Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas this year.  Busy again of course but wasn't too bad.  By the way, my awesome Dad got me the best gift I've ever gotten for Christmas, the camera that I have been wanting for a long time, a Nikon D7000!!!  I was trying to hold back tears when I opened the card from him....  I was so excited and didn't expect it, I just expected some cash from him, which is his usual gift...  Now I will be able to get great pictures of Kyla as she grows up and HD video too.  It is like at the bottom of professional camera and top of amateur for Nikon, so I'm sure it'll take me a bit to figure it out.  Because the camera is in such high demand right now, it's back ordered for a while - won't probably get it until late January or early February which is fine, gives me time to figure out what lens I want and order that.  We had my Dad and Greg's Mom over Christmas morning and fixed breakfast for everyone (cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and bacon).  Then we went to my Mom's, and Greg's Dad and Step-Mom's for a bit.  Kyla wasn't sure how to open presents, the wrapped ones.  She does a lot better with gift bags.  She got some really neat toys this year and now I've got to figure out what to do with them all!  I'll probably take the ones she no longer plays with and put them in storage.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Christmas:  (this first one is my favorite - her Auntie Amanda got her the outfit and I had just gotten her out of the bathtub and dressed for the day - she still has sleepy eyes).

This last photo is a ladybug bean bag pillow Greg's Mom made for Kyla.  She likes to lounge on it and watch cartoons!

Video of Ky

Kyla loves to talk on the phone, she has pretty much ruined both my phone and Greg's, because we let her play with it, slobber on it and chew on it....  but when I do actually take my phone away from her, she sometimes uses the video baby monitor as her fill in phone.  She was of course talking on it like crazy before I got the camera out but she gets camera shy or just really curious and always stops what she was doing before the camera comes out.  I got her to do a little bit of her talking in this video (unfortunately the video is sideways...sorry).

Note:  We leave her arm down on her jacket so that her little arm stays warm.  It has poor circulation, especially when it is cold out, so if we leave it down it stays nice and warm, plus jackets are too bulky to roll like we do her shirt sleeves.  Looks a little funny, but I don't think anyone really notices when we are out.  I thought about learning how to sew good and at first I did cut some of her sleeves on her clothes, but then I was like thinking why am I doing this if I have another girl someday, all my clothes will be useless...  and even if I don't have another girl, someone else can use her clothes.  Most of the time it looks fine rolled and other times like for her Santa pic, I wanted that pretty red border at the bottom of her little arm too, so I just used a pin to tighten up the opening at the bottom so that it would stay tight around her little arm at the end and not fall off....  sometimes you have to be a little creative, or just choose the right tops for her.

First Day Home With Mama

Daddy thinks his baby blues are like to die for - greatest gift to the world.  HAHAHA.  That's almost true, but not quite - he does think his eyes are just gorgeous because he's had years of girls or women telling him that.  Then this little chicky came along to out do his.  :)  LOL.  I gotta say my baby's eyes are g to the r to the e to the a to the t.  (that's great).  When she was born she had NO eyelashes and now they like go up to her eyebrows.  I love it!  Unfortunately the curly crazy hair she gets from Mama.  :(

 

In the evening on Monday we took Kyla to the mall to see Santa.  I usually am against mall Santa's but I was impressed with the one this year - he was good!  I had to take a picture of the pictures we got because Mom forgot to pull out her camera when we were there.  Too much going on.  Her pants look like super small on her in the picture but they really aren't - Santa's pants were sticky and gave her high waters.  She did pretty good but wasn't thrilled with the idea of staying sitting on Santa's lap until we got a decent smile out of her.

Get Yourself Some Sermon

This is our church website's media library link.  http://bethel-church.org/media-library.php  By clicking on the link you will have access to all of the sermon's at Bethel Church.  Dave Bechtel is the pastor and he is great.  His sermons start out kind of random like lots of different thoughts and sometimes you wonder OK how does what he's talking about relate?  And then he pulls it all together at the end and you "get it."  I recommend anyone who needs God (which is everyone, even if you don't think you do) to watch these videos.  It's great that these are available because not everyone can get to church every Sunday and this is a way for people to still be able to worship.  Granted it is a lot more powerful to worship in the house of God than it is to sit in front of a computer.

Baby Girl Sleepin'

I am bored... waiting for Kyla to wake up from a nap and was looking at old pictures.  I found this one.  Ky used to fall asleep in her swing when she was little like this and I would leave her that way because it stretched out her neck muscle that needed stretched out from her torticollis.  Cut down on the amount of stretching we had to force her to do when she was awake!

Monday - New Schedule

I start my new schedule (24 hr work week) on Monday.  I can't wait.  First thing I plan to do is work with Kyla to get her to new REAL food.  She has no molar teeth yet, so she can't chew real good.  She will eat crackers, breads and that kind of thing but really wants nothing to do with real food - green beans, whatever we are having for dinner; chicken, that kind of thing.  She just throws it on the ground or pushes it off her tray - as to just play with it.  It's rather spendy feeding a 15 month old almost all baby food.  Had to take Kyla to the doctor yesterday and she has another ear infection.  She is so cute sitting there on the bench getting examined by the doctor - she's just this little bitty thing sitting there probably wondering what is going on.  She loves her Dr. and Dr. D loves her I think.  Kyla seems to - I like to think - be liked by people, I think it is because she is a special little girl, and she has a good personality.  I hope that will last into her younger years - I'm sure it will.  Dr. did say that we need to get her to drink at least 1 1/2 Pediasures/day because she needs to get more calories so she can stay well.  Of course my picky eater doesn't like to drink it straight so I have to hide it in her milk which she will drink, but drinks it slowly.  Err.... Daddy is having his tonsils out in two weeks and they might possibly have to re-do a previous sinus surgery he had - but he has a CT Scan Monday to determine that.  He had his first surgery when we were just engaged, so early 2006.  He is 32 so it's sort of a risky procedure - the tonsils - because heavy bleeding can occur, but the doctor thinks he will be fine.  I'm definitely ready for a healthy family again (and this doesn't just include my immediate family - my entire family is in the process of needing surgery, just had surgery or is just coming  back to work from being on Short Term Disability after surgery - not sure why it has all happened at the same time, but it definitely needs to go away) and to spend quality time with my girl.  She is my joy and what gives me happiness.  My exhausting joy - but she's still my joy.  :)

Looooveee

I’ve been noticing for a while now how much it seems like every song that is on the radio is about love.  Rock stations, hip hop/pop stations, country stations (actually I don’t listen to country – but my Mom has forced me to in the past when I was little), the list goes on and on.  Almost all songs relate to love stories.  It’s sickening in a way…what’s the deal; does every person on the planet have issues with love?  LOL.  It’s a little humorous, like are we just obsessed with love or something?  Today I heard a song on the radio of course about LOVE!  Not surprising.  So I listen to the lyrics of the song and am taken back a little.  Then I get back to work and look up the artist and am listening to more of her songs.  Again – all about love.  So here’s to my baby girl.  I wish you all the true love you deserve sometime in the future when you are all grown up and become a woman, meaning like 18+ years old J.  You deserve nothing but the best.

The Good News

Things aren't official yet but I have been offered and accepted to change my job from a FT job to a PT (working 24 hrs/week).  I just met with my manager yesterday and this change will take place within the next 2 weeks.  I'm super excited to be able to spend more time home with Kyla.  To me I feel like a Mom should be with her child, especially when they are young.  I guess this has to do with the fact that my Mom was home with my Sister and I until we were about 7 or 8 years old.  My Husband also grew up with either one of his Mom's home with him.  So in my eyes, that's the way I feel a family should be.  I have done the FT working Mom thing now for about 6 months or so and it is very hard.  I have adjusted but emotionally I don't think a Mom is supposed to be able to adjust to that - only seeing their kids for just a couple hours/day; it just doesn't feel right sending your child off to someone else everyday.  I understand that some people have no option than to work and have their kids at daycare, but if you can make it work being home with your kids, I believe that is the best thing to do - I'm so thankful that we have made adjustments to get us to a point where we can financially do it.  It's hard for sure.  For me personally I have so many things that I would like to be able to do with Kyla and will now have the opportunity to with this new schedule change.  My list of stuff - swimming in the backyard on hot summer days, going to the park to play on the playsets, helping Mom cook and bake, i want to make a garden and have kyla help me take care of it when she gets a little older, my first thing I would like to do is get back into having Kyla wear her prosthetic arm and start teaching her how to use the potty, doing fun crafty projects with her - help get her ready for preschool, etc.  I'm definately going to take advantage of this time I have with her and make the most of it.  I am also considering starting up school again.  It really stinks because I was about 2/3 of the way through my degree program and got all A's and one B and my work apparently decided they were no longer going to reimburse for that degree, so now I have to choose a new program and hope some of my credits will transfer.  I think it's important that I get this finished up though while I can...  and with Kyla's naps and the fact that I won't work Mondays and Fridays, I'll be able to stay up late and work on school stuff. 

So this was definatley the change that I was looking for.  I will be much happier, I think it will be great for Ky and will be good for our fam.