What happened to life getting easier.....its crazy!

Do you ever look at your calendar and think, "How can I possibly fit more stuff on here?" Those were my thoughts today as I left the back specialists office. I spoke with her about Ivy's super sensitive gag reflex, and how she doesn't mouth things like other babies, and she told me that we would have to start working with a speech therapist.

When you think of babies, you think of slobber, and everything they touch being covered in it, right? Thats because they put EVERYTHING in their mouths. Not Ivy, she has never done that. When she picks up the worlds smallest crumb from the carpet, I don't instantly worry that its going straight to her mouth. I don't EVER worry that its going in her mouth, because it never does! Well, this sounds nice, but its actually a bad thing, and we need to fix it. She has what the specialist called an oral defensiveness (as opposed to oral aversion, since she takes a bottle and pacifier), and will now start working with a speech therapist (they work with everything having to do with the mouth, not just speech) to get used to having different textures and flavors in her mouth. Hopefully this will save me from getting puked on everyday, as well as help her gain some much needed weight.

But as I contemplate having yet another person coming by to work with her on things, I can't help but wonder if its ever going to ease up! We now have a huge number of people who want to see her on a regular basis, including: Nurse, physical therapist, back specialist, dietition, social worker, pediatrician, cardiologist, and now speech therapist. It makes for a pretty full schedule, not to mention that Corbin starts preschool next week, needs new glasses, and both boys still need occasional doctors appointments also. I feel like there is never any time for anything else. I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed. I just have to look to the future and think of her as a teenager, holding her head up straight, eating a sandwich (without throwing it up), and getting around as any normal teenager would, and it makes it worth it. And if I think of the alternative of if she hadn't lived in the first place, I am grateful for every appointment, frustration, and even every puke stained shirt there is, because I can't imagine life without her.

Las Vegas/Pirates Cove

Here are a few pics from our trip so far (in no particular order). On our second day here I put our camera in my pocket and then forgot about it and then climbed into the hot tub. We managed to save our SD card even though the camera was ruined. So at least we got some good pics for the first 2 days. Yesterday we went to wal-mart and picked up a new one, so now we can have some pictures from our last two days. I can't stand not being able to take pictures!

Here are two super short videos of some fun stuff!

Our beautiful bounty

Our veggies (and fruits) are coming like crazy now! Last sunday we went out to prune the carrots, so that they could grow better, but the ones we pulled out weren't bad. We also have been getting tons of cucumbers.

One funny thing that happened, we thought we had a few watermelons growing and we were all super excited about it. But today when I went out there to pick tomatoes (24 of them!), I noticed that what we thought were watermelons on Sunday......

Are most definately cantaloupes on Friday! I'm still laughing about it. What a difference 5 days makes! I'm still excited, but Scott....not so much. And yes, that is the exact same one in both pictures.

But on a positive watermelon note, we do have two of them coming in also (from what we had thought was the cantaloupe plant), they are just super little still.

Have you ever REALLY READ nursery rhymes?

Back in December, when Scott, the kids and I were still in Utah staying with Scott's parents, we would read the boys a book of nursery rhymes before bed. When we got to The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, I was shocked and appalled at the words I read. Apparently it had been years since I last heard or read it.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,

She had so many children she didn't know what to do,

She gave them some broth without any bread,

Then whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.

This old woman, with no apparent husband, is a bit promiscuous (in the book many of the children look to be from several different ethnicity's, which suggests different fathers, I'm just sayin') and irresponsibly conceives more children than she can handle. She then beats them and sends them to bed with pretty much empty stomachs. My mouth literally dropped. Its not the kids fault she had so many. Do they deserve to be sent to bed after no real dinner to speak of, and a beating? This is a classic case of child abuse. Is this the kind of thing I want to read to my children?!

After arriving home weeks later, we got out our own book of nursery rhymes, and read them to the kids, and once again came up with a few "gems".

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had a wife and couldn't keep her,

He put her in a pumpkin shell,

And there he kept her very well.

To me Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater screams homicide! Peter didn't like his wife, so he killed her, and possibly buried her body in the pumpkin patch! I'm glad peter isn't my husband.

And finally...

Old King Cole was a merry ol' soul,

And a merry ol' soul was he,

He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,

And he called for his fiddlers' three.

Is this king doing drugs or what? His "pipe" and "bowl" sound like maybe he's got a little marijuana habit! I don't know if I'm going to read this stuff to them anymore.

Do you have any examples of seemingly innocent children's literature that maybe isn't as innocent as you thought?

Our couch is a carnivore

It keeps trying to eat Ivy!

Our Veggies are coming along. We've actually been able to eat some!! We even have 4 watermelons growing, I'm super excited for those!!

Ivy turns 9 months old tomorrow. I can hardly believe it! The 9 months after you have a baby always goes way faster than the 9 months you are pregnant! Anyway, she is doing well. She is still in the 3rd percentile for weight, 8th percentile for height, and 75th percentile for head size (yes, she's a brunson, but it is also good news because it means her brain is developing well). She's just happy and awesome, with a truly inspiring personality. I love that girl!