Happenings

Not too much has been going on, but I thought I would write a little something to current.

I just finished doing a BowFlex workout in our basement.  After my day today, I needed something to work out my stressors.  :)  Kyla had her second and third "time outs" yesterday and today.  She has done time out at daycare before, but really has never had to do it at home.  So it was hard, but I think the terrible twos might be hitting early.  She is sort of on the verge I think of getting kicked out of daycare.  I sure hope not, but our daycare provider has been talking to us recently about how difficult she is when it comes to feeding and this is something that I've very much aware of.  Our daycare gal has been running her business for several years now and has two children of her own and she has stated several times that she has never had a kid like her when it comes to eating; she has even suggested that she thinks she might have something wrong with her throat; possibly a problem with swallowing.  I don't believe she has anything wrong with swallowing, just that she doesn't like to eat.  This has been a little bit of a stressor for me, because if she gets kicked out of daycare, I don't know of any other licensed daycares that are willing to charge less for PT daycare, like we currently have with our daycare provider.  I also don't have family that would be willing to watch her, so if it were to happen, I would probably have to quit my job, which is not something I want to do at this point.  Every licensed daycare that I have ever talked to charges for FT care whether you need it or not, and we cannot afford to pay a FT rate with me only working PT....  so some things need to change.  Kyla needs to start eating and not just for her favorite cartoon show, Bubble Guppies.  Something I'm going to have to work harder on and she is as well.  And we already have, hence why yesterday and today were so difficult.

Greg and I went to a Naughty by Nature concert here in town on Wednesday night.  It was horrible.  At least the venue was horrible....I'm too old for those places now but wanted to go because Naughty by Nature has always been one of my favorite old school hip hop groups.  Once they finally showed up at 11:45 and started to perform, it was pretty decent, but we certainly didn't expect that it would take them that long to start when the venue advertised a start time of 7:30 PM.  Very disappointing.  The venue was The Rock Reactor in downtown Kennewick....  it sucked, was ghetto fabulous, and I will never go there again.  Another thing is that this outing made me realize that with a Husband who is in law enforcement and has been for several years now, he knows too many people and has had troubles with too many people and we cannot go to some of these places and enjoy ourselves at the same time.  There was a huge dude there who apparently has 3 homicides on his record but they have never actually been able to charge him with murder and he has had problems with my Husband while he was in jail years ago, and this guy told him that he was going to come after him once he got out, which never happened.  He just got out of prison after being in there for 4 years and so it was really uncomfortable, for me especially I think.  It is more of a big deal to me now that we are parents, I don't want something to happen and Kyla to be parent-less or something or without one parent....that would not be a good thing, so this experience kind of opened up my eyes to the fact that we just can't do these kinds of things anymore, unless we are with a large group of friends, and we weren't.

Things have still been weird with my family and they are getting even weirder.  I think now that my Sister's boyfriend has been in prison for several months now, she is getting closer to my relatives, and thus they are getting further away from me.  I have not spoken to my Sister or Mom since February, however I did write my Sister a letter this past week and explained once again why it is that I feel like I can no longer communicate with her or maintain a relationship with her.  I offered words of advice (once again) and told her that if and when she decides to take a different path for herself and for her Daughter that I would be here to support her.  Haven't heard anything back and don't expect to.  A month or so ago we went to Oregon to purchase cedar fencing for our yard, and my Sister and Niece passed us on the highway heading to the prison in Oregon where my Sister's boyfriend is current at.  Now I don't know about you, but wouldn't anyone who is thinking right see a problem with a six year old child being drive 5-6 hours out of town to visit their Mom's boyfriend in prison?  I sure do.  This isn't about my Sister really, this is about my Niece, an innocent child who has no say over the environment that she is exposed to.  I have had a friend even suggest to me that I need to do something about it, meaning like take her to court to get custody or something, but I really don't want to do this.  I don't get it at all and I don't see why no one in my family is not willing to do something about it.  Everyone in my family is only enabling my Sister's behaviors and it's disguisting.  You'd think they would care more about this little girl, but it's obvious they don't.  I get it because I've been there, I've been that child who had no control over the environment that they are exposed to and I certainly am not OK with my Sister doing the same thing to her own child...especially when she knows first hand what it is like.

I will stop venting, but this past week has been difficult.  With a combo of different stuff going on and with summer hitting, Kyla is in t-shirts more and thus the stares out in public are increasing.  It is very hard, I try to just look forward and not look at the faces, but it isn't always possible, but then I also have noticed Kyla notices other people more too and so I find myself sort of trying to block her from the stares in a way, at least a little bit.  Like during checkouts at the grocery store, that is when it's a little difficult because you aren't moving, you're at a stand still and people look at children, because they're cute, because it's a baby and everyone wants to get a look at their cuteness, but lately now that it's summer time, it's been weird stares from those passing by or big smiles until they realize she is missing part of her arm and then those smiles drop...not easy for a parent to see, because we love our babies unconditionally.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, just saying that this past week hasn't been the greatest, a little difficult, somewhat emotional from time to time.  It is time for bed, church in the morning and a get-together to attend.  Everyone have an awesome Memorial Day weekend.

Kyla Was a Bad Girl Today

Kind of....., so tonight I took this photo of her playing in the tub.  I bought these foam bath toys of ABCs and numbers for her earlier today at the store and created this:

Playing in the Sun

Today was beautiful....mid 80's, first real warm day around here.  Kyla and I went to a doctor appointment for her this morning then did a little bit of shopping and came home to relax and play in the sun.  Here are a few photos I took of her and I.  I filled up Kyla's pool last night so that the water would warm up in time for today but she didn't get in at all.  I put her feet in but she just cried.  Not a big deal, she'll warm up to it eventually.  Note:  The photo of myself was not taken with my Nikon (obviously... :))

Yes, I am Finally the Favorite!

At least I was yesterday.  Check out this video:

This just goes to show you how smart these little critters are, they know exactly what they are doing, long before we think they do.  :)  By the way, Kyla usually says her words better than this, but she gets camera shy and act different when a camera is in front of her, but she still did pretty good.

My favorite part is after she laughs and says "ya mum mum."

New Favorite Song

So last Sunday and this Sunday our church sang this song and last Sunday a lady did like a solo and sung it herself along with the band music, and she was amazing...she actually sounded better than this lady does, but I had to post it.  It makes me want to cry hearing it sung in church.  Seeing several hundred people singing this song together is very moving.  So I just thought I should share.  Hope you enjoy.

Kyla's First Haircut

We went for Kyla's first haircut earlier today.  Didn't make it lastnight....  she did awesome and the place was really good for young kids who might otherwise get distracted easily.  Kyla got to sit in her own little car and had a mini tv with cartoons on in front of her and got her own sucker to suck on while the lady was cutting her hair.  I saved a few locks of her hair to place in this cute little baby's first tooth and baby's first curl ceramic keepsake boxes I ordered earlier this week.  Even though it was a little spendy for a cut that took literally minutes, I'm sure I'll keep taking her back here just for the experience.  She even got dusted with sparkles on top of her hair at the end, lol...not that she noticed or anything.  :)

Jack's Big Music Show Dance

You'll want to turn your volume up for this video, the dance moves go with the song.  No comments on my video recording skills...I always forget and record these the wrong way until I remember once it's time to watch them and I can't figure out why they are sideways.  LOL.  BTW, you may be thinking, wow that kid's hair is really crazy and she should really do something with it....well tonight we go for Kyla's first hair cut.  Taking her to Monkey Dooz and hoping they will be able to distract her enough for her to get a decent cut.  Kyla's hair is so thin and is so many different lengths that I can't even put it into a pony tail, so here come the scissors.  Hope you like the video, she is pretty cute.... I have to say.

Going to get pizza with Mom

Mother's Day 2011

Sunday was Mother's Day (my 2nd one spent with my beautiful daughter and Hubby).  I gotta say, I like Mother's Day more than I like my birthday.  I feel more deserving of that day, because being a Mom is not easy, it's hard work and it never stops; where as a birthday is just another day, where you know you turned one year older; no big deal, and the older you get the less important that day seems.

The one thing I wanted to do for Mother's  Day was to go to the horse races.  I really like to look at all the race stats in the program for each race, then watch the horses to see how they are behaving prior to the race and then go place my bet.  My Grandpa taught me this technique, except he never went on stats and just went on behavior and he always did pretty good!  My Sister and I had a horse when we were little, although the horse was not a fan of me because I used to throw rocks at it (not sure why) and then years later she bucked me off so hard that I blacked out and was bleeding pretty badly from the inside of my mouth getting cut up that that was the end of my horse riding days (not that I had a bunch anyway)).  Soon after we sold Toby (our horse), so I can do the horse racing thing, however I don't do the inhaling copious amounts of 2nd hand smoke from all the cowboys and cowgirls that are there very well, and neither does my Husband.  So gross.  We attempted going to horse races on Saturday, but it didn't work.  Kyla is at the age now where riding in the car makes her pass out, which she did on the way to Sun Downs (racing facility) and then once she got woken up by us walking in, she was mad and threw a fit until we left and then passed back out in the car on the way home.  Bummer for me, but she got what she wanted; sleep in the comfort of her own familiar environment.  Yesterday we went to church, the Hubs and my baby took me out for lunch, we relaxed around the house, and then took Greg's Mom out for ice cream in the evening.  It was a good Mother's Day.  I haven't taken any new photos lately because I filled up my SD card and haven't purchased a new one.  This past week Kyla said another 3 worded sentence, this time it was "Yay, it's done!" after her bottle got done heating up in the microwave (yep she still gets a bottle 2 times/day....and I don't care that she is creeping up on 2 years old.  :)  I want her to be my baby for as long as possible, so I'm in no rush to be done with the bottle. 

Kyla just finishing up her 2nd round of antibiotics in the past two weeks for yet another ear infection.  We finally got the referral for her to see an ENT doctor today and I called within minutes of them telling me they had sent it to the doctor to schedule her an appointment.  Her appointment is not until June 14th but I did ask them to put her on their cancellation wait list.  Kyla has had probably 3 ear infections in the past month or so, and it seems like the antibiotics have just stopped working, even with the doctor trying different types.  I'm very ready for this to stop and Kyla is as well.  She hates medication and it is getting to the point where it is a fight every time she needs any type of medication.  I hate seeing her hurting and not feeling well all the time...it is no fun.  So I'm just praying that we can get in there sooner than June 14th and get the tubes or whatever she might need taken care of.  That is my update for the night.  I'm ready to hit the sack!  Goodnight. 

Nick Vujicic Coming to Our Church!

So excited, I just heard on the radio that Nick Vujicic (Born Without Limbs) is coming to Bethel Church (our church) this month!  I'm pumped!!  There is going to be a concert during the event as well, with Christian music, and then Nick will be speaking.  I'm sure the waterworks will be flowing.  This event is going to be awesome.  When I find more details I will add here.

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

Update:  This is tomorrow night, May 6, 2011, starts at 6:30.  I'm still trying to figure out how to get tickets because it seems that they are no longer selling online.

1st Run-In With Another Kid

This past weekend we had our first "run-in" with another kid.  I guess not really "run-in," but prejudice type stuff.  This little boy had seen Kyla last summer at a birthday party and she apparently scared him so badly that he left the birthday party and went out to the front of the house and hid in somebody's car.  Greg and I were completely unaware of this.  This past weekend we saw the kid again (he is friends with Kyla's cousin who is 9 years old) and he saw her and went and hid in the car again, because "she scared him."  As soon as I heard what was going on, of course it bothers you, but not too bad.  I just thought the kid was dumb....like get over it kid, it's not that big of a deal, and no matter what, he is going to have to get used to being around others from time to time that aren't like him, such as children as school who have Downs Syndrome, etc.  When Greg heard what was going on, he took Kyla outside to the kid and told him that Kyla wanted him to know that his long shaggy hair scared her.  The kid was confused, but then Greg explained that he couldn't help what his hair looked like, and that no one can determine how they are born and what they will look like, whether it be their long shaggy hair, or them missing part of their arm and hand.  Greg told the boy that Kyla was born that way and she couldn't help it, and nothing is wrong with her.  The little boy didn't say much, but it kind of gets me that parents allow their children to act like that, or do not teach them how to act around others that are different.  This past summer I took Kyla to the swimming pool at a local park and was amazed the way children responded to her.  Some didn't notice and were too busy playing but one little boy stopped in his tracks and stared at her arm for literally minutes.  I didn't say anything to him but just watched him to see what he would do.  She was just a baby then, but to me, I was kind of taken back that whoever that boy's Mom was didn't say something to him.  For one, her child was in a swimming pool, she should've been watching him anyway to make sure he was safe, and another, she should've yelled at him for being rude and staring.  I know if Kyla is ever rude to another kid, she'll definately be getting her butt chewed.  Like you just don't allow your kids to grow up like that....if you are a parent who has any morals.  Unfortunately I think there are a lot of people who don't.  We had our friends over for dinner last night and told them about this and my friend Katie was like "Oh, I'm sure that is really hard..."  We told her that for now, because she still doesn't know, it's not hard, but I'm sure once she gets just a bit older and starts to realize it will be very difficult from time to time.  Kyla literally is one of the sweetest babies...everyone who knows her loves her.  I just hope that her personally can overcome some people's prejudices and they can come to realize that just because someone doesn't look exactly like them doesn't mean they are any different than anyone else.