Kiley after nap

She is very busy until she realizes I'm recording. :)

Kiddo Chronicles

Kiley

On Wednesday while Courtney and I were at our small group Kiley was telling the dogs, "no ma'am. no ma'am." I think this is what her teacher at Rising Stars tells her when she is doing something she is not suppose to be doing. :)

Speaking of Rising Stars, they recently had a picnic on a park down the street from the School and I had fun running her around the park to the different playscapes. She also got on one of the big kid swings and was almost pushing herself. It was very cute, but then again most of what she does I think is very cute and very sweet.

Today Kiley was incredibly cute, once again. I think that's the most stated phrase on this blog. In this episode Kiley strapped one of her babies to a stroller and was pushing it around the house really fast. Saying up the hill, and go go go....like she says when we run together. When she passed the little bench where her water bottle sat from earlier she would stop and give some to her baby then take a sip herself. Then she ran off again. She did this a couple of times then when the stroller was kindof getting in her way she started dragging it behind her. I couldn't help but laugh outloud. She continued to stop for water in the same way. It was getting pretty close to her bedtime so I suggested that we get her baby something to eat in her baby highchair and kitchen upstairs. We did that and with the help of Sydney eventually got her to bed. Soon after books, prayers, singing and a little solo time she we fast asleep.

Sydney

Sydney is really growing up. This past week she has been so responsible with her homework and has even been keeping up with her reading which is a really big deal. She isn't crazy about it but does it anyway. Her penmanship is incredibly neat. It's very close to perfect....even though it isn't quite as neat as on an engineering blueprint that is exactly what it made me think of. Part of it is the girlie in her I'm sure.

She's been incredibly helpful and patient with Kiley and her brother. There is still the typical brother/sister, sister/sister spats but she's mostly looked out for her lovely siblings. This weekend Courtney was away working on moving her elderly aunt from Corpus to Austin (Tante has made some great improvements from where she was but were definitely anxious to have her closer so that she can be supported more often by more of us) and I was so thankful to have Sydney here. Kiley had a major blowout. If you have or ever had young kids you know what i mean. ha! Well sydney helped pull things together by getting me and Kiley what we needed every step of the way. I was so thankful she chose to be with me this weekend. Not only for that reason but I like having she and Jake around on the weekends. It gives us a chance to bond, and this was definitely a bonding moment without the rush rush rush feeling that we sometimes get into during school days.

Sydney had her first volleyball game of the season today. She's doing Dr. Johns Volleyball. They have practices and scrimmages as part of the program. Today she told me she really liked playing. I was so happy to hear that. It's a tough sport that with her height she'll have a real advantage.

Jake

Our oldest boy is growing up too. 5th grade is really challenging him. Especially math. He picks up on most everything very quickly but long division is really a challenge. I know he will get it but it's difficult to see him struggle. we will continue to be there for him by encouraging him, guiding him and praying for him. And just like everything else he tackles, he'll overcome this obstacle too.

i can't wait for LAX to start up again. he likes it alot and enjoys playing it with his friends. it's a sport im not entirely familiar with but it's fast and rough. two things that jake likes.

Jake also adores his youngest sister, it's so cute to see them interact. He chases her when she wants to be chased, he lets her have the run of his room, for the most part and he finds music that she really loves.

As I was typing this up Syd has dozed off. I covered her up and snuck away. our kids are great, sweet and have wonderful hearts....and i really enjoy that about them. :) 'night all.

Me and Syd having fun with playmobil on our lazy Saturday while Kiley naps.

Heading out the door for school drop-off.  I was teaching her to say "I'm so stinkin' cute" on the drive.  'cause she is. :)

Kiley getting ready to fly a kite at the park.

Kiley's Amazing

We've kind of avoided the inevitable blog brag, but here it is. I'm going to try to get it all in one post so we only have to be annoying once :). Kiley is kind of crazy smart. It is both exciting and scary at the same time. She knows many of her colors - red, pink, yellow, and orange almost every time and on anything you hold up - blue, black, green and purple most of the time. She can sing the ABC song in its entirety. And, she has a number of sentences that she uses. Things like: 'I'll do it', 'I'll get it' (when the phone rings, she says this and then runs and grabs it), and 'Where is it?'. She says 'go for a run', 'put it back' (she doesn't want me to take things from her, but will say desperately 'put it back' and then do just that when she knows she has something she's not allowed to keep), and 'I want some. Apple juice.' She asks for 'more, please'. And says 'thank you' when you give her something. My favorite Kiley sentence of all is 'I love you!' She told Megan (her nanny) that out of the blue the other day and just melted her heart. She uses words and phrases not typical for an almost two-year-old like 'closer' when she needs to move her chair up to the table, 'tired', 'not yet'. Martin told me today she can pick out the 'K' and the 'Y' from the chicka-chicka-boom-boom book because she recognizes those letters from her name. She holds a pencil correctly and writes in tiny, controlled squiggles like she's actually handwriting. She can count from 1 to 10 but often skips 6.

A couple of months ago she started to be manipulative. Now, when it's naptime, she is 'hungry' - EVERY TIME! And when it's time to get in the car seat she wants to 'snuggle Mama'. With pretty much everything she enjoys, when it's time to stop she wants 'one more time'. She pulls on her pants and skirts, and keeps flip flops on her feet. I am encouraged by the motor skills and the visual recognition of letters in terms of ruling out some of the issues that Jake & Sydney had. It's weird to think that Kiley and I will be the shortest people in our house in a few years, and that Kiley might outsmart all of us. I am further convinced that one of the huge impacts of parenting - at least on me - is the recognition of how little we really have control over in life, and learning to give up the need to control - whether you want to or not.

On another note, things have been rough around here lately. The roof and my car both leaked with all of the rain from the tropical storm this week. And, we also were told this week by the hospital in Corpus that we have a week to find my aunt a nursing facility so they can discharge her. They have ruled out cancer and so it looks like all of these issues arose from the closing of her esophagus and the aspiration of food and drink into her lungs, which caused pneumonia, which caused sepsis. They couldn't get a feeding tube down her throat at all, so are inserting one directly into her stomach. They are releasing her into a skilled nursing facility in the next couple of weeks, and she has agreed to move to Austin. She will be transported via ambulance. I spoke with lots of places here last week that offer both skilled nursing and assisted living, and am making visits this coming week so we can narrow it down. Depending on the type of feeding tube and how often she is fed, some may or may not accept her as a patient. I've learned tons about medicare and insurance. Unfortunately, she let her long-term care insurance lapse in 2008, which was a discouraging discovery this week, but she is fortunate to still have good options for care.

I would seriously recommend that everyone consider long-term care insurance. From what little research I've done on that, it isn't cheap - maybe $250/month if you are older and $150 a month if you are under 45. At $1,800/year, even if you paid for it for 40 years, that's only $72,000. Granted you are forgoing interest or gains on that money invested otherwise, but the cost of ONE YEAR of nursing care in today's dollars is $70,000+. Like any insurance, it is a gamble, but with this particularly, I now understand the crux of the issue that my children will face without it. In a situation like this, you are left to make decisions based on averages. The average person with this illness or that will live x number of years. And, maybe you have enough money for that or maybe you don't - but what if you aren't 'average'. Do your children put you in a lower cost, less preferable facility because they aren't sure they could cover the difference if you blow the curve? That seems selfish when they are your beneficiaries, but if they gamble on the averages and assumptions on the many variables around the condition of an elderly person and lose, where does that leave any of you? Finally, I would look for a policy that pays for assisted living as well as nursing. Some nursing care is covered by medicare - roughly 80% of up to 100 days for every incident requiring a 3 night stay in the hospital. Assisted living is roughly 60-70% of the cost of nursing care - the numbers I'm getting currently are roughly $42,000 to $66,000/year - with very little covered by medicare. I am guessing many scenarios have people moving between nursing and assisted living in their later years, and would think it important to have insurance that would cover both scenarios. I'm stepping off my soap box now, but we will be looking into this insurance before we turn 45.

Kiley plays this game on my phone where she earns stickers to put on her sticker page.  This is her current page. :)

Kiley hopping in the car to drive herself to school.  She's very independent. :)