DST Temporarily Down

We're doing a little behind-the-scenes housework at DST (see, the pregnancy nesting instinct knows no bounds). The site will be down for several hours and we anticipate all things to be up and running again by midnight PST. We apologize for the inconvenience!

Flush DNS - EDITED to include additional instructions.

Honestly, 1 and 1 has been THE worst customer service experience of our entire lives. I can't even begin to describe the hell they've put us through - especially Erick who has been on the phone with them, getting the run around for two straight days. What some of you are experiencing now (not being able to get on the site) is a result of yet another one of their underhanded tactics. If you are having trouble accessing DST, here are some suggestions:

If you are unable to access the site, you may need to wait 24-48 hours for your cached DNS queries to update. You can try these things:

1) Clear your cache

2) In Microsoft Windows, open the command prompt (start->programs->accessories). type in the command ipconfig /flushdns to flush the DNS resolver cache.

3) Start>Run
At the prompt, type CMD
In the DOS window type ipconfig/flushdns
once it's done, type this into the same prompt: ipconfig/registerdns

IF YOU HAVE VISTA:

Click Start > Run > Right Click on "Run as Administrator"
At the prompt, type CMD
In the DOS window type ipconfig/flushdns
Once it's done, type this into the same prompt: ipconfig/registerdns

IF YOU HAVE MAC:
In Mac OSX, you can use the command lookupd -flushcache to flush the DNS resolver cache.

bash-2.05a$ lookupd -flushcache



The site itself is now under the care of a new hosting company. The domain name cannot be changed over for another 40-something days so that is still hosted with 1 and 1. We're hoping this is the last problem we get from this terrible company.

The server change was a success. Most people will be able to access the site. If you find any bugs, please report them in this thread.

If you are unable to access the site, you may need to wait 24-48 hours for your cached DNS queries to update. You can try these things:

1) Clear your cache

2) In Microsoft Windows, open the command prompt (start->programs->accessories). type in the command ipconfig /flushdns to flush the DNS resolver cache.

3) Start>Run
At the prompt, type CMD
In the DOS window type ipconfig/flushdns
once it's done, type this into the same prompt: ipconfig/registerdns

The Site Upgrade Has Begun

The site should be down for no more than a couple of hours as we complete the final stages of the transfer. If there are any changes, I will post an update here. Thank you for your patience!

We're Aware

No need to contact us. We're aware that the site is down. Our hosting company has promised us 99.9% up time and this now makes 3 times that they've gone down in 3 weeks. If they don't provide a sufficient solution for us tomorrow then we will be switching to another company.

Thank you for your patience. We hope to have everything up and running by morning.

Edit: Make that 4 times in 3 weeks. We spoke with the company last night and this morning and they have only given us the runaround with no explanation for the down time. Erick has been talking to another hosting company today (one with ACTUAL customer service skills) and we're checking to see how quickly we can make the switch.

Not Loving This Hosting Company

Yes, we're aware of the error message at DST. I'm not loving this hosting company right now. Twice this has happened and we've only been with them a month and a half.

Anyway, we're doing our best to reach them so we can get it fixed asap. At least this time it's a weekday so hopefully we won't have as much difficulty!

Still Waiting!

So far, not much to update! Nick has some theories but we can't seem to get a real contact from our hosting company. We've been getting the run-around all day. It appears that all weekend calls are outsourced to the Philippines and the operators are only trained in the very basics. So we're hoping we'll get some real help first thing in the morning! Thanks for stickin' with us!

DST Temporarily Down

We are aware that DST is having connection issues at this time. We are in contact with our hosting company. They are researching the problem and will get back to us asap. If there are any important updates, we will post them here. Thank you for your patience.

Server Change Complete!

The server change was a success. Most people will be able to access the site. If you find any bugs, please report them in this thread.

If you are unable to access the site, you may need to wait 24-48 hours for your cached DNS queries to update. You can try these things:

1) Clear your cache

2) In Microsoft Windows, open the command prompt (start->programs->accessories). type in the command ipconfig /flushdns to flush the DNS resolver cache.

3) Start>Run
At the prompt, type CMD
In the DOS window type ipconfig/flushdns
once it's done, type this into the same prompt: ipconfig/registerdns

DST will temporarily be down tomorrow!

As we switch DST to a dedicated server, we will need to close the site temporarily. We'll close tomorrow evening (August 27th) and we don't anticipate much down time at all. If there are any necessary updates, I will post them here.

DST back up!

It looks like we're back up! I haven't heard anything else - just saw that we're online. Here's to hoping all is well!

DST is Down! - Late Night Update Added

Hi Everyone - This blog is technically "closed" but I wanted to let anyone from DST know what's going on.

There was a fire at the database center last night. Erick woke me this morning before he left and said DST should be back up in a few hours so I was just waiting it out. But we've received a more current update from Nick.

Nick said that based on reports, he doesn't anticipate any data loss. But everything did get wet. The power is out in the database center and they have to wait for things to dry out. He hopes to have things back up tonight but if there is extensive damage to the routers, he already has a back-up router ordered to be over-night shipped and he will activate it tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience as Casual Tuesday gets everything going again. These things are out of everyone's control and we're praying for them as both friends and business partners that the damage is as minimal as possible!

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Late Night Update:

Just got this from Nick:

The data center is back up and limping along.... to be up 100% we are going to need some of the equipment that will arrive tomorrow.



To the best of my knowledge, the server is dry, it just hasn't been powered up yet. So all signs are pointing to no long term damage, and no data loss....

I will know more in the morning after things get powered up and the new equipment is installed...

Please Note

Please take note that the post below is my last public blog post. I started this blog as a way to keep my family and friends updated on the Bieger family and especially to share pics and stories of my children. However, since I own an internet business, I'm finding that a small group of people feel entitled to use my personal blog to pass judgment, create gossip, competiton, and general petty remarks against me. It's a group that finds conflict with almost anyone so I'm not generally concerned with their opinions.

However, since I'm 30, not 13, I just don't have time for that silliness. Besides, with the nature of Erick's work, it's probably safest if I don't have a public blog anyway. I had been considering doing this for some time and it's finally time to just get it taken care of.

I know that many of our family and friends have told me that they read my blog. I don't have a mailing list of everyone or anything like that. So if you would like to continue reading my blog, please email me at shannonbieger@yahoo.com. I honestly enjoy that my family and friends read this and I would be honored if you would like to continue. But if I don't know you in real life then I'm sorry, this blog will no longer be public.

My Four Year Old Girl

Here she is....my beautiful four-year old girl. She is still such a petite little munchkin and no one can believe she's four years old. She may be tiny but her personality is ALL four! She's a drama queen, my little helper, my snuggle bug, she's cautious, she's introverted in new groups but extroverted with her friends or on stage. She's imaginative - especially lately. I'm always blown away when I overhear the games she's come up with and the songs she creates. She's so very bright, already starting to read. Yesterday we drove through old-town Brea and she said "B-R-E-A. Buh-ray-uh. Brea." She sounded it out all on her own! I know adults who still pronounce it "Bree-yuh"! LOL!! And she's funny too! She cracks me up with the things she says. Last night when she and I were driving, there was this man on the corner with long hair and a cane. She said "Mom, I thought that man was a dog but he's just a dude without a shirt." LOL...what?!?!?!

I cannot believe that four years ago tonight I was sitting in the labor and delivery room, holding my new daughter as our family arrived for their first visit. I was tired, I was starving, I was floating on cloud nine. You can read her birth story here if you've never read it before.

We celebrated her birthday on Thursday but this morning she did wake up to some presents from Mommy, Daddy, sissy, baby and Dokken. She had fun playing while I did a little housework and then we went to Target to pick up the thank you notes for her party. After that we stopped at Mrs. Fields to get her a princess cupcookie for her to enjoy after lunch. : )

This evening, my Dad and Erick installed our K9 grass (thank you sooooo so SO much for that Dad!) and the girls are LOVING their backyard again. Last year we planted grass and the soil just didn't allow healthy grass to grow in 70% of the yard. So we're pretty excited about this option so that the kids can still play in the back with Dokken. No watering, no mowing, no bugs, no mud, no wasps (the wasps were all over our grass last summer). It looks real and feels less scratchy then grass. And it drains so if it rains or the girls wanna use a little swimming pool, we don't have to worry about it getting wet. We're making a little dog run for Dokken so she'll have a designated potty place and it will have a little gate border so the kids know to stay out of it. Dokken arrives Saturday and we're all too excited for her to get here!! It'll be the perfect end to McKenna's birthday week. : )

McKenna's Fourth Birthday Party!

I am soooooo glad we went with Hullabaloo's!! That place was worth every single penny! All of the walls were painted with trees and rainbows so it worked perfectly for the Wizard of Oz theme. You get an hour in the playroom and an hour and a half in the party room. But since we were the only party that night, we pretty much had the run of the place the whole night. They provided almost everything! I brought in things that I specifically wanted personalized (Dorothy plates, a birthday banner, the cake, some balloons) and a few items that they don't provide (ice and chips). But other than that...they did everything for us! They set up everything, cleaned up everything, wrote the gift list for us, carried the gifts to the car, served the pizza, served the cake. They had excellent service. I was really pleased with how easy they made it all.

And the place was so fun! It's one big clubhouse - a bounce-house obstacle course, a big treehouse with slides, a karaoke stage, air hockey and foosball, a puppet show box, a toddler area. The kids had a blast. We had the entire place to ourselves which was great because we had about 40 adults and kids. We were able to just let the kids run wild and the place was completely safe. Even the younger ones like Kyla and Gavin could run free and they were able to get up on all the toys. You didn't have to worry about them getting hurt on anything, falling off of anything, getting taken by strangers. All the parents were actually able to relax and socialize with each other. I think that's the first time I've thrown a birthday party and been able to talk to all of our guests! Erick and I were thrilled about that because we had invited so many people that we wanted to catch up with.

That was the other thing....it was really nice having so many people show up. We missed those of you who couldn't come of course. But I was really happy that so many were able to come. I was thinking how amazing it is to have so many wonderful families in our lives. Almost our entire immediate family was there, friends from church, friends from McKenna's school, friends I've known since high school, friends Erick has known since high school, playdate friends... I felt very blessed to have all of them there. And all of the kids, ALL of them did great. I didn't see a single fight, a single tantrum, nothing. It would be totally expected for that to happen what with all the kids running around and all the sugar pumping through their veins and the fact that the party went until 8pm. LOL! But no - everyone did great!!

And oh yes, McKenna did get quite spoiled by her friends and family. She sort of ripped through the presents at warp speed. She'd open it, say thank you and move on to the next one. But once we got home and she took the time to look through them again, she was MUCH more enthusiastic! I can't even remember all that she got. Lots of clothes, several games, a Barbie castle doll house, her new bedding set, an Easy Bake Oven, accessories for her Easy Bake Oven, an apron that Auntie had personalized for her (it says Princess McKenna on it), a few different dolls, a princess purse, a Tinkerbell bank, a princess dress up set for the BATH (LOL now she can dress like a princess no matter where she goes!) My Dad & Cheryl found a miniature version of my wedding ring (fake diamonds of course) and got her that because they know how she likes to wear "wedding rings". And I kid you not, the present she spent the most time staring at was a box of Kleenex. LOL! Cheryl had spotted a box of Kleenex with this shimmery scene from Peter Pan on the outside. So she bought it just because she knows how much McKenna loves the movie and then threw it into the gift bag with the rest of the presents. McKenna was enthralled with it! LOL! It was too funny!

I've got tons of pics for you. My Mom sent me all of hers so I combined ours together into one Shutterfly album. Erick and I tend to snap a cute shot if we know it's coming but my Mom's always really good about taking pictures of the details, the decorations, trying to get as many pictures of the guests as she can. I wish I'd thought to take a group picture of all the kids. McKenna would have loved that. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

Thank you, thank you to all who came! It was so wonderful to see everyone and to get to actually spend time with you! McKenna is enjoying all of the generous gifts you guys gave her and she's looked at the pictures countless times, talking about how much fun she had and how much she loves her friends and family. It was really special for our whole family to have everyone there. Thank you!

PICTURES HERE (I started with some shots of the goodie bags for my digi friends to see.)

A Quick Update

I've been completely busy with: Planning McKenna's party, planning DST's 1st birthday party, normal DST work, taking care of 2 kids, being pregnant, trying to keep the house clean, moving McKenna and Kyla into the same room.....you know....all that good stuff. So here's a brief update:

McKenna had a lot of fun at the "musical show" with Grandma Beth & Auntie. They took her to lunch at Souplantation (her favorite) and after the show they went for ice cream and a trip to Sweet Factory. Spoiled? Who? McKenna? ; ) Here are some pics.


The girls have been sharing a room for 3 nights now. Right off the bat we've learned that you can't put them down at the same time. Kyla yells for her sister. McKenna will do what we asked her to do and she'll ignore her sister. But this just infuriates Kyla to the point that she is screaming at McKenna. And she's pretty relentless. So we've found it's just better to skip Kyla's nap (or put her down for a very early one if we're home) and make her bedtime 6:30-7pm. Then put McKenna down at 8pm. They both wake up together around 8am which is really cute. We can hear them over the monitor. McKenna will ask Kyla if she had sweet dreams and they'll giggle and throw stuffed animals at each other.

Kyla is talking a LOT lately! She repeats a ton of words that we've taught her and she can even "sing" Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABCs, Old McDonald and We Can Fly. She's gone pee-pee on the potty several times. But so far she thinks that if her diaper is off then poo-poo happens on the carpet. So we're working on convincing her otherwise.

Erick has been playing his guitar for the girls. McKenna will sing lyrics while he plays. She's actually pretty dang good with the melody lines!! Of course her lyrics are complete gibberish. Something about chasing her sister and riding a rocketship? I'm still not sure. Sometimes the girls put their chairs in front of Erick and watch him "play a concert." He always gets a very enthusiastic round of applause at the end of each song. ; )

McKenna's party is just 3 days away. We've got just about everything bought. I still need to pick up the cake and balloons that I ordered. We're having this scanned on a cake:


I still need to put together a few of the goodie bag trinkets and then assemble the bags themselves. And pick up the last two presents. We got her:

* The clothes that I posted previously.

* A Dorothy/Glinda dress up set (she really wanted to dress like Dorothy for her party so we're gonna let her open it the day of the party).

* Princess beginner skates

* Hullabaloo game

Tomorrow I'll pick up the Cinderella pajamas she wanted and the two Tiara Club books. I think that's pretty good. We're trying to keep it reasonable.

I'm off to get started on yet another goodie bag trinket! Night everyone!

Appointment Rescheduled, Birthday Shopping Begun!

Man, I've only had 3 appointments with this new OB and 2 of the 3 times that I've showed up they've said "I'm sorry but Dr. Garcia is in emergency surgery and it'll be an hour or more." Boo! Last time I waited because I was worried about the baby. But since I'd just heard the heartbeat last weekend, I wasn't feeling the need to wait over an hour. So it's been rescheduled.

But we did head straight to the mall. First stop was Yankee Candle where they DID have their fall line out! Woohoo!! So I got a pretty new tart burner (no pics on the website but it's clear glass with pretty fall leaves on it.) And a bunch of their new fall scents as well as some of my favorites:

Pomegranate Cider
Cider Donut (Kyla took a bite out of this before we left the store! LOL!)
Spiced Pumpkin
Farmhouse Apple
Creme Brulee
Sicilian Orange
Harvest
Autumn Woods
Fall Festival
Frosted Pumpkin

They smell sooooo nice and cozy!

I also picked up some cute stuff to give McKenna for her birthday:

I got her this hat and skirt:



And to go with those, I got her this shirt and these tights:



And this shirt and these tights:



I need to find her some brown boots or Mary Janes. Target has a BUNCH on their website so we'll have to stop by and see what we can settle on.

I haven't really decided what else to get her. She asked for this bedding, an Easy Bake Oven, What's Gnu, Disney Princess DVD game, a Tinkerbell bank, books 8 & 9 from The Tiara Club series and a particular pair of Cinderella PJs from the Disney Store. (Note to my family...if you're planning to get her any of these items, let me know so I can take them off my possible present list!) EDIT: Grandma Beth bought the bedding. Auntie Melly bought the Easy Bake Oven.

She is WAY easy to shop for this time. She went through the Target ad and circled all the things she wanted (and she put a "chep" mark aka check mark next to stuff she thought we should buy Lukey! LOL!) The only thing that threw me off was she circled sunscreen. LOL!!

Ok, before I go...just wanted to share this layout I just finished up for The Digi-Dare team. The challenge is "They Think I'm....". We're to finish the sentence with something that people might think about us that isn't true. I couldn't think of anything about myself but I totally had to use it on this layout of my girls and my nephews:


Journaling: Oh sure....they LOOK cute and innocent. They look downright angelic don’t they? Don’t you be fooled! When these four get together they are some of the most mischievous kids you’ll ever meet. This particular photo shoot was the photo shoot from HELL!! I can’t believe we even got this shot. These little stinkers were whining, wiggling, crying, running, climbing, screeching, giggling and goofing around the whole time. It really is a good thing they’re so cute...it sure gets them out of a lot of trouble!

What's wrong with me?

Here we are, smack in the middle of July and I am so ready for Fall! I'm burning a Cinnamon tart right now! I just bought this table runner and these stuffed pumpkins from Lakeside (I figure they'll be an easy way to dress up the place for fall but if the kids grab at them and pull them down, nothing breaks!):


I'm already stalking Yankee Candle for their fall tart burners. And I can NOT wait for school to start again! Not because I love having my kids gone. I really don't. I miss them to pieces when they're gone. But because I love the new fall clothes (have you seen Naartjie's fall pieces?? Soooo cute!) and seeing the kids make friends and returning to dance class, getting ready for the Winter recital... *sigh* I just love it all! And now that I'll have my OWN car to get us around, I'm really looking forward to being that busy Mom chauffering her kids around to all their activities. Aww! My dream! Well, it won't be TOO crazy. I was reading that here in OC we have a tendency to wear our kids thin with too many activities and that we should try to limit it to one extra-curricular activity per kid. So McKenna will be returning to dance. Kyla is gonna take a short (4-week) music & rhythm class which ends before Fall begins. See, I'm staying reasonable! LOL! Even still, with preschool, MOPS, dance and church...we'll have something going on every day of the week!

Speaking of busy, we've got something fun every day this week! Yay! Thursday we have an OB appointment. I normally get worried a few days before each appointment. But since I'm feeling great and we just heard the baby's heartbeat a few days ago on my sister's doppler, I'm not worried. After the appointment we're stopping at the mall. I wanna pick up some more fall-scented tarts from Yankee Candle. And I wanna get McKenna some new outfits from The Children's Place for her birthday. I HAVE to get her this newsgirl hat. She'd love it so much!



Friday we're having lunch with my friend Julie and her boys (Nick & Matthew). I'm looking forward to that! I haven't seen them in so long! And after lunch we're gonna stop at The Sweet Factory to pick up some little mini whirly pops for the goodie bags (from "The Lollipop Guild" of course!) And quite possibly another stop at The Children's Place. ; )

Saturday my Mom got tickets to see Oliver! and she wants to take McKenna. My ...well I guess we'll call her my cousin though I think she's really my third cousin - is starring in a local production so my Mom thought McKenna would get a kick out of going to see it. I really think she'll love it! They're gonna have a little Grandma/Granddaughter day - lunch and a musical. So cute! While they're doing that, Erick and I will be hard at work changing the furniture around so that the girls are in one room. Well, Erick will be changing furniture. I'll just be keeping Kyla out from under his feet. ; )

Sunday we have church and afterwards we're going to a BBQ/Swim party for young families. This just sounds so fun to me! Trinity has so many young families in our age group right now and they foster such a close-knit, family environment. So I'm really looking forward to getting to meet people after church. Usually we just get 5-10 minutes before or after the service to chat and then everyone has to split. LOL! So this will be a fun get-together!

I'm off to read my book. I don't think I mentioned a week or so ago that I finished Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner. It was ok. Not a lot of meat to the story but kinda cute. Now I'm reading After This by Alice McDermott. I just love her writing style. She writes in a way that almost makes you slow down to savor the written word. I know that sounds cheesy but that's just how she writes. She's very eloquent. I love her!

Changing Rooms

Gavin's birthday party was lots of fun! Pictures here if you'd like to see.

McKenna ended up spending the night because she had been begging to for a couple of weeks. She had a blast and didn't want to come home when we came to get her the next afternoon. She even helped Uncle Bri make french toast in the morning.

While she was gone, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go through all the toys and start clearing out old stuff and re-organizing the stuff we were keeping. With a dog and a new baby on the way, not to mention two birthdays coming up (which always means more toys coming in) I really wanted to get organized! It feels a million times better having that all done! And I'm about 85% done going through their clothes so once that's done, I'll feel like a huge weight has been lifted!

Today we went to put a down payment on McKenna's bed. She decided she wanted the castle bed and I was happy with the choice because that thing comes with a nice sized storage area underneath! So I'm thinking we'll put two of the toy bins under there:



I'll wanna get them a nice, white dresser soon as well. And possibly this storage bench where we can put their dress up clothes:


And finally, we were at the Disney Store the other day and they have this new line of wall decor that would be perfect for their rooms! It's the cutest stuff! They have these art pieces and wall lamps that have charcoal drawings of the Disney characters. TOO cute! And there are a bunch of pink and purple ones so we're thinking those will make for a really adorable little girls' room!

And after that...we start on the baby's room! Of course, we won't start any decorating until we know if this is Killian or Katelyn! ; )

I'm off to settle in for the night! I think I'll just watch some tv and work on labeling the bubbles for the party goodie bags. I made little labels with blue sparkles and in pink it says "Glinda's Magic Bubbles". I'll tie a little irridescent ribbon around the neck and it'll be a cute addition!

Kid-Bits

Time for a little update on what the kiddos are doing these days!

McKenna and I have been reading these Tiara Club books. We've just finished book 6. There are some things that make for good discussions and really applicable to her since she's ALL about being a princess and the books are about these 6 girls who attend the Princess Academy and the trials they go through as they learn how to be Perfect Princesses. So the "villain" in the book is the mean "Princess Perfecta" who is very nasty and competitive. McKenna and I had the following conversation:

McKenna: "Mommy, why is she so mean?"
Mommy: "Well, some people hold on to things that make them mad and it makes their hearts bitter. So they sometimes say or do mean things. But if we don't hold on to the things that make us angry, then we'll have a heart of Gold filled with love and happiness."
McKenna: "And Jesus. We'll have Jesus in our heart."
Mommy: "That's right! When we have Jesus in our heart, He fills our hearts with love and happiness and there's no reason to hold on to the mean things anymore."
So I continue reading aloud and the main character in the books says "I know what being a true princess is - it's being truthful...."
McKenna: "And having a twirly dress....."
Mommy: "And being kind....."
McKenna: "And sparkly shoes....."
Mommy: "And putting others before yourself....."
McKenna: "And kissing."

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McKenna is really into the Harry Potter movies which surprises me. I found them kind of boring but she loves the first two. Whenever she asks to see a movie like Harry Potter or....JAWS (uh yeah, she regularly asks to watch Jaws) we tell her "Well, it's got some scary parts in it." She always replies with "That's ok. I'm very brave." We said yes to Harry Potter. We are standing firm with a "no" for Jaws.

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We went to IHoP for breakfast the other morning and both girls wanted to bring a purse. So they each filled their purse with the necessities (you know...doll shoe, popsicle stick, broken crayon....the important stuff). McKenna says as she's walking out the door, "I have my scissors in case I see a monster, then I can cut off his feathers." Good to know we were well-protected!

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Sometimes when I'm getting ready to put the girls down to sleep, Kyla will hide and McKenna will block her so I can't get to her. Sometimes she'll even grab onto Kyla and protectively and say to me "No! She's my daughter!"

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If you're hanging out with Kyla, you can expect the following:

* She'll mimic you if you yawn. And she thinks she's hilarious when she does it.

* If you have a drink, she'll insist you "cheers" at least a dozen times.

* Any trouble she causes will automatically be followed with a "Ta-Da!" so that you'll think she's performed a great trick instead of broken your sunglasses.

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Both girls love to pile on the bed and push up next to my belly and yell "Hi baby!" Then they try to tickle the baby. And then they usually end up jabbing me in the belly button to see if they can see the baby through there.

They also like to see the weekly pictures in my pregnancy journal of how the baby looks and then I show them with my hand how many inches the baby is. This week I held my thumb and forefinger about 2 inches apart and said "The baby is this big and swimming in my tummy all day long singing la la la la la." Well they thought that was hilarious and have since walked around the house mimicking the baby by dancing in circles and singing "la la la la la!"

McKenna still insists the baby is a boy. We'll find out in another month or so.

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Kyla wakes up much later than McKenna - McKenna wakes around 7:30am-8am. Kyla wakes around 9:30am-10am. So Kyla usually eats a light breakfast well after McKenna is done with hers. Well McKenna ALWAYS asks "Mommy, can Kyla share her cereal with me?" And I respond with "It's up to Kyla. Ask her." Sometimes Kyla says "Sure", sometimes she nods, sometimes she says "NOOOOO!" But the other morning Kyla just ignored her sister. She didn't answer. So McKenna asked again "Kyla, can you share your cereal with me please?" When McKenna still didn't get an answer she looked at me and said "I think I heard Kyla say yes in her heart."

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I'm wondering how serious Kyla's allergies really are. Not that I intend to test them but she has had several exposures and no reactions.

She's allergic to soy yet the other day I gave her some ranch dip before I realized its primary ingredient is soy. No reaction.

She took a bite of a candy that had peanut butter in it. I swept her mouth and got the candy out and then wiped her tongue clean with a wet paper towel. No reaction. Considering her peanut allergy is classified as serious and life-threatening, I'd expect a reaction from having actual peanut butter in her mouth. But now I'm wondering if she actually has to ingest a peanut or peanut butter. Most kids with a serious peanut allergy can't even have products that are manufactured in a plant that has peanuts. And here's Kyla putting peanut butter right in her mouth with no reaction!

Anyway, like I said...it's not something I'm going to test but it does ease my mind a bit that maybe her allergy is not quite as scary as we'd read! We're fervently praying she'll be one of the few who can outgrow the allergy!

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LAST THING!! This JUST happened while I was composing this blog post! KYLA WENT PEE-PEE ON THE POTTY FOR THE FIRST TIME!! Yay!! I'm so proud of her! I had just changed her diaper and decided to let her go diaperless today. McKenna pulled out her potty-seat and Kyla sat right down and went within a few minutes. Didn't take her long to figure that one out! McKenna and I made a big deal about it, cheering and jumping all over which made her laugh and give us this big cheesy grin. We called Daddy at work and Kyla said "I went pee-pee!! I potty!" Her first reward was a lolli-pop. Looks like we'll need to make a trip back to Sweet Factory to pick up our Jelly-Bellies. It was the reward system we worked out for McKenna and it worked like a charm so we'll try it with Kyla too. 1 pink bean for trying, 2 red beans for going pee-pee, 5 blue beans for going poo-poo. I'm so proud of her! Just shy of 22 months, just like her big sis!

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We've got a busy weekend - first thing in the morning I need to take the girls back down to the pool to see if we can get McKenna in for swim lessons. Then my nephew's birthday party at noon. Sunday is church. Somewhere in there I gotta finish the rest of this laundry! That probably wouldn't seem like much but it is when your husband has to work a midnight shift and you need 2 naps a day! Oh, I'm already tired!