Wednesday, March 18, 2015

March Madness

Kynlie's sense of style is, let's say, eclectic!
March has consisted of working on the house and running after kids. As of today the exterior is 95% done, the roof will be finished next week. 
I got the outside lights all wired and working last weekend when it was 70 degrees out!

Lots of butt crack is exposed while we are working!!
Max loves it at the new house he also loves eating dirt and sidewalk paint 
Locklyn enjoying her late birthday present while mom and dad were in Minnesota for the cancelled Nickelback concert  
Max stole the Sheetrocker's jug, glad he didn't take a swig, who knows what they were drinking 
Locklyn got her ears pierced, she only cried a little bit.

Monday, February 16, 2015

March for Babies

We are honored to have been nominated and accepted to be the ambassador family for the 2015 Bismarck March for Babies.
One of Kynlie's nurses thought since we had two babies receive March of Dimes' surfactant and participated in March for Babies since Kynlie has been born, that we would be a good candidate.
Thanks Bonnie!
Kynlie's newborn pictures, 4 months old, 5 lbs
Responsibilities of the ambassador family are to attend corporate kickoff events for the walk, give a short speech about how March of Dimes affected our family and a few other promotional responsibilities 
Kynlie at 3 weeks old, well under 2 lbs
If you haven't and would like to donate, you can do so here
Every little bit helps.

Mom and Dad's rings on Kynlie's wrist
If you can't donate but still want to participate, come walk with us,
May 2, 2015 in Bismarck, ND at 9 am
The first time I saw Kynlie, 1 lb 4.5 oz ,12 3/4" long
We have already surpassed our first goal and raised it. Thank you to EVERYONE that has donated to this amazing cause.
The research done by this organization is a huge part of why we still have two of our babies with us today!
Max Robert was born with bilateral pneumonia and sepsis. He weighed 8 lb 6 oz and was 21" long

I got to see this picture of Max's face and that's it for almost 2 weeks as he couldn't handle any stimulation so he had his eyes and ears covered and always had a breathing tube in his mouth and feeding tube in his nose.


The first time I got to hold Max. He was almost two weeks old and very very sick

January and February

Most of January was spent finishing plumbing and wiring on the house or making trips to Dickinson to get supplies! The kids have done great getting tossed around to whoever will keep them for the weekend for us. Max had his first overnight at Grandma and Poppy's, she said he did ok, he woke up twice and had a hard time going back to sleep but all survived!
Max is a typical male, has his remote, his recliner and life is good
January 7, Max had his 1 year checkup and Locklyn had her 3 year checkup. Max weighs 23 lbs and was 30" long. He dropped from the 80% the end of September to  50 % in Jan! It's amazing what happens when they really start moving! Dr O said again that she is surprised how well he has done considering how sick he was when he was born. Locklyn was 40" and 35 lbs which is + 95%. Dr O said she is very smart and seems much older than three! I have to agree with her, her new favorite is "I telling you mom, worry about yourself, don't worry about me!"
Locklyn was finally old enough for the rec department classes,
she got to do tumbling with Kynlie this year
Thursday mornings after Locklyn is done with preschool the girls have had Preschool Tumbling through the Recreation Department. After a few talks with Kynlie about how she is the biggest and the oldest kid in tumbling and all the younger kids are watching her to see how to do it, she finally quit whining and did all the activities on her own. Locklyn on the other hand, has been so sad because she wasn't old enough to do any of the deprtment activities until this year, took over Kynlie's shoes of whining and complaining that she didn't want to do it. Oh the joys!
The kids spend a lot of time in the car when it is so cold out and we are finalizing things on the house
We have put a lot of time into the house this year. The poor kids are watching a lot of movies in the car because it's too cold for them to be out and just easier to not have to be talking to them while we are trying to talk with contractors. They were excited to see the sheetrock, I think the rooms make a little more sense to them when they can't see through them.
Max loves his dump truck

Kynlie hanging from the table by her arms coloring, with her legs crossed
The end of January we went to Chico Hot Springs and met my parents and brother, sis-in-law and nephew for the weekend. The kids absolutely LOVED it! Kynlie swims like a little fish, doing summersaults under the water and swimming all over the place. Max watched Ray walk all weekend and Monday after we got home he decided he could walk too and has been running ever since. He even thinks he's big enough to walk up and down the stairs now! My uncle Dan and his friend Sally and her daughter came over from Bozeman Saturday afternoon and had supper with us. We all decided that needs to be a yearly trip
Kynlie and Ray at Chico Hot Springs

The result of an amazing nap

Max took a bath in the sink so he didn't miss the super bowl

We had the Moore cousins for a weekend, the girls were in heaven
February 5, Neil and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. We had a lunch date with the kids, and Neil gave me tickets to see Nickelback in Minneapolis in March. We had a romantic evening with 3 extra kids in the house so I went to Bowman and played with my league volleyball team and Neil stayed home with all the kids. We did go to Marmarth on Saturday and have all you can eat crab with a group of friends, picked up at the door by a limo!!
Max sleeps without having to touch mom now
Max is back to sleeping in his own bed all night, again, for now! Nap time is hit and miss if I can get him to sleep at all and if I can put him down when I do finally get him to sleep. Weaning him from nursing is another story. He tries ripping my shirt down or pulling it up when he thinks he needs to nurse, weaning may have to happen when we are gone for the weekend for the concert, sorry Grandma!
Sheetrock is getting hung. This is the entryway and the stairs going up
Wednesday evening a crew showed up to start hanging sheetrock. They have the upstairs and all of the bedrooms done, part of the basement and working on the rest of the main floor. They think they'll be done mid week hanging and ready to start taping and texturing. The crews to do the siding, fascia, soffit and gutters should be here Wednesday. It's really starting to look like a house!!
From the entry way looking to the upstairs

Upstairs looking at the front door and dining room

Upstars, door goes to Kynlie's room

Kynlie's room, left door is closest, bathroom then to the living room

Kynlie's room window

Max is not above playing dress up. Dad is not impressed

Big boy in a little body

Friday, February 6, 2015

November & December

I'm honestly not sure what we did the beginning of November, but I do know that we went to Hawaii the middle of the month and stayed with my sister and her family for 10 days. It was a true vacation. We went to the beach, pool, saw a beautiful field of sunflowers and just hung out and let the kids play with eachother. We spent thanksgiving with their friends and flew over to Maui on Black Friday to meet Neil and his family!









 We drove the road to Hana one day and let the kids play on the black sand beaches, that was amazing. We took a helecopter ride and saw some gorgeous water falls, went to a Luau, went snorkeling and let the kids play with their other cousins!








 The beginning of December was spent plumbing the house.
 Locklyn and Max shared a birthday party, Locklyn had a Frozen party so Max had an Olaf party!












We spent Christmas Eve with the O'Donnell side and enjoyed some delicious soups and just relaxing
Christmas Day we drove down to the cabin to be with the Moore's and spent a couple of days down there, then came back home to finish plumbing and start wiring the house!