HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!

I cannot believe that I could have a 2 year old! Time flies so quickly! Well, on Thursday we went to Spencer's grave and brought him some birthday flowers. Grandma and Grandpa Dinger were there along with Marie (she came all the way from California and they all came to spend the day with us...so much fun!)

Cute little Tori munchkin is holding our flowers for Spencer. We bought irises (because we think they are more masculine and we started the tradition last year...there will always be irises now...i just love the color...they are so beautiful!), snap dragons and calla lilies (because those were the flowers from his memorial) and some white daisies (to spice things up).

We actually found his headstone pretty easy this time. Some of the headstones were uncovered already...probably from other families trying to find their babies. I think that the headstone is so pretty.

Here is Tori Bori braving the cold!

Close up of the beautiful flowers from us.

These are the gerber daisies from the Dinger family. Notice the cute snow heart underneath.

I liked this picture with the closeup of the flowers and Jesus holding the baby!

Well, I finally finished his memorial book too! I think it turned out wonderful. It took an afternoon to transcribe the memorial service (it was recorded on a tape! luckily I had a tape player!) and now it is finished! You can view it too! I hope you like it!

Here is the link:

http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/post/start.sfly?postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDFgwctWLJmwcgXTwaWU

Puking...need I say more?

The past week was crazy! Last Monday night Tori woke up vomiting all over her crib (if this is too much information....do not proceed! It just gets worse!) She continued to vomit for an hour. I thought I must have given her some bad food, and she fell back to sleep. The next day she was just fine. She played with Alivia (her best buddy that I now watch 3 times a week...she is so cute and so much fun!) and ate and everything. Well...that night is when the vomit hit the fan! She puked all night and all of the next day (Wednesday) and to make matters worse Jason and I decided to join in the fun and get the stomach flu too. Needless to say, we had a very horrible Wednesday night. Luckily the stomach flu goes through adult bodies a lot faster than baby bodies.

Well, Thursday finally came and we were in for a long day. Although Tori was not vomiting (I think that she was too parched for vomit to even form) she was really dehydrated despite our best efforts to rehydrate. So we went to the doctors and we were sent to the hospital to get abdominal x-rays. (Mind you this is after a night of no sleep and visiting the toilet every 30 minutes for the both of us.) Luckily there was nothing obstructing her little bowels, but she was dehydrated. The doctor told us that it would probably be a good idea to go to the ER and get an IV to rehydrate her. So off we went. Another 3 hours and a lot of pedialyte and we were out of there. Needless to say, Jason and I were spent.

We thought that Friday would be a better day...nope, the vomiting started again! YIKES! Saturday was the same...and Sunday she started throwing up bile (this is very bad) and we went to the doctors again and they gave us some anti-puke medicine.

I was seriously going crazy from being in the house so much! (I really hadn't left the house for 5 days and I needed to get out!) So Monday we braved the great outdoors and went grocery shopping. I think Tori enjoyed being out too. That night she vomited again, but she has not since that time.

Thankfully she is eating some solids and holding down her milk. So we hope and pray that we don't get the stomach flu again any time soon!

The miracles out of this whole mess:

1. Jason and I only had the stomach flu for 2 days.

2. While gargling once, Jason found one of the diamond pendants that my Dad gave me in the sink. It had already gone down the drain and popped back up with the pressure of Jason's spit! I wouldn't have even known that it was gone! The cat had pushed it down the drain (sure I shouldn't have left it on the bathroom sink counter for her to get to it, but we will still count it as a miracle).

3. Tori loved grape Pedialyte (just like her daddy did when he was little). Sometimes babies will not take it and Tori has only had juice less than a 1/2 a dozen times before. I really think that this is what helped her stay hydrated. A lot of what was causing her to vomit was the milk that she was drinking!

4. Tori was not vomiting and "coming out of the other end" at the same time. I could handle the vomit, but poop on top of that! YIKES!

Well...all in all we SURVIVED our first bout with stomach flu ( I cannot imagine having more than one kid with the stomach flue at a time...I thought this as I was watching John and Kate Plus 8...I mean really could you imagine!) Plus we really have the worlds most perfect baby (she really hardly ever cries and is so happy) that it was good to have a dose of the whiny and needy Tori to show us how blessed we really are all the time!

Of course...what is a blog entry without Tori Borealis? Here are some pics from Tuesday post the night of puking but pre the week to follow of the stomach flu!

Tori loves to drink juice from these really cheap sippy cups that I found at the store...I tried some of the more expensive ones, but she is just like her mother...happy with the bargain! She looked so cute in this black onsie! She looked like a little ballerina...we should get her a pink tutu!

This is Alivia. For the life of me I could not get her to look at the camera. Her mom is a photographer so I think that she could sense my amateurness and refused my pleas! (ha ha) Oh, and don't forget Cami...she is so relaxed sleeping between the two couches.

I know...these pictures are so blurry, but I couldn't get Tori to stop moving. She loves her cute little car that her Gigi (Grandma Gwen) and Grandpa Dennis (We didn't think that GD was such a good nickname for Grandpa Dennis...ha ha ha!) gave her for Christmas. Of course she needs help to move anywhere, but she loves to play with all the gadgets!

Playing with our "BIG" girl!

I took some pretty cute pictures of Tori playing just a few minutes ago and I just thought I would share them with you...she is getting soooo big! The other day she was standing at the tub waiting for her bath and she took some steps! She also likes to hold both of my pointer fingers and walk...she takes about 10 shaky steps...boy is it cute! She also says "mammma" when she sees me and holds her hands out to be picked up. She babbles a ton too... along with high shrilled pitches that I am sure are quite familiar to a Pterodactyl. She now shifts her weight and flaps her hands for me to help her to stand up too! She is getting so strong. I bet she will be crawling soon too. She moves all over our living room rolling and scooting backwards. she sometimes scoots forward, but not with much success. I am going to have a mover soon! YIKES!

I love getting shots of her in action...these first five pictures are about 5 seconds apart. I love to see her thought processes.

In the first picture she is screeching away and then notices that I have the camera...

and here is the smile!

She stands up..leaning against the play stand. (PS...this toy has lasted through Oscar, Livy, my little friend Alivia and now it is Tori's turn!)

With one hand...if you look close enough she is drooling like crazy!

She loves to play with this Backyardigan guitar too...I think Oscar got it for Christmas two years ago? I love the fact that I don't have to buy my child any toys!!!

Here she is...determined...look at that stance! I am in for it!

And of course she loves playing with her best friend Cami!

I am officially a blogger...YIKES!!!

It has come to this. I kept bugging Kendra to put in stuff that I want on the blog and she kept bugging me to add my own profile. So here I go...look out world, this could get ugly!

A New Year...and then pictures!

Well...it is a new year...time to set goals. I set some resolutions, but I want to call them just goals. resolutions have a bad rap! I am going to share them with you so that you can keep up with my random progress checks in the future and why I will be so happy when they are accomplished and we can rejoice together! Ha ha ha! So I wrote them in my journal, which I was really good at keeping for a few months (but that is not one of my goals...I am counting blogging as journaling and now I just have to figure out a way to make a hard copy for my posterity)...so here they are:

Spiritual

1. Read the Sunday School and Relief Society Lessons each week before the class! (This is a lofty goal, because I always find something "better" to do besides this. I usually read the Relief Society Lesson, but that has been a little shotty lately)

2. Read the Book of Mormon in Italian. (Haven't done this for a few years, but I am feeling guilty for not keeping up the mission language!)

Health

1. Exercise (this year I am not putting a time/length...I just want to exercise as much as humanly possible considering my family life...I just want to feel healthy again!)

2. Eat healthier (Mind you...I really don't eat all that piggishly, but I really could control the dessert intake...why buy it?)

Language

1. Finish Literatura y Arte (a Spanish textbook that Jason has and I am currently half way through)

2. Study Italian

3. Read the Book of Mormon in Italian and the Doctrine and Covenants in Spanish (I'm just really bragging that I can read in three languages...no I just like to cross out two goals at once when I accomplish them...it feels so good!

Mind

1. Read all the books on my "To Read" shelf (there are like 30 or something! Lofty, but I think I can do it!)
2. Learn a new "creation" (That is from Brother Uchtdorf's talk from the Relief Society session...it just means creating something new...gaining a new skill or hobby...I was thinking about maybe cake decorating...or sewing...)

Family

1. Take a swimming class with Tori ( I think this is what I want for her for her first birthday...mom and me swim lessons at the rec. center!)

2. Go on a "family date" each month ( I am not sure exactly what this will entail, but it sounds fun!)

Marriage

1. Write a love note to Jason each month (corny...I know, but it will be cool to look back at in 40 years!)

2. Study meaningfully every night. (We usually study the scriptures every night...but I want to do it while I am not half asleep...especially since we are reading the Doctrine and Covenants in Spanish!)

So, there they are! 12 goals (not counting the repeat). I hope I can do it! So I will keep you up to date on my progress (or lack there of). Now for the part you have all been waiting for...pictures of Tori and such!

Before we took the tree down I got some action shots of Tori's explorations...I know the first one is blurry, but I liked the action shot of her trying her hardest to get the chili ornament! She tried so hard and only got a few fake needles.

Jason's birthday is on the 31st of December...I made him this ridiculously peanut buttery and chocolate brownie/cake....it was too rich for my taste, and there are things that I will change the next time I make it, but he liked it.

Here is Tori...the mover and shaker....

and roller!

This is a serious conversation with Auntie Marie...she loves my cell phone!

Here are the pictures of her in her cute pink dress that she got from her Auntie Marie in November, the shoes that my mom got her and her tights that are huge! Look at that smile! She was in such a good mood yesterday!

This is my favorite picture! She looks so dang cute! I had to make it big!