Taking a Break

Having Oley home in between his quarters has been fabulous!  It has given us all a much needed break.  Adelé loves having him here.  She especially loves helping him get his face pretty.

 

Talking to her cousin Ryker is one of her all time favorite activities.  

Hanging out with Dinky falls a close second.  

And of course we couldn't forget having mom hold her all the time. 

Taking her pictures used to be so easy, now days she doesn't want to sit still long enough for me to get a picture taken.  So we didn't get a good picture of her in her Christmas dress this year. 

The other night we ordered some pizza.  I let her have the marinara dipping sauce to dip her bread sticks in, she loved it so much she decided rather than waste any of it on her bread sticks she wanted to eat it plain. 

Zoo Lights

We didn't go to zoo lights last year so wanted to make sure we made it this year.  Ad loved seeing all the prairie dogs and all the big fish in the aquarium. 

 Oley loved touching the sharks and stingrays. 

Christmas

I have a whole new respect for my mom and how much work Christmas is....holy smokes!  Lesson learned for future years - wrap the presents as you buy them so you don't have to wrap everything on Christmas Eve.  We truly are fortunate and had a great Christmas this year.  Adelé had a lot of trouble getting to sleep on Christmas Eve, so much so that she ended up sleeping in bed with me.  Okay I shouldn't say sleeping, she laid in bed with me until 3:30 when she finally fell asleep.  I have no idea what was keeping her up - maybe teeth coming in but she has not ever had that sleepless of a night.  Needles to say we had a very late start to Christmas morning.  But it's all good!
I knew if we didn't start with a picture in front of the tree, we may not get one.

 We started with stockings.

Had we known she would have been happy just to get a new thing of chap stick we would have saved that for last, not first.  She is such a little pretty girl - I love it!

 

We quickly realized we bought way too many presents.  She just wanted to play once she opened up a few.  

 

Christmas with kids is so much more fun!  I am so grateful that we have Adelé to share in our joy!

 

Ad's Toy Box

Adelé is quickly acquiring toys.  The little basket in her bedroom used to be big enough that it could accommodate them all. With Christmas coming I asked Oley to make her one of two things: either a toy box or a book shelf.  He decided on the toy box.  While he spent the afternoon out in the garage building it Ad and I had some quality time in the house.  She loves to brush her teeth. 

The toy box turned out fabulous!

Trying to decide what color we were going to paint it was the hardest decision we made.  I wasn't sure that I wanted something - but I guess you only live once, so rather than stain it to match the rest of her bedroom furniture we went all out!

She is going to love it!

Christmas Spirit

Getting into the Spirit of Christmas in Washington where it doesn't really get cold and there is no snow on the ground has been difficult for us the past couple years, but this year in particular we are not going to be going back home so we get to make the most of it.  Since we decorated the inside of our house last weekend we decided it was time to go and explore.  We have been told how amazing Leavenworth is during the holiday season.  I was so excited to be going after looking at all the pictures online of how awesome it was supposed to be.  Maybe I just had high expectations but to say that it was underwhelming would be an understatement.  Although we made the most of it and had a good time!

 Ad was exhausted by the time we were done.

Saturday we spent the entire day shopping.  Ad is still young enough that taking her shopping for her own Christmas presents worked out splendidly.

 Because she did such an awesome job we stopped into the pet store to let her look at all the animals.  She loved it!

Sunday we spent the afternoon making cards to be sent to her cousins and aunts and uncles. 

I love being able to explore the world with her!

Happy Birthday to Me?

Everybody left on Sunday and so it was just back to me and Adelé.  Which I think was actually good because we were in need of some quiet again.

First thing Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment.  While there he was concerned about something he felt while doing his exam so scheduled me the very next day to have an ultrasound done.  While talking to him we were both very concerned about what it was and the treatment options for both did not sound pleasant.  I went to work very worried for the next's days test.  They called me late that afternoon and said they needed to reschedule me for Wednesday.  I thought great what better way to spend my birthday - hearing my fate.  The next two days were stressful.  Although every time I prayed I knew that whatever the results were it would be okay. 
Wednesday came and I went to get the ultrasound done.  The tech doing the ultrasound was not allowed to comment on what she was seeing.  Just watching on the screen as she would go from side to side of my body I could tell there was something wrong - and I am not even clinical.  She let me know that as soon as the radiologist read results he would let my doctor know.  I called my doctor's office and they said they would let me know right away what the results were.  
I could not focus the rest of the day.  I spent the evening with Adelé at the festival of trees that my health system sponsors.  She loved looking at all the trees.

The next morning as I was driving to work I got the phone call from my doctor's office.  It was what he had suspected it was and he wanted me to come in and talk through my options later that day.  I realized how much I take Oley for granted when he is around.  Just having him here for the emotional support would have been huge.  Although it was nice to get to work and find that my team had left flowers and chocolate on my desk for my birthday the day before - I hadn't been there since the day before my birthday. 

While talking with the doctor later that day neither of the options that he has offered really felt right, so we are going to pray about what we want to do. It's crazy having to make big decisions surrounding your body and what is going to be best for me.  
Oley stayed in Spokane till Friday this week because his teacher was allowing him to take his final early so he doesn't have to go next week.  It's amazing how quickly he has learned how to do things.  This was his leg that he made this quarter - what a stud!

Adelé and I started decorating the house for Christmas.  She loves her little pink tree. 

Saturday we have made it our tradition to go and get our tree.  As we were talking about what kind of traditions we would like to start we decided doughnuts and getting Christmas trees on Saturday morning after my birthday would be great! 

 Once we got home I had let Adelé go out back and play with the dogs.  I ran upstairs briefly to grab something and all I hear from downstairs is "Mom Poop!"  I knew those two words repeated together were not going to result in anything good. When I got downstairs Adelé had stepped in poop out back and had it everywhere.  All over her pants all over her shoes and tracked all through the house.  I grabbed her ran her upstairs set her in the tub and washed her off.  Once I got back downstairs I cleaned up the big ol mess that was everywhere.  Oley walked in just as I was finishing and asked "aren't you guys ready yet and why is Adelé in a diaper?"  If he only knew!  I love being a mom but some days are just better than others. 
Adelé was such big helper as Oley set up the tree. 

 

It's so nice to have Christmas now up in the house!  That afternoon I went with the youth to do baptisms for the dead.  The decision of what treatment option I was going to do was still heavily on my mind.  As I sat in the temple and helped the youth go through an answer came over me that we will go and see the specialists and see where that route takes us.   I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives and that we are able to be guided and directed.  We are extremely blessed.

Thanksgiving Break

Adelé got to go to nursery for the very first time on Sunday.  She wasn't able to go last week because it was Stake Conference.  Which reminds me while we were sitting waiting for Stake Conference to start we had chosen a seat close to the door (anticipating we would probably spend a great deal of time in the hall).  As people were coming in she was saying Hi as she typically does to everyone.  Three young teenage boys walked in and she said Hi they didn't say anything so she said it again, when they didn't respond the second time she looks at Oley and says "are you kidding me".  I don't think she really understands what that means, but it was funny!
Anyway back to nursery.   She did surprisingly well.  We went in and dropped her off.  While sitting in Sunday School Oley would lean over to me every 5-10 minutes and say, "Do you think I should go check on her?"  It was cute that he was so worried about her.  When he picked her up she had a big ol bump on her head - what are the odds she would right?  But she loved it!  She talked about it all during lunch after church. 
We were so excited to have Oley's parents up to spend Thanksgiving with us this year.  Adelé is beginning to recognize and remember people so she was super excited to see them on Sunday night when they arrived.  They came in fairly late and I had already put her to bed, but when they got here the dogs were pretty loud and woke her up.  She had a very hard time going back to sleep that night.  Oley had to go back to Spokane for a couple days to finish up his classes but was able to be back by Tuesday night.   We went to dinner with Shawnie and Leimomi on Tuesday night and Oley was able to meet up with us there.  Adelé loves coloring and could have done it all night. 

Thanksgiving morning I had signed up to do a 10k with some people at work.  Most of them chickened out because it was so cold, but I went and did it with Rachael.  It was a really tough run, had I been in better shape it would have been a really fun run.  There were a ton of hills.   But it was good to have gone and done it. 

We spent Thanksgiving at our house this year.  Adelé loved all the food and Oley got to wear his Mr. Mom apron that my mom had made him last Christmas, at his request. 

I am so grateful for my family.  It's amazing to me that it has been 2 years since we had announced that we would be adopting Adelé to Oley's parents.

Adelé was the center of attention all day long.

On Friday we spent the day shopping.  Dougie wanted to go to our new Bass Pro Shop.  Adelé loved looking at all the animals around the store, especially the fish.

That night while the adults played a game of scrabble Adelé was content playing with her blocks. 

It snowed Friday night so Saturday we let Adelé play in the "snow" - she loved it! 

As we were getting ready for the rest of the days adventures I caught Adelé up in the office reading my personal progress book.  She loves it now -  I am sure in 14 years she won't be so excited to be looking at it.

 Adelé sure loved cuddling with Grandma on the couch.

We spent the majority of the afternoon up in Bellevue.  Oley and I needed to get to the temple before the end of the month and we also wanted to go see the lights at the botanical gardens there.  While there we also went out to eat.  Adelé had not gotten a nap all day and it was getting close to bed time.  She was okay for the first 30 minutes of dinner but she had her first kicking, screaming, limp fish, melt down in the middle of the restaurant.  I now know how it feels to be one of those moms.  So the two of us spent the remainder of the time out in the lobby while waiting for the others to finish up.  Afterward we quickly went to the gardens and it was freezing! 

Adelé has a desire to kiss everything now days.  When Oley jokingly told her to kiss the frog she was all for it - no worries I did not let her get close enough to touch it. 

Having Oley's parents here was a great time and we are glad that they were able to spend the holiday with us.  Adelé loves when her relatives come to visit.  We can't wait for their next trip!