cup of joe: Kaylee is one!

Kaylee turned one yesterday. I don't know how that's possible. I've been trying to blog and do an update for about three weeks now, but in the back of my head, I just wasn't into it and I think that's why I felt it was boring and uninteresting. I kept feeling like I wanted to post some baby pictures of my precious Kaylee, to reminisce about last year and the newness of an infant, but I couldn't do it. I looked at some of the pictures and had to move onto other things. It isn't that I mind being emotional, I just wasn't ready to admit that she's one. I text Erin yesterday and told her that universe was against her turning one, so we were just going to ignore that little detail, eat some cake and move on with life and still claim my walking Hurricane is a newborn.

sidenote, Kaylee wore those pants Emma has on today.

Poor Kaylee has been fighting a pretty nasty cold all week. Mom and Mama came in on Monday night and sometime during that night's sleep, she started having a really hard time breathing and sounded incredibly congested. It's been a rough week for the poor thing: she's been congested, had a runny nose, fevered, uninterested in food-which is so not normal for any of my babies- and not sleeping well. I took her to the doctor yesterday (happy birthday, baby girl!) and she tested negative for strep, so that's a positive. We are powering through as best we can and trying to get fluids and some nutrition into her system.

One day, maybe soon, I'll be able to do everything I want for my girls' birthdays: wake them up with a special breakfast, play with them throughout the day and then let them choose what they want for dinner, followed by some birthday cake and a present or two from us, maybe a special activity during the day. And as you probably guessed by my tone, that didn't happen yesterday. I had a chiropractor appointment first thing yesterday morning to deal with a pinched nerve in my neck (from hauling a few lead butts around, most likely), followed by a chaotic lunch while Mom and Mama were packing to leave. Throw in the mix the phone/internet people pushing their appointment time from Friday up to Thursday afternoon and a rushed doctors appointment, as well as decorating my girl's cake before dinner, I didn't have the most relaxed of days to just spend and cuddle my kiddos. Additionally, poor Kaylee had the worst day of her sickness yet yesterday, but at least she took a great nap. By the time the cake was done, the repairman had left, Mom and Mama had hit the road and we were killing time before the doctor appointment, we all 4 just sat on the couch and cuddled for a bit and let the mess be. No guilt.

All that being said, poor Kaylee didn't want anything to do with her birthday dinner, refused to try the cake (I'm now questioning whether or not she really is my child), and was only half interested in watching her sisters tear into gifts. I have a piece of cake sitting on the counter for her, but let's be honest, it may not last much longer. I may just need to make another cake before long and let her go nuts with it.

look at that sad little sick face.

Anyway. Kaylee is the best. At her sicky doctor appointment yesterday, she weighed in at 26ish pounds and 31 and some odd inches. I'm sure if you go back and look, I always reported exact numbers with Lily and Emma. Poor Kaylee. I'm trying, baby girl. She stood on the scale like a big kid while Lily and Emma cheered her on for standing so still to be weighed and measured. Emma held her hand so the nurse could get her pulse and whatever else they needed to measure for her vitals, and Lily asked her normal bazillion questions and made sure the nurse knew that Kaylee wasn't feeling well.
Kaylee is the happiest little girl, and so much fun. She is at a wonderful cuddly age, and while she loves to get into the middle of everything with her sisters, she also is doing fine with independent play. I love watching her go plop down in a pile of toys and chatter away about who knows what. It is so wonderful to have a content baby after the other two. Plus, now that she is mobile and interested, I can close off doorways in the toy room and leave her down there with Lily and Emma to all play together and it is the best thing in the whole world. I know there are plenty of arguments for having your children further apart, but to me, there aren't enough arguments in the world that will convince me that it's better than watching my three grow up so close together.

Lily's first birthday

Emma's first birthday

I clearly will be needing to try again with a cake for Kaylee when she is feeling better. My poor baby.

Anyway, in other news:
Dad H loaned us a trail camera around Christmas time, and Jesse has been excitedly checking it periodically to see what kind of exciting wildlife we have in our area. The deer here are pretty small and dumb, so we haven't had a ton of success yet. I bought a new salt lick the other day, and Jesse moved the camera to point at the block so that surely this would do it, and we'd finally see some deer. As a side note, I bought a salt lick 2 years ago so I could show the girls deer close to the house- close being across the road and creek from us to see from the front window. To date, we have seen about 3 deer there.

Guess what we saw as our first guest at our new deer outpost?

this guy.

And for those of you who have never met this rascal....that's our old man Zeke. First picture on the new block. That guy.

Let's see, what else has been happening.

Last week, the girls and I made rice krispie treats for the first time. And it really was the first time I recall making them. But, as Emma refuses to be outdone by Lily, and they each wanted to do their own parts, we ended up with two small pans of treats on the counter. Or, as Lily calls them, "rice Christmas trees." I'm ok with this.

please note sassy pants in the background.

And now, just a smattering of pictures from my phone- thus the poor quality- that you all probably needed to see.

I made this wake up clock. so far, the girls are waking up at the same time as before, but no one has tried to come out before 7a. and actually, since putting it up, Kaylee has been sleeping in until 8ish...and the fact she is in a different room is irrelevant.