Life as we know it

A few weeks ago Abby and I had another fun night at the sleep doctors. Luckily, she slept amazing, she feel asleep in my arms after getting hooked up and slept the rest of the night in the crib w/o waking up before 5 am. Don't ask me how that happened, considering she looked like this........... seriously, I believe in miracles. She has never slept that long at home. So I guess the solution to her not sleeping is to wrap her up in medical tape and stick wires all over her.

Her follow-up appointment was later that next week. I was nervous to say the least. Happily Abby doesn't have sleep apnea anymore!! Yes, I am happy, relieved, and less stressed. As I left the doctor knowing she was OK, I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders. It was a very nice feeling. The study did show one minor problem with Abby's sleeping and that was periodic limb movement (not restless leg syndrome, this is different). It was a pretty easy fix compared to the apnea. The Dr. believed it was because Abby is anemic. We did a blood draw and found that to be true, she is now taking an iron supplement for the next few months to clear that up. But that is OK because she is able to get off her reflux medicine and her oxygen! It is so so great to put your baby to sleep w/o cords hanging off of her. I haven't been able to do this since her first month of life.

Other great news is that she is sleeping through the night now too. Now that I know she is OK and doesn't have tubes coming out of her crib I have let her cry it out at night and it only took two nights to get her sleeping through the night, this is another first for us! I have been getting up 1 to 4 times every night in the past 18 months. I got the best nights sleep ever last night! Amazing what straight sleep will do for a person.

This past week we also celebrated Ry's 4th B-day. My big kid is growing up! He had a blast. He ate 10 cupcakes (no I did not let him, I later found the evidence in empty wrappers) and ran around the house like a wild man all day! What fun it was. He got an enormous Cars/Lightning McQueen blanket and pillow which he loves as do I because it is big enough for both of us to snuggle in. One of his favorite things to do is snuggle with someone while watching Curious George.


We took him to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday. I'm not sure who had more fun, Ry or Mark and I. We loved the corner with all the sports games. It was a lot of fun. Abby even had a blast throwing the balls and shooting the water gun game. We also celebrated with family, Ry loves his cousins. They are his favorite friends.

Hope

I have been studying a lot about Hope lately. It is something I deeply feel I need right now in my life. About 5 years ago my dad underwent extensive back surgery. The back surgery went as planned, but effects from the anesthesia will forever linger with him in this life. He became cognitively disabled. His memory, organization, focus and any other cognitive skills have been greatly effected. To say the least this has turned my family upside down. I'm not going into great detail as to why, but I personally have gotten to the point of needing hope more than ever before.

A couple weeks ago I got a book by Russell M Nelson entitled Hope in Our Hearts. It is a wonderful book! I read something today that has helped me realize that HOPE is more than just a quick-fix principle of the gospel. HOPE is eternal. Sometimes we hope for things in this life that don't appear to be happening, we feel that it won't happen and we lose hope (and faith), which brings on despair and discouragement. When we feel despair we lose the spirit, which only makes this cycle more vicious.

The part of the book that I read actually came from a talk he gave in general conference in October of 2005. The talk was entitled "Jesus Christ- the master healer." The excerpt is as follows:

"The gift of resurrection is the Lord’s consummate act of healing. Thanks to Him, each body will be restored to its proper and perfect frame. Thanks to Him, no condition is hopeless. Thanks to Him, brighter days are ahead, both here and hereafter. Real joy awaits each of us—on the other side of sorrow."

This little quote Has brought me a lot of peace. Even though we have no idea how we will get through issues in the future, no condition is hopeless, brigher days are ahead. Sometimes the brighter days come when looking eternally into the future, this is my HOPE. I am so greatful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life!

I love the beginning of the new year. I am a total goal setter, when I set a goal I go after it, but I have to believe in the goal I am setting, otherwise I don't even try. I have set new goals for myself. The goals I have set for myself have all been of a spiritual nature. I have really felt the need to 'be better', I haven't really felt like myself these past couple months and it has really been bothering me. We'll see how I do!

The holiday season was great. It was so fun to see Ry really get into Christmas. On Christmas eve he was so excited before he went to bed he was jumping on his bed yelling "Santa is coming, Santa is coming." Of coarse Mark and I joined in. It was so fun.


This picture has to be my favorite picture of Ry, he tends to tighten up when I take pictures of him, but this one was actually great. Abby looks good too. But I have to point out the Christmas tree in the background. We decorated it and the next day Ry decided it just wasn't to his liking, so what did he do...........redecorate. He grouped the ornaments according to color and all at his height. It was quite an unusual looking tree, but I loved it because Ry was so proud of his work.

I have to say that Ry has a funny toddler quirk, he is always organizes his toys according to size, color, and function. If Abby dare try to mess one of his creations up, the house might as well of crumbled on it as well because we have major meltdowns. One would think that if he did that with his toys, his room would look the same, right? Nope. His room usually looks anything but organized. He usually only organized the toys in the family room. Silly kid.