Spring time fun

This afternoon was absolutely gorgeous so we decided to take advantage of it. The three of us plus the dogs sat on the porch blowing bubbles and learning how to throw dog toys. Every time I would say one, she would say two and on three she would throw Shiner's toy. After a few minutes she would take off running with his toy and when you asked her to throw it she would say "no." She was hilarious! She is getting really good at saying Shiner's name. She separates it into two syllables. She says the "Shi" in a really high pitch voice holding it out and then puckers up her lips to quickly say the "ner" part. Love it! She repeats it over and over until he actual does what she wants him to do. I know it is a lot of pictures but she gave us so many good ones. I have some "normal" poses but I thought the action ones were better.

Here is a picture of her saying Shiner's name over and over. We actually have a video of this.

Seriously mom. The camera...Again!?!

Whats wrong with this pictures?

Kaylie and her Bee Bee

A daddy and his daughter

Lenny and Kaylie

Last year we were lucky to find Desirae. Every year she takes pictures with a lamb and bunny for Easter. Thankfully, Desirae was incredibly patient with Kaylie because Kaylie refused to get any where near the lamb and really hated the bunnies. I envisioned her walking up and loving on the animals and struggling to get her away from them. Ya...not so much!
*
It was a good 30 minutes before we could even get her to sit anywhere near the lamb. She was hysterical for awhile. We decided it would help if we told her it was a dog. Yes, I know that is bad but it seemed to help. After a few minutes I decided to distract her with Easter eggs. This was the trick. She was distracted enough with trying to put the eggs together that we were able to sneak the lamb into the picture without her walking off. At that point she began to tolerate the animals enough that she let them sit with her until they got too close to her basket or the eggs. That is when she grabbed them sternly and said "mine" to the animals. I love her!

*
Right before we were about to leave Kaylie started to feel comfortable with the animals and felt free to walk around the room. She was comfortable until I heard her whining because the lamb had walked up to her and started to push her. Apparently, this particular she is a herder. Kaylie tried to get away but the lamb pushed her down and then head butted her. It sounds like it hurt but it didn't. The lamb is actually very sweet and gentle so it was funny. It cracked me up and couldn't help but laugh. Does that make me a bad mom?!?

My favorite picture is the second one!

Sleep Study

WARNING!!!!! The last picture looks a lot worse than it was!!!!

Last night Kaylie had her sleep study. It was exactly what I expected. The building the sleep study was in is the same place as many of her other doctors and procedures so I figured Just walking into the building was going to cause Kaylie to freak out. Sure enough as we walked toward the building the whimpering started. Knowing that Kaylie was most likely going to freak out with everything they had to put on her Jason and I both went. Thank goodness!!!!! I figured she was going and she did.

Right when she started putting on the leads Kaylie started to scream. She screamed so long that she finally gave up and fell asleep on Jason. Jason was awesome. The room was incredibly hot, he was still in his work clothes, and he risked Kaylie throwing up on him and didn't even think twice about comforting his daughter. I am pretty sure he held her for a good hour while they hooked her up.

At about 9 she was asleep on Jason so we put her in the crib. She woke up and started screaming all over. We figured she would not stop unless we left the room. Jason quickly left and I waited outside for her to stop so I could go back in to go to sleep.

The cool thing was that the tech allowed me to go into the room they were in and watch her. Overall, it took a good 30 minutes for her to stop crying. Once she stopped crying she decided to be incredibly stubborn by refusing to lay down. Instead, she grabbed her blankie, put it up to her face like a pillow, and started to fall asleep while standing. Every time she would doze off she would fall back, freak out, grab the rails and then start to cry. This lasted another 15 to 20 minutes. After that she gave up and sat. Now we are started the process all over again but in the sitting position. This lasted a good 30 minutes. I finally decided to go into the parents lounge and relax. The tech came in, told me she needed to make sure the cords were not around her neck, and was going in. Good Luck to her!!!! She came back a few minutes later, told me she fixed the cords and was able to lay her down on her tummy. That was all she wrote. I went into the room at 10:25 to find a baby passed out and snoring. I was so worried about waking her up I question even flushing the toilet. Thankfully, she slept well!

They came in at 5:30 am and unhooked her. The tricky part has been dealing with all of the sticky stuff on her. Overall, she did wonderful! I was grateful she was able to come home and go back to sleep until 10:30. I loved her for that.

The results: Unfortunately, we will not know anything for at least a week and a half. We will let you know as soon as we hear anything.

In this picture Kaylie and I are singing, "If you are happy and you know it." This is the part where we talk about the smile being on her face. Every time we sing it she immediately puts her fingers up to her cheeks. I am pretty sure she learned this at daycare.

In this picture she is calming down. This was almost an hour into it. At this point it is 9:15 ish. This is late considering she is usually in bed between 6:30/7:00. She finally was completely asleep by 10:25. Even I was ready for bed at that point.

I put this picture last because I was really hard for me to look at. I know that she is perfectly healthy and nothing is wrong with her her but it was a little scary to see this. I had to keep reminding myself her head was wrapped to keep her from pulling anything off. She is definitely passed out in this picture.

Hot Springs (Part 1)

Jason and I have been feeling very cooped up this cold and flu season. With Kaylie being sick the majority of the school year we do not get out often. We have spent many weekends at home with a sick child and needed a break.

After seeing commercial after commercial for different vacation desitnations Jason and I decided to take a chance and take our first trip with just the three of us. Needless to say I stressed all the way up to the minute we left our driveway, fearful Kaylie was going to get sick before we left. We decided to go somewhere that was not too close but not too far away at the same time so we decided to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I have always wanted to go there so why not?!?



Kaylie has decided that she no longer likes to take naps in the car. This is a problem when you are taking a long trip. Lollipops helped keep everyone happy!

You think we brought enough?!? Many of the bags are Kaylie's... We had 3 to 4 bags full of her feeding stuff. It is hard to accomodate her feeding needs when you are out. Jason and I had one bag each and a bag for electronics and games. The rest belonged to Kaylie.

Since Kaylie takes a 2 to 3 hour nap each day and goes to bed by 7 we decided to stay at the Embassy Suites. It was great! The Embassy Suites is designed for families like us so that we can close the door to the bedroom when Kaylie is sleeping allowing us to watch t.v. and play games without bothering her.

This was one of Kaylie's favorite things to do in the hotel. The room gave her plenty of room to run around in. It was great for our family.


Since we got into town late on Saturday we did not get out to explore until the next morning. The town is beautiful. This is the National park that sits right in the middle of downtown. There are so many natural hot springs for people to look at and enjoy.

Their are many different hiking trails for tourists to explore. It doesn't look like it at first but Hot Springs is a place for outdoor lovers. We ended up visiting two different National Parks. They were all gorgeous. We can defintely see ourselves visiting when Kaylie is older.

I think this is the most precious picture ever! It makes my heart melt.

On the second day we went to Garven Gardens. It is similar to the Arboretum but is more natural. They have so many amazing waterfalls and hot springs all over. Every time Kaylie saw water she would repeat it over and over...wa wa!

They had a Koi pond with 30 to 40 fish. We had to think fast when it came to wanting to feed them so I decided to grab a graham cracker. Not really fish food but the fish seemed to love it. Seeing how quickly they swam over to us before any food had been thrown I am assuming they are fed quite often.

Kaylie got a kick out of the tulips. I know she should not be touching them but seeing how excited she was I did not want to stop her. She kept pulling it down and watching it fly back up. Loved it!

I am seriously contimplating taking photography lessons. I love to take pictures! This is another one that makes me smile!

Hot Springs (Part 2)

The rest of the pictures are the end of the Gardens, right after swimming, playing peek a boo with the curtains, and the science museum.

Overall, the trip was a blast! Jason and I experienced a true "hot bath" and we ate at a few of the top ten places to eat in Hot springs. The last thing we did was take an elevator up 650ft. to see all of hot springs. The view was gorgeous! For our last meal we ate at a hole in the wall barbecue place. Because of its uniqueness this was the best barbecue I have ever had.

Our family

A little windy...

19...19...19...

As of yesterday, Ms. Kaylie was officially 19 lbs. Woo Hoo! Keep it up baby girl. We are so proud of how far you have come with your eating.

G-Button Update

During our appointment with the pulmunologist we discussed the G-Button. He told us that even though the pediatrician is pushing for it he is against it at this time. He wants us to meet with the endocrinologist first and depending on what they say we can revisit it at that time. His opinion is that he thinks it may be a growth deficiency. This is most likely related to the Russell Silver Syndrome. If she has a growth deficiency a G-button would be worthless. All it would do is make her fat and that is not what he wants to do. He does not feel she looks malnourished so he does not want to rush any decisions.

We trust his opinion more than any of our specialists. He is incredibly knowledgeable and has taken amazing care of Kaylie. He even took Kaylie on while she was in the hospital at Our Children's for the entire month when he didn't have to. He is definitely a blessing to have when we need to make important decisions.

Right now Jason and I are feeling good about holding off. Since she has been gaining weight the last few weeks we do not see the point in it either. If she stays in true form she will most likely plateau. This would be more proof of her having Russell Silver.

It has been awhile since Kaylie has seen her pediatrician. I would be curious to see if the changes in her weight changed his thoughts about it as well.

We see the endocrinologist at the end of the week. We will most likely not have any results from that until some tests are completed.

Pulmonologist appointment

Today we had our check up with Kaylie's pulmunologist. We go every two to three months and thankfully the last time we went he was able to see her in very sick. Because of this we have been adjusting many of her meds in an attempt to get her healthy, keep her healthy, and avoid the G-Button.

For the most part she has been sick all but 2 weeks since our last visit. Thankfully, it was the last two weeks which overlapped into our spring break =). It wasn't until yesterday we started to get sick again. I will take that!

A lot of why she is sick is due to her low immunity. When you watch your child stick her fingers in the dog's water bowl and then immediately put them in her mouth you can't help but know exactly why she is sick. She is a true toddler.

After talking with the doctor about how much she sleeps, her snoring, her constant runny nose, and the fact that she has tubes he asked if she had her tonsils and adenoids. Since she does he asked if we would want to do a sleep study. A sleep study would show if she is restricting air flow/having apnea's while she is sleeping. If she is we do not have a choice and have to take them out. If she is not then we will leave it up to our ENT to make the decision. Our pulmunologist feels that with all of her respiratory issues this is might be a solution to some of her issues.

None of what he discussed with us was a surprise. We have been waiting for someone to bring up both the sleep study and I had actually planned to ask the ENT when we saw him next what would cause us to look at her for tonsil/adenoid removal.

She will have her sleep study on Wednesday. Other than having to be there over night and having to hook Kaylie up to a bunch of wires it is nothing major. The benefit of doing this will provide us with a lot of needed information. The pulmunologist feels that with all of her colds and respiratory infections she is most likely not sleeping well and causing herself to burn more calories.

Words Any Parent Hates To Hear

No and Mine! These are two words that have become a part of Kaylie's vocabulary. The first time she said it Jason and I both looked at each other and wondered if she had truly said her first "mine." The funny thing is that it is hard to truly understand what she is saying until she has something she is not supposed to have and runs away yelling it over and over. At one point this afternoon she started crawling on the floor in a last ditch effort while continuing to repeat it. She continued by throwing herself flat on the ground clenching her hands so tightly and said it one more time before giving up in defeat. Between that and her new love for the word "no" we are in for it.

What did you say?

Kaylie's vocabulary and processing have increased significantly since we have started therapy. She continues to have difficulty with her oral motor but the more she is exposed and practices certain activities the more you hear a difference in her sounds. Here is an updated list of the things she says and does.

*mama for grandma
*papa for grandpa
*nonna...italian for grandma
*Says Bee Bee for Bailey
*iner for Shiner...she is getting close to saying the sh sound
*cuk cuk for cookie
*pees for please
*go...she will repeat this as she is racing across the room.
*car
*wa wa for water
*shoe
*mail
*no-doesn't use this in protest just yet...I know that is coming
*ba for bath - When you ask if she wants to take a bath she says ba over and over
* pa pa for paci

Things we say and what she does
*Us: "Kaylie... What did you do today?" Her: "I don't know." This statement is accompanied with her hands in the air.

*Us: "Kaylie...are you a big girl or a baby?" Her: "baby"Other things...

*We say "Ready...Set...Go..." When we start saying "Ready" she runs to a corner. On Go she runs while we say go over and over. She will run to another corner. And start over again. She can do this for ever. Now she repeats "go."

*When we ask Kaylie if she wants to help feed the dogs she will drop whatever she is doing, go over to the dog bowls, pick them both up, and carry them to the closet. She sets them down, waits for them to be filled up, and then takes Bailey's bowl back. If she drops any she stops and picks up every piece, one at a time.

Other things not related to speech...
*She can climb into Jason's BIG car by herself and then climb into her car seat.
*She can 1/2 way buckle herself into her high chair
*She can now climb onto our kitchen chairs
*She has figured out how to use anything as a step stool to get what she wants
*she now goes down the slide on her bottom
*She likes to get into chairs and slide out through a side hole
*She can spend 20 minutes getting on something, scooting off of it, and then go back to start all over again. Good way to tire her out!
*She is running really well
*She is finally giving hugs and her version of kisses. When you ask for a kiss she turns her head for you to kiss her.
*She attaches herself to your leg whenever you try to leave or walk by