January 2010!

Where does the time go? My updates are down from once a month to once a year. I can't believe how fast 2009 went!
Brody started kindergarten and he absolutely loves it! He has already had a girl TELL him he's her boyfriend and she already broke up with him. LOL! His teacher is wonderful. Well, he has three teachers, but his main teacher is the only one that meets with us and we like her a lot. We went to a parent teacher night and all the students and parents took a tour of the school. It was nice to meet the other parents. The PTA had a scrapbook night last Friday and so we went. We had such a good time, I got some scrapbooking done and the kids made crafts with the "baby sitters" that the PTA provided. :) I can't wait for another scrapbook night!
Dave's parents came to visit in late October, We had a great visit with them. Marissa loves her "papa". And loved to read and go on walks with grandma. For Halloween Marissa was a pumpkin and Brody wanted to be Batman again. My mom and Christian came down to go "trick or treating" with us.
Hmm, where to fit the bad news in...lol. Not too bad, it could be worse. We still feel blessed. Our air conditioner went out in August then our heater in October and our washing machine in December. UGH! 2010 will be better. :) Marissa is still doing good with her glasses although she did step on them today and we had to go in for some adjusting. Her eye doctor says she is using her bad eye, but not all the time. He won't look into surgically straightening it until she is older, hoping when she gets older she will understand that she needs to use it.
Dave's brother Roger and his wife Traci had a handsome little baby boy "Joshua Charles Hamilton" born on September 3rd 2009. We are so excited for them! They will be coming here next weekend so we can meet Josh. We can't wait!
David's work had their "kids" Christmas party in December. Marissa jumped in a bounce house for the first time she liked it, but didn't want to let go of my hands (I was reaching over the side). So she just did little bounces for about 5 minutes then she was done. Brody got a ball in the fish bowl so he won a Beta fish. Then they were calling door prize numbers (1 per kid) and Brody won a HUGE bunny. Marissa did not dig sitting on Santa. She cried. We had Christmas with the Oldham's at their church on Dec. 19th. We had a great time, mom brought crafts for the kids, so they were occupied. We had a wonderful dinner then our gift exchange. Then on Christmas morning we had brunch at James and Susy's house and opened gifts with them. Then we stopped by my dad's house and exchanged gifts. Finally we cooked dinner at our house with just us and my mom. BUSY! But wonderful to see everyone.
My very good friend Nickalee(& Galen) had her baby girl "Savanah Elizabeth" on December 5th and was 6lbs 6oz. She is so cute!
We had dinner with our friends Joe and Kristin a couple weeks ago. He made homemade spaghetti and it was soooo good. Then we played a really fun game called five crowns. We had a wonderful visit and plan to have them over for dinner soon.
I talk to Jason about once a week he is doing good and can't wait to get out of Iraq! He says it should be returning near the end of April. Brody prays for him every night. We say our regular prayers, then Brody says, "dear Jesus, please keep my uncle Jason safe in that far away dangerous place where he is protecting our freedom. Amen" so sweet.
Thank you for all the Christmas cards! :)

August

What a busy summer with 2 kids! It is so much harder to find time to write between cleaning house and tracking a toddler and keeping a "bored" 5 yr old busy. UGH! So Marissa is doing so well with her glasses, but won't keep the eye patch on for her 6 hours a day. The longest has been 2 hours and she thinks it's a game of pirates by walking around saying, "Aaarrrgg". It's pretty cute.
We had a busy July... My nephew Ethan turned 1 year old so we went to a wonderful first birthday party in Wilsonville. Dave traded in his "clunker" (mustang) for a new Hyundai Elantra. He loves it (I think it's the air-conditioning he loves) lol. We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Marissa kept trying to hug the fish tanks. We let her loose in the shark tank tunnel and she kept laying on the dirty floor to look into the windows on the floor. (ewww, she got scrubbed with wipes.) Kids are dirty! :)

Brody was at vacation bible school this week. Nickalee has been taking the boys there every night so I have had some time to get things done. Well, not a lot of time with Marissa following my every move. Brody starts kindergarten this year, he is pretty excited. Marissa is going to miss him. She loves to copy everything he does and play with everything he has. She loves to make him laugh by doing silly things and trying to get his attention. She is starting to flirt with people and cuddle with me more. :) She already has daddy wrapped around her finger.

Jason and Leticia came to Oregon last weekend on their 2 week leave from Iraq. Leticia's son John came to OR as well to meet up with his mom so he could visit with her. We only had a short visit, but was glad we got to see them at least.

So, while we were visiting Jason at my mom's house we got to meet her new kitty, Lacey. She is so sweet. Lacey let Marissa carry her around on her arm and just hung there without scratching. Dave messed with her and she didn't scratch or fight him back. So David announced that I can only have a kitten if it was this kitten. Soooo, I begged my mom and she said no, offering to go retrieve it's brother. Dave said no and kept sending Brody in to pout to grandma saying things like, how can you deny me grandma. So a couple days go by and my mom calls and says, do you want my cat? WOOO HOOO! So I called Dave shopping at Fred Meyer and told him to pick up kitten food. :) My mom got Lacey's sister who wasn't doing well in her new home. So I have a new kitten, we let Brody name her and it is now, "Lady Bella". Thank you mom!

We are so blessed to have the friends and family we have. Love you all!
Kari

Marissa got her new glasses today and is actually doing very well with them. She kept them on for 2 hours straight without touching them. She has a prescription in the left lens and none in the right. So we will be patching the right eye for 6 hours a day to get her using her left eye again. Her glasses came with a pink purse carrying bag. (So cute!!) She walks around with it. We visited the fish hatchery again last weekend. Had a great time! Marissa is more interested now. Brody had fun as usual he said, "I wish we could come here everyday."

Well, just wanted to give a quick update. Have to get to bed. Enjoy the pictures.

Love you all,
Kari

Brody is 5!

Brody's 5th birthday party was a blast! Dave cooked hot dogs and BBQ beans on his new father's day present. :) Then we opened gifts and played pin the patch on the pirate followed by goodie bags for all the kids. Then Cake. Then we all played with the 3D chalk gift Brody got. It was pretty cool! Finally Popsicles, and a lot more playing. Brody had so much fun and loves all of his gifts. We have been playing non-stop. :) We have some video of Brody's first bike ride and his first fall on that bike ride. lol (I will get it on here as soon as I have time).

Marissa is doing well. We put eye drops in every 4 hours now. She doesn't seem to mind the eye shield unless the tape has come loose then she points to it and pulls on it until we fix it. She has an appointment on the 24th for a check up and to get fitted for her glasses. Then 2 weeks after that she will get her glasses. She will then have to where a patch over her right eye to make her use her left eye again. I think she will do fine. She is tough. :)

TTFN Love you all,
The Hamilton's

Walking!!!

Marissa's surgery went well. We went to OHSU Casey Eye Institute Thursday morning we stayed with her while they gave her some meds that made her relax. They took her back and it took 2 hours. Then the doctor came out to tell us how it went we waited until the anesthesia wore off and we went in to see her. She was doing great on oxygen and heart rate so slowly everything was coming off of her including the IV. Then we had to put some arm splints on her so she couldn't rip off her bandage. She fell asleep on the way home, but not until after we passed Salem.

My mom watched Brody during all of this so we picked him up on the way by Salem. He kind of stared at her for a minute. Looked a little worried. Then he gave her a soft kiss on her head and said, "I'm sorry your eye got cut Marissa". He is doing good with her.

So, we haven't done anything this weekend. We have to keep her from straining her eye. Because of the sunshine (which is wonderful!) the shadows and bright sun flashing through the van windows would not be good. At the post-op appointment they removed the bandage and put a clear shield over her eye so she can start using it, but no touching it. The doctors couldn't come near her or she would start crying and close her eyes. So the doc didn't want to strain it. But he said from what he could see from 5 feet away was that it looks like the lens is still in place and everything looks good. She hasn't been trying to take the shield off she just goes on as normal. We have to put eye drops in every 2 hours that she is awake. The eye drops are antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. She screams during that. As we were leaving they had these elks with overalls on with glasses in the front pocket and an eye patch on. So we had to get one! Marissa loves it she pats it's stomach and tells it night night. There is a picture of it in the photos above.

Yesterday I was just telling my brother James that Marissa won't let our fingers and go and walk on her own. As I was talking to him she was standing on her own in front of Dave and dancing then sitting. As soon as I hung up with him I got on the floor and held my arms out and she started WALKING!!! We got it on video. Then she kept going back and forth to us. Then Brody came in from playing with all his friends in the front yard and she walked across the whole living room and gave him a hug. Now she is walking all over. :) (It makes me wonder if she can see now and is more balanced with her cataract gone.)

We went to Battle Ground, WA last Sunday to see Dave's brother Roger and his wife Traci. They were here from Georgia visiting Traci's family. They are expecting a boy September 1st.

Brody will be 5 years old on June 3rd. His pirate party is at our house on Saturday. Hope to see you all there for hot dogs cake and ice cream.

Love you all!

Machine Gun Shoot

My poor girl :(

Marissa had her first birthday May 2nd. She loved to squish the cake in her fingers. She was so tired that she wasn't into opening presents. Thanks to all who could come.

Marissa is crawling everywhere and stands by herself. she will hold your finger and walk with you, but won't let go. She took 4 steps towards me on her birthday. She took another 3 about a week ago and 2 today.

Brody is growing so fast. He talks so grown up and says the sweetest things that just make you forget the "bad" things he does. I fixed his big wheel yesterday and asked, how does that work? He said, "Fantastic". lol. He is still getting along great with Marissa. He does get jealous sometimes, when we tickle Marissa he comes and lays right in front of her. So then we tickle him. Silly boy!

So my poor girl... I noticed when she was about 3 or 4 months that her eyes weren't lining up together. Infants have to train their eyes to work together, so I figured they were still working at it. Well at about 11 months old I decided to go have it looked at. Her doctor didn't see it, but said I should see an opthamologist to see what the problem is. We went to Portland and the opthamologist said it looks like a cataract in her left eye and astigmatism and nearsightedness in the right eye. But she wanted to send me to a pediatric surgeon for a second opinion. Marissa did not enjoy her visit, a lot of screaming. It took 3 people to hold her down so the doc could look at her eyes. So, I saw the surgeon and he says she has a rare cataract... usually infants that get cataracts (not very common) get them on the front lens. Marissa's is on the back lens. So, they are going to remove the back lens and replace it with an artificial one. they will guesstimate the size her eye will be when it is done growing so they won't have to do the surgery ever again. There are some very rare risks in the long term such as retina detachment, glaucoma etc... and of course the anesthesia. She will be having her surgery May 28th at OHSU Casey Eye Institute. Then will where a patch for 2 days then a "shield" for 3 weeks so it doesn't get infected while it heals. Then she will have to wear glasses. :( They need to do surgery as soon as possible so her brain doesn't ignore that eye permanently and go blind in it.

I hope you are all doing well. Hope to see you all soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers on May 28th and the weeks following. Dave's dad will be coming from Minnesota on the 27th so he is going to watch Brody for us that day. So Brody is so excited to hang out with grandpa.