2009 in Review

2009 has been a busy year of heartache, joy, laughter, tears... I thought I would re-cap it via monthly highlights. I end this year with a thankful heart to God for the tremendous blessings bestowed upon our family. We don't deserve it...

January: I started a new part-time job back in the world of public accounting! At the end of the month, life changed drastically for my family as my sister-in-law was rushed to the hospital at 20 weeks pregnant with twin girls.

February: On the first day of February, we lost our precious niece Lily who had to be delivered too early to survive outside the womb. This was the worst day of our lives. On February 26th, just 4 weeks later, our niece Isabelle was born at only 23 weeks, 6 days gestation. She began a long stay in the NICU that was a day-by-day fight for life.

March: We served as small group leaders of “Financial Peace University” throughout the Spring, which we highly recommend for anyone!

April: We said good-bye to Lily at a beautiful Easter weekend service. Izzy continued to grow stronger in the NICU though there were still many rocky days of uncertainty.

May: My friend Kelly took me on a girls’ weekend to Clearwater Beach, Florida. Wow, do I have a great friend or what?!

June: Gene and I celebrated our 11th anniversary and had a little “staycation” at the Four Seasons Resort here in town. I gave massage one more try and have officially kissed it good-bye forever – not for me. My dad retired from Lockheed after 35 years - a proud daughter moment. Izzy went home from the hospital after nearly 4 months in the NICU!

July: We took Katelynn to her first fireworks show and she loved it.

August: Gene officially entered “mid-30’s.”

September: Katelynn started pre-school and Aggie football season commenced. Gene and I enjoyed a weekend getaway in College Station. Whoop!

October: We took KK to her first fightin’ Texas Aggie football game. She did great and absolutely loved sleeping on the pull-out couch in the hotel. Gene took Katie to her first U2 concert – very exciting!

November: KK turned 3 years old and had her first big birthday party, complete with castle bounce house in the backyard. At the end of the month, she decided to mail her pacifiers to the tooth fairy – a very big deal. Gene ran his first half-marathon.

December: Gene ran half-marathon #2! Katie is thinking about it… not sure yet. Christmas is a whole new world for KK this year and it’s lots of fun to celebrate this holy holiday with a 3-year old.

White Christmas!

Christmas 2009 was my first EVER white Christmas...only took 34 years for that to happen here in DFW, Texas! Beautiful white powder poured down on Christmas Eve, and there was still plenty of it on the ground for a couple of days afterward. Oh, joy!

KK was lucky enough to enjoy her first white Christmas at the ripe old age of three. It is hard to believe this is her fourth Christmas here on earth. This was certainly a fun year with her; her understanding of baby Jesus, gift giving (and receiving of course), and all those other wonderful things has reached new heights and it made for one excited little girl.

Katelynn's main Christmas gift this year (from mommy and daddy) was a glider - basically a bike without pedals. Everyone on the internet raved about these; they are supposed to help with balance and eliminate the "training wheels" stage. KK is still not so sure about, though I'm sure she will learn as she develops further. Her favorite gift was actually the bike helmet. Go figure.

She also loves her Melissa & Doug Ice cream set from Aunt Doris and Uncle John. She has been scooping up lots of great concoctions for the family, though she prefers to choose the flavors herself. You may not get your requested combination if KK is serving!

Our Fightin' Texas Aggie

This year we decided to take KK to Aggieland for a football game. It went well enough at the first game that we went back for a second! It definitely requires a measure of patience, but a portable DVD player made the car trip very tolerable. Trips for snacks and corn dogs made the game reasonably fun for her as well. KK loves to sing the Spirit Song - she knows all the words...thanks to this proud Aggie mommy who sings it to her all the time! She also likes to yell Hullabaloo Caneck Caneck! at the top of her lungs. She wore her Aggie cheerleader outfit and enjoyed getting her face painted. To cap off a great day, she absolutely loved sleeping on a pull-out couch at the hotel.

We look forward to sending KK off to Aggieland in Fall 2025!

By Jove I Think I've Got It!

A few days ago, I lamented KK's sleeping woes as she struggled with the transition to sleeping without pacifiers. While she has been slowly improving, she is still clearly anxious about being left in her bed alone and it hurts a mommy's heart!

Two days ago I tried something new for nap. I let her lay down on my bed and watch a DVD. This made her so happy - no anxiety at all - and she was out within minutes. Now, Dr. Ferber would still say I am using a "sleep aid" but I will take it for nap!

I still was not sure what to do about bedtime other than let her cry, because we are not going to be watching TV every night to fall asleep. Every night lately, the routine is for her to cry in her room, then come out onto the upstairs landing with a blanket, then talk to herself till she falls asleep. We live with this routine since she doesn't ever try to come downstairs; we move her to her bed every night once she is fast asleep. Last night the usual anxiety antics began when it was clear I was about to leave. So instead of letting her cry, I asked if she wanted to lay down on the landing. Her face absolutely lit up with happiness. I put down a little pallet for her, complete with pillow, blankets, books, and stuffed animals. She happily waved good-bye to me. YESSS!

Half-Marathon Man

About 6 months ago, Gene decided to take up running. He is not one to do anything halfway. Over these months, he has gone from not being able to run even a mile, to running his first half-marathon in San Antonio in November in 2 hours 8 minutes. He recruited buddy Calvin to train with him for that one. Then last weekend, he ran the Dallas White Rock half-marathon and improved on his time by a whopping 8 minutes, finishing at just a hair over 2 hours. His training schedule is rigorous and he sticks with it - running even when it is 25 degrees and windy outside, claiming it is "good training." Wow, I am proud of my hubby!

Another post later about how his techno-geek tendencies have spilled over to running.... that one will be entertaining, I promise!

Crafts by Pop-Pop

KK loves to work in the yard with Pop-Pop when she is spending the night with her grandparents. Recently she helped him plant some grass seed, so he sent a container home with her for a future craft project. Katelynn always loves a good craft project, probably just as much as working in the yard with Pop-Pop. KK and I recently planted it in a pot, and after a week I nearly threw it out. I figured that I had killed it before it could even grow (no surprise).

Then I noticed some tiny little buds poking their way through. Within a few days, the barren soil was replaced by a beautiful thick thatch of grass! I am enjoying my window plant, and so is KK.

Funny Toddler Preferences

My child has become obsessed with tights this year. I ran out and bought lots of adorable tights with flowers, stripes, and hearts on them. But KK only wants white tights. And a white shirt to match. So much for all those cute tights and tops I purchased for the Fall...

If I let her she would wear white tights and a shirt every day...and nothing else. How do kids get bizarre preferences like this? The upside to this current obsession is that she wears lots of cute skirts and jumpers, since mommy is adamant that something must cover the tights up. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs from friends!

Sleep Woes

What has happened to my champion sleeper? Ever since the great pacifier send-off, our KK has been struggling with going to sleep, staying asleep, napping, etc. Night time has particularly become a big control battle.

It is hard to know what to do as a parent. She genuinely seems to be struggling with the transition and having anxiety about sleeping without her passy companions. On the other hand, Gene and I see lots of signs of master manipulation of us, the parents... that control thing that is so representative of the three-year-old! She is the master of running through a list of continuous "needs" - cream for itchy skin, band-aids for boo-boo's, a snack, a glass of milk, a re-brush of the teeth, a potty stop, a move from the bed to the floor, turning the fan on, turning the fan off... you get the idea!

Tonight I tried making a reward chart... it seemed to be working pretty well. She loved getting stickers for "smiling for a picture" and "picking up toys". She even seemed on board with "going to bed by myself"- until it was time for me to leave. Tears and screaming once again ensued. However, the timeframe did seem to be much shorter tonight. After about 15 minutes, she started happily talking to herself and playing with her toys. It's been an hour and she still isn't asleep, but she isn't screaming.

One day at a time....

Advent

For the past few years, I have filled the advent calendar with goodies for Gene and me, since KK was way too young to care. But I had to remind Gene to open it every day, and nothing really thrilled him too much (he is sooo hard to impress!) Katelynn's excitement this year is fun and contagious! The first thing KK and I do every morning is turn on the tree lights, then open the daily advent box. She remembers first thing every morning without fail.




Things I have filled it with include:

• Candy (of course)
  
• Bouncy balls


• Little bitty Disney stamps


• "Pills" that turn into animal shapes in hot water


• Christmas socks

She is somewhat disappointed when it isn't a candy day. That is definitely her favorite. She is always trying to bargain to open extra boxes, but I am strict about "one box per day!"

Praise to PopPop

Thank-you to PopPop for somehow bribing my child to take these beautiful pictures. She has been such a pill these days about the camera, usually hiding or running away from it. She looked absolutely depressed in her pre-school pictures. These are frameworthy - finally!

Well Check

KK shocked me today at her 3 year well check... no freaking out, no refusals to cooperate with the nurse or doctor requests, no fidgeting and crying to get out of the waiting room... is this really my child?! In fact, I think the kid thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

She followed every command given by Dr. K without hesitation. She told her that she wants to be a doctor "when she grows up" (?!?!?) and asked if she could hold one of her tools. Dr. K complied with this request and gave her the triangle thingy (technical term) they use to check your reflexes. She also informed Dr. K about sending her pacifiers to the tooth fairy. I was able to get all my questions answered without having to yell them over a screaming kiddo. Oh happy day!

Katelynn continues to be in about the 95th percentile for height but not for weight. She is 39.5 inches tall and weighs a little over 35 pounds. Dr. K says to take her to the dentist sometime soon, which I have been avoiding. If she can act like she did today, though, it will be no problem!