Kaelyn says mama

The big day has ARRIVED! Kaelyn has been saying bwah-ah for quite some time. After that she started saying "I do" for the longest time. She makes plenty of other noises, but none are real words...not that bwah-ah is, but she says it so much is has BECOME a real word around here. Then, on January 1st, she distinctly started saying daddy when I asked her to say it. I have a video of that too, but she's in the tub so I don't think I'll post it. It's REALLY cute how she was saying it. She was almost whispering and she had this twinkle in her eye like she knew this was an exciting event. Since that time, I have been working on her to say Mama too. It's just not fair she says daddy and dada but NOTHING for me. I ask her to say Mama and she just points to me or pounds my leg. I always think, Kaelyn, I KNOW where I AM, but can you SAY Mama! :) Apparently she finally worked up the nerve to give in to my ways. February 1st she started saying Mama and I reacted SO strongly that she knew it was a good thing, so she would finally even say it when I asked. YEAH! She doesn't say it as often as daddy, but she CAN say it so I'm thrilled.

She also makes many animal noises, though some of them sound quite a bit a like. She can quack like a duck rather well and moo like a cow, though it sounds more like boo. She does a great bark for a dog. The baa for the sheep and the meow for the cat sound alike most of the time. But the pig is a sound I can't even describe. It's a gutteral grunt from the back of her throat and it's hilarious.

Now that I know Kaelyn can say Mama, she can say whatever word she WANTS next. Though I would prefer if she held off on 'no' for awhile longer!!

Vegas trip day two

Our second day in Vegas...We got up and ready slowly. I went to the main floor and got some muffins for breakfast and we hit the streets to explore the other side of the strip before Sean's afternoon meeting. We walked through the hotel that had the Elvis show and ended up at a burger place in the New York hotel for lunch. We were both very full again and wondered why we hadn't shared a meal. I guess they probably wouldn't have made Hal the burger plain for me with the other half filled with stuff for Sean.

So far I've only called home once today. The Kaelyn repetitive is that she feeling much better and acting like a different kid than yesterday. That makes me feel better too. I don't like being away from her either way much less when she's sick. I know she'll be fine by I'm still her mama and I want to be there when she needs me!

On the other hand it's been so nice for Sean and I to get away and spend some real time together. We get to actually talk! It's been awhile that's or sure. So this is good for all involved. I’m just hoping Kaelyn remembers me!

We walked back to our hotel and I got my plane ticket for my trip home printed. He headed to our room to rest for a bit before his meeting and I headed for the spa! I sat in the whirlpool there for awhile then got a massage. It was very relaxing. I felt like I melted into the table. She even rubbed my hands and feet! Very nice. After that I felt very drowsy so I went back to the room and laid aroud and read for a few minutes before venturing out again.

I called home...again...but only twice today instead of three times so I'm getting better! I got lost but eventually made it to the Venetian to pick up our blue man group tickets. Got lost again..then found the box office before wandering the shops waiting for Sean to get done and meet me. There are a lot of brides running around here today. I even saw a couple get married on the gondola ride. They looked so in love. :)

Sean and I met by the blue man group theater before the show. It was a great show. Really funny and plenty entertaining. I liked I much better than the beatles show. They did some drumming with paint and beat on other various pipes and other weird instruments. I expected more of that but there was a lot more to it. Catching marshmallows in their mouths...doing art...harassing the audience. It waS cool. We walked back to our hotel after goof through the bally’s and Paris shops areas. And that was the day!

Sunday I it up and ready and took a cab to the airport to head home. Can't WAIT to see Kaelyn though I would have liked more time in vegas as well. I was sore enough after the two days of walking that sitting on the plane didn’t sound too bad really! I got to the airport plenty early and got through security so I had time to finish the book I was reading and grab a snack. I actually got a seat in the FRONT row of the plane by the window so that was nice! I made it home and my dad picked me up at the airport. As I expected, Kaelyn glanced my way when I got home like, hey, it’s you! And then continued to play. Glad my being away didn’t affect her TOO much!

It was a great trip but at the same time I’m glad to be home again with Kaelyn. I really don’t like being away from her, though I know it’s good for both of us. She still has a cold or illness of some kind so I’m glad to be back with her for that. Hopefully we can go to Vegas again someday and explore more! Sean got to stay a few extra days for “work.”

Vegas trip day one

The long awaited Vegas trip finally arrived. Though I have to admit...as excited as I was to go I also didn't want to go. The longest I had ever been away from Kaelyn was about ten hours. This was going to be two whole nights and three days!! I always thought she was the one who suffered from separation anxiety but now I wonder if it's really me with the problem! I'm just not used to being away from her! But we left the house at 730am before she woke up. That in itself was hard but probably easier than seeing her

We got to Vegas at 1030 their time. Felt like 1230 to us. We got a ride to our hotel...paris! Dropped off our things in the room and hit the streets to look around and find lunch.

We ate at the Harley davidson cafe. Sean was happy that way. There were motorcycles going around the top of the room on tracks or something. It was really good and I had enough tea to keep me going for quite some time. After lunch we started strolling the hotels. This is my third trip here and I'm still in awe. Especially of the themed hotels that look like actual streets inside. Each hotel is a city on it's own. I think you could stay in one hotel for your whole trip and have plenty to do. I think we liked the Venetian the best. There was a love statue there. And gondola rides which we stood and watched for awhile.

At 530 we wanted to catch the live free show outside treasure island. We had never timed it right to see it before. It was so totally lame I couldn't believe it. I think it could have been quite cool but instead of making a cool pirate show it was more about booty if you know what I mean. I guess that's Vegas for you

We were still pretty full from lunch so we just grabbed some big cookies from Starbucks and went to our beetles cirque du soleil love show. We saw a different cirque du soleil show a fee year ago and I still say it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. This show was cool too but they didn't do nearly as much of the flippy circus stuff so I was disappointed by that. There was some but I think the show was more dancing and symbolic stuff about the songs. Which I didn’t really care about. It was still cool but I would o see the other one again and I would not see the beetles one again.

After that we walked back to our hotel which was a fair distance. We grabbed a snack downstairs an went to bed at 10. That may sound sad being in Vegas and all but that was midnight our time and I'd been up since 5 and we walked for like eight hours straight! I'm making excuses. We're just old and we were tired!! :)

Christmas 2010

Christmas really sneaked up on me this year. I think it's partly because the weather hasn't been TOO terribly bad. But it came either way and I was somewhat prepared for it. Our plans seemed to keep shifting and shaping but we eventually got everything settled. Sean, Kaelyn and I actually started opening our presents the weekend before Christmas. It was nice to spread it out a little! Sean gave Kaelyn her gift from him first...his old musical keyboard! We set it up on the toy box and she stands and plays beautiful music all the time. She also likes to climb on and over the keyboard which also makes interesting sounds! :) Next, we gave her a Zhu zhu pet. It seemed like a good idea. It was small and furry and would run around on the ground so she could chase it. Well, she seemed a little interested at first, but when she couldn't actually CATCH the thing, she got mad. Now every time she sees it she yells at it. I'm not sure if she was scared of it or just frustrated that she had trouble catching it. Either way, I'm glad it didn't cost much because we haven't been playing with it. Sean and I also gave Kaelyn a big playset that we set up in the basement back in November. It was meant to be a Christmas present but we set it up when the weather started to get cold so we'd have more to do inside. It has two slides, one down each side, a couple of steps, a steering wheel, and has been all sorts of fun for her. She likes to throw her animals on wheels down the slides along with assorted balls and other things. She slides as well and has recently taken her bubble popper toy downstairs to put that down the slide as well. We saved her last gift for right before we left on our Christmas adventures. I gave her an Elmo toy that sings 10 different songs. She mostly seems to like the chicken dance song and stomps along. Occasionally she will push another button and I am always grateful for that. But hey, I don't care if she makes a lot of noise, as long as she's not yelling at me, I'm happy! So play that chicken dance, girl!! :) Elmo had to go along with us on our travels because he needed to be poked more than just for the one day.

We started our adventure by driving to Des Moines to stay with my parents. We went on Thursday the 23rd during Kaelyn's nap. When we unpacked at their house, it was like we were moving in. 4 days is a long time! :) On Christmas Eve we spend the morning at my parents house playing around and then headed to Chick-Fil-A at the mall for lunch. It was my kind of day! :) Because it was snowing a little, there weren't many people there so that was nice. Ah yes, a white Christmas. I think I would have preferred a WARM Christmas, but whatever. After Kaelyn got up from her nap we headed over to Sean's brother's house. He lives about 15 minutes away from my parents so that was handy. It worked out nicely travel-wise for us this year. Sean's brother and his wife just had a baby in October and weren't up for traveling yet so they invited his immediate family over there to celebrate. That was great because that meant we didn't have to try to travel 3 1/2 hours between the two families in a short amount of time. We still got to see everyone and only had to drive one direction. The bummer of it was that Kaelyn did not cooperate with me pretty much all afternoon. It wasn't much fun for me. I don't know if it was her cold (she'd had a little one for a couple of weeks), being in a different house, being grumpy after her nap, or any number of combinations. It was just a rough afternoon. She kept wanting to go to the basement. It was a small, unfinished area and there wasn't much down there. I usually went just to keep her happy. But sometimes, like when opening presents, we just couldn't take off. And that made her MAD. She also wanted to crawl and stand on the counters where others were preparing food. That's not really a good idea and I wouldn't let her. That made her MAD as well. I got yelled at a lot and wasn't able to enjoy the afternoon or evening because trying to keep her semi happy was taking ALL my energy and then some. She even yelled through much of the present opening. Finally, just before 8, I had had enough. It was close to bed time anyways so I threw her in her pjs and took off. I hope I didn't seem too rude. I didn't take time to say much to anyone, I just went. I was SO tired of being screamed at! Kaelyn didn't fall asleep on the drive back to my parents house but when I put her in bed there she didn't make a peep. She must have known I couldn't take one more little yell! :) I left her there in bed to sleep and when my parents got home from church I went back to Sean's brother's house. We played bop it and there were a few more gifts to open. I fell asleep on the couch eventually, but it was the nicest time I had ALL day. Other than Chick-fil-A, maybe! ;) It was so peaceful and quiet and I could talk to everyone and enjoy the evening without having to entertain or be screamed at for no particular reason. Ahhh.

Christmas Day Kaelyn seemed to be in better spirits. We were all pretty lazy and it took until Kaelyn's nap time for all of us to get ready and showered and dressed etc. Even Kaelyn slept in. And I let her! I didn't want her getting up ANY earlier than necessary. I think it was about 9 before she finally decided to see the light of day. She was worn out from all the screaming! :) So we lounged around and after her nap that afternoon, we headed to my sister's house to see my niece and nephew's new toys. They had chili for supper. Kaelyn enjoyed playing in their school room which had some desks and chairs she could climb and some balloons she could toss. She also enjoyed playing in their big walk-in pantry, of all places! She liked investigating all the items, I guess, and climbing on the little step stool. Whatever, she was happy! I wasn't able to visit with everyone as much since I was playing with her in other rooms, but at least I wasn't being screamed at! We headed home before her bedtime and got back to my parents house in time to let her run a bit and then head to bed.

On Sunday the 26th we went to a 9:30 church service at my parents church. Kaelyn LOVES playing on the ramps at that church. It's usually no big deal and I don't feel like it bothers anyone. But lately, she's enjoyed being chased and hiding from me and having me find her etc.
Well, at church, she would go up the ramp and as she thundered back down she would see me again and it was like I "found" her and this illicited excited screams. I didn't think AHHHH in the middle of the silent prayer was a good thing, but at least she was happy! Eventually she got done with the ramps and we were able to sit and look at her books for most of the rest of the service. I guess she wore out? Is that possible? Um no! :) We went back to my parents for lunch and my sister and her gang came over. After we ate we opened our stockings quickly and I put Kaelyn in bed for her nap. Once she was awake the present opening began! It took her a little while to wake up but once she did and realized what was going on, boy did she have fun. This was the first time she really got into opening presents. She didn't care what was in them once the paper was off, but boy did she love opening the paper! She couldn't open them fast enough. She'd open one and then reach for the next. Sean was just trying to keep up and make sure she wasn't opening other people's presents as she brought them out. Which she did...mine!! I think I only opened maybe half of mine and some things I didn't even know I got until I packed things up the next day! Oh well, she was having fun so who cares! She got a lot of neat new toys and some clothes and pjs too. She's one happy girl! After all the craziness I think Kaelyn was ready to get away. The gifts were done and she had nothing left to tear apart so rather than play with all her new things she grabbed my finger and took me upstairs to chase her with her favorite Tiger toy. I think she just needed a little peace and to get back to the norm for a little while. It was hard for me to have to stay away from the group again. Play like we always play at home and all. But I figured at least she was happy and that was better than trying to force her to be in a room she didn't want to be in and have her scream at me.

The rest of the day went pretty fast and we just played and played. When Kaelyn went to bed my niece wanted to watch Ramona and Beezus. That was pretty cute. The next day, it was all over. It was still crazy because we were all in one house, but the major chaos was behind us. We all packed up and headed to the mall for lunch. Sean, Kaelyn and I went early so she could play for awhile and get some running in. She did plenty of that! Then we ate at Chick-Fil-A again and went our separate ways. We drove home and Kaelyn fell asleep before we hit the interstate and slept the WHOLE way. I think she was really worn out from it all!

The night we got back, Kaelyn coughed ALL night long. I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. As I mentioned she'd had a little cold for several weeks. But I was getting worried that it was sticking around and didn't like the sounds of the cough so I took her to the doctor our first morning back home. It turns out she has her FIRST ear infection and possibly sinus infection as well. The doctor was impressed that this was her FIRST visit to the office other than regular check up and shot visits. Her left ear is pretty bad and the right ear slightly infected as well. She's on antibiotics for 10 days. So far that hasn't been fun. The first dose ended up back on her shirt after I put it in her mouth! :) But after just two doses, she only woke up twice last night coughing and only for 15 minutes instead of 2 hours like the night before. SO hopefully she's on the mend already. Maybe that was part of the issue CHristmas Eve? Who knows! She's not telling!!

Overall it was a great Christmas. We got everything we could have wanted and more, and more importantly, got to spend time with family. We have one more Christmas celebration New Year's Eve weekend so hopefully that will make up for KAelyn's attitude CHristmas Eve since the party is with Sean's family again. I hope she's an angel this time around! For her sake AND for mine! And everyone else's for that matter!

Merry Christmas and have a great 2011!!

Winter Update

A lot has happened since I last wrote. I don't get the chance to write much anymore! In October I started to feel like I needed to quit my very part time job at the radio station. I was only going in once a week and voicetracking the midday shift but for many reasons, I felt that needed to end. I gave my notice and said I would stay through the end of November. A couple of weeks after I gave my notice I started to get some freelance writing jobs. One of those jobs is writing book reviews on occasion for a publisher. I post the reviews on amazon and other websites and get paid. I love to read and I love to write so it was a great fit. The other job I got was writing web content for a website called The Content Authority. This is a great job for me. I go onto the website, and, once I was hired by them, I can see the list of articles they need. When I have time, I choose articles, write them, and get paid. If there is a day when I don't have time, I don't write, it's not big deal. It's a perfect set up for me. When Kaelyn sleeps in or naps, I write. On weekends if I have other things to do, I don't. I make as much money as I have time to make. Actually, I'm still working VERY part time, but I'm making about twice what I was at the very part time job in radio. And I get to write, so I love that. Plus I do it ALL from home. Or anywhere else I am that has a computer and the internet. It's been a really fun job for me. But that's partly why I haven't been writing as much lately. Because when I have time to write, I write for money! There are a few things I wanted to update on here, though.

It's winter now so our zoo visits have been very limited. We HAVE gone several times, though mostly in the afternoon after Kaelyn's nap. That's the only time it's semi-warm enough. Though one day last week, yes in DECEMBER, we went in the morning!! It was going to be above 50 that day and nice and sunny. It was a little chilly in the morning but with our coats and hats we did just fine. I figured we better go because it might be the last chance until spring, who knows.

Another place we have been enjoying is the children's museum. My sister gave us a season pass for an early Christmas present and we've already been a handful of times. We can also take visitors with us for free so that's nice too. Kaelyn has a lot of fun there but I do worry that she picks up illnesses from all the other kids. Last time I went, she threw up in the afternoon when we got home and two days later, I had the flu. So when we go again I'm going to try to be diligent about washing her hands often to try to fight that off. I know we'll keep going because it's a fun thing to do! I just don't want it to be un-fun later!! Right now they have a big area upstairs at the museum of outdoor play equipment. That's really nice because we can't really play outside much these days so it's nice to go somewhere and at least pretend!

Thanksgiving was very nice. We went to Lincoln and spent a few days at Sean's parents house. Kaelyn got used to their house and enjoyed the rocking horse they had in the basement. She also liked watching people play pool and pushing on a musical angel that was part of a plastic nativity scene. We spent Thanksgiving at Sean's aunt and uncle's house and I drove Kaelyn around in the car for her nap. That worked out fine and I didn't even get too lost! We came home at bedtime only to find we had no heat so that was a bummer. It was a long, cold night, but we survived. We got it fixed the next day and then headed to my parents house for the weekend. More turkey and eating, of course.

Just recently, within the last week or so, Kaelyn has started a new thing. I'm calling them fits.
They're really NO run at all and sometimes I don't even know why they start. She doesn't talk yet (though she does say "I do" and "bwah-ah") so I know she gets frustrated when she's trying to tell me something and I don't get it. And I know NO kid likes it when they don't get their way. But sometimes she just throws a fit for seemingly no reason. At least no reason that I can tell. And they're AWFUL. She will reach for my finger like she wants to take me somewhere and then push me away. I'll give her food or something to see if she's hungry. She throws it. I give her a toy to try to distract her. She pushes it away. Finally, I give up and set her on the couch and tell her to calm down and just let her cry for awhile. I'll sit across the room and read or email or whatever. Eventually she'll hop off the couch and come get me and play like nothing happened. This usually goes on for an hour or so. I'm at a loss. I guess there's not much else I can do but just let it run its course. Like I said, it seems like most of the time I don't even know what starts it. She just needs to cry, I guess. And it's full force screaming with sobs and real tears included. The other day, this one is a little funny looking back, she wanted to go to the basement. It was cold and dark so as we started down the stairs I flipped the light on. Apparently I wasn't supposed to turn the light on because she threw a HUGE fit. I turned it back off and she was fine. But it was dark and dangerous and I didn't want her going down the stairs without being able to see so I really felt like I needed to have it on. I turned it back on and the fit began full force for a whole hour. Um, Kaelyn, there are much bigger things to throw fits about than whether or not the light is on, girl! At least make it worth your while, sheesh!! So far, other than a short incident after church this week, she only does it at home. I'm sure one of these days I'll be that mom in the grocery store everyone is staring at. But right now, she's ALWAYS good when we're out places so we continue to be out as much as possible! :)

We seem to have come up with a new game. It's called chase Kaelyn around the circle in our house. It started with the bouncing Tiger and has moved on to include the hammer that makes noise and lights up. In the last few days, I think we've spent nearly every waking moment while we're home playing this game. It's funny, if we're home and NOT playing it, Kaelyn will grab the hammer or Tiger, hand it to me, and then push me away like, okay, go mama, go hide, then I'll find you and you can get me! It consists of me running around the circle and ducking in somewhere to hide. Kaelyn will catch me, I'll just out at her and she'll just SCREAM and SCREAM. Happy screams this time! Last night, she seemed to like it best if she SAW where I hid. Then she'd sneak up and I'd peek out of my hiding spot several times. This would start the giggling. Then when I'd finally attack with Tiger the scream of delight was SO loud I think I lost a little hearing after playing it for so many hours. We'd take a break here and there but inevitably KAelyn would get one of those toys, grab my finger, stand me up, hand me the toy, and give me a push off to start the game. She was having a blast. At least I know we were both getting our exercise!

Our interior of the house is painted with a bad, flat paint so I've gathered some paint samples and we've chosen some colors. Yesterday for our outing Kaelyn and I bought the paint for her bathroom. DId you know there is such a color as Rubber Duckie Yellow? Well, that bathroom is decorated in ducks so we HAD to have it! I did the first paint round yesterday while she napped. I have to admit, I'm not a good painter and I was rushing. So it will definitely need a second coat. But it's a nice bright color and it really brings out the ducks in the room! :)

I think our Christmas plans are in place now. I can't believe it's almost here already. I'll have to write after the holidays again so I remember some of the things about Christmas this year. Christmas last year is very hazy so I'm glad I wrote about it and we took lots of pictures. For now, Kaelyn seems to be sleeping in so I better get some writing for pay done! :)

2010 Christmas Picture

We took our Christmas picture for our cards last weekend. Though Kaelyn isn't looking, it turned out pretty cute. With a wiggly kid, it's the best you can do to have them somewhat smile in the same vicinity as you while snapping a shot!

18 mo and Halloween

October 24th was Kaelyn's 18 month birthday. Earlier in the week we went to the pediatrician for her shots and check up. She's getting more and more opposed to those trips! She weighed in at 26 pounds which was 75%. She was 32 inches tall at 52% and her head was at 90%. Plenty of room for brains cause she's very smart. Just ask her! :) She has to go back in a month for a second flu shot. After that I THINK she's done with shots till kindegarten. That will be nice. Though she opposes EVERYTHING the pediatrician has to do, the shots are definitely the worst. I don't think they ever really did get a look in her nose and ears. They tried, but I'm pretty sure nothing came of it!

October has been a rough month for colds. I swear Kaelyn just gets over one and a few days later her nose is running again. She's had four colds from the beginning of October till now. I'm not sure what to do to help her get over them for good. She used to get sick so rarely. It doesn't make the days more fun when she's stuffy and more grumpy. She wants to be her
normal self but just doesn't feel quite right. That and all four of her pointy teeth came through AND one upper molar. There have been some rough moments! But overall, she's still a great, fun kid.

This was Kaelyn's second Halloween. It was much more fun than last year. Last year she was a lady bug and though she didn't mind the costume she just didn't care about anything at all. This year, Kaelyn HAD to be a duck. Sean suggested it because Kaelyn sleeps with two rubber ducks and takes them with her everywhere we go. I was like, of COURSE, that's a PERFECT idea! So we found a costume at Nobbies and that was that! She, once again, didn't mind the costume. Had she known she was a duck she probably would have loved it. When we put it on her to take these pictures a week before HAlloween she ran right out back to her slide and went to play. It was a little hard to get her in and out of the swing, but she managed!

The day before Halloween we were at my parents for my grandpa's 95th birthday celebration. And yes, we DID put 95 candles on the cake! No fires, just a lot of smoke. And it took him and two kids SEVERAL blows...okay, like a dozen, to get all of the candles out. Anyways, trick or treat night was the night before Halloween in my parents neighborhood so we went to a few houses. Those houses knew they wouldn't get many kids (and my parents didn't get any!) so each was rather generous with their candy.

Then on Halloween we came home and our friends from church came over with their little girl (who was a giraffe) and their new baby (who was peas in a pod, way cute!) and we had supper with them. Sean's parents came by too because they wanted to see Kaelyn as a duck in person. We walked around the neighborhood after supper and had much better luck than last year. One of our two neighbors was home (the other brought Kaelyn a candy bag earlier in the day, handy!) and some people down the street from church were home this year too. We went to more houses between this year since the kids were a LITTLE older and it wasn't like we were just getting candy for ourselves. Though I have to admit, Kaelyn has yet to try any and I've had several. Nice of her to share. Not that she knows she's sharing! :) But she DID share at one house. Instead of taking from the bowl the people offered, she gave THEM a chocolate bar. She doesn't quite get the concept yet! I'm sure she'll catch on! It was a little chilly but not too bad. We took the stroller in hopes of not having to carry Kaelyn and she did pretty well until we started to head back home. Then she HAD to have mama carry her. Mama and ONLY Mama. Anyone else that dared got majorly screamed at and I couldn't bare that. It was dark, she was tired, she was scared, it was a weird thing we were doing, totally new. So I carried her. And she cuddled right in and gave me a good work out up that HUGE hill leading back to our house. I arrived majorly out of breath and sweaty but we made it! I deserve the candy of hers I ate! And will eat! :)

Maybe next year Kaelyn can tell us what she wants to be. She'll enjoy the day more and more as the years go by, I'm sure. She made an adorable ladybug last year and a cute duck this year. No telling what the years to come will bring!