Oral Surgery

Surgery.  Never something you want to go through.  This was our first time having a kid be put under and I was so nervous about it!  Even though it was "just" oral surgery I hated the thought.  I knew that Maddi would be tough and handle it okay, but you hate seeing your kid go through something kind of scary and painful.  

When she got taken back you could tell she was a little nervous.  She did great until it was time for the IV and then the tears came.  But, she was super brave, they got the IV in and then I had to leave, which I hated doing! Not that I wanted to stay, but she wasn't asleep when they had me leave.  The wait began.  It took nearly two hours for them to do everything that needed to be done, which included: removing 10 teeth! (6 baby, 4 permanent), and adding chains onto 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom). She was pretty out of it on the way home.  She wasn't really goofy, just sleepy. I felt bad because you could tell that she couldn't understand what was going on or why she felt the way she did. 

We stocked up on the meds and headed home.  

 By that afternoon she was already doing SO good!

She had a smile on her face and her biggest complaint was that her face was still numb. :)  The pain didn't really set in until the next day, but we kept her meds going around the clock so it never got bad.  By the end of the next day you never would have known what she had gone through the day before.  She's a rockstar! 

We're all glad this portion of the journey is done.  Now we can just have fun with braces for 3 years.  haha!

Camden: 9 months

Oh this boy! He continues to be our big squishy guy.  He weighed in at 20 lbs 8 oz. and was 28.25" long.  The thing he loves most these days is food. :) He wants to eat anything and everything.  Sometimes I wonder if he can actually ever be full.  Heaven help us when he's a teenager! I seroiusly couldn't love the rolls more though. He is still the happiest baby, even though he's been fighting a cold for about a month and is teething at the same time.  Its been a little rough and we're looking forward to having him back to his normal self.  

He is pulling himself up to stand with things and crawls all over the place! If you want to get a giggle out of him you have the best chance when you're changing his clothes. There's something about him being naked that just brings out his silliness. :)  

Braces

Maddi started the year off with a bang getting braces just a few days in! The weekend before we let her pick her restaurant of choice as a last hurrah. She chose Wingers. 

They took all kinds of pictures of her mouth and I just couldn't pass up taking one myself! It was even more awesome in person.  

 She did great while they were putting everything on.  They ended up only putting braces on the bottom for now because of how some were growing in on the top. In a couple months once they've moved things around a bit, she'll get the top ones put on.  

The "after" smile! Not too bad since they aren't on top yet.  

                                       The next big hurdle is oral surgery in about two weeks.

My Dear Kinsley

Someday I will look back on these early years with my Kinsley and laugh...hopefully. This child is special, and I mean that so deeply and for so many reasons.  Last night was a rough one for the two of us, because this happened.

I was having a pretty good day and being productive.  I was even making dinner for the second night in a row! (Its a big deal these days) While cooking some bacon she decided to have fun with some nail polish, about 5 minutes after finding the first mess she comes out covered in mustard.  I had to get Maddi fed and off to dance first, I had a tired and fussy baby.  I felt torn in a million directions.  I needed to clean quickly to save clothing, bedding, furniture, carpet...but babies don't wait and neither does the clock when kids have places to be.  A little over an hour later I had Maddi off, Camden laid down, other kids fed, and most of the mess cleaned up. I felt exhausted.  I wanted to cry and scream, but knew that neither would help.

As the evening went on and even after I went to bed, my thoughts kept turning back to this child of mine. This child has brought me to my knees in prayer and I'm grateful for that.  Prayer is something I struggle with, but she reminds me, in sometimes harsh ways, that I am extremely inadequate to be her mother alone. I have so much to learn from this girl. I feel that strongly as I pray over her calm sleeping figure each night. I worry that I am going to stifle this energy she has within her, and in the same instant I worry I am raising a child with no understanding of boundaries and appropriate behavior. She has stretched me as a mother and makes me evaluate myself and my actions constantly.  I can so easily become overwhelmed with her and sometimes I feel like no one can possibly understand the struggles the two of us go through on a daily basis. The thing is, I love this little girl so much! :)

After these incidents last night, I told her that everyone who saw the picture was saying how sad it was that she made those messes and that its a naughty thing to do.  In her sad little voice she told me she didn't want to be naughty, she wanted to be a good girl.  I thought in my head, "Then just be a good girl!"  Later that night I realized how silly that statement is. How many times do I tell my Heavenly Father that I want to be better, yet still struggle? Despite my exhaustion with our constant battles I have to be there to teach her, to love her, and to help her become more, as my Heavenly Father is there for me.

So, sweet Kinsley, we are in this journey together.  We will both come out stronger. I truly can't wait to see the amazingly beautiful, strong, determined daughter of God you will become.  You have things to accomplish in this life and I have no doubt that nothing will get in your way.  Not even your imperfect mother. :)

  

Camden: 6 months

This kid is the funnest baby around! He is such a happy baby and he makes my days so great.  I can't feel stressed or angry for too long when I'm with him.  He is starting to sit up, discovered his toes, and grabs for everything now.  He rolls over like a champ and actually scoots a little too.  He's also starting to get up onto his hands and feet when on his stomach!  I'm afraid he's going to crawl way sooner than my other kids. We all love him so much and still can't get enough of him!

Maddi was looking through the blog and came across Kinsley's 6 month post.  He's got 6 lbs. and 2 inches on her!  haha!  He's a chubby guy and I love it! (As long as I'm not carrying him around)

Yummy toes!

Those chunky legs!

Anniversary and Demolition Derby

I went to my first demolition derby this year with Ryan for our Anniversary.  It was the week before and we weren't going to be together for our anniversary so we figured it counts. :)  It was an okay experience.  haha!  It was fun enough to watch for the first hour or two, but the thing never ended! I told him he might have to make it up to me with a nicer anniversary date. But, I suppose everyone should experience some redneck fun once in their life! And, its a fundraiser for Search and Rescue so it was for a good cause.

Spaghetti Sauce

Last year I had an awesome garden and tomato plants that produced like crazy. I didn't have time to can my tomatoes so I had been freezing them all summer as they became ripe.  The plan was to can my salsa or spaghetti sauce once life slowed down in the fall.  Well, a year later it still hadn't been done and I needed the freezer space! So, I finally got around to making some spaghetti sauce and cleared out about 10 gallon freezer bags out of my freezer!

The girls were a big help, even though Brynnley wasn't so sure about taking the skins off.  Even with a baby we managed to complete it all in a day.