Kyla girl is 1!

Well, here we are. The day is here. Our sweet baby girl Kyla is...I'll just say 12 months old because that doesn't make it seem as bad. I don't know what it is about the second one but I feel like I baby her way more than I did her big sissy. All that getting her off a bottle as much before one as possible, laying her down awake, that sort of thing. Nope. This child still takes a bottle (although I am doing what I can to get her to drink her milk from a sippy. She'll drink everything else from it. Just not the milk!) and I rock that kid to sleep every chance I get. I don't know if it's just because I do what's easiest for the time being since I have two to deal with now or because of the uncertainty of whether or not there will ever be another little one to hold (that decision has yet to be officially decided in this household). But, as difficult as she can be at times, I just don't want her to grow up.

When you came into this world, you were crying like a duck. No lie. It sounded like you were quacking and I will never forget it. Made me giggle in the midst of having my insides taken apart behind a curtain. (Sorry Ihave to keep the mood light and funny or I'll start to cry).

The first 6 weeks of your life were more than difficultand you had somewhat of a rough journey but you were a tough little cookie. Thankfully, because of mommies persistence in figuring you out, we discovered you had a UTI at 6 weeks old that had most likely been around for approximately 4 weeks. Maybe even longer. Heck, you had to have TWO catheters in 3 days with nothing to numb the pain. Mommy couldn't even do that. And I had to sit and watch you sleep with an I.V. hooked into your arm in a tiny little hospital bed for 5 days. You even had to spend your first Easter in the Children's Hospital. Those early days I will never forget.

But more importantly I will never forget how your beautiful blue eyes sparkle and people comment on them at least several times a day everywhere we go, at 7:30pm almost every evening you come and cuddle with me and let me tickle your back until bathtime, you made me walk with you holding your little fingers for 2 1/2 mos. before finally taking your own first steps, at 9:40 every morning I'm guaranteed a huge smile the moment you hear "lalalala lalalala Elmo's World!" comeon the T.V., you smack your lips every time you pretend to eat or the moment you see someone else with food, your most adorable pout lip, how you run to the computer and start moving your leg to the beat when you hear "Party Rock Anthem", and you play peek a boo in the shower curtain and get your head soaking wet every morning. Ohhh the memories we will always share...

Happy Birthday sweet Kyla Hope. Mommy, Daddy and Sissy (believe it or not) love you very

much!

Day with my Loves

Happy Valentines Day to everyone! Hope it was enjoyed by all! We had a very eventful day full of Valentine fun!

The cute little homemade Valentines Kinsleigh helped make for her friends at school.

Here is a close up

Our delicious cookies we baked last night for the neighbors, our teachers, church staff, and ahem ourselves of course!

Have to start the day with heart pancakes!

Opening gifts...

Always a hit.

Dressed up and ready for school with a special appearance by sissy getting to go with her to drop her off today!

Yep, they are adorable

Played in our Valentine sensory table a bit

Had this incredibly unhealthy looking heart pizza for dinner. Yeah, I feel disgusting right now.

And ended my evening with some good ole snuggles from this snotty nose.

(not pictured: My first greatest love, Sean)

Burdened

I've had something on my heart lately that I'm completely burdened by. I feel God is trying to lead me in some sort of direction but I'm not exactly sure yet where that is. Lately I've been saddened too many times by the pain and suffering I've been seeing other families go through with their children. Whether it be them being diagnosed with a disease, getting extremely I'll and suffering significant permant damage as a result, finding out their child has cancer, or even worse, losing their child to cancer. Nothing gets to me more than this. I can't begin to even imagine the hurt and pain they are experiencing. And I want to gag at myself for complaining about my problems. We all have our struggles and yes ours have been somewhat more difficult with Kinsleigh lately, but manageable.

Two nights ago, Kinsleigh woke at 11:45 pm screaming in her room. I ran in to see her sitting bolt upright in her bed, looking completely terrified. I knew instantly she had had a horrible dream as we have dealt with this before with her. But this time when I went to her and placed my arms around her to reassure her she was safe, she was shaking uncontrollably and her heart was beating so hard I literally thought it was going to burst out of her chest! Once I got her to lay down, I sat on the floor next to her bed with her for a good 15 min with one hand tickling her forehead and the other just resting on her chest. That heart was not slowing down and it made me sad to see that she had dreamed something that could make her so frightned. But that wasn't the reason tears came to my eyes at that moment. Here I am, worn out tired, needing my rest more than you can ever know, and suddenly I dont care about that. Im teary eyed because I realize feeling that heart beat at what seems like 1000 beats per minute, represents life in her. She is breathing and full of life. How unbelievably grateful I am to have that! Shes healthy, praise the Lord! Not everyone is experiencing that with their child every day like I am.

But what can I do? I'm just a woman, with a reasonably small income, who wants to help in some way. But I know that nothing I would ever do could bring a child back to the state that they once were so my prayer is that it will be revealed to me how I can help certain families throughout my time in whatever way possible. And I'm going to start with this family. The mom is a woman I knew and was close friends with her family growing up nearly 20 years ago. Because of Facebook, I still stay connected to her family. Her two year old boy is struggling. Actually that's more than an understatement. I can't describe all he has been going through and the pain his parents are clearly feeling. You can join his Facebook page, "Westin's Walk" here to get the news on his condition and updates. Be in prayer for him on a daily basis. You can also request prayer bracelets for him for $5 a piece.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/305376696166650/

Wordless...

Sometimes I simply have nothing else on my mind to blog about and the blog goes untouched for some time. I'm in one of those phases now so I thought, "Why not just share some of my favorite pics of the past month?"

play doh creatures

such cuties enjoying snack and cartoons together

Picnic in the park. Weather this month has been AMAZING

Just being her cute self

Pausing for a sweet pic during a fun game of "sock basketball"

Enjoying mommy's new cake batter balls

Building an awesome castle at Lowe's

Sportin sisters New Life Ranch shades

Playing in such an "oh so safe" place =)

10 months old!

That's one stylish princess right there

"loving" on Bella

Doesn't get any better than this...

Laundry basket rides are the best!

The "S" word

We've entered a difficult stage my friends. Dealing with that "S" word! Yup, I said it. SHARING. Now that Kyla is officially mobile, she wants to get into everything Kinsleigh is doing. And I don't know how to help alleviate some of the stress of this situation. I feel like I am constantly nagging to share. But sharing is such a very hard concept to learn and it doesn't really get fully understood until much later in life. So I'm in a pickle. You don't get training in this kind of stuff in "Multiple Children 101." There is part of me that is so frustrated because Kinsleigh tells Kyla"no" constantly and rips everything out of her hands but then another part of me that says, "Word girl! You do need some of your own space!" Kyla is a little magnet. And that can be annoying to me even, so I totally can see where the three year old frustration is coming from. But at the same time, sweet Kyla just wants to be a part of her sisters world. And Kinsleigh absolutley adores her but just like all siblings, not ALL the time. So I ask you others of multiple children...what methods work best for your family? I want to teach the idea of sharing but don't want to feel like I'm constantly shoving it down her throat. Trying to distract Kyla with something else, say another toy, doesn't work either because she only wants to be doing what Kinsleigh is doing and will switch activities the moment she does. I need advice because the "mommy voice" is hurtin!

Where we stand- part two

The current method we use to measure daily behavior. (I know the second "I" is a 1 but I couldn't find another one of my I's!) She earns a letter of her name for every time she makes good choices. Loses one for when she makes a bad one. At the end of the day, if she earns all her letters, she gets something special. Been doing this for a couple months now and it still actually works.
Well, we finally had the long awaitedappointment with the pediatric pschologist yesterday. Loved the place. Had a very "kid friendly" environment in the waiting area but for some reason Kinsleigh just wasn't a fan of the woman's actual office. Something in there bothered her a bit and she was completely quiet and played with a little dollhouse without a peep for an entire hour! Which actually ended up being ok! Through all the issues we discussed with her, she said there are definitely several red flags that could possibly fall under a " pervasive disorder." Not a fun thing to hear, but obviously I was somewhat expecting to hear it considering it was the reason I was taking her there in the first place. Since she is only 3 and her different behaviors, such as her irrational fears, are so spontaneous she said there really wasn't much she could do for her counseling wise YET. Things would just have to be watched over time until she gets slightly older before a diagnosis couldprobably be made. (we don't want her getting stuck with the wrong "label" ever). BUT the good news from the meeting is this...she is going to counsel ME/Sean! Yeah, didn't know they would even do that! And honestly, more so right now, I think that is what we need. Her improvement at this current time can only come from what we do to help her and we need ideas to know how to do that properly. Also meeting with someone monthly will help us together try to see if she follows some type of pattern in her behavior. Starting at the new year, I began keeping a diary on her. Her mood, amount of discipline we have to use, new fears, amount of sleep, eating habits, quirky behaviors, change of habits, EVERYTHING we can think of, each and every day. I'm already starting to see some possible common ties. I stated on I believe Monday or Tuesday that we had been having the best week to week and a half that we had had in months! Only to discover a new tiny fear on Tuesday afternoon ( which she actually got over pretty quickly) but her behavior hasn't been the same as it had been for those consecutive dayssince. Coincidence maybe, but that will be for us to figure out. I believe that the enemy is lurking at our door and he knows when we are experiencing extreme happiness, and he will do everything is his power to destroy that. Yeah well, wait until he finds out he can't win. Our girls are our everything and I don't care what they go through or may possibly get " diagnosed" with. We are going to make sure they live a life of happiness. That is within what's in our control. And that happens by daily not only telling, but showing thm that they are deeply loved.Not only by us, but by their Daddy, Jesus Christ.

A Dream Week

I just have to share that this past week has been a true blessing sent from above! Our battles with Kinsleigh have been out of this world but out of nowhere this week, we have had the best multiple days in a row than we have had in a LONG time. Our disciplining with her has been at a minimal (the typical for any 3 year old), her imagination has been running wild in her play time, and she has been the most loving, playful, big sister she could possibly be. I believe in the power of prayer and know that is what is making the difference. People in diligent prayer. So thank you, yet again. We are continuing to seek what troubles her and will keep updates coming as we know, but I also know that God can heal her out of nowhere if he wants to and she can be like any other 3 year old her age. If not, he's got another purpose and she's gonna rock it! I'm doing everything in my power to get her the help she needs but I still have hope for the other...