A Peek Into the Last Two Weeks

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 25, 2021  |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

When big brother tries to fit into your toy car. ?

Kierstyn is obsessed with makeup… she somehow found my mascara and went to town with it!

She also LOVES play-doh!

I was asked to go record some videos and interviews with Focus on the Family about Love-Centered Parenting.

Because I’m still nursing Kierstyn and I’d need to fly to Colorado Springs and stay overnight, Jesse and I decided to go together and bring Kierstyn and Baby D.

It was our first time to fly with two lap infants and we learned a lot from the experience (like, for instance, that you can’t sit in the same row unless there is an empty seat — because there is only one extra oxygen mask per row. This caused a lot of last minute scrambling and less-than-idea seats on the flights there.)

But, we made it work and it was a memory, for sure!

Overall, she did SO well on the 8 hours of flights (4 different flights) over two days. This pop-it book was one of her favorite airplane toys.

I loved getting to record a radio interview + multiple different video interviews in multiple studios in the three hours I was at Focus on the Family. I am excited to get to share the message of Love-Centered Parenting and how God has changed my life and our family through the last 4 years.

Every time, we got to Colorado Springs, I’m always just in awe of how beautiful it is!

We also go to spend a few hours with Jesse’s sister and her family while we were in Colorado Springs (they live there).

Kierstyn loved getting to spend time with her cousins.

We loved getting to show Kierstyn and Baby D the mountains for the first time!

And then it was back onto a plane again to head home!

Trying to get out as much energy as possible before boarding the plane.

I was trying to document the fact that we got a row with an empty seat so we were able to sit next to each other — but this was the best picture I got with two wiggling little ones!

Baby D had an appointment with the Complex Care Clinic and everything is looking SO good! He’s gaining weight, making a lot of developmental strides, and he brings so much joy to our home! I can’t believe we’ve had him for almost 4 1/2 months!

Silas had a baseball tournament again on Saturday and Sunday. So we spent lots of time sitting on the sidelines cheering him on.

It poured rain for part of the tournament, and we were so grateful we had put up the tent!

We celebrated Baby D’s birthday and tried to incorporate as many traditions from his culture as we could. We had fun doing a pinata.

And he was excited about sitting in the candy — even if he couldn’t eat it! We also got tamales and tres leches cake from a local restaurant.

He was able to eat a little bit of the cake and whipped cream (he’s working hard in feeding therapy to learn to swallow… he mostly can only do a tiny bit of purees right now and he still gets all of his feeds and meds through the feeding tube. But he’s slowly making progress and we are so encouraged by it!)

We also did a chocolate cake and let him smash it — which he had so much fun with. I got some of the best pictures, but all of them had his face in them and we don’t share his face online for privacy reasons. But I wish I could show you!

This past week was spent in a really unexpected way — including a trip to the urgent care, doctor’s office, and hospital for Kierstyn. Most of my week I just held her, tried to comfort her, and nursed her. She was so sick for a few days, but we are incredibly grateful that she is almost completely back to her normal self again!

(You can read more here and here for details. Thank you to those of you who heard about her illness from Instagram and were praying for her. It’s such a reminder to cherish each and every day.)