The last post of 2008!

Christmas 2008 was a wonderfully busy holiday! It started out at home on Christmas Eve night. We went to the children's mass at our church and then came home to a delicious dinner served by my chef of a husband. Then Olivia and Joseph began to prepare for Santa's big arrival. First thing, of course, they placed baby Jesus in our manger (since it was his birthday), and then they set out a big plate of cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, oh and of course a big glass of milk. Then daddy and Olivia popped a some popcorn and watched a little t.v. Finally, Olivi and Joseph got nestled snug in their beds, for a long winter's nap, so visions of Minnie Mouse and rattles could dance in their heads.



On Christmas morning, Olivia and Joseph woke up at 6:30 in the morning ready for presents. They received a special thank you note from Santa for the cookies, carrots, and milk. Olivia absolutely LOVED opening presents. This year she opened her presents, along with Joseph's, mommy's, and daddy's. I think her favorite presents from Santa were her castle tent, her toolbox (she loves to help daddy with projects), her dance and twirl Little People castle with horse and carriage, and Barbie movies. She also got a lot of clothes, and she has been wanting to wear all of her new outfits.












Once all of the presents were opened and messes were cleaned up, we packed up the sleigh and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Heiple's house. As soon as we got there present unwrapping began. Once again Olivia opened her presents along with Joseph's and mommy's. Livi and Joseph got a lot of nice toys and clothes. The best gift they got was play time with their cousins Kolbe, Samuel, and Lukie. They were exhausted after watching and chasing after the boys! Then later in the evening Grandma and all of her grandchildren (except Joseph, he was napping) made Jesus a birthday cake. It has become a Christmas tradition, that may I add, Olivia loves (especially when she gets to lick the batter off the spoon)!



On Friday, we took a step back from Christmas and attended a funeral for Jason's grandmother "Grammy." Grammy was a wonderful woman who lived a very full life. About a week ago God took her home which was exactly where she wanted to be. This was the second grandma we lost this year. Grandma Tigue passed away this summer unexpectedly. Both grandmas loved their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. I am sorry to say that Joseph never had a chance to meet them in person, but grammy and grandma both had pictures of him and prayed like the dickens for him. May God bless grandma and grammy! It makes me feel better knowing that we have two very special guardian angels looking over us!



After the funeral services, we packed up the sleigh again and headed towards my mom's house. We were able to spend some time with my brother, mom, her boyfriend Jim, and my aunt and uncle. Livi and Joseph once again exhausted themselves playing with everyone, but they loved every minute of it. We opened presents in which Olivia kept circling around, opening everyone's presents for them. Eventually she got pooped out!




Finally on Saturday, we headed back home with our sleigh packed full of presents. We got home and unpacked just in time for Grandpa and Pattie to come down for a visit. We sat down to a nice turkey dinner and were able to visit for awhile. We were celebrating both grandpa's birthday and Christmas. After dinner, we opened (or should I say Olivia opened) our last Christmas presents for 2008. Olivia really enjoyed playing with grandpa and Pattie.


This Christmas the Heiple family has so much to be thankful for. Our two beautiful children and the miracles God worked with Joseph. Jason and I's strong marriage that has definitely had many challenges to overcome. Our family and friends who prayed for us, helped and supported us this year when we truly needed a helping hand. Not to mention our beautiful house and all that it holds and our jobs that help us support our family. God is good...God is great!

With this being the last blog for 2008, I will close by wishing all of you all the best in 2009! My God bless you and your families with good health, safe travels, and may all your prayers be answered!

Happy New Year!

The Heiples

The Spirit of Christmas

This week we have been busily getting ready for Christmas. No matter how hard we tried to get our shopping done early, we still had just 1-2 little things to finish up. I can officially say that all the shopping is done, every gift is wrapped and we are impatiently awaiting Jesus' birthday.


This week Olivia and I went downtown and participated in the Christmas walk. Olivia believe it or not revisited Santa and sat on his lap! She was VERY hesitant and had to hold mommy's hand, but she did it! It helped that Mrs. Claus was also sitting there rooting her on. Olivia also got to meet one of Santa's reindeer. Comet made an appearance at Santa's house and Olivia met him and shared some of her popcorn with him!
Olivia also got the opportunity to play out in the snow again. She really enjoys doing that this year. This time Olie and Bella got in on the action. They absolutely love to run and nose dive into the snow...in my opinion the lights are not all on upstairs if you know what I mean.


Keeping with the holiday spirit, we attempted to take Olivia and Joseph's picture under the Christmas tree. It became quite a circus when Joseph started throwing a fit and Olivia was being a stubborn 2 year old. Somehow, though, we got a decent picture.





The highlight of Olie and Bella's week was when they went to visit Santa Claus. We brought them to the groomer to get their holiday hairdo's and Santa was there visiting. They took a picture with him. Oliver is hilarious, he looks like he is smiling with his lower teeth showing. He was actually responding to Olivia and I bribing him with a treat if he sits still. Santa was pre-occupied with Bella, she was trying to wiggle free. Poor Santa, he's had his hands full with the Heiple bunch this year!





This was a pretty quiet week for Joseph. The only time he ventured out was for his doctor's appointment. We received excellent news, and so so news from Dr. Johnson. He said that he is amazed at Joseph's progress and said that we should be commended for his strives. Dr. Johnson said that Joseph is excelling far greater than he has seen other micro preemies. The so so news is that he still needs the oxygen at night, but he has made a lot of progress in this area too. We just don't want to push him too fast and make him regress. Joseph is now 15 lbs 6 oz. and 26 in. long. Everyday that goes by I am always in awe of God's miracles. Praise God for he is great!



I am happy to say that I am officially on winter break...AMEN! I have 14 days of relaxation, and I need every moment of it. My class is wonderful, but keeps me on my toes.

Well, I think that is all of the Heiple news for this week. I wish you all a blessed Christmas with your families, and all the best in 2009. Travel safe this holiday season!

God Bless,

The Heiples

A Peaceful Week

Joseph is 8 months old this week! What a strong, precious little man...we are SO blessed!



This week, I am happy to say, has been peacefully quiet. We have been able to slow down a bit and enjoy the holidays.


Starting off the week, Joseph received his next RSV shot, poor little man. I am happy to say that he is a little over 15lbs. now and the nurse said that he looks great. This week he has an appointment with his Pulmonary Specialist to see if he needs to continue oxygen at night. I am anxious to hear what Dr. Johnson has to say. Then on the 13th of January he goes back to the NICU for a bi-annual check-up to see how he is doing in regards to development and what we need to work harder on.

This week Joseph has been on the move. He has learned how to scoot on his back to get places. He is not very proficient at it, but he is working on it. The other morning he was playing on the floor and decided to scoot himself under our bed. He was playing peek-a-boo with us. He has also been working on sitting up. He is still pretty wobbly, but again, he is working on it! He and daddy had some male bonding time this week too.

The next highlight of the week was St. Nicholas Day. All of us sat our shoes outside our doors in hopes that St. Nicholas would come, and we woke up with ornaments in our shoes. Olivia was amazed! She received a Barbie princess ornament! Olivia and Joseph also received a Nativity set that they can share and play with. St. Nicholas was very generous to the Heiple family!

We ended our week with grandma Dressler's birthday celebration. Grandma, Jim, and Brittany came over and we had a nice dinner and then of course dessert. Olivia helped grandma blow out the candles, she felt she needed to practice for her birthday which is only a month away (I can't believe she is almost 3...where has the time gone?)

Traditions and Milestones

This week we didn't have a lot of extraccuricular activities but we did have some exciting events:

1. Topping the list at No. 1 was Joseph rolling over for the first time ever! We were in the living room wrapping presents and I decided to give him some tummy time. He started off by doing the airplane with his arms and legs and then he decided to start pushing down with his arms. All the sudden Joseph was on his back and no knew what to do or say. In fact he started crying because he shocked himself! All this week he has been rolling over left and right (literally)!

2. No. 2 on the list is Joseph's first bath sitting up like a big boy. He absolutely loves to play in the tub. He starts to get excited when you take his clothes off and just about leaps out of your arms when you start filling the tub with water. I decided to try and have him sit up so he can kick and splash. Although he enjoyed himself, he is not very proficient with sitting in his chair very well.

3. This weekend Olivia and I had the chance to make sugar cookies...yum!..and decorate them with icing and sprinkles...double yum! She loves to bake with mommy, especially when cookies are involved.

4. Olivia and Joseph went to see Santa Claus. I was really worried about bringing Joseph out to see Santa, but I didn't want him to miss the opportunity. So Jas and I took the risk and brought him and Olivia to see Santa Claus. Notice that daddy joined in on the picture...Olivia wouldn't have it any other way :)!

5. Olivia got to go out and play in the snow for the first time this winter. There really wasn't very much snow on the ground, but the moment she woke up and saw the snow, she had to go outside and play with it. She was so sweet...she said that now it was Christmas time because there was snow.

6. Joseph is still growing and eating us out of house and home. The other night I was feeding Joey and he began to get very angry with me because I wasn't giving it to him fast enough. He

decided to take the spoon and feed himself. He did a pretty good job. I would put the food on his spoon and he would put the spoon in his mouth....he is gaining quite a personality.

7. We were able to go out and buy gifts for the angel tree. Jason and I have made it a yearly tradition to help children/senior citizens who needed a nice Christmas. This year we took 4 angels (2 adults and 2 children) because Mom and Jim wanted to help with us. It was really nice explaining to Olivia that she was buying presents for people who were in need of help. She wasn't completely clear on why, but she did understand that the gifts she bought were not for her, but for another little girl. She helped me wrap the gifts and put bows on. In the process she put a bow on Joseph (I wonder who he's going to?)

Well these are the big milestones/traditions/events of the week. When I sit down to write these blogs every week I am always reminded of how blessed we are to have our two beautiful children who bring SO much joy in our lives. Praise God for all of his miracles!