Profesional pics

Oh My Goodness!!!!!!!! Let me tell you how much fun it is NOT to try and get pictures taken with two kids :) Which we already suspected. We made an appointment for 11:15 this morning at kiddie kandids. We *suprisingly* all got dressed and ready to go and made it there early of all things. You would think we would know something would go wrong right? Well Kaiden took his two pictures alone just fine. Then when I went to change his outfit Makaylee tripped and fell head first on the babies r us floor. Oops. Mike calmed her down while I changed Kaiden. Then when we took her over and tried to get her on the platform to take a picture she completely flipped out and screamed at the top of her lungs. So we took a break and Mike walked around the store with her. Bought her a sucker (hey, not above bribery). Then headed back to the portrait studio. COMPLETE FREAK OUT. So we left. No one wants to pay for pics of a screaming kid right? So Mike went off to work, and I took the kids home for nap time. Makaylee took a super long nap, then back to the studio, and ready for another freak out when we tried to get her to take the pic. We worked through it though, and the photogropher was very patient. So we did end up getting some great pics. Though trying to get Makaylee to hold Kaiden for a pose proved to be impossible, so we said we would settle for one of the two of them in the same pic. Thank goodness Kaiden slept through both photo shoots. What are we going to do when we want them both to smile for a picture? We will cross that bridge when we get there. Here are the pics:

Kaiden might come home tomorrow!

Just a quick update. Kaiden's jaundice levels have dropped to an 8. So they took him off the lights and if his levels don't go up over the next 12 hours, then he *should* be able to come home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!! We tried breastfeeding today, and he is a breastfeeding champ right from the start. We also took Makaylee down to see Kaiden today for the first time. She thinks he is really cool. She petted him, and gave him some kisses. She was completely okay with me holding him, but freaked out when we switched and Mike was holding Kaiden, and I was holding her. She is having some serious Daddy attachments right now. So all in all it was a GREAT day. I just hope tomorrow is even better because Kaiden is coming home!

Look what we did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike and I got to hold Kaiden! So, update for those who have not heard one in awhile. Kaiden had a miracle weekend and worked his way off the ventilator, skipping the CPAP, and going straight to oxygen tubes by Sunday. He was ready for feeding on Sunday, but at the first feeding at 1:00 he was to tired and tried to sleep through the feeding, so they had to put in a feeding tube. We went back to try again at his next feeding time at 5:00 and I got to feed him, but he had to stay in bed. Mike took his Mom and sister to the airport and then rushed back for the 8:00 feeding, and the night nurse brought a rocker over and let Mike hold Kaiden while he took his bottle. So Mike drove me to the hospital for the 11:00 feeding because we knew the night nurse would let me hold Kaiden for the feeding. We both fed him a bottle, and rocked him for about 30 minutes, Mike at 8 and me at 11. It was soooooooooooo wonderful to finally be able to hold him! I don't think I can describe how amazing it was to finally be able to hold Kaiden after watching him lay in bed for 5 days. We got to hold him again today! YAY! Other good news? Kaiden is off oxygen completely and breathing completely on his own! Oxygen tube was removed this morning and he was moved to a crib rather than the NICU bed. He is still in the NICU, but might actually be transfered to the intermediate care nursery tonight or tomorrow. He is still jaundice, so we have to get those levels down. He is currently at an 11.5 and needs to be at a 6. He only dropped a point all weekend, so slow progress there. Everyone is thinking that now that he is eating it should start dropping a lot quicker. I should be able to try and breastfeed him tomorrow. So here are pics of Mike and I holding Kaiden:

Here is my favorite picture of Kaiden so far:

Pictures of Kaiden

Our Bathroom remodel

So we are in the middle of a bathroom remodel. I know, great timing with the c-section on Monday. But, this is something we have wanted to do since we moved into the house. I am happy to say that the project is moving along nicely thanks to Mike working all weekend and every night on it. But the shower is almost done! Originally we had just a tub in this bathroom, but the previous owners had hooked up a shower head from the tub spout. Needless to say the drywall all had to be replaced inside the surround. Also the tub was cast iron so that was close to 300 pounds that mike had to remove. The new tub is in, and Mike undertook the process of putting up tile for the shower surround. Keeping in mind that he has never done tile alone before, this was quite the project, and it is done! It looks awsome. The only thing left to do is seal the grout and put the spout and shower head in. So, here are some pictures for those interested. Makaylee is so excited about the tub. She has been using a small inflatable tub on the bottom of our stand up shower, and she hates it. So she cannot wait to use the new tub. Tonight, Mike starts laying the tile on the bathroom floor! Our goal is to have the tub ready for use, and the toilet in by the time Kaiden comes. We shall see. The cabinets, sink and counter top may have to wait till after Kaiden arrives.

Belly Dancing!

Kaiden is a mover and a shaker now. His back is on the outside of my belly, so when he starts moving my whole belly goes with him. I caught this video one night, and it is great! So I wanted to share with everyone:

Kaiden's Coming home outfit!

I have found it!!!!!!!!! After much searching I have finally found Kaiden's coming home from the hospital outfit. I am so excited. For those who don't know, or remeber. Makaylee's coming home outfit was a purple outfit that said "Daddy's little princess." (I was going to load a pic, but it is on a different computer) So I thought it would be cute for Kaiden's coming home outfit to say "Mommy's little Prince" Well, apparantly that is a lot easier said then done! I have been searching for a couple months now, and have not found one at all. Even online. So I gave up on that idea and had a back up outfit already picked out. I went to babies r us yesterday to get the remainder of the things we needed for Kaiden and I found it! It is new to the store, and I am so excited. Here is a picture of his outfit. I also have the matching bib:

Christmas is over!

Christmas was a success!!!!!!! We could not ask for a better reaction from Makaylee. She walked out into the living room and just stopped and gasped at everything. It took her a bit to come in then she started running from one thing to the next. The kitchen, fish, elmo couch, and easel. She didn't touch anything right away, and then she started playing. She LOVED everything. Well, everything except opening presents, and the rocking horse. We tried to get her to open the presents, but she just kept telling us no. So she watched us open the presents and played with the toys once they were out of the package. Makaylee also got a rocking horse that moves its head and tail and neighs from her Nana. She will not go anywhere near it and keeps saying "Bye Horseee" wheneve she see's it. We had to remove it from the living room.

Here are some pictures:

Her presents set up:


Here she is when she first entered the living room:
Looking at her gold fish. We got a real fish tank (10 gallons) that is now set up on her dresser in her room. This was just for Christmas morning. We named the gold fish Dorothy for the gold fish on Elmo's world and Hush for the gold fish on the goodnight show. Ever night we have to say goodnight to the fish now, and she says hi to the fish everymorning.
Exploring the kitchen:
So excited about the play food, which she LOVES

So that was our Christmas morning. Makaylee loved it. She was in a good mood all morning, then cranky the rest of the day. But she has been having a ton of fun playing with all the new toys. I am constantly picking up play food and kitchen accessories from all over the house, but she loves it! She makes a GREAT cup of tea and even spoon feeds it to you ;)

Santa is EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that is correct. The jolly happy man with a bowl full of jelly is EVIL! Just ask Makaylee. So we knew it was not going to go well when we got in line (only two people ahead of us) and Makaylee saw santa and started freaking out. Mike picked her up out of the stroller and we gently tried to show her Santa. I asked if she wanted to go see Santa and she calmly replied "No." She was okay at that point, until she realized we were not moving away from Santa and were in fact moving closer to Santa. By the time it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap she was gripping onto Mike's shoulder for dear life crying and saying no over and over again. We even tried to let her hold Elmo while she was sitting on Santa's lap but Elmo got thrown at Dad in her haste to grip on Dad's shoulders once more. Mike quickly put her in Santa's lap so that the picture could be taken, and she could be picked back up. This was the lovely shot we got:

After which Mike picked Makaylee up while I placed our order for the picture. But the screaming did not stop there! In fact, the screaming did not stop for a good 15 minutes after Santa was seen. Mike walked her down through the mall away from Santa and his "North Pole" set up until she could not see it. When I caught up with them they were down a deserted Mall corridor and she was still screaming. She finally calmed down when we got her out of the Christmas dress so she could walk around with no memory of Santa near her. Hopefully next year will go better!

Halloween!

Well, Halloween was not super successful :) We went to the mall. But Makaylee was a little freaked out by all the people. She was also very popular in her punk rocker costume, so she didn't like all the strangers pointing at her and trying to say hi. She did okay trick or treating. We have been working on her saying trick or treat all month, and she actually did say it to everyone who gave her candy. More like "tic teet." Then her boots started hurthing her feet, so when we tried to get her to walk she would sit down. After a little bit she told us she was all done and wanted to go night night. So we left. She was not very cooperative for pictures either, but I will share what we got:

Some Halloween pics

Ok, this is not the final costume, we are going to try for makeup tonight for trick or treating, but this is what she looked like at Dad's office today:

New Pictures :)

Ok, rather than post the pics here, I loaded a bunch to my photo bucket account. Here is the link:

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/SSmiley908/Makaylee%20Ann/

There are pics of Makaylee at the fair, circus, coloring, and her photo shoots. She likes to hand me the camera and take pics of her, then she likes to see all the pics I took. So there are some samples of that. Enjoy!!!!

My daughter the genius :)

So, I know every parent thinks their kid is the smartest kid. But seriously. Makaylee has been suprising even Mike and I. In the past month she has learned how to say and identify shapes. At 16 months old my daughter can say and point out circle, oval, diamond, triangle, star, rectangle, and we are working on square. She has also become a dangerous little parrot. If we say something, she will repeat it. I tell her she is crazy, and she repeats it right to me. So we have to really watch our language slip ups. She also said her first sentence last week, which lets Mike and I know what kind of child we will be dealing with. Her first sentence was "No Mama, no, no, no, no!" I asked her if she wanted to get dressed and that is what she replied to me. When your childs first sentence is to tell you no, you know you are in for a good battle of wills!

The fair was going on the past two weeks, and we bought season passes at Costco so that we could take Makaylee on the rides and see all the animals. You are supposed to be two to ride the rides, but Makaylee is a bigger girl, so we got her on the rides. She was not to impressed with them. She LOVED the fun house. Mike took her on the giant slide, and I took her on the swings. She enjoyed both of those, but not to impressed with either of them. I took her on the carosel, hoping that she was over the fear she developed of it a couple months back, but no such luck. She freaked out on the carosel, crying most the time on it. When we got off the ride she dived from me to Mike who was safely outside the carosel gates. She really enjoyed watching it go around though, but stayed far enough away that she was not in danger of having to ride it again. As unsuccessful as the rides were, the animals were the complete opposite. Makaylee was totally in love with the animals. We have been working on animal sounds for quite some time, and she is really good with them, but actually seeing some of the farm animals was quite different. We go to the zoo, but at the fair the animals are really close, instead of far away in a cage. She LOVED the cows, they were her favorite. Though she refuses to say cow, and instead Moo's when she wanted to go see them. I think we walked around the barns at least 5+ times and she was highly empressed each time.

Makaylee has also discovered art in the past week. She has been coloring with crayons for awhile now, but never to impressed with it. With her obsession with shapes I got the idea to cut out shapes and let her glue them on a piece of paper. She LOVED it. We did shapes, and I let her play with stickers, and crayons. She is having so much fun. She keeps going to the table and telling me she wants to color. Yesterday we tried play doh, and she was having fun with the feel of it. Of course she did keep trying to eat it. She got a little piece in her mouth, they are quick! My picky eater actually enjoyed the taste of the play doh, so she kept trying to eat more, so we had to pack up the play doh for the day. Back to the crayons and stickers.

I have been having sentimental times going through Makaylee's first year of baby clothes. Now that we know we are having a boy I can stop storing Makaylee's clothes. They are so tiny! It is amazing how much she has changed in the past 16 months. I am planning on selling the clothes on ebay, only keeping a select few.

Kaiden is doing well. I have finally gained my first 3lbs, *sniff*. He is breach at the moment, so must of his kicks are on the bottom of my belly and right into the bladder. But that makes it difficult for Mike to feel on the outside as most of them are to low. I would be worried that he is breach, except for the fact that I am having a c-sec so it is not a big deal, plus he still has plenty of time to turn around. The biggest problem of him being breach is his head is pushing and causing my heartburn to be HORRIBLE this time. With Makaylee, if I took my Zantac medication then my heartburn was mostly under control. Last night I had taken my medication and taken 4 tums and the hearburn was still horrible. My next appointment is on Oct 4 and it is my Diabetes test, which I am not looking foward to. Last time I was so sick feeling all day. Plus I hate giving blood!

I guess that is it for now. Nap time is almost over. I will try and post pics tomorrow!

Our Busy labor day weekend!

Well, I was suppose to go out of town for a girls weekend over labor day, but I chose not to go after Makaylee's hospital stay. I just couldn't bear to leave her yet! But we had a great weekend. On Saturday we went to the park and had a nice picnic. Makaylee had a ton of fun picking the "flowers" (aka weeds) out of the grass to smell them. She did put them right back when she was done smelling them. She also had fun playing with the dirt under the trees.

Sunday we went up to south center so Mike could pick up something for his new mountain bike at REI. We went to the mall, and just had another family day. We took Makaylee to the spray park that evening and she had so much fun. What a difference from the last time we took her. Every other time she wanted to hold our hand and needed help walking around. She has finally developed enough confidence to walk around on her own.

She had so much fun!

I took some belly pics yesterday :) So, here I am at 21 weeks at 1 day. The stretch marks are not new, just a gift from Makaylee :)

We also got our stroller!!! I have had my eye on the Peg Perego Duette since we found out we are pregnant. However it is $800! So, I have been keeping my eye on craigs list. We found one! It is the previous model, but still has all the features I wanted. My favorite being that I can flip the seats around in any pattern. So the kids can face each other, face out, face foward, face me, or back to back. I LOVE it. It has great shocks, and great storage. We are going to try it for the first time with Bailey at the puyallup fair sometime this weekend or next week when we go with Tabi and Spencer. So here are some picks:

Makaylee's hospital stay

Last weekend Makaylee had her first hospital stay. :( For those who haven't heard it, here is the story:

Makaylee had been teething and cranky all week. We put her to bed Saturday night and she was perfectly fine. She was totally normal all day long. At 12:30 she woke up screaming. I ran into the room and she had thrown up all over herself. I started stripping her and took her into the bathroom and Mike came running. She felt really hot so we took her temperature and it was at 106.0 We freaked. Mike called the DR while I cleaned her up with a wash cloth. The nurse took our info and said she had to contact the DR to call us back. After getting Makaylee cleaned up and running a cool wash cloth over her we got her fever down to 104.4. So we decided to leave and go to the hospital.

We got triaged really quickly and they took her temp at 103.6 and gave her a rectal tylenol. Then we waited almost an hour to get back to see the doctor with her screaming and miserable pretty much the whole time. The DR saw us and said she had an infection with a fever that high so we just had to find out where. They had to do a catheter to get a urine sample, draw blood, put in an IV, get chest x-rays. It was HORRIBLE. We had to have 2-3 people to hold her down for almost everything and she just screamed the whole time. The test results started coming back and she has a urinary tract infection. We started to relax until the DR said in infants her age it required IV medication and they had to find the cause so we were looking at a 1 to 2 day hospital stay. Thank goodness the UTI is the only infection she had and they immediatly started her on Antibiotics and fluid through the IV. By sunday evening her fever was down to between 100-101. The DR contemplated sending us home that night, but decided against it. She had to get an ultrasound done on her kidneys and bladder. The 3 possible causes of a UTI in a child her age are a kidney deformality, a kink in one of the tubes connecting the kidney and the bladder, or bacteria from a BM got into her urethra. We had the ultrasound on Monday, but not until 6:00 at night, so we didn't get home until later Monday evening. Makaylee's fever is gone, and we were sent home with antibiotics. She is feeling much better.

We had a follow up with our pediatritian on Thursday. She said she wants to have a test run on Makaylee to check to see if she has Kidney reflux. She likes to do it on every child that has a UTI under the age of 3. If she does have kidney reflux and it is not treated then her kidney's could fail. So here is a link to a website for kidney reflux info:
http://www.drgreene.com/21_626.html

Here is a link for the test that she has to have done:
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=voidcysto&bhcp=1

Our pediatrician said that the test is not pleasant and we have to get it done at the childrens hospital in Seattle. She also has to have it done with her daughter next month because she just got over a UTI. Her daughter is 6 months younger than Makaylee. So we have some time before the test, but I am not looking foward to it.