Shopping

We have had a trying morning. Kylee took a 30 minute morning nap and when she got up she was grouchy of course. She followed me around and didn't know what she wanted. There was no playgroup so I had to find another reason to get out of the house. We headed to the bank to deposit a check. She seemed to be very content in the car so all was well. Then I looked back and she was asleep. Now most moms might be thankful for that, but not me. I look forward to her naps. I can take a nap or get things done that I have needed to do. So all in all she took another 30 minute nap. As soon as I pulled in the driveway she woke up and smiled at me. So I just laid her down to go to sleep. She is exhausted, but she doesn't know it so she is screaming. I decided to hide away in my bedroom where I couldn't hear her and do a little blogging.

Last night after Jonathan got home we headed over to Cato to do some shopping (he went to Radio Shack actually). I got some great buys: 2 shirts, a skirt, a dress that I think I can nurse in (yea), a pair of shoes and a pair of jeans all for $70! All of it was on the clearance rack except for the jeans. Cato is now my favorite store. I still need a few more shirts all of mine seem to have shrunk. They fit me fine before the baby, but now they are too short. It couldn't be that I grew could it?

Have a good weekend.

Thankfulness

Kylee loves to be outside so this morning after breakfast we went and sat on our swing in the backyard. We were singing and having a good 'ole time and it made me think how lucky I am. I have the privilege to stay at home with my beautiful daughter. I have a wonderful husband who loves me very much and takes really good care of me. Sometimes I get selfish and jealous of my friends who have bigger houses, nicer cars and other "better" things. I have to remember that everything is a gift from God and he deserves the glory for everything in my life. I have a wonderful home, great friends and a very supportive family. I have a lot to be thankful.

So for the real reason most of you read this, here are some pictures of Kylee.

We spent some time on the trampoline last night....


Kylee and Mommy


Kylee and Daddy


Kylee doesn't really like the grass, but she tolerates it


She has recently taken an interest in books. She got this one out of the basket herself!

20 lbs

I lost one of the membranes (also known as the little white flappy thingy) for my pump and headed up to the hospital to buy 2 more. While we were there I asked the nurse if she could weigh Kylee b/c I knew she was closing in on the 20 lb mark. Sure enough she weighed 20.10 lbs. It is time for her to switch to the bigger car seat. I know this is a little thing, but I really feel like my baby girl is all grown up. I think she will be happier sitting up taller, but I have to wait until she is a year old to let her face forward. I got the big car seat out of the attic and it is in the wash now getting clean.

This past weekend we went to Austin to visit the fam and had a great time. Friday night we saw some of Jonathan's old high school friends and got to show off our baby girl. None of them are even married so it made us feel a little old. Kylee did a great job of looking super cute. Then she and I headed over to Grandma's house and Jonathan stayed with his friends to catch up. I crashed early after spending a little time with my mom.

Then Saturday we went over to my sister's house and all of the kids got to play with Kylee. She was surrounded by people the whole time we were there and I was surprised she didn't get overwhelmed. Saturday night we went to a fundrasier with Jonathan's parents for the Central Texas Children's home in Buda. Jonathan's dad is on the board and had some extra tickets for the dinner. We got to enjoy some great bar-b-que. Then Kylee went home with the Grandma's and Jonathan and I headed down to San Marcos to hang out with his friends again. We played the play station version of Scene It and it was a lot of fun.

Most of the game is reading and since Jonathan has dyslexia I had to read it out loud or just try and guess the answer myself. I am not very good at this game. Jonathan knew most of the answers, but couldn't read it fast enough to beat the other teams. We really weren't a very good team. We ended up with 16,000 points while the other teams had around 50,000. Luckily neither of us are competitive people so we just enjoyed being in last place.

Sunday we all went to church together and then went to the Brick Oven for lunch. Kylee enjoyed some of Mommy's turkey and the waiter brought her 6 pieces of little bread. She loved it! Most of it went on the floor, but her Nonnny cleaned it up. In fact Nonny took care of her the whole time and Jonathan and I got to eat a whole meal from start to finish without any interruptions :)

Sunday night we headed back to Belton and met up with some of our friends from college, Jeremy and Amanda. They live in the Houston area and had to evacuate. They were staying with some family in Killeen so they headed over to our house. We had a fancy dinner of sandwiches since we had been gone all weekend and Jonathan made homeade milkshakes for dessert. It was so good to see them and it really made me miss them more!

Overall it was a great weekend and Kylee did very well despite the fact that she went to bed late every night. Today she took 2 1/2 hour nap (she usually takes 45 minute naps) so I think she was trying to make up for the weekend.

I don't have any new pictures. I took my camera to Austin, but I don't think I even got it out. I hope all of you are doing well.

Preschool

As most of you know I am teaching music at our preschool where I go to church. It is a two day a week program for babies through PK. I was hoping that Kylee could go with me, but I found out that they only take babies that are 12 months and older. So I shopped around for someone to watch her but all the churches I talked to were full and the one lady that I interviewed hardly made eye contact with me so I decided she was not a good candidate.

Two of my friends from church agreed to watch her one day a week each. So that was going to work out fine. About a week before school started the director told me that I could go ahead and bring Kylee to preschool with me because they had very low enrollment in the baby class. Yea! I was very happy b/c this would make my life much easier. I simply nurse her about 8:50 at church and put her to sleep in the nursing room with a monitor. Then I go and set-up for my classes which start at 9:30 and her teacher gets her up from her nap. Then I go and pick her up when I am done teaching and we go home for lunch. Today was her second day and she is doing marvelous!

There are three babies in her class and they ride around in a really big stroller with six seats. I saw her pass by the other day and she looked like such a big girl. She is enjoying new snacks like fig nutens and her teacher says that she loves to just sit and watch the big boys while they run around. I wish I had pictures from the first two days, but I forgot my camera both days. I will be better next week.

I am thouroughly enjoying staying at home! I feel so blessed that it is possible for me to do so. Jonathan and I are definetly on a tighter budget, but so far we are doing well. I must say that "stay-at-home mom" is definetly a relative term. Monday we go grocery shopping and do errands, Tuesday and Thursday are preschool, Wednesday is ladies Bible class and Friday is playgroup. And Jonathan was worried I might go stir crazy!

For those of born before 1980

I barely fit in this category! I got this from my Mother-in-law.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.


They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.


Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.


We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.


As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.


Riding in the back of a pick up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.


We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.


We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.


We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?


Because we were always outside, playing...that's why!


We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.


No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.


We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.


We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!


We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.


We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.


We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.


Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.


Imagine that!!


The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!


These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers problem solvers and inventors problem solvers and inventors ever.


The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.


We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!


You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.


While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.


Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it

~


The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

The first day of preschool

Yesterday was my first day of preschool. It actually started on Tuesday, but I was not able to be there so they just didn't have music that day. So I got up in plenty of time and got myself ready before Kylee got up. Then I burned my hand on a baking stone. I had the stone on the stove drying and I turned on the kettle to boil water for my coffee. Well I turned on the wrong burner and the stone got hot instead of the kettle. When I went to move it, ouch. I ran it under cold water and that didn't help. I put aloe on it and that didn't help. So I did what the internet said not to do...ice. I put some ice water in a ziplock and left it on constantly. I think it just numbed it. If I would take it off long enough for my hand to defrost, it would hurt really bad.

So I went to work anyway, hoping that it would get better. After all everyone burns their hand on a pan, right? I managed to teach all morning with ice on my hand. All the kids were a little fascinated and wanted to know what happened. I warned them not touch a hot stove!

I quickly discovered just how short a two-year old's attention span is. The threes were much more interactive and the PK were actually responsive. Usually in the elementary school I get to PK and think wow they can't do anything. But at a preschool it is totally opposite. I loved all of the kids and I didn't have any tears, so it was a great first day!

So I got home with my ice and kept thinking it would get better. About 3 I called the nurse and asked if there was anything more I could do b/c it was still hurting. She said I should probably be seen, but it was a little late and I might want to consider going to the ER. So Kylee and I headed up to the hospital and Jonathan met us there later. I only had to wait 10 minutes in the waiting room and Kylee did great. I left her in her stroller and fed her puffs.

Turns out it was a 2nd degree burn and they put medicine and gauze on it, man did that hurt. They let me have my ice pack back and I got to take some vicatin after my blood pressure evened out. I was a little loopy when we left and by the time we got home, no more pain. I haven't felt any today. I am taking advil and it is working. So the moral is don't turn on the wrong burner!!!

Bryan

Bryan and I headed over to Stephenville on Monday night. We got to our cousin's house about 7 and Bryan had a blast. They have some land along with some animals. They have ducks, geese, cows and horses. It was too late for Bryan to ride the horses so we decided that the next time we go to pick him up we will stop by Stephen and Malissa's for some horse riding time. The have a 5 year old little boy and he and Bryan palled around.

I got both of the kids down around 9 and I headed off to bed for some much needed catch-up sleep. I figured I better be well rested for my long day on Tuesday and the drive back home. Kylee got up about 4 and I had to feed her to keep her from waking everyone else up. But all in all she did great! She even lasted through the hour meeting and slept all the way home.

I got to meet Bryan's teacher Tuesday morning when i dropped him off at school 30 minutes late! We were in town I just couldn't find the school and he wasn't sure where we were. It ended up that we had to drive through the Tarleton campus to get there so that through me off. Kylee and I went back up to the school to have lunch with him and he enjoyed that. He said that he doesn't have any friends and didn't talk to anyone else during lunch. I hope that changes soon.

Kylee and I headed back up to the school at 2:00 for our 504 meeting. For those of you not familiar with the education lingo, dyslexia is not under the special ed umbrella. So it has to have its own name. All other disabilities are grouped into 504's. Even if a kid breaks his arm and has to write with the other hand, that would be a 504. So anyway the counselor, Bryan's teacher, the education director from the home, Bryan's house mom and I were all at the meeting.

I gave a little background on Bryan and then we discussed some issues he was having. I really like the counselor. She is going to look into special ed testing. They had started the paperwork in Austin when he lived with his mom, but when he moved nothing else was done. I tried to have him tested, but it was too late when he got to my school and Pirtle refused to test him, saying it was unnecessary. I had to complain to get him tested for dyslexia. Can you tell I'm frustrated? So anyway the counselor was very willing to get that ball rolling and I appreciated that.

His teacher said that she had already observed some weird behavior. He had crawled under his desk on a couple of occasions while the teacher was going over directions. She said it was not for attention and she didn't even notice it until another kid pointed it out. I think he got overwhelmed. He had also been rocking and humming in class. They were wondering about Asberger's. As most of know he has been tested for that, but it was inconclusive. One one scale he was, on one scale he wasn't. We decided to retest him later after treating the reactive attachment disorder some more.

Most of the meeting went very well and I can tell that everyone really cares about him. But there was one part that was disturbing. The teacher brought a picture that Bryan had drawn and it had a gun in it. When she asked him what the gun was doing he said it was pointing at his head. I was shocked and very sad when I saw it. Jonathan and I are trying to figure out what to do with this. Please pray that we can do what is best for Bryan.

More fun with brother

Well Bryan and Jonathan finished the lego project. Here is a picture of their finished product!




Last night we were supposed to go down to Austin and see a Round Rock Express game with the family. But Bryan was feeling a little homesick and wanted to stay here. I think he was a little bummed that Jonathan had to work so much while he was here. He was really hoping they could do some more stuff together. So we had an evening at home. We all jumped on the trampoline (except for Kylee who was asleep), watched a movie, Bryan and Jonathan worked on painting the riding lawn mower. Bryan wanted racing stripes. i don't know if that will happen, but they did are going to at least slap some black paint on. Here are some pics of them prepping it for paint.




We have had a relaxing day. We watched morning cartoons and then went to see the new Star Wars movie. Bryan really enjoyed it, but Kylee and I had to leave halfway through. We went shopping, that's what girls are supposed to do right? Here is a really cute picture of Kylee and brother.



We are leaving to take Bryan home in about an hour. Please pray for him at the start of this new school year. Please pray that the 504 goes well tomorrow and that his best interest will be the focus. Please pray for Jonathan and I as we miss him very much and we have the tough decision to make about when the right time to bring him back home will be.