1st Doctor Visit!

These appointments at first are usually pretty uneventful. So not much to report...I got in there, laid on the table and they went on the search for the heartbeat. Of course Kezzie was by my side the whole time scared to death, holding my hand. She is such a good support person!! Brian was there too which was nice. The first nurse gave it her best but she couldn't find the heartbeat. There was an area near my belly button that was really really tender so she couldn't move the wand in that area. I was starting to get concerned when she had to go get another nurse to come try her best at finding the heartbeat. After a long 10-15 minutes, the second nurse found it. It was at a quick rate of 166 and very low into my pelvic area. Whew...I was getting really scared for a minute! I changed into a gown and the doc came in. She checked me all over and felt around the tender spot on my stomach but by this time I had been up moving around to get changed so I didn't feel any pain at all. The doctor said it must have been a pulled ligament which is really common. All the ligaments are being pulled at this time! She said everything was wonderful-weight, diet, my uterus is perfect, etc. She has me at a little over 12 weeks! She did mention that I may be induced a week early this time to ensure I get to the hospital on time being that I was only at the hospital with Keziah for 20 minutes before she was born! We'll see what happens...I'm not too crazy about that idea! More to report in another 4 weeks. In 8 weeks we have our ultrasound! Can't wait!

18 months old!

Keziah actually turned 18 months old on the 23rd (Saturday). We were out of town all weekend so I didn't take these photos until the 25th. She is looking more and more grown up every time I do this! I can't believe how big she is getting! Not much has changed with her yet a lot has, if that makes sense. She still eats the same! Although she is still eating pureed veggies about every two days just so I can be sure she is getting enough. It just makes me feel better! She does good with the finger food veggies, but I swear she doesn't get half of what she needs! She has started spinning these days. She will do it until she is completely dizzy and can't walk straight. She also says 'whoa' like she's going to fall! It's pretty cute. She also does a lot of walking backwards. She has a very good sense of direction and even goes around corners this way! Also, if you have read previous posts you have seen that Kezzie started potty training on the 17th! She really acted like she was ready and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. Plus with another baby on the way this seemed like a really good idea...I hate changing diapers!! Kezzie is getting very good at talking. She still doesn't say sentences and can't repeat sentences but she does really well at repeating any word you ask her to. She will almost always remember it too! I have noticed a lot lately that Austin is having a lot more fun with her. I have heard him ask a lot if Kezzie can come outside to play! He plays inside with her too. He will chase her around the house and they will both scream. Or he will hide from her and she loves this! We couldn't ask for better kids! And we can't wait to add another to the mix! They are so much fun and such a joy to be around!

5/29/09 Today Keziah had her 18 month check up. She had to have one shot. I always feel so bad for her and it seems like it keeps getting harder the older she gets. She is doing great in all areas of growth. She is 32.5" long which puts her in the 75% for height. She is a little over 24 lbs. and that puts her in the 25-50% for weight. Just this week Kezzie has started indicating that it hurts 'down there' by saying 'owey' and pointing or she will squeeze her legs together. We had the doctor take a urine sample and we will hear back only if it is abnormal. It doesn't seem like the pain is when she is going potty-she doesn't seem like she is holding it back because it hurts-so that is a good thing. I just think maybe that is her way of telling me she is getting a feeling of needing to go. The doctor just wanted to be sure though. Of course getting a 1.5 year old to pee in a cup isn't probable so the nurse attached a bag to her that had adhesive on it and she was free to pee in it whenever she could. We had to put her pants on her like normal and since my first baby appointment was in 20 minutes we headed over to the next building for that. I realized Kezzie peed in the bag so Brian walked her back over to her doctor after he listened to the heartbeat at my appointment. He was a big help to have around! All in all Kezzie did very well at her appointment. She even still waved at the nurse that gave her the shot when it was time to leave! I guess she forgave her pretty quick!

Austin's Day!

(click images to enlarge)

Yesterday Austin's class went on a field trip. Actually it was all of the 3rd and 4th graders from New Hampton school that went. Austin really wanted me to chaperon so I signed up and my name was drawn from a hat-the last one! I was able to get Grandma Uglum to come to the house and watch Keziah for the day so we were set to have a day of fun! We took three buses down to Cedar Falls to the UNI wellness center. It was so much fun and yet very tiring! With so many students in one place we had to have stations and rotate throughout the day. We arrived at 9:45. Our first station was the pool. None of the parents swam so neither did I...I was ok not getting into a suit anyway! The kids had a blast of course. Austin pretty much dunked the ball into the hoop the whole hour he got to swim! He did play a little water volleyball and maybe went down the slide a couple times, but for some reason dunking the ball was the most appealing to him and his friends! It was so much fun to see Austin in his world-the things he enjoys, the friends he hangs out with, the conversations he has! He really wanted me to go but really didn't want me to be around him and his friends. The most I saw/talked to him was at lunch. He did sit with me then! Otherwise, I think he really just wanted me there to watch him. And honestly, that was just as fun! There were several things for the kids to do. The climbing wall, racket ball, wally ball, indoor soccer, ping pong, basketball, volleyball and swimming. I actually got a chance to climb the wall even. I went for the medium wall. Not too hard, and not too easy. I must say though, it was rather hard! My fingers wouldn't have been able to take another move! I was just about to give up when I looked up and saw how close I was to the top! I made it! Austin has done this before when he was there for a birthday party so he didn't do it, but he was pretty proud to see that I did! What a day full of fun and work! Needless to say, the bus ride home was pretty peaceful! Thanks Grandma Uglum for making our day possible!!

Potty Training Update!

I am happy to say that Kezzie is pretty much potty trained. I thought being gone over the weekend would cause us to pretty much have to start over, but it turns out it just made her want to do it even more! We didn't completely neglect trying to potty in the toilet while away so I think that helped keep it fresh in her mind. When I was gone on Saturday Adam tried to make her sit on the potty a couple times and then on Sunday at my parents I had her sit on the big potty whenever we were there (at church she was in a pull up) and she would go like she had been doing it forever! We got right back into the routine of it when we got home Sunday night and it hadn't even phased her we were gone! She is doing such a great job and even prefers the big potty over her little one we have set up in the living room. She has had only two accidents this whole week! She has even gotten her poo poo where it belongs! One time this week she was playing in her toy box and started to dribble, she stopped herself and ran to the potty to finish! I think that shows some pretty good control! She impresses me every day. I can't believe my little girl is getting so big! I am so proud of her! I am starting to feel like we can leave the house even! The last three days we have had somewhere to go for just a short bit and I just put a pull up on her (I'm not quite brave enough to go in undies) and take her to the potty usually once while we are out and she hasn't wet a pull up yet! Yeah Kezzie! She must know she is going to be a big sister in a few months and have even bigger responsibilities!

Sandbox Fun!

We just got a new sandbox and some new sandbox sand. Kezzie loves to be able to stand up next to the table and not get all dirty. One thing she does but shouldn't do is she likes to throw the sand out and watch it fall to the ground. I am working to teach her not to do this but it is taking some time! She is a pretty strong willed child! Even Austin likes to play in it and will often ask if Kezzie can come outside to play in the sand with him! I love it!

Shopping for Emily's 30th!

We had a blast shopping in Williamsburg on Saturday. It was Emily's 30th birthday (see a previous post) so to celebrate big, my mom, Emily, Jamie and I all went to Williamsburg to spend some dough. Emily got pretty much all money for her birthday so she was thrilled to be able to buy herself some things. I stayed the night at Emily and Adam's house on Friday night so Kezzie could get used to her surroundings before I left her all day Saturday. I figured since I was there for the night Emily and Adam might as well go out on a date. They went to dinner and Adam surprised her with a Wii for her birthday! They were supposed to go to a late movie but ended up coming home instead. Saturday morning all of us girls headed on the road by 9:30. We got there and went straight for the gap! We spent the whole morning there until it was time to eat lunch and then walked over to Arbys. Yummy! The rest of the afternoon is a blur of a million stores. My main goal was to find new shoes and I got it accomplished. That's pretty hard for me since I hate shoe shopping (my shoes usually prove it too-I wear them until they are shredded). I think Jamie was pretty jipped since she is pregnant and can't really buy herself too many things. She did end up getting some maternity pants and a maternity/nursing shirt. It was nice to have her along even though she was probably bored! My mom got some running shoes and a couple other things. Emily and I enjoyed not only shopping for ourselves but also for our kids. It's really not hard to convince yourself of all the things kids 'need'. The styles are so cute these days. And who can beat $1 flip flops at Old Navy?! I think I spent the most money on myself for once though. I was able to try things on as if I am not pregnant since I'm only 12 weeks along! I had so much fun shopping and ended up getting some pretty cute outfits! Yeah for sisters/moms and shopping malls! We topped off our day with a stop in Cedar Rapids at Chili's. It was delicious! Thanks mom for dinner! We rushed back to Adam since he was still taking care of the three kids (Austin was with his dad) on his own. Keith and Brian were in Omaha for a wedding (Brian was even an usher) so they were no help to Adam! By the time we had made it home it was 7:10. Adam was exhausted, Bennett needed to nurse right away and Keziah and Ethan were about ready for bed also! The kids did great together according to Adam! Ethan and Kezzie haven't ever really done the greatest at getting along so we were wondering how that would go! Kezzie was pretty happy to see me. This was the longest I had ever left her and it was great! The entire next day though she wouldn't let me out of her sight. She was too afraid I was going to leave her again! I guess it's always nice to know you are missed while you are away!

My flower child!

Regardless of the type of flower, this girl loves them! She can say flower very well which is helpful when it's something she likes so much! Every time we go outside she wants to pick the dandelions. I want nothing more than to get rid of all the dandelions in my yard so I always let her pick them. Sometimes she sniffs them so hard that some portion of her face turns yellow! Letting her pick dandelions is somewhat of a problem though since she wants to pick all kinds of flowers that she sees. Needless to say some of my plants in my flower garden are starting to look bare! But I don't blame her, I love flowers too!

Three days of pee pee!

I can't tell you how excited I am to report that Kezzie is getting it! I woke up Monday morning (5/18/09) and just decided in a split second that that was going to be the day I start potty training! I don't know what came over me but it seemed right! I prayed a quick prayer about it asking for patience and peace about starting it and I really felt complete peace about giving it a shot. At a little under 18 months old I was thinking I may be crazy but Kezzie has really been giving me all the signs that she is ready. So with that said I went in and got her out of her crib and immediately took off her diaper. I love this 'no pants' method. It worked fantastic for Austin when he was being potty trained at a little over 18 months too! The only time they wear a diaper is during nap and bed. So as the morning progressed, we had about 5 accidents and 1 success. I was feeling a little ridiculous but told myself I was going to give it the full three days of strict house arrest before giving up. I laid her down for her morning nap and never heard a peep out of her. She slept for an hour and a half! When she woke up, she was completely dry. I put her on the potty and she went! A little bit later she even told me she had to poop and then proceeded to do that in the potty too! The day went so much better than expected. Kezzie continued to have very few accidents and the successes eventually outweighed the accidents more then I could count. After supper time, she had zero accidents and even went right before bed.

5/19/09 Tuesday was equally impressive. I really thought Kezzie wasn't going to have anything to do with the potty today but it turned out she just needed a little time to wake up and wasn't really in the mood to be whisked out of her crib and immediately put on the potty. Could I blame her?!! The rest of the day was incredible. Again she woke from her 1.5 hour morning nap dry. She had one accident the whole day which also consisted of two poops on the potty! On Monday, I definitely needed to be right by her making sure she wasn't peeing. She would actually pee about every 20-30 minutes so I really had to watch the time. But by Tuesday she had already stretched out the intervals anywhere from 1-3 hours. I didn't feel like I needed to watch her half as much! Plus, I felt like I was able to see signs of her detecting she needed to go. Poop was a no brainer because she tells me, but when she needs to pee the only way I can tell is she gets really quiet, stops playing, and just gives me this look. A few times she has even looked down like she is getting this alarming feeling! Hopefully it won't be long and she will start telling me she needs to go...this is the goal, right? Total for the day we went through one diaper...Way to go Keziah!

5/20/09 Now today...she woke up with a very wet diaper. Not a huge surprise and actually very much to be expected. She didn't pee her first pee until almost 1.5 hours out of her diaper. She must have just gone in her diaper :( Then I did get her to pee once before I was going to lay her down for a nap at 9 but at about 9:40 I heard her still playing quietly and I went upstairs to find that she had peed and pooped in her diaper (not consistent with the two previous days). I thought this was why she wasn't falling asleep so after changing her diaper I put her back to bed. At 10:15 I finally went and got her out of bed since I didn't want her falling asleep at that point. I brought her downstairs, took off her diaper only to find she peed even more :( . This was a bit discouraging but then she did have a couple successes before eating lunch (for meal time I just put down a hand towel on a regular chair-not her high chair-I can't see what's going on in there and it's harder to get her out if I can tell she needs to go). After lunch she had her first accident of the day, she completely emptied herself on the floor. I know she's going to have accidents but at this point in the day I am feeling really discouraged. After the morning we had with diapers I felt like she just wasn't getting it but then I think about where we have come from Monday and I realize she is doing wonderful. I pray again and all day for patience and peace that this is the right thing to do for her and I do feel like it is. It is just hard to keep going when you don't know if it's working! I got her to go potty on request before nap time this afternoon. I was really excited about that and it gave me hope again! We will see what the afternoon brings! Maybe we will even be able to go outside for a little bit this afternoon! I will keep you posted on the progress she is making!

Emily's 30th Birthday!

We celebrated Emily's 30th birthday today! Although it is a week early we thought it would be best to do it today and not next weekend since mom does all her meal planning on Saturdays and we will all be in Williamsburg shopping for Emily's birthday next Saturday! That's right, me, my mom, my sister Jamie and Emily will all be heading down to Williamsburg for the whole day while Emily's husband watches not only his own kids but Keziah as well. It should be an interesting time since I have never left Kezzie for that long and Kezzie and Ethan aren't the best of buds either!

Emily is not only my sister but she is my best friend. She understands me more then anybody I know and I feel like I can talk to her about anything! I value Emily as a mom and friend so much and am very thankful she is in my life! Happy 30th Birthday Emily! Can't wait to shop til we drop next Saturday!!

PEE PEE!

Ok, so I'm not getting too excited, but this is certainly a start...This morning I changed Kezzie's diaper at about 7:15. I laid Kezzie down for a nap about 9:00. She didn't need changed. At 10:30 Kezzie woke from her nap and I got her dressed for the day. Before putting her pants on I went to change her diaper only to find it was completely dry! I had a quick thought to just stick her on her little potty just to try it out and see what happens (I have lazily been toying with the idea of starting the process of potty training). SHE PEED! I stuck her on there and then went to her room to get some books to read and by the time I got back I heard some trickling. SHE PEED ON THE POTTY! And yes, I had to photograph this very momentous event! I do believe Kezzie is definitely ready. She tells me every time she is pooping and even gets irritated if I don't promptly change it. And she has stayed dry like this before for a couple hours at a time. I am so nervous to attack this huge task, but I think I better go with it before it is too late! Say a prayer for me (and our carpet)!! It's time to get naked!

My sweet innocence!

Here are some recent cute pics of my baby! Whenever I get ready for my day she is right by my side in my room with me. I sit on the floor in front of my closet mirror and put on my make-up. She always loves to see what I pull out of my make-up bag and has to try to do exactly what I am doing. It is so adorable and even though in another 10 years I will be trying to keep her away from make-up, right now it's kind of a fun time for us to play pretend together! She loves it! And while I am drying my hair she hides in my closet and yells her name as if I am yelling her name looking for her. I still have yet to capture this on video, but it's pretty priceless! This particular day she was feeling a little attached to her blankie and paci so I let her take it out of bed with her...this usually happens when I have to cut her nap short and wake her up. I hadn't completely finished my hair yet after getting her out of bed, so I brought her in my room to get finished up and she just laid on the floor with her blankie and paci and stared at herself in the mirror. Later on, while I was making dinner, she found something productive to do! She loves to stack things and don't ask me why but we currently have four containers of peanut butter in our cupboard-low fat creamy, regular creamy (one almost gone so we have an extra-it would be devastating to run out of peanut butter in our household), and crunchy peanut butter...I guess four makes sense! And she topped the peanut butter stack off with the honey bear she frequently carries around the house giving kisses to!

Beautiful Day!

It was a beautiful day to play outside. I think I could spend hours out here if I didn't have to worry about kids needing to eat or kids getting too much sun or if I could just let go of the fact that they are going to get dirty! Why are moms cursed so much with worry?!! The dirt I think I am starting to get over and I have recently bought some very powerful sunblock so I think I can leave those two worries alone! Either way we are spending quite a bit of time outside lately and we are all loving it so much! The house is neglected a bit but I don't see it when I'm outside, so that's ok!! I am so thankful for the changing seasons! Summer is upon us!

Mom's Day!

We had a very wonderful Mother's Day. It's great to be able to give back to your mom when she does so much for you...my sisters and all our husbands made my mom dinner for once! We all brought our own meat and sides and dad grilled. After stuffing ourselves, we went outside where it was a little chilly but the sun was shinning and we played some ladder ball. Austin initiated this game and we all ended up having a blast! Who knew that when you got your body moving a little you can actually break a sweat even when it's chilly outside!! When the babies woke from their naps we came in and enjoyed a little dessert that Emily made-some kind of brownie goodness! Austin was with his dad Friday and Saturday so his dad helped him make a fruit kabob flower for me...it was really yummy! He also got me a wood wick candle and a plaque that says mothers are a precious gift of love! He has such a good heart! I love Mother's Day! Before heading home to New Hampton we stopped in and saw my Grandma Smith. I always love seeing her! Even though we weren't able to see Brian's mom on mother's day, we saw her on Saturday night. We gave her a bouquet of flowers that were beautiful. Mat and Steph were also home so we got to see them for a little bit too! We enjoyed a nice dinner and then headed home for baths and bed. Thank-you, moms for everything that you do. You are so special to us and to your grandkids! We love you!

Brady gets to hang out!

Today I had the privilege of watching my nephew Brady for a few hours. Grandma and Grandpa Uglum are taking care of him while Mat and Steph are away on a mini vacation. Grandma had to go to work today so he hung out with Kezzie and I. We did a whole lot of playing and then finished the morning off with lunch and a nice walk in our new wagon! Brady isn't used to being around dogs but after just a couple minutes he was loving Bucky! I think Bucky liked him too!

Kezzie's a climber!

Kezzie is trying to climb everything these days. In this picture she has managed to fit one of her feet into her kitchen sink and pull herself up on top! She doesn't stop here...she loves to climb on our furniture and any chair she can pull herself onto. Once on the furniture, she then proceeds to try to climb up and over the back. We tell her 'danger' and she will sit on her bottom for only a second before going back at it! She is really testing her skills at getting on our bed but hasn't mastered it yet, thank goodness!