Update on Casts and MRI

Olivia was scheduled to have her MRI on Thursday April 8th at Mat-Su Regional which is just up the road from us. I wanted to have it there because that is where she has had all of her procedures done, where she was born and where I felt the most comfortable. Well, less than a week before her MRI we get a phone call from Mat-Su saying that they don't do sedation on babies under the age of 6 months which meant no MRI at Mat-Su...why didn't they say anything when we first scheduled the appointment?? SO I called the Dr. and let them know that if we had to have it in Anchorage it would have to be a Providence because that is where our Insurance prefers, so we are scheduled for April 20th and I am still scared to death! Providence has an excellent pediatric care unit if anything happens she will be there (please pray nothing happens!) and they also have pediatric anestheologists so they are used to sedating babies, that makes me feel a little better. I will update after we get home on Tuesday on how everything went. I am really hoping they have something they can give her in her bottle or to drink that will make her sleepy instead of an IV :(
Alright now onto the casts. Last Friday we were able to take her casts off because she had an appointment that morning to have her feet looked at. When we removed her right cast we were shocked at how straight her feet were! They looked so good! Her left foot was looking much better too! When we took her in to the Dr. he was suprised by how fast her feet moved back and said she didn't even need a cast on her right leg just to stretch it and keep an eye on it. (remember we were told at least 5 weeks of casting) He casted her right foot and scheduled an appointment that afternoon to be measured for her brace. So far so good! On Monday she goes back in to have her feet looked at again so she gets her left cast off and a good hot bath! I am praying she can keep that cast off and go right to her brace (which is in and ready to be fitted and picked up!) and that she doesn't have to have her right leg casted again. So excited at how fast this is going for her :) Please keep her in your prayers!!

Giveaways

I am doing something I NEVER do! I am blogging about a giveaway. What you have to do is talk about this giveaway on your blog and link to it and your name gets put into the drawing. So here I am blogging about this cool giveaway on Megan's blog She is giving away the coolest thing it is a custom made silver design from Julie the fish I really like the necklace with the name and birthdate. If I win I will have Olivia's name and birthdate put on it. Wish me luck, oh, and if you like, check out Megans blog. She is pregnant with a sweet little boy with some serious heart problems. They (like us) struggled with infertility, and were blessed with baby Cohen and are praying he will be healthy enough to make it through the life saving surgeries needed. Please keep their family in your prayers!

Thanks for checking it out!

First night in her crib

Well, last night was Olivia's first night in her crib. I think she decided for me that she was done being cooped up in her bassinet. She has never had a problem until she had to have her legs casted and she wasn't able to curl up like she likes so, the last few nights she has been kicking her legs up and down and side to side and it has been keeping me up! So, lastnight was it. I made the decision to put her in her big girl crib. I was fine for about the first hour then I went to check on her and I cried. It made me so sad to see my baby in her big girl bed :( She didn't wake up at all, which was very nice and I had her video monitor (yes I am THAT mom!) set up so I could see her when I felt like I needed to. It was nice. I don't think I slept all that well because I remember listening to her while I was sleeping but it will get better over time. I remember sleeping like that when she was first born now I sleep really well. This morning she woke up crying but that was just because she needed her paci and we were already up, Kevin was getting ready for work and I was getting ready for her Dr's appt, I think she may have heard us talking and woke up. But she didn't want to wake up this morning at all!! I am hoping it gets easier having her in her big girl bed. Such a big step for this Mommy!

CASTS and an MRI?!?!?!

Yup, that's right Casts! (We'll get to the MRI thing in a minute) Olivia just had to inherit my funny feet. My feet turned in when I was little and I was put in corrective shoes. When Livvy was born I told the pediatrician about my feet issue and she made a note to check her feet every time we came in. She also said that she hasn't seen children in corrective shoes for a long time. Well, it happend! We went to Mom and Dad's and one of the first thing they noticed was that her feet were turning in. We had never noticed it, it literally happend over night! Her left foot was really turning in and was starting to curve into itself. So fast forward to the Monday after we returned from our vacation at Olivia's 4 month well baby check up. Let me just stop right there and tell your her awesome stats! She is growing so well, she is 14 lbs 5 oz (50%) and 27 and 1/4 inches long (99%, gee who would have thought right?)! She also got her 4 month shots and that was very hard on me, I had to leave the room and Kevin had to be with her.

OK, back to the casts...we asked the Pediatrician about her feet and she was obviously concerned. She gave us a referral to a Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon because this was something she has never seen before. I called right after we got home that afternoon and fortunatley they were able to get her in that Wed. The Dr. was so sweet and very concerned as well, he couldn't believe her feet moved that quickly and that her left arch was so tight. He said that normally they can do exercises to help stretch out the muscle and that should help a lot but her left foot was so bad that he could barely move it! Now for the MRI part. He said that even though I had this problem when I was a child, he wants to have her go in for an MRI on her spine to make sure there isn't anything on her spine that could be pulling on the tendon and causing her foot to move so fast. Because an MRI requires absolute stillness she has to be sedated which involves an IV. I was a mess!! Because the hospital was unable to get her in for a week the Dr. wanted to go ahead and cast her feet that day. The casts she has on are on both feet and go all the way up her thighs! She had just started putting her feet in her mouth and now she can't even bend her knees enough to get them to her mouth :( The casts are a special product by 3M just for babies. It is a softer "hard cast" that I can peel off once a week and then she will go back in to have it replaced. This was she doesn't have to deal with the scary cast saw and I can give her a real bath once a week (she gets sponge baths now). The Dr. thinks it will be about 5 weeks of casting and then she can get them off and move to the corrective shoes with a bar between. I am scared to death of the sedation process but if it is necessary we will do it. I am praying that there is nothing on her spine and that it is just a hereditary thing (which the Dr. thinks it is but wants to be sure). I will post how everything goes once we get home and settled on Thursday after her MRI.

Her left foot which is the worst

Right foot, not nearly as bad

Casting her left leg

Finished with the first

Casting her right leg.

Olivia's first trip to Nanny and Gogga's in Missouri

We just returned from our first trip to Missouri. We left on March 14th at 8 am and Olivia did GREAT on the plane! I was so worried she wouldn't be her sweet laid back self but she was exactly that! We lucked out on the flight to Chicago and got a row of 3 seats so we were able to put Olivia in her car seat in the window seat! She didn't really sleep a lot but was very content. Most people said they didn't even know she was on the plane! She was so good! We got her out every once in a while but when it got to bumpy we put her back. She enjoyed being snuggled and looking at all the people (we were right across from the bathroom, we saw LOTS of people) and she got lots of compliments too. When we got to Chicago we had to run to get to the next gate and made it just in time. We weren't able to get an extra seat on that flight but that was OK, it was only a hour long flight and Livvy and I snuggled and napped most of the flight. When we finally got to Missouri after 8 hours of travel we were exhausted and ready to see my parents. They greeted us at the airport along with my best friend Kim and her little family (Livvy's future husband and in-laws LOL!) I was nervous that Livvy wouldn't sleep very well, or that she would be on Alaska time (3 hours behind) but she went right to sleep and woke up the next morning right on time just like she was in Alaska...no problems! The first day we took Livvy to Bass Pro Shops AKA Kevin's favorite place to be in Springfield. She slept the whole time, must not have been as excited as her daddy to go LOL! her hat says "my first fishing hat" too cute!We went to my mom's work and met lots of her co workers and the residents there too, Olivia got LOTS of attention and lots of ohh and ahh's, she was a hit! We did a lot of running around and eating out. On St. Patrick's Day my sister (Olivia's Aunt Sissy) came to visit from Kansas City. We also went to Church that evening for a nice potluck dinner and then a short bible study in which Olivia decided she was tired and wanted to scream the whole time (how embarrassing!) Everyone there was so excited to see Livvy, and us too :) They all thought she looked just like Kevin (so do I). On Thursday, my sister, Mom, Olivia and myself had a girls afternoon and went shopping. I was in desperate need of work clothes for my internship this fall. I still have about 10-15 lbs to lost to be back to pre-baby weight...I WILL DO THIS! So I found some great sales and got lots of good stuff. We were all very tired and more than ready to go home after that. We finally got to enjoy a nice St. Paddy's day dinner of Yummy corned beef and potatoes...I could have eaten my weight in that! So good! On Friday it was a GLORIOUS 75 degress that day, it was the first time Livvy has been able to go outside in a sleeveless dress, no blanket and no socks! It was so awesome! My sister had to leave to head back to KC. We took off to Branson to do somemore shopping. We stopped at the Lee outlet and found LOTS of good deals! We then went down to the Branson Landing we stuck Livvy's feet in the fountain and watched a really funny couple of guys who do percussion using plastic barrels, it was a lot of fun! We ate at Famous Daves a yummy BBQ place (which Olivia slept through). After dinner we decided we needed some fudge from the fudge place. They were making a caramel nut fudge while we were in there and they gave us HUGE samples. We shared a bit with Olivia and she loved it. After we left the landing we were off to our show, we went to see a Beatles tribute band called "Liverpool Legends". It is a group that was put together by George Harrison's sister Louise, so you know it was good! They showed clips and had lots of interviews with Louise. Olivia LOVED the show, as did all of us! The singers sounded and looked just like the Beatles, it was so much fun! During intermission Louise came out and answered questions from the audience. It was really neat! During the show they invited everyone to come out into the aisle to dance. We took Livvy out and all took turns dancing with her and singing to her.

After the show we got to meet the singers and even had Olivia's picture taken with them, Paul even gave her a kiss! On Saturday after our wonderful warm day the day before, the temperature dropped and it started snowing and sleeting...welcome to Missouri! the next morning we headed off to Ash Grove for Olivia's Baptisim. We wanted to do it in the Church we were married in by the Pastor who married us but for some unforseen circumstances we were unable to do it at the church. We were blessed to have been accepted by the congregation who had never met us and yet made us feel so at home! Pastor Bill Havens preformed the service and it was very nice. This is the dress she wore. It is a ver special dress as it was the dress that both my sister and I were baptized in and it was made by my nanny out of my mom's 8th grade graduation dress. When Kevin got her dressed he was telling her how special it was and the story behind it. It melted my heart to see her wear something so special for such a special day. She looked beautiful! The next day after two of it being cold and snowy it warmed up to a wonderful upper 60 degrees again! We thought it was funny seeing my Dad wearing a jacket because it was "a little chilly" and there was a "slight breeze" we thought it felt great compared to the -14 temps the day before we left Alaska. We enjoyed the warm weather! My Uncle Mike and his girlfriend came over for dinner one night and brought Olivias some really cute clothes and also some yummy homemade chocolate cupcake with Irish Cream frosting, it was so yummy! That night Olivia started started grabbing a lot of things. She grabbed a pop can and was bringing it up to her lips, good thing it was empty! We had a great time and as always great company! Thursday afternoon brought an end to our vacation. We were lucky to get an extra seat again on the flight from Springfield to Chicago but our flight was late leaving due to winds in Chicago (it's not called the windy city for nothing!) We were told most of the flights in and out were delayed so we had hope that our flight to Anchorage would be too. Before the delay we were to have a two hour delay. When we arrived in Chicago, Kevin took off running for the next gate to see if it had been delayed too and let me with Olivia to gather all of our belongings and head across the airport to meet him. We ran to our next gate which happend to be all the way at the other end of the airport (why can't things be easier sometimes?). When I got to the gate area Kevin was at the check in counter and low and behold they were boarding!! They told us they didn't have any open rows and we could have to hold Livvy the whole flight on our lap. As we were starting down the gangway the ticketing agent called us back and told us that there was a row with two open seats and if the man next to us wanted to he could move up to that row. He happily agreed once he saw we had a baby :) It turns out that there were actually quite a few open rows on the plane due to people missing their connection. Olivia slept the whole way home and I was worried she wouldn't sleep that night. She did although she tried to wake up at 5 am (8 am Missouri time) I just kept putting her paci in and she slept until about 8:45! After that she was back on her Alaska schedule. We were so glad to be home and thankful that we were able to make the trip to show Olivia off and most of all have her baptized!

Here are a few other pictures from our trip.

Livvy and a big brown bear on one of our many trips to Bass Pro

Mommy and Livvy at Bass Pro

Daddy and Livvy at his favorite resturant Cracker Barrel

Livvy and Miss Rhonda (Kim's Mom) She has brain cancer so it was important they meet!

Livvy and Mommy

Where has the time gone?

Our little girl is now 4 months old! She now weighs 13 lbs 10 oz, she is finally starting to put on some weight and FAST...praise the Lord! She may have had a slow start in life but she caught up fast. She can now giggle and it makes my heart just melt! She can sit in the corner of the couch and has started throwing herself forward so we have to be careful when we put her there. She has rolled over a few times from back to front but hasn't done it on a regular basis, I am still waiting. She is still spitting up and we are still having to thicken her bottles. We started her on Zantac and that seems to help a little. She unfortunatley got her first ear infection the other day. Kevin said she wasn't wanting to eat and that is just not her so I loaded her up and took her to Urgent Care, sure enough it was an ear infection. The Dr. said he doesn't usually prescribe antibiotics for ear infections but we are leaving soon for Missouri so he didn't want us to have a miserable baby (and parents) on the plane so she is on amoxicillin. She took it well the first few days and now doesn't really care to take it. She has also not really eaten very well since being on it. I am hoping once we are finished with the medicine she will start eating better. We recently had her 3 month photos done by my awesome neighbor Katie. I am so blessed to have a neighbor who does photography and can take Livvy's picture. They turned out so great! Livvy is still in our bedroom but we are planning on moving her into her own room when we return from Missouri. I am so nervous about putting her in her own bed over night. Don't ask me why! I think it's because it is such a big step in her growing up. I am really having a hard time with her growing up so fast. She is such a sweet little girl and I want to cherish the time that she wants to snuggle and thinks her Momma is the greatest thing ever.

On another note, I will be starting my internship in the fall. Yes, I am almost done (FINALLY!!!!) with school! Which means my time as a stay at home Mom is coming to a close very quickly and I am sad about that. She will be in good hands with her Gramma and Papa while I am in the classroom.

Well, it is about time for bed. We have a lot to do before we leave and I need to get ready for bed. Hope all is well in your life! I plan to start blogging more (hopefully about once a week) now. I want to keep up on her life and milestones as she grows up so that you can enjoy them and I can look back and remember the fun times during Olivia's first year.

Almost 3 months old

It is midnight on this Saturday night, Kevin is asleep on the couch and Livvy is supposed to be sleeping in our room in her bassinet, I think she has other ideas (silly girl!). I realized that I need to update this more often. Lets see, she will be 12 weeks old on Monday...am I really ready for this? Everything is happening so fast! She has finally started to put on some weight. When she was born she weighed 8 lbs 11 oz, she got down to 7lbs 6 oz (scary). We couldn't figure out why she was losing so much weight, there for a while she was losing an once a day which is a lot for a tiny baby! Come to find out because of my PCOS my milk supply was super low. It was very depressing in the beginning but I had to give in and feed my baby so we supplimented with formula and eventually went completely to formula. She also started to spit up in massive amounts. This also contributed to her slow weight gain. We tried putting her on Zantac but that didn't really help, it is for acid reflux not plain old reflux. She is a very happy girl so she wasn't having acid coming back up. So we are now thickening her formula with rice cereal, about 3 tablespoons in a four ounce bottle. As of about 3 weeks ago she was 10 lbs 6 oz and 23 1/2 inches long! The Dr. thinks she is going to be long and skinny! She has reached so many milestones and we couldn't be happier. She has really discovered her voice and is always "talking" to us and telling us her opinion :) she has also started smiling, everymorning when she wakes up I peek over the bassinet and she just grins and squeals! It makes my mornings great! As for her sleeping habits, I am so blessed in that department! This girl can sleep (just like her momma!), we usually try to get her into bed between 9:30 and 10 and she will sleep until 10:30, 11 in the morning!! I am absolutely in LOVE with this little girl! It is so amazing how much one little person can change ones life!
Kevin is such an AMAZING Daddy! When he comes home from work he can't get his hands on her fast enough! From then on, she is with her Daddy, usually on the couch telling him all about her day, and smiling at him.
Livvy is wearing cloth diapers almost full time now. She only wears disposables when we are going to be gone for a while and at night. I love the diapers we have, they are called Nubunz and are so easy to use. They are very similar to a disposable in fit and the way they are put on. They are a little more bulky in size but thats OK. LOVE them!
Well, I think it is time for me to get off here, get Kevin up and off to bed. We have a LONG day tomorrow, a friends baby's first birthday party then off to Anchorage for Livvy's first concert! We are going to go see Geoffrey Castle, a violin player. He plays rock music on the violin...very cool!

Here is our big girl taking a nap in her crib :)

Here is Livvy sitting up in her "bumpo"chair, she really likes it even though she doesn't look like it here.Smiling at her Daddy, she loves him!She LOVES her bath time! She is always splashing and kicking around, too cute!