A Return to Packer Country

We took a trip to Green Bay this weekend for the first time since January. We spent a lot of time hanging out, catching up, and playing with Kaia. On Friday, we watched the Badgers lose, sadly. On Saturday, Brian kicked Mike's behind in some basketball and the girls went shopping. We went out to dinner to celebrate Cassie being accepted into the School of Pharmacy at Madison - Congrats Cass! Ate way too much. But we had a nice visit. I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures on weekends like that, so here are a few.

Kaia shows her Preble High spirit, wearing Uncle Brian's hat. Go Hornets! She also insisted on wearing her new Nike sandals from Grandma that are two sizes too big.

This is a picture of Kaia showing off her fly new jeans, doesn't she look 13? She's also wearing a sweater that my mom knitted for me as a little tike.

Kaia spent a lot of time practicing on the stairs with Aunt Lora. She's pretty much got them down now.

Kaia was truly entertained by Grandpa's singing deer hunter's Jeep. The deer on the hood actually sings the words to songs such as "Low Rider" while the car bounces around and the hunter's heads bobble away. Quite thrilling!

I Make a Big Poopie!

I apologize in advance. Only family and friends with toddlers will truly appreciate this post....

Today was a big day in the Loos household. Kaia went poopie on the potty! Yay! We've had the potty chair around for a few months now. Once in a while, Kaia sits on it, with or without clothes on. She went potty once a while ago, but I wasn't going to make a big deal of it. Tonight, after dinner Mike was playing with Kaia and noticed she started to make a funny face. He asked if she wanted to go potty, she said yes, so off they went. Mike said they read a book, she looked up and said "all done". When she got up, there they were, big smelly poopies! Yay! I'm still not ready to push the training too hard, though. But I see this as a step in the right direction!

I always planned on taking a picture of her next to her first poopie in the toilet, but I changed my mind once it was actually staring me in the face. Gross! I already can't wait until she is tall enough to go directly into the toilet. So here's a picture of Kaia and her potty chair AFTER clean-up.

Here are some pictures of the kiddos at playgroup on Monday.

Jakob and Kaia were being very silly together, rolling around on the floor and tickling each other.

Connor all GQ, lookin like a Baby Gap model.

Our Easter Celebration

For Easter, the Loos clan came to town. We spent some time together Saturday evening and on Sunday, we went to church and then went for lunch at Matt and Laura's. The Easter Bunny hid Easter eggs for the kids to find. Kaia thought it was ok, but playing with the other toys was more fun. Here are some pictures. Doesn't she look cute in her dress?

Happy Easter!

Well, we're finally feeling healthy again! Kaia got an Easter package from the Vandevoordes yesterday. Boy was it filled with fun stuff! She got a bunny basket with a chirping baby chick, Easter squirty bath toys, spoons, a suction cup plate, bubbles, a Mr. Potato head, and three Seroogy's Fudge Eggs (two for Mom and Dad). She had so much fun opening the package and keeps having fun playing with everything.

Oooo! Kylie was way into the package as well. Down in the corner of the picture is Kylie trying to steal the chirping chick.

As soon as she saw the bubbles, Kaia took them over to me and said "Help, help". I couldn't resist, so we opened them and gave them a try.

Bubbles! Kaia loved them. She was pretty peeved when I put them away. I promised we'd play again when it was nice outside, but she just doesn't get it! She was also not pleased when I gave her a taste of a fudge egg, then put that away. I'm so mean!

Demonstrating how to use the plate and spoon. The brand name of the plate was Sugar Booger. I don't know how I feel about eating off of it now.

Mr. Potatohead has been rearranged many times over since yesterday. What a great toy!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Bob's Cake

For pictures of Bob's "Good Riddance #4" Cake, check out Kari's blog http://yearousupdate.blogspot.com/.

And a big congratulations to Ben and Katrina who got engaged on Friday! We're so happy for them.

Get Me Out of This House!

This weekend Mike went to a youth gathering with some teen group kids, so Kaia and I had a girls weekend. It could have been a lot of fun, but Kaia got sick on me. On Friday, she had a 102 temp, and was just tired and clingy. By Saturday, her temp was gone, but now she's all congested and still clingy. She just wants to read books and cuddle. Poor thing! I'm hoping she's better soon. We miss our friends!

I'm proud to say, I've been without crutches all weekend! My knee is not totally back to normal, but we're getting there! Yay!

Kaia's sick face. Poor little thing.

At least, she's into blowing her own nose. She points to the kleenex and says "nose" until you hand her a tissue. I'd let her get her own, but then my kleenex box looks like this (see below), because she cannot resist pulling each tissue out - all 400 of them. Isn't it a rule that when you have a toddler, you must have at least one undone kleenex box or one unrolled toilet paper roll?

Kaia got a Happy Easter package from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Vandevoorde. She got an outfit, a book, and a bunny-basket. What a nice surprise!

Kaia's trying to put on her new shirt.

Retro Baby

Several months ago, my mom brought out some boxes of baby clothes she had stored away from when my sisters and I were little. We found a few things I cannot believe my mom dressed us in, but I picked out a big pile of things that would fit Kaia. They're very cute, unique, and I think it's neat that she's wearing clothes I used to wear. She's my little retro baby!




Maybe we do look a little alike...Hmmmm.... What do you think? I definitely had more hair!

False Alarm!

Kaia does not have the chicken pox. I took her to the clinic today to double check her rash, and the Nurse Practitioner says it's not the chicken pox, just an allergic reaction, probably to the vaccine. She gave us a Rx for an antihistamine and sent us on our way. Yay! We can leave the house! Here are the pictures I promised.

Kaia and Jakob

I was trying to get some pictures of Kaia's rash and mid-snap, Kaia decided to stick a pen in her ear. Needless to say, I took the pen away. Made for a funny picture though!

What a goof!

Feeding her baby...she's going to be a good big sister!

What a weekend!

On Friday, Kaia had her 18 month check-up. She's as average as can be, 24 lbs which is in the 25-50th percentile. Height is in the 10-25th percentile, and her head is in the 50-75th percentile. So she's short with a big melon head! She must get her head from the Johnsons, Mike and I have pinheads. She also got her last shot until kindergarten - the chicken pox vaccine. Yay!

On Friday evening, some friends threw a "Good riddance, Favre" party and invited Mike and some Packer fans as the guests of honor. They even had a cake made. I sent the camera with Mike, but I left the battery charging on the counter. As soon as I get pics from someone else, I'll post them.

My knee is feeling better. I'm down to one crutch most of the time. Physical therapy had been making a huge difference. I'm still trying to rest it and take it easy. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon.

On Saturday, Mike went skiing in LaCrosse. Kari, Jakob, Kelly, and Tressa came over to play. The kids did great. The adults had a few squabbles over toys, though!

As we were getting ready for church on Sunday, I noticed that Kaia had a rash on her back and chest. I'm pretty sure it's chicken pox!!!! Rarely, when children get the vaccine, they actually get a mild form of the disease. Lucky us! That means she's contagious until the spots scab over. Looks like we won't be going anywhere for a week or so. I think I'm going to go crazy! So far, she has no fever and she's in good spirits. Let's hope that keeps up.

I have pictures to post, but for some reason the server keeps giving me an error when I try to upload them. I'll try again tomorrow.

It's a Girl!

We had our ultrasound today, and we found out we are expecting another girl! Mike is really going to be taken over by all the estrogen flying around! I am thrilled, not that I wouldn't have been happy with a boy, but I am excited for Kaia to have a sister so close in age and we can use all those hand-me-down clothes and toys all over again. Besides, I'm more of a Barbies and make-up kind of mom anyway. Mike is happy, but he's convinced God is laughing at him, finally getting His revenge by gifting him with two teenage girls. Kaia could care less. The above picture is a profile. Isn't she cute?

She was showing off her feet a lot. The poor tech had a hard time getting a femur measurement because she kept kicking.
Bet you don't know what this one is. This is a picture of her tushy. The arrow is pointing to the three white lines you see there...that's her "hoo-ha-dilly" (to quote Elliot from Scrubs). It'll be a number of years before she's truly embarrassed by this picture. I asked the tech, "Now how sure are you?" She said, "I'm sure." I asked, "Could I paint her room pink?" She replied, "Paint the room pink!" So there shouldn't be any surprises in 6 months.

Everything looked great. I am currently at 19 weeks according to the calendar, and the ultrasound showed close to the same. We'll see my midwife on Thursday with for the full results. We're so happy!

Today was still a bitter-sweet day in the Loos household. It was announced this morning that our beloved Brett Farve is retiring. I could cry. There will be no player with more class and no greater quarterback. We will miss him. So on a day of celebration, we also mourn our loss.

Update on My Knee Episode 2

I finally went to the orthopedic specialist today. Here's the latest. My ACL looks good. Yay! We’re still thinking there’s a tear somewhere though. After a lengthy conversation, the Dr. suggested doing physical therapy and coming back to see him after a few weeks. The risks of MRI and anesthesia are high during pregnancy, and without that, they cannot truly diagnose me or do surgery. And even if they were to do surgery, they would wait until the swelling went down and I had full range of motion anyway, PT should help that.

So, the plan is to do therapy and stay on the crutches until full range of motion is back and I feel comfortable walking on it. We’ll wait and see how it heals and go from there. Bottom line, I have a feeling that if anything (surgery) needs doing, it won’t be done until after the baby is born or at least until the third trimester, and there’s a chance I won’t even need that. I just hope there’s not a lot of pain and suffering in the meantime!

It sounds like this is an ongoing process that I’ll be dealing with for several months down the road. Not the answer I was hoping for, but probably the best and safest solution for me and the baby.

One doctor visit down, four more to go this week (Ultrasound tomorrow and PT tomorrow, Midwife visit Thursday, and Kaia's 18 mos check Friday)....the people at the clinic are going to know us by name. I wish they had frequent flyer points or something!

Look at Those Curls!

As Kaia's hair grows longer, it's getting curly at the ends. Just in the back though, the front is still stick straight. It is especially cute when it's combed after a bath, as you can see here. We may have a curly haired cutie on our hands!