Our Trip to FL & Kinsey's New Skill

We had a wonderful trip back to FL last week! The flights were long and lots of driving on either end of the flights so Kinsey was restless and tired of her car seat, but she was still better behaved than most kids! She enjoyed watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my ipad on the flight:

 

It was fabulous to spend time with lots of friends that I've missed since we moved (although there were still many we didn't get to see). It was the best to see Cheri and her family and go to Disney with them and I missed Cheri again the second she walked away :(



 Kinsey had a great time at Disney. She still really liked It's a Small World http://youtu.be/L4tJoyzOz6w and the Carousel. We rode Dumbo and the Haunted Mansion again and this time we went on the Speedway and the new Ariel ride too. We also watched the Parade, which Kinsey really liked. When she saw Mickey on the float, she was reaching up towards him! We went to see Mickey (twice) and Minnie and Daisy Duck too. Kinsey was so excited to meet Mickey! I knew she would be because she gets excited when he comes on TV on my IPad. As soon as she saw him, she started making a bunch of noise and dancing around. She could hardly wait her turn. Actually, the 2nd time (on our way out of the park), she got down on her butt and was trying to scoot to get to him, but it wasn't her turn yet so we had to hold her back. When it was her turn, we let her go and she scooted over to him and he got down on one knee to see her. She was kicking her feet and smiling so much - it was so cute!

 
  
 
 
 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

Kinsey also really enjoyed Sea World. I wasn't sure if she'd pay any attention to the Shamu show, but we sat 2 rows behind the platform the whales get up on (in the splash zone) and she LOVED it! I was able to see when Shamu was going to jump in front of us and point for Kinsey to look just in time for him to jump out of the water. Every time she saw him she got all excited! She also liked it when they got up on the platform and really enjoyed being splashed too! I was so happy that she enjoyed it so much. http://youtu.be/NKnJ3Hdmv2k She liked other parts of Sea World too include the Sharks where you go through a tunnel under their aquarium and the Penguins where it was really COLD! http://youtu.be/rU646OuptRA Oh and she played for a long time in the Splash Park in the kiddie area. She had a great time trying to catch the water! http://youtu.be/JKrsk46YdcY

 
 
 

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

Once we got up to Jacksonville, we took Kinsey to the beach. She liked playing in the sand and was excited about the water until a wave got her in the face and then she was done. So I guess she prefers the CO beaches where there are no waves and she can just splash and splash! Good thing because she's going to see a lot more CO beaches than FL beaches in her future.http://youtu.be/AH0-eJMzriU

 
 
 

   

 

So while we were on the trip, Kinsey started to get really good at standing up from sitting on a stool or ledge. We've been working on that in PT for a while and she had been getting better at it, but she really started doing it a lot on her own last week. One time in Sea World we sat her down on a ledge and Jamie was standing in front of her. She reached up and grabbed his legs and held on to stand up. She did it a couple of times too. Here's a video (sorry it's dark): http://youtu.be/48zsC2VonCE So when we got home, I started practicing with her again and she all of a sudden really got the hang of it. She was sitting on the stool and I wasn't even encouraging her and she stood up and sat back down repeatedly on her own. Plus she's even taking a few independent steps after she stands up! She's been doing it consistently for the last 2 days so we're going to keep practicing and hopefully she will get better and better. Right now we have the back of the stool propped up to give her a little help, but next week we're going to lower it a little. http://youtu.be/HyTGGRw3xwc

Right before we left for vacation the insurance company finally approved Kinsey's Prevacid prescription again. We weren't able to fill it before we left and she still hasn't needed it, so we're going without it for now. Hopefully she won't need it anymore!

Kinsey did get a stuffy nose and cough midway through our trip and she still has it now. Aside from one night when she was just really tired she hasn't acted like anything's wrong, so I'm not sure if it's just allergies or a mild cold. I was really worried at first because we were out of town, but it never developed into anything so that was a relief. Yesterday I took Kinsey for her flu shot. We went to the allergist's office so they could administer it and keep an eye on her for 30 minutes afterwards to make sure she didn't have an allergic reaction (the flu shot is incubated in eggs so she could have a reaction to the egg). She had no trouble with it at all - in fact, she didn't even cry when they gave her the shot! Such a trooper!

That's it for this week. Here are a few final pictures from the trip: 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 

   

   

 

A New View

Kinsey has a new view in the car these days - we finally turned her car seat around so she's forward facing! With the new guidelines with increased weight limits to stay rear-facing we had to wait for her to either reach the weight (which I think is like 45 lbs for her seat - that's going to be a LONG time) or the height and she has now reached the height (which is just within an inch of the top of the seat, not a specific number). Anyway, we turned her around last Sunday and she really seems to like it. She likes being able to see us and laughs whenever we turn around to look at her.



Kinsey also switched to a new diaper size this week! Since she hadn't gained weight in so long, she'd been wearing the same size (3) for nearly 2 years, but recently I noticed they were leaving red marks on her hip because they were too tight. So I bought the next size up. Big changes around here!

This week Kinsey learned how to open the closet doors in my craft room - not a good thing for me! They are sliding doors and she's never really tried to move them before, but the other day she scooted over and pushed it open! Little stinker! Looks like I'll be getting a childproof latch for those doors now.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yD_vy8cUJQ

Here's a cute video of Kinsey playing with her baby doll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWDjtZXXNok

 
She was holding the baby doll's hand :) 

   
 This is a sneak peak at Kinsey's Halloween costume - my friend Aliy made her this cow hat!

That's it for this week. We are heading out for our FL vacation tomorrow (as long as the flooding and road closures will let us get to the airport). We'll be there for a little over a week, visiting Aunt Cheri, going to Disney & Sea World, going to my friend Jay's wedding in Jax and visiting with lots of friends. So no blog next week, but I'll catch you all up with lots of pictures the following week after we get home. Please pray for safe travels for us all!

Fun, Fun & Fighting with Insurance

We had a busy and fun weekend for Labor Day. Jamie and I took Kinsey to her first movie at the local Drive-in Movie Theater. We went to see Planes. We took lots of blankets and pillows and made ourselves comfortable in the bed of the truck. Kinsey did pretty well, even though it kept her up way past her bedtime. She mostly played (we brought toys with us her for), but she did ocassionaly look up at the movie too.

 

   
 
 

   

   

   


 

The next morning we went to Windsor's Harvest Festival Parade. Kinsey enjoyed watching the firetruck, the horses, cheerleaders, and the Chic-fil-A cow.

 
 
 

 
 
  


And this week Kinsey and I finally went berry picking with Aliy and two of her kids. We've been waiting forever for the berries to be ready! It would have been nice if the weather had cooled off a bit (we've been setting records lately), but otherwise we had fun.

 

   

 

Here are a few pictures and videos of Kinsey doing some cool things:

Trying cantaloupe for the first time. We were at a restaurant and Jamie was eating a slice of cantaloupe and Kinsey was really eying it, so we gave it to her. It was pretty funny to watch - she really liked it: http://youtu.be/jO88h-THf6E

 

 

 Playing with one of her stacking toys. She just kept taking them off and putting them back on one morning: http://youtu.be/J09KVRV4QbM

She's been making a motion lately that looks like clapping. I keep trying to get it on video, but she always stops. Here's an attempt at capturing it:http://youtu.be/Hon6HU5FkHw

Kinsey playing with her puppets. She put one of each hand and was really holding them up and playing with them like puppets. It was really cute:
 

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate insurance companies? Last week I told you about how they are giving us the run around with the refill prescription for Kinsey's prevacid. So the Dr sent in the paperwork for the pre-authorization they required and the insurance company said they'd respond within 72 hours. On Thursday they denied to cover it. Again! This is the exact same crap they put us through 6 months ago! It's absolutely insane that we went through this once already and even more crazy that we're having to do it AGAIN for the same medicine 6 months later! And they denied it on the exact same basis as last time (that she hasn't tried all these alternatives that a 2 year old can't take and that she doesn't have a documented condition when she does, etc.). They're retarded! Anyway, the doctor is fighting them, but in the meanwhile they came up with another option - liquified Prilosec. Of course, the insurance denied to cover that too, but it's more affordable and we just paid for it out of pocket.

 In the meanwhile, Kinsey has gone about a week now without any medicine and she actually seems to be doing OK. Last Saturday she didn't eat well at lunch and I thought we were really in trouble, but she's eaten every meal since then like a champ. She is definitely more burpy than she was on the medicine, but so far it's not affecting her eating or mood, which is all that matters. So for now we're going to continue without giving her anything, even though we now have the liquified Prilosec on hand in case she does need it. And the doctor is going to continue fighting the insurance for the Prevacid in case we need that.  
 That's it for this week :)