Branson Trip-Before, Driving, Arrival

The time finally arrived, the family trip to Branson! It was a very good deal, really. We hadn't planned on coming to Branson. Quite awhile back we attended our church auction and one of the couple's at church was auctioning off a week at the house they owned in Branson. We bid but the bids went higher than we wanted so we stopped. The next day, the guy emailed me and said that they had given the house away later in the auction a second time, after we had left. That time it went for $300. Would we be interested in making a $300 donation to the church and having a week also? Um, yes! So that was how our vacation ended up being in Branson. Everything we had heard about the house was great, it had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, access to a neighborhood pool and anything else we could ever want.

So we planned our trip for July 9-16, 2011. The packing frenzy began earlier in the week and my parents came down on Friday the 8th to see a show and get groceries. Sean, Kaelyn and I headed out first thing Saturday morning, July 9th. It was a miracle, really. When Kaelyn got up in the morning I talked to her about our trip and said, hey, you want to go take your bath NOW and go?! She did, so we did! We were able to leave just a little after 8am. She usually likes to play for an hour...or two...in the morning before getting ready. The drive took us 8 hours so that was kind of a bummer but what do you do. We couldn't catch I-29 down because of flooding so we had to go a longer away around until we could join the larger interstate. We knew that would take longer. Kaelyn did pretty well, but there were a few times she got pretty bored and antsy. We stopped for lunch outside Kansas City at Wendy's (Kaelyn had mostly eaten her stuff in the car) and she just ran laps around the table. She was excited to be out! Once we got going again she napped for an hour and 15 minutes. I wished it had been longer! We got to the house a little after 4, and wow, what a house!

This house, from the outside, is just gorgeous. The inside is even better. The main floor is pretty big and has a large, two story family room with huge windows in the back overlooking the river. There's also a nice kitchen and dining room and an enormous master bedroom and bath and closets. Sean and I actually got assigned that master bedroom, somehow! The basement has three other bedrooms including one with two sets of nice bunk beds, two full bathrooms, a game room, a big screen TV room and probably more I'm not thinking about.

As we unpacked and settled in we decided Kaelyn would be best off sleeping in the closet. That may seem mean, but it's a big closet! :) And she doesn't do well in the same room as Sean and I because she sees us and just wants to play. We needed a spot where she could be alone so she would know it was time to sleep. The crib was in the basement and my dad and Sean had to take it apart to get it in the closet, but it's in there now! And last night she did semi-okay. She only woke up scared once. Her main problem was losing her ducks! She sleeps with a small rubber duck in each hand and last night, she lost track of them several times. I know she woke me at least 6 times. The difference in the beds might be that we have a bumper around ours and this one does not. Therefore, there is nothing to stop the ducks from taking flight. :) Hopefully tonight will be better. But she went to bed really easily and didn't seem afraid or anything, so that was good.

They also have every kid thing you need here including a high chair, stroller, toys, cups, all sorts of things. It's just awesome. After we got situated we had hamburgers and corn on the cob for supper and just played around the house. There's a screened in porch on the back that has a nice swing and Kaelyn had the most fun going in and out of the screened in part the open deck part. The door is lightweight and she can open it alone. There are also elephant and giraffe statues across the street that she enjoyed riding several times. After she went to bed, we just sat around and looked at brochures etc. My sister and her crew are set to arrive Sunday late evening, and that's when the REAL entertainment begins! :)

Camping and Talking

Kaelyn still is a "quiet" girl. Quiet in that she doesn't talk understandable words very often. However, she DOES talk. My sister said it best. The last time we saw her she said, it's not that Kaelyn doesn't talk, it's just that she speaks Chinese. She's right, it really DOES sound like that!

She has discovered the word "More" lately. I attribute this to our bowling sessions. We have a plastic bowling set and I will set out a few pins and ask if that is enough. She will get a goofy grin and point to the rest and I will ask "more?!" and she'll affirm this and I'll set out more. And so on. She has started saying the "more" part on her own and for other things too.

She also sometimes tells us when to "Go!" Like when we race down side by side slides. I'll say, tell me when to go! And it's not just a simple matter of saying GO, no, she has to squeeze her eyes shut and clench her fists and really scream it. In case I'm hard of hearing that day. :)

Otherwise, she still says mama and daddy. Cheese when you take her picture. Something that sounds similar to shoes. She has a word for jump since she's always jumping, but it's not really "jump." Many other assorted babbles. She can really talk! One of these days, I'll be busy listening all day as she makes up stories!

We take a music class on Mondays (or whatever day we make it there), though we are between classes right now. In the last session, there was a song about a turtle who lives in a box. Lately, Kaelyn has been singing that song ALL the time. She does the right inflextions and all of the actions. The word turtle even sounds pretty close! It's really cute. It took me awhile to figure out what song she was doing, but now that I know it's rather obvious. She also does Mary had a Little Lamb quite a bit in the bath, for whatever reason.

We went camping again for a long weekend over Father's day. Though they said it was going to be 80-90 and sunny, it actually rained every day. Only one day was real warm. We still were able to do everything we wanted including go go the zoo! Sean hadn't been with us yet this year so we had to show him the ropes. I think Kaelyn had the most fun in the aviary where she went back and forth through the chains that keep the birds in for a good 30 minutes. Whatever works!

We also spent a lot of time on the two playgrounds at the campground and on the hottest day, we went to the indoor playground they have. I remember going to that playground last fall and being SO nervous for KAelyn. There were bigger kids there and she was timid and getting knocked around. This year was a different
story. She's still skittish around other kids but she's bigger now and able to do things more on her own. She did a little obstacle course that got her to the slide over and over again. We just sat and watched. It was awesome!

Some of Sean's family and his parents came out on Saturday and played some games. His parents stayed all day and we had some smores that night, which Kaelyn loved. Her favorite game of the day was walking on the concrete parking thingy and jumping off the sides. See picture above for that. We have about 10 pictures of her looking very similar in mid-jump. Pure joy!

It was a great weekend and it made me wish we could go back the next weekend. I like camping for many reasons, but one of them is that it helps you to slow down. When Kaelyn naps, I'm stuck in the camper with not much to do. This is nice because I can nap too and then just sit and read! At home I would feel lazy if that's all I ever did while she slept. And at night when she goes to bed, Sean and I can watch movies, which we hardly ever do at home either because I go to bed. :) Plus, when we're up and on the playgrounds, all of our attention is on her. There's no grass to be mowed and no bills to be paid, etc. Maybe that's why she gets SO excited when we get the camper out that first night and hit the road! It took her an hour and a half to get to sleep the first night, but every night after that she passed OUT. She was running and playing SO hard everyday she didn't have a choice but to sleep when given the chance, I guess!

Yesterday Kaelyn and I spent a little time in the guest room looking through some photo albums. My how that little girl is growing up! She's a little girl now, not a baby! A big 2+ year old! Her hair is long and she's definitely getting taller. Pretty soon she'll be off to kindegarten and THEN what will I do all day?! :)

Classic Cars at the Hot Rod Cafe

If you love classic cars of all kinds, you will love dining at the Hot Rod Cafe. Based around the theme of muscle cars and find classic's, you can find your place at a table, booth or bar seat and watch the fun on a Friday night. This is the official meeting time for classic cars and car lovers from around the area. They gather together to show off the cars and treasure they have worked hard to restore and create into a show classic piece. Once you are inside and ready to order, you can view a piece of car classic history with the half car on the wall, seats made from car sets and pictures of patrons from throughout the years. You will find a certain history to this crazy, but fun restaurant and the food is great. Served in the classic 1950's style with a very adult twist, the food is good, there is plenty of it and you can even order a beer to go with your meal. Try one of the combination starters before your meal arrives and enjoy other car lovers and friends for the evening. I set my securitychoice home security alarm before leaving and know the other treasure and classic I own will be safe until I return. This is really the place to be on a Friday night, when you can see classic cars of all kinds and view your own small car show.

Kaelyn is 2...part 2!

Kaelyn has her 2 year doctor's appointment just two days after her birthday. As usual, she screamed at everyone in sight. :) They tried to let her stand on the scale by herself to be weighed but she wouldn't let go of me so that wasn't working. We had to do it the hard way on the old baby scale. She weighs 28 pounds 10 ounces. Big girl! Then we had to stretch her out to check her height. That was equally fun. She's 34 1/4 inches tall! She'll be taller than me in no time, don't you think? After she calmed down from all that, they REALLY started messing with her! Looking in her nose and ears and listening to her lungs and heart. A student doctor did all that first followed by the real doctor. None of which she appreciated, as you can imagine. She sits on my lap and lets them do it but she TELLS them what she thinks about it! :) Overall, she's a healthy girl and growing well. They said I could start her on different milk other than the whole milk now and she can try peanut butter if we want. They said not to push potty training and to wait until she is ready. She shows SOME signs of being ready, but some definitely not. Like if I ask her if she went potty, she will pat her diaper for yes. She knows when she went! She DEFINITELY prefers to be WITHOUT a diaper. And she LOVES showing me where the potty is. But I have a potty chair for her and she will NOT sit on it when it's open. She still runs from me when its time to change her, though she won't sit down in a dirty diaper so she WANTS it off, she just doesn't want to spend the time it takes to do it, I guess. So we'll see. Since she still doesn't talk much it can be hard to tell when she has to go until it's too late at this point.
I don't mind changing her so we'll just see what happens from here and wait till she's ready.

I do think her talking is improving, though, even in the last few weeks. On her birthday, she actually said CHEESE when we were taking her picture and I got her to say stinky the other day when she went potty. She imitates what we say when we ask her to, though it doesn't always sound quite right, she's trying! It can be rather funny, actually. And when you ask her how something is she almost always says Good, or something that sounds SORT of like good. :) I think she's on her way to being quite the chatter box. While she doesn't have many words yet, she talks CONSTANTLY in some sort of foreign language. It's rather humorous, really. It's quite the conversation and I often wonder what in the world she would be saying if she had the words to use! She may be one of those kids that NEVER stops talking someday! Her chattering is funny because sometimes it's almost like an explosion that just erupts out of her, like she can't control it.
It just comes out! It's cute and she knows it. :)

Last weekend we had her birthday party with my family. I actually spent a few more days over there because my mom was at our house and I rode back with her rather than have two cars over there. Sean came over after work on Friday. I got to have lots of Chick-Fil-A in the meantime so I was happy. Kaelyn had an Elmo birthday theme again this year because she still seems to love that guy most.

In the morning we went over to Sean's brother and his wife's house and gave their daughter her birthday present. She'll be 9 in May and we won't see her again before then so we thought it was a good time to do that. They gave Kaelyn a present too...two footballs, an Elmo shirt and book. She LOVES those footballs! And will love the shirt as soon as I wash it so she can wear it.

Her party was Saturday and can you believe she took a 3 hour nap beforehand? That's unprecedented. On a side note, things are back to normal now, we're home and she's not napping at all today...she's been talking in her bed for over an hour now. Must have a lot to tell her ducks! :) Anyways, once she finally got up from her nap we played for a bit and then it was pretty much supper time. Hamburgers on the grill and a little garlic bread and then out came
the cake! Kaelyn loved the Elmo face on it and did get a little poke into the icing before we cut it. She thoroughly enjoyed her piece and started by removing all the icing. She did eat most of the cake too eventually, which was nice.

After that, everyone was on a sugar high so we opened presents. Kaelyn got all sorts of neat things. The first thing she opened was a doll stroller. She isn't really into dolls, but she was SO excited about that stroller. Even before it was out of the package, she seemed excited about it. I don't know how she really knew what it was, but whatever she thought it was was very cool to her! :) She took off with that and pushed it all around the house several times. It was hard to get her to come back and open more, actually! She also got a push lawn mower that was supposed to blow bubbles, but really doesn't. That's okay because she still likes to push it. My parents had a large bag fulled with goodies such as a hoola hoop, scooter and helmet, raincoat and boots, some clothes, and one of her favorites, a tickle me Elmo! Elmo has been thoroughly tickeled MANY times of the day, trust me!

Once the presents were opened we took some of them outside to push around and Sean even flew a kite, which Kaelyn loved to watch. She had a good day and even went to bed nicely for me that night. After a nap that long I thought she might be up for awhile! :)

We came home after church the next day and Sean took over the place of coolest thing in the world again. He MOWED! Kaelyn about had a cow she was so excited. For awhile she stood on the porch jumping up and down screaming daddy daddy and pointing at him. Once he moved to the side yard we took a bag chair to the driveway and watched from there. She was so excited she probably wet herself. Actually, now that I think
of it, when we went inside later I DID change her because she was so wet the diaper was leaking. And I had just changed her like 2 hours before so that was unusual. I guess now I know why.

The pictures on here are kind of an assortment from the three parties. Some are from Sean's parents house, some are from my parents house and some are from our house. They're all cute and they all relate to her birthday so I put them all together.

As for the dentist...her first appointment was May 5th. It actually didn't go nearly as badly as I
thought it might. She was supposed to stay in the waiting room while I got most of mine done, but she ran after me and wanted to come so that was that! She sat in my mom's lap and huddled and cuddled but didn't make a peep. She was keeping a close eye on me to make sure they weren't doing anything unseemly, I guess. After I was done, they had me hold her in my lap. And yes, she screamed at them and was very shy, but that was a good thing because at least they could see in her mouth! The dentist said everything looked good for her age and she could come back at age 3. Whew! Another milestone down!!

Kaelyn is 2

It's official! Kaelyn is 2! Can you believe it? I can! They say it goes fast and I'm sure overall, it will, but I still remember those sleepless nights all too well and the days when little missy is crabby move VERY slowly. So it's not speeding by just yet!

Since Kaelyn's birthday was ON Easter, we had a combined day! We started the weekend by going to Lincoln on Friday since Sean had the day off. We took the camper with us so we could try everything out for the camping season and make sure Kaelyn would still sleep okay in there. We got there in the morning, played for awhile, had lunch, and then I took her to the camper to nap. We built the sides up a little more so she couldn't climb out, that was getting to be an issue last year. So I put her in the bed and went back to my book. I heard her say "Uh!" and I looked up and she was peaking out the side of the tent we had created. I told her to lay down and go to sleep and then I hid elsewhere so she couldn't see me if she peaked out again. She went to sleep and slept her normal amount so it went pretty well. We played the afternoon away and had supper, played some more and then it was time for bed. She did well going to bed, she didn't cry or anything. However, she laid in that tent bed and talked until after 10pm!!! I put her in bed at like 8:15. She had a LOT to say, but at least she was happy! Then, at 4am she woke up SCREAMING her head off. A different kind of scream than normal. I think she was scared. So I ended up climbing into the bed WITH her to calm her down. She quieted down and I expected her to go back to sleep. I should have known better from past experience. She would NOT quit moving and eventually started messing with my face so I had to climb back out and let her cry for awhile. At least the cry then wasn't scared, just her normal, I don't wanna sleep cry. The next morning she slept in till 7:45 and woke up happy. She did well through her bath but was pretty cranky after that. I was pretty ready to have her take her nap, but her Uncle Jason was coming over and she needed to open presents before lunch. She wasn't really in the mood and that was a bummer because it was our only chance. Grandma gave her a card, she threw it. We opened a present for her, she stuck her butt up in the air. Not very grateful! But she got some neat things...a water table toy, an Elmo swimsuit, a wiggle worm sprinkler and a bubble gun. After lunch I was very ready for her to nap and she napped her normal amount and was in a MUCH better mood.

Once Kaelyn got up, the rest of Sean's family had arrived and the big Easter party began. First they took birthday pictures because there are TONS of people in the family with April birthdays. Then they had an outdoor Easter egg hunt. Kaelyn had fun with that and even picked up a few eggs! She got a ball as a prize, though I have no idea where that ball is now. :) Her favorite thing about the weekend, I think, was Sean and his brother Jason running their remote control cars around. She just giggled and giggled. Especially when they build a ramp later in the day and were jumping them off that. We had supper and played outside more. It was starting to sprinkle so it was time to go in, but that was hard because Kaelyn was SO enjoying the car racing! Desserts were plentiful and she and I shared one of her blonde brownies and some Buster bar ice cream dessert, which was awesome. After that, it was bedtime so I took her to the camper and threw her in her pjs and then stuck her in my car to drive home. I was simply amazed, the kid didn't fall asleep until about 5 minutes from home! We drove for over an HOUR in the DARK with NOTHING for her to do and she just sat there with her eyes open, looking around. Luckily, when we got home, she woke up when I turned the car off, but didn't make a peep when I took her out of the car and carried her in to bed.

Unfortunately, I think when Kaelyn stays up late (over an hour later than normal that night) she seems to get up earlier. She woke up BEFORE 7am on Easter morning/her birthday. Maybe she was just excited. Ha! She was in a great mood in the morning and we played for a couple of hours before she took a bath. Once she was ready for the day, she wanted to go for a ride so we headed to Pamida. That's when the drama began. She was having TOO much fun in the sporting good section with all the balls, I guess. She pooped and then it was time to head to church anyways so we needed to lour her to the car. She didn't WANT to go to the car. She apparently wasn't done playing. Commence screaming. The first time I've ever had to drag her kicking and screaming from a store! And then proceed to attempt to change her diaper in the car WITH the kicking and screaming. Not a fun experience for anyone involved. I told her we would go back to Pamida soon and play as LONG as she wants, but she probably couldn't hear me over her screaming. She calmed down in the car ride to church, though she sat in my lap and sobbed for awhile once we got there. Poor girl. On her BIRTHDAY, even!

Once we got home from church Kaelyn didn't want to go inside for lunch. She had eaten a bowl of crackers at church and probably wasn't starving to death. She just wanted to play! So I left her and Sean outside and ate something myself and then took her lunch outside to her. She ate well on the run, literally, and then wanted to go around back to the slide. I was cool with that, but it was nearing naptime so I knew it might not be the greatest experience ever. I was SO right! There's a place in our yard that Kaelyn needs help down if she doesn't want to fall. She was getting a little bit of an attitude and didn't WANT help, so she fell. Not a big fall, I'm sure it didn't even hurt with her diaper cushioning her fall anyways. But to her, it was a MAJOR deal, more out of frustration than anything. Commence second scream session of the day. It was a huge hairy deal in her world and she would NOT calm down. Eventually I had to leave her there and start to walk around front. I knew she wouldn't like that but I also knew she would follow me. She did but it wasn't pretty! Major screaming. If there were any neighbors still asleep, we woke them, trust me! I stopped and tried to carry her several times but she would resist and fall to the ground so I just kept walking. Once we got inside I wrestled her coat and shoes off and man handled her up to bed. Normally, we would cuddle, watch videos of her and rock in the chair for around 30 minutes. But birthday or not, I was NOT going to reward her behavior with ANYTHING so I plopped her into bed, threw her her ducks and shut the door. She was pretty upset for about half an hour but eventually went to sleep. At which point I took a nap as well, I was tired after all that! She slept over TWO hours and woke up back to her old self again, thank goodness!

The afternoon was much more pleasant. After looking at a few books and eating her snack, we opened presents. We gave Kaelyn a cars bag chair to use outside and take camping. She also got two shirts from Kohls, a set of Elmo books and a potty time video, and, her favorite, an Elmo doctor kit. There is a part of the kit that makes noise...plays songs and has Cookie Monster says things. We've heard each of the 4 things it does dozens of times. She seems to really like it! After that we talked her into going outside because it was really nice and she had a great time with her bowling set and other assorted outside toys. We didn't come inside till supper time at which time we made steak. Not that Kaelyn would eat it. She was happy with her corn and roll. After supper I got out her brownie treat and put two candles in one of them. She tried to touch it, but I caught her hand in time. She looked like she tried to blow it out once, but she wasn't really trying. We played in the basement after eating and had a great evening. I was SO glad she turned her attitude around. At least PART of her birthday was pleasant for her! I just hated that she wasn't having a good day! For her AND for us!! Maybe it's because she's officially two now. :)

These pictures are an assortment of the 2 year pictures Sean took in a park a couple of weeks before her birthday. The outfit is her birthday/Easter outfit. I know it's not really a dress, just a long shirt. But that's what she's comfortable in and she can wear it all day long so I like it too! I'm not much of a dress girl myself. And I like putting Kaelyn in things she can play in all day long. I don't want to have to change her and don't see much of a point in putting her in a pretty dress to wear for one hour or JUST for a picture only to change her later. Someday, she can be a girly girl if she wants, but for now... :) She gets what she gets. This weekend we're heading to my parents for her birthday party with that side of the family so I'll update how that went after that takes place.

Kaelyn's two year check up is coming up on Tuesday as well with the doctor and on May 5th...her first dentist appointment! I don't expect either to go particularly well, but hopefully the information we get will be interesting!

To Kaelyn, Happy 2nd birthday! You are the light of my life and my favorite little girl in the WHOLE world!!!

Almost 2!

Kaelyn is officially, what they call, a 23-month old! That means she will be 2 in one month! I can't believe it and at the same time I can't believe she's not school aged. It depends on that particular day and how fast it went.

She is fascinated by anything water-related. Drinking fountains, sinks, bath tubs, and even little waterfalls at the zoo as you can see from this picture. She's kind of like my cat. She likes to drink FRESH water any chance she gets. Though I don't see how water from her dirty bath is all that fresh, but whatever! :)

I think we're going to go with Elmo again this year for
her birthday theme. She seems to be a bit obsessed with him, though I still can't figure out what it is that kids like!! Though she's not having a REAL big birthday party. I kind of wanted to get everyone together, family and friends, go to the zoo, whoever could, then have a get together at our house but with everyone's schedule it just doesn't work. I learned my lesson. Next year I'm not going to ask about schedules, I'm just going to plan whatever Kaelyn wants (assuming she cares by then!) and whoever can make it can make it and that's that! This year, we'll go to Sean's parents Friday Saturday before her birthday and have a little celebration there hopefully Friday. Then we'll go to my family's the weekend after for
a party there. We'll be home on her actual birthday (which is also ON Easter this year!) to do our own thing.

Kaelyn and I went to a church garage sale last week in town and there were plenty of kids toys and books available. But ALL she wanted to carry around was this big plastic pumpkin. There was one a little smaller than this with an actual handle, but nooo, she liked the BIG one with NO handle! Well, whatever! It was 10 cents so we got it along with a few books. And boy am I glad we did! She played with that thing ALL day! Carried it around, threw it down slides and stairs, you name it! She knew what she wanted! As you can see
she even slept with it in the car. And yes, it's March, but it's still cold so pumpkins work.

I'm starting to wonder if driving during her nap won't work much longer. I tend to like to take longer trips, like over to my parents, during Kaelyn's nap, but the last two times she's only slept an hour. She's happy when she wakes up and does just find, but she used to sleep the WHOLE way! Maybe she's getting out of that phase. A friend of mine has a son a year older and he stopped sleeping in the car around this age. There are probably too many things to see when riding.

In honor of Kaelyn's upcoming 2nd birthday I made doctor's and dentist appointments for her. Yeah! The doctor will (hopefully) be a simple appointment with a weight check and perhaps some questions. Not much poking and prodding. I still don't expect her to ENJOY it, but it's not a shot session so it will be a BIT better, perhaps. The dentist, I kind of dread. She lets me brush her teeth but she's still skittish around people she doesn't know and settings that are unfamiliar. I will hope for the best, but I pretty much expect the worse!

So watch for updates on the big 2 and doctor and dentist visits, coming to a blog near you!! :)

Chattering

I can't believe Kaelyn is almost two! She is a big Elmo fan and I have yet to figure that out. What IS it about that dude?! He can be rather annoying, but she loves him and he entertains her and therefore I love him too! She pokes him in EVERY book he is in on EVERY page. The book has not been "read" until Elmo has been thoroughly poked! I got her this Elmo shirt in Las Vegas and I'm pretty sure when she gets big enough, she will never take it off again.

Kaelyn is still changing on a daily basis. We went through a couple of rough patches after the Vegas trip. The poor thing has a sinus infection and after that cleared up she had a couple of good days. Then, on a Saturday when we were supposed to go to Sean's family's for some birthday parties, she threw up on me...FOUR times. The next day she laid on me for the entire day and by Monday she was better, and WANTED to play, but still wasn't quite herself. She'd get up and try to play, but obviously didn't have the energy so she'd just cry instead. Poor thing. She also had bad diapers every time she even THOUGHT about tooting. AFter four days she finally started eating again and that perked her up. By the time we went to my parents house for my nephew's birthday and my dad's retirement party, she was eating everything in sight.

The zoo is still one of our favorite places. I'm excited that the weather is starting to think about getting nicer so we can go more often. We go when it's semi-nice and try to stay inside, but Kaelyn just wants to run and staying anywhere for any length of time is hard! She goes where she pleases and that is that! :) She's a little monkey, she climbs EVERYTHING. I'm surprised I haven't found her on top of the kitchen fridge, that's how much she climbs. Luckily, for the most part, she knows when she needs help with her climbing ventures and lets me at least hold her hand. She's one crazy little climber. If it'll hold still long enough, she'll climb it.

We've also enjoyed the children's museum quite a few times over the winter. I feel like everytime we go there KAelyn gets a cold, but we can't just sequester ourselves so we go anyways. She's feeling more and more at home
there and now leads me around as if she owns the place.

Her hair is getting long fast, but it always falls into her eyes, it just will NOT stay back. So I always put in a rubber band or two to keep it out of her face. IT tickles her and she rubs her eyes and nose a lot so she prefers it out of the way too. However, putting a rubber band on a wiggly kid is NOT always easy. And sometimes naptime does quite a number on the hairdo, as you can see from the picture. That one ponytail would NOT lay down, no matter what I did. It was pretty cute, really. And it's not like she cared!! IT's just a good thing we didn't have a picture scheduled or something! :)


Kaelyn still doesn't talk much, but she IS trying. She says mama and daddy and I do and bwah-ah. :) Even though she doesn't talk with words, the last week or so she has been chattering CONSTANTLY. She just talks and talks nonsense words like she has an on-going story to tell. It's quite cute and I talk right back as if we're having a real conversation. People out in public probably either think it's cute, or that I'm crazy. Either way, we enjoy it so whatever! :)

Bathtime is still one of the best times of the day. Kaelyn still doesn't really sit STILL, but at least she's sequestered in one area! She has fun with her ducks and other assorted rubber bath items. One of these days she's going to wake up and all of those nonsense words are going to be REAL words and THEN watch out.

It sure is interesting how many kids are wrapped up in this one kid! :) When she's sick she's a totally different person. She either just lays in my arms looking at me like HELP mama, or she cries all day. When she's feeling good she eats SO much, plays SO hard, and giggles like a crazy woman. I like that kid MUCH better.

I'm still not sure how preschool is going to work someday. I can leave KAelyn with my mom and Sean and that's that. She's still pretty afraid of other people she doesn't know and she's skittish around kids and REALLY shy. I imagine when the time comes we'll just have to bite the bullet and DO it. I wonder if the separation will be harder on her or me, really.

Her birthday isn't working out like I'd hoped but the good news is that she doesn't care! Her birthday is actually ON Easter so that complicates things. Being in April, there are a lot of other events happening and people simply get booked up. So I think we're going to have two separate family parties again this year and call it good. Next year, hopefully we can do something special because she might know it's her birthday by then and be more excited about it.

EVeryday is a new adventure, that's for sure. You never know one day to the next what she will do, when she will get up, what she will eat. She keeps me hopping...and guessing! I'm a very schedule-oriented person so sometimes I don't like that, but what do you do! A kid is a kid and I'm glad she's mine!