Eight is Great!

Kenley was eight months old yesterday. I cannot believe the time is going by so fast. It seems like just yesterday she was so tiny. This month for Kenley has brought things like rolling over, feeding herself rice puffs, separation anxiety, eating big girl food and just in the last few days she has started to try to get on her hands and knees from a sitting position although we are not there yet. I have thought recently about putting her in a Mother's Day Out program this fall to give her some practice at being away from me. I always said that I wanted a little Mommy's girl and I got exactly what I wished for. She cannot stand to be out of my sight. Very sweet, but very tiring. We changed the position that we place her in the crib, car and tub in an attempt to encourage her to look to the left (to help with the Torticollis). She has been getting better about looking that way. She was so cute sleeping last night.



We had a big day today with Ashlyn's friends. We walked out to get the mail and it turned into a little party including:

PLAYING IN THE WATER HOSE

A BEAUTY CONTEST

GOING TO THE CAR WASH

GOING TO A CAR SHOW

We followed all of this up with some swimming. Whew...there is never a lack of things to do around here. Tonight starts vacation Bible school for Ashlyn. She is very excited about going to the same one she went to last year. Naps are over and so is my break. I will leave you with a picture of our sweet girls. There is nothing that melts my heart quite like these two playing together.

Busy July

Wow. It feels like forever since I have posted. Things have been pretty crazy around here. We had a great July 4th weekend. My whole family came to visit and we just hung out here at the house and then headed to the Kacsmaryks to watch the fireworks. It was nice to not have an agenda and have to go anywhere. We got to swim and Ken and Joe went to ride bikes. Ken doesn't get to do that very often anymore so the weekend was a nice treat for all of us. Ashlyn decided over that weekend that she wanted to drink coffee. I let her have some (about six parts milk, 1 part coffee, 1 part creamer). I thought she would love it, but she only took a couple of sips of it. She did inform me after I gave it to her that the proper place to drink the coffee was at the coffee table. Here is a picture of her with her first cup of "coffee".

The girls and I loaded up and headed to Nana's house last week to help out after her surgery. It was a busy week, but lots of fun. Ashlyn always has a blast at Nana and Paw Paw's house. Due in no small part to the fact that Paw Paw just happens to come home everyday with a surprise for Ashlyn. Something small, but always something.
As soon as we got back Kenley had her first physical therapy appointment with ECI. It went well although Kenley cried the whole time. She was not overly excited about the stretches. The physical therapist recommended that we get an x-ray done of her left shoulder blade and neck to make sure that the problem is only muscular. She said that she could feel some popping in her back during the exercises. Adding that to the fact that Kenley cried more than most babies, she just suggested to be on the safe side. So we will be getting an x-ray soon. Her next PT appointment is in one month. Hopefully we will be able to show them some progress in her development by then. She is still sweet and cute. Here is a picture of her just being cute. (Shelly, please note the bow.)

I started to feel terrible all of a sudden a couple of days ago and I had no idea why. My symptoms were getting worse by the hour. I felt like I had a terrible case of the flu, but didn't have any other symptoms besides terrible joint pain and stiffness and fever with chills. Long story short, I went to the doctor yesterday morning to find out that I have mastitis. Didn't know that you could get mastitis after nursing for eight months, but FYI, you can. And I don't recommend it. It is absolutely miserable. Today is my first day of feeling better, not quite up to par, but I at least I feel like I can function again.
Shelly was a lifesaver yesterday when I couldn't do much but just lay around and be miserable. She brought Avery over and watched all the girls while I went to the doctor and got my medicine. Then she watched them again while I slept yesterday afternoon. I have to tell you, the playdates with Avery and Kenley are getting better and better. They just had a great time yesterday.



Okay, so they didn't have a great time at all. They have both hit the separation anxiety phase. Well, Kenley has been in that phase since birth, but it has gotten worse. If I am around and Kenley is not with me she is heartbroken and if Shelly is around and Avery is not nearby, she is heartbroken. They screamed we laughed. But I was done laughing last night. I wanted to pull my hair out. But today is another day.
Kenley got her first big girl food last night. Rice-A-Roni with chicken and diced carrots. She liked it all, but the struggled with the carrots. We will probably still keep working on it though. She got a huge smile on her face when I gave her the chicken as if to say, "Wow, something with flavor! Keep it coming!" Here is a picture of her first real meal. Typical Kenley she has to look very serious for the camera.
Ashlyn wanted me to take her picture too. I asked her to take her plate to the sink after dinner yesterday and she looked at me with a very serious look on her face and said, "But Mommy, I am sixteen years old!" This is just a quote from The Little Mermaid, but it is still funny coming from the mouth of a three year old. She has watched way to much tv the past few days. But that is what happens when a stay at home mommy gets sick. Thanks for being such a trooper, Bug. We love you so!

Kenley's Visit With ECI

As some of you may know, Kenley was diagnosed with Torticollis at her 1 month checkup. All it means is that the muscles in her neck are tight and her head is tilted from being in that position in utero. Kenley has always held her head tilted to the left and although it has gotten a lot better, she still prefers to hold it slightly tilted and rotate (or look) to the right. At the 1 month checkup, her pediatrician just said to keep and eye on it.
At the 6 month checkup a new pediatrician noticed her head tilt and also commented that she has some facial asymmetry. He mentioned that the right side of her face is fuller than the left. Her right cheek is fuller, her right eye is bigger, and her right ear sticks out more than her left. I had noticed it, but thought that was just how God made her. He said that she would probably be fine, but suggested that I call Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) if I was concerned. Well, after that checkup I began to worry that her inability to roll over was somehow linked to the Torticollis. I also started looking at all of the pictures that I had taken of her since birth and began to notice just how tilted her head was and also noticed the growing asymmetry in her face in later pictures. I decided to call ECI several weeks ago to ease my mind. We set up an appointment for them to come evaluate her this morning.
I have been looking quite forward to the visit from ECI. Until Kenley rolled over last Thursday, I was becoming more worried that the Torticollis was affecting her development. So I was ecstatic to see her not just roll over once, but continue to do it several times last week. It still just makes my heart smile to see her roll over.
ECI sent three people out to evaluate Kenley this morning...the ECI coordinator, an RN, and a physical therapist. The RN evaluated vision, hearing and other developmental skills for Kenley. Then the physical therapist took some time to play with her and take a look at her neck. After 1 1/2 hours of constant stimulation and exercises we finally had the results. The short version is that Kenley is mostly average or above average in most areas of development. If you want the details they are below:
Adaptive (or ablility to use to tools to get something or "plan"): functional age 8 months
Cognitive (or ability to understand cause and effect): functional age 9 months
Fine motor skills: functional age 7 months
Gross motor skills: functional age 7 months
Expressive language (actual "talking"): functional age 7 months
Receptive language (body language): functional age 7 months
Personal/Social: functional age 9 months
All this means is that for the most part Kenley is developing at or ahead of schedule. The only area that she is lacking in is the rolling over department. She is tracking as a 6 month old there. Because of this and the muscles in her neck being tight, the pediatrician qualified her for physical therapy from ECI. So Kenley will have physical therapy for her Torticollis twice a month until the PT feels that she can cut down to once a month and then do away with it completely.
I asked them if the facial asymmetry would be able to be corrected. They explained that the muscle and tissue development in the face was probably permanent, but that the physical therapy would prevent it from getting worse. I was a little sad at first, but as the day has gone on here are my thoughts: Kenley's right cheek is bigger than her left one, but her cheeks are so soft and kissable, thank you God. Her right eye is bigger than her left one, but she can see this beautiful world out of both eyes, thank you God. Kenley's right ear sticks out further than her left one, but she can hear her daddy sing to her, me tell her I love her, and her sister laugh out of both ears, thank you God. God has given us this beautiful healthy little girl and we are so thankful that she is here with us. She is absolutely beautiful with a tender and sweet personality. She is perfect to us.

Kenley On A Roll

Kenley is 7 months old now and has not rolled over...ever...even once...doesn't even try. She just lays there and cries. Ashlyn rolled over from tummy to back the day she turned 3 months old and from back to tummy the very next day. I know that all kids are different, but I can't help but be a little worried that Kenley was behind.
Yesterday I was over at Shelly's house having a playdate with her and our old roommate Christina and her little boy Cason. Christina is a physical therapist so I thought I would bring up Kenley's rolling over issue to her. She showed me how to do some exercises with Kenley to teach her how to roll over by herself. We worked with her for awhile yesterday and I came home with some new exercises and new hope that Kenley might roll over before her 16th birthday.
After breakfast this morning I put her on her mat and started working with her doing the exercises that Christina showed me. I practiced with Kenley for about 30 minutes before taking a little break. After taking a shower, I came back and worked with her for another 15 minutes or so before her morning nap. Shelly came over for lunch today and I told her that I think if I keep practicing with Kenley that she could be rolling over in the next couple of days. I worked with her for about 5 minutes after lunch moving her legs for her showing her that she could do it and then.......




SHE DID IT!!!!! She finally rolled over by herself. I was so excited. It absolutely made my day to see my little Kenley rolling over like a big girl. It was very encouraging to me to see her master this feat. I will blog more next week about why I am so encouraged about this...so stay tuned. Anyway, I put her on her tummy several more times and she rolls over every time now. She probably rolled over 7 or 8 times. I am so proud of her. Go Kenley!

PS. Thank you Christina for all of your help yesterday. This wouldn't have happened without you showing me how to help her.

Ear Confections

There has been a cold going around here for several weeks. Avery got it first, then Kenley, then Shelly, and finally Ashlyn. Somehow I escaped it so far. I had Kenley at the doctor last week with her first ear infection. We got her started on antibiotics and she is doing much better. Ashlyn was getting over the cold when she started telling me that her ear hurt. So...back to the doctor we went. Sure enough, she has an ear infection too. You would never be able to tell that she is sick. The guy at the pharmacy was watching her act like she always does, bouncing off the walls and said, "Well, at least we know this medicine isn't for you!". I informed him that he was mistaken. "She has a terrible ear infection, " I told him. "She is just the happiest kid on the planet." He said, "Wow, I wonder what she is like when she is well!" That is our Ashlyn...always happy. She is so in love with life. I hope she never loses that. She has gotten in the habit of making up excuses for why we should say her bedtime prayers instead of her. Last night she let us know that she couldn't say her prayers because she has an ear confection. Trying not to crack up laughing we told her that she still needed to say her prayers and ask God to make her ear confection to get better. She keeps us laughing all the time. What a blessing.

Summertime Fun

Summer is here. Ken has been traveling and working quite a bit so it has been me and the girls just having fun. Ashlyn is a princess (just ask her, she will tell you) and Kenley is growing by leaps and bounds. Kenley had her 6 month check up last week. She weighs in at 18 lbs 5 oz and is 27 inches long. She falls in the 50% for length and the 70% for weight, so that is why she appears so "soft". She still hasn't rolled over yet. It is almost funny to me now. She sits up completely unsupported and has been for several weeks now. But she can't muster up the will to roll over. One of her latest things she does to entertain herself is stick her tongue out to feel her two new teeth. She thinks it's fun. She is so cute looking around with her tongue sticking out.


We have been hanging out with Shelly and Avery a lot lately. Kenley and Avery have actually started to interact. They pretty much just smile at each other, but they seem to enjoy watching each other. They were having a big time playing with magazines the other day. It is funny to see how different their personalities are: Avery is calm and content to read whatever magazine she is given. Kenley is a typical little sister, "I want it now and you better give it to me. Oh, and if you have something first, I will want that too. And you better give it to me or I will make you pay!" It will be interesting to watch them grow up together.


Kenley has been eating solids for awhile and we have learned that she loves the little rice puffs when she is getting fussy. It's actually us that love the rice puffs when she gets fussy. Rice puffs are a wonderful thing. Rice puffs can buy 5-10 minutes of time that I can use to finish my meal, clean the kitchen or any other tasks going on. We LOVE rice puffs...so much so that we have created a song about them (big surprise, huh Mom)


An Apple A Day (Sort Of)....Ashlyn wanted an apple with her dinner last night. Well, let me back up a little...I started cutting the crust off of her sandwiches a long time ago when her little mouth was so small. She would eat a sandwich and all she could get was crust before she was full. That is my disclaimer for why I started the whole crust-cutting-off routine that I said I would never do. Anyway, I think she has decided that the crust or skin on anything is yucky. She told us last night when eating the apple, "Baby, that's bad," while pointing to the peel of the apple. The following is one of those memories of my child's youth that I think are so cute.


So that has been our last few weeks. Just hanging out, having fun and enjoying these two beautiful girls that God has given to us. You may wonder why I don't have very many pictures of Ashlyn in this post. That's because we can barely get a picture of her anymore. She has lost the concept of remaining still while you take a picture. She is a mess. She is always moving and always talking. Sometimes it makes me bonkers. Thank you Shelly for keeping me sane this week on just one of those days. You are a great friend. I was able to get a picture of Ashlyn with Kenley in the yard. We are so blessed.

Portraits

It was portrait time for both girls yesterday. Ashlyn had her 3 year pictures taken and Kenley had her 6 month pictures. Time goes by so fast. I can't believe my little Ashlyn is three years old now and the time with Kenley is going even faster. Here are their portraits.