New things all around!

I'll have to post pictures later today.  

It's 4AM and I haven't been to sleep yet.  

I just wanted to tell you that you guys are amazing me.

Delsin & Kai you completed your first summer reading program and not one but...

two libraries.  You won some neat prizes: pass to Wilson County Fair, Nashville Sounds tickets, Jimmy Floyd Center passes, certificates of completion, gift certificated to Mc Donald's.  

And I am so very proud of you.

Carolina, you showed me yesterday that you know how to push a chair up to where you want to climb, and you also chewed gum for the first time.  It's not the first time you've been given gum, but you didn't swallow it today.  In fact, you kept yours longer than I kept mine.  Way to go!

Enoch,  I've been slacking in telling you that you got your fifth tooth a week ago.  Then this past Saturday you got your 6th tooth.  YOUR top, center, left and right respectively.  You look so cute with all those teeth when you smile!  Today you played hide n seek by hiding your face on my chest.  I'd say, "Where's Enoch?"  over and over a few times, then you'd raise your head up and look me in the eye and giggle while I said, "There he is!!"

Tonight Tristen is spending the night with us.

I'm very proud of all of your.  And I love you all so very much!

Kissing is your favorite thing on Earth

I was just going to come on here and post a ton of beautiful pictures I have of you and tell you how your kiss has changed since a week ago.  Enoch has started crying .....and the cat keeps sitting on the keyboard and erasing things, so I'm going to make this quick and to the point.  About a week ago you suddenly started making a smooching sound when you'd kiss me.  You've been pursing your lips occasionally in the last few weeks, but now you're full on kissing.  And you've always kissed a lot, but I've also noticed you hugging and kissing all of the animals a ton too.  I mean several (SEVERAL) times during the day you'll just stop when you see them and lay down on top of them and kiss on them and hug and say "mmmmm".  And they all love you for it.  Anytime your taking a nap Smitty either goes and takes a nap in your room at the same time, or goes in and out of your room checking on you.  It drives me crazy, 'cause I'm always afraid he's going to wake you up.  I gotta go, but I love you Carolina!

More potty chair success!

Gosh you are a beautiful girl!

I just wanted to tell you that after I typed up your last entry you went pee in the potty chair and have done it several times since.  You've also put one more poo in there too.  

You're so smart!

You used your potty last night!!!

First let me give an update on your MMR shot side effects.  That fever lasted for over two days.  I kept calling the Dr's office and they kept telling me that it wasn't related to the MMR vaccine, but I don't believe them.  First of all when Audrey took Annalee to get hers and ran a high fever with rash and blisters in her mouth that same day, they told her it couldn't be related to the MMR.  When I questioned your Dr. about it he said the same thing that those symptoms could not be related to the MMR vaccine.  He said that it would take one to two weeks for those symptoms to show up and that Annalee's reaction was probably caused by her Dr. likely giving her MMR shot at the same time as the DTaP vaccine.  So then when you got your high fever, that was not contagious to any other members of our family, it fit with what our Dr. told us would happen.  Yet when I called the office the nurses kept saying that it could not be related.  First I was told that the fever was too high.  Which contradicted the fact that the Dr. told me it WOULD be a high fever.  Then I was told that it took too long to get the fever, that you should have had a high fever FOR 7-10 days after the shot.  That contradicted everything I'd been told before.  I hate to say this but I seriously don't trust a single thing that any medical professional tells me when it comes to vaccines.  Either they are complete liars or have no idea what they are talking about.  The good news is that you pulled through this just fine.  We kept alternating the ibuprofen and acetaminophen until you showed no fever.  It just so happens that because of me staying up late with you each night I slept through my alarms the next mornings and that's how we realized that you were still feverish the next morning and not the final morning.  Also, your fever would start to climb right at 4 hours between medicines.  It was quite stressful.  I'm so glad that is over.   

We noticed you trying to go potty and as I was holding Enoch I asked Daddy to wisk you off to the potty chair.  He did and you finished your business on the potty chair making it your first time to actually put something in there!!  We are so proud of you!!

Hopefully we can keep this up so that you get used to the routine of using the potty when you need to go poo.  That's the easiest part.  Trying to get you younguns into the routine of going pee pee in there has always been the most difficult part for me.  We'll see how this goes.

I love you Honey!

 I want to mention the new word.  Just a few days ago we finally realized that "Dapa" is your way of saying "diaper" and that when you say it you are letting us know that you need a new one.  Love it!  Keep up the good work Sweet Pea!

MMR shot

You're running a fever tonight.  A really really high fever.  About 2 weeks ago you got your MMR vaccine and they told us that one of the side effects is that 10 - 14 days later you could run a really high fever and have a rash.  Well, here we are.  You don't have a rash, but this afternoon when we got home from Girl Scout cookie selling you didn't look like you felt good so I felt of you and you were warm.  I took your temperature and you had a fever of 104.2.  I gave you some acetaminophen and a popsicle and it came down.  Just a few hours later it was back up and I gave you some ibuprofen and a room temperature bath.  You didn't like that but you went along with it.  You are such a good girl.  I'm so proud of how you keep your sweet disposition, even in the event of a sickness.  You had your first stomach virus about 2 weeks ago.  You were vomiting.  You did eventually get real grumpy with that one and it took a few days to get out of that grumpiness.  I really hope that you get over this before morning.  I love you so much and don't want to see you sick.

A few things that you are doing new:  You are running and saying more words like diaper, dink (drink, that one's been around for a while),  and some words that you've known for a long time are Mama, Daddy, Bye, and Hey.  You love electronics. I'd say they are you favorite thing to play with and baby dolls are your 2nd.  The play kitchen is 3rd or maybe your radio flyer thingy is.  It sits on a hill and you ride it down. Every where we go people comment on how special you make them feel when you hug on them.  Even strangers.

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa.

     Carolina, you have decided to not take anymore naps.  It's quite a lot of drama around here right now.  That Christmas vacation that your older brother and sister took from school did quite the number on your routine.  You wanted to stay awake as long as they were awake and play with them as much as possible.  Now you're sleeping late, not taking a morning nap.  You should be taking your afternoon nap right now, but instead you are in there protesting.  I'm trying to make you a Valentine's dress in time for a contest.  The deadline is tomorrow and I haven't even gotten the pattern drawn out yet.

I just watched you do a new thing.  I watched you take my sewing machine cover and push it up against the bookcases.  Then you proceeded to climb on top of it and get down books that you couldn't reach before.  Each time you would get a book you'd throw it to the ground, climb down, take it to a pile you were making, and then come back and climb back up to get another book.  I would have grabbed the camera, but I was feeding Enoch at the time.

You are getting so grown now.  You are using a fork and spoon as best as you can.  You wipe your face when you have food on it, with a napkin.  You grab the mouse to the computer every chance you get and try to maneuver it around.  Today you started clicking things and hung up on your daddy while we were talking on Skype and I had you in my lap.  You've stopped throwing your drinks on the floor, as much.  You and your brothers and sisters got a small table and chair set for Christmas and you just love to sit at it and eat.  I'm so proud of the lady you are becoming.  I love you.

You're not a baby anymore....

Officially you are a toddler, but you'll always be my baby girl and I'm hanging on to that for dear life right now.

You are walking so well now.  When you get tired you fall a lot, but you're hardly waddling at all now. I was so happy because I thought I had gotten some cute video of you waddling around naked.  But I just looked at it and realized that I turned the camera sideways while filming!!!  I may have to take another.  You still waddle a little bit.  More than you ever will again, I bet.

You are so smart.  All the time I am amazed at how I can tell you do to something and you show me you understand.  Today, during church you started getting antsy (we placed our membership at First Baptist Church in Hartsville today) so I took you to the entry way to let you walk around.  I noticed that right before you would pick up something that I hadn't told you not to pick up, but you knew you shouldn't you'd say to yourself, "Aaaghnt".  That lets me know that you understand there are somethings you shouldn't mess with, even before I tell you.

Halloween was awesome.  You and Enoch were peas-in-a-pod.  

He's stretching as the picture was being taken.

You got to do a little trick-or-treating this year, and you enjoyed plenty of candy too.  Mostly you shared Delsin and Kai's booty while Daddy and I ate yours.  But we all had a blast and I thought it fitting that you were a sweet pea, considering that is your nick name.

You and Kai are becoming such great friends. 

You get so excited when the bus comes and you stand at the storm door and press your face against it making Delsin and Kai laugh when they walk up the sidewalk to come in the house.  Kai has a lot less homework than Delsin, so she gets done much faster and then you and she play hide and seek as soon as she's done.  That girl loves to hide and let you find her, so much that I don't even think she realizes she's doing it all of the time.  And you are always so good at finding her.  You've been doing this for several months now, even when you were crawling.  I think that you must be able to find her by smelling her because sometimes she comes in and hides in the absolute best places and there's no way you could have seen her.  Then by the time finally waddle in the room you just go right over to where she is and find her.  It cracks me up.

I try to get video of you and all of your antics, but it's hard.

It's even harder to upload them to this blog page.  I need to get in the habit of putting them on our private Youtube account, I guess. 

Have I told you lately?

Your first birthday was a blast.  You were so funny and cute and sweet.
Here are some new things you're doing:
You started throwing fits the day before your birthday.  If you wanted to be held for no reason, you let me know about it.
You started walking a WHOLE lot more the day after your birthday, and now you're walking all over the place.
You are gabbing like crazy and started saying "Daddy" last week.  And it's so sweet to hear you call out for him when you wake up, sometimes.
You've stopped eating vegetables.  Ever since your daddy shared a steak with you a few weeks back you won't touch a vegetable or bread.  It's all hot dogs and steaks or burgers/lunch meat.  You're definitely a carnivore by nature. 

OK I've got to go fix breakfast for Delsin right now.  Kai's getting caps put on her teeth today so we're gonna spend some time at the hospital this morning.  I love you sweetie.

You Are Crawling!!!

For the past several weeks now you've been scooting backwards.  So last Thursday, when you took off like you were in a race it took me by such surprise that I actually screamed out loud.  Then Delsin and Kai did too.  Your daddy came running in from the other room, to see how badly you were hurt because we had scared him.  You saw a piece of scrap fabric laying on one end of the rug, it was shinny, and you had to have it.  I declared you a girlie girl because you are attracted to shiny things.

Then, this past weekend you got your 3rd tooth!  Officially!  It's on top and it's your left, 3rd from the center, tooth.  And you are such a pro at eating.  Tonight you had chicken quesadilla and loved every bit of it.  You get so upset if you see someone sitting at the table and if you smell food and you haven't been given anything.  In fact, you look like your feelings are really hurt.  I might have to get a video of that tomorrow, or sometime soon.  I have jury duty selection tomorrow.  Georgia doesn't have a law exempting breastfeeding mothers from jury duty, so it looks like I'll be pumping and you'll be learning how to accept a bottle.  Good luck with that.  Good luck to both of us, actually.  Pumping is very uncomfortable and I never get as much when I pump as you can efficiently extract from me.  But I am excited about the possibility of participating in a jury.  I've never done this before.

Well, it should be official sometime around November.  We just found out two weeks ago.  Daddy is out of work, so we have taken the past two weeks to get approved for medicaid and I really should have looked for a Dr. today.  I could use Dr. Spainer.  He's the Dr. who was supposed to deliver you, but his partner did.  He did provide us our prenatal care.  I could see him, but he doesn't do water births.  I really, really, really, want to have a home water birth, but with Daddy being out of work I'm not counting on that.  I wish though.  It costs out of pocket though to have a midwife and a home birth.  It would be so cool though.  I'll pray for God's will to be done.
Here are some more pictures that we've taken of you over the past few days.

 A day at Fernbank Museum...

We've had a lot of fun this past month

Let's see if I can post something without overloading in pictures...

Oh who cares!  You're beautiful and we want to see pictures!

Your first bath with the big girls...

Your first Urick ladies luncheon at the German Bakery...

Precious!

And your first time to eat steamed green beans and roasted chicken!

Carolina, about 2 weeks ago you started sitting up alone for a minute or two at a time. 
Then Wednesday night, when we dropped you off at the nursery at church all of the babies in there had learned to crawl or walk.  Well, the next day you were hollering at me while I was in the kitchen and you were on the rug.  When I looked over at you, you were on your hands and knees rocking back and forth, and scooting backwards.  Shortly after, you started picking up your legs and moving them forward.  You didn't move your hands though, so you just kept falling on your face.  But you never cried, just brushed yourself off and got right back up at it.  A couple of days later I got down on the floor and you watched intently as I crawled in front of you.  Then you started moving your hands like mine.  You almost have this crawling thing down.  You just need to figure out how to move your legs and arms in the right order, to get it. 
It won't be long!!!

Your 6 month appointment

(You like tomatoes!)

I wanted to tell you that on Sunday you had three teeth.  On Monday you only had two teeth.
Sounds crazy huh?  I'll bet you're wondering why and how that could have happened.  Well, Tuesday we went to the pediatrician's office for your 6 month check up.  I mentioned it and Dr. Tenenbaum said that you actually only had two teeth and the third one, the one that came in 2nd, was actually a cyst on top of your tooth.  It was more white than your other teeth.  He said that it popped because your new tooth popped it as it's pushing up.  You do have a little nub there.  And you've been sooo fussy since last week.
You are growing like a weed and have gained 2 lbs since the last visit.  Dr. Tenenbaum said you were doing great.  Nothing like the last appointment we had with his nurse tech.  I forget how long you are now.  I can probably check that out.  You got three vaccines, and you were not happy about it.  I love you so much Carolina Jane.  So do Delsin and Kai.  I'll try to remember to post some pictures tomorrow.  I'm really tired.  It's 2:22 AM and you are going to be waking me up soon for breakfast.  I've been stealing time trying to work on your Easter dress.  It's a bishop and the first one I've ever attempted to make.  I'm crazy, because in addition to teaching myself to smock, I've got quite a following on my blog and youtube.
Good night sweet lovey baby!