Davy is three...whaaaaa?!!

Time flies when I don't blog, huh?  On March 20th Davygirl turned three. Can I just say how much has changed in a year? She has grown in so many areas. She has all of her Doctors baffled and excited. It's like she's a special needs genius.......OK, I realize i may be taking this a little too far. But she has so many new tricks, and it's pretty cool.

 This was the first year we did the streamers with her. It took her a few second and then she realized...booya, I'm gonna tear this place up!

 My favorite part is that Daddy put her to bed in her clothes from the day before with her pigtails and clips in.....only daddy.

 Look how proud she is. She got to see Max and Ollie do this recently, so she was ready to rock. She felt like such a big girl. 

The party can't start til the hat is on. But hers needed a little help. I think i need to make a new one.

 Davy's birthday breakfast was bananas and some pancakes....that's right,  she ate pancakes.

 I got her dressed in one of my favorite outfits(American Apparel and took the girl to go shopping. I thought it would be fun to see if she would pick out a toy.

Her choice.....Minnie Mouse. She saw her and moaned uhhhhhhhhh. She was in love. she was so excited, she kept giving her loves.

Then we went with cousins to the Children's museum. Davy just loves to be out with people. I think because of all the times she has been couped up indoors, she does not take people for granted. If she is out and about, she's gonna party. In spite of all that she has to go through, she really loves life. 

All I can think is"Tommy want wingy"

If you don't know this quote....it's Chris Farley. Yes my daughter does a spot on Farley impression.

 Davy can't help herself. If there is music, she will dance. Even if it's an out of tune rendition of Happy Birthday. She can't be stopped, she must get down.
  We celebrated with family the Sunday before, with all of her cousins and I made the rainbow cake that is all over Pinterest. it turned out pretty good. It just  s l o w l y started sinking. I guess I should still post a picture of it.....OK, you talked me into it.

Davy enjoying the finer things in life. Homegirl still likes to chow down. I think she can out eat Oliver easily.

What Davy is up to now**********
* she has about 20 signs she can do
* along with signing, she points and grunts and pulls to get what she wants. She is pretty effective.
* BUT.....within the last couple of months her Vocab has doubled. She has been saying about 20 words. Most are just the first syllable of the word. But she has a couple of two syllable ones like, Mommy, daddy, howayou(how are you), hepme(help me) and she has just said Hopper(Harper). In all fairness he is the one who plays with her, so he deserves the love.
* she loves Yo Gabba. Girl can get down. She actually dances like Elaine in Seinfeld, almost exactly. It's a riot, I love it when she dances.
* she is very polite. she signs, please and thank you. But YOU had better sign you're welcome back or she gets maaad. Her politeness only goes so far and she won't stand for your rudeness.
* she weighs 37 pounds......yep my back is killing me. She is 3 feet, so she is nice and chunky.
*She loves babies to death.......really you might want to keep them away from her. I can't promise you anything.
* She will play with baby dolls and loves to dress up. Nothing holds her interest for to long though. After about 2 minutes, she just throws whatever is in her hands at whomever is closest. She is just a tornado. People still are her favorite toys. Oh and your cell phone. She has called Biz, Jason Bateman and Wayne Coyne all by accident. I need to get Scott's contacts off of my phone.
* She loves any and all attention. If I try to have a conversation with anyone and it doesn't involve her....watch out. She will hit and bite her self and whimper, owww. She yells, MOOOOOOOOOM. She has grabbed her poop and thrown it (my personal Fav) and she has pulled out her Mic Key button and handed it to me with a wicked grin. I really have to keep on eye on her, she is always on the brink of death, I swear. Such a stinker. But I lover her to death. She makes me so happy, with all the love she has to give. i wish you all could meet her cuz she really is a special spirit. So now that she is 3, she is starting school. I will be telling you all about it soon....promise.





               The sloppy jaloppy rainbow cake. But where it lacked in looks, it made up in taste.

                                  Not bad, huh. I mean it's pretty amateur Pinterest, but everyone loved it.
                My mother in law thought I was some kind of cake genius. Nope just a cake copycat.

This post is a rant....sorry

2012.....what a year. It was one of my hardest years, hands down. I hate to be vague on the ole blog, cuz boring, right?  But you'll just have to trust me when I say, it sucked. Hence the  minimal postings on the blog. I just couldn't get it together.  Too much was going on.

At the end of every year we have to deal with flu season, ER trips and the holidays. It makes for a stressful time. I think my family was more sick this year then we have ever been. Mainly me. I have been terribly sick for too long. I am just now coming out of it.

 Then comes the first of the year, I hold my breath, wondering what is going to change on our health insurance. Every year it goes up and changes are made. This year, we had a DRASTIC leap in the cost of Davy's nightly shot. Like I gulped and put it on my credit card, drastic. It's so sad to me. I know there are so many people in the same boat as us. I mean, If a person can die with out a certain medication, shouldn't that be the one medication that's free? Not to mention the overall premium went up another $200. Health care is our largest monthly bill by far and that is not right.

Could someone please explain the whole Obama care to me? Is it even in effect? Who is it helping? I think if the President could just meet Davy, he would maybe put her on his insurance plan so she could be fully covered. I bet his health insurance is awesome.

I realize i never talk politics to you, that's because I hate politics. So I am not up for a political debate here, I'm just angry. OK....enough of this crap, I'm gonna turn this around......

You know the "when life hands you lemons" saying, well I was handed a a whole grove it seems. So it's now time to mass produce this lemonade stuff. Maybe i can sell it and pay for my Insurance?

 Not to sound like a total brat, I must acknowledge the blessings that were giving to me this year as well. I know there were many.

First, my Davy is alive and well. We had a close call this year that will permanently be ingrained in my mind. I know that each day with Davy is a blessing, even when I am exhausted and she's being naughty. After having our little scare, I called up our dear cousin, Amelia, and said, we need family pictures asap. It's been too long and i don't want to regret not having pictures of my beautiful girl. So here are a couple(more like a ton) of her beautiful images she took. 

Oh Max....

 

I am so glad i got this picture with my davygirl

 

 Second, we bought a house!!! I didn't think it was going to happen. The market completely changed after we sold our house. We found a perfect home that was meant to be ours. The previous owners had a special needs son, so we made an instant connection and they chose us to buy their beautiful home. It is so nice to not live in a small box. we have plenty of room. I even have a closet that is empty......for now anyway. Once we get things all fixed up. I'll show you some before and after shots. but for now i leave you with these.

                                           If you love Amelia's pictures as much as I do, go to her( blog )right now. She may be giving away a photo shoot for donations to help out a family you might know. Plus you can spend hours looking at her blog. It's candy for the eyes. 
 I'll try not to be a stranger this time.

High Fives

On November 5th, Harper turned five. Of course we did are usually traditions, streamers, crown and your pick of breakfast. (Breakfast was Doughnuts and pancakes) 

Harper has been waiting all summer for his special day. Like, he asked me 

every single day.  We had a simple day planned of Wreck it Ralph with his Homies and then off to Farrell's with the family. It was a lot of fun. It doesn't take much to make this guy happy. Harper is definitely are wild child, but underneath he is a real big sweetheart.  He is so loving to me and to Davy. He is very sensitive. But he is also a jokester.  He loves to make people laugh, which can get him in a little bit of trouble sometimes.

Our Birthday hat has taken a beating, birth   y?

The creepy clown sings Happy Birthday 

Harper wanted me to bring Chocolate chip cookies for his class.

 Harper now

Favorite color- Green
Favorite show- Fairly odd parents
Favorite movie- Batman
Favorite food- Spaghetti and meatballs
Favorite thing to play- My old batman that broke
Who are your homies- Finn, Franco, Ruby, Clyde, Sloan and Barrett
What do you want to be when you grow up- I want to have a job working on a computer
Favorite dessert- Ice cream
School subject- P.E
What is the meaning of life- I don't even know what meaning means!

Love you Harper!

You know that one friend that you don't see for years and then when you do see them, it's like they never left. Can we just be like that? I know it seems like years since I last wrote but life has been a little hard. I hope you are still there.
 I will now try to play catch up. We are still with the in laws and cross you're fingers, I think it might change soon.
I had the most low key Thanksgiving day of my life. It was My family, My brother in laws family and a cousins family. 6 adults and 10 kids. That is crazy small for us(remember were both from large Mormon families). It was really nice, I didn't do a thing except make cranberry sauce. My dear sister in law and best friend did it all. 
You see, we had a bit of a crisis two days earlier. Like our craziest yet. Monday morning I woke up to Davy tapping on my face. Which means she climbed out of her crib and opened her door, that is not easy for her to do. I pulled her into my bed to cuddle and she fell asleep. That should have been my first warning that something was wrong but you know i was thinking, Score I get to sleep in! 
20 minutes later, Davy bolts up, stares into space and then starts screaming. My first thought was nightmare. But then she did it again. I run to Scott and she does it again and we can tell she not seeing us. So I think, did she go blind?!! She does it yet again, we go downstairs to get her shot and I run to get my phone so I can video it for the Doctors. As I start to leave Scott he yells my name and I turn to see the most Horrific thing in my life. Davy is out, she's grey and her whole body starts to shake.
I run to call 911, throw my cell at Ollie and say call Beth. I then yell for Max to get her shot and I tell myself to remain calm, I don't scare the boys. 
Now we wait for the ambulance......We can't tell if she's breathing..........We all kneel and say a prayer,
The 911 team and Beth come at the same time. They give her oxygen, ask some questions and then I'm on a gurney and my lifeless daughter is put in my arms. Worst moment ever.
On the way to the hospital they test her blood sugar and it's a 38( crazy low). They need to put an IV in her asap. I'm thinking, no way in this moving car and with her hidden veins. But that beautiful Medic miraculously gets it in first try, truly a miracle. We get to St Jude's and I'm told she had a seizure. Which would be her first.
 I right now want to tell any Mom who has a child that has seizures, that I am truly truly sorry for what you have to go through. You are amazing in my eyes. Seizures are so unnatural and scary, you are so helpless. It would be so hard to deal with that.
SO with this news we are on another ambulance being sent to our second home, CHOC. The nurses all know us and joke that they should reserve a room for us. That would be nice if it was a single room, with no roommate, like that ever happens.
Let the tests begin!! As awful as this was, we really did end up with the best outcome. Davy is not epileptic, nothing going on neurologically. She is hypoglycemic and it was a perfect storm of things that made it so deadly. She had a cough(remember she doesn't handle sickness well), she ate early and we did her growth hormone shot earlier that night. And that shot regulates her whole body and that includes her blood sugar. 
Now we have to be on top of her eating and check her blood when things don't seem right. We can do this, not so bad, right?
Davy bounced back to her old self pretty quickly and we ended up being home in time for Thanksgiving. 
I can say I have never been more thankful on any previous Thanksgivings. It was so good to be home and have our Davygirl with us. This was such a wake up call to how fragile my Davy is. I think I have kinda slacked and have loosened up when it comes to her and this experience has reminded me how careful I need to be.

When she first woke up

Davy's ride to CHOC

EEG

SOmeone is ready to go

Happy to be home

When I got home, I talked with Max and Ollie and told them how amazing they were. They were so quick and helpful in such a huge crisis. I asked them if they were scared because it would be OK to be scared.
Max said the scariest part was, that I was acting so normal when it seemed like Davy wasn't breathing.
Hah, so my trying to remain calm backfired, go figure.
Just so you know, we are all doing well now, Davy has been extra naughty since she's been home. So it's business as usual.
Hope all is well with you. I'll try not to be a stranger.

I saw this video via Design Mom and i wanted to share it, just in case you don't follow her. It's a bunch of parents of special needs kiddos sharing messages to themselves basically. It's what they would of said to themselves on the day they found out there child's diagnosis. I loved it and agreed with all of the messages. I especially liked the one that said, God will give you more then you can handle, it's ok to be mad about it. That's just nice to hear, ya know? I mean you can't spend the rest of your life mad, but your allowed some time to be ticked off. Anyways i hope you watch it. 

some time in June

In early June we went to the Emmy's again and it did not disappoint. Actually it did, that dang Sesame street won everything. While the actual show was suuuuuper boring, It was pretty fun to get dressed up and see some Gabba friends. 

Another day in June, Davy had deflux surgery on her bladder, so she won't get those awful UTI's anymore. It was a one day deal, she was grouchy for about 2 days and then back to her usual self. I really wanted this surgery to happen cuz she's been on a daily antibiotic, has had to get those awful tests done(VCUG) and she's been hospitalized 3 times for UTI's. So now we can say good riddance to all of those.  Yeah!!!

Davy had to wear her TuTu for surgery day. She had the nurses in the palm of her hand.

This is the before and after picture of her Ureter. Isn't it pretty? Only a special needs Mom be proud of this shot.

Anyways, all is going well here Grandpads house. We still are on the house hunt. I am getting pretty discouraged. There seems to be no houses for sale. Hopefully we will find something soon cuz I miss my Juicer and it's packed away in storage.

Oliver got baptized

Oliver Ben got baptized On Saturday June 2. This is a very big deal in the Mormon religion. Oliver has been looking forward to it ever since Max was dunked. I mean he has talked about it A LOT. You usually get baptized right when you turn 8, but Ollie waited a couple of months cuz we knew the whole family would be down and Ollie could celebrate with his cousins. What we didn't know was that we'd be moving the next week. Oh well, that stressful chapter is over and this post is about my beautiful boy.

At first Ollie didn't think he could wait until June. I asked him, why?(cuz i really wanted him to wait)

He told , Mom, you know that special feeling you get at a baptism? Well, I want that too.

He knows just the right thing to say sometimes. The only reason why he ended up waiting was for his cousins.  He really wanted them to be there.

 I believe from here on out, I will never get a good picture of my family. It's litereally impossible.

                                Bow tie courtesy of Colt and Abi. He felt very grown up in it.

                                                     Oliver's best cousins, Rocky and Eliza.

 This was during my hurt back and Scott had the flu. He was throwing up all weekend. I think we pulled it off pretty well. Special thanks to Harry and Nancy catering it for us, it was nice to not have to worry about food.

Oliver, I couldn't be prouder of the choice you have made to be baptized. You are a very good example to me.  I love being your Mom. I hope you never forget the way you felt on this day.