Christmas Time Again

I love how this time of year can change people's hearts. It's a time full of laughter, family fun, and remembering our Savior and his birth. I've loved not being out and about with all the bustle of holiday shopping. I've enjoyed putting our home together since the move and just getting out our simple Christmas decorations out.

Ashlyn has really enjoyed getting the tree up and can't wait for Santa to come. This year I've put more of an effort into baking sugar cookies with her and just teaching her about Christmas and instilling in her that it's not just about presents and Santa; although, those are fun things to anticipate.

This year we will be having our very own Christmas dinner in our home. Looking forward to the challenge but also just the joy that it is to have a home and that we are starting our own traditions now that Ashlyn is a little older and starting to understand what the different holidays are. Hoping everyone out there is enjoying this special time of the year and reflecting on our Savior

Ashlyn's new haircut

Before

After

Our home

Here are some pictures of the house. I haven't gotten my pictures up on the walls yet but besides that and a few touch up painting jobs we are basically set until summer time. It is a 2 bath home even though I only took a picture of the master bath.

Office Closet

Office/workout room

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Master Closet (crawl space is found here)

Linen Closet/Washer & Dryer area on the way to the girls' room

Girls'Closet

Girls' Room

Dining Area

Kitchen

Living Room

Turning 25

Another year has come and gone and I'm so greatful for all that I have been given. I told Josh not to get me anything since we are in the process of buying a home. So he was sweet enough to make me this cake the day after my birthday. He made one on my birthday but opened the oven before it was done baking so it sunk. I told him I didn't need another cake but he insisted and here is the result.

Thanks babe for being so loving and thoughtful. I love you!

6 Months Old

I can't believe my Kaylee-cakes is 6 months old already. Where did all the time go?

Kaylee has grown so much! No matter how much I want to deny it she has. She had her 6-month appointment on Nov. 3rd. She got all checked out and looks good. She is having some diaper rash issues and sensitive skin (I hoped she'd be able to skip them but it didn't happen) but other than that she is doing well. The dr said not to be surprised if she's walking by 9 months old. I am definitely not going to be encouraging her but if it happens I guess it will and I'll deal with that when we come to that point. I just want her to stay little forever! We had all of her shots given and made sure to get the flu one as well. Poor little girl didn't like that and it didn't help that Ashlyn started crying when she cried. These two little sweethearts can be so sensitive to each other and it just makes me smile. Below are Kaylee's stats and some other tidbits about what she's up to these days.

Her stats:
26 1/4"
15 lbs 10 oz
definitely teething

Things she can do:
-crawl
-sit-up by herself
-hold her own bottles, rattles, etc
-say baba and mama
-loves to babble, laugh, and follow her sister around
-eats rice cereal and formula
-find any cord no matter where we put them (definitely have to put them up before it becomes a problem

New Experiences with her:
bathing her with Ashlyn
eating veggies (and anything else Ashlyn leaves for her, so far she's tried waffles, peas, cereal and french fries)

She is at such a fun stage! It's hard not to just love on her all day. We love how much joy she brings into our lives and are excited to see her grow and develop her talents. But she can definitely stay little longer and I wouldn't mind.

We love you Kaylee!

Tired Girls

So one Saturday afternoon Ashlyn wanted something and we had repeatedly told her no. After continuing to whine we told her she could either be happy or go to her room until she was ready to be happy. Well she chose to go to her room and about 5 mins later I went in to check on her and this is what I found. She was so tired!




How can you not love this?

Halloween 2011

Halloween this year was spent with our friends the Garlic's. Davin works with Josh so that how we got to know them. While the guys and Kaylee stayed home to pass out candy and watch football at their place, Kristen and I ventured out with the 3 kids. We recycled Ashlyn's costume from last year but I told her if she wanted we could add eye brows and some scars. She was so proud of what she looked like. Kristen's boys went as a cop and a jail bird. Totally forgot to snap a picture of the 3 of them so I'll have to ask Kristen for a copy. It was a lot of fun to go with them even though it was pretty cold. I like that we just went around their townhomes and one subdivision. We didn't turn into human ice cubes and we got just enough candy to satisfy but not over-indulge in. (I think I'm probably the most thankful for that one)

Next year should be a lot of fun since both girls will go out, and who knows which ever one of us is the lucky one to take them just might dress up to. We shall see. Hope you all enjoyed your trick-or-treating

Kaylee sitting up and crawling at 5 1/2 months

Do you think this girl likes the camera?

Going to the Dentist

So I took Ashlyn in for her annual dentist check-up. Once again she is cavity free. Wahoo! She also got to do her first set of x-rays. Was so proud of her for being such a big girl and doing what the dental assistant. Ashlyn has always done really good at the dentist and we've never had any problems, but this time it was more of challenge because at the office we go to they have kids Ashlyn's age lay down on a table. Of course that brought back memories of her ER experience the week before so it definitely took longer to get her teeth cleaned and she wouldn't let the assistant floss her teeth. Thankfully she was willing to let the Dentist look at her teeth and put the vitamin stuff on them. He told her that he was going to paint her teeth so she was totally for it. By the time we left she was smiling again, got a ring and sunglasses, had her picture taken, and was entered into a drawing. I think the next time we go the whole experience will be back to the way it has been.

Ashlyn's ER Visit

So Ashlyn got to experience her first traumatizing ER visit on Oct. 15, 2011. She had been running a fever since Thursday that kept spiking as soon as the medicine would start to burn off in her system. At first I wasn't too concerned because it was only around 100 and she acted fine as long as the medicine was working. But by Saturday it had gone up to 104.6 and that was with us still alternating medicines. I just wasn't sure what to do so I finally decided to call the Urgent Care here in town to see what they thought. I didn't want to take her in just to hear that there was nothing I could do and waste my time and money as well as the dr's time. When I called to see what the nurse thought I should do with her, she was of course with a patient and so I just left a message with the receptionist and my number. I got a call back a few minutes later with the nurse saying that the doctor didn't even want to see her with a fever that high and to get her over to the ER.

Josh was good enough to stay home with Kaylee so I got Ashlyn dressed and told her to say bye to daddy. Then we headed off to the ER. When I got there it was nice because no one else was there so we didn't have to wait long to be seen.

Poor little Ashlyn didn't what would happen and I didn't either. I knew they'd want a urine sample and was hoping they'd just give her a potty bag and not the catheter. They checked her temperature and got a reading of 107, holy cow that was high! They gave her some more medicine and did a strep test to rule out that possibliity. They then decided that they needed to do the catheter because it was faster than letting her go in the potty bag. I laid her down and she was fine until the nurse came in and tried putting in catheter. Of course it was traumatizing and the nurse was unsuccessful. She had to have another nurse come in to help and it took two of us to hold her down while the nurse did the catherter. I felt so bad for her and even though I know what she was going through I couldn't help her understand why she was having to go through the pain of it all. After they were done. I got her pull-up back on and had to hold her for a long time. At this point the nurse came back in with some stickers and a cute little bear. It helped a little bit but as you can imagine Ashlyn did not want anything to do with these people and kept asking to go home.

We then had to do 2 chest x-rays. Even though these aren't invasive it still scared her after what she had just been through. I had to do a lot of coaxing to get her to hold still and let the tech to his job. Finally after about a half hour of convincing her that it was a big camera and looking at the board that lines up that the techs use kind of looked like a pumpkin (she found the eyes, nose, and mouth) we were able to go back to our room.

The Dr. came in after the x-rays and labs came back and told me he felt that it was pneumonia but wasn't serious enough yet to admit her. He gave me an antibiotic prescription and then had the nurses come in and give her a shot of rocephin. Needless to say they had to bring in more stickers and a sucker this time. He told me to make a follow-up appointment with our regular doctor on Monday, but if things worsened before then to obviously come back in.

We spent the next 45-60 minutes at Wal-mart waiting on her prescription to be filled and getting her some popsicles. I felt so bad for her. She just cried because of everything that had happened. It's so hard to explain to a 2 1/2 year old why they had to do those things.

I took her back in on Monday and am glad to report that everything turned out okay. The anitibiotic that was prescribed is one of the best ones out there to help get rid of the pneumonia if got early enough. Our Dr. was surprised that the ER doctor hadn't admitted her with that high of a fever, but I'm glad to say things started turning around for Ashlyn.

The only thing now that is hard is doing diaper changes after bowel movements. She'll come and tell me that she's stinky and then say "Mommy don't hurt me" over and over again because she's afraid I'll hurt her when when I have to wipe. This has been very challenging for me and I feel bad to because I would never hurt my child intentionally. I know the experience is still fresh in her mind and am hoping that she will be able to forget about it sooner than later.

Loving the Camera

So Ashlyn loves the camera and wanted me to take pictures of her. I'm not good at taking pictures but I think it's fun, especially where Ashlyn likes to try and pose. Here are some that I took of her the other day. She liked them so much that I told her that if she puts clothes on and lets me do her hair next time then I'll do a little photo shoot with her. That got her pretty excited! By no means will they be anything great but it's fun to do things like this with her. So here are some pics, hope you don't mind that she's only in a diaper. If this is a problem for you please just skip this post; otherwise, enjoy.

Where did the sun go?

Oh, I looked at the window and what did I see? This deary day was looking at me!



So this is what it has looked like here for the last 3 days. Boy oh boy, has it been a quick change of the weather. I was dying in the heat of the high 80's-low 90's since we moved and have had the ac running a lot. So it's been nice to not have to run the ac now, but a little crazy that the heater was going all night long. I'm definitely not use to having to have long sleeve shirts and socks on all day but it's definitely that time of year now in Idaho.

Positive things about the weather:

*We haven't gotten snow yet(knock on wood) like some of my family. It's just been raining a lot. Yesterday it tried to snow but didn't really succeed.
*It really makes me want hot chocolate or apple cider
*I don't feel as guilty when I want to just cuddle up with the girls under blankets and watch a fun show, do reading time, or simply nap with them.
*Eggnog is in the stores
*It makes me want to simply bake yummy deserts, breads, and an occasional soup here and there

Speaking of baking, this is what I enjoyed doing yesterday





Dinner was so yummy last night with homemade bread, mash potatoes (surprisingly I have started to enjoy making my mash potatoes), and a yummy smoked apple-glazed pork
loin.

Starting Solids

So we finally decided to try some rice cereal with little Miss Kaylee (Oct. 4th) to see if it would help her sleep better at night. To my surprise she actually likes the stuff and didn't make any disgusted faces, like Ashlyn did.

I really wish I had her on video camera when I let her try it for the first time. She was so funny. She was trying to get out of her seat to get to it. It'll be so much fun to see how she responds to other foods, but that will have to hold off until November. With her allergies, the doctor recommended that if I wanted to I could start her on solids at 5 1/2 mo-6 mo to go ahead so I'll wait til she's 6 months before I introduce the other foods. It seems like a long time away but it's only 4 weeks away. I think it just seems long because we started Ashlyn on solids at 4 month of age due to reflux issues.

Looking forward to all of your milestones Kaylee Kakes, but take your time. I want you to stay little!