Blessings

As you all know my baby girl has been struggling with illnesses since January. It has been really hard on us all. They haven't been major ones, mainly colds with SEVERAL ear infections, a few other random illness as well. She had problems with the antibiotics and is on the 4th one now, and it seems to be working. A few weeks ago we got some news that she is "borderline" Failure to Thrive. For those who don't know, 'Failure to Thrive' is a pretty generic term used to describe children who are not growing properly. It could be due to genetics, illnesses, neglect, and many other things. Lila was 15 pounds 7 ounces at her 6 month check up, and at her nine month visit she weighed 15 pounds 1 ounce; dropping from the 36th percentile to the 2nd percentile. She is now on an "all fat" diet. I feel like a terrible mother because I am feeding her all of this crap that I never would have fed Lucas at that age. I give her everything and anything, cookies, french fries, hot dogs, extra butter on EVERYTHING! And though, I don't think they are bad to give kids, I don't like giving it to her everyday, or every meal!! But I have to, to get her healthy, weird I know.

Anyway...at the end of this month we take her in to get weighed again, and if she has not gained enough weight, then they will draw blood and test her for different ailments including Cystic Fibrosis and Celiac Disease. I wasn't too worried until I saw her compared to other kids her age. Now I am nervous. Matt and I fasted for her the other day, and feel confident the Lord will take care of her and of us.

This week, we took her in again since she had a cold and was SO fussy. The doctor walked in, looked at her, and said "I already know what she has. She is wheezing and blowing snot bubbles from her nose. She has RSV." (apparently snot bubbles cue him into RSV, who would have thought?) He did a thorough exam and decided it was definitely RSV and another ear infection (don't worry, we are in the process of getting tubes put in). Great. So, we have been keeping her in seclusion within our home and trying to help her. Matt gave her a blessing a few nights ago. It was a very sweet and encouraging blessing. That night was kind of scary for me. She coughed ALL night long. There were times where she couldn't get any air, and after her coughing fits were over, she just looked SO worn out from it. It broke my heart. The good news is she is SO much better now. The really hard part seems to be over. Hopefully she can continue to recover and regain her health. We ask for everyones prayers for our little girl to be healthy and to gain some weight. Thank you.

Today, we had stake conference. Since Lila can't leave the house, Matt and I split up the hours. I was only able to hear one talk, but boy was it good! President Hutchison talked about testimonies. He talked about how dear our testimonies are. He told of a talk from a past prophet (I don't remember who) who compared it to a moonbeam. That you have to hold on it, and work to get it and keep it. I have a very strong testimony of this Gospel, though sometimes I admit, I don't "work" to keep it as hard as I should. Having situations like the current one with Lila help me to keep my testimony "fresh" I fully believe Lila is doing better because of the Priesthood blessing Matt gave her. And I am thankful to a loving Father in Heaven, who is helping her. I do not believe this little battle is over, so we will continue praying for her, but I know the Lord will take care of our family.

Day of LOVE

So I am late on this, due to my last two posts. It has been crazy! Anyway, about a week and a half ago, Matt and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary!! I can't believe it has gone by so fast! We have been through so much, and have already doubled our family size! I love this man more than anything. And I am SO lucky to have him as my husband and the father of my children. Thank you Matt for all you do for our family! I know your schedule and stress of school can be overwhelming at times. But I know that you are working so hard for our family, and we love and appreciate everything you do! I think you are the most amazing person, you inspire me daily, through all your hard work, the way you play with the kids, how you can make me laugh at your weird quirky questions no matter what kind of mood I am in, and lets be honest, I think you are about the hottest thing out there! :) I love you! I thought it was fitting to our "anniversary post" along with Valentines. Don't want to 'over due' the love with two different posts, right Matt? :) I love you! Happy Valentines Day!

remember my last post?

since then...

• Terrible cough, struggles to breath at times
• Double ear infections for Lila
• extreme diarrhea again for Lila, or should I say 'still', because of the antibiotics. Which is a new one since the other ones didn't work
• Vomiting for Lucas
• Cold/cough for Lucas

Yes, we are now going on 2 months now. I don't know what to do! Lucas was never sick like this!! He rarely gets sick, and when he does he gets over it pretty fast. But Lila, is a whole new story! After she was born, she was just this happy giggly girl. And then she started to cry, all the time. Always wanting Mommy to hold her. Now that she is working on her 3-4th ear infection in 2 months, we are wondering if there has been more that we didn't know about! Maybe thats why she cries all the time. I also blame her "delay in development" on it. She barely rolls, and is NO WHERE near crawling yet, and she is nine months old. But of course, she could just be lazy. ;) We have her well child check up this week, and we will be talking to the dr about getting tubes maybe. So we will see. Just keep our little family in your prayers, I don't think I can handle another thing. Last night when Lucas started to vomit, I about died. I am done with this.

what the heck?

Lucas:

cough/cold

ear infection

allergic reaction to antibiotics

good for 3 days

cold

Lila:

cough/cold

ear infection

antibiotics don't work

ear infection is worse

stronger antibiotics

cold

yeast infection

all that, 8 prescriptions, and 5 doctors appointments all in 4 weeks.

All I can say every time a new thing comes is "WHAT THE CRAP?"

Though I will say, we are finally on the road to recovery, I think. Keep your fingers crossed!

Cuties

Lila has learned how to jump in the jumper, let me tell you, she loves it a WHOLE lot more than Lucas ever did. Well let me take that back, he loves to play with it now, whenever she is in it. ;) Lila is one chubby girl, so when she started jumping Matt lovingly said "YEA! Thats how you use those chunkers!" (obviously referring to her massive thighs!) Yes I know you can't see her face, but, that was the point. Every time I get the camera out, she stops jumping. Except for this adorable picture.

Lila has also learned how to clap. She loves when anyone claps, she gets so giddy! So I have been working on teaching her how. She finally got it! But she was upset because she wanted the camera, so it isn't a 'happy' clap. :)

Then there is this guy:

Ain't he a stud!? Well, we were playing with his "monster Bowling set" When he lined the pins up, and told me "the first one is Grandma Andreason, the second one is Grandpa Andreason, and the third one is Sadie (the dog)" I asked him who the last three were, and he told me they are Grandma and Grandpa Andreason's friends! I thought it was SO funny!

Christmas Day

Christmas is SO much fun with kids!! I love the anticipation, watching Lucas open his presents, and seeing how happy he is! This year we spent Christmas Eve with Matt's parents (thank you Bruce and Sandi!). Lucas was pretty excited to open his gifts. He got a shirt, couple PJ's, some books, a movie, a helmet and a bike! Santa left a note telling Lucas that he needs to wear a helmet every time he rides his bike, and then hiding in the other room, was the bike! Lucas was so happy! He wore his helmet for most of the morning, and then he wore it more at my parents house. Its a shame it is so cold and snowy, he can't ride it much, but come spring time, we will have lots of fun! :)

Lila, obviously doesn't get it. But she still had a little Christmas too. She got some PJ's, a couple outfits, and a toy. She was pretty happy with the paper though. :)




Though Matt and I had a lot of fun playing Santa this year, we tried to continue to teach Lucas that Christmas is Jesus' Birthday. We talked a lot of the Birth of our Savior, and sang Christmas songs, about Jesus, not just fun/playful ones. I don't think Lucas understands much of it, but hopefully each year he will understand more and more. We are thankful to our Savior Jesus Christ, for His birth and life, and for his death. Our Brother has given such wonderful examples of how we should each live. He has made it possible for us to live as a family forever, and we are very grateful for this. I pray we can always remember Christ, and always follow his example.

Quick catch up

I always do this, I don't blog for months, then I have tons of stuff to put up. So I keep putting it off, waiting for a chance to sit down and take the needed time to blog, but it never comes. So, I am going to to be very quick and to the point here. ;)

In order of farthest back:

Lucas' Birthday! 3 Years!! Holy cow, I feel old! My friend took some adorable pictures of Lucas for his Bday, if you want to see more, check out my Facebook page. Luke got SO spoiled from family members! He is one loved little boy!

Playing in the snow:
We had a snow storm, not the "big Blizzard of 2010" That they closed the U of U for, that we only got maybe two inches of snow. But a few days after that, we had a big snow fall! So I took Lucas out in snow pants and all, and we played. It was hysterical! We walked out, and Lucas can't even walk in it, it is up to his waist. So I had to help him, but heck I am so short I can barely even walk. So we were both falling all over the place. We made a snowman, that was A LOT harder than I remember it being. Lucas kept knocking it over too, so I had him make his own, which consisted of a pile of snow like 2 inches high. But somehow, our snow came out with a face! we didn't do this, but looking at it, especially in the pictures, there is a very distinct face. Creepy!

First time bathing together:
So, there was one night when both kids needed a bath, badly, but Lila was in one her demanding moods, when she wants to just be held and played with. So, I tried bathing them together. She wasn't sitting very well yet, so I used the bumbo. It worked great until the seat, with Lila in it, started to float. So I had to keep one hand on it. But both kids had so much fun! *Please ignore the R-rated body parts. :)



We went to Temple Square to see the lights, it was raining and cold, but it ended up being perfect. There wasn't too many people there, and the rain slowed down for us. We enjoyed it! We also made a Snoopy Gingerbread Doghouse. That was messy! Lucas, and Matt, kept picking at the marshmallow Snoopy, the poor thing looked pathetic! And Lucas got to see Santa at our ward Christmas party! Of course he was too shy to talk to Santa but he loved it. His favorite part? Santa gave him a candy cane! Goofy kid.