Had to post a few pics of the Birthday Girl!

My Lilybear turned 1 today!!!!

My little Lilybear has turned 1. . . I can't believe it's been a whole year already! She has been through so much over the past year, and I know most people say the first year flies by, but if I am completely honest this year has seemed like a lot longer than just one year for us. After NICU for about a week, dozens upon dozens of trips to the hospital in our home province, and the IWK, two trips to an OR, I have completely lost track of how many sets of casts, two different sets of boots and bars. . . on top of all of the other things that a 1 year old normally goes through in a year. My little Lilybear is a trooper, an inspiration, and a little sweetheart! 

Happy Birthday our little Lilybear! Mommy, Daddy, and Peanut Love you Always and Forever! No matter what life throws your way, I know that you will fight and overcome!

Here are some of my favorite photos of your first year:

Your very first Photo!

2 Days Old, First Set of casts

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

 5 Months (Hubby usually doesn't have a mustache. . . Mo-vember ;)

6 Months - Your first Christmas!

 7 Months

 8 Months :)

 9 Months

 10 Months (first real pair of shoes)

 11 Months

 12 Months!

Love you Lilybear! I can't wait to watch you grow over the next year, and many many more to come! xoxo

Update after IWK visit

Sorry for the delay in posting! Lilybear, and my little Peanut have both been sick since our trip on Monday!

So Lilybear's appointment was on Tuesday afternoon. Dr. Logan said her feet are looking great, and our next appointment won't be for another 6 months! He also let us know that he is hopeful that he will have a clinic up and running in our province by then! My hubby and I both feel this is bitter sweet. It will be great not having to pay for the trips over to IWK, but at the same time we will miss the IWK, and we will miss all our friends at RMH!! Peanut will be sad if she doesn't get to go back! :) That just speaks volumes to the staff and volunteers of both places!

IWK Foundation has posted

Please be sure to check it out:

Here is a link to the blog post

http://iwkfoundation.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/feel-good-friday-14/

and they can be found on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/iwkfoundation.

Sleep, oh precious sleep!

I am happy to report that we have been having much better nights as of late. Lilybear is doing very well for sleeping, mostly, through the night! She does wake up on occasion. I think it is mostly that she finds it hard to get comfortable wearing her boots in her crib. I found some interesting ideas on another blog here that I may try for her soon and see if it helps. They are ideas from other parents of club foot children that recommend skipping the "toddler" bed stage, and getting them into a single/twin sized bed for the extra room. For those of you that do not have a babe wearing boots and bar to bed. . . When they roll over they roll farther due to the brace holding their legs apart, and thus can only really roll once and they are hitting one side of the crib or another.

Another interesting point that they made, was all the damage that can be done to walls when they are kicking the wall night after night with the brace on. I would like to also note that I thought of the noise this would cause too! :) Here is the solution they came up with....and now I can't find their blog. Oh dear! Well, basically what they did was build padded/upholstered side/head boards for the bed so that the boots and bar don't make contact with the wall. I may try something like this out, and build it three sides, and then use a sleep rail for the final side. I will have to wait until Lilybear won't fall over the side rail though! But when we do it, I will be sure to post photos!

Another Trip Coming up and Interesting News!

Well we are about two weeks away from our next trip over to the IWK for Lilybear, and that means our Peanut is counting down sleeps till she gets to see Linda, and all the wonderful volunteers and staff of RMH again! :) I think she may get more excited every time we go! :) Lilybear is doing great. She is starting to experiment with letting go of objects she is using to help her stand for a few seconds at a time. Once she figures out the balance thing, I am sure that she will take off running instead of "toddling", but I can't wait.

I was watching a bit of the IWK telethon that they had on TV this past weekend, and touched yet again by the simple fact that we have such an amazing children's hospital! After watching some of the stories they aired, I felt I should send Lilybear's story in to the IWK foundation in hopes they could share it with others. My goal when telling others about the IWK is simple, I just want them to know how wonderful, and amazing the staff and volunteers are, and that they truly give the best care and treatments they can to their patients! If it wasn't for this amazing hospital, and the Dr's and Nurses, and Technicians at the IWK, Lilybear may not be where she is now. Any day now she may take her first steps, and we owe so much gratitude to them for getting her to this place.

I was contacted back by a lovely lady that works for the IWK foundation. She asked my permission to post Lilybear's story on theIWK Health Centre Foundation’s online blog – ‘Spirit of Giving.’For posting they  do called 'Feel Good Friday'! We were more than happy to say yes of course! I will be sure to post the link at the bottom of this post, and will let you all know when Lilybear's story will be posted.

Mommy Duties call, so that's all I have for you now! 14 days Till our next trip to IWK! Wish us luck!