Thursday, January 28, 2010

This and that........

I'll have you know, that when you see pictures of the girls posed together, sitting on the couch or in a chair, chances are I did NOT pose them. It was Keifer, requesting to "hogue" (hold with a "g" sound instead of the "ld" sound) her sister and "mom, take a picture!". The girl adores her baby sister, simply adores her. The feeling is mutual, for now, thank goodness.

Here they are, the "beary sweet" sissies - LOL at mama being silly
Ahhh, pure love-can you feel it radiating off of Keifer? And Kyla- oye- I wanna eat that girl UP!
As usual, Kyla has a finger (or hand) in her mouth (always!) and who knows what Keifer is doing. Oh, and that's Keifer's "I'm a big sister" bracelet on her wrist-she loves to wear pretty bracelets and is very proud of this one.
Doing what she does best: take pictures around the house, especially of her sissy (chewing on her hands) as Treble watches over the activitiesOur friends Christian and Jackson came over with their baby Dylan and mama Allison for a play date! Here, they are exploring the water color books where you just add water and paint
Although Keifer is learning the sequence of water colors painting (water, paint, picture), she really enjoys just adding water and voila: the colors appear!
Ohhhh, feed me, feed me!! The girl makes a LOT of noise when it's meal time- believe me, you know when she wants to be fed or if you're not feeding her fast enough!
Here Keifer was behaving while I fed Kyla (some days, it just isn't possible for her! LOL) , and played with her Silly Parts Talking Potato Head Elmo (which I found at a consignment sale last Spring for $2- score!)- she rarely plays with her toys - I have to persuade her lately- all she wants to do is what MAMA is doing!

Old friends & new

A few weeks ago, I packed up Keifer and we headed up north a few hours to my ECSE friend Kris's house, to have our very first sleep-over without Daddy or Kyla! It was a mini-get together of my dear ECSE college friends, and their daughters. Kris's hubby was out of town, so what better to break up their weekend then a 2 year old and her mommy visiting? Louise joined us with her 3 girls, and Michelle arrived later with 2 of her 3 kids. Keifer enjoyed herself immensely, after an initial few hours of hanging off of mommy and being shy. We slept together in Anna' s big girl bed (Queen size, imagine that!), and just had a really fun time overall. It is so nice to spend time with my old friends, and for Keifer to meet new friends her size!

Keifer posing in her beloved new Rock Star shirt- she loves guitars and calls herself a rock star, now
Jamming on her mini-guitar
Anna and Emma had guitars and a keyboard, complete with a microphone! K1 loved exploring the musical instruments!
Having dinner at the "kids" table. She loved being a big girl with her friends!
Hanging out on Emma's Elmo couch, pounding away on the keyboard (I wonder where she picked that up? Hmmm)
The girls- with my girl leading the silly game of jumping on the bed (a favorite past time of hers)
So fun!
Some of the line up!
The next AM, Emma & Keifer hanging out
Testing out Anna's real rock star guitar!
AFter breakfast, Keifer and I packed up and headed a few miles up the road. We were so lucky, because my friend Bryant (whom I grew up with) and his beautiful wife Sara live up the road from Kris! How cool is that! They have 2 beautiful boys, Cameron and Cooper, and Keifer was just as excited to arrive at their house as the day before. It has been WAY too long since we've seen Bry, Sara and the boys, and we were so excited to spend a few hours hanging out and catching up with them.
Keifer loved exploring their house and asking for snacks, and was proud as punch to use their potty like a big girl. She even had me ask "that boy" (Bryant, hee hee) if he had any M&M's for her, since she went potty. He didn't, but he did have a gummy vitamin, which she thankfully took.
Cameron (5) and Cooper (just turned 3!) Sara & I were PG together! :)
Again, instigating some jumping on the bed. Oye.
Making a silly face

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010

8 months: gone in the blink of an eye.......

I was just writing the update for Kyla's 7 month birthday, when I turned around and her 8 month milestone passed me by. *sigh* I'll have you know, I took her pictures exactly on her 8th month birthday, and had them uploaded to the blogger site. Alas, travels and work and just being busy has delayed me on many of my posts, Kyla's special post being one of them.

So, here she is. My rolling "gabby" girl. Yep. Rolling, rolling, rolling and smiling and cooing while she does it. And, just like her sissy, she is living up to the nickname Elaine's hubby, Papa Joel, has given her: "Gabby". The girl does not.stop. gabbing. Just like her big sissy. *eyes open in shock*. Uh oh. We are IN for it with 2 gabby girls, aren't we? LOL. She loves to play with sounds, and watches our mouths and faces so intently when we make any type of sounds at her. She loves to click her tongue, stick OUT her tongue, and attempt to make the "Mama" sounds when we do so. She is also starting to make the "dada dada dada" sounds. I swear she was calling me the other day, with her particular "mmmmm" sound she makes when she sees me.

Kyla is an eating machine. She will eat a whole bowl of cereal plus fruits or veggies three times a day now. She is loving meal time and her little eyes light up and she gets so excited when you strap her into the high chair.

Did somebody say HAPPY baby? Um, yeah, again, just like big sissy was. The girl is the happiest baby EVER. She is so mellow and content. Sometime I feel guilty for leaving her alone to fend for herself with her toys or in her saucer so I can take care of her diva older sister. Kyla is always quick to giggle and talk to you, and the latest funny "story" to tell about her is that whenever Keifer says ANYTHING to her- in her crib, on the floor, in her chair, or in her car seat in the back next to Keifer: Kyla will belly laugh at her. It's so amazing to see their bond developing already. My favorite time of the day is in the AM when I'm getting ready for work and we plunk Kyla in the 'saucer. Keifer will pull her little mini-Ladybug chair over in front of the 'saucer and sit and narrate things to Kyla and talk to her about things that are going on. It's so sweet.
Although our girl was a preemie, I'm thinking she is just in the average range for size. Her sissy was in the 12-18 month clothing (mostly 18 month) at this age; however, Kyla is staying in the 9 month, or 6-12 month area for clothing. I am loving that she isn't SUCH a BAB (big ass baby) because I don't like that she's growing so fast, but clothing -wise , it is somewhat of a pain not to have the correct sizing clothing for the season (as I had thought I would be prepared for!). Oh well, makes it fun to get NEW clothes!

We are so blessed to have such beautiful angel girls.

Did someone say "naked baby?" Getting into the bath tub, where she coos and giggles and is SO ticklish!
Here she is again, in the chair!Trying to figure out what this sign is
Hey! What are those cool things? Toes?
Trying to eat her book (books are now a potential food item! Straight to the mouth!)
Seriously, seeing her little toes in this post has me wanting to KISS THEM! So sweet!
She was so tired here, and literally started scooting down and trying to be all done-she was hungry!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Doggie Flu?


Poor Treble (Tboy). Last week, we had a few days where we weren't sure what in the world was going on with him (health wise). It was so scary and made me feel so sad that we really don't know exactly HOW old he is, what his history is (as he was a rescue) and if he is prone to diseases, etc., because of his breed.

He has been on Phenobarbital for his seizures for about half a year now. He started seizing about a year ago that we had witnessed: we aren't sure how many time he had possibly seized without us seeing it. We decided to put him on medication, even though there were potential side effects. However, at his blood check in December, his liver and other organs were checking out normally, so no "damage" has been done that we know of.

Flash forward to a week ago last Thursday. CJ got home and found 3 different spots where poor Tboy had thrown up. He was hiding under the table, and refusing food. He began going outside to rid himself of this awful colored bile. Poor doggie. I came home, and he was definitely not himself. He followed me into the nursery to put Kyla to bed, and laid on his back, legs up. He has never done this before - I was panicked! He let me scratch his belly, and the moved his position into the bathroom across from the nursery, and proceeded to lie on teh floor, pitiful look in his eyes, and stare at me across the hall. He looked and acted like he was miserable. Of course, I immediately think the worst and thought, "he's dying! what's wrong with him!" - so CJ took him to the emergency Vet that is open after normal Vet hours.

Three hours later and many dollars...there was no conclusive evidence of anything showing itself to be wrong. They did not take Xrays, but suggested if the next day was similar we take him in for some.

He received some shots for his nausea, and for pain, and tips for bland food. They came home and he returned to his station on the loveseat, cuddled up in blankets for the night.

Friday we all left for work, but I took half a sick day (for my fur kid!) and came home for lunch to see how our boy was. He was still miserable. By now, he wouldn't even look at me, turned his body away and was trembling. He also would sometimes get into the "downward dog" stance, where the paws are forward, and his hind legs are still up in the air (I know now that he was doing this because that might signal pain in his abdomen). I got him to our regular Vet immediately where they took Xrays and reviewed his charts from the night before. Apparently , there is a slight possibility that his white blood cell count was higher than it was in December- so is his seizure medication to blame? Did he get into something and have something called Pancreatitis -that was causing his abdomen to become sick and therefore, his not wanting to eat and his vomiting?

Poor dude. *sad mama, sad mama, sad mama alert*

His Xrays were normal, so that (Pancreatitis) was the general consensus of the Vet we visited. Tboy received more shots for pain control (since his abdomen was tender and bloated), and again for nausea. As he trotted back into the exam room to be reunited with me, poor buddy was dripping yellow bile out of his mouth all over the floor.
We got him some antibiotics, more bland, soft dog food and drove home. I took him for short walk (he was so weak from lack of nutrition), and he again vomited bile and had it dripping out of his mouth as we walked.

That night, Tboy slept like a champ and awoke on Saturday morning seemingly more like himself. A couple days on his medications and eating bland food,and he has turned back into the passive, lovable sweet boy that we know. Whew.

How I love this dog, my (formerly) pink nosed Treb!! And how I DO NOT look forward to the future and the inevitable time when we'll have to say goodbye-uggg, I can't even think about it....
No, we didn't let him chew this- it was brief- he thought K1's M&M's were for HIM!

Sips of soup

Life continues to be crazy and full of tantrums, love, giggles, screams, cries, squawks, barking and kisses in our house.
How do I sum up all the thoughts that race through my head each and every day, whenever I think "I need to blog about this", and then I get home, and lose track of time and fall into bed, only to pass out and then grumble when my alarm goes off in the morning (or when Kyla decides that having a schedule for sleeping through the night is just too easy and not fun enough for her).

Keifer:
Yep, we think our 2 and 3/4 year old is amazing. She can hear songs and sing them back to us, word for word, and finger plays, as well, complete with actions. This morning, she was word-for-word singing the "I'm a Little Snowman" tune, and acting it out, just like we do with Miss Meghan at Baby Ballroom. I had no idea the girl knew every word and action, without my help. Huh. Where did she get this talent? I love music, but man, the memorization of songs just blows me away. Currently, we are enjoying, on a frequent basis, listening to the
O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. She particularly seems to enjoy (by her demands, it would seem) the song You are my Sunshine sung "by the boy", she says, and Down to the River to Pray by Allison Krauss. It literally gives me goosebumps (shiver dots) on my arms when she is in the backseat, belting out these two tunes. What a true gift from God my first born daughter is. *sigh*.

She loves to tell stories, which really, I think, is her organizing what is in her little mind from hr past and her daily life. She likes to start her stories to me and CJ with, "One day, I was .....". That prelude must be picked up from a book she has heard. She also likes to drag her stories to us out, using "soooooooooooooo" often, exaggerating it with her tone of voice. I think she gets that usage from the book
My Daddy Snores, where they use the "so" to carry over the story so often.

Here she is feeding HER baby Kyla, just like we do
Kyla continues to grow by leaps and bounds and SOUNDS! Ahh, the sounds...I'll save HER summary for her 8 month post.....

Hey, Mama! I'm rolling, I'm rolling!

And it makes me sllllllllleeeeeeeeppppppppyyyy

Keifer continues to adore (stress ADORE) her cousins, Abby and Mason. They had a sleep over last weekend, here at our house. Keifer was in hog heaven. Even better, they two older cousins got new Nintendo DS systems for Christmas, so they had OLDER DS's to share with Keifer. Um, our 2 year old has a DS! Mama is still learning how to use it........

Here are the cousins, eating popcorn watching Cars
Uncle Corey adores his niece - here they are when we Skyped Papa & Nana a few weeks ago
Can you tell Keifer loves "her Abber"?
They could be sisters, too!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

What do we do on winter break?

We take pictures - lots and lots of pictures. Pictures that Keifer demands, and pictures that let Kyla get used to posing for!

our fairy princess!
She's ready to go shopping!
Loving "follow the road" -tracing mazes (and doing a darn good job at it for 2 years old)
Have we mentioned Kyla has discovered her tongue?
this picture was taken by Keifer

more tongue action *giggle*
Keifer loves the tape measure!
Who is this big puppy? He' s fun to look at

Keifer said her hat was a 'helmet" and she was pretending to slide like Elmo in this attire. Hmmm.....

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