Early birthday present

Mom and Dad came up to see Kelsie today. They wanted to see her at swimming lessons and they brought up her birthday present and gave it to her early. It was an All Terrain Radio Flyer wagon. Kelsie absolutely loved it. Dad pulled her around the house for literally 2 hours!! It was great because it (and he) kept her entertained while Nathan and I watched Carolina and State play (the all-important rivalry game for our house...we won by the way - the TARHEELS that is!) Kelsie cried when she had to get out of the wagon but cried even more when "meh-ma" and "ahhpa" left. After they left, she kept yelling "door, door", so I would open the door and show her that they really had left, and she would start crying again. But she eventually got over it. She thinks my dad is the most fun ever! And when she talks about him she says "ahpa...fun". :)  I think everyone who knows him would agree!

Swimming lessons

Kelsie has just finished her first swimming lesson class. There were only 4 sessions but by the end she was already more comfortable in the water and was even putting her face in! We both had so much fun and I can't wait for the next one! It was definitely a cold season for swimming lessons but hopefully now she will be ready and excited when summer gets here!

CF follow up

Kelsie had her routine CF followup today and she is doing fantastic! Her growth is amazing and lungs are healthy. She weighed 29lbs 2oz!! Her weight for height is over the 50th percentile which is just wonderful for a child with CF. Even though she is gaining weight, her stools have been changing suggesting she may not be absorbing as well, so we just went up on enzyme dosing last weekend. She is now getting 4 1/2 enzymes with meals and 3 1/2 with snacks. Everything is staying the same. Prevacid and Zantac for reflux, Flonase nasal spray for congestion, hypertonic saline 7% twice a day with PT, Miralax for constipation (which we dropped down to 1 tsp twice a day), and the CF multivitamin. She just got over 2 weeks of nasal congestion from a little cold but didn't have any coughing with it and got over it without developing a sinus or ear infection. So she never needed an antibiotic!! Hooray!!! I was so thrilled! We scheduled her next PFTs (pulmonary function test- with sedation again) for May 9th.


We are so thankful she has done so well, so far! 

Waiting in the waiting room. If only she were still like this for more than 5 seconds!! Once we were in the room, she was into everything. She was even so kind as to add some crayon artwork to the back of the chairs and walls. (Don't worry, it was just a little bit, I did stop her as soon as I saw her). She also enjoyed playing with the bandaids and tongue blades. (they are silly enough to put medical supplies in the drawer below the exam table). But she had fun. At least she enjoys going there!

Shopping with a toddler!

I felt brave and went shopping with Kelsie! I've always taken her with me everywhere and on my days off, we go out more days than not. But as she is becoming an active little toddler, taking her out is becoming more and more difficult. A typical shopping experience now involves me repeating "please stay in your stroller" "don't touch that" "stay with mommy" "don't walk away" "we have to go now" multiple times. But you can't expect too much from an active (almost) 2 year old. SO my philosophy is...as long as they are not causing too big of a scene, in danger, hurting something, themselves, or someone else, you just need to smile, enjoy them, and let them be a kid (and grab the camera so you can look back one day, remember the joy of these moments, and laugh!) :)
Oh the fun of shopping with a toddler! :)

Here are some pictures from our adventures on our our shopping day...she was a little rambunctious but was as good as could be expected! 

 

Paci recovery

I think the distress over the paci is finally over! Kelsie took a loooong nap yesterday without them, went to bed easily last night without crying, and didn't wake up all night! She is still thinking and talking about them though...this morning she was saying "pacis?" and looking for them behind the furniture! :)

Almost 2

Kelsie is quite the nurturer I am learning. She LOVES to carry her baby dolls around and love on them, kiss them, squeeze them, and take care of them as if they were real little people (to her they are). When they fall, she gets really worried, leans over and says "ok? ok" in her sweet, already southern accent. Her sunday school teacher has even noticed how much she loves to carry around baby dolls and described her as having a "nurturing spirit".

She is also such a sweet little playmate. Anytime we are around other kids, she always offers them her toys, and as of today, even her food. We stayed after church for a newcomers lunch and there was a cute little boy there that was about 7 months younger than her. She kept giving him her snack cup, and even fed him a cookie a time or two saying "there you go". She was loving it! She would then look at me and say "share, nice!" letting me know that she was sharing and being nice. Of course, I reinforced that and applauded her for it. 

She also likes to share how she is feeling. She is still just talking in 1 word sentences but she can tell us a whole story with just one word at a time. "daddy, stairs, crying, bath, clothes, bed, night-night" She likes to call out when she is happy, excited or shy. When she is enjoying something, she will laugh and say "happy". Or when I have told her we are going to see her friend Ava, you will hear in the back seat over and over saying "excited" sometimes quietly or under her breath. And when are out and a stranger looks at her or tries to talk to her, she will cower down and look at me and say "shy"... She also says shy anytime she feels nervous I've noticed.

Yesterday she prayed on her own for the first time, and it was unprompted. We had already sat down to eat dinner, said our blessing and were about halfway through the meal when she just put her hands together, looked down like she was closing her eyes and just started naming things. "Daddy, mommy, toys, Bill (as in the show Little Bill), pacis (even though they are gone), church, car, swing, outside, George (as in Curious George which is her favorite show at the moment).. I guess she was thanking God for all of these things (there were others too that I either can't remember or didn't understand). After we finished videoing the first time, we tried to capture it again. We asked her to pray and asked what she was thankful for. She sat there quietly, hands folded, eyes nearly closed, and then all of a sudden raised her hand and said Tarheels! You know I about came unglued with excitement! Its obvious she hears her mommy talk about the Tarheels a lot huh!? :)

Regrettably, there is one word she has started saying much to my dismay...Gosh! Yep, I'm responsible for that one. I use it too much and need to stop. But it could be worse. I'm glad that's the closest to a bad word that I say!

Goodbye Paci!

So last night was THE night. The night we took the pacifier away. I had been dreading this day for quite some time because I knew how attached she was to them and how hard it would be for her to let them go. I didn't even know where to start but heard a few experienced moms talk about the "paci fairy" so I just ran with it and came up with a plan that I thought would help her understand that the pacis were leaving forever. I know it was Valentines Day, but a Thursday, we decided, would be the best day for us to do it considering my work schedule and I didn't want to put it off another week so we just did it.

I had been preparing her all week for the "paci fairy" (and talking about getting rid of the pacis for even longer) so I know she was understanding what was going to happen. She often surprises me with just how much she does understand. Right before we packaged them up last night, I walked up to the loft to get the envelope we were going to put them in.  She was lying on my bed and saw me with it in my hand and said "pacis" "prize?"...I hadn't even mentioned it but she knew thats what we were going to do. So she went with me and we collected all the pacis (the ones we could find at least). We put them in a container and carried them downstairs. Then Nathan helped her put them in the envelope. We let her seal it up and you could see in her face she knew what that meant. She got really upset but was trying not to cry but then she just lost it. :(  I tried to keep her excited about what we were doing so we wrote a message on the envelope to the babies we were sending the pacis to and then she got to put stickers on the package (she liked that part the best).

 After we sealed up the envelope we put it out on the front porch for the paci fairy to come pick up. She was trying to be so strong but you can tell by the look on her face how hard it was for her. :( It broke my heart. This was surely one of her first little life lessons...its hard letting go of things you love but sometimes its for the best.

Telling them bye...

A little later we went back out to check if the paci fairy had came yet and look what we found!!! She came, took the pacis, and left a prize!!! Oh boy!!

She loved her little sock monkey and kept hugging and hugging him! (that made me feel a little better about what I had just done to her). He still didn't help her fall asleep I don't think...but maybe it was a little comfort at least to help her understand.

 

So after the "paci fairy" came, I put her to bed like usual taking along our new little friend. We went through the normal routine and I walked out of her room at 8:22p. (Yes I looked at the clock so I could see how long it took her to fall asleep).

Here is a little look at what it was like. It still makes me feel sick to watch this.... :(

It was just awful. It was really like she was in withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. She cried and screamed and threw her body around for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I went in there 2 or 3 times to help comfort her and she would immediately calm down. We would talk about it, I would hold her, and she would just stare in my eyes. I really felt soooo bad for her. I know for her at age 2, this was one of the worst things she has ever had to do. But I stayed strong and just let her work it out. She eventually cried herself to sleep. And then woke up again at 11:30pm, looking for her pacis and started crying/screaming again. After about 5 minutes, I went in and tried to calm her down but it didn't help. A few minutes later, she came walking into our room (she has only done this one other time since she has been sleeping in her big bed). But once in our room, she just stood in the doorway. She didn't say anything and neither did we. After a few seconds, she turned around walked back to her room, got in her bed, and went back to sleep. She didn't cry anymore the rest of the night and slept until 8am! So the falling asleep part was rough but the rest of the night wasn't nearly as bad I had imagined!

Today she has done really well. She is tired from all that crying last night and not going to sleep until so late. So did ask for them while riding in the car this morning and she even said "pleeeeease" and then cried a little but it didn't last long. At naptime, she wanted to go to bed with her juice and when I wouldn't let her she got upset, but she didn't ask for the pacis. She cried for a while, apparently mad about the juice, but then just talked a while and eventually went to sleep.

So all in all, its been a success. This morning, I told her I was so proud of her, and she said "pacis"...so she knows what I'm talking about. :) I'm sure she will still be sad over the pacis tonight at bedtime but we're almost over it I think! I did find one in the car though!! I better get it put away before she sees it!  

Goodbye dear friend, thanks for all your help over the past 2 years!!

Go HEELS!

Tonight is the big Carolina/Duke game so I had to dress Kelsie up in her Carolina attire! We are really bad this year so I'm not expecting a win, but I still love my Heels regardless!

Lets go TARHEELS!!!! Beat dook!

 

11:35pm - And we lost. :( But at least it was close. 

This is how we feel about it....

Last week of the paci...

Well its almost that time, time to say goodbye to the beloved pacifier, aka "paci" or "papi" as Kelsie has called it. Its been a great friend, to both of us actually. I have loved watching how magically it has worked to calm her down or get her to sleep. When she was younger, you could literally pop that thing in and watch her eyes roll back, falling asleep almost instantaneously. It is, as it is often referred to, the ultimate mute button! In her first week of life, when she was crying and we didn't know what else to do, I was so thankful she took to the paci. And when she was 3 weeks old and we had to start giving her enzymes for her CF, I was so grateful we had the pacifier to use as a vehicle to get her to suck down that all important medicine. When she had to be held down for shots or xrays or be put to sleep for PFTs, I was so happy she had that pacifier to soothe her scared, sweet little heart. But as she is now almost 2, it is time to let it go. We have decided the "paci fairy" will take it sometime this week, though the exact night is TBD. We keep putting it off because we know it is going to be a big deal for her so we want to do it on a day when there isn't a lot going on for her or for us. Tomorrow is the Carolina/Duke game so I am not doing it then (since I actually want to be able to hear the game and watch it undisturbed), Thursday is Valentines, I work Friday night, Saturday is the night before church so I want her to be able to get some sleep so she isn't cranky in the nursery...and I could go on and on! Haha. But we will probably just do it on Thursday even if it is Valentines Day (she doesn't know the difference yet and Nathan and I are an old married couple anyway (jk) so its not that big of a deal.  I dread this so bad because I expect it to be a long night pitiful tears and screams of protest. She loves her pacis so much...when she sees them, she says "papi's! yay! happy!" and starts giggling as she sucks on them. Yes, they make her happy and that is how she has learned to fall asleep for the past 2 years (almost). This is going to be a very hard thing for her to give up and I'm sure it is going to be just as difficult for me. But I always said we would do it before she turned 2, so here we are. We saw the dentist yesterday and there are already some changes to her bite so we've just got to do it. We have started talking to her about it, trying to prepare her for it for a while but this week we are telling her that the paci fairy in just a couple of days and is going to take her paci's away to another baby who needs them. She may even bring her a prize in return!
 
I put her to bed with just one paci tonight so maybe that will help make the transition a little more smoothly because she usually goes to bed with at least 3, one for her mouth and 1 for each hand!
This is her tonight.... Oh she is going to be a sad, sad little girl later this week... :(