Our past month...

February has not been the nicest to us. Two weeks ago I got really sick, 48 hours of pure misery. About 24 hours after I got sick, Matt got sick with the same virus. Joseph ended up coming down with it about 24 hours after that. I was lucky enough to only be down with this intestinal virus for 2 days, however, the boys were not so lucky. By about Saturday (the 12th) everyone seemed to be doing better, less trips to the bathroom (or diaper changes in Joseph's case), but Matt and I thought it would be best to cancel our Valentine's Day plans. By Sunday we were all doing better that we were about to enjoy Joseph's birthday party. I'll post pictures at the end. However, Matt started feeling pretty bad on Wednesday(the 16th) and got progressively worse everyday. By Thursday night I was about ready to take him to the ER, but his doctor thought we could wait until morning. Friday was also pretty bad, I thought about taking him in again, but once again the doctor didn't think it was necessary. By Friday night he was really bad that the doctor said if he doesn't improve in an hour we need to take him to the Emergency Room. He started feeling better about a half hour later so we once again avoided the ER. In spite of all my cleaning, Joseph came down with the same thing about 2 a.m. Saturday morning and is still sick with it. So once again we had to cancel our rescheduled Valentine's Day plans. Matt is finally is better enough to go back to school today. Hopefully he won't push it too fast too soon, but he is so behind. Whoever was nice enough to give this to my family needs to be beaten with a stick!

On a happier note, here are some pictures of the one fun thing we have done this month, Joseph's birthday party!


Joseph's birthday cake



Taking a big bite

His awesome birthday mustach

Everyone else's cake

Opening presents

His new horsey

Playing with Uncle Mitch

Playing with Cousin Tessa

Blizzard of 2011

We had quite the snow storm last night. Once Matt got home we were able to buckle down and enjoy the storm. When we woke up this morning we were completely snowed in... unless we wanted to walk through thigh high snow. Maintainence finally dug us out about 2:00 in the afternoon to which we immediately undug our car. Joseph enjoyed the snow, well he enjoyed eating the snow. Here are some pictures :)



This is what we found when we opened our front door this morning.



Our back porch



Our bikes were buried all the way up to the seats. Its ok we weren't planning on biking any time soon anyways.



The gazebo



This is our car. Its hard to see but the snow drift is about as high as our car.

Christmas and New Years

We have had a very busy month. Matt did survive his first set of law school finals. Within 12 hours of his last final we were boarding our flight to California to spend Christmas with Matt's family. Joseph was an angel on the airplane. However, he did have harder time in the 2 hour car ride up to Bakersfield. It was great to see all of Matt's siblings. We couldn't believe how big Chloe and Hudson are getting. Adjusting Joseph to the 2 hour time change was an experience I wouldn't care to repeat, but overall he did pretty good. Christmas morning Joseph had quite a large pile of presents. He didn't quite grasp the unwrapping concept, and was even more confused when he couldn't pull the toys out of their boxes (dumb twisty tie things). Coming home was 5 times harder then going out. First we had an accident in LA making us late to the airport, we had some of our Christmas money stolen at LAX, Joseph struggled on the plane and couldn't get up to walk due to turbulences, and the tubulences were making me sick. Sounds fun right? However, we made it home!!!! Joseph was thrilled to sleep in his own bed (as were we). We spent a wonderful 2 days with my family for New Years. I got to see my sisters and play games with my family. Some every exciting news is the Joseph walked!! He took 4 steps so we are counting it!!! Now we have 2 weeks before Matt disappears back into law school. So much to do... so little time!

Normal Liver Enzymes!

We are happy people here in the Divelbiss household. For the first time in Joseph's life his liver enzymes are normal!!!! For those who aren't quite sure what that means... it means that there is not currently a problem. The only way to know if his liver problems caused any permanent damage is to do another biopsy. We don't know if he will have any problems later in life... but I can assume he will always have a weaker liver. I have to repeat the test when we get back from Bakersfield to make sure they are still normal. However, this is the most encouraging news we have had... ever. We are now trying to play catch-up in the eating department. Joseph is a baby of habit and so he doesn't know what to do with mommy changing his food choices. We have already extended his menu from 5 foods to 7 :-D

Anyways I always have to post pictures so here ya go!

Good News

Well we finally received the test results after 10 weeks of waiting. Joseph tested negative!! We are both so relieved!! I have to go and get his blood work done again and check his liver enzyme levels just to make sure they are back to normal, (His last test had them still slightly elevated) and then I can start giving him some foods with fructose in it. We still have to keep a close eye on him and test his blood again in a month. However, the doctor is hopeful that his liver will fully recover, and he shouldn't have too many complications. Thank you to everyone who has kept us in your prayers.

First Snow

This is Joseph's first experience to snow.

November Updates

It has been a good month :-D The only thing that would have made it better would have been to get Joseph's test results. We are supposed to have his fructosemia results by the first of December. Matt is doing good in school. He is extremely busy as he prepares for finals. Last week I had a walk down memory lane when I took Matt to see my high school's Fall Follies. It made me miss swing choir and acapella a lot. The concept of high school choirs singing and dancing is a foreign concept to Matt and he was intrigued. We had a good night.
Thanksgiving was wonderful. I have not had Thanksgiving at with my parents in 6 years! We spent most of the day with them and were greatly satisfied with our turkey goodness. Joseph had his first solid foods for dinner... an overcooked potato, cut up green beans, and peas. He made the best faces :)
My parents gave us our Christmas present early, tickets to Lion King!!! We are going tomorrow and we are very excited!! One of the great things about living in Chicago is all the broadway musicals that perform here, because lets face it... not many stop in Salt Lake City haha.
Other than that not too much is going on. Starting next week Matt finishes up his classes and heads into finals. His last final is the 20th and we leave for Bakersfield on the 21st. We are really looking forward to our Christmas break and spending Christmas with our family in California and New Years with my parents and my sisters.

And of course I have to post a picture of Joseph... so here he is being a platypus.