"Daddy's Car Fall Down"

As most have heard by now on Wednesday Adam and Taylor had an accident during that early morning rain storm. That's a mother's worst fear .... right... one of them atleast. That one of theei children have been in an accident.

The details are heart wrenching... for me atleast. Adam had just dropped Kendall off at Nana's and was on his way to take Taylor to school. It was pouring outside and their was a driveway that was producing a river in the road. Adam didn't have time to stop and ended up hydroplaning. By the time he stopped hydroplaning he was heading straight toward a tree and his wheel was locked up. If his wheel wasn't locked up, maybe he wouldn't have hit the tree... then again... he may have hit it the tree sideways and cause more injury to Taylor. They ended up hitting the tree head first.

Several cars stopped to help and see if they wanted to get in out of the rain. Taylor was in hysterics and wouldn't get in any car. While waiting for the police, Adam asked Taylor if she wanted him to sing "Amazing Grace" and she said yes. So they stood in the road, Taylor tucked inside his jacket under a small umbrella singing "Amazing Grace." That just brings tears to my eyes. Amazing Grace is her 'night night' song... and a source of comfort since she was a tiny baby.

Luckily there was a little steel mill across the road. When I arrived to the scene, Nana had Taylor soaked to the bone wrapped in a towel in the steel mill trying to warm her up. She wouldn't even pick her head up to greet me. I know where my mom got her survivor kit lessons from and after involving my child, I will put a jacket and towel in my car for keeps.

From the look of the accident, they were really lucky. Adam's angels were there again. His angels are around so much, they are going to end up with names. The car we can replace (though we just paid it off last month... that just makes it more heart wrenching).

When we finallly got Taylor into Nana's car to head to her house, I asked Taylor if she was okay. She said no. She looked up at me and as innocent as can be said, "momma, daddy's car fall down." My heart broke for her.

Both walked away with minor bumps and bruises. Taylor's worst was the mark that her seatbelt left. Adam ended up with a jammed toe, busted hand (from going through the dash) and a badly bruised knee (already bad knee). All together, we are grateful.

Taylor talked for a day and a half about daddy's car falling down. Her then next statement was "daddy's car "stop" on tree" (with a hand slap at stop). She repeats herself over and over. That day she pointed out every tree we passed to make sure we saw that tree. That night she refused to sleep alone. She slept with me and still had obvious nightmares.

She's improving. She's back to her normal sleeping arrangements. Doesn't mention the accident as much each day. She's till panicked about getting in 'daddy's car.' She rides fine in "mommy's car." We are currently using a car from Papa (Adam's dad). So we now call it "Papa's car." Half way to school today, she stopped crying and seemed to get over it. She later told Adam, she liked Papa's car. Hopefully she'll be 'over it' come Monday.

It's hard when a little child loses trust in the world. How do you tell her it'll be okay... when you can't make promises. There may be another accident down the road, bad things happen. Tonight as i was rocking her for bed, she looked up at me and whispered "daddys car fall down" after not mentioning it all night. Again, it tugged my heart. The best I could come up with that my two year old little girl would understand is "all done." The tree is all-done. She seemed to understand that.

That night I thanked God for sparing my husband and my child that day and then with tears in my eyes, I prayed that he doesn't take my family away from me. They are my everything.

In the mind of a two year old...

So the other morning, Taylor had me cracking up. First conversation of the morning went like this...

Me: "Taylor, are you wet?"
Taylor: "No, not wet mommy. I dry."
Me: "Are you sure? I think you're lying."
Taylor: "Me, lion. ROOOAOAARRR."


We were able to get our Christmas tree and some decorations up this weekend. On Saturday morning, Taylor walks into the living room and see's the lit tree and say's "ohh pretty. Momma take a picture" and brings me my camera. So here is Taylor with our Christmas tree.

Again... same day... she found our Christmas nativity set. The night before she had the wise man in time out. But this is what I found the next day and thought was too halarious...

Baby Jesus in time out... atleast the wise men were still able to find him.

Fall Fun 2009

Now that I have kids, I think Fall is my favorite time of year. There is so much to do and so much fun. The following are blirbs and pics from some of our family activities.
Harmon's Pumpking Patch
We were really disappointed in Harmon's this year. We went one afternoon after it rained all morning and everything was put up. The pumpkins and hay displays were all missing. But we still managed to have some fun.
Taylor's first stop was the mechanical 'horsey.'

She enjoyed her first see-saw ride. Mom and dad rode too. Boy did it bring back memories. And quite a workout!

Lastly, Taylor found the little merry-go-round. She had to sit on every animal and wanted to turn it on. It turned out to be broke but... Daddy saves the day by pushing it round and round. Such..sweet moment.


Halloween 2009
For Halloween, Taylor was able to dress up and attend her party at school. They made trick or treat bags and went from classroom to classroom. Her bag was so full, she had to drag it to the car. Halloween night we ended up attending our church's carnival. It was so packed and chaotic... I'm not sure we'll do that again. Atleat not while they are young. We were home early but everyone was tired and okay with that. Kendall never did get dressed up in a costume. It was too hot to put her in anything. Taylor had a ball being a pretty ballerina.



Biltmore Trip to see Santa
On a whim, I decided to hitch a ride to Asheville with my sister's family with my two kids. Three adults, and four kids (including car seats, two strollers and multiple bags all rode in one van (Thanks Toyota). Taylor apparently hasn't grown out of her Santa fear yet. (Remember her christmas card last year) She cried the entire time. I had to hold her and she still cried. However, everynight during 'night night' prayers she thanks that "TaTa sat on Santa's lap." I"m not sure how we'll explain the Santa deal this year. I've mentioned Santa coming and bringing toys and she started crying.


The kids enjoyed running around the field, playing ball and eating ice cream.



We were able to visit the petting farm. Taylor had a ball chasing the chickens calling after them " I wanna hold you." Kendall was so good the entire trip... but just went along for the ride.

Corn Maze - Nov 2009
"We got lost in the corn maze" Yes, we took a toddler and baby into the corn maze. What were we thinking. Things started out real good. Everyone having a blast. THen after about an hour in wall to wall corn, we started getting ansy. Taylor half way through began having temper tantrums so Adam decided that we should just try and make our way out. What we were doing the first place, I'm not sure... I thought that is what the purpose of the maze is.... come out at the other end. I still got some good pics.
Girl with attitude...

Reading the map with daddy... "where are we?"

Soo tired... two babies, one carseat, one stroller.... what a family to do? Pile them in together. They didn't mind.

Thanksgiving 2009
Taylor got to help cook alittle. She enjoyed the eating part more, but who doesn't.

She enjoyed playing with Chandler during the feast.
Charles got practice on feeding Kendall.

She had a blast playing at Nana's with all her cousins. No pictures because the camera was left behind. And last but not least, Taylor and I attended her first Thanksgiving lunch at school. All the kids were dressed up as pilgrims.

Kendall's 6m well visit

Today Kendall had her 6 month well visit check up. Everything went well despite her getting three shots. She wasn't too happy about those, of course. She was 27 inches long and 15.12 lbs. She's actually lost alittle bit of weight since her 4 month appointment. Doc says she's right on track.

He is referring her to an opthalmologist (eye doctor) for her eyes. He called it esotropia. We have to wait and see what the eye doctor says but he thinks it can be corrected with just her wearing a patch. We'll see.

He also 'confirmed/agreed' that the mysterious rash she's had for the last two months is an oatmeal allergy. We've thrown out all the Aveeno products... actually just using them on Taylor instead. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it by 9 months. He mentioned that if she doesn't then he'll probably refer her to a GI doctor... not sure why though.

So insurance reenrollment is coming up at Adam and mine work. After today's appointment, I feel comfortable signing up for the higher monthly premium. It'll probably benefit us since we'll have all these 'extra' doctor visits and procedures. We sure could have used this plan this year with all that has gone on... probably saved us a thousand bucks.

Kendall is constantly on the go. She hardly sleeps, I suppose she's scared she'll miss something. She's already scooting on the floor, rocking back and forth on her knees and really getting around. However she's not even sitting alone yet. I keep telling her she can't crawl until she sits. But I'm not sure she's listening. We are slowly introducing solids. Because of her possible food allergies, we are being extra caution. She can only eat rice (as in cereal) until 9 months. We just started veggies last week. She's such a joy to be around.

Ahh... the stress... does it end...

This blog is more of a stress reliever for me. I hope I feel better afterwards... so I apologize in advance for the 'wahs.' We'll start with myself.

I had some dental work done last week to 'finish' off some issues. I was hoping it was the last of it and afterwards could resume my normal cleanings. But over the weekend my tooth started hurting pretty badly. I went in today and it turned out that part of the filling had chipped off and was shoved under my tooth and into my gum. I can assure you it felt as good as it sounds. However, the repair was 100 times worse. Despite four numbing injections of two different types and one injection going straight into the nerve of the tooth, the dentist still couldn't numb the tooth that was already aggrivated. I was between tears and climbing out of my skin. Towards the end, even just her touching the tooth caused severe throbbing. We are hoping it won't need a root canal. She said that my gum was pretty inflamed because of the chipped piece and that along with the work can make the tooth sensitive. So I'm on some meds for the next 24 hours but am hoping I'll be done with the dentist for a while.


Taylor is slowly killing us... by lack of sleep. This has been going on for about two months. She started out resisting to fall asleep. This lasted two weeks before I go so desperate I went out and bought all kinds of contraptions to 'help' her fall asleep. Then one night we did 'sleep bootcamp.' I established a strict bedtime routine consisting of specific books, a lullaby cd, a lava lamp, rocking, prayers and being tucked in. The first two nights were rough but then seemed to work well except momma had to do it. Well at some point, she wanted us to leave her lamp light on while she slept. She screams when we turn it off... so I started leaving it on. However, I'm not convinced it's helping her sleep. I turn it off when she's asleep. But she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. So our issue now is not her going to sleep... but her waking in the middle of the night. For the past several nights, she'll wake up crying, screaming out and wanting to rock in the living room. She starts her temper tantrums and ends up waking the whole house. Sunday night, she was up for 3 hours. It's insane. I'm not sure what to do about it but this whole sleeping phase is by far the worse ... yet. We are all so desperate to get some sleep that we did the unthinkable last night. At 2:00 and we were all up, Adam and I decided to give her one of her paci's, thinking it would do the trick. It didn't. It's only meant for bedtime here at the house. She didn't take it to school and got it when she got in bed. We'll see how it goes tonight with it.


Kendall is so precious. She's such an easy going baby and so pleasant. She smiles at everything and especially when you talk to her. Poor baby though has had this crazy mysterious rash (off and on) for about 3 weeks now. It's the craziest thing I've seen and as a mother it is literally driving me nuts. It started the week she stayed with my grandma. I noticed these bite like marks on her belly and thought "nana must have flea's." Well by the end of the week (and she only stayed with Nana 2 days), kendall had these 'bites/marks' all over her back and belly and a few on arms and legs. I ruled out flea's because no one else in the house has any bites and we haven't seen any. On that Friday I realized the weekend before and the entire week I had been feeding her oatmeal. I was convinced she was having an allergic reaction. I stopped the oatmeal and they slowly went away with in a week.

Well fast forward two weeks... to last week. Kendall has eczema and I've been using Aveeno on her skin. I had used Aveeno for several weeks before we fed oatmeal to her with no problems. However, when she developed the rash, I stopped using it. Last Wed, her eczema was flaring so I decided to use the Aveeno. I used it Thursday too. On Friday, she woke with her belly flaring again. I assumed it was from the Aveeno. I've heard if they are allergic to oatmeal by mouth then you shouldn't use topical oatmeal either. I took her to the doctor and (not her ped but another doctor) said it didn't look like allergies. Her guess was either some kind of bites or a staph infection. (Adam had staph infection while I was pregnant) So she's on antibiotics for a staph infection.

So here's my dilema....

Description of the rash: Mostly on belly and back (few on arms and legs) A red splotch (size of dime) is present with a little white head bump (kind of pimply or bite like). When the redness goes down, her stomach has a very fine red rash on it, not including the bumps described above. These bumps with reddness come and go... usually in same spot but at times she pops out a new one or two or three.

I'm not convinced it's staph. If it is.. it's not typical. We are on day 4 out of 7 of the antibiotic and I'm not seeing a huge difference. I did see on babycenter.com some similar stories, but still not convinced. Not to mention.. if it is... how do I get it out of my house?

Bugs: This just gives me the creeps... what kind, where.. why are they attacking her and no one else. I've been searching for fleas and can't find a single one. Bedbugs.... we put tape on her bed and floor ... nothing so far. We may end up fumigating the house anyways... just to be sure. I should mention that her room is the room that patches lived in at one time (when the dogs and cats were inside). But again, we aren't seeing anything. I'm also thinking of calling our exterminator to come out and take a look. They said they could visit and just look around to see if they see any evidence of flea's.

I will say this.... I think (thought of this tonight) that I believe all this started when we got some clothes from melissa's. I washed all these clothes but wonder if something may have gotten in them while they were in Melissa's attic. I'm now tracking what she wear's and her breakouts.

Allergies: who knows... I think it's huge coincidence that it started with the oatmeal, cleared with the oatmeal, started with the Aveeno and is slowly clearing. We've stayed away from Aveeno... but i want to use it sooo bad to see if she has another reaction. However I'm scared because if it's an allergic reaction, they seem to be getting worse.

So what to do? where to go from here? Do we have bugs, do we have bacteria, do we have allergies? I'm not sure my pediatrician would know. I've thought about taking her to a dermatologist or demanding to see an allergist. I guess my plan right now is to finish the antiobiotic (Friday) and see what happens. If they are still there or pop up again, I may take her back in. I may end up trying the Aveeno on one spot to see what happens. And we may end up fumigating the house anyways, which brings on a whole new set of worries. How do you safely fumigate a house with an infant and toddler living inside. Pretty stressful stuff.

Day at the doctor

We officially accomplished two well visits in one visit today. Of course, Adam was with me. No way I could have gone solo. He had no choice but to go. :-) So here are the updates on my both chillen's two hours and four shots later...

Kendall - 4 month well visit
Height : 24.5 inches (75)
Weight 14.8 (50th%)
Head: 10 3/4 inches (90%) "huge" in our doctors words

Developmentally: right on track (rolling, cooing, laughing, etc)

He said Kendall looks great and no changes were made. He did confirm she does have eczema (really, so shocked). Regarding her eyes being crossed, he wants to wait until her 6 month appointment (which really she's 5 months old next week, so we only have 5 weeks to wait) and see how they are then. They seem to be alittle better just this week.

I showed him pictures of her allergic reaction. Apparently, I wasn't suppose to be feeding her oatmeal in the first place. Even though we did with Taylor, the recommendations have changed. How's a parent suppose to know this. His advice (strict advice that we'll follow is as this...) Begin rice once to three times daily. When she hits six months (not a day sooner) we can start with babyfood fruits and veggies. She's not to attempt multi-grain cereals (oatmeal, wheat, etc) until 9 months old. At that point if she still has a reaction, it'll be addressed then. So rice it is.

Kendall got two shots. She didn't even cry for the first one. It was amazing. I've never seen anything like it. The second one she cried for a split second but she did excellent.



Taylor - 2 year old well visit
Height: 34 in. (75%)
Weight: 28 lbs (50%)
Head: 19 3/4 in (94%) "Huge"

Developmentally: following conversation took place...
Dr. C walks into room...
Dr. C: Hey Taylor, how are you.
Taylor: gives Dr. Cope the eat sh*t look
Dr. C: Give me 5 (to Taylor)
Taylor: "STOP"
Dr. C: (shocked) Well my developmental exam is through.
Mom: Yup, she's two.
Dr. C: Definitely two.

Apparently she's right on track. Ha! That's my girl. She's also been described as a fighter and strong willed during the same exam. However I was so proud of her when she walked by herself with the nurse to get weighed and height measured. Such a big girl.

The other conversation brought up was I told the doctor she's recently been exposed to the swine flu. He laughed at me and said " I could have told you that, have you seen the waiting room." And yes... for all you mother's out there.... the waiting room was packed. I suppose this isn't the time to go to the doctor just to get a minor cold checked out. They'll leave with something much bigger.

So proud of both of them!

Kendall's allergic reaction

Last week Kendall broke out in this crazy bump like rash. At first I thought it was flea bites. But they continued to get worse and worse and no one else was getting bites. After about 5 days of it progressing, it hit me that we had started her on oatmeal a few days before the rash appeared. I should also mentioned that while she had the rash, she puked like crazy. She's a reflux baby but hasn't spit up like this ever. It was crazy. So I looked up and of course self diagnosed her with an oatmeal allergy. But the internet said a reaction would be exacty like she had. She's been oatmeal for 5 days and the rash and continued to improve. Yea! Though now I'm scared about what kind of allergies she may have. I'm hoping this is something that just didn't agree with her right now. But I'm worried she may have a wheat allergy or worse a gluten intolerance, which will change our eating habits drastically. See pictures below... I had taken these prior to realizing what it was... I was prepared to post them on here to ask people what they thought it was... bites, rash, eczema. But now I know. We see the doctor on Friday so we'll see what he says about that... along with her eczema and cross eyes. I'm sure I'll have something to blog about then.

Taylor is TWO!

Taylor finally turned two on Saturday. She's been tempermentally two for a while ... now she's there chronically. heh. We decided to have an Elmo party because she has been into Elmo this year and I figure I should be able to get away with a neutral gender party while she's younger. I figure the older she gets she'll want more princess, fairy, pink parties. I was real happy with how it turned out. We originally were suppose to celebrate at the park but at the last minute moved it to Popsey and CiCi's house due to the weather.


We had a good turn out and Taylor got alot of good gifts. One of her favorite gifts is a talking baby and baby size play pen. She LOVES these. The doll is kind of freaky. It has a motion sensor setting so it starts talking, cooing, laughing when you walk by it. Adam says he's going to take it out and shoot it. Ha! She carries that baby doll around everyone and at times drags the playpen around behind her. She feeds the baby, puts it in time out, and puts it to bed. Too funny. She has also enjoyed her new 'lawn' chair. It's been deemed her 'tv' chair. Instead of rocking at night, she wants to 'sit here.

Baby Kendall (live baby, not doll) in Taylor's baby play pen.

It's hard to believe Taylor is two and she's made so many accomplishments this year. We've started potty training, she's sleeping in a big girl bed, started at a new school and adjusted well. She's learning her colors (knows orange, white and purple) and alphabet (A and B). Her favorite game is pointing and counting the school buses to and from school. Her favorite are the 'white' buses. She may even have her first 'boyfriend' as she asks about Tyler, a kid in her class, every night. Though she's hit her two's with a vengence (I'll save that for another blog moment) I am excited about what she will come up with next. She sure makes me smile.

Things I've realized....

Random things I've realized....

1) I hate asking for help. I don't necessarily turn help away but find it hard to ask for help.

2. I have forgotten how to relax. Even when I have moments to relax, I choose to do something else that needs to be done. In the end, I am the only one who suffers.

3. I don't give my husband enough credit for all the hard work he does.

4. My children are so darn cute... even when they are irritating.

5. Vinegar makes a great household cleaner.

6. There's no point in cleaning house when it becomes stain splattered dirty in a matter of minutes.

7. I'm so done with animals (for now)... I have enough mouths to feed, poop to clean and cries to attend to without having dogs or cats.

8. Revelation: According to Taylor's baby book, every time she was sick last year with her 'fever viruses' she also got a tooth or teeth at the same time. The runny noses caused her to have ear infections but I believe most of her 'illnesses were really teething symptoms. Therefore, I'm thinking this on and off low-grade fever for two weeks and runny nose is her getting her two year old molars. Plus she told me last night that her teeth hurt... however I did catch her gnawing on her bed rail.

9. I miss my own kid imagination. I enjoy watching Taylor play with her ceramic garden frogs. She treats them like other kids treat baby dolls... I know... my kid is special. She rocks them, changes their diaper, feeds them, spanks them, puts them in time out and this weekend we had her school nap stuff home to wash and she kept her frogs in nap mode with blanket, pillow and milk... after singing Amazing Grace to them. It was so adorable.

10. Kendall isn't ready to sleep through the night. She did sleep from 7 to 5 ish for about two weeks but that stopped a week ago. She's back to her one night feeding again.

11. I also realized this weekend that the pesky skin rash on Kendall's face is really eczema and it is spreading. We've started to treat it with Aveeno.

12. For the first time this weekend, I was almost embarrased by one of my babies and am almost ashamed about it. We ate at IHOP and Kendall was very alert and looking around. It seemed everyone was oohing and aweing over her with giggles. Then it hit me are they awwing or laughing at her cross-eyes. I can't wait for her Oct appointment so we can see what the doctor says. I'm sure we are past the stage for them to correct themselves.

13. Should feel blessed for all I have and am but wear myself out so thin that I forget how blessed I am.... that's a problem.

Growing up too fast....

Taylor started 'school' this past Monday. It's really not school... not even a preschool... it's daycare. But after being in an in-home daycare since birth it's a huge change. Overall I think she's adjusting well. She cried a good bit on Monday. She still cries at drop off in the mornings and says she doesn't want to go to school. But she dries up quickly and has a good day. I can already tell a difference in things and am so excited about school. First, she's wearing panties and still going to the bathroom. Now let me explain this. At home, the only way we could get her to go potty is to let her run around with no britches (no panties, diaper, nada). She would pee, poop,etc all by herself. Put a diaper, pull-up or even panties on the girl and she would pee in them. So today I put panties on her (trying to get away from the bare bottom phenomenon) and she pooped and peed in the potty all by herself. YEA!! Second thing she has learned this week (remember in just three days) is the letters A and B. We are just sitting there playing when she starts telling me "that's B." At first I ignored her but she kept repeating herself. Sure enough, when I looked up she was pointing to the B on the title "Mega Blocks." Ask her where the "A" is and she knows where it is as well. I was so proud I had a tear in my eye. And lastly the funniest thing was coming home from school. All of a sudden she starts screaming "Stop!" "Stop" Momma, Stop the car!" What two year old says that? Ohhh... it was soo funny.


Kendall is also getting so big. I weighed her at home (so probably not very accurate) but she's about 15 lbs. I'm shocked... but not. I think Taylor was only 10 lbs or so at 4 months... I should look. But Kendall is such a big girl. We started her on rice this week (a litle early, I know). I was just experimenting to see if she was ready because she has been eating us out of the house. She gobbled that stuff up. It was crazy! She doesn't eat much of it but she seems to like it. Imagine that! She is also starting to smile and laugh alot. We think she is very tickilish. She giggles every time we change her clothes, wipe her neck play with her hands/arms. It's pretty funny. She seems to be such a happy, laid-back baby. I can't wait to see what her personality will be like.

Ahhh these moments are the ones we cherish for a lifetime.

Halarious Toddler Moments

So we've officially hit the toddler era. Taylor has been full of toddler moments. The two most recent that we laugh about happened today.

So afterchurch we went to crackerbarrel. Taylor was exhausted since she'd been up since 5 am. She fell asleep on Adam for a good 30-45 minutes. Well ofcourse that meant when she got home, she refused her nap. We tried anyways. So after about 30 minutes of her being in her room, I peeked in to check on her. Well precious Taylor was out of bed, sitting in her rocking chair quietly reading her books. This is the first time she's gotten out of bed. It was so sweet. She saw me and just quietly said "hey mommy" as innocent as could be. She ended up getting up... apparently wasn't tired and we tried naptime again a few hours later. She did the same thing. She got out of bed and started playing with her xylophone... not so quiet this time. It was cute but something we have to nix in the bud now.


The second toddler moment was with the potty. She was running around in her nightgown with no diaper or panties on. I typically just ask her every 20 minutes or so if she needs to go pee pee. She usually says yes and we take her. This time I asked her and she just took off. I kind of thought maybe she was going, but have never gone by herself. Seconds later, Taylor comes walking into the living room carrying her 'pot of pee.' It was so funny. She was so proud she had to come show us.

Ahhh.... gotta love those toddler moments.

Post

If you're just tuning in, make sure you scroll down and see all four new posts.

"Dog -gone" day's of summer

Well our dogs have temporarily found a new home. We've been looking for someone to take them but was unsuccessful. Luckily, Adam's parents have agreed to take them to see how they do. They aren't promising forever, but we can hope. So they got loaded up this morning and shipped to Gilbert. Apparently they did okay. Mia who is a Coli mix starting herding the goats. (his parents have three goats). She seemed to have a ball running circles around them. It's probably what she's wanted to do her whole life. Bella checked out the place first and then started chasing the momma goat. Apparently Bella got stuck in some twigs, and the goat took the opportunity to ram Bella. She stopped messing with them after that. Ha!

I think they'll be happy out there. They will have alot more space, more shade, more company (goats). We had gotten where we would just feed them and that is it. We didn't spend anytime with them. They have torn our backyard up because it's so hot. We are looking forward to growing grass and actually being able to play in the backyard with the girls.

Even though I didn't spend much time with them, I think I already miss them. I catch myself looking out the back door or window and when I don't see them have this wave of panic that they got out. Then I remember. I'm sure it's just habit.

Keep your fingers cross that they do okay in Gilbert.... or they'll get shipped back to us.

Next to find a new home.... Patches. Anyone want a cat??

Belles and Beaus

This week was Belles and Beaus. I've decided that B&B is the best thing in town. Melissa and I went on Wednesday, which was 'volunteer' night. It was the first night it was open so all the good stuff was still there. We had so much fun. I ended up getting a tricycle (Taylor), a slide, a hippo with blocks, this awesome music art table (Taylor's favorite), tons of clothes for both kids, some books and two DVDs. Taylor has already enjoyed all her toys except the slide and tricycle. We put those up for her birthday.

Melissa bought a car (for CiCi), a tricycle, a dumptruck, and more clothes than you can imagine. Really! We spent (together) a whopping $500. It took four adults to pack my car... and barely got it all in. It was so halarious... all the toys in the back. I couldn't see past the front seats.

We were so tired and so hungry and high on freedom. We left and went to get food from BK. We laughed so hard through the drive through and headed home. Half way there we had to turn around to get Gary's food. So we thought about going back to BK but we couldn't keep straight faces and were scared they might call the cops on us weird girls. So we went to taco bell. So picture this - two girls; loaded up on toys; laughing so hard we were crying; in the taco bell drive through ordering two more orders (adam and gary)...already eating two bags of burger king. Maybe you had to be there but it looked like we had been smoking 'r**fer.' And we got a crack out of this.

Ohhh... fun times... we sure don't get out enough. Melissa, I had a blast!

Taylor Tidbits

Where to begin with 'Taylor Tidbits?' She's at the age where so much is happening so fast. I have so many things to blog about for her.

1. Paci Bootcamp was ultimately a success. Night #4 was the roughest. It took her an hour of screaming to fall asleep and she woke three times during the night crying. The next night, I had a little talk with her about being a big girl. I'm not sure what I said or if she understood any of it. But that night, she went to bed with a 'new' bear and a book to read. She fell asleep reading her book. Since then that's been her routine. She fusses sometimes and asks for her paci during the day occasionally but overall has adjusted really well.

2. Bedtime stalling has become an art for her. It's taken me a few nights to realize how smart Taylor is... but I've caught on. After putting her to bed... she says she needs to eat. So first night, I beleive her and get her a snack. The next night I make sure she eats a good dinner. Second night she needs to pee pee. Okay... can't tell her no. So we sit on the potty for a while... no pee pee. Back to bed. Next night... she needs to eat. I tell her no. Needs to pee pee....tell her no. She wants milk... no. She wants to rock rock... no. She goes through all these items every night now. It breaks my heart sometimes... what if she is hungry... what if she does need to pee pee... but I've given her the chance to go many nights and learned she's stalling for bed. Kind of funny coming from a 22 month old.

3. Potty Training is going to be a breeze with this child. She is so ready and I'm so proud of her. She is constantly telling us she needs to go pee pee and she does. She's started waking us first thing in the morning to go (and once at 4:30 am). She's going in the potty on a regular basis when she is home. Today I decided to let her go several hours without a diaper. She refuses to wear panties so she went bare bottom. She did this for about 3 hours with only one accident. Again in the afternoon we did it again for about 2 hours with no accidents.

4. Taylor is starting to dress herself and pick out her clothes. I have pictures of her "picking' out her clothes for the day.


When she dresses herself everything goes feet first. She doesn't want any help so we can't correct her right now. THe "small fries' picture is her night shirt. She walked around the house like this for an hour because she refused our help. We got a good laugh out of it.



5. Just recently, Adam and I have decided to enroll Taylor in a public daycare. We are really excited about this decision. Nervous for Taylor and how well she'll adjust but overall excited. We've visited several times and even took Taylor a couple of those times. We've been pleased. They have a nice set up and Taylor seems excited about "school," though I'm sure she doesn't know what she's getting into yet. We felt that she would benefit from a structured routine and curriculum. She totally loves Miss Lisa's, but wanted her to work on more social skills with more kids. Taylor tends to freeze up when she gets around a group of kids. The older she gets, the harder this will be on her. I didn't want to wait until public school to introduce her to this type of environment. This daycare is expanding there two year old program this fall and just happened to have openings. Otherwise we would have to be on a waiting list. Please pray for Taylor as she makes this adjustment at the end of the month. I know she'll have a ball once she gets use to the new atmosphere.

Kendall Bug

Kendall is going on three months. Where has the time gone. She is sooo big. When Taylor was three months, she was so scrawny, barely eating and still wearing 0-3 months loosly. Kendall woofs down her food and can wear 6 month clothes. She's so big.

She's holding her head up pretty well. She seems to enjoy tummy time if she has something to look at. This past week she has started rolling over... front to back and occasionally back to front. When she sleeps, she is all over the place, even rolls over in her sleep... but this wakes her up because she get's stuck.

Kendall's funniest recent accomplishment is the discovery of her hands. She discovered them several weeks ago. You would think they would get old to her and she'd move on to something more exciting. Nope. The child spends most of her waking hours looking at her hand... in complete awe. Laughing at it... and the child doesn't laugh or smile at anyone or anything except her own gas and now her hand. When she gets upset, she'll stick her hand in her sight and immediately stop. It's halarious. We call this 'phenomenon' "Hello Hand." And you have to say it like "Hello Clarice" Ha! She's also discovered her thumb. I've caught her many times sucking her thumb. I'm not sure this is a better option than the paci.


"HELLO HAND"

Paci Boot Camp Night #1

Well after a long time of procrastinating (and that's not like me), Adam and I decided that this weekend was the time to say goodbye to the paci. Taylor loves her paci. It provides so much comfort, but I know she can do with out. She hasn't had a paci at daycare since she turned one. I held off taking it from her during all summer due to all the changes (schedules, new baby, etc). Right now we aren't having any changes and she's adjusted to Kendall wonderfully. So the time is right.

I've researched several methods of getting rid of the paci. There's the "binky fairy" the "binky tree" where you bury it outside. You can just throw it away or let it disappear. I've thought about all these methods and knew they weren't going to cut it. Then FINALLY I saw the best suggestion. It would work perfect for Taylor. The mom suggested cutting the rubber end off the paci. So there isn't anything for them to suck. It would take too much effort for them to keep in there mouth. We would tell Taylor it's 'broken.' That she has to throw it away. She would understand this and I think would handle it better than anything else. There's actual reasoning behind it... it's broke... it's trash.

So this afternoon, we came home and Adam cut the tip off. She looked at it... and put it in her mouth. She walked around a little while playing with it. When I got in, I made a big deal about it being broken. "What happened? It's broke." She looks up at me and says "Daddy." I swear nothing gets past her. After that she threw it on the floor and went off to play. I thought this would be too easy.

Bedtime came and Adam still let her have it. He had the right idea that she couldn't suck on it so why can't she have it in her posession for tonight. So in bed she starts whining. I went in there and told her to hold her paci or put it on her headboard for later. She seemed to like that idea. She did end up crying for about 15 minutes, but she also missed her nap today. She probably would have cried anyways. I'm impressed! Boot Camp Night #1: SUCCESS! (so far!) Things could change by morning!

Madness

Absolute Madness. That is what this entire week has been. I'll only go into my current work situation as it contains enough drama for one blog.

So as everyone knows, I work in a nuclear medicine department at a local internist office. Well the two nuclear reactors that have been down for part of the year have really started to catch up to us. A brief overview: there are only five nuclear reactors in the world. These reactors supply the entire world all the nuclear medicine for all their medical procedures. There are many procedures. None of the reactors are located in the US. Currently two of the five are out of commision. Since early July, the nuclear pharmacies have had trouble getting enough doses to supply their clients. So they limit how many patients we can perform studies on. This past week was a rough week as we usually do 20-25 patients and we only did 13. As you can imagine our physicians aren't happy. We have many patients that need to have this study done and it brings in alot of revenue for us. We also got word that the entire month of August was going to be a nightmare. The pharmacies won't be able to tell us how many doses they can supply us until the day before. That is a scheduling nightmare (my job). On top of that, we currently use a compound called Technetium for both rest and stress injections. We now will be using two diferent compounds. Thallium for rest and Tech for stress. Neither me or the girl I work with are very familiar with Thallium. It has a higher radiation exposure and clears the heart alot quicker. The logistics of test will have to be changed. I also had to design completely different report templates since the protocol is different. It's insane.

This dilema is effecting everyone, everywhere. Hospitals, cardiology practices, etc. However, they get first priority from the pharmacies. We get what's left over - if any.

There is rumor that with in a few years, nuclear medicine will be out of commission. The government wants these studies performed only in the hospitals. For now, we take each day at a time - literally. We don't know when this will be over. I've read these reactors will be down for 6-9 years. I've also read that the shortage will be crucial for atleast one month this year (August?) and then again for six months in 2010. Honestly, we may not survive six months of a shortage like this.

So I'm thankful for my job each day. Even though it's caused a spike in my blood pressure, this week. Madness- abosolute madness!

Oh Happy Days!

It's been a while since I've blogged and so much has happened since then. Kendall is 8 weeks and she is such a big girl. She had her 2 month well visit and she weighed in at 11.6 lbs (75%) and she's 23 1/4 inches (75%). She did pretty well with her shots. We'll see how she is tomorrow. She is in daycare and has done very well. Three weeks ago, I was pulling my hair out because of her. Since then we've changed her formula (yes, again),and upped her prevacid. The formula change seemed to be a major turning point. He put her on the Enfamil AR. She's doing great on it. My only complaint is that the formula is really thick and we had a hard time getting it to come out of any nipple we owned. So I read up on it on babycenter.com and saw some moms blending it. I have this 'magic wand' gadget that I got as a wedding present and never used. It's now getting tons of use. It's easy, great and works like a charm.

Taylor is back at daycare as well and loves it. She's so glad to be back with 'Sasson' (Addison). She is starting to go to the potty some and has done really well. She usually tells us when she wants to go and she goes. She's pooped several times. She's been in the car and able to hold it. And she occasionally stays dry during nap to wake up to say I gotta pee pee. I'm sure it's just a phase but we're so proud of her. She's also starting singing. This week is the first time that I've noticed her acutally singing words. It's so precious. The two songs I've heard her sing are "Amazing Grace" and "This Little Light of Mine." She's so smart, she blows my mind. Now that I'm not pregnant, we are trying to be more consistent with her discipline. She doesn't listen very well. Maybe it's the two's but part of it is her getting away with so much in the past. But sometimes you can't help but smile at toddlers. TOnight she purposefully dump a cup of water on the carpet and started stomping in it. I got on to her and tried to explain that she's making a mess and messes aren't nice. The next thing I know, she laid down on the floor and kissed it. I guess because when she hits or is mean we tell her to be nice and to say sorry - so she kisses as her apologies. It was so cute.

Adam and the rest of the world learned this week that come April BCBS will lose thousands of jobs. For those of you who dont' know, this is Adam's department that is being affected. He works in the IS dept for the PGBA or tricare department. The lost their biggest three contracts. Therefore basically won't have much work to do come April 2010. Yes, we are a little nervous about this. But we have been reassured that BCBS takes care of there employees. I think it helps that BCBS invested in Adam's training through the ELTP program. They are continuing to have that program so it doesn't seem that they are slowing down there recruiting at all. Keep us in your prayers as a job loss would be devasting but right now feel comfortable that he'll be okay.

Speaking of work, I returned to my position at JMA. I was nervous but like the kids, transitioned well. It's amazing how if you do a job so long how you will never forget a step. I went in and hit the ground running... haven't missed a beat, even though I was out for 4 months. Everyone seemed glad to have me back and it's good to be back. It's good to see a paycheck. :-)

I've spent the last month working on my birth control plan. I opted to get an IUD. It's been a crazy story. The first wasn't put in correctly, so I had to have it removed. The second one seems to be working fine - I think. I'm going to give it some time. I've gone though alot of trouble to get it and it's the best option for me at the time, so I hope it works out.

It seems the stress of being a twofer mommy and being back at work has started to get to me. I noticed yesterday that I have broken out in a 'rash' on my legs and arms. I haven't noticed it anywhere else. I hope it's stress but also when I saw it today I thought of lupus. I looked it up and unfortunatly have other symptoms of lupus. I've been complaining for 2 weeks of joint pain - my right ankle, right hip, left wrist.) I'm being treated for fatigue, anemia, hypothyroidism, etc) All which are signs - even though they can be related to having a baby as well. I don't know. I'm going to watch it and see what happens.

Not much is new with us. I don't have many pictures to post but will have to get some up soon.

Kendall's Summer Fun

Well I have to say Kendall hasn't had no where near as much fun as Taylor has this summer (see next post) but I thought I'd cap Kendalls summer as well. Really this is just the month of June.

She was finally diagnosed with reflux and we just started our third medicine for it. Luckily this medicine seems to be working (most days) but we'll take it for now. She also is on her third formula but it seems to be doing okay for now (most days). She's still a high maintenance baby - gassy, refluxy, colicky, rotten baby. I always knew she would be my cuddly baby because Taylor wasn't... but I didn't realize what that meant as an infant.
Her biggent event this month was her weeklong hospital trip. I'm sure most have heard about it but it was pretty dramatic. I came home one evening from swim lessons with Taylor and Kendall (who had slept the entire day) was running a 102 fever. I knew this was a big deal for a 5 week old but I wasn't prepared for what was ahead. THe nurse on call told us to go to the Children's hospital and be prepared to stay the night. So we left at 8:00 that night (snuck away from Taylor as she was already asleep) and headed to the hospital. What the nurse didn't tell us what that it wasn't for one night but for three nights. And they weren't concerned about her dehydrating as much as her having spinal meningitis. They ended up taking blood, uring (both to culture) and having to do a spinal tap to test for meningitis. It was quite traumatizing.... but she seemed to take it well. They kept us in the hospital until the culture results were back, which takes 48 hours. Obviously they were negative. Meanwhile, I spent the most exhausting week of my life. The doctors went ahead and started treating her as if she had some kind of bacterial infection so she was on two different antibiotics around the clock and an antiviral. Night shifts were horrible. She would wake up to eat at 1:00 and 20 minutes after she got back to sleep the nurses would walk in to do her medicine treatment. This would happen atleast twice in the night. It was rough!

We were able to come home on day 4 and she seems to be all better. She ended up having a virus. In fact, the same virus (Fifth's Disease/Slap Cheek?) Taylor had the week before that caused a fever and rash. When Kendall developed her rash, we knew for sure what it was. We are just hoping for no more fevers for a while. THey tell us we will have to repeat this mess if she develops one again in the next two weeks.





She is starting to smile and coo more.... on her good days, which she seems to be having more of these days... but that can change at any minute.


Sleeping with Mommy...

Lastly, we have battled with thrush since she was born. Thrush is an absolute pain in the butt... for those of you not familiar with it, it's basically a yeast infection in her mouth. It can be painful to eat, suck,etc and shows up as white patches in their mouth. We've gone through three prescriptions of Nystatin with not much luck. The antibiotics in the hospital didn't help either. Finally, I resorted to Gentian Violet. I have heard of this stuff and Kristin used it with Ava Grace. I didn't realize until last night that it's an herbal/natural remedy and you don't need a prescription. Luckily our local walgreens had a bottle so we did our first treatment tonight. It does dye everything purple, so Kendall will look ridiculous for a while but if it rids of her thrush we'll all be happier. Here I dressed her in her purple out fit and she looks so pertty... purple really is her color.



Kendall starts daycare on Monday. We are looking forward to it. She will do well at Lisa's. She's in desperate need of a schedule and I'm not the best person at establishing that. Hopefully she will adjust/transition well. I return back to work on Wednesday... hopefully I'll adjust/transition to that as well.

Taylor's Summer Fun

Even though most kids summer's are just starting, I'm afraid Taylor and ours is coming to an end. I go back to work on Wednesday so the trips to the park, library and CiCi's house must come to an end. We are sad about this but will enjoy having some stability back in our lives. This post will be devoted to some of the activities that Taylor has enjoyed and pictures to go along.
First we have the zoo... Taylor enjoyed her first trip to the zoo... twice. I know we are bad for not taking her before now but what can I say... I've been pregnant. She seemed to have a good time and still talks about the animals. Her favorite part though was the carousel with daddy.


Afternoons at CiCi's house - Since I was pregnant and basically immobile, I spent every Friday at my mom's house. That didn't change much when I had Kendall. We'd pack the bags and car and head to Gilbert. Of COurse we slowed our trips down, the night we walked into CiCi's house and seeing it broken into. These pictures are of swim time with Caedyn and Eli.


We also have been to the park several times some with mommy and daddy and other times with CiCi, Melissa (Sasa), Caedyn and Eli ("Li"). These pictures are from the Springdale park and they have a spraypool during midday.




She spent many days at Nana's and Pa Allens but I don't have any pictures to post. She talks about the geese that go bye bye all the time and learned about planes. She also visited her grandpapa and grammy some. Here grandpapa is pulling her in his new wagon to feed the chickens.

She also took swimming lessons which she loved. She only got 6 lessons and they weren't really swimming lessons ( I have to say that for Adam... :-)) But she became familiar with the water. She learned to kick and splash, put her face in the water and throw herself into the pool (seriously). Really all she learned was a false sense of security of the pool. But she had a great time.
Lastly, she spent many days at home with Mommy and Kendall playing dress up and hanging out.






Lastly is a picture of Taylor's new 'night night' attire. One night she decided she wanted to sleep with her toy Elmo head (in her hand) and both baby dolls along with two blankets. This stuck and she still sleeps with a stuffed Elmo (we lost the Elmo head), blankets and one doll. She is definitely my child.