New Years Eve

So tonight's the big night. We are leaving 2007 and entering 2008. I am really glad for I have always preferred even numbers (it's the little things that make me happy in life). So we have some of our best friends coming over for festivities at our home. Bonnie and her family who we absolutely adore and dear Courtney (yippee!! she chose our New Years bash - and she had options).
So we really wanted the girls to take naps, especially since they both want to run outside at midnight and start yelling and banging on pots and pans. Unfortunately, nap time isn't quite working out. It's been a while since they took naps and they are both struggling with drifting off to sleep. I just peaked in on them and they are both just playing on their beds. I have a feeling that we are going to have some very tired and very grouchy girls tomorrow :)





The good news is that whether or not they are sleeping at least they are in their rooms! That leaves me with a few moments of piece and quiet. I leave you with a list of my 2007 memories:

January - vacation to Disneyland
February - found out we were expecting a new baby!
March - nothing comes to mind except 1st trimester yuckiness
April - ultrasound shows a girl and we learn of her hydrocephalus
May - performed with the symphony and at a wedding
June - daily trips to the water park by the library
July - fireworks at Columbia park (always a highlight)
August - Grandpa Brinkerhoff passes away
September - Elisabeth Elva is born (she proved the doctors wrong!)
October - Alexandra is 5, Lorelai is 3 - LOTS of birthday cake!
November - Trip to Duke University for Elisabeth's stem cell infusion
December - Shopping, Singing, Wrapping, Eating

Good Old Fashioned Oatmeal

So I am trying to eat healthy. Elisabeth is now 3 months old and the 'baby fat' is not melting away like it did with the first two children. It's time to take charge and do some dieting. Well, I am a little old fashioned and feel that the best way to lose weight is just to eat balanced, well portioned meals and mix in some exercise. There are SO many different dieting methods out there, but I think people make it way more complicated than it needs to be. So this morning I made oatmeal. Now by itself this is rather plain and a little unappealing - so I dressed it up a little. I got out my FAVORITE placemats from North Carolina and made my simple and healthy breakfast seem a bit fancier! MMMMMMM.....nothing like warm oatmeal on a cold winter morning.

After Christmas Clean-up

Well, I have to admit, Christmas decorations are down and it's a bit of a relief. Order is restored, the house is clutter free, we have survived another chaotic holiday season. Donald and I spent the entire day cleaning up and cleaning out. I know that most people do a spring cleaning. In our household it's more of a quarterly thing, so today was our winter cleaning. Ahhhh, it is refreshing. I am ready for a new year and a fresh start!

Alexandra Singing "Tomorrow"

Well, tonight we had our family Christmas party, and towards the end we always have a talent show. Alexandra loves to sing, so she decided to sing "Tomorrow" from the show "Annie" After she was done, Lorelai was supposed to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" with Alexandra...well that was the plan anyways. I think you can watch the video, and see for yourself what happens.


undefined Alexandra singing "Tomorrow"



Add to My Profile More Videos

Snoopy ~vs~ The Red Baron (Snoopy's Christmas)

I have always liked this Christmas song by The Royal Guardsmen. Then while passing my time away on Youtube, I saw someone had made a video to go with it. Very Clever!

Lex and Lor Gingerbread house Christmas 2007

Last night the girls and I put together a gingerbread house. Since it is a lot easier to buy a kit house, instead of making the gingerbread, we chose to buy one at Costco. It has been up on the fridge waiting to be put together, and the girls finally convinced us that it had to be done.

Planning out where to put the next piece

After checking the blueprint, Alexandra realizes that she misplaced one of the tart shingles.

Elisabeth the Foreman checking out the construction from above.

Constuction has been completed!

It is easy to see what side Alexandra did, and what side Lorelai did. Lorelai's side is the one with the gum drops, mints, tarts, and bubble gum plastered on, while Alexandra went more with a master plan, using only sweet tarts in the roof, and bubble gum on the side. I have a feeling next year we might have to buy two separate houses, since they each wanted to do the house their own way. Nothing like building a gingerbread house together as a family during Christmas!

Elisabeth’s trip to the neurologist

Elisabeth's brain at birth. The black is the fluid and the lighter gray is the brain tissue. Notice how the fluid has pushed the brain out towards the skull.




Elisabeth's brain at 8 weeks. Once again, black is fluid and gray is brain tissue. Much of the fluid has been drained and the brain has spread out a little. There is still a great amount of fluid remaining in the ventricles - a normal head would have about 1/4 the amount shown in the picture above.

We took Elisabeth to meet Dr. Reggin, her neurologist, this afternoon in Spokane. First of all he confirmed that she is epileptic. After having her initial 2 seizures on November 5th, we had gotten her on phenobarbital to control them. It had worked well and we had not seen anymore seizure activity until this past week when she had multiple episodes. So now we have her on a new medication and are going to hope for the best :)

Next he went over her MRI's with us. It was amazing to get a good look at what's been going on inside Elisabeth's head. At birth her ventricles were extremely large and Dr. Reggin said that she was a severe case of hydrocephalus. Her scan at 8 weeks showed that the shunt had done a good job of draining the fluid, though the ventricles are still very large. We continued to talk with him about everything from the absence of the corpus callosum to the chance that her brain might not grow (depending on how it was damaged). Unfortunately we had to hear a lot more of, "we just have to wait and see". There is no way of knowing exactly how everything will play out. We are still hoping that her stem cells will repair damage......especially in the occipital region so that she can regain her eye sight. But for now we will hope she continues meeting her developmental milestones and enjoy watching her grow and learn.

Saturday Morning Classic Cartoon!

Good morning all! Here is a classic Saturday morning cartoon, and some classic commercials to go with it. Have a good weekend!