8 Months Old!!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010


Once again, I cant believe that our baby is already 8 months old! She is still such a happy baby! She loves to eat oatmeal, carrots, and bananas. There are some foods (green beans and avocados) that we have tried recently that she really does not like. When she doesn't like something she will gag and try to get the food out of her mouth with her fingers. It makes me laugh. Her two little bottom teeth have popped through and they are so prominent in her little smile. :) She isn't crawling or scooting yet because whenever I put her on her tummy she just flips over immediately. :)

I love you sweet Kenley girl! You are a blessing from the Lord!

blood tests

Monday, March 29, 2010

Here is Kenley showing off the sticker she got after her blood draw today. We had the same tech that we have had 2 times before and I think that Kenley may have recognized her because she gave the tech the stare down! I would too if this was my 4th time giving blood in such a short amount of time!
She also had to have a catheter put in for a urine analysis... The pee bags didn't work so well. :) I feel so bad for her! She has had quite the traumatic last 2 months! I am not really sure what to say because the Doctor kind of lost me when he was talking but they got the blood tests back already and her blood platelet count is over 3x what it should be. This is a bad thing. So up next is for us to meet with a Hematologist and there Kenley will most likely have to have a blood marrow test and spinal fluid tests done... scary!She is still just the happiest, sweetest little baby ever! God is still and will always be good!

Here it is...


its not actually ours yet but it will be in about 2 weeks!

Yay! 3-26-2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Look Ma, One Hand!
Hooray!! Praise the LORD!! Kenley broke through that pesky 12 pound barrier and now weighs 13lbs 4.5oz!
Doesn't she look like such a big girl!

I really can't remember much of what the doctor said because Brian was there and every time I would look at him I would start to laugh because he makes fun of everything. I didn't want to be rude so I was using all of my brain cells trying not to laugh out loud. It didn't work. :)

We no longer have to go in for weekly weight checks! We will just have to come back in a month for a weight check and if that one goes well then we should be all clear! He wants to run some more blood tests on her and also a few urine tests.... How do you get a urine sample from an infant?! Why with a portable baggie of course... lol... I CAN NOT wait until she is grown up and I get to tell her all of these funny stories!

Today was the third time she has had to have blood drawn in the last few weeks but the first time that Daddy was there to hold her. They actually got her blood on the first try too!!
Pitiful! I really think that she was way more upset about being held down than about the needle though.
Thank you everyone for your prayers for her weight gain!

Removable Chalkboard Labels

Thursday, March 25, 2010

This is a little sneak peak as to what is going on in our laundry room!

A year ago I etched these glass canisters. I liked them, but with white powder filling both of them it was hard to see the etched words. I still liked how the etching looked and I didn't want to commit to covering them forever so I decided to make removable chalk board labels.
Supplies:
Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint
Masking Tape
Cereal Box
Contact Paper (I would advise not to use the shiny kind)
Optional Sanding Sponge (I am not sure if this really helps or not)

1. Cut a piece of contact paper larger that your desired final size. The size that I used allowed me to have 1 large label for my Oxyclean and 2 small labels for some Rubbermaid containers in Kenley's room.
2. Tape contact paper to cereal box.
3. If desired sand contact paper (only if using shiny kind)
4. Spray contact paper with spray paint.
5. Allow to dry and re-coat several more times.
6. After your final coat allow to dry for 24 hours.
7. Take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the surface of your contact paper.
8. Wipe chalk off with a rag and then cut contact paper to desired sizes.
9. Peel backing off of the contact paper and then stick on desired item.

Honestly my edges did not come out very clean and peeled a little bit. I think this problem would be solved if I had not used the clear shiny contact paper. Try to find the kind that is solid with a bit of texture!

I can't wait to show you my other chalkboard projects!

Ugh.. What a day!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I took Kenley in for another weight check today. I was SURE that she would be 13 pounds... No such luck. The little stink lost 3 ounces again...

I will be honest... Today I feel very defeated. I just don't know what to do about her weight. Please pray for us. Specifically for Kenley to gain weight and for me to have a good attitude and have the wisdom to know what to do for her. :)


After Kenley's weight check we made a little pit stop at the Urgent Care Clinic for me. Turns out that I have a concussion :(.

(I wasn't planning on telling you all about how stupid and clumsy I am, but since I am telling you about the concussion I might as well tell you how I got it.)

Kenley and I stayed home from church on Sunday morning because she had a fever the night before and I didn't want her getting other babies in the nursery sick if she had a cold. She didn't, it was just teething. Anyways I was trying to get a few more of our projects done so I opened up the garage to go get some paint but I didn't open it all the way... just above my eye level so that I had to duck to go in....

A few hours later I go to get something else from the garage and completely walked smack into the garage door... HARD! First I checked to make sure that none of the neighbors were outside... then I grabbed my head in pain.

So yeah... I have a concussion and I can not get my kid to gain weight... That's my life right now... :)

Famous Baby!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Michaelene just tipped me off that Kenley is famous!

Click Here

Okay, so Cherry Point Yard Sales isn't really the epitome of fame, but its neat that the photographer chose to use her!

Sunday Night Sweets

Almost every Sunday night after our evening church service we go to Mike and Rosa's house for food and fellowship. We always have a great time with our friends and I always make dessert. I thought it would be nice for me to start regularly posting the treats that I make!
Magic Peanut Butter Middles
found via Buns in My Oven

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups A.P. Flour
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 stick Butter (softened)
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
1 t Vanilla Extract
1 egg
3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
3/4 cup Peanut Butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In a large bowl, beat together the white and brown sugars, butter, and 1/4 cup of peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg. Slowly mix in flour mixture. Set aside.

For the peanut butter filling, combine powdered sugar and 3/4 cup peanut butter. Beat together well. Roll filling into 30 small same sized balls.

For each cookie use 1 tablespoon of chocolate dough and roll into a ball. Squish ball of chocolate dough flat and place peanut butter ball in the center. Wrap the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter ball to completely cover. Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Flatten the cookie balls with your hand and then sprinkle with a little bit of white sugar. Bake for 7-9 minutes.

Makes 30 Cookies

Yay for Spring!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Work Week

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Brian took leave this past week to get some projects done around the house. It feels like we have gotten a ton accomplished but I still do not have any "after" pictures for you :(.

I finished painting our master bathroom this morning which means that we have officially painted over every room in our house. This week we have gone through 6 cans of spray paint and I don't even know how many gallons of normal paint... Our projects for the week were:

Master Bathroom Makeover:
-Paint Walls
-Tile Floor
-New Toilet Paper Holder
-New Towel Rod
-Change out Cabinet

Laundry Room Makeover:
-Paint Walls
-Paint Cabinets
-Tile Floor
-Paint Electrical Box
-New Decor/Better Laundry Detergent Containers

Furniture and Misc. Projects:
- All new doorknobs and hinges for the whole house.....
(It is sickening to go to Lowes and spend almost $300 on doorknobs! Especially for a house that we will only live in for 5 more months! Thank goodness for military discount!)
-Adding moulding to banister area
-Painting new dining table
-Painting coffee table
-Painting high chair

I am so glad that Brian fixed the paint sprayer so that we could finally do these furniture projects! It has been one crazy week! We are tired and we still need to put the finishing touches on all of these projects! Hopefully we will be have some great "after" pictures for you later this week!

We have decided that we do not like having this many projects going on at once!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Almost 13 pounds!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Yesterday Kenley weighed in at 12 pounds 15.1 ounces! That means that Kenley gained about 7 ounces this past week! I guess the whole milk is working! Praise the Lord! The results from her thyroid test came back normal!

The doctor still isn't happy with how much she is gaining and would like for me to pump and add human milk fortifier. I will see if she is able to consistently gain weight over this next few weeks
before I decide if that is really necessary. It is getting a little tiring though dealing with this pediatrician because he almost makes me feel bad for wanting to breastfeed my child.

He is in!


Brian got his acceptance letter to the University of Washington yesterday!!

Washington here we come!

Ronk Furniture Shop

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, March 14, 2010



A Little Update on Kenley:
She cut another tooth (bottom left) and had a weight check on Tuesday (March 9th). She weighed in at 12lbs 8.2 ounces which is .5 pounds less that she was at last weeks check. Friday we went in for a blood draw for a thyroid test. It was pitiful they tried a heel stick, then her right arm, and finally they were able to get blood from her left arm. I felt so bad for her! Hopefully we will get those results back this week!

Mirror Mirror

Friday, March 12, 2010

I have been wanting to make some faux mercury glass vases and such for quite a while but I could never find this paint: I have been searching for this paint since BEFORE Martha did this craft in her magazine a few months ago! Every time I went to Michaels I searched the spray paint area but could never find it even though the Krylon website claims that Michaels carries it. We called multiple Michaels stores to try to track it down with no luck. Turns out my Michaels store has carried it all along I was just looking in the wrong place! It was hidden back with the glass paints on the very bottom shelf!

I really shouldn't have used such a curvy vase with a small opening. In the picture it looks great but in real life it turned out to be a little streaky. MaryJanes and Galoshes posted step by step directions for how to make this project go smoothly so I will just refer you to her :). I hope to find some more thrift store vases to transform soon! Last night as I was reading in 2 Corinthians 3 I came across a reference to mirrors that really struck me since I had just done this project.

2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The notes in my MacArthur Study Bible say that the mirrors in Paul's day we made not of glass but of polished metal and offered a far from perfect reflection. Much like the imperfect reflection of my vase.

1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

I wasn't really in love with my mirrored vase until reading these verses. Now every time I look at my mirrored vase I am reminded that right now our view and understanding of God is veiled and imperfect but one day we will get to see the awesome glory of God in person! How exciting!

Its a beautiful day for...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

primer in my hair! We have quite a few projects around the house that we want to finish before we put our house on the market and the Laundry room is a big one! We plan on painting the cabinets and the walls and installing new tile! Hopefully we will find some tile tonight at Lowes that we like!

I am also priming our coffee table today, we hit a little speed bump in the refinishing furniture road when we found out that the paint sprayer Brian bought me for my birthday doesn't work :( But hopefully both the coffee table and pedestal table will be done soon!

Kim & Ian

We had dinner last night with the future Mr. & Mrs. Lugg! Ian and Kim were in Cary, North Carolina visiting a seminary so we met them halfway for dinner! It was so good getting to see them! I miss Kim so much she is such a great friend to me and I love her to pieces. She is refreshing and edifying and I just love getting to spend time with her.

Fattening us up

Friday, March 5, 2010

Kenley's pediatrician called me yesterday to let me know that he received the results back from my breast milk calorie count. Apparently the calorie count for my milk is 16 calories per ounce. Normal human milk is 20 calories per ounce as is formula. He said that my options were basically to give her formula or to pump milk for her and then we could add some prescription stuff to it to make it more calorically dense.

To me it seems that the first step should be me altering my diet to include more fats to see if that can up the calorie content of the milk. So that is what I am doing. I started by buying whole milk yesterday. *gasp* Brian didn't know what to do with himself, he commented how excited he was for breakfast the next morning. I have been depriving him all this time buy only buying skim milk. :)

I did call the Lactation Consultant at the hospital to see if she had any advice to give me about upping the calorie content. She said she needed to do a little bit of research and talk to a few other consultants, hopefully she will be calling me back today.

So that is where we are in part eleventy billion of Kenley's weight saga :)

Any ideas on how to fatten me up healthily? I really want the extra fats that I consume to be as healthy as possible so that my insides aren't turning into sludge! :)

Caramelized Onion Meatloaf

Thursday, March 4, 2010

This recipe is really just my spin of the Italian Meatloaf recipe found in the Deceptively Delicious Cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld. Deceptively Delicious is still my favorite cookbook!

Melissa Goodfellow this recipe is for you!


Caramelized Onion Meatloaf

Ingredients:
3/4 cup garlic and herb seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 stalks of celery finely chopped
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup carrot puree
1/4 cup ketchup
Salt
Pepper
Ketchup for covering top of meatloaf

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.
2. In a bowl soak the breadcrumbs and wheat germ in milk.
3. Place skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot add olive oil and onions to the pan. Cook the onions stirring often until caramelized. They should look like this: Add celery to pan and continue to cook for 7-10 more minutes.
4. Combine breadcrumb mixture, onion mixture, turkey, parmesan, carrot puree, ketchup, salt, and pepper. I use my hands to get it nice and combined.
5. Place mixture on baking sheet and form into a loaf shape. Once loaf shape is formed coat surface with ketchup.
6. Bake for 50 minutes.

Notes:
Baking this meatloaf on a baking sheet rather than a loaf pan this another way to cut the fat in this recipe because it allows the fat to drain off rather than stay in the loaf pan with the meat loaf. Feel free to use a loaf pan though!

Wheat Germ is a really great source for vitamin E and folic acid. If you don't have any on hand just replace with more breadcrumbs.

I always serve meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas! It just has to be that way!

Kenley's First Tooth!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Kenley cut her first tooth today {March 2nd}! I noticed it when I was at the Kimbrell's house for our teen girl Bible study. Kenley was being fussy so I was in the bedroom with her and she latched onto my thumb and I felt the little bumps! Its funny that it happened at the Kimbrell's because Lily Kate got her first tooth on exactly her 7 month birthday and if there were 30 days in February today would be her 7 month birthday! It is her bottom right tooth. I can't believe that my baby is getting teeth! It makes me so sad because I love her gummy grins and now I wont get them anymore. I tried getting a picture of her first tooth and it didn't really work out too well. Here are a few of our tries!



We went in for another weight check today and Kenley only weighed in at 12 lbs 8.7 ounces which puts her back in the zero percent range. We are still waiting for the test results to come back from the breastmilk calorie count and until then there isn't really anything else to do.

Kenley is 7 months old today!

Monday, March 1, 2010

I totally forgot that there is only 28 days in February so there is no 30th! Kenley is babbling all the time now! She is constantly going dadagagaga all day long. We don't count it as her actually saying Dada yet but I think that she is getting close. She really likes all of her solid foods but by far her favorite is carrots. I always end up giving her seconds on carrots! So far she has tried carrots, sweet potato, peas, potato, bananas, apples, and pears. I hope to introduce broccoli and cauliflower this week. She has been regularly sleeping from about 10pm to 6am, she is still being swaddled with the SwaddleMe blanket. Right now she still fits into all of her 3-6 month clothes and I think that she still will for a while longer. I think that I can tell that she is filling out a little bit more, even if the scale doesn't reflect it, I can see that her cheeks are getting chubbier! Lately she has become very clingy to me which made working in the nursery yesterday very challenging. Hopefully the clingy-ness is just a phase due to our long weekend away and will go away quickly!
I now realize that paper probably wasn't the best idea for these month pictures because Kenley loves to find paper and crumple it up, I could barely keep it out of her hands for 1 picture.

Couples Retreat 2010

It felt so great to get away to Myrtle Beach this past weekend! We got into Myrtle Beach around 9 o'clock on Thursday night, we were pretty tired when we arrived so rather than meet up with church people for Wii we decided to go to just relax and watch the Olympics. We hadn't gotten to watch any of the Olympics since we don't have tv so it was fun to watch the Men's Aerials. Seriously, how does someone enter into that sport? Those guys are crazy!

Kenley was being so cute while we were watching, she wanted to hold onto her Daddy! We spent most of Friday shopping. {We had quite the experience looking for an organic store, I will fill you in on that one once I get the pictures off of Brian's phone!} We of course hit up Ross and Marshall's before we went to the first outlet mall. My favorite stop at the outlet mall was of course Polo! I didn't realize how much I missed working there! I love to see all of the styling of the mannequins and I just love the branding of it all.

After shopping many people from our church met up for dinner at a seafood buffet restaurant. I ate my share of crab legs! After dinner we headed back to the hotel for the first session of the retreat. Honestly having Kenley there made it very hard for me to listen and pay attention because I was trying to hard to make sure that she wasn't a distraction to anyone else. I spent the majority of that session in the hallway with her because she gets very babbly when she is tired and she had only had one nap the entire day!

After the session, the Piners graciously offered to watch Kenley for us so that we could go play Lazer Tag and go to Krispy Kreme. I have not played lazer tag in forever and it was so much fun! I want to go again so bad! (I was Kananko and Brian was Wildstar)

After lazer tag we went to Krispy Kreme for hot doughnuts. Yum! They were so good but I limited myself to 2.... Brian did not :)

Kristie was gracious enough to keep Kenley with her and Kaiden for the morning session so I got to listen to an entire session! Our pastor was the speaker and I think that it was the best session of the conference! Not just because it was the only one I got to really be there for but because of the genuine-ness of our pastor and the heart of the message about making Family Bible time a practice in your home.

Kenley was such a trooper this past weekend! She really only got 1 nap on Friday and car naps on Thursday and Saturday but she was still so good. It would have been nice to leave her and get away with Brian, but she was such a good baby and our church family was so wonderful to help us with her so that we could eat, listen to a session, and play lazer tag. Thank you Pleasant Acres Family!

Can you believe that we went to Myrtle Beach and did not step one foot on the sand or take one picture on the beach? What is wrong with me!!!
 
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