This is my world. Her name is Olivia Lynn Cope. She was born via c-section on April 4, 2012 at 1:38 in the morning. She was 4 weeks premature but everything was perfectly fine! Before Olivia was born, I did not comprehend the capacity of love my heart could hold. She is incredible. She requires all of me all the time but, she is more then worth it.

I care not whether you cloth diaper, whether you let your child sleep with you or if they sleep by themselves, whether you breast of formula feed, whether you spank or not, whether you let your child CIO or you don't, or whether you are pro-life/pro-choice or whatever you are. It is NONE of my concern. I know what I do and who I am and I am happy with me and the way I do things. Thank you.

I have a very loud, extremely needy, spirited child. She cries & wants to be held most of the time. She demands my undivided attention 150% of the time. I have had many sleepless nights & have been driven so far up the wall that I was standing on the ceiling. There have been times, I have had to soothe her for hours on end simply because she was picked up or touched by someone she was not familiar with. She has a habit of crying until she makes herself vomit. There have been times that I have had to ask God to help maintain my sanity because I was so exhausted I did not know my own name. I have been so frustrated that the only term I have been able to use is "colic." "Who ever heard of a high-needs baby? Aren't they all high needs?" I long for a more tangible and comprehensible diagnosis that I could spit out at people to make them better understand. Truth is, there is no magical medical terminology. You do not understand it unless you live it. I have to learn to embrace the fact that my child is who she is. I need to stop obsessing about ways I can parent better. I do not have an "easy baby." I have a high needs child. But for right now I continue to stand firm in my attempts to provide a safe and soothing environment for my fussy one, attempting to lay a solid foundation for her comfort and our sanity.