T'was the Night Before Christmas-a mom's version.

I found this as a comment on Kellys Korner and I had to post it...this is so true! There are some days I just love Olivia SO much that I can't get enough hugs and kisses in, I just want to hug her so tight I'm afraid her head might pop off! Then there are other days when I just want to send her to Grandmas, she's into everything, she won't listen, she's fussy and just makes me very upset. But she knows this and usually needs a kiss or a snuggle and that makes everything alright again. Being a mom is not an easy job and those who think it is must have nanny's 24/7 to help them and are only around for the fun things. I'm sorry but that is NOT parenting at all! So this is to all the mommys out there. Enjoy!!

It was the night before Christmas, when all through the abode
Only one creature was stirring, and she was cleaning the commode.
The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds,
While visions of Nintendo and Barbie, flipped through their heads.
The dad was snoring in front of the TV,With a half-constructed bicycle on his knee.
So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter,
Which made her sigh, "Now what's the matter?"
With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand
,She descended the stairs, and saw the old man.
He was covered with ashes and soot, which fell with a shrug.
"Oh great!!" muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."
"Ho-Ho-Ho!!" cried Santa, "I'm glad you're awake.
Your gift was especially difficult to make."
"Thanks, Santa, but all I want is some time alone."
"Exactly!!" he chuckled, "I've made you a clone."
"A clone?" she asked, "What good is that?Run along, Santa. I've no time for chit-chat."
It was the mother's twin.Same hair, same eyes, same double chin.
She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess.
You'll relax, take it easy, watch the Young and the Restless."
"Fantastic!!" the mom cheered. "My dream come true!
I'll shop. I'll read. I'll sleep a whole night through!"
From the room above, the youngest began to fret.
"Mommy?!? I'm scared, and I'm wet.
"The clone replied, "I'm coming, sweetheart."
"Hey," the mom smiled, "She knows her part.
"The clone changed the small one, and hummed a tune,
As she bundled the child, in a blanket cocoon.
"You're the best mommy ever. I really love you.
"The clone smiled and sighed, "I love you, too."
The mom frowned and said,
"Sorry, Santa, no deal.That's my child's love that she's trying to steal."
Smiling wisely Santa said, "To me it is clear,Only one loving mother is needed here."
The mom kissed her child, and tucked her into bed.
"Thank you, Santa, for clearing my head.
I sometimes forget it won't be very long,When they'll be too old, for my cradle-song."
The clock on the mantle began to chime.
Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time."

I hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas! And remember that Jesus Christ is the REASON for the SEASON!

Olivia loves Sesame Street

I don't think I have ever mentioned Livvy's LOVE of Sesame Street...she is seriously in LOVE with this show. Luckily we have on Demand with our cable service and PBS Sprout is one of the channels so a few times a day Livvy gets to watch "Play with me Sesame" and this is her typical reaction, she always gets excited when she watches it. Oh my how I love her sooo much!

Happy Birthday to Olivia!

Here is a video of us Singing"Happy Birthday to You" to Livvy at her party!

A Few Updates...

OK, I have not been posting because I can't figure out how to add pictures and it not take forever...sooo...if anyone can explain to me how to add pictures directly from photobucket into blogger that would be great. For now I have been uploading them to photobucket and then copying the Html directly into the post and then shrinking the pictures themselves right in the post...it doesn't take as long to do it this way as opposed to using the blogger upload. That takes forever!!!

Alright, now to my updates. Olivia is done with her shoes/brace!!! She no longer has to wear them at night or ever :))) I can't tell you how extremely happy this makes us!! What a pain the the butt that was, every single night fighting with her trying to get them on tight enough and listening to her beat the hell out of her crib. (Kevin was very upset about that, he spend literally weeks making that crib) I was so excited that I went out and bought her her first pair of footed jammies! Yes she had footed jamies but never could wear them :( I was so happy to put her in them that first night and she slept very well. We go back in six months to see if her feet are still ok. I am praying that we will be done with that Doctor...he still creeps me out, not to mention when I go in he stares at my boobs, NO JOKE!!

Another awesome update is that after four (yes I said FOUR 4!!) failed attempts I finally passed the Praxis II (teacher test) You see, when I graduated Highschool in 2001 (yes I am old...so what?!) and started my first year of college I never would have imagined that in 9 years I would still be plugging away at my Elementary Education degree. Moving to Alaska totally screwed up my college career, UAA (University of Alaska Anchorage) SUCKS at accepting transfers even from their own system!! So basically I had to start over and for the first two years I was only able to take 1 class at a time because if I took more I would have to pay out of state tuition at $400 per credit hour but if I took less than 3 credit hours I could pay instate tuituion at $100 per credit hour until I became a resident. In February of this year I applied for my last leg of my Elementary Education degree my YEAR LONG internship. Well I still hadn't passed my Praxis II and needed that in order to be admited into the internship program. They (College of Education at UAA) let me take a few classes this summer with the assumption that I would pass the Praxis II so I took 4 of them. Well I didn't pass the test and so they put a complete stop to my education until I passed the test. I couldn't do my internship, I couldn't take any classes nothing! Oh did I mention that I only needed 2 points?? 2 FRIGGING POINTS!!! Oh and that the passing score for the State of Alaska is 143 and UAA requires a 163 and that I passed by Alaska requirements everysingletime???? Yeah, so I took the stupid test one more time and I finally passed it! I got the two points I needed! So, I will finally start my internship in the Fall of 2011, TEN years after I started college!
I look at it as a blessing to have been able to spend this time at home with Olivia, I prayed about it and asked God to help me do the right thing, He knew I wasn't ready to leave her and this happened!

Keep checking back for more pictures and posts!
Have a great day!!!

Stephanie

Happy FIRST Birthday Miss Olivia!

I am such a horrible blogger...it's been almost over a month since Livvy's first birthday and I am just now updating about her party. AHHH! Anyway, Olivia turned ONE on November 9 and that night we had Kevin's mom Connie over for dinner and a special cupcake for Livvy. I made baked ziti (a fav. around here) and we went and bought a gourmet cupcake for our birthday girl! She ate so much that night that I thought she was going to pop, instead she puked, lovely I know lol! She had no problem digging into her cupcake at all! She has such a sweet tooth and loves to feed herself. After eating she opened our presents, we just bought her some clothes and a few little things, nothing big. We figured that when she is a little older we will buy her bigger items, for now she has no idea what a birthday is so why go all out? We let others buy the bigger things for her this year.





Above is the card Kevin gave to Livvy, it says "Olivia, A year ago today, I was given the greatest gift I ever recieved. Being your dad has been the best thing I have ever experienced. I love you more and more everyday. Love Dad"...yeah I cried...hard! I am such a sap and both of them make me more of a sap :) I just love my little family!

For her party we rented the Kendall Park Building, a very nice small building with awesome slate heated floors (which were awesome considering it snowed the night before!) and huge indoor grill and tons of windows. I knew I wanted to do a "Fall" themed party because if you don't live in Alaska...November is still Fall haha! We had pumpkins and leaves and all things fall every where!! It was so cute! I made two pumpkin shaped cakes, Livvy's was smaller but perfect for her. I wanted to have a big lunch for everyone but didn't want to do hot dogs or hamburgers (maybe in the Summer) so I decided on a soup and sandwich bar, it was soooo good! We made mooseburger soup, chicken noodle and smoked salmon chowder, with several different kinds of grilled cheese, no one left hungry! The kids did some crafts which turned out so cute! My favorite one was they had to trace their hands and wrists on brown foam and cut them out then glue on fabric leaves to make hand trees! So cute! Livvy tore into her cake and made a huge mess but she had so much fun and totally knew what to do with that cake haha! She needed a bath afterwards so we bathed her in the sink. I think her party was a success and I know she loved it too! So glad that we were able to do such a special party for our very special baby girl!

I took small pumpkins and put in a picture for every month of her life.

Getting ready to blow out her candle!

I had her little shirt made. My best friends cousin makes custom bows and shirts, I emailed her and told her what I had in mind and she came up with this...I LOVE this shirt!! It is better than I could have ever dreamed! If you would like to have shirts or bows made for your kiddos look her up on facebook Avie Lus Custom Hairbows and Accessories (you can click on the underlined link to access her FB page) She is awesome!

She ate so much of her cake! And she shared it with me too :) I love being a mommy!!

I will leave you with this last picture from her Party. This is her "Popeye" look :) She is adorable!HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!! We love you so much and are so happy we have been trusted by God to be your parents! I am excited to see how much you have changed on your second birthday!

*All pictures from her party were taken by my dear friend and neighbor Katie Cannon Photography

T'was the night before Olivia's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!...

Yes, that is right folks...I'm back and it is the day before our Livvy girls turns ONE YEAR OLD!!! Am I really ready for this?? No! I am sad that she is growing up so fast but happy that we have made it through the first year of her life after thinking that it may never happen...EVER! Lets recap the last year shall we??
Olivia Morgan Sager came into the world on November 9, 2009 at 8:18 am via scheduled C-Section (Best decision EVER!!) She weighed 8 lbs 11.4 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long she was very big and the Dr's said she wasn't gonna come out any time soon. She unfortunatley lost a lot of weight at first and almost didn't get to come home with us but she gained and was able to go home on November 13 (Friday the 13th do do do...) We spent the next 2-3 weeks scheduling her feedings and waking her up every 2-3 hours at night to feed her, supplimenting her with formula and going to the Dr and hospital everyday for weight checks. Being a new mom, I was a nervous wreck. At 3 months we took Livvy on her first vacation to visit Nanny and Gogga in Missouri and to have her baptized by the wonderful pastor who married us. What a fun trip that was, we went to Branson and even to see a Beatles tribute band. I loved showing my sweet baby girl off :) While we were there though, mom noticed that her left foot was turning, she just mentioned that I should have it looked at next time we go in...little did I know what was to follow...I showed her ped. her foot at her 3 month check up, she had said that it was strange that it happened now and referred us to a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon in Anchorage and said she hadn't see a baby in corrective shoes, he would probably just look at it and send us home...not so much! He casted both legs from the bottoms to her feet to the tops of her thighs...then he wanted us to take our 5 month old in for an MRI...yeah that didn't sit well with me (read the last post to see how that all turned out) after 1 week we were able to take off one of the casts, and by 2 weeks she was completely out of casts and went straight into her corrective shoes...they were/are awful! She wore them for about 2 month all day then went to 12 hours a day, basically at night, and is still wearing them at night. We go in next month to have a check up and I am praying we can be done with them...they are such a pain to put on her. I would be so nice to just put her in some footed jamies and put her to bed but NO, she has to wear the 2 piece jammies and we have to put a onesie under them because, lets face it, we live in Alaska and it gets cold at night. It is definately a process to get her ready. In August Gogga came to visit for 10 whole days! It took a little persuading from me to get him here because he didn't want to leave mom behind but lets face it...they don't get to see her very often so it was much needed! We had an amazing time with him here, we went to the Alaska Heritage Museum and to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where a caribou was VERY interested in Livvy, he kept sticking his snout towards her and trying to figure out what this little strange thing was. We giggled and laughed a lot and just enjoyed our time together. In September Kevin had a whole week off of work and so we took one day at travelled down to Seward for the day...a 4 hour drive but a beautiful scenic drive. The leaves were changing and were absolutley beautiful!! We visited the Sea Life Center where we saw all kinds of COOL animals, all of which Livvy called "DUGS!!" aka dogs. We strolled through the then sleepy town, ate gelato, salt water taffy and some delicious Greek and Italian food and when we were ready, we drove back home. It was such a great memory that I am so glad we were able to make together. Halloween came around and I knew I wanted Livvy to be something that I could put a bow in (lets face it...she's gonna go to her prom with bows in her hair HAHAHA!) So I finally decided that she could go as Olivia the piglet (there is a cartoon on Nick JR, and several childrens books for those who didn't know) all she wears is a red jumper dress and red and white under shirt and stockings, I made her ears and sewed them onto a hat, made her a pillowcase dress and had her name embroidered on it...hey she would be able to wear it other than for Halloween! and my neighbor gave me some footed jammies that her kiddos had out grown that were...red and white stripped!! PERFECT!! She was so cute! We went out with our neighbors around the neighborhood but it was mighty cold and windy, needless to say Livvy ended up in Kevin's coat the entire night :)
Lets see here, that pretty much put everything into a nut shell....Oh, we discovered that she is allergic to apples...really? Apples? who is allergic to apples?? And you know what? There are apples in EVERYTHING!! We had a heck of a time trying to find food that she could eat that didn't have apples in it. I am hoping that she outgrows it. Nothing life threatning happens to her if she eats them but she breaks out in an excema rash all over...now, I don't know what it is like to have excema but from what I have heard it itches like the dickens and not being able to scratch your itch would not be fun so we just avoided them.
She has 2 bottom teeth and her top ones are RIGHT THERE...trying to come out and honestly I would have never known she was teething! She is such a tough little bird (as my dad calls her) she hardly ever makes a fuss over anything so you know if she does cry...it's BIG!
She is crawling and into EVERYTHING!! I love this stage but honestly she wears me out, her favorite word is "no no"...you can understand why!
She eats everything we eat and boy can she eat...she eats a lot! But she is still so skinny, at her last Dr.s appointment she was only in the 53% for her weight but was off the charts in height (well DUH!!).
We are so over the top IN LOVE with this little girl and we are so thankful that God has given her to us and has chosen us to be her parents! We are so thankful and have loved every minute of being her parents. Heres to another year with our baby girl!!!

It's my decision!

Alright so yesterday was supposed to be the day we took Livvy in for her MRI. On Monday we went in to see the Dr. and he said she no longer needed casts YAY!!! But he kept pushing the issue of her needing to have an MRI, "I don't think there is anything wrong but I just want to check". That just didn't sit well with me. When we returned home from Anchorage the PICU nurse had called and wanted me to return her call to talk about the MRI the next day. When I called her back we were talking and she asked it Livvy had any medical problems, I explained that she has reflux and tracheomalacia her response "Oh thats good to know, thanks for letting me know that" I know that anytime you are put under you run the risk of stopping breathing so I asked "does this mean she is at a higher risk for stopping breathing" her response"...yes" I started crying, I had been fighting back tears since I first started talking to her, I was so scared to begin with and now this!? She continued on with the risks and what they would do if anything did happen to her. She reminded me that Providence is the best childrens hospital in Alaska and she would be worked on by the best Dr.s in Alaska. Then she asked why she was having an MRI, I am sure in her mind it was something very important but when I told her "because her feet are turning in, the Dr. has said he doesn't think there is anything wrong but he just wants to check" she got quiet, I am sure she was thinking the same thing I was, why put a 5 month old through this when you have no reason to really suspect anything is even wrong? She went on about how the procedure would work and I continued to cry. I asked if they had to do the sedation, if they could just let her sleep through it, she said no it was too noisy and she wouldn't sleep. Then she said something that caught my attention, something I had never thought about..."You are the mom Stephanie, you have everyright to say I don't want to do this." I thought , I am her mom! I should have some say in what happens to my daughter! She told me that even if they are just about to put her IV in I can say no and leave, no questions asked! Once we hung up I talked it over with Kevin, he said I needed to call the Dr. and let him know my concerns. Of course he said we needed to have this done and she would be fine and there is a 1 in 400,000 chance that something could happen. 1 in 400,000 chance is too much in my book! I told them I would call them after the procedure and let them know how it went. The day continued on like normal, we went to dinner and I kept telling Kevin, I don't feel right about this, I don't want to do this. He kept telling me, she will be fine, quit worrying...I couldn't quit! So that evening I was getting Olivia ready for bed and I kept telling her how tomorrow we were going to go into Anchorage and she was going to have an owie in her arm and then she would fall asleep but when she woke up we would be right there (yes I know 5 month olds don't understand but it made me feel better) and I started thinking what if, what if something happend, what if the Dr. was right there really wasn't anything there. I started crying again uncontrolably and was hugging Olivia so tight. Kevin came in and told me she would be fine and I finally said it..."I am not going to do it! I am not taking her in tomorrow" he said "FINE! Then call the hospital and let them know you aren't going to do it!" We talked for quite a while and I told him my worries, why put her and myself through this when there is not really any reason to think there is anything wrong? He started to see where I was coming from and agreed that as parents it is ultimately our decision. That was that, she wouldn't have an MRI. I called Connie to let her know and she told me they didn't agree with the MRI either but didn't want to say anything because again, we are her parents. I called the hospital first thing in the morning, I begged Kevin to call the Dr. and tell them, I was afraid they would be upset with our decision and would make me feel like I am a bad mother. He wouldn't call, he told me to be a big girl and do it, in the nicest way possible. I called and of course they were dissapointed but understood it was my decision. I felt like 30 lbs had been lifted off my shoulders. Kevin and I talked about this Dr. I noticed that the first time we took her in he immediately said MRI and as we were leaving there was another little girl being scheduled for an MRI as well, something didn't seem right! We are under the impression that for every patient he sends over he gets a kick back of some sort. I decided to call another Orthopaedist here in Palmer to see if they do second opinions. When the receptionist asked what was going on I explained to her the whole ordeal and she was shocked! They never send people in for MRIs unless there is a definite reason to do so, not "just to see" and they almost never send babies in because it is so hard on them! I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. How had we been so stupid to have not seen what this guy was doing to us? After I got off the phone with them the original Dr. called they wanted to know the name of the nurse I talked to because she "shouldn't be scaring parents into not doing procedures". That was it! I was furious! The sweet nurse I talked to didn't "scare" me in any way, she was doing her job! She told me the risks involved in putting a baby under or anyone under for that matter! We have made the decision to switch Dr's to the one out here in Palmer. Hopefully they can set everything straight with Livvy. I hope you all can see where we are coming from in this matter. Being a Mom is so hard and having to make decisions like this is even harder!

"Call me when you're done"

Tuesday (the day before my 27th birthday) Kevin gets up early, just like he does on his days off, and comes to get his cell phone and says "I missed a call" so he calls the number back and says "this is Kevin Sager, I missed a call from you"...then he comes in and says "that was AIH my table saw has been recalled, I guess I wasn't the only one who has had problems with it, I had to go up there between 12:30 and 1" I knew that Livvy had a chiropractor appointment at 1:30 but I really didn't care to go to AIH...BORING!! But he asked if I wanted to go and then we could go to Livvy's appointment afterwards, all of us needed a tune up anyway. So we headed into Wasilla and did a few errands before heading to AIH. We were about halfway there when he says "I forgot the paperwork I need for the table saw, we have to go back home" and he turns into a parking lot. I told him he didn't have enough time, it was 12:45 and we were at least 20 mins from home. He said he didn't care, he would drive fast. The he stops at the door of this building which at this point I realize is a day spa and he says "I lied, I don't have to go to AIH, my table saw wasn't recalled you are getting a massage and pedicure for your birthday have fun and call me when you are done" I was shocked, I kept saying "shut up!" he said the only way he could get me there without me asking questions was to say we were going to AIH. What a nice birthday suprise! I got a relaxing 30 minute massage and a wonderful pedicure. It was very nice to get away and relax all by myself! Thank you so much babe! You totally made my day!!

Oh just to add to it, I had to have a wisdom tooth pulled the day before, Kevin had a dentist appointment that day as well so he asked the dentist if I would be OK to get a massage, he said it should be OK but to check with the day spa, so he had to make another trip to the spa the day before...how sweet!!! I love you!!

Livvy's First Easter

April 4th 2010 was Olivia's first Easter, the day before we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a church down to road from us. She had a lot of fun and was a hit, everyone thought she was so pretty (we think so but it is always nice to hear it from others). The next day she woke up to see what the Easter Bunny had brought her. She got all kinds of goodies! A dog that reads stories, an outfit, several books Alice in Wonderland DVD and lot of other stuff. We went to church and listened to a great sermon, it really got me thinking. It was about letting go and letting God take care of things in our lives. I started thinking about Livvy's feet and how it was really out of our hands and in God's hands. When we were leaving I told Kevin I was thinking about that and he said he was too, CRAZY! That afternoon we went to Grandma and Papa's for Easter dinner and more Easter Bunny gifts. We had a great time, I am so excited for next year when she will be walking around and looking for eggs all by herself :) Happy Easter Baby girl!!

Here we are at the Easter Egg Hunt

I made her dress (with a little help from my Mom) it's called a "pillowcase dress" very easy and very cute on!

Livvy with an Easter Egg, I had to put it in her hand then put it in her basket, I think she had fun, either way she looked darn cute doing it!

Our little Princess :)

All her eggs, we had a lot fun!

All of her goodies from the Easter Bunny

Checking out her books with dad

Another book, this one was a soft stuffed book "Chicken Little" do you think she looks excited about it?

Update on Casts and MRI

Olivia was scheduled to have her MRI on Thursday April 8th at Mat-Su Regional which is just up the road from us. I wanted to have it there because that is where she has had all of her procedures done, where she was born and where I felt the most comfortable. Well, less than a week before her MRI we get a phone call from Mat-Su saying that they don't do sedation on babies under the age of 6 months which meant no MRI at Mat-Su...why didn't they say anything when we first scheduled the appointment?? SO I called the Dr. and let them know that if we had to have it in Anchorage it would have to be a Providence because that is where our Insurance prefers, so we are scheduled for April 20th and I am still scared to death! Providence has an excellent pediatric care unit if anything happens she will be there (please pray nothing happens!) and they also have pediatric anestheologists so they are used to sedating babies, that makes me feel a little better. I will update after we get home on Tuesday on how everything went. I am really hoping they have something they can give her in her bottle or to drink that will make her sleepy instead of an IV :(
Alright now onto the casts. Last Friday we were able to take her casts off because she had an appointment that morning to have her feet looked at. When we removed her right cast we were shocked at how straight her feet were! They looked so good! Her left foot was looking much better too! When we took her in to the Dr. he was suprised by how fast her feet moved back and said she didn't even need a cast on her right leg just to stretch it and keep an eye on it. (remember we were told at least 5 weeks of casting) He casted her right foot and scheduled an appointment that afternoon to be measured for her brace. So far so good! On Monday she goes back in to have her feet looked at again so she gets her left cast off and a good hot bath! I am praying she can keep that cast off and go right to her brace (which is in and ready to be fitted and picked up!) and that she doesn't have to have her right leg casted again. So excited at how fast this is going for her :) Please keep her in your prayers!!

Giveaways

I am doing something I NEVER do! I am blogging about a giveaway. What you have to do is talk about this giveaway on your blog and link to it and your name gets put into the drawing. So here I am blogging about this cool giveaway on Megan's blog She is giving away the coolest thing it is a custom made silver design from Julie the fish I really like the necklace with the name and birthdate. If I win I will have Olivia's name and birthdate put on it. Wish me luck, oh, and if you like, check out Megans blog. She is pregnant with a sweet little boy with some serious heart problems. They (like us) struggled with infertility, and were blessed with baby Cohen and are praying he will be healthy enough to make it through the life saving surgeries needed. Please keep their family in your prayers!

Thanks for checking it out!

First night in her crib

Well, last night was Olivia's first night in her crib. I think she decided for me that she was done being cooped up in her bassinet. She has never had a problem until she had to have her legs casted and she wasn't able to curl up like she likes so, the last few nights she has been kicking her legs up and down and side to side and it has been keeping me up! So, lastnight was it. I made the decision to put her in her big girl crib. I was fine for about the first hour then I went to check on her and I cried. It made me so sad to see my baby in her big girl bed :( She didn't wake up at all, which was very nice and I had her video monitor (yes I am THAT mom!) set up so I could see her when I felt like I needed to. It was nice. I don't think I slept all that well because I remember listening to her while I was sleeping but it will get better over time. I remember sleeping like that when she was first born now I sleep really well. This morning she woke up crying but that was just because she needed her paci and we were already up, Kevin was getting ready for work and I was getting ready for her Dr's appt, I think she may have heard us talking and woke up. But she didn't want to wake up this morning at all!! I am hoping it gets easier having her in her big girl bed. Such a big step for this Mommy!

CASTS and an MRI?!?!?!

Yup, that's right Casts! (We'll get to the MRI thing in a minute) Olivia just had to inherit my funny feet. My feet turned in when I was little and I was put in corrective shoes. When Livvy was born I told the pediatrician about my feet issue and she made a note to check her feet every time we came in. She also said that she hasn't seen children in corrective shoes for a long time. Well, it happend! We went to Mom and Dad's and one of the first thing they noticed was that her feet were turning in. We had never noticed it, it literally happend over night! Her left foot was really turning in and was starting to curve into itself. So fast forward to the Monday after we returned from our vacation at Olivia's 4 month well baby check up. Let me just stop right there and tell your her awesome stats! She is growing so well, she is 14 lbs 5 oz (50%) and 27 and 1/4 inches long (99%, gee who would have thought right?)! She also got her 4 month shots and that was very hard on me, I had to leave the room and Kevin had to be with her.

OK, back to the casts...we asked the Pediatrician about her feet and she was obviously concerned. She gave us a referral to a Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon because this was something she has never seen before. I called right after we got home that afternoon and fortunatley they were able to get her in that Wed. The Dr. was so sweet and very concerned as well, he couldn't believe her feet moved that quickly and that her left arch was so tight. He said that normally they can do exercises to help stretch out the muscle and that should help a lot but her left foot was so bad that he could barely move it! Now for the MRI part. He said that even though I had this problem when I was a child, he wants to have her go in for an MRI on her spine to make sure there isn't anything on her spine that could be pulling on the tendon and causing her foot to move so fast. Because an MRI requires absolute stillness she has to be sedated which involves an IV. I was a mess!! Because the hospital was unable to get her in for a week the Dr. wanted to go ahead and cast her feet that day. The casts she has on are on both feet and go all the way up her thighs! She had just started putting her feet in her mouth and now she can't even bend her knees enough to get them to her mouth :( The casts are a special product by 3M just for babies. It is a softer "hard cast" that I can peel off once a week and then she will go back in to have it replaced. This was she doesn't have to deal with the scary cast saw and I can give her a real bath once a week (she gets sponge baths now). The Dr. thinks it will be about 5 weeks of casting and then she can get them off and move to the corrective shoes with a bar between. I am scared to death of the sedation process but if it is necessary we will do it. I am praying that there is nothing on her spine and that it is just a hereditary thing (which the Dr. thinks it is but wants to be sure). I will post how everything goes once we get home and settled on Thursday after her MRI.

Her left foot which is the worst

Right foot, not nearly as bad

Casting her left leg

Finished with the first

Casting her right leg.

Olivia's first trip to Nanny and Gogga's in Missouri

We just returned from our first trip to Missouri. We left on March 14th at 8 am and Olivia did GREAT on the plane! I was so worried she wouldn't be her sweet laid back self but she was exactly that! We lucked out on the flight to Chicago and got a row of 3 seats so we were able to put Olivia in her car seat in the window seat! She didn't really sleep a lot but was very content. Most people said they didn't even know she was on the plane! She was so good! We got her out every once in a while but when it got to bumpy we put her back. She enjoyed being snuggled and looking at all the people (we were right across from the bathroom, we saw LOTS of people) and she got lots of compliments too. When we got to Chicago we had to run to get to the next gate and made it just in time. We weren't able to get an extra seat on that flight but that was OK, it was only a hour long flight and Livvy and I snuggled and napped most of the flight. When we finally got to Missouri after 8 hours of travel we were exhausted and ready to see my parents. They greeted us at the airport along with my best friend Kim and her little family (Livvy's future husband and in-laws LOL!) I was nervous that Livvy wouldn't sleep very well, or that she would be on Alaska time (3 hours behind) but she went right to sleep and woke up the next morning right on time just like she was in Alaska...no problems! The first day we took Livvy to Bass Pro Shops AKA Kevin's favorite place to be in Springfield. She slept the whole time, must not have been as excited as her daddy to go LOL! her hat says "my first fishing hat" too cute!We went to my mom's work and met lots of her co workers and the residents there too, Olivia got LOTS of attention and lots of ohh and ahh's, she was a hit! We did a lot of running around and eating out. On St. Patrick's Day my sister (Olivia's Aunt Sissy) came to visit from Kansas City. We also went to Church that evening for a nice potluck dinner and then a short bible study in which Olivia decided she was tired and wanted to scream the whole time (how embarrassing!) Everyone there was so excited to see Livvy, and us too :) They all thought she looked just like Kevin (so do I). On Thursday, my sister, Mom, Olivia and myself had a girls afternoon and went shopping. I was in desperate need of work clothes for my internship this fall. I still have about 10-15 lbs to lost to be back to pre-baby weight...I WILL DO THIS! So I found some great sales and got lots of good stuff. We were all very tired and more than ready to go home after that. We finally got to enjoy a nice St. Paddy's day dinner of Yummy corned beef and potatoes...I could have eaten my weight in that! So good! On Friday it was a GLORIOUS 75 degress that day, it was the first time Livvy has been able to go outside in a sleeveless dress, no blanket and no socks! It was so awesome! My sister had to leave to head back to KC. We took off to Branson to do somemore shopping. We stopped at the Lee outlet and found LOTS of good deals! We then went down to the Branson Landing we stuck Livvy's feet in the fountain and watched a really funny couple of guys who do percussion using plastic barrels, it was a lot of fun! We ate at Famous Daves a yummy BBQ place (which Olivia slept through). After dinner we decided we needed some fudge from the fudge place. They were making a caramel nut fudge while we were in there and they gave us HUGE samples. We shared a bit with Olivia and she loved it. After we left the landing we were off to our show, we went to see a Beatles tribute band called "Liverpool Legends". It is a group that was put together by George Harrison's sister Louise, so you know it was good! They showed clips and had lots of interviews with Louise. Olivia LOVED the show, as did all of us! The singers sounded and looked just like the Beatles, it was so much fun! During intermission Louise came out and answered questions from the audience. It was really neat! During the show they invited everyone to come out into the aisle to dance. We took Livvy out and all took turns dancing with her and singing to her.

After the show we got to meet the singers and even had Olivia's picture taken with them, Paul even gave her a kiss! On Saturday after our wonderful warm day the day before, the temperature dropped and it started snowing and sleeting...welcome to Missouri! the next morning we headed off to Ash Grove for Olivia's Baptisim. We wanted to do it in the Church we were married in by the Pastor who married us but for some unforseen circumstances we were unable to do it at the church. We were blessed to have been accepted by the congregation who had never met us and yet made us feel so at home! Pastor Bill Havens preformed the service and it was very nice. This is the dress she wore. It is a ver special dress as it was the dress that both my sister and I were baptized in and it was made by my nanny out of my mom's 8th grade graduation dress. When Kevin got her dressed he was telling her how special it was and the story behind it. It melted my heart to see her wear something so special for such a special day. She looked beautiful! The next day after two of it being cold and snowy it warmed up to a wonderful upper 60 degrees again! We thought it was funny seeing my Dad wearing a jacket because it was "a little chilly" and there was a "slight breeze" we thought it felt great compared to the -14 temps the day before we left Alaska. We enjoyed the warm weather! My Uncle Mike and his girlfriend came over for dinner one night and brought Olivias some really cute clothes and also some yummy homemade chocolate cupcake with Irish Cream frosting, it was so yummy! That night Olivia started started grabbing a lot of things. She grabbed a pop can and was bringing it up to her lips, good thing it was empty! We had a great time and as always great company! Thursday afternoon brought an end to our vacation. We were lucky to get an extra seat again on the flight from Springfield to Chicago but our flight was late leaving due to winds in Chicago (it's not called the windy city for nothing!) We were told most of the flights in and out were delayed so we had hope that our flight to Anchorage would be too. Before the delay we were to have a two hour delay. When we arrived in Chicago, Kevin took off running for the next gate to see if it had been delayed too and let me with Olivia to gather all of our belongings and head across the airport to meet him. We ran to our next gate which happend to be all the way at the other end of the airport (why can't things be easier sometimes?). When I got to the gate area Kevin was at the check in counter and low and behold they were boarding!! They told us they didn't have any open rows and we could have to hold Livvy the whole flight on our lap. As we were starting down the gangway the ticketing agent called us back and told us that there was a row with two open seats and if the man next to us wanted to he could move up to that row. He happily agreed once he saw we had a baby :) It turns out that there were actually quite a few open rows on the plane due to people missing their connection. Olivia slept the whole way home and I was worried she wouldn't sleep that night. She did although she tried to wake up at 5 am (8 am Missouri time) I just kept putting her paci in and she slept until about 8:45! After that she was back on her Alaska schedule. We were so glad to be home and thankful that we were able to make the trip to show Olivia off and most of all have her baptized!

Here are a few other pictures from our trip.

Livvy and a big brown bear on one of our many trips to Bass Pro

Mommy and Livvy at Bass Pro

Daddy and Livvy at his favorite resturant Cracker Barrel

Livvy and Miss Rhonda (Kim's Mom) She has brain cancer so it was important they meet!

Livvy and Mommy