Princess Kate

So many things to discuss this time. Where do I begin?

Well based on the title I do want Kate to know about the Royal Wedding that has consumed everybody! On Friday April 29th 2011 Prince William wed Kate Middleton. She looked absolutely gorgeous and the couple looked genuinely happy!



I was joking saying that I need to save up to send Kate to an Ivy League school or university in England so that she can meet her prince one day. Or she can be like me and meet her prince at Arizona Western College! Kate's dad my not be royalty but he sure does treat us like princesses!

The ongoing saga continues with Kate's ears. We went to the pediatrician and according to the audiologist report, Kate has a mild hearing loss. She now needs to see a Ear, Throat and Nose specialist to do a more thorough exam. Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) is coming to the house next week to do an intake with us to determine if she needs a speech/language assessment. At first the news saddened me, but as an educator I know that early intervention is key when a child has any challenge in their life. Therefore, I am glad that I listened to my mother's instinct and am pushing for what is best for Kate.

Sometimes I do wonder if she really has a hearing loss and speech/language delays or if she is just a plain 'ol DIVA. We took her swimming the other day and she insisted on wearing her hat and sunglasses. Diva in training or what?

Happy Easter!

Kate and the family celebrated Easter at Mimi and Grandpa's house.

They hosted a delicious Easter breakfast and Kate enjoyed hunting for the Easter eggs. She was so cute; each time she "found" an egg she had to open it and eat what was inside before going on to the next.

When I say "find", they were pretty easy to spot even for a 2-year old. Daddy was teaching her to find the eggs and put them in her Easter basket.

Kate didn't get an Easter basket from us; but she did get a present. I found her an miniature Pottery Barn Kids anywhere doll chair that matches the one she has. When I told her it was for her doll, she said, "NO, monkey's chair!" But then, she decided it was her chair and monkey could sit in her chair. Kids. So. Funny.

Can you hear what I hear?

Kate recently had an appointment with an Audiologist because she failed her hearing screening in both ears at her 2-year well check. The appointment went fairly well considering it was an hour at the appointment. The first part of the assessment consisted of Kate sitting in a sound booth (with me in there of course) and holding a block up to her ear; when she heard a sound she needed to throw the block in a bin. Kate had to watch me do it a few times. It was hard for me to distinguish if she was actually throwing in the blocks because she heard a sound or if she was randomly throwing them in. The audiologist seems to think she understood the task. The second part to that was for Kate to turn to sounds (there were speakers in the corner of the sound booth) such as a cow, dog, yawn, bees, etc. The sounds began very loud and then got softer. At this point she had enough and wanted out of the sound booth. I don't blame her really, she was a good sport through it all though. The next part of the test was for Kate to point to pictures as the audiologist named items. The items were dog, spoon and ball. I know she had enough of the testing when she did not point to ball; she definitely knows that word. Finally, the last part was to stick this little thing in her ear which is attached to a scanner. Before the appointment I played and poked at her ears and told her the doctor was going to do this; this may have helped a bit. What also helped was that the audiologist put the thing in my ears first and of course Kate wanted to do what I was doing!

So the results...Kate has fluid in her ears which can be from past colds, unknown ear infections (as I only know of one) or allergies which the audiologist think she has. She said to imagine holding your hands over your ears and that is what she hears. She can't hear low frequencies and is missing certain vowel sounds so that is why she says certain words the way she does; and why her expressive language is slightly delayed. I got a lot of information that day. Kate has to go back to the pediatrician and then we go from there. She has another appointment with the audiologist in 2 weeks to see if the fluid is dissipating.


Luckily for me, my friend Kendra who is a speech pathologist for our school district is staying with us for a month. She and her husband just moved to Kentucky (where she is from) and she is finishing her contract. I am not kidding, in one week Kate has made so much progress. Kendra is teaching her how to put two to three words together. We are doing flashcards. Having her name objects. Not that Chris and I did not do this before, but I think a new person who is trained to work with kids in this manner is having better luck with tough Miss Kate. She is AMAZING! One thing we are going to do is take pictures of items, laminate them and put them in this little binder with velcro. The objective is to put what she wants together in order and then to say what she wants. Anyhow, Kendra is giving me tons of ideas and I am loving her help! Below is a picture of Kendra watching Kate put on her bunny ears. Thanks for the help Kendra! We will miss you!

Kate is the Taco Queen!

Well, in Kate's world I am sure she is the queen of something! But for now, she rules the roost everywhere she goes. I took Kate to the 1st Annual Taco Festival in Yuma. It was really well done and so much fun. Nana, Papa and Nanalu met us there. So did Becca and Molly, and The Morris clan. There were plenty of taco vendors, drinks, sweets, and games for kids; really, it was a great and fun event that I hope is continued in Yuma. Kate had a GREAT time! We, the adults, wanted to sample all of the vendors tacos; Kate on the other hand wanted to venture on to the fun stuff ~ games! There was a ferris wheel, "brinca brinca's" or "jumpy jumpies", and a pony ride. She did everything! The weather was gorgeous, the food was delicious and the kids and adults had so much fun; really, we could not ask for a better day!


Kate, Nana and the pony


Kate and Molly on the ferris wheel, all by themselves ~ sniff, sniff, all grown up:-(


Here is a snap shot of Kate, Molly and Grayson all grown up on the ferris wheel


Sampling some Kettle Korn


Whoa, fun slide!


"jump! jump!


wiped! out!

Spring is in the (f)air

Kate enjoyed her 2nd year at the Yuma County Fair. I, on the other hand, melted! This is April and the weather is supposed to be fabulous; it was 100 degrees the day my friend Becca and I decided to take Kate and Molly (Becca's daughter). Granted we also went at noon, but we have our girls on schedules so this is the time that worked for both of us. That's what I love about kids that young, they have no concept of weather conditions, they just want to play and have a good time. Kate had a BLAST, to say the least. As soon as she was put on the ride she had this serious look on her face, but once it started she was laughing, screaming (squealing) in delight and it was so freaking cute!




It definitely made it worth my dehydration and dripping in sweat to see that excitement and joy in her face (speaking of face, if you notice the scab on her nose ~ Kate had her first accident; she went flying off her pbk chair and into the end table, blood everywhere, it was awesome, but not really ~ poor Kate).

We went a second time in the evening, to avoid the heat, with Nana, Nanalu, Uncle Ish and cousin Nati.



Kate went on pretty much the same rides and she still had a blast. She was too small for one ride but I asked a parent if Kate could ride with their little girl; they said yes and this little girl was so sweet. She made sure to keep her arm around Kate and make sure she was safe on the ride. I was afraid Kate was going to rip off her glasses or pull her pigtails; Kate can be kinda mean that way. Luckily, she was so into the ride that the little girl was safe from Kate!



Kate also went down the BIG slide with Nana. She loved it so much that when it was over she tried to climb up and when told "no" she threw a MASSIVE fit! Poor thing we ruined and stopped her fun.



By that time it was time to go because we were all pooped and all the fair tickets were gone! Hopefully next year the weather is better, if not we will be going in the evening again.

It's Stuck

Kate's favorite phrase is "It's Stuck...". Everything is stuck. I'm Stuck, It's stuck, baby stuck, monkey stuck...the list goes on and on. Here she is with Q-tips in her ears, and notice everything else in the background that she pulled from drawers and cabinets. Dang kid.


"It's stuck"...typically we do not let Kate "clean" her own ears ~ but sure is a picture worthy shot.

Kind of related to the Q-tip in the ears is that Kate had her 2-year well-check with her new pediatrician, Dr. Allou. I really like him so far. He has the best bedside manners and asked me if I had any concerns and really listened to what I had to say. He took his time and I did not feel rushed at all. Kate weighed 28.2 pounds and is 35 inches tall. He asked me if I had any concerns and I told him that I wondered if she should be more advanced in her speech/language skills. He asked me several questions and I relayed that she has very strong receptive language; she can follow directions; she is repeating words, etc. However, my concern is that she has vocabulary but does not use them. At times she calls out what something is but most of the time it is grunting or whining and we have to tell her how or what to say. That I believe is her stubborn hard headed ways, and the fact that she is spoiled (I blame Nana). He really did not seem concerned at all and told me to "stimulate" her more and watch for her to put two words together within the next 2-3 months. That statement kind of made me feel like a bad parent. I work full-time at work and in the home, so excuse me if I don't "stimulate" her enough?! I know that is not what he meant but I think it is my mother's guilt getting to me. Believe me, I read to her but Kate typically does not sit still so reading to her can be a challenge. She does LOVE her books, but everything is on her terms. Ok, enough ranting. That being said, they wanted to check her hearing to rule out if hearing is an issue...well, she failed her hearing screening in both ears. So now Miss Kate is being referred to an Audiologist. Wish us luck! The audiologist office told me that the appointment will take one to two hours. Ummmm, Kate can't sit still for more than 2-minutes so I am curious to see what they do. My mom told me that I had to see an audiologist as a toddler, interesting.

Below is a picture unrelated to this post, but too cute not to post!



Cake for breakfast? sure, why not...it's FRIDAY!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kate!

Kate celebrated her 2nd birthday with all her family and friends on Saturday March 19th. We held the celebration at Nana and Papa's house and I have to admit that it was a huge success. Everybody enjoyed the hot dog cart, watching the kids have fun and hit the Brobee pinata, and of course the candy bar (I think the adults were more excited about it then the kids)! If you can't tell by the pictures we had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party. I don't particularly like the commercialized products they put out there for parties so I ran with my own theme. There were a few touches of Yo Gabba Gabba stuff such as the cupcake toppers, party bags and hats, and of course the Brobee pinata. Nana and I have been planning this for a while by cutting and pasting and assembling everything that needed to be done by Kate's big day. It didn't feel like a lot of work as I had so much fun planning Kate's party. The family thinks I go overboard, but it is all for Kate so it is worth it to me! I sometimes can't believe that I have a 2-year old daughter. Here it is past her 2nd birthday and it is time to send this blog off to print the second year of her life. She is really not a baby anymore, and I know has not been for a while, but a toddler and soon a preschooler (gasp! yikes!). This parenthood thing has not been easy at all, but the joy that Kate brings into our lives is indescribable. So if I go overboard with her, I guess it's my way of showing her and everyone around me how much I adore and love this child. Happy Birthday Kate!


"Brobee" Pinata



The "Candy Bar"

My homemade "Dum Dum" Topiary...can you guess how many lollipops there are? 122. That's a whole lotta dum dum's!

Papa giving Kate a ride on her new ride from Mommy and Daddy...before the party (notice her in diapers, a tee, and socks...so cute)

Homemade cupcakes by mommy

Kate and mommy waiting for the guests to arrive

Nana putting a "Brobee" party hat on the birthday girl

The party favor trolley

Message to the kids

The guest of honor hitting the pinata...she had way too much fun beating up poor Brobee!

Kate and Daddy

She LOVES all the attention on her (hmmm ~ just like mommy) while everybody sings Happy Birthday

Let's blow out your candles!



Deciding which present to open first...thanks everybody!!!!!