Kolay's Baby Blessing

Kason is 19 months old today! He is turning into quite the character. Kason loves holding Kolay and will say “hold” and jump on the couch when he wants to hold her. He loves to play with sports balls. He runs up to us, says “catch”, and throws the ball. He has a pretty good arm! One day this week, Kolay was doing tummy time on the floor, and Kason thought it was an invitation for a horsey ride! He didn’t understand why his mom didn’t let him sit on her. Kason loves sports; he says “football” and “basketball”, and he knows the difference. He now started throwing with his right hand too, when at first, he would only throw left handed.  He does the actions to Popcorn Popping all by himself! He is doing much better at nursery; he loves snack time and likes to sing the songs. Kason officially thinks every baby is Kolay, including all the pictures of himself in his room. Kason loves pancakes and eats at least 2 every morning.

Kolay turned 7 weeks old on Saturday.  This week her right ear was draining on Monday; we kept an eye on her for a few days, thinking she might have an ear infection, although she was still pleasant.  On Thursday afternoon, her left ear started draining, so we made a doctor’s appointment for the evening with her pediatrician.  She weighed 10 lbs 2 oz which makes sense for how well she eats, but she doesn’t look like a 10 lb. baby yet!  She is a long, skinny girl! The good news was both ears looked good; her left ear looked like it was starting an ear infection, but the doctor didn’t want to start her on antibiotics if she didn’t need it, so we’ve been watching it, and she’s doing much better.  We also found out that the rash on her face, neck, chest, and back was eczema, so we got some cream that we had been recommended and it looks much better as of today. Kolay is a great baby; she is starting to look around and be interested in things.  On Saturday evening, she had her first smile at her mom and dad! She has done it a few other times since, and we are just in love with her smile!

The most exciting news of the week is that Kolay Piquet was blessed on Sunday. Kolay was blessed by her father. Also in the circle were both grandpas, all of her uncles, and her Great Grandpa Piquet.  Kolay wore the same dress that I wore on my blessing day almost 23 years ago. She looked gorgeous! Kolt gave her a beautiful blessing. I was able to bear my testimony in the meeting. I am grateful for the chance I have to share what I know with the ward and my family. Kason did great during the meeting. He was pretty tickled that all his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents were at church. After the meeting, we had a small lunch with Kolt’s family and my family. We served Chicken Bacon Ranch wraps. Grandma Piquet brought brownies, cheesecake, and moon pie for dessert. Kason loved the moon pie just like his daddy! He loved playing with his cousins at the house.  We were able to get a big table set up in our living room. After dinner, we watched the Super Bowl together and enjoyed an array of treats.  It was a great day! We are sure grateful for all the love and support we feel for our family, especially Kolay on her blessing day.

This week was a busy week! It was my last week before I go back to work officially 3 afternoons a week.  On Monday, I had my 6-week appointment. The kids were able to stay with Grandma Lindley, so Kolt and I could go together. I was happy to report that I was feeling great. It really is a night and day difference from my postpartum experience after Kason. I was able to ask my doctor some other questions I had been wondering about.  Kolt also did some shadowing at Community Family Clinic in the morning.

On Tuesday, Kolt had his evening Organic Evolution class. He was excited to find out that the LDS book about evolution he had read over the break was written by his professor. In the evening, I took the kids to my mom’s basketball game at Rocky Mountain. Kason played with Nathan and Brooke. Tatelyn and Jeanna Hill were great to help with Kolay during the game, as well as my dad who helped with Kason when he decided he wanted to play in the game too.

On Wednesday, Kason played with Brooke during Nathan’s preschool. I had a visit from my visiting teachers in the morning. In the evening, Kolt took Kason to Highland for Brand’s basketball game. Brand played really well; Kolt was glad to be able to make it to the game. Kason did great on the drive. I stayed home with Kolay and was finally able to get my 1099s out for work. Although technically my first day back to work was yesterday, I have been working almost just as much logging in from home, running to and from the office and trying to get the year end responsibilities done. It has been a big blessing to have some flexibility in my work schedule over the last few weeks. Kolay and I enjoyed being together for the evening in the quiet house.

On Thursday, I took the kids to meet Kolt at his school for a Super Bowl lunch sponsored by the Activities club. We were able to meet Kolt’s classmate’s family, including their little girl, Tyga, who is just 4 days younger than Kolay. Kolt had another voice lesson; he passed off his first song! He has been practicing quite a bit at home this week. It has made a big difference to have music in our home. Kason loves to sing and play the piano; he even sings the line “Let it go” from Frozen now. Kason spent the evening at Grandma’s Day. I had my first volleyball practice for club. I took Kolay with me; she stayed with Ashley and Trish during my practice. Kolt was able to get some homework done and make it to our ward church ball game before picking up Kason.

On Friday, Kolt did some early morning shadowing at Family First. He is learning a lot from the shadowing and gets along with both P.A.’s. I helped fill in for a coach at their practice in the evening before Brand’s game. The girls were more than willing to help watch Kolay while I was there. I met Kason and Kolt at the game at Sandcreek. Kason played in the bleachers with Paisley; he sure likes to wander. Kolt brought dinner to the gym; Kason was eating corn by the handfuls. After the game, we went to the varsity game. We were able to sit by Kylee & Riley Sessions! It was fun to catch up with her. Kason was so tired by the time the night was over, but he stayed awake to get a Jamba juice and come home to bed.

On Saturday, Kolt worked a 7 am-7 pm shift at the BHC. I stayed home with the kids and finished getting ready for the blessing. I finished my Family Birthday Board with my Cricut cutting machine I got for Christmas. I love it! We also picked up Kolay’s hand and foot impressions this week. I’m so glad we got them! They turned out great, and I am kicking myself for not getting Kason’s done when he was born. They are pretty neat. We are so grateful for the many things we are blessed with. Hope you are all doing well.

Kason is Binky-Free!

Kason will be 19 months old next week. Here are a few fun things about Kason: He has a hard time sitting to eat for very long. I have found that he loves pancakes, so I try to make those just about every morning because I know he will eat two without begging to get “up” (up means up or down for Kason right now).  He also likes tomatoes surprisingly! Kason’s favorite words are: “Where’s _____?, football, cream (for whipped cream) “Toway (Kolay), and apple. The other day Kason begged to get in his crib. He played in there for close to an hour, looking at his baby pictures above the crib and talking to his big white bear. Kason loves to play with horses. He likes to sit behind the stools and pretend that his horses are in the pen (the base of the stool).Kason also does the cutest little bucking horse around the living room. It is pretty cute. Kason is almost grown out of all of his size 5 shoes and almost ready for size 5 diapers.   He learned how to do somersaults and will do them almost immediately when you ask now.  The biggest news is that Kason is now 13 days without the binky! We are pretty excited about that. He made a great transition! He was pretty sad the first night without the binky; he thought he had lost it in the side of his crib, but we were able to explain that his binky was gone. It worked great having Kolay’s binky because now we can just explain that “binkies are for babies.” He seems to think that’s a good reason not to have one, and now he takes it upon himself to make sure Kolay has her binky in her mouth anytime he remembers.  He also started saying “Hand” and grabbing my finger to take me and show me what he wants.

Kolay turned 6 weeks old on Saturday. She is a growing girl with the skinniest legs and arms and a big round belly! She is grown out of most all of her newborn clothes and fits the 0-3 month clothes just great! She also moved up to size 1 diapers last week. She is very good at finishing her messy diapers once we try to change it. She has pooped on her mom and dad more times than they would like! She is still sleeping well; most nights are 6 hours, but occasionally she will still wakes up every 3.  She is really patient with Kason all over her.  She is also content to sit in her bouncer and have some quiet time too. Her newborn rash seems to be getting better. She also loves baths!

On Monday, Kolt went to watch a rope training that Brand attended for a little bit and then spent most of the day doing homework. Kason and I went for a walk in the stroller. He was excited to have Grandma Lindley join us after her run, then he immediately turned to me and said “Where’s Papa?”  He has become really aware of who is with us and who is not.  In the evening, I went to play volleyball again at the Apple on kallie’s co-ed team.

On Tuesday, Kolt had class in the morning, and I worked in the afternoon printing checks and getting ready to send out 1099s.  I got home just in time for Kolt to go to his Organic Evolution night class.  Where did that day go? The day seems to fly by when we have lots to do!

On Wednesday, Kolt had his first of 4 voice lessons. We bought it at a Young Womens Girls Camp fundraiser a little while ago.  Kolt enjoyed learning more about singing, and I enjoy having him come home and tell me about it! I picked up Brand from school and fed him before his game. Kolt picked up 4-hour shift in the evening, so he took Kason to the first part of Brand’s game and then left him with Grandma Piquet. She was so great to keep him, and she and Rope brought him home. Kolay and I were able to bathe and have some time to get caught up. Brand’s game was really intense, so it was fun to hear about it!

On Thursday Kolt had a couple classes and stayed at the school to work on his online courses.  I taught Evan his piano lesson. Evan had a great week of practicing, and it showed! He played both songs flawlessly! I was a little excited! Kason went to Grandma Piquet’s in the evening and played and played hard. Kolay and I went with my dad to my mom’s basketball game at Rigby.  Kolt had planned to stay home and study; he hurried and hurried and was able to make it to the game without missing much.  When we went to pick up Kason, Rope came to stay over because he didn’t have school the next day.

On Friday, Kolt shadowed two P.A.’s: one at Family First and one at Redicare. The schedules were pretty empty, so he was able to visit with both of them and learn a lot. The kids, Rope & I stayed home and played in the morning. Kason, Kolay, Rope, Saydie, and I met Kolt, Natalie, Brady, Nathan and Brooke at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. We had a great time visiting and letting the kids play.  In the afternoon, Kolt and Rope played basketball before he took him home.

We had a great Saturday together. We sure didn’t do much. I did have a volleyball practice for club in the morning. I can’t believe it is almost time to start that! After nap time, we watched a 17-month old boy from our ward while his parents went to the temple. He and Kason played really well together. Kolt and I have been reading from a book my dad got us for Christmas last year called The Wednesday Letters.  We are really enjoying it; it is getting really interesting, and it is hard to only read one chapter a night. We are excited to start the sequel The Wedding Letters that my dad gave us this Christmas!

On Sunday, we worked hard to get Kason a nap before church. It worked great—he was tired at about 11. We had a good combined lesson with the Priesthood and the youth about Family History work. Kolt and I are trying to incorporate indexing into our weekly routine. After church, we went out to Piquet’s for ham and potatoes. It was delicious! We had a good night of visiting before going home and putting the kids to bed.

Kolay is 1 month old!

This week we found out that Kason loves horsey rides! On Friday evening, Grandpa Lindley gave Kason and Brooke a horse ride on his back.  Kason is learning to hold on when you remind him; if not, he will just ride hands-free.  Kason couldn’t get enough! By the end of the night, he would tell Grandpa “gin” for “Again”, grab his shirt collar down, and then decided to show Grandpa what he wanted him to do. Grandpa lies flat on his stomach to let Kason get on, so Kason lay on his belly to show Grandpa what to do. It was great model behavior! Kason is almost 27 pounds and is 36 inches.  He is also saying TONS of words. He learns several new words a week and is getting really good at using those words to express himself without getting frustrated.  His new words are “olay” (Kolay), clean up, I dropped it, boots (He will run to grab his boots anytime someone walks out of the house without him.), and house, sit down, and juice. He always gets a big smile when he says what he wants, and we listen and respond. It’s like a whole new world is opening up for him! He still loves his trucks and trailers, horses, and being outside. 

Kolay is 1 month old! She is 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long.  She is having much more awake-time in the evenings. If she has some awake-time in the evening, she’ll sleep the full night almost every time. She still only ever cries when she is very hungry, and I haven’t fed her when she gives me the early cues.  One night this week she had a really fussy evening. It was super unusual for Kolay.  She kept acting like she had a stomach ache. I immediately started thinking about my diet. I realized that I had just started having milk. I wasn’t able to have milk during either pregnancy or while I was nursing Kason. It gave Kason major stomach aches and caused him to spit up a lot. So I have learned it’s better not to have milk! She has been doing much better since! She is really patient with Kason—he is always concerned with where she is and tells me if she is crying. She has smiled a few times including tonight when Kason came 2 inches from her face and stared at her (like he does often), and she smiled! Her mommy is convinced it was on purpose. She is getting really good at holding up her head already! She is getting ready to keep up with Kason!

Monday—Kolt started his last semester of undergrad! I did pretty well with both kids during his classes. The only real difficult time is when Kolay needs to eat. Kason was pretty sick still on Monday, so we cancelled our plans for the football game.   We ended up just watching the game at home without the treats we had planned.  Later in the evening, I went to the Apple and filled in for Kallie White’s volleyball team. It was really nice to play again. I was glad it was close, so I could leave Kolay home and play between feedings.

On Tuesday, the kids and I stayed home all day to get Kason well.  Kolt had morning classes and an evening class. In the afternoon, he did a little work on the car with Kason, picking up a part for my trunk latch and returning an old battery.  He stopped by Brand’s basketball game for a few minutes before his class. 

On Wednesday, Kolt had an appointment with Dr. Dalling, my cousin who is an orthopedic surgeon.  He has had quite a bit of pain in his knee lately.  Kolt has been pretty active, so it was really bothering him.  Jason said that it sounded like it could be a torn or partially torn meniscus.  Kolt opted not to have an MRI yet, but to try Jason’s recommendation of Ibuprofen to see if that helps the pain.  We are hoping it gets feeling better soon! I tried a new chicken recipe from the Cheesecake Factory.  It may have been a little out of my league, but I was glad to have help. It called for a little too much balsamic vinegar, so I will definitely use less of that next time.

On Thursday, I taught Evan his piano lesson.  In the evening, we went to Brand’s game at Skyline. Kason enjoyed the cookies from Aunt Betty and the drink from Grandma P.  Brand lost a tough game! The kids were ready for bed when we got home.

On Friday, Kolt got to shadow Tyson Parker at Family First.  He learned that Tyson is a great piano player and brought home some YouTube videos to show me.  Tyson was great to let him do some hands-on things in the appointments. He is really looking forward to shadowing Tyson this semester. Kolt worked on his 2 online courses most of the evening. 

On Saturday morning, Kolt took Kason to Evan’s early basketball game. They picked up Kolay and me to go to the Ward Breakfast at the Virlow building.  We ate breakfast burritos. Kason really liked the hash browns.  After breakfast, we went to Saydie’s game at Discovery Elementary. Kason liked playing with his cousins and playing on the court during the game.  In the evening, we went to Brand’s game against Blackfoot.  They played great and won. Kason enjoyed playing with Paisley at the game.  Kolay was awake during the game! We went to the varsity game to see Makayla! Have I mentioned that I love when Makayla is in town?! I just love seeing her any chance I get! Makayla left a little early, and our lack of dedication to the team showed when we jumped up and left right behind her. Yes, we did go to the game just to see her!

On Sunday morning, we took our time eating pancakes and having baths.  Bathing the 2 kids becomes a full day affair sometimes.  We took pictures of the kids in the morning.  Kolay and I got to church early for prelude, and Kason and Kolt came with Grandma a little later.  Kason slept during Sacrament Meeting and woke up just in time for nursery. He was a little bit whiny even with Grandma, but hopefully his nap schedule will get a little better, so he will be better. Kolt and I enjoyed going to Sunday school together, and I enjoyed a quiet Relief Society meeting with Kolay. We had a great lesson on Prayer from Sister Sayre, and I left feeling motivated to be better at morning individual prayers. We had a nice dinner with the Lindley’s after church.

Our lives seem a lot less busy after having 2 kids, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. I love being home with the kids. They keep me busy, but keep me so happy. I told Kolt the other night that having 2 kids has been harder than I envisioned, as most things are.  However, life is much happier than I could have ever envisioned as well.  My life is much more rewarding with these two. I wouldn’t have it any other way. As many moments in the day that are a little too crazy, there are that many more moments that are more special than I could ever imagine. I love being a mom.