My Christmas Wish

Mommy! Mommy! Mom!!!!

That is how Ivy calls for me! If I am not quick enough to respond to her first or second Mommy, I become MOM! She has copied this from Lexi, as she does most everything. Yes this little girl is going to keep me on my toes ha!

                                         Rarrrrrr, This is her tiger!

Words from Lexi this week.
Ivy, If you keep just sittin on that couch and eating all those chips and watching all that tv, your bottoms gonna leave footprints on our couch!!
She just cracks me up!!

And her words to Ivy must have worked because the healing has finally started to speed up for our baby girl and she is a little better every day! 

Today she was on her feet way more than she was off them. She is putting weight on her arms now and looks like she is in much less pain when she goes from laying to sitting and when she pulls up to stand. It still looks painful, but nothing like before. 

Today at the park when Lexi saw Ivy approaching the slide she came running saying, I'm worried about you Ivy, I'm worried my baby sister might get hurt on this slide! Little did she know Ivy had no desire to try the slide alone. 
Lexi skinned her ankle on a bike ride this evening. She didn't cry or fuss about it the entire ride. But.... when we got home and she saw the blood, she began to cry. Ivy immediately crawled over to her with her kissy lips puckered. She said, you ok Lexi? You ok? And she kissed her foot and her ankle and every part of her entire leg! She is so empathetic and loving it is just the sweetest thing to watch!
The girls are doing fantastic! 
In complete honesty, last weekend I was getting really concerned about Ivy. Her belly was getting big again and she was saying owie all the time. 

I am so used to there always being a crash after every step forward that my mind was just programed to worry about what was next. I had to start every morning just asking God to remind me that I need to get through one day at a time and not worry about the rest. Ivy is here, she is thriving, she has gained 4 pounds!! She is 17 pounds! Her tiny arms are now 3 and 5/8 inches around at the biggest part and her thighs are 5 and 5/8 inches around at the biggest part. Don't get me wrong, I know that is super tiny, but it is growth for Ivy Joy! 
It turns out she had a UTI, a common thing for kids on diuretics. However this was Ivy's first. She was like a new kid by Monday afternoon! Her INR (level of blood thinness) is right on as of right now. With toddlers, that never stays the case. I test her blood at home on my own now. She is such an incredible trooper about it! When she see's the kit she starts saying, ready... set.... its ok.... ready... set..... over and over. She cleans her toe with the alcohol pad, she loads the machine with the strip, and she insists on seeing the blood. I think it makes her feel better to see every detail of what is going on. The first few days I did the poke on myself each time I did hers so she could see that it was not so bad. (it really doesn't hurt, just a very quick little poke) Ever since doing that she is really calm about the whole thing and extremely helpful. One day we will get to a point where we just test once a month.. one day! 
Seeing the reactions of all of Ivy's firsts has been so much fun. The kitchenade mixer, She loves it, talks to it and feeds it chocolate chips! Candy canes, the nativity and Santa Clause! 

Oh and here is the cutest little funny from Lexi while we were using the mixer. I had the plastic splash guard on the bowl while it was mixing. Lexi was trying to look in to the bowl but could not see very well. She looks at me and says, can you please take the pacemaker off this bowl so I can see my cookie dough! I almost fell over laughing! Yes she has a cardiac sister!

My Christmas wish~
I have more than I could ever ask for!