17 Years Later

Tonight I went to a band/high school reunion and it was so fun! Those were some fun, fun times and it was great to see some of my old friends! And it is always nice to reminisce on older, simpler times. :-)














I got home and Olivia asked me if I brought her home a balloon. When I told her that there weren't any balloons there, she told me it wasn't a party without balloons! So, I guess it wasn't really a party. LOL!


Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Caught Up

Sometimes I take more pictures than I can post. So, I'll get ya caught up!
Don't you just love chubby baby legs?




And I still say this is one of the best baby toys ever!




Good thing Olivia is never too old for wagon rides with her little sister!




Abigail has made friends with the cats. I think they just like her because she is always sticky. :-)




Abigail has discovered the baby monitor in her crib. Now she always plays with it.




She is also very much a side sleeper!




We spent time with great aunt Mary this week to celebrate her 93rd birthday.




And don't ever forget to stop and smell the flowers every once in awhile.



Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Feeding Therapy

Olivia started feeding therapy today for moderate oral defensiveness. And, let me tell you, I am impressed already!
She has a notebook of all kinds of activities that we do with her each day. One is to identify what kind of bite she will take. With a non-preferred food she may not take a horse bite, but maybe she will take a bird bite? You know how she loves animals, so she loves this!!



We also rate each food's characteristics on a continuum.


Another activity is to eat food in a different ( or wacky way.). For instance, she could mash up her beloved cheese puffs and eat them with a spoon. Olivia wanted a powdered donut when we got home. We did all of the activities with it, then I tried to figure out how to eat it differently. I grabbed some carrot sticks out of the fridge. She hates carrots and even if she eats them, she won't swallow them. But, I thought, we could break the donut into pieces and have her pick the pieces up with two carrots ( might as well add some fine motor in too.) LOL! And this way she is at least touching carrots. She had so much fun trying to get it into her mouth! And then the next part blew me away! She ATE the carrots and swallowed them! I never thought adding a bit of powdered sugar to carrots would make them more desirable.



All done, mom!!

So I'm super excited to find out what the future holds and I feel like we are finally on the right track! We will also visit with her pediatrician about additional testing. Oral defensiveness occurs a lot with physiological disorders of the gut. We want to also rule out any physical barriers. Watch out 33 lbs, we are on our way!!

Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

7 Months

Hard to believe my baby is 7 months old today. When did that happen?




She weighs around 17.5 lbs, can roll both ways and sit up unassisted. Green beans are her favorite food. Abigail is just a joy and other than those few colicky months. . .she is a super easy going baby. She is so interested in everything going on around her and loves to bang toys and crinkle paper. There is no keeping her in one spot any longer as she can roll and scoot to where she wants to go. She is still nursing at night, but prefers bottles during the day. Lately she has discovered a good friend in our cat Tobey. Or rather he has discovered a good friend in her. . .especially when she drops food from her high chair. And, you know, she recently started baby food, so she's often sticky. LOL! I just love my Abigail Harper to pieces!!!




Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Long Arms

Olivia had me laughing so hard today. I was making my grocery list when she ran through the house yelling,"The long arms are coming! The long arms are coming!" LOL! So, I played along and we hid under the table because it was the only safe place to be apparently. When Abigail woke up, she had to hide under there too.



You can tell Abigail is wondering what her loony sister is up to. LOL! We seriously played it all afternoon and I'm exhausted. In the story we all got really old really fast. I asked Olivia how old we were and she said,"Really old! 41+!" The "plus" is what had me laughing so hard.

Anyway, she drew a picture of the long arms. They are green and I think they are from The Little Mermaid because we watched that this morning. I think they are the green arms that take Ariel's voice. Haha!

Speaking of The Little Mermaid, Olivia doesn't want to ever get married unless she meets Prince Eric. Then, she might reconsider. Keep those expectations high sweet girl! You deserve the best! And bless her heart, each time she watches it, she thinks he just might kiss Ariel by the end of the third day.



Yep, I have too extremely silly little girls!

Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my amazing husband of almost 10 years! I know his fatherhood journey hasn't been the easiest, but I know he wouldn't trade his children for anything in the world!





Happy Father's Day to my dad who has always taught me that you can never go wrong by doing right. I could not have been blessed with a better dad!


Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law who I'm so lucky to have!


I am so lucky (and my children are so lucky) to have three such great men in our lives! Thank you for all that you do!

Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Olivia and Abigail’s Pictures

I picked up the girls’ pictures today from their JC Penney photo session.  They are so very cute!

My new favorite picture of Abigail

My new favorite (and one of my all time favorite) pictures of Olivia

This one Olivia picked out to hang in her room.

This one I got in a canvas wrap.  It is beautiful!!

Haha! And this last one is for you, Shelley!

Anyway, we were very pleased with them. . .especially with the cost.  People spend hundreds of dollars on pictures!  We also received a CD of all the pictures that we can print or do with as we please. 

Feeling Much Better

Olivia is feeling so much better today. Her only complaint is that her eyes are really itchy and she can't rub them. She is eating and playing normally.



Olivia was so excited about a visit/play date from her best friend, Madison. It really raised her spirits and we love the sign!!
Thanks guys!


Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Recovering

Well, they told us that she would sleep all day. I figured that's what a "normal" child would do, so Olivia would probably sleep for an hour. But, nope, she has slept all day and has only been up to eat two Popsicles and make me laugh. Her sense of humor always seems to shine through.

Olivia: Mom, do I smell? Smell me!!

Me: Huh?

Olivia: When Tobey ( our cat ) had surgery, he smelled different and Kelsey hissed at him. What if I smell different and she doesn't know I'm Olivia.

Kelsey: Purr, purr, snuggle.

Olivia then smiles and goes back to sleep.

--------------

Olivia's top three favorite things to do are drink chocolate milk, eat Pirate's Booty cheese puffs and watch a show on Netflix. She's on a clear liquid diet and her eyes are still puffy and blurry so she can't open them. She was quite upset about not being able to do any of those things.



So, she ate a Popsicle and listened to one of her shows.

She is now back asleep, but not before she muttered," I want my normal self back. I miss my normal self!!"

Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Eye Muscle Surgery

We are now home from Olivia's eye muscle/strabismus surgery. This surgery tightens the muscles in her eyes and helps them work better together. Surgery isn't always 100% successful as this is her 2nd surgery (her first was at 1 year old.) When she gets a bit older, if not corrected, she could develop double vision and headaches among other complications.

Anyway, it's been rough on her. Bloody tears and lots of dry heaving/vomiting. She has been sleeping peacefully since we got home. Praying it will only improve from here!



Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

In Surgery

Olivia is currently back in surgery for her eyes. She did so well and didn't cry until right when they took her back and away from mom and dad.



Baby Ally even got a gown and she got to go back with her.



Daddy told her lots of stories beforehand.



And she colored lots of pictures. We had to wait quite awhile. Check in was at 9:30 am and they finally took her back around 11 am. Surgery should take around an hour. I'll keep you updated!

Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, June 11, 2013:

We went to Exploration Place today with Shelley and Izzy. The girls had so much fun. Abigail was such a good, good baby. She just sat in her stroller looking at everything. Olivia begs me on a daily basis to go play at the castle.




We even caught a quick science show.




And said hello to the dinosaurs.










And the big news of the day:

Abigail can now sit up unassisted! She was so proud of herself!



I'm trying really hard to keep Olivia's mind off of her upcoming surgery. She had a great day with her cousin, so I think it's working!


Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Feeding Evaluation

Olivia had her feeding evaluation today.  It was about an hour long and Abigail sat in her stroller the entire time and played with her rattle.  Did not make a peep!  The lady who did the evaluation said she had never seen a better behaved baby. LOL!  As long as she doesn’t expect her to act like that every time. 

The therapist worked with Olivia a bit and then talked with me. Olivia really liked her, which is a huge plus and makes our lives easier.  We will be meeting twice a week with her.  She thinks Olivia does have some sensory difficulties, but also some underlying digestive issues.  The past few months, Olivia has started this new thing with swallowing air and making her tummy growl.  It gives her awful, awful gas.  Seriously. . .embarrassing, loud, smelly gas.  We don’t know why she is doing it or even what she is doing exactly.  The therapist is going to talk with Olivia’s pediatrician, but we will most likely be referred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for further testing.  Finally, though, someone is acting aggressively.  Olivia has barely gained 1/2 lb within the past year, which nobody is happy about.  Again, I’ve been concerned about it her entire life when no one else was.  She was never tube fed after leaving the NICU, so everyone just seemed to dismiss her and not identify her as someone needing help.  It is so so frustrating!!  It is also so hard because Olivia is the kind of child who is very anxious about any kind of procedure or test or surgery.  Poor girl has eye surgery on Thursday and then all of this to deal with.  Not to mention she is very anxious about kindergarten.  We could just really really really use some prayers.  I just want her to gain weight and I have no idea anymore how to help her.  I have stressed over it for almost 6 years now with NO assistance.  Needless to say, I’m ready for some help and for some answers.  I will keep you updated. 

So Big!

Vacation was wonderful, but it was so wonderful to see my baby's smiling face again!!



And because she didn't get to go on vacation with us, we picked her up a little something:



She is such a cutie patootie!



She loves to sit up and eat big girl food. She has even mastered the sippy cup! She loves to take nice big sips of water! Abigail is just growing up before my eyes.




Tomorrow is Olivia's feeding evaluation. Wish us luck as I hope they have some helpful advice for us. I'm really interested in food chaining and trying to incorporate new food and textures into her diet. I just want her to be healthy and happy.

Jodi- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone