mixedpnuts

Christmas 2011

2012-01-06T13:26:00.007-06:00

December flew by! We had a ton of Christmas parties to go to between gymnastics, soccer, singing, church, and friends parties, we had a ton of fun! While looking at Christmas lights one night we got a screw in our tire, I was like what is going on with the car because it felt so weird, so we ran to the tire place 5 minutes before they closed. Our computer crashed again. Kinley broke her eye on the neighbors trampoline and I can't remember what else happened besides Christmas of course! Here are our Christmas pictures and a video of Syler driving Mater.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T13:23:00.002-06:00

In my last post I forgot to add that you can see that Syler has a black eye in some pictures. He fell down the stairs while holding a bunch of toys, so I don't know which evil toy did it! It looked really bad when he first did it though and he was very sad.

Kinley's class did a little Thanksgiving program, sang songs and did a play. Kinley got to be the turkey!!! She was sooooo happy to be the turkey. The teacher wouldn't tell the kids who the turkey was going to be and they couldn't ask to be the turkey either. Every day she would ask me if I thought she would be the turkey. She even made her teacher a turkey picture so her teacher would think that she liked turkeys!! She forgot to give it to her though. I kept telling her she would be an awesome Indian to so that she wouldn't be disappointed. She was picked to be the turkey because she is the least crazy and silly in the class! LOL! She got a picture with her friend Tayden.

For our real Thanksgiving Shauna came over and ate. The cooking seemed easier to me this year because I made a lot of it beforehand. I forgot to take a picture. :( It was my birthday to! Den and Shauna went in together and got me one of those new ipods, it can track my runs to. Tells me how far I ran and the time, etc. I haven't tried it yet, was going to this morning but it was raining too hard and I had to hurry and get ready to take the kids to the doctor.

Taylor had a check up today. He grew 1 inch, which is good for him! He is predicted to be 5'4"! I can't see that happening! He is 48 1/2" and is 52 pounds, both are not on the charts for his age. He is the size of a 5 year old! He goes back in 6 months to be checked again. The doctor said it's ok as long as he is growing but once he is 12 or so we will see how it is going because he should shoot up around then. One good thing is that his eyes are 20/15!!!! I am so happy that he didn't get my eyes, he definitely got that from Den!

Syler's 2nd Birthday

2011-11-28T13:08:00.005-06:00

Syler turned 2!!! He loves balloons so when he woke up in the morning he found the dining room covered with balloons! He was so happy! Then he saw his favorite thing, curious George! He also got a firetruck and had a cars cake, but he really likes Mater the best. Later everyone came over for cake and they made the balloons all staticy and threw them on the ceiling, they stuck, we had balloons falling down for days. We had another birthday party to go to that day so Syler had fun at Glow Galaxy as part of his birthday. He liked golfing!

Syler had his two year check up today. He weighs 27 pounds and is 34 inches tall. That is 25th percent for both! He had to get one shot. They took blood to run an allergy test on him again because he is allergic to something he is eating. They said a blood test works better but they only tested for a few things. I still just want to go get him tested for everything but the doc said those tests don't work as well. They took him away for his shots, which I like, and he wasn't crying when he came back. He got a sticker and he loves those.

International 2011-Houston

2011-11-02T13:48:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks ago I was in Houston, TX for our sweet adeline international competition. We got 21st, we were disappointed and sang the best we ever had, the judges were dumb, but we won't talk about that!
We had a lot of fun before it was singing day. We went to Galveston Bay and saw a bunch of pelicans! Most of our group rode a bunch of rides, I had just had my gallbladder taken out so I didn't ride anything. :(
We also went to the Waugh bat bridge. It was awesome! At dark thousands of bats come out from under this bridge. I tried to take pictures but it was dark. You can hear them under the bridge "cheep, cheep" and they smell!
They had a cool park to run in and they had Jamba Juice, my favorite!!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T13:40:00.002-05:00

We didn't get to do as much Halloween stuff this year because Taylor had a soccer tournament and Kinley had a game to. We did go to trunk or treat at church. Syler loved it! On Halloween we went to a block party at a soccer friends house. There was a ton of food and warm fire! Taylor was a soccer player, David Villa. Kinley was a rockstar. Syler was himself, he could have been an elephant, chicken, yoda, star wars guy, or transformer. We had all those costumes at home and he wouldn't wear any of them! Syler LOVED trick or treating. Kinley complained about her feet hurting the whole time, and Taylor ran around the whole neighborhood with his friends. It was a lot of fun and even though it wasn't our own block party we ended up knowing almost the whole block! I just put all the Halloween decorations away. I wish I had Thanksgiving stuff, I'll go look on pinterest for ideas!

Taylor's 10th Birthday

2011-11-02T13:32:00.002-05:00

Taylor had his birthday party a couple weeks ago. He had 4 friends stay the night, that was way too many! LOL! They jumped on the trampoline a lot and played dodge ball. I took them all to CiCi's for pizza and then they went to a haunted house. Taylor loves haunted houses, two boys only went through one part and then wouldn't go the rest of the way! I'm not a cake maker but decided to make Taylor's cake anyway. The frosting was supposed to be black but I couldn't get it any darker. It was homemade frosting, first time I made it, it was really good. Then I made blood to pour over it, the kids liked it but I thought it would have tasted better without the blood, but it's all about the look!
Yes he doesn't have a shirt on! He is shirtless every year for some reason, I even asked him why he is shirtless every year, he doesn't care!

Fall Soccer 2011

2011-11-02T13:23:00.002-05:00

We are almost done with soccer this season, well almost done with outdoor soccer. Taylor has one more outdoor game this week and then we start indoor soccer on Saturday. He is also going to start speed and agility training since indoor isn't quite as busy as outdoor soccer. I bet he is going to be super sore the first few times but he is begging to do it, he wants to run faster. Here are some pictures of him from last weekend, he has a soccer tournament and his team got 1st place! They were all very excited!
Kinley is done with outdoor soccer and will just be sticking with gymnastics through the winter. I think doing gymnastics and soccer was a little bit too much for her, but she begged to do both.

Catching Up

2011-10-09T21:49:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile so I thought I would catch up on here. I am bad about taking pictures so then I feel like I shouldn't post anything because it's boring without pictures. I do have one though, Taylor mowing for the first time, except it was too heavy for him so he couldn't do it all by himself! Taylor is doing really well in 4th grade this year. He gets good grades and thinks his teacher is funny because she is always telling them weird stories. He is doing better in soccer and is still the same old Taylor! He will be ten in a couple weeks! He is having some friends spend the night this Friday and they are going to a haunted house so he is excited about that. He also just earned his bear at scouts last month so he is on to whatever is next with that! LOL! I know nothing about scouts! It's kind of nice having an older kid that is responsible, hopefully he stays that way!
Kinley loves first grade and is super smart. I think she kind of misses her naps though or maybe I miss them, but she still seems to need one, she is tired by the time she gets home. She is playing soccer and doing gymnastics team so it's kind of been crazy. She doesn't get to go to soccer practice because she has gymnastics practice at that time. She is still getting a bunch of goals each game though, this last week she got 5. She loves gymnastics and practices all day long. She loves having friends over to play and is so girly!
Syler will be two next month!! That is crazy! He definitely acts like a two year old but he can also be super nice. He talks nonstop and he always says the funniest things! Lately he likes to say "thank you mama" or to whoever did something for him but he also likes to call me daddy on purpose! I'll be like I'm not daddy and he dies laughing and keeps calling me daddy or Kinley, whoever he feels like calling me! It just seems so funny for a one year old to come up with these crazy things, you should seriously hear the things he says, he's an adult already! He really misses the kids when they are at school so I try and do things with him. Of course we go run every morning so he likes to play at the YMCA for an hour. He loves Barney and will watch that while I take a shower and then we play and run errands if we need to.
Den is still working in Chicago and coming home on the weekend. He just finished one year so only two more to go! A couple weeks ago we both did the warrior dash. It's a 3 mile run/obstacle course. I told Den to stay with me but I took off and never saw him again! He said he ran the whole time, he hates running, so at least he did it! He finished in 43 minutes, I was surprised because he didn't train and it was pretty hard! There were four very tall walls to climb in a row, mud, hay bales, cars, short walls, and wire to crawl under. I finished in 34 minutes. We went to do another next year but this one is 13 miles and harder obstacles.
So during that warrior dash my side was killing me the whole time but I kept going, disappointed now because I definitely could have had a way better time. Anyway, I've had problems with my gallbladder since I was pregnant with Syler and it went crazy during that run. I had surgery on Thursday and got it out. I was very nervous but it actually wasn't that bad. Even right after surgery I was still up and doing things. I might try and run a little tomorrow and see if that hurts, might not be a good idea yet though. I'm glad that is over with though. Next week is international competition with TuneTown!! I'll be in Houston for a week and I'm so excited!

First Day of School 2011

2011-08-10T12:56:00.005-05:00

The kids went back to school on Monday, way too early, the fastest summer ever! Syler really misses them. He LOVES Barney now, guess Barney makes up for loosing Kinley. He plays really well with them after school, which is good because I can get things done, sometimes! Syler is also talking like crazy! You should hear him say awesome! It's so cute! He is always making silly faces to, just a clown all the time. He has started climbing on everything. We were at the YMCA yesterday, Syler was in the daycare and I was running on the treadmill, the room is all glass but has a wall on his side of the room. I looked in there and he was standing on a chair looking at me and then he started crying when they made him get down! He has also already started the terrible two's. He wants everything his way, it soooo drives me crazy!

Kinley started 1st grade! She loves her teacher, the same first grade teacher Taylor had. She has a few boys in her class that she already knew, but no girls that she knows. She said she is playing with a girl from her kindergarten class at recess. She doesn't seem to interested in the girls yet but I prefer her to play with the boys. I ordered Kinley a shirt that says, "Kindergarten is so last year" I wanted her to wear it the first day of school but it didn't get here in time so she wore it today. I took pictures but they aren't very good because we had to hurry.
She is doing really well at gymnastics. She got a new coach and doesn't like him too much but she will get used to him. She is on preteam right now and they said they didn't realize she was 6 (you have to be 6 to compete in gymnastics) or they would have moved her up to team so that she could compete this year, so now she has to wait until next year, but she will be so ready by then. They said in January they would move her to the team and one of the other coaches showed her the new team uniforms that they just got and she really wants one! Oh and I think she wants us to sign her up for soccer again. I probably will because this will be her last season, she won't have time for gymnastics and soccer once she moves to the team. I wish she could do both though because she is really good at soccer to, she prefers not to sweat though and gymnastics is air conditioned so I am sure she will choose that! LOL!

Taylor started 4th grade this year. You would not believe how much homework he has had and it's only the third day! He has a bunch of friends in his class but has been mostly playing with a new boy. He says his teacher is nice, which she is she just likes hard work! He is happy that they get a popcorn party every Friday and she gives him gum.
Taylor started soccer practice again a couple weeks ago. They have been making them run a lot which is good. I am glad I made him run with me this summer so it wasn't so hard on him when they started that at practice. His first game is this weekend and then he has a tournament next weekend. Hopefully the team has improved.

In other news, I got LASIK a couple weeks ago! Everyone should get it done! It took like two minutes to get it done and it doesn't hurt. One eye is awesome and the other is still a little bit blurry but hopefully that will be gone in a few weeks.
Den got in a wreck a couple weeks ago in Chicago. He wasn't hurt and it wasn't his fault. Luckily it was the government car and not his own! LOL! I think that is all that is going on around here. In September I am singing in our TuneTown show so buy tickets and come watch! The guests we have this year are AWESOME!

Holiday World

2011-06-27T14:35:00.002-05:00

We went to Holiday World for a couple of days. We LOVE that place! We spent most of our time in the water park. It wasn't very busy so we rode the slides a bunch of times. I didn't take very many pictures because we were all busy running around. Syler loved sliding on the slides. He was even pretty good on the drive up there, he is usually awful in the car. Syler only rode the train and the merry go round. He chose the dolphin but said he was done before it even started going. I convinced him to stay on it though. He would much rather be in the water! Syler also loved the penguin Taylor won at one of the games!

Cheer Camp

2011-06-27T14:10:00.003-05:00

Kinley went to cheer camp at the place she takes gymnastics a couple weeks ago. I don't know why she wants to cheer I kind of wish she didn't. Anyway, she loved it and had a lot of fun. On the last day we got to come watch her cheer. They did a dance and she got to be at the top of the pyramid. They did a tumbling pass and did a back handspring, kind of, no one could do that very good. Here are some bad pictures, I hate my camera!

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-05-25T12:48:00.002-05:00

Kinley graduated from Kindergarten this morning. They sang songs and then she got to walk across the bridge. After, we had juice and cookies in her classroom. She got the best illustrator award. Ms. Blackburn said that Kinley was an awesome drawer but Ms. Blackburn is to so she must have learned from the best!

Yesterday the kids all had doctors appointments. Taylor had to go get his weight and height checked because of his shortness. He is still short, most kids grow 2 inches a year and he has only grown 3/4 of an inch. He is 47 1/2 inches tall and 48 pounds. The doctor said she wanted him to come back when he turns 10 in a few months and then she will decide about doing a bone scan.

Kinley is growing like crazy! She grew almost 4 inches this year!!! She should share some of that with Taylor. She is 44 inches tall and 41 pounds. If she keeps growing like this she will pass Taylor in a few months. :( Her little problem that she has surgery on last summer is all better! After she had surgery we still had a lot of problems with it but when she started gymnastics and doing the splits all the time it fixed it!! The doctor said she was going to start recommending gymnastics since this is a common thing in girls. She said Kinley's was one of the worst she has ever seen and she was even going to tell the surgeon to recommend gymnastics to!!

Syler must not be our kid! He is tall!! Well still only in the 10-25% for his height but that is tall for us! He is 32 inches, the nurse even checked it twice because she didn't think it could be right that he grew 3 inches in 6 months, but he did! Both Taylor and Kinley weren't that tall until they were 2 and also didn't hit his weight until after they were 2. He is 22 pounds, 10th% and he has a huge head 75th%. He still is small but not as small as the other kids were and the doctor was happy he has grown so much. He eats all day so he definitely should be growing.
Syler was on Claritin for his allergies but it wasn't helping. He was throwing up every day to get rid of all that snot. A few weeks ago I changed him to Zyrtec, which I figured wouldn't work because it didn't help the other kids, but he has stopped throwing up and is doing much better. I wonder if it is really the medicine or if his allergies are just not as bad. The medicine also helps with most of his skin problems, every once in awhile his skin will go crazy, but mostly it's fine. He is doing much better now that we have found stuff that works! He did have strep and two ear infections a couple weeks ago but is all better now.

Sports and Horses

2011-05-25T12:34:00.003-05:00

Somehow I ended up with no pictures of Kinley's soccer games, I thought I took some, but I guess I didn't. I did get a picture of her getting her gymnastics ribbon but she had already changed so that isn't a good picture!

I did get some pictures of Taylor's last soccer game. They got third in their last tournament, only two points away from second. :(

Kinley loved riding the horse at spring fling and yes her hair is painted grey and red!

Pinewood, Easter, and Flowers

2011-05-06T12:42:00.003-05:00

We didn't do much for Easter this year. The kids got baskets, actually I bought the boys hats and filled those with their Easter stuff. I knew they wouldn't like baskets! We went to one Easter egg hunt, just Kinley and me, Taylor didn't want to go and it was at Syler's nap time. She got a butterfly painted on her face and she got a ton of eggs.

It was teacher appreciation week at school. Kinley's teacher loves flowers so we figured we would get both teachers flowers. I was scared the kids would drop them on the way into school but they made it!

Taylor had his pinewood derby race at scouts this week. His car was SUPER fast. Somehow he got 2nd though which doesn't really make sense, but whatever. Syler LOVES cars and wanted to race his car, it was Taylor's car from last year. At the end they let the brothers and sisters race if they had a car. So Syler went up there and raced his a couple times and won. Then Taylor and Syler raced and Syler beat Taylor's super fast car!!! I had already told Taylor he should use his car from last year instead of making a new one, guess he should have listened to me! It wasn't as fast last year though, I think he got 4th, I guess it's better to make your car a year ahead of time!

Birds Nest

2011-04-21T12:56:00.005-05:00

Still busy with the kitchen, but even though I am so busy with it I am no where close to being done. Dumb painting!
A couple weeks ago I went outside to use the grill. I opened the lid and there was a birds nest. I didn't grill because I didn't know what to do with it. The next weekend Den was home and I told him we were grilling so he had to take the nest out. I went to make sure it was still there and the mom was in there this time and she was jumping all over the place chirping at me. I slammed the lid and ran! It was scary! Den took the nest out and put it in a shoe box for some reason and then set it on the deck railing. The next day the nest is on the ground with two broken eggs. :( A little while later all of the eggs were gone. I wonder if the mom came back or if something ate them, I think something ate them, which is scary because it was probably something I don't want around my house! Kinley and Syler loved the nest they kept looking at it. Poor birds, don't build a nest in a grill!

Syler was at the bottom of the stairs. Kinley threw a very thick board book down the stairs and it hit Syler's nose. :( He cried and bled, but it is better now. She got in huge trouble! :)

Sanding the Kitchen

2011-04-04T12:53:00.003-05:00

I haven't been blogging because I have been busy in the kitchen. We got new black granite countertops and a new undermount sink with an awesome new faucet! I think I like the faucet the best! We are painting the cabinets white which has been taking a long time because I don't have much time to do it. I had to sand the cabinets in the house which made a huge mess, everything was covered in dust. I hope I can get it all done soon but the weather hasn't been cooperating, I can't paint outside in the cold and I can only paint at nap time. I really want my kitchen put back together though very soon. I hope it looks good when it is all done to. I have always wanted a white kitchen and thought it was kind of dumb to do it because we have a new kitchen but I just hated it and decided to go for it. Will post pics when it is all done.

Old Countertops

New countertops

Old sink

New sink

St. Patrick's Day

2011-04-04T12:48:00.002-05:00

Haven't posted in awhile, will try and catch up. I had good intentions for St. Patrick's Day but then my plans didn't work out. I was going to make these rainbow cookies with the kids but that didn't happen so I made them with Syler. They ended up taking a long time to make because you have to roll each color and then put them together and blah blah blah so it was too much work. I made a few rainbows and then just made pinwheel cookies with the rest of the dough. The kids thought they looked cool but they didn't like the taste, well Syler did! Who likes plain old sugar cookies anyway, not us!

Kinley's Pictures

2011-03-07T13:17:00.002-06:00

I have had these pictures sitting in the house since forever! I think Kinley just turned 1 in one picture and then 18 months and 2, something like that, but now she is 6! I bought these pictures just for this wall in her room and it has taken me this long to get them up. Part of the reason was because I needed off white frames that were big enough which I could never find. I bought black frames and sanded and painted them. I LOVE all of these pictures of Kinley, she is soooo CUTE! She is still cute but I miss he chubby cheeks! She is also being crazy in one of those pictures, wearing her new leotard that she wont take off! Her room is almost done, just needs a night stand, but we did her room like 4 years ago and I think I want to do it differently now, guess I should have finished it 4 years ago. I am doing better with my projects around the house lately though. Den is surprised when he comes home every weekend and there is something new done. Don't know what I am doing this week yet though, maybe I really should find a nightstand, off to look on craigslist!

Laundry Room Complete

2011-03-02T21:26:00.002-06:00

The laundry room is finally done, for now anyway! I still want new floors but that is probably years from now. I needed some artwork to go on the ledge. I did not want a laundry sign at all. I even said I don't want a laundry sign. It ended up just being easier to do the laundry sign though and it was big enough and cheap so that is what I did. I got the vinyl from www.sayitonthewall.com It was really easy to do and pretty cheap. The whole laundry room was easy to do and cheap! I love it!

Laundry Room Round 2

2011-02-23T12:39:00.004-06:00

I already showed you the new paint in the laundry room but then I decided it wasn't done. My painter/friend Robin comes to help me with my house and I told her not to let me move on to another room until a room was totally complete. Now I have an awesome laundry room! It is the prettiest, most decorated, most finished room in the house! I know I probably shouldn't have started in the laundry room but it was the easiest and what we did was super cheap!

But.....

this is only a sneak peek.

I needed some artwork on the wall. I decided on it today and ordered it so you probably wont see the finished laundry room until next week and I had issues with a shelf falling down which has caused a ton of work to do over. Not happy about that at all! If you need a painter ask me for Robin's number.

In other news, there really isn't any. Syler threw up on the way the gym this morning so I just turned around and went home. He throws up almost every day. Grrrr! It's from his allergies and there isn't anything we can do. Just too much snot in his tummy I guess. He is so cute when he throws up though! He holds his hand over his mouth right before to try and stop it, but then he gets sad and I do to because i have to clean it up and I have had to clean up that brand new car seat like 50 times now and it's getting on my nerves!

Catching Up

2011-02-10T12:43:00.005-06:00

I thought I should catch up on here. Not much has been going on. The kids have been out of school a lot because of snow but then we have had a few warmer days to. On the warm days the kids love jumping on the new trampoline. I am sure someone will break their arm soon, but they love it!

Den had a birthday! He turned 30! We didn't do anything at all. :( I told him since he never does anything for mine I wasn't doing anything for his. I usually get him good stuff, what he wants, but not this year. He should probably be nice to me if he wants a good birthday! Den also got snowed on in Chicago, a ton. He didn't even have to go to work but he couldn't come home either since the roads were so bad. I can't believe how much it has snowed this year.

Syler is still a crazy little boy, here he is eating spaghetti. He is running around like crazy and into everything.

Kinley has been sick, coughing a lot. She even stayed home from school and she hates missing school.

Taylor went to the cardiologist last week to have his heart checked. It is still the same, which is good! The doctor said that if it stays like this he could live like that for many years without a problem. We don't know if it will stay like that though, that's IF he never gets strep again and IF his heart doesn't decide it's working too hard and cause more damage. He has been fine for 4 years though so I am not too worried about it anymore. I don't like the medicine he has to take every day until he is out of college but it's what we have to do. He was taking the wrong dose of medicine though. He was doing shots every month but we switched him to pills now that he can swallow. His pediatrician put him on one pill a day but the cardiologist said he should be taking it twice a day so we had to call and get that fixed. I am not looking forward to remembering that pill two times a day though, we can barely remember once a day! Anyway, I am glad his heart hasn't gotten any worse!

Kinley's 6th Birthday

2011-01-26T13:50:00.002-06:00

Kinley turned 6! She had her birthday party at the gymnastics place she goes to. She had a ton of fun! Autumn makes me laugh because she is so funny watching the presents getting opened! Taylor and Hayden were silly as usual. She LOVED all of her presents but she said her favorite was from Emilie and Autumn, the pottery maker, I tried that thing though and gave up, Den had to help her with it! She might even choose that over her trampoline! She was begging for one to practice her gymnastics on so we found a cheap one and got her it. It's been so snowy though she hasn't been able to get on it much yet. Yesterday she opened her presents from us. She was begging for pink hair so I got her that. Pink hair that clips in her hair she has been wearing it constantly since. She has a barbie ballerina cake, not really what she wanted but the store didn't have anything good. I can't believe she is already 6!

Lots of Snow

2011-01-12T11:53:00.002-06:00

If the kids don't go back to school tomorrow I might go insane! They haven't had school at all this week because of the snow. The roads were only bad the first day though so I am really hoping they go back tomorrow. They have gone out to play in the snow every day, it's freezing and windy to though so they come in as ice cubes!
I looked out there one day and Taylor had made a pile of snow in front of him and was licking it up!

The kids all had a haircut the other day, even Syler, his first one. He still looks the same, she just chopped off his mullet. Syler is 14 months old today! He acts like such a big boy sometimes, but sometimes he is a monster! He likes to throw fits and scream at you until you give him what he wants. He still is hilarious and cute though. He is walking a lot more and even running a little. The kids have their pillows piled in the playroom and he likes to run and crash into them, which is really funny because he crashes before he makes it to the pillows most times since he still falls a lot. He is ALWAYS hungry, which really gets on my nerves because I can't sit there and feed him all day long.

Not much has been going on, pray for school!

New Years Eve

2010-12-31T13:08:00.003-06:00

Syler helped make dessert!

Then we decorated our table for our dinner guests! We got a free turkey and I didn't have anything to do with it so friends came over to eat it with us.

Ice Skating and Laser Tag

2010-12-31T13:00:00.004-06:00

Syler threw a fit while we took the kids ice skating! He was probably so grumpy because he had just had his flu shot. Kinley really liked it of course, she likes everything. Taylor and Hayden didn't like it so much but they are boys.

After ice skating we went and played laser tag, well everyone but Syler and me. Syler played dance dance revolution while we waited for them to finish. He had some awesome moves and some grumpy faces!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T12:39:00.006-06:00

Christmas morning we actually woke up to SNOW!!!

The kids were so excited! They got way too much as usual. Bikes, race car track, Barbie house, nerf guns, play doh, ipod, video games.... Syler ate his breakfast and sat in the middle of everything. He wasn't that interested. Most of his presents were old toys I found in the attic. I forgot that we had the spinning zebra, he really likes it. He likes his race car track to, he likes pushing the button. Taylor's favorite was a video game that he was dying for, Halo Reach. I think Kinley's favorite has to be her ipod (cheap on craigslist), every time I see her she is singing and dancing around with that thing, so glad she doesn't steal mine anymore!
Den breaks everything he touches so of course that would include our lawn mower, so I got him a new one, really nice, super cheap on clearance. I also got him a ladder because we kept borrowing Shauna's. Some clothes to. I got knives!!! I have been asking for good knives every year. Den would never get them because he said I would kill him! That will probably be true one of these days but it will be after they have been dull for many years, I wouldn't waste a good knife on him!

I was hiding all the Christmas presents in my closet, the kids knew they weren't aloud in there. One day Kinley comes into my room, she sniffs loudly, and she says yum it smells like bikes in here!!!! I was dying laughing! She obviously peeks!

Anyway, we all had a good Christmas. We went sledding to, forgot pictures. It was a ton of fun. When I went down with Kinley we flipped over and I buried her face in the ground, twice. She had a few scratches but she still loved it. We have been doing a bunch of fun things over the break, I will post about them.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T14:30:00.000-06:00

We hope everyone has an awesome Christmas!

Syler Walking

2010-12-23T14:18:00.002-06:00

I thought it would never happen but Syler finally decided to walk! He still isn't walking all the time, actually he rarely walks. When he does walk he is so happy, probably because we are all screaming at him! He claps his hands and he will do it over and over again, then he takes a break until the next day when he will try again for a few minutes.

Syler and Kinley have been really sick so I decided to take them to the doctor so that if they had something they wouldn't be sick on Christmas. I was pretty sure Kinley had strep, her test came back positive immediately, she is already feeling better. The doctor did a strep and flu test on Syler, they were both negative. She said that he had RSV but there isn't really anything they could do. He had RSV when he was a month old and I have breathing treatments left so I have been giving him that. He was slowly getting better, still a fever all day long and still very whiny. The doctor called this morning and his strep test did come back positive so now he gets medicine, yea!

Christmas Parties

2010-12-18T12:02:00.007-06:00

We have had a few Christmas parties to go to in the last few days. I forgot to get a picture of all of us. :( Here is Den and Syler in the ugly Christmas sweater party we went to. It was a lot of fun! Kinley and Taylor were the last ones at musical chairs but Kinley ended up winning, Taylor cried, he hates losing to her! I almost won at the adult musical chairs, I was scared I was going to get smashed but no one got injured! Den and I had matching ugly sweaters. Syler's was actually very very ugly but he still looks cute in the picture.

We had some pictures with santa. Taylor didn't want to go, 9 year olds must be too big for that! Syler was sick.

Kinley had a party in her class, a pajama party. They said the night before Christmas. Kinley knew her part but she got nervous and forgot some of it when it was her turn. They sang songs and then we ate donuts. Taylor had a party to but 9 year olds don't get pictures of that either!

Kinley got a ribbon at gymnastics, she was so happy! She has been doing gymnastics for 3 weeks and they have already asked her to move up to pre-team, getting ready for the team. She was already in a class with all 7 and 8 year olds, she is 5, and she is way ahead of them. The coach shows her one thing and she does it right the first time. She did the vault for the first time this week and she was AWESOME at it! It's kind of amazing to watch her because she is tiny and she just does things that I don't expect her to do at all. Anyway, enough bragging! I am not even sure that she will be able to do it though because it's practice twice a week and Taylor already has soccer practice and since it's only me hauling the kids around I doubt I can get them all to where they need to be on time! Poor Syler is stuck at practices all week long, luckily he loves crawling around bleachers!

Socks

2010-12-09T12:44:00.005-06:00

Syler is gross! He loves to suck on his blanket. He wants to take it everywhere to, but I am mean and wont let him. I usually make him keep it in his bed but sometimes, well usually, he sneaks in and gets it and then carries it around the house.
If I don't let him have his blanket he will cry and will take his sock off and suck on that instead! He usually does this in the car since I make him leave his blanket at home. So then we are usually running around town with one sock on and one sock off because I can't put that soaking wet sock back on him! Hopefully he will stop sucking on his socks before he starts kindergarten because he will definitely get made fun of!

We took some family pictures for our Christmas card. We did them in like 10 minutes. It was FREEZING! It was very windy! My hair would not stay out of my face! This is one of my favorites though!

Projects

2010-12-06T13:03:00.002-06:00

Here are my latest projects, finally done. I made these memo boards to go in the office since my wall was empty. I like them but they definitely are not perfect! It was easy though, just used a staple gun. I was so happy I found cute fabric! They are a little crooked on the wall and that is annoying me.

My friend Robin came to paint my laundry room!!!! I really hated the ugly flat paint in there with dirty hand prints all over the walls, now it is beautiful! It's a blue green color, more green. The pictures don't even show how good it looks. I bought chocolate brown baskets to hide the detergent and other junk so it is super clean now. I LOVE it!

Syler's 1 year check up

2010-12-06T12:46:00.003-06:00

I kind of forgot I had pictures on my camera and I forgot about Syler's check up. Here he is waiting for his shots, sucking on his blanket. The doctor said that he looks good, nothing wrong with him besides his normal skin problems. She said to feed him more. He really does eat constantly though. He is 19 pounds exactly. 29 inches long both are 5th percent.

He still isn't walking. Every once in awhile he will pick up one foot but then decides to do his bear crawl instead. He has a really bad cold right now. :( I hate colds especially because he can't eat very well. I am down to nursing him only 3 times a day now, which is huge because I don't think this kid will ever want to stop! I was pumping one time a day but I took that out to and put the pump away! So glad that is over with. I am hoping I will be done nursing by the end of the month but I feel bad taking it away while he is sick. He is still napping good and sleeping all night. I don't think he has done anything new recently, just still a silly boy! 13 months in 6 days!

Taylor also went to have his 9 year check up at the same time Syler has his. I hadn't taken him since he was 5 because it seemed like we were always there for his shot anyway. So we quit doing his shot and put Taylor on a pill. He has to swallow it EVERY day, we can't forget, that's why we were doing the shot because I knew that we would forget. It's been 14 days and we haven't forgotten yet! It took him a few days to get used to swallowing it but he can do it easily now. Taylor is 48 pounds and 46 inches tall. That is 0%, not even on the charts. The doctor wants to see him back in six months to see if he has grown and they are going to do a bone scan to see if his bones are growing.

Kinley didn't have a check up, hers will be next month. She did fall off the swing at school though and ruined her forehead. We took our Christmas pictures with her ugly head, luckily I was already going to put a hat on her!

Syler's First Birthday

2010-11-15T11:57:00.003-06:00

This was the fastest year of my life! I can't believe Syler is already 1! He still isn't walking and not even close. Here are some pictures of his fun weekend. There are some pictures of him sucking on his blanket, his favorite thing to do! He is playing with his birthday present, race cars! We took Syler bowling, well actually we took us bowling and Syler sat in his stroller drinking his bottle! He had fun though! There are some weird pictures in there, the boys wouldn't take normal pictures. Shauna bowling, she will hate that it's on here! She is also a horrible bowler, Den to! After bowling we went to McDonald's where I think Syler ate everyone's ice cream cone! He liked Avery's the best, with his french fries. My friend made him a soccer ball cake since he loves balls. He loved it and said BALL! as soon as he saw it. We had been working on his blowing for a few weeks, preparing to blow out his candle, he was actually very good at it, but wouldn't do it when it was time. He grabbed the candle instead!!!! He is sitting all silly in his pictures, I don't know why! He liked eating his cake to, but I only gave him a little since he shouldn't be eating that stuff. Kinley said it was the best cake she has ever had!

He hasn't really done anything new lately that I can think of. He is still just a crazy little boy. He threw up yesterday, that was gross. Kinley threw up this weekend and then gave it to Syler and now Taylor and I have it. Taylor stayed home from school today, hopefully tomorrow is much better.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-06T13:03:00.004-05:00

Here are some blurry pictures of the kids Halloween. Kinley was a witch, a hatless witch most of the time, Taylor was Rooney, a soccer player, and Syler was a chicken, most people thought he was a girl chicken though.
We went trick or treating two nights. Saturday in our neighborhood and Sunday with some friends. The kids got TONS and TONS and TONS of candy, probably two years worth! I usually dread taking the kids out because all they do is complain about all the walking, Kinley did complain a little, but Taylor and Syler had a lot of fun. Syler just quietly sat in his wagon eating candy after candy that he isn't even allowed to have!

Syler's birthday is in 6 days! :(
He is standing up a ton, constantly. He still will not take one step, not even if he is holding onto something like most kids do. The best news of all is that he is taking one nap most days now!!! He was having a hard time taking his second nap so I just keep him up a little longer in the morning and he usually sleeps longer. Some days he hasn't slept longer though and he still has to take another nap. He is actually being really good though even though he is tired at night he still makes it until bed time. Since he has changed his napping I have been able to get a ton of things done around here! I actually was able to vacuum every day this week, that hasn't happened since I was pregnant, maybe since before I was pregnant! Even Den came home and said how clean the house was and he doesn't even notice usually! Soccer has slowed down a bit to so that has helped with the cleaning, well actually only Kinley is done with soccer, Taylor just started indoor soccer today but it wont be as crazy as it has been. I am going to sign Kinley up for gymnastics because she has been dying to go and you should see her awesome cartwheels!

Babies

2010-10-30T10:27:00.004-05:00

I wanted to post pictures of the kids when they were all babies so you could see how much they look a like. I tried to find some where they all looked just alike but Kinley looks girly in all her pictures and then you can tell that Taylor's pictures are pretty old so it isn't working out like I wanted it to. You can still see that the kids look a lot alike though.

Kinley just finished her last soccer game. She had 44 goals this season, she made sure to keep track. Den promised her a dollar for every goal! I am poor now! Never letting him do that again.

I am sad to tell you that Taylor will be 9 years old tomorrow! Why is he so big??!! Actually he is tiny which helps me think of him as little still so that's good for me, he hates being little though. I already blogged about his birthday party, going trick or treating tonight and got him a couple of presents to open tomorrow. He has a soccer tournament. They played last night and have two games today.

Syler is a standing machine. He loves to stand and then fall on his butt on purpose, he laughs. He also learned how to head butt, he thinks that is hilarious to! His head is covered in bruises. He is getting a bunch of teeth and has a cold so he has been a bit grumpy.

Wagons and Apples

2010-10-18T11:34:00.002-05:00

Lots of slide shows up because I have taken a ton of pictures lately. I think I missed Syler's birthday on here again! 11 month Birthday, it was back on the 12th. I am really really sad that he is almost 1. :( Why did it go by so fast?

I am trying to think of what new things he learned this month but I think he is pretty much the same as last month. His hair is getting long, might need to cut it soon. He does stand now, that is new. Still no steps at all but he can sit and stand up, he is standing for longer each time he does it but it is still only a few seconds. He is pretty crazy, pretty sure he is going to be the wild one. He likes to bite, he has been doing this for a very long time but lately he has been biting more and more and it really hurts. My shoulder is covered in bruises. Last night I actually yelled at him for it, well not yelled but told him very firmly not to bite. He laughed and clapped his hands! He immediately did it again and I told him no, he laughed, and did it again but softer, I still told him no but I think he is just a biter. He has always done it so I don't know how to get him to stop.
He still sleeps a lot, 2 naps and all night. He is eating more and more. He wants to eat everything we eat, which includes things he shouldn't have like things the kids give him, chips and he has already had a sucker. Luckily he hasn't choked yet.
He loves standing on his head, it's hilarious! He is always trying to be funny, definitely going to be the family clown, he loves when we laugh at him! He stills LOVES playing with his ball. LOVES LOVES it! He crawls all over the house looking for that thing. Just the same few words, dada, not really mama yet grrr, ball, bye, I think he is saying that.

Den left for Chicago yesterday, he said traffic is horrible! He is already saying he is coming home this weekend when he isn't suppose to come home until next weekend. So we kind of did Syler's birthday with Taylor's because Den isn't suppose to be here that weekend. We got Syler a wagon. He LOVES it! He likes sitting on the floor of it more than the seat! He doesn't know how to get in and out and it is funny to watch him try and lift his leg in.
The other day he was playing in the fridge and he kept saying ball. I went to look and see what he was talking about and he was trying to get an apple! I gave it to him because I figured he would just play with it but he actually ate it, the whole thing! He sucks on it and then spits most of it out. He makes a huge mess. It keeps him quiet for at least an hour though. He was so good at Taylor's 5 soccer games because he had an apple and his wagon! What a lucky boy!

9th Birthday Party

2010-10-17T22:39:00.003-05:00

We did a last minute Birthday party for Taylor this weekend. I was planning on doing it on the weekend of his birthday, Halloween, but he has a soccer tournament now so it would be too busy that weekend. So he had a couple friends stay the night. While he was at school I decorated a spooky table for him and a friend made him a gross cake, which is what he wanted! He was so surprised when he got home! We did cake and presents and then went to Chuck E. Cheese. Taylor loves playing this soccer game that they have and he got a goal and the bell rang very loudly, he got a ton of tickets! Syler also loved the pizza, he usually spits the cheese out but not this time. After that I went home with Syler and Kinley, Avery came over to play with them, while Den took the kids to a haunted house! Taylor's first one and once they got there he didn't want to go in!! HAHAHA! None of them wanted to go in and one kid didn't even go in he was so scared! Poor kid! Taylor did go in though and said it was only scary at the beginning and that was it, he loved it! After that they came home and played around, even after I put them to bed, which drove me crazy, but they didn't have nightmares from that haunted house, so that was good! The next day all the kids had to go home pretty early because Taylor had 5 soccer games! Plus Den and Kinley had games, 7 soccer games in one day is a bit much, but Syler loved it! Taylor usually doesn't show any emotions, unless he is complaining or whining, he smiled a lot during his party, so I think this might have been his best birthday yet! I can't believe he is 9! Well technically he isn't, but I am sad he is so old, I need more time with him.

P.S. I have noticed that my kids are naked in a lot of pictures, yes that is how they usually are. I don't notice until I put the pictures on here, but I would never have pictures of them if I waited for them to get dressed.

Pumpkins

2010-10-17T22:14:00.002-05:00

We went to the pumpkin patch last week. We bought pumpkins and carved them and roasted the seeds. Then we put the pumpkins outside and had a crazy photo shoot but Syler didn't want to be involved in it!

Fall Break

2010-10-08T11:35:00.003-05:00

This week the kids were out of school for fall break. Taylor's friend Hayden stayed the night two nights I think, I can't even remember! We did a bunch of fun things with the kids. I can't remember everything we did though, bad mom! I think one day the kids went to the book store to pick out a book since Taylor got a 100 on his test. They also bought a video game, which Taylor has been playing nonstop.
Den took the kids to the Chattanooga aquarium and to a space IMAX movie. The kids had a ton of fun and there are pictures below. Syler and I stayed home because I don't like dragging a baby around to things like that. It isn't fun for me and it isn't fun for the baby either really. Syler was actually really good that day though!
We have done a few other things to, gone to bounce u, got my haircut, worked out at the Y every day, Kinley's soccer practice, and today we are going to the pumpkin patch so I am sure there will be more pictures soon.

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Kinley's Soccer Game

2010-10-08T11:26:00.002-05:00

When soccer started a few weeks ago for some crazy reason, I guess Den likes to be poor, he told the kids they get a dollar every time they score. Well Taylor gets $10 because his soccer is a lot harder and he has scored 1 time so far. But Kinley likes to win and she is very good at soccer, she has gotten at least 8 goals every game so far!! We are up to $22 and she still has a bunch of games left! I told Den next time that he couldn't promise the kids money! Here she is making one of her many goals!

Random Pictures

2010-10-07T12:59:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures we have taken over the last few days. Look how big Syler is getting, almost 11 months!
Our pantry and laundry room were overflowing with food so I put shelves in one of our closets. It is a really deep closet and all it had in it was our vacuum so now I have loaded it with our overflowing food. I am glad that the laundry room is all clean now!
Do you know what a Brazilian Blowout is? Well I got one! It makes your hair straight and not frizzy. So in these pictures my hair is stick straight, but since these pictures I have also gotten my haircut so it doesn't look the same as these pics. It takes me 10 minutes to dry and do my hair now, it used to take an hour because my hair is so thick, so I am glad I it takes way less time. I think it is a little bit too straight but it will relax over the next few weeks I am sure.

Syler's Bath

2010-09-23T22:19:00.001-05:00

This is Syler taking his first bath without his bath seat. He LOVED it! He was splashing like crazy and standing and sitting, just look at his cute white butt! Taylor thought he was hilarious!

10 Months

2010-09-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

Did I miss Syler's 10 month birthday on here? I can't remember if I posted about it. Well he has been 10 months for more than a week now. He learns new things so fast!

I think his most favorite thing to do right now is playing with a ball. He is a great thrower! He throws it to me and I roll it back to him, he would play that all day long if he could. His other favorite thing is to burp and then laugh really hard! He did that for the first time the other day, it was so cute because he actually realized that he did something and then laughed about it. He is such a boy!
He still just crawls around and can pull up on things. He will not walk at all. He wont even take a step if we try and help him to walk. He has stood on his own for a few seconds though.
He talks all the time. I think his first word might have been dada, but I think he calls me that to because he never says mom. Besides that usual first word, his real first word was bye bye. He also started saying ball and if you ask him where his ball is he will go find it as long as it isn't too far and he can still see me.

He is very clingy, wants to be held all day, and is pretty much a pain in the butt. He wants attention all the time. Nothing gets done around here because he wont let me. He threw Kinley's shorts in the toilet yesterday. He is always trying to get into everything. If it can fit into his mouth, even if it doesn't fit, he will make it. He finds the tiniest things on the floor and eats them.

He is eating better, more solids. He hates any kind of meat, corn, carrots, green beans, rice, and a bunch more. He still loves mashed potatoes and bananas. He is still an awesome sleeper! So glad about that! He has started sucking on a blanket though, disgusting! I guess the blanket has taken the place of the pacifier that he never took.
He is still a cutey though! He loves to laugh and he loves Taylor and Kinley and daddy, I suppose me to since he wont ever let go of me!

Almost A Goal

2010-09-20T11:50:00.001-05:00

Taylor was so close to getting a goal and I actually had the camera out.

Picture Day

2010-09-20T11:48:00.002-05:00

The kids had picture Day at school the other day but I took pictures of them before they left. I thought they looked cute especially since Taylor was eating his breakfast, playing his DS, and taking a picture all at once!

Nose

2010-09-20T11:44:00.002-05:00

Syler hurt his nose! :(
He was holding onto our mattress and some how scratches his nose on it. His nose bled all morning. The next day he fell on his face and ripped the scab off, it bled again. He has a cold so we can't wipe his snot without hurting his nose. He looks gross! I tried to take a picture of it but he just kept eating the camera.

Climbing

2010-09-05T16:36:00.002-05:00

Syler is climbing on everything! I was making dinner the other night and I turned around and here he was on the dishwasher. He loves playing on it, good thing he doesn't weigh too much, but still probably not too safe.

I feel like we are always super busy, probably because we have soccer practice every night during the week and games all weekend. The only day we don't have practice I have singing rehearsal so we seem to be pretty busy, which makes the weekend come sooner and Den comes home.

My camera keeps taking blurry pictures so I need to figure it out. I haven't been taking any pictures because of this, but I am sure I would have a lot to blog about if it was working. Like Taylor's soccer games, Kinley's gymnastics day, Syler put his bottom teeth through his top gums 3 times this weekend. He bled all 3 times, but got it on my shirt while we were at the zoo. Hopefully it didn't mess up his top teeth that are trying to come in. He is almost 10 months. :(

First Day

2010-08-20T10:50:00.002-05:00

So technically this wasn't the first day or third grade or of kindergarten because I am a bad mom and forgot to take pictures the whole first week of school and yes these are the only pictures I have. No good shots of them in their classrooms.

Taylor hasn't complained about 3rd grade at all yet which is a miracle! He hates school so I usually hear whining every morning, but none so far. His teacher is super nice to him so that always helps!
Taylor's first soccer tournament starts tonight and is all weekend long, he is excited! GO 02 RAPIDS!!!

Kinley loves school! She came home her first full day and told me all the things she did and then told me that she didn't learn how to read, the teacher forgot! Taylor told her that she wasn't suppose to learn the first day and they argued about it because that is what my kids do best! She really wants to ride the bus, I should probably let her, but I don't like buses! She doesn't know how good she has it, me picking her up everyday! Besides Taylor would never go for the bus thing!

Syler is a horrible teething MONSTER! Driving me crazy! He crawls after me crying, wanting me to hold him all day long. Not taking good naps either. Good thing Den comes home today because he is holding him ALL WEEKEND long!

9 months

2010-08-14T10:45:00.003-05:00

Here is Syler at the doctors office. It's amazing how much they start doing from 6-9 months. He is crawling and pulling himself up on things, a little wobbly on his legs though. He always wants to play on the stairs.He is finally eating a little food, but not enough according to the doctor. He still sleeps a lot, 3 hour nap in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. He loves playing in the play room but doesn't like being left. He usually needs some one pretty close to him no matter what room he is in. His favorite foods are mashed potatoes, pinto beans, banana, chicken, definitely not baby food, throws it up every time! He waved for the first time this morning, to daddy when he was leaving to take Taylor to his soccer game, of course he did it after I closed the door though. He loves high five's and we have been working on clapping.He likes to take his diaper off while he is in bed, which is very naughty! We still swaddle him which is kind of a problem and I just can't bring myself to get him out of it, he sleeps so well in it!

At his doctor's appointment they did an iron test which was too low because he doesn't eat and she also said he doesn't weigh enough, which is insane! So we have to go back in 6 weeks for an iron test and weight check. Grrrr! Why??? You can't make a tiny body grow, he is just little like all the kids and really I don't think he is that little, just because he only has 5 fat rolls instead of 10 doesn't mean he is tiny!
He is 26 1/2 inches long- a shorty
17 pounds 11 ounces- he only gained 3 ounces in 3 months
and his head is in the 75th percentile which is crazy because that is the smallest thing on the kid!

Deck

2010-08-14T10:17:00.003-05:00

Den is leaving tomorrow. Florida for 6 weeks for school and then on to Chicago. A little scared I might go insane. I don't know how I am going to get the kids everywhere they need to be and poor Syler will always be in that car seat. Dishes might never get done because Den always does them, Syler wants to be held all the time. No break from the kids. He is coming home most weekends but that is a long drive and he will be spending most of his time mowing the yard, doing things I can't do, and running Taylor to soccer. Before he left I made him a list! :o Den never does his lists. He probably did like 2 things on it and there was a lot. I don't know why I even bother making a list because he will only do it if he feels like it, which is rare, and it's his own idea. I think he thought staining the deck would be fun, so he did it, and I am sure regretted even starting! It took him 3 days in 116 degree weather! The other thing he did on his list was mow because he knew I would NEVER do that!

Stairs and Bathtubs

2010-08-10T10:44:00.003-05:00

Every time Syler sees the stairs he gets so excited because he thinks we are going to take him up there to play. He loves playing up there and he would play up there for hours if I had time to sit up there all day. We have 3 stairs going down into the playroom. Yesterday he figured out how to climb up them and go into Taylor's room, he loves playing in there to. Taylor doesn't have very many toys in his room but I think Syler got most of them out and I am sure licked them all! Taylor yelled at him for making his room a mess!
When we got home from running this morning he was in the kitchen and he crawled to the stairs and started going up them. He hasn't fallen yet but I know he will. He doesn't realize that you can't just sit on any part of the step so we have had to catch him a few times.

Last night I found him trying to get into the bathtub, so I filled it for him! He tries to pull up on everything now but he isn't very good at standing yet. He falls a lot and he cries. He thinks once he falls he can't just roll over and get back up. He lays there crying, even if he isn't hurt, until someone picks him up. Sounds a little spoiled to me, hopefully he grows out of all the crying soon.
He will be 9 months in 2 days! He has a doctors appointment Friday so I will let you know how he is growing, but you can see from the pictures he has stubby legs just like Taylor did.

Little Mohawk

2010-08-09T10:32:00.003-05:00

Daddy made Syler a little mohawk on Sunday. My camera is being weird, everything is blurry. I think Taylor might have messed with it because I found pictures of bakugan on it and I know I wouldn't take pictures of bakugan.

Syler is crawling around like crazy now. He also pulls himself to standing but can't really stand by himself yet. He is eating better to. He wants to eat and will try everything now but some things he doesn't like. Still wont eat baby food though so we just skipped that and went to foods he hopefully wont choke on. He had oatmeal yesterday, he didn't really like it, but he ate it and was trying to like it, he just didn't. He likes banana if I cut into little pieces. Loves mashed potatoes and beans. He doesn't like rice which makes me laugh a lot! He might starve to death without rice in this house. He loves to laugh and play in the playroom. He is a funny boy!

Taylor and Kinley start school this week. Taylor went today and Kinley goes Friday. It's dumb that kindergarten starts later. I think I am more sad to have a 3rd grader than a kindergartner. I know Kinley will be fine, she loves school. Taylor is getting so big. Kids have to grow up too fast, he actually has to start doing things on his own and stuff. His teacher seems really nice though and he knows most of the kids in his class so I think he will have a good year.
Kinley had to take a test a few days ago. They test all the kindergartners to see how smart they are. She got a really high score, not sure what the highest is, but I think she was pretty close.

Den is leaving Sunday to go to Florida for school. He will be gone for 6 weeks and then he will go to Chicago. I am kind of nervous about fitting everything in. Both kids have soccer and our days are always packed full. I don't know how I am going to fit everything in by myself but I am sure it will all work out.

Holiday World Vacation

2010-07-31T15:53:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday we took a little vacation to Holiday World, which is in Santa Claus, IN. We love it there, so much fun and doesn't cost too much. We stayed until Friday. I was ready to go home by the end and so was Syler. I don't really like vacations, with little kids anyway, it might be more fun on my own. It is too much work and stress watching the kids in a crowded place and waiting in hot lines all day. Syler was so confused, he wanted to sleep in his own house, he did sleep it just took him awhile to fall asleep because he was scared.

We drove up Wed. and swam at the hotel, the pool had way too much chlorine in it, we didn't stay long. Thursday we went to Holiday World and stayed in the water park for most of the day. The lines were pretty long so we mostly stayed at this kid area you see in the pictures. I went on one slide with the kids, it was a tube, pitch black inside, but we all loved it. Kinley and I ended up going down backwards and got soaked, but the next day Taylor got it the most! We did a few rides. I rode a huge wooden roller coaster, I have ridden it before, this time I was going to puke and kept my eyes closed the whole time. I was almost crying by the end! I rode with my friends son, Justin, he is 10, he was laughing, I kept saying is it over yet! It was the worst thing of my life! I am very sad, very very sad, that I hated it because I love roller coasters, but I think something happened and I got too old or something because I rode another one, a much smaller one and was going to throw up and even on the merry go round to! I was forcing myself to like the rides and I didn't like them at all! I am hoping it will go away and next year I will be able to ride them again??!! I don't want to be one of those non roller coaster people! I like them!

Anyway, Friday we went back and did the water park again. We wanted to ride their new water roller coaster, the Wildebeest, so we ran in the back entrance and ran to the line right when it opened, the line was still 2 hours long! We waited though and then our friend held Syler so Den and I could go with Kinley. Kinley barely made the height and probably shouldn't have gone because there weren't seat belts. So I was holding on with one hand and holding her with the other and I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time because I could never wipe the water out of my eyes. It would have been more fun if I could have seen! Kinley didn't like it too much but she wasn't crying or anything. Taylor loved it but the day before went on a slide that he cried on! He is a little bit more scared of rides.

Taylor's favorite was the river rapid ride where you sit in a circle boat and go down the river and get wet, he also liked the lazy river. Kinley's favorite was probably the dark tunnel water slide, she always likes everything, except now we know not the wildebeest! Syler wasn't the greatest but still ok. I think next year we will plan to go in May, July is too busy. We had fun and there weren't any major meltdowns. Actually I almost had one because I had a ghetto baby! I forgot Syler's swim shorts at the hotel and he only had a swim diaper on, I think that is so ghetto, but that is what we had to do. Kinley won a blue bear at a game, it's legs were on backwards! Taylor rode the bumper cars and Kinley, Syler, and I rode the merry go round. We rode a bunch of other things but I didn't get very many pictures.
So glad to be home!

Tooth

2010-07-31T15:43:00.002-05:00

Syler got his first tooth a couple of days before we went on our little vacation. He was pretty grumpy, would wake up from his nap crying, but he isn't usually very happy so it was only a little worse than normal. He got his second tooth a couple days later while we were on vacation, it was bleeding. Taylor didn't get his first tooth until he was 12 months and Kinley at 18 months so I was very surprised to see it at 8 months! They still aren't completely in but still out of his gums. You can kind of see them in this picture.

8 Months Old

2010-07-22T16:44:00.001-05:00

Here are a bunch of pictures of Syler. They are mostly all the same but they are all so cute I can't delete them. You can see that I put him somewhere and he has figured out how to escape and he crawls away. Yes he is crawling! He loves it! He also loves swimming!
He is still nursing a lot and not eating much solids. He loves mashed potatoes though and that is about it, besides popsicles, I know he shouldn't have them but a little sugar wont kill him! He still sleeps a lot to. I am glad he is a good sleeper, a good sleeper at home anyway, when we are out he wont sleep at all.
We have been super busy lately. I don't know what we have been doing but we are never home and the house is suffering! So sad school is about to start. I need to get things done, a lot of things before school starts and before Den leaves. I think this might be crazy the next few months.

Swim Lessons and Fireworks

2010-07-10T11:38:00.002-05:00

On the 4th we went to a friends house, they spent a ton of money on fireworks and they were super cool. The kids played in the water and with water guns the whole night. They also saw friends that they hadn't seen in awhile so they had a ton of fun. We ended up bringing Taylor's friend home with us to spend the night. They went to see the Last Airbender the next day. Syler was pretty scared, he would whimper, I took him home just after the fireworks started, he was also way too tired.

Taylor and Kinley have been taking swim lessons. I am glad they are over because we were at that pool everyday for the last two weeks and it was kind of hard to work the schedule around it. I didn't get any pictures of Taylor but I am sure there are old swim lesson pictures on here somewhere since this is his 3rd time taking them! He still can't swim on top of the water. So annoying! He swims underwater really well. He just can't swim in one spot on top of the water. He can pass the swim test now though, that means he is aloud to swim in the pool without me in it with him.

This was Kinley's first time doing swim lessons, it was her idea, and she was so ready! She did AWESOME! She was swimming by herself after 2 lessons. No problem swimming on top of the water at all. She jumps in, goes under, floats, swims backward, she can't be my kid! She must have gotten it from Den, and Taylor is a scaredy cat like me! At the end of her last lesson she took her swim test and barely passed, but only because it is so long, the whole length of the pool is kind of far for a 5 year old. She went down both slides to! So now both of the kids can swim without me in the pool! Now if I could just throw Syler in I could workout while they swim. I guess he could go in the daycare, but he hates it.

I just realized I haven't taken pictures of Syler lately. He will be 8 months old in 2 days!!! STOP GROWING!!!! He is sooooo funny. Lately he has been hitting his hand on his mouth and making Indian noises. He has also been sticking his tongue out all day, he just holds it out there all day long. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, so so close to crawling. He rolls all the time and flips around. I put him on my bed and when I come back he is completely facing a different way, I am so surprised he hasn't fallen off the bed yet. I did catch him falling out of the swing though! He was buckled in tight and everything but he was leaning over on his head almost, think he is about too big for it! Still not eating very many solid foods. He wont eat any baby food, hates the texture I think, he gags on it and holds his mouth open trying not to swallow, kind of funny! He likes to try things he can hold though, gave him watermelon to suck on the other day, he loves that, an orange, green beans, noodles. But he really never learned how to eat. With baby food they learn how to smash it in their mouth and then swallow, he just tries to swallow a whole chunk of food so he chokes a lot. I don't know what to do with him, I am hoping he will get the hang of it soon. I still am trying baby food, he spits it all out but I am hoping if I keep forcing him he will just do it. He is on carrots right now. He also started a sippy cup of water, he loves it! Ok, didn't mean to talk about him so much, should have saved it for his 8 month post, so I guess here it is anyway! I will post a picture of him on his 8 month birthday if I remember.

Park

2010-06-26T10:52:00.003-05:00

Syler likes to play at the park. He is a little bit scared of the swing but he likes it to.

Swimming

2010-06-26T10:45:00.002-05:00

Here we are swimming at our favorite pool. The kids were worn out after! Taylor past the swim test!!!! He has tried a few times and never passes because he doesn't know how to swim on top of the water, he can only swim under the water! He still swam under most of the time he was being tested but he passed so he doesn't have to wear a life jacket now.

Slow Poke

2010-06-15T10:54:00.003-05:00

I just had to announce that Syler can finally roll over from front to back and all over the place. This kid is a S L O W POKE!!!! All the other babies I read about have been rolling for weeks, but not my lazy baby! The other babies are even younger than him and rolling all over. But yesterday he figured out how to roll everywhere and now he wont stop. We can't even change his diaper because he just tries to roll. So I kind of wish he would go back to his lazy ways, but it makes him happy, you should see how proud he is!
Did I mention that he just had his 7 month birthday to! I thought Kinley was a lazy baby but Syler might have her beat, he didn't get up until 8:15 this morning after going to bed at 8 last night and it's only 10:30 and he is back in bed. I am not complaining about his sleeping though, I love it!

New Ride

2010-06-13T21:36:00.002-05:00

This weekend we moved up from this junk

to this

Den has been driving that 1998 escort forever. I bought it my senior year of high school and do you know how many times it broke in the middle of the road??!! Way too many! It even broke when I was 3 days from having Taylor on my way to my own baby shower, in the sweltering heat! But for some reason once I got a new car and Den started driving it, it has kept going and going and going, but I swear it is going to break for good any second now. It tries to overheat every time you drive it, it sounds like it's going to die, it barely starts, and almost every light (check engine, oil, etc..) has been on for years. So after being scared to death when I was driving it last week I decided we better get him a new one before he treks back and forth between here and Chicago.

So here is Den's new favorite thing, he was outside cleaning it today, which it didn't need since we only got it last night! 2006 Mazda3, only 60,000 miles, blue, 5 speed manual (which is killing us both because we are used to the crappy car and can barley drive this thing because it shifts so easily).

But wait.....having a new car isn't the best part! The best part was that I didn't know I was such an awesome negotiator! The Kelley Blue book price is 13,500. The dealer was trying to sell it for 10,900. The salesman asked me what I would take it for, we were ready to leave, had even turned the car on so we could go, I told him my price and he laughed and then he was like no seriously how about 9,500. 9,400. 9,000. I was like no way, what I said. He said ok I will ask the boss and then came back and said ok we had just stolen a car! So do you want to know the price???!!! I am so happy we got a good deal!! $7,700!!!! I think they just felt sorry for us because we had four kids (our own plus Avery) and Den is in the military, but you know whatever gets me cheap things is fine with me! I want to take it back and go negotiate for another, it was so fun! We were out of there in 2 hours to, they were fast. We are getting it inspected tomorrow, not getting ripped off. I am just so excited for our cheap car that we both can barely drive!

Upper GI

2010-06-09T22:33:00.002-05:00

Syler had an upper GI test done today. The poor kid cried the whole time and had to drink Barium from a bottle. He wouldn't drink it so they put it in a syringe and gave it to him. He actually did better than I thought he would though. So all of his stuff works right he just has bad reflux, so we still don't know why he throws up every time I feed him solids. I don't know what to do with him. The nurse said it sounds like he needs a swallow study done but how would a swallow study explain his throwing up 1-2 hours later, it doesn't. I want to call the pediatrician and tell her to fix him but she has no idea, she just sends us somewhere else and I am tired of going somewhere else. Maybe an allergist??? The GI doctor said he thought it was a milk and soy allergy but why didn't it show up on his test with the peanuts and eggs? So confused!

Taylor has been at his friends most of the week, they are finally spending the night at our house, glad he is home, but for how long?? I am glad he has such a good friend but he really should spend some time at home! They went and saw the movie Marmaduke. I have no idea what that is, but they thought it was HILARIOUS!!!! They would think anything with a stinky dog is funny though, such boys!

*Kinley's still doing good! Begging to go swimming, hard to tell her no because even I want to go, it's summer after all! Wait I don't want to go swimming because I don't swim, just want to watch the kids do it while I roast with Syler since he wont get in either. The kids start swim lessons in 2 weeks, can't have kids unable to swim like me. This is Taylor's 3rd time, I think he might end up like me, Kinley is super excited though, it was her idea!

Kinley's Surgery

2010-06-07T15:26:00.002-05:00

Kinley had surgery on her little problem today. She was nervous, thought she would wake up during it and feel it. She asked for bubble gum gas but then switched to cotton candy at the last minute. It actually didn't take as long as I expected, I thought we would be at the hospital most of the day, but we were done in 2 and 1/2 hours. When I went to her room after she wasn't very happy. She was freezing and kept falling asleep. We got her dressed and the nurse took her IV out and we got to go. I had to carry that kid clear across the hospital, she was HEAVY!!! Who carries a 5 year old??!!! She would have fallen over if I let her walk though. She slept on the way home. When we got home she was fine, she wanted to go swimming! I told her she couldn't for a few days so then she wanted to do some other fun thing, I told her she needed to stay home and rest and she cried! She always wants to be doing something. She has peed twice already and she has been fine, she is still drugged though, but I don't think this will be as bad as last time. She finally fell asleep a few minutes ago, after begging to make cookies. She liked the yellow socks they gave her and her doctor clothes! She is bleeding a little and er stitches will dissolve in a few days. Hopefully we can keep it open now and she will be fine. The doctor did say that it is very likely to keep happening and it wont go away until she hits puberty, we will see.

Bath Time

2010-06-07T15:22:00.002-05:00

Here are the boys taking a bath. I can never get them to take a bath so it's a miracle I got pictures of one. Taylor wanted a picture of his soap mohawk, he is growing out his hair and doesn't have his usual mohawk.
Syler cries in the bath, until recently when he figured out he can suck on this and get water out of it. He loves it and cries if I take it away! I am sure it is pretty dirty but as long as he takes a bath I don't care.

Soccer-Spring 2010

2010-06-07T15:11:00.002-05:00

Taylor played really well this season. He really liked his team, most of them were really good players. Here is his trophy and he also got a medal for perseverance because he was always running no matter what. He had a really good coach. I didn't get any pictures of Kinley this season. I only got to go to one game, they were all during Syler's nap time. She got 7 goals during one game though and the coach says she is really really good. I think she is good but you know she is my daughter! Sadly she wants to quit so we might not ever see how good she can be.
Taylor also tried out for Select, travel soccer, but a lot of the games are on Sunday so we are going to wait and see what the schedule is like. It's expensive so I don't want to pay for it if he is going to miss most of the games.

GI Doctor

2010-06-04T21:51:00.003-05:00

Syler went to a GI doctor at vanderbilt today. He didn't really do much just listened to his stomach which really doesn't tell you anything. Somehow he came up with that he is allergic to milk and soy, which I did kind of think that already, but I don't want a guess I want to know. He is going in Wednesday to get xrays done. He can't eat for 4 hours before and then when he gets there he has to drink a bottle of stuff, which I am totally not looking forward to because I can barely get him to take a bottle, plus he will already be mad from being starved. If the xrays don't show anything then they will stick a scope in him. I guess you can tell if your insides are allergic by looking at them, weird.
The pediatrician still hasn't called with the results for his tests. I am hoping they will show something so we can know without going through all of this.
So next week will be fun, Monday surgery with Kinley and then days of screaming because she wont pee and Wednesday starve the baby day! So glad Taylor has nothing next week, not even soccer practice!

Water Park

2010-06-01T15:12:00.003-05:00

It was military day at Nashville Shores (water park) this weekend. Den got us in for free because he was working a Navy booth. They added a wave pool and lazy river this year, I wasn't impressed. Plus who allows smoking still? I was super annoyed about that and they say you don't have to rent a tube, but they only have like 10 tubes for the whole place to use, so you actually do have to rent a tube.

So besides all of the annoying stuff the kids did have fun. Taylor brought his best friend and they mostly swam in the wave pool and lazy river. Taylor has always been scared to go down the slides but he loved them this time! He is still a chicken, but at least we are kind of getting him to try things! Kinley said she was freezing most of the time even though it wasn't cold, so that is why she has bad pictures.

When we got there I took Syler over to the wave pool. I put one little foot in and he started screaming! After that every time I even got near water he started crying. He is a chicken to! So we ended up sitting there all day, we took a lot of pictures of us, I ended up deleting most of them, didn't think you wanted to see a million pictures of me and Syler. It did rain on us, which was good because it cleared the park out and it only lasted like 10 minutes.

Taylor has soccer tryouts today, but before that he has a game that they are making up because of the flooding. So he is going to be tired by the time he gets over to tryouts, hopefully he does good, but it might not even matter because we aren't sure that he is playing, most of the games are on Sundays, so annoying!

Dishwasher

2010-06-01T15:04:00.001-05:00

Our new dishwasher, we have two now, we even named them Taylor and Kinley! This was there first time washing dishes. It took them forever!

Syler sitting like a big boy at church!

Orders

2010-05-28T20:19:00.003-05:00

Oh I totally forgot to post that Den got his orders......and will be stationed in...............CHICAGO

Not what we chose..........kind of annoyed.....Chicago means the Chicago area....which includes the top of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and maybe some other places.........so.......we will have to see how this works out......thinking it might not work out really........but we will see.

Scalp Veins

2010-05-28T20:08:00.002-05:00

So I have never heard that you can take blood from veins in your head, scalp veins!!! They took blood from Syler's twice today and his hand and foot, 4 pokes! They say that it is easier to get blood from the scalp because we found out during his allergy test that he doesn't bleed very well. They took him away, I was so glad, I would have passed out or thrown up or died!! It makes me sick just thinking about it! He also got to pee in a bag, which didn't work too well, but we got a tiny bit, enough for the test.

They are running all these tests to hopefully see why he keeps throwing up when I feed him solids. The doctor said it can be so many things, so we will get these results, and hopefully they will show something and she will know which specialist to send us to, she is also sending us to a GI doctor.

Syler was pretty sad when they brought him back to me but he took a little nap and then was happy again! The doctor is worried that since he is already so little if he doesn't start eating solids soon he will start losing weight. I think he is perfectly chunky and very happy with nursing. I would like him to start eating soon though to because I don't want to be a cow (that's what Kinley calls me) forever!

I am kind of getting tired of all this doctor stuff, I just want it over with really soon. Kinley has surgery in 10 days and I want everyone to be fixed after that so we can have a good summer. I hope Syler doesn't need any surgery, I can only handle one!
I am also really annoyed with this whole soccer season, the flood messed it all up, but our coach is driving me crazy to, I just want my money back. Ok, that soccer thing came out of no where, but it's just messing up my schedule!

Pre-K Graduation

2010-05-28T10:50:00.002-05:00

Kinley graduated!! I had to miss it and Den only took blurry pictures! Grrr! So here are some that you can kind of see her in. They had a pirate theme for their graduation. She also got to be a fish, she was talking about being a fish all week, she was so excited, but when it came time to sing she acted all shy. I heard that it was their best singing yet and the room was packed full of people. So now she is off to kindergarten, she thinks it starts tomorrow even though I keep telling her after summer! She had the best teachers and such a fun class so I know that she will really miss them. Her best friend, Meredith, will be going to a different school in the fall so she is sad about that.

Taylor had his last day today, we just had to go pick up his report card. I can't believe he is going into 3rd grade already. He really liked his teacher this year and is nervous about who he will get for 3rd grade, hopefully a nice, nonyelling one! He is so glad school is over, he hates it. Of course he got in trouble yesterday and couldn't have nay friends over today though. Hopefully he has learned his lesson and will be good the rest of the summer! I don't know why 8 year olds think they run the house and boss people around!

We are going to Nashville Shores tomorrow after the soccer games so that will make up for his day today. Den got us free tickets, I just hope Syler doesn't drive me crazy the whole time. He wont sleep when we are out of the house and he becomes a crying monster. Hope the sun shines super hot to because I hate cold water!

Face

2010-05-28T10:26:00.002-05:00

Den just said we need to change our blog name, mixedpnuts, because Syler is allergic to peanuts, maybe that is why he is allergic???

Syler went to the dermatologist the other day. The doctor was super nice and seemed very smart and it took him half a second to say his skin looks horrible because of his food allergies. So he gave us stronger medicine, it made his face 60% better instantly. The doc said we can't keep any type of peanut products in the house because peanut "dust" gets in the air and can get on Syler that way. Like seriously can you believe how allergic he is??!! I think we should have an epi pen because it is making me nervous. I don't think eggs have dust though so we can keep that in the house. I just can't eat them while nursing. We can't eat or touch eggs or peanuts and then touch him, can't kiss him after eating it and stuff. His face looks 80% better and his back and legs are still kind of bad but you can tell they are trying to heal. His neck is also kind of bad still, but I think that is because he had ten chins and it's hard to get medicine in it! LOL! It probably is also because he is still eating some of it when he is nursing. I am trying not to eat anything with eggs or peanuts but sometimes I just grab something, like a cracker, and then after I have eaten it I am like oh yeah I didn't check. I go look at the box and it was made in a peanut factory. Anyway, so glad that he doesn't look as scary now!

I am taking him to the doctor today for his violent throwing up after eating solids. It had been a couple weeks since we had tried any rice cereal so I tried again yesterday just to make sure it was still there, and yes he threw up all over Den and the floor. They are going to do a bunch of tests today, hopefully they will figure this out and then I can have a normal, well almost normal, baby that doesn't need to go to the doctor all the time.

LASIK Video

2010-05-22T13:31:00.003-05:00

Go vote for my LASIK video so I can win free LASIK from Dr. Loden!

*just click on the title "LASIK Video" and it will take you to the voting

Damage

2010-05-22T13:25:00.002-05:00

Here is the damage. It's hard to get a good picture of it but I think this is the best one so far. I want to make sure I have pictures in case it gets better before I take him to the doctor Wednesday so I can show him. You see how his cheeks look bubbly, that's oozing! Gross! The poor baby gets itchier and itchier every day. He woke up this morning scratching his neck. It used to only ooze every couple of days, now it is everyday, almost constantly. :(

Peanut Butter

2010-05-20T13:03:00.002-05:00

Let me tell you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE peanut butter! I LOVE IT! I could eat it all day every day for the rest of my life and in heaven to! Let me tell you my daily intake of peanut butter, peanut granola bar every morning, then I run and come home and have trail mix or sometimes another peanut granola bar or sometimes both. Then I might throw in a couple chocolate peanut butter cookies or a few almond hershey miniatures, peanut M&M's, or peanut butter M&M's (I eat a lot). For lunch I usually have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and trail mix and maybe a few more cookies or peanut butter crackers. Ok that was just my normal amount of peanut butter in one day but some days I also have peanut butter on everything else. Peanut butter pancakes (YUM!), Any kind of ice cream with peanut butter in it, oreo peanut butter cakesters, peanut butter pie, REESE'S (my FAVORITE).... the list could go on and on!

So why does Syler have to be allergic to peanuts??!!! Yesterday I ate a lot of peanut butter because I had a feeling it would be my last day of it until I stop nursing and the doctor called this morning to tell me that he is allergic to peanuts and eggs and to stop eating them. I am devastated! I don't care so much about the eggs, but eggs are in almost everything, peanuts are in almost everything. Even if peanuts aren't in something they are probably made in a place with peanuts contaminating everything! Anyway, no eggs and peanuts for me, I think I am going to starve, which would be fine if I had baby weight to lose still but I am well below that weight now.

The doctor did say that he is more allergic to eggs then peanuts. She also said that is probably why his face is disgusting. We still have our pediatric dermatologist appointment next week. The whole reason I had him tested though was because he keeps throwing up his rice cereal. There isn't eggs or peanuts in rice cereal, so I still don't know why I can't feed him. Maybe it is something wrong with his stomach. After his dermatologist appointment we will have to take him back to the doctor and figure everything out. Hopefully his face will start looking better if I quit eating, I have already failed today though, I ate a cookie with peanuts and eggs in it, I thought one little cookie one last time! I can't stop thinking about peanut butter now and I missed my pb&j sandwich today. :(
I know he will grow out of it soon, right????

6 Month Check Up

2010-05-18T10:18:00.002-05:00

See his horrible face, it looks way worse in person. It's oozy and crusty and super red and it's all over his body. The doctor doesn't know what it is so she had him allergy tested yesterday at his 6 month check up. They just take blood from their hand, arm, or foot. They had to take it from all three because he wouldn't bleed. He also had shots, he wasn't happy. He still has his dermatologist appointment next week, maybe he can figure it out because no medicines have worked. Other then not being able to eat solids and his skin he is doing good. They said he is a little small still but they don't see the fatty eat! He is 15 pounds 13 ounces and 25 and a half inches long. Same length as Taylor so it looks like the boys are going to be shorties! Taylor weighed a few ounces more though.

He is a lot better than he use to be, not as grumpy. He still can be very grumpy though, but when he is in a good mood he is so smiley and happy. You should hear his cute laugh. It kind of scares him when he laughs and it is funny to watch. He still mostly rolls over in his bed when I am not there to see it. Still not sitting but so close. He probably would be if I worked with him more but he is so snuggly, I like holding him. He has to be the best high fiver! He has been doing that for a few weeks, all you have to do is say high five and he gets his hand going! He loves to stand and jump and jump and jump and jump, but he wont jump in his jumper, only if you hold him. Kind of breaks your arms after awhile.

Anyway, allergy test results should be here by tomorrow. I will update then, hopefully they can fix him soon because people stare at his red face.

6 Months Again

2010-05-12T15:58:00.002-05:00

Actually Syler wasn't 6 months yesterday when I posted, now he is though! Who pays attention to the date, not me! Here we are practicing our sitting which he doesn't really like as you can see by that face, but it's such a cute face anyway.

I gave up on giving Syler food because I thought he might be allergic to it or something is going on. So he hasn't had anything for 2 weeks. Last night I gave him rice cereal and an hour and a half later there he is throwing up a ton. When I feed him he acts like he is going to die, like it's disgusting, and he chokes it down, but he is capable of eating. So he is either allergic or has something wrong with his tummy. 6 days until I take him into the doctor, I can't wait, because he needs help with his tummy, his skin, and his popping neck. So I am seriously giving up on food until the doctor fixes him. Have you ever heard of a Filipino allergic to rice, it can't be possible!!!

6 months

2010-05-11T12:29:00.002-05:00

Look how much he has grown! Aww! I think he is soooooo cute! Every time I look at his pictures I think he is even cuter and he hurts my heart, in a good way! Even though he is such a pain, well not just him all the kids are, I am so happy to have him! Having 3 kids is really hard. I feel bad for the older two because Syler takes up so much of my time. I can't even remember when they were babies now and I wish I would have done more things with them before he came because I feel like there isn't enough time for all of them.
An example, Kinley's gradutaion is soon and I have to miss it. :( Syler is going to the pediatric dermatologist that day, he has been waiting to get in there for 3 months. I tried to change it but they can't get him in until August and if you saw him you would see that he should not have been waiting 3 months as it is! He looks horrible! My friend told me the other day, jokingly, that they wouldn't hold him because his face looked disgusting. :( It does look disgusting, it oozes and is red and crusty, but I don't even notice it because I think he is so cute! So, I can't change his appointment to go to her graduation and I feel bad. Whatever Syler has was only on his back and shoulders, then it spread to his legs, and now his face and arms. It itches him now to or maybe he just learned how to itch. He sits in his car seat and wiggles his back, it looks so funny to see a baby do that!

Anyway, I registered Kinley for kindergarten yesterday. That was a little sad, but only a little because she LOVES school and I know she will have so much fun! I tried to register Syler to, the teachers said they would even take him, but I took his drooling as a sign that he wasn't ready yet!

Taylor is counting down the days of school, he says only 12 days left! I hope they are good this summer. I feel bad that he has to be a 3rd grader! Why would anyone want to grow up and go to third grade, doesn't sound very fun to me. That is when things start getting harder and you actually have to grow up a little and be responsible. I guess I just really feel bad for my kids lately. They are stuck here growing up, which isn't very fun at all, but I guess in the end that is all they are suppose to do anyway.

Trying to Sit

2010-05-03T10:52:00.002-05:00

Here is another picture of Syler trying to roll. We were so happy when we did it we were all yelling and he got scared and cried!
We have been working on his sitting to. He can sit for a few seconds before he falls over. His head looks HUGE in this picture! LOL! Maybe his huge head and fat tummy are making it hard for him to stay up. I think he would be so much happier if he would learn though.

So Nashville has been flooded with rain for the last two days. It really did flood. Our road was closed and the water was up to the top of my tires. People were trying to drive through it! I thought they were crazy! I turned around and went home even though I really wanted to go to Lowes and get paint. The kids are out of school today because of the rain, they are happy, but I want them to go back, I have a ton of things I need to get done. Going out to the garage now to hopefully finish my shelf for the TV. I bought a jigsaw this morning! I went to Lowes at 7 because I couldn't wait for my tool any longer! I am so excited to use it....here I go!

Rolling and Sectional

2010-05-01T11:49:00.002-05:00

Here is Syler always rolling over in his bed. He has been doing it for a few weeks but we have never seen it. This morning though he was laying on our bed and he did it! We finally saw him! Last night he woke up at 3:30 and he was just in there talking, so I went in and he had rolled over. He can only sleep on his stomach. I put him back on his stomach and he went back to sleep. I felt kind of bad though because I was sure he was hungry but I wanted to see if he would go back to sleep and he did!

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of our new sofa, well it went back to the store. All the stuffing on the back cushions would fall to the bottom so they looked bad. Here is a picture of our new sectional. I didn't want a sectional until I saw this one at Haverty's. Our livingroom felt empty with just the one sofa and two chairs so I thought this would fix that problem and it did. This is the Haverty's picture, obviously our livingroom does not look that good yet!

I took Syler to the doctor on Thursday because I thought he was allergic to his medicine or his rice cereal. He started both at the same time so I don't know which it is. He threw up for 30 minutes Wed. night and he was so pale and was just staring at the ceiling. Anyway, our normal doctor wasn't there so we saw a different one and he was dumb. He just gave Syler and antibiotic because he said his ear looks a little red so it might be the start of an ear infection. That's not why I went in. He is allergic to something. So I just stopped giving him his medicine so we are back to spitting up constantly and I tried his rice cereal last night and he was acting all weird again. Maybe it's his cereal? Usually babies aren't allergic to rice though. I am going to try oatmeal today and see if he can handle that. He just started cereal though and I don't want to give him something he isn't ready for. We will see how he does.

Scratches

2010-04-27T11:40:00.002-05:00

Look what Syler has done to his leg. He sits there and scratches it and scratches it. He has also done it to his head because he found his ear and hair and likes to touch it. We put a mitten on him when he is sleeping now, usually only little babies need that! My silly boy just likes scratching his leg off!

He also has horrible eczema on his back. He has three different medicines, steroids, and they don't even help. He has been really sick for a week. I think it is either really bad allergies or RSV again. He is wheezing really bad. I didn't want to take him to the doctor because I just took him for his spitting up all the time. We have left over breathing treatments from his first RSV so we have been doing those and they are helping but I might need to take him to the doctor. He is on two medicines for his spit up. It tastes so gross so he isn't very good about taking it and I don't remember to give it to him because he hates it. I think it is helping a little though when I do remember.

Kinley is having surgery on her problem, the one I have talked about before. June 7th. The doctor said it wouldn't hurt, but I know it will! They have to cut it open and put a few stitches in. I want it fixed, but I am not looking forward to it at all.

Office

2010-04-17T16:32:00.002-05:00

I finally finished the office!!! The pictures aren't very good but I really like how it turned out. I made the shelves all by myself! I cut, drilled, sanded, and painted! I do have one thing left to finish, well maybe two. I need one more white basket on the shelf above the desk, it's in the garage drying from being spray painted. The other thing I want to do is build some kind of box/shelf to hide the plugs on the wall. I have it all imagined in my mind but can't explain how I want it done very well, I am going to save that project though and finish the living room. I have already started on a shelf for the TV. It probably needs like 5 more coats of paint, I have already done 3. Oh and I have some art/ memo boards to make for the office, so 3 more things to do, guess I shouldn't have posted pics until it was really all the way done. I have just been working on it forever. It's hard to paint and drill with a baby. I had to do it during nap time but I didn't like to drill then because it would wake him up, but I couldn't drill when he was awake either! I am glad it is pretty much done now though and a year from now, or maybe longer, I will post the real finished office!
Just so you know, you can build anything to! Go to www.knockoffwood.blogspot.com, she inspired me to do all of this. After my TV shelf I am going to make a coffee table from her site.

5 Months

2010-04-13T11:16:00.003-05:00

Syler turned 5 months old yesterday! He is getting so big and doing new things everyday. Yesterday he found his hair and was pulling it out. I remember one of the other kids did that all the time, it drove me crazy! Sunday he found his ear and tried to take that off. Last week he started pulling on his toys hanging from his car seat. He is getting better with his hands. He is getting easier to take places as long as he isn't tired, he just wont fall asleep when we aren't home and then he gets grumpy. He is nursing less, well not really nursing less, but he can go longer between feedings. He still wont really play on his play mat or in his jumper or swing. He likes being carried around, spoiled I guess! He talks too much, that's probably the thing he is the best at! He likes to smile and laugh, but really isn't too happy most of the time, you just have to catch him at a good time. He has horrible allergies. He is still sleeping all night and most of the day. I tried putting him in his crib upstairs a few times but he doesn't like it. He is super cute! He still cries at the YMCA when I am trying to work out, 30 minutes is all I get. He is still slowly getting better about things though. I could almost say he is an easy baby if he would quit being a crybaby! LOL! But still his good sleeping at home makes up for everything!

P.S. See our new TV in the background? Den talked me into it. We got it for cheap at least but really why did we NEED that! I am building a shelf for it so it isn't sitting on top of the DVD player.

First Feeding

2010-04-13T11:09:00.003-05:00

Syler is 5 months old so I decided he could have some cereal. I usually wait until they are 6 months, but since the doctor complains about his weight and he loves to watch us eat, I figured he could have it now. Look at those rolls and double chin though! He LOVED it! He didn't push it out, he just sucked it right up! He even took the spoon from me trying to get more! I am just going to feed him when I have time right now though. I am not in a hurry for nastier diapers!

Easter

2010-04-04T21:51:00.005-05:00

Ok I just posted a bunch again so I hope you caught all of them!

Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt. Kinley got her face painted. The boys ran around all crazy. They tried to hide in the flowers.

Syler got a noisy ball in his basket, except he didn't have a basket.
Kinley got a princess dress and tinkerbell socks. She also got an art easel because it was super cheap.
Taylor got bakugan, a bakugan game, and the 2012 movie.

Pinewood Derby

2010-04-04T21:45:00.002-05:00

Taylor did his first pinewood derby race. He also brought his friend, Hayden, to the race, the poor kid lost every race (Hayden did not Taylor). Taylor won his first few and then lost his last few. He had a lot of fun. I guess we should have taken a picture of his car though.

Hat

2010-04-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

Look what daddy made Syler do! A shirt hat.

Spring

2010-04-04T21:36:00.002-05:00

Finally it is spring!! I was so sick of the cold. Here are the kids in their first day of spring clothes!

First Chuck E. Cheese Visit

2010-04-04T21:15:00.002-05:00

This was Syler's first trip to CEC. Avery was there to but I don't know where his picture is! They all won a lot of tickets. Syler sat in his stroller while mommy and daddy played the firefighting game. He also got his picture taken in the ChuckE photo booth, it's in his baby book. It was hard to get him to look. I think he liked all the lights.

Random

2010-03-24T22:02:00.002-05:00

These are the pictures Taylor takes when I am not there to tell him not to play with the camera. Den will love that I posted this picture!! HaHa! This is a picture of the TV with his favorite movie on it, 2012. He wants to be a storm chaser when he grows up so he loves all the earthquakes and stuff in this movie. He watches it over and over again.
And yes I did just post 4 times in 10 minutes. Keep up with me or you will get left behind!

Posing in his Shorts

2010-03-24T21:55:00.004-05:00

Syler's first day with shorts on, they were falling off all day. It was hot, like 75, but we were roasting. Taylor and Kinley were sweaty babies and Syler has followed in their footsteps, he was sweating like crazy and now his eczema looks really bad. Den is showing off his chubby tummy so you can see that we do actually feed this kid and the doctor is crazy!
Yes he does look at us like we are crazy all the time! I love his little faces!
P.S. look at Syler's finger in the 4th picture! LOL!

Syler at Practice

2010-03-24T21:52:00.001-05:00

This is Syler at soccer practice. He was yelling/crying most of the time, I think because it was freezing that day. Den was messing around with his double chin!

Soccer Princess

2010-03-24T21:49:00.002-05:00

Last week we were at Taylor's soccer practice and I look over and see Kinley running around playng soccer with a crown on her head. She is such a girl!

4 month appointment

2010-03-15T12:43:00.003-05:00

Syler went to his 4 month doctors appointment today. He weighs 12 pounds 3 ounces, 5th%, and he is 24 inches long, 25th%. The doctor says he hasn't gained enough weight and I have to take him back in 3 weeks to get his weight checked again. I really think she must not pay attention to how small our family is! He eats constantly, he can't eat anymore than he already does. He is chubby like any other baby! It kind of annoys me because she makes it sound like I don't have enough milk or I am feeding him wrong or something. He just gains weight slowly, sleeping uses up a lot of calories!
He still has bad eczema on his head and everywhere else, but his head looks really bad. So she is sending us to a pediatric dermatologist but it's going to be a long wait to get in there. We are trying different medicine until then. He had to get shots today. He was very sad and is sleeping it off now.

I just ran upstairs to try and find a baby pic of Taylor because I want everyone to see how much Syler and Taylor look a like but I only have 5 month pictures of Taylor. So Taylor looks a bit chubbier and older. They still look the same but I will wait until Syler looks a little bit bigger and post a pic of each of them. You wont believe how much they look a like! I looked at Taylor's weight while I was up there to and he was 14 pounds 7 ounces at 4 months and Syler is 12 pounds so I guess there is a bit of a difference. I thought Taylor was a small baby but Syler is even smaller. He did weigh less when he was born though.

Syler really likes his new stroller. I have taken him to target twice in it and he didn't cry either time, which is a MIRACLE because he cries anytime I take him anywhere! He also didn't cry in the car this morning on the way to the doctor. Maybe he is getting better! I might be jinxing it though so we wont talk about that anymore! Someone needs to remind me to take more pictures of him. I am not very good at remembering and I know I will wish I had them when he gets older.

We were all sick again this weekend. I felt like I had the flu again! How is it possible to have the flu twice in two weeks?!! I hope this is the last of it though. I am still coughing a lot though. The other two kids are the same as always. Taylor is about to start outdoor soccer, which he loves. Kinley is doing soccer again to but she said the other day she wants to do cheerleading after soccer is over. I kind of don't like that idea though. Spring break is next week. We should probably do something fun but I don't know what yet. I have regional singing competition on Saturday, I hope we win. Kinley is going to play at Autumn's house that day. She is very excited and asks me a million times a day how much longer until she gets to go. I guess I shouldn't have told her. Den is working as usual. He is playing soccer again this season and then will be going to school in Florida sometime this summer. We will probably go stay with him while he is down there. The kids haven't been to the beach in years, since California, so they should have fun there.

4 months

2010-03-11T15:15:00.002-06:00

Can you believe that Syler is already 4 months old??!! I can't believe it! He still sleeps all morning and is fussy in the afternoons, but he is getting better about it. I still can't really take him anywhere without him crying the whole time. He still hates the car. He does smile more though, when we are at home of course. He is getting a little bit easier. He still sleeps all night and I never even have to worry about him waking up because he doesn't, that makes me really happy. He still drives me crazy when I am trying to make dinner. He still wont take a pacifier. He still wont sit in his swing for long. He still want stay on his mat or jumper for long either. He still has pooping issues. He still has a horn growing out of his head, AKA eczema, and it's pretty bad. He loves me to hold him! He loves watching TV, which is a bad thing I guess, but whatever makes him happy! So he is still pretty much the same, but I think he is slowly, very slowly, very very slowly, starting to get a little bit easier, a little bit happier. He really does have the cutest smiles! Oh one thing he has learned that drives me crazy is he is sitting their nursing and he tries to look around now. So he eats and then stops and tries to turn his head, which doesn't work. Or he stops and lets go and smiles at me and then eats for 5 seconds and then stops and smiles at me. This really gets on my nerves because all he is doing is making a huge milk mess!!! His smiles are cute though and I guess I shouldn't laugh at him when he does it if I ever want him to stop.

He goes to the doctor for his 4 month appt. on Monday so I will update his weight and stuff then.
Here are pictures of his first time in his jumping thing, whatever it's called. I will call it a jumper. This was just yesterday, he seemed to like it a little, but not long enough for me to get anything done! His first time on his mat. He has two mats. He has been on the other one and he hates it, this one lasted like 5 seconds longer.

Stroller

2010-03-11T15:12:00.003-06:00

I bought Syler the coolest new stroller! I love it! For some reason our strollers always break after like one use. They never turn right and they are hard to push. The stroller hasn't broken yet! He has only sat in it this one time, for his picture, and it didn't break!!! It turns so smoothly, as of right now! I hope it stays this way!

Sick

2010-03-07T09:36:00.002-06:00

I am sick of being sick! Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had the flu. I thought I was going to die. Then I started feeling better Wed. but by that night I was coughing like crazy. I went to the doctor Thursday and my temp was 102, I have pneumonia now. I am still coughing up my lungs and my nose is just pouring out snot! Now Syler has the cold and he can't breath. Taylor went to his friends house Friday night and threw up there, now he has the flu. He doesn't seem too bad though. Kinley and Den haven't gotten it yet though. Hopefully they don't because I want the sickness to leave. I hope Syler doesn't get worse because it is so sad when babies are sick. My milk is really low to so I am trying to feed him a ton to get it back to normal but he can't eat very well because he can't breath.

3 or 4 Arms

2010-02-22T13:01:00.002-06:00

This is what happens when you need more arms. The little baby had to go into the laundry basket so I could carry everything! I think he secretly liked it!

Outside

2010-02-20T16:38:00.002-06:00

Syler's first time outside!!! He couldn't see because the sun was so bright. The weather is so dumb, just 3 days ago the kids had a snow day and today it is 60 degrees outside. On the way inside Taylor's soccer game I let Syler see the outside world. He is usually covered in his car seat or under a blanket or something, but today it was warm enough for him to look, except he couldn't really see with that bright sun.

More Chairs

2010-02-18T21:04:00.003-06:00

Here is a picture of our new living room chairs. I am going to find a pillow to go on each one sometime soon hopefully.

My new office chair at the desk. Yes the desk is kind of messy so don't look at that.
A picture of my inspiration. This is what it will look like when it is done. I just need to get the shelves and curtain. Our office is bigger than this closet so I will be adding more shelves and I think a bookcase.

Chair

2010-02-18T16:53:00.003-06:00

I just found the perfect chair at the best store! I have been looking for a chair for right here, right at this computer for awhile. I went to this little town, Nolensville, that is just down the road. It has all these antique stores that look pretty ghetto. Ghetto scares me but I have always wanted to go in these ones because I see cute things sitting outside. Well, they have cute things inside to! They have good prices to. I can't wait to go back! I would have gotten some other things but Syler was crying, of course. So if you need something cute go to THREE FRENCH HENS! They have everything, art, lighting, furniture, jewelry, etc.