Kaylee's Favorite Words/Phrases

This kid cracks us up. Recently, she has latched onto "Oh, goodness!" and "Happy dude!" which is just about as adorable as you can get with her tiny little voice. I'm trying to catch oh goodness on video. The "happy dude" I do have on video, so I just need to upload it. I have no clue where she picked that up.

She says a ton of other things as well.

Uh oh
Go, doggies! (usually because I'm telling the dogs to go away... little buggers are attached to my feet all the time)
Mommy, mommy!
Please, thank you
diapie (thanks, Meme...) not sure why the baby talk here. It drives me nuts, but she will tell me when she needs a new diaper. If only she were ready to potty train. 
Hi, Dadeee! (say this with a British accent and imagine her with a cup of tea and some crumpets)
More, glasses, a bunch of animal names, most of the body parts that she knows, keys, buttons, bath
Where did it go?
There it is!
All done!
Yucky! (accompanied by her brushing her hands off)
Yummy and omnomnom are common as well. Yes. We taught our kid LOLspeak... :p
Did you hear that?
Baby brother! (don't get all excited - I didn't reveal anything... I have been talking to her about being a big sister and that she was going to have a baby sister or brother soon. She can't say sister, but she can say brother... it's weird, but whatever.. LOL)
If I ask her a simple question, she will answer yes or no.  Typically, the answer is no because the question/statement is almost always about taking a nap. "Can we/Lets go take a nap?/." "No"
There's a bunch more she can say..

She can identify a nose, mouth, eyes, ears, teeth, tongue, head, hair, elbows, knees, toes, feet, fingers, hands, belly on herself, others or her stuffed doggie. There's a ton of animals that she knows, including the sounds they make.. or at least, a sound that I told her it makes. I mean, c'mon.. the sound of an elephant is hard to say! On a good day, she knows her basic colors and shapes. And lately she's been trying to sing the ABCs. She still loves dancing. The music I typically put on has a beat. She just swings around to the beat. Thankfully, she appears to have a bit more rhythm than her mother, who dances like Elaine.

On top of all her development, I have realized that she will be an adventure seeker like me. I wish I was allowed to be more active right now and didn't have to worry about what to do with children while I'm being all crazy. But, a few months ago while at the park, the child climbed to the top of the playscape made for 5-12 year olds and went down the tall slide. Scared me to death, but I knew I wouldn't have time to waddle up there to get her. She did fine and loved it. Now she does it all the time, so I'm less freaked out. She loves to swing. Brian had her going so high the other day that the ropes were kind of giving way. LOL But she was belly laughing the entire time. This is the same video that includes "happy dude" so I'll try to post it soon.

36 weeks. I had a melt down last week, which included bursting into tears one night when Brian walked in the door. Poor guy was so confused... but I think I'm doing a little better today. I'm coming to terms with Kaylee growing out of her naps so quickly. I have to. There's really no choice about it. I need to put my big girl pants on and suck it up. Tomorrow, I'm going to go check out a preschool, which will start in September. It's for 2 days a week from 9-1. It's right down the street from us, so closer than the one I was looking at. This is good on several levels. I can get to this school without hitting any major roads or school zones. It should take me no more than 10 minutes, whereas the other ones in the area may be a 20-30 minute drive solely because of the road systems they have yet to catch up to the population explosion we're having out here.

I think that's it for now. I'm procrastinating. I should be cleaning and getting ready to host a few ladies tonight for a bachelorette party. But, I just don't feel like it. :p

Sick Day

Yesterday was awesome in the sense that Kaylee and I had a 2 hour playdate at a new friend's house with 5 other kids. It was a ton of fun. "M" was a very generous hostess, even serving lunch, which I wasn't expecting. However, a few moments into the fun, she announced that her little girl had a double ear infection and an eye infection. My first thought -- and I guess I should have asked -- was, surely she had been on her antibiotics over 24 hours. Surely, she was over the cold that probably helped the ear infections develop in the first place. Surely, she wouldn't jeopardize the health of 4 other children (2 of the kids belonged to her. I don't suck at math completely.) :)

Kaylee didn't nap, once again, yesterday. This was after playing hard for 4 hours outside and another few hours inside. This is after 2 hours of quiet time, hoping she would fall asleep. Even a late trip to the store - I figured she would pass out in the carseat. Nope. I just gave up. I picked up dinner because I had no energy left to fix me anything. She got a banana, thawed frozen veggies and string cheese because that took very little effort.

Last night was a better night for sleeping. It didn't take as long to get Kaylee down and she slept through most of the night, although she woke up really early. She's still only getting about 10 hours of sleep a day, which just doesn't seem like enough for a toddler. It's barely enough for me!

This morning, Kaylee awoke super snotty. Austin is the land of allergies, but she has yet to show many signs that she's allergic to anything. I texted my neighbor who confirmed, her daughter has a fever and is snotty, but not allergy snotty like usual.

It's supposed to be 90 today. A perfect day to be out and about playing. I'm going to risk it in my backyard and hope that the air quality is just right to dry her up. I can't get sick right now. I have a party to host Saturday.

So, dear parents.... if your kid is sick, please... please don't pass it along. I get the whole "building the immune system" thing. I'm not a germaphobe. But, I can build Kaylee's immune system just fine with dirt and food she picks up off the floor. :)~ I don't, however want her to have a cold that will probably cause an ear infection, which could cause a rash and next thing I know, I'm out $130.

Really, Texas?

Santorum? This is no better than Perry...

We don't need "God" running America. We definitely don't need someone who thinks birth control is wrong. The Earth is overpopulated enough. Stop mixing church and state!!!!!! OMG...

Naps

How the hell do you have a newborn/infant with a toddler that refuses to nap 85% of the time? The last few weeks have left me a ball of messy hormones for some reason. And I find myself melting into a ball of tears every afternoon when Kaylee decides that there will be no nap today. It would be different if she didn't need a nap, but in the next few hours, well beyond the time when I can let her sleep, she'll be exhausted and inconsolable. If I let her sleep, she'll be happier, but she won't go to bed until super late... then her schedule is just screwed the rest of the week.

Lose-Lose....

Whitney

I get it. She died. Can we please move on? Why is this on CNN and pretty much every other channel I typically watch? She was great in the 80s and part of the 90s and then she lost herself. For almost 20 years all we saw was drug and alcohol addiction paired with an abusive husband. This does not equate to flags being flown half staff. It does not equate to nationwide coverage. The only thing about this where I was offended for Whitney is when they compared Winehouse to her. Now, there was a waste of space on this Earth. Why did people like that Winehouse? I can't figure that out either.

Call me hormonal. Call me a bitch for not really caring or being surprised that she essentially killed herself. But, when I get one break a day (maybe), I want to watch something other than a funeral.

Update on Baby T... and me complaining about what Baby T is doing to me...

I love my midwives. It turns out the doctor who was kind of blunt last time telling me "You've gained more than enough weight....." (in which I heard, "You Are a Whale") isn't a regular there. So, as long as I don't have the baby on a Tuesday, I shouldn't see her again. WOOT!

My hope is to have the baby on a Sunday, Monday or Wednesday. I guess I heard what I wanted to hear my first appointment. I thought I heard "We rotate so you can to know everyone and can put in your preference. You may not get that person, but we try..." It turns out they are on a (pretty) consistent rotating schedule. So, I had her write that down just so I would know when the time comes. Overall, I like everyone... even the one who was concerned about my weight. I just didn't like being called out when I was already worried about it.

My aches and pains are getting worse as time goes on. I am trying to exercise (ie: walk more than to the fridge to get Kaylee's milk), but the round ligament pains, back pains and overall pressure this kid is putting on my lungs and pelvic area are enough to make me sit most of the day. Unfortunately, the only place I can sit without much pain is the sofa. I even get to sleep there. Yay. My office chair, bed and dining chairs kill my back and (I guess) force the baby further down. I am having new round ligament pains besides the ones in my groin. I didn't even know that's what it was... but, apparently, if you feel like you are on fire right below your belly, that is supposedly a ligament that could be scarred, so when you have braxton hicks or move/stretch in a certain way, it triggers that sensation. Weird. And painful. The maternity belt helps a little, but I can't sit/drive with it on, so that sucks. On top of the pains, I'm having ophthalmic migraines about every other day. When I'm lucky, they last 15 minutes. When I'm not, they last 2 hours. There's nothing like changing a dirty diaper and you can't see an entire buttcheek no matter how hard you try. LOL The good thing is these are migraines of the eye, so there's no pain associated with them. My Ophthalmologist said it's actually a neurological problem, but in pregnancy, they are triggered by hormones.

Thankfully, I'm about 35 weeks along, so I don't have far to go now. In fact, I did our calendar today and it actually includes the due date (3/24). WOOHOO! I've gained 36 lbs and while she said I'm at the higher end, the baby feels right on target, so it's mostly me gaining the weight, not necessarily the baby, which is "good." I shouldn't have a 20 lb baby. But, it's bad because it could be difficult to lose. Whatevs. I *hate* sitting on my ass doing nothing. It's probably the biggest reason I suck at being pregnant. I feel helpless and lazy. And when I push myself, I end up doing more damage than not, which is frustrating.

And appropriately enough, today I got an eNewsletter from my HOA. They are adding Zumba to the calendar. I Can't Wait! And once the baby is 6 months old in September, I can start going to the gym down the street and drop the bugger off in the Kids Club. :p  Kaylee will be in preschool twice a week, so it'll be perfect. Here's hoping I have my wits about me by September though. I might be pushing it a little bit.

Valentines Day

Brian and I don't celebrate this Hallmark day. I find it more romantic when he comes home with a surprise on a random day than some day marketing is telling him.

However, my little girl gave me the sweetest gift ever. She slept until 11am. And that's only because I couldn't sleep anymore and went and woke her up. She's not sick, so I have no idea why she slept so late. And it was her day to go to her grandma's, so I get a full day of being lazy. Granted, I do have to go to the grocery store, but that shouldn't take long.

Woohoo!

September!

Here we go.....

The Methodist church wrote back and gave me information about registering Kaylee for Mother's Day Out. And with how she phrased the email, if I get there early enough in the registration process, there shouldn't be an issue with getting her in.

So, (most likely) starting in September, she'll be hangin' out with other 2 year olds and I'll be at home cuddling with a 6 month old. But, from April to September, I imagine that'll be just enough time for me to lose my mind. :)~

I do need to make my list of questions though to make sure this is not just a "plop 'em in front of a TV or observe from afar" type place. If I'm going to pay for something, I want her to be learning.

40 Days

If I did Lent... and it were Lent, I would give up being pregnant. :)~

The baby is still living in my lungs, so sleeping soundly, breathing without gasping and walking without being winded is all wishful thinking.

Only 40 or so days left. I'm still terrified of having an infant and toddler, but I'm actually starting to have fears of dying in my sleeping from not being able to breathe properly. Since my back hurts so badly and my round ligament pain is still acting up, I sleep sitting up. Thankfully, that nonsense started much later in this pregnancy than it did my last. I had to do that pretty much the entire time, with the last 4 months of me living in our living room recliner. This time, however I wake up and my head feels so heavy, so I have to prop it up. I'm sure I look quite ridiculous. Maybe this is where all that weight it going... hahahaha er

I *think* I've done better over the last few weeks with my weight gain. I have an appointment Thursday, so we'll see.

Progress...

Welp, I got 30 pages done yesterday. Definitely not my best work, but they don't look horrible either. I am officially caught up to 6 months plus I scrapped Halloween and Christmas from this year, so technically I have 8 months worth of pictures done.

The sad thing is I barely made 6 months of pages fit in one CM book. Those books are made to lay flat but I put so many pages in them that they started to curl. Oops... So, we're starting book 2 for Kaylee. Maybe I can get all of 2011 in that one. Maybe.

In other news, I've started researching Mother's Day Out programs. There's 2 in town. My old church from when I was a teen and another longtime church in our town. The Baptist church is now a mega church which I really hate. But, the Methodist church is $15 a month more. However... they have the option to do 3 days a week (for like $50 more). So, I put in a request to be put on the waiting list. Both programs start in September and follow the Pflugerville ISD schedule.

I'm almost hoping the Methodist church will call me first. She'll be exposed to Baptist churches while growing up since my side of the family is mostly Southern Baptist. When I was trying to find myself, I explored the Methodist church out in Taylor and really loved what they had to offer in way of their teachings. So, in my head - this will get more exposure to different types of Christianity, which will hopefully allow her to pick if she wants to be Christian and which branch she may want to join. Or if she'll be more like me and just try to live life the best way she can.


Oh and you remember those 70-80 degree temps I posted not too long ago? Well, it's snowing in parts of Central Texas today. South Austin and parts of Northwest Austin are getting snow and/or sleet. I kind of hope we get a nice covering here so I can get Kaylee to make another snow angel to go with last years (Feb 4, 2011). We have some of the strangest weather.  Tomorrow and Tuesday -- 70s. It just cracks me up at times. 

Scrapbooking and all it's glory...

So, I'm terrible about being OCD with my layouts. Kaylee is 19 months old and I have scrapbooked 4 months of her life. Horrible. With the new baby coming soon, I need to catch up quickly. Tonight and tomorrow during her nap, I hope to work on some power layouts to catch up. I have a ton of pictures printed, so that won't slow me down thankfully.

The office floor has been picked up, so I can spread out and get everything into spread-piles.

Saturday, I'm having a couple of the girls over to enjoy some triple chocolate Ghirardelli brownies and lots of scrapbook time. This is where I hope to make my progress of gluing everything down.

4 months.... I feel sorry for the next kid. :p

My goal is to finish up to 1 year, but it would be awesome to get current. I don't think that's possible for a hardcore scrapper though.... is it? Brian has already mentioned giving me a few hours a week to do nothing but scrapbook. Between that and the other projects I want to start doing, I think we're going to need to make a schedule so he still can get his gaming in. Otherwise, I'm going to take over all of the extra time from 5pm on... eek.

What's really funny about all this is I gave a good friend a scrapbook of her kid... I think I got close to 3 years. Granted, I didn't have access to a ton of pictures, so that probably helped. But, she-who-does-not-scrap has a more put together book than I do. Ha!

Student Loans

I find it very disturbing that a federal student loan with a similar interest rate and payment as a private vehicle loan still takes twice as long (if not more) to pay off than said vehicle.

I'm going on 6 years of paying essentially 2 car payments on 2 separate federal student loans. Yet, I've only made a few thousand dollar dent.

One loan was originally for $23k. I have paid $300+ and still owe $20k. That's right - I've PAID $21k, but you wouldn't know it looking at my balance.

The other was for $31k. I have also paid $300+ and still owe $24k. I've also paid about $21k here as well.

In that time, I've paid off an $17k vehicle with a payment of $350 in 4 years.

The interest rate on the vehicle was 4.9%. The interest on my student loans are from 3.75% to 4.98%.

How does this make any sense? I'm so frustrated...

I am a super mom

Or, at least that's what the sarcastic comment someone made to me said. Do you know why she said I was? Because I don't think it's right or fair to plant your kid in front of a TV for 5+ hours a day. I *loved* the defense of "He only watches a max of 2 hours" after 10 shows were listed in a previous answer. I *loved* the response of "I use it as a teaching tool" when I know damn well, as soon as you could put your youngest in a bumbo, that's where he sat until your MIL took that poor baby out to help him learn how to crawl. After that, you blamed sanity. This is what independent play is for. You get a break and they keep running off that never ending cycle of energy.

I do not think I'm a super mom. Far from it. But, I refuse to let my kid's brain melt in front of a TV all day. Maybe this is why I'm exhausted all the time? If we sat on the couch and zoned out to the boob tube, I would have more energy for my husband and friends. I mean, she's just a kid... she won't remember me being an uninvolved parent at this age. I'll get more involved later....

I try very, very hard to keep my judgments to myself. My philosophy has always been "It's your kid..." And I seriously hope to keep it that way. But now I see why moms have trouble making friends with other moms.  Parent's Magazine started it with their Nick Jr sponsored post asking "What TV shows do you watch with your preschooler?" The way the question was phrased made it seem like this is the norm. Even if there really are educational shows out there, I do not want my kid's favorite teacher to be television. But, seriously, the number of shows these parents were listing off was awful. No one said just one or part of one. ** Here's my admission... we may watch 10 minutes of Elmo's World while she wakes up and drinks her milk first thing in the morning. She doesn't really even pay any attention, thankfully. Elmo is such a dumb character. After that, the TV is on for noise, typically on a music channel for dancing. ** There was always 5+. Say that show is 30 minutes long, that's 2.5 hours a day you are missing out with your kid. 12.5 hours a week if you are only subjecting them to this on the weekdays. 650 hours a year you miss out on spending quality time with your kid. That's 27 twenty-four hour days out of the year. The same kid that grows up in the blink of an eye.

Don't blame work either. Brian doesn't veg in front of the TV/computer before 8 - Kaylee's bedtime - except on planned days. He works 40+ hours a week and misses out on a lot of her learning. So every second of play he can get in, he does.

Maybe things will change when I have my second kid next month. I certainly hope not. I hope that I am still able to feed my kid anything but crap (no fast food, no sugary snacks on a regular basis, limited processed foods). I hope she never becomes addicted to TV like I was as a kid. I hope she has a healthy relationship with a computer and not an addiction like her father and I do. I hope that instead of having some screen teaching my kid her shapes, colors, animals, numbers, letters, how to read/spell, and problem solving that I have a strong role in that process. If all that I do makes me a super mom, I have to say on the basic level, that was the easiest decision I've ever made. Is it hard work? Sometimes it gets a bit challenging to keep up. But it's all worth it.

So, I have a question....
Do teachers in school just turn on a TV to teach?

And an answer....
No. And we, as parents shouldn't either.