This & That

• I didn't give a weekend update...  oops.  It was a nice weekend... it was my birthday weekend.  I turned 37.  37.  Wow - so much closer to 40 now.  :)  
• Friday night we (friends and hubbies) were supposed to go out.  Ryan was sick.  Another hubby couldn't make it.  A daughter was sick, so that hubby stayed home.  So...  a group of 10 peeps was down to 4 girls.  We did have a great time - talking and catching up, but not going to lie - I wish my husband (and the others) could have made it too.  
• Saturday we just hung out most of the day...  did lunch and supper out, cuz it was my birthday.  That's how I roll.  :)
• Ryan's been out of town this week...  well, home Tuesday night, but out the rest.  It was nice to have the little break of him home on Tuesday... now we just need to get through tomorrow and tomorrow night.  
• I had VB tonight - so Ashley helped out with the kiddos.  I got a text from her saying "we are playing and the marble run has taken over the house."  Funny. 
• I bought new glasses, like frames with lenses.  I should get them next week... and I'm excited to have them.  I've realized my eyes get super tired by the end of the day... and it would be nice to change it up a little. 
• Kids have been good...  Kayson's back to normal.  Attitude and all.  Cora is good too.  Drama and all.  :) 

Kayson - 6 Year Well Check

I just re-read Kayson's 5 year well check...  and if you were to re-read it too, it would be exactly the same... besides there's no shots at 6 years. 

He did well, he's normal, he's growing, he's learning.  

Stats:
Height: 3' 11.5" (81%)
Weight: 46 lbs. (49%)

He's skinny.  Not a shocker.  :)  The doc noticed his ribs.  ha.  

Kayson is still having trouble staying dry at night.  To be honest, we didn't 'do' anything special this past year to 'help' it.  Doc says it's probably hereditary, so we just wait.  She said if we want - we could purchase an alarm system that will help him learn to wake up on his own.  We'll see.  

Oh Kayson

A funny - By Kayson Taylor.

Yesterday I emailed Kayson's teacher to check in - make sure she's seeing him do better (meaning - not as tired and staying focused, etc.)  Her response was this:

Things seem to be fine!  He did teach us all about his our colons one day!  Ha!  We have books all over our room about being healthy right now and he pointed to a picture of the human body and told us all, "That's where your poop goes.  Mine gets stuck in there sometimes, but it finally came out last night."  It was too funny :)  I'll let you know if I notice anything!

Nice Kayson.  Nice talk about poop.  :)  My goodness I love that kid.

This & That

• I had today off from work...  I did a Target run, alone, and I took my time.  It was heavenly.  :)  Then I met up with my good friend, Katie, for lunch - man, we had some amazing laughs.  That girl rocks.  I'm very thankful we still get together about every 2 months.  The rest of the afternoon, I did a few things around the house, and got my oil changed.  Now the day is over... back to work tomorrow!
• Kayson's two teeth are starting to come in... one is completely through, and the other is on it's way - and it's SO CROOKED.  OMG, it's bad.  Poor kid is going to have my teeth.  Makes me sad. 
• I used to love bedtime with the kids... it used to be quiet and just relaxing.  Not anymore.  Now it's a fight for both kids - meaning, Kayson's always wanting to know who's turn it is to put him to bed, or who's reading to Cora, etc.  He's ALWAYS concerned about it.  We try really hard to rotate bath and bed for the kids...  it's hard, especially when we go through stages of Ryan just not being home.  They get used to me, and apparently like me more at bedtime.  I get it, but man, it's frustrating too.  
• One of my errands this morning was washing my car... and then actually drying it off, so it looked nice.  Literally 2 hours later - it was raining.  BIG sad face here. 
• I bought two pairs of jeans last week.  I tried on about 15, but I landed on 2.  Now we'll see how I actually like them after wearing them for 10 hours.  I'm hoping for no 'saggy-butt' syndrome.  
• Cora wanted to look through one of her photo albums tonight - oh my goodness, it brought back memories.  It seems like yesterday she was just 8 months old... laughing and crawling everywhere... and not talking back!  :)  Kayson looked so different too.  Amazing.
• For Christmas, I got Ryan and I tickets to see a KU Jayhawks basketball game...  in February.  He was thrilled - actually speechless at the time, and I'm excited too.  Even tho they lost to Iowa State, they are playing now and kicking some butt (at this point).  So I'm looking forward to a little get away for us.

Weekend

We've had our weekend at home.  I have to admit, when we don't have plans, we tend to drive each other crazy.  ha.  But... we also needed it.  We needed to just be home and do whatever and lay around and make sure Kayson's back to 'normal' (which he is) and drive each other crazy.  :)  

Friday we went out for dinner...  early night for all of us. 

Saturday, Ryan did some work in the morning.  The kids and I played a little and just hung out.  Once Ryan got home, I went to DSW and bought some boots.  Two pairs.  Oops.  :)  The rest of the day was just laundry, groceries, playing, whining, kids being bored (cuz they have nothing to do - REALLY?) and just our normal stuff. 

Today was more of the same.  Kayson had basketball, so we all went today.  Cora took an early nap, so we all just went.  Cora was comfortable FAST, so she was wanting on the court pretty much right away, but overall she did good.  It was fun watching Kayson again... he seems to really like it.  

And now it's Sunday night.  

It wasn't an exciting weekend, but that's ok.  It was nice to be home.

I love this.

He had a lot of iPad time this weekend.

Puppy wanted a picture.  ha.

Playin' football first thing in the morning.

Darnit, she's cute.

C and Daddy

Basketball!

Kayson Update

Well, it's now Thursday...  I'm exhausted.  :)  However, Kayson seems to be doing better. 
Wednesday he went to school, only because he had a little pep in his step Wednesday morning and a small twinkle in his eyes...   I got an email from the teacher saying he was having a much better day.  Whew.


Wednesday afternoon, I picked him up...  he seemed good...  talked, didn't fall asleep on the way to the doctor.  Score.  ha.  I told the doctor the scoop... and she looked him over, and thinks that he may have just gotten a nasty bug in his tummy that he was having trouble fighting off and it was literally taking everything out of him.  She was concerned about the bowel incident too...  and felt his tummy and thinks he still has some stool in there.  We are going to do Myralax for a bit to help him get back to being 'regular' and hopefully we are in the clear.  She did say if he continued to be tired (or we didn't see any big improvements), then she would have some blood work done next week. 


We got home and he instantly said he was tired.  It doesn't surprise me, but I also got worried...  so he just layed low most of the evening.  Ryan did get home from KS, so that was good... and I had VB as well.  K and Cora were ready for bed early, but Ryan said they did well, and both went to bed well.


This morning, Kayson was even more back to normal.   This put me at ease!  I'm anticipating him being back to himself... and then also hoping we get the #2 thing straightened out.  Poor kid!

Tuesday = Almost a Nervous Breakdown

Well...  Tuesday is over.  And I'm thrilled... and today has been a much better day, so we are good.  I typically leave this blog for stuff that we are doing - stuff about the kids, etc.  I don't like to complain on here, etc.  But yesterday was the perfect storm for me... and it was one of those days that just didn't go well.  I was on an emotional rollercoaster all day long...  up and down, and sideways... everything.  All of that moved towards an 'almost' nervous breakdown. 


As I posted Sunday - we had a super busy weekend...  and Kayson wanted to go to bed at 7.  Done.  Monday he woke up happy... seemed fine... no problems.  Monday afternoon I got a phone call from the school nurse explaining that K had an accident - peeing accident.  WHAT????  He explained that he was in line, and he just couldn't hold it.  Ok...


I picked him up Monday night...  he looked tired, and didn't really want to talk about the incident.  So I left it alone - besides reminding him that it's ok, no one is mad, just if he thinks he can't hold it, he needs to make it aware to his teacher.  We get home... somewhat settled... and he looks at me and says "Can I go to bed?"  It's not even 6:00.  I did the mom stuff - asking 1,000 questions, making sure he didn't hurt or something was wrong - his answer, "I'm just really tired."  I was able to get some food in him...  and let him watch a cartoon.  Cora was a little owly - so I got her bath done fairly early, and ended up putting her in bed by 7:15.  In the meantime - Kayson had went to his bed, covered up, and fell asleep.  Oh boy.  He wasn't warm, nothing...  just tired.  I woke him long enough to get his jammies on, etc. 


So... all and all - I just figured - he's exhausted and needed to catch up from our busy weekend.  I get it - me too!!  But I was a tad worried. 


This moves into Tuesday.  He woke up fine, but he moped around and was pretty quiet.  He did eat breakfast, but wasn't thrilled about it...  and we went on our day. 


I got an email from K's teacher around 11:00 saying that she just wanted me to know that Kayson hasn't been acting like himself - and is complaining about being tired.  Then a short 2 hours later, I got a phone call from the school nurse - the teacher ended up taking him to the nurse to just get checked out.  K had a crying meltdown in the middle of class telling his teacher he was tired and couldn't do school work anymore.  Again, nurse checked him out - no fever, says his tummy doesn't hurt, just tired.  He rested a little in the office...  then apparently he had another accident - a bowel movement.  Double WHAT???  This is NOT like Kayson...  not at all.  My mind is spinning - I'm worried sick - trying to figure out what's going on - everything.  I felt terrible.


In the midst of all of this - my Mom called.  1) she never calls me - I can't remember the last time she called me, 2) I was worried instantly.  She was fine - however, she was wondering where Dad was.  I explained to her that he was at work, and he would be home soon...  the conversation then turned into her wondering how the kids were and wondering what I was doing.  I kept it short, only cuz I was at work (and still very occupied with worrying about Kayson).  She got emotional (which she's been doing a lot lately) and said goodbye.  Four minutes later - she called again.  The conversation was exactly the same as the first...  and the phone calls continued for another hour.  I got 7 phone calls from her between 1:50 and 2:45, then another 4 calls between 3:30 and 4:00.  At this point, I'm a nervous wreck, I'm realizing the things that Mom does with my sister(s), I'm realizing this disease is the worst thing in the world, I'm realizing that I can't help - even if I try to say something different.  The discussions were exactly the same.  Exactly.  In the meantime, I've called Trish to tell her what's going on...  and she apparently had been getting phone calls from Mom as well - her conversations were a little different tho.  So amazing, so hurting too. 


... moving on.  The phone calls stopped at 4:00 (assuming cuz Dad got home from work)...  in the meantime, I had left work early to get Kayson a little early.  I picked him up...  again, he's not looking all that great, but he also doesn't look terrible.  He says he's tired.  We talked a little... then ran into his teacher on our way out.  I spoke with her and got a little more information, etc.  We headed out - went to get Cora.  He fell asleep on the way to get Cora - a short 10 minute drive.  By then I'm even more worried - the kid can't even keep his eyes open. 


... we get home.  He says he's hungry but doesn't want to eat - and just wants me to sit with him.  We ended up getting his bath taken, since he didn't have one Monday night, it was important to get one.  I also thought - maybe this would perk him up a little?  I was able to get some crackers in him... and a little 7Up.  The whole time, he's telling me nothing hurts, he's just tired. 


By 6:00 he's in bed, jammies and all.  My niece, Ash, came to visit... which was exactly what I needed by the way.   Around 7:00, Kayson rushes out of his room kind of keeled over crying...  I hurried to him - asked if he needed to puke or something?  He started to cry - "I pooped!"  I got him to the toilet... and he had already gone...  but continued to go/finish.  and he's crying the whole time.  It all came full circle - his tummy DID hurt, he just didn't really know it I guess??    A huge sigh of relief on my end... and a few tears.  Once he finished, he asked to go back to bed... and he did. 


This morning he was better - a huge pep in his step and talked my ear off.  I sent him to school.  I got an update from his teacher and she said he's doing much better today.  Another huge sigh.   With that - I am taking him to the doctor this afternoon just to get checked out.  I am still concerned about how tired he is...  so potentially more to come.   


So... my 'almost' nervous breakdown is slowly coming to an end.  At many moments of yesterday I was nervous, having a hard time taking a deep breath, and had tons of anxiety.  I'm exhausted... and honestly can't wait for Ryan to be home (tonight!!!)... and can't wait for a weekend of NOTHING planned.  Good gravy.  :)


And good for you all if you kept up and read this whole thing!!!  :)

7:30 on a Sunday = Quiet

Sunday's are always hard...  meaning, I'm crabby (cuz we have to get up early tomorrow and go to work!)... and the kids are typically over being at home with us!  We had a busy weekend, so it was no different tonight...  we (I) had lost patience, and we were just all tired.  Kayson looked at me at 7:00 and asked if he could go to bed.  He was asleep by 7:30...  Cora too.  

Our weekend consisted of:
Saturday
We couldn't really sleep in...  I say that, cuz really lately, the kids have been sleeping past 7:30, which is sleeping in!  :)  Anyway, K had a hair cut at 8:30...  we got up...  dropped the dogs off at the kennel on the way out to Adel...  hair cut and done.  We headed home, did a few things, then we were off to take Kayson to Riley's birthday party at 10.  I headed back home...  finished more packing and organizing...  and Ryan, Cora and I were in the truck by 10:50 to go to the bank, and get Kayson early from the party.  

From there...  a 3 hour drive to Sioux City to visit Blair's for Tate's birthday party.  This is our second trip over there... first one went fairly well, this one - not so much.  I am not lying when we heard "Mom" or "Dad" at least 10,000 times in 3 hours.  I don't like those names anymore.  :)  Cora's very demanding...  and has gotten great at talking back.  This does not fly with me.  And what's so hard is we would discipline, but it's so hard to do that driving.  So frustrating.  We thought she would rest - nope.  She's definitely not herself when we are in the car or not at home.  

Anyway... we got there...  and then we were all good! The kids played and for the most part - stayed away from us!  :)  We had a great time - Tate got some great things for his birthday...  we had great food and great company!  

Sunday
We were up early - again, Miss Cora didn't sleep well, which leads me to not as well...  we got our day started... playing some more and getting packed up.  We needed to be on the road no later than 11ish.  We pulled out at 10:50...  and another 3 hours.  This time around was a tad better...  for the most of it, I sat in the back with the kids... helping with our lunch on the road... and hoping to keep the talking down a little.  Again, no sleeping...  but it was better.  And the drive seemed fairly fast.  

The minute we walked in the door - our smoke detectors were going off.  (They've actually been going off at random times - mostly late afternoon - for the past 5 days.)   We feel we've tried everything... and they are still acting up.  And it's SO ANNOYING... and loud.  Anyway, I got laundry sorted in record time, got Kayson ready for basketball and put Cora down for a nap... and we were out the door again.   Ryan stayed home and got some stuff done...  I took Kayson to basketball, then we got the dogs from the kennel.  Back home by 4:50.  YAWN.  

So... pizza was ordered... baths were taken early... and kids were asleep at 7:30.  Quiet night now.   I need to get groceries, but I honestly don't think I can move.  :)  

It was a great weekend... just a crazy one! 

Cora wanted to hold my hand in the car...  instead - Kayson held her hand.  Sweet.

Almost 4 Tate!!

Basketball 2015 (YMCA)

We signed Kayson up for a YMCA basketball session - actually two sessions.  The first is considered clinics where they concentrate on the basics (dribbling, shooting, passing).  Then the second session is called something different, but I can't remember!  ha... but it's more of applying those basics, so I'm thinking more scrimmaging, but I'm not 100% sure!  Either way, he likes it so far!!

Ryan was thrilled... and got him some new basketball high-tops and even some sweat arm bands.  It's flipping adorable.  :)  

I'm really enjoying it, and it gets me excited to see that he likes it, and wants to go back next week!

See?  Adorable.  :)

In action.

Some Funny Things

Here are a few funny things the kids have said over the last couple weeks:

At the dinner table... I am constantly moving Cora's milk and/or yogurt away from the edge of the table, so she doesn't spill it.  
Cora: "Don't touch my yogurt Mom."
Me:  "Ok fine."
Cora: leaning in... "Huggie Mom?"

Ryan was trying on a few of his new clothes he got for Xmas... I got him a cool pair of plaid jamma pants.  He came into Kayson's room to show us.  
Ryan:  "I'm going to wear these to work tomorrow buddy."  joking obviously.
Kayson: "You can't... won't you get into trouble?"
Ryan:  "No."
Kayson:  "Are you having pajama day then?"

Love it!

Cora sometimes calls Kayson - "Kayson Mike!"  Hilarious.

One of our favorite songs (as of now) is 'Animal' by Maroon 5.  Since we can remember, Kayson's always said 'aMinal' instead of animal.  But when this song became popular and we listened to it over and over - he FINALLY started saying it right.  Animal!  So, now that Cora is singing with us... she's the one saying 'aMinal!!' It's so funny!  Kayson is always trying to correct her too. 

We have mints that we eat... you know, after we eat dinner, or just to freshen our breath.  Well, Cora is slightly addicted to them.  Tonight I told her I didn't have any more, which was a lie, cuz she had already had 2 of them.  (They are becoming as bad as fruit snacks used to be!!!)  Anyway, so the conversation went this way:
Cora: "Dad, I want your mint."
Ryan: "Here you go." handing her a mint.
A few seconds go by -
Cora: "I don't like your mint Dad.  I need drink now!"
We giggle...
Cora: "I like Mom's strawberry mint more Dad."
:)

Here's to 2015!

For New Year's Eve, we invited a few friends over...  Nicky & Avery, Nielsen's and Orfanos'.  They are a great group...  seem to all get along... and the kids do really well too.  We had some snacks, drinks, and great laughs... it was a great evening in.  

So now it's 2015 - seems crazy to think that...  but I decided to look back at my 2014 goals - here they are!

• Go away for a weekend with Ryan... and maybe with some friends/couples.  We seriously don't spend enough time just us (or even with friends), so I'd really like to do that. --- I'm going to have to say that we did do San Diego.  Even though, it wasn't just US, it was a get away, and we did have some alone time, but also time with some of his great coworkers.
• Read "50 Shades of Grey" - just because.  I am intrigued by it, and it would get me to read something... ha. --- Read the 1st and 2nd...  Haven't even touched the 3rd.  Not sure if I will - after reading the first two, I'm not as intrigued.
• Have more patience.  Not sure how this will be measured, but I'm going to really try.  Hard. --- This one is hard.  I have my moments of extreme patience and being soft spoken, then there are moments of not that at all.  I guess I should be more consistent?!  ha.
• Send birthday cards to all of our family members and close friends.  (Ryan actually just brought that up tonight - so it's on my list!) --- I would say I did this about 60% of the time.  Gosh, this is so easy to do too... 
• Actually do some of the Pinterest items that I've pinned.  I'd like to produce at least 6 of them - whether it's a recipe or an art/DIY thing. --- I did a few recipes, but nothing crafty-like.
• Keep Kayson in swimming lessons throughout the year.  It's important and I want him to succeed and not be scared. --- We did several different lessons for him, but not throughout the year. 
• Floss every night.  (I've been flossing the last 6 months every night, and it made a huge difference at my dentist appointment - so I'm keeping it up!) --- I do this 95% of the time. 
• Start something in the basement - whether it's the bathroom, or just putting up framing.  Start something... (this is more Ryan, but I will help!) --- NOTHING.  BOO.  We do have more money saved now, so maybe - MAYBE that'll get started in 2015?

So moving onto 2015.  I honestly haven't thought about any of this yet.  But if I quickly think - this is what SHOULD be on my list:

• Working out.  I just don't do it anymore, and I need to.  It shows and I'm not happy with my body.
• Have more patience.  Keeping that on here - and will probably be on there for the rest of my life.  :)
• Start on the basement. 
• Eat better.  Again, I love food that's not the best for you (especially at 9pm!)  And now it shows. 
• Go on a vacation/weekend away with my family.  Just us.  
• Go on a vacation/weekend away with just Ryan.  Preferably somewhere warm... and beachy.  :)

Christmas 2014 #4 (Immediate Taylor Family)

Four Christmas'...  all done, effective this afternoon!  :)
Thursday morning (New Year's Day) we slept in...  too long.  (Long New Year's Eve evening!)...  we scurried around and got out the door around 10:30. 

Blair, Martina and the kids... and Papa and Grammie were waiting for us.  We ate lunch, and hung out... then let the kiddos dig into their gifts from their grandparents.  It was a huge success...  they did pretty well at letting us 'make' them open one gift at a time.  Man, that's hard for little ones!  :)  But they did great.  Kayson got some great stuff...  some nice clothes for school (which he thinks is boring, but we think it's great!), golf clubs!!!, some great art stuff that he enjoys and lots of other cool stuff.  Cora got some great clothes as well - some nice ones, then some things for daycare, she also got a kitchen, which she loved!  Very spoiled kiddos. 

We then just hung out the rest of the afternoon...  Cora did take a rest, she's been SO tired lately, and during that time - again, just hung out and the boys played hard.  We ordered pizza in, which was perfect - so casual for us!!  We got the kids to bed around 9ish, which was really nice.  They were all tired, just playing so hard all day long.  Then it was the adults time to open gifts.  I really like that we do this - however, Kayson was mad - he wanted to watch us open gifts!  ha.  I like the adult, quiet time!!  :)

We were up way too late, but had a great time!  This morning we just hung out... had lunch and also got to see Great Grandma Janis and Great Great Grandma Ann, which was awesome.  We still needed to get the 5 generation picture with the Grandmas and Landry, so that was super great to have that done.  Grandma Ann is so great - doing so well, we are so blessed!

We headed out this afternoon... a little later than we had planned.  The kids were more than tired - starting the 'fighting' thing with each other and the adults had lost their patience.  :)  But overall, it was a great couple days...  we are home and settled, but not near organized yet!  I'm so glad we still have a full weekend to do that...  Closets and toys are going to be cleared out tomorrow!  

K & Tate - with their flag football stuff - gloves too!  :)

Golf clubs!!

Checking them out!

Quite time with his new art stuff...  I'm so glad he enjoys this stuff.

New kitchen!  She'll do the cooking now!

Thank you Grandma & Papa!

Cora & Landry!

With Great Great Grandma Ann.  So special.

Me & my boy.

Ryan and his babies.