Pics from our fun fall weekend!

It turned out be the most gorgeous weekend ever and we took advantage of it. Friday afternoon we drug Livi out to the zoo, and though she slept part of the time, Brian and I had a fantastic time walking and hanging out. The animals were ok too :) Especially the new polar bear exhibit, which I will have to say is actually pretty cool.

(FYI: this is the polar bear swimming laps)

Saturday morning we went to the City Market and though it was pretty cool outside, it was sunny and wonderful. Fall is so idyllic and we did lots of the quintessential fall things...including watching the expected but still heartbreaking loss of Arkansas to Alabama Saturday afternoon. A thanks and shout out goes to Tabetha for making and sending this stink'n adorable bow Livi is wearing on game day. Thanks, girl!

Enjoy the pics.

Hello again, Jack

So, am I the only one that didn't know Jack Johnson did a children's CD? Well, if I'm not, here it is...

You can get it almost anywhere, apparently. And I definitely plan to get it. This way Olivia and I both get our way while we are making dinner. I am constantly listening to Jack Johnson and now Olivia can enjoy it more as well while she is playing. The songs are really cute and interesting. Not too "kiddie" not to be entertaining for parents too.

Woo Pig!

What a great week! Olivia had several wonderful days in a row with no or very few seizures and lots of smiles. Brian had a VERY hectic week, but since I am feeling much better I could keep myself entertained for the better part of the week.

On Monday Livi had therapy at the hospital and she did great! She loves to roll around, but since she already can do that, she was made to stand and try crawling upstairs. Even when I was the prize at the top of the four stairs, there were tears, snot, and slobber coming from all over that girls face, but she did great! I think since her progress is so much faster now, we will be moving therapy at the hospital to once a week. Next week she will also be getting a feeding evaluation in addition to physical therapy to see if we can start feeding her some yet.

On one of Brian's late working nights Livi and I read lots of book to calm down before bedtime. I knew it was a bad idea, but we read this book anyway...

I think my first encounter with this book must have been through that scholastic book club in elementary school. I remember it being kind of sad then. WAY, WAY, WAY sadder when you're a mom and you have some experience under your belt. This time I was the one with tears, and snot, and slobber. Olivia just kept looking at me like, "is that what the book says to do?"

At the risk of making most of you despise me, I become someone else on Saturdays in the fall--college football crazy lady. Especially yesterday, when my team played on TV--and won! We may be Kansas City residents, but we will always be Razorback fans in our hearts. If you don't want to be severely disappointed with my conduct around my child, I suggest you skip our house on Saturdays for a while. Also, thanks grandpa for supplying the new Hog shirts for Olivia. Yes, shirts. The jersey will have its debut next week when we are on TV again, this time tangling with the national champions at our house. Go Hogs!

As a side note, Olivia's nap time also happened to be kickoff time, so we put her to bed right after this picture. Note the excitement on her face.

Also, Saturdays, this one in particular at my parent's house, also happened to be "no makeup Saturday" for me. Enjoy...yeesh!

Reason for the absence

I've been thinking about this post for a while now. Thinking how much I would say. What I would say. I guess I'll tell the whole thing...

On Aug 5 (which happens to be our anniversary) Brian and I found out that we were pregnant with our second baby. We were excited, but apprehensive. Unlike our pregnancy with Olivia, we have recently known several families who have miscarried and so we were careful about telling people for a few weeks. I was very sick with fatigue and nausea (thats actually why I went to the doctor, not expecting that we were--expecting) and could hardly get off the couch or out of the bathroom to take care of Olivia. We took this as a good sign, that my hormones were crazy. About a week and half ago I went in for a check up and found out that we were over nine weeks pregnant and there was a heartbeat on the sonogram. My doctor said now our chance of miscarriage was 3%. We were ecstatic. The next day I went to the imaging center to get a specific due date and not only was there no heartbeat, but the chest cavity was filled with fluid. The baby had not made it.

Being the day before a long weekend made things difficult. My doctor called while we were at the center and gave us our options...wait to see if my body would miscarry on its own, initiate the miscarriage with drugs, or a dnc. The drugs were supposed to have a high rate of success so I chose the medicine, but would not take it until the week since my family had already planned to be in all weekend. After a great weekend with my family Tuesday came and all of the realities of the previous week with it. I was physically unable to take the pills Tuesday--it just didn't sit well with me. Finally Wednesday I took the medicine and started to miscarry a few hours later. I went in for a sonogram a few days later and they confirmed that I had passed all of the tissue.

Since Wednesday I have spent almost all day on the couch. It was physically more crippling than actually giving birth in the long run. I am still recovering physically.

Emotionally Brian and I are doing mostly well. Of course we were devastated, especially considering the first sonogram. We did not understand--still do not understand what happened or what God has in store for our family. But if anything, the past year and a half has taught us so much about His sovereignty and our need for patience. We have spent the last week and a half celebrating the family we have--eachother and our darling little girl. We have already been given so much and are relishing in the wonderful weather and the time we have together.

We will appreciate any prayers. It is still difficult for me to take care of Olivia while Brian is gone at work and I cannot ask him to stay home any longer. Olivia is doing wonderfully--starting to kick to crawl and can now hold herself up on all fours--balance being a bit of an issue, but we'll get there. Brian will be getting busier and busier for the fall in the next few weeks. His Bible study at UMKC starts next week and we would LOVE for that to go well. Promise, promise, promise I will post more pictures of the fam, especially Olivia soon and we will be posting more often now. Thanks for the brief break.

Rolling and rolling and rolling....

Thats whats been going on at our house. Olivia LOVES to roll over now and spends all of her time doing that...on the floor, when you're holding her, in her chair...(this makes mommy a little nervous)

The rolling and trying to creep takes so much energy she is taking some very good naps and sleeping 12 hrs at night (YAY!) We'll have more pictures after this weekend with my family who will be in town.