Life gets better everyday

Kelsie's world

2012-01-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do this for Keslie's birthday but surprise surprise I'm late. Anyway, I had high hopes of video taping but I didn't, maybe next year. Anyway, I'm just glad my friend (thanks Heather!) posted her sons so that I could copy and paste and actually get it done at all.

With no further adieu:

20 questions for a little peek in Kelsie's world

1. What is your favorite color?
-Purple

2. What is your favorite toy?
Penguin. (I don't know if she even knows what she is talking about but when I asked her again she said rattle. I would say right now the thing she will sit down longest with is maybe her tag reader books but she does actually play with this which might be what she is talking about. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fisher-Price-Go-Baby-Go-Bat-Wobble-Penguin/8251011 )

3. What is your favorite fruit?
-Bananas

4. What is your favorite tv show?
-Dora the explorer (We don't have cable so she hasn't actually seen this except on movies that we check out from the library and we got one today. She pretty much like any and all tv but would probably pick cailou or dora every time if she had the choice - much to my dismay)

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
-peanut butter and jelly

6. What is your favorite outfit?
-owls - (thanks deborah!)

7. What is your favorite game?
-pooh match game (She played a winnie the pooh memory game this week with her speech therapist - I think her favorite game is playing lions or chase with her dad)

8. What is your favorite snack?
-juice (I asked her this several times and again when we were done since this doesn't really meet my idea of a snack but this was always her answer)

9. What is your favorite animal?
-lions (although she is really terrified of them too)

10. What is your favorite song?
-twinkle, twinkle little star

11. What is your favorite book?
-"twinkle twinkle your my best friend" (??? I have no idea what this is, we did get a book from the library today about a star and we also have a Christmas book that is sang to the tune of twinkle twinkle)

12. Who is your best friend?
-Brock, Travis (who she tries to attack for hugs, holding hands, etc every time she sees them)

13. What is your favorite cereal?
-dora the explorer stars (this has probably contributed to her Dora obsession. They used to have these at our Walmart and they were low in sugar and cheap and it was a big treat compared to cheerios. Unfortunately, they aren't carrying them anymore much to her dismay)

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
-"ride my bike"

15. What is your favorite drink?
-"juice" (actually her first answer was "juice, juice. milk, milk. water, water." but when I had her pick one she picked juice)

16. What is your favorite holiday?
-valentines day (This was the second answer, her first was "alvin and the chipmunks." We listed several options and this is what she said)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
-"white blanket, brown blanket, dog pillow" (and her duck dog)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
-"dora cereal" (I asked her what she liked better that or pancakes and she said pancakes)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?
-"cake"

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
-"owl" (another question that I asked several times in different ways and this is the answer I got everytime. What can I say, I've got a crazy kid.)

One of those days

2012-01-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

It was one of those wonderful days. No seriously, it was fabulous, and totally makes up for all the ones that aren't. It reminded my how thankful I am that I get to stay at home with my two wonderful girls. And, how much I appreciate the fact that my husband barbequed yesterday so I didn't have to cook dinner. Mostly we just enjoyed our day.

The girls slept in (meaning past 7) and we went to the Jump Zone after Karissa woke up from her morning nap. We were all exhausted after but I may have been the most. Trying to keep track of 2 children, while there are literally a hundred other kids running around wore me out physically and mentally (nothing a nap couldn't fix.) Despite the fact that Karissa wanted nothing to do with being held and was nearly trampled several times, it was worth it to watch Kelsie enjoy herself so much. Karissa had almost as much fun since she got to try out the cozy coupe for a little while. She was NOT happy when I took her out of it though and made sure it was well known. I'm pretty sure that the next few years are going to be some really interesting ones, particularly when she doesn't get her way but we'll stick with the happy parts now.

Kelsie decided to ride on top of the car while Karissa was in it. Seriously, this was both of their favorite things in the whole place and when I told Kelsie we were going this is what she was looking forward to the most. I think I know what I'm getting Karissa for her birthday

Since I knew it would be close to nap time when we left and I needed to run another errand I told Kelsie we could go to McDonalds for lunch if she listened and didn't throw a fit when it was time to leave. She was on her best behavior and requested that we go to "old mcdonald" for lunch and she would get a "hamburger, apples, water in a white and red cup, with a white lid, and a white straw." She's went to McDonalds (pretty much the only fast food that she can eat due to allergies) less than 10 times and maybe got to drink out of the cup twice, it's really interesting what they remember the most.

Apparently she thinks now that she is improving in her talking we need to be very descriptive. A couple days ago I asked her if she wanted to go outside and swing, her response: "You come too. I swing. You push me. I'll hold on. You push me really high, I say weee." She also likes to tell us what our response should be. She likes to race to the bathroom and also to be the first to make a "happy plate." And just in case you ever need to know the proper response from you should be a very dramatic "awww man," if not, you will be corrected.

Kelsie finally got the connection of the beginning sounds of words and spontaneously will start saying a letter sound and then all the words that she can think of that start with that letter. She has known the letters and the sounds for 6 months or so but didn't get the connection until recently. She still loves books and will look at them forever, I'm pretty sure she could spend everyday at the library. She generally doesn't say much when looking at books even when I try to get her to pretend to read but today I heard her from the other room "reading." (By the way she is saying the words to Jingle Bells, it's more clear towards the end when she has her animal crackers chewed up ;-)

This is for you

2012-01-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Date night/Josh's birthday/work Christmas party - we don't go out very often so we multitask
Sadly enough, this was my idea, and probably a terrible one. It was pretty hilarious though and I could help but to take a picture.

That is probably what I was doing when I should have been writing Christmas letters. Sorry about not sending them out, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you will forgive me. It was more than I could take on this year, my mind is shot at the end of the day with two very needy (but enjoyable) children.

Speaking of the special holiday, Christmas was tons of fun, unfortunately we were all a little under the weather (except Josh) so the girls didn't make it to Christmas Eve service. Between missing one service, rushing to get to Wichita, and being terrible with remembering my camera in general, I didn't get any pictures of them in either of their Christmas dresses.

I did get a few of them in their matching pajamas on Christmas morning though.

Kelsie checking out Karissa's new camera from Pa & Granny

This was from the night before Christmas Eve when our family exchanged presents and opened the few we had here. Kelsie and Karissa got a couple books for Christmas and anytime they did Kelsie would stop opening presents so she could read the book first. She seriously is in LOVE with books. We go to the library at least once a week and she gets about 12 books and spends countless time looking at them.

Karissa turned 11 months a couple days ago and also enjoyed Christmas. This is a little teddy bear she got that was super soft and she just loved cuddling. I measured/weighed her today and she is still in the 25% for weight at 19lbs and about 55% for length at 28.5in. She is a lot of fun, and a lot of work. She tries to imitate anything and everything, especially noises from Kelsie (lion roars, screams, shushing, etc.) She seems to be trying to go down from 2 naps to 1 but it varies. She sleeps for usually between 1-2 hours/day in naps and from 6:30pm to 7:30am at night waking once in the early morning hours to eat.

She keeps me quite busy but between a rare hour and half nap from her today and Kelsie playing like this for about 30 minutes by herself, I've had an unreasonably productive morning.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T21:08:00.001-08:00

A before Christmas update,

2011-12-21T09:51:00.001-08:00

you know, after Christmas, because that's how I do things.

These are just a few (terrible quality) pictures that I had on my phone and wanted to share.

This is how I found Karissa when we got home the other day from the store. (Well, actually her eyes were open but there is such a delay on my camera after the flash it's impossible to get one with them open when it's dark)

A trip to the library to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus. I think Kelsie enjoys the regular storytime much more than the visit with Santa. She didn't say a single thing to him but did like to pretend to be Santa for the next few days making everyone sit on her lap and asking what they wanted. Kelsie's only request was an orange instrument and thank goodness I speak her language because "orange instrument" coming from a 3 year old with an articulation problem was just slightly challenging to interpret. Lucky for her she got her wish along with a few other gifts. (Hopefully I'll have a Christmas update soon!)

Karissa posing for diaper shot (that I had to take to make sure they were on the right setting)

Kelsie wanted in on the photo shoot

How Karissa has been entertaining herself in the mornings when I try to get ready. Life is fun :-)

But hey, it's a lot better than crying so I'll take it.

Not me (us) Monday

2011-12-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since a not me Monday but a little extra motivation to actually publish a post never hurts so here are a few things we have not been doing lately.

We did not decide that the detour on the way to my parents house that added 5 minutes was much too long and we needed to find a short cut. No, seriously, we did not, but my husband might have. But, you know, GPS on your phone is infallible so if we would have decided to take a shortcut it certainly would not have led us down an impassable dirt road that we would sink, slide, and get stuck on, only to find the road was a dead end.

If something as crazy as that were to happen I would still trust my husband completely and not begin sobbing hysterically scared for my life despite the fact that we were only going 10 mph. Besides this 2 wheel drive Mazda was made for road conditions like this.
We actually did make it safely, and without a tow truck to my parents so surely everything went calmly the remainder of the weekend. Since my daughter always listens to me and never gets out of bed when she is supposed to be sleeping she certainly did not get up and while trying to come out accidentally lock herself in the bedroom. Never fear, since I have a monitor with a camera, I would have not have forgot to turn it on so that I could see what was going on with a barely 3 year old, locked in a not babyproofed room.

And, last but not least, we have after 2 children definitely figured out this whole photography thing. We certainly would have not attempted a photo shoot that turned out like this.
And, when I tried to be in the picture to hold my squirmy children, the pictures definitely would not turn out even worse.

My daughter would not demand to have a picture taken alone rather than with her sister and start posing, she does not like any attention on her whatsoever.

We definitely did not do this with only minutes to spare before church because it is one of the rare occasions that none of us are in our pajamas. We always look our best around here ;-)

What do you say, link up with MckMama if you'd like to play too, or just go and check out what other people are NOT doing this week.

Happy Birthday

2011-11-29T18:16:00.001-08:00

I officially have a 3 year old.

You know, compared to a couple weeks ago when I had an owl and a ladybug.

And now, I have a 3 year old. Who seriously enjoyed her birthday.

All six of them.

She was barely 2 the last time that she got a present so doesn't really remember it and this was definitely the first time she realized it was all about her. And she definitely soaked it in. Birthday hats, cupcakes, and all.

When I asked Kelsie who she thought was going to get her presents for her birthday, she replied "the mailman." A result of Amazon and out of town relatives. She loved every present and all the pictures, especially when she got to take them.
Unfortunately, after lots of pictures, her "cheese" face turned into this.

We should probably work on that. In addition to presents and birthdays, Kelsie also has been enjoying rock candy and visits from "pa and granny" and getting to see any and all of her extended family.
She loves "Mrs. Joy" from the library and has recently started finding something to ask her everytime even though we already know the answer.

Kelsie also adores being a "big sister" and this is a daily occurrence around here with lots of jumping and giggling included.
She loves books, singing, helping me or doing anything and everything by herself, playing chase (usually involving someone as a lion or a wolf) friends and kids in general, owls, tv, candy, etc. The list of Kelsie's loves goes on and on, she gets very excited about a lot of things and loves to be affectionate. Despite her overall enjoyable demeanor she also can get pretty upset, and has her tantrums down pretty well, mostly when she doesn't get to do something herself or the way she wants to. She is still working on teaching me patience by generally going as slow as possibly in any and all parts of life.

Her speech is definitely exploding and she throws out new words what seems like every day. Starting at the beginning of October she started going to speech twice/week and has also been showing improvement on her articulation. We're hoping this continues despite the switch in therapy. At the age of 3, what is available through the state changes and doesn't have as good of reviews but we are going to give it a shot.

We're going to go to a check up in the next month or 2 and see where she is with her height and weight. I'm guessing somewhere in the middle but some 3T clothes are starting to get too small/short so Josh is still holding out hope that she'll be tall ;-)

9 months

2011-11-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

How big is Karissa?

SOOO Big!

or more specifically 9 months
and really good at doing this

She also is a pro at peek-a-boo. And that blanket, it's her favorite. (Shhhh, I don't think she knows that we have 4 of them.) If she finds one and she is getting anywhere close to tired, or needs a little break, she brings it to her face to rub and suck her thumb. It's also how she falls asleep.

She has 2 teeth, although only one actually made it in before the 9 month mark. 3 days before to be exact. You can actually see the one now rather than just being able to feel it but not without a fight. And clearly I'm not capable of getting a picture of it.She is a pro at drinking out of a sippy cup, has been for about a month. This may have a little to do with the fact of how often she finds Kelsie's laying around. Oops. As far as eating, she pretty much hates anything I feed her but will eat anything she can feed herself. Unfortunately, with only a quarter of a tooth our options are limited at this point.

She is a super speedy crawler and pulls up with ease. I don't think she is going to be walking for quite a while, who knows though, she's surprised me before.

We've reached the stranger anxiety stage quite unfortunately. Sorry to the doctor, nurse, and everyone else in the office who listened to her blood curdling screams while being checked out and weighed. Stranger anxiety + serious mamas girl + cold objects = really upset baby. Speaking of stages, ohmygosh she puts everything in her mouth. I suppose this is to be expected, but trying to keep anything and everything small off the ground when you have an almost 3 year old has proved darn near impossible.

At her checkup she weighed 17lb 7oz and was 27.75 inches. She is the exact same length as Kelsie at this age, and weighs exactly 1 lb less. She was in the 25% for weight, 65% for height, and 20% for head. To put it like my friend Deborah did (who was the best ever and came down to visit this weekend) she has Josh's head and looks like my sister. And she is pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

Plans

2011-10-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I ever even make plans. In fact I think I should just make a new plan to never write a blog post again because then I would probably be overwhelmed with time to write and ideas to write about. Instead I plan to write during breakfast and one daughter spills her juice while the other pukes up some cheerios she was choking on. I plan to write after they go to bed but bedtime gets drug out because someone needs a drink, can't sleep, or has to dart randomly 100 mph across the house. Or because someone else is off their schedule, is getting teeth, or just decided she will scream bloody murder to get an extra cuddle, and I oblige. By then, I sit down to write, or post pictures and am so deleriously tired I can't concentrate enough to even think what I am doing, or for that matter even find the camera.

Aah, life of a mommy. It's nothing short of a miracle that I get anything done, yet it's so worth it. I am so so thankful that I get to stay home with my two amazing girls. I guess there are some plans that work out afterall. Like staying home, or planning to make this little baby

That did seem to work pretty well.

The pumpkin patch/farm didn't turn out too bad either. Kelsie enjoyed the corn maze, petting zoo, wagon rides, and pony rides. And despite the fact that I only managed to take a couple pictures we all enjoyed ourselves.

So occasionally plans do work out. And, if they continue to, I'll have some pictures to post in the coming days of our little owl and ladybug.

special treatment

2011-10-17T08:05:00.001-07:00

I know I'm slacking on the post again but I've finally got some pictures to share in the coming days. But right now we're enjoying our morning outdoors and Jaz is getting some special treatment whether she likes it or not.

Having fun

2011-09-26T08:58:00.001-07:00

Look what I'm busy practicing while waiting for Kelsie at the therapist. In case you can't tell I'm pretty proud of myself too

Jesus

2011-09-23T15:51:00.001-07:00

Kelsie pulled this down from our drying rack the other morning with a dramatic "oooooo, pretty!" "make it mom?" she asked. "No," I responded. "Jesus make it?" I wasn't exactly sure how to respond so I didn't ;-)

Kelsie likes to pray to Jesus, usually thanking him for Mom, Dad, Karissa, and "white blankie." After prayers come songs and second only to "Twinkle, Twinkle" her favorite and most requested song is "Jesus Loves Me."

For the 12 days before Easter this year, we had an activity that we read a bible verse and opened an egg for each day that contained a small object related to the reading. Kelsie was a little young to grasp too much of it but I quickly learned that she was still paying attention. For several weeks/months following Easter when we would sing the second verse of Jesus loves me this was the scenario most nights "♪♪ Jesus loves me he who died ♪♪" at which point I would be stopped for Kelsie to say "died on cross, cock-a-doodle-doo." I didn't really understand her or the connection at the beginning but after a few nights figured out what she was saying and meant. In one of the eggs was a cross when we read about the crucifixion, and in another egg was a rooster when we read about Peter's denial and the cock crowing three times. She may not have it all figured out but she was definitely putting things together and knew who we were talking about.

Once when we were at my parents house Kelsie was pretending her baby doll was sick. While encouraging her pretending we asked if she could make her all better. She responded with the same phrase a couple of times but we were having trouble understanding her. She ran upstairs and returned with an angel and brought it to her doll repeating the phrase from earlier that Jesus would make her better.

And just because, a picture of Karissa right before bed tonight.

Sweet

2011-09-09T15:32:00.001-07:00

Oh Kelsie, it was so sweet of you to bring every single toy we own to Karissa. I know you were worried that just one or two wouldn't be sufficient while I was attempting to pick up the house but maybe we can tone it down in the future. It seems that this might have defeated the purpose.

Life's funny

2011-09-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Some things are funny right away:

I was trying to call my mom with my handsfree system in my car today which for some reason Kelsie has always felt the need to play the opposite game with. The conversation went something like this: (Me, Bluetooth, Kelsie)
"Call mom"
"Calling # is this correct?"
"No"
"Yes!"
"Call mom"
"Call dad"
"Would you like to call mom at work or mobile"
"Work"
"Call Daddy!"
"Calling mom work is this correct?"
"Yes"
"No!"
(Actually this was a little longer since the microphone kept picking up Kelsie's voice and confusing it even further)

Some things take a few minutes to be funny:

After getting to the park, I look over and Kelsie appears to be literally bathing in dirt. When she comes closer I notice her face is completely covered in dirt.

Some things are only funny to other people:

I just mopped. I thought Kelsie was playing with her magnet letters on the refrigerator. We had brought her bike in from the backyard so the dog wouldn't chew it. We were getting ready to bring it back in the front so she had brought it in the kitchen from the garage. I was picking up my shoe rack that Kelsie had knocked all over the closet when I heard something that made me realize she wasn't playing with magnets. Turns out, she had filled her bike seat compartment with mulch and handfuls of dirt at some point and was having a grand time emptying it all over the kitchen floor. When I got in there, the floor was covered and there was dust and dirt filling the air. Awesome.

I hope this lasts forever

2011-08-25T11:01:00.001-07:00

Our weekend

2011-08-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend Aunt Jessica came down to visit and Kelsie & Karissa both soaked up all the attention they could get. Josh had a baseball tournament so we got to go watch a couple of the games and mostly wondered how the boys were surviving 4 games in 2 days in the scorching heat. I think (despite some sore muscles today) he enjoyed himself and they actually got second place in the tournament.
And Karissa learned how to do this by herself which her fascination of kept her up late the past several nights.

2011-08-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Kelsie's favorite phrases that I hear on a typical day:

"why" - definitely #1 - no exaggeration I hear on average probably 30-40 times per day
"me too," - her standard response to other kids when they talk to her
"little help,"
"hear dat?"
"look mom," "look dad" (used to be "mommy ook" approximately 1000 times as she pointed to every single picture in a book)
"not yet" - she likes to show me what she is coloring or making, wait for my approval, and then tell me not yet
"no thank you" - often when I ask her to do something like clean up or eat her dinner)
"thank you mom"
"inside out," -referring to her underwear which she insists on removing completely with her pants every time she uses the restroom. Then insists that she can't put them back on herself if she is in the mood for some extra attention yet apparently she can get these tights on without any assistance whatsoever.

"chase me," - her favorite thing to do with her dad when he gets home from work
"fell down," - usually at least once while playing said game
"tough now," - while showing her muscles, her latest comment after falling
"like that," - referring to things she or Karissa likes. Today it was her dumping a bottle of wipe solution (luckily just soap and water) on top of Karissa. Luckily Karissa actually did like it, but unfortunately it didn't take care of the bubbly wet mess I had all over.

Look at me

2011-08-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

(These pictures were taken 8/17 and while she has been doing this for several days she hasn't gotten herself to a sitting position yet or moved both her arms and legs before reverting back to a tummy crawl. I'll be sure to update when she does)

Truth be told

2011-08-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

I never thought I wanted a girl. I was never into dress up, barbies, or hair bows, no big dresses or pretty pictures. What was I going to do with a girl?

Then Kelsie came along, and while I do occasionally attempt to fix her hair,

and she's shown me how much fun it can be to play dress up every once in awhile,

more often than not, you'll find her in the middle of the fun. Whether it's the stream,

some fishing fun,

or covered head to toe in dirt (which happens 99.9% of the time we are outside) ever since this day when she discovered how grand it was. (Unfortunately I rarely get to document these moments mostly because whatever is around her will end up dirty too)

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's the small things

2011-08-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Kelsie has taught me a lot of things. Some out of necessity - namely patience which I still have a lot of room for growth, and some from watching her.

She reminds me quite often how much fun life can be if you simply enjoy the small things. Almost anything can bring a smile out in her from ear to ear, and her joy is contagious. I love that you never know what will be the next source of happiness for her. It can be a card in the mail, to getting to help mom cook, to learning how to do something new.

This morning it was a ball that her Grandma (aka Granny - thanks to Grandpa) brought down to her while I did some cooking this weekend. We had put it away and Kelsie had already forgotten she had it so I got it out and threw it to her.

We played catch for awhile, kicked it, and Kelsie pretended to be a dog and "fetched" it - one of her many favorite pastimes. Then she just kept getting excited and hugging the ball exclaiming "best ball ever" and then giving it a kiss. It was hilarious and adorable at the same time.

It's all about the small things ;-)

Sisters

2011-08-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or do these 2 sets of sisters resemble each other?

I think it's safe to say they definitely got some of my genes. (Then again I'm thinking that was a pretty safe bet even without seeing their pictures but you know what I mean)

I was wrong

2011-08-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the previous post Karissa is mobile. It's exciting and scary at the same time. In half a second of glancing away she finds something to put in her mouth that she found somewhere I didn't think she could get to in that amount of time and she's improving her speed everyday. I thought that she was the complete opposite of Kelsie and she would be the kid who didn't learn to crawl until the last possible second because she was content being carried around and letting things be done for her, I was wrong.

I thought Karissa was super sensitive and cried at the slightest hint of pain or being upset. I thought she would scream like there was tomorrow when she got her shots, I was wrong.

I thought if I was nice and polite, didn't ask questions, and answered any questions respectfully and it way they would know that I had done my research and was informed and educated that I wouldn't be pressured to alter my decisions, I was wrong.

I thought Karissa was long, skinny, and had a small head, I was right ;-)
Official measurements: length 26.5in (85%), weight 14lbs 10oz (25%), head 41cm (10%)

What a difference a day makes

2011-08-09T12:18:00.001-07:00

2 days ago she couldn't do this, and I thought she had the personality that it wouldn't happen for a long time.

What a difference a day can make.

Why our government is failing us

2011-08-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

I have a gift of making short stories long. Related to my talent of making long stories unbearably so, which is why I will spare you of the details of my recent DMV trip. (I actually started writing a post and wasn't even half way through with my trip and I had already typed a page or more - you can thank me later for deleting it.)

Oh no, I'm doing it again - back to the purpose of this post. We bought a car recently and did not take out a loan, and it was a lot harder than if we had. Not less paperwork, not less hassle, not less questions like it should have been - it was the opposite.

Today I went to go do what it is has to be done after purchasing a new vehicle, making the dreaded trip to the DMV. After over an hour there, lots of confusion, missing paperwork that was sent to an unknown office/number (which happened to be the cubicle across from the one who needed it first) we made it out alive, with both children - melt down free I might add, not a small feat. It was ridiculous how impossible it is, how many stops have to be made, how many fees must be paid. This is the least of the problems facing our government but it represents so much. We desperately need a makeover of our government from bottom to top and back again because it is clear in so many areas that it is not working.

I've realized not much in life is easy but it doesn't have to be that hard.

Story time

2011-08-07T16:26:00.001-07:00

After too much time trapped indoors due to the ridiculous heat and Karissa's unpredictable napping schedule we were getting desperate for things to do. We had tried story time once or twice since Kelsie outgrew the baby one but I wasn't impressed and neither was Kelsie. Unfortunately this meant a fun time was a stressful time instead. Against my better judgement we tried again and I couldn't have been more thrilled.

Maybe it was a classic example of how having low expectations makes things seem so much better when they do work out or maybe it just really was that exciting :-) Either way seeing Kelsie jump, sing, and dance with all the kids and listening to the stories so intently, I really could not stop smiling.

This picture is actually from the second time we went which was with a entertainer and not quite as enjoyable. Unfortunately, we have to wait 2 weeks for storytime starts back up again but if things continue to go as well we will definitely be putting this on our schedule regularly.

6 months

2011-08-05T09:26:00.001-07:00

It has been 6 months since that memorable day that I just put down to paper (er. . . blog). I was just commenting to Josh last night how amazing it is to compare Karissa as a newborn to now at 6 months. Such an amazing transformation - so, what are things like now?

*Very social - loves to smile, be held, and interact with everyone.
*Quite common to see her sucking her thumb when she is being held or if she can't find her pacifier in the crib.
*Still is very content riding in the sling
*Sleeps from about 6:30 to somewhere between 4 and 6:30 in the morning before she needs to eat. She's been sleeping pretty much through the night like this for probably a month and a half and I'm pretty excited that she didn't follow in her sisters footsteps regarding night time habits.
*On a good day she wakes around 8 and naps at 10, 1, and 4, bed at 6:30. Our "good days," are few and far between though since that would require never leaving the house and her schedule never getting altered.
*Sits up unsupported for a short amount of time. Typically doesn't last more than a few seconds before she is distracted by someone or something to dive after.
*Can roll to anything like a pro and tries to push with her feet to go forward which generally results in a face plant with her butt in the air ;-) (Ooops, I guess she probably doesn't find that funny)
*Adores her sister even when she's the object of some rough affection and games.
*Actually will fall asleep in the car - for now anyway. HOORAY! (Kelsie had/has a tendency to try to wake her which is one of the reasons we got a bigger car sooner than absolutely necessary so that I put them on opposite sides which works wonderfully. Hopefully this sleeping in the car is something that will continue, who knows maybe she will wear off on her sister)
*Starting to eat some solids but hasn't quite figured it out, spits most of it out and gags when much gets in. Hopefully she will start improving in this soon. Nurses about every 3 hours during the day.
*Doesn't have much hair and what she does have is looking like it may be lightening up. It looks like she might just be finally starting to get more though.
*You can almost always make her smile, which leads people to believe she is a very easy baby. Unfortunately this isn't the case and her piercing cries aren't as uncommon as we would like especially right before bed during her diaper change or when lying anywhere by herself if she is tired.
*Starting vaccines next week and I'm predicting, based on observations of her personality thus far, that she will scream bloody murder. She likes to make you quite known of what she is feeling.
*Will update with length and weight percentages next Tuesday after her appointment. I'm guessing around 25% weight, 60% height, and 20% head. I'm anxious to get the "official" numbers.

So, what do you think? Do they look alike?

(Karissa and Kelsie each at 6 months)

My Days . . .

2011-08-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

are becoming increasingly filled with conversations such as these:

The girls and I were outside playing on the swingset when we heard some hammering of a new roof going in nearby.
"Hear dat mom," Kelsie says, one of her many new favorite phrases.
"Yeah, I did hear that Kelsie. What do you think that was?"
"LIGHTMING BUGS!"
"No, I don't think that was a lightning bug, lightning bugs don't usually make a noise and they just come out at night when they can flash their light."
"Why,"
"Well, because you can't see their light flash unless it's dark."
pauses and thinks for a minute "Dad's flash light inside"

;-) You just never know what kind of fun the days hold. Kelsie wasn't an early talker but she is making up for lost time now. If there is ever silence, another one of her favorite phrases is "talk mom!" You can just see her soaking it all in and it's so incredibly fun to watch.

The Why

2011-08-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

Disclaimers:
*You may think I'm even more crazy than you already do after reading this
*A natural birth isn't the best or even possible in all situations and I am very thankful that I was able to have an uncomplicated delivery with very few interventions and most importantly for a healthy baby.

I've been asked by my doctor, my family, my friends, why would I want to have a baby without an epidural? I don't have a cut and dry reason but as I asked myself the question here are a few of the reasons I have come up with:

Reasons why I wanted to do it-
*It is natural and the way it is supposed to be
*There are side effects to every medication including epidurals (some minor that I experienced with Kelsie) if you can do it without a drug, my opinion is that you should. No need to introduce something foreign and unnecessary.
*I wanted to know I was capable and strong enough - kind of like running a marathon, sometimes you do it just to know you can.
*I wanted to be prepared to do it without rather than prepared to do it with and for a painless labor and something to happen where it didn't work or I couldn't get it in time. (This was also so I could play into my fantasy that my labor would be super quick rather than 3 days) I have had several friends who weren't able to get in until they were dilated to a 10 and also several friends who the epidural didn't work for.
*God made it painful as a result of sin - Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." (I realize I may be a little off the wall here and I do not by any means judge anyone who disagrees with me I'm just being honest with some of my motivating factors. My labor with Kelsie was practically non existent and I honestly felt guilty about it when thinking about this verse.)
*Cheaper
*I wanted to experience labor (again see reasons above)

Reasons why I will do it again (Aka added benefits I found out after the labor):
*It was an incredible way for Josh to be a part of the labor. I didn't foresee him being so great at helping me through it but he was.
*I was on top of the world and felt like if I could do that I could do anything.
*I could probably write another couple pages on this because it really is hard to put into words what an awesome experience it was for me. Having had my previous labor that was completely medicated, myself or Josh not knowing Kelsie was coming until literally a couple of minutes before she arrived compared to this marathon of a labor the emotions were quite different. The whole pregnancy is obviously work and a marathon in and of itself but a natural labor, for me, was even more so. I honestly struggle to put it into words. The process wasn't necessarily enjoyable but the end result was so worth it. The endorphins that kick in, the sense of accomplishment, the way you work through increasingly difficult and painful contractions to have the greatest reward at the end. To be quite honest I was somewhat disappointed with my first labor experience and this was everything I ever wanted it to be.

(A lot of this is owed to having a spectacular nurse who has made me consider labor and delivery as a future endeavor. How much control the medical community has over your experience and how unpredictable it is also makes me realize why so many people choose midwives, birthing centers, and homebirths)

I was told so many horror stories throughout my pregnancy of terrible labors and I wanted to tell my story to anyone who wanted to listen and know that you can have an awesome experience even without medication.

The rest of the story

2011-08-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

Friday mid morning Josh went to go pick up Kelsie to bring her to meet Karissa. My mom was on the way down and would watch her until we could get home because she is the best ever ;-) The roads were less than pleasant and Josh was actually in an accident on the way back to the hospital with Kelsie. Luckily it was very minor and no was hurt, and I didn't know until they were only a few minutes away so I didn't have too long to get worried.

My mom made it down safely and was there when Kelsie and Josh got there. Kelsie was really confused with the whole situation. Where am I? Why are mom and Grandma both here? Why is my mom holding a baby? Why do they want be to be so excited about the baby? Just a few of the million things that were probably going through her head. She warmed up to her a little more the next day when she came back.

My Dad was able to come down on Saturday too and baptized Karissa.

I loved the caption my friend gave this picture "She has the joy of the Lord!"
Unfortunately it didn't last long as this was the majority of the next 6 weeks.

I was in the smallest labor room they had and there wasn't anywhere for Josh to sleep so I stayed by myself and was VERY anxious to get home. We had to stay until in the hospital until Sunday afternoon and Josh's family was able to come down and were there when we got home from the hospital. Kelsie was really excited about Karissa when we got home. Josh's family left Tuesday morning and Josh was planning on going back to work Wednesday. Tuesday during the day they were talking about a big snowstorm that was probably going to miss us completely. When we went to bed they said we may get up to 2-4 inches of snow. When we woke up they said 2 feet.

WHAT? It was then I realized that Karissa came at the perfect time and I'm planning on summer babies from here on out ;-) Josh actually got two extra days off because pretty much everything in NWA was closed and the roads were practically impassable. The days were filled with shoveling snow, building forts, admiring what 22in of snow looked like,

and enjoying the newest member of our family

(Tomorrow, I'll post why I decided to labor naturally and I promise I'll be finished ;-)

My birth story - ridiculously long

2011-08-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

I wrote Kelsie's birth story down and put it in her baby book but since Karissa is already almost 6 months it is apparent that isn't going to happen. Before I forget more I'm going to document here. It's probably more information than you want to know but I'm posting anyway ;-)

Tuesday, February 1st Josh was shoveling snow at the airport. I was overdue 2 days by my due date and due in 3 days according to my doctors. I didn't want Josh to leave because it could take up to an hour to get home or longer depending on the snow and ice fall but I didn't really have any signs of labor so he went. I joked that I was going to call him as soon as he got out there and tell him that I was having contractions even if I wasn't so he would come home. I was convinced my labor was going to be short and we wouldn't have time to take Kelsie to the babysitter and then to make it to the hospital. (The original plan was to have my mom come down to watch Kelsie but it would take at least 2 hours from the time I called to tell her to come to get here. Between possibilities of false labor and predictions of lots of snow we made a back up plan of taking her to the babysitter until my mom could get there.)

I had a few mild contractions and realized they were coming pretty regularly about 20 minutes apart. I let Josh know but I really didn't think it meant much as they were so mild. They continued for a few hours and stopped. Josh didn't get home until about 3am only to have to go back a few hours later. I was able to sleep.

Wednesday, February 2nd. Josh was back shoveling snow for his second round, he had come home to sleep for a few hours and went back. Sometime around noon I started having mild contractions again. They would come every 5 or 6 minutes and then not for 10 to 20. Josh called to check on me and I gave him the update and told him I'd call him if it progressed. I wasn't as worried because it was the middle of the day now and I wasn't really believing this was it.

Josh came home and took a little nap. Sometime in the evening I began more officially timing the contractions as they were starting to be more regular. They were about 6 minutes apart but still mild. This pattern lasted several hours and I was positive this was going to be the night. I stayed up late, took a shower, fixed my hair, packed my suitcase, then realized nothing was changing so I better sleep while I still could. I was still quite sure that I would wake up during the night and we'd go to the hospital.

Thursday, February 3rd. What? No contractions? Josh had a class that was supposed to last all day and they weren't allowed to bring their phones in. He went but being the sneaky guy he is brought his phone and I was to text him if anything changed. I had an OB appointment at 10. The roads were terrible (remember Josh shoveling the 2 nights prior) but the doctor was only a few miles away and there was no way I was missing my appointment. I think I drove about 5mph the whole way there but we made it, white knuckles and all. (And my doctor did too more importantly)

When I got to the waiting room I noticed I was starting to have contractions again. I mentioned what had been going on to the doctor but he wasn't too impressed. I had been dilated to a 1 the week before and was sure after all these days and hours of contractions my body had made some serious progress. I never had any of that with Kelsie. I was dilated to a 2. Seriously? I was still convinced that due to all this "work" I had been doing that when labor really started it was going to be super quick. The only encouraging thing was that I had been dilated to a 2 when I went into "labor" with Kelsie. (That was totally different though because I was already in the hospital preparing to be induced and didn't even know I was in labor until I was a 9. Seriously - I had an epidural though - it's a long story)

My contractions never stopped once I left the doctor and I began to have some other reasons that I thought this actually really might be it that I'll spare you from . I talked to Sarah, my friend, and Kelsie's babysitter for the first 2 years who would be watching her and to Josh around lunch time. I called my mom who insisted that she could leave right then but between the roads and so many false contractions before this I didn't want to jump the gun so quickly. I always thought there would be a clear distinction when labor really began and I hadn't gotten it.

I got Kelsie down for a nap and called my mom again. My contractions were getting closer to 5 minutes apart and she insisted to get to the hospital right now. If I wouldn't have been planning a natural birth I would have considered it but I knew that most likely I would need to complete what I could at home to make this more likely. Around 2, I realized today was definitely going to be the day (that I would go to the hospital at least) and told Josh to come home. We took Kelsie to Sarah's around 3:45, boy was that a long and bumpy ride. General stress of me + icy roads + labor = not enjoyable ride.

I think we got home about 4:30, and at this point the contractions were pretty uncomfortable. Honestly, looking back, I thought I was farther along than I was and so was giving into the pain a little more than I should have. I wanted Josh to know it was hard work ;-) Really, it wasn't pleasant but little did I know . . .

We left for the hospital around 6 but by the time I got checked in and to a room it was 7. The majority of people going in are NOT planning on doing things naturally and so come earlier in their labor. Again I was sure I was already pretty far along and was not happy things were taking so long. (Just wait, I'll show them, they'll check me and I'll be ready to push, that will teach them to take so long.)

Heather, my nurse, checked me and I was dilated to a . . .

wait for it . . . .

wait for it . . . .

a 4!
You've got to be kidding me. I've been laboring for the past 3 days to get from a 1 to a 4, and the past several hours have been tough. Well things are really going to speed up now that I'm really feeling the contractions. The nurse called Dr. Smith and since he had seen me that morning, and knew I had dilated went ahead and admitted me. She said she would check me again in an hour. (She wasn't excited to hear that I wanted to do things naturally which I was prepared for and told her nicely that I wouldn't forget they had epidurals available and if I changed my mind I would ask. She never mentioned it again) Josh and I followed our Bradley book recommendations, he helped me through the contractions, and I relaxed as much as possible for the next hour.

An hour passed and I was so anxious to hear about the progress I had made. The nurse checked me again and . . . . .

wait for it . . .. .

wait for it . . . .

I was a 4! A flipping 4 are you kidding me. It was then I realized that this would be a long night.

After encouragement from my nurse I got up and walked for the next hour as much as I could with a couple breaks to rest. The contractions came much closer together when I was walking but were less intense. When I would lay down I would feel like I was getting a break because I would have less of them but they would be stronger. I was confused. I really thought labor was more cut and dry than that but I should have figured out by that point I was wrong.

Another hour passed and I was a 5 and the next several hours continued that way. Supposedly things are supposed to speed up once you are dilated to a 7 so that was my goal. I walked, I laid down, I tried sitting (terrible idea), so then I walked and rested some more. Once I was dilated to a 7 I decided I couldn't walk anymore, so I laid down for the remainder of the labor. Josh was awesome, and so was my nurse. She came in anytime I needed anything and was always very good about waiting to bother me until my contraction was over. The contractions were really intense at this point but I handled it. There were probably only 10 or less contractions that were the worst and luckily they came spaced out. It was mostly when I started trying to do something when they were coming on, or lost control relaxing and got tensed up. It was absolutely night and day between the pain of a contraction when I would relax and when for some reason I wasn't able to.

At some point around an 8, I became a zombie, I think all the endorphins were kicking in. I don't remember much, and I wasn't responding much to anyone except for some incomprehensible moaning. Finally I was a 9, and I knew it. We got the nurse in and the doctor (who was sleeping down the hall) was called. Honestly, it was amazing, I could feel my body trying to push the baby out.

He got in there and it was a little after 3. After a few pushes and I few screams later out came Karissa Grace at 3:32am, Friday, February 4th.

They immediately asked me if I would do it again (naturally), I said not right now and Josh said yes ;-) Dr. Smith thought I was crazy, but he was nothing but encouraging to me none the less. It was truly an amazing experience.

The rest of the story continued soon . . .

Fun with blocks

2011-08-02T09:48:00.001-07:00

Try not to be jealous that my kids are always the best dressed around ;-)

My not so impressive record

2011-07-29T07:16:00.001-07:00

My post title 2 days ago was alluding to the fact that I am going to try blogging again but it reminded of something that happened a few days ago.

Many of you know I don't have the best record with cars after hitting two deer and two poles. I thought my luck, and driving, must be improving after almost 3.5 years without an incident. Unfortunately my luck ran out last week. A few short days after buying my new car I was running behind like usual and leaving in a rush. I opened the garage and started to back but was abruptly stopped . . . by my old car. In case you were keeping track, yes, that means I have now wrecked every car I have owned + 1. A pretty unimpressive record.

Needless to say having literally only owned my car for a matter of days I was not very excited. Fortunately Kelsie helped lighten the mood. "Try again mom?" Yeah Kelsie I think I'll have to try that again.

Feeling crummy

2011-07-28T15:29:00.001-07:00

Karissa hasn't felt so well the past week which has apparently encouraged her growing obsession. This has pretty much been my view for the past week

Try again

2011-07-27T09:38:00.001-07:00

Both girls are getting so big, its crazy how fast it's happening. Karissa will be 6 months in just a couple weeks and Kelsie is just 4 short months away from being 3. They both genuinely adore each other the vast majority of the time. Kelsie can always make Karissa smile and most of the time she loves to do it. We've just started seeing an occasional glimpse of jealousy if Kelsie isn't getting as much attention as her sister. Karissa loves every ounce of attention she gets from Kelsie (and anyone else for that matter) except when it involves hugs of gorilla strength or sitting on top of her.

Karissa just started being able to sit up using her hands to hold her up a few days ago and the past couplr days has lasted for a few seconds with no support. She is sleeping through the night more often than not. She usually goes to bed between 6 and 630 depending on her naps that day and sleeps until 730 or 8 waking up once between 4 and 7 to eat. She takes 2 to 3 naps, it varies on how long and when they were. And while we weren't sure what we had gotten ourselves into the first 6 weeks, Karissa is overall a VERY happy baby IF she gets her sleep and isn't sick.

A couple of things from the past few days:
*Kelsie likes to save her accidents up, she will go weeks without one and then will have 5 in 2 days which is unfortunately where we are right now. So when she peed on the floor again today (always right on front of the toilet) I asked her if she had another accident. Her reply, "calm down mom."
*This morning as we finished off our oatmeal I was enthusiastically beating the top and asks her if she wanted a drum. She looked at me like I was crazy and simply said "no thank you." I guess at least she was polite.
*Last but not least. Josh and I were standing outside talking to the neighbors about 45 minutes after Kelsie went to bed and she opens the door. We had been out there for about 15 minutes and apparently rather than being scared that she couldn't find us when she woke up she uses it as the prime opportunity to create some artwork on at least 4 separate walls throughout the house.

Karissa Grace

2011-02-05T03:30:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure my blog was ever more deserving of an update so here goes:

Karissa Grace
7lbs 7oz, 19.5in
2/4/11 3:32am

Everyone is healthy and doing well, hopefully to be discharged this afternoon/evening. Kelsie only has gotten to see her for a few minutes so I will have more pictures and stories to share after our homecoming.

**Note I just realized this was only posted as a draft so although quite outdated now I figured I'd publish it anyway

Can it be?

2010-10-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

Can it be that Kelsie will be turning 2 next month? I can not believe it nor can I believe that we will be welcoming a new little one in only a few short months. Our lives are getting more and more fun by the day (and busy too!) I'm anxious to see how Kelsie does as a big sister.

Speaking of Kelsie, she's probably changed a lot since I last wrote (I know, I know, it was way too long ago - sorry.) Probably the biggest change is how much she is talking, she adds words everyday and is starting to put more and more words together. The past two nights she said to her dad after her goodnight kiss "kiss mom" (paused for a kiss) and then said "hug too." It was pretty much one of the cutest things ever.

Another semi-new thing is counting, she likes to count. Okay, she does like to count but mostly her counting is just saying random numbers while pointing to objects. She can pretty consistently count to 4 though. We're also still working on letters and colors. She will finally say other colors than blue when you ask her what color something is, it's just not always the right color but we are making progress. Same with the letters, she likes to say lots of letters when she sees them, they just don't always match what she is looking at, or ever ;-)

Anything she can imitate she does and likewise anything she can do for herself, and even if she can't, she wants to. Take for instance trying to make her own oatmeal - and then of course she wants to clean up the mess herself too

Kelsie has hit quite the independent stage and I'm sure it will get even worse before it gets better. Some things are just humorous although often frustrating. The other night I was trying to put Kelsie to bed and she dropped her pillow and I made the mistake of picking it up for her much to her dismay. She then proceeded to put it back down exactly where it fell, stand up, and then bend over and pick it up herself. When I tried to hand her the cup off the counter she put it back on the counter so she could take it off herself.

My parents brought us some grapes from their garden and we decided to make jelly with them. First we had to skin all the grapes. Kelsie figured out what we were doing and joined right in.

Skinning the grapes:

Cheesing for the camera:

Putting the skinned grapes in the bowl:

Playing house on a trip to my parents

And a slide

A few pictures from the cystic fibrosis walk that we did in memory of my good friend Kelly - thanks again to all who donated!

Several weeks ago we also attempted a camping trip (in our backyard) which didn't go quite as planned. It all started off well.

As you can see I was starting to get tired

All Kelsie wanted to do was this, so after almost 2 hours we called it a night and came to sleep inside while Josh held down the fort.

Ahh . . . that's better

In fact, sleeping sounds like a great idea so I'm going to hit the sack. Hopefully I'll remember to get my camera out and take some more pictures and possibly even videos soon so you won't have to wait two months for another update.

These days

2010-08-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

Kelsie's basic stats:
I seriously cannot believe that Kelsie will be 2 in less than 4 months. She is talking a lot more (although lots of it still needs to be translated by us.) In fact this morning she came and said to me "cup milk please" which is the first 3 word phrase that I've noticed her saying. Apparently it doesn't take much to get me excited apparently. She is 33 in tall, has 14 teeth, and is around 23-24lbs.

Kelsie loves to do things herself or help me around the house, she also seems to really love coloring these days and absolutely loves stickers! I think we may try that as our potty training reward. I may be trying that next week by the way which should be interesting no doubt.

Here is video of another thing Kelsie likes to do lately, somersaults ;-)

In more disappointing news, I was getting really excited that Kelsie may be outgrowing her allergies but I recently gave her eggs and she told me her throat tickled a couple hours later and then she had hives and a rash on her bottom which is one of our worse reactions yet. Boo for food allergies.

P.S. In case any of you were wondering, I've been feeling better but unfortunately I've traded my nausea and fatigue for insomnia which isn't much more enjoyable.

My day

2010-07-22T03:53:00.000-07:00

Things I did not enjoy about yesterday:

Having Kelsie wake up at 5:30, in a sour mood at that
Realizing the meat I needed to make dinner was still frozen
Feeling nauseated starting at 4:00 (like every other night the past 8 weeks)
Josh having to work late
Being on the phone too long dealing with insurance
Realizing Kelsie just peed in her toy crate (aka laundry basket)
Washing all the dishes by hand because our dishwasher was broken

Things I was thankful for or enjoyed yesterday:

That the toy crate had nothing in it when Kelsie decided to use it as a toilet
Blowing bubbles with Kelsie in the bathtub
That my husband has a job and that we have insurance
Watching a bird poop on Josh' shoulder ;-) (thankful that it wasn't me)
Realizing I have an AMAZING husband and Kelsie has an equally AMAZING father
Kelsie behaving at my doctors appointment despite being tired
Realizing I'm at the end of the 2nd trimester so hopefully the nausea will be fading fast
Getting to hear baby #2's heartbeat
Getting to announce that I'm pregnant!!

A trip to the safari - Not me style

2010-07-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Josh, Kelsie, & I took a little trip to the Gentry Safari this weekend and I am happy to say it was more fun than we had anticipated, or at least more than Josh had. I mean he would never doubt my adventure planning.

We went to go see the kangaroos first and being the responsible, over protective mother that I am, I most certainly did not stand by and take pictures while my husband pet a kangaroo and held our daughter at the same time.

No way would I have ever let her actually pet one herself.

And while I was not even for one second taking my eyes off my daughter, I didn't stop to count the legs on this kangaroo several times only to realize it must have been taking advantage of it's baby carrier ;-)

Then, continuing in my responsible ways, I would have never taken Kelsie into a cage with Tiger cubs. That would be foolish of me, and there is no way I would pet one, or let Kelsie either. That is far too dangerous for my liking.

And, since I knew that we were going to be walking, and be around animals, I obviously would have never put Kelsie and myself in flip flops. I think ahead and always dress appropriately for the situation, never in shoes that could easily fall off and ruin the picture that Josh was trying to take of the tiger cub.

In addition to the animals that you could get up close and personal with, there was a drive thru section at the safari. Of course we obeyed the signs to keep your windows up at ALL times, I never break rules, or encourage Josh to just so we can get a better picture of a peacock.

Josh, being the loving, caring husband that he is, would never try to scare me and repeatedly roll down my window just a little while this creepy bird was standing right outside of it. He definitely does not like to ever get me worked up, besides it takes so much ;-)

I also never would break the law and let Kelsie ride in my lap just so that she could get a better view of the animals.

If by chance I was feeling a little out of the ordinary to do something so ridiculous as let Kelsie not ride in her car seat I would definitely not let her ride on Josh's lap while he was driving just because the baby zebra was on his side and I thought she might like it.

**Note: If by chance I were to decide to do something unheard of in our family and let Kelsie ride in front since we were going approximately 5 mph, I would positively not admit to it on my blog with pictures and all.

Oh and today while playing with our sand and water table I most definitely did not let Kelsie repeatedly shovel sand to the water side of the table just because it kept her happy and entertained.

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week

So much to say . . .

2010-07-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Since it has been forever since I've updated, here are some of the things we've been up to lately:

Kimber's Wedding

Kelsie was the flower girl at Kimber's wedding on June 5th and did much better than I had even hoped. We weren't even going to try to have her walk down the aisle but I got this brilliant idea that maybe if she walked in between Sean's twin brothers who were the ring bearers that she might cooperate. I was completely prepared to carry her down but believe it or not she made it on her own and hopefully we'll get to see some pictures soon to prove it.

In her flower girl attire

He we are practicing the walk (okay maybe not, but I liked the picture)

The wedding party

The Bride and Groom

Last but not least, our happy family

A couple trips to the "beach"

We went to Beaver Lake when Josh's parents and brother came to visit, and then to his Aunt & Uncle's sand pit when we went to Wichita.

Coloring
Kelsie loves to color, on anything ;-)

Who me?

We've went riding
We recently bought a bike seat for Kelsie and after some initially hesitation she seems to really enjoy it now. It's nice for us as well because we've got more use out of our bikes in the past week than we have in the past 2 years, hopefully it continues.

Getting bigger
So big in fact:

Kelsie likes to try and dress herself and is usually quite proud of herself if she is successful. Unfortunately, Kelsie seems to think everything goes on her legs, pants, shirts, or every headband out of her drawer ;-)

Sorry for the overwhelmingly long update, I hope I'll be back a little sooner next time.

Finally continued

2010-05-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

So, I promised these videos quite awhile ago but I think it has already been well established that I pretty much stink at blogging so I suppose you weren't expecting much more.

Kelsie taking pictures - it gets kind of boring at the end, or maybe the whole thing but I enjoy it at least.

This was absolutely hilarious as it was occuring and still as I am watching the video, hopefully you will find it equally amusing.

I'm a big kid now!

2010-05-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe the title was a little misleading because I wasn't referring to potty training. In face Kelise has only went on the potty once since I last wrote and somehow despite we the ones to actually put her on the potty we missed that too.

Anyway, Kelsie is like every other kid in the sense that she likes to do things that we are doing.

She wants to get herself dressed . . .

in my coat

At Kimber's graduation the thing that kept her entertained for the longest were these glasses

Yesterday, I was changing the batteries in a toy of hers and as soon as I was done Kelsie wanted the screwdriver. I didn't get a very good picture but she knew exactly where the screwdriving should go on all her toys, fourtunately she hasn't figured how to actually turn the screw quite yet.

And then this morning she decided (after coming out of her room with this hat on) that she needed to help me with the dishwasher. I usually don't let her, and this probably wasn't a good example of consistent parenting but I let her anyway.

Oh and just in case you were starting to wonder again why I don't post (or take for that matter) as many pictures of Kelsie as I should. It's because this is generally what she does when I get out the camera.

I will post the video later tonight that goes along with this post as well

Kelsie = Daddy?

2010-05-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

We have Kelsie's 18 month appointment next week so I'll update with weight and height then, I'm really curious how she's grown recently. She is saying about 30 words when I tried to count them but seems to add a new ones quite frequently.

For some reason, she still isn't even trying to say her name. Most words will somewhat resemble what you are asking her to repeat when you ask her to say Kelsie she always says "daddy," it's the strangest thing. Even if you point to a picture and ask her who it is she responds with "daddy."

Hopefully later I will get some videos and pictures uploaded, I've actually got the pictures uploaded now but I'm waiting for the video. We are going to Gymboree for a (free) class so hopefully I can get some pictures from that as well.

Making progress

2010-05-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Kelsie said her first "sentence" today, I guess you would call it that. Actually, I didn't get to even it hear it for myself but according to Josh, Kelsie said "hi dog" (to the dog of course) this morning. It's a little ridiculous how exciting two words can be, maybe it's just me ;-)

Look what I discovered

2010-05-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

I had some hair ties around my wrist (a habit that I can't seem to break) and was sitting on my bed with Kelsie and decided I would put her hair in pigtails. I knew it was possible as you might also remember from the pictures awhile back. I was pleasantly surprised to see that sometime between then and now it now actually looks cute. Well, at least in my humble opinion ;-) I've been waiting until I got a cute picture but considering Kelsie isn't a really a picture person AND the fact that it is hard to distract her from immediately removing said pigtails we haven't succeeded yet.

However, she did decide when she had just woke up from her nap, in her mismatched clothes, crazy hair, and poopy filled diaper to cooperate for this picture.

The real reason I got the camera out was because I found Kelsie in her crib like this, quite the fashion statement isn't it?

P.S. Happy belated birthday to Grandma Lane! (Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate)

P.P.S. Daddy we hope you feel better soon, sorry you are so miserable.

Belated Easter

2010-04-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

It amazes me how much Kelsie has learned in the past 17 months, how much she has changed from a baby to a toddler. Last night we went to an event in Fayetteville at the university where they had lots of animals for the kids to pet and Kelsie just loved it. I loved that it was free, and they had free food - maybe next year Kelsie will have outgrown her allergies and actually be able to eat some ;-) A girl can hope right? Anyway, she seemed to like the bunnies the best but that may have just been because it was the animal that made me the least nervous with her. The worst reaction from a rabbit is a lot better than a horse, pig, cow, duck, or goat - or at least I thought so.

I mentioned a little previously about our Easter trip but I know I didn't include pictures. We went to Girard for an Easter egg hunt during which Kelsie seriously amazed me with her egg snatching skills. My sister mentioned the hunt and I really thought it was kind of silly to bring her but it was something to do so we went. They had a special area for kids under 2 and as soon as the horn went off Kelsie was grabbing eggs left and right. I showed her what she was looking for and told her to put the egg in the bag and after that she went to town.

I believe this picture is when she was after some eggs in another kids basket. She's just always looking for the easy way ;-)

I think that it Josh clapping for her in the foreground, or someone who thought she needed a little admiration of her egg collecting skills.
I stopped her after 12 eggs or so because Josh was going to be eating the candy anyway so we could at least leave a few eggs for the children who actually got to enjoy their winnings.

Again, I am terrible and Kelsie wasn't exactly in the picture taking mood so we only got a few shots of her in her dress from Easter morning.

Giving her daddy a kiss (although it kind of looks like she decided to tell him a secret instead)

Wishing she was outside like always . . .

Kelsie needs some Orbit

2010-04-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

Kelsie LOVES to play outside which I've mentioned before. It's almost always enjoyable for everyone involved.

Here is Kelsie on the tire swing at her Great-Grandparents house in St. Louis being as cute as ever

And playing outside at home with some water

Sometimes though, Kelsie just likes to keep me on my toes. Like when we went to the park last week with some friends and I had to take something similar to this out of Kelsie's mouth.

I kind of wondered when this stage of putting everything in your mouth ends and made the comment that apparently I need to be watching her a little more closely. My friend nicely responded that sometimes kids have to learn by doing and she would probably never put a stick in her mouth again ;-)

I liked that theory and was starting to think that maybe it was true until a few days later Kelsie put two, yes two, hand fulls of dirt in her mouth. We rinsed her off but as she was running away from the faucet she fell right in the pile of dirt and started whimpering.

I was beginning to wonder why she was upset as she had done the same thing just a few minutes earlier and it didn't phase her. Then she turned around.
And I saw this.
Wet face + big pile of dirt = unhappy baby (and another mouth full of dirt)

Like her daddy

2010-04-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

I talk a lot about how Kelsie loves to make messes for me to clean up, which she no doubt does. However, sometimes she lets a little of her dad's genes shine through and does her best at cleaning up.

She went around in the kitchen and dining room and picked up everything off the floor and put it all into one pile.

Come to think of it though, maybe she's learned this from the way I clean ;-) It still looks better than all across the floor, don't you think?

Such a tease

2010-04-14T17:04:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I bought Kelsie a little potty with high (possibly false) hopes that I will somehow have her potty trained by the time she is 2. I decided I would just start sitting her on it before and after her bath and see what happened. The first night, Josh did it since he generally gives her her bath. The second night, which was last night I sat her on there and we read two short books. She jumped up, acting happy and I noticed that she had peed. I was thrilled! Maybe she actually knows what she is supposed to do on here I thought. Of course I had to immediately call Josh, my mom, and sister with the exciting news.

After her bath I decided to sit her on it again because she generally goes pee afterwards and I really wanted to test my luck. She sat for a second but wasn't really cooperating and I wasn't really sure that she even had to go so I wasn't too disappointed when she got up quickly. I was a little disappointed though when I noticed half a second later her squatting next to the potty, peeing on the floor.

Everyday something new

2010-04-07T21:13:00.001-07:00

So I mentioned in a Twitter a couple of weeks ago that Kelsie has mastered a few things as of late so I thought I would try to catch some of them on video.

I actually got the video camera out because I wanted to record Kelsie doing some of her signs but she was not in a cooperative mood as you can tell. Anyway, my old tricks to keep her contained definitely don't work anymore.

Kelsie has also learned how to open doors, and a little more about her independence, both of which she shows off in this clip.

*Note for baby book, Kelsie just got another tooth, the 2nd one on the bottom right which brings her up to 9 but the molar on that side will probably be making it's appearance anyday now.

A day at the park

2010-04-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, so actually two days at the park.

Kelsie has been begging to go outside everyday. Literally, she gets shoes out which sometimes match and then goes and stands at the door. We've had some really nice days recently so we've taken advantage of them.

Kelsie had a play date with her friend Brock at a park near Josh's work last week. She got to swing for the first time and loved it although it may be hard to tell from the facial expression here.

Since I'm not only a terrible blogger but also a terrible at remembering to get out the camera and taking pictures, this is the only shot I got.

While we were in Wichita for Easter, we got to hang out with some of Josh' extended family at the park, which Kelsie also loved. Again, I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures so I only got a couple.

Kelsie loved climbing up and down the steps of the play area but definitely isn't quite ready to do it alone. As she was walking around Josh was trying to get her to come down the slide, to which she obliged, only she tried to do it while standing. Fortunately as soon as the slide started to slope she fell onto her bottom but I really wish I could have gotten a picture of her facial expression.

No crying over spilled milk

2010-03-29T18:51:00.001-07:00

Today, being Monday and all, I most certainly did not . . .

let little miss Kelsie transfer mulch from our landscaping to the sidewalk by the handful just because it made her happy.

I never let her do things like that just because I don't feel like saying no. Similarly, I would definitely not let her unwind toilet paper rolls, or empty kitchen drawers and cabinets, or pull out every single ziploc bag and spread them all over the kitchen floor so that I can do something like cook dinner.

I know that this only creates more work for me in the long run which is why I would obviously never do something as silly as this. Besides, Kelsie never makes a mess.

And do you want to know why Kelsie does not ever make a mess? Well, because she takes after me of course and I never do anything of the sort. I'm much too coordinated to ever do something as clumsy as drop a gallon of milk on the ground while trying to keep a toddler in my arms, carry groceries, and unlock the door.

If I were to do something so silly as that, hypothetically speaking of course, I absolutely would not bother to try and salvage what little milk was left and put it in the pitcher because we all know I am by no means frugal like that ;-)

Another Not Me! Monday, inspired/hosted by MckMama

Notice anything?

2010-03-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

About this door that is. You may have to look closely.

Here I'll help you out. You see this was another first. The first time Kelsie colored on our door, which hopefully happens to actually be the last as well.

The good news is, once again, it's hard to not get over it quickly when this is the face I see running away from me. Unfortunately I've yet to find a way to get this crayon off the door, maybe I will by the time she figures out crayons are for paper.

A few more firsts

2010-03-12T12:09:00.001-08:00

Kelsie got another tooth yesterday, from what I can see that makes 7 - her nose has been running quite a bit lately so I'm thinking there may be more on the way. Plus she hasn't been sleeping well at night. Wait, who I am kidding? We all know sleeping well isn't really Kelsie's thing. (Really, just for the record, we have made what I feel to be drastic improvements in the sleep department. On most nights - at least for the past few weeks - Kelsie sleeps through the night. Unfortunately our new routine involves our days starting somewhere between 6 and 7 which I'm not a particular fan of.)

So, where was I, ah yes the teeth. Having more teeth + being an active toddler + related to me (read: clumsy) = our first busted lip. Kelsie had her first busted lip, actually she had one two days in a row. Luckily after a few tears it was nothing major, barely even swollen in fact. Still no fun.

On a lighter note Kelsie got to go to her first basketball game last weekend. Turns out either sound or heights scares her, she was buried in our chest for the majority of the game.

Kelsie also did this a couple weeks ago which I found quite hilarious.

I was trying to load the dryer and Kelsie crawled in. To get what you ask?

Her blankies of course!

We had another first today, but I'm too lazy to upload the picture so I'll have to post later.
Today

I ♥ Kelsie

2010-03-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Update

2010-03-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

I suppose it is about time for an update but since I'm at work (shh . . .) there won't be any pictures - the best part, I know.

Kelsie had her 15 month check-up today (althought it was brought to my attention that this might not be a required one). I don't complain though, I like someone to tell me that she is healthy and growing well.

Stats:
(what I can remember the best off the top of my head)
Height: 31.5in (80%)
Weight: 21lbs 13oz (35%)
Head: 45cm (24%)

As you can see, she been right around the same as far as percentiles go since she has been born. Her weight has dropped off a little bit but I at a little before a year I quit stressing about constantly forcing her to eat and she has leveled off around the 30-35% mark.

We never would have guessed a few months ago how much she would be communicating with us now. I think she is about average but for a long while, communicating with adults (in anyway at all) seemed to be the last thing she was interested in. Her communication, especially signing, has just been kind of exploding lately, I think she's beginning to realize what she can get from it.

Her vocabulary right now consists of about 10 words and she signs about 8-10 more. Her words that I can think of are up, dog, dada, mama, uh-oh, duck, hello, hi, ball, no, and although I haven't heard it yet I've been told she has said shoe a couple of times. She is signing eat, baby, bear, more, book, bath, hat, & car.

It is so fun having her communicate with us, we know she understood a lot (and does more than we know I'm sure) but having her make it obvious to us is pretty pricless. On Saturday, Kelsie went up to her highchair, said "up" and then signed eat. How great is that? Of course there are some negatives because now that she can tell us what she wants we feel like we have to give it to her. I guess we will have to probably get over that pretty quickly ;-)

The terrible twos, wait . . .

2010-02-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Kelsie was having what I thought was an "off" day. She was literally throwing herself on the ground, screaming, whining, crying, etc. at every little thing. She had gotten a shot a couple of days earlier and I thought maybe it was making her not feel so well because obviously my child does not act like this. Unfortunately Sunday turned into Monday turned into Tuesday with no improvement. Josh and I were getting genuinely scared as we prepared ourselves for what we thought were the beginning of the terrible twos even though Kelsie is only 15 months. I had a hard time accepting that this was the way things were going to be so after thinking about any possible scenario of what could possibly be wrong and refreshing myself on my baby sleep book (Healthy sleep habits, Happy child - good read if you are interested.) While I'm not sure why she needed more sleep it was obvious that she did and now my sweet baby has been taking two naps again and acting more like this: Instead of this:

Is it just me?

2010-02-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

Does any one else find this as hilarious as I do? Probably not but I posted it just in case. Enjoy!

A glimpse at what I've been missing

2010-02-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

Last night was the 1st night since Kelsie was born that I did not go into her room from the time I put her to bed (7pm) until the time she was ready to get up in the morning (725am). I went to bed at 11 because I was procrastinating everything that I needed to be doing and did not get out of bed until my alarm went off at 715. I felt refreshed, I didn't even hit snooze. Maybe it was a fluke but normally if I want to feel like that I need to go to bed at 8 or 830. Let me just say it was GRAND!! (Now Kelsie did wake up and cry briefly but she must have went back to sleep pretty quickly because I never got up and I don't remember her crying for long.)

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the vast majority of you reading this probably are wondering why this didn't happen much much sooner. Well, there are lots of reasons most of them go back to the fact that I tend to continuously give Kelsie excuses for everything. I think it must really suck as a baby and not be able to say I had a bad dream, my stomach hurts, I'm cold, my teeth hurt, I'm thirsty, you get the picture. (As I'm writing this I'm thinking it probably won't be too long and Kelsie will be coming out saying all these things and I'll have to decipher which are true.) Anyway, I waited until it was very obvious to me that Kelsie did not need to eat during the night AND after realizing that something was probably not wrong every single night when she has no signs of teething, illness, or exposure to irritating foods and we are doing our own little version of sleep training. Kelsie has had periods in the past where she would go 10 hours or so without waking but between trips and various other things she had fallen back into bad habits. I'm hoping this doesn't go away because last night I was reminded of how much I love sleep.

P.S.
This is why despite it all, giving up sleep is totally worth it

Showing off some tricks

2010-01-29T11:56:00.001-08:00

Kelsie showing off some of her "tricks" and for any of you wondering that is a carrot in her hand, and we're hoping a cheerio that she picked up ;-)

Brrrrrrr

2010-01-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

We are not excited about the winter storms headed our way or the frigid temperatures soon to hit us.

But, if you like to focus on the positives, Kelsie looks too cute all bundled up don't you think?

She will be missed by many

2010-01-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

It will be one week tomorrow that my Grandma Withers very unexpectedly passed away. I've been extremely fortunate, as this was only the 2nd death of someone close to me that I have experienced and it reminded me how fragile life really is.

My grandma was one of the main reasons that I set up this blog. I knew that she would be able to check it regularly and really wanted someway to keep up with her great-granddaughter. It makes me so sad that Kelsie won't get to know and remember her. I was lucky enough though to get to have her in my life for 25 years and there is no doubt she will never be forgotten.

The fact that she will not be forgotten was very clear at both her funeral and visitation where people turned out by the hundreds. She touched so many lives. Both her and my grandfather really have inspired both my husband and I (and I'm sure lots of others) with their amazing relationship. If anyone has ever read the book Love & Respect you will understand what I mean when I say they really had it down. I really do think they were a very good example of what God intended a marriage to be. They were married for 58 years and while I didn't know them for the first half of it they really did have an inspiring marriage.

My grandma was a true lady, incredibly nurturing, and always let us know how much she cared about us. Family was extremely important to her and we always felt loved. I'm so happy that she was such a firm believer in Christ so that I know someday I will get to see her again. She will be missed.

I love you Grandma!

Resolutions

2010-01-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

I realize I've been totally neglecting my blog lately. I really haven't given up on it, and in fact as I have mentioned many times before someday I really do want to post more frequently. However, since I hate failing, I've decided not to make this a new year's resolution of mine. In fact I'm not making any resolutions although I was successful at last years which was to not get pregnant ;-)

Anyway, I do have some good excuses on why I haven't been around but that is besides the point. Let's get you all caught up on Kelise.

Kelsie's vocabulary has officially surpassed her teeth count. She is up to 5 teeth (possibly soon to be 6) and I think 7 words: no, dog, hi, hello, mama, dada, and uhoh although it seems like I may be forgetting one. She is at an incredibly enjoyable stage and if we could only get this sleeping thing figured out life would be darn near perfect.

I've always been one to do anything at all possible to avoid an overtired baby. At about 4 weeks in to the whole parenting deal, one ridiculously unsoothable overtired baby I vowed I would never let it happen again. Seriously, it was pretty much one of the worst nights of my life. Granted, I'm a little dramatic, but still it was. Anyway, we've done pretty good since then. We've had our share of time spent in the rocking chair but nothing comparable to that evening. This child seriously needs her sleep and I've done lots to protect it. Unfortunately we are at this awkard point now though where she isn't tired enough to fall asleep for her second nap until it is late enough that it screws up her bedtime. For the past week we've been trying one nap, unfortunatley it only lasts for about an hour and a half, and then a bedtime of 6:30. She is so fussy though from pretty much 4 o'clock on and tonight probably ranked as 2nd worst.

Kelsie woke up after sleeping for about 30 minutes (which she has done ever since we went down to one nap) and was crying hysterically. She wouldn't even stop when I held her. Nothing worked. I tried to rock her, leave her alone, nope, not happening. In my head I'm thinking, something is seriously wrong, I wonder at what point I take her to the ER for being inconsolable, maybe she got a concussion when she hit her head earlier. (Remember how I said I tend to be dramatic.) So, finally rocking her, while dancing around the room singing calmed her and I realized that she is just overtired. I'm not sure how yet, but this is one of those nights that I'm definitely going to be doing whatever I can to prevent it. So, wish us luck for tomorrow, we'll either be doing 2 naps or an ultra early bedtime.

So big

2009-12-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

As I was addressing Christmas cards Kelsie was so nicely entertaining herself briefly in her room. I looked up from the table and saw this in her room so I snapped a picture.

Later Kelsie was feeding herself bananas and cheerios but got a little sticky . . .
Aren't her teeth cute though?

P.S.
Happy belated birthday Dad! I didn't get you a present this year but I sure enjoyed making you look like one ;-)
Love,
Kelsie

Watch her go

2009-12-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of videos to watch of our littlewalker, getting better by the day.

My fun toddler

2009-12-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

We attempted Kelsie's one year pictures a few days ago. I say attempted because I was by no means impressed so I didn't order any and plan to reschedule soon. I had them taken at the picture people like I had once before only this time wasn't quite as successful as the last. Basically I could have easily taken pictures equivalent to those at home and it really seemed like the lady wasn't even trying. My only thought is that maybe since it is around the holidays and they are obviously much busier than the rest of the year that maybe they hire temporary help that isn't quite as experienced as the rest of the staff. Also, I do acknowledge that Kelsie isn't the most cooperative child to photograph and I also thought that she might still not be feeling well still from the eggs I fed her the day before.

However, I highly doubt this was the case because I caught this cute video shortly after. Kelsie had a little incident with the trash can so we had to take a bath earlier than normal which turned out to be very enjoyable. Beware of very loud and high pitched squealing ;-)

Back to the allergy, I am really disappointed to have confirmed that Kelsie is also allergic to eggs. I had suspected it but I was kind of in denial because I really do NOT want a kid with allergies but I'm holding out hope that she out grows them soon. When I fed them to her once she threw up and this last time she got diarrhea, a rash on her bottom and a rash on her face. This is what her face looked like when I was still eating dairy by the way and the type of rash she gets if she has something she is allergic to.

On to happier subjects, here is another video that I got of Kelsie giving kisses, playing with her doll (that is practically as big as she is) from her "Aunt" Deb and getting too close to figuring out how to open the door.

No more baby

2009-12-01T06:20:00.000-08:00

I suppose it is official although it would be pretty hard to deny these days. Kelsie turned one last week which means no more baby for me. I can't believe she is a "toddler." I must admit I wouldn't go back, I don't miss the baby days. The only thing that I miss is knowing that even if I wasn't looking at her for one second she wasn't going to eat something off the floor or get into some other kind of trouble.

Kelsie basically started walking over the weekend which I'm sure is going to amount for even more fun near in the future. She will now take 7-8 steps and just stand up in the middle of the room to walk to something. Of course I don't have any pictures or video of this but I'll work on fixing that soon. She also said mama for the first time. She has said it a couple of times in the middle of the night and then on the way home on Sunday.

Considering the ride home was one of the first times Kelsie said mama it probably should have been enjoyable. However, my toddler is no better of a car rider than my baby. She pretty much cried 75% of the way home and slept for the other which only amounted to about 1 hour total. In addition to that it started raining on our drive home and we were in Josh's truck and all our stuff was in the back. Luckily nothing got too wet but between that and a crying baby Josh and I were a little on edge. We were very glad to be home when we finally made it and I think Kelsie was just as happy.

As you can see the ride there was lot more peaceful. You like Kelsie's first ponytail?

Here are a few pictures from her birthday celebration(s). I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of the balloons my mom got for her which Kelsie loved. (Don't worry we didn't actually let her play with them.)

My sister made Kelsie a cute little sign.

Opening some presents

Carrying her new purse

These maracas were basically Kelsie's motivation to walk. She had a lot of trouble crawling with them so she just kept standing up.

Last but not least, a few pictures of Kelsie enjoying her "cake." Since Kelsie is allergic to milk and apparently not ready for eggs yet either I struggled finding something to make for her. We settled on some banana/applesauce cake with powdered sugar on top which she seemed to enjoy.

Excuses, Excuses

2009-11-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

So, I've been terrible about blogging lately - seems to be a trending theme here huh? It isn't because I haven't had things to write about because in fact I've had a lot. I could have told you how somehow Kelsie managed to poop down the front of her leg while I was trying on a bridesmaid dress at David's Bridal. I wouldn't have told you though that I changed her in my trunk and had to wipe her pants off on the cement because that's gross.

I could have blogged about Kelsie finally getting her 4th tooth or about how she is talking (3-4 recognizable words) and still not walking contrary to what this picture may lead you to believe.

I could have talked about the fact that Kelsie is going to be ONE tomorrow and how incredible old she looks in that picture.

Instead of being able to talk about all that though, or about how I should always let Josh take our family pictures because he does a much better job . . .

. . . instead of all that, we've been sick. For what seems like forever. Then, on top of it, Kelsie got an ear infection and I got mastitis. Which we both are still taking antibiotics for. Which I'm totally not excited about (the antibiotics or being sick). So hopefully this will all pass soon because being sick is no fun, being sick with a baby is no fun, and being sick with a sick baby is exhausting. Ridiculously.

So I blame the lack of blogging on that.

Not me!

2009-11-09T17:44:00.001-08:00

In celebration of baby Stellan's "Home Run," which you can read about at MckMama's website I decided to do another Not Me Monday post.

A few short days after I posted this sweet picture, I most certainly did not give Miss Kelsie her pacifier back.

I know that you must stick to your guns as a parent so I would never do something like cave in, that would just be silly.

I also did not start to get worried that since she was quickly approaching her 1st birthday that she would simply be addicted to this pacifier forever. I know better than that, that is why I would never take it away for a second time. I was also definitely not acting depressed and moody all weekend as I listened to Kelsie whimper, whine, and cry in her crib, knowing exactly what she wanted. Nope, not me

I always read instructions so of course I knew exactly how to work my relatively new blackberry. Because of this, my sister's fiancee' certainly did not point out to me that I was able to access the internet for free with my phone. If that was possible, I would have for sure already known that. And when it comes to work I am always productive, so don't worry even if I knew my phone had access to the internet I would never check twitter, facebook, and blog updates with my phone while at work to stay updated on baby Stellan's surgery, or my coupons ;-) That is definitely not something I would do.

Since I also always take very good care of my belongings, I do not have to call to get insurance on my phone now that I know its capabilities. I would never put my phone on a hot stove, drop it, have it thrown by Kelsie, or spill water on it. That would be so irresponsible which is why I would never do something like that ;-)

Brush! Brush! Brush!

2009-11-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot I was doing a little research and apparently it is recommended that babies have their first dental appointment by the time they are 1 or 6 months after their first tooth comes in. This seems a little pointless but I also realized that I do have to start brushing her teeth at some point. Maybe I'm a bad mom because we haven't started already but at least she only has 3. Anyway, we decided that we would try to start brushing them (without toothpaste) gently and I just thought this picture was too cute.

P.S. Are you in shock as much as I am with my posting history that I just made 4 posts in one evening?!?

Happy Blogiversary

2009-11-06T19:23:00.000-08:00

I got my AnneeMatthew Nursing shirt in the mail today that I won from A Mother's Boutique as I mentioned earlier. It is SO comfy, and I wanted to show it off so I had to put it on right away. It is my first nursing top and I'm really impressed with it in general but especially with the quality and comfort of the shirt.

I just wanted to let anyone know who was interested that her giveaways have been extended into November so there are still quite a few to enter if you are interested. Also her boutique has a lot of quality items and I am definitely impressed with it overall so you should check it out even after the giveaways are over!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-06T19:17:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures of my little lady bug (in case you couldn't tell) It wasn't a very original costume but considering she didn't actually ToT it suited us well. My parents came down and we ran to the mall with her in the costume so at least a few people got to see her.

I like this picture because it shows her pretty eye color even if it only shows half of her face ;-)

In addition to celebrating her first Halloween, Kelsie also recently got to experience her first trip to the park. Mom and Dad played on the toys much more than she did I think she seemed to enjoy it about as much.

A lot of catching up

2009-11-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here is Kelsie on her actual 11 month birthday. One of the few times I actually got around to taking the picture on the right day.

She was 20 lbs which put her at the 48% or something close to that. I didn't measure her so I don't know about her length. We have our next check up on the 11th of December (with another pediatrician because apparently I am crazy picky!)

Kelsie is really getting to where she is understanding and communication so much more. The other day when I was changing her diaper in the wee hours of the morning she started signing milk. She had done this after me before but never on her own. I'm really hoping this is just the beginning of the signing. We've been doing them with her for awhile but not terribly consistently so we haven't got a lot of results.

You could easily argue that she is saying Dada, Uh-oh, and hi - but I'm still not quite positive. She will follow directions (when she wants to) and loves to clap and say "hello" on her phone, or anything else that's similarly sized.

Kelsie also loves to climb and play peek-a-boo which I think is what she was doing here

and last but not least as of October 30th Kelsie started taking a couple of steps. I think the most she has done is 3 but I see that changing in the near future.

Random Tuesday Thoughts - My life

2009-10-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

A day in our random life

7:20 Feed Kelsie & change diaper - put back in crib hoping to get a few more zzz's since I didn't go to bed until 11:30
7:45 No more sleep for me Kelsie is ready to start our day.
8:00 Give Kelsie a few rice puffs to keep her occupied while I get some oatmeal ready for us
8:05 Feed Kelsie oatmeal
8:15 Distract Kelsie with ads from paper so that I can eat my breakfast
8:25 Clean up time
8:30 Change poopy diaper #1
8:35 Play with empty cereal boxes and piece of cardboard for 20 minutes which I must say we both enjoyed
8:55 Look at recipe for tonight, get chicken out to thaw, and realized that we don't have all the ingredients. Kelsie is pulling everything out of the lazy susan.

9:00 Put everything back in the lazy susan
9:05 Realized I forgot to weigh Kelsie on her 11 month birthday - attempt to weigh now after several tries - we are successful Kelise weighs 20lbs and is at the 45th percentile
9:25 Kelsie is getting sleeping, change poopy diaper #2
9:45 Kelsie is fed, changed, and sleeping, I spend 30 minutes on the computer checking email, entering a few giveaways, finding a bridal shop for my sister and I to go to.
10:15 Realize chicken has to be cooked before going into crockpot. Start cooking turkey and chicken
10:40 Kelsie is awake and now I try to figure out how to keep her entertained so I can finish dinner.
10:45 Place Kelsie in play yard and get her interested in books and toys and sneak out.
10:55 Kelsie is not entertained anymore and I'm still not done with dinner. I get all the plastic storage containers out, fill a few with toys and put them in her play yard.
11:00 Um, so much for that idea, it did buy me enough time to finish, only one ingredient left, a lime. What? How in the heck do you cut up a lime to put into chili?
11:05 Everything done except clean up, realize Kelsie has poopy diaper #3. This one looks blue, that's something new.
11:10 Dress Kelsie and myself, she looks much cuter than I do. Realize that I think she is hungry too so she eats.
11:35 At bank to make deposits and ask if I can cancel the cancelling of my debit card because I found it (well actually Josh did) - they won't let me and it costs $10 to get a new one which will have to come out of my allowance so I don't get one. I kept out $15 cash.
11:50 At Aldi's to buy remaining ingredients for dinner, adding up as I go since I only have $15 - I knew I was close but total is $15.21, luckily I got a nice cashier. Unload groceries into car, return cart and bring $0.25 deposit from cart back inside to cashier.
12:35 Back home put away groceries. I've already ate way too much of the cookie dough I found at Aldi's that didn't have milk in it, probably a really good thing I hadn't discovered this earlier.
12:45 Change Kelsie's diaper and pants - she is getting tired again.
12:55 Make cookies, surely I won't eat as much this way
13:10 Cookies done and I'm pretty sure there is only half as many as the dough originally would have made.
13:15 Change poopy diaper #4, poop is blue again. I begin to get quite concerned but as I inspect things a little too closely I realize it is just diaper creme
13:30 Feed Kelsie, and put her down for nap #2
13:40 Spend a few minutes on the computer typing this up and looking at updates on the blogs I follow for any good deals.
14:00 Pick up house
15:00 Make list for Walgreens and gather coupons for shopping trip
15:15 Kelsie's up she gives me a couple of kisses and cuddles and I change her clothes again into something that matches, realize I have no way to pay at Walgreens (since I've lost my credit card and while my debit card is now found it has been canceled)
15:30 Warm up some food for Kelsie while watching her cruise around the kitchen taking all the stuff back out that seems as though I've just put away.
15:35 Kelsie thoroughly enjoys hers peas and I let her

15:50 Clean up which includes shaking off some peas outside and playing with the dog for a second, then back inside to wash hands.
16:05 Still cleaning and attempting to load the dishwasher as Kelsie is attempting to climb it.
16:20 Console Kelsie after she hits her chin from slipping
16:25 Poopy diaper #5 - apparently 1oz of apple juice in her oatmeal this morning was quite the laxative.
16:35 She's hungry again - time for another snack
16:45 Place with Leap frog fridge farm
17:00 Ready for dad to be home, crawling around playing peek-a-boo and with the football
17:25 Kelsie hears garage door open and crawls to kitchen to meet her daddy at the door
17:40 Dinner time

18:10 Daddy playing with Kelsie so I can have some "me" time
18:30 Bath time, Kelsie chokes on some water but she's good now.
19:00 Dressed for bud, a few cuddles and a book
19:25 Kelsie has ate and is asleep
19:26 I'm exhausted, where has my day gone? I read above. Note to self - 1/2lb cookie dough makes me feel like crap.
19:40 Walgreens trip. They are out of half of the stuff I want as usual and nothing is tagged so I can't tell which varieties are on sale, I can't wait for the new Walgreens to open.
20:10 Put away few things I bought and help Josh figure out some stuff with our taxes from last year
20:40 Take a shower
21:15 In bed, reading my Bible and The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands (written by Dr. Laura - this lady is NOT nice)
22:00 Lights out, talk with my hubby for to long
22:30 I'm asleep

Check out more randomness at the Unmom

Random Tuesday Thoughts - - I'm a winner!

2009-10-20T10:11:00.001-07:00

OOh - another first post - I've been wanting to do the Random Tuesday post but since basically all of my posts are random I wasn't sure if it really applied but oh well.

I'm just so excited about the giveaways I've won and that all my wasted time is actually starting to pay off so I wanted to share with you what I've won.

My first giveaway that I won - and two others were courtesy of Mommy Loves Giveaways Thanks Heather!
*A wooden teether from Eco Ayris
*Adorable clips from Marjorie and Rose
*System Mechanic - a program I desperately need in hopes of making my computer run faster

Another really great blog that I follow is called NWA Deals - it is an awesome blog that tells me how to get a ton of great deals with and without coupons. Lucky for me, this blogger - also named Heather - lives right here in NWA so she finds all the great deals for me. She has been hosting a few giveaways recently and Sunday I won a coupon for $50 off $100 purchase at Old Navy. With all the great sales they are having right now I'm thinking I can get some really great purchases.

Last but not least I recently found A Mother's Boutique This mother not only runs a website but also a store. In celebration of her 1 year "blogiversary" she is hosting a lot of AWESOME giveaways for nursing and pregnant moms. So if you happen to fall into one of the above mention categories you should definitely check in out. I got news today that I won this cute nursing top!

Oh and if you feel like a random post of your own check out The Un Mom and get this banner.

It may get boring

2009-10-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry I don't know how to shorten these videos, even with the length I still enjoy them so I thought you might to:

Daddy chasing Kelsie:

Being silling with mom:

I wish . . .

2009-10-18T17:39:00.001-07:00

that I could put pictures up with every blog post. I do realize that they are probably the main reason that most of you come back here. However, I apparently don't want to that badly because I haven't taken any pictures since my last post. Our computer is just so darn slow I hate uploading pictures so I suck and just don't take them. We really need to break down and spend the money to have it cleaned up and everything backed up because basically we are too lazy to sit down and a) figure out how to do it and b) take the time to actually get it done.

Um, can you believe that Kelsie is going to be 11 months 1 week from today. I will take pictures for that so check back in 1 week if it's pictures you were looking for. She has so much more of a personality every day and I love that she is starting to communicate with us. Pretty consistently she will wave if we tell her to say Hi or Bye and today she copied me and signed milk for the first time. I've been trying to teach her signs for awhile but the only thing she seems interested in doing with her hands is waving or clapping. Well and pulling my hair, putting every smidgen of dirt, etc. that she finds on the ground in her mouth, and various other things not involving signing ;-)

She had her allergist appointment last week which was about as helpful as I thought it would be. Kelsie had some blood drawn to check for allergies to milk and/or soy. If she isn't allergic to soy according to the test we may try some of that, if she is allergic to both she recommends just trying again in another 6 months. I was sooo nervous about Kelsie getting her blood drawn, especially since I knew that it might not even tell us that much but much to my surprise she didn't even flinch. Seriously, the child didn't even move. You know the "movingest" baby ever, she just layed there all calm, because she loves me :-) Anyway, the results should be back sometime in the next week.

Last but not least because I've had issues uploading videos the last couple times I have tried (not sure if it is human or electronical error) I'm trying something new. I'm in the process currenltly of uploading a few videos to youtube and I'll put the links up for those. Any other ideas on how to upload videos?

I know, I know - Finally!

2009-10-11T14:42:00.000-07:00

I know, I know - finally some pictures right?!? Well all the planets must have aligned, because I had a little extra time since Kelsie is at church with her dad (don't worry I went this morning but Josh had stayed up too late for early church) and the computer is actually working, and I had some recent pictures. So for your viewing pleasure - my darling daughter:

Her 10 (okay 10.5)month shot

Taking an evening stroll, all bundled up

Enjoying the view from Dad's shoulders and the feel of her new tooth coming in

A close up with mom, we need to get better with this huh?

Getting stronger everyday, she can stand alone now for short periods of time,

I just haven't caught it on camera yet

Stalling

2009-10-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

I'm definitely not stalling doing the stuff I need to do by posting on my blog. I never procrastinate, and especially not on the computer. There is no way I decided to do my first "not me" blog inspired by MckMama on a night when I've already posted another blog just so I don't have to enter all my purchases into our budget. Oh, and Josh and I do not have an budget for where every dime of our money goes each month including an allowance for us because that would definitely be a little crazy. No way would we be that frugal, not us.

Also my living room floor is most certainly not covered in coupons that need to be clipped, sorted, and filed. No way did I sign up for the paper to be delivered just on weekends for the sole reason of getting more coupons.I mean who uses coupons anyway, definitely not me.

Oh, and I did not have Kelsie in 5 different outfits today and still not take a single picture of her because that would just be absurd.

Last but certainly not least, I did not just find gum all over my leg and the computer chair. Whose gum was this you ask, don't worry, it definitely was not mine, I mean how would that even happen. Someone, as responsible as me would not have her gum out of her mouth and then apparently forget about. Not me!

I confess

2009-10-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Kelsie -

I have to make a confession. I had begun to convince myself that maybe, just maybe you weren't actually allergic to milk. I mean after all how likely is it considering neither your dad or myself have any allergies that we know of. The doughnuts, cookies, cakes, pizza, chocolate, ice cream . . . . okay I'll stop - but they have all really been calling my name. You're right I've found many substitutions and I can make almost anything without diary products and really in the long run it is probably healthier. I gave in though on Wednesday, the doughnuts were staring at me and I couldn't take it, I was just going to have a bite, unfortunately that turned into 2 - doughnuts that is. I'm sorry that you are paying the price now with crappy sleep and terrible diaper rash. I promise, once again, to avoid dairy products if at all possible.

While we are on the subject I guess I should confess/apologize for a few other things although they may have been a little more obvious to you. I'm sorry I've been trying to trick you into standing when you are least suspecting. Maybe you've noticed that when you want to be picked up and pull up on my legs that I walk backwards just so that you have to take a few steps. I know you can do it and here pretty soon something is going to interest you enough that you are going to let go. Anyway I'm sorry but I might not try as hard to quit as I will to quit eating diary. Just being honest.

Love,
Mom

My updated look

2009-09-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

I took the plunge - I chopped my hair off. It is shorter than I was planning because she measured when it was curly but hopefully the donated hair will make someone happy. With all the trimming and evening things up I think she cut about 13 inches off. I'm still getting used to the new look but I like it I'm thinking it is definitely going to be a lot less work overall. What do you think of it?

Tricky Tricky

2009-09-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited because we have an appointment with the allergy specialist on October 13th for Kelsie. It probably wouldn't really be necessary if I were able to find a pediatrician that I actually liked/trusted but no such luck so far there. I think we will probably try another one for her 12 month appointment - I really need to get on finding that. Anyway, I'm hoping that Kelsie's only allergy is milk - and maybe it isn't even a true allergy, but the doctor should be able to guide me on what to introduce when and what our options are.

Speaking of 12 months, I cannot believe Kelise will be 1 year old in 2 months. It is just crazy. We got her pictures taken on Tuesday at the Picture People and let me just say I was pretty impressed with the whole experience - I wish I would have tried them a little earlier. The pictures are a little more expensive (if you don't have any coupons - which I did ;-) but they don't charge a sitting fee and you get the pictures right then. They also caught a picture of Kelsie standing without holding on to anything. It was so cute, she let go of these steps she was holding on to to try and clap. She is really starting to imitate us now - it is so fun. She is waving pretty consistently although sometimes she does it after the person is gone and she is clapping when we say "YA!!" or clap. I don't know if it is officially clapping or not because it doesn't make a noise but it is obvious that is what she is trying to do.

Here is video of a little sleepy Kelsie getting done with dinner, imitating dad sticking his tongue out:

(Sorry our computer isn't working at the moment but hopefully it will be soon)

Here is a cute video from about a month ago of Kelsie playing with her dad. P.S. If I knew how to edit these I would but I don't so feel free to leave me tips about how I can cut it off.

(Sorry our computer isn't working at the moment but hopefully it will be soon)

To Kelsie:
Please quit playing dirty tricks on me - getting me used to sleeping all night and then getting up every 2 hours. Then as soon as "my body" adjusts to that, sleeping all night again; waking up at 7:00 when I need you to sleep in and then on days like today when I get up at 6:45 because I'm already awake and I know you will be up soon, sleeping until 8:30.

Little did I know

2009-09-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was reminded once again of how little I knew about babies before having one. Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly never claimed to know much about babies in general but looking back I realize how naive I really was.

Saturday evening at church, as Kelsie was sucking on the window after I had stopped her from chewing on my keys, chapstick, ring, table, pew, etc. I got to thinking. I remembered how before Kelsie was born at some point in the process of looking for houses thinking, or being in a discussion about lead paint. As I so knowingly told Josh, "It isn't like it really matters, lead paint is only a problem if babies eat it, and what baby would actually eat paint and even if they wanted to why would their parents let them?" The answer is quite painfully clear now, babies (or at least mine) will put ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in her mouth. It doesn't matter what it is and she sure doesn't spit it out just because she realizes that it tastes awful, is inedible, or especially not if it is clear we don't want her to have it. She will find anything that she is not supposed to have, it is like she knows. Thank goodness someone was looking out for people like me and made lead paint illegal.

Also at church, I was reminded of, as I am frequently, of another circumstance I totally did not understand before having children. I remember specifically telling Josh I did not understand why girls always thought they had to/needed to/wanted to cut their hair after becoming mothers. I told him not to worry because I would never do that. Now that I've passed the months of my hair falling out in clumps because of hormones, I'm still losing clumps to my sweet little babies hands. I'm lucky to even get time to straighten my hair once per week and that's generally about as close as I come to fixing it. So, I'm going to make a liar out of myself. I'm getting my hair cut this weekend hopefully. This is something that I wanted to do though whether or not Kelsie was in the picture because I wanted to donate to Locks of Love one more time, she is just speeding up the process, or at least giving me more motivation to get it done. I'll post some before and afters as soon as I can. Wish me luck!

My determined baby

2009-09-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I decided that it was time to take away Kelsie's pacifier. I haven't let her have it outside of her crib or carseat since she was 6 months but I was afraid she was just going to become more attached the longer we let her have so I thought it would be easiest to just go ahead and take it away now. Also it seems that the more she uses it the less she wants to eat. I've never know a breastfed baby to be addicted to the pacifier and she won't even take a bottle from the baby sitter anymore so I figured it couldn't be too terribly difficult. It's been 48 hours and we're going strong - really hardly any problems at all except she's been getting up a little earlier than normal but that may be just a coincidence. I did let the babysitter still give it to her for her naptimes today but hopefully we will be able to phase that out soon too.

Anyway this evening I opened a drawer in Kelsie's room while I was holding her and she found the case to one of her pacifiers. It was getting close to bedtime and apparently Kelsie decided she was desperate enough for a pacifier that it would work well enough as a substitution.

A few more notes for myself when I wish I remembered this stuff, and for any of you interested:
*Kelsie still isn't very much closer to walking after almost 3 months of pulling up to a stand but tonight she did let go for a full second. She also seems to be walking along walls and stuff a little more.
*She takes 2 1-2 hour naps per day
*Eats twice a day, more and more finger foods although I can't give her very much at once because she tends to just shovel it all in her mouth but not chew.
*Gets up once in the middle of night sometime and once between 6 and 7
*Goes to bed about 7:30 and wakes up for the day between 7 and 8ish
*Starting to really enjoy climbing

*Finally learned how to stick out her tongue although I'm not quite sure why we were encouraging this ;-)

A few more giveaways

2009-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

My friend Heather has recently started hosting her own giveaways you should check them out:

*Win some designer burp cloths or bean bages here and check out the the sponser Kim's Creations

*Some fabulous jewelry here from Cymbaline's Designs

*A hooded towel here from 4 Sweet Cheeks

*Travel changing pad with burp cloth here from Cippy Stitches

*Super cute hair clips here from Marjorie and Rose

*A wooden teether here from Eco Ayris

From the looks of it she will be hosting many more awesome giveaways in the future so you should definitely check out her site. And, if for some reasons these giveaways aren't exactly what you've been looking for, feel free to enter and pass along any winnings to Kelsie and I ;-)

Nuture Shock

2009-09-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy reading up on the latest research on how to be a better parent and I came across a giveaway for a book that really looks like something that would suit my taste. I don't know why out of all the giveaways I've entered this is one that I want to win enough to actually write about it. I think it may be because since there are 5 books to be given away I actually have a decent chance of winning. If your interested you should sign up here to win your own copy of NutureShock and that way if I miss out you can let me borrow it ;-)

One day

2009-09-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

One day I'm going to update this blog more than monthly - right now my new goal is to update at least once per week. I apologize to any of you who actually look at this and who have been sadly disappointed for the past month when there has been nothing. I always think that I will update when I get a picture and upload it. Between Kelsie being next to impossible to photograph and our computer being super slow this rarely gets done. So my new resolution is to post (with or without photos) at least once a week.
Now on to more exciting things. Kelsie has a 3rd tooth coming in (upper left) and the 4th isn't close behind. I'm sorry this is the best picture I could get but this little girl barely lets me get a picture of her face let alone the inside of her mouth.. She is learning to chew food and bite it, the teeth make it a lot easier I'm sure. Great-Grandma Wenzelburger got Kelsie some sweet potato puffs this weekend, they were a nice fun snack for her, and a good distraction during church. I'm sure Kelsie appreciated the change from her usual church "treat," ice. Here she is the first time eating puffed rice.

We were able to go and visit lots of extended family this past weekend and Kelsie did well, she hated the car ride just as much as I thought she would but we survived. The trip there we drove at night and on the way home during the day, neither of which made much of a difference as far as how she tolerated it. She would sleep for about 45 minutes and then wake up but at least we kept up with her napping/sleeping schedule over the weekend so she wasn't overly tired already and that made it a lot easier. So besides a new favorite food, Kelsie also has a new favorite book, given to her by her Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Withers. It is a Peekaboo baby book and she loves flipping through the pages and looking at the babies. She actually loves looking at books in general but this one especially. There is a mirror at the end and I'm pretty sure she was repeatedly kissing herself today but we'll pretend that she was doing something else not quite so conceited.

Kelsie had a doctor appointment last Friday and is up to 18lbs 10oz (43%) 28in (60s%) and her head was 17in (20s%). She is getting closer and closer to letting go when she is standing along something and still absolutely refuses to hold our hands to stand up when we are trying to make her walk. She discovered how to stick her tongue out, click her tongue, and will very cutely attempt to imitate clapping when we do. (I'm sure you can imagine why I wanted to wait and put pictures up of all this but she quits doing anything the second the camera comes out)

She is getting more and more giggly and seems to enjoy more and more interacting with other people but definitely has a mind of her own. Absolutely hates to be tied down and still is the movingest baby around (correctly labeled by my mom at 2 months.) Today we were at Target and is buckled into the cart and cart cover. She seems to like the cart but likes to twist her body around to face the other direction and today somehow she got her entire body turned around and was riding on her knees still buckled in facing the wrong way. Just for all the effort I let her ride that way for a little bit.

Last but not least, I would like to try and continue Kelsie's monthly picture. Unfortunately trying to take a picture of Kelsie in the rocking chair while I'm holding a camera (something she undoubtedly is trying to get) hasn't been working out so well lately so we will try them on the horse for now and see how that goes.

Teeth!

2009-08-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

As of about a week now Kelsie officially has teeth. Last Wednesday when I was checking in with the baby sitter she asked if I noticed Kelsie had a tooth coming in. I didn't but only because I've thought she was teething now for about 4 months. Anyway, that was last Wednesday and then two days later I noticed the one next to it was coming in. I don't know if teething has anything to do with it but at the babysitter Kelsie has been almost impossible to give a bottle to so she started trying sippy cups. Kelsie clearly enjoys those much better so I guess I won't have to ever worry about breaking her from the bottle although I didn't think that would be a problem anyway. She is getting so big I can hardly believe it.

Kelsie is also starting to walk along furniture really well and everyday she finds a new place to stand as she is realizing that she really doesn't need anything to grab just something to lean against. Today she stood against the refrigerator and the wall in her room. She is also trying to climb, gosh is she going to be a handful. We discovered this weekend that she can climb steps and today she just about climbed into her little chair. It is quite aways off the ground too. When I helped her up in then she just stood up on it, we definitely can't keep our eyes off her for a second.

I'll try to add some of her cute new pictures soon but I'm having issues with either the computer or blogger at the moment so it will have to wait.

P.S. Thanks again to everyone who has donated to my walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and to any of you who haven't but would like to, it isn't too late. Check it out: http://www.cff.org/great_strides/MeganLane I'm only about half way to my goal and the walk is in about 2 weeks, so any help would be greatly appreciated ;-)

Update

2009-07-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Kelsie is feeling better - I would say much better but she really missed out on the sleep today that she had been getting so she was a little cranky this evening. Kelsie loves her babysitter and her children and therefore never has much interest when it comes to sleeping at her house. She does take naps but not to the amount she needs so she is usually a little fussy when I come home from work - thank goodness I only have to do that part time.

Anyway, she is feeling better. I believe that she had roseola and with my brilliance + the Internet that is basically as good as a diagnosis (Note: Please read sarcasm in previous statement but I do really think she did) We did go to the Urgent Care on Sunday just to check things out since her fever was still around 102 and they said her urine, ears, and throat all looked good and so we had a few options. We could a) draw blood, b) go to the ER where they would have a pediatrician, or c) wait it out a little longer. We choose option c) which for once I think I may have made the right choice. We gave her Tylenol and Motrin all day Sunday and her fever never returned. Monday she basically slept until 2:00pm and I was starting to get worried because she had also broke out in a rash but as I said I later diagnosed this as roseola so I gave it some more time and Tuesday she was basically back to herself and the rash was completely gone today.

Although I didn't take a picture of her on her actual 8 month birthday I did weigh and measure her - she is up to 17.8lbs, and 27.5in. For your enjoyment here are a couple charts that I find rather amazing. This is a track of Kelsie's growth over the past 8 months - keep in mind this is with her deciding exactly when and how much to eat. God sure created our bodies wonderfully - if we could only continue to listen to them as we got older.

Height:

Weight:

8 months

2009-07-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today Kelsie is 8 months old - I have no idea where the time has gone. I didn't take her picture today because she is a little under the weather. It is her first time with a fever that wasn't from shots but we still aren't sure why. She doesn't have any other symptoms besides being really tired so hopefully it is just a virus that she will get over quickly. We first noticed she had a fever yesterday evening so if she still has it in the morning I'm going to take her to the urgent care clinic just to have things checked out. Here she is cuddling with her Daddy, hopefully she feels better soon.

In other news I made some letters for Kelsie's room thanks to my friend Katie's help. I saw some she had made and so she told me how she did it - this is how they turned out - I'm pretty happy with them for my first project like this in awhile.

Good Morning

2009-07-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

This is what I wake up to every morning

Could you ask for anything better?

Day trip

2009-07-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

We went to Roaring River yesterday and it was so nice. Our original plan was to camp but unfortunately all the spots were already reserved when Josh called on Wednesday which was kind of a bummer but still worked out. Instead we met my parents down there on Saturday and just hung out. We went for a hike, cooked some lunch, sat by the water, played catch, watched my dad fish (and our dog - a German Shepherd mind you- be scared of the fish) etc. It was just an all around good time. I continued my terrible streak of not taking any pictures, I really need to find the camera and make up for some lost time.

I was kind of worried how the whole Kelsie eating situation would go since I'm not a big fan of nursing in public. This is mostly because I know it make a lot of people uncomfortably. I have some sympathy to this because I used to be one of them - I always had every intention of nursing my children but being around someone doing it always used to bother me. Of course after I had Kelsie I now can hardly believe that I used to think this way. Still I don't like to do it if I can avoid it. However our options on Saturday were sit in a scorching hot truck, a skankorific bathroom, or somewhere in "public". We tried the backseat of the truck the first time with the windows open a little in the front and we got the job done but it was definitely not pleasant.

I decided to go a different route for round number 2 which turned out much better. I thought Kelsie would be distracted by all the noises outside which is another reason I opted for the truck but really the only thing she was slightly distracted by was the nursing cover. As I was sitting there trying to not be too exposed from her waving the cover around but enjoying that she was playing with that rather than pinching me like she often does while I'm feeding her I got to thinking. My options were (A) sit by a trickling stream outside in perfect temperature listening to the birds and the wind with a calm baby or (B) sit in a hot truck, squished in the backseat with Kelsie flailing around and I wondered what the heck was I thinking? In the future I'm thinking that if my choices are similar to this in the future I may just have to take the chance of people feeling uncomfortable a little more often.

No more shots!!

2009-07-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kelsie got her last vaccine for awhile. Now we have to wait at least 6 months before any more (which we will probably wait longer) and she will just need the boosters. They usually check and iron level around a year and while they draw that blood I'm going to see if they can test her immunity as well so we don't have to do anything unnecessary. She always does really well with the actual shot but she has been pretty fussy for the past 24 hours, I think they make her really tired. She went to bed at 6:30 last night and got up once to eat at 2 and then slept until 7:15. She is already taking her 3rd nap of the day right now.

She is growing so fast and I realized I haven't taken any pictures lately but I promise I will soon. Lately if we catch her in the right mood she will give "kisses" to Josh or I, it is so cute. Maybe I can catch it on camera-I seriously doubt it though. It never fails, whatever she is doing she stops when we get out the camera.

I need to share some pictures of her though so you can see how much she is standing and how much hair she has got. Okay, well don't get too excited, it isn't that much, but considering she had basically none at all it is exciting for us.

Oh and just for the record, little miss Kelsie had her weekly poop yesterday and it was one of the worst blowouts that I remember. I needed to take a shower before I even got her diaper off not to mention what she looked like. Then to anyone who has ever changed her diaper or watched me try to change it (it's virtually impossible) I'm sure you can imagine the fiasco it was with a poopy baby. I think we used about 10,000 wipes but luckily I kept her off the carpet so everything was able to be thrown into the washer. Oh the joys!

My new addiction

2009-07-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

This may just become my new addicition. Thanks to the

check out this steal I got at Target for less than $1

Thats right 2 boxes Kashi cereal, 2 boxes Kashi cereal bars and 1 box of waffles for $0.95. Talk about a heck of a deal. I think I'm in love.

Vacation

2009-07-05T17:51:00.001-07:00

Branson was a blast and at some point something clicked with Kelsie and she is pulling up like a pro now and really enjoying it. She did it a couple weeks ago and a couple times since but it was nothing like now.

Kelsie also got to go swimming and fishing for the first time. You may have seen the video of her first fishing trip to which I'm still questioning whether or not touching the fish was a good idea ;-)

The first couple of days she was a little shy like usual but after that she really warmed up to everyone and seemed to definitely enjoy all the attention. Lucky for her the attention continued after we got back home on Friday because her Grandma & Grandpa Lane were here which she enjoyed equally as much.

2009-07-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I miss Kelly

2009-06-28T14:58:00.001-07:00

My friend Deborah and I (and a few others) are completing a walk in August in memory of our dear friend Kelly who passed away a little over a year ago ultimately from Cystic Fibrosis. Our goal is to as a team raise $1500. Please consider visiting my page by either following this link or the button in the upper right corner to donate or to just learn a little more about what we are doing and why.

7 months

2009-06-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

First off, it has once again been way too terribly long since I last updated - sorry about that.

A belated Happy Fathers Day to all the dad's out there including my own and also my wonderful husband. This is the first time Josh held Kelsie I think it may be the happiest I have ever seen Josh.

Kelsie was 7 months yesterday and I don't know if it is the same for everyone else but 7 months just seems so old. Well not old but too old for Kelsie to be. 6 months and under seems like a little baby but 7 months doesn't, or maybe I'm just crazy ;-)

We had a doctor appointment last week it was with someone else we had never seen before because we had to be squeezed in. Unfortunately, I assumed that everyone in the office was covered by our insurance because a few of them were but apparently not. Oh well, I've realized I can't sweat the small stuff because I have so many blessings in my life they definitely make up for any nuisances.

Kelsie is around 27in long and 17lbs, her percentages are pretty much staying the same for all although right now she is a little higher in height than she had been so that's not a bad thing. Changes in the past month aren't too plentiful but she did stand up a few times on her own - she hasn't done it very much though. I don't know if she hasn't really mastered it or if it is just not that interesting to her right now because she would rather be crawling. She is getting so fast at crawling, especially on our hardwood - she uses her knees too a little more each day. The best news though is that she is sleeping through the night. This started about two weeks ago and she now only gets up once to eat and usually not until around 5 so that's about 10 hours of straight sleep, I definitely can't complain.

She also has slowly but surely getting some more hair - here she is showing it off.

I am SOO excited to go to Branson. I don't have to work again until next Friday which also means I don't have to pump again until then something I am even more excited about. I'm excited to put Kelsie in the pool and see her in her new bathing suit. I'll try to be timely about putting pictures up when we get back.

A new record

2009-06-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

I know I need to put up some new pictures of Kelsie and hopefully our internet will be working again soon so I can do that. We had some severe weather move through yesterday afternoon and apparently it caused our internet to quit working. The good news is that Kelsie and I both slept through it otherwise I would have probably have been a complete basket case. We were under a tornado warning and all but unfortunately we really don't have anywhere to go so hopefully nothing ever happens.

By the way, Kelsie now sleeps in her room the whole night every night. Occasionally I will bring her in bed with us at 5 or 6 if for some reason she decides she needs to get up and I think I may be able to change her mind. We are working on not getting up as often at night. I am fully aware that she doesn't need to get up to eat twice at night, probably not even once but that is our only complaint so I figure I can deal with it. It's a work in progress though. We have improved drastically with naps and falling asleep without being rocked or nursed so I figure we will eventually improve in this area to. If nothing else I'm confident when I am done breastfeeding she will sleep through the night.

We have our doctor appointment this Friday so I am anxious to see what accurate scales measure her to be. It is no doubt she is growing very quickly thought she is wearing 9-12 month clothes now and drum roll please . . . . she pulled herself to standing two nights ago. We got a picture of her standing up but we weren't quick enough with the video camera. Hopefully we will catch it soon so everyone can see.

Kelsie is eating solids probably 5-6 times per week. So far she has had rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, peas, pears, and prunes. I've made everything so far except the cereal and prunes. I've been super paranoid that Kelsie is going to get constipated since introducing solids so she has only had cereal and bananas a couple of times and I was trying to introduce high fiber foods first. Despite my efforts she set a new record on days without pooping - she went a WEEK. I was really starting to get worried even though I didn't think there was anyway she could be constipated. I called the doctor for some after day 6 hoping they would remind me of some things I already knew just as a little reassurance things were okay but instead they told me to give her Miralax twice a day. I ignored their suggestions trusting my instincts that she wasn't constipated and that a laxative for a 6 month old probably wasn't the best of ideas. She pooped the next day and without going into too much detail I know that she wasn't constipated. Just to be safe though, we added prunes as her next food that night so hopefully we will only have to wait 5 days instead of 7 this time ;-)

Growing up so fast

2009-05-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

We've really been working on the sleep situation - getting up every 2-3 hours definitely wasn't working for me so that is where we aimed for improvement first. Shortly after we began working on this it was brought to my attention that not all babies or even most have to be rocked/nursed to sleep for naps and bedtime. Lucky for us both of these situations - going to sleep and staying asleep have seen vast improvements over the past several weeks. Our naps are also improving after we finally realized Kelsie is by no means ready to get up when she wakes up after 45 minutes.

Tonight after a bath and prayers Kelsie was not interested in eating or being rocked so I put her in her crib and turned on her music. I went to go eat and hadn't heard anything still after about 5 minutes, I thought maybe the tv was just too loud so I had Josh go and check on her and much to our surprise she was asleep. I didn't have to rock her at all last night either and while I'm glad that our hours of rocking have gone by the wayside it was definitely bittersweet to think she doesn't need me to fall asleep. However to reassure me that she hadn't completely got things down pat on her own she started screaming after about 45 minutes of sleeping peacefully. I walked in her room immediately (although she could have possibly went back to sleep on her own because I really did want to rock her) and found her sitting up in her crib facing the wall. She is getting SO big, it is amazing that she is 6 months. She is a pro at sitting up on her own now and is starting to use her legs more and more now to get around.

We had an appointment on Friday for her 6 month check up but we missed it. We laid down for a nap about 7:30 and somehow slept until 9:50 and her appointment was at 10. I have no idea how we both slept that long when normally her morning naps are about 45 minutes. Anyway I weighed and measured her myself and she weighs 16 lbs (52%) and is 27.25 in (95%).

Kelsie tried her first food a couple weeks ago and we are trying to do one meal a day right now until she gets a little more used to it and then we will go to 2-3 times per day. A whole new challenge and learning process - I feel so uneducated on what, how much, when, etc she should be eating and I think I get a completely different answer from everybody. Kelsie doesn't know what to think either.