Vroom Vroom

Olivia has found a new favorite activity.

Point Defiance Zoo

We love the Point Defiance Zoo. It's only 20 minutes from our house, the parking is free. It's a small enough zoo to walk throug in a few hours but there are still a lot of different types of animals. During our last trip we also learned that it's one of only 2 zoos in North America where they rotate the animals on and off exhibit several times a day. We got to see them take the female tiger off exhibit and put the male tiger on exhibit. It was really neat to listen to the zoo keeper show us how the male tiger was looking for clues that the female tiger had left behind. Rotating the animals on and off exhibit also means that no trip to the zoo will ever be exactly the same! Right after Mike got back from California he had a 3 day weekend and we took advantage of the sunshine at the zoo.

We do not have fun pictures from the zoo. You could get better pictures of animals elsewhere and Olivia was having too much fun to sit still.

Welcome to Seattle

We took advantage of the nice weather here on Sunday and got to see more of Seattle. We rode the ducks and we went to the top of the Space Needle.



Checking out the water. The tour "bus" drives through downtown Seattle and then goes into Lake Union. Olivia was a little confused to be floating on the water.



The Seattle skyline.



Seattle houseboats. Its hard to see in this picture but the "Sleepless in Seattle" house is the green one with the red trim, another house has been built in front of it.




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View from the top of the Space Needle

North Carolina, the fun stuff....

So our trip to North Carolina included trips to the Duke University Medical Center and the Center for Development and Learning at the University of Chapel Hill as well as a short trip to Ft. Bragg. Obviously it wasn't a vacation and we spent more time in various hospitals than anywhere else. Despite that we were thankful that we were all together and we did make time for some fun family time as well as trips to Chick-fil-A and McAlister's Deli!




The Chapel at Duke



Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed







We loved the sunshine and the warm weather!

Shopping with 2 little ones

When Olivia was an infant I remember being so excited to be able to shop at the grocery store on my own. Those days of solo shopping are long gone and now I have two little ones to keep entertained. I've discovered the best invention of all time. I don't know why I never noticed these before. The other day we stopped off at the store for just a few things when Olivia politely said "Mama please ride" and pointed at the car/cart. How could I deny her? After all she said please. I had the most enjoyable grocery shopping trip ever. We will have to work with the steering with the feet thing :)

Playing Catch Up.....

To say that I've fallen behind on my blogging is an understatement. We've been super busy with our last minute trip to North Carolina but we've been having a blast. I hope you enjoy hearing all that we've been up to.

One in a million-Olivia's Health Update

Well actually it's more like one in 70,000. I can't believe that it's been 9 months to the day since my initial post about Olivia's health. So much has changed since then!

At the beginning of October they finally called to tell us that they had confirmed the diagnosis. Olivia has been through months of tests to reach this point. They've done 3 different skin biopsies, echo cardiograms, liver ultrasounds, we've collected countless urine and blood samples. They've sent off these samples to places in Alabama, New Mexico and South Carolina. Olivia's DNA has been completely mapped. We thank God that our insurance company has covered the thousands and thousands of dollars that these tests cost. Part of the reason it took so long to get a complete, confirmed diagnosis is because of the complicated nature of Olivia's condition. That and everything has been checked, and then double checked, and then checked again and confirmed in a different way. Mike and I both left work early and met up at the doctor's office to hear the news. Olivia does have a storage disorder, a type of Mucopolysaccharidoses, MPS III subtype B also known as Sanfilippo Syndrome to be exact. This occurs in approximately 1 in 70,000 kids. We sat there in a cramped doctor's office in an army hospital and heard that there was no possible treatment for Sanfilippo Syndrome and that typical life expectancy was "into the 2nd decade". And as if that wasn't enough of a blow Sanfilippo Syndrome is genetically inherited which means that both Mike and I are carriers of this recessive trait which means that any future children of ours have a one in four chance of also having Sanfilippo Syndrome (I was 8 months pregnant when we were hearing this news).

Olivia's diagnosis has completely changed our lives in so many ways. Mike and I are much closer. The diagnosis took our relationship to a whole new level, no one else will ever understand what I'm going through like he does. No one loves Olivia as much as he does We've learned more about supporting and respecting each other. We decided that I would quit my job after Peter was born. At the same time a lot of things are the same, Olivia is still doing well in speech, right now she's still a normal 2 year old.

Initially I wanted to tell everyone I knew about Olivia and Mike didn't want to tell anyone. I'm so glad that I listed to Mike and we didn't discuss it with people right away. We took our time talking about it with each other, praying about it. We focused on getting ready to welcome Peter into the family. Eventually we decided to tell our parents.


When Mike was in the field last month I happened to find a few random articles about how doctors at Duke University Medical Center were treating Sanfilippo Syndrome with cord blood transfusions. I actually found a clinical trial currently accepting patients at Duke. I gave the information to her doctor and he looked it over and is contacting the doctor running the clinical trial at Duke. Things continued and after several letters from various doctors and plenty of long phone calls with our insurance company we were able to get the insurance company to approve our request for Olivia to be evaluated by doctors at Duke University and at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to see if she is an ideal candidate for the clinical trial going on here. We're actually in North Carolina now for those evaluations.

I've decided to share this info with our friends and family who read our blog because at this point I think that we need all the prayers and positive thoughts that we can get! We'll let you know how things go! We know that there are plenty of ways that you can help as we move forward but the best thing that you can do for our family right now is to keep us in your prayers.

Homecomings!

Sometimes I feel like military life is all about the homecomings and the good byes! Mike was only gone for a month but we all missed him so much! This month alone with both Peter and Olivia has left me not looking forward to his year long deployment but for now we're glad he's home!

What are they putting in balloons nowdays?

I received these balloons in the hospital when Peter was born along with a bamboo plant. I can't believe that this was 4 months ago today! What are they putting in balloons nowdays to make them float for this long?

Monday Morning

I hate Monday Mornings but it does make it a little easier to get going when you have these two beautiful faces to wake up to!

Coffee Talk

I walked in on Peter and Olivia having quite the breakfast conversation the other morning and it was absolutely adorable! Olivia was telling Peter all about her cereal and how she eats it with a spoon instead of a fork and it's in a bowl with milk. I was only able to understand every third word or so but Peter was absolutely entranced. It is so cute to watch them together! I stood there for a couple of minutes before either of them noticed that I was there. It was precious!

a room of his very own

A couple of weeks ago (I am a little behind on the blogging) Peter started sleeping in his room. I know that it doesn't bother him in the least, I don't even think that he has noticed that he's sleeping in his crib but I miss him! The weight limit on the bassinett is 15 lbs and I know that Peter is pretty close to that so it was time for him to move on to his own room. Peter's 4 month well baby visit is in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to see how much he's grown.

Markers are no longer allowed!!!

The other day Olivia told me she wanted to do art so I got her some paper and markers and set everything up on the coffee table in the living room and went into the kitchen to load the dishwasher. Peter was happily amusing himself with his toys. A minute or so later I heard Peter laughing so I looked around the corner to check. I found my little artist coloring with a crayola magic marker all over Peter. Peter found this absolutely hilarious. I of course did not find it as amusing. Olivia went immediately to time out while I snapped this picture of Peter. Olivia apologized to Peter and was allowed out of the corner with a stern reminder that markers were for paper only.



I brought Peter into the kitchen with me so that I could finish loading the dishwasher. I walked back into the living room just minutes later to discover that my darling child had eaten a marker. Her mouth was completely black. I told her to hand over the marker and instead of handing me the marker in her hand she started fishing out pieces of the felt tip that she bitten off the marker. Next stop bathtub, do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not touch ANYTHING. In the bathroom I put her in front of the mirror so that she could see the damage first hand. Poor Olivia pointed at her self in the mirror and said "accident". It is hard to see in the pictures but her entire mouth was black, her tongue was black, her teeth were black, looking into her mouth was like looking into a black hole. I scrubbed her mouth for about 15 minutes and then Olivia and I went downstairs to throw away all the markers.




It goes without saying that markers are no longer allowed in the Leiva house.

Welcome Home

I am so happy for my friends from Ft. Carson who finally have their husbands home from Iraq!