Forgot to tell you....

Oops, there was some more stuff Iwas going to write about. I forgot to let everyone know that the doctor said just to keep an eye on Abby with her eye movements. He said that what they worry about with MCAD kids is seizures but what she is doing doesn't seem like seizures. He said that sometimes little babies do weird things (boy is that true.)
Also, for the next thing I am going to write about I have to explain a little history first. For those of you who don't know, Jason and I dated a LONG time before we got married (extremely long in LDS dating culture). We met for the first time in the fall of 2003, started dating in January of 2004 and didn't get married until July of 2006. I often tease Jason that he should have just married me earlier but things didn't work out that way. Well the other day I was looking at the website www.savebabies.org (it is the website for the March of Dimes which promotes Expanded Newborn Screening). On that website we found out that Utah didn't test for MCAD until 2006!! This just reinforces to me the fact that Heavenly Father knows more than we do and what is best for us. I was surprised to find out that California didn't routinely test for it until 2005 because I had heard they were the first state! Sorry if that wasn't that exciting of a story for you but Jason and I found it very interesting. I will write more later. Love you all!

Better late than never.

Happy (very late) Father's Day to my wonderful husband!! I have been meaning to write on here all week and here I am a week later, finally getting around to it at 5:00 Sunday evening.
I just have to say that one of the reasons that I married Jason is that I knew he was going to be a wonderful father and he has definitley not disappointed!

As you can see, Abby loves being with her Daddy, and why not? He loves to sing to her, play with her, hold her and yes, even do the dirty work like changing diapers! Sometimes I think Abby might like him more than she likes me but he is probably the more fun parent.

She also would rather take naps on Jason than she would on me (she still does though because most of the time I am the only one here)

Yes, Abby had a lot of fun with her Daddy on Father's day!!

Okay, here is what else is going on. Last Monday we took Abby back to Primary Childrens for her checkup (I think she will have 2 or 3 a year while she is a child). Everything went really well (except for the blood draw, they had to poke her twice and she still has 2 bruises :( . They said that she is growing well and looking really good. At the appointment she weighed in at 14 pounds, 12 ounces (yes my arms are starting to regain some of the definition they once had). They said we can slowly work her time between feedings at night up to 7 hours. I think we might still play it safe though. Many of the people in the support group say that they still feed children older than her every 4 to 5 hours at night. It isn't too bad right now. She sleeps through the feedings so it is usually just 15 to 20 minutes that I am awake each time. Other good news is that instead of having to take her to the ER for a fever of 100.5, it is now 101.3. They also said that if it is during the day to take her to the pediatrician first to see what is causing the fever and then they would decide what to do from there. One hard thing about going to the doctor though is that I think English is his second language and I don't know if he is truly understanding some of my questions. Some people in the support group have said that they have had trouble with ER staff not following the protocol letter we have been given. I asked the Dr. what we should do if that happens. He said we should go to Primary Childrens because they would give her the best care (most likely true). I don't think he was really understanding our concern though because it is an hour away, who wants to drive their child an hour when they could be reaching a metabolic crisis?!? I guess we will just cross that bridge when we get to it. Decide where to go based on weather and traffic and Abby's condition. Jason and I were talking about Abby's future doctors visits. Since we have to go to Salt Lake anyways we think as she gets older we will make an outing of them. Maybe go to the zoo, This is The Place Park, Temple Square and other fun places to visit. I totally enjoy Abby the age she is now but it will be so fun to take her on outings.

Other news, I have a walking buddy, hooray!! It has been great because a) I have contact with an adult other that Jason (since I have been at home, I feel my social skills dwindling immensley) b)MOTIVATION!!! She can't go walking with me everday but knowing me might makes me get up and ready so I go walking no matter what, except for rain and c) I am slowly losing weight and starting to fit into some of my old clothes. It's taking awhile but that is okay because slow and steady wins the race, right? Next goal, get back into my Old old clothes (before mid 20's weight gain). Well, that is about all of the news except that Jason's truck stopped working. All I can say is that when it rain's it pours. Hopefully we can get it fixed without spending too much money. I will try to post more pictures soon. We love you all.

FOD Support and newborn screening

Just want to let everyone know that Abby's story is one of the newborn screening stories featured on the FOD Support website. You can check it out by going to http://www.fodsupport.org/, click on Newborn Screening and then the stories are on the right. You can click on Abigail's story or read some of the others. To go to her story directly you can go to www.fodsupport.org/abigail.htm. I want to take this moment to stress to everyone the importance of Expanded Newborn Screening. Last I heard only 17 states do this routinely. 17, that's not even half of the United States!! Not only does it test for MCAD but also for many other disorders that can be deadly to children and the test is very inexpensive. Before we had Abby's diagnosis, I didn't think twice about this test but now I am thankful every day for it. I know that California, Utah and Florida are among the 17 states but if you are reading this and live somewhere else that doesn't do this test, I urge you to write to your legislator and request this test be standard for all newborns. Approximatley 25% of babies with Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders die before they are diagnosed. If every chiled was tested at birth there would be a lot less deaths. I am so thankful every day that Abby was tested at birth so if she ever is in a metabolic crisis, we know how to help her. I just wish that every child with this disorder would be able to have the same chance.

Is it wrong for a mother to be envious of her child?

If so, then I am GUILTY! As I was pulling weeds on this wonderful sunny breezy day, I glanced over at Abby who was sleeping so happily in her stroller. At that moment I felt so envious. How wonderful it is to drift off to sleep with the sound of the leaves rustling. I wish that I could lay in my hammock and cuddle up with my baby and drift off to sleep as well. Alas, it is not to be this year since she is still so tiny. For now I will have to be content to watch her sleep, listen to the breeze and hope for the summers to come when we can cuddle up together in my hammock.

By the way..

Check out the provident living blog listed on the right. A sister in my ward writes it. I tried the bean recipe the other day at Enrichment and it was DELICIOUS! I wanted to steal the whole bowl of it and take it home with me it was so tasty! There are lots of other cool things on there as well. I am actually excited at the idea of making Abby's baby food as well!

Miracles can happen!

For approximately 3 hours the other day, every single dish and every single piece of laundry in my house was clean!! (My mother in law knows first hand that the laundry here can pile up, thanks Kathy again for all the laundry you did when you were here). Also, all 3 bathrooms were almost all the way clean too (It's too hard for me to do the shower when Jason isn't home to watch Abby because I like to get down to business and scrub those suckers till they shine). It all ended when Jason came home and took off his muddy clothes and then we made dinner. Maybe someday it will happen again but don't hold your breath.

Abby's 4 month check up

Surprise, surprise! Abby had her 4 month appointment yesterday. Her appointment wasn't until monday but they called me yesterday morning and said they had a bunch of cancellationsand asked if we wanted to come in. Why not? It is probably better this way because I didn't have time to freak myself out about her getting her shots. (It still breaks my heart when she cries but they are nowhere near as bad as blood draws) She said Abby is looking great!! She is definately her mothers child. She is going to be a tall skinny child like I was. She is not as big as her Albert cousins however she has jumped percentiles significantly. She is currently in the 84th percntile for length but only the 56th for weight. That is great though considering she started out in the 8th percentile. She hasn't gained as much weight as I expected, she is a little over 14 pounds (I don't remember the exact ounces because I was focused on kilograms so I could figure out her tylenol dose and the paper they gave me has a percentage not the actual ounces). The pediatrician is still a little worried about her eye movements. I guess there was a breakdown in communication between the Dr. offices.

The opthamologist was supposed to call her with his findings but never did. She said we should check with the geneticist and see if he thinks she should see a neurologist so we will ask him at her appointment on the 22nd. Overall though she is growing and developing and acting very healthy, Yeah!! Well that is the quick update. Love you all!

Finally, some Abby pics!!

Where on earth did this child of ours get such beautiful eyelashes?? I have to say I am thoroughly jealous!

Abby loves play time!!

And her swing (although she still seems undecided on headbands)

This picture was extremely tricky to take. I am supporting her with one hand in the pull to sitting position and taking a picture with the other!

This is a bad picture of her Bill Cosby face. Such a cute kid!

All in all, things are going pretty good here. Not too much exciting to report. Abby rolled from her back onto her stomach but she has only done it once so it may have been an accident. I haven't written about this before but a few weeks ago we had to take Abby to the opthamologist. She was doing this weird thing where she would roll her eyes down so you would see mostly white when she was looking down at objects (mostly her hands in her mouth) It seems voluntary and she will look right back up at you if you say her name but it still had me a little worried. At first the pediatrician was worried it was because of fluid buildup in the head or that she was having seizures but those have been ruled out. The pediatrician ran some tests and sent us to an opthamologist. He said sometimes babies under 6 months old will do that and she looks fine, just keep an eye on her and it should be decreasing. We are supposed to follow up with him in about a month. They were decreasing but the last couple of days she has been doing it more. If you could, please remember her in your prayers. I will post more later.

Written just for me!

I'm sure anyone of us who have read the Ensign have felt that there have been articles written just for us. For those of you who do not know what the Ensign is, it is a church magazine for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Well this month I felt like at least 50 % of the magazine was written just for me. Let me explain. I have always known that the most important job that I would ever do would be that of raising children. I have no regrets about being a mother yet when I look at our finances, I really miss the income I used to bring home. What I bring home now is equal to what I used to pay in tithing, a huge difference! This has been a major source of stress for me over the past few months. This months Ensign changed that. Instead now I look at it as a good challenge, an opportunity to grow and to learn. I was actually excited after reading the many articles about finance to learn and be creative in ways to make our budget fit our needs, from ways to reduce the cost of groceries to growing a garden to making cheaper, healthier meals to getting a library card. (I feel like I am 9 years old again I am so excited to go get a library membership, probably the age I was when I last had one.) I was even surprised that Jason has agreed to have some meatless meals!! Of course I would still love to have more money and I am still looking for a job that I can do from home but learning to do things such as gardening and relearning how to sew (I haven't sewn since my senior year of high school) are skills that will be life long and valuable no matter what one's income level is! There was also an article about the Word of Wisdom. It's amazing how something that I have known for so long can finally hit me in such a strong way. I was a public health major and almost every single class we had had a nutrition component to it and I have read the Word of Wisdom section in the Doctrine and Covenants several times. I have always known that it is truly inspired writing. It outlined proper nutrition before nutrition was even a concept. I have never been a believer in diets. Like the Weight Watchers commercial says, "Diets don't work". Good health is a lifestyle. I have been worrying about our health as a family. Both Jason and I have family histories of diabetes, I have a family history of heart disease and if Abby eats a diet that is too high in fat it could mean disability or death. People often ask me if Abby has to eat a special diet and I say yes. Now I realize it is not a special diet she has to eat but a proper diet, the way we should all be eating. It is precisely what is outlined in the Word of Wisdom. Even the doctor didn't call Abby's diet a special diet, he called it a heart healthy diet, and who doesn't want a healthy heart?? Now it is time to put all that I have learned from reading this months Ensign into action and I honestly can't begin to tell all of you how excited I am!! Hopefully I can get the SD port working on this computer later today and then I will post new Abby pics!! Love you all!