Visitors

My old roommate Paige, and her two boys came to visit us last week for a few days. We loaded three kids, two strollers, a diaper bag, and snacks in the car and headed down to the strip for some fun. This is what we did...

• Went to see the lion habitat at MGM Grand
• Had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe
• Bought some chocolate at M&M's World

• Shopped at the Forum Shops in Caesar's Palace
• Attempted to watch The Bachelor after putting all three kids down for a nap (didn't go so well...not one of the kiddos fell asleep to our dismay).

It was fun having her here and catching up since it had been almost a year. The kids were troopers while Paige and I got our shopping on. Kensie loved all of the attention Nicholas gave her. He wanted to hold her hand all the time and said, "I love baby Kensie." Looks like Kensie already has a man after her heart:)

Bonfire

Ok, so it wasn't exactly a bonfire...maybe more like a campfire. We had Courtney, Cameron, Gregg, and Mollie over to our place last weekend for our first campfire. We made smores, drank hot chocolate, and went hot tubbing. Don't mind our backyard that is currently dirt and sand. It will be landscaped as soon as we get that tax return.

Blogging on a Friday Night

Why the heck would anyone blog on a Friday night?

I'll tell you why...because the baby is asleep and the husband is out of town...

And has been since Tuesday Afternoon.

I only tell you this now because he is coming home tonight...(I wouldn't want any physco people knowing I was home alone). Kensie and I were supposed to go with him to San Diego but we both got sick so we stayed home. bleh.

So what have I been doing all week? Since the original plan was to be on vacation this week, I decided to take a vacation at home. No cooking, cleaning, or errands. I mean, none of that would have gotten done if we had gone to San Diego right? Plus, I am sick and in need of rest:)

This sums up my week:

TV dinners, Blogging, & Taking care of baby. (I may have thrown in a little shopping. Don't tell Niel.)

Too bad we were sick, otherwise Kensie and I could have really raised havoc around here.

Farewell to the Honda

We sold the Honda.

It has literally been on it's last leg for three or four years. While Niel was in P.A. school we continuously crossed our fingers it would last until he finished school. Remember this post? Somehow it survived another two years after that.

The day after we brought Kensie home from the hospital it broke down on us (nothing new)...but for good this time. It wasn't worth the money to fix it. Talk about a bad time for it to break down on us! Buying a new car wasn't even an option considering we just had a baby and were buying a home.

The Honda in it's last days with the Schurig Family

Anyways, it's mostly been sitting in our garage the last couple of months except for quick trips. We finally bought a new car a few weeks ago so we posted the Honda on Craigslist. Niel was kind enough to put my phone number on the Craigslist ad. Consequently my phone was blowing up with text messages and phone calls for 48 hours (which was way too long).

Do you want to know what type of people are in the market for a beat up '94 Honda Civic with 235,000 miles that hardly runs? Trust me, it was interesting/funny/creepy responding to phone calls and texts messages regarding the Honda. Just to give you an idea...these are two text messages I actually received:

"U steel hav da honda"

"You have a honda for sale plas zsend me you address and look today...DARKSIDE..."

We had a good laugh with the first text. The second one just creeped me out.

We've had lots of good memories with the Honda. Niel drove the Civic when we first met at BYU. And it went on every college road trip including the trip to New York when Niel hit a cow while driving. Not gonna lie...I'm enjoying our new, reliable, air conditioned car. But it's bittersweet saying goodbye to the 'junker car'.

Farewell to the Honda. You've done us well.

Valentines 2011

Saturday night we got a babysitter and went to dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, one of our new favorite restaurants at the Paris on the strip. We wanted to avoid the crowds on Valentines day. We both got their classic steak. It was dang good.

On Valentines Day, Niel surprised me with one of my favorite breakfasts: Scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.

Later that afternoon the doorbell rang while Kensie was napping. I was mad that the delivery guy rang the doorbell until I saw these beauties sitting on the doorstep:) Then I was over it.

We usually either go out for dinner on Valentines or Niel cooks. This year I pulled through with a delicious, romantic, candlelight dinner for two at the new Schurig residence. I made honey BBQ chicken, pear & apple salad, and mashed potatoes. This may be your everyday meal but that is some savvy cooking for me.

But the next part is my favorite part of the evening...

Niel's card.

It was one of the sweetest cards he has ever given me. I won't lie; I cried like a schoolgirl when I read it (I have been sick though, so I blame the emotional response on my sickness).

It was a simple Valentines Day shared in our new home, but definitely my favorite of the five Valentines we have spent together since we've been married.

Our Little Valentine

I had way too much fun dressing up Kensie in Valentine-ish attire for the past week or so. Luckily, she is very cooperative when it comes to playing dress up. I couldn't help but post some of my favorite pictures I took of her.

It was so much fun to have this sweet little girl as our Valentine this year. She has stolen our hearts!

Haiti

Niel had the opportunity to go to Haiti in January for a medical mission. He went with Dr. Tingey (the doctor he works for) and a local anesthesiologist. Here is a brief summary written by Niel of his trip.

I recently made a visit to Haiti for a medical mission. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting...it was worse. There are still approximately a million people living in tents.Only 5% of the damage has been restored or cleared away since the earthquake a year ago. Most people don't have running water or electricity, and toilets are a luxury. Due to the poor sanitization, lousy plumbing, and unclean water there is an epidemic of cholera.

We had a chance to do quite a few surgeries including broken arms and legs, amputations, reconstructions, etc. We only stayed for a week, but we met a lot of volunteers who committed to stay for a year or longer. It's hard to truly appreciate what kind of sacrifice that is until you've been there. If it wasn't for the volunteers people would go without treatment and be subject to orthopedic impairments for life.

Some observations from the trip:

It took about an hour to drive to the hospital from the airport even though it's only 10 miles. Traffic is horrendous. There are street lights, but none of them work. The city is very densely populated--people are everywhere. Even at night the streets are packed--It seemed like everyone was just out socializing in the dark. As far as I could tell, there isn't any organized trash disposal. Trash is just piled up in the streets, and the people walk around it. There didn't seem to be anything that even resembled a rebuilding effort.

Below are some of the pictures Niel took with his phone while he was in Haiti.

This is one of many tent-cities near the airport

The "market."

Just in case you were wondering where the donations go.

This little boy broke his humerus and had to have surgery. He was a trooper...never cried.

One of the hospital wards. The hospital can only provide one meal a day, so family members are expected to bring the patients food.

Dr Tingey with some of the local kids.

This cute little girl was playing with a barbie outside of her tent.

We spotted women carrying things on their head

If you know anyone that would be interested in volunteering, I can direct you to the right people. You don't have to have any medical skills or training to volunteer.

It was a sweet adventure, and a good opportunity to be reminded of how good we have it here. Nothing beats a trip to Haiti when you need to be reminded of how easy your life is.

Wubbanub

What the heck is a wubbanub you might ask. A wubbanub is a pacifier attached to a little stuffed animal. It's great because when the binky falls out, it doesn't go rolling away. It stays in easier, and it is easier to keep track of. Plus, Kensie loves her little tabby kitty. She even cuddles it as she falls asleep. It's pretty dang cute.

Crying It Out

Doesn't this sound like an awesome blog post? I bet you are really excited to read this beast, especially if you don't have kids!

Anyways, in my last post I mentioned that Kensie is now sleeping 8-10 hours straight. Let me assure you that she didn't simply start sleeping through the night.

I started implementing the book "Baby Wise" at about eight weeks with Kensie. Overall I really like the book. The eat/wake/sleep cycle helped Kensie a lot. Falling asleep on her own for naps and nighttime were really hit and miss. After two months of following "Baby Wise", Kensie STILL wasn't sleeping through the night and I got really frustrated. I kept thinking my baby was just one of the four percent or whatever of babies who take longer to settle into a normal routine. Kensie's problem was STAYING asleep.

We hadn't done 'cry it out' in the night up until that point because she had really bad gas and then she was sick. Plus, who wants to listen to your baby cry in the middle of the night when you are trying to get some sleep? It was easier to just pop the binky back in her mouth...until it kept getting worse and worse. As the nighttime crying became more frequent, I grew increasingly more frustrated. It was time to do something differently. Niel was out of the country and my parents were visiting. After a pep talk from my mom I realized this was an opportune time to let her cry it out.

So here is roughly how it went. It is all somewhat of a blur, but here is what I can remember.

First night: Woke up at 12:00 a.m. She cried until 2:15 a.m. That is two hours and 15 minutes people!!!! And she was STILL going strong! No sign of backing down whatsoever. Can you say STUBBORN?!?! I was exhausted, couldn't take the crying anymore, and went into her room. I popped the binky in her mouth and left. I figured all of that crying was for nothing since I ended up going in after all. I can't really remember the rest of the night. I do remember that it was better than normal and she woke up less and cried an hour to an hour and a half when she woke up.

Second night: Woke up thirty minutes after I put her to bed and cried for an hour and a half. Then she slept from 10:30p.m. to 4:30 a.m--HUGE improvement!!!

Third night: Woke up thirty minutes after I put her to bed and cried for an hour. Then she slept from 10:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. again! This is serious progress.

So on, and so on.

It has been a process and we have had to be very consistent because we have one stubborn little girl on our hands (no idea where she gets that from). She improved a lot after the first four days but would sometimes wake up several times a night and cry for 5-30 minutes at a time.

After a month of doing crying it out she still wakes up sometimes but for the most part she sticks to the following new and improved sleeping schedule:

She goes to sleep between 7 and 7:30 p.m. and sleeps until 4-5:30 a.m. She chows down on some milk and then goes back to bed until 7-8 a.m!!!

I completely underestimated how hard it would be to sleep train our little girl. It's OK Kensie, we still love you.

My life just got a whole lot better this month! I mean, I actually feel like a normal, functioning person again because I have been getting some sleep! I even have ENERGY now. I've been cooking, cleaning, decorating, shopping, doing home projects, etc. I'm not getting my eight hours of sleep like I did before I became a mom, but I am getting a lot more sleep than I have in months...and let me tell you...it feels good.

4 Months

This girl is funny. She makes me laugh all the time with her cute noises, faces, and mannerisms!

Kensie checked in at 13 lbs 3 oz. (25-50th percentile) at her four month appointment.

She growls all the time

Wears 3-6 and some 6 month clothes

Loves standing and putting weight on her feet

She thinks it's funny to cough

Sticks her tongue out all the time

We stopped swaddling her at 4 months but we still wrap her up in a blanket before every nap and bedtime.

Loves laying on her changing table and getting her diaper and clothes changed

Started sleeping for 8-10 hour stretches just before her four month mark

She got her first bad cold and it lasted several weeks

She started teething at 3 1/2 months

Her latest new thing is 'talking' to us in an extremely high pitched screech. She thinks it's the coolest thing that she can make so much noise! It kinda hurts my ears but I think it's hilarious.

We love this little girl's big toothless smiles and bubbly personality! We can't get enough of her!