New Words

Just a quick post. I know i havent been good lately about posting, and i hope to be able to get a few in over the next couple of days. I did get a chance to load a few new pics of the upstairs so check those out. But I will get out an update on our holidays and everything else soon.

For now i wanted to tell you about the new words Kaylee has added to her vocabulary. The biggest ones include: potty, Bo (that is her friend's name and another friends dog's name), fall, bubble, mine, hide, more, ball, baby, and most importantly KAYLEE. She has finally learned to say her name. For now all she does is say "Hi Kaylee," but hopefully she will expand to using more words with her name.

Updates

Upstairs is coming along, much slower than I had hoped for but the work IS getting done. Today marks the end of the drywall hanging phase. They are coming back in the morning to tape and then mud hopefully on Wednesday. I am hoping that the drywall is completely finished by Thursday and we can have the painter start doing his thing at the end of the week. The HVAC guy came back today to turn on the heat so that the tape will stick and the mud will dry (higher energy bill is on the way). We hope to also have the 2 windows replaced upstairs (ones that leaked), and have the attic doors ordered this week. I am stressing about this work getting done in a timely manner cause today is the 2 week mark for Marcus' departure. As everyone knows we are losing most work days next week due to the holiday.
Please worker men, I am begging you, Please come and do your jobs fast and efficiently!

Update on our sicknesses......Kaylee and I see finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Our little head cold infection thingys are just about behind us. We can breathe and sleep much easier now.

Gluten free update.......I recently posted about my gluten free troubles. Well today was a break through day in that regard. I was pleasantly surprised when I approached the gluten free section of Kroger to find that the tag for my biscuits was back on the shelf. But then I was disappointed to find that once again they were out of stock. At least now I know they still carry the product. As I rounded the corner to continue my shopping I noticed the nice man, he told me to call him Terry, who was restocking the shelves in that section. I thought I would ask Terry about my beloved biscuit mix. He said he had 5 boxes he was getting ready to put out on the shelf. He said that we (myself and other gluten free buyers) buy this stuff so fast he can't keep it on the shelf. He said he orders it every week. I tried to tell him to order more every week cause this stuff is GOOD. So I got 3 boxes of biscuit mix, just in time for the holidays, and they were even on SALE! I am a happy camper!
This experience did spark my interest in other gluten free buyers. I wonder who else in Collierville has Celiac, it would be really awesome if we could get together and talk sometime, but how would I find them? Should I stalk the gluten free aisle and ask everyone that approaches if they are eating gluten free by choice or because they have Celiac? I don't think that would go over too well, anyone have any better ideas?
After my exciting purchase I headed home to find a package waiting for me. I eagerly open it and found that Marcus' Aunt Concha, had sent Kaylee and I some more gluten free goodies!! Although I have never met Concha we have been in contact via email for about the past 2 years. I guess she read my post about gluten free food and felt sorry for us. She sent us fresh baked bread, fresh pizza crusts (ready to top with my favorite toppings), 2 packs of cookies, and a chocolate cake mix. I about died when I saw all my yummy goodies. I can't wait to try them all! She also included a baby doll for Kaylee, this is her first ever doll and I am sure that she will take great care of her. THANKS TIA CONCHA FOR BEING SO KIND, GENEROUS AND THOUGTFUL!

Update on pictures.......I finally got our snorkeling pictures loaded and I created a slide show at the top of the blog (in case you missed it). Hopefully I can get a few more loaded soon to show you. And also I have some more pictures of upstairs to share with you, they should be coming soon.

It's good to be home

We have been at home now for the past 2 nights and I cant tell you how much better I have been sleeping. Despite the sickness that still hovers over us, we feel more comfortable in our own surroundings.


Here are a few updates:

Today was Kaylee's last Kindermusik class
(until the next class starts the end of January)

The drywall was delivered today
(hopefully it will be hung soon!)

We are currently under budget for the upstairs project
(YIPEE!!!)

I am officially a cow

People always comment on how small I look when I am pregnant. They say I don't look as far along as I really am. Well I have decided that everyone needs glasses!

I had my checkup the other day and I am measuring so far ahead of schedule she is going to do an ultrasound next appointment to check and make sure everything is ok. I was actually going to ask for one, but I didn't even have to. I gained 9 pounds in 4 weeks. She tried to convince me it was Thanksgiving or because we were travelling. I didn't buy it though. 9 freaking pounds! I thought I was going to die when I heard it was that much. So I asked her how much I have gained so far this pregnancy and as of now, with 9 weeks to go, I have gained more this time than total when I was pregnant with Kaylee. Her exact words were "well let's just try and only gain 1 pound a week from here on out, instead of the usual 2 pounds a week at this stage."

What can go wrong, will go wrong

I am on an endless journey to find gluten free products that taste good and are affordable. It seems like lately the "gluten free gods" are laughing at my ridiculous efforts! As soon as I find something that I like it becomes unavailable to me; either the store stops selling it, the product gets discontinued, or something else gets in the way of me and my yummy foods. I am just destined to suffer and eat the horrible tasting products that continue to crowd the shelves.

Earlier this year I found some gluten free oats. Not only do they taste just like the real ones but they are very very affordable (that is not a term one uses often when speaking of gluten free products). I remember stocking up on them buying out 2 different stores of all there stock and for about 2 months now I have seen my stash slowly dwindle as I frantically try to find them again. They are nowhere to be found. I have asked 3 separate stores to order them for me without any luck. Hopefully one will pull through for me and give me some good news this week.

Pizza crusts......now this is a topic that almost brings a year to my eye when I think about it. After trying about 6 different brands of crusts, I found an AWESOME one that I could add my own toppings. I prefer that over buying an already topped pizza. These crusts were thin crackery crusts, just how I like them. And best of all they were ridiculously affordable. All of a sudden one day they disappeared of the shelf of the only store in Memphis that carries them. I asked 2 different managers to order them only to find out about a month later that they can no longer purchase from that company. So I am not sure if that company stopped making them or if they just won't sell to my store. Another bummer!

Now on to my biscuits. I was hesitant to try these expensive little puppies at first. I paid a pretty hefty price for them, but was rewarded greatly in the end. It wasn't until I started preparing to make the biscuits when I realized that I needed a food processor. So I asked my friend Katie if I could come over to make and bake my gluten free biscuits at her house. She agreed and I went over and made my super delicious biscuits at her house. Kaylee and I enjoyed each and every bite of them, so much so that I took it upon myself to "help" Marcus with his Christmas shopping by buying myself a food processor (the costco coupon for $30 off helped ease my decision). So now armed with my own food processor I decided to go buy a few more boxes of biscuits, to my surprise when I went back to the store to purchase them.......guess what.......they no longer carry them. So I decided to ask the manager if there was any chance that they could order some more, I am waiting to hear back.

Also earlier this year I stumbled upon some gluten free brown rice tortillas (i know corn tortillas are gluten free, but these are not the same. Brown rice tortillas compare to a regular tortilla, they are soft like a burrito). I actually ordered these little delightful things online. I only bought one pack for fear that they would taste horrible like every other gluten free tortilla I have tried. But to my surprise they were delicious! I went immediately to order more from the same website and they were no longer selling them. I searched other sites and every store I could think of in the city of Memphis, but had no luck finding them again. Thankfully today when I was at Whole Foods, after the switch from Wild Oats they started carrying them so I bought all they had in stock. This is about the only good thing in my little "gluten free world" that is going my way at this time. Hopefully someone will invent some yummy products and start selling them to the stores in Hawaii so I won't starve while we are there!

Our Trip

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted about our trip. I tried a few times to post something while we were in Hawaii, but something always seemed to get in the way. Since we have been home more and more things just keep coming up.

I would like to start by saying that we had a fantastic time! We actually found 2 houses that we are considering and have made an "informal" sort of offer on one of them. Marcus and I are still torn between the 2 houses. After weighing the pros and cons of both houses we each have a very difficult time deciding which one we like better. One of them is in Kahului and the other in Wailuku, just up the mountain a few minutes. I will post a few pictures in a later post. I am writing this post from my moms computer and i don't have the pictures loaded on this computer. ***it's a long story why i am posting from her computer and not our own, I will talk more about that later

Besides spending 2 full days looking at probably 30+ houses we managed to fit in a little fun in the trip too. We walked to the beach one day and swam for a short time. We went snorkeling another day, MAN that was such a fun trip. I will have to admit i was really hesitant at first but am glad that they talked me into going. It was so much fun! We also enjoyed a few nice dinners out and drove to the west side of the island to Lahaina. Our trip ended with a nice dinner at our realtor's house, before we dropped off Kyle and Kristy at the airport. We became really good friends with our realtor, she was a perfect fit for us. She will be like our "family" while we are away from home. The flight home wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been, you know it is really hard for a pregnant chic to get comfortable on such long flights. Oh well I survived and we got the best greeting ever from Kaylee who was waiting ever so patiently to see her "mama" and "dada." The happy reunion didn't last long though.

***while we were away we were hoping that something/ anything would get done in our house. I was especially hoping that Kaylee's ceiling would be fixed, but we were shocked to find out that NOTHING was done the entire time we were away. So Thursday night, our first night home, we couldn't even all go home together. I decided to stay at moms with Kaylee and sent Marcus home to start doing some work upstairs with my dad. I began not feeling well late in the afternoon, so mom talked me in to going home to sleep so I could get a good nights rest. Once again I left Kaylee at moms, I felt horrible about it but really didn't have too much of a choice. The workers were supposed to come fix her room on Friday (which didn't happen), so she spent the night with Ceire and Rita Friday night. Then it was supposed to get fixed Saturday, and once again the workers no-showed so she spent ANOTHER night away from home with my sister. Finally the worker showed up today but the room was not finished until after Kaylee had already gone to sleep for the night, so I am stuck spending the night here with her. I think Kaylee and I have some sort of head cold, so we are both having trouble breathing and especially sleeping. I am so thankful that tomorrow night we will all be back home in our own beds!

Pa'ia waves

This little hippy town is on the north shore of Maui and is a popular destination for kiteboarders and wind surfers.

Turkey leg

Turkey Day (a day late)

Happy day after Turkey Day!

We are on the plane on the way to maui, Marcus is sleeping and I am bored to death, there's only so much people watching, sudoku puzzles, and reading I can handle. I would be watching a movie however our DVD player failed to charge last night so I can't enjoy that luxury right now. So I thought I would write a quick post (but I can't post it until we land and I get a signal).

Yesterday was quite eventful to say the least. With all the commotion that went on I never even got a chance to text everyone a Happy Thanksgiving text. And here's why......

Marcus had arranged for my brother to come over and help get some stuff done upstairs so that he could get some sleep. About 845 John comes over and we go upstairs so I can show him what to do, when all of a sudden I hear a loud THUD! I go to see what happened and I find that John had fallen through the ceiling. Luckily only the bottom half went through and he was able to pull himself back up. It took me a few seconds to realize that he fell through right above kaylee's room, where she was still sleeping. At that point she obviously was no longer sleeping! I ran down to get her to find the ceiling pieces and insulation all over her room and bed. She was shaking and terrified!!! I am sure she thought the aliens were coming down to get her. It took her a good few minutes to quit shaking and realize that she was safe. I couldnt believe my eyes, I didn't know what do do or say. All I could think about was we were leaving the next day and this was one more thing I would have to deal with when we get back. Needless to say I spent the entire day cleaning up and emptying her room, with the mere HOPE that my dad can arrange someone somehow to fix it before we return.

By 1 PM I was phyiscally and emotionally drained! I was having pains in my belly, and knew I needed to rest but Kaylee was so terrified of going to bed she refused to take a nap in her room. So I decided to pack what I could and head over to my moms house early. We finished the rest of the preping for dinner and waited for everyone else to arrive. We sat down to an awesome dinner. Kaylee loved the turkey leg my dad gave her and thoroughly enjoyed having her plate on her tray so she could eat all by herself like the big girl she "thinks" she is. After dinner it was Kaylee's bedtime and she was clearly exhausted from the days events. Apparently the trauma she had experienced earlier in her bed was still very fresh on her mind and she absolutely refused to be left alone in her bed. It made me so sad because she loves her bed she loves going to sleep and now she is scared something is going to attack her through the ceiling. After about 2 hours of struggling with her Marcus and I decided we HAD to go so that we could pack. My mom decided she would lay with her in the bed that is in her room and she drifted off to sleep. However Kaylee has never been the type to sleep good with people or on people so I knew it wouldn't last long.

Marcus and I reluctantly headed home to pack and we finally climbed in bed somewhere around midnight. We had to be up at 5 to catch our flight. I got a few stretches of sleep in between my bathroom breaks and waking up thinking of things I forgot to pack.
We left the house, a few minutes behind schedule, but made it to the airport in time. Our layover in phoenix was perfect, just long enough to get a good bite to eat and make it too our next flight. I was able to sleep for about 1 1/2 hours, which was a nice break, but when that is only 1/4 of the flight it doesn't seem like that long.
I am so excited to get to see my friend Kristy and her husband Kyle, it has been like 4 years since we saw each other last. I am looking forward to catching up and enjoying the rest of the trip.

Dizzy Kaylee

This afternoon Kaylee, my mom, and I were outside playing. She was playing with Tahoe and Oreo (the neighborhood dog) taking their tennis balls and throwing them. She loves running down the hill. Then mom and I decided to start swinging her around like a helicopter. It was so funny, she loved every minute of it and before she could even see straight she was asking us to do it again. She was laughing the whole time, even when she fell down in the wet grass. Watch the second video, as she is falling over from dizziness, she is saying "go, momma." She wants to go again!

After Turkey Day Blues

One of the biggest things I look forward to about Thanksgiving, besides getting the whole family together and playing games, is definitely the left overs! Anyone who knows us knows that left overs around here are like gold. And what better time to have left overs than at Thanksgiving? But this year we are going to miss out on all of them because we are leaving the next day. So i decided that I am going to make the dishes I am supposed to bring a little early and have left overs BEFORE Thanksgiving. I am going to make my broccoli casserole, GF corn bread, GF gravy, and mashed potatoes today so that I can enjoy them for dinner tonight, tomorrow night, AND Thanksgiving night! I figured that I would wait to make my GF pumpkin cheesecake til Wednesday night, because if i dont it might not make it to Thanksgiving dinner at all.

Is that bad?

4 days and counting til we go and see our new surroundings in Hawaii. It has been hard to get excited about this trip because of all the things we have going on here. I mean who wouldn't be excited about going to Hawaii for 6 days with no kids? I am hopefully going to start packing soon, considering we need to be really conscious of what we bring because of the new baggage policies. We have to pay $15 EACH WAY for 1 piece of checked baggage. That's ridiculous!

Here are a few pictures I took this weekend of the boys (AKA my dad and Marcus) working on the insulation. Oh and the inspector came again today and we passed, so we are cleared to continue working; however we have hit our first 'hiccup' in the road, we probably wont be able to do much more except insulate this week. I am hoping that my mom and dad will be able to hold down the fort while we are gone, and make sure that the worker dudes do their job while we are away.

On a totally different note.......... I was freaking out today when I filled my car up with gas and only paid $35. My tank was almost empty and still that was all it cost. I am so glad we are finally getting some relief at the pump, especially when we drive as far as we do on a daily basis.

Updates on everything

This morning went great! We got to the doctor on time, but they were not ready for us. So we had to wait longer than expected. After all the paperwork was filled out we were ready to go back to our "holding room". That's the place where we were briefed by the anesthesiologist and the nurse, and waited for Kaylee to come back from the procedure. After explaining how everything was going to work, they took Kaylee back to the surgery room. We could hear her crying until she past out from the anesthesia. I was really surprised, and actually felt guilty about not being nervous or scared or upset. They told us it would be about 25 minutes, but about 15 minutes later they came back and said she was in recovery. They keep her in recovery until she opens her eyes, and then they bring her back to us. They said it would be about 10 more minutes, and once again they were wrong, less than 5 minutes later we hear her screaming in the hallway. They had warned us about how she would act when they brought her back and they were right on. She was still a little out of it to say the least. Marcus thought they gave her a few too many martinis. She had trouble with her hand eye coordination and her balance. She looked like a newborn that didn't have control over her body, she was having trouble holding her head up and sitting without falling over. I felt so sorry for her. She didn't know what she wanted, she was crying for no reason and would ask for things and then throw them down when we gave them to her. Surprisingly, they said that she was reacting much better than most. We were able to to leave shortly after speaking with the doctor. When we left we headed straight to get something to eat. I figured she would be hungry, but she proved me wrong once again. She was still not acting herself. Once we got home she was pretty much back to her normal monster self. She was running around the house like a crazy person, seemingly unfazed by the mornings events. I was able to get a little bit of food in her which made me feel better. I was hopeful about getting a little nap in while she napped. I put her down and climbed into bed, only to be rudely awoken about 20 minutes later. I guess she was ready to get up and run around again. Her entire schedule was pretty much shot at this point. I had some errands to run and Marcus was sleeping so we began getting ready to leave, when thankfully my dad called and offered for me to drop her off over there while I ran my errands. I gladly accepted the offer and was able to run all my errands without worrying about her. She had a great time playing with grandma and grandpa. When I picked her up we headed straight home and into the bed.

Upstairs update:
My errands today included getting a truck full of insulation for my dad and Marcus to hang this weekend. I hope I got enough to keep them occupied! We have the plumbing and HVAC inspector coming Monday. And in order to pass inspection we had to have some stairs that lead up to the furnace unit put in. Tonight they installed those stairs, so hopefully we will pass inspection. But it doesn't look like any of the other workers can come next week, I guess cause of the holiday and all. So we have a few days to get the insulation and the rest of the prepping done ourselves. Then the week after thanksgiving we will have the framers and drywall guys out, and hopefully get a few steps closer to finishing. I promise pictures will be coming shortly. I will take some this weekend, before and after insulation (and maybe even some during).

Hawaii update:
We have our tickets booked for our house hunting trip. We are leaving next Friday for 5 nights, I am really excited about the trip. However, it is not getting any easier saying that we are moving to Hawaii, I think i am still in shock by it all. This will be the first time Marcus and I have ever flown together. It is hard to imagine of all the trips we have been on we have never travelled and sat together on the plane, well besides one trip with Kaylee to Boston. So I guess it is the only kid free trip we will have taken together and actually been together the entire trip. Our friends Kyle and Kristy, from Springfield Missouri, have already booked their tickets and they are going to meet us there. We are so excited to get to see them and they are excited to get away from their 4 boys for a few days. I will take lots of pictures and share them with you when we get back. I really hope that we are able to find a house so we can check that off of our list of things to do.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

I PASSED!!!

I passed my glucose test! YEAH!!!

Today the electrician came and did his thing upstairs, finishing much faster than we had thought. He even had enough time to call the inspector and have him come out today as well. WE PASSED the electrical inspection. The plumbers are coming tomorrow morning, so I went and bought the vanity and toilet today. After a few inconveniences at Home Depot I was finally ready to load up and hit the road. Kaylee just went down to bed and Marcus just woke up, so we are about to head outside to the truck so I can show him what I bought.

My sweet little girl

I just had to tell you about 2 things Kaylee did today.

First of all, twice today, she got one of her stuffed animals and put it in her high chair. Then she rambled a few words to the animal and walked into her play room. She grabbed various food items, and other things from her kitchen. She returned with her arms full ready to feed her animal the delicious meal she prepared. She talked to the animal the entire time, and even stopped to take bites herself. She remembered to bring a spoon, fork, and even a cup.

The second thing i just had to share with you happened this evening when I was cooking dinner. I must have said out loud that my head hurt, I didnt even know that I said it. Kaylee came and rambled off some words to me, of which i did not understand. When she realized that I didnt understand her, she showed me what she was saying. She took me by the arm and led me to the couch where she had stacked up the pillows, exactly the way i do and motioned for me to lay down. I nearly cried. She knew that i wasnt feeling good and that i needed to rest. She is so compassionate and sympathetic.

I love my little monkey!!!

Totally wiped out!

I guess yesterdays adventures were a bit too much for Kaylee too. Last night she went to bed at 5:30 (30 minutes before her usual bedtime). I figured that she would wake up at her normal time of between 7:30 and 8:30, however now it is 9:15 and she is still sleeping soundly in her bed. I am about to have to go and wake her up for Kindermusik class.

Let me try and figure this out.... When she goes to bed 30 minutes or more AFTER her bedtime she wakes up EARLY (mommy doesnt like those mornings). When she goes to bed 30 minutes BEFORE her bedtime she sleeps in LATER. Does that make sense to anyone else? I guess it just goes to show that babies and kids thrive when on a schedule.

A Day FULL of Doctors

All I know for sure is that I NEVER want to have another day like today!!!

I saw more doctors today than I cared to see all month long, and spent more time in waiting rooms than I wanted to also!

It all started last week when I had my big glucose test. That's the one where they make you drink that disgusting drink, to check to see if you have gestational diabetes. Well unfortunately my test came back positive. So they scheduled me for a 3 hour glucose test this morning. I had to fast all morning (that in itself nearly killed me!) they wouldnt even let me drink water, then go drink that nasty drink again, and have them draw my blood 4 times. I was in my doctors office for 3 1/2 hours. I felt like I should have gotten a job there, that's how long I was there. I should get my results from that either tomorrow or Wednesday, hopefully I will pass this time.

After leaving there I had to rush to get something to eat and then meet my mom and Kaylee at Dr. Shea's office (Kaylee's Ear Doctor). Last Friday I took her back to her pediatrician, suspecting another ear infection, and found out that she has another one which makes 6 infections in the past 4 months. The pediatrician suggested tubes, so who better to take your child to than the world's best ear clinic? My mom had to bring Kaylee for me because the 2 appointments overlapped. So we sit and wait there for another 2 hours (they had already waited 1 hour before I arrived, so they were there a total of 3 hours). Dr. Shea told us that Kaylee needs tubes in both her ears immediately, so we scheduled the surgery for this Friday morning.

When we were walking out of that office my mom and I were both hungry again (Kaylee skipped lunch and nap, so she was hungry too), we decided to go get a bite to eat at Chick-fil-A. It was there that Kaylee got her "second wind," so to avoid another trip into Memphis this week (you'll read later why another trip into Memphis this week would be impossible!), I decided to go get my allergy shot. That was how we ended up at the 3rd, and final, doctors office. Thank God we were only there for about 45 minutes. So in all I think I spent nearly 6 1/2 hours in 3 different doctors offices today. After all that sitting, I cant figure out why I am so freaking tired. I feel like i could sleep for 24 hours straight.

On top of all those appointments I had to schedule an eye doctor appointment for myself last week and found out that I have an eye infection. COULD ANYTHING ELSE POSSIBLY BE PILED ON MY PLATE???

So while we were out gallivanting around the city, hahaha, Marcus was home with our first worker men (thats what I call them when Kaylee says "was dat?"). The HVAC guys were here to install the 'space ship' looking stuff upstairs, that's my technical term for the air ducts. The best part is we get to return the $50 programmable digital thermostat we bought thinking that we had to supply it (we didnt want one of those regular old kinds), the HVAC guy said that our unit comes with a digital thermostat so Marcus asked if it was programmable. He said that it was not, but that he would switch it to a programmable one for FREE. Cant ask for anything better than that. They did a great job, surprisingly finishing in less time than I spent in doctors offices today. We have the electrician scheduled for this Wednesday. Marcus decided to stop by Home Depot and return the thermostat on his way to work and look for the recessed cans and trim kits for the cans, so the electrician can install them when he comes. He was able to buy all 8 cans and trim kits for $110 which is $10 less than the electrician was going to charge for the cans by themselves, so there's even more money we saved today! I think that the framers and plumbers are going to be starting this week as well. Also tonight, both ceiling fans and hall light fixtures were delivered.

Looks like the rest of this week is kinda busy, it goes something like this:

Tuesday morning- bug man coming to spray
Tuesday later in the morning- Kindermusik (makeup class)
Tuesday early evening- flooring guy coming to measure, give quote, and show us samples
Wednesday morning- regular Kindermusik class (mom is coming with us so she can see what Kindermusik is all about before she has to bring Kaylee by herself while we are in Hawaii)
Wednesday all day- electrician coming Wednesday afternoon- playdate with a friend (hopefully we can fit that in)
Wednesday evening- go pick out vanity/ sink and toilet for upstairs bathroom
Thursday will be filled with either the electricians finishing up, plumbers and/or framers starting
Friday morning- Kaylee's tubes in her ears
Friday afternoon- more framing and/ or plumbing
I am sure I have forgotten some

So if you dont hear from me for awhile that's definitely why. I hope everyone else has a much more relaxing week than we have planned!

Grandpa survived

Today I had my big glucose doctor appointment! Let me just tell you how excited I was to get to drink that FABULOUS drink! JK
Anyways so I had scheduled my dad to keep Kaylee for me since my mom is out of town. I will have to admit I was a little worried about leaving her with him for that long by himself, it ended up being like 6 1/2 hours after i added all my other errands to the list.
I brought Kaylee over to him as soon as she woke up this morning. I fed her breakfast and then left for my appointment. Dad felt the need to give her not 1, but 2 more pieces of fruit after her breakfast. That is how grandpa "bonds" with his grand baby, by feeding her, and she absolutely LOVES him for it!

I realized when i was in the waiting room of the doctors office that i did not tell him what time to put her down for nap. So i decided to call.
I started by saying, "i forgot to tell you what time to put her down"
and before i could get the rest of my sentence out
dad says, "She's already down"
I was like "really? she usually goes down about 10:30, but since she slept in a little this morning i was going to tell you she can stay up until 11."
Dad said, "well i asked her if she was ready for bed and she went back to her room and grabbed her blanket, so i put her down."
"GOOD JOB DAD!" i replied

He has put her down in the past, but i was proud of him, he did it without me even telling him the time or giving any instructions and without mom there either.
So after nap Mary got home from school and played with her. Kaylee adores Mary! Dad decided to pawn off his babysitting responsibilities on her while he went and ran some errands. Then he got back in just enough time for Mary to go to work. When I got there to pick her up she had just finished ANOTHER snack and they were playing in the garage. Kaylee was enjoying running out in the rain and then back into the garage. Dad even got down a little folding lawn chair for Kaylee to sit in. She thought she was such a big girl sitting next to grandpa in her own big girl chair!

These are the days i am going to desperately miss while we are in Hawaii!

100 DAYS

I noticed today that I only have 100 days left until my due date. YIPEE!!! Even though it will probably be less than that, because we will be inducing early to ensure that Marcus will be home for the birth.

I am so excited to meet our new little monster. I know that the next couple of months will go by so fast and before I know it the 4 of us will be soaking up the sun (and sights) in Hawaii as a family.

Successful Weekend

Most of the time when I make lists for "weekend projects" we usually accomplish somewhere between 0-50% of what is on the list. This weekend we were rockin' and rollin'! My vision was to have the attic entirely cleared out so that it would be ready for the workers to start. Once I started working on the enormous amount of CRAP we have accumulated over the past 8 years, I began to realize that this was more than just a weekend project! Especially since we could only work on it when Kaylee was sleeping; unless only one of us worked while the other watched her. Neither one of us was comfortable with her upstairs playing with the mice poo and corpses that are on the floor, not to mention the insulation and other things she could get into up there. Even with those limitations I felt like we got a lot done. There are still a few boxes to move and some I need to go through, but overall we did a great job! Most of all I am glad that I can see the progress we made, and know that we dont have much farther to go (at least with this part).

We also had a chance to get some prices on some of the things that we will be needing to purchase for this project.

mental note: remember to take pictures to post

The process has begun

Like i said before we are working on trying to finish our upstairs and remodel the master bath before marcus leaves for hawaii. We have been busy contacting different subcontractors and figuring out all the specifics. Last night we had 3 different subs come out to look at vairous jobs. Kaylee is just amazed/ confused at all the extra "visitors" we have had the past couple of days. It is really funny to watch her as she studys them. She seems to be more comfortable with some than others. Next week, I will be busy picking out the different materials we will be needing, light fixtures, fans, bathroom vaniety, shower, tile, hardwood, etc. I guess that is the fun part of it all. I will keep you posted on things when they start happening, and even post some pictures of the ongoing project.

This weekends project is to clear out the upstairs. That space has been our "attic" for the past 8 years. And MAN have we accumulated some stuff over the years! We have to get it all out so that the rooms can be finished. Anyone who likes manual labor feel free to come on over! hahaha


i wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the Well Wishes and Encouragement you have sent! It has been really nice reading all the emails and things you have to say.

WE ARE MOVING!!!

Whenever something BIG happens in our life, Marcus feels like we need to make something that is already BIG even BIGGER!!!

for example:
When we got married almost 4 1/2 years ago Marcus took a new job which caused him to work crazy long hours and never see his new wife.
When we found out we were pregnant with Kaylee he took another new job.
A few days before the birth of our 1st child Marcus decides to buy a new truck.
Why should it be any different with the birth of our 2nd child?

As if having a new baby is not enough adventure for us we decided to add a little more "spice" to our lives. Marcus applied for and accepted another job with FedEx. Not only is it a new job, but in a new state, obviously a new job alone wouldn't be 'adventurous' enough for us. So you might be thinking now. Where? Where could they possibly be moving?
Well my last post is a little hint.......HAWAII!
Yes we are moving 4000+ miles away! Away from family and friends and everything we know. We will be living on the island of Maui, hopefully in (or near) Kahului. Marcus and I will be taking a trip to look for houses after Thanksgiving, so hopefully we can find something nice at a reasonable price. But then again that might be asking for too much. Then Marcus will be heading over to start his new job after Christmas. I will not join him with the kids until after the baby is born. We are now in the "get the house ready to sell" stage, which includes finishing our upstairs and remodeling the master bath. Hopefully all that can be finished before Marcus leaves so I don't have to worry about that by myself. Anyone know any good subcontractors?

With all that said, anyone that wants to come visit us.......COME ON! You might have to sleep in a closet but we would love to see some familiar faces every now and then.

State Trivia

This state is the only U.S. state that grows coffee.

More than one-third of the world’s commercial supply of pineapples comes from this state (about 320,000 tons per year).

This state is the widest state in the United States, when measured from east to west.

Only state whos land area is increasing.

The mountain range tops, in this state, are the biggest in the world.

This state has the highest life expectancy in the United States. Life expectancy for males is 75, for females 80 years.

It is the southernmost U.S. state

This state does not observe daylight savings time.

This state has the most isolated population center on earth. (It is 2,390 miles from California; 3,850 miles from Japan; 4,900 miles from China; and 5,280 miles from the Philippines.)

Can you guess what state I am referring to?

(try not to use the internet to get your answer)

Kindermusik

Kaylee and I have been going to Kindermusik class for the past 11 weeks now. Besides the first week of class Kaylee has done really well. She really enjoys being around the other children & moms and socializing with them. She loves the music and dance aspects of the class too. I see her practicing things we do in class with her stuffed animals at home. And she is ALWAYS asking me to play her Kindermusik CD! When Wednesday mornings roll around I love watching her reaction when I tell her "we are going to school today." She gets all excited.
Well yesterday she was playing with one of the boys in her class, then they began hugging. The hug turned into a tackle, much like Tahoe does to her on a daily basis. I didnt think anything of it, she is really affectionate towards others, and is used to being knocked around. Then all of a sudden she backed away and ran over to me saying "Unh-a unh-a." Which means NO in Kaylee language. She was upset but not crying, more of a fuss. I tried to assure her that she was ok. Then the mom of the other child came over to her and lifted up her shirt. There on her belly was a bite mark. I was appalled! I didnt even see it happen. I felt so sorry for her. The other mom quickly whisked her child out of the room. I tended to Kaylee, who at that point had joined the rest of the group and seemed to have forgotten about it. The mom and child returned a few minutes later and he approached Kaylee to try and apologize. Kaylee was VERY hesitant and tried to avoid him. Here he is trying to apologize and she is scared of being bitten again. This is our first experience with this sort of thing. Kaylee has seemed to be fine since the incident, every now and then she will show me her boo boo, but that is it. I am eager to see how she will react to the little boy next week in class, will she remember? Will she avoid him? Will she want to play with him? The experience I have had being Kaylee's mother is so incredibly different from being a preschool teacher. I thought that i was prepared for the things i would encounter being a parent, but i am finding more and more that is not the case. Mrs. Julie (my teachers assistant) always told me that it would be different when i was a mommy, I never really believed her......until now! Thanks for the advice Mrs. Julie and sorry I didnt listen to you sooner!

If 1 is Good, 4 must be Better!

That is how i feel about it!

Last night after dinner I had my usual bit of sweetness. I choose 2 small (snack size) Crunchies, for those of you that dont know they are the most DEEE-LICIOUS irish candy bar! They satisfied my sweet tooth for about an hour then I was dying for something else. So I decided to have 2 cookies. Right after i ate my 2 cookies Marcus said he was going to warm up a crumb cake. He FORCED me to eat a piece with him, and it HAD to be topped with ice cream. Ok so he didnt force me to eat it but he sure encouraged me to have some. So in a span of about 2 hours I had 2 small candy bars, 2 cookies, a piece of crumb cake, and some ice cream. Is that too much?!?

I decided to rationalize the situation. I figure the baby had 2 desserts and I had 2 desserts. And they were small desserts! I was never this bad when I was pregnant with Kaylee! I CANT GET ENOUGH SWEETS!!! My addiction usually only kicks in at night time too! Help, anybody, help me!

Can anyone feel safe anymore?

Friday night I was home alone (well Tahoe was with me). Kaylee was spending the night with grandma & grandpa, and Marcus was at work, like he is every weekday night. I took advantage of my night alone by getting some things done that have been on my "to do" list for weeks. It was a regular night, up until about 2 am. It was then that I was rudely awakened by the house alarm blaring. I rushed out of bed to see what could be the problem. The alert on the alarm system said that it was a window in the front of the house or the master bedroom window. I looked out at the driveway but saw no car then I checked out the dining room window, which is the window that we have had trouble with in the past. I saw nothing that caused me any further alarm so I called Marcus to tell him about it and then tried to go back to sleep. I rolled around for about an hour thinking about different senerios and my plan of action if something further were to happen. I debated on whether or not to load the gun. I mean what else is a woman to do out here where she could scream and no one would hear her? I decided to get up and take another look to ease my mind. Again I found nothing suspicious. The alarm was still showing a breech in the system so it would not let me reset it, so that was alittle unsettling. But I just thought that the dining room window lost its connection. I decided to try taking a bath in an attempt to calm myself and make it easier to fall asleep. The bath worked and I was able to fall asleep for the rest of the night. Marcus said that he would look at the front window when he got up, so I called my dad to come over to help and take a look at the window. They fixed the dining room window, but the alarm system still would not reset itself. Then, as they walked toward the garage Marcus noticed that the garage window was open. The top AND bottom windows were open! Marcus initially thought that I had opened the window. I assured him that I would not touch those garage windows, they are disgusting! And the alarm would not have allowed me to set the alarm the night before if the window had been open. The weird part about it was that the lock on the window was still engaged. So Marcus and my dad closed the window then we looked for signs of forced entry, and found none. The more and more we thought about it, it disturbed us. How could the bottom window go up over 12 inches by itself? We decided to make an official report so we called the sheriff's office and they sent a deputy. The officier felt the same way and felt that a report was the next step. We informed our 2 closest neighbors of the incident to make them aware. So now I am just hoping that this will be our last experience with this sort of thing. There is nothing more scary than thinking of how you can protect your baby. I was so thankful that Kaylee was not home when this happened I would have probably had to go sleep in her room to make myself feel better. I am sure she would have slept soundly through the whole ordeal.

Cedar Hill Farm

This past Sunday we packed our bags and headed down to the farm. Cedar Hill Farm is an AWESOME place to take your little ones. It is a bit of a drive, but well worth it. It took us a little over an hour to get there. It was so perfect that we picked this day to go, because my Aunt and Uncle surprised us with a short visit when they were passing through on their way home from Florida. So they joined us for the day, along with my parents, my brother Joe, and his girlfriend Christine. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed all the farm had to offer.

We started out in the hay maze, I think the adults enjoyed that more than Kaylee, simple minds are easily amused. While Kaylee got bored with that my mom and I took her to the swings for a few minutes, the playground was not quite age appropriate for her but I decided to let her try the big girl swings. She sat while I pushed her very slow, she held on good until she was "all done." Then she decided to tell me she was all done. The problem with that is she SIGNS all done, she doesn't SAY all done. The sign requires her to use both her hands so she let go with both her hands. Backwards she went, falling off her swing heading straight for the top of her head, and somehow at the very last second she reached up with both her hands and grabbed the chain. Her bottom dangled just above the ground, and she had the "HELP ME" look on her face. I decided that was enough swinging for the day. I mean we were only in the gate 10 minutes before we nearly had to be rushed out for another visit to the ER. We headed back to get the rest of the group, who was still making their way through the hay maze.

Our next stop was the petting zoo, chicken show, and education station. We got to see ducks, peacocks, turkeys, bunnies, goats, sheep, cows, donkeys, mice, and bees (we didn't pet them of course). Kaylee just loves all the animals, here is a picture of her petting the cow. Take a look at her mouth, she was telling the cow "Moo" the whole time she was petting him. Then it was on to the train ride.

We decided it was time to eat, so we hit the Country Kitchen. We enjoyed some yummy food, before we had the hit the ground running again. After lunch Kaylee rode the pony, for the first time. She loved every minute of it, and was so upset when her turn was over. We told her that we would come back later to ride again, because the line was just too long. After that it was time to head to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. We got on the next hay ride that took us straight to them. First we navigated our way through the maze, then walked over to the pumpkin patch. It was picked pretty dry and there were no good pumpkins, so we decided to get our pumpkin from the produce stand. We took the short hay ride back to the produce stand where we picked our pumpkin. By this time, Kaylee had just about had enough, and we remembered that she had to ride the pony one last time. When we got to the ponies she and another girl were the only riders, so they let them ride for an EXTRA long time. This made her so happy! We ended the day saying good-bye to everyone and headed home (everyone else was headed to Tunica, too bad it was way past Kaylee's bedtime!). We had a FANTASTIC time and vowed that a trip to Cedar Hill Farm will be on our list of annual family trips for the years to come!

Take a look at the slideshow above for more pictures

1st Hair Cut (actually trim)

Today was a "BIG" day for Kaylee

She got her first hair cut!

(I like to say she just got a 'trim' because all she did was take a little off the bottom, she didnt get a 'style' or layers. So in my eyes it was just a trim)

When we sat her down in the chair she was a little weary of Mrs. Diane hoovering over her with a pair of scissors and a comb. Mrs. Diane suggested that Marcus hold her, to make her feel more comfortable. So that is what we did. Kaylee sat, pretty patiently, in Marcus' arms while Diane trimmed the ends of her hair. She only took about 1 inch off the bottom but it looks like she took 2 or 3 inches off! I was so sad to see my little girl getting her first hair cut, and I could see the difference immediately. She looks so much older with her new trim.

Have you ever seen that episode of Friends where they make fun of Chandlers smile? Kaylee has such a beautiful smile, and when you put her in front of the camera she either closes her eyes or gets a goofy look on her face. By the way that's Diane on the left she is a great friend of mine, and has been cutting my hair for years.

Daddy and Kaylee after it was all finished

When we got home and I took a look at the pictures, I decided to take just a few more before bed so I could get some better shots. Keep in mind this is WAY past her bedtime, and for some reason she gets REALLY hyper when she is tired. It is like she has to act crazy to keep herself awake. Needless to say you can see how much of a character she is by these shots.

Thumbing through the pages

When magazines come in the mail I let Kaylee play with them. She looks at all the different pictures and practices flipping the pages. She enjoys ripping the pages and carrying them around the house. Today a ToysRus catalog came in the mail and I thought "maybe she will show me what she wants for Christmas." What was I thinking? I guess I was hoping she would make it easier on me. She flipped through the magazine asking what everything was on every page. But what I noticed this time that I have never seen her do before is lick her finger before she turned a page. You know how people lick their finger to get a better grip on the page so they can turn it with ease. Well where did a 21 month old learn that trick? What was even more funny was that she would lick one finger and turn the page with the other hand. It makes me think about all the little things I do that she watches everyday and those little things I do, no matter how insignificant they seem to me are having an impact on her and shaping her to be the person she is going to be. My lesson here is don't do anything I don't want to see her doing one day. She is a little sponge soaking it all in, she may not show me what she knows right now but one day she will.

Ugh what a scary job it is to be a mommy!

The differences

I know that each and every pregnancy is a different experience! It is hard to believe that with all the same things physically and metabolically that happen with all pregnancies that the experience could differ so much.

Just about the only thing that has been the same with this pregnancy and with Kaylee is my morning sickness!

Difference #1: I am freezing cold all the time with this pregnancy! With Kaylee I was burning up. If Marcus, AKA "the heater", touched me with just one finger when I was pregnant with Kaylee I was screaming "get off me! I'm sweating!" This time I want to cuddle up as close as possible. I lay on the couch wearing pants and socks and cover myself with blankets, all the while BEGGING Marcus to turn the ceiling fan off.

Difference #2: With Kaylee I craved spicy food and peanut butter. Let me clear that up I never wanted to eat spicy food WITH my peanut butter, i just craved both of them. This time i cant get enough sweets. Every time I turn around i am looking for something sweet to eat: ice cream, candy, or my new favorite cookies......Cowboy cookies. I found this recipe in my Martha Stewart magazine and made the necessary adjustments to make them gluten free. YUMMY!!!

Difference #3: While I felt this baby kick earlier than Kaylee, this baby does not seem to be as consistently active as Kaylee was.

Difference #4: This pregnancy my hair keeps falling out by the handfuls. With Kaylee, my hair grew as thick and strong as it was when i was a kid.

Difference #5: When I was pregnant with Kaylee I felt like I couldn't get enough food, I was eating all the time. This time around I find myself forcing food into my mouth, and could even skip some meals if I wanted to.

I know there are a few other things I have noticed that have been different with this pregnancy but they have seemed to escape my mind. My mind is one thing that i definitely lost when I got pregnant with Kaylee and I am still looking to recover it! If/ when i recall the other differences I will be sure to post them.

This morning

This morning, much like every morning, we got up and went straight to the breakfast table to eat. After 14 hours of sleep Kaylee is ready immediately for something to eat. So we sit together, talk, and eat our breakfast, she usually eats much more than me. sometimes while she is finishing up I can use that time to sweep up the small dog Tahoe has left for me in the night. He is so kind to leave his yellow fur scattered throughout the entire house. And the thought of Kaylee walking around in that mess gets under my skin. So I have to clean it up immediately, sometimes the urge to clean it up is so strong I have to do it before I eat my breakfast. I have a friend who claimed she turned OCD after having kids and I used to laugh at her and joke about her cleaning habits. She always said "you just wait until you have kids." And she was exactly right! It didn't happen to me at first but when Kaylee became mobile, the thought of her putting her hands on the floor all day disgusted me. Which among other reasons was why I switched to cleaning with natural, green products! Anyways so back to this morning I didn't have time to clean the floor while Kaylee was in here highchair so I had to lock her and Tahoe in the dining/ playroom. Which she was not very pleased about this because whenever I am sweeping she wants to be sweeping too (*more about her sweeping later). So I quickly swept the kitchen, breakfast area, and living room then vacuumed up all the mess. In the middle of all this I hear her calling for my attention "mom, mom, MOM" she says until I answer and when I look in at her she has pulled up her shorts higher than shorts are ever supposed to be. And she is laughing at her new accomplishment. I just laughed and kept sweeping. A few minutes later I hear the same thing "mom, mom, MOM" and when I look she is trying to take her shorts completely off. I watch, as she has not been able to successfully remove her shorts in the past, and as I watch she takes them right off and starts laughing. Just to make sure I am still watching she calls my name a few more times when she sees that I am watching then she throws down her shorts and runs off bare butt to play. (she doesn't wear a diaper during the day and this morning I didn't bother putting panties on her). So she thinks she is so cool running around with no shorts "hinny loose pants" my mom calls it. So I let her enjoy her new found freedom until I am finished sweeping. When i am finished I ask her where her shorts are, and they are not where I saw her throw them down. She has tried to hide them in an effort to not have to put them on again. I tell her to go get them, she immediately complies with my request. I put them back on her and we go about our day as usual, with all of our clothes on!
Marcus has asked me many times in the past "when she will learn to dress herself?" I always respond by saying "when she figures out to dress herself she will also be able to UNdress herself." I guess that day has come. So the days of her picking out her own clothes and insisting on wearing what she wants to wear are in the near future. Oh exciting!!!

*More about the sweeping. About 2 months ago she decided that she would like to "help" mommy sweep. I would let her use the broom only after all the piles were cleaned up and she enjoyed experimenting with the broom. I decided after the broom handle hit the TV and walls 1 too many times that it was time to get her a small broom that she could control easier than my long handled broom. One Monday, a few weeks ago, we headed out for our family errands and ended up looking for a broom at Target. Much too our surprise they had nothing in the toy or pretend play department. So we looked with all the other cleaning tools and found ONE broom that fit our needs it was a regular broom just with a short handle, the PERFECT size for her and even big enough that she will be able to use it in the future. This broom had no tag on it, there were none like it and we couldn't figure out how much it was going to be. So I began looking for some help from an employee. I found a manager in the next aisle. By this time we had already given Kaylee the broom and she was thrilled! So the manager came over and we explained our problem. He tried to look at the broom and Kaylee began screaming and pulling it away from him. He jumped back and said "man she is really attached to that broom! I guess she really needs to have it." And we said "yes she loves to sweep." The man says "then I guess we will just have to come up with a good price. How does 2 sound?" We were both like great! Not only is that much less than we thought we would be spending it was actually a REAL broom and not a play broom. So he walked us up to the registers and told the cashier how to ring it up and told Kaylee to have fun sweeping with her new broom. In the meantime Marcus and I are placing bets on how long this love of cleaning and helping will last. Hopefully as she gets older she will continue to want to help mommy clean.

Big Ultasound

Today was my 20 week ultasound (even though i am 21 weeks). I love this ultrasound cause you can see so much and the baby is so active. We saw everything today from the baby's toes to its internal organs. Everything seems to be right on schedule and working properly. I picked 2 of the pictures to show you the first is a profile shot, he is going to have a cute nose like his big sister, and the other is a picture of the bottom of the baby's feet. He was kicking the crap out of me the entire ultrasound. The baby was playing peek-a-boo with us, everytime the tech trying to get a good shot of the baby's face he put his hands over his face.

Kaylee loves the baby

Kaylee already loves her new little brother or sister! She has not even felt the baby kick yet, but if you ask her where mommy's baby is she will pull my shirt up and point to my belly. Today for no reason at all she came over to me and did just that. She pulled my shirt up, starting kissing, and hugging my belly. She was rubbing it while saying "awww." I could barely speak, she was being so sweet. And to think she doesn't even know what is REALLY in there. She is going to be in for a surprise when the baby comes, i cant help but think how great of a big sis she is going to be!

HALF WAY THERE!!!

YEAH!

I am OFFICIALLY half way through this pregnancy!

Even though it seems like i have been pregnant for a year so far, I cant believe that in 20 short weeks we will have another little one. I am trying to enjoy my last few months of having just one child. I am also enjoying reading from my pregnancy book, I think the baby is about 7 inches long now (if I remember correctly). And if this little ones activity level stays the same I fear we will have another wild, rambunctious child like his/ her big sister! But that is ok with us! It is so fun to read about all the developmental stages the baby is going through each and every day.

Monkey see, Monkey do

My fears are beginning to come true!

Before Kaylee was born I had the most real fear that i would have a make-up wearing, nonsport playing, pink loving, baby doll playing, prissy, most girly girl in the world. All i can say is thank God she did not turn out like that. Well at least so far she is not like that, but i am getting little hints of what is to come and i am not so sure about it. Kaylee has grown attached to a few of her stuffed animals. So far they are the monkeys in her collection, but that is probably because she doesnt have any babies. She loves her Curious George stuffed animal and "Manny" her monkey she made at Build a Bear. She carries them around the house and has even begun including them in different things. She wants to take them to bed with her, hold them while we read stories, lays them on a pillow and covers them up, give them drinks from her cup, gives them imiginary bites from her play fork/ spoon, take them with us when we go bye-bye, have them at the table when we eat, play patty cake with them, (this one is kinda gross) she wants to get the boogies out of their nose. Kaylee has had a little head cold for the past week or so and i have been having to suck out her nose with the bulb syringe, because she hasnt figured out how to blow her nose yet. So she thinks that Manny and George need their noses sucked out too. It is so funny! She even puts them on her shoulder, pats their back, and rocks them. I just think that it is funny that all of a sudden one day out of the blue she began including them in everything. She has never been "attached" to a blanket, lovey, or animal before.

The reason why i decided to share this with you is because this morning I found something that really shocked me. Last night when i was getting dinner ready i saw her playing with her animals in the playroom. I never took the time to go see what she was doing, and was surprised to find it this morning. She had put her HUGE stuffed dog, a fox, Manny, and Smokey the dog all on one of her little pillows. This morning one of the first things she did was go an check on them. She brought George and her stuffed FedEx airplane with her and laid down with them. I thought it was so sweet!

notice how she put their heads on the pillow

I had to get a few pictures of her holding the 2 monkeys together

I am pregnant as you can see, is it a BOY or a GIRL, you tell me!

As you already know we do not find out the sex of our baby until he/ she is born. I think this is such and awesome way to do it and don't think i could ever find out.

I would like to know what everyone thinks we are having. Despite wanting a boy, I particularly think this one is a girl, Marcus thinks it is a boy. We both thought that Kaylee was a boy and obviously we were wrong.

When I was pregnant with Kaylee I was still teaching so I had all my kids in my class vote, plus the teachers, and any kids I had taught in the past. It was a really fun way to look forward to my due date. And it was interesting to watch and listen why/ how 4 year olds voted. Some intently examined my belly, some guessed only based on their own sex, some guessed based on the sex of their little siblings, and some really had no reasoning at all for why they voted what they did. My friend Katie made a REALLY cute sign and we posted the poll on the outside wall of my room for everyone to see.

So once again i would like to see what everyone has to say about the sex of this baby. I have created a poll, which you will find at the right of the blog you can vote whenever you like, the poll will be open until February 1st (just in case i have this little one early). So be sure to take some time to vote and you can leave me a comment on why you voted what you voted.

First Hello

Last night as I was laying in bed, like i do every night, I try and "play" with the baby to see if he will kick back. He was really active in one particular spot. This is usually the best time for me to let Marcus try to feel him kick so i called him over to the bed. I put his hand in the spot and immediately the baby walloped him. Marcus gasped. Then the baby kicked again and again. This was the hardest he has ever kicked me. He was really excited to get to say "hello" to his daddy for the first time despite our previous attempts.

Enjoying the weather

Kaylee and I were outside the other day and I got out the sidewalk chalk for her to play with. She had trouble at first understanding that she had to push hard for it to actually make a mark on the driveway. But then she got the hang of it. She created some really interesting drawings, I couldnt quite figure them out, but i am sure she knows exactly what they are supposed to be.

I wrote her name, she made the purple mark by the K

I drew the flower, she drew the stems (all 3 of them)

As you can see in the video she takes closely after her mom and dad in some regards. I have been told that when marcus was a little boy he hated having his hands dirty, and i remember having a bar of soap in my softball bag and washing my hands each time I went into the dugout. In the video she scratches the chalk and then comes to wipe it on me. I had to stop the video so i could wipe her hands, it was quite funny to watch.

Memphis Zoo

With all that happened last week with Kaylee falling of the truck, I completely forgot to post about our trip to the zoo. I have added a slideshow of a few of the pictures we took so be sure to check it out.

Kaylee loved every minute of her first trip to the zoo. Despite being tired she was such a trooper. She loved making animal sounds when she saw the animals she knew. She had quite an audience when she was making monkey sounds. And she was completely baffled as to why we would not let her kiss all of the animals. YES!!! I said kiss! She thinks that she should kiss just about everything, so why not kiss all the animals. I also thought that it was quite funny how she would tell EVERY animal "Hi" when we walked up and every time we walked away she would wave and say "bye." We even rode on of the fastest rides at the zoo and she LOVED it! I hope that i can get over my fear and take her back to the zoo again soon, I know that she will have an absolute blast!

First Visit to the ER

I have officially been inducted into another phase of "mommyhood!" Last week Kaylee had to visit the ER for the first time! But the thing about it was she not only visited 1 ER, but 2 in the same night.

It all started Tuesday as we were walking out of the Memphis Zoo. Kaylee said she had to go to the bathroom, so instead of walking back into the zoo (which was closed) I thought the better option was to put her on the potty that we carry with us in the car. We had driven the truck this particular day so I stupidly put her potty on the tailgate of Marcus' truck and put her on it (BIGGEST MISTAKE!) Marcus and I began loading the truck with all the stuff while Mary was watching Kaylee. And somehow I looked up and saw Kaylee about to stand up and fall off the truck. She fell face first from a standing position straight onto the concrete below. I saw her head hit and Marcus scoop her up a second later. As she was screaming the bump just kept getting bigger and bigger. We decided to put her into the truck and head to LeBonheur Downtown, which was the closest hospital. When we walked in everyone stared and gasped as they saw the apparent injury on her head. We checked in, a nurse wrapped some gauze loosely around her head, and we took our seat in the waiting room with everyone else. We were told if she vomits or tries to fall asleep to come immediately back up. All I could think to myself was it is almost bedtime, of course she wanted to fall asleep. So after sitting anxiously for probably 10 minutes (it felt like 10 hours) I told Marcus that her eyes were drooping and we needed to go up and tell them she was falling asleep. She was taken into the triage room with the nurse where all her vitals were taken and we were told that she got bumped to the top of the list. We were also told she could not eat or drink anything until seeing the doctor. Are you freaking kidding me? She hadn't had any dinner and was dying for a drink and I could give her nothing! So we sat there waiting until finally after about 2 1/2 hours they called her name. We were back in our room where the doctor was coming to give us the news on what to expect next. She came in and wanted the gauze removed so she could see the injury. After examining it the doctor decided to order X-rays, because "CT Scans are a last resort in children," she said. They could see some pieces of gravel stuck in the wound and they needed to clean it. So they put the numbing cream on a clear bandage and stuck it on her forehead. They said the numbing meds would take 45 minutes to work. In the meantime we were sent for X-rays and more waiting. Oh i almost forgot she was told by the doctor she could eat and drink so she downed 4 cups of water and juice, but all i had were snacks for her to eat, no "real" food. That seemed to keep her pretty occupied along with the frequent trips to the bathroom after drinking so much so fast. We finally got taken back to our room where we were given the delightful news that she DID NOT have a skull fracture and after they cleaned the wound we could go home. While Marcus, myself, and a child care specialist attempted to hold her down and distract her, a nurse removed the apparently ineffective numbing meds and cleaned the debris from the wound. Kaylee got so upset that she began to vomit during this procedure. But finally we were able to get it all out and a fresh bandage on to cover it. We were told to change her bandage at least 3 times a day for the next 3 days and keep it covered 24 hours a day. I thought that was a little ridiculous considering her wound was not a laceration, but a contusion. The skin was not broken, she did not need stitches, so why put her (and myself) through the trauma of removing that bandage 3 times a day for 3 days. And besides that, I thought that air helped heal, so couldn't i keep it uncovered during the day while we were inside? But I was told "NO" and given some preliminary supplies to bandage her up with at home. We were also told that if she vomits in the next couple of days to bring her "straight back to the ER, any ER!" After taking her vitals and going through the check out process we were able to leave the ER at about 10:30pm.

We put her in her car seat where she sat 'sleeping with her eyes open.' She just had a blank stare on her face. We decided that Marcus and I needed to eat, and the best option would be to stop and get some fast food and eat in the car. We picked Arby's and after ordering and before we made it to the window to get our food, I hear a strange sound from Kaylee. I look over and see her begin to vomit EVERYWHERE! I didn't know what to do. I was trying to catch as much as i could while trying to avoid getting sick myself. I just could not take it and Mary (who was in the front seat) and my mom (who was in the car behind us) had to take over. They got her out of her seat and cleaned her up, while I collected myself and began cleaning the truck out. Marcus was still waiting for our food while we all contemplated what to do. We were just told at the ER "if she throws up come back immediately." We decided to continue heading in the direction of home and take her to a different ER (another BIG mistake). I now understand it would have been better if we would have taken her back to LeBonheur, but at the time we thought that a different ER would be just as good. We took her to Germantown Methodist, where, to make a long story short, we waited another 3 1/2 hours to see a doctor, and experienced MANY MANY bumps in the road and disagreements with the staff. The doctor ordered a CT scan, which seemed so forbidden at LeBonheur. The results came back positive again and we were sent home again. This time they gave me a different set of discharge instructions. They said DO NOT bandage the wound. Keep it uncovered and basically treat her like we normally would. He said if we draw attention to it then she will too. I thought this was a much better plan. So at about 5:15 am, 12 hours after the injury occurred, we were on our way home.

Kaylee has recovered masterfully! She was a little slower version of herself the day after the injury, which was probably more so the result of no sleep than the injury. Then Thursday (2 days after) she was completely back to normal. It took about 4 days for her appetite to completely return, but we can safely say "SHE'S BACK!" The scab has been peeling away more and more each day, and I am praying that it does not leave a scar behind.

It is absolutely amazing how resilient kids can be! I can truly say that I think Marcus and I were just as traumatized as she was going through the whole ordeal. But the thing is we remember everything that happened and all she knows now is that she has a "boo boo" on her forehead, and as soon as it is gone she will probably never even remember this ever took place.

Here are the few pictures that we got of the injury.

This one was taken after the initial gauze was wrapped in the triage of the 1st ER

This one was taken when the gauze was removed for the first time

These last 2 were taken on day 3 after the accident. You can see how it has begun to heal and the scab fall off.