Tyson as Salvador Dali

Remember how our buddy Tyson recently had his first paid modeling job in a Bealls ad?  Well, now he has finished his first television commercial!  Check it out :)

Photo Bomb

There's always someone that doesn't want to cooperate....

Once Upon a Time, Nine Years Ago...

February 2, 2003

Three Months Old and a Sensitivity

Kaelyn is three months old.  She smiles most of the time, though I have yet to get a picture of it.  I get happy pictures, but not her real, big grin, which is so cute.  She giggles when she thinks something or someone is funny and she is very ticklish.

All of this is a welcomed change with my little girl.  I don't know that I have mentioned it before on my blog, but Kaelyn has been a very fussy baby from about two weeks on. 

 It started out slow with just fussing at night for a little while. Then, it turned into fussing and crying for five to six hours straight every night. Then, it turned into fussing anytime that she was awake...to the point that I couldn't wait for her to just go to sleep! Then, it turned into her fussing/crying/and screaming, along with some back arching. Then, her bowel movements became extremely foul smelling.  She is a 100% breastfed baby, yet her poops did not smell like it and they were not the right consistency (very runny/watery).

 I googled.  I talked to friends.  I googled some more.  I had even mentioned her fussiness to her pediatrician at her one-month check-up, but it was more or less excused as a fussy/colicky baby.  I have not talked to her pediatrician about her symptoms getting worse.  I googled some more. 

Everywhere I looked, I got the same answer.  I struggled with the results for a while, hoping it wasn't the case, because it would mean a diet change for me.  But the symptoms were getting worse and I knew it was time for a change.  What were my findings?  Kaelyn is sensitive to dairy.  This is a fairly common problem for babies.  It doesn't mean they are allergic to milk, but that they are sensitive to the proteins in cow's milk...this is different than being lactose intolerant.  Kae's doctor and I had discussed this at her one-month check-up, but because she was not spitting up and she was gaining weight, it was dismissed as "probably not the case". 

So, I have given up almost all dairy.  I am keeping butter in my diet for now, but not eating any other dairy or any other foods containing dairy.  The lactation consultant that I spoke with told me that the proteins can stay in my milk for up to two weeks.  She told me to go ahead and keep the butter for now, but if her symptoms don't go away, I may have to give that up too. 

I have been off dairy for eight days now (Any suggestions for dairy free meals?????).  By day two, we had a different child.  She was happy and content while awake!  What a blessing!  Since then, there have been good days and rough days as her body adjusts, but overall, things are going much, much better.  I have always loved my baby dearly, but I am able to enjoy her now :)

Since I have removed dairy, Kae is happier and she now does tummy time for longer periods of time without fussing :)

Other developments:
- gets excited to see people
- gets upset if she is ignored
- she's a drooly baby, but not to the point of soaking her clothes - she usually just has some spit bubbles around her mouth

- plays with rattles and other small toys
- stands in her jumpy activity center (not sure what they are called)
- LOVES being outside
- Is still adored by her sisters :)


Things I LOVE:

Sweet baby hands


and feet

and this sweet little swirl

My favorite time of the day is in the morning.  Ella wakes first, followed by Arin, followed by Kaelyn.  The big girls climb into my bed, so excited to see their baby sister.  They talk to her, sing to her, and hug & kiss her.  Such special, sweet moments :)

Photo shoots are tiring :) 

29 Memories

I saw this idea on my friend, Abigail's blog, and I knew right away that I wanted to borrow it for Andrew's birthday.  I sent a request to all of our family and mutual friends on Facebook, asking that they send in a memory or a few memories of Andrew (from any time in his life).  I wanted to fill 29 envelopes with these memories.  I ended up having 22 people participate in this project, but because some people sent in more than one memory, I was able to fill all 29 envelopes with at least one memory.  I didn't give people very much notice with this project, so most emailed me the memories, but we also received a few handwritten memories.  Andrew got memories from some of his family, some of mine, an old college buddy, and a few family friends.  The memories brought him back to a few moments that he had previously forgotten about and there were some memories that we speak of often.  There were LOTS of laughs.  Andrew really enjoyed this project.  Thank you to everyone that too the time to participate and make Andy's day even more special and thank you to Abigail for the idea!

29 Days for Daddy # 28 & 29

Day 28: The Gift to Choose

On this day, I let Andy choose what he'd like as his gift.  As it turns out, it was the exact same thing that I had originally planned for him.  He chose homemade cinnamon rolls, using his mom's recipe.  I have not made them yet, but will in the next day or two. 

And so that brings us to Day 29.  The final day for this project.  Originally, I was going to title it "The Gift of a New Experience" or maybe "The Gift of Flight" but as it turns out, I think I will name it "The Gift of Disappointment" or if I am looking for a positive spin, I could call it "The Gift of Safety".  No matter what you call it, it did not work out.  Bummer! 

I took Andy out to Wallaby Ranch this morning, where we had intended for him to hang glide.  But, as soon as we arrived, they said it was too windy and they would not chance it.  So, it just didn't work out, but it is something to look forward to.  We will try it again in a week or two.

While we were there, the girls played on the playground, which they loved. They did not see this as a disappointing trip at all. (and of course, Andy would rather be safe than take a risk)

29 Days for Daddy: #25, 26, & 27

Day 25: The Gift of Entertainment

I had planned going to the movies as one of Andrew's gifts, but last minute decided we'd just rent a movie to watch at home (you know, easier with the baby).  The girls and I went to Redbox and picked out the movie.  They really wanted to see "Cars 2", but it was out of stock, so we picked "Zookeeper".  I set up a blanket on the living room floor and we had a picnic dinner as we watched the movie.  I thought, "Ok, it's Kevin James.  Andy likes Kevin James.  And it's talking animals.  The girls love animals and what could be more fun than talking animals?  This will be great."  Wrong!  There were talking animals, but it wasn't really a kids movie.  It was "how does the guy win the girl?" kind of movie and the animals give advice.  Lame for the adults and too old for a three and five year old.  Disappointment, but the picnic dinner was fun :)

Day 26: The Gift of a Favorite Dinner.

One of Andy's favorite meals is Hot Wings.  We ordered his favorite take-out wings - enough that he could have them for several meals :)

Day 27: The Gift of the Night Sky

Our local astronomy club hosts an astronomy night once a month, which is open to the public.  Andrew loves astronomy, so we signed him up for the class.  Andrew and I had gone to an astronomy night once in Hawaii.  It was a lot of fun.  We looked through the high-powered telescopes at different constellations and what not.  I had it in my mind that this would be a similiar event.  Nope.  There was too much cloud cover, so we did not get to look through the telescopes tonight.  Instead, it was a two hour class about different types of telescopes, and looking at pictures of the night sky that some of the members had taken, etc.  The good news is that Andrew loved this.  He was able to meet some people with similiar interests and he plans to meet with them again.  The bad news was that we brought the three kiddos, expecting to let them see the sky through the telescopes, which didn't happen, so it was terribly boring to us.  Next time, Andrew will do this by himself, which I am assuming will actually be even more fun for him.  No pics of this event, since we were just sitting inside the whole time.