Tulip Festival

On saturday, while BJ was working, Kenley and I piled into a car with my dad, step-mom, brotha Evan and step-grandma and drove down to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving point.

The weather was perfect and we are all sporting funny little tan lines today.

The waterfalls were gorgeous! They are the largest man-made waterfalls in the US.

 Kenley had to stop and smell the flowers several times after spotting another little girl doing it. She even kept making "Mmmm" noises. She had a great time "riding" with grandpa in his wheelchair.

 It was kind of a big deal, there were food tents, dancers, booths, fountains, ponds with fish and, of course, gorgeous plants and flowers everywhere.

 Blowing kisses at the fake turtle

It was a lot of fun, I highly recommend going!

Easter

I just realized I never posted anything about our Easter Eggstravaganza!! (Too cheesy?)

This was the first year we took Kenley out for an easter egg hunt. I think we had more fun than her, since she was recovering still from her ear infection. But we still managed to make a day of it.

We went to Wheeler Farm, where it's kind of a big deal.

We got to meet the Easter Bunny, go on a wagon ride, and got a bag of candy. It was joyous.

This is us in the "Toddler area" waiting to be herded to our egg huntin' spot.

This place is awesome, for more reasons than I can name :)

We had a limit as to how many eggs we could take, but K was on a roll and wanted to pick up every single egg and open all of them. (they were brilliantly empty, to keep people from going nuts)

Of course my camera wouldn't turn on when we got there, so these crappy camera pics are the only shots I got.

I'll have to post pics of her in her adorable easter dress soon.

Aaaaaahh SWING!!

Last night, when it finally stopped raining and the sun came out, we went to our first baseball game of the season.

I love going to games, the atmosphere is so much fun!

And now that Kenley is getting old enough to participate in things, its even more fun!

She had more fun than I expected. She watched the players throwing the ball with fascination and really got into it when everyone cheered.

Lately, when she asks for something its always "too", so when she asked for a hotdog it was "Hoggog too and juice too peeeess"

She's so funny!!

Please excuse the messy hair, I picked her up and brought her to the game straight from daycare where she always runs herself all disheveled :)

She loved meeting Bumble, kept giving him hugs and kisses, and forgot we were taking pictures.

After spilling her juice all down her front she took the whole bucket of popcorn and giggled the entire time she was eating it, all the while "cheering" and yelling for the team

We had so much fun!

Clueless

I'm just going to say it, and maybe someone else will admit it too.

I have NO IDEA how to be a mom.

No clue.

I don't know what to do from day to day.

But I do my best!

I read baby/child/parenting, forums/magazines/blogs etc...

I ask for advice on things from trusted friends and family. (and receive countless unwanted or unsolicited advice from strangers or just strange people)

And still, I have no idea what i'm doing!

I'm constantly afraid i'm ruining Kenley.

But apparently you cant admit something like that around these parts. Cause all I see here are over-achieving moms juggling 4 kids all under 5, telling me "Can you believe..[so and so].. microwaved her breast milk in plastic bottles??" -Cue gasp

What prompts this rant is really this:

I'm constantly hearing judging remarks about other parents. And i'll admit i've participated when I felt I "knew" something better to do.

But it has to stop!

This week was crazy! After Kenley was showing signs of cold/allergies/latest vaccination sickness. I finally took her to the doctor when she wasn't getting better.

It took me almost a week!

The doctor then told me she had a horrible ear infection and needed to get on antibiotics immediately.

My jaw hit the floor.

I could here those women's voices in my mind

"Did you hear Gina let her daughter be that sick for a week before taking her to the doctor?"

I mean, what kind of mother does that??!!?

I felt like such a terrible mom for not realizing my sweet baby was so sick!

But I had no idea! She seemed mildly uncomfortable, had allergy-like symptoms during the highest pollen count time of the year and only had a fever a week after her vaccination which i'm told is normal.

Yes, I will finally get to my point:

As outsiders we have no idea what the other parent believes is safe, good or right for their children.

If you feel its a safety or health issue, tell them!! I'm sure they'll be grateful, and if they're not- oh well, at least now they were told the proper care and will hopefully follow through.

But otherwise, keep it to yourself!

The other parents believe Harry Potter is evil? Or they give their baby sugary Popsicles on hot days?

That's their choice! You have no idea what happened to lead them to those decisions or whats going on inside the home.

Let it be and keep your mouth shut, otherwise you'll just make it harder to get along.

There, i'm done with my rant now, it's time for Kenley's antibiotic dose anyway....

Drab Snigger Jig

Since the beginning of time (on this blog), i've really struggled with what I should name it.

I tried just our names, which felt incomplete

I tried Driggers Family, which there already is with my sis-in-law Jess's blog.

I thought about using "Driggers... [something]" so you'd know who it was right away, but i wanted the freedom to blog about whatever else i wanted and not limit myself to posts solely about family.

And for a while I settled on our fams initials "BGK" knowing it wouldn't last.

Fast-forward a year and recently I got to work on finding anagrams of BJ, Gina and Driggers combined. I wanted something unique and fun, like I think we are (is that really vain to say??)

My exhaustion-fueled brain came up with something that I feel is brilliant.

Drab Snigger Jig

What does it mean? Good question!

Drab: dull, cheerless, lacking in spirit, brightness etc.

'Cause we all need a little polish

Snigger: a sly or disrespectful laugh, esp when partly stifled

Perfect :)

Jig: a rapid, lively, springy, irregular dance for one or more persons

More perfect!

In other words it means:

A dull, disrespectful giggle in a lively, irregular dance.

Brilliant or ridiculous?

Fact

I'm pretty sure these are all facts.

Facts that, lets be honest everybody, make life better.

(Oh, and here's a pic of the fountain at city creek. cause thats pretty cute right?)

I believe cutting up an apple makes it taste better.

I believe new sheets can help you sleep better.

I believe watching my 2 yr old yell "Weee!" while going down 12 inches on the slide is what everyone needs to see before they die.

I believe in reading the book first. Its just better than the movie.

I believe seeing a newborn's sweet face is the closest i get in this life to seeing through the veil.

I believe in smiling, a lot.

I believe in using a blanket, even if you have to crank up some A/C.

I believe a new outfit instantly makes me lose 5 pounds.

I believe a woman should own her age. It gives her power.

I believe a day in sweats with a good book can be better than any vacation.

I believe in never relying on my memory.

I believe my car runs better when its clean.

I believe in play-doh, bubbles and chalk.

AND in saying "I love you" every single day, in the morning, at the end of every phone call, and at the end of every day.

Happenings

I've been really bad about posting to the blog lately, and I have a LOT to recap.

So here goes with the quick and dirty version of the happenings this year so far.

First of all lets start with the good parts.
My newest nephew was born friday March 23rd!!

Everett Nephi Smithson

Isn't he just precious? I love him already :)

That makes boy #3 for Carrie Smithson, and boy cousin #4 for Kenley.

I recently discovered Instagram, and have been photographing K in all sorts of mundane activities just to jazz the pic up.

Kenley turned 2 on saturday! Can you believe my baby is TWO YEARS OLD???

She got tons of fun stuff; a trike, scooter, dolls, chalk, bubbles and on and on.....

Since yesterday, because of all these new fun toys, she's been demanding to be outside every waking minute

.

Since she was turning2, we decided back in january that we should fit in one more flight before she hit that magic number (meaning we'd have to buy her a seperate plane ticket) And i'm glad we did. I love visiting the in-laws, I really lucked out on this bunch.

While we were there we tried to get a shot of all the grandkids, which didn't turn out so well....

As you can see, Kenley was NOT happy about being told to sit still, and the boys got bored pretty fast.

(Can you see the excitement in everyone's face, also the basket was so we could photoshop baby Everett in after he was born)

Lastlly I just want to mention the C word.

Cancer

It's mean scary word, but in this case I have full faith this bully is also kind of a wimp.

My mom was diagnosed with Folicular Carcinoma, or thyroid cancer.

About a year before they moved to west virginia, my mom noticed a growth under the skin on her neck, and finally got it checked out a couple months ago. After a few inconclusive tests they decided the best course of action was to remove the tumor. At the time of the surgery, they still couldn't tell if it was cancerous or not and sent her on her merry way with a clean bill of health.

Then a week later she got a call with the news that they discovered it, in fact, was cancer.

Rarely fatal. If spread will most likely be in the lungs and bones.

She will go in tomorrow to have the whole thyroid removed and have radioactive iodine run through her body for 3 days to kill off the cancer cells. Then she'll be beat for a long time...

Its such a pain in the butt, she already deals with debilitating arthritis and fatigue. I think her body is kind of a jerk sometimes.

We've had a lot of people reaching out with support and prayers, i'm so thankful for these great people.

Cross your fingers with me while she heals!

Potty Training Boot Camp

Instead of listing all the many, many, many things we got for christmas, or posting about how I lasted until the late party hour of 9 on new years- I think i'll post about the thing that has taken up soooo much more of my time lately.

For the past couple of weeks Kenley has been showing tons of signs that she is ready for potty training; Telling me when she pees or poops, tries to sit on the little potty chair, tries to pull her pants down to pee in potty, watching me very interested when I pee (a little creepy, but i hear it helps?) Etc, Etc...
And somebody at every turn lending me advice (well meaning, albeit unsolicited) about how she's ready and "You know what you should do...." and "The sooner the better..."
So naturally I started feeling like a terrible mom for not potty training her sooner! How could I miss the signs!!
So I read up on the best techniques and asked friends, and decided to set the potty date!
I had the week after christmas off work so the timing was perfect!
I started by introducing the potty, having her sit on it clothed and get excited about it, reading books about the potty and watching movies about the potty.
A few days of this and we were all set with the regimen.

Day one-
We hunkered down in the kitchen so I could leave her bare bottomed to learn to notice when she pees.
This day sucked.
A lot.
I didn't even have time to shower.
But I had high hopes of progress!

Day two-
Still bare bottomed, we ventured hand in hand out of the kitchen to the bathroom.
She seemed to be understanding that Pee-pee doesn't go on the floor, although she couldn't quite hold it, but would just say "Uh ooooh" right before the warm yellow stream made its appearance.
I was able to trick her several times into going pee with the potty chair on the counter in the bathroom, the water running, while she played with the water.
We would scream, dance, clap, brush our teeth (she loves it) every time she pottied.
She's gonna get it!
The trip in the afternoon to see if she would keep her pants dry was a bust, but I still felt pretty good about it.

Day three-
About the same as day 2.
Only she would say "Pee pee!" So we'd rush to the potty she would plop down for 30 seconds, sing a song, then jump up clapping and shouting "Yaaayy!" as the dribble she just began pours all over the floor.
So in my mind, she's getting it right? (even though i'm slowly losing my mind, and have you noticed the word "Potty" has lost all meaning?)

Day four-
Better!
She even tells me when she needs to poop.
I have by this time learned the subtle body language telling me she's ready to potty.

Day five-
Same as day four, but i've realized there's no helping the little dribble preceding each pee.
Our trips come back with dry pants, HOORAY!
Uses the potty happily and tells me about 70% of the time when she needs to.
But I cave and buy pull-ups since she'll be going back to daycare and I don't want poor Tiffany to deal with pee all over her floors.

Day six-
Potty training... what potty training???
She refuses to use the potty or even sit on it clothed!!
She went back to daycare and (I guess) decided the big girl potty is not cool.
I don't blame Tiffany at all, there are just too many fun things to play with.

Since its counterproductive, we're not fighting Kenley on this. It frustrates me so much to have gotten so good, only to lose all momentum!
But we'll give it a bit, not push it, and try again when she starts asking to again.

Sigh... so close
By the way, I will be shampooing all the carpeted areas in our home.