Merry Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas to all our family & friends. To those I share daily life with I thank you for your love & encouragement through this holiday season. My heart should be focused on God and the precious gift of life He gave us all. I've struggled. And yet my struggles are never in vain because it causes change in my life for the better. I love you all.

Creating Ornaments

One of our first craft projects this season was wet-on-wet painting. We'll turn those into votive candles (pictures to come). Next we made Christmas ornaments for a tree outside my parents screened porch and strung cranberries for the birds. I only made one ornament because I spent most of my time taking care of Danijela. Come to think of it I'm not sure how I managed to participate in wet-on-wet painting, but I did. Hum.

Uncle Mike

Mike, my brother, and his family are in Austin for Christmas this year. It's the first time in 15 years we've spent this holiday together. Now our family is significantly larger with 5 grandkids and one on the way. He's a handsome guy.

Mommy, I go home.

Danijela's been sick. She got well. You know this. Well, she got sick again. I swear she had 4 good days in there somewhere. Last Thursday she started throwing up. Saturday it turned into diarrhea morning, noon and night which stopped yesterday. All sleepless nights and elevated temperatures the entire time.

I cannot tell you how exhausting it's been physically and mentally. Tata & Mommy are sick too, but Danijela definitely got the short-end of this stick. One evening Sam decided to take a bath. Danijela wanted to join him and Andi followed close behind. To hear her giggle was music to my sleep-deprived ears as they splashed water everywhere. At her worst moments she literally begs to go home and breaks my heart when she adds a desperate "please" to the request.

I draw name.

Last night I gave Danijela her bath early (Tata was gone). Afterwards we played in her room. Months ago I purchased a clipboard at a dollar store because she likes to draw. Well, she stood with clipboard and pencil in hand then said to me "Mommy I draw name." She acted as though she was taking role in class or something. Definitely had an audience I could not see. Sometimes she'll ask me to "draw" (write) a name like Elmo. She is very much into pretend these days and I find it facinating. I took this image tonight. I do wish she was standing because she is much more official looking.

Hello. Sure. Bye Bye.

The title says it all. Miss D got her "cell phone" for her 1st birthday almost a year ago. She was busy talking on the phone this afternoon in the backseat. The conversations have gotten progressively more entertaining and complex. However, the most common goes something like this "Hello. Yeah. Sure. Bye bye." I love that girl.

My First Pigtails

Breakfast of Champions

Yep, bad mommy. Our baby girl was so uncomfortable when she was sick that we finally resorted to making ice cream shakes to see if we could get her to eat ... and make her smile. Believe it or not she wasn't too excited and preferred milk or water (good girl!). However, one morning she did specifically ask for a shake. I made her a shake AND gave her a bowl of ice cream. She liked the bowl. If you're curious it was Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate.

On a side note one morning she appeared to be doing so much better. I had some Odwalla Super Food drink and gave her some. Imagine my horror when she literally crumbled over in pain on the kitchen floor from the juice hitting her sores. I wasn't thinking clearly. It was so strange because she just started salivating and crying. Super bad mommy.

Flashback

And how precious she is. I don't even know where to start. I almost want to stop blogging. I seriously & repeatedly considered it. So much has transpired in the last month it's ridiculous. Blogging has fallen way down, if not totally off, my priority list. Maybe it's because of Danijela being sick. Maybe it's because of my exhaustion. And I certainly am convicted when it takes away time from God or my family. Something I need to consider.

These images where taken when Danijela had healed significantly but we still quarantined ourselves. Initially she had sores throughout the interior of her mouth (virus) which slowly moved outside. I mean everywhere! Her gums were red and swollen. She stopped talking and eating for the most part. Then she gets an unrelated and serious infection on her cheek (see lower left). It was yucky and scary. And this was all preceded by a seizure of all things.

Anatomy

The Louvre

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Paris was 15+ hours. I didn't sleep a wink and my legs swelled. We arrived at 6am local time. Naturally hotel check-in wasn't until 3pm which left an entire day for exhausted travellers to start sightseeing. First we had coffee. Then we tackled the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre. The Louvre is absolutely enourmous. This is Venus de Milo. The Mona Lisa was on display but you are not allowed to take pictures.

Eiffel Tower

This Eiffel Tower image is more festive than the last as is my spirit (Danijela is well!). I take zero credit for this picture. Thank you to Robert for sharing. I accomplished all my sightseeing during daylight hours and was pajama ready by 6pm or earlier. So sad, but so true.

Eiffel Tower

I admit posting anything about Paris now seems oddly inappropriate. I returned Tuesday to a husband and child that spent the night in the ER. Since then we've been battling strange health issues with Danijela. Nothing too serious (yet!) but very painful for her. So ... here is the famous Eiffel Tower. It does seem appropriate the images are so gloomy. That is how I feel. It was cold, rainy and incredibly windy. The tower itself was quite amazing. I was enjoying the experience at the time. I'm just in a different place now and not simply literally.

Seized Again

Home sweet home. Danny was at the airport with sweet Danijela sleeping in the car. I thought it odd since it was 4pm. I commented about her wearing her pajama top. He said "Everything is okay now." Then he explained Danijela had another seizure Monday night. They'd been at the hospital until 1am Tuesday morning. Many thanks to family that provided much needed help.

It started while she was in the bathtub. He took her and laid her on her side while she seized all the while praying over her. He said he felt very calm. After about 5 minutes she didn't seem to be improving so decided to call an ambulance. We've been told it's not necessary, but as a parent you don't know if it's a febrile seizure or something much worse. The emergency doctor (same as last time) said Danny did the right thing. After much testing she was given a clean bill of health.

Tata and Danijela are finally resting peacefully tonight.

Hold You!

Oh, how I miss them. This morning I watched families together in the hotel at breakfast. I so wanted to hold Danijela and kiss on them both. I saw daddys watching after their baby girls. I know they are fine without me, but I'm not so fine without them. I am incredibly blessed and am grateful for our life together.

Kiss. Kiss, my Love.

World's Smallest Toothpaste

Batu Caves

The Batu Caves were discovered in 1892 and have become a sacred place for Malaysian Hindus. At the base are several worship temples (not shown) with what I assume are repetitive prayers being broadcast on a loud speaker. On this particular day it began raining heavily before I started up the steep 240 steps to the top. My heart got a good workout. You have to be careful because of the banana peels ... I assume for all the monkeys running up and down the steps.

I'll have to share more about this experience when I see you. One funny thing ... walking down the steps I heard a recorded chant over and over and over. Finally realized it was in English and said "Dark cave come back now come and have a look." You had to be there. It all rolled togther to a rhythm and was spoken with an incredibly think Indian accent. I'll have to chant it for you. I still giggle about it. All others were Hindu chants ... I think.

Coconuts

Malaysia is very tropical with palm tress covering the landscape. Food is steamed in palm leaves and there are many palm products that support the economy. There are palm tress in the city, but not nearly as many as I saw on my drive from the airport (1 hour). I literally saw millions. "So put the lime in the coconut ... "

The funny thing is I'm not a fan of the coconut. I do, however, think they are beautiful. And it amazes me that an entire economy can be so influenced by the coconut.

World Tour

I made it to Malaysia safely via LA and Hong Kong. Yes, the sky is blue in Kuala Lumpur. However, each day around 5pm it starts raining or pouring. It's the rainy season and "winter" with daily temperatures in the 80s/90s. Here is a quick glimpse of my experiences so far.

Petronas Towers

Kuala Lumpur City Center (hotel view)

Batik Factory Tour

Royal Selangor Tour

Batu Caves

These images were taken in one afternoon. I took a "Country Tour" on Sunday specifically to see the Batu Caves. It included stops for various tours which were 1% tour and 99% shopping trap. One stop was a leather factory tour. There was no time to take pictures because the tour lasted 1 minute -- seriously. It was hilarious. The caves were the last stop where it proceeded to downpour.

More Bubbles

Best Friends

An afternoon at the Arboretum is always a good choice for Danijela and Kiley. There are the frog fountains, tree houses, pioneer homes (with fake food & dishes for playing). Danijela, however, did not get the memo about the fake food. Guess she was pretty hungry.

Smile

I think it's time to let you in on a little secret about sweet Danijela. That little booger usually turns her back when she sees Mama's camera. When you see images of her it's the result of sometimes countless images taken. On this morning last week she looked so beautiful with the morning sun on her face. Then she smiled and she looked even more beautiful. Thank you, Sugar.

Dee-ya

Melanie & Kiley were headed to our front door last week. Danijela was being silly & started saying "Deeya" (repeatedly) which is how Kiley says Danijela's name. Danijela actually has a really funny sense of humor. I really appreciate being around her & looking at life from her perspective ... the best I can.

1966

I celebrated my 40th birthday on Halloween. That's so unbelievable. Not because I don't look 40. It just seems those 40 years passed in the blink of an eye. It reminds me to cherish every moment & thank God for each. Everyone made this such a special birthday for me. I'm not one to celebrate, but I'm sure glad my friends & family decided for me. The girls surprised me with a Sugar Photography session. Totally amazing. My husband gave me massage gift certificates (yes, that is plural) & some crazy amount of money towards a pedicure & manicure. Never had either. These wrinkly hands could use some TLC. Okay, my entire pregnant body could use some TLC. They'll be lucky to keep me awake.

Costumes 2006

Ellis the Lion

Beckett the Jockey

Danijela the Hula Girl

I'll be the first to admit Danijela was a Hula Girl for about three minutes total. These days she cries to have her clothes removed. So, expecting her to tolerate a costume is a bit of a reach. Brave Tata did try before the Halloween Carnival & she was having none of it. That is perfectly fine with us. If it's not fun for her there is zero reason to do it. We love you, Danijela.

Bounce House

Danijela loves to bounce. We went to the Fraternal Order of Eagles Halloween Carnival this past weekend. Lucky Danijela was able to bounce to her heart's content. The next best thing was the hay ride.

Ponytail

As previously mentioned, sweet girl has a hair thing now. Earlier this week she wanted a ponytail. Her hair certainly seems long enough, but that silky hair slips out of my hands at every attempt. The only option is this sprout-like version. Amazingly she loves it & thinks she's pretty darn cute. I do too. This was not the first ponytail, but probably the third one she has ever worn.