An Update on Lex...(and us)

Update time...

*Pat went to Houston 2 weeks ago to look for a job... and boy, news travels fast in Mormon land! I didn't even tell anyone in Iowa we were for sure moving, but people at church some how knew! I didn't want to tell people until we had more of a plan, but that didn't happen...oh well. All we know right now is that Pat is in the process of looking for a job in Houston, so we can both finish school. But that's pretty much the extent of our plans. Lexi and I are home in Iowa waiting patiently for Pat to find a job so we can have a better idea of when we will be moving, which means we can see Pat again!

*With all this cold, snow, and ice....I am SO over winter! (Another reason to look forward to moving to Houston...it lacks a winter!! :o) Staying inside all day with an 18 month old is hard!!! Especially with Pat being gone, it gets pretty lonely. But thankfully Lex and I go babysitting Mondays-Thursdays, which gets us out of the house! :o)

*Lex has been growing a ton these past couple of weeks! She's starting to LOVE books, (which before she had absolutely no interest. She wouldn't even let me hold one! She'd just rip it from my hands and throw it on the ground). But NOW...she'll want to read 5 or more books before bed, or nap. I feel bad cutting her off, but I can't read every single book we own each time she goes to sleep! She first started loving this book I made for her with family pictures. We will read it for about 10 mintues each time! She also loves, the book "Where is Baby's Belly Button" with lift the flaps, and her First 100 Words book. We will go through each picture, sometimes more than once, and she will relate that picture to the real thing, like when we see the picture of a clock, she will point to the clock in her room, and want to go find all the other clocks in the house.

She also knows, and will point to body parts such as: mouth, lips, nose, ears, eye, hands, feet and of course, her favorite body part...BELLY BUTTONS!!! She will say "Were da ba?" Which means, "where's your belly button? Then she will try to lift up your shirt to see it, even if that means she has to tackle you!!

Lex is also getting more independent Every Day! I will ask her what she wants to wear in the morning, and she will go to her drawer and pick out a shirt or a pair of pants (which is usually the first thing she sees) and I will try to match what ever she picks out. Then she will insist on putting the clothes on herself, which doesnt always work out, but hey she's trying!! :o)

She also loves walking down each of the 4 flights of stairs at our apartment all by herself, especially on the days we are running behind! She will want to sit in a regular seat in the car and use the lap belt, which then means I have to bribe her to sit in her "big girl seat".

More words Lex is pretty good at saying: "Shoes", "dat" for cat, "Ju" for juice, "do" for dog (she will also sign this, which is patting the leg), oh and she LOVES saying "What dat?!" To EVERYTHING...I'm glad she's curious, but every little sound she hears, or anything she's not sure of, it's "what dat??", she likes saying "bubbles" (she LOVES bubbles!!), she definitely misses her daddy so she will say "da da da da" over and over and point to the door, or hold up her arms as if she's asking "where's daddy?". "Chee" for cheese, also a favorite word, "uh oh", and many more. Those are just some of Lexi's favorite words.

Lastly, Lex is really good about following directions! (Except her occasional naughtiness ;o) I will ask her to grab my shoes, and she will find them, bring them to me, and try to put them on my feet! So sweet! I'll ask her to find other things for me, and she will keep searching until she finds it. This helps me to know that she does understand a Lot more than I think, which makes me feel like I am getting through to her!! YAY!

Anyway, Lex is growing up so fast! Two years is right around the corner...where did my little tiny baby go?

(Just thought I'd share with you the most recent picture I have of Alexa and her very best friend, Maddy.)

Some Christmas Pics

-CHRISTMAS 2009-

-Lexi with Santa- She didn't do too bad this year!! :o)

-Lexi about to open her present cover Santa left... (Santa came a little early this year since we were flying to Colorado on Christmas Eve)

-WOW!! A COOL Sit and Spin toy...BUT of course she was more interested in the cookies! lol

-Alexa showing off her stocking contents and gift from Santa

*Like I said before, this year we went to Colorado for Christmas and it was a ton of fun!! We spent the whole Christmas day with Pat's family, (unlike the previous years since we had to split the day between two families). Now mine has moved to a different state which will hopefully make holidays a little less stressful...??

* We also spend some time with my sister Karena, her husband and daughter. Alexa had a ton of fun playing with her cousin Amberly!! They even got some professionally done photos together!
We were also able to be one of the first to find out what my sister's next baby will be since we were in town, which was pretty exciting!
Once we found out it was a BOY, my sister and I had to celebrate by getting a FEW outfits for him, since all of her baby stuff is girly, she had to start somewhere!! But after many brown, blue and green outfits later, she ended up spending a little over $50 on boy clothes, just to "start" his wardrobe...but hey, they were all really cheap!! (This is why you should never let two sisters go shopping for baby stuff together! Lol) But if Pat and I ever have a boy in the future, I know who to go to for clothes!! ;o)

We had a great time hanging out with family, but after 2 ½ weeks of vacation in Colorado, and a prior 6 weeks in Houston, I was ready to head home! :o)

We're Home!

Lex and I are now back home in Iowa and were thrown right into the first winter storm of the year. It was a complete shock from the mild Texas weather, to Below zero temps and 3 feet of snow!! I do like to be back home, but I very much miss the Texas weather and all the fun I had there with my family!! I also know Lex is glad to be back home with her best friend, Maddy and her very missed crib. The first day we were back Lex was dying for me to put her in her crib and when I did, she was as happy as a clam for almost an hour! (she had been sleeping in a pack and play, which isnt so comfy). Anyway, we're glad to be home and I'm sure Pat is also glad we're home!

Alexa is getting bigger all the time! Even since my mom came to Iowa in October to help me out when I was sick, she said she's seen a difference in Lexi's face, which now seems more "grown up" and not so baby like. Lex also likes to talk ALL DAY long! And I mean all day....unfortunately she's not speaking the same language as Pat and I so most of the time it is very hard to understand what she is saying. She tries very hard though and I will give her a ton of credit for that! She likes to tell stories that are long drawn out sentences where she points to things, has influctions, and will look you square in the eye, and you'd totally think she was telling you a story but it's just incomprehensible. I finally caught a little bit of her story telling on video..this was actually the third time she told this story.The first time she told the whole story, then I grabbed my camera, I asked her to tell me the story again, and she did the exact same thing as before, but unfortunately my memory card wasnt in my camera, so the THIRD time I finally caught it on tape! It's so cute...I just wish I could understand her!! (sorry it's sideways)

Thanksgiving, Christmas and My Birthday!!!

So Thanksgiving this year was also combined with Christmas since all my siblings were here in Texas together, which hasn't happened in many years. We started with a WONDERFUL feast then opened Christmas presents and then ate many, many desserts!! :oD THEN....Friday, my whole family went on a boat ride where we had my birthday party. It was a TON of fun! Having a birthday in December usually means cold and snow, but not this year! I absolutely LOVED it!! We opened presents and ate yummy cupcakes! So between 2 days, we celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas AND my birthday- so needless to say they were days filled with parties, yummy food and warm fuzzies! ;o)
<-- Lex opened Christmas presents
<-- "Spot Loves His Daddy" book
Christmas!!!
<--Boat ride
<--My Birthday Party :o)

Texas

It's been 6 weeks since I first started feeling sick, and I am glad to say that I am feeling better, but also still recovering. I am now in Texas with my parents and am loving the nice November weather! I really think the sun is helping me feel better and being with people during the day. I very much appreciate the help I am getting with Alexa as she is a wild child! ;o) Pat was also able to come for a surprise visit this past weekend and he actually kept it a secret!!! (He is notorious for ruining surprises) I had a lot of fun while he was here but he had to go home today to Iowa because of work :o( but I will see him again in a couple weeks for Thanksgiving. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our visit thus far...

<--my cute little brother, Chris wishing me well

<--When Pat surprised me in Texas

<-- When Daddy showed up!

<-- Little Lex LOVING the pool (yes it was very cold but she didnt care)

<--Lex chowing on some "Muddy Buddies"Aunt Andrea made

<--Lex before her First hair cut

<-- Making "the cut"

<-- YAY!! ALL DONE!

Blessings

It's due time for me to make a happier post...so I thought I'd list the blessings I've received from this illness I've had for almost an entire month-

-Homemade dinners brought to us for 5 days
-Pat and Home Teacher gave me a Preisthood blessing
-My mom was able to come out from Houston for a week to take care of Alexa (and Pat and I)
-My mom making a nice dinner every night she was here
-Over $50 worth of groceries were delivered to our house almost immediately after making a list of grocery items and wondering how we were going to pay for them
-Young Women's President came over to do my dishes
-Another lady from my ward came over to help with Alexa so I could get some rest
-Mother-in-law came the day after my mom left to help with Alexa and other things
-Medicine to help alleviate my aches and pains
-Doctors who have taken their time to fully analyze my situation and not brush me aside as a number
-Hospitals that are close by
-Prayers offered in my behalf by those who barely know me
-My name will be on the Temple Prayer Roll in 3 Temples
-Alexa- she keeps my spirits high
-Pat- who makes me feel better by just holding me
-My Heavenly Father who gives me comfort
-Warm baths- which is the only thing that really makes my muscle aches go away

Hospital Visits 2 and 3

Kind of another depressing post, but I thought I'd try to keep people updated on my situation... Again I'll try to make this as short as possible-
Sunday I was feeling pretty good and thought I was getting better from my diagnosis of Scarlet Fever, but late Sunday night (like 2am) I started to feel extremely cramping AGAIN and I also had extremely painful numbness and tingling throughout my entire body...So Pat drove me back to the hospital again to get checked out as I was in incredible pain once again. They checked me out and dismissed me with a shot of medicine to dull the pain I was having but weren't quit sure why I was in pain, and a bottle of magnesium citrate (plus 3 other medicines I was already on) and said I should be fine. Then less than 12 hours later, I was in much pain again with the numbness and tingling and also very weak, so Pat first took me to the Urgent Care place since it was now around 1pm and during regular office hours, but when we got there, they told us it was an hour and a half wait!! I was losing all hope of getting better and thought I would literally die from all the pain I was in before the hour and a half wait was up, so Pat rushed me to the hospital once again to be treated. We were there for a good 4-5 hours this time to make sure I was getting better and not just rushing me out the door like they had done the night before, which obviously didnt help. Anyway, that's a VERY brief version of what happened. My mom flew out from Houston on Tuesday to help out, since Pat had already missed so much work and sleep from all my late night visits and was also emotionally drained, so we decided we needed a family member here to help with both Alexa and I. I now seem to be doing better, just very tired and weak. I hope I dont have anymore relapses and I only get better from here!
I will try to write another post a little later today that's much happier, but right now I just need a nap! ;o)