Updates Galore!

Well, I haven't been very good about updating this lately, but I do have a good excuse. The biggest 'news' is that we are SO excited to announce we are expecting again! I'm due on September 6th, one day before Kayleigh's 3rd birthday. Thus far this pregnancy has been very different than Kayleigh's, I wasn't nearly as sick as I was with K. I never threw up when I was pregnant with her but I had bad morning sickness. This time around I had a few bad hours/days but nothing nearly as bad. My biggest probelm this time around- PURE EXHAUSTION. I know they always say you're so much more tired when you're pregnant with  your second or third kid because you can't just come home and relax after work, you're chasing a toddler around. I was really tired when I was pregnant with K, infact, I didn't think I could get any more tired- but this go round, I've been totally drained. I'm 21 weeks and still waiting for that 'burst' of energy in the 2nd trimester. I realize this time around, I'm also 3 years older, so that comes in to play too, I'm sure. We can't believe the timing of this one, that makes for a TON of September birthdays. Kayleigh's due date was Jourdan's birthday (September 2nd). She was late but, I had her on Labor Day- and Jourdan was born on Labor Day. My dad's birthday and an uncle's are also in September. Should be interesting. This year we start school a week later, which means that I will only get 1 week with my class or so instead of the 2 I got with my class when I had K- God willing I will be able to work up until D-day. :) Kayleigh is thrilled too, she LOVES babies and is very obsessed. Everytime we walk in to her school we have to walk by the baby room and see what they're doing. We'll see how she feels once one is around permanently. Her original prediction for the sex of the baby was boy. In fact, her teachers congratulated me on the 'boy when I was only a few months pregnant. When I told them we don't know yet, they said, "Oh, that's funny because Kayleigh has been telling everyone you have a baby boy in your tummy". She also told me that she wanted a brother named Sister, so we'll see how that works out for her. We found out a couple of weeks ago that K was indeed correct. Baby #2 is a boy. We still don't have a name yet, but we're working on it.

As part of the 'getting ready' we have decided to move Kayleigh to a 'big girl bed'. Yes, she was a giant in her crib, but she never tried to climb out. Don't fix what isn't broken. She made the transition SO easy. She loves her bed and get this: She doesn't get out! Like, EVER! She sits up in bed and calls for us when she gets up. We'll see how long this lasts.

Poor K has been put through the ringer the past few months. She just kept getting sick. She has always been very healthy but here lately, we are OVER IT! In the beginning of April we had a big 'tornado' scare. I got a call from K's school saying she was crabby and her eyes were running. (yuck!) I said, "Okay, I'll be right there". Right when I hung up with them, our school goes into a lockdown for severe weather. So, my class files into the girl's bathroom, our designated severe weather zone, and I'm texting Jourdan, who is hiding out in the stairwell at his building as the tornado sirens are going off. K's school is in lockdown too, so she is there, stuck. 2 hours later, we are allowed to emerge (also an hour after regular dismissal time). I rush out to get K and she looks awful. We immediately go to the Dr. and they say it's strep. Apparently you can have strep in your eyes too! This was abourt a month ago just before Easter. She has been sick off and on since then. Finally Saturday, it all hit the fan. She woke up at 1am with a 103 fever. Then came the vomiting etc. We got her in to the doctor on Saturday, and thank God we did. She had to have a whole barrage of tests done. Her white blood cell count was through the roof so the doctor was certian whatever it was, it was bacterial. She got 2 antibotic shots and we were told to bring her back tomorrow (Sunday) for more shots and bloodwork. You know your kid is sick if the pediatrician wants to have her back on a Sunday. Sunday goes about the same, more bloodwork and more shots. At this point she still has a continual 103 fever. As soon as the Tylenol wears off, BOOM! The doctor thinks she has Scarlet Fever, but her strep cultures have been negative. The white blood cell count is down, which means the antibiotics are doing something, but the fever just won't break. Thank God as of 2am Monday was her last Motrin dose. The doctor wanted to see her again on Monday for more blood work (or pokes as K calls them) and possibly more shots if she needs them. Luckily, all is good and she didn't need any more shots. She is now on oral antibiotics for 10 days to really knock it out. Poor baby has been through so much. It was so funny as we drove home on Sunday from the doctor K pipes up "Mom, we had a great day! We saw fish at the doctor, the doctor poked my finger, the doctor looked at my throat" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, only my sweet K could find the positive in such a crappy weekend filled with multiple blood draws, 4 painful antibiotic shots, and throat cultures. She is such a sweet, positive little soul. Love that kid!

Warning, Very Sad, sad picture:

K waiting at the doctor's office on Saturday

Here she is with her 'loot'. Can you tell they felt sorry for her?

So here's hoping we all stay healthy! (Both J and I have come down with colds etc since Easter). I have bleached practically every hard surface in this house and washed about everything I can wash. I'm exhausted and I can feel the gray hairs growing in!!!!! I'm counting down the days until summer vacation so hopefully I can keep the blog updated better. :) OH, and just for good measure, here's a picture of her healthy before all this drama!!



K's 'Special' New School

Many of you might remember my August post about K starting preschool for the first time. She had a very hard time at first and cried by the door ALL DAY for a few days. Talk about rip my heart out. It was awful, she did get through it rather quickly, but it was so hard to watch as a parent. She eventually got to where she liked school- she was never excited to go but she seemed happy when I picked her up. The daycare had a webcam and every time I looked in on her she was playing.

We were finally settled in our routine and comfortable and then---- I get an email from my district employee childcare center- there's an opening for the 2nd of January. My heart sank, I was excited because that was our plan- to eventually have her over by me. It's a great school, with actual teachers, and it follows my schedule (so no paying for 2 weeks off at Christmas etc.). If we switch her now she is guaranteed a spot until Kindergarten, but if we wait, who knows when a spot would open. I was torn, do we move her?  I CAN'T go through what we went through in August again. Finally we decided to move her. Why not, just get it over with like a band-aid since that's our end-game anyway. All Christmas break I mourned over moving her. I don't even know why, frankly I was indifferent about her old school, I mean they did love on K and they were very patient with her and I'm very thankful for them, but she had no BFF's and let's face it- at daycare the goal is so keep all the kids from killing each other. :) We visited her 'new school' and went by a couple of times over the break- it was closed but she knew it was her 'special' school. I braced myself for her first days.

It worked out perfect because Jourdan was off Monday and he could take her (passing the buck!) for her first day because Mommy can't really deal with it. I didn't bother taking pics this time around because I can't even look at those pictures from August- brings up too many emotions. Rationally, I knew that it would be better than August because now she understands the concept that "mommy and daddy come back". Jourdan said she ran around like a maniac checking everything out when they arrived.

But she did have a hard time when he tried to leave. The teacher emailed me around 10 to let me know that she only fussed for a minute and she was doing great. What a relief. No more webcam here, I miss checking in on her but I'm not worried here. When we went to pick her up, she was happily eating her snack, smiling. I was SO happy. Here is her daily sheet from her first day.

I was glad she had a great day but worried what drop off would be like the next day. Her teacher is a genius because she gave her a reason to be excited to return. Kayleigh had noticed the teacher's necklace and I guess K told her "Kay have necklace at home" so her teacher asked her to wear her necklace to school. She couldn't WAIT to show her necklace to her teacher and the kids. Here she is proud of her necklace.

Drop off went great! She just loves her new school. All week long she has wanted to walk in to her school (she always had me carry her in to her daycare). She is always smiling when I pick her up. She sometimes looked a little 'stressed' when I would pick her up from daycare - not now. She just loves her teacher too. Today when I dropped her off she looked at me and said "Okay, Mommy. You go to work now" and pointed at the door. Well, I can take a hint. I'm so thankful she loves her new school. I think it is because her teacher loves on the kids much like K's first caregiver Miss Jeanette, who we miss dearly. :( Anyway, I'm so proud of my big girl!

Kayleigh-isms

                                                 
Well, I know it has been awhile since I last posted. There has been so much going on and I have just been loving every second I've gotten to spend with my sweet family. Kayleigh is growing into such a 'kid' and it is so funny to see her trying to express herself and experiment with language. As an educator, I'm amazed by how her little brain works and as her parent, I'm constantly impressed by the random things she says. She still has her 'gibberish' moments, but 90% of the time, she's got something to say and she WILL KEEP repeating it until I understand, which is good because sometimes it takes a couple of tries for her to get it all out. She is speaking in sentences, which is so fun and is even experimenting with pronouns. The other day a waitress was talking to Kayleigh and she gave her cheek a little pinch as she walked away. Kayleigh's face lit up and she said "Look, Him tickle my cheek!" It is so funny listening to her hilarious take on life. Lately she's said a few things that Jourdan and I have really gotten a kick out of.

Jourdan and I have both been off for the last 2 weeks for Christmas vacation. On Monday of last week Kayleigh and I went to the grocery store to get our holiday shopping done. As we were waiting in line, Kayleigh was holding a cookie cutter (we didn't have a girl-gingerbread woman cutter). The woman waiting in line in front of us asked Kayleigh if she was going to make cookies. You know it's about 50/50 when you talk to toddlers, sometimes you get an answer and sometimes you get this look like "I no speak English!" In this case, it was the latter. Kayleigh turned around to face me, leaned in and said "Mommy, I'm being shy!"

Later that day, we were going to meet Jourdan for lunch since he still had to work. I had told Kayleigh that morning that we were going to meet him. When it was finally time to leave, she didn't want to get in the car. I reminded her where we were going and she was game. Once we were pulling out of the driveway she yelled proudly "Mommy, we go get Jourdan for lunch!" The whole way there she yelled "Where's Jourdan, No see Jourdan. Mommy, go eat lunch with Jourdan". I managed to get a quick video of her looking for her daddy when we were waiting outside his building. In the video she spots him walking out the door. So now, needless to say, she knows that Daddy's name is Jourdan and Mommy's name is A-Lace-Auh, which is strangely similar to how she says the name Alicia who is a character from a favorite show of hers.

Today we had the most random response from her. She wanted to take her lunch in to her playroom. She loves to eat at the table in there. I was trying to tidy up while she ate. She finally emerged from her room and I asked her if she ate her chicken nuggets. She looked at me, I repeated my question. She tilts her head and says "Turkey sandwich". What the what?!? 1. How does she even know what that is? She has never eaten one as she has a strict rule about eating things that are combined (picky toddler). 2. What? We laughed so hard. She is nut.

One of her favorite pastimes is singing. Let's hope she didn't inherit my skills or she won't be able to get away with it for much longer. Her latest favorite is Baa Baa Black Sheep. She has changed the lyrics, as you'll see in the video so that mommy, daddy and Kayleigh get bags of "Wolf". :)

And last but not least, the obligatory toddler embarrasses parents story. Every parent has a similar story but it finally happened to me for the first time a few weeks ago. We were driving to Colorado to visit my parents. We stopped at a crowded McDonald's in Walsenberg to go to the restroom. I brought her in with me so she could stretch her legs a bit. Once we finally got in a stall in the crowded restroom she yells in her 'toddler voice' (I.E. a SCREAMING VOICE) "Momma, you gonna go Poo Poo?!?" To which I quickly respond "No, Kayleigh, I'm  just going potty." I heard a few mothers snicker as I'm sure they have been in the same position I was in. I'm sure it won't be last time either.

Thanksgiving in Colorado

This year since I had the whole week off at work we decided to make the trip out to Colorado to visit my parents. We hadn't been out since our cross-country road trip over the summer of 2010. K was GREAT on the ride up. She hardly made a peep. She's so flexible, I love her easy going personality. It was cold and windy when we arrived but after being the car we knew K needed to go out and play so we had some fun playing basketball outside.

She also had to test out Grandma's trampoline- that's right- Grandma's trampoline. I wanted one so bad when I was young but my dad said they were too dangerous. Haha. Anyway, she LOVED it. She was squealing the whole time.

On Monday we decided to take K to Santa's Workshop at the "North  Pole". It was at the base of Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs. Of course, the scenery was beautiful but it was a little chilly. She was SO excited. When we pulled up she said "Look Mommy, a Playground!" She noticed all the rides. It was a cute little family owned amusement park. It has been around for a long time and even though it was dated, it was super cute and we had such a blast.

Here's Kayleigh on the Sleigh when we went in

Cute, cute place

Riding the train around the park.

Waiting in line to see Santa.

We weren't sure how she would do with Santa. Last year she was very excited to see him, but wouldn't sit. Even though she loves characters in costume, she wasn't too sure about Santa last year. This year she didn't want to sit in his lap. But she couldn't wait to show him her special Owl Gloves. She also had to do her little "Look, I fell down" routine to be silly. Then she realized Santa was AWESOME and she gave him a big hug and posed for a few pictures with him. Now we've been talking a lot about how Santa will bring her toys if she is a good girl and she totally gets it. It's so much fun.

Showing Santa her gloves

Hugging Santa

How sweet is this?

And...I've about reached my limit mom. Let's go!

After visiting Santa, we stopped by a huge fire pit (where they also were selling S'more kits) to warm our hands while mom and grandma went in the gift shop for a bit.

Warming hands

Now begins the ride portion of the visit. She LOVES rides. I wondered if she would get bored and want to get off halfway through, but she loved every second. She rode a carousel, a car ride, and a Christmas tree spinning ride.

Riding a reindeer

Riding the bus ride with Grandma

Riding the Christmas Tree ride.

They were really high up there. :) She loved every minute.

The next day we took Kayleigh up in to the mountains to see some snow. It was probably about 8 inches deep and nice and powdery. She wasn't sure what to do at first (it was up to her thighs) then she wanted to take her gloves off and spread it around. It was cold, so once we finally got her to keep her gloves on, she had a blast taking snowballs Grandpa made and throwing them. Our original plan was to sled, but we couldn't hike far enough up. My dad tried a quick ride down a steep hill. Kayleigh watched him and as he rolled off the toboggan, she said "Grandpa, you okay?" It was so funny. She loved playing with the snow.

Checking it out

What is this stuff

I love it!

With Grandma and Grandpa

Snowballs!

Hiking around

Family Pic, she wasn't cooperating

Hiking with Grandma

On Thanksgiving it warmed up and we took the opportunity to go hiking around my parents' house. There are so many rocks and things to see and Kayleigh loves being outside.

Hiking around

Group picture from the top of "Rocky Ridge'

K digging

Playing with the rocks she found.

My grandparents, K's great grandparents, also came down for Thanksgiving. This was the first time she has met them and she had a blast. They brought her 2 adorable bears that she has been toting around the house since. I was so sad I couldn't get her to actually pose for a picture, but it typical toddler fashion- it's GO-GO-GO! These are the only pictures I could actually get.

October 2011

Well, we've been slacking lately and I haven't had a chance to update the blog!

To start off, we had a great visit with Jourdan's parents who came down to visit to go to the State Fair. It was perfect to go as a group so we could all sample the fried goodness and not spend a ton of money. We have been to many fairs and this one did not disappoint. We went early to beat the crowd and to try and accommodate K's nap schedule. She ended up falling asleep while strolling around so it didn't matter but you never know how she will do. :) K's favorite part was the petting zoo. She loves animals and has no fear when it comes to them. As we were walking around, Jourdan pointed out a mean-looking Ostrich in a cage nearby. K runs right up to it and it pecks her hand. She was very upset and kept saying "Mommy, Ostrich not nice!!!" She quickly got over it and has since been to a petting zoo at the Celina Balloon Festival and she isn't scarred for life.

K enjoying the petting zoo

General Fair Silliness

And now for what you really wanted to know about- the fried foods. We tried a really random assortment of things that included, Fried Frito Pie, Fried Latte, Fried Bacon, Fried Cookie Dough, Fried Strawberry Waffle Balls, Fried S'mores, Fried Chicken Skin, and Fried Banana Pudding. The Fried Bacon was my favorite. Woohoo!

Sampling some goodies

Now on to Halloween.

Now that K is very opinionated, I knew that her costume had to be something she would agree to wear. I'm not big on some of those cheesy costumes from the costume shops so I figured I'd just go easy and get her an Old Navy costume since they have good prices and they're cute. J and I looked online one night and agreed we thought the monster costume was really funny but I would take her and let her pick out which one she liked because there were so many cute ones to choose from. She and I went to Old Navy one Saturday and she sprinted to the monster costume (which was the last one left and it was in her size- a sign!) She yelled "Mommy, Mostah! Mostah!" She had to carry it around the store and even on the way home. I let her try it on a couple times before Halloween and to practice her best monster "Rawr!". I ended up having to hide it in the hall closet because she always wanted to wear it. My parents and grandparents ended up coming down for a visit on Halloween weekend so they got to be here to see her Trick or Treating. She was barely walking last year and still had major stranger anxiety so she didn't really get much out of trick or treating. Also this year, we decided to step it up a notch and try to carve a Mickey Mouse pumpkin for Kayleigh since she loves Mickey. Jourdan was skeptical once he saw the pattern but it turned out awesome and Kayleigh loved it!!

On Halloween, which as you know was a workday this year, she was SO excited to go was ready "Mommy,  I go trick or treating!" We noticed other kids outside early so we decided to join too. She was going 90 miles an hour, at the first house she practiced saying "Trick or Treat!" and .... no one answered.... On to the next house, also no answer. Finally at the 3rd house, the door opens and a barking yippy dog sprints out at us. K lunges at me and I hit her in the head with the camera that was around my neck. Ahhh let the crying commence..... We go on to the next house where they were sitting outside. She wanted my to carry her (still shaken up). They give her candy and she immediately understands what's going on. "Mommy, open candy!" From then on she was good and wanted to stop and sample all the candy along the way.

asking for me to open the candy

Mommy, Daddy, and K

Ding-Dong

Showing her stash to her Great Grandma and Grandpa

Showing the goods to Grandma