Grandma and Grandpa!

It was so fun to have my parents visit this past week. Lizzie was in heaven with so many people paying her attention 24/7. My parents really got a great deal out of the visit- a week enjoying the sunny northwest instead of a week of Chicago snow. We took advantage of the weather and went to a beach thats 5 min away from our house.


It was fun to have our parents see our new house and the surrounding area for the first time.

Lizzie was fascinated by the millions of crawling crabs that were all hiding beneath the rocks in the sand.



There's nothing quite like walking around parks, beaches and of course the zoo on sunny days! Lizzie really enjoyed seeing the animals. I was slightly disappointed that they didn't have her favorite animal the lion, but her second fav was there! The tiger! Although, the animal that she enjoyed watching the most was the Walrus! They would continually surface and spit water from their mouths, take a breath, and make a great whooshing sound. Grandma taught Lizzie to say, "pshhhhh!" when asked what a walrus says. Then she'd laugh and laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world.

It was so fun to have both Grandma and Grandpa around! They had Lizzie laughing the whole time with Walrus noises, tickling, and every time she touched my dad's mustache she'd giggle. She even learned to say, "mustache!" and would point at my dad's face.

It was so fun, hopefully they will be back to visit again soon!

My Little Valentine

Its a bit past the Valentine's Holiday, but its never too late to share the message of love OR cute pics of Lizzie right?

For the Valentine's day holiday I let Lizzie indulge her under developed sweet tooth. She does not go crazy over sweets so hopefully she will turn out like her Daddy who only mildly enjoys sugary snacks...mommy is the complete opposite, unfortunately. :/
She did, however, very much enjoy this lollipop for a while until she threw it on the ground in exchange for a pinecone.

Dave is my true sweetheart and valentine, but Lizzie is my cutesie little valentine.
Sometimes I just cuddle her, pat her on the back, and tell her she's my good little baby. A couple days ago, I was pleasantly surprised when she demonstrated that she had taken this to heart. She ran up to me, gave me a big hug/kiss, then patted me on the back and said,
"Good baby!" Since then, this has evolved into her spontaneously telling me, "Good mama!" when she is particularly pleased with me.

All is Well With the Babies!

For the next couple weeks Lizzie is wearing a night time arm splint. It is much bigger and stiffer than I was expecting. Its actually more like a full arm cast that she has to wear each night for the next couple weeks. The Dr. had wavered a few times as to how serious her burn was and what preventative measures to take, but the final say was to wear the splint at night for a couple weeks. She does amazingly well with it- sleeps good and even holds out her arm for us when she sees us coming at her with it before bed. Its a hard cast structure with bands that velcro around her arm. Then we bind it up with bandaging and cover it with a large arm sock...all to prevent her from removing it. This doesn't stop our little Houdini, however, many mornings we come in to see she has slipped it off her arm somehow.

I think thats why she is so happy about us putting it on her at night. Dave and I like to joke by voicing out loud what she must be thinking as we place it on her...things Houdini might say as you bind him in a straight jacket before dropping him in a tank of water such as, "make sure to make it tight...a little tighter...I want a real challenge!"

She may still be wearing a large bulky splint to prevent healing problems but really her hands are looking GREAT!! They have really healed fast. We are so grateful.

In other baby news-

We got the results of the amnio and our little baby Julie Emma is completely fine! No developmental problems at all- just a false positive. And now we know FOR SURE by proof of her XX DNA that she is a girl!!

We are so happy, fortunate, and grateful to have two healthy little girls!!

Its a GIRL!!

Its a girl!!!! I wasn't really expecting to find out the sex of the baby this early but due to unexpected events I got a sneak peak!! I am so excited for Lizzie to have a baby SISTER!!
Top 5 Reasons Having a Girl Will be Awesome!!

1. Liz will have a sister and friend very close to her age!
2. She has a girl cousin and future friend just 2 months farther along than her!
3. Every baby item we already own is pink!
4. Having girls first leads to great future babysitters!
5. We love baby girls and are experienced in the field!

The reason I found out is that I had an amnio performed yesterday. Basically what that entails is an ultrasound sneak peak not to mention a very long needle.
Then, in 8-10 days I will find out for sure if it really is a girl according to confirmed XX chromosomes! Thats a side benefit. We are actually waiting to find out if the baby has any developmental disorders due to some suspicious hormone levels being secreted by the baby. My routine quad screen blood test came out abnormal so they are concerned about possible higher risk for a down syndrome baby. However, we are not really worried at this point because the odds are still over 1:100. (instead of 1:1000 according to our histories/ages) But most likely the cause is related to my due date being off, natural hormone variations, or a number of other benign reasons that cause false positive blood tests. In 8-10 days we will know alot more about our little baby for sure!

We Will Miss You Benny!

My family's dog for the past 13 years, the dog I grew up with, had to be put down today.

A very sad occasion, but I am so glad for the many happy memories he gave our family, especially when we were young kids.

I remember the day we got him as a puppy as being one of the happiest moments of my childhood. You see, I was desperate to get a dog or cat and begged my parents continuously until they finally gave in when I was in 6th grade. It was a true miracle that we convinced my parents to let us get a dog.

One of my favorite memories of Benny is teaching him his many tricks. He was so smart and so hungry that this combination led for a dog who learned new tricks very easily when a treat was involved.

Over the years he learned to sit, lay, stay, shake hands/paws, roll over, beg, play dead, bark on command, dance, twirl, balance a treat on his nose, dig on command, and play hide and go seek..or maybe I should call it hide and go eat. (send him out of the room, hide a treat then have him find it)

I was always so proud of what a smart dog he was and how much he seemed to understand what we would say and do.

You will be missed Benny! You were a great loyal family dog!

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.