22 Months!

Our spunky little lady is two months from turning two!  She's one little fireball, that's for sure!  Now that we've all gotten over the winter 'funk' and we're not sick any more, little Miss H has had quite the personality.  She likes to pick out her clothes, demands nursing sessions, loves shoes, screams if E takes anything from her...  She's definitely falling into the 'terrible twos' fit-throwing, showing my independence stage!  At night after getting her jammies on (which is a current struggle), she picks out a book (by herself) and throws a fit if we don't read a second (or third...) one.  I love her funny little faces at dinner, how she swaggers around the house swinging her little arms and her sweet, sweet little hugs. Though she's opinionated, she's awfully sweet too! She sure loves her Bubba and wants to do anything he's doing.  I love seeing them play together and hearing them laugh with one another.  Miss H is a smart little cookie too!  She knows all her animal sounds, several shapes, many body parts and understands just about anything you ask her to do.  I love hearing her little voice. Her favorite toy is still her Pink Kitty and she sure loves her two blankies...  She's a special one, that's for sure!

GI follow-up:

Good news! We saw the GI specialist last week, had an upper GI x-ray done and follow-up with the Dr.  She was expected to gain 7 grams a day and ended up gaining 11 grams per day!  Her x-ray came back 'normal' except that she does indeed have acid reflux (GERD).  I think it was one of the very first doc appointments where the doc said she looked great, see ya in 3 months!  Our only instructions were to 'keep doing what we're doing'.  So, all around, good news!  Yay!   

Easter 2013

Honestly, Easter this year was sorrowful, but we tried to make the most of it.  Just a year ago, we spent it with Grandma K. We returned from our Spring Break trip Friday evening, barely unpacked, went to bed early and got up the next morning to enjoy the annual tradition of Easter Fest!!  FREE balloons, petting zoo, bounce houses, lunch, drinks and over 20,000 treat-filled easter eggs!  I'm not kidding, 20,000!  The trick is getting there early, parking close and taking off before it gets too hot or busy.  Having gone last year, we knew just what to do.  The kids had a blast and raked in the plastic eggs.  Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny visited our house.  He hid baskets of goodies for each kid and even sweet-filled eggs around the house (tricky bunny!).  After an egg/basket hunt (though rainy and cool), we put on our fancy Easter outfits (E in his seersucker and H in her tights, like good southern kids!) and headed to a local Catholic Mass in honor of Grandma K.  She would have loved the service, the beautiful church and ALL the kids.  We sat in the "family room" which was behind glass windows looking into the sanctuary, as to not disturb the other members with the kids' cries and chatter.  Needless to say, it was packed in there!  It was more like a daycare than Easter Sunday.  We couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation and love that our kids aren't the only ones that insisted on bringing a toy into the service with them.  That afternoon we made a fancy pork tenderloin and garlic mashed potato dinner for the four of us.  It was great just being home, resting and preparing for our routine to begin the next day.

Easter Fest!!

Patiently awaiting 20,000 eggs...

 That bunny sure leaves yummy treats...

...and fun toys!

So good at Mass :)

The best attempt we could get of the two of them together.  You can't tell, but it was also pouring rain at this point (like my burlap pillows and wreath?  Yes, I made them! :)).

Spring Break

We had plans to spend Spring Break in KC seeing friends in STL, family in Columbia and staying with Grandma K for the remainder of the week.  St. Patrick's Day 2013 not only changed the rest our lives, but also our spring break plans.  We packed up the minivan and left for KC a week early.  The news of Grandma K's passing was devastating.  We are still heartbroken.  We has planned to be there to see her just a week later...she told us every day how she was looking forward to our visit.  The drive was long. We stopped in Memphis for the night and then made it to KC the following day, stopping in St. Louis for lunch with friends.  We stayed in the comfort of Grandma K's house (just like she would have wanted us to).  The kids were troopers, watching dvd's, eating fast food and sleeping (with bouts of crying in between, of course).  I've always said that if anything good comes from a death, it's reuniting with family and friends you haven't seen in years!  This was certainly true for this trip.  We saw family who met the kids for the first time and hung out with friends we hadn't seen in years. Here are some highlights from the trip...

The minivan and the dvd player.... (he watched Monsters Inc. about 6 times, in a row!)

McDonald's PlayPlace...every.single.meal. on the road.

Dinner at Stroud's!  Mmmm, fried chicken!

10.5 inches of SNOW!  My dream came true!  The kids weren't thrilled about the cold, but we all enjoyed playing in the snow and snuggling in with family that night.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Watt!

Bath time and bedtime with Grandma W!

The Kaberlien's from New Mexico!

 Easter baskets and swimming with Grandma and Grandpa D!!

A much "needed" trip to Trader Joe's!!

Brunch with "GG" :)

Popcorn and a playdate with the awesome Valleroy family in St. Louis!

All the amazing support we got (and continue to get) from family and friends made everything possible.  We are truly blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.  Hugs to each of you! 

Grandma K

Regina Marie Kaberlein

June 9, 1953 - March 17, 2013

We have lost someone very dear to our hearts.  A mother, a friend and a grandmother.  She was our biggest fan.  She deeply loved her grandchildren, thought of them constantly and did everything she could for them (they were even her inspiration for her fight against cancer).  We talked, emailed, texted or skyped with her almost every day.  She loved listening to the kids voices, seeing their faces, or just hearing about what they had for lunch.  She was constantly sewing, creating, blogging and photographing for/about them.  Every room in her house lined with photos of their sweet, smiling faces.  She had dreams of living closer to us, babysitting and watching the kids grow up.  Even after we moved states away, she still managed to visit every-other month.  Family was the most important thing to her and she proved it too us.  Her positive spirit, beautiful smile and passion for family will  live in our hearts forever.  We miss you SO much Grandma K! 

21 Months

This little girl is growing up too fast!  I love hearing her little voice and sweet laugh.  She's quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever laid eyes on (yes, I'm a little biased).  Her sweet little blonde curls, gap in her front teeth and deep blue eyes just melt my heart.  She might be "tiny" or "petite" but she sure has a huge heart.  Along with being beautiful, she's a smart little thing too!  She knows all her body parts (even her elbow!) and is very good at listening and following directions.  She's a little hard to understand vocally, but tires SO hard to communicate with us (she points to her teeth when she's hungry for example and says "nak" snack).  Her speech is becoming more and more clear.  I love how she says "eh-ya-goh" (here ya go), "okay", "bubba", "yay", "blah" (blankie), "key-key" (pink kitty), "wing" (swing) and, of course, "mama."  She has other words, but these are just some of my faves.  The other day she actually said "shoe? go ahside, wing?"  So sweet.  

Unfortunately, we're still dealing with doctors and the never ending battle of her petite size and her health (she was 20 lbs 4 oz at the visit). Strangers and friends constantly mention how small or "petite" she is...which is hard for me, I don't know why.  I guess I have mom-guilt about the whole thing and think that she's small somehow because I'm responsible for feeding her...I know that's not the truth, but I can't help but take it personally when people call her little (I'm still nursing her 4-5 times/day).  At the start of this month (March 8th) we met with a pediatric Gastroenterologist (GI) doctor at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.  The meeting was simply a consultation to discuss her weight/growth issues, her medication, her reflux and our next steps.  We also met with a nutritionist (who said that feeding her ice cream 4 meals a day was fine! Which is her current fave!). The doctor recommended an upper GI x-ray and follow-up exam (which are both at the end of next week) to figure out what's going on in her little tummy.  I'll keep you posted.  As of now, she seems to be doing fine on her meds and things appear to be under control.  Keep you fingers crossed....

Stinker!  Waiting for the doctor...