Kaleb at 3 1/2

Kaleb continues to be a fun little challenge.  Our biggest problem with him right now is his inconsistency.  He is such a sweet boy, but he can be terribly sensitive over the littlest things.  Other times he is so tough and doesn't want to do a thing we ask.  I think he's just trying to figure things out and we're just trying to do our best to go with the crashing of his and our emotional waves. 

 

One thing that hasn't stopped is his endless entertainment value.  He is becoming so creative with his imagination.  He likes to use this flexible tunnel to become a caterpillar.

 

This is Kaleb getting everything ready to "Go camping."  Apparently he got the impression that when one goes camping they bringing EVERYTHING with them.

 

He often uses his hands as little critters, calling them 'spiders' and likes to project his emotions on them and his blue bear. Similar to an imaginary friend. We hear things like "Blue bear is getting hungry." or "My spiders did it!" We love to encourage his imagination but we also need him to own up to his own actions and feelings.  Lately he has taken to lying, which is never acceptable.  Sometimes they're complete falsehoods like one time when he accused his cousin Ellie of pushing Sasha when Ellie was on the other side of the room.  There are other times when he isn't telling the truth, but it's almost like he doesn't understand... but he should.  Like at night when we try to give him a hug and kiss, he will refuse.  We say, "okay, goodnight" and walk out and he has a complete melt down because he didn't get to give us a hug and kiss.  This kind of hypocricy is probably my biggest personal pet peeve with him since it's so hard to trust any decision I let him make. 

 

A look of innocence:

There is also Kaleb's grasp of organization and patterns that continues to astonish me.  He likes to have things in order (like his mommy)... like in this picture he placed those books like that just because...

 

 

But other times he just doesn't seem to 'get it.'  I helped him make a drum out of an oatmeal tub, and had him decorate it with his vast array of stickers... well, there were three spots that were just piled with stickers one on top of another, instead like most kids do with individual stickers coating every inch of a project.  It's just one of the quirks that I laugh about. 

 

Kaleb is ceaselessly a 'big helper.'  He would almost always be doing something rather than nothing (unless there's something REALLY good on the tv), and when Ammon and my dad were installing our dishwasher, it was constantly "I wanna see!  I wanna try it!  Daddy, let me do it!" 

Over the last few months Kaleb has been far more daring.  He has become a big brother of a fearless little girl which seems to be pushing him to try new things.  He also takes every opportunity to tell Sasha all the rules and keep her in check. 

 

Kaleb has also found a friend in one of my friend's sons, Logan.  They often play together in nursery and since my friend and I like to get together, there are SO many opportunities for them to play.  Logan is a tough little sucker in spite of being an inch or so smaller (but four months older), and the other day they got into a nice little wrestling match at the mall playplace.  Since my dad is a HUGE fan of wrestling (the real sport, not stupid fake pile-driving type), he was proud to see this little clip I got.  Kaleb is the one in the camouflage pants.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv3bK5JW0c4

 

Of course some of the best times is just listening to the things Kaleb says.  He still has some problems forming grammatically correct sentences, but then again, don't we all?  He is ALWAYS talking to strangers about who they are and what they are doing and why they are the same place we are, anbd occasionally bringing up random facts about us that most people don't share with strangers (Like "We are going to buy me new pants and shoes for Sasha!!!")  He is always very friendly and most people are quite understanding. 

 

This period in Kaleb's life is the WHY? phase and for someone who is very informative, it gets a little frustrating when the question WHY comes right after I've explained the why.  Silly Kaleb!

 

Some funny things Kaleb has said recently

When seeing a video of Michael Jackson: "That girl is really creepy"

When asking to keep his bedtime book till morning, "I want it for so I can read to the bright."

Guns he calls "Shootguns"

Medicine is "Mesidin"

Cousin Evelyn and elephants are "Elphalant"

 

 

"WHY SO SERIOUS?"

(jelly mess)

 

As a preschool aged kid, Kaleb is constantly trying to understand letters and numbers.  He recognizes more letters by name and we have taught him to write a "K" and "A" for his name and I hope to have him able to write all his letters and numbers by the time he turns 4... if he can't it will be completely our fault for not putting forth the effort.  Anyway, with his heading into Sunbeams next year and every other milestone he has coming just around the corner, it's been drilled into me lately that Kaleb is never gonna be that cute little toddler... but at least for now he is a cute little boy still!!

Sasha at 14 Months

At 14 months, Sasha continued to climb to new heights, literally.  The picture below was taken at the playplace at the mall.  To give you some perspective, when she stands at the top of this play-thing, she is taller than me.  She continues to learn and grow faster than I can keep up.   

 

 

Unfortunately, she can move faster than me now.  She runs and even walks backwards pretty frequently, just for fun.  She has no problem wandering off and seems to love everyone but Grampa Teller (which is hilarious cuz his other two grandkids were OBSESSED with him at this age).

She has been trying to put on her own shoes and socks and appears to be surprised every time they don't just slip on for her. 

Feeding Sasha has become a challenge in and of itself.  She finally has ten teeth (six on top, four on bottom), but still can't eat a lot of hard foods.  She loves to try new flavors and seems to get bored if you don't give her multiple things at a time... unless of course it's something super-awesome

 like grapes.  She does seem to lean more toward salty foods like crackers, so we have officially given her the title of SALTY BEAR.... plus her initials are SLT so it just made sense. 

 

She went through a growth spurt so trying to keep her full was interesting.  Often if she won't eat some random item I can negotiate with something she loves, like her milk cup or a fruit or chocolate.  "If you eat a bit of this, I will give you a bite of that."  It's frightening how bright she is. She is off of bottles, and doesn't have a problem with sippy cups.  In fact, she usually prefers Kaleb's strawed water cups.  But that might also be because they're just not hers.   

 

Here is a video we took while at IHOP.  I had asked for plasticware, and before I knew it Sasha had picked up the fork and was using it without any practice or instruction

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if0XwMhoq6Q

 

Here's a photo of Sasha with a spoon, she definitely needs more practice than with the fork.

This little gal is such a ham!  Once while walking through the food court at the mall she started waving to all the tables as she passed by in the stroller.  She looked like the princess on the float in a parade.  She is always giving us a cheesy grin and dancing with whatever beats she hears.  She has started giving hugs, which just melts my heart.  There's nothing like having two little arms trying to reach around your neck to give a good squeeze. 

 

Daddy giving her a bit of his otter pop.  This face... It hurts so GOOD!

Getting a good tickle.  

Halloween 2012

Yes, I realize it's almost December, but I just realized I never blogged about Halloween this year.

 

Kaleb was the Hulk and he had a lot of fun playing the part.  We made his green muscle mass out of batting and duct taped stuffed into an oversized workout shirt and of course applied green makeup to his face. (he wasn't a fan of that!)

To top it off we got these fun hulk hands!!  LOVE THEM!!

 

We had a hard time coming up with Sasha's costume, but once we decided on Kaleb as the Hulk, it seemed only obvious that she should be Black Widow... but since black skin-tight leather doesn't come in size 12 month, we decided to make her into A black widow.  She liked it!



 

So part of the reason we all thought it would be fun for Kaleb to be the Hulk and Sasha be Black Widow is that their cousin Christian was going to be Iron Man and it was gonna make for some fun group pics... well this picture was taken at one of the trunk-or-treats we attended... but that Iron Man isn't Christian and Sasha isn't in it... Best laid plans, huh?

Our kids were very well-behaved while trick-or-treating, something I can't say for most of the little monsters we saw who pushed to the front and went around the trunk circles four times.  Kaleb always said Thank You and we even trained Sasha to say Please ("Meees") for her candy. 

The Hulk chomping on some grub!

When planning Sasha's costume, I was a little worried she would get annoyed with her extra set of legs but by the end of the first night she was cuddling with them like well... they were a part of her.

Halloween night, my sis Jess and my bro Chris and their families joined us at the mall for Trick-or-treats.  Here are the wives and the kids.  Such a fun little group! 

The Changing of the Hair

I am not someone who likes to change her hair.  It's expensive and it "throws off my groove."  I have to think of ways to style it, and when I'm already feeling pressed for time and brain-cell usage it usually doesn't interest me. (plus, let's be honest I do like my hair)

 

Well about a year ago when my sis-in-law Tashina was going to cosmetology school, she and I joked about all the fun things she would do to my hair, and semi-sincerely I laughed about becoming blonde.  Well, Ammon overheard that comment and wouldn't let it go, so a few months ago Tashina and I made plans to make me blonde.  I gave Ammon the option of having me grow my hair long again or go blonde and well, essentially he said I'm good to go. 

 

So back in October we finally did it.   I got sick with MRSA the next day (see previous post) so please forgive the delay in bloggage.  My before:

 

During (took SO long cuz I hav so much hair and it processed fast, so Shina had to constantly go back to take the bleach out of the highlighted parts.)

Here are the after pics, about a month later:  (obviously Tashina styled it as well)

It's not exactly as blonde as I planned, but I think it goes really well with my skin-tone, and that was my biggest fear about becoming blonde.  Since we are doing family pics this weekend you will get better images soon. 

Well at least you have your health...

 

I always love that statement because it's so true. So many things can be wrong, but if you're healthy it's so much easier to deal with it all! That being said, I wanted to give an update on my (and my family's) health.  This is more of a journalistic entry, so probably more detailed than needed.  Sorry!

KNEES:  I've had some inquiries about my knees occasionally, so here's the update.  Are they better?  Yes... than they used to be.  It's impossible without some SERIOUS knee surgery involving cutting and reattaching tendons and clearing out the torn maniscuses (manisci?) for me to ever have knees that are "all better."  However, that being said, the injections I did a few months ago did improve things for my walking, and as long as I'm good with always exercising some but not too much or the wrong way they only bother me a lot when I first get up (from anywhere) after sitting for more than 30 mins or if I'm on them for too long at one time... Oh and stairs are still SUPER hard... and kneeling hurts so bad... but a lot of that can be improved with more strengthening and weight loss... that brings me to the next subject.

THYROID:  Over the last year it's been really hard to lose weight, even when I'm on diets and exersizing I didn't see many results.  Plus I was always tired and having serious mood swings.  The weirdest thing was that I would often get food stuck in my throat.  I didn't know if that was related, but turns out I had a swollen, underactive thyroid.  For those who don't know, the thyroid helps with metabolizing food, so people who don't get enough thyroid hormone gain weight easily, have a low body temperature and require more sleep, among other symptoms.  Well, after a few tests, I got approved to be put (back) on some thyroid medication.  I haven't been very good at dieting lately, but I haven't gained weight since being on the meds, which for me is ALWAYS something to celebrate.  I scheduled an appointment to see my doctor about how my body was handling the meds, but turns out I came down with a MRSA infection the same time, which brings me to the last subject...

MRSA (This gets really gross):  So back around the 4th of July, my dad got a few little red spots on his right leg.  Within a week, those red spots became large, infected holes.  He got hospitalized, had the infected flesh removed (very large holes in his shin and calf) and was on disability for three months.  My dad the work-horse was finally able to use his 600 hours of sick time.  We (Ammon, Kaleb, Sasha and I) and my mom were the only ones who visited my father while in the hospital.  Others would've found time except on the third day they determined it was MRSA, (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)  a highly contagious bacteria.  The hospital required every visitor to have full gownage on after that, so my mom recommended no more visits. 

Well, early September Kaleb got a few little bug-bite type spots that seemed overly painful at the touch.  Like a nasty pimple, we would "pop" them, cover them in Neosporin and a bandaid and they would get better in a week.  Well, the 8th one on the 3rd week got to about the size of Kaleb's palm.  If you look at the pic below, the pink was all the infection.  We had to squeeze all of that puss and blood out and it was excruciating.  He screamed.  A LOT!  We went to the doctor, who cultured it, and the week we had to wait for results, he got 5 more.  Eventually, we heard he too had MRSA, he was put on antibiotics, and the spots went away.

 

 

In early october, I started coming down with flu-like symptoms, plus I had two very memorable pimples. Memorable because of how painful and puss-filled they were. By the 14th I was officially sick (I took a morning nap after a decent night's sleep. Nuff said). That night I noticed a strange pimple in a private area. My worries of MRSA grew stronger when the next morning it was about two inches in diameter.  It was constantly painful and only ice packs brought any relief.  Since I had a doctor's appointment for my thyroid previously scheduled for the next night, I waited until then to seek medical help.  By then it was the size of a tennis-ball.  I hadn't slept in two nights, and I was constantly nauseated.  The doctor gave me a shot for the pain (isn't it weird when shots for pain are so painful?) and lanced it.  She said the infection was really deep, but she was able to get enough for a culture.  (The procedure was still SUPER painful because the area was so bruised and the shot was only for the surface cuts.  sledgehammer to your crotch. oh it hurt)  She put me on the same antibiotics kaleb had been given and some pain meds (Oh sweet wonderful sleep) with the suggestion to use heat to draw the infection out so it will drain.  The next day was probably the worst between the cuts and since it had gotten to baseball size.  That night it started draining and took another week to heal completely.  The whole time, I couldn't walk very well (Ya know, cuz normally I'm such a super-model) and couldn't go 30 mins without painkillers.  I went through 20 days of antibiotics.  While mine was still healing, Kaleb got another spot, so the doc quickly put him on more meds.  No more spots for either of us since, and so far Ammon and Sasha are MRSA free.  FINGERS CROSSED!

A month later there is still an area I can feel some harder scar tissue.  Kaleb has some pretty nasty scars from these suckers.  I quickly became the go-to girl about MRSA worries around my extended family, so just an FYI about what to look for with MRSA (or at least the MRSA we had)

1.  Pimples/ in-grown hair type of spots that feel bruised, more painful than usual. 
2.  Until it gets a head on it, doctors can only cut it open to test it. 
3.  Speed of growth, it gets bad real quick.  Once it gets bigger than your thumb-print I would worry
4.  If it gets opened up, neosporin can help, but only with that one.  It can stay in your system even after a ton of antibiotics, so if you see multiples, see a doc (before it gets to the 8th)
5.  Greenish puss was a common theme with Kaleb's bigger ones and my three. 

All these things are little setbacks that make things a little more difficult, and yes I'm anything but a "healthy" person, but I do still have my health in all the ways that it counts most.  The MRSA infection did remind me of that.  So let's hear it to health!  Woop Woop!!

 

 

Sasha- 13 Months

Okay, so I'm a month late, but just in case you didn't know, Sasha was 13 months... last month.  I started school and got sick (more on that incident in a later post), so that's my excuse. 

 

Well, as always Sasha continues to be so STINKIN adorable!  But this month she started getting an attitude.  Things need to be done her way!  That's it!  If not, she throws these silly little mini-tantrums.  One time she got annoyed with me, walked to the other side of the room whining, let out a frustrated "GAAAAAH!" type yell, then came back to me ready to take what I had to offer.

 

Some things that drive me crazy is how she will just completely dismiss all direction.  We tell her "NO!" she looks at us and slowly keeps doing what she was doing (like grabbing full cups of cold water off the end tables).  We could scream till we were blue in the face, but unless we physically prevent her, she doesn't seem too motivated to listen.  Some might say that she just doesn't understand, but trust me, she is waaaay too smart for that.  As soon as I leave the room, poor Kaleb starts hoollering to me that she is doing something bad; and that happens VERY consistently.

 

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore that little ball of fire.  She is so hilarious and SO bright.  She says "BEEBEE" for Binky and "Baba" for Bottle; Ball is "ball" and she likes to greet people with "Hi, Dah."  The one I can't figure out is why she calls lights "Buh Bo," but maybe thats because most other things are buh or boh.  She folds her arms when asked or when she hears "prayer" (except when everyone is watching.)  She understands that when the TV gets turned off it's time to leave the TV room, and she figured out how to slide down a slide on her own... on her tummy. 

 

Sasha loves to dance and spin, and one night Kaleb showed her how.  It just cracked us up. 

 My favorite part is when she hobbles dizzily out of frame.  THIS GETS REALLY LOUD SO TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME.  Sasha screams when she gets excited. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39zSQpezteg

 

A couple of other quirks is that she always has to carry something.  At the park it's sticks and leaves, at home it's any random toy, her water cup, my water bottle, books.  She likes to throw things aways, so when she does make it into the kitchen, she will often throw WHATEVER is in her hand into the garbage.  She also LOVES closing doors, and gets SO mad if things get in the way, especially people (how dare you!!), and probably her all-time favorite thing in the world are cats and dogs.  Anytime they're on the TV she looks at me like "Yippy!!" flails her arms, tries to hug the TV.  She is too scared of Bowser (who isn't), but she is always following my poor sister's shih tzu when we visit. 

 

 

 Here are some adorable photos to remember her 13th month:

 

Kaleb sharing his hat so nicely

Sasha smacking Kaleb in the face with the hat, ya know, cuz that's how to put hats on.

 

 

Sasha realizing the hat is too big

"I'm on the edge..."

Petting the tree

"The sand just won't come off.  I let go, but it is still there!!!!"

Ready for prayer

The mad scientist has stolen kaleb's cup!

A picture of innocence

Sasha's First Birthday

Sasha's First Birthday Cake

I did cupcakes since i thought the cake would not be enough, and well, I wanted Sasha to have a smaller piece of cake than that giant flower!

Sasha LOVED all the attention!  Here she is just soaking it all in during the birthday song.

Here's a photo of Sasha blowing out the candle. THAT's RIGHT! 

She blew out a candle at one year old!!!

And of course everybody cheered once she blew it out, so she had to scream her excitement!

Like most one-year-olds, Sasha was a little confused about having a cupcake placed in front of her.  Daddy gave her a few little tidbits that she enjoyed...

Then she just dug in.  She ate most of it...

And wore the rest.

Sasha got so many presents from friends and family (You guys are AWESOME!!), and she enjoyed opening all of them!

She also liked smacking the wrapping paper to open each one!

She wasn't such a big fan of being one of the presents, though.

 

 Sasha has loved each one of her toys... it's now just a matter of which one...

But of course, her favorite is probably the Iphone... or should I say EYE-PHONE? 

GET IT?!?!  EYE-PHONE!!  THAT's a joke, son!

But I think Kaleb enjoyed Sasha's birthday even more than she did!