Ivy Jean – One Year

One. 365 days. One year.

I’ve put off writing this post because the truth is I don’t think I can adequately sum up all you mean to us. How wholly you have changed us in such a short time. I hope some day your dad and I figure out a way to tell you just how much of a grip you have on our hearts. Or if we can’t, that somehow you feel it. You were so wanted. You are so completely loved. Sometimes we just look at each other with dumbfounded faces at the lunacy of what your grin does to us. I just read over my previous posts about you, your story, from infertility to now. God has done a mighty work in you, and in us through you, Ivy Jean Arnold. You are a force.

For waiting for you for such a long time, I was so unprepared for what you would do to me Ivy Jean. Sometimes it feels as if you have turned me inside out. Like now part of my heart is outside of my body for everyone to see. Both the good and the bad. I am more aware now of how selfish I am, how much I desire to control things, how I like things to appear neat and tidy to the outside world. You are anything but neat and tidy, and if I am being truthful, I love it that way.

You are your own little person. Spunky, active, curious. Forcing me to adjust, grow. When I get honest with myself, the hard parts of being your mom are really the best parts of you. I want you to be unique and have opinions though I might wish it wasn’t that green beans go on the floor. You haven’t fit the mold from day one when you surprised us by coming 6 weeks early. I hope you never fit the mold. I hope you grow into exactly the person Jesus created you to be surprising us every step of the way. Your dad and I can be boring sometimes. You add spice and life. Oh boy, do you add life.

I love seeing the way people respond to you. You bring happiness. Your eyes, your grin, your little wave light people up. Your story speaks to God’s redemptive story, and I hope it always will. I hope you walk with him and allow him to wave his grace into your life always remembering the meaning of your name just like it reminds me: He is faithful.

At one year, you have 6 teeth. Six. Whew, each one has been a struggle. You weight almost 19 pounds and are 27.5 inches tall. You are constant motion, pulling up on everything, never siting still, and trying to climb everything. Walking hasn’t happened yet, but you do stand for a few seconds when you feel like it. The sporadic nature of it makes me laugh. You are your own little person that much is for sure.

Ivy Jean’s Story

Infertility Story, IVF & Birth Announcement, Birth Story, 3 Month Update, 6 Month Update, 9 Month Update

Thank you to Randy Yeats for capturing this special time in our lives. If you are in the area and need a photographer, she is amazing!!

Special thanks to Wikibuy for my dress. Shop their coupons to Loft here.

Russ and Ivy’s outfit details here.