As I stated before, I lost all my journal entries from April 2006 through December 2006.  I was able to retrieve some entries by what I posted on a family forum, but found nothing for December.  I am glad I was able to retrieve all of what I did, though.

November 6 - Well Megan hasn't had to be on reflux meds since January of this year so at about 11 months or so. She probably needed to be on it longer but she fought us so hard on it that we let it go and she was doing good. We've had episodes where she chokes really easily after a reflux and pukes. Most times it's ok, but this weekend really scared us.

We were at Chuck E. Cheese with our friends and Megan ran out of milk so Ryan put watered down lemonade in her sippy. I didn't know it at the time and gave her a drink and I heard this awful sound come from her tummy and she started choking and gasping for air and puked everything that was in her stomach. I assume it was just too much for her tummy, to acidic? Or maybe she got too much air when drinking? I don't know, but I've been seeing her choke and puke a lot more lately. It's freaking me out. I know she still refluxes because I can hear it, although it doesn't seem to bother her on a normal basis.

I guess I'm just going to keep an eye on it for now. If it gets worse I'll call her gastro specialist.

November 21 - We've been having minor issues again with Kylie staying in her bed all night and she's been misbehaving a bit more than usual so when Ryan tucked her in bed the other night he told her that Santa's elves were watching her and if she didn't behave us he wouldn't bring her any presents. I know, horrible to threaten your kids that way. Anyways, so yesterday morning she comes in to the bathroom where the rest of us were getting ready and said her underwear was wet. I asked her if she peed the bed and she said no that her underwear was just wet. So I walked to her room and looked at her bed where I saw a huge wet spot in her bed. I asked her why she didn't get up to go and she first said she was afraid to wake us up and she couldn't go into her bathroom because she was afraid to wake Megan up. I explained to her I'd rather her wake us up and go to the bathroom than pee the bed. That was that.

Then on the way to work she told me she had to tell me something about the pee accident. I say ok, tell me. She replied with "Mommy the real reason why I peed the bed is because Santa's elves were watching me and I was afraid if I got out of bed to go pee then I'd be misbehaving and I wouldn't get any presents".

I'm thinking "nice one Ryan, good job". So he and I both had to explain to her that getting up to go pee in the middle of the night was NOT misbehaving. They take things so literally.

November 22 -  I have no clue what to do with Megan these days. She doesn't say a lot of words and screams for basically everything she wants. She's very stubborn.

I can look into her eyes and see that she understands EVERYTHING and she's smarter than any of us give her credit for. The biggest problem is she is so defiant. She will give me this look that I 100% know that she's saying "lookie here, this is the way it's going to be and that's final" or "hmmm, didn't you just see me take that thing you told me NOT to take? Well screw you I took it anyways!". I'm serious, this child can give you looks that are just plain defiant. I thought I was just seeing things, but her looks are completely obvious and many others have noticed it too. I just don't know how to describe it clearly enough for you all. I will tell her to give me something that she's not supposed to have and she will look at me and walk away with this smarty pants look like "F you mom".  

I don't know how to discipline the child who can't communicate with you, who has a cuteness to the looks she gives even though they are bad AND she doesn't understand timeout at all.

If I ever said Kylie was my problem child I realize now I'm paying for saying that about her because Megan is 100x worse. OMG, she's just plain defiant at all times and she CLEARLY does it on purpose.

Help me!!!!

November 27 - Well I think Megan's feeding team appointment went grate.   It's the first time going to these stinkin' meetings that they made me feel like a decent mother. Finally they told me she's on track with her weight. Funny thing is she hasn't gained any.  She's still 22 pounds with clothes on (and she peed right before weigh-in so I didn't get that changed). She's grown quite a bit in height, though. Their comments were "well, she hasn't gained any but she's steady on the charts, albeit really low on the charts but she's steady. SO she's on track and that's a good thing." DUH? You think so? I've been trying to tell them I'm not an awful mother and I do feed her. So I can finally feel relaxed that they won't nag me forever about it.  

We discussed the possible outcomes if I decide to wean Megan. I have made the decision to try a very very gentle weaning when she turns 25 months. Why 25 months? Well Kylie weaned during my pg when she was 24 months and since Megan was born one month earlier I'm going to give her an extra month. Yeah, I know, that's the anal part of me coming out here. If it's not an easy wean we'll continue for awhile since I don't want it to be traumatic for her. The team told me I will have to bring her in for some weight checks and journal her liquid intake while I'm weaning so she doesn't fall to far down on the charts. So let's pray that doesn't happen when the time comes. I think she'll be fine if we keep her growth steady. I'm confident of that.

The other thing she saw the feeding team for is her gagging/choking/puking fits when she throws tantrums or takes a liquid or food that doesn't agree with her. The team reminded me that most of this is probably due to her hypersensitive nervous system and that we are going to have to find ways to help her deal with it, like we did when she was a baby. The big thing to help her deal before was wrapping her, so now we have to find new ways and they want us to see the Occupational therapist again regarding that.

We also saw them regarding her speech and I had thought they were going to do an actual evaluation, but apparently not. They wrote down all the words she said in that time, her behaviors, etc and mentioned that it appears she's doing very well, but they want her to have an actual one done, which we have to find out if insurance covers it to determine who we go to. Who ever does the evaluation will also help us with signs, etc to help her communicate since a lot of her tantrums and such are because we can't understand her and she doesn't know how to communicate with us. I kinda feel awful because I knew sign language was an option, but since Kylie was speaking sentences by a year old I just thought Megan would do the same. So I didn't even consider signing with her. I never, in a million years, thought we'd still be having communication issues at 20 months of age. I know it's normal, though.

 

October 23 - Do you want to know what I do hate about parenting?  Stains!!!!  I swear I do more washing, re-washing, etc. trying to get stains out of these girls clothes.  I DESPISE it.  If they had more than enough clothes I'd just start throwing them away if the stains didn't come out in the 1st wash.  I'm just so sick of dealing with stains!   Someone should have told me the secret to stains before having kids.  Arghhh!

October 28 - Ok, last week once or twice I noticed Megan's diaper (pee) smelled really foul. Wasn't sure what it was and ignored it. Then I noticed if again once or twice this week and still wasn't sure about it. Then my MIL noticed it this morning and I've noticed it twice since then today.

She has no fever, she has the remnants of a chest cold from a week ago. She has been fussy during night time hours but I chalked that up to possible 2 year molars coming in.  I am not sure whether to take her in or not.

October 30 - Well this morning and this afternoon her urine has not smelled funny so the doc said we'd wait and see on the issue. He said if it starts to smell funny again then to get a urine sample and he gave the baggie thing to do it. That should be fun, hope we won't have to do that. We had to with Kylie and it was not fun at all.

BUT what I thought was just teething causing her fussiness, up all night crying, etc was actually an ear infection. I figured if the ear was just a bit pink it would be from teething but he said it was horribly red and that is was an actual ear infection. Poor baby, she was screaming all weekend and I just didn't think about that possibility.

Doc pointed out that this is her 1st time being on antibiotics, but I actually think she was on one before through prompt care.

September 1 - I am such a GREAT mother!~  Seriously, I'd have to be to be crazy enough to set up a play date for Kylie this morning when we leave in 4 hours for our trip, I am only 1/2 packed, Megan is clingy 100x more than usual, we still have to go shopping for all the food....need I say more?  I'm going nuts here.  Thank goodness the girls are entertaining Megan for the moment so I can gain my sanity back.

September 7 - Kylie's 4th birthday!!

September 14 - Kylie and Megan both had ped visits today.  Kylie's stats were:  38 pounds and 42.5 inches in height.  she had to get one shot and that was the extent of her visit. 

Megan's stats were:  She's 20 pounds and 30.5 inches in height.  Doc said her weight is still low, but we aren't going to worry for now and the same goes for her speech delay.  So all and all it was a great appointment.  She got two shots, though, poor thing.

September 28 - Kylie has been writing letters here and there for awhile now but is now starting to put them together to form words/names, etc.  What we've noticed is she's writing them backwards and the whole word backwards.  Like she wrote "Matt" as "ttaM".  I'm not sure if I should be worried about this or not. 

August 3 - Ryan is home with the girls today because our sitter has surgery tomorrow. Anyways, they were getting ready to meet me for lunch and Kylie was getting dressed. She came out of her bedroom in a hot pink ruffled skirt that has attached undies and a hot pink shirt. Dh looked at her in shock and told her to march right back to her room and change that skirt, that she wasn't going out in it because it was way too short for a lady.  

Well they had a battle of the wills and Kylie won. I shouldn't laugh because she shouldn't had gone out in the house in it. She hasn't worn it in a while and I had no idea she got too tall for it.  

Ryan said to her at lunch "as soon as we get home you ARE taking that thing off and I'm throwing it away!". She just looked at him like "we'll see about that one".  

I can just see the future now with those two and what Kylie wears. We do not let her wear things that are short and dresses usually have to be way below the knee, but I guessed I missed one.

August 6 - I woke up Saturday morning from a nap, looked over at Ryan and said "I think I'm done pumping". He looked at me and immediately knew I was filled with guilt about my decision and he said "you are the worst mother in the world. to think you are going to give one child more than the other, how could you?" Thanks hubby. So I w&p'ed for Kylie from the time she was 3 months old til she was 21 months of age. For Megan I w&p'ed from the time she was 4 months old til she was 16.75 months of age. I'm a bit sad about my decision, but I've tried every herb/remedy under the sun and for the past several months I've only been getting 4 ounces pumped at work. That's only 1/3 of what she takes at daycare. Granted sending that 4 ounces is better than all whole milk.

So I feel like I terrible mother for short changing her being that she's the one with all the growth problems BUT I still pump a bottle here and there at home to give her.  

To be totally honest I wouldn't have pumped much longer for Kylie than I did for Megan if Kylie would have taken whole milk sooner. I wanted to quit pumping when Kylie was 18 months old (that was as long as I wanted to go) but the stinker wouldn't start taking whole milk til then and she was slow transitioning with it.

August 14 - She's growing and I've been too blind to see it.  I still think of Megan as my baby because she just learned to walk just about 2 months ago and she still barely talks so she just seems like a baby still as well as she's just so much tinier than her sister was at this age. Tonight I was standing in front of her mirrored closet doors, rocking her back and forth and in that very moment I just started to cry. I saw myself holding her, singing to her, rocking her and she wasn't this little baby I thought she was, she was a toddler. She looked so big in my arms. I thought to myself, how did this happen? When did this happen?  

I guess I've been trying so hard to hold on to her baby stage, since she IS my last baby, that I didn't even notice that she's growing bigger every day. Every second I feel like I'm grasping for memories of their babyhood and I'm scared some day I'm not going to have those memories anymore. Each day that goes by my memory gets less and less. How am I going to remember this stage when I'm 50, 60, 70?

August 15 - This past weekend was a bit eventful for me, to say the least. Both girls seem to amaze me every time I turn around, but this weekend was a doozy of one.  

Friday I picked both girls up from daycare and we headed back into town to get movies and drinks for the evening. On the way in Kylie got my attention and said "Mommy, when Draven was a baby the doctor cut the skin on his weenie and so he has no more skin on it. He said it hurt so bad he cried. Does daddy have skin on his weenie?" Why does she keep doing this to me? I'm going to have a heart attack before she's 5 with the kind of questions she asks me, and in the car no less!  

Sunday we went to Baskin Robbins to get an ice cream cone and everyone got what they wanted and I got Megan a small cup w/a kid size scoop of ice cream. I also gave her a spoon and she proceeded to dig into it and eat away. She also had to have another spoon in the other hand to double fist. Well she kept grabbing the bowl and holding up to her chest real close to her and then putting the spoon in there to get a taste. I would keep taking the bowl away from her, putting it on the table and giving her her spoon back so she could get the ice cream. She'd gibber gabber at me in disgust for not letting her have her way and of course I thought it was funny. Well Ryan decided to help me out with her and when she took the cup close to her chest again he took it back from her, sitting it back down on the table. All of a sudden she looked at him with the look of death, yelled out some mean sounding gibber jabber, grabbed the cup and quickly jerked it to her chest like she had it before. Ryan looked over at me and we just started rolling trying not to let her see us laughing. OMG, if we only knew what that gibber jabber meant! So she was just making a mess of herself and the rest of us were finished and we were ready to go. The couple behind us was completely entertained by her of course. So I took the cup away from her and started to clean her up and she lost it. She started screaming in a tantrum and I must say it was really the cutest and funniest tantrum I'd ever seen. This girl is gonna be

T R O U B L E!!!!!  

Oh, and then on the way home from ice cream we had to pull over because Megan wanted her blanket and I couldn't reach it. We were on our country road or we would have just made her wait. Anyways, the door wasn't cooperating with me so I had to shut it kind of hard and honestly I was a bit annoyed at it. So I get back in the van, put my seatbelt on and Kylie goes "Mommy's lost it, yo!" Ryan almost peed his pants laughing because he says that quite often. So he takes the credit for that one. It was funny though and made me forget about that annoying door.

August 16 - Kylie is having issues with her little sister in her room, so this morning I try to go help resolve the issue and bring Megan into the family room so Kylie could get dressed.  Megan was walking in front of me and stopped right by the door in the hallway.  I went to close Kylie's door  and it wouldn't close very well so I tugged a bit harder and Megan screamed.  Megan's hand was in the hinge door jam area.  Wahhhhh!  The weird thing is as her hand was turning blue and swelling really huge she stopped crying almost instantly.  She screamed much much worse getting a shot at the doctor's office than this.  I felt so bad, though.  Bad mommy :(  FWIW, about a 1/2 hour later the swelling went down and I couldn't even tell which hand had been shut in the door.

August 21 - Well I took the plunge, head first and Ryan followed unwillingly. Ha ha.  When Kylie got her new furniture, last year or the year before, we didn't want to re-decorate her room. So we left the nursery border theme she had already and added some new wall decor, bedspread and sheets, that's it. WELL, she's really expressed the want for a pink and purple room. Her room now is yellow and purple. She expressed that at the time we did stuff to her room before, but we really didn't want to mess with that border.

I decided we'd redo her room slowly, as we could afford it. So Saturday morning we moved out all the furniture from her room, which is now scattered throughout the house wherever we could put it. Kylie is sleeping in the playroom temporarily and Saturday night I pulled the top layer of the border off.  Ryan really didn't want to redo her room, but he's helping me. He even suggested painting her walls and he hates colored walls. He's a white wall kinda man. So Kylie's room will be the first to have color on it. She picked Summer Blossoms, which to me looks like pink cotton candy. The plan is to repaint the top half white (her room hasn't been painted in 6 years), and the bottom half pink with a pink/purple flower border in the middle of the wall. Then we'll go from there on everything else. She has a lot of purple accessories in her room so we can work with that.

I'll take some pics as we go along. It will be a slow process as we only have so much money at a time to spend on it. Kylie is very excited, though. We hope to have it done by Christmas, or right after. She may get some of the stuff for her room for Christmas.

August 23 - Attack of the killer toy phone!!!  Since Ryan's cousin is remodeling his living room we've been hosting the guys weekly 'movie night'. We were waiting for company to arrive and playing with the girls. Kylie went into the playroom for something, not sure what, and came running out screaming and swatting at what was attached to her leg. It was one of those little pull toy telephones. She tied it to her leg but couldn't get it off and so she ran into the livingroom screaming "AHHHHHHHHHH" and swatting at it as if it was going to come off. OMG, I can't even explain how funny it was, typing it's not doing it justice.  

The other thing which makes me feel like a bad mommy. Megan had a block sorter bucket on her head, trotting around the livingroom, making all kinds of noises once she discovered how it sounds with the bucket on her head. Obviously she couldn't see where she was going and she was off-balanced and WHACK! she falls backwards and bumps her head on the coffee table. She didn't hit it hard, but cried because it scared her. I felt so bad because I know she was crying but I was rolling laughing because she was being such a dork......you had to be there I guess. I know I sound terrible laughing when she was crying.

August 24 - I just got back from Kylie's Pre-K screening. She did exceptional, as the testing ladies told me. They only have the ability to test up to 59 months of age because they only test pre-k, not Kindergarden and Kylie tested up to 59 months with no problem. The lady said she bet she'd test much farther than that if they had the ability to do that. I was kinda shocked...and happy. They said most kids don't get tested past the 2nd level and she got to the 5th (59 months).  She tested exceptional in everything except gross motor skills which she did 'good' because of her tippy-toe-ness and the other thing she did 'good' in was that she had to be re-directed constantly. THAT one I knew I'd hear. She can't sit to do one thing for more than 5 seconds unless it's an arts and craft activity. They had her draw a picture and the lady said most 5 year olds can't draw that detailed and had her color in a picture and the lady said the same thing.

Ok, so I'm not trying to boast about my child. I know she's very bright for her age, but she does have issue with direction and sitting still, so I know she's going to be a challenge in school. I know I was.  

Anyways, Ryan and I talked extensively about this and even though we really want to wait til next year to send her, Kylie has expressed extreme interest in wanting to go. We thought about it and I guess it's not going to hurt her, even though we are extremely worried about her being bored. I'm even more worried about her sister if Kylie goes to school 1/2 day, but that's another story. So we'll talk to Kylie a bit more and IF she gets in we'll let her go. We aren't even sure she will get in. There is a waiting list already but they are opening new classes, so we'll see.

This is happening all too fast. Since they are opening new classes she won't go til mid September so I have a bit of time, but not much. I don't think I'm ready for this. I know I'm not. I've had all along that I have one more year...I'm seriously hyperventilating about this and crying. We had so many things planned that will have to go to the waste side if we have to follow a school schedule this year. I wanted that one more year to do a bunch more stuff before we had to adhere to a school calendar for the rest of our life. Ok, I'm SERIOUSLY hyperventilating now. I don't want her to go. Oh I wish Ryan would have stuck his ground. He didn't even want her going to Pre-K at all, but after our lunch he threw me for a HUGE loop saying he thought we should send her if she wants to go.  I just don't want my baby to grow up.  WahhhH!

August 25 - Kylie is all of a sudden into Polly Pockets and I went looking at them tonight for her birthday.  I can't seem to figure out what the big deal is about them.  Looks like to me a lot of little pieces that I'll be chasing Megan through the house saying "open your mouth Megan....open your mouth....spit it out.....spit it out NOW!".  Ha ha.

August 26 - Yep, you guessed it this topic is about Megan who's made me into the biggest worry wart I could be. Not only am I still worried about her weight, which in 2 months she hasn't gained a pound, won't drink much milk when she's not nursing, doesn't nurse much AND we are still only at a few words. I recall the doc saying last time that she needs to be saying 10 to 15 words (using them consistently) by now and all the material I got from Early Childhood at the school says the same thing.  

Megan says "daddy" when referring to me or Ryan. She'll say "hi" along with saying "daddy" that she uses regularly when she greets us in the morning. She also says "doggie" and "kitty cat". And just the other day she started saying "this" regularly. That's really about it. She does a TON of babbling that makes absolutely no sense, well sometimes it does but I wonder if I'm hearing what I want to hear.

I have a feeling the PED is going to refer us to a speech therapist.
 

July 3 - I had wondered why Megan slept a LOT the other day and then yesterday she started taking more and more steps. Today she's taking more steps than yesterday. I can't believe it! She may just be walking full-time before she's 15. J/K. I knew she'd eventually walk in her own time. It only took her 15.5 months.  

Side note - we took her to the hospital today for her hip x-ray and she did awesome. Not sure when we'll get the results back. Ryan and I are trying not to think of what may be, ya know. I know I keep looking at her walking and seeing what might be wrong. It's hard not too. So I'm just going to be patient until the doc tells us if it's hip dysplasia or not. I think if I don't hear from him by mid next week I'll call him.

July 11 - Kylie took a ballet/tap class at our local Y for 8 weeks and now that vacations have settled down we enrolled her in an actual school. Her 1st class was today. She actually has to take a tap/tumbling class for 6 weeks before they will allow her to go up a step to ballet. Anyways, they don't let you watch the class, isn't that weird? They let us watch the class tonight so we can see how it is, but they get pretty snippy when you distract your child in the least bit. Ryan was kinda of freaked out about this and I was a bit too. I like being able to watch the class so I can find out what is being taught and review it with her at home. My mom reminded me tonight that the school I went to as a kid had the same policy.

July 14 - Should I have taken her in for stitches? Ugh! Wednesday night I got home a bit late because I had to stop by my girlfriends house. So Ryan was home w/the girls. When I got home I noticed blood ALL OVER his shirt. I freaked immediately and asked who got hurt since everyone looked peachy at that point. He told me Megan and explained that he was cooking at the stove, didn't realize she was behind him, he lifted his leg up (not sure HOW or WHY) and knocked her in the mouth REALLY hard. Even DH admitted he hit her hard so I know it had to of been as bad as he said.  Anyways, I looked at the outer part of her lip noticing it was swollen and blue-ish purple, but didn't look at the inside of the lip. I had assumed Ryan had already done that and I didn't want to hurt it anymore than what it probably already did.

Fast forward to this morning and it still looks pretty swollen. I was handing Megan to Miss Terri (sitter) and noticed something funny about her lip. So I looked at the inside of her lip and there is a HUGE gash on her lip and it's all yellow looking like it's trying to scab ????

 I feel so awful.  

July 26 - Ryan and I were talking last night about what to get Kylie for her birthday and I mentioned that she is in need of clothes. Yesterday she put on a pair of capris that in the spring were just a bit above her ankle, but yesterday they were much higher. She came to me and said "um, mom, these pants don't fit anymore. are these Megan's?" I had to explain that they were hers, that she's just grown a bit since Spring.

Anyways, I was out looking on the internet and the fall "styles" and nope, I'm sorry, my daughter can NOT grow anymore. The styles are just way too TRASHY IMO for her to be wearing at her age. Maybe it's time I learn how to sew my own clothes. Now I see why my mother made some of mine.  

Shame on designers!  Seriously, why do we have to make children look more grown up than they should be?

June 2 - What am I supposed to do about this?  Kylie is a very 'aware' child. She came home from daycare one day showing me (not telling me, but showing me) how the boys at daycare pee. I was floored and thought I was going to have a heart attack right then and there. It didn't stop there.

She's constantly pointing to my body parts and saying why don't I have that down there or why aren't my nipples big like yours, where's my breasts at mommy....etc....etc. Oh my! I try to explain things to her about the female body as best as I can because I want her to feel comfortable about herself, etc. I'm not ready to discuss the male body at 3.5, lol. I told DH when she starts asking those questions she's to go to him.

Anyways, a week or two ago I had to pump Megan a bottle before work and so I was sitting on the bed with my shirt off pumping. Ryan was in the shower getting ready, and both girls were in the bedroom with me. Ok, fast forward a bit and now we are in the kitchen (all of us) getting breakfast and lunches ready, etc. Kylie is sitting in her chair waiting for her food. She takes off her pj's, grabs my manual pump, puts it up to her breast area and starts pumping. Dh taps me on the shoulder and says "momma, take care of this, I just can't deal with this, it's too early".  So I tried to talk about it to her, but I failed miserably.  

Well then the other night she was taking a bubble bath. Ryan was sitting on the bed next to our bathroom watching a show and Kylie called for him. I was putting Megan to sleep. I walk in the room and he says "you have got to start doing something about this!" (In a light humorous tone, not upset tone). I look into the bathroom at Kylie and she says "I GOT BIG NIPPLES!!!!" with a huge grin on her face and bubbles placed on her breast area and they were big bubbles sticking out far.

What am I going to do with this child? I thought I had a few more years before I had to deal with this. I need help from the experts here and FAST!

June 23 - Megan had her 15 month well baby visit yesterday. I was sure dreading the weight check. She weighed in at 20 pounds 2.75 ounces (gotta count all those ounces, lol). So she gained back what she lost last month, which is good at least. She measured 30.75 inches for height, which I can't remember the specifics but she was 28 something inches at her 12 month. She's definitely getting a bit taller. Doc said even though both are good she's actually fallen behind the curve on the charts. He asked a ton of questions about types of foods she can eat, breastfeeding, etc, etc. Before he wasn't AS worried about her weight as the feeding team was, but now he says we'll have to visit this for sure at her 18 month if she doesn't gain a good amount between now and then. I guess that means I should go buy some twinkies or something and start shoving them in, huh?  

He did the usual looking over her, etc. When he messed around with her legs and making sure her hip joints rotated properly or whatever they do, he kept asking me if I ever notice her legs popping. I told him no, but that I recall back at 6 or 9 months she had lots of popping and he told us to not worry about it at the time. Then it went away. So then he starts looking more closely at her legs etc and told me he wants a hip/leg xray done to rule out hip dsyplasia  . He thought her left femur was a tiny bit longer than her right as well. He scared me at first because I remember him discussing that with us at her 6 or 9 month visit but he didn't' think it was that and asked if we wanted the xray done at that time and we said no because he was confident there wasn't an issue. So I'm kinda nervous, but he thinks she's ok. IF it is that, that could be why she's not walking. Obviously she's still at an age where it's ok if they aren't walking, but between the exam he did there and the fact that she can contort her legs/hips in very weird positions he wants to have it done. I'm going to try to have it done next Friday because that's the next available day I have to go get it done.

Said her speech is fine, but we will have to see a speech therapist for sure at 2 years if she's still sucking on her tongue because it IS getting in the way of her talking clearly at this point for sure.

My little baby, who just HAD to come out early.

So let's hope she gains LOTS in the next 3 months. We are not going to see the feeding team for a few months as well. Dh and I are so stressed about all these docs and the PED thought we'd be fine to see how it goes for a while and then go from there.

Oh and he said the turning blue issue that we just need to watch it. Turning blue in this young of age usually is associated w/seizures he said. Since when she's turning blue she isn't lethargic or doesn't pass out, etc and she's acting normal otherwise he said we won't be concerned about it now. BUT if she acts in the least bit weird when she does turn blue we need to bring her in. My aunt has seizures so it does run in the family, so he said just to be cautious but not to worry at this point. Yeah, try telling that to a mother.

May 1 - Where was the camera when I needed it?  Tonight the girls and I were in the playroom.  Kylie and I were playing tea party and Megan was off doing something by herself.  I look over at Megan and there it was, a kodak moment.  She was standing on the sit and spin toy trying to move back and forth to the music with a plastic chicken bon in her mouth.  Ha ha.  I couldn't find the camera/video cam in time to capture the moment.  Darn!

May 17 - Megan and I go see the feeding team and pediatric GI today.  My most favorite place to go, NOT.  Anyways, last time they gave me a huge list of things to do/change, etc as well as saying it's me causing her weight issues (my breastmilk).  Sooooo let's see what they have to say to me today.  They better watch it because I'm not in the mood today to be told that again. 

She goes to the ENT tomorrow to rule out adenoid issues that could cause weight loss.  And Kylie goes to the pediatric dermatologist for her head on Friday.  Oh I LOVE LOVE doctors.  Ha ha.

May 22 - I swear my two gals are just night and day!
1 - Kylie crawled at 9 months and was ready to walk at 12 months. Megan was backwards crawling at 7 months, forward crawling at 9 months and still at 14 months has no desire to walk.

2 - Kylie was no way near into everything like Megan is. Megan is into total destruction of anything and everything in her path. She takes no prisoners.  

3 - Kylie liked to climb but no where near as early as Megan does. Megan climbs EVERYTHING and has no fear of what she's climbing. She climbed up several steps to onto the deck yesterday before I realized where she was. I can't believe she can climb with no probs but doesn't want to walk.  

4 - Megan LOVES dirt. Seriously. We were planting yesterday and she grabbed a big ole clump of dirt and was eating it and happy about it. No, I didn't LET her eat it, I realized after the fact. I was trying to scrape it out of her mouth when I realized she was liking the taste of it.  She made several more attempts throughout the day to feed herself some dirt. Dh looked at me and said "momma, get that girl some food! She must be starving!" BTW, Kylie wasn't a fan of dirt. She'd taste test it but quickly would do whatever she could to get it out of her mouth.

5 - Whole milk.....Kylie was not a fan of it for a very long time and didn't take to it until almost 21 months of age. She was a breastmilk baby.  Megan....doc told us to give her some in a sippy at dinner time to practice and she chugged the whole thing down and was demanding more. She loves the stuff! So I guess when I decide to quit pumping and sending breastmilk to daycare she won't give me grief about going to whole milk. Although her "system" is seeming to have issues with it.  

Oh I could go on and on and on. They amaze me in so many ways.

May 23 - Sunday night I was weeding the back of the house with Kylie and Ryan was sitting on the deck holding Megan in his lap.  He was tickling her feet saying "tickle, tickle, tickle".  All of a sudden Ryan said "momma, look what she's doing!".  I look up and Megan is tickling her own feet, giggling and saying "tickle, tickle, tickle".  Ha ha! It was so darn cute!  What make me think of it again was she was doing it this morning as I was trying to put her socks and shoes on.  She's such a ham!

May 26 - I'm off for 4 days with the girls since the sitter is on vacation and it's a holiday weekend.  The girls and I went to the park and treated daddy to a PBJ picnic in the park.  Kylie made all the PBJ's for us herself.  They were good! It was a great day. I took pictures of the girls in the park - Megan wearing her cardinal outfit and Kylie wearing a skirt and shirt.

May 30 - So the fighting begins!!!  Kylie does not understand how to be gentle with Megan when she plays with her. We are constantly telling her to be gentle, to stop doing whatever she's doing to her when Megan starts to cry, etc. It's a constant battle with her. I know Kylie doesn't understand and she is just so anxious to play with her it's hard for her. Megan is definitely right on the heels of her sissy, even if she can't walk really yet and she adores Kylie. Did I tell you how awesome it is to have two girls and watching them interact with each other? Anyways, this morning Kylie was being rough with Megan and I asked her several times to stop. All of a sudden Megan grabbed a hold of Kylie's hair REALLY HARD and pulled with all her might and then she gave her this look and grunted. Kylie started balling. I know Megan was just getting her back for what Kylie was doing to her. I had to tell Megan it wasn't nice to do that and Megan just hung her head in shame. That child understands way too much too early.  

So I can see today is the first day the fighting began and it will only get better from here.

April 9 - We just got back from a weekend with our friends down south.  Their son was celebrating his 2nd birthday.  Boy was I looking forward to a weekend to relax, but my two girls had other plans for me.  Megan got sick and was a nightmare all weekend long and Kylie just didn't want to listen.  SIGH.  Maybe next time we get together with them we'll have more time in the evenings after the kids go down to enjoy ourselves a bit. 

April 10 - What an awful weekend!  We went to St. Louis to visit some friends. Their son was having a birthday party. Kylie had a head cold a few days before we left on Friday and we called to make sure it was ok if we still come with her being sick. She acted fine, just stuffed up/runny nose. They said to come unless she was feeling awful. She wasn't so we did. Well about 1 am Saturday morning Miss Megan got the stuffed up/runny nose and was a MISERABLE thing. She screamed ALL NIGHT LONG and I got about 2 hours of sleep MAX. It was horrible. She was fussy, not wanting to sleep and clingy all day Saturday but we managed. Our friends still wanted us to stay and we did. Saturday night is usually when after the kids go to bed our friends and us have a good time, have some drinks, play some games, etc. Well MY children had different plans for me. I was literally running between the two bedrooms the girls were in. Kylie just kept whining and fussing and Megan was sick. I got about ONE hour of sleep that night and didn't get to enjoy any time with our friends It was a miserable miserable weekend. I know it's not my kids fault but this is the second time in 3 months we've gone down to visit them and Megan has either had a cold or teething so badly she's just as miserable.  

I really want a do-over because I really needed this time with our friends. Again, I know it's not my children's fault and I'm not blaming them. I was just SO forward to the late evenings with our friends.

I'm so tired and I woke up this morning with a RAW SORE throat so I guess I'm next.  sigh. 

April 11 - Kylie has an ear infection again!  She just got done with the augmentin on Monday of last week and she started complaining about her ear hurting again last night.  So Ryan took her to the doctor today and he said she still has the infection.  so he gave her the Z-pac for 5 days, 5 days off, and then 5 days on it again.  He said if she consistently keeps getting them over the next 4 or 5 months she'll have to get tubes :(  And to think I thought we were in the clear because we NEVER EVER had an ear infection until this past November.

April 17 - Here we go...back to the feeding team AGAIN!  I am so super bummed about this. When we saw Megan's doc last month for her well baby visit he seemed not concerned about her weight, but did seem concerned about her sucking her tongue still. He said that if it's not corrected it could change the shape of her face over a long period of time and that wouldn't be good so he wanted us to go back to the feeding team and see what they said. We hadn't seen the FT since late December. Well we saw the FT today and not only are they concerned w/the tongue sucking but they are concerned about her weight. They made me feel like my breastmilk isn't giving her the caloric intake she needs to grow and that I should supplement with formula or worse a tbsp of cream! Bull crap on that one! I'm so made at them. First off breastmilk contains MORE calories than formula and I didn't nurse her to end up giving her formula and CREAM? OMG.

Anyways, so the whole issue of the tongue sucking is stressing me out because Dh thinks it's all hogwash and I'm freaked that if I don't do what they say then maybe it will be an issue down the road. I wouldn't want that for her, ya know. So now we go back to the FT every month, will also have exercises to do at home with her AND we'll have in-home therapy visits for a while.

April 18 - Easter was great this year.  Kylie got a fishing pole, 2 pairs of thongs, a sticker book and coloring book, rain coat and some candy.  Megan got pajama outfit, sandals, book and candy.  They also got lots of stuff from other relatives - clothes, candy, sunglasses, purse, toys, etc and of course a TON of candy.  We still have Halloween candy, ha ha.

The day before Easter we colored eggs.  On Easter Sunday we started out the morning at home, then a hunt at my parents, then a luncheon and hunt at the Benanti's.  It was a great day.  Although a huge storm brewed during our festivities causing damage on our road and a power outage that lasted until early morning on Monday.  SIGH.  I'm really sick of the power outages.  This is the 3rd outage on a Sunday in the past 5 weekends.   Needless to say since my sitter didn't have power I took off Monday morning and my mother watched the girls Monday afternoon. 

Megan had a feeding team appointment that morning which was a stressful event in itself.  Seems we still have to deal with the tongue sucking issue and they are also concerned about her weight.  SIGH.  More treatment here we come!

April 19 - I forgot to mention this!  Monday night we had to go into town to buy my boss a new computer and on the way home Kylie started crying softly.  I asked her what was wrong and she told us that she was sad because she can't be a big sister anymore.  I asked her why and she said "because I can't teach her anything right now.  She just won't learn.  I don't know how to teach her."  I asked her what she was trying to teach Megan and I honestly don't remember what she said, but I remember replying that Megan was just a bit too young yet to learn whatever it was.  So Ryan and I assured her that she is still a big sissy and she'd have plenty of time to teach Megan all kinds of things when the time for each thing was right.  That made her happy and smile.  So then she asked us what things she would be able to teach Megan.  We spent forever listing out ALL the things she would be able teach her and some of the things she shouldn't teach her.  ha ha. What a sensitive girl we have. 

Oh and a couple of weeks ago I had a migraine and hadn't gotten any sleep and Kylie asked me what was wrong.  So I told her and she said "oh mommy you stay home and sleep.  I'll take care of your business (meaning go to work for me)."  She was so sweet!

April 24 - Megan had her very first sleepover at my parents Saturday night. I was scared, sad, depressed more than I was happy that she was staying away from me for the night at only 13 months old. Kylie was WELL older than that. But Megan is so much more laid back that I knew she'd do well AND she did. She didn't even wake up til 4 am wanting a bottle. Why can't she do that for me? When I got to my parents Sunday morning she didn't even want to come to me, she just wanted her Papa. Kinda made me sad, but also made me feel relieved that she did so well. Both girls apparently had a great time. Kylie told me to leave because she was going to stay with them for 5 days. In 5 days I could come back and pick them up.  

Needless to say my 1st night away from BOTH kids wasn't that great though. AF was here in FULL FORCE, I had a severe migraine the size of Texas and all I wanted to do was sleep. We had friends over for a cook-out though, which was really nice, but I wasn't in the mood I wanted to be in. I kicked everyone out at midnight because DH and I were both so tired. I hope they understood. Course my parents idea of letting us sleep in was to call at 7:30 for us to come pick up the kids. I guess it is sleeping in, sort of. IF my children would have slept past 5:30 am they probably would have kept them longer.

April 25 - You know I am just so tired of doctors! Most of you know about Megan's sucking tongue issue and how we are seeing a gastro specialist/feeding team for it. WELL I saw them last Monday and they told me all kinds of stuff I didn't really like at the appointment and mentioned they would send me a letter with instructional tips in it as well as to new tools I can use to help her problem. The letter came Friday and there was a LOT more in it than they said in the meeting. It stated they are more concerned about her weight than they said in the meeting, blamed BF (BIG TIME) for the issues, want me to change the type of bottle she uses which I'm actually trying to wean her off and a bunch of other crap. I was so mad I was in tears just reading it.

So I decided that I was going to call my PED and demand for her to be seen, address the letter I got from the gastro specialist/feeding team and I want answers NOW!  So we go to the PED Friday morning and hopefully we'll get some answers and I'm also going to suggest a new feeding team/gastro specialist. Wish us luck! We could finally use some answers that make sense and stops making me feel like I'm not being a good mom. I'm so tired of docs making me feel like I'm not doing everything I can to keep weight on Megan.

You know the funny thing is if you look at a picture of Megan she looks pleasantly plump but if you see her in person she is tiny.

April 26 - Meals are going to take much longer.....One of the things I'm supposed to do for Megan's tongue issue is feeding her things by a spoon.  She never liked to be spoon fed and had lots of of teeth early so I always just let her eat finger food.  Well now that we have to go back to using a spoon mealtime takes longer of course.  To encourage her to take from a spoon when she does I'll say "good girl" and clap my hands.  Well now when I put the spoon in her mouth she claps her own hands and then says good girl (not so clear, though).  She does this EVERY time and expects me to do it, too.  Ha ha!

April 28 - Just got back from Megan's PED appt. a bit of go. Poor girl ended up getting the MMR shot while we were there because of confirmed mumps cases in our town. She wasn't supposed to get it til 15 months but they figured better to be safe.

Anyways, doc weighed her again from the time he weighed her at 12 months and she gained 4 ounces which is good BUT on the weight scale she's just staying the same. So as she gets older and even though her weight is increasing she's staying at the same level on the graphs. She's been doing that since last September or so. The PED does understand the gastro doc/FT concerns on the weight, but doesn't think we need to go to any extremes at this point. I do have to bring her in for a weight check a day before every visit with the FT, which will be a PITA but we'll do what we have to do. So the PED is going to continue to watch her weight as well.

He also wants her to see a PED ENT to have her adenoids checked out. He did see some inflamation but did not believe he was best as giving a diagnosis so he wants the ENT to determine if her adenoids are an issue and causing her problems with tongue thrusting/swallowing/gaining weight. She does breath out of her mouth moreso than her nose and she snores a lot at night, which he said is not normal for this age. IF that comes back that everything is ok, then we'll go on to ruling out the next step and she'll go to a radiologist to have a swallow study done. The PED is hoping we don't have to get to this point, though, but he said it may have to be ruled out. It will also depend on what the FT says next month after they eval Megan on her swallowing techniques with a sippy cup. So she goes to the ENT mid May.

I'm pulling my hair out guys. My PED did reassure me NOT to worry about her weight, give her formula or put thick cream in her EBM. He told me to do what I normally do and so be it.

He asked if she's agitated and acting like she's hungry all the time and I wasn't sure how to answer that mainly because I'm so stressed looking at everything under a microscope, kwim. But case in point last night she nursed when I got home. Then she scarfed down dinner and was so fussy acting like she wasn't getting enough to eat. So then I nursed her again. She was so super fussy acting like I had no milk, but I did. So then Ryan gave her a bottle to calm her down. She scarfed down 4 ounces and then nursed again. She's not going through a growth spurt either, she only nursed normal the rest of the night. I know it's not a spurt. Anyways, she has 'events' like this, so the doc does think we need to monitor her 'issues' as he calls it.

So while he does think we have issues to deal with he believes the FT left me with mixed messages in the letter they gave me and are blowing things just a tad bit out of proportion. That's where we are at. I guess we have to wait some more to see what the other docs find out.

You know people constantly tell me that even though Megan was born 4 weeks early that she weighed a lot for being that early. Well that is entirely true, but she wasn't developed completely at all and unfortunately the doc said she needed more time and a lot of these issues probably wouldn't be issues.

I  forgot to tell you all the BEST part of our doctor visit this morning! Megan took her 1st steps today. And the BEST-EST part was I was there to see it. The doctor was running behind and so we were sitting in the room for a bit so I was playing with Megan. I would stand her up and she'd stand there w/o any help for quite some time. So then I stood her up and sat a bit away from her in a chair and told her to come to mommy. She lifted those scrawny little legs one at a time with all her might and took about 3 steps to me. Her legs are still to weak to do much, that was easy to tell.  

The SAD part is if she starts walking she won't seem like a baby anymore. I wasn't ready for that. I want my last one to stay a baby forever.  

Anyways that moment made today the BEST day!  Thanks for letting me share.

March 15 - It's the day before Megan's 1st birthday.  I've been meaning to write in my journal several times and then get side tracked.  SIGH.  We just had a huge storm on Sunday night and were without power until yesterday at 1 pm - so about 40 hours w/o power.  That was interesting!  Tornados swept through Springfield, but we were very very lucky and were untouched by the amount of damage done.  We feel very fortunate that the power situation was our only inconvenience.

Megan has been babbling up a storm for weeks now.  You can't really tell what she says but at least she's not quiet anymore.  Wow, I'm saying I'm happy that she's not quiet anymore.  What's wrong with me?  Her tantrums are getting to us, though.  She just sits there and SCREAMS when she can't reach something or she wants something and she doesn't get it.  Kylie never was this bad, but then again Kylie could say several words at this age and Megan doesn't.  Megan will say ma-ma when she REALLY needs me and on occasion da-da but everything else is just BLAH.   Sometimes we think she's making sense but she's really not. 

She still will only walk with a walker and it's on rare occasion.  She'd rather crawl to what she wants.  Weird since she crawled so much earlier than Kylie.  We thought she'd be walking by now.  I've noticed on occasion she'll be standing w/o any support for 30 seconds maybe and then she realizes it and sits down, but that's it.  She really doesn't even have any interest in walking while holding onto my hands.  Megan appears to be very lazy in this department.

Megan also had her second 1st year molar come in and the other two are making their appearance known little by little.  I'm thinking she's got eye teeth coming in as well.  They just keep coming and cause her so much pain and grief.  I will be glad when they are all in. 

Kylie is becoming the little lady she should be - NOT!  Ha-ha.  She's really really big into all the princess stuff.  She was just into Cinderella but now she's into Belle, Jasmine and whoever else is one of those princesses.  She loves watching all those Disney movies.  She's still walking on her tip toes and some days I wonder if she'll ever stop.  She's really into learning letters, words, and tracing them.  She continues to amaze me every day.

March 16 - It's Megan's 1st birthday.  In some ways I'm so sad because this means she's getting older, but in some ways she still seems like a little baby to me so it doesn't seem real that she's one.  At this age Kylie was walking and talking well and Megan isn't walking or really talking.  I guess that's why she still seems like a baby to me.  I spent the day with both girls and we just had a really nice day. 

March 17 - St. Patricks Day - AHHHH! I can't even get in the St. Patty's mood with Megan's birthday party this weekend!  I'm off today frantically trying to get the house cleaned, cake decorated, etc to get ready for this party tomorrow.

March 20 - Megan's party (18th) was a blast.  Lots of people came to help us celebrate and it just worked out really well.  You can read more about that day in the photo album section (March 2006 - Megan's 1st Birthday).

March 27 - Megan doesn't really speak.  Worries me to death with her tongue issues and the fact that her sister was chatty Kathy at this age.  Anyways, on the rare occasion Megan thinks she needs us she'll scream ma-ma or da-da, but that's only in emergency situations (like at 2 am and I haven't ran back to her room fast enough, ha ha).

This weekend she finally said BABY.  For some reason I was saying that word a lot this weekend when I was interacting with her so I guess she just picked it up.  So this morning as I was sleeping on her bedroom floor and she was playing at my foot she crawled up my leg peeking her head up and saying baby then smiling laying her head back down on my leg.

March 28 - Ryan pretty much has decided he only wants two kids, but he says he'll keep an open mind about a third.  I am not sure what I want.  Some days I think I want just one more and other days just seems perfect the way they are.  I've got pros and cons for both, but last night showed me one pro to only having two. 

It was just a really sweet moment.  Ryan and Kylie were downstairs in the basement watching a movie on the projector.  I just got Megan dressed in her pjs and thought we'd go down and see what the other two were doing before putting her to bed.  Megan and I laid down on the couch and I was for sure she wouldn't sit still.  Much to my surprise she laid there watching the movie as I held her in my arms.  I looked over at the other side of the room and Ryan was on the other couch holding Kylie in his arms.  I looked at him and said "well this is definitely a pro for just having two."  He just looked at me and said "mamma, when you start becoming outnumbered by your kids you are in trouble.  This is just perfect". 

Feb 2 - Hmmm, let's see.  Megan is STILL teething with that 1 year molar.  Pliers, anyone?  AHHHHHHHHH!  I'm so tired of not having any sleep, please please let it come in NOW!

Kylie picked out the most hideous outfit today but it sure cracked me up!  She decided to wear burgundy velvet pants, a oversize (too big for her) yellow and green John Deere hooded sweatshirt her Great Aunt Mary and Uncle Kenny Bosie got her for Christmas, red (ROHO) socks and purple tennis shoes!  I got a picture of it to prove to her one day that she's the weird one when it comes to what she wears.  Ha-ha.

Feb 14 - Happy Valentine's Day!  This is Megan's 1st Valentine's Day....sniff sniff...the 1st milestones are quickly dwindling.  :-(  The girls had a great day, despite the fact that I had to work late that evening.  Kylie and I baked goods the night before to have treats V-day night.

Feb 16 - Megan is 11 months old!  One more month and she won't be my baby anymore.  She's still not really talking except daddy.  I thought I heard her say ma-ma, but I think I was hearing things.  She's still not sleeping well, but those toofers are really giving her a hard time.  There are corners of the 1st year molars that are in on 2 teeth, but that's it.  They are slow coming in which is making us insane!

There are so many differences that we see between the girls.  Megan is so much more adventurous that Kylie ever was.  She gets into EVERYTHING! She also has to know everything that's going on and if you have it and she doesn't she'll throw a tantrum. 

Feb 19 - Yesterday Kylie took a pen and wrote all over some boxes I was going to throw away plus she wrote on her sister's clothes hamper.  She knows better than to do this so I told her I was taking away all her writing utensils until Monday so she can think about how wrong it was what she had done.  So this morning in church, Kylie and her Sunday school class had just finished singing and were sitting down up front for the children's sermon.  Pastor Juli was talking about the prayer box and that you can even use crayons/pens and such to write or draw out your prayers on paper.  Kylie looked at the Pastor and said "my mommy took away all my crayons, markers and pens until Monday morning".  It was so funny, yet embarrassing!  The whole congregation was laughing.  Oy!

Feb 20 - Megan started to walk with a walker yesterday, but for the majority of the time she'd rather be down on her hands and knees.  I do not believe she will walk by a year old like Ryan thought.  Oh well.

Feb 21 - We got home from work yesterday (Ryan's car broke down so we are sharing the van) and Kylie immediately darted for the refrigerator, grabbed the strawberries, pulled up a chair to the sink, rinsed off some strawberries and proceeded to chow down!  She lined up the strawberries on the sink counter.  It was SO funny!  I swear that kid is going to turn into a strawberry someday. 

You know Megan is such a piggy too!  She gets so upset when there isn't food on her highchair tray for her to mack down.  Problem is most of it doesn't go down her throat with her gag reflex issues.  Oh well, guess it's a good thing since solids are supposed to be tastes at this age.  She sure does love just about anything you put in front of her, though.  Its amazing.  Kylie is more picky like me, but still loves foods I don't.  Megan is like Ryan, she'll eat just about anything and everything.

It's so nice to have Ryan back.  The girls and I are loving the time with him and it's as if he hasn't been gone, at least for the girls it is.  For me, I'm having a bit of an adjustment period since I had a set routine going on why he was gone.   We've all been battling sore throats/cold-stuffiness and really ready to get rid of it.  Megan had a few days of a high temperature so Ryan had to stay home with her one day.  Kylie also had a weekend of a low grade fever but was a trooper.

Megan is cruising fairly well now.  She's a bit lazy because if she sees something at the end of the table most times she'll sit down and crawl over to the other side to get it.  SIGH.  She has learned the coffee table set-up now and so she doesn't bump her noggin on it when trying to pull up.  She had one full week this month that she slept through the night completely!  Made me very sad, but then she started teething again and she's been awake all night ever since!  Argh!  She has all 4 of her top front teeth in now, 3 bottom fully in with one partial in and now I believe it's the 1st year molar on her right side that's knocking her out.  It's horrible. 

Megan is eating well.  We barely have a puke-fest episode these days and she is willing to put anything in her mouth!  She really likes just about anything - cucumbers, apples, meat, pudding, anything!  I don't really know how much is going down her throat, though, but we'll get there.  She's still nursing for survival as I like to call it and only taking 3  3 ounce bottles a day at daycare.  Some days she'll take 4 3 ounce bottles, but it's rare.  I've noticed her naps are slowly decreasing in time too. WAHHHHHHHHHHH!    She's still in size 3 diapers and wearing size 9 to 12 month clothing.  Although a lot of that is starting to get too tight length wise.  I'm still guessing she's not much over 19 pounds, though.  Ryan and I wonder when she'll be out of the infant car seat.  SIGH.  That thing is HEAVY and we are so ready for the convertible car seat.

I've noticed more and more that even though Megan LOVES and adores her big sister, she's getting tired of her drama/screaming/silly fits.  ROFL.  I swear that as soon as she can talk she's going to tell her to shut up.  Ha-ha.  Oh  yeah, Megan is saying da-da now if I haven't already mentioned it.  That's great for Ryan considering Kylie said ma-ma for a long time before ever saying da-da.  I hope Megan says ma-ma soon.  Sniff sniff.  She is so quiet.  It's just so strange since Kylie was a yapper/yeller, etc.  Now Megan is a tantrum thrower when she doesn't get her way, though, it's funny.  I still get worried about her not saying many words when Kylie was saying many at this age, but I'm trying not to compare.  Sad to think Megan will be one very soon.  My last baby isn't going to be a baby anymore.  Sniff sniff sniff.

Kylie is doing exceptional, in my opinion.  She got the Leap Frog Letter Factory dvd for Christmas from her Aunt and Uncle Langa and she has picked up all the sounds now, it's amazing!  I wish I would have gotten that dvd for her soon because she loves it!  We got her the word dvd and we'll see how quickly she picks it up.  I think it's time to get some tracing books so we can work on writing, etc.  Wow, I just can't believe she's going to be 4 this year.  She is growing up so fast.  She wants to pick out her own clothes and she makes the most hideous choices for matching an outfit, but I let her do her thing.  She's still walking on her tip toes.  We opted out of the cast procedure and we'll see how she does this year.  She also just doesn't listen.  She's becoming very defiant, but she tries so hard to please us too.  Kylie is a very imaginative and creative young girl - it's amazing to watch her.  Her passion for books is great.