Lil' Ladybug

Hopefully the last update!

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:07:00 +0000

I am SO sorry I forgot to update this blog until now! Several kind readers have emailed me to see how Ladybug is doing and I must say that in this case no news has meant good news!!!! Ladybug continues to walk and progress greatly!!!

She was given her full developmental evaluation and here are the results…

Her actual age {adjusted for being born 3 weeks early} at the time of the evaluation was 20.5 months.

Cognition ~ 27-30 months
Fine Motor ~ 24-27 months
Social/Emotional ~ 21-24 months
Self Help ~ 21-24 months
Language ~ 18-21 months
Gross Motor ~ 15-18 months

It was refreshing to see that she is advanced in some areas, right on in a few and just slightly below in gross motor. She has advanced tremendously even since the evaluation, practically running around now! She still struggles with balance a LOT, but she is no longer afraid to try. Her speech still sounds whacko to me, but I now feel this is just “normal” and she will get it. We will still see the neurologist for the 3 months follow up appointment just to be sure she is on target then. Other than that-she has been discharged from any therapy and follow up appointments due to her progressing development.

The evaluator came to our house and she was awesome-doing the job I was once trained to do back in college, we really enjoyed talking together! We talked about what I do with her through Tot School and she agreed with me that it has probably helped her tremendously! Ladybug had the ladies literally speechless when she stacked 10 blocks {expected is 6 for her age}, put together a complex bug puzzle {one of ours because the one the lady brought was way too easy for her}, and pointed to all 10 of the images on her cards. The evaluator said in all of her years as an evaluator she has never had a child 3 and under point to all 10 {the 2 they usually miss were flag and leaf-which she got}. She showed L her cards and asked her “show me the___” and L found them all! I must admit it was really nice to see the evaluator {who I felt was VERY knowledgeable and qualified} go nuts with excitement over L’s abilities!!! We have been focusing so much on what she couldn’t do, I wasn’t even noticing all of the amazing things she CAN do, and do very well!

Since the evaluation, we have just been practicing her gross motor skills, with things like these and more.

It is so nice having her at home with me so I can give her what she needs each day. She is already trying to jump, and is just starting to “run” a tiny bit. She seems to acquire new physical skills daily now! We are praying her development is on the right track, but if we have a setback, we are ready!!

Thanks for following along with her and praying for her journey, we are in awe of how far God ahs brought her since we first began. Even the neurologist said she couldn’t believe how far she had excelled based on her initial evaluation.

Lil Stinker

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:36:00 +0000

Yup, she had her ultrasound in the morning ~ SCREAMED her way through it, and by the evening had decided she was ready to walk like a champ again. Lil’ stinker didn’t take a step for over 8 days and we finally get the ball rolling again and she decides to get going again. We are thrilled either way- even if her timing is NUTS.

The ultrasound was clear, and our pedi. still doesn’t know she is back to walking again. I will call her on Monday to tell her. We are fairly certain now that Ladybug just has a mind of her own and is making the choice not to walk sometimes. Our developmental evaluation will be 1/20 and her next neurologist appt {with our new neuro.} is 1/13. We won’t be doing anything else until then.

Thanks for your prayers for our little stinker. If this is any indication to her strong will in the future, we need all the prayers we can get!!! ha ha!

Back to the Doc…

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:56:00 +0000

I am sad to say that things have gone downhill for Ladybug this past week. She has stopped walking almost completely and is back to how she was before the amazing day she began walking {12/16}. She walked strong and progressed daily for about 6 days. She even got to the point of walking across whole rooms on her own and even doing successful U-turns ;-). She was getting more and more steady and although it was delayed-the progress seemed normal. She was so proud, so cute, and doing so well…

We have been in a bit of denial, hoping it was just a fluke, but now after over a week we knew we needed to make the call. She started slowing down and this photo on 12/21… is the last we remember her walking and even then it was only a few coerced steps. I “denied” it even to the point of my husband forcing me to finally call today, as I didn’t want to deal with the possibility that things are back at square one. But, I made the call to our great pedi. and things are all back on go, and they are going fast once again.

She will go in tomorrow morning at 8:00am for her abdominal ultrasound and then her blood work after that {Daddy is going to take her and I will stay home with the boys}. I will be calling to set up her physical therapy at the hospital and we will get the urine lab ASAP.

It still could be “nothing” and we haven’t given up hope that maybe the turnaround is a bit of a fluke—but the reality is things aren’t progressing normally. We will keep the blog posted as always with any news or results. Thanks for your prayers for our girl. Hopefully she’s just stubborn and prefers to knee-walk, we’re still hoping!

GOOD, GOOD News!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Look what she did today…

Yup, she walked, a LOT!!!! She did it much more than usual this morning, but since usual is about 3-7 steps per week if we are lucky, I didn’t get too excited. When my husband got home, we both worked with her and she just took off and loved it! She was smiling, happy, and NOT refusing like she normally does!!!

We are praying this is a BIG day for her and that this might be a turning point, but are obviously aware that there still could be issues. We are going to wait to call PT until tomorrow to see how she does, but will continue forward with everything else. We are so excited, I have tears in my eyes as I type this!!!!

She is so proud of herself!!! It is awesome to watch! We are a tad bit proud of her too!!!!

Thanks for your prayers for our girl, we are so grateful!!!

Physical Therapy & More

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 04:06:00 +0000

We have done a pretty good job of carrying on with normal life while also knowing that the unknown is still looming near us. I finally talked with our pedi. on Monday morning who by today {Wed.} still hasn’t heard back from our neurologist to consult and then explain things to us. Needless to say, we have the gears in motion to see a different neurologist. Turns out our pedi. found an old friend she did residency with who is on the neurology team, and has offered to see us. We are so thankful for this news and are now waiting for her call.

I did get the ball rolling on a full developmental assessment as we now feel she may have some speech delays too, as well as her physical delays. We are waiting 4-6 days for the coordinator to call us to schedule the evaluation.

In the meantime Ladybug will begin physical therapy, I will call tomorrow to set that up at our children’s hospital. We are excited about this not only for the therapy, but also so someone else, who is trained, will see her on a regular basis and be able to offer opinions also.

We will get the labs done on Monday, and also schedule her abdominal ultrasound for next week. We are holding off on the ENT and Ophthalmology appts. until we consult with the new neurologist.

We are anxious to get copies of her lab work and her MRI report so we can study the results ourselves. Both my husband and I are feeling very proactive about this and want to understand every detail about the situation that we are able to.

We have spoken a lot about this together and once again it seems a medical situation is drawing us closer together. Back when he had cancer, we were united in a way I could never describe to anyone else. The same thing is happening now. I am SO thankful for our unity in things like this, as I am very aware that medical situations often drive a wedge into marriages. I just pray that the unity grows.

Ladybug continues to be a joy and has even taken a few random steps this week. She did this right before her MRI also, but within a few steps she goes right back to refusing to even try, drawing her legs up under her and screaming. Even when she does take steps, they are so unbalanced and off.

Her development in other areas continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She continues to amaze us with her sign language {we own and watch 1, 2, and 3}, and has a wide “vocabulary” when asking her to point to certain things. She just can’t actual say any of it! It makes us very happy to know how much she actually understands.

Speaking of her development, I am SO thankful for this blog and the weekly “What I Love About You” posts I did. I was able to go back through and document almost all of her major milestones because of those posts. I now have my list all ready when we meet with the next doctor, and anyone else.

One developmental milestone she has certainly hit, and hit it awhile ago ~ the lovely temper tantrum…

The girl can definitely scream! She’s even cute when she does that. I think she was mad that I was taking her picture and not picking her up ;-).

Unclear News…

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:25:00 +0000

I finally spoke with our neurologist and he was extremely vague with me. Thankfully our pediatrician is awesome and had already shared some specifics with me, but he did not. I am anxious to speak with our pediatrician on Monday knowing that she will help me understand what he {the neuro.} really thinks.

The details we know for sure…

She has “non specific” Delayed Myelination in her brain {in the cerebellum}. Myelin is the protective coating around the nerve that helps transmit nerve signals properly and fast enough. This is related to all sorts of syndromes and conditions, many of which we have already ruled out through blood tests. Some have not been ruled out and we will be exploring those. The neuro. himself never even mentioned this which was frustrating that he didn’t share details but was very vague. We got the actual terminology from our pediatrician who called us on her own to discuss the finding with us.

The Neurologist has ordered the following steps…

Abdominal Ultrasound {looking for a benign tumor that could affect something having to do with balance}
Urine test {this is to rule out a “metabolism of glucose in the brain” problem that is easily treatable}
Another blood test
Ear, Nose, Throat Dr. Appt.
Ophthalmologist Appt.
Follow up Neurology appt. ASAP so he can reevaluate her in person.

We are peaceful and will continue with the road, knowing that it sill could be “nothing” and also that whatever it might be could easily be healed by the Lord before we ever even give it a name!!! We are also at peace knowing that this may be the beginning of a long unknown journey. No matter what-God will be with us and we will be fine. We are not fearful or worrisome people. We do get anxious about the unknown but not in a fearful way. We just like knowing answers, no matter how bad the answers may be.

I hope to talk to the pediatrician on Monday and hope to understand more of exactly what they are looking for now. Hopefully I can call and get her in soon for the other appointments she needs.

As for Ladybug herself, she is doing just fine! She spent the day after her MRI sleeping mostly and now she is back to normal. She continues to walk on her knees and will occasionally pull up to stand.I have tried getting her to walk some but since the MRI she has refused completely. She pulls her legs under her and screams.

Her spirits are high and she is happy and smiling mostly! Knowing she is not in any obvious pain has relieved us a lot.

Ladybug’s Journey…

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:19:00 +0000

We have a bit going on medically with our little Ladybug and know that some of you have been loving her from afar since she was born! We also know many of you are prayer warriors and will lift her up for us, so we decided to share her journey here on her blog as it unfolds.

A bit of her back story to bring you up to speed…

At her 15 month appointment her physical development came into question since she wasn’t yet walking. I wasn’t concerned at all since Pac Man didn’t walk until 15 1/2 months. Time passed and she began starting to actually walk around 17 1/2 months and progressed for a few weeks. She was never a solid walker but could make it a good ways on her own. We even have several videos of her walking on her own!

Then, a few weeks later, she just stopped walking. She refused to walk at all and even cried when we tried to encourage her. She only walks on her knees, and uses that as her main mode of transportation now.It was then that my instincts told me there was something going on.

We had her regular check-up at the pediatrician on 11/9/10 {almost 19 months}. Our thoughts were confirmed and there is great concern that she is experiencing something that is affecting her physically. She will barely even put her feet down and 99% of the time will not even attempt to walk now if we try to motivate her. She will stand up holding onto something and pull to standing, but just won’t walk and doesn’t even pull up as often as she used to.

We then saw a neurologist, and were very thankful for her pediatrician pulling strings to get us an appointment ASAP in a department that usually takes several weeks to get in.

The neurologist referred her to an orthopaedist to rule anything physical {broken bones, infection} out and we saw him within days and he ruled everything out within 15 minutes. We were back to neurology and proceeding with scheduling an MRI.

Her first MRI was scheduled for 12/1/10 but she was coughing and had a runny nose so they had to cancel it. Her second MRI was scheduled for 12/9/10 and that one happened.

It was a long day, as we expected it would be. They took images of her brain and spine so she had to be sedated via IV for over 2 hours. We are blessed to live near one of the best children's hospitals in the country, and they were wonderful.

She spent much of her waiting, crying and watching TV, she doesn’t like medical situations and can smell them a mile away!

She was given a liquid sedative that made her very loopy and it was actually quite funny! Then they put the IV in and she was a trooper for that. She was very interested in the contraption on her hand and was a bit ticked off that she couldn’t suck that thumb {thankfully she sucks both}.

She came out of the MRI about 2 hours later and was very irritable once she finally woke up. We went home within 30 minutes of her waking up and she slept all night peacefully.

Our AMAZING pediatrician has been on top of things from the beginning and has been calling us at home to support us through this process, we are SO blessed. She called us at home the night of the MRI to tell us the initial findings. We were VERY thankful to hear it wasn’t the worst we knew it could be-a tumor, cancer, or a major spinal problem. They did however, find something in her brain, and we are waiting on the call from the neurologist to give us the details. I will share that once we have them, he is supposed to call soon.

I will be keeping this blog updated for anyone who wants to follow her journey and pray for her as we walk this road. I also know that there may be someone out there struggling with the same things and I know our story could be used by God to encourage someone out there. We share because it is God’s story.

Ladybug is a true joy in so many ways, such a blessing to our family. I know many of you feel close to her by sharing in her life through Tot School. Thank you for loving her from afar.

She is signing “Thank You”

~I am tagging these posts “Ladybug’s Journey” so if you ever want to read all of them, just click on that tag and it will pull up all of her medical posts.

Need some new cloth?

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Just in case anyone is in the market for some new cloth, I thought you might like to hear that my FAVORITE cloth diaper retailer is having a great sale, and some of the diapers I love are included!!

I am having a hard time not buying the new bumGenius 4.0 snaps myself, but I am holding back, knowing we are almost done.!

Many other items are included in the sale, just click here to see the rest!

Happy Cloth Shopping!

Cloth Diapering {rash} Update

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:23:00 +0000

I can’t thank you all enough for your continuing comments and concern to check and see if Ladybug’s rash has been taken care of! Good news-it has! I am still not 100% certain, but I think her wipes solution and probably leftover residue soap from the recalled Rockin’ Green we had might have been the issue.

Right now, we are still using Rockin’ Green {the Bare Naked Babies Classic}, and are using disposable wipes. We are using cloth about 75% of the time and using disposables also. If we notice any hint of redness we stick her in a sposie and then put her back in cloth when it’s gone. My husband is preferring the disposables right now so I am not fighting it. I use almost 100% cloth, when I change her.

One great item we have begun to use is Grandma Els diaper cream-I LOVE this stuff and wish I had found it sooner. It is awesome and doesn’t smell nasty AND is safe for cloth!!!!!

Ladybug is 19 months and we are praying she might potty train earlier than the boys did as we have seen many baby girls we know begin around or even before age 2! We’ll see! But for now, we have the diaper thing under control!

Oh and I still just adore Squishy Tushy-Teresa was a big help in figuring things out!

So Upset…

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:22:00 +0000

I have confirmed completely that Ladybug has a continual rash when wearing her cloth. I have been around and around trying to figure it out, and honestly making every excuse in the book to justify that it was NOT the cloth dipes. BUT, the truth has been revealed.

We went out of town for 17 days and for various reasons, I decided to just buy a box of Huggies. Within a week her rash was completely gone…although I still thought it was a fluke.

We arrived home and she was right back in cloth. Within 48 hours her poor hiney is bright red again. I am devastated.

I have stripped, soaked, washed the dipes…everything. I SO don’t want to give up, but I don’t have the time to research so extensively and try a million things.

My husband did mention tonight that it may be her wipes solution and not the actual dipes. I am praying this is it. I am going to keep her in cloth while using disposable wipes for now to see if maybe that is it. If it isn’t, I have no clue. The thought of spending money week after week on disposables makes me sick.

Anyone who has any advice, please let me know.

We use Rockin’ Green {most recently using up the regular bags I got last Christmas-cookie scent I think}
Wipes solution is this one.
Our wash routine is listed at the bottom of this post.

I SO don’t want to stop using my cloth, but I can't stand seeing her in pain.

~edited to add, this has been going on for several months, to the point that she has been to the doc for it! We air out all the time, change often, and have done the norm to fix it. She even has a prescription to clear up the open sores when they popped up.

What I Love About You ~ 15 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:27:00 +0000

~15 months~

~June 15-July 14, 2010~

I LOVE…

…how much fun you were while we were at the beach! You crossed the 14 month mark while we were there! Here are a few of my favorite pictures and memories from our week…

You LOVED your little baby pool, and I LOVED your BIG smiles and gorgeous eyes!!!

Riding on the golf cart was a favorite of yours, you and Daddy took quite a few rides!

Speaking of Daddy, you simply ADORE him {the feeling is mutual}

Daddy gave you your first popsicle…you weren’t too fond of it!

You had tons of simple fun in the beach house while others were at the beach ;-)

You did make it to the beach once and were pretty cute while there!

You made your pulling up debut on the very last day at the beach!

You were a dream child while at the beach, all the way until the last night when I snapped this awesome shot of adorable YOU!

{Back at home} I LOVE…

seeing you pull up and cruise around

seeing how much you enjoy your brothers’ room

Your sprouty piggy tails…

Your sweet blue eyes…

The way you giggle and smile…

How much you love your yummy green smoothies!

Seeing you stand up and cruise around…

Having your face to peek back at while in the car…

Seeing you use a spoon for the first time…

Your cheesy faces…

Pictures of you and me…

Your funny hair after taking a day of piggy tails out…

Seeing Daddy do the towel sling-swing with you for the first time…

Your sense of humor…

Your sprouty side-ponytail…

How much you love MY birthday cake ;-)…

Seeing you take your first hand-holding steps…

Hearing you say “WOW”…

How proud you are when you do something cool {like stacking rings}

The way you love to just play on the living room floor with Daddy when he comes home from work…

The way you destroy our schoolroom…

How sweet you are when you are sleepy and relax watching Elmo or Praise Baby {and of course that adorable thumb and the way you pet your nose when you are super tired}…

How much you adore our dishwasher magnets…

Your love for books…

Seeing you with your Baba when he visited..

Ladybug, as always-YOU ROCK! We simply adore you and are so very thankful to call you our daughter!!!!!

Awesome Amazon Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:46:00 +0000

Ladybug eats and loves HAPPY BABY Organic Greens Puffs, we usually pay anywhere from $3-4 per container. Amazon has them on their Friday special TODAY ONLY at a great price, we just ordered them!!! I just had to share in case any of my readers like these too!!!If you sign up for their Subscribe and Save they come down to $2.26 per container…which is a great deal!!!! You can always go in and cancel your subscription at any time, so there is no obligation. We do this and it saves us tons of $$!

They come in a pack of 6, and also have the banana and apple flavor on sale {but we only use the greens flavor}.

What I Love About You ~ 14 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:31:00 +0000

~14 Months~

So, Mommy gets the slacker award for completely forgetting to write your 14 month post, and now you are already 15 months. So instead of trying to remember all of the details, I will recap your month with my many favorite photos from 13-14 months, and minimal words ;-)!

I LOVE…

Your dreamy eyes…

Your clapping skills…

Your precious tongue…

The chubby arms and belly, accentuated by summer tank tops…

Your precious hair sprout…

Daddy teaching you to stick out your tongue…

Your love of books…

Your awesome gappy teeth…

The way you light up when Daddy comes home from work…

This awesome orange romper of yours, it’s probably my favorite summer outfit!!!!

Snuggling with you outside on Memorial Day…

How much you enjoy your tiny baby pool…

How much you REALLY ENJOY your Daddy…

How much K loves you and took care of you while at our church block party…

How funny the two of you are together, especially when you get feisty! Seeing you with P, and his sweet love for you…

Your bow collection and how you like to play with them…

The thumb {yup, still cute}…

Seeing you with Kirsten when she was here for a visit…

How much you adored your family while at the beach with them…

You rock Ladybug!!!!!

Cloth Diapering…1 year later

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:21:00 +0000

It has been over a year of cloth diapering for us and I figured it was time for an update! Here’s some of the questions I would have asked a mom myself when I was learning, so I will answer them below in case it could help anyone out!

Here are all of the diapers I own listed in order of favorite to least favorite…

AppleCheeks {size 2}-my absolute favorite-I wish I had more, I only have 1. I waited too long to try these and couldn’t justify the cost once I found them. You can see my review here.
BumGenius OS 3.0-although the velcro is annoying at times, I still love these diapers. They are the ONLY things I use at night. These make up a majority of our stash.
BumGenius FLIP-LOVE these for so many reasons. We own many inserts and I actually use the Flip inserts in my BG 3.0 covers and my Flip covers. LOVE that they can lay on top—so much easier!
Knickernappie OS Pocket-I only have 1 but I really like it! See my review here.
FuzziBunz OS Pocket-we have 4 of these and I do like them a lot. They were perfect for my older son at night when he was potty training. They enlarged bigger than our other adjustable dipes. Ladybug doesn’t wear her FB much, but I am sure she will when we get to that stage with her!
BumGenius Organic OS AIO-I am not a big fan of the AIO-it takes longer to dry.
Happy Heinys-like it fine, just don’t love it. We have it in black, with snaps.
Monkey Doodlez AIO Medium-I really don’t like this diaper and it was way expensive, so glad I only got one to try! It’s super cute, I just personally don’t like the All-In-One aspect of it, I prefer the inserts to come out, makes me feel “cleaner.”

If I could buy diapers all over again knowing what I know now, here’s what I would get…

5 pack bumGenius 3.0-use mainly for nighttime
2 kits of Flip (that makes 4 covers and 12 inserts)
The rest AppleCheeks ;-) as many as I could afford!
maybe a Knickernappie or FB for color selection-I really like our brown and black diapers-they are cool.
PREFOLDS-if I had it to do all over again I would definitely try prefolds and covers early on. I could have saved a lot more money!

What about accessories?

Diaper Sprayer-yes love it. We have this one and it is great.
FuzziBunz Hanging Pail-we have 2 that switch out and I love them although the zipper did break on one, but I still love it and use it.
PlanetWise Wet/Dry Bags-yes love them. I use one for travel and one in our kitchen for dirty bibs and towels ;-)
Fleece Liners-we have about 10, use them for when she wears diaper creams. They are great and cheap.
Disposable Liners-I use these but don’t really like them. I only use them if we are traveling and I am afraid she might poop ;-). I don’t like how rough they feel, but they do the job.
Cloth Wipes-yup, we use them 90% of the time, with Seventh Generation wipes as a backup if we need them! I love our BabyKicks sets {we have 2 sets of those}, and my mom made us a bunch of custom wipes…we use all of them! We also still use the same wipes solution.

The perfect wash routine for us…

RockinGreen. Period. I wish I had started with this {I began with Charlie’s Soap}. It is simply the best cloth diaper detergent out there, I am convinced. I do think we’d be better off with the new Hard Rock version they have now, but we are still using up our Classic Rock.
Here’s my routine {we have a front loader}…
- cold wash no soap, low spin
- HOT wash, 1 tblsp RockinGreen {set to heaviest cycle with highest spin}
- hang to dry if sunny, or hang covers inside on stair railing and dry inserts in dryer if I must.

Where to Shop?

I only use Squishy Tushy, the customer service is wonderful and always has been. It was a blessing to find a retailer online who not only had great prices but also great support!

Blogs I have learned the most from…

We only CD, unless we are on vacation and CAN’T wash diapers. Most vacations we can, so we have CDed even when away and it is fine. You can see the rest of my cloth diapering here.

I plan to CD until Ladybug is potty trained, and then plan to use cloth training pants. I am so thankful for all of the money we have saved! I was a HUGE skeptic of cloth diapering, but now I recommend it to everyone!

What I Love About You ~ 13 months

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:34:00 +0000

~13 months~

I LOVE…

I love how you are becoming a little girl right before our eyes. You are no longer a baby, but a curious and entertaining little tot!

I love your stick-up hair, that is much longer now and sticks way up!!

I love your thumb{s}, you don’t care which one and you don’t suck it all the time, just when you need it.

I love that you got to meet your Great Uncle Jeff, and my cousin Lane. It was sad that you never got to meet your Great Grandma Willie, but seeing them was such a blessing.

I love how cute you looked in your bathing suit when Nanee and I took you swimming at the hotel

You loved the pool, it was precious!

You have changed so much since turning 1. You crawl everywhere and love to follow us around. Sometimes it’s cute, sometimes not ;-). You have gotten a bit more clingy and love to be held. For awhile I thought you were going to wean yourself and now you have become a bit of an addict if I must be honest. I am not sure what to do with you, but for now-we continue to nurse together about 3 times per day. You are an amazing eater-one of your favorites being fish! I make you super loaded yogurt {all organic, filled with avocado, berries, banana, kale, coconut milk, and sometimes more} and you gobble it up. You adore your brothers and they make you laugh. You love when Daddy comes home and are wonderful with both of us, it’s great.

You are such a blessing, such a wonderful part of our family, we love you!!!!

Ladybug’s Birthday Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:53:00 +0000

I got a few comments and emails asking me to share Ladybug’s birthday gifts! So here ya go!

Fisher Price Stacking Vehicle Ice Cream Truck

Fisher Price Laugh n Learn Purse

Step2 Toddler Swing

She also got a few things that are “new to her” {we have no problem shopping at consignment sales for birthday gifts!}…

We got this awesome toy for less than $25!!!

This adorable {and tiny} horse was only $5!!! She can’t ride it quite yet but she’s close!

She also got a few puzzles from the consignment sale too!

What I Love About You ~ 1 Year!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:28:00 +0000

~1 Year~

We spent your birthday week away on a cruise! I don’t know many 1 year olds who can say they celebrated their first birthday that way! It was a joy to celebrate with you and to have you with us on the trip, you were a dream baby! I loved so many special moments with you!

I LOVE…

what a sweet and well behaved traveler you were. You sat in your own seat in a seatbelt ;-) and just smiled and laughed the entire plane ride. You were amazing! {and I just adore your little stick-up pony tail too}

all of your fancy dresses you got to wear on the cruise, you were so cute all dressed up!

your sweet INKY ;-) and how cute you were with it the night Nanee bought it for you

playing with you in the cabin. You stayed with me and Daddy and we loved our *only child* moments with you!

your adorable teeth. You have about all the rest coming in right now and while we were on the cruise. They did make you a tad grumpy at times but overall you are handling it beautifully.

how cute you were with the waiters. Our head waiter, Hakan, just loved you and always came to play with you! You drew loads of attention wherever we went, strangers even stopped to take pictures of you-it was crazy!

the 3 generations of ladies! I simply LOVE that you look a lot like Nanee!

how you try to stand up now…but just barely!

seeing you with your Nanee and Baba. Those moments are priceless to me, I miss having you around them regularly so trips like these are simply beautiful and I love the time you spend getting to know them!

how cute you were in your swimming suits {especially this one} and how good you were in the pool!

how cute you were always putting your feet up in the stroller…

your cute little self in the Ergo. I love wearing you and seeing Daddy wear you!

how much you LOVED bread on the trip. I let you have way too much, just so we could eat dinner in peace each night!

seeing you learn to play with my iPod. You are so cute with the little baby games!

seeing you get to spend TONS of time with your Daddy!

your little pool/umbrella set-up at the beach! You stayed like this for about an hour!

how generous you were, letting your brothers open all of your bday gifts for you!

how precious you were for the 15 minutes you slept like this on the flight home!

having YOU in our family!!! You complete us and we couldn’t love you more!!!!

You are simply an angel and I honestly cannot believe a year has gone by. It has been the fastest year of my life, probably because it’s been one of the best. I have enjoyed this past year and look forward to the year ahead!

What I Love About You ~ 50/51 weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:00:00 +0000

~50/51 weeks~

I LOVE…

your big huge smiles, and your gorgeous eyes.

having you with us to dye eggs this year, even if you weren’t very impressed with it all.

the way your brother LOVES you and is always excited to teach you new things and love on you.

how much you enjoyed the easter grass…

how much you did NOT enjoy this food ;-)

how cute you are in your swing…

how cute you are in my swing…

that you are finally attempting to hold your own cup-even if just for a second.

how you sit and wait for someone to serve you mostly, we call it being your “cup-bearer”

how cute you are finally up on all 4s, making small crawling moves!

your cute spring-y self outside!

a picture of you and me…I always love those!

Daddy helping you find Easter eggs…

your thumb, yup, still cute.

Ladybug, I can’t believe you are almost one! This has been the most amazing year because YOU ARE SO AMAZING!!!! Thanks for being YOU!

I will not be doing a linky anymore, although if you ever want to share a post, please leave me a comment!

What I Love About You ~ 48/49 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:17:00 +0000

~48/49 weeks~

We are getting dangerously close to that 52 week mark, I am in shock. Just weeks away from my BABY being 1. AHHH, where has the time gone? Just yesterday you were teeny-tiny and now you are becoming more and more like a little girl each day.

I LOVE…

your adorable smile, chubby cheeks, 2 little teeth {still the only ones}, and your spikey {only in the middle on top} hair!

seeing you in the midst of the school room action…

having you actually participate with us during family Bible time, you loved the Resurrection Egg lesson!!

seeing you finally WAVE!!! We have been trying for so long and you finally do it consistently to say bye-bye- and hi!

how much you adore Buddy…

…he even sits by you on his own AND lets you love on him. He loved the boys as babies too, but he seems to love you even more!

the way K loves to play with you now. He couldn’t even make it past your room on his way to get his jammies on without a pit-stop to play with his L-bug.

the way you love to play with your toys, you are amazing and will sit by yourself for so long {but you usually have a playmate cuz we can’t stand to be away from your cuteness for very long}.

the way you sit with your left leg bent backwards most of the time…

your messed up hair in the morning after you had ponytails in the day before ;-) this shot doesn’t even really show it, but it is so stinkin’ funny!

seeing you explore new things in your Tiny Tot School time. The easter grass was a favorite to watch!

your new swing! We gave you your birthday present early cuz we couldn’t stand to wait when it was already warm! You love it!

how chill you are. One night last week you woke up at 9pm {very unusual for you}, and we brought you downstairs and you sat with us for about 30 minutes like this and then went back to bed. The boys would NEVER do that, we soaked up every moment!

your new spring clothes, I especially love these little skirts, they are long, ruffly, and have shorts hooked under them {and they were only $4 from Target!}. And no, we don’t worry if bows are the same color, Daddy suggested to do your piggy tails mismatched this day ;-).

the way you pet your face and head while you nurse. You used to just leave your hand open on your face, and now you pat yourself and pet your cheeks and hair!
how much you love taking a bath, you swim on your belly for most of the time and just move all over the tub and giggle!
your chunky sweetness. I love your things, your wrinkles and rolls, your pudgy hands and feet. You are so wonderful to snuggle.
how much you love to read, I often find you with one of your books from the toy basket, and you are flipping through the pages.
your army crawl. You still just scoot on your belly but you are much faster now that it has been a few weeks!
seeing your little head peek over your crib as you push way up on your belly to see us when we come in! Daddy even found you sitting up once last week!

Your typical day…You sleep well and have for a very long time. You go to sleep around 6:30-7pm and wake between 5-8am. If you wake on the earlier end, you’ll lay right back down and either play in your bed or fall back to sleep {I am one blessed Mommy}. You take 2 naps on most days, although some days only one. Either way you are never grumpy and are extremely flexible. You eat 3 meals a day and love to eat finger foods. Your favorites are bread with smeared avocado on it, eggs, peas, pasta, greens puffs, yogurt bites. You love to try things straight from our forks too. You are still breastfed, nursing 3-4 times per day. You drink water from a cup, but not much.

What I Love About You ~ 46/47 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:15:00 +0000

~46/47 weeks~

I LOVE…

seeing you scoot! You started scooting just minutes before this photo was taken, and have perfected your army crawl over the past week!

when you stop and gaze into my eyes.

seeing you play with Daddy.

how much fun it is for you when Pac Man feeds you

the sweet relationship you are developing with K. He is so wild, yet so gentle and loving with you. My 2 littles…makes my heart melt to see you two playing together.

seeing K take care of you…

seeing you in a SUN HAT. After all of this snow, it was such a joy to have you out in the sun these past few days!!!!

seeing you really figure out how to move. You are really trying now!

feeding you. Seriously, you are almost always a joy to feed. This was your first day with an entire meal on a plate. You gobbled up tiny chunks of cucumber, avocado, tomato, and whole wheat pasta spirals!

seeing you explore new things in Tiny Tot School with us. You loved the bells and the ping pong balls!

how much you LOVE K’s little men.

your piggy tails {still}

how independent you are. You will play by yourself for SO long, but always light up when someone plays with you!

your thumb.

seeing you imitate us, you are SO funny!

seeing you play with P…

how MUCH you LOVE books. You are such a little page turner-it is so sweet.

your gorgeous eyelashes

your amazing giggle.
hearing you say MAMA, and DADA!
the little fish noise you make.
seeing you swim on your belly in the bath.
your incredibly adorable chunky thighs.
how you shake your head no-no.

Ladybug, you are amazing to us. You are such a sweet and gentle spirit, bringing smiles into any room you are in. I don’t know how I get anything done all day, you are very distracting with all of your cuteness. We adore you sweet girl.

Wanna link up? Share what you love about your child (any age), link to your direct What I Love About You post! Feel free to copy the What I Love button!

What I Love About You ~ 44/45 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:00:00 +0000

~44/45 weeks~

I LOVE…

the way you curl your tongue, all-the-time!

your crooked mouth look…

how funny you were with your no-smile face while I tried to take your 10 month portraits.

…you just wanted to chew on the bear…

…and when I took the bear away, this is what I got.

that your brothers wanted to have their picture taken with their sissy.

how cute you are playing in your saucer…

how you giggle when we help you “walk”…

how much you LOVE to read, both by yourself and with others…

that you finally seem to realize that you can move. You don’t move yet, but you are at least aware now! {we secretly love that you are a late crawler, life is much easier!"}

how much Pac loves to play with you…

your first piggy tails!!!!!!!!!

Daddy dancing you to “Pharoah, Pharoah” during our weekly family Bible time…

that you finally drank a significant amount of water from your sippy cup…months after introducing it to you! You finally get it!
the way you have begun to copy our actions. You still won’t clap yet, but you are just starting to wave and you will bang, bang if we do it first!
how much you are loving real food. If it is from Mom or Dad’s fork, you want it.

Love you sweet girl!!!

Wanna link up? Share what you love about your child (any age), link to your direct What I Love About You post! Feel free to copy the What I Love button!

What I Love About You ~ 43 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:48:00 +0000

~43 weeks~

I LOVE…

how cute you are in the middle of all of the action! Won’t be long and you’ll be running around with them!

how well you play by yourself. You will sit with a few toys and entertain yourself for long periods (unless you are having a fussy-teething-moment).

seeing you go at your food sucker thingy. You love bananas, and pears…avocado-not so much!

your long-only-in-the-middle-on-top hair.

the way you roll your tongue. It really amazes me, I can’t even come close to doing what you do! You also make the most awesome noise with it…I have never heard another baby do it!

the way you roll with intention now…I put you in the middle of your room, and you end up over by your toy shelves in no time!

making you giggle. I love that I can almost always get you to laugh and smile, I just love being your mommy.

your stick-up ponytail! I just love how it sticks straight up to a little point!

nursing you. I just LOVE that you still like it and have not weaned yourself like your brothers did. I love snuggling you and will miss it when it is done (or no longer snuggly and sweet).
your hands. You always put your chubby little hands up to your face when you nurse and it is my favorite thing. I just stare at the little rolls on your sweet hands and fall more and more in love (as if that’s even possible).
your teeth…well the ones already in your mouth. Can’t really say we love those on their way-they have made you a bit of a grump this past week. One day you didn’t take any naps and cried most of the day…way out of the ordinary for you. We felt so bad for you.
the way you look for Daddy if you hear him from another room. You turn around and go nuts until you can see him…then you just light up and melt his heart!

Wanna link up? Share what you love about your child (any age), link to your direct What I Love About You post! Feel free to copy the What I Love button!

What I Love About You ~ 42 weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:32:00 +0000

~42 weeks~

I LOVE…

your first ponytail!!! The bows were one thing and oh how I loved the first day I got a bow clippy in your hair, but a ponytail…so exciting too! I know I need to mess with your hair now so you won’t grow up fussing over it, so I am getting ya young!
how much you love “real food” I made muffins for you and you gobbled them up!
having you participate in our family Bible time. Even if you do just yell and carry on {a tad bit distracting if I must be honest}, we love having you with us!
having you it with us in the school room and have some Tiny Tot School time! Pac Man loves to “teach “ you things and play with you!
watching Daddy make you giggle! You just light up when you see Daddy and it makes me LIGHT UP!

what a big girl you are! You recently had your 9 month appointment and you weighed in almost exactly what Krash was…a nice even 50th percentile score ;-). You weighed 19 lbs 8 oz. Unlike Pac Man who was 24 lbs!
so much more! Your chunky things, the way you hold your hand on your face when you nurse(still), the fact that you are still happily nursing (your brothers had begun to wean themselves by now), your sweet spiky hair, your big ol’ belly, hearing you say Da Da, how much you love your won voice and have begun to YELL a LOT!

Wanna link up? Share what you love about your child (any age), link to your direct What I Love About You post! Feel free to copy the What I Love button!

What I Love About You ~ 40/41 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:06:00 +0000

~40/41 weeks~

I LOVE…

seeing you swim for the first time! You didn’t love it at first and whimpered a little bit, but soon you were floating around happily!

how well you behaved while we were away on our staff retreat. You were my roommate and you adjusted perfectly! You are so easy!

how funny you were “gagging” on your puffs.

seeing you snuggle with Daddy.

how cute you are when you see yourself in a mirror…

your awesome mowhawk-oh how I will miss your crazy hair when it lays all nicely!

your new big girl clothes! You have moved on to mostly 12-18 months and thankfully our great friend Jill shared some of her daughter’s awesome clothes with you! Thanks Naomi and Jill!

your BIG cheesy grins…

your many food accomplishments in the past 2 weeks. You went from gagging to loving finger foods! You still love your cookies…

…you now love to eat bananas out of the lovely food sucker thingy.

…you even gobbled up scrambled eggs!

seeing you in your first sink bath! After I gave you the food sucker thingy for the first time, you were such a mess I just stuck you in the sink and you loved it! Even Pac Man helped bathe you!

your chunky thighs!

your chubby cheeks, soft hair, silly faces and big blue eyes. You are one of a kind and we simply adore you!

Wanna link up? Share what you love about your child (any age), link to your direct What I Love About You post! Feel free to copy the What I Love button!

What I Love About You ~ 38/39 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Carisa) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0000

~38/39 weeks~

I LOVE…

your new cheesy grins ;-)

seeing you sit and play with your brothers, and seeing how sweet they are to you. We now spend many nights in your room just playing together like this! I Love it!

your awesome mowhawk…

how cute you looked in your little Christmas “outfit” even if we did take your pictures in it after Christmas and I am just now posting them in the middle of January (that’s OK, our decorations are still up too)…

the many other adorable photos Kirsten took of you as she learns to follow in Mommy’s footsteps as a photographer ;-) (I am so proud of Kiki and love that she practices on you!)

your chubby rolls. You are getting more and more roll-y every day and we love it!

how much you love your naked feet. You only grab onto them when they are free from socks and clothes!

how funny you are with your teething biscuits. Some days you barely touch them and other days you are like this…

how sweet you are even when you are snotty. You have had many faces like this for the past week or so as you battle the snotty nose. You have gotten VERY used to the boogie sucker. One night you sadly forgot that you are almost 9 months old and can sleep all night long. You awoke me every 3 hours to nurse, thankfully that is over!

how cute you were with Duke (Nana and Pop Pop’s dog). You loved him so much!

how content you are to NOT MOVE! You are no where close to crawling, even if there is an exciting toy in front of you!

how happy you are in the bath…you are so easy to bathe (except for lifting your heavy self in and out of the tub!)

how much Kirsten loves you and you love her! You really bonded in the month that she was home from college!

how cute you are in your Jumper…

how funny you are when you gag like you are dying when you get an “Organic Greens Puff” in your mouth. You are hilarious and very dramatic. You love to hold them though, and we’ll find them in your fingers for a long time after they are given to you!

the way you snort and breathe heavy in and out, in and out while you make cheesy faces ;-) it’s really funny!
how you twist and roll your hands around when you are excited.
the way you reach for us now.
the little hair finally growing in on your bald spot on the back of your head.
seeing your room all decked out with your many new girly toys you got for Christmas!
how well you sit up now and play alone. You are fine being by yourself and you love people too, it’s wonderful!
seeing you drop a toy and reach over to look for it.
the way you transfer a toy back and forth from hand to hand with intention.
how much you love the little coins that came with your Piggy Bank.
EVERYTHING. Seriously, I could go on all night, I LOVE YOU!!!!

Wanna link up? Share what you love about your child (any age), link to your direct What I Love About You post! Feel free to copy the What I Love button!