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.

Almost 1!!!

I just sent invitations out today! I can't believe it's been a year! I ran out of princess invitations and checked every store around to find more, no luck! :( So if you don't get one in the mail consider this your invite. :) We are having cake at Ciddici's pizza in Albany on May 2nd at 1:00. RSVP please.

Marissa is crawling everywhere! I have to sweep the floors everyday, sometimes twice a day. Or every little thing is in her mouth. She follows Brody everywhere especially when he is in his room. His toys are better apparently. Brody is still playing very nicely with her.

My brother Jason was here for a week and left last Monday with the stomach flu and still has it today. What a nice gift to take home from Oregon! We spent Easter with him and his kids at my mom's house. You can see all the pictures in the slide show. He leaves for Iraq in 3 days. :( He will be back in about 18 months.

Dave is giving some more thought into quitting smoking. He doesn't like to pay the tax man, but he can't seem to find a "good time" to quit. :( We're working on it.

I am sure I am forgetting a lot of news, but I have been writing this blog since 8:00am this morning. There are just too many interruptions with 2 (mobile)kids. And it was such a beautiful day we had to spend it outside. Marissa touched the grass for the first time 2 days ago she was trying to balance on her butt with her hands and feet off the grass. I wish we would have got the video camera. Oh well. Yesterday she only stayed on the blanket and today she actually ventured off the blanket to Nickalee's macaroni and to go play with the other kids.

TTFN, LOVE YOU ALL!

Marissa is Crawling!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=53436994

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=53437062

Well, I can't beleive it but I actually caught Marissa on video crawling for the first time yesterday. What are the odds?!?! For some reason I can't post a video so you will have to copy and paste the first link into your search box.

The second link is Marissa making a funny mad face. So Cute!

Happy Valentines Day 2009

Myspace Comments from 123mycodes.com



So sorry for taking so long to update our blog. Kids keep me busy. Hope you all had a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Well, I don't even know where to begin.

We had a good Christmas. We went to my brother James' house for breakfast and some rockband. It snowed a lot up there (Wilsonville). Ethan was teething so lots of drool. He is getting so big. Because of all the snow we decided to spend Christmas night at home together. For New Years day we had my mom over for turkey dinner.

Marissa is still teething we found another tooth last weekend, it's on the top. She is eating good. She sometimes acts like she's gagging when we try to feed her anything chunky. She is talking so much. She says mama, dada, baba, bye bye (and waves), when we give her something she says what sounds like "thank you", and today she learned uh-oh. She scoots on her butt, and is affraid of falling on her face when she gets to the crawl position so she leaves one foot in front of her.

Brody is doing good. He can't wait until summer so he can play outside more. He is growing like a weed. He keeps asking how many more months until he can go to school. He has learned to write and read all his letters. So everywhere we go if there is a word he will spell it. He doesn't always write from left to right though. He wrote all his valentine cards all by himself. I am so proud! :)



We hope to see you soon. TTFN

7 Months

Well, life is busy this time of year. Marissa is doing great eating solids we are now introducing 2nd foods and she is doing great. Her first tooth came in on the bottom at exactly 7 months old (December 2) Then 1 week later her second tooth came in right next to her first. She loves taking her teething medicine, but she is still a little fussier than usual. We had her 7 month well check on the 15th. She is off the charts still, but on the same track Brody was. She is 27" long and 25 pounds! Brody had his 4 year check up the same day and there were a lot of tears from both kids. Brody thought he was going to be brave for his sister and get his shots first. She gave him his first of four shots and he grabbed it from the nurse and pulled it out of his leg and screamed. I am so glad he doesn't have to have shots again until he is 12 years old. What a traumatic event. It is much easier to hear a baby cry than a 4 year old. :( Brody weighed in at 56 pounds and 47". The size of an average 5 year old. :) He says he'll play football when he grows up. On the 17th Brody "caught the pukes" he said. And Dave was ill soon after. Dave believes they got food poisoning at Costco while sampling luke warm shrimp wanton soup. :(

On the 16th of Nov. Dave's brother Roger came to visit after a long flight from Georgia. He stayed for lunch and played with the kids and headed to Washington for work. He and Traci will be flying in to visit on Dec. 26th. We can't wait!



My mom returned from her Caribbean cruise Nov 22. And brought lots of souvenirs for everyone. I can't wait to see the pictures. She said it was wonderful weather and had a great time with her parents and siblings.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad and step mom at uncle Willie & Anne's house. My step brother Jeff let Brody turn on everything in his police car. Brody loved it. Dad had to return to Tillamook to work on Friday so he left early. We ate dinner, played some poker and visited with the family. Then the 29th was my birthday and Dave took me to Olive Garden, but was more interested in getting back to the car to hear the score of the civil war game. :) He was happy to hear the Ducks won, me, not so much!



Dec. 3rd Dave's mom Janis came to visit from MN. We had such a wonderful time with her. She stayed at friends' George and Keirnan's as our house has gotten smaller. :) We took her to Stayton to visit with Opal Leming and Patty stopped by to see us as well. Opal made some delicious peanut brittle and we visited for a couple hours.
To celebrate my and my mom's birthdays we went out for lunch Saturday. We took Jan with us to the pottery store and finished some pottery we had started and we had a great time. The next day Jan joined us as we walked through a "Christmas Story Book Land" and took pictures with Santa.



On the 13th Dave's work had a kids Christmas party and Brody got to see Santa again and Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler. Then the snow kept us home for a couple days. A couple days ago Brody was walking around the living room looking at the presents under the tree and he says, "Mom, I just got a case of the can't waits". LOL! We have "Rock Band" for our Wii and Brody is our Wonderful lead singer! He knows all the words for one of the songs and he is so proud he's in our band and doesn't get us kicked off stage anymore! LOL!



We hope to hear how some of you are doing. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, The Hamilton's