The Joys of Parenthood

It has begun-Potty training. In a way, it is pretty easy with Libby. She is not frightened by the potty. She stays dry for a long time. BUT she never initiates the potty. I will ask "Do you need to go to the potty?" She says, "No" or Not yet." I say let's try-5 minutes later she is happily flushing away her "yellow" as she calls it. In time I know she will get it, but man this is harder than it looks!

In other news, Libby is walking without support. She is stiff and steps gingerly, but she is doing it. She is MUCH more upright than she used to be. I am amazed at her determination. She got some new shoes for her birthday and I think that they are definitely helping her keep her feet flat on the floor. I'll try to get some video soon!

Joe is great. He is happy to read a thousand books a day-or sit in your lap and watch Libby. He loves to play with blocks and to put things in and out of boxes/bins. He can say JUICE, HI, and BALL. I think he can say LIBBY too but he doesn't do it often. And as I type, I think his hair has grown an inch on the back of his head.

To end this blog, I wanted to write down a few things that I do NOT want to forget later.

1. Libby says "enbaloop" for "envelope"

2. She now sings what we are doing to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

3. Joe now thinks that walking deserves TONS of praise since we clap and cheer for Libby. He goes crazy for her when she walks and expects the same in return.

4. He gives me a kiss every morning when I go and get him out of bed. And he greets Corey with a "Da" and running hug whenever he gets home from work.

I also want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY Grandma! Today is my Grandma's birthday and she is one of the reasons we have this blog-my grandparents live in Charleston, but like to keep up with the kiddos. I love you and hope you have a great day! P.S. Libby has to use her princess blanket every evening when she watches TV-she loves it!

3 years later

It is VERY difficult to imagine life without our sweet Libby. She is a fixture in our family and it was a lot of fun to celebrate her this year. We had a Dora party-because she asked for it. The same folks who came to Joe's made the trek again (thank you!) to share in the festivities. Corey grilled hot dogs and our parents contributed some sides so that we had a great spread of food. Corey and I made a cake and decorated it like a map from Dora's show. She loved being sung to. She clapped and smiled and "blew" out the candles with very minimal help from me.

Gifts were more fun this year because she understood that they were hers. But she also wanted to get each one out after unwrapping. It was hard to explain that she had to unwrap all of them before we could play. But she loved seeing them and was very grateful!Of course it was a madhouse with all the kiddos here, but it was fun for them to play and interact with each other! Once everyone was gone, Libby settled into her new Dora jammies and got to play with her new gifts-especially her camera and the new additions to her doll house.

Just an aside-my niece Claire bought the wrong size shirts and gave us the youth-smalls for Joe or Libby to have later. Corey thought it was hilarious that both he and Joe could wear them. This picture is the evidence.

Oh the places we've been

We have been doing some traveling to celebrate some very special people's birthdays. Our first trip was to Summersville to celebrate Ainsley Taylor's second birthday. It was great to see the Taylors but a long day in that Joe REFUSED to sleep. He finally fell asleep while I was holding him and I felt every bit of his 26.5 pounds!

Libby and Ainsley got a little time to reacquaint themselves. Libby loved the sand and the bubbles. Ainsley dove right into the water-Libby said it was "to big-a-me". All in all so WORTH the trip. It was the first time all 7 of us have been together since Joe was a newborn.

A few days later we went down to Buckhannon to celebrate Chris (Corey's brother)'s birthday. It was a surprise party and Chris was actually really surprised. It was just family, and so much fun. The Bozic's have a GREAT house and yard that we utilized after we ate. Libby and Aubree rode around in the Barbie Jeep and played ball. Libby loved the swings! Joe was curious about everything. He walked into every room just to make sure that everything was okay. He also ate off of everyone's plate that he could reach. Poor Mia barely got dinner because he kept swiping her food.

All the while, we have been adapting to post-surgery, post-cast Libby. At first she cried every time we tried to get her to stand up. It was discouraging to hear her say that she didn't want to stand up anymore. But Libby isn't kept down for long. We got her splints yesterday and she wears them without complaint. And her first round of therapy started this morning. It was just an evaluation, but I think it let her know that she could stand up again. So tonight she stood of her own accord. Then I took her into my office to use her parallel bars and she took her first independant steps! I was thrilled to say the least and Libby was proud of herself too. We are heading in the right direction. I captured it on video but blogger is being silly. I'll try again later.

Libby's deCASTification and other things from the week

This last week has been a good one. Libby finally adjusted and accepted her casts (of course right before they were coming off). Because of Joe's birthday, there were lots of new toys to capture their attention. My favorite day was when Libby decided that we should all dress up. I got some pictures and they make me smile all the time. This is Joe all done up ala Libby. This will be one of those pictures we bring out to embarrass him for decades to come! Libby gave me a hat and necklace. She was dressed as Princess P from Super Why.Libby also drew her first smiley face (I drew the circle).

This week we had Joe's one year appointment too. He is 26.5 pounds (95th percentile) and 30.5 inches long (75th percentile). He's a healthy baby boy-developing appropriately and right on track. Dr. Tony was very pleased with him! Joe was less than pleased with his vaccinations and finger-stick, but by the next day he was back to his happy self.

Libby's decastification was good. Unfortunately, she was VERY sad to see her princess pants go away. Fortunately, the doctor said that the left leg is straight and the right has less than 20 degrees to go. He seemed pretty confident that physical therapy would help that! After the casts were off she was very sensitive and emotional. It was a rough evening, but she woke up a bit happier. I put her "make-do" splints on and she likes them. Next week we will get her real splints. She hasn't really tried to walk-she is still sore and her muscles are stiff. We'll keep everyone updated on her.