Lizabeth probably did too at that stage but I didn't have an ultrasound that early so I didn't learn about Elizabeth's small size til my first ultrasound with her. Once I informed them that she never measured up to my Uterus either they said it's not all that uncommon, so here's hoping another little baby is on the way, and that it doesn't hit a huge growth spurt and become a big baby on me!
Then Yesterday Elizabeth woke up with a fever, and a runny nose, and by the end of the day had a deep raspy voice. Poor girl she wanted so badly to suck on her binky but found it difficult as she couldn't breathe through her nose!! We gave her some Tylenol to bring her fever down, cleaned out her nose a few times that day, and set up the humidifier next to her crib, and it seems to have helped as she had a much lower grade fever, and her nose was less stuffy and more runny, which is better for her but harder for me! She was much more like her busy self today as well which is nice to see. I must admit I loved all the cuddles I got from her yesterday, but that was my sure sign she really wasn't feeling well, cause she stops for very little! Well that's our week!!

Halloween!!

So for Halloween we let Elizabeth paint her own pumpkin and it turned out so very cute! At the end I'm not sure which had more paint on them the pumpkin or Elizabeth! But she had lots of fun so that's all that matters, Oh and she also made footprint ghosts, that we only remembered to give to my grandma, so parents you will be getting a late Happy Halloween ghost. I just can't believe how tiny her feet are! They were like mini ghosts!! Anyway on Halloween we went to Tony's parents house a bit before the party to get out of the house and in hopes that Elizabeth would get a better nap in. And it actually kinda worked out well cause she slept while everyone was eating, then joined in the fun afterward. We had a great lunch of chili and broccoli cheese soup with cornbread or rolls, it was delicious. After my parents came down and we went to Village Inn for dinner then to our "neighborhood" trunk or treat that was in our church parking lot. Elizabeth did sooooo much better than I thought! She caught on really fast, granted she couldn't say trick or treat but she took one piece of candy and then would put it in her bucket, it was the cutest thing ever!! Then we came home snapped a picture with her pumpkin, and my mom Lizabeth and I chilled in her room while the guys finished up doing stuff downstairs. Sunday I realized we forgot to watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, so even though it was the day after Halloween we watched it anyway and Elizabeth actually enjoyed it!
well here are the pics enjoy!























And did you noticed the new ticker on the side??? We're adding to our family in June 2010!!!!