Just like Trey

I will always remember when Emjae ate a doughnut at Monty and Kristen's. I'm pretty sure it was Kyle that said "Mom, she eats it just like Trey does."
Every time she eats a doughnut I always have to chuckle. I like to think that they are genetically alike, since they both are half Salanoa, and that's the reason why they eat their doughnuts the way they do.
No one try to tell me different :)

Baseball or Golf?

Saturday was a beautiful day!!! We were planning on going to the park and having lunch. We went to the store to get stuff for the picnic and for Sunday dinner. As we were just enjoying our stroll through Wally World we ended up going down the sports isle. Emjae saw a glove and bat and picked those things up and came to show us. The bat was a metal one so I was like NO, but we headed over to the kids toys and found a little Tee Ball set that came with two balls, a tee stand, and a bat. Of course we couldn't just have the yellow bat, so James found a pink bat. By the time we were ready to check out Julie had fallen asleep. Nap time would have to come before the park. We came home put the girls down and then James made the most amazing sandwiches ever!!!
The girls finally woke up and we headed to the park! Julie sat on a blanket and had fun playing with the small ball that came with the pink bat.

We had to show Emjae what you are suppose to do.

Then we let her try by herself

She was doing really good. Then we wanted to get a video of her playing so this is what happened.


Needless to say I think that a golf set will be our next investment :)

Julie's Mowgli Walk

Mom,
I told you about Julie and her Mowgli walk a long time ago and well I finally download my pics and video to the computer. So here it is!

Count Your Blessings

So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged; God is over all.

Count your many blessings; angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end. Count your blessings; Name them one by one. Count your blessings; See what God hath done.

If I were to spend a whole day counting my blessings I would still need more days to finish. I have been truly blessed...wait... let me rephrase that we have been truly blessed. There are so many things to be grateful for. But being grateful isn't the only thing that I need to be. Grateful is just an adjective and describes how I feel. I need to take it to the next level and expound on that by acknowledging God for his gratefulness. It is through him that I have been blessed and if I just say I am grateful for this and this and that, then it doesn't show my thanks and appreciation to God and his love, mercy and gifts that he has bestowed upon me.
Last Friday James called me with news. His company had anywhere between 200-300 people working for them and they cut the whole office down to 30 employees. James was one of the people that still had a job. There is so much uncertainty but as the lovely song "Count Your Blessing" states "Do not be discouraged God is over all."
I truly know this to be true. I can worry and fret and panic with the uncertainty of when the company will just dissolve and we will be with out a job and income, but there is no good that can come from it. I know I am doing what God wants me to do and that when I do what is required, God will not let me fall. Whatever happens will happen and it will be for my benefit.

What do you say?

Emjae goes through these little... I don't know what you would call them...maybe episodes? Well its kind of like the potty training thing were she will tell us sometimes and other times she wont. Now its with the word "Please." James seems to think it is because she will say "please" sometimes and we will tell her "no" that she just doesn't want to use the word "please" anymore. So I was finishing up my last blog and Emjae comes around the corner with her cup in her hand saying "what do you say? what do you say?" I can't help but chuckle. I look at her and she says "Milk, what do you say?"
I will say "what do you say?" when she asks for something with out using the word "please." So she knows what I am going to say because she didn't say the word "please" and yet when I say " you need to ask "Milk, please" or "Mom, milk please" she just looks up at me and gives me that smile and says "Milk?......Apple Juice?.....Milk?"
The joys of kids and their learning process.

Emjae's Doctor Appt.

Yesterday was a good day for us. We were able to finally have a doctor tell us a diagnoses and what the steps we will be taking are.
They diagnosed Emjae with Oligoarticular JIA. It's no longer called JRA, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, because it has nothing to do with Rheumatoid Arthritis which is seen in older people. JIA stands for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. The Juvenile is because she is a juvenile and the idiopathic is because they have yet to figure out the cause of the arthritis. 80-90 per 100,000 kids get arthritis and of that 50% get the type that Emjae has. It is very prevalent in females under the age of 6.
We were given a prescription of Naproxen to help control the inflammation. With too much inflammation the joint can start to grow at a much faster pace then the other joint which can cause a different in leg growth. Some of the side effects could cause some gastric discomfort. They will also do urine test once a year to make sure that it is not causing any damage to her liver or kidneys. If the Naproxen does not seem to be helping with her joint we will then have to go and get injections into her knee. But we will deal with that if and when it becomes necessary.
Emjae will be going to the doctors every two months to begin with and hopefully over time the length between visits will grow longer. She will continue to take the medicine until the Arthritis is no longer there, which has a 25% chance that she will grow out of it. On top of these doctor visits we will be visiting an Ophthalmologist every 3 months.
With the Oligoarticular JIA the blood work will usually show positive for Antinuclear antibodies. Emjae did test positive for this and as such is put at a high risk of developing Chronic Iridocyclitis. For short they call this Iritis which is inflammation of the eye. Children with other forms of JIA have a 5% chance of developing this. With the type Emjae has it jumps to a 20% chance. Now because she tested positive on the blood work it puts her into another higher risk category. The inflammation in the eye if left untreated can lead to blindness. If by the chance the arthritis goes away she is still considered a high risk for Iritis. There are no symptoms except for red eyes or pain and by then it may be too damaged. Hence the reason for the visits to the Ophthalmologist.
As far as us stopping her from doing to much activity or anything like that the doctor recommended us to not prohibit any. If Emjae's knee is bothering her she will stop herself and in fact they like to encourage physical activity to ensure that the muscles and joints are still being used and are functioning.
Some of the things that were told to us may seem scary, but the doctor seemed to think that Emjae would be one of the lucky ones that grows out of it because we caught it early and because it is only in one joint as of now. We were given some websites and reading information so we can learn more about it.

Potty Training

We have started to try and Potty Train Emjae. There has been moments of happiness and frustration. We started mid last month when we were in Vegas and it was going well until we got home. We got home and she didn't want to go any more. Then she started to use the big toilet instead. Now we are at a point where she tells us sometimes when she has to go and at other times when we ask her she will usually go. She says "no" all the time but that doesn't mean anything usually when she says it. We will ask her "do you need to go potty?" as she sits on the toilet. Her reply is "no" and then a few seconds later she is peeing. But ever since yesterday she has decided that when she needs to go she just takes her own diaper off and then comes to us. Well we had missionaries over last night and every so often she would be running out naked into the front room. One of the times James saw it first since he was in the kitchen cutting hair, but the second time she did it we were sitting at the table and one of the elders says "oh, she's naked again." O just couldn't help but laugh and say sorry.
Now if only she would learn you take your diaper off in the bathroom and to tell us every time. She understands it and she knows when she is going, she just doesn't always tell us. The Joys and Frustrations.