Kowalski family from May 28, 2009 to April 4, 2010

May 28, 2009: Its been a long time since our last update. The pictures were just put up and aren't organized very well yet.We've been busy: egg hunting, horse races, folk festivals, polish festivals, swimming, splash parking, bike racing, chicken cooping and more that I've forgotten I'm sure. Yes, you read right - we have 4 chicks & a duckling. They're 4 weeks old. Peyton is talking in full sentences now; its so funny to hear them have their own conversations....more later

June 20, 2009: Another makes three! Yep, it's true. Dylan Rae and Peyton will be having a little brother or sister soon. Technically my due date is Feb 1st, but given my track record we're hoping for the middle of January. Christmas at Linda's might be a no-go for us this year. We'd be really sad to miss it, but I won't be able to fly and sitting in a car for 18 hours (twice) while 8 months pregnant doesn't sound very appealing to me. Note that my due date is only two days after Dylan's due date ... She was 4 weeks early, Peyton was 3 weeks early - maybe this one will be only 2 weeks early. In the mean time, we are looking forward to Aaryn & Jeannette's baby's arrival - any time now.

August 16, 2009: So our old computer is kaput. We're trying to get the photos saved, so some are still missing. This is an incomplete album. I need to get the software installed for my other camera still ... many, many more photos still. I'll send an update later ... sorry it's been so long!



August 29, 2009: Peyton is working on potty-training now - doing well as long as he doesn't have a diaper/pull-up on. Don't get me wrong, he does his share of cleaning up accidents! Dylan has been sleeping through the night without a pull-up for at least a few months now without any accidents. She graduated to a real bed even.Dylan is learning her letters, she can recognize about half of them I think. I probably should have been working with her some more. She's very interested in letters right now. Her favorite pass time (aside from watching TV - ugh!) is coloring. She loves to color and when she finally gets bored with it, she uses the crayons/markers/whatever as little people and plays with them. Its been so hot we've spent a lot of time doing indoor activities. Its even too hot to swim - we swim in the mornings or evenings only. She's finally gotten picky about what she'll eat. I've heard all kids go through this, I just figured it would've started sooner. She'll take one look at something and decided whether or not it is "Yucky, Mommy!" - despite the fact that she loved it a few days ago. She goes to bed without dinner many nights these days. I keep thinking that she'll wake up starving, but doesn't! She's just as picky about breakfast too. Especially if I use a forbidden term like Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner - eew gross. She only likes snacks. Sometimes we'll have a "snack" of eggs and toast at 8am - and that's OK. But if I dared call it breakfast it would have been "yucky". Peyton is two and acts like it. He is into everything all the time. Climbing on the counter to get "potty treats" is his favorite pass time. He gets into the fridge and pantry and helps himself to whatever he's not supposed to have. Dylan doesn't tell on him, until I ask who did it, then she points her sticky fingers and tells me, "Peyton got in the pantry!" Peyton loves to wash his hands. When the house is quiet, I can generally find him in the bathroom washing his hands - if I take to long, he'll have found other things in the bathroom to "wash" as well. He likes to talk back and tell other people to "Go way!" and "Leef me alone!" He even tries to tell me to "Go to time out!" You can probably see how my days play out. Little Baby Kowalski is growing and doing well. I feel great aside from some lower back pain sometimes. We go in for an 18-week ultrasound next week. And no, we're not finding out the sex - at least not until January 2010.I haven't been able to upload the pictures from my big camera yet, but when I do there will be a gazillion to go through - I see some late nights in my future (maybe that's why I haven't loaded the Canon software onto the new computer yet).

September 4, 2009: Today we went in for my 18-week ultrasound. The kids had mixed reactions to the "movie" they saw (there was a little TV for us to see the screen). The ultrasonographer was great and let us see lots and lots and gave us a little extra time just to watch the baby because he/she (we didn't find out) was so active. Baby is doing great and progressing exactly on schedule. It was really neat to get to see inside and get this sneak peak.I'm more than halfway through my "normal" gestation.

September 6, 2009: I did it! I uploaded all of the pictures from the "big camera" and have shared some here. They go all the way back to the middle of May, but I put them in the Jun/Jul/Aug album ... for now. I've also added photos to the September album. Enjoy!

October 12, 2009: Our last lake trip this season, our first theme park (Legoland), a trip to the beach - all in all it was a full month! Peyton & Dylan are almost the same size and we get asked quite regularly if they are twins. Aside from knowlege (colors, counting, etc.) and the ability to pedal a bike, they're basically on the same page. Peyton likes to wear Dylan's dresses and do whatever she's doing, but still holds trucks and tractors very close to his heart. We're in the heart of terrible 2s - enough said.

November 16, 2009: All is well with the Kowalskis these days. Dylan is pretty even tempered and follows the rules well for the most part. She does have her moments, especially in the evening, when her preteen self emerges and she's full of attitude and drama though. Peyton is constantly laughing, crying, screaming, hitting, giggling, running, hugging, throwing things, cuddling, or otherwise being extremely active. He loves trains and especially cabooses (do they even exist in real life anymore?) One of his favorite stories is The Little Red Caboose, and he is sad because he always comes last; he says, "Oh Smoke!" and so Peyton likes to say, "Oh Mokes" (when a word starts with an S and another consonant, he tends to put the S at the end). I think it is really cute. Dylan use to do that and I miss it. They're changing so fast. She says everything correctly now and I don't know when it happened. Peyton has a few words that he says wrong and I don't correct him. "Boogers" comes out like "Boh-gers" and it makes me smile. They're both getting exciting about the new baby coming. Dylan is sure it is a girl and gets mad if you say it might not be. Peyton thinks Dylan is his "broh-der" so he's not really sure about the new one. I am 29 weeks today, so we'll find out in a couple of months!

January 11, 2009: It seems like we've been running non-stop these days. Well I guess the kids have been & I've just been watching open-mouthed from the sidelines. The amount of energy they have is amazing. I've learned (and am still learning) that it is best to let them get as much of that energy released back into the wild outdoors as possible. It can wreak havoc on one's sanity if untended to. The kids are getting bigger and older every time I blink. Peyton's vocabulary and enunciation is amazing for a little boy his age. It is really cute that he mispronounces some words, but he's quickly getting over that and it makes me a little sad inside that he's growing up so fast. He's on the downhill side of potty training. He knows what he has to do and where to do it, so he just needs to do it. Since the holidays we've had some slippage, but I hope to get back on track soon. It's really nice that the kids are old enough now that they can play by themselves and let me know when they need help with something. Peyton can pedal his own bikes now! Todd got the kids a battery-powered quad (Power Wheel) and a princess car too. They have become really good at maneuvering them around the patio and the yard. I have to admit that I'm impressed. I hated them at first because of the high level of frustration that went with them. Dylan has become quite the little princess (despite my best efforts to make her a tom boy). Don't get me wrong, she can wield a stick with the best of the boys, but she'll do it wearing a tutu and a crown if she can. But then again Peyton would wear the same if he could. Dylan & Peyton are both enrolled in Ballet/Creative Dance this session. They have a great time and they get to do it without me having to be in the room - an added bonus. She prances around the house doing "pillow-ettes" and jumps. She's gotten more particular about what she wears and how I do her hair. She has a specific number of ponytails she wants (I keep it down to 1 or 2) and in specific places on her head, pointing in specific directions, etc. In the end it all looks the same anyway, but with more or less crying during the process. She loves to color! And paint, and cut with scissors, and do anything crafty! Coloring is her most common passtime. And she loves to give away her artwork. Both kids really love reading stories - even by themselves, but more so if they are read to. Dylan is still a touch taller than Peyton standing up, but when they sit next to each other Peyton is a little taller. He's got a long torso and short legs like his mom - Dylan is more leggy. Dylan just turned 4 at the end of the year and Peyton will be 3 on February 7th. Somewhere in between we'll be adding another birthday. Little Baby Kowalski hasn't been born yet, but I am farther along now than I was with either Dylan Rae or Peyton. Technically I'm 37 weeks but Baby measures a week or two ahead of that. It could be any day, any time. We'll keep you updated!

January 25, 2010: (from Aaryn) Lindsey and Todd now have a new baby girl.Lindsey gave birth to Lauren Taylor Kowalski, sometime after 2pm today in Tucson, AZ. Lauren is 8 pounds, 2 ounces and just about 20 inches long. Both baby and Lindsey are doing well.
January 31, 2010: The big news this month is Lauren Taylor! She was born on January 25th at 1:49pm, and weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 3/4" long. She's a very good baby and a champion nurser. I'm still recovering from the C-Section (my third now), but feel better every day. Dylan Rae & Peyton are very, very excited to have Baby Lauren home. She's the first thing they look for in the morning and are always concerned about where she is and what she's doing. Dylan is her personal caretaker and loves to sing her songs and soothe her when she's fussy. She has so much patience with Lauren and wants to learn and help. This is a huge difference in Dylan; she doesn't normally have a whole lot of time for patience with things she doesn't master instantly. We're really lucky to have such wonderful friends & family who have brought us food and chocolate (I say chocolate separately because it deserves its own category) both at the hospital and here at home - Lifesavers! A big Thank You to all who have helped in their own ways! THANK YOU!

March 7, 2010: (to the Olssons) Been meaning to do an Olsson update since Lauren was born. She will be six weeks old on Monday - how time FLIES!! Well everything with the C-Section and recovery has been good, although a little harder than before. Lauren is a good baby and is taking to a routine really easily. She's not very excited about being in her carseat/infant carrier unless we are in the car and moving. So I made a sling to carry her in that is exactly the same as one that costs $60 with a fancy label- it cost me just over $8. I also made one for Dylan & her babies with the leftover material (they sell for $20). I've been on a crafty streak lately I suppose. I also made a Snuggie (https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next) for Dylan, and one for her friend. I don't know that I saved any money by making it myself, but I made it very fancy! Rhinestones! Embroidered initials! Fur cuffs! And an embroidered dragonfly on the breast! Dylan Rae is very fancy these days and her fancy vocabulary is ever-expanding. Today we made cookies and she said they were exquisite!Dylan & Peyton are in a Ballet/Creative Dance class (emphasis on "creative" I think). Peyton is going to be our rhythmic one - he's got some good moves! He's the only boy in their class and most days he annoys the girls by poking them and touching their hair, but when it's time to dance, he gets his groove on! Mostly I can get us all out of the house without him realizing that he doesn't have a tutu on, but if he notices, he gets the biggest pink tutu in our box! He wants me to put glittery clips in his hair and he loves to wear head bands like Dylan. Dylan has lots of girlfriends that are her age, but we don't know anybody that is just Peyton's age and we don't know any boys that are even close to his age. Poor guy is constantly surrounded by girls! And the ones that go to preschool understand now that girls aren't supposed to play with icky boys and they tell him so. Poor guy - he ends up being the monster that they run away from all the time. He doesn't mind most of the time - any excuse to run and growl. In a couple of weeks they're starting a sports class on Saturdays so Todd can help (it is a parent-participation class and so we'll need two parents). I'm looking forward to next year when they can both be in gymnastics - it's not as girlie as ballet, but you need to be 4 instead of 3 like ballet.As most of you know we have chickens and ducks now. It's fun to let them our to "free range" in the yard during the day. I think it would be exhausting to be a chicken - they never sit still. But it makes them interesting to watch. Unfortunately we just lost our female duck, Lucy. We're not sure what happened to her, but she quit laying eggs and slowly became lethargic until the day came when she woke up dead, as they say. Her mate, Patty (who we thought was a girl, but as she matured we realized that Patty must be short for Patrick), seems fine. Waddles around with the chickens. I don't know if they mate for life or not, but I don't think we'll be getting another girl duck. At least not yet. With two hens we still get two eggs a day and that seems to be more than we eat, so I think we'll stick with what we've got for now. The Desert Tortoises are coming out of hibernation (2 adults and 3 babies). I haven't seen the adult male yet, but the rest have been out. Casey (our 10-year old lab) is doing great - still follows me around the house and manages to get tripped up under my feet as often as she can. And our two 10-year old cats are still around, at least at night. During the day they are nowhere to be found and the moment the kids' doors close at bed time they appear. Todd is picking up football officiating again already (an adult year-round league) here and there, but other than that I think his time away from work is taken up reworking our budget over and over again. Well that and taking care of the aforementioned animals. As for me, I have been trying to be crafty with my sewing machine (in short bursts while the kids are sleeping). I read a lot (nursing Lauren gives me a lot of time for that!), which I LOVE. I am in a book club with Jeannette, Aaryn (although I don't think he has actually read any of our books), Dawne, some Dooley's, and some friends. That is fun because it's made me read a lot of books that I otherwise would never have read. I still read 2-4 extra books each month though. What can I say - I love to read. The big kids are at an age now where I can sit on the patio and read while they play outside. Just this week I've been weeding and planting things we've been growing in pots. The ground is so nice and soft from the rain, I just had to take advantage of it. Since the surgery I've been watching the weeds grow, taunting me, sticking their tongues out at me, singing "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo - You Can't Get Us!" Well HA! Out came the Hula-Hoe! Now I can't cover ALL of our yard with that, but Todd gets out his Weed Dragon and his pyromaniac self comes to life. Combined, we are a force to be reckoned with! I think that about covers it.

March 15, 2010: Lauren is almost two months old now and coos and "talks" a lot. She holds her head up well and loves to watch her big brother and sister play. She's sleeping in her crib now (not through the night yet), but scootches all around her crib when she's mad. She's finally starting to take a pacifier (sometimes). I'm not a big fan of pacifiers, but this girl wants to suck on something ALL the time! She'll suck on my pinkie finger, but then I have NO hands ... not so good with two toddlers to chase after. So far Lauren's favorite thing (aside from eating) is having a bath/shower. She LOVES it! She loves having the water on her and will stop crying instantly once she's in the water - even if she's hungry. Once the water is turned off, she might start up again, but the whole time she's in there she's happy. Once she even fell asleep. Right after we brought Lauren home from the hospital, we were up in the middle of the night changing her diaper and she was crying and crying, as newborns do when you change their diapers, and we hear Peyton's voice between wails ... "Baby Lauren! That's enough! Baby Lauren, that's enough!" He never came out of his room, but he wasn't happy that she woke him up. When she's fussy he wants to put his finger in her mouth so she can "drink the juice from my finger" because he sees me stick my pinkie in as a pacifier. Today he told me very plainly that "Baby Lauren has NO hairs in her nose."Both of the kids are very protective of her and want to help as much as I'll let them. Dylan continually tells me, "Mommy, make sure and support her head." She is so patient with crying and fussiness - even while Lauren's sharp nails are scratching her. I'll ask her if she wants me to take her and she tells me that she's fine and can calm Lauren quickly with her beautiful made-up songs about anything and everything around her. I keep trying to get a video of it, but haven't yet. Today Dylan & Peyton were playing dress-up and Peyton looks at his Hello Kitty watch and exclaims, "Oh My! Look what time it is!" and Dylan says, "Oh! What time is it?" to which Peyton responds, "It's time to DANCE!" They crack me up - I can say that for them. I may want to pull my hair out a lot of the time, but they keep me laughing.

April 4, 2010: These past few weeks have been a little hectic. We weighed Lauren at home and she was almost 10 pounds about a month ago. Then she got sick (little runny nose and a cough caught from "the bigs") and seemed longer, but thinner. So I brought her into the doctor's office for a weight check. She was back down to her 2-week check-up weight of 8lb 5oz. Eek! So I started nursing her whenever she cried, day and night instead of trying to let her fall asleep with a pacifier or my finger. A week later she was up to 8lb 11oz (babies this age should gain from 1/2 to 1 ounce a day), so she was back on track. I wanted to make sure she was still on that track and took her back the following week. She was 8lb 9oz - double Eek! So the doctor suggested that I give her formula for an entire day (day and a half really) and pump. Well I pumped less than half the amount of breast milk that she drank of baby formula. So when I went back for her next weight check a day and a half later, she had gained 11 ounces (9lb 4oz). Holy Moley! So I've been giving her bottles of formula, bottles of pumped breast milk, and nursing her (I'm taking an herbal supplement to increase my milk supply). I went back today, 4 days later, and she gained another 11 ounces (9lb 15oz). She is such a sweet baby (she was before too, but not sooooo much), and smiles all the time. She's awake for much longer and is much more content and talks so much more. The difference is amazing. I love feeding her a bottle too - she's awake and looks at you, Dylan loves to help feed her (which she couldn't do before), Todd is a huge help feeding her at night. So I'm getting the best of both worlds; when I want to feed her a bottle I can (like when we're in a hurry or if somebody else would like to do it), and when she's hungry while we're out and about, we can take a break while I nurse her (zero storage & clean-up). Dylan Rae and Peyton are still doing an amazing job with her. The hardest thing is keeping them moderately quiet while she's napping. It's often hard to tell when they're having fun or fighting. They have reached the age where I hear myself telling them to "take it outside" a lot. Peyton loves to help with the chickens and duck. He has a new chicken now who loves to be held and Peyton loves to hold her. She is the same kind as one of our older chickens, Digger, so he named her Little Digger - the other Digger is now Big Digger. The duck has been banished out of the coop during the day because "he's killing my Little Digger!!" Peyton says. Right now Dylan Rae is telling me to write, "I love my baby sister." She is such a girly girl, her favorite color is pink, her favorite animal is a unicorn, she loves princesses and dresses and wearing fancy shoes. She's telling me now to write, "I love my brother."Now she wants to type; here goes: xcvvbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbnnnjkiop Now let's see if she can type her name, here goes: dylanYay! Ok, I'll spare you the rest.