More Hospital Pics:

One of the few times she actually slept!

In the "cartoon" (recovery) room. She's watching Dora on a screen above her bed.
It was so nice to have the distraction!

With Mom and Dad in recovery. Her lips are purple because she had
just eaten a red and then a purple popsicle!

I'm so glad we went to Primary Children's Hospital! They have all kinds of toys and movies for the kids, and really cater to them. They were so good to her and made the whole thing as pleasant as possible.

She had the oxygen monitor hooked to one foot, and the IV in the other.
I guess it was better than having them in her hands!

Our latest "Adventure"

SOOO...Olivia has always had problems with her throat. She gagged and threw up all the time when she was tiny, then she started getting infections in her throat like once a month. Well, it wasn't strep, and she didn't have problems breathing at night, so the doctor decided not to take her tonsils out last year. Plus she was still only 2. So about 2 months ago, she started snoring pretty bad, so I looked in her throat and HELLO, there were her HUGE tonsils! I immediately made an appointment with the ENT and in the meantime, listened to a three year old suffer every night, struggling to breath. It was so bad that a couple of times I slept with her and had to shake her because she stopped breathing. Now it was obvious that her tonsils needed to come out, so last week we did it! She ended up spending the night in the hospital because they couldn't get her oxygen level up and didn't want to send her home with pain meds, which make it worse, until they knew how she would do overnight. I'm glad they kept her because when we told her she had to stay, she got so upset that she stopped breathing, turned purple, and passed out in my arms! I have never been so scared in my life! I spent the night with her, and she came home the very next morning with an oxygen tank! Her doctor thinks she may still have sleep apnea even without her tonsils! But we will get her healed from surgery, and cross that bridge when we come to it! She is doing very well, but I am very bored! She's not supposed to do anything strenuous, or be around sick kids or crowds for 2 weeks! She doesn't even want to play with her friends. So aside from a few breaks thanks to Grandmas, we have been together 24/7 for the last week. I'm ready for a night out!!!! But I am already amazed at the difference it has made for her at night! I always sleep with a baby monitor on, and the first couple of nights I had to check on her a few times because I couldn't hear anything! It's so cool and I hope once she is healed that she will sleep through the night again.

COUSINS...

Olivia is the youngest cousin by a few years on both sides of the family. On her mom's side, almost all of her cousins even CLOSE to her age are boys! She absolutely loves them, and they adore her! Three of them stay at my house a lot when their mom works and they are almost like brothers to her. They will kill me for telling you this, but they even play house with her, just to make her happy! They also come up with some pretty wild things to do to entertain her. Mind you, they are now 13, 11 and 9 years old!!! Two of her older cousins came home for Christmas from their Army Base. We hadn't seen them for a long time, but Olivia remembered them and was so excited to see both of them! We miss them...

GRANDMAS...

We were trying to take pictures of Olivia but she HAD to have Grandma in there with her. It's a pretty cute picture! Olivia is so close to both of her Grandmas! She loves spending time with them and they love to play with her. I couldn't find any pictures of her with her other Grandma. I think she's avoiding the camera! Plus we don't have a camera, so all of these are from someone else's camera.

Olivia BEGGED for a train for Christmas! So of course, Grandma got her one!!!

AAWWWW....love a Grandma!

Long overdue updates...

I've been getting into a lot of trouble lately for not updating my blog. I blame facebook. I've spent so much time looking for old friends that I've neglected my blog! Well, it seems I have nothing but time these days, so I've decided to work on my blog again. Here some pictures of Christmas, only a couple of months late!!!

Her dad refinished this PINK desk for her! I found it for $5 at D.I. and Gary spent hours sanding all the rust off, then painted it pink (Olivia's favorite color) with glitter paint over the top! It's awesome!!!! And she loves it....














Here's Olivia in her homemade jammies and matching ones for her "Lely"










Tearing through gifts at turtle speed! She had to play with everything as she opened it. Good thing she's an only child!

More recital pictures...

Here are all the little ballerinas waiting for their turn on stage!

I love their little dresses!!!!

"I love you, Santa Claus!"

The Christmas Tree Dance!
This has been such a good thing for Olivia. I hope she continues to enjoy it like she already has...

Happy Holidays and more...

Well, I still don't have a camera and I'm waiting for people to send me pictures, but I thought I was WAY overdue for a blog update! This last month or two has been extremely busy and exciting! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of my brothers and sisters except one (we missed you, Sha!) It was so nice to have my parents with us again for the holidays! On my birthday Gary took me to an amazing restaurant owned by one of his bosses. They give everyone who works there a free meal and we have never gone, so Gary made reservations for my birthday. It was unbelievable! I think I'll have to save my money and go there once a year on my birthday! December was busy with getting ready for the holidays. I did a lot of sewing this year: nightgowns, baby doll blankets, pillows and diapers for Olivia's friends...it was fun but very time consuming! Olivia had her first dance recital on Dec. 4th, and I have to say, it was a blast! She was so good! I've been bugging Gary to get the video of it on our blog, but I think he forgot. I guess I'll have to get on his case again. But here are some pictures my friend took:

This is the dress rehearsal

Olivia is in the same class as two of her friends in our neighborhood. This is Chloe, Paige, and Olivia. They all have so much fun!

They did dances to the soundtrack from "The Grinch" this was the finale with all the dancers.