happy half birthday, kaylea

Kaylea is 3 1/2 years old.  Where does the time go?  This has been a very exciting year watching her grow.

• Favorite Song - ABC Song & Twinkle Twinkle (these are her first requests when I sing at night)
• Favorite Book - Animal Book (I looked back and this was her favorite one last year); She also likes Wacky Wednesday
• Favorite TV Shows - Caillou, Super Why, Chloe's Closet (we have become Sproulet's this year)
• Favorite Foods - Turkey Sandwich, Grapes, Cereal, Moe's
• Favorite Snacks - Cookies
• Favorite Drinks - Water, Raspberry Lemonade, & Strawberry Juice (Strawberry Milk)
• Favorite Toys - Dora Backpack, Crayons & Crafts, LeapPad (or Daddy's iPad)
• Favorite Animal - Cats & Dogs
• Vocabulary - continues to be impressive.  Every time I go in a store, someone comments.  They also tell me that I'm going to be in big trouble when she gets older.
• This time last year, Kaylea still had her paci, but not anymore!

dental cleaning

Kaylea's dentist will not schedule a cleaning until they are certain the child will go back and sit in the chair.  We had the exam back in December and scheduled her cleaning for today.  I had an opportunity today that I rarely take advantage of.  I was able to sleep in, workout, wake up with Kaylea, and enjoy breakfast with her before taking her in for the cleaning.  It was nice.  We were both stress-free and it was a wonderful morning.

We got to the dentist and Kaylea was the life of the party, as usual.  She makes friends wherever we go.  They called her back and off she went.  I don't have any pictures because she went alone.  I really don't know why they go alone, but I asked several questions before using this dentist after watching a special on 20/20 about kid dentists.

About 25 minutes later, they came to get me and said that she was excellent and did a great job.  She said, "mom, I want to take you back to see my new friend."  The worker said, "I think he is in the chair getting his teeth cleaned now."  Kaylea went on to tell me that she made friends with Tyler.  This girl is crazy, but I love how brave she is.

medical update

We took Kaylea to the doctor on Friday morning to re-check her fracture.  The doctor said things look fine. Other than getting a few questions answered, I thought it was a wasted co-payment.  Here is what we learned:

1.  She does not have to wear the sling on her arm (funny thing is, since I made her wear it two nights in a row she hasn't wanted to take it off - the first day it was a complete battle).

2.  She has to stay out of karate and swimming for at least 3 weeks (we will probably keep her out a little longer).

3.  There is not going to be another x-Ray

I also had Dr. Woods check out this cough she was getting.  She said she just has a cold.  We noticed as we were leaving that her temperature was over 100 degrees.  We decided since Jordy was still of he would keep her home another day.  We wanted to break her back into school on a part day.  This girl is so out of her routine.  She has only been to school all but one day of the last 2 weeks.  

She appears to be getting sicker - I think she has more than a cold.  Tonight her temperature is up to 102 degrees.  I wish my girl would feel better.  This has started off as a rough year for her.

ER

Kaylea slept great last night.  She didn't go to sleep until 1am, but I only had to get up with her once and she wasn't complaining of pain.  The ony thing I noticed was that she was in the same spot she started in.  That is unusual for this girl.  She is usually all over the bed.  I thought she was ok, but then she didn't want to get out of bed and said her neck still hurt.  We tried and tried to get her up.  We finally got her to sit up, but she wouldn't raise her arm above her head.  That's when I started to worry.  Jordy and I decided to take her to the emergency room just to be safe.

She was a trooper.  We were there for over four hours and she did not complain at all.  Now, she did not want to go to the hospital.  She kept saying she didn't like shots and didn't want to get a shot.  I think we finally convinced here that there should not be any shots involved.  We noticed she was using her arm a lot more and not complaining so I was starting to think she was just fine. 

We finally got called back to a room (after playing a lot of iPad apps and watching Barney).  We got back to the room and waited more.  The nurse said nothing seemed out of place and the doctor said the same, but thought they should send her for x-rays.  So, we waited longer...and then we went to see the x-ray tech.

Kaylea was so brave. She didn't know what was going to happen and she was nervous, but she didn't cry.  She got 6 stickers (one for each picture).  We went back to our room to...you guessed it...WAIT!  This time it wasn't too long before the doctor came in and told us that she had indeed fractured her collarbone.  It was slight and should heal quickly and on it's own, but we needed to keep her as inactive as possible for now.  Kaylea wasn't phased until he said they were going to put her in a sling.  She started crying.  She didn't want to wear it.  She didn't think she could wear it and still play.  She said, "this blue thing breaks my heart."  And let me tell you - that little girl was breaking our heart.

What a day!  Not at all how we planned to spend it.  It is terrible to watch your child in pain.  The smiles in  between the pain and tears were comforting and knowing that this is something that will heal made it so much better, but Jordy & I were both emotionally drained after today.  Please pray that our sweet girl has a speedy recovery.  We were signed up for swimming class, which I now have to postpone and I am going to have to take her out of karate, which is her favorite.  It's going to be a rough couple of weeks.

NYE

We had big plans for New Year's Eve this year.  We actually sent Kaylea to school after a week off.  We wanted her to take a nap so she could make it up all night and celebrate.  We had some friends and kids over to play.  We had a lot of cancellations last minute because of sickness, but we still have a pretty good sized crowd. 

The party was fun and the kids had a blast.  Kaylea had been so excited about the party that she invited the Walmart cashier.  When people started to arrive, she was beaming. 

At 10:30, she came running in from the garage crying, saying that she was hurt.  After a little 3 year old interpretation, we came to the conclusion that  she fell on the concrete in the garage out of the bouncy house.  She must have hit hard because she cried for a long time.  I held her in her chair upstairs for a long  time before daddy took over.  After that, Kaylea only wanted Daddy.  I called Mimi back over to the party to get her opinion.  She thought something was wrong, but wasn't sure.  We couldn't decide if Kaylea was just extra tired, or if she was really hurting.  We decided to let her sleep overnight and see how she was when she woke up. 

2012 christmas card

Here is our Christmas card from this year.  I don't save too many things and I don't scrapbook anymore, so I like to document things on the blog so that we have it in print each year!

year in review - 2012

January
Kaylea was potty trained!

 

 

February
We had a Valentine's Day party at home.

 

 

March
Kaylea moved to a big girl bed!

 

 

April

Kaylea took her first trip to Disney World with Mommy, Daddy, and Mimi.  Jordy & I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in Chicago.  Kaylea also gave her paci to the Easter bunny.

 

 

May
Our cousin Meagan graduated from high school!

 

 

June

Jordy & I had an adult only beach vacation in Cabo San Lucas - it is a place on my bucket list.

 

 

July

Mimi moved to Lafayette and became our next door neighbor.  This worked out better than any of us could have ever imagined.  She seems to be happy and we enjoy the family time.  Kaylea turned 3!

 

 

August
Our friends, the Zuercher's, welcomed baby Elliot into the world.

 

 

September
Celebrated my 32nd birthday.

 

 

October

Jordy and I went to see the Broncos play in Denver and Jordy turned 35!

 

 

November
Kaylea started taking karate.  We also celebrated Thanksgiving in Lafayette with our family.

 

 

December

I got to go on a trip to Vegas with my mom

 

 

2012 has been a great year for our family.  We have celebrated far more great memories over bad times.  I can't imagine our lives any other way.  We took more vacations than normal and had a great year.

vacation week

We told Kaylea that she didn't have to go to school this week and that she was on vacation with Mommy & Daddy.  She interpreted this to mean she was going to Disney World (this is what she told her daycare workers).  Well, we didn't go to Disney World, but we did stay pretty busy while we were off this week.

Thursday night, we went over to play with Owen.  They exchanged presents and played and we got some quality adult time.

Friday we drove back to Southern Indiana to see some of our friends there.  We saw Bud Friday morningn and then headed to see the Niemeier's.  Kaylea & Alton exchanged presents and played together.  Kaylea loved swinging in Alton's basement swing.  She also enjoyed pushing Alton in the swing.  Alton loves to dance and he has some good moves (wish I would have gotten a video).

Friday night, Kaylea went to play with Aunt Shannan while mommy had a girl's night out and Daddy got to spent some quality time with his parents.

Saturday morning we woke up to snow!  We had a playdate at Chuck E. Cheese.  We hung out with Kaidyn, Lucas, Tyler, and Aidric.  Kaylea had a blast.  It's hard to get all of the kids to play together, but it was fun watching them when they decided to interact.

My mom picked us up and took Kayela to see Barbara and her cats.  Kaylea then got to hang out with Nana & Pop while Mommy & Daddy went to watch the basketball game (GO CARDS).  I convinced Jordy that if we showed up at the Yum Center, we would be able to find tickets.  Of course, we did...we were way up in the stands, but we were there and it was a great game.  Even as season ticket holders, we hadn't been to a UL vs. UK game in many years, so it was nice to catch a great game.

After the game, Jordy & I met up with Brittney & Bill at Wick's for a little adult time with some friends we haven't hung out with in awhile.  It was nice catching up.

 

Kaylea was going to spend the night with Trina.  I didn't think she would, but when we hadn't heard from her by 11pm, I thought she had fallen asleep.  Then my phone rang at 11:30 and Kaylea missed mommy.  I headed to get her and brought her back.  She had fallen asleep when I got there, but I took her back with my anyway.

 

We got up this morning and picked up Brenden for breakfast.  We had a great time and hit the road to come home.  I was shocked that Jordy had her to sleep before 9:00 tonight.  We are going to work on getting her back on schedule, but not before we celebrate New Year's Eve tomorrow night.

christmas day

Kaylea was overwhelmed with presents.  I almost wish she didn't get so many.  I really want her to understand what Christmas is about.  We worked on giving this year and she had fun handing out gifts, which made me happy, but she had even more fun opening all of her presents.

 

We started the morning at Nana & Pops and celebrated with Shannan & Brenden.  We followed it up by going to Trina's and celebrating with Linda, Meagan, and Mikey.  Kaylea was tired and ready to go home.  I was shocked she didn't pass out in the car.  We drove home and played with all of her toys before we all crashed early!

 

 

twas the night before

Jordy's parents always have his family over to celebrate on Christmas Eve.  We had really debated going home.  When you have a little kid, you really want to wake up in your own house on Christmas morning and let your child run around and play with their toys and have breakfast.  Traveling is not my idea of a good time.  We decided to suck it up this year, because we knew the party wasn't coming to us and made the drive home.

 

We arrived around 6:00 and Kaylea made a new friend.  She met her second cousin, Caleb.  She was excited to meet him and really liked playing with him.  Caleb had his first tea party.  Kaylea liked it because he did whatever she told him to.

 

We got a hotel room at the Hampton Inn that night because we thought it would be last hectic.  We were so wrong!  Kaylea was not having it.  She is such a homebody.  She did not want to stay at the hotel.  She cried and cried.  We let her watch TV and turned on lights, and finally at 1am, she went to sleep.  We had to wake her up at 7:45.  Considering she didn't have much sleep, she had a great day.