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15 month checkup

2012-01-25T21:09:00.000-06:00

Kayla had her 15 month checkup today. She weighed 19 lbs 5.5 oz and was 29.25 inches.

She still fits in her infant carseat. We stopped using it for David when he was 6 months old. However, I like her in it when we go to the doctor.

It's easy for her to see me when I push her around and she can eat her snack without throwing food all over the floor.

She had to get three shots and some bloodwork done. She hates getting shots. As soon as she saw the nurse put gloves on, she started crying. :(

The doctor said she is doing well on growing. She is a little behind on walking. He mentioned physical therapy last time, so I asked him to refer us so I should be getting a call soon about it. They will just evaluate her and show us some stuff we can try with her at home. I think any help will be nice.

15 Months!

2012-01-22T20:21:00.003-06:00

Hello.

We have to let her hold the blocks because she's tall enough now to block the 15.

Pretending to talk on the phone :)

6-12 month clothes. Her outfit above is 6-9 months. She weighed 19 lbs 4 oz.
size 3 diaper
She wears size 3-4 in shoes. We always put shoes on her when we go out because she pulls her socks off immediately after we take her shoes off.
She only gets one nap a day at daycare that lasts for 1-2 hours.
still nursing 5-6 times a day when not at daycare. 4am, 8am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm. Last week I started giving her one sippy cup of organic whole milk each day at daycare. I think it gave her diarrhea, but I'm still trying it to see. I'm ready to stop pumping..that'll probably be another post all by itself.
She has around 11 teeth. I think she's got about 6-7 teeth coming in!
She isn't quite walking yet. She's only been able to stand up on her own a few times. However, check out the video to see her do a few steps:

She really likes the blue princess wand. :)

I took this photo last week thinking it was the 22nd....but it's still a good pic :)

Random Update

2012-01-11T20:55:00.002-06:00

Kayla started off the year with ear infections. The antibiotic that she got gave her an allergic reaction and she got a rash all over her body for almost a week! The doctor prescribed her a new one, and she's all better now. She did get her Synagis shot this week too. I'm so glad that was easy to get this month. She had to get it a couple days late to wait for her rash to clear. She weighed 19 pounds and was 28.5 inches tall :)

Wow...you can see Kayla's whole head now when she stands up in her crib instead of just her eyes and nose. :)

David is showing us he is a "big boy" more each day. We put away his "singing potty" on January 1. He had gone a couple weeks without it, so we thought the 1st was a great day to put it away. He can use a regular toilet without using a stool now. The only help he needs is when he goes #2 to wipe his butt. He still wears a pull up at night, but he keeps it dry most nights. Another thing we have been doing is letting him use mouth wash every night. I never would have thought of using it until I saw my nieces using it when they were visiting over the summer.

My new year resolutions are to eat healthier, find time to work out, and snack less.

I turned 30 last weekend. :)

Chris is level 46 on Skyrim. haha.

14 Months

2011-12-28T20:20:00.000-06:00

Wow this month has gone by fast...and this post a few days late.

Kayla seems to be doing a lot more this month. She is understanding a lot more things that we say. I know she understands the words jump, shake, dance, again, mommy, daddy, david, nana.
She tries to repeat things that we say and do.

She can sign more, please, done, eat, and milk. She also nods her head yes.

She likes books a lot now. She will throw a book at me and then nod when I ask her if she wants me to read it. When she sees a mirror at the end of the book, she kisses herself.
Everything she does is cute.
She has been getting two more teeth in. One on the top and one on the bottom.

6-12 month clothes. I think she's finally growing out of some of those 6-9 month clothes.
size 3 diaper
size 3-4 in shoes. I think last month she was wearing size 2. She loves putting on shoes. I think she is definitely going to be a girly girl!
She only gets one nap a day at daycare that lasts for 1-2 hours.
still nursing 5-6 times a day when not at daycare. 4am, 8am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm. She doesn't seem to be wanting to wean anytime soon. I think I will try to stop the 3pm one and replace with milk sometime this month.
She took 2 steps today!!! Maybe she'll be walking next month :)

She does great at eating. She tries all new things. She yells at us if she see us eating something that we haven't let her try yet.

She's always been kind of dramatic. She does this when she's upset about something. Throwing herself on the floor and crying.... I hope she grows out of this when she starts walking...but I doubt it.

Christmas Presents

2011-12-27T21:47:00.002-06:00

This year was exciting because David is old enough to get excited and understand more about Christmas. So we had to figure out how we were going to celebrate it. When I was growing up, my family did not celebrate anything. I've never gotten a wrapped present from my parents...ever. So, now that I'm all grown up and have my own family, I want to do it all and live vicariously through my children. However, I realize last year, we overdid the presents for David. So this year, we tried not to overdo it. It was also better that we didn't wait to open everything on Christmas day.

On Christmas Eve, we went to church with Chris's parents and then we all came back to our house to have dinner and exchange gifts with them. David and Kayla also got to open 3 presents from us which were mostly clothes/shoes. I hope it snows this winter because I got them stuff to keep them warm and dry.

On Christmas morning, we had to wake up David. Chris told him Santa came and David jumped out of bed and ran to the living room. He was so excited when he saw the stockings had been filled and there were extra presents around the tree.

However, I made him eat breakfast before we could open any presents. I thought that would make him eat faster, but I was wrong. It made him not want to eat because he was too busy staring at the presents.

Eventually, we got around to opening the presents. David and Kayla each got 4 wrapped presents under the tree and one big present. One from mom, dad, sibling, and santa. Then, there was also one big present from mom and dad. And of course Santa filled their stockings with a few small toys and treats. Earlier in the week, I took a vacation day to spend with just David. We went shopping and David got to pick out some presents for the family and I let him help wrap them. He was horrible at keeping anything a secret. Although, he never gave any hints as to what Kayla's present was. I think because he didn't know what it was called. He got her a tea set. Anytime we'd ask him what Kayla got he'd smile real big and say, "it's a secret!!"

Kayla got him a latches board puzzle

The big presents that we got the kids were their new rides:

He got a huge power wheel truck. Chris and I felt super guilty about this purchase. Neither one of us had one of these growing up, and we think it's too much for a three year old. However, we're suckers. We felt sorry for him because he was running after the neighbors' power wheels and wondering why his car had to be pushed. He had a blue one similar to the one Kayla is in above.

However, David's favorite presents were what Santa brought him:

The cargo carrier and car carrier.

Kayla's favorite present was probably the purse that Nana got her. She loves to take things in and out.

Christmas Cards

2011-12-21T20:11:00.002-06:00

This year I made 2 different Christmas cards. We got our pictures done in October by Elaine. She did a great job on all of our photos:

Front

Back

Then, I took pictures of the kids in their Christmas pajamas and thought they were so cute. I had a coupon code from Shutterfly to get 10 cards free, so I made these cards. I didn't mail any of these because apparently it cost more to send square cards, and I didn't have time to go to the post office to figure out how much more it would be. My delivery of cards wasn't as successful this year. For some reason, I decided to get addresses from a spreadsheet that I had from like 6 years ago. So some were returned. Sorry. :(

Front

Back

Which card do you like better? :)

I really love ordering from Shutterfly. I love their photo books. They are so easy to make and the quality is great. It helps that they always have coupons :)

Here's is a photo book that I made of most of the pictures that Elaine took:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Finally got Synagis shot!

2011-12-08T22:33:00.004-06:00

Yay! After many phone calls over the entire month of November, Kayla finally got her first dose this week. Apparently there was confusion with which documents our nurse was supposed to send to get Medicaid approval. Hopefully, it all goes smoother next month. It's tough to get it because it cost about a $2,500-$4,000 based on Kayla's weight and only last 28-30 days. She has to get one every month until April to help prevent respiratory viruses.

The nurse practitioner that we saw said that they have not seen any kids with RSV yet, so that's good. It's usually the worst around January/February.

She had to get 2 shots...one in each thigh. 2 nurses did it at the same time, and it hurt. Kayla cried and has a dark bruise where one of them was.

She weighed 18 lbs 8 oz and was 28.25 inches. I'm happy that she's putting on some weight and length now. She was stuck around 16 lbs for about 3 months, and I was starting to think she wasn't going to grow any more.

How did her hair color turn out so light? She looks blonde in this picture due to the lighting.

We're waiting to get the shot...entertaining a one year old for over an hour in a doctor's office is tough especially since I was trying to avoid her touching anything.

13 Months Old

2011-11-24T19:43:00.002-06:00

She weighs almost 18 pounds and is almost 28 inches. I think she had a bit of a growth spurt this week. She has been eating a lot.

wears 6-9 month and 6-12 month clothes.
size 3 diaper
She only gets one nap a day at daycare that lasts for 1-2 hours.
still nursing 5-6 times a day when not at daycare. 4am, 8am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm.
She's cruising a little. She practices standing a lot.
Favorite Toy: wooden blocks with pull wagon. She loves to take them out and throw them, knock them down, put them back in, give them to me, etc.
Favorite book: Peek A Who. This was also David's favorite book at the same age. She actually loves for us to read this book to her. I think because the words are short/simple and the pages are easy to turn.
She's a happy baby.
I stopped going to daycare during lunch last week. I think it's better for her to get used to the schedule there. I'm hoping she gets to nap a little longer too. She has been drinking her milk, so I'm not worried about her eating anymore.
She's had 2 ear infections this month. :(
I don't think she's getting the Synagis shot for RSV this month. The insurance, medicaid, pharmacy, and doctor's office are taking their time on getting it to her. I wish I had checked up on it before this month, but last year Kayla was all approved for it and received it about a week after the doctor told me she needed it.

I didn't get around to taking the monthly pic in the chair, but here are some videos from this month.

Kayla can sign and say all done now.

Christmas Pajamas!

2011-11-21T11:14:00.001-06:00

I know... it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But I was excited about getting these matching PJs for the kids and I wanted to make some ornaments that I saw on Pinterest, so it was photo shoot time.. :)

I love seeing these two kids having fun with each other.

The ornaments that I made.

I'm so excited about Christmas this year. David and Kayla are at such fun ages.

One Year Old

2011-11-01T22:24:00.004-05:00

Turning one is a big milestone for Kayla. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her heart condition. Before her surgery, I was always sad about it because I worried about her surgery. However, now I appreciate how healthy she is. We're blessed to have such a sweet girl in our lives.

Her yearly checkup was ok. The doctor was a little worried about her cruising and said if she wasn't cruising in a month, then we might need physical therapy. Her gross motor skills are about the level of a 10 month old.
I had the doctor print out her growth charts for me...

She was exactly 17 pounds. 2.17%

She was 27 inches (3.66%). She would be in the 50% on the length chart if she were 8 months old.

She got 2 shots while she was there. One of them was for the flu. I wanted to delay the other ones, so she wouldn't get so much in one day. She'll be there once a month until March for her RSV shots, so there will be plenty of opportunity to get them later.

wears 6-9 month and 6-12 month clothes.
size 3 diaper
She only gets one nap a day at daycare that lasts for 1-2 hours.
still nursing 5-6 times a day when not at daycare. 5am, 8am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm.
Enjoys eating table foods. Although, she's becoming as picky of an eater as her brother. She loves fruits.
She's cruising a little.
She loves clapping, toys that make noise, and when I sing "ABC" song or "Twinkle, Twinkle"..
She is very independent. She's never been into cuddling like David. The only time she hugs us is when there's a stranger around or when she's tired. Otherwise, she'd rather be crawling and looking around at things. She's not really into us reading to her. She does like to get books and turn the pages. However, sitting still to listen to us read to her isn't her favorite thing to do.
She's been learning some sign language at school.

In the video above, she is signing for more cantelope.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T22:04:00.002-05:00

Kayla was Dorothy and David was a lion. This was in Kayla's room at daycare... Look there's a scarecrow to go with the Wizard of Oz theme.. :)

David was a cranky lion. He didn't want to pose with his best friend who was a rocket.

Lining up for the parade around daycare. The silver blur in the picture is a tin man :)

I made Kayla's dress and headband. The fabric was only $1.50 a yard at Walmart. I didn't have a pattern or tutorial..just randomly pieced it together. I think it turned out ok. :)

Handful of cheetos. Yum.

We were the first ones trick or treating on my street. Had to do it early since I wanted David to be home by 7 to get ready for bed.

Kayla stayed home because she has a cold. However, she loved watching all the people come to the door.

David loved trick or treating. :)

Look Who's One!

2011-10-30T09:25:00.002-05:00

Kayla turned 1 last weekend!

Since I made David's 1st cake, I decided to make Kayla's 1st cake. This was my first time using marshmallow fondant. I attempted to match the theme. It was a lot of work. I probably should have started earlier than the night before her birthday.

She got her very own pink chair, so she doesn't have to share with her brother. She was excited and climbed into it.

I took David to Walmart, so he could pick out a present for her. He chose a Fisher Price Learning Kitchen. He liked helping her open it and showing her how to use it. :)

Daycare had a fall festival, so she got her first pony ride. This was the 3rd pony ride David's had this month! I think I've been on a horse like maybe 3 times my whole life.

The best picture I could get of them together. I made her the tutu. :)

I ordered Kayla's shirt on etsy. There is so much cute stuff on there!

The 3 Year Old

2011-10-27T22:30:00.002-05:00

David does a lot. The amount of stuff he has learned this past year is amazing. There's so much that he knows and does now that I don't think I could possibly write it all here.

He knows all the shapes, colors, etc. He's a great talker...can do paragraphs. His teacher tells me some days he doesn't stop talking.

He's got a great memory. I think he must be getting to the point where he just remembers everything. I can tell him to remind me to buy certain things when we go to Walmart, and he'll remind me even though I had already forgotten! Yay for starting to be useful! Hehe...

He loves playing with puzzles and can easily put together jigsaw puzzles of about 9-12 pieces. He still loves any toy that has wheels. His favorite thing to do outside is play with dirt.

He's been potty trained for the last couple months. However, he still wears pull-ups at night. He can keep it dry with lots of positive encouragement, but that also means waking up his mom and dad sometimes to watch him go in the middle of the night. I think he has more pee at night than during the day sometimes, so I think it'll be a while before we are off diapers completely. Lately, he has been having more dry ones than wet, so maybe we're getting close.

Favorite Movie: Disney's Cars (He hasn't watched the 2nd one yet.)

Favorite TV Show: Busytown Mysteries (We don't have any channels...just Netflix. I've started letting him watch about 30 minutes everyday after school so I can feed Kayla. However, I think he gets a lot of tv at his Nana's on the weekend and that's where he finds new shows to watch.)

Favorite Book: He's got a ton of books thanks to his Nana. He gets to pick 3 books out every night before bed. I don't think he has a favorite, but he loves the ones that have trucks or trains in them. He also likes Dr. Seuss books. I think all the reading that we do with him is making him a lifelong reader. We've started letting him choose prizes from the prize basket now for using the actual toilet for doing #2, and he will choose books over toys.

We had the yearly checkup this week and the only thing that David wasn't able to do was draw a stick person. The nurse drew a stick figure and asked David to draw one. He did some random scribbling then said "That's a leaf." I've never seen him draw one before, but he was able to draw a straight line and a circle. He just didn't connect them.

Shirt Size: 2T-3T

Pants Size: 2T

Shoe Size: 8.5W

Weight: Around 30 lbs. (28.77%)

Height: 37.5" (43.35%)

He's able to put on and take off his shoes and socks without any assistance as long as they aren't shoes with shoelaces. He's kind of lazy on learning how to put on and take off clothes. He'd rather I just do it for him. I'm fine with this since I'm usually in a hurry in the mornings. He'll eventually get it :)

David is 3!

2011-10-16T21:00:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from today's birthday celebration.

(Lightning McQueen Cars shirt was ordered from etsy)

Started out with a breakfast donut at Krispy Kreme. Yummy!

Then we got to play with the outdoor presents.

Thanks to Grandma for this awesome sand and water activity table. David had a lot of fun playing with this.

Then we went to Sam's Club for lunch and to pick up his cake.

David picked out this cake with cupcakes last weekend. He was very excited about getting this cake. He's been talking about his Cars birthday cake for the last couple months!

Then, we opened up more presents!

Blowing the candles

Displaying Toddler Art

2011-10-13T22:49:00.000-05:00

So I finally got around to putting David's artwork up. The kid does a ton of art stuff at preschool. I've been collecting it all and putting it in a bag. I bought some premium poster board from Walmart. They only had 3 colors to choose from, so I bought 2 of each. Then, I sorted through everything, grouped them, and stuck it all on David's empty wall.

I tried grouping similar things together. This is crayon/marker stuff on white paper.

Random things that he glued onto paper.

Paintings

These are some of the hand/foot prints and stuff that I thought were special. I love the heart one in the middle. This was done right around Thanksgiving the month after Kayla was born.

David has been doing great in preschool. I had a parent teacher conference last week. I got to learn a lot about what they do while they are there. For example, I finally learned what environmental print was. In the previous class, they would write down everyday on report sheets what the kids learn that day, and I always saw that thinking they were learning about trees, flowers, leaves, etc. Nope...apparently it's about recognizing things outside and around them like street signs. :)

Farmland Adventures

2011-10-08T21:09:00.001-05:00

We went to a corn maze today at Farmland Adventures. This was the first time any of us had ever been to one. I always see pictures around this time with kids at pumpkin patches and corn mazes, so I thought it would be fun to go. We chose this one because it looked fairly close by and seemed like it would be fun.

The corn box was popular.

The petting zoo was nice.

David even petted a goat.

All the employees were friendly and seemed happy to be there.

They have 2 different corn mazes. Apparently, the big one can last up to an hour, so we chose the mini one that was only 20 minutes. David loved telling us which way to go.

We all enjoyed the wagon ride. We got to see horses and cows doing their thing.

David got to find and pick out his own pumpkin.

Fun stuff!
David also got to ride a pony, but my camera ran out of batteries so no pictures of that. :(

Going Back To Work!

2011-09-25T20:06:00.001-05:00

After almost a year of being on leave of absence, I'm going back to work! Kayla has been going to daycare for the past 3 weeks. She is really starting to get used to it. Friday was the first time she saw me there without crying as soon as she saw me. She is eating a lot more too. I think going to the bigger class has really helped her. I'm not as worried about her being there anymore.

I forgot about how much preparation it takes. Check out all this stuff that has to be prepared for Monday.

Pump Bag: I can't remember how many bottles I used to bring, so I'll be taking 6. Also have to have a pump, pump accessories, a pump bra and the little freezer pack to keep the milk cool. I remember being so excited when I didn't have to pump anymore for David. Bringing all that to work everyday sucks because I tend to forget stuff like getting the freezer pack out of the freezer or getting all the pump accessories.

Purse: Includes my id badge, wallet, and phone. :)

David's bag: We take his sheet and blanket home every weekend to wash, so we only have to bring this on Mondays. It also includes additional stuff like toothpaste when he runs out or changes of clothes.

Kayla's bag: Includes all the stuff that she needs for the week plus her bottles. Right now it's got her crib sheet, sleep sack (I don't give her a blanket yet since I don't think it ever stays on), 4 little tubs of baby food (Fruit), and 2 sippy cups. I have to remember to include her two bottles of milk tomorrow. Sometimes I put snacks or changes of clothes in there too.

Diapers: Kayla goes through one of these packages every other week. I think there's 74 in that pack.

and of course I have to feed the kids breakfast and get them dressed in the morning too. Fun stuff! I hope everybody has a happy Monday. :)

The Pillowcase Dress

2011-09-24T08:45:00.000-05:00

So I finally got around to making a pillowcase dress for Kayla.

I had originally planned on making a shirred dress with this fabric, but trying to figure out how to use the elastic thread on my sewing machine was a major failure. So I just made a regular pillowcase dress instead.

I added some jumbo ric rac and I made a little flower to go on it because I didn't know how else to cover the ends of the ric rac.
This Flower Tutorial helped me, but I did two little flowers and sewed them together. Then, I hot glued the button to the flower and then glued the flower to the ric rac.
I made the diaper cover using the tutorial from the MADE blog.

I can see why people make these. They are very easy to make.

Thanks to Kayla's Nana for the red fabric!

11 Months Old

2011-09-23T09:19:00.000-05:00

16 lbs 8 oz. and 27 inches

wears size 6 months-12 months. I got some of her 6 month pants back out because the weather is cooler and they still fit.
size 3 diaper
2 naps a day that are around 40-60 minutes. I still put her in the swing for nap because I can and she likes it.
still nursing 5-6 times a day when not at daycare. 5am, 8am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm.
Enjoys eating table foods. We still give her baby food occasionally, but it usually has to be cold and sweet. We've given her rice, bread, mac n cheese, sweet peas, green beans, sweet potato, butternut squash, fish, and chicken. She loves fruit like banana, honey dew melon, cantaloupe, and watermelon. She also eats what they have at daycare for lunch.
She's still saying the same syllables. Although we think she's can say "more," but sounds more like "ma". A lot of times I'll ask if she wants more and sounds like she says "Yeah." She also seems to say "done" too. We can definitely tell when she likes a food and doesn't. She will make 'mmm' sounds after she likes something. She still kicks her feet with excitement in the highchair when she sees me bringing her something new to try. If she doesn't like it, she uses her hands to cover her face or she swats at the spoon or throws food to the side.
She is clapping now and will bounce a little to music like she's dancing when she's sitting.
She is able to pull herself up.

This month has been a little rough on Kayla. Daycare isn't her favorite place. I never realized how small she was until I saw other babies at daycare. She's the size of a six month old. There's a six month old there that looks like she is 10 lbs more than Kayla. At lunch I go there to nurse her and play with her. Every time I go to pick her up or drop her off, she immediately starts crying. She doesn't really do that with Chris. They say she cries when she sees people coming in and out too.

She has started eating better this last week. She is loving lunch time and eats most of what they serve. Although she is still not drinking much of the milk that I provide. She is moving up to the Infant 2 room in October. They think the reason why she cries sometimes is because she is bored, so going to the next room up with the older babies will help with that. I think she is definitely starting to get used to the routine. I heard her growling again yesterday which she does when she's happy. She hadn't done that the last couple weeks, so I think she's starting to feel more comfortable.

Dr. Appointments

2011-09-21T08:54:00.003-05:00

September is apparently the month of seeing doctors for us...

Cardiology Appointment

Kayla had a cardiologist visit the first week of September. Her oxygen saturation was high 80s/low 90s which is really great for her. I rarely see the 90s, so I was happy about that. I didn't get a chance to figure out what her other stats (height, weight, blood pressure) were because she was having some stranger anxiety, so I was busy trying to calm her down. She had only been to daycare a few days, but every time she saw someone that was going to touch her she would cry and cling to me. The doctor looked at her and said she looked great. I always try to avoid buying Kayla any blue clothes because the doctor is always mentioning how nice it is that she's wearing white or pink. Blue babies wearing blue clothes makes their condition look worse.

After he looked at her, we went to get the echo. She didn't like that very much. We tried giving her some sweeties (sugar water) on a pacifier, but she wasn't interested. They had to get someone else to help me try to hold her down. I sang her ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star which helped a little bit. Afterwards everything looked great. The doctor said everything was going like expected. We only have to see the cardiologist every six months now. Her next surgery will probably be when she is 3. He said most parents start noticing their kid start to slow down in activity and will start being "bluer," so the parents are usually the ones to say when they think their kid is ready for the surgery.

Dermatologist Appointment

David and I had our first ever visit to the dermatologist. He's got a wart on his thumb and on the back of his hand. I have a tiny one on my wrist that's been there a couple years. I figured we'd go together to figure out what to do with it. Our options were freeze it off or use some prescription cream for 6 weeks. She said that since David's was close to the nail bed that it might scar. It would also be painful for him. I decided that since he loves going to the doctor so much, we'd just do the cream for him. I don't want to traumatize him. I got mine frozen. Three zaps and it blisters. I think you can buy the same stuff at Walmart. However, the cream is incredibly expensive...like almost $500 for some tiny packets. Wow.. Good thing we already reached our out of pocket maximum with our insurance, so everything was free!

Optometrist Appointment
I also had an appointment with the optometrist last weekend. Apparently, a whole year off from work makes my eyes better! This is the second time that my eye prescription has gotten better. I told him I thought they were worse because sometimes stuff far away is blurry but if I focus it gets clearer. He said that's a sign that my prescription is too strong and my eyes are refocusing to accommodate it. However, I have astigmatism in one of my eyes. I was a little worried I'd have to wear 2 different contacts, but he said the astigmatism wasn't bad enough. Yay! So I picked out some new glasses and will hopefully get them next week.

Flu Shots
Chris and the kids got flu shots. I've never gotten one and rarely get the flu, so I don't plan on getting one. Since David got two last year, he got to do the mist this year. David is always super excited about going to the doctor. He tries to make excuses to go like saying he has an owie on his foot. Kayla hates going to the doctor. I hope some of David's excitement will spread to Kayla some day because she's going to have a lot more visits than him.

Chris and I also had dentist appointments this month that went well. That's it for doctor appointments this month! The kids will have their yearly exams next month. Kayla will have to get her second dose of the flu shot at that time.

Refashioned Shirt into Skirted Leggings

2011-09-17T20:53:00.007-05:00

So recently I saw a blog post about making leggings. I thought it looked simple enough to do, so I added it to my list of things I think I might do some day. I was also interested in learning how to use a twin needle.

I was excited about finding this shirt on clearance for $6. I had a $5 coupon, so it was only a dollar! I bought the largest size I could get since that give me the most amount of fabric to work with. So, even if it didn't work out, it would only be a dollar wasted.

The knit fabric was kind of thin, but the front had two layers. It would make some cute leggings! The same day that I found the shirt, the blogger posted another tutorial on 2 different leggings styles. I was super excited about that, since I had planned on adding ruffles to the butt anyway.

photo from http://www.makeit-loveit.com

I ended up doing the attached skirt. Chris said he hates ruffles and had some comments like "They're ugly", "How come they don't go all the way around?" and "They're just extra rice catchers!" (We eat a lot of rice and it tends to stick to our kids butts after dinner causing more cleanup than we like). I think I might still do something with ruffles because I think they're adorable.

I broke 2 twin needles making these. The first needle came with my sewing machine. I don't know why the first needle broke, but I went all around town looking for some. Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Rabbit's Lair do not have twin needles! However, an employee at Rabbit's Lair told me they don't carry them because the Roger's Sewing Center does. It was my first time going to those two stores. The Rabbit's Lair has some really beautiful fabric, but I'm cheap and was in a hurry, so I didn't buy anything. The Roger's Sewing Center sells mostly sewing machines and stuff for sewing machines. They did have twin needles, so I bought two different ones in case I broke one again. As soon as I got home, I put the twin needle in and broke it. My mistake because I wasn't being careful and didn't try to figure out why the first needle broke. That was $6 wasted. However, I was super careful with my last one and got it working. Yay!

Kayla's first time at a Starbucks!

My First Day Off

2011-09-01T20:48:00.001-05:00

This was my first day by myself in almost a year!! Besides the two different stays at the hospital, Kayla and I haven't ever been apart for more than 4 hours. If you don't count daycare yesterday, it's probably more like 2.5 hours. I worked out, watched TV shows, and organized around the house.

At lunch, I went to daycare to feed Kayla and check up on her. I did the same when David started daycare. I would use my lunch break to go nurse David. I stopped when he was distracted and I felt that I had to go pump when I got back from lunch break. Kayla was happy to see me. She refused to eat anything all morning except for 1 oz of milk. However, she didn't really act like she was starving when I fed her. When I left daycare, Kayla was sad. She had a sad cry that I rarely ever hear. It made me so sad. It was hard to leave her like that.

I picked up the kids early. Kayla had just started napping. They said it only takes about 5-10 minutes to get her to nap. I was kind of bummed that I had to wake her up. She still hadn't eaten anything except puffs for snack. Lately she's been extremely difficult to feed baby food. She swats at our hands the moment she sees the spoon coming. Although yesterday we went to Golden Corral for dinner and she ate well. She ate sweet potato, green beens, some bread, and watermelon. We love eating there because the kids love it.

I hope tomorrow is a better day for Kayla. Her runny nose did clear up yesterday. :)

The Goals Update

2011-09-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

Only a few more weeks before I go back to work. So how've I done so far?

Goal 1: Lose weight. I've lost 10 pounds. I was really serious in June. I worked out 3 days a week and cut out almost all sweets and junk food. I lost 5 pounds that month. July was harder because my mom came and cooked good food. By August, I started eating more junk foods. However, I still lost 5 pounds in those 2 months. Yay! I can actually wear my wedding ring now. The last 5 pounds are always the hardest. However, with the kids in daycare, I should be able to work out more...I hope I can do it.

Goal 2: Get rid of stuff in the house.. It's hard to go around organizing with a baby and toddler grabbing at everything. I did sell a lot of baby clothes at a consignment sale. Today I went through the other boxes of kids clothes and got a box together to donate. I still have our closet to go through.

Goal 3: Be crafty. I've sewn a bunch of stuff that I've already blogged about. I attempted to do a shirred dress for Kayla last weekend. I was able to do a matching diaper cover, but the dress was a failure. I couldn't figure out how to do the shirring on my sewing machine. I watched youtube videos and read several tutorials, but I think I'm just going to give up on that. I do plan on doing something with the dress..just not shirring. I've got several sewing projects that I plan on doing this month. :)

D is for David

2011-08-31T20:12:00.001-05:00

Monday was my last day with just the kids before they both start going to daycare all the time.

The weather was nice, so the kids went for a ride in the wagon around the neighborhood. It was their first time riding together. Afterwards, I took pictures in the backyard.

David drawing a D and an A.

David seems to be growing so fast. We went to Walmart today to pick out a present for his grandfather's birthday. David picked out something perfect just for his "Pup pup". When we were leaving he said 'I can't wait to give it to him.' Chris and I were both surprised at how thoughtful he was. I think he must get this from me. haha :)

Kayla has been doing ok at daycare so far. She did a morning daycare on Tuesday and an afternoon daycare on Wednesday. She didn't eat well, but napped ok. She got a runny nose the first day. :(

Tomorrow is her first whole day.

10 Months Old

2011-08-22T20:41:00.005-05:00

Kayla is 10 months old today. She weighed 16 lbs 10 oz when I weighed her. At her last checkup she was 26.25 inches.

Stuff she does:

Crawls everywhere now. She is getting faster each day.
Trying to pull up. So far she can only pull up on her knees. I never saw David do this. He would always pull up and stand on his feet then fall.
wears size 6 months-12 months. I finally put away some of her 3-6 month old clothes this month.
size 3 diaper
2-3 naps a day that are around 40-60 minutes. She still does most in the swing because it's easier for both of us.
still nursing 5-6 times a day.
Eats solids twice a day (lunch and dinner). I will sometimes give her puffs, yogurt melts, scrambled eggs, or banana for breakfast. It's becoming more difficult to give her pureed foods. She loves being able to feed herself. She wants to eat table foods so badly, but we are worried she'll choke on stuff because she only has 2 teeth.
She hasn't really said any new words. Lately she has been growling a lot. It's really cute.

I was lucky to get this picture. It's kind of blurry, but it's the best I could get of her in this chair. She is such a mover lately.

No more bald spots. All of her hair has grown back!

Thanks to Aunt Soco for this pretty dress!