Missing in Action

I know I've been MIA in the blogging world lately. Life has just been too busy to sit down and type about my busy life. Maybe soon, I'll get back into it. Until this, here are a few tidbits of info of what we have been and are up too.

Kinsley just turned 2.
*28 lbs 13 oz
*37 in tall
*such a delightful, funny, polite, independent baby girl.
*will start speech therapy soon (just another thing to add to my busy schedule)
*attends pre-school 2 days a week
*Thyroid levels are finally leveling out and getting situated on the correct synthroid dosage (for now anyway)
*Loves books
*Loves Mickey Mouse and Barney

Kelsey and Kaley are enjoying 3rd grade. Both made Honor Roll for the past 9 weeks of school. Here is their schedule:

They start their day at 7:10 am helping with the "Gator Patrol" at school. Well, this month one has Gator Patrol and the other is on the "morning show"
*Mondays- percussion
*Tuesday- Lyrical ballett
*Wed- church
*Thursday- chorus & Gymnastics
*Fridays- drive mom crazy day because they have nothing to do....LOL

As for me....I'm just being Mom and going along for the ride:)

Kinsley's surgery

Kinsley's surgery went well! Her adenoids were big, as expected, so hopefully once she is healed up, we will see some improvement on her breathing and ear infections. She didn't want to wake up from her anesthesia, but after about an hour she finally woke up. There was a baby in recovery beside us that came out after her, but yet went home a good hour before us. My little beauty needed her rest. We had a rough evening Friday, and a bad day Saturday. I think her throat is sore. Today, she hasn't been as irratable, but still not wanting to eat. Hopefully soon she will be back to normal! Thanks for all your prayers

Before Surgery



After Surgery in Recovery

Prayer Request

Miss Kinsley will be going in the morning for her adenoidectomy. Pray all goes well and it will help with ear infections, breathing, and to just stay well for a while.

Day 4 of no rocking

I am so proud of my sweet girl and hope I'm not jenxing myself. She went right to sleep tonight without even a whimper:) I must say though, I sure do miss rocking her.

Nights like these

It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm sitting here wide awake hoping this horrible thunderstorm passes soon. I DO NOT like storms and these are the moments when I wish Shane was here. For some reason, having someone else with you makes it not so scary. LOL! I guess I'm just a big baby. I just don't do high winds, thunder, lighting, to top it all off hail hitting the windows. I remember as a child, my brother and I would go into our parents room, and sleep in the floor by their bed when it was storming. Thankfull right now my girls are still asleep. Hopefully they stay that way so we don't have 3 scaredy cat girls sitting here in the bed.

Day 1 of no rocking...SUCCESS!!

I have been pondering the thought for some time now, but tonight I made the decision to put Kinsley is her crib to fall asleep. Rocking has worked great for us up until the last couple of months. She has really started fighting sleeping, fighting me and just having a fit when it came time to rock to sleep. I would fight her her sometimes an hour before she finally gave it up. Tonight was no different! I told myself tonight, "this is just ridicuolos sitting here fighting my 17 month old for an hour". So I went and put her in the crib. Tonight I stood right by her crib, singing to her and rubbing her back and face, and laying her back down when she got up. Of course, she cried, but not as long as I expected. It took about 20 mins. and she was out. Hopefully tomorrow will be shorter, and adentually I will be able to just lay her down and go out of the room. No turning back now:)

17 months

*STATS*
Somewhere between 25-26lbs
not sure of height

*Love to dance
*Favorite songs are Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, and This Little Light of Mine. She also knows the hand motions.
*Loves to be outside, slide, and climb
*She can climb her sisters bunk bed ladder
*Developing a temper
*Loves to give hugs
*LOVES her Na Na
*We are learning shapes and she had a circle down pat
*Loves to play peek a boo
*Has had fluid in her ears for 4 months now so we will be seeing the ENT next week
*She has such a friendly and outgoing personality and doesn't meet a stranger. When we are out in public, she trys her best to get everyones attention and tells everyone Hey.

*WORDS*
Hey
Cracker
Done (Da)
Da Da cool (Da Da school)....since her sisters go to school she thinks her Daddy is at school too

GIGI (sissy)
Down
Ahh (out)
KuKu (Mickey)...yeah I know it's weird, but that's what she calls him
Goo Gurl (Good girl)

*These are some of the words she can say. I'm sure I left some out. The only ones she says plain are Hey, Craker, Ma Ma, Da Da, and Na Na, but hey, she's trying!

A Single Tear

Notice the single tear under her left eye (your right). She had been very upset because she wanted to feed herself.

Contest

Please click the link below and vote for Kinsley in the "Most Huggable Baby" Contest by our local radio station. The winner wins a $500 gift card to Bi Lo! Thanks so much!

Click here to vote for Kinsley

Doctor's Visit (Updated with Video)

I took Kinsley to see Dr. D today because after a week of having a "cold" she just wasn't getting any better. I'm not one to drag my kids to the doctor for every little sneeze and cough and usually try to let it run it's course. Enough is enough though. So, here we go again. Just as I though, another ear infection, tons of fluid in her ears. That is four straight months with fluid in the ears, and 4 or 5 different types of antibiotics. We also discussed Kinsley's breathing and she mentioned the "Tracheomalacia" that the ENT dianosed her with at about 9 months. I have always been kind of skeptical about that diagnosis and knew her breathing was not just "noisy breathing." The poor baby gives out of breath so easily. So, about a month ago I videoed her and showed it to her doc. today. She said, "Wow, she sounds like my Dad breathing." The thing is, her lungs sound great. So she seems to think her adenoids are blocking her nasal passages, which makes since, because she always has her mouth open and her tounge hanging out. So, we are being sent back to the ENT for ear tubes and adenoids removal consulation. I know it's a pretty quick and simple procedure and I know it will make her feel so much better. She also added singulair to her long list of medications. YUCK! I'm still not sure I'm going to give it to her. Any one out there had any experience with singulair? Here is a short video and Kinsley's everyday breathing with any sort of activity. This is after crawling up a flight of stairs. She gives out of breath so easily, even when she's not sick.

American Tears

This is one of the songs the twins, along with the Drama Club/Honors Chorus sang in last night's perfomance of The American Dream. I definetly had tears in my eyes during this one. THis is a BEAUTIFUL song. The soloist is their music teacher. She is so talanted!

Wordless Wednesday

Wow...are they really all looking and all smiling? Do you know how close to impossible this is?

Work Out

I started going to the YMCA a little over a week ago every morning (except weekends), to start trying to get some of the 50+ lbs off I've gained over the past several years. I've always heard it makes you feel so much better, but I never believe it. But wow...it's amazing how much better I feel, how motivated I feel, and how it seems to help me cope with things better. Hopefully soon, with the workout and cutting out the hundred Pepsi's I would drink per day, I will start seeing the inches and lbs come off too:)

Sisters

I was going through some pictures and found some of the twins at 16 months old. Kinsley doesn't look like her sisters. I think they look more like Shane and Kinsley more like me. What's your opinion?

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

From Feb 26, 2011

16 months

Miss Kinsley turned 16 months on the 22nd. Where does time go?

STATS:
24 lbs 3 oz
33 in.
18-24 months clothes
size 5 & 5 1/2 shoe

MILESTONES:
*Loves to climb anything and everything, including her sisters bunk bed ladder.
*She is fascinated with flushing the toilet & the opening the dishwasher, pulling everything out and then climbing on it. Why don't they make dishwasher locks? They have locks for everything else, why not dishwashers? I bought some refridirator locks to put on it.
*Her temper is really starting to show. She stomps her feet when she doesn't get her way.
*She LOVES music. Her favorties are "If you're Happy and You Know it", "This little light of mine" and "I'm yours" by jason Maraz.
*She likes to dance
*She is started to repeat more and more words.
*Her favorite words are:
*Cracker
*Da Da
*Ma Ma
*Na Na
*No No
*Hey
*Ba (bath)
*cool (school) When you ask her where her sisters are she says, "cool"
*Da (done)
*Bye Bye
*She says Hey DaDa, Hey Na Na, and Hey Kitty

The Start of Something New Part 2

We finally got our options, lot, and all that fun stuff chosen. We narrowed our almost $38K worth of upgrades down a little, made our offer, and they accepted:) YAY!! They should start building within the next few weeks and it will take about 3 months to build. It is a slab home so they throw those things up so fast. Here is the floor plan we have chosen and the lot:) We opted to "upgrade" the game/bonus room to a 2nd master bedroom for more than reason, and we will have a side entry garage but otherwise things should be as they are listed. We are very excited about this new journey.

Some of the options we did away with:
*Tile in Bathrooms/laudry (can do later)
*blinds (we can get cheaper)
*upgraded sink and tub faucets
*tile shower (we are going fiberglass)

Some things we stuck with:
*Hardwood all downstairs except in the office/den/living or whatever you wish to call it.
*Upgraded lighting because the house we live in now has TERRIBLE lighting
*Upgraded carpet and carpet pad upstairs (should last longer)
*Stainless steal applianaces (we went back and forth about this one, but the day we signed the contract, they started new promotions and one you could choose from was a free "dream kitchen" package which included the upgraded appliances.
*2nd master bedroom upstairs

What are things you can or can not live without. What do you wish you did have or did not have? We have 10 days to "change" our minds so any opinions would be helpful!

From New Home

Here is what it will look like. Of course, we picked our own brick, etc.

From New Home

From New Home

Kelsey and Kaley's "boyfriends" whom also happen to be twins live in the house you see in the picture so needless to say they are all very excited!

From New Home

From New Home

From New Home

The Start of Something New

After months of waiting, we FINALLY got our loan approval yesterday to purchase a new home. Mortgage companies fear giving loans to "contractors" becuase and that was exactly what Shane was/is. We started the process back in Nov. and thankfully, the company Shane is working for was in the process of switching their "contractors" over to actual "employees" and the transition took place mid Jan. After getting all of that paperwork to the lender, they finally sent us our approval letter yesterday. WHOOOO HOOOOO!!! I'm so excited!

If numbers work out and the builder agrees with our offer, we are building a home in a neighboor hood not too far from where we live now. I never knew when building a house that EVERYTHING seems to be an "upgrade" Seriously, when we got finished with our wish list of upgrades, it added $37,000 to the price. Geesh! Needless to say, we are cutting back on our "wish list" . Some of the things we can upgrade at a later date, such as tile in the bathrooms, laudry room, etc. We have an appointment tomorrow with the builder/sales rep once again, and hopefully we can all come to an agreement on numbers and options and we can get the ball rolling.

I NEED Sleep

Kinsley is once again going through a "stage" of waking up crying several times a night. Sometimes she goes back to sleep on her own, but I usually have to get her atleast once a night. I thought it was because she was sick, but now that she is better, she is still waking. In fact, I think it's worse. She is teething, so I've tried Tylenol before bedtime, I've tried putting her on a blanket sleeper instead of a cotton one in case she was getting cold, tried running a humidifier, tried letting her cry (doesn't work because she will keep screaming and I can't stand it), etc. The twins never did this. Once they started sleeping through the night, they pretty much slept unless they were sick. After I put them in toddler beds they started getting up more, and climbing in the bed with me, but this is all new to me. Seriously, she wakes up more now than she did as a newborn. I can't remember the last time I had a good nights sleep. It's been months I know. The joys of being a mommy, but I wouldn't change a minute of it:)

"Dottle"

Kelsey or Kaley had one of Kinsley's bottles playing with it with their dolls. I was busy doing something and did not realize they had put milk in it and Kinsley found it. The child was so excited. I wish I could have gotten first first reaction to the bottle but atleast I got a little of it. At first, she would take one drink, look at me, smile real big, and say "DOTTLE" "DOTLLE", drink another drink, smile and say "DOTTLE". She was so excited! Bless her little heart. Thankfully, it didn't cause a setback. She is drinking milk from a cup much better now.

Bottle Free

Today was my first day not giving Kinsley a bottle and it was a success, for us both! I honestly think I am having a harder time than she is. I know she is my last and I wanted to keep her a baby as long as possible. She also has been refusing to drink milk (even flavored) from a cup and it was much easier to put her thyroid medicine in her bottle. Yeah I know, excuses!! So what led me to finally do it?? Yesterday evening, she was tired and ill and when I tried to give her a sippy cup, she threw it down. She then looked at my Mom and said, "Dottle". The child was asking for a bottle. Right then I knew, ok, when a baby is old enough to ask for a bottle, I guess it should be taken away. I knew the longer I waited the harder it would be. She has only asked for it twice today. This morning when I gave her a cup, she once again threw it down, and said, "Dottle!" Then tonight she kept saying it. But I was not going to give in so after Day one, we are bottle free. No turning back.