Brace Face and Band Geek (or in other words catching up with Allias)

We have known for a few years that Allias would need braces at some point. Once he lost all but two of his baby teeth we took him to the Dental School at UNC to be examined. You have to be a learning case in order for them to accept you into the program. If you are accepted the cost is substantially lower then if you went to a regular orthodontist. They looked at Allias for all of five seconds that first appointment- it turns out he has a severe cross bite that will cause him serious jaw problems if not corrected early. He has had his braces for a week now and is starting to get used to them. Playing the clarinet causes him some discomfort and he couldn't really eat anything for the first few days but all in all things are going okay.

Here he is waiting to find out his treatment plan (this was our second appointment). He was really thrilled to be getting braces.
One side of his mouth. The orthodontist said that very back tooth is one of the strangest he has ever seen in his life.

Here is the other side. (probably not that exciting for most of you but I know my mom will like it). Allias went in the bathroom and pulled out his last baby tooth while we were at the appointment.

The pictures they took- they said his face shape and jaw line will change once he is done with his treatment plan- crazy!

Honestly I think he looks pretty adorable with or without braces but I am happy we caught the jaw issue early enough and it is being corrected.

Since school started and even part of the summer Allias has been crazy busy with marching band. I have loved every minute of it but him not so much. He would like to quit after this season and only do concert band next year but I am hoping by the time they go to march in the Indianapolis Colts Stadium for Nationals in November he will change his mind. I am not sure exactly what it is that he doesn't like but I sure love watching him march and perform. This weekend was one of the busiest he has had so far. Thursday was early release but the band stayed and rehearsed until six o'clock- ate dinner at the school and then performed during the half time show at the football game. He got home around 11.

(sorry the picture is a little blurry it is a snapshot from a video).

Friday was no school but the band had a mini camp all day- then up bright and early Saturday to march in the Mule Days parade-after the parade they headed back to school to rehearse- they were supposed to compete that night at Clayton High School but it was canceled because of rain. Allias was bummed they didn't get to compete. I was bummed too because most of the competitions will be out of town and I was looking forward to watching this one.

Allias is the cutest clarinet player for sure!!!

This horse stood perfectly still- even when the cowboy was cracking the whip!

The Band Parents didn't have it much easier. Thursday I was up at the school helping to set up and serve dinner for the kids then I helped clean up. Travis went to the game to watch Allias march and I came home to get some sleep but ended up staying up until they got home. Friday morning I was up by 5:30 making lunches and then Kailyn and I headed to Mule Days to sell t-shirts- came home briefly and then dropped Kailyn off at a friends and headed to the RBC Center to work at a concession stand (we get part of the profit to help pay for band travel fees). I got home around 11 and then was up again Saturday morning to sell refreshments on the parade route. Luckily they were fully staffed and I was able to just sit and enjoy and the parade although it was nothing like Apple Blossom.

Just for fun here are Cutie K and I waiting for the parade to start

Kaister

My baby girl is growing up and for the very first time in my life I am wanting time to slow down.
When I was pregnant with Kailyn I specifically remember promising Heavenly Father that if he would let me have a little girl I wouldn't stop having children just because I got my girl. At my ultrasound when they told me I was having a girl I kept asking them over and over if they were sure.

We had picked out a name for our first girl years before. We were listening to The Grateful Dead and there is a song with a line that goes- Sweet Ann-Marie she's my heart's delight. We knew that when we had a little girl that is what we would name her and that she would be our heart's delight. We moved to North Carolina when I was six months pregnant. During those last couple of months Travis and I decided we didn't like the name Ann-Marie anymore so we started searching for a new name. We had it narrowed down to Megan or Kayla but then I saw the name Kailyn in a baby name book two days AFTER my due date and fell in love with it. Travis liked it as well. He wanted to keep Ann-Marie as the middle name but I thought it was too long so we decided to go with just Marie. Even though we didn't name her Ann-Marie she still has always been our heart's delight.

She was due September 1st and because Allias had come early I was sure she would as well. Ten days after my due date I was still very pregnant and very ready for the baby to come. The doctor set an induction date for September 14th. I wasn't nervous as I had been induced with both boys.

On the afternoon of September 13th I was walking around the mall with my mom when I had a contraction. Now this was very unusual because in three pregnancies I had never had as much as a braxton hicks. I was soooo excited about the prospect of going into labor on my own. We headed home and during dinner I had a few more contractions. By eight o'clock that night they were a minute apart and we decided to call the doctor. We headed to the hospital and by ten pm I was ready to have the baby. Unfortunately there weren't any doctors in the hospital and so I had to hold back pushing for almost thirty minutes. By that time I was telling the nurse that the baby was coming whether a doctor was there or not. The doctor arrived just in time.

Kailyn Marie Nelson was born at 10:27 PM on September 13th 1999
She weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 22 1/2 inches long.
She was sooooo dry from being overdue that her little toes were cracked and bleeding but she was sooooo beautiful and so sweet from the get go.
I was in such awe that I had a daughter.

She was such a loving baby always happy and smiling and always giving kisses and cuddling. We always said if all babies could be like Kailyn we would have had 20. I never got the chance to fulfil my promise to have more children but I am so thankful Heavenly Father blessed me with three beautiful (inside and out) children and with a daughter like Kailyn.

Her first word was Hi

She didn't walk until she was 17 months old

She used to scoot around on her bottom talking away

She carried a baby doll (or two) with her wherever she went

She would scoot around holding that baby on her shoulder rocking it while talking on her toy phone

She has always been a very interesting little person with lots of quirkiness

She LOVED her binky- I honestly can't even remember how we got her to quit sucking it. I do remember that she was over three.

She NEVER wore shoes. Her first day of Kindergarten was the first day she wore shoes and to this day we never know where her shoes are. I think she has one of several pairs of flip flops in our shoe closet. Everyone at church knows if they see shoes lying around somewhere they belong to K.

We are constantly giving her nicknames- KayKay, Princess, Boo, Monkey, Kaister, Kaister Marieski, Kaister Monkey, Kay, Lover....

She has always been AMAZING at entertaining herself- she will play in her room for hours just talking away.
She has a fantastic imagination and writes wonderful stories.

She loves her dollhouse, roller coasters, Webkinz, Build A Bear and her dog Molly (she is always saying "I just can't believe it I have my own dog")

She is very very good with little children and will be a wonderful mother someday

School and homework have always been a struggle-

In spite of her academic challenges ALL of her teachers have LOVED her so much and have said she is so sweet and a GREAT friend.

Happy 10th Birthday Kailyn- we are sooooo lucky to have you in our lives!

Trashed memories

Travis, Kailyn and I were out running an errand yesterday. We had a pretty interesting conversation while we were out. It went something like this.
K- "I wish my dollhouse had more rooms. I mean the rooms it has are HUGE and great but I just wish it had MORE rooms."
Travis- "Does KC have a dollhouse?" (Kailyn had KC over to play yesterday)
K- "yeah she has two."
Travis- "WoW two???"
K= "yeah I used to have two until mom threw all my memories away."


Speaking of dollhouses. Travis built one for my niece Lily. It turned out fantastic but I didn't get any pictures of the finished product. Hopefully Brittney will post some soon and I can steal one. My friend Shannon used it in two photo shoots when it was pretty close to being done. The first one is Lily's baby brother Owen and the second is a set of boy girl twins.

When Brad and Brittney got all settled in at their new place out in Utah Britt asked Lily what her favorite part of the new house was and she said "my dollhouse". Before they left she was dragging the dollhouse over to her bed at night so she could "sleep" with it. We got lucky when a few months before Travis finished the dollhouse I found a HUGE bag of dollhouse people and furniture at a yard sale. Lily was sleeping with those as well.
Lily is just like Kailyn in a lot of ways- one being that a dollhouse will keep her entertained for hours. The memories that I trashed were in the form of a Fisher Price dollhouse I bought used on Ebay when Kailyn was two. After over six years of constant use it was falling apart so we bought her a new one larger wooden one for Christmas. I guess we should have kept the old one in the garage or something.
Here are some pictures of Lily's dollhouse when it was a work in progress.

Family Day with Tyler

Tyler is doing soooooo wonderful. I am soooooooo proud of him. He got three awards. Two for scoring the highest at the school on tests and one for his dedication to staying focus and setting goals. On one of the awards the instructor wrote good job and then crossed it out and wrote GREAT job. He is also on the softball team and in the choir. We had a great day but I forgot to take pictures until the very end. Travis and Kailyn had driven separate from us so I didn't get any pictures with them. Bummer. Last time I didn't even bring the camera. =C. Kailyn baked Tyler cookies last night and he ate ALL of them (15-20) on the way back to the Academy from the mall. He also ate a Chick-fil-A meal and two pieces of pizza for lunch. They went on a field trip yesterday to Raleigh of all places and went to all the museums. He said he ate three bag lunches and bought snacks and soda as well. He may be in shock the rest of the week when he goes back to his regular diet. He has lost 20 pounds since he got there in July!!!!!!
He said after he graduates in December he is going to go to Wake Tech and then transfer to NC State for Vet school. He also plans to serve a mission. When we dropped him off I thanked one of the leaders for their hard work and asked if Tyler was doing okay. He said he was a great kid and was doing wonderfully. He gets to come home for a three day leave in October and wants to have a HUGE party. I think we can manage that.

Here we are heading to the mall. Notice the ear buds- that is the first thing he asked for when he got in the car (my ipod).
This is the ride back to the Academy. Tayler got a little tired. Tyler still had my Ipod.

Me and my boys!!!! Can't believe they are so grown up. Aren't they handsome??? Man I love these kids!!!!

Me and Ty (I look like a total dork in this picture but whatever)LOVE

Courtney, Taylor and Aleesa decided to come along. I think everyone had a great time. When we went in August Daniel and Alyssa came and it was fantastic as well. So glad Tyler has such AMAZING friends. He is getting lots and lots of letters and it has really helped him stay positive and focused.

Ty and Court

Ty and Tay

Ty and Aleesa

How Kailyn Does Summer

Kailyn has had a boy free summer and I think she could totally get used to being the only child. Besides for our fantastic trip to Florida she has been hanging out with friends, swimming in the pool and at the beach, going to movies, museums and baseball games, playing with Lily and also loads and loads of just general vegging out. We went and saw the dress rehearsal for The Sound of Music with some friends and had a blast. I hope we can make it to a few more over the course of the year. A West Side Story is playing in October. Kailyn really wants to get involved in plays/drama and I have been searching around trying to find a place for her to take inexpensive classes. So far I haven't found anything but the search continues. She was a huge help at band camp- she kept the hospitality director's grandson occupied wonderfully and did whatever else she was asked. We started our first week of homeschool Monday and things are going great. Anytime we are doing something that she would never be able to do in a regular classroom like eating ice cream during reading time or doodling on paper while I read to her or laying out on the the trampoline doing math problems she makes sure to point it out to me how much she loves it. She also tells me regularly she is quitting school but I guess there has to be opposition in all things. I wish I had taken more pictures of her this summer but I left the camera behind way too many times.
Travis and Kailyn at the Mudcats game.

Waiting for The Sound of Music to start.

Yeah that's a diaper!

Mudcats- can you see the drama in her eyes???