♡ We're back... Doernbecher's...

We're back! I'm so tired from all the driving but it was so much fun! It was fun to have some one on one time with Eliza. She thrives on the attention and was SOOO good. Usually she is pretty high strung and she still showed a tiny bit of that but nothing compared to her usual at home stuff.

Olivia was really really mad at me for leaving. I gave Lane & Emma hugs and kisses before I left and I hugged Olivia which she wasn't thrilled about. Ever since the kids were babies we've done a little I love you sign with our hands and then the kids would do the same and we'd grab hands. We call it Pinky Pee. It's from a little rhyme things that Jeanne taught the kids when she lived with us. Anyway I went to do that with Liv and she hit my hand away and freaked out. Yeah pretty dang mad! Then that night Joe said that Olivia wouldn't even let him put her to bed. The only way he could get her to bed was by having Emma take her. She is so stubborn.

I had to run by Walmart really quick before we left town and as we were driving away from the house Eliza says, "I miss daddy!" All of 10 seconds! Then about 2 hours from home Eliza says, "I miss my brodder (brother) and sisters!" It's amazing how they can fight all day long but the second they're away they miss each other!

Eliza gets car sick and there is a part on the freeway a long part probably 45 minutes worth of cruddy bumpy bouncy road. She said that her head was hurting and she thought she was gong to puke. Yeah she finally did. Luckily I had a walmart bag next to her. However there was a little whole in it. 2nd lucky thing there was another one next to her to put under it! 3rd we were just getting off the freeway and were at a stop light when it hit. So I was able to help and she didn't get any on the car! WHEW!!! Nothing worse than having to sit in a car that smells like puke! Eliza stayed awake the whole trip until about 1/2 hour from Portland. Then she was gone. I'm sure from getting sick! But it was a nice little break!

We finally got to Doernbecher's!

We had to wait pretty long. Eliza was bored and the receptionist lady gave her this to play with!

She played...

She checked out the OHSU Sky Tram! I thought you'd like this picture Judy! Fond memories!

This is the waiting area! NO BODY THERE!!! So can you tell me why we had to wait for an extra 1/2 hour! Our appointment was at 1:45 we didn't get in there until 2:15. We got there at 1:30 and went straight over to the x-ray department and they took an x-ray of Eliza's hand. Which took all of 5 minutes! In and out! Eliza even sat there by the big old table ALL BY HERSELF!!! She did great. The tech was really nice and he gave Eliza a bunch of stickers which helped keep her occupied while we waited!

more playing... See this guy on the left hand side. He sat there for who knows how long. It's his job to help with craft stuff for the kids that are waiting for appointments. He looked SO bored and he looked ready to fall asleep. Like I said NO BODY there!

We were up on the 7th floor and this is looking down from the window!

We finally got in to see the doctor and he did his exam and then compared the x-ray with the one from last year well 18 months ago or so. Eliza's bone age is at 6 years old. So she is growing pretty fast. Which is typical for the problems that she has. He said that he wants the keep an eye on it very closely to make sure everything is staying on track. If she starts to grow even faster then they might need to increase her meds. If she grows to fast it can stunt her growth as an adult. He said that right now the way she is growing she would end up being around 5'4" - 5'6" and since I'm 5'10" and Joe is 6'0" they would estimate her height at 5'8"ish. So right now she won't be as tall as they think she probably should be. One way to fix that would be to keep her on the drugs that she's taking now until she's 12 or maybe even 13. The drugs keep her from going through puberty and by keeping her on the drugs longer it would give her a better chance at being a little bit taller. This describes it much better than what I could even type so...

How Does Precocious Puberty Affect a Child?
When puberty ends, growth in height stops. Because their skeletons mature and bone growth stops at an earlier age than normal, kids with precocious puberty usually don't achieve their full adult height potential. Their early growth spurt may make them initially tall when compared with their peers, but they may stop growing too soon and end up at a shorter height than they would have otherwise.

Which is exactly what Eliza is doing right now. She's very tall at least 3 or 4 inches taller than Lane. She's even an inch or 2 taller than Emma was at that age.

The Doctor also said that he'd like to keep seeing us every 6 months so I told him we were moving to Montana and it turns out that there are NO endocrinologist's in MONTANA!! NONE!!! ZILCH!!!! The closest children's hospital is Salt Lake City, Denver CO or of course Portland, Seattle or one of the Dakotas. He said that he has a colleague that does a clinic twice a year in Montana but he can't remember what city that is in. The Dr that we have now does a clinic himself twice a year as well but in Alaska. SOOOO it looks like we're going to be making even LONGER trips now! Other than that she's doing great! Perfectly healthy in every other way. So that was great to hear!

I finally got out of there at 3:00. This is a picture of the Portland Temple as we were driving by. It was pretty backed up traffic so we were stopped just long enough to snap a picture.

Pretty packed! At least on our side of the road. One good thing about living in a dinky town! NO TRAFFIC! We get 10 cars lined up and Emma will say, "Look at this traffic, man!" :)

Eliza crashed as soon as we left Portland. She stayed asleep until about 5 minutes from my sisters. Then she woke up with a kink in her neck. She was crying for daddy!

Eliza helping Gayle take the dogs out for a little walk! Liza was in HEAVEN!!!

BIG TIME HEAVEN!!!

Yesterday evening we went to Dinner a the Olive Garden! YUMM-O!!! My favorite restaurant EVER!!! Nothing compares in my book! Of course I love Italian anyway! Then we took Steve home... We didn't figure he'd want to go shopping with us! The headed over to Lane Bryant and used some great coupons. I got 20 bucks off my bill and Gayle saved 25 bucks!!! It was so much fun shopping for clothes! Usually I hate it but it's fun when you can go with someone! Especially when that someone is a SISTER!!!

EVEN BIGGER HEAVEN!!! :)

Poor Taffy will never be the same again! Gayle posted some cute funny pictures too, HERE! Poor little Taffy!!!

Thanks Gayle & Steve for letting us crash with you! Thanks Lizzy & Taffy for putting up with Eliza's pestering!!! :)

We left this morning and on the way home we stopped at Multnomah Falls. I've never been there just looked as we've driven by on the freeway! It's so beautiful. This is what it looks like from the freeway.

This is what it looks like close up! It's beautiful! We didn't hike up to the upper bridge. We were in flip flops but that would have been really cool.

Eliza thought it was really great! She didn't want to leave. It was so nice and cool by the falls too. So nice compared to the 95-100 degrees away from them.

Liza got a bk crown from the way up to Portland but on the way home she thought it was cool to pull her piggy tails over the top. She said she had doggy ears.

Eliza fell asleep again when she started feeling sick. Then woke up and was okay for a little while but started getting that feeling again so I told her to go back to sleep and she did! It helped out so much! No more puking! yay... :)

We got home at 2:45 and then had a bunch of friends show up for a BBQ that Joe planned. Joe did his BBQ brisket! It was REALLY good! I don't think Tyson will need to eat again for a week! In fact I think he waddled out the door! :) Glen made his baked beans and then had Joe smoke them on the BBQ. Summer made her fruit pizza. They were both great! Tyson & Shannon brought chips and soda. Scott brought a brisket over, we still have one whole brisket left. Brisket sandwiches for tomorrow yummy! I cheated and made rolls late Thursday night. Thanks everyone for coming and bringing such great stuff! It was fun to just relax and visit!