Growing up so fast...

Sitting in the big girl swing and riding a tricycle!? How did that happen so fast? At least she still needs my help!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It was such a busy day! We had lunch at Nathan's mom's then went to my aunt's house for dinner (celebrating graduation, mother's day, and dad's birthday). A busy day for Kelsie often means less sleep and today that lack of sleep led to the worst tantrum I have ever witnessed! We got home and she unleashed her inner tiger or something. Oh, it was quite a scene. Screaming and crying so hard she almost threw up! She was just soooooo tired! We did a lot today. She went down for nap late since we were at his parents' house for lunch, then we had to get her up after only an hour of sleep to go to my aunt's house. And she ran around outside non-stop from 5-9p while there. So as I was witnessing this major meltdown trying to contemplate what to do next but could hardly do anything to console her, I remembered that she didn't eat much at dinner and it had at that point been almost 4 hours since she had eaten so I thought maybe she is hungry. Since she is not usually awake at that time of night, that's not something I usually think about. I asked "do you want some milk?" and she calmed for a second and said "ok." As soon as I got back with her milk and a cereal bar, she calmed right down. Then kept saying "mmmm, delilicious" as she ate it! Needles to say, an overly exhausted and hungry child is a force to be reckoned with!! Poor thing said as we laid down and she rubbed her eyes, "seepy". She asked me to sing, held my hand, and laid her face against mine, then was asleep within 60 seconds.

But the greatest tantrum of her existence reminded me:
Parenting is hard and we are still learning as we go!
Sometimes being a mom requires more patience and grace than you know how to give.
Your child depends on you to meet their needs even when they don't know how to express them.
It is more important to figure out WHY your child is acting the way they are than it is to correct the behavior.
Your child finds so much comfort in your voice and in your touch. Make sure you are always there to comfort them and that you will always love them no matter what!


I am also so thankful for my mom today! For her love, support, hard work, kindness, grace, selflessness, and friendship. She is the greatest woman I know and I am so blessed she is my momma and is such an awesome grandma to Kelsie! I am also so thankful God blessed me with the beautiful gift of motherhood! It is the greatest love I have ever known and the hardest but most wonderful job I have ever had! That little girl brings me so much joy and I am so glad God made her mine!

Zizard!

Kelsie is so intrigued by lizards these days! We saw one on a tree this morning and she tried to feed it a leaf.

Don't want to miss one moment

Every day, I see Kelsie changing more and more. She is doing something new every day. Saying new words. Trying new things. Interested in everything around her. Exploring and imagining. There are so many things that are new to her and it is so fun to witness her reaction when she experiences something new. She looks upon everything with wonder and excitement. Even little things catch her attention, like a big truck passing by or a bird flying in the sky. I often forget to write things down. I just think, "oh my, this is so stinkin cute" or "wow, I cannot believe she remembered that". She amazes me every day with what she says and does and REMEMBERS. It is an absolute joy to spend time with her every day, to watch her play and learn new words and figure out how things work. Unfortunately, its easy to let the busy world get the most of our time and forget to pause and soak it all in. But I don't want to fall victim to that. I don't want to miss one moment. I've been reminded lately just how quickly this time is passing by. She won't be little forever so when she asks me to read one more story or sing to her at night or lay down beside her as she falls asleep, I'm going to be there. I'm learning to stop worrying about that fear of creating a problem and instead, just be there to love her and enjoy these extra special moments for they will soon just be a memory.

Her vocabulary is exploding every day. Her ability to name things amazes me sometimes. Yesterday she found a flashlight and said "mommy, fash-iiight". I don't remember ever teaching her that, and its not something we use very often but she still knew what it was. They are really like little sponges at this age! Sometimes she says words that only we can understand but sometimes we don't even want to correct it because they sounds so cute (or "tute" as she would say!)

She talks about her memories of things A LOT. You can tell things that really had an impact on her because she will randomly bring it up. These days things she says a lot: "fog (frog).. table... jumping.. away" Translation- the frog was under the table jumping and then he went away. This happened several weeks ago and she still talks about it a lot. And anytime she sees a lizard: "Keh-kee, scared, zizard." Translation- Kelly was scared of the lizard. She still hasn't forgotten it either. Nathan's dad helped cut down a tree LAST year and she still talks about it..."papaw, trees".

She cried for me one night after going to bed while staying at Nathan's parents house and when I asked what was wrong, she pointed to the ceiling fan and said "mommy, dragon!". I had to hold back my laughter but compassionately reassured her that it was just a fan, not a dragon. :)

She really seems to say anything that comes to her mind (if you know me well, you probably know she gets that honest!).

She continues to be independent. If we ask or try to help, we typically hear "NO, self" A LOT these day.

She is very affectionate. She hugs on younger children and babies as much as you will let her. She just cannot seem to help herself, she hugs and hugs and hugs and makes that sweet little voice saying "Aaava, tuuuute".

She is still a mommy's girl and I wouldn't want it any other way! :)

Things that make her the happiest: babies, dogs, and the swing!

She is developing more fear about things as kids usually do at this age but she is also still really brave and doesn't get scared of much. When she hears a truck passing by (even when we are in the house), she will run up to me, grab my leg and say "mommy, scared, truck."

We took her to a movie yesterday (my dad wanted to see Oz for his birthday and wanted her to go). She did SO well. Everyone was surprised how well she did. She sat on my lap the whole time and was into the movie from beginning to end. There were definitely some scary parts that I would have rather her not see but it didn't seem to phase her. She seemed to get it and would open her mouth wide or cover her mouth and she did startle a couple of times but didn't cry. It was actually a good movie and kid-appropriate.

She is very tough. She will fall down but just stands up, brushes off her legs and under her breath you can hear her saying "ouch" as she rubs them and keeps on going.

But she also has discovered what band aids are and puts that request out there a lot if she finds a boo boo or just wants to pretend there is one there. Last night, she was sitting on the potty and asked for a band aid. Then very carefully unwrapped it herself and applied it perfectly to a little scratch on her knee. Then wanted to put one on the boo boo on my face too.

 If she sees something on me that she thinks is a boo boo or if she hears me say "ouch", she will run up to me and say "ok? then "tiss it" and "ok, allll better".

She is still trying to count and will do this unpromted...it often sounds like this starting out.."8, 9, 2..." or "6, 7.." but never starts with 1.

She likes her room completely dark (like momma)

She is very strong willed and thats a challenge to discipline at times. She seems to respond best to my talking and explaining to her why things are wrong. She usually does pretty good but we definitely have our share of tantrums. And she can definitely test my patience! Typical toddlerhood/terrible 2s as they call it.

The other day I looked at her with a stern face because she was not listening to me and would not sit back to let me buckle her in the carseat...and what did she do?? She held her hand palm up to my chin, tilted her little head and said with her sweet voice, "mommy, eyes, beautiful"...Now how do you discipline THAT!?

She sleeps very well these days. 12 hours at night usually and a 2-3 hour nap during the day.

Her appetite has been terrible lately but we just started a new medicine, erythromycin (which is an antibiotic but in small doses helps with motility to moves things through her GI system faster aiding with reflux and constipation) and I'm already seeing some improvements.

7 years

May 2nd, 2006. Its a day I don't remember at all but yet, its significance is one I will never forget. Every year, as the anniversary of my accident approaches, I think it will no longer affect me. But even after 7 years, I cannot help but be overcome with emotion as I think back to all that happened, all that I went through, and all that could have been. I was broken and I am now scarred forever, but I survived and I am stronger. I almost lost my life, I almost lost my legs. But by the grace of God and the hands of doctors, I am here, living proof of a miracle. Thankful for today and every day. But especially today.

CF Appointment - Eating issues

We went back today for a CF appointment. We were supposed to do her infant PFTs with sedation but her doctor decided to cancel that and just use the appointment to discuss all of her feeding issues. She weighed 30.9lbs today and was 91 cm tall (right at 3 feet). So that is actually still really good, 80th percentile for weight and height I believe.

Even though she has been growing well, she still has not been eating well. She continues to love drinking Pediasure which is like a full meal's worth of nutrition but I still want her to eat. She never seems hungry, pushes away food, will take a bite and then gag and spit it out and things of that nature. It has made feeding times very stressful on me because I know how important good nutrition is for her. She is supposed to eat more fat and calories than the average toddler and I feel like (with the exception of Pediasure, she is eating less). Her doctor has said for a while she felt this was just normal picky toddler behavior. And to some degree, I felt the same way. She has definitely been exhibiting some behavioral eating issues. But I also feel there is more going on to affect her appetite. Her reflux has been getting a lot worse despite taking reflux medications. I can hear food regurgitating into her chest when I am holding her and she will pat her chest, make a grimace and say "mommy, burp". She coughs when doing that as well and is coughing more during and after meals. So they decided to put her on a medication to aid in GI motility (moving things through faster) so this will hopefully help with the reflux and the constipation.  They also scheduled an appointment with the feeding team to asses other possible causes of her eating behvaiors and work on developing a plan to get her eating again.

From a pulmonary standpoint, she is doing really well. No concerns there as of now. Her PFTs (pulmonary function test) was rescheduled for June 13th.