Kylie Marie

Home.

2012-02-09T09:53:00.002-05:00

Oh, HI! How are you? Have you missed us? I am sure you have! (Kidding!)

We are finally back from our vacation.

We took a 2 week hiatus from life and vacationed the crap out of that time. We ate too much, drank too much, played in the sun, and even learned a few new dance moves.

The real world is so boring compared to vacation.

My sweet little piece of the internet has been completely neglected and I plan on catching it up very, very soon.

But today... one of my best friends is welcoming a little baby BOY into the world and I have a fresh newborn to snuggle.

Check back soon, I have lots to share!

Have a great day! (As great of a day as you can have while not on vacation.)

6 Months of Piper!

2012-01-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

FIrst of all... THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for all the Dustin is home love!!! We sincerely appreciated every comment, email, Facebook message, text, call... I am so sorry I never responded to a lot of them, but do know we enjoyed reading all of them!!! The support we received while he was gone, and since he has been back, has been phenomenal. You all are the BEST and I am sure I wouldn't have survived the last 4 months without it!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

The last few weeks have more flown by!! Dustin has already been home for almost 3 weeks and they have been every bit of fabulous!! Somehow in the midst of all this sweet family time, our littlest turned 6 (almost 7, now) months old! Our sweet little baby nugget is already 1/2 a year old!! How, how, HOW is that possible?!?! I sure hope the next 6 months don't go by as fast these last 6.

So... Little Miss Piper Hadley, how did we celebrate your first 1/2 year of life? We waited for Daddy to come home, but we celebrated your 1/2 birthday and a late Christmas at the same time.

We had a happy late birthday Jesus/Happy semi-annual birthday Piper Party!

You mostly sat in your Bumbo and chewed on the wrapping paper, but I could tell you had a really great time. It was good practice for the real thing in 6 more months.

So anyway... What are you up to now that you are a big 6 monther?

On January 25, 2012 (6 months and 3 weeks old) your stats are...

Weight: 15 pounds 14 ounces (40th percentile)

Height: 27 inches (80th percentile)

Head 42 centimeters (I forget the percentile, but I remember it was about average)

I am not sure how you got so tall. You grew over 2 inches since your 5 month appointment! We keep saying you will be bigger than your sister before your 1st birthday!

You wear mostly size 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

You still sleep really well. (Most nights.) You usually go to bed at about 8:00 and wake up again around 7:30-8am. You take 2 good naps during the day for about 2-3 hours each.

You have gotten better about the separation anxiety. You still really like for me to be close by, but you are starting to be ok with other people holding you.

You have a tooth!! You got your first little chomper on the bottom on January 23! (You were 6 months and 2 weeks old!) I am SO glad it finally came through because it was causing a lot of trouble in there. The drool coming out of your mouth was unbelievable!

You LOVE the exersaucer. (AKA The Circle of Neglect.) You don't get to hang out in there too often but when you see it, your chubby little legs start kicking and you get so excited.

Right before you turned 6 months old, you started eating rice cereal. You really, really hated it at first but now you woof it down. You also like carrots and sweet potatoes. You hated carrots at first but have since come around. You LOVE sweet potatoes and ate the entire jar in the first sitting. I have a feeling you are going to be my good eater.

You are obsessed with Kylie and crack up at everything she does. I know for sure I am in trouble with you two as you get older!

You are officially a sitter! You sat on your own for the first time the day after daddy got home. (January 9th, 6 months and 2 days old) Since then, you are sitting all over the place. You get distracted really easily and tip over but you are starting to sit for longer and longer without falling! You have even become a restaurant high chair baby. You have sat in high chairs (and eaten cereal and baby food) in restaurants a few times now. Your next adventure will be to sit in the shopping cart! Sitting is so fun!!

Bath time is your favorite. I think now that you can sit up, I might upgrade you to the ducky bath soon!!

You do really well at tummy time and twist and roll all around your play mat.

You are getting very handsy. You grab and pull at everything!!

You are still SO SO SO happy!! I hope I am not jinxing myself (or you) but you really are SO content and happy most of the time. Sure, you have your moments, but the majority of the time, you are just a happy little baby nugget. I am really hoping all this being good doesn't come back to backfire on me when you become a teenager.

But more importantly, HOW was this you only 6 months ago??

You are lucky that 6 months is my VERY FAVORITE baby stage or I would be really, really sad right now!!!

Happy 1/2 year baby girl!! Let's slow down and let the next 1/2 year not fly by as fast, ok?

Love you so very much Miss Piper Hadley!!

Dustin's Homecoming: Part 2.

2012-01-16T16:15:00.001-05:00

After 4 1/2 months, an anniversary, a birthday, all the holidays, hundreds of phone calls and emails, our little family was finally reunited...

And it was even sweeter than I could have ever imagined.

First kiss in 4 months.

Our family together again!

August 2011 on Dustin's deployment day.

January 2012 on Dustin's Homecoming Day.

(These smiles are much more genuine.) (And my face is much, much less swollen.)

Daddy brought some special friends home with him for the girls. They have a long, exciting story, which I hope to share soon.

This little girl was SO happy to see her daddy!

This daddy was even more excited to see his girls.

Piper was happy to see daddy too, but she mostly just wanted to chew on the new friends.

This night was perfect.

It was filled with so much emotion. So much happiness. So much love.

Everyone says the first deployment is the hardest. I don't know how it will get any easier, but at least now I know how beautiful the homecoming is.

I have my husband. The girls have their daddy. Our family is back together.

Life is good again.

Dustin's Homecoming: Part 1

2012-01-15T22:21:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, my prayers for the last 4 months were answered... Dustin came home SAFE!!! It had been a very LONG 4 months for all of us and his homecoming was HIGHLY anticipated.

As I drove away from the base as he was leaving for this deployment back in August, I began thinking about this homecoming. It definitely lived up to my expectations...

I have to split it up into 2 parts because I have a lot of pictures and a lot of story to tell. A very sweet friend offered to come take pictures for me and I couldn't be more thankful for them.

So here is the story...

After a few delays, we headed over to the base about 2 hours past the girls bed time. Piper had already eaten dinner, taken a bath, had her bottle, and slept for over an hour before we left. (Which is why she is wearing her jammies.) (No, a hair bow isn't normal bedtime attire but she couldn't see Daddy for the first time in 4 months without a bow. Obvi.)

Kylie was way too excited to even think about bed, so she wore her regular clothes. She also packed her purse with a Thomas train and 2 pictures she colored while I was putting Piper to bed to show daddy. She held on to that purse and the welcome home signs the entire night!

She was SOOOO excited!!

Walking into the unit.

We began our wait inside the unit. We got to hold the generic Welcome Home Sign. I love that sign.

We had been at the unit for less than 10 minutes before Kylie started to lose it trying to look for daddy. I was trying to explain that he was going to come on an airplane blah blah blah, but she wasn't getting it. The wait was excruciating.

We hear the plane coming so we head outside.

We watch the plane land.

And get SO SO SO EXCITED!!!

It is kind of hard to see but that is the plane behind us. Piper was very interested.

My girl.

My deployment bff. We sent a lot of "are you going as crazy as I am?" texts.

After watching the plane land and waiting for over and HOUR for them to get off and on to the bus, we FINALLY see them headed our way.

Yay!! Running over to the bus...

Ok here is where the story gets funny...

Everyone ran over to where the bus pulled in and the guys started to get off. I don't see Dustin right away but there are a lot of people so I am not too worried.

I watch a lot of people exit the bus and most of the guys were off at this point, people are hugging all around me... And, I still don't see Dustin.

Keep in mind, it was really dark out and everyone is dressed in their uniforms and carrying huge backpacks... but I STILL don't see him. Cue panic.

Now... Everyone is off the bus. All the sweet families have been reunited. We are still standing there, Dustin NO WHERE in sight. Kylie starts crying. I start sweating. OMG WHERE IS DUSTIN???

My friend notices my panic and tells me that she saw him walk by and he was inside the unit. She takes off yelling and sends him back outside. After walking RIGHT PAST US and NEITHER of us noticing, he walks out of the unit. After 4 months, and a few extra minutes too long...

We FINALLY see him!!!

Part 2 coming tomorrow... :)

Snipits of Home.

2012-01-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

Dustin has been home for less than a week and it already feels like he never left. We have slipped back into our family routine and it just feels... right.

Our making up for over 4 months away vacation is so close I can feel it, but for now... Normal life. At home. Together. It is just what I have been craving.

And, apparently, I wasn't the only one.

(This was about 5 minutes after Dustin got home for the first time on Sunday night. Fresh off deployment, straight to the princess table for some late night coloring.)

I love my family.

I will be back very soon with all the pictures and stories from the homecoming but until then... I am enjoying these snipits of home.

He is HOME!!!

2012-01-09T12:04:00.005-05:00

And, we are all SOOOOOO happy!!!!

Lots of pics and a really sweet story coming soon!!

But for now... We have 4 months of life to catch up on!

HE IS HOME!!!!!

3 Years Ago Today.

2012-01-06T23:05:00.000-05:00

3 years ago today...

Kylie took her first breath of air outside the walls of the neonatal intensive care unit...

3 years ago today...

Kylie Marie came HOME!!!!

I dreamed of that day for almost 10 weeks during her stay in the hospital. I remember when I called first thing that morning to check on her, the nurse told me to make sure her nursery was ready because she was holding the discharge papers. I about passed out with excitement. I threw on some clothes and flew down to the hospital. I remember I was shaking with excitement when the doctor was going over her discharge instructions.

On that wonderful day, if you would have told me how extremely difficult that sweet little 5 pound baby would be when she turned 3 years old, I would have NEVER believed you. There was no way that tiny little peanut of a baby could ever be anything but perfect and sweet.

I hate to admit it but... I was wrong. Big time. These last few days with Kylie have been more than ROUGH. I know it is very normal for a 3 year old to be a little hard headed but... OMG!!! She has tested my patience and pushed her limits in more ways than I could possibly count. I know a lot of factors are contributing to her difficultness right now, but I was about to need some mental help because I was losing my freakin mind.

So... I cracked down. Hard. For the last week (well, since Monday), Kylie has been in Remember-How-To-Not-Be-A-Lunatic-Child Bootcamp. The RHTNBALC Bootcamp consisted of a strict eating/sleeping schedule, healthy meals and snacks, and re-implementing the mama, not Kylie, is in charge rule. After 4 very, terribly, extremely rough days, (I think she spent the majority of the day on Wednesday in various forms of timeout) I am happy to report that we have finally made progress. I think I have my sweet Kylie back!! She was AWESOME all day today!! She said "yes ma'am" when I asked her to do something, took a nap, went potty WITHOUT me telling her to, cleaned up her toys, ate her meals (without bribing), and went to bed sans stalling tactics or major incident. I kept telling her how happy and proud of her I was so I am hoping, praying that we have made some progress. I know 3 year olds are rough and go through difficult patches, but the behavior she displayed this week is NOT acceptable, 3 years old or not. Same sweet 5 pound baby, or not.

I will always see her as that tiny baby and love her so much it hurts... sometimes she just drives me completely insane!

Happy 3 years at home my love!

Let's be done with the 3 year old attitude now, ok?

Cereal Update

2012-01-05T21:57:00.003-05:00

Piper's relationship with rice cereal has quickly become serious.

Tonight she finished the WHOLE bowl.

Okay, it was only about 2 tablespoons of cereal... but still!

I made it a little thicker than I had the first few times, and I guess that made all the difference. She smacked her lips for more after each bite.

Guess I need to break out the Magic Bullet and start making some 1st purees.

Piper is officially a "solids" eater! (Tear.)

Piper's 1st Cereal

2012-01-03T10:09:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2012 Miss Piper Hadley got her fist taste of rice cereal!!

I have been waiting for her to turn 6 months old before we started cereal. She will be 6 months this week (OMG!!!!) and she has been acting like a hungry little monkey lately.

She has been taking every drop of all 5 of her 8 ounce bottles. So I decided that between her late afternoon bottle and her before bed bottle, cereal would fit perfectly. She has always been a good eater so I was sure she would woof it right down.

So how did she like it? You decided...

I am happy to repot that we did cereal again last night and it went over a lot better. She actually swallowed a few bites and never gagged once. Yay!!

Kylie mentioned that Piper might prefer ice cream instead of that "really yucky oatmeal".... Maybe I'll try that next.

Happy Tuesday!

2011- Seasons of Love, again.

2011-12-31T18:00:00.000-05:00

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred moments so dear... Without question.

2011 has definitely been the season of love in our house.

How did we measure this year?

In daylights,

In sunsets,

In midnights,

In cups of coffee...

Considering we added a sweet new baby to our family... yes, yes, yes, and YES!

I am not sure what it is about the end of a year that makes me sing this song nonstop. (Maybe I am just dreaming of a romantic trip to New York City where Dustin takes me to a fancy dinner then we go over to Broadway see Rent. Together...) Anyway... I was belting it out today while I was mopping my kitchen and I couldn't believe how this song narrated our year so perfectly.

So... How did we measure our year?
(I feel like I was JUST measuring 2010. Do you remember that?? :)

January.

We moved into our new house. Dustin started his new job. We began to get settled into life as Georgians.

February.

We found out Piper was a Piper. Kylie started gymnastics at the YMCA. We celebrated Valentine's Day.

March.

We went on Spring Break. Kylie got her 1st haircut. We supported the Ta-tas again. Dustin and I went on a Babymoon Staycation.

April.

Kylie and I rode out the storm of the century in my closet. Potty training didn't go so well. I hit uncharted territory. We had the most fun Easter EVER!

May.

Kylie got Big Sister Certified. I entered my 30's. Kylie and I went on a "special date."

June.

We went strawberry picking with the family. I got really, really pregnant. I got all emotional about making Kylie a big sister. We had a lot of visitors. Father's Day was perfect.

July.
(July was BIG)

Piper had a birthday! We enjoyed a lot of time with family. I spent my first 24 hours by myself with 2 kids, and survived. Dustin turned 27.

August.

Piper celebrated 1 month of life. We went on a fabulous, spontaneous week long vacation with a 2 year old and a 1 month old. Then, we had a tough week.

September.

I started doing better with everything. We talked to daddy. We went to Kylie's NICU Reunion. I wrote a lot of random posts. Dustin and I celebrated our anniversary.

October.

We went to a pumpkin patch. Kylie and I began a tradition of the mommy-daughter birthday date. Kylie Marie turned 3! We celebrated Halloween with Minnie Mouse and a Sushi Roll.

November.

Piper started rolling. We joined 2011 World Prematurity Day. Enjoyed the perfect day at the beach. Celebrated Thanksgiving.

December.

Piper turned 5 months old. We saw Santa. Christmas was almost ruined, but everything turned out great!

2011 measures out to be quite the busy year. It was definitely the "year of the baby" for me. I was either pregnant, recovering from being pregnant, or stumbling through the newborn haze most of the year. Dustin spent a good portion of the year on the other side of the world. Our girls were toted along back and forth from Georgia to Florida more times than I can count. It was definitely a year I will never forget. I am thankful for the gift of our sweet baby girl this year, along with the health, and safety, of our family. It was a good year, but I am ready to move on to 2012, get my whole family back together, and settle down into a more normal life routine.

My goal for this year is to slow down more. With Dustin being gone, and being the sole caretaker of two babies, I have spent a lot of the year in the red zone, very stressed out. I am going to make a conscious effort to slow down. Enjoy my children. Enjoy my family. Just enjoy life. Leave the dishes, forget the laundry, and just be present with my girls. All the stuff can wait, my babies can't.

So as 2011 comes to an end, I wish you a very wonderful New Year and, at least, five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred moments so dear.

Happy 2012 my bloggy friends, cheers!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T22:32:00.003-05:00

Our Christmas was lovely. I was really worried I would be a mess on Christmas without Dustin, but I think the whole car situation, helped distract me. I was so nice to be at my parents house and carry on the same traditions from my childhood.

I have hundreds of pictures form our "old fashioned family Christmas" so I will just let a few of them tell the story...

The girls after church in their Christmas dresses.

This may be my new favorite picture sequence ever...

We had some good luck with pictures in front of the tree this year.

Little does Kylie know the anguish I was going through about her car at this point.

Love. Love. Love.

The three best friends that any one could have.

My favorite little Christmas present. I could not ask for any more! (Except maybe a Keurig...)

The happy Grandparents with their favorite girls!

Kylie got a camera from Kailyn for Christmas. She was obsessed with it. She kept wanting me to take a picture of her taking a picture of me. She made this face every time. She closed her eyes and put the camera up to her face and said cheese. She's hilarious.

Christmas Eve at my parents house is ALL about tradition. We go to church at 6:00. Then we come directly home for dinner. Every Christmas Eve, for my entire life, my dad has made the exact same dinner: "Christmas duck," wild rice, and garlic breadsticks. I normally would scoff at duck, but on Christmas Eve, I couldn't imagine eating anything different. Kylie actually ate her whole plate of duck and rice and about 4 breadsticks. It was delicious!

Then my dad reads Twas The Night Before Christmas.

Kylie hung on every word...

Kind of like she did on her first Christmas Eve when she was about 2 months old and still in the NICU. How sweet!

Then we all go for a walk and try to spot Santa's sleigh. My parents got Kylie a wagon and gave it to her before the walk. My friend, Riesling, told me to get in the wagon and go for a ride too. We all had a blast.

I love this picture. I am not positive what that white dot is, but I am about 99% sure it is Santa.

We came back inside and put Kylie to bed and that's when things got crazy with the whole car situation. We put together the rest of the presents and got everything set up while we waited on my neighbor to get home.

Piper's haul. We just went low key with her this year. She got this ball popper, a new Sophie giraffe teether, and some other little necessities.

Kylie, obviously, got her CAR!! And a few other random toys and clothes.

Our stockings. I had to get a picture of our 4 stockings even though Dustin wasn't there to actually receive his goodies. (Santa did bring him a few surprises though :) Piper used the pink Baby's 1st Christmas stocking this year.

So Christmas morning went a little like this... After being up until 3 getting everything put together, I was NOT about to wake anyone up at the crack of dawn to do presents. I decided to just let everyone sleep and get up whenever. Piper got up at 8 and I fed her then woke Kylie up at 9. She was soooooooo sleepy. (She was up much later than normal too) When I first went in to get her, I told her Santa had been there, and she didn't want to come out of her bed. I think she thought I meant she had to sit on his lap again or something. She changed her tune quickly when I said Santa was gone, but he left presents.

When we came down stairs and she saw everything, I was expecting her to FLIP out when she laid eyes on her car. Well, not quite. She saw the car and was, kind of like, nonchalant about it. She was excited but I think she was more overwhelmed than anything else. There was a LOT happening 2 minutes after waking up. I don't think she was shocked about it either. She knew she had gotten her request into Santa and he was obviously going to bring it to her. No big deal. She checked it out and moved on to her other presents pretty quickly. Huh. Oh well... She had fun opening her presents. (And has since embraced her car. She even told me "I love love love my quiet car!!" Totally worth it!)

I didn't get many (or any, really) pictures of the present opening. Once she got going she was all over the place. Opening presents, eating food, getting in and out of her car... She was hard to keep track of.

Piper kept Grandma under control.

Uncle Pat was excited to break out his new tooth brush.

Dustin sent my Dad a flag from one of this missions. That was a big hit.

After we opened the presents, Kylie fell back asleep for... 4.5 hours. She was sooooooooo exhausted! It was a lot to take in and it really wore her out. After she finally woke up, we headed over to Dustin's aunt's house for dinner and more presents. I LOVED getting to see both sides of the family, plus let Kylie take a 4.5 hour nap, on Christmas Day! I somehow managed to not take any pictures over there though. How did I let that happen? Probably because I had less sleep the whole night before than Kylie did in her nap that day.

So... All in all, Christmas was fabulous! I am SO thankful that we were able to be with family! We had a great day, but more importantly, was had a fantastic holiday season. I love that we celebrate Christmas more than just ON Christmas. (We celebrate Jesus every Sunday!) We have been celebrating all things Christmas since Thanksgiving and it has been wonderful!

Hope you had a great season as well!

Oh PS I got my Keurig! (Thanks Ma!!) My life is forever changed.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

The Coupe

2011-12-30T00:25:00.002-05:00

This story is quite lengthy but it needed to be documented for when Kylie turns 16 and wants a new car and I tell her NO...

Ok, so you remember The Car?

Kylie has been talking about that car for months. MONTHS!! I looked around for the pink car in the stores, but I never found one. I found lots of the original, red cars but never the very requested "pink quiet car." So, I called upon my good friends at Amazon. For $10 cheaper than Toys R Us, the Princess Cozy Coupe was being shipped right to my door step. Perfect.

On the day I figured it would be coming, I was on high alert for the UPS man. I was worried that since it was already packaged in a strong cardboard box, they wouldn't put it in another brown box, and a picture of the car would be visible. We had to go out for a few errands and when I drove down our street on our way home, I spotted Santa, I mean the UPS man, a few houses down. I squealed into the driveway and pulled Kylie out of the car as fast as possible. As I was getting her out of the car, here comes the UPS man prancing up the driveway proudly carrying The Car! I waved at him frantically and shouted something about turning around and putting the box in the neighbors garage. I get Kylie inside as she is VERY aware something is going on. Luckily, my mom was home and was able to distract her pretty quickly. I come back outside as Mr. Brown Man is getting back into his truck. I see The Coupe in my neighbor's garage and I pat myself on the back for being so sneaky. I leave it in their garage because I definitely didn't want Kylie to see it, but mostly because I didn't feel like lugging the thing across the street. I make a mental note to ask my dad or brother to go get it later on.

Fast forward about 2 weeks.... Yay, it's Christmas Eve!

I needed to get the car but I notice the neighbors aren't home first thing in the morning, but I don't think much of it. (For the record, I should have gotten the car days earlier but to be truthful, I kind of forgot it was over there....) I figure I will just run over as soon as I see a car in the driveway. I am watching the house all day like some kind of crazy stalker. At about 2pm, there is still no sign of life. My mom sends her a text but she doesn't respond. No one is too worried at this point. At about 4pm there is still no contact with the neighbors. This is when I start to get worried. We start making phone calls. Nothing. I am beginning to panic. We talk to the other neighbors and apparently someone was home earlier in the day but they were not sure when, or if, anyone was coming back. This neighbor has family that lives in our same town and I start to think they are staying with family for the night. We all make more calls and send mass text messages. No response! Then I notice that they left their Christmas lights on. I am SURE no one is coming home! OMG! Full blown freakin panic attack. Around 5:30 pm, I throw on my church clothes and march across the street to see if, possibly, they knew I was going to need access to their garage and maybe left the side door unlocked for me. Nope. (Apparently they recently got new locks and haven't passed out keys to the neighborhood yet?)

Ok, just picture the scene... it is 6:00pm on Christmas Eve. Kylie has been asking about this present for months, I have just about promised her that Santa is going to bring it, and the only thing getting in my way is my elusive neighbor. Nothing is open at this point. I can't run down to Target and grab another one. My only hope for a super magical Christmas is to get into my neighbors garage and retrieve The Coupe.

Now it is after 6, we are all in a tizzy and late for Church. My brother goes ahead to get us seats. My mom loads the girls in the car, while I freak out. My dad tries to think of every possible, logical or not, option to get that car. I think if one of us could have hopped on a sleigh and fly our butts to the North Pole, we would have at that point.

I drive to church and flip out the whole way there. I am out of control pissed about the car situation, Kylie is whining because she wants to play with my mom's phone, and Piper is crying because she is hungry. My poor mother is trying to tame the wild.

We get to church and I drop everyone off and sit in the car and cry because, hey, Christmas Eve church service is a good time and place for a meltdown. I pull myself together and my dad helps us inside. I am only half way celebrating the birth of my sweet baby Savior because I am so panicked that I ruined Christmas for Kylie. (My head was all wrong at this point, I am fully aware of that. Now.)

We leave church and go home. Still no neighbor. Still no contact with neighbor. Still no car. I need wine. We eat dinner, and end up having a good time. (Thanks, Riesling) We do all the Christmas Eve stuff and we end up having a great night. Kylie is so into all of it and is being super cute. I decide it will all work out and just pray that I don't have to get arrested for breaking and entering.

After Kylie goes to bed, we start doing the Santa thing. I decide Santa will just leave a note about how the car fell off the sleigh and that he will bring it later. Super major fail, but the Riesling told me it was ok. My brother and I need to go out to 7-11 to buy ~~more wine~~ batteries. (I am obviously a poor planner.) As we are leaving I get The Text. "At the casino, be home in an hour." I have never been so happy about someone being at a casino in my life!! She was alive and, most importantly, coming home to save Christmas!! (But, um, Casino on Christmas Eve? What the....??) Oh, it was about 11:30pm at this point.

By about 12:30 AM my dad walks in the house with the pink quiet car!!!!!

Have you ever put one of these things together? It was a real mo fo, but we all felt like we worked so hard for it, we didn't care. It comes in about 700 pieces and a 2 part instructional video. It took us about 2 hours, a few beers, the 7-11 wine, and all the Santa cookies to finish this thing.

But... WE DID IT!!!! I have never be SO happy for a Christmas present in my life!!

I will let you know about her reaction on Christmas morning soon, but for now... I will let you soak in the beauty that is The Pink Quiet Car.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T10:18:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

(Christmas Card 2011)

I wish I could send a card to each and every one of you! Hopefully, this digital version will do instead.

Wishing you and your family Peace, Love, and Joy this Christmas season!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Party

2011-12-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last night we had Christmas with Dustin's side of the family. It has been tradition, for the last few years, that we do it at his brother's house, then have a slumber party. This year, since things are a little different anyway, we decided to switched it up a bit. We had everyone over to my parent's house for dinner and gift exchanging. We had the BEST night!!

(You all know the only way it could have been better......)

We decided to "scale back" this year and exchange names for the adults. We still got presents for all the kids and it was just as crazy as ever. My parent's living room was FULL with gifts. My dad has to move furniture to accommodate the presents.

We made the girls wait to eat dinner before they could open any presents. Then, we made them take pictures in front of the gifts. They were about to explode with excitement at this point.

FINALLY the madness began and presents were opened...

And opened...

And opened some more.

Apparently, I have expressed my love for all things zebra striped and I (Piper) was gifted not one, but TWO, zebra jammies! Ha!

Then we opened MORE presents.

I got the BEST present EVER!!! A Bathe & Brew. Have you heard of it??? It's a shower coffee pot. I can't wait to sip my coffee while I wash my hair!! Yay!!!

Then we did our traditional matching jammies in front of the Christmas tree pictures.

How lucky am I to have 2 gorgeous girls of my own PLUS the most beautiful niece in the world???

Pretty sure my heart exploded while I took these pictures...

Cousin Lovin!

Couldn't love these 3 girls any more!!

My sweet baby girl had a great time at her first Christmas celebration! She had no clue what was going on but she smiled her way through the whole night. Plus, Auntie Jen gave her a bunch of new BIG hair bows and flowers so she was happy as can be.

And because I love to compare...

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2011

My what a difference a year makes!!

We had such a wonderful time last night! A very Merry Christmas it was!!

PS: The Bathe & Brew was a gag gift. It was just a box but I totally fell for it! I was actually a little disappointed when I only found a PF Changes gift card inside. (Just kidding!! PF Changes is a way safer choice than trying to shower with my coffee!) I am still laughing about it...

Christmas Pictures 2011

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from the girls in the family...

Love our "family" pictures!! Our family friend, Maria, did them for us on very short notice and I think they turned out so cute and festive!! They kind of remind me of a Target ad... I think thats why I love them so much! :)

(Oh and we WILL be having real family pictures taken when daddy gets home!)

Santa Visit 2011

2011-12-22T00:08:00.001-05:00

We saw SANTA!!!

I have been avoiding anything that could possibly be considered a Santa for weeks. When I went out of town a couple weeks ago, I left my parents one rule: Under NO circumstances could they take Kylie to meet Santa. And if they happened to see a Santa, they needed to run in the other direction.

I was SO excited to take Kylie to see Santa, and she was excited to meet him. Or she wanted to be excited at the very least. For months she has been talking about Santa. Every time she wants something, anything, she says "I ask Santa. He bring it for me."

She had one very, very special wish for Mr. Clause... "Kylie want a car." (What?? When did my baby turn 16??)

Okay, not that kind of car... "Kylie want a quiet car." She wants, more than anything in the world, one of these...

She LOVES cars or things she can ride on/in but HATES things that make that motor noise (like the Barbie Hot Wheels Jeep that we got her last year) so when she saw a neighbor kid riding hers around, she knew that was the answer.

Best part of this whole story... She has had two (2) of these cars before and NEVER shown any interest in either of them. In fact, we had one exactly like this that she very rarely touched so to save room before we moved, I gave it to our neighbors. Well, come Christmas 2011 she will be the proud owner of Princess Cozy Coupe III.

Ok back to my story...

She wants this car more than anything and was determined to let Santa know. So for weeks I have been talking to her about going to see Santa, sitting on his lap, and telling him what she wants. To which she would always answer "Kylie no want to sit on Santa's lap or hug Santa. Kylie only wave to Santa and tell him I want CAR!" (Always emphasis on CAR)

So when the time finally came to actually see Santa, she was a ball of nerves. She WANTED to want to see him but she was a mess. On the verge of tears the whole time we were waiting in line. At one point, she was trying to talk Kailyn into sitting on his lap for her and relaying her message about the car. To which Kailyn agreed, "Kailyn want a bike. Kylie want a car."

The girls had a plan.

After about 30 minutes of waiting in line (mostly done by Uncle Grant. Thanks!!) it was our turn.

They discussed the game plan one last time, gave a few hugs and kisses, and they were off...

Thats when things didn't go as planned....

Kailyn was NOT a fan of the man in red.

Things were going downhill fast.

So we decided to switch it up... Maybe we would have better luck on the other side...

Or maybe if we moved Kailyn away from Santa...

Kylie was getting really nervous that Kailyn wasn't going to follow through on her part of the plan so, I think, at just about this moment, she turned to Santa and very boldly proclaimed that, "Kylie want a CAR!!!" Phew! She got her request in! This trip was a success!!

We decided to stop torturing Kailyn and let her take a break from the pictures. I am all about torturing my children, so I made them stick around for about 100 more pics. Kylie was smiling like a fool (I bribed her with a "big candy cane") and Piper wasn't phased in the slightest so I snapped away.

(Yes, torture and bribery. I am saving for therapy)

Kailyn went back for round two with Christine. All she needed was a little support from her mama and the smiles came right out.

The official pictures...

We just about died laughing when we saw this one...

Santa Visit 2011

Kylie (3 years 2 months), Kailyn (2 years 9 months), Piper (5 months)

And for comparison sake..

Santa Visit 2009

Kylie (1 year 2 months), Kailyn (9 months)

I have to admit... The tradition of brining your children to sit on a strange man's lap is just absurd... but I LOVE it!! I could have stood there all night watching the awe in Kylie's eyes when she looked at him. Kylie met SANTA! She has been talking about it nonstop ever since. Having a 3 year old definitely puts the magic back into Christmas time.

I already can't wait to compare next year's pictures!!

5 Months!

2011-12-15T00:03:00.001-05:00

Dear Miss Piper,

You are 5 months old!!

For some reason, I am having a hard time believing you are 5 months old already. To me, 5 months just seems like a lot less tiny little newborn, and more big squishy baby. I love a squishy baby but I just can't believe your little newborn days are already over. (Oh, I better move on from that thought before the tears start flowin'...)

This last month had been WONDERFUL! Maybe my favorite month so far. You have become such a great baby during this last month. You are so incredibly sweet and very content! (As long as mama is around...)

So what has this month been all about...

You celebrated turning 5 months like ever other 5 month old. You took a turn on the swings at the park for the very first time. You liked it but I was nervous because you were really wobbly. We will try in again in a few weeks.

I don't know exactly how much you weigh but I am guessing around 15ish pounds.

Some of your footie jammies have started to get a little tight so I am guessing you have grown an inch or so also.

You wear mostly 3-6 month clothes. 6 month jammies fit the best but you can still squeeze into the (cute) 3 month ones.

You wear size 2 diapers. Right now we are using Target brand diapers. I don't love them, but I haven't found any that keep in your monster poops, but these are the cheapest and contain the poo somewhat decently, so it's what we are using for now.

You sleep patterns almost rival your big sister. You go to bed by 8:30 every night and sleep until about 8:30 or 9 every morning. You take a 2 hour nap in the morning (10-12) and a 3 hour nap in the afternoon (3-6). I am confident your solid, routine sleep schedule is why your awake time is so happy, playful, and content.

You eat a lot. We will start rice cereal in a few weeks but until then, you are a formula hound. You take 6 bottles (9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 8:30pm, 11pm) and take between 5 and 6 ounces per feeding. I still give you a "dream feeding" at 11:00 but I will stop that as soon as we start the cereal.

You take a bath every night at 8:00. You splash and pull out all of your cutest tricks at this time.

You kind of quit rolling a lot. You LOVE tummy time so you usually just hang out on your tummy now. You have even rolled from back to front a few times just to get on your tummy.

Kylie is you best entertainer. You watch EVERYTHING she does. I know you are storing it all and, one day, you will both team up on me. As long as you are teaming up together, it's all good.

Smiling? Smiling's your favorite!! (Elf) You smile and giggle alllllllll the time!!! You are most ticklish on your double chin.

I am kind of ready for you to start sitting by your self. I have sat you up a few times but you pretty quickly fold up and flop over. You like your Bumbo seat so we have been practicing sitting a lot. A whole new world awaits you when you start sitting up. (Shopping carts, high chairs, new perspectives...)

You are starting you reach and grab for things. You especially love to grab my phone. If you could, I think you would ask Santa for an iPhone.

You favorite things are: Tummy time (yay!!), your rainforest bouncy chair, bath time, your car seat and riding in the car (hallelujah!!), anything with tags, your Sophie giraffe, any kind of lights.

You are either teething or you are part puppy. You drool and chew on EVERYTHING. You manage to get drool on anything within a 10 foot radius of you. Bibs are your most fashionable accessory at the moment.

Ok you do have one thing... You are kind of obsessed with me. And the feeling is mutual but you are really dramatic about showing it. You have a VERY short list of people who are allowed to hold you and if someone other than them even considers touching you, you scream. Crocodile tears and everything. If it were up to you, you would spend all day on my hip just hanging on my arm. But, I can't even lie, I kind of LOVE that you know I am mama and that you want me to hold you. All.The.Time. This isn't my first go around with this mommy thing though, so I know this window of time will go by in a flash. In a few months you will learn to crawl, then walk, and before we know it, you will be asking me to take you to a Justin Bieber concert and you will want nothing to do with your little ole mama. So honestly, I am really ok with your current obsession.

Things you did this month...

Took a weekend road trip with just mama and some of our friends. We stayed 2 nights with our friends in Orlando. We shopped and you got to play with baby Ella who is also a squishy baby. We had a great time but you and I agreed we missed Kylie a LOT.

We spent about 3/4 of the month in Florida with Grandma and Grandpa. You love all the g-parent attention.

You celebrated your first big holiday. (Thanksgiving)

You met your Aunt Geri and Uncle Tom for the first time.

You got introduced to CHRISTMAS!! We have done a lot of Christmas related stuff lately. You aren't too interest in much of it but you love the lights. You lay on your play mat and look at the Christmas tree all the time.

You went to the beach for the first time.

Happy 5 Months Baby Girl!! I have a feeling this 5th month might be the BEST month yet. Christmas is right around the corner, along with couple other BIG very HAPPY events!!

Oh you also got your first Christmas pictures taken. You were a doll. And the pictures turned out quite lovely...

(More of these very soon!)

Flashback Friday

2011-12-09T08:16:00.001-05:00

Juicy Baby

June 2009

December 2011

PS: Thank you for all the nice comments and emails about our Monday. I know we are not out of the crazy-woods yet, but the rest of the week has been much happier.

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Monday

2011-12-05T15:51:00.001-05:00

Today is one of those days where I would be totally cool with a do-over.

Let me start at the beginning. (Or, before the beginning, I guess...)

Kylie hasn't been sleeping lately. Yes, my fantastic sleeper is finally not sleeping. Like, she is staying awake from about 8pm (her normal bedtime) until 11, 12, or even 1AM. She does a variety of talking, singing, whining, and crying during that time. Of course it is also accompanied by the demands for water, bathroom trips, tucking in, more books, more songs...

THEN, she proceeds to WAKE UP at 8am. An 8am wakeup is cool, if she is asleep by 8, or even 9, at night but staying up (which means I am staying up) until 1am is unacceptable.

Oh and naps have been few and far between.

Ok so that has been going on for about a week now and I am thinking it is catching up with her. Last night she was up until about 11 and was up by 9 this morning. Normally I would say that is a terrible sleep, and for her it is, but right now I will take it.

When I went to get her, I walked into her room and said "good morning my sweetest Wittle pie!" (A standard greeting around here...) And her response, "Don't say that to me." I should have known this day was going to be a wash but I wasn't ready to give up that easily.

Before even exiting her bed she informed me that she had no plans of going potty, she didn't want to eat breakfast, and she wasn't going to change out of her pajamas. Awesome.

So I finally get her pottied, dressed, fed, and ready for a library and lunch outing with our friends. (Friends who I haven't seen in about a year? Maybe more. So I am excited) She watches TV and does more whining while I get Piper ready, all while spilling her cereal on the floor and crunching it into the tile. Then she pours her milk down her shirt so I have to change her again before we leave. Then Piper spits up all over herself so she gets changed for the third time this morning too. This is when I probably should have sent the "let's reschedule lunch" text, but I didn't.

She whines the ENTIRE way to lunch. She wants more snacks, the snacks I brought "didn't taste good," she wants more toys, she wants less toys, she wants to get out of her car seat (that is a new one, but now, a standard request while riding in the car...) I decide the library will not be happening today but I worked so hard to get us out the door, lunch was still on. We get to the restaurant and my patience is shot but I see my friends and I get a second wind.

We order lunch all while Kylie is whining about Lord only knows. You pick something, she whined about it.

We sit down and the whining turns up a notch. I am having a hard time concentrating on anything because Kylie is grabbing at me and demanding various things from me.

Then Piper joins in on the fun. Now Piper is crying and Kylie is whining. I am becoming more frazzled by the second. Then Kylie spills salsa all down my but and legs. And continues to whine and complain more. Then she starts pulling on my shirt and grabbing my hair. Then Piper spits up down the front of my shirt. Then Kylie starts crying because umm... I forget? But now both of my kids are all out crying, in the middle of a busy restaurant, during lunch time, in front of my friends who I haven't seen in a very long time. Oh and for some reason I wore my cute boots with a heel. It's 80 degrees and I have 2 small children what the heck was I thinking. Must be the lack of sleep catching up with me too...

Then Piper starts to gag and throws up because it is that kind of cry.

I say goodbye and you're welcome (for the lifetime of free birth control I provided for my friend) and load my unruly children in the car.

I somehow managed to drive us all home and throw their sweet little boo-tays in bed before I completely flew off the handle.

Now, I am sitting here avoiding all the crap I should be doing and writing about my day because it was that kind of awesome.

I got Kylie an Elf on the Shelf and he will be making an appearance tonight. I need step up my game with this girl right now. I think it is a combination with everything that is going on but Kylie has been a train wreck lately.

Anyone else about to sell their children for a oneway ticket to a sunny island???

(Just kidding. I would never do that. I already spent way too much time and money finding matching Santa dresses for the girls and there is no way I am going to let those go to waste.)

Hope your Monday was full of a lot less whine!

(In just a few minutes, mine is about to be more full of wine! Ha!)

Kylie is 3!

2011-11-29T16:46:00.001-05:00

Today I (finally) brought Kylie in for her 3 year old check up!

She checked out perfectly healthy!!!!

My less than 2 pound, 26 weeker, left her 3 year old appointment with a PERFECT bill of health! She is caught up to other 3 year olds ALL areas of development. The doctor confirmed what we already know... She is a MIRACLE!

At 3 years old, Kylie Marie weighs 27 pounds (20th percentile) and is 36 inches tall (32nd percentile).

She had to get 3 shots and did MUCH better with them than I had expected.

I am SO proud of her for SO many reasons!!

Insta-Weekend

2011-11-28T08:54:00.001-05:00

Just a few Instagram snippets of our Holiday weekend....

My mom, Piper, and I braved the crazy crowds and Black Friday shopped. Piper and I both wore black to be festive. (Kidding) But my mom didn't believe me so she took our pic.

We didn't leave the house until 8:00 AM (unlike some other people in my family) so we missed out on all the real crazies. But we also missed out on all the crazy good sales. (Maybe Christine isn't so crazy after all :)

Kylie picked out a Christmas tree.

She really wanted a "Kylie size tree" but Grandpa talked her into a "grandpa size tree."

We decorated later that night. Kylie hung the first ornament. (A paper plate picture of 3 year old me.)

Uncle Pat was here all weekend. Uncle Pat is so fun! He is also a really good princess fisherman.

Piper sound asleep after her Thanksgiving feast.

Kylie, the budding musician.

Piper has something. Something involving congestion and a lot of drool. I took her to the doctor as a precaution and they ruled out all the serious stuff. (No RSV here) But the Dr did call her "one big secretion." How sweet. It is probably just teething. Yes, my 4 month old is teething. Apparently, teething is painful, and causes babies who normally sleep 12 hours at night, to only sleep about 2. This was at about 3am....

There you have it. Our weekend. Hope yours was fabulous and involved a lot more sleep then mine.

Happy official start to the holiday season!!

1 Month Until Christmas!

2011-11-25T21:32:00.001-05:00

Happy Turkey Hangover Day/Black Friday/1 Month Until Christmas Day!!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We sure did!

I savored each and every one of those 4,500 calories.

Kylie went the more nonconventional route and enjoyed Frosted Mini-Wheats, yogurt, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie as her Thanksgiving meal this year... Umm, yum?

This was Piper's face when I told her she wasn't getting any of the turkey...

We missed Dustin a LOT but we were able to talk to him a few times throughout the day so it kind of (a very, tiny, little bit) felt like he was here.

Which made us all quite happy!

We spent all day with our family and friends and it was fabulous.

And very, very filling.

Hope your Black Friday was more successful than mine!

Now, please excuse me, I look about 6 months pregnant with my food baby. I will be outside running until further notice.

Happy Exactly 1 Month Until Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!

(Oh and I reaaaaally want an Elf on a Shelf!!)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T15:25:00.001-05:00

I remember last year's Thanksgiving like it was just yesterday...

We lived in our little house in Albuquerque... We were a family of 3 (although we had just found out we would soon be a family of 4, but had not yet shared the news)... We woke up to snow on Thanksgiving morning... Our friends came over to cook and eat with us. We had a GREAT day! All of that seems like it was just last week. How has a full year gone by?

So many things have changed in this past year... We moved from the West to the South... We are a family of 4 (although one 1/4 of us will be missing again this year :( )... We will wake up to an 80 degree day and sunshine tomorrow... Our families will cook for us and we will celebrate the day with family AND friends. It will be a GREAT day, too!

I am so sad that Dustin will be missing this year but I still have such fond memories of last Thanksgiving. This is Piper's first Thanksgiving so it will be wonderful and we will ALL be together again next year!

I have SO much to be thankful for this year. I feel like "the year of the baby" always makes me look at being thankful in a whole new light.

This year, I am so very, very thankful for...

The beautiful new life that joined our family 4 1/2 months ago.

The feisty, spirited 3 year old that constantly keeps me on my toes.

My amazing husband who is, quite possibly, my favorite person in the world.

Good health.

Our families.

Friends, both near and far.

Our home.

Homes to call home, while we are away from home.

Our church that we love SO much!

Technology.

Being born in America.

Food.

My renewed love for running.

Clean, running water.

A working car.

Toys for my children.

My education.

Clothes.

The ability to stay home with my girls.

Sleep (sleep has been so elusive this year, making me more thankful for it than ever before)

My camera.

I could sit here and go on all day... I am so grateful that Thanksgiving makes me stop and actually think about all I have to be thankful for. This year has been crazy. I can definitely call it our second craziest year ever. (2008 being the craziest of all...) But here we are again, at Thanksgiving, I have my family, and we ALL have our health. For those two things, I am eternally grateful.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your family, your friends, and eat that extra piece of pie (calories don't count on Thanksgiving!)

PS: Want to see how far we have come since Kylie's 1st Thanksgiving? Take a look back, HERE.

The Fun Day That Almost Wasn't.

2011-11-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

Our Saturday morning started off with a trip to the pediatrician. I had scheduled Piper's 4 month appointment for the week after Thanksgiving. Yes, she would have been 4 months and 3 weeks old at the time, but we were going to be out of town until then. So, unless I gave her the keys to my Explorer and told her to head south, we just couldn't be there... She is healthy and I didn't see the huge problem. Well, I called the office last week to change an appointment for Kylie, and the nurse gave me a hard time about rescheduling Piper's check up. Long story short, she talked me into coming in at 8:00 on Saturday morning for her well check and a couple of shots. Gag.

So, we ended up going. The same nurse gave me a hard time AGAIN, the doctor was mad she had to be working at 8:00 Saturday morning and she was in a bad mood and, in about 30 minutes, I left the place feeling like the worlds worst mother with a really pissed off baby. (Because of the shots) Totally the opposite of all the things I aim for.

Needless to say, we were not off to a good start.

We get home and Piper is still fussy from the early morning/shot in the thigh combo, Kylie is whiny because I wouldn't let her eat 47 donut holes for breakfast, and my mom asks if we want to go to the beach with them.

My immediate answer was no freakin' way. Then, I remembered that I had just shaved my legs so I started to consider it. I got us all packed up and ready to go. In the meantime, the girls continued the whining and I was wondering if not wasting having smooth legs was really worth it...

We finally got down to the beach and it was a gorgeous day. Like one of those days the travel agencies must record and play on commercials up north in the middle of February. Perfect. Then, when we got to where my parents were staying, a band was blasting Jimmy Buffett and I was immediately happy with my decision to bring my crabby children to the beach.

Then the rest of the day I felt a little something like this...

Pure happiness.

Kylie swam ALL afternoon. And, for the first time EVER without a floaty jacket and only water wings.

She even got her first set of swimmers feet.

Piper and I did this while all the swimming was going on.

We caught the sunset. It was beautiful. First sunset I have seen in a long time. The first time Kylie actually watched the sun go down. She thought it was the coolest thing she had ever seen.

She loved it. And, so did Grandpa.

Piper liked it from her view too.

I had my hands full so my mom did all the picture taking. She is sneaky with that camera (or in this case, phone) and you never know what kind of pics she is going to come up with. She said she is going to retire from picture taking after this candid shot. It's her new fave. I think I was looking away to make sure Kylie wasn't drowning in the waves... Piper looks cute :)

(PS: Have I mentioned how much I love the Baby Bjorn?)

We walked down the beach to the sand castle festival that was going on. This is a Florida version of a snowman.

We ended our day with dinner on the beach. Kylie played in the sand while we ate. It was the most content she has been during a dinner out in, ummm, forever? All restaurants should have sand floors.

It was an awesome end to a day that started out with not a whole lot of potential for awesomeness.

We have had a really hectic couple of weeks and a day at the beach was just what we needed.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

World Prematurity Day 2011

2011-11-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today, November 17th, is the the first annual March of Dime's World Prematurity Day! You know how much I love the March of Dimes and all the wonderful things they do for so many babies. I am so excited because what was perviously known and Fight for Preemie's Day, has grown into World Prematurity Day. I am joining hundreds of bloggers in an effort to spread awareness about prematurity. You can read my post, and see all the other posts, here. While you are there, I encourage you to read at least one other story, about one other preemie.

I am using a similar post to the one I used last year for Fight For Preemies Day. I updated some of the pictures and added Kylie's current 3 year old stats....

Happy 1st World Prematurity Day!

November is Prematurity Awareness Month and I am (again) ashamed with myself for letting over ½ the month go by without mentioning it and TODAY happens to be World Prematurity Day.

"We need to fight- because babies shouldn't have to."

I could give all the statistics of how many babies will die today from complications of premature birth (13)...

or how many babies will be born too early this month (over 45,000)...

or how many babies will be born before full gestation this year (over 500,000)...

but, what you need to know is that 1 in 8 babies are born premature.

Those are all just numbers, unless your baby is that 1.

And, according to the numbers, it is a good chance your baby could be that 1.

Many preemie stories don’t have a happy ending, like ours. I encourage you to take a few minutes and visit the March of Dimes website and if you’re a blogger, join World Prematurity Day!

Visit the March of Dimes website and join in the fight against premature birth.

Learn the signs of preterm labor, preeclampasia, and placenta abruptions.

Get educated on how to protect yourself, and your baby, from becoming the one.

2008: Kylie was born at 26 weeks gestation. She weighed 1 pound 14 ounces and measured 12.5 inches long. She was given a less than a 50 percent chance at making it through the first 24 hours of her life. When she was born, her skin was translucent, her eyes were fused shut, and my wedding ring fit around her calf. She spent months on oxygen and over 2.5 months in the NICU. She weighed less than 5 pounds when she was discharged but came home on no medications, no monitors, and no oxygen.

2009 Update: Kylie is now 1 year old!! She is small for her age but she is HEALTHY!! We are still going to OT and speech therapies. As a precaution, she routinely sees a cardiologist and pulmonologist, but was recently discharged from the audiologist and opthamologist.

For this child I have prayed.

1 Samuel 1:27

2010 Update: Since Fight For Preemies Day 2009, Kylie has been discharged from ALL specialist and therapies.

(March of Dimes 2010)

She is a perfectly healthy 2 year old and is right on track for all growth and development for an average full-term ~~baby~~ toddler.

2011 Update: Our 26 weeker, is now a 100% healthy, growing, thriving, 3 year old. She is full of life and, still, has no residual effects of being born so early. She is smart, funny, and keeps us on our toes.

Her biggest obstacle during the last year, was adjusting to her new role as big sister. Kylie welcomed a healthy, full-term, baby sister into the world in early July.

Thanks to research and training done by the March of Dimes, I was able to have a complication-free pregnancy and carry baby Piper to 39 weeks.

Thank you March of Dimes for helping make these two miracles happen!!

Happy World Prematurity Day!

Visit March of Dimes and join Bloggers Unite for World Prematurity Day!