Izzy's time out

Who is Izzy? He is the cabbage patch we had to buy when the 'original' (Tommy) got tossed out after leaving him behind at someone's house.

The Story:

A few nights ago Kimani was playing his guitar as we were preparing for family prayer. Nehemiah likes to touch the strings on the guitar and 'play' along. This one particular night, Kimani asked Nemi not to touch the guitar. Nehemiah thought it would be great to get his buddy, Izzy to touch the guitar. Kimani then says, "Izzy don't touch!" That is when Nehemiah decided to put Izzy on the time out chair for 'not listening' . We laughed so hard.

It gets better. Nehemiah then says to Izzy, "listen for the timer!" as he went to the microwave in the kitchen and pressed the 1 minute button to get it going. We laughed at that too.

The best part is that one minute was too long for Nemi to wait so he stopped the microwave 32 seconds in just to get Izzy off time out.

He is too smart - he had us rolling with laughter.

Three Years and no tattoo!

I cannot believe I have had this blog for three years now. I am so finicky about things and move on from one thing to the next at the drop of a hat that I am shocked at myself that I have been contributing to this blog for three years.

That is actually one of the reasons I have never gotten a tattoo. I always wanted one, but never could decide on one long enough to have it permanently on my body. I would change my mind about every six months. There you go.

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!

What time is it? - Bed time

The title of this blog is a little jingle Kimani and Nemi came up with. It is really cute and pretty effective to setting the tone for the bedtime routine.

All right, here is the story: the other day (it was exactly last Friday) I said to Kimani at about 7:15 pm that it was time to get the kids ready for bed.

His response to me was, "No way! it is Friday! They could stay up late. We always stayed up late on Friday's when I was growing up"

Oh! No - not on my watch buddy. So we both got the kids in bed by 8 pm, keeping the routine in tact and then we were off to pillow talk, pray, you know - whatever. Well tell me why before 9 pm a certain Daddy Smith was out snoring. SNORING! 'Hey! Mister, it is Friday, we can all stay up late tonight!' ;)

You see Daddys may not fully understand the method to a Mommy's madness, but we parents need the rest, peace and quiet as much as the kids need it...

So once again Daddy what is that jingle, "What time is it?"

Daddy: "(snore, snore)"

Lamaze Me!

(Oh! I never published this one)
The other day Kimani asked me if I wanted to go to Lamaze class this time around. I thought about it and said, "Well, kid #1 we scheduled it in vain because we had him via C-section. Kid #2 was our first experience with having a 'natural' birth and it was fast and furious ;). with this kid, well, it is our last one.... let's just go for it without Lamaze.

He said, "Let me know if you change your mind."

so we will see.

The Grass is Always Greener

Very seldom is the Pediatrician's office vibrating with kids. Maybe because it was after school, maybe because it is Friday, or maybe because a snow storm is coming, today the waiting room was full of kids. It almost felt crowded.

Since Nemi's doctor specializes in dealing with children with developmental delays and on the autism spectrum many of the children there were going to get the hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_medicine). Looking around at all these kids suffering from autism put things in perspective a bit for me.

Living day in and day out with a child with this condition has its challenges, but at the same time, today I saw that it really could be worst for us. Though no doctor would give me a definite response that Nehemiah's case is 'mild' looking at some of the other kids my heart went out to their parents. Those parents have a much harder load to carry, not that mine is a walk in the park. You see, Nehemiah walks on his own, and talks out his needs, and listens (on occasion - :D) and he looks at you and he writes his name and he does a million other things that 'traditional' parents take for granted from their children and we celebrate Nemi and his progress even if it is one inch forward.

The other day we went to visit a friend and she told us how her nephew is 10 years old with autism and he does not speak. He only communicates with sounds. That broke my heart. But their point was to say that Nehemiah is doing so well. Kimani gave them the most perfect answer that I will treasure forever. "What you see in Nehemiah is a miracle! The Lord has answered us and He is the one healing Nemi and bringing him this far!"

Living the Stories

I hate it when I do not write for a while and then all my wonderful stories get all put in the back burner.

Well, I am exhausted from nesting and doing way too much here in the house, but I am sitting here thinking about Nemi and Kimberlee and all their crazy ways. Here are some random stories I do not want to forget:

-On our recent Christmas trip to Florida we took a late flight (9pm departure - and it got delayed [the nerve]). Once we were up in the air Nemi looked out the window and saw the street lights of the city he said, "Wow! it's Christmas, it's beautiful!" right then and there my heart melted "Aww Nemi, It is Christmas!"

-Nehemiah loves for Kimberlee to chase him. Just a few days ago they were running back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, but at one point Kimberlee took a detour and while Nemi was on the sofa waiting for her, she went to the room to say hi to Daddy. When Nemi noticed he said, "Wait a minute - Hold on." I cracked up as he stomped to the room to get Kimberlee to resume the game.

-We are trying hard to get Kimberlee to go to sleep by herself (instead of on my chest) and on her own (instead of me standing by her crib). So we are trying the Ferber method which tells you to allow your child to cry first for only one minute and then increase in increments as you see fit to allow the child to get used to putting themselves to sleep. Well, since Kimberlee and Nemi sleep in the same room he often gets up to give her the pacifier to help her quiet down. One night we found it funny that Nemi took on the Daddy roll and said in a 6-year-old stern voice, "No no no Kimberlee time to sleep." So funny

-Last weekend I had a 'family moment' like one of those times when you feel like you are doing exactly what a family should be doing. I was in the kitchen when Kimani announced he was taking Nemi down to the car with him to fix spark plugs or something. I stayed upstairs with Kimberlee preparing lunch. That moment took me back to the days when my Dad would fix cars with my brother in the garage and I would help my Mom fold laundry or clean the living room. As I peeked out the window to see them in the parking lot 'working so hard' it was nice to be in the past, but in the present at the same time.

- A few days after finding out we are having boy number 2 I said to Nehemiah,
"Hey Buddy! come say hi to your brother Samuel."
He responded, "Daniel?"
I said, "No Samuel."
Then he said, "Daniel!"
And of course I did what any mother who has had a name picked out prior to conception... I said, "Yes, Daniel"
We decided to change his name right then and there. We figured Nehemiah is a member of our family and he totally could contribute to the naming of his siblings. At least he did not say Bubba or Bofa or something like that. We cannot wait to meet Daniel in June.

This is all for now. Hope you enjoyed the stories as much as I loved living them.

hello

Yesterday was my second OBGYN appointment. It went well. I lost 6 pounds since my last visit, putting my at 153. The baby's heartbeat was hard to find at first, but once Dr. G found it it sounded really good.

Besides that, we are getting ready to go to Florida for Christmas. My brother got us tickets to go to Disney world and I think Nehemiah is gonna have a good time there. Last time he went he had no clue where we were since he was so young, but now he know who is Mickey and Minnie and I think he will have a blast.

I am trying to upload a bunch of pictures from my camera, but my computer is not making the connections, so hopefully soon I will be able to get those posted... most likely on the other site.

anyway, tada for now.

Pre-Natal Visit

Well, this is turning out to be the looooooongest first trimester ever. I went in to my doctor's appointment thinking I was about 10 weeks along. However, when the baby was measured it showed that the baby is actually 7 weeks 4 days along. WHAT!?! I thought I would be almost done with this trimester in another two weeks. I should not be almost two months. Thank you very much to my looonnng cycles I am two weeks behind. Not cool dude!

We actually saw the heartbeat on the sonogram and got an 'accurate' due date. Everyone was so happy to see Nemi and Kimi. They love those kids and it is nice to see them just grab Kimberlee and show her off and engage Nehemiah. The girls in that office are awesome.

Ok, so will tell you more as things progress.

First Doctor's apointment

Woohoo! Looking forward to seeing Dr. Garfinkel and to hearing the heartbeat of our new bundle.

We are so excited. Kimani and I agreed, well, he kind of told me, that it may be best for me to go to these appointments alone and have him stay home with the kids. I guess now that he knows exactly what goes on at the appointments he figures he could live without having to go to each and every one. Except the sonogram appointment. He wants to be there for that.

Oh! there goes Kimberlee out of he bumbo. OK so I guess that is too young for her now. It was good while it lasted.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the girls again. Will update you when I get back.... no wait maybe tomorrow because truth be told I am exhausted and I may not log back in today. We will just say, will update you later.

ta ta.

A few things to catch up on.

I have a list of little stories I want to blog about on my iTouch. Every time something happens I make a note... So here goes the updates

1. At Kimberlee's last visit she weighed 18 lbs 10oz (dropped a few ounces from last time) and was 27 inches long (which seems to be where she has been for the past few visits).

2. At that same visit she surprised the doctor when I was putting on her shoes and she voluntarily said, Bye-Bye while waving her hands.

3. I am no longer nursing her. Last Saturday (10/17/09) I cut her off. I was tired of doing it and now I am pregnant, I am even more tired and Kimani has been wanting to help feed her so here it is... She did not like it, but I did it overnight. She woke up at midnight for some milk, unfortunately she encountered a bottle with formula. She finally gave in to the bottle at 4:30 am. It was a long night for all of us. Now she takes it pretty much without a fuss. Thank God.

4. Kimberlee is gonna walk soon. She has been taking steps here and there and yesterday she took three steps in a row. Very very proud of her.

Genius, well sort of...

Kimberlee is, as of this very moment (according to the MySpace tracker), 8 months, 3 weeks and 4 days old. She is doing all kinds of things, like getting ready to walk by standing and launching her little body every where. I see her practicing to wave by moving her fingers and wrist, she kneels while on the floor at times. She points with her little finger. Just recently I was feeding her an orange and she was trying to suck it, so I told her to bite and made the gesture myself... the very next moment she bit my finger. Duh! mommy.

Now these things are general, normal stages that all kids go through, even Nemi went through it. However, it would take Nehemiah so long to accomplish each and every single stage. We had to literally teach him to kneel. Literally. Also, to point and the list goes on and on.

The funny thing is that though I know Kimberlee is just learning the ways of the world the way all children do, I find myself thinking she is a genius, like every other mother in the world knows about their own child.