Eating...or not

This picture is how I found Kaelyn after a nap one day. She likes to look between her legs, kind of upside down. But usually when we're outside watching cars. Or when she's naked before bedtime and we have guests, ha! Apparently after naptime too.

I don't know what to do with this kid and her eating. Or lack thereof. I started giving her baby food with chunks in it to try to get her used to real food slowly. I tried to cut out the baby food entirely and she just didn't eat. I was afraid that would affect her sleeping and I didn't want her to get by on crackers and yogurt so I thought maybe putting chunks in things would help transition her. For awhile she was spitting out bites even with the smallest chunks. Then after awhile she'd eat them and things seemed to be going okay. Well, over the weekend she was having her yogurt for a snack. I've been getting normal yogurt now and not the baby stuff. It has chunks of fruit in it. She actually gagged on a chunk and threw up. It's the first time she's thrown up in SO long. I can't even remember the last time. I thought it was a fluke so I proceeded as normal the next day. And she did it again. And again. Hit a chunk, throw up. Not just spit out the current bite, but actually throw up. I'm starting to think she has a really sensitive gag reflex. Not sure what to do about that.

But then, at supper, after she eats some other foods, I get out the zuchinni bread. And the other night she was SO excited about that she stuffed the WHOLE piece I had out for her in her mouth...BEFORE I got a chance to break it into bite sized pieces. It was a bite bigger than any bite I would have taken...and she's smaller than me! I tried to extract what I could from her mouth but most of it was in there for good. And she didn't choke or gag on THAT. That BIG bite! So why choke on tiny bites of other things? I don't get it! She gags on bananas, chokes on strawberry and blueberry chunks, spits out any meat or potato. She's certainly old enough to be eating these things now. She doesn't really have to chew anything I give her, but she has 8 teeth so she could mash it up a bit if she needed to.

I made her 15 month appointment for the end of July. If things continue this way I'm anxious to see what the doctor has to say. Though in my experience with her, she's pretty laid back and probably will just say, oh, she'll eat eventually! :)

A friend of mine has a son that's a year older than Kaelyn and I remember her saying the 14th month was her LEAST favorite month because her son got a lot of teeth and was real grumpy and acted out etc. Kaelyn just hit 14 months and so far it has been my favorite month. She can be SO much fun and is really starting to enjoy showing off and being a ham. It's adorable.

However, yesterday we went to that friend's house and Kaelyn was a little terror! She was okay for awhile outside and we ate lunch inside and she did fine then. After that she got real screamy and I don't know WHAT her problem was. She was a little afraid of the dogs but she's gotten used to them in the past and she didn't even seem to be paying attention to them. It didn't matter what we did, inside, outside, she was just determined to scream. So I finally left to give them some peace. I was planning to leave around 1 anyways and it was 12:45 or so, but still, I didn't want to leave THAT way!! What do you do. She stopped screaming as we got down the block and played all the way home and was fine in the afternoon. It's a mystery. Some days I think I can predict her and other days I know I still don't have her figured out!

Kaelyn and Ollie

Ollie is becoming quite the baby lover. Well, he's at least very protective and curious about her. He has a playing dead pose he takes on in the summer months. Not that it's really hot in here, we have air conditioning! Kaelyn likes this pose because she can pet his tail without him noticing. But he knows. And somehow he knows the difference from when she does it and when I do. She usually pats him as he walks by and sometimes if she's sitting playing somewhere he'll rub against her on his way by. I think they're going to be quite the buddies someday. I know Ollie is protective over her. When she was a tiny baby and would have screaming fits I'd be walking around the house trying to calm her down and Ollie would follow me, nipping at the backs of my legs. Like, what are you DOING to that poor baby?! He was very helpful. Just what I needed! A screaming baby AND a biting cat!! When she got bigger and would nurse herself to sleep at night, I'd sit in the chair in her room and he would hide behind the chair. Several nights I didn't know he was there
and they had a slumber party. I found him in the chair in the morning, happy as a lark to be in the same room as her. I started checking behind the chair. Not that he was bothering her, but I didn't want him getting up and meowing and waking her or something. Today he usually likes to be in the same room as us to watch the play. From a distance. But just to know what's going on! He definitely likes when she goes to bed because then he can nap with me or sit in a chair on my lap and get REAL attention. My FULL attention! It doesn't happen often so he takes it when he can get it! Though he gets somewhat more attention then in the past because we're home all day everyday as opposed to me being away at work.

Someday when Kaelyn is bigger she and Ollie will probably be best friends. Maybe he'll even sleep with her and follow her around. I know he likes her, in his own stand offish sort of way!

Showing Off

Kaelyn is entering the show off stage. She's still a little skittish around people, but if it's people she knows, or people that just stay back and watch her, she's a big show off! My mom arrived yesterday and she immediately entered her show off mood. She hid behind the tv and popped out, playing hide and seek or peek a boo. When we were looking at a lift the flap book she'd lift the flap and grin real big. But she wasn't looking at the book, she was looking at my mom. See this book?! See me lift the flap?! Are you watching?!

She was the same way when my friend Stana stayed with us for a few days last week. She giggled and grinned and ran around. In the evening when she was having a little nudey time, she bent over and looked at Stana through her legs. Quite a sight!

And she is getting a little better with people. Though she still sticks close to me and doesn't want people touching her! We were in the library the other day and she was playing happily so I walked maybe 10 feet away from her to check out books. There was no one else there except the librarian. But the librarian's desk was between me and Kaelyn. The librarian was BEHIND the desk, but still! I
looked back over at her and Kaelyn was looking at me, reaching her arm out and her little face was all crumpled up like she was about to scream a big one! Now, had the librarian not been between us I'm sure she would have just run over to me. But to get to me, she would have had to go PAST someone else, the horror! That someone is SO nice and couldn't have gotten to Kaelyn if she tried since the desk was in the way! But whatever, Kaelyn doesn't think that way just yet. She just knew I was too far away and she didn't want to walk past someone else to get to me!

But she is better with her separation anxiety. She doesn't yell at people as much. Just pushes them away politely with her hand! :) Someday she'll get over it and I'll be like, oh, I remember the day when she ONLY wanted mama! And now she's happy with anyone! I'll probably miss it.

This weekend I'm speaking at Morning Star Lutheran Church. I got nervous about it yesterday because my contact there emailed me asking for a bio so they could introduce me. That makes me sound like a real, valid speaker! When they first asked me to give a guest sermon they asked for a picture too so they could make flyers and publicize the event. I'm like, but I'm not someone important or special that people would come to see! They have a Saturday night service and two Sunday services. I figure after I speak Saturday night they'll tell me they're okay for sunday, no need to return, ha! I won't think about it again until Saturday so hopefully it won't make me nervous. Talking to people in person is SO different than radio. Just because I talk on the radio all the time doesn't mean I'm completely comfortable with public speaking! When people are there actually LOOKING at me, it's a whole different story!

Hopefully Kaelyn will be in a cute showing off mood and not a "mama only" mood since I can't bring her with me to the front. That'd be a little distracting!! Especially if she bent over and looked at everyone through her legs! Though I don't intend on letting her have any nudey time!!

Another camping weekend

We were going to go camping this weekend but all the spots where we wanted to go were full. So...we camped at Sean's parents' house! We took the camper and parked in their driveway. They have an acreage out in the country so there was lots of room. It probably worked out better that way anyways because there was more to do. And when it rained, on several occasions, we were able to go into their house and have more room to run around.

Kaelyn REALLY enjoyed their wagon. I pulled her around and around in that thing. Half the time when we would go outside she'd grab my hand and lead me over to it. Hint hint. The other half the time she'd lead me around to the back of the house where the baby swing is and put my hand on it so I'd know that's what she wanted! Here's a picture of her playing horseshoes with Sean. She got that plastic set for him for father's day. Thoughtful of her! :)

We went to a lake on Saturday. We took the camper over. Sean's family went boating and Sean and Kaelyn and I wandered around. The boaters came back and picked him up while she napped in the camper. I read and then napped too! When she was up we went over to a beach, which she did NOT like. She didn't like having her feet in the water. She didn't like the sand. She didn't like the beach! Sean found a nearby swing and she was happy again. We got a little crispy! My shoulders and neck are REAL red. Just from that short time at the beach! Luckily Kaelyn was well covered with spf 90 suntan lotion! Guess I should have borrowed some from her!

Sunday morning we kind of forgot it was father's day but after Sean and I were ready and I was giving Kaelyn a bath we remembered to give him his present. I can finally say what it was! Kaelyn and I went to Wal-Mart to the "Picture People"store in the front and got our picture taking. Sean had been saying he needed a new picture of me because the one he had at work was taken before we were even married. So it's like 9 years old, probably. I did one better and got a picture of Kaelyn AND me! Here's our favorite one. They also took several shots of just her, which ALL were very cute. It was her first time going to an actual picture place. Sean always takes her pictures at home and they're always REALLY cute. But I couldn't exactly surprise him with this picture had he taken it, huh! :)

The camping weekend went well. Kaelyn slept pretty well in the camper which makes me look forward to our Colorado trip even more. I still don't look forward to the long drive. I hope that part isn't painful. I guess there's no way to tell for sure until we're on the road! But at least I know we should be able to sleep since she does pretty well in her tent in the camper. She gets the kitchen table that folds down into a bed. Sean put cork board up on one side so it's pretty much like a crib. We put blankets up from the corkboard to the cupboards above it so she can't see us walk by to go to the bathroom or whatever. It's her own little tent! She seems to like it okay!

Last night I got pooped on pretty majorly. Kaelyn was in a HUGE mama's girl mood. I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and she followed me SO frantically she slid into the fridge trying to get to me. I picked her up and she got SO upset over the ordeal she pooped. It was a chain reaction. Let's just say we both ended up taking off everything we had on! And that didn't do much to calm her down! She was pretty tired from two short naps that day so I'm guessing that was why she was as upset as she was. Putting her to bed helped and she's her regular happy self this morning. And we're both bathed and clean again too! :)

I'm still contemplating cutting her off baby food. I think I might try it today. We went to the store this morning and got bananas and some other things she MIGHT eat if she gets hungry enough! I may give it a go at lunch time. I'm not sure what else to do. It seems like she's not willing to even TRY anything as long as she has baby food to back her up. So if I take that away, just maybe... Or maybe it'll be a long day with a hungry baby! To be continued!

Father's Day

Father's Day is coming up this weekend. My parents have told us not to get them gifts anymore for Father's Day/Mother's day, their birthdays, anniversary, things like that. They don't need anything and are happy with simple cards and a phone call. But Kaelyn wore an Iowa Hawkeye cheerleading outfit a few weeks ago and we took pictures so I got a 5x7 of that for my dad to hang in his basement Hawkeye bathroom. Couldn't resist!

My dad was quite the trick-playing father. He used to pour cold water on my sister and I when we were showering. I remember we were on a walk one time and he yelled "SNAKE!" threw his arms in front of us and then catapulted himself into a neighbor's yard, tackling a big black drain hose. He did that trick another time in our house with a simple piece of licorice. My mom went out of town shopping once when I was in third grade. This was before the days of cell phones. I got sick at school, as in threw up, how embarrassing, but everyone did it, it seems! :) So they called my dad at work and he had to come pick me up. We went home and did he make me chicken noodle soup? (Not that I ate soup anyways!) No! He put me in the bugger (the thing you drag behind the bike) and rode to the new house we were building. I was in my pjs and robe probably pale as a sheet. When I got to high school he and my mom enjoyed attending the football games because I was in the marching band. Did he sit and clap along or watch quietly with the other parents? No, he stood up and did the cabbage patch (a strange type of dance) or the macarena or whatever other WAY cool moves he could come up with! My dad wasn't your typical dad. But, as much as I make fun of him, I wouldn't have it any other way. Our way of affection is a strange one. Poking fun and playing pranks, but hey, it works for us! And I know he loves me and I certainly love him.

I don't really have TOO many pictures of Sean with Kaelyn because he's always the one TAKING the pictures. But some of the ones from when she's first born are sure precious. Boy does she love her daddy! He comes home and starts right in on tickling her and she just squeals. He'll be in the kitchen and she'll sneak in, HOPING he will see her. And when he does she turns and RUNS and he chases and usually catches her and the tickling begins all over. When he catches her and tickles she squeals and pushes his hands away. But when he stops she pulls his hand back in again like, do it again! Back when Kaelyn woke up in the middle of the night when I started sending Sean in to pat her back to sleep, I used to tell him she woke up because she MISSED him! :) Probably true! He probably didn't care WHAT she missed at 3am! :) I feel that pain! Kaelyn is going to have SO much fun with her daddy in years to come. I can already see how her eyes light up when she sees him. He's going to teach her to golf someday and they're going to be quite the buddies! Perhaps she'll even talk him into doing her hair and playing dolls with her. If she's into that someday. If not, cars and trucks here we come!

Happy Father's day to all dad's out there! Especially my dad, my great father in law, and my husband!

Surviving our weeks alone

Kaelyn and I have been surviving our weeks alone. One day at a time! The first week we were alone a LOT. We went to the zoo twice and the library once, a day of errands as well. ALL alone. The final day of the week we drove two hours to meet a friend and yes, we had Chick-Fil-A! :) We hung out at a mall and visited Target and Kaelyn was SO good the whole time. She slept most of the drive on the way there AND back so it was great.

This ball toy has been her favorite lately. It was her favorite when she was around 9 months old and then she kind of got over it for awhile. Now she's back into it big time! Maybe because she now understands how to pick the balls up and put them in herself. She was playing with it this afternoon for about an hour, just giggling away!

My friend Stana, who I met in college, is back visiting her hometown and she came down for a few days to visit. She was around all afternoon yesterday and we went to the zoo today.
I'm pretty convinced she should not only move here, but move in with us. Or at LEAST spend ALL of her time with us. Because every time she's been around Kaelyn has been a perfect little angel. Smiling and giggling and being her cutest. Napping when she's supposed to and not crying about it. I keep telling Stana, I wish she was ALWAYS like this! She probably thinks I have NO reason to complain about this kid! And for the last few days, she's right! But she has her moments! Which are sure to become plentiful once Stana leaves so I'm pretty sure she just shouldn't leave! :) Plus, yesterday when Kaelyn was napping she baked a WHOLE load of cookies. Probably about half of which I've eaten by now. Okay, maybe not half, but I'm getting close!!

I felt pretty awful this morning, though, I must have (or Kaelyn must have) gotten suntan lotion in her eye. I think I put it on her face and she rubbed it over into her eye. Her eye turned red and she just rubbed and rubbed it and her whole forehead on that side of her face got blotchy like it had
a rash. Poor thing. I wiped her eye and face well (which she didn't appreciate) and it got better after that. I put lotion on her EVERY day and this has never happened before. She must have gotten a pretty good chunk in her eye. I sure felt bad!

She also took a nice sized trip in the driveway the day before Stana arrived. She was playing her golf ball throwing/chasing game and took a tumble. I saw it happen and really thought she had just fallen on her hands. I thought she caught herself. So I walked over and picked her up as she screamed thinking she had just startled herself and was like, oh, you're fine, don't cry! Then I looked at her and she had a HUGE lump and bruise on her head. I was very apologetic for doubting her! :)

I must have interrupted her play to take this picture. It looks like I'm going to get the ball launched at my face, doesn't it!

This weekend we're going camping near where Sean's parents live. It's supposed to be pretty hot so hopefully it isn't too miserable since we'll want to be outside most of the day rather than stuck in a small camper! We plan to camp two nights. Probably a good idea. Last time we camped only one night. This time we can do two and then in July when we go to Colorado hopefully we'll be ready for a full week!

Kaelyn and I can't wait to give Sean his father's day presents. The one thing she picked out (I can't say what in case he reads this) we'll probably give to him early because he might want to use it camping this weekend. The thing we had more special made for him we'll wait to give him Sunday. Assuming he doesn't run across it before then since we'll have it in the camper and space is limited and all! :)

I think naptime is almost over. I hear activity. I was napping too but was rudely interrupted by a telemarketer asking for Sean. First of all, he's not home. Second of all, he's not buying whatever you're selling. Third of all, it's naptime people!!! What I actually said was simply, "take us off your list" but that's what I was THINKING!

Eat Mud!

This isn't a great picture, but it's the best I could do under the circumstances. If you've read this blog before you may remember that Kaelyn doesn't really put things in her mouth. She doesn't eat table food no matter how hard I try. Today...she ate dirt. We have a huge heavy cement planter on the porch. It's empty but has some remnants of dirt in it from last year. Kaelyn was digging around in it today, no big deal. However, she found a dirt clod, a little muddy ball, and decided she wanted to taste it. DIRT! Now, for most kids this probably isn't unusual, kids put EVERYTHING in their mouths. Kaelyn does not. Hardly ANYTHING goes in there except her fingers! It's been a bit of a struggle. All this good food I try to get her to test and she eats dirt?! What does that say about my cooking?! Anyways, she didn't enjoy it. She started gagging and choking on it. I tried to get it out but by that point the dirt ball was no longer a ball, it was just a bundle of mud. So there was nothing I could do but let her eat it and help her wash it down. We went inside and I gave her a drink and wiped what came back out off her face (after taking this brief picture!) I can't believe this kid! I gave her strawberries for supper and she wouldn't do anything but poke them, but she ate DIRT!! I give her bread, carrots, beans, meats, you name it. She ate DIRT! Maybe she's trying to tell me she wants a change in her diet. No more good things, no more colorful items, just dirt will do. Though, like I said, she didn't enjoy it! But she ate it!! More than I can say about any other food. Not that dirt is food! :)

Fingers...watch out for birds!

As you may remember from earlier posts, Kaelyn loves to put her finger in things. Straws, drains, toys, my nose, whatever is available. We went to the zoo this week (can you believe it?! Twice actually!) and we arrived first thing in the morning at 8:30 so there weren't many people there. We went into the butterfly building and went into the side with the bugs and waterfalls and birds etc. Kaelyn's favorite part of that area is this waterfall enclosed by a net with birds in it. She seems to really enjoy ALL the waterfalls at the zoo. And these particular birds are friendly. They sit on branches near the side and move around a lot so she really watches them.

We were the ONLY ones in the butterfly building that morning so we were having a good time running around. She was really watching the birds and waterfall and I saw someone come in. It was one of the zookeepers and I glanced up for ONE second. This just goes to show you what can happen in ONE second! When I was watching Kaelyn she was standing by the net, hands are her side, watching the birds all wide eyed. The birds were standing on the other side watching her back! I look up for a second and when I look back down she has her finger THROUGH the netting and a bird has its ENTIRE beak around her finger! I'm not sure if she put her finger in bird's mouth (which I wouldn't put past her since she SO enjoys putting her finger in things) or if the bird put its beak around her finger! Either way, she was pretty cool about it. I was like AH! And she looked at me like "way cool, mama, look what I'm doing!!!" She seemed to really enjoy it. Thankfully the bird must have been gentle and wasn't really biting and didn't have a sharp beak. It was just holding her finger. But sheesh, one SPLIT second of glancing up and that's what happened! You just never know, huh!

Cute sleeping

Don't you wish we could all be this cute all the time? Sometimes when Kaelyn is going to sleep I hear her squeeze the rubber duck. It squeaks and she giggles. She's not exactly sleeping, but it's sure cute! But eventually this is how she ends up. I'm still not sure what it is about the rubber duck that she likes so much. It's not soft or cuddly. But it works for her! We had four of them but they get lost here and there and we're down to just one. The one she stole from the children's museum, actually. There HAS to be another one in the house somewhere because I know she lost one around here. We just haven't run across it yet. Two were lost at the zoo so those two are goners for sure.

We're surviving our week alone so far. And we have been completely alone so far. Not only is my mom away on vacation but we haven't been able to get together with any friends. We have plans to meet a friend on Friday, but the rest of the week it has been JUST us. We made two trips to the zoo and had one errand day/trip to the library. Today
we have to go to a place and pick up a thing. Can't say where or what in case Sean reads this. It's for father's day. :) We have to go between 11-1245 or something like that. And that's our ONLY plan for the day. Maybe we'll have lunch somewhere just to be out for a little longer. Otherwise, we'll play the day away unless I think of anything else to do!

I do think Kaelyn is getting tired of me, though. It's good for her to be with other people here and there. Last night after we got home from the church potluck she and Sean played for 15 minutes or so. You should have heard her squealing! It was the most noise she made all day! As much as she enjoys my company (or so I tell myself!) sometimes she wants to hang out with someone else for awhile!

Last night was night three of no nursing. I haven't exploded so that's good. It hasn't even been THAT painful compared to the other feedings I dropped in the past. Kaelyn cried around for 20 minutes or so last night before cashing it in. That's hard to listen to because I know if I just nursed her she'd go right to sleep peacefully. But I can't do it forever! Well, I could, but that's just weird.

Speaking of sleeping, I think she's awake now. And the day begins!

Nursing Update

Kaelyn MAY officially be weaned now! I decided that around my birthday I would try to stop the nursing session before bedtime. That was the only one we had left. First I thought that I would just give her ONE side a night for a few nights so she would be getting less and then I would cut her off for real. I was going to try it over the weekend. But Saturday night we'd had that big party for my birthday (still surprised!) and we still had guests here so I didn't want to mess with anything. Plus Kaelyn was ramped up from the big day and/or extra tired from it! So I proceeded as normal. Sunday night I attempted to just give her one side and she threw a FIT. Since I hadn't thought it through too well I gave in and just nursed her as usual. Monday night, though, I was determined to REALLY try. I told her throughout the day what we were going to do. I gave her a cup of milk in the evening to hopefully fill her up. At bedtime we went upstairs and looked at a book. She didn't want to have anything to do with it so we were only a few pages in when I gave that up. I just laid her back and rocked her and sang. She didn't like it at first bit calmed down after a little while. After I felt like she was tired and relaxed I put her in bed, told her mama loved her, and left the room. At first she was calm. She cried a tiny bit then stopped. After I got back downstairs it was probably a good 5-10 minutes later when she cried pretty hard for a minute. And here I thought she was doing okay with it! But she stopped shortly and I didn't hear much from her again.

We had a big thunderstorm overnight but I didn't hear Kaelyn until 2am. And then it was just a roll over squawk, nothing serious. She's been rolling around in her bed now since about 5am but it's 6:20 and she's not fully awake yet. Assuming all goes well, I think she's weaned! None of the individual feedings I cut were as hard as I thought. I always dreaded doing it because she just hates change and resists is so much. But each time I resolved to REALLY try, she's gone along with it after a little resistance. It's a hard thing to give up. Because nursing is SO sweet and such a peaceful time. It's probably the only quiet time of day I had to look at her and enjoy her without her moving full speed! And who knows, if she's our only child, I may never nurse again! So part of me is sad! But I also know that she's growing up and she doesn't really need that anymore. It's nice to know that I can go away for a night and she'll be okay. Not sure when I'll feel comfortable doing that, but at least I know it's an option!

So, she takes a bath in the big girl tub...I think she's done nursing...now if we can just get her to eat table foods!! That's next!

On another note, the last two mornings I've been watching the movie Precious while I run on the elliptical machine. The movie has a LOT of bad language so I wanted to watch it alone when Kaelyn wasn't around. It was interesting and VERY sad. It made me SO thankful to have the family I have. Even on my worst day as a mother, Kaelyn has it SO good. And I have it SO good to have her. If nothing else, the movie made me greatly appreciate everything I have. It's good to stop and be thankful for the little things sometimes. I don't want to take for granted this wonderful life I've been given.

Big Surprise

When Sean turned 30 I threw him a surprise party. Granted, I threw that party several months EARLY so he was REALLY surprised! His birthday is January 4th so with snow and holidays it's hard to get a party in. November was much better and even more surprising for him! :) Anyways, I guess he felt like he needed to get even!

At one point we'd talked about going camping over the weekend but it was suppose to rain so we didn't. I didn't think we really had any plans at all. Kaelyn and I went to neighborhood garage sales on my actual birthday, Friday. Sean said he had some ideas for what to do Saturday but wouldn't tell me. By his hints I was guessing a zoo visit. But come Saturday, it was raining pretty hard so he said we'd just get ready for the day and go shopping. Uh, okay! He didn't say where so we got ready and got in the car and ended up at Hy-vee. I was perplexed. I'm not much of a shopper as it is but what do you shop for at Hy-vee?! Sean headed for the bakery department so I thought, okay, maybe he's going to let me pick out a cake or bakery treat of some kind since we didn't really have one on my actual birthday. But he went up to the counter and asked for his cake (see above picture!) I saw what they handed him and was like, Sean, that's a HUGE cake! I thought there'd been a mistake! We couldn't eat that big of a cake just the two of us! Even though I DO love cake! Then I saw what it looked like and I said, "And it's ugly!" Apparently that's why he made it the way he made it! You see, I'm not a pink person...at ALL. Kaelyn wears pink often because if the outfit fits, it's clean, and on top of the pile, she'll wear it! But I just REALLY don't like pink. Hence the pink cake. Even a princess crown, how nice! :) No, I didn't wear the crown! :) Back to the story, so Sean picks up this big cake and I was sure there was a mistake but he said we were having a big party today. I was like what?! He said maybe 20-30 people were coming over to our house for my birthday, surprise! :) He figured it would be easier to reveal the surprise at that point because he needed to buy supplies and get things ready at home and I'm not the easiest person to get rid of, I guess! :)

So around 10:30am Sean's parents and grandma showed up and helped him with horrendous pink streamers and balloon decorations. Ugh. I would have preferred black. Sean's brother Joe and his wife Dacia and their little girl Nevaeh came just afternoon and Sean's brother Jason followed shortly after. Later in the day Sean's aunt Denise and uncle Tom as well as his uncle Brian and aunt Tryce and two cousins and Audry arrived as well. My parents didn't make it because they were on their way to an Alaskan cruise. And my sister and her family had my niece's soccer game and my nephew's tball pictures.

I wasn't surprised by Sean's family that came, that was to be expected once I found out there was a party. But when the party first REALLY began (at 2, the time he told most people to arrive) my friend September, her husband and daughter appeared! Someone (SEAN!) has been searching through my cell phone contacts! Not long after my friend Andrea and her husband and son arrived! Someone (SEAN!) has been searching through my email contacts! Our friends Katie and Kyle and their daughter Megan from church came later in the afternoon. And as if that wasn't enough, I almost had a heart attack from show, my friend from college, Stana and her mom came! See, they live in Tennessee!! So you can see why I would be surprised by that! Last I heard they were going to be coming back through the area MID-June on the way back to their home in South Dakota. So they're a little early!!

Kaelyn was really good at the party. When I first heard we were HAVING a party I wondered how she'd react. She has a tendency to be skittish around lots of commotion. She still stuck pretty close by but she did really well. She even played with several of the kids! Or at least near them!

It was a fun day. I kept getting drinks because I was talking so much my throat got dry. Especially after Stana got here! I convinced she and her mom to stay overnight so even after everyone else was gone we chatted until 10:30pm which is unheard of for me! :) That's way late in my world right now! And then Kaelyn decided 5:30am was wake up time this morning, ugh!

So to Sean, thanks for the fun party! Thanks for thinking of so many people that are important to me, family, friends, and everyone in between! :) And as for the cake, I WILL get even. Enough said.

Birthday

Well, today's the big day! I'm not longer in my 20s! Kaelyn and I partied hard yesterday to make the most of the remainder of my 20s. I think I re-broke a toe, we went to the zoo, and had lunch with some work friends. Plus there was the wagon ride, the bubble blowing, the napping. Whew, we did it all!

So far 30 feels pretty much the same as 29! Though I did let myself sleep in this morning! I woke up at 5 like I normally do but just rolled over and went back to sleep! Good for me! Maybe I need more sleep in my old age!

I remember birthdays being pretty magical when I was little. I would have big parties with lots of friends. Since my birthday was usually JUST when school got out and the weather was nice we'd have outside parties. Usually we'd draw with chalk in the driveway as people gathered. Play games with water balloons, pin the tail on mickey, have ice cream bars for the treat, things like that. Scavenger hunts in the neighborhood got big as I got older too.

When I turned 16 my parents REALLY got me good. They threw a surprise party at a big indoor park (probably more meant for kids but whatever!) I don't remember where my mom said she was going but my dad and I were home alone. He wanted me to take him for a drive to make sure I was a safe enough driver to start driving alone that summer. He made me get on the interstate and we drove by a place they played volleyball. When we got close to that place my dad said he had to go to the bathroom NOW and to pull over. So we went inside and he walked RIGHT past the bathroom, I was like, hey, there's the bathroom!! Then I turned the corner and ALL of my friends were standing there. Believe it or not, my first thought was, all my friends are here, why didn't they invite me?! Then they yelled surprise and I finally started putting it all together! :) We played on all the equipment for a few hours and then went back to our house and played pool and all that good stuff. That was one of my more memorable birthdays. I can't believe it was almost half my life ago!!!

Today Kaelyn and I plan to hit some neighborhood garage sales. That's about all we have in mind for the day! Nothing special going on. If she has a good day, I will! So let's hope she wakes up well and continues that pattern all day long!

On our own!

Today is the last day my mom will be with us for three weeks! My parents are taking a cruise in Alaska so Kaelyn and I will be on our own. We have plans for a few days here and there, but mostly we're free. I hope to find more things to do so she doesn't get bored and realize it's JUST me and her for SO many days in a row! :)

My parents are HUGE Iowa Hawkeye fans. My dad got this outfit for Kaelyn for Christmas or her birthday or something! So she had to wear it over the weekend when we were with them. It's actually pretty cute! Being another sports fan team, my husband didn't care for it, but he still took cute pictures anyways!

Below is another of Kaelyn's birthday outfits. It's WAY cute but I had NO idea how hard those overalls are to put on a wiggly kid! VERY hard!

Not to get gross, but over the last few weeks Kaelyn has pooped in her bath a few times. It's SO hard to clean up! It greatly shortens bathtime, that's for sure! Kaelyn gets jerked out of the tub immediately and wrapped in her towel on the floor. Then she has to lay there while I drain the tub and try to clean up! Apparently I was infamous for doing just such things when I was little. Hence my nickname of tubby tootles. Only with me, it was worse, because my sister was in the bath with me! Poor thing. hehe I like to think I did it on purpose! :)

Speaking of bath, over memorial day weekend I succeeded in getting Kaelyn to bathe without her blow up duck tub. I took it to my parents house but decided not to use it for a few days and see how it went. In past trials, plenty of screaming ensued. The first day Kaelyn screamed the whole time but wasn't AS mad as she had been LAST time I tried. So I tried again the next day. She screamed MOST of the time but was also happy for periods of time too. The third day she yelped when she got into the water but calmed down fast and played. The fourth day she was happy the whole time. So yeah! No more duck tub! I deflated it to bring home. It'll be nice to not have to take it with us everywhere and now she has the WHOLE big tub for room! She won't outgrow that for awhile! :)

I still want to work on two things with her: dropping the nighttime nursing session, and get her to eat table food. I've tried lots of table foods and so far have had NO luck with anything. I thought about cutting her off of baby food and hoping she'd get hungry enough to at least TRY some things. But then I decided, she's only a little over 13 months old, maybe she just needs more time. So we'll continue experimenting with things and hope for the best. If she hasn't caught on by her 15 month doctor's check up, I'll ask them about it and perhaps try cutting her off.

So that leaves nursing to work on for now. I think I'll go through this week and maybe most, if not all, of the weekend, and perhaps try to stop nursing Kaelyn at night next week. This is our LAST nursing session so once it's gone, we'll officially be done nursing. As much as I like that idea it's also sad. It's something I may NEVER do again, who knows. And it's such a sweet time to cuddle and bond. Some days, when Kaelyn is on the go all the time, it's the only time she slows down to cuddle with me! I hope it's an easy transition. So far weaning the rest hasn't been TOO hard. And I don't think she really NEEDS to nurse that much anymore. I think it's more of a relaxation thing. But still, it's been her habit for over a year, so it'll be hard to drop. Wish us luck!

And wish Kaelyn luck putting up with ONLY me for the next three weeks! May she be able to get by! :)