Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. Before Josie’s palate repair surgery, I was bracing myself for a few miserable, sleepless weeks of recovery. But luckily, Josie bounced back in no time. Palate repair recovery was definitely still a difficult and exhausting process, but it wasn’t as terrible as I had expected, and it was so worth it in the end. A lot of people have questions about recovery and what to expect, so I wanted to detail the steps I took to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible. Hopefully it will…
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Cleft Palate Sippy Cup Transition: How To Ditch The Bottle Before Palate Repair
Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. For a baby with a cleft palate, one of the most important steps in preparing for palate repair surgery is eliminating the bottle and transitioning to a sippy cup! Josie had to be able to drink all of her liquids from a cup (no bottle!) by the time surgery came around. This is because drinking from the bottle nipple could potentially damage the surgery site (the roof of her mouth). Since she left the NICU, Josie had been drinking her milk from the Dr. Brown’s specialty feeding…
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Josie’s 14 Month Update
Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a great 2020 so far. I just wanted to give a little “Josie update” on how things are going with her lately. Josie is now a solid walker and walks everywhere! She LOVES to go outside and pick up any leaf or stick she can find. Her personality is totally blossoming lately. She is such a happy, silly, fun girl. She loves to be near her mama at all times! She also loves to read books, climb on all…
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Creamy Low-Carb Pumpkin Sausage Soup
Hey friends! It’s been pretty chilly here in Florida the past few days – we’ve had to bust out our jackets and close toed shoes! I absolutely love winter. It’s the perfect time to stay home and watch movies, snuggle up with family, and eat lots of warm comfort food. When the weather gets cold, my favorite dish to serve is this easy low-carb pumpkin sausage soup. It will warm you up from the inside out. Everyone who has tried this soup absolutely loves it – including my husband, who doesn’t like sausage, and my mom, who doesn’t like pumpkin. My super picky 1-year-old daughter even gobbles it up! Somehow…
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Easy Sentimental Gift Ideas That Everyone Will Love
I’m a little late with this post, but I just think these ideas are too fun and special not to share. With Josie’s surgeries and many doctors appointments, 2019 was a pretty tough year for us financially. Come Christmas time we didn’t have much money to spare for extravagant gifts for our loved ones. Instead, I decided to make a few extra special handmade gifts that weren’t necessarily expensive, but had a ton of sentimental value. Check out these sentimental gift ideas and maybe they will inspire you for next year! Custom photo album Photographs are an important thing in my family. My mom works as a photographer. We have…
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10 Resolutions To Become A Better Mom: 2020 Edition
Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s already 2020! You know what that means: it’s time, once again, to make a list of new year’s resolutions! 2019 was my first full year of motherhood, and, to be honest, it was pretty brutal. Not only did I face the extreme stresses that come with being a new mom, but I also had to deal with my daughter undergoing multiple surgeries and seemingly endless doctor’s appointments related to her PRS diagnosis. I’m so exhausted and truthfully I’m glad to put 2019 in my rearview. Over the past year I’ve stopped making an effort in so many areas of my life because I…
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Josie’s First Birthday Party and Cleft Palate Repair Surgery
October was a BIG month for our family. We threw Josie’s first birthday party at our house at the beginning of the month, then a few days later she had palate repair surgery to close the cleft in her palate. We had been anxiously anticipating these two events for literally an entire year. It was completely exhausting, but we are so happy that we have come this far. Birthday time! The first thing we tackled was Josie’s birthday party. It was a big success in my book. Everything turned out just the way I hoped it would, and so many of our favorite people gathered together to celebrate Josie’s first…
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Today My Baby Walked For The First Time
Josie took her first steps today. I still can’t believe it. Every milestone she reaches feels like another weight lifted off my shoulders. Ever since Josie was born with Pierre Robin, a mysterious complication that we never expected, there has been an anxious voice in the back of my head. It asks cruel questions that keep me up at night. Questions like, Will she ever speak? Will she develop on time? Can she hear me? Is she reaching her milestones? Is she normal? It’s a voice that I try to silence and ignore. I know it’s irrational to be concerned about things like that. If I ask any of these…
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Controlling the Drool with a Cleft Palate Baby
Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. I’m in the middle of writing down my entire NICU story and it’s getting pretty heavy, so I wanted to take a break and write about something that’s been on my mind lately. Drool. Yeah, my life has pretty much been all about drool for the past 11 months. My daughter has a cleft palate so it seems like the stream of drool flowing from her mouth is never ending. I thought I’d share some ways I’ve found to deal with this issue and make the best…
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What Is Pierre Robin Sequence? Josie’s Journey, Part 1
Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog! As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve decided to (re)start my blog in order to share the story of my daughter, and her journey with a rare birth defect called Pierre Robin Sequence. Our Story Josephine was born with Pierre Robin Sequence, or PRS for short. We had no idea this condition even existed until the moment Josie was born. She came out blue due to lack of oxygen, and the doctors and nurses immediately realized that something was very wrong. The on-call neonatologist rushed in to my delivery room. He identified the source of the issue within minutes: Josie had a small…
