........Update....Addy did great on her first day of preschool.  I walked her into her classroom (the teacher's basement of her home), she hung up her backpack right away, we said goodbye and I left.  When I picked her up the teacher said she did get a little teary eyed at first but was fine after that.

Her first day of preschool!  She's had mixed feelings. This morning she has said she doesn't want to go and then she has said she's ready to go lol. 

It's interesting and fun to see how Lexi is different from Addison.  Here are some of the ways we have noted they are different:

Lexi is brave - climbing on everything, "surfing" on the rocking chair,  standing on the arm of the couch, and is more rambunctious and brave in the bath.  Addy is cautious: when she was Lexi's age she would sit still in the bath and barely move.  She has always been very careful and scared in the bath.  Lexi is all over the place during bath time.  Addison also doesn't seem to take risks like Lexi

Lexi does not like to be apart from me.  She doesn't like babysitters, even my sisters or nieces whom she sees and plays with often.  Addy is very social and outgoing.  I can't tell yet if Lexi will be but so far it seems like she isn't.

Lexi is a tease and seems more feisty.  She pulls hair, bites, pinches, steals toys and blankies away from Addy.  Addy is usually the victim.  She will stand there and scream while someone hits her instead of walking away or putting her hands up to protect herself.  She never hits, pushes, or pinches.

Lexi is more affectionate to Steve and I.  She gives so many hugs at her own will throughout the day.  Addy didn't do that at this age and still isn't affectionate like Lexi is.  We have been getting more hugs from Addy lately just because she sees Lexi giving hugs and she gets jealous.

When Addy was Lexi's age she slept a lot more than Lexi does.

Summer

Grandma and Grandpa Luke came for a visit

Thanks Grandma Luke for making us matching aprons!

For all you corn on the cob lovers, my mother-in-law told me how you can cook a cob in the microwave.  Keep the shuck on and microwave one cob for 4 minutes or 2 cobs for 8 minutes.  Then watch this video to see what to do next.

A bubble wrap hopscotch.  Idea came from Family Fun magazine.

24th of July 

We went to my nephew, Surprise's soccer game and had a picnic with all my sisters and then went to Mapleton for fireworks.  We were in CO for the 4th of July and didn't get to see fireworks. I think because of the fires in Colorado Springs there was only one place they were doing fireworks and we decided not to fight the crowd.

Just a random picture.  She was calling the hamper a horse

Tracy Aviary

You can't really tell but that's a Toucan behind us, my favorite kind of bird

She was being silly the whole time we were there and would run away when I tried to take her picture.  I managed to get one picture of her and look at her red cheeks!  It was blasted hot outside! I didn't realize it was mainly outdoors.

When I came downstairs after showering I saw this Lol. She poured her own cereal & milk! She was crying at first though because she poured so much milk she couldn't see her cereal :) so I poured the excess milk into that plate. I told her how proud I was of her for doing it on her own lol.  I honestly was proud of her because Addison rarely does things on her own even though she is capable of doing so much on her own.  She usually asks me to put on her shoes, help her go to the bathroom, get her dressed, and the list goes on.  She can do all those things on her own.  Lately, when she whines for help (that's how she asks for help - usually in an impatient, whiny voice like it's an emergency), I don't come to her rescue right away. As uncomfortable as it is to listen to her "suffering", I have found that if I don't come "rescue" her right away she'll do it on her own! 

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