A Few Steps Behind

Ashlyn had her one year doctor's appointment a few weeks ago and it didn't go as well as I had hoped. Although I was not surprised what the doctor had to say about Ashlyn's growth and development, it isn't always what you want to hear.

Mariah and Ambria were ahead on most of their milestones when they were younger. Ashlyn, well, not so much. She is taking her sweet time.

The doctor thinks that Ashlyn is 3-4 months behind on many of her milestones for a one year old. Socially, Ashlyn is doing well, but she is behind physically. Of course, she is tiny, she has never been on the growth chart. She formed her "own" curve on the chart but now has slipped off her curve a little. This is no surprise, both sides of the family are petite, but we will try to increase her daily calorie intake. She is having a few feeding issues and difficulty with food textures so we are working on this as well.

Ashlyn also has poor muscle tone in her legs. I am hoping she is just being lazy, and that she just thinks standing and/or pulling up is overrated. The doctor will reevaluate her leg muscle tone in a few months and in the meantime, we will work on strengthening those little legs.

Until then, we will just keep on keeping on with our Little Miss Ashlyn, who brings us more and more joy each day!

Loving the pool

Peek-a-Boo!

A Peaceful Moment

A few hours after I put Ashlyn to bed tonight, she woke up crying so I took her outside.

We peered through the darkness and saw fireflies light up the yard.
We heard thunder rolling in the distance.
We saw flashes of lightning over the mountains.
We felt the wind in our hair.
We heard tree frogs and crickets.
We felt each other's heartbeat as we cuddled under the night sky.

She stopped crying.

ERGObaby Carrier

I have been drooling over the ERGObaby carrier. So, I finally decided to splurge and buy one. I am in love! This carrier is so awesome and easy to use. It is pretty much like having the child ride piggy back and it goes up to 45 pounds. I figured out how to put Ashlyn in it by myself on my back and she really enjoys riding in it. It is also a front and hip carrier, but I think I will probably use it on my back for the most part. I have seen people wear the ERGO everywhere, stores, library, downtown, hiking, and just going for a stroll.

I can't stop thinking about my new purchase and I am so excited. I laughed and asked my husband if it would look funny if I just wore the ERGO with no kid in it. He said probably. :)

Love, love, love my ERGO!

My Gray Toothed Little Girl

A few weeks ago, Ambria took a nose dive onto our hard wood floor and hit her mouth and teeth pretty badly. There was blood, a lot of screaming, fat lips, and toothaches. Her top two teeth were knocked loose so we were hoping the teeth would tighten up and we would go on our merry way.

Well, that was two weeks ago. Now her teeth are still loose and are turning gray. Yikes!!

A trip to a new dentist 35 minutes away, revealed no cracked baby teeth and no cracked adult teeth. Hooray! The dentist is hoping the gray color will fade as the mouth trauma and nerves heal. I am hoping for this too!!

Crusty Old Green Beans

What dried, crusty green beans (or any other miscellaneous food or snot) on my shirt can mean:

*I take care of young kids
*It is a bragging tactic that says: Everyone take note, I feed my kids healthy food like green beans and NEVER junk food :)
*My shirt is a makeshift washcloth
*I need to do laundry
*I have had better days
*Crusty green beans on my shirt is a totally acceptable fashion accessory
*I have worn this shirt two days in a row because I knew I would get some sort of food or snot splattered on me again so why dirty a clean shirt
*I love my kids so much that I have no shame in wearing dried, crusty green beans
*Shoot, I totally didn't know this was on my shirt and I wore it out in public!!

Security Blanket Washing Day

Security Blanket Washing Day can prove to be an interesting day.

It is the day where I sneak the blankie away without the child seeing and I quickly whisk it away into the soap filled washing machine.

It is the day when the "blankie substitute" comes out but is quickly identified as a fraud, and there are tears when the "true" blankie is discovered "missing."

It is the day when I have to secretly disappear into the laundry room to switch the blankie from the washing machine into the warm dryer (because we all know it can be a travesty if the child sees the WET blankie!)

This is the day when you wish the dryer would HURRY UP!

It is the day when cheers from mother and child can be heard from the laundry room when the blankie comes out of the warm dryer smelling fresh again and is returned safely to its rightful owner.

How do I know all this?? How am I a Security Blanket Washing Day expert?
I have been on both sides of this Washing Day dilemma.
I remember my childhood blankie, my green and white blankie with lace on the edges. I remember the slow discinegration as holes appeared in my overly used blankie. I remember the smell of the "fraud" and I remember the feel of the "substitute"

Two of our three daughters have a beloved blanket and I feel their pain on Washing Day.

My name is Jamie, and I am a security blanket expert.

Strabismus-Eye Drops

Ashlyn went back to the eye specialist last week. We have seen some improvements with Ashlyn's eyes and people have recently commented on how her eyes were looking better.

I have still noticed her eyes crossing at various times during the day, especially when she eats and when she is tired.

As noted before, I was having trouble keeping the eye patches on Ashlyn, as she would rip them off as soon as I covered her eye. This was beyond frustrating (probably for her as well). Because of this obstacle, we have not done the patches for the past three weeks. (I know, shame, shame).

So, at the check up, the doctor said that Ashlyn was still favoring one eye. Rather than continue the patches, (aka: rip off these stupid things as soon as my mom puts them on my face) the doctor prescribed some eye drops.

The eye drops are similar to the medicine used to dilate your eyes at the eye doctor. I am supposed to just put one drop in Ashlyn's good eye, which will dilate her pupils and make her vision blurry in her good eye. This will force Ashlyn to keep using her weak eye to see. We have not started the drops yet, so hopefully it will go smoothly and Ashlyn won't get too frustrated while her one eye is blurry. The doctor wants to see Ashlyn again in two months to check her progress.

We are continuing to pray for healing for Ashlyn's eyes and that she continues to show improvement.

Mysterious Sounds

Have you ever been in another room and a toy starts playing random music from a totally different room?

This morning I was feeding Ashlyn and the girls were eating breakfast and all of a sudden, the Leap Frog Learning Table burst out into full song and lights from in the living room. WEIRD!! The table didn't just go through one song or part of a song, it kept playing and playing and playing until we had to turn it off.

Just sayin'. Kinda crazy.

(Added note: I know sometimes toys do this when the batteries are low but I just changed the batteries a few weeks ago. I guess the table just has a mind of its own. Now, if more toys start to do this random music playing.....)

Our Daily Hike

Every day, the girls and I have been taking a walk half way up the mountain behind our home. (We only go half way because we wouldn't be able to make it down the mountain and back to the house without tired legs and whiny girls). The girls are absolutely LOVING this time and they beg me to go for our daily hike as soon as I step out of bed in the morning.

On our walk, we look at the plant life, smell the flowers, observe insects, collect rocks, search for wildlife, listen to the birds, pick up litter, talk about the weather, and our favorite part: taste raspberries and blackberries!

Little do the girls know, we are a walking science lesson. Ha. I guess that is the teacher in me. And another thing, I actually look forward to this time as well. I am enjoying the hike as much as the girls...especially when they want to hold my hand.

I will walk with my girls forever.

Memorable moments with my girls.

Priceless.