The Journey of Parenthood…

Kye Monthly Summary – January

While I may be decently behind in the blogging…I sure did sum up Jan in just a couple of posts! 🙂 It’s getting there!

Here is everything sweet Kye had going on during Jan!

Dentist: Kye had his 6 month cleaning at the Dentist. His first trip to the dentist over the summer was a BREEZE so I wasn’t the least bit worried about this one! We had practically no wait but Kye enjoyed playing with the tea set they had sitting out 🙂

They have tvs in the ceilings above the patient chairs and my child instantly turned into a zombie. At first they had it on Cartoon Network. Um, no way. I asked if she minded switching it and it wasn’t a big deal at all. We don’t do tv but if we did I’d only probably let my kids watch Disney Channel or PBS probably? So she put it on Disney Channel. Kye did GREAT for the cleaning. No cavities and they said we’re obviously doing a great job brushing and flossing. 

A few things I did learn from the appointment:

  • We will need to help Kye with brushing until he’s NINE years old! I wouldn’t have ever guessed that?
  • He has some discoloration on his front two teeth and Dr Josh said it’s actually probably from sleeping with his mouth open. That all the air flow causes some discoloration. Last appointment they had said the discoloration was probably from something that had happened during pregnancy, so I prefer the idea of it being an issue from sleeping 🙂 I happened to catch him sleeping and snapped a picture…YUP. Def sleeps where I could see those front teeth getting lots of air!

After his appointment I took him to get a donut as his prize. I know, it makes no sense. Yay! You’re cavity free…now here’s a ton of sugar! But it was an EARLY appointment and we didn’t have time to go sit down somewhere together so I figured it was a CHEAP treat which he def earned for being such a great patient 😉

Riding Sister: After the fun time Kye and Britt had in his jeep with Daddy he has enjoyed driving her around the yard in the evenings. He takes it super seriously and it’s funny to see them bicker over who gets to control the radio 😉

He also will help push her around the yard in her car too

Tomato: Kye’s FAVORITE movie is Mighty Machines. Kid LOVES it and anytime we have a movie day it’s the movie he ALWAYS picks. One of the movies talks about farming and the crop they pick is tomatoes. Kye asked us to please buy him a tomato to eat at the store. In hindsight I should have probably thought to get those little cherry tomatoes (which we did try later…) but we just got one big tomato and cut him a slice. Bless his heart he wanted SO BADLY to like it!

As you can tell it didn’t go over so great. But he said “mmm…that’s good” in like the most disgusted tone. He really did give it the best shot possible! Zach and I both cannot stand tomatoes so we feel his pain on this one!

Yard Work: Kye is SUCH a huge helper and LOVES to work in the yard. He was so proud of this leaf pile that he raked 100% by himself and asked me to take a picture of him! 

He also spent a Saturday afternoon over at Big Papa’s and G-Mama’s and helped get their yard ready for their new playground. He worked and worked and did not want to stop! It was precious when I drove up and saw him and Big Papa working hard together…sweet memories 🙂

He also really enjoys helping Daddy in his storage shed. The shed is FINALLY finished (post to come at some point about all the awesome improvements my amazing hubby has been doing around our house lately!) and Zach even made a little work bench area just for Kye and his tools 🙂 It was a great idea because Kye is def too old to keep his play tools in the house anymore. There isn’t anything I trust him to “fix” at this point…he’s too strong to be trusted with even a plastic hammer haha!

School: School is going very well still! Courtney and I were both super concerned at the start of the school year about him and Payton being in the same class, but it’s been COMPLETELY fine! In fact, I hope they are in the same class next year too! Kye and Colt always tend to buddy up whenever we’re all together and I think school has been a great opportunity for he and Payton to get a stronger bond. his month he did get an ouch report sent home and it made me laugh. Kye was totallllly fine when I picked him up but literally three different people talked to me about how he got hurt, one of whom was the school director, another of whom was a teacher who literally chased after me to tell me, and they sent a note home in his bookbag about it. I’m glad they are so focused on notifying the parents about any issues. But it was hard not to laugh when they kept saying “a little girl accidentally kicked Kye in the face.” I mean a) how the HECK do you kick someone accidentally? and B) how the HECK do you kick them in the face?!?!

Games: Our nightly ritual is so fun. Seriously! I’m not sure where I came up with the idea to have game time together every night, but I love it 🙂 I love that it gives us one-on-one time with Kye and I love the lessons learned through the games we play. Whenever Zach is working late or out of town I try to play the games with Kye that I know Zach doesn’t like. Cootie being one of them (he also doesn’t like Don’t Break the Ice or Don’t Spill the Beans). 

Kye is getting very good at all the skill type games we have. But Memory is def his strongest! He SHOCKS us at how great of a memory he has. Zach hardcore thinks he has a photographic memory after that whole block thing I posted about on one of his monthly posts awhile back. I don’t really know if there is testing or something you do for that? But after seeing his skills with Memory…I kinda think he might too! He legit beats us like EVERY time we play! On this particular night he got 9 matches, many of them back to back! 

Shaving: Kye got a little shave kit for Christmas and has been DYING to use it. Zach was out of town and Kye was missing him pretty bad so I let him bust it out during bath time to have his first shave. I feel HORRIBLE about it now b/c Zach has been super upset that he missed it. Oops. But we decided this doesn’t count bc it’s in the bathtub and not at the sink with Daddy…hopefully we’ll be getting some cute pictures of them shaving together soon 😉

Tub Toy Trick: Speaking of the tub…here is an AWESOME trick that WORKS! I saw it on Pinterest and gave it a try. You know how bath toys always have a little hole in them and you have to squeeze all the water out after each bath? And you know how it’s like impossible to get all the water out so you end up with yucky mold in there? Take a hot glue gun and squeeze the glue into each of the tub toy holes. Bam! No more mold! The toys don’t get any water in the them so no more squeezing after each bath! Awesome trick 🙂

Sick: Kye had a little cold for a couple days this month. He has always had a mega strong immune system. While this is a blessing it’s also a curse. He doesn’t get very sick very often but when he does get a little cold it will linger b/c his body keeps fighting it off so well so instead of getting hardcore sick for a couple days, he stays a little sick for a week or so. No trip to the dr was needed or anything. I’ve found with him that if he doesn’t feel so great that substituting juice (v8 fushion and green machine mixed together) for his milk at meal times and letting him carry it around in a sippy cup really helps him bounce back quick!

Rash: While Zach was out of town working I decided to take the kids in the back yard for a picnic snack and playtime. We were outside for under two hours and when we came in I noticed a rash ALL over Kye. Thank the LORD Casey was over because I was in a mad dash to get dinner made, Britt was being fussy, and Kye had this rash and I didn’t have a clue what caused it. I was nervous that it could be a bad allergic reaction to a plant or something he had come into contact with outside. I was in a tad bit of a panic. I mean we’ve all seen My Girl and how she got stung by a bee and died. I didn’t want to be that dumb mom who doesn’t rush her kid to the hospital when she should, ya know??? Thankfully some Googling helped me feel better. I know people say you shouldn’t google medical stuff…but I ALWAYS do and it ALWAYS calms me down? 

The rash was all over his body but was especially bad on his bottom area. Robyn was super helpful in figuring out the cause. I was thinking it was from a patch of weeds that he had sat in outside but we actually figured out that it was more likely from laundry detergent. I had changed his underwear and pants and remembered over Christmas time when the kids had stayed at Mrs Charlotte’s that she had washed a couple items of his clothes while Zach and I were away on vacation. 

I went ahead and washed ALL of his underwear and the rash was gone by morning. I gave him benedryl right away when I first noticed it and it def helped it go down. Once it wore off it flared up again before bedtime so I gave it to him again. Like a year ago Zach got a good deal on these HUGE laundry detergent canisters of Tide and that’s what I’ve been using so I think maybe he had a reaction to whatever detergent Mrs Charlotte uses? She def won’t be washing any of his stuff again for awhile, that’s for sure! When I put it on Facebook someone actually commented and said that their kids would break out anytime they used any detergent other than Tide…that made me feel better about it and I will be continuing to use Tide just in case 😉

Working Out: During this month I was on the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and did some of the Can You 24 Workout DVD. Kye did a couple of the videos with me and he was SO into it! Afterwards he said he didn’t want to do it with me again because it was too hard haha! Here’s a video of his skills 😉

Winking: This month Kye mastered his “wink” which cracks me up! Look out ladies…Kye’s got them mad flirting skills 😉

Pencil Sharpener: At our church they have a General Store where they can spend their “Bible Bucks” on little toys and treats and such. A lot of the junk Kye brings home is a little over his age I feel…and one such days he brought home a pencil sharpener. A three year old with a razor blade? No thanks! He was super excited about it though so I let him give it a whirl. He had a BLAST sharpening some pencils for me 🙂 

Coupon Kid: I love that Kye doesn’t want for much. He’s very content and that is something I aim to instill in my children. We don’t need to have material things in this world…I have never been the type of parent to take my child to the store and let them buy anything. No treat for behaving, no toy to make them hush, etc. When I go grocery shopping once a month I will ask Kye if he wants anything from the store so I can add it to the list. Usually he says the same old thing like we need more bananas or crackers or something but this time he said “Mommy will you PLEASE bring me home a coupon?” Haha I cracked up. Sure enough when we were unloading the groceries that night after Britt was in bed I handed him the coupon and he was SO CRUNK about it. Like legit jumping up and down over it! It was hilarious! I love that he is so easy to please…can it please stay this simple forever?

Fireman: With Zach being gone so much of this month I let the kids keep their cozy coupes inside to give them something fun to play with and make my life a little easier 😉 They had THE best time riding around talking and “texting” on their phones (guess I need to have the whole don’t-text-and-drive talk a little younger than I’d planned, huh?)! Here’s a video!

Tell me this isn’t THE cutest picture!

Playing in Room: Now that Britt is older she wants to play with ALL the toys Kye plays with. I have told him that if he chooses to play with things in the living room or dining room then he’ll have to share with her. It’s just part of being an older sibling. Yes, she’ll probably knock over his block tower. And she’ll probably grab pieces of his choo choo track. She’s little and she wants to be like her older brother and copy whatever he is doing. It’s annoying. I, too, am an older sibling and I remember how annoying it is. But it’s part of life that he’ll just have to deal with. So I have explained to him that he may choose to play with his toys in HIS room. He may close the door so she won’t come in there and he may play uninterrupted. I try very hard to allow him his own space without her as I never want him to resent her or anything like that. This system has worked wonderfully! I completely trust Kye alone, especially in his room and he can play happily without her messing with him. He understands that I can’t play with him because I need to be playing with her when she’s awake (I spend plenty of time playing with him when she’s in her pack and play or napping or in bed for the night). He is so proud to show me the things he comes up with in his room! 

He built this track all by himself

Block tower!

 Tent: I worked my butt off this month to get our hardwood floors super clean in the dining room (long story which I’ll discuss in a later post about our home improvements) so I had to move all the chairs and such out of that area. Kye came up with the idea of making a tent using the chairs and the pack and play. He and Britt had such a fun time playing in the pack and play “tent” 🙂

Proudest Moment: This month I had THE best parenting moment TO DATE. I got a facebook message from a fellow mom from our church that said that her child had said the prayer before bible class that morning and that she knew her child was only able to do it because they had watched Kye lead the prayer so many mornings. She talked about how hers and her husbands families are not church/praying type people so she knew her child was only picking up that type thing from church. She thanked me and said that my family is spiritually guiding her family so much. 

Um…I CRIED. Then I called Mrs. Charlotte and SHE cried. Then I printed it off and read it to Zach and HE cried. I cannot think of a better compliment than that. Kye is only three and is ALREADY having an impact for the Lord. That is HUGE. It really reminds me that it’s what life truly is ALL about. Our focus needs to be on GOD and spreading HIS LOVE! I’m so proud of Kye for leading by example. People CONSTANTLY come up to us at church and tell us about Kye’s prayers and how he will pray in front of all the kids (from ages 3 up to middle school age!) and is always volunteering to say the prayers. It just goes to show that teaching our children about God is something that is important from Day 1! 🙂 I couldn’t be prouder of Kye and know that we will only continue to hear great things about Kye and his love of the Lord in the future!!!

My Teeth: Kye and I were being silly and I was picking him up and his head bumped into my teeth. I have veneers on all four of my front teeth. Growing up I had a natural split inbetween my two front teeth and they said braces most likely wouldn’t close the gap because it runs so strongly in my family (my grandmother on my mom’s side had it and my dad has it too) so we just waited until I was older and got the veneers. We will probably do the same thing for our children assuming they have the gap and straight enough teeth not to justify braces! Anyways…when we bumped my teeth shifted. I about DIED. I love love love my veneers. They did such a great job on them that when I go to a new dentist the hygienists usually can’t even tell they aren’t real teeth!!! Both of them were loose and there was a gap between them where there wasn’t before 🙁 I was SUPER upset about it but didn’t see any point in visiting the dentist…I mean what could they do about it? I just waited it out and thankfully they shifted back and quit wiggling. There is still a TINY gap but seriously it’s now 0% noticeable! Whew 🙂 I couldn’t have handled it looking like this!


Other Stuff Going on This Month:


  • Both of my kids LOVE to play with phones and were bickering over a little mickey mouse phone we have. Britt had it for a long time so I told her it was Kye’s turn. Well she’s a tad young to understand the concept of sharing so she MELTED. She cried and cried and was super upset. I took her into a different room so he could play and enjoy his turn with the phone. Less than a minute later he came into her room and gave her the phone 100% on his own and said “it’s okay, she can have it. Come on Britt let’s go play!” It was PRECIOUS!
  • We talk about when Kye will grow up and such and he said one day “I don’t want to grow up. I’m going to stay like this forever.” It brought back memories of when I was five and people would ask how old I was and I’d tell them “I’m five and I’m gonna be five forever!” 😉
  • He says a few cute little things: for “foggy” he says “froggy” Instead of “Snow White” he calls her “Snow Wife” He will tell me to change the song to the “end” in the car and he really means start it over at the beginning. He’ll also sing “Life is a highway” and say “Wife is a highway” instead
  • He gets embarrassed if we laugh at him now
  • A little girl at our church (probably around 12 years old) got baptized this month. It was SO awesome to see Kye be so interested in such a huge occasion. He asked TONS of questions which was a great opportunity for me to talk to him about baptism and what it means (you can read all about that HERE!). After services he even wanted to go up to the girl and give her a little toy he had to tell her she did a good job getting baptized 🙂 It was a little toy skateboard he’d “bought” at the general store that morning…I’m sure she was SUPER confused haha
  • Kye got chapped lips for the first time this month. The dentist actually told me to put a little chap stick or something on him at night to prevent them from cracking. Zach is very anti chapstick b/c people get so addicted to it but I didn’t want them to crack and bleed either so I just dabbed a little Vaseline on them each night! No biggie 😉
  • One afternoon Zach and Jordan went to help out building Mr Rusty’s and Mrs Charlotte’s playground. The kids were running around playing and Kye said he wanted to help build it. He said “look at these muscles! They are hard as rocks!” haha
  • During naps Kye has a rule that he MUST stay in the bed and be QUIET. It’s okay if he doesn’t sleep or wakes up early. I don’t mind. He has books on a shelf he can read while he waits for me to come get him up. When I went to get him up he had TORN his bible. It was awful. I was so, so SHOCKED that he’d do that! As punishment we took away all of his books for one week. He was very upset with himself for making that choice and hasn’t come close to damaging any books since!
  • Kye made up THE sweetest song: “Obey the Lord. Obey the Lord. And you will not break your heart. Jesus is inside your heart. Looking inside your heart and soul. Angels will fly. Do not break your heart.”
  • Zach was home for a couple days and Kye said “Daddy needs to go back to work. He needs to make some money for our house!”
  • Zach and Kye went to watch our preacher’s son play basketball one night at the local high school. His mom told Kye that someday she’d come watch him play. He quickly answered “No ma’am I’m not gonna play this sport…I’m gonna play football!”
  • We stopped feeding Kye lunch at church this month. Instead I give him a snack cup and water and we wait until we get home to eat lunch.
  • He was playing pretend dr (“Dr Seuss” as he calls it) and I mentioned that he would make a great real doctor and that it would be a good job when he grows up. He said “no ma’am I’m not gonna be a dr. I’m gonna be a daddy”
  • Kye has been doing AWESOME with his letter recognition. We started playing a game where I’ll say a word and have him tell me what letter that word starts with. Heres a video from the first time we played it 😉 I can def tell he’s on his way to reading!

Kye had some fun solo time with some of the special men in his life this month! Daddy took him out to get tacos 🙂 

Uncle Jordan ASKED to have a guys day with Kye and Colt and took them to a local bounce house place and lunch at CFA. Best uncle award or whhhhhat??? 🙂

Emily Parker
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