Our Olivia

Olivia is about the most precious little girl that a parent could ask for. She turned 10 months old on the 11th and I think that is about the time she decided she preferred standing to sitting and "walking" to crawling. She pulls up on her little baby doll stroller and is off! We are having so much fun watching her learn to walk. I don't think it will be long. Ellie is super excited. She can't wait for them to be able to run and play together. Olivia is just a complete joy. Her little personality develops more each day and she is just so pleasant. I thank God for both of our girls every day!

Ellie - Our Child Who Does Not Need Sleep

As most of our family and friends know, we have struggled with getting Ellie to sleep for about two years now. I believe her last nap at home (other than when she was sick) was at the age of two. We have had to send her to daycare with a backpack full of things to keep her occupied while the other children are napping. She just doesn't need a nap.

And, even with no nap, she usually does not go to sleep at night until sometime around 10:00 or 10:30. So, we have had to get very creative. Going against everything I ever would have said I would do as a parent, we bought her a princess TV and DVD player for her room for her 4th birthday. Seems a bit extreme... but, this way she will at least go watch a movie and lay in her bed and rest from 9-10 giving Danny and I a little time together in the evenings.

We have talked to the doctor, read articles, tried every trick and reward possible to get her to sleep. Nothing works. We can make her go to her bed, but can not make her sleep. I guess all of that adds to the humor I have found in the way she has fallen asleep the past several nights. She asked us a few nights ago if she could lay in our bed until she fell asleep. At this point, anything is an option, so we said that would be fine and that we would take her to her own room when we came upstairs for the night.

These pictures were taken when we came upstairs to take her to her own bed. Not real sure of her reasoning, but she feels like she needs to wear these glasses to be able to sleep. Hey, whatever it takes. We have just played it up.... they are "sleep glasses".

The Past Few Weeks...

First, about two weeks ago, our washing machine flooded leaving quite a mess. We had to replace carpet, fix ceilings, etc. and had 16 large fans blowing very loud to dry things out for almost a week. New carpet arrived on Wednesday and I think we might FINALLY have things back to normal.

Then, this past week, we had a scare with Olivia. The doctor who we saw for her 9 month appointment thought her hip sounded like it was popping. We had x-rays taken and the radiologist thought it looked like mild displasia of the hip and referred us to Shriners. We were told that she might have to wear a harnass or have surgery to correct the problem. We were very upset. Olivia is just starting to master crawling and is pulling up on everything she can. I couldn't imagine putting her in a harnass at this point. We went to Shriners this past Thursday and were relieved to hear that the problem is very minor and did not need to be treated at this time. The specialist felt like it would correct itself over time. Danny I began to get frustrated at the hospital about the amount of time we were having to wait. We very quickly realized that we were being selfish. We were sitting in a hospital full of very sick children with our two who are both healthy and happy. Isn't it interesting how it takes something crazy happening in our lives to remind us to put things in perspective and not sweat the small stuff!!!

Today was our best weekend day in months!!! We didn't do much of anything, but the girls played together so well. Olivia has just discovered toys and Ellie is so good with her. Again, it was a reminder of how blessed we are to have such wonderful children.

Introduction

Several of our friends are keeping blogs about things that are happening with their family. I have a terrible memory and often think back to the last four years of Ellie's life and can't remember exactly when things happened or specific details about the event. So, I thought, if I can keep this updated, it might be a nice way to remember later! I also thought it might be fun for some of our family and friends who live out of town to keep up with some of the major events that are taking place in our family.