Jonny* Melissa* Brooklyn* Leah

Brooklyn's Playground!

2011-03-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

I hope by now you all have heard a thing or two about Brooklyn's Playground! But for those of you that haven't let me give ya a little background on a HUGE project the Fisher family has started.....

When Brooklyn was little I thought she would definately be walking independently by now (she is almost 5!) but about 2 years ago we realized our little girl needed a quicker mode of trasportation and got her a wheelchair. She loves it, we love it, and every person we come in contact with can't help but smile when they see my sweet Brookie cruising around in her hot pink chair.

About the same time she got her chair, we went to a cousins birthday party at a local playground. Since we have no playgrounds locally that accomodate wheelchairs, we put her knee pads and gloves on her (so she could crawl across the bark or course to play with her cousins) Well she got burnt out quickly and soon wanted to swing. There were no 'baby' swings so her dad put her in a regular swing....which she fell out of and got a concussion.

As Brooklyn got bigger it became harder and almost impossible for either one of us to enjoy our time at the playground. I either had to carry her everywhere, or I would watch while she was left behind sitting in the rocks or bark as the other children played. The summer I was pregnant with Leah, we skipped going to the playground at all. I simply couldn't do it by myself anymore...

Enter the idea for Brooklyn's Playground!!! For tons more info and awesome pics, visit our website at http://www.brooklynsplayground.org/ . This little idea of ours to build a playground that accomodates the needs of children of ALL abilites has been exciting, exhausting, fulfilling, and very terrifying. This playground is designed (the design is AWESOME), funded, and built by members in and around our community. So we are currently trying to fundraise $400,000 for this bad boy.

Design Day Celebration: it took us almost a year and a half to get to this day!

Just last month we had design day. We flew in a designer from New York. He took the ideas from us, the local elementary school kids, and our committe members, and by the end of the night he un-veiled the playground design at a celebration we held at a local elementary school.

We even have a theme song that brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it sung....especially by these very talented young kids who belong to the ISU children's choir. They are amazing.

Brooklyn's Winter Picnic for the Park: (this was our first official fundraiser and it raised over $20,000!)

Brooklyn had no idea that this was all because of her. She just wanted to see the princesses!

We had around 1,500 people show up. As you can see, it was a great turn out.

The beautiful Jasmine and Aladdin.

We have alot more things planned as we go along. We are nearing the $100,000 mark, and are hoping to be ready to build by September, but we still have along ways to go. Visit our website to see how you can help!

A Little Catch Up!

2011-01-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

I thought about just forgetting to post about the past 2 1/2 months but as I looked through all my adorable pictures I couldn't help but post a few of my favorites...

My little Pebbles and the most beautiful Kitty EVER! Love these girls!

Little Miss Trouble. SOOO much personality. Love watching her grow....

Princess Tea.

Christmas

One Barbie Car, and the rocking horse that used to be Brooklyn's. Christmas was cheap and easy for these two!

Cousin Ellie and Leah. I had great plans to take the bottle away months ago. Guess I missed the boat! She asks for her baba ALL. DAY. LONG!

They Loved their matching horsey sweaters from Nana. Mya could be the sweetest best little cousin to Brookie. They are both so lucky to have eachother.

I just had to show a picture of my little curly haired Lou. The more hair she gets, the curlier it gets and I love it!

Island Park:

Baby Lou's first time in the snow! It was about -5 at this time, but they both had a ball.

Three of a Kind

2010-11-16T09:55:00.001-08:00

I finally did something I have wanted to do for a long time. I have always loved the picture of me below taken when I was one. The little polka- dotted dress has stayed in near perfect condition and I am so grateful my mom kept it all these years. When Brooklyn was One I got her picture taken in it, and it only seemed right to keep the tradition going and take Leahs picture in. I finally got the picture of me scanned and saved on a cd so I can finally compare all three of us.

Can you even tell the difference? I love how we all only have two little teeth poking out too! The rest of the pictures are more that I got taken of Leah. The little dress she is wearing was made by my grandma. Hopefully I can perserve that dress so she can pass it on to her little girls one day! Thanks Holly for the beautiful pictures once again!

Birthday Girl!

2010-10-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

That's right, my little Lewey is ONE! I had forgotten how fun this age is. Of course I prefer this age to her newborn stage of crying 20 hours a day, barely sleeping at night, barely sleeping during the day, and her refusals to nurse be cuddled or even be held for that matter. I start to twitch just thinking about it....

What a dramatic change this little girl has made from her grouchy first 7-8 months of life. She is a people person and little smiler. She smiles at anyone and anything.

Here are a few things about my big one year old:
*Two teeth
*Still crawling everywhere. Walking does not seem to be in her immediate future
*Somehow she knows that stairs are scary so she is very careful not to get too close to them. I love that I don't have to worry about her attempting to go down them. Though she loves to throw her toys down them.
* Says mama, dadda, doddy (doggy) uh-oh, hi, and hu-oh (hello). I swear she is a genius!
* Waves, claps, dances, signs 'more', points her cute chubby finger at everything and wants me to talk about it to her.
*Haven't taken her to the doctor for months, but pretty sure she is about 25lbs.
*Wears size 18-24 month clothes!
* I rarely cut her food. She is a champion chewer. She eats sandwiches, string cheese, spaghetti, yet hates anything remotely pureed.
* Still doesn't sleep through most nights, but I figure she is hearty enough, so when she tries to wake us up at 12, 2, or 4, A.M. I just turn off the monitor! She won't remember anyway right???
* Gives the best open mouth kisses
*Has taken only one nap a day for about 2 months. Brooklyn was still taking three naps at this age. I was hoping that was typical ;(

I realize why I love this age so much. She is still a baby, but is old enough to laugh at my teasing her, and knows how to play and interact with us. If only they could come out a one year old!

Before her party I let her open her first present from her great-grandpa Bills. She saves her best smiles for him!

Sittin in her chair ready for all her presents!

She loved her creepy monkey from her Nana.

She wasn't too sure about the ice cream at first, but she just picked it up with one hand and went to town. I have taught her well.

I love watching this little girl grow and learn. There are so many little milestones that didn't happen with Brooklyn that I love watching with Leah. She is so energetic and funny. I can honestly say I take joy in her messes. I have a 4 year old who NEVER made a mess, so I appreciate a good mess now and again! I smile when I see she has unrolled the toilet paper, or I find her little greasy handprints on the fridge, stove, dishwasher, coffee table, and any glass surface. It is so beautiful to watch these little people grow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH! Love you.

Jason Holman Fisher

2010-10-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

After 3 long months without an update I realize I have much catching up to do. One reason for my lack of postings has been because my mind has been elsewhere. If I have been distracted, you can only imagine the trouble Jonny has had running a bookstore, putting together a committee to help build and fund raise for a $400,000 fully accessible playground for those with disabilities, and selling real-estate like a mad man. All the while dealing with the loss of his big brother Jason.

( Hawaii 2009: Jason, Jordan, Jonny, and Jared)

Almost two years to the date of his brain cancer diagnoses, Jonny lost his 35 year old brother and one of his best friends on October 3, 2010. Family was everything to Jason, and as his final gift to everyone he waited to pass away until every member of his immediate family was by his side. Jason loved to plan extravagant trips for the family and as a result we have all been to Hawaii three (four?) times together over the years.

I have often joked that Jonny and his two brothers had a relationship more like sisters have with eachother. More often than not Jonny would come home still on the phone with one of his brothers. Since they all run a few college bookstores together, this occured more frequently during their sales periods.He would walk in the door on the phone to one of his brothers comparing his store to theirs to see who did better. This is one thing that Jonny has said that he will miss most. Calling up his big brother J to rub it in if his store did better!

Two years ago for Christmas all Jason wanted was for the whole family to be together on Christmas morning. So we all took claim to any couch and space on the carpet that was available and slept up at Jonny's parent's house on Christmas eve. I think the real reason Jason wanted to do this was because although he had no kids of his own, he had an uncanny knack for giving his nieces and nephews the most perfect gifts. His gifts we often much better than "Santa's!"

What a blessing the gospel of Jesus Christ has been in our lives these past few months. We learned first hand that it is one thing to have a testimony that families are forever and quite another to rely on that testimony for strength and comfort.

We know that because Jason was so committed to his family that he knew that he could do more good for all of us on the other side than he could staying here with us. I suppose that was his last great gift.

We love you J!

9 Months

2010-08-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

This little girl of mine is BEAUTIFUL and ADORABLE with a hysterical head of hair that is always out of control. She is so much fun and learning so many new "tricks" every day.Now that she is officially 9 months old I would like to take a moment to brag about my new favorite person.......

1- still no teeth

2- still not crawling

3- Says Mamma and Dadda

4- Waves bye bye. When she wakes up from her naps she likes to wave bye bye so I know she wants to leave the room. So CUTE!

5- Hates baby food (too bad I have a pantry full of the stupid stuff!) She only likes big people food and is a champ and feeding herself.
6- Dances on command

7- Spits on command (pretty sure dad taught her)

Her little cheeks must hurt by the end of the day from all her beautiful grinning! She still will pretty much go to anyone which is so nice.

It has been fun comparing the differences/similarities between Brooklyn and Leah. These are my favorites:

Brooklyn always looked picture perfect. She wore shoes every day and most days she also had little stick on earrings to match her outfits, and a bow to match every outfit......

I just bought Leah her first pair of shoes, and she cried when I put them on.

I love her all Natur-al. Her hair is so darn cute I usually just comb it and go. Love it.

Though she is so stinkin hyper, she is not yet crawling. She rolls, scoots, and army crawls, but I am starting to believe she really may never crawl. She still manages to make a mess and destroy most things in her path.....

I can't believe we are nearing her first birthday. So sad, but so fun. I love this age!

Lately I have been Loving the stages and ages of my girls. I spend most days wising time could just stop and we could go on like this forever!

Fisher Reunion

2010-07-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

Since I only pulled out my camera twice the whole reunion, I don't have many pictures to show, but let it be known that it was a blast! I really do look forward to these reunions every summer and feel so blessed to marry into such a fun, close family (even if they are a little nuts too!).

The theme this year was "western" so Brooklyn made herself a festive vest out of a brown paper bag .I must admit I had more fun coloring it than she did!

The happiest baby in the world! I need to dedicate some serious time to making a post all about my adorable little Lou. She is such a little trooper on trips and is often better than she is at home!

Hangin out with Grandpa Fisher and Uncle J.

Yes, I still let aunt Julie hold her and watch her anytime I get the chance, even though the last time she did watch her, little 2 year old Keaton took it upon himself to shave the top of Leah's hair off! I'ts only hair..... it's only hair......

Can't wait until next year. Hopefully we will be without the snow/hail storm, mosquitos EVERYWHERE, and Aunt Kathy and her western get-up!

The 4th

2010-07-11T18:15:00.001-07:00

We had a simple, but fun Fourth this year. We went to my Uncle's house out of town for a BBQ and then watched the fireworks later that night. I haven't been to his house in years, and with such a beautiful landscape in his backyard, I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of my cute "little" girls! I don't know when it happened, but somewhere between month six and seven, Leah has exploded. I'm sure she is well over the 20lb. mark and shows no sign of stopping. Don't you just love the Leg?? So fat!

I just love dressing these two little dolls up in matching outfits. I don't know if what I buy is always cute, or if I just buy it cause it is so rare to find something in Brooklyn's size and one in Leah's!

6 Months and 4 Years

2010-05-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the pictures I just got done of the girls. These were Leah's 6 month pictures and Brooklyn's 4 year pictures. Their individual ones turned out Beautiful, but they both ran out of steam when it came to their pictures together. I won't complain since I already have too many adorable ones to choose from!

While I love Brooklyn in these pictures, it makes me realize what a big girl she is getting to be. No longer my Little girl. But just as beautiful as ever!

This is Jonny's favorite picture of both girls. This is the face Leah makes all the time and this is my sweet little Brooklyn with her beautiful smile like always.

This is MY wheelchair!!!

2010-05-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

Even though I have never seen family guy, I came across this video and it reminded me of a little someone

If you don't know Brooklyn, this video will not hit your funny bone the way it did ours.

She throws a complete fit if someone touches, looks at, or forbid sits in her wheelchair, which I totally support. She loves her wheelchair, maybe a little too much. Just like this crazy guy!

(You may need to pause the inspirational music that is playing at the side of my blog for the full effect)

M-I-C-K-E-Y- M-O-U-S-E!

2010-04-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally getting around to posting about our family trip to the happiest place on earth, DISNEYLAND! Of course the trip started out in true Fisher fashion, in which we had a 9 hour delay before we could board the plane. You see, my drivers license had expired (unbeknown to me) and they wouldn't let us check in. Who knew! I hope the heartless Delta employee had a terrible nights sleep that night and was haunted of the picture of me bursting into tears as we walked out of line with Brooklyn wheeling herself behind me crying "I want to go to Disneyland!"

So after we found someone heading the way of the SLC airport (it was a miracle) with my passport in hand, we boarded the plane at 9:00 that night. Only I wanted to see if anyone in the whole airport cared that my license had expired, so I never pulled out my passport and wouldn't you know that the flight there and back, NO ONE even glanced at the expiration date!!

This was our late flight to California, only Brooklyn was much too excited to sleep. So cute!

The worst baby in the world, was on her best behavior (even if she did still wake us up a few times every night to say hello). We have decided that she is just a little partier who loves commotion and noise. Thank you Leah for not ruining the trip! I'm sure it was hard for you to be on your best behavior for a whole week.....

These were our adopted children for the week, Charlize and McCoy. It was so much fun going with my best friend Angela and her family. I'm not sure they would agree, seeing how I drug them around the whole time hunting down princesses. In the end they admitted they needed us though to get them to the front of the lines with Brooklyn's handy dandy wheelchair.

We felt so cool walking around like this. I think we looked pretty cool too!

This could be my favorite picture of the trip. Brooklyn LOVED it's a small world.

The Princess Breakfast: $110 dollars. Worth every penny to see Brooklyn so happy

I'm not sure why, but this picture or her hugging Belle, makes me emotional.

My favorite part of the breakfast was watching Brooklyn in-between the princesses coming to our table. She would frantically cram bacon in her mouth the second one of them would leave. Most of the time she would have a mouth full when another one would come to talk to her. Her two favorite things: Food and Princesses. She was in Heaven

I've been lucky enough to go on alot of fun vacations, but this was my favorite. It was exhausting, and crowded, but the most fun I've had in a long time. I know it was cause I was with my very favorite people!

The Big 4

2010-04-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this my little girl is already 4! I love it, but I hate it!

She is the only other person I know that loves her birthday as much as I love mine. She asked about it months before and was convinced she wanted a Hannah Montana party. Once we got to the store it was so cute to see how torn she was between the princess stuff and the Hannah Montana stuff. I had to fill the cart with decorations for both and I saw her cute little face look back and forth between the two for a full 20 minutes before she finally settled on the Princess stuff.

For about 2 months, every time I tried to get her to do just about anything, she would tell me that when she turned four she would do it. She usually said this when I wanted her to practice her walking, or would encourage her to go on the potty.

So the morning of her birthday I went into her room to get her out of bed and she already had a big smile on her face cause she knew what special day it was. The first thing I said was "Brooklyn! YOU are finally 4"! Well she sat up and got a confused look on her face and looked down at her legs and said "But mom...I still can't walk".

I thought it was so cute at first, but as the day went on, she got more and more upset about it. I guess I hadn't really seen it through her eyes before, but I figured out that every four year old that she knows walks, so she just thought that that was the magic age that all kids start to walk.

So I finally told her that we would work on it really hard, but that it really didn't matter if she ever walked because she had a really cool wheelchair. Well she just about started crying and yelling "It's not OK! I have to walk mom, I have to"!

It really started to break my heart and I realized that it won't be long before she starts to realize that she doesn't do things the same as the other kids. Right now she just thinks she is the luckiest kid cause she has a wheelchair and the other kids have to walk!

Her party was so much fun. I went against my better judgment and made the cake this year. I trusted the lady on the Betty Crocker video that said making a castle cake is really quite simple. 4 containers of frosting, 3 cake mixes, 9 eggs, and 15 hours of cake making later, I wanted to throw it against the wall, and honestly the thought of eating it made me nauseous (of course I still managed to eat a piece)

All that mattered was Brooklyn loved it!

Favorite Gifts:
She loved her baby she got that goes pee in a diaper, her princess barbie, her cash register, and her Princess and the Frog movie.

This little girl loves:

Putting on concerts where she spins around on her bum to dance

Taylor Swift

Miley Cyrus

Painting her Nails

Pretending she is her cool aunt Noel....all day long. I actually have to call her Noel most days!

Wearing my shoes on her hands as she "walks" around the house

(Wonder what she wished for)

Love you Brookie! You have the most beautiful smile and funniest sense of humor. You are really so stinkin smart and remember EVERYTHING! You make everyone around you smile. You don't have to walk to do that!

Now stop growing up!

Murphy's Baby

2010-03-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.....

You would think that I would use this phrase to describe my first born, but I feel that it is more fitting in describing our newest addition, bless her heart.

I had such high hopes almost 2 months ago when I posted that the "curse" was over, but alas it is not. This little pain in the neck just moves from one annoying stage to another (before I go any further I want all to know I am crazy about her!)

Here is our last (almost) 5 months in a nutshell:

October: So in love with my sweet little baby. I had heard that most mothers get to hold their babies only moments after giving birth, but had yet to enjoy this, until now. Took her home 24 hours later and felt on top of the world. For one week....

November: First doctors appointment I tell the doctor she cries an awful lot for a newborn. I am told it's no big deal. She'll get over it. Well she didn't

December: She hasn't stopped for two full months. I'm pretty angry that she is choosing to ruin a perfectly good situation with her bad attitude. She is the most unpleasant baby EVER.

January: Same story. Still crying. I'm debating abandoning this whole mom thing until this all blows over. I change my mind cause I know I'll eventually return and don't want to face all the people who know I went crazy.I have my pride you know

February: She miraculously stops one day. She actually naps during the day and sleeps most of the night. I'm sure glad I stuck around a little longer....I start to like her.

Then out of nowhere she starts to wake up anywhere from 3-8 times a night. What the??? I decided this is what Hell is like. Babies crying all night long. They wake you up the second you doze off with their shrieky little
voices

I then hear that this is called the "post colic" phase. When I heard this I screamed "THERE'S ANOTHER PHASE?!?". Well I'm here to tell you there is. And it could be the most unpleasant of them all. After letting her cry for hours on end, night after night....

She decides she hates nursing. I love to nurse. I nursed Brooklyn for a year and had it not been for the 5 razor sharp teeth that she grew in the same day, Iwould probably have continued for much longer. It is the only thing I am good at and darnit, it makes me feel like a good mom! And out of nowhere that little devil decided it was evil and would scream at my attempts....

Then I find out why she hates it. She is starving. So I cry. Stay up at night thinking how I starved my baby night after night. How stupid doyou have to be to not know??

In addition I admit that my fear of formula is not rational. It is not normal. But I'm convinced it is nothing but powdered poison. Powdered poison I have been forced to give my little baby cause my body is a wreck and can't feed her anymore.

March: My new best friend is a $300 breast pump. I hate cleaning bottles, I hate hooking myself up like a cow getting milked every 3-4 hours. I am fearful one of these days I will forget the lock the front door and someone will walk in on me. But it makes me feel better to be giving her something. I know it won't last much longer. But for now I'm still pluggin along....

She still wakes up a few times a night (sniff sniff)

But she is an absolute JOY during the day. She smiles at anyone and anything. No longer screams when it is nap time.She is so in love with me and I with her. I'm pretty sure that behind every smile she gives me, she is thanking me for not causing her bodily injury during her first months of life

(her first day with piggies. Love them!)

Glad I hung in there Lou. You just might actually get a little brother or sister someday!

Ok, don't count on it.

The Three Month Curse....

2010-01-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

Has officially ended! The three month curse is how I have referred to Little Lou's first three months of life. The Little poop. Now don't get me wrong, she's not up for any awards for the best behaved baby by any means, but I think I will finally take the 'For Sale' sign off from around her neck. When she would scream for 10+ hours a day, everyone would say that it would get better once she was three months old. I don't know how she knew, but the day before she was 12 weeks, she started acting like a real baby....or what I think real babies should act like.

Now that she is three months and one day old, here is a little about our baby girl:

Nicknames: Little Lou, Lousky, the Louskinator, Lemur(she looks just like one). I didn't say they were attractive nicknames, but nonetheless, these are what have stuck. Poor little thing!

She still wakes up SEVERAL times a night. And she gives no warning that she may be hungry. She screams bloody murder from the moment she decides it's time to wake up. It's getting real old being jolted out of bed 4 times a night by her blood curdling screams. What happened to a soft grunt or two, followed by the sucking of hands as a hint that she may want a small snack?

She really doesn't like to eat, and gets mad when she eats too much, and she only sleeps a few hours during the day (I'm not sure she's even mine).

Despite being a little grouchy, she smiles so easily. She has only laughed a handful of times, and it amazes me how it is the greatest sound on earth.

Now that she is getting a little older, Brooklyn loves to play with her. She is the softest, sweetest big sister.

Love you Lou!

You Better Not Pout, You Better Not Cry....

2010-01-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

I wasn't feeling brave enough to venture over to Walmart to take Christmas pictures of Brooklyn and Leah so I had my friend take them. It was so quick and easy and they turned out better than I anticipated since you-know-who tried her best to ruin them.

Brooklyn looks adorable and loves to smile for the camera, as always. After this photo shoot I took both girls to my sisters house a street away and went Christmas shopping in silence. It was either that or drop Leah off at the North Pole.

Enjoy!

Blessing Day

2009-12-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

This is how her sweet face was for most of the day (5 hours to be exact!) I still couldn't resist kissing it though!

Love My Brookie!

Classic picture. This is how I'll rememer her when I think back to her first months of life anyway

This is my favorite picture of her. My sister picked out the blessing dress, my mom bought it, and they surprised me with it a few weeks before. I loved it! Since she was such a little screamer the whole day I'm pretty sure I'm going to put her in it again. I just didn't get to enjoy her in it. I haven't even been able to put it away and the blessing was over two weeks ago! Who says they can't wear it more than once?

P.S. She has been so much happier lately. I think I might actually like her after all! Thanks for all the comments and advice. Nothing makes me feel better than to know others have suffered as I have!

Joy In the Journey???

2009-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Hmmm....I think that is a conference talk I'm going to have to re-read. These past weeks have been especially difficult around our home with a cute little, fuzzy headed baby who NEVER.....STOPS.....CRYING!!! And in turn I never stop crying either! Am I the only one whose husband came home to his crazy wife sobbing in her room while in the other room, with the door shut, his newborn was shrieking at the top of her lungs? Am I the only one who had a nervous and embarrassing breakdown in Costco with two crying kids? Anyone? Anyone?

I thought Brooklyn was a tough baby but she had nothin' on Leah! Brooklyn would cry every night for only a few hours, where Leah wakes up, eats, gives a smile or two, then begins her hours of screaming, falls into an exhausted sleep, then begins it all over again three hours later. So here are the tricks we've come up with to at least lessen her crying(and mine!):

This is the position she spends most of the day. Bundled up tight as can be.

Everyone in my family is afraid to hold her. She is officially the least favorite grand baby right now. The cutest and hairiest, but still the least favorite.I wish I could just take her in my arms and rock her gently to sleep, or to have her fall asleep on my chest. Instead it's a race to wrap her up like a burrito and either take her for a car ride, bounce her up and down, or put her in her swing on the highest setting that swings her about 90 miles per hour.

This book has saved more than one life around our house. Though this book doesn't solve all our problems, it has been amazing in teaching me WHY Leah cries so much and has lessened her fits from around 5 hours to sometimes only 3! I recommend anyone with a fussy/colicky baby to get this book.

On a brighter note, according to this book (aka my new bible) She should grow out of this in about six more weeks! And did I mention that if I ever decide to have more children I am going to officially adopt an eight year old?

Two Week Pictures....Four Weeks Late

2009-12-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

Now that Leah is six weeks old, we have officially gone six weeks with little to no sleep or silence! She rarely sleeps more than three hours at a time and when she's not sleeping, she is screamin her hairy little head off! That in itself if a whole post on it's own, so for now I will just focus on the positive...

I absolutely Love, LOve, LOVE how these pictures turned out. If you don't fall in love with these two little girls there's something wrong! I love how awake Leah is in some showing off her big blue eyes, and sound asleep in the others. I think she looks so different from one to the next.
Enjoy!

This was her birth announcement

Our (sleep deprived) Two Weeks in Review....

2009-11-09T17:00:00.001-08:00

She looks innocent enough, but don't be deceived.....she parties all night long!

Brooklyn was thrilled to finally be able to feed her baby sister her very first bottle!!! She's been a little disappointed that her "baby sissy" isn't a little more fun. She rarely takes a bottle and refuses a binky, all the things Brooklyn was so excited to give her when she came.

My Little Trick or Treaters...

While Brooklyn throws a fit if her dad messes up her hair, she hates, hates, hates, puffy, girly clothes! It was a lot of fun talking about being Tinkerbell, but when she saw the fluffy costume coming towards her, she told me "maybe I don't want to go trick-or-treating. Let's just stay home." So we settled for a t-shirt underneath and she was a little happier. My favorite touch was the flowers on her braces!

Only 5 Days Old

Welcome Home Baby Leah!

2009-10-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Leah (still working on/arguing about the middle name) Fisher

Born Monday October 26th, 12:50 p.m.
7lbs. 9oz. 21 inches

The Labor and delivery was less than 4 hours and just what I had hoped for. It took us almost a full day to decide on a name and finally settled on Leah. When I was only two or three months along Brooklyn told me she was going to have a sister and her name was Leah. I had another favorite name in mind but at the end of the day I had to admit that Leah fit her perfectly. I guess she knew something we didn't!

I loved that first night with her. It was just me and my new baby. I was so excited that I couldn't even sleep, I just kept staring at her. Finally I had the nursery take her at 2:30 for a few hours so I could sleep just a little.

That night I kept thinking how blessed I was to have this perfect little girl at my side. I didn't get to hold or feed Brooklyn until she was four days old. I know that that made me so much more grateful for my first night with Leah (even if I did finally send her to the nursery!)

First Bath...and a New Hair-do

In Her First Outfit Goin' Home!

No one 18 years or younger is allowed to visit in the hospital, so it was more than a full day before Brooklyn got to see or hold her new baby sister. And since then Brooklyn has pretty much ignored her!

Parks and Pumpkins

2009-10-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I was reading in my readers digest about a woman who put together a community project to build an "all access park" in her hometown. Jonny and I have always wished we lived near a wheelchair friendly park and have talked about how we could get one built here. Well the article inspired us to do a little research on the topic. Jonny has called many people and started the long process to see how to get one here in our town.
We found out that 2 hours away such a project had just been completed so we took a day to visit this brand new park with Brooklyn, her cousins, and of course to test it's claim to be "wheelchair friendly." (notice there is no rocks or bark, only soft ground....I love it!)

There are very few places that Brooklyn can take her wheelchair besides maybe the mall or church, so she was thrilled to cruise around this park. She loved keeping up with her cousins and shrieked with happiness the entire time. Anytime we helped her with her wheelchair we were screamed at that "she could do it herself!" When really she was flying down the ramps at a very unsafe speed!

"Look I can do it myself!"

I am not proud to say that the last part of the summer I avoided taking Brooklyn to the park at all. I was too hot and it was getting more and more difficult to carry her up and down everything the more pregnant I got. It was so fun to see Brooklyn be so independent at this park that I was able to put my swollen feet up and watch her take off!

Even the swings are made extra big so it was easy to get her in and out with her braces on. I don't know how many times I have struggled getting her out that I have almost had to go find help!

Before you continue reading..... this is my disclaimer:

This was not my idea

I resisted the whole time

If you knew my mom, you would know how this all happened........

Which of these things is not like the others? One of these things just doesn't belong....(you know the tune)

I guess my mom knew this was the only way to get me to post a pregnant picture of myself! My mom came up with the bright idea and seriously harassed me for at least a week to paint my belly and take pictures of it. Someday I may enjoy them a little more, but it's sad when the size of my face matches my belly!

At least Jonny and Brooklyn seem to be enjoying themselves!

You have to admit that my mother, the artist, did a pretty good job making it look so real

2009-09-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

Since it's been almost 3 months since my last update I feel like there is so much to catch up on, but I just decided to put up a few pictures of my favorite 3 year old. Without her there really isn't much to talk about!

I briefly thought about posting a pregnant picture of myself then figured I didn't need to publicly humiliate myself anymore than necessary, so I deleted it. With just a few weeks left I am getting really excited but also really nervous. Though I probably complain more than I should (sorry Jonny) I feel so blessed to have made it this far in the pregnancy so on the other hand I am thrilled to be as wide as I am tall since that means the baby is getting bigger too!

First Day of Preschool!!!
I decided to do a Pre-school with four other moms in my neighborhood. I was sure my clingy little Brooklyn would never let me leave her at a new house every week, but she LOVES it! I am grateful for the other sweet moms who carry Brooklyn where she needs to go during their turn having her at their home.

NEW BIKE!
My mom found the cutest bike at a yard sale and Brooklyn was SOOOO excited to try to ride it. Try is the key word. After switching her special pedals and shoes to this bike, we realized it was just a little too hard for her to do. Jonny had to walk behind her and pedal her legs for her. It wasn't long until his legs started to burn and he switched everything back to her old bike. Maybe next summer those cute legs will be strong enough (Brooklyn's I mean, not Jonny's)

NEW STAIRS!
So every morning Brooklyn wakes up and screams for us to get her out of her bed. During the day she also loves to play on her bed but she needs help getting up and down from it so her Handy Daddy built her the cutest stairs to help her get up and down. This was her the first time just waking up and crawling down them. Though she has gotten better, she is still so excited about them that instead of doing it all alone, she demands that we watch proudly EVERY time she gets up or down.

The stairs are also a little toy box. Now Brooklyn can finally reach all of her toys

It's probably wishful thinking but hopefully my next post with be in a week or two announcing the arrival of our new little Girl!!

Bear Lake

2009-07-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a little family vacation to Bear Lake. We stayed in a beautiful beach home and enjoyed four sun filled days on the beach.

Brooklyn was quite the Beach Bum and loved playing in the water and sand all day. She was a little too fearless in the water and tried crawling in up over her head a few times

We rented a jet ski which was alot of fun until Me, Jonny, and Brooklyn tipped on it going about 2 miles per hour. After that Brooklyn didn't even like to talk about the jet ski let alone sit back on it! It ended up breaking down the last day and now we are all splitting the $500 dollar bill to fix it. We are all blaming eachother for who "actually" broke it........

Just enjoying a small bite to eat for dinner

My crazy grandpa joined us for most of the trip and towed the kids in his louder than life riding lawn mower around the neighborhood and down to the beach. The only problem was the exhaust pipe would blow right in the poor kids faces. Carbon monoxide poisoning anyone?

Brookie loves to be like her Nana

ALOHA

2009-06-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

The whole Fisher family took off to Hawaii this past week for a little Sun and R&R. We did get some good relaxing in, but the sun was a little hit and miss. It rained most days, but I don't expect any one feel would sorry for us now would they? We had a blast and here are a few pictures of our trip.

The View from our Beach house. Not too bad huh?

Hanauma Bay where we did some snorkeling

The Hawaii Temple

Despite the rain, we got a picture in front of one of our favorite temples

My Poor father in law got an infection in his ear the first day on the Island and when he was able to venture out of the beach house, this is how he had to enjoy the rest of his vacation. Ahhh...memories. I have a feeling this is definitely a trip he will never forget.

Our Rough and Tough Boogie Boardin' Men!

Now this is what Hawaii is all about!

The whole clan enjoying dinner at one of our favorite restaurants

In our "fancy" bus at the Macadamia Nut Farm. This ended up being one of the funnest (is that a word?) things we did.

Drinking fresh coconut milk from my new man!

All the girls headed out for a day of SHOPPING!!! This ended up being the hottest day we had, which made about six hours of outdoor shopping a little miserable. I'm pretty sure my feet swelled to double their size..... which I didn't even know was possible!

Having dinner on Waikiki Beach....and having some fun taking pictures

is it any wonder he has back problems????

We were so grateful that my mom was so willing to watch our little handful for the eight days we were gone. Brooklyn didn't ever want us to come back she was having such a blast with her Nana. Thanks mom for watching Brooklyn!.................

But no thanks for the short, short, oh so short A-line haircut you took it upon yourself to get for Brooklyn while we were away!

This isn't a very good picture, it actually is quite cute. A little too short. A little too a-line for my liking, but this little girl looks cute no matter what, right?. And how could I get mad at the only person willing to watch my child for eight days?!?

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!

2009-06-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

BROOKLYN'S GONNA BE A BIG SISTER!
I guess it has been official for a while, but we just found out we are going to be having another little GIRL runnin' around the house come October! We are so excited, but also apprehensive. Though this pregnancy has been a lot like Brooklyn's, in many ways I hope it's not! I keep waiting for something to go wrong but so far so good. The ultrasound found that our little girl appears to be healthy and yes, we had them double/triple check to make sure the spine was closed!

We also feel so blessed that I have even made it this far in the pregnancy since we have lost two pregnancies this past year. I believe I have officially been pregnant for a year (don't act like you can't tell!) Here is a brief summary of our struggles this past year..........

I got pregnant early last summer and felt that I had won the lottery. I wasn't nearly as sick as I was with B and was going to have the baby in the spring which I thought was just perfect. I kept thinking how easy all this was finally going to be. There wasn't a day that I didn't give thanks or feel that this picture perfect pregnancy was the Lord's way of giving me a break, that I thought I deserved. Well at 12 weeks I realized that this pregnancy was not going to be. I passed out a few times at home with a frantic husband and mom who called 911 and I was taken to the hospital to stop my hemorrhaging. The recovery of the miscarriage proved to be much worse than labor. I couldn't lift Brooklyn for almost two weeks because of the loss of blood and I had and chronic headaches. Thanks to my wonderful sister, mom, and husband, I was able to lay on the couch for days (weeks?) recovering. My sister no longer fears another labor, it is a miscarriage she fears!!

Six weeks later I found out I was pregnant again. YAY! I didn't think life could be so cruel and take this one away, but it still nagged at the back of my mind. So I never told a soul, and suffered in first-trimester silence while being sick, tired and putting on ANOTHER 5 lbs. At exactly 12 weeks my worst fears came to light once again. Only this time I didn't have to pay the $2000 dollar hospital bill and was quite relieved for a "normal" miscarriage (oh, the things we become grateful for). Though physically I recovered from this pregnancy quicker, lets just say I didn't get dressed for about a month. This may be where ANOTHER 5 lbs came from but its hard to tell since sweats are so forgiving!

Six weeks later...... I become pregnant again. Only this time I cried. I wanted to scream "how fertile am I ??"I didn't think it would happen so soon and had planned on waiting until I could function like a normal person again, not to mention I had no faith that his pregnancy would work out. This time the doctor put me on progesterone to lower the risk of another miscarriage. It is this stuff that I attribute to making me want to die every day until I was 16 weeks. I have never been sicker or more tired. Not to mention by this point I was so TIRED of being tired and so SICK of being sick from my other pregnancies, but this was much worse, so I took it as a good sign. Every day I couldn't get off the couch, I smiled to myself and thought "well I'm still pregnant!" Now I was grateful for being sick?!?

So here we are FINALLY! From day one Brooklyn told us this was a girl (we thought it was a boy), and she has since named her. I'm pretty sure she just thinks this one will "go- away" as the others have, but now that I'm getting a little belly, I think she understands a little more. Jonny is up for husband of the year award and is thrilled to not be Mr. Mom anymore. He has been amazing these past months, coming home from work every day and cleaning the house, cooking dinner, and learning to do pig-tails on Brooklyn sometimes better than I can. I couldn't do it without him and it's strange how trials bring you closer than before.

Wish us luck in the next few months!

Ride Baby Ride

2009-05-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Jonny and I went out for a walk and ran into some friends who had a little boy who was just learning to ride a bike. The second we got home Brooklyn kept saying that she wanted to ride her bike. It broke my heart to tell her no, or that she couldn't, so we plopped her on her bike, grabbed some blocks of wood so her feet would reach the pedals, and then made the classy decision to duct tape her feet to the blocks, and the blocks to the pedals ( we were laughing hysterically as we duct taped her feet to the pedals.....the things we never thought we would do!). Well it worked for a few minutes until her feet pulled out of the tape, and she was thrilled, but we knew we had to improve it.......

So we bought some vecro and stuck the wood to the pedal, and the shoes to the wood. Though these are special shoes that fit over Brooklyn's braces and her best walkin shoes (and they were a very generous gift from a friend), she would not be able to ride her bike without them, so they remain stuck to her bike!

We initially thought we would just push her around and she would eventually get the idea of how to push her legs, but she surprised us and immediately took off and pedalled all on her own. We were shocked and thrilled. Since she refuses to use her walker for more than two steps anymore, this is great therapy and EXCITING!!! She shows us more every day what she can do.

I LOVE IT!

This is the first time on her bike. If you look closely, you can see about three different kinds of tape, and about four layers of duct tape going across her feet!

Three Year Pictures

2009-04-27T08:43:00.001-07:00

These are some of Brooklyn's three year pictures that Holly took (I've added her blog link at the side). Once again I love them!

Love This Face!!!!

These Boots Were Made for..... Crawlin!

2009-03-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

The other day I was in the Kitchen and I heard the loudest noises coming from our entry way, and wondered what Brooklyn was pushing along to make such a racket. Well she rounded the corner with my boots on her hands and smiled proudly at me and said "I'm walkin in your shoes mom!"

I know most little girls love to put on their mom's shoes and walk around the house, and Brooklyn found a way to do it in her own little way! Since then she makes it a daily routine to find either mine or Jonny's shoes and slip them on her hands and "walk" around the house just like us!

I love the quirky little things she does. There isn't a day that I don't find myself laughing out loud at the way she crawls. Her head is down, her hands turned in, and her feet fly out to the sides. When she gets going too fast she starts crawling sideways and can't seem to slow down. I love to think about her walking, but I almost wonder if these moments are funnier than most, more precious and unique. These are the reasons I love my little Girl.

Oh ya, and she is completely potty trained!!! The doctors gave me a whole booklet on how to potty train a child with Spina Bifida, but I decided that she didn't need any of the extra medicine, and techniques that are usually used, so I did it my own way. She really should not be able to do this for like 5-10 more years. My family often asks since Brooklyn does so well that if I found out I was going to have another child with Spina Bifida if I would even be upset, and I say "I would freak out!" I feel like as far as kids with Spina Bifida go, we won the lottery!

My Baby Is Three!!!

2009-03-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little Brookie is 3! She woke up so excited that the house was decorated and all she could say was, "my cousins are gonna come over, and we're gonna have cake and ice cream!"

She was more excited about the cake than anything else, so I kinda made it a low-key Birthday. Usually there are a million kids running around, and I usually make a dinner for everyone who comes, but I decided to keep it simple and just do cake and ice cream. I only bought her a giant princess coloring book and a barbie movie that she now says is "stupid." That's why you only got two gifts from me kid!

This is Brooklyn when she woke up. We started the day by taking her to the pet store with her cousin Kayson to see the animals, and for the first time she didn't get scared when the animals inside the cages moved.......she must have realized that she was 3 after all. Then we took her to Costco for free samples. Every 3 year olds dream right? She thinks Costco is the most amazing place on the planet.

For some reason she really wanted a Tinkerbell party. I don't think she has ever even seen Tinkerbell, but she was adamant, so I slaved away to make this Tinkerbell cake for her. OK, so I didn't make it. But why would I when Wal-Mart didn't even mind?

Blowin' out her candles. Thanks to her Grandma for the 'Happy Birthday Tiara' that Brooklyn kept saying hurt her head, but it was cute!

Say Cheese Mom!!! This is how Brooklyn takes my picture, and she does make me say cheese every time or I get yelled at! I only got pictures of two of her presents. Good thing it is her two favorite gifts. Her Barbie Camera, and her Kitty (that personally I think looks like a rat)

My parents got this cat for her thinking she would have a fit and hate it. Sorry to disappoint both of you, but she loved it! My mom thought it funny to tell her that the cats name was puss puss. So I got Brooklyn on Camera yelling "Where is my Pussy!?" I believe I have successfully changed the name to Sprinkles.

Though she likes the name Sprinkles, she doesn't call it that. She just says over and over, "my kitties name is not puss puss." Thanks Mom.

Snugglin her new Kitty/Rat

And of course the best part, the cake and Ice Cream!

The Cutest faces EVER!!!!

Random

2009-03-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

So I havent' updated in a while so I thought I would post some radom pictures and tell some funny stories about Brooklyn that have happened the last few weeks.

Better late than never......but here is the only picture we took when we went to Island Park a few weeks ago and stayed at our friends cabin. I remember a few days before we left I had been bragging about how Brooklyn NEVER gets sick. SO our first night at the cabin we got a total of about two hours of sleep because Brookie got a fever, a nose she couldn't breath out of that woke her up every twenty minutes. Oh, good times.

Daddy and Brooklyn on His new ride. This was her first time on a snowmobile and she actually liked it! Since it was like 20 below she only lasted about three minutes. Twenty minutes of getting her ready in all her snow clothes, three minutes on the snowmobile, and 5 more minutes taking it all off. I wondered why I just didn't say home ;)

Though Brooklyn said goodbye to the Binky a year ago, somehow she stumbled across one and came crawling to find me and said "mommy? I can have this?" She looked so funny, but seriously it took three months for her to stop asking/screaming/sobbing for it after we took it away, so I snatched it and re-hid it so we didn't have a re-lapse.

My little muscian. Her chair is the perfect height. And Boy is she CUTE!

Don't let this face fool ya. This little face has been waking up several times a night conviced that there are cows in her bed. I blame Jonny. For months he likes to scare her by mooing like a cow really loud and scary like, and it has finally caught up to him.

Since this is a random post, I might as well add that I got a job. Sort of. It just kinda happened. I work at the the Kids Klub at Gold's GYm. I get to take Brookyn with me which is why I took the job in the first place. I thought she could benefit from being around alot more kids more often. And it gets me out too. The first two weeks were challenging with her. She thought I was leaving her constantly, but now she loves it and I see her being alot better around other kids. Oh, and I get a free membership. Not that I have used it or anything yet!

Brookie's New Wheels

2009-02-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

My baby so proud of her new-found freedom

We spent this past weekend is Salt Lake getting Brooklyn her first set of wheels. Though its not a car, it is about triple the price of the first car I got in High School! When we started this process a YEAR AGO, Brooklyn had just begun to crawl and had a hard time keeping up when playing with kids her age, which tugged at my heart strings, and made me curse her disability, so applying for a chair seemed like the right thing to do. I was secretly hoping she could then run over those overly able-bodied children once it came! One year later, I'm not sure how I feel. Maybe I am too close to the situation to actually see that getting this wheelchair was the right thing to do, but I have met this new stage with a lot of anxiety, and yes a tear or two.
I told Jonny that I feel like there really isn't anything to 'wrong' with Brooklyn, but if the Doctors and Therapists feel like we should get her a wheelchair, I would humor them and get my perfectly FINE daughter a wheelchair. It seems a little excessive for a child who can crawl really fast and climb up on tables and chairs with ease..........

When we met with her Physical Therapist (who is amazing) in Salt Lake, he was so excited all he could do was gush about all the wonderful things she would be able to do, and how quickly she will catch on be able to maneuver her new set of wheels. I finally had to burst his bubble, swallow the lump in my throat and explain that I was worried she may never learn to walk if she relied on her chair. He very nicely explained that often once children realize they CAN be mobile, they explore all their options, like a wheelchair, using a walker or arm crutches to walk etc. But then he went on to say that maybe walking will just be too difficult for her, and therefore she will choose to be in a wheelchair. Sometimes the truth is hard.

For the time being, Brooklyn ,who hates doing anything herself, screams at anyone who tries to help her by pushing her wheels for her. We learned this the hard way. We were a half mile away from our car and she still hadn't learned that if you don't push with BOTH of your hands at the same time, you will go in circles! So an hour later we made it to our car with a very proud girl.

I would be ungrateful if I made this seem like a thing of dread, when really we are very blessed and excited to see where this next step takes us (hopefully not around in circles for much longer!) Though we are still going to keep working on walking at home and in therapy, we are not going to bang our heads against the wall when the progress is slow. We have a happy healthy girl who lights up any room with her smile and countenance. We love you Brookie! Get runnin' over those kids!!!!

P.S. Does this mean I can get a handicap pass for my car? Score!

Things I've Never Had to Say......

2009-01-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

So having a child as unique as Brooklyn, there are many things that I don't have to worry about her doing. By the time she crawled she was almost two, so I never had to worry about her falling down the stairs, because Brooklyn was old enough to know to avoid them. I never find toys scattered all around the house because Brooklyn can only take whatever she can carry in her mouth (it is so cute. she looks like a puppy! ) or fit in her baby stroller that she pushes all around the house loaded with her favorite toys. I can count the messes she has made, and to be honest I almost go into shock when I watch other peoples kids. I find toys in my toilet, under my bed, and fingerprints everywhere! MY sweet little Brooklyn does NOT do those things........yet.

Along with all these 'wonderful' experiences I have yet to have with my own toddler, there are many phrases that just don't exist around our house. Examples:

Get out of the street!

Don't go in there!

Don't jump on the bed, couch, etc.

Take your shoes off

What did you step in?!?

Stop running around!!!

But there is one phrase I was happy to say this week..........

Brooklyn! Get off the table!

I found Brooklyn on the table and in a state of shock asked Jonny why on earth he put Brooklyn on our coffee table. Well he didn't put her there, and I didn't put her there, yet it took us about 15 seconds to figure out that she crawled up there! Yay! I wanted to get mad, but I, laughed, congratulated her, and took a picture, then got her off which resulted in a full-fledged tantrum. I watched her crawl up on the table several more times that day and had to suppress a laugh every time.

Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas!!!

2009-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Since both of our families live in the same town as us, holidays tend to get a little crazy. The craziness started the 23rd with the Fisher Christmas party. The Fisher's are a small family of about 300, so this was a nice quiet start to a week of partying.......

We then spent Christmas Eve at my parents house where little Brookie got spoiled once again but I walked away with the best gift of all......a Kitchen Aid mixer. I love it!!

Here is Brooklyn at the Christmas Party with some of her favorite people, cousin Tayzlee and Kayson. I don't notice the large size of Brooklyn's head until she sits next to little headed Tayzlee. And isn't black supposed to be slimming? She can get away with anything with that cheesy smile though!

So everyone decided to spend the night at Jonny's parents house so we could wake up all together and open gifts. I'm the first to say that I was not to thrilled with the idea of sleeping on a ten year old couch when my house was only two miles away, but we did it, and I had to swallow my pride and admit that it was a lot of fun to watch all the littles open their Santa gifts together.

Brooklyn walked away a very spoiled girl with a new Kitchen, dress up clothes, a Dora doll, and a new bike. Hmmmmm......still not sure how the bike thing is gonna work, but we'll try. Thanks grandma!

Does anyone else see a resemblance???

Two of a very cute kind!!!

Scootin' in her new had that our neighbor made for her.

And finally, Christmas NIGHT, we found some time to open our own gifts at our house just the three of us. Brooklyn is sporting her new necklaces and her new Dora shoes. Yes SHOES!!!! Her first pair that has fit over her braces in a year!

French toast Surprise........

2009-01-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

So last night, being the good husband that he is, Jonny decided to make dinner since it was that or cold cereal. So he whipped up a batch of cinnamon French toast and eggs. So what's the problem you ask? Well this morning when I went to make Brooklyn her morning drink, complete with a teaspoon of her laxative she takes every morning, I realized that the bowl that is usually full of the white powder that is her laxative, was now replaced with a bowl of cinnamon and "sugar". So I called Jonny at work and asked him if he used the "sugar" up in the cupboard to make his cinnamon mixture for dinner. Well of course he had and we are now happily (or not so happily) staying close to home for the next 24 hours. Thanks for dinner Jon!

Such a big miracle, in such a little girl....

2008-12-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, Two posts in one week! I think that's a record, but Brooklyn has given us many reasons to smile the past couple days. And to be honest like any almost 3 year olds, many reasons to not smile, but I won't get into that! So a few days ago my grandpa came over and was asking where Brooklyn's walker was. I told him that she doesn't use it to walk with every day yet, just during therapy or when I'm practicing with her. Well Brooklyn heard heard the word 'walker' and she turned to me and said, "mamma, I wanna walk" Well I was too lazy to go downstairs to get her walker so I said " you want to walk? are you sure?" The reason for my hesitation is because it usually takes a small army for that little girl to take a few steps. When her therapist comes it takes both of us to get her to walk. One of us pushing her legs forward, and supporting her hips, and someone helping Brooklyn push the walker, etc. So I figured if she really wanted it I would get it. So I brought it up and stood her up to it, and next thing I knew Brooklyn took about 7-8 solid steps across the room before I could even do anything about it!

Later that night when Jonny got home I told him the story and figured it was a one time thing, but we got out the video camera and stood her up and she walked the whole length of our family room before flopping down and said, "Dada. this kinda hard!" I am sure there will many more posts like this where I will say, no today she really walked. But this was the first of many firsts I guess! We have always hoped that this day would come, but we never knew what Brooklyn's abilities would be. We are constantly in awe of her strength. And so grateful for answered prayers.

On a smaller note but just as important......Brooklyn has been going poopy on the potty! This is something that we hoped she would be able to do when she was much older, but many adults with spina bifida, simply don't have the control, so it may never happen. I know we have a long road, but now I know it is possible. I just hoped that we could have her going on her own by the time she was in school so she wouldn't have to feel self-conscious about diapers, but hopefully by her progress and understanding (and feeling!) we can be done with diapers much sooner! It is amazing that she can even tell me when she has to go. Yay for small miracles!!!

Giving Thanks

2008-12-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun Thanksgiving I'm sad it's over. For only the second time since being married, my whole family got together, so we took a trip to St. George. The car ride was a breeze since we have a DVD player and we let my mom and dad tag along in the car to entertain their favorite grandchild. Only it wasn't that far down the road that I heard my mom and dad argue with Brooklyn over what movie they should watch. Yes, mom. Brooklyn would love to watch Holes instead of Twelve Dancing Princesses!
We actually made it to Vegas for a day and I finally got to see Mamma Mia! It was good, but I honestly liked the movie so much that I think I compared the two a little too much. I totally owe my Aunt Christy for driving Brooklyn from Vegas to St. George while she screamed "I no yike this car!" so we could go to the play.
I also learned that I will never leave Brooklyn and go on another trip again because the repercussions from her just aren't worth it. All week long she thought we were leaving her and was a monster to anyone who wanted to.....forbid......hold her. When I went to the bathroom without notifying her first, she would be sobbing by the time I got out because she thought I left her again.
All in all it was so much fun and so worth the drive to be with my family. I wish we could have been two places at once, because this Thanksgiving especially, I know Jonny really wanted to be with his family too. We are very spoiled and have too many blessings to count.

Only Five Years???

2008-11-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

So Jonny and I celebrated our five year annniversary this past week. Yep, I said week. All week long! We both can't believe that it has been ONLY five years. We laugh when we say that because we don't know if that's good or bad that it feels like longer, but it's hard to remember much before us being together. So in celebration we went on a cruise! It was alot of fun......but not what I expected either. Here is a list of the good and not so good things that we took away from our trip

Good:

First and foremost..... the food! SO much and so good!

We got to be together without distractions or two year old interruptions

Gettin' dressed up. That hasn't happened in years :)

Staying out past 10:00.

Brooklyn had more fun with us being gone.

Bad:

No two year old to interrupt us! Yes. someone got a little homesick.

I got sea sick

Mexico is not all the glamorous and made me sad to see little two year olds begging on the streets :(

I got sea sick

I'm not sure anyone spoke English on the ship but us.

Catalina Island

Jonny striking a pose in Beautiful Mexico

Yes, don't I look great? This would be the day I was a wee bit sea sick.

That's an understatement. I wanted to die.

I think we were talking when this picture was taken, but it is the only one where I am wearing make-up so I thought I'd add it :)

Caught Red Handed!

2008-11-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

These two little girls are lucky they are so cute! Brooklyn and her little friend Brielle came across some toll paint in our basement and apparently played patty-cake in it. I wish I took a picture of our carpet. Actually this happened a week ago, and I probably still could!

Back in Business!

2008-11-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

I know all of you are breathing a sigh of relief as you realize I can finally put pictures on my blog again! No I didn't find my cord but I searched my relatives house and found one that fit my camera. So sorry for the picture overload but here are the much anticipated pictures from our Halloween Party.....

Going Trick or Treating!
This is me and Brooklyn off to our ward trunk or treat. I had the great idea to be cheap this year and dress up from things we already had at home. So Brooklyn was a Michigan cheerleader, and I guess I sort-of am too. I found an old cheerleading sweater that matched the same colors as Brooklyns outfit.

The night of our Halloween party Brooklyn acted sick until all the people showed up so this is how she looked! She is a pretty mean cop though don't ya think?

SO I asked Jonny to quickly paint her face, then I would do her hair. Well this is what I found. I freaked a little considering we had about five minutes before we had to leave, but it washed off pretty easily.

Keri and Danny sweatin' to the oldies in style!!! I love it.

Jonny never found his Michigan jersey so he decided to be a crazy Raiders fan. He keeps telling me this is how they look. Whatever.

My mom and dad, dorky as always. We joked that my mom looked like a stripper. We kept saying, so you gonna go get your boom box and get this party started or what? Her gloves actually said "hottie police" on them. And she calls herself the Bishops wife......

With 17 kids in my basement I wondered why I even bothered to clean up before the party!

Happy Halloween......A Week Late!

2008-11-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

I realize it has been forever since my last post and many have given up on me, so that is why I am glad that a holiday actually arrived so I COULD have something interesting to blog about! OR something not so interesting because I lost the cord to my camera so I can't post any of the adorable pictures of Brooklyn as none other than a Michigan Cheerleader, or of the crazy annual Halloween party we get suckered into hosting every year! We did have a blast and were glad that all our friends that we invited were able to make it.

This Halloween was extra fun because Brooklyn actually got the concept. Instead of saying 'Trick of Treat' though she would say ' I want tandy'! She did get a little freaked out though after the third house because we pushed her up to all the doors in her stroller, which put her pretty low to the ground, only to have almost every door that opened up to us also had a dog that would come running out to greet our daughter is ironically terrified of anything with fur. So we called it quits a little early but it was still a blast. I'm sure I'll find the cord to my camera around June so I'll post the pictures then!

Family Pictures

2008-09-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

It's pretty sad when the best family picture that I have to choose from is the one posted at the top of my blog! Somewhere between our last family picture and now, Brooklyn has completely forgotten how to smile. Holly did a wonderful job, and I'm still surprised that any of them turned out based on how they started out. We took these pictures in Island park and I managed to forget about half of what I needed. I forgot Brooklyn's curling iron, hence her flat hair. I also forgot her headband, and her shoes (what does she ever need shoes for??!!?). I was pretty annoyed before the pictures were taken, so really it is a surprise that I don't have a smile more like Brooklyn's in all the pictures too!! Here are some of my favorites, and some of my not so favorites......... I'm sure you will be able to tell the difference!

News You Never Want to Hear

2008-09-17T20:57:00.001-07:00

Saying that things around our house have been pretty tough lately is an understatement. Jonny's oldest brother Jason who is 33 had been having some pretty scary problems with his eyes starting about six months ago. Though he went to a number of doctors and had a number of tests run, the doctors found nothing to be concerned about. The family continued to worry though because his symptoms continued to get more and more frequent. So last week Jason went to the hospital for a follow up appointment for another MRI. Unfortunately this MRI proved that Jason's anxieties were not un- founded because it found a cancerous brain tumor. He had surgery to remove the tumor on Thursday which went really well. Unfortunately the doctors also discovered that the tumor was a Primary tumor, meaning it originated in the brain which makes this type of cancer so much more serious. The doctor who has been working with Jason told him that this type of cancer gives its patients 1-4 years to live. Though those of you who know the amazing people the Fishers are know that they are going to fight hard, and pray even harder.
I
can't describe the devastation this family has felt the last week, but along with that has come at times a great calmness to Jason, his wife Heather, and many members of the family who have been touched by the spirit as they have prayed and been part in giving priesthood blessings to Jason. Anyone who knows Jonny and his two brothers knows that there was never three brothers who were more different, yet so alike. They laugh at the same dumb jokes, they are obsessed with Michigan football, and when Jonny hangs out with them for too long he talks just like them! I guess as the younger brother he still wants to be just like them :)

I don't anticipate updating the ups and downs that will no doubt be ever present during this process. I will let Jason and Heather share what they feel they want to share through this difficult time. Jonny did set up a blog for Jason and Heather to keep family and friends informed but I'm not sure they have begun to use it yet. I will add them on my blog as a link and when (if) they begin using it.

Family Reunion

2008-09-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

We just returned from yet another successful family reunion at the Fisher family cabin in Island Park. I would have to say that I probably get more excited about these reunions than Jonny does, and it's his family! Brooklyn had so much fun just crawling around in the dirt and playing in the sand with what seemed like the hundreds of children that were there. We had a blast and enjoyed being with everyone again.I only took pictures on one day and it was the day that there was a carnival for the kids with face painting, a fish pond, cookie decorating, and a pinata. Here are a couple of pictures of Brooklyn at the Carnival.

Here she is showing off her beautiful face painting done by Aunt Heather. She really did love it. She got a fish on one side of her face and a flower on the other.

This was Brooklyn trying to crack open the pinata. Or at least trying to hit it!

Here are some random pictures that I took a while ago of Brooklyn standing. I've wanted to post them for a while so here they are! Isn't she such a big girl? We take the couch cushion off and it's just about the right hight for her to stand. She loves to stand up and down like this while sitting on the couch and watching her favorite movie Elmo.

I Hate Tags!

2008-08-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have put off doing my tag for a while now, but since I got the same tag twice, I suppose I will play along. I am sure you are on the edge of your seats dying to know eight MORE things about me! Here goes.....

Rules:1. Each player starts with 8 random habits/facts about themselves.2. People who are tagged need to write a post on their blog about their eight things and post these rules.3. At the end of the post you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.

1. I am a very sleepy person. Jonny says I am a three year old trapped in an adult body. I rarely go a day without a nap and if I do I'm not happy about it. When camping, visiting family or friends, you can bet I'm the first one to call it a night.

2. I get sooooo car sick I don't even like going to Wal-Mart if I'm not driving. Reading in a car is out of the question along with turning around to give Brooklyn a sippy, or to pick up a toy she dropped. Those things alone can make me queasy for the next twenty minutes! Unfortunately for Jonny, on vacation he loves to drive all over the place sightseeing and exploring. My upset stomach puts an end to that fun real quick.

3.I love cereal. I eat it for Breakfast, lunch, and as a side with dinner. Though I love sweets, I don't like sweet cereal.

4. I Have yet to find "my thing". I have played most sports and still end up hiding in the back or sitting on the bench. I've attempted to sew countless blankets and skirts, but I end up swearing during most of it and it ends up crooked or un-usable. I have scrapbooked, made dozens of bows, and will hide both of these is anyone asks to look at them. I hate school and pass by the skin of my teeth. I've taken piano for years and can barely stumble through a song.(wow, I'm gonna need some help with my self-esteem when this is done!) Lucky for me though, I'm an under-achiever and like mentioned above, I'm much too sleepy to care!

5. I'm a neat freak. The only thing I don't underachieve at is keeping my house clean. I can't go to bed with a messy kitchen and I vacuum even it's clean just because I like the lines it makes in the carpet. I may be rubbing off on Brooklyn because she freaks if she makes a mess on the floor or her hands are messy or sticky.

6. It's no surprise, but I love staying home with my little girl. Though there are times I get a little bored and things get mundane, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I spend half the day thinking, "who gets to do this?" Especially when I get to nap with her, rock her, read her books, buy hamburgers and chicken nuggets and have picnic with just me and her at the park. It's awesome.

7. I still have the same best friends that I met in the 7th grade. Now who can say that! We still love to get together with all our husbands (those of us that are married) and it feels like old times. Too much like old times because our poor husbands can't get a word in and we laugh non-stop.

8. I'm too sleepy to think up an eight one. Any of my good buddies want to think up one for me?

I tag whoever wants to do it. I'm not even sure I have eight people to tag!

Hip Hip--Hippo Therapy!

2008-08-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's a dumb name I know but Hippo therapy is a real thing and we have finally got our scaredy cat of a daughter to try it. You can Google Hippo therapy and find out tons on it, but I'll give you the shortened version of our new found hobby/therapy. Hippo therapy is basically riding a horse. "They" claim that horses walk very similar to humans, so if you put a child on a horse (there are all sorts of ways you have to do it), but if the child has mobility or strength issues, riding the horse will do wonders for them and actually give them the feeling that they are walking and strengthen all sorts of muscles. They also use this therapy for children with emotional or mental problems and it is supposed to calm them and help them in numerous other ways mentally and socially. Pretty cool right?

I'm kinda mad at myself though because all winter long I waited for it to be nice so we could start this therapy but stupid me forgot all about it earlier this summer because of all the other crazy stuff going on in our lives, and also Brooklyn is afraid of her goldfish (I'm serious), so what chance did we have of getting her on a horse? Well after weeks of trying, this past week she finally rode my parents good ol' horse Flicka (aka Ficka), several times in fact. She even got so relaxed that she sang and laughed while we rode. Now I hope the weather stays nice enough a little longer for us to keep up our daily horse rides and that I hope we will see these miracle benefits that should come from this therapy. Here are a couple pictures of our horsey rides.

If it wasn't for my mom's friend Gwen who goes dilegently every morning with her 18 year old son who is autistic, I wouldn't go either! Gwen chases down Flicka, gets her all harnessed, and then makes about 15 laps around the pasture by the time she takes her son and Me and Brooklyn. This is rare smile from Brooklyn while riding the horse!

Since we always go horse riding first thing in the morning, this was the first time Jonny got to experience the "joy" it is to ride around the pasture with our calm daughter!
For Family Home Evening we all decided to roast hot dogs and smores and ride the horses. I grew up with these horses and can probably count the times I have ridden them. I'm glad this therapy has benefited everyone being able to get together, and we actually remember that we have horses now!

Brooklyn puttin' on a brave face, but really wanting to scream her head off. She's pretty good if you make is seem like she's not on a horse at all. Having her sandwiched between four cousins really helps! I just love the fat little tummy poking out of her shirt. She had eaten about four smores by this point.

Normal At Last......

2008-08-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

well as normal as things are around our house! For once I haven't had a list of things to post which in my eyes is a good thing. Things have definitely slowed down finally and we have been really enjoying the last half of summer. Brooklyn and I have fallen into a routine of going on a bike ride, then to the park for free lunch, then taking naps (including me), and usually followed by swimming at someones house and playing with cousins. Don't you love summer?

I dare say that I have never seen Brooklyn so happy. Don't get me wrong, the 'terrible twos' is a title that she rightfully deserves by the growing number of tantrums that just started surfacing a couple times a day! But never have I seen her able to explore and entertain herself. She has finally reached a level of independence that is a miracle to me. Somehow over night she has become my little helper and quite the jabber jaws. I laugh at her every day! I guess this all came as a surprise because I was sure that once she got those casts off it would take time for her to get strength in her legs back, but the opposite happened. She gained so much muscle from lugging those things around that she crawls better than ever and even stands (with her walker) occasionally. We videoed her standing for the first time which I'll try to post soon.
With weeks as fun as these it makes me wonder what we'll do to entertain ourselves come winter!

THE 4th, THE CASTS, THE SURGERY.........A VERY BUSY WEEK!

2008-07-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

Before I start with my latest complaint (I seem to have a lot lately!), I will start by saying how dang cute Brooklyn was on the 4th. We felt like being crazy and headed to the fairgrounds for the fireworks. Those of you that don't know, Brooklyn has ALWAYS been terrified of a noise louder than a sneeze. Actually those used to terrify her too! When she was little I couldn't put away groceries around her because the sound of the bags made her hysterical. Clapping, vacuuming, doorbells, knocking, and laughing terrified her and she would sob uncontrollably. So to say the least, it was a huge step for us to attempt to sit directly below the fireworks. After the first firework went off her little fingers flew into her ears for the remainder of the show, but she loved it. She would take her hands off when she would get really excited to clap once then put them right back in her ears. It was so cute. And it's only taken us 2 "short" years to be able to take her somewhere with noise!

So she finally got those heavy casts taken off on Monday. I seriously couldn't sleep the night before because I was so excited. Brooklyn has loved it too and crawls faster than ever now just cause she finally can for the first time in almost 5 weeks! We made it a good day and went swimming with her cousins. Her legs are pretty beat up though from being in the casts and her toes drug out of them the majority of the time so we are constantly keeping a dozen bandaids on her legs and feet.....again. She also has developed a terrible rash on her legs since they have been taken off so I wonder if she touched something with latex, which she is allergic to.

Her eye surgery is on Thursday and I'm not very happy about it. The doctors are loosening her eye muscles because occassionaly her eyes are pulled the wrong direction ( I happen to find it very cute!!!). The good news is that they may loosen the muscles too much so her eyes will fly the other way so we will do surgery AGAIN to fix it. Cool huh? What's even cooler is after her surgery we can't get her eyes wet for another three weeks. How's that for timing??? When they told me that in the doctors office I seriously almost cried. Only three days after getting her casts off, water is once again forbidden. I'm a little frustrated and I have been throwing quite the pity party lately so if anyone would like to join me let me know!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2008-07-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

For my Birthday(July 2) Jonny did a very un-Jonny like thing and planned a last minute trip to Jackson for just the two of us. The key word there is planned, because usually we drive around lost tyring to find hotels in the middle of the night wherever we go and spend the rest of the time trying to buy tickets to a place that is usually sold out. But not this time! It was so much fun! I called my mom Tuesday morning and asked her if she could watch her favorite grandchild for a couple days and of course she agreed. That is the beauty of living by my parents and Jonny's parents. We always have a babysitter! So we packed rather quickly and headed up to Jackson. Here is a quick re-cap of our little vacation.

* On Tuesday night we went to the Bar-J wranglers show. It was alot of fun, but it could have been a little funner had we not gotten there so late and had to sit in the very back crammed in with some people who did not smell so good. Let's just say I didn't eat much of my dinner while sitting elbow to elbow with those people!

* On Wednesday, my Birthday, we decided to take a hike first thing in the morning up to a beautiful lake. It only ended up being about four miles and was quite enjoyable not having to pack a two year old along! I would just like to point out that Jonny has been complaining since about being sore. I guess I am just in better shape than him :) That same day we also played mini-golf which I beat him by three points, while also getting the only hole-in-one of the whole game. Then we raced a couple of times down the Alpine slides. Jonny did beat me at that both times, but I figured he was feeling a little inferior at that point anyway! Then we had my Birthday dinner at our favorite and of course cheap restaurant Bubba's. Jonny somehow convinced the waitress and half the staff to come over and sing me happy birthday. I was quite embarrassed, but I got a free Banana Cream pie out of the deal so I forgave him rather quickly!
* Today we intended to go to the Temple on the way home but the Idaho Falls Temple was closed and we didn't want to drive all the way to Rexburg. We were also missing our little girl quite a bit so we rushed home to kiss her cute face! We didn't take many pictures but here are a few from our hike.

It took us about ten times before we actually got a picture of us and the lake in the same picture. It started getting a little funny how difficult it was!

Five More Days!!!

2008-07-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

We are so excited that it is almost time for Brooklyns Casts to finally come off! They are so big and heavy that my back has been hurting from lugging her and her cement shoes around for the last four weeks and we have several scratches in our wood floor and we seem to be able to find exactly where she has been crawling by the chips left in our trim all around the house. Character marks right? Despite the headache they have been, the time has gone by rather quickly and we have still been able to enjoy some fun by the pool and Brooklyn hardly goes a day without hanging out with at least one of her many cousins that she adores! Here is a couple pictures of the fun Brookie has had the last couple weeks.....

Lots of kids have to put garbage sacks on their
legs when they swim........don't they? Brookie
didn't seem to mind as long as she had a Popsicle!

Jonny and I decided to take a leisurely walk with Brooklyn

on Sunday and this is who we ended up with. If you look close you

can see Brooklyn's legs propped up by the steering

wheel so her legs don't drag while we push her. Good thing

she is flexible!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!

2008-06-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are daily bloggers and occassionaly check any of the people's blogs on my friends' list, I'm sure that you have probably heard all you can about our trip to Vegas that we got home from about a week ago, but how often do four bestfriends get to leave their kids and husbands home to go on vacation together? Well in five years since we have all been married, it has NEVER happened, hence our excitement.

So the four of us loaded up my friend Jessica's Honda and took off to Vegas. Actually everyone had it pretty easy since Jess and I had at least another three hours added to our trip since we started in Pocatello, but none the less the drive was fun. What? no screaming kids? No one yanking the daylights out of their carseat straps yelling "OUT! Mamma! Out!" No one had to get out two hours into the trip because they decided they were hungry, or bored, or had to pee. (actually they tried, but I wouldn't stop the car until we were almost out of gas! I'm alot of fun, can't ya tell?)

Poor Jonny had to work every day at the Bookstore, while juggling his Realtor duties and playing full time dad. While I was gone he took Brookyln to the eye doctor and found out that she needs eye surgery, her Go-Go- Boots fell off the day after I left so he spent a day dealing with that (we have since gone back to SLC and got her fixed finally!). To say the least he looked completely trashed when I got home and perhaps I gained a little more respect from him, if that is possible :)

We loved our hotel we stayed at and tried to relax as much as we could. We tried for three days to get tickets to Mamma Mia, only to be told each day that they would have plenty the next day, so on Friday we excitedly asked to purchase four tickets to the show only to be told that it doesn't play on Fridays! We were pretty mad, but got tickets to the Knights show at Excalibur. We also realized that we are all pretty bad drivers, and have poor sense of direction without our husbands around. Anyway, I'll let the few pictures that I actually took speak for themselves........

Basking in the sun in the Lazy River. We decided that some pervert got the idea to create see through tubes. I posted this picture small so you can see very little of the rest of us through the tubes! After going around the river for about two hours poor red-headed, light skinned Keri was left with the worst sun burn ever. Not quite the way to start out the trip. We got told that we resembled the four girls off Sex and the City. I was the only sinner who had even seen the show so it meant very little to Jessica, Angela, and Keri.

This is how Angela and I spent most of the trip....with our noses buried in a book. We perferred doing this to shopping with Keri and Jessica for SEVEN STRAIGHT HOURS!!!

Although as you can see, we did manage a few hours of shopping when we weren't reading. This is the reason Jonny told me that he thought it would be "fun" for me to go work at Costco when it arrives at the end of the summer. Sorry Jonny, this is my job. And no, I am not pregnant but I agree that it appears that I am based on this picture......

And Here we are testing our line dancing skills at Stoney's. We are not the brightest since we decided to pose in front of the Bull (that I successfully rode), for a picture only to realize that we covered the whole thing up with our cute little pose. It wasn't until later that we wondered why we didn't pose ON the bull......what a great idea. I'd also post a picture of me riding the bull but Keri was the photographer who got pictures of me and NOT the bull while I was riding it. It's OK Ker, I forgive you. I just know not to ask you to take pictures again.

Here we are at the show at Excalibur. That's our waiter sticking his bald head in the picture behind us. He would give us a look of sympathy when the drunk brothers next to us would order another beer or two. I'm not sure who was more entertaining, them or the show!

See ya in Vegas next year Girls!!!

Go-Go-Boots for Brooklyn

2008-06-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Too Stinkin' Cute!!!!

Well we finally got new casts on Brooklyn today. We found someone in town who specializes in casting people who have sores on their feet so it worked out pretty good. Of course we are still terrified that they may rub or the positioning of her foot may slip, but at least it is something. These casts are closed at the toe so we really can't see if her foot is slipping which is a little scary.

I also decided that these casts look more like Go-Go-Boots than casts. I think Brooklyn actually looks quite trendy! This came at good timing because after all the stress the last few weeks I am definitely ready for my trip to VEGAS with four of my very best friends (there are a few friends that I wish could make it but can't :( . I am sure they are all ready to kill me because I have not been able to give them a definite date that we can finally go until today so we are off tomorrow evening, yay!

Enjoying a good book before bed!

Cute Brookie

2008-06-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well not much has changed this last week, but I have gotten pretty sick of getting onto my blog and seeing the picture of Brooklyn's gross feet and figured I should probably put something a little more positive on my blog this month! So I decided to just post a couple of my favorite pictures of Brooklyn. In doing this I realized that I definitely need to take more pictures of Brooklyn and also more pictures with me or Jonny with her. I don't think I have one recent picture of all of us so I guess I will make that my new goal.

Brooklyn's first time in her car seat going Bye Bye!

I love this picture because it is one of the few pictures that shows her thick dark hair that she was born with before it started falling out thus becoming the comeover, followed by the bald spot in the back that just grew in about 6 months ago, followed by the afro in the back that never combs out no matter how hard we try.

Brookie at 6 months old

I love her big brown eyes in this picture with her little tweety bird mouth that is so small! And who could miss the three chubby rolls on her arms!

One Year Old.

Her left ear used to stick out quite a bit which was only brought to our attention when we got this picture taken. I love this picture so much because of that and also since her ear no longer pokes out (probably a good thing in the future!), and I also got my one year pictures taken in this dress and look identical to her.

Posing with one of her favorite cousins Mya.

Brookie's Poor Feet

2008-06-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that these terrible sores happened in just one day? And they are five days old so they have even healed a little bit. I guess we know for sure now that she can't feel her feet which of course in an instance like this is good. She posed so good for these pictures and even after wanted us to take more pictures of her "ouchies." When we showed them to her on the camera (actually she screamed until we gave her the camera!) she got sad and stuck out her bottom lip and said oweee mama. Oweee dadda. She sure knows how to get sympathy! I was putting bandaids and cream on her feet last night and she looked up and me with her big brown eyes and said in the cutest most sincere voice, "thank you mamma." How lucky am I to have such a sweet little girl!

Well here is the shortened version of our weeklong saga that unfortunately did not end today......

We went to SLC last night and stayed the night at my aunt's house and then went to our Doctor's appointment this afternoon. After waiting for over an hour for the doctor he finally took us back and poked at Brooklyn's feet for a minute and told us he would NOT be able to re-cast her feet because the sores were too bad (hmm, do you think he could have let us know this beforehand?). We kind of stood dumbfounded (even my mom who decided to join us and she is very rarely speechless!), thinking that this was some sort of a joke due to the in depth conversation Jonny had with the doctor about the condition of her feet just days before. We could tell the doctor felt stupid and though we didn't give him a piece of our mind like we wanted, we could tell that he knew he screwed up. So, after another 5 hour roundtrip drive, we get to go back up on Wednesday to recast Brookie's feet after the sores have healed. Yay!

Back to Salt Lake We Go.....

2008-05-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

and we are not actually all that happy about it. I apologize now that once again all I can report on is Brooklyn and our latest adventures, but truth be told I have nothing else to talk about and this means I only have to repeat what is happening with her only 50 times rather than 100. I also know that my family members who read this who don't live close appreciate the update.

Anyway, if you'll remember the last post excitedly explaining how things were falling easily into place and Brooklyn was going to a local Orthopedic Surgeon who said "these things happen all the time and it will be no problem to fix." Well it turns out they don't happen all the time, and apparently it is not that easy to fix! Unfortunately we found this out 4 hours into our doctor visit. The short version is that we went to a doctors office in Blackfoot and saw the Surgeon for about two minutes before he took us across the street and introduced us to a Physical Therapist who was going to make some sort of a brace for Brooklyn. So first we sawed off the other cast that was miraculously still on (but in the entirely wrong position), only to find that her foot was covered in blisters and dark black and purple sores. The other foot had also somehow developed the same sores even though the cast had fallen off the night before. So the P.T. worked for 4 long hours trying to create some sort of a casting/bracing device for Brookyn's foot, telling us along the way that he had never done something like this before! I was thinking, well of course you haven't your a Physical Therapist, this is the surgeons job! He even had to cut holes all around the casts so the sores on Brooklyn's feet wouldn't get any worse. So, we walked out of the office 4 long hours later with a pair of removable casts that although were made with the best of intentions, do not work for even 5 minutes until her foot is sideways again.

On our way home we finally decided that if we wanted it done right we had no choice but to go back to SLC. We finally spoke to the Surgeon there who told us that in order for the casts not to fall off he had to cast her past the knee. Jonny was the one who relayed the message to me thinking nothing of it and thinking it sounded like a great idea. Well I freaked out thinking that we have waited two long years for our little girl to finally gain some sort of independence and now that she is crawling they are going to put these stupid things up to her armpits! Talk about frustrating the already frustrated little girl. So we are heading down to SLC Sunday night and will see the doctor Monday morning. I may have no choice but to have the casts go past her knees but I'm not going down without a fight.

In the meantime Brooklyn is happy as a clam unaware that her Mommy is going to have a nervous breakdown and she actually likes talking about all the Ouchies on her feet and loves the sympathies she recieves from others. She shrieks with joy when we tell her that she is getting another pair of pink "shoes" put on. If only we could have the patience and forgiveness and positive out look as these little ones. I guess innoncence is bliss afterall.

Brooklyn's New Shoes

2008-05-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

Before I begin I would just like to say that I had taken the cutest pictures of Brooklyn before and after her surgery that have somehow gotten deleted while I was trying to post them. I am so mad but I guess I will just have to take some pictures the next few days to show her cute little casts.
Well Brooklyn's surgery was yesterday and went much smoother than I had anticipated. We got to Salt Lake early enough that we took Brooklyn to the park to play, then we played in the pool at our Hotel for a while which Brooklyn just loved. Of course the morning of the surgery they had us be there first thing in the morning only to sit in the waiting room for two hours but that's typical I've learned. They gave Brooklyn a sedative about an hour before the surgery so when the doctors came and took her from me she was so happy and relaxed she didn't care who was holding her which never happens! Jonny and I actually left the hospital and grabbed some breakfast and enjoyed eating outside without too much of a worry which was nice. The surgery only lasted about 1 hour and Brooklyn came out wearing the cutest pair of bright pink casts. When she finally woke up I showed her her feet and she looked at them and said "shoes!" Lately she has been getting mad at me when we are out and about and I haven't put shoes on her, so now she has permanent "shoes" for a while.

This morning I was thinking that this whole surgery was so easy (on both Brooklyn and me!), and that I was so grateful and wondered why I work myself up so much worrying all the time. Well not long after I thought this, I looked at Brooklyn's casts and noticed that one of her feet was in the compleltely wrong position because it was falling out of the cast. The whole point of this surgery was to cut her heel cord and put her foot in a normal, flat position, for the next four weeks so when we take the casts off she will be able to stand and begin learning to walk (hopefully). Well when I saw that stupid thing falling off I almost had a heart attack and ended up spending about three hours on the phone hoping to talk to someone other than an answering machine in Salt Lake and at local doctors offices here to try to figure out what to do. Finally my mom remembered that her neighbor of 16 years is an orthopaedic surgeon so she knocked on his door and he said that these casts fall off all the time that he would be happy to see Brooklyn first thing in the morning even though he isn't working. Yay! See, another example of how I stress myself out for no reason!

A Wonderful Week of Progress

2008-05-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Against my own will I have decided to take a short break from school. Since Brooklyn was born I have continued to go to school full time which has been very trying and also very rewarding. My goal has been to just finish and get done as quickly as possible so I can concentrate on Brooklyn,but now that doesn't seem to be happening as soon as I had hoped. I was going to take summer school full time and then do my student teaching, but I felt a little too stressed and decided that my little girl has a lot going on and may need me a little more now.
I'm not sure if excited is the right word, but Brooklyn is getting surgery on her feet this coming Wednesday which is a great milestone for us. Her feet have become too crooked to fit in her braces so we haven't made any progress for awhile with her standing, and the doctors agree that she is ready to understand the concept of walking. Just the past few days she has done something rather remarkable. She has been trying to pull one of her legs up to stand (like the position when someone proposes on one knee.) Her therapist and I have tried teaching her this for a while and of course Brooklyn does it when she is ready! Her legs lack the feeling and strength to support her and she ends up almost standing on her ankle bones (it is so gross to watch!) and when they start collapsing she looks at me like, what's wrong with these floppy things??? She gets pretty frustrated which is great motivation for her to try harder. I do have to admit when she gets upset at her little body that I imagine must feel like a trap at times my heart breaks and I wish it was me. Okay, I don't wish it was me. I wish it was Jonny. Just Kidding! She has also told us on numerous occassions that she has to go potty. Usually this occurs almost to the minute that she has to be cathed. This is another little miracle that has occured this last week. We also should be getting her her wheelchair soon which I fully plan on calling it her "Bike". This will help her explore so much more and give her more independence. I just might I have to keep an eye on her then!
I guess I share this little story because I am so proud of my little Brooklyn and excited to start this next chapter. Once her feet are fixed I know we will really see what she is capable of. I am sad that she will not be able to swim for most of the summer (which is one of her few pleasures because she just gets to sit and splash for hours!) because of her casts, but we will just have to have one heck of a pool party the end of July!

We Survived!

2008-05-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well we did it! The Marathon was yesterday and it actually was so much fun! We all spent the night in Utah since we had to catch a bus to take us up the Ogden Canyon at 5:00, so we had to wake up at 4:00. This was probably the worst part. I was wondering how they expect anyone to run even one mile under these conditions! I'm still not sure why they make you catch a bus this early because all two thousand of us who were running the half-marathon sat around a couple fires for an hour and a half waiting for it all to start at 7:00. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into and dreading the 13 mile descent. I was pretty sure we had gotten on the wrong bus in the beginning because it just kept driving higher and higher up the canyon and I thought it definitely dropped us off at the 26 mile mark instead of the 13!

Once it finally started it was so much fun! I couldn't believe the excitement. I didn't even turn my music on for a couple of miles because it was so beautiful and there were so many people along the way cheering us on. My sister surprised me and ran with me starting at the 5 mile mark which made it so much more fun and much easier. I felt great the whole run up until the last mile and then my hip hurt so bad my whole leg was hard to move but I was pretty sure if I stopped I wouldn't be able to run again, but somehow I finished. Since I run pretty slow I was met by Jonny, Kody, Brian, and my Mom who drove down with Brooklyn. About two minutes after I crossed the finished line I was hobbling over to the sidelines and heard the crowd going crazy and I thought, well they sure didn't cheer like that for me! But I realized that the first person to run the full Marathon was finishing. Nothing like taking my glory only minutes after I finished!

I do have to admit that we are somehow planning our next half-marathon even though we can barely walk and the thought of actually going down or up stairs brings tears to our eyes, and we have had numerous arguments about who has to pick Brooklyn up! Then again, maybe we should only make this a yearly tradition........

It's Hard Being an Athlete

2008-05-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't told many people but this coming Saturday I am running in the Ogden City Marathon. I feel a little embarrassed to be doing it, but I did want it to come as a surprise when my friends heard that I killed over on mile 10 in the Ogden Canyon (we are only running half the marathon). My youngest brother Brian is leaving on May 21st for his mission and he came up with this bright idea about three months ago. He thought it would be something fun we could all do together. Let me fill you in on the "Fun" we all have been having the past couple months.

First of all I am not doing this entirely alone. My sister Andrea and her Husband Kody, Brian, and Jonny are all the idiots that signed the fifty dollar entrance fee. At first we were a little nervous and entirely out of shape. That first month we would sit around talking about how far we were running and how good it felt to begin getting into shape. We all went out and bought new shoes and began calling ourselves (joking of course) athletes. We would often start sentences like, " well now that I'm an athlete...." or "since becoming a marathon runner......" We all found that it was beginning to be a great bonding experience and pitied anyone who chose not to join us in our new found hobby.

Month two was a little different. We found that it was becoming a little more difficult to find time to juggle running. Andrea and I always ran together and would often have to wake up early to go first before I husbands could go. This made us a little grouchy but found that running early was really quite beautiful. By this time Kody had what looked like something that used to be a blister but blew up to be something much more disgusting on his foot and couldn't run for almost a week. Andrea began feeling a sweet little warm feeling in her shins and figured it was just pesky little shin splints, and Jonny was convinced that the new shoes he bought made him get the flu (seriously). Though we were getting a little weary of the time our running was taking and the little pains it was causing our bodies, we just kept thinking of how proud we would feel crossing the finish line with our dear loved ones waiting to greet us.

Month three which we are currently in couldn't end quickly enough. Our outdoor runs have been completly miserable due to the fact the wind hasn't stopped blowing for months and snow has even fallen during the month of May. Andrea and I can no longer run in the morning because we would have to wake up at 5:00 to make enough time for our Ibuprofen to kick in before we can even take one step. Andrea may not even be able to run a single mile of this stupid race becuase not only does she have the worst shin splints known to man, but she also has a bad hip that perscription drugs cant even dull the pain to. Brian, the genius who got us into this mess, hasn't ran in weeks because his ankles hurt too bad. Kody and Jonny just got kinda sick of running and can't even find their running shoes anymore (Jonny is actually staying away from his so he doesn't get the flu before the big day). Though my shins feel like someone has taken a baseball bat to them most of the time I have still tried to keep running as much as I can without my sister as my sidekick, but mostly I just sleep in now and dream of the days when I would eat donuts in the morning while watching exercise shows.
Wish us all luck! Yay for running!
P.S. I'm looking for a new running partner so let me know if there are any takers. The position should go quickly.

Check out my Slide Show! My favorite picture is the very last one.

2008-05-05T21:53:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn Turns Two!

2008-05-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Getting Hugs from my favorite cousin

I Love Eating with My Grandpa Matt!

I can't believe how fast the last two years have gone. I got these adorable pictures taken by Jonny's cousin Holly and couldn't believe how big she looked. I still think of her as my little baby but she is becoming such a big girl.
Brooklyn loves Dora the Explorer, or 'Ahhh La' as she calls her, so we had a big Dora birthday party. She had so much fun having all her cousins and aunts and uncles over. Of course her favorite part was eating the cake! She is a very spoiled and very loved little girl!

The Story of Brookie Poo!

2008-04-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

I thought I should dedicate a whole page to explain a little about our sweet Brooklyn. For those that know us this may seem a little basic but for those that don't know the whole story here it is....you may want a little caffeine, you'll be here a while!

Brooklyn Laura Fisher was born on March 28, 2006 in Salt Lake City, UT. At my 23 week ultrasound we found out that our little girl was going to be born with Spina Bifida. Spina what? Ya, my reaction exactly. We quickly became experts on Spina Bifida and of course are still learning as we go.
Brooklyn was born with an opening in her back that had to be closed at birth. The damage is caused because nerves are exposed when the back is open so they become damaged. The damage is greater or less depending on where the opening on the back is. We also thought that Brooklyn would have to have a shunt put in days after birth as well due to Hydrocephaelus (dont check my spelling on that!) which is fluid on the brain. So a shunt is put in to drain the fluid. They are permanent but they also can malfunction at any time which causes another painful surgery. Many children go through dozens of shunt surgerys, and about 90% of children with Spina Bifida have shunts.Well we were sent home a week later without a shunt and still no shunt to this day. This has been the greatest miracle and blessing in our lives. I remember those first eight months or so thinking the fluid was building every time she cried for long periods of time or acted a little differently. Those were some of the most stressful and trying times.

Brooklyn is truly a miracle and has feeling in most of her legs up until about the bottom of her calf. I still sneak up on her and tickle her foot to see if she pulls it away. Sometimes she does and other times she seems as if she doesn't feel a thing. Because her feet have no feeling she used to bite them and get the biggest kick out of it. It really wasn't funny and caused them to bleed and get infected. Try telling that to a one year old! Brooklyn now will pick up her feet and pet them and say "nice, nice" to show that she wont bite them anymore!
Brooklyn also has bladder problems. She has a hard time going to the bathroom and needs a catheter to go pee every 3-4 hours. Brooklyn has two wonderful grandmas and three wonerful aunts who jumped right in from day one and learned to cathe her so we can leave her for long periods of time. They didn't know what they were getting into when they offered to learn! Because of the catheter brooklyn is on a number of different medications to prevent infections but she has still probably had more than twenty bladder infections. Lots of sleepless nights at our house!
She also has physical therapy and occupational therapy weekly. She thinks this is the greatest because it is one on one and she loves the attention. She also just got glasses and is the cutest thing ever in them! Her feet are still bent and are actually getting worse so she will be getting surgery soon on them so we can continue working on her standing and hopefully someday walking!!!!
If only we could have seen what our little girl would become we never would have shed a tear upon hearing the initial diagnosis. She is so full of life and is the most loving little girl. Several times a day she wraps her arms around us, gives us the wettest kiss, and with the biggest smile and says "happy mommy, happy." Her disability (I hate that word!) has made us a happier stronger family. We still have moments of wanting to never step foot in another doctors office or wanting nothing more than to watch her run and play with her cousins. I have those days more than Jonny, but that day will come and I cant wait to run with my little angel!

Meet our Family!

2008-04-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our Blog! We are new to this but hope that this will be a great way for our family and friends who we don't see often will be able to keep up on our crazy lives! I guess only one of us is crazy and that's our little two year old Brooklyn. She may look sweet and innocent but she is a handful! We love her to pieces and love to watch her grow and learn new things each day.

So a little about what we are up to these days........
Jonny is keeping busy working about three different jobs. His favorite of the three is probably being a Realtor. I think this is because he gets to go off to luncheons most afternoons and still call it work! He really is good at it and seems to get busier all the time which is great. He also stays busy with the off-campus bookstore Textbook Exchange and building homes with his dad. He just finished building us our second home an swears we won't do it again for five more years.....we'll see.

I'm not sure why, but I am still plugging along in school. It takes lots of people ten years to get a bachelors degree! Doesn't it? I am only taking two night classes right now and should be done for good in a semester or two. Yeah!!! Please don't send cards to congratulate me. I like money.
I also am lucky enough to stay home with my adorable little girl. It is always interesting with her and I feel undeserving to have the life that I do. It is simply perfect. It just actually feels perfect once she is finally sleeping.......

Brooklyn is doing lots of great things. She has finally mastered crawling. The real way. She army crawled for a long time but she was too slow and would get really frustrated. He little arms were still two weak to pull her chubby body along I guess. So she finally figured out how to crawl on all fours! I honestly didn't think that she had the mobility in her legs to do it but she is so much happier now! She actually makes messes and I get excited. We are working on getting her standing but her feet are too turned in to do much standing so we are in the process of getting her surgery to fix them. I hate surgery! But I am very blessed to have this be only her second surgery since birth.
She also is talking so much. Actually she doesn't stop. I love to hear her little voice. We have alot coming up with doctors visits and such so I will keep posting!