The Adventures Never Quit

What a fun second birthday party Emily had! It's fun to see her have fun, I hope she'd developing memories now that will last her lifetime.

She's such a little talker. She sings her ABCs and theme songs to PBS shows. She likes to count and asks every living critter she sees in nature if she can "pet you." Before bed, she tried to give everything in sight from the living room to her bedroom a goodnight kiss. She's a living doll.

We've recently had some break-ins at our condo. We live in a very modest townhome in Bettendorf. While our home cost us less than 100,000.00 to purchase, we are surrounded by homes in the 200,000.00 range. We assumed we picked a great neighborhood. However, some latchkey teens down the road (and although we can't prove it, we're caught them doing naughty stuff before) have come into our condo's communal hallway about 5 times (at least) since the holidays last year and taken the outgoing mail from the outbox, ripped it shreds in hopes of finding money and then left it on the lawn. We've filed reports, but until we catch them in person, the cops write down the information and move on. We're hoping to scrape up enough money and energy to list the condo and sell this coming spring.

None of our stuff has been taken or tampered with, but when your 82 year old neighbor has ALL of her Christmas cards taken and ripped to pieces (no money in any of them) and then I find them after the snow melts months later, it makes me not want to live here anymore. A problem with living in this condo is we only have a 12th of the vote, so pushing for a security system is an issue. Other's don't want to spend the money on it. Kyle and I feel the best bet would be to move where we are in charge of the locks on our doors, the security lights on our lawn and anything else we decide to do to protect ourselves. We simply need to own our house 100%. We'll see how that goes come spring. My poor neighbor didn't even know until late March that ALL of her Christmas cards never reached her recipients.

Not being a birth doula has made me think of other ways to provide worth to the community that still has something to do with families and children. I've become a FACE PAINTER! How random right? Well, I started doing it at the family museum and then some local vendor shows and now I get calls for charity events and birthday parties. It's pretty fun and easy to work around Kyle's busy work life. I'm interested to see where this little venture of mine goes.

That's all about us for now!
The Cooneys

Busy Busy Busy

Emily's second birthday is less than a month away. These last 2 years really flew by. Kyle has been out of town a lot lately because of his new job. Emily has really missed her Daddy.

With Kyle working almost 60 hours a week, I've had to make decisions regarding my job(s). His company at first said they had no problem with me being a birth doula and that they would accomodate my on-call schedule, letting Kyle make up hours on Saturdays. However, they are not accomdating in the least and I am no longer able to attend births. It's been pretty upsetting, but I realize his job is the bread-winner. There is pretty much no-flexibility in his hours and they send him off on week long trips with a few hours notice. In reality, I hate this job. They keep him away from his family a lot....they call on Sundays to bother him when he spent the past 6 days at work. He misses dinners, appointments and vacation days that were scheduled ahead of time are forced to be cancelled. But, I have high hopes that once they hire more engineers, his schedule will become more reasonable. If I got a chance to sit down with their CEO, I would remind him about the importance of family. People work to live...not live to work. All of this hard work...to keep America's coffee cups full. =(

However, I have decided with as much stress and Kyle is under, I don't want to place any more on him. He is pretty much drained when he gets home, so I took the liberty of taking up his chores to ease his to-do list. I even cut back on my writing work to make more time to handle house things. I can always get more clients when Emily becomes more independent. As for being a doula, I'm still prenatal and post partum, so I'm glad to still be a part of the group.

It's not ideal right now, but we're working on it. We just wish Kyle could be home more, but glad he's found a job where he feels he gets to use his skills.

I've planned Emily's birthday party. She's going to have an Eebee theme. If you have young children under 3 and have never heard of Eebee, check it out!! We're still planning to move within 2 years. We're going to wait out the winter months and list our house in Spring of 2013...maybe Fall of 2012, but we'll see. We still have some things we want to do to the condo. I hate the thought of packing up...maybe I'll just hire movers!

20 months old and growing....

Emily has been keeping us busy, as usual. Caillou is her most favorite show. It is probably the show I care for the least on PBS, but she loves it. She says his name in her sleep!
We've been frequenting the park, Emily is a fan of the slide. My parents got her a small castle slide play set (complete with rock climbing wall) and she has a lot of fun.

I tried to get her dressed up in her Easter dress today, but she was not happy about it. She's a tomboy, loves her pants! I got a few good pictures, but was hoping for a few more smiles.

I'm still a birth doula and Kyle has been with his new company for about 8 months now. Who knows when we'll be selling the condo and moving....we're shooting to be moved and done before Emily's 4th birthday. There's still work to be done around the condo. I'm now the editor of a children's magazine, hopefully it goes well!

Here are Emily's favorite sayings at almost 21 months:
Caillou (Caaboooo)
Silly Caaabooo
Pizza
Spaghetti (Baskettttti)
Pop (Yes, she says pop....)
Cake
Mine
Fred (Fwed)

She does say complete sentences. She counts to 10 and knows a few of her colors. She's about 23 pounds and 33 inches tall. Finally starting to have nights where she sleeps without waking up and needing help getting back to bed. She has been angry at me twice for putting her to bed, and jumped out of her crib. Only twice! No toddler bed yet! I need to hang onto that baby cage a little while longer!

That's all for now!
Cari, Kyle and Emmyloo

18 months...

No where close to being able to handle another one of Emily running around the house!

She now enjoys coloring and hugging and kissing everything, making sure to say "Me Nice" after. She's barely 22 pounds and some change. Her hair is getting wild though!

Kyle is still at his new job and seems to like it. I am still copywriting away and assisting women as a birth doula. Our cats are still not willing to accept Emily as a part of the family. Well, Fred does---as best he can.

Hoping next spring we list this house and get out of here. This condo is starting to feel a little cramped.

Emily's favorite foods at this time are:
Bananas (Nanas)
Pizza (Peeeesha)
Pasta ( Pata)
Pie (Pie)

Her favorite little sayings are:
Oh No!
I mada meh (I made a mess)
All Done
What's that (which she has said since she was 8 months old)
Me Nice

She continues to be best friends with Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Eebee, Barney and Caillou.

Happy 15 Months Emily!

Today Emily turned 15 months old...so that means off to the doctor tomorrow and yes, even a shot or two. She's going to be getting a new car seat very soon, so we can turn her around. She only weighs 21 pounds, and supposedly the law is 22 pounds and we're perfectly fine with waiting.

She must say like 50 words now. She even says her own name. She yells EMMY EMMY!
Kyle left his job with eServ to take a new position, so that has been quite an adjustment, he actually has to be on time to this job and dress nice! =) But, he really feels like he's a real engineer now, not just hired-help.

We're down to one afternoon nap a day and I hope this works, her sleeping hours have always been lengthy, but never really starting or ending at a good time. The cats are still terrified of her, but sometimes I catch Fred and her having a friendly moment. I think this week, she's managed to get a hold of 4 cans of my pop and dump them all over, but saving a little bit for herself "POP POP POP."

I'll try to update more often, but it's getting difficult to find the time! I'm still attending births as a doula and really enjoying helping women through the journey.

That's all for now!
Cari Kyle and EMMY EMMY!

Months 10 and 11....countdown to ONE!

Because of my mobile child, less time to be on the computer! But, for months 10 and 11, we learned a bunch of fun things!

She does not like hot dogs, eggs or mashed potatoes.
On June 14th, she was standing up looking out the window, then turned towards me and took one step! Now, in a matter of less than a month, she walks across the room, but is still pretty quick to fall down.

I thought she learned to welcome Kyle home by saying "Hiiii dadddayyyy." But she says it to the vacuum, Elmo and this morning she said it to a can of Mountain Dew. Oh well, we're getting there!

She learned to say puppy, but doesn't say it often and when she does it sounds more like "Happy." She is also learning to drink whole milk, but still prefers the nasty taste of formula.

When I ask her how old she is, she holds one finger up, then prompty claps! One year is almost here. Today was my due date last year. I had absolutely NO sign that labor was coming. I was prepared to wait it out, but thought perhaps an extra few days...not 8 DAYS! My how time does fly! She's even getting her molars in. She has 12 teeth (if not more that I can't see.)

As for baby #2....ugh. I just want to enjoy this one while she's young. We don't plan on having another one until we move out of the condo and Emily is old enough to help out. I just couldn't handle 2 kids in diapers! It's sad this is the last time I will write before my little baby (that I feel like I had just yesterday) is 1 whole year old. It blew by. Late night nursings and size NB diapers seem a million years behind me. Sunrise...Sunset!

Cari, Kyle and Emily (our big, little girl).

9 Months and Counting

Emily is quickly finishing up her 9th month. She continues to cruise along the couch and is saying new words almost every day. Today she said "baby" and will say it when she sees herself in the mirror, or as she flips through her baby book.

Trying out new table foods is like a guessing game. One day, she'll eat scrambled eggs with no problem, the next day, she gags on them and refuses to eat them.

Last weekend, Kyle and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and Kyle's 30th birthday. We had a small gathering at our condo and it was nice to have people over, because I don't get out much these days. Emily continues to obsess over Elmo and she is leaving to treat the cats with more respect. She kisses them, then I get to pull all of the cat hair out of her mouth. Elwood runs from her, but Fred stays around for a while, in hopes to get his head scratched. She hasn't quite perfected her cat petting.

Her favorite toys continue to be whatever is hanging out on the floor. She's also facinated by throwing a ball to me and having me roll it back to her. I'll tell her she's so big...and she'll throw her hands up in the air with excitement. She's been a great baby! I bet by the next time I update this....she'll be walking!

Cari

8 months...Sigh....

How can it be 8 months since Emily was born? Where does the time fly? Emily now has 5 teeth. She says Momma, Dadda and Hey/Hi. She's still her happy little self and has started to crawl. March 4th was the first time she started moving, but now she is crawling with her belly up off of the floor.

Some of her favorite foods are:
Puffs

Yogurt

Avacado

Apple Sauce

But basically, the kid eats everything. She had a fun Easter. Next year we might be able to hide some eggs are let her have a little hunt. She continues to torment our cats and she has even bitten Daddy! She drew blood! Her nights remain to be pretty quiet as long as she can get her own pacifier back in her mouth. Teething has been pretty rough on her, but she's a trooper. So that's all for now!

Cari

Emily is 7 months old!

Emily has now passed the 7 month mark. At her last appointment, she was 17.5 pounds and 27 inches tall!

She loves every type of baby food that exists. I make it myself, and honestly, the stuff from the jars tastes like garbage compared to fresh-made food. She also has a lot of love for Elmo. She has the Elmo Encore and a DVD of Elmo singing and dancing. She screams and waves to him.

On the March 4th, she crawled for the very first time. She still prefers to roll to her destination, but if you tempt her with a toy, she will hurl herself forward with her mouth wide open.

She doesn't pay any attention to my parents' Westie dog, yet when she sees one of our cats, she squeals and tries to grab at them. I'm sure she and Elliot the dog will be best friends once she's older.

Her sleep schedule is good, as usual. She likes 3 short naps during the day (an hour or less) but really loves a long 12 hour nap at night. She usually is asleep from about 9pm-9am. I can deal with that for now.

She has started to show signs that she is aware when people are strangers, but for the most part, she loves whoever is paying attention to her. Her personality makes it hard to not have 100 more kids, in hopes they'd be just like her. But I know better!

She still has the same 2 teeth that made themselves known on Christmas day, hopefully she'll get some more here sometime soon.

That's all for this month!

Cari

6 months old.

Emily is now a whopping 6 months and 16 pounds old. She's in size 3 diapers and eating actual baby food.

She loves avacados and sweet potatoes, but really, she hasn't turned anything down yet.

She got her first 2 teeth on christmas, right on the bottom. She is teething more and seems to be in a bit of pain. I do what I can, but those puppies just have to surface before she'll get any relief.

I finally got to say goodbye to maternity clothes, which is pretty exciting. We had our first christmas with Emily and it was great, though next year will be better because she will probably be able to open her own gifts. She continues to be a great baby and provides Kyle and me with hours of entertainment.