Braggin' Wagon Wednesday:Ivy Talks

Ivy's getting bigger everyday. She finally hit twenty pounds and is officially big enough for her car seat now. She also grew 2 inches in the last month and a half and is 30 inches tall. She's so cute and silly and a total joy to be around. Here's a little video of her saying a bunch of words. She's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

The Link

Braggin' Wagon Wednesday: Dare to Compare

Is it me or do I have the cutest kids EVER?! I know, I'm biased, but you can't deny their cuteness! Anyway, recently it dawned on me that Ivy is the exact same age Dexter was when Ivy was born. Can you imagine if I had another baby right now?! I can't! Whew, so far I've dodged that bullet! Anyway, this realization is weird to me because Ivy still seems like such a baby, whereas Dex didn't. By this age he'd already almost bit off his tongue by jumping off the coffee table. Ivy can't even jump yet, let alone climb up on the coffee table! So I thought I'd let you decide if Ivy still seems babyish compared to her brothers when they were her age. Since you don't see her everyday, and don't know her like I do, maybe you can be a better judge than I. Here goes, dare to compare.

Corbin - 2 months (I don't have digital newborn pics)

Dexy - Birth

Ivy - birth

Corbin - 6 months

Dex - 6 months

Ivy - 6 months

Corbin - 1 year

Dex - 1 year

Ivy - 1 year

Corbin - 19/20 months (ish)

Dexter - 19/20 months (ish)

Ivy - 19/20 months (ish)

What do you think? Baby or big girl?

Braggin' Wagon Wednesday: Meeting A Celebrity

Have you ever met a celebrity? Well, I have to brag that this past weekend Scott and I did! A celebrity right here in Boise, Idaho. Who'da thunk it?! This is a person who has been in the news a lot lately. He is the only good guy in a huge television scandal. He lost his job, but had an unbelievable following of supporters. He just got a new show on TBS. Are you on "Team Coco?"

That's right.......

Wait for it...........

Ladies and gentlemen........

It's Conan O'Brien!!

Admit it, I really had you going there for a second!

Braggin' Wagon Wednesday: Dancing Queen

First here's a little update on Ivy. She had her 18 month well check last week as well as her semi-annual echo cardiogram. She now weighs 19 lbs 12 oz (still under the 3rd percentile, but actually jumped up just a touch), and she is 28 1/2 inches tall. Her echo went okay, she was "sedated" with some medicine that was supposed to make her happy and agreeable so the doctor wouldn't have such a hard time getting a look at her heart with her fighting. It didn't work and she screamed and squirmed the whole time anyway. He still got a good enough look to tell us that everything looked exactly as he had expected. We were also able to take away one of her medications, so now she just has three. She is doing so well, and we are so proud of her progress.

In other news, Ivy has discovered some new skills the last couple of weeks. She can now walk backwards, march, spin in circles and dance. She's especially fond of spinning and dancing, so we constantly find her spinning all around the house, or booty dancing when any music is playing. She's so cute and funny. Here's some video of her doing those two things.

Braggin' Wagon Wednesday

Ivy is 17 months old today. We set a goal a few months ago when she finally started crawl/scooting that we wanted her to be walking by 18 months. We worked hard, practiced everyday. She would take 3 or 4 steps between me and Scott or the physical therapist, and was doing awesome. Well last week while my sister's family was visiting for spring break, she did it. She started walking on her own. She can actually stand up in the middle of the floor without help from anybody, and slowly make it to her destination. She falls a lot, and can't do it with shoes on, but the important thing is that she can do it. A full month before our goal date. She's a superstar.

Whenever Ivy hits a milestone it seems so amazing to me. Far more amazing than when her brothers hit those milestones. She's always late, but she has to work so hard to hit them that they seem like more of an accomplishment. I'm always so proud. (Not that I wasn't proud of the boys, but they all came without effort for them). When I think about how almost two years ago when we found out she would be born with some problems, and we didn't know if she would live, or if she did what kind of life she would have, it still makes me cry. I look at her cute little face and sweet personality and feel blessed everyday. She's a perfect little person with an imperfect little heart and lives everyday fighting for what comes easy to others. She is so amazing, and seeing her tiny, 3rd percentile little body finally walking around the living room has me in awe. You are a miracle Ivy and truly give me reason to brag. I'm grateful everyday that I get to be your mom. Love you babe, keep up the good work!

Your Mama Dresses You Funny

Look at you with your mismatched stripes and polka-dots. You're a mini fashion nightmare! What was your mother thinking? She should be ashamed of herself.

That being said.....You're still the most adorable little girl I've ever seen!

Getting Another Asterix By My Name

Don't you always have your kids' best interest in mind? Wouldn't you do whatever it takes to make sure they are happy, healthy, and thriving? I know I would, and apparently, I do. As everyone knows when Ivy was hospitalized in July and her surgery was cancelled, I was.....peeved, to say the least! I fought with the doctors and tried to force them into admitting their mistakes, and in the process, didn't make very many friends. When we went back in October for the rescheduled surgery, I was going to make sure we weren't screwed again, and I put up a fight when a certain doctor wanted to do something I considered unnecessary. (Dr. Jerkface, in case you don't recall). Pretty soon Dr. Jerkface refused to work with us and the other cardiologists made sure that we were happy. They were basically walking on eggshells. I'm pretty sure there was a big fat asterix next to my name in Ivy's medical records telling the docs "Mom is a fire that needs putting out, and try not to make her angry again!" Which is fine, because I never have to see that doctor again, Ivy got the treatment she needed, and Scott and I got the respect we deserved for being her parents.

Well, I think I got another asterix today. This time at the pharmacy. I've been going to this pharmacy since first bringing Ivy home from the hospital 13 months ago. We have to since Ivy's main medication normally comes in a pill form, its hard to come by in a liquid. We can only get it at a hospital pharmacy. Anyway, you'd think that by now, they could get it right. We had a lot of problems right at first because Ivy is required to be on Amoxicillian (an antibiotic) all the time since she doesn't have a spleen and can't fight infection on her own. It's a very long story that involved a lot of wasted medicine and me getting angry because they just didn't understand that she needed it all the time. It took them at least 6 months before they figured it out! It was so annoying. Once they got that under control we were good for about 3 months. Then Ivy's dosage for her most important medicine, enalapril (a heart medicine)was changed so that it was more than doubled. I called them, informed them of the change, the doctors office faxed over the new prescription, and they proceeded to fill it for the old amount. I immediately told them at the pick up window that it was wrong, and they told me to come back in a few days and they'd give me the rest so it would last the whole month. To make a very long story short, this was the beginning of an avalanche of miscommunication and under-filled prescriptions. It was so FRUSTRATING! So after having to go back to the pharmacy 3 times in 3 weeks in January, I've had enough! Last night night I ran out of the enalapril a full week early, I didn't even have enough for her regular dose. I was fuming mad, and called the pharmacy right then and left them a 5 minute long angry message. (I basically told them if anything happened to her for not getting her regular dose, I would hold them responsible) Today the pharmacy opened at 8:30, and they called me at 8:30 on the dot, to tell me that Ivy's refills were ready and that they double and triple checked to make sure I recieved a full 30 day supply. They were overly nice at the pick up window, and named off everything as they put it in the bag. Needless to say, seems like I got a new asterix. I don't care, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure its done right. I think making sure a life saving medicine is correct is pretty darn important, and if I have to step on some toes to get it done, I will!