After a few rainy days, finally it's beautiful in Minnesota! During the rainy weather, Kaylee's daycare provider did an excellent job of keeping the kids active and engaged. On Wednesday of last week, they went to Chucky Cheese and Kaylee won her first prize. She wouldn't let the kids keep their prizes out so when Eric came to get Kaylee that day. She screeched, reaching for her coat, "Pocket! Ring!" He didn't know about a ring and didn't know what to do, but she insisted, "POCKET! RING!" and he found her winnings - a little green glittery ring with a hand on it.

Then the next day, her daycare went to (her husband owns a business where they have those bouncy things for kid parties) bounce in one of those blow-up things. You can see the photos below. She said Kaylee was unsure of what to do at first, sitting down in there and watching and then slowly started bouncing on her butt and then ramped up to a full-on bounce with the other kids. We've noticed in general Kaylee is a cautious kid and not overly physical - she takes a while to feel comfortable. She had so much fun at the end of the day she bounded over, bouncing and saying "Momma! Boing Boing Boing!"

Kaylee's new favorite thing to throw into her sentences/stories is "around the corner." She has just learned this one and is anxious to include it all the time, "Daddy is around the corner." "I dropped it - I pick it up just around the corner."

Kaylee really likes large trucks, buses, airplanes, etc. Her new favorite is the garbage truck. She has yelled out for quite a while, "Shool bus" but now she adds, "Garbage truck!" She helped ERic in throwing something in the garbage, calling herself the "garbage man." She also has begun to love to identify motorcycles. When she sees a car on the street when we're playing outside or taking a walk, she cried "Car!" She's very aware that she is not supposed to be in the street when there is a car. She tells the neighbor girls not to get too closed to the end of our driveway while playing and I've had to explain to her it's okay for me to check the mail because Mommies and Daddies know how to check for cars and be careful.

For her birthday she received some very nice shape puzzles. She can put them all together. She knows circle, triangle, oval, square and rectangle. She has trouble doing the triangles and needs help. It's cute to see her have a sense of accomplishment at finishing on and moving on to the next.

Yesterday was the first time Kaylee told me, "I love you" without any prodding from me or my saying it first. I was drawing with chalk on the driveway and she turned all the sudden to me and said "Momma I love you." I melted of course! I have heard her say without any prompting "Daddy I love you" before too. :)

A boy at Kaylee's daycare really likes her and yells out "Kaylee! Kaylee!" when he first sees her. His mom said at home he calls her, "My Kaylee." He is a little over 3 years old.

Kaylee loves to dress herself up (kind of strange). Yesterday I found her playing in her room with a winter hat on, mittens, a bib, and boots. She wore this get-up most of the morning. I asked her if she wanted to put on her dress-up stuff and wanted a wand and the answer was no. She was happy just inventing it herself. :)

Kaylee tells little stories and they are not always true. We have heard her say that someone hit her when we know that they didn't and she's said she's hit us when she hasn't. She uses it to create the drama and then do the "hugs and kisses, I'm sorry momma." Very strange, I've read about this on-line and it sounds like kids her age just do this. They are finding out about the power of the language abilities and testing it out.

opps, being called by little one. GOtta go. have a great rest of thew eekend!

Yesterday bouncing at daycare on a rainy day!

The Count

Happy Mom's day belated to all you Mom's out there. Hope you had a very nice day - at least we got good weather on one day last week!

Kaylee is doing new things all the time. She is getting more consistent and further with counting. She can now count to five, actually counting along with items. She can count much higher without the corresponding object. The other day I was shocked and amazed when she and I were playing at the table I said, "1" she said "2", I said "3", she said "4" and we went all the way step-counting like that until "15" then I said "16"-"20" and she repeated them after I said it! Wow!

Kaylee is now the cutest I think we have ever seen her. Saying and doing super funny things. She now thinks that "poop" is the funniest word ever, and giggles her little butt off after saying it. Yesterday, Eric and I got a good laugh out of she asked me to help her undo her straps in her highchair, I was having trouble doing it and then after waiting a minute she exclaimed, "Jeez!" We both burst out laughing and she was like, huh? "Daddy, are you funny?" We said, "No, Kaylee you were funny." She said, "Kaylee is funny."

She now tells me little tidbits of stories she wants to tell me. I was giving her a bath the other day and she told me a story about, "Daddy and Kaylee had a fire. There were bugs at the fire. Don't get too close - it's hot." I had no idea what she was saying so I asked Eric. Turns out the other night when I worked until 1 am, they had a little bonfire in the backyard and talked all the bugs and about staying away from fire. Very sweet. I'm looking forward to asking her soon what she did at daycare and hearing about her day's highlights. She told Eric a 4 sentence story the other day. He was so amazed, he commented on it a long time afterwards.

Kaylee more and more wants to sit on the adult chair at the dinner table. We've covered it with a towel and let her sit there. One day without warning it suddenly dumped her backwards - any person who knows me well knows I'm not the most coordinated person - but at that moment my instincts were there - and I caught her/ slowed her down on the way. The chair and Kaylee did fall all the way but she didn't get hurt. After that she said, "Can we do it again?" Evidently it was a fun little ride.

I don't know if I've written here Kaylee can take her shoes on and off. She can put her pants on, but does the mermaid (uni-leg) more often than not. She also cannot pull them up over her diaper. She assists in and out of a shirt and can get it over her head, but can't do the rest. She can do socks now and then, but they're not as fun as the shoes and sometimes they end up on her hands instead of her feet. She can take her diaper off, but thankfully seems to know this is against the rules (at least for long periods of time). She is more willing to let me pick out and put her clothes on than she was a couple months ago, and doesn't fight it or ask to switch parents like she had been doing.

We are having trouble getting Kaylee to eat anything other than meats, cheeses and liquids. She doesn't want to eat her fruit and veggies. We have some fruit juice that also are veggie servings, we keep on trying but anyone who's tried feeding Kaylee knows you can't make her do anything. She's extremely stubborn, and always has been. Usually we're satisfied if she eats her main course. She's very small and thin still. I am thankful for the love of cheese - hopefully it'll add the needed fat to her diet.

In the last week, I have begun to feel the baby moving more like kicks than just a little feeling. He is getting bigger! I am getting bigger! I feel more connected to him now that I know what sex he is and I can feel him move more. I am getting very excited to meet the little guy - still 3 1/2 more months to wait! Kaylee thinks my belly button is very funny. She looks at it and laughs, "Your bee-bo, momma!" One of her books calls a belly button a "bee-bo." One time she kissed my belly. She calls it my "baby bump" and says "you big momma." I don't think she really knows still what we're telling her exactly she knows we've told her a baby's in there, but until he really comes I'm not sure she'll really understand. It is going to be a shock to Kaylee to have to share her parent's time with a baby - we know that...at times I just sit and think about how nice it is to spend time alone with her and concentrate on her because I know that will change soon. So we're cherishing her alone-time while we still have it to give her.

Gotta get ready for work! Have a great day!

Missed posting this cute photo from Easter

Kaylee and "Ellie-bean," her cousin. Doing the bunny "hop,hop,hop" all morning on Easter.

Ultrasound Images

It's a boy!

It's a boy! Yesterday's ultrasound went extremely well. Eric and I both caught a glimpse of the penis right away, though it wasn't announced to us, with three "are you sures?" before we were told formally, until the end. The baby was already 1 lb 5 oz and they said that we were sizing up at about 24 weeks even though I'm actually 22 w 5 days. I had measurements to match the size of the uterus at the exam later on. The ultrasound was so amazing. She was a good tech and she said the baby was amazingly agreeable with all the images / angles she needed to get. We were out of there before the 2 families who were called before us. She spoiled us with too many photos and told us not to tell anyone - she said it was hard to get a full-body shot at this stage (because the space is more squished than earlier us's) but she managed a couple of them. We also got some good profile shots, arm/leg and the sex identification shot! Will post soon. Mostly, Eric and I were so excited to hear that the baby is developing normally, doing well, moving alot and weighing in healthily. I have to say I have to get used to the idea of him being a boy - but I am so super excited for the new opportunity and totally looking forward to it. I just need to let go of ideas of the sister-sister relationship (like me and my sissies), the feminine cutsy clothes, and stuff like that. Now I will really have to doll up my little Kaylee! Eric is "over the moon" (I like the way my friend Patty used this term for her husband's excitement - so I'm stealing it :)) He can't wait to have a son! Now we can really decide how many kids we want for real, and not be shooting for attainment of that one sex or the other. Now my brain is on how to decorate, organize rooms, set things up. I will be glancing today at bedding styles for little boys - oh my gosh this is so fun!!! Looking totally forward to the - not to be stereotypical though I am being I have to admit - the sports/athleticism, eating up a storm, people have told me that boys are so so so much fun! Also two of my friends recently had little boys so he'll have playmates just a few months apart and he's got a little girl playmate coming soon! We seemed to have timed this perfectly with a wave of babies in our lives due near/around the same time! Awesome! Can you tell I'm getting more excited? (I can't wait to share our baby clothes with someone else now.)

Kaylee is doing totally awesome at her new daycare. She is fitting in well, her daycare provider told us she is one of the family now. She seems more calm upon pick-up and doesn't snarl the back of her hair anymore (out of pent up tension?) I think the homey environment and that one constant caregiver have been awesome for her. She hasn't cried with me one day at drop off this week - though she did cry when Eric dropped her off (she's a daddy's girl).

Kaylee is loving playing basketball in the driveway, chalk and trying out the big wheel. She loves going to playgrounds with us almost every night. She is getting to be such a good climber - going down slides I would've imagined she'd be able to handle last fall. She is in love with the swing and talks about it when we are not there. When I offered to slide down a big slide with her, she smiled and laughed and said, "Go down slide with Big Mama!" Eric and I totally belted out laughing and then had to contain ourselves since we didn't want to make her say it over and over again. I am getting undeniably huge! I have now become accustomed to the "when are you due?" and then the shock/awe when I say "4 months to go!" I have become accustomed to the "are you having twins?" comment. Can you really continue to be offended when your own family asks you the question??? The doctor said I need to start my abdominal and back exercises based on my past history and the discomfort I'm already feeling. So, the good weather and memories of the pain from the back injuries will be my inspiration - along with Eric who will be my cheerleader (in the manliest way of course honey) - to actually get out there and work on strengthening my core muscles!

I had a weird week at work this week. Missed Monday cause Kaylee had a bad cough and would throw up, then worked (2) 12 hour days (tiring!), then a normal day, and then a 6 and still ended up going over my hours. We are getting very busy at the tail end of our Surgery project. Mid-may we will finish it. Hopefully some of you can tour it when it's done! :)

Well, I'm sure I'm missing something but for now I will bid the blogging fairwell. Hope you all have a very pleasant weekend!