New Camper!

Well, we did it. We bought a camper! Kiley's new work schedule is on call until midnight for 12 days on and 2 days off so we figured without a camper we would never do anything this summer. Especially with a potty trained 2 year old and a newborn! We love it! What sold us on it is that there is space in a corner for a pack n play for Kaisley to sleep in without it being in the way. We took it to Bell Rapids in Hagerman over Easter weekend and went fishing with Grandma and Grandpa, Lexi, and Aunt Jenny.

Month 8

This month is a little more difficult. I am running out of energy and feel like my legs are swollen and full of led! My morning sickness is back for good and I was getting sick for almost two weeks straight after I ate. I started to get nauseous at work and overheat. Kiley and I decided that it would probably be best if I took off from work a little earlier than planned for maternity leave. My belly is measuring a little small so we had another ultrasound and will have one more in two weeks to measure his growth. Everything looks good, he will just be smaller when he is born like Kaisley was. Even with a full nights rest I find it hard not to take a nap if the oppurtunity presents itself. I am so glad that Kiley is home because I really need his help these days!

I was going to use a different picture but decided that this one best describes how I feel this month! Tired, hair and makeup wild, and a cranky toddler on my hip! Haha...

Dad is HOME!

Kiley went to Ohio for ATM training again for two weeks. The first week went by really fast for us and we thought it would be a breeze. I even had a yard sale with my friend Jessica. The next week however, was MISERABLE. Kaisley had started throwing tantrums and whining like CRAZY all week. We later decided that it must have been the crazy schedule we had the last few months with Kiley being gone because she eventually went back to normal. It was really hard for me to adjust that last week. I missed Kiley terribly and it was hard not having him there to turn to to help me make parenting decisions about Kaisley. I felt like I needed confirmation that I was doing the right things for her.
Kiley's flight was delayed from SLC to Twin by two hours but we surprised him at the airport. We made a sign that Kaisley colored for him. When Kais finally saw him she squealed and was struggling to get out of my arms to get to him. She was SO excited! She gave him the biggest hug and looked back at his face and held it with both hands and gave him kisses over and over. She was the showstopper of everyone at the airport! I started crying and wished that I had it on film. She really missed her Dad!

waiting in the car for the flight

running around

so cuddly with her Dad

finally together again!

Kaisley at 21 Months

Kaisley is a busy, busy girl!
She loves:
APPLES
COLORING
KOHL
MOM & DAD
SINGING ABC'S
SINGING ITSY BITSY SPIDER
COUNTING TO 10 (sometimes skipping 4 and 7)
SESAME STREET (or "sesee")
DRINKING FROM A CUP
STRAWBERRY MILK
BUBBLES
DIRT & ROCKS
RUNNING
BABY LAUREN
BOOKS!
We have our hands full with this little girl!

Dad reading to Kais and Kaila

so excited to be outside at the park

coloring

loves to help with baby Lauren

counting rocks

ate all the apples before she touched anything else

pretty girl

Easter card and stickers from Aunt Laura and Nick

Month 7

This month was smooth sailing! Everything went great, my sickness was gone, and I craved relatively healthy foods. The baby moves a lot and I started to feel his hiccups!

Potty Training

A few weeks ago we decided to start potty training Miss Kaisley. We bought her big girl panties (which she was really excited about), a seat to sit on the potty, and stickers. We tried for two whole days and couldn't get her to go once and she had a ton of accidents. We decided she just wasn't ready and that we would wait a few weeks until we had a quiet weekend to try again. Well, last Wednesday she told me she needed to go potty so I put her on the toilet and SHE WENT! She was so thrilled with herself and LOVED the stickers she got. She was especially happy to get back into her big girl panties. She only had one accident that day at the babysitters while I was at school and one accident the next day when dad picked her up after work but hasn't had an accident since! The first few days we didn't put her in pants because we thought it would help her understand she wasn't in a diaper, but even when she would wake up with a diaper still on she wanted to go in the potty so we put her back into pants sooner than expected. She tells us when she needs to go and does such a good job. She doesn't like being put back in her diaper for bedtime though. It breaks her heart. I guess she just needed to decide on her own when she was ready!

of course she has her arms full of books

"CHEEEE" as she says it

even not fully dressed I think she is just the cutest!

Kiley was working in Boise but wanted to send me something special to let me know he was thinking about me. He is such a sweetheart.

 

Health News

So when we had our 20 week ultrasound, we were really excited to find out the sex of the baby and to find out if he/she was healthy. We had the ultrasound and found out he was a boy and the technician kept saying how everything looked good and we were thrilled. No bad news. UNTIL the Dr. came in. The Dr. told us that the baby had two calcium deposits on his heart (otherwise known as Echogenic Intracardiac Focus). He told us that it doesn't affect the way the heart functions and that it only occurs in about one in every thousand normal babies. BUT most babies with Downs Syndrome have this condition, and it is considered to be an indicator of the chromosomal abnormality. We were shocked. The Dr. suggested I take a blood test to get a final answer but that would be up to us. We decided to think about it.

They didn't print a picture for us, but here is an example.

Anyone who knows me well knows that when I was pregnant with Kaisley I read four books just to try to prepare myself to be the best parent that I could be. We both knew that our love for our baby would not change, no matter what his condition was. We knew that even if he had Downs, he is a child of God and we would be blessed to be his parents. He would still be active and have a fulfilling life. But we both knew that we would want the extra time before his birth to do the research and better prepare ourselves to parent such a special spirit.

It was about two months from the time of the ultrasound until today when we finally got the test results back: NEGATIVE!! We are so overjoyed, and know how blessed we are to have two healthy children. This has given us a new perspective on being parents and we hope to become better from it.