Aren’t they sweet?
And here’s a picture of the sisters before class.
Category Archives: Kayla
Pumpkin Carving
For school Wednesday afternoon, the activity was pumpkin carving. The subjects? Science (we were dealing with a pumpkin after all; there has to be some science to that), art (we were expressing our creativity), math (we counted the seeds by fives and tens), and home economics (we roasted the seeds). Did I miss anything?
Our babysitter, Kim, didn’t have school that day and was able to join us.
Based on a book we read about pumpkins, we guessed that Miss Kim’s pumpkin had more seeds. (It was darker and had more lines, therefore we suspected it had spent more time on the vine.) The result?
Our pumpkin: 578 seeds
Miss Kim’s pumpkin: 398 seeds
I guess we were wrong. That was certainly a lot of practice counting!
Guest Blogger Today
I’d like to introduce a guest blogger today. Her name is Kayla Kerr, and she is five-years-old. She wants to tell you a story:
Mommy bought some caramel apples. I was eating one of them, and I lost my tooth! We looked for it, but we didn’t find it. We think I swallowed it.
Here’s a picture before Kayla lost her tooth. I had no idea she was going to lose it; I just took a picture because the girls had never had caramel apples before.
However, a few bites into the apple, I said, “Kayla, you might lose your tooth eating that!” She said, “no,” but then I looked and saw the tooth was already missing. We searched the caramel coating but found only peanuts.
A Logical Conclusion
Quote from Kayla: ”This is the Upper Peninsula, and this is the Downer Peninsula.” Don’t you love the logic of a five-year-old?
Our Five-Year-Old
Kayla turned five last Sunday! It’s hard to believe!
Kayla is a gem. Each day she touches our lives with her kindness, compassion, sense of humor, creativity and joy. Not only is she well-behaved, but she also has a great heart. We sure love this kid!
Here are a few pictures of Kayla over the years:
And now, here she is as a five-year-old with her amazing birthday cake (compliments of my mom).
Do you think she felt like a princess? Thanks, Grandma!
Princess Pictures
The princesses are starting to feel better after another round of the rotavirus. Thankfully Madeline seemed to miss it again but caught a bad cold or something. Both Kayla and Madeline had temperatures of 104 on Madeline’s birthday.
Here are a couple pictures of the princesses in their new dress-up gear:
Princess Kayla spent the morning with Aaron for “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.” Though I had two sick girls at home, it was pretty quiet around here and things certainly felt a touch easier than having all three. But it was good to have Kayla back at lunchtime! She is a blessing and a joy.
Princess Madeline and I baked “Masterpiece Muffins” during our special time together.
The Day Kayla Didn’t Smile
The day was March 3, 2009—Aaron’s 31st birthday. The previous night Aaron had taken Kayla to the ER for her first round of rehydration via IV. She came home feeling much better and acting a little more like herself again. She went to bed, only to awake in the night vomiting once again. We feared that the vomiting would continue all day like it had the day before, and sure enough it did. Around 2 p.m. we took Kayla back to the ER while Aaron’s mom stayed with the little girls. Here’s a picture of the little sweetheart.
When the ER doctor came to check her, he suggested keeping her overnight. We agreed completely—there was no way we wanted to take her home only to have the vomiting start again.
After the doctor examined Kayla, the nurses came to draw her blood and insert the IV. Unfortunately there was a problem. Kayla was so dehydrated that they couldn’t get the IV in her little veins. Finally, on the fourth and last try (they had already tried both arms and one hand), the nurse looked up to God and prayed. I had been praying all along, but it was really neat to have the nurse pray, too. And guess what? After that she got it in! Within minutes Kayla dozed off for a nice long sleep.
Kayla slept well that night and barely woke when the nurses checked her vitals. Aaron and I were able to stay with her; we shared a tiny little bed that wasn’t exactly cozy, but at least it was functional. We slept relatively well given the circumstances!
In the morning Kayla smiled again! What a relief it was to see that smile! She was still pretty worn out, but she felt up to a little reading and coloring. Her she is with one of her favorite books.
Tests confirmed that Kayla had a rotavirus infection. The doctor was really surprised that our almost-five-year-old was in the hospital but that our one-year-old and almost three-year-old were fine. Usually it’s the younger ones who get hit hard with rotavirus.
We spent most of the day of Wednesday, March 4 at the hospital, and it looked like we may even stay another night. But by 6 p.m. when the doctor stopped by, Kayla was doing great. Soon we were on our way home.
Kayla was very excited to ride in a wheelchair on the way out. She was beaming the whole time.
We arrive home shortly after 8 p.m., just in time for Aaron to go to his surprise birthday party! Before all of this happened, I had arranged for his seven closest friends to hang out with him at Buffalo Wild Wings. I ended up having to break the surprise earlier in the day so I could ask his option about whether he would feel up to a party or not. I was glad when he said yes, because we had already cancelled three birthday celebrations that week. Aaron enjoy hanging out with the guys, and I was really thankful that all his friends could make it!
Unfortunately the rotavirus is extremely contagious, and Savannah did end up getting it. Her case, however, was extremely mild compared to Kayla’s. We were grateful for that!
So that was our little adventure earlier this month. The experience felt similar to having a baby—being in the hospital, only having one child to care for, getting to choose and order our own meals. The nice thing for me was that I didn’t have a postpartum body this time around! :)
The ER
What do you get when you combine a four-year-old girl and 25+ trips to the bathroom being sick? You guessed it—one dehydrated child! Kayla’s sickness started Friday evening. The poor thing threw up 15 times in 9 hours. Besides being a little weak and feverish on Saturday, she seemed like she was well on her way to recovery. Sunday she felt great, but we kept her home from church just to be safe. We were surprised to have Kayla wake at 2 a.m. today to start another round of sickness. We lost count, but I’m pretty sure she threw up at least 25 times. She couldn’t keep anything down—neither ice chips nor sips of Pedialyte—so around 4 p.m. Aaron took her to the ER. She was a champ with her IV, and when she returned home around 7 p.m., she was doing much better! Sorry I don’t have any pictures for this post, but I didn’t think to send the camera.
Drawing, Signing, Sleeping, Playing
Here is a day in our life.
Madeline is proud of the picture she drew.
Here is Savannah using sign language to say she wants to nurse.
Savannah fell asleep on the way home from her 12-month check up. She’s a big girl! Almost 22 pounds and 30 inches long!
Savannah received her first birthday card in the mail. The big girls were excited about it too, and soon all the sisters were having fun together.
A Special Date
A couple weeks ago our good friend Erin invited Kayla to go on a special date with her to tonight’s gymnastics meet at CMU. I knew Kayla would love it, and it was fun watching her excitement build as we waited for tonight. Kayla enjoyed cheering for the “pretty girls,” having a special snack and getting to play on the gymnastics equipment once the meet was over. We’re so thankful for friends like Erin!
