Today I fed Lexi breakfast & then she got down to play. Not much time had passed when she started playing with some pre-packaged baby food she had pulled off the shelf & kept holding it up to me. So I prepared the food & went to put Lexi in her high chair & she shook her head & said "No". She didn't want to sit in her high chair. So I showed her the food I was going to feed her & then she let me put her in.  Seems like she just wanted to know why I was putting her in.  (Addy is like that too. She often just needs a good reason why we're asking her to do something & then she'll comply). 

Lexi is on a nice, predictable schedule now & she's communicating a little bit. She sleeps through the night, 12 hours, & takes 2 regular naps a day. I'm finally feeling a little less stressed, maybe a little more relaxed. I was worried for awhile that Lexi wasn't going to be as good as a sleeper as Addison was/is. I nursed Lexi longer than I did Addison & as soon as Lexi was weaned to a bottle she started sleeping better. And it has just gotten better & better, thank goodness!  Lexi still doesn't sleep as much as Addy did at this age but I'm very grateful she's finally on a predictable schedule & she sleeps through the night! When I was nursing her I think she would wake up in the night not because she was hungry but I think because she liked the cuddling & closeness that went with the nursing. I did too but I'm very grateful for a good night's sleep now. 

Nursing was such a struggle! Harder than I realized it would be. With Lexi first it was getting past the initial pain of starting. Then I got mastitis. Then it was trying to avoid eating dairy since it bothered her. Then I think there were a few months that went smoothly. Then severe pain hit when I nursed. I figured out I had a candida infection in the breast. My stress level hit an all-time high because I wasn't ready to stop nursing but it was excruciating pain. I was determined to not give up yet. I cut as much sugar as I could out of my diet which was SUPER hard. I tried not to eat bread since the carbs in bread turn to sugar in the body. I went to bed hungry for awhile (which ended good for me because I lost a lot of weight!). I tried soooo many medicines! In the end some of the pain went away but not all of it. Then at one point it seemed like Lexi wasn't getting enough milk from me. So that's when I finally gave up. I had fought so hard to nurse her to at least a year & we only made it to 10 months. I was disappointed because there were things about nursing that she & I would miss. But weaning her really helped decrease my stress level!

One day, when I was still nursing, I was out to lunch & saw a woman nursing her baby at the next table over & she was eating at the same time. She made it look easy. For me it just wasn't like that. I could never nurse & eat at the table let alone out in public. For some lucky ladies I guess it is just that easy. Just like some women have easy pregnancies & enjoy being pregnant, & some have 'easy' labors. 

Today Addison was practicing tracing letters & she gets so discouraged when she traces a letter & it doesn't look good. Then she gives up. When that happened today I told her to keep practicing & that she would get better if she practiced. A little while later I tried to swat a fly & I missed, again, so I voiced my frustration about how I kept missing the fly. And guess what addy told me?! She said "Keep practicing & you'll get better" lol

Kirkpatrick family pictures

When we were in CO we took family pictures in my parent's backyard.  It's been over 10 years since the 8 of us kids had all been together.  There were actually two people from the extended family missing: my nephew, Forrest, and Courtney's husband, Mitch.

Lexi (held by my mom) and her cousin, Kaitlyn (held by my dad) do not let other people hold them.  So my sister-in-law, Savanah and I held our babies until all the grandkids were in place and at the last second we handed them off and everyone (except the babies) was laughing because of how the babies responded.  Oh my goodness, they were mad!!

My siblings and I in birth order (L-R: Damon, Courtney, Me, Josh, Kimball, Beth, Amy, and Lee)

Sisters and sisters-in-law

Brothers and brothers-in-law

I asked Addison where milk comes from and she said "the fridge" :) So thanks to youtube she got to see where milk comes from.  She watched a farmer milk a cow. :)  She was pretty interested.  When the video ended she clicked on another video on the side which was a dentist showing us how they brush and floss someone's teeth.  She watched those too, lol. I love that educating videos and pictures are just a click away.  Without the internet I would probably have to go to the library to teach Addy these things and since we rarely get to the library she probably wouldn't learn as much.  Sometimes I'll be talking to her about something new and so I show her on the internet to aid in my explanation.


In Colorado Lexi wouldn't go to anyone but me or Steve.  She even shied away from people when they talked to her.  One day my brother-in-law, Mitch, was sitting on the couch, Lexi was wandering around, I was in the kitchen (keeping my eye on Lexi), and Steve was off somewhere else. I watched Lexi hold a book up to Mitch who took it and started reading it to her.  Then Steve came in the room and sat down.  When Lexi saw him she took the book from Mitch and handed it to Steve to read it to her instead!  It was funny to watch. I'm surprised she wanted someone other than me or Steve to read to her but we can see from what she did who she preferred to read to her.

On our drive home from CO we stopped in Glenwood Springs so the girls could stretch their legs.  The scenery there is so pretty

I love Lexi's face in this picture.  So happy

Santa's Workshop

There is a small kiddy amusement park in the mountains in Colorado Springs called Santa's Workshop. The day we went Steve had to work. Almost every day there were at least 20 people at my parent's house so it worked out great for him because he had a quiet house to work in.

The "North Pole".  It was an ice block

Lexi loved the few rides that she was big enough to go on.  She cried when we got off and walked away.  If I could have handled going round and round many times in a row she could have gone more than once :)

Addy with her cousins

On the train

Lexi took a short nap while Addy went on rides

The first time Addy went on this ride she went on a different car.  When the ride was over and all the kids left she saw that the fire truck was empty and wanted to ride on it.  Since there was no line she hopped right on.

The whole time we were in CO Lexi would not go to anyone but me or Steve!  My sister Courtney was going to take Addy on this ride and I was going to take Lexi but at the last minute I handed Lexi to Courtney so she could take both.  The look Lexi had on her face when that happened was priceless! She was totally pouting

Lexi pouting

Colorado

We picked up my brother from the airport the other day!  So glad he made it safe & it's nice to have him home!

Waiting for Damon to arrive

First hug went to my mom

Finally home!

Trip to CO

Making signs for when Damon gets home

I caught Addy sniffing the paintbrush!  She is a smell aficionado.