Bedtime

I've always enjoyed putting Kyle to bed, his bedtime routine. Lately he's been so cute about it! Last night he started talking after I finished praying for him and Kevin asked "Kyle are you praying to Jesus?" and he says "Yes". Then tonight, after I finished praying I asked Kyle if he wanted to talk to Jesus and he says "Yes", so I wait and he talks and I hear him finish with the word Jesus. I ask him if he's all done and he says Yes again. It is so sweet. Then as I tuck him in I always say "Goodnight Kyle, I love you, see you in the morning" and lately he's been saying "Goodnight mama, I love you". The funniest part is he pretends to snore as Kevin and I leave the room and close his door. That's all, just wanted to share.

We are busy!

So, what can I tell you in the few minutes before Kyle wakes up from his nap...?

Well, none of us are sick and I've been able to keep up with all the laundry; our new washer is much quieter than the old one. We are using all cloth diapers now, even for naps and overnight! There are still a couple pull ups lurking in the house and we keep a pampers in the car for unexpected emergencies. We moved the piano in to the main living area and I put the playpen up in our room where the piano was formerly stationed. Well, Kyle has decided that he needs to take all of his naps in the the "crib", so he is currently taking his nap in our room in his playpen. This has been going on for almost a week I'd say.

We are busy busy busy! Kyle has lots of friends that we see often and we are starting up his tumble class and an art class this week. Ever since his birthday, we've been to the zoo at least once a week because he is now the proud owner of a zoo pass! All of his birthday gifts have been getting a lot of extra attention these past couple weeks.

Kyle is talking up a storm and teaching us new things about raising kids every single day! I know you can't learn how to raise children by reading books, but I still work on gleaning wisdom and advice from the so called experts. My latest foray into the parenting book realm is Parenting with Love & Logic. So far, I would highly recommend it!

As far as my life goes, I'm teaching the effective reading course again on the weekends, playing softball on Thursday nights, and going to Bible study Friday mornings. I'm still trying to get a regular jogging schedule going, but with watching another little boy in the mornings it looks like I may need a double jogger to get it done!

Next week I have a job interview and that's all I'm going to tell you unless it pans out! So, if you would please put that interview in your prayers I would very much appreciate it.

And lastly, a Kyle story: Kevin usually wakes Kyle up, except for on Sundays. Well, we've both noticed that when we go to get him in the morning Kyle is cuddled up with his Bob the Builder tool belt (minus the tools). We never tuck him in with it, so he must grab it in the night! So cute and funny to see him laying in bed all snuggled up clutching a tool belt.

This and that

So, I wanted this post to be about all the things I remember that Kyle was doing last year, but that he's not doing this year (like nursing, walking but not running, using sign language instead of talking, etc...). However, Kyle woke up around midnight with a fever and I woke up with a sore throat, so we're out of commission for a few days!

I will give you the updates from Kyle's 2 year old checkup: 36 inches tall, 27 lbs, and everything looks good all around!

Our washer had an oil leak, so we picked up a used one off of craigslist last night. However, it seems to not have that safety feature where the cycle stops when you open the lid. So, Kevin is going to fix that and then I can do laundry. Yes, we have quarter machines right downstairs, but with us being sick, I'm not going there today. So here's to laundry load number 6 piling up in our hallway. I did have to make a run by the cloth diaper store for a pound of retired diapers to hold us over until we're up and running again. Ah well, cheaper than a box of huggies, that's for sure!

Have a great holiday weekend!

He's 2 years old!

That's right, our little boy is growing up! He turned 2 today with a big birthday bash at the splash park. Thank you to everyone who helped out and attended. We had a great time seeing all of you and hope you had a good time too! Kyle made some progress over last year's party by opening his own presents and not being afraid of the cake. Pictures to come!

A few new things

Kyle and I have been so busy all week! Errands and chores galore. Today we sold some clothes to a resale store here in town, went to library storytime, and had lunch at a sit down restaurant! It was time to cash in for my birthday burger at Red Robin, so I chanced taking Kyle out all by myself. As many of you know who have eaten out with us, he doesn't sit still for long! After a prayer and an explanation of what we were doing and how I expected him to behave, we went to eat. Kyle was awesome! He stayed in the booth the entire lunch, and our waitress was even a little relaxed, so it took longer than I anticipated. I got to eat my whole burger and he eat 3/4 of a kids pizza. After lunch we went to see the puppies at the pet store (Red Robin is in the mall) and then played at the indoor playground. It was a great afternoon!

My brother came to see us on Tuesday and we all went clothes shopping. At the Vans store, Kyle picked up a slip on Vans shoe with flames on it. He clodded around the store in the one shoe while Uncle Steve tried some shoes on. Then we decided to have them bring out the shoes in Kyle's size. Well, they accidentally brought out some with dragons on them and Kyle said "no" and pointed to the flame shoes. Okie doke. We finally got a pair of flames in the right size and Uncle Steve treated Kyle to his new trendy Vans for his birthday. I was so nostalgic about it all. Steven and I lived in Vans the first couple years we raced BMX because everyone used flat pedals then. I remember going to nationals and the Vans semi truck would be there selling the now very trendy slip on style for $10 a pair. My favorite was a pair of purple ones I had until there were holes in the toes. They matched my bike which had all purple anodized parts. Kyle didn't take his new shoes off until bedtime that night and immediately chose them to wear the next day.

Also, we just got our new cloth diapers in! Well, new to us. We've decided to stop spending money on diapers and picked up 4 nice cloth diapers with super soaker inserts for the remainder of Kyle's diapering days (we still have 4 or 5 retired covers and 20-30 trifolds). These will mostly be used for nap and nighttime. The kind we got are Drybees. They are so nice compared to our covers and prefolds. I used the Drybees all day today, even while we were out and it was super easy. Kyle has been using the potty about once a day successfully this whole week! He had been on a potty strike all summer, but we started a new morning routine that includes a potty stop and he's taken advantage of that a few times. He'll let us give him his privacy and read about 12 books to himself while he goes potty. I went to the bathroom this afternoon and he comes in, does the sign for book, then proceeds to bring me some of his books to read to him while I pee; LOL!

I guess that's about all! Have a great weekend; I know I will!

A walk I won't soon forget...

After dinner tonight, we all walked to the mall to see the puppies. Kyle pushed his little play stroller alongside/behind Kevin pushing the big jogger stroller (in case Kyle got tired) and it was too cute! Kyle loves to walk anywhere except the sidewalk; like the grass, rocks, bushes, etc...

We were almost to the mall and Kyle stepped right on a piece of cactus! I totally freaked out, but Kevin picked him up and I pulled the needles out. It was in his heel and the heel of the shoe. He cried and said "Kyle owie!" a bunch of times. We asked if he wanted to go home and he said "No, puppies", so we went to the mall. I put him down gingerly in his bare feet at the pet shop and he tiptoed around for a few minutes until a German Shepard pup started jumping for him and then Kyle danced around for the puppy. His feet don't seem to be bothering him at all and I am so thankful. We did wash/soak his feet in the sink after we got home, which he loved because he could stomp his feet and make huge splashes. I think he'll be okay. I'm the one who will be putting us both in socks and tennis shoes all week!

That's all the excitement for today.

Rough week

This week has been tough. Kyle has been up almost every night and super clingy during the day. I've still taken him out and we've seen some friends almost every day. We went swimming twice in one day, hung out at the splash park, and today we went to the zoo.

We went to the zoo by ourselves and it was awesome. There was hardly anyone there and Kyle walked the entire zoo all by himself. There were a few animals that weren't around, so after Kyle finished walking the zoo, I popped him in the sling and we checked on the animals we hadn't seen earlier and they were all out! He got to see everything today and it was so cool. He talked and talked and talked the whole time we were at the zoo. We spent two hours. I wanted to take him at least one more time before he turned two because then we have to pay for his admission. I may try to get a zoo membership, because I think he would go once a week with the way he loves seeing animals.

Have a great weekend!

Kyle ate and ate and..

ate today. Four bowls of cereal this morning and two bowls of mac n cheese for lunch; kid size bowls, but still! He NEVER eats that much, ever!

We spent a day'ish in Phoenix this weekend seeing family. Kyle did great, except when it came to napping. The Tatums left this morning; very bittersweet as we're excited for them to move on, but sad to not have them nearby. At least the timezone won't be so problematic with them in Wisconsin instead of Jordan!

We are busy, too busy I think. I picked up a little more nannying for the school year: 2 hours a morning, Monday-Thursday. And then, of course, tutoring should pick up here soon, in addition to my reading class. I do need to call my boss about that class as I haven't heard much this summer.

Kevin is plugging along with his program and chatted with me about doing a post doc here as a possibility...which means we'd be here 4 more years instead of 2 more years. I couldn't say how serious he was about it, but it has given me this desire to look for a place to live. Like, a 3 bedroom so we could have more kids and not feel suffocated in our 2 bedroom apartment. Additionally, I'd prefer to not drag an infant, toddler, and groceries up and down these stairs for the next few years.

I'm not complaining, just thinking ahead.

In other news, Kyle's birthday is coming up and we'd love for you to join us in celebrating his 2nd year:

August 26th, 2007
3:30 p.m.
Brandi Fenton Park, Ramada B
Make sure you wear/bring something to get wet in. We're right next to the splash park!

Not sure what a two year old might be in to? We made him a wish list on amazon:



Ah yes, and in hindsight, Kevin and I celebrated our 4th anniversary last week. Time just flies by! Although, I know we've been married awhile because I no longer remember what it feels like to be a newlywed nor do I feel qualified to give any kind of advice on the first couple years of marriage. I love that it feels like we've always been married!

I hope you are getting as much rain and fantastic weather as we are here in Tucson! It almost feels like fall most days. Come visit us anytime!


We're back!

Did you even know we were gone?!?! Yep, we left for Phoenix last Wed. night after Kevin and I got off work, then headed to Lake Havasu to see The Tatums for a couple days and meet their newest arrival, Rowan. Kyle did great traveling, the portable DVD player may have had something to do with that (thanks Kristy!). We got to do some sightseeing and just hang out; it was a lot of fun. Kyle did somersaults at the house where we were staying: right in to a couch, poor thing, and ended up with quite the bruise. Additionally, he got bit by the tiniest little dog while trying to retrieve one of his pacifiers from the dog's mouth without assistance from mommy and daddy! We even got to spend a day or so in Phoenix and see some family. It's been awhile since all 3 of us have been in town for an extended period of time. Kyle's favorite part of our trip had to be running through the birds underneath the London Bridge.

Kyle is talking more and more and more lately; as I'm sure anyone who saw him this weekend will attest to! I can't believe he'll be 2 years old in a month! Not only that, Kevin and I will be celebrating our 4th anniversary in a little over a week and I'll be turning 28 in the next couple weeks. August is a really busy "family holiday" month.

Today Kevin and I had physicals in order to up our life insurance. There is something about having kids that makes you think "what if". For those of you who know me well, I survived the blood draw with flying colors and no fainting!

I guess that's about it!

So a couple things I thought I'd share with you...

The other day I walk in to the bathroom and find Kyle has completely unrolled the brand new roll of toilet paper on to the floor. He looks at me and makes the sound for a monkey. After a brief moment of puzzlement, *smack*, Curious George, that's right. Now my son is imitating behavior from his favorite movies. I ask "Curious George?" and he emphatically nods his head and exclaims "Ah hu"!

When I talk to people using the speakerphone, Kyle will say "bye bye *insert name here*" when he's ready for me to hang up.

There was something that happened this morning too, but I'm blanking on it. In other news, Kyle is loving swim lessons now that we switched to an evening session and Kevin can come with us. He is totally comfortable, even going under water!

Kyle is waking up twice a night and I'm not really sure why. Okay, so he had yet another leaky diaper the other night, so that's expected, but that doesn't explain his continued waking up. I thought maybe he wanted to wear pajamas, because we run a fan on him when he sleeps. Usually, all he wears is a diaper because his room gets hotter than the rest of the apartment. However, I guess his 18 mos pajamas don't really fit anymore. The arms are tight. I didn't realize this and put him to bed last night. Forty minutes later he's still up and asking for "momma", so Kevin goes in and Kyle asks to have his jammies taken off. Kev said the arms were really tight, which I guess I never noticed putting them on (bad mommy!). Oh well, stuff like that happens by the end of the day! I'm convinced that I should go to bed when Kyle does and I'd be much more productive.

Oh right, Kyle falls asleep in the bike seat. So cute, on a less than one mile ride home from the mall, he was out!

Tonight Kyle started jumping off of our ottoman on to the floor! He's always done this kind of one footed hop/jump before, but tonight he was jumping with both feet! The only thing we are trying to teach him is to say "Mama/Dada jump" if he wants one of us to catch him; it's a little alarming to have a child fly in to you when you're not expecting it!

Lastly, Kyle does this "happy dance" whenever he's really excited about something. He does his one footed hop and goes around in circles shouting whatever he's excited about, e.g. milk! milk! milk! or truck! truck! truck!; I hope you'll get to see it before he grows out of this stage.

Kyle's 1st Fireworks

Fireworks were a hit last night! We put Kyle down for a later nap than usual, and headed over to the park where we wanted to watch fireworks around 8 p.m.. Kyle played and played with some other children sitting near us, but as soon as the show started he was mesmerized and sat with us to watch. He did the sign for "flowers" to describe the fireworks.

A long awaited post...

Yes, I know, it's been forever and a day (over a month actually), since I posted, so here is what we've been up to.

Kevin arrived home from Germany safe and sound, we sold the motorcycle, and he's been doing research everyday at the U of A.

I have been nannying, saying goodbye to some well loved friends, and hello to some new ones. Additionally, we are both teaching Sunday school this month.

And then there's our little Kyle. He is something new everyday! Right after Kevin got back home from his trip, Kyle was super clingy with me and wouldn't let Kevin put him to bed or take care of him alone. Thankfully, that has passed! Lately, Kyle has wanted to be held a lot, so I've once again put one sling in the car and kept one up in the house for these "hold me" moods he gets in. Don't get me wrong, I love my cuddly boy and know this won't last forever, but you try holding 30lbs for an extended period of time on one hip! There was one afternoon I watched Rose and it turns out she will only fall asleep in her stroller for me. Regretfully, I didn't have the double stroller with me that day, so Kyle got slung on my back and I pushed Rose. It was hot, but worked like a charm. Kyle was almost asleep on my back by the time we got around the block! He's been falling asleep in weird places, like his jogging stroller, car seat, or my arms; places he hasn't fallen asleep in for months and months! Speaking of sleep, Kyle has had two nights of leaky diapers in the last 3 days. Sadly, last night's leak ended in a pee sopping wet mattress, of which I discovered is hard if not next to impossible to clean/disinfect. So, Kevin and I considered our options and I found a used toddler bed this morning that fits his crib mattress. His crib mattress is water proof, yippee! I had plenty of store credit at the store where I bought it, from selling them clothes/baby gear, etc.. so it didn't cost us a dime out of our bank account! And, he went to sleep just wonderfully in his new bed tonight, no fussing or crying at all. I have pictures of him helping Kevin put it together that I'll get posted ASAP to snapfish and share with all of you.

This overnight diaper issue has me at a dead end. He wears size 5 diapers overnight, and there is no way we can go up to a size 6 (do they even make size 6?!?!) for extra absorbency because they won't fit him. There are some fantastic cloth diaper options for overnight heavy wetters, but they can get pricey. I'm going to make him a pair of short wool soakers tomorrow from an old felted wool sweater I have and I'm hoping to pick up some hemp inserts for use with our current diapering system. Supposedly, they work amazingly well overnight!


In other news, Kyle is talking up a storm! He says new words and phrases everyday. It's so cute to hear him say "Okie dokie" or "Geez", imitating us. He just started saying binky and has grown very attached to one of his stuffed animals, doggy, a Ty non beanie baby golden retriever. Doggy has his own binky that goes to bed with him when Kyle takes a nap or goes to bed; and Kyle knows exactly which binky is doggy's and which are Kyle's binkys. He's not a fan of sharing his binkys if we lose doggy's binky, but will do it if he has to. Kyle will often stay up in his room for an hour or so talking and playing after we put him to bed. It's so funny to turn on the monitor and listen to his conversations.

I'm starting to upgrade our books to the ones I'll want to use with Kyle as a preschool curriculum. I found four of the Winnie the Pooh titles we'll be using at Bookman's the other night and Kyle does great listening to one of the short chapter stories, even without a lot of colorful pictures on every page! Interested in what I'll be doing with Kyle these first couple years? You can check out the curriculum I'm planning on using here.

And, let's see, we've upgraded our sippy cups since Kyle's were a year old or older and not even close to large enough to hold the amount of water he likes to drink when we're out around town running errands. We purchased one Klean Kanteen and a couple Munchkin straw cups. They are all 10-12 oz. bottles, whereas his older sippy cups run in the 7 oz. capacity. I've been very happy with our purchases because they don't leak and Kyle loves to drink out of them. Additionally, the Munchkin cups are insulated and the Klean Kanteen fits perfectly in to one of those soda can sleeves to keep the contents cool. Today I caught our little engineer drinking water out of his straw cup while slowly closing the lid to see how far he could get the straw to bend closed until he couldn't get any more water out. He did it over and over again!

Swim lessons have been going well, albeit much different from last year. Kyle has been very cautious about getting in to the pool, but is doing better every week. He now will walk in to the pool himself and happily splashes and plays. To the instructor's chagrin, he insists on drinking the pool water instead of blowing bubbles in it; one skill he will have to master before moving up in the world of swim lessons!

We have been so blessed lately, with furniture, clothes, food, diapers, etc...I cannot thank our family enough for making sure we are well taken care of! Lately, we've seen the grandparents and many of the aunts/uncles more often than usual. Kyle now looks through photo albums and points out family members or asks who they are, so it's possible he'll recognize you the next time you see him!

It's late and I'm tired, but I promise to update more often this month! Stop on over to the Tatum's blog to see pictures of their new baby boy, Rowan. Happy 4th of July; see some fireworks for us (Kyle is usually in bed by the time they start)!

Hooray for rashes!

Yep, Kyle woke up with the Roseola rash on his body this morning, but he still has the fever. I assumed that once the rash showed up, the fever would break, but after looking up some info, that isn't necessarily the case!

We are in PHX. I broke down and drove us here yesterday, while Kyle slept in the car. After no break and only one real shower (luke warm baths and rinsing off puke don't count in my book) since Sunday, I needed some help! So, grandparents, if you'd like to stop by and watch a movie with Kyle or play trucks with him, we're at my mom's house. It is very unlikely that you would get what he has, since it's typically a virus only seen in kids under five.

The cool part about being here is that I get to pick Kevin up from the airport Friday night! We miss him so much. The bummer part is that Kirsten and Ellie were supposed to stay with us this week and that didn't work out at all!

Alright, Kyle just went back to sleep, which is where I'm going too! Happy weekend everyone!

Where does a 102 fever come from in the summer?!?!

A lot happened this weekend (flat tire, got to see Kirsten and Ellie), but what I really want to vent about is having a sick child.

Kyle had a fever of 101.5 last night when I put him to bed. He woke up at 4 a.m., after the Motrin had worn off, with a fever of 101.5. After getting him cooled down again, he went back to sleep until 6. I called the doctor at 8 a.m. and we saw his pediatrician at 9:45. She said it's a virus, will probably last 3-4 days, and he's contagious until the fever breaks or he gets a rash all over his body. Neato.

And so, poor little guy, barely eats or drinks and is soo lethargic. I rented the movie Cars for him and baked a pizza (which he did eat 1 piece of, yea!), and I've got the last of Kevin's otter pops in the freezer (sorry honey!).

This evening he desperately wanted to go for a walk, as did I, so we headed to the mall. Well, on our way out of the mall he literally collapsed when I stood him up after a diaper change. It was clear he wouldn't be going back in the stroller for our walk home. Today I had the bright idea of walking around with a purse instead of his backpack, so I only had necessities, which meant I didn't have a sling with me. This was going to be a long walk home, as we hadn't even gotten to the store where I needed to exit and my arm was killing me.

So I thought, just this weekend I had looked up ways to make a sling out of a simple piece of cloth, because I thought I had left our sling at home in Tucson. Turns out I had the sling in PHX, but the info came in handy tonight. I found an oblong tablecloth on clearance for $7. The cashier let me pull it out of the package and "try it on" before buying it to make sure it would be long enough (and it was). I tied a knot using two of the diagonal corners, then moved that knot up by my shoulder so the wide part of my "sling" would be by my hip, where I wanted Kyle to be sitting. I popped him in, then tied one of the remaining corners with the end of the first knot to snug him up. The remaining corner turned out to be incredibly useful as a hood, to shade his face from the sun going down. I felt almost magical walking him home down Oracle Rd, in a tablecloth; like I had accessed some kind of mom genius from the depths. He actually fell asleep before we hit the first intersection we had to cross. And, I was able to carry my sick baby home, sleeping peacefully, while pushing the stroller with my purse in it.

I gave him Motrin again when we got home, as it was well past time and he was heating up. Then we took a lukewarm bath with baking soda mixed in; this really seemed to bring his body temp down. Now, he is sleeping peacefully; which is where I plan to be shortly. Pray for our little guy, that he'll feel better soon and for my strength: it's hard work taking care of a sick child all by yourself!

We're in PHX

Kevin's sitting at the airport, waiting for his first flight to board on the way to Germany. I already miss him; a lot. Kyle's taking his nap and we're going to hang out here in Phoenix for a couple days. It's been a while since we've been in town for more than 48 hours, so I'm hoping we'll get to see some family a little more than usual.

Kyle's been throwing a lot of tantrums, but they all seem for different things. He throws a tantrum for wanting to drink milk before dinner (he gets it after dinner because otherwise it fills him up and he doesn't eat), but since we enforced the milk drinking rule, he hasn't thrown a tantrum about that again. Instead he moves on to other things, like pulling his trucks out to play just as we're tucking him in to bed. I guess he's just trying to figure out what the limits are, but it can be hard for me to see those big tears and hear the wailing cries. Thankfully, it doesn't last long with tantrums.

Kyle is using all cloth diapers now, except overnight. We ran out of disposables, so I decided to spend our money on a couple extra cloth covers instead of more disposables. I prayed for a deal as we walked over to the shop, and the owner gave me 5 covers for $7!!!! Out of the used stash, of course. Totally awesome. Used covers typically run $4-8 apiece. Note to Kirsten: I told her we'd stop by if you came to town; she has so much newborn/small stuff in great condition!

Anyways, I also booked the park I wanted for Kyle's birthday party this year. Can you believe the Sat. of his birthday weekend was already taken? So, keep your calendars cleared for Sunday, August 26th to celebrate Kyle's 2nd birthday (which is his real birthday anyways)! This park is brand new and we got the ramada closest to the splash park; yippee!

Oh right; I had my followup doctor's appt. yesterday. You'll never guess, I'm perfectly healthy all the way around. She had my iron, cholesterol, thyroid and all sorts of other things tested and said I'm AOK. She can't explain the fatigue, but says it's possible it was related to the winter season. I've been riding a lot more the past couple weeks and feeling great since it hit 100 degrees in Tucson and the allergens seem to have tapered off a little bit. Kevin and I both realized that we have officially acclimated to the hot summers again, since we agreed that 100 degrees didn't feel hot at all this year (compared to the previous two summers we've spent in Tucson).

Can you believe we will have been here for 3 years come June? Amazing to me that it has all gone so quickly and our lives are nothing what we thought they'd be at this point in our marriage/family. Kyle is the best thing that could've happened to us, even if it did derail all my first born, perfectionist life plans ;). I'm betting all of you first born, only children know exactly what I mean!

I'm off to read and relax for a few minutes until Kyle wakes up from his nap.

Kyle the artist

We had a great time finger painting yesterday morning! I got everything ready for a couple of Kyle's friends to come over, but he just couldn't wait for them to arrive. So, we put on one of my old button up shirts, and I started squirting out little puddles of different colored paint. He used his hands and paintbrushes to make some great art work. Eventually, he would point to the color he wanted and then point to the spot on the paper where he wanted me to put it, lol. Everyone else did eventually make it over and we had a great time!

I was thinking the other day how I was so excited to celebrate my first mother's day when we were pregnant with Kyle. Ellie had just been born and they were dedicating her that Sunday at church; it was really cool. This year marks the 3rd mother's day I'm celebrating and I look back realizing how much I've learned and how much more I still get to learn about being a mother! I love to reflect on holidays, birthdays, etc...to see where I/we as family have come since the last couple years.

Happy Mother's Day to all my dear mom friends and relatives; we will miss celebrating with you this weekend!

Another post *gasp*

Today we went on a bike ride with no particular destination. We ended up at a park, and then on the way back we encountered a rattle snake sunning itself in the middle of the bike trail. The cows were out at the U of A farm, so we stopped by to see them too and Kyle had his own cow audience right up at the fence; we could've petted them! A college aged girl we had passed on the bike (she was jogging), stopped next to us and commented "It's so great you take your kid around to do this kind of stuff on your bike". This struck me as funny, but something I totally could hear myself saying when I was her age, single, and had not a clue about getting out of the house with a toddler in tow. I commented back, "Beats the cost of gas".

Did I tell you we're working on getting Kevin to work earlier? Yep. He has graciously gone to work around 9 ever since Kyle was born and I guess it is about time that welcome mat was rolled up! However, it is taking me about double the time to get Kyle and me up and ready in the mornings without an extra set of adult hands. Also, ever since Kevin went away for the weekend a couple weeks ago, Kyle has been super clingy with me. So, before, where he would happily play in the house while I did other things, he now falls apart if I'm not within touching distance. We're working on it, but I was totally not expecting this "Mom I'm going to die if you're not right here" stage. At the zoo last week, he stayed in the sling for 1 1/2 hours while we walked around and looked at animals; didn't even ask to get down. That has not happened since this time last year I'd say (and my back the next morning agreed).

So, we do everything together lately and it doesn't look like I'll be relieved soon since Kevin is heading to Germany next week. My hope is that Kyle won't redouble his efforts when Kevin leaves again; I wonder if he's worried I'll disappear too.

I should either clean or go to bed. Kyle has been waking up between 11 and 12 having lost his binkies and requesting a drink of water. You try to pretend you're still asleep with a kid screaming over the monitor! It's much easier to grab the sippy cup, find the binkies, kiss that blond head, and tell him it's time for mommy to go back to bed.

Here we go...

Kyle has been all toddler lately! Talking, insisting, throwing tantrums, being super clingy, etc...This morning he started saying "no no" instead of "na na". I always appreciated that Kyle's way of saying no was to shake his head no, not say the word no over and over again. However, I think those days of head shaking are almost behind us! Also, do you remember the Trader Joe's shopping cart incident? Well, we've gone a few times since then and Kyle would whine, but generally get over it quickly when it was time to put the cart away. Today, I am so proud of him, today he put the cart away after we got through the cash register, the first time I asked him, then happily grabbed a balloon and followed me out to the car! No whining, no fussing, no trying to take the cart with us; whew. I feel like a small victory has been made!

I have to tell you about Kyle's new shelves (thanks granny!). Kyle received some new toy shelves a week or two ago and we decided to put them in his room, with all his little toys in the bins. Well, everyday we pick up the house at lunch and before bedtime and Kyle has gotten really good at it! He'll happily put his toys away and lug the bins back to his room to put on the shelf. In addition, he's started putting other things away when he sees they aren't in their place! Take for instance, the baby monitor. It usually lives on my nightstand, but on the weekends Kevin graciously takes it to the family room with him so I can sleep in a little bit. Kyle found the monitor in the family room and returned it to my nightstand before he went to bed last night. He's done this with other items too.

In the past couple weeks we've been to the zoo, a birthday party, and the library numerous times. Kyle learned how to put stickers on a piece of paper and is even scribbling with his crayons now! He is eating more and often likes to feed himself; amazingly he's decided that he now wants to use his booster seat at the table (before he'd just sit in the big chair). We've been going on bike rides about twice a week since his new bike seat came in the mail and he always asks for more when we reach our destination. I took Kyle and Rose over to the U of A farm that is right near our house and showed them the cows and horses last week. They loved it and we all sang Old McDonald had a Farm. I guess Rose constantly talks about Kyle during the week when we're not there. Her mom told me she wakes up saying "juice, milk, Kyle".

I've been working on trying to find a way to reduce our disposable diaper usage. Nap and night times are the big question mark. I did find a used Fuzzi Bunz cover (the Mercedes of cloth diaper covers) at our local cloth diaper supply store, so Kyle is currently taking his nap in that with two prefolds stuffed in it...we'll see how it goes!

Kyle has started playing pretend more; he'll be driving his trucks across the carpet and you'll hear "slurrrp" as he tips the nose of the truck in to the carpet so the truck can get a drink! If you ask him what the truck is drinking he can usually tell you either juice or milk, lol. He's growing up so fast; I really encourage anyone who hasn't seen him in awhile to stop by! We will be in Phoenix May 17-20, dropping Kevin off at the airport for his conference in Germany, so let me know if you have some time to see us (Kyle and me that is).

And lastly, we are too excited about the engagement of Kevin's sister, Kristy, to her long time boyfriend James. Yea for more family (and cousins in the future)!

Update

Well, I went to the doctor today. She said I do have allergies, however, after going to fill the prescription and learning it would cost $80, I've decided to simply use the sample she gave me (of something different) until my appt. a month from now. Then I'll let her know we don't have prescription coverage, ugh. She let me know I am having migraines and will probably get them once a month; you do the math! And lastly, she's requested that I have some bloodwork done...booooo. I get faint just thinking about it. So, that's my doctor update for now. I'll keep you posted on any updates after my labs get back and I see her again in May.

Tonight I made my first ever pillowcase dress; and probably the first ever thing someone can actually wear!
Rose is the lucky recipient, as she most likely will be for any sewing projects I take on that are for a little girl!

I should go to bed, but here are a couple more pictures of Kyle:

Kyle and his new shopping cart


Helping daddy install his new bike seat

Say ahhhhh...

Something's wrong with me. I am so confused by my symptoms that I actually made a *gasp* doctor's appointment. This required me to call my health insurance and set up a new primary care physician (pcp) because it has been 2 years since I went to see my last pcp and they needed me to confirm whether or not I still wanted him. Anyways, after all that business on Monday, I can't see my doctor until this Monday. So what's wrong with me? I have no idea. At first, I thought it was allergies, but I keep having random changing symptoms. I haven't been well for over a month now. I'll keep you posted. Truly, I feel normal most of the time, just the occasional headache, sore throat (when I eat things like pb & j sandwiches or spaghetti), and lethargy. No one else in the family has gotten sick this past month like me, so it seems as though it's something non contagious, or however you say that.

In other news, I had a screening interview for a high school teaching job this afternoon. Went well I think, but we'll see if I get a call back. I'm really enjoying this nanny gig once a week, watching Rose and Kyle play together. They are so funny, total imitators of each other. If one wants a drink or something to eat, so does the other. If one drinks their milk leaning up against the kitchen cabinets, the other one walks over and leans against the cabinets right next to them. It's too funny. I need to take my camera next week so I can show you these two together.

This was the first week I actually put Rose down for a nap awake. She laid down all cute and hugged her blankie while I sang to her and patted her back. Then as I was leaving she sat up and looked at me, "Rose, night night time, go to sleep", so she lays back down. I hear her screaming protests a few minutes later to being put down for a nap awake! Oh wait, dirty diaper. I change her diaper and lay down with her on the twin bed in her room and she's out in 2 minutes flat. So sweet! Kyle just wants to play lately whenever we lay down with him, so I haven't had a "baby" fall asleep on me in quite awhile. I laid there a few extra minutes listening to her breathe and feeling her little body go limp with sleep, then I slipped out to take advantage of the few minutes I had with both toddlers asleep at the same time!

On the bicycling front, I'm excited that Kyle's new bike seat should be here tomorrow! I'm committed to riding him anywhere we go that we would normally walk and that's within 5 miles of the house. In addition to riding for fun, of course.

Kyle became the proud owner of a Little Tikes shopping cart this morning. Savers special: $5. He took it with us into the bank to make our deposits, across the street to show his baby all the cool things in the Target garden center, and that little guy pushed his cart with baby in it all the way to the mall from our house after dinner this evening. He let me know he wanted to go to the mall by signing dog, then baby, and then loading up his cart with baby and standing by the door. The cart is missing one thing: those plastic tires that all Little Tikes movable toys come with, but the wheel assemblies roll just fine for now. I'll look in to replacement tires next week.

And lastly, did you know I own a sewing machine? Yep, it's really neat; especially for someone who had never really seen one up close until she hit college. I begged Kevin for it earlier this year, skeptical as he was, and he has dutifully looked at my creations with a beaming smile and told me how wonderful they are (whether or not it's true!). Anyways, I've done a few little projects, but my favorite thing is making diapers so far. I will, hopefully soon, have some new patterns to try. In addition to sewing, I'm rediscovering crochet, which my mother taught me as a child. I never new how handy needle, thread, and yarn could be!

I took some great pictures this week and will plan on posting a couple by the end of the weekend!