Birthday pics

For Kaylie's birthday we decided to have a get together with our immediate family and friends. It turned out to be a gorgeous day. The weather had been yucky during the week and Kaylie had just gotten over a 4 week bug. It was awesome. Below are a few of the pictures from her celebration. She was such a trooper. As you can see in the first few she was a little overwhelmed by people wanting to hold her. She was not used to so many loved ones wanting to hold her and it made it hard to get a good picture. This is the first time she has not hammed it up for the camera. I guess I can't blame her!

My main priority for her party (a very shallow priority) was to get her a dress that had first birthday on it. I know this is silly but I had to have it. I looked for a long time to find a dress for a one year old that was a 0 to 3 month. I am very bitter because baby clothes are designed just like adult clothes. Even though some people fit into this perfect perfect size the majority of people do not making it very difficult to dress yourself as well as a 1 yr. 13 lb baby. You were able to find a small selection of 6 month but for the most part they were all 12 +. Now I know Kaylie is unusually small but not all babies are in a size 12 months at 12 months of age so to start it at 12 months + is just plan wrong!!!!!! Can you tell I really wanted to find her a dress. Why should she miss out on having the adorable picture with a birthday candle on her outfit. Again...please know I understand my priorities are messed up! The dress I ended up finding was the only dress that would fit her but it was also the one I fell in love with so I guess all in all I was happy. I also had to have her in a change of clothes (yes, I know...shallow) which I had to have monogrammed in her size as well as a strawberry bathing suit for the pool. Unfortunately the water was so cold she sat down and started screaming. Oops! I am not supposed to make the birthday girl cry on her big day. At least she looked cute doing it. If you asked Jason he is very open with the fact that I buy too many clothes but since my daughter is one of the only kids that is still using her 0 to 3 month clothes while wearing 3 to 6's I feel as if she is getting enough use out of them. Since pointing that out he has left me along. =)

For Kaylie's cakes we decided to do 3 different cupcake cakes. These were adorable. We gave the store a picture of her decorations and from that they made the cakes. The even threw in a smash cake for Kaylie to eat. That way she did not slobber all over the cakes the other party members would be eating from. It didn't seem to matter because if you look at the pictures below you can see she wanted nothing to do with the cake. She was terrified. I even tried to give her a little taste. This made matters worse so we closed up the cake and set it aside for another try. Thinking their may of been too many people around we ended up trying it again the next morning with just Jason and I. Although we did not have the massive screaming fit we did have a massive protest. Cake was definitely a no go!

During the presents Kaylie did very well. She sat on my lap and looked at the toys. Actually, I think she was actually looking at the wrapping paper but for the sack of the party she was looking at the presents. After a little bit of unwrapping her attention span disappeared. This was all do to the discovery of a blue bow that had come off a present. If you tried to take the bow away she started screaming. As you can see we had a bunch of pictures with the blue bow. In one of the pictures we took I am opening the present and off to the side you see Kaylie climbing up Michele trying to get her paper and pen with the blue bow still in her hand. It was hilarious.

Once Kaylie was asleep our families we went out onto the porch to enjoy the beautiful evening. When we finally let the dogs out Shiner decided he was going to show us what he thought of being cooped up for so long. He walked over to the pool that we had set up and peed on it. He peed for a good minute. Once we shooed him away we brought out the hose and cleaned up. Silly dog!

Kaylie's birthday was a blast! Thanks to everyone for coming to celebrate the first birthday of our beautiful baby girl.

Happy Birthday Kaylie Marie

Happy birthday to our beautiful baby girl. You are so loving and sweet. When you smile we smile, when you laugh we laugh, and when you hurt we hurt. We love you and can not imagine this world without you. You have made an impact on so many lives and we hope that that will continue as you grow to be big and strong. You truly are a miracle baby and we can't wait to see what the next year holds for you. We love you so much!

To my daughter...This is extra special to me. This is the song I sang to you before you were born and while you were in the NICU. The first time I heard it I knew this was your song. Whenever I hear it I think about how truly blessed I am that God gave me you. I thank him every day for you and pray that he will hold you and protect you. I hope you will always know that you have a lot of people watching over you and you are never alone. I love you so much!
Love your mommy

RASCAL FLATTS LYRICS
"My Wish"
I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.

But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.


Look how far you have come! God is amazing! Thank you for answering our prayers!


1 day old
1 lb. 13 oz. 13 inches
















1 year old
13 lbs 6 oz 24 inches

Mother's Day

What a wonderful day! Jason got up, got Kaylie and brought her in to see me. In her hand she had a card for me. Since she is getting good with her da sounds we practice them a lot. She loves to say "da, da, da, da, da, da" over and over. The next step is for her to say "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma." She finally did it, only she wrote it on the front of the card instead of saying it. It amazes me how something so small can make me smile. Once I got out of bed I went into the living room and Jason had his present for me. It was a beautiful etched glass vase with a matching perfume bottle. I love etched glass and I knew that the perfume bottle would fit in nicely with the ones I already had. Jason told me that I needed to be ready to leave by 10:30. Yeah! With Kaylie being sick for the fourth weekend in a row I needed to leave the house. He ended up surprising me with a brunch at the Gaylord Texan. This is a huge resort located in Grapevine about 45 minutes from our house. It was awesome! Their were so many different types of food. They served Mimosas and had a band playing. The flowers were gorgeous and the services was great. Of course I could not leave with out having a diet coke. During breakfast Kaylie was very well behaved. We layed the back of her stroller down and let her play inside it. Since she is pulling up and crawling it was a little harder to keep her inside the stroller. After awhile we gave up and strapped her in. She behaved wonderfully. We finished our family time by walking around the resort. The design of this hotel is amazing. Their are so many plants, a riverwalk that resembles San Antonio, a huge pool, and many different shops and restaurants to keep anyone busy. It definitely made for a great picture opp.

When we got home we spent the rest of the day as a family. We got comfortable and relaxed. I could not have asked for a better day. It is amazing to see how much our little family has grown. As our little munchkin approaches a year I look back and know we are blessed. Man time flies!!!!!

Does anyone see a problem with the newspaper? She doesn't want her other baby friends to feel bad that she can read and they can't so she is acting like she doesn't know which way the paper is supposed to go.


She was put in this box a long time ago and barely peeked out over it. I put her in it again thinking I would have to fight to keep her in for a picture. I could not get her out. She loved this thing.
Her new thing is to play shy. If someone walks up to her to say hello she looks at them and rubs her head into me. I love it!

This picture is priceless. Shiner stood in the doggy door for a good 2 to 3 minutes. Sometimes I wish he had a bubble that popped up telling us what he wants. Lately he just stands in front of you and stares. This can go on for several days. Bailey on the other hand wants to know why Shiner is in her way.

Jason...thank you! You so badly wanted my first mother's day to be special. This week has been hard for me. I am struggling with some of the memories this time last year brought and I thank you for everything you did. You definitely made my first MD a memorable one! I love you!

A look into the past

With Kaylie's first birthday coming around the corner I decided why not get another card made by the person who made her birth announcement many months ago. She is a NICU nurse and that was the major selling point for me. If anyone ever needs anything made, Christmas cards, birthday cards, graduation cards etc. she is fantastic. She worked with me to get exactly what I wanted. She was the one who came up with the preemie poem below. I know this is a shameless plug for her, and no I did not get a discount =). I am just grateful to have gotten exactly what I was looking for!

Her site is http://www.kimsphotocreations.com/. I promise you will love her.

Notice the difference in her bear picture in the picture above from the picture below. You can really see a change.

The NICU bear

While in the NICU we put her next to several things to track her growth. I know I posted all of her pictures with Buster so I thought I would do the same with the bear. It is not as easy to see as it is with Buster.

06/16/2007 - 2 lbs. 9 oz.

06/28/2007 - 3 lbs 4 oz.

08/03/2007 - 5 lbs. 7 oz

09/24/2007 - 7 lbs.

11/03/2007 - 8 lbs. 9 oz.

02/19/2008 -12 lbs.

04/19/2008 - 12 lbs 15 oz.

Baby Catching

First things first...Kaylie is 13 lbs. 11.5 oz. She has gained almost 1lb in 2 and 1/2 weeks. We have changed to a level 3 nipple on her bottle and has started to inhale her milk. She is still only drinking 4 to 5 ounces but she is finishing more of her bottles.

April - 11 month/ 8 months corrected picture with Buster (13 lbs. 11 oz)

That is the look that will get her a pony when she is older!

Before Kaylie was really mobile I made a comment to my mom about people who could not get their babies to lay down long enough for you to put their diaper on. I told her you should be able to teach a growing baby how to do this (through a routine) and not have to "catch them" and hold them down. I finished that conversation by laughing and saying that I knew at some point I would eat my words. That time has come! Kaylie only likes to roll to her right side and because of that she is quit stealthy about it. The minute you take that diaper half way of she is on her stomach trying to get away. It is quit a site to see a half naked,13 lb baby with a diaper dragging on the floor. Your first reaction is do I grab the diaper or the baby. This morning Jason was not home so I did the morning duties. Since he does not have a set time that he has to be a work he has taken on that task. After this morning I have a lot more respect for him. No one can ever say he does not have patience. With her diaper hanging half way off I frantically played the "how to catch the baby" game. Now I know you are thinking that I am silly and how hard could it really be to grab her, lay her down, and put on her diaper but I promise she is fast. The minute you go to reach for the clean diaper she is off. To top off you are on the floor which means play time to the dogs. I wait for the day one of them grabs her diaper and runs out the doggie door with it. That will be another post. Once you finally completed the mission and gotten her diaper on the game starts all over again.

I thought this was an adorable picture. This dress was put away before it was worn because she did not get to wear it before it got to cold. Who knew she would still fit into it 8 months later.

What are you talking about...? I wasn't doing anything wrong!

On a side note...On April 14th, I took Kaylie in to the doctor because she had started coughing really bad and as a 28 weeker her lungs are developed but definitely a lot weeker. They are somewhat immature. Because of this we spent the entire winter on RSV watch. Over Christmas we got a very mild case that we caught fast enough (Christmas Eve) allowing us to start breathing treatments and keeping us out of the hospital. Since then we take her in to make sure it is not in her chest and then restart her breathing treatments any time she gets a cough making it so it goes away fairly quickly. This time her cough has not gone away. On the 14th the doctor added another inhaled medicine called Pulmocort. It is an inhaled steroid that is used for asthma. That would be given with the Zoponax making her breathing treatments last 30 minutes vs. 15. For anyone who has had to give a breathing treatment you will understand my pain. 50% of the time Kaylie will go to sleep. The other 50% you are fighting her trying to keep this mask that is shaped like a Rhino on her face so that she gets the medicine. The only plus to her crying is that she inhales the medicine better. It doesn't make it easier. =) When I got to the office they ask the same questions. The first thing they ask you is what brings you her today? For the first time in months I really did not know. I told them I did not really know if anything was wrong but she spent the night before waking up every hour either whimpering or screaming. Her cold had picked up and her cough had not gone away. Prepared for the doctor to say she is fine and continue with what you are doing I waited. When he came in he listed to her lungs and nothing. I was confident he would not find anything their. He did the rest of his exam and nothing. The last thing he does is check her ears. Poor thing hates this but for some reason she did not cry. He said she had some wax and started to pull it out only it was not wax but blood. The first thing he said was she ruptured her ear drum. Frustrated, stressed, and sad all at the same time I almost lost it. Poor thing has been sick since November and can't get a break. He then said he was wrong and it was actually from her tubes. He told me she had a really bad ear infection and the blood was from the tubes. Gross! He also said she most likely had a sinus infection. As we were about to leave he told me that because she was a 28 weeker chances were we were going to have to see a pulmanologist for her lungs. Since she can't seem to get rid of this cough we may have to look at some different types of medication that he would not feel comfortable giving her. He said we would give it another week. Ugh! My hope and prayer is that maybe if we add this last component to her day we might actually have a week or two with a healthy baby. The doctor prescribed us a new antibiotic that has not been out too long and after one day of it her nose is clearing up and her moods have drastically changed. She is playing and happy. It could also be from the combination of that combined with the antibiotic ear drops and 3 doses of breathing treatments. =) Please continue to pray for her and her health. When she is healthy we catch up on so many milestones. It is amazing to see what she has done in the past when she has a week or two of feeling good.

I always know she is not feeling good when she uses her paci during the day.

Finally

After 8 months of trying to convince others I can finally say I am not going crazy. Even though some may still disagree =) it has been confirmed. On Thursday I went in for a minor procedure called laprescopy. They make an incision under my belly button, one below that along my c-section line and one to the left of that. From there they were planning on sticking a camera in to just "explore". Up To this point I have had many tests in an attempt to figure out why I have pain on my right side of my body. After my c-section I continued to have an aching pain that would come and go and no one could figure out the problem. I had two ct scans to check my appendix, kidneys, liver, gall bladder etc. and everything came back negative. That is when my ob decided it was time to explore. My bet was that it was scar tissue. I had been saying that all along but had to rule everything else out before hand so finally she agreed to it. During my procedure I was put under. I hate that. They tell you to move to the table and then your done. Before you know it you are waking up from so ridiculously weird dream forgetting for a second where you are and saying things that do not make any sense. When I came to the first thing I asked the nurse was..."What time is it?" If nothing was wrong with me the procedure would have been 15 minutes and I would have been done. If something was wrong they would fix it right then and there making the procedure last longer. It was 9:20am so I asked what was wrong. The surgery started around 8:00. All she knew was that I had lesions. Phew! I am not crazy. What a relief! After I got home I spoke with my doctor. She told me that my bowels and abdomen were stuck to the scar tissue. When the put the camera in they could not see anything. Once the detached that they put a lining over it to prevent it from happening again. Thank goodness! At least now I have a answer. Hopefully now I can heal and move on.

March of Dimes Walk

Jason, Kaylie, and I want to thank everyone who supported us for such a special cause. Our team of 8 ended up raising $2,875. Jason and I could not have asked for anything more. Thank you.

Here are some pictures from the walk. It was amazing to see all of the people. Considering their were over 25,000 people walking the weather could not have been better. 5 miles would have been rough if it was any hotter! Kaylie and Fletcher did great. They both slept for a good 2 miles of the walk. The both rode in luxury and enjoyed being able to people watch. Even though the strollers had a few accidents and a little bit of off roding they both made it to the end without any bumps and bruises! Jason and I feel so blessed to be standing in front of this sign with our beautiful baby girl! She wouldn't be here without there help.


The sunglasses did not last very long.



Fletcher and Kaylie...2 of many reason for why we all walked!



Me and my daddy



Renee and Kaylie...how cute!



Me, Emma, Renee, and Kaylie

Jolie and Shelly - We all stayed together by following the orange shirt.

We put the back of Kaylie's stroller down. She propped her legs up on the tray and passed out. She stayed like this for a good part of the walk.

Post race celebration. I swear she is drinking milk.

It's a rough life!

Today wee needed to get some yard work done so we decided to try her in the pack and play with some toys. This pretty much ended before it really started. At least I got a cute picture out of it. After I took her out I went in and fed her. This was what she wanted. She ate and then passed out right after and slept for 3 hours. We were able to work after all.

A daddy and his daughter

Here comes trouble!

What a blessing! This brought tears to my eyes!

MMG

Last night was a rough night for us. Kaylie woke up crying many times. This morning she woke up right before Jason left and as he said good bye to her he told her to be nice to me. I should have know right there and then I was in for it. Just like the past few days Kaylie was fussy to the point of not being able to put her down. I tried to put her down for a nap and she freaked so I decided to put her in her bouncer while a took a shower. The bouncer has several of her stuffed friends on it and entertains her for about 10 minutes. As I placed her in it I noticed some blood on one of her toys. I went to look at it and saw some more. As I started to investigate I realized not only was it on the toys but it was on me and all over her. I looked closer and noticed her hand was covered in blood. What in the world did she get into?!? I grabbed a towel and wiped off her hand. Immediately it started gushing. The blood was coming so quickly I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. After trapping her hand I figured out it was coming from one of her fingers. She had some how sliced her pointer finger. The problem is I could not get it to stop bleeding and being that her fingers are so small I did not know how bad it truly was. After a few minutes of trying to stop it I decided to take her to ACUTE kids. By the time I got dressed it had slowed down. At this point she was ticked. She did not seemed phased by the cut. All she cared about was the pressure I was putting on it and the fact that I was holding her hand and not letting her play. Since she was covered in blood and crying out of anger I decided to give her a bath. Baths calm her down. As we walked to the bathroom I started trying to think about what she could have gotten into. Then it clicked. When we came upstairs to take a shower I had a can of diet coke in my hand. Some how she had to have reached into the hole and cut her finger. I defintely felt like a bad mom. I had MMG...major mommy guilt. Thank goodness it stopped bleeding. I felt like such a dummy. I have to remember that she has quick hands. As I got her ready for her bath I sat on the edge of the tub waiting for it to fill. She enjoys watching the water so I figured it would help her calm down. As I reached in to feel the temperature a warm wet feeling ran down my leg. I looked down and realized she was peeing all over me and the floor. I guess she was letting me know how she felt about me and the Diet Coke can. We are now even.

The Apple

One of my favorite sayings is "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." In this case it was true. She wanted my bottle so bad. When I tried to take it away she started to cry.

House Arrest

Kaylie has been sick with several different things for the past few weeks. Hoping that a weekend at home would cure her we have decided to put ourselves on house arrest. The doctors office suggested that we let her sleep and eat when she wants and if she is not doing better by Monday we will take her back in. The funny thing is at times you would never know she did not feel well. She will wake up, play for a little bit, fuss, and go back down for a nap. We are definitely ready to have a period of good health.

On a different note...Kaylie has started rolling over in her sleep which is great. The only problem is that when she is on her stomach she has a better chance of backwards crawling putting herself into a sitting position. From their I feared she would try to pull up, be successful, and fall out. After a day or two of stressing about this I decided to pull out the pack and play. She ended up sleeping in it for about 5 days. On the second night I walked in to find her sitting up. Phew! I need to remember to always go with my instincts. Lowering the crib is somewhat of an ordeal. You have to take the side completely off to do it. Jason got a chance to do it today. The first thing she tried to do once back in her crib...Pull up. She almost got it. She was just about up when her foot slid through the bars and got stuck. Great! She ended up getting stuck a few more times this afternoon. Maybe her pack and play would be better. =) The pictures below are somewhat appropriate for our weekend. She looks like she is a jail bird. It was fun taking these. She actually hammed it up for the camera.

In the first picture we had just put her down for a nap. I walked in a few minutes later and she was sitting straight up. Needless to say she did not sleep. The second and third pictures are of Kaylie in her crib after we had lowered it.