Dora!

I finallay caught Jacinda on video getting excited when Dora comes on, it is very cute! She was pretty fussy, so it wasn't quite as dramatic as normal, but you'll get the idea. Recently she started singing along too and it is cute. (trying to catch that on video) The words aren't very audible, but after a couple times you can hear it. She also started singing along to Happy Birthday and today started saying, "I love you" to my co-workers but won't even try to say it to mommy or daddy... of course! I also got her to repeat A through F to me today and A-B-C consecutively. I am so proud!!

Looks like potty training won't be far off either... today she was sitting in the bathroom with me while I was getting ready and she started saying, "potty" in a very panicked way. So, I ran her to her potty, took her diaper off and.... nothing. But, it did take awhile, so she probably already went. But, I am going to take her seriously so that she gets the idea.

Our Weekend

Our little Valentine!
Smiley even though she was fairly sick with a cold and cough.

Opening her card from Mommy and Daddy

Looking at one of her new books, Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton

"Kitty!" another book, Kitty Love.

Daddy made Jacinda this cute little cart. What a great way to re-use, huh?

On Sunday, we celebrated Bethany's birthday by having lunch and ice cream cake. It was very good! Happy 12th Birthday, Bethany!

Jacinda has discovered the piano at Grandma and Grandpa's house

After Bethany's party we headed up to Golden, CO to celebrate my Aunt and Uncle's 50th Wedding Anniversary. We had so much fun!

Jacinda playing peak-a-boo with the napkin... and also wearing it as a hat.

Jacinda stretching her legs during the slideshows.

And, showing off her dress that my cousin Kathy gave her.

The guests of Honor- Jerry and Mildred Houston
The Houston Family


Favorite Uncle Todd put Jacinda to sleep.

15 Months Old!

Jacinda's turn to push Daddy in the car. She did a great job!

Friday was Jacinda's 15 month well baby check-up, even though technically she wasn't well. Sunday she started coming down with a real deep cough. It was just a couple times a day until about Wednesday and she just looked pitiful! She was coughing more and just wanted to be held, which is very rare as she is not very cuddly. She slept in our bed that night and woke just about every hour and one of us had to comfort her back to sleep. Since we already had an appointment on Friday we decided that since she wasn't running a fever we would just wait for that appointment. Overnight Jacinda passed her cold on to me, so Thursday we stayed home wiping noses and drinking fluids. She hasn't had much of an apetite for the last week, eating just a few bites here and there, but knowing how congested she is, I don't blame her. She loves that she gets to drink a lot of juice while being sick since she recently discovered that it is yummy. She slept in our bed again for part of the night last night and even had to sleep on my chest for about two hours. Poor baby!!!

Her appointment went really well. She is now 31 inches tall (76 percentile) and 23 pounds (56 percentile). She has been the same weight since she was 10 months old, so is starting to slim out a lot! Despite her cold she is doing very well. No fever, no ear infections or anything else. We are happy to announce that Jacinda IS FINALLY OFF OXYGEN!!!! YAY!!! Technically she has been since mid January because she wasn't leaving it in, but now we have the doctor approval. :) She is meeting all her milestones and still has a lot of brains with her head still in the 98 percentile. :)

She repeats almost any word we say and even some names, but how often she'll say it is a mystery. Some she pickes up and won't stop saying others she'll say once and not again. She started to say 'Riley' this week. Jacinda sees him in church childcare and apparently really likes him since she called for him after he left and often says his name out of the blue at home. Super cute.! I think he is about the same age as Christian, so that might be why she has taken to him so well. She seems to like little boys more than the girls because the girls can be very doating when she just wants to play.

Jacinda loves to "talk" on her play Dora cell phone. She especially likes it when we talk on it too. She recently started doing this on our cell phones as well. She has taken to eating off of my plate if I am snacking watching TV. She liked my chicken tortilla soup, tortillas and today enjoyed a lot of my popcorn. It seems the things I offer her she won't eat, but if I don't offer her any she wants it, go figure... I don't know that popcorn was the best thing for her to eat, but I was just happy she was eating something. Even her favorite foods she has passed up this last week. :(

We are so proud of Jacinda! She is so good at going down for bed and naptimes now!! We can now read her a couple of books, put her in her bed, start her cd with 15 min sleep timer and she's out in about 5 min. Though at times we sure wish we had them, I am so proud that she is not attached to a bottle or a pacifier. I love that you can see her smile all the time and it isn't hiding behind the paci.

She is becoming a lot more explorative and brave. She will climb or try to climb anything. Today I had the stepstool out in the kitchen and she climbed right up and kept trying to go back down.

Our Pulmonary Visit

Today we went for Jacinda's pulmonary follow-up, FINALLY, and it went really well. He said that she is thriving and her breathing has slowed and sounds great. He thinks that all the oxygen need has been is that her lung volume just wasn't big enough for her little body, which is pretty much what I have thought all along. She had so many growth spurts early on that I just figured her lungs just couldn't keep up with her body. We haven't had her on oxygen at all for almost 3 weeks and she seems to be just fine. We went to return all the oxygen equipment since the pulmonologist didn't say anything about continuing use, but they couldn't accept it because they hadn't received any discharge orders yet, and actually, they had just received a fax from Jacinda's primary pediatrician for another overnight pulse oximetry test to measure her oxygen saturation all night. We're so frustrated with her because she just doesn't seem to listen to us... and must have misunderstood what the Dr. said this morning. He said to fax him the most recent overnight for his information because what is passing to him, as an expert, is different from what other doctors think. Other doctors seem to think that 100% is what it should be but he said at this altitude really 95% is excellent. We may be looking for another pediatrician soon...

Anyway, Jacinda continues to be the joy of our life and we know that she is in the best hands of all, our Lord and He takes care of her. Jacinda still refuses to learn to go down the stairs and then this morning she took her first tumble down the stairs. She has definitely been getting braver and wants to be a big girl so bad!

Jacinda now goes to bed all by herself. We read a couple books and put her in her crib and she's asleep within 15 minutes. Anytime we stray from this now, she doesn't do well. You always hear that kids thrive on structure, but I am finding out how true that is.

Last Tuesday I had another stomach bug and so Daddy came home from work early to play with Jacinda and help me with her dinner and get her to bed. Here are some cute pictures of them playing. Jeff was carrying clothes down to the laundry room with Jacinda in the basket and she loved being pushed around in the basket!

Jacinda still loves her books! From time to time she will get a book and sit down to read. I don't think I will get over how adorable it is, especially when she goes and sits in her chair!!