Went to the Country Merchantile for some pumpkin patch photos. Mom snapped this.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
A Few Camping Photos
Not that I have a bunch of time or anything (whew, just got the kid fed, bathed, bottle, and to bed... then had some dinner and now I'm doing this)...and trust me, this isn't too important, but as promised here it is - A few camping photos.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Another One Handed Model
Glamorous handless model becomes overnight celebrity after posing in bra for disability awareness advert
By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 2:05 PM on 20th October 2010
Blonde ambition: Tanja Kiewitz models in a plunging black bra for CAP48's advertising campaign
Smiling directly at the camera, glamorous 35-year old Tanja Kiewitz, posed for the shoot in a plunging black bra which adorned an advert which read: 'look me in the eyes... I said the eyes'.
The shoot formed part of a newspaper advertising campaign by CAP48, a non-profit organisation which works to highlight disability issues across France and Belgium.
The advert has been so successful that the charity has raised more than €4million from an annual telethon – 10 per cent more than the previous year.
According to the newspaper Global Post Kiewitz has become an overnight star ever since the photograph appeared late last month with magazines and TV crews all across Europe clambering to interview the graphic designer.
'There’s been a huge reaction,' Kiewitz told the newspaper.
'I’ve been besieged on Facebook. Mostly the reactions have been great, really positive feedback. I’ve got journalists from around the world calling; it’s been a bit crazy.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1321945/Handless-model-Tanja-Kiewitz-posing-bra-handicap-awareness-advert.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz13U0MMQx9
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It is interesting for me to read through comments of people's reaction to Tanja's photo. It gives me a glimpse of what people probably think of Kyla when they see her. Some people are extremely rude and say that this is distasteful or repulsive. Some people totally support Tanja and say they wish they had as much courage as she does. These people who are saying they don't want to look at her because of her disability should be thankful they themselves do not have a disability. What a shallow human being to say something like that about someone. I was reading through the comments and Kelly Knox (see my early posts about Kelly - she is a British model who was born with one hand) went on there and posted her comments, basically defending Tanja and supporting her. Good job Kelly. BTW, Kelly's comments on prosthetics, I don't agree with. I think that the future of prosthetics are very promising (because of the war - the doctors in Seattle told us this) and therefore I do not think they are "fake, ugly and their purpose is to hide the disability." If a prosthetic can aid someone in their everyday life and help make tasks easier, then I am all for them.
The reason I found this article is because my babysitter's boyfriend said he was watching the Victoria's Secret fashion show on tv and saw a model on there with only one arm and he told my Husband he was like "that girl has a nub too!" My Husband calls Kyla's arm her "nub." I don't like the term, but that's what he uses. I prefer "Little Arm." (Every parent of a child with a little arm has their own name for their arms. The two girls up in Seattle's arms are referred to as "Armie" and "Closed Hand," -- it's just something that you do.) My Husband was like "oh, ya, that's Kelly Knox..." So I went online to find photos. I haven't actually found them yet, because I can't really do searches on VS models here at work, but I did find this. I'm wondering if it was actually Kelly Knox he saw or Tanja. I will have to do more searching at home, but in the meantime, thought I would post this.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Update
I am bored at work so figured I would make another post. Unfortunately my work disabled the ability for photos to be uploaded to blogger (retarded), and we do not get home internet hooked up until Monday so it'll be a while before I post camping and pumpkin patch photos. In the meantime I figured I would give an update on what Kyla has been doing.
Kyla's new favorite saying is "ugh oh!" Everytime she drops something or falls, she says "ugh oh!" Or for no reason at all. This morning she woke up and I think her first noise was "ugh oh!" She is so cute.... Yesterday morning she must've said it like 20 times before leaving to go to daycare. We are now the parents of the annoying little kid that can only say one word and says it over and over. LOL, before I was a parent I would think that about other kids that could only say one word. HA...things change once you have your own and everything they do becomes cute. When Ky is naked with just her diaper on is the best, she's this tiny little girl with this little bitty body walking around the house, getting into EVERYTHING. She keeps me busy for sure. Exhausts me because our house isn't all put away yet so it's not kid proof so I'm stuck watching her pretty much 24/7 and pulling items out of her mouth constantly. I'm wanting to find out when that stage stops - what age do they learn that not everything is edible? I hope it's soon!!! I think Ky will most likely be skinny - she might just barely be 20 lbs. (pending her next Dr. appointment for a weight check) and she has been around the same weight for the past 5 months or so and has been in size 3 diaper for what seems like forever. I know 6 month old babies who weigh more than she does. She's tall and skinny...has these really long legs, a tiny little body and a big head. LOL, she gets the big head from Daddy. :)
Kyla is also starting to get the kissing thing down. I kiss her A LOT, which I don't think she is a big fan of but that doesn't mean it's going to change anything (she is my kid and I will kiss her as much as I want to - I only see her for a few hours a day except for weekends!) Ky will walk around and do lip smacking noises but when I try to give her a kiss she doesn't know what to do - so I'll kiss her and after I kiss her then she will smack her lips. It's a little delayed, but it still counts. Not much beats baby kisses. Anyway that is the update for today. Oh, I also ordered her Halloween outfit a few days ago, I'm hoping she won't protest wearing it. We'll see...
Kyla's new favorite saying is "ugh oh!" Everytime she drops something or falls, she says "ugh oh!" Or for no reason at all. This morning she woke up and I think her first noise was "ugh oh!" She is so cute.... Yesterday morning she must've said it like 20 times before leaving to go to daycare. We are now the parents of the annoying little kid that can only say one word and says it over and over. LOL, before I was a parent I would think that about other kids that could only say one word. HA...things change once you have your own and everything they do becomes cute. When Ky is naked with just her diaper on is the best, she's this tiny little girl with this little bitty body walking around the house, getting into EVERYTHING. She keeps me busy for sure. Exhausts me because our house isn't all put away yet so it's not kid proof so I'm stuck watching her pretty much 24/7 and pulling items out of her mouth constantly. I'm wanting to find out when that stage stops - what age do they learn that not everything is edible? I hope it's soon!!! I think Ky will most likely be skinny - she might just barely be 20 lbs. (pending her next Dr. appointment for a weight check) and she has been around the same weight for the past 5 months or so and has been in size 3 diaper for what seems like forever. I know 6 month old babies who weigh more than she does. She's tall and skinny...has these really long legs, a tiny little body and a big head. LOL, she gets the big head from Daddy. :)
Kyla is also starting to get the kissing thing down. I kiss her A LOT, which I don't think she is a big fan of but that doesn't mean it's going to change anything (she is my kid and I will kiss her as much as I want to - I only see her for a few hours a day except for weekends!) Ky will walk around and do lip smacking noises but when I try to give her a kiss she doesn't know what to do - so I'll kiss her and after I kiss her then she will smack her lips. It's a little delayed, but it still counts. Not much beats baby kisses. Anyway that is the update for today. Oh, I also ordered her Halloween outfit a few days ago, I'm hoping she won't protest wearing it. We'll see...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Medications I Took During My Pregnancy
While I was pregnant with Kyla, I took some medications that might be noteworthy to remember, if someday in the future they come out with findings on what causes ABS.
I have a heart condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). It is not something I knew about until about the age of 23 or so. I ended up in the ER two different times until finally figuring out what was wrong with my heart. I believe it was my second echo that the cardiologist noticed that one valve in my heart is too large and when my heart pumps this valve doesn't function correctly and is floppy; causing me to have heart palpitations. When I first found out, I didn't do anything about it, but after a while it got to the point where I had no energy at all - even doing dishes exhausted me, which was really weird, so I went back to my cardiologist and he put me on Zebeta (bisoprolol fumarate) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000927, which greatly improved my symptoms.
Once I got pregnant, I called my soon to be OB-GYN doctor to make an appointment to see him. Since they won't let you go in for your first appointment until you are like 8 weeks pregnant (I think because many women miscarry the first couple weeks), I asked the ladies to check with the doctor to make sure that it was okay for me to continue taking my heart meds. The doctor personally called me back and told me that it was fine. So I continued to take it. Later when I finally met with my doctor in his office, he said he would get in touch with my cardiologist and double check that it was safe, which he did and my cardiologist said it was fine. When I was about 6 months pregnant my symptoms seemed to disappear and had for some time, so I just stopped taking the Zebeta. The doctors had told me that I could continue up until a few days before I was to deliver, but I stopped several months before that.
A month or so ago I had my yearly echo appointment with my cardiologist and I told him what had happened with Kyla and her ABS and asked if he thought that could've been caused from the Zebeta and he said no, it is one of the safest blood pressure medications you can take. The only thing I can link together is that I know for sure this medication caused my blood pressure to drop. One time during a doctors appointment for a cold the nurse took my blood pressure and it was very low and I was like "is that OK?" She said yes, as long as you feel OK - which I didn't, I felt real light-headed all the time, especially when I would stand up. It could be possible that my blood pressure was so low that maybe that affected Kyla's development? I have no idea, just putting the questions that have run through my head down on paper.
After I had Kyla, I continued to feel fine and still do and have not taken this medication since stopped at 6 months gestation - I do not really need it. I learned that pregnancy can change the makeup of your heart (since the blood volume of a pregnant woman increases while carrying a child). My cardiologist did tell me before I got pregnant that most women who have MVP feel better when they are pregnant, so this was the case for me as well and I have continued to feel fine ever since.
Other medications I took during my pregnancy but only in my 3rd trimester (after Kyla had already finished developing and I was told were safe to take by my Asthma doctor) (for my Asthma that randomly developed and got pretty bad - apparently caused from hormones from being pregnant) were Singulair, Xopenex HFA and Pulmicort Flexhaler. These medications kept me out of the ER (except for once) for not being able to breathe! Soon after Kyla was born, I was online on one of the ABS websites and I volunteered to be a part of a research study through Harvard (I believe it was) who was doing something with research on ABS and wanted to know information from those affected (or mother's of), but I never heard back - weird.
I have a heart condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). It is not something I knew about until about the age of 23 or so. I ended up in the ER two different times until finally figuring out what was wrong with my heart. I believe it was my second echo that the cardiologist noticed that one valve in my heart is too large and when my heart pumps this valve doesn't function correctly and is floppy; causing me to have heart palpitations. When I first found out, I didn't do anything about it, but after a while it got to the point where I had no energy at all - even doing dishes exhausted me, which was really weird, so I went back to my cardiologist and he put me on Zebeta (bisoprolol fumarate) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000927, which greatly improved my symptoms.
Once I got pregnant, I called my soon to be OB-GYN doctor to make an appointment to see him. Since they won't let you go in for your first appointment until you are like 8 weeks pregnant (I think because many women miscarry the first couple weeks), I asked the ladies to check with the doctor to make sure that it was okay for me to continue taking my heart meds. The doctor personally called me back and told me that it was fine. So I continued to take it. Later when I finally met with my doctor in his office, he said he would get in touch with my cardiologist and double check that it was safe, which he did and my cardiologist said it was fine. When I was about 6 months pregnant my symptoms seemed to disappear and had for some time, so I just stopped taking the Zebeta. The doctors had told me that I could continue up until a few days before I was to deliver, but I stopped several months before that.
A month or so ago I had my yearly echo appointment with my cardiologist and I told him what had happened with Kyla and her ABS and asked if he thought that could've been caused from the Zebeta and he said no, it is one of the safest blood pressure medications you can take. The only thing I can link together is that I know for sure this medication caused my blood pressure to drop. One time during a doctors appointment for a cold the nurse took my blood pressure and it was very low and I was like "is that OK?" She said yes, as long as you feel OK - which I didn't, I felt real light-headed all the time, especially when I would stand up. It could be possible that my blood pressure was so low that maybe that affected Kyla's development? I have no idea, just putting the questions that have run through my head down on paper.
After I had Kyla, I continued to feel fine and still do and have not taken this medication since stopped at 6 months gestation - I do not really need it. I learned that pregnancy can change the makeup of your heart (since the blood volume of a pregnant woman increases while carrying a child). My cardiologist did tell me before I got pregnant that most women who have MVP feel better when they are pregnant, so this was the case for me as well and I have continued to feel fine ever since.
Other medications I took during my pregnancy but only in my 3rd trimester (after Kyla had already finished developing and I was told were safe to take by my Asthma doctor) (for my Asthma that randomly developed and got pretty bad - apparently caused from hormones from being pregnant) were Singulair, Xopenex HFA and Pulmicort Flexhaler. These medications kept me out of the ER (except for once) for not being able to breathe! Soon after Kyla was born, I was online on one of the ABS websites and I volunteered to be a part of a research study through Harvard (I believe it was) who was doing something with research on ABS and wanted to know information from those affected (or mother's of), but I never heard back - weird.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Kyla Goes Camping!
This is a special post for me, as it was Kyla's first camping trip. We went to Cape Lookout State Park in Oregon Sunday thru Thursday (Oct 3 - 7). My family has been camping at Cape Lookout since before I can remember. I was trying to think of how many times I have been camping there, and it's got to be like 23+ times. I LOVE the place. It feels like a second home to me and is a place where I have lots of memories. So it was really special that her first time camping was at a place that I love so much and have been going to since before I can remember.
Instead of tent camping, we rented a yurt (a circular building made out of wood and fabric that had a heater - important for camping with a baby). It was nice, but there were tons of spiders in this place so I was a little creeped out and we basically only stayed inside to sleep. One word to sum up Kyla's camping experience was d-i-r-t-y! Good thing Mom packed her tons of clothes so she stayed clean and dry for the most part. She was a little adventurer exploring everything from sticks, rocks, leaves, dirt, camp fire (we had to watch her close with this one), sand, birds, chipmunks, etc. etc. We took her down to the ocean and she chased after the waves with Daddy. She fell a couple times and got soaking wet. Kyla seems to take after Mom and appears to love campfire! She would just sit there and stare into it. We went to Cannon Beach and ate at Mo's and went to the same spot where we got married 4 years ago (our anniversary was yesterday, Oct 7th) and took a family picture. We hung out in Cannon Beach for a few hours and went to Ecola State Park - the drive to get to this park is georgeous. I love it... we got out of the car and tried to take pictures of Kyla walking down the road, but because my camera is so crappy, it didn't come close to capturing the beauty of this place - just one more reason why someday soon I intend to purchase my Nikon D90 - hint, hint, Daddy (if you ever read this...). It has huge trees that have grown together over the top of this windy barely two car road. If you ever get the chance to go to Cannon Beach, definately have to go down this road. The park at the top is surprisingly ugly compared to the drive, but does have a nice view over-looking the ocean.
The rest of the trip we spent going on nature walks - I wish we had a kid backpack for Kyla so that we could've gone further. I have never been on a long nature walk at Cape Lookout and would love to do that sometime. It is a little creepy but as long as Daddy is carrying his gun, I'm OK. Last year when we went to Cape Lookout several small black bears crossed the street when we were driving into the park, so you never know what you are going to run into. One thing to note in this post is that every night we were there we got almost attacked by racoons. I say attacked because these guys traveled in packs. I think at one point our neighbors counted 9 and they swarmed us - they didn't care at all that we were there, they continued to try to get into our food even with us throwing stuff at them, yelling, shining our flash lights at them, whatever, they were bold! They would hiss at us and were big! We basically went to bed early each night because there weren't a lot of people up there camping so it was like us vs. packs of hungry racoons.... which was creepy, like constantly looking all around you to make sure they weren't creeping up on you - not fun! :) Also forgot to mention that Ky went on a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory! She basically just had fun walking all around the place - she is a walker now.... the girl just goes and goes.
Greg and I also discovered our future job when we retire - camp hosts! So we buy an RV, our diesel truck and camp 24/7 for our job at Cape Lookout for free... we talked to the hosts (there is like probably 4 of them and they rotate days that they are on duty). I reallllllly someday want to have like a second home or just live on the coast. Someday maybe it will happen..... I told Greg I just need to get myself a farmer Tillamook man so that I can live the simple life. What a beautiful place that would be to live. Greg laughed and said that I would get bored so fast. I don't think so though... heck I grew up in Benton City playing in the sage brush and riding my bike over rattlesnakes. Hello........... Tillamook man, here I come! (just kidding...).
Last note of the trip - Greg talked to the camp ranger yesterday morning who said that they give Cape Lookout another 10 years. He said they lose 100 - 150 feet of beach every winter and put tons of money into the park after every winter to try to build the dunes back up again. This is pretty disappointing knowing that it might soon be gone. Definately a reason to make sure we get up there at least once a year from now on. Kyla needs to have good childhood memories there just like I do! Pictures to come.
Instead of tent camping, we rented a yurt (a circular building made out of wood and fabric that had a heater - important for camping with a baby). It was nice, but there were tons of spiders in this place so I was a little creeped out and we basically only stayed inside to sleep. One word to sum up Kyla's camping experience was d-i-r-t-y! Good thing Mom packed her tons of clothes so she stayed clean and dry for the most part. She was a little adventurer exploring everything from sticks, rocks, leaves, dirt, camp fire (we had to watch her close with this one), sand, birds, chipmunks, etc. etc. We took her down to the ocean and she chased after the waves with Daddy. She fell a couple times and got soaking wet. Kyla seems to take after Mom and appears to love campfire! She would just sit there and stare into it. We went to Cannon Beach and ate at Mo's and went to the same spot where we got married 4 years ago (our anniversary was yesterday, Oct 7th) and took a family picture. We hung out in Cannon Beach for a few hours and went to Ecola State Park - the drive to get to this park is georgeous. I love it... we got out of the car and tried to take pictures of Kyla walking down the road, but because my camera is so crappy, it didn't come close to capturing the beauty of this place - just one more reason why someday soon I intend to purchase my Nikon D90 - hint, hint, Daddy (if you ever read this...). It has huge trees that have grown together over the top of this windy barely two car road. If you ever get the chance to go to Cannon Beach, definately have to go down this road. The park at the top is surprisingly ugly compared to the drive, but does have a nice view over-looking the ocean.
The rest of the trip we spent going on nature walks - I wish we had a kid backpack for Kyla so that we could've gone further. I have never been on a long nature walk at Cape Lookout and would love to do that sometime. It is a little creepy but as long as Daddy is carrying his gun, I'm OK. Last year when we went to Cape Lookout several small black bears crossed the street when we were driving into the park, so you never know what you are going to run into. One thing to note in this post is that every night we were there we got almost attacked by racoons. I say attacked because these guys traveled in packs. I think at one point our neighbors counted 9 and they swarmed us - they didn't care at all that we were there, they continued to try to get into our food even with us throwing stuff at them, yelling, shining our flash lights at them, whatever, they were bold! They would hiss at us and were big! We basically went to bed early each night because there weren't a lot of people up there camping so it was like us vs. packs of hungry racoons.... which was creepy, like constantly looking all around you to make sure they weren't creeping up on you - not fun! :) Also forgot to mention that Ky went on a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory! She basically just had fun walking all around the place - she is a walker now.... the girl just goes and goes.
Greg and I also discovered our future job when we retire - camp hosts! So we buy an RV, our diesel truck and camp 24/7 for our job at Cape Lookout for free... we talked to the hosts (there is like probably 4 of them and they rotate days that they are on duty). I reallllllly someday want to have like a second home or just live on the coast. Someday maybe it will happen..... I told Greg I just need to get myself a farmer Tillamook man so that I can live the simple life. What a beautiful place that would be to live. Greg laughed and said that I would get bored so fast. I don't think so though... heck I grew up in Benton City playing in the sage brush and riding my bike over rattlesnakes. Hello........... Tillamook man, here I come! (just kidding...).
Last note of the trip - Greg talked to the camp ranger yesterday morning who said that they give Cape Lookout another 10 years. He said they lose 100 - 150 feet of beach every winter and put tons of money into the park after every winter to try to build the dunes back up again. This is pretty disappointing knowing that it might soon be gone. Definately a reason to make sure we get up there at least once a year from now on. Kyla needs to have good childhood memories there just like I do! Pictures to come.
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