Laurie's sick... but it's good news!

Hey everyone! Last week Haili came down with the croup. And because she loves to share everything with her sister, Laurie also got the croup. I was certain that it would quickly develop into pneumonia... I've taken her to the doctor twice now and her lungs are clear! She is on oxygen at nights but besides that, she's acting like a normal sick child. It's pretty exciting. Never thought I'd be happy to have a sick kid. A normal sick kid. Awesome!

At this last appointment, Laurie weighed in at a whopping 16 lbs. 10.5 oz.! She is currently 20 months old... She will be two in June!!!! Laurie knows about 6 words and at least as many signs. She can pull herself up to kneeling and can stand with the assistance of a table or couch for 4 minutes. Our little girl is growing up!

Haili is 3 1/2 years old. She has an incredible imagination and currently has a good imaginary friend named Melly. Melly is a little baby who relies on Haili to everything for her. When we sit down to eat, Melly needs a plate, too. Thank goodness she doesn't eat much!

Kevin is loving his job. I'm a big fan of 4-day work weeks! He gets most Fridays off. Kevin also has taken up running... For those of you who know Kevin, you know is an avid road biker. Spandex and all. However, this summer Kevin and I will be running in the Wasatch Back Relay.

Basically a team of 12 people take turns to complete a run from Logan to Park City... 188 miles! Awesome. Kevin has gone crazy with training. Yesterday he ran 7.2 miles and felt like doing more - but he didn't have more time (he only gets 45 minutes to an hour to exercise at work). Yes, he gets PAID to exercise at work. Sheesh. I figure with Kevin being a super strong team member for our relay, he'll be able to make up for what I lack! I am a distance runner, but a slow one. I ran a marathon several years ago, but again, I am slow.

That's what's going on in our neck of the woods. Here are a few recent pictures for you to enjoy!

Trying out our new RedOxx bags.

Little Laurie

Princess Haili

Laurie's favorite hangout spot.

Holiday Happenings

Haili with her new princess accessories.

Laurie with her favorite gift - a glow worm!

Haili really enjoyed opening gifts this year!

Laurie enjoyed eating as many candy canes as she could- wrapper and all!

Grandma Barb and little Laurie

Kevin and his dad.

Haili and Laurie's fort. It provided hours and hours of fun and entertainment!

Kevin's birthday cake. Notice a piece missing... while I was getting everything ready, Kevin stole a piece! He said he couldn't wait until after we blew out the candles! He got away with it only because it was his special day.

Caught in the act...

The good news is she was actually trying to cut her hair correctly. She has been asking me to cut it for a couple weeks now. I thought that she would forget about it... I was wrong!

Haili with her new "do"!

The Butt-Scoot

18 months!

Laurie is officially 18 months old! She is growing up so quickly. Her latest skill she has mastered is the butt-scoot! I am going to post a video of her in action soon. She LOVES being able to move around. Laurie had a cardiology check up on Wednesday. Dr. Cowley heard a heart murmur this time (in March he couldn't hear one). He said that her pulmonary valve isn't really working very well - but that's to be expected because of the valvuloplasty. He told me that kids can really tolerate it for quite some time. Her chest x-rays and EKG were perfect. Dr. Cowley was amazed with how well she was doing! We'll go back in June. Laurie acts like a healthy little girl, so sometimes I forget that her heart is less than perfect. We're grateful that she's doing as well as she is.

A couple of days ago my good friend, Laurie B., came to visit me! She is from Australia and was an exchange student at my high school. She is also a reason we chose the name Laurie for our daughter. Kevin will get to go to Australia in the next few years for work - so I'm looking forward to tagging along to visit Laurie B. in Sydney!

The two Lauries!

My friend, Sarah H. and I. Sarah was my workout buddy all last year and lives in the valley. We met in college and she is one of the reasons I did so well in my 20th century music course! We sure had fun studying until 4 am in the music building. Thank heavens for yummy Chinese food!

Now that Little Laurie can sit up all by herself, she sometimes refuses to take her naps! The other day she had been crying for about 15 minutes (it's unusual for her to cry at all when I put her down for a nap or at night) so I went to go check on her. This is how I found her! She ended up getting out of her nap because she just looked so sad!

We've recently been hammered with quite a bit of snow. Haili loves to help shovel our driveway. It's one of the few times we can get her into pants, instead of the usual princess dress.

The other morning I woke up to Laurie laughing in her crib. I went in to see what was going on and saw her peeking out of her crib. It was priceless! Honestly, could she get any cuter?

Really?

Haili has been waking up at 5:00 am for the last two days. Bleh. I usually work out from 5:30 to 6:30. Then I quickly shower and get ready because the girls are usually up by about 6:30 or 7. I'm considering getting Haili an alarm clock and setting it for 7 am. My hope is that we can make a rule that Haili can't come out of her room until the alarm goes off... I'm really hoping this works! Any suggestions on handling super early risers?

Grateful

I am grateful for...

family,
health,
good books,
scriptures,
prayer,
dress-ups,
naptime,
giggles,
story time,
family home evening,
charades,
Christmas music,
my cello,
Kevin's job,
the internet,
hand sanitizer,
our car (210 K miles and still going strong!),
temples,
diversity,
sewing machines,
apple pie,
Kevin's sourdough bread,
girls' nights,
good friends,
late-night talks with Kevin,
sunshine,
snowflakes,
sledding,
mountains,
family vacations,
camping trips,
Dad's sweet and sour pork,
sushi,
soy sauce (only Kikkoman),
Christmas lights,
exercising,
spider traps,
our home,
good night kisses,
computers,
crayons,
princess coloring books...

And so much more! Most importantly I think I am grateful for life. I'm grateful that everyone in my family has good health. I'm grateful that sweet Laurie is alive and thriving. What a blessing this life is!

Winter and other happenings

It was a nice day, and then this...

You can't tell from the photo, but the snow is actually blowing horizontally. We're in for a big storm! I'm just glad I'm not driving in it...

Sorry to keep so many of you in suspense with regards to Laurie's condition. Laurie was only in the hospital for 3 days. The main reason she was hospitalized was to get her breathing under control and to get her to eat. She wasn't too happy being stuck in a hospital room...



We just got word that she was approved for synagis shots again (the RSV vaccine) and we're just waiting for the final go ahead from our insurance company. I'm really excited that she qualifies for these shots - as it will only help keep her healthy this winter.

We've officially entered "seclusion mode" in our household. Call me crazy, but it hasn't been nearly as hard as last year. Perhaps it's because we have a bit more room in our new house, or that Laurie isn't on oxygen or a feeding tube. I won't lie - last year I was depressed a lot of the time. It was very lonely and difficult! I mean - I didn't leave the house during the day unless it was to go to a doctor appointment. I ran errands in the evenings when Kevin was home to watch the girls. No one could come over. I especially appreciated all the phone calls. But even then... it was an extremely lonely and difficult time! Not so this time. Not sure why... I have a lot of projects to keep me busy, I'm getting up early to exercise, I have some fantastic friends in our new neighborhood...it feels like our family has been given a fresh start.

I have a brother who lives in town and attends the local university. James and his fiance come over every week to laundry and have dinner with us (when they are healthy, of course). It's been really fun to have them over and we look forward to it as a highlight of the week.


The other night we had a birthday celebration for Stephanie. She's a great person! All of my brother's have found EXCELLENT spouses. Seriously. They are amazing! Don't James and Steph look like a happy couple?


My youngest brother, Spencer, recently returned from an LDS mission to Thailand. The day after Spencer came home, my brother Jacob (pictured with Spencer above) was sealed to his wife in the Logan LDS Temple. It was a great weekend full of memorable experiences!

Kevin has been bitten by the cooking bug! Kev has always made us sourdough bread. Lately, he's been reading every cookbook and website on sourdough to try different recipes and techniques. His bread is DELICIOUS! He made 5 loaves of zucchini sourdough bread yesterday and today made these 3 loaves of apples sourdough bread. Yum! This morning he made us cinnamon and ginger sourdough waffles.

That's what we've been up to lately! Have you updated your blog recently?