Myrtle Beach '10

As a kid, usually when we took a trip it was a road trip to wherever. I remember those times more for the drive, than the vacation itself. Corey, Kyleah and I hadn't experienced a family vacation yet, so when planning our trip we thought being able to see the scenery and having the experience to share the family time in the car was too good to pass up.

We set out for the 15 hour drive late at night and drove straight through to SC. We took a long nap when we first arrived and got checked into our hotel room. One of the first things we both wanted to do was put our feet in the sand. Kyleah loves the water and she's bound to with Corey and I as her parents! When we stepped foot onto the beach for the first time, Kyleah was so excited and ready to swim. I know she didn't see the difference between the ocean and the beach at Lake Shelbyville, and I'm pretty sure now that she has discovered seashells, she will look for them anywhere sand is. We were walking along the beach at night, fully dressed, and Kyleah just took off into the water, diving right in. It was so adorable and funny that the rest of the evening Kyleah and I were not only soaked from head to toe, but covered in sticky salt water!

We went to so many different places and got to experience so many new things together as a family. We also learned a lot too! Yes, Kentucky is just as hick as we always heard "Florence Y'all", Corey makes his own paths when driving (even if it is right over a curb), if tarps happen to fly off the back of a trailer on the highway most likely there will be more than just one (3), and we found out that I am able to smell skunk! Yes people drinking water is a necessity when in 100 degree weather, you can eat a crab by bashing it open any way, and every shop on the beach sells the exact same thing as the others.

The most important things I learned while on our vacation are the moments I will remember for the rest of my life. During a total of 30+ hours of a car ride, sitting in silence just for a little bit is perfectly fine. Enjoy watching your two year old sleep peacefully. Shut your eyes and listen to your husband sing along to the radio (when he thinks you're sleeping). Take a few moments and think of your life and cherish all of the moments God has given you. And most of all, put all of the every day stresses aside, laugh, act goofy, and enjoy the time you're getting to spend with your husband and daughter, because it doesn't happen this way very often. I love you Corey and Kyleah!

Goodbye Winter

I never thought I'd be so excited for it to be 50 degrees out. I love the warm weather and it seems every year when winter rolls around, it lasts longer and longer and it gets colder and colder. Ever since I was little I always pictured myself being a Florida girl, and I am still hoping for that one day.

We had a pretty good winter this round and Kyleah and I did what we like to call hibernation. I think we only made it outside to play in the snow once, but that was good enough for me! Brrr!

I have officially started my Spring countdown! Only 17 days left and I am hoping for plenty of thunderstorm springy days and tons of 90 degree summer days. No other hopes, but to have tons of fun with Kyleah and Corey the next couple of seasons. I got out Corey's yearly planner from work and started to pencil in all of our plans this summer and come to find out we will be pretty busy. Poor Corey probably won't get a day of rest! hehe

Starting the beginning of next month, Kyleah will start her swimming lessons and we are very excited. I have my every mothers worries of Kyleah in the water, with her audacious self! Here recently, Kyleah and I filled the bathtub up full of water and were having tons of fun, and she learned she could put her face under! I think I took it very well and was teaching her to blow bubbles under water...you know to get rid of my fear of her breathing it in...This kind of gives me a peace of mind about the whole Kyleah and water concept. Wooh.

We have just about got down potty training and will be glad to not buy diapers anymore...well at least for the next couple years. I've been letting Kyleah run around in her favorite outfit the past two days (her birthday suit) and luckily we haven't had any visitors besides my mom! lol I think she's really enjoying the freedom without a diaper. Kyleah had an accident in my moms car today and was pretty upset about it. Kyleah told me twice she had to potty, but there wasn't much to do being on the road. lol Needless to say, all three of us were pretty disturbed about the choice. I don't know what was worse, to be the one sitting in it or the one smelling it..or just to be both I guess!

Kyleah really seems to be growing up fast here recently and her personality is indeed starting to pop. With tons of "I bub you's" and calling for "mommy!", I don't know what to expect next. She helps with laundry, the dishes, loves to cook, and picks up her toys when told to! My little Monkeydoodle is getting so big! I can't wait to see what these next few months brings us!

Who Am I? What Am I?

Lately, there have been some things going on in our house that make me say "I wonder what she/he is really thinking".

Sometimes I wonder if Theo (our puppy) really knows he is actually a dog. I've caught him in the act of some weird things he does.

He climbs up onto the back of the couch and sleeps, he will climb up onto your shoulder and sleep, he sleeps on his back with his legs up in the air, and he climbs onto tables like he belongs there. Lol Another thing is he sleeps with Corey and I in our bed and usually when I wake up in the morning, I am sharing my pillow with Theo. I think my puppy is confused! He must think he is a human and maybe sometimes a cat.

Theo isn't the only one I come to believe may be a little confused. I understand when a kid finds herself in the mirror, she will most likely think it is another little girl on the other side. I don't think Kyleah knows what she looks like yet. The other morning, Kyleah came running into my bedroom and noticed a little girl in the mirror. (Our mirror is on the back or our bedroom door.) Kyleah kept opening it and looking behind the door and couldn't figure out where this girl went. It was adorable! Kyleah was talking to her and giving her high-five's, she thought she found a new friend. I told her to give the little girl kisses..and she did. All of the older pictures we have around the house of her, Kyleah will point and say "Baby". We try to explain to her that yes it is a baby, but it is Kyleah! It's weird to see her learn things, that I don't ever remember not knowing.

When we first got Theo, I wondered if we would have problems with Kyleah..well acting like a dog. I figured it would go both ways with the toys, Kyleah taking his and Theo taking hers. I guess you can say they share pretty well, except Kyleah doesn't chew the heads off of the duckies like Theo tends to do. And yes they do share Kyleah's food, just like on TV..anything Kyleah doesn't want, Theo gets. We've been trying to crack down on this, we noticed Theo was getting a little plumper and it obviously isn't good for his diet.

This past Christmas "Santa" brought Theo a new puppy bed. We placed it behind the recliner and for the first few weeks and still at random times today, that is where you can find Kyleah. I still don't know what she does back there, how fun could it be to sit in a doggy bed and stare at the back of a recliner?..But she loves it! Here recently Corey put Theo's bed back in the laundry room and cut up an old blanket for him to sleep with. I think we've found out Kyleah doesn't like to sit in it back there as much.

Usually every morning Kyleah comes running down the hallway ready for the day and ready for breakfast. This morning, when I was still in bed, I heard Kyleah run down the hallway and then it was really quiet. I thought she must have went back to bed, so I got myself woke up and checked the living room to make sure she wasn't in there. Nope, no Kyleah. I quietly peeked my head into her room and surprisingly...No Kyleah! I think I had a short panic, searching the house! When I turned the corner to the laundry room, there was Kyleah, all curled up in Theo's bed under his blankie! I think it was one of the cutest things she has ever done. When I hurried to grab the camera, she was starting to get up, but I was able to catch part of the moment. How adorable!

So Kyleah thinks she is a dog and Theo thinks he is a human!

From Crib to Toddler Bed

A week ago, I thought it was time to finally tear down Kyleah's baby crib and put up her toddler bed. I felt like she had understood "when I'm in my bed that means sleep" and I believed she had done well not fighting us when its nap time or bed time. So we gave her that extra little responsibility and crossing our fingers that she wouldn't be up at 3am wanting "cheese". I'm still waiting for that night when she figures out she can get up in the middle of the night and get herself a snack!

I think the first two mornings of waking up in her new bed, Kyleah didn't realize she didn't have railings to keep her from getting out. She sat in her bed talking away, until i called for her and then she came trampling down the hallway. Something I wasn't quite expecting is when I'm awake before her and all of a sudden I see her standing next to me, scaring the poo out of me!

I am so proud of her too. So far, there has only been one night where she has gotten out of bed right after we put her in there. Corey put her down for the night and about two minutes later I here her run down the hallway and then say "HI!". It was really cute, but we tried to tell her she needed to stay in there til the morning.

The amazing thing about this whole "new bed" is that within this past week, Kyleah has went in her room all by herself and has both taken a nap or put herself to bed twice now. The first time, Papa Duane was here and we were so tired and wanted a nap, so we kept putting her in there and she would come right back out. She wasn't quite ready for a nap, I guess, because she played this game a few times. Then out of nowhere, she walked to her room, shut the door, talked for a few minutes, and then it was really quiet. Papa looked under the door to see if she racked out on the floor, scared that opening the door would wake her, nope didn't see her. I opened the door and there she was in her bed sleeping away! We were amazed! Go figure, we didn't even nap after all that.

The second time, Kyleah, Corey, and I were all in the living room and I was channel surfing. I figured Corey would fall asleep on the couch, like usual, and it would be Kyleah and me watching TV. Before Corey could close his eyes, Kyleah got up without a word and went and got into bed! I didn't even get a goodnight or kiss from her! :(

I sat here tonight looking at Kyleah and thinking how big she has gotten awfully fast. My little girl is growing up so fast and saying all these new things. I can't believe she is almost twenty months in just a couple days! I am truly proud of her, especially with this sleeping in a new bed ordeal.

Mommy is so proud of you Kyleah, I Love You! Muah!

Rewind 2009

We kicked off 2009 by having one of our friends and my mom over to celebrate the new year! Our year began by Kyleah saying her first word, "Dada". And just a few short days later, she said "mom". That's when all of the jibber jabber came flowing into our lives, and Corey and I trying to watch what we say in front of the listening ears.

Corey and I celebrated our first anniversary this past year! We both agree that it feels like we've been together longer than we have, in a good way that is.

We had a good snow in January, so we took Kyleah out to show her what snow was all about. She was still too little to understand what was going on. All she knew was she was warm in her snowsuit and with mommy and daddy. We plopped her down in the snow and she made her first snow angel! How cute it was!

Kyleah was starting to get mobile, trying to sit up and then crawl all at once, it seemed. She soon figured out how to crawl forward in March! Yay! Just one month later, little miss Kyleah learned to stand and pull herself up holding onto the tables.

Kyleah had her first Easter and the Easter Bunny brought her tons of candy, including Peeps! Hmm mommies favorite! Usually the "Easter Bunny" hides eggs from mommy and she gets to find them on Easter morning, but this year they were hidden throughout the house for Kyleah to find! :)

May rolled around and Kyleah decided it was time to take her first few steps. I had the most wonderful first Mother's Day, Corey took us out for a nice dinner and showered me with gifts. What more could I have asked for with such a perfect little family! Ever since I can remember, Kyleah has always loved ducks. I think the main reason is because it was one of her earlier words. Corey and I took Kyleah to the lake for the first time, so that she could feed the ducks and geese (also a "duck"). We noticed she ended up loving the bread crumbs just as much as the ducks did! We also took her to the zoo, and her favorite animal there had to of been the goats, because she could touch and feed them!

When June came, we couldn't believe Kyleah was already one year old! Her first year had gone by so fast! She had a big first birthday party and one of her gifts was a puppy! Kyleah and I had our first birthday together! I'd love to have a special thing for us to do each year together and I can't wait until we can do so! Kyleah was growing up so quick and becoming so brave, so brave she made it through her first big ouchy. Kyleah fractured her elbow a few weeks after she turned one and had to have a cast. :( Poor little monkey, I think I was more upset by it than she was. But she was a total trooper about it!

This was Kyleah's second July 4th, but this year she loved the fireworks! I was so glad she wasn't terrified of all the booms and commotion. We heard St. Louis had an awesome show of fireworks and we went down there for the day, taking Gamma Debbie and Papa Duane with us. Kyleah got to see the arch and we had the horribly bad for you vendor food! We had a great time and will have to plan something again for next time. We also went to Decatur's fireworks and met up with Rick and Jady and all the kiddies. Corey's dad, sis, brother-in-law, and Bradyn all went as well. It was a fun time too, to have everyone together and to get pics of all the kiddos with each other.

When Kyleah finally got her cast off, we hurried to the beach! I had been so eager to go, since I like to make it there at least once every couple of weeks. Plus, Kyleah had never been yet. For her birthday, she had gotten some toys to play in the sand with and she absolutely loved the sand! (What do you expect, she is my kid!) We ended up making it to the beach another time over the summer and even had a little camping trip with Papa Duane. (And we can't forget the boating with Duane as well!) I've always loved the outdoors, and so has Corey, and I hope Kyleah is the same way!

We had an opportunity to go watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition live on the site, so we made a day to travel over and check it out. My mom joined us and we actually became actors that day too! It's an experience I will never forget and even though it was completely hot outside, it was well worth it to see the looks on the families faces when they saw their brand new home! And all that rehearsing paid off, we were actually on TV three times!

On a really nice August day, Kyleah, Uncle Roy, and I all went for a picnic. We had a great time watching Kyleah stuffing the berries in her mouth and picking through her sandwich for the lunch meat! We sat on the playground and let Kyleah play and we took her down the slide a few times. It was a nice relaxing day and it felt nice to feel like a kid again for a day! Thanks Roy! Also in August, there was a special guest at the celebration..Richard Marx! Since his song was our theme wedding song, we couldn't miss him for the world! We got up pretty close to the stage and it was a pretty good concert!

One thing that I am completely grateful for happening this summer is that Kyleah finally got to meet her Great Gpa Darrell and Great Gma Shirley! Gpa hadn't been doing too well and I had sent them pictures throughout the year of Kyleah and us. It was a shame they had to live so far away, but who would ever want to leave Florida? Anyway, Kyleah got to meet her Great Gpa that is no longer with us. I know she won't remember him, but if it means this much for me, I know it meant a lot to him as well.

We made it down to the Lincoln Balloon Fest again this past year. Kyleah loved the balloons this time and had a blast! Her favorite part was watching the wrestling matches..that's my girl! lol We've kind of made going to the Apple Pork Fest a ritual as well...that's when we get some extra Christmas presents!

In September, Kyleah took off walking finally! To that, we thank cousin Alyssa!

Kyleah had a full, busy October! With going to the Pumpkin Patch, carving pumpkins, and Trick or Treating! This year the Pumpkin Patch was more exciting, because Kyleah could go through the mazes and walk up and pet all the animals. We took our pumpkins to Papa Duane's and carved them and Kyleah didn't like the pumpkin slime too much. She kept saying "Eww!". Trick or Treating was again a very busy day. We started early in the day and made our rounds, finishing late at night! Kyleah had fun though, in her little bumble bee costume. We had to keep emptying her bag, because it was too heavy for her!

We didn't get to make it to the Haunted Decatur Tour this year and it was supposed to be the last year, all the tickets were sold out. Bummer! I usually look forward to that each year!

I think November was my favorite month of the year! I finally got to quit T.J. Maxx and stay home with Kyleah! Even though on certain days I feel as if I'm going to go crazy, this is what I love to do!

December had finally arrived and we were so excited for Kyleah to have a good Christmas! We started potty training Kyleah a couple weeks before Christmas and she is well on her way to not pooping her pants! We started a sticker chart and it seems to be working out great!

Corey picked out our tree this year all by his self and we all decorated it. Kyleah went and saw Santa for the first time and sat on his lap. She was ify at first, but afterwards (and still to this day) all we hear about is Santa! We all had a great Christmas! Kyleah is really starting to grow up! She helps out around the house, like with dishes and laundry. She even gets me motivated some days! lol I know I can't believe 2009 is already over with! I had an amazing 2009 and can't wait for this next year! (Mainly for the summer part!) Hmm I wonder what 2010 will bring us....?

A Busy Christmas

I learned this last year that if you shop all year around for Christmas gifts, it leads to a less stressful December! We already have on our minds all the places we have to make it to within 2-3 days. Five places to be I guess isn't too bad, but to cram it into a couple days can be quite chaotic. We've had a blast the past two Christmas' with Kyleah and just seeing her face when she opens all the presents is truly the best present I could ever ask for. I know gifts don't even have anything to do with the meaning of Christmas, but to me it is all about the kids. I don't care if I even get anything, as long as Kyleah has a good day and everyone has a smile on their face, I am happy.
Christmas began two days early this year. It turned out perfect, because it gave us more time to spend at each place. Our first spot was Corey's moms. Corey seemed to be more excited than the kids! It was him that was playing in the presents and the kids that were standing back and looking. lol We had a dinner and then opened all of our presents. It seems each year his mom out does herself and we are truly thankful for everything she has done for us! We stayed and visited for quite awhile and we were all already so tired. So we headed out.
We started out the second days festivities by having a lunch with my mom for her birthday. Even though it may have started out a little rough (everyone being a little grouchy), things quickly changed and I am glad for that. We went to a Mexican restaurant and everyone knows what happens when it's announced that it's your birthday! Mom had specifically said I will be mad if they slap that hat on my head and shove my face in the ice cream! Everyone knew not to say anything...but of course grandma tells them. Word got out and we all see the waiters coming around the corner, I whispered to my sister "Mom is going to be pissed!". They all get to the table and they slap that hat on MY head and shove MY face into the ice cream! I think everyone at the table had the same look on their face! Everyone is singing and grandma is saying "No No Not Her!". I'm glad I took the ice cream to the face for my mom, even more glad I got the ice cream out of the deal!
Our next stop was Corey's grandma's. We were running early, so we stopped at his dads for a little bit before. We all met at his grandma's and when everyone arrived we had dinner. His grandma kept the meal more simple this holiday and I really think it was one of the best meals yet. We finished eating and Steph, Chad, Bradyn, Corey, Duane, Kyleah, and I went back down to Duane's for our Christmas together. All the presents were opened and there was a heaping pile of wrapping paper in the middle of the floor and Kyleah and Bradyn had a blast playing and wrestling in it. We all may have had a drink or two and then it was time to go back down to grandma's. Everyone always meets in the basement and the family is getting so big the basement seems to get smaller and smaller. Kyleah, Bradyn, and Madison all were elves and passed out the presents. Kyleah still doesn't know who everyone is so she was passing them to whoever. After taking turns and everyone opening one present, it's a free for all with paper everywhere. And I finally got a Pizzazz! :)
That night Kyleah took her cookies and put them out for Santa (dropping them on the floor on the way). It was hard to explain, she couldn't eat the cookies that they were for Santa instead. The next morning when she saw that the cookies were gone she was more shocked that there was a cookie crumb left, rather than they were gone all together! We had a great Christmas here at home and still had one more to attend. My mom's was the next and last stop for our Christmas'. Even though I was told many times from my mom that I would not be getting a purse this Christmas...I still did. Thanks mom! Kyleah finally got the hang of unwrapping gifts and was so excited! We all snacked so much before we opened gifts, that when it was time to eat, we weren't even that hungry. We stayed kind of late and there was word of a snow storm so my sis, brother, and I all left at the same time just in case it was bad we wanted to keep an eye on each other. It took a couple days to finally recooperate, but the day after Christmas Corey, Duane, Kyleah and I were all out and about shopping. Now that Christmas is finally over, were are starting our shopping for next Christmas already! Even though the holidays can be so hectic, it's one of the one holidays I look forward to all year!

We love you grandpa and will miss you so much! XOXO