Get your Purple On!

It seems like it wasn't very long ago when I was doing a post about this very thing...wow, another year has gone by!




March 26th, is Purple Day. So what is Purple Day? Read some of the info below (that I borrowed from the PurpleDay.org)




Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26th annually, people in countries around the world are invited to wear purple and host events in support of epilepsy awareness.



Purple Day was founded in 2008, by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada, with the help of the Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia (EANS). Cassidy chose the colour purple after the international colour for epilepsy, lavender. The lavender flower is also often associated with solitude, which is representative of the feelings of isolation many people affected by epilepsy and seizure disorders often feel. Cassidy's goal is for people with epilepsy everywhere to know they are not alone.





I absolutely love that last part that....what a beautiful and amazing young girl to have such a big heart, and well beyond her years to want to spread awareness and give support to those with epilepsy all around the world. Way to go Cassidy!





So will you please join us and wear purple on Saturday, March 26th? Please do so and email your pics to me (you can find a link to my email under our profile on the blog) and I will post them on our blog. Here is a link to the pics we got last year....let's see if we can top it this year!





I know I am a little late on posting this, but I do think Cassidy will understand if you want to make your Purple Day on Monday, March 28th, in efforts to gain more support and spread the word.





Let's do it! Let's show Kylie your support for her and all of her friends around the world that have been afflicted with epilepsy. Let them know they are not alone, but standing strong with your support!

Belated Moo Day

*I wrote this a couple days ago, so don't think I am a blogging fool :)

Okay, so I know I am really, really behind on posting things to the blog, but I have a great excuse.....I have a 2 year old :)

I have let Kylie's random things jump ahead of the posts that I am behind on, and well...it is just setting me further and further back. Just blame it on Kylie for being so cute and amazing that I can't keep up with things, and simply making everything a blur for me to know what came first, and when to find the time to blog about it all.


So here goes, it is my goal to try and catch up on the many over due posts before posting anything new. Let's see how well I do.


Kylie turned 2 on November 4th, and I have not posted about her party. Wow, I sound like a bad mommy blogger....sorry guys, sorry Kylie. Better late than never, right?



Since Kylie love animals, we thought we would do a barn themed birthday party. If only we were able to get a pony it would have been perfect. Anyhow, I started doing some research and creative thinking, and got a lot of fun ideas for the party. I found the schematics for making a barn out of a refrigerator box, which is really hard to come by. Matt's assignment was to build the barn and he did an awesome job! We decorated balloons to look like animals: chicks, pigs, and sheep. You will see everything in the pics below.

Kylie and Dylan playing in the barn. All of the kids LOVED it! It was really cute watching them go in and out of it, and then try to put all of the animals (balloons) in the barn.

I found a video that showed step-by-step instructions on how to make a barn cake and some farm animal cupcakes.

Kylie's best friend's mommy, Danya...my good friend too, came over the morning of Kylie's party and helped me decorate the cupcakes....there is no way I could have done it all without her help!

Me helping Kylie blow out her candle. She actually tried to blow it out, so that was cute!

Kylie trying to sneak a cupcake after we sang happy birthday to her....she was not about to wait to be served a cupcake.

It's like she is saying It's my party, and I will eat a cupcake when I want, so please let me be.

She did such a great job at eating the cupcake and not getting stressed out about the icing, and having to touch it...yay!

MMMmmmm

To keep along with the farm theme, we had Moo Juice (milk)









Chicken Feed (Chex Mix)

Cow Tails (White Chocolate Covered Pretzels)

I don't have a picture, but we had Fresh Garden Veggies (Veggies and Dip), a Cheese Tray, and I'm sure something else that I am forgetting. Thanks so much to Matt's mom (aka Grandma Nancy) for providing basically all of the snacks and food! Once again, not possible without her help.

Here are the little treat bags that we had for the kids. I had lots of fun making them and all of the other things for Kylie's party. This is something I love to do, and though it is a lot of work (more than I ever expect it to be) I enjoy seeing how much fun everyone has!

I had little buckets on the tables, with paper, crayons, and farm stickers for everyone to write a note to Kylie. I did something like this for her first birthday too. I always want some sort of keepsake from each year for her to have.

Before I type much more, I want to thank Danya again, because she came early to help me set up, as frantic as I was to get everything all together before the party started. She also took a ton of pictures for us, so we could take care of everyone and keep everything flowing. Yay for great friends!

Here is a shot of Kylie's cake table, featuring the "Happy Moo Day" sign that I made her.









Pics of some of the kids enjoying their cupcakes...yummy!

Kylie sharing a moment with her Grandma Nancy.

One of the activities for the kids was to draw the spots on the cow, since they were missing. They really liked this too!

Matt made this bean bag game for the kids. I added the cow spots and made the bean bags.

Kylie really did a great job opening her presents this year...way more into it than she was last year, so that was fun to see!

Kylie was so excited when she opened a doll that Frandma (Great Grandma Frances) made for her. I cried when she opened it, because handmade gifts are so sentimental and made with so much love! She did toss the doll around, but she absolutely loved it!

A whole lot of presents for a little lady

Once we got home and unloaded everything, we snapped another pic of all that she received from friends and family....it was like Christmas!

We decided to put all of her gifts away in the basement, and just take one out at a time, so she would be able to enjoy each gift equally, and not bounce around among them all. This was a great idea, because it was great for a reward system for her, and when we had to go to doctor's apptmts and such, we would bring out a new toy to take, in hopes to help distract her.

Now if we were really thinking, we would have just re-wrapped them all and put them under the tree at Christmas....just kidding :)

Growing up...

...is hard to do (to watch them do).




So I told Kylie I would fix her lunch as soon as I was done cutting up the chicken to marinate for dinner. Then the phone rang. It was the school where we are wanting to eventually send Kylie when she turns 3 for preschool. Since she will not be three by the end of August, she is not eligible, but they do have a Children's Day Out program that we are interested in.




I had called last week to get some info about the program, but everyone was on Spring Break. I will admit that I called last week, expecting that they may not be there, but really hoping someone would be able to answer my questions because Kylie is sooooooooo acting her age. I had thought about running away, or just hiding in a closet or something. I even mentioned shipping her off to grandma and grandpa's until she is 4 or 5.




So back to the phone call. I was telling the nice lady about the sensory issues and social anxieties that Kylie has, and she was explaining about how their program really works with kids on those issues, and helps them through them. It all sounds like such a perfect fit for Kylie, and I already miss her. I know she is just in the other room playing, but she is growing up and I want so much for her to keep growing and working through everything....things I'm not sure I can help her with. You know things I already feel guilty for not being able to help her with...I want to do and give her everything, but I think...no wait, I know this will be really good for her.

I know I say that I want her to keep growing, but I also want her to stay little and not grow up, because I worry so much about what future challenges she may have, and I want her to be happy, healthy, and safe. These are the things I pray for her every day. I can think of how we can make her laugh and smile and redirect her to calm her down (happy), how she is young enough that she doesn't know what she can't do that she should be able to and we can guide her around those things (safe), well the healthy part is more out of our control than anything else. I know in essence, all is out of our control, but I really want her happy and safe....you know, safe from the things people say and do all because they don't understand. We've been to a few birthday parties and other outings where Kylie has gotten really stressed and anxious and she tends to roll around on the floor when she feels this way....most people don't understand this and it breaks my heart to see Kylie so uncomfortable, but it breaks even more when other mommies and parents laugh at her because they think she is just being silly.

So yep, tears are flowing, because I LOVE LOVE this little girl so much and I don't want to ever let her go. Seriously....this all came from a phone call about a children's day out program that is one day a week.




Just needed to share this, or I would be a mess...okay, more of a mess if I just kept it to myself. And totally feeling bad for wanting to hide from her until she is 4 or so. Being a mommy is so much more than I could have ever imagined.

Now I know...

... my ABCs!


Okay, so it seems like it wasn't all too long ago when we posted this to our blog....Kylie repeating her ABCs after us. When her and I were in the car a couple days ago, she just started saying all of her ABCs. Isn't it funny how they do these things when you are not able to capture them on film or video, and then when you are ready, they don't want to do anything?



Well, this one will go in the record books. Because Kylie was willing to be bribed to get some footage of her saying her ABCs. She started spouting them off this morning as we were getting ready for church. I told Matt to bribe her with some marshmallows and see if she would say them again. She wanted Matt to shoot her with the marshmallows...I'm sorry, I still need to put some video of that on here. But yeah, it did the trick. She said her ABCs with Matt filming her, and then she got to chase after some marshmallows that Matt shot at her....she is such a goofball. A cute one at that.



So here is the footage you have been waiting for. Kylie saying her ABCs. She skips the letter E and V, but not too bad for being 2....and a genius. Yep, proud mommy and daddy right here :)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mousey Pack

So were are totally not accustomed to winning things, because well, luck would have it that we don't really have much luck at all. That all changed when I decided to enter in the giveaway that our bloggy friend, Danielle was having. How about we won! I'm certain I was more excited than Kylie was when she found out she was getting a surprise from her friend Trevy.



After looking at all of our options of what to do with our newly found winnings, we decided for a backpack. For one thing, they are uber cute, and secondly, they are therapeutic since the deep pressure they create for kids has a calming effect...great for the high anxiety little lady.



I wanted Kylie to decide whick backpack she was going to get...they just get so empowered when they have input, and it makes them sooooo much more excited to actually play with and use the things they get to select. Anyway, I was secretly hoping she would want the owl pack, because I so loved it. She honestly said she wanted each one of them at different times of me asking her. Later in the day I asked her again, and she was absolutely adamant about the cute, little Mouse backpack.




Kylie didn't really understand why it didn't magically appear in our house after placing the order, but she was so excited when it arrived in the mail. It had arrived when we were out of the house this past Saturday, but since we were already late getting Kylie down for her nap, we decided to wait until she woke up to give it to her....otherwise the nap would not have happened....kinda like it has not been happening so much lately...more on that at a later time.






Here is the video we got of Kylie opening up her gift from her friend Trevor. We tried to get her to say "thank you," but of course the stimulation from a surprise upon waking from a nap was more than enough, she was not about to play the monkey and repeat whatever we asked of her. But you can see how she turns away, all coy when we tell her that it came from her friend Trevor.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just after the video camera was turned off, she immediately started putting whatever she could grab first to put in it....you can see she was loving every minute of it too!

Telling me that her backpack is a mouse

One the zipper pulls are little triangle shapes to look like cheese...it is so cute! She was pretending to eat the cheese in this pic.

Yay...we finally got her to pose while holding her backpack!

If she hadn't turned away, you would have seen the biggest smile ever once daddy helped her put on her backpack.

A HUGE thank you to Danielle for having a giveaway, and allowing us to update our status to winners...winners of something so cute, and fun for our sweet Kylie!

Say what?

Everyone tells you that there is a time when your child will say "what's this, what's that, etc..." and they will play that tune like a broken record.


Well, Kylie plays a tune that is a bit different than most....just look at the video and you will see what I mean.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We aren't certain as to how she came up with her phrase of questioning, but nonetheless, it is all hers and she will not alter it. We have tried asking her to say What's that called and she will still add the word say to the end of her phrase. My guess is that we would always ask her to repeat things, and in doing so, we would say "Kylie, can you say..." I think she just put both thoughts together.



On another note, the other day when I was getting Kylie out of the car from taking her to play, I was definitely tired, and ready to put her down for her nap. She looked up at me and said What's matter, momma? I told her that I was tired, and she said no momma, no tired. I just love that she was intuitive enough to ask me what was wrong. Then again, I have also heard her say this to her dog, Annie, time and time again, so maybe it was really all just a big coincidence...but I like to think it was something more :)

All things Kylie

Singing Sensation

A couple times now, we have overheard Kylie singing a few different songs...Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jingle Bells. It is the cutest thing ever! Unfortunately, we have not been able to capture this on video...but it is our goal to get it :)

Just to add to the Happy Birthday song...most times that she sees a candle, she will start singing it...kind of cute how she associates candles with singing the birthday song.

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Since Kylie is so independent, she wants to do everything herself. She insisted one night that she was going to wash herself during bathtime. I told her to let mommy do it first and then it would be her turn. It was really cute seeing her try to manipulate the washcloth just right, so she can start scrubbing.

I know we are getting closer to losing the battle of asking her to let us do it first and then she can do it. The tantrums are beginning to creep in more...no fun.

Hair Stylist

The other night Matt was talking about making an apptmt to get his haircut. Kylie walked over to Matt to work on his hair. She started pretending to wash it, and then Matt asked if she was going to cut his hair. She then started pulling on his hair. Well that is one way to shorten it...just pull it out. Poor Matt.

No well= No Sleep

A couple weeks ago Kylie started waking up in the middle of the night at 1am. The weekend before this started, she was running a bit of a temperature, and then it was okay and then back again. I called the pediatrician, and they said since it wasn't 101, that they were not concerned and to keep an eye on her.

After a few nights of the 1am wakeup call, she started waking up twice a night, then 3 times a night. It was like having a newborn all over again...no sleep for anyone. At least with a newborn, they wake you by fussing a bit and then crying if you wait too long. Nope, Kylie wouldn't make a sound, you would be in a deep sleep and be rudely awakened by her beating on her door, to let us know she wanted out.

After a week of that, she was got this horrible cough that sounded like something was coming up when she was coughing...of course it happened over the weekend. That feeling of something coming up when she coughed scared her enough that she wouldn't cough it up, and would gag and then make herself throw up. Once Monday got here, we were at the dr, and they discovered she had 2 ear infections, and everything was draining and that is more than likely why she was waking in the night.

So she went from never having an ear infection before, to having two. I guess when she does something, she really does it. She has been doing better with the sleeping, so that is nice. I am just waiting for the crabbyness to go away. She only wants her daddy, and mommy can't say or do anything to please her when daddy is around. At first it was kinda sad, but it quickly turned into me being happy to let Matt do anything she wants, so I don't have to deal with her yelling and whining when I try to help her. Anytime the princess wants to come back, I will be happy...the not so nice munchkin that is taking over isn't nearly as pleasant.

New Name

So Kylie is a goofball, that is certain...she gets it all from her daddy :) When watching Sesame Street one day, Super Grover made an appearance. Later that day, she said she was Super Kylie, and I was Super Mommy. Wonder where I can go pick up those super powers of mine...I will take some Super-charged Energy to start off.

She loves the Barnyard movie, and has told us that her name is "Otis from Barnyard," so no, not Otis, but "Otis from Barnyard."

Ballerina in the Making

Some friends of ours gave us a couple of tutus, after me sharing that Kylie wants to be a ballerina. Kylie was a bit hesitant about trying them on....she is still not sure about new things. Though we tend to have an advantage when we get to tell her that they came from her friends...she gets excited and we can get her to try things better.

Anyhow, after a few times of wearing a tutu here and there, Kylie kept it on one time for quite a while....long enough for some super cute pics. Oh, and for some reason she thinks that ballerinas wear crowns...makes for cuter pics!

Doing her ballerina dance

Looks like she just granted a wish

One of my favorites!

Love this one too....looking at herself in the mirror & pointing at herself to acknowledge she is a ballerina!