Preschool Days

Have a few minutes, figured I would check back in. 

Kyla has been doing really well in her preschool.  Her teachers always brag to me about how amazing she is.  She really enjoys going and gets to do lots of fun things.  It is a chore doing preschool drop offs/pickups with an infant in tow, but I figure it out.  I think if I wasn't so determined that Kyla needs to be kept in social places with kids her age, I probably would've taken her out by now, just because it is sometimes difficult.  Makes for a busy day, but she loves it.  Her teachers told me a week ago that they are learning how to put their jackets on by themselves and Kyla was one of the first kids to do it - doesn't surprise me.  She is so determined.  Wants to do EVERYTHING by herself.  Which is good, but sometimes difficult for me.  Most of the time we are in a hurry (story of my life) and I just want to help her so that we can get out the door, or onto the next thing that needs to be done...but I try to make myself wait for her to do it and it does take some extra time, but she's gotta learn at some point.  She is doing great.  I am really looking forward to going to Seattle Children's this winter, because I'm excited for Kyla to see other kids like her, at the Limb Differences social thing they do.  We still have not been, but she is just now old enough it will be really beneficial for her.  So definately need to make the trip this year. 

As far as family goes, we have been searching for a new house...a house of our own.  We will of course keep our rental, but we only have 2 bedrooms in our place and Emma is really ready for her own room now.  I have to get up at night and I usually wake her up, then she wants to eat, etc.  She needs her own room.  We have been trying to figure out what to do, remodel this place, finish the basement, build in more rooms, remodel the kitchen (which drives me nuts) or just get a different house.  So we've been searching but I'm picky, especially because location is really important to me for the sake of our girls.  I love the city we live in now and I don't think I want to leave - it's home for me, it has trees, it has animals like squirrels, birds, etc.  Our old house didn't have that.  I also have been trying to figure out the school situation.  I'm trying to figure out what I want to do as far as schooling for the girls.  I am considering private school, but it is sooo expensive and so now I'm starting to think about maybe home school.  They have some pretty great home school programs now where you do some at home and some at a specialized school for homeschooled kids, so they still get that social interaction and parents can be more involved in their children's education.  Anyhow, school districts really determine where our next house will be. 

We got back some more family photos a week or so ago.  I'll post a few here.  Kyla is so beautiful in this one photo...you will know which one I am talking about when you see it.

My Cute Family

We finally did family photos, with the new addition.  Hadn't done family photos since Kyla was about Emma's age.  Here is one photo we already got back.  I love it since I never get good photos with my girls and fam.

Stay At Home Mom

Well, today is my last official day of employment!  I did go back to work for about a day and a half to exit, two weeks ago.  It was weird, after 12 years of always working, not working feels strange.  I can tell you first hand though that staying home with an infant and an almost 3 year old, and running a house is more work than I ever did while employed.  :)  Forgive me for not writing much anymore...other things have just become more important and I don't have much time for 'me' anymore.  Most days showers happen at night, mornings are spent snuggling my sleepy girls in bed and trying to stick to the schedule of bottles, diaper changes, pumping and nap times.  Oh and throw feeding myself and going to the bathroom in there too.  Seriously, Mom's do not get any privacy, not even to use the restroom...but all Mom's know that. 

Last week my Mom took Kyla to the park for me for a few hours, to let her play and to give me a bit of a break.  Kyla said she had fun, but while she was in the wading pool some kids came up to her and were grabbing at her arm, which she doesn't like.  My Mom saw it and yelled at them to leave her alone and before leaving, they went ahead and splashed Kyla in the face with water.  All because she doesn't have a hand.  So sweet huh?  When my Mom and Kyla got back to the house and I heard about this, it just broke my heart.  Kids can be so cruel, it's not adults, it's kids that get me.  This is why all parents should take the time to teach their kids and explain to them that not all people are the same and that is OK...unfortunately a lot of parents are lazy and could care less about explaining that to them.  The Mom of these particular children was too busy suntanning to realize or pay attention to her children that were playing in the pool.  I don't know what kind of Mom doesn't watch their kids when they are in water, but obviously not a good one.

Anyhow.  Emma is now over two months old and chunky!  Went to the doctor yesterday and she is 11 lbs., 1 oz.  And 75% for height, I don't remember what her exact measurements were for length, but she is 50% weight, 75% height.  Here is a photo I edited of her today, that I took a few days ago.  Check back in whenever I have time again. 

Emma Hospital Photos

 First time seeing Emma, first family pic.

First kiss.

Back from surgery, first time holding her.

Emma Is Born

It's been a very long time since I have updated this blog.  I was just checking my stats and can't believe that people are still reading this, but apparently they are.  I wonder if it's just by accident.  :)  Incase it isn't, I wanted to let everyone know that my 2nd daughter was born, on June 14th, 2012.  She is 5 weeks old now.  I have been so busy with lots of different things going on.  I did take a voluntary layoff from my work.  By doing this, I was able to get my maternity leave, so technically I still have 2 more days left of work.  My last work day is in the next few weeks.  We pulled Kyla out of daycare about 3 weeks ago.  There have been so many changes to get used to.  Emma is an amazing little girl - beautiful.  We have not been sleeping so good, but she seems to be making a habit out of staying up sort of late, waking up once around 2 AM and then again around 6 AM.  Not too bad.  I am still pretty wiped out though, dealing with c-section recovery, taking care of Kyla FT (she's not an easy one...) and then taking care of the baby, cooking, cleaning, etc.  But I am doing it and I can tell you, I certainly feel like this is where I should be, taking care of my family. 

Emma is a healthy baby, there are no ABS signs on her at all...for those of you who might have a first born with ABS and are nervous about having another, don't be....just make sure you have several ultrasounds and a good doctor and things should be fine.  I was extremely nervous the morning of the c-section. The doctor was an hour late for the surgery, he had taken a sleeping pill the night before and slept through his alarm clock, so that did not help my nerves sitting around waiting.  So by the time he got there I had been crying and shaking before hand...that's how nervous I was.  And the great thing about a c-section is they give you absolutely nothing to calm you down before hand.  LOL, it's just like OK crawl up on this table and I'm going to make your legs completely numb, then cut you open and pull a baby out of you.  They also tell you before hand everything that could do wrong and that doesn't help much.  :)  But we got through it.  I have a fussy baby in my arms now and need to wrap this up. 

Recent Photos

 Kyla's first time meeting the Easter Bunny, 2012.

Taught Ky how to make fishy lips just after getting her out of the bathtub.

Layoff

Got called into my Manager's office yesterday morning.  They are doing voluntary layoffs here at my work right now.  My Manager is basically asking me to do the voluntary layoff.  I told her I wouldn't, that if they are going to lay me off, I'll wait for the involuntary, so that I can collect unemployment.  Not really the way I planned for things to go.  The only sort of positive is their benefits package for both voluntary and involuntary is a severence package based on your years of service.  I have 9 years 7 months service here.  Not all of that has been full time work, which is why that 9 years 7 months is actually less than how long I have really been working here.  I've been here since July 2000.  Almost 12 years.  If I am part of the involuntary I should know around the end of June, right when I am due.  LOL, perfect timing for that stress on top of baby delivery, right?  Ugh....  it will be difficult not working anymore, but whatever.  I feel like maybe this is in the plans for us.  I should have enough from my severence benefits to pay my car off and we just paid our boat and Greg's truck off, so that will be nice.  Still it's scary to only have 1 provider for a family of 4, even with Greg having a PT job as well.  I'm sure it'll all work out, but still just not really how I wanted things to go.  We will see what happens.  And, if they replace me after the layoff, with me being pregnant, that is an easy lawsuit.  Hahaha, although they say they will just distribute my work amongst other co-workers.  Good thing is my Sister now works like 30 seconds away from my office and her job isn't going anywhere.  If I am gone, I've got her here to keep an eye on things for me.  :)  I was offered another FT job here, but I'm not going to work FT.  My family is #1 to me, and having both my babies in daycare FT is not what I want.  So I either work FT or I get the boot.  I will be getting the boot.  LOL. 

Update

Haven't written a post in almost a month, thought I'd do a quick update.  I am now 28 weeks pregnant and feeling good still.  I haven't been to the doctor in 5 weeks but go again tomorrow.  I am going to ask for another ultrasound, since I haven't had one since we found out the sex several weeks ago.  I need to see my kid again, make sure she's still got everything she's supposed to have (hands/feet, arms/legs).  She is fairly active, especially like this past weekend at the hockey game where there is loud music and at church where there is also loud music.  I'm ready for her to be here now, so is Greg.  Not that I am sick of being pregnant, since I'm still feeling really good, but I just want her here now; ready to start the baby process all over again I guess.  I've been on a hunt for yard play equipment for Kyla since the weather is getting warmer.  I finally found a nice Little Tikes swings/slides combo set and a sandbox, on Craigslist and yard sales.  Kyla calls it her castle and loves to swing.  Now we've got to build a playarea in our back yard with pea gravel and all that.  Can't wait to get all of the outside projects around our house finished up.  There are lots of them, but with my Hubby working so much, he can only do so much.  Anyhow, I'm also on the hunt for a twin bed for Kyla.  I've got to move her into a bed so I can use her crib for the baby.  The baby will be sleeping right next to me in a co-sleeper for probably 6 months but after that, it's to the crib.  Anyway, I've taken some really cute pictures lately and need to upload some of those here.  I will do that soon.  BTW, I've surpassed my weight gain from when I was pregnant with Kyla.  Last week I weighed myself and was 118, I was 117 when I delivered with Kyla.  I'm sure I'm like around 120 or so by now.  Whew...good for baby though, she'll be healthy and chunky.  Hope everyone is doing well.  P.S.  We think we have a name for our little girl.  I wasn't going to share it, but pretty sure we are going with Emma Skye.  At least for now that is her name, we will see if it sticks. 

Good Read

I have started reading a new book, it's titled "Double Take" by Kevin Michael Connolly.  Kevin is in his late 20's and was born without legs.  What drew me to his book was the documentary of his world travels in which he takes over 33,000 photographs from the height of his skateboard (which he uses to get around most of the time) of people staring at him.  The faces of these people really speak to me; it is the same faces I have seen but often times avoid looking at.  No reason to look at them right?  All-in-all they really don't matter.  This book discusses a lot about the sacrifices his parents took for him while he was growing up, the struggles he went through in school, etc.  I am about half way through and have only picked it up about 3 different times.  Quick, easy read and I find myself getting choked up a lot.  It's probably because I am pregnant.  LOL, check it out if you are interested.  I found it on Amazon with shipping for like $9.00.  Worth checking out. 

Preschool

I turned in Miss Kyla Rae's preschool registration paperwork today.  I might have been the only parents to turn it in on the first day open to the public.  Excited a little?  Probably.  I've got her registered at my old church's preschool (church I grew up in and was baptised in) which is 3 days/week, 2 hrs. 45 mins/day, which I liked.  There was the awkwardness of the Director looking over Kyla's paperwork and stopping at the medical section.  :)  I had prepared myself for this, so once I saw her stop at that section and start to read, I just butted in and explained to her that she was born with a limb deficiency, etc.  The Director was very nice, said that she had two kids previously who were missing some fingers.  I told her that it is the same condition, Kyla's is just more severe.  I did not have Kyla with me but told her that if she wanted to meet her that we would be more than willing to do that.  The Director said that before school starts, which is in late August, we would probably meet with Kyla's teacher so she could kind of get introduced before the first day of school.  Very neat.  I kind of figured this would be the norm for her once she started school, meeting her teachers before hand thing.  Which is fine with me.  Once they meet her, they will see that she can do anything and almost everything and do it just as well as other kids her age.  It is awkward for parents, it's like "how do I bring it up but without making a big deal out of it, because it really isn't a big deal?"  You manage. 

Kyla's verbal skills have increased lately, she is saying full sentences now and things that just crack me and Greg up.  Last night at the dinner table she said two different sentences where Greg and I just looked at eachother and were like laughing like crazy.  Just random things, but they are full complete sentences that make sense.  She is becoming Miss. Bossypants and yells at us often, this morning it was for waking her up - she said "Dad, NO, I'm sleeping" when he tried to get her up to get ready for daycare.  I don't even know. 

Monday morning I had just gotten her up for the day and had her sitting on the toliet and she held out her hand and arm to me and said "Hand, Armie" and then "Mom has hands" and "Dad has hands."  I just said "yup, that's right, that's cause you're special."  I did really well, little teary eyed, but not much.  :)  She is a sweetie, she gets it, but she can't elborate too much yet, or ask questions.  It'll come soon. 

Anyhow, I'm 22 weeks pregnant this week and feeling it.  My belly has definately popped...still no stretch marks.  Let's pray they still never come.  BUT, my belly feels FULL and uncomfortable sometimes, especially after eating a big meal.  We have a few names in mind now, all 4 letter names, to match Kyla (not sure why).  Now that I only have 4 more months until the birth, I'm starting to think more about the birth and it makes me a little nervous.  My doctor has not given me the option to have the baby normally, I am not sure if it's because I am so small or if because I have already had one with Kyla, but he has me tentatively scheduled to have it on June 25th.  With Kyla I was like cool as a cucumber when I went into the operating room and then all hell broke loose as soon as they pulled her out.  The hubs almost passed out and I automatically got shot up with sedative to calm me down.  I really was OK, but I think my heart rate was going up and since I was anemic and they didn't know it until right before and having my stomach all cut open, they didn't want my bleeding to increase. 

I dunno, it's just you really have NO IDEA what your baby is going to turn out like until that very moment.  You could do a million ultrasounds, but still never know until that moment.

Everyone check out April Lockhart, she is a teenager who was born just like Kyla, she sings and is very good, she has a YouTube channel and a FB page.  Also check out Living One-Handed's Page on FB and NubAbility Athletics on FB.  They are people my Husband found just recently.  April is definately worth checking out if you don't check the others.  Only thing that bothers me is her photos, she like crops out the end of her arm in most of them.  That bugs me.  Just like I was telling myself on the way to drop off Kyla's paperwork to the school today, God made my baby the way she is for a reason, he gave her to me for a reason, do not be ashamed of her condition, or embarassed or afaird of what others will think, be strong and proud of your little girl.  I hope I can raise my girl to truly 100% believe she is amazing and not want to ever hide what she was given. 

First Night Away from Toddler

Shouldn't that say first night away from BABY?  Probably, but we finally did our first night away from Kyla and she is 2 1/2 next month.  Oh well!  LOL.  So this isn't nessicarily because we wanted to wait that long, but because we don't have a whole lot of trust worthy options available to us as far as babysitting is concerned.  And trust worthy is the key word there...I am not just going to leave my kid with anyone.  We went out of town for 1 night, just to a place 1 hour away, in Walla Walla and it was nice.  We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast and the weather was kind of rainy so we just hung out in shops, ate at nice restaurants and dessert shops.  My baby (inside) I'm sure enjoyed the trip.  We were going to go to a movie but I had been looking around town for these people who do horse drawn carriage rides.  This is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do, but had never gotten the chance, and so I had it planned out that we would do it.  Well turns out after I had given up, I spotted them coming down toward the main street so I yelled at my Husband to chase after them.  HAHA, so we did and we took a ride.  It was about a half hour through town and was so fun.  It was raining so we snuggled up under blankets and I had my hot chocolate and all was good, the carriage was covered so it was warm.  After that we went back to the Bed & Breakfast and got in the hot tub for a while (no worries about cooking baby, we didn't turn the temp any higher than 99 degrees, but I still sat in it for too long, felt icky after getting out), anyhow, then we relaxed for a bit and went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and headed back to the B&B.  I was passed out by 9.  LOL, a full day for pregnant me, equals an early bed time for me. 
Kyla did well, her Grandma babysat her at our house.  She was a little wound up after we got home, but settled down later in the day.  She has been doing awesome on the potty, which is nice.  No more diapers is good.  At least we will get a break for about 4.5 months, then we start is all over again for another 2 years or so.  :)  I'm still trying to figure out a name for this little girl.  Greg came up with a pretty good one, so it's a very possible right now.  The thing with girls is you have to come up with not just 1 name, but two, for the middle.  If it was a boy I was just going to use Greg's name as the middle name.  Oh well.  I had a doctor appointment last Friday and I was 110, so I've gained 7 lbs so far this pregnancy, which is good, considering I only gained 10 with Kyla.  I'm sure by the end I'll gain probably 20 in total maybe, which is actually very healthy, so we will see.  For now I am feeling awesome...this pregnancy has been amazing besides the first scary part, but as far as feeling good, I have felt barely like I am even pregnant with this kid.  Total opposite from my pregnancy with Kyla, that was miserable, which is why I wasn't sure I even wanted to do it again.  God is blessing me with this easy one. 

Greg and I are going to start doing Sunday School in Kyla's class room on a regular basis.  It's not too bad, just a rotation every 4-5 weeks, so it's like a handful of times over the summer.  Should be fun but busy, especially as my belly gets bigger.  Anyhow, hope everyone is doing well.  Check back in, in a few weeks.

Potty Trained!!

Mama got tough last Friday and decided it was time for my almost 2.5 year old to get out of diapers.  We started Friday morning at 8 am, put her in panties and pants...  she had 3 accidents in the morning.  Each time she would look down and say "ugh oh...oh no, .... oh no" and I would take her to the bathroom to use her potty and get cleaned up.  Then Friday afternoon she started doing good but it would take her forever sitting on the potty.  Saturday morning she had like 3 more accidents, but then come Saturday afternoon and thru today she has had zero accidents.  This includes her being in Sunday School for an hour and a half on Sunday morning; the ladies there said she told them she had to go potty and they took her and she went.  I am soooo proud of her for learning so quickly and so happy she is basically out of diapers.  I am still putting her in a Pull-Up during nap time just incase, and a diaper at night, but she will gradually get out of those as well.  Now the focus is on using that money we would've spent on diapers for Ky to purchase size 1 and 2 diapers for when the baby gets here. 

I've been looking around for a place for the kids that takes both babies and toddlers and dose like preschool activities with them, songs, art, learning, crafts, that kind of thing, and at the same place so we'd only have to make one stop in the morning and after work, and the places I have found...well yesterday the place I called quoted me 1250/month for both kids.  UGHhhhh hello, seriously???  And this was at a CHURCH, LOL.  Oh boy.  Other places have quoted me around the same, 1,000/month was another quote I got yesterday.  It is just insane.  So now I am really starting to think, and I'm considering possibly just staying home and doing like before and after school care for older kids, like age 4 and up, since we live within walking distance to a local elementary school.  I am just the type that if I were to stay home with my 2 kids, I need something else to do too, or I'm going to get bored.  I like kids, I think I'd enjoy doing the before and after school care thing, and this way it is some income but also gives my kids social interaction and me more of a schedule to my day - more purpose.  And not having an actual daycare, like where I'd be taking care of kids all day long gives me time to still run my errands and have 1:1 time with my kids without other kids around.  If I do stay home, I also plan to get Kyla registered for Preschool here starting in August.  So many decisions to make/planning to figure out, but that's OK. 

Baby GIRL!

We had our 18 week ultrasound yesterday.  Found out we are getting another little girl.  Greg was a little upset, or at least he said he had to act like he was upset but he's really not :)  He is the only dude in our house, even both of our dogs are girls.  LOL.  I think God's giving us girls just to soften his heart.  :)  Baby looked really good.  I am 18 weeks, 5 days but baby is measuring a week ahead.  Weighs 8 ounces, has 2 hands/2 feet, she didn't see any Amniotic Bands in there at all, so we are looking good.  I know I haven't written about Kyla lately. She is doing really well.  Can make a mess of a perfectly clean room in a matter of seconds.  She's a busy body.  Loves to be home with Mom, isn't so big on going to daycare.  We are thinking all of that through right now.  If I'll stay home/continue working, what...  So much to think about and I am very picky about care of my kids, when they are babies especially.  We will see.  Anyhow, wanted to share the news.  I figure even though I'm talking about this new baby a lot now...it totally has to do with ABS because if you think about parents who already have children with ABS, I believe a concern to all of us is "will our next baby be alright, or will it have the same thing?" etc.  There is lots of worry involved.  I felt my Husband last night after the lady stepped out of the room to get our ultrasound pictures and he was damp through the 3 shirts he was wearing...I was like "why are you sweating?" he said he was anxious, just wanted to make sure baby looked fine and everything was there like it should be.  It's definately an issue for parents who have children who have ABS and want to have another.  I was told that ABS is kind of like a fluke, if it happens to one kid, it won't happen again.  It doesn't look like it is for us.  So another Vance girl on the way.  Once again, I had boy names, but no girl names.  We are going to have to think of a good girl name.  We already have one in mind, but I am picky about names too, I believe kids will become their name, so it's a very important decision...don't want no brats, don't want no provocative names, just cute nice names, so we get a cute nice kid.  :)

Good, Strong, Fast Heartbeat!

So I was super nervous at my appt, and the doctor understood.  He said it's always the Mom's with 4 normal/perfect pregnancies that are never nervous and don't ever think anything could go wrong.  He got out the doppler right away and automatically we heard a fast strong heartbeat, never skipped a beat, he said it couldn't sound any better than it did.  I was so relieved.  Definately thanked God for taking care of my little baby immediately following the appointment.  Heart rate was in the 150's, kind of slow, which sometimes means boy... yikes!  I don't know what I would do with a boy.  There are not many boys in my family, a lot of girls, but not many boys.  I would be clueless...  BUT we have to wait 3 more weeks to find out.  I was bummed about that a little, but I trust him and will be so excited when the day finally gets here!  I'm apparently 14 weeks and due date is June 28th.  He is even already talking about c-section scheduled date of June 25th, but that's a little ways from now.  Kyla is going to be such a good big sister.  She is already asking to give "baby sister" (aka my belly) hugs and kisses and rubs.  So sweet that girl.  Anyway, wanted to send a quick update before I head home for the day.  Take care everyone.

Dr. Appt Today

We've got a dr. appt for the baby today.  I'm stressing.  Ughhhh.  I was so not like this when I was pregnant with Kyla.  I really do wonder if a lot of it has to do with the fact that I thought my pregnancy was fine with Kyla until she was born, now I feel like I doubt what the ultrasounds are showing or that the doppler isn't working or that I can't trust the doctor.  Last appointment the doctor couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat but he didn't search very long to try to find it.  As in move the doppler over my belly a lot to look for it.  Just kind of held it in one place and moved it around a little and that's about it.  I'm nervous but am trying not to be...I just want to know my baby is healthy and growing and developing just fine!  It's been 5 weeks or more now since our last ultrasound.  You'd think with my history with Kyla they would be doing them more frequently.  Ugh.  I'm one nervous mama on the days of my doctor appointments.  It doesn't help anything so I know I shouldn't be.  I have been drinking my BOOST protein shakes everyday (just 1/day) to try to gain some weight, since the doctor told me I need to gain some.  I weighed myself last night.  I haven't gained any weight.  LOL, not surprising...it's like almost impossible for me to gain weight, always has been.  So I will probably get in trouble for that today as well.  I told my doctor last time that with Kyla I was 107 when I got pregnant, was super sick and dropped to about 103 or even 102 or something and then from there, when I delivered I was 117.  This pregnancy I started out at 103 and have remained pretty much at 103....I have only gotten sick once, but I also am just getting to the point where I can eat a lot and not feel like I might get sick after.  Who knows.  I need to remember to just give this all to God, he is in control and stop my little brain from worrying.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Chritmas and New Year's.  We had a relaxing New Year's, went to a local pizza place and then to a hockey game with quite a few friends and their kid's.  It was pretty fun.  I was asleep by 11.  Can't stay up super late anymore with this baby makin' me sleepy!  :)  Pray for good news for us today and I'll update you all soon.