It's Summer!

Well, big news here today is that Kasey rolled over today! She will be 3 months old tomorrow, and she has already rolled over! I can't believe it!

The weather here has been very summer like recently. So, the girls and I have been going outside as often as possible to enjoy it. Last week I put out a pool for Courtney, and apparently Bristol. I forgot just how much he loves pools too.

Over the weekend I picked up a cute sprinkler shaped like a flower. This morning we went out to give that a try. We were out before 9am, before it got too hot or the sun got too strong.

I forgot to tell you that last time Kasey went to the doctor was for her 2 month check up. She weighed in at 10 lbs 8 oz! She also had her 2 month old shots. I forgot how miserable shots make the little ones. It was a rough 48 hours after.

It has been hard to post blogs here. Hubby's parents were here visiting. That was nice, and great, to have them here. And then shortly after they left, Hubby left for 2 weeks too. So I have been on my own for a week and a half now. Quite the interesting experience if I do say so. Kasey took a full week to adjust to life without Daddy. She finally started sleeping through the night again about 2 nights ago. I know I am lucky to already have a baby that sleeps through the night, she spoils me! So when stops doing it, it's an adjustment. The two little ones have been keeping me busy!!! My house is such a disaster, finding time to clean isn't easy when you have to hold a baby all the time. But, oh well, one day my house will be clean. I guess at this stage in life it doesn't matter much!

Well, gotta go and get the older one ready for bath time while the younger one sleeps!

Hello again!

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post. Life has kept us busy! Hubby's parents were here for the last week visiting. We had something planned for almost every day they were here. They arrived last Thursday and made it here before we took Courtney to My Gym, so they were able to go with us and check it out.

Friday we headed up to the Academy to do some shopping at the visitors center. Saturday morning Hubby and I took advantage of the ability to escape without the girls and we went car shopping. We went and test drove several cars. We are on the hunt for a larger vehicle so that we can fit us, the girls and the double stroller in it, plus and extra person or two if needed.

Saturday evening we had our neighbors over for dinner. We had put ribs on the smoker that morning, and they cooked all day. After dinner, and after Courtney went to bed, we all played a few games of Sequence. It's a new game Hubby's mom and I went and picked up at Target Friday night. It's easy and really fun!

Sunday Hubby and Courtney stayed home and the rest of us went to the mall. We were getting pictures taken the next day and wanted to get the girls some matching dresses. That night we had my parents over for dinner as well, and we smoked a standing rib roast (prime rib) all day. It was pretty darn good!

Monday we went and got our pictures taken. We went to Kiddie Kandids at the mall. We have taken Courtney there several times and always love how things turn out. Once again, we were not disappointed. Here are a few pics, there are more on our website.




Monday night Hubby and I skipped out again after Courtney was in bed to go and do more car shopping. We hopefully plan on getting out again this weekend too. We still have a few more vehicles we want to check out.

Tuesday we headed up to Castle Rock to hit the outlet mall. We found some great deals and I got some Christmas/Birthday shopping done already! Courtney didn't get a nap that day, but she did pretty good regardless!

Wednesday morning we headed up to the zoo. My friend at the zoo had arranged for us to feed the hippos! So, we started off by feeding the giraffes then headed to the hippo house to feed them. They scared Courtney a little bit with their HUGE mouths, but she tells everyone now that she got to feed the hippos. I got to put whole cantaloupes in their mouth! Courtney tells everyone she fed them 'balls'.

The whole time that Hubby's parents were here, Hubby was fighting a viral infection. He has this awful dry cough that he can't seem to kick. He is finally doing better since he got prescription cough medicine.

Today is Thursday, Hubby's parents left EARLY to fly home to Florida. Courtney had a neurologist appointment today. He evaluated her again, like he did about a year ago. He said that he sees the same thing in her that he did a year ago. She has some development delay or wiring problems in the part of her brain that drives her swallowing. He expects that she will grow out of it, or therapy will fix it, or they may be able to help it with medication down the road. I really like her neurologist. He is probably my second favorite doctor of her's behind her pediatrician. He was able to tell me that yes she has neuro problems, but they are fixable somehow. And from everything he told us today, he made me feel a lot better about parenting. He made me feel like I am not crazy! That is always a good feeling.

Well, I need to go and move laundry and go to bed. I am exhausted after the busy week we have had!!!

So big

Kids really do grow up too fast. Kasey is almost sleeping through the night. The last two nights we have gotten 7 hour stretches! Whoohoo! She has also become a really good afternoon nap taker! Which is wonderful for me too! It's also during Courtney's nap time and I can sneak in a nap too if I need it. In fact today she is sleeping longer than her sister did! I can also use their nap time to clean and organize, or write a blog post!

Kasey is smiling and cooing and laughing up a storm these days. And her favorite place to be is on her back on the floor just looking around, taking in the sights and sounds. It's so cute!

Courtney was finally approved and starts therapy next week! If you have been a long time reader of my blog you know how much of a struggle it has been with her swallow. I can not WAIT for her to start therapy. In 3-6 months they will test her swallow again. I pray there is some benefit from therapy and we see it on the next test.

I think I have mentioned how hooked on Cinderella Courtney is before also. Well, she loves to mimic Cinderella. Right now there are two things she is big into doing. She washes the bathroom floor with a washcloth. Now, I didn't start this or suggest it. She went into her bathroom, moved a rug, grabbed a washcloth and started doing this all on her own. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she was washing the floor just like Cinderella. Hmm, I wonder if I can use this to my advantage and have her wash the kitchen floor? Just kidding. But it's so cute!

The other thing she does is comb her hair and sing "a dream is a wish your heart makes". Sounds cute, right? It is, except, she only combs the right side because that is the side Cinderella combs in the movie. And that line is the only line she knows so she sings it over and over and over. To the point that it starts to drive me insane. And we joke that we need to find a movie where a princess combs her hair on the left side so that we can get her to comb the other side of her head. My mom likes to remind me that when I was this age my favorite song was "You light up my life" and that was the only line I knew, to the point that I drove her crazy. And just so you know, I still love that song to this day!

One of the reasons I do not have Courtney in daycare on Friday's is because my friend Kelly also stays home with her girls that day. We finally took advantage of this by going to the zoo today! Every time we go to the zoo something different happens. Today the most notable was the 3 deer IN the zoo right outside the gorilla house.

I have got to get a bigger vehicle. I can not fit the double stroller in my trunk, and there are some other fitting issues with car seats and stuff as well. It's just hard to bite off a bigger car payment with me not working. Who knows, maybe I will be lucky and win lots of money to buy a new vehicle. Now I just need to play the lottery!

Well, I better go and get Kasey up and get ready to start dinner!

Busy times

Well, life has been keeping us busy here. We had graduation last Wednesday. John and his girlfriend came over that night and spent their last night in town with us. Then they headed out in the morning. It was hard to say goodbye to them. That night I noticed notes they had written us on our fridge. It was so sweet!

The next day Courtney had an appointment with her ENT. After her last swallow study the people doing her evaluation wanted her to get her palate, uvula and epiglottis evaluated. So, he checked her palate and her uvula. He said all looks well and he doesn't see anything to get excited about. So that was good news. He said he would like to see her back in 3 months.

The next day she had an appointment to get evaluated to see if she is a candidate for speech therapy. Now, as you know, Courtney really doesn't have a speech problem. But these are the people you need to see to help with therapy for swallowing. And yes, I have had Courtney evaluated twice before and they told me that she didn't need therapy. So, I was a little apprehensive about going back to the same place AGAIN. But they are the only pediatric rehab folks in town who take our insurance. So, I took her in and she got evaluated. This time the lady agreed that she should benefit from some therapy. Thank goodness! Finally! Hopefully we will start that soon.

The people who were at her last swallow study also wanted her to see her neurologist again. I have an appointment scheduled for later this month, but I am thinking it's pointless so I am going to cancel it. The child does not have a neurological problem.

Saturday was Hubby and I's 5 year wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going to the zoo. We also had a cadet with us. Our cadet Toby is going to be a junior this year and was getting ready to go home to Minnesota for 3 weeks. So, he spent the weekend with us before heading out.

We smoked some pork that day too, and had the Z's over for dinner also to help us celebrate. Kinsey brought me some beautiful pink flowers.

Sunday we finally had a slow day. And I needed it. Kasey had been up from 12:45am until I traded with Hubby at 5:45am. I was exhausted. I got about another 2 hours of sleep before Courtney got up. So, that night I maybe got 4 hours of sleep. I did got that morning to get some zucchini plants. So, now I have my tomato and zucchini plants started!

It's heading towards summer here. We have been having our typical afternoon storms almost every day. Today we had a pretty good one with some pretty close lightning and some loud thunder. Courtney was unhappy about it, covering her ears and complaining that it was too loud.

Well, I am pretty exhausted. Guess I will sort a bit of laundry and then head to bed.