Cars and Teeth and Shoes

For some reason lately Kaelyn won't let me brush her teeth! She used to think it was kind of fun but now she just pushes the toothbrush away. She even clenches her lips shut as tight as she can to prevent me from getting in there. Hope she doesn't get cavities! AT this point it's probably more for practice than anything, but we're not getting any practice in now are we!

Kaelyn's new favorite game...watch the cars!! Picture this, I'm sitting on the porch step, Kaelyn is playing on the sidewalk that connects the porch to the driveway. A car approaches...we both hear it, Kaelyn looks up to see it, then turns and RUNS back to my arms with the HUGEST grin. She jumps into my lap and just bounces as HARD as she can squealing as it passes. If I'm fast enough and feel up to it, I grab her and we run to the end of the driveway. She about bounces out of my arms when they go by. I sometimes wonder if people think I'm nuts when they see me running for the end of the driveway with a baby, pointing and squealing and bouncing (both of us!) But when I see her delighted reaction I don't care!

You can see in this picture Kaelyn's new shoes. I call them her technicolor dream shoes because they remind me of Joseph's technicolor dream coat or something. They're mostly blue but have pretty much every other color in them as well. My mom and I got them at Scheel's over the weekend. It was the strangest thing. Kaelyn has never appreciated shoes. She yells at them on sight, much less trying to put them ON her. Friday, though, she just sat in her stroller and I tried several pairs on her! I couldn't BELIEVE she let me do that. Most of them she immediately tried to yank off. These she didn't ! They were SO easy to get on too. Since she didn't try to take them off I got her out of the stroller and stood her up. With a new pair of shoes this is normally where she collapses like she's going to DIE if I don't take them OFF. But with these she just took off running around! It was great! She loves them and even seems to walk a little better in them at times. Way cool!

So Kaelyn is her daddy's daughter, she LOVES cars! She's my daughter too she HATES shoes. But both Sean and I brush our teeth so who knows where she gets that! :)

First first birthday party

This weekend was Kaelyn's FIRST first birthday part at my parents house over in Iowa. She had a little bit of a rough day, really. We went to my niece's soccer game in the morning and Kaelyn had a great morning and a nice long nap before that. But she just wasn't herself at the game. She wouldn't eat much of the lunch I brought for her (sweet potatoes as always), she wouldn't let me set her down to run around, she wouldn't let me sit down, she just wasn't a happy camper. Once we got back to my parents house that "fun" continued. I don't know what her deal was but she wasn't happy at all. She just cried and cried and was real cuddly with me. Again she wouldn't let me put her down, she wouldn't do ANYTHING. She wouldn't eat her 2pm snack so I let her nurse. That made her happy for the time being. And after her nap she was back to her old self again.

Luckily the party wasn't until late afternoon! AFTER the nap that seemed to cure Kaelyn of her weird mood. Maybe teeth? Who knows! Anyways, Sean and my dad went golfing after the soccer party and got home by 3:30 and my sister and her husband and kids arrived just after Kaelyn got up from her nap after 4 so that worked out well. My dad paid my niece and nephew a nickel a pine cone to pick up the hundreds of pine cones in the yard. He was out quite a bit of money! We played outside awhile then Kaelyn opened her presents on the covered porch.

My sister and family got Kaelyn a turtle sand box! I can only imagine the fun (and the mess!) she will have in that once we get sand for it! MY niece and nephew also made very sparkly cards with lots of holes punched in them for Kaelyn to put her finger in! :) And my niece made her a pixo bee. Which she carried around and played with for MUCH of the weekend. IT's already been repaired three times due to the love it has received!

My parents gave Kaelyn a white rocking chair to match the two we have on our front porch. She sits in it at times, but prefers to rock it at this point! They also gave her a blow up pool (again, imagine the fun we will have in that once it warms up for good!) a swimsuit and cover up, some clothes, a Hawkeye cheerleading outfit (which Sean plans to have her wear while holding a GO NEBRASKA sign!), an Elmo potty training book that makes sounds (which she pushed over and over again!!), some Skippy Jon Jones board books, and a musical teapot set that came with two cups and plastic treats (she has been dancing to the songs from the teapot constantly and carrying around the round plastic treat.)

I think Kaelyn made out pretty well for her first first birthday party! We then had hamburgers on the grill and out came the cake! Two cakes, actually, one chocolate with chocolate, the other funfetti white with white. I blew out the candles for her and she managed to get a finger into the icing before they got the cakes away to cut them! We gave her a small piece of each and let her have at it! She mooshed those things around until they were paste! It was like a chunky mud on her hands or something! No, she didn't put any in her mouth, but she let ME put some in her mouth and didn't mind it! She pretty much gags on all foods I try and will only allow ONE bite before pushing me away. But this...not so bad! :)

Luckily, Kaelyn likes to play in water so I got a big bowl of water and let her dip her hands around in it to get off all the goo. That worked well. We played longer outside and that was that for her first first birthday party! This coming weekend will bring her SECOND first birthday party with Sean's parents at our house!

Another milestone, Kaelyn started putting things in her mouth! ONLY her snacks after her nap and only when I hand them to her one at a time in the palm of my hand. For weeks I've been putting them in her hand and shoving it up to her mouth. She's finally getting the idea! But if she takes a snack herself she'll just play with it or toss it. And she hasn't put anything ELSE in her mouth. Which is good since she likes to play with the rocks out front and other strange things! It's exciting that she's getting the picture about the food, though. Maybe there IS hope for her feeding herself someday! Next stop...getting her to eat foods other than baby stuff!!

She did really well sleeping at my parents house, but she started getting up earlier and earlier each morning. Our first night at home she got up at 5:30am and I couldn't get her back to sleep! Her morning nap is stretching longer, probably due to that early rising! I'm okay with that since that means I can get things done now that I usually do before she gets up in the morning.

I still can't believe she's almost a year old. Less than two weeks away!

Outside vs. rainy days

Do babies talk in their sleep? I think mine just did. I just heard Kaelyn making some of her dada noises over the monitor. Then she sighed and went silent again. She sounded pretty sleepy in her speaking so I wonder if she was fully awake. It's not even 6am yet so I was hoping that didn't mean she was up for good! She DID sleep through the night on Easter. But so far just that ONE time. She's been regularly getting up sometimes between 4:30-5:30am for a snack and then sleeping till 7 or so. But compared to what it used to be like, I'm thrilled with that. And I often stay up after she gets up then and go for a run in the basement, get a massage on our massage bed downstairs, read, write, whatever. All the things I haven't really had time or energy for since she was born!

Being outside has been a REAL treat these past few weeks. Many of Kaelyn's toys don't even get messed with until the evening. Making them much more fun at that point since they haven't been over-played with by then! Kaelyn just LOVES
being outside. We play out front a lot. She likes going up and down the one stair on the porch. Playing with the rainbow windmill her grandparents gave her for Easter. Running up and down the sidewalk that goes from the driveway to the porch. Rocking the chair, as you can see from this picture. The other day she would rock it and look over at me and I'd say "rock-a-bye chair!" and she'd just giggle and giggle. Then rock it again. Most importantly, though, is watching the cars pass. Kaelyn seems to be in love with cars. She is her father's daughter! If she's down the sidewalk a bit away from me when one nears, she'll turn and RUN towards me, throw herself in my arms, then turn around and watch it pass and bounce and nod her head. She just loves to watch them zoom by! And despite the 25 mph speed limit, they DO zoom by. She especially likes the big trucks. And the bright red cars.

Yesterday we had our first rainy day in quite sometime. We
were getting spoiled being outside so much. I knew when it rained it would be harder to stay inside. Now Kaelyn's USED to going outside and remembers how much she likes it. I opened the front door so we could at least look out and she just stood at the glass door and banged on it like let me OUT! Not only was it raining but it was cold. It even hailed for a few minutes in the afternoon! We did pretty much everything inside. We played with all the toys in both rooms. We emptied every cupboard. We did laundry. We played with the easter grass, the easter eggs. Kaelyn unwrapped a present meant for a friend of ours. We even went to the library and got an oil change. The day passed much slower than the days we can be outside in the nice weather. But this summer is bound to have days that are either too rainy or too hot to be out so it's good to know we can at least still survive if we have to! Hopefully we don't have to often!

Today we have to attempt to pack. At least I have to pack. With the help of an almost 1 year old! Not the easiest job ever! :) We're heading to my parents house soon for Kaelyn's first first birthday party.

I think she's awake now for real, better go check it out!

SOOO big

I wonder what it is about the expression "so big" that kids enjoy! Awhile back I started asking Kaelyn how big she was and then I would take her hands, wave them above her head and say SOOO big. She must have enjoyed it because after I would do it she would raise her hands up again for me to do it again. I think my mom was doing something similar because now when Kaelyn is running around the house sometimes she'll just throw her hands up in the air. That's our cue to say SOOO big. It seems like most little kids enjoy this game at some point and I wonder why! It's sure adorable, though. Sometimes Kaelyn even does it when I'm changing her diaper. She's laying there throwing her hands up over and over again. Hey, whatever keeps her happy!

Something new I've noticed her doing just this week is asking for more food when she wants it. It started with her snacks after her second nap. She usually sits in my lap and we look at books and she eats cheerios and veggie wheels. I give them to her one at a time as we flip through books. The snack bowl is sitting in the chair next to where we sit and lately if I don't give them to her fast enough she'll reach towards the bowl. Or sometimes just put her hand straight up in the air. Like hello, snack please!! Now at a mealtime if I'm not spooning fast enough she'll reach her hand out in a certain way. Get that spoon going mama! It'd be nice to just give her her own spoon and let her do it as fast or slow as she wants! But anything she has promptly hits the floor. Maybe someday. She's already perfected the, "no thanks" move. I try to give her a spoonful or something and she pushes it away. I call it giving me the stiff arm. Sometimes she's not ready for another bite yet and sometimes she's full or sometimes she sees the color of the food and wants something different. She's getting more picky like her mama, unfortunately! Since I know when she DOESN'T want something it's nice that she's now telling me when she does at times.

We spend a lot of time on the stairs lately. She usually only climbs the first one or two and then throws things off of them onto the tile at the bottom. I leave stuff on the stairs specifically for that purpose. And she's getting better at going down them, with help, of course. Going backwards would probably be best but Kaelyn was just diving face first when we started. She still sometimes tries that move when she's in a hurry but now more often she goes sideways. She'll reach out for my hands then swing one leg over the side of the stair and down. This method could actually work alone someday if she'll hold on to the railing instead of me. Sometimes her steps are hugely exaggerated. Like her leg is searching for the next step through the air. It's pretty funny.

We're looking forward to her first first birthday party this weekend. We'll go to my parents house to celebrate with them and my sister and her family. The following weekend we'll have a party at our house for Sean's family and then the weekend after THAT is her ACTUAL birthday. We haven't decided what to do that weekend but it's going to be just the three of us so hopefully we'll come up with something fun and memorable!

I still can't believe how big Kaelyn IS getting. She has two more teeth coming through on the top for a total of 6. She definitely weighs over 20 pounds. Can't wait to get more exact details on her stats at her next doctor's visit...though I CAN wait to get her shots! :) Her hair seems to be growing thicker and longer everyday. I want to look for some barrettes pretty soon, that'll be cute. And she's running all over the house like she owns the place! Our little girl is growing up!

Easter

Kaelyn's first Easter started out as a huge miracle. She's about 11 1/2 months old now and she FINALLY slept through the night! She was real crabby the night before so I put her to bed a tiny bit early. She nursed herself to sleep and was OUT by 8:15. Normally it's more like 8:30. She slept from 8:15pm-6:50am!!! I did hear one quick wah at about 4:30am but she must have just rolled over because it was short and to the point and nothing more so neither of us had to get up to check on her. AN EASTER MIRACLE! Maybe Kaelyn was just waiting for a memorable date so I would easily remember the first time she slept through the night. As we approach bedtime, I'm just hoping it's not the ONLY night she sleeps through! :) Time will tell! So now you know why I look pretty happy in this picture!

Sean saw Kaelyn in her "easter" dress and said everyone was going to wonder why she had on a valentine's day dress. Well, I said, God is love so it makes sense! :) I chose this dress for many reasons. It was my niece Nicole's dress so we didn't have to shop. It fit decently. We had a pair of red pants that would look okay under it in case it was cold, which it was for awhile. It was short enough that Kaelyn could crawl in it without getting hung up. It was kind of a t-shirt looking dress instead of a frilly dress. I'm REALLY not into dresses. As you can tell by my khaki-flavored Easter outfit for myself! Plus, what does it matter what Kaelyn wears, she's cute in anything!

We wanted to make it to our early church service at 8:30 this morning. Kaelyn got up at almost 7 and then nursed and nursed and nursed. So we had just under an hour to get ready. I don't take much time getting ready and Kaelyn and I didn't play as much during her bath so we even had time for some easter egg fun before we headed out. Kaelyn is much better at removing the eggs FROM the baskets than putting them in. Every now and then she'll put ONE in but usually just one. And it gets tossed right back out. Since we were in a bit of a rush we left the house strewn with easter eggs. ALL over. And I do mean ALL over. What do you do.

We made it to early church and Kaelyn was running around in the back before the first hymn. She usually makes it in our laps through at least that part, but not today! We usually go to late church which is AFTER her breakfast and first nap, but early church meant breakfast time AT church. Kaelyn didn't really want to eat in our laps so I went to the church basement and found a high chair and she really chowed then. That worked. I missed the sermon and a hymn but what do you do. She happily played on the floor in the back of the church for the remainder of the service.

After church we headed to Sean's parents house an hour away for lunch. Kaelyn filled her diaper and then slept the whole way. When we got there I realized I had only ONE diaper in the diaper bag! I couldn't BELIEVE it! I take that thing with us everywhere but I BARELY ever use it. I just hoped she didn't fill another diaper in the few hours we were there...but she did. Luckily Sean's mom had some freebie diapers she had been sent in the mail or something. It worked! And when we got home I STUFFED the diaper bag with diapers! :)

We had a great ham lunch and Kaelyn spent much of the day in the swing they hung for her and in a little red wagon which I dragged around the yard for over an hour. She liked that bumpy ride! She got some easter presents and enjoyed tossing the easter grass around quite a bit. She slept the whole way home and was in a great mood when we arrived.

Kaelyn's first easter was a great success! Good Friday was not such a good friday, she was a real crab. I'm glad things turned around for us the rest of the weekend! I think maybe part of her knew that Good Friday signified the day our Lord was killed. She's too little to understand that three days later he rose again! Now that she knows that she's in a better mood! I can't wait for Kaelyn to grow up and learn more about God. It'll be fun to see faith through the eyes of the child. What we're all supposed to do anyways. Easier said than done!

We have a lot of plans this week, it'll be busy and go fast...we hope! Next weekend we head to my parents house for Kaelyn's birthday party with them. Let the cake smashing begin! What are the odds she'll put any cake in her mouth? Slim to none. But I know she'll enjoy smooshing it up!

Good Friday

I have to admit today feels like Saturday, not Friday. Kaelyn was hungry at 5:30 so I got up to feed her and then she went back to sleep. I went downstairs for a run and was watching the news thinking, why are THOSE anchors on today? It's Saturday! Those aren't the Saturday people. It was perplexing me greatly, apparently, but I finally remembered it's really FRIDAY! Sean has the day off. We have big plans! :) Since it's supposed to rain those plans include Wal-Mart and Menards, who wee!!!

My mom and I took Kaelyn to the zoo yesterday, believe it or not. The zoo was much busier and her stroller nap was very restless. Perhaps that is why she slept for almost an hour and a half yesterday afternoon. Even if she was mostly in the crawling position as you can see from this picture. Ready to go at any moment! She must roll over and attempt to get up but fall back asleep too fast. I often find her this way when I look in during her naps.

I'm hoping she isn't too hot now. I slept in short sleeves and shorts with no covers last night but she still has on her pjs AND sleep sack. Poor thing might be a bit sweaty when she gets up! It's hard to know. The temperature is the same as it has been in here all year but with it being warmer outside it just FEELS warmer in here too.

Kaelyn got an early Easter gift from my parents. Some clothes, some soft sports balls, and this carrot. It's a large plastic carrot, but do you see the top that she's showing us? It has a hole in it! She was so fascinated with it she took it with her to nap yesterday. You'll see it in the bottom left of the picture above. AND when she got up from her nap, I usually sit her on my lap and she has snacks and we read books. She always turns the pages...FAST. But yesterday all she wanted to do was hold the carrot in one hand and stick the finger of her other hand in the hole in the top. Over and over. I still looked at books and she watched but she didn't participate like she normally does. She was too busy. The carrot went by the wayside by bedtime and she went to bed with her 1/8 tsp again.

My mom and I were talking that it seems Kaelyn is more into "hold me, carry me" lately. I had noticed that this past week and my mom said it was the same when she watched her. It used to be when I'd make supper I'd put the kitchen timer on for 5 minutes or whatever and Kaelyn and I would play during that time. When the timer went off I'd go flip the chicken or whatever, set the timer again, then we'd play more. This week, though, during that time of day she will NOT let me put her down. I have to carry her around the WHOLE time I cook, which is not easy on the arms and not easy for the cooking either! And other times of day too, she'll be happily playing outside in the rocks and then just reach up to me and insist I pick her up. The good part is, I'm growing muscle mass on a daily basis! The bad part is I don't want to carry her around all the time, I don't NEED to because she's a good walker/crawler, and my arms can't take it!

Kaelyn did have another tooth break through a couple of days ago so part of me wonders if it's that. Or maybe it's just a new phase. She's mastered walking so now she doesn't have to practice that all the time. Now is she trying to master having me carry her? I thought we perfected that a long time ago!

Just a couple of weeks away from her first birthday, I can't believe it! Next weekend we'll celebrate with my family. The following weekend with Sean's family and on her actual birthday weekend Sean and I will have her to ourselves. We thought about having one big party on her birthday but she's pretty frightened in big crowds with lots of people giving her attention at once so we thought it might be more pleasant for her to do it in small segments. Spread it out a little! And it might be nicer for those attending because they'll have more time with Kaelyn over having a large group all wanting her at the same time. So hopefully she enjoys both parties and it works out well. We didn't want to have either party on her birthday because that wouldn't be fair to the OTHER family so we ended up with her birthday to ourselves. That'll be nice too. No one else was there when she was born, anyways! Maybe we'll go to the zoo! :) We'll see!

Last year at this time I was MAJORLY pregnant and SO hoping Kaelyn would arrive...like NOW! Everyday I'd go in to work and people would say, what are you DOING here?! And I'd be like, well, I'm still pregnant aren't I! I only ended up missing one day of work. I was scheduled to have my water broken on Monday the 27th and so I KNEW I wouldn't be going back to work after Friday. But Kaelyn decided it was time on Thursday the 23rd and arrived on Friday the 24th (at 12:01am) so I missed work on Friday. I was glad because I'd wrapped everything up on Thursday anyways and probably would have been bored. And uncomfortable!!! But I'd been uncomfortable for a month or more by then. And MAJORLY uncomfortable for the last week of it. But here she is, finally sleeping better at night, almost a year old, running all over the place, "talking" up a storm, and monopolizing all of my time and energy. And she's worth it all. People always say that. And it's true.

Have a great Easter! Kaelyn has been playing with easter eggs for weeks now. Hopefully I can interest her in them this weekend for one final go around!!

April Fool's!

I must admit, I stole an April Fool's joke from my friend Andrea. A few years ago she rubber banded her sprayer hose on her sink and got her husband wet. Seeing as today is April Fool's Day and I can never think of anything on my own, I decided to steal her joke. Last night I got out a rubber band and aimed the sprayer. I even tested it and the thing shot all the way across the room! The question was...who would get the spraying? My mom is here to help with Kaelyn for a couple of days and she usually makes breakfast for us so I figured it would be her. But I had HOPES that it would be Sean. When I went to bed last night I couldn't stop giggling in anticipation of who might get sprayed. I just hoped I didn't forget and get it myself! :) Sean was like what's so FUNNY? My April Fool's joke! I said. He was like whatever.

So, this morning, my mom came down to make breakfast. Sure enough, she got it (see the wet spot on her shirt? Probably not, it's dry by now.) The funniest part is when I came downstairs she told me I would never believe what my husband did! :) She even sent him an email thanking him for getting her soaked this morning. And he's at work thinking what the heck?! He has no idea what I did so he probably has no idea what she's talking about and here I'm looking like a saint! :) Unfortunately, in situations like this I can't control my laughing so I giggled too much and she figured out that it was actually me. But not until AFTER the email to Sean was sent! :) hahaha!!!

Yesterday was my longest day away from Kaelyn ever! I went to work, then met Sean at Texas Roadhouse (so full! And we're going to eat it again tonight we brought so much home!) and then I had a church meeting! 7 hours away! Kaelyn survived...enjoyed it even! Get that mama out of my face already!! I feel really refreshed from having been away. Perhaps where I found the energy to play a joke and giggle about it hours after bedtime! :)

Happy April Fool's to you! Hope you don't get sprayed today...if you do, hope you blame someone other than me! :)