For the Love of Ivey

Oh-there is our 11 pound 8 ounce chunky monkey . Ivey weighed 10 pounds 1 ounce in October. She weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces in January. At the beginning of March she was back down to 10 pounds 1 ounce again. And now THIS!! One WHOLE pound in just a few weeks - She is one A.m.A.z.I.n.G baby girl!! +

Our little angel. She loves to rub her new tooth. She is learning to manipulate small objects with her thumb and index finger. Ivey loves playing with the little balls on her sun hat. p.s. this elastic does not snap back. Ivey has taught herself to feel her conformers between her thumb and index finger. This is about the time when she will pull her conformers out. What you see attached around her neck to the blue tubing is a heated trach collar, HTC . It supplies moisture to her trach . There is no oxygen involved. Another example of fine motors skills being developed at our house. However, if you were actually here, you might not call them 'fine'. Just move out of his way. That's Ivey in the background. She is in her carrier having a snack. The blue bag contains her feeding pump.

Walker loves to help with the suction machine - normally - they fight over who will turn it on Their little petite sweet pea - just look at their faces Sweet kisses Most people handle Ivey as if she were a fine piece of china. She is much tougher than she appears. Ivey loves her brothers.

Aunt Beth....and Ivey Ivey loves to touch faces. She especially loves mouthes and noses. One of Ivey's favorite things is her daddy's scruff (as Knox and Walker call it) on his face.

Finally.

The further we walk with Ivey through this life, the more vital I find segments of our journey. Most of which are not important to the general consensus, but primarily to parents similar to us, especially new parents, or parents wondering if some of their feelings are normal. This may appear to be focusing more on my own personal agenda or my husbands personal agenda being that this is Ivey's blog, but let's get real here, we are Her agenda. We go hand in hand. Even though our family and friends share and witness many of our moments, it is like we have a secret life that they never witness. -And we DO- Every so often someone gets a momentary glimpse or introduction into it, but that is all. There are areas that no one friend at this point can truly relate to. I have needed to hear testimony first hand that all would be okay - from someone I knew and trusted. Managing the responsibilities or knowing where to shelve the emotional realm of certain days has been part of our journ...

I am going to post this even though I am somewhat hesitant. I belong to a groups of parents whom have children with bilateral anophthalmia . It is a remarkable group, online, from across the world. The group is comprised of less than 100 members. Most of the time we post tidbits of what is going on in our children's lives, the good stuff, the fun stuff, but sometimes someone looses balance. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, being the parent can be hard-sometimes physically: however, nothing can compare to the mental toll it can take on your mind, even on the good days. At some point, we all wonder what happened in those first few weeks, what did we do to make our babies this way, where did we go wrong? There is no answer. And if there were, I do not think anyone should tell us. Sometimes the guilt of thinking I could have done this to her is suffocating. I can not imagine actually knowing. This is far from a blame game. The group is formed in privacy - so I can not ...

At one point early in the week all three babies were sitting in front of me in the family room. All four of us were in tears. Knox was vomiting and with a fever of 104. Ivey was coughing persistently which resulted in suctioning her every few minutes, all the while praying I was not the mediator between Knox's bug and her lungs. Poor Walker was left in dire need of much attention. All of which left me crying and trying to figure out how to clone myself, and fast. Still working on that one. That all said and done leaves only the good stuff. But before I tell you about the good, let me explain about a little obstacle I have run into. Scrapbooking . I do not do it. Not good at it. I have tried and failed. I use the pre -printed baby books you just fill in the blanks and tape in the pictures. It has worked very well with the boys thus far. It does not work well for Ivey . Her sweet book is mostly blank. It all comes down to milestones, mainly those 'first year' milestones. I c...

Ivey went to the pediatrician on Tuesday of last week. She has been as healthy as a horse for over a month, there has been no need to take her in to see the pediatrician. That is an amazing feat. During her last visit in January, she weighed 10.11 pounds. So, when we placed her on the scales on Tuesday, I hoping to see the number 11 pop up on the screen. Nope. A great big whopping 10.1 pounds popped up. Keep in mind that Ivey w eighed 10.1 the week of her lip surgery in October. Ivey did see her GI doctor on Thursday. When the doctor looked at her, he seemed to be somewhat pleased. He was very concerned about the drop in her weight, but thought she looked great. Ivey does look incredibly healthy and happy. She is growing, but only in length. We know that Ivey will be very petite; she is not expected to be on the small side of an average growth chart. Ivey has a growth chart all of her own and she always will. We are persistently tweaking with her formula and praying for results...

The Big Brother. After Ivey's lip surgery. The Lone Ranger with Silver. Always the Caretaker. Knox and Cappie. March 10th............................................. The day that life changed. It happened one week earlier than it was supposed to. I was a Teacher on Friday. I became a Mom on Monday. That was four years ago. It has been four years of wonders. Boys will be boys. Who ever had the great idea that things were gender neutral, well, they have not visited our house. They are different. Having a husband did not prepare me for life with boys, many things I thought my husband did to drive me crazy, well they just do instinctively. Anything can be turned into a lasso or gun. There was a two and half year old potty training declaring to me that he could stand. Never mind the fact he was too short for 'it' to reach the toilette. What do you do? Heed all warnings and use only designated toilets in our house. Life with my first boy has been a great adventure. Knox is our ...

So, one year is almost up. Whew! Before it ends, let's take a trip or two down memory lane. Running had finally taken its toll on us. Our feet became the problem. They hurt - our tendons were all out of whack. Lauren was the first to tell me that her feet ached, and bad. Thank goodness, I thought I would die if I took one more step. I immediately diagnosed myself with the same problem. I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to tell her my foot woos and to make sure I had diagnosed myself properly. Rarely, rarely, do I ever go to the doctor. There I was sitting in her office with her looking at my feet - brave woman. She said, "I think you are right, it is plantar something or other. You need to take an anti-inflammatory and stop running - for a few months. (Seriously?) Before I prescribe something, do you think you are pregnant?" "Are you kidding? NO . Who has time to make babies with two little boys running around all day? Who has the energy? Knox is two and Walk...