So much to be grateful for!!!

Okay, I need to do some catch-up, but we've had a crazy couple of weeks and we have so much to be thankful for..

First, I took Hailey for her 9 month check up 2 1/2 weeks ago. She's a teeny little thing - not on the charts at all for height or weight. If you adjust for her prematurity, it puts her at 8th percentile for weight. She's 14 lbs. 7 oz. Anyway, they poked her toe for an iron check and the level came back surprisingly low. I don't think our pediatrician had ever had a read so low. It read 5.9. (The normal range low is around 11).

So, he immediately put her on iron drops and sent us to the hospital for a blood draw. The blood test there came back at 5.2. He referred us to a hematologist at Primary Children's Hospital, so we took her there. They drew her blood again (this is now a week after the well visit) and her level was starting to come up - like 6.3. Because she was responding to the iron drops, the hematologist was confident that her hemoglobin was so low due to iron deficiency and that was likely due to her prematurity. She'll be in iron drops for 6 months or so, but we are so grateful that it wasn't leukemia, bone marrow disease or a blood disease.

Second, last Monday, Lindsey, Hailey & I drove to Bountiful for an eye exam for me and then an indoor soccer game for Lindsey. It had snowed a little and the roads were okay as we drove up I-15. But then, we got to North Salt Lake and we started to see more and more cars off the side of the road. Anyway, at one point, I had to brake (as cars were braking because of someone off the road) and I had ZERO control of the van. It was sheer ice and I couldn't get any type of control. I was able to steer some and avoid hitting an SUV in front of me, but just kept sliding to the right until I hit the cement barrier. As we sat there for 1 minute, we saw another car do a 180 turn right in the middle of the freeway and thankfully was able to drive to the median to avoid other cars.

I didn't feel safe sitting on the side of the road, as cars and semi's passed with the potential to hit the same ice that I did. So, we drove on down the freeway. The low-tire pressure light came on and we just prayed that we would make it safe to the eye doctor. We did and amazingly, the only damage to the car was the rim of the front passenger tire. I could tell the tire was losing a little air, but it still had enough to drive to Lindsey's game. The steering wheel was really jerky, but thankfully, we made it home safe and got the van in the shop that night. A new rim and 4 new snow tires later, we are safe & sound. I am so, so grateful that we weren't hurt or that no one else was involved in our accident.

Third, I saw a mouse in our closet on Friday morning. Now, I HATE mice! It was awful. So, I went to Home Depot at 9 in the morning and got some new mouse traps and things to plug in that are supposed to send out an annoying sound that only they can hear. I set the traps myself and waited and waited for that dumb mouse to be caught. Finally, Sunday morning, I came downstairs and we found one caught in a trap. Jack was very brave in helping me dispose of it. I'm leaving traps out to see if we catch any more, but I consider it a huge blessing to have it caught!

Anyway, as always, we are so grateful for all of our blessings!