I think Mikayla is finally on the road to recovery. I had to take her back to the doctor last Friday... she woke up with nearly 102 fever and was like a ragdoll. She did not want to do anything except lay in my arms and cry. The doctor checked her out and said she has an ear infection and possible sinus infection. She also said that Mikayla would run a fever until Monday or Tuesday and sure enough she has. She is on a 10 day antibiotic that will take care of ear and sinus infection. Today was actually a good day... until she started getting sleepy tonight but I will take that over the past almost two weeks. We have a new Elmo movie and I think in the last week we have watched it 100 times- not really but it sure feels like that. The past couple of days have been especially bad - from the time she gets out of bed she wants to watch Elmo. Mike caught her today with an Elmo DVD in her hand, pushing buttons on the DVD player trying to get it to open so she could watch Elmo. So funny! I tried to get pictures of that but of course my batteries were dead! Another new favorite thing is shutting doors... she likes to go into her room, shut the door behind her, and yell, "mommy, daddy". When we open the door for her she says "hi... bye"! She loves doing this when Mike is working late and Mommy is trying to cook dinner. Her new favorite phrases for today were "whats up" and "I don't know". She is so funny! I am really glad she is feeling better... a rough little patch on all of us.

Below are just some random pictures.
Thanksgiving at my (Leshia's) grandparents house... all the men watching football.

Cousins reading the paper and Mikayla and Aunt Susan and Ian playing.

Grandpa watching Mikayla play.

Ian and Mikayla playing.

Aunt Susan playing with Mikayla.

Mikayla and Daddy having some cuddle time.

Finger painting last week - you can tell by her eyes in this picture that she does not feel great.

Sickness

Don't have any new pictures to post... Mikayla has not been very healthy lately so I have not really taken any. Since last Thursday she has had a cold- cough, stuffy, runny nose and fussy... it has not been fun times for Mommy. Have not really been doing much- went to Christmas Village on Saturday. I probably should not have taken Mikayla out in the cold but she was bundled up. Sunday we did not go to church because she was sick and Mike was working. Monday was a horrible day so by Tuesday I had to get out of the house so we went to Target and Kohls for some things. Then, Tuesday night Grandma came to stay with Mikayla and Mike and I went to a dinner at church. Mikayla was still sick yesterday and Mike had a touch of a stomach thing so we stayed in last night. Well, today my sweet baby girl is even more sick than yesterday... but a different kind. She woke up this morning screaming and crying at 6:15 but I got her back to sleep. She did not wake up again until 11:15!!! She woke up crying again but I could not get her to calm down for about 10 minutes... then I realized why... she was burning up! She has had a fever since she woke up 100.0 and 100.1. She has not wanted to eat- has had fish crackers and a tiny kitkat(I am sorry to say). Told me she wanted soup so when I made it she did not want any part in it(I think she likes to do that to me) and will not drink anything. All she wants to do is lay around and be held... very lethargic! Oh and watch Elmo!! Around 2:00 she told me she wanted her fafa(pacifier)and nightnight so she is now down for nap!! Poor baby! Hopefully Mike is feeling ok because I have a candle party to go to tonight and I am in BADDDD need of a little break! Did I mention that Mike worked 16 hour days 2x last week and has been working every weekend this month! Anyway - a little prayer for my baby girl would be good. I guess a little prayer for Mommy would be good for Mommy and Daddy would be good too (a day off for Daddy on Sunday).

We had a good weekend. Friday, we went with some friends from church to Patty Cake Place in White House for a Thanksgiving themed day. We sang songs, made crafts, and spent time with our friends - I included pictures below of our time there. It is a really neat place. We are going back there in December for a Christmas Party. They do great things for the kids and have a great big, open area- Mikayla had no problem getting around in her chair. The only thing that I wish was different is that she is so little she could not reach the regular table so she had to do all her crafts on a separate table. That is okay though - she did not know the difference only I did. I think she had fun!! After that, Mikayla went to Grandma & Papa's to stay the night. Mike and I went to PF Changs(my favorite) with my cousin Brian and his wife Aimee. I love that place!!! We had a good time. Mike had to work Saturday and Sunday - he will be doing that until Thanksgiving. The money will be nice but Mikayla and I will miss Daddy!!! She is starting to want to know where Daddy is a lot more. This morning she was in her chair and she went to my bedroom door and starting saying "dada, dada"... it was really cute. Saturday, I had the day all to myself. I went to lunch with my ex-stepsister, Ashley, at Chili's. It was fun, we have not seen each other in about a year. I have known Ashley since she was a baby and now she is 17- time flies!!! Hard to believe she is almost grown. She is such a good girl and has such a great head on her shoulders... I think more so than I did at that age. We spent Saturday night at home with pizza. Sunday, Mikayla and I went to church. We had a Veteran's Day service with a special guest who survived 5 days in the ocean after his ship was hit during World War II. His story was amazing- the things he and others had to endure was outragous... I cannot imagine going through some of the things he did. He says that his faith is what kept him going. Sunday night, we had dinner here. Thursday was grandma's birthday so I cooked dinner for the family here. We had apple butter pork chops, rice, corn, and of course cake. Overall- we had a good weekend.

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I am not really sure why but I am feeling led to share this website www.lifewithoutlimbs.org . There are many people in our lives who are going through hell on earth who feel that things will never improve. "How can things get better" or "how can I continue on" are questions people ask themselves every day. Nick Vujici was a man born with no limbs. His story is incredible and I think everyone should hear or read about it. We go through life every day thinking that we have it bad and that it could not be worse. There will never be a situation in our lives that we cannot live through or make it through. There may be times when it feels this way but we will always come out on the other side as a changed and better person for what we live through in life. When I went through the hard times during my pregnancy with Mikayla and hard days even now, I have to know that all this is for more... for good. I know people who have gotten doctor reports recently that are not encouraging at all but because of situations in the past I could look at this person and show them Mikayla and tell them "she was a bad doctors report also". Because I lived through a horrible situation, I can show someone else the outcome. It may not always be pleasant at the time but in the end... when all is said and done it was for good and for something more than we know. It will always be for God's plan. If you have not ever heard Nick's story please check out the website. It is truly inspiring in your time of need. Love you all very much!!! Leshia

Just posted a video that we took last night. Please ignore my anger on the video. We have a posted 20 mph speed limit on our street. Well, we have MANNNNNYYYYYY people(um basically everyone) who do not know how to read because they do not abide by it... there are some who go at least 20 over!!! It makes me sooooooo MADDDDDDD!!! There are times when I want to throw something at their cars to make them stop to ask them if they can read!!!! We have so many kids and pets on our street that I am really afraid something bad is going to happen. Anyway- sorry for venting. Hope you enjoy the video please just ignore my rage!!!

I have also included below some pictures from today- we went to the zoo with our friends Lana and Allison Egan. The girls had fun and the weather was very nice.

New video

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After Friday night the rest of the weekend has gone by sooo fast. Saturday afternoon Mike got called into work and did not got home until after 2 this morning. Saturday night Mikayla and I went to a bonfire with our hometeam. We all got up this morning (including Mike) and went to church in our new sanctuary. For the last few months we have been having service in a tent outside and finally we had our first service in the new building. It was so nice - over double what we had before. The service was packed... they had to bring more chairs in!!! I was going to take pictures but was running behind this morning and forgot my camera. I will try to take pictures Wednesday night and then post them. Pastor Dan wanted everyone to be able to enjoy this first service together so there was no children's service or nursery. I was worried that the experience would not be fun but Mikayla did great. Actually, all the kids did great. We took crayons, paper, books, stickers, and snacks so Mikayla was very entertained(also with Daddy's phone). Mike said that we could not have her in there every service because we pay attention to her and not the service.
After church we went home and ate lunch , Mikayla took a nap, and we watched the Titans win again!!! We did our Sunday dinner at Grandmas tonight. It was a good weekend. Mike is off work Monday and Tuesday to go hunting so we will get to see more of him this week.
We took some pictures this morning before church. Our church is a casual church(jeans) especially since we have been in the tent, but we decided to dress up since today was a special day. Not sure why I did not take one of Mikayla and Daddy so there is just me and Mikayla.

Video

I think I have found a good way to post video to the blog. This one was made over the summer. I will post a newer one later. Enjoy!

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