Thursday, march 29

Since we were on vacation last week, every morning Arianna wakes up and asks..."where is daddy?" then asks..."are we going to the Kinneyminneys? She loves spending time with us! I love that. Over the past month she had been rather spicy and feeling her independence. I think she might been feeling a little left out @ times...after our vacation she is starting to want to be around me more. I love it. Before it was all about daddy!

This Saturday night Arianna is having her first sleep over. Her "best friend" Naomi will be spending the night. Her parents will celebrate their anniversary that night. David was the one who suggested for us to keep her overnight. I think it will be a great experience for them! Then Monday she starts dance lessons at the park district. We bought her leotard with ballet skirt and shoes. She is so excited! I am really looking forward to seeing if she likes it! If nothing else she will look adorable in her outfit!

We have been working on Isaac and getting him to sleep through the night. We started by having him fall asleep on his own. He has been doing pretty good so far. Some nights he has cried for a little while. It is difficult to her them cry.. But studies have shown that it makes them better sleepers if they can learn to fall asleep on their own. This way too if they wake up in the middle of the night they can put themselves to sleep without help! LOVE IT!

Have a great Friday!

Spring is here!

The family is on vacation this week. We visited mom and dad starting on Saturday through yesterday. It was a good trip. We visited the zoo and the local children's museum. Mom asked me what I wanted to do on my vacation and we did it... We spent time with my parents and they were able to enjoy their grand kids. They bring so much joy and laughter to them.

Dad and David worked on his 65 corvair. We were able to tow it up to our house so David can drive it this year. It hasn't been working for over a year. I know David is excited to drive it once again.

Today we went to our second NICU follow up. Isaac is right on track with his vocal (speech) and physical development. He now weighs 13.1 lbs. which we think is really good. However he shows up as being in the 5 percentile for his weight. However I had heard that they would have put him on a higher calorie formula if they were too concerned. We are happy with the results. We don't have to go back until July.

Tonight arianna asked for dipping sauce for her carrots. David and I don't typically use dipping sauce for our vegetables. We found some Italian dressing to which after tasting it arianna said "that will work!" she even shared her carrots and dipping sauce with David and I! She is so sweet.

The end of a loooooooooong weekend

Arianna is officially 3.  She had a very successful birthday party on Saturday.  We had three princesses parading around our house.  I realize that 3 year olds don't really play together but separately.  They had a really good time.  They made some princess switchplate covers.  Well, they tried.  It was fun to see them put the stickers on where they wanted to.  Arianna received a beauty set with a curling iron, flat iron, blow drier and things alike.  She has done my hair a few times and just finished styling David's hair.. He loves his little girlie!

My parents were here for the weekend and I think they are amazed at how good Isaac is doing.  I did call Early Intervention to come back and re-evaluate Isaac.  I doubt he will qualify because he is definitely progressing normally as a 3 month old.  He has been moving a lot in his crib, kicking a toy when I have it down by his feet and almost rolling over. We also think he might be able to sit up by himself soon. It is amazing to see how much he has changed. We are planning on getting him dedicated at our church early May. It will be so fun to dedicate him. 

Last night David and I went to a benefit for the school that I work for.  It was fun.  Good food and fun fellowship.  We purchased some open gym tickets during the silent auction so we can take Arianna to one of the local gymnastics gym.  I can tell we need to increase our one on one time with her.  She is showing signs of needing more attention.  We love our three year old and look forward to seeing her blossom.  She is so precious. We can see that when we have fun with Isaac she wants to be right there with us.

Have a great week and enjoy your families.

Where does the time go.

I find. Myself busy with cleaning, laundry, cooking, getting ready for the next day, etc...I have failed to blog. I apologize. I don't have a lot of news...however I know as I type I will think of things.

David took Isaac yesterday to the eye doctor who is seeing great improvement in his eyes. However they are still immature so we will be going back again in three weeks for another check up. He is still quite a happy boy. I realize that Arianna weighs around 26 lbs and Isaac is almost already half of that! He is making up for lost time. I was reminded yesterday of the scripture that says "do nor despise the days of small beginnings!" that is little Isaac! Watch out world, here he comes!

Arianna turns 3 on Friday! It is so hard to believe my little girlie will be 3! We are having a small party for her with only two other girls. She doesn't know yet as she will ask me everyday, is it Saturday? We are having a princess themed party. I think I might create a game of place the tiara on the princess' head, decorate your own tiara, etc. it will only be for a few hours so the girls can have fun and then go home to take a nap. If anyone's knows of a good frosting recipe that doesn't include hydrogenated oils, let me know! I have an organic cake mix but am looking for a better option for the frosting.

Saturday

Yesterday arianna's "nose wasn't working" when she woke up! She has been dealing with this cold today too. Me, Isaac and she stayed home almost all day. We only went out to Walmart when David got home from work. Please believe with us that Isaac will not get sick with this cold. Breast feeding helps his immune system greatly so that is a big plus. When we went to Walmart David played the crane game that you see in some stores. He won arianna two stuffed animals with one quarter. She was extatic to say the least. She kept saying "good job daddy for winning me these animals" David and I thought that the quarter spent to win them was so little compared to the joy we got seeing her hug them!

We will be watching our church service online tomorrow morning as arianna can't go into children's church with the runny nose she has.

I am excited to have a three day weekend this weekend in honor of President's day on Monday! Although, I doubt I can sleep in. This morning as David got ready for work the entire Iverson household was up for the day at 5:30!

The end of a good weekend!

We had a full weekend! Arianna had her best friend over yesterday. It was fun to see them play together. Although I was surprised how possessive she was with her toys. Especially baby Julie. Overall though the girls had a blast and arianna was sad when she left. I had told her the night before that she was coming over. On Saturday morning she woke up @ 5:30 when david was getting ready for work & asked if naomi was here..I love her expectant spirit!

Then last night we were blessed from a couple from our church who babysat while we went out for dinner. They painted ariannas fingernails, played dress up and watched a movie & we werent even gone that long! They ALL had a blast!

Isaac is really getting busy when he is awake! He is staying happy longer and longer! I really enjoy the cooing and laughing! I also love it when he grabs my finger and some of his toys. I don't think he will qualify for the state of Illinois early intervention program again this month! I am ok with that!

The NICU

I forgot to tell everyone that isaac is now wire free! Last friday when he was extremely fussy i had discovered that the probes on his monitorwas irritating his skin. Hoping that was the cause of the fussiness i took him off of the monitor once and for all! He has slept better every night since then! Isaac had a pulmonologist appointment this afternoon and I wasnt certain if he would give me a hard time about deciding to take him off the monitor. He didn't seem to mind. We now have a prescription for the company to come out and remove the oxygen tanks and two other pieces of equipment. I just hope I can find all of the oxygen tanks! I hid them away to keep them out of sight!

After Isaac's appointment we visited the NICU for the first time since leaving on October 30! When we got in the elevator I actually had forgotten what floor I had lived on for 2 1/2 weeks and visited for 2 1/2 months! The nurses couldn't believe their eyes at their little man! A few of them were even excited about his round head. I guess one of their great concerns is to send babies home with round heads. It became clear to me tonight how blessed we were to have such a fabulous team of nurses and staff at the hospital. Truly without their sacrifice and love for their job Isaac wouldn't be the little boy he is today! They couldn't stop smiling at him and loving on him! He was smiling and talking right back! I don't miss the place but I miss the ladies there! We will go back to visit! I just wish David could have gone too. They saw what a great dad he is and even commented on it tonight. I guess it is rare to see dads as involved as David is. They said some parents don't even come to visit....even though it is a tough situation, I could have never left my child there without visiting!