Milestones

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 can draw, write, create, you name it, but the corner of my brain for fashioning a scrapbook just is not there. It seems that scapbooking is a lot like decorating, color schemes and coordinating apply, and I fall in the shallow end there. I need some guidance here and a stroke of creativity.

Ivey has her own little set of unique and miraculous milestones. Just yesterday, she found her toes. Huge moment for her! There are many other moments -milestones- for Ivey. For example, the day she first clasped her hands together. That small task to most told us the two lobes of her brain were working together. Remember the doctors were not sure her corpus collosum was there and if it was, was it working? Hearing her cardiologist tell us that eventhough she has a heart deformity, it works fine is a milestone. How about determining that she could hear? Just letting us touch her face hit a mile marker. She had such a tremendous aversion to touch in the beginning. The first time Ivey tried to sit and to stand are milestones that tell us many tidbits of information about her that many doctors were uncertain. She can not sit on her own or stand, but she has great potential and determination. Her first smile was a God sent milestone. It finally let us know she was happy and that she could show emotions. And how could we leave out her exploring with her hands? The first day she reached out to touch my face was definitely a milestone. I could go on and on and on..... Ivey has a long list of first year milestones that need their own little space documenting their time and place in history. So if you have any good ideas, please, please send them this way.

Gwen.