Sometimes the best things are free . . .

Monte's sister gave us this Barbie Jeep last year for Isabella, since their daughter is older and done with it. When we told people (the grandparents) we were going to get it out for her this spring, they all said she was too young, and that she wouldn't know how to drive it. And we kind of thought that too. But she proved us all wrong this morning! Even though her little foot barely reaches the "gas" pedal, she can make that thing go. And she just thinks she is all that driving her own car by herself! It was so much fun watching her have so much fun with it. I've said it before, but some of the best moments of my life have been seeing my child having so much fun, and being so excited! We are LOVING this warmer weather, it has been in the upper 50's here lately (go ahead and laugh you people from the south). :) I love getting hand me downs, there is no way we ever would have bought this for her otherwise, these things are expensive! And not only did Isabella get a "new car" yesterday but we did too, or should I say I did, it's mostly for me to drive anyway as Monte has his Durango for work. But I don't really like saying it's mine, I prefer to say both vehicles are "ours". Our old car had 180,000 miles on it!! And then the air went out, so it wasn't worth fixing it. We traded it in for one that's only 2 years old, and has 20,000 miles, that should be a little more reliable I would say. :)

And I just threw this random picture of her swinging this morning in here too. We just got her swing up a couple days ago.

Amazing!

Monte has been injecting himself with the new med for about 7 weeks now, the results are absolutely amazing to us!! He's off all other drugs, he just injects himself once every 2 weeks. We are constantly talking about how we can't even believe this is happening. He says he hasn't felt this good in the last SEVEN years. Even his best days in the last seven years don't even compare to how good he feels now! I can't even imagine how horrible it must have been for him, it's one thing to watch him, but another thing to actually be going through it, he was very good at hiding how he really felt many times. He said he just expected to always feel that way, and accepted a long time ago that that was how it would be. His weight is also back up into the 150's, he's gained TWENTY pounds just in the last couple of months. He looks so good, I took a picture of him when he was doing really bad a few months ago. I wish I could post a before and after picture on here, but I know there is no way he would let me. He reminds me of someone in a concentration camp in the picture from a few months ago - SO thin, face sunken in, a pale greenish complexion. And now, as you can see from our Easter family picture I posted before, he looks great. And if all that wasn't the best news EVER, there's one thing to top it all off even. He can have dairy products again!!! Once again . . . amazing! It's been about 7 or 8 years since he has tasted anything like milk, cheese, ice cream, etc. Do you know what this means for my cooking?!! I can't wait to try out all sorts of creamy, cheesy dishes! Even as I write this, the tears are flowing down my cheeks - wonderful, happy, THANKFUL tears. We've come a long way since that awful day at the Mayo Clinic about 4 and half years ago, when we were given very little hope that things would get better. We thank God every day for the gift of health he has given Monte. This Easter season truly is a time for us to celebrate the gift of new life, it's like a whole new season in our lives. We know there are ups and downs with this disease, but for right now we are celebrating! I have a healthy family, and I couldn't possibly be any happier. If we hadn't gone through everything we did, I can guarantee you I would not be as appreciative or so happy about having a "normal" life. I would have taken it all for granted, and for that I thank God for our time of suffering. Our priest talked about suffering in the Good Friday homily, how it does one of two things. Suffering can make you angry at God, and make you turn away from Him OR it can be a form of prayer, something to offer up, something that brings you closer to God than you've ever been before. For us, it was the latter.

Recent Pics

Sitting in Grandpa's tractor.

Easter

Hanging out in the hotel pool with cousin Chas.

Children's museum.

Having fun in the toddler room at the Children's museum.

A recap of the past month goes something like this - We went to visit Monte's parents for a couple of days, then Monte left for his two week business trip. During that time Isabella and I travelled to go stay with my parents and then my sister. We were all home for one day when we took off again to attend my dad's birthday bash. Once we arrived home from there, I took off to go pick up my niece and bring her back to stay with us for 5 days. I then took her back, and Isabella and I were stranded at my sister's for a few days while there was a blizzard at home. A couple of hours after Isabella and I finally got home Monte took off for another business trip (but just overnight). Once he got home, he had ANOTHER business trip, last Monday through Thursday in Fargo, ND. And this time Isabella and I went with. We arrived home, exhausted, on Thursday and then travelled another 4 hours on Saturday to spend the next couple of days with my family for Easter. And now we are HOME, and this time I think it will be for a while, not just a day or two and then have to take off again.

Our trip to Fargo was so much fun. Monte's parents joined us, as did our nephew for one of the days. We had so much fun in the hotel pool, shopping, and visiting the local children's museum. Isabella has never been on the go as much as she has the past month, but she handled it SO well. I'm glad she likes car rides because she has spent A LOT of time in the car lately. I'm thinking she's going to be sleeping a lot for at least the next week to get caught up. Last night she went to bed at 6:50, and got up this morning at 8:00, then took a 3 hour nap. I hope we didn't get her too run down.

Back to my regularly scheduled blogging . . .

Not that I have any sort of schedule about it, but I hope it's going to be at least a little more frequent now. We're home finally, it's been a CRAZY but fun past month. I have lots of posts floating around in my head, we'll see if I get time to write them.

Snowed Out

Isabella and I got my niece back to her rightful owners on Monday, right before a big blizzard hit. The weather was fine at my sister's but it was a total blizzard where we live, roads closed and all. Thus I was snowed out until yesterday. It was fine, I like staying with my sister, but I feel like we've hardly been home for the whole month of March, except for the time my niece was staying with us. I was longing for some "just my family" time. We got about two hours of that after we got home, then Monte took off for another trip for work (this time just an overnight trip). I've heard a lot of "Where's my daddy? I need him, I just NEED him!" lately from a certain little girl. We'll have the weekend here, then it's MORE traveling for us coming up, this is crazy! At least I got the main part of the house finally cleaned today.

I think the girls are really going to miss each other, they were together for a whole week. One night I overheard them in the bath telling each other, "I love you.". So sweet! They are quite the pair, on Tuesday this is the conversation I overheard from the 2 two year olds!

Rachel: I don't like this cookie.

Isabella (in a very concerned voice): Oh, you don't like it, you just don't like it Rachel?

Rachel: No

Isabella: Why don't you take a drink of milk, I think that will help you.

(Rachel takes a drink)

Isabella: There there, is that better honey?

Rachel: Ya, thanks Belle.

Now I know why mom dressed my sister and I alike . . .

it's just so much fun!

The Day in Pictures

This was the state of our house when I got out of the shower this morning. Our extra two year old is quite excited about all the "new to her" toys!

There was some playing babies . . .

There was LOTS of playing kitchen . . .


There were a couple of tea parties . . .

Puzzles . . .

And some posed shots . . .

Things are going great with my niece here. This is the first time she's ever been away from her parents, and I can't believe how well she's doing. Even when it's time for bed, she just goes into her room and lays down on the little toddler air mattress without a peep. She has yet to cry or whine, etc. And when I went to my sister's to pick her up yesterday, she was excited about coming with me. The girls are getting along good, too. They're having lots of fun, and are so polite with one another, it's so cute. Of course, there have been a few sharing issues as well, but that's to be expected, especially since they are the only kids in their families for now.