The English Baby Blog: February 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Sweet Visit with Heather!

Sweet Heather came to visit! We had so much fun with our little ones and just hanging out together. Brad stayed home with the kiddos during nap time, so Heather and I were able to go shopping two afternoons.

Our K's were so sweet together! Love the fingers in the mouth!

First night - ready for a sleepover

Kennedy loved the cozy coupe and was a great driver.

The back of my car, it was a first!

Baking with Brad! Heather and I supervised as Brad baked white chocolate chip macadamian nut cookies (Heather's favorite) with all 3 little ones

Sweetly waiting her turn to add ingredients

Time to go-go!

Heather and I made the girls scrap tutus to match :)

We put them both in boots and gave them piggy tails.

I love all of the different fabrics and how some peek out.

Thanks for coming to our house, Heather and Kennedy. We wish our visits were more frequent (and wish Time and Graham could have joined in on the fun). Big hugs and kisses to you guys in St. Louis!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Leggo my LEGO's! Part 1

After Ethan's LEGO birthday party, Ethan's been saving up for a big Police Lego set. He's loved building and playing with his other police Lego's, so he's had his eye on this. After saving gift cards and money, the order was placed, and soon Ethan got a package in the mail. He was so excited to see it! He's wanted to dive into it right away:

So over the past few days, E has been spending evenings and weekends putting the set together. He's been doing all on his own, only calling us to show us his progress and if he got stuck.

He's been great at reading the instructions and figuring them out. He's even adventured out to put on the stickers all by himself.

Phase 1 of the Police Station is complete! This set is huge - still another building to go!!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Valentines Surprises

We used Valentine's day this year to dote on our kids and give them a couple of surprises - like we need a day for that!

I got Kinley a little princess dress-up set - some gloves, a purse, and necklace. She looked so pretty with everything on! Ready for an afternoon on the town!

Then, Jill really surprised Ethan with a new figure for his Skylanders video game. He has had his eye on this for weeks, asking us every day if we had found it. When he saw it, he was so excited!!

Monday, February 06, 2012

Going Tubin'

It's amazing how different the second kid is from the first, considering they came from the same genetic material. For example, Ethan - in his first 5 years - never had an ear infection. Kinley, however, has had 5 in the past 6 months! So after seeing our ENT, we decided that it would be best to have her get tubes.

For the uninitiated, the tubes are little plastic spool-like tubes that are stuck in the eardrum to help clear out fluid and prevent buildup. It's an oversimplification, but you get the idea. The procedure is an outpatient surgery and fairly routine. That was comforting for us, but any trip to the hospital (especially using anesthesia), makes the parents nervous.

But little Kin wasn't nervous at all on the big day. We had to cut her off of food and drink the night before and she was remarkably happy given that she was probably starving when we got there. We were starving too, because we didn't have breakfast - we didn't want to tease Kin with food in the car when we couldn't give her any. Thankfully, Grandma met us at the hospital with Chick-fil-a for breakfast which we kept tucked away until Kinley was with the doctor. Phew!

The staff at the hospital was incredible with Kinley. They have her a little sheet of stickers to play with and she was having a blast up until they swept her away!

Kinley with her stickers before the surgery

Just a short time later, the doctor came and got us, saying that the procedure went well and there was actually fluid already back in her ear, so it was good that we had the tubes in. When we went back to recovers, Kinley was playing with one of the nurses and was thrilled to see us. She hardly knew anything was done.

Really, it was a really short procedure - we had to be at the hospital at 7am and we were home by 10am. And after a little play time with Mom and Dad at home, she was back to normal!

Kinley "recovering" at home

We're hoping that the tubes will help with her sleep better, as she hasn't really been sleeping through the night with any consistency. Other parents say it happens, but we're still waiting!