Love this song

My friend Julie posted this song and I fell in love with it. Its hard to see some days, maybe most days. But I know its true. Embrace the stage you're in, whatever it may be. If you're not happy where you are and are only looking around the next corner there will be too much you miss. And many happiness' not appreciated. "Find joy in the journey"

Olivia's 4 month

Olivia had her 4 month appointment today.  She was such a good sport, especially because she was way past her nap time. 

She still weighed 10 lbs. 9 oz. (which was the same as her weight check on Monday) and that put her in the 3rd percentile. Her head was in the 10th and her length was in the 45%. Did I mention that I love how tiny she is? As long as she is healthy I hope she stays a peanut... I always wanted a little girl!

She has hit all of her milestones...blah, blah, blah. The Doctor did notice that the piece that hangs down in your throat  is sort of sectioned off into 2 pieces at the tip. I guess its a mild form of cleft pallet. They said because its not really effecting her at this point they'll leave things alone and watch it. But it was good insight on why she always spits up out her nose, as she said that was more than likely the reason.

So... thats it! I cant believe she is already 4 months old!

FYI. People have been asking about Olivia's surgery on Monday morning. Here are the details:

They will make 5 incisions and will then go in and cut part of her stomach. They will then wrap the 2 parts all the way around the esophagus bringing it back to starting position. They then stitch it back together creating a tighter stomach and esophagus. This will obviously prevent her from spitting up at all. 

The entire surgery takes about 2 hours. They may have to do a G-Tube. Which is a tube which would allow us to feed and burp her through it. We will know better on Monday if they feel they need to do that, we hope we do not.

We will keep you all posted on Monday from the Hospital. Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers. Its all so humbling. We are grateful and can feel your love.

A new toy for O-live

I know you cant really tell much from the pictures but Olivia loves her new (to us) Jumperoo. She played in here for 40 minutes! This is an eternity for her to be in one place.  I think she'll love to jump, just like her Sister.

Seriously? This poor baby.

We thought something was a little strange. While at Costco Olivia projectile vomited all over. So much that they had to put an orange "Caution" sign up. It was everywhere! 

Then on Sunday she just seemed dis-interested in her bottle. Going 4 hours between feeding. Sometimes only drinking half. Strange. Then in the evening she had another huge Spit-up. More like throw up. It was, once more, everywhere. I had no idea her little tummy could hold that much.

Then this morning she had half of a bottle at 7:30am.... and nothing after that. She wouldn't take a bottle at all for hours. It was then that I called the Dr. 

Given her history of "issues" they wanted to see her. They ran a few teats, one of which was a urinalysis. That was sad because to get a clean sample they had to cath her. That made her soooo mad. Especially since she was going on 5 1/2 hours without a bottle. I'd be mad too.

Turn's out she has another UTI. So sad. This poor little girl is just going through the ringer. Another bummer was that she had lost a good amount of weight since her weight check on Thursday. Now she's fallen way off the chart. We are trying  desperately to get weight on her, not off. We wanted to fatten her up before her surgery this Monday.

So now we have a sad, tiny, hungry baby girl. My heart just breaks for her. She's pretty miserable yet she'll still smile at you, even if its between cry's. 

And the big news now is that she just drank 3 ounces. This is all she has had for nearly 10 hours. Lets hope she keeps it down so we don't land ourselves in the Hospital. We'll have plenty of that before next week is over, thank you very much!

Wirthlin kids photo shoot

It was a pretty nice day (50's) so I thought we'd head out and take a few pictures of the kids. They were so amazingly un-cooperative that I thought we'd be coming home with nothing. To my surprise there were actually some cute ones. Thanks in part to Photoshop :)

My Ella

Lately it feels like there are more frustrations on here about Ella than praises. And I just dont want to give everybody the wrong idea about this girl.

Today I am going to let you all in  on a little secret. Ready? Here it is. Ella is just about the cutest, funniest, brightest and most fun girl I have ever known. Seriously.

Ella has compassion and wisdom beyond her years. She absolutely loves to make others happy and wants everyone to feel good about themselves. She goes out of her way to give you a hug and a kiss when she senses you may need one. And the majority of the time she's right. 

When I look at this girl I cant help but to smile. She has a sparkle to her that I just cant ignore. She is filled with so much personality that it overflows and you just cant help but to take notice.

And at night, when the other kids are in bed, Ella comes alive. She is the star and she knows it. She cant stop hugging you. Her sweetness pours out of her. Its hard to put her to bed sometimes because all you want is to enjoy the privilege of her company. 

Yes, there has always been something about this girl. She lights up a room. And she has my heart... and many others.

I love you Bella-Roo. And you have no idea how lucky I feel to be your Mom, forever!!!!

Friends

Ella and Samantha

Luke and Bobby

Growing up I have always been blessed with the best of friends. From the first memories I have there lies my first friends, Jayne Clark and Nicole Demos in Utah. Elsja Lundquist was a huge part of my early childhood memories. She was beautiful and cleaver. Smart and creative. Rachel Thron carried me with her praise and smiles through Jr. High. Brooke Cordeiro and I were an unlikely couple but I cant even imagine High School with out her love of music, humor, quick wit and strength. In the College years I hardly went a day with out my Sara. Her Family was my Family and I loved everything about her, she's about as good of a person as you get to have in your life. And then came all of my Boys. Scotty Tanner was one of the people I liked spending time with most on this Earth. He was active, smart, and cleaver. Yet he had a sensitive side to him which I loved. Craig Trounce kept me laughing all day long and I smile still when I think of him. I had never met anyone who embraced a yellow personality as much as Richie Rylander. Brian Markham was good and kind yet social and fun. Then there was "JoJo" who I could never get sick of and who always kept a smile on my face. He had depth and a ton of charisma. Erin Robertson made me feel important and admired. She was one of the Best Friends I've had. Mark Sorensen taught me to just let go and stop worrying what everyone else was thinking.Regina Thompson gives me peace and joy in my life. She constantly teaches me by her goodness and her righteous ways, I love her very much. I met my Friend Jen Jackman the August after we moved to Chicago. We met and became instant friends, sometimes you're just lucky enough for things to click that fast. We were together probably 5 times a week. I got to see her Son right after he came home from the Hospital and she threw me my  aby shower for Ella. We remain close to this day and she's so wonderful that its almost painful. I can't imagine going a week with out talking to Jana Heller. We met right after Dave and I got married and it felt as though we had been best friends our entire lives. She has been my rock and my sanity. My confidant. She keeps me grounded and real. She has loads of talent.... she is a superhero! 

I have had the best friends throughout my life. 

I could go on and on. Vanessa, Jessica and Jenny. I love them all. They bring life in to my days! They have taught me and loved me. Supported me and been there for me to fall back on. 

They all urge me to go on, they make me stronger than I really am. And I am who I am today because of them.

I am so grateful that already my kids have great friends. I can only pray they will continue to choose these kinds of influences to help them to guide their lives and their choices. Who we choose as friends is one of the biggest decisions we will make. I pray they chose wisely. 

Olivia's day with the Doctors

just a fun 70's action in photoshop

We saw Dr. Gill first this morning. She wanted to follow up with some thing she suggested to further Olivia's weight gain. We weighed her and she just wasn't where we wanted or hoped she would be. At 10 lbs. 9 oz. she is now below the 5%... clearly not the progress we wanted. Plus we jokingly suggested most of that weight was in her cheeks. We make 'em that way, I love it! So she sent us along to see the Surgeon in Denver this afternoon.

The Surgeon was great. He went through everything with me, gave me his opinion (that she needed it) and left the ball in my court. He said we could go some more studies like a ph probe (which they'd put her out for anyways) or another upper GI. After the results came back he was certain we'd be doing the same surgery anyways only we'd be loosing time.

As I got into the car the mood was of a somber nature. I couldn't help but imagine my tiny baby on a surgery table with tools inside her body. But after hearing her choking and spitting up about 5 times during the ride home. Feeling afraid, as I always do, that she could be turning blue again. Well, it gave me the confidence I needed, that I was making the right choice for Olivia. And I did not take this lightly but still it was hard to pull the trigger.

The Surgery is scheduled for Fe. 2 and we have to be in Denver at 5:30am.... awesome. Since she has to be fasting I wanted to go as early as possible. Better us tired than her miserable.

Thanks for all of your thought. Keep us in your prayers on February 2nd. 

Olivia and her Big Brother

Olivia loves her Big Brother.

Mid-January in Colorado

Today was just another typical Colorado day. Mid January and 64 degrees!!!! We actually went to the Park twice. 

I was enjoying myself so much I got home and realized I only took like 4 pictures. 

The best part was watching Olivia. I wish I'd have taken a picture of her. She was just in heaven being outside, soaking up the sun. So happy. I dont think she was meant to be a Winter baby.

Luke's new Denver BFF, Lance

When Lance got to the park he ran up and this was what happened

Don't worry Mama, I'm an orange belt

Luke had his belt test on Saturday for his Orange Belt. This is a big deal for our Lukie and he was talking about "Saturday at 12:00" for days.
He sure loves Karate. And Master Chris, his teacher, is so great with this age. Its not a wonder Luke has such a great time.
After he passes he ran in and immediately offered to give Ella his yellow belt, since he no longer need's to wear it. Luke is a great big brother. And a major karate star!