Pics of the Birthday Princess and Miss Abby

Happy Birthday Isabel Rose!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE ISABEL ROSE! ONE YEAR OLD TODAY! OMG- time has flown by way too fast. I can't believe she is already one! We will not have birthday pics to share until after Easter. We will be celebrating everyone's birthdays from Feb- April belatedly when we stay in the Dells with Kendel's family next week. Kendel's parents missed all the birthdays while in Texas for winter, so we are going to kind of celebrate late for everyone. Kendel's was on 3/22, Abby's was on 3/16, mine on 2/8, and now Isabel's on 4/8. So, I'll post some when we get back.

Love to everyone.

Too much going on at once

Sorry hasn't been an update in awhile. There never seems to be much time for anything else lately, but thankfully Thaniel and Abby's sport seasons have come to end this past weekend, so that gives us a break from all the crazy running around all week long to practices (for Thaniel anyway, Abby has her gymnastics practice year round), and all weekend long to games and meets. So, hopefully things will settle down a little bit with that, but now Thaniel is driving me crazy with his "I'm so bored now" attitude with no more hockey to keep him busy and no more hockey to get his frustrations out on the ice. He doesn't know what to do with himself.

Abby just had her State meet this past weekend. She finally got her qualifying score at the meet two weekends ago to qualify her to go to State. She was so excited! She was really getting bummed that she hadn't met the score needed to qualify (which you have to get the score only once out of the whole season's meets to qualify), but I reminded her that this is her first year competing, and a lot of the other girls on the team, some whom have been competing for years, didn't qualify for State either. She is really hard on herself. But at the last meet before State, (where she got 3rd place on vault! woo hoo!) she got it!!! So, went off to Appleton on Sunday for her meet. Oma and Opa drove 3 hours to come meet me there to see her. They have been in Texas over the past 2 months escaping winter here, and keeping Grandma and Grandpa company down there. So, first time they've seen Isabel and Abby since Christmas. Isabel had her walking skills and 6 teeth to show off to Oma and Opa. She's getting to be such a big girl. Her vocabulary is "ohhhhhh", puppy, mummum, dada, and her favorite- "HHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"!!!! She says a long winded hi when you walk into her room to get her out of the crib, when you open the van door to get her out of her car seat, when someone new walks into the room... she's a friendly little one. Been into everything- her new favorite thing to do is scale the furniture! She's a monkey!

Well, big update to share about work. I have been training on 3rd shift at an assisted living facility to begin working weekends every Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Needless to say, I HATE it! Not just the lack of sleep, but the work environment itself. The residents all need a very high level of care, and the staff absolutely do not know the correct ways to handle them. They do not use gait belts, do not use the EZ stand available to them, do not do catheter care correctly, etc... they lift the residents under the arms, which is a huge "never do" to prevent injury to the residents frail arms and shoulders. I am extremely concerned and uncomfortable with everything I have been seeing during training. I talked with the manager, who I used to work with in the past, and now she is administrator there, and shared all of my concerns about what I had been witnessing, and she said she had no idea, and that she was glad I was there to set the right example on how things should be done. Yeah right! These girls don't want to be told by a new person how to do things or that the way they are doing it is wrong! They are really set in there ways and looked at me like I was crazy when I'd ask why aren't you using a gait belt, etc... they act like it's no big deal. The manager brought some of the things up that I mentioned in our staff meeting, and when I went in the next time to work, they pretty much had the attitude that what she didn't see wouldn't hurt her- that they had no intention of doing what they were told to do and would not be using gait belts, even though they were told at the staff meeting that they will have to sign a gait belt policy that gait belts will be used at all times, and you will be written up if they are not used. That didn't sink in. So, I don't know what to do. I'm miserable.

Anyhow, I'm home with Isabel and the kids all week, then work fri, sat, sun 3rd shift, and try to get some sleep off and on during the day. It hasn't been working out very well. I have been feeling sick from being so overtired.

Anyway, hope all is well with everyone else. Will try to keep updating more often.

Hockey

Thaniel's hockey team did well at the playdowns in Fond du lac this past weekend. They won both their games, and therefore won their chance to compete at State. So, Spooner it is this year for State.

Have been looking for work, but not much luck as of yet. Two of my past co-workers now have facilities of their own- Ann opened her own facility in Slinger, and Lynn is administrator at a facility here in West Bend. They both told me not to hesitate to call them if and when I decided to come back to work, since they knew I wouldn't be returning to Cedar Community (they weren't willing to work something out with me as far as a new part-time work schedule- either come back full-time, or not at all is what it pretty much came down to). I need weekend work only, so that has been difficult to find. They both only have prn work right now (fill in when others are absent from illness or vacation), so I may just do that and be patient until something more opens up. All other places locally are either not hiring for 3rd shift, or are hiring, but for part-time, which includes weekdays, which won't work for us due to Kendel's work schedule during the week. And if I worked weeknights, I would never get any sleep since I'd be up alone with Isabel all day, and only nap when she has her hour or so nap. I'm getting too old for no sleep like I used to do when working full-time 3rd when Abby was little. It took a huge toll on me, both physically and mentally. I was so burnt out all the time from exhaustion- got sick often. Don't want to go through that again. I need to get sleep to function. I'm still not sleeping well ever since leaving work after having Isabel. After working 3rd for so many years, I'm so used to being a night owl. Don't get to sleep most nights until after 1 am, and have to be up after 7:30am to get Abby off to school. Right after I usually just fall asleep is when Isabel gets up to nurse in the middle of the night, so then it is really hard to get back to sleep after that again. So, I am hoping I can find someplace closeby that will allow me to work every weekend (every Friday and Saturday night).

Hope everyone is doing well. Happy belated Valentine's Day! And thanks to those who wished me a happy 34th birthday- I'm getting old!!!!!!!!

Isabel the Giant

Yesterday was Isabel's 9/10 month well baby visit. She weighs 18 1/2 lbs. (has been thinning out due to being so active with crawling and walking along everything), which puts her in the 50th percentile for her weight. Her head circumference is in the 50th percentile, and low and behold, no surprise here.... she is over the 95th percentile for height. The pedatrician said she is the height of an average 19 month old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is only 10 months old!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said that if she stays on this growth course, she will be the height of an average 26 month old by the time she is 19 months old. CRAZY!!!!!!!!!


She is being tested for food allergies. She has a reaction any time she has eaten carrots or tomato based baby foods (rash on face, hives), and when she eats cottage cheese, little tastes of icecream, yogurt, etc....anything dairy, she gets really cranky, throws up what looks like spoiled, curdled milk (smells like it too), and gets diarhhea and blaring red bottom. So, we are concerned what I will be able to have her start taking after done weaning from nursing. I will be going straight from nursing to the sippy cup. She's great with a cup when she has her juice throughout the day in between nursing. If she is allergic to cow's milk, there is a good chance she is allergic to soy's milk also due to they share similar proteins that may be what she is allergic to. So she said I may not be able to even have her drink formula out of a sippy cup since most formulas are made from either cow's milk or soy proteins. I was hoping to wean her around a year old, but she is already starting to show signs that she will start to wean herself. She has been showing less interest in nursing unless it is before nap or bedtime (I think it is more of a comfort thing then, snuggle time with mom). She is getting more distracted and wanting to explore and get back to playing instead of eating as well as she used to. She is a great eater otherwise, as far as solids go, so I am not too concerned she isn't getting enough. I am just concerned about getting the results from the allergy testing to find out what I will be able to switch her to once she's done nursing.

She is also exhibiting some warning signs for a need for pediatric orthotics. When she stands, she doesn't stand on the bottom of her feet. Her feet roll inward and she stands on the insides of her feet where her arch should be. But she doesn't have any- her feet are flat. So at her next check up (when she will be hopefully walking and the pediatrician can see her actually in action and see how her feet position when she is actually taking steps) it will be decided if she will need orthotics, which can get very costly since she would have to have a new one made every time she outgrows her current shoe size, which we all know, babies feet grow like crazy. Especially hers! She has had big feet from day one. She is already in a size 4 or 5 in toddler shoes. The orthotics will help to eventually force her feet to form arches, so she will not have problems in the future. It is much easier to form them when they are little and the bones more soft and pliable, than to wait til much later and have more problems and be much harder to fix.


So, alot of info and some things to worry about, but hopefully we'll get the results back from the tests soon so we know where to go from here, and we'll just have to take things one day at a time with the possible need for orthotics. I read that they can cost anywhere from $300-$600 each time you get a new one made, and that most insurances do not cover the cost. We will have to look into Kendel's insurance to see if it will be covered. Otherwise, we will really be struggling to afford that kind of cost. But you have to do what you have to do. So it will be done.

I will update when I find out more.

Abby

Abby had a gymnastics meet in Sheboygan today, and won 7th place in her age group for Beam (which actually has been one of her more difficult events, but she really did great today!) This was her first time she got to have her name announced and go up on the podium to stand on the 7th place spot and accept her ribbon. She was so surprised and excited! I was so happy for her. She was wondering when she would finally get to place in an event. So she is thrilled.

No hockey games for Thaniel today. He can't play til tomorrow. He's feeling much better though.

Thaniel has a hard head!

Well, Thursday's hockey practice gave Thaniel a little more than he bargained for... he decided to use his head to hit the ice instead of his stick! He took a bad fall and hit the back of his head on the ice. Although he had his helmet on, he still hit hard, and felt a little dizzy at first. The coach said when Thaniel stood up, he seemed to be a bit in a daze and was leaning to the left when taking the first few steps after standing up. Thaniel decided to still try to finish the drills they were working on, but the coach noticed Thaniel was a bit slow going, and then saw Thaniel walk off the ice. The coach let Kendel know what happened, and they called me. Told them to bring him home. Had two sleeping beauties here at home with me, so he had to come home first for me to check him out before deciding if he needed to go to the hospital or not. Since he didn't lose consciousness or get nauseous, I decided to keep him home and watch him through the night, and if anything changed and got worse, I'd take him in. His eyes hurt and he had a bad headache, so had him use ice and take ibuprofen. He woke up this morning feeling much better, but still had a throbbing headache. So took him in to see the doctor this morning, where she told me he had a minor concussion (which I already knew), and for him to wait to resume playing for the amount of time his symptoms take to disappear from the time of initial injury. Meaning, if he still has his headache until tonight at 9pm, that means he had his headache for 24 hours, and would then have to wait an additional 24 hours before he can get back on the ice. So, he's not too happy about that, because he has 4 games this weekend! He'll be missing Saturday's two games, and we'll see about Sunday. I think he should take advantage of the break and try to relax a little tomorrow, since very rarely does he have a weekend day without a game.

Abby has a gymnastics meet in Sheboygan tomorrow. Wish her luck. She has been improving and working hard. Still struggling a little with her beam and bar routine, but improving at every practice on those two. She has her back handspring down now. She's glad for that.

Home Hockey Tourney

Thaniel's team won first place at their home tournament this weekend. Yeah! The last game was a great game to watch. They were down 2-0 until almost the last period, then caught up and tied the game. Went into 5 minute overtime, and the first goal shot won. It was an exciting game to watch. So, they won first place at their first tournament in Rhinelander, 4th place at the Green Bay Tourney, and first at home. They worked hard.

My little tadpole

Isabel had her very first swim experience in the YMCA pool this past Friday. She was so funny. The Y has 2 pools and a whirlpool room. The smaller pool is a lot warmer than the big pool- it felt like warm bathwater- which was great for her. The minute her and I entered the pool, she started giggling and kicking her little frog legs. She absolutely loved it. They have a lot of fun things for the kids to play with in the family pool, like swim boards, swim noodles, little rubber duckies floating around, balls... she had so much fun playing with everything. Her favorite was the ball. So, first time swimming was a hit. Planning on it being an every Friday night family night at the Y. (It's crazy. Friday nights are our only nights free out of 7 days a week - the only day without gymnastics and hockey practice, guitar lessons, games or meets, or Kendel's hockey practice and games too). Abby is a fish- she loves to swim, so she is happy about that. She is great at diving. Diving with Daddy last Friday. You can only imagine how much more graceful Abby's dives were as opposed to Daddy's near belly flops. lol Poor Thaniel has been afraid to enter the pool, even though he lovesswimming too, because his eczema has been acting up and his legs are really hurting him- so dry and irritated. So he skipped the swimming and played racquetball instead. Anyhow, it was a fun time. Thaniel has his home hockey tournament this weekend, so it is going to be crazy busy. 3 days of hockey, hockey, and then some more hockey, then Kendel has games on Sunday and Monday nights. No rest for the weary...

Just bought Isabel a riding/walking toy. She can either sit on it and scoot around, or you just adjust it and flip the seat up, and she can use it to hold onto/push while walking without mommy's help. She has been doing great. I foresee her walking and taking her first few steps on her own any day now. She has the whole standing and balancing thing down all by herself, now we just need to add some steps, and she's good to go. She's pushing that toy around all over the living room, then decides "I'm so done with this, now I just want to sit down and play with the toys on it..."

This weather can go to 'h' 'e' double hockey sticks! I'm so sick of winter I could just puke, and then puke some more! Actually, no, but I am so sick of this cold nasty winter- frigid temps, snow piles up to your chin... I'm praying for an early spring. Pray with me!!!!

Well, time to go make goulash while Isabel is napping. Gonna put it in the slow cooker. I love slow cookers. They make life a lot easier.

See ya.

Hello... and goodbye

Isabel has now mastered the art of opening and closing her hands and says a high pitched 'hi' to you and will wave goodbye to you! And her new favorite thing to do is turn the tv off and on. She is attracted to the light on the on/off switch on the front of the tv, and it is within her reach, so she is a magnet to it. Made Kendel put a piece of black tape on it to hopefully detract her from seeing it and pushing it. So far, so good. Out of sight... out of mind. For now anyway... she was a little girl with a one track mind yesterday. It didn't matter how many times she was told 'no' and taken away from the tv. The word 'no' does not phase her one bit. She thinks I'm being funny when I say it to her. She just looks at me and smiles the minute I'd put her down and head straight back over there. Same thing with the Christmas tree, cupboards, drawers, printer. She's relentless. She is just starting to learn how to show she is mad at you for not letting her have her way. If I take her away from something she shouldn't be doing, I try to distract her by giving her something else to play with. She swats it away or throws it on the ground and then whines and kicks to be put down or flails her hands up and down in the air, and if you are within her reach, you might get hit too! Starting tantrums already!!!! She gets over it quickly though. She's does the same thing if she see's me and wants me to pick her up- she usually only gets whiny like that if she is getting tired. Oh, the joys of temper tantrums!

I have been working with Isabel on brushing her teeth after every meal. She loves this! First I brush her teeth with the finger brush and baby toothpaste so I can scrub her teeth and gums good, then I give her her baby toothbrush to chew and brush with. I show her how mommy brushes her teeth, and she is a quick learner. She imitates everything you show her. She is a sponge. I told Thaniel and Abby they better stop fighting and arguing with each other, especially in front of her, otherwise she is going to learn and think that is how you're supposed to treat each other. She watches and listens to everything going on around her. She's a smart cookie.

This past weekend

So, this weekend was the usual running around for Abby and Thaniel's meets and games. Thaniel had a game in Kenosha on Saturday, and a game on Sunday in Cedarburg. Won both. Abby had a meet on Sunday. Left the house at 11:40am, meet was in Brown Deer. Had to be there by 12:30pm for warm up and walk in, then meet was supposed to start at 1pm. Yeah right! Didn't start until after 1:30pm. Competition was supposed to be from 1-3:30pm, then awards afterwards. Well, let's just say we didn't get out of there until after 5pm. These gymnastics meets are whole day ordeals!!!! Thank god they had an upstairs viewing area that we could sit to watch her from above, so that I had room to let Isabel crawl around and play and eat up there. We would have never survived in the bleachers for that many hours!!! Sad to say, you only actually see your daughter perform all 4 of her events (beam, floor, bars, vault) for a total of less than 10 minutes- the rest is all waiting for rotations and the inbetween practice time on each event before they actually perform. UGH!!! But she loves it, so what can you do?!! It is worth it for her, it just isn't exactly easy with Isabel. I feel bad for her not being able to crawl around and do what she wants. That's a lot of being held and having to stay in one place for such a long time. She was happy when we got home, that's for sure! Abby's team placed 2nd place- last meet they placed 3rd. So they have placed in the top 3 so far at every meet. Abby hasn't won any individual medals yet, but she is improving every meet. So hopefully she will soon. She has some tough competition. There are girls competing that have been in gymnastics a lot longer than her. I think Kendel now realizes what I go through at the meets- he realizes I wasn't kidding when I said there is nowhere to sit, that it is crazy at these meets and is an all day ordeal between hours at the competition plus driving time. We could have easily eaten both lunch and dinner there at the time it was taking from start to finish!

Isabel has been drooling alot again- I think she'll soon start teething on the top now. She only has her two bottom teethers so far. She is kind of a late teether. Didn't start getting teeth through until after 9 months. So, slowly but surely! She'll be walking soon! Mommy and Isabel have been practicing. She has been walking along things and has been doing a lot of standing and balancing on her own, not holding onto anything. She has taken one step towards me before leaning the rest of the way towards me for me to grab her. So, she is doing really good! Can't wait for her to start walking- yet dread it at the same time! She is a bundle of energy- she crawls at lightening speed everywhere, so you can't take your eyes off of her for a second, or she's gone. And trying to wash her face, change her clothes or diapers have turned into wrestling matches around here! She doesn't sit still for a second! A little squirmy worm. I get a workout trying to wash her up or change her. She loves baths, but hates her hair washed. She damn near drowns herself trying to get away from me when I'm trying to wash her hair. Even though I have one of those containers that has a soft rubber part you put against their forehead so that it forms a seal around their head so the water is supposed to stay out of their eyes. Well, yeah right, if they actually sat still and put their heads back nicely for you! I think I'm going to have to get her an actual bath visor she can wear instead, because the other option isn't working.

Well, Kendel still is doing well at work. Not sure if this is something he wants to do for the rest of his life, but it pays well, and even though it isn't exactly what he wants to be doing in his line of work (it has to do with what he does, just not the aspect of it he'd like to be working on), he's lucky to have just been transferred to a different department instead of being let go again. We're lucky he still has a job at all, so we're thankful for that.

Thaniel's grades have been improving at school. I'm very proud of him. He has been enjoying hockey, and has had two electric guitar lessons so far since Christmas. He got the electric guitar for Christmas from Mom and Kendel, that he had been begging for for quite some time, and lessons too.

Abby has been doing very good at her gymnastics, and school is going good too. She will soon start piano lessons once I find someone who will come to the house (to save me less running around than I already do) to do it. The piano was given to us by Kendel's mom Kay. Abby is VERY grateful that we have it here now. She has been impatiently waiting for us to get from there house to here, and now that it is here, she is playing it quite a bit. Thank you OMA!

Nothing new with me, other than I have rejoined the YMCA by changing our membership from Abby only back to family. Have been back once so far walking with Isabel in the stroller on the indoor track while Abby was at gymnastics practice and Kendel and Thaniel were playing racquetball. It truly is a great way to spend time as a family- getting exercise, and getting to swim is always fun too for the kids. I'm going to be humiliated to be caught in a swim suit right now, but I will wear a t-shirt over it and try not to think too much about it. Once I get in the pool with Isabel, I'll be fine. I have never been so heavy in all my life, and look forward to losing the weight slowly but surely since I'm still breastfeeding and losing it too quickly like I've done in the past wouldn't be good for Isabel. I will be really proud of myself once I start to lose. It sure is more difficult to get those first few pounds of that you want to lose when you get older. Nothing gets easier, that's for sure. My whole body hurts from all this extra weight. I don't want to be one of those moms that have to watch from the sidelines while their little ones are playing because they don't have the energy or the flexibility to get down and play with their little one. I want to be the active mom that is always running around with the kids and playing with them, not just watching them! So, I have to keep my eye on that vision. Spring is coming up soon, so I'm hoping to lose at least 20 pounds over the next 4 months. Even just that would probably make me feel better- my feet and back won't hurt as bad, and I won't feel so lethargic all the time. So, please wish me luck! I wish I had a workout partner, but don't know anyone... yet. All family and friends live too far away. Maybe I'll meet some other moms when going to the Y. Here's to hoping!

Well, that's about it for the time-being. Everyone take care, and hope Oma and Opa are enjoying the weather in Texas until March.

Love to all!

Latest pics

Isabel hanging out with the dogs on movie night with the family.

Isabel comparing tootsie toes with Newton! Too cute!

Still playing with Newton's tootsies!

Her new favorite seat in the house- the step stool. She is so cute when she sits on it- she swings her feet back and forth and gets really excited!

Isabel sitting on the stool again- she escaped me when I had just taken her pj's off to put her clothes on! Dressing and changing her diapers have turned into wrestling matches around here!

Had to include cute food face! She is having fun learning to feed herself!

Licking her fingers clean!

Daddy and Newton having snuggle time.

Just a cute face! Happily crawling and playing around!

Tired, messy food face!

Practicing waving goodbye. Almost has it down!

Playing footsie with Newton again!

Thaniel's hockey tournament in Rhinelander

Thaniel and Kendel were gone the past two weekends for Thaniel's hockey tournaments. Last weekend they won the Green Bay Tournament! 1st place! woo hoo!!!!!! Unfortunately this weekend up in Rhinelander didn't go as well- I believe they got 4th...? Abby spent the weekend visiting Nattie, Maria and Jarod at Uncle Chris and Aunt Wendy's house, and Isabel and I stayed home by ourselves. Unfortunately, Rhinelander was too far of a drive and too cold to go with Isabel, and would have been 3 days in a hotel room. Didn't think it was a good idea, so unfortunately Mom missed this, but Kendel tried to get some pictures for me, but a lot of them turned out blurry or dark. So here are some of the better ones. Kendel said the one picture is of this giant 'hodag' thing that is their mascott, and when their team scores, it supposedly comes out of the ice cave and the eyes light up and smokes or something. Interesting, to say the least!!!

Abby will be having her second meet this weekend in Brown Deer, so depending on when Thaniel's game is, they might be able to come to see her after his game, since it is in the morning, and she probably won't compete until the afternoon, so they might make it on their way back from Kenosha. They'd stop at the meet on the way home.

Gymnastics meet

Abby's First Gymnastics Meet

Abby's first gymnastics meet was in Waukesha this past weekend. She was very nervous, yet excited all at once. This was her first competition EVER! She did very good for her first time. I was very proud of her.