The speed of the passport

Whoa. My passport arrived already yesterday. Wow. That only took 2 weeks and a few days to receive! Whoot! I'm almost ready to depart to sunny Mexico! Now, all I need to do is lose a few more pounds, find a new swimsuit that I like and fits, get some new clothes, pack, and make sure I have a good sunscreen!

Kisses, sweet kisses

Our girl has finally started to blow daddy and I air kisses! Every time we say goodbye or goodnight to her, we kiss our hand and "throw it" at her in the air kiss motion. This AM, saying goodbye to her beloved Dada, she put her hand up to her mouth, kissed it and attempted to move her hand in some type of "throwing" motion. She did the same thing when I dropped her off at Elaine's as well! YAY for air kisses. She's also started imitating the "shhh" sound and motion of the finger up to your lips. What a hoot! We do the "shhh" often now, as a new favorite past time of hers is screaming at the top of her lungs.

K has also been doing some new yoga moves: the other night, she was up on her hands and knees, when she decided to push up onto her toes, so it looked like she was doing the plank position. I guess I have a yoga fanatic! LOL.

Wordless Wednesday: Our own little Rooster Girl

*Yes, she's a total poser now. As soon as the camera comes out, she breaks out the "eyes closed cheese grin"

One Year Portrait

Minnesota ladies, and anyone else.....any ideas, tips, etc.., for us when we do K's one year portraits? I really want to use Flash! Photography (in the malls) - from what I've seen, they can do some really cool things........
I know they are a little more spendy, but I wanted something more "unique", you know? I want to be able to do a big portrait for over our bed and also do some family pictures of the three of us, although I have to admit, I am sad the puppies won't be in the picture. Yes, they probably could come with us, but it would be a disaster trying to reign them in. LOL.

Anyways, any other suggestions for photographers that can do unique things with their pictures?

Yes, it may be a bit early to think about, but our girl is less than two months away from her first birthday! *gasp*

Dreams...and Oscar ramblings....

I will admit it to you: me, Miss Movie Buff Extraordinaire, didn't watch the Academy Awards last night. Quite honestly, I couldn't have cared less *gasp*. For the first time in, well, I don't even know, I had no desire to watch them and really had no interest in who would win. WOW. Just, wow. Other than Juno, and the intense Michael Clayton, I didn't really see any of the nominated films. I did, however, enjoy the clip of Ryan Seacrest and the adorable (as always!) Jennifer Garner being "attacked" *(snicker)* by Gary Busey on the Red Carpet. It's all I've heard about all AM on the talk radios. Boy, Jen looked gorgeous! I thought she handled the peck on the neck pretty well on national TV!

Dreams. I have crazy, wild dreams most nights. When I was PG, they really got out of control wild. Last night, I had a dream that I had exactly 5 minutes to pack up all my belongings, and K's, including food, to last us indefinitely. I was feeling panicked, and scared, and didn't know what to toss in the bag: clothes, which ones?, snacks, water, pictures. Ugg. It was awful. Where do dreams like this even come from?

Mommy's movie day

Yay! Thanks to CJ, I was able to go out yesterday late AM and get some serious, much needed mommy time in. I hit my home away from home, the movie theater, smuggled in my can of Coke, bought myself a small bag of popcorn, and enjoyed the movie Definitely, Maybe. Definitely see this if you can, it was very enjoyable. A sweet, romantic comedy, about how love and it's complications. Sweet bliss in the darkened theater, with only a few other patrons enjoying the movie with me. Then I hit Target, where you cannot get out without spending at least $100, (but thanks to coupons, my bill was only in the low $90's), and then Marshalls, where I found K two more board books that she already loves!

High chair woes

Initially, when we registered for, and received our high chair, we thought we were getting this wonderful , awesome, slick looking high chair.
Well, it is slick. The adjustments are easy to make, it folds up super thin for storing, and keeps the tray on the back of the chair for easy storage. The plastic seat cover is a cinch to wipe clean.

However, whoever designed this tray didn't have an eating baby in mind. There is a small crack running all the way around the tray, bringing the top and bottom of the tray together. It is held together by about 11 screws, which makes it nearly impossible to take apart after each feeding session. I mention taking it apart, because that is pretty much what we need to do in order to clean out all the damn crumbs and food from that fricking crack. It's awful. I swear and curse every time I clean this thing. It boggles my mind that something as pricey and high-rated as this would have something so dumb on the major part of the product. Lordy, this is annoying.

We had high hopes of being able to use this chair into the far future, with hopefully future children. I'm anal about cleaning it well after each feeding session. However, with this crack issue, who knows how long it'll last before I toss it out the sliding door into the snow!

I'm a Snowman

At work, I have this wonderful song for the kids we sing, called "I'm a Snowman", and it goes to the tune of "I'm a Soul Man". It is a hoot to sing, and of course, all winter long, I find myself singing or humming it to myself......

Anyhoo, I love Snowmen in the winter and I love snowmen clothes. Especially snowmen clothes for cute little girls named K. We had the onsie pre-Christmas, but cousin Aubrie sent another box of clothes that are just K's size, and we found these adorable snowman/snowflake jeans in it. The jeans are just perfect with her snowman onsie, and mommy had so much fun dressing her the other day!

I love my nursery rhymes!

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Finally! I put the balls in the hole!

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IVF Donor Cycle #2 update:

I know many people are wondering what the status is on our "trying for baby #2" cycle.
There honestly hasn't been too much going on in that department to even talk about, but finally, today a little insight came through.

Kerry's paperwork has been given the "thumb's up" at our clinic.

The clinic coordinator finally connected with me today, and had a list of the things we need to do before we meet with our doctor and Kerry and finalize any sort of dates for the actual Retrieval and Transfer. I don't think people really realize just how MUCH time, effort, and background goes into something as seemingly "simple" as an egg retrieval and embryo transfer (not that they are simple, by any means; but, we just don't show up for the procedures and magically end up PG).

Kerry, myself and CJ all need to have our infectious diseases labs done (blood work), and Kerry needs to go in on CD3 (cycle day 3) of her next AF (period), for her hormone level checks. CJ needs to have his swimmers checked out again. Kerry also needs to have what's called a "pre-antral' count done, where they check out her follicles via an ultrasound, to determine the potential of her possible egg production (ie does her follicles look good and plentiful? I'm thinking, having produced triplets naturally (no drugs), um, YES?).

Kerry's DH also has to have his blood checked, because you know, she's married to him and they share stuff like that (diseases, right?).

Kerry and her DH, and CJ and I all need to meet with the clinic psychologist for a "group assessment" , which really means sitting down and talking about the if, ands or buts of the whole egg donor thing, with a known donor. CJ and I already met with the doctor on our first go around, but we need to do the group part of it again. *sigh*.

Then, when all this is done and shows up clean and pure, we meet with the doctor to discuss the "program start' dates. Kerry will need to go through a mock cycle, as will I, to see how we respond to certain drugs, etc,. and then the whole ball of wax will most likely take place in the summer sometime. The whole ball of wax being - needles, medications, shots in the stomach,s hots in the ass, pills, nerves, anxiety, egg retrievals, and hopefully, good embryo transfers. If we're really lucky, we might even have some left over embryos. Our clinic is so darn picky though, in freezing embryos and their quality, that if we do have leftovers, we'll consider that a bonus.

So please continue to keep us all in your prayers. My mind and emotions have been all over lately, and poor CJ has been taking the brunt of my worries.

Our Swim Suit model

A few months back, we ordered K's swim suit for the season, and I had asked on here for opinions on the suits I liked. I was leaning towards the tulip suit, as the tulip is my favorite flower, and honestly, the colors in the suit are so "Keifer". LOL. Well, I'm glad I got this suit. We absolutely freaking LOVE IT. The only thing we DON'T love is the fact that my 10 month old is just about busting out of her size 18-24 month suit and it's only February. We have many months of growing until summer. *sigh*. And so, that is why I am mom of the year: yesterday, I called around the whole southern metro area, and found one Gymboree store (the Mall of America) that had one tulip swim suit left. ONE SUIT! And in a size 3T. I put that suit on hold, and as soon as I had K's warm body in my car after work, I zipped right over to the MOA and snatched that suit (thanks to the valuable 20% off coupon I had, on top of the sale, I got it for a steal!). Yes, its a 3T, but our girl already has two 2T suits in her closet, and I'm sure our fishie will be swimming year round at the gym with us, so I have no fear that in the not-too-distant future, she'll be splashing around once again in her mama's favorite suit.

Anyhoo, here is our swim suit model, breaking out for the first time last weekend in her new swim suit, with her pals Cameron and Cooper, getting ready to venture down to the hotel swimming pool and get some splashing fun in.

Our long- legged beauty

Look, it has a cute skirt

Isn't that just the GREATEST?
Waiting patiently for moms and dads to get ready to swim

Cam showing off his "love" tattoos

Swimming Pools are SO much fun!

Last Saturday, our girl was re-introduced to a swimming pool (her first time being when she was around 3 1/2 months old in Lake Tahoe). The first time was not too big of a deal to her, but this time was a whole different story. Initially, our girl was very unsure of what the dickens we had gotten her into; after a few minutes of warming up in her devoted Papa's arms, she became more and more comfortable in the water, and within 10 minutes we had a baby fish on our hands. She splashed and kicked her little legs like there was no tomorrow, and I honestly think K was the loudest child in the whole swimming pool area of the hotel. She had a ball, and we all had so much fun just watching her and experiencing the joy through her experiences. I told CJ that we better start swimming lessons sooner than later: I don't think our girl has any fear!

If you click HERE, you can see the series of her in the pool on our video clips.

With my Papa, getting used to this water, not too sure of what is going on with my mamaChecking out Cooper, to make sure he's having fun, too

Splashing with my mom with this thing called a "noodle?"
She already has the proper positioning!

After swimming, Cooper gets dolled up for his little lady, K....
...and they head out to a side-by-side romantic dinner for two (or more, with their moms and families)

Coop offers to share his sippie cup of milk, but that stuff is too strong for our 10 month old!
After dinner, K cuddles with Coop's mama, Sara, and checks out those sharp white things inside her mouth

Sara makes a good cuddle buddy

We were so proud of our girl that day. She had such a great time swimming her little heart out, had a blast eating out at the restaurant, and ended the night getting home 2 hours later than her bedtime! WOW! What a full day she had!

My Papa & Me

At only 10 months old, little K already knows who how to wrap her Papa Dale around her little fingers. One of the most consistent words she can say is "Papa", and whenever we hold up the phone to her ear, to listen to whoever happens to be on the other end, she lights up, grins, and says in a whisper "Papa, papa, papa!". We can say, "no, it's ____ (insert name of choice)", but she refuses to believe it's anyone but her devoted Papa (of 2!).

My Mom and Dad (Papa & Nana) came through town last week, coming home from their whirlwind road trip to Florida and Texas, and were with us all weekend. I don't know who had more fun: the grandparents, or Keifer??

If you click HERE, you can actually hear our girl very clearly say "Papa" at the end of this clip

True Wuv

Our Poor Girl: Ears or Teeth?

Our poor girl has been SO restless at night the past few weeks, and we've attributed it to teething pain. We figure with only 2 teefers in her mouth, she's about due for some more to start coming in. Lately she's been very drooly (and appears to thoroughly enjoy playing with her spit, by making spit bubbles). A nice skill to have. But I digress.
Yesterday, when I picked her up at Elaine's, Elaine told me that K has woken up from a super short nap screaming and pulling her ears. I immediately put a call into our doctor's office and was lucky enough to nab the very last appointment they had to offer for this AM.
CJ brought our girl in, and apparently, it's her two upper teeth that are causing her this misery. The Doc referred to her pain as referred pain, and it's very common that babies will pull their ears with teething pain because the mouth and ear nerves are all the same. Poor girl.
From here on out, we're going to have to be consistent with our Motrin.

Quick musings

Just a quick check in to let you know pictures of the weekend are coming. I've been recovering from whatever it is that knocked me out, and it is still lingering. And, not only did my mom also have it, but my dad also was hit hard with it late Sunday night and all day yesterday. He had actually already went home to Duluth, and was planning on coming back to pick up my mom today. Well, he did come to get her, but he isn't feeling good yet. Ahh, the joy. I feel like somebody did a great boxing workout on my stomach, that's how much it hurts right now.

So far, knock on wood, as CJ and Keif have NOT gotten whatever it is that made us so sick. I'm still hoping it was food poisoning and that she remains in the clear.

Yesterday, my mom was reading K a book that showed a choo choo train, and she started making the "chooo chooo, whoot whoot" sounds,and K started imitating her! It was amazing! I swear, my girl blows me away everyday with her new sounds and skills.

Keif is usually able to sleep 10-11 hours a night, but lately, she's been waking up at least 1-2 x a night, and last night, she woke up 3 x! Ugggggg! We wonder if she's teething: she's also been very drooly again lately,and has been beginning to play with her spit, as in blowing spit bubbles, so who knows. We shall see. She still only has the 2 bottom teeth.

Can someone in Hollywood please tell me HOW THE HELL a movie as awful as the Heartbreak Kid got remade into a movie last year? Seriously? Seriously. Mom and I watched this the other night and we were in awe at how just plain old awful it was. Man. What a waste of time.

A real life Baby!

Keifer was beyond thrilled to be reunited with her pals, Cooper (*1 years old*) and Cameron (*3 years old*) this past Saturday. Our friends were in town, hanging at the Mall of America, and my parents were here. We had a fun time getting together with them, hanging out, swimming, and enjoying watching our babies interact. This is K being reintroduced to Cooper. She was thrilled, as you can see, to meet a "real live baby". LOL. Watch this video clip for the FOLLOW UP - as Cooper crawls away, and Keif shows her future colors as a boy-crazy girl!

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I love to dance!

As I've mentioned before, K loves to dance dance dance, like nobody's business. We find her in this new position quite a bit lately - the sideways knee pose - and this is her preferred pose to boogie down. She'll dance to music on TV, on the radio/CD player, in the car, and to her toys. Just this AM, she was dancing to the music in her head, as there was no music playing, but she was bopping away, chewing on a teething ring. LOL. That's our future rock n roll girl!

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Coming soon:

Lots of pictures and stories, and oh yeah, video clips of our baby fish (aka Keif). However, mama here, and Nana Di, have been hit hard by either food poisoning or a quick and deadly stomach virus. Ewwww. Will have reading and listening enjoyment as soon as humanly possible.

Thanks.

Booked- we're going on vacation

CJ just called. We're booked. We're hitting the Cancun Riviera Maya area in April for 5 nights, with CJ's brother and his wife. My parents will watch K and the fur kids for us, and we'll enjoy the tropical weather, all-inclusive food and drinks, and sleep! I'm so excited! I'm a little sad; I've honestly NEVER felt this sadness when booking a trip before. I think it's because we are leaving our girl for 5 nights. Granted, she'll be in the best care possible, but still, I've never been away from her with her daddy as well for this long. My heart already misses her. Plus, we get home the night (yes, night) before her 1st Birthday, and I'm a tich nervous about not being able to say goodnight to her the night before - even though she has no idea what a birthday even is!
After all we went through to finally have her, I'm a bit goofy about her 1st birthday!

On a side note, I've been using Neutrogena's Dry Touch Sunscreen, with high SPF and Helioplax, for about a year now as my sunscreen of choice. However, I found that it gets really flakey on my face, and I'm wondering if any of YOU, especially readers who may find you spend lots more time in the sun, might have better suggestions? Something with a good SPF, and good lasting appeal, for not TOO many pesos. Anyone? Ever since I had that basal cell carcinoma (aka cancer) on my face/ear last summer, I've been obsessed with making sure every INCH of ANY exposed skin is covered properly.

Happy Valentine's Day: K's first Vday!

Ahh, yes, another photo shoot....

Mommy says it's my first Valentine's Day!
Will you be my Valetine? My very special friend?

The Final Product: Happy Valentine's Day!
Thanks to Taryn, for making me such a wonderful template for the card! She is so talented!

Wordless Wednesday: A preview of sorts, of what's to come tomorrow

Care to take a guess as to what WE were doing? Hmmmm............

Passport Madness

CJ and I are in talks with his brother and wife about possibly going to Mexico in April, as a last minute get away trip. I don't have a passport, though, and since the new laws require you do, I realized I needed to get my booty in gear if I wanted to leave the country in April.

Yesterday, at work, I printed out the forms for a passport and filled them out. All I needed to do was go to the license center (near our house, literally across the street), show my birth certificate, get my pictures taken, and pay. I raced home, with K singing along to the new Rihanna CD in the backseat, and got home at a good time. I rushed in the house, grabbed the checkbook, let the wild puppies out to go potty, said goodbye to them again, and raced across the street. I struggled taking the stroller out of the trunk, but got K situated in it, and wheeled her into the license office. We entered, and as soon as I started talking with the woman behind the counter, I realized I had left my birth certificate on the desk at home. Crap. She told me I only had 10 minutes until they stopped processing passports for the day, so I had to race home and grab that again. She told me she'd take my picture, so they could process it while I ran across the street. I had to leave the stroller under her watchful eye (because that would cost me way too much time to reload and take out again), put K back into her car seat, and re-enter the house, throwing the dogs into spasms of joy once again.

Once inside the house, I grabbed my birth certificate, and noticed the phone was blinking, indicating a message. I quickly looked at the caller ID, and seeing it was the library, I assumed some more books I put on hold had come in. The license center is next door to the library, so I would just add that to my tasks to get done once I returned across the street.

Treble raced down to the door, and showed me he REALLY wanted to come with me. So, I sighed and let the dogs into the car with me, where they had a joyful reunion in the backseat with a perplexed Keifer.

We returned to the license center; I took K out of the carseat, strictly told the puppies to STAY in the car, and raced back inside, sweating madly by this point. It was only 8 degrees outside, but I had stripped myself of my down winter jacket and was fine in just a sweatshirt (and I had my cuddle duds on under my jeans, so that helped keep me toasty warm). The woman laughed and told me I had just made it. I put K back into her stroller, where she proceeded to giggle and flirt madly with two older gentlemen who were filling out some paperwork. The woman working with me laughed at K and told me she should be in a commercial with that giggle and flirty smile. I wonder if K thought the men were Papa material?

Anyhoo, we got the passport situation under control, so I rolled K over to the library, and went to look on the computer to see what books had come in. There were none, so I scratched my head and wondered, why would the library call me and leave me a message?

AHA! I remembered! The county library system has a contest of sorts in the winter months of January and February, rewarding readers with a weekly drawing when you enter your name after reading a book. I asked the woman at the information desk if indeed I had won a drawing, and I had! YAY! The best part about the prize was it was two movie tickets to the local movie theater! Even better! *And even more wonderful, is that I had won a similar drawing 3 years ago for the same contest, that time winning a book of my choice. I apparently have no luck in any other contests I've ever entered, but the library continues to demonstrate to me that it is my good friend*

So my frantic afternoon paid off - I had won movie tickets from my favorite place, the library, and my passport was under control, hopefully getting processed in time for a trip to the warm and sunny tropics.

A golden month: 10 months old on the 10th!

Happy ten months to our angel girl, K, today. Wow. Incredible. Just insane to even know that in 2 months she'll be a whole year old. I have been peeking back at pictures of my belly, and its so crazy to me that I had her inside me last year at this time, growing like a weed, making me huge and ungainly.

We love our girl so much. She's been chattering away, as usual, and the past few days she's starting talking in gibberish to herself quite frequently. It's so funny to listen to her. She continues to love the puppers (well, Tboy, Sass is OK from a distance to laugh at, not so much fun when she's attacking her with kisses), and K's one mission in life is to crawl and steal the nylabones from the puppy toys.

Alex continues to be her boyfriend at daycare, and on Friday, the sub provider told me she felt like Alex is Keifer's little "protector" *sigh*. She loves kids, and when we're out in public and she sees kids, she lights up and says "hi" to them, even if they don't hear her. When I leave her with Elaine each day, she is usually beaming a big cheese grin, ready to play play play.

She loves her music and dancing, and clapping. She loves when mama picks her up to dance with. She also loves to eat most days. Her new favorite is broccoli (in very small pieces), and she loves mandarin oranges and turkey (organic) from the deli. Because of her pooping issues, we've been limiting the carbs, but she'd gobble down bread everyday, all day, if we let her.

Our photo shoots are becoming more and more difficult as our girl is a girl on the GO GO GO, and she is fascinated by the age signs. Funny enough, she didn't take down this month's sign, but she sure wanted to get off the chair. Mama was sweating by the time this month's montage was finished. Enjoy!

HA! You want me to sit still? NEVER!
Patty cake helps keep me still for a second
I see something and I want down!
OK, I'll slide down and smile

Like my buddha belly? My new trick of sticking out my tongue at you

The Fur Kids' Fun at Home

Treble and Sage have been SO good with K, as she's been growing and beginning to be on the move. We are so happy that Treble is handling her so well, although we do know he is an animal and we don't leave either of the pups alone with K, not knowing what may happen. K's favorite toy to crawl after everyday is one of the pupper's nylabones, which of course, are all chewed up and rough on their edges. She manages to find these bones everywhere we go. She will be sitting in one area of the living room and suddenly, a nylabone will magically appear in her hands. She thinks its they are all fun and games. When Treble is gnawing happily on a bone (and I say happily, because when he is happy and we arrive home, or he is happy we are all together, he gnaws on the bone), K will begin her stealth crawling to attempt to steal his bone. So far, no snipping or barking; he will just get up and leave the area and gnaw on his bone somewhere else. Of course, K will then rearrange her body and manage to follow him, as he is typically not far from his original position. Aww, the fun we have.

Here's Tboy the other AM, trying hard but not quite managing to get away from his baby girl. LOL.

And this is me, collapsing after the Kickboxing class the other night, only to be pampered and have my face cleaned of all its salty sweat by my bed partner, and cuddle buddy, Sassy Sage.

Baby poop issues

I haven't shared any of the drama that has been happening here in the Soupy household lately, but it has been becoming more dramatic lately, and now, it's hard NOT to talk about it. It has to do with baby poop. You see, our poor girl apparently has a very difficult time getting her poop out of her bottom and it takes days for a BIG poop to make its way out of her, and it usually is hard as a rock, and bigger than anything I'd ever imagine coming out of an infant. Poor K will scream, and cry, and work for HOURS on these poops, and usually, after straining a bit, and watching her become beet red and pushing and grimacing, just to push out a small rock hard poop the size of a marble, both CJ and I are heartbroken.

Yes, we've tried everything you can imagine. We've cut out dairy, she eats fruits and veggies like they are going out of style, we avoid the "constipating' fruits, we try to limit breads and carbs unless they are super whole grain. *sigh*. You name it, we've done it. Yes, we've pushed water, pear juice: pear juice plain, and pear juice diluted. Prune juice plain, and prune juice diluted. Real prunes. Baby food prunes. And nada. No success.

Many of my mommy board cyber friends told me about Miralax, a supposedly safe powder laxative that is gentle and mild for babies. They all swear it has helped their babies in this pooping department. However, when I looked the other day on AskDrSears.com, it suggested going more natural, such as using Acidophilus and Flax Oil. So, Thursday night, after working a 12 hour day (conferencing), I hit the Natural Foods store, and stood in the vitamen/supplement aisle for close to a half hour, discussing K's habits and issues with the woman who worked there.

I ended up purchasing a big bottle of flax oil for the whole family, and a powdered form of Acidophilus that is for babies. We've started giving the flax oil to her in the bottle in the AM, and 1/4 tsp. of the Acidophilus in the bottle as well.

However, after last night's pooping escapades, and watching her struggle again, I called CJ and had him buy some Miralax on the way home, and so far, we've watching our girl like a hawk. She had another traumatic morning, getting another large poop out, but we're hoping the Miralax kicks in soon.

My poor baby.

Peek A Boo!

Our girl loves to play Peek A Boo, and after dinner the other night, she was getting very silly with us. As you can see on her highchair tray, she got a little nutso that night with the raspberry spitting. Nice, huh? *notice the lovely artistic splatter*





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The things K loves: baby, pots, and making silly noises

Ever since K received the Laugh & Learn Kitchen for Christmas, she has played with this toy every.single. day. She loves it, and loves to open the fridge, and shut it, just to hear the music ,and she is very tentatively starting to pull herself up on her knees by holding on the that toaster in the background. I love to watch her play, and everyday I count my blessings that I have such a fun baby, and a happy baby, and a baby that can sit and enjoy toys and play with them without needing ALL my attention (although I love when she wants me to interact with her, because it makes me feel so needed). The kitchen came with this orange pot that K has developed a fond attachment to. We aren't sure why, but wherever K goes (when cruising around the living room), she's sure to have that orange pot nearby.


Here's yet another video clip of her, but this one shows you just how in love our girl is with her love bug dolly/baby. She is so overjoyed to be reunited with "baby" everyday, it just makes me want to share that joy with you. Towards the end, she'll demonstrate to you her new sound she loves to make with her tongue: we're not sure who taught her that, but it sure is fun to listen to.




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Six Pieces of Trivia

No, it's not "Six Degrees of Separation". My friend Emilie tagged for me for this fun little trivia game.

The rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.

2) Post the rules.

3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.

4) Tag at least three people.

5) Make sure the people you tagged.

1. I was named after my Polish Great-Grandmother, whose first name was pronounced "Cashmer-ah" but I am not spelling that the right way. She was known as Grandma Carrie to my Mom and her siblings. My mom said she KNEW I was a girl when she was PG with me, and when people asked her if she had any boy names picked out, she said no, I was Carrie. They apparently thought she was a little nuts for thinking that, but here I am. I am a female. :) And on a cool side note to this, I was honored by being given my namesake's wedding ring: I actually wore it during my own wedding, and I wear it during special events, such as all my IUI's, my IVF cycles, and anything else important in my life. I like to think my name sake's presence is with me, even though I never met her (and yes, that is more than 1 tidbit, but oh well, I'll be a cheater).

2. I've been keeping name lists for potential children since I was in the 5th or 6th grade. I remember that my friend Jess and I would keep notebook lists of possible boy names and possible girl names,and compare them all the time. To this day, I STILL keep name lists floating around in my junk drawers. That name list has changed about a million times in the girl department, but interestingly enough, not too much with the boys. I'm very picky about boy names.

3. CJ and I (this is about both of us) -the first thing we discussed when we decided we were the ONE for each other, we decided if we ever had a girl, we were going to name her Isabella. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. However, that name became very popular, and I like to sometimes go against the grain, so after much debate, we took it off as our number one. Then, I talked about how cool the name Keifer would be, and well...........that's all she wrote. :)

4. Part of the reason I love movies so passionately is becuase growing up, our neighbor across the street was the manager of the Cinema, which was pretty much THE movie theater in town. My parents and he were good buddies, and literally spent most of their free time together, so we kids would go to the movies every weekend. The best part about that growing up was, all we had to do was walk in and say, "did John call?", and we'd get ushered in. It was wonderful. However, we were allowed to see rated R movies beginning in 5th and 6th grade, and many of my friends were NOT allowed to, so it was hard to find friends to go to some of the movies with. I remember going to Stand By Me right before entering the 7th grade, and loving it, but having nobody at school to really talk about it with. And, on another side note, my first rated R movie that my parents let me see was The Breakfast Club, and it was at a theater in Hibbing, MN.

5. When I was little, I used to want to be a teacher, a vet, an artist, and a waitress. Apparently, the teacher part stuck, but I remember my Grandma Hanson used to buy me those little waitress note pads for taking orders, and I'd pretend to play waitress with her.

6. I played the piano for one year in the 4th grade, and played the violin for 3 years beginning in 6th grade. I quit in the 8th grade at the end of the school year; one, because the orchestra teacher was a real witch (with a "b") and two, becuase I didn't want to be known as a "geek". Sadly, I regret quitting so much. Yes, I could start up lessons again at this age, but it would take much time and effort to get back into playing, and I don't think I'd keep it up. *sigh*.

I tag Tara, Jen, and Kerry.

Hi! from our Social Butterfly

I'll have pics tonight, I've been lazy (and uber busy at work!) , but wanted to tell you about how social our big girl K is.

CJ changed our computer's desktop background to the slideshow option, and of course, the majority of the pictures in the slide show of Keifer and the puppers. Well, K's favorite thing to do now, as she sits on our lap in front of the computer, or in her high chair during meal time, is to say "hi!", really enthusiastically to herself as she pops up in the variety of pictures. Its hilarious, really. She'll just be sitting there, eating or looking around, and suddenly, "hi" comes out of nowhere, with her big cheese grin. It melts our hearts. She also says "hi" to the babies in her stories, as many of her favorite board books include pictures of babies and toddlers. We'll be reading along, and she's busy greeting each smiling child, as if they can hear her.

K has also been spitting raspberries when she eats, and it's progressively been getting worse at both home, and daycare. As I've mentioned before, we and Elaine have been trying to use the sign "stop" and saying "stop!" in a strict tone, but she just laughs and mocks us with her attempts at repeating us. We've all tried ignoring her, which doesn't do any good, and I've tried putting a napkin against her lips and saying "time to eat", without saying the "n' word *(no)*. Elaine said she's actually turned K's high chair around at lunch time and once K stops spitting, she turns her back around to face the kids, but then she'll start again. AHHHH! Our little comedian thinks she is so funny. I know it must feel good on her lips to spit and spray and feel that oral vibration, but she's making a mess of everything and it's really not polite to have her spitting at mealtimes. I went to my Kickbox Jam class the other night complete with specks of squash in my hair. Nice. Anyone have any tips on how to curb this behavior? *sigh*

Stretch and Grimace

Owie again. My shoulders are killing me, the outside top part of them, from the Kickbox Jam class the other night. It's a good hurt, but owie. I keep stretching them, along with my hamstrings whenever possible. Smiling through the pain. I will. get. back. in. shape.

Update on Mooshie

Her leg- well, it's not as serious as we thought, thank goodness. Apparently, all the fluid and blood in her leg is causing bruising and pressure, but that is IT. Whew. Although, she has to stay on bedrest and continue with the ice, and elevation. She is quite the bored girl, and getting squirrely after being off her feet for so long. Please continue to keep her in your prayers, that she heals up nicely.

My first email from K!

Our girl loves to sit on our laps and try to pound away at the computer, just like us. CJ said she even grabbed the mouse last night.
Here is what my girl emailed me - her first email to me! LOL

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Prayer request for Mooshie

I just read this about Mooshie on our message board, so if you could take a second and say a prayer for her, we'd appreciate it. Let's hope its nothing!

My calf is very swollen and even my pant leg brushing against it is excruciating. It's been like this for several days, so I think it's just blood and fluids pooling. Anyhow, my leg is turning purple and mottled and my symptoms indicate that this may be a blood clot.

My dad is on his way over to take me to the hospital for a specialized ultrasound.

I'm just a little on edge as my friend passed away suddenly from a blood clot this summer, as did a relative of mine a couple of years ago.

Like I said, I'm sure I'm fine....but you all know how much I believe in the power of prayer!

(and any extra prayers for a more speedy recovery would be awesome--I'm again rejecting my stitches so still have open wounds, still cannot take any pain meds and am not healing as quickly as I should be even though I'm on nearly constant bedrest, ice and elevation. I just want to be part of my kids lives again.

Sometimes its sad

As a teacher, I expect to work with students from every walk of life. Being that my field is early childhood special education, I also expect many different things when I'm introduced to a young child that I may be servicing. Kids can qualify for my program MANY different ways. They have to qualify in two different areas of development, below a certain age level cut off, or else they have to have some sort of developemental disability of some sort that has been known to hinder development. I could get anywhere from a child who has speech/language and motor delays, to children who have trouble problem solving, to children who have behavioral issues, to those that may be on some type of spectrum, or have a disability. Its a rainbow, really, and I love working with the variety I get.

I'd say typically, I get half and half when it comes to parent interaction and support with the kids. Sometimes I have the most excellent parents working with me, and working on the needs of their child, and sometimes it takes frequent calling and notes and nagging before I even get a response to talk to them. There can be a variety of reasons, culturally, socially, economically, as to why this is, and I understand that. But it often makes my heart hurt.

I just went out today on a home observation for a child that may be entering our program. I go out to determine if we should complete formalized standardized testing or not, to determine if they would qualify for the help. In this case, it was and is very clear that this child will qualify, and what made me and my co-worker groan in pain, was the fact that my almost-10 month old daughter is able to understand and respond more than this child, who is 3 1/2 times her age in years. It's amazing to me, really, the extremes there are in this world, in this society. It makes my heart sad, but, as I've been told before, I can't save them all. *sigh*.

I'm so excited..........

..........and I just can't hide it!

My sweetie pie friend Taryn, whom I met online on a message board (who ironically lives in my hometown!) and since have gotten to be good buddies with, she has a side business of making cards. She did my super-cool shower invites, my thank you notes for my baby gifts, and has made our cards for mine and K's baptism, as well as our holiday card this Fall. Well, I wanted to do something special for K's first Valentine's Day, and have a homemade card (instead of little character cards) for her friends at Daycare (and family members, of course) so I gave Taryn a few ideas, and a few pics of my girl posing in her "V-day attire". Let's just say, Taryn can take and idea and make it the COOLEST thing ever! I can't wait to share the card with you next week!

This was our "holiday" card this year, instead of a Christmas/New Year's Card, we did a card at Thanksgiving, since we had such a year to be thankful! Isn't Taryn's work amazing?

Wordless Wednesday: My other babies

This is one of my all time favorites of my fur kids

OWIE: Part Two

I just got home from Kickbox Jam. Ouch. I loved it. I love love loved it. I got out all my aggression and stress. I punched it out, I kicked it out, I pretended to jump-rope it out. I dripped in sweat. My body didn't jiggle quite as much during the fast feet as it did back in the Fall. I stink. I am gross. I'm so glad I did this. Now, if I could cut down on my 2 cans of Coke a day habit, I'd be a happy girl. I don't like Diet, I don't like "Free", I want my icy cold Coke from a can. But it has too much sugar in it. Sugar = fat. I need to cut that out of my diet. So I'm going to continue to try and kick box it out.

*off to shower*

Aww, shucks, you like me? You really like me!

Awww, thanks to Tara at Two Lines on a stick. What a pleasant surprise today to open up her post, looking for more adorable pics of her daughter Bailey (who is right about K's age) and I saw this! Thanks, Tara!!!!! You make me blush!

Let's see, so many blogs, but ....I'll pass this along to D. at And Baby B Makes Three, because her little Baby B makes me laugh, and reminds me SO much of my own ham bone daughter. D and I have come along ways from our TTC board, where we both dreamed of having babies, and it ached just to know we were having troubles. But look how happy we are now with our angel girls!

I'll also pass it along to Wendy and Karen of 2 Moms-It Can Be Done, because I covet their precious, gorgeous girl Kylie's clothes, and if ever K and I are visiting Mooshie in Portland, we'll have to see if we can meet up for a play date (and a Starbucks! Yum!).

125 peeks today so far, and not one comment or hello?

*sad face*

I mean, I'm not looking to pimp out my girl, and expect you to rave about her, I just like to share, but c'mon, I'm getting a complex. Is anyone out there? *sniff*

*****************

And I'm not doing this for attention. It's because I wanna know, besides the "regulars", who's out there? *smile*

Danger: Baby Shampoos, lotions, and powders

I just read this article on the danger of chemicals called phthalates in baby shampoos, lotions, and powders. I had heard this information this summer, and had already changed K's shampoo and lotions to Aveeno products, but this just makes me even more worried about everything. This summer, I read some articles on the dangers that lie within the products used in our homes,and it has made me so much more aware of what we are using in our home with K around.

This is an email I have saved, and I'll share it with you. Basically, I've just been trying to use Method products that they sell at Target for cleaning, or the Seventh Generation products. We have a TON of Johnson Baby Shampoo products, and although its on the list as having some different chemicals in it, I'm not sure what to do.

Here is the list. Does anybody have anything to add to this?

Is Your Home Healthy?

According to the book, The Safe Shoppers Bible, here is a list of common household products that contain known carcinogens and/or neurotoxins. Carcinogens are chemicals that cause cancer. Neurotoxins are chemicals that adversely affect the nervous system reducing emotional well being, mental alertness, coordination and other functions associated with intelligence.

Lysol disinfectant (all scents)
Renuzit Air Deodorizer
Bon Ami Foam Cleaner
Citri-Solv
Fantastik All-Purpose Cleaner
Formula 409
Pine-Sol Multi-Action Spray
Pledge Household Cleaner
Simple Green
Spic & Span Cleaner
Scotts Liquid Gold
Lemon Pledge
Tilex Soap Scum Remover
Glass Plus
Ajax Cleaner
Gillette Foamy Skin Conditioning
Speed Stick Deodorant
Soft Soap
Secret Deodorant
Johnson's Baby Shampoo

S.O.S. Ammonia Glass Cleaner
Dawn Sureshot
S.O.S. Vinegar Cleaner
Joy Dishwashing Liquid
Windex Glass Cleaner
Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid
Shout Aerosol & Stick
Sunlight Dishwashing Liquid
Spray & Wash Stain Remover
Kleen King Aluminum & Copper Cleaner
KR2 Spot Lifter
Behold Furniture Wax
Depend-o Blue Toilet Cleaner
Endust
3M Aerosol Spot Remover
Formby's Lemon & Almond Spray
Most Home & Garden Pesticides

Right Guard Deodorant
Ponds Dry Skin Bar
Palmolive Skin Bar
Lady Speed Stick
Lever 2000
Irish Spring Deodorant
Lifebouy Soap
Jergens Liquid Soap
English Leather
Deodorant
Ban Roll-on
Caress Body Bar
Camay
Ultra Brite Toothpaste
Cepacol Mouthwash
Crest Tartar Control
Listerine Original & Cool Mint
Arm & Hammer Toothpaste
Colgate toothpaste
Scope Mouthwash
Old English Furniture Spray
Dove Soap Bars
Is Your Home Healthy?

To find out what's lurking on your shelves, go to the National Institutes of Health Library of Medicine Household Products Database. You can search almost any brand of cleaner you use, find out what's in it, and uncover its links to health effects. Or search by chemical ingredients (see list below for some examples) and discover what brands contain it.
Chemical ingredients to look out for:
Sodium Hydroxide
Hydrochloric acid
Butyl cellosolve (2-Butoxyethanol)
Formaldehyde
Bleach (sodium hypochlorite)
Ammonia
Sulfamic Acid
Petroleum distillates
Sulfuric acid
Lye (potassium hydroxide)
Morpholine