The Kuliseks

Kindergarten meets Addison

2011-09-12T12:55:00.011-04:00

As conscientious first-time parents of a kindergartener, we were concerned about the intimidating nature of the first day of school and the impact it would have on our little girl. Luckily (for us, not for Addison as you will soon understand) there was an orientation to acclimatize first timers to the structured atmosphere associated with the public school curriculum. The orientation was to be held in the gymnasium, with the school principle providing a detailed review of the modus operandi at Nolan Elementary.

The chaos created by apprehensive parents leading nervous children into the confined space that was the gymnasium made it a difficult start into an unfamiliar environment. As such, it was no surprise to Heather that Addison seemed a little timid as she approached the doors into the gym, as she had seemed of late to have lost some of her outgoing personality, being much more shy and reserved in public . However, we would later realize that her perceived reticence was due more to her vigilance than to any degree of bashfulness.

As she followed Heather into the gymnasium, she caught sight of the principle directing the masses in as calm and collected a manner as possible given the task at hand. Having met the princple on one previous occasion, we are still not sure if she recognized him as the principle or just a man of authority. At any rate, Addison seized the opportunity. Marching straight up to Principle Harwood, she thrusted her tiny hand toward him in the universal manner of greeting in the form of a handshake and said, in a loud enough voice to be heard above the constant rumble of the crowd, "Hi, my name is Addison Grace Kulisek and I have a Barbie doll house". Receiving his polite greeting and return handshake, she turned and walked into the gymnasium, as if this were a part of her daily routine for the past year.

We were worried about how to prepare Addison for Kindergarten and how she would react to this new, highly structured environment. However, what we should have been more concerned about was preparing Kindergarten for Addison. We are fairly confident that we're not the only ones that will have our hands full trying to handle that girl!

Reagan's Prayer

2011-09-11T19:51:00.003-04:00

This will be the first post that we have dedicated completely to Reagan. Unlike Addison, it has been more difficult to convey his quirky personality, but I will try as best I can with this recent story.

Driving home following Church this afternoon, during the "witching hour" following lunch but before nap time, we were having issues with the kids fighting in the backseat. As I began scolding both kids, I ask each of them what they can do to improve their attitude. Addison, as always, is quick with a list of rehersed answers that she knows I can't challenge. Reagan, on the other hand, is not as practiced in the art of telling daddy what he wants to hear, and remains silent. So I repeat the question to him again. His response? I kid you not, the boy begins praying to God. He actually starts saying a prayer!

Heather and I cannot contain ourselves, barely fighting back the laughter that is making it hard to concentrate on the road, and the moment of discipline is lost. Once I am able to regain my composure, I have some concern that I've literally put the fear of God into the boy. So I glance back in the rear view mirror to get a sense of the impact my admonishment has has on him. The smirk he has on his face as he's looking right back at me in the mirror tells me all I need to know. He learned a valuable lesson today...I, like my older sister nearly on a daily basis, can outwit my dad.

Pumpkin Hunt

2010-10-17T20:45:00.003-04:00

Below are some pictures from our tour around the metropolis of Dayton, TN in search of our halloween pumpkins.

Addison finding her pumpkin at Brush Creek Farms.Reagan finding his pumpkin at Wooden's Apple Farm (although we already had bought one at the last stop)

Enjoying some apple dumplings and ice cream at Wooden's Apple Farm
More pictures from the Apple Farm. Although we went in search of pumpkins, it was the Apple Farm that was the biggest hit.

Outsmarted

2010-08-31T00:27:00.006-04:00

Once again this happened a while ago, but the story is too funny not to share.

If anyone is familiar with Disney's animated classic Robin Hood, they'll remember the opening song that starts off, "Robin Hood and Little John walking through the forest..." Well, this just happens to be one of Addison's favorite songs. Seeing how much she enjoyed the song, I decided to learn the words to the song so that I could sing it for her.

Months pass after I'd committed the song to memory and almost every car ride consisted of at least one rendition of the song being performed at Addison's request. Well one particular car ride, after having performed the song three times in a row, I tell Addison (after the third encore request), that I'm not singing it anymore.

Silence envelops the car during which time I figure she's pouting. A quick glance in the rear view mirror shows, instead, a look of concentration on her face. Less then a minute passes before I hear her ask, "Daddy, why are Robin Hood and Little John sad?"

Confused, I ask, "Addison, what do you mean? They're not said"

"Yes they are, Daddy, it says so in the song."

Rather than argue with her, I tell her, "Addison, they're not sad, listen to the song"

I get halfway through the song before I realize I've been outsmarted by my three year old. As I articulate a particularly upbeat section of the song, I look back in the rearview mirror expecting to see a look of concern on my poor daughter's face who, I'm concerned, may have misunderstood some grown-up undertones in the song. Instead, I see my daughter smiling and clapping as I'm singing her favorite song for the fourth time.

When I stop singing, I hear my innocent daughter ask, "Daddy, why did you stop singing". Too shocked at how easily I'd been tricked, I can't answer her question, as Heather is practically rolling out of her seat in a fit of laughter.

Addison didn't ask for her song again that car ride. I think she felt sorry for her poor Daddy.

4th of July Pictures

2010-07-06T21:16:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures from the 4th of July parade and barbeque last weekend.

Addison's Booby Trap

2010-07-01T11:47:00.005-04:00

This little episode happened a few months ago. Below is an email I sent to Heather the morning that it happened.

Addison set a booby trap for me this morning. I made her mad somehow (probably didn't let her wear what she wanted to wear to school today), so I guess she wanted to get back at me. When I got out of the shower, she was just standing there with this weird little grin on her face, so I asked her what she was up to. She said "nothing". Then when I went into the closet to get dressed for work, I heard her shut the bathroom double doors. I was half-way dressed when I heard Addison call me, "Daddy, Reagan's awake and he's crying." So, of course I was in a hurry and tried to push the doors open only to discover that she had rubber-banded the handles together…booger! She knew what she was doing...she knew I’d be in a hurry to get through the doors. Luckily for me I still had my hands out in front of me when the doors swung back at me. So you know what I did? Nothing. I didn't give her the satisfation of knowing that she "got me". She never said a word about it, but she was in a good mood for the rest of the morning on the way to daycare.

I’ll get her back though…it’s on now. Hope she can take it as well as she dishes it out.

Addison the Songwriter

2010-06-29T12:46:00.004-04:00

Addison made this song up last year sometime and we should have posted it earlier, but it's worth sharing now. I can't remember what prompted this one, but like most things with her, it's the spontaneous stuff that comes out of her mouth that is the funniest.

The Vitamin Song (she pronounces it Viterman)

You can be my buddy
You can be my friend
but please don't take
my Viterman

Swimming Lessons

2010-05-23T21:11:00.004-04:00

Addison and Reagan have started their swimming lessons this week and they are going well. It has only been a couple of days, however, they are both progressing well. Although Reagan is still not happy about the whole affair. Addison has started looking forward to seeing Mr. Tom (that's not her crying in Reagan's video, that's another little girl who has a lesson right after ours).

Below are a couple of videos from the 2nd day. We plan on posting some videos on their final day of class to show the improvement.

Addison swimming

Reagan swimming

Addison's Spanglish Lesson

2010-05-17T21:21:00.005-04:00

Last night we were at a friend’s house having dinner and Addison was playing with her best friend Addy Laurel. I just happened to overhear Addy L. begin showing Addison that she knew how to speak some Spanish. Now I know our Addison doesn’t know Spanish. And I know Addison knows that she doesn’t know Spanish, so I wanted to see where this conversation was going. Undaunted by her lack of knowledge of the Spanish language, and never one not to provide some input into a conversation, she waited patiently as Addy L. began counting in Spanish. “uno, dos, tres…” Addison Grace saw her opportunity. “Tracey? Yeah, I know Tracey. And I know Judy, and I know Ingrid, and I know Miss Denise…”

Lesson learned: when the conversation turns to something you don’t know a thing about, wait for your opportunity and turn it to something you do know about.

Easter and Baptism

2010-04-18T21:16:00.004-04:00

I feel like I am doing good to get pictures up within the same month that they were taken. Easter was great. Addison had 3 egg hunts. The first one she wasn't getting very many eggs so I asked her why and she said she was only getting the ones that were her favorite colors, pink and purple. Reagan really liked hunting the eggs. He didn't care so much about what was inside of them, he just like squeezing them to make them pop open. The next weekend Reagan got baptized. I know it seems late but he has had such a sickly year that we just kept putting it off. He was the squirmiest little boy ever! He just wanted down the whole time but we made it through. I also finished up my photography class. I don't know that my pictures are any better than they used to be but maybe with some practice they will get better.

Couple of new pictures

2010-03-28T20:21:00.003-04:00

My photography class is finally starting to pay off. Here are a couple of pictures I took of Addison this weekend. I can't believe how grown up she looks.

Catching Up

2010-03-04T20:36:00.005-05:00

As usual I am way behind on my updates. The kids are doing great. Addison is 3 and half now and the sassiest little girl. Reagan is 14 months. He is starting to walk finally. He still isn't talking very much but is trying to say more words like "book" and "dog". Here are some recent pictures of them since my last post:

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-31T21:54:00.002-04:00

First Day of Ballet Class

2009-10-31T21:38:00.001-04:00

Disney Trip

2009-10-31T21:33:00.002-04:00

Addy's Birthday

2009-10-31T21:01:00.001-04:00

Reagan Talking

2009-09-06T08:36:00.002-04:00

So quickly they grow up! This weekend we had Addy's 3rd birthday party. I cannot believe she is already 3! This is the first party have had for her where we invited her friends from school. At the end of the party she told me that she really liked it when her friends came to her house. She also just started ballet this week. She was so cute!!!!
Reagan's first word was "momma"!!!! I was so excited. Addison said "Dadda" first and didn't say "momma" for the longest time. So it turns out that he only says "momma" when he is mad...my luck. This morning he started saying "hi dadda." Here is a little video of him saying it. I will post some pictures of the kids soon. I have so many to go through!

Busy Summer

2009-07-07T21:23:00.004-04:00

Puppies and babies make for a very busy life. So far everything is going well with the new puppy. Potty training is going to take a little while because he spends a lot of time on the back porch with Abigail. We are working on building a fence right now. Why we decided this was a do-it-yourself project is beyond me. Probably because we are so incredibly "frugal." So anyway, whenever we get that up life will get easier because the dogs can go out by themselves.

The kids are doing great also. They spent last Wednesday and Thursday nights with Robert's parents so we could work on the fence. That was my first night away from Reagan. It was hard but we were able to get a lot done. This week Addison is going Illinois with Robert's parents. She has been traveling so much this summer. I wish I could be on vacation as much as she is. I am still enjoying the 3 day work weeks though. I really hope I can find someway to make this my permanent schedule. Because of the holiday I had a 5 day weekend this weekend. I could definitely get used to that. It is really allowing me to spend some more time with the kids. Monday I took the kids to the aquarium. Addison absolutely loved it. She was so excited about the penguins and the jellyfish. Here are some recent pictures of everyone. (I know I am totally the mom posting the naked kid picture, but he was just so cute!)

New Addition

2009-06-19T08:20:00.003-04:00

We have officially lost our minds! Yesterday I went and picked up a 9 week old Springer Spaniel puppy. We have decided to name him Jefferson. He is a absolutely adorable. He did very well last night. He slept in his kennel and only got up once to go to the bathroom. This all came about because I was looking at Petfinder last week and found a 2 year old springer that I wanted to adopt. Long story short...we were rejected. They actually used that word in their email. Apparently they don't like dogs being able to play outside during the day. Well I was telling my mom about that and she said she had a friend who raised Springers. He was the last one in his litter. I guess a lot people only want girl dogs. So we decided he would be perfect for us. Abigail is as neurotic as ever and has been nervous and jumpy since we brought him home. Hopefully she will get used to him very soon. Addison is very excited about him. She wanted him to sleep with her last night.

Wow! Its been a while

2009-06-11T21:34:00.005-04:00

I just realized it has been almost 2 months since I have updated. We have been really busy so I will try not to ramble too much. In April we made our first road trip with both kids. It was quite an experience. Before we even left Chattanooga Addison had an accident. We then stopped for fast food and the stop ended up taking well over an hour. Once we were back on the road Reagan screamed for 2 hours straight. The rest of the weekend went great and both kids slept for almost the entire 5 hour drive back. At the beginning of May we went with Robert's family to Mrytle Beach for a long weekend. It was really nice to get away for a relaxing weekend. Addison got to go for the whole week and loved playing with her cousins Noah and Nicole. Towards the end of May we celebrated Robert's 30th birthday. I cannot believe we are already turning 30!

As far as the kids go, they are doing great. Addison is such a big girl now. Potty training is going great. She is still wearing a pull-up at night but during the day she is telling us when she needs to go. Reagan is growing up so fast! He is rolling around and eating food. That took a little longer than expected. For the first month every time I tried to feed him he would cry and spit it out at me. Now he cries because I can't get it in his mouth fast enough. He is definitely a momma's boy...which I absolutely love! Here are some pictures from the last couple months!

Little Bitty Baby Boy!

2009-04-30T20:42:00.002-04:00

Today we had Reagan's four month check-up. He is doing really well but he is tiny! He is only in the 5th percentile for his height and 10th for his weight. That made me worried that maybe he wasn't eating enough but he is eating in upper range for what a baby his age should...who knows where it is going! Everything else was great. Poor little guy had to get shots. I always feel so bad for kids when they get shots. He was a fussy boy the rest of the day. I am hoping he feels better tomorrow.

Addison leaves for the beach tomorrow. She is going down early with her grandparents. We aren't joining them until late Wednesday night. This will be the longest I have ever gone without seeing her. It will be so quiet around the house. I am very much looking forward to the beach though. I am ready for a vacation. I have only been back to work a month and half and already need a vacation:).

Everyone wish Robert luck...on Saturday he is doing Three State Three Mountain bike ride which is 100 miles.

Sorry, I have no new pictures to post...I know, I'm such a slacker!

Little Gymnast

2009-04-21T21:03:00.003-04:00

Today was Addison's first gymnastics performance. It was so cute! She is doing forward and backward rolls and learning hand stands and walking on the balance beam. I didn't want to bore anyone with the full 30 minute performance but here is a little clip. Notice that at the beginning she decided she didn't need the teacher's help to do her hand stand. Miss Independent.

Easter

2009-04-16T14:36:00.004-04:00

It has been so long since I have posted. Everyone is doing really well. Reagan is all smiles and is trying so hard to roll over. He has the front to back down but is still working on the back to front. I'm excited for him but at the same time I know this is the first step to being mobile... Scary. I am back at work and working 3 days a week for the next few months. I wish this was my permanent schedule, it is so nice. Reagan is still allergic to milk which is tough. Lately, I am missing desserts the most. I think I could eat an entire cake at this point. His GI specialist said I could try putting a little milk back in my diet since the intolerance/allergy is based on quantity of the milk protein. I decided I would try a Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich since the chicken should just be dipped in milk and it doesn't have too much breading. Well, the next week was pretty tough. No more milk for me.

Addison is doing well also. She is starting to show a little more jealousy now that Reagan is starting to interact. She wants to show me how she can roll over. She had a really good Easter. She had 3 Easter egg hunts and we went to see Easter bunny. She of course wanted nothing to do with him. Which I am ok with...I would prefer she have a healthy fear of a guy dressed up in a bunny suit.

Lots of Smiles

2009-03-05T14:15:00.005-05:00

Things are definitely getting better around here. Reagan is doing much better. He still has his days where he is fussy but we are getting it figured out. He is smiling a whole lot more now and starting to focus so much. Addison got her bandages off this week. There will definitely be a pretty big scar on her face but hopefully it will fade and it is much better than having a tumor on her face. Reagan had his two month appointment last week. He is still doing very well. He is in the 25th percentile for his weight and height. His head has started growing so it is above the 50th now. I am putting up a video of Addison being a ballerina. She loves them right now. All princesses are ballerinas.

Busy Time

2009-02-22T21:27:00.006-05:00

The last couple weeks have been stressful and busy for us. Two weeks ago I had to take Reagan back to the pediatrician because he was still a very unhappy baby even though we had him on reflux medicine. Our pediatrician referred us to a GI specialist because it appeared that he was having an allergic reaction to something in my milk. Our visit to the GI specialist went pretty well. He was pretty sure that Reagan is allergic to milk so he had me cut milk completely out of my diet. This means checking ingredients on everything. This makes it very hard to eat out and grocery shopping takes hours, not to mention it has eliminated cheese and chocolate milk (my life source) from my diet. It has been over a week now since I cut the milk out and he seems to be doing better. We have a follow-up with the GI this week so we will see if he continues to improve.

Addison has been our real stress spot though. For the last few months she has had a spot on her cheek that looked like a flesh colored mole or wart so we weren't worried about it. Well a couple weeks ago it started looking very inflamed and infected so I decided to take her to the pediatrician. It never makes you feel good when the first thing your pediatrician says is "I've never seen anything like this before." Well she thought it was probably just a cyst that needed to come out but she didn't want to risk scarring her face so she sent us to a plastic surgeon. The plastic surgeon decided it would be best to do a surgery to biopsy it and remove it. So on last Tuesday we went to the hospital for the surgery. We were just told to be there at 9:00. Well after sitting in the waiting room until almost 12:00 we finally went back to get her ready for the surgery. Addison was so patient (more so than us) considering she hadn't eaten since 6:00 the night before. The surgery took a couple hours and she was finally out 3:00. The plastic surgeon said that it was a benign tumor. She has a pretty big bandage on her face and right now the scar looks like it is about 2 to 2 1/2 inches long. Hopefully though it will heal up nicely. So scary having your two year old put under anaesthesia and hooked up to an IV. She is doing fine though and will get the bandages off in about a week and half.

Here are some pictures of Addison's surgery and some new ones of Reagan.

One Month Old

2009-01-27T12:20:00.002-05:00

We had our one month visit to the pediatrician today. Reagan is growing up so fast. He now weighs 9 lbs 5 oz. Since he was born he has moved from the 25th percentile in his weight to the 50th. He is still a shorty and is still in the 25th percentile. His head is not nearly as big as Addison's was. He is in the 50th percentile...Addison has been over the 75th from the start. We got some stronger medicine for his acid reflux so that will make him a little happier. Overall, he is doing great!

His sister on the other hand has become quite a handful. She has started saying no to everything before we even finish a sentence and has decided she does not want to potty train anymore. Hopefully this will blow over soon :)!

Growing Up Fast!

2009-01-17T13:51:00.006-05:00

Everyone is doing great and growing fast. Reagan had to go to the doctor on Monday for a little eye infection but it is all better. Here are a few more pictures since we've been home.

Coming home from the hospital

Resting after the first bath

Addison, Reagan, and Nana

Reagan napping

First Week Home

2009-01-05T20:31:00.002-05:00

Our first week home has been great! Reagan is doing wonderful. It is so different than our first week home with Addison. Addison had a lot of issues with eating and was very fussy, so when Reagan was just sleeping and eating I got concerned. Yes, by the end of our first full day home I had already called the pediatrician concerned because my baby was just content and happy. Our first visit to the doctor was Tuesday. He was already back up to 6 lbs 9 oz. The rest of the week went very smoothly. My mom stayed with us until Thursday and was a huge help. She helped a ton with Addison. Addison is loving being a big sister and wants to help with everything. Robert is home with me this week and Addison is starting her new school. She had her first day today and did great. Hopefully, I will get some more pictures out soon of Reagan.

Baby Reagan

2008-12-26T22:13:00.004-05:00

Reagan Price Miller Kulisek was born at 7:56 a.m today. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 19 1/2 inches.
So far he is doing great. He is eating and sleeping just like he should and appears to be a healthy little boy. I am doing fine also. The whole process was very different this time with it being a scheduled c-section. The funny part is that at about 3 a.m I started having contractions so he probably would have come today scheduled or not. More updates to follow! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Baby Update

2008-11-28T20:17:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday we had an exciting doctor's appointment. We had an ultrasound and got our c-section scheduled. The ultrasound pictures were very good. He has very chubby cheeks already! He is measuring at about 5 pounds 15 ounces right now. That is pretty big...according to my weekly update from babycenter the average for this week is 4 and 3/4 pounds. My doctor also finally nailed down the date for the c section and got it scheduled at the hospital. We are going to have him on December 26th at 7:30 in the morning. He said they are going to have to watch me pretty closely though with how big he is he may be here sooner. We would love for him to be here for Christmas but as long as he is healthy we are happy!

Halloween and Asheville

2008-11-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

Time is absolutely flying by now! October was a fun month we went to Boo at the Zoo with our new friends Lindsey and Stephen who have a daughter Addison's age, named Addison and a little boy Porter. For Halloween Addison dressed up like a fairy princess. Our neighborhood does a cookout together before hand and then everyone trick or treats in the neighborhood. Robert's Grandmother, Mimi, came over and spent Halloween with us. The second weekend in November we went on a trip to the Smokies with Robert's parents. We went up to Asheville to visit the Biltmore and went to the Christmas store in Gatlinburg and also went to the Tennessee vs. Wyoming game with Robert's little sister Natalie. It was a fun weekend out of town. As far as the pregnancy goes, everything is going great. We are going to the doctor every two weeks now and I am working hard to get a date nailed down for the delivery. Right now it is looking like the day after Christmas. My doctor has some vacation planned around the holidays so that is looking like that will be the best day. The nursery is coming along. We still need to hang some stuff on the wall but I will hopefully get some pictures up soon. We also got some family pictures taken recently so I will send out the link whenever we get it. It was very cold and the sun didn't cooperate completely so we will see how they turn out.

September Update

2008-10-07T21:49:00.007-04:00

September was a fun and busy month for us. Addison had her 2nd birthday, we took a family vacation, and we are attempting to potty train. Addison was great for her birthday. She wasn't nearly as shy as I had expected. She was singing Happy Birthday to herself for weeks before and after and still thinks anytime there is a cookout or party it is her birthday party.

The week after her birthday we went on our first beach trip to Destin. Addison absolutely loved the "locean" and playing in the sand. It was so nice to get away for a few days. The potty training is going very well now thanks to Gigi and Papa. Robert's parents watched Addison all of last week for what I like to call "Potty Training Boot Camp". So everyone keep your fingers crossed for us that she will be done with potty training by the time the new baby comes. Speaking of, everything is going well with the pregnancy. We are 27 weeks right now, so we are just starting the 3rd trimester. We have started on his nursery but still have a long way to go to get everything ready for the new baby boy.