Saturday, July 31, 2010
Shatto Dairy Farm
Also back in June, our playgroup took a little field trip to the Shatto Dairy Farm just north of Kansas City. Shatto is a family run farm and we credit them with helping Kinley learn to drink out of a sippy cup. When Kinley was transitioning from the bottle to a sippy cup we let her drink the various yummy flavors of Shatto milk in her sippy cup. I think banana was her favorite, but they also have orange, chocolate, root beer and strawberry. Shatto was having a family fun day at the farm, so there were lots of people visiting and it was pretty crowded, but Kinley still got to see the cows up close and personal. Turns out Kinley was not a big fan of the cows, but oh well. We stayed just long enough to see all the exhibits and then a huge storm rolled in, so we left in a little rush. We made it to the car before the big downpour started, so that was good. Wasn't able to get many pics from that day, but here are just a few.
Hearing Update
Back on June 14th, Kinley had a follow up visit with the audiology department at Children's Mercy Hospital. Her previous appointment showed a slight, low frequency hearing loss, but nothing that should be interfering with her speech. We were told to try and get her used to using ear buds or headphones so that they could do a more thorough exam at this visit.
Kinley did great during this exam. They were able to do the more extensive hearing test and found that Kinley does not have any hearing issues at this time. She passed with flying colors and we do not need another follow up appointment until next year! We will still need to have her hearing monitored since children born with CDH are at greater risk for progressive hearing loss, but at this time everything looks great!
Kinley did great during this exam. They were able to do the more extensive hearing test and found that Kinley does not have any hearing issues at this time. She passed with flying colors and we do not need another follow up appointment until next year! We will still need to have her hearing monitored since children born with CDH are at greater risk for progressive hearing loss, but at this time everything looks great!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Kinley 2nd Birthday Party
For Kinley's 2nd birthday, Kevin and I bought her a new swing set for the backyard. We decided to have her birthday party be a backyard BBQ so that she and all the other kids could play on her new swing set. Looks like everyone had a fun time!
Kinley climbing up the ladder. She needed some help at first, but now she can go all the way up by herself and down the slide. She is getting so big, so fast!
Now what mom?
Trying out the different swings.
Opening up presents!
Look Dad, barrettes! (Now all we have to do is convince Kinley to keep the barrettes in her hair. She hates hair in her face, but won't keep any barrettes, hair ties or headbands on.)
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Dear Kinley, Happy Birthday to you!! We love you!!!
Kinley climbing up the ladder. She needed some help at first, but now she can go all the way up by herself and down the slide. She is getting so big, so fast!
Now what mom?
Trying out the different swings.
Opening up presents!
Look Dad, barrettes! (Now all we have to do is convince Kinley to keep the barrettes in her hair. She hates hair in her face, but won't keep any barrettes, hair ties or headbands on.)
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Dear Kinley, Happy Birthday to you!! We love you!!!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A Big Sister
One of the reasons that I am so far behind on blog posts is because of some exciting news. Kinley is going to be a BIG SISTER!! Her little brother is due October 13th. So far the little guy is growing well and looks healthy! We don't have a name picked out yet, no furniture has been ordered yet, and I can't find any bedding that I like so we haven't even started decorating the new nursery. Lots to do and time is flying by.
I keep trying to explain what is happening to Kinley, but I don't think she will understand until he is here. I hope she adjusts alright. I worry since she is used to being the center of attention being an only child for now, and the only grandchild on both my side of the family and Kevin's. Also, given all that Kinley went through after she was born, well, lets just say she might be a little spoiled.
For the most part Kinley seems to take everything in stride though, and I am sure she will be a great Big Sister once she warms up to the idea.
I keep trying to explain what is happening to Kinley, but I don't think she will understand until he is here. I hope she adjusts alright. I worry since she is used to being the center of attention being an only child for now, and the only grandchild on both my side of the family and Kevin's. Also, given all that Kinley went through after she was born, well, lets just say she might be a little spoiled.
For the most part Kinley seems to take everything in stride though, and I am sure she will be a great Big Sister once she warms up to the idea.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Big Cedar
I feel like every time I am about to get caught up with the blog, things happen and then I fall even more behind. So, I am back to playing catch-up.
The weekend of May 7th we took a family vacation with my parents to Big Cedar Lodge at Table Rock Lake. The resort was beautiful and we had pretty good weather. It was a little cool, but at least it didn't rain on us.
Kinley is getting so independent and wants to walk everywhere by herself these days. She loved all the bridges at the lodge.
Kinley wasn't used to all the hills and did fall a couple of times on her walks, but for the most part she did really well and had a great time exploring her new environment.
There was lots of fun stuff for Kinley to do at the lodge. One of the first things we did was take her horse back riding.
Kinley wasn't too sure about this, but we gave it a try anyway.
She did great petting her horse.
But not so great when it came to actually riding the horse.
She was happy again once we let her run around on her own. At least she tried something new and cheers up quickly after it is over!
The lodge also had a little turtle pond with tons of turtles. Here is Kinley getting her chance to see the turtles with grandma.
Later on that weekend we rented a pontoon boat and hit the lake. Kinley is such a water baby. At the back of the boat helping grandpa drive.
Hanging out with grandma at the front of the boat and enjoying the view.
It was a little chilly on the boat, so we tried to hang out on the front of the boat where the sun was. Luckily we put sunscreen on Kinley's face, but since I was just trying to warm up in the sun (not tan) I didn't even think about putting sunscreen on me. Bad move. My pale skin was not used to any amount of sun and I got burned. Oh well, at least it was near the end of the trip anyway. Lesson learned.
Even with her sunscreen, Kinley ended up hurting worse than me after the boat ride. While we were on the boat Kinley took a spill and gave herself a pretty good fat lip. We were able to get her all cleaned up, gave her some ibuprofen and iced her lip. She was a trooper and daddy knew just how to make her feel better, Phineas and Ferb on the ipod until she fell asleep and took a nap on daddy's lap.
Overall a fun weekend. It is always nice to get away, even if it is just for a long weekend.
The weekend of May 7th we took a family vacation with my parents to Big Cedar Lodge at Table Rock Lake. The resort was beautiful and we had pretty good weather. It was a little cool, but at least it didn't rain on us.
Kinley is getting so independent and wants to walk everywhere by herself these days. She loved all the bridges at the lodge.
Kinley wasn't used to all the hills and did fall a couple of times on her walks, but for the most part she did really well and had a great time exploring her new environment.
There was lots of fun stuff for Kinley to do at the lodge. One of the first things we did was take her horse back riding.
Kinley wasn't too sure about this, but we gave it a try anyway.
She did great petting her horse.
But not so great when it came to actually riding the horse.
She was happy again once we let her run around on her own. At least she tried something new and cheers up quickly after it is over!
The lodge also had a little turtle pond with tons of turtles. Here is Kinley getting her chance to see the turtles with grandma.
Later on that weekend we rented a pontoon boat and hit the lake. Kinley is such a water baby. At the back of the boat helping grandpa drive.
Hanging out with grandma at the front of the boat and enjoying the view.
It was a little chilly on the boat, so we tried to hang out on the front of the boat where the sun was. Luckily we put sunscreen on Kinley's face, but since I was just trying to warm up in the sun (not tan) I didn't even think about putting sunscreen on me. Bad move. My pale skin was not used to any amount of sun and I got burned. Oh well, at least it was near the end of the trip anyway. Lesson learned.
Even with her sunscreen, Kinley ended up hurting worse than me after the boat ride. While we were on the boat Kinley took a spill and gave herself a pretty good fat lip. We were able to get her all cleaned up, gave her some ibuprofen and iced her lip. She was a trooper and daddy knew just how to make her feel better, Phineas and Ferb on the ipod until she fell asleep and took a nap on daddy's lap.
Overall a fun weekend. It is always nice to get away, even if it is just for a long weekend.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Boo Croup
I can't believe I forgot to mention that a few days before we left for Texas Kinley got sick for the very first time since she came home from the hospital. She has had a couple of minor colds, but this was the first time we actually had to take her to the doctor because she was sick.
Kinley had been running a temperature around 100-102 for a couple of days. We didn't think much of it, and just gave her Tylenol and Motrin to help. After a couple days of having a fever Kinley started to get a really bad cough. The cough was so bad that she even threw up a couple of times. You could just tell that she felt horrible. She was really fussy and didn't want to eat or drink anything. Kevin and I felt so bad for her that we basically let he have a few free days where she could eat her favorite foods and watch more Phineas and Ferb than we usually let her watch.
Once the cough got to where it caused her to vomit a couple of times, and since she had a fever for several days we gave in and took her to her doctor. Dr. S. took one look at Kinley, listened to her breathe and told us she had croup. He also did a strep test to rule out that possibility, but it came back negative. Just croup.
Croup is a viral infection that may or may not be accompanied by a fever. There is a characteristic cough and swelling of the upper respiratory track. It does not affect the lungs however, which is good news for Kinley. Dr. S. prescribed a 3 day course of steroids to help with the swelling of her upper respiratory track, but since it is a viral infection antibiotics would not help. We were told to keep giving Tylenol and Motrin for her fever. Dr. S. said croup usually lasts for about a week and since he saw her on day 3 of her fever she was about halfway through already. He said that she should be fine for our trip to Texas and that there was no need to cancel any plans. That was good news.
Sure enough after a couple more days Kinley started to get better which was great news for everyone. I think Kevin and I took Kinley's illness harder than she did. It was just heartbreaking to see her feel so bad. I know that we have been very lucky Kinley has been as healthy as she has been since coming home from the hospital, but that doesn't seem to be very comforting when you are dealing with a sick child at that moment. I guess I should be happy that all she had was croup, a fairly common childhood illness that any kid could get.
Kinley had been running a temperature around 100-102 for a couple of days. We didn't think much of it, and just gave her Tylenol and Motrin to help. After a couple days of having a fever Kinley started to get a really bad cough. The cough was so bad that she even threw up a couple of times. You could just tell that she felt horrible. She was really fussy and didn't want to eat or drink anything. Kevin and I felt so bad for her that we basically let he have a few free days where she could eat her favorite foods and watch more Phineas and Ferb than we usually let her watch.
Once the cough got to where it caused her to vomit a couple of times, and since she had a fever for several days we gave in and took her to her doctor. Dr. S. took one look at Kinley, listened to her breathe and told us she had croup. He also did a strep test to rule out that possibility, but it came back negative. Just croup.
Croup is a viral infection that may or may not be accompanied by a fever. There is a characteristic cough and swelling of the upper respiratory track. It does not affect the lungs however, which is good news for Kinley. Dr. S. prescribed a 3 day course of steroids to help with the swelling of her upper respiratory track, but since it is a viral infection antibiotics would not help. We were told to keep giving Tylenol and Motrin for her fever. Dr. S. said croup usually lasts for about a week and since he saw her on day 3 of her fever she was about halfway through already. He said that she should be fine for our trip to Texas and that there was no need to cancel any plans. That was good news.
Sure enough after a couple more days Kinley started to get better which was great news for everyone. I think Kevin and I took Kinley's illness harder than she did. It was just heartbreaking to see her feel so bad. I know that we have been very lucky Kinley has been as healthy as she has been since coming home from the hospital, but that doesn't seem to be very comforting when you are dealing with a sick child at that moment. I guess I should be happy that all she had was croup, a fairly common childhood illness that any kid could get.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Back to Texas
On April 22nd we packed up the car and headed back to Texas for another long weekend. The trip was planned around a baby shower for a good friend and sorority sister of mine. It just so happens that she married a friend and fellow TCU baseball teammate of Kevin. We stayed with them the last time we went down to Texas and we were able to stay with them again this time which worked out really well. They are expecting a baby boy this June and we wish them nothing but the best!
Each time we travel to Texas we always try to get back to visit the TCU Campus at least once. Last time we were there during football season and were able to catch a game. This time it was baseball season and we were able to go watch them play Friday night. TCU recently got a brand new baseball stadium which we saw for the first time on this trip. It was such a nice stadium! There was a picnic and grilling area out near right field that you could reserve, a little hill that looked over the first base line that kids would slide down while sitting on flattened cardboard boxes, and another area on the third base line with some more tables you could rent. They also host parties for kids. While we were there a little boy was having a birthday party and during one of the breaks between innings the kids at the party were allowed to run the bases. It was more like a minor league game than a college game. It was really fun to be back on campus and see the new field. Kinley did pretty well sitting through most of the game. She ate some nachos, Dippin Dots ice cream and towards the 5th or 6th inning she was getting a little restless, so Dad let her watch some Phineas and Ferb on his iPod. We ended up leaving around the 8th inning, but only because it was past Kinley's bedtime and we still had an hour drive back to the house. Here are some pics of the new baseball stadium at TCU. Pretty impressive.
Saturday morning we thought we would take Kinley to the Fort Worth Zoo. I was hoping that she would be interested in the animals, but the zoo was set up so that it was too hard for Kinley to see anything while in her stroller. We tried letting Kinley out of her stroller, but then she just wanted to run anywhere and everywhere. Kinley didn't seem to care about the animals one way or another. It didn't turn out how I imagined, but we still had a good time. Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of Kinley at the zoo, and you can't really even tell it was taken at the zoo, but oh well.
Later on that day we took Kinley to the park in the neighborhood where we were staying. She had a blast going down the slides and exploring all the new playground equipment. The weather was so nice while we were in Texas that we tried to spend as much time outside as possible. Kinley loves being outside right now!
We must have worn Kinley out on Saturday because she slept in really late on Sunday. While I was at the baby shower Kinley stayed home and rested with the guys. Sunday was pretty uneventful and then it was back home on Monday so I could get back to work. We always have a great time whenever we travel to Texas. Too bad it is an 8 hour drive or we would go more often.
Each time we travel to Texas we always try to get back to visit the TCU Campus at least once. Last time we were there during football season and were able to catch a game. This time it was baseball season and we were able to go watch them play Friday night. TCU recently got a brand new baseball stadium which we saw for the first time on this trip. It was such a nice stadium! There was a picnic and grilling area out near right field that you could reserve, a little hill that looked over the first base line that kids would slide down while sitting on flattened cardboard boxes, and another area on the third base line with some more tables you could rent. They also host parties for kids. While we were there a little boy was having a birthday party and during one of the breaks between innings the kids at the party were allowed to run the bases. It was more like a minor league game than a college game. It was really fun to be back on campus and see the new field. Kinley did pretty well sitting through most of the game. She ate some nachos, Dippin Dots ice cream and towards the 5th or 6th inning she was getting a little restless, so Dad let her watch some Phineas and Ferb on his iPod. We ended up leaving around the 8th inning, but only because it was past Kinley's bedtime and we still had an hour drive back to the house. Here are some pics of the new baseball stadium at TCU. Pretty impressive.
Saturday morning we thought we would take Kinley to the Fort Worth Zoo. I was hoping that she would be interested in the animals, but the zoo was set up so that it was too hard for Kinley to see anything while in her stroller. We tried letting Kinley out of her stroller, but then she just wanted to run anywhere and everywhere. Kinley didn't seem to care about the animals one way or another. It didn't turn out how I imagined, but we still had a good time. Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of Kinley at the zoo, and you can't really even tell it was taken at the zoo, but oh well.
Later on that day we took Kinley to the park in the neighborhood where we were staying. She had a blast going down the slides and exploring all the new playground equipment. The weather was so nice while we were in Texas that we tried to spend as much time outside as possible. Kinley loves being outside right now!
We must have worn Kinley out on Saturday because she slept in really late on Sunday. While I was at the baby shower Kinley stayed home and rested with the guys. Sunday was pretty uneventful and then it was back home on Monday so I could get back to work. We always have a great time whenever we travel to Texas. Too bad it is an 8 hour drive or we would go more often.
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