Looking Back

Happy Easter! Kendra had a great time this past week making bunny cupcakes, dying eggs, and having an Easter egg hunt. We decided that our Sunday would focus more on Christ and the other activities would be held on Saturday.


ACCIDENT

I haven't written for the past month so there is much to be caught up on. A few weeks ago I received a call from Mark at about the time he would have arrived home.

Mark: "There's been an accident."
Kristi: "Did you cause it?"
(I know, such a nice wife - all other wives would have asked, "are you okay?")
Mark: "The bus hit a car."
Kristi: "I'm so glad it wasn't your car this time! Are you okay?"
(I did ask, just a little later)

Traffic came to a stop on the interstate faster than the bus could stop. The bus swerved to the other lane just as the car behind them did and they collided. I think they sat on the bus for an hour or so while the police report was being filed.

PURCHASES

Mark bought a Benelli Nova shotgun a few weeks ago. He loves to skeet and trap shoot and this gives him the flexibility to do it without having to borrow a gun from someone. He actually does all right considering he hasn't shot one before. I think he has averaged about 13/14 out of 25. The next time he is planning on going to the shooting range is for his birthday.

We've been big spenders this month - we also bought a used 16 cu.ft. upright freezer. My rationale for this is that it is part of our 3 month supply of food. Everything I want somehow serves the family...Mark's rationale for the gun was to "protect his family."

LITTLE GYM

Last year before I became sick and pregnant Kendra attended the little gym. I finally enrolled her again. I'm so glad I did because she just loves it. Two weeks ago someone came up to me and said, "You probably don't remember me...but I remember your daughter." We had a class together last fall. The last day I was there I mentioned Kendra's SPD. Her daughter had issues and when I explained SPD to her she realized her daughter fit the profile. She had her evaluated and sure enough she qualified for services. Her daughter is much more severe than Kendra but they didn't diagnose her until she was 3 - Kendra was 18 months when I began therapy and 22 months when she was officially diagnosed. The mom had been looking for me ever since so she could have at least one person who would understand what she is going through. And I do! I'm so grateful we are past that stage and that Kendra is doing so well. It's amazing to have known her a year ago and to see her now. She's an incredible child who has taught us much.

I talked to Kendra's instructor at the little gym about programs for 3-4 year olds. Her instructor said that Kendra would do the best in the regular gymnastics class because she is so hyper. Ha ha ha. I use the term "active," but yes, she is a hyper or very active child. It's part of her temperament - high activity level, high arousal level, high excitability - that's my kid!

DIET

For the month of March Mark decided to go on a "dessert-free" diet. He wanted to prove to himself that he could go a month without sweets. For the most part he succeeded. Near the end he learned he was good at rationalizing what was and wasn't a dessert.

I have been on my low-fat diet for over a month and only gain a pound a week. Not too bad. Although I greatly miss my homemade chocolate chip cookies!



As we were spring cleaning we found water paints. This is one of Kendra's favorite activities.



Kendra dying eggs with a friend.



This is one of my favorite pictures. Kendra is wearing her Grandpa's glasses.



Kendra and her daddy.



Big and Chunky - 5 months with girl #2.



Tiny me - 5 months with Kendra.

We're A Happy Family

Kendra wet her pants two days ago. She has not had an accident for two months so it really surprised me! This happened just before Mark came home. When he came into the house this was the conversation between him and Kendra:

Mark: "Kendra that makes me sad you didn't pee on the potty."
Kendra: "But we're a happy family."

So cute. We are a happy family. Last night after Kendra went to bed she had to "use the potty." As she sat there waiting to go she sang the most hilarious song I've ever heard. She went through every item in the bathroom and put it to a tune. "Towel, towel, towel, soap, soap, soap, shave, shave, shave..." I wish she would perform like that in front of the camera - she always stops.

Last fall Kendra was enrolled at the Little Gym. I enrolled her to help her social development and sensory skills. She loved it, but unfortunately I was unable to take her after two months because I became so sick. I finally called the Little Gym to see how much money I had on credit, (we paid in full at the beginning of the semester). I was pleasantly surprised! I have the choice to enroll her now until July for free or she can have a birthday party for free!! Okay, it's not really "free" since we already paid the money, but it feels like it! I'm still debating what I want to do.

For the First Time

For the first time in my life I am worried about weight gain! This is not just because I am pregnant. I prefer not to gain more than 40 pounds when I'm pregnant, but because I lost so much weight after having Kendra my weight gain hasn't been a big deal. I had my doctor appointment on Friday and learned that within the last month I gained 10 pounds. 10 pounds in 4 weeks people!! So my doctor said it's not healthy and I can't gain that much again. Mark has no sympathy and said, "no more ice cream Kristi." I don't eat ice cream all the time mind you...I'm just hungry...all the time. So I'm hoping that I will only gain 3 pounds next month. No wonder I'm twice the size I was with Kendra!

Family

My parents flew down from Oregon to visit us this past weekend. They are from a small, conservative town and let's just say Albuquerque is a more liberal area. We took them out to lunch on Friday and sat next to a lesbian couple who were proud to show the world that they were lesbian. I guess they were making out the whole time ... Mark and I didn't notice! We are so oblivious, either that or just use to it. My parents were dying!!

I didn't realize how many things were wrong with my home until my dad began to fix everything. Our dishwasher broke over a year ago and my dad was able to fix it in about 20 minutes. Mark wanted to widen the cubby in the garage so he and my dad did that, and then it turns out that our water heater has been leaking water since we moved in. We had no idea where that water was leaking from! We told my dad that we didn't have much hot water and wallah! We do now! We also learned that we need a new shower head in our bathroom.

We went to the dinosaur museum, racing car museum, shotgun shopping, and saw our friends the DeBucks. The DeBucks lived in Vale, Oregon over 30 years ago. My dad baptized her and shortly thereafter they moved to New Mexico. Now that we live down here they get to see them every time they visit.

I have pictures to add but for some reason my computer won't let me add them. I want to post my 22 week prego picture with Kendra and this time around. I'm so much larger!

It's a . . .

We had our ultrasound yesterday and we are having a girl! I've been telling Mark that it was a boy so we were shocked! Mark will continue to be surrounded by pink, princesses, and dolls; the poor guy. He's actually really excited. We look forward to seeing how this little girl will look and be different from Kendra. The bonus is that their birthdays will be less than a month apart so we don't have to buy much for this one.

We also will celebrate our anniversary on Monday - 7 years! I can't believe we've been married for that long!

Kendraisms

Kendra has become quite the talker. Sometimes it's cute as she'll say, "Watch me doing this," "did you see that!" Or my favorite lately was, "Jesus came to John the Baptist and they went to church and taught the gospel."

Other times it's embarrassing. Today at the store Kendra screamed. "What's wrong Kendra?" "That." I looked behind me puzzled not knowing what she was referring to. "What?" "That" and then she pointed to a man who is most likely lower income. Nice Kendra. I told her to say hi to people not scream at them. Geez. THEN we go to check out and amazingly there is no one in line, so I walk right on up. Kendra says, "mommy, she's a witch!" I'm hoping the cashier didn't hear that. She had long black hair, blue fingernails, and dark makeup. I guess you lose all your pride with children.

Mark is going shooting this weekend with some friends. He's really excited because he gets to shoot a shotgun. Mark has gone shooting with my dad but has only used a rifle.

Happenings

A year ago I began to intensely work with Kendra to help her SPD. I took her to new places with new people to try to pull her out. This was very difficult for her. One place I took her is called Hoots. It has inflatable jumpers and slides. It took about an hour to finally get her to even want to get on them. At first she got right off. Eventually we jumped and slid together.

Kendra had a birthday party at one of these jumpy places. I told Mark to be prepared because she would probably have a hard time. As we entered the party it was loud and filled with people. Kendra didn't seem to notice, she wanted to jump! She got right on a jumpy with unfamiliar people, without mom or dad, and had a great time! She did ask for her daddy to join her, but not out of fear, just for play. Isn't that amazing? Seeing these strides in Kendra makes me happy.

Transitions and new routines are still hard for her. A new year means a new nursery class and teachers. Kendra loved nursery last year so I thought she would be okay. I was wrong! Kendra cried and gagged until they found us. She kept saying, "I want to go home." Mark was able to get her to go back to nursery as long as he stayed. I'm in the process of making a visual schedule for her so she can understand the change. Hopefully in about a month or two she'll love nursery again.

Today was Kendra's first day of Pre-school! I can't believe my little girl is going to school already! It's actually a friend from our ward that is teaching her along with four other students. I thought Kendra would have a difficult time with the transition, but she went right on in and I came home!!! We have talked all week about school and how fun it would be. This morning when she woke up she said, "I go to school today!" She was ready to go the minute she was up. In fact, 20 minutes before it starts she was at the door waiting for mommy to finish getting ready.

Soap Box

Mark and I are both pro-life. I have read the FOCA (freedom of choice act) which would legalize partial birth abortions. I also read statements from nurses who worked at a hospital in Illinois where abortions failed and babies were left to die in utility closets. This sickens me. I can't imagine aborting a child after learning it was going to have a defect, (down syndrome, chromosome disorders, etc.). If we are willing to do this, when will the time come that we will euthanize severely disabled individuals who are zapping the federal funds? Or would it become legal to euthanize your child when you find they have autism or some other disorder? If we view babies with disabilities as having no worth do they ever gain their value? Did my daughter lose her value when she was diagnosed with her disorder? Not in my eyes. I don't understand how these women can have good consciouses after performing such an act.

Christmas

This year we were on our own for Christmas. We decided last night that it is more fun to be with family during the holidays. We were able to spend part of yesterday with old family friends, (they knew my parents when they were first married and lived in Vale, OR - now they live in Edgewood, NM) it was great to see them and their family again.

We stayed home this year partly due to money - now that Kendra is two we have to pay for her airplane ticket, and partly because we are really behind with everything because I was so sick. Mark has six days off of work so we get him all of next week too! This is great! Sometime between now and then I hope he'll fix our kitchen faucet which broke a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Notice the proud father in the background.

The things Disney teaches children...

Christmas Eve

This is our first year that we did not travel to be with family at Christmas time. Although we miss our families we've had a good time staying here. On Christmas Eve we made a gingerbread castle. Kendra spent about an hour making it just perfect. She said, "I'm doing a good job!"

She was very excited to do it herself!

This is the finished castle.

And this is what it is suppose to look like!

Kendra is usually shy and reserved when people are over at our house. This time Kendra was hyper and aching for attention! She kept making up songs.

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!! To recap our year, we have a test. And since we haven’t seen many of you over the year, you’ll be at a slight disadvantage. Good luck!

1. How many miles did we travel this last year?
a. 1,596 b. 7,312 c. 4,294 d. we never leave ABQ

2. What did Kendra do that made us laugh the hardest?
a. Cross her eyes
b. Says “go-ee-oh” instead of “here you go”
c. Tried to teach a toy fly to pray
d. Telling us she’s going to call pizza on her toy phone, then picking up the phone and saying “hi pizza”
e. Telling Mommy not to fall into the toilet after she had

3. What was Kristi’s favorite book?
a. Treatment of Childhood Disorders by Eric J. Mash
b. Get Rich Quick by Mike Jukes Onyou
c. Dude, Where’s My Country by Michael Moore
d. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

4. What was Mark’s favorite book?
a. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
b. Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton
c. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
d. Birds of North America, by C. Robbins

5. What song does Kendra make us listen to over and over every time we drive somewhere?
a. “I'll Make a Man Out of You”, from Mulan
b. “How Does She Know”, from Enchanted
c. “I Know You”, from Sleeping Beauty
d. Theme song from Veggie Tales

6. What makes Kendra laugh the hardest?
a. Butterfly kisses
b. Peek-a-boo from behind her bathroom towel
c. Tickle torture from Mommy

7. What was Kendra’s best excuse to call Daddy back into her bedroom after she’s been tucked in for bed?
a. Needs to go to the bathroom (and then doesn’t go)
b. Needs to look out the window
c. Needs to be tucked in again
d. Needs to blow her nose
e. Needs a drink
f. Has no good reason

8. What was a year low point?
a. Mark backing Kristi’s new Rav4 into a pole (a plastic pole)
b. Kristi seeing, for the first time, Kendra behaving quite differently from other kids in a group setting (signs of what turned out to be a sensory processing disorder)
c. Mark’s car getting smashed while it sat in the bus parking lot

9. What was our year highlight?
a. Kristi’s 10 year high school reunion
b. Attending the BYU vs New Mexico Football game
c. A wonderful visit to St. George to see both parents and Shoni’s (Kristi’s sister) masters graduation
d. Kendra dancing on a table in front of a class of 2nd graders while her Aunt Shoni sang “How Do You Know He Loves You?”
e. Kendra making great strides in development after therapy for her sensory processing disorder

10. True or False, Kristi is pregnant.


Answers:
1. 4,294
2. A, but all made us laugh
3. D, none of the others were considered
4. C, A and B were not considered, but D made it to the list
5. A, and over, and over…
6. C, but the others are close
7. Take your pick, they all work every time
8. B, but, yes…the others did actually happen
9. 5-way tie
10. True!!! And we’re so excited. The due date is July 5th.

Snow Day

It snowed a couple of inches yesterday so today Kendra and I had a snow day! After we scraped our driveway and sidewalk we made a snowman. Now, back in Oregon when I made snowmen the snow balls always had grass and leaves in them. Well, down here in New Mexico we do not have grass. I thought this would finally be the time I could make a snowman without anything sticking to the snow. Instead of grass we have rocks and rocks still stick to the snow. I have learned that it is better to roll a snowball on the pavement than on our "yard." Kendra and I had a great time putting him together.

Then I noticed we had icicles! This day just keeps getting better and better. I jumped up to get an icicle for Kendra. I love it when Kendra mimics me. She then jumped to grab the icicles, but of course they were way too high. It's too bad it only snows a few days out of the year down here.