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Weekend in Glamis

Kunane took Thursday and Friday off this past week and we took off for an extended weekend in Glamis! We went with 14 other families and had a blast. We road our quads and relaxed. The girls had a blast playing with their friends and we had a blast laughing with ours. In the first picture Kulia is getting ready to go on a ride in the Sandrail with her Daddy and our friend Bobby. She was so excited! In the second picture Kalena is riding her quad with her friends. She is getting really good...going off jumps and all! We really enjoy camping together. We create such great memories and I will cherish them forever!!

St. Patrick's Day

Every year on March 16th the girls put out their St. Patrick's box for the leprechauns and get up early to see where it was hidden. Like every year, they follow the streamers around the house and try to see where the leprechauns hid the box. They have so much fun tearing down the streamer and going through the box. Everything in the box is green. This year they got green sports bottles, green nail polish, green Pringles, green candy, green notepads, and many other things. Then we sat down for breakfast to have green pancakes and green eggs. They love celebrating. For dinner we have corned beef and cabbage and Dad and I celebrate with a beer. It is a real fun way to celebrate! I have a little Irish in me, so we have to carry on a tradition! Ha, ha!

Girls Weekend

My mom treated my sister and I to a weekend at a spa in Utah. It was my sister's 40th Birthday and I was lucky enough to go. It was the most relaxing thing I think I have ever done! We drove for 6 hours and of course laughed and cried at each others stories all the way there. Then we drove into this beautiful 5 star spa and were treated so well. We would get up every morning and have a healthy breakfast and then head out for a five mile hike. The first day we hiked on sandstone and the next day to hiked on more bolder type rocks with sand stone and river rocks. The scenery was beautiful. We would return to the spa just in time for a delicious lunch and then to the pool to relax. They offered classes every couple of hours, but I chose to read by the pool or take a nap. My mom took tennis and my sister went to play with wild mustangs and I enjoyed the quiet time. Every day we would have a massage or a facial. When I checked in for my massages they would take me to a beautiful meditation room to relax. Then I would shower with all these special soaps and exploiters, put on their robe and slippers and be escorted to my massage room. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Every day was a different color at the spa and the flower arrangements were changed to match the color and the glassware, plates and just about everything was transformed into that color. It was gorgeous. After a massage I took a yoga class and then headed to our suite to watch movies with mom and Kelley. I had a great time enjoying my sister and my mom. I am really thankful that I had the opportunity to go to Utah and spend the weekend at the spa with them. I was a little worried about Kunane and the girls, although he did a great job. I talked to them daily and could hear in their voices how much fun they were having with Daddy! He let them pick where to eat out and he let them sleep in our bed. They thought that was the best! I sure hope that others get the opportunity to go away and take some mommy time as I did. Thank you mom for a great weekend! I love you!

Update on Kulia

Last Wednesday, Kulia, my mom, and I went to see Dr. Mohrdar, an alternative medicine doctor to find out if there was anything we could do to help with all of Kulia's illnesses. As many of you know, I have been extremely frustrated and stressed about the amount of drugs, steroids, and other antibiotics that she has been taking the last 4 years and I really wanted some answers. Dr. Mohrdar actually gave some very logical reasons as to why Kuila has been such a sick child. He believes, as I do, that she has long term effects from when she was born and not breathing. I have always believed that her birth had something to do with her respiratory problems, although I have been told by several doctors that is was just a coincidence. Dr. Mohrdar explained that when a baby is born, they have mucus and this mucus contains enzymes with antibodies that help build their immune system. He believes because Kulia was suctioned so much that the good bacteria, antibodies, were taken from her, therefore she did not have a foundation to build her immune system. Also he said that having tube in her nose and throat caused inflammation and this inflammation could possibly have never gone down because her immune system could not react. I also asked about her lack of hair growth. He said the drugs "absolutely" have something to do with her hair growth. He believes that her body can not metabolize the nutrition from food because of her weakened immune system. This totally makes sense to me because not only does her hair hardly grow, but I never have to cut her nails either. I have heard in the past, when you are healthy you can tell by the strength and growth of your nails. In addition, he explained other side effects of steroids and antibiotics and how it continues to weaken her system instead of build it up. This is why every other child gets a cold and heals and why her colds turn in to respiratory problems. He says, by the time her body realizes that it needs to fight it is to late and she has a major infection. Dr. Mohrdar spend about an hour and 45 minutes talking with me and observing Kulia. It was awesome. I really like him and feel like what he was saying was logical. All the other doctors she has seen, usually say they don't know why it keeps happening or it is because of being around sick people and I never feel like I get answers to the real problem. Dr. Mohrdar said that she doesn't have enough of the good bacteria in her system to build her immune system and fight infection. Therefore, he put her on two remedies. Both of them are all natural and have no side effects. In addition to starting her on these remedies he sent her to the lab to have blood work done. He is checking her kidneys, liver, thyroid, and many other things. They took a great deal of blood. He also said that he doesn't believe that she has allergies. He thinks that her body can not fight anything. After he gets the blood work back we will see him again and see what our options are. I am looking forward to finding out more answers and hope for the best. I am going to continue to go to him in hopes that we will get positive results. My only other options is to continue to see her other doctors and continue to have her on drugs that are not healthy for her. Please keep us in your prayers and pray that we are going down the right path and will have answers. Thank you for all of your love and support. I will keep you posted on anything new he tells us.

Kulia Turns 4!!

Tuesday was a great day! I felt like it was my birthday! Kulia came down stair to a new bike. She was so excited to ride it. She rode it around the house all morning. Then we had Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast...my specialty. Then we got ready and headed to Disneyland...Kulia's favorite place! Right when we got in we saw all the characters that she loves, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip. We spent about a half hour visiting with them and getting their autographs. She was in heaven. Next, we headed for the rides. It was her day and she got to chose every ride we went on. Kalena was a great trooper in going on the "little kid" rides. She wore a Happy Birthday button and everywhere we went people said Happy Birthday. They made her feel very special. She also received a $60 gift card to shop in the stores and chose the cutest Minnie Mouse suitecase and ears. She looked adorable. We spent about 5 hours at Disneyland and then headed for home. Then we went out for pizza, her choice. After pizza, we headed to Froster Freeze for some ice cream. She isn't much in to sweets, but loves soft serve vanilla ice cream. We all sang Happy Birthday to her before we took our licks. She loved it! It was a very good day for all of us! I absolutely love being home to spend the entire day with her for her birthday.

1st day off Track!

What a great day it was!! Kalena, Kulia, and I stayed in our PJ's until noon! We played games in the morning, we baked, we went for a walk (after changing out of our PJ's), went to school to deliver cookies, and cuddled on the couch! I wish everyday was this simple! I am so thankful I have a job that allows me to be home with them for a month, every three months. It was an amazing day!