Brotherly love...at 14 months

We (being Mom, Whitney, Myself, Kodiak, and Cheyanna) went grocery shopping today and put the carseat with Cheyanna in it in the main part of the shopping cart and had Kodiak in the seat and the groceries in another cart. Well, Kodiak has decided that he has to keep his eye on Cheyanna at all times so as we were pushing the cart, he turned around so he could see the carseat and spent almost the entire time pulling the blanket off the carseat so he could see his sister, then putting it back, just to pull it away a few minutes later. Well, then he pulled the blanket off the handle and let it fall on her lap and reached back and grabbed the handle and started rocking the carseat with her in it. It was so sweet, I can't even begin to describe how touching it was for me. I was so worried about him being jealous or something and he has been nothing but absolutely loving towards her. If I am holding her and she cries, he'll run over to see what is wrong. She dropped her binky out of her mouth in the car on the drive home and he got my attention and showed me and wouldn't stop grunting at me until she had it safely back in her mouth. He'll pull on my mom's leg when she is holding her and make her bend down to show him and then he breaks out into fits of giggle and delight. It is absolultely amazing how well he takes to her. I have never seen a little boy so attached so soon. We have only been home a day.

Cheyanna has arrived!!

Monday, September 27th, 2010, beautiful Cheyanna arrived into our lives! We drove to Mountainview Hospital and checked in at 1pm and I got ready to be induced. I was induced with Kodiak so I kinda knew what to expect but for some reason I was ten times more nervous. I got in the gown and they placed the IV and started the ptosin. The nurse was telling me that my Dr. has a gift and he sends his patients to the hospital and times it perfectly so that the baby is delivered between 5pm & 7pm (although usually closer to the latter which is shift change :). Well, I thought there was no way for her to be born within 4-6 hours. Well they started the medication and I waited a couple hours and then decided I had better get an epidural before the labor pains got too bad. So they call the anesthesiologist to come and when he shows up, he has a student working alongside him. Of course, the student needs to learn so I expected to be practiced on. Little did I know that instead of 2 tries to get the epidural in (which is what happened with Kodiak), it took 3 and even then, it was a close call (yes, that was 3 sticks with the huge epidural needle, plus several to numb it, and several pokes with a needle to determine if they were following the bones correctly.) Needless to say it took a while and it didn't feel too good. By the time they had placed it, my doctor had showed up. Turns out that after 2 hours of the medication, I had only gone up 2 cm, as is expected. Over the next hour, I had progressed 2 more. So we had expected Cheyanna not to come for at least a couple more hours (where I was only a 5). Well, the nurse started setting things up and we were laughing about how early she was setting up and how it was better to be prepared. As she was setting up, however, the pains were increasing and the epidural wasn't kicking in as strong as it should. I asked the nurse if there was any way to get a little more medicine and she said she had to check me and then we'd decide. Well, come to find out, I was now past a 10 and it had only been 45 minutes from the time I was a 5. The doctor had gone home and had to be notified to come in immediately and the nurse told me that under no conditions was I to push until the doctor showed up......he showed up minutes before she came. :) She was everything we expected and more.

Pictures don't do her justice. We had to switch rooms and in the process, discovered I had major headaches caused by a hole poked in my epidural space from all the attempts. The next day I had to have a blood patch (which is where they draw 30cc of blood out of my arm and inject it into my spine to fill in the hole and clot up) followed by lots of laying on my back. However, despite all of this, I can't help but think of how perfect this delivery was.

Birthday Boy

Kodiak had his first birthday and it was a lot of fun. Just had the inlaws over for cake but it was fun to give Kodiak cake and ice cream and let him make a mess of himself and my kitchen.

Wyoming and South Dakota

Well, the first week of July we helped my parents move to Wyoming. It was fun once we were there but the drive was the most boring, most lack of scenery, and longest of my life....and I slept for half of it. We stopped off at McDonalds for breakfast and this is what the tables were like in the play section of the restaurant.

After helping them move in, we took a trip to South Dakota and drove through Bear Country which was pretty cool. They told us to keep our window closed (wild animals, self explanatory) and there was an 8-10 year old boy in the car ahead of us leaning out the window to try and pet the Arctic wolf. Not so smart of child or parents.

We Then were able to walk through the baby animal part of the zoo and see all of them, which Kodiak loved. My favorite were all the baby bears trying to knock each other out of the trees.

We then traveled a little farther and were able to see Mt Rushmore. It was really cool but I was bummed we couldn't get closer.

Dogs never learn

So a little while ago Kyle and I were out shooting milk jugs with our guns in the backyard and when we were finished, we let the dogs run around. Well, not only once did the stupid dogs get their head caught in it, but twice. I finally had to throw it away because the stupid dogs never learned.

Walking

We bought Kodiak a walker and he is cruising all over our house. Well, a couple days ago, he was holding on to my fingers and standing up, when he decided to let go. It took me a couple seconds to realize it, but he was standing all by himself. He is very determined and I doubt it will take long before he is walking.

Tracy Lawrence at Eagle Mountain Amphitheater

We went to the Tracy Lawrence Concert with some friends and it was really good. He is coming out with a new song called "Pills" and it is hilarious. I highly recommend checking it out once its recorded.

Kodiak was dancing the whole night and at the really loud parts would start singing, "da-------dy, da da, da-------y" It was so cute. He even got to watch fireworks for the first time in his life. It was a nice break from life.

Mowing the lawn (of weeds)

I decided it was time to mow our weeds down so it looked like a front yard and Kodiak was a big helper. He babysat the cats and ate dirt. Good times :)

Kel Tec 380 Self Defense

After paying off some baby bills,we had money left over and since Kyle is so nice :) we went out and bought me a little 380 for concealed carry. Its small enough to fit in his pocket and I hit the middle of the milk jug on my second try! Now I actually like going shooting :)

Vanilla Wafers are best when shared

Kyle and I skipped church, I know we're bad, and took a drive up the canyon on sunday and after a while, we pulled over to the side of the road to watch nature and eat our treats and Kodiak was sitting on daddy's lap of course. We were all just enjoying ourselves (Kyle hasn't ever smiled so big), and Kyle looked over at Kodiak and said, "You are a cute little guy huh?" and that adorable little stinker of mine, looked into his daddy's eyes and smiled a huge grin, then reached up and smeared his drooled-all-over vanilla wafer across Kyle's face. It was hilarious! Kodiak is very intelligent and extremely mischievious and I believe he understands every word we say to him. I have never seen a baby so mischievious at such a young age. Gotta love him though!

Baby #2

Well, Kyle and I went to my 20 week ultrasound (and my sister was wonderful enough to watch Kodiak for that hour) and......IT IS A GIRL!!!! Kyle has wanted a girl since the day he found out he had a son (cuz once a son is born, its ok to have a girl :) ). I was hoping for a boy, but knew it was a girl from day 1 (ok, kyle and I both did) and as I've gotten used to the idea, I went from just being ok with it, to very excited! She gave the ultrasound tech. a super hard time. She'd show her fingers and then close her fist right before he could take the picture. And that's how it was with everything he needed to look at and measure. ha ha ha I was afraid she'd be a little stinker, but I guess the apple doesn't fall far from my tree. We have picked out a name, but with the million other girls pregnant and expecting girls, we have chosen not to tell even our moms until she has popped out and is in our arms. Its very unique, but not crazy. :) Go ahead and guess, cuz it is not in any baby name book i've seen. :)

Where's ma-ma

First came "gee" (hungry), then came "da-da", now is "ba-ba", but the only time "ma-ma" is spoken is when Kyle is trying to teach him to crawl and he is madder/sadder than a hornet and looks at me as if to say "save me ma-ma". I feel so loved. ha ha You'd think as much of a mama's boy as he is, he would use the term more often

Kisses

So it used to be that Kodiak would give anyone a slobbery kiss on the cheek who asked him, but over the last little while he's become very particular. For example, my mom was here the other day and Kodiak refused to give me a kiss until I turned him so my mom couldn't see him and he gave me a tentative one. When noone is around he is so generous with kisses, but especially when dad is home, he refuses. I think he is hitting that "I'm embarrassed to be seen kissing my mom" stage a little early.

Pregnancy induced bolimia

So the other day I was playing with Kodiak on the living room floor when morning sickness hit. I made it to the kitchen was all and as I started heaving into the garbage can, I hear this faint noise coming from the living room. I heaved and then coughed and then you here this "little heave and two fake coughs". Kodiak was imitating every sound I made. It sounded so much like me, I had to double check I wasn't throwing up in two rooms. I peeked in on him and he was casually playing with his toys on the floor and saying "heave, cough cough, pause, heave, cough cough." He seriously makes my day every day.

Kucky Kucky

SO I'm not as good of a mom as I should be because when I put Kodiak in his bouncer, sometimes there are several crumbs or pieces of food still on it from the day or two before. When I catch him going for them to eat them, I say (very seriously) kucky Kodiak, don't you eat that. It seems the more serious I am with him, the bigger grins he gives me and the faster he shoves them in his mouth. Well, yesterday, he put some in his mouth and offered me his hand with some still in it, as if to say, want some mom (with the most innocent grin of course). Even as I'm writing this, he is looking for crumbs....what am I gonna do with him. ha ha ha

Kodiak is a fighter

Turns out, Kodiak has pneumonia on top of RSV but was kickin its butt and so they didn't have to put him in the hospital. What a tough guy.

Poor little guy

I took Kodiak in for a well child check and it turns out he has RSV. Luckily he has a strong immune system and is tougher than nails. He's fighting it really well, but so far isn't improving...

Land and its creatures....

So Kyle and I got our land surveyed ($500 bucks was cheap, ugh!) and we came home one night and found 3 stakes in our yard, and when you connect them, it cut the master bedroom in half and took out the kitchen and laundry room. So Kyle talked to the guy and apparently we own our whole house (there were 2 stakes we didn't see), across the road on the farmer's land, into one of the farmer's corrals, and to the back of our yard.Still messed up but at least we own our house. That same night we walked inside and Kyle went downstairs to get something and found out that a new critter has found our basement to be a suitable home. Now if only we could catch it....

Apollo

So Kyle ran down to the gas station the other day (which is a little over a mile away) and on his way back, he saw his lab Apollo running towards him down the highway, dodging cars, trying to follow his scent. ha ha I guess Apollo saw him leave and didn't want to be left behind.

The Horse

So Kyle and I decided to go horseback riding with his best friend and his family and when we met up with them, their other neighbor told us to ride her horse instead of the Baker's mules. So since I had the most experience on horses, I volunteered. Well, halfway around the block, the horse got spooked by other horses running in a nearby field and started to gallop. Being pregnant (again) I was worried the bouncing would be bad for the baby and while trying to slow the horse down, the saddle flew up and I flew off the front of the horse and landed on my head and right shoulder. Good thing I was wearing a helmet. Turns out I broke my collar bone and possibly tore my rotator cuff. However, the doctor said the baby is still early enough, that it should be just fine.

Formula

So I took Kodiak to his 6 month checkup at the Doctor at he only weighed 12oz more than at 4 months. The doctor told me that on top of nursing him, I needed to shove as many calories in him as he will eat (he has the fastest metabolism I've ever seen), as well as add a formula supplement. So I went out and bought some formula and have been trying to give it to him via a bottle for a few days and he looks at me with the saddest face and cries and then smacks his gums together and talks to me. It is so sad to see that face. Anyway, I've been mixing it in his fruits and vegetables lately but decided that today he WAS going to take a bottle. So as soon as he woke up, I made him one and I knew he was very hungry. He started crying and fussing again and I looked him in the eye and told him he wasn't getting any nana's (bananas) until he drank it all (4oz). He looked at me almost angry-like and grasped the bottle between his little hands, shoved the nipple in his mouth and bit it as hard as he could. ha ha ha He even had the angry eyebrows. It tasted nasty again but he swallowed a couple times before he refused to take anymore. Anyway, it was hilarious. So I gave him some nana's anyway.

Jump it!

So we got our rebate check last night in the mail and I was supposed to go cash it and get gas, etc. I loaded up Kodiak and put him in the truck and went to start it and it was chugging like the oil was too thick. Not uncommon in Chester where its a warm day when the temp. is above 0. Anyway, I texted Kyle at work and told him and he said to jump the truck. Well, I took drivers ed. and I know how to, but I had never done it before. So, I left the baby inside to stay warm (and just in case I blew up the trucks), and went outside. I hooked up the jumper cables (with helping texts from Kyle) and went to start the truck. Upon place my bare fingers on the metal ignition thing, I almost froze my fingers to it. Luckily I let go fast enough. I kept trying and kept praying and kept texting and I couldnt get it to start, the whole time expecting it to blow up any minute. (Kyle said once one truck was hooked up not to let the other cables touch so I had my fingers spread as wide as they would go holding the one jumpers apart and the other hand hooking up.) Finally, after adding a million more layers, and no luck, the farmer pulled up across the street to load up hay to feed the cows. I walked over there and waved him off his tractor to come help me. He checked and I had hooked one truck cables onto the battery connectors instead of the metal part so he fixed it and everything was good. :)