Painting 101

After having a feeding tube for so long Kaylie has developed texture issues. She doesn't like to eat certain things and absolutely refuses to touch certain foods. To fix this ECI encourages parents to children get messy. That means you leave food on their face, allow them to get dirty, and give them the opportunity to play with their food. For the most part she does not care if she is dirty or if she has food on her face. What she does care about is the playing part. After the other day I think she has overcome this. She has come a long way.

Happy Un-birthday present

For Kaylie's "corrected" birthday Blake, Jolie, and Fletcher decided to surprise her with a present. She loves it. Everytime she plays with it she walks around smiling with her tongue hanging out. You can't help but laugh at her. The first part of the video is cute but the best part is at the end when Fletcher makes a guest apperance. Thanks for the gift. She loves it!

So it begins!

And so it begins! From here on out we begin the vicious cycle of my kid is sick then your kid is sick making it difficult for anyone with kids to have any type of social interaction. Claire has just gotten over her first cold, Nicholas just got over strep, and Fletch is in the middle of some type of bug. Isn't it too soon? Yesterday was the start of Kaylie's first cold of the new school year and let me tell you it has not been fun. She made herself sick last night because she was so congested. =( It was hard to watch because afterwards she started screaming. I know that is completely normal because she is freaked out about this uncontrollable ability to get rid of what she just ate but it is still difficult for me to watch. Today I have been loading her up with every possible combination of meds I have for her in hopes that tomorrow or the next day we will have a miraculous recovery and be able to enjoy my last week home with her.

The good thing...It takes away my concern of her getting sick the first week back at daycare.

...I...

I saw this on a random person's blog and thought it was cool. I don't usually do things like this but since I can not post pictures I figured what the heck.

i am: a mother to my beautiful baby girl, a daughter to my loving mom a dad, a wife to my amazing husband, a sister to my caring brothers, and a loyal friend to those who are loyal to me.

i dream: of a school year that is not filled by the unexpected.

i think: about how much my life has changed over the past year and a half.

i know: I am blessed

i want: to go on a cruise.

i have: many things to be grateful for. One of which is a little over 2 feet tall.

i wish: I did not worry about the littlest things.

i hate: celery and tomatoes. Yuck!

i miss: my twenties! Where has the time gone?

i fear: losing my family and friends.

i feel: over joyed by the many things Kaylie has overcome.

i hear: the sounds of a happy baby.

i smell: everything! I have the nose of a blood hound.

i crave: pizza and french fries

i search: for the ability to let meaningless things go.

i wonder: who Kaylie will be in 10 years, 15 years, etc.

i regret: Not living in the same place as all of my family members.

i love: My entire family. That includes Shiner, Bailey, and even Lucky Jo.

i ache: at the thought of putting Kaylie back in day care just to get sick again.

i care: what people think of me. Sometimes I care too much.

i always: make sure to tell people how much I love them.

i am not: the cleanest person you will meet. Thankfully, Jason knew that before he married me. =)

i believe: in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

i dance: when I want to make someone laugh.

i sing: to calm Kaylie down when she is upset.

i cry: when I see a newborn baby for the first time.

i don’t always: follow through when I say I will.

i hope: I will live a long and fruitful life.

i fight: for what I believe is right.

i write: for therapy

i lose: sleep over the unknown

i listen: when someone is hurting

i can usually be found: at home, school, or shopping

i need: love and affection

i am happy about: my life

i desire: to always become better than I was the day before.

8/8/08

8/8/08...For most they think about the opening of the Olympics but for Jason and I it has a different meaning. Today is our beautiful daughters "corrected" birthday. If you look at the top of my blog you will see two different lily pies. One is her actual birth date which is May 17 (just in case you forgot) and her corrected due date (which was when she should have been due) is today. This corrected day is special to a preemie because you can not look at her as a soon to be 15 month old and expect her to be doing what a typical 15 month old would do. Instead, you have to look at her corrected age and base her milestones off of that. In Kaylie's case we would be looking at her milestones in regard to a 12 month old.

In the past year we have accomplished so many things. Here is a list of her one year accomplishments.

* She is saying her d's and her g's. She screams like a pterodactyl, talks like Donald Duck, and imitates a Ferbie.
* She can successfully walk like a bear and crawls when she isn't in the mood to be a bear.
* She decides to wave and say hi when you are not looking and stop once you are.
* She claps and cheers for herself when ever she does something good.
* Can pull up and climb up on things. She is definitely a monkey.
* Can get half way up the stairs before you realize she is gone.
* Can throw toys out of a bucket. If you are not careful she will throw one at you.
* She can skate across the room with your cell phone and use her walker to carry her toys.
* She is eating a few table foods without choking.
* She has started to stand up without using anything to help her.
* She can stand for a good minute now and has even ventured to take a few steps when you are least expecting it.

The above are just a few of her many accomplishments. We feel so blessed to be with her through all of this. Happy "corrected" birthday baby girl.

Here is a slide show of Kaylie's life from 8/8/07 to 8/8/08. I wanted to do this for her actual birthday but ran out of time. The first two pictures were taken on 8/8/07 and the last few were taken today. It is long so watch it at your own risk. Enjoy.

Daycare is over the horizon

Knowing that it is ok for a child to walk up until the are 18 months I have been relaxed and not worried. She is doing a great job this summer and doing exactly what we thought she would do as a healthy baby and catch up on some of her milestones. Thank goodness for that. While we were visiting our family she took a step. Since it could have been a fluke we did not count that as her first steps. We figured she needs to take several for that to be the case. Her next major accomplishment came on Thursday when we were caught off guard by her when she went from all fours to standing with no warning at all. I was in the middle of a sentence with Laura and I stopped, sat forward and dropped my jaw. It clicked with Laura what had just happened. Unfortunately, Jason is yet to see this. I figure it will happen again when we least expect it. That leads me to my next thing. Although she is not walking yet I know that it is not far. She is starting to balance and stand for very short amounts of time and furniture surfing like crazy. She enjoys taking risks and exploring things while holding on with only a few fingers. My little girl climbs on all the furniture and loves to climb the stairs.

All of that leads me to this. With day care only a few weeks away I have started to become very sad. I so badly want her to take her first steps here with Jason and I, not at day care. This is such a major milestone and I know that this is a huge accomplishment. Considering everything we have been through I know this is silly. It will happen when she is good and ready. She must have felt this need because after I changed her and stood her up to play she did it. As both Jason and I sat there she took her first "official" steps. She took 3 to 4 good steps to get to the table. Wow! Thank you! We did it a few more times with her and were able to get her to take a few steps each time. We figured out the trick is to have something in her hands to distract her. Thanks for the tip Laura! As long as she does not have time to think about it she can take a few steps before freaking out and sitting down. Knowing her this may be the first and only time for awhile that she walks. She likes to do something and then hold off on doing it again for awhile. That is fine. She could go to daycare the first day and start walking as if she had been walking for months and I would not care. I just wanted to have the joy of being there for the first time. Thank you baby girl. I feel so blessed to have been with you for this. You amaze me more and more every day.

What to do?

What do you do when it is a 105 outside?!? Yesterday we were forced to figure that out. We played hide and go seek, had races in the laundry basket, ate lunch at the Cheese Cake Factory, and rode the Ferris Wheel. We ended our day by getting in the water, watching the kids have a staring contest, and then playing upstairs while the kids tried to avoid the flashing lights from the camera. Overall, I think we did a lot.

Little miss

My precious little girl is entering a new stage in her life. The once loving and carefree angel has had her first official tantrum. We have had some small ones before but today we had a good one. The sad thing was it was over a thing of apple sauce. She got so mad she turned bright red, took a napkin and threw it on the floor. Wow! Were did this come from?

This afternoon I went to take a bow from her to keep her from chewing on it. Apparently, little miss knew what I was about to do and hid it while table surfing away from me. Are you kidding me?!? She is definitely smarter than I give her credit for.

Finally...Allison had a bag of animal crackers and little miss decided she needed them. She crawled up to Ally, grabbed the bag pulled as hard as she could. When Allison decided she wasn't going to have any of that the two began a battle of tug of war. Kaylie was determined but after a good fight Allison ended up winning.

Since Kaylie has several friends that have had their one year check ups I knew this type of behavior is typical for a one year old otherwise, I would be concerned. Dr. G told one of my friends that when this happens you need to try not to laugh and walk away. It looks like I will be getting a lot of exercise.

On Saturday Laura and Allison flew in from Colorado to visit us for the week. So far we have had a blast. We have had a great time watching the two girls playing together. They both enjoy each other and it shows through their interactions. Every time Kaylie sees Allison she smiles and starts talking to her. It is the sweetest thing. I can't wait for the day when Kaylie is walking and talking making it easier for the two of them to be friends.

I think this is a sweet picture. They look like they are holding hands but in reality Kaylie is chewing on Ally's hand.
Aren't their matching jammies cute?!? It was incredibly hard finding a matching set in a 3 to 6 month as well as in a 2t. Overall, I think they were adorable making them a success.

In this picture they are discussing the fact that their mom's are crazy. They have decided that this picture thing is silly and are discussing the easiest way out. In the end they both decided to go over the arm rest that was closest to them. Kaylie and I are so glad yall came to visit us. We have missed you. Next time we promise to come see you. This time I will not chicken out when it comes to taking her on a plane.

Hi!

While I was cooking dinner Laura took Allison and Kaylie into the living room to keep them busy. All of a sudden Kaylie popped up over the couch and started waving to me while saying what sounded like "Hi". This was done without any prompts what so ever. Laura heard it the first time but I did not because I was cooking. The minute I turned away and started working she would do it again. It was as if she was a little Jack in the box. She would pop up and down when you least expected it. To get it on video Laura had to give her a prompt. She has never understood any type of command so when Laura said wave to mommy we were shocked when she turned around, stood up, and started waving. Two milestones at once. She only did this because I had just told ECI that she was not responding to commands. It is nice to see that she likes to prove me wrong. Make sure you have the volume up so you can hear every one's reactions. It is priceless!

Get out of my way

The many faces of a teething baby

Buster and Kaylie

Kaylie - July 2008 and Kaylie November 2007

** I chose this over her September picture because I was not able to get her sitting up in September.

Wild Weekend

This past weekend was filled by spending time with family. We had so much fun. Jason and I even got a chance to get away on Monday to go to Schlitterbahn. It was so much fun. I have been wanting to go so bad and thanks to my mom and Jason's mom we were able to do it. It was nice to feel like a kid again.

Move out of the way Barbie I want to chew on cars.

My dad was able to come to visit from Dallas as well.

This raft was the hit of the pool.

At one point we could not find Kaylie. Sure enough she was hiding under Ryan's chair.

Treat Time!

Big Window!

This is the first time in a long time that Kaylie has let Ryan hold her. I think she has gotten past her stranger anxiety.

Before we left we went and had breakfast with Grandma Chris.

Future musician

Since we did not think we would need her stroller we left it in Dallas. This would have been fine except for the fact that we decided to go to the outlet malls before heading back. After quick thinking we made our situation work. She looked adorable!

Fun with mirrors.

Your my friend.

After a very long hot day she finally fell asleep.

BRU Here we come! **added pictures**

For a few weeks Jason and I have been meaning to get an extra gate for the bottom of the stairs. I think we will be going to good old Babies R Us to get it tomorrow. After this past weekend we knew she could do two steps pretty easily. She went up Jason's grandparents two mini stairs several times. We never thought she was ready for this. We caught her on the first step and followed her up. She made it up the first step with out any slips. It wore her out. The video is of her on the second set. We are so proud. The practice from My Gym has paid off. I haven't yet decided if that is good or bad? Jason and I are in the process of teaching her how to get back down. The only problem is that her legs are too short to go from one step to the next.