On Thursday, I took Kahlia to the doctor because she had a cold, and we saw her tugging on her right ear on Wednesday. Though she had no fever, and wasn't even fussy, we knew she had an ear infection, at least in her right ear. I was at the ESD office bright and early Thurs. morning ready to get Kahlia fitted for hearing aids. But, because she had an infection, he was not able to do the fitting. Pretty much, every time she gets a cold, she gets an ear infection. I'm just grateful she doesn't spike a fever, and doesn't even get fussy. The poor thing is probably so used to chronic pain, an ear infection hardly even bothers her!! Anyway, while at her appt., we had her weighed - she is now 20.1 lbs!!! :-) She is no longer in the teens for weight - yea!! :-) She was 16.1 lbs when we got her, so she has gained exactly 4 lbs - 20% of her weight!!! :-) I was SO surprised since her appetite has been almost nothing the past couple of weeks - she has been practically living on Pediasure drinks - so glad she likes those!!! That is an answer to prayer that somehow, even in the midst of not eating, she is gaining weight - as slight as it is - it is still a gain!! :-) We finished her Giardia medication yesterday - 14 days of antibiotics - we will wait 1 week, then retest her - I sure hope it's gone, or they will have to resort to some really heavy duty medication - which I don't want to have to do MORE antibiotics!!!!

The other big news of the family is Makenna getting her ears pierced yesterday - she was SO excited!! :-) We've gone 3 other times over the past 2 years, and she has chickened out every time. This time she conquered her fear and "just did it"!!! :-) I've always been of the thinking that I don't care when my girls get their ears pierced, as long as it is THEIR decision - that's why I never pierced their ears as babies - I just want it to be something that they want themselves - and she finally decided to face the fear and get it over with - immediately after it was done before I even paid, she whispered to me, "I wish I would have done that a long time ago!"...silly girl - fun times...

HUGE news in the Roberts house! Ok - not really big news - but pretty exciting stuff for all of us! Kahlia was in the middle of the kitchen floor - and managed to stand herself up with out holding onto anything!!! :-) She only stood for a couple of seconds before falling back down - but she totally got up all by herself!!! I could not believe it when I saw it. She's SO close to being able to walk -the stength is there in her legs - just not the balance. Very exciting stuff!! :-)

We are 8 days into our 14 days of antibiotics for Kahlia's Giardia. She has A LOT of diahrrea these days, and she seems to sleep a lot and not eat very much. We are looking forward to her being parasite free - for the first time in her life. I can't even imagine the havoc her little body has endured these past couple of years. Even so, she's doing great - can't really complain - she loves life and is genuinely happy - can't really ask for anything more!! :-)

We enjoyed Brendon's second basketball game tonight. He's really fun to watch - he's quite the little athlete!! He's quick on his feet, hustles great, dribbles the ball down the court awesome - now if we can just get those consistent baskets! His team won by 2 points tonight - made for a great game.

After wondering for weeks if Kahlia was truly parasite free, we finally retested her yesterday - after first testing positive last June for giardia - she tood strong medication for 7 days, but were told we could not retest for 6 months. Today, before hearing from her doctor, I got a call from the Coos County health department about a case of giardia in our home. So here we go - round 2 of medication - we are doubling the dose - going for 14 days instead of 7 - then retesting 1 week later. In some ways - it was good to hear that she had it - because it explains possibly why she has not been growing and gaining weight like I thought she should be. We need to get this parasite taken care of once and for all - so she can have EVERY chance to thrive!!!

Kahlia started swimming lessons on Monday - her first time ever in a pool - she LOVED it! :-) Makenna had already taught her to blow bubbles in the bathtub, but she had fun showing everyone her new skill! She wasn't at all afraid of the water, and enjoyed her time. She didn't use her legs as much as I would have liked her to, so we're working on that, hoping that will help with her core strength for walking!!

The kids are getting ready and happy to open presents on Christmas morning

our little Kahlia being held by Kahlia - whom we named our little girl! :-) This was the first time that Kahlia got to meet Kahlia - what fun! :-) I met Kahlia when she was going into the 4th grade when she was a camper in my group at Camp Tilikum. She has always held a special place in my heart, and has grown up to be a beautiful, smart, wonderful young lady. God has some amazing things in store for this young lady!!! :-)

All the kids at grandma and grandpa Brown's house before Christmas

The Christmas season - a time to remember what Christ has done for us - the blessings that we have received, and a time to give to those that we care about most...ahh - family time is the best! :-) We had a GREAT Christmas vacation - and the kids are still enjoying theirs. We spent 5 1/2 days at my parents house before Christmas, it was fun to spend time with my side of the family - and we took in 2 appts. for Kahlia at OHSU. The first was on Wednesday - Scott took Kahlia to a sedated hearing test. I stayed back with mom and the kids - it was Scott's first time to go by himself - and yes - he did just fine. :-) The results of Kahlia's hearing test - she has mild hearing loss - but the inner ear is just fine...she has large holes in her ears which is what has caused the loss of hearing, but they can't close the holes until she is much older for fear that her ears would "burst" with out the holes there for drainage. So - though the hearing loss is not serious - it's enough that they recommend hearing aids during her language formative years. It is important to give her every opportunity to learn speech correctly - she needs all the help she can get! Then, after she has learned to talk well, they will probably not be needed any more. She will be able to live "normal" with out the hearing aids. It's a bummer - but we're willing to do what ever it takes to give her every opportunity she needs to catch up!!! :-)

The next day, I took her to OHSU for a physical therapy evaluation. She will be having a full CDRC evaluation in March or April (Child Development Resource Center), but I wanted to get the ball rolling with Physical Therapy since she still is not walking! It went well, and they recommended both swimming lessons and tot gymnastic classes - excited to get started on these! :-) By looking at her - they know she will be walking - it's just a matter of when. She has A LOT of initiative - she REALLY wants to walk - she just can't. Often at home, she stands up on me and wants me to walk so she can walk holding on to me - she walks any chance she gets if someone will hold on to her. Time, Time, Time...It's hard to be patient when we all want her to walk so bad!! I have to admit though - when she starts walking - my life is going to be turned upside down. She has SO much energy!!

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family here at home. Scott's sister Trisha, her 3 kids Charlie, Samantha, and Alexandria, plus Scott's mom were here - everyone had a great time. Kahlia now knows how to open presents - she's learned a lot since her birthday in September! She had a wonderful 1st Christmas - even though age wise it would have been her third! She loves the lights, the tree, and tried opening ALL the presents! ;-)

It is now the end of December, and the kids STILL love and adore Kahlia as if she came last week. I love having the kids a little older then her - they all treat her like she's their little princess - I love them all SO much! :-) I am so grateful for each one of them. Brendon - the oldest, can do no wrong in the eyes of Kahlia. She adores her big brother SO much! I saw Brendon play football with her today - I'll let your imagination figure that one out, but he really was! Makenna is such a little mom. She takes care of Kahlia the most, and does such a good job. She is very responsible - making sure she stays out of trouble, and being careful that she doesn't put anything bad in her mouth - she really is a HUGE help to me. If I ask her to do something for her, she rarely complains - what a blessing! David is the little "big" brother. His favorite thing to do is literally scream in her face just to get a reaction. I think he enjoys finally having a younger sibling to completely annoy - grateful it's not him! In all seriousness though - he loves his little sister - constantly hugging her (often a little too hard I might add!).

So grateful for the family God has given Scott and me. God has an amazing way of giving us exactly what we need, even though we don't even know we do! :-)

Looking forward to 2011 - a year with hopefully a few less medical issues, and a little more dull moments. :-) It's been a tough year trying to keep my family intact, but as we enter into a new year, I am mindful of God's promise to us in Colossians 1:17 - "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Wow! That should be my theme verse!! :-) Thank you Jesus that YOU are in control - I wish all a Happy New Year!!!! :-)

6 days ago - we had Kahlia's post op appt., and we found out that her surgery did not take. The muscle tissue on the top of her mouth pulled back apart - almost making it worse then it was before. Monday ( the day we found out) was a tough day for me. After going through all that, knowing we have to go through it all again is SO discouraging! The surgeon said we will have to wait 6 months to a year before he will do the surgery again - probably closer to a year. Not only does she have to endure the pain of another surgery, but her speech will also be delayed now as well - even more then it already is! So, we are checking out more "Signing Times" DVD's and we are going to be more diligent about teaching her more sign language. What we have taught her, she has picked up quickly, so we all need to learn more so we can teach her more too! It's nice for little one's to be able to communicate before they are able to verbalize what they want to say! Some of the words she can already say in sign language are: drink, eat, please, more, thank you, ball, shoe, dog, and cat - that's about all we know - so we need to start learning ourselves!!

Putting it in perspective, her heart surgery went well - her Cardiologist is VERY pleased with her progress, and she has absolutely no restrictions from a Cardiac stand point! Between the two surgeries, I'm grateful tht her heart surgery went well - and her cleft palate is not life threatening...

Looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with our family - I'm very grateful for the blessings that we have, and we continue to take one day at a time. :-)

Family photo by the newly decorated Christmas tree! :-)

Scott and the kids along with cousin Samantha caught a 10 lb. salmon off our bridge today - they were SO SO excited!!! :-)

Kahlia is doing amazing - she truely is a role model for us all. Her ability to adapt to whatever comes her way really is inspiring. Though we medicated her quite heavily until today, she never seemed to be in pain, and she began crawling immediately with her "no-no's" on. Crawling with straight arms really is a sight to see! :-) She doesn't seem to really mind them except when she is in bed at night - she isn't able to move around freely, so she wakes up crying a few times at night until I go in and get her comfortably settled back down and she goes right back to sleep. She participated in her first ever decorating of the Christmas tree last night. She didn't actually put any ornaments on the tree, but she enjoyed taking the ornament boxes out of the bins, and seems to enjoy all the decorations and lights. :-)

Today, we finally saw that smile that we all love on Kahlia's face. It was brief in the hospital (when her medication was in full force), but I quickly got a few pictures before her fussiness once again resumed...The drive home was tough. She slept for the first part, but cried much of the second half - not fun for her or me!!

Despite her no no's, she is managing to still crawl around the house - amazing how kids adjust!!

Before we put her to bed, she came in to see her big brother in the dining room doing homework. Look at those eyes - Brendon can do no wrong!! He is PERFECT in her eyes! :-)

She says, "Look at me! I'm still cute, and I'm in a good mood! I'm full of heavy medications so life isn't so bad right now! I'm home, with my family, and I'm out of the hospital - yippee!! :-)