Best Christmas present ever!!!

It is Christmas Eve here in Salt Lake City and Catie has given us the best present ever. She is walking 100% on her own. She gets shaky and falls a bit more freuqently when she is tired, but gets back up and keeps going. When you pick her up to carry her to the car, or in a store, she immediately asks for whom ever is holding her to walk. What a wonderful time!!! her determination and love of life, no matter what has been given to her has really opened my eyes to show how blessed we truely are. It testitifes to me that there really is Jesus Christ, that he was born, that he loves each and everyone of us. It shows me to never give up on prayer, that Heavenly Father always listens to us and always blesses us. I hope everyone has the most wonderful Christmas!!! Love to all!

Welcome Baby Campbell #2

It is official!!! We are expecting our second little angel April 1st. No joke intended. As of today we are 16.5 weeks. I have been peeking the past few weeks to see if I could make out the sex early. I peeked yesterday in hopes to find out and surprise Barrie for his birthday today. The verdict is either it has mutated a third leg or it is a little boy!!! Barrie was excited.

And we're walking!!

Catie is finally doing it. For about 50% of the time she is walking on her own. We have stopped taking her walker to daycare and she isnt using it in the house. If we catch her trying to crawl, we ask her to stand up and come to us. And she does. She is doing great an getting more confident with every step. Our hopes are that by Christmas time, she will be walking everywhere. Go Catie!!

Neuro Update

We met with a neurologist on Friday, 7/17, while Catie had her appointments in the Spina Bifida clinic. He said we are kind of in the middle on what to do with Catie. He said he wasnt sure if the first seizure she had was a fever seizure or not. The second definitely was not. He was treating with medication was up to us at this point. If we did treat, then it would be a 2 year commitment with giving medications, which might have to be changed up. With the medications come various side effects. Barrie and I both decided that we will watch and track her seizures, meaning that we wont give medications now. If her seizures become more frequent, say every month/more than that, then we will start medications. But if she is having a seizure once every six months, or longer than we will just get her through them. Kind of scary when she has one, but I dont want to give her unneccessary medications that don't have the nicest side effects for just one or two seizures. So we will keep saying our prayers, make sure Catie is well rested, well hydrated, and stress-free - all things that help.

We'll be coming down the mountain....

This past weekend was so much fun. My baby brother turned 26 on Sunday and came out for his birthday with his girlfriend Shannon. We had a blast. Saturday evening, we went to Seven Peaks waterpark for a few hours. Catie LOVED the water. The wave pool was her favorite. We walk in and all she kept shreeking was "wawa, wawa!!" After the park we introduced Chris and Shannon to our favorite ice cream shoppe - Leatherby's. Sunday, we skipped church to keep playing. Chris and Shannon wanted to see the mountains and maybe do a little hiking. And we did both, with emphasis on " a little hiking". We went to Snowbird Ski resort and took the Arial tram up to the top on Hiden Peak which is 11,000 feet. We were told that we can hike a short distance down to a chair lift and take that back to the resort. Well, we got to the lift and looked down. I think I was the one with the bright idea that it doesn't look too steep to hike down. RIGHT!!! About 4 hours later, 3 falls for me, one for Shannon and an hour nap while hiking for Catie, we made it to the bottom. We were exhausted. Back at the resort, Chris and Shannon took a ride on the Zip line. Barrie, Catie and I went down the alpine slide. I was so sick from the sun and heat that we had to go home after that. I will post pics shortly. We would so do it again, but just take the tram up, then take the chair lift or tram back down. I can at least say I hiked in the mountains!

Sadness, Struggling, and Answers

This past week has been one long happy yet extremely devestating week. Last Thursday, Catie stood up on her own, in the middle of the room and on a few occasions, walked to me or Barrie. We are so proud of her! Then Saturday sent us on a whirl wind downhill. Saturday morning, we awoke to Catie having another seizure. She had one about 2 months ago when she had a high fever. Her doctor told us that she more than likely wont have another one because it was high fever related. Well, yeah. Saturday morning she just started seizing. It went on for 2-2 1/2 minutes. She was cool as can be, so we called the paramedics. She stopped seizing just before they got there. They checked her out, noticed that she did spike a fever after. We took her to Primary Children's hospital to have her checked out. Her urine and other testing for viruses/flu/ect all came back normal. Her pediatritian on call said for us to have a brain MRI and an EEG, then to see a Neurologist. The MRI and EEg will tell us if she is having fever related seizures which she would grow out of about the age of 5, or if there is in fact a problem to where she has a seizure disorder. Ok, so we went Tuesday am to have her MRI. She came out of the test fine, Barrie kissed her and went off to work. I was hanging out with her untul the anesthesia wore off then we could go home. The radiologist came to talk to me about her scan. He said that it was a good thing that we were sent in to get her tested as soon as we did. There were some brain abnormalities that were found some relating to her having seizures. He said that these seizures wont go away, and that the neurologist will discuss things with us about her being on medication. Next he said that her corpus calllosum, an area of the brain that helps sends messages back and forth to each side of the brain was abnormally small - that it probably didnt completely form when she was in-utero. This can cause lack of coordination (which she has), developemental delays (which she has), impaired vision (which she has), facial/head abnormalities (which she does a small bit - her eyes are wider apart - the upper limit of normal), and mental retardation (which thankfully she doesnt show any signs of ).
I am doing better with all this right now. We see the neurologist on Monday. We will know more. I am having my good moments and bad moments. At times I feel like what did I do wrong when I was pregnant or what should I have done differently? I know I am not the cause of any of this, but I feel this way at times. I look at my little princess and constatnly question why this has to be her, why doe sshe have to be given so much at such a tiny stage in her life.Is it going to stop for her. Will she be ok, will she ever be able to run and jump like other children. Will she excell in school, will she be able to be in a "normal" school if there is such a thing. I hate having people stare at me and be the center of attention. I dont want people doing that to her. Kids are mean.
PLease please dont get me wrong here. I am so in love with my little bug. I wouldnt trade her for anything in or out of this world. I would never trade her for a little on with out problems. I think I am the most luckiest person in the world to be blessed with Catie. She is the most amazing little one I think I have ever met.
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I had to take a few minutes away. I didnt want Catie seeing me cry. Ok, I am doing good now. The past few days, I have been really thinking about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have been feeling really close to Heavenly Father in the fact that my heart breaks thinking of Cate and all that she has gone through and what she will go through. I look at Jesus Christ and see only a glimps of what Heavenly Father must have felt to see his most beloved son go through all the pain, torture, sadness, loneliness that he did. To think that Jesus went though so much more than Catie, that he went through exactly what she is and will go though and that if he can do it she can too.

Happy 2nd Birthday Miss Catherine!!

Yesterday our little bug turned the big 2. We can't believe just how time has flown. The fun day started with special instruction therapy at 9, then off to Shopko to get new frames for Cate's glasses. Yes, they broke again. We then had lunch at Jason's Deli with Barrie. Cate took a nap. Yesterday evening we had a BBQ with some good friends. Catie and her BFF Millie tore it up with the sandbox that Barrie build for a birthday present. Here are some pics to show off the fun!!

Cute cousin Ashley and Tia MaricelaBFF Millie and her daddy

I made an "Itsy Bitsy Spider" cup cake.A Pyro just like her daddy - "oooooo"

MMMMMMMMMM, Like it!!MMMMMMMM, Love it!!!!
And the best picture yet....

Happy Birthday Miss Catherine Jane!!!!