Lots of company

Birthday visit from Grandad.

Kyle using his water backpack for the first time (and he now likes to take it everywhere with us)!

Reading books with Grammy on our front porch.

Here are just a few pictures I took off the camera last night, however, I have some really cute ones from the zoo today that I want to share with you soon too! We have had lots of visits from Kevin's mom and dad this month, which Kyle has been loving, in addition to my mom's monthly weekend trips, Kyle has seen a lot of grandparents!

Kyle was sick this weekend, totally out of the blue he came down with a fever and was out of commission for a few days. This was a total bummer for Kevin and me, as we were planning on heading to Mexico for a family wedding!

It seems we may have found a non binky option for Kyle to chew on to help him settle in for his sleepy times. We bought a chewy tube yesterday from a local talk/speech therapy clinic in town. We had warned him that the night before last was his last night with binky, as it had a tear in the nipple and was no longer safe to use. Kyle used his chewy tube most of yesterday and then fell right to sleep chewing on it last night. He had no problem using it to get back to sleep when rousing throughout the night either. This is a huge relief for me. Kyle has never attached to any other sort of lovey or sleep comfort item, so to find something that doesn't seem to have the side effects or social stigma of a binky, but still allows him to chew and relax himself is awesome (and cry free!). I think this would only work if your child was a binky biter; Kyle liked to chew on his, more than suck on them, as he got older.

In other news, we were supposed to have our first home visit this morning to get foster/adoption stuff moving along, but our contact had an emergency at another family's home, so we rescheduled for Thursday at 10:30, if you think to pray for that, we'd so appreciate it.

Well, quiet time is almost over, which means I've gotta go!

Is it Fall yet?

Every year, right after Kyle's birthday, all of these things start up: school for Kevin, fall recreation classes for Kyle, and Bible study for me. I feel soooo busy! This year we started something new too: preschool (at home for now).

Kyle and I read a little Bible, some Mother Goose, and sound out/trace the letter of the week while we eat breakfast. Later on during the day we listen to some classical music (Bach this month) and folksongs. Math consists of counting or measuring whatever we need to throughout the day (Kyle, can you count your fingers for me? 12! and your toes? 17!). And we sometimes throw in some art. Additionally, the bulk of our preschool time is spent playing outside for hours and hours and hours, now that it's not so blistering hot here in Tucson.

In order to assist us on our outdoor ventures, Kevin graciously has listened to me bemoan the fact that we don't have a bike trailer and must drive even short distances to have some outside fun. However, just this weekend, we were blessed to find a top of the line trailer on craigslist (Burley Solo) and the family was more than happy to trade it straight for our double jogging stroller (turns out they had twins, but grandpa had bought the single kid bike trailer before they were even pregnant). Yippee! So, Kyle and I have been using the bike trailer every other day for our errands and activities (my legs need at least one day in between to recover).

Which brings me to another topic, not so happy, but yes, WE ONLY NEED A SINGLE CHILD BIKE TRAILER. Looks like our TTC days are over, at least for now. We need to wait and see what kind of fancy job Kevin gets next year and what our health insurance will look like before we commit to producing any summer babies. More exciting is that I can now register for the Tour de Tucson and a couple of 5K races I've been wanting to run!

So what about Kyle? Well, he's doing great! His feet are growing like weeds, literally, he put on a pair of size 9.5 shoes in July when we moved to the new house and now he's a 10. I had thought he wouldn't be in the 9.5's until December (Anyone know of any good shoe sales?!?). At his 3 year old check up appt, he was 33 lbs and 38 1/2 inches tall. Finally, the doctor and I were both thrilled to see he broke the 50th percentile for weight....for the first time in his entire life! It is true, Kyle is eating a lot more different foods, although I don't know that he eats a lot more that he used to (it all just used to be Cheerios). He did receive a shot and didn't even cry, just flinched; and I did equally as well, not having another adult there in case I fainted! See the archives for that story.

Kyle is growing up to be a great encourager (You can do it mommy! Come on, give it a try!). My favorite was after he followed Kevin in to the bathroom and told him "Good job daddy!" after Kevin peed (we've been trying to teach Kyle to stand up to pee, which he does, but only on the trees at the park).

I must go wake Kyle up....he still takes naps! Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

On Sunday, we went to Clarksdale and took a train ride for Kyle's 3rd birthday. Here are some of the pictures from that day:







Today, Kyle's actual birthday, we spent time with his friend Gabriel at the mall and they shared a smoothie. After that, we met my friend Serena at Chick-fil-a with her little munchkin Graham, and then we spent some time at the zoo! I think Kyle has enjoyed his whole couple of days celebrating his birthday this year, even without the party; I know I have ;).

I know this sounds cliche, but it really feels like yesterday, when we brought him home for the first time. Kyle and I looked at almost all the pictures we took of him that first year, from the moment he was born until he turned one and it is amazing and wonderful and awesome to have him in our lives. Here are just a few of my favorites from that first year:

Girls

Two college girls waiting to cross the street the same time as us catch site of Kyle in the stroller:

"Hi"

Kyle smiles up at them, then shyly falls back in to the stroller.

"He looks so cool" (I have never had anyone say that when commenting on my child!)

Kyle sits up and flashes them another grin. We all cross the street.

Later that night, Kevin asks, "Kyle, what did you do today?"

"I saw the girls."

Great, he turns three tomorrow and now I have to start worrying about college girls ;).

Ask Kyle how old he is the next time you see him...we have yet to hear him say his correct age (today he was seven, according to him)!

Early morning sunshine

Kyle comes in to our room in the morning and usually lays on his toddler bed until Kevin's alarm goes off at 7 a.m.. However, if he knows it's close to time for the alarm, he will stand silently right next to my side of the bed. I never know how long he's been there, but all of a sudden I'll turn over and open my eyes and Kyle is RIGHT THERE. He gets a big grin around his binky and says "Gooood mornnnning"!

Well, I'm at a loss. Now, that I have neglected to post for so long, I have no idea where to start! Let's see, in June we headed to Breckenridge, CO for a reunion with Kevin's side of the family and that was a wonderful, relaxing time for all of us. I've been to other areas of CO, but never Breckenridge, and it was beautiful! I couldn't believe how much snow was still on the ground. Kyle loved playing with the other great grandkids! We went on a hike and Kyle made it the entire way; I was so impressed!

After CO, Kyle and I headed to Washington, DC to see my family. He had a blast with all his great aunts and uncles and my cousins. On the flight there, my sling kept slipping, it seemed that Kyle was finally too big to be carried in his sling. However, I had neglected to bring a stroller with us because he just loves to be carried! I found a used Maclaren Triumph umbrella stroller to buy while we were in the DC area and it was wonderful; Kyle took multiple naps in it while we were touring around and was more than willing to be strolled while we went sightseeing(totally different attitude from other strollers we've used). This stroller continues to come in handy here in Tucson, as I have all but abandoned our double jogger in favor of it (and I love my jogger)!

This was Kyle's first plane ride where I think he actually understood what was going on because he was a little apprehensive about being on the plane and being in the air. Thankfully, he slept all but one leg of our flight and was never a nuisance on the plane. I did lug his enormous car seat on to the plane to go in his seat and I think that made all the difference for his comfort level and understanding.

After arriving home from DC, Kevin forwarded me an email about this amazing, wonderful, too good to be true house that was coming up for rent! I immediately called the owners and we were first on the list to get it, if we wanted it. Well, after I saw it, I was sold! However, knowing we had a year left here in Tucson, Kevin was a little more wary of moving us. In the long run, we decided to go for it and are now living in this great house, about a mile from where Kevin studies, and right across the street from this great park! It is heaven for a stay at home mom. If you need our new address, email me, our phone numbers are the same.

Did I tell you I'm not teaching anymore? Yep, gave the school my notice that I would not be returning after my contract ended. My last day was June 30th.

What have I been doing since then? Well, moving, unpacking, turning 29 years old, LOL! I can't believe how old I am. Kyle's birthday is in about a week and we are not having a birthday party for him, so please don't think I left you out of the loop ;). Kyle decided he wanted to go on a train ride, so we will be heading to the Verde Canyon Railroad on Sunday August 24th for the 1:00 departure...join us if you like!

Kyle is going to be 3 whole years old! He is officially potty trained, has been for awhile now I guess. He has curly hair; which just showed up in the past few months (you can look for it in the accompanying pictures). He talks about everything and has entered the "Why?" stage. He is amazingly talkative, playful, and observant/reflective. If you haven't seen him lately, please come visit us! Of course, Kevin and I would love to see you too...

Kyle sings songs, rhymes, talks in funny voices and intonations, and has a great imagination. He is really good at being silly, making jokes or comments to give us a hard time or trying to fool us. I love how his mind works, how much he understands at this age. One of the cutest things that has happened in the last couple weeks is that Kyle insists on saying our mealtime prayer for every single meal; if Kevin or I start the prayer he immediately jumps in and finishes it or says "No! Wait! Stop! I want to say it!", lol.

I think we are all getting a little comfortable being a family of three around here. However, let me assure you, this is not for lack of trying. It seems Kevin and I have no trouble getting pregnant, but staying pregnant has eluded us the last several months. We are still trying to add to our family the old fashioned way, but are also pursuing other avenues, such as adoption. Why would I share this on my public blog? Well, I am encouraged when I hear about other couples who have had similar problems to ours, and who knows where one of you might be a great resource on adoption or something else related to growing our family.

And now, what you've been waiting for, the pictures:

Hiking in Breckendrige, CO with Aurora

Ice skating for the very first time! Breckenridge, CO

Walking "Tiny" in Washington, DC

Jumping on the trampoline with Rose

Our little bike mechanic

My 29th birthday dinner

The recent life of Kyle in pictures

We've been doing lots of cool stuff lately, but I've been processing a lot personally and just not up for writing...so here is what we've been up to in pictures:

We took a little trip to the Phoenix Zoo with Nana while the weather was still bearable this past spring. Kyle had a great time, but truly, I like the Tucson Zoo better because it's not so "busy" and we can do it all in one trip!

Thanks to my cousin Anastasia, who consistently plans nights and weekends out for mommies, I get time off about once a month! This last weekend out Kevin and Kyle explored our local air and space museum. Kyle is fascinated by anything related to transportation.

Oh how Kyle loves older children! However, I think if he could've handpicked an older sister he would've chosen Emily. Of course, then Emily would be much less tolerant of his attempts to play with her! We spent a week in Pinetop visiting Emily, her mom Deborah, and her little brother Eric.

Kyle will jump on any opportunity to play mini golf...or putt around our house with Kevin's old clubs.

Most recently, my dad took us out on his fishing boat for the afternoon at Canyon Lake. Kyle was a little apprehensive at first, but hung in there and we all had a wonderful time.

Pictures

We saw lots of snow and friends over winter break!
Great Aunt Jewel came for a quick visit this winter

New bunk beds!

Kyle loves going to Mexico and playing on the beach!

Kyle enjoying his train table.

Washing cars

"Mom, I need a paper towel!" I hear Kyle calling from his bedroom during quiet time. So, I take him a paper towel...and feel the wet spot on his comforter. "Kyle what happened? Why is your bed all wet?". "I'm washing cars mom". "With what?" I wonder and say out loud at the same time. "I just washing cars". Ah yes, the milk cup I gave him with just a little bit of milk left in it; but that's a leak free sippy cup...hmmm. "Kyle, did you unscrew the lid and pour your milk out on the bed?". "Ah hu, I washed No Stall. Can I have another paper towel?"

We are so sick...

I'm counting the minutes to 8 a.m. so I can call the pediatrician. We're pretty sure it's croup that Kyle came down with Friday night, but instead of getting better, he's getting worse. I've been sick too, and numerous sleepless nights with a sick child haven't helped me get better very quickly either. Kevin seems to be none the worse for wear somehow.

A letter to little Kyle

Dear Kyle,

You turned 2 1/2 about a week ago. Lately you've been doing all sorts of new and exciting things. Your dad and I are thrilled that you seem to think using the potty on a regular basis may not be a bad idea after all! You've been interested in the potty process since turning a year old, but somehow we had yet to make the connection of using it all the time. Yesterday we went out all afternoon in your pants (you prefer to only wear pants, no underwear, pull ups, or diapers); talk about living dangerously! The highlight of the afternoon was the fact that you sat on two public toilets, which was a big "no way mom, nice try" kind of thing a few months ago. As yucky as I think public facilities can be, I realize they are a part of our future if we are to eradicate diapers from our lives (at least until mom and dad can furnish you with a sibling, right?).

On the topic of siblings, we often talk about you having a brother or sister. You look down your shirt from the collar, holding it open and saying "Mom, there's a baby growing in there"! You were saying "Mom, there's a baby in my chest!" last month, but now we've moved on to a baby in your tummy. You notice other babies all the time and ask for a baby of your own about once a week. You are often interested in checking infant car seats and strollers that are reclined, searching for a small baby. Sometimes I ask you what your baby's name is and you usually tell me "Henry", which is the name of one of your toy trains, LOL!

Going to bed and sleeping have been quit the adventures lately. It seems the going to bed part is better, as in you aren't trying to drag it out for every precious minute of staying up later. Now, we tuck you in, hand you your Pooh bear flashlight and you read books or play cars in your bed for minutes or hours, until you fall asleep. One night last week I went in and cleared off your bed, thinking that you were asleep, only to check back in on you an hour later to find the toy semi truck, flashlight, and water sippy cup that I had just removed, snuggled back under the covers with you. We leave your door open now, a night light on in your room, and another on in the bathroom. Around 5 or 6 a.m. you wander in to our room and lay down on the "bed" we've made you on the floor next to our bed: a camping mattress, some blankets, and a pillow. You are usually really good about just laying down, pulling a blanket over yourself, and going back to sleep. When I wake up to get ready for work, I tuck you in to our bed and you snuggle up to daddy to sleep for another hour or so.

Last Saturday we went to a spring training game! You wore your D-backs hat proudly and lasted until the 8th inning! We had such a good time eating sno cones and you loved playing with the flip up ballpark seats. Today, we were driving home from dropping daddy off at school and you saw a bulletin board ad for the spring training games. You said "I went to a baseball game!" and then you asked if we could go to one "right now". I'm hoping we'll get to go to another one later this month with one of your little friends.

I've been learning how to keep house lately and you are quite the helper. You love to climb up on the furniture to help me wipe windows, mirrors, and swipe at dust bunnies! We went to the ostrich farm not too long ago and fed the deer, ostriches, emus, and the lorikeet birds. I bought us each a feather duster and you love to help me dust once a week. Vacuuming is always exciting because you like to crash your pretend vacuum (usually your toy grocery cart or doll stroller) in to my vacuum and cry out "Crash!".

Lately, I've been taking you out in the sling again. Ever since you were born, your dad and I started wearing you in a sling and it still comes in handy today! We are working hard on teaching you to hold hands whenever you are on black street (including parking lots and such). Sometimes, I worry because we live so close to busy streets, so I just pop you in the sling until we get to our destination (usually Target). You seem to really enjoy being carried right now. You'll snuggle up to me in the sling and I think you can see more being high up than when we have you walk on your own holding our hands. I love the conversations we have while you are in the sling at this age. You'll point to something and talk about it or ask me a question. We'll sing songs or play peek a boo with the tail of the sling. Another reason I use the sling is because you don't enjoy sitting in the stroller for short trips out of the house; you prefer to push it, which isn't very efficient when I need to get things done!

We were thinking about putting you in preschool next year, but now we're going to keep you home. You enjoy learning new things and can easily count from 1-10, sometimes to 16 (that's how many stairs we have and where we first started counting on a regular basis). You love to memorize books we read to you over and over again and lately you've started singing songs! It's so much fun to see a new piece of knowledge click with you, that aha moment when you figure something out.

I hope to write you a little letter every month on here, because I don't update the blog as much as I used to.

Love you, Mom

Finally!

So it's been a really, really, really long time since I updated. Let's start with the San Diego trip the first week of December! Kevin and Kyle joined me in San Diego for a week while I was there for a work training. My training went smoothly, we stayed in a really nice hotel, and Kevin and Kyle got to go to experience all the southern CA attractions. Kyle started eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches on this trip and has continued to do so since we got home (he'll do jelly now too)!

Tropical bird at the Wild Animal Park

Carousel

Hippos

Petting zoo

Shamu

Turtles

At the beach one night

Kyle often insisted on pushing his own stroller!

After that trip comes the holidays! Christmas was great this year. Kyle received a package in the mail every single day before Christmas. On Christmas morning, he kept saying "I don't want to open any more presents!" after opening one. He just wanted to play! It was really cute. We were in Tucson for Christmas, then headed to Phoenix, Pinetop, and Flagstaff for the rest of vacation. Kyle has been talking up a storm since around Thanksgiving. In Flagstaff we went for some coffee one morning and a guy walks in, goes behind the counter, makes a drink and talks to the two girls who are working the morning shift. He was tall, had medium length brown hair, and a beard. Kyle says, "Mama, it's Jesus! That's God mama, it's Jesus!". He said it a few times and we explained to him that the man wasn't Jesus, even if he looks like some of the pictures of Jesus in Kyle's Bible story books. Everyone in the coffee shop had a good laugh, including ourselves.

I'm enjoying work, although it does make us quite a bit busier. Kevin still watches William four mornings a week and I watch Rose and her siblings one day a week. Kyle is in tumble and art class again this winter. I like to hit the zoo once a week since we have the membership too.

Kyle is learning to enjoy a lot more foods lately. He loves to play trains since he received a train table with tracks and trains for Christmas. Reading is still a favorite pastime of his, in addition to dancing when we have music on. Lately, he'll sing too if he knows the songs we're listening to. He's been hanging out in the kitchen more, helping me cook and watching Kevin do the dishes. He would still live outside all day long if we let him! We've been working on manners and just today he said "thank you" to the cashier at Trader Joe's after the guy gave him his kid cart back, without being prompted!

Over the past couple weeks, Kyle's been going through a sleep stage I guess you'd call it. He started getting up and joining us in our bed in the middle of the night. We don't really care if he joins us when he's having a tough night. The initial problem was getting him to stay in bed! We finally figured out that he just wanted his door open now, instead of closed (how we've put him to bed since he was an infant). As long as he stays in bed, he gets to have his door open and it's been no problem at all! He's still going to bed at 8 and waking up around 7, in addition to about a 2 hour nap every afternoon. We're very lucky to still have that nap, from the sounds of some of his friend's parents, a lot of 2 year olds seem to be phasing their naps out of the schedule already!

Well, that's all I have time for tonight. Have a great week!

Parent Hacks!

Hey everyone, I know there is a lot of updating to do, but briefly I wanted to let you know that one of our "parent hacks" was posted on the Parent Hacks website (one of my favorite parenting blogs)! You can find it here.

Toddler puke

There's something about watching a small child throw up that just breaks your heart. Kyle was up a good part of the night doing just that, at the beginning he threw up at least 5 times in 1 1/2 hours. We, of course, called the doctor and were told to wait it out. It seems that the frequency died down a little, and Kevin graciously took nurse duty last night, as I was planning on going to work this morning.

It started with Kyle waking up around midnight, which has happened off and on since returning from our trip to CA. We often put him back to bed in his own bed, but he does wander in to our room and climb in to bed with us sometimes. Last night, he went back to bed in his room, but then showed up on my side of the bed, so I pulled him up to sleep with us. Well, the next thing I know he's gagging and I realize there's something wet on my pillow! Oh no, he's puking. I later found it not only on our pajamas, but in my hair too. He threw up about every 20 minutes until 1:45, and the last I heard he had thrown up twice throughout the rest of the night. Kevin is still sleeping with him in the bedroom, so I don't have an update right now. My boss kindly asked me not to bring myself (and the potential stomach virus) in to work this morning. I also had to call all of our little charges, since today was a watch William and Rose day, and ask them to make other arrangements for their kids.

It is so sad to hear him crying "no, no way, no more" while he's throwing up. We did end up using one of his toy shelf bins as the catcher, as we only own glass bowls.

So, anyways, send a prayer Kyle's way. The poor little guy is not feeling well at all. I'll update on CA later, with pictures.

Thanksgiving

I finally found the camera, with our video camera. Now, why didn't I think to look there in the first place?!?!

This past weekend went pretty smoothly, all things considered. We were in Phoenix for Kevin's sister's wedding and all three of us were participants. The crowning moment was when Kevin walked out to where the bridesmaids were having pictures taken with Kyle in his tux pants and football shirt. Kevin insisted he couldn't get Kyle in to the tux so while the groomsmen were getting pictures taken (minus Kyle!), I did my best to reason with a 2 year old about why he needed to wear a tux that night. We were sitting in the hallway, in front of the snack machine, when it hit me: "Kyle, I'll get you anything you want out of the snack machine if you put your tuxedo on". Kyle's reply "Ok, Cheetos"! I really, truly thought he'd pick M & M's. The problem was, I made a promise with no money on me (who has pockets on a bridesmaid's dress?), but Uncle Isaac came to the rescue with a dollar, Kyle got Cheetos, and I got a 2 year old in a tux! He walked down the aisle with his pillow, handed it to me, then ran back down the aisle to nana; thankfully, that all happened before the bride started her walk down the aisle. He did stay in his tux a good part of the night and I think he was one of the best dancers out on the floor (someone tell Joey he's got a future in throwing toddler dance parties)! I got some video, but the lighting wasn't that great, so we'll see if it's good enough to post.

Thanksgiving overall, was less stressful than usual for me. We saw everyone, but my dad, and that was due to a last minute work emergency. There was a lot of Kevin's family in town and most of them hadn't seen Kyle since he was a baby. I'd say we all had quite a bit of fun this weekend.

Did I tell you we left half of our monitor in Phoenix...for the second time in a month! My mom mailed it to us last time, but this week Kevin tried sleeping on the floor in Kyle's room. That wasn't working so well, so we put up the gate across the hallway and opened Kyle's bedroom door when we went to bed. That seemed to work pretty well. As soon as Kyle got up this morning, he said "gate" and I explained to him why we had the gate up and he seemed okay with the whole deal. Why do we still use a monitor? Because we use fans in both bedrooms to drown out various other noises related to apartment living so we can sleep!

In other news, we're heading to San Diego next week! I know I mentioned it before, but I can't believe it's less than a week away now. We've been reading Kyle a book called "Goodnight Beach" and telling him about the ocean. I think Kevin wants to take him to the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, and the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. I think Kevin wants to go to Legoland, LOL. We haven't been to California in a really long time and I'm excited even though I'll be working. On the plus side, I'm racking up a whole week of comp time! Oh how I love working part time!

Today was a lot of fun for me and Kyle. We watched Rosie, then headed to the Zoo for zoolights. It was a members only night and free for us! We walked around a little, but spent the most time in a big grassy area where they had a steel drum band doing Christmas songs. Oh, how Kyle danced! It was so cute and there were so many kids for him to run around with. Around 7:00 he started asking for dinner. I told him he could have anything he wanted and he requested Peter Piper Pizza. So, we did a late night pizza (for him at least) and I found a lone token for him to play skeet ball. He won 5 tickets and was so proud of them! We went over to the counter to exchange them for a toy. I told him he could have a toy from the bins with a "5" on them because we had 5 tickets. Well, he chose something from the "25" bin, which makes me laugh now because there was a "5" on it, now wasn't there? The girl behind the counter gave him the glow in the dark lizard worth 25 tickets and he was pleased as punch. When we got out of the car at home, he put the lizard on the ground to see if it would run off, LOL!!! I love the way his mind works at this age.

In regards to Christmas, we're planning on staying right here at home. You are welcome to come see us on Christmas Eve, Christmas day, whatever suits your fancy. We'll be in Phoenix at some point, but will be spending the actual holiday at home. Also, if you'd like some ideas for Kyle for Christmas, please check out The Cool Mom Picks blog by clicking on the graphic to the right of my posts or go to Kyle's wishlist.

I did it!

Our camera is MIA, for the second time this year! I'm so flustered not being able to take any pictures of all the cute things Kyle does everyday lately. The other night in the bath tub he learned how to use one of the water squirting toys and every time he squirted himself in the face he would yell out "I did it"! It's really neat to hear him using the correct personal pronouns too.

Kyle is getting really, really tall! I'm often asked "Is he 3" by other moms when we're out and about. Older children talk to him and then come up to me "Can he talk"? LOL. He is a little shy about talking with other people if he doesn't know them, even kids.

We've noticed that Kyle really was listening all those hours we spent reading books to him these past 2 years because now he "reads" to himself from his favorite books almost verbatim of how we read them to him! It's so cute to see him pick up "Goodnight Moon" start flipping pages, and saying the story.

My job is going really well in that I still love it! We will be heading to San Diego the first week of December for my job; I'll be in training sessions most of the time, but Kevin and Kyle will be seeing the sights and playing on the beach.

Basketball

There is something about having a child, loving a child, raising a child that is completely eye opening in a way no one can explain to you; it's something you have to experience yourself. Kyle teaches me things I already know in a new light everyday. I love it!

Tonight we took him to the U of A red/blue game. We took him when he was only 3 months old I think it was, but missed last year, so this was his second time attending. Kevin narrated the game for Kyle and had him shouting things like "Go Wildcats"! Kyle lasted a good 35 minutes and then said he was "all done" and wanted to "go home". Of course, as soon as we're walking out to the car he starts talking about "basketball game" and "go back", LOL. It was his bedtime, so we went home. Maybe next year he'll last through the first half of the game!

He has been singing more lately and reading to himself out loud! So, not really reading, but spouting out the memorized text to the stories that we've been reading to him.

That's all I can remember for now; it's just too late to be working on a good post!

Yes, we're still here and Kyle is still growing up!

Well, you've probably guessed by now (due to the dormant blog) or I've told you that I got the job! Yep, my official title is "academic instructor", but really I'd say I'm more like the English Language Learner coordinator. I work M-Th 8-noon and F noon-4. It's great! I love going to work and Kyle is doing really well having Kevin home with him in the mornings. I'm on salary and could have had benefits, but we decided to stick with Kev's from the university. We still nanny (I say "we" because Kevin is taking care of our morning charge, William).

So, Kyle is amazing, as usual! He counted to 10 the other day all by himself; he was looking out a window at nana's house, counting buses. I was sitting on the bed next to him and it was awesome to hear him count all the way from 1-10 with no mistakes by himself. We don't deliberately count stuff all the time, but we do count the stairs just about every time we go up and down from the apartment. We've seen a lot of family the last couple weeks, and will be seeing a lot more in the weeks to come! Kyle warmed up to his grandparents, aunts, and uncles faster this time than he has in the past. He's been trying new foods lately too. We noticed he likes to lick things (besides food), so we ask him to lick a new food first to see if he likes it, then he'll normally try a bite if the food passed his lick test! It's so cool to see him eating things like trail mix and hummus. He's been asking for tacos lately, and we had no idea where that had come from until Kevin was packing his lunch and as soon as he pulled out the cheese crackers, Kyle started saying "tacos", LOL. Who knows how some associations come about?!?! Kyle has been climbing in to and out of his carseat all by himself lately. He does usually prefer to walk by himself when we're going somewhere, but lately has been asking me to hold him more again. He's getting so heavy, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to carry him around for extended periods of time. The sling still works, but I can't wear it comfortably for near as long as I used to since he's in the 30lb range. This evening we all went and played miniature golf and Kyle loved it! It was his first time and he figured it out quick. He would place his ball near the hole and use a variety of ways to putt it in. He liked all the different water features, caves, and topsy turvy curves of the course. I think we'll definitely try it again as a family outing.

Lastly, I ran my first 5K this morning. Kevin said I came in at 33 minutes, my official time on the website is 35 minutes. In my category (20-29 year old women), I was 26th out of 37 competitors and overall I came in 143rd out of 281 runners. I pushed Kyle in the jogging stroller the whole way! He did awesome and pointed out the dogs, trains, and other kids we saw as we ran along. This is the first truly competitive thing I've done since we first got pregnant with Kyle. I think I'd like to do a couple more races before we try for another baby.

Next weekend is going to be fun: I have a wedding shower, a baby shower, and my 10 year high school reunion! All my favorite girlfriends who I've kept in touch with are coming and I'm so excited to see them.

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)!