Yesterland Farms

I think we were trying to cram in all of our Fall fun in on the days Colt had off so we didn't miss out on anything.  Just a few days after we went to the fair, we went to Yesterland Farms in Canton for the morning. The highlights were definitely riding the pony, the choo-choo train and the duck races! Kinley also liked cheering for the pigs during the pig races too! 

She wouldn't pose at any of the pumpkin displays for us this year. 

We spent a long time at the duck races.

We let her ride her first ride solo with another little girl. They went all the way up and around by themselves.

Colt and I both had our turns on the choo-choo train with her. 

 By the time we watched the pig races, it was almost lunch time and getting pretty hot so we left after that. We had a good time, and I can see us making this an annual outing since it's not far from our house. 

Here's a video of her during her pony ride. She kept saying "Yee-haw!"

East Texas State Fair

We took Kinley to the East Texas State Fair on September 25th. We went that morning before the carnival rides and crowds started. We (me really) had a big parent fail and didn't bring cash for the pony rides, which was one of the main reasons we went. We couldn't use the ATM or get change from any of the food vendors either. We did get to go in the petting zoo though! The animals there were a little aggressive. One of the goats even ate Kinley's bow off her head! We also got to see a baby calf that was just born. Kinley had a good time, and we got to do pony rides a few days later when we went to Yesterland Farms. Since this was in September 2017 and it's now June 2018, I can't get over how much older Kinley looks now than she did in these pictures! She's growing like crazy. 

Notice that he bow was missing! 

Trip to Temple - September 2017

The last routine post that I did was from last August! This post is from September... 9 months ago. I was still fairlyearly on in my pregnancy with Cutler.  

Kinley and I made a trip back to Temple to visit on September 10th and 11th. We drove down on a Sunday and stayed in a hotel. We got to go play at our old park, Lion's Park, that was right next to our old house. I might've driven by our old house too just to check it out! Monday morning, we headed to workout at CrossFit Sprag. Then along with all of our kids, Heather, Megan, Lacie and I grabbed Chick-fil-a and went to Jules' house to go play. Jules' and her boys' toys put our toys to shame! It was good to go back and see the people we used to see on a daily basis. We love Tyler but still miss parts of Temple too! 

First Few Days Home with Cutler

Better late than never... I previously posted Cutler's birth story. We went home basically 24 hours after Cutler was born. It was immediately just the four of us. Kinley seemed to struggle a little bit that first night. When we got her showered and in bed, she was literally looking at her video monitor that's still in her room and going "waaaa,waaaa" fake crying like a baby. At one point we could hear her saying, "Mommy, Daddy, Lucky, Alex, baby brother in Mommy and Daddy's room... Kinley in Kinley's room." Colt ended up having to sleep with her that night. For several days she kept saying "Kinley sleep in Mommy Daddy's room?" or when I would put her to bed she would say "Mommy sleep with me?" For a while there it took her forever to go to bed too. She would literally sit in her room in bed playing with her stuffed animals, singing, etc. for an hour or more. I definitely think she realized that all of us were in the same room and she wasn't, and she wasn't very happy about it. Even after that first night, there were a few more nights that Colt ended up in her room. There was even one night when Colt was working that both Cutler and I ended up in her room until she fell asleep too.

Kinley has gotten better and better with Cutler. She likes to "help" sometimes and sometimes helps a little too much. She means well (most of the time I think). She also likes to sing to him. Just today, she wanted him to give her kisses back. I think she likes that he's getting a little more interactive. We put him in his jumper for the first time yesterday and today and she liked playing with him and showing him how all of his toys on his jumper worked. 

At first, whenever Cutler would cry, Kinley would always say, "Mommy, baby sad?" When he smiled, she said, "Baby happy?" or "Brother happy?" She always says, "My brother so cute!" She also always says "Tickle, tickle" and tries to play with him. If we're ever around anyone knew or go anywhere, it's almost like she presents her brother. She's a little protective of him. She'll tell everyone that it's her brother. It's pretty cute. 

Day 5 or so after we were home, Kinley was real whiney all day. I was worried it was jealousy but turned out she was getting sick... which seemed to be the theme at our house there for a while.

The first day that Colt went back to work, I got both kids out with me and we did grocery pickup. Thank goodness for grocery pickup! I used to not do it that much, but since Cutler has been born, I do it every week and it's the best thing ever! I think Kinley misses grocery shopping though because we'll pull up to get the groceries and she'll say "Mommy, I go in?" 

Cutler lost his umbilical cord on Tuesday after we were home and then on Wednesday his plastibell from his circumcision fell off. The whole circumcision stuff was new to me. I actually called the doctor once because it looked red to me and I was worried! I was glad when the plastibell fell off and he was healed completely. That way I didn't have to worry about it!

One of those first few days home, while Kinley was at school, I tried to cut his fingernails for the first time and cut his finger. He bled like crazy! With Kinley, I was scared and filed them forever. I thought I was supermom this time and I was wrong! I felt awful!

We ended up having another yellow baby and jaundice scare with Cutler those first few days too. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as with Kinley. They mentioned us having to go back to the hospital at one point, but thankfully, we never had to go. When Cutler was born he was 7 lbs. 13 oz. When he was released from the hospital, he was 7 lbs. 10 oz. We got released from the hospital on Thursday and I had to take him in on Friday morning to his pediatrician for a follow up. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. All was good at the checkup until they checked his bilirubin. It was high. His head was 8.6 and his chest was 10.3. They went ahead and did a heel stick to get a more accurate reading and it was 12.6. They wanted me to come back into clinic the next morning to get another heel stick. They said that if he hadn't improved, he would need to be admitted to be treated. I might've ended up crying that night because I didn't want to end up in the hospital like we did with Kinley, especially with Kinley at home. My mom and dad came Saturday morning to stay with Kinley while Colt and I went to the doctor with Cutler. They brought their things because we were prepared for him to have to be admitted and them have to stay with Kinley. Luckily, when we went in and saw a different doctor. She checked his levels and he was about 3 points away from what he would have had to be to be admitted. Usually heel sticks read higher but thankfully, she didn't want to heel stick him to verify. He weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. She said since he looked good, was gaining weight and eating well, she didn't see the need to stick him. Colt said if she would have done a heel stick and if he would have been borderline, she would've been forced to admit him so I'm glad we got to go home. She also didn't even want to follow up the next day. She just wanted me to wake him up every 2-3 hours to keep him eating and keep flushing out the bilirubin. Thankfully it worked and we got to stay home with our babe this go round!

Week 2, we took pictures on the 15th when Cutler was 1 week old. Kinley was all about having her picture taken! We told her the night before that we were taking pictures. She woke up saying "Mommy, Daddy, Kinley, Baby Brother pictures. Say cheese." Unlike her Christmas pictures, she smiled and wanted her picture taken. She gave her bother kisses... even though she was a little fast and didn't always leave her lips there long enough for them to snap the picture. Once she started, she wouldn't quit kissing him! While Cutler and I stayed at the studio to finish his pictures, she got to go get a smoothie with Daddy, birdwatch and go to the Sonic playground! That weekend Kinley went to stay with Giggy and Pa to give me a little bit of a break. She was excited about it. The night before when the doorbell rang, she ran to the door and said, "Oh, Giggy and Pa here to see me?" I had to explain to her they were coming to get her the next day.

We had his 2 week checkup on February 21st, the same day that I found out that my Uncle Butch had suddenly passed away from flu complications. It wasn't the best news to hear before we went in for his appointment, and it still doesn't seem quite real. At Cutler's 2 week checkup, he was 8lbs. 8 oz. He was 21.2 inches long and his head was 15 inches around. The only thing they mentioned was that he had a little herniated belly button. She said it wasn't bad and that it should clear up by the time he's 1-2 years old. She mentioned that if it wasn't by the time he was 6 years old, then we would look at surgery options. Luckily, it's resolved itself already. She also noticed a little stork bite on the back of his head that I hadn't noticed prior to then. He does still have that, and I assume he will for the rest of his life. It'll probably be covered up almost completely when he gets a little more hair.  I remember at Kinley's 2 week appointment, we were still worried about putting weight on her. We definitely didn't have to worry about that with Cutler.

A few other little things from those first few weeks home...

Cutler didn't seem to like to lay on my chest like Kinley did. He preferred to be cradled.

At 2 weeks, his nose was stuffy all the time. He actually got a cold at 2-3 weeks and quit sleeping. I think he just couldn't breathe.

 I moved him from newborn to size 1 diapers at 3 weeks old.

 I ended up having to have kidney stone surgery when he was 5 weeks old and had to leave him. I didn't have enough milk pumped and in the freezer yet for the time I was having to be away from surgery and the additional time to clear medications out of my system before I could nurse him again. I had never given Kinley formula so I had to figure out what type of formula even to get. Luckily, Brianna brought me some over for my mom and Colt's mom to use while I was at the hospital and that day or so after. Since then, I still supplement a little with formula when needed. I'm sure being away from him and not being able to really hold him all day long was much harder on me than it was on him!

Those first few days and weeks seem like so long ago but yet they seem like just yesterday at the same time! Even though some days were still thrown for a loop, most days we have our new routine as a family of 4 down! Luckily for me, Cutler is pretty easy going most days. He's way more calm and laid back than Kinley ever was. I think he has to be since he's a second child!

Kinley at 3 years old

Kinley turned 3 years old on June 12th. We were supposed to celebrate her birthday the weekend before, on the 9th. However, due to our A/C problems, her party was postponed until the next weekend, the 16th. She said she wanted a "Princess Party" a month or more ago. Lucky for me, she kept with that plan and didn't change her mind! She has also said for a month or more that she wanted a "pink princess cake" and "princess skates." I should've never asked her what type of party she wanted because after that, all we heard was, "Is it my birthday party yet?" One night she didn't want to eat dinner because she said it was her birthday party. Also, the doorbell rang one night and she said "is it my birthday cake?"

I feel like in the last few months, she has blossomed and started talking and acting so much older!

So that we can remember our girl at 3, here's a few tidbits about her:

-She weighed 35 lbs. in April. I weighed her last night and she weighed 34.5 lbs. 

-I think she's 38" tall. 

-She is wearing mainly Size 8 shoes. I bought her a Size 9 the other day in her Nike's but they always seem to run a size ahead. 

-She's a 3T for the most part. She can still wear some things that are 2T and can wear some 4T tops but I would say she's a 3T.

-She has the most fun personality. She makes us laugh and everyone else laugh. She's definitely something else.
-Her current favorite color is yellow. A few months ago it was purple. She reminds us everyday that yellow is her favorite color. She is currently making me put a yellow hairband in her hair everyday.
-She wants to do everything herself... buckle her carseat, decorate her Daddy's father day card, you name it... she wants to do it by herself.
-She always says, "Yeah, me too" or "I help." At night, if I say "I'm so sleepy." She'll say "Yeah, me too."
-If she can't find something, she'll go around the house saying, "Where are you?" Even if she's looking for her soccer ball, she'll say, "Soccer ball, where are you?"
-She's known her Daddy's name is Colt for a while and will call him that every once in a while. She's recently learned my name is Keri and that all of our last names are Smithson.
-She likes to tell us that her, Daddy and Cutler have blue eyes and that Mommy has green eyes.
-Her and her Daddy work on her left and right all the time and she's gotten pretty good at it!
-She loves the water. We did 4 private swim lessons a couple weeks ago and she LOVED them. She would always ask to go back to the swimming pool with her swim coach. She has absolutely no fear of the water which is a good and bad thing. She also loved the water park when we went last week or so. Just today when we were leaving the gym, she said, "Go put swimsuit on and go water place and slide with Daddy." I had to explain to her that we couldn't today!
-She makes "bird watching glasses" with her hands. She loves birds and back in April, she was really into going on walks and looking at birds. She still likes it. Her and her dad have two regular bird feeders in our backyard plus a hummingbird feeder.
-She thinks her Daddy can do and fix anything. I told her one day that it was too cold to get her water slide out. She said "Daddy make it warm."
-She bargains with us. If we tell her one more slide, she gets to the top of the slide and holds her fingers up and says 2 or 3 more. If she has one slide left, she will literally delay and not go down the slide. She bargains with shows too. If we tell her one show, she says 2 shows.
-She's pretty good about cleaning up her toys at the end of the day. She sings a song from I think it was Daniel Tiger that goes, "Clean up, pick up, put away. Clean up, pick up everyday."She will go in her room and clean up, put away shoes and clean up her closet. She will also tell me if she has a messy closet.
-Since Cutler was born, sometimes I bathe them both together in the tub. Sometimes, she will shower with me. If Colt is home, she'll usually shower with him. She likes to pick our her pajamas before her bath or shower every night.
-She also has a nighttime routine with her gummy vitamins. Colt started taking gummy vitamins too. If he's home, she'll take her one and give him his two.
-She's pretty cuddly. She likes to give hugs and kisses. When her dad goes to work, she'll say, "I give you hugs and kisses."
-She tries to help with her brother. She'll put a paci in his mouth. Sometimes she helps a little too much...one day I saw her running with a bottle and she was going to put a bottle in his mouth to stop him from crying. If he's crying, she'll sing him night, night songs to try to make him go to sleep. If he quits crying, she gets pretty proud of herself.
-I used to put her to beds most nights. Since Cutler, a lot of the time, Colt puts her to bed if he's home. She'll give him what they call "Monkey Hugs" and she'll ride his back to her room. When he puts her to bed, she'll grab his hand and try to get him to stay.
-When I put her to bed, she likes to sing night, night songs. We sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Rock-a-bye Baby," "I love you, you love me," "Hush little baby," and "Skidamarink" usually. She also sings a song that she says, "Close your eyes, go to sleep." I think they play it at nap time at school. I've caught her singing it to her brother several times. I've asked her and they aren't sure what it is! I think I heard it on Minnie Mouse one day but still can't figure out what it is! I catch her singing a lot to herself these days. She'll sing these songs. Here lately, she's started singing "Let it Go" from Frozen. She also really likes "Old Mcdonald." She'll tell me what animals to do. One night, when it was time for her to say the animal, she said "let me think about it."
-She's a dancer. If she hears a beat, you'll see her start dancing or sometimes shaking her shoulders or hips at her table. She does a little dance to a show called Shimmer and Shine where she twirls her arms. She also does this little "fancy dance" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse where she goes "step, step, step, shake."
-She loves cards. She played with her Valentine's Day cards a month after and has been playing with her birthday cards.
-She knows her Mommy's coffee place. On the way to Jacksonville when we went to the drive-thru safari, we stopped at Starbucks and she said "Mommy's coffee." I guess I get to much Starbucks and she was telling her Dad on me.
-She loved soccer this spring. She always wanted "more time."
-A lot of mornings, she'll come out of her room dressed like a princess as soon as she gets up. She'll have her princess dress on and shoes and she'll come clicking across the living room to our bedroom. There's some days, she'll wear a princess dress all day long too. One day she even wore her Minnie Mouse dress to go with me to the doctor when I had to get a lab ran.
-She loves watering flowers with Daddy. It's their thing. She thinks she has a garden.
-When Colt puts on his scrubs, she'll say "Daddy Doctor?" Since we had Cutler and she came to the hospital, she thinks every tall building is a doctors office. She'll say "Daddy's doctor at doctor's office. He helps daddies, mommies and kids."
-She'll say "I love you too," "I love you more," and "I love you most." It's the cutest.
-She has started saying, "I'm so happy to see you." She'll also say, "Mommy, you came back" when I pick her up from school.
-She still sleeps with her white Tigey.
-She still loves school. She insists on wearing her backpack and carrying her own lunchbox. She has to put on her backpack even if she's going right to the car to take it off.
-She currently loves her little friend, Lucy. Lucy is about 6 months older than Kinley. They are both strong willed little girls so although they like the idea of playing together, they butt heads. When I asked Kinley who she wanted to come to her birthday party, the first answer was Lucy. Her mom and I were in MOPS together, they did soccer together and are now trying dance together. They go to the same school but are in different classes. Their classes play on the playground at the same time so they get to play together at school.
-She is into dressing herself. I'm not going to lie, it's not my favorite thing. I liked when I got to pick everything out! She is into wearing socks with sandals. Even if I tell her she doesn't need to wear socks with her sandals, she insists! She also always has to have a bow on! I do like that!
-Her go to meal is chicken, cheese, and strawberries. She wakes up asking for it. She likes peanut butter and nutella sandwiches in her school lunch. She also loves her some sweet tea and orange juice.
-When people come to the house, she loves showing her room to them.
-We think she's definitely a little type A. She likes stuff in certain spots and doesn't really like change. Even if I move a picture frame or pillow in the house, she'll move it back to it's old spot. She also likes to have her toys in certain spots and doesn't like me to rearrange.
-Her favorite book at the moment is an Usborne book called "You Choose."
-Her favorite shows have changed recently. Right now, her favorites are Blaze and Dora it seems like. A month ago, everything was Paw Patrol hence why a lot of her presents are Paw Patrol. She also likes Shimmer and Shine. If you would've asked even more months ago, around Christmas, everything was Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
-We are good on counting to 10 and she knows most of her letters, most of the time. I'll also catch her counting over 10 and she'll be saying "eleventeen, thirteen."
-Oh potty training... everyone told me not to push before Cutler was born because she would regress, but we should've just went ahead and done it and not waited I think. I think regression would've been better than starting from scratch with a newborn. We started getting serious about potty training on April 29th I think. I've read books, you name it. If we hadn't have pushed a little when we started, I think she could've cared less about ever potty training! We pulled up our rug and spent the weekend naked for the most part. We still don't have it down 100%. I'll put panties on her all the time at home and she does good for the most part. She'll also wear panties a lot of time on our errands around town. I'll still put pull-ups on her at school. They say she does good with them, but I think they give her free reign to pee if she's too busy. Today actually, I put panties on her for school for the first time. I still put her in pull-ups at nap time and at night time. I'm not even attempting that until we get day time down. Some days she seems to do great. She won't have any accidents and will tell us when she needs to go. Other days, she regresses it seems like. Just yesterday, for example, she had two accidents while at home... back to naked for a bit we went. She gets busy and literally just doesn't care about telling us until after the fact. She also is struggling with the poop situation. She will not poop in the potty. I think she holds it until nap time or night time and will go in the pull-up. Yesterday though, she told me she had to poop and went and pooped on the potty... that makes only two times she's pooped on the potty since we started this potty training though! At her new school in August, she has to be potty trained or she'll get held back a class until she is. I've told her that she can't go to her new school until she goes pee and poop in the potty every single time. I'm determined to get her there, and I think we will. It's just been a bit of a process for us!
-Recently, she started saying "Mommy say no, Daddy say yes" and "Mommy or Daddy say no, Kinley says yes." However, now it's escalated and she has started saying "Mommy, stop telling me no and tell me yes."
-We started dance on her birthday. It's just a little summer session for 3-4 year olds where she does ballet and tap. She loved her first class last week and told me it was her favorite now, over soccer. I'm pretty sure she just likes her tutu and her tap shoes! Before we started dance, she started wearing her black dress shoes that went with her Halloween costume. She think they are tap shoes and was tapping around the house! She wants to wear her dress shoes pretty much every day.
-Evidently, I say "Dang it" a lot. I slammed on my brakes the other day to keep from hitting a squirrel and she said "Dang it" in the backseat! She also stumped her toe the other day and I heard her say "Dang it." I guess at least it's not technically cursing. Oops.
-She says her friends and her Tigey are her pals. She'll say "My pal Tigey" and "My pal Lucy."
-She insists on being called a "Big Girl." Even if you ask her her name sometimes, she'll say "Big Girl." Colt likes to call her "Sweet Pea," and she'll say, "No, I Big Girl!"
-She says "Oopsie Daisies!" I'm not sure where she picked that up... school I'm guessing because none of us say it. It's pretty dang cute when she says it though!

She is a fun, sweet girl... but I have a feeling we're going to have our hands full with this one.. actually we already do! 

Never-ending Air Conditioner Problems

Right when I think I may be getting caught up on life, something else happens. Since we've had Cutler, I swear, it seems like we've had the worst luck. Both kids happen to be sleeping at the same time, so I'm getting a post in! We've currently been without air conditioner going on Day 10 now. We are supposed to have air again on Wednesday. This time around, we will be without air a total of 12 days if we are up and running when we are supposed to be! By this time around... I mean... we've had air issues since Day 1 on this house. The day we closed, the air wasn't working. We had issues all last summer. I kid you not, we've probably had no less than 50 service calls to our house in the year that we've lived there! I think I posted about it before. At one point, we were getting up about two or three times a night and going to "reset" it outside to keep it running! At the end of last summer, they ended up installing a whole new unit. It seemed to work fine all through the fall and winter. Of course, it wasn't having to work too hard. As soon as it got hot this summer, our air went out. Colt was at work so it was just me and the kids at home. The builder's A/C guy came out...yet again. It ended up being a failed compressor. I was outside with both kids and had Cutler stripped down to his diaper while he was there working on it... hoping it would rush him along. He ordered the part that day but it wouldn't be repaired until the next day. We ended up going to Josh and Brianna's to stay that night. The new compressor seemed to work ok for a few days but it never seemed like it was really keeping up. The house was always a few degrees hotter than it should've been. We ended up calling the A/C company again. They sent someone out on Friday morning. He said the freon wasn't charged right. He supposedly fixed it and had us good to go. False. The next day, it stopped working again completely! By the time I realized it, it was 78 degrees in the house. It was also a Saturday and Colt was working. I got a little irritated. I contacted both A/C contacts we had and got no response. Colt started calling the builder. I ended up calling the A/C guy myself for the first time instead of Colt doing it. I wasn't very nice. I was so mad, I ended up crying to him on his voicemail. When I get mad, I cry I guess! I ended up telling him that if he didn't know what he was doing and didn't know anything about the unit he installed, then he needed to let us know so we could find someone else because this was ridiculous and I had two hot babies. I packed the babies up and headed to Josh's house AGAIN. Colt's mom actually came and picked up Kinley to give me a little break because we weren't sure what the plan was going to be. The A/C guy came out on Sunday morning. The compressor was out again, just a few days later! Long story short, the unit that was originally installed by this company, and the replacement unit, was too small for our house. It was just going to keep burning up regardless of what they did. They ended up saying they needed to put in a new system. At that point, we wanted someone new to handle it. Colt basically told them he didn't really want them working on it anymore. After many phone calls not answered to our builder, he agreed to pay for it. Colt gave him the opportunity to pick who we used. He told Colt to take care of it and do what he needed to do to fix it. This same builder was ZERO help last summer either. He just gave Colt his contractors numbers and Colt has had to do everything since Day 1. Because we needed a whole new system outside and inside, all new ductwork, air intake etc., we had to get our floorpans and get it reengineered to see what system we needed. At first, Colt's mom wasn't sure if we were going to have to pay out of pocket so she thought she could get the equipment at cost. She sent the plans to her manufacturer thinking it would be streamlined. Cutler and I headed to Colt's mom's house to be with Kinley on Sunday. Colt joined us late after work on Sunday night. We stayed there until Wednesday when we headed back to Tyler. While we were at Colt's parents house we were trying to figure out what to do for our living situation. Josh and Brianna had offered for us to stay at their house all along. While you know they are sincere, you still don't want to put people out for a whole week or two. We mentioned putting in a 220 plug at our house and them bringing their RV to our house for us to stay. There was just a time issue on getting an electrician out, and they were headed to Vegas and couldn't bring the RV till they got back. Colt's mom happened to have 4 portable units sitting at her house not being used that she hadn't thought about. They thought they would cool our house enough to make it livable. Colt headed back to Tyler early Wednesday morning to get busy getting them all installed. We followed a couple hours later. When I got there with the kids it was still pretty hot. I think it was 85 in our house. By bedtime, I think it was 78-80 degrees or so. We decided to try to sleep there that night. Colt ended up going to buy 2 additional units (that were later taken back). He put one in Kinley's room and cooled her room because she wanted to sleep in it. Our room was too hot so Colt, Cutler and I camped out in our living room under the fan. It was a bad night. Kinley ended up getting hot, coughing, saying her ears hurt and threw up a little in her bed. Colt was ready to pack it up and head to Josh's house. He looked like he was about to punch a wall at one point. We toughed it out the rest of the night after Kinley got rested. The kids and I spent most of the day Thursday at the house while Colt was working. By that afternoon, it still wasn't cooling down much so Colt had me turn off all the portable units. We packed our bags and headed back to Josh's, where we've been since. On Thursday, we were under the impression that our equipment was pretty much ready, but we found out that the engineers had actually JUST started looking at our plans. It had basically been a wasted week. I got a little fed up and ended up calling someone locally. I told the receptionist our sob story. The company's truck was actually parked at our neighbors house. They were going to get someone out Friday at lunch. I think she felt bad for me because she called me back 5 minutes later, and they were headed straight to our house from our neighbors. Their A/C guy took one look at our unit and said it was too small and the builder or contractor must've tried to save a few hundred dollars. He contacted their comfort specialist who headed straight over from another job about an hour later. He took notes, took pictures in our attic of the bad install we had and sent everything over to the engineers. He contacted me the next day at around 9am with a quote for $13,500. We had until lunch to give them the go ahead. If we said yes by lunch, they would have us running by Tuesday. If we waited, it would be later. They also said that if we could've called them on Monday, they would've already had us running! We would've had air. We also would not have had to cancel Kinley's 3rd birthday party that we had planned on having at our house on June 9th! Colt said he felt like he had been kicked in the nuts. When we sent the quote to the builder, his tune of doing whatever we needed to do quickly changed. He didn't want to pay. He wanted to be sure he would be reimbursed by the original A/C company. Of course, the original A/C company, couldn't afford that. Colt (while working) ended up on the phone with both of them for 1.5 hours or so on Friday morning. Colt gave them until lunch to come up with a plan. They wanted to install a new unit themselves. They could uninstall everything on Tuesday. Then they wanted to install the new system on Wednesday with the manufacturer overseeing and inspecting it. We were both so mad. Basically, the builder sat and did nothing for a week, BUT when he was going to have to pay, he makes stuff happen within a couple hours. This builder is our neighbor too by the way! Neither Colt or I wanted to go with this plan. We don't trust them. The A/C guy said that he didn't do the original install and that he contracted it out. However, he had been coming to our house for over a year to "repair" our A/C so he knew their were issues and had done nothing to resolve it. I think it says something about his character. Either that or he's just an idiot.  Our hands were kinda tied. We were afraid that if we used the company that we wanted to, we would have to pay out of pocket. Then we would end up having to take them to court to try to recoup our cost and possibly not even win because they were "offering" to make things right. We ended up agreeing to let the original A/C company install a new system. We might hire a third party to inspect their work though after all we've been through! Hopefully, what they say is true and we are really up and running by Wednesday. We didn't pick our builder since the house was completed when we bought it, but I definitely know a builder we wouldn't use! This many days without air and this many issues on a new house over the last year is ridiculous. I guarantee you if we were the builder's family or grandkids, we would've have had to have been without air this long. I'm pretty sure I'm going to hold a grudge against our neighbor! Kinley's actual birthday is tomorrow so maybe we'll get A/C for her birthday the next day! It's sad because she has said every single day that she wants to go back to our house. We keep explaining to her that it's hot and our house is "broken." I'm ready to go back too though! After scrambling and looking at different options for her party that got cancelled, we ended up just postponing it until this coming weekend when we SHOULD be back in our house! Saying this has been a mess is an understatement. We were actually considering putting in a swimming pool. Now, we are waiting just a little while and making sure we want to stay in our house after our air gets fixed!

Cutler's Birth Story

Cutler turned 3 months old a few days ago! I know everyone says it all the time, but it is CRAZY how time flies! I'm needing to upload all our pictures and videos to a different storage site. As fast as the days go, I told Colt last night that it MIGHT happen by the time Kinley turns 5! 

I'm glad that I typed some of his birth story a while back because something about labor, after the fact, it's all hazy and hard to remember, at least for me anyways!

With Cutler, we had assumed that he might come early like his sister, but that didn't end up being the case at all! 

I lost my mucus plug on February 1st before Colt got home from work.  With Kinley, I had her the morning after I lost my mucus plug so I thought things might start progressing soon.  I had some more blood that night. I cooked dinner, cleaned the floors, bathed Kinley, and kept waiting in the back of my mind for something more to happen. I even called my mom to let her know what was going on just so they could be ready just in case. Colt's mom and David were on vacation in Mexico. He told them what was going on but also told them not to do anything because it could mean absolutely nothing. Of course, they went ahead and flew back for nothing! 

I had my doctors appointment a couple days before that, on January 30th. I was 38 weeks and 2 days at that appointment Since we had thought baby boy might arrive early and Colt had to have his days off planned so far in advance, he had taken off the last week of January and the first week of February. Since we were still waiting, he kept picking up shifts during that time so he could have more days off with us later. We were running out of time because he was scheduled to work the 8th, 9th and 10th. The 9th and 10th he was scheduled to work and stay out in Sulphur Springs too so not ideal for a baby to come on it's own and him to have to figure out a way to get someone to come work for him and get back to town quickly.  It would've taken him 6+ hours to get back to town. Because of his schedule, we decided to pick an induction date at my appointment. We ended up scheduling an induction for Wednesday, February 7th. I turned 39 weeks on the 3rd so it was the soonest they could get me in after that. His actual due date was the 10th so his induction wasn't too far ahead of schedule. Luckily, Colt ended up getting out of his shifts on the 8th, 9th and 10th and didn't have to be at work again until the 12th. After that shift, he had a few more days off and then resumed his normal schedule on the 16th. 

On the 7th, we were supposed to be at the hospital to check in at 5 am. Dede and David came the night before so that they would be there when Kinley got up Wednesday morning. They didn't get to town until super late on Tuesday and we were already all in bed. Tuesday night, our soon to be neighbors, Chase and Whitney brought us Chinese food for dinner. That was nice because it was one less thing we had to worry about. My water just broke at home with Kinley so I didn't have time to think about anything or get nervous beforehand. I was a little nervous going to bed on Tuesday night knowing that I would be definitely having a baby the next day!

On Wednesday morning, we checked in and they got me in a room pretty fast. They started inducing me at around 6. Dr. Phillips came in and broke my water at around 7. I wasn't sure if I could eat breakfast that morning so I didn't eat anything. That was stupid on my part because then all I could eat all day was ice chips! After they broke my water, Colt went down and got himself some breakfast. He also went down and ate lunch that day too. It must've been nice! 

My mom and dad came that morning and my dad dropped my mom off with us at the hospital while he went and spent the day at our house with Kinley, Dede and David.

I went ahead and got my epidural early on. I don't remember exactly what time it was. The nurse told me that the anesthesiologist was finishing up a surgery so that if I wanted it she would call him so that I didn't miss him and have to wait another hour for him to get there. Colt kept trying to get me to get it even sooner, and I kept telling him that I was fine. Once I got my epidural, it was only going on my right side for a lot of the day. I couldn't move my right side below my waist or lift my right leg at all. Meanwhile, I could feel a lot on my left side. I was feeling about every contraction pretty painfully. It was bad enough that even with the epidural, I was having to grip the bed and was grimacing with every contraction. Once I said something about it, my nurses came and flipped me even more on my side so that the medicine started moving more to my left side which gave me more relief. They didn't check me for a while. When they did, I was ready to go. Most of my delivery was done by my nurses. Dr. Phillips came in at the very end for the last few pushes. 

I went back and forth on my mom being in the room when I delivered.  She wasn't in there with Kinley. Since Kinley came so early, we were worried something might not go smoothly. My mom tends to stress out and overreact. We were worried about her being in there and panicking if something happened. When it was time to push with Cutler, my mom said she was going to leave, but I told her she could stay. I might've came across as rude though because I told her to stay out of my face and not say anything. I also told her to stay out of Colt's way too. Oops. I was just thinking worst case scenarios. In hindsight, I shouldn't have said it and shouldn't have been worried about it. During delivery, Colt was on my left side. Mom was sitting in a chair behind him. I think I scared her. Cutler's delivery went much quicker than Kinley's and felt smoother on my end. I think I started with a practice push around 4:05 or so and really started pushing close to 4:15. He was born at 4:46. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz., which was right about what I thought he would be. He was 21 inches long, and his head was 13.25 inches around. It was only about 30 minutes of pushing vs. an hour or so with Kinley. Overall, it was about 11 hours of labor vs. 29 hours with Kinley. Although my arms were sore a couple days afterwards from holding on to the bed and my legs while pushing, I wasn't nearly as exhausted from pushing as I was after Kinley's birth. I also didn't almost throw up this time around. While pushing I had big gaps in my contractions and big breaks. Even though Cutler was 7 lb. 13 oz, almost 2 lbs. larger than Kinley was, I think my body was just more ready this time being full term. I ended up with just a small tear. I felt like recovery was faster this time around, and I wasn't quite as exhausted those first few weeks home. We started with so many days in the hospital with Kinley that probably didn't help. 

When our little man was born, he had a little conehead. He latched good immediately without a nipple shield (although he ended up using it and has since graduated from it). Although I was oblivious to the fact, at one point right before he was born, evidently his heart rate dropped. Colt knew it and got worried, but I never knew it until Colt told me afterwards.

After Cutler, was born, we did about an hour of one on one time. Before they moved us to a room, Colt went home to see Kinley and give her some attention. Meanwhile, my mom stayed with me at the hospital. I got to eat, although it was a nasty grilled chicken sandwich! Then with the help of my mom, they moved us down to a room. Once we got settled, my dad, David, Dede and Kinley joined us at the hospital to meet him for the first time. On the way up to the room, Dede took Kinley to the gift store and Kinley picked me out a present all by herself. She picked me out a St. Christopher necklace and she was so proud of it. She kept saying, "You like it? Present for you at doctor's office." I have since put it on a chain with other charms and every time that I wear it, she still says "Mommy present at doctor's office." It's the sweetest. It was getting late and visiting hours were ending so they didn't stay long. I'm not real sure what Kinley thought of Cutler at first. I think she was pretty indifferent. She did say, "Cute, cute" and "Tickle, tickle." She definitely wasn't sure about leaving Mommy at the hospital when they left. Evidently she kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy at doctor with baby brother." My mom and dad ended up going back to their house that night. Dede and David went home and stayed with Kinley.

Sometime in the middle of the night they took him and bathed him. He was checked by the pediatricians Thursday morning and he looked perfect. He passed his newborn hearing screening. Breastfeeding was easier this time around and not near as awkward.  The hospital photographer came around on Thursday morning. I had just got out of the shower when she came, but I got him dressed and let her take some. I ended up not liking them so we didn't buy them. I got him dressed again later, and Colt took his own pictures which turned out better than the ones they took. Dr. Phillips circumcised him around lunch that day. Colt went to the gym to workout. Dede, David and Kinley came to visit and got there while he was getting circumcised so they went to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. I didn't like them having to take him, and I didn't like the thought of him having to get it done. Our initial stay at the hospital was a lot smoother this time around. Cutler didn't have to get pricked near as much as Kinley and we didn't have to stay as long since he was full term. The nurses did my paperwork early so as soon as they did his 24 hour testing, we got to head home. Dede cooked us dinner that was ready when we got to the house, but they packed up and headed home. We were on our own as a family of 4 pretty much immediately.

Seeing your baby for the first time definitely makes you forget all the roughness of pregnancy and pain of contractions. Seeing him and holding him for the first time is yet another one of the best moments of my life. Holding him for the first time was definitely a feeling like no other. All my thoughts went away immediately. I was just consumed with love and all sorts of good feelings! We're pretty positive that Cutler completes our little family. However, when I stare at him sometimes and see how fast he is growing, it makes me second guess it sometimes (not for too long though). I am absolutely in love with my baby boy! Although I definitely cuddle him and hold him all the time, I sometimes wish I could do it even more and spend even more one on one time with him. Since he's the second child, it makes it hard sometimes since I'm chasing his sister! I definitely don't think he's gotten to be held quite as much as she was. I definitely soak in all my baby time with him though and cherish it. It's true that your heart just expands and makes even more room for another baby. Both Cutler and Kinley (and their daddy too) are my world and bring me so much happiness! Even though some days are rough and exhausting, I wouldn't trade our days or our life for anything!