Ivy's heart update/living the next 2 wks in fear

Ivy's heart update:

Ivy had an appointment with her cardiologist, the fantastically quirky Dr. Womack today. He said that our little Ives is doing magnificently. He specifically called her an adorable pistol. Her sats are in the normal range (for her) at around 77 percent, and pretty much nothing else has changed. Dr. Womack couldn't believe how big she is now, and just gushed over her cuteness (as most people do). No need for an echo for another 6 months. We're so happy for our healthy little firecracker!

Living in fear:

Being pregnant at Dr. Womack's office brought back memories of June 2008 when we first met him so that he could confirm the regular doctors suspicion of Ivy's heart defect. I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time, and it was a truly awful day. Today I am about 16 1/2 weeks along, and living in fear of history repeating itself. Unless you have had a baby born with any sort of health issues you can't know the feelings that I go through. My number one fear is that I caused Ivy's heart defect, and that it can happen again. Every doctor assures me that it was nothing I did, but they also cannot give a clear-cut answer of what did cause it, and so I live with the fear that it could have been me. What if I did something wrong. I was not always consistent with taking my prenatal vitamins, and I drank caffeine. Also, I have always known that taking advil/motrin while pregnant is a big no-no, and therefore have been very careful to avoid them. But when Ivy was about 6 months old I learned that taking them while pregnant can cause heart defects, and I began to doubt myself. What if I took some before I knew I was pregnant, or took some by mistake? Its a horrible feeling to have this guilt, but its there, and I can't help it. This time around I've been more careful, avoiding caffeine, taking my prenatals EVERY SINGLE DAY, getting lots of exercise and plenty of rest, eating better and of course, sticking with tylenol. I have an appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine two days after Christmas to have a thorough ultrasound to check the baby's heart and other organs to make sure everything is developing correctly, and until that day, I fear for this baby. I pray that Heavenly Father won't let it happen again. I pray that I don't have to watch another baby go through countless surgeries and pain in order to live a somewhat normal life, but I am still afraid. I don't know how I'm going to make it through these next two weeks.

can I just say....

My kids are freakin' adorable!

Corbin likes to wear mom's winter boots with his jammies (or any other time. For some reason these boots are quite the coveted item in our house).

Dex sleeping in his jessie hat and moon boots (and this isn't the only time its happened! I could have posted pictures of the exact same situation but on a different day).

Ivy loves her tights. She always wants to wear them. She's such a girlie-girl (which is weird for me since I'm not). But can you blame her for wanting to wear them? They are CUTE. I wish I had some too!

Still a Miracle at Two

Ivy turned two yesterday! Can you believe it? I can barely wrap may brain around the fact that it has been two whole years since that adorable little girl came into our lives. She has brought so many blessings to our family and so much joy. She makes us so happy every single day that I can't even tell you about it without sounding like the cheesiest cheese-ball on the the face of the planet (too late right?). She's so cute and happy and wonderful that its unfathomable. I swear that she is the happiest person I know, even though she's got more reasons not to be than most of us. I can't imagine my life without her, it would be incomplete. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father let her stay with us this long, and pray everyday that she can stay longer. I love her so much.

Here's a somewhat related funny story: The other night I started to watch the videos we took from the day Ivy was born, which included labor, delivery, her first echo-cardiogram, all her IV's and wires, her life-flight transport from one hospital to the other, me holding her for the first time, and Scott holding her for the first time. In case you were wondering, yes, I cried, I always cry. Anyway, that is beside the point. Corbin watched these videos with me and as a direct result the questions about where babies come from started flying from his mouth. Not that he's never asked before, but I've always gotten away with being very vague. Not this time. I had to answer these questions (without assistance from his father) in great detail. He wouldn't accept vague answers, he wanted DETAILS! To the point where he asked if he could see where they stitched up my episiotomy (no he didn't use that word, but that's what he meant!) Of course, the answer to that was NO. It was crazy, because he really seemed like he was grasping what I was saying, because he asked some pretty intelligent questions (maybe he'll be a doctor. Fingers crossed), but I was still cringing on the inside. The whole conversation was quite traumatizing for me, and probably him too! It makes me wonder about other families. So riddle me this readers: How old were your kids when they first asked? and What did you say? I am already having nightmares about when Dex starts asking. Ivy I can handle, she's a girl, somehow I think that makes it easier, but the boys......I don't want to tell them! It scares the crap out of me!

Anyway, back to Ives. Scott made this amazing video to chronicle her second year of life, so watch it and enjoy, and if you've got time, take a look back at her birth video and her one year old video. They are wonderful! Scott's so awesome!

Ivy's 2nd Birthday

Ivy's 1st Birthday

Ivy's Birth Video

Braggin' Wagon Wednesday: Bye Bye Bottle

Ivy was never breast-fed. As a heart baby, the doctors felt her heart was too weak to put so much effort into eating. She was fed through a tube in her nose for the first 5 weeks of her life. On week 5 they decided to try feeding her with a bottle. It was a struggle for a long time, and she still had to have the feeding tube for a few months after coming home from the hospital. Eventually, she learned to love her bottle, and loved to eat. She became pretty attached to the bottle. This is something I hadn't experienced with the boys since they were breastfed and weaned straight to a sippy-cup. I used the bottle to give her all of her medications, by adding them to milk, then she'd drink it, thus getting her meds without any problems. Ivy is now 22 months old, and in my eyes, WAY too old for a bottle. I've been thinking about this for a while, but didn't have the determination to go through sleepless nights and forcing Ivy to take the meds like a regular person. Last week I decided now is the time. I put all her bottles away, got out Dexy's old sippy-cups, and cut her off. That day I gave her the meds like I should have been giving them to her all along, and she took them without fighting or crying. I put her down for a nap without a bottle (this is the part I was most nervous about), she slept. That night we gave her the night meds normally as well (with a little fighting), and laid her down for bedtime. She cried. For a long time. We held strong. Finally she slept.

Its been 5 days now, and she is doing great. She takes her meds twice a day without crying or fighting, and she goes to sleep at naps and bedtime with minimal protests and crying. What a superstar. Our little girl is growing up!

Here she is sleeping in her crib/toddler bed without the aid of a bottle. Yay!

Sunday Afternoon

Today was such a beautiful day. After church and naps we decided it would be fun to go walk around the Boise Temple grounds. It was HOT, but the kids loved it. They especially liked the fountain, and the hills to roll down. That may be against the rules, but no one else was there and its not like they hurt anything. Here are some pics of us enjoying ourselves.

Dex was in a running mood, this is just one of 3 pictures with him running away right when I click the button!

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?