Family Update

Hmmm, well it has been a little bit since I have blogged. Every time I get on the laptop I see my blog page sitting at the top of my internet page and totally try to avoid it. I must feel really guilty! I need to be better! I just keep putting it off because whenever I do get on her to blog I always write a lot and I don't think people want to even glance at it because it is always too long! So I will try and make this somewhat short ;)

Kelsey is still as cute as ever! Though with her molars and eye teeth deciding to come in all at the same time has made her a bit cranky, I still adore that little girl! Each day she grows up and amazes me! She is starting to say little words and comprehending so much more! She can do a lot of her animal sounds now which is so fun! I love her little voice and the way she "says" things. I can't wait til she can actually talk because I already know it is going to be adorable! She is quite the active little thing and keeps me busy! Since the weather has been nice lately we have been enjoying playing outside in the grass. She is just happy to be out there and pick flowers. So fun and cute! She always tries to grab my bag or shoes and stands by the door. I am sure this next winter will be not so fun. But I am excited for the summer and more nice days ahead with her. Ready to take some nice walks with her and more fun times outside playing. She is such a little mommy and so loving. She loves to hold her babies, kiss them, hug them, feed them, and pat their backs. Now when I get her up in the morning or naps she will hug me and pat my back. She is so funny and goofy and I can't get enough of her. She really is my pride and joy.

Trent is still working hard to support our family. We are happy that this is his last week working graveyard for the summer! YAY! He will be working day shift so he can get a little extra money. That also means we get our nights back together! We have really missed our pillow talks and movie nights or tv show nights and just having us time. I am just excited! In the fall he will go back to graveyard and start going back to school at PSU. School has been really stressful for him. Since we have been married he has had a hard time making decisions on what to do and where to go. He has finally decided on what he is going to do and that he isn't going to change his mind or school. He is sticking with his choice for sure! (I hope) He has gone back to his original decision of being a PE teacher/coach, which I have always seen him doing and trying to encourage him to do. He may look and sound confident but he really isn't about himself. It is hard because he is so good at just about everything. He just needs a boost from everyone to help him. I love that guy so much and I know he can do anything if he put his mind to it. He is such a good husband and daddy. He would do anything for us =D

As for me, I am doing alright. Still working at the school with the little Kindergartner boy. He has gotten so much better and he really is a sweet kid. I am happy for him that things are getting better. They aren't perfect, but a lot less stressful. I got a really nice compliment from different teachers and the Principal at school. They said that I was doing such a good job and that everyone just says high praises for me. They said my name has been floating around the District and that I should have no problem finding a job next year. The Principal said he just wanted to keep my captive and not let any other school have me.  That really means a lot to me! I am really hard on myself and to hear people appreciate me and give me compliments really does make me feel like I matter. Sometimes I have a hard time with feeling the love. This school really has been awesome and I love them all. I hope next year if I get called to work that I can meet more great people like them. Pretty much it just depends on school funds and who needs me. It isn't a guarantee but there are high hopes. The boy I help now will be going to a different school and in a special classroom since he now qualifies for it. So we will see what happens. Other than that, Trent and I are still trying to extend our family. I am ready to be open about it. It has been a struggle since it did take us over 2 years to get pregnant with Kelsey. It has now been 8 months trying for a second. Hoping it won't take forever again.  I had higher hopes for #2 since I have heard from so many people that they knew people that had hard times getting pregnant and then once they had one, they just started popping them out. lol. I guess that isn't our case. I will probably be calling the Dr. soon to set up an appt. I am convinced something is going on. Even though the Drs. don't think so. It is just a matter of convincing them! It was really hard before Kelsey. It is easier this time since I do have Kelsey to ease the pain. But it still is hard and Trent and I struggle with it every day. We sure do love our Kelsey though and we are so grateful for her! We know we are lucky to have her in our lives.

But we are all happy and doing well. We all have our struggles and weaknesses and we continue to try and work through them. We are trying to become closer as a family and to our Heavenly Father which I know will improve our lives. We are just happy to have one another and we continue to count our blessings!!!

fun little videos =)

Clever Dad!

Kelsey has such a clever Daddy! We bought her a new car seat and this is what Dad decided to do with the box. He was pretty happy with himself =D He is so cute!

 

Lately

Changes have come upon us lately. For the past few months Trent has been working graveyard. Most people know that already. He switched shifts because we knew the winter months were slow at his work. He gets commission only and on graveyard you get paid hourly. We thought graveyard would be the best decision at this time. It seemed to work well for a little bit and then it seemed like it was getting harder and harder to get the bills paid. I hate winter in this case. We have really been struggling and things were just getting stressful. I put  off getting a job myself for a long time. Trent and I really wanted me to be able to stay home with Kelsey and it worked for the first year for which I am so grateful! I finally decided I should look for a job. 

I applied for a few at David Douglas and got called for two. I was offered both of those but one was full time which I didn't want. The other was only on call. I was going to do that one until I got called for another offer which was the best offer for me. It is a one-on-one with a kindergartner. He only goes half day but his class is full day. He has some problems in the class and they needed someone to help with him since the teacher wasn't really able to. He is a handful and you never know what he is really thinking. It seems every day has been different. I never know what is going to set him off. But I really am enjoying myself. Even with him being a handful, I like to know I am making a difference in his life and in his education. I have been looking for different ways to help engage his mind and it is kind of fun looking at pre-k stuff. At least it will be useful for when it comes to that time for Kelsey. That makes me excited! I sure do miss Kelsey though. But it is only up to 3 hours a day. I get to see her when she wakes up and I still get to feed her lunch and put her down for her nap at home so that is good. I have been there for all her firsts so it is ok. I know she is in good hands too =) 

Recently Trent had an interview for a job within his company that he works now. It is a inside sales job selling towing accounts for the company. His interview went really well and we are hoping that he will be offered the job. There is only one other person that he is up against so here is to that! Fingers crossed. It is a salary job plus commission so maybe we would able to  rent a house instead of an apartment or something. That sounds sooo good to me! But if it is right then it will happen. If it isn't, then it wont. 

Here is to the future and making enough to support ourselves! thank goodness for tax returns and bonuses from Trent's work! We were able to get Kelsey a big girl car seat =)

Big girl! (Long post!!)

It is still hard to say that Kelsey is a year old! Weird! But it is oh so fun! It seems like she is learning new things everyday and she is really starting to show who she is. So this post is dedicated to her! But most of them are already ;)

Kesley is full of personality. She is always making funny noises and faces. Like a screeching noise and this throaty noise. I don't know how she discovers some of the sounds she makes but it is cute. She likes to pretend laugh which makes me laugh for real. She loves to be chased. And she loves chasing Mom or Dad. She laughs hysterically! She thinks it is really funny when I make faces at her when she is eating. She is usually pretty happy! Except when I am in the kitchen trying to get food ready and she is too hungry to take it! I just bought some leap frog fridge magnets which she really enjoys. So far it has helped. It makes me happy! She loves her food! She would eat all day long I think if I let her. Of course her favorite is pretty much any kind of pasta. She doesn't like mashed potatoes though which I think is kind of odd. But she likes pretty much anything else though. Lol.

Her favorite toys are her little blocks, rings, little cars, balls, and her dollies. Her favorite colors are blue and green. It is true. She has favorite colors. She prefers her blue and green balls over the others, her blue and green blocks over the others, and her blue and green rings over the others as well. I think she just knows what she wants! She likes to kiss her babies, feed them with spoons, and with a bottle. She even gives them hugs and rocks back and forth. It is is really, really cute! She loves to dance and wiggle and move. I always find her moving back and forth to any kind of sound it seems. Some days more than others. I have to get this girl in some dance classes when she is old enough! It is just a must! She likes anything that makes noise. Doesn't matter what is is. My favorite thing that she does right now is how she goes into her room and reads her books. She will stand up and pull them out of her little shelf and flip through the pages or just make a mess. She sits in there so quiet and just looks. Sometimes she gets mad if she can't turn a page or the book is over with. When she gets to the end of a book she whines. I turn it back to the beginning and she is fine. Silly girl. She makes me laugh. 

She loves fabric and blankets! Just loves blankets! Especially hers. She goes crazy over it. She chews on it and needs to be washed a lot. It is so fragile though I am afraid it is going to get ruined and then I will be in trouble! It is crocheted and I have to wash it in the tub and then air dry without it being hung. Makes it hard because it takes so long to dry and it is hard for her to sleep sometimes if she doesn't have it. She likes to put it in on her face. I have found that she likes any kind of blanket that is crocheted. She likes the feel of it. I recently made her a little fort. I just put two blankets over a card table and put it by the sliding door so she can look out the window and crawl under the blankets. She loves it. She has her dolls in there and her favorite toys. She loves it when I come sit in there with her and play with her baby dolls. 

Kelsey has discovered the wipe box! More than once I have forgotten to put it up and she has pulled out multiple wipes! Actually she just did it again.....This time she opened the entire thing somehow. Not just the top. They don't fold back together so well anymore. haha. I made her a something similar though that she plays with sometimes. Just a bunch of scrap fabric that I tied together and put in the wipe box. Then she can pull out fabric and I don't care! She really likes the keyboard. Too much. So we got down an old one we don't use so she can pound on that one instead. She likes the piano too and gets mad whenever she has to stop playing on it. Kelsey really likes sesame street. I try to limit the amount of tv she watches. Sometimes she will watch dinosaur train right before but mostly just sesame street. Then I can make her breakfast and get my hair done and all is good! The rest of the day I like to play music on the laptop. Sesame street pandora is a fun one. Just in case anyone was interested =)

Of course Kelsey loves bath time too. I recently started putting more bubbles in the tub. At first she was afraid of them! haha! But she has warmed up to them now and she even tried to eat them. Gross. She is a hands on kinda girl but I don't know what kind of little kids doesn't like that. She loves getting her pictures taken and she always smiles for it. She still has 6 teeth. 4 on top. 2 on bottom. It hasn't changed for a bit. She did like 7 or 8 steps the other day! Some days she is interested. Some days not so much. She still chases me around whenever she can. It will be so much nicer when she can walk and follow me. She always wants to be picked up and held. But she is really good when she needs to be. She really likes other little kids. She loves to watch and play with them. I am glad that she likes to do that. It will be good for the future. It is good for now too though! She also really likes dogs!! Whether she sees them in real life or tv. If she hears it bark she just starts to laugh and gets super excited!! One day we will get a dog. I wish we could now but we wouldn't be able to afford it. But one day, she will be loving that dog! 

She can sign please really good. She used to sign more but now she just does please. haha! Oh well. And if you haven't seen my video of her saying touchdown, you should watch it! Her first words! We are so proud!! haha! It kinda shocked me. And the fact that I got it on video makes it even more awesome. She has said it like 3 times but now whenever we say "Touchdown!" she just looks at us and smiles like it is some kind of joke. She has also been working on eating with a spoon by herself. The food has to be sticky though. So far we have done oatmeal and yogurt pretty good. She can dip her spoon in the yogurt and then put it in her mouth. She does so good! With the oatmeal I just put it on her spoon and put it in her hand and she puts in her mouth. She is so big! =) Love that girl!



Alright. I am sure I could go on and on and on! (Like I haven't already right?) But I will leave it as this. I guess this is more for me than anyone else. I don't blame anyone if they didn't finish this post. It looks long! I do love my little girl more than anything though. She is my life and she makes me completely happy! She is so fun and happy and I just love her!

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

You read it right! Kelsey turned 1 year old!! Is she seriously considered a toddler now? Can't be! She is still my little babe! A cute little babe too! The best thing about her being one you ask? No more nursing! I am a free woman! =D Took her to the Dr yesterday for her 1 year check up. Here are her stats:

Length- 28.5 in.
25th percentile

Weight- 18.5 lbs
10th percentile

Head- 17 in
5th percentile

Since her last apt she hasn't gained any weight. But I am not sure if it is completely accurate. They weighed her with Trent and then just Trent alone and figured out the weight that way. Why they did that I am not sure. At her WIC apt a couple weeks ago they said she was 17 lbs with no clothes. So right now I am kinda confused. lol. I do not believe WIC because before she was 18.5 lbs. So ya.....She was kinda not feeling well the week of her apt so maybe she just lost a little weight. Who knows. Either way she is still my little munchkin. She is pretty petite. When I was a year old I weight 17 lbs so she will probably just be a little shorty like her mama.

Anyway back to Kelsey's birthday! =D What a fun and exciting day! I was way more excited than anyone I think. I made pancakes for her breakfast and we got pizza for lunch. She seemed to like it pretty well. Who doesn't? And her dinner was awesome too. Spinach noodles with pesto sauce and chicken. Lucky girl! Her party was so fun. My sister-in-law Mallorie and my brother James made Kelsey's cake. Ever since Kelsey was little she has had a Raggedy Anne doll that my Grandma gave her. She liked it so much that I bought a bigger Raggedy Anne and Raggedy Andy for her. So I knew her cake had to be Raggedy Anne! Just hadda! Mallorie is so talented and they did a great job. It is the best cake I have ever seen! And it was soo yummy! I loved every thing about it =) I made a little "I Love You" cake for Kelsey because Raggedy Anne has a candy heart that says that. If you ever see a doll and lift up her dress (I know it sounds weird!) you will see the little heart that says "I Love You". Pretty cute. We had a lot of my family come over and she opened her presents which she enjoyed. She likes tissue paper best. She got a bunny from my grandma from build a bear, a mickey mouse doll from my the James family, clothes from my mom and baby crocs, and more cute clothes from the rest of the fam. Trent and I got her a book of first words and a Disney princess baby doll. It is Belle and she loves it. She got two other dollys for Christmas too that she likes to push around in the buggy that we also gave her for her birthday. It was mine when I was little and she likes it way better than the walker we got her for Christmas. Then we had cake! Kelsey loved it! =) That's my girl! At first she looked at us like "is this ok?" She played with the frosting for a minute and kept trying to give it to me. Then we cut into the cake a little bit and she dug right in! Cutie!!!! It was a lot of fun and I am so grateful for everyone that came and enjoyed it with us!
This last Sunday we celebrated again with the Caudles. She didn't eat cake this time but she did enjoy opening her presents. She got some really cute clothes! =) I am glad that she has so many family members that love her. She is one lucky, loved girl! =) So that was her birthday. I will do another post of her favorite things and things that she has done lately in another post. I don't want to make this too long where people won't want to read it! But it is already past that.......

Welcome Dallas!

On Dec. 6th my brother Justin and wife, Summer had their baby boy! Kelsey's first Kelly cousin! And my first Kelly nephew! I was so excited! And so was Kelsey! He is such a cute little boy and I cannot wait for him and Kelsey to play together someday. Love that little boy! Congrats Justin and Summer! =D