Catching Up

I have been horrible with my blogging lately (as I knew I would be when I started to blog again).  Life is more busy these days, but oh so wonderful!  Emily is doing great on her Nutramigen.  She started sleeping through the night around 6 weeks (eating at 9:30 pm and sleeping til around 7 or 7:30 am).  She has some nights where she wakes up wanting her paci, but overall she is a great sleeper.  She is an amazing napper.  Her schedule goes something like this:  wake up between 6 and 7 for her first morning bottle.  If she wakes up before 7, she usually goes right back to sleep.  If she wakes up at 7 or after she is usually up for an hour or so.  She eats again around 10:30 or 11.  After that bottle she is awake for about an hour and a half to two hours.  She coos and smiles ALL the time now, and it MELTS MY HEART!  We play, chat, hang out, etc.  :)  She usually goes down for a good nap around 3 and sleeps until about 6 or 6:30 pm.  She then eats and plays until she falls back asleep for a cat nap around 7 or 7:30.  Her last bottle is around 9:30 and then I put her right down for bed.  Her schedule changes depending on when she wakes up in the morning, but for the most part we have her on a good schedule.  I can't believe that next Tuesday my baby girl will be 12 weeks old.  How has time flown by so fast?!  I love cuddling her, smooching her, talking to her, playing with her, etc.  Having an almost 3 yr old, I know how fast this baby stage flies, so I am trying to soak in EVERY moment with Emily.  She is PURE SWEETNESS and I am so thankful for her!

Cadence is a joy as usual!  She is doing wonderful at MMO.  The first week (she goes two days a week) she cried when I left her, but now she gives me a hug and kiss and says, "You can go now, Mommy.  I won't cry."  What a big girl!  :)  She is still the best big sister ever.  She loves to hold Emily, and lay on her play mat with her.  She loves to assist me in everything I do with Emily (except she's not a fan of helping with diaper changes.) haha.  Her favorite things these days are:  barbies, tinkerbell and the fairies, all of the princesses (Belle is her favorite), backyardigans (yes, she still loves them), riding her tricycle (being outside, period!!), singing and dancing (we have frequent dance parties in the playroom), making up songs, coloring, reading books, "helping" daddy cut grass, talk talk talk, tell stories, etc.  She also has an imaginary friend named "Mary."  Mary is small (fits in the palm of Cady's hand), and has pink, orange and purple hair.  One night at supper, Cady started busting out laughing and we asked her what was so funny.  She replied, "Mary is tickling my feet!!"  Man, she cracks us up!  We love her imagination and seeing her creative side come out.  She is the most tenderhearted little girl and is truly hilarious.  She certainly has a mind of her own and is quick witted.  We are truly blessed with two amazing girls!!

                                                        Big girl on her first day of "school"

Go Tigers!!

Sweet baby girl

My little fashionista

That's the smile I LOVE!



Melts my heart

We took Cady camping (Emily stayed with Matt's parents) with my parents and friends and had a blast!  It was muddy the first day so we rocked our rainboots!

                                                                   Me and my Lovies!

                                                                         Sweet girl!

Matt and I took Cadybug to a petting zoo in the mountains and she loved it!  This smile is contagious!



Matt and Cady at "Donuts for Dad" at her school

Update on The Ivester Clan

It has been awhile since I posted because things have been a little rough.  I do not at all want to come across as a complainer or a "negative nelly" in this post.  I just want to come across as real so that I can be honest and transparent about our life the past few weeks.

Little Miss Emily has had quite the rough time here lately.  When she was around 3 weeks old, I noticed that she was gagging a lot when eating and screaming after a bottle.  It took me a little while to realize that maybe she had reflux.  Cadence had reflux, but her symptoms were totally different.  Thankfully, the doctor called us in some medicine and we immediately started Em on Zantac.  We quickly noticed a difference. 

About a week passed and she started screaming again.  When I say screaming, I mean she wouldn't nap.  All she would do was eat and scream (scream the entire day).  It was so pitiful, and it tore my nerves up.  I couldn't play with Cadence or get anything done around the house, because all I could do was try to console my baby girl.  It was rough.  We called back to the doctor and he told us to combine two medicines: Zantac and Prevacid.  We did and she started to feel better. 

A few days passed and she went back to her old self.  Her symptoms from reflux were better and we knew the medicine was working, so we didn't know what could be bothering her.  The doc said to bring her in and they would test for a milk allergy.  If the results were negative, then it was possible she had a milk intolerance.  If so, they would start her on a special (EXPENSIVE) formula.  If her body responded well to that, then we knew the problem.  If not, then she just had bad colic.  Her results came back negative, and even though I was glad, I was frustrated b/c I wanted some concrete answers so that my baby could get better. 

The doctor told us to try her on the formula, Nutramigen.  We started her on it and within a few days all of her symptoms were gone.  She wasn't passing lots of gas anymore.  She was having about 3 poopies a day (on her other formula she was only going about every 2 days).  She started cooing at us and smiling.  She started napping how I thought a newborn should be napping.  She quit having screaming fits.  THANK YOU, JESUS!!

My baby girl is now 7 weeks old, and the past 4 weeks or so have been SO SO hard!  But, I think that things are finally beginning to take a turn for the better.  She still has some moments where I can tell she is some pain, but overall she is WONDERFUL!  Nutramigen is EXTREMELY expensive and it's hard to see how we will be able to afford it.  However, it is what Emily needs and we will do everything we can to provide that for her.  Matt was able to win some on Ebay which helped a ton.  We know that God will provide and we are putting our trust in Him. 

I am so thankful that things are looking up.  I am able to sit and enjoy Emily (and Cadence).  I love seeing her smile and coo.  I love knowing that she is not in pain and that she is able to rest.  Also, sweet girl has been sleeping so good for  me during the night!  The past 4 nights she has eaten at 10 pm and slept til 7:45/8 am.  AMAZING!  I hope this continues b/c I am loving life.  :) 

Cadence is doing great too.  She has not been phased at all by any of this.  She just goes with the flow and loves her sister unconditionally.  She is still a huge help.  She is still sweet and silly as ever.  I love that girl so much!  I am so blessed and I truly adore my sweet little family.  Hopefully now that things have settled down, I will be able to update more about our life.  :)

My girls

Not the best quality pic (it was taken with my phone).  But look at that sweet smile!