Goodbye Sleepy Time Shoes

Hey luvs!

I know it’s been awhile and I don’t have time to explain my absence, but I wanted to stop and share some good news with you all. Last Friday I took Liv to her four month checkup for her Bowed Leg Problems. And after waiting in the doctor’s office for over an hour to be seen received the BEST news. Liv is officially done with Sleepy Time shoes and no longer has “internal tibial torsion” YAY.

This is awesome because about a month ago she stopped wearing the sleepy time shoes. Dom and I noticed that although we’d put them on each night, they would be removed by morning. She was so over them so I’m grateful that they are no longer a concern in our house hold.

However, the doctor did let me know that her legs are still slightly bowed but informed me there is no further corrective action. She will outgrow some of it but the rest is apart if who she is :-).

Sleepytime Shoes

Hey Luvs!

Hope you all are having an amazing time this summer like we are.  Dom and I have spent a lot of time focusing on our dreams, planning our future, and simply enjoying the person that Baby O is becoming.  She’s officially 18 months and has changed so much so I thought I’d spend this week updating you all on her progress with a few things I discussed in previous post. 

To start I want to share a quick update on...Bowed LegProblems

Last time I checked her sleepy time shoes had arrived and I was pleased to announce that she was doing well sleeping in them and doing just about everything the doctors said she wouldn’t be able to while wearing them.  Which really hasn’t changed she still enjoys putting them on at night and most mornings she wakes up in them. However, there has been one or two times her dad has walked in her room and the shoes were completely off her feet while she was straight chilling lol.

But that’s neither here nor there. The real reason I’m here sharing with you all today is because I actually believe here wearing the shoes have helped her “internal tibial torsion” out tremendously.  Dom and I noticed the correction after the first two weeks but I wanted to wait a bit before showing you all. This weekend I was finally able to get my busy little tiny tot to stay still so I snagged a few pics for you all.

Not bad at all for two months of wearing the shoes right?  She still has to wear them until September but there’s no doubt in my mind that upon return to the no eye contact, using big medical words, straight to business orthopedic specialist she will be just as pleased with her progress as we are.

Oh The Judgment!

This morning I woke up to an article posted on FB by my co peep Jessica that totally reminded me of a conversation that a few other co peeps and I had last week. Where I informed my co peeps that I had to refrain from cussing a women out in a restaurant for a comment she made regarding my parenting style.

Long story short...

The hubs, Baby O, and I were at brunch one Saturday and because Baby O is so active and hates just sitting waiting on the food, we brought a few things to entertain her (One of which was an ipad for her to click through abcmouse.com or watch videos on youtube). We were at the table chatting, playing with the ipad, and signing songs when a large party was seated across from us. The group seemed to be enjoying themselves and begin to get really loud. So Baby O turned to join in on their fun, she begin to try engage in their conversation and they all chatting back. Except one woman (she had two older kids) who kept staring at Dom and I. I’d notice her watching our table beforehand but didn’t pay much attention. However, she abruptly received my attention when we made eye contact and she made the comment “Sorry she’s not entertained by the TV any longer, looks like she wants some real conversation sorry.”

Hold the MFing phone!

Is this chick judging me?

Bye, Felicia!

ITCH I did this as a curtsey to you, and the other restaurant patrons. I’m 100% cool with letting her loose to tear this place up but, I figured you’re a** wouldn’t like that. So I brought her some entertainment.

NOW! Go have several seats in the back of a stadium by your darn self until you remember how your kids used to act at 14 months.

Oh sorry guys.

YIKES!!! Anyway before I have a darn flash back here’s the article she posted... IT AIN’T EASY HAVING ONE OF “THOSE” KIDS. 

The title caught my attention and after reading it I immediately knew I had to share it with you all.  You see before having a kid of my own I can admit that I was a silent judger. Not that I wanted or meant to judge others it would kind of just happen. Mostly because I didn’t understand, all I would see is the child’s behavior and the parent seeming to not be bothered by it. Now that I have a child of my own I know differently. And as I told my co peeps who I discussed this with last week... I apologize to every parent before me who I secret or openly judge in my ignorance.

To future parents, parents of older children, people who don’t want to be parents, or parents who kids aren’t quite toddlers yet please believe me when I say the trials and tribulations of apparent are REAL. And every kids is different so no one will ever be able to explain it, it’s honestly one of those things you just have to experience. With that being said, next time you think to judge.

Battle Of Wheels (Update)

Hey loves,

Last night while going through my nightly dinner time battle with Baby O I realized that I never updated you all on how things were going with Battle of Wheels.

So here it is...

At this stage in Baby O’s life she is absolutely a picky eater with a very strong opinion about food yet, loves to snack. When it comes to full meals either she loves what’s placed in front of her and will devour every last drop. In such a manner that you’d awesome she never ate before or, she HATES it and will run around the house or kitchen kicking and screaming if you try to convince her otherwise...smh.

The worse part about these dinner shenanigans are the fact that they are very inconsistent. One day chicken is broccoli works and the next day it doesn’t. One day she wants it because mommy and daddy are eating it but, the moment you thing you’re going to give it to her again hunty acts all sorts of brand new on you lol.

That’s her play cooking her dinner from last night (aka feeding it to the dog) because, she didn’t want to eat. Mind you this is the exact same chicken breast she ate of off her dad’s fork the night before...I can’t deal

Although, I can laugh about all this in hindsight, I am very aware that in the moment this is/can be a frustrating ordeal. Especially when I pick her up from school the next day and her daily charts says she ate all her food. I totally go all...Huh? What the heck are they doing that I’m not? What the heck is in their food? Then I have to remind myself that kids are influenced by those around them and everyone else is sitting and eating like a big kid she will as well. I can’t lie that little fact annoys the heck out me but, I try to turn my annoyance into gratitude because in the grand scheme of things she atleast she gets in one balanced meal a day.

As, for our nightly battle I’ve learned to no longer fight with her about it.  I try to avoid force feeding her and instead I take the approach of this is your only option. If she chooses to eat it great, if not I’ve learned to be ok with that too.Especially, after I recently received this article in my inbox...Picky Toddler Eating. It gave me a ton of perspective and, taught me to trust her judgment when it comes to this food thing. After all she knows her body best :).

Fellow HeartBEATS

Is your toddler a picky eater as well? What are some of the things you’re doing to resolve the issue?

Little Miss Personality

Happy Monday Loves!

My apologies for going all MIA last week but I spent the week diligently working on another project (will share details soon) and by the time I came up for air it was the weekend lol.

Any who. I'm back like I never left and ready to share some updates. 

Baby O is officially 16 months and although there aren’t any major milestones to share there are some silent developments taking place.

What’s a silent development?

To me it’s the subtle changes that show growth that we often take advantage of. The ones we see but happening daily but because it’s not crawling, walking, or talking we don’t feel the need to share.

For instance my tiny tot has TONS of personality and I swear it crept up on us.

Honestly it didn’t I’ve been watching it develop since birth and, have been living a life of denial about it lol. And, now that she’s a little mover and shaker I can no longer hide the fact that I know which is cool...I guess. Because, at the moment the real question is what in the world am I going to do with her little strong, independent, determined, loving, and funny self? I totally didn’t expect all this at 16 months.

The Shoes Are In...(Bowed Leg Problems)

On Friday I finally got the call saying that Baby O’s special shoes were in from my Bowed Leg Problem (update) post . Truth be told just getting this call caused me anxiety. 

Yes, we had already gone through what seemed to be the hard part by visiting the two orthopedic specialists and getting a diagnosis for her condition“internal tibial torsion”.

Yes, it’s true that since the visit with the last specialist I had a few comforting conversations with my in laws and, gained a lot more insight on what was going on...

Turns out this little condition is genetic and, the hubs totally had a very severe case of it as a child. Thank goodness for my mother in law memory because she was totally able to school me on it and let me know what to expect. So, I truly felt better about the situation prior to receiving the phone call.   

However, the mom in me wasn’t ready for what these special shoes meant for my baby. I wasn’t ready to see how she’d handle this so called noninvasive nightly cure. I wasn’t ready to see how she’d react to being confined to the shoes at night or, see how her sleeping habits would be affected over the next few months as a result of wearing them. Boy was I nervous about it but, had to put my fears aside. I reluctantly scheduled her appointment for the first available which was yesterday morning. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the appointment (Mother’s Guilt moment) so Dom had to take her. He gave me a call immediately after the visit to inform me that all went well and, let me know the doctor was pleasantly surprised by how she did...I was relieved.

Here's what they look like...

Last night was day one of our 4 month treatment and much to my surprise it very well. Our routine went as follow;

• I placed her “sleepy time shoes” (my little nickname for them) on her feet
• Explained to her what they were
• Allowed her to play with them for a bit

• Read her a bedtime story
• And, Put her down for the night

She spent some time in her crib playing around with them a bit more then fell out until this morning. Dom and I were extremely worried that she’s wake up having a fit because she wouldn’t be able to stand in them. But to our surprise she actually did an AWESOME job this morning and we were super PROUD of her :).

This Morning...

Bowed Leg Problems (Update)

Hey luvs!

Thank you all for your kind words yesterday as I dealt with my emotions behind there potentially being a problem with my lovebug’s little legs.  I truly appreciate your continued support and encouragement.

Yesterday’s appointment literally lasted less than ten minutes and it turns out that Baby O isn’t bowed leg after all.  All this time what I thought were cute little bowed legs are really what the medical profession considers to be “internal tibial torsion”.

What’s this?

Per John’s Hopkins...“Internal tibial torsion is a condition in which the tibia (the larger of the two bones going from the knee to the ankle, forming the shin) is rotated inwardly (internally) or outwardly (externally) along its long axis. The rotation of the tibia also causes the foot and ankle to be rotated. Such rotation is seen throughout the course of normal development, but too much rotation is considered a developmental abnormality.”

How does this affect Baby O?

In Baby O’s case her tibia is on the abnormal spectrum. The doctor informed us that her tibia is rotated inward quite a bit. A normal person’s tibia would line up to their 2^nd toe while Baby O’s is lined up to her 5^th toe on her right leg and past the 5^th toe on her left leg. Keeping her message to us very positive she informed us that some of the inward rotation will self-correct over time, however she didn’t suspect it would be enough to eliminate future issues down the road :(.  

What’s next? With the diagnoses above she informed us that we had two options.

1. We could do nothing and see how she continues to develop over time.
2. We can try having her sleep in special shoes (braces) for the next 4 months.

The specialist presented her options with no pressure and totally left the decision to Dom and me. However, I left secretly more stressed than when I went in, I think it was because she was very technical and spoke in medical terminology the entire visit, so I was unsure what all this really meant. This is why I was truly thankful that Baby O had her 15 month appointment with her normal pediatrician later that day. During her checkup I discussed her condition in detail with her pediatrician; she broke it all the way down for me. I left feeling relieved and decided that for the severity of Baby O’s internal tibial torsion option 2 was the best way forward. 

Guess I’ll be updating y'all on her progress over the next few months :).

Bowed Leg Problems

As I sit here nervous as ever for Baby O's 9:40 appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist I can't help but pray that the outcome of today's visit is no different than the last...

A few weeks ago I received a frantic call from her teacher saying that Baby O wasn't acting her normal self. She informed me that she had a really bad cough and there was a coughing virus going around the class. With her not sure if the virus was contagious I immediately chucked my co-peeps the deuces and headed to get my baby to take her to the doctor.

Turns out her allergies and asthma were just acting up so she'd have to start breathing treatments again... Thank God. However, as Baby O was walking out and blowing kiss bye to the staff the doctor stopped us in our tracks. She noticed the bowed legs y'all and begin to express concern. Just like that my I'm a good mom high was blown, and the ever so concerned mom reared her ugly head. Leaving the doctor stressed as hell with breathing treatments, allergy medication, a referral to the dentist (for all those damn teeth), and a othropedics specialist was just too much.

Powering through the anxiety I made the appointment. We arrived with me expecting the worse (from my web md research) only for him to tell me that in his opinion she was growing as she should. Yes! her legs didn't concern him, may baby was clear until he hit me with a... However. Since children weren't his speciality he'd prefer I get a second opinion from someone who only sees kids. 

So now I sit waiting on more good news hopefully :). Even tho, I Lost all eight hours of sleep lastnight and woke up concerned, watching my active lovebug play this morning reminded me that no matter what this doctor says she's perfect.  

No Pictures Please

So yesterday was Baby O's picture day at school and for the first time since she's been there I declined on the option to have her photos taken :(. Which sucks because I look forward to these moments with my lovebug, not to mention I spent a whole week going back and forth with Dom on which of her cute little spring ensembles she'd wear, and laid it out on Sunday. 

Only for us to end our Sunday evening nursing her and the nice little shiner she gave herself. Yup! Baby O is walking around with a black eye after our family fun day in the back yard...It was such a beautiful day that we decided to go out back and get some fresh air. All was going well and she was having a blast, until she tripped while chasing our dog CoCo. Of course, I understand that being a tiny tot she have a lot of bumps and bruises while exploring along the way but I totally felt horrible and my Mother's Guilt came back in full force (hangs head in shame).

Any who, yesterday when I headed up to her school midday to take her to the doctors all of her little classmates looked so cute in their picture day attire. I was sad but enjoying my view until everyone I passed (all the teachers, directors, etc) mentioned how there was a ton of controversy that morning on whether or not Olivia was supposed to take her photos (I thought I had notified everyone she wasn’t but I guess not). When I told them no they laid it on SUPER thick and convinced me otherwise, vowing to hide her litter shiner, and allow her to have her photos taken today. Because, all the staff in the building looks forward to seeing Olivia on picture day lol.

I agreed to their terms because I just love when my kid is the highlight of others day like she is for mineJ. Especially since when I stopped by the infant room to see a friend’s daughter her little cute face and outfit just gave me LIFE.  Can’t wait to see how all the kids photos turn out. For now here’s a hair and outfit sneak peek...