Ivy's new trick

Someone, or other, or all of us, has been sick for more than a week now. You can tell there've been a lot of runny noses because my 14 month old loves to wander around the house doing this:

Treehouse Museum

We love the Treehouse Children's Museum. Kezie has a season pass, and we go often. We love having tea parties in England, eating Sushi in Japan, and putting on puppet shows in Medieval Europe.

Kezie all dressed and ready to fly

Tea party

Ivy in the Oval Office. I think she's giving an impassioned speech to the American people.

Kezie's ready to go to work as President

Prematurity Awareness Day

Today is prematurity awareness day. Preventing premature birth is a favorite cause of mine, so I'm answering the March of Dimes' call to blog about it.

Ivy is just over a year old today, happy and healthy and doing just fine. Exactly one year ago she was in the NICU, she weighed between two and three pounds, and she was learning to eat and breathe and regulate her body temperature.



Ivy's early birth was not preventable with our current level of medical knowledge. I had a condition called HELLP syndrome, and she had to be born so that we could both survive.

A lot of premature births are preventable. Smoking during pregnancy is a cause of premature birth. Lack of dental care is another cause; gum disease has been linked to premature birth and low birth weight. Lack of prenatal care is a big problem; moms can't afford it, or are trying to hide a pregnancy so they don't seek it, or they don't realize that it is necessary.

As sad as those causes are, nothing makes me more angry than the doctors who induce labor early, for their convenience. Induced labor is harder on mom and baby, leads to emergency c-sections more often, and is sometimes done before baby is ready to come out. In the U.S., roughly ten percent of premature births are due to early, unnecessary, inductions and c-sections. These are performed by doctors who are supposed to help, not hurt, their little patients.

My tiny little baby doesn't seem to have any lasting effects from her early arrival in the world. We are lucky that some potential problems with her growth were caught early and monitored, and that when I developed preeclampsia at six months my midwife caught it and kept an eye on it. Preeclampsia tends to run in families, so I hope that by the time my daughters have children, we know what causes it and can prevent or treat it. I also hope we get better at preventing premature birth from other causes so that more little babies are born healthy.

A year went so quickly

We had Ivy's birthday party on Halloween, which seemed fitting because I sometimes forget that Halloween isn't actually her birthday. All of the scary stuff; the onset of HELLP, the ambulance, and her birth happened on Halloween or just after midnight. I'm glad to say this Halloween went much better.





Almost everyone from both families crowded into our house (Uncle Davin and Grandpa Leon were missed) for food and to watch Ivy down her first cake. Costumes were encouraged, though I didn't get pictures of everyone (share, people! That's what Facebook is for.) People went all out, though; the costumes were fantastic.





It has been pointed out that this picture showcases three of Mom's grandchildren; Kezie, Ivy, and Alli's Bean.
My little butterfly loved the attention and the cake. She got pretty carried away and required a post-cake bath.







We went trunk or treating with the Averett cousins that night. Here is my little witch Kezie having a great time. She's wearing a moustach courtely of either Mario or Luigi, who looked suspiciously like her uncles Mike and Dan.

dress up

Kezie has been watching rhythmic gymnastics, and practicing in the family room. She wanted a costume, and we played around with some costumes for a while. This is what we came up with. She looked so grown up, it kind of freaked me out. Then she hammed it up for the camera for a while.

Motherhood can be so much fun

WARNING: gratuitous potty story.


Kezie was throwing a fit about something or another, which is why I didn't notice her little sister creeping into the bathroom, or reaching for the little training potty. Successful in her mission to knock over Kezie's (just-filled) potty, Ivy grinned up at me, hands, belly, and bathroom floor soaked in pee.
I got a towel thrown over the mess and tossed the baby into the tub. This caused another screaming fit from Kezie because her sister was taking a bath without her. Shooed Kezie out of the bathroom to avoid further mess, and found Ivy had already taken off her own diaper (new trick; I'm so proud) which was full, and not just with pee. There were streaks and clumps all over the tub, and up the sides because she was trying to climb out. Got her hosed down, the tub hosed down, stepped over the original mess into the hallway where I was greeted by a still screaming toddler.

Tossed the kids into their respective rooms for naps, both wailing at the top of their lungs. Went to take out the garbage in preparation for the gross cleanup that was coming, and broke the garbage can.

Then the power went out. There is no light in that bathroom.

I decided this was a message from the heavens to give up for a while and take a nap.

Which I did.

OK.

Let the regularly scheduled insanity commence.

Little partners in crime

Who? US?

Yes, them. These two are such good buddies. I love going into their room at night, when they talk and giggle themselves to sleep. I don't love going into their room when Kezie has climbed into Ivy's crib, taken apart the mobile that Ivy loves to look at, and is helping her little sister throw the pieces around the room.

Lately, Kez has taken to opening the gate to let Ivy into parts of the house that she shouldn't be in. Today, Ivy was halfway down the stairs before Shawn and I both caught her, running from different directions. She was fine, but it was scary.

Ivy after a long day of getting into things she shouldn't.

She can't crawl on all fours yet, just army crawl. Last night, I left her in the downstairs family room so I could start some laundry. I finished, and she wasn't in the room. I found at AT THE TOP of the stairs. She's somehow managed to pull herself up six stairs that quickly. Bout gave me a heart attack.

Guide to speaking Toddler

It's nearly impossible to figure out what a toddler is saying without a decoder. So I'm providing this handy guide.

Fine Print: may only apply to toddlers named Kezie. All words are subject to change without notice.

Gorilla: May mean either gorilla or umbrella.
It's raining outside, I need a gorilla

Mr. Scott: I just forgot
I Mr. Scott to put my books away

Eat meal: oatmeal
For breakfast, I want eat meal

The Wee-hab: this is Kezie's favorite video on YouTube. It's the Rehab number from the TV show Glee. This video also features "princess dresses"
I want to watch the princess dresses and the wee-hab

Drawing thing: a magna doodle, or similar product
I am going to bed and I need my drawing thing.

Trunker: trunk of a car
The broken red car has a messy trunker.

Banka-let: Blanket
I need by duck banka-let

Grandma Wheat: Grandma Marie

Squeaker (also, The Sqeaker): cousin Mileia Averett
This is derived from the squeaky shoes she wears, which Kezie finds fascinating. And Becky, I'm sorry if I spelled her name wrong.

Burst: First
Burst I need something to drink.

Dolla-fin: dolphin
I want to play with my dolla-fin puzzle.

Care of me: carry me
I'm tired and I want you to care of me.

We headed to Roosevelt last weekend to hang out with Shawn's fam; I took off with the sisters-in-law for a girls' night, the kids and grown-up kids lit fireworks, there was a marathon Risk game

And a tractor. A really loud tractor.

At three a.m.

In the field next to Shawn's brother's house.

Mowing hay.


I am, as we all know, a city slicker. I couldn't see what was making all the noise in the middle of the night, and I had no idea what it could be. Poor Kezie was kept awake too, and Ivy kept tossing and turning. Add to this loud and unidentified sound: mice scritching, cats fighting, and diesel trucks driving by at all hours, and you can imagine how much sleep I got that night.

They're always telling me that the city is too noisy and crowded. This is why I just smile.


The rest of the visit was fun. Ivy met her Grandpa Leon for the first time. The girls had fun on our night out without the kids (thanks, girls!) Kezie got to be terrified of cows and chickens up close. The black spot was that my camera decided to announce that it was out of batteries about five minutes after we arrived. My love affair with that camera has definitely ended. We are no longer friends.

Trip to Logan

We made our annual summer trip to Cache Valley last week. Shawn has paperwork to fill out with the student loan office every summer, so we use it as an excuse to head up there and spend the day visiting some of our favorite Cache Valley places. We eat at the Bluebird, get ice cream at Charlie's, and stop at all the food outlets and factory stores that we miss.

It was fun to take Kezie on campus and show her the big school where Mommy and Daddy went. It's the first year she's been old enough to begin to understand what that means. While Shawn did paperwork (two more years of teaching and his loans are completely forgiven!) I took the girls around and showed them some of the buildings where Shawn and I spent most of our time.

Future Aggies?

3 Years Old

I asked Kezie what she wanted for her birthday, and all she would tell me was, "Cake." When pressed, she specified; "Pink cake." That was all she would say.

I decided to make her a princess castle cake, and found a model that looked pretty easy to copy. It was my first decorative cake, but it turned out ok. Mostly, it was neat how much Kezie liked it. She got really excited when she saw her "pink princess castle cake!"





It took a long time, four cake mixes, three batches of frosting, and I had to buy a new cake pan, but it was fun to make. Mostly, I love that she loved it.

Kezie got to see a lot of family this weekend. Grandma Marie and Grandpa Everett came with Aunt Beth and her cousin Ellen for a couple of days. Kezie loved this, because playing with her cousins is on the list of her very favorite things to do, and having grandparents and an aunt around to pay attention to her makes it even better. Grandma and Grandpa Knighton were here, and Aunt Britt, Aunt Alli, and Uncle Davin, who are all also among her very favorite people. Overall, I think Kezie had a great weekend.

A birthday present:
She also got books, clothes, a fun food playset, a giant bouncy ball, a magna doodle, and some spending cash. Plenty for a three year-old. She had a great weekend, and we have great family who celebrated the event with her.

Did someone give this kid caffeine?

Ivy entertaining herself

Wheeee

Kezie learned a new trick


She spent about an hour doing somersaults in the living room yesterday. Shawn and I were dizzy just watching her.

Ivy is still growing at an astonishing rate. She is no longer on preemie formula. Yay for her, and yay for my budget!

She is grabbing everything in sight and trying to eat it.




Poor kid can't figure out why she can't get those fish in her mouth. She did get her mitts on some garlic bread today, and ate it so fast I couldn't believe it.

Yardwork

Being bitten by a lot of black ants at the same time kind of hurts.

On the plus side, my front yard is starting to look pretty good.

Kez and the cous

Kezie's favorite part of Snowbird was her second cousins. She loved playing with them, eating with them, and watching movies with them. Payton is one of her favorite people ; she wouldn't eat a meal unless he was in the room with her.

It rained THE WHOLE WEEK. Finally on Friday we got a morning of sunshine and ran outside to take advantage of it

Kezie playing at the park with Payton, Paige, and Kali.
Chilling with Aunt Alli. Both girls loved having Alli and Davin around all week.

Little Fishie

The girls and I spent four days at Snowbird last week. My family has been going since before I can remember (I think since before I was even around) so it's fun to see the next generation get into being there.

Swimming is a central activity, and Ivy took to the water like a mermaid. She kicked, she splashed, she went under the water without protest.


She swallowed water, she spun around in her little floatie. She had a great time.

Yardwork and potty training

Potty training day 5. Going really well, as long as we are at home. Kezie loves the extra attention she is getting.

She loves the yard. She knows the names of the flowers (though she can't say chrysanthemum) and she likes the freedom to ride her little bike around. I'm liking the yard, though it will be better when we get rid of the waist high weeds in the backyard. It's been three weeks, and I'm still working away at it. It turns out I have two large grapevines. We also have an occasional garden snake.


Ivy update: still cute.

Wedding

Mom get married Friday! We welcome Ted Knighton to the family.

I didn't get many pictures at the wedding; I hope someone will share.

I only got one of Mom and Ted. it's not a great pic, but its what I have.


The ceremony was really nice. they really did look happy, just not in the picture. I managed not to cry, but only because I was holding Ivy, who was grinning away at me.

Kezie had a great time with Ted's granddaughter, Emma. She hasn't stopped talking about her; she says Emma is her best friend. Since they're stepcousins now, they'll probably run into each other again.

It's very weird that Mom is now Pam Knighton, and lives somewhere else, but it's a good weird. They came to visit today. Ted helped Shawn fix the curtain rod I bought today. I thought I was going to have to take it back. He's handy to have around. I guess we'll let Mom keep him!

The mind of a two year old, part 3

Shawn said today, "I have a thought."

Kezie tried to copy him. Her Ts often get left off the end of her words.
"You are a so."

He tried again, "I have a thought."

"You are a so."


He corrected her, "A thought."

"A so."

"I have a thought."

"You are an aso."

Of course she didn't know what she said, but it was so funny we cracked up. Poor kid; she had no idea how she sounded.

New phone
Numbers erased
T Mobile evil

Big girl

Ivy in her swing




So let's review.

This was Ivy less than five months ago







This is Ivy now


Holy cow

My poor, sick girls

Both girls are sick. Poor Kezie just stares into space and looks miserable. Ivy is unbelievably happy, for a sick baby. She coughs and sniffles and then smiles. It's really her first illness and she is handling it well.


The sickbedPoor Kez doesn't even want to watch a movie, and she's having trouble keeping anything down. A temp of 102. Poor kid.

No phone

My phone doesn't work. If you need to reach me, send an email and I'll give you Shawn's number. If T-Mobile will cooperate, I will have a phone by the weekend.

Our friend Lilo

Kezie's imaginary friend Lilo appears to have moved in full time. This is Lilo from the movie Lilo and Stitch. Lilo comes with us to the store, and is buckled in the front seat of the car. She is then lifted from the car (by me) and buckled in the shopping cart or stroller (by Kezie). Lilo wasn't feeling well when we took Ivy to the doctor the other day, she she got shots, too. Kezie even walked over to the exam table while the nurse was measuring Ivy and sat Lilo down next to her.

Lilo has her own plate at the table. She has to share Kezie's food, but usually has her own utensils, too. Lilo doesn't seem to talk at all, and doesn't play with Kezie much. Mostly, she is just there for company, I think. She seems quite real to Kezie, which is normal for an imaginary friend. This is pretty cute; we'll see how long it lasts.

Ivy update

Thirteen pounds and healthy. She is more than six times her birthweight!

She's rolling over both ways, trying to grab food off our plates, and getting cuter by the day.

She also loves her big sister.

Kiddos

Kiddo video




Ivy doing her new trick and Kezie striking a pose

Went to Costco for the first time last night.

*shudder*

I've changed my mind. That is what hell will look like.

A little cash

My fellow frugalistas:

Epinions.com is paying for reviews this month. They pay up to a dollar fifty per review, and you can write more than one. Anyone can review, and there are all kids of things to review: books, movies, electronics, cars, baby stuff... They do things like this often, so even if you don't want to review anything now, check back next month.

I've reviewed probably forty products in the last few years and made more than fifty bucks doing it. It's a way to earn a little bit of unexpected cash. Each review has to be at least two hundred words, and a staff member has to decide that it is a helpful review. The complete rules are on the website.

Just thought I'd pass it along in case anyone is interested

Hey, Britt

If you see this,

Happy Birthday!

You can now drink, gamble, and do all sorts of things you shouldn't and won't, anyway. happy Birthday

Best buddies, mostly

Kezie loves her "baby sister Iby." She is trying to teach Ivy to roll over, talks to her, and helps me pick out her clothes. I've found her trying to pick up the baby more than once.

Ivy loves her big sister Kezie. She is all smiles when Kezie is around, and her only real belly laughs have been for her big sister.

I don' t know what happened on Saturday. The girls were in their room, on Kezie's bed. I'd left them sitting there while I went to comb my hair. I could hear them, and they were talking and babbling at each other like they usually do. Shawn was in the living room. Everything was fine, and then we heard a little thump. Kezie shrieked and ran from the room. Shawn got to her first, and she was crying, "I don't want a baby sister! I want a dolly!" She wasn't hurt, but she was angry. Ivy looked perfectly innocent. This seems to be the first of those sister mysteries that their parents will never know.

Kezie

No news on the potty training front, but two days ago, i found her changing her own diaper. She was struggling to put the new one on, and called to me for help. I thought she had been napping, so I assumed her diaper was just falling off (which happens, as anyone who was at our house on Easter can verify) and came to help. She very proudly showed me that she had taken off the old diaper, wrapped it up, and put it on top of the diaper pail. Then she got a new diaper and was trying to put it on.

The same day, Kezie came up to me and asked, "Are you my best friend?" She's asked a couple of times since. I have no idea where this came from.

Happy Ivy

I've been trying to load a video of Ivy smiling, but it won't work. She has a big huge smile, and she inherited her dad's dimples. Mostly she smiles at her sister, but sometimes at Mom and Dad, and even a stranger in the waiting room. She's more than nine and half pounds; exactly four and one half times her birthweight. She is on the percentile charts now (third percentile for height and weight) so she's catching up!

I had never heard of late onset colic, but apparently it exists, and my baby has it. She is super fussy for at least a couple of hours every night. The severity varies; some nights it's not too bad and only lasts half an hour, and some nights she screams for two or three. I suppose I was doomed to have a colicky baby, after my own infancy. We are crossing our fingers that she grows out of it soon.

House

We have a house! Well, we will soon. Our offer was accepted, and now we just have to finalize the loan, get the place inspected and appraised, and jump through all necessary hoops while dotting I's and crossing T's.

I was going to post the link to the real estate listing, but I think that's TMI for a blog that anyone can see, since it includes the address. If there is anyone who is curious and wants to see pictures, I can give you the url.

We're already dreaming of wall colors and tile patterns; we don't do too much to fix it up at first because we lack both the time and the money. It really doesn't need a lot of work, it's just that most of the flooring and appliances are original from 1975. They're in really good shape for being thirty five years old, but really really ugly.

Shawn and I couldn't think what to do to celebrate when we got the news. I think that when I am holding the keys in my hand, it will really sink and I will really believe it. I'll probably do a happy dance. Then we'll go to work.

House hunting

Aaaaarrrggghh!

We found what appears to be the perfect house on Saturday. It feels like it's been waiting for us to find it; it's almost exactly what we want, and the absolutely perfect price. In fact, the price dropped three days before we toured it, right into our original budget.

The problem with a house this great, is that someone else is bound to find it, too.

We tried to make an offer on Saturday, but America First doesn't do anything mortgage related on Saturdays, so we had to wait until Monday. Someone else made an offer on Saturday.

Luckily for us, the other offer is contingent on the buyers selling their house. The owners are giving them until Thursday. If the other potential buyers have until thursday, and then the house in ours.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Growing

Two months ago, she fit across the bottom of this swing. Now she has to sit up to fit in it. Ivy is well over eight pounds now. She sleeps well, is only fussy in the evenings, and has survived multiple attacks by her older sister, including a biting incident that left some pretty deep marks. She's a tough kid.

Kezie is back to normal. No constant tantrums, just the usual occasional two-year-old temper flareups. Shawn reminds me that she has done this before; just before she hit every major milestone as a baby, Kezie had several days where she was really really grumpy. We aren't sure what milestone she hit this time, though her articulation and sentence structures have gotten much clearer and more complex in the last week or two. I was hoping she was having a potty-training related breakthrough. So far, no such luck.