Big Week for a Big Kid

I'd say it's been a pretty big week for Kiddo.

Which Kiddo, by the way, is the most recent nickname for our Miss Beans, formerly known as Chunkin. It's funny how kids naturally outgrow certain nicknames, and sad all at the same time.

Lyla turned three, had a birthday party with her little friends and started preschool all within a week. I'm not quite sure how all of that happened. But it sure happened quickly, and life has been pulling in so many directions, I haven't really digested all of this growing up just yet.

Yet, alas. Here we are. With a three year old preschooler.

I've heard over and over to watch out for the year of the threenager. But quite honestly, I really like three so far. It can't be that much harder than two. It just can't. Ly has never really been "easily adaptable", and there were a lot of life changes that took her nearly a year of adjusting. And this adjustment period was complete with a lot of tears, public tantrums and melt-downs (both Lyla and myself).

Needless to say, we've noticed a huge change in Ly recently. She has really matured, gained confidence, developed stronger coping skills and is learning to better adapt to new situations. Case in point : At last year's birthday party, Ly cried opening every present and through the entire happy birthday song. This year, she only cried once, and it's because she had her first potty accident in over 6 months - she was having too much fun to go inside!

Or last year when she started Kids Day Out, the teachers didn't think she knew how to talk for the first few months. Until one day she was finally comfortable and started speaking like an adult in full sentences. This year, she couldn't wait to start school and talked about "Big Kid School" for weeks. At Meet the Teacher Night, when her teacher asked her name, she put her hand on her chest and confidently said "My name is Wywa."

As a mom, it makes me teary and so proud to see her confidence grow!

And it was so much fun celebrating her birthday this year. She'd been talking about August 19th for so long, so we made sure the day lived up to her excitement. First on the agenda was to wake her with balloons and streamers, a breakfast picnic of eggs and chocolate chip pancakes and opening presents!

And to burn off that breakfast energy, the birthday princess took a ride in her birthday chariot. 

Her best little buddy Callaway came over for lunch, followed by a big kid nap and lots of post-nap mother-daughter(s) birthday fun. We got some birthday "coffee", got fitted for dance shoes and leotards, visited a local book store and met dad for dinner.

And then we finally went home for cake. Which is all she talked about all month long. "I'll be fwee on August 19th, and I'll get cake."

And then we celebrated some more a few days later with her Backyard Splash Bash birthday party. We have never seen Ly so excited, so confident and so in her element. She talked about her friends coming over all day and couldn't wait to go outside to splash about. Her favorite part of the day though was probably her big 3 balloon, in fact, she's still talking about it. "Moooommm. I want to watch a movie/take a nap/eat lunch with my big fwee." Oh, and her strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from Brown Sugar Bakery.

Oh. But the fun was just getting started. Because then, we started preschool 4 days later.

Which, once again. Ly blew us away with the confidence. We talked a lot about preschool leading up to the first day, trying to prep her as we know how she tends to handle new situations. But she woke that morning and said, "I'm ready for preschool today! I'm going to meet new friends" and there was no whining, no struggle to put on clothes and no tears!

We got to school, she actually wanted to hold our hands and was excited to have Addie along for the ride to show her big kid school. It was so comforting and reassuring to see her in her element - happy to be at school, and proud to march into her classroom, hang her backpack and wash her hands.

We all got hugs and kisses from our new preschooler, and she even *happily* let us take pictures.

It was such a memorable day, and my mom-heart is exploding with joy and anticipation for the year ahead.

A Colorado Trip Sandwich

Not too many things trump a good road trip. 

Except maybe the destination in and of itself. 

And maybe a disastrous experience or two {hint: foreshadowing}. 

But with the right partner(s) along for the ride, road trips are quite possibly one of my most favorite life experiences. Even the long ones. And we've definitely had our fair share of road trips with all of our cross-country moves. I just love the quality time with the hubby, snack stops, mindless magazines, perfectly-selected road trip tunes, cheesy gas station memorabilia, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, digging into a really great book or two, and snuggling in a layer of blankets because Gabe likes the air conditioning on full blast. 

However. Thanks to a certain special toddler, road trips look a bit different these days. Tacking on a few extra hours to the original allotted time, planning and preparing for meltdowns/snack attacks/potty breaks, stopping a lot, and figuring out how to deal with a little who refuses to sleep in the car. 

Flat out refuses. 

We took our first long road trip with Lyla a few weeks ago to Buena Vista, Colorado. And by long, I mean l-o-n-g. Without a toddler, we're talking a a solid 10 hour drive. So at least a good 12 hours. And let me repeat, we have a toddler who does not sleep in the car. Even though we woke her up at 4 a.m. the day we left and arrived around 6:30 p.m. (or 7:30 our time). Still no sleeping. 

But she did surprisingly well. Aside from a couple of mini tantrums and a two hour I'm-so-tired-I-might-die cry fest, she did really well. Luckily, the hysterical meltdown occurred at the very end of the drive, both there and back. I must say, timing was impeccable. Thank goodness mama packed a huge bag of goodies with games! and books! and snacks! and toys! and bubble wrap! We only had to bust out the iPad for about an hour. But when we did, it was a lifesaver. 

And although some thought we were crazy for driving such a long way for only two and a half very short days, it was totally worth it. One of the most breath-taking and relaxing trips we've taken in a long time. 

Our balcony view. For real. 

But let's just talk about how the trip began. 

As mentioned before, we left at 4 a.m. Gassed up. And hopped on the highway, praying our toddler (who had a lingering ear infection) would go back to sleep for a few hours. And being nearly 15 weeks pregnant, I still wasn't feeling great. Lots of nausea. But this particular morning, I was feeling sicker than normal. And about 10 minutes into our twelve hour road trip, I begged Gabe to pull over. He just looked at me and said, You mean, like right this second? I'm pretty sure I simply nodded and then screamed, Yes! 

I had about .001 seconds to spare before my door was open and I was puking on the side of the highway. In the dark. With headlights whizzing by. A whole body-convulsing-and-heaving, exorcism kind of puke. When finished, I simply looked up at Gabe with vomit dripping from my mouth and nose and said, Well I guess that's one way to start a 12 hour road trip.  

Luckily {and unluckily}, I really don't ever vomit. Like ever. It's actually sort of a blessing and a curse. Because I always feel so much better after I do. But when I do, I tend to do it so violently that I burst all kinds of blood vessels. And on our super-special road trip, I burst dozens of tiny little vessels on my neck, around my eyes, and in my eyeballs. So gross. 

It's actually quite funny. After the highway "incident", I no longer had any more morning sickness again. At all. I must have expelled it all via broken blood vessels and side-of-the-highway vomiting. 

That was all the action I could take in one day. So we spent the rest of the day driving. And stopping. And driving. 

But we chose one quite amazing spot to stretch our legs: Garden of the Gods. 

Once we finally reached our destination, we were starving and quite tired. So we did some eating and we did some sleeping. But then we woke up refreshed and ready to take on the Colorado air and sunshine. 

Um. Why do we live in Kansas again?

And I fell head-over-heels with this father-daughter duo. I mean, seriously. They were the best of buds all weekend. I don't think I've ever seen Gabe so happy - he finally has someone who appreciates adventure and exploration. {Someone besides Samson}. 

Ah. The chipmunks. These little guys were the absolute CUTEST. I, of course, was too scared to feed them. But not my little adventure duo. Even Lyla, who is terrified of sprinklers and bubbles, stuck her hand right out to feed these little creatures. {100% totally and completely her father's daughter}. 

In fact, here, you will witness her laughing and loving all the attention these little critters gave her. You'll also notice the finger. This was just seconds before the cute little jerk bit her. Hard. 

Apparently, that wasn't enough action for the adventure duo...

So, the night before our last night there, I noticed some little red bumps on Ly's chest and arms. They didn't really seem to be bothering her, which was odd because they looked so ITCHY. I truly thought they were mosquito or flea bites. Of course I went crazy cleaning and laundering our entire room and Lyla's pack and play, hoping that she wouldn't get more bites in the middle of the night. 

Well. We woke up to Lyla crying the next morning. I didn't think much of it. I grabbed her, scooped her into bed with us, and rubbed her back while Gabe got a few more minutes of shut-eye. The sun slowly began to rise and started peeking into our bedroom. And that's when I noticed Lyla's eyes looked funny. I immediately turned on the lights, pulled Ly's jammies off, took a minute to take in what I was seeing, and held back the feeling of desperately needing to scream. The "bug bites" had spread all over Lyla's entire body in a 3-D, welt-ish, painful-looking way. But the most shocking part was her little slivers for eyes. 

All I could think was, We are a good hour from any kind of civilization, and it's a Saturday at 6 am. I called our friend's dad who's a doctor and he advised us to get her to the nearest hospital as she was having an allergic reaction. I racked my brain trying to think what we'd done differently the day prior  and came up with absolutely nothing. All I could think of was the antibiotic she'd been taking for her ear infection, but she was on her seventh day of it! Didn't matter. 

We went and woke our friends up, whose cabin we were staying in, and they graciously drove with us  30 minutes down the mountain, and another 30 minutes into town. Long-story-short, Ly was indeed having a pretty severe allergic reaction to Augmentin, which is a form of Penicillin. *Her dad is also allergic to the P. 

After a good dose of steroids, the swelling went down within the hour, and we had a pretty happy toddler. The hardest part was giving her the darn steroids for 5 days. The doctor warned us how disgusting and brutal the steroids were. Lyla could smell them from a mile away, no matter what kind of treat we hid them in. 

Although it was absolutely terrifying being in an unknown *middle-of-nowhere* mountain town while your child is having an allergic reaction, all turned out great. And we simply have a new note in Lyla's medical chart. 

And one more hospital visit down. 

Our long-anticipated Colorado trip had a rough start and an even rougher ending. But sandwiched in between was the most-wonderful first little road trip.

Just a few hours after the almighty steroids. 

Something tells me that my adventure duo will be planning many more trips to Colorado in the future, allergic reactions be darned. 

16 Months

16 Months Old: 12/19/13

This monthly update is two weeks and one day belated.
And if you know me at all, you know that this fact practically has me in the corner breathing slowly in-and-out into a paper bag.

I like things in order, and I like things done on time.
{Said the girl who will not peek ahead nor turn the page in a magazine until every word on that page has been read.}

It even drives me crazy that the pictures in this post seem "outdated" because your hair is presently about 2 inches longer than it was one month ago.

Needless to say, Mama's been busy.

But last month's post couldn't be skipped.
We had some big happenings.

Someone took her first STEPS. 
On November 30, 2013 to be exact.
At 15 months old.

Yes. Your first steps were taken *ahem* over a month ago, and I'm just now blogging about it.

*Don't deny the fact that you are incredibly jealous of my mommy going-for-a-walk gear. Woof.*

Your dad witnessed the first couple of solo steps taken.
Of course when I rushed into the room, you refused to try it again.
But then you did it for Miss Diana at daycare several times.
But still not for me.
Until finally, I caught you. When you didn't know I was looking, of course.
I've learned to be sneaky to catch you in the act of...anything.

You were so cautious at first, needing lots of praise to boost your confidence.
Now, you are all over the place.
And we're still not used to it.

I lose track of you at least twice a day.

But it's so amazing to see how far you've come!
I was fully prepared to have a "toddler" who didn't yet toddle until a good 18 months.
That was the "cut-off" given to us by the physical therapist, and anything after that would signify a potential developmental delay.
But after working with you and giving you lots of praise to boost your confidence, you finally did it.

And although you may take dozens of tumbles a day, you are now *proudly* walking.
Everywhere.
And it's SO MUCH FUN.

Some other notable happenings in month 16...

• You LOVE pointing to and naming body parts. But you particularly find delight in your belly button. And actually, you don't discriminate. You love all belly buttons and can be found pulling up people's shirts to look for their belly button. You still get a kick out of your "tooooes" and have added "nose" and "ear" to your body part vernacular. And although you don't even try to say the word, you point to your mouth and start making "blub-blub-blub" sounds with your finger and lips to signify "mouth". Oh, and lately, you've been quite interested and have began pointing to your private parts asking me "thiiis???" You're a curious little bean.

• You are in, what I like to call, the little engineer phase. You like to observe, be explained how things work, and then imitate what you've seen. Any toys that make noise or music, you try to find out where the sound is coming from. And your favorite activities include stacking blocks, attempting to work on puzzles, and putting your wooden rings on their pole. And you already show signs of liking to organize - A daughter after her mother's heart *pitter-pat*! You feel like such a big girl with your special drawer in our kitchen and Gigi's kitchen, and you organize your "dishes" for hours. 

• I got nervous for a minute this month because you went through a short-lived phase of refusing to wear a bow. You would take it out the moment I put it in. But more than anything, you just liked hiding your bows, finding them, and trying to put them back in your hair. One day, you actually amazed me with your cognitive understanding. You had lost one of your bows, and I could not find it for the life of me. So, I just asked you Lyla, where is your hair bow? while pointing to the bow on your head. And you led me right to it - bent down, looked under the coffee table and pointed. 

• A few loves this month: playing with toys that makes noise (like your new Russian stuffed animals from Uncle Jeff or your baby doll that giggles), peanut butter toast, being tickled, giving high-fives, going to your room to read books, sneaking food to the dogs, playing with older kids, pushing your baby on your car, and reading Modern Reformation (a bi-monthly magazine dealing with theology) issues at Gigi's - not kidding, you're obsessed. 

• One of my favorite things *ever* is your sweet little voice. It's so fun to hear you talk. Lately, when you don't know the name of an object, you simply call it a dog. Seriously. We hear it all day long. But in addition to dog and your other favorite words, you have added a few more to your vocabulary. My favorites are when you're trying to describe the temperature. You say hottt while sitting next to the fireplace, when you hear the tea kettle whistle, when we're drinking coffee, or when we blow on your food. And you say brr when we go outside and it's chilly. You also started saying no (especially to Samson), Lyla (pronounced Yah-Yah), toast, apple, ear, pillow, Jesus, uh-oh spaghetti-o (I kid you not. But your version is pronounced uh-oh puh-dedd-io), and hoo-hoo (for owl). You have these little owl pj's, and you always start hooting like an owl when you wear them - adorable. 

This is right after Gabe said "Take a pic of me and my girls"

Well there you have it. 

A last-minute, two-week late monthly update. 

I promise to do better next month. 

And I also promise to be just as proud.