Olivia and her new glasses

Olivia got her glasses last week. She is doing well with them considering that she isn't even two yet! She looks so cute in them. She will wear them for a little while (she wears them the longest when she's busy), and then want them off! Which is fine, we take them off for a while and try again later. She loves to see herself in the mirror with them on. She just laughs at herself!

PaPa and Grandma

PaPa and Grandma have got to be two of the greatest people! I don't know who is taken up with who more, them with her or her with them. Of course we live close so that is a major plus for all of them. I don't think Grandma or Papa can drive through town without stopping by to see Olivia. They have spoiled her rotten but that's what grandparents are supposed to do. She loves it when they come over, but it's when they are leaving that the fun really begins! They tell her bye-bye and she immeadeatly runs over to them and wants to be picked up. They pick her up and walk over to the do or and when she thinks or sees me coming that way she will start laughing and squealing and kicking her legs (like she is running), trying to get them to hurry up and get out the door. She has to get all the way out to the vehicle, get in and drive for a minute or two before she will ever come back in the house with me!!! She would go with them everytime if we'd let her. They love her very much as she does them as well. We are very thankful for Grandma and Papa and everthing they have done for us. May God bless you both!!! We love you!!

Great Grandma turned 94!

Grace Turner, my dad's mom, my grandma, and Olivia's great grandma turned 94 this year. She is very proud of her tiny little great grandbaby and Olivia loves going down to see her. She only lives a block away so it is easy to go by and check on her. Every time we go in there Olivia's first objective is to get the puppies off of the back of the couch. Then proceed to see what else she can find to get into to!

Great Grandma had a fall the week before her birthday and ended up in the nursing home while the fracture in her back heals. So we celebrated the big 94 there. Olivia had a blast, running up and down the halls of the nursing home. Of course all of the people there enjoyed it also. It was an uplifting change from their regular routines! I don't know how many people were laughing at the rotten little girl running so excitedly down their halls. She was a visitor unlike any others I'm sure!!!

Big Red Shoes

Olivia is getting to the stage where she likes to try on every one's shoes and walk around. Most shoes are too heavy for her still but on this occasion she put on Lindsey's red clogs. They were just right for her to walk around in. She had a blast and still thinks she has to put them on and walk around every time Lindsey wears them to our house. They look like big clown shoes on her but she doesn't care!

Like a fish to water

Olivia has always enjoyed taking baths. She loves the water no matter where it is, a bath, a pool, or a mud puddle!! If she finds water you can bet she is going to get in it and be soaking wet from head to toe before she is done. Here are some pics of her in the bathtub. You can tell as she get bigger she loves bubbles, the more the better. Don't worry the water isn't deep just the bubbles!!!

Olivia's smiles!!

Olivia has always been a happy baby! She is definately a girl of many smiles and expressions. One little smile or giggle out of her can make you whole day better, it seems to make all of your petty little worries disappear! She is our shining star! Here are a few for you to see!

Olivia and Osteogenesis Imperfecta

When Olivia was born we never suspected anything was wrong other than the fact that she was so early. She was very healthy to be such an early preemie. In the hospital she never cried, fussed or seemed like anything was hurting, until around October 8, 2006. She was being very fussy and kept crying but she was not showing any signs of something being wrong. She was not running a fever or anything. The NICU doctors kept saying she was fine that she just wanted some attention and the nurses (who spend the majority of the time with the babies) kept telling the doctors that there was something wrong, that Olivia didn't act like that. Then her right leg started to swell. That is when the doctors realized something was wrong. They called us at the hotel and told us that her right leg was starting to swell and they thought it might be an infection. Well when you are dealing with a preemie, INFECTION, is not a word you want to hear. There bodies are so tiny that they have a hard time fighting off infections. They did blood tests and xrays but still didn't find anything wrong. They called in an Orthopaedic doctor to see her. He had them do an MRI and that is when they found the fracture, that was almost already healed. They beleived it happened in utero. The Ortho doctor was the first one to mention the possbility of Olivia having Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), however none of the NICU doctors thought she had it. We continued going to see the Ortho doctor every six months. On our first visit he did xrays of her legs and showed me the bowing in her femurs and tibias. He gave me a list of reasons why he thought she had OI. Her legs were bowed, her bones were thinner than mine (on the xray), her triangular shaped face, her large soft spot, among other things he told me. I at that time just brushed it all off to her prematurity, but he kept insisting she had it. She also was not gaining weight very fast or getting any bigger. She only gained about a pound a month and was diagnosed as failure to thrive, which I knew better because she ate all the time. They finally sent us to a genetics doctor who gave her the clinical diagnoses of OI. They also did a skin biopsy when she was 1 year and 2 months old. That told us that she had OI III or IV, that was in December 2007, when we got those results. They then did a test from the same blood work that told us she was a type IV. She has handled the OI very well and has not had any more fractures as of today. We are still learning every day about OI and what we could possibly face in the future. It all depends on Olivia and how she handles the OI. We pray every day for her strength and that God will do what he will with her life. We thank God for the strength that she has and continues to have.