Eleven Months and Counting!

I'm not sure it gets any cuter than this!

Our Poor Little Lepper!

Of course the kidney infection saga continues..... Last night I went to change Michaela's diaper, and noticed this rash all over her poor little body! We called her nurse and she said it was no big deal, just a reaction to the ammoxicilian she is taking. WELL, when I could see it multiplying before my eyes and it showed up on her eyelids and tounge, we made the decision to go back to the ER YET AGAIN. They gave her other antibiotics, reassured us that this was one of the more severe rashes but nothihg life threatening and sent us on our way again. Who knew being parents would be so scary? There are a billion things that can (and seem to) go wrong and her ENTIRE existance is in my hands..... Who signs up for this kind of job?! Well, anyway, she is not complaining at all, it just looks sad, and she is back to her normal tornado self. We are so grateful that all these scares are minor in outcome and that overall our little baby is a healthy little girl. We love her so much and it is hard to see her suffer.

Playing with my new Camera

Hey, I decided that we had enough sick/not sick posts so I am putting up some new pictures that I have taked over the last two or three weeks. Things are good here. Our home business is taking off, tonight Jordan is taking the Vice President (me) out for a Business Dinner at Outback. I think I like this business stuff! Michalea is taking some timid steps, slowly letting go of the wall or couch with one hand to wave at me as she passes by! Anyway, enjoy the pictures!!

Michaela loves to brush her teeth!

Sitting in her Christmas Chair watching Elmo.

Helping Mommy put the Christmas Tree away!

There's No Place Like Home

Okay so the 2nd most recent update is that Michaela's fever just wouldnt go down so she was admitted to the hospital Wesnesday afternoon. The most recent update is that, we are SO HAPPY to say that Michaela is much better and is home now. She only had to stay one night in the hospital and left this afternoon in good health and great spirits. We knew this mornign that she was feeling much better when she hit the doctor trying to change her diaper and told him "nono!" All her tests came back clear, and they did an ultrasound so make sure that her kidneys were functioning properly, and they are. The doctors are thinking that she might have had a kidney infection doubled with a nasty flu virus and that's why the fever wasn't going down and why we couldn't fix her with simple antibiotics. Anyway, her fever broke last night and she is much better now. Thanks for all the calls and prayers, they were much appreciated. Also, all the noncalling was appreciated too, because sleep was not something we got often and when we did, it was nice not to have the phone ring! And can I just add that I have the greatest husband and Michaela has the greatest dad? He came with me to all the ER visits, and even stayed home from work on Monday to make sure Michaela was alright, and then on Wednesday when I called him to say she was being admitted, he came right over and stayed with her the entire time! Even though it ended up being not too serious, it was still so scary to see her in the hospital bed with an IV, it was so great to see Jordan there the whole time, he could be strong for me so I could be strong for Michaela. Anyway, we are glad to be home, and so glad that our little baby is better now. She is such a wonderful blessing in our lives and it was so hard to see her unhappy. I hope to never have to update you again about Michaela's health issues! Michaela and Daddy

Michaela's Rough Weekend

It was a hard weekend at our house. Michaela had a fever of 103 on Friday night so I took her to the doctor Saturday morning (I couldn't believe they were open!) and they said she just had some sort of a virus. On his way out of the room, he asked me if she was pooping and peeing normally, so I told him that latley her pee smelled stinky. He said that could be a big problem so he wanted to do a urine test. And how do you test infant urine you might ask? Well you can't very well tell them to pee in a cup - so you do the lovley cathater! So the best nurse in the office came in and said she does a million of them a day and they are really easy. SO we took the diaper off and she made me hold Michaela's legs like a frog while she shoved a plastic tube up THERE to get a urine sample. Great nurse or not, she failed to get the cathater in right so after several attempts, I asked her to stop so I could hold Michaela and get her to stop crying. As soon as she took out the tube, Michaela peed all over the table leaving us with no pee sample and an empty bladder. The doctor came in and because the pee was fresh on the table he used a test strip to at least start testing, and they taped a bag to Michaela's SELF to get a sample. It only took a few seconds for it to turn up as a urinary tract infection, so they thought it must have been a pretty severe infection. So Shawnie and I had to cart Michaela around the hospital waiting for her to pee so we could take it to the lab for testing. But because she has a plastic bag taped to her poor little peepee evrey time I adjusted her she screamed in pain! Okay cut to us back at home, pee sample sucessfully taken and dropped off, and that night, Michaela spiked a temp again of 105.6, so we headed to the emergency room. When we got there, they started an IV, which was a horrible experience for me too because she strapped her down and made me hold her while they poked her...:( So one IV and a lot of Tyleno later, they got the blod and another urine smaple back which showed a major Kidney infection, not just a UTI. So they sent us home and told me to follow up with her doctor on Monday. So we went home, put Michaela in the middle and 1/2 way slept the rest of the night. WELL, Sunday morning, we awoke to Michaela puking her brains out (on me be the way) and her temp was back up to 104, so we high tailed it BACK to the ER. Okay they had to put another IV in because she needed another dose of antibiotics so they tried to get it in the other arm since the night before they did one too. Cut to us still trying to get an IV in, two nurses an dfour attempts later, Michaela (and mommy and daddy) were miserable. I put the kiabosh on the IV and told them to try drinkable antibiotics and if she threw it up again, THEN they could poke her again. Instead of that, they gave her a SHOT of medicine, which was horrible because it wan't one shot but too! Then they wanted ANOTHER urine sample so they had a nurse come in and do another cathater, even though I tried to explain to her that Michaela wansn't built for those and they should just bag her again. Of course they wouldn't and they tried and failed again to insert the plastic tube but ended up bagging her. Okay, long story shortened, she had a miserable weekend. They sent her home again once her fever was down, and we contnued the Mortin and Tylenol every three hours. She is doing much better and is going back to the doctor at 4 pm today for ANOTHER shot of antibiotics and an assesment. We will keep you updated as we know more.

Ten Month Pictures

We love our Girl!

I got a new camera for Christmas, so I have been playing with it non-stop. Here are a few of my favorites!

Michaela's First Christmas!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas, we sure did! It was so much fun to see Michaela get excited about her presents. She actually had fun opening presents, but she was much more into the garbage than the actual gift..... We are doing a Fife side of the family Christmas tomorrow so I will post more pictures then....

Michaela's reaction to Santa Clause....

I felt so bad! It only lasted about 3 seconds and I could't make her sit there anymore... Hope seh gets used to him before next year!

Husband of the Year Award goes to......... J-FED!

Yes, thats right, I said J-Fed. I will explain later... Yesterday was "Wife Appreciation Day" at our house. Jordan has been talking all month about some special anniversary that we would be celebrating but he wouldn't tell me what it was. It drove me crazy not to know! When I woke up, Jordan told me to pack for an overnight trip, and pack for formal, inside, outside and warm clothes and cool clothes. How am I supposed to work with that? I had no idea what the day entailed, but my mom took Michaela home with her, (How convienent that she was in town...?) and we set out for our adventure. First stop, the Fish Grill that I have been wanting to try, but Jordan doesn't like fish too much so we haven't eaten there yet. But since it was wife day, not husband day, we got to eat there! Here is a picture of us at the resturaunt. After lunch, we headed to downtown Seattle to be tourists for the day. It's funny how living in the city makes you immune to all it has to offer. First stop, EMP, (Experience Music Project) where we made our own rock and roll dvd and walked around outside Seattle Center. For those who don't know, thats where the Space Needle is and there is an amusement park, lots to see! It was raining and I had a scarf so I put it over my head, Jordan made fun of me for looking like all the grandmas out there, but here is a picture of us at Seattle Center! So THEN we rode the monorail to Westlake Shopping Center where Jordan surprised me with a hundred dollars to BLOW! The next two hours are a blur of shopping on the four level mall, as well as outside in Downtown Seattle. I ended up buying Shampoo and Conditioner, (What, I was out!) and an outfit for Michaela. The best part of the shopping trip though was us finding a photo booth, where we took "Friends Forever" themed pictures. The day isn't over yet! Last night was Jordan's company Christmas Party. It is a pretty nice dinner, (hence the formal dress request) and this year they added an American Idol twist the to the evening. OF COURSE Jordan performed and OF COURSE it was his rap song. He needed a stage name and we came up with JFed because it was a hoax just like another Fed we have heard of..... Anyway, it was so funny and Jordan did such a great job! Here are a few select pictures (Out of about 60) and hopefully you get to see the video, its taking forever to upload and for some reason is skipping, but I am NOT going to redo it! The winner ended up being a girl who sang a Faith Hill song Beautifuly and she totally deserved to win, although you can clearly see that JFed was pretty great too! Here is a serious picture after the adoring fans left and it was just us at the table again. After the party, the suprises still weren't over and Jordan took me to our hotel, the Marriott Waterfront where our room had a view of the Puget Sound. We went to bed and didn't wake up until about 12 pm this er, morning?! Here is the view from our room: And that is why Husband of the Year goes to Mr. Jordan M. Fife! I love him so much! Honestly my favorite part was just hanging out with him. I LOVE Michaela but it was nice to just hold his hand and walk around with the two of us, being best friends and going on a really fun, carefree date! We did talk about Michaela nonstop and I spent most of my memoney on her though!

A few Random Pictures

Hey there, it's been a while since my mom has seen Michaela, so I am posting some newer pictures for her. Michaela had her first cold last week, so of course Jordan and I got it too! There are two of that and another of my sister in the backseat feeding two screaming babies on the way to see my Grandma at Thanksgiving. In other news, Jordan and I moved, I will post pictures of the new house soon, when I get off the computer and unpack some boxes! Talk to you all soon.....

Our Elf Names

Here is another fun Christmas Game.........

Samantha's Elf name is:

Your Elf Name Is...

Holly Eggnog Breath

What's Your Elf Name?

Jordan's Elf name is:

Your Elf Name Is...

Pixie Mc Flurry

What's Your Elf Name?

And Michaela's..........:

Your Elf Name Is...

Happy Snowballer

What's Your Elf Name?

Christmas Getting to Know You

I got this as an email forward and I thought it was cute. If you want, copy and past it into your own blogs with your answers ~ it could be fun!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Well, wrapping paper looks better, but bags are easier to peek into!.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I love the smell of real trees, but artificial is so much easier
3. When do you put up the tree? As soon as possible
4. When do you take the tree down? a couple of days after Christmas
5. Do you like egg nog? grossest invention in the world..
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't remember
7. Do you have a nativity scene? One very small one - like it fits in the palm of my hand.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Jordan
9. Easiest person to buy for? Michaela
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I love the mail kind, it's the only time you get pictures of all the families.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't remember
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Of course
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Candy canes off the tree.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? wherever family is
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? either.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? New Pajamas on Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas Day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? how it's the only time people are nice.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? a crazy mess of ornaments collected through the years
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey and Ham, and sparkeling cider, and fudge and carmel................
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Hmm..... I really don't know..... Gilmore girls season 7 would be nice but I will buy that before Christmas I am sure. I want some new cooking pans I guess.