Mother's Day Weekend.

So our Mother's Day weekend started out kind of rocky -- we were packing to go to my parent's house in Alabama and guess we weren't paying close enough attention to KK while we were running around like chickens with our head cut off. At one point, I came out of her room and noticed that she was running towards me yelling with her hands up in the air....and no pants on. Which lead me to the realization that no pants equaled no diaper either. I looked around the living room and found both up on the steps, next to what appeared to be a puddle of liquid. Yup you guessed it. Pee. I looked around more and found another small puddle behind her chair. Guess pants are no longer kryptonite for her. UGH

The trip down was quite long and I got the joy of listening to my child scream and yell most of the way down there. God forbid she took a nap like normal! The weekend was great though -- very relaxing for a change considering that we drove 12 hours in 2.5 days. I enjoyed being able to spend my mom's birthday and mother's day with her for the second year in a row though -- KK hasn't missed one yet :) We even got to take my parents out for a really nice sushi dinner -- and yes, I splurged on my whole foods commitment...haha

Nice to be home. I'm exhausted. And KK is being a monster.

xo

Daddy + Daughter Date

So last night was a much needed GNO with one of my girlfriends -- food, drinks + a movie.

And last night also happened to be a perfect time for a Daddy Daughter Date Night! I was so proud of Jason for mustering up the courage to take Kadence out to dinner at Logan's Steakhouse and then off to Bass Pro Shop afterwards to do a little shopping.

Jason told me that KK was quite the little ham all night at dinner and had everyone in the restaurant turned to mush by the time they left. When they got there and he was asked how many, the hostess apparently thought it was an 'awwww' moment when he said "2 please"...haha Apparently KK went a little nuts for the, well, peanuts and after hearing her scream at the top of her lungs because he obviously wasn't shelling them fast enough for her, he handed her one thinking she'd try to figure it out on her own. Well, he was wrong. And down the hatch went the nut, shell and all :) After 3 rolls down (and that's just what she ate) the food came and KK decided she only wanted french fries and more nuts -- and Jason made the rookie mistake of ordering ribs and thinking he'd actually be able to eat and enjoy them. After dinner, Jason put Kadence on the ground and grabbed her backpack and her hand -- much to his surprised she threw a fit and insisted on carrying her own backpack (which is as big as her), but once they got to the door, she looked up at him and shot her little hand in the air for him to hold :)

Bass Pro Shop was pretty uneventful -- they closed the place down as like always. KK loves the fish!

Almost 2 Months!

Omgosh guys. I'm so sorry. I'm almost embarrassed about my lack of postings for the last two months -- and I was starting to get so good at it too! Here's just so fast fun facts to catch everyone up over the long hiatus!

2: Months since I've posted :(
2: Number of teeth Kadence has come in since then! (other 2 are getting ready to pop out)

2: How many words KK is currently saying -- "mama" and "dada"! We're so proud of her! She doesn't just come out and say them though, it takes a little prompting on our parts, but she says them clear as day :)
3: Number of festivals we've been to so far this year -- "Buttercup Festival" in Nolensville, "Main Street Festival" in Downtown Franklin and this weekend, the "Renaissance Festival" in Arrington.

4: Times we've been to the zoo! We finally got a membership!
10+: Number of words that she understands and follows. "Diaper" sends her running into her bedroom and to her changing table. "Sit Down" "Bedtime" "Bottle" "Bath" "Arm" "Foot" "Kiss" "Hug" "Lovie" "Fafa" and a few more that I can't think of right now.
12+: Number of kisses a day she gets :)

Ok, enough with the number play -- let's see what other fun things I can think of. We went to Florida back in March and KK got to play with ALL her cousins for the first time and even rocked at the Easter Egg Hunt! We got to go to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Lowry Park Zoo, the beach, and the Georgia Marine Aquarium on the way home. It truly was a really fun trip, but we were gone almost 2 weeks. It was quite exhausting!

Kadence has made a new little friend -- she's only 6 months old, but we've hung out with them a couple times. Can't wait until she's up and about so KK can truly enjoy her company other then just getting pushed around in the strollers :) OH and speaking of little friends -- Kadence buddy Collette is going to have a little sister towards the end of the year. Gwen (Col's mommy) just found out she was pregnant again and we're all very excited to add another one to the play dates..haha

KK just recently got bumped up in her church nursery group -- we dropped her off one night in what we thought was the appropriate aged room and when we went back to get her, were told very politely that she's been "upgraded" to a more advanced room. They do crafts in this one :) So we're always coming home with little creations each week!

The Funzone has finally been disbanded and packed up. We now have gates up blocking the living room off from the rest of the house and she has more room to destroy...I mean, move around :) We've gotten her some little bins so she can keep her toys organized and I think she's finally starting to get the hang of it after a  whole week of just throwing everything EVERYWHERE!

She's developed such a strong willed little personality that just seems to get more and more overwhelming on a day to day basis. She knows what she wants, when she wants it and has no qualms about letting anyone and everyone know what those wants are. But in my opinion, it's better than having a "zombie" baby that doesn't seem to know what's going on around them really!

Lots more to tell, but I have to get back to the grind stone this morning -- gotta love Mondays!
xo

Hair Cut!

So Kadence and I went to get our hair done before our vacation starts next week. I was a little worried about how she'd be, thinking I was going to have to stick her in the stroller for a couple hours. I let her walk in holding my hand and figured I'd give her every opportunity to be good before resorting to the stroller. Surprisingly, she did amazing! She must've sat on my lap for a good 35 minutes just eating O's and watching Kim put foils in my hair. Then she decided that she wanted to crawl off my lap but stand at my feet (still eating her O's) for another 10 - 15 minutes. When I had to go under the dryer, she stood right by me as I tempted her with some popcorn chicken that she was trying to hoard in her grubby little hands. Then came the shampoo time and she was too afraid to walk down the hall right away, so she slowly inched her way down and by that time, I was done. Then MeeMaw showed up, so the rest was golden -- KK even got a little hair cut herself for her bangs. I want to grow them out, but she's still not doing barrettes and clips, so we're postponing this step! Pics coming soon :)

On a side note: Kadence decided to empty out my hole punch this morning, which meant little white circles everywhere! At first, she was just picking them up and throwing them in the air. But then I noticed she was starting to hoard them in her little hand and before I could stop her, she shoved a huge amount into her mouth and started chewing as fast as she could. Needless to say, there's was no hope of recovering them -- a little extra fiber never hurt anyone!

Spontaneity!

So Kadence and I decided to be spontaneous yesterday and go to the zoo again. Well, it was more like -- "I had cabin fever and she wouldn't stop making noise, so I knew if I took her to a public place, she'd have fun being outside and I'd be able to return some important phone calls and close some deals out of the office." So, off to the zoo we went :) And apparently everyone else within a 50 mile radius of Nashville had the same idea. Granted, it was the first truly warm, beautiful day in almost weeks that we've had, so I don't blame anyone! We decided to sign up for a zoo membership too while we were there, so we're going to take advantage of the 50% admission at other zoos/aquariums while we're in Florida! (whoot!)

But back to the Nashville Zoo -- she absolutely LOVES the meerkats! Most definitely her favorite little furry animal and for some reason, they seem to really love her too. The whole area was super crowded, so we were walking around the enclosure and I promise you (yes, promise) they were following us from one side to the other...and it's a huge spot. It was fun and we both were pooped when we got home.

Just a fun side note -- KK has developed this new little 'quirk' if you care to call it that. Instead of just picking up her fafa and putting it in her mouth, she's decided that she's going to start leaning over (and sometimes laying down) and just straight picking it up with her mouth..no hands style :) What a goofball!

xo

Weekend Adventures!

So I started getting sick myself at the beginning of last week and by Thursday had taken a turn for the worse. The night before I was feverish and I developed what I thought were little white patches on the back of my throat by late Thursday afternoon. I went to a walk-in clinic and they ran a strep test which came back negative. Everyone thinks my 'symptoms' are allergies and though I've never had them in the past, apparently a couple years up here and you'll get them. But wanting to err on the side of caution, Jason and I drove Kadence down to Franklin Friday afternoon to drop KK off with MeeMaw so they could spend part of the weekend together so I could have some "get better soon" down time.

MeeMaw said Kadence tried all kinds of new foods this weekend -- apparently she didn't want any of the dinner that she made for them Friday night, so Valerie tricked her into trying some Pina Colada yogurt and she ended up eating almost the entire container. For breakfast, she attempted bananas and blueberries, but those are definitely not a favorite of the nugget, but she did like the toast with grape jelly. Lunch was at a Mexician place on the way to the park -- they ordered her chicken and fries, which she ate...on top of PeePaw's refried beans, half his rice and some chips. This girl's appetite is definitely back in full swing again :) (Oh and yes MeeMaw, that poop diaper after those beans was ripe! Thanks alot!)

After lunch, they headed off to the Henry Horton Park to do some playing on the playground! Swings, slides, tunnels, steps! You name it, they did it all! And KK has become quite the little brave one..take a look!

KK came home and had worn herself out. Nap time followed soon after. Then it was dinner, bath and church time. Unfortunately we were late to church, so I didn't get to see the nugget till after service and boy did I miss her <3

Spring is Here!

So Kadence is finally feeling better and her spirits (and appetite) are soaring once again! Spring is also definitely in the air around here too -- we've been spending lots of time at the park and even got to go to the zoo spontaneously the other day. We've taken her officially out of school for now -- decided that we might try again in the fall if all goes well over the summer. I just can't deal with her being sick as our vacation is quickly approaching at the end of this month and it's not fair to her or her little body :(

We've been playing with Dylan a ton lately and it's so great to see the besties back together again. I don't know what KK would do without her! Here's a couple snap shots of them in action haha

Here's some random pictures from the park and zoo the other day. She's starting to get so photogenic again..just wish I had a camera that took pictures faster since it's not like she really holds still for me anymore!

I'm trying to get better about updates..I feel like so much happens and so much gets missed when I don't post every couple of days. This summer should give me some more time to write though :) Enjoy guys!

xo

Hoarding.

So just a quick little note -- I wanted to keep it separate from my 2 week update that I'll be posting after this :)

So I've started noticing that Kadence is becoming quite the little hoarder. She literally hoards everything. Clothes. Food. Books. Little things she's not suppose to have. haha I think I'm going to have to do a little weekly update just on this alone! We're constantly opening drawers and cabinets and finding animal crackers stashed for "hard times" bahaha

About a week ago, she was making her self quite busy by moving all the diapers from her bedroom out into the living room and stacking them in her baby stroller. Once they were overflowing and everywhere, she decided they'd be best back in her room all over the floor.

Since then, I've caught her also hoarding clothes on top of her in her little camo recliner that my dad got her for Christmas. She literally started emptying her drawers and staking stuff on top of her chair and then climbed up and pulled it into her lap :)

Diagnosis.

*sigh* So the last 24 hours have been interesting to say the least. Kadence wasn't too much of a handful last night. Temperature was still around 101 when I put her down for bed, but she went down easy. Got up several times thru out the night and was pouring sweat, but the fever went down to 99 and stayed there the whole night. Woke her up this morning and bathed her and all was well, ate a decent breakfast and even started hoarding her pancakes in the bedroom :)

Went ahead and checked her temp right before we left and she was back up to 101 again (ugh) so we loaded up the car and started the hour long trek to the pediatrician. Half way down and running late, Kadence started hacking a lung and basically puked EVERYWHERE. Lovie, outfit, carseat. You name it. Luckily Jason had stashed some rags in the bag of the car without me knowing -- thank God since I'd recently cleaned out my truck. So got her cleaned up on the side of the highway and made it to our appointment on time.

Turns out she has a the flu (don't think it's the stomach kind though..think the hacking tripped her gag reflex and made her puke) and she has a double earache. They put her on Tylenol and Motrin (the generic equivalents) alternating every 3 hours and a heavy dosage of the pink stuff for the ears for the next 10 days. I also had the doctor check out my own ear even though she couldn't treat me for it and she was amazed that it was so bad and that I hadn't had 'symptoms' for very long. Needless to say, she told me to get to a doctor, but I refuse to pay $115 for a walk in clinic just to get some free pink stuff at Publix. So I grabbed some ear drops and I'm hoping it'll do the trick. Crossing fingers.

xo

Ugh. STILL Sick!

So today was again "Fever Thursday" and again, we weren't allowed to let her go see Dylan for their usual playdate. This is going on a couple weeks now where they either haven't seen each other or it's been short lived with KK having to go home early. It's such a bummer too -- we were suppose to go to the zoo with D and her mommy tomorrow and that's probably not going to happen now.

I was getting her changed this morning and dressing her for our park play date and she felt really warm. I ran her temp and we were at 100.1 -- I decided to give her some Children's Advil and bundle her up (beautiful 75 degree day outside) and take her out to have lunch with daddy. When we got home, her temp was at 101.2 so I laid her down for a nap and hoped that it would lower itself. Well after nap (several hours later) we were at 102.4. So I gave her another dose of Children's Advil and called the pediatrician who booked me an appointment for tomorrow at 10am. So apparently they're not too concerned about it. She did say that if it didn't go down or got any higher to take her to the emergency room tonight. UGH

So after dealing with this for the last 4 weeks and having my kiddo miss out on playing with her bestie I made a solid decision and sent an email to the school's director where she currently attends and told her we'd finish out what we've paid for and that we'd be pulling her out after that. I just can't continue to pay for something that has her sick all the time and what she truly enjoys (playing with D) is being compromised with her being sick. It's not fair to her, us or little D. So we're done. I'll figure something else out.

We did go and play in the park on Tuesday so that she could get some fresh air after being cooped up in the house all weekend. She had a blast and I literally took over 150+ pictures of her just running around :) Can't wait till I have a remote so I can be in some of them. Just me being lazy and not ordering one. HAHA what's new. Here's a few snap shots of the cutie to tide everyone over. xo

Still Sick.

So I sent KK to school yesterday again even though she had a little runny nose -- I hadn't noticed a fever since Thursday, but she has been super cranky via the new teeth coming in, so it gave me a couple carefree hours to breathe for the day. I wish I would've taken a picture of her outfit, I made sure she was all springy since the weather was beautiful outside. Won't be the last time she wears it :)

School went off without a hitch. Still no napping though, but at least she 'looked' tired and seemed like she'd go down a couple different times (haha 2 hour nap once she got home) The craft for the day was to tear paper for a future project, and normally that's right up KK's alley. But she shyed away helping and just crumpled paper instead. When I got there to pick her up, I sat outside the classroom for a couple minutes to watch her play before she saw me. They had her in a pack and play by herself while the other kiddos were running around. I assumed this meant they'd gotten he to sleep, but when I walked in, the teacher just smiled at me and shook my head. She apologized for her being in the pack and play. Apparently they have to put her in there while they clean up the room at the end of each day so she doesn't destroy it right behind them. Guess we need to start learning the clean up game :)

Later on in the night, she seemed ultra fussy. She had a pretty good dinner and snack before bed so I thought we'd be good to go. She woke up every hour on the hour for most of the night and then we had a little break so I could sleep. Around 3ish, she started getting up every 20 minutes or so. I thought she might be cold, so I covered her with blankets and turned the heater on. Then I thought it might be her teeth, so I gave her some Orajel and tablets. Then I figured it might just be her being a PITB, so I rocked her for a little bit. Finally, she started getting pretty frantic after several rounds of this, so I checked her forehead and low and behold, she had a fever. Was at 100.1 -- so I gave her some Children's Advil and put her back down and sang to her. An hour or so later, I checked it again and it was down to 99. That stuff works miracles. All in all, fever is gone this morning, but the teething is still making her cranky. Should be a fun day.

OH -- I almost forgot! Kadence can officially open doors now. We have the pull down kind of door handles and she is all about them now. Luckily I always keep our front door locked, so she's still house bound :)

xo

Quick Wrap-up.

So just to catch everyone up on what happened last week -- KK had a great week at school again. Wednesday was a little trying for me though when I went to pick her up. The teacher I could tell was a having a bad day, so I'm sure she didn't mean to come off the way she sounded -- let's just say, she acted as though I was lying about Kadence ever taking naps in the afternoon and I had to assure her that yes, at home she did in fact take naps, but it would take some time before she was comfortable taking one in a room with 8 other little kids. Needless to say, she got to play in the chapel a lot this week so that the other children could take them. She came home that day with the sniffles and I didn't think anything of it.

Well, Thursday was her usual play date with Dylan for the day. (See Dylan's Day letter at the bottom) I checked her temperature and she'd slept good through out the night, so we went along as planned. Around lunch time though, I got a call from Peggy saying that her temperature was at 100.7! KK's first little fever! I went and picked her up and after some Children's Advil and a nap, we were back down to 99.1 and then back to completely normal before bed. Glad we caught it in the butt when we did!

We left Friday morning to go to my folks house for the weekend -- Jason had to work, so it was a girl's only adventure. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep and believe me, when she did, it was peddle to the metal. We managed to make it in under 5 hours and she was definitely starting to get fussy towards the end. The weekend was great. Grampa got her an awesome little reclining chair! (I'll post picture soon) It's camouflage and has a little cup holder and everything! She LOVES the thing! I mean obsessed with it! She climbed right up in it and started flailing herself around in it and trying to climb over it. After a couple heart attacks on my part, we had to hide it for the rest of the weekend. Most definitely a supervised toy :) My mom got her the VTech Alphabet Train and she loves it too. She's played with one that her little friend has, but not for very long. She already had the hang of it though before we could even finish hooking it all up. All in all, it was a great 'second' Christmas for her! Driving home was a little wearing on me though -- she woke up way to early from her nap and preceded to scream the rest of the 2 hours home. I had to stop several times to make sure she didn't actually "need" something -- water, food, diaper, Orajel (yes, we're teething again..ugh), lovie, etc. Nothing. Not a darn thing. Luckily we both made it home in one piece and she was more than happy to be home and out of the car. Makes two of us.

She woke up this morning and still has a little bit of a runny nose, but no other cold symptoms. School was great..she's still learning baby sign language and I've started trying to use it more at home and make it part of her routine. She only had two other kiddos in class today. They had cupcakes and made little Valentines for the parents. Was totally cute! You guessed it though, she still didn't take a nap. Guess some things never change :)

Last Week's Dylan's Day!

Here's the PDF I promised. Sorry guys, Peggy was having trouble with the website wanting to convert it over for her. Was going to add this to yesterday's update, but decided to keep it separate so it could be enjoyed on it's own :)

{Remember, click to make them larger, I know it's still hard to read. Sorry}

First Week of School!

OMGosh..I'm such a bad mom. Well, maybe not a bad mom, just a very busy one. I thought I'd already posted a little blurb last week at some point about how her little "school" was going, but after double checking...I realized I haven't posted anything in almost two weeks! UGH Here's the scoop..

Saturday (the 28th) We went to church as usual. Kadence had a great time in her little class. Right as we were walking into the hallway to pick her up after service, we noticed one of the workers filling out an 'incident report' for KK. Apparently right before we got there, she'd fallen into the cubbies and busted her head on the side of them. They didn't even know it happened since she never cried, they just looked over and saw a HUGE red mark on her forehead. That's my girl :) We went to a little country buffet for dinner afterwards and she was not eating anything we gave to her..until MeeMaw grabbed a couple cookies for dessert. Then it was game on! She's not spoiled or anything. (sarcasm)

So Monday (the 30th) was her first day at El Jardin de Los Ninos (The Children's Garden) -- her teacher was out with a sick kid herself, so we got to meet the director's daughter who was covering for her. Jason was able to come with me to drop her off. I've never seen Kadence so clingy before! She just would NOT let go of either one of us. Eventually some other kids started to show up and we were able to sneak off very quickly without any fuss. It was nice having the day to myself, but I'm not lying when I say I couldn't wait to pick her up!! I missed her so much :) She didn't take a nap -- in fact none of the little girls that day, they boycotted it -- so they let the boys sleep and walked them down to the chapel so they could run around and be crazy. Picked her up and she was asleep in the car seat before I could even drive the 1 mile trip home! Oh! I almost forgot, while I was getting her ready for school, she started to clap for the first time. I was such a proud mommy!

Her second day of school on Wednesday (the 1st) went just as well. She didn't nap again even though they tried for over an hour. They just rocked and rocked and sang and sang. And nothing. I find it quite comical myself, but luckily she wasn't the only one again. So she got to go down to the chapel again and run around with the other kiddos. Before we got home, passed out again :)

Thursday (the 2nd) was Dylan's Day again and I was able to drop her off a little earlier this week so they could play a bit more before nap time. Peggy sent me another "newsletter" for the day but for some reason we can't convert this one. So bare with me and I'll try to get it up soon. She said Kadence did great with the bath this time and was even able to wash her hair! HA such a huge improvement! It was so cute -- as soon as we got there -- I told Kadence to give D a hug and she reached for her little hand and pulled her to her. Dylan being so much taller made it look more like a headlock, but the love was there! Here's some quick pics..

Love her little expression in this one. She does this face all the time!

So Friday night (the 3rd) we went over to Dylan's house again because her mommy was having some friends over for a 'happy hour' -- what a perfect excuse to get the kiddos together again to play for the week. They were running around and playing pretty hard...making such a ruckus. At one point, Kadence was running and screaming by herself towards the kitchen and she tripped and busted her mouth wide open. I still don't know where all the blood was coming from, but I think it was the roof of her mouth behind her teeth. I ran over to her right away and she wasn't bleeding yet...I just sat and rocked her on the floor till she pulled away and I noticed that her and myself were covered in blood. (ewww) So it took almost 10 minutes to get it to stop, but as soon as she was done, it was like it never even happened. I don't know how she does it. Luckily for her, the blood was all over her bib and me, so she was good to go. HA

We had a pretty uneventful weekend -- and today KK had school again. Same routine: Ate a ton, didn't sleep, terrorized the books in the classroom. I got a video of her pulling out every single one before she realized that I was peeking thru the window watching her :) She's a hot mess.

xo

All Day Dylan's Day.

So Kadence had a fun little day yesterday and I had a much needed break to myself :) I dropped her off at Dylan's house around 10:30a and came back around 3:30p. From what Peggy told me, they had a blast playing! KK ate all her lunch (which amazed Peggy at how much she could pack away) and then took a long nap. Dylan, not so much :) Peggy even got her to sit in the bath tub which I have not been able to accomplish for about a month now..don't worry though moms, I still give her a bath, it's just not a fun one for either of us. HAHA

We went home for a little bit so Kadence could see Daddy for a few minutes and waited for Jenn to get off work. Then her and D came by and picked us up and we drove out to Jenn's parents house in Franklin. The drive was pretty terrifying -- the rain was so awful that you couldn't even see the car in front of you. The girls didn't seem to mind as they just giggled and babbled to each other in the backseat. Got to her mom's house and proceeded to do some 'clothes shopping' -- ie digging thru bins and bins of clothes that Jenn had from when Dylan was KK's size -- and the girls helped, if you can even imagine that! HAHA Every time I got thru a box and stacked them all nice and neat, the girls would run thru and throw them everywhere. Got back kinda late for KK's bed time, but all in all, it was a great Dylan's Day :)

(Below is a copy of the "Dylan's Day" newsletter that Peggy gives to D's parents everyday. KK was showcased for the day..click on it to make it a little bigger. ENJOY!)

Kissed. Then Tackled.

So I'll get to the headline in a minute -- but let me tell you about a glorious dinner out that Jason and I were finally able to accomplish. Went to Santa Fe Cattle Co Friday night around "busy time" and was pleasantly surprised that they were dead and we could just walk right in. Our waitress came up to get our drink order and Jason and I tried our new "eating out tactic" -- order everything all at once, STAT! So literally we ordered our drinks, our meals, KK's meals and the check right off the bat. Food got to us shortly there after and we fixed up Kadence's plate and began shoveling ours as fast as we could. She didn't seem to want to eat though and I thought for sure we were doomed. She kept trying to grab Jason's knife/fork, so I gave her my fork and stabbed a piece of chicken with it and placed it back in her hand. She gladly put the little bite in her mouth and handed me back the fork! EUREKA! You'd think I won the lottery! She ate her entire meal this way and thankfully we were able to slow the pace on our own chewing to actually be able to taste the food for once :)

Now for the headline. The last two weeks we've had to sit in the 'calming room' at church since we didn't want to take Kadence to the nursery, but we didn't want to miss church either. Last week we were in there by ourselves until someone came to do a diaper change at the very end. Well this week was a much different story. Worship finished and the door to the room opened and in walked another couple with their 18 month old son (who apparently has an older brother) At first he was absolutely SMITTEN with Kadence and even planted a big wet kiss on her several times. She just couldn't seem to get away from him. He had her backed into a corner so there was no where for her to go HAHA Eventually he laid off and all was quiet. 15 minutes into the sermon, Kadence took something out of the little boy's hands and he straight slapped her across the face. The mom was so embarrassed and apologized a million times. Kadence took it like a champ but was a little stunned by the moment. Another 15 minutes or so goes by and now we're joined by another mom with a 15 month old boy that isn't walking/crawling yet, so it's just still Kadence and the 18 month old running around. Well out of nowhere, Kadence starts running from the little boy and he comes up behind her, bear hugs her and tackles her to the ground. The mom and I run over and break the two up -- as the little boy grabs a chunk of KK's hair to boot. Again she is apologizing and so embarrassed. Apparently he doesn't play with little girls very often and it's what him and his brother do. Kadence is still good to go and seems unfazed. I'm half expecting her to be the next to reciprocate some roughness on him. But nope -- less than 2 minutes later, the same scenario happens but much more hardcore...haha...the dad gets involved in this one and literally picks his son up by the back of the shirt and carts him out of the room. The mom couldn't apologize enough and came over and stroked KK's hair and told her how beautiful she was. She did kind of whimper a little after that one. The experience was priceless and no one was hurt, so we found some humor in it :) Now I guess she knows how Dylan feels when bullies her during play dates.

Sickness update: Seems to be doing better. Cough is down to a minimium minimum and the snotty nose is almost gone. Wishing that the earache would vanish just as quick.

xo

Diagnosis.

So Kadence and I have just returned from the pediatrician's -- unfortunately her doctor wasn't there, so we had to see someone else. Let's just say that I'm glad we have the pediatrician that we do because I most certainly wouldn't drive over an hour to see the lady that I did today. She definitely didn't strike me a kid kinda person. And Kadence definitely didn't like her :)

Anyways, they weighed her and she's finally started gaining some weight again. She's at 21.3 pounds -- my little chunky nugget! HAHA

The final verdict of her "cold" is that she has RSV -- Respiratory Syncytial Virus -- sounds kinda scary huh? (http://www.webmd.com/lung/tc/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-infection-topic-overview) But it's not horrible. The doctor did say that she was a "best case scenario" for this since she isn't full blown yet and hopefully she doesn't get any worse. They did a little nose swab on her and were able to test it while we were there -- which made me feel better. I hate when it seems like they're guessing at what's wrong with her. At least I have an actual name for it. We're hoping that it doesn't spread to her lungs and cause wheezing -- cause that will equal pneumonia and a trip to the hospital. It has caused a small ear infection in her right ear though. Her first one. JOY. They gave her the pink bubble gum stuff though and told me to give it to her for the next 10 days. Not to mention she has another bottom molar coming in. 

Looks like we will be home bound for the next couple weeks. No playdates. No nursery at church. And definitely no day care until this all clears up. I'd hate to be responsible for getting other people's kids sick. I just wish that people cared that much about getting mine sick. It was unavoidable though. Nothing that I could've done to prevent it and the doctor said it's so high contagious/spread that she's probably had it in her system for weeks before showing any signs of it.

So we wait. And hope that I can make her happy and healthy again soon. xo

Sick.

So just wanted to update everyone on what we're currently going thru -- the cold from H-E-double hockey sticks. I hate it when KK gets sick because I don't know what to do :(

It started around Thursday afternoon/evening -- I noticed that she was getting a little cough. That night she coughed regularly thru-out the night and would whimper after each one. I used some BabyRub on her chest and fired up the humidifier in her room. Friday she seemed to be coughing more frequently and her appetite started to dwindle. We got her some of the Little Remedies Honey Elixir hoping that it would help her a little. Friday night was also miserable.

By Saturday, she started having the runny/itchy nose and eyes and more of a wet cough. My pediatrician's office closes early on Saturdays so I wasn't able to reach anyone. We checked out Rite Aid after church and asked for some Children's Benadryl, which they told us had been recalled almost 8 months ago. After looking at all the packages, there was absolutely NOTHING available for children under 2. UGH So Saturday night went much better.

Sunday rolled around and I'd had enough though -- so I managed to get a pharmacist to recommend something for her symptoms and just told me to use less than the recommended dosage for 2 year old. Seems to be making a little difference. She's slept the last two nights pretty well. I've woken her up once each night though to give her more of the honey elixir so she could sleep -- but she's able to breath now and I think being home has made a little difference with getting her back on routine. She took two really long naps yesterday which I think got her strength back up. She seems happy despite the misery that I know she's going thru.

I can't believe they don't make something for little ones her age. Especially since babies get sick all the time. I know they should be building up their immune system (and KK never gets sick, so she must have a strong one) but there are times when enough is enough and you have to treat the symptoms. I just wish she could talk and tell me how to make her feel better.

We've cancelled all our plans for this week as a result -- she won't be starting school or her Thursday play date this week. I can't run the risk that she'll get everyone else sick around her -- Jason's already starting to feel it coming on and I refuse to get sick :) I don't think we have much of a choice though since she's in my face all day. HA

Pray that our house gets well soon. xo

Fun Filled Weekend.

OMGosh. I don't even know where to start with this update. So much to add to it and it's going to have tons of pictures -- so bear with me guys :) Jason went out of town Friday/Saturday to do a little duck hunting so KK and I drove down to MeeMaw and PeePaw's house to spend some time with them. Here's a couple pictures from Saturday night..she debuted her furry hat (which she can't figure out how to get off) and got to ride in a Publix shopping cart (that she could "drive"). I think I might have to switch over to Publix full time because she loved it! She'd scream every time PeePaw would stop though, she liked her car to be moving :)

When we got back from church and grocery shopping -- we discovered that one of her favorite (and thankfully, cheap) toys had been destroyed by Nolan. He's one of their new dogs that they're "fostering" until he finds a forever home. We had to grab a flashlight and walk around the yard picking up all the plastic pieces and thank goodness he didn't eat any of it really. Guess I'll add this is my list of things to buy again. haha

Saturday night we'd bought Kadence a toothbrush for their house so we could practice with her. Sunday morning after breakfast we got to give it a go and surprisingly enough, she really liked it. MeeMaw showed her how to use it by getting her to mimic what she was doing with her own and then had to help her a little to get the hang of it, but all in all, I bet it felt good on her teeth. SOOO much better than one of those finger ones. Her teeth have started getting so sharp lately that it hurts when she bites me :) There's quite a few of these ones!

We got home yesterday around the same time that Jason did and he was still all decked out in his duck gear from coming off the lake. Kadence doesn't usually look you in the face when you're holding her because there's so much more to look at when she's up high, but she could not take her eyes off daddy. She just kept staring at him and had this funny little smirk on her face like "Dad, you look like a tree"...haha

(this is for MeeMaw) I went to BabiesRUS today and made sure I got her a toothbrush for at home. Can't wait till Jason gets in tonight so we can laugh at her together while we watch her. Hopefully we'll get a video of it so I can post it up. Kadence also rose one more level on the "spoiled" ladder today -- Jason insisted the other night that the next time I went to BRU that I bought her a wipe warmer. Apparently the wipes get cold in her room over the winter :) So yes, I caved and bought one -- on sale and with coupons, so it was almost free. LOL

Lastly and this is the most exciting part of the update really -- KK got accepted to DAY SCHOOL. We've been on a waiting list for a little over a month now. It's a bilingual school -- at this stage, they'll incorporate some Spanish into her routine, but still focus primarily on teaching her English. As she gets to the 2-3 year stage, they'll start teaching them English/Spanish with her colors, numbers, etc. It'll be two days a week -- Monday and Wednesday for about 5 hours each day. I can't be more excited about this process. At first I was leery of a "daycare" kind of idea, but I realize that it will be good for her to play with more children + it will be good for me to get some "mommy" time to do the things that I need to do each week. Crossing our fingers that this will all work out perfectly -- she starts next week on Monday.

XO Till next time.

Planking.

So for those of you that don't know what planking is -- you should Google it before reading any further. And for those of you that do know what it is, I'm going to give you the back story on our night, while the others look it up :)

We went and had a GNI with Jenn and Dylan last night and Kadence became pretty infatuated with a little car that D had gotten for Christmas. In fact she loved it SO much that I've decided to put it on the short list of "Things my daughter doesn't already have, but NEEDS pronto" -- it's a short list because I'm ALWAYS buying her things..haha So everyone's playing with this big pink/purple car and getting along -- now mind you it only has a swinging door on the left side of it. Well out of nowhere, Kadence decides to stand up on the seat and try to exit stage right -- quickly -- so quickly in fact, I couldn't get there till after she'd bailed and I had a hysterical baby on my hands. Observe.

Picture snagged from Peggy's facebook.
Yeah I stalked it a little to find this!

She finally calmed down after the whole experience and went back to her usual ways -- ie taking EVERY single thing from Dylan that she picks up to play with and grubbing on O's. Well, about an hour later, I notice that she's decided that the car is her friend again and climbs in and out about a dozen times with no issues. (welcome back those of you that had to Google "planking"..you're just in time) Out of nowhere, my daughter who either has watched too much YouTube or has decided that she's going to reinvent the wheel, decides that shes going to climb in on the other side and gets stuck half way over -- hence the planking effect. She was quite literally stuck in limbo -- not really in the car but far enough in that she couldn't get out. And she started freaking out. Now, being the good mom that I am, I rushed to her side as quickly as I could to alleviate her stress...but the bad mom in me definitely wanted to grab the camera and snap a shot or video the hilariousness of her predicament. But I didn't. *sigh* So here's another visual :)

Picture her little feet being completely off the ground
and struggling, half in and half out of the little car.

All in all, the night was a success as usual. Kadence truly loves playing with Dylan and I couldn't look more forward to having some "adult" time in my life every once in a while.

xo

Lunch Date.

So Kadence got to have a little lunch play date with her BFF Dylan. It's so great to be able to get the two girls together -- I really feel like KK can learn a lot from someone a little older than her. Kadence isn't at the sharing stage really yet and I know she's not suppose to be though. It's funny to watch her just "take" things from D -- if I was Dylan, I'd just push her little butt down and tell her 'no' but that's not the case. It's not that she truly wants what she has or is playing with but more just the idea that she doesn't want her to have it. The two of them chased each other around and ate O's together. Dylan even tried to teach her how to color with crayons on her new easel and they attempted some Legos (KK's first time).

When all is said and done, the main purpose of lunch was to see if KK and Dylan's nanny Peggy would mesh well and for me to get to know her a little bit. Everything went great and it looks like we're going to do a trial run of her spending one day a week over there with them (starting in two weeks). This couldn't come at a better time!! I'm currently running NBS and helping Jason manage the books for his other two ventures -- not to mention trying to run a household by keeping everything clean and everyone fed, errands and chasing around a 13 month old and meeting her demands. And trust me, I do mean DEMANDS. haha

New teeth count: I finally tipped the nugget upside down and tickled her today and she definitely has 3 maybe 4 new ones and a ton of white under her gums.

Kadence continues to crack me up with her new level of independence. I do feel like I've somehow wronged her though by not getting on the ball with basic sign language. I know how frustrated she is sometimes with not being able to communicate what she wants or needs -- and trust me, it's equally frustrating for me as well. I guess I'll just keep plugging away at my checklist each time she sounds off the alarm (her mouth). Good news is, she's finally decided that the 'no spill' sippy cups are for her -- so that's eliminated a lot of mess and chaos in our lives.

Until next time. xo

Klepto.

So Kadence has become a tad bit of a klepto if you will. For example, we were in Target yesterday and she decided that she wanted something in the $1 bins by the restrooms. I let her play with it while we were waiting for her little friend Dylan and her mommy to come out of the bathroom. Right before they came out, I took it back from her and put it on the shelf and then started digging thru my purse for my cell phone. We must've spent about 45 minutes in Target and upon exiting the store, I went to pick her up to put her in the car seat and out falls the before mentioned object from her lap. Yep, you heard me right -- my daughter stole her very first thing, at the ripe age of 13 months. HAHA Guess I'll be taking those back in with me next time we go :)

$1 Snoopy Post it Notes

Besides the post it notes, she's been taking random objects and stashing them around the house. Daddy's keys and wallet are forever being hidden. O's (her snacks) get stashed down her pants for later. Her cheese puffs end up in kitchen cabinets where I have my muffin tins. Lovie is forever being left inside drawers and under stuff. I don't know what to do with this child :)

On to other news, her teeth are still coming in full force. I know for a fact that she has at least one molar that's come thru on the bottom right side and one tooth on both the top right and left side. It's hard to get her to open her mouth and let me root around inside there. But there's still plenty of "white" just under her gums, so we haven't gotten thru the worst of it yet I'm afraid. Natural Orajel has been helping a ton though. Praise the Lord.

Just for fun the other day, I gave her an entire container of O's so she could learn to open and close the container and take what she wanted to snack on. She loved being able to walk around with it, open it, take 1 O out, close it and walk around some more. So I've been trying to do it at least once a day for part of her snack so she could get some motor skills in there. Today I took some pictures of her being silly. ENJOY.

I <3 how she looks in the container to see if there's
any more of them in there!