Busy times in the Hoover household :)

Wow has life been busy. But I guess we really wouldn't know what to do if we weren't always crazy busy. It seems like time is flying by, even more so now that we have Miss Mackenzie. I want to just push the pause button and enjoy her while she is little. She is growing up much too fast. She did a great job as a flower girl. She walked down the aisle just like a little pro. On wedding day it did require a pink paci and a little yellow elephant, but she walked :) I was so proud of her. With the little temper she has had lately I wasn't sure she would do it. In fact I would have laid money on her throwing herself on the floor screaming. But thank goodness she proved me wrong :) So, I'm guessing her flower girl days are done...It was stressful hoping that she would behave so I'm happy that day is over! She's been so animated lately. She is starting to make more sense when she talks. Not that she is saying a whole lot more, but when she does say a word it is more understandable. For the first time today she said "Mimi"...that is what we call the cat and she is obsessed with the cat. I think she is also trying to say Brady, but it's not quite clear yet. I know everyone tells me I will be sorry when she starts really talking, but I can't wait. I was told the same thing when I wanted her to walk...I love that she walked before her 1st birthday....she has been so much happier since she started moving. She has also become a little monkey. She is climbing on absolutely everything. She's gotten on the spare bed, the kitchen chairs, the kitchen table, the long end table, any random box we have laying around, the dog food container, our bed, and the head board of our bed...yea that's right she was found standing on our head board.
This is what happens when you turn your back on a toddler!!!
We have no idea how she got up there and thank goodness she has not tried it again...at least that we caught her :) Oh she is going to give us grey hair!!! Got to love that she is so full of adventure. I have noticed in the past few days that her pencil grasp is maturing. She's not grasping with a whole fist but starting to separate out her fingers...all that coloring and painting are paying off...poor girl....mom's doing therapy and she doesn't even know it!!! I know I have said it time and time again, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stage. It is trying at times, but for the most part is so much fun. She's a blast...you never have a dull moment with her around. She has started making funny faces...especially if you make a face at her first :) She also loves to give big kisses. She kisses absolutely everything. She has picked up some nasty habits all of the sudden. She is pinching, kicking, and tonight she tried to bite me!!! I'm not sure how to stop this as most types of discipline we have tried do not work...she laughs at everything we do. I am thinking time out will work the best, but it is hard because I don't know if she can understand just yet, that we want her to stay put, especially when she is really worked up. But we will see. We don't have tolerance for pinching and kicking, and have absolutely NO tolerance for biting...she will be eating soap if it comes to that. I will not have a biting child, or at least I will do my very best to not have a biting child. I think that is the worst bad habit...it is awful and mean! Guess that really is life with a toddler.



Life for Jason and I has been busy in its self. Work has been keeping us really busy. Unfortunately we don't get to see much of each other because of it...though we work the way we do so that Mackenzie does not have to be in daycare 5 days per week. I think that Jason enjoys his time at home with her...at least for now. I do worry that he lets her just run wild all day with no structure...I know I worry too much about structure, but she does so well with structure. I really believe that she needs some type of structure in her day...time for self play, time for creativity, time for naps and eating, time for outside...etc. She goes down for sleep and sleeps better on days when we follow a more structured schedule...I sleep better too...I like to know that she has had a variety of activities and stimulating tasks in a day. This week was interesting/scary for me. On Monday night I had severe pain in my left flank/mid back. It was enough that I had chills and agreed to go to the ER. Turns out it was a stinkin kidney stone. The ER was no help...after 5 hours I left untreated. Thank goodness my family doc is great. I had to have a CT scan which showed a 3 mm stone in the L kidney and a 2 mm stone in the R kidney. Plus the one that I had passed earlier the night before. So, now I have an appointment with the urologist on the 7th of August. I'm not looking forward to the appointment in the least. I know they only way to get rid of the stones is to wait and pass them randomly, or have a procedure that "blasts" the stones into smaller pieces which in turn expedites them passing. Either way, I will have to pass stones from both kidney. After they pass and are analyzed then I have to make changes to my diet to lessen the chance that they will return, though the doc said since I have them in both kidneys of significant size they will most likely return....well crap. Oh well...I guess it could be a worse thing. Just rather uncomfortable. The other crappy thing is that now that Jessica's wedding is over Jason and I were hoping to have a second kiddo in the near future, but we can not do that until the kidney problem is better. If I were pregnant they can not do anything to get rid of the stones and I would not be able to have any pain meds other than Tylenol...that in itself will make me wait. It sucks though...we really want a second child, we already waited 6 months longer than we had originally planned so that I would not be hugely pregnant at the wedding and now we are made to wait again. But I guess everything happens for a reason and when we are to have a second kiddo we will...we are just getting impatient and I'm not getting any younger. Sigh. Patients is a virtue...I just need to tell myself that :)