ABCs

My child who never wanted to talk....

Shower pics....

I have a friend giving me more, but here is Lyndee's post and you can see some of the cute things that she did...

CLICK HERE

Great new snack....and other food things...

I am very happy with my current weight gain in this pregnancy. As mentioned before, I gained 60 pounds with Kai, and with 8 weeks to go, I'm just sitting at 30 lbs. So...there is NO way I'll hit 60 again - YAY!!

To celebrate this "lack" of weight gain (I should say lack of *excess* weight gain), I've decided to start making some recipes that I know once this baby comes I won't be able to eat. I star recipes that come across my google reader, bookmark sites or save emails all of the time. Most of the time these recipes are not "diet" friendly so I can't make them at home. If you don't know, my husband will not eat something that I can't provide nutritional data for...no, I'm not kidding. SO, since I know that I'll head straight back to Weight Watchers in about 3 months, I'm making these recipes. Luckily, some aren't as good as I was expecting....others are toooooo good!

I've been following a high school friend via her blog for awhile now. Recently, she started posting her menu plans, which I LOVE! (who doesn't need weekly ideas??) Then she started a food blog which I also love. Have I told you how I love food?? Anyway, she posted this great recipe for a snack mix for kids (and adults). I just tried it and it makes a TON and the good thing is it takes Kai awhile to eat out of his snack bowl since he's digging for his favorites first. Enjoy!

- 12 oz honey roasted peanuts
- 5 cups rice chex
- bag of m&m's
- 16 oz pretzels
- 14 oz box cheese-its (parm & cheddar were GREAT!)
Mix together and store in airtight container.

SO. BLESSED.

My sister-in-law threw me possibly the prettiest shower I have ever been to yesterday. I have to say that originally I wanted nothing to do with a shower. I always heard that you don't have second baby showers. It wasn't until I found out that I was having a girl that I okayed the shower. I'm hoping that she'll post pics of everything that she did or that someone gets me pictures soon because words can't describe it.

What did I get? Mainly clothes, which I very much needed. I also scored a beautiful car seat cover, double stroller, second video camera monitor, iPod dock, diapers, wipes, sheets, decor, um.......I'm forgetting SO much. I love everything, very very few returns this time around and those that I am returning are mainly because of size/season issues.

I think what caught me most off-guard was the outpouring from my friends and family. I literally "needed" nothing and told them all that if they asked, but still the fact that they wanted to come and bless me is SO humbling. I'm so thankful. SO thankful that I finished all 45 Thank You notes in record time this afternoon because I want to make sure each person really knows how wonderful they are. :)

Will update this with pictures when I get them.

Naps.

So, for you parents, when did your child finally drop the nap?

Slowly but surely our naps are disappearing. No one values nap time more than I do, I swear. When Kai was a baby, I was regimented about nap schedules. As he grew older, I have continued to enforce nap time, even if it means leaving places early or not going at all. Yes, I believe sleep is THAT important!

Up until about a month ago Kai was still taking three hour naps. Yes, some days were harder to get him to GO to sleep than others, but if your child finally falls asleep and sleeps that long, clearly they aren't ready to give it up. Some time in February, Kai drastically cut his nap in half to an hour to an hour and a half MAX. AK! To make matters worse, the only way I can get him to go down is to lay with him until he falls asleep. I swore I would NEVER EVER do that, but I was/am so tired from being in late pregnancy, it is worth it to me to at least get the nap.

Today, Kai napped for 30 min. Ugh. I'm so not ready for this stage to end and even more so because of the arrival of Kenlee!!

Spring Break!

What a week!!!

Spring in Texas is wonderful. I have been LOVING this weather. Highs in the 70's all week and nothing but sunshine. Yes, I LOVE a good rain (esp. TX spring storms), but this weather is fantastic. Last weeks cold and rainy seems like a distant memory!

I think I appreciate the nice weather more and more as Kai gets older because it means more and more time outside. We have been outside at lease 5-6 hours ALL WEEK!! I'm amazed that we've done it, but its been great. Usually, I get bored, especially with being as big as I am right now and not being able to "play" as well. But, since Kai as at the age where he can run around and handle all the playground equipment, we are good to go! Luckily, I have met a lot more stay-at-home moms and that has really helped, too.

My favorite day of spring break had to be Wednesday. We went to MiMi and Poppy's (my parents) house to play outside. M & P's house is always relaxing for me and fun for Kai. They have this wonderful "side yard" around the driveway that is gated. So, I get to sit back on the lounge chair and Kai can play play play. Wednesday, I was sunning my belly while Kai played in the sand box and the *gasp* the pool!

But, even after all the fun we are having, Kai keeps asking when he gets to go back to school. :) I love how happy he is there.

Kai-isms

Okay, so Meg is always posting her daughter's -ism's and I love to read them. So, hear are a few things heard recently in my house.

While praying one night after a hair cut: "Thank you Jesus for my hair because it looks so cool."

"I want to hug that girl." When wanting to hug my big belly. (MELT!!)

Tonight in bed:
Kai - "I'm not handsome"
Me - "Yes you are!"
Kai - "No, I'm not handsome right now. These aren't handsome clothes these are PJs."
Me - "Well, I think you are always handsome"
Kai - "I'll be handsome again tomorrow"

OMGosh - how can I not think of anything else???? This will possibly be the most updated part of my blog.

Speech

*** I started this blog on 6/23/08; Wow and ooops! This is a long one, but I want to record it. I'll probably edit the heck out of it later.

Ah, where to even begin. And WHY OH WHY did I not document it all?? Excuse me if this get long and winded, but its close to my heart today (well, everyday, but today its really on my mind). I feel so guilty it wasn't documented because its been all so amazing.

At 2 years old, Kai said 'mama' 'dada' and 'nana' and never consistently. His favorite word was "eh." If we were to try to get Kai to say a word he would shrug away and get frustrated. So, he wasn't even attempting verbal communication outside of "eh." Being two and not communicating is frustrating for all parties. We were frustrated that we couldn't understand his desires, he was frustrated that we couldn't understand him, he melted down frequently (because of not being able to communicate). I was hard to discipline during that time...how do you differentiate between tantrum and frustration?!?

I had long suspected a problem, since about 15 months but I was always told to wait until two, especially since Kai is a boy. It was very easy to notice that he was falling behind, but my doctor never seemed to worry. Kai was also excessively drooling. I'm not gonna lie, it was (is) gross. If he bends over, it FLOODED out.

At two we finally received a referral to Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). We received this referral in September. In October I had our first meeting with Agent #1. She came out and did a long evaluation of Kai's behaviors with me. This was a written eval just to see if he qualified. While answering the questions, I couldn't believe the signs we missed. Although its been two years I remember reading the "excessively drools" "over-stuffs mouth" "gags while eating" and wanting to cry. I remember thinking, why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't I trust my instinct.

At this initial evaluation, Kai was accepted to the program. The next step was to set-up a full evaluation with him present (he was not at the first meeting). This second meeting would determine the level and intensity of services to be provided to Kai. Agent #1 set-up the second appointment for 3 weeks later. Argh! I was just ready to get started! She suggested I start learning a few signs to try to get Kai to communicate.

That night I started using the "more sign." It didn't take long before Kai was using it (like think MAYBE 2 days). Not only was he doing the sign, but he was saying "mo." WHAT?!? Just like that??

The day came (last week in October) for our full evaluation and I received a called that Agent #1 was suddenly taking leave and we would be being seen by two other Agents for this meeting. It was so upsetting to me that we had to completely re-explain our situation. What a waste of everyone's time.

At the meeting we received referrals for regular ECI therapy (bi-weekly), speech therapy (bi-weekly) and occupational therapy (monthly). ECI requires that you see one of their therapists, hence the ECI therapy. Speech, um, duh we knew we needed it. Occupational was for the drooling and low facial sensitivity symptoms. We were told that Kai was talking/communicating at a 12-18 month old level at 27 months!! However, language comprehension was at the 3 year old level.

Then all was quiet. For a MONTH I waited for them to process paperwork and set-up times; which was even more difficult because I was working 4 days a week. Agent #1 was to be my ECI therapist. Can I just say we never saw her again and leave it at that? We went through THREE agents between Mid-November and beginning of January. Being seen bi-weekly, plus holidays, you do the math....I was basically just getting to know the Agent before they were replaced. But that isn't all that important....RIGHT?? Let's get back to SPEECH!

My speech therapist calls me the weekend after Thanksgiving. Two and a half months after getting my referral. We schedule for that week. Of course, I feel so hopeless at this point because basically all I have spent two months doing is telling people why we are where we are.... Does know one else realize we are losing time??

Jen starts coming to our house every other week. I squeeze as much as I can out of her at every meeting. I'm listening to everything she's doing during these times so I can do them when she's gone. This is honestly where I wish I had blogged the whole thing so I could remember what all she did. Our focus was first to get Kai to talk...to try to makes sounds...to attempt ANYTHING vocally. After that our goal was to form those sounds into direct words. (I'm sure there is very technological terms for what I'm describing, but forgive me its been a LONG time).

She didn't come often, but somehow between the first week in December and the 2 week in January, she gave my son a voice. Yes, we had all been working on it, but something during that time click and Kai started trying.

By the time Kai and I pack up to live in Florida for the month he has about 32 solid "words." I put words in quotes because to most people they didn't sound like anything. To me they were words...sounds that he associated with objects and used on a consistent basis. My job was to encourage the use of those "words."

I have several very specific things I remember happening in Florida. It was the first time since Kai was six weeks old that I had been with him 7 days a week. I worked so hard stressing all that I was saying, communicating, etc. I'll never forget the day we were driving to the gym and he looked at the window at a strip center and said, "castle." I wouldn't have believed it had I been alone, but my friend was in the car with me was just as shocked. This word was the first unprompted word Kai ever said. It was the first word that I don't remember teaching him. Still give me goosebumps.

Another very important thing I remember in Florida still makes me cry. We were enjoying another wonderful day at the park when a kid, maybe 4, came up and was playing along side Kai. He asked Kai his name, but when Kai responded he couldn't understand him (and in his defense it didn't really sound like Kai). After the back and forth for a minute I finally stepped in and said, "His name is Kai." The kid looks at me and says, "Why does he talk like that and why is he drooling so much that's gross." I wanted to shield my sons ears and run away. I wanted to smack the other child (yeah, i said it), I wanted to cry... This couldn't go on much longer. It wasn't fair. Why my kid??

I called my ECI Agent #3 to tell her I was returning and ready to start services back up...and honestly to get some encouragement. Well, Agent #3 was no longer with ECI. This did it. I called the management, I called my speech therapist, and finally I called my doctor. My only other option was to start Our Children's House by Baylor. ECI was free, OCH not so much, and when you need to be seen weekly, that adds up, but I was at the breaking point. I wanted results and consistency.

I met with Agent #4 and my speech therapist while prepping to meet with OCH. The good news was, while away Kai doubled his vocabulary. The bad news was, non of it sounded right. ECI therapist ONLY come to your home, so after a while it became hard to get Kai to focus enough on his speech.

March we switched to OCH. Consistent, once a week (although they wanted us to come twice a week), therapy at their facility. At the first meeting I saw the difference. They forced Kai to work. The first task was to get his B sounds down. B's sounded like Gs. I've never seen him so upset. It was heartbreaking watching him get so frustrated, looking at me like "why are you doing this to me" wishing I could do it for him. I went home that day and cried o my mother-in-law. Why my kid??

We kept up the therapy. It slowly but surely started getting easier. Kai started correctly naming objects, started making appropriate sounds. In May he started putting two and three phrase sentences. The day even came where I actually waited in the lobby while he went in alone.

In June, I quit my job to stay home. Suddenly Kai exploded with talking. I'm talking overnight using three to four word phrases. He'd say things that Chad and I never knew he knew....the child could count to ten but couldn't say it! He knew the name of every train in his train box, he knew the majority of colors....things literally flowed from his mouth.

On the 28th of June, the day I started this blog entry, I walked into therapy and asked that Kai be reevaluated. I just suddenly had this feeling that we were up to speed. Kai met or exceeded all of his goals. He was speaking right on target and able to nail all appropriate sounds. I was floored.

After 7 months of therapy: 4 at ECI and 3 at OCH - we mastered our goal.

When Kai entered preschool in September, I was nervous. I was still scared about other kids and what they might say. That fear wasn't helped along when they moved Kai up a class (from old 2's to younger 3's). But, I'll never forget the day Kai's teacher told me that he was so smart and chatty. She also made a comment about how clearly he speaks. I had to laugh and then tell her about the delay. She was shocked and said she'd never guess.

Today, when I'm driving and my sweet child will not stop talking I have to remind myself how long I prayed for that. I cherish each phrase that comes out of his mouth. I still get super excited when he tells me stories. I will never forget the road to get where he is.

Changes...

It's so funny how time changes a person. I was rereading my cloth diapering blog thinking, people probably think I'm insane. Then I was thinking that my next post would be about midwifery....which would REALLY have people thinking I'm crazy. Not that either of those is "weird" in and of themselves, but if you have known me even for 5 years, you'd know how strange it is that I have converted.

I used to pride myself with the medicine cabinet I had. You needed a drug to fix something chances are pretty darn high I had it. If I didn't have what I wanted, I'd call the Dr. and get it called in. Today, I call the healthfood store down the street or check my Prescription For Natural Healing book.

Just funny how we change...

Now seriously, if I decide to homeschool (not that there is ANYTHING wrong with it - just not Chad and I's thing), please call and check on me. :)

Cloth Diapering - No Pins Required

Before I got pregnant, quite a few moms on my mom's boards started to use cloth diapers. Personally , I thought they were all insane. I mean, cloth diapers, pins, laundry, what about the smell??

Then I started seeing pictures of these cuties in their cloth diapers....wait a minute? Where are the pins? What about the folding?? As it turns out cloth diapering has come a LOOOOONG way since our mommas did it.

Back in December I started doing the math on what I needed to start buying and how the new baby would effect my current budget, etc. (hello, i'm a numbers girl). It was then I started thinking about cloth diapers again. How many do you need? What size? What kind?

It turns out for about $600 I can diaper my child infant to potty training. Say WHAT? It doesn't take an accountant to figure up THOSE savings. So then the real research began. I needed to convince myself that it wasn't nasty, too time consuming, stinky, etc.

Dirty Storage (my very first question): Turns out all you do is buy two of these PUL liners and put them in regular lidded trash cans. The liners have a spot for a cotton ball with essential oils to help keep fresh smelling. When changing a diaper, pull out liner (if using a pocket diaper - we'll get to this in a min), throw diaper in pail. That easy. Poop? If fully breastfeeding, poop can go straight to the pail. If solids or formula have been introduced you can buy these liner sheets (look like a dryer sheet) to lay in the diaper. Pick liner up after poop, flush, diaper goes to pail. THAT FREAKING EASY.

Washing: Washing occurs every 1.5-2 days depending on the amounts of diapers you have in your stash. Generally, you won't want to wait past that because it will smell eventually (heck, my diaper geniene used to stink). To wash, dump pail liner contents into washer, put pail liner on top. Rinse cold, full hot wash cycle, rinse, dry. Again...THAT EASY.

Prep: After drying, most people say to stuff pocket diapers with liners that day to have ready to use.

Now, types of diapers, I'm only going to focus on what I plan to use and why.

Infant Stage: For infant stage hands down my friends have recommended Kissaluvs Size 0 fitted diapers and Thirsties covers.

For these particular diapers you have to have two layers. You have the fitted diaper and then a cover. They are also sized diapers (you have to buy different sizes as baby grows). :( BOO! But wait, I found a website that rents you 24 diapers for three months....the only time that I'll be needing them. YEA!!! This is great for me as this will be my last child and I'm not really wanting to invest in something that will only last 3 months. For $219 and then you return them for a $120 credit toward new diapers. The covers cost about $11.25/each and I'll need about six of them.

3 months on: There are so many options, but I have narrowed it down to buying only One-Size pocket diapers. You need to have a good 12-18 diapers for full-time diapering and every other day washing.

Pocket diapers look just like disposable diapers, but they have a pocket insert that you stuff liners in for extra absorbancy. They are all one piece (well, except the insert). There are more brands than you can imagine out there on the net.

One-Size means just that, you buy one that is supposed to last the entire time. They have additional snaps that change the sizes.

Example of how pocket one-size diapers look:


After meeting with a "diaper lady" I have narrowed down my personal choices to 3 different diapers.

Rumparooz: I like these because they have two gussets by the legs to help contain messes. $23/diaper


Mommy's Touch One-Size Easy Clean: These have snaps of Aplix. The main thing I like about these is that the pocket opens in the front and back so that when it comes time to wash, you don't have to even remove the insert, it automatically comes out in the wash! YAY! $19/diaper


Bum Genius 3.0: I like this one because EVERYONE raves about them. No other reason! Ave $18/diaper



So, do those look very scary to you??? I didn't think so.

My action plan:
Rental $219
Covers for infant $70
Pail Liners $20
5 Bum Genius' FREE (with credit from return of rental)
3 Rumparooz $69
3 Mommy's Touch $54
3 Fuzzi Bunz (oops, forgot to cover them) $54
TOTAL Under $500
(I'm leaving room to buy more of whatever I like best)

Extra costs:
Charlies Soap (supposedly the best for diapers) $130 for 1280 loads (11 cents per load)
Liners (for when we start solids)
Energy & water expense

Toddler Will

Two things I hate hearing right now:

1) I don't want to eat/sleep/got to the park

2) I can't do it

The battle is ON in my house. I hear "I don't want to" more times than I care to count right now. Today I didn't want to go to the park, the store, eat dinner, go potty, take a nap, see talk to mimi, go to the gym, talk to daddy, eat my lunch.....UGH!!!!

My main issue right now is eating. "I don't want to eat" closely followed by "I'm hungry, I want a snack." Like every other mean mother out there I'm choosing to stick to my food guns. Your plate stays until you eat....no longer how late it gets. Can I tell you how many times we have gone and gotten in bed only to get out and finally eat our meal?!?! When will he learn? You are going to eat my food or nothing.

Of course, we got here by slacking off. Since being pregnant I have hardly cooked (that's changing now) so Kai got what Kai wanted for almost six months. Now that I'm cooking and preparing meals again, he wants the fun easy to cook foods he was getting. So yeah, my bad, but I will break this habit.

Restarting?!

How many times can you restart a blog?

I'm going to start to blog again. I've left too much out in the last few years. I just saw that I can import all of my old blogs into one...so I may start with that.

Continuing off of what was last posted...

I'm staying home now. Partly because I couldn't get a job that I wanted, partly because I didn't have to work for the first time, and lastly, I got pregnant again.

Staying at home is nothing like I had thought it would be. I really enjoyed working and thought nothing could be as rewarding, but I was SO wrong. I get close to tears when I think of all the things I missed in Kai's first three years. I will also say this its the hardest freaking job EVER! I'd rather go to work every day than deal with a toddler, but I am CALLED to this job and therefore feel happier (and more stressed and more tired) than ever!