For the Love of Ivey

Key words here: Kitchen counter Ivey Trash Can Garbage Matt Rubber Gloves Oh yeah, Two Green Eyes Yep, haven't actually worn her eyes in months. But last night we put them in because the lashes of one eye are turning under. Imagine that we took them out, set them on the counter wrapped in a paper towel and they were thrown away. So Matt got to work with rubber gloves and found them in the trash ----Now they are getting a good wash. That's right, we clean them in denture cleaner!!!! Effervescece does the trick!! Bet you didn't know that!

Tea Party at the church preschool - For clarification, Ivey will go to the church preschool and to big school during the week. It will only be for a few hours at both places, but she is ready for something bigger than me and home. The beach with daddy - after pneumonia had passed. I loved the ocean! First day of school at 'big' school with my teachers About to start my first day of 'big' school. Making sure my hair looks pretty and all my curls are in place. The ride to 'big' school. Not a care in the world. Can you see my cute new shorts? Walker flying his kite at the beach. Brooke - My new God sister - The only one missing here is Walker. He actually wanted to go to bed -exhausted. This many kiddos is the result of only four families. Can you say exponential growth? Knox at the beach. No idea what he is doing. Jumbled randomness of the last few week. Enjoy your last few days of summer - we plan to.

On the next to the last day at the beach, Ivey finally made it down to the ocean. She loved it and I have some great pictures to post if I can ever get my laptop working. But that isn't what this post is about, not this time. Of course it centers around Ivey , but this is more about the bridges that we build to secure people in Ivey's life. While I was pushing Ivey in her stroller from the beach to the pool, another family followed behind us. The little girl with the family, who looked to be around three, walked beside Ivey while her mom was behind me. Since Ivey had been sick and not at the pool all week, the family had not met Ivey ; they had met both of the boys. The little girl never looked up to see where she was going. She stared intently into the stroller at Ivey . It is a stare that Ivey gets almost everyday of her life from toddlers. It is not a rude stare, more a curious stare. A stare that really says, "I know she is like me, but something is different that...

Ivey is three with no sign of liking shoes. She doesn't normally protest while they are on, but she manages to maneuver out of them pretty quickly. Maybe we are on to something here. Gwen

In the news a Burger King in Missouri asked a mom to leave the restaurant because her 6 month old daughter was not wearing shoes, which happens to be a health code violation. Okay - even for a non-walking 6 month old? Her feet were probably cleaner than her hands - or the employees hands for that matter. Apparently, Burger King assessed the situation and said that maybe the worker at the store took the 'no shoes' policy too far. The family was invited back for the royal treatment. Okay- Around here Ivey hardly ever wears shoes. She hates them, even in the dead of winter. She is a little maverick who can escape any pair of shoes, no matter how tight they are fastened or double knotted they are. Ivey does wear AFO's but our time in them is not what our PT would ask for. For Ivey her feet are like her hands which act as her eyes. They let her 'see' her surrounding environment. I have never really had a problem with Ivey's 'no shoes' policy, except for...

A couple of years ago, while Ivey was only a few months old, we decided to still take our summer vacation. Live life anyways no matter what the docs suggested we do - which was to not leave the state - especially the northwest part of the state since it was closest to the hospital. Instead we decided to try to voyage to St. George's Island. We made arrangements, put deposits down, yada , yada , yada . However, by sheer happenstance we also had to visit the neurologist the week before departure only to have him lower the hammer on us. Simply stated, he said "NO - you can not go there". If we were leaving the state we had to at least humor him and stay within a hub with a particular hospital within drive time. So, the brakes were slammed on, reservations canceled and we made impromptu plans for the area around Destin , Fla. - specifically Santa Rosa. Nice , Quiet , and required hospital. For two years we traveled to the same place - never needed that hospital. Go figure ...