2 Year Update

OK, well I guess Kinley has been two for awhile now, but I have been meaning to post a two year update since she turned two, so that is what we are going with.

Kinley is still sleeping very well. Her bedtime is typically between 8-8:30 PM and she usually sleeps until at least 7 or 8 AM the next morning. She also takes an afternoon nap which usually starts around 1 PM and lasts until 4 PM. She doesn't always sleep the entire naptime, but she is content to rest in her crib.

We don't really worry about Kinley's eating patterns anymore, which is great considering how focused we were on her nutrition status and weight at first. Kinley has really come a long way from the feeding tube, supplements and thickener that she used to require. Now Kinley eats breakfast when she wakes up, lunch around noon, a cup of milk as a snack when she wakes up from her nap, and dinner around 7 PM. Breakfast is usually french toast sticks or cereal with some type of fruit, usually a banana. Kinley will also get a cup of 2% milk with a 1/4 capful of Miralax mixed in. All of Kinley's cups are now cups with straws. She has outgrown the traditional sippy cup. Lunch and dinner varies from day to day, but Kinley's favorite foods recently are mac and cheese, grilled cheese, Dora yogurt, muffins, crackers and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza and almost any type of fruit. Kinley is not big into vegetables or meat other than chicken nuggets, but we are working on it. Kinley gets water in her cup with lunch and dinner. I am sure Kinley would prefer milk, but we were told Kinley was getting too much milk, plus her appetite seems to be better for lunch and dinner when we give her water to drink. We have tried letting Kinley have some juice as a little treat, but she doesn't really like it. Kinley has recently learned to use a fork and spoon and actually prefers using utensils to her hands to eat since her hands get less messy that way.

When Kinley turned 2 years old we started giving her a chewy multi-vitamin to help with her nutrition.  She is not on any meds, but we do give her a 1/4 capful of Miralax a day.

As of Kinley's last check up on 6/2/10, her weight was 25 lbs (30th percentile).  Her height was 34.5 inches (75th percentile). And her head circumference was 19.5 inches (95th percentile).  She does not need to go back for a check up until her 3rd birthday.  As of Kinley's 2nd birthday, she was wearing size 18 month clothes, size 3 diapers and size 6 shoes.  Currently (October 2010) Kinley is wearing size 2T clothes, size 4 diapers and size 7 shoes.

Kinley continues to be seen by Infant and Toddler Services of Johnson County (ITSJC).  Her gross motor skills are up to date, but her fine motor skills still need a little more work.  Kinley's biggest developmental delay, and ITSJC's main focus, is language/speech skills.  In fact, her ITSJC appointments have been increased from every 2 weeks to every week to work more with her speech.  Kinley is roughly behind by about 3 months in her speech development, but she has been able to keep pace to not fall any further behind.  Hopefully the increase in ITSJC visits will help her to catch up on her language skills.  Along with speech therapy from ITSJC, Kinley is seen by an Occupational Therapist (OT) every other week.  Kinley's OT works with her on some sensory issues.

Tan-Tar-A

In July, we took a family vacation to Tan-Tar-A Resort at Lake of the Ozarks. Kevin, Kinley and I, along with my parents, went last year for a long weekend and had so much fun that we decided to go for a whole week this year. Aunt Mary was also able to make the trip this year, so that was really nice.
I say "make the trip" like it is pretty far away, but really it is just a 3 hour drive. It is the perfect length for a car trip with a 2 year old and the atmosphere at the lake is much more relaxing than at home. It was really nice to get away for a little while, and we are already planning our next trip back to the lake.

We spent most days at the various pools the resort had. Kinley is getting to be quite the little water baby. She loves the pool and being outside! The resort had a baby pool that Kinley loved last year, but seemed a little too big for it this year. We spent most of the time divided between the toddler pool and the adult pool. Kinley liked playing with all her water toys in the toddler pool, but towards the end of the week she figured out how to get out of the toddler pool all by herself and go over to the adult pool.

I am sure she would just jump into the adult pool if we were not right there to stop her. She has no fear! In the adult pool Kinley likes to swim with mommy and daddy. Grandma and Grandpa Seep bought her a noodle and she would hold onto the noodle and kick her little feet behind. We really need to get this girl into some swim lessons. On the last day of vacation daddy let Kinley jump into the pool and into his arms as he was standing in the pool and Kinley thought that was really fun. Kevin also had Kinley put her face underwater to get her used to it and she didn't even mind that. Like I said before, total water baby. Watch out mommy and daddy, we have to keep a close eye on her while at the pool.

We also rented a pontoon boat one day and took it out on the lake. Just like at Big Cedar, Kinley's favorite spot on the boat was front and center. She was content to stand there and watch the water and other boats go by. It got pretty hot on the boat, so we did stop in a little cove, put the anchor down and took a quick swim in the lake to cool off a bit. As with everything else water related, Kinley seemed to enjoy the quick swim, but was ready to get back on the boat when it was time to head back.

Overall Kinley did really well on vacation for a whole week. Of course she enjoyed all the attention from being the only child on vacation, but she also ate really well and slept pretty good too.

Lenexa BBQ

Wow, June was a pretty busy month for us. Each year some good friends of ours compete in the Lenexa BBQ and we try to make it out to the event to support them and taste the delicious BBQ! This year we were lucky enough to be able to make it out again. It was pretty hot out, even for being the evening, but that didn't stop us from having a good time and eating some great BBQ.

Kinley liked to try out all the different chairs.





Finally we got a couple of pics of Chase and Kinley together and both looking at the camera!

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 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!!!

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.