Pepper's 9 month check up at 10 months and a sick Daisy

Today PJ had her 9 month check-up...on the day she turned 10 months. Well better late than never! So some stats from the doctor:

Weight: 22.1 lbs butt necked! Which is about the 90-95%

Length: 30.5 inches- this put way off the chart- even for a 10 month old!

PJ just went through a growth spurt this last week, I know this because last Monday I put her in a pair of pajamas for bed time, they fit just fine, and yesterday I put her in the same pair and her toes were crumpled up in the feet of them! She's forever growing and changing, she wants to walk but is scared to let go. She laughs at every thing and everyone. She started vocal mirroring lately. My favorite was when I called her Bam-Bam the other day and she said it back to me! She really is Bam-Bam, if its in her hand she will bang it on any hard available surface. She quite the little character and her doctor was surprised today at how strong she is. The bad news from that appointment is that there is still fluid in her ears (she had an ear infection a week ago) and if it doesn't clear in the next two weeks we will retreat with antibiotics and if that doesnt work then hi-ho hi-ho off to the audiologist (for an ear tube consult) we go! I really don't want another kid with ear problems because that means we would be 3 for 3. However, proper hearing IS important and we will do whatever we need to to make sure she can.

A sick any kid is not fun, but a sick Daisy is even worse. I love my middle child dearly- she's like my mini-me- but she is the whinniest one of the 3 so far and now that she's been sicks its been aweful! I have been cutting her some slack because of the fever she's been running. It started Friday when she woke up and lasted until Sunday, no fever yesterday but it came back today. Not to mention the constant river of snot. I had James take her to the walk-in clinic on Sunday afternoon where after waiting for over 2 hours he was told she had an upper respiratory infection. Well, I didn't think that was the right diagnosis for her problem so I took her with me to PJ's appt. today and sure enough she has Influenza B. So her pedi started her on Tamiflu. I am hoping that this doesn't have much for side effects for her. I know some people don't do very well on it. She will be staying home the rest of the week and I feel like a total heel having to take her with me to school everyday to drop Baylie off, but I don't have much choice. I sure hope she feels better soon!

Baylie's 5th Birtday Party

Yesterday was Baylie's 5th birthday party. (Though her actual birthday is Wednesday) We had it at Godfather's pizza, and despite crappy weather, we had a really good turn out. Baylie got lots of great clothes for this spring and summer. She also got some new games for her Leapster (Thanks Grandma Donna and Meme and Pepe) and a book and some earings. And last but no least a new baby bed for her dollies (Thanks Jenni and Hadon). Here are the pictures from her party!

Here it is all set up!

The birthday girl with her Super Why! cake.


Opening up presents! Thanks everyone!!

Partying really wears a girl out. This is daddy reading her a bedtime story! She wanted to sleep next to her baby in her new bed!

This one was from a few days ago, but was too cute not to post.

The shirt she is wearing is 26 years old!

Kids Husband and Happenings....

Hello March and spring! Well it be update time again!
KIDS:
BAYLIE: Miss Roo turns 5 this month! Holy cow!! Her birthday party is on the 6 @ Godfather's for any that would care to join us. She's a trooper. Happy, loving, and very talkative. Mostly we understand all of what she says. She will talk with you about any and every thing that comes to her mind. If you know her at all you know that, that can be SEVERAL things in the span of a minute. On the way home today she talked with me about the signs she saw (recognizing the letter H! Yay!) ((if you wonder why I am so happy about that you should know that she has a really hard time with letters)) the gauges in my car, the passing airplane, trains, the sky and sun, and a few other things i have forgotten. The drive home takes me all of 10 minutes btw! We are trying to prepare for her kindergarten testings and screenings. Because of her special problems she will get two testings and a regular screening. We are hoping to mainstream her with an aide. She surprises me almost every day with the things that roll through that never quiet Brain of hers. Her memory for events is like a steel trap she can remember things that happened over a year ago, small things that I forget about until she tells me. She is very mechanically minded and a very tactile learner. My greatest challenge with her will be figuring out how to make abstract 2 dimensional things (like letters, numbers and words) into hands on, moving activities, and also figuring out what we can do to help her transition from one activity to the other. Transition is hard for autistic people. She enjoys teaching her sisters the things she has learned. Like letters or shapes or colors. They say we learn things best when we teach them to other people. This may have to be a concept I work into her learning. Which takes me to Daisy....

DAISY: AnnaBanana is stubborn and sweet, opinionated and loving. She won't do a thing unless she's ready too. This is one of those love/hate things. Her strength and ability to think for herself is a wonderful trait that I love, BUT it also makes things very hard to do. Take potty training for example. She has been ready to make the transition for...oh I don't know about 6+ months, but her stubborn hard headedness has prevented her from actually doing it until today. Then suddenly she comes to me and says she wants to wear panties, period, the end. She went all last night and all through school today without and accident. She has a mishap at nap time- but that happens and I didn't expect perfection on the first day. But she had to decide she was ready for it, we couldn't make her do it even though she was ready and capable. Daisy continues to LOVE LOVE LOVE school. Her teachers love her too. She has already begun to learn and grow so much from being there and she has just started! Daisy is very affectionate with her siblings and pretty much everyone else. And I often have to remind her (and Baylie) that Pepper needs her space and not to get in her face. And that takes us to Pepper...

PEPPER: Peaches is still my doll-baby. Though she's been sick lately. She started getting a yucky nose in December and when it hadn't cleared by the start of January I took her to the pedi. She had a sinus infection and was given amoxicillian. After that was finished she had a couple good weeks and then it was back again! So back to the doctor who gave us nose spray for allergies. That did nothing for her, so more antibiotics were given. Something called Cefprozil. It hurt her tummy but we gave it to her anyway. And then it cleared for a few day and came back AGAIN!!! But this time it came with a yucky cough and a fever (she reached 102 last night). So back the doctor today we went. She has an ear infection :o( :o( . So no more messing around, the doc brought out the big guns Zithromax. It stays in the system 10 days after the last dose which will take her to her 9 month appt. (which will be taking place on the day she turns 10 months lol). But as of today she was 21.11 #'s and 29.5". I don't know what % that is but I know its higher than most :). Despite being tire and sick she is still the sunniest child I have ever seen. She smiles and loves everyone. She loves to make noise, from banging things on the floor to rattling toys to talking she like to make what I call her music! She is still not walking but getting closer by the day. She observes her world and takes in everything she sees. She loves other babies and children and always wants to play with them or touch them. Even running a 102 fever last night at 1 in the morning she was still smiling and happy to see me when we went into the kitchen to let the Advil take hold. She has 5 1/2 teeth as of right now, two on the bottom and 3 1/2 on top. She is a total Daddy's girl too (just like her sisters) her whole face lights up when he gets home from work and she often won't go to bed unless she's seen him. That takes us to James...

JAMES: Hubby is LOVING his new job at L&H. He has already had a good raise and enjoys the people he works with. Just today is boss brought pizza out for the crew to the work site for lunch. This company truly believes in taking care of their employees and their families. James made the decision a few weeks ago to undergo an elective sterilization. (aka vasectomy) So the appt. is set for June 10th and yes I will update about that as he has asked me to come with him and hold his hand. His new job keeps him busy all day and the kids keep him busy at night. Most nights we are pretty content to just veg. for an hour after the kids are down for the night before we go to bed ourselves.

OTHER STUFF: With our taxes we got a new computer tower (yay!) and paid some bills off (yay again!) and then put some into savings. We are now the full owners of our mini-van, and our slowly whittling away at the rest of our debt. Not too much is new here in Soesbe-land other than the afore mentioned things :). I am so amazed that my oldest will be 5 and my youngest will be 1!! Its bitter-sweet to me that James is getting the big V. Bitter because I know we will never have a son- no one to carry on our last name. Sweet because I know we can't afford to have an accident and I need to get off the current method of prevention I am currently using. I am glad he volunteered for this and though it makes me sad to know we wont have that boy, I also know we are stretched thin enough with the 3 beautiful girls we have.

PICTURES COMING SOON. AFTER BAYLIE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Accountability

Accountabilit is not the ability to count. Accountability is being responsible to someone for some action.

So I am once again going to try for weight loss. Ihave 94 (yikes!) pounds to loose. Now the last time I was at my "goal" weight I was....um.....*calculating*looking through old pitures*.....wow I was about 15. Good golly molly really?! I suppose thats right. When I graduated high school I was about 170, and when I moved back up here I was about 180. After I had Baylie I porked on about 40 lbs. Then I lost about 20 to get prego with Daisy and pork on about an other 40 or so. I was the heaviest I've ever been when I was p/g with D and after I had her I didnt loose any. Then I got sick and dropped about 50 just to end up p/g with Pepper. I only gained 30 with her- lost some after but then gained it back plus 10. Which is where I am today. Fat and not real happy with the dimples, jiggles and rolls- not to mention the two chins!

So I, along with bff Jenni, am starting the South Beach Diet. We will be accountable to each other. Something we've never done. Weekly weigh-ins, lots of support, etc... There are a few people joining in the diet but not the accountability part- which is fine. Jenni's mom Tammi, my step sister Delilah will also be joining the chubb removal society. I hope each of us finds what we have been seeking with this diet/excercise program. Good luck everyone!!!

This is me this weekend. Note the two chins and short neck and flabby arms....

This is me my senior year of high school at islands of adventure note the trim arms, smooth jaw, and long neck (but a little leg and belly chub) ....

THIS is me at the tender age of 14/15 at the correct weight. No double chin, no flabby arms, nice long slender neck.

January and February UPdate :)

Okay so now that I have about caught up with the pictures from the past 3 months....

Lets Update:

Baylie:
Baylie has an actual diagnosis!!! WOO HOO!! I should probably not be so happy that my kid has problems, but as most of you know this 'diagnosis' has been almost 4 years in the making! Baylie had a doctors appointment in December with a geneticist. She has a triplication on her first chromosome. Which mean that instead of two copies (one on each set like you and me) she has a total of 4. What does that mean? We don't know because there is no other documented case- Baylie is the first. So still keeping with trying to help her be the best Baylie she can be we went to Billings to meet with doctor Nicholson. She is a neuropsychologist. After playing with Baylie, asking me lots of qestions and reading the evals and other doctors notes she concluded that Baylie has high functioning autism (aka. Asperger's). So we were not shocked, but relieved that finally we can move forward. She was put on Trazadone to help her sleep and so far its working good! Other than that Baylie will turn 5 in a few weeks and she got registered for Kindergarten to start in Fall 2011! Holy COW!!! I just dont know where it went. She continues to like school and is even starting to engage some of the other kids in playing (yay!)

Daisy:

Daisy turned 3 in December. She is a big pain in my butt, but I sure do love her! She started preschool at the end of January and is so far LOVING it!

Pepper:

PJ is one day shy of 9 months old already!!! Where did that go??! She has four teeth and uses them regularly. She adores her sisters and her daddy and has started speaking! Mama, Dada, lala (when i sing to her she sings lala back to me!) baba etc... She is trying hard to stand alone and pulls up on everything and now recently is now scooting along things (like the couch) holding on. Not much longer for her and she will be running with her big sisters!

spagetti face!

HI!

This is her bear stance- she tries to push up so she can stand but instead she just falls back on her tush!

James got a new job finally and loves it there. He now works for L&H Industrial. His offical title is oilfield/megadoor. He has been there 3 weeks and already has been given a good raise and his benefits are awesome. He come home happy now (sure beats coming home cranky all the time like he was) I think he found his forever job at last!

Next to bat: Christmas

Christmas 2010. Well let me explain. We have to have several "Christmases" though there is only one Christmas. We just have so much family that's divorced, living in other places, and not related that having one just doesn't work.
So the first Christmas was at my lovely sister and brother in-laws house with there two boy and my mother in-law. James unfortunately had to work late that night so he missed it :o(.


All of the kids wanted to sit with Josh to open their presents. Dustin is off camera in this shot. But sitting in Josh's lap is the newest addition to their family Ian!

Next was our family (at home) Christmas. It was nice as my mom and step dad joined us and we had a lovely day!

The stockings were hung by the tv with care....(check out those amazing dolls)

The tree after Santa came to visit. Never mind that angel up there, she was celebrating a little much.

Daisy and Baylie each got a new toy organizer. Baylie got a Fairy one and Daisy's is Princess.


This is Pepper trying to chew that present open.

This is Baylie holding her new dolly. These dolls (one the pic above, one B is huggin, and one beside her) were hand made by my grandma and they are amazing!

We actually went to Christmas Eve service at church and here are the girls in there Christmas dresses!

This next one is of Pepper at Baylie's Christmas program at school. Baylie was being very grumpy that night and i was able to get a good shot of her all dressed up :(. BUT PJ was pretty darn cute if I do say so...

Little behind oops!

So I will be doing SEVERAL posts today/night. My sincere apologies for slacking and I really hope to remedy this problem by getting a new computer very soon. (This one takes FOREVER to upload anything!!)

So I guess to start off- the pictures of Daisy and James' birthday party. Now most of you know that they share the same b-day so we have one party. This year, however, we did two parties. One small one on the actual day that was just us and then a bigger one on the weekend. James asked me specifically for the monkey cake that you will see. It is a monkey head shaped cocoa crispy treat covered with peanut butter to make the face and brownie ears and m&m eyes and chocolate liquorish for the rest.

Daisy telling me "I Love You"

Mr. Monkey-face

Daisy blowing out her candles

James blowing out his candles

Next the birthday party that was on the weekend. If you are wondering about the frosting, Wal-Mart. It like fell off the cake and i had to putty it back on- oh well it still tasted just fine!

The horses had some messed up hooves and fell over in the 'dirt' part of the cake, I had to attempt to fix it.

She didnt care all she saw was "HORSIES!!"

See them leaning- they were drinking a little too much Colorado kool-aid!

Me helping her with the wooden fairy house Aunt Bree got for her.

Our friend Whitney and Travis brought their sons over to help us celebrate. That's Ethan there by Daisy and just behind them is KaCee