Joyce Meyer Convention

Joyce, my mother-in-law, was "convention queen" of Joyce Meyer convention in 2011.  She was one of 5000+ people nominated!  With that honor came 4 free airline tickets, 2 hotel rooms, a food allowance, and transportation to and from the airport to the 2012 Women's convention in St. Louis.  She invited Melissa, Crystal and me to join her.  That meant Noah got to go too! 

While I am always up for a vacation, I was super nervous about traveling on a plane with my 4-month old, but he did great!  I'm sooo glad I bought these headphones because it was very loud when the worship band was on stage at the conference.  Darlene Czech from Hillsong led worship and was amazing.  I also enjoyed hearing Kari Jobe sing.

The main theme of the conference was Hope, and how we as Christians should always have hope.  If God can move mountains and part seas, then surely he can take care of the little problems that we face! Christine Caine, Joel Osteen and of course, Joyce Meyer, all spoke.  

Sight-seeing at the top of the Arch with Crystal.

Leaving out of the Waco airport.  One of Noah's many cat-naps.

The arch was beautiful.  Called the "Gateway to the West" and built by Thomas Jefferson.

Parent's Day Out

Katie's first day at Parents Day Out at First Baptist Hewitt for the fall.  She attended last year as well and enjoyed it.

Meg, the director, gave me the option to have Kaitlyn as the youngest in her class or the oldest, since her birthday fell right on the line.  I chose the youngest, as I plan to have her enter Kindergarten after just turning 5.

We are working through preschool workbooks for about 30 minutes per day.  She calls it "doing school" and loves it.  She knows her colors, numbers, ABC's, most shapes etc.  Today she said an 18-word sentence, so I would say that she continues to express herself well for her age!  I think her articulation is good, with a small interdental lisp, but we can work on that one eventually!

Kaitlyn has become a daddy's girl since Noah has been born.  She loves having his undivided attention in the evenings.  She is sweet, good at sharing, and a bit bossy (unlike her mother! :)

Katie loves to pray for people and is very thoughtful in her prayers. I love that about her!

Noah- first 4 months

I am so enjoying having a baby boy.  It's nice not to have to worry about keeping a bow in his hair.  Noah's cuddly and mostly laid back.  When he is mad, he sure lets you know it!  He is a bit more emotional than Kaitlyn ever was- happier with tons of smiles, and has ear-piercing cries.  He has become a good sleeper.  Here are some pictures over the past few months.

2 weeks

 2 weeks with Katie Sue

 4 1/2 months.  Always smiling!

At 4 months, he has been sleeping through the night for over a month (sleeping 10 hours at a time at 2 months), going down at 7 pm, dream-feeding at 10 and then making it til 7 AM.  He takes 3 naps a day ranging from 1-2 hours each.  He is happy for most of the day, especially when he is with mommy!  Noah is starting to enjoy playing with objects, pulling hair, and sitting up.  Despite multiple practice sessions, he still has no desire to roll over.

Noah Ethan

I can't believe it has been 8 months since I have posted.  Lots has happened.  I guess I was lazy during my pregnancy.  Overall, it was an easy pregnancy after the dreaded first trimester and the nausea subsided. I ate too much and gained too much weight, figuring that might be my last opportunity to eat whatever I wanted.

I'll tell Noah's birth story and then maybe catch up some on the last 8 months.  I woke up the morning of May 10 thinking that it would probably be the day of his birth.  Micah said he had the same feeling.  I had contractions all day from 8 am, intensifying after 5:00.  They ranged from 5 to 15 minutes apart throughout the day, but were 5 minutes apart at 5:00 and were 3 minutes apart by the time we headed to the hospital.  They were installing a sprinkler system in the back yard and I was even able to listen to his 10 minute explanation of how they worked at 4:30.  At 5:15 I called Micah and luckily, he was already on his way home.  The Baylor regents were in town, so he really needed to be at work that particular Thursday as the ITS representative.  Joyce came over to watch Kaitlyn for us and we were off to the hospital around 6:00, arriving at 6:30.  I had difficulty getting ahold of one of the midwives through Waco Center for Women's Health, but luckily, I had the cell phone for the midwife who delivered Kaitlyn, and she said she would text the other lady and for me to head to the hospital.

I checked in, was sent to triage, and they determined that I had progressed enough to stay (100% effaced, dilated to 5 cm).  I headed to the delivery room.  The contractions were really painful at this point (probably 8/10).  I kept going back and forth about whether to get an epidural and had decided to play it by ear.  At this point, I was ready for my epidural!  They got some fluids in me and were about to call the anesthesiologist.  I had the midwife check my status one more time, and I was dilated to 9 cm (too late for an epidural!)  I then had the urge to push, turned over on my side, and my water broke (to say the least- I'll spare you the gory details!)  I just thought the pain was bad prior to the water breaking.  I'm not a screamer, but at this point, I was screaming!  The nurse kept telling me to breathe through the contractions.  I made Micah hold my hand during each contraction.  I pushed with all my might, hoping it would help the pain to end.  And on the fourth contraction after my water broke, my little Noah came into the world.  He was crying!  A beautiful sound after Kaitlyn came out blue and silent for the first 30 seconds.

I can't believe the little guy was 9 lbs, 3 oz and 21 inches long.  All the nurses kept saying, "he's a big baby."  The midwives guessed he was in the 7 lb range.  He has very nice brown hair with blonde highlights.  The cord was loosely wrapped around his neck once, but did not seem to affect him. I think he looks like his daddy and most people would agree.

  

Noah has arrived!

15 months

Kaitlyn is now 15 months old. She is in the "pre-toddler" phase according to Baby Wise (toddler starts at 18 months).

We went to see Dr. Nesmith yesterday for her check-up.

Her height is 30 3/4 inches (about 50th percentile.) He told me she will be 5' 6" when she is older (same as mommy!) I didn't realize that they could tell this young.

Her weight is 23.7 lbs (about 75th percentile.) He was not concerned about her still being chunky since she has leveled out in her weight gain.

Her head is 46 1/2 inches (don't know that percentile, but I think it's normal.)

She had the best looking ears all day (no ear infections- praise God!)

He was impressed with her talking and said that is the earliest sign of intelligence and good school performance. I hope so! I started counting her words that she uses on her own, in context, and got up to about 162 words (divided in categories of people, actions, things, body parts, clothing, common phrases etc.). I'm so pleased with her vocabulary, and it is nice that I can understand what she wants most of the time.

She got 2 shots, including the flu shot. So far no reaction.

We also discussed dropping a nap (he was surprised she was still napping twice). He does not think the reactions she has had (mucus in stool and excess drainage) are due to peanut allergies, but it does seem she has seasonal allergies.

Both my doctor and a respected nutritionist (who works at MD Anderson) said that organic foods don't have better nutritional value than regular foods. I've been giving Kaitlyn organic milk and yogurt since she was 12 months. Dr. Nesmith said if it makes me sleep better at night, to continue the organic, but it's not necessarily better for her. There is still a small chance of getting the growth hormone in the regular milk, so I'll stick to organic as long as I feel we can afford it (but just with dairy- the dietician said there is absolutely no difference between organic and regular produce if you wash it thoroughly.)

I need to switch Kaitlyn to a sippy cup with her milk. She has used a sippy cup for water for some time now (and only takes a few sips throughout the day). My concern is that she will not get the required milk or hydration that she needs. Nesmith said that is probably true, but just be sure she is getting yogurt, vitamins and try giving her the milk in the sippy cup in the morning and before bed.

Kaitlyn is trying to drop a nap (or rather just crying before both naps.) Due to her not getting a morning nap on Sundays for church, Mondays for Mother's Day Out, and Wednesdays for NESTS, it's probably about time that we drop the morning nap anyway and stop fighting it. Sad day for mom. I will try to institute a "crib time" with toys, books, puzzles etc., to see if she can entertain herself for about an hour while I'm preparing for the day.

Currently, Kaitlyn's favorite people in the world are JT (one of our friends in our church group), Hunter (her cousin, pictured below), and Aniyah.

We took Hunter to Ninfa's for quesadillas in order to celebrate his second birthday. We missed it due to being at a wedding last weekend, but I hear the monkey party was fun!
Kaitlyn loves to be outside and seems happier out there. Thankfully, it's getting a bit cooler (mid 90's, not 110 in the day).
This was taken at the doctor's office before her appointment yesterday.

Other thoughts on Kaitlyn at 15 months:

- She seems to be an extrovert- loves people, but definitely prefers mommy at this stage.

- she is strong-willed and already saying "No" when she doesn't want to do something. (I thought that wasn't supposed to start until 2!)

- she's a quality time person and enjoys other people (Daddy, Mamaw etc.) if she spends one-on-one time with them.

- She loves her baby. It was my baby Lindsey when I was little. She prefers her naked. She has just started sleeping with her.

- She enjoys playing at Mother's Day Out and NESTS with the other kids, yet is still not sleeping well at MDO.

- She loves books and would be content to sit and read books together for hours.

- She is still quite the lady who crosses her ankles when she sits.

- If I ever sit down for lunch and forget to pray, she interrupts me by saying "AMEN!" Love it.

Go Texans!

For Micah's birthday, I decided it would be fun to take him to a Texan's game. Since we were already in the Houston area for a wedding last weekend, and my mom would be in town to babysit, we decided to go last Sunday. It was a lot of fun! We were at the tippy top of the stands in the only 2 seats I could find together (for a reasonable price) on the 3 websites I searched. We met some friends pre-game for tailgating. Next time I go to a game, I'm going to bring my noise canceling headphones, like the little boy sitting in front of us had. Micah seemed to enjoy it, although he did say that he might take one of his guy friends the next time he goes since he thinks they will be more enthusiastic (I almost fell asleep at halftime due to lack of sleep the previous 2 nights- the Aggie band was playing- what can I say?)

Ashlyn's Wedding

Congratulations to Ashlyn and Ted Baker, newlyweds. After several years of dating, they finally tied the knot this past weekend on 9/10/11 (kind of a cool date.) They were married in the newly built St. Mary's Catholic church in Texas City. It was a beautiful church!

Since Ashlyn is one of the "great 8" (my group of best friends from high school), I knew several of the bridesmaids.
The reception was at Moody Gardens in Galveston. Quite a fancy place! It was the best dinner I've ever eaten at a wedding (prime rib, red snapper, salad, rolls, asparagus, potatoes, fruit smoothie dessert.) The groom's cake was excellent. The after party at Ashlyn's parent's suite was a lot of fun as well.
Here is a picture of Kathy and Ben Trick. She and I have been very close friends since 2nd grade. Her mom, Karen, is on the left.
Ashlyn preferred that children not attend the wedding/ reception, but since we were from out of town, she made an exception. There were other children of family members present as well. Kaitlyn skipped the wedding, but did attend a large portion of the reception. She got her groove on on the dance floor, which was hilarious! Thank you Mamaw, for helping to watch Kaitlyn so we could enjoy the wedding and reception.

NESTS

Our church does a mom's ministry twice monthly called "nests." It is a place where you can come, be encouraged in the word, and be mentored by "seasoned" mothers. They provide childcare for your children so that you can focus and participate for 3 hours without distractions. Last year, I was unable to be a part of Nests because I worked on Mondays and Wednesdays and they meeton Wednesdays.

I'm very grateful to be involved this year. We had our first meeting today and it was so good. The brunch was excellent and it gives Kaitlyn time to interact and play with other children (in addition to Sunday morning and Monday parents-day-out). Our speaker today, Rachel Lee, a "famous" blogger, had a good message: (Her blog is http://inspiredtoaction.com/)

Rachel's first point is to know that you are a good mom. You love your children well. You are giving your all. Stop comparing yourself to others. You are the perfect mother for the children God gave you.

Then she listed some tools to help transform your perspective on being a mom:

1. Don't look at life too closely (as if looking through a microscope) or you will miss the beauty of it. Make a "Mom" mission statement. What is your purpose in mothering your children? What is your long-term goal? Look at the end from the beginning and decide where you are heading with your children.

2. Have smaller goals that are tied into that mission statement. What is my goal for Kaitlyn in this season of life? I certainly want her to be able to communicate. I want her to interact with other children well. I want her to learn how to obey us.

3. Change your circumstances. She recommended reading the book "1000 Gifts," which teaches you to be thankful in all situations, even when doing mundane tasks such as the laundry. Learn to embrace the moments. Remember that sometimes the days are long, but the years are short.

4. Stay inspired by resting. Get sleep! Allow for regular retreats (either 2 hours at a coffee shop one evening or maybe a yearly retreat with other moms). Nothing inspires you when you are weary, so don't stay in that place.

5. We will only stay truly inspired to parent well if we make Jesus central in our homes. He is the source of life, joy and peace. Give him your "loaves and fish" (whatever time you have, even if it's just a few minutes) and trust Him to multiply that time.

Be excited about being a mom! You are the most important person in the world to your children. Then she shared this video that Taylor Swift made for her mom. A real tear jerker, for sure!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtA3H_aDris

Autism

After working with children with Autism for years, it is a disorder that is very near and dear to my heart. I often ask the Lord- Why? Why is it so prevalent? Why does it seem to be increasing? There are many questions about it that are left unanswered. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what Autism is, it's "A mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships, and in using language and abstract concepts".

The children I treated with Autism were unusual, had behavior problems, social disorders, and were extremely behind in their language skills (specifically receptive language).

I was reading in my Speech Pathology journal (yes, I now actually have time to read!) this week, and they have some new research on Autism. In a study that appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry (of more than 1800 children, 300 of whom had ASD) they found that children whose mothers use antidepressants during pregnancy have a greater risk for having a child with Autism.

Those who took antidepressants in the year before giving birth were twice as likely as the average person to have an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disordered) child. Those who took the prescription drugs during the first trimester were four times as likely to have a child with ASD.

This is not written to make anyone feel guilty if you do take antidepressants, but it is something that I felt compelled to pass on once I read it.

To read the complete article, go to http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/archgenpsychiatry.2011.73

Ducks and Zoo

We took advantage of this beautiful, cool pre-fall morning and went to Cameron Park. First, we fed the ducks (Kaitlyn's favorite animal!) Then we went to the zoo. It was a perfect day for both!

Eating lunch at the zoo.

Katie watching the turtles
Kaitlyn and the lion (with glass between them, thank goodness!)
Oh the ducks! the ducks! She gets so excited about the ducks. They are sort of mean animals. One of them came up to us and stuck his tongue out like he was going to hurt us or something.

I'm praying that the 100 degree days are far behind us and we can move towards more comfortable temperatures. I've noticed that people are in better moods when it isn't so darn hot outside- me included!

The Whinies

Before you start to think that I think my daughter is perfect, read this post. I mean, I love her to death and wouldn't trade her for the world, but this new phase she is going through is very trying for me. I feel like we are hitting the terrible two's early or something.

Kaitlyn whines- and the sound is cacophony to my ears. She's incredibly loud and demanding. She says the same word(s) over and over again for what she wants and expects me to give it to her immediately. Some days, I feel like I've created a monster! At least she is able to express what she wants (I would say about 90% of the time, which is quite impressive for her age), but we need to learn a few new lessons:

1. how to shhhh and talk in a reasonable volume.

2. how to be patient if what she wants cannot be given right away

3. that repeating the same word over and over does not always get results.

4. that mommy loses patience when the whining begins and discipline may ensue.

I'm getting nervous about the plane ride to North Carolina. Her first time on a plane. Hope the fellow passengers don't hate us by the time it's all over!

Okay- I feel better just getting that out. I don't want to use this blog to point out all of Kaitlyn's faults, but the truth is that sometimes parenting is hard and frustrating and that's all there is to it!

Cousin Pics- Round 2

We went to take cousin pics again this year at Joyce's request. We got a lot more individual pictures of Kaitlyn and my nephews. We went to Innovations (in the Central Texas Marketplace) and had a much better experience than we did at Sears last year. Here are some of the best ones.

Kaitlyn looks much cuter this year- not so sure about me. I am quite a bit thinner (although I'm not sure you can tell because somehow the lady made my face look thin last year) and my hair looks lighter.
Notice my toe at the bottom of the picture. They chopped it out of the ones we took home!

I would never let her get on a motorcycle in real life, but she really wanted to ride this one.
Since Micah loves football, I thought it would be fun to have Katie pose with a football. It turned out a bit strange, but she's still cute.
Cousin picture with Caleb (5) and Hunter (23 months)- see below for last year's picture.
Ducks are her absolute favorite animal right now.
Had Kaitlyn stayed more centered, this would have been a better shot. If only one-year olds did exactly what you asked them to do!

This was our pose from last year. Kaitlyn has changed quite a bit!

She was just learning to smile and did not smile for the picture. In looking back over our blog for this post, I posted on 8/30 of last year- kinda fun.

Birthday pics

We celebrated Kaitlyn's first birthday party on 6/11 with a small party for family and friends at the house. We had a "princess" theme.

On her actual birthday (6/14), I let her watch a DVD for the first time. She was interested for about 1.7 minutes, and then went on to play with her toys. I figure we'll try again in a few months.
Grammy dropped by a few extra birthday presents on her actual birthday.
Here, she is practicing being a princess before the party.

It's amazing how much she has changed in just a year. Doesn't even look like the same baby. What a wonderful year it has been!

Visiting Louisiana- July

In mid-July, we decided to make a trip to Louisiana to specifically see Momo (since my parents would be coming to Waco the following week). It's so nice to be able to travel for a week and not to have to ask anyone for time off from work! After looking at the calendar through the end of the year, we discovered that our only other free weekend was Labor Day weekend, and since we were traveling all the weekends around that weekend, we thought July would be best. Kaitlyn was a little ham and showed off for Momo and Papa. We stayed with them 3 nights and with Mamaw & Granddad three nights.Playing "Baby" with Mamaw
Saying "hi" to Papa- she literally did this about 1000 times!

Train ride with Momo. Highlight of the trip for Mo.
Sitting with Momo

She loved seeing the cows and going on adventures with Granddad.
We got to see several cousins who were also in Alexandria at the same time. Momo was on cloud 9!
Isn't it beautiful? One of my favorite places in the world.
This was at a casino in Marksville. Glamour girl.

It was a fun, relaxed trip. I'm glad Kaitlyn gets to enjoy her grandparents and great-grandparents. What a blessing!

Daily Schedule

So I've been asked by my high school friends what I do all day as a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom). Well, I don't get bored, I can tell you that! It depends on the day, but usually we go walking, and do another outing that day (mall, museum, zoo if it's not too hot, visit friends, splash park, library). Kaitlyn is still napping twice at 9 and 1. She is now napping with "baby" (my baby Lindsey from when I was little).

For structured playtime, we read books, work with letters on the fridge, play with potato head and work on body parts, identify vocabulary around the room, play outside, sing appropriate songs (wheels on bus, old mcdonald), or just try to carry on a conversation. I know that is difficult for Kaitlyn's age, but she is really talking well. She has a great vocabulary, but still has difficulty pronouncing many words, (nack/ snack, dough/ go, uh/ up) which is totally normal. She has already said a few 4-word sentences, "I sit in chair, I need a nack (snack). " I know- I can't believe it either!

Sometimes, we just stay home, I get the dishes, laundry, house cleaning done. We go to the grocery store usually on Mondays. It is just nice to have the weekends free to have fun, spend time as a family and to be able to do the house stuff during the week. Kaitlyn has her own vacuum cleaner and broom/ dustpan in order to "help" me clean.

I am often asked if I miss work. I do miss some of the children and families I worked with. I do miss my co-workers (and go visit them fairly often). I certainly did enjoy my profession and intend to get back to it at some point, but no- I do not miss it overall. I am absolutely sure that right now, I am supposed to stay home with Kaitlyn and there is no place I would rather be. There is a certain freedom that you experience when you feel like you are in the center of God's will for your life- whatever that place may be.

Hunter and Kaitlyn

Here are some cousin photos from when we kept Hunter 6/18 thru 7/3. I'm going to slowly get caught up on the blog now that our I-Photo is working again. I also have some new blogging ideas, so stay tuned! (Hopefully we haven't totally lost our audience by not posting in 3 months!)

We implemented book time in order to allow me to cook dinner. It worked well and contained them temporarily!

I don't recommend grocery shopping with two toddlers without lots of snacks. They did okay until the check-out line.
Awe- how sweet. Not too many of these moments, so I thought I would capture it!
This was the camel in the Egypt portion of the Mayborn museum. Grammy is behind them, so don't worry!