Various Christmas Pics

with Great-Grandma on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

Friday's Spot Check

Well, Jacinda's spot check this week was down again. 88% was her highest and she took it three times. I don't understand it... last week she was stuffy and congested and it was 91% and this week she's well and it was low. We test again in a week and I am trying not to be frustrated or get discouraged. I think she's fine, but the doctors won't order her off oxygen until they think she can pass the overnight. Again, during the overnight check she will have to be over 90% about 95 % of the night. Last time she was about 30% over 90. I'm sure she's much higher now, but the dr says she's not even ready to test again.

In other news, Jacinda has learned a few new words "everybody" "sit" and "oh dear." The church staff did a little Extreme Makeover home edition for one of the ladies that cleans the offices. She was living in subsidized housing that was infested with black mold, so the church helped her pay a deposit on a house right by the church, between all the staff we fully furnished it, painted and even supplied a few Christmas gifts. SO, at the reveal on Wednesday Jacinda and I were waiting in the shuttle and she was waving out the window. I would ask, "Do you see everbody?" "Are you waving to everybody?" Then she started repeating "everybody." Very cute. Aunt Jennifer watches Jacinda on Friday and they have a fairly new puppy that is a jumper, so she has learned "sit" and "oh dear" from her encounters with little Copper.

One of her recent new words that can easily be misheard for "everybody" is "hi pretty." Daddy says this to Jacinda a lot, so now she says it and usually only when Daddy is home.

I am so blessed with this joyful baby!!

Jacinda sporting her BEAUTIFUL sweater/cardigan that Ms. Wilma in KidsLife (childcare at New Life) made for her. I am blown away by how intricate it is. I LOVE it!!! Ms. Wilma is one of Jacinda's big prayer warriors. She has felt led to pray over not only the babies, but people with breathing issues. God definitely sent her our way!

Lung update: Still on oxygen at night and supposed to be on during the day, but again, Jacinda is WAY too mobile to keep her from getting tangled. Friday is another spot check and we just continue to ask for you to agree with us in prayer that Jacinda will be off oxygen by the end of the year. I am believing it... a Christmas miracle/gift! :)

On Sunday, despite the Arctic temperatures (don't remember moving to Canada by the way), after church we were going to take Jacinda to see Santa, but when we got to the mall she was asleep and we hadn't had lunch yet, so not only were we pretty sure she would scream non-stop for Santa just because, but because she was also hungry. So, we just decided to fore go Santa for another day or year and make it a treat and get McDonald's for lunch. Definitely will be a rare treat for her!! Here she just INSISTED on putting an entire chicken nugget in her mouth. Trust me, I tried to get her to have only a little bite or eat the pieces I already cut up, but she was ready to scream, so not wanting to create a scene, we sat back and prayed she wouldn't choke! We admit, it was pretty darn cute! And, we were amazed that 1. she didn't choke and 2. she did manage to actually eat the entire thing without ever taking it out of her mouth. Jeff would probably say that she takes after me by have a big mouth... oh, and that she takes after me because I'm stubborn. Seriously, can anyone give me an example of me being stubborn? I honestly don't believe it, but he insists. This is a topic of much discussion for us. Then the more I argue that I'm not just fuel to the fire... *sigh* Anyway...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas!

Last Sunday we decided to decorate the house for Christmas. Jeff was actually in the holiday spirit and even offered to put up the lit garland outside despite the snowstorm and cold temp.

Every year we buy a keepsake ornament, penguin of some kind if we can, and put it in a very prominant place on the tree. Here we are putting that first ornament on the tree.
Taking a lunch break. Jacinda thought it was so funny that I was wearing a cap. She would look at me and give me a silly smile.Here she actually pulled the hat close ro her to look at me like this. SO PRECIOUS!!!

So, when Mommy isn't paying attention and spending too much time on Facebook, this is what happens... Jacinda pulled my purse off a chair, took EVERYTHING out and then found her snacks in her diaper bag. Apparently the Cheerios bag wasn't sealed. It was my fault, but isn't that the cutest "you can't be mad at me" smile?

Since Jacinda's birthday

Jacinda got her princess car from Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Kevin for her birthday, so Daddy and I took turns giving Jacinda rides around the house in her new car! She LOVED it! It is a GREAT hamstring workout too!

Jacinda's turn- she's pushing her very first dolly. She has mixed feelings about the doll. She likes pointing to her mouth, but then tosses her aside.

Last Thursday Jacinda had her first little stomach bug. She was fine by the next day. I then got it Saturday night and seem to have gotten the worst of it. I think it was a 24hr flu or something, it was definitely the worst I can ever remember. So, while I was sick on Sunday, Daddy taught Jacinda how to climb the stairs. She still hasn't learned how to go down, though, so we have to watch them carefully. I have a video, but it must be too large because it won't load.

Heading up the 2nd set of stairs

Our temporary baby gate until we can get to the store to get one.

Playing with Grandpa Kevin on Thanksgiving day.

Jacinda's 12 mo Well Baby Check Up

Wow, I can't believe that I am actually writing "12 months"! That year went so fast. Today we went to Jacinda's well baby check up and she is now 22 lbs and 11 oz and 30 inches long! She has grown 1 1/2 inches since her 10 month check up, wow! She is doing great, about in the 75th percentile now, so not quite 95% like used to be.

Yesterday the Dr. called and ordered Jacinda's oxygen to be night-time use only, but then today her saturation levels were back down to 87-89%, so it is pretty discouraging. I'm really trying to stay positive, but it is getting old. She is up one week, down the next and I'm just ready to be done with this! The Dr. said she would order another overnight observation in about 4 weeks, so please pray that she will pass and she can be off completely. After today's levels, the Dr. wants her to stay on oxygen during the day, but with her mobile, it is frustrating to her and us. She'll be cruising along and then get stuck and it'll pull her head back a little, so it just doesn't seem safe. Are we the worst parents ever? I do fear that we could be doing some kind of long term damage or something, but trying to just trust the Lord that He is protecting her from anything like that. I'm so sick of being on this roller coaster! I want OFF!!! It just seems as soon as I have hope again that she'll be off soon, she's back down again and we start all over. I try to remind myself that this is pretty small in comparison to what other families are going through. When we were at the Children's Hospital, I thanked God that, though a fantastic hospital, that she only had to be there a couple hours, that she isn't terminal, that she is reaching all her milestones and full of joy.

I am experiencing the incredible love a mother has for her child and how much pain you one can feel at the same time. It is sure opening my eyes to how much God loves us. If I can love Jacinda more than I can express in words then God's love is even more unfathomable! I can't help to wonder what the Lord has in store for us. What will come from our trial? Will we be inspiration to others? Is this just preparing us for something bigger down the road? Or maybe just teaching us to grow as individuals and grow our faith... only time will tell, I guess.

Birthday Bash Highlights

Jacinda's 1st Birthday

Jacinda's 1st Birthday was really nice! She had a very good day. She slept 11 hours straight the night before which was such a relief because for a few days she hadn't been sleeping well, so she was very bright eyed all day! I joked with her at dinner asking if she was going to let me get more sleep this year than last year. Since she was born at 12:42AM, Jeff and I didn't sleep but maybe an hour. Sure enough, this year she let me sleep all night!

Jeff and I sang Happy Birthday to Jacinda at breakfast with a muffin. She loved it!

She wasn't too sure about looking inside the bag, you'll notice she's grabbing Daddy's arm for him to save her.

All is well, it is only a little Dora See 'n Say.

Anything with Dora on it must be ok!

Nesting barrles seem to be a hit!

The best smile in the world!

So happy! I wasn't feeling to well, so I let Jeff help her today and I'll help her open her gifts at her big party on Saturday.

Two Dora books!
Baby Einstein book, another favorite!

We'll post more after her big Birthday bash on Saturday...

Jacinda loves her books. This week it seems that is all she wants to do is read. Please excuse the messy hair, she had her hair in pigtails.

Jacinda was watching my screen saver which is all our latest photos, so when she sees her pictures, she says her name. Then she sees Daddy and says, "Dad."

Jacinda LOVES dancing and music, here is a cute video showing off her dance moves!

Long awaited update!

Sorry for not updating in awhile, we've been spending a lot of time trying to recover music and photos from the computer. I still don't have everyone's email address, so if you haven't already, please send me your email address. I did in fact lose all pictures from June 21 to Oct. 17, so I am very sad. I do have the few here from my blog, so am now being a little obsessive about backing everything up.

Monday, Oct. 27, we went to Denver Children's Hospital and did a swallow study with Jacinda. It went AMAZINGLY well. She never once seemed scared or timid. They made her feel totally comfortable and just made it so easy! I love them and it was worth the drive. We found out right then that she does not aspirate, praise God, but that still leaves us not knowing why she has low oxygen saturation levels. I don't know what the next steps are, if any, but she is doing great! You will notice we hardly have any pictures of her with her oxygen on any more and that is because she is mobile and just gets tangled up and frustrated.

Here are some adorable pictures of her in the last couple weeks. Sorry if it is a bit overwhelming... I just can't help it!

Jacinda is fascinated with her Baby Einstein bowl, she loves the little pictures on the bottom. We were headed for the bath next, so I let her play with it... peas, peas everywhere!
Here is Jacinda a little groggy and shaggy haired in the morning. We have been potty training conditioning since she was 8 months old, so every morning as soon as she wakes up we stick her on the potty chair. It gives her and us time to wake up, for us to get her shirt on, oxygen off and hair brushed since now that she is crawling she barely lets us do much with her after her pants are on. She does go and I think she gets the idea. Obviously until she can walk by herself and tell us potty, she isn't really potty trained.

Here she is the little crawling pro now pushing the laundry basket around our bedroom. About 3 weeks ago now, Oct. 16, she started crawling and walking along furniture, the same day. She loves both, but once she's on her feet she prefers that.


We decided to carve Jacinda's pumpkin the weekend before Halloween. Here I was showing Jacinda the inside of the pumpkin. She didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Didn't Daddy do a great job carving the pumpkin??
He made it cute like Jacinda. For Halloween Jacinda was a Chicago Bears Cheerleader aka a Honey Bear to Bears fans.
Jennifer watched Jacinda on Halloween and so she took the kids to see Grandma Weaver and Great-Grandma. Jacinda go to play with a barrel of monkeys (an original barrel) for the first time. She looks like she really enjoyed it!

Daddy and Jacinda taking a bath like old times. She didn't quite know what to do with that much water. She only gets about 2 inches while Daddy filled it to about 8!

Last night I realized Jacinda's hair is finally long enough for pony and pigtails! :) I am so excited, so here is her picture from breakfast. She would not look at me for anything. I wish I would have tried this on Halloween. How adorable would that have been with her outfit?!

Well, it seems my little baby is getting to be a big girl because she weined herself over the weekend with only about one week until she's one. :( On Halloween I volunteered for Fall Fest at church, so Jeff had Jacinda and put her to bed before I got home because she was TIRED! When she woke up the first time in the night I tried nursing, but she used teeth and then tried again and she did it again and then after that would not nurse again. I am so relieved because since she was only down to the night nursings I was dreading weining her. I was going to wait until my vacation so I wouldn't be a zombie at work, but now I don't even have to worry about it. She's weined! :)

Her favorite foods right now:

Goat milk

water (she doesn't seem to be a fan of juice yet, which is nice because it just means less sugar in her diet)

Toast (she'll even start whining the second she sees butter!)

Earth's best snack bars

still loves yogurt, but seems to be third to snack bars and toast

Well, I guess that is a long enough update for right now. I will try not to let so much time go between updats. The next update will probably be after she's ONE!!! I am so sad.... my baby is growing up...