Mickey Mouse has also been a HUGE hit with Liv the past month or so. Here she is dancing around with her hat in the episode where Goofy looses his hat. I couldn't figure out why she ran up to me looking for her hat until I saw what she was watching. You should have seen her dancing around the living room. It was priceless!
However, I've been seeing Liv use her imagination quite a bit more lately. She will have conversations with her animals and dolls and loves to pretend to get money to feed the bear (now that all the zoo's are closed, she just plays make believe that we are at the animals house). She is also very much into taking care of Buster. She begs to feed him and give him water several times a day...Sometimes, right after we've just given him fresh food. She'll come and tell her Dad or I, "I wanna give Buster food and water." Once we tell her he has plenty, she replies with " I wanna give Buster just a little bit of water." LOL! Where does she get this stuff? We've also added a new addition to the family (Thanks to cousin Haley). Her name is Bubbles. Miss Olivia also begs to feed Bubbles several times a day. But hey, at least it's one more animal too keep her busy and for her to take care of.
Olivia has also been counting objects...and doing it correctly. She will take some pretend money, coins, or even blocks and count them one by one. I've been pretty blown away by her cognitive abilities lately. She's definitely growing up on us...and doing it fast!
Two weeks ago I heard there were some H1N1 injections in at the hospital where I work. I immediately called over to the clinic and got appointments for Olivia, Steve, myself, and Gram. The next day Grandma and Grandpa Ron were able to get theirs as well. I think we were some of the first ones to get it in our area. I originally had mixed feelings about the injection. But after hearing Cardiology's recomendation; I figured they'd probably done more research than I had and would get the injection if that's what they felt Olivia needed. However, Steve and I felt that if Olivia was going to get it than so were we. With it being so new, we did not feel comfortable having Olivia get it without us doing so as well. We also told our family members that we would like them to get it if they have access to it, but they didn't have to. As long as they have had the influenza vaccine than we are willing to be a little more relaxed on the H1N1. I just feel that I need to do everything possible to prevent Liv from coming into contact with any of these nasty germs. That being said, remember we love our visitors, but if you have been sick or been around anyone who's been sick in the past 7 days please do not visit Miss Olivia. And if you work in a highly populated area or a health care facility, please get your flu shot if you plan on becoming a regular visitor at our household.
Before we went into the clinic, I strapped a mask on Liv. We grabbed our paperwork and than took a seat back out between the entry door and the outside door. I did get a few looks, but I could care less. I was not about to expose my baby to anything lingering in the waiting room.
Olivia wasn't overly excited about the shot, but she handled it like a big girl. She cried for just a second and then went back to her happy-go-lucky self.
This Saturday my mom and I had the pleasure of attending the Rise & Shine Women's Retreat with guest speaker Renee Swope from Proverbs31 Ministries. It took place at Orchard Hill Church in Cedar Falls. The church was beautiful and very large! We really enjoyed spending the day together listening to uplifting music, skits, and (my favorite) Renee Swope. Renee is a southern gal who had a difficult past. But, she turned her life to Christ and has had an amazing journey. She teaches women how to seek God in their lives in order to fulfill their needs and give them the strength to keep on giving, giving, giving (which is what we seem to do a lot of the time with our family, with our friends, and in our church). A lot of times us women tend to keep giving and deplete ourselves of everything, wearing ourselves too thin. She encourages us to seek God who can fill our cups until they runneth over.
My best friend (my mama) and me
My inspiration (Renee)
We got home around 4:00pm and I made a mad dash to get Liv's Halloween Costume out and on. I was a little worried about her keeping the costume on or even wanting to wear it for that matter! However, she did GREAT! Miss Ladybug kept her costume on the entire time! We were also able to take her out to a few houses this year. We hit up the grandparents, Aunt Lisa, and two of our neighbors. When we got to Gram and Grandpa's, Liv stood at the stairs and said "Trick-or-Treat!" as she danced around in circles. It was adorable.
It's hard to believe it's already November. The Holidays are here! What a fun, family filled, heart warming time of year. I am anxious to spend this holiday season enjoying my family and friends.
Thanks again to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers for Livi and for myself lately. I have had a few people ask if the swollen lymph nodes have gone away yet. Unfortunately, they have not. Dr. Viner told me to try not to worry about it too much and that if any of the other nodes got bigger to give him a call. I am trying to turn my worries over to God and hope that with time He will heal my ailments. Please pray for some help for me in turning these worries over. As many of you know, I am a huge worrier....Also, we are having some problems getting our secondary insurance to cover the remaining cost of synagis this year. This is the :liquid gold" as one nurse called it, which helps prevent Olivia from contracting RSV. If they choose not to cover Olivia, we will have to pay several thousand dollars out of our pocket if we want Olivia to have these shots. Please pray for things to work out for us.
Thanks You
Kendrs
