So many things that I should have been updating about and just haven't....

First, we're challenging Kairi's dairy allergy. She suddenly started telling us the moment she had a dirty diaper, and that's allowed us to get it cleaned immediately. Since the problem with dairy was always that if the dirty diaper set on her skin for more than just a minute or two it would give her bleeding blisters, we had decided that we weren't even going to begin to challenge her system until she was potty trained. But with her change in behavior, we felt like it was safe to slowly reintroduce dairy to her. The moment we saw a reaction, we would have discontinued our actions. But so far no reactions! Of course, we're taking it slow and only giving her a small piece of cheese every few days, but it's been exciting for us to see her eat it again! She's really excited about it too -- she loves it and misses it sooo much.

Second, I got crafty the other day! I decided that I wanted to make Kairi a felt board, and since I had another 2 yo's birthday party coming up, I made one for him too! Actually, I just started Kairi's, but I actually did Carter's. Here's a picture of his!




Third, Chris' parents joined us for the Fourth of July. That night we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and the next day we went to the beach. "We" did not include Chris when we went to the beach because he had duty that day. Here's a few highlights from it.


Alex's first taste of beans and rice from a restaurant:


Peak-a-boo behind Daddy!

Papa and Kairi










Fourth, today we ate Cream of Wheat for breakfast. Kairi decided that it was thick enough to use her hands.










Fifth, Carter's birthday party was a blast! (Sorry, Kate, the pictures aren't as good as I'd like them to be.)













And for a bonus, here's Kairi's monkey face and Alex NOT liking being in the grass!

Mmm... Squash

Last night I made squash for Alex. He loves it, and since he's teething, he has been avoiding finger foods. Squash works well because it's so easy to just steam and blend up, and he'll eat it for every meal not a problem.

This evening he had more squash for supper. Then it was time to get the kids ready for bed. I always clear the table AFTER they're in bed -- makes clean up time go much more smoothly.

I gathered all of Kairi's night things in her bedroom and called her.
"Kairi, let's get dressed for bed, come in here."
From the kitchen: "K! Babble babble babble" clang clang clang
30 seconds later: "Kairi? Are you coming? We need you to get dressed for bed."
"K! Babble babble babble." clang clang clang.
A full minute later: "Kairi Hope, get in here right now. I'm running out of patience."
NOOOO!!! CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG
I immediately go in there to enforce that she HAS to obey Mommy. And I had to take a deep breath and keep myself from laughing hysterically. She had taken brother's food, and was spoon feeding it to the dog. That's right, one spoonful at a time, Tiger was eating blended up squash. Kairi thought it was funny, Tiger enjoyed the attention, and I had to do everything in my power to not laugh because she was 1) not obeying and 2) knows that she's not allowed to touch brother's food.

She was still punished. I did not laugh at her. But man, was that hard.

Looks like it was definitely a virus....

Alex all but stopped eating today, and threw up this evening. He's also been super clingy and not very energetic.

So here goes another week of sick babies...........

Poor Princess

I've been negligent in reading, commenting, and posting blogs because Kairi is sick.

It started July 5th. That night she woke up with diarrhea. My in-laws were here that weekend and my fil had spent the night sick as well. The next day she began running a high fever and messing w/ her ears. Monday morning I took her to the doctor. No ear infection, probably a virus. If she wasn't better by Wednesday, I was supposed to call back in case it was a UTI.

The diapers became more frequent. She would only cry when you you offered her food. And she kept crawling in my lap and asking to be put to bed, which I always complied when she asked. But the fever finally went away.

Wednesday she was still sick, so I called in again. We had a 9:15am appointment for Thursday morning.

She still has a stomach virus. It's turned into Toddler's Diarrhea so that she can't absorb liquids quickly. We needed to slow down her digestion. You do that w/ a high fat and fiber diet. It's working -- slowly, but things do seem to be becoming more normal. The only other thing it could be is salmonella, which we've sent in a stool sample to test for. If that's the case we'll probably treat it the same, with a small possibility of antibiotics, but at least we would have answers. In the meantime, she now also has a rash all over her body and knots on her neck from the infection. She spent 90% of yesterday and the day before asleep.

But today she must be feeling at least a little bit better! She's asked to eat several times. She's has actually smiled a few times today! And she's not asked to go to bed yet ... and this week she's asked to go to bed at least by 10am every morning, if not earlier!


I hope that she continues to get better -- and do so quickly!

Teeth!

Alex has a tooth! We noticed it July 4th. :) You can't see it, but you can DEFINITELY feel it! It's on the bottom, and the other is starting to come through as well. His gums are super swollen and he's drooling like there's no tomorrow.

As soon as it/they're visible, I'll take pictures to share!

PICTURES!

And a lot of them. From Chris's first Saturday home, through this morning. :D



Sister likes to help bathe Brother. Unfortunately, Brother hates it.










At the Zoo--








Alex is convinced he can crawl b/w the couches .... This is the result.




And here he is pulling up this morning!

What a Day!

Yesterday was a big day in the world of Alexander Pyle!

It started with him waking up saying Mamamama! It was so sweet to hear him say it, especially when he looks me in the eye to say it! Of course, he started saying dadadada last week, but that doesn't always mean Daddy. But Mamamama definitely means Mama! :D

Then we had visitors, they will be staying with us every day this week. (More on them later.) And finally....


HE PULLED UP! He pulled up to the couch several times yesterday! Each time he did it, he started laughing and would laugh so hard that he fell on his bottom...which cracked him up even more. But he stood up and down over and over again for about 15 minutes yesterday! My baby's growing up!





Now, onto the visitors. Imagine getting a call from one of the women in your church, this woman is someone you respect, and you hear:
"Stephanie, we have an issue and I was given your number to call." How would you feel? Would you be racking your brain trying to figure out what in the world your family could have done that would cause you to be an "issue"? I was.

In the end, nothing had been done. Instead, her niece had just been given a job and was asked to start the next morning. But she has two children and needed childcare. So for this week, I have E(3) and T(1) along with my two children. Things have been good for the most part. We are having to work on sharing and taking turns, and of course no hitting the baby. But overall, it's been enjoyable. And the best part is the extra income. We definitely needed it this pay cycle.



Kairi is ready for a toddler bed! Can you believe it? I can't ... but here I sit browsing Craigslist for a toddler bed that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and is still in decent shape. Of course, this also means that I'm going to have to buy a mattress for it. The option that I'd rather take would be to put her straight into a twin, but again, it's the price tag that we're looking at right now. Wish us a smooth transition to a big girl bed!