Time to Shed

Recently, I have truly desired the need to shed some of the "unnecessary" in my life. I have always been an overly sensitive person; allowing words, actions, circumstances to bring me down or upset me. One of my many flaws! But, I have been blessed with some wonderful people and things in my daily life this year that have made me realize how unnecessary the "unnecessary" really is!

Staying at home with two active and not always super sweet girls at times, has mellowed me out!! I have learned that life's waves, God's path, is going to prevail over my own and therefore to sit back and learn to surf.

Lots of prayer and encouragement from Aaron has motivated me to rid myself of some stress factors. Words, actions, circumstances that are not exactly ideal, will be thrown out. I have too many other things in my life demanding my love, support, time, and positivity and I can't afford to be brought down by them any longer. Easier said than done, I realize. And I am still me and still very human, so I will fail many times. However, I feel as though this will only bring out a better me as time goes on.

I had already begun to shed some of the unnecessary and took another big step again yesterday....10 inches cut off my hair! Oh boy! Unfortunately, no pounds will be shed for quite some time!

Wordless Wednesday

Swim Lessons

Brooklyn finished her first set of swim lessons this week. She had such a great time and definitely gained some more confidence in the water! New googles and peer pressure probably aided in this, but she was ready this summer whereas I don't think she was last summer. It took some time adjusting again to swimming, just like every year, so it's a good thing we had a few dips in different pools to "get her feet wet" before we started our lessons last week. She has by no means become fearless, but has begun putting her head under water more, holding her breath better, and really trying to get around without holding on to an adult. She still struggles with putting all the skills together (kicking, arm strokes and placing her face in the water) to successfully swim because she arches her back so hard trying to keep her head above water, making her legs sink down and her arm strokes small. Ha! Doggy  paddling, basically! But given her new excitement, it has been well worth it. We are discussing enrolling her in another session again. 

Here are a few pictures of her and a video of her getting to go down the big slide at the end of each week of lessons (hopefully the video works!)

Round 1

So far, blow after blow, I have been severely defeated in round 1 of this third pregnancy. Never experienced with Brooklyn or Cayleigh, Baby #3 managed to hit me with nausea, migraines and a horrendous upper respiratory infection. The nausea never led to a lot of vomiting until I got sick and then it was 2-3 weeks worth of daily toilet visits with lots of mucus coming up. The migraines were the kicker; forcing a whole new meaning to couch potato, in my eyes. They would get so bad at times, I literally couldn't even move. Thank goodness my girls have no recollection of "lazy mommy" not playing on the floor with them and not enduring the bright sunlight to take them on walks and to the park. And let's not forget, of course, the well-known and beloved fatigue! 

This has not been the same easy going pregnancy at all!

But, the bell has rung and round 2 looks to be an even fight!

Here Fishy, Fishy, Girl

Aaron found a new fishing pole for Brooklyn at a clearance sale and it has been the "main event" since. The girls and Daddy have played with it almost every day. Daddy decided to hook the girls the other night....night time laughs and giggles! Oh, the things we do to entertain our children :)

Cayleigh was not a huge fan of the line being on her, so the pictures of her are pretty entertaining. She's saying "ow" in many of them!!

Brooklyn loved it and started to make a game of out running the hook!

Daddy's The Big 3-0!!

Today, Aaron turned 30 years old! I don't know that it feels any different than any other birthday in either of our eyes, but its still crazy to think about it. Preparations for a special dinner began yesterday when Brooklyn picked out all the items to make him a cake. We baked it yesterday and then began dinner early this morning.

Marbling the fudge into the cake batter

Brooklyn decorated most of his cake, icing the top (I did the sides), drawing a smiley face with icing gel, putting sprinkles all over and then counting and placing each candle! Man, she is so me with her meticulousness....oh no! Dinner consisted of wedge salad, Cajun slow cooked pulled pork sandwiches, southwestern corn slaw and roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon butter. Yummy!!! Gamma and Gampa Hein joined us for dinner and we all sang Happy Birthday with cake!

Drawing on the smiley face

All sprinkles added!

 We are 3 very lucky girls!

Helping Daddy blow out ALL 30 CANDLES!!

C's Check-up

Cayleigh had her 18 month appointment yesterday and it went well. She weighs 25lbs (50th %) and is 32.5 inches tall (75th %). She is right on target with development and only had one vaccination and blood drawn.  They offered a new eye screening which we decided to have done and she passed the exam! C was very dramatic and screamed a lot during her appointment for no reason. It was quite entertaining, at least that will be my nice way of describing it. 

Dr. Martin is going to have us continue on the lactose free milk and she how things go; watching and waiting to see how she does when she has other dairy products throughout the day as well. He suggested some chewables that can be purchased and taken before each meal to help her, but said to wait for a bit and see how things progress since we are just now "discovering" this possible issue with her. 

Hopeful Answers

Cayleigh has always been so very different from Brooklyn. IN EVERY WAY!! Good sleeper, like B....definitely not!! We have always known that she has some kind of digestion issues since we were referred to the gastroenterologist when she was 2 months old, but no real answers have ever really surfaced. We have just gone on our way and dealt with the many nights she would wake and need a burp or soothing or something. For a little while, she was sleeping great, but there were never week spans where she would sleep the entire night without ever waking. At least, not that Aaron and I can recall.

Over the past couple of months, we have been trying to assess what she may have eaten that day that would cause her to be uncomfortable in the middle of the night. It was puzzling?? And again, after experiencing the doctors early on with her, we knew they would do exactly what we could be doing: Guessing! Why spend all that money on seeing them when they were pulling at random strings just like we were? 

Is it _______?

Try ______.

Finally, it hit Aaron and I!!! Duh!!!! What was a common thing every single day? MILK! Maybe she is lactose intolerant? We immediately switched her to a lactose free milk with added vitamin D, she drank it and loved it still and BANG, first restful night :) Ok, great! We are now going on a week straight of no issues with Cayleigh waking at night uncomfortable. She did wake Thursday night and ended up burping, but after talking through her diet that day, we realized she had more dairy products than usual. So, she maybe more intolerant than we think. I have done some research on the internet and we will continue to monitor it all and keep our fingers crossed. She has her 18 month check-up this Tuesday and I plan on grilling her pediatrician for more information and insight about a lactose free diet for her. 

Right now, we are just grateful that everyone in the house is sleeping more soundly each night. And hopefully, solving some problems with our sweet Cayleigh girl.

She loves to do exactly what sissy B is doing!