Brynlee Growning - 7 months

How did you get to be 7 months?

This is the excitement you have when you see your sisters.

They were attempting to "help" me get you to not climb off the chair and get you to smile.

You are the HAPPIEST baby!

Your favorite thing to do right now is blowing raspberries/spitting. You love to eat, however I am wondering if you are still having trouble with your tummy. So I have decided to try cutting back on your solid food intake (Im definitely NOT worried about you starving to death!). And considering you can down an ENTIRE avocado at a single meal, I think there is plenty of room to "cut back".  You are still a horrible sleeper, well I probably shouldnt say horrible I should say "not as good as your sisters." Your 3-4 wake up calls EVERY night are getting super duper old, and I am ready to get a solid stretch of sleep.  You have just recently developed a ridiculous attachment to me. If I am in the room you MUST be on my hip (or in one of your various carriers attached to me). Today you really started moving across the floor, Im not quite sure I am ready to call it "crawling" but you are definitely scooting your fat self all around.  You are still nursing like a champ, and have not had as many bottles as I would like (which is my fault), Im hoping your daddy will start putting you to bed with a bottle soon on weekend nights. Despite your biggest sisters' BEST (and unending) attempts to shove in your face get you to drink water from your own cup you still refuse. You love your car seat WAY more than your sisters at this age, and you even sleep in it, which is a whole new world for me. You are a very content baby, most of the time, and you have a lot of patience most of the time which I feel like is a requirement of the 3rd born. You are 19+ lbs, Im not quite sure your exact weight, but I know you have plenty of meat on those bones, which makes momma VERY happy! You still love men, you will smile and "talk" to any guy that will listen to you. You kick your feet when you are happy and excited. You are DYING to get your hands on the iPad. You are trying desperately to suck your thumb (just like your sisters), which does not make your momma happy, and you think the paci is a toy. You have lost most of the hair on the back of your head leaving a semi-bald spot, and the hair by your ears and in front are growing longer and longer. Despite being dressed in pink (and other girl colors) you still get mistaken for a boy. You have brought a ridiculous amount happiness and joy and love and giggles to our lives and we love you more than you will EVER know!

Kaylee getting Brynlee dressed

This is a funny video. I missed the funniest parts while I was trying to get the camera rolling. Everytime Kaylee would try to put her clothes on Brynlee would try and roll away!

Kaylee even picked out her outfit

I HAVE A KINDERGARTENER!!!

Kaylee has been begging me for weeks now to start her Kindergarten curriculum that has been sitting in a box in the school room for a couple of months now. Finally I gave in and decided I would let her start it because she was so determined to do so. That is the beauty of homeschool, if she wants to start school in June......so be it. If we want to take the month of September off.......we can! The first day went well and after the 2nd day I noticed that she had already completed ONE TENTH of her entire curriculum for Kindergarten. Now after less than a week she is ONE FIFTH of her way through!  If we continue on this pace (mind you I am not forcing her to do any of this, she comes to me throughout the day asking to do more schoolwork) she can finish Kindergarten and start 1st grade by this fall! Now dont get your feathers ruffled (the person I am referring to, you know who you are), Im not saying thats what I am going to do. im not exactly sure what I am going to do about this situation yet.

I knew when the curriculum arrived it was going to be easy for her. I even tossed around the idea of finding another curriculum. But a great friend and homeschooling expert advised me to stick with it even if it was too easy. I am glad I did! I think I will continue to use this curriculum throughout our homeschool experience. I love it and it is apparent that she loves it too. I love the fact that it is gentle and encouraging, I love how it is repetative and she knows what to expect. And I dont want to bounce around from curriculum to curriculum each year. I want to stick with what we start with (unless we hate it, but obviously we dont) and that way she is where she needs to be to move on to the next level. My fear is that she might be behind when/if we out her in school. Hopefully that will never be the case!

Kaylee has also been asking me to start the 1st grade math curriculum I purchased. The girl LOVES her math! YAY for that! So I am getting the teachers manual for that curriculum and we will be starting it soon, per her request.
Also, Kaylee has asked on numerous occasions about electricity. She says, and i quote, "mommy can you teach me about electricity in Kindergarten. I want to know all about it!" How can I NOT teach her about electricity when she is dying to learn about it! So I have ordered a science kit pertaining to electricity. She also seems super into blood and guts and that sort of thing so I bought her a science kit and a few books pertaining to that topic as well.



Now I have to decide what the heck Im going to do when she finishes Kindergarten this summer! Any ideas/suggestions???

Horse camp picture

I just found this picture they took of the campers during Kaylee's horse camp.

 It was too sweet not to share!

She is at the bottom left of the circle. She is covering her fave with her eyes and wearing a purple shirt.

(Great) Grandma's Furniture

This post has been a LOOOONG time in the making!

 

After my grandmother passed away earlier this year my dad asked me if i wanted her vanity. I screamed YES before he could even finish his sentence. I was so thrilled to be able to get to have a little something that was special to her. Come to find out is was more special than I could have ever imagined! Turns out her chest of drawers and vanity were a matching set so I was going to get BOTH of them!!! When we got the furniture back here I made the decision to have someone restore the pieces. My dad found a guy who has a business out of his house and thats who we chose, and I am so glad we did. He did such an amazing job! Here are the pictures that were taken before any work was done.

Originally we were going to have the pieces stripped and restained. But after thinking about it, I decided I wanted them to look as natural as possible. So I asked the man doing the work for us if we could see them after they were stripped to make up our mind. Here they are after stripping

I chose to just have them clear coated and to let the natural mahogany shine. I am so thankful I did because they turned out magnificent!  The man told me that when he took the backing of the mirror off to remove the glass he found a date. Turns out these were made in July 1937. My grandparents were married JULY 1937 and these were most likely a wedding gift or purchased by them after their marriage. When I learned this my knees almost buckled (and Im getting goose bumps right now just typing about it) How lucky am I to be able to have pieces of furniture that were obviously super special in the life of the woman I admire most! And this marks the 2nd set of furniture I own from my grandparents. I've had my maternal grandmothers' bedroom suite for like 15 years now, and it too holds a special place in my heart!
Here are the pieces as soon as we got them into Kaylee's room. We werent allowed to put the hardware back on for 5 days so that the sealer stuff could harden and set properly.

Here is the chest of drawers completely finished with the hardware.

And the vanity

I am still so happy everytime I think about the fact that I am lucky enough to own both sets of grandparents' furniture. And they are both remarkably beautiful sets!

Funny things kids say....

Kaylee:
When I dropped her off for her first day of horse camp I hadnt told her about the camp prior to that day. I didnt want there to be any problems with Ainslee feeling left out or Kaylee having trouble sleeping beforehand from being excited. Anyways so we were walking up and Kaylee kept asking questions about what was going to happen and what they were going to be doing. As I was saying good bye to her she says "Mommy I might get to touch a horse today!" Little did she know then that she would be riding one. And to think that she was SOOOO excited about the thought of even touching one!

Ainslee:
we were driving one day and she asks "Mommy where are we going?" I said we have to find somewhere I can park so I can nurse Brynlee. She then noticed the car in front of us was making the same turns as us and appeared to be going the same place as we were. Then she asked "Mommy is that car going to find somewhere to nurse their baby too?"

Kaylee:
One night we were out to eat dinner and we ordered fries. As Kaylee bit into her giant steak fry she looked inside of it. She leaned over to me and whispered "Mommy there are potatoes inside these fries!" and I said "YES Kaylee that is what fries are made out of." She immediately leaned over to Ainslee and said "Ainslee we are eating potatoes!"



There have been MANY more things they have said lately but I failed to remember them or write them down, so they are lost and gone forever, unless they ever say them again

Brynlee's Medical Update

Brynlee has been experiencing some medical "issues" for quite some time now. She has had blood in her stool since she was about 2 months old. It isnt an every day thing, and it started out just little eraser size chunks (sorry for the graphic description). This was about the time I started putting her on the potty.  While I never noticed it in her diaper I recall seeing it many many times when she went on the potty, but i didnt keep track of how often it was. I didnt bring this to anyones attention, even Marcus' until she was about 3 1/2 months old. At that point I still wasnt quite sure if it was blood or not.  I continued to monitor it and then one day it was WAY more than usual, and it really alarmed me. I decided to bring her in to the doctor. The diagnosis was an anal fissure. I was never quite pleased with that diagnosis. And the next time it happened I examined the poo more.....gross I know! But i came to the conclusion that the blood was not with her poo it was IN her poo!  There is a big difference! I decided that I needed to bring in a sample for the doctors to see. So I waited.......until one day we were at the allergy doctor getting our shots. Brynlee was acting super strange and i decided to put her on the potty, which by the way I think is SUPER disgusting to put her on public pottys at this age, but she wanted to go and wouldnt go in her diaper! I noticed that there were a few BIG chunks when she went so I acted quick. My mom had the big girls out in the waiting room. I called her and asked her to come in the bathroom. I told her i needed to get the poo and blood out of the potty to bring to the pediatrician. She said she would rather be on "poo fishing duty" than keep the girls for me. So I gladly went and collected some supplies and she began fishing. We brought the sample to the doctor where it was confirmed blood. They sent me home with a proper collection kit and asked that I get a "clean" sample for testing. And also suggested that I remove dairy from my diet because she was fitting all the signs of having issues digesting dairy through my breastmilk.  So for the next 3 days I had to put her on the little potty so that I could catch everything, and I was officially gluten AND dairy free!

Finally Brynlee gave us 2 samples in one day and I saved them both. Since she gave them to us on a Saturday of a holiday weekend I had to keep that in my frig until Tuesday! double gross! I brought it to the doctor and also had an appointment to see the doctor. But this time her doctor was out of the office so we saw a different doc. She assured me that the blood was NOT coming from the fissure and that she wanted to run more tests. They attempted to draw blood from her but were unable to find her vein so I was sent to another location to have the blood drawn. About a week later we recieved the results back and her blood was negative for ALL allergies and her poo tests came back completely normal. The only thing that was slightly alarming was her hematocrit level. But since it was still within the "normal" limits (the very lowest number in the normal range) they said it was ok. I still continued to monitor the poo and they told me I could start eating dairy again. Then they referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist. When I called for an appointment the earliest they could get me in was 7 weeks. I was NOT pleased with that, so I called my pediatrician and they were able to expedite the process and get me in the very next Monday! Amazing how those things work out! We saw that doctor and got a better diagnosis of Allergic Colitis. At first I wasnt too keen on this diagnosis. But the more I thought about it I think I wasnt happy with the way it was presented to us. Here's what went down: we were brought to our room where the nurse asked lots of questions about her symptoms and dates and things of that nature. She feverishly wrote down everything in Bryn's chart and left the room. About 10 minutes later the doctor walks in carrying a piece of paper and begins to talk to us. Within the first 3 minutes he says "I think she has allergic colitis" and hands me the paper he brought in. I felt like he made the diagnosis without even looking at her or talking to me personally. But whatever, maybe this is so common and so trivial that it didnt require more of his time. To me this was a big deal! My infant daughter has had blood in her stool for 4 months! I took the info he gave us and went home to digest everything. He also told us this is something she will outgrow and that it doesnt mean that she will have allergies in the future. He assured me that she has a mild case and that I dont need to do anything to alter my diet/lifestyle as of yet. He said if the symptoms worsen then we will begin exploring options then.  And you know what......she hasnt had A SINGLE DROP of blood in her stool since! How crazy is that? So now she is medically cleared to start solids and we have been full force ahead trying and experimenting with all different kinds of food. Turns out she is much like her sisters in that she is NOT a fan of typical pureed baby food. She much prefers regular table food.  I am hoping that we have all blood issues behind us now! And I just want to know why kids start so early scaring the S**T out of thir parents?

Brynlee Growing - 6 months

Here are the lovely pictures I took of Brynlee on her 6 month birthday (a day late)

arent they just fantastic? NOT

ANd then I asked my super-D-duper friend to snap a few and this is what hers turned out looking like!

Dont get too excited people Im NOT putting headbands on my baby! I just let Bethany do it for pictures because it makes her happy! It just so happens that this one turned out AMAZING!!!

 I cant wait to get the rest of the pictures back from her......there are so many more cute ones!

1st Camp

Kaylee went to her first camp this summer. She has been to VBS, which I dont consider a camp, but it is sort of like camp. HA! anyways, I signed her up for a horse camp. I couldnt pass up the Groupon deal when it rolled through my email. It was $125 for a 5 days, 6 hours/day camp. I think she was a bit young for the camp, but I think she still enjoyed it. The days were SUPER long for her and she crashed hard every night. I really enjoyed the extra time with Ainslee and Brynlee too. While at camp she learned not only how to ride, but also about horse equipment and general info about the horses. Like I said she was a bit young for the camp (even though they allow 5 year olds) but one day she came home so excited that she got to take the horses' temperature she said "mommy I even got to stick the thermometer in its booty!" She can be so disturbing sometimes. One day they rode the horses in the water, and while I think she thought that was the coolest thing when we got her home and found TWO ticks on her she quickly began to DISlike the whole situation! Then after doing her laundry from that day I noticed tons of seed ticks on her socks and her shirt. I did not count them all but there had to be over 60 ticks on her clothing. DIS-GUSTING!!! And while she wasnt a fan of the long hot days, I wasnt a fan of the dirtiness! But we all made it through the week. Oh and on top of the "horse" stuff they did and the educational part of the camp they also threw in some crafts. One day they decorated horseshoes to bring home, one day they cut out pictures from magazines and made a wish list of horse things, one day they tye dyed shirts, and I cant remember what they did the other days.

The final day the parents were asked to come early to watch them "perform". My parents wanted to join us so Kaylee had a pretty big crowd. Before the riding began the campers showed us a dance they learned during their "down" time. You can tell where she got her dancing skills.....from her parents! (neither of us like to dance!) And you can also tell how incredibly exhausted she is! But it sure is funny!

Here she is riding her horse. The camp leaders told me that Kaylee always chose to ride the biggest horse they offered her. That didnt surprise me! Oh and she also learned how to trot at camp, which she was totally proud of. They gave the kids the option to show off their skills to the parents and Kaylee chose NOT to show her steering skills. This totally bummed me out. The counsellors said that she could in fact do the skill which made me a little happy, but sad she wouldnt show us. :(

As of right now I do NOT forsee horses in our future......THANK GOD!!!

Dug Deep and Working Out

I have been meaning to write on here for quite some time now. It has been over a month since my last post and OH so much has happened around here. But every time I felt like I could get around to writing, something always came up. And then once it got to a certain point i had dug myself into such a hole that I didnt know where to start.

I use this blog primarily for ME as a way to remember and document the things that happen in our lives. The good, the bad and the ugly. I like that it also is a place that others can read/comment on the crazy things I have to say, but that is not why I am writing this blog. So back to my point, I am going to try and catch up on the past 5-6 weeks or so and then work hard not to get myself behind again.

About 2 months ago I bought a groupon for 6 weeks of CrossFit classes. I was so eager to start and excited for finally getting to do something I wanted to do (sans kids). Dont get me wrong I get to do things I want to do but this was something that I have been dreaming about for years now. I have neglected my body since having kids. I have made half-hearted attempts to "workout" but none of them led to any results. Insert groupon

So the 1st class I attended I was nearly shaking I was so nervous. Would I be able to keep up? Would i fall out and die? ok maybe not DIE but I was scared I would injure myself or end up in the hospital  Would I make a complete fool of myself? That 1st class was ROUGH, but aren't they supposed to be? It felt so good! i couldnt walk for a couple days afterwards and it hurt to sit down but it was just what I needed! I continued on and attended ALL 12 (3 classes a week for 4 weeks) classes without missing a single one. I was pretty proud of myself for that. But what I was more proud of was the changes that I was making with my body. It made me look completely different. I had many people point this out to me before I actually saw the changes myself. My clothes were getting looser and looser. I was sleeping better at night. I had more energy. I looked forward to working out. I was LOVING it! After the 4 weeks of classes I still had 2 weeks of "unlimited" classes. Sadly I was only able to make it to 5 classes in those 2 weeks. And now this is my first week NOT working out. And I am saddened. I cannot/will not pay the price of a membership to this particular gym. But more importantly it is a small gym therefore there is no childcare, which is a major reason why I cant afford to join. I would have to find someone to keep my heathens and it just isnt feasible right now. Sooooo instead I have decided that I am going to attempt the workouts on my own at home. I know that this route is not the "best" but I am going to try and make it work. I will miss my friends at the gym, I will miss my trainer, and most of all I will miss the motivation that the other guys and girls provided. In order to keep up my workouts at home I am going to make a small investment towards the equipment needed; some of it I will make and others I am going to buy. I am excited about this new adventure. I am excited that I can do this at home on my time and not have to drive an hour (round trip) to the gym, and I am excited that I can get the girls involved. I want them to grow up with a passion to live healthy lives, I want them to eat right and I feel like the best way for me to instill this in them is to lead by example. And secretly I am hoping to get Marcus involved too!

When you hear about CrossFit training you most likely will hear about a diet that goes along with it. I really dont like the word "diet".  For me, I like to say "way of eating". Maybe it is the same thing, but to me the word diet has taken on a negative connotation. The way of eating that is encouraged in the CrossFit community is called Paleo. I tried super duper hard to stick to this while CrossFitting. I did have some cheats, but overall I'd say i did a good job. I have continued to eat better even after my classes ended.

So if you want something that will make you look better and FEEL better and overall live a better life.......try CrossFit! Oh and what I love most about CrossFit is..... I wasnt just running on a treadmill or riding on an elliptical the entire time. I was engaging in purposeful movements, things that will aid me in my everyday life.


Here are some of our favorite recipes....

Kale Chips The girls couldnt shove these in fast enough

Steak Ive made this twice now and it is a HUGE hit!

Peach Crisp I made this 3 times with some of the 25lbs of peaches I got from the bulk co-op (more on that later) I joined. It is divine!

Pad See Ew I made this last night for dinner. It was my most favorite meal at this Thai restaurant we used to eat at. The last time I ordered it, I ended up in bed for like 3 days because of the gluten content. Needless to say, this version does NOT contain gluten!

Pork Chops Im not a big pork fan, but this was pretty good

Mashed Cauliflower (I loved this, but the girls wouldnt touch it, in fact it nearly made them gag. But then again they dont really like mashed potatoes either)

Dates watch out! these suckers are ADDICTIVE!!! YUMM-O!

we love making homemade lara bars too. Our recent favorite is dark chocolate macadamia nut!

and of course we make smoothies almost everyday too which is a fantastic way to get in more veggies and fruits and healthy fats

Here's to living a healthier, happier life!

and not abandoning my blog for weeks months at a time

Brynlee Growing - 4 & 5 months

We have started eating the props. There's not much that doesnt end up in her mouth. please excuse the double negative I hate it when people use them.....sorry Nicole

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And now we are 5 F-I-V-E 5 whole months old!

And just as happy as ever

especially when something is in the mouth!

The monkey is her friend......for now

I am loving 5 months! She is so much more portable than the big girls at 5 months. The biggest difference is that she doesnt mind her car seat. By this age BOTH big girls had moved out of the infant seat, in an effort to get them to "like" the car! Brynlee does fairly well in the car and that makes me happy considering how much time we spend in it. Some days her hair seems super curly and others it is so straight, I am still putting my money on curls for her though! She loves her bath, and would stay in it for hours if I let her.....I cant wait to get her in the pool and see what she thinks. She still isnt sleeping near as well as the big girls did at her age, but I probably shouldnt complain, because it could always be worse! She started solids, when I say started i really mean we tried them for a few days but she stopped poo'ing so we stopped the solids. She is good with her diet breastmilk for now. She has rolled over a few times, still isnt too fond of her belly, sleeps on her side (arms swaddled, darn you startle reflex!), seems super ridiculously interested in my cup when I drink. Is most happy in my arms, but will go to just about anyone. She will watch her sisters for hours and be completely happy. She doesnt nap consistently (my fault) but when we are home she likes a super long afternoon nap which is quite nice. Overall I couldnt ask for a better baby. We love her to pieces! I cant believe she is on her way to being 1/2 a year!

Our birdhouse

I think I told you guys a few months ago my dad gave the girls a birdhouse he made with the children at Madonna Learning Center. Well I never got around to doing any lessons on birds like I wanted to, but they have gotten some lessons the ol' fashion way.......by experience!

Here is Ainslee checking out the eggs for the 1st time!

 Kaylee shows her emotions way different, but she was so excited. She was trying to wrap her brain around what she was looking at.

Here are the 3 tiny blue eggs. It was really hard to get a picture through the plexiglass

I know you can hardly tell, but there are 2 little birds in there

This shot seems to be a bit better. Im not quite sure why 2 of the eggs have hatched and the 3rd has not. I hope that baby bird is going to make it into the world safe and sound.

This one is ready to eat

This video reminds me of Brynlee (and the big girls too) when they are itty bitty newborns and they are trying to nurse. They look like blind little baby birds trying to find food from their mommy. It is so neat to witness this perfect slice of nature.

Zoo

I enrolled Kaylee in a homeschool class at the zoo a few weeks ago. She was more than ecstatic about this, and I was thrilled that she had a great time. Too bad I didnt get any pictures of her spider monkey she made, or her behavior chart, or even her on this day........but here are the shots I did get.

This is the first time since last year we've been able to ride the rides. Ainslee was SOOO excited about riding the train! And NO I'm not pregnant again! That's Brynlee in the sleepy wrap

Amma came with us too

We have to ride the cow, she nearly fell off this time

stopping to smell the flowers.......man I love this little girl!

over Spring Break when Johhny was home we went to the zoo. He and his girlfriend joined us.

Here they are on the bridge

It was so cute watching them walk and talk

This video was taken a little too late. Ainslee had been walking over the grates all day. She insisted on holding someones hand, and she was VERY cautious when standing on the grate. Each time she would walk ever so delicately and then jump off at the end. I tried to get it on video, but this time happened to be the time she wasnt as exaggerated, but it was still cute.......to me at least!

Kaylee's New Room

We I finally moved Kaylee up into her new room!
I removed all the office "stuff", and cleaned it out
I paint it
repaired parts of the wall thanks dad
I drug the bed rails out from the back of the tiny attic crawl space and set them up just to realize they dont go down to a full size. So i asked my mom if we could trade rails. She had a set just collecting dust in her attic.
I set up the new rails
Put the foundation together, its my old select comfort bed, so it is a solid foundation made of plastic, not a box spring
I fixed the zipper on the cover of the mattress, which included ripping it apart and resewing it, after watching a YouTube video......YouTube is awesome for stuff like that!
put the mattress together and inflated it
washed all her linens
hung the curtains my mom made for her
and am almost finished with her desk....so far i have painted 3 coats of white on the desk, and 3 coats of purple on the drawers, my mom has decorated it ever so awesomely with a quote and some flowers.........see pics below, I have put 3 coats of shellac on it to seal/protect it. And when doing a 4th and final coat on the top surface I accidentally grabbed the wrong paint brush and ruined it! UGH! Now there are little specs in the top coat of shellac because of lint/dust/paint residue from the darn paint brush! Oh well it is definitely a one of a kind piece, and I know Kaylee will just adore it!

Here she is coming into her room for the first time when I told her she was going to sleep in it.

She was so excited. Even though she has no furniture**, the desk isnt completed, and there are no decorations are not on the wall, she LOVED it anyways!

She walked around looking at everything. This is her beloved "fishy light" Amma gave her for her birthday. It is a source of power when it comes to naps and bedtime. If she doesnt do as she is told she gets her fishy light turned off. Which is a huge deal to her!

Climbing into bed for her first nights sleep

All tucked in

The first night went surprisingly well. The second night not so much......

 

This was the end of a nearly 2 hour fit she threw. i didnt catch the good stuff on camera. Since this night she has slept much better in her new room, but man that fit was C.R.A.Z.Y!!!

Now if Ainslee's bed would just arrive and then I can get her moved into her room and Brynlee in her crib. Brynlee is now spending her nights and naps in the bassinet in Kaylee's old room. We have gone 2 nights now with her out of my room. I have to ask, why are transitions always harder on the parents than the child? Part of me wants her back next to me, and part of me is thrilled to pieces that I have my room back. She is growing SO fast, but anyone with children knows thats the way the cookie crumbles!

notice the highlights on the word Imagination

**Kaylee is getting my grandmother's furniture. It is still at the furniture repairman getting a make over. More on that in another post.