Good News!

Lizzie wasn't actually as sad as she looks in this picture when I took it but it certainly captures the mood of the past couple of days. However, we went to see the plastic surgeon on Thursday and it was great news!

The doctor said he thinks Lizzie's hands will be fine to heal on their own without any treatment, surgery, or therapy!! Also, Lizzie has been completely out of pain without any medicine, except for our daily changing of the dressings.

Lately, Lizzie has really been into making the baby do what she does. For instance she will dance then make her baby dance. Or she will clap her hands then make the baby clap her hands.

I put some bandages on Lizzie's little baby's hands and it was so cute to watch how much it delighted her. She would look at her hands then at the baby's hands and just smile and laugh!

She seems to appreciate the baby sharing in her ordeal.

Pray for Lizzie's Hands

I barely have the heart to tell this story but its definitely one of those big events/horrible accidents that everyone will always remember so here goes...


Our first morning in our new house we decide to try out the new electric fireplace so we rev it up and let it go for a little while. Meanwhile we are having a conversation about how we are going to need to get a gate or something to keep Lizzie away from it. We had a very similar fireplace at our old place but it didnt get very hot and it cooled down almost immediately after turning it off.

So we turn it off and about 15 minutes afterwards our guards are let down a bit more and we start to unpack with Lizzie at our sides. Then all of the sudden without any warning she turns around and bolts at the fireplace and puts both hands on the glass. Then faster than we could blink she is screaming and we are soaking her hands under cold water. As time went on we were shocked to see the burns looking worse and worse...we really weren't suspecting the burns to be so bad after the fireplace being off for so long and all.

Before long we are in the ER where Liz is treated for severe 2nd degree burns on both palms and all her finger tips except thumbs.

The next day we are referred to the Burn Center where we are informed how to treat and change the dressings on her hands.

This Thurs we are consulting with a plastic surgeon about the wounds healing.


Lizzie is out of pain and very happy lately but she still needs lots of prayers because there can be many complications with burns on toddler hands. Increased chance of infection and long term effects on the movements of the hands. We may end up needing to do physical therapy or surgery down the road but our thoughts are positive for now and we're praying for no complications!


This whole incident has been a nightmare and a good reminder that you can never be too cautious with your little ones!


Here are a few things I learned from the pediatric burn care providers:

(We did most of these things right but weren't sure about others)


-Little children have such delicate tissue that they don't need any ice at all. Just keep the burn under cold water to prevent damage from reversed effects of hypothermia.

-Keep the burn in cold water til you get to the ER.

-Administer children's tylenol or motrin immediately for pain relief.

-Little children can recieve terrible burns from much lower temperatures than adults. A hot surface that may slightly burn an adult can severly burn a child's delicate skin.

-Always take a child to the ER immediately even if its not that severe when involving the hands, feet, face, or genital area. OR if the burn is larger than the size of your palm.

-When your child is in a lot of pain and motrin won't cut it, the ER can prescribe Tylenol with Codeine.

Older, Smarter, Sassier

Older, smarter, sassier...I mean more independent willed. This basically sums up Lizzie's latest developments. She has also learned early the art of avoiding the camera. She runs away and even covers her eyes with her hands. Our biggest event as of late though is...potty training!

We are not so much of potty training as Pre-potty training right now. The idea is to introduce her to it but she has really taken to it fast! We've gone 5 for 5 days of success so far with her even telling me she wanted to use it a couple times by pointing and leading me to the bathroom. Today, however, was a big setback- she decided to assert her will and independence by refusing! Time to slow back down I guess...14 months may be a bit young still.


Today was such a sunny day we headed outdoors and had some fun in the sun! It was a nice break since we've been spending so much time indoors packing and potty training lately!

This girl can run though! She definitely knows how to wear out her pregnant mom!

Pink or Blue Either Will Do, We're Expecting #2!

Lizzie is soon to be a big sister! We are so excited to be having another baby! The two little sibs will be 21 months apart and, hopefully, great friends as well.
The big due date has been officially set as JULY 21!!

Well, here's my real reason for being so sluggish at taking pics and blogging lately. I am 13 weeks along and so far I have been EXTREMELY tired and a little more sick than I was with Lizzie. I can't complain though because overall I have felt pretty good, except for the extremely tired part.

Also, this little baby is a big reason why we started movin fast with the house buying! I did not want to be packing and moving all our stuff at 9 months pregnant or anything close.

Dave and I are both impartial to whether or not its going to be a little girl or boy but I do have a feeling its a boy? We'll see... Either way we are so excited to have another little addition to our family!

Family Update

I have been really bad lately about blogging and taking photos so sadly I didn't have a holiday post or anything lately, but since this is our "family journal" I thought I better post what we've been up to!

Christmas- We spent Christmas with the Stevens family and had a great time! The Christmas Eve program was a lot of fun with the kids re-enacting the nativity, Christmas games, white elephant, stories, etc. Lizzie was very excited to open presents and had fun pulling items out of her stocking. We had a great time going to movies and spending time with family.

New Years- We then flew to the Washburns and spend New Years Eve in Chicago! We had our traditional fondue and got to talk to Trevor, who's in Russia, that night. Then, we celebrated my mom's 50th birthday! The whole family was there by this point and we spoiled her all day with gifts, food, and partying. Lizzie had a great time with her grandparents! It was also nice to spend time with the newest member of the fam-Brandi!

Lizzie Updates: (14 months old)

She has 2 teeth and 2 more on the top that are almost in! She's a late bloomer in regards to her dental development. :)

She got a potty for Christmas and....
she has successfully used it!!
I am just barely introducing her to potty training because she is so excited about it all but we are probably just going to take things slow since she is still pretty young.

The New House:
The deal is closed, the old owners are moved out, and we have started painting walls and picking out new carpet! We are VERY busy packing and working on our new house lately. Sooo excited for moving day... soon!

Christmas Spirit

2 More Days!!

This past week we have really kicked the Christmas activities into high gear! Each night we do something to celebrate the season such as watching the Nativity movie, Elf, or just encouraging Lizzie to dance to the Christmas music! I noticed this morning that she has really picked up on the spirit of the season.

She, often, lays on the floor and cuddles her stuffed animals in the morning so I was teasing her by cuddling her stuffed kitty. Usually she'll whine in protest and then attempt to steal the cat out of my arms, but today was a different reaction. She smiled at me, grabbed the kitty, ran into the next room, and immediately appeared again with her stuffed lion too. Then, after a big hug she gave the kitty back to me! She cuddled her lion while encouraging me to cuddle her kitty.

What a sweet Christmas gift!

Big Lion

Lizzie's love of lions started with her stuffed animal "Lenny" when she was about 8 mo old. Lizzie is now 13 months and her love and obsession with large felines has only expanded since then to include tigers too. Lately, she's moved on to even bigger lions! Ok, so Lenny is still the fav but she really likes to play with "Big Lion" too. Big Lion was made so that a child could sit and "ride" on his back. Lizzie used to try and climb onto him by herself and would inevitably just knock him over. Then every time he fell over she would start to scream and cry in horror until I stood him back on his feet. I endured many days of Lizzie starting to cry for no apparent reason until she would get me close enough to Big Lion so that she could point out that he was lying stiff as a board on the ground. The world was all better once I stood him back on his feet, though.

Over time she has come to accept the fact that Big Lion tips over. In fact, she has completely embraced the reality of it and puts him to good use as her personal lazy boy. Now, she just tips him over on purpose and kicks back while she holds her baby and rests on his soft underbelly.