Elizabeth is still resting a lot of the day, but she continually amazes me at how strong-willed she is. She is starting to talk a lot more about not knowing how much longer she can take the pain when she is feeling it badly. Those times are really really hard. But there are good times, too. Yesterday was Danny's second birthday. It was NOT easy. It is not a time for celebration, yet here we are. Elizabeth snuggled up on the couch and sang "happy birthday" with a smile. She demanded birthday cake and happily ate two bites before groaning saying that was enough cake for her.

We called the Pain Team at CHLA this morning and are thankful to find out that the dosing of methadone that she is on is extremely minimal, and that we have a lot of play with increasing the dose before we'd have to move on to IV pain meds. We are trying to stay away from that as long as Elizabeth's pain can be controlled without it because she would need a constant drip of Narcan 24/7 along with the dilaudid (pain med) to control the itching she experiences on it. That would inhibit mobility some, and we like to be able to move her wherever in the house she wants to go whenever she wants as quickly as we can. She has been enjoying bubble baths about every other day with me. We don our bathing suits and snuggle up in the warm water complete with bubbles and her favorite bath confetti. I'm her bath cushion.

Mattel has graciously agreed to let us borrow a pre-screening copy of Barbie Magic of the Rainbow (being released on DVD in March) so that Elizabeth can enjoy it now, seeing as she most likely won't make it to release date. Every new Barbie DVD brings about anxious waiting in our house, as Elizabeth counts down until it's available and we pray she gets to see anther release. This time is more poignant than the rest have been, by far. Elizabeth has a really special thing for rainbows and butterflies, making this story so totally her. I contacted Make-A-Wish and asked if they could use their connections with Mattel to get a copy for Elizabeth. I called them Monday. Today is Friday and we'll most likely be getting the copy today. The people there are so wonderful and happy to do this for Elizabeth. On our Make-A-Wish trip, on the plane on the way to Florida, we saw a couple of rainbows. It may be hard to make out, but I'm posting a picture of it. I'm just so grateful and overjoyed that she gets to enjoy it and won't have to miss Magic of the Rainbow.

Keep praying. Every day is a miracle. Every smile is priceless. I just want her to live.