Happy Birthday!

Eliza turned FIVE today!  Every day this girl makes me laugh and makes me so incredibly grateful that she is my daughter.  One of the things she wanted for her birthday was breakfast in bed.  I'm not sure where she even heard of that but she came and woke me up in the morning, and asked me for scrambled eggs and a waffle.  Then she went back to bed and waited for me to bring it in.  Matt and I cracked up about it.

Her presents this year were so much fun for me to find.  When I was about 8 or 9 I had these dolls called Hot Looks.  They were only around for a couple of years in the 80s and then they stopped making them.  My parents had hung on to a bunch of my stuff and have been bringing me boxes to store here since we have a basement now to keep things like that.  In one of these boxes were my old Hot Looks dolls and Eliza loved them.  She played with them all the time.  I had a couple of outfits but not much else left from so many years ago.  So I went on ebay and found another doll along with a bunch of clothes and accessories.  After I got that I decided that she was going to need a place to keep everything.  Barbie closets are too small for these dolls so I got on ebay again and found an old doll closet from the 50s that was the perfect size.  So after a paint job, some details, and some hangers, here are Eliza's birthday presents from me!

Before

Amazing what a little paint can do!

All done!

Her new doll!  All the clothes and hair and accessories are so 80s.  It's awesome.  But all that stuff is coming back in fashion!

Matt had the day off and dropped her off at preschool which she thought was pretty cool.  He picked her up and surprised her with flowers.  So sweet!  Eliza was so funny in the morning.  She said, "Mom, I'm so lucky on my birthday because I get to go to preschool!"

Her preschool birthday crown

We met for dinner with both sets of grandparents.  Also David, Michael, and Jared came which made her extra happy!

Presents from Grandma Carrolyn

So cute!  Cousin Michael got her a present!

Veggietales DVDs from my mom.  She LOVES these movies.

Then our camera batteries died.  Grandma Carrolyn also got her a Barbie which she was just in heaven over.  I almost forgot to say the best part for Eliza was meeting her new baby cousin before dinner.  Jenna was born yesterday and Eliza was beyond excited to meet her.  She is such a sweet little baby.  Congrats Dave and Amanda!

Eliza is such a joy and makes our family so happy.  She is a sweet, smart girl.  She loves school and reading.  She loves her brother (deep down :))  and tries to make him happy.  She loves primary and learning new songs.  She is a very curious girl and is constantly asking me questions about anything and everything.  She loves Angry Birds and is way better than Matt or I at it.  She can be very dramatic and sassy but thankfully she is still sweet most of the time.  We are thankful every day that she is in our family and for the wonderful little girl she is.  Love you Zi!

Halloween!

Halloween is so fun with kids but it's exhausting!  It's like a week (or more) of parties.  

Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos in their costumes...

We got a couple more uses out of our decorated basement with some family parties.

We also went to the Crazy Corn Maze and let the kids ride the ponies afterwards.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Halloween Party!

We serioulsy LOVE our neighborhood. When we moved in we were surprised at how many fun traditions there are. Among other things, every year a different couple hosts a Halloween party. No kids invited. I am not the entertaining type at all. Really. It stresses me out and I get all weird about things. BUT we also have very persuasive neighbors. :) We got talking about how our home is one of the only ones in the neighborhood that still has an unfinished basement. I would have never thought of having a party down there but I was told it would be great. So after a little coaxing and a promise that I would have help decorating, we agreed to host this year.

Our own decorations consist of a few pumpkins and I think a couple of other crafty looking items. Nothing that would work for a party. Our wonderful neighbors Mike and Janai let us borrow their AWESOME decorations for the party. And Jocelyn the amazing decorator helped us put it all together. I actually feel like I hardly did anything. I just followed her around and handed her tape when she needed it.

We had the party on Saturday and it was so much fun!! Everyone brought a treat to share and we played games, visited and just had a great time. Not only was Jocelyn the decorator, she was also the photographer. I stole these pictures from her, hope she doesn't mind!

Considering we're not going to be finishing our basement any time soon, we may as well just leave it all up for next year! It was the least stressful party ever! Thank you everyone for coming, it was a blast!

One more of us so you can see my awesome leggins, leg warmers, and jelly shoes! I miss the 80s.

October 14th

Are we the most boring couple or what? First of all, I didn't even realize we had been married 7 years. I thought it was 8. And second, Matt was in a different state for our anniversary. Oh well, we've never been the type of couple that has to do something big and exciting for our anniversary. We had a really fun get away to Park City last year. This year, I hung out and had some much needed "me time" once the kids were in bed. Well, that's what I did at night. During the day I had to take Jackson back to the hospital for more x-rays on his foot. After he got his cast off he was perfectly fine. Then out of nowhere he started limping again. I still don't know what was wrong, the x-rays were clear and now he's walking normal again. Fun times, let me tell you. Matt spent the night in a motel somewhere in Colorado.

But we did finally at least acknowledge it yesterday. My mom and dad watched the kids and we used a gift certificate that we have had for 2 years! No expiration on it, thank goodness. We ate at Christopher's downtown. The food was good but the peace and quite was WONDERFUL!

I brought our camera because usually couples take pictures of each other celebrating their anniversary, right? I forgot all about it. So we have no anniversary pictures but we had a nice, quiet dinner and that's all we really wanted. :)

We've had a great 7 years! I feel lucky to have Matt. He's a wonderful husband and dad. We'll have to see how exciting we can make our 8th anniversary....shouldn't be hard to top!

Family Pictures 2011

We have not had family pictures since Jackson was a couple of months old. I was so happy to hear about Fotofly from some neighbors! It is a fantastic place! Jackson was a PILL (he would have been even without the broken foot) but they did their best and I'm really excited about the way they turned out. Here are some of my favorites!

Jackson

Jackson has had quite the summer. Since July I think we have spent over $200 just in copays and seen at least 4 different doctors. That's not counting Matt and his appointments and surgery. The pediatrician, the Kids Care doctors, the ENT, and a podiatrist. That's all I can think of off the top of my head, there's probably more.

On Labor Day we had a get together at my parent's house. They have a big, fun trampoline which is great. They also have 7 grandkids who all like to be on it at the same time. They have always said only two at a time and the big kids can't be jumping the same time as the little ones. Well, you know how it goes... They were all having such a good time and Jackson was laughing hysterically at being bounced around. Then he started screaming out of nowhere. Now, this isn't unusual for Jackson so we decided it was time to go anyway and carried him to the car. When we got home he wouldn't walk on his right foot. I actually thought he had gotten a sliver because he was barefoot. I looked all around and didn't really see anything. So we put him to bed and thought maybe we'd see something new in the morning. He slept great but still wouldn't walk normal in the morning. As the day went on we decided we better take him in. The doctor told us there was definitely something wrong but it wasn't obvious what or where. Jackson didn't cry when the doctor pushed on his ankle or foot or up his shin. He told us to go to the hospital to get x-rays in the morning.

The next morning we had family pictures scheduled. I had already had to cancel them once and I wasn't about to do it again. So we did the pictures and then took him in for x-rays while they got the photos edited. When we got back to the photography studio our pediatrician's office called saying Jackson foot was BROKEN. How did we not know he'd been limping around on broken foot for two days?! He didn't really cry very much. I felt SOOO bad. At least now I can blame the lack of smiling in the family pictures on that. Even though he probably wouldn't have cooperated anyway.

We drove back to the pediatrician's office and got his foot casted. It's not too bad. The cast goes up to mid-calf and he only has to wear it for 4 weeks. He refused to walk on it for the first day or two but now he's getting better at it.

THE VERY NEXT DAY was his tube and adenoid surgery. I was completely overwhelmed with everything he had been through and was just dreading the morning. He was such a champ. He screamed his head off when the nurse took him away for the surgery but they let him bring his Clifford dog with him so that helped a little. The surgery was quick and he seemed to recover from the anesthesia faster than he did last year. Our ENT told us that it was such a good thing we did. His tubes were completely useless and had to be cut out. He said the crusting and scarring around them had made it nearly impossible for his ear drum to vibrate. The new ones will hopefully heal correctly. He also told us that Jackson's adenoids were extremely enlarged. So taking them out will solve a lot of his ear pain and hopefully help him not have many infections in the future.

Jackson has been wonderful since the surgery. I was planning on days of crying and pain meds but he's done great. He has only needed Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Not the Lortab they prescribed. Once we finish up the antibiotic and the ear drops, I'm hoping to see a new boy! My hope is that he will hear better and finally start talking. We'll see....

I love this boy so much. He is sweet and snuggly and adorable. I hope we haven't traumatized him too much. I think we would be wise to invest in football pads and a helmet though...

Again!

In July we decided we needed to have Jackson start speech therapy. When I took him into the school for his health and hearing screening, he did not pass the hearing test. He couldn't hear the lower frequencies. When the audiologist looked in his ears she said that his tubes were all blocked with wax. I thought, great...how do you get ear wax out of a two year old's ears? When I took him to our ENT his nurse said to put drops in for a week and then bring him back. I did and after a week there was still no change. So she said to keep it up for two more weeks and then bring him back on a day when the doctor would be in the office so if it was soft enough, he could suction it out. I took him in on Monday and it turns out the ear wax is not ear wax after all. Hmm...that would have been helpful to know about two co-payments and two prescriptions ago.

The doctor said that sometimes it can look like ear wax. I'm not sure what's going on but either his tubes have shifted or just healed all wrong and they are not functioning anymore. I'm a little confused if it's skin or scar tissue but something has grown over the tube opening. No wonder he can't hear and is constantly rubbing his ears! So Thursday we are headed in for round 2 of tube surgery. UGH! The first time was a nightmare and I'm sure it will only be worse this time. They are going to remove the old tubes and if there is any fluid in there, they will place a new set. And if his adenoids are enlarged at all they will remove those also! So I took him in thinking we were going to suction out some ear wax and left with a surgery date. I can not believe we have to do this again. They told me with the adenoidectomy he has to sleep with his head elevated. How in the world am I supposed to do that? He's not going to sleep in a chair. I can prop his crib mattress up on one end but knowing how he sleeps, he'll end up with his feel elevated. I think these doctors tell you things without really thinking through HOW exactly you're supposed to do it.

My only hope is that this FINALLY solves his ear problems and that he will start hearing better and speaking. Poor little guy....I hate that we have to put him through it again. Oh, and because it's never just one thing with this kid, he also has two ingrown toenails that will probably need cut out soon.

We actually got a letter from our insurance questioning all the claims on Jackson lately! Let's hope this is the end! For his sake and mine.