I'm not ready

She can count to 20, she knows her ABC’s, she loves to color and play with her little sisters ~ But I’m not ready!She knows not to talk to strangers, looks both ways before crossing the street and loves to jump in big puddles ~ But I’m not ready!!

She has big blue eyes, lovely blond hair, she wants to be a pilot and she is a 3foot tall whirlwind of pink ~ But I’m not ready!!

Today I walked around a classroom full of colorful pictures and little chairs. I got a little workbook of at home exercises and I met with a few lovely teachers. In 5 months time these people will take care of my little princess for 6hrs a day, 5 days a week. They will teach her and show her all kinds of new games and she will meet 19 other kids her own age ~ But I’m not ready!!

I remember my first day at kindergarden, I cried! I wanted my mom to come back for me, and I didn’t want to stay. The teacher was so nice, she carried me around that room all day until my mom came back. That’s the only day I remember in kindergarten.

I also remember my last day in high school, I cried! I didn’t want to leave, I loved the people I met there, the teachers I had there and everything I had learnt. The teachers were so nice, they hugged me and wished me all the best. Told me to come back and visit all the time. I remember almost everyday of 12th grade.


You know 4 years ago I was pregnant with Delainey, dreaming of all the fun we would have in our "special" years together before she would go to school, I dreamed of teaching her to say her ABC's and counting etc. But then toddler hood snuck up on us and I caught myself saying things like "only X amount of time until she goes to school". Well today I went and registered her for preschool, and I bawled my eyes out. Technically she does not "have" to go, but because she has only ever been home with me I want her in preschool for 2 years so she 'learns' to listen to other adults, plus she needs a little bit more "teaching' than I have the skills for. I think deep down preschool was the reason that I had a hard time pushing her to potty train... I KNEW if she was still in diapers she would be home with me *shhh don't tell anyone I admitted that PLEASE*.

Tonight as she fell asleep on my lap while we were cuddling, I held her and cried knowing that these are some of the last times she will be able to just sit in my arms until 10pm and cuddle because she will have to wake up for school.

I even went so far to ask Chad "If she doesn't like school, can I take her out?"... anyone who KNOWS Delainey knows she is going to love school... the real question I should have asked was "If I don't like her going to school can I pull her out"... I know that there is always the option of homeschooling, but I respect the school system too much for that, (no, I am not saying anything bad about homeschoolers.. I have several friends who do, but I also have several friends who are teachers as well) and I know that I would not do my children justice being their primary school teacher... I am just not organized enough for that.

So it is with a heavy heart I am offering my eldest child up to the school system... please pray for her teachers because I am so going to be that parent that teachers talk about because they DON'T want my kids because of me ha-ha--- I think ;)

Vacation...

Chad is off all this week and so far it has been very nice :) Normally Daddy being home messes with the routine (if you can call it that) but so far it has only helped. Sadly, because this is the week before finals ( I have a final on the 7th and the 8th) we are not able to go anywhere but it will be nice to be able to spend time together as a family for awhile.

My cousin's daughter has been coming over after preschool, so Delainey has been enjoying having her friend here to play...and so far they are getting along (normally the girls can only go a few days of playing before they get burnt out on it).

We installed the Britax car seats in the car tonight and will move them to the van later this fall (for reasons we are not quite ready to share) and we will be set for fun.

New Car seats :)

After months (well years if you consider I wanted one of these seats for Delainey when she was first born) whining and saving we have finally gotten all three of the girls the car seats that I wanted to get them. Chad's brother and sister-in-law having them really helped to convince Chad that I wasn't just a dork HA!. Now we only have to wait until June (or maybe later) until the Britax Regent is available again so that we can order one of those for Delainey for the van. It is the ONLY 5 point car seat that works for a child up to 80 lbs. To us 5 point harness car seats are so very important.

In the past year we have known of two families effected by poor car seats. One their infant son's car seat (the one with the base) flew out of the car upon roll over and the little boy later passed away, and then another family lost their 4 year old when he flew out of his car seat (a booster) that was buckeled into the middle seat of his grandmother's car, went through the window and died instantly upon hitting his head on a tree.

Car seat safety is so important. There is s statisic about how like 8 out of 10 car seats are improperly placed into cars. Please make certain that you go to the car seat check ups when you can.

Ok.. off my soap box now :)

Shelby and Avery's Appointments

Well Shelby and Avery had their appointment with the physical medicine doctor on Thursday and over all it went really well. Both the girls are being fitted for braces/inserts for their shoes. Avery will only have an insert because she is still flat footed and should be forming some sort of arch already.
Shelby on the other hand has to have a custom made brace that will help allign her heel, ankle and also help her to form an arch. Once she gets "used" to this brace the doctor said she should take off with walking in no time.

Avery also had her re-check for her ears today, and that went really well. The ENT said her ears looked a million times better than when he saw them in surgery. And he is very pleased with her progress.

That's all folks :)

Team Krumwiede Kids and the Bismarck WalkAmerica event

Team Krumwiede Kids

(Left to right -- Shea, Brian, Kellen, Tracy, Avery, Kristin, Shelby and Chad)

Kristin, Avery, Shelby and Chad

Kristin, Chad, Shelby (sleeping in the back), Avery and Dr. Brown the girls' neonatologist.


We had a BLAST this weekend!!! Brian and Tracy (Chad's brother and his wife) along with theirtwins, Kellen and Shea arrived at our house early Friday morning. All the kids played so well together and Delainey is slowly warming back up to her Uncle Brian (she used to worship the ground he walked on and then all of a sudden she was very shy around him). We had a blast. We did a bunch of errands on Friday which included, picking up the cookies (THANK YOU US FOODSERVICE/GFG FOODS), going to "Bank Day" for the walk, and also a small trip to the park where Kellen, Shea and Delainey had a blast. Sadly though, neither Brian and Tracy or I remembered our camera :( Bummer. We arrived bright and early for our walk at the State Capital, and while it was drizzly and a bit chilly we walked the full 3 miles (Kellen and Avery slept and Shelby and Shea 'partied' through the walk). We are proud to announce that when it is all said and done Team Krumwiede Kids raised $2,250 for the fight against prematurity etc. We had a team goal of $1,000, so not only did we meet it, but we doubled it. The money we raised this year is TRIPLE what we raised last year. Our goal for next year is going to be even more. Thank you all so much for your gracious support and such...without you Team Krumwiede would not have exceeded its goal of helping save the lives of babies

NEW RULE

In the event that my husband's friends/co-workers (who I DO NOT CARE FOR) call while said husband is not at home I reserve the right to let the phone call GO DIRECTLY TO VOICE MAIL!!!!

Seriously... I can NOT stand this one person that Chad works with (normally I wouldn't say ONLINE that I don't like someone, but part of me can't help but HOPE he sees this post and gets the hint---although he probably will think it is about someone else) and every time this person calls you can not get him off the phone...well today I am just in a 'mood' and he wouldn't shut up... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAN.... JUST GET THE HINT...

Thank you LOL

Conversation:

"Chad, what are your plans for tomorrow?"

"why do you ask?"

"Because I kind of want to plan my day, but want to know what you had planned already"

"Why is it every time I have a day off you already have me scheduled for a billion other things?"

"I don't I was just wanting to know what you were planning on doing"

" I have plans"

"Ok, what are they"

"I am busy, so I am doing my own thing"

"ok"

Is anyone else confused on how asking someone their plans for the day can instantly start a fight? I mean seriously... I wasn't even being bitchy (yes I know may come to many of you as a shock, but I can be bitchy). I just asked if he had plans tomorrow.... Oh... married life is so sweet

April is Autism Awareness Month

I recently found out that April is Autism awareness month... I only wish that I had found out sooner. I know several people who are affected by autism (or it's very deep list of spectrum disorders).

A friend emailed me today with the following link and message:

Autism Speaks created a music video of the Five for Fighting song, "World", which features images of autistic children and their families.It is a truly moving video and was the work of Bill Shea.The band is generously donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks for each time the video is viewed - the funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/213154

Please watch the video and pass it on to as many people as you know :)
Thank you-Kristin

DAMN DAMN I GIVE UP--well not really

Just once I would like to leave a visit with our ped NOT feeling like a failure in some area where Shelby and Avery are concerned.

I guess both of the girls should damn near be running and this is a red flag for their physical developement. So on Thursday next week (Chad's birthday) the girls will be seen by a physiatrist (basically a doctor of physical therapy/developement). And she will do a very in depth physical evaluation of both girls and see if there is anything that can be done to help them a bit more. *this is of course what was crushing this visit*.

On a good note though, both girls are on the charts for their height to weight percentages Shelby is in the 50th% and Avery is in the 47th%. They both are on their "own' curve and it is continuing to go up so that is all that matters. Also they have both put on 2 pounds since their 12 month check up.

We did get a little bit of sad/exciting news. Our ped will be taking maternity leave from June- September 15th, so while we are happy that they will be adding another little one to their family we are sad that we will have a locum as our 'primary' care physician. We will probably "just" see Dr. Scherr (he is mine and Chad's doc) if the girls need to be seen. We can't wait to meet the newest "friend" for our girls. We of course had to give Dr. Connel grief about if this baby gets bigger than Shel and Av we are gonna lose it LOL. Speaking of bigger than our girls... my cousin's twin (they were born 1/10) have only 3 1/2 more pounds to go and they have passed up our twins... LOL...

Our "team' logo

Our Team Krumwiede Kids Logo for the WalkAmerica Walk on 4/21/07.

We are putting in our last ditch efforts for donations.... if you would like to donate please do so at www.walkamerica.org/krumwiedekids

Avery's surgery

Avery's surgery went EXTREMELY well. We arrived at 830am and we were back in pre-op by 8:45am. They put Avery's bracelets on and checked her vitals and at 9:05am I was carrying her back into the OR. They had me sit on a little stool and hold her with her back against my chest and they put a little mask over her mouth/nose and she just drifted off to sleep. Thankfully my friend Jenn had warned me about the fact that once the kids "fall asleep" they go limp... otherwise that would have scared the CRAP out of me.

At 9:10am we were sent to the waiting room and at 9:27 we heard Avery scream/cry. It seems that normally they walk with the child to the recovery room before they go and get the parents, but it seems that Avery woke up before they got her into the actual recovery room... opps.

When we came into the room she was rather dazed but was happy to be in our arms and settled right now. She nursed as soon as she could and relaxed. We were home by 10:15.

All in all it went really well. Avery is already a completely different kid...;) It is great!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts...

WOMANHOOD

Time passesLife happens.Distance separates.Children grow up.Jobs come and go.Love waxes and wanes.Men don't do what they're supposed to do Hearts break.Parents die.Colleagues forget favors.Careers end.BUT.........Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing her can reach.When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you...Or come in and carry you out.Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family, all bless our life!The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other.
Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to all the women who help make your life meaningful. I just did.

Toxic people

Why is it when things seem to be going well some people have to take their toxic lives out on you? I don't want to go into too much detail because it is kind of personal *Don't worry Chad not talking about you* but seriously.

There is one person in my every day life that is just making me and my children miserable. When this person is here all hell breaks loose, Delainey gets in trouble, Shelby and Avery get disrupted etc.

And with our brother and sister-in-law coming next weekend I just want to nicely ask this person to just get lost for the weekend.... any suggestions???

Taking credit when it isn't DUE!!!

Ok. What is the deal with people taking credit for things that they have absolutely NOTHING to do with???

Delainey has pretty much *we haven't had an accident yet and Delainey is having no problem pooping in the potty* potty trained herself...no one can take ANY credit for this but Delainey...she was ready and has just done it **DELAINEY ROCKS!!!**

Well today I made a call to a relative who lives a ways away and told them that Delainey has pretty much potty trained herself and said relative rather than complimenting DELAINEY on her accomplishment says "I knew me calling her a diaper baby would make her train"... First off calling a child names isn't the way to accomplish anything and secondly HELLO?!?! Delainey has done this herself...no one (not even Chad nor I) can take credit for this.... Give you 3 guesses and the first two don't count.. ha!!

ARGH!?!?!?!?!?!?

The Miracle of Adoption....

A friend of mine emailed me the following link for me to check out and all I can say is BAWL LIKE A BABY!!!! It is so touching and just plain amazing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRZQray_Ng0

Spring Wonderland???

Ok, so is anyone else frustrated with the weather lately? I mean seriously. Here it is the 2nd week in April and it is STILL snowing... and people say there is global warming HA!!The views from our living room windows this am

Surgery Update

Sorry for not having posted this sooner, I completely forgot to post it here.

Avery will be having surgery on Thursday, April 12 at 9am to have tubes placed in her ears. The doctor has "fast tracked" her because he fears ear damage because of the pressure that is in her ears and hopes that the damage that 'could' have happend is reversable. I guess there is normally a 2 month waiting list from 'visit' to surgery and we got a 2 day wait.

Prayers are certainly appreciated on this whole thing. Chad and I both know that the surgery really isn't a "big" thing when it comes to what our girls have already been/gone through in their lives but it is still scary for your child to have surgery and to trust someone completely with their lives and you having no control over it--- YES I know I am a control freak and proud of it. We will let you all know how it turns out as soon as we can

Mission Potty Training has begun....

The past few weeks Delainey has really been bothered by the fact that her diaper would get "wet" and would often tell me AFTER she had gone to the bathroom in it "Mommy, will you change me".... Umm hello? You know you are going but yet you don't tell me BEFORE?? umm Ok.

Well I had stated "tough love" in the sense of when she would tell me that I would say "Delainey, I am sorry but I will have to change you in a minute. You really need to tell Mommy before you go potty so we can go to the potty in the toilet like a big girl". I would then wait about 10 minutes and then change her. Well Sat, Sun and yesterday every time she would wet her diaper she would walk with her legs spread and you could tell that she was plain uncomfortable. So today when her diaper was dry when she woke up (dry from 930pm last night until 9am this am mind you) I thought, what the heck and had her sit on the potty. SHE ACTUALLY WENT...and did she go. We did our little potty dance and we tried to call Auntie Tracy (our sister-in-law in the Twin Cities) but Tracy wasn't home as her reward but we had to call Grandma Laurie instead.

Delainey went potty (pee) two other times in the potty and then about 11am I could tell that she needed to poo, so I asked her if she needed to go potty and she said "yes, but I want to watch my show"...so we compromised and we brought her potty chair out to the living room and I am happy to say that Delainey pooped in the potty as well.

Delainey and I went for a play date with her friend Kaylee at McDonald's play land and Delainey actually came to me to tell me she had to pee... I was so proud of her for stopping what she was doing (she was having a blast) and coming to tell me she had to go potty.

We have not had a single accident today...needless to say Delainey got a special treat of soda and beef jerkey for her 'reward'. Chad and I both know that all days aren't going to be like this but it certainly is giving us a 'bright' start. I guess there really is "something" to be said to all of my friends who said "when she is ready she will do it"... Chad and I are still kicking ourselves for not supporting her wanting to train prior to Avery and Shelby's birth, but at least we have gotten a new start.

So Day one of mission Potty Training has been completed and IT WAS A SUCCESS!!! YAY DELAINEY!!!

HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

We hope that you had a wonderful time spending time with your friends and family and of course remembering the reason for the Easter Season. God is so good...praise to him.

On a side note, just wanted to mention that I will be updating tomorrow after Avery's ENT appointment.

Prayers please

My good friend Nancy's mother is having some rough medical times right now. If you would like more details please visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/karenjorgenson and let the family know that you are praying for them

Thanks-
Kristin

HOME REMODELING SUCKS!!!

Seriously... if you guys EVER hear me even utter changing something in my house again PLEASE SLAP ME!!!

Today was a complete day from hell. Aside from having only slept for 3 hours --which is actually a new record high for the past week-- the day sucked!!

I was woken up at 8am by the 'delightful' buzz of my alarm clock because the counter-top people were coming to install my new counter-top and sink. Well at 8:30 am they show up and I am thinking-- Cool on time, this could go well. Should have kept my damn mouth shut. As the installers are carrying in my counter top I notice that the sink is (1) already installed into the top and (2) the bowls of the sink are the same size--- I had ordered a sink that is 3/4 on one side and then 1/4 on the other for the disposal. When I brought this to the attention of the installers their response was " This is a Lowe's job isn't it" to which of course we replied with "yes". Long story short... we decided to keep this sink as it would take 4 weeks or more to get the new one installed and quite frankly I am sick of having my kitchen/home in shambles. Chad is waiting for the manager at Lowe's to call us back because Chad wants some money back or something for all the trouble we have been having. As Chad said the other day "We decided to pay people to do the installs etc so that I wouldn't screw them up and things would move faster, should have saved myself the money"...

On a "happy" note my grandfather and I were able to grout most of the tile (all that is left is the entry way and the hall way) and we should be able to finish up tomorrow. Also our plumber is supposed to come tomorrow to complete my kitchen -- well aside from the cabinet that is STILL missing, along with the slides for my pantry (supposed to be here next week).

To my friends: I am so very sorry for being a crappy friend lately... I PROMISE that once all this crap settles down to be a better friend. Remember that I love you and that you guys love me too--well I think ;)

Hopefully tomorrow's post will be a 'better' one.

Oh... and to top it it off... I got a "C" on my latest test for math and again it was because of stupid mistakes!!!! DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!

March of Dimes Team cumulative goal has been met!!!

I am happy to announce that Team Krumwiede Kids has beat/exceeded their 'team' goal of $1000.00 and we still have almost a month (ok 18 days) left of fund raising. If you visit either (www.walkamerica.org/krumwiedekids or www.walkamerica.org/kellenandshea ) of our two sites you will see that together Brian and Tracy (Kellen and Shea) and we have raised $1138.00 to date. Brian and Tracy have had a bit better 'turn' out but Chad and I are of course going to go with the "they know more people with money than us' excuse because it works for us LOL... Hopefully my meeting with Dakota Community Bank later this week will be VERY helpful in possibly making the teams a little more even in the sense of fundage... if not that is ok too :)

But HONESTLY... my goal for Team Krumwiede Kids this year was $1000.00 and we are strongly on our way to meeting the next goal with is that of $1500.00. Please if you would like feel free to donate and pass along our web site to anyone you know who may be interested in joining or 'just' raising some funds for a VERY worthy cause. Seriously though... the North Dakota Chapter of the March of Dimes has almost ALL of the funds raise going to research etc... I do not have the exact figure but I want to say 81%... that is AMAZING!!!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH WHO HAVE DONATED!!!!!

Almost done...

Well folks it would seem that we are even closer to being done with the 'delightful' project that Chad and I have newly labeled hell on earth... Chad's dad and he finished up laying the tile today, so all that needs to be done in the kitchen is the installation of the counter top (that is to be done Thursday), installation of th missing cabinet (we will let you guess where is 'fits') and also the grouting of the floor-- Chad's poor knee (old baseball injury) is acting up alot right now so he wants to give it a few days to rest and heal and will work on the grouting on Monday. So here are the 'as current' before/during/after pictures that we have....

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

We of course want to send a SUPER SPECIAL THANK YOU out to Chad's parents for having driven all the way out here and for helping us so very much. Because of them helping us to doing the tile and save $$ that way, we will be able to remodel the bathroom after all :) THANKS SO MUCH MOM AND DAD!!!!

Of course we were sad to see Mike and Connie go (and Connie was pretty upset too--as you can only imagine) but it was a nice visit and everyone had a lot of fun.

Avery is walking...

Here is a link to a video of her walking:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v425/kkrumwiede/?action=view&current=100_3395.flv

ENJOY!!! She is still really wobbly but in her defense we are forcing her to walk in her shoes *she is opposite of pigeon toed* and she is super tired---this was right before the beginning of the bed time routine.

HOUSE DRAMA....

I was going to post the good news of the weekend first but then I figured you guys would stop reading before I was done...so you are going to have to suffer through some drama... LOL

Well Chad's parents showed up bright and early Saturday am (8am) to start the floor and Chad's dad took a piece of hardiboard (it is the subfloor stuff) and put it on the floor by the front door and placed a piece of our tile on it and guess what... THE DOOR DIDN'T OPEN... it turns out that the dumbasses that put our door in didn't allow for us to PLACE ANY FLOORING (not just our tile, but not even laminate, lenolium NOTHING)...they apparently thought we were just going to 'stick' with the nasty floor boards that were in the kitchen when they placed the door (we had already taken up the old stuff)... So Chad and I called the installers of the door... they came over, Mike (Chad's dad) called the installers on a bunch of mistakes and caught them in several lies. In fact the owner tried to make Chad say we didn't tell them we were putting in tile...etc.. it was nasty. Thankfully I wasn't here because it probably would have only gotten worse. So Chad, Mike, and the installer came to the agreement that the labor to redo the door would be $250 and we would split the cost--so we are out $125 for a door we already paid to put in. Chad of course said "I could have *insert nasty vulgar word here* the door up for free, and now it is costing us $450".... They come back tomorrow and I want to be so far away from this house by that time....

But after that whole mess, we went to Lowe's and got the hardiboard, mud, and a bunch of other stuff (another $350 spent at Lowe's) came home and Chad and Mike got started. They didn't stop until 8:30pm last night....This am they were able to lay all the hardiboard, tape and mud it and tomorrow they will be able to start laying the actual tile.

A little funny for the day... Chad was deciding how much of our tile to go and pick up from Lowe's (they are storing it at the store for us) and we think we may have bought about 200 square feet of tile MORE than we needed.... apparently we are rich and just wanted extra LOL

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I can't believe it is Easter in only 1 week.