OK - I know I am horrible at getting this blog updated. I just do not seem to have the time like I did when it was just Kaylin.
Kaylin is now 3 years old, as of June 21, and is just an awesome little girl! Despite the fact that she is growing up way too fast for me, everything is going great. We celebrated her birthday at a local sprinkler park and she was so thrilled to have so many of her friends join us. She is really into her friends these days and definitely knows who they all are, and who their mommies and daddies are. She prays for them each night and is starting to think they are actually part of her family! She is just too cute.
This summer, we have done a lot of swimming and a LOT of games of Candy Land!! It's just been too darn hot to do anything else. When it's 105 degrees outside, you just really don't want to leave the house - even to swim. She also likes to play Memory card games and loves Diego and reading books. Yes - we finally got her off Barney! Now we're on to the next obsession - Diego. But I will be FOREVER greatful to Diego b/c it has encouraged her to go pee-pee in the potty!!! Yes - I almost hate to even write it here for it is sure to jinx me - but Kaylin is pretty much without fail going pee-pee in the potty now! When she goes, she gets to watch a Diego. Otherwise, no t.v. and it has been just what she needed to get motivated. We are nowhere near poo-poo in the potty yet (she still does that by asking for a pull-up) but we are working on it.
It's hard to believe but Kaylin starts 3 day preschool on August 26! I will be so sad to send her off to school, but am looking forward to some alone time with
Brayden and I also know that Kaylin is just so ready sociall and mentally and will absolutely LOVE it! She will attend Casner Christian Academy and will be close to her Gram who teaches the 4 year olds there. It's going to be a great thing for her. I don't know if Kaylin will be fully potty trained by that beginning school date, but we are sure trying and I'm very proud of her!
Brayden is also doing great and has hit several milestones himself. For one thing - he already at 7-1/2 months outweighs what Kaylin did at 1 year old! He is 15-1/2 pounds!! He is a huge baby to us, but those in public who guess his age still guess him as 2 months younger than he is. That's OK - technically, he is 2 months younger since he was born 2 months premature. But he sure seems to be doing things physically that are on track with his actual age. On July 21, he started sitting up and can sit on his own now for quite a long time! He also cut his first tooth on July 18th! Quite early compared with Kaylin and as much as he likes to chew things and chew on my fingers it sure does hurt!
At this point he is also taking 2 solid food meals a day and LOVES it! He pretty much has liked everything I've given him - oatmeal cereal, sweet potato, carrots, squash, peas, green beans, applesauce, bananas, and avocado - but definitely did not like the egg yolk I tried to give him today! My book said not to try egg white yet - because it is an allergenic food - but that trying egg yolk is fine but I think we'll put that one off again for a little while. He seems more than ready to do 3 meals a day, I just have to find the time to squeeze it in! His 8 month birthday (August 3rd) will be my goal.
It's so hard to believe he is already going to be 8 months old. Seems time for him to sleep a good 12 hours through the night, right?! He currently goes to bed between 7:15 and 8p and without fail wakes at 5:15a!! Then he is not a great napper (though no surprise since Kaylin wasn't/isn't either) and maybe gets 3 hours worth of nap a day. Just doesn't seem like enough sleep for a baby but seems to suit him, unfortunately! Don't get me wrong - I am ecstatic that he goes at least a 9 hour stretch as I know many mommies out there don't get that for quite a while. But of course everyone I know seem to have babies who sleep 10-12 hour stretches so I'm just wishing for a little taste of that!:)
All in all, we could not be more blessed! We have found a great church that we love - Austin Christian Fellowship - and have gone religiously this summer. It has been such a nice feeling to function as a normal family and actually take our babies to public places! For so long we were so sheltered with Kaylin (and I wouldn't change that for the world) and even though Brayden was born prematurely, he has been so much better off that we can pretty much raise him as a normal full-term kid. It's just a weird, wonderful feeling! Kaylin loves going to church and Brayden does excellent in the nursery. Certainly one silver lining of having to go through a stressful NICU stint is that our NICU kids pretty easily go to other adults b/c it's all they knew from birth.
OK - I think that's about it for now. I promise I will get better at posting once Kaylin gets into school and I have a little more time. I am also working a second job (though only a few hours a month) selling products for a company called Thirty One Gifts (www.mythirtyone.com/nancyb) to make some extra money and that has taken quite a bit of my free time as well.
One last thing - we don't expect to have to take Kaylin back to the cardiologist until early October when they will do the routine echo and EKG. They will also, however, have us go to the hospital here in Austin for another CT scan to make sure the fractured stent in her aorta is still looking OK and not causing any more issues. In the meantime, if anything comes up I'll be sure to post. Thanks for your continued prayers for our family!
