Ivy Firsts

Ivy is growing up right before our very eyes! In the last few weeks she has had a couple firsts that we wanted to share.

We are so excited that she finally has a tooth! It only took 10 1/2 months to grow! It's a little strange for her to get teeth so late since her big brothers got theirs at 5 and 6 months, but we are told its a side effect of her heart condition. Whatever you say, doc!

A little more exciting news....she can talk!!! Okay.....not really....but sorta. She says four words, mama, dada, uh oh, and thank you (which is technically more than one word, but she uses it as if it were one, so thats how we're gonna count it). Thank you is by far her favorite, she says it about 20 times more often than the others combined. It's so adorable. Enjoy the video and listen closely for the "thank you"s. Sorry if its too long for you, but doesn't she just have the cutest little personality you've ever seen? I love how funny she is!

What Happened to Life Getting Easier.....Its Crazy!

Do you ever look at your calendar and think, "How can I possibly fit more stuff on here?" Those were my thoughts today as I left the back specialists office. I spoke with her about Ivy's super sensitive gag reflex, and how she doesn't mouth things like other babies, and she told me that we would have to start working with a speech therapist.

When you think of babies, you think of slobber, and everything they touch being covered in it, right? Thats because they put EVERYTHING in their mouths. Not Ivy, she has never done that. When she picks up the worlds smallest crumb from the carpet, I don't instantly worry that its going straight to her mouth. I don't EVER worry that its going in her mouth, because it never does! Well, this sounds nice, but its actually a bad thing, and we need to fix it. She has what the specialist called an oral defensiveness (as opposed to oral aversion, since she takes a bottle and pacifier), and will now start working with a speech therapist (they work with everything having to do with the mouth, not just speech) to get used to having different textures and flavors in her mouth. Hopefully this will save me from getting puked on everyday, as well as help her gain some much needed weight.

But as I contemplate having yet another person coming by to work with her on things, I can't help but wonder if its ever going to ease up! We now have a huge number of people who want to see her on a regular basis, including: Nurse, physical therapist, back specialist, dietition, social worker, pediatrician, cardiologist, and now speech therapist. It makes for a pretty full schedule, not to mention that Corbin starts preschool next week, needs new glasses, and both boys still need occasional doctors appointments also. I feel like there is never any time for anything else. I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed. I just have to look to the future and think of her as a teenager, holding her head up straight, eating a sandwich (without throwing it up), and getting around as any normal teenager would, and it makes it worth it. And if I think of the alternative of if she hadn't lived in the first place, I am grateful for every appointment, frustration, and even every puke stained shirt there is, because I can't imagine life without her.

Las Vegas/Pirates Cove

Here are a few pics from our trip so far (in no particular order). On our second day here I put our camera in my pocket and then forgot about it and then climbed into the hot tub. We managed to save our SD card even though the camera was ruined. So at least we got some good pics for the first 2 days. Yesterday we went to wal-mart and picked up a new one, so now we can have some pictures from our last two days. I can't stand not being able to take pictures!

Here are two super short videos of some fun stuff!

Our Couch is a Carnivore!

It keeps trying to eat Ivy!

Our Veggies are coming along. We've actually been able to eat some!! We even have 4 watermelons growing, I'm super excited for those!!

Ivy turns 9 months old tomorrow. I can hardly believe it! The 9 months after you have a baby always goes way faster than the 9 months you are pregnant! Anyway, she is doing well. She is still in the 3rd percentile for weight, 8th percentile for height, and 75th percentile for head size (yes, she's a brunson, but it is also good news because it means her brain is developing well). She's just happy and awesome, with a truly inspiring personality. I love that girl!

Ladies and Gentlemen

We FINALLY have a sitter!

Way to go, little lady!

Update Anyone?

I just wanted to do a quick update on how things are going. Right after we arrived at our home in Boise, Ivy's nurse, Nancy, paid us a visit to check on Ivy's progress after her cath. She was doing well, her sats were 83 without oxygen, she'd gained 2 1/2 ounces, and she was happy as a clam. Nancy agreed that it would be okay to take off the oxygen as long as her sats stayed above 75, so that's what we've done. She hasn't needed it since. She can sit up now, but only for a minute or two before she falls over. We have an appointment with the physical therapist, Katy on Friday, and hopefully with the back specialist, Pat at the same time. Katy is a little worried about the curve of Ivy's back and thinks she may have signs of scoliosis. Ivy also tilts her head to the right side all the time, so we just want to be sure to start working on those with a specialist before they get any worse.

Corbin is as cute as ever, he constantly amazes us with his vocabulary and the silly things he says. He had so much fun with Grandma for two weeks that its been a little hard for him to adjust to life with mom again. I'm not nearly as fun as Grandma, and that really doesn't sit well with him. Grandmas are supposed to be more fun right? I'm the one who has to discipline him, which makes me not quite as cool as her, but thats okay. He'll get used to it. He's looking forward to starting preschool in the fall, and in the meantime is actually enjoying primary again. He didn't like it for a while there (I have no idea why), but now he goes without crying, or without us having to bribe him, it's great.

Dexter is adorable. He is getting so big, and he's finally starting to be a little talker. Usually only Scott, Corbin, and I can understand him, but at least that's something. Lately he has been absolutely obsessed with cars. He carries two with him wherever he goes, he even stole two from Grandma's house (we didn't find them until I was unpacking, sorry Marde). He takes them to bed and falls asleep holding them. He wakes up with them and puts them on the table next to his cereal while he eats. Its crazy, sometimes he wants to carry around every car he can find, but his little hands can't hold them all, so he stuffs some in the seat of his little bike, and then gets frustrated when he still can't take them all. It's pretty funny.

Scott and I are getting adjusted to being parents of three kids again, instead of just one. I think we're doing okay, most of the time. We also are once again in charge of our yard, we came home to yellow grass in the front yard, and huge veggie plants and even huger(is that a word) weeds in the back yard. We spent all last week pulling weeds and adjusting sprinklers to get things under control again. We also came home to a new calling in our ward. They called us to be primary workers, working in the junior nursery. That will probably be a good thing since lately Dex is having a hard time letting us leave him there. I think we are both excited to have a calling, but I'm going to miss sunday school and relief society, and that short time I have away from children.

Anyway, that's about it for us, sorry about blabbing on for so long. Also, thanks Marde and Ross for letting us use your stuff in Bear Lake, letting us stay in your house in sandy, and for taking such good care of our boys for two weeks, we love you guys!

Home for the Holiday!

Well, not exactly home, but out of the hospital!

I decided to sleep back at Marde's house last night, to get a good nights sleep, and to see my boys, who I hadn't seen since tuesday morning. It was wonderful, by the way. I think that is probably the first time I've been able to sleep through the night in about 6 months. Anyway, I was getting ready to head back over to the hospital this morning, to hang out with Ivy and pester the docs into letting her transfer back into the surgical unit, when all the sudden my phone rang. It was Ivy's nurse at primary's, he told me to come pick her up, they were letting her go home!! I seriously sprinted up the stairs to tell Scott, and was out the door in less than three minutes.

It took about a half hour to sign all the papers, and pack up her stuff, and we were back at Marde's by noon. What a marvelous day!! I couldn't be more happy that they let her go. Fortunately, I didn't have to see Dr. Jerkface again. Maybe when we have to come back in a few months I will have had enough time to forgive him for being a jerkface and I wont have to fight my impulses to punch him in the face, but for now, it's probably best that he kept his distance.

Here are some pictures from our last 3 and a half days at primary children's. Notice how happy Ivy is in every single picture. That is because she was being her normal, cute, NOT sick self! Enjoy.