A BIG boo boo!

On Tuesday, August 9th Keziah had an accident with the fireplace.  I didn't take the top pictures of her lip until Wednesday night more then 24 hours later.  It was much worse when it first happened.  We iced her lip a few times an hour for the first 24 hours and a couple times a day for the next 48 (more for her comfort).  So I think the swelling was down a lot more after the first day.  She only wanted Tylenol for the first day also.  She was a tough little girl after we got through the first hour or two.  She cried really hard for a good half hour to an hour.  I sat with her in the recliner and just comforted her for a long time.  We didn't make her take a bath and even let her watch a Disney movie instead of going to bed!  I just really wanted to keep my eye on her for a while.
Here's the story:  Brian had just gotten done mowing the lawn so he was in the shower.  Supper was over so playtime had resumed.  I was in the kitchen doing clean up and Adah and Austin were off playing somewhere else.  There is a sleeping wedge that Brian keeps under his side of the bed for his acid reflux and the girls like to get it out and pretend it is a slide, etc.  They often prop it up against the fireplace or coffee table and then slide down it so it was laying over by the fireplace (not propped up).  Keziah ran into the living room and jumped full force on it and face planted into the fireplace.  I will never forget the sound I heard from the kitchen.  Brian thought that what he was hearing from the shower was her just getting into trouble and being sent to her room...he was in for a shock when he came out to the kitchen.  I was trying to stay calm and not throw up (remember, I'm pregnant) and get all the blood out of the way so I could see if we needed to go to the ER.  I gave her a dose of Tylenol and then once I could tell the bleeding wasn't going to continue, I investigated as to what all was damaged.  I had quite a few shards of stone from the fireplace that I picked off her tongue so I'm not exactly sure how she hit but her two front teeth definitely took a hit.  The left front tooth looks like it got pulled out and up and the right one looks like it got bumped up.  Her upper lip swelled and turned black right away.  It looked like there were teeth marks on it but the bottom teeth didn't seem to be involved at all.  Her upper gum area was really bad, I couldn't see up there for several days because it was too painful for her to have her lip pulled out far enough.  We didn't take her to the ER since we figured there wasn't anything they could do for her.  I called her pediatric dentist the next day and she said she didn't feel like there would be anything she would do for her no matter what was going on.  She just said to look for infection in the gumline and to watch for her tooth to die.  If either happened she would want to see her.  I was more concerned about Kezzie's nose because she got a reddening across the bridge of her nose but it never bruised and when I asked her if she could feel me scratching her nose, she said she couldn't.  I thought for sure something wasn't right but we just continued to give it time.  The reddening went away by the next day but she still claimed she couldn't feel me touching her nose.  It never bruised or looked swollen so we just kept giving it more time.  After icing it and just babying it all for a few days, it started looking really good.  I was shocked how fast she got back to normal.  Her two front teeth are still a little wiggly but they are almost back to their normal spot (the dentist said this is possible because if the gumline was swollen and went down then the teeth could go down too).  She still isn't eating with her teeth up front (pizza, corn on the cob) but maybe she will eventually.  I'm not sure they will ever be the same.
I know one thing for sure though...I'm not letting her out of my sight for a long time!!  I never thought I would have so many emotions and feel so much anxiety.  I am so thankful that I have God to lean on.  I don't think I have prayed so much through the night in my life!  And God gave me peace.  And He healed Keziah.  Now, if I can just keep anything like that from ever happening again, that would be GREAT!!

The bottom pictures are taken today, just a week later.

Adah is ONE!

Adah is such a joy to have in our lives! She is an amazing and smart little girl.  I don't think I can even begin to remember all the things she can do/say but I will give it a shot (why don't I learn and just keep a log?)!

Adah signs: milk, bath, book, more, eat, drink, all done, shakes her head yes and points to things/places she wants to go.  I am a huge advocate for this because it is so handy when trying to communicate-at dinner time especially!   She says many things, mostly only Brian and I can understand because we taught them to her but some of them actually do sound like what she is saying: banana (nana), bye bye (baa baa), apple (ba um), baby (bay bay), mom/mama, dada, yum yum, moo (for cow), meow (me me), barks like a dog, blub blub (for a fish), she tries to neigh (horse) and baa (sheep) but it just comes out sounding like a cough,  puts her hands in the air and says 'ta da', plays peek a boo, tickles you and makes a tickle noise, understands the word NO and looks at you with a cheesy grin to see if she is going to get away with it anyway!

Adah got her 9th tooth (top right molar) on her birthday.  All day I was feeling in there because she wasn't acting like herself and finally at bedtime I felt it again and there it was, just barely sticking out of the gum!

 Adah is starting to learn her body parts.  She points correctly to the following (most of the time): eyes, nose, ear, hair, teeth, tongue, mouth, fingers, foot and belly.
Adah's current schedule goes something like this:

Wake at 7am, nurse at 7:30 (sometimes earlier), nap at 9ish, wake at 10:30/11, nurse at 11/11:30, lunch at noon (eats whatever we are having with water or milk in a sippy), nap at 1:30ish, wake sometime between 3 and 4, nurse by 4 (usually has a snack at this time too), supper at 5/5:30 (whatever we are having with water or milk), nurse at 7:30 with bed to follow around 7:45.  She sleeps through the night only waking when her teeth are bothering her and usually a little orajel will do the trick!

This month Adah really took off walking.  It's funny that she is already walking...she looks so little!

What a wonderful first year we have had with our Adah!  I can't wait to see what this next year brings!  Praise God, for He is the one who gives us such awesome blessings!

This was how we spent the day of Adah's first birthday:

She got to open her gifts (2 books and a Leap Frog play b-day cake-so cute), we ate her favorite lunch (mac-n-cheese) and peas along with pears, and for dessert she got another shot at a cupcake.  But she still wasn't a fan just like at her party so instead we let her have a few licks of a tootsie pop.  She LOVED that!  And since we didn't have any more cupcakes left, Kezzie got a sucker to celebrate with too!

Happy Birthday Adah!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

29 Months!

Keziah is another month older and it continues to amaze me how big she is! She is such a joy to be around. I know I say that every month, but it is so the truth! She makes me laugh all time! She says the funniest things and is learning more everyday. Every morning that she wakes up I swear she is smarter! Her sentences are becoming very complete and she almost speaks as well as some adults! She gets her words jumbled in a sentence sometimes but I can always tell what she is trying to say (ie: 'what say you?', 'where she is?', etc.)

Keziah is still taking her afternoon nap. I am just waiting for that to one day come to an end. I will cry when that happens! She sometimes has a really hard time getting to sleep and if I have her skip her nap for a day when we are busy she isn't hardly even phased by it. When she does fall asleep she will sleep for a good two hours and still sleep the same amount at night as she usually does which is great (8pm-7am). Also, we just took her door handle cover off so she is free to leave her room when she wakes up in the morning. It's only been two days and so far she hasn't been taking advantage of it. We will have to see if it becomes a problem and we need to put it back on! Every night when I put Kezzie to bed we pray on our knees next to her bed. She really loves this special way of praying and I love that I am teaching her something so important. She prays and says thanks to Jesus for many things but one thing she never forgets to say thank-you for is 'the pool'. We haven't swam yet this summer, other than at a hotel and that was over a month ago, but she insists that she thank God for it. I guess she really has a love for the pool! She also comes up with new things to be thankful for, things that I wouldn't even think of that we do earlier in the evening that she is happy about and thankful for. She will also frequently thank Jesus for her warm bed. I think we all too often take for granted things like our warm bed that we get to crawl into every night, so it really warms my heart that she thinks of those things. I think it is so sweet!

This month we also took Kezzie's pacifier away. It didn't even seem to phase her. Here is the funny story if you missed it. Another instance this month she actually found a different paci somewhere in her bed and when she came out after nap she was sucking on it. I asked her where she had gotten it and she said, 'it was just in my bed'. We had been missing that paci for a while and I guess she had found it! She is a smart girl but not smart enough to stash it away and keep quiet about it! I don't think there are any others hiding in her room anywhere that are going to emerge!

And a word on potty training...we had some major setbacks this month. I'm not sure what it was all about but she was definitely having more accidents...like one-two too many a day more accidents. All I did was went back to a day without pants on and she is back at it like a big girl. She is actually even better than before holding her pee for much longer at a time. Hopefully this will work her into a dry diaper at night time. For a while there I was actually waking her up before I went to bed to have her go potty because I wanted to see if it would eliminate her from wetting her diaper. A couple nights she stayed dry and it was successful but more nights then not she still woke up wet. I guess her body just isn't ready for that phase, so for now she will continue to wear a diaper to bed. For naps she is still staying dry but still wears a pull up. I'm just not brave enough to leave it off!

Keziah also had a dentist apt. this month (4/20/10). She did great but has a slight cross bite. I'm sure this is due to two years of pacifier sucking but the dentist thinks it should be fine especially when she gets her permanent teeth in. She just warned me that we probably need to start saving for braces! No shocker there since both her parents wore braces!

Kezzie says some of the cutest things...here are a few:

'whatever' using hand gestures and all.

'for ever, ever, ever' she will use this phrase for many different things whether it makes sense or not!

'don't you?' she will pretty much end any statement with this question. ie: I want to go outside, don't you? or I want to have a snack, don't you?, etc.

I know there is more so maybe I will be adding some again. I hope you are enjoying life with us as much as I am. I try not to bore you but at the same time there are things I want to put on the blog just for me to remember and be able to go back on! So thanks for going along for the ride!

23 months old!

Almost 2...I can't believe it! Kezzie is so much fun to be around and seems to have more and more energy every day. I think she keeps steeling it from me! She is sleeping less too which doesn't make much sense. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 and is awake between 6:30 and 7. She naps from about 1-2/2:30. She used to sleep so much more then this so I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that she is getting in the last two of her four molars (top and bottom right). She has been running a slight fever some days and even occasionally wakes at night for what seems like no reason. I really hope it's a phase and it passes soon!
Kezzie's interest in books has sky rocketed. She is always bringing a book to any of the three of us...whoever is willing! Side note: I love it when Austin sits down with her and reads her a book. Precious!

Kezzie loves to jump. If she isn't jumping she is dancing. Her feet are always moving. It is pretty funny stuff. She does really good with following a rhythm and does such a cute swaying motion as if she is slow dancing with somebody! I think I caught some video of it so I will have to post that! Kezzie is solid on knowing her colors. And has a few letters down pat. She can sing the first three letters of the ABCs and the last four letters correctly. Then you can also tell she is trying to sing the ending part of it too but you can't make out the words! She is definitely learning a lot these days! Kezzie can also count to 10. You have to get her past two though or else she will sound like a broken record! 'one, two, one two...' Once she remembers three comes next, she is golden! She loves to sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and will begin it every time she sees a star. She only knows a few words: 'pinkle, pinkle wittle star' (that's it). She also sings 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'. She says all that perfect and then she tries to continue and it seems a little jumbled and then all the sudden you can make out the words 'down' and 'stream'. She loves Elmo's World, as I have mentioned in previous posts so this is one of her favs to sing too: 'la, la, la Elmo Wold'. ADORABLE!

Kezzie has occasionally been responding to 'I love you' by saying 'wuv oo' (love you).

She has started to add words like 'and' and 'the' in between words to make sentences. And we have actually been able to carry on a couple short conversations with her too.

We have been teaching her mommy and daddy's names and she will very often call daddy 'Bian'. She hasn't caught on to what mommy's real name is yet though.

And last but not least Kezzie has a love for prayer. At meal time she likes to pray and even before bedtime she has started asking to pray (this might be a stall tactic but it's one I will go along with). I usually have to tell her what to say but it is so precious as she folds her hands and repeats after me. She is also enjoying children's church more. She gets excited to go when I tell her in the morning why we are getting ready. She used to say 'no church' all the way there if I even mentioned the word church! I pray each day she keeps growing a bigger heart for God!

On a bad note we have unfortunately entered into what seems like the terrible twos of a girl. She yells 'no' in my face, pouts and laughs at you when she knows you are at your breaking point. Time outs have become a regular thing and for the really naughty stuff- well, let's just say this mama isn't afraid of spanking! On a positive note...these discipline tactics seem to work almost all of the time! With a lot of love and discipline we will somehow get through the next 16+ years of life!

22 months old!

My baby is quickly approaching her two year mark. It's amazing how fast this year has gone. Kezzie is getting more of the attitude that comes along with turning two. It is really frustrating sometimes because you don't know how she is going to react to certain things. For example, sometimes she will be completely happy to get up in the high chair and put on her favorite bib and other times she will scream that she doesn't want to wear a bib at all. Her newest thing is putting her head on the ground and just crying...a couple minutes later she will get up and be just fine. It's funny what she will try to get attention...as if she doesn't get an abundance of that!!

Funny things she says: 'Sorry mommy', or whoever. She is really very polite when she wants to be! She pretty much always says it at the appropriate times and sometimes doesn't say it when she should. As a discipline action she sits on the carpet for 90 seconds and when her time is up she immediately says it and repeats it over and over until you give her a hug and say it's ok. She will say 'tay to (thank-you) mommy' when I get her something she wants or when I help her with something. She says 'pease (please)' as well, although you usually have to prompt her on that one. She is more likely to get frustrated about something and start yelling 'help mommy' repeatedly before she is willing to calmly say please. Her favorite ways to respond are by saying yep, yes, yeah, uh huh and sure. She has also started this really funny thing at the beginning of most of her words. It's something like this 'i-e-i-e-i-ya'. It can mean several things depending on the words that come after it. I want, I got, I have, etc. It's pretty cute. She will often say to me 'i-e-i-e-i-ya idea (I have an idea)'. Whenever she comes to me with an idea I always tell her, "wow Kezzie, that's a great idea". I guess she picked up on it! In the morning lately she will abruptly wake up yelling 'i-e-i-e-i-ya (I got to) PEE'. She is holding her bladder a lot more at night and I guess she really has to go! She will yell it over and over until somebody enters her room and then she calmly states it once more!

Favorite piece of clothing: I found a nightgown at a garage sale that is pretty hideous but comfortable looking so I bought it for Kezzie. It has The Wiggles characters plastered on the front and the sleeves are decorated in some pretty obnoxious pattern. Kezzie saw them in the laundry and thought it was the Imagination Movers and fell in love with them right away. I set her straight on who they were and ever since she calls them her Wiggles jammies. She wants to wear them constantly. If we go out to play or to run errands I make her get dressed but the minute we get home she requests to have her Wiggles put back on. She hadn't ever even seen The Wiggles before until I recently found a video at the store and bought it for her. I wish I never had! I am really hoping this phase passes quickly! I guess one positive is I am not washing as many jammies these days!

Quarks about Kezzie: It's really quite strange but we have noticed it getting worse lately...Kezzie is afraid to walk on shiny floors. Wal-mart and Target are pretty much a guarantee that she is cart-bound. Anytime we go into a bathroom when we are out she has to be carried over to the toilet. If we try to have her walk she will take the tiniest steps yelling 'help' and have a look of horror on her face the whole time she is doing it and you can tell she is so frightened. It has something to do with the reflection of the lights on the ceiling. Maybe to her it looks like the floor is missing in those areas or maybe it looks slippery to her... and recently she has started doing it in our own kitchen. If she is playing hard enough or has something on her mind enough to not be looking down at the floor and notice it then she is fine.

Kezzie continues to learn her numbers and alphabet. She will often spout off three numbers in a row. For example, if I start out counting she will usually chime in with seven, eight, nine. She can't/won't say the number one so she will never start there. She is a pro at her colors. I think this is contributed to all the things we do with colors. When she picks her candy after potty, when she gets dressed, etc. Pretty much everything we do/see is defined by its color.

Pacifier update: Kezzie started sucking her finger the end of last month but it didn't get really bad until this month. She was sucking it more then she ever needed her paci and it was starting to interfere with how much she would talk. She was laying around more and not playing purely to get the gratification of sucking. After a lot of prayer and thought we decided to give her the pacifier back (9/15/09). We have been letting her have it whenever she wants, all the time to try to get her re-attached to that so that maybe when we take it away again she will forget about her finger and be done with it all. I think she started sucking her finger because she is getting her two year molars (first noticed it poking through 9/1/09) so I am hoping she won't feel the need to go back to it. This is a process and only today has she started having limited paci time (she can only have it when she is in bed). She hasn't even once asked for it and hasn't put her finger in her mouth at all. She played really well all morning and has been talking up a storm. And she is easier to understand when she isn't trying to talk through her paci! I just pray this works! There was no way we were getting that finger away from her and it only seemed to keep the moisture around her mouth which irritated her rash even more...

Rash update: We took Kezzie to see the dermatologist on September 9. There were only three little specks on her face when we went and that morning I even contemplated going because I didn't think the doctor would know what to do for her. Regardless we went and I'm glad we did. He thought from what he could see it didn't look like yeast and he took her off all previous creams she was on (we were told she never should have been on that yeast cream for so long). He prescribed something called Elidel which is used for Eczema. This didn't seem like it was working so I took her back to see a different dermo (our first one was on vacation) on Sept. 16. This doctor said we just hadn't given it enough time and said to continue using the Elidel but to quit using any shampoos, body wash, bubble bath we were using and only use the CeraVe samples that she gave us. It's a new moisturizer. She was right. In just a couple more days we started to see some results. We put on the Elidel and then over top of that we placed the CeraVe lotion. And when she takes a bath we use the CeraVe body wash. It seems to really be working. Pretty soon we should be able to stop using it and only use it when her skin is irritated. I never would have thought she had something like Eczema! I am so thankful to finally know how to treat it. Hopefully this is something she will eventually grow out of. We won't need to see the dermo again unless we have further concerns!

Like I always say, everyday is an adventure. I must say...I look forward to putting her to bed at night but then after a couple hours I find myself excited to spend the next day with her and see what new things we will both learn! It's so much fun being a mommy!

17 months old!

Today Keziah turns 17 months old! She is still as precious as ever! She is starting to test our patience more and more and tries to use the whining tactic to get what she wants, although most of the time it doesn't work! She still almost daily signs that she wants milk from me but it is getting a lot less frequent. Instead, I just try to find something to take her mind off it. I offer her whole milk and then sit to read books or just cuddle. She wouldn't want it anyway so I think she is just asking, in her own way, to be comforted. Kezzie is really gaining an understanding of a lot of words and directions. You can ask her to do something and she almost always can follow a series of directions to accomplish a task. She is also trying to say just about anything you say. Some of the time it's hard to tell she is repeating you but she tries! Her vocabulary is expanding so much every day I am not going to try to make a list of the words she can say! She is also still a babbler and will often rattle off a long sentence looking right at you and then pause as if she is waiting for you to talk back. It is hilarious! I can also say Kezzie is a runner...she has just recently started trying this out and most of the time can stay on her feet. However, I am just waiting for her to fall and get her cute little knees all scratched up on the cement outside! Another fun thing Kezzie does is she waddles when she walks. It almost seems like a hip problem, but she doesn't do it all the time...she only does it when she's happy. She even adds a little swing of the arms with it! It's pretty cute! Another funny thing she does right now is whenever she sees Brian (since he had shoulder surgery) she says "owey" and then will imitate crying like a baby. We have had to teach her to be careful around Brian so that is what she does when she sees daddy! It's kind of sweet! This month (4/6) Kezzie has started the process of getting in her two bottom eye teeth. She ran a fever for three days and developed a rash on her chest. Other then those two symptoms she didn't act like anything was out of the ordinary. She would wake frequently at night but still played well during the day. Today they are about half of the way sticking out and I think they are still somewhat bothering her. The drool just keeps on coming!! Kezzie's schedule hasn't changed much from last month. She is getting up about an hour earlier (6am) but continues to take an hour and half morning nap and the same in the afternoon. Still going to bed around 7:30ish. I suppose if I took out her morning nap she would make up for it and sleep longer in the morning, but I don't know if I am ready for that yet! Although I hate the early mornings, it is still really nice to have that morning break to get some stuff done!
We thank God every day for how much He has blessed us. There are so many people dealing with the loss of a child and I don't take a day for granted that I have mine so close to me! Thank you Jesus!

Keziah is 15 months!

Today Kezzie is 15 months old. WOW! There are so many things to speak of I don't know where to begin! Kezzie's two upper eye teeth are taking forever to completely come in continuing to give her trouble. She constantly wants something to suck/gnaw on. The bottom ones have yet to show themselves and can stay under as far as I'm concerned! Her hair is getting much different...not longer and not thicker, just different! It is really thin and still pretty light. It also has a pretty crazy mind of it's own so most days, when we are planning an outing, we put as much as we can get in a pony tail on the top of her head! Kezzie is talking up a storm, as you can imagine...here are the words I can think of that make up her vocabulary (I may add some as I remember them).

Kezzie's Vocabulary:

bape (grapes), bip (dip), teats (treats for the dogs), cheese, ater (water), hat, hot, puppies, doggy, cat, ight (light), papa (grandpa), bebow (elbow), ottle (for her baby's bottle), up, chichen (chicken), peas, apple, bear, ball, cup, che chew (thank-you), choes (shoes), ah done (all done), ganger (danger), two, bib, shishin (lotion), bebe (baby), bobbles (bubbles), Hi, peace (please), mom/mama, dad/daddy/dada, ahs-tin (austin), paci (pacifier), poop,

Among the words she can say there are many more that she can understand. For instance if I tell her to point to a duck on a page of animals, she knows what to point to (and many other animals!). If I tell her to go get her purse, she knows what I am talking about, etc.

Sign language she knows:

more, eat, bed, bath, play, movie, drink, bye/hi, book, milk, all done and she can point to all her body parts.

Body parts she knows:

eyes, ears, hair, nose, teeth, tongue, mouth, face, leg, toes, foot, belly, bottom, fingers and head.

Favorite things to do:

Eat, give the dogs their treats at random times during the day, turn on and off light switches, play in Austin's room with all his big boy stuff, climb on the fireplace or anything really, put lotion on, clap, dance, scream and sleep! She also still really enjoys her stacking boxes and is very fond of her new baby doll that she can feed. Her newest discovery is that we both have bellies and she likes to see them! Also, a few days ago I introduced her to the concept of dip...you know, like ketchup for your fries, ranch for your chicken, etc. I did not really think she would understand this wondrous way of eating but apparently she does and LOVES it as much as me! I love condiments! She actually found an extra container of ranch in the lazy susan the other day and was carrying it all over the house saying 'bip, bip, bip'...she is so adorable! I find myself creating her meals around being able to use dip! She is also really into giving hugs and kisses! Another favorite is lotion...I don't know how it ever got started but I have a little bottle of lotion that is now 'hers' and she knows where I keep it and requests to have it put on several times a day. She has also realized that pretty much anything in a bottle similar to that one is lotion and that she should be able to have it applied at will! This includes hand sanitizer, make-up, etc. She even considers 'bip' to be 'shishin' because if you stick your hand in your dip at lunch time you can rub your hands together as if rubbing in lotion!! Oh the days of toddler-hood!!

Kezzies' NEW schedule:

Last week (2/17) Kezzie decided she was done with three breast feedings a day so now she is down to two. Her new schedule goes something like this...

Between 7/7:30-Wake (Kezzie lays on my chest and lets me know when she wants to nurse)

Between 7/7:30-Breast Milk

8ish-Breakfast (Kezzie is eating a wide variety of breakfast foods, no rice cereal anymore)

9:00-Nap Time

10:30/11-Wake

11:30-Lunch (usually a meat, veggie, grain, and fruit, whole milk to drink, which she is doing better with)

1:30/2-Nap Time

3:30 (sometimes as late as 4)-Wake

3:30/4-(snack of cheese fish crackers, raisins, dried blueberries, string cheese, apple, yogurt, or puffs along with a drink of water or milk)

5:30-Supper (whatever I make!!)

7:30ish-Bath Time (every other night)

7:30-Breast Milk

7:30/8-Bed Time (depending on when she woke from her afternoon nap)

This is the month we have to get some more shots. Tomorrow is the big day with her apt at 10. She will have her iron tested again as well since it was low at her 12 month exam. We pray everything goes ok and the pain will be minimal! We love you Keziah Gail...

Keziah's Well Check Exam:

(2/24) Kezzie did a great job at her check-up. She had to have three separate shots. The only time she cried was when they held her legs down and put the needles in. Usually she cries through the whole exam. Kezzie is 22 pounds 7 ounces and is in the 50th %. She is 31 inches long and just below the 75th %. Her head is 18.5" and is in the 75th %. They didn't feel it was necessary to test her iron since it was only slightly low at 12 months and are instead going to check it in another 3 months. The doctor did mention a slight heart murmur that he said is really nothing and she should grow out of it in the next couple years.

14 in all!

Kezzie's top eye teeth have started coming in now...that brings the total up to 14. She hasn't been very fussy with these, thankfully. She was up one night this week several times, but that's it! Maybe they get easier as they get older! Let's hope! They aren't very far through yet either so we'll see how she does as they start pushing through further! She will be chomping carrots in no time!

13 months!

I can't believe Keziah is 13 months today. So when people ask I can't say, 'oh she just turned one'. I have to say, 'she's thirteen months'! What a big girl. I love being home with her and enjoy every minute of joy that she brings. Her laughter brightens my day! She is jabbering so much lately. It seems like she is pretending a lot and carrying on a conversation with herself. She is such a copycat too. She will try to say almost any word you say. And the sweetest thing she does is she will give you a hug and kiss if you ask for it. The best is when you don't ask for it and she just comes and gives you one (she loves her mommy!). Also if she hits you and you say 'ouch' she will give you a kiss to make up for it! Sometimes I think she hurts you on purpose so she can make you happy again. Some of Kezzie's newest, besides copying everything, is she can now sign 'baby', 'more', 'eat', 'sleep' and 'bed'. Still not choosing walking but could if she wanted to. And she has gotten another tooth-her last of the four molars (bottom left) 12/19/08

More Teeth!

I can hardly keep up anymore. Over the weekend Kezzie got two more molars. Friday I found the top left one and Saturday I found the bottom right one. She hasn't been herself lately, but she's still been in a pretty good mood. She only wakes up in the night to complain about it and then goes back to sleep. I give her tylenol before bed and rub some orajel on them all. I think that helps. Her appetite has pretty much been cut in half though. She'll be back to her old self before we know it!

Grinders!

Keziah has a molar (bottom right)...I can't believe it! She has quite the mouthful of teeth. This brings us up to #9! I was giving her a bath and she smiled really big at me, and there it was. I thought she had something in her mouth! She acted strange all weekend and Brian and I actually thought she might have a touch of the flu, but I'm sure it was the tooth! Before we know it she's going to be eating steak for dinner!

Kezzie's newest!

10/20 This week Kezzie is officially on 4 nursings. We knocked out the 6ish feeding (see 10 1/2 month schedule) and now give her cereal at that time along with a little bit of whatever we are having for dinner. She then nurses at 7:30 before going to bed. She is sleeping wonderful through the night waking only a couple times to search for her paci and still doesn't wake for another feeding until 7/7:30am. She is such a good baby!

10/21 Kezzie got her eighth tooth! I think this is kind of what caused us to ditch the 6ish feeding because she always wants to eat less when her teeth are bothering her. However, she hasn't wanted that feeding back so we will go with it! She has also been doing her 'biting while nursing' thing again which should have been another clue she was getting a tooth. At least I know it will pass!

10/22 Kezzie stood for more than 20 seconds all on her own! It's so cute...she will start to lose her balance and then catch herself and you can tell she is so proud because she gets a big smile on her face! She has also started moving around the furniture and will reach from the coffee table to the couch causing her to take a step or two without anything to hold onto!

Lucky #7!

Kezzie has been working hard this week. She has gotten in her top middle right tooth and also her bottom side left tooth. It seems like she has been getting them in twos! I think I am finally catching on to the signs now...she only wants to nurse a couple times a day, doesn't want to eat anything and when she does nurse, she bites in between sucks (ouch).

9 months old! And A Tooth!

Besides Austin having his birthday party today...Kezzie also turned 9 months old. She is getting so big and amazes me every day with all the things she is learning. I thank God so much for such a precious gift! Her laugh is so contagious! She brings so much joy to mine and Brian's life (and even Austin's life)!



Today is the day Kezzie also got another tooth...that's #5 for her. It's the top middle left one. She is going to have a mouth full pretty soon!

Weekend Fun & Teething Disaster!

FRIDAY: On Friday evening Emily and Adam and the boys arrived about 7:30. Brian and Adam immediately left us ladies in charge of the kids so they could go brush up their skills at the driving range. The next morning they were going to be playing together in a golf tournament. Emily and I didn't do a whole lot but get Ethan and Bennett settled in and ready for bed and feed ourselves some dinner! Ethan found some of our homemade play-doh and we rolled that out for him. He liked to have it perfectly flat and then he would use my biscuit cutter to make circles in the doh (circles are one of his favorite things to draw and he is quite good at them)! He also enjoyed digging in the play-doh with an orange peeler and when all the doh wasn't smooth anymore he would hand Emily or I the roller and say 'gin' (again). Sometime after Ethan was to bed, Brian and Adam came back and we sat around and watched TV growing very tired!

And then it happened...Kezzie wouldn't go to bed. I had tried putting her to bed several times that evening but every time she would just scream and cry. She is always really easy to put to bed and never puts up any fuss but I let her try to cry it out every time thinking she just didn't want to go to bed because of the company. The only sleep she had since 3:30 that afternoon was a 40 minute nap at 6:30. So finally at about 11pm I tried nursing her to see if that would help her settle down and she did go to bed then at about 11:15. But not for long...she got up at 2 in the morning and again at 4:45 at which point I decided to nurse her back to sleep. And that brings us into Saturday!

SATURDAY: Another wonderful day. The day I get to pick Austin up from camp!! Not to mention it was great to wake up and see Ethan's bright sunny smile. He sat and watched Blue's Clues with daddy until it was time to pour the batter for blueberry muffins. He enjoyed watching me do that and then watching them rise and bake in the oven. He munched on some strawberries while waiting for the muffins to come out. I made special mini muffins just for him! He did pretty good sleeping Friday but we had a really noisy storm in the night so that woke him a few times. And then he was up about an hour earlier than usual so he was a little more tired than normal but he handled it pretty well! There is definitely no place like home!

Bennett was a good boy too, aside from the drive up on Friday (he cried the whole way) he was a very quiet and content little one. He actually slept quite a bit and only woke to nurse almost the whole time he was here...he must be growing! I did manage, however, to snap a photo of his sweet face during a moment of his awake time!

We thought it would be a good time to get in the hot tub since Bennett was sleeping so nicely. We turned it down so it was just a little warmer than bath water and the four of us (Me, Emily, Ethan & Keziah) got in for a little relax time! Ethan thought it was so cool and Kezzie was equally impressed (this was her first time in).

2:00pm-time to finally leave to get Austin from camp...so excited! It was so great to see Austin and hear how much he loved camp. It's funny how relaxed you are when your kids are with somebody you know. But when they go away to somewhere they've never been, it's so scary. I wondered if he was sleeping well, making any friends, learning a lot about Christ, being safe. It was all in God's hands, I knew that, but it was hard not to constantly worry! And just to see him and know that he had fun, it was so relieving! He got to do so many things. He said they would have worship a couple times a day and they had free time where they could swim or canoe or fish. And he played a lot of carpet ball and team games. But his most favorite thing of all, he said, was the pillow fight they had on Friday night. Lights out is at 10, but his counselor along with a few other counselors let the boys come out of their cabins (against the camp rules-I think that's what he thought was the coolest!) and have a massive pillow fight until like 11:00. He said it was a blast! I asked him if he learned anything while he was there and he said at worship they talked a lot about how the world is becoming all about yourself and about how YOU are #1 and how YOU make everything happen for YOU and how that's not the way God wants us to think, he wants us to think of others first. And he said they watched a video about a kid who gave up his chance at the major leagues by making himself look bad just to give another kid a chance to make a home run. Austin said he really liked that video. Another cool thing Austin told us about was that they talked about miracles and Austin got to share the miracle of Bennett. I was surprised at this because Austin doesn't like to speak in front of people much but he must have really felt compelled to share that miracle in his life. I thought that was really neat! He also talked a lot about the skits he had to put on. Each cabin was responsible for putting on skits for the worship entertainment. They were always stories from the Bible and each kid would have a special part to play. I thought that was a neat way to help teach the kids some Bible stories!

Once Austin was home there was no way of separating Ethan from Austin. He wanted to be where-ever that kid was. They played with cars in the kitchen and drew together (Ethan loves to draw and Austin does too! I wonder where they get that from!). And later in the afternoon we all went outside to the back yard for some fun in the sun on the swing set! Ethan tried out the slide first going down on Austin's lap and then he braved it alone with his mom at the top and me catching him at the bottom. He also really enjoyed swinging in Kezzie's swing! He's getting to be such a big boy!

And then it happened again...Kezzie would not go to bed. She wouldn't lay down well all day but did manage to get some napping in. Finally at about 6:45 I could tell she really needed some sleep so I gave her some Tylenol, gave her a warm bath and put her to bed. She successfully fell asleep. I decided to let her wake up when she wanted to eat because normally she would have another feeding at 8:45. She woke up at 9:45 and I nursed her and she acted like she was tired enough to just go right back to sleep but she just couldn't get comfortable. She would only fall asleep in my arms (I was loving it though since she never wants to lay in my arms). I finally noticed her chewing vigorously on her pacifier and felt around in her mouth and that's when I found another 2 teeth (one on the side top left and the left front one on the bottom) and one more about to pop through on the side top right. Poor thing. I felt so bad for her. And finally at 10:45 after a lot of screaming from me trying several times to lay her down after falling asleep in my arms and her waking right up, I gave her another dose of Tylenol and she fell asleep for the night. Praise God!

With everyone in bed for the night, it was time to turn in for the night myself! What a long but grace-filled day!

SUNDAY: This is the day my entire family came over for dinner. Saturday was my dad's 58th birthday but he and my mom were at the river (along with Jamie and Keith) so we made plans for them to stop at our house for lunch to celebrate on their way home. Unfortunately Casey, Nate and Gavin couldn't be there to celebrate with us, but everybody else was. All of us girls and our husbands put money in on a self inflating life jacket that dad has been dying to have. He loved it so much he insisted last weekend that he couldn't walk out of Cabella's without buying it. Mom somehow got him to leave without it and Jamie and Keith picked it up for us to give to him.

Before my family arrived we had an extra special visitor. Stephanie and Brady (he is 2 months younger than Kezzie) stopped by since she was in town. Mat (Steph's husband) was playing in the same golf tournament with Riley (Brian's dad). They didn't get into town until late on Saturday because Steph had to work so this was the first we were able to see them. Although we didn't get to sit and relax much, it was still great to get the cousins together and Steph got to meet Ethan and Bennett too!

Lunch was great. I absolutely loved cooking for everybody and felt so incredibly blessed to have my family sitting around my dining room table. I am so fortunate to have such an awesome family and never take a minute for granted that God has given me to enjoy with them. It was definitely 'my cup of tea' to plan a meal and serve them all. And it was great to do it for my dad for his birthday since he has done so much for all of us! God is truly so good to us! Brian and Adam did manage to get a break from golf after their first 9 holes to come eat with the family and update us on how they were playing (see later post for results).

My family didn't stay too late. Everyone was tired from being at the river. Emily and the boys didn't leave of course since we were still waiting on Brian and Adam to finish the tournament. We were all growing quite tired, but still having a good time together. We went outside and played on the swing set some more and blew some bubbles. Ethan loves bubbles. Austin is really good at blowing them. Kezzie really didn't know what to think about them! Bennett just slept! Later, we watched some Blue's Clues and ate supper. We also had some fun with the play-doh again. Adam and Brian got done playing golf about 7:30. Adam loaded all their stuff up and they all headed for home. They had a bit of a drive ahead of them so they needed to get going. Ethan was definitely ready to be home. He was saying good-bye to us before Adam even had everything loaded. He knew he was going to get to sleep in his own bed that night!

With everybody gone, it was time to get our family ready for bed. But then Kezzie did it again...her teeth were just not letting up. The poor girl. I hope it's over soon!! She didn't get to bed until 11pm. Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Green Bean Fun!

This is Kezzie's first for green beans. I didn't have the chance to post her first try at solids so I thought I would at least show this. She is doing a great job eating any and every veggie, however she hates her cereal and isn't really fond of any fruits except bananas and pears. She has been mastering this skill since she was about 7 months, although, we started trying cereal at about 5 1/2 months. She is doing a fairly good job sleeping through the night. She is teething again (she got her first tooth June 20-bottom front right) but this time I think it is on top. She is really sucking that top lip all the time and woke up several times in the night last night. She isn't really handling the teething thing very well, but what can you do?!! Also, her eyes were a very bright blue until about 3 weeks ago. They are starting to look somewhat like a kaleidoscope starting with some dark brown in the middle and tapering out into the blueish grey. She is so beautiful...God is so amazing!