Water Park and Reading

I took Kaylee to the water park today. She had a BLAST! She burnt off some energy, and was freezing to death in the process.

When we got home Kaylee said she wanted to read books. She picked Does a Kangaroo have a Mother too. I tried to get it on video but missed the best part. Here is the clip I was able to get. Afterwards we watched it together and Kaylee said "read it properly, Kaylee!" I nearly laughed myself out of the chair. It is funny the things I catch her saying now, obviously she is listening quite well when we speak.

In case you need a translation, this is what she said/ read.......

Kang-roo have modder? Penguin have modder? (then I got a stare down) Penguin have modder? Dolphin, fox, dolphin have modder? Sheep have modder? Monkey have modder? Yes monkey, the end. (she skipped a few pages in the process too)

And the panting in the background was Ainslee enjoying her sister’s version of the book.

Little Mother

Kaylee asked to carry her "baby" around in the mei tai. Notice her little baby is a monkey too. She is such a great little mother

once again she is sporting the Chandler Bing smile

Bedtime and Blogging

OKAY! Enough is enough!!!

I admit blogging has officially interfered with my bedtime! I cant help it, it is an addiction!

By now you have noticed my attempt to "liven up" my blog. My sister-in-law found this background and I thought I would give it a try. I'm still working out some of the kinks. Who knows I might not like it in a few days, I might find something I like better, but for now it is better than plain ol' boring black. Hope you like it!!

Oh and Ainslee has forgotten what bedtime is too. The little rascal has been staying up late the past couple of nights. The little booger spoiled me with early bedtime for weeks, and now that she isn't staying on her schedule it is driving me quite batty. Last night she was alive and kickin (and laughing and playing) until 10pm. YES! I said 10pm. That is just NOT acceptable little lady! Tonight was a bit better - she crashed about 8:45. I guess I cant complain about last night cause she gave me 9 straight hours of sleep.

Growing up SO fast

Ainslee played in her exersaucer for the first time today. She is still a bit small for it so used a blanket to help prop her up. She loved looking at and trying to touch the toys, and Kaylee loved spinning her around and playing with her in it. She is growing so fast. Marcus asked me this morning, "when will she be crawling?" I told him soon enough!

Oh and Ainslee laughed for the first time yesterday! I almost cried, it was so sweet. I was SO mad that I didnt have a camera or my phone or anything to capture it. She laughed at Kaylee going up the stairs. We were all 3 headed upstairs, I was carrying Ainslee, obviously, and Kaylee was in front of us. all of a sudden I heard Ainslee laughing, I looked at her and she was staring at Kaylee. She laughed and laughed! Kaylee even turned around and asked me why she was laughing. We dont know what tickled her, but it was so sweet to witness. These small things are what make me so happy to be a mom.

A few pictures

Ok now that I am home I can post a few of the pictures from this weekend. I did not bring my camera so I only have a couple that I took with my phone.

As i posted in Part 3 we walked downtown. We went to Millennium Park. It was here that we saw a very interesting structure referred to by the locals as "the bean".

And also a little water park, for lack of a better term.

This is pretty much what Ainslee did the entire way to Chicago

And here is a shot of what the ride home was like.......nice and happy (most of the time)

Play by Play - Part 4

We hit the road at 7am, went straight to pick up John from his friends' house. Ainslee slept the entire way, so we grabbed John and hit the road. We decided to try and go a different way on the way home, I hope we are making the right decision.

Holy moly! It is now 11:30am. Ainslee slept 3 1/2 hours in her seat and then was awake AND happy for another 30 minutes. We stopped for a bathroom break, changed 2 diapers, nursed and were back on the road. I think we are bringing a different baby home with us, because what I am looking at us definitely NOT my baby. She is happy, sticking her tongue out, smiling, and "talking". She expecially loves it when uncle John talks and plays with her.

Alright we just stopped for lunch and gas. Ainslee got to meet her great aunt and uncle, we stopped just a few miles away from their house in Arnold, MO. We weren't there too long as the road was calling our name, it missed us and wanted our company again. I feel like at this point the road is becoming a good friend of mine. So now after a full tank of gas and full bellies we are on the home stretch.

We have seen approximately 50 cops with cars pulled over along the interstate today. At one point my dad pointed out a sign that said "happy memorial day, please do not exceed the speed limit. Police will be radaring every 5 miles." And they weren't lying! At one point we saw 4 cars pulled over in a span of only a 1/2 mile. Talk about a warning, they told people what was going to happen and they still choose to speed.

I'm not sure if it was because Ainslee was happier on the way home or the new route we choose, but the ride home seemed so much faster. Based on the clock in the car it really didn't save us too much time, but it sure felt like it!

WE ARE HOME!!!

Well almost home. We are back at my parents house. My mom went to get Kaylee while I nurse Ainslee, then the 3 of us are heading home. We had a great trip, but it always feels good to be home.

Ainslee at lunch

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!!!

Here is a picture of Ainslee when we stopped at lunch on our way home. She is such a happy camper today, despite being in her car seat for 6 hours so far!

Stay tuned........part 4 of this trip will be posted later today

The Play by Play -part 2 & 3

We started the day with a lovely breakfast. I got Ainslee down for her morning nap, then we all sat around and talked. We decided to go to the local farmers market to walk around. Ainslee woke up just in time. The weather is MUCH hotter than we had expected. The weather report all week said it would be in the low to mid 60's, well today it was 87. We were roasting!

We hit the road for the hotel, and got there with just enough time to get ready for the wedding. We dropped Ainslee off at the babysitter. That went surprisingly smoother than I had anticipated, considering this was the first time I have ever left either of my children with a "non relative".

We headed on to the zoo for the wedding. It was really really fun! The ceremony was under a pavilion, then the trams picked up all the guests and took us on a private tour of half the zoo. They dropped us where the gorillas and other monkeys are kept. There they served h'ouerdorves (sp?) and drinks. They even fed the gorillas their favorite snack while we were there so we could watch. Guess what they absolutely love.......key limes! We watched as they peeled and ate them. We learned, from my uncle who is the head vet at the zoo, about the little boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit and the female gorilla who picked him up and brought him to safety. 13 years later, she is still at the zoo.

After about an hour we got back on the trams and they took us on tour of the other half of the zoo. It was so much fun, and I really hated the fact that Kaylee and Marcus weren't there to see it all. The trams dropped us at the reception. It was packed with a slideshow of pictures of the bride and groom (I was even in a few pictures), hilarious speeches and skits, wonderful meal, and great time visiting with the family.

We left and went to get Ainslee, who I am sad to say was not on her best behavior, from the babysitter. We got back to the hotel and put an overly tired baby and myself to bed. Ainslee slept wonderfully, 9 hours straight. I didn't get much sleep though, not because Ainslee woke me up but because of my dads snoring. It was ridiculous! I had to get out of bed twice to shake him and I think I threw my pillow at him about 6 times throughout the night. Ugh! I don't know how my mom gets any sleep at night!?!

We got up in the morning and headed straight downtown. My aunt and uncle bought 25 of us tickets for a boat tour. It was an architectural cruise on the Chicago river. It was really fun and informative about all the buildings and things down along the river. After the tour we all walked around downtown before going over to my cousin Lisa's house for pizza's and beer/wine. I obviously stopped beforehand and got a GF pizza for myself. We celebrated my aunt's birthday and visited with everyone. On the way back to the hotel we stopped and got a bubble tea at a place around the corner from my cousins house. Then on to the hotel to put Ainslee to bed. Mom and I went to get some take out from the Cheesecake Factory after Ainslee went down.

Here I am now finishing this post in my bed as I listen to my dad snore. I just counted the pillows on my bed and I have 6 regular size pillows and my body pillow I bought with me (I have been having trouble sleeping lately unless I have it). I know I like a lot of pillows in the bed but who needs 6 plus a big one? I'm surprised I even fit in the bed, some of these must be from their bed! All these pillows will give me ammo to throw at my dad throughout the night when he wakes me with his snoring.

I'm looking forward to a day of driving tomorrow. Hahaha just kidding!
I'll keep you posted with Part 4 of this trip.

Peace out from Chicago, a city I definitely want to visit with the entire family one day!

The Play by Play -Part 1

This is a documentary of Ainslee's first road trip

***i am typing this post as we are on the road***

My mom, dad, little brother, Ainslee, and myself are driving up to Chicago for my cousins wedding tomorrow. We are dropping John at his friends house who lives west of Chicago and then going to some family friends house for the night (that sounds confusing but I don't know how to fix it).

It all started about 5 am. Ainslee slept through the night again, so we got a little later start than we had hoped. She was in a great mood and we got on the road at about 6 am. The first 2 hours went smoothly. Well except the fact that when my mom went to throw her banana peel out the window her bracelet went with it. We detoured to try and find it (it was a gift that came from Mexico so it was irreplaceable), but we had no luck. Then a few more miles down the road the malfunction symbol showed up on the car. I called the roadside assistance people who told me it was a problem with the suspension and to stop and restart the car. Ok did that. Indicator light went off and we were back on the road. It was smooth sailing for about 30 minutes. Then Ainslee decided she didn't want to be in her seat anymore. FABULOUS! So then we had to wait to find an exit that could suit all our needs, food, gas, place to nurse/ change Ainslee. All this and we are only 2 hours away from home.

Right as we are about to get off the interstate to stop the screaming that was echoing throughout the car, she stops! She was at least 30 minutes away from feeding time, so I figured let's try and stay on the road until we can stop once for everything. Everyone was scared to speak, let's all just stay quiet and maybe she will be quiet too. Especially me, I didn't want her hearing my voice and then wanting me. It worked, we were able to drive another 30 minutes.

Ok we made it. We stopped, changed poopies, ate breakfast (I never knew I could eat a large beef n cheddar minus the bun and a medium fry at 9 am. I guess you learn something new about yourself everyday), nursed Ainslee, filled up with gas, changed another poopie, and hit the road again. Oh wait I almost forgot the most exciting thing about our stop. John scarffed down his food so that he could take mom to go buy him some scratch cards. They each got one card. John scratched his and it was a loser. Then we all peered over moms shoulder as she scratched hers. I briefly glanced at the instructions and saw that she needed to get an 8 to win. The first row she scratched an 8 and won $2. The next row she scratched an 8 and won $2 more. I looked at the instructions again thinking I read it wrong, sure enough she had already won $4. She keeps on scratching, the next row she won $8, the next $2 more, the fifth row revealed another $2, and finally the last row she won another $2. That was $18 total! We were all laughing and screaming. John was begging for his money back, saying he bought her the card so he gets the winnings. SO FUNNY!!! Mom agreed to give him $3 back and he bought 3 more cards, all losers. So mom walked away $15 richer. It was quite amusing to witness the whole chain of events.

We are back on the road, Ainslee and mom are sleeping, dad is driving, and John and I are playing with our various electronic items we brought.

Oh wait....... 45 minutes down the road Ainslee decides to wake up and scream. I settle her, then she screams again, this goes on for about 1 hour until she finally settles enough to fall back asleep. I feel so bad sitting there watching her cry and can't even pick her up to soothe her. Are seat belt laws in effect for RV's? Maybe we should get one of those and do our travelling in that. Hahaha that's a joke, like we could afford one, let alone the gas for it.

Alright we just stopped again. More nursey nursey, as Kaylee would say. Gas, another dirty diaper, ice cream for mom and John, and bathroom break for me. All that and we were back on the road in 13 minutes. That's gotta be a record.

John and I continue to entertain Ainslee inbetween naps while dad continues driving. I can't even count how many times John asked "are we there yet?" or "how much longer?"

We made it to the next stop.......the Village of Dwight. I was starving for a long time, and if you know me I have to EAT when I'm hungry, fast food just doesn't cut it for this chic! Anyways so for like 45 minutes dad was saying "let's just make it to Dwight it looks like a big enough city where we can get something good to eat." little did he know that the big city of Dwight was just a freaking Village. Once again dad gave us all a good laugh. We all walked into Pete's, practically ordered one of everything on the menu, stuffed our faces and hit the road again.

We rolled into yorkville to drop off John right as Ainslee fell asleep. John surprised his friend who used to live down in c'ville. He is one of 5 boys and every one of them was dying to hold Ainslee. One of them even said he wanted to skip his canoe trip this weekend because he wanted to stay with Ainslee. When he learned she wasn't staying, and only John was, he was pretty bummed.

After visiting for about an hour we hit the road again! Ainslee had her fill of her car seat for one day. I think 10 hours in her seat was too much for her to handle. She cried the whole way to our final destination for the day. I nursed her and put her down for the night. She was out like a light. The 13 1/2 hour trec was just about all I was ready to tackle for one day too. I will surely enjoy a good nights rest tonight!

Tahoe

Tahoe had to go BACK to the vet yesterday. He is still bleeding from his pee pee and he had to get 1/2 his stitches out from his surgery. They did another ultrasound to try and figure out why he won't stop bleeding.

The stitches came out without a problem but the rest of the story isn't good news. He has cysts (or something like that) in his prostate (I have lots of ultrasound pics, but can't figure out what I am looking at when I look at them). If the 2 weeks of antibiotics he is on because of his surgery doesnt solve the problem then we might have to talk about neutering him. We never did because we were going to breed him, obviously we never did that either. So now it is just a wait and see what happens sort of thing.

He has to go back in on Tuesday to get the rest of his stitches out and I think they are gonna do another ultrasound then.

Our Chauffeur

Manny was driving us today, at Kaylee's request. He is sporting his new clothes. Now maybe Kaylee will stop trying to put her clothes on him.

Plain Jane

I realize that I am a very plain person. I have always liked things plain and simple. My hamburgers were always meat and cheese only, now they are meat and cheese and NO bun. I never ate Mexican, Thai, Chinese, or any other ethnic food before Marcus introduced them to me. now I love them! I never really wear make-up, and despite Marcus' efforts I always wear my hair up. I pick the plainest looking clothes. I haven't really decorated our house, well, since we moved in almost 9 years ago, because I like things plain (I guess). I am sure there are many other aspects of my life that are plain, but I am so used to living this way they have escaped me at this moment.

Anyways, the reason I bring this up is because during my recent blog surfing obsession I have noticed I have the plainest blog in the world! Really it is the plainest blog, I challenge someone to find a more plain blog than mine! I don't really have a title, I have ABSOLUTELY no design, and I pretty much just write about my kids. How plain is that? I would like to "spice" things up a bit, but I'm not quite sure how all you fancy smanchy bloggers out there get such great designs on your blog. How do you do it?

By the way she DID IT AGAIN!!!
Thanks Ainslee for a full nights rest!

A Sleepy and Rolling Momma's Girl

I have been waking Ainslee up for a feeding almost every night now for the past month or so. She always goes down at least 3 hours before I go to bed so I figured I might as well wake her so I don't have to wake up shortly after getting to sleep. I always struggle with myself about waking her, I think I have found that she does better when I don't wake her. This is the third time I didn't wake her and she did really good. She went almost 10 hours! Now there have been a few times where I didn't wake her and she didn't do that good. But I think my new get more sleep strategy is not to wake her after getting her down to bed. Oh and PART II of that strategy is go to bed earlier! I don't know why I just can't get that part down. So I'm going to be trying this for the next couple of nights to see if my theory is correct.

I have to confess........ many of my blog posts are actually written in the middle of the night (as was this one). While I lay awake in bed during Ainslee's feeding I write posts, blog surf, make grocery lists, send emails, among other things. This is what I saw last night when I looked down, Ainslee trying to cover her eyes while she nurses. You think she is telling me not multitask while feeding her?
So then during the day, when my brain is more awake, I edit and actually post what I have written. I am never able to fall back asleep or even really close my eyes while my babies are in the bed. Plus my brain is going 90 MPH and if I don't write down what I am thinking it will be lost forever.

This post was intended to tell you how close Ainslee is to rolling over. She has been showing signs for the past couple of days now, and I knew it was getting close. Well today I left her with my mom while Kaylee and I ran errands and mom called me to tell me she actually DID roll over (front to back). I was ecstatic! But then I was sad I wasn't there to see it. Here is a pic of her the other day when she was really close to rolling from back to front.

It is kinda hard to tell by the picture but she really was close to rolling over

If you haven't figured it out by now......Kaylee is a Daddy's girls through and through! There's no way around it! She's absolutely adores her daddy! Now Ainslee on the other hand is a momma's girl.......at least for now. This is most likely because I am her primary source of food and her primary diaper changer and pretty much primary every thing else as well. But it is more likely she is a momma's girl because this is just a phase. It has to be just a phase. I keep telling myself "this is just a phase, this is just a phase.". As much as I want her to love/ want her mommy, I am ready for her to "want" to be with other people and be ok with it. She screams every time someone else holds her. And I mean anyone besides me! At first I thought something was wrong, like she was in pain again or something, but when I take her in my arms, she quits crying immediately, I realized that was not the problem. Oh no! What am I going to do until this phase is over? Especially since she is staying with the first "non relative" babysitter ever this weekend while we are in Chicago. I hope she can handle it. By "she," I mean the babysitter! i remember very clearly when Kaylee went through this phase. I remember Marcus being devastated that his daughter screamed every time he held her. He kept asking me "when is she going to like me?" I responded "trust me, soon enough! She is going to love you!" And I was right, the time has definitely come!

Dinner and Daddy's Girl

Here's our dinner from tonight. We got the girls in bed and had ourselves a feast. It started with crab legs as an appetizer, then salads. The main course was filet mignon, baked potatoes (with all the fixin's), zucchini, and sweet red corn (i cut mine off the cob). Oh and don't forget the wine. DELICIOUS!

Daddy's Girl

There is only one thing that Marcus loves about waking up. And that is spending time with Kaylee. And there is nothing more that Kaylee loves than waking up her daddy. They are so cute, they lay in the bed together hiding under the covers, tickling, laughing, talking, and playing on their blackberries. Kaylee's new favorite thing is texting, she pretend texts all the time. After she finally gets him out of the bed she "helps him get ready". She puts on deodorant with him, brushes teeth with him, puts on lotion, brushes her hair, and then orders him to "GET DRESSED DADDY!"

I love watching the two of them together. I know Kaylee is looking forward to a WHOLE weekend alone with her daddy.

Photo Shoot

Here are some of the pics that were taken of the girls back in February, I just got my hands on them today. I just couldnt resist posting them. I love the "sack" they used, i definitely recommend it for newborn pictures. It is amazing to look at these pictures now to see how much she has changed.

If you want info on the photographer that took these let me know

Prayers are Answered!

One of my best friends, Kristy, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma back in February. Here I was about to welcome a new baby into my life and my dear friend was in for a fight for her life.

Kristy and her husband Kyle were our friends that joined us on our house hunting trip to Hawaii back in November. We have gone on other vacations together as well. They are such an awesome couple, and since they live all the way in Springfield Missouri, we don't get to spend too much time together.

Here's how it all started........

Kristy called me one night and among the other topics of discussion she mentioned a lump in her neck. She explained to me where it was, and the other symptoms that went along with it. I urged her to go have it checked out immediately. Never in a million years did i think it was going to be cancer, but i knew in my heart that it needed to be looked at by a professional. Her doctor referred her to an ENT who decided to do a needle biopsy on the lump, and then eventually remove it and have it tested.

A few days later I called her to find out how the results came out, when she answered she was crying and asked if I was at home. I told her no and that i wouldn't be home for a few more hours. She said to call her back when I got home. I was confused and urged her to tell me why she was crying. She refused and told me to call her back. I rushed home so that I could talk to her. It was then that she asked me to sit down, in the bottom of my heart i knew what she was going to tell me. When she broke the news to me, we both cried together, while she told me what her future held for her (in regards to her treatment). She told me that they had classified her tumor as non-bulky. Her oncologist explained to her that there are 3 different sizes of tumors; large, non bulky, and bulky. So basically small, medium, and large. Her tumor was non-bulky, between medium and large. He said that she was going to need 16 weeks of chemo, with one treatment a week. And then radiation to follow that. No one knew how her body would accept the chemo and what would happen, but we all had the highest of hopes.
side note: her husband got laid off shortly after receiving the news of Kristy's cancer.

Before her treatment began Kristy and her husband went to a local wig shop, in the event that she lost her hair from her chemo treatment. When they walked in, she quickly realized she was in the wrong place. Her first clue came from the smell of the place. She described it as the smell of "old people," I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I know i surly don't want to smell like an "old person" at the age of 30! Her next clue came when the majority of the wigs were grey. She and Kyle looked around a little bit, before being approached by the store owner. She was confused as to why a young, healthy looking couple with a head full of hair was shopping for a wig. After talking with her for a little while, Kristy explained that she has cancer and would be starting chemo the next week, and would be losing her hair a few weeks later. The woman began crying immediately and gave Kristy a hug. She then proceeded to gather the other employees and another shopper to the middle of the store. As Kristy explained this to me I was getting goose bumps all over my body. She said the woman gathered everyone in a circle and began praying. The woman assured her that she had never done anything like this before, and she didn't know why she was doing it, she just felt like she needed to.

The next day was the beginning of Kristy's treatment. She had to go in for blood tests, PET scans, and to have the chemo port inserted. After reading the results of her newest PET scan her doctor was ASTONISHED! He reviewed her test results over and over again. Then he met with Kristy to give her the news. First of all her tumor had shrunk! That's right, without any treatment her tumor was now being classified as "barely a large" tumor (AKA small in size), and her oncologist said that instead of 16 chemo treatments she would only need 8 treatments, one every other week for 16 weeks. How awesome is that?!? Her doctor was so confused by the scans that he was going to send them to other radiologists around the country to get their opinion.

The next week Kristy went in for her 1st chemo treatment, it was really tough on her. It basically put her in the bed for the next couple of days. She was so sick. She got an infection and her body couldn't fight it off. After her next chemo treatment, her white blood cell count dropped dangerously low. This is very common when undergoing chemo, however hers was too low, and even the tiniest of infections could cause her to be hospitalized, or worse...... death. Her oncologist told her that she was no longer able to go into public places, and she needed keep one of the rooms in her house as a "clean room." Which meant that before anyone, including her 4 young boys, could enter the room they had to wash and get as clean as possible. Kristy continued on with her next 2 treatments before her oncologist decided to refer her to a specialist in St. Louis. After meeting with that doctor she learned that her tumor was completely GONE! After just 4 treatments her doctors where SO ASTOUNDED! So despite the bumps in the road, her body was accepting the chemo and it was working fast, very fast! Her next 2 treatments went pretty much the same. And yesterday she completed her 6th treatment. She has only 2 more left to go! And then 30 days of radiation.

All the nights I laid awake praying, all the days spent wondering and hoping everything would be ok, they have all paid off. So after all is said and done and she has recovered from her chemo and radiation, we are all going to take a vacation together. That means 4 adults and 6 kids will be hitting the road for a location yet to be determined. I CANT WAIT! I really hate the fact that I cant be there for her. I cant go to help her recover after her treatments, and it kills me. I guess everything happens for a reason, and that is why when her husband lost his job, it was a blessing in disguise. He has been able to be at her side for every treatment, and he is there to nurse her back to health in the days following the treatments. He has taken over the role as mom when she is too sick to do it. She has also had the support of her community, they have made countless meals, come to clean her house, and even held fundraisers to raise money for her medical bills.

So Kristy here's to you!

I LOVE YOU!!!

and

I am so proud of you!

What we've been doing

Thursday Marcus found a caterpillar when he got home (for those of you that don't know, he gets home about 7am, before i get up). He left me a note telling me that he had a surprise for Kaylee on the kitchen table. Thank goodness he warned me cause I would have been mighty surprised to find that on the table as we sat down for breakfast. Kaylee enjoyed looking at, holding, AND letting the caterpillar go. I enjoyed getting to clean up caterpillar poop, as if cleaning up after two children isn't enough.


Friday Marcus found another surprise for Kaylee in the yard. This time he left me a note saying "I have another surprise for Kaylee. It's in the box out in the garage, I'm not sure what to feed it. Good Luck!"

It was a fairly small box turtle.

I had no idea what to feed it either, I figured it would like a little celery and some carrots so that's what I gave him. When Kaylee met Tiny, that's what we named him, she loved him. She wanted to hold him and rub his shell, all the time. She wasn't patient enough to sit and wait for him to come out. We noticed that he was not eating the food i gave him so we did some research on what a box turtle likes to eat. We ended up giving him a smorgasbord. He had organic celery and carrots, a worm, dandelion greens, peaches, a few bits of dog food, and an organic apple (not in the picture).



The only stinkin thing he even took a bite of in 4 days was the apple. By the way all of the things i listed were among the "recommended" food items on the websites we found. Today we decided to let Tiny go. Marcus and Kaylee put him out in the yard and watched him GO. He took shelter under some mulch that is under one of our down spouts.

Marcus snapped this pic of Kaylee after releasing Tiny. She loves spending time with her daddy!

Saturday evening Marcus was rubbing Tahoe's ears when all of a sudden Tahoe whimpered in pain. When Marcus took a closer look he noticed that Tahoe had a hematoma in his ear. We only knew what it was because we went through this exact same thing with him last summer before our trip to Mexico, but it was his other ear. We called the vet about it yesterday morning, and he had an appointment that afternoon. The vet decided to go ahead and do his surgery immediately, so we left him there over night. The surgery went well, and Marcus went to pick him up this afternoon. He is on 3 different meds, his ear needs to be cleaned throughout the day, and he is scheduled for 2 follow-up appointments to get his stitches out. Hopefully now that he has had the surgery on BOTH ears we wont have to worry about this problem again.

Tahoe was excited to get to ride in the back of the Merc for the first time, even though it was because he needed to go to the vet.

He has to stay in his kennel for the next couple of days while he recovers. Poor Tahoe!

Mother's Day

I enjoyed a fabulous Mother's Day! It started with Marcus waking up with not only Kaylee (which is his usual job on Sunday mornings) but Ainslee too. He let me sleep in for 1 1/2 hours......WHAT A TREAT! We all got ready to go over to my parents house and visit for a couple of hours before heading to dinner with Marcus' mom. Even though Ainslee wasn't happy in the restaurant, Kaylee was ready to go to bed 2 hours before we left, and Marcus and I were only able to eat about 5 bites of our meal, we had a great time. All in all it was a wonderful day.

I have to tell you about last night too. Kaylee has been in another one of her sleeping phases. As most moms know kids go through all sorts of growth spurts and phases. Some where they eat more, some where they eat less, some where they sleep more or less, and combinations of them.Kaylee is in a 'eat more, sleep more phase' while Ainslee is in a 'eat less, sleep more phase'. Anyways, Kaylee has been sleeping like her old self lately. Last night she slept 15 1/2 hours! It was so great to be able to get her down at 6 again. And what was even better is that Ainslee slept 8 hours straight, woke up and nursed and then slept another 4 hours. Am I finally gonna start getting some decent sleep? I cant wait!!!

Tomorrow we are headed to our last Kindermusik class. BOO HOO!!! I am really going to miss it, and I know Kaylee is going to miss it too. Thursday we have to go for a tour of Kaylee's "new school", hopefully we wont get asked to leave again. Then she is spending the night at my moms. Yippee! My sister is taking her to gymnastics on Friday, then out to lunch. I will have to pick her up to run errands after nap. Man......looks like we have a busy week ahead of us!

Oh what a beautiful morning,

(everybody sing with me now)

Oh what a beautiful day,

I've got a wonderful feeling,

Everything's going my way

It started last night with Ainslee sleeping 7 hours then 4 hours. I only got to take advantage of 5 hours then the entire 4 hours. It was nice to have 2 decent stretches of sleep. I woke up feeling very well rested.

When Ainslee woke up in the morning we played for a little bit in our bed. She is getting more and more interactive. She laughs on purpose and coos all the time, she even has a ticklish spot. I have to say her coo is more of a happy moan than a coo. I was able to let her lay in our bed next to Marcus, she laughed and kicked at the ceiling fan while I took a shower, which doesn't happen very often in the mornings. When I got out of the shower Ainslee greeted me with a smile. I nursed her and put her down for her morning nap. I went out and started breakfast. Kaylee woke up about 20 minutes later as happy as a lark with a nice present for me in her diaper.......disgusting!

Kaylee and I enjoyed breakfast together. We were able to talk about lots of things. Then we decided to bring some toys upstairs to the new play room. I picked a few things and brought them up. She was busy making a mess with all the things I brought up. Here's a look at the play room now, it is not finished......obviously! I still need to figure out some storage ideas and something different for the walls.

(above) she was showing her monkey Manny how to color and write his name

When Ainslee woke up we all played for a little bit. She ate her lunch and played under her gym. It is so nice when everyone is in a good mood and we have a happy house all around. Kaylee asked me to take these pictures of her in the fort she build with daddy the other day.

Kaylee ate lunch, actually it was more of a snack, she wasn't too hungry after our big breakfast. I got Kaylee down for her nap and Ainslee down for her afternoon nap at the same time.

Marcus had to wake up early to be on a conference call, so he was able to reluctantly stay home with the girls while i ran to Kroger to get a few groceries. I drove the Jetta since it was just me, and I realized how much i really miss driving that car. It is so nice to get away, even if it is just for a few minutes. This is what I saw in the middle of the road on the way to Kroger, I had to stop and take a picture of it to show Kaylee. It was HUGE!

After dinner Kaylee had a popsicle for dessert. Here is what her lips looked like after the fact.

All in all it was a WONDERFUL day!

My husbands new mission

Marcus has been driving the Jetta to work now since we got my new car, he still likes to take my car to work every now and then though. As I said in a previous post it just makes sense that he drive a fuel efficient car the 80 miles to and from work each night.

He announced to me yesterday his new mission....... It is to see how high he could get the miles per gallon by driving really "fuel efficiently". So instead of gunning it and using the shift on the fly (I think that is what it is called) feature my husband is opting to take it easy on the little Jetta. So far he has gotten it up to 47.5 MPG and that was an average after travelling 2000 miles. I think is goal is to get it up near 50 MPG. How awesome is that? 47-50 MPG!!!

I wish my new car got that good gas mileage, I am lucky to get 1/2 that.


In the meantime someone else in our house is getting ready to drive


Kaylee asked Amma if she could drive with her. I gave them the "okay" and said she could go up the driveway. Kaylee was in heaven pushing all Amma's buttons, literally and figuratively. It was so funny, Kaylee had her hands up in the air and was honking the horn with her belly. That is why they are laughing so hard in the picture. I swear Kaylee has the best sense of humor of any 2 year old I have ever met, and she has had it since she was born.

Daddy's shoes fit me just fine

Nice Little Visit

If you read my friend Katie's blog then you have already seen these pics. I just had to post them to my blog too. MT is 5 weeks younger than Ainslee, and this was the first time the future best friends met each other. They can't wait to gab to each other about their crazy mothers.

Ainslee was so upset. She was tired and sick of being toted around all day. She says "Mommy take me home and put me in MY OWN bed!" MT is looking at Ainslee like she has lost her mind. MT says "Ainslee, stop crying you are hurting my ears."

Then we went outside and Ainslee was a little bit happier, that was until I put her in her car seat

I wish we could have visited longer. We will have to get together more often, especially when the girls are starting to move around more.

Oops

I totally forgot to put these 2 pics in my last post.

I took these when she was on the changing table kicking for 20 minutes.

She was so happy!

Ainslee's Belly Update

She is doing MUCH better!

We started new meds last week and they are working SO much better. She is enjoying getting to lay on her back. This is a new position for her considering before if she laid on her back she would reflux and be in pain just about every time. Now after changing her diaper she is so happy I usually just move her and the entire changing pad on the floor for her to lay. Kaylee is usually playing nearby so they are both happy. Today she was so happy after I changed her diaper I just let her lay there with no diaper kicking her fat little legs. She probably kicked for 20 minutes. That's the baby equivalent of running a mile right? Maybe that's why she has done pretty much nothing but sleep today......maybe i should try that more often!

I am so glad I don't have to watch her be in pain any more! She loves playing under her gym too. You can tell by the pictures that she is getting SO BIG!

Kaylee and I spent some time outside blowing bubbles while Ainslee took a nap today

Ok I almost forgot......

Today Kaylee was taking a bath while Ainslee and I sat and watched. Kaylee was playing and splashing around and every now and then she would talk to Ainslee or ask to kiss her. I know I have said it a thousand times but it is so sweet how much Kaylee loves Ainslee. Anyways so while I am holding Ainslee I look down at the top of her head, and I notice something. She has 3 hairs that are significantly longer than the others. These particular hairs start around her soft spot and stretch down to her eye brows. They made me laugh. Her 1st hair cut is going to be really easy, "Excuse me Mrs. Diane, could you please cut these 3 hairs?" Heck I could do that myself at home. Maybe the others will catch up soon.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO EVERYONE!

I wish I liked margaritas, cause I sure could've used one after the evening we had