Pumpkins, Ponies and Apple Cider

Yesterday we went to a Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch to pick out pumpkins and get some apples. The place also has a kid area which we went through first. We asked Kian if he wanted to ride the ponies - he said no so we moved on.

After we picked up apples, pumpkins, fresh apple cider and of course Curtis Orchard's famous donuts of course Kian wanted a pony ride. lol Jamie brought our loot to the car and K and I headed to the ponies. It was his first time riding any animal!

Here are some photo highlights from our trip.

Seeing how tall Kian is this fall!

We're on our way to the pumpkin patch!
Most of the pumpkins were rotten so we had to head back :P

And picked out a HUGE one from the pumpkins collected by the staff.

Let's get those pumpkins clean! (I wanted a small one for myself)

Kian's first pony ride!

Weekend of Fun with Tim and the Woodlee Clan

Last weekend we traveled to Kentucky for the annual Woodlee family reunion. Luckily the time we were heading down, Kian and I were able to meet one of Jamie's good friends for the first time.

When Jamie was in high school Tim was an exchange student from Germany. He was back in the states seeing some NFL games! i have heard a lot about Tim over the years and was so happy to finally meet him. It's too bad he lives so far away! Kian LOVED him - he quickly lived up to being his Uncle Tim.

Then we were on our way back down to Corbin for the reunion. Kian had a blast seeing family again. He played a lot of Uno with his Granna and made many trips down to the playground nearby. Thankfully Aunt Ty Ty, Aunt Dreama and Uncle Rusty (a.k.a. Smack Man - don't ask because I have no idea why he calls him that lol) went down with him.

The weekend was filled with cards, laughter, visiting with friends, walks, and getting reacquainted. Jamie and I had not been to a reunion since I was pregnant with Kian 6 years ago!

If you want to see photos of the fun check it out here.

Kian's First Soccer clinic!

Last Saturday Kian had his first Micro Soccer class. The kids are just learning the basics of playing and learning to control the ball. Kian LOVES it! Finally I got a slideshow together from last weekend. Enjoy!

Day 10!

Today was Kian's 10th Day of school and to celebrate they all made hats with the number 10 on them. Kian wore his for the rest of the day at home :)

When we were walking in the house after we got home from school Kian said with a big smile, "I love school."

BTW, this was the last day he needed to wear his name tag and it's a darn good thing because it's was in pretty bad shape lol!

Flu Shot

Kian got his shot today (he's had one every year since he was 6 months old). I of course told Kian that he was going to have a shot before we got there. He started to cry when we started walking for the door. So I told him I would take him to McDs afterwords for an ice cream cone.

When we waited out in the chairs there was another little girl who started to cry with kian because she was getting a shot too lol! I told him that no one liked to get shots but they were important for us to get so we could stay healthy. The little girl and Kian quickly made friends and talked about all sorts of stuff. It was a good thing because Kian's mind was swayed from thinking about the shot.

The nurse called him back and Kian was fine. He got up on the table and the nurse asked me to sit next to him. Kian watched her roll up his sleeve and even watched her give him the shot! Then he cried lol! The nurse thought he was so cute she let him have 5 different Sponge Bob stickers.

So we came home with ice cream and Sponge Bob and ready to battle against the flu virus :P


The nurse will just need to do it and it's pretty quick. I also took him to McDs for an ice cream cone because he was upset he had to have a shot :( I told him before we got there. But he did awesome, even watched then cried afterwards lol The nurse thought he was so cute she let him have 5 different sponge bob stickers lol!

Tooth Number Three!

When I took Kian to the dentist last month he let me know that four of Kian's teeth were loose. Well, one of them finally gave way! Yesterday he walked up to me with tooth in hand.

Of course the tooth fairy had to come. She gave him $5! Lucky dog! I think it's burning a hole in his Batman wallet ;)

First Day of Kindergarten!

This morning marked Kian's first day of school! He woke up this morning SUPER excited! He couldn't wait to go :) Jamie and I brought him to school and walked with him inside. He seemed unsure of what to do (and we were too), but once he was in the classroom he felt much better. We were just there yesterday and his teacher, Mr. Keepes, gave him a tour and shared with him what he needed to do. Kian hopped right to it :)

We said goodbye, he barely looked up from his coloring page. I looked back though. It felt so weird leaving him there for the whole day! I know he will do great though!

A Cousin, A Scooter and Some Bean Bags...

We arrived in Kentucky late last night. This evening we had a smorgasbord of food at Aunt Linda and Uncle Norwood's house - fresh veggies from their garden, BBQ chicken and fried green tomatoes (thanks Jane!).

Right before dinner was ending, Jamie got a text from our nephew Christopher that he was coming up to visit. When Kian heard that he immediately was done with dinner, washed his hands and watched out the window until Christopher pulled up! He adores Christopher!

Earlier that day, Kian's Granna and Papaw bought him a scooter so he would have something to do at the house (and keep it there for when we come next). We brought it along with us to Linda and Norwood's house. Kian and his cousin Christopher had a BLAST with bean bags and the scooter! I think Kian can make a game out of pretty much anything.

Here are some photos from their "game."

Okie dokie artichokie

That is Kian's new favorite thing to say. He's said it quite a bit today. I couldn't figure out where he heard it -we never say it (even though it's pretty cute).

Right before lunch I figured out where he heard it....

Yesterday at registration his teacher suggested having Letter Factory by Leap Frog at home as they would use it some in the classroom. And he kids love it. Boy, he wasn't kidding!!! Kian has watched it over and over again! And yep, they say okie dokie arochokie. Lol

so if you're looking for a fun movie for your preschooler or kindergatner, this is an awsome one :)

15 more days until....

we have an official kindergartner in our house!

I signed Kian up for school yesterday, joined the PTA, met his teacher, and got a TON of paperwork and informational sheets phew! Should take me a while to get through it all.

Kian is now counting down the days until he gets to go to school! I know he will love it :)

Mr. Thirsty and the Squirt Gun

Kian went to the dentist last week. He received a clean bill of health. He also got to test out the Squirt Gun and Mr. Thirsty as we waited for the dentist to come and look at his teeth.







A few days later I had to go in for my teeth cleaning; Kian came with me. He sat in the hygenist's chair as she checked my file then said to him, "If you sit there, you will have to clean your mom's teeth." Kian's eyes got really big and he scooted closer to me LOL I let him know that it was my turn with Mr. Thirsty and the Squirt Gun ;)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Kian and Mommy having a few moments together after the wedding.

Look at that handsome little guy!

We made it back home today safe and sound! This last week was a whirlwind! But it was a HUGE blast!

I feel bad that I didn't get to see any of my Fox Cities friends, but next visit will be much less hectic and we will have to do some planning before we head down ;)

Wednesday night was Laura's bachelorette party. It was beyond a BLAST! We all had cool shirts that Laura's Matron of Honor, Shannon, made for us all. Of course there were a lot of other **ahem** fun items. The best part was that Shannon hooked us up with a bus that took us bar hopping. Drinks were aboard as well as loud music that Laura burned on a CD and a stripper pole. No, there was not any stripping with the pole but there was plenty of dancing! SUPER fun!

Saturday the wedding was beautiful. My sister was a knock out in her gorgeous dress. The ceremony was filled with music that was recorded by Laura and Brian previously. So very, very special. The cool thing is that we all got to go home with our own CDs of the music!

Kian did a good job as the ring bearer, although, the best man was not able to be at the rehearsal so Jamie stood in for him. So that made it confusing on Saturday of who to give it to. He walked down the aisle and when he got to the front I could see confusion written on his face and the poor guy burst into tears! The best man ran down the stairs and got the pillow from him. Otherwise Kian was SO excited to be in a tux and very proud of himself as in the receiving line he was told by many people of what a good job he did :)

It was so good to see so many friends and family that I haven't seen in such a long time. It's funny how i wasn't able to visit with those people much at my wedding 7 1/2 years ago and this time around I was able to visit.

Sunday was the gift opening at my mom's house. Laura and Brian opened an endless amount of gifts and cards. Kian of course wanted to help. He was asking people what they wanted to drink and asking if he could help open gifts lol He also had a BLAST with his third cousins? (my mom's cousin's daughters - follow that one LOL), Hanali and Camlyn. And my cousin Liz's kids Hannah and Zachary.

All in all it was a great week...and a busy week... it's good to be home :)

On The Road Again!

Kian and I will be heading up to Wisconsin for my sister Laura's wedding on the July 18th.

I will be a bridesmaid and Kian will be the ring bearer. I will post photos when I get them uploaded :)

It will probably be a busy week for us up there! Wednesday night is Laura's bachelorette party (Grandpa will have a bit of man time with Kian :). Friday is the rehearsal. Saturday the wedding, dinner and reception (which will be LOTS of fun especially with my Uncle Steve DJing). Sunday is the opening of the gifts. PHEW! I am not sure when Kian and I will be heading back down home - but I know we will look forward to little activity the next week to recooperate. :)

But we all look forward to seeing family and friends. And Kian has some of the Kesler clan to meet still!

Tee Ball Class Finale

Kian's last day of his tee ball class was on Wednesday. All the kids and only a few of the coaches (there was a huge chance of rain so not too many kids showed up) lined up for a group photo.

Then they played through two mock games. No winners or losers. Just practicing all the basics of tee ball.

Kian + Growth Spurts = Mom's need for Calgon

Oh yeah, you know you remember this commercial. Well, this has been my slogan for the last few days.

I am pretty sure that Kian is going through a growth spurt. He's been eating like crazy but with the growth spurt always come bearish, unusual behavior. It has been so hard to get him to tell us what is wrong or help him get out of his funk. I can't say that I don't relate to him, but man it's hard to live with sometimes :P

Hopefully this will all end soon (and hopefully before my sister's wedding!) so he can return to himself and the Beast lol

For now, my only refuge is a stiff drink at the end of the day....or two.

Session 2 Lessons Down and a Visit from KY Family

Thursday marked the last day of Kian's Session of lessons. He will have his last session at the end of July.

He has done so well! He doesn't like to lean back into the water, and below you can see him with a life jacket on floating all on his own - and it was self initiated!

Here's another photo of Kian swimming out to the deep end with one of his instructors. He swam out with the help of the green noodle :)


Wednesday night Jamie's mom, step-dad, and nephew arrived. They were able to see him play at his tee ball practice and came to his last swim lesson on Thursday morning.

Kian had a blast with his cousin, Christopher Race. He always wanted to sit next to him and be near him. It was so cute!

Below are the two guys goofing around after eating dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Race did that first, Kian had to follow - monkey see, monkey do ;)


And here they are after breakfast before they headed back to Kentucky. Kian had such a blast with him. I know he will look forward to the family reunion on October so he can see his "best friend" again :)

Kian's 5 Year Check Up

Today I took Kian to get his physical for kindergarten.

He weighs 36.8 lbs and is 41" tall. I'm not sure where that falls on the growth curve but I am betting it all falls right where it always has for our skinny mini ;)

I wasn't sure if he needed any immunizations or not. Well, I was informed he was going to get 4! Yikes! so I told Kian about them. He did awesome until he got the MMR which apparently hurts like a son of a ..... Then he had to get a lead test at the lab - they prick the finger and squeeze out blood. When we got home i gave him some Motrin and tried to give him some Oreos - which he said he wouldn't eat. Needless to say, Kian is not at all in a good mood. I have tried everything to cheer him up, hugs, food, talking....nfinally I just had to leave him be.

Three hours later he has emerged from his room and asked to watch WallE. I feel so bad for him :( Hopefully he's in a much better mood tomorrow since Granna, Papaw, and Christopher Race are coming to visit!

Remembering our Toby

It's hard to believe that yesterday marked a full year of our lives without Toby. This morning I was thinking about him and realized that this anniversary had come. Even though it's been a year, I still think about him all the time.

Kian has also come to realize that he is no longer with us. Someone asked me a few weeks ago if he had any pets, he said yes a dog named Bailey. I know he remembers Toby though and Allie as well.

Today I choose to remember all the fun, wonderful things about Toby. How he would excitedly play and roll around with a pig's year for about a half hour before eating it. The times I would come out of the kitchen and see an 14 month old Kian poking Toby in the eye ball - Toby didn't even move - poor guy! How he would never, ever bark but the cows that would walk by up on the hill in our back yard, he would bark like there was no tomorrow! How I would wake up with his big, black nose in my face as his head rested on the matress as he stood right next to the side of the bed in the mornings.

Toby-bowbee, we miss you buddy. I hope that you are having the time of your life playing with Roxy and Sam.

Diving Board at Swim Lessons!

Kian's instructors put life jackets on all the kids. One instructor wore a life vest and caught the kids and the other stood on the board and helped them. I wasn't able to catch it on camera, but Kian eventually jumped from the diving board on his own!!! He was so proud of himself :)

Day 2 of Level 2 Swim Lessons

Kian did AWESOME at swim lessons today! He dunked his head under water several times, sometimes it was on accident but he recovered well :)

He practiced a back float, front float and started to use a kick board! He has really done well from being a kid that really just did baby pools and slip n slides. I think it also helps that Kian has the same instructor he had last session. Her name is Tori. When Kian found out that Tori was going to be his teacher he said to me, "Miss Tori is pretty." Maybe he's got a crush on her ;)

I took some photos of Kian with my iPhone. I didn't want to disturb the class by moving closer, so the photos are kinda grainy.

Kian doing a back float with the help of a green noodle and his instructor

Kian uses the kick board for the first time with his instructor Miss Tori

Kian with the other little boy in his class practicing front kicks.
Kian has the green noodle.
They went all the way from one side of the pool and back!

Kian graduated to Level 2 Swim Lessons!

I'm so proud of our little guy! Today was the first day that the class wore life jackets and went in the deep end! I wasn't sure how Kian would handle it, but he was the first one to get in and do his front kicks and back kicks almost unaided (well, except by the life jacket).

His instructor wrote out a "report" card. All the areas he worked on were checked off and she suggested he move on to Level 2! She also wrote the sweetest note to him on the back, she told him how very (underlined 3 times) proud she was of him.

Kian was SO excited and so proud of himself! He really enjoyed the lessons and he really is learning a lot.

The moment we got home I signed him up for the Level 2 lessons, they start next week :) Thankfully the pool we go to is the "older" one, but it is nice and there are a max of 4 kids per class because of the time it's at and because it's not the cool, new pool. I thought I might not like it there, but I do, so we are sticking with Spalding :)

Two woots for the K-Man!

Swimming, Tee Ball, Library...Swimming, Tee Ball, Library

This is what our life is like at the moment, well it is for me and Kian anyway. Kian is having a good summer though and enjoying the activities.

Kian goes to swim lessons for a half hour every day (except Fridays which is a make up day). Kian hasn't really been in the water much - only when he was a baby. He responded really well to the instructor and has actually put his face in the water, blowing bubbles, and has started to learn how to kick and back float.

Kian is the kiddo on the bright noodles. Practicing getting around on his own!

Monday and Wednesday nights is Tee Ball. The class is all real young kiddos so they are focusing on the basics. They have worked on catching and throwing, running the bases, and hitting the ball off the tee. The coaches are young (either high school or college) and they do awesome with the kids.

Kian hits the ball off the tee - yep it's going toward the fence, safety first!

Kian and I make a weekly run to the library. The first thing we when we arrive is turn in Kian's reading sheet. The library is keeping track of all the kids that have signed up and how many books have been read. I was shocked to see that in the last few weeks there have been over 1,000 books read! Impressive! I usually have a movie or a book waiting for me to pick up and Kian goes through the kid's area and chooses books we will read throughout the week. We are very lucky to have a very, very nice library with a lot of selection in all areas.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Yeah, I have been a big slacker in making regular posts. I have yet to go through our photos from Disney World too! :P

Here's the the news on our homefront:

Kian and I went up to Wisconsin last weekend for my sister's bridal shower. We had a good time visiting with family and friends :) Kian also got some good time in with his Grandpa and Great Grandpa at the lake - Kian even went fishing for the first time!

We came back into town on Monday afternoon because Kian started tee ball that night. It ended up being rained out. Instead Jamie had the idea of us going to see the new Pixar movie Up in 3D. It was the first Pixar movie in a few years that we have seen outside of Pixar itself :( We definitely missed going there and hanging out with our friends Scott and Keyong. The movie was great though - we all recommend it :)

Kian's first real tee ball class started on Wednesday night. He had a very good time :) I know he will enjoy the rest of the sessions that we have :)

Next week Kian will start swimming lessons for the first time. It is seeming like our summer is filling up a bit - but that is a good thing :)

Five for Finn - PLEASE READ

Please read this note from my friend Kerry. She is a member of a parenting board I am apart of - I have known her since we were both pregnant with our little guys. Finnegan has held a special place in my heart - especially since both Finn and Kian are Irish lads. Finnegan left us way too soon, but Kerry and her husband have a way to honor his memory and give back to those families battling against the evil of Cystic Fibrosis.

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Hey everyone--

As some of you may know, Finn's fifth birthday would have been June 3rd of this year. As the date approaches, I find myself feeling more sad and missing my little guy more and more (as if that's possible, as I miss him every moment of every day). I could sit and cry--and believe me, I have--but what I really want to do is to celebrate the amazingness that was Finn and help other families too.

We are still in the process of getting tax-exempt status for "Finnz Fundz"--a foundation established in Finn's name to help other families of children with Cystic Fibrosis who are facing extended (longer than one month) hospital stays for treatment. In addition to our goal of achieving tax exempt status, we hope to eventually be able to help families of children with other illnesses as our funds grow and our ability to help increases.

As a way to honor Finn's fifth birthday, I have a special request for everyone who reads/receives this note--PLEASE donate a fin ($5) in honor of our Finn. If even 200 people donate $5 each, we will have $1,000 to distribute to families in need. Amazing!

Donations can be sent via paypal.com to:
finnzfundz@gmail.com

In addition to this special birthday fundraising drive, we are also looking to obtain "in-kind" donations to pass on to families--like gift cards from national retailers (dunkies, starbucks, target, walmart, etc). If any of you out there work for such companies or have connections, please let us know. We received many such cards and they were such a blessing!

Our email for the fund is: finnzfundz@gmail.com

A website will be soon to follow--a special thanks to Susanne and hubby for offering to design/host the website--I will be in touch soon!

Thanks to all for the amazing support you've given our family during our journey. It's been a long road, but I wouldn't have changed it--Finn was an amazing, special little person who truly brought joy to our lives.

Many thanks,
Kerry and Patrick

p.s. Please forward this to everyone on your friends list! Let's use the power of facebook/the internet for good!!!

Finnegan - a lil' Irish clover that left us too soon

Back to Reality and School of Choice!

After living at the Disney All Star Music Resort for the last week, we returned home at about 3AM on Mother's Day. We had an AMAZING trip to say the least. I will be blogging about it later on, right now there are many other things to attend to :P

Today we received our mail that was on hold for us during vacation. I quickly rummaged through it to find a letter that was from the Champaign school district. I opened it in a hurry and scanned the letter to see that Kian is attending the first school we chose!!!! We are super excited at this great news :)

I am hoping to have blog posts and photos of our WDW trip up sometime next week. As well as Kian's Preschool Graduation photos and info :)

See ya real soon!

Busy...Sick....and Busy....

I apologize for not updating much over the last few weeks. I have been struck with a virus that has knocked me into bed for several days at a time, so most of my time is spent doing what I can for our family and resting.

We are working hard prepping for our big journey to Disney World starting Thursday night. I have been busy getting laundry done and packing among other things. It has been quite difficult with this fatigue I have from the virus - I am exhausted after putting a load of laundry in the washer. Kian has been a great help and Jamie has too - I am so very thankful for both of them. Jamie has allowed me as much time as i can to rest. And Kian has been such a great helper in unloading the dryer for me and getting things for me that I need.

I am hoping to rest up a lot so that I am well to walk around all day at the park for 7 days straight. We are all looking forward to this trip to say the very least! The thing I look forward to most is enjoying the wonder of Disney through Kian's eyes.

I will be Tweeting throughout our trip. If you wish you can follow my blabbering via this link. I also have my Tweets streaming on my Blabber Blog.

I know we will come back with a lot of photos and stories :)

Preschool Trip to the Children's Museum

Friday Kian's class went to the Children's museum in Champaign. It is a far cry from the Appleton one and a far, far, far cry from the San Jose Children's Museum, but Kian and his classmates had fun nonetheless (which is what really counts). Since I was one of the drivers for the field trip, I was able to snap some photos of Kian throughout the time we were there.

Kian got to pet a bearded dragon! I was asked to if I wanted to pet him before it got to Kian...I reluctantly did only because I didn't want Kian to be afraid. He really liked petting it and was very gentle :)

Climbing up the ladder on a tug boat exibit

Digging for dinosaur bones in the outside area.

And I had to include a photo of the ghetto dinosaur that was in the back area. It looked both scary and gross...I think he needs a revamp.

Mario Kart....Wii!!!!

Well, it seems that Kian beat Mario Kart in some way (I don't know what brought it on lol). After he finished a race and won a trophy the credits started playing which usually means you beat the game. Then a picture of Mario, Kian's Mii, and the Princess popped up lol I told Kian I was going to take a picture of it - so there it is!

Hoppy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

As you can see from the photo, the Easter Bunny was very good to Kian :) He made quite the haul! He got little game, a DS game, Mickey Mouse, 2 Pokemon figures, and a dancing game with Disney songs and characters. And yes he made a haul with the candy! He got an "egg" with Nerds inside and no Easter basket is complete unless is has a chocolate bunny in it (it took the EB quite some time to find one that was safe for Kian :)

When Kian woke up he found fillable eggs in his room and all around the house! He had a great time finding them and after finding some he would say, "that silly rabbit." LOL

For now, Kian's breakfast consists of chocolate and other sugary goodies. Bailey is trying to sniff everything and lingering around Kian's feet. Right now he's an annoying scavenger :P It should be a fun filled, sugary day for us all :)

My Blabber Blog

I have revived my Sarah's Random Thoughts blob but renamed it and gave it a new web address. If you are interested in my ramblings that are not really family related, press the title of this post and it will take you there ;)

Disney Marathon Part 2

The day began with Kian singing to himself in his bedroom....but now he's a bump on the couch again :( His temp was down today but it has slowly risen. Since he has had so many ear infections, I deicided to call and get him an appt to have that checked. His ears are fine, but he is having a strep culture done as well as a urine test...he keeps telling me his back hurts. The 5 min strep test came back negative but they are doing an overnight one.

For now we are watching more movies - thankfully we have collected all Disney movies available! We haven't even seen all of what we have (thankfully lol).

I guess we will see what tomorrow brings. Kian does have a short week at school so I feel bad keeping him home one more day :( He really enjoys going!

Snowy, Gloomy, Sick Kiddo Day :(

This morning Jamie and I awoke to cries coming from Kian's room - which is totally not normal for him. He said he was hungry so i got him food right away and milk. He continued to lay in bed and was kinda a bump there until the clock hit 7AM - he said it was time to get out of bed lol (We tell him he can't come in our bedroom until 7AM lol) I discovered he had a low grade fever which I monitored throughout the day. It rose to 101.5 before school so no school today.

Kian has been curlled up on the couch with a pillow and blanket the whole day. So today was declared a movie day. And since we are going to Disney World in about 25 days, we have watched all Disney movies. Most of them Kian has never seen before. So far we have watched Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Tarzan, Lion King, and Aladdin. There is time for one more yet today lol

Kian is not a kid that sits still for very long so for him to sit through all those movies is really rare. Hopefully after a good night sleep he will feel much better.

A Visit with Granna and Papaw

Jamie's Mom and Step-dad arrived on Friday and left this morning. Kian had a blast playing tee ball with Papaw and Daddy in the back yard (Bailey enjoyed it too ;). Granna and Papaw bought him a few bats and a tee for practicing at home. Kian will be starting Tee Ball in June, so we wanted him to get used to how things in the game. Kian took to it really well! I think he will really enjoy the class :)

Saturday was a beautiful day, a little chilly but sunny. It was nice enough to spend quite a bit of time outside. Sunday it was rainy so we were mainly inside. We took a trip to the mall, which included a few rides on the carosel. When we got back to the house Granna and Kian had a blast playing hide and seek and playing all the board games Kian has - which is a lot! lol Then Granna spent some time watching Kian play some video games that he wanted to show her lol

It really is nice to be able to live close enough for a weekend visit to all sets of grandparents :) Kian definately had his fill over the last few weeks :)

Is it April Already?

I seriously cannot believe how fast time flies these days. It is now April and in almost a month my little man will be 5! It feels so odd to even think of him being 5! I guess I just have to get over it lol

Our countdown until Disney World is on. We are now on the last month on the chart until we head there (we leave May 1). Kian is so excited. I'm pretty stoked. Jamie is stoked, excited, and well anything else you can think of LOL Luckily he is doing a lot of research to make sure our trip is great.

Things continue to be busy here. In fact this week has so many little things going on that I lost track of days...I have been a day behind since the week started. In fact, right now I would swear it was Thursday. lol

busy...busy...busy.....

Last week was super busy for me! Not only did I have St. Pat's day prep and such but I also had to start working on getting Kian and I ready to spend Spring Break in Wisconsin with my parents!

Jamie and Bailey stayed back - Jamie had to work. But since Kian has off all this week we thought it might be nice to spend it in Wisconsin and visit with some family and friends. So I was trying to get every piece of laundry washed, all the dishes caught up, and anything else I could think of done so that Jamie wouldn't have to worry about much while I was gone.

We have had a good time visiting quite a few different people :) Eating at Tom's Drive In and going to some special stores that aren't in our area. It has been nice to just visit and be low-key :)

Finnegan

I chat lead a board for people that had babies in May of 2004. I have been there since I found out that Kian was due to be born in May and a lot of other ladies have been there that long a well. Finnegan's mom was also one of them.

After Finnegan was born, his parents were told he had cystic fibrosis. Basically there is an issue with mucus glands in the lungs as well of digestive areas. It is incurable but manageable sometimes. Finn didn't really exhibit really having any issues that kids with CF normally have, not until last year. Finn was hospitalized in Feb. 2007 and remained there until he passed away on early on March 20th, 2008. He endured many surgeries and was quite the little fighter.

Our entire board was shocked when we heard of his death. We all had been praying and sending mojo to Finn since we heard he was so sick. We all clung to hope - even if it was little - that he would recover. A month or so ago his parents were told that his only hope was to have a multiple organ transplant. He was at the top of the list in receiving it, but his little body couldn't hold on any longer :(

I have felt a connection to Finn and his mom. When Kian was an infant we had him tested for CF - there was thoughts that he had it. Thankfully he does not. Plus his family is very Irish, Finnegan is an Irish just like Kian is an Irish name. It has espcially hit home for me...and I know all the ladies on our board are very greived. Never did I think in a million years that we would lose one of our May Miracles so early.

Finn was such a special little guy. He has touched so many in the four years he has been on this earth.

Now our thoughts, prayers, and mojo are all sent to Kerry and Patrick as they deal with Finn's passing. If you think of it, send a little bit their way.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

"May he rest in peace" in Gaelic

St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day in our house is very much like Christmas. I started prep on food stuff on Monday which continued on until Tuesday.

It was quite warm on St. Pat's day so it was a good thing that our shirts for the special day were short sleeved! Kian even went to school without a jacket!

Our house was filled with the smell of corned beef cooking in the crock pot and the sounds of Irish music was heard throughout the day. We also had a cabbage salad, potatoes, Irish Soda Bread, and I made some special cupcakes. They were chocolate with green icing. I also put a little bit of mint extract in the frosting so it had a hint of mint to them...they were VERY good :)

The day was fairly low-key, but it was very good :) It did feel special but then again it almost always feels like St. Patrick's Day in my house ;)

There is Hope for a Cure!!!!

Today on Good Morning America they did a piece on a child who was cured of his peanut allergy - his allergy used to be pretty close to what Kian's is now. The kid can now eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!! I am hoping that this study can be passed on to the broader medical community!!!

Here is the video to the piece if you are interested in seeing it:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7091637

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E here we come!

Yesterday we booked our first trip to Walt Disney World for Kian's birthday in May! We will actually be there on his birthday! We are all super excited and starting to plan out what we want to do and looking at what is available.

This will be the first trip to Disney World for both Kian and me! So I have yet to know what is exactly in store, but I am really looking froward to it.

I made a calendar for Kian to be able to mark down the days until we leave for our trip. We are marking off each day together - and honestly I am counting down with him :)

Saga of the Glasses Part 2

And let's hope this is the last part to this saga....

Sunday night I was getting ready for bed and laid my glasses where I always did on my nightstand. Jamie and I were talking and heard Bailey chewing on something but we thought it was his bone. A few minutes later I ended up looking down on my side of the bed and noticed that Bailey was chewing on something and it looked like my glasses were on the floor...it was hard to tell since I am pretty much blind without them. I pulled up what I thought was my glasses from the floor and saw that Bailey had helped himself to the tips that go around the ears. Thankfully he didn't do anything to the lenses themselves!

Yep, these are the same glasses that I waited for 3 weeks for to have a tech accidentally break the frames. Waited one more week, tried them on and realized the wrong prescription was in one lens. then waited another two weeks...phew! And yeah, I did have them for less than a month :| Let's just say, Momma wasn't happy at all.

I did go in yesterday to order new frames. Thankfully I was given a discount....but it's the most expensive thing that Bailey has "helped" himself to. And the funny thing is that this last weekend Jamie and i were just thinking that Bailey seemed more calm and was behaving a lot better...guess we spoke too soon :P

Here are the glasses in question. I took this photo real quick before I handed them over to the eye place so they could get my lenses back into my new frames. Notice the ends and also the bent nose pad....


So now I wait for about another week for my frames. I am declaring this as the last chapter in the saga.....

Baily at 6 Months

Photo of Bailey late last night - he was very tired and laid down on the floor in front of me (after following me around the house) with this paw over his nose. Thankfully I had my cell phone and was able to capture this cute movement :)

This month we needed to take Bailey into the vet to be weighted in order to get the right dose for his heart worm meds. He gained 18lbs in the last month!!! That means he now weighs 58lbs! He is almost double what Kian weighs! Good thing we like big dogs :)

Survey done by Kian

The following is a survey that is going around on Facebook. I posted it on my profile but thought you all would get a kick out of it :)

Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.
Tag other moms or dads with kids who might have fun with this. :)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
I love you

2. What makes mom happy?
saying I love you

3. What makes mom sad?
if I got lost

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
tickle tickle tickle (and he tickled his belly)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
you were a baby

6. How old is your mom?
100 (lovely)

7. How tall is your mom?
13 (he counted all the way up my body lol!)

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
bumble bee (bee movie – probably his)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
eat stuff (lol!)

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I’d be a princess

11. What is your mom really good at?
play games

12. What is your mom not very good at?
video games

13. What does your mom do for her job?
momma hugs

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
carrots

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
I love you

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a girl princess

17. What do you and your mom do together?
we got to the store to buy something

18. How are you and your mom the same?
I don’t know let’s measure

19. How are you and your mom different?
momma you’re the biggest

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
because you hug me

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
because he goes to work

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
to the store, Target

Kindergarten Signup!

Today was the first day that you could start signing up for kindergarten. The school of choice program works on a lottery system so it didn't matter that I went today. I just wanted to make sure I had everything that I needed and got it in on time.

I did have everything and the papers have been submitted! Now we just wait. The lady that was helping me said that we should get a letter in the mail mid to late April as to where Kian is going. Keep your prayers rollin' that Kian gets into one of the three we chose for him (since it's not always a guarantee that you get one of the schools you chose.

Shy? Not Kian!.....And Books, Books, Books!

Tonight all the elementary schools had an open house. Next week starts the application process for school of choice so this evening we decided to scope out one school together. We walked into the door and were greeted right away with a hand shake and sharing of names. After Jamie and I introduced ourselves, Kian promptly held out his hand and said, "I'm Kian." He did the same with the kindergarten teacher we met. She asked him several questions, how old are you, when is your birthday. Kian did great sharing information with her, although he was more interested in what was all around the room :)

After our tour, we were driving home a different way than usual. Kian asked if we were lost. Jamie said, "Daddy never gets lost because he has a phone that tells him where to go. I don't eve need to ask for directions." Kian said, "Yes you do!" lol What a smart, little guy ;)

In other news, Kian's preschool had a field trip to the library today. I volunteered to drive and was pretty excited to see the library myself...especially since Kian and I would go there weekly when we lived in California. I was amazed at how big it was!!! There are SOO many books! I also discovered they have a reading program going on right now so I plan to get started on that with Kian! I think I enjoyed reading new books to him just as much as he did so it's time we get back to it :)

Matt and Maddy and my Thankfulness

Today I am stuck at home while some repair work is done on our house. While Kian is at school, I have been catching up on my TiVoed programs. Rachael Ray had a story on a few weeks ago that really tugged at my heart.

A man named Matt and his daughter Maddy were on the show. His wife died 27 hours after giving birth due to a blood clot traveling to her lungs after having a c-section. He has been raising her on his own and has been documenting their lives on his blog.

As some of you may know, I almost died after giving birth to Kian via c-section. Mine was due to a bleed somewhere - still don't know where. Thankfully I called the nurse into my room when my decline was happening and help was on the way....if I woudln't have called the nurse to make sure I got my pain meds I would not still be here. I feel so incredibly blessed that I am still here. Thankful that I get to see Kian grow up and raise him with Jamie as a team.

Sometimes I think we take for granted that everything will go smoothly...especially in this day and age. I know death was the furthest thing from my mind in birthing Kian. In fact, most of what occured while I labored was. Even though my experience was different and scary, I feel so incredibly blessed, lucky, thankful.....that I am here today.

7 Years

Today Jamie and I celebrated 7 years of marriage :) We had some take out and Jamie surpised me with these YUMMY cupcakes from a local shop....unfortunately they are not safe for Kian to eat so we ate one after he went to bed.


I look forward to many more anniversaries with my best friend :)

Happy Valentine's Day and a Kian Update

Kian is doing MUCH better today. Even though Kian was a very sick little baby, but I don't recall him ever having a temperature as high as 104 before. Last night we had to switch off giving Kian tylenol then motrin every three hours. I set my alarm and got up throughout the night to test his temp and give him meds. By the time he got up in the morning his temp was back to normal! YAY!

Jamie also was awesome and let me sleep in this morning. I was very, very thankful for that...especially because now i think I am battling the same cold that Kian has :P

Today has, thankfully, been rather uneventful. Jamie made us all a yummy breakfast this morning. Jamie and I got Kian Madagascar 2 for Valentine's Day so we have been watching that a lot. We plan on having a low key evening and weekend.

Conferences, Ear Infection #3, and a High Temp - Happy Friday the 13th!

This week has been filled up with ups and downs in Kian's health. He ended up with a fever on Monday that was with a bad cough and congestion. He felt fine after that and went to school. Then on Thursday (the day of his Valentine's Day party and the celebration of the 100th day of school) he had another fever of 102 so he had to stay home :( I felt so bad keeping him back!

Later in the day on Thursday he seemed better and Friday morning he didn't have a temp at all. I took him over to a friends for a playdate (and so he would have a place to be while Jamie and I went to parent/teacher conferences). He seemed great, had fun running around and playing.

Parent/Teacher conferences went great! His teacher showed us some "tests" she did with him and he did VERY well with all of them! He still needs to work on writing and cutting, but otherwise she said he is ready for Kindergarten next year :)

I went back to our friends house to pick up Kian and on the way home he was very quiet...that is so not like him. When I got him out of the car I could see that he didn't look so good. I asked him if he was feeling ok and when we got in the house he said "my neck hurts" and started crying. Strep has been going around lately so that was the first thing I thought of. I called the doctor and got an appointment after some convincing that I was sure he had more than just a cold (we were in there on Monday so the nurse assumed he was just needing to let the virus run its course).

I put Kian down for a nap and waited for the time to take him to the doctor. He woke up about 15 mins before we had to leave and complained off and on about his neck. we went to the doctors office and the pain seemed to be getting worse at different moments then letting up a little bit. The poor little guy was crying and telling me his neck hurt :( There was really nothing we could do but wait. By the time the doctor saw us, Kian was in full on screaming and crying. She checked his left ear, then his throat - both were ok...then she moved to the right ear and barely looked in there and immediately said that he has an infection. Ugh, this is litereally the third one in the last three months! Thankfully the doctor gave us a sample of Motrin so that he could get something for the pain in his system. It did the trick! well, at least for the moment.

We went home, watched some Madagascar 2 and waited for Jamie to get home. After dinner Jamie and Kian played a video game - they had a blast. It seemed like Kian was on the mend....until the game ended and he came to talk to me. He was hot. I took his temp. It was 104! It was too soon to give him motrin again so after some advice from my dear friend Mary Beth, we are doing the switch of Motrin and Tylenol every three hours. It seems to be working so far. I will be getting up at 2:30 to recheck his temp and give him tylenol...I am praying his temp stays down. Poor little guy :(

So, it has been a very eventful Friday the 13th in our house. I just hope that Valentine's Day is much, much better.

A New Look

After much trial and error and trial again, I have given my blog a new look :) Yeah, yeah, I know that it's not even Valentine's Day yet and I have St. Patrick's Day stuff up - but if you know me it's probably not that shocking ;)

The "ill" strikes again

Oh the joys of having a kiddo with asthma. Kian has caught another virus (thankfully it's just a virus and not an infection) which has really caused him to have some issues with breathing. We are full on with our breathing treatment regime and I am watching him like a hawk. It's times like these I go on high alert because of all the issues we had with Kian's breathing as a baby. He had a fever earlier today which had him being a lump on the couch. But after some motrin, he was ready to go...you would never know he was sick unless you heard him cough. Hopefully it passes quickly.

This weekend brought us some warmer weather. It's been in the high 40s and it feels like a heat wave lol! The snow has all melted and now everything just looks brown and muddy - bleck. At least we had snow for a while though! It was nice while it lasted :)