Tuesday Twelve

I know I haven't had much to say lately, not sure where my time is going.
I cant believe it is AUGUST already! Here is a little bit of what is going on in our little world.....

1. We just booked our tickets to Boston in November. We are going to be up there twice in less than 2 months. And I was so proud of myself when I found our cheap cheap tickets, all 4 of us are flying for $428 (granted that is really only 3 tickets, cause Ainslee will be sitting on our lap). But we are SO excited! Auntie Crista only 5 1/2 more weeks until you meet Ainslee.
2. Ainslee can now play peek-a-boo. I haven't been successful at getting it on video yet, but will do that soon. And she is getting better at sitting up, just a few more weeks and she will be sitting by herself.
3. The paperwork for Kaylee's MDO program arrived in the mail today. Now we have our school supply list just in time for "tax-free weekend". YAY!!! OMG I cant believe she is going to be starting school in a month. But it isn't REAL school, I'm not ready for that yet, but I am ready for my 5 hour break 2 days a week.
4. Ainslee has added mango, blueberries, apricots, and 3 little bites of lamb to her diet. Can't decide what I want to try next.
5. We are scheduled to visit my friend in Springfield, MO next weekend. She is all done with her chemo and radiation and is CANCER FREE! So we are going to have a blast celebrating. And with 6 kids under the age of 11, I'm sure there will never be a dull moment.
6. Ainslee is still pooping and peeing on the potty like a champ. So far she has gone at least once everyday since starting the EC. (I'll spare everyone the pictures that prove it)
7. We have had play dates left and right, but still have many more friends to get together with over the next couple of weeks, if only naps and bed time didn't get in the way of all the fun.
8. I am busy trying out my new laundry purchase. More details will come soon, and NO..... unfortunately I am not talking about new front loaders, I am still using the same ol' water hogging-damage your clothes-non energy efficient washer AND dryer.
9. My baby is about to be 6 months old, and I feel like she was born yesterday!
10. We hung the swing in the frame my dad and brother built last week. I have to say Kaylee would LIVE in it if I let her. (see pictures on tomorrow's post)
11. Kaylee is spending tomorrow night with Auntie Ceire, YAY!!! I get to sleep in. Ainslee please please please, I am begging you to cooperate!
12. I am already ready for a break from this heat! We step outside and it is instant sweat and so uncomfortable, but we are in for many many more days, we just might have to take up some of our friends on their pool offers.
    

Sick Day

I need a sick day really really bad! Oh how I wish I had those built into my "mommy contract!" I would not abuse them, I just need to rest to try and get rid of this migraine I've had for 14 hours. So unofficially I AM going to take my sick day. I started off by relaxing in the bed while nursing Ainslee, putting her back to sleep for her morning nap, then having a beautiful breakfast with Kaylee (GF biscuits, eggs, nectarines, and blackberries), sweeping/ vacuuming the downstairs, giving Kaylee a 1 hour bath, and having Kaylee tell me "mommy I be naked out there." Lately she has decided that her birthday suit is her favorite outift.

What else can I accomplish on my sick day? Or maybe my official sick day will begin when Marcus wakes up, I'm counting down the minutes.

Wordless Wednesday

I decided my wordless Wednesday posts can include videos (even though technically they aren't "wordless")

Shopping with daddy is so much fun!

Her new "friends" at the mall. She didnt want to leave them

I couldn't decide which video to post so I posted both

I'm in Heaven!

Well for many reasons I have had such a FABULOUS day!

First of all Kaylee spent the night out......don't take that the wrong way, I love love LOVE my daughter, but time away is always nice. And because of that time away I was able to SLEEP IN!!! That is ALWAYS a good thing! So thanks so much Ceire for the opportunity to get some much needed rest!

Secondly, I decided to start EC with Ainslee earlier than I did with Kaylee. I put her on the potty one day last week when I knew that she had to poo, but I was a little too late. She went in her diaper, but i thought "what the heck" and I put her on the potty anyways. She didn't do anything, just sorta looked around like "why am I sitting here?" This time was sorta the same situation, I knew that she had to go, so I quickly took her diaper off, she had already gone in the diaper. But I decided that I am going to put her on the potty after every diaper change (when it is convenient, like at home and stuff, not out in public or anything). And AMAZINGLY enough at 5 1/2 months she peed immediately, and about a minute later she finished pooing. I was so happy and screaming and praising her. She was smiling, laughing, and kicking her FAT little legs! I don't think she knew what she did but she knew that it was good! Maybe I can have her out of diapers ever earlier than Kaylee was. Wouldn't that be a treat?!

Thirdly, Ainslee took a 3 hour nap today!

Lastly, I tried my new GF bread from the bakery in St. Louis. My parents went up there last week and were nice enough to go out of their way to pick me up a few things from Andrea's Bakery. Let me just tell you that bread was DIVINE! I honestly felt "normal" again! It was so good that I had to use A LOT of self control to keep myself from eating the whole loaf! I can not even begin to explain how good this bread was! Let me just say next trip to St. Louis is going to include about 36 loaves of this bread. Or how ever many will fit in the car!

Life is so GOOD!!!

WHY?

And so it begins........

"why mommy why"

Until now Kaylee has not asked the question "why." She has not discovered the meaning of why. People (aka uncle john and daddy) always ask Kaylee why she did something and she looks at them like they are speaking chinese and she says "uh-huh." I tell them that she doesnt know what that word means yet. But now I think she is one step closer to learning the meaning of the word, well at least how to correctly use it. And this mommy ain't to happy about it! I dont know if i will be able to handle the "why this" "why that" and "but mommy WHYYYYY" five hundred thousand times a day! And the reason why I KNOW that it will be five hundred thousand times every single day is because I remember asking "why" five hundred thousand times a day. Please please help me keep my sanity when it comes to that question.

On another note-
I've been pretty bummed lately......as most of you know I am a HUGE believer in breastfeeding. It is all around the best thing for momma and baby. I wont get in to all the benefits of nursing but I will say that I am a huge fan! With all that said it is pretty heartbreaking to a momma like myself when she is no longer able to provide for her child (and by provide i totally mean food-wise). I remember when Kaylee starting eating solids, I was SUPER excited to start a new chapter in her life and then i sat back and thought about it and I was sorta sad that I was not her primary means of nourishment anymore, and it was just one more reminder that she was growing up. And now with Ainslee, starting solids a good 2 months before her big sis, I am forced to realize the truth of her growing up much sooner than I would have liked. I started Ainslee sooner because I just felt like she was still hungry, now we are up to eating 2 meals of solids a day instead of 1. And now I cant figure out which came first the chicken or the egg! The chicken being me making enough milk for ainslee and the egg being me feeding her solids. OKAY that sounds really confusing, but did my "milk man" (as my friend Katie calls it) go away before the solids were introduced, which is why I started her. Or did it go away because I was not nursing her as often, therefore my "milk man" tries to adjust to the new schedule?

As dedicated as I am to nursing my children for the entire first year of their life, it has proven to be one of the most difficult things I have EVER tried to accomplish. For me it basically means that I am limited to only being away from her for no more than one bottle at a time, being pretty much the soul "putter to bedder", the soul "waker upper in the middle of the nighter", among many other sacrifices. But I am definietly willing to make those sacrifices for my children. I am not trying to complain about the responsibilty, I guess I am just venting, and asking WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY(here i go asking the quesiton I am begging my child NOT to ask) on top of all the other challenges that come with nursing do I have to deal with a LOW MILK SUPPLY??? I am hoping that all the things I am doing to prevent a complete breakdown of my supply start working, because if something doesnt happen fast, and I mean REAL fast, then this momma is going to spiral into some form of craziness that is going to be so sad for everyone around her that has to deal with her!

Ok sorry if you felt like I was screaming at you, i just had to get that off my chest, and I am sure that Marcus is incredibly greatful that i got it off my chest on here rather than on him!

side note: as much of an advocate of breastfeeding I am, I do believe that it is not for everyone. I do not think that women who dont nurse their children are bad mommas! Please dont take that the wrong way!

Wordless Wednesday

Through my blog surfing I have learned that many bloggers have daily themes throughout the week. One of the ones that I have really enjoyed is the "wordless wednesdays". This is the day of the week that bloggers just post pictures or videos, and not many words (if any). So today is my first shot at this, and I am going to see how I like it. This week I am posting the pictures my friend Bethany took of the girls when she came over the other day

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I took these

Uncle Rodney's Farm & Updates

We went down to Rodney's farm, or Uncle Rodney as Kaylee calls him, yesterday. When it was just Marcus and myself we would go down there nearly every weekend in the summer. But now we hardly ever go. In fact this is only Kaylee 3rd time to go. We got a really late start, as usual. But once we made it down there we were busy doing everything one does on the farm.
Check on the chickens in the chicken barn (not my favorite thing to do)
Wash our hands
Ride the mule (not the animal)
Check on the pregnant cow and others in the pasture
Wash our hands
Jump on the trampoline
Wash our hands
Go pick tomatoes for dinner
Wash our hands
Take the mule to check on the 2 gardens
Pitch the baseball to 2 5-year olds
Swing on the swing set
Wash our hands
Watch Angie make fresh salsa with all ingredients coming straight from their garden
Eat a fabulous meal
Too bad we didn't have time to stay and swim, we had to get the girls home for bed

We had a great time as always, but decided next time we have to get down there earlier to enjoy more of the day. I used to be more of a country girl but this trip proved that I have developed into a complete sissy when it comes to all things farm related.


Updates on other things.....
Ainslee is trying to crawl! YES I said crawl. She scoots around pulling with her hands and pushing with her toes, like a modified version of the army crawl. She even makes it up onto her knees so that she can sorta flop herself forward. I bet she is not too far from really crawling on all fours. Soon enough she will be chasing big sister around, then I think Kaylee will begin to develop a new opinion of her little sister. Time will tell.

(This is a very short video which barely shows what she is capable of, but honestly she is rolling and scooting all over the carpet in the living room and in her crib.)

I have started feeding Ainslee solids. So far she has tried rice (she didn't like it so much), avocado, broccoli, and banana. I am only giving her food once a day at this point. She seems to like the avocado and banana, I cant decide which foods I'm going to try next. It is weird to me feeding her mashed up food, because Kaylee never ate mashed baby food, she went straight to table food.

Ainslee is definitely going to be a blanket baby. She has been obsessed with anything fabric for the past 2 months or so. She will grab burp clothes, blankets, her clothes, basically anything she can get her hands on. She rubs her face with them, chews on them, and holds them while she sucks her thumb. I am in the process of trying to find some fabric to make her a couple of small blankets that are more portable than her big ones. That way we can make sure to have them for naps at grandma's house and in the car. I'll let you know what I come up with in that department.

Ainslee seems to think her new bedtime is 9 pm or later. Our little night owl better not think that she can get away with a late bedtime every night, I am hoping this is just a phase!

Kaylee is thoroughly enjoying all the veggies from Abba's garden. Her favorites are the cherry tomatoes, raw green beans, and raw zucchini. Also Abba has also made his first trip of the season to the blueberry farm, so she is working on her first gallon of fresh blueberries. Now whenever Kaylee is bored (or hungry) she says "Kaylee goin' to Abba's house. I go get some matos. I'll be right back." She grabs her purse and heads for the door.

hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and enjoyed the wonderful weather

Crackbook

I apologize for being on some sort of blogging sabatical lately. I have a couple posts floating around in my head but my husband convinced me to join Facebook and it is running my life at the moment. If it is not friend requests to accept, its peoples pictures to look at and comment on, or responding to messages, or writing on people's "wall".....MAN it is ADDICTIVE!!! Now I know why everyone calls it "crackbook"

I will try and get my time evened out between my blog and FB and if you read both my blog and FB then you might see a few things/ pictures twice. I am going to try and get more sleep tonight though, I stayed up WAAAY too late last night playing around on the computer. Now that I am at the point in motherhood where both children go to bed at a decent hour (AKA between 6 and 7) and sleep pretty much through the night (I hope I dont jinx myself by saying that) I should be enjoying lots and lots of peaceful sleep, but NNNOOOOOO I have these addictions to worry about. Thanks babe! I really appreciate you getting me hooked! It's exciting to find old friends!

Good Night Everyone! Sweet Dreams!

Kaylee's New Room

Finally! I have some pictures of Kaylee's new room!

Keep in mind there are still many things that need to be done in here before it is completely finished, but I am pretty happy I have gotten this much finished. She walked in for the first time and said "Awwww Kaylee LIKES my news zroom!" She was SO happy with it!

Oh and Kaylee posed herself for the first 2 pictures

Things to ignore in the pictures:

1. The crib! I am hoping to have her transitioned into the big bed sometime in the next couple of months
2. The "fake" pictures in the frames. I am in the process of deciding which of the millions of pictures I have that I want to put in each slot.
3. The picture of Mary. It will be replaced with a different picture as well

Things that still need to be done in there:

1. Chocolate circles on the accent wall
2. Night stand moved from Ainslee's room (i still need to find one to go in Ainslee's room, Katie maybe you have seen something nice at a thrift store that you can tell me about)
3. Another couple of frames on the wall
4. I need to find some sort of jewelry box or something

Cookies with Kaylee

Kaylee has a birthday party tomorrow, her little friend Riley is turning 2. And like all parties we go to I come prepared with our GF food, just in case. I figured I would bring some GF cookies for Kaylee because I wont let her eat the cake. Aunt Ceire told us about the new GF Betty Crocker baking mixes, so I thought I would give them a try.

Kaylee helped from the beginning to end. She opened the box, helped pour the ingredients, stirred them all up (with help of course), and, well I guess I did the rest

She asked if she could SMELL them, so I gave her permission. She decided to take her "smelling" a little further and lick the cookie dough. She couldn't help herself she was SO excited to try them

Kaylee watching as the cookies bake. Does the saying "a watched pot never boils" apply to this situation? A watched cookie never bakes? She waited SO patiently
"MOMMY the timer is beeping!!! THEY ARE READY!!!"
The finished product. i know they dont look to appealing to the non-GF people out there, but let me just tell you that they are DELICIOUS!!! The second and third batches looked much better.

I snapped this one as she tried her first one. I wasnt able to capture the dance that she did while eating the cookie. They definitely got her seal of approval.