Winter Jam 2009

Kevin in the Tobymac shirt he got at the concert

Mike took Friday night off last week to take Kevin to Winter Jam 2009. Kevin's favorite Christian singers were there... Tobymac, Brandon Heath, Newsboys, and a few others I can't remember. Mike and Kevin were able to be seated before the masses rolled in, and the coolest thing happened: Several of the Newsboys stopped to chat with Kevin while they were walking to bring their wives some bottled water!! He thought that was just awesome!

Kyliava's First Haircut!

This is the before, her bangs were a little long and in her eyes:

This is the after...

Her hair is still a lil' bit wet and unstyled, but you get the idea :o)

More Pics of our Twins!

Since Kayla chose Leah's name (the mommy goat) and Kevin chose Blaze's name (our toddler boy goat) we decided to let them name the babies, too!

The picture above is of Alex, our new baby girl goat, making her first attempts at nursing.

The picture below is Biker, the baby boy, standing for the first time. They are each about an hour old in the pics!

We have twins!!

Mike looked out of the living room window a little while ago and shouted, "Honey, it's happening!" as Leah birthed her first baby, what are the odds of him looking outside at that EXACT moment?? We ran outside, oohed and aahed over the baby, and came back in to let them have their first moments together.

Kayla was looking at them through the window and said that Leah was going to have another. Well, it's her first pregnancy and most goats only have 1 baby the first time around, so we said that it was probably the placenta. Nope, it was another baby!! We don't know yet if we have boys or girls or one of each, but they are doing well and mama is taking good care of them so far!

We've had a busy few weeks!

My mother-in-law asked us to move in with her to help her pay her bills so that she didn't lose her house. Her house was paid off a few years ago, but she ran a mortgage back up again with excessive gambling and obsessive shopping, so we told her we'd help her out and rent out our home for extra income to help with her bills.

For weeks, we cleaned roach droppings out of cabinets, scrubbed floors that hadn't been cleaned properly in years upon years, and cleaned out the pantry and cabinets, throwing away 4 huge trash receptacles of food that had expired over a year ago, or were half-eaten and put back in the cabinets.

She made it so difficult for us to live there, even though she was the one who asked us to help her. For years, she had her kitchen table piled up with papers and "stuff". Yet a few days after we moved in the table finally was all cleaned off, and from that point on she couldn't handle one thing being on the table (except the fake fruit thing in the middle of the table??), even if it just was a cup the children hadn't finished with yet. We kept pointing out her own mess to her, but she just couldn't see it. In 4 weeks she couldn't make sure to have bedrooms cleaned out for the children and was too exhausted to clean, but could go out dancing for hours at night with her live-in-on-the-weekend boyfriend. She kept accusing Kayla and Kevin of things that they hadn't done, and really hurt their feelings a few times. My children deserve better than that. No, I'm not gossiping, just explaining the situation. It was really crazy there.

So finally a few days ago, we had enough of the drama and decided to just move back into our home and let her deal with her own problems. So we've had two moves within the span of a month, and we're trying to organize all of our stuff back into our house. It's gonna take a few more days and some more hard work, but the children and I are very glad to be back in our own home.

This is the picture that I emailed Mike at work to let him know that Kyliava was finally going to be a big sister! I made the shirt with puff-paint and (im)patiently waited for it to dry so I could slip it over her head, take the picture, and surprise him. When he got home two-and-a-half hours later, I asked him if he got the picture I sent. He said yes. I asked him if he noticed anything about the picture. He said, "Yeah, it said Big Sister on the shirt". I looked at him. Then he let out a big "OHHHH!". It took him over 2.5 hours to figure it out! I had a good laugh over that one and will remember that moment for a very long time.

And I hate to say, that is not the end of the story. Kyliava will not get to be a big sister. On Thursday, January 22 God took the baby from us, I was exactly 6 weeks along. The baby's due date was right between Kayla's birthday (Sept 5) and Kyliava's birthday (Sept 26). We were so excited that we were going to have another baby, and the disappointment and sadness that we now feel is immeasurable.

What I've Learned From Moving...

(Kyliava in her new Disney Princess Bed. Yes, it was in the living room that day because I had just put it together!)

Now on to what I have learned from moving!
I have learned that Kyliava doesn't need 45 dresses in every size hanging in the closet. Kevin-Michael doesn't need 30 Polo shirts, although that boy sure does love clothes!! We have all been living for 2 weeks with the same 5 outfits, we just do laundry a bit more! So maybe we do have WAY too many clothes. But it's one of those things you just don't realize in your every day life. We still don't have our nice dressers at the new house, and most of our clothes are still at the old house, but once it's all set up I'm going to take a hard look at what we have. Most of our stuff is still at the old house, and we've been living without it this long, so how much of it do we really need?

Thank you, God!!

On Saturday Kyliava suffered a seizure. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to us, I was so afraid that we were going to lose her.

She was in my arms, arched her back very forcefully, shook all over, then went limp in my arms as her eyes rolled back in her head. Mike and Shelby were right there, we all ran in the house to call 911. She was out for about a minute, then Mike took her in his arms because I was on the phone with the 911 operator, she was crying. I have to give Kevin credit, he sat quietly on the couch the whole 3.5 minutes I was on the phone.

The ambulance was on the way, so I took her back from her dad. She was very limp, like a rag doll. She wouldn't respond to anything I said to her, wouldn't do or say anything, she wouldn't even look at me. It was like she couldn't hear me. The ambulance arrived... they had me sit on the stretcher with her in my lap. The EMTs were wonderful with her. I wish I knew their names...

The ride to Baptist was very bumpy. She was pretty unresponsive most of the way. I was so scared that she would be like that the rest of her life from this... I prayed in the ambulance while I held her.

They checked her at the hospital and observed her for a few hours, gave us instructions on what to do at home and what to look for. I'd forgotten Ava's sippy cup and all they had was a styrofoam cup or a bottle. Well, she's still breastfed and won't even try a bottle, but they got her a straw and she drank down almost a full 8oz of ice water... which was amazing because she never drank more than 3oz at a time before in her whole life. She started acting normal again, walking around and playing. She found mini M&Ms that I had in the diaper bag and was quite happy to sit and eat those in the hospital bed.

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the Sisters in the church who kept Kyliava and our family in their prayers; even those we haven't met yet were praying for her. We brought her to our family doctor on Monday and he said that she shouldn't have any lasting effects from it. So I titled this post, "Thank you, God" because He answered our prayers and our precious little Blessing is doing well!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!!

Awesome Kevin

Kevin is a natural gymnast. Even without lessons, he can do perfect handstands and cartwheels, and he is *this close* to doing a front flip... it's just the standing back up part that he's working on now. When he was 3 he started doing a cartwheel kick that is worth 2 points in the Karate Tournaments, whereas other kicks are worth 1 point. He wanted me to put this pic on here so everyone could see him.

That's our awesome Kevin!!

Putting Presents Under the Tree!

No, we don't do Santa. Yes, we put the presents under the tree as we buy them and wrap them.

This year Kayla put the tree up all by herself and fluffed out the branches. Kevin helped her put the ornaments on, Kyliava put the candy canes on. After a few minutes, we realized that it wasn't going to work this way. Our Much-Awaited Blessing decided that she just had to touch every gold and silver ornament... babies and glass ornaments don't mix LoL! So the bottom of our tree is now devoid of ornaments... but the lights are permanently attached to the tree, so she can't mess with them!

When Kevin was about 3 we were in the checkout lane, the man in front of us asked Kevin what Santa was bringing him for Christmas. Kevin replied, "There is no Santa, silly!" The cashier gasped and blurted out, "What do you celebrate then??" We told her that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! Every year Kayla will relate that story to anyone who will listen :o)

We all thought it was so funny that the poor girl couldn't imagine what you did if you didn't celebrate Santa. Well, we haven't "done" Santa since Kevin's first Christmas... I think it is much more meaningful for the children now. They know that daddy works hard to pay for their gifts, and mommy puts a lot of time into shopping for them... it's not just a fat man throwing them down the chimney! They love to help wrap the gifts and arrange them under the tree. And we don't have to worry about the dreaded "Santa isn't real" talk.

Would you rather Santa or Jesus be the focus of your December each year?

The Princess Who Won't Sleep...

Kyliava is "The Princess Who Won't Sleep Through The Night"! That could be the title of a children's story, right?

It is SO easy to get her to go to sleep... I just nurse her and she drifts off so peacefully! But she is still waking twice in the night to nurse. It's not really a huge deal, though, because she goes right back to sleep. And I waited so long for her, what's a few night wakings when I have such a Blessing?

I don't understand the books that tell you to let a baby CIO (cry it out). It seems to me that the baby learns that mommy isn't going to tend to his or her needs when he or she cries out for help (so why bother, huh?), resulting in a baby who doesn't feel as loved and secure, but learns to be content in being ignored... and how would you like to be left laying there all alone to cry your heart out?!

It upsets me just thinking about it... God trusted me enough to give me these three wonderful children and I could never make one of them feel like that!

Kyliava Helping With the Dishes

Kayla was doing the dishes and Kyliava was in the kitchen with her. Kayla turned around to put some dishes in the cabinet and the baby was climbing into the dishwasher! At least our Princess is happy to help!

Kyliava's 1st Birthday

This is one of my favorite pictures from her 1st Birthday!

My other favorite is of her staring at a huge slice of birthday cake... she wouldn't touch it until we gave her a fork!

We always said we were going to write down things that our children said and did, but didn't do it nearly enough. So I'm taking the opportunity to take note of the things Kyliava does!

Her vocabulary:
mama
dada
ayla (Kayla)
at (that)
up
buh bye
hi

no no
bruh bruh ('boobie' when she wants to nurse)
rarr (When we ask, "What does the Lion say?")
baaah (When we ask, "What does the Goat say?")

Body parts she can point to:
head, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, belly, foot, hand

She brings you a diaper when she wants a change... Time to start potty training!
Wooden puzzles are a favorite of hers, as are touch-n-feel books.

She loves to scribble on her drawing board.

She loves to run around the backyard, and has tons of fun climbing on things.

Disney Princess dolls are her favorite.

Her grandmother bought her a lavendar blanket with butterflies on it when we were at Disneyworld in February... she runs and gets it when she's ready to nap.

She loves to look out of the window at our goats.

When she wakes up in the morning, she runs down the hallway to Kayla's room and taps on the door, she just adores her big sister!

Kevin always makes her smile and laugh, she loves his nuttiness! He will come to me and say, "Mom, isn't she a Blessing?" and my heart just swells with love!

A Miracle

This is our much-awaited miracle, Kyliava Mikayla. We tried to have her for nineteen months, even went through two months of fertility treatment that failed. Casting Crowns has a song, “I Will Praise You In This Storm” that really spoke to my heart, it would make tears come to my eyes when I heard it, because even though I felt this trial was a horrible storm, I was continuing to praise God and trust him in this, hard as it was.

Finally, in January 2007, after nineteen long months of praying for a baby, I fell on my knees and told God that I was tired of praying for a baby, and that if He wanted me to get pregnant, then I‘d get pregnant. I didn’t pray for a baby any more. I was beginning to feel that we would never have a baby, even though I felt an earnest yearning in my heart for another. It constantly broke my heart to see what seemed like everyone around us either pregnant or with a new baby. I couldn’t help but continually ask God why He would do this to me.

In February, I took a pregnancy test, as I had many times before. As usual, it was negative. Crying, I fell to my knees and begged God to make it be wrong. Two days later, a month since I had told God that I wasn’t asking him for a baby any longer, I took another test and got the positive that we had waited so long to see. On September 26, 2007, Kyliava was born, a perfect seven-and-a-half pounds, absolutely beautiful, with a head full of gorgeous black hair. She is now a year old… and I am still in awe over her. I still can’t believe we have her. I look at her, and I truly can feel my heart smile, it‘s a feeling that I can‘t describe. An answered prayer, a dream come true.

I thank God every day for my three wonderful Blessings!

Funny Moment at Miyo's!

We usually go to Miyo's in Harbison once a week for lunch. Mike's mom watches the older children or all three, so that we can have a nice lunch together :o)

So this week we decided to take all of the children with us. Steven was the waiter, he was enthusiastic and great with the children! Calamari was the appetizer (the "usual" LOL!). I got the Salmon, Mike got the Flank Steak, Kayla and Kevin-Michael had the Sesame Chicken. Kyliava had a little bit of everything. Wonderful as always!! It was a nice family lunch.

As we were leaving, Kayla had one of the baby's hands and I had the other hand so that Kyliava could walk out of the restaurant. She was having great fun walking to the front of the restaurant! Everyone she walked past was smiling at her and talking to her, she had the biggest grin on her face!

When we got to the parking lot, I picked her up because I didn't want her walking where the cars were, and she yelled, "No, No!" at me! Barely a year old and already asserting herself... she didn't want me to pick her up, and she sure let me know it!!

We have a blog!

Welcome to our blog! I don't know how often I'll add to it, or even what kinds of things we will blog about, but here it is... Our First Blog!!