Making Progress

Today, Aaron and I took Kenadie to see Dr. Sullivan in Jackson. She is a dermatologist/laser surgeon who we go see every eight weeks about Kenadie's "spot", or it's scientific term--hemangioma. A hemangioma is a cluster of tightly packed blood vessels. They are most common in premature babies. Kenadie was anything but premature--haha. She weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz. and that was with her coming one week early. So much for me being told I was having a 6-7 lb. baby--hehe :)

To catch you up, Kenadie's "spot" was not present at birth, but started to appear when she was about 10 days old. At her 2 week check-up, I asked the doctor about it and he told me what it was and also said that it would get bigger, but should go away on its own. Well... I kinda chose to ignore him saying "it would get bigger." He was right though, and by our 2 month check-up, my question was, is there anything we can do about it. Now, you should also know that first and foremost, I was MOST thankful for my healthy baby that God blessed us with. At the same time though, if there was something we could do that wouldn't hurt her, then why not give it a try.

We started going to Dr. Sullivan when Kenadie was 3 months old. The whole lasering process takes all of 8 seconds, at the very most. She actually did the laser on me, Aaron and my mom's arms first to show us how it would feel. I promise you, it is only a cool burst of air. We are not torturing her near as much as we do for a well baby check-up. So please don't report me to DHS--haha :) The first visit, I am positive, stopped her spot from growing. From there, it has gradually lightened in color. I am very pleased with how it is looking, and glad we started seeing Dr. Sullivan when we did :) Here are some pictures of our progress.

Kenadie at 10 days old

4 months old


Today's appointment

Let's Eat! Slow-cooker Lasagna

Here is a recipe that is just way too easy not to make, and it was quite tasty. It came from Kraft food magazine, and I tried it out last night. Enjoy!

Slow-cooker Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
1 (15 oz.) container Ricotta cheese
1 (7 oz.) pkg. shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
6 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water.

Mix ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, egg and parsley.

Spoon 1 cup meat sauce into slow cooker; top with layers of half each of the noodles, broken to fit, and cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups of the remaining meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles, broken to fit, cheese mixture and meat sauce. Cover with lid.

Cook on low 4 to 6 hours or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; let stand, covered, 10 min. or until melted. For best results, do not cook on the high heat setting. *I used ground turkey meat and low fat cheeses.

Weekend of Fun

We had a fun weekend, beginning with Hayden's 3rd birthday party at The Painted Zebra. Hayden is my brother Wes' little boy, a.k.a. Kenadie's best friend :) After the party, we came home for Kenadie to get a much needed nap. After 3 hours, we had to wake her up to go to Southern's game. In the pics posted below you can see where we spent most of our time again. Thank goodness for those covered seats, it rained the whole second half of the game. We tried out our cheerleading uniform, but in order to make the outfit complete, I had to go on a wild goose chase to try to find our fall/winter "staple" Keds white leather tennis shoes. FYI--If you are looking for some, you might as well order them from keds.com because they are NOWHERE to be found in Hattiesburg. Trust me, I went EVERYWHERE!!! Thanks to cousin Hayden, we borrowed his and ours are ordered now and on their way.
The Birthday Boy

Painting Kenadie's trivet

Busy Bee

I have been quite busy lately. First, I have listed just about all of my scrapbooking supplies on Ebay. Now that I am doing everything digital, there is no need to house ALL of this stuff. I have been super busy, or quite possibly obsessed with seeing how my stuff is actually doing on Ebay. To my surprise, I sold all 8 items I had listed last week and was quite pleased with my income--haha. One item I actually sold for what I paid for it 6 years ago :) Needless to say, my accountant husband was very impressed. I jokingly say "income" because Aaron and I have a running joke of all the different ways I find to "save" money and WHERE I find money that I quickly call mine :) When you're a stay at home mom, you've got to find little "tricks" to accumulate money :) My tricks seem to be working--hehe.

Secondly, while Kenadie naps, I have been doing lots of appliques and monogramming.

Here's a close-up of a favorite. It's for an upcoming Disney trip for one of Aaron's younger cousins.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

No, it's not quite Christmas, but, it is by far, Aaron's favorite time of the year--football season. I love football season too, but let's just say that sometimes after the game you might hear me say "now who won?" I am mostly there for the atmosphere, just enjoying the outing :)

Kenadie was along for the ride last year as she went to every Southern home game. She always did really good. Usually she would be awake for some of the game, taking everything in, and then fall asleep for the remainder of the game. Well... I don't think that's going to be the case this year with our almost 2 year old. She had a GREAT time shaking her little pom pom and making friends with all of our surrounding viewers. She especially loved the open area on top of the South endzone. I'm thinking they should maybe add a playground over there, seeings how I think that may be where we spend most of the game :) We sit at the top of the lower level, under the over hang. LOVE our seats and so glad we were able to purchase an extra for Kenadie last year. We never get wet if it rains and we are very close to the open "play area" as I now call it.

Proud of our Eagles for the big win yesterday!!! Southern Miss... To The Top!!!

"Kenadie's Crying"

This is Kenadie's latest thing, and I must say, it's pretty cute. It all started about 5 or so weeks ago when Kenadie promoted to the next class in Sunday School. For the first 3 weeks in her new class, she was a total mess. I have NEVER seen her this upset, not even at a doctors appointment. Needless to say, we finally really encountered separation issues, and Aaron and I, being the nice parents that we are, ha, didn't let her suffer for too long and would just go get her from her class.

We decided that we would have to let her cry a little longer each time until she just finally got use to the new class. The past 2 weeks have been much better and just this past Sunday she actually made it the whole time in her class for both the Sunday school and worship service hours. So, we are definitely headed in the right direction, and I am being hopeful that our bout with separation anxiety may not last too much longer.

So, to get back to why Kenadie is cute... this past Sunday morning when we picked her up after worship, I peeked in to see what she was doing. I quickly observed her having a good time playing. The second I said "Kenadie, are you ready to go?" She turned to me and responded by putting her hands to her eyes and saying "Kenadie's crying." haha, that little stinker. It happened again that evening when we picked her up from p.m. worship, same thing "Kenadie's crying", however, she is clearly having an o.k. time. She even now does it at other appropriate times that she could, quite possibly need to cry. Like today when she ate her last cookie and I told her that they were all gone... her response... "Kenadie's crying." It's really funny and I think she knows we think it's cute. She never does cry, she just likes to tell you she is. The following picture is of "Kenadie's crying." I had her reenact how she does it just so you could see :)

My Helper Is Back

We've had about three really good trips to Wal Mart lately. We get there as early as we can, usually around 7:30 and make it as long as we can before we bring out the Golden Oreos for breakfast :) Yes, I know, it's not the healthiest breakfast...but it does get us through our shopping happily and that's the only place the Oreos appear, so I guess that's not too bad. Whatever you have to do, right? :)