Mimi & Granby come for a visit!

Mimi & Granbarry (or maybe it's Granby since Granbarry is entirely too hard for Georgia to say) came for a visit last weekend! Their visits are always too short, but packed with lots of fun! Barry was a music minister for many years and has written music since he was young. Paula has a beautiful voice and they sing beautifully together! SO, it was quite appropriate that we had a music session with GC's instruments on a whim Friday night! BOTH girls THOROUGHLY enjoyed themselves!

After bath Georgia Claire got Mimi's camera and walked to each of us saying, "Cheese!" and holding up the camera...she definitely knows what a camera is!
Cooking with Granby Saturday morning while everyone else was getting ready...
Letting Ivy Jane taste something delicious to drink and saying, "Mmmmm!"
Trying to get a good family picture of us 4 with all 4 of us smiling & looking at the camera & holding our heads up right is obviously a difficult task!
I promise our girls are happy!
I love this picture...swinging, they were blowing bubbles, riding in the wagon & singing songs with Granby & Mimi! (Ivy Jane cracks me up in this picture!)We love you, Mimi & Granby! Hope we can see you again SOON!

Signs of Spring

One of my absolute favorite sights of the spring season in East Texas...pink dogwoods!

And trips to the zoo...

Update on Ivy Jane

Ivy Jane's pediatric chiropractor is FANTASTIC! Another answer to prayer...THANK YOU, LORD! There was no x-ray done (she's too young to be exposed to the radiation) so he performed a thermal scan, instead. The thermal scan detects imbalances in temperature patterns on each side of the spine. If the temperature is not symmetrical, then the patient could be having muscle spasms or some type of nerve interference. What we know from that scan is that her C1 & C2 vertebrae are "jacked". Ok, so that's not the elaborate medical term he used, but basically they are WAY out of alignment-so much so that the C2 is probably pinching a nerve. You can really see it from this picture I took last Friday, after her first adjustment.

You can also see that she is holding her right hip up to balance herself! SO, Thursday she had her first adjustment, followed by one of the worst (or best...depending on how you look at it) poops she's ever had. Weird-and very cool all at the same time! Here she is Friday morning eating cheerios. She has THE BEST appetite...the child eats everything and anything I put in front of her!

Fast forward a few days...she's now had two adjustments and we had her first official physical therapy appointment with Sue today. We are working on rolling over, moving around, stretching, etc. Her muscles are still tight, so I'm still stretching her neck like the initial therapist showed me to do, but I'm also "playing" with Ivy a lot to allow HER to do the stretching. The chiropractor is working on the alignment and then we are moving her around/stretching afterwards to produce the best results. It really makes sense, and we are already seeing results. Sue was impressed today that Ivy Jane was actually holding her head midline and moving around more than her initial assessment. Yea! AND, tonight she rolled over on her own and started scooting backwards after we did some "therapy"! Woohoo! Sue told me that she KNOWS Ivy can do it, and that she's not the least bit worried. She said she just thinks she was not physically capable of moving around because it hurt her too much. Already, just after two adjustments, she seems looser and is twisting her trunk more. She's going to see her every two weeks & her chiropractor is going to see her every week for 10 more weeks. So, by June 1st we should be on our last appointment and they both feel that Ivy Jane will be healed by that time!

Here she is after today's therapy session...you can tell she's tight in her right side still, but it seems to be better already!

Tired baby...therapy is hard work!

And I had to throw in a random picture of Georgia Claire this morning in her princess gown eating her breakfast...her favorite right now is organic granola & a banana!

So, I definitely feel like we are on the right track and we have a great team working with sweet Ivy Jane. The good news is that we caught this early and that the physical therapist could tell there was more going on than just torticollis. Initially I was upset that my pediatrician waited several months & I was scared that she would have long-term effects. I now know that children are moldable and pliable and Ivy Jane is making huge strides...I'm choosing to be positive because I know that I'm doing all that I can as her mother and the professionals working with her are THE BEST! Thank you, God!

Yard Work

Shelby got out and cleaned up the last of the leaves in our yard last night while the girls & I played in Georgia's room. I opened her window so that we could see Shelby and Georgia thought that was GREAT! She stood on her tiptoes for the longest trying her hardest to see him pass by. She started getting frustrated because she wasn't quite tall enough so I said, "Where's your chair?" She got a huge smile on her face and ran out of the room, was gone for about 30 seconds and reappeared with her little pink chair (which used to be Shelby's little brown chair). That chair gets dragged all over the house. I usually have two trails in the carpet from her dragging it from room to room. She LOVES it! I love the progression in these pictures...

Standing on her tiptoes...

Climbing up in the chair...
Looking and waiting for Daddy to pass by...
"Dada!!!"
SO happy she saw her Daddy!
She is definitely a Daddy's girl...she loves Momma, but would pick him over me any day, I'm afraid!

"Sing!"

It has been SO pretty here this week, but I'm an allergy sufferer and there's not a whole lot I can take while I'm breastfeeding, so the pollen has kept me inside more than I would like to be! This morning I was doing some laundry, with Georgia Claire's help, & I had the back door open with the glass door closed to let some light in. She saw her swing & said "Sing! Sing! Pees! Pees!" How could I say no to that?! No matter how bad the pollen is or my allergy headache might be later, it's worth it! SO, I loaded up Ivy Jane & her big sis in the wagon and we went to swing. The last couple of times she hasn't really liked it for some reason, but as you can tell from the pictures below that was NOT the case today! I think she would have taken a nap in the swing if I would have let her!

Mother's Intuition

I believe I met an angel yesterday...and her name is Sue! Sue is Ivy Jane's new physical therapist.

As I've written before, Ivy Jane was diagnosed with toricollis...a shortening and tightening of the neck muscles on one side causing a child's head to tilt and chin to turn. I noticed it early on and asked my doctor about it at her 2 week appointment but she dismissed it and just said that it was her comfortable position. Now we know that it was probably positional...meaning it was more than likely her position in utero. We knew she had a hyperextended leg but that seemed to correct itself. Fast forward 6+ months to her first therapy appointment a few weeks ago. I left feeling defeated. I remember thinking, "that's it?!" We saw a PTA who seemed to watch the clock while we were in therapy...her appointment was at 1:00, she didn't get us until 1:05, and I was walking out at 1:25. After shelling out $100 for that visit and learning that it would be $100 twice a week I started praying for wisdom. Ivy Jane was sick on the day of her second scheduled appointment, so I had to cancel. I remembered hearing about ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) when I was a teacher. I really thought it was for low-income families or those who don't have insurance. What I've since learned is that any family can qualify, regardless of income. My sister Angie is an occupational therapist and advocate for her son Will and told me to DEFINITELY go with ECI. So, I made the call and two weeks ago a caseworker came out for a pre-screening appointment.

Today she came back with a physical therapist named Sue. Today I FINALLY got answers. Today I FINALLY felt like someone was listening. Today I FINALLY had a peace that came over me that only God can give. I don't know if Sue knows it, but she is my answered prayer! She has been a pediatric PT for 34 YEARS! She travels the country teaching other therapists and owns her own therapy company, and works in conjunction with ECI. One of the great things about ECI is THEY come to US! SO, our 1 hour appointment was spent on the living room floor, where Ivy Jane plays every day! Her evaluation was eye opening. She said her tortocollis was "extremely significant"-so much so that she was thinking something else was going on. She didn't give me any new stretches to do but instead, after 30+ minutes of questions about Ivy and us taking her onesie off and looking at her back, neck, etc. she suggested we see a pediatric chiropractor! She thinks IJ is out of alignment after discussing it with her I TOTALLY AGREE! It's like a puzzle and we are thinking that all of her problems are related. Does she sleep well? No, not on her firm baby mattress, but on my soft bed or in her bouncy seat-yes. Is she spoiled? Probably not...she's probably uncomfortable on the firm mattress! How are her bowels? She's usually constipated, which I've always thought was strange since I'm breastfeeding. But, if she's out of alignment that could cause her bowels to not function properly. Does she roll over? Not too well...why? Because it hurts! And the list goes on. WOW. My poor baby has probably been uncomfortable since birth...or possibly even before. SO, we go to the chiropractor on Thursday and I cannot wait to hear what he says. He's a dad of a special needs child so he really has a heart for helping kids who are hurting! I hope he is the answer to Ivy Jane's issues. I know that God leads my life, especially regarding decisions about my babies. I feel like he led me to Sue. So, from now on I'm going with my gut feeling, or mother's intuition.

Corners

Georgia Claire has a routine of immediately finding the corners of her blanket when she is winding down. She will get her blanket "ket-ket" as she calls it and find a corner and rub it between her fingers until she falls asleep. It doesn't matter where she is...in the car, in her bed, on the couch, rocking with Shelby or me, she ALWAYS finds the corner! I think it could possibly be the sweetest thing ever.

I want to always remember this picture of her little toddler hands holding her blanket...so sweet & precious.

Cousin Time continued...

AND the cousin time continued...

We played peek-a-boo...or as Georgia Claire says, "Poo boo I-eee!"

We had our first annual marshmallow war! We're starting a new tradition, that Shelby & Andy started Sunday night with the kids...marshmallows were EVERYWHERE when we finished and I don't know who had more fun--the kids or the adults!
Luke showed us some of his hilarious karate moves...
Georgia Claire played dress up with Mary Katherine!
Paw Paw came over today to try to fix our dryer...hopefully it will be fixed when Shelby goes to get the part tomorrow! Oh how happy I am to have a Dad nearby that knows about these kinds of things. Shelby has learned SO much from him! And by the looks of it, Georgia Claire is learning from him, too! She loves her Paw Paw. When dad asks her if she loves Paw Paw her response is, "YEAH!"
We went to the farm and saw all of the cows...LOTS of babies right now!
We got a cousins picture in the peach trees...this was the best one I got! These kiddos have lots of fun together-I'm so glad they are so close in age! From left to right we have, Mary Katherine (5), Gabe (6), Caroline (3), Luke (7), Will (5), and on in the front are Georgia (21 months) & Ivy Jane (7 months).

Will & Gabe...I wish we could see them more often. Living 6+ hours away means we usually only get to see them a few times a year.

Will had to climb up in the car to give Ivy Jane a kiss good-bye today...he LOVES babies!

It will probably be the summer before we all get together again. It's been a great 4 days...very FULL and very BUSY but lots of memories were made and good times were had!

Cousin Time!

Spring is in the air and I am SOOOO excited! I'm also excited that my sister Angie & my nephews Gabe & Will are here for a visit! Their spring break is next week so they decided to come to town for a few days. That means Georgia Claire & Ivy Jane have all of their cousins here with them for the next few days. We've already had some fun times & it hasn't even been 24 hours!

Our fun started with a cook-out at Andy & Kathy's house. We all enjoyed hot dogs, frito pie, & s'mores.

Girl time!
Even Ivy Jane enjoyed the family time!
Paw Paw & Will...two peas in a pod! (Side note...Will is doing GREAT! You would never know only has one lung! He is full of life-lots of energy and loves to be silly! I got on the trampoline with him, Gabe, GC, MK, & Caroline and his "coolest trick" was summersaults all over the place! Oh what fun!)
Caroline enjoyed sharing her tricycle with GC-she even decided she needed to wear her helmet! GC LOVED it! She calls Caroline "Yi-yine!"
Art time...

This morning we all headed to Luke's boy scout Pine Derby race...he had 13 people there when it was all said & done! We couldn't say no when he told us all about the race and then said, "I'd really like all of you to come!"

Sweet Caroline! She made a bracelet for herself with a heart, a letter C and a letter B. When Kathy asked her why she put a heart and a B on it she said, "Because I love BB!" She makes my heart melt! I LOVE THIS LITTLE GIRL!

Ivy Jane got passed around...she gets heavy QUICK!
Will & Caroline waiting on Luke's car!

Georgia Claire stayed at the starting line with Paw Paw the entire time!We were there before the mall opened and Mom wanted to buy the kids some things, so we let them ride in the cars while we waited...
Look at those smiles!
Ivy Jane was really sleepy by this time...
After the race & a little shopping, we headed to Grandma & Paw Paw's where we played outside! It has been a BEAUTIFUL day!
And then came the science experiment! Uncle Shelby & Paw Paw dissected a frog with the kiddos...tomorrow they will dissect owl pellets!

I wonder what we'll do next?!