Team Testone

Kaylee’s favorite song is Happy Birthday. This is how it goes: “Happa bay bay to you.” Way too cute! Another favorite is ABC’s… “ADD”.  You can clearly hear what she is singing by the tune. She sometimes requests “Jesus Loves me”, “Twimkle Twinkle Little Star”, or “Wheels on the Bus”… which she does the motions to… also too cute! I love this cute stage Kaylee is in! If she were not so cute, she might be for sale on eBay! Noah has been listed for a while… no takers (just kidding).

Oh, well! It was worth a try. So here is what has been going on… what I can remember anyway!

Noah was having a little trouble at school. He was coming home with” letters” everyday. I have discovered a whole new world of parenting the last few weeks. Let me tell you, this is the hardest part of parenting so far! I don’t want to screw -up my child for life!!! It is hard to know how to parent when every child is different! Noah is ALL boy, and since I have never been a boy, I don’t exactly know how to handle it. I was always a people pleaser/ teachers pet/ brow noser… whatever you want to call it. Plus,  Josh is the disciplinary in our family. I sometimes think Josh is too hard on Noah, so I tend to baby him. But I know that he needs structure, and Josh gives him structure! I guess I should make myself a little more clear, Noah has not been “bad” at school, but he has had to have alot of reminders. Sometimes, I wonder where is brain is. Josh nicknamed him “bird brain”… he just thinks it is funny. His teacher at school suggested that we talk about his feelings more. She said he is at the age where he is discovering new feelings and doesn’t know how to express them very well. We have been working on that at home and GOOD NEWS it has been working… he has gone 7 days at school without any “letters.” I have been noticing how smart he is getting. He picks up on spelling words alot more… movie, dad, mom, baba, nana, ice cream, … the words we spell alot so he won’t know who or what we are talking about…. our days are numbered! He has so much energy!!! He would watch TV all day if I would let him. He drinks milk at every meal. And he is the BEST big brother his sisters could ask for! He loves to hold Emmy, and play with Kaylee. He really is good with them! He gets a little impatient with Kaylee every once in a while… but that just keeping things real!

Kaylee Jane is at the cutest stage ever! … but the terrible twos are sneaking up on us quickly! Funny Kaylee stories… the day after we brought Emmy home from the hospital, we were letting Kaylee hold her . Emmalyn was stretching her arm and it touched Kay’s face.. Kaylee then pointed at her, and with her most serious face said… No Hit Baby! Since then every time Emmy touches her or kicks her she says “no hi”t or “no kick Elala.” She went from calling Emmalyn, “baby”, to Elala, to MMM, and now she calls her “sissy,” Emmy”, or E-la-lyn. She loves her baby sissy and her big brother. Another funny one… Josh was playing with the 2 bigs in the kitchen. He was hitting himself on the head with an empty plastic apple juice bottle (“happy shoe”) and falling down. The kids thought it was hilarious (and it was). The next day Kaylee found the bottle and said to Noah “r ready” and she hit him on the head with it. We all laughed, so she did it again, and again, each time asking Noah “r ready?” He is such a great brother to let her do that to him! She loves playing with her babies. She has such a motherly instinct already… it really is amazing the way God created each boy and girl. Kaylee is generally a wonderfully happy, patient, loving child…. until nap time or eat time!!! Her vocabulary is amazing! (not just because I’m her mom.. i think) I love it when she says “hol chew”.. hold you. It makes my heart happy and I just have to hold her! The most difficult time of the day (approcing) is when Kaylee gets up from her nap grupy and wants me to just hold her for a while, and Emmy is wanting to eat or is just fussy. Sometimes I feel like my hair might be gray by the time Josh gets home… but it never is. Josh rescues me from screaming baby world, and all is back to happiness and joy!

Emmalyn is my gift that I didn’t know I wanted! We went to the doctor last week.. she weighed in at 12 pounds… 75% for her weight and height.  Duing the day she eats every 3 hours (she wants to eat every 2 but I’m streaching her to 3). She is my best sleeper! Sometimes she sleeps a full 8 hours at night (rarely). Usually, she sleeps 5 hours eats, goes right back to sleep and then sleeps another 3. AMAZING!!! My other 2 only slept about 2-3 hours until they were almost 1! Emmalyn does hate her car seat though…. bummer because I really wanted to take an 8 hour trip to go see my favorite cousins, aunt and uncle! I don’t think my hair, body, or mind can take that much screaming.It also makes shopping VERY difficult!  Emmy is 9 weeks old… really? Already… Nine weeks… where has the time gone!!!! I can’t imagine life without her. I am cherishing her.. my last baby.  Sad day packing away the newborn size clothes!

My friend remind me that right now I am in the thick of it and it will get easier… and harder … just in a different way. I can see that. I have not been wishing away time. I am so grateful for all that God has blessed me with. Why me? Why did God choose to bless me so much with an amazing husband, and family. It brings me to tears that I have a God who knows me and cares for my needs and desires only the way He can. I deserve NOTHING, but he has given me everything. I don’t just mean earthly things, which I do have… He has blessed me far beyond this world. Thank you God. Every good and perfect gift is from above!

… it’s that time of day… no time to proof read. So, BYE!

September 2, 2009

I had a doctors appointment at about 2:00. Noah and Kaylee went to my mother-in-law’s house while I was at the doctor (since she lives 1 mile away from the hospital/ doc’s office). We all know that this was one of the hottest summers in recorded history, so needless to say, I was a little uncomfortable. But, knowing that it would be my last pregnancy, I was trying to enjoy??? it! I was more than ready to meet my baby girl, so I asked my doc what her views were on inducing. She said anytime after 39 weeks. I was days away from 39 weeks so I rejoiced! So we scheduled my induction for Sept. 9 because I thought that would be a good birthday… 9-9-09.. My sister’s birthday is Sept. 8 and she wanted her niece to be born on her birthday, so I changed the induction day to the 8th. Also, while at the doctor she “striped my membranes.” She told me that sometimes it helps bring on labor.. but not often. And that I would probably experience cramping, bleeding and maybe some contractions.

September 3, 2009

4:20-5:20 in the morning I had contractions. I was trying to wait to wake Josh up, so that he could get as much sleep as possible. i was about to get up to get ready to go to the hospital. Then, my contractions stopped.  So I went back to sleep, then got up to go to my first day of CBS (Community Bible Study). I some cramping on and off at bible study, and all day long, but nothing consistent enough to be contractions. I called pretty much everyone to prepare them that tonight might be the night. I think only my mom really believed! She was so ready… bags packed lesson plans done! Our plan for our big kids was to send them to “baba and grandpa’s” … Josh’s parent’s house. So I had him call them to see if they wanted us to bring the kids over before they went to sleep or if they wanted us to possibly wake them up in the middle of the night. They said just bring them over if she goes into labor. About 9:00 I started to time my contractions… they were about 10-12 minutes apart.. so not close enough to go to the hospital.  I took a bath and tried to rest, but when you know you are in labor it is very hard to sleep/rest! Josh and I stayed up.

September 4, 2009

At about 1 in the morning my contractions were 5-7 mins apart. I took a shower, washed and dried my hair. Then we packed up and went to drop the kids off at my in-laws. They were both wide awake when we got there at about 1:45am. Baba stayed up with them for a while and then put them to bed.  We went to the hospital and checked in. I immediately asked when I could get an epidural… not because I needed one at that point, but because I knew that I wanted one, and didn’t want to progress to quickly to get one. I was 4 cm when we arrived. They said I could have an epidural within an hour of when I asked for one, and I could have one at any point. So I said, okay bring it on! I am not the kind of person that needs to prove that I am strong by having a baby without an epidural. It does not hurt the baby in anyway, and it saves the mommy from excruciating pain… sometimes. I called my parents to come as soon as I knew I would be getting my epidural. They got there about an hour and a half later. My epidural kicked in right away… for about 30 mins. They broke my bag of water and my labor progressed QUICKLY! At about 4:30 am they checked me and I was 7 cm. I was experiencing alot of pain, so I asked about my epidural. they gave me more medicine (twice) but they said that sometimes labor progresses too quickly and the epidural can’t keep up. I thought as long as you had one … you had one… but not true! Mine wore off ! They checked me again at about 5:15 and I was 9 1/2 cms! A few mins later… Time to push… ahhhh.. painful just remembering it! We called my mother in law to come watch. She got there about 15. mins after we called her… but she missed it.

5:50 am Emmalyn Grace Testone was born. 7lbs 19 3/4 inches. Instant love. Even though she did cause me much pain.

I have been really bad at this blogging thing so far. Josh reminded me of it last night, so I decided to try to get back to it. It is hard adjusting to 3 kids… but that’s just an excuse! Here we go… we will see how much I get done! I want to do a blog so that I will have the memories. If I don’t write them down I will forget them (soon because of lack of sleep).

I have been worrying a while about how to transition Kaylee into a “big girl” bed and a new room. I am trying to slowly change things for her so that when Emmalyn comes home it will not be a whole new world for her. Pacifier is officially “bye bye.” That was the easy part! She was not all that attached to it. I thought she was, but she didn’t call it by name yet so she didn’t remember what she was crying about. I have to say it is a lot easier to take her pap away than it was to take Noah’s  away… he would call for it “pappie… pappie” and he would look around the house for it. They were about the same age (maybe Noah was a few weeks or so older), but Kay handled it better!

So, after taking her pacifier away, I was worried about moving her into a new room. Jess and Kayla were such a big help with getting the room ready. I had the base coat painted before they got here and they helped me paint the polka dots. When they left I got some of the finishing touches together. I couldn’t decide whether I would put her in her “big girl bed,” keep her in a crib, or buy a toddler bed for her. I finally decided she wasn’t (and I wasn’t) ready to transition her into a big girl bed. But, I didn’t want to buy another crib only to use it for a few months. My mother in law offered to loan me the one she had at her house, so I took her up on it!

Then was the problem… how would I actually switch her rooms without confusing her? Well, Kaylee and Noah went to my mom and dad’s house for a couple of days and I got Kaylee’s room completely ready. When she came back I showed her where her toys, clothes, shoes and bows were and she was happy. I have been asking her everyday “where is Kaylee’s room?” and she doesn’t respond until I ask “where are your bows?”… then she knows exactly where to go. Yesterday she opened up her old closet, pointed to where her shoes used to be, and said “shoes? shoes?” So cute! I took her to her new room to show her where her shoes are.

I love her new room! I had so much fun decorating it. My favorite rooms to decorate are kids rooms! Coming soon… Emmalyn’s new room! The plan is to paint it next week. My brother in law is very artistic, so, I asked him to draw some flowers for me to paint. I’m so excited to get it all set up. When it is done I will feel so much better! I am so unprepared for Emmalyn at this point  (31 weeks…YIKES)!!

I tried to include pics but they are too big and hubby isn’t home to teach me how to make them not so big… hopefully soon (of you can look on facebook)

I have missed my husband so much! Josh has been in Glorieta, New Mexico all week at youth camp. He has had a lot of fun, but didn’t feel very well or sleep very well the whole time he was gone. I know he is going to be very tired (and maybe a tad bit grumpy) for a few days, but I have missed him so much I am just glad he will be home safe. Noah needs his Daddy! I realize better God’s plans for having a Mommy and Daddy in the home to balance things out when Josh is away for any length of time. I am not very good at disciplining. I try but I feel like Noah just respects/ is more scared of Josh. And on top of Noah acting pretty bad the last couple of days, Kaylee’s favorite word is “NO”… good thing she is cute! Any question I ask her her answer is “no”… sometimes she really does want what she is saying “no” to … that’s what makes it cute. Also, tonight on the way home from Wal-Mart she was just looking around and pointing at things saying no no no no… about 100 times! It made me giggle… which made her giggle and shrug her shoulders. Bad thing is… she is also saying “no no Mama” when she doesn’t want me to do something. Cute, but not so cute at the same time. Terrible twos is starting way too early here! Hopefully that means it will end early too (doubtfully… but still hopefully).

I forgot how easy it was to “nest” without taking care of 3 other people! Joshua is out of town for the week (at youth camp), and my mom decided to make my week a little easier so she took both kids for a few days. I was childless and husbandless from Sunday through Tuesday. I have to say IT WAS NICE!!! I love my husband. He is a good man, he helps me out so much…. but even when the kids are away and it just me and him, I feel like I have to devote all of my time to him. And both kids have never been away at the same time for more than just an hour or two.

I got so much done on Sunday. I took apart Kaylee’s stroller… which by the way I will never do again! I hosed all of the plastic parts down and gave them a good scrubbing, and threw the rest in the washing machine. Next time I will just hose it all down without taking it apart. Then I took her car seat apart (much easier) and washed it. I also took her high chair  outside and scrubbed it down and washed the cover. And I took Noah’s old potty seat outside and scrubbed it down….. all of this took place in about 45 mins. I really forgot how productive I can be without having to stop to change a poopie diaper, or fill up a juice cup… or one of the many other jobs a mommy does.  It was SO hot outside so I decided that I better get my big ol baby belly inside to cool off. Then the cleaning began inside. I pretty much threw everything in the washing machine that wasn’t tied down. I swept all the floors. Cleaned all the bathrooms. And dusted every surface. By the time I was done with all of that I was EXHAUSTED!!!  Needless to say I had no trouble sleeping that night!!!

Monday my sister, Monica, came down and drove me all over Austin looking at baby stuff. I have been so indecisive with this baby… I couldn’t decide on a name for the longest time. I have been looking for baby bedding for months now and have not been able to decide on one. I can narrow things down but can’t make a decision to save my life! Well finally on Monday I went to Pottery Barn Kids and picked some bedding out… with some help from my wonderful sis. Now I just need to get rolling and get this baby’s room ready. The problem with that is Kaylee is not finished with the room yet. I’m pretty much done with her new room and then I’m going to let her start sleeping in it so I can get the nursery ready for Emmalyn Grace! When we got done shopping it was about 4:30 and my MIL called and asked if I wanted to do something since it was my last free nigh,t so I went to the movies with her. So, pretty much, I was not home at all on Monday!

Tuesday I went up to Belton to get the kids. So really I only had most of Sunday and all of Monday to myself. I decided to make my week at home a short one and spend the night at my parents house.  We did some shopping and some swimming then I took them out to dinner for Dad’s birthday/ father’s day. Wednesday we did some shopping (again) and then I headed home. Nothing too eventful (thankfully).

Today I was going to stay inside because it is WAY TOO HOT!!! But Jane called this morning and she was home from working at church camp for the day and wanted to go to eat and shop at the mall. So I went shopping AGAIN! We ate at the food court and then my MIL took the kids to the play place and Jane and I went to spend some gift cards! On the way home I went to the grocery store. Then we came home for some much needed naps! After dinner it was a watermelon and sprinkler  backyard night. Then baths… and now my favorite time bedtime!!! Taking care of 2 kids and making one at the same time is draining!

So, honestly, I have not been posting lately because I forgot how… but I figured it out so here it goes again!

My cousins Jessica and Kayla have been visiting for the last week and a half!  They are SO MUCH FUN!! I am addicted to playing games and so are they. Usually I can’t find anyone to play games with me, but when they visit… that is all we do! I am going to go through withdraws as soon as they leave.We got our love of game playing from our Grandma. Grandma is (still) always teaching us new games that we love to play. She is the most fun grandma around!!!

Here is the list of games we have been playing:

1. Solitaire Frenzy / Nuts/ Nerts
2. Phase 10
3. Skip-bo
4. UNO
5. Apples to Apples (better with more people)
6. Balderdash (better with more people)
7. Spoons (card game… better with more people)
8. Toss Up (New dice game)
9. Rage ( New card game)
10. Yahtzee
11. Scattergories
12. Fact or Crap… well we call it fiction
13. Mad Gab
14. LRC (left right center… dice game)
15. Jenga
16. Would you rather…

And we have played them over and over and over….. Josh is getting a little tired of hearing all the game playing. But it will be over soon and I will be sad and lonely.

Oh and so Noah wouldn’t feel left out we played:

1. Guess who (Superhero edition)
2. Phase 10 for kids (kind of a bummer)
3. UNO for kids… just as good as regular UNO
4. I Spy

And we let him sit in on some of our games that he can play.

If you have any suggestions for new games… we are always looking for fun games to play… What’s your favorite game? Is anyone else out there addicted to games like us… I know you are Jamie. (Wish you were here to play with us).

Ok… I have been saying this day would come for months now but I finally decided to bite the bullet and take it away from my sweet little 15 month old baby. So currently I am listening to my baby girl cry herself to sleep. Note to self… stay strong… it is for her own good. I am hoping that it won’t last all night!

I have been very busy the last couple of days. On Monday I decided to buy the paint and get on the ball for Kaylee’s new room.  Tuesday I started painting, but I can only paint while Kay is sleeping. So, by the time I had everything taped off and out I only had time to get one wall done. Wednesday I went to pick Noah up from my mom’s new house. We had a wonderful day. My Grandma and Osee came up for the day and we went swimming. Swimming  is more of  an adventure and less of a relaxing time these days. Noah is trying to learn how to swim, and doing quite well. But, I just can’t go to the pool with both of them by myself!  Kaylee is usually more interested in everything around the pool… rocks, shoes, grass… so keeping an eye on both of them is next to impossible!  Anyway, Noah has been having such a wonderful time at Nana’s, he didn’t want to come home…. until 9:oo that night when he was hysterically crying and wanting me to come back to get him. He was just exhausted from being in the sun all day, no nap, and staying up late. But I talked him through it and told him to stay the night and we would talk in the morning. When the morning came, all was well!  So, I painted the rest of the room yesterday … well until I ran out of paint! So today, I went to get more paint, finished painting, swept, mopped, and did laundry.

Tomorrow I am going to a graduation party for one of our sweet babysitters then heading to my mom’s house. I am going to stay the night and then my mom and I are going to pick up my cousins from Dallas!!! I am so excited! My cousins are 17 and 19.We have so much in common and love to spend time together. So they are staying at my house for 11 days!  We will be playing games, staying up late, and making brownies the whole time!

When I am done with Kaylee’s room I will post pics. I still have some accent painting and I will probably wait until my cousins leave to finish, since they are staying in that room while they are here.

30 minuets later and Kay has stopped crying (for now)!

1. the way you love me!
2. the way you love our kids!
3. the way you love taking care of your family and friends.
4. your generosity.
5. your love of life.
6. your sense of humor.
7. relaxing with you.
8. cooking with you.
9. going to church with you.
10. watching t.v. with you.
11. telling you about my day.
12. watching you play with the kids.
13. your advice (most of the time).
14. watching movies with you.
15. just being with you… with or WITHOUT the kids!
16. hearing about your day.
17. going on vacation with you.
18. how much you care and notice when I need or want help.
19. how much you notice the people around you , what they need, and how you can help them achieve the things they want in life.
20. how fun you are around your friends.
21. your eyes.
22. the way you serve God.
23. how ambitious you are.
24. your love of good food.
25. that you want me to be happy no matter what.
26. you make me happier than any one ever has.
27. that I can make you happier than anyone else.
28. that you encourage me.
29. that you married me!!!

Joshua, I love you more than I can put into words. You are the most special person in my life. Our life is more amazing than I could have ever imagined for myself. I had a fun day with you. Happy 29th birthday! Hope you enjoy your last year in your 20′s!