17 Months Old

Kaitlyn is reaching the age when you need to stop saying she is "17 months" and start saying almost a year and a half. As I watch my little caterpillar grow it can be sad. Her baby features are leaving as she is taking on more of a toddler look. The big round cheeks of a year ago are now longer and thin.

I thought today was a good day to have fun hair. Kaitlyn did have four pigtails, but I had to take the back one out so she could nap. While changing her diaper she kept turning her head side to side because of the ponytail in the back. I think I should tie a thin pink ribbon on each of her pigtails. Hehehe... Oh just wait until she gets more hair and you will see some crazy stuff.

Reading Is Fundamental

I find it almost funny that people ask me about Kaitlyn and what she is doing. I've heard complaint about not seeing pictures of her. Hello!!! There are pictures right here on this site! Hello, you can find out tidbits of Kaitlyn right here on this blog while seeing pictures of her. Before you ask someone for personal info maybe you should read their blog! Ron Luce said once that before you ask a person questions you should read their books; they may just cover your question in the book. He said it's disrespectful to make them repeat something they've already made available to you. It's like telling them you don't have time to find the info yourself so you will make them work twice as much. I'm not really mad about this, but I am frustrated. At least if you check out the resources I've given you when we talk next you can asked better questions.

I know for many of you this doesn't apply. Many of my Teen Mania family we only communicate through our blogs. You know who you are, people who ask uneducated questions.

Strawberry Shortcake Outfit

I made Kaitlyn a new outfit by Sew Sensible with a Strawberry Shortcake print. She was a big hit at church yesterday. I also made her a big pink bow with a ribbon strawberry in the center.

I also made my cousin's baby a Strawberry Shortcake outfit for his daughter's 1st birthday. She is smaller then Kaitlyn and living in Southeast Texas so I shortened the top and bottoms to make them cooler to wear this summer.

Laci's bow is folded different then Kaitlyn's, but the strawberry is the same. I have a feeling she is going to look like she has ruffles sprouting out her diaper. Hehehe...

I made Laci a dress by CarlaC Dolly Designs out of purple Disney Princess fabric too. I added a ribbon around the waist so the dress could be cinched up to fit Laci's skinny Minnie self better. As you can tell by the tissue paper I snapped the last two pictures just before packaging them up to send off. I don't know if post offices in the US were closed Saturday, but our base post office was. I wouldn't have pushed to get everything done in time if I knew I couldn't mail it until this week; "everything" includes four additional bows then the two pictured.

My IVF ~ never ending

I never did update on how things are going. My IVF was never canceled nor has it progressed. All the deadlines I was given have all been like dead grass in the wind. Every two weeks I go back into the clinic, they give me more drugs and say two more weeks. There is more to the cost of IVF then just the financial aspect. Currently I'm paying the most physically over the financial and even emotional side of treatment. Nine and a half weeks of drugs that give you menopausal symptoms is not fun. If they tell me two more weeks this Monday I'm going to push the issue. I'm done taking the drugs. The injections no longer faze me, but the side effects are pushing me over the edge. If I'm drop dead tired I would rather it be from pregnancy not drugs. What's frustrating is by the time it's all said and done, given they don't put me off again, I will have had many of the same pregnancy symptoms I had with Kaitlyn, for 12 weeks then Lord willing do it for real for another 13 weeks. I guess the bonus is once I confirm I'm pregnant four of those weeks will be behind me.
As of right now I don't care to ever do this again. I guess it's a good thing that we can't afford a fourth round.

Potty Acquaintance

Kaitlyn has been doing a meet and great with the potty for a while now. She has started saying "tee-tee" and pointing to her potty chair whenever she goes into the bathroom. We have been trying to put her on the potty when she says this. She is getting much better at actually using the potty. I've decided to actually work on putting her on the potty more. This morning when I got her out of bed her first stop was the potty. After peeing I dumped the potty, let her flush the toilet, then put a diaper on her. A few minutes later she started making diaper noises - you know when she is a teenager she is going to love I wrote this online - I quickly dropped her diaper and put her on the potty. Sadly nothing, but noise resulted. Maybe another day we something other then liquid will go into the toilet.

Head Over Heels

Kaitlyn fell head over heels for her daddy yesterday. She really did. Her and I were upstairs and had been for 20-30 minutes when Neal came home. The dogs were putting up a fuss while they greeted him and Kaitlyn couldn't stand the anticipation. She kept inching closer to the edge of the top step. I called her name a couple times, but she wouldn't come back to me. I watched as she scooted forward just enough the balls of her feet were hanging off the top step. I quickly called her name while I took off after her. She barely got her toes off the step before she arched her back and went sliding down the stairs. When I saw her fall I started screaming her name. The last time I screamed "Kaitlyn" I noticed the fear in my own voice. I watched as she slid down a couple steps then did a somersault and hit the next step with her head while her feet were straight up in the air. As she flipped over she crumpled up and hit the wall. She barely stopped before I snatched her up. I was fighting tears and hyperventilation all at the same time. Thankfully she was fine. I'm sure her heart was racing just as much as mine afterwards. She did succeed in getting Neal to pick up his pace and hurry to the stairs.

45 Words and One Year Ago Today

It's not an easy thing to list all the words Kaitlyn can say. Since I started my list a couple days ago she keeps reminding me she knows more then I'm giving her credit for. Not counting "Mmmm" which I added because I thought it was cute, she is up to 45 words accounted for. There are some words she is currently working on I haven't added yet. As soon as I know it's a word she understands and uses I'll add it.

One year ago today Kaitlyn and I were back in the States and she was getting her ears pierced.

On that trip she met her Uncle Jeremy for the first time.
As well as her Papaw. One reason I wanted to go home when I did was because Papaw wasn't doing well. Whether the mom is fine with it or not he would feed every baby who came around. You really had to keep your eye on him because he would try feeding the baby anything he was eating. I guess he figures if he can gum it so can they. Many happy babies have toddled away from him after getting a taste of beans or cake. Papaw passed away a couple months after this picture was taken. We made it home just in time to have him feed one last great-grandchild.