Gobble November Gobble

As was recently pointed out to me, it has been a while since we blogged.  Life has been crazy.  I will begin with a little light complaining.  Having a new baby has been really, really hard!  Callie ended up having a milk allergy which we luckily caught pretty quickly.  Unfortunately this meant switching her to the most expensive, disgusting formula on the market.  Not only were we spending 60 bucks a week on formula, but Callie didn't even like it.  She spent a good week crying over the new formula.  Once we got past that, Callie became constipated from said formula which followed in another ten days of rectal thermometers, crying and peaked in a scary trip to the pediatrician.  The doctor took one look at her, inserted and IV and a catheter then shot her full of antibiotics.  Apparently when babies get constipated it often leads to a bladder infection which can then travel into the blood.  After getting every available bodily fluid to run cultures on the doctor reluctantly sent her home with a follow up visit scheduled for the next morning.  Fortunately she is fine.  Her fever dropped and she was able to stay at home with oral antibiotics.  The doctor switched her formula but said we may have to revisit the issue once the infection is resolved because the formula she was on generally causes runny poop and not constipation.  So while we should all feel very bad for poor Callie, her poor parents have had a baby who screamed inconsolably for 5-6 hours a night for over a month.  It was a very frazzling month.

Thankfully she seems to be on the mend and is a much happier baby.  She still has her fussy time at night but at least with some rocking and cuddling we are able to calm her down.  We now have a real baby and I can talk about the cute things she does.  She is a very smiley baby and loves to talk to you.  I swear she can say, "hi".  She is also a champion stretches.  The second you pick her up she throws her head and arms back, arches her back and curls her legs in.  It is adorable.  She gets the hiccups all the time.  She also LOVES Kenna.  As soon as she hears Kenna's voice she looks around to try to find her.  Kenna is constantly in Callie's face and at times I start to tell her to back off until I see that Callie is smiling.  She is a sweet little baby and I'm glad her sister loves her.

Looks like we have another Daddy's girl in the making

 

We had a small tragedy in our house this month.  Kenna's first pet, a blue beta fish named Henry died.  Kenna was very sad and cried while asking if she should give him food to make him better.  We tried to explain what it means when something dies and told her he was in heaven.  We then bough a new red beta fish, also named Henry.  I think that made her feel better.

We've also had a large triumph this month.  Kenna is finally completely out of diapers!!  That's right folk.  After months of asking for a diaper every time she needed to poop she will finally go on the potty.  We are very happy about this and Kenna is very proud of herself. 

Kevin, Annie, and Charlie Slaugh made a trip to Texas.  Kenna was in love with Charlie and kept her entertained the entire time.  We had a great time visiting with and we were all sad to see them go.

Midway through this month, Nate and I hired a babysitter one night to come take care of Callie so we could have a hot date...we painted the living room.  It was a lot of work but it is finally finished and we love it.  The house is starting to feel like home.

As has been tradition, Christmas decorations went up before Thanksgiving.  Kenna and Nate put outside lights up one night.  They were meant for the trees on the front lawn, but then Kenna had a brilliant idea, "Daddy, can we put them on my swing set?".  Nate didn't see why not so now she gets to swing in the dark with her Christmas lights.

 We also made a visit to Santa right before Thanksgiving.  Kenna was so excited to see him and kept telling me that she missed him.  She sat on his lap and asked for ponies (My Little Ponies) and a potty (for her dollhouse).  She is very excited for Christmas and will randomly ask me the names of all the reindeer. 

Well we finally made it through the month and to Thanksgiving.  Our plans with Jarom, Lix and family ended up being cancelled because Jenna was throwing up.  Fortunately Walmart was open and we got some things for dinner.  Kenna helped me make pies and sampled everything.  She does not like raw pie crust.  She put a bite in her mouth, spit it back in the bowl and told me it was disgusting.  Cooking with her is always more mess and more work, but she has fun so it is worth is.  Kenna spent our Thanksgiving dinner dressed in her Rapunzel costume insisting we address her as "blondie".  She ate half a role, but did tell us she was grateful for Daddy and Callie and Mommy and everything.  After dinner we finished decorating our tree and went to look for Christmas lights.  It was a great Thanksgiving and I'm very grateful for my little family.

 The quintessential "Kenna look".  Just picture her saying, "Whaaa (what) daddy/mommy? Whaaa you say?" and you know everything about our life.

 Kenna likes to wear her princess gloves when she thinks its cold.  I don't think she realizes they are gardening gloves.

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe October is already over.  Kenna is very excited for Christmas to come now that Halloween has gone.  I think she was also excited for Halloween to end because that meant that her Minnie mouse costume could be a dress up.  She spent all day November 1 in that costume.

Halloween was fun.  Kenna got to go to a party at Jenna's preschool while Callie and I went and voted early (hooray for no lines!).  We went to a hotdog/marshmallow roast at Jarom and Lixi's house with another family in the ward and the girls had a great time playing.  Kenna trick-or-treated like a pro until her awesome Minnie Mouse click clacks started giving her blisters.  We let her finish in her bare feet.  When we got home she was just as excited to pass out candy and very judiciously placed one piece in each person's bag.

Callie didn't even know it was Halloween.  She is still growing and has started to settle down a little bit after the fiascos of last month.  She is definitely not as good of a baby as Kenna was and I'm still not quite sure if she should be acting like a one month old or a two month old.  She has started to smile and will try to talk on occasion.  She still makes all the same faces that Kenna did and she rolled from front to back by accident on Sunday.  I think she was stretching or something and flipped herself over.  Oh - she is also the queen of stretching and makes the funniest faces when she does.  I  wish I had more to say about Callie, but mostly she's still just in baby mode and does the whole sleep, cry, eat and poop thing very well.  She's cute and we usually love her (except during the witching hour, or three).  Kenna LOVES Callie and constantly wants to hold/touch/hug/kiss her.  She is always asking "Is Callie awake?" and if the answer is yes, she runs over to talk to her.  Callie will definitely smile at Kenna and they do a good job of entertaining each other.

We are in home improvement mode here.  Things are going slowly because of budget restrictions, but Nate and I spend evenings planning what to do and in what order to do them.  It will be nice to have our house feel like our home after over a year. 

 

 

 Thanks to Meemaw for the card and money.  We talked about how she could save her money and that is what she has decided to do.  She plans to buy "a bigger toy" when she has enough money.

 Kenna jumped down every step she walked up.  That may have contributed to the blisters, but she sure did look cute while doing it.

Kenna had her first trip to the dentist.  Nate was off work so he got to take her, which she was very excited about.  Everyone kept saying how well she did.  She got a necklace, toothpaste, floss, toothbrush and a timer.  She's very excited about the timer and uses it every time she brushes her teeth although she doesn't quite get the concept and never lets the sand run completely out.

 

And finally, because I want to remember this - Kenna is really into braids right not.  She wants a braid in her hair every day and at night asks if she can sleep in it for "ears (years) and ears."