Doctor/Patient

The puppies had baths and nails clipped today and Bella even got shaved.  Every spring and usually once during the summer Bella gets a good shave.  She is such a happier pup afterwards.  Today, in particular, she was not very happy.  I accidentally clipped one of her nails too short and it wouldn't stop bleeding.  I ended up holding her on my lap with a kleenex on her paw for over an hour.  It was bleeding too hard to put her in her kennel and I didn't want blood all over so I just held onto her.  The girls thought this was a perfect opportunity to play doctor on her and try to make her feel better!

 

 

New Seat!

A few days ago we ordered Adah a new car seat off amazon and today we received it.  She is becoming more and more unsettled in her rear facing infant seat so we decided it was time.  We have liked Keziah's car seat so much that we got Adah one just like it.  I was just curious as to what age Kezzie was when we switched her around and it was March 18, 2009 (almost exactly to the day)!  Click here to see Keziah in her new seat when she was Adah's age!
I love comparing them at the same age to see what cute little individuals they are!  Adah has so much more hair then Kezzie!  And Kezzie seems so much longer then Adah!  It's funny that without even realizing it we do a lot of things the same way as we did with Kezzie!  I can't believe how big Adah is getting and such a cutie!  She is going to love facing forward in the car!

Cousin's Day!!!

Today was a great day!  My mom is on spring break this week so she took a day to spend with me and four of her grand kids.  First we met at the Phelps Pavilion in Waterloo.  We spent a pretty big chunk of time there and even ate lunch in their cafeteria.  Since it was spring break week they were have $1 specials on everything. Admission was $1 and food was also.  It was a pretty inexpensive morning.  After lunch we went on to the grout museum where it was just plain hot and crowded.  The kids were tired too so that didn't help but we made the best of it and still managed to enjoy it quite a bit.  The littlest ones were getting very tired so we went to mom and dad's and put them down for a nap.  Ethan got to stay up and hang out with grandma and I and play some games on the computer!  It was a special day for all of us.

Exploring our own backyard!

Every spring when the snow melts it is so much fun to rediscover our own back yard.  It never gets old!  And this year it is a lot of fun for Adah because she is walking and can take herself wherever she wants to go!  It's pretty cute to watch her explore and see things for the 'first time'!  And look at that picture of Keziah...she is so beautiful!

On a side note: pay no attention to all the yard work that needs to be done.  It's gonna take a lot of time and effort.  Maybe a family work day is in order!

Twin Ponds Nature Center

Today we went to the Twin Ponds Nature Center (just South of New Hampton) with our playgroup.  It's a short 10 minute drive away and today was the first I had ever been there!  The girls loved it.  The theme was 'gone fishing' so the leader had several fishing related things to do.  He also educated us on a few different kinds of fish.  When we were done inside we went out and did some exploring outside.  We went on a little hike to look at the ponds (they are still frozen over) and when we were done with that the kids got to play on the playground.  It was a little chilly out but really nice to get outside for a bit.  It is giving us hope that spring is on the way!

Keepin' Busy!

We have had quite the fun-filled day today. I had the camera out to snap some photos of us having fun!

 The snow is melting and it is actually pretty nice outside!  Keziah just carries around her bucket and shovel from the sandbox and enjoys digging in the snow!  Adah had fun sitting on Kezzie's trike and me pushing her around the driveway!  Keziah is getting really brave on the swings!

After being outside for what seemed like such a short time, Kezzie was climbing the playground and her boot must have been slippery from the snow causing her to slip and hit her face.  We thought we would run inside and get it fixed up to go back out, but it was bleeding pretty bad.  She wanted me to take some pictures of it to remember!  I also took this picture of her toe because that just happened yesterday.  She and Austin were moving around the bar stool chairs and using them to shoot balls into and it tipped over and landed on her toe just right.  It turned black right away. 

And after all that playing outside and eating a good lunch we decided to take baths.  We normally do this before bed but decided it would be nice to get it out of the way and get clean before climbing into bed!  I had to snap some pictures since we were doing baths at a much less rushed/stressful time.  Adah is so much fun in the bath.  She is so giggly and happy.  She is really going to hate these pictures someday!  And then after bath (and a little milk), there's Adah so sweet and content in her bed.  She loves her bed!  She enjoys having her pillow, her flower blanket, her little taggie blanket, her Curious George (that is actually Kez's), and her two pacis with her when she goes to sleep.  And later that evening when I was making supper Kezzie enjoyed playing in some flour.  It was messy, but she had a lot of fun and it kept her busy for quite a while!

Snowy Fun!

Look at these sweet kids!  It's so fun to watch Austin and Kezzie outside together.  She LOVES her big brother and LOVES to be outside!  Adah...not so much!  She had enough within the first 5 minutes!  She was happier to watch from the living room window where it was warm!  The snow was perfect for a snowman but almost too wet as the coal didn't stick very well!  I thought it was pretty cute though!

Austin's knee...

I don't think I have ever officially mentioned Austin's leg, so here I go...Around Christmas time Austin started mildly complaining that his leg hurt just below the knee.  It would hurt and then get better so we just assumed that it was tendinitis and suggested he try taking IBU regularly and if that didn't work that we would take him to the doctor to get it looked at.  He didn't think it hurt enough to take IBU so he never did making me believe it must not be that bad.  He occasionally mentioned it but for the most part acted like it was fine.  Sometime in  the middle of January Austin was having some pretty severe pain after his knee buckled getting out of his dad's jeep.  After taking him to the doctor and getting x-rays it was determined that he had a broken tibia.  And after seeing an orthopedic surgeon a few days later it was determined that he had Osgood-Schlatter's disease.  This is a very common condition found in mostly boys between the age of 9-16.  His tibia broke as a result of this and thus began the healing process (and the end of his basketball season).  He was sent home with a leg brace and told to be seen back in 2 weeks, at that apt. he was told to wear it another 4 weeks and then just recently on March 2nd, another 6 weeks.  We go back on April 13th and probably by then he will be able to go without it.  Until then he is really going to have to be careful and keep his brace on.  Easier said then done for an active 12 year old!  Heaven help us!

Adah is 15 MONTHS!

Well, Adah turned 15 months on the 27th of February but I wanted to wait until her 15 month check up so I could post about that at the same time.  She went today for that and weighed in at 24.4 lbs. (@75%).  She was 2' 6.25" (less than 50%).  So a little short and stubby!  But as cute as can be!  We had some concerns with Adah.  It seems like these same problems emerged with Kezzie when she was around this age.  It turns out Adah has eczema like Kez.  It's especially bad behind her ears in the cracks where it actually bleeds sometimes, but she gets it in other places as well.  She is also starting to get it around her mouth like Kezzie did.  Another concern we had was her tongue.  I see her very frequently pulling at her tongue as if there is a hair in her mouth.  The doctor completely disregarded it as nothing but I thought maybe there was a sore in there.  He thinks maybe she has the same sensitivity on her tongue as she does on her skin.  And for about the last week Adah has been dealing with diarrhea.  The doc wasn't concerned and thought maybe it is either a virus or maybe even teething.  I just hope it goes away soon!  Adah did get two more teeth this month.  Tooth #11 (bottom L molar) came in 1/29/11.  And #12 (bottom R molar) came in 1/31/11.  She is adorable with her toothy grin!  I have yet to see any signs of her eye teeth coming in...
At Adah's check up she had to have three more shots.  She screamed at the initial poke but recovered quickly (especially when we gave her a sucker)!  As if that wasn't enough, she had to have her blood drawn again to see if she is doing better with her iron.  Instead of the usual finger prick though, they had to put a needle in her arm.  Mommy was the lucky one who got to hold her arm straight and firm.  Not fun for either of us.  In the end I would prefer it this way because it was so much faster than trying to squeeze blood out of a tiny dot in the tip of her finger.  Results came back and she is still low in iron so we continue with the Fer-in-sol (iron drops) twice a day. 
Adah is saying more and more.  She said HI for the first time 2/1/11.  Whenever I go in to get her from nap or in the morning, I will say a long, drawn out, high pitched "HIIIIIIIII".  I guess she picked up on it!  It is very cute and I sometimes don't even realize it is her instead of Kezzie because it sounds so perfect!  She is trying to say many things.  If you try to teach her a word she will give it her best to mimic you!  She certainly isn't the talker her sister was by now, and that's ok with me.  I know I am always comparing them but I love that Adah is her own personal self.  She is super smart in other ways-in her own ways!
Adah is still nursing 3 times a day.  She wakes around 7/7:30, still naps in the AM (although this, I am thinking, is coming to an end...didn't I say that last month?!), and lays down for a 1:30/2pm nap time.  Bed is at 7:30ish.  She is doing so much better with table foods, but still requires some food to be pureed.  She loves broccoli though which I think is strange because she is so picky about textures!
The next thing on my mind is potty training.  I know it's a little early yet, but I am just getting it in my mindset.  She is already telling me when she is poopy so I think she is getting close...maybe in the next month or two I will give this a try!!!  I am so excited to be done with diapers again!  It's hard to believe that Kez was trained at 17 or 18 months.  We'll see if Adah follows suit on that one!  I hope so!
Make sure you check out her pictures at the top...it's so cute!  She just got done with her bath and her hair has such sweet curls.  They never last but maybe she will be a little like her mom and have some curl!
So long for now...more on this beautiful angel next month!