Saturday, November 8, 2008 - Update

Look at me!
Mom and dad made a big deal over this today.

For the first time ever, Olivia was able to hold herself in the hands and knees position. This is huge for her because she's supporting herself with her arms. I almost cried when she did this today. Please pray that she'll keep progressing on this and start rocking back and forth and crawling. One of her new favorite things to do is play on the floor with magazines. Good thing we have a lot of those around the house. I'm just beyond proud with everything she's doing.

Friday, November 7, 2008 - Update

MY pony

Boy, does Olivia love her pony! Ryan and I are going to have to start calling it her P-O-N-Y because she has caught on to the name. When she isn't ready to quit riding it, she clasps on to the handles as tight as she can. She's even shed some tears when it's time to get off the pony. I can't wait until she can make it move by herself as it's pretty hard on the back. Luckily, I've found that she enjoys riding back and forth, back and forth (while mommy is sitting down) just as much as riding around the house. Every night, we ride the pony to it's "stable" and it's waiting for us in the morning!

Thursday, October 6, 2008 - Update

Velcro schmelcro. . .I don't need this bib.

It is becoming difficult again to get Olivia to eat. If she had her way, she would take 2 bottles a day and live on macaroni and cheese. She has lost some weight (is now down to 16.7 lbs) because of it. Hopefully, it's just another phase and it will get better. It's like the more active she becomes, the less she wants to eat. . .shouldn't it be the other way around? She has also been running a slight temperature. With the temporal thermometers, they always run higher, so it's not considered a temp until 100.3 and she has been around 99.6 to 100. She's acting fine otherwise and didn't make a peep all night last night. I've just been keeping an eye on it and giving her Tylenol as needed.

I'm still struggling to deal with my health issues. Severe adrenal fatigue borders on Addison's disease. Left untreated, it can be life-threatening, so I'm trying to take everything as serious as I can. That means taking all of my medications/supplements, resting as much as possible, no caffeine (I'm on day 6 of no Pepsi or Excedrin) no refined sugars or white flour and as much organic food, protein and vegetables as possible. Apparently, my body is very sensitive to chemicals and preservatives in food. Any type of food allergy or sensitivity further taxes the adrenal glands, so I'm staying away from gluten and dairy. The dairy isn't that difficult because I'm not a huge milk or ice cream fan and I love almond milk, which is a good substitute. The gluten, though, oh, the gluten. . .that means no bread for me. I'm a huge bread person and I find every meal should have either a biscuit or a roll or a breadstick to be complete. And my mother-in-law makes some tasty homemade bread! I am also very concerned about long term hydrocortisone use as it can do some nasty things to you. If there is anyone with experience on any of this, I would love to hear from you.

Okay, enough about me. Ryan and I have a joke that whenever I write about him, me or the guinea pigs. . .we can almost hear the crickets chirping. I know, everyone just wants to hear about Olivia and rightly so. She is pretty amazing.

Funny Story

I have a funny story for you. Mommy was making herself this Ultrameal powdered chocolate shake this afternoon. She has to eat really healthy to help heal her adrenal glands.
Mommy says that the shake is like. . blah. . .but she drinks it because it's healthy.

And here's the funny part. . .she spilled it all over the place. Then she cleaned it up with some kitchen towels (because we're short on paper towels) and tossed them directly in the washer. She forgot, however, that the sheets were still in the washer, so she had to re-wash the sheets.

Yeah, she wasn't too happy about it, but I was in my jumperoo the whole time having a blast. And, don't worry. . .when she has days like this I always make her smile.

Oh, and mommy wanted me to show you her new favorite picture!

Isn't that a gorgeous picture of my baby girl? I am just in awe of how beautiful she is. Olivia just brightens my world!! Stacie still does all of my headers for me. . .doesn't she do an amazing job? Thank you, Stacie!!

Don't Forget To Vote!

Mr. Bear. . .did you remember?
What about you, Horton?

My friends and I have voted. . .

Have you?

P.S. Also, remember to get your guesses in for the contest by 11:59 pm CST tonight! Then, we'll wait and see who wins.

Blue Jeans For Babies

Hooray for Blue Jeans!

Since 1981, the number of premature births in the United States has increased more than 30 percent. Despite all the advances in medicine and the quality of life in America, premature birth touches half a million babies and their families each year. Preemies can suffer lifelong consequences like developmental disabilities, blindness, chronic lung disease and cerebral palsy. The average medical cost of one premature baby is more than $500,000 -- but the emotional cost is immeasurable to families.

Throughout its 70-year history, the March of Dimes has championed medical breakthroughs from the eradication of polio to pioneering fetal surgeries to contributing to a reduction in neural tube birth defects. Now, the March of Dimes is taking on premature birth -- and striving to give all babies a healthy start.

The March of Dimes imagines a day when no baby is born too soon. You can help by joining the Blue Jeans for Babies campaign November 17-21. During this week, hundreds of businesses and organizations throughout the state of Kansas will be wearing blue jeans to support the March of Dimes and its campaign for healthier babies.

The Blue Jeans for Babies campaign is very simple. For a donation of $5, employees receive a Blue Jeans for Babies sticker, allowing them to wear jeans for one day during the week of November 17-21. Employees who donate $20 will receive a Blue Jeans for Babies T-shirt and the opportunity to wear jeans for the entire week. It’s that easy!

Join in the fun and identify a Blue Jeans for Babies Coordinator in your workplace. Mail a completed registration form to the March of Dimes office and a packet with all the campaign details will be sent to you.

Your support will help fund March of Dimes programs and services right here in Kansas and ensure all babies a healthy start in life. Providing a healthy start for our children by fighting birth defects, pre-term birth and infant mortality is a critical component to their welfare. I hope you will join me in this fight!

If you are interested, contact Jill Bosley at JBosley@marchofdimes.com. And, if your workplace participates, I would love a picture to post on the blog!

Monday, November 3, 2008 - Update

I love my keys. Someday I'm sure mom and dad will show me what they go to.

I couldn't believe that Olivia sat and watched her entire Baby Signing Times DVD this afternoon. She sat in her rocking chair and was glued to it the whole time. Well, I guess I do the signs along with it, so she was glued to the TV, to me, to the TV. . .We hadn't watched it for many weeks.

Olivia met with her PT this morning and we received pretty good news. Of course, Olivia cries the entire time that we work with her. She wants nothing to do with crawling and only wants to stand and walk. Because her muscle tone is good, her PT thought she would do fine with a walker for limited amounts of time. Be sure to scroll down to October 28th and read the comments on what I call "The Great Walker Debate of 2008." Who would have thought that the topic would get that many comments? Of course, we want to encourage her to crawl, but we also don't want to hold her back. We need to provide opportunities where she can feel successful and walking is one of those things. And. . .you wouldn't believe how much she was grabbing things today. . .just incredible! She would pick up her keys, drop them, pick up her keys, drop them, etc. She also found the touch pad on my laptop. I was using my mouse and all of the sudden, my cursor would end up on the other side of the page.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that we started her on whole milk. At this time, we are only adding about an ounce of milk to each bottle and we'll gradually increase it. So far she's on day 3 and doing well.

A Contest

As I'm typing, our site visit count on Sitemeter is 86,518. Our current average per day is 255. Get out your calculators, put on your thinking caps and try to guess the date on which we will get to 100,000 visits.

Winner gets recognition and a $5 Starbucks gift card. Start your guesses!

Price Is Right rules apply. . .winner is the one who is closest without going over.

Contest entries must be received by Tuesday, November 4th at 11:59 pm CST

Don't look at me. . .I don't even know how to add.

Interesting Facts. . .

In my apartment, I took care of about 10 stray cats. Some of their names were Smudge, Mama, Mean Mama, Gray-nose, Gray kitty, and my favorite. . .Caleb. I wanted to take him with me when we moved into our house. He was the most loving cat in the world!
For our wedding, Ryan had a Halloween groom's cake because of the way he proposed. I told him that he could as long as we could include an explanation about it in our wedding program.

In college, Ryan used to have an earring.

For a time in 2004. . .I was a blonde.

There was also a time when Ryan wore a bandana and. . .a necklace.

Okay, so I really need to take some more pictures of Olivia. I was organizing old pictures today and came across a few that I thought I would share. I promise that pictures of Olivia are coming soon!