When Kyla Smiles......

...it's like the whole world just stopped and all that there is, is just me and my girl and my other girl next to me, and my husband and my dogs. All the love in my chest makes it puff out with the sheer joy of it.

Ahhh. I love this peanut girl so much. Her sister, too. *sigh*.

And for some reason, writing this post reminded me of the movie Savannah Smiles from the early '80's. Remember that? It always made me tear up, but I loved it as a child.

Exercise and big ol' slides

Last weekend, we hit the Leprechaun Days in a nearby 'burb. Keifer enjoyed the small county-like fair they had, but she didn't want to ride on anything after she experienced the monster slide with both daddy and I. It was $12 well spent!

Here are some video clips: HERE

And after the clip of her on the truck going around the track was taped, we had to have the guy stop the ride: our girl was screaming and crying to get off. I guess she isn't ready to ride any type of ride alone (oops).

Here is our big girl trying to imitate mommy stretching out and doing squats around the living room. Disregard my thighs - ha- not a fan of that. HERE

And here she was last week, not understanding just what I was doing when I was trying to do some planks. HERE

Now when I go to the gym, Keifer seems to understand that I'm going to exercise (not that she really "gets" what it is); but, I hope she values that someday. Last night, I was getting ready to go to dinner with CJ and the girls and when I came down the stairs, K1 asked me if I was going to the gym! Now if I could bring her with to the child care without 1) her getting freaked out when I leave her and 2) me not feeling guilty to leave her there, we'd be all good!

Oppopus

Keifer telling us about the Opposite room on Imagination Movers - yet she calls it "Oppopus" room - sounds like a cross between opposite and octopus!
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Oh, how we love the library!

As I've written before, I'm an avid reader and love my local library. We are very lucky as ours is only 2 blocks away from us- an easy walk or a 1 minute drive. I put loads of books on hold there, and so many times, Keifer is with me as I'm either picking them up off of hold, or returning them in the drive-up book drop. When we drop them off, we always say "goodbye, books, thank you library!". Keifer loves the library for it's free kids activities and the half-boat climbing/sitting construction they have in the kids section. She loves to sit inside the boat, on the cushions and look out the round windows.

I've also gotten many CDs and movies there, and have increasingly been getting more and more of them for Keifer.

Last week, I let K1 "check out" the movies that were for her, and she did so well at it - she really seemed to catch on. It was so cute - I think I'll be getting her her own library card sooner than later!

I also love that they have a section of books for sale- Hardcovers for $1 and paperbacks for 50 cents. I have found many books to add to Keifer's (and now Kyla's) collection there, and found 2 more of them yesterday- one being super cute for preschool aged kids: Copy Cats Animal Actions - a spinner book. It is so cute- it has a spinner on each hard page, and the child can spin to an animal, where it will say "Flutter like a butterfly" or "Wiggle like a worm". For $1, I was soooo stoked! It's also going to be a good one to use at work.

A few weeks back, Keifer discovered she loved one of Laurie Berkner's songs on the show Jack's Big Music Show. Keifer rarely watches the show itself, but she loved this particular clip of Laurie- called the Farm Song (that's what I did on the farm). She had us rewind the DVR and play it over and over and over....... So, Mama went to the library website, put ALL of Laurie's CD's on hold (yep, all of 'em) and also found a DVD called We are the Laurie Berkner Band, and got that as well. Needless to say, Keifer was obsessed with Laurie this whole past week- obsessed, I tell you. Now, CJ and I can be found humming or singing many of her songs to ourselves, or singing along to the songs on the CD! LOL. Ahhh, what we do for our kids!

Anyhoo, this DVD was great, but K1 literally watched it on repeat for many food preparation sessions (by mama). I initially was fine with it, but when it was due yesterday, I did not weep as I returned it! I've also found that it has many fun songs that will go great in my classroom for work- so a great new exciting discovery for me on that front (work!).

K1's other favorite show - which we watch every morning at 6-6:30 AM (on DVR) in Daddy & Mama's bed is Imagination Movers. Ahhh, the Movers, Knit Knots, and Nina. And don't forget Warehouse Mouse.They aren't that bad (translation: annoying), and they do teach being kind, helping others, etc., and of course, they have their songs. Mama found a CD by them at the library, called Juice Box Heroes, and last night, Keifer and I had our own Dance Party 2009 in our living room! My favorite song by the Movers would have to be Shakable You - hee hee- as it really gets ya moving (aka burning the calories) and boy, does our K1 know how to shake her body now! LOL. And really, the song is very catchy and rock & roll like, don't you think? LOL.

Harry

Kyla, being so small at 2 months, has done remarkably well on all my shopping jaunts and travels to play dates with Keifer. Me being my movie-buff self, I decided to take another chance and take her to another movie in the theater: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Oh, how I enjoyed the Harry books and this one was one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the movie- it was very well done- and Kyla did OK at it. She was extremely fussy about half way through, so I spent half the time swaying her in my arms while standing on the side of the theater, where you enter (so no one could see me, but I could see the screen). Luckily it was a 10AM movie, and only 4 other people were there, in the giant theater.

Of course, dumb mommy realized, my girl had her shots the previous day, so no wonder she was fussy! Doh!

Anyhoo, I've been very lucky to have been able to still enjoy my favorite past time with my girl in my arms!

Wordless Wednesday: RIP, Gidget (aka Taco Bell dog)

Poor Gidget passed away last week. May she be at peace - in our family, she was someone of a "legend".

Big Rigs & Splash Parks

This AM, we met up with our friends Courtney and Aidan for a fun hour at a local Splash Park. Keifer had a ball- and she loved seeing Aidan (even though they rarely interact, she talks about him in the car the whole way there and home). We had so much fun- although it was quite steamy out and mama worried about Kyla a bit. Luckily, she was OK in her stroller and was fine after I gave her a bottle in the shade. Keifer did great until she got tired towards the end and started goofing off. She actually ran away from me, fell down when she missed that she had a step to go down, and was Miss Drama about it. She looked around, stood up and when she saw me (that I had seen the fall) she immediately dropped to her knees again and play-acted out the fall. Oh, woman.

Here she is escorting Courtney, who is pushing her friend's little boy in her stroller.

Mama loves that bum!

Our stroller line up!

Isn't Aidan just a little doll!?
Checking each other out
Miss Kyla, snoozing away
Keifer loved it! (and mama loves that this thin, cute hat was only a quarter at a rummage sale!)

Then, last week, our friends came to our house and we walked across the street to our local library's "Big Rigs Petting Zoo". I love the library and their free activites in the summer! Wouldn't you know? Our girl, who is insane about trucks, especially DIGGERS!, was not having anything to do with climbing into the big trucks, tractors, plows and diggers. Oh well!

Afterwards, Courtney and Aidan joined us (and Nana Margie, Papa Jim, and cousin Abby) for some playtime and lunch at our house. So much fun!

Aidan taking his maiden voyage in our stroller with Keifer

The big rigs!

Aidan LOVED the Sheriff's 4-wheeler. He was kind enough to let Keifer try it out, and Abby came along for a "drive"

I adore this picture of the kiddos in the digger's bucket

Keifer said "no way" to test driving the digger, but Abby tried it out -she thought it was pretty cool

Afterwards, Aidan loved exploring Keifer's toys- and she showed him the fun ball pool

Courtney checking out one of K1's photo albums that had Aidan in it from last Fall

This was after lunch and right before a nap- hence Keifer's tantrum in action. Disregard my look- we had been drizzled on walking home from the library!

Blocked up and other potty-training woes

Our girl Keifer Lynn is 27 months old, but has no real concern for the big ol' potty yet. Not to say we haven't been trying. We've been working on this since she first expressed interest in it around 18 or so months. *sigh*. Some days,she shows real interest and will express her desire to go - usually at bedtime (pre-bedtime). But the poops, ahhh, the poops. They are ruining the whole thing for her (I think). Our girl has had constipation issues her whole little life. We do it all: grains, fiber, TONS of fruits and veggies- I'm not concerned about her diet. The only question I have is: I wonder if milk can be a culprit? She eats cheese but not an extraordinary amount.
Lately, her little bowels have been so backed up that they caused the last two days to be pure hell for her little bum. It is blistered and raw from first going so many times in the last few days and then because of the sheer size of the poos that are coming out of her. I cannot believe the size that come out of her little body- they are huge. The few times I've caught her and whipped her pants off to sit on the potty and she's been successful, whoa nelly, I cannot believe they fit inside her body. However, when we see her struggling and grimacing, beet red in the face and crying, she screams and hollers and gets hysterical if we sit her on the potty, so I don't want to inflict any psychological harm that way, so I let her go in the diaper. And yes, we also do the Miralax; we have forever.
*sigh*

Any other ideas or suggestions would be great. I just feel so bad for her and frustrated with the lack of potty interest. And stickers and M&M bribes aren't working with her. She could care less.

Dance Party USA here

Yet another dance party day at our home!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Generations on down

Kyla with both her Nanas - Nana Dian and Nana Margie (or as Keifer calls her: "Nanny" Margie - LOL)

Our girls are so lucky to have both sets of grandparents still around, and who love them SO very much!

Wordless Wednesday: Up close & Personal

Kyla's 2 month stats

Kyla & I made another visit to Dr. J today for her 2 month check up- and we got her latest stats:

our girl is 10 lbs, 2 ounces - making it into a whopping 25%ile!

she is 22 inches long- 35%ile

and her head is 15cm, making it 25ile!

She is RAPIDLY growing up the "curve" that the doctor's offices have and the doctor was pleased with her weight gain. She was given the OK to go off the special high calorie formula she's been drinking to regular formula (our pocketbooks thank her for that).

Kyla is a "snacker" when it comes to eating, so we're dealing with that and hoping that once she puts a few more pounds on, she'll 1)eat better and more consistently and 2) sleep for longer stretches of time.

Then, our girl got 3 shots, one in her right leg and two in her left. Ouch. Mama had tears in her eyes for her poor, screaming baby. Afterwards, she passed out and made it through a 2 1/2 hour lunch with mama's co-workers!

We have another weight check next month to ensure our girl continues to grow the way she should and then her 4 month check up will be in September. It is so hard to believe I was making appointments for September. Oye. It's also hard to believe that this girl is SWIMMING in her 0-3 month clothes, while Keifer was comfortably in her 3-6 month outfits by now. It makes me "what if" about 'what if' Kyla had been born at full-term: would she be a big BAB (big ass baby) just like her sis, or would she be the petite girl she is now?

Waiting for those mean ol' shots

Happy 2 months, Kyla!

It's so hard to believe how fast time has gone - I feel like I've been literally living in a bubble. June? What? June came and went and I honestly have no recollection of it. My time is spent between busy 2 year old and a newborn who won't sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time. Don't get me wrong: I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I would like to be able to say I've slept a good night away and that my girl is drinking more than 2-3 ounces at a time. However, she will and soon enough I'll be reminiscing about when she was a newborn in my arms, wishing I could take the time back again.

Our Kyla is one good baby; we love her so. Here she is during my photo shoot: obviously not excited about having to pose. Big sissy, however, is the excited one because she gets to "hold her".

The Lovely Miss Kyla

I sometimes feel like Kyla is getting the short end of the stick- I don't have many exciting stories to tell (which makes me feel like Knit Knots on Imagination Movers ((Keifer's absolute FAVORITE show ever these days))- as he doesn't like excitement, hee hee), so I am always blogging about how much we are doing and showing off our ACTIVE Keifer Lynn.

However, Kyla is a dream baby. She is a love bug. We are all so in love with her, and I've noticed that this time around, the dogs aren't flipping out at all by having her as the latest addition to our household (like they did with Keifer). In fact, Treble is often sniffing around for her in the pack -n-play, where we keep her Boppy seat (safe from 2 year old hands).

She is still in that newborn stage, even thought she's 2 months old tomorrow. She is eating every 2-3 hours still, and the MOST she's taken down at one time is 4 ounces. Otherwise, she often only gets 2 to 3 ounces and passes out. She also continues to be a 'sloppy eater, as her sucking is still very much like her newborn self. It's new to us to have this, as our Keifer girl was a tiny piglet who was already in 3-6 month clothes by this point. Miss Kyla is just beginning to fill out SOME of her 0-3 month clothes, and that is in length! She is still slender, although she does have the identical long torso like her big sissy, and is beginning to fill out in her cheeks.

CJ and I were looking at newborn pictures of Keifer last week, and it truly is amazing that although we used 2 different egg donors, we have two girls who look VERY much identical as newborns. However, I see more of a different face when Kyla makes different expressions.

We are finding that she is a fussy girl in the evenings: she whines to be held and fusses if we put her down. Of course, I'm trying to go to bed when Keifer goes to bed, around 8PM, so that I can do all these nighttime feedings for her, so it makes it difficult to do so when Kyla is fussing. But I know it will be short lived (hopefully!?). Kyla is also becoming more alert and aware of what is going around her. She is infatuated with the fan (as was big sissy, LOL), and she SMILED AT ME for the first time this week: an actual real smile- she looked at me, studied me, then broke into her little grin, complete with her dimple in her right cheek that warms my heart (as I have dimples!).

Here is our beautiful peanut. Our love bug. Our Kyla.

Ok, Kyla, I'll hug you! A lot!

Keifer is always asking : "can I hold her, mom? Can I?"
This lovey dovey look is truly Keifer when she's anywhere near Kyla!

I love this! It's like she's about to make a funny remark!

And, Kyla at my ECSE friend's house on Monday.

R.I.P. Pastor David

This week, I received some really sad news, that the Pastor who baptized Keifer and myself passed away, after losing his battle with cancer. He had been our Interim Pastor during the time of our baptism. It really hurt my heart to hear this wonderfully kind man had passed. Knowing he is with our Creator helps ease my sadness a bit, but I wish his family and him peace and keep them in my prayers.

30 days? Hmmm.....

I admit it: I have become obsessed with losing my baby weight. Yes, it's only been 2 months, but man oh man, I had JUST gotten back into somewhat of a place where I wanted to be with my body image, and then I got PG again. I was SO thrilled to be PG and my goal was to work out the entire PG, but tiredness, and the sickness and overall discomfort of the PG made me unable to realize my goal (my fault, yes).

So....here I am, back in the pants that I never wanted to wear again, and am frustrated with myself for being unable to fit into the pants I want to fit into. I cringe when I glance in the mirror after thinking I like what I wear: I'm not used to having to struggle to lose weight. My whole life, I had a fantastic metabolism and could out eat any big-time eater, any day. I remember Jess's dad always looking at my skinny body and then looking at the pile of spaghetti I would eat at their house- as much as he would eat! I had a great appetite for food, and never had to worry about it staying off my body. It just came naturally.

Infertility, drugs with hormones and now 2 PG's have changed my body. It isn't coming off so easily, like some women have happen. I have to really work at it. I keep vowing to myself that I'm going to watch what I eat, then I eat something bad and say "tomorrow, tomorrow I'll restart that diet". I just need to stick to it (the diet) and start exercising more regularly and more intensely to get back to where I want to be.

Now that Kyla is almost 2 months old, I got the OK from my OB to start working out. My goal, before I get back to our gym, is to get into somewhat of decent shape (aka not dying of lack of breath when working out). I checked out Jillian's 30 Day Shred at the library and liked it. So far, I've done 4 days at Level 1 in a row and can feel the tightness in my muscles: the good feeling - of a good work out. Here's to me- keeping track of my food intake and hopefully getting back into shape- where I want to be for my own self image and happiness.

Rock & Roll, Mama!

Our girl has learned to really love "rock and roll music". I taught her that the songs that make her shake her body from side -to-side in the car is called "rock music". So now, when I drive, I'll hear my girl say from the back seat, "mama, play rock music!". Ahhh, I love this girl. However, last week on our way to Baby Ballroom, I had my Ipod shuffle on and Slaughter's Fly to the Angels came on. I love this song: who doesn't? Well, apparently Keifer Lynn does not. *sigh*. She screech, "me no like, turn off, mama, turn off!". Ahh Keifer, you do't know what Monster ballads are GOOD for you! LOL

** and on a side note, I will still never forget when my friend Jess (bearer of 8 children, hard to believe, but true) got us back stage and free passes to the Slaughter/Damn Yankees concert. *sigh*. I was in heaven, I loved me my Damn Yankees. Jess gave their road manager directions in a Sky Walk and he became smitten with her (she's gorgeous, who wouldn't?), so we scored those passes thanks to her beauty. *giggle*. I loved it, as much as meeting the bands, and getting pics with them. Also, I loved that I got a huge hug from Blas Elias (drummer of Slaughter), which made my 19 year old day! LOL*

Parades and pals

Last weekend was our city's annual week of celebrating with the Pan-O-Prog days. Parades, events each night, beer and brats, waffle breakfast at the Fire Station, etc.. Lots of fun for families- kids and adults alike.

Keifer was able to enjoy "Cruise Night" on Friday night (following the day of play at Allison's house) with her daddy and cousin Mason and Uncle Corey. Cruise Night is an hour long parade down the main street of old fashioned cars, revving up and just being really, really loud.
"Mommy, I scared! The cars hurt my ears!" exclaimed Keif when she got home, although CJ told me she enjoyed herself immensely, as her and cousin Mason shared our BOB stroller side by side.

They finished the night by running through our town home association's sprinklers, *lovely*, and getting to be wayyy too late for a 2 year old girl in THIS house.

Saturday AM was the Fire Station near our house's annual Waffle breakfast. We should've gotten there when they opened up at 7AM. However, since Keifer was up so late, she slept until 8AM for the first time (figures), hence us not getting up in time for the early arrival. Let me tell you, 9 AM is NOT the ideal time to go the breakfast when the rest of the city is in attendance. HA! Great, tasty, light-as-air waffles for $7 - but waiting for over an hour to get inside to eat? Not the best time for all involved. However, it was really cool that I ran into a student of mine that I had in my class this past year, and his dad, who works for our city. It was fun to catch up on their summer, and for them to see Miss Kyla - who was the reason I so abruptly disappeared from teaching this school year! Also, my student and Keifer LOVED being able to tour the real-live fire trucks and sit inside them.

Then, Saturday night was the grand finale: the annual parade. Keifer has attended all 3 summers of her life, and this year, she seemed most in tune then ever. She loved having her cousins at her house to play with and then go to the parade, and also my friend Missy and her family joined us. Her girls are the same age as Mason (4) and Keifer (2). All the kids had a blast together and as you can see in the video below, Keifer enjoyed being quite the show off with her dancing skills. Below, she shows off her Dancing with the Stars dance to Poker Face that Tony and Melissa did this past season. Cousin Abby realllllllllllly egged her on to do this :)

I think the highlight of this year's parade for all of us was Miss Keifer seeing a dressed up Chicken across the street from our location. Well, Keifer (not knowing parade etiquette!) took off across the road, in front of the parade route, to get to that chicken! Oye. Mama had to quickly TAKE OFF and rescue our girl, with no shoes on. Lovely. Keifer went up to the Chicken, who didn't know she was behind him/her, and he/she knocked our girl over. I'll tell you this: MANY people found this episode quite hilarious, but not me. LOL. I had to walk all the way back to our spot, up the sidewalk, across the street, and back, with no shoes. As I said, lovely. Meanwhile, Keifer had NO CLUE what she had just done. Ahh, to be 2 years old.

We were all exhausted Sunday, but we endured and took our girl to the Twins game. Whew, we had quite the fun weekend last week!

Keifer enjoying climbing on the Fire Truck

Keifer and my former student inside the Fire Truck

Keifer was thrilled when Abby and Mason came to our house for the day

I ADORE this picture of the kiddos starting out to walk to the parade: Abby, Keifer, Madysen and Mason I love Keifer's little badonkadonk in the back swinging LOL
Daddy and me, pulling our parade gear to the parade spot (Daddy pushing Kyla Whitney in her stroller)

Daddy called K1 the "Joker" after this becuase of her cheese lined lips and Abby's beret! Kyla's FIRST parade- she clearly enjoyed it! LOL Part of our parade crew
Some of our kiddos
Afterwards, hanging and playing on the deck We laughed that every child was each doing something different in the house