Books and Baby News

 I feverishly wrote a book back in 2005 and though I sent it to a sleuth of agents, I couldn't find any help.  I let it sit for many years, but for some reason, I up and decided to self-publish it recently.  The book, titled "Someone Always Loved You" is about a guy who, on his first day as an ambulance driver, hits a pedestrian.  He then sits by her side, keeping vigil while she is in a coma.  Their pasts interweave together as we see a story of love over time unfold.  Honestly, when I wrote it, I only had the prologue in mind.  After that, the characters and their situations took over and the book kind of created itself from there.  I never knew where it was going from day to day.  I wrote it in about a month.  I just couldn't stop until I got it out.

Anyways, I found lulu.com, a website that allows you to self-publish books for free.  It's print on demand so whenever anyone orders the book, it gets printed and shipped.  It only took about a week and a half for my first copies to arrive to me so I was pleased with that.  I also started looking for book reviewers to take a look at it and I will paste the first review link below.

http://bookmavenpicks.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/someone-always-loved-you-by-brooke-golliher/
I was sorry to have made her cry, but any book that brings about emotion must not be all bad.

I really did the self-publishing thing so I would have copies for myself, family, and friends.  If anyone else reads it, that's wonderful.  It's something that I just recently started reading again myself.  I had forgotten much of what I wrote.  It HAS been 7 years, after all.  What surprises me the most is how much of my own story is in the book.  There are a lot of flashbacks from the woman in the coma and some of those experiences are exact replicas of things that happened to me.  Others are mere fiction,  If you ever read it, see if you can tell the difference. :)

The book is available on lulu.com at the following link:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/brooke-golliher/someone-always-loved-you/paperback/product-20447265.html

I'm glad to have finally done something with it, though I wish I had had time to read through it before I published it as I have run across several mistakes.  Perhaps someday I can go back and fix those things.  For now, what do you do!

In other publishing news, a book I had a large part in has come out from the company chainbooks.com.  "Small Town America" is about a woman on the run who ends up hiding in the small town of Plattsmouth, Nebraska.  I wrote chapter one and, at the time, had no idea why the woman was running.  There are 23 authors involved from all over the country and some from other parts of the world and they got to decide the woman's fate after the first chapter.  My husband actually took the cover photo and the overall look of the book is fantastic.

I have taken this book around to a few stores locally and even brought it to a church fundraiser.  Everyone is very interested since its premise is located here and it's an overall fun book to enjoy.  I continue to sell them out of my car. :)  In fact, I think I'm about ready to order some more copies soon.

Here is the link for Small Town America on chainbooks and amazon:

 https://shoppingcart.chainbooks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=85&osCsid=da4def1ec7606e36b822f720f114fe58

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Town-America-Gregory-Humphrey/dp/1619900025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350137200&sr=8-1&keywords=small+town+america+chainbooks

GOD IN THE KITCHEN

As for my own recent writing, I finished the novel I was writing titled "God in the Kitchen."  My parents took my daughter for a couple of days while my husband is in Atlanta and I was able to go back through the book and edit.  It's about a radio personality whose father dies and he is just all around down on his luck.  A man who goes by the name of Evan who has "spiritual authority" starts appearing to him in his kitchen to help him along the way.  

I signed up to attend a Christian writing conference in November near Kansas City and I hope to get some interest in the book there.  We shall see.  I signed it up for a "first pages" portion of the conference where a panel reads the first page and then critiques it and states whether, based on that first page, they would read more or stop there.  Might help give some insight.  I also signed up for time with an agent, who is supposed to come prepared having read the entire first chapter.  He or she will then offer advice from there.  

So hopefully that will be an entertaining conference and worth the time and effort to go.  My husband is taking a Friday off to watch Kaelyn so hopefully they have fun as well.

 Speaking of Kaelyn, we have been having a blast at Vala's pumpkin patch this year.  We go once a week and are dreading the end of October when it will be closed again for the year.  She enjoys sending the ducks back and forth, playing in the corn, jumping on the pumpkin jump, riding the peddle tractor (which I have to peddle, very tiring!), the tractor train ride, the big chair, what she calls the "scary thing" which is a face that pops out of a window and says boo hahaha, and many other aspects.  Last time we were there, we ran across Mickey and she had to touch his ears and give him lots of fives.  Really, they are fours because Mickey only has four fingers. :)

I thought the zoo was tiring, but Vala's definitely takes the cake.  Not only is it hilly, but it's a farm so there aren't really any paved roads.  Pushing the stroller up and down and around is exhausting so maybe I'll be glad for the end of October after all. :)  Next year will be a whole new adventure since we'll have another kid along with us.  But for now, we enjoy as much time there as we can and buy a bag of kettle corn every time we go.  Yum!

Kaelyn has become a Husker fan this year.  Well, she now sees the big N places and says, Go Big Red.  So if that means she's a fan, so be it.  We looked for a Husker shirt for her and this was the ONLY one we could find in her size.  I think it's hilarious and she likes footballs so she enjoys wearing it too.  The first time she put it on she HAD to go play football RIGHT away.  It was funny.

She has grown into LOVING preschool.  Most mornings, when I get her up I say, hey, you know what we're going to do today?  She's like preschool!  But she's only right on Tuesdays and Thursdays. :)  On the other days she has to hang with me at the zoo or somewhere else, the poor thing.

Anyways, at preschool, she mostly talks about the snacks she has.  That is always the highlight.  She also enjoys playing hopscotch outside and going down the silver slide.  She used to like the green and yellow slide, but lately the silver one is the favorite.  She also talks about counting the days of the week, looking outside to see what the weather is like, playing train, doing puzzles, reading books, and her latest favorite, the pumpkin game.  She gets to choose what type of eyes, nose and mouth a pumpkin has on a wall computer smart board and then the pumpkin (and she) dance.  I have a video of it from Grandparents day.  It's quite cute and a big highlight for her right now. I hope they have a turkey that does something similar for after Halloween time!

I had a doctor's appointment a couple of months back and they did a quick peak ultrasound.  It looks like we're having another girl!  I'm thrilled.  The doctor didn't seem as sure as the last time around with Kaelyn.  Last time, the lady said she had been doing ultrasounds for 20 some years and she had never been wrong.  This doctor said it's ALWAYS a guess, but at that point in my pregnancy, she was guessing girl.  She said either it's a girl, or a boy hiding his stuff because she saw no evidence of boy parts.  I have another bigger, longer ultrasound coming up the first of November, so hopefully that will confirm things.  We have started a list of girl names, but it's a struggle.  I like more unusual names and Sean is more normal. :)  Just like our everyday life.  haha  But we'll come up with something by that time or just pick from the names we have left on the list that we both semi-like. 

The pregnancy seems to be going well.  I have a lot of heartburn, which is SO much fun at night when I want to sleep, but I remember having that last time too.  I also struggle with restless legs, also at night when I want to sleep.  It feels as if I have not gotten up and moved ALL day and my legs just HAVE to move RIGHT now.  Which does not allow me to sleep very easily!  With a 3 1/2 year old around, I certainly do not sit around all day.  My legs get plenty of motion, thank you very much!  It's a weird thing, that's for sure.  Otherwise, the baby enjoys doing flips and pushing on my bladder.  An onery one already. :)

When I'm not playing with Kaelyn, I'm trying to get as much writing in as possible.  I know once her little sister is born, all of that will get pushed to the wayside for who knows how long.  I enjoy it so much I hate to see it go, but with any luck, I will get back to it again someday.  They WILL both have to go to school eventually, you know!  Which is a sad thought in and of itself!

In the meantime, we wait, I write, we play, and the days tick by!

Changes Changes

 Well, let's start at the beginning and say that we brought a souvenir and a little magic back from Disney World in the form of baby 2!  Baby is due Jan 28th or so and we do not yet know boy or girl.  When we ask Kaelyn whether she wants a baby brother or baby sister she answers differently every time.  She also sometimes talks to my belly, pats it, and says "hi baby!" which is very sweet.  She probably has no idea what it all really means for her life, but at least she's in the know!  We have even asked her for name ideas.  She said a boy should be kitty cat and a girl tummy once.  Another time a boy should be brother and a girl draw.  So we'll keep working on that... :)

 In the meantime, she probably first has to get used to the fact that my lap is getting smaller every day.  But so far, there's still room for her.  She will have to learn to sit beside me soon enough.  :)  She has recently started calling me Mommy more often instead of Mama.  I don't really know why or how that changed.  IT started out just being during nap times.  She would call Mommy when she wanted to get up.  But now it's more all of the time.

She's also in her big girl bed now!  That change happened shortly after we found out about the baby.  She was getting kind of big for the crib anyways and we wanted to make the adjustment sooner rather than later.  We painted the other bedroom we have and put stars and a moon on the wall and she LOVED that.  We put up a big bed and she slept like 12 hours the first night.  Course, we had just come back from a camping trip and that always wears her out.  The funny thing is that the bed overlaps the window a tiny bit and she actually sleeps more up on the bookcase-like headboard than on the actual bed.  EVery time I go in to get her she is laying up there, looking out the window.  It doesn't look very comfortable to me, but she has been sleeping well in it!  She doesn't get out of bed at all by herself.  She always waits for me to come get her and we snuggle for a bit before venturing back out into the world again.  It's a sweet time of the day that I thoroughly enjoy.  Think she'll let me do that when she's a teen too?! :)

This summer we took Kaelyn to Bible School at our church and she had a great time.  I was really glad we went because she had fun playing games and doing crafts and eating snacks and so on.  I then told her that she would get to go to  preschool this fall and do all of the same things.  The only difference was that mama couldn't stay.  I don't think she fully understood that part of it...until today.

Today was Kaelyn's first day of preschool.  I think I was more nervous than she was.  I hadn't slept much in two nights.  She seemed excited but I knew she didn't fully understand the fact that I wasn't staying there with her.  She talked about playing games and having snacks etc, but she would always say "Mommy watch you?" I would tell her no, preschool was just for kids and teachers, but I don't think she ever fully comprehended that.

Her preschool starts at 8am, which is really early for us to get going, but she's been getting up pretty early the last few weeks so I knew it was possible.  We got out the door with no problem.  Though I started crying in the car ride to the preschool. :)  When we got to the classroom she played for a while and I found a train set I knew she'd like so we got that out.  I thought it might make her feel more comfortable since she loves trains so much.  When I finally had to go I told her I was going and she said "snuggle mommy?"  Oh come on!  Heartbreaking!  So I snuggled her a little longer and then simply had to walk out.  Sean stayed a few more minutes to calm her and then he left too.  He said she had a pouty look on her face but wasn't crying when he left.

The next two hours were quite long and I cried for much of it.  When I went to pick her up she had that same pouty look on her face and came running to me and clung to me like glue.  She told me they had fruit snacks and juice and played outside, though, so it wasn't all bad!  And the teacher said she did really well and stuck really close to the teacher.  She was impressed she knew her letters and numbers and they played train and Kaelyn asked to make supper for her and all sorts of things.  I was glad that Kaelyn vocalized things and talked to her.  She doesn't often talk around people she doesn't know so I wasn't sure she would.  Sounds like she survived okay.  The teacher said when the music teacher came into the room, Kaelyn had a setback and was very shy and near crying again but she recovered quickly and all was well again.  So it's good to hear she wasn't tortured with crying the whole time at least.  We'll see how Thursday goes!

I know I will enjoy the extra time that I will get for the next few months when she is in preschool and before the baby is born.  It won't last, but it's something.  Still, it was REALLY hard being away from her today. It's weird, there are times when all I want is to get away.  But today, I WAS away and all I wanted was to be running around the house playing beach ball and trains with her.  These days, it's what I do best!!  My little girl is growing up.  Can I keep her little longer somehow???

Anniversary Trip to Disney World

 Sean and I have been married for 10 years as of May 4th and several months ago we started talking about taking a trip somewhere to celebrate.  I was pretty determined that we were going to Disney World and I guess I won Sean over to the idea because that's what we did!  I had several reasons for wanting to go on that particular trip.  First, neither he nor I had been there in 20-25 years.  Second, it was probably our last chance to go to Disney World ALONE without Kaelyn noticing.  Third, if we were able to go alone, we would be able to do what WE wanted to do when there and not worry about you know who!

So we very briefly planned the trip.  By that I mean I got on the Disney website, booked a hotel, flights, and meal plan.  That was the extent of our planning.  We had dates and the essentials and that was about it.  As the time drew near, friends and family that had been recently and frequently gave us tips and that was helpful.  OVerall, we just looked forward to exploring and seeing what we could.

 Leaving Kaelyn behind wasn't easy, even though I knew she'd have fun with my parents.  When I put her down for her nap the day we were leaving, she didn't want to let go of my hand.  She said, "Mama hold your hand sleep?" which mean she wanted me to hold her hand while she slept.  She NEVER does that.  It was heart wrenching to tear myself away.  I almost just held her hand and skipped the flight entirely. :)  But I knew she'd be fine and she was.

We spent the rest of that afternoon/evening flying and traveling and finally got to our hotel and settled in at like 1am.  WAY late for me.  Let me tell you, though, Disney has quite a slick system.  A bus to take you from the airport to your hotel, buses to take you to all the parks and so on.  Our room key was also our park ticket and our meal ticket and our credit card for if we wanted to buy anything.  All very convenient.

Anyways, we spent the first day at Magic Kingdom.  We rode Space Mountain first.  We totally should have bought the picture because my face was hidden by my hat but Sean's showed and it was one of shock and surprise.  Very funny.  Neither of us liked it, though.  It was total darkness!  I normally like roller coasters but I didn't like being in the dark.

Then we went to Monster's Inc the comedy show, which was very funny.  They made Sean get up and dance and they said I was hiding a third eye under my hat.  We also rode IT's a small world, the Pirates of the Carribean and all of the other favorites and classics.  We were surprised not to even have to think about fast passes because we pretty much walked on to all of the rides.  We enjoyed the shows and parades and  saw everything we could.

That night, we didn't get a good place for the lighted night parade so we planned to come back later in the week.  At least we could see the fireworks.

 The second day we went to Hollywood Studios, which we both thought would have even MORE for us to do.  We first rode the new Toy Story ride, which was SO much fun.  It was like a big video game you got to play.  The line was short so we just rode it but when we were done, we got Fast Passes to go back later.  We then went on the backstage tour, which we both remembered parts of from when we were there decades ago.  There were a lot of shows at Hollywood studios and we spent a lot of time in 30 minute sessions here and there.  Toy Story ended up being our favorite ride of the trip.  We went to Fantasmic, the night show there that evening.  It was okay but not as good as I was hoping.  Especially after we waited SO long to see it.

The third day we went to Animal Kingdom, which neither of us had ever visited since it opened way after we had last been there.  We didn't think it would have as much for us to see but we were wrong.  The park is HUGE.  We heard all of the other three parks would fit inside it and have 30 acres to spare.  HUGE!  So it was a lot of walking.  We really enjoyed the Finding Nemo Show and the Lion King show was cute too.  We both liked the Bugs 3-D show a lot and the safari ride was worth it (especially with a fast pass and no wait!)  We were able to see what we wanted to see and leave by 4 so we could get back to Magic Kingdom so catch the lighted parade from a better angle.  When we got to Magic Kingdom, we went to Mickey's Magic 3-D show that my niece recommended and it was cute.  Then we had supper and claimed our spot by the train for the light show.  We sat there for 2 hours, but it was worth it.  We had a perfect view and even got to see the fireworks again.

The last day we went to Epcot, which was largely what we remembered as kids.  Not nearly as fun as the other parks! :)  The entrance area was cool and had several space rides that were fun.  The one in the big globe was my favorite because it took a picture of us at the beginning and then put us in a little show at the end.  IT was funny because Sean had his mouth open in surprise and half of my face was completely missing because of my hat.  It looked very interesting. :)  We got to see the Michael Jackson Captain EO 3-D show, which we both slightly remembered seeing when we were younger.  We walked all the way around the World Showcase, which didn't impress us much.  I guess we're not into shopping and culture. :)  The Finding Nemo Ride was cute, though.  IT took longer to walk around all the rails then to go on the ride, even though there was no one in line.

We did miss out on Soarin, which is supposed to be the best ride there.  We should have gone straight there and gotten a fast pass but we didn't and when we got there, the fast passes had times of 8-9pm for return and the actual line was 90 minutes long so we didn't bother.  Maybe next time.  We watched the fireworks there that night, our actual anniversary.

The worst part of the trip was the exhaustion!  I guess we're not used to being up and going like that ALL day everyday!  I thought Kaelyn was tiring!  I felt WAY older than my 31 years on the trip.  About halfway through day 1 I started having back issues and spent the rest of the trip in mild to severe pain because of it.  Even though it was 90 for most of the days, I had a heating pad on it at all times and was popping asprin like candy just in the hopes of being able to walk.  It wasn't pretty and now, a full day after we're back, I'm still hurting.  We also found that we got up later everyday.  The first day it was like 8:30.  The second day 9.  By the last day, we didn't even make it to the park till 11!

It was a great trip, though and I can't wait to take Kaelyn back when she's a bit older, easier to manage, and would enjoy it all.  She'll have a ball and be just as tired as we were.  Hopefully. :)

As for Kaelyn, she did really well while we were gone.  I think she had a blast with Nana and Gramps and didn't really notice we weren't there until we came back.  When we drove into the driveway, I jumped out of the car before Sean could pull it into the garage because she was swimming out front and she came running over and threw herself at me and gave me a big hug.  I was so glad.  I thought she might ignore me and just keep playing. :)  She does that.  But she didn't.  She sat in my lap the rest of the afternoon, wrapping and unwrapping her Mickey stuffed animal.  She looks so much bigger!  Is that possible?  That I'd forgotten in just a few days?!  I guess so!  We're back into the swing of things today, though.  I think the break was good for us because I'm finding her games really amusing again.  Though I was glad for her nap today so I could try to catch up on some things.  Which I should probably go do now! :)

Now Sean and I know what all is at Disney so that when we take Kaelyn back, we'll know what she might like and what to avoid.  IT'll be a fun trip when it arrives.  I'm glad we went alone this time.  We saw enough kids melting down to be VERY glad it wasn't us!  And it was nice to get away just the two of us.  That hardly ever happens these days.  Now we'll have to start talking about our next big anniversary trip... hmm....

Kaelyn is 3!!!

 Kaelyn turned three at 12:01am on April 24th, 2012.  When she woke up in the morning, she was already officially three!  To celebrate, I had asked her several days before what she wanted to do.  She told me to go the zoo.  Off we went!  Actually, it was a bit of an ordeal because my glasses broke that morning and because I could not see, I couldn't fix them.  We had to stop by walmart for a little help on the way, but eventually, we made it and I was able to see the animals as well!  We were a little late, but we still got to do most of her favorite things.

 Her all time favorite thing right now is to feed the ducks and fish.  We took a TON of bread we had been saving up so she got to do that for a good long time.  We also saw the baby giraffe and this little gorilla, which was born the same year she was.  So they're kind of cousins or something.  :)  After the zoo, we met daddy at the nearby McDonald's, which has a play center inside.  We ate and she played until she was done.  Then we went home to draw a hundred more chalk bodies on the driveway before her nap.

 She must have known it was an exciting day because she didn't nap all THAT long.  It was warm outside so we went out to our little plastic pool on the porch and did some serious swimming.  For two hours!!  She had a great time doing that.  Once daddy got home, we made supper and she had her brownie for dessert and we opened presents.  We gave her a little talking Thomas train, a Furr Real duck, an angry birds shirt (which she wore the very next day proudly!) and then Sean gave her a styrofoam plane.

 The plane was similar to one my nephew had gotten at Christmas and Kaelyn really liked it.  The difference was that hers broke on the very first use.  And it only got worse from there.  The plane, within about 5 minutes of throwing it around in the back yard, was in about a dozen pieces.  I think Sean was more upset than KAelyn.  She didn't really care and happily threw the pieces down the slide for the rest of the evening.

My parents had called earlier to sing and she cordially listened. When we finally came inside, Sean's parents called and Kaelyn wouldn't really talk much.  She had already asked to go to bed.  We finally wore her out!  Then when my sister called even later and sang, Kaelyn said "all done" when their song was over.  She was tired of that song! :)

When I put her to bed, I sang it to her again anyways and when I was leaving the room she said, "birthday again?!"  I think that means she had a good day.  I told her we'd do it all again next year!

Kaelyn's Second 3rd Birthday party

 Kaelyn's second 3rd birthday party took place just two days before her birthday.  We planned to have the party at her favorite park and we hoped and prayed there would be nice weather.  Otherwise, we were going to move the party to our house.  The weather was a bit cold and very windy, but it didn't rain so the party went on at the park as planned.  We had Sean's parents and brothers and their families as well as our friends from church, Katie, Kyle and their kids and my friend Andrea and her kids.  Renae, Kaelyn's neighbor friend from down the street and her mom came as well.

 Kaelyn loves Thomas Train right now so we had Thomas napkins, but Mickey was in the decorations as well.  She likes the variety and the Mickey toothpick decorations made the chocolate cupcakes easy to decorate!  The only problem with the park party was the bathroom was locked.  Luckily, there were no emergencies and everyone made it just fine.

Kaelyn got lots of nice things like a Thomas game, a big play doh set, a Thomas book, some Minnie clothes, a singing fish card and plenty of other goodies.  She seemed to like the card the best but she has played with it all since that time.

Kaelyn had to skip her nap for this party...something I normally NEVER let happen.  The party was 1-3 so it was RIGHT over naptime, but she did really well.  She played and ran and jumped and slid and opened presents and ate cupcakes and had a great time.  She never slowed down.  After the party, we went to Texas Roadhouse with Sean's family to eat.  We were home by 6 to simmer down a bit.  Kaelyn was VERY overtired by bedtime, but she had done a great job all day long.  She had fun.  Her second 3rd birthday party was a raging success.

We also had a fun day the day before when we attended her friend Logan's 4th birthday party at Amazing Pizza MAchine.  We rode a little train and carousel and even tried out the go-karts.  What a weekend!

Kaelyn's First 3rd Birthday Party

 Kaelyn had her first 3rd birthday party two weeks before her actual birthday at my parent's house.  My parents and sister and her family came to the party, which we started at 4.  Kaelyn had just gotten up from her nap, but she quickly got into opening presents, as usual.  After that, we had some time to play before supper.

 My mom made a big cookie cake and she actually painted Thomas the Train on it in icing.  It turned out really cute!  Kaelyn got a fun Thomas/Diesel track, some clothes, a little big wheel/bike thing, a Thomas train and a Thomas book among other things.  She just threw the clothes when she unwrapped them, but she really did like them.  She has picked out the Elmo outfit to wear several times.

It was kind of a rainy/stormy day so we had to mostly stay inside, but it was rather entertaining anyways.  After supper, the biggest portion of the entertainment was playing ping pong.  Kaelyn likes to throw handfuls of balls across the room, but that was not even the highlight.  The kids started stuffing balls into Gramps' mouth and he would spit them across the room.  HE had 4-5 in there at a time sometimes!  It was rather entertaining and everyone was giggling pretty hard.

Kaelyn is pretty lucky to have so many birthday parties every year!  Her first third party was fun and a success!  She requested fish sticks, cheetoes, and garlic bread for her meal and she got them all!  Among other things... :)

Funny Things Kaelyn Says and Does

Kaelyn is almost three and the things she says and does are more funny every day. I decided I better start recording some of them or I'm going to forget and these are things that I just never want to forget! The thoughts I will write in this blog will be very random. They will just come out as I remember them! No particular order.

Some of the funny things Kaelyn says are things that I say all of the time. I now know what I say all of the time based on what Kaelyn says back to me.

Often, when I go into Kaelyn's room in the morning or after her nap, I'll say: "Hey pretty girl!" She has recently caught on to that phrase, but she doesn't use it correctly. In fact, the other day, she walked up to Sean and said "Hey pretty girl!" Um, yeah. That's just not right! :)

One of Kaelyn's favorite games now is what we called "Surfer Girl." She has a pick car with a handle on the back and she'll stand on one side of the driveway and I'll stand on the other. I fling the car across the driveway and she jumps on and rides it the rest of the way across as it comes back towards me. She has found a variety of ways to ride, many of which look as if she's gotten hit by a car and is kersplatted against the front of it. She giggles the whole way and can play the game for hours on end.

Speaking of games, whenever Kaelyn wants to play something, she'll say "Play THAT game?" Often, I know what THAT game is based on what room we are in or where she is heading. There are also times when I have NO idea what game THAT game is and I do not even really know where she got the phrase.

Kaelyn has a way of letting me know what she wants ME to say. I often say, as I have realized through her "I can do that." She will ask me to get her some milk or put her shoes on or whatever and I'll say "I can do that." I must say it enough that she caught on and now when I DON'T say it, she does. And she will KEEP saying it until I say it. So whenever she is repeating something over and over again, I know that means I am supposed to say it. After I do, she stops. :)

Her favorite word still seems to be okay, which is much nicer than no. She agrees to plenty. Though she doesn't always mean it. And she DOES know the word no and gets more emphatic with it on a daily basis.

Lately, Kaelyn has quite a pattern in the morning. She gets up, puts her ducks in the chair, then wants to go make breakfast, which is toast and a breakfast bar. Then she wants to get BACK into her crib and look at My Little Pony, Thomas Train, and Care Bear books. After she "reads" all of those, with my help, hands sticking through bars, we have to snuggle all of the animals in her room. After that, an animal throw fight breaks out. Once that is over, sometimes she will get out and we will pile all of the animals on her as she lays in the chair and then she will roll out and they will attack her. Sometimes I even get a turn. Other times we will play with the Thomas mat on the floor.

Kaelyn is in love with cookies and other "special treats." If she eats a good supper, she'll get to choose a treat. She often gets RIGHT in my face while we're eating and starts saying "cooookiiie? Special treat?" She also asks for a special treat every time she poops when we are home. She gets a couple of Smartie candies and is very happy. I have to wonder if we'll be giving her treats to poop until she's a teenager. But whatever! :) I thought eventually she would forget, but so far she has not!

When Sean leaves in the morning if Kaelyn is up, we have to watch him drive away at the window. As he drives away, she'll talk about how daddy's going for a ride and he's going to go to the big bump, which is the bump we hit going over the railroad tracks that lead out of the neighborhood. Recently, she wants me to open the window and she also yells, "Come back here daddy!"

We just cleaned out all of our kitchen cabinets the other day and discovered plenty of things we didn't know we had. One item was a small fish teether, I'm guessing. I think it's supposed to go in the freezer because the body end of the fish is soft plastic with water in it. Well, I laid it on the stairs to take upstairs and box up, but Kaelyn commandeered it. She's been sleeping with it along with her two ducks every night and every nap since.

We went through a phase recently when Kaelyn would wake up, but want time alone in her room before I was allowed to come in. She would lay in there for an hour or more sometimes and sometimes I would try to go in and get her. She would say, "Mama go away!" Well fine then! So I would go away and come back when she called. The last few days, she still tells me to go away, but she quickly changes her mind and says, "Ready to get up, Mama come in!" just moments after I leave.

When we go to the zoo, her favorite thing to do right now is feed the ducks and fish under the big bridge near the sea lions. This bridge is one of the farthest things from the entrance, but we always have to go there FIRST. When I tell her we're going to the zoo, she starts rambling on, "Ducks, fish, toast." She feeds them the rest of her toast from the morning and then whatever other bread we have scraped up around the house. She often will talk about the ducks and the fish on other days when she's eating her toast as well, just hoping she'll get to take them the leftovers, I guess.

Kaelyn likes to watch videos of herself. She's cute and she knows it. I often take videos on my phone and then she will watch them before her nap and sometimes before bed. The funny part about this is that once she has seen a video of herself, she will start to reenact that video later. For instance, she had a wooden plane for a few days that got TOTALLY torn up. When she saw that it was broken, she told me to get new batteries to fix it. That was hilarious so I got out the camera and started taping. I said, Kaelyn, what did you tell me to do to fix your plane? OF course, all she would say at that point was "Mama fix it! Throw it!" etc over and over again. The video lasts for a minute or so and she loves watching it. After a day or two of watching it, I noticed that whenever she ran across the broken plane, she would say EXACTLY what she says in the video. And she would even say my lines, "Kaelyn, what did you tell me to do to fix your plane?" and so on. She does this for a lot of different videos, even some of the ones from when she was really little. She laid down on the floor one time, starting kicking her legs, chewing on her hands, and making baby noises. We have a video EXACTLY like it.

Kaelyn is definitely a little parrot. If I say something, she'll say something. So I have to watch what I say! Not that I ever really say much bad. I did drop something, her bowl of toast, I think it was, upstairs one day and I said "Crap nuggets!" So you can guess what Kaelyn said in return. :) Luckily, that one didn't catch on and was just a one time thing.

Kaelyn seems to be mostly over Elmo now. She now loves Thomas Train. She likes to watch him, play with him, and wear him. We have a few books featuring him and she knows all of the characters, somehow, though we don't generally read the books, we just look at pictures. I didn't even know the big green one was Emily, but she informed me that was her name. And when I paid closer attention to a video later, she was right!!

Before supper, I'll let Kaelyn watch Thomas or whatever youtube videos to keep her out of my hair while I cook. When she wants to do that, she'll ask to watch wideos. It's one of her favorite things to do, but I reserve it for special times. She'd probably sit there all day if I'd let her. That would be no fun for me! :)

There are so many little Kaelynisms I know I'm forgetting plenty. But I'm hearing a wideo reenactment through the monitor now and I know she's going to tell me to come in soon. I'll have to start taking notes when funny things happen. She makes me laugh out loud on a daily basis for some reason or another, that's for sure!

January and February

Kaelyn and I had a really fun January. It was a pretty nice month and we're used to it being rather cold so we were glad for the change. We spent a lot of time at the zoo and even at parks, believe it or not!

One of the highlights of the month was a trip back to the city where I went to college and some high school. We met up with some old college friends and had some fun. When we arrived, it was lunchtime so we met a gal who went to a different high school that me. She was a friend of a friend and she and I had connected on facebook. She has a daughter many years older than Kaelyn, but we thought it would be fun to meet with her. She was fun to chat with and it was nice to have lunch with another mom!

Then, Kaelyn and I headed to our hotel so she could nap. We had two queen beds so I put pillows all around one and she went right to sleep. She was tired from our big morning, I think. That gave me hope that the overnight hours would go well too. After her nap, we headed back to the mall to meet our college friends. The kids played at the play area and we chatted a bit, then went to supper at Red Robin, yum! After that, Kaelyn and I went back to the hotel and went swimming, which she was WAY excited about. We did that for well over an hour, then went back to our room to simmer down. I simmered. She didn't so much. :) It took her quite some time to go to sleep. I'd say two hours. Then she woke up and sang and chatted from midnight to 3am!!! I couldn't believe all of the songs she knew. And she had WHOLE conversations with herself. "I had a toot, you did? Yes I did. Well that's good to know, thanks for telling me." And on and on. ALL her. I was trying to ignore her! I think she would have done better had I not been in the room with her. She knew I was there and wanted to entertain me, I guess. But I wasn't exactly going to get two rooms just for that!

When we got up we went down for breakfast and enjoyed the continental layout. Kaelyn was excited and talked NONstop. We then went swimming again for at least another hour. She liked throwing her ducks in and jumping in after them. She also liked just wading around and watching the other kids swim and be crazy. AFter that, we went back to our room and relaxed a bit, then hit Kohls for a few minutes before meeting my professor friend at Texas Roadhouse. Kaelyn was hard to corrall there, but that's to be expected, I guess! It was a really fun trip and I was glad we went since Sean was on a business trip anyways and had we stayed home, we would have just been alone!

Kaelyn is more funny as every day passes. Yesterday, I went in to get her from her nap and she said, "I had a good sleep in my bed!" And she'll say things sometimes that's like, where did you GET that?! She picks up on things, that's for sure! She often will say something because she wants ME to say it. She'll say, "Mama, race trains! I can do that!" That means that she wants ME to say "I can do that." So that's my job. To say what she tells me to say. :) And I do it well.

Speaking of trains, that is one of Kaelyn's favorite games right now. We have three trains and we race them. Sometimes, she lays down on the floor and we race them into her face. :) Trust me, she likes it!!! She also has a Hot Wheels car track and she spends a lot of time racing those cars too. Her other favorite games include a bunch of paper balls in the guest room being thrown around and hanging out in her crib throwing her animals in and out. The best games are those that make her giggle so hard I worry she might crack a rib. :) When she's well rested and fed, she can giggle with the best of them.

It's so hard to get in every little detail about her. I don't want to forget any of it, but I know there's no way to remember it all. I try to cherish the precious moments like when I carry her to the bathroom and she wraps her arm around my neck and tucks her face in under mine. She's my little buddy.

She'll be 3 in April!!! I can't believe that. That means she could go to preschool next year. I still haven't decided if I'll be able to do that or not. Academically, she doesn't need it. But I know she could use some social aspects that being around other kids could help. I'm planning to register her, since I have to by March 1st and then drop her out later if I decide not to go ahead with it. So far, all signs point to me NOT putting her in, but I don't want to change my mind this summer and then not have the option. I go back and forth. All I want to do is keep her close, but will it really be any easier to let her go when she's 4? I'm not so sure!

She's fully potty trained now except overnight and her nap. She probably COULD do it at her nap, I just don't want to ruin a good nap! Overnight, she's always totally soaked her diaper. Probably because she drinks like a gallon of milk before bed. :) Gonna have to stop that habit someday. Otherwise, she's really good about telling me she needs to go during the day. Though when she poops, she just makes this cute little noise with a sheepish look on her face. That's her sign. Other times, she just says, "go potty!" and off we go!

We're looking forward to spring so we can hit the zoo etc yet again! Music class is one of Kaelyn's favorite indoor things to do. She doesn't always participate much, but she soaks it in. When we get home she'll sing and act out all these songs I didn't realize she knew. IT's pretty fun. She also LOVES bounce houses, the children's museum, and even walmart. And I love spending those hours with her!

Christmas 4

The whole family Christmas party on Sean's side took place on New Year's Eve day. The family gathered for lunch (Kaelyn and I missed that part due to her VERY necessary nap, we joined the fun by 3) and continued the rest of the day. Once Kaelyn and I arrived, the started doing presents. Sean's grandma is so sweet and gets presents for all of her great grandchildren and grandchildren. There are a LOT. She got Kaelyn a Catch me Kitty and a Thomas the Train book, both of which she loved. She got Sean and I kohls gift cards, which we love!

The name exchange presents were next. That's where everyone in the family gets one other person's name for a gift. Sean's aunt Denise had Kaelyn. She got her a little plastic Minnie doll/birthday set. Minnie has five different dresses, bows, shows and accessories that snap on and off. Kaelyn LOVES it. She calls her Minnie when she has a bow on and Mickey when its off. She has changed that thing thousands of times already. Sean got golf stuff and I got lotion stuff.

The idea was for it to turn into a New Year's Eve party, but Sean's dad just had surgery a couple of weeks ago so he was really tired. Around supper they started to clear out. Kaelyn and I stayed and ate because I had decided I couldn't take another bad night like the one before. I was going to drive her home. I was sad that I had to spend New Year's Eve alone, but I felt like I needed to do what was best for her and that was get her (and me) a good night of sleep.

So after we got done eating she and I drove the hour home. We got home and got cozied in and she said "I'm so lucky," to me. She's right, she is! I drove her a whole hour just so she could sleep! And sleep she did. For 12 hours without much of a peep. The next morning, we got up and I threw some clothes on her and headed back to Sean's parents house to continue the fun. Sean and his sister-in-law have birthdays early in January so we had to celebrate those.

Kaelyn got to watch the guys run their remote control cars around for awhile, then we had lunch
and ice cream cake. Most of the family cleared out and she napped and Sean and me and his parents played more cards. When she got up after sleeping over 2 hours (in the real crib again) she was having fun playing so we stayed until just after supper. Then we headed home and unloaded. We had Monday together to unpack and decompress after a whirlwind Christmas #3 and 4.

The holidays are so great. They spoil us. Not just because of the gifts but because of the time we get to spend together. It always goes too fast, but Kaelyn gets used to having her daddy around and getting all that attention and having all of those new things to do! The good news is, this year, it's still 60 in January. So here we come zoo! :)

Happy new year!

Christmas 3

Christmas 3 took place New Year's weekend. Sean had Friday off so once we got Kaelyn up and ready, we headed over to his parent's house, stopping for lunch at Wendy's along the way. No one else was going to get there till later in the afternoon and evening so Kaelyn had plenty of time to play on the horse saddle, rocking horse, with the pool table, pinball machine, and other assorted goodies.

Since there was another baby coming to the gathering, Sean's parents rigged a bed for Kaelyn on the floor of a closet. She napped there pretty well on Friday. This trend did not last, as you will later read. We were able to play some cards while she slept and just enjoy the quiet time.

When she got up, others were starting to arrive. Sean's brother and his wife and two kids were there. This made Kaelyn shy so she and I played in a back bedroom for quite some time. Once she emerged, she had a tea party upstairs and continued to explore the rest of the house. Sean's other brother got there by supper time and we ate and then began the present opening.

Sean's parents had recently been to Disney World and I'm still not sure how they did it, but they brought a ton of stuff back. One thing they brought was a Minnie Mouse doll for the granddaughters. Kaelyn opened her bag and said "Oo, Minnie! Do it again?!" So we put Minnie back into the bag and she reopened it and had the same reaction. Approximately a dozen times. She had a blast with that one!

She also got a Thomas the train shake n go train, which has had a lot of train races with her other trains once we got home. A swimming duck for her baths, which she loves. An Elmo book which she won't let me open, but LOVES to push the buttons on the front. And a bean bag, which she runs clear across the kitchen into the family room to throw herself into. :) She made off pretty well.

Everything went really well and was really fun till bed time. It was a little chaotic at the end because presents didn't start until 715 and went really quickly, ending right about at 8. I took Kaelyn off to bed but everyone was still chattering in the room right next to where she was supposed to sleep. That and the excitement and the different house and different bed added up, I guess. She didn't want me to turn the light off in the room so I didn't. She then proceeded to sing, chatter, and cry for TWO hours. I went in once. Sean went in once. She just kept saying she wanted to get up and play. She eventually went to sleep, but that only lasted about 4 hours. I had to go in once and cover her up and that worked for another 30 minutes. The next time she started in, I knew we had problems. She just wanted to get up and was asking for her milk. It was like 3am.
I ended up climbing into bed with her, hoping I could calm her down and get her to relax. That also didn't work. There was a baby next door who had been having trouble sleeping too and the last thing I wanted to do was wake her up. I also didn't want Kaelyn to get up for the day or her playing would wake EVERYONE up. Plus, it was SO early! By 430 I knew I had to do something so I grabbed the keys, packed her into the car and drove. We ended up driving until 7. She fell asleep at 530 and slept till I got back to Sean's parents house. I was so tired I was shaking. She was startled from waking up in the car and obviously still tired too.

The morning went back and forth from somewhat okay/pleasant to downright ugly. Kaelyn wanted to eat lunch starting at 10. I finally let her at 1045. She got so upset around noon she even wet herself. Luckily, Sean's family was heading to the full family party by then so I cleaned her up and got her napping in the real crib, which had been vacated. She slept for an hour and a half and then lost a duck (the horror!). She felt better, though.

The next post will continue with the Christmas 4, which is the whole big family party! Christmas 3 was mostly fun except the sleeping issue! Though I do have to say, it really went by too quickly. Except the sleeping issue, again. :)