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.