Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family this year. It was nice to just enjoy the quality time with everyone. On Thanksgiving we did an outing to the park with Grampapa. The kids had fun feeding the ducks and playing outside, it was a beautiful day. Calvin was like a kid in a candy store at the park because there were so many fun things to climb.

All this month we've been working on our Thankfulness Tree. I got the branches at MOPS and we decided that each day we'd write something we were thankful for on the tree. It was a fun family activity, and I think something we'll do in the coming years. Since Mia came up with almost all of the items, a large percentage were family related or animal related. Take a look.

Restoration

For the past few months we've been studying the book of Nehemiah at church. It's a book about restoration. So, every Sunday on the projection screen it says Nehemiah and under it, Restoration. I kept seeing Mia's name in the word Nehemiah and of course, restoration under it. I kept thinking, this is the theme of her life. She has such a neat story of restoration, how God has healed her in amazing ways that even the doctors we see can't explain. Many of you who read this blog know her story, in fact, so many of you have prayed for her and we are forever grateful. Some of you we have never met and you have faithfully prayed for our daughter, that is so humbling and amazing. Sometimes, I start to take for granted what God has done in her life, how far she has come and then something like this happens and it makes me reflect, to remember what God has done and I'm encouraged all over again at the power of our God. The doctors told us that she would "eat, breathe, smile, and laugh"...that she would never crawl, walk, talk, or understand what she sees...that she would have no higher cognitive function at all. We have a thriving 4 year old! She's a miracle. Praise God that He has chosen to heal her and use her as a testimony for Him. She still has some hurdles to overcome, but we've come a long way in these past 3 1/2 years...and we could only have come this far by the grace of God. What a work of restoration. Thank you Lord.

Awana Grand Prix

So, last Saturday (where has the time gone! I meant to blog about this sooner...) was the Awana Grand Prix. It's a fun event where kids get a block of wood that they need to cut, sand, paint and decorate into a car for the race. This is was our first year attempting the Awana Grand Prix and sadly, we waited until the last minute...but we got it done. So, we went with the generic shape they suggested (next year we will be much more creative seeing all the other cars that day.) Brad cut it out and Mia helped sand a bit, I painted the base coat and then Mia painted the top coat and added stickers...of what you ask, can you guess? Yup, Animals and ABC's and Numbers. To be expected. Anyway, she had a lot of fun making her car, but unfortunately, she didn't get to see it race. When she and Daddy went, the first race they did she got really upset with all of the loud cheering. So Daddy tried to explain that it was ok and prepare her for the next round, but again, she had a difficult time so he decided to not torture her and leave. Maybe next year. :)



When we got to Cubbies on Sunday, guess what?! Mia even won a prize. They gave her first in design. I guess those stickers paid off!



And of course Calvin, isn't this the cutest face ever! This kid is a climber. Anything and everything. The neat thing is that his signing has really taken off, along with his speech, but he now clearly communicates that he wants "More" of something and he'll even use "Please" which of course just seals the deal.

Another Day, Another Doctor

Today we were in Mission Viejo meeting with another ear, nose, throat doctor regarding Mia's blocked nostril. It was super informative, but he is not the doctor to do the surgery on Mia. He won't do it because he is now at a small community hospital and he thinks it should be done at a major university or children's hospital. He did give us a recommendation of another doctor down in San Diego, so we will be looking into that for more info. He also gave us an idea procedurally how he would have done it, so that is helpful in talking to other doctors to ensure the highest rate of success so that it doesn't rescar and we don't need to do this again.

We had another major success tonight with potty training. Mia asked to sit on the potty, her diaper was clean (usually it isn't clean) and she did go a little bit on the potty. We continue to see tiny progress in that area and we remain hopeful that God will give her the ability to control her bowels and eventually be potty trained. But, Praise God for this tiny bit of progress! And Praise God for an answer to prayer of wisdom for our doctor visit, I feel like we got a huge dose of that today!

Thankful for Weight Gain!

Mia got weighed in today and she's back up to 27 1/2 pounds. We still haven't started the new medicine, but she's been eating very well since we took her off the pediasure. However, I noticed her bottom getting really sore again and I'm inclined to believe it is lactose related, pediasure's first ingredient is sugar, where as milk is, well, milk. So, we've switched her to rice milk again and we'll see if that doesn't make a difference. She has been asking for alot of cheese also, so we'll just have to monitor it and see. Milk is definitely not the only dairy she gets, but that was the only major change since a week ago, so my gut tells me to try her on the rice milk again and see if that makes a difference. But, Praise God for great news about her weight!!!!

Tomorrow we have a doctor appointment in LA, a fourth opinion with a surgeon about her nose. Pray for wisdom and discernment on our part with finding the right doctor to do the operation on her.

Sick

We've been recovering from illness this week. It seems like everyone in the house has the same cold, but I think we are all almost better now. I sure hope so, it is no fun having a bunch of sickies in the house.

On Wednesday we saw Mia's GI doctor. He's happy with her weight gain, but I shared my concerns that I'd rather have her eating "real" foods, instead of pediasure and cream. So, we are trying her on a new medicine to increase her appetite and we are taking her off the pediasure and cream all together, temporarily, at least. We haven't actually started the medicine, but I did take her off the pediasure and cream and she has started to eat significantly better...better for her, I just don't know if it's enough for her to keep growing...we will see, you can keep us in your prayers as we sort through all of this.

Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland with Mia yesterday. We probably should have stayed home since she wasn't feeling great on Friday, but we thought that she would do ok and be able to rest on the ride down and back. We are a part of a group in town, Mended Little Hearts, and it's for kids who have heart issues...we meet with them regularly and they recently did a fundraiser and decided to use some of the money to take the kids to Disneyland. So, we went down as a group. I knew it was a bad sign when we were waiting to get our tickets and Mia said, "And now I am all done, I'm ready to go home." We kept telling her that we were going to have a lot of fun, but she didn't believe us, so she begrudgingly went into the park with us. Now, this is only her second time at Disneyland and I don't think she even remembers the first time, it was before Brother, so that was awhile ago. (By the way, we left Calvin at home with Grandma and that was a great decision...thank you Grandma!) So, once in the park she wasn't really impressed with anything until we landed in Toon Town...then she didn't want to leave. She loved all the things she could play on and especially the piano. Here are a few photos from the day.

My Little Helper?

I put away all the wipes, nice and organized, under the changing table. This spot was full of wipes. Calvin was helping me and wanted to play with the box, so I left him and went to do some other stuff.



I came back to find my little helper doing this...filling up his box.



So, now here is where all my wipes ended up...my little helper. :)

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a lot of fun last night at our church's carnival. Here is our little cowgirl and dragon. Even Cubbie went to the festivities and had a great time.