19 months

Wow, with both Thanksgiving and Christmas in this month it literary sped by!  

Stats:  Kylie is now 25lb and 32",  which are 55th% and 49th%.  She's staying right there in the middle of the charts which is perfect in my mind =)  She is wearing size 4 diapers, some size 4 shoes but moving to size 5 and mostly 18 month clothes.  She's starting the wear more 24 month shirts but the pants are still big (both in the waist and length).  She has 16 teeth and had her very first dentist appointment this month.  They did an exam and actually did a fluoride treatment.  I was kind of shocked but they were quick and really good with her.  She mostly liked the little pink hippo they gave her to bring home =)

Food:  The picky eating is continuing.  She has so many opinions about food (not to mention pretty much everything!) but overall she's still eating most things we give her.  She continues to eat 3 meals a day, two snacks and is still nursing 3x a day (7am, noon, 6pm).  We started giving her 1/2 of a chewy vitamin daily since she still won't drink milk.  Hopefully she gets the vitamin D she needs from it.

Skills:  She's continuing to string words together in two and three word phrases.  I would say she picks up a couple new words a week.  She's big on asking "this?" and pointing at things.  Then when you tell her whatever it is she repeats the words.  We're noticing that now she gets annoyed if you don't understand what she's trying to say to you.  Reading books, dancing (she's got some moves!), and singing are some of her favorite activities.  She loves to do the hand motions to itsy-bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, if you're happy and you know it and patty cake.  

Sleep:  She's still doing great here and sleeps 8pm to 7am with a 2 hour nap from 1-3.   The only time we have trouble here is when she's sick.  And she's had a couple colds this month, right now we're on illness #26 *ugh*

Pictures:

Her embroidered Christmas bib from Oma

Playing with her name puzzle

Christmas Day with her favorite present, her baby doll

Merry Christmas!

We are in food coma land but I didn't want to miss telling all of my bloggy readers Merry Christmas =)  I hope you all had a very special day with family and/or friends.  All my friends who are still in the trenches are very much in my thoughts today...wish I could wrap my arms around you all!  For my girls who've made it to the other side, hope you held your little ones tight and remember how very lucky we are.  I know I gave this little lady extra hugs and kisses today...

Santa & Holiday Prep

Still not Kylie's favorite guy...

Maybe next year =)

In other news we got everything wrapped this weekend and sent out the last few cards today.  Only a few gift cards left to arrive in the mail for my nieces (who knows what the buy 16 year olds?!)  and slip under the tree.  Whew!  Feels nice to be ready.  Tonight and tomorrow night I'll use my early Christmas present from M, a pizzelle press, to make some treats for M and I to bring to work with our holiday cards on Wednesday or Thursday.  Thursday I'll take in the goodie bags for Kylie's school friends and teachers...and just like that we're, dare I type it, done.  Out of town family arrives Friday.  Yippy, I love the holidays!

Randomness

Not much going on here except getting ready for the holidays.  All our shopping is done, oreo truffles are made and we got cards out today.  We're waiting for a few things to arrive in the mail before the great wrapping project starts but hopefully by the end of the week we'll have any packages mailed that need to be and this weekend we can finish up.  Whew!

Not sure if I've mentioned it here but we are TTC a sibling for K in earnest since my cycle returned in August.  Obviously no luck yet.  The good news is that my cycles have been regular, which wasn't always the case prior to having K.  I'm using a CBEFM and if we aren't successful with the natural route (which, I'm not thinking is likely) then I hope to at least map out my cycles enough to do a natural FET in June or July.  We have four totsicles so hopefully 2012 will be a lucky year for us!  We have an appointment Jan. 12th to talk to the RE and make a plan.  Question for those who use a CBEFM, do you typically get the same number of "high" days each cycle?

K's doing great.  She is talking more every single day. Yesterday she said her first sentence, "I don't know."    and she's been really big into saying "please" and "thank you" for things.  Just about the most adorable words ever =)  She understands almost everything now it seems.  Unfortunately she came down with cold #24 this weekend.  It's not a bad one, a runny nose and little cough.  Hopefully it's gone soon and we're 100% healthy for the holidays!

Anyway, I'll sign off with a couple new pictures.  The first is her new pose she's trying out for when M asks her to stay still for a picture.  We're not sure where she got it.  She's got on her new twinkle toe Sketchers that light up.  She's in love with these shoes.

This is K's first pony tail =)  I'm thinking by the time she's three we should have a real one.  Right now it's reminiscent of a rat tail *lol*

Happy Monday everyone!

Official Stats & Reindeer

Friday was K's 18 month appointment.  She weighed in at 24lb6oz (51st %) and is 31.75" (52nd %).  Good growin baby girl =)  There were two shots she had to get, Hep A and DTAP.  Saturday she slept for 5-6 hours in two naps where she typically only takes one nap of 2 hours.  So she was obviously effected but she didn't get a fever and her mood was good when she was awake.  I stayed home with her all day so she could nap and nurse whenever she wanted.  We did manage to go play in the snow a little though.

The jury is still out on this sled.  She just think it's ok.  Her great grandparents sent it to her on Thanksgiving. 

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to see Santa and two of his Reindeer (Cupid and Vixen).  She wasn't overly impressed by either but the reindeer were far more interesting that Santa.  He kind of freaked her out.  

Getting ready, it was a high of 20 here *brr* (warmer than the high of 10 today however!)

WTF Santa!  I was obviously unprepared to be in the picture but a total melt down would have occurred otherwise.

Finishing her mini candy cane (reward for being patient with Santa) while checking out the reindeer

18 month update

Today is Kylie's 1/2 b-day =)  

Stats:  I think she's right around 24.5lb and 31.5", which are 54th% and 45th%.  In other words she is totally average.  This of course will be corrected by her official stats at her 18 month appointment this Friday, where she will also get a couple shots. She is wearing size 4 diapers, size 4 shoes and 18 month clothes for the most part with some 24 month shirts starting to be sprinkled into the mix.  She has 16 teeth, the canines are about 1/2 in but all the others are all the way in.  

Food:  It appears she might be getting a little pickier here.  We still feed her what we eat and for the most part she eats it.  But there are some meals where she just turns up her nose at everything.  I go away feeling like she's not getting enough sometimes but then other meals I am floored at how much she eats.  I didn't realize that toddlers would be so up and down in the amount of food they eat.  She eats 3 meals a day, two snacks and is still nursing 3x a day (7am, noon, 6pm).  After 4 months of trying to get her to drink milk we gave up and put chocolate in it.  Guess what?  She still won't drink it.  She LOVES cheese and yogurt though so we may just have to supplement her diet with vitamin D chews which I plan to talk with the doctor about on Friday.

Skills:  We've noticed a big change this month in her verbal ability.  She's putting together lots of two word sentences, her first was "bye-bye daddy" but she also says things about the dogs and now calls them by name and even tries to whistle at them.  You can tell she's really trying to tell you things in phrases now.  Usually we can pick out a word or two that she's saying but not the whole thing.  Overall she has probably 40-50 words.  This month we've been working a lot on "please" and "thank you".  It comes out at "peas" and "thannnns you" but she's using it correctly and it's a big improvement from the grunting and pointing at things.  She's walking and running everywhere.  Climbing still isn't big with her which I'm told to be thankful for.  She still enjoys the body part game and making animal sounds when you name an animal.  This month she learned the hand motions to itsy-bitsy spider and wants us to sing it over and over again while she's in the bath.  When flipping through books she's starting to point to the words and babble noises.  Books are still a big thing with her.  I'm noticing that at daycare I'm seeing her interactively play with other kids now and then instead of 100% independent play (or side-by-side play).

Sleep:  She's still doing great here and sleeps 8pm to 7am with a 2 hour nap from 1-3.  Daylight savings time should be something we can opt out of though.  I thought she did just fine with it the first week but then we had about a 10 day regression where she was waking up an hour early.  Hopefully we've gotten past that.

Pictures:

Getting ready for a dip in the tub

Morning smooches from Daddy

New winter garb

Playing in the leaves - love the tongue!

Showing off her new polar bear hat

18 month pictures

Well, we did it!  Yesterdays re-takes were a success.  Let me know what pictures you like the best.  I've included a slide show but you might have to click on the "View all" button and go to photo bucket so that you can see the names of them. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want all of you, my bloggy friends, to know that I am thankful for you.  Thank you for being there to listen to my ramblings and help me think through the things in life that stress me out.  Most of all thank you for following me along on my TTC journey and the arrival of my little baby girl.  

We are hosting my in-laws this evening but so far it's been a mellow day...it's about 60 degrees and we've taken a walk and spent some time playing in the leaves.  LOVE this holiday!  Hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones =)

 

Here's another example of Kylie's new fake smile...she's too much.

Daddy's Home!

We made it...a week without Daddy and we're still standing =)  M got home Friday night and K is so happy to have him home.  I came out of the week with a healthy dose of respect for single moms and stay at home moms.  Kudos girls!  

Saturday we tried to get 18 month photos taken.  K wouldn't hear of it...she was all smiles at the store until we put her in front of the camera and then it was tears.  So sad!  We're going to try again next weekend but I'm not sure how it's going to go...maybe we'll just have to wait until she's 2.  

Yesterday I got the thanksgiving shopping done and made it to the gym during K's afternoon nap.  Other than that we had a lot of family time around the homestead this weekend...which was 100% lovely =)

Half way there...

M has now been gone since 5am Saturday morning.  He'll get back at 5pm Friday.  We're over half way through this little adventure of ours.  Time can't go fast enough.  Kylie misses her Daddy and I miss her Daddy. Yesterday was our 8 year dating anniversary...crazy that we've been together 1/4 of our lives.  Some people like when they have the house to themselves...I do not.  Come home M, come home!  

In good news I'm still loving my new car =)  And Kylie loves it too.  I'm hanging my head in shame because I turned her front facing in the new mobile.  She is so much happier in the car...and I feel safer since I don't have a screaming child distracting me.  I hope it's the right decision though...I know the recommendation is to wait until they're 2.  

Here's a picture of the little miss playing with some plastic bracelets we got her for $0.25 at Walmart...she loves them.  She's also giving her new fake smile...like when you say "smile for the camera" this is what she's doing.  She makes me laugh!

 

New ride!

Let me start out by saying that I love cars....fast, sleek, sports cars.  I have had a Mitsubishi Eclipse and a BMW M3 that were my loves.  We sold my M3 in 2006 when we were preparing to have a baby.  I was so bitter that I was driving a Mom car while struggling with IF (2006-2009) and felt like such an idiot for jinxing myself with such a purchase.  The mom car (a Volvo S60) that I had been driving is a sedan but has 240 horse power so it's not exactly a slug and it has been ok for transporting a baby but it is hard to put her in the backseat without hitting her head on the sloping roof line.  This year it's started having some major repairs but we hoped putting a new t-case ($2500) in May would be the last one it needed for a few more years.  Our plan was to buy something bigger so we can take road trips and such.  But two weeks ago the t-case went out again...and the car has 104k miles on it and is in need of the $1k service to replace the timing belt.  So...long story short we bought a new car yesterday.  We intended just to drive it but they made us a deal we couldn't refuse.  Here it is!

It's a Mazda 5 Grand Touring and is kind of a combo of a station wagon and mini van.  Can you say not my kind of car?!?!  But I am in love with it anyway.  It's on the Mazda 3 frame so it drives like a car.  It has seating for 6, although the back seats are kids seats really.  And I think it will give us room to grow and travel.  

Anyway...thought I'd introduce the mom-mobile!  Now lets hope it's not a giant jinx for a sibling for K...

So very tired

Last Thursday Kylie woke up with a fever of 102.5.  We couldn't get it to come down below 101 the whole day even rotating ibuprofen and Tylenol.  Friday she woke up with 101 fever but it came down with meds by 10am or so.  No other symptoms other than being SO CRABBY!  I took her to the doc on Friday evening and her ears and lungs are clear and they didn't even see any redness in her throat.  We have been theorizing on what is going on because the crabbiness continued through the weekend.  Our best guesses were a growth spurt, teething (tooth #16 just broke through the skin over the weekend), virus, or a combination of those.  Well last night I got the fever and it was accompanied by body aches and chills.  I was up a good portion of the night putting on clothes or taking them off - hot then cold, then hot...you know the drill.  Now I'm guessing we have a mild case of the flu.  Lame!  At least Kylie is feeling better now =)  For those keeping track this was illness #23.  Hopefully we both are 100% soon.  M leaves early Saturday morning for a work trip to DC...and won't be back until Friday.  That's right, a full week alone.  My parents, who live close and help out whenever I need them, are also out of town.  Wish us luck!

17 months

Wow, 17 months already.  Can't believe we are only a month away from the official 1.5 year mark.  Whew, time flies!  I'm starting to feel like a broken record saying that.  This stage is SO much fun!!!

Stats: Our unofficial home stats are 30.5" ( 30th %) and 24.75lb (60th %).  It seems like she's going through an "out" stage so I expect an up stage anytime =)  She's still wearing size 4 diapers, size 4 shoes and 18 month clothes.  Some of the tops are getting tight in the tummy though.

Food: Still loving just about anything and everything...except cow milk.  She nurses three times a day (7am, noon, 6pm) and eats three meals and two snacks.  This month she figured out how to strip artichoke leaves.  My 30 year old brother in law can't do that ;-)

Skills: She's very sturdy on her feet now and investigating.  Her two favorite games are animal sounds and body parts.  She knows about 10 of each and loves to play them over and over.  Books are still a highlight and she now sets them down, turns the pages and babbles words as if she's reading them page by page.  She hasn't picked up a bunch of new words from last month but they are getting more clear all the time.

Sleep: Still sleeping 8pm to 7am and napping from 1pm to anywhere between 2:30 and 3:30pm.  With the time change coming up we're feeling a little anxious about how to move her schedule an hour.  Here's hoping it's one of those things you worry about that turns out to be a non-issue.

Pictures:

Since yesterday was Halloween I'm going to use the photos from that even though she was 17 months and 2 days =)

Ready for trick-or-treating at "school"

With our dog, Paco, showing off matching costumes

Decisions, decisions...

We are trying to decide about health care for 2012 and also about our RE's.  Our hope in 2012 is to do a FET (or two, three or four) to TTC a sibling for Kylie.  We have four frozen embryos.  I could use any help you can offer wading through this mess!  Any suggestions are welcome =)

Health plan

This year we are on the health plan offered through my work.  My company pays 100% of the family premium (nice right!) for an HSA high deductible plan.  You pay the first $3,000 (deductible) and then everything is covered 100%.  Preventative services are paid at 100% (well baby visits, annuals, etc.) even before you meet the deductible.  For argument sake we have to assume the plan will be the same for 2012.  Open enrollment for my plan is Nov 15 - Dec 15.  However, we just found out that M's plan for 2012 will have $15k of fertility coverage and his open enrollment is Oct 15 - Nov 15.  This plan will require us to pay $2k of the premiums, has co-pays of $20 for a GP and $40 for a specialist.  There is also a $2k deductible and coverage on major medical is covered at 80%.  We have asked our original clinic for diagnostic codes and procedure codes and sent them to M's HR department so they can tell us if they would be covered.  Nothing is for sure until you're actually on their plan but it's a decent start. 

RE

The RE, Dr A, that helped us get pregnant with Kylie has left the practice and started his own. Our embryos are at the previous clinic but we can get them moved fairly easily so that's not a major consideration.  My emotional attachment is obviously to Dr A since he put K in my ute and all.  And to it that one of the doctors at the clinic we went through before is a giant egotistical asshat.  The cost (which I don't know whether to consider since it will hopefully be covered by insurance - maybe I should in case they don't cover it?) for a FET cycle through Dr A is $3700 and through the original clinic it's $4900.  The one major thing going for the original clinic is that they have an office 3 miles from my work where I could do the initial appointment and the ultrasound.  But they do require I go to their other office an hours drive away for the trial transfer and the actual transfer.  Dr A's office is an hours drive away so I would have to go quite a ways for all four appointments.  I will call the REs and ask for their FET success rates and their thaw rates for frozen embryos.  Maybe that will give us extra information to make the decision on?  

Opinions much appreciated!

Fantastic Weekend =)

Do you ever have those weekends that just completely recharge your batteries?  Friday we went to dinner at my folks.  Since Kylie had been ill and my folks are in their 70's we hadn't seen them for two weeks and it was really nice to catch up.  Saturday we did the grocery shopping, spent a couple hours cleaning up leaves (K LOVED this) and in general were productive all day.  Sunday we went the park in the morning, then home for lunch/nap and then went to another pumpkin patch.  This one had a petting zoo and K spent almost an hour in there petting the goats, sheep, llama, camel (yeah, I said camel), pony, donkey, bunny, tortoise and ducks.  The weekend was a perfect combination of productivity and fun =)  It didn't hurt that the highs on both days were in the mid 70's (perfect in my book!) and that K slept almost 12 hours Friday and Satruday night so we were all rested.  Hope you and yours had a similarly wonderful weekend!

Here are some pics, as you can see I had a hard time narrowing it down.

Showing off her Halloween duds she wore to school on Friday

At the park on Sunday morning

Dancing with Daddy in the kitchen before nap time

Petting the goats - they seemed to be her favorite, I think their size is less intimidating 

Such a nice donkey 

One tired bunny! 

Finding the perfect pumpkin

Princess of the Pumpkin Patch 

Biting on straw on the hay wagon...so flippen cute! 

Posing for a picture in the hay wagon

The fam!  She was ready to go at this point =) 

Carrying her baby pumpkin home 

Fall

First I have to give a shout out to a friend, Rebecca, who just got a positive beta today.  She's been through so much so please stop by and wish her well!  Her beta is on the high side so I'm betting on twins =)

______________________________

Ok, now on with my update...I have always loved this time of year.  The temperatures cool from the scalding summer and the leaves turn pretty colors.  This year is no exception.  BUT...I'm also learning that this time of year is filled with sickness and that I most certainly do not enjoy.  In the last 30 days K has had two colds (#21 and #22), an ear infection (#3 or 4?) and the stomach flu.  OMG, will it end?!?! I hope she gets a break but a stuffy nose already started again so I think cold #23 is on the horizon.  Our poor little girl must feel like this is what life is all about...how sad is that?!  

Even though the stomach flu made it's way through our whole family this weekend we did manage to make it out to visit the pumpkin patch.  They had animals for Kylie to pet and it was really fun to watch her wander around the field trying to pick up giant pumpkins =)    

So I know I've been MIA and as an apology of sorts I'll include some other recent photos!

Getting a chair ride from Dad 

Looking like such a big girl!

In her swim suit ready to go in the hot tub...actually she's running to the hot tub, that's why my hand is in the photo - ready to nab her =) 

Getting a ride on the tractor and waving to me 

Cold Turned Ear Infection & the Zoo

K is over her cold but unfortunately got diagnosed with an ear infection last Friday.  She's getting all four of her canine teeth as well and the lady at daycare says that while she knows doctors say there's not a link it seems like a lot of kids get ear infections from teething.  Anyone else had that happen?  

Anyway, K's been handling it like a trooper and with the help of the antibiotics and some ibuprofen now and then she is getting better every day.  In fact yesterday when I went to pick her up at daycare she was dancing, giggling and in a fantastic mood.  Bless her little heart!

Saturday we went to the zoo with my parents.  It was part of our father's day gift to my Dad and it's finally cooled off enough here to enjoy a morning at the zoo.  Plus it was his birthday, so it was a perfect day to do it.  K had a great time and was most impressed with the ducks, flamingos, birds and sea lions.  My Mom and Dad had a great time watching her and said they hadn't been to the zoo since I was her age.  Here are a few pictures of our adventure =)

With my Dad in front of the Tigers

The ducks and flamingos were in the same place - we stood here for a LONG time =)

Riding on Daddy's shoulders

We don't get the three of us in a photo very often so even though she's not looking at the camera I had to post this one

16 months!

Stats:

According to our home measurement it looks like Kylie is 30.5" tall (40th %) and is about 25lb (74th %).   It appears she's growing out this month so I expect a growth spurt soon.  She's moved into a size four diaper this month, wears size 4 shoes and is wearing 18 month clothes.  


**Correction: We went to the doctor today (9/30) and her official height is 31.5" (70th%) and weight is 24.44lb (67th%).  Apparently our home scale weighs heavy and her wiggling put our measuring of her height way off...

Food:

She's still nursing 3 times a day (7am, noon 5:30pm).  After getting advice at her 15 month appointment to phase out the bottle of pumped milk at 7:45pm we're down to a 2 ounce bottle at bedtime and will probably be done with this in a few weeks.  She eats regular food like a champ and eats what we prepare for ourselves.  Our one struggle is that she doesn't want anything to do with cow milk and we're not sure what to do about that.  Suggestions?

Skills:

It seems like yesterday she started walking, and in fact it was just last month, but now she's running.  She doesn't always look where she's going so we've had some bumps and bruises this month but nothing serious.  She's also started to dance recently, so cute!  Along with the increased mobility she also is saying more words all the time.  It almost seems like there's a new word every day.  They include mama, dada, dog, duck, cow, hi, bye-bye, done, toes, nose, knee, eye, ear, elbow, milk, purple, bubbles, uh-oh, down, baby, no, yes, Charlie (her favorite friend at daycare) and a few more I'm probably forgetting.

Sleep:

She's sleeping from 8:00pm to 7am at night and goes down for an afternoon nap at 12:30 or 1 and sleeps until between 2:30 and 3:30 in the afternoon. For the most part she is a champion sleeper and we only see interruptions when teething or sick.  Speaking of sick, she is on cold #21 now *boo, hiss*  


Picture:

This is the pose she took when I asked her to stay still for a picture *lol*  

Two years ago today...

September 23, 2009 was the day we found out we were pregnant with K.  I POAS with FMU and got those lovely two lines.  I also had OHSS so I was pretty darn sick on the couch but it was worth every miserable moment.  Looking back it boggles my mind that it's been two years - both because it seems like so long ago and my life was so different...I was so different.  Also because it seems like yesterday.  So clearly I remember the feeling of "you mean it's true, I'm finally pregnant, no way".   Anyway, this day will always be very special to me.  I know how lucky we are to have been able to go on this journey!

And by a weird coincidence today I am ovulating and we actually gave it the good old college try this month - OPKs, CBEFM, and BD three days in the fertile window.  We know our chances are slim since it didn't seem to work for us in the three years of TTC for K but maybe just maybe this day can be lucky for us once again =)

We have lots of plans this weekend.  Tomorrow I'm going for a facial (mother's day gift I'm finally using) and in the late afternoon we're meeting a couple from K's daycare at the park and then we're going to grab pizza afterwards.  It's our first "date" of this kind so we'll see how it goes.  Sunday we have lunch with the in-laws and are going over to my parents in the late afternoon.  Somehow we'll get our laundry, grocery shopping, lawn work, etc. fit in with all the other plans too.  Sounds fun...and busy!

I'll close with a some new pictures of K, I just can't resist =)  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Playing hide and seek with Daddy

Being a happy girl before school

Sitting in my big girl chair

It appears that my co-worker is over giving me the silent treatment.  I'm glad I stood my ground and I hope he will indeed think before he speaks.  Lauren you bring up a good point, what he said was "it must be a Y chromosome thing" and I wrote it wrong...he was meaning that the guys were doing better simply because they're guys and the women were all losing.

Any-who, I'm happy to leave that topic behind, hopefully for good, and talk about some more fun stuff.  Kylie is finally over a cold (or maybe two in a row?) that she's had and I am very much looking forward to the weekend with my baby girl and M!  We don't have much planned.  Tomorrow we'll get our stacker load (140 bales) of hay in for the winter for our two horses.  They drop it off next to the barn and we stack it in there.  Hard work but doesn't take all that long surprisingly.  My dad usually comes and helps M...mostly he tells M how to stack it and M has more patience than I would =)  We will probably offer to take my Mom and Dad out for dinner for Dad's "help" with the hay.  A little Mexican food could just hit the spot.  Hopefully we'll make it to the park one day too.  Kylie LOVES the park.  Other than that it'll be the typical laundry, groceries, lawn, etc.

Here are some pretty recent pics, from last weekend.  She's looking more toddler like all the time!  If you notice in this first one her toes are inching every so closely to the edge and while I intended to have my hands out of the picture I you can see I didn't make it...

Bubble beard =)