18 months old

18 months old: Here is to another attempt at doing a blog post. K literally changes by the day and I fall more in love with her by the day too. She is so much fun (and work:)) right now. New things she is saying: Points at Ave and says ‘no,’ “here you go ave” while she motions for her to come (when I figured out what she was saying I started paying attention to how often I say that...it’s a lot, fish, hot, ‘thank you’ while she signs it too, Please, amen... Have I ever said this girl can eat?! I have never seen anything like it. Her little (big) belly cracks us up. She loves fruit, salmon, noodles, rice, eggs, pancakes, smoothies, bean burritos, almond milk, coconut water, guac, veggie straws, etc. She is still gf/df and no chicken or beef yet. She is obsessed with my Mom’s brown beans and carrots. Yes...we are still strict on her diet. She loves getting adjusted. This has not always been the case. I am so grateful. I am also so grateful that I am able to adjust her to keep her nervous system healthy. I am on a mission to adjust as many kids as I can because they all need it. I was oot for work 2 weekends in a row and then I was sick last weekend so my time with her has been limited but this weekend we made up for lost time and we both needed it. We played a lot and had some much needed snuggle time. It is hard to say if she is more of a mommy’s girl or daddy’s girl, but I will say she is pretty obsessed with her Daddy these days. She adores him and the feeling is mutual. I absolutely love watching them interact. Alan is such a good Dad and makes it a point to spend time with her. She is on a pretty strict sleep schedule...what is new?:) A few weeks ago we transitioned to 1 nap. She was sleeping 13 hrs at night but her 2 naps were inconsistent and short. I contacted a sleep consultant whom I already knew and she gave us some pointers. She said she was showing all the signs to transition to 1 nap a day so that is what we did. The only downfall is bedtime is super early (5:30) so I don’t get to see her when I get home from work but like she said...it is only temporary. So yes she goes to bed around 5:30 and will sleep until 6-6:30. That is a little early for my liking but let’s be honest, anything before 9 is early to me:) Her nap will start between 11:30-Noon and she will sleep between 1.5-2 hrs. Nursing...yes she still nurses but not as much. She usually only wants it first thing in the morning when Alan brings her to me. I love our nursing relationship and plan on nursing as long as she wants to. She is wearing a size 4 diapers and 18 month clothes. She is a size 4 shoe. She loves to swim! She will jump to Alan, go under, kick her feet and let Alan toss her in the air and catch her. She isn’t a fan of being in or on a raft though. Today, we put her life jacket/floaty deal on her and she swam by herself! That was a first. Alan installed lock up high on all of the doors because she will open the door and walk outside now. YIKES!

One of my tangents

This was a response I wrote to a friend of mine who questions vaccines but she is a pediatric nurse and gets a lot of backlash from her colleagues. It sums up what Alan and I believe and why we don't vaccinate. Go back to the basics regarding health: Does health start or come from “above down inside out” or does it come from an external source? i.e. Did God give our bodies enough intelligence to know how to work or did he mess up and we need to intervene with something external like medicine or vaccines for everything? Fever for instance...What is our normal body temperature? 98.6. So if we run outside and we sweat, why do we sweat? To keep our temp at 98.6. If it’s zero degrees and we are standing outside and we start shivering why do we do that? To keep our body temp at 98.6. So if we have a fever or our child has one and the body temperature raises to kill the virus or bacteria, are we or our child sick or healthy when this happens? Mainstream says sick but if our temperature didn’t raise what could potentially happen? So we are actually well when we have a fever. If we run and grab tylenol are we interfering with the intelligence of our body? That is for you to decide but that is why we view fever as a good thing. Do I like to see K with a fever? Not at all but I trust in God’s design that her body is working the way he intended it to and I do my best to nurture her but not interfere. So back to health, with or without vaccines, it comes down to survival of the fittest and the body’s ability to adapt to stresses whether that is the common cold, measles, whooping cough, etc. We approach it from the standpoint that health comes from within therefore we are going to do our best to keep her immune system as strong as we can because there is always an unknown of what she will face in life. There will always be something to “fear” so to speak. There are always going to be crazy superbugs and viruses and whatnot that kill people. So is the answer to concoct a vaccine for everything that arises? If the answer is yes, which is what so many believe, fast forward 20 years and look at the recommended schedule. If kids today receive 49 doses by 5 yo what will it be then? How much sicker will these kids be than we already see today? I’m going off of a tangent but I think it comes down to how you view health before vaccines come into question if that makes sense. For us...first and foremost we get adjusted regularly because decreased nerve function=decreased health. Working in the profession you do, have you ever thought how much the sick kids you see could benefit with getting an adjustment? Even if the meds are necessary, why not get their nervous systems functioning better? In my heart, I believe that vaccines are damaging kids today. I don’t believe they are the answer. I see it in my practice. I also see parents who don’t have a clue what their kids even get when they get vaccinated and it pisses me off for the kids sake. Regardless of what you choose, imo we owe it to our kids to know what we are giving them. People spend more time looking at food labels and car seat safety than they ever do questioning what is in a vaccine. End of rant:)

Kayman 16 months

16 months and FINALLY walking and FINALLY saying Momma! 16 months and also bites and hits. For some reason I seem to be the culprit of most of the violence:) She is a mess but hilarious at the same time. More words she is saying: Nurse, bird, peas (Please), es (yes), booby, Aw-ave every time she sees Avery, Nana, Gigi. She is still a good eater. She has times where she will be finicky and fight whatever we give her but I’m sure that is typical for her age so we just go with it. She has still not had dairy, gluten, meat or fish. She drinks coconut milk, almond milk and water. I struggle with trying to be creative on things we give her since we are trying to avoid things that are not good for her. She loves playing with her toys. One of her favorites is a teapot that makes noise when she tips it over. She will pretend to take a drink and smack her lips. She is very independent and if you sit her down in her playroom she will play well by herself. I love just watching her and seeing what she comes up with on her own. She loves purses and babies and anything she can sort. We get rocks from the backyard and she will play with those for as long as you let her. She is in The Little Gym and has so much fun. It is fun watching her interact with the other kiddos. She is always willing to give all of them open mouth kisses. Mika has taken her several times and she says the teacher always tells her how smart K is. Of course all parents think their kids are smart and we are no different:) but it is always nice when someone not biased compliments your child. A couple of weeks ago I gave her a bath. Well I must have had the temperature a little to warm and she freaked when I sat her down. Now she HATES bath time. Way to go Mom. She is also not a fan of the pool yet. I honestly can’t blame her since the water is cold but we enrolled her in swim lessons that start in a little over a week so hopefully she will do well since Lindsey is taking her. Lindsey is our new nanny...more on Mika leaving later:( Her personality develops more each day. It is so fun watching her change. I thank God everyday that he chose me to be her Mommy. She has her moments that test me. It is in those moments I see some of my personality shining through:) She likes to get her way. Period. And if she doesn’t, look out for a flying hand or a bite!:) As independent as she is she is still my little snuggler and is still my nursing queen. I have quit pumping for the most part but she still has a nursing session first thing in the am and before bed. If I am home with her she sneaks in a few more:)

Kayman 15 months

I have word document that I have been "blogging on" but have yet to take the time to post so here goes a bunch of catch up posts. Kayman is quickly approaching 15 months. How is that even possible?? What she is doing/saying now: She says Choo Choo when you ask her what a train says and “Moooo” for cow. She pretends to take a drink from her teacup and then smacks her lips together. I see a toy kitchen in her future:) She will raise her arms in the air when you tell her to “Praise the Lord.” Samantha, Mika’s daughter, taught her that. She still loves to kiss everyone...with tongue:) She likes to splash her feet in the pool. She has started hitting when she gets frustrated or tired and the other day she bit her Gpa. If we would have done that as a child, he would have bit us back but not his baby girl:) She is one stubborn, strong willed little girl. And spoiled;) She calls Avery “Ab-er-ee” and Lolita (one of Gma and Gpa’s chihuahuas) “O-Lee.” She actually will go to anyone. No stranger danger with this kid. We took her to The Little Gym recently and she loved it. For not being a daycare kid she really loves interacting and being around other kids. She is still wearing a size 3 diaper, 12-18 month clothes and a size 3 in shoes. When we took her to her checkup at 14 mos she weighed 21.3 lbs and was 28” long. She is still a healthy eater and we are so thankful for that. Right or wrong, Alan and I have the philosophy that if she doesn’t know any different, then there is no reason to offer her a “treat” that is really crap for her anyway. From the get go, this is something that we both agreed we would be very strict on and so far we have stuck to it. I know that he and I don’t have the best eating habits but we hope we raise her to make better choices than we do. Let’s be honest...I love me some icing!!:) She still takes 2 naps most days and is still going to bed at 7pm most nights. She wakes up between 7-7:30 on most days. Last week she was sick. At my lunch time Mika sent me a text saying she was running a fever on Tuesday and did I want to see her. I met them at home and took her temp. It was 102.6. Her cheeks were bright red and she was acting a bit tired and uncomfortable but overall Mika said she had been acting fine most of the day. Rather than Mika taking her back to her house Gma and Gpa came to the rescue and spent the afternoon with her. That night she continued to have a high temp. I adjusted her Tuesday, Scott Adjusted her Wed and Thurs. and Heather on Friday. We used oils on her and colloidal silver in her ears in case it was her ears. By Saturday she was back to her chipper self and with her big appetite. A few weeks ago when we took her to Dr. Ross for her checkup, about 3 days prior she had a 101.5 temp one night. We didn’t think much of it. Fast forward to her apt: I met my parents there and they said she has been more fussy than normal. Turns out she had bilateral ear infections. Dr. Ross, who is very supportive of our natural approach told my parents that he would write a Rx “just in case” but to adjust her and give her probiotics. She was fine soon after and we didn’t even pick up the Rx.

Kayman 13 months

The last month flew by! It doesn’t help that February is a short month but our little one turned 13 months yesterday! She literally makes us smile and laugh all of the time. What she is doing/trying to say now: She says “awww” to everything, especially right after she gives someone/something a kiss. She says “mmmm” after she takes a bite/drink of something. She claps and plays peek-a-boo with her hands now. She still loves to eat:) She is such a good eater and will pretty much eat anything you put in front of her. I have started making smoothies in the mornings with almond milk and she loves eating/drinking them. Tonight she ate sauteed green and red peppers. She still has not had any meat but eats plenty of eggs and beans. She likes to drink out of a straw, especially out of my big cups. She puts the phone up to her ear and babbles. She give hugs and will lay her head on your chest when you ask her for one. She loves seeing and playing with kids. If we are out running errands and she sees a kid she always tries to reach for them and get their attention. She loves playing with her cousins. She is starting to take an interest in books. She will sit on your lap and let you read to her. She isn’t walking yet except behind her push toys. My Mom (Gma) swears she took 2 steps last night while Alan and I were at the KU/OSU game in Stillwater. Go figure we weren’t there to witness it:) Alan and I took a mini vacation 2 weeks ago to Naples. Since we returned she has slept from 7-7:15 EVERY NIGHT!!! Hallelujah!!! She was sleeping all night before we left but waking around 6 every morning. That is a little too early for this Momma:) Before bed, she will nurse, we say the Lord’s prayer and pray and rock. Some nights she will be a little restless fighting wanting to go down so I will stand up with her and the second I say “Our Father who Art in Heaven,...” She will lay her head on my chest and immediately calm down. I absolutely love our mornings together. Alan will go and get her and change her diaper. He brings her to our bed so she can nurse. She will nurse and then in the middle she will unlatch and lean over to give her Daddy an open mouth kiss (face lick:)) and say “awww” and then go straight back to nursing. The relationship she has with her Daddy melts my heart. He is just the best with her and she just adores him. I love watching their relationship evolve. Our nursing schedule on days I work is nurse first thing in the morning, pump at lunch, nurse right when I get home between 6-6:30 and pump before bed. She is taking around 5 oz while I am at work. On my days off she nurses anytime she wants;) I really love our nursing relationship and bond that we are able to share. We got rid of the bottle last week so she is using a sippy cup with the pumped milk now. I am really trying at this documenting "what our kid is doing now" stuff.

1 year old

It is hard to believe Miss K is 1 year old How does time go so fast?! Here is a post on what she is doing/saying now: She loves lights and has started saying light/bite. She points to them every where we go and at home. She has learned to put the 't' on the end. She climbs the stairs. We finally put up a gate after 2 close calls where we took our eyes off of her and she was half way up before we found her. Parenting fail:) She walks with her push toy and will stand unassisted but she is not walking on her own yet. This girl can eat. I really don't know where the food goes. Yesterday I cooked her 4 eggs. My plan was to give her 2 and store the other 2 for today since she was also having avocado and pear with it. I left the kitchen to finish getting ready while Alan stayed with her. When I came back I asked where he put the left over eggs...she ate all of them!! The girl is a chow hound!!! Foods she is eating: peas, carrots, avocado, black eyed peas, beans, mangos, banana, cauliflower, broccoli, apple, peaches, pears, potatoes, green puffs, eggs, prunes...pretty much most fruits and veggies. She hasn't had any meat and very minimal grains (gluten free.) Her sleep is inconsistent. The last 3 nights she slept all night but we never know if that will be the case. Our routine is if she wakes, Alan will go and get her, change her and then bring her to me to nurse. I then take her back upstairs and she will go right back to sleep. She LOVES to nurse. Right now, on my work days, she will nurse first thing in the am (She wakes between 6am-6:30am most days) and right when I get home from work and then of course if she wakes during the night. I pump at lunch and before I go to bed. I am only pumping 2x/day and I am still over it. She is officially that kid that will pull my shirt down or try and lift it to get to the boobs. She is a comfort nurser too. She will pretty much kiss and go to anyone. If you kiss her, prepare yourself for an open mouth wet one:) She has the best belly laugh. She is still wearing a sz. 3 diaper and clothes are 12-18 months. I don't know how much she weighs or how tall she is. We always get that info at her checkup apts and her last one was 2 months ago. She had her first fever on NYE. Sick babies are the worst. Her temp got to about 103 so she was like holding a little furnace. Alan and I held her all night and got lots of snuggles. She was adjusted and we used oils and she came around NY day. As much as we hated seeing her feel bad we know fevers are actually a good thing so we let her body fight it naturally and I believe she was better quicker because of it. Her personality develops more and more each day. She is such a happy baby. She loves being around other kids. Alan and We laugh at her constantly because of all of the funny things she is doing or trying to say. She loves to show everyone her "bad cough" or her "sneeze." Sometimes her sneeze sounds like "ah-shit:)". She actually says that sound a lot even when she isn't trying to fake sneeze and we have no idea what she is trying to say. Mika has taught her to raise her hands in the air when she says "Praise the Lord." She can point to her ears. When she gives anything or anyone a kiss, she will say "awww" after. She can say Dada but she still can't say Momma. She will say baba when I ask her to say Momma. One day...:) We are so thankful for her and thank God every day that he chose us to be her Mommy and Daddy.

10 months old in 2 days

Every day we have more and more fun with her! She is developing quite the personality and is such a happy baby. She pulls up on everything. She will also walk around whatever she is holding onto. She has gotten brave a couple of times and let go but no unassisted walking yet. She is such a good eater. She loves banana, pear, apple, mango, peaches, cauliflower, broccoli, avocado and butternut squash. She tolerates green beans but is not a fan of green peas. She has yet to try any brown rice cereal. She still LOVES to nurse and I love it too. I call her my little nursing queen:) She would stay attached all day if I would let her. One of her favorite things is when I let her have both sides and she will go back and forth and gets so excited. For the longest time she was satisfied with one side but now she wants both every time she nurses. Things she "says" or we think she has said:)...ball, book, hi and she lifts her hand to wave and Dada. She has not said Momma yet. She is wearing 9-12 month clothing and just last week I bought her size 3 diapers. She can still wear 2's but the brand I wanted didn't have them in stock so I went up a size. She is on a pretty tight schedule in terms of napping and bedtime. She wakes usually between 6:30-7:30 and nurses. She eats breakfast around 8 and plays. Her first nap is around 9 and she will usually sleep between 1.5-2 hours. She wakes up and nurses when I am with her. She will have a bottle and lunch when Mika or my parents have her. She takes her afternoon nap between 1:30-2:30 and will sleep on average 1-2 hours. Bedtime is at 7. She has only slept through the night a handful of times but when she wakes she will nurse and go back down. She does best when she is at home in her own bed. Some of my favorite times spent with her are right after she nurses in the morning and she will start talking to Alan and I. I love my morning snuggles. She is a Momma's girl. Period. And I love it:) She does love her Daddy too! I fall in love a little more each day:)