Lemme do it.

Kimberlee has been 'requesting' to use the spoon and feed herself for some time now. I have done little things to keep her from learning (like giving her a spoon while she eats) only because I really feared that there will be oatmeal in my ceiling and frankly, it seemed like too much to clean up. And doing all of that while pregnant it is just not fun, nor cute.

Well, Little Ms. Thing put her foot down Sunday night (3/28/2010) when she refused to eat dinner unless she fed herself. Honestly, it would have been fine with me, but we were at a dinner party with several other people and it just was not the place nor the time.

Monday morning I decided to let her go for it and have not fed her a meal since. She is doing really good. She is not throwing the food on the floor or the ceiling like I thought she would do, she is actually eating. I am blown away by this little girl.

I do not even know why Nemi is crying in the back ground. Really, when I checked on him he was totally fine. I jokingly said to him, do you want to be on the video... She wants to eat by herself like her big brother, and Nemi wants to be spoon fed like his little sister. They are funny.

I think I have a new friend

A year ago (almost to the day) TLC aired the delivery of Kimberlee. Today they re-aired the episode. I found out only because my friend send me a note via Facebook.

Well, some time later I got a beautiful note from a viewer and I think I just made a new friend. Below is our interaction via Facebook Email....

Kymmi Warner March 30 at 3:40pm

Okay so I was watching baby story which I usually catch in the morning, but anyway, I watched your family welcome Kimberlee Ann Smith into the family. I was so emotional as if you were my family. I cried and cried when you were in all that pain and when the baby finally came and I saw that you named her Kimberlee, I was totally a mess cuz thats my name and there arent many people that use that beautiful name anymore, but anyway, I just wanted to tell you that your story really touched me more than any other episode that I have seen and I hope that you, your hubby, son and daughter have a blessed, exciting and wonderful life...

Datnee Smith March 30 at 4:56pm

Oh! Kymmi, this is beautiful! I am crying over here as I read this. Thank you so much for reaching out to me. One never knows how our lives may touch others. Kimberlee has truly been a gift from God himself. We had so many trial and obstacles to get our little girl, and now she is on the constant move.

And what is best is that she is having a little brother in June. Crazy right?!

sincerely,
Datnee

Kymmi Warner March 30 at 8:41pm

Giiirl I am delighted for you! Now 2 boys and Princess Kimmee! I KNOW you are going to have medication. That pain hit you like crazy with Kim, I felt so sad and happy for you because I knew it would all be over soon and you would see your little girl. I taped the show when I saw it was coming on and my husband just watched it, he said "you know I dont watch that stuff but I liked that family, they are cool and their baby has a pretty name" lolol I just fell in love with your family. Hope we can keep in touch, oh by the way, are you puerto rican/dominican? My dad is puerto rican but sadly i dont know that side. Anyway I will type on and on and on. lol

Always, Kymmi

I was so touched by this note. It is so beautiful. I hope we keep in touch.

Dress for Kimberlee

My talented friend Leah made a dress for her little girl, Lily, from a pillowcase with a matching headband (http://blog.hestermania.com/2010/03/pillowcase-dress.html). It looks so cute. I got to thinking, 'Hey I could make a dress for Kimberlee too.'

Here it is:
Ok! so maybe I didn't really make one, just don't tell anyone this is an apron.

Sorry Kimberlee. I guess we'll borrow Lily's.

Sox vs. Socks

Nehemiah is so eager to read that every time he sees letters he will say them. I have been encouraging him by asking him to spell... everything. If it is time for dinner... how do you spell eat? if it is bed time.... how do you spell pillow? and so on.

Recently he was in his room getting dressed and he was putting on his socks. Kimani was in there helping him. Nehemiah says, "socks. s. o. x." Kimani says, 'no Nemi that is baseball, s. o. c. k. s." and he repeats and I look at Kimani and we both smile... it was so cute!

What a hairy mess?

So here is a picture of Kimberlee after I have washed her hair one day last week.

(yikes!)

But a few minutes with Mommy and it is all transformed to this.

(Much better.)

Lamaze - Not!

I went to my OBGYN appointment today and told Dr Garfinkel I was considering going to Lamaze class or something. He scoffed it off and said, "you do not need Lamaze you did so well with the last delivery, but you may benefit from Calm Birth (http://www.calmbirth.com.au/)."

Hmmm! Is he trying to tell me something?

Let the children come unto me

As Christians, it is important to us to teach our children that reading the Bible and prayer are an essential part of our lives.

Though we are never fully sure how good a job we are doing, God gave me a glimpse of the impact our efforts this morning.

As I am preparing breakfast Nehemiah walked in the kitchen (and his shadow Kimberlee behind him) and here is our dialog:

-Are you hungry?
-yes
-do you want bagel or french toast?
-bagel
-ok sit down I will give it to you
-Jesus... pray... Daddy... work... help me... and food... amen

I mean one totally has to fill in the gaps, but you get the essence of his little heart. He prayed to the Lord as we always do for Daddy at work, for God to help him in school and for his food. I was so blessed by his little prayer.

The Dentist with the gentle touch

Today was the kid's dental appointment. It went pretty smooth, Dr. Mann is awesome with Nehemiah and he just has a way to make him feel at ease. I really give it to him and how he gets work done in his little mouth without a mouth guard.

I was blown away when he told me Nehemiah's permanent molars are coming in... What!? my little boy is getting permanent teeth? Oh! no! he is getting so big. Soon his baby teeth will fall and then the rest of the perm teeth will come in, too big for his little mouth, and then he will be entering puberty. Oh! my goodness. I cannot believe it.

The dentist tells me Nemi will have to get sealants on the next visit to protect his molars from cavities and what not. Boy oh! boy. My baby is so big.

Kimberlee, who got out of the gate fast with her first teeth VERY EARLY (at four months), is now behind schedule on getting the rest of her teeth. Go figure!

I was a very proud Mama to report to the dentist that Kimberlee no longer used her pacifier. He commended me on it and told me that the pacifier is basically a crutch for the parents. Most kids learn to self sooth very early on, but the parents have a hard time with the transition. I said, "Yes, I know my nephew is 5 and still has his pacifier." He said, "yeah! that happens a lot."

******
But I think that it is easy for him to say that we should just remove the pacifier when the child is between 12 and 15 months, but he does not really know the situation in each home to say that. Like my brother had a second baby and it was not easy to remove the pacifier off the first child while the second depended on it. I think each family is different. Even my friend Marisol followed doctor's orders and took the pacifier away at one year old and now that her daughter is about to turn two she told me she would have kept it a bit longer if she could do it again. See, I think as parents we just choose to pick our battles.

As for me, it was a definite mental decision because I got to know my Kimberlee. And I saw that she did not use the pacifier to self soothe. She popped it in her mouth because it was there, not because she needed it. She would have one clipped on to her clothes and she would go find a second and she would swap them in and out like a little game. They were like toys. When I noticed that she was fine all day and even during nap/bed time) she would always spit it out of her mouth) then I knew she could totally live without it.

The Lord gave me a sandwich

The other night I was so tired and hungry. You know those nights when you are too hungry to fall asleep and too sleepy to get up and make something to eat.

But in between sleep and awake and grumblings of my stomach my mind wondered to what I would prepare if I were up to it.

As my mind was busy putting together the perfect late night snack Kimani walked in the room with a cup of chocolate milk and (drum roll) a sandwich. I was so thankful. Half way through the sandwich I said, 'you know i was just thinking about this very sandwich. Toasted potato bread, light on the mayo, Swiss cheese, salami, and ham. this very same sandwich."

He, like he often does, gave me the most perfect response, "The Lord knew what you wanted."

I said, "yes, He did." and with that the baby began to do somersaults of joy in my belly and we both fell asleep content and full.

Thank you Lord for giving me what I need even when I do not ask for it. I love you!