Milestones Reached

Looking Back

2011-02-25T21:34:00.000-08:00

I was just re-reading my blogs from the last year. My how things have changed! Will I ever blog again? Hmmm - I guess I just did :-)

Central Coast Vacation

2010-08-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

We were able to get away for a few days and take a little vacation back up to the lovely central coast of California. We had so much fun visiting my parents, seeing friends, visiting West Cliff, and attending our old church. It was nice to be back up there after almost 4 months. We wish it could have been longer! It was especially nice to head back up to the fog and cool weather after enduring a Southern California heat wave! We really can't complain too much - Southern California weather has been very kind to us since we moved back down. It's really eased us back into the heat and we sure are enjoying having air conditioning!

Kalin LOVED being with his Grammie and Grampie again! Our first day there he was full of non-stop energy - talking, jumping, asking Grampie to fly the remote control helicopters, etc. I was glad that both of my parents were home that day because after doing a night time drive and getting in just before 2am, Kalin still woke up before 6! He spent a lot of time outside with his Grampie that day! That first evening we went out to Phil's Fish Market - a yummy restaurant right out by the ocean. After we ate we walked the little path down to the beach so we could catch our first glimpse in almost 4 months of the Monterey Bay. It was lovely - and a little bit chilly - which, to us, is also lovely.

The next day we headed into Santa Cruz to visit our friends the Meyers. Luke and Kalin got to run around on West Cliff, watch the sea lions, eat kefir pops, and help pick plums and cherries! What a fun time we had seeing our friends again and catching up!

Kalin, my mom and I took a trip out to visit my aunt and uncle, my Grandpa and my cousin's little girl. The kids had LOADS of fun "helping" plant corn. I think they're favorite part was when my mom was watering with the hose. They both got completely soaked!

On Sunday we were able to visit our former church. We got to witness the dedication of our friend's children - a 3 year old and an almost 3 month old. I was really excited that we happened to be there on the Sunday of that dedication ceremony. It was also good to visit with other people in the church - many of whom hadn't realized that we'd moved! I guess we left rather quickly and word didn't get around. I got to talk to many of the ladies from my bible study group. I had to mention several times that, yes, I am expecting again. I could tell by their glances while we were talking that they were trying to figure out if I was pregnant or just gaining weight! Ah, the awkward stages of pregnancy :-)

It was a wonderful trip and we look forward to the next time we're able to travel up there. We'll be a family of four by then!

New Smile

2010-07-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

I was looking through our pictures taken just this month and realized that Kalin has this same goofy smile in about 75% of them...I miss his big toothy smiles!

Sleep?

2010-07-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

I started this blog about 21 months ago with a post about getting Kalin to sleep through the night. After 9+ months of little to no sleep we had finally reached our limit and, realizing that things weren't getting any better (in fact they had gone into a downward spiral from bad to worse), the time had come to teach him to put himself to sleep. We were blessed with successful results right from the start. It seemed like Kalin was ready for this step and from that day forward (with the exception of a couple of "sick" nights) we enjoyed blissful, peaceful nights.

Until now...

I'm not sure if this all started with the move or with the end of the pacifier stage or both - or if it's just coincidence. It's possible that this is just a stage that he would have gone through regardless. Since moving Kalin to his toddler bed he's been really good about not getting out of bed by himself. In fact, he would just lay there and talk to himself or to his stuffed animals until we came to get him - even if we didn't come for over an hour. It was nice to be the one calling the shots on when he got up. But there have been a few instances since we moved and since we stopped the pacifiers where he would wake up crying in the middle of the night or in the middle of his nap. We wouldn't always hear him in the middle of night for awhile and always felt bad that he had gotten so upset. So we started telling him that if he was scared or upset that he could get out of bed and come get us. It took about a month of telling him this until he finally decided to try it out. And now it seems to be his favorite thing to do. We had intended on this to be a way to keep him from being scared and having to cry for us but he seems to be using it as a way just to see us in the middle of night. Actually, we really have no idea why he's doing it and once again, just like back when he was an infant, we're faced with the questions and possible reasons for this lack of sleep. His reasoning and verbal skills aren't advanced enough to tell us why he's coming into our room in the middle of the night. He just keeps standing there saying, "I awake?". It started out with just one or two occurences a night - but recently it's gotten a little ridiculous to the point that, last Sunday, I'm not sure any of us slept from 3:15am until we finally just got up for good at 6. This has definitely meant earlier mornings for Kasey and I. For all we know this has been a normal wake-up pattern for Kalin and he's just now involving us in it.

I've read several different things online about random nighttime wakings at this age and the one that seems to make the most sense is that they start to dream more and they can have a hard time distinguishing between dream and reality. It's possible that is what is going on - it's also possible that he's just testing this new novelty of getting out of bed whenever he wants. This also seems like a good possibility since he'll get up a mere 10 minutes after we've put him back to bed. Either way I hope this phase is short lived. I was looking forward to fully appreciating sleeping through the night before the new baby comes.

Most of the advice online is to take them back to bed without interacting too much - basically, don't talk to them. Which sounds like a good idea except he asks us to pray with him every time we take him back to bed and it just seems too harsh to say "No, I'm not going to pray with you." But maybe he's just using it as a stall tactic or a way to get us to interact with him. I don't know. I guess we'll just try a few different tactics over the next few nights and hope and pray that this passes and Kalin understands that he needs to stay in bed, unless he's really scared or upset - oh, and how about not getting up anytime before 6 - that would be great.

It's a Girl!

2010-07-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our ultrasound this past Thursday went well! It took way longer than it should have because this little girl was being stubborn. She refused to roll over so the tech could get a good look at her spine. We were in the ultrasound room for a good hour! The tech tried all the usual tricks but the baby wouldn't budge! Eventually she had me get up and go to the bathroom (to give the baby more room to move) and jump around a little. That seemed to work although it still took a little bit of persuasion on the tech's part to get her to roll over completely.

Profile

One Foot (don't worry, she has two. This is just a shot of one)

This apparently means it's a girl.

I love the spine pictures.

Picture Post

2010-07-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Watching Toy Story (a.k.a. "Woody") and waiting patiently for me to bring him his pizza.

He loves his cousin, Hannah. He kept saying over and over, "I love Hannah!"

He has a blast playing with his cousin, Hailee.

I love that it looks like they're posing for a photoshoot.

Playing on the stairs.

New haircut! The little goober doesn't let us take very good pictures of him anymore. Remember when he was a baby and he would just happily sit there and smile for me all day long? Well now we have to resort to holding his head still to get a decent shot. A HUGE thanks to the person at Supercuts who cut his hair. She was quick and efficient and sooo great with Kalin. I believe that it was the least stressful haircut he has had.

He loves lining up all of his cars - whether it be on the cedar chest, in his closet or under his bed. This is how he puts them to sleep.

Enjoying the water misters at Aunt Kami and Uncle Jerry's house.

In other news: Our 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for next Thursday!! Hooray! I'm not sure Kalin really understands when we ask him if he wants a little brother or sister and his answer changes daily. However, when we ask him what his new brother or sister's name should be he generally answers, "Kalin". Hmm...I think that might get a little confusing.

No Pacifier

2010-06-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

The time has come!! Kalin is spending his first night, practically since birth, without a pacifier! Hooray!!! I am SOOOOOO excited. This has been a long time coming and, quite frankly, I've been nervous about it. I had no idea if it would turn into a big ordeal with tears and tantrums or if he would just accept it. So far, he's just accepted it. I've been warning him for months that this time was going to come but it wasn't until this week that I knew the time was very close at hand.

Let me explain how I knew this.

About 6 months ago he was going to bed with a total of 4 pacifiers and I thought, "This is ridiculous! He's 2 now and I really want to get him off of these. How are we going to wean him off of them if he's used to having such a large supply!". The answer: Slowly. Just like he was weaned off of nursing over a 6 month period we weaned him off of his pacifiers. When the first one broke I said, "I'm not replacing it!". So he was down to 3. Within a week, a second one broke and once again I refused to replace it. And he was down to two. The last two hung on for about 5 months. This past week "green ba (he calls them ba's and I don't know why)" broke leaving just one behind, "blue ba". I told him all week that once "blue ba" broke there would be no more. A couple of days ago I noticed that a hole was starting to form in "blue ba" and I actually got scared. "Am I really ready for this?" Well, ready or not, I knew that it was necessary. As it happened, his first time sleeping without the pacifier came about by accident. We were visiting my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's church today and decided to hang with them at their house for the afternoon. This meant that Kalin would have to go down for a nap at their house and I hadn't packed his pacifier! I told Kasey, "If this nap goes well for him without his pacifier then I'm not going to give it to him tonight either." He didn't even ask for it when we put him down for his nap!! This was really odd for him because whenever we would mention nap time or bedtime he would immediately ask for his "ba". So when we got home tonight I hid his pacifier so he wouldn't see it and he didn't ask for it until the very end of our bedtime routine. He was already in bed all covered up and surrounded by his stuffed animals and he said "Ba?". And I responded in a cheery and matter-of-fact voice, "Ba is broken. Remember how you slept without it during your nap today? Here, how about if you hug Russell (the name that Kasey gave the sheep) instead." Then we prayed, kissed him and left the room. There was no crying and no tantrums and I am so relieved.

This may seem like a silly thing to devote such a long post to when a simple, "Kalin doesn't use pacifiers anymore." would have sufficed. But this is actually a big milestone in my thinking and I am so happy that it has gone smoothly. I had three very specific goals for Kalin this year:

1. Learn to jump - He accomplished that one shortly after his second birthday.

2. Get rid of pacifiers - I can now cross that one off my list (and many people who know me know how much I love to cross things off of lists!)

3. Potty-training - in progress.

Cookie video

2010-06-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get the video of Kalin making cookies to load on the blog so I put it on facebook instead. Hopefully this link to the video works!

Cookies!

2010-05-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

I decided I must be feeling better when, on Friday, I offered to make sugar cookies with Kalin! We were playing with play-doh and he cut out a star and said "It's little star! Star cookie?". And I responded with "Would you like to make some star cookies?". He was, of course, very excited about this. We made the dough together but since it needed to chill for 3 hours we weren't able to make cookies until after his nap. I actually cheated a bit and made most of them while he was napping but left plenty of dough for him to play with when he got up. We had lots of fun and he loved playing with the dough and mushing it in his hands. Don't worry, the cookies he made are the ones that just Kasey, Kalin and I will eat!

Adventures in Potty Training

2010-05-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Potty training has been going pretty well so far. He no longer cries when I try to sit him on his potty and he has actually gone to sit down on his own when he knew he needed to go. We’re trying out the method of letting him walk around without a diaper or pull-up. It certainly helps me to know when he’s going so we can get him on the potty. It’s caused a few messes but nothing I can’t handle.

One day, I was standing in the kitchen making his lunch and he had been standing behind me playing with his fridge magnets. All of a sudden I felt this warm stream of liquid hit the back of my ankle and I yelped and jumped. It was quite a shock! I was able to get him to his potty so he could finish. I’m sure we’ll have more experiences like that in the future!

His current reward for going in his potty is an M&M. After going he’ll ask for his “special treat”. He was really into it this past Friday morning – so much so that he ended up with 6 M&M’s before it was even 9:30! I’m thinking I may need to find another reward for the morning hours!

Grampie's Visit

2010-05-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

My dad visited us on Mother's Day weekend. He drove down to pick my mom up from my sister's house. My mom had been down for a couple of weeks to help Bekah out with Hailee and Hannah since this is a busy time of year for her. Kalin and I had gone with Bekah and the girls a couple weeks before this to pick my mom up from the airport. Kalin saw my mom from inside the car and started waving and yelling "Grammie! Grammie!". It was so funny and I wished I had some video of it. So I made sure to have the camera out when my dad came for a visit. At this point it had been about a month since he had seen his Grampie. He was used to seeing him at least every other week when we lived up north and I knew that he missed both his Grammie and Grampie. Here's the video from that meeting! He was so excited to see his Grampie!

Kalin Update

2010-05-25T20:23:00.001-07:00

I figured I should give a Kalin update since my last post was just a generic family update.

1. Kalin's verbal skills continue to grow and mature every day. He speaks in full sentences now (albeit grammatically incorrect ones) and will often times string several sentences together in order to fully explain something to us or tell us a story.

2. One of the most common phrases coming out of his mouth is "I do it myself".

3. He asks questions such as: "What's dog doing?", "What's tree doing?", "What's newt doing?". And he asks these questions about EVERYTHING!! It sometimes gets very tiring and taxing for my uncreative brain as I'm desperately trying not to say "I don't know" too often. But really, what would your response be when he asks "What's lake doing?" I've started turning the question back over to him and asking him what he thinks the object is doing. Such a curious little mind! I'm pretty sure after we've exhausted the "what" questions we'll be moving on to the infamous "why" questions.

4. He loves giving kisses and hugs. He'll even give them to people he doesn't really know! I was preparing him to meet a couple of my friends from high school whom I haven't seen in years so I was showing him pictures from their blogs so he would recognize them. We got to my friend, Janelle's house just as Jamie pulled in - as soon as I had him out of the car he went running down the driveway straight into Jamie's arms and gave her a big kiss. When our friend, Janelle, came out of her house to greet us he leaned forward and gave her a big kiss as well!

5. He likes to say things are "real spicy". It started with soda. We let him have a little sip and he made a really funny face then said, "It's real spicy. I like it!". Many things have now been deemed "real spicy" by him - most of which are not spicy at all. I think sometimes he just means flavorful.

6. He enjoys fishing for compliments. He's basically just copying things we've said to him in the past but he'll say them to himself then look at us and wait for us to agree. He'll say things like: "Good digging, Kalin!", "Thank you, baby boy.", or my personal favorite is when he calls himself squawky boy.

7. We've started potty-training and he is officially in pull-ups now. It's off to a slow start but I think he's starting to get used to sitting on the toilet. The goal is to have him potty-trained (hopefully completely but I might living in a fantasy world) by the time the new baby comes along. Only having one in diapers would be super nice.

8. With Kalin being almost 2 1/2 now we've definitely seen an increase in tantrums. Here's an amusing story from just a couple days ago that I e-mailed to my family because I thought they would enjoy it.

So Kalin was throwing a MAJOR tantrum this evening. Over what, we’re not really sure. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out not only what may have caused it but what the root of the problem was. But nothing Kasey and I could do was apparently the “right” thing in Kalin’s eyes. After having him sit in a chair and telling him he was going to sit there until he calmed down then trying to ignore him (which works a lot of time) he was still riled up so I finally just picked him up and took him to his bedroom – hoping the change in scenery would get him to calm down so we could talk. I sat him on his bed and he started asking for his ba’s (pacifiers) and saying he was sleepy (this was at about 5:15 and I had just gotten him up at 4:30). I finally decided that maybe he did just need to lay down for awhile so I gave him his pacifiers and tucked him in and, by his request, prayed like we normally do before naptime and bedtime. I told Kasey I’d only let him stay up there for about 15 minutes since I really didn’t want him sleeping anymore. Kasey went back up to get him about 15 minutes later and Kalin was sitting up in bed. When he saw Kasey he said, “I all done crying now. I put ba’s away. I’m real happy!”

Just an amusing story from today. The tantrum part isn’t so amusing but I liked that after 15 minutes of some alone time and relaxing he was a completely different boy and I also liked the fact that he understood that we needed him to stop crying and calm down.

Kalin is full of surprises every day and he makes us laugh a lot.

I'm Back!

2010-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

So, it's been about 4 months since my last post and I'm not even sure I have any followers left but I've decided that I should update. The first major update, which I'm sure everybody who reads this already knows, is that we've moved!! In March, Kasey accepted a job at Cal Baptist in Riverside doing the same job he was doing at Bethany. We moved at the beginning of April. We didn't have a place in Riverside at the time that we moved but Kasey's parents were gracious enough to let us (and about half of our stuff!) stay with them while we searched for a place to live. The search only took a couple days and we were able to move in by the end of that week. Hooray! Huge THANKS to all those who helped us move - both up north and down south (and especially to those who helped in both places!).

We're still working on getting fully settled in - there's still some boxes sitting around and we're still working on making the house feel like a home.

The second major update is that I'm pregnant! Baby Martin #2 is due at the end of November. We are currently 13 weeks along and I'm hoping that morning sickness is finally letting up for good. I think it will be much easier to finish getting our house put together once I'm feeling good and have more energy.

Playmates

2010-01-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

Kalin and I took a trip into Santa Cruz this week to have a play date with our friends Sarah and Luke. We had been trying to plan this play date for a few weeks and for various reasons it kept getting postponed. I decided that even though it was raining (with a chance for pouring in the forecast) we were not going to cancel again! Thankfully, we actually had a nice drive to and from Santa Cruz. I am so glad that we didn't cancel because it was so good to visit with Sarah again and we loved watching our boys play together. I love the fact that they're both old enough to play and that they seem to enjoy each other's company.

Night-Night Kalin

2010-01-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

First we got the adorable toddler bedding set for his birthday:

Then he learned how to climb out of his crib:

And now we have taken the crib apart and transformed it into a toddler bed:

We'll see how early our mornings start now!

I can't believe that I have a two-year old! I can't believe that he's not in a crib! What's next - potty training? Hmm...not a bad idea.

The end of our bedtime routine used to look like this: I pick him up, we turn off the light, we pray together, then I lay him down and cover him up. Tonight it went like this: I picked him up, realized that I no longer have to actually lift him up to put him to bed, set him down, pulled back his covers, watched him climb into bed all by himself (sniff sniff), covered him up then knelt down beside him to pray.

He's such a big boy now.

Blogging

2010-01-22T19:42:00.000-08:00

Kasey says I need to blog again sometime soon - now that I'm not working anymore there's a good chance that it will happen.

So Far, So Good

2009-12-13T20:18:00.001-08:00

It certainly is the most wonderful time of the year! I love the weather, the decorations, the music, the goodies and the anticipation! My co-workers all kept telling me that working retail during the holidays would cure me of my love for Christmas - I set out to prove them wrong. There is no way I'm letting the fact that we need a little extra income steal my love for the Christmas season. So far, so good. I'm not tired of the Christmas music, I'm not tired of seeing all of the Christmas decorations and toys come through my checkout lane, I'm not tired of how busy it can get (it makes the time go faster), and, quite frankly, I haven't even had that many mean customers (I think all the mean ones go up to the customer service desk). I'm still in love with the Christmas season.

We've been busy around here since the last post. I'll give some highlights of the last 4 weeks:

Kalin's First Dentist Appointment! It went about as well as I had expected - he screamed the whole time the dentist had her fingers in his mouth. Thankfully, the dentist didn't have high expectations for this first visit either. It was mainly a "Hi! Let's get to know you and if your child will cooperate we'll have a look inside his mouth and maybe do some x-rays and cleaning." Our child didn't cooperate so all we got done was the "looking inside his mouth" part. My main reason for taking him in was because he has an extra tooth that I was worried about. We at least got reassurance that it's nothing to worry about for now. It did puzzle the dentist a bit while she was trying to figure out what kind of a tooth it was (I'm sure Kalin screaming and moving around didn't help either). She said his teeth look healthy and fine and then tried to convince us that we need to floss his teeth for him. Really?!?! Are you kidding me? Some days we can barely get the toothbrush in his mouth. Kalin's favorite part of the visit was the train set in the waiting room (which he got upset about leaving when our name was called, to which the receptionist and dentist both said, "He can bring a car with him!!". They must encounter that problem alot.) and the orange balloon they gave him after his visit.

Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful time at my parent's house this year with my dad's side of the family joining us for a wonderful turkey lunch! Unfortunately I had to work in the evening but we still had plenty of time to eat and visit.

Butterflies! My dad came up on one of his days off (while my mom was out of town) and we headed out to Natural Bridges to see the Monarch butterflies. It was a beautiful day to head down to Santa Cruz and Kalin had a blast walking around in the butterfly habitat.

Christmas Tree! We got our Christmas tree the first weekend of December. We went to the same farm as last year and Kalin had so much fun running around. He had a lot of fun last year too but since he had only been walking for just a little over a month he was still kind of wobbly and we had to watch him closely. This year we pretty much just let him run. It was soooo cold so we found our tree kind of fast and Kalin "helped" Kasey cut it down. On the ride home Kalin kept saying "tree? tree?" trying to figure out where we had put it. I kept reassuring him that it was just in the trunk and he would get to see it again when we got home. Once we put the lights on the tree it became the "happy tree". Whenever Kalin sees pretty lights or candles (or eats some of Sarah's pumpkin bread) he deems the item "happy". We hung some garland and lights around the door frames in our house and the first thing we have to do when Kalin wakes up is turn on the "happy lights" - and then we have to check the tree's water. This tree is lucky that Kalin is around - it certainly will not be going thirsty with Kalin reminding us to check the water level! He lays down flat on the ground and sticks his finger into the tree stand like he's seen us do then says "Wa-Wa". Christmas has always been a special and fun time for me but having Kalin around makes it even more special. I get to experience it all through his eyes and joy and enthusiasm.

Cookies! I decided that it would be fun to make Christmas cookies with Kalin. We decided to keep it simple and just make some sugar cookies that we would roll out and cut into Christmas cookie shapes. It became very clear at the beginning of this project that these cookies would be meant for only our family - you don't want to know how many times Kalin licked his fingers then stuck them in the dough. But we had so much fun. And, it only took two days, but we finally got around to decorating the cookies! There's nothing quite like trying to get an almost two-year old to help put frosting on cookies! We had fun, made a mess, and enjoyed spending time together.

And in between all of this fun stuff Kasey has still been going to work, I've been going to work, I've been doing the Christmas shopping after work (10 o'clock at night really is the best time to go shopping. I might have to do that every year.), I've been trying to stay on top of dinner plans for my boys (some days I just look at Kasey and say, "I don't know, just have cereal and eggs."), I've still been going to my Tuesday night Bible study (it's so tempting to skip and stay home with my boys), and I've been trying my best to keep up with the regular housework. Quite frankly, it's busier than I would like to be. I've never been one to make myself so busy that I'm constantly on the move so this has been a challenge. Anybody who is acquainted with my sisters know how much they're involved in and I used to say that I was the lazy one in the family - then one of them told me that I was probably the smart one! I resolved at the beginning of this new adventure that I wasn't going to sacrifice the seasonal things that we love and want to do - even if it meant leaving the house more often than usual :-) So far, so good.

Play Day!!

2009-11-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

Kasey had Wednesday off for Veteran's Day and we were really looking forward to a day together as a family. It started out sleeping in until almost 9. We've actually come to realize that Kalin wakes up several times in the early morning hours (and by early I mean 6). If we get up to use the restroom we'll hear him talking to himself and making noise but he ends up putting himself back to sleep. So on these rare occasions that he sleeps in this late it always gets us wondering how many times he's woken up and made some noise but since we didn't come get him, he just went back to sleep. Of course, we're always a little bit concerned that he's cried and screamed for us but we've slept through it - that hasn't happened in many, many months though. The one time we know that happened was probably 8 months ago and he woke up with some throw-up in his bed and his nose was all stuffy from crying. We felt sooo bad and spent the next couple of weeks paranoid that it was going to happen again. But it appears that he is just so happy and comfortable in his crib these days that if we don't come get him while he's talking - he'll just go back to sleep. It does make me wonder what will happen when we put him in a toddler bed where he'll be able to get out by himself. I'm sure I'll have to get used to early mornings again.

So, our morning started off leisurely. Kasey had wanted to spend some time in a coffee shop reading so he did that for a couple of hours. We then took a marvelous family walk and played in the park on the way home. While Kalin took a nap, I caught up on my NCIS and Kasey read some more. Before I knew it, it was time for me to get ready for work. It had felt so much like a Saturday that I kept forgetting I had to go to work. It was lovely having Kasey home for an extra day and spending this time together. I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving week when Kasey will be home for most of the week! I, of course, will still have to work in the evenings (hooray for retail).

Check out Kalin's sweet new ride - given to us by the Prior's.

So Kalin has been learning new words everyday. He has even started combining words into two word phrases. Examples are: buh-bye Dada, Mama come, buh-bye car, blue ball. Sometimes when we walk Kasey outside as he is on his way to work Kalin will say "Buh-bye Dada. Work-y". I don't know why he says "work-y" and not just "work" but it's cute. He loves blowing kisses now and will blow them to both Kasey and I as we leave for work.

He's becoming more of a dare-devil as well - which has resulted in more tumbles off the stool.

He has definitely entered the stage of "I want to do it on my own". So we're learning to release just a little more control as we help and teach Kalin to do things on his own.

Now for some thoughts of my own. I'm trying to think through some issues regarding parenting and Kasey and I had a good discussion yesterday but I'm still in the process of formulating my position and thoughts on the matter. Here's my dilemma: Hearing what the professionals have to say about child development (emotional, behavioral, psychological) and making sure that I don't use their findings or opinions to influence me into raising children through methods that would go against God's Word. I've read many things from professionals regarding what "healthy" development looks like and many times it seems as though they want us to use that as an excuse to allow our kids to act certain ways. I sometimes get the impression that certain behaviors should be allowed because it's just our kids showing their individuality or developing their personality. Could those behaviors not also be looked at as that sin nature that's in all of us that rears it's ugly head when we don't get our own way or think we know what's best? I want to make sure that I'm not making excuses for Kalin but that I am teaching and disciplining in a Godly manner while still having the patience and grace necessary for where Kalin is developmentally and spiritually. I would enjoy hearing other people's thoughts/advice.

New Schedule

2009-11-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

We've come to find some sort of routine for our family this past month. This change in our schedule and decrease in "family time" has been exhausting. This is what a typical week looks like: Sunday - church, Kalin naps, early dinner, Kasey heads to youth group making it home just in time to say goodnight to Kalin; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - typical day schedule for Kalin and I while I attempt to clean house, do dishes, do laundry, make sure there's a dinner plan for my boys, run any errands that need running, take a daily walk and make sure Kalin and I have ample playtime together, I head out to work shortly after Kasey gets home; Tuesday - typical daytime schedule plus babysitting Luke Meyer for a couple hours in the afternoon, a rushed family dinner, then I'm off to Bible Study; Saturday - every once in awhile I work in the morning then the rest of the day is spent relaxing with family. Because I don't have evenings anymore to accomplish anything inside or outside the house I've had to start doing more during the day. Thankfully, Kalin has become really good at playing by himself which allows me this time to accomplish things. However, I've noticed that there are some days when I feel like I never actually spent time with Kalin - I fed him, changed him, got him down for naps, took him for a walk and read him a story before nap time - but the rest of the time he was playing by himself while I tried to keep things clean and running smoothly for the household. Those are the days that I have a really hard time leaving the house for work because I feel like I didn't actually have time for my kid.

Kasey and I have realized how good this time has been for Kalin and Kasey's relationship. They've grown closer together with me out of the picture for a few hours every night. Ideally we shouldn't have had to figure this out through such drastic measures - 5 nights a week is a little much in my opinion, I think maybe 1 or 2 would have been better, but it has helped us see that I can indeed have a life outside of the house. What a concept, huh? I still don't want to be working and I definitely don't want to be spending this much time away from my family but if I just need to get out of the house a couple evenings a week - whether it be for bible study, meeting with a friend, or just going out on my own - we now know that it is doable and beneficial. So after we feel comfortable enough in our financial situation where I can quit working, we will be taking steps towards me having an outside life.

Something else we've learned through this experience - Kasey and I need to communicate more regarding house rules and do's and don'ts. We've found ourselves in several situations where one parent is telling Kalin he can do something and the other one pipes in with "Oh, I don't let him do that" and vice-versa. In the past, I've pretty much been the one to make the rules and since I was always around to enforce them, Kasey learned what I normally allowed and didn't allow. Now rules and games are being made and played while I'm gone so I'm having to play catch-up the next day. For the most part it's small issues that we have to deal with - we're on the same page when it comes to major, common sense, safety rules.

So this whole new experience has been exhausting, educational, and yes even a little bit beneficial - but I can't wait for it to be over.

Precious Times

2009-10-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

My time with Kalin has become more precious. A couple weeks ago Kasey and I decided that it would be wise for me to look into getting an evening job. We have, quite honestly, been blessed that it has taken this long for us to feel that a part-time job is necessary. I knew that whatever work I would find would probably be a retail position. All the jobs that would fall under my qualifications and college degree are day jobs and we are not willing to put Kalin in daycare for the sake of money (not to mention daycare would probably eat up most of the money I would make anyway). At this point in our lives, I have absolutely no desire to have a career that takes me away from my kid. I've always felt that my place is at home with our children. So with that in mind I applied at our local K-Mart, stating that my available hours are in the evenings and Saturday mornings. I figured I could handle 3 or 4 hours at night - I mean Kalin would be going to bed a couple hours after I left anyway so really I'd only be missing the last 2 hours of his day. In theory, it sounded like it wouldn't be that much of a sacrifice. However, I have found that in practice, it is very difficult. There is now the potential of missing out on family dinners, bath times, family story times, family play-time, and Kalin's bedtime for five nights every week. It's hard. It's hard walking out of the house just a few minutes after Kasey has walked in from work and tell them goodbye knowing how much I'm going to miss. It takes a lot of effort at work not to keep looking at the clock, wondering what my boys are up to at home. I keep asking myself, is this extra money worth the time away from home? No, it's not worth it - but for now, it's necessary. And it is definitely just a "for now" thing. We're hoping it won't have to go much past the holidays. So I have found that my days with Kalin hold a lot more meaning and our play time and story time are much more precious. I might even force him into a one-nap-a-day schedule just for the sake of spending more time with him. I know that there are many mothers who genuinely want to work and while it may be a little difficult to be away from their children for the day, they really love the work that they are doing. Then there are the mothers who have to work a full-time day job to make ends meet and to those mothers my heart goes out to. I don't know how you do it. Maybe it gets a little easier over time. Maybe I'm just having such a hard time with this because I've spent almost every single hour of every single day of this child's life with him (exceptions being: some date nights, grocery store trips, a few hours to myself, an anniversary trip and, most recently, our trip to Disneyland). There is no regularly scheduled time apart from him (well, maybe nap times). Let's face it - I'm addicted to this little boy. So, we're in a transition phase right now (and I hate transitions).

Moving on.

I love the age Kalin is at right now. He is so much fun and his verbal skills are increasing daily. We have a lot of fun with him. He somehow learned to say "ahhh, beep beep" which I think is from a song from the early 90's or something. I'm not entirely sure where I picked it up (must have been on a commercial) but it would get stuck in my head and just recently Kalin started singing it too. He also says "Whaaa?" which is something that Jon Stewart (the comedian) says. Don't worry, Kalin has never watched Jon Stewart. Kasey taught it to him. It's very cute and very funny to hear though.

Kalin loves the movie Cars. He would watch it 5 times a day if I would allow it. He also enjoys watching Winnie the Pooh. His new favorite thing is to sit, covered with a blanket, in the bean bag chair to watch his favorite shows. He lasts a good 30 minutes doing that. Cars was a huge help on our roadtrip to Hemet.

Kasey took some time off work this past week so we could spend some time visiting friends and family down south. Of course, the main reason we went down there was for my birthday!!! I've never celebrated my birthday with his family so we thought that it would be ideal to do that this year and take advantage of Disneyland's offer of free admission on your birthday! We had alot of fun.

I also saw my new niece, Hannah! She's a sweetheart and I had a great time holding a little tiny newborn again. I don't remember Kalin ever being that small.

I will now leave you with a humorous list of Toddler Property Laws (I'm sure some of you have seen these before). The truth of these statements become even more evident when you get a couple of toddlers together to play. Enjoy!

Property Law As Viewed By A Toddler

1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks like it's mine, it's mine.
8. If I saw it first, it's mine.
9. If I can see it, it's mine.
10. If I think it's mine, it's mine.
11. If I want it, it's mine.
12. If I "need" it, it's mine (yes, I know the difference between "want" and "need"!).
13. If I say it's mine, it's mine.
14. If you don't stop me from playing with it, it's mine.
15. If you tell me I can play with it, it's mine.
16. If it will upset me too much when you take it away from me, it's mine.
17. If I (think I) can play with it better than you can, it's mine.
18. If I play with it long enough, it's mine.
19. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it's mine.
20. If it's broken, it's yours (no wait, all the pieces are mine).

Grand Slam!

2009-09-05T20:04:00.001-07:00

We took Kalin to his first baseball game this past Wednesday. It was a $2 ticket day for the Oakland A's and Kasey is allowed a day off for his birthday AND he had just finished his last Master's class so we decided that this would be the perfect way to celebrate!! I had kept my expectations kind of low because I knew that the only hope for a nap for Kalin would be in the car on the way to the game - and those don't always work out the way I need them to. Plus, I knew that he would have to sit some at the game and I didn't know how crowded it would be and how much room we would have to run around in. The day went far better than I could have imagined. He took a 30-40 minute nap in the car, ate some lunch in the parking lot, and after a screaming match over wanting to walk through the parking lot instead of ride in the stroller or be carried, we made it to the stadium and to our seats - which were in the hot, hot sun. Kalin spent the first inning or two sitting on my lap just looking around, saying "ba-ball", and clapping when others clapped. We finally decided that we weren't going to make it the whole game sitting in the sun so we found some empty seats up in the shade. Most people were doing the same thing. Kalin had a blast sitting in the empty seat next to me, walking around a little, playing with the spring-loaded seats, and taking a 20 minute break with me to go run around in the concession area. He was a wonderful boy and had a really good time!! We all had a really good time!! We even got to see a grand slam!! Our first baseball game outing was a huge success!

Kalin's verbal skills have really taken off this past month. I'm so proud of him and it is so much fun to hear all the new words he's learned and to have him mimicking and copying our speech. I have a bunch of video of him saying different words but it's going to take some editing to make it watchable and interesting so I'll be posting that sometime later. But for now I'll just leave you with fun things he's been doing and saying recently:

- About 2 1/2 weeks ago we passed by a house that had a cat sitting in it's front yard. Kalin saw it and started saying "Meow" over and over. Now, every time we pass that house he point and says "meow". We have yet to actually see that cat there again but he still remembers seeing it that one time and remembers which house it was at.

- He loves pointing out mailboxes and saying "ma-ma" (long a sound) and also garbage cans "ga-ga". So you can imagine how much fun it is for me walking through residential areas. It's a constant chorus of "ma-ma, ma-ma, ma-ma" with the occasional "ga-ga" thrown in on trash pick-up days. He also loves to point out the airplanes and birds that fly over us.

- He loves tractors (thanks to a book he got from his Aunt Bekah) and loves pointing those out as well. He has a word for them but I'm not real sure how to describe it.

- He has a thing for ice (sounds like "eye") right now and asks for it in every beverage.

- He likes to say "wow" after I've said it.

- He calls his Grampie "bee-bee" (which sometimes ends up sounding like either "baby" or "pee-pee") and calls his Grammie "mammie" (which is also what he calls his Aunt Kami). Just today as he was looking through one of his photo albums he came across a picture of his Grampie and pointed and said "bee-bee". Then the next picture was of his Grammie and he pointed and said "mammie!" I was so proud of him for recognizing them and remembering their names. Kalin has a special love for his Grampie (my dad). He gets very attached to him and sometimes prefers him even to me! Last time my parents were visiting our house we noticed that every time my dad left the room he would start saying "bee-bee". That's how we figured out that this was Kalin's name for Grampie.

- When I talk about Grandma Jody and Grandpa Ken he looks up at their picture that is hanging on our wall. So he recognizes that the names belong to the faces and people. We're working on other family member's names. He says "my" for Uncle Mike and "knee" for Aunt Nise, "ko-ko" for Aunt Koni and "lee" for Analiese. Most of the others are just garbled. Trying to get him to say Evangeline cracks me up because he spits out some garbled word that sounds nothing like it should but he says it with such conviction and confidence that I'm sure he thinks he's saying it correctly - or he just wants to make me stop asking him to say it - "Maybe if I pretend like I know what I'm saying she'll stop". It makes me laugh.

- A little boy ran by us while we were on our walk tonight and Kalin yelled after him, "Go, go go!!"

- Kalin loves using napkins which I just think is fabulous. He wipes his hands, his mouth, his belly and sometimes his tray.

- He loves to take things out to the recycle bin so if we clean out a container or have an empty cardboard box sitting around he'll grab it and head for the front door.

- Kasey and Kalin get up around the same time during the week so they hang out and eat some breakfast while I get to snooze a little longer. Around 7:30 I need to get up so Kasey can get in the shower so he'll send Kalin to the door and tell him to knock. Some mornings it's a gentle little knock, some mornings it's a pounding, and on Friday he attacked the door full force. One day he knocked then stood outside the door saying "Mama" over and over until I opened the door. If that's not just the best way start a day then I don't know what is.

Alright, I think I've exhausted my list of interesting facts about Kalin - or these are just the ones I can remember right now. I'll post some video of Kalin talking and also some from the baseball game soon.

Some New Words

2009-08-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Wuss

2009-08-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight I found out that my son is a little bit of a wuss. This child, who takes balls to the face and runs into walls and then laughs about it or purposely falls backward hitting his head on the ground and then gets up to do it again thinking it's a great game, hates, absolutely HATES, having wet sand on his feet and in between his toes. We went to Phil's Fish Market tonight with my parents for Kasey's birthday and found a little trail next to the restaurant that lead to the ocean. I was excited because we haven't gotten Kalin down to sea level since last summer - which is really sad considering how close we live to the beach. He was about 7 months old when he last had some contact with the beach and ocean and the waves terrified him! But I could easily understand how those big, scary, loud waves could be frightening to a baby. So here I was, fully expecting my active, adventurous, and dare-devil toddler to be thrilled and excited about feeling the sand between his toes and experiencing the waves and water as they came up to wet his feet. He was ok while walking, in his shoes, across the sand. Once those shoes came off though it was a completely different story. He started getting upset the second his bare feet hit that wet, cold sand. Then Kasey gently dipped his feet into the water as a wave came up to meet us and that was Kalin's undoing. He would have none of it from that point on. Like grandmother, like grandson. I told him his Grammie Lyn would be very pleased to know how much he hated having sand between his toes. Oh well. Maybe next summer.

We've been experiencing some separation anxiety during nursery drop-offs on Sunday mornings. It seemed to correlate with a change in the drop-off procedure. Our church is doing some renovations so we have to enter the nursery through a different door. The first Sunday we had to do this was the first Sunday that we had a truly horrible time getting out of there. So last Sunday I had Kasey take Kalin to the nursery alone hoping that it would be easier with only one of us having to leave. But Kalin still wrapped his legs and arms around Kasey and started crying as soon as they stepped into the room. He knew what was coming and didn't seem too happy about that. The nursery workers are a little bit shocked seeing this behavior from Kalin because he's always the one that they can count on to be just the happiest, smiliest kid in there. They tell us that he always calms down after a couple minutes and then has a fabulous time.

New Words: The Baby Einstein dvd "Baby MacDonald" has really helped Kalin these last couple weeks to learn new words. The ones that he has picked up from there are: corn, hay, and wheat. He also tries to imitate: windmill, tractor, and barn. And it has helped him with his animal sounds. Some other words I hear frequently are: pool, more, and please. He was also trying to say peach today while I was feeding him a peach. Of course, most of these words may not sound quite right to most people but if you spend some time with him (or happen to know that he's repeating a word that was just said) then you can easily tell what he's saying. He still tends to say either the first part of the word or the last part. When he says open it's "pen", please is "plea", corn is "cor", wheat is "whea", etc. I got him to say his cousin's name, Hailee. Of course it was more like "Haiyee" but "L's" are very hard at this age. I couldn't say my name properly until I was, like, 3.

I love that he is starting to enjoy his different cars and trucks. He will actually grab a couple of them and start rolling them around making "vroom" sounds. One of his new games is to throw them all into his crib which of course means that I have to get them out and if I don't get them out then he tries to climb into his crib to get them. He's also been working on trying to climb out of his crib. I know that the day is coming when he will figure that one out but I'm hoping that it is still months away. I am so not ready for him to be in toddler bed where he can get in and out as he pleases.

Vacation

2009-08-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had the immense privilege of joining Kasey's family for a little vacation. We took a little trip up to Angel's Camp. The drive for us wasn't too bad (less than 3 hours); the drive for the rest of Kasey's family was a bit longer (8 hours, 11 hours to get back home). I was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to ride in the backseat with Kalin. You see, car rides are not always so fun anymore. He tends to be really needy and demands my attention either for entertainment purposes or to pick up the toys, shoes or sippy cups he has dropped. Knowing that he would probably need a nap during our drive (and that he has a hard time sleeping if somebody is in the backseat with him) I decided to sit up front and hope for the best. I managed to keep him entertained (while not making myself sick from turning around so much) for awhile until I decided it would just be easier to give him his pacifier - hoping for a nap. He soon fell asleep - for about 40 minutes. Then it was time to set up the portable DVD player with one of his Baby Einstein movies. This kept him entertained the rest of the way.

We had a wonderful week with Kasey's family. We went swimming, ate all our meals together, explored a little bit of what that area of California has to offer and relaxed. Contrary to popular belief, we weren't actually camping in Angel's Camp. We stayed at a lovely resort with kitchens, exercise equipment, and pools.

We stopped for a night at my parent's house on our way home since it had been a couple weeks since we had last seen them. There is something magical about their house that makes Kalin sleep great. Kalin slept until 8:50am when, on vacation, we couldn't get him to sleep past 7. And he never sleeps anywhere near that late here at home.

We went on a picnic with my parent's, sister and grandpa before heading home on that Saturday. It was at a park called Little Basin. I never knew this place existed. Of course I knew about Big Basin - we've had several family vacations there but I had never heard of Little Basin. Apparently it was (or technically still is?) owned by Hewlett Packard and the employees of HP have built cabins and such in the area. There are some picnic areas and also a campground. I guess it was recently opened to the public so my grandpa wanted to go check it out. We had a fun day and I think Kalin enjoyed himself. It sure was nice to get home though.

Kalin has gotten another tooth. He was extra drooly while on vacation so I was happy to see that it was for a good cause. This tooth is his lower right lateral incisor. It's the tooth I've been waiting exactly 3 months for. He had gotten the lower left one back in April which made him look lopsided with only 3 teeth on the bottom. However, while waiting for the matching pair to come in, we were blessed with 4 molars. So his top and bottom gums are now even again, 6 and 6. And it appears that the drool faucet has been turned back on this week so maybe we'll be getting some more teeth in the next couple weeks!

My sister, Jessi, came to stay with us for a couple of nights this past week before heading back to China. Kalin loves Jessi and I'm glad that they had some extra time together.

This last weekend Kalin and I were invited to join my parents, sister, cousin and her daughter, and my aunt and uncle for a free trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Sadly, Kasey had too much homework to get done so he wasn't able to come along. I think Kalin enjoyed himself and he was a very good boy considering he only had a 15 minute nap in the car (while we were driving around trying to find parking) for the whole day. Afterwards we went to the famous restaurant Phil's Fish Market. Bobby Flay did a throwdown here against the owner, Phil. Apparently Phil makes the best cioppino. I wouldn't know. I don't like seafood. This made it extra sad that Kasey couldn't join us because he actually does like seafood. It's sad that we've never gone there together in the (almost) 2 years we've lived here. For the 3 months we lived with my parents we really weren't far from the restaurant at all. Maybe I'll take him there someday soon. His birthday is coming up soon, ya know.

Kalin has been learning the meaning of the word "obey". For the past couple of weeks I've been telling him over and over what "obey" means and what it looks like for him to "obey" Kasey and I. I'm seeing some fruit. If I ask him to do something and he turns away to do something else or pretends like he didn't hear me (toddler's pull off selective hearing so well) I'll either tell him to "obey Mama" or ask him if he is being obedient right now. He'll look at me and then usually do whatever it was that I had asked of him. He's learning that there are consequences to disobedience and that it makes mommy (and more importantly, God) happy when he chooses to obey. Now, how much of his reason for obeying lies in the fact that it makes mommy and God happy, I don't know. He might just be more concerned about the consequences of disobeying - but it's a start. He is by no means a model citizen (or toddler), and I really wouldn't expect that right now, but the seeds are being sown.

Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

2009-07-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Kalin has been practicing saying "mommy" along with "mama". Except he likes to drag the "y" out so it sounds like "mommyyyy". We think it's really funny. I love when he starts almost chanting "Mommyyyy, Mama, Mommyyy, Mama" over and over. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but he says "Dada" and "Mama" totally different. "Dada" is spoken loudly and with great emphasis and excitement while "Mama" is spoken in hushed, almost reverent tones. This makes it quite amusing when he starts going back and forth between "Dada" and "Mama" because his tone changes each time. We're not sure but we think he might call himself "na-na" (short a sound).

A BIG GIANT THANK YOU to Sara Sandoval for recommending Baby Einstein DVDs to get Kalin to sit still for more than 2 seconds. He will sit for 20 minutes in the chair and watch this particular DVD. I got him the Baby Da Vinci dvd from Netflix which goes through different body parts. We watch it probably 6 times a day. Well, it's on about 6 times a day - half the time he's just using it as background noise while he colors or plays with some toys. I enjoy the downtime to sit with him and watch it. I am, however, getting kind of tired of this same one and look forward to receiving a couple more dvds before the week is over. We usually watch it during breakfast or snack time. We'll sit together in the chair with some Ritz crackers (a new favorite for both Kalin and I), a banana and Cheerios if it's in the morning, and his sippy cup while we watch the show. We haven't gotten to the point though where I can walk away and do something while he watches because he is still very attached to having mommy nearby. But that's OK for now because I am finding it quite enjoyable to sit with my little boy and watch him enjoy the show.

We got Kalin his very own potty. He has become so interested in the big toilet and loves to say "pee pee" while *cough cough* grabbing himself (he's going to thank me later on for putting that out there on the internet!) that we decided we might as well introduce him to the concept of actually going in a toilet. And this really is just an introduction - I'm not entering super-potty-training mode yet but I also didn't want his fascination with all things potty to pass us by. The only time he actually sits on it (without clothes - because he loves to sit on it with his clothes on) is right before his bath. We even tried putting his feet in a bucket of warm water before his bath to see if he would pee before his bath rather than during it. It didn't work but he did think it was pretty funny. I got a picture but I think I'll spare him that embarrassment and keep it for my eyes only (and maybe a few select family members).

Since the last post Kalin has gotten two new teeth - both bottom molars, one on the left and one on the right. So that gives us a grand total of 11 teeth - 6 on top and 5 on the bottom.

He's been asking more often to color. I used to drag out our coloring board and crayons when we needed something to fill our time but he is actually asking to do it. However, there hasn't been a whole lot of actual coloring going on. It's mainly taking the crayons out of the plastic baggy then putting them back into the plastic baggy and also matching up the broken pieces by color then looking for my enthusiastic approval. When he does color though it's mainly lines. He doesn't do a whole lot of scribbling. He enjoys drawing lines. We've recently been experimenting with coloring with our toes. He thinks it's funny.

Several times a day I'll look at Kalin and be amazed at how old and big he has gotten. In my head he's still 6 months old. Of course, I'm almost 26 and still think I'm 20. I guess that's just the way life goes.

Tidbits

2009-06-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Kalin has recently become obsessed again with playing on his pony. He goes through phases with this toy. For a couple months he won't go near the thing and then all of a sudden it's all he wants to do!! I'm glad that he's enjoying it though. I love watching him bounce, make the sound that the animals are making and then go crazy when the music starts up.

His new favorite words are "uh-oh" and "buh-bye". He has 3 or 4 different variations of "uh-oh". We walk Kasey out every morning on his way to work and Kalin likes to tell him "buh-bye" and wave. He also likes to say "buh-bye" and wave to the cars that pass us on our walks or to any car that starts up in the parking lot.

This past weekend (Father's Day weekend) was a major milestone for Kasey, Kalin and I. While I had spent my first night away from him back in April during a friend's wedding festivities, this was the first time I had left him for an entire weekend. Kasey and I went up to San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary. This was the first anniversary that we have been able to do anything special for. Our first year we had been flown out to San Jose for a job interview for Kasey and I was in the middle of really bad morning sickness. So it was kind of a trip but not a fun, romantic one and I was throwing up the whole way home on the plane. Sidenote: Morning sickness and planes don't do well together. Our second year we had a 5 and half month old so we weren't ready to leave him alone for any great length of time. I think we did make it out for dinner that year. So this year we decided to do something extra special. We had a really good time and it was refreshing to not be on anybody else's schedule but our own for 48 hours. I relaxed - for more than just a few hours at a time. I did surprisingly well. I never felt the urge to call my parents to see how things were going and I didn't really miss him too much. At first I felt a little guilty about that but I knew that he was in excellent hands and that I really needed this break. Of course Kasey and I still talked about him some. It was hard to go even an hour without mentioning some cute or weird thing that he does. But we had a really good time together being a couple - not just a couple of parents. I think we need to make this an annual thing.

I thought it was really funny how different this Father's Day present was compared to last years. Last year I made a digital book of pictures from Kalin's first 5 months for Kasey to keep at work. It was a nice, sentimental type of gift. This year I bought him 3 different kinds of hot wing sauce from our favorite wing place, Buffalo Wild Wings. I couldn't come up with anything sentimental or creative so I decided to just give him something I knew he would be excited about. We loved this restaurant when we lived in Ohio and Kentucky and there just aren't very many out here so we never get to go. He really was excited about the sauces. I was really excited about them too and had a hard time keeping quiet about them for the 3 weeks they were hiding in the house. I did have Kalin make Kasey's Father's Day card. It's a bunch of scribbles on a sheet of printer paper that I then folded in half and wrote "Happy Father's Day" on the front of. I made sure Kalin knew that this was for Dada while he was coloring. Since Kalin was with my parents on Sunday morning he went to their church nursery. They had the kids make a special thing for their fathers. It's a poem for the dads and then they had the children put their foot prints on the paper. I thought it was a neat idea. I was surprised at how big Kalin's feet look. I need to compare them with his newborn feet.

For those who care - it appears that Kalin has weaned himself. It's been 8 days now since he last nursed. For the two weeks before his last nursing he had only been nursing once every 3 days. So I was prepared for it. "That's kind of sad" was Kasey's response when I told him last night. And I immediately said, "Not really!" I was ready. Kalin was ready. It was time. It worked out well this way. It wasn't traumatic for either one of us. We just let it happen naturally.

I am happy to announce that Kalin has gained his appetite back. For 5 or 6 days he barely ate anything. He was drinking his milk and juice and water just fine but would only take 2 or 3 bites at each meal. It was making me nervous except for the fact that he was acting completely normal and just fine. He wasn't acting sick or starving. Then all of a sudden he was back to eating normally again! I guess these are just the ups and downs of toddler-hood.

I was so proud of him today!! We were sitting on the kitchen floor coloring and I noticed that pretty much all of our crayons are broken. So I would hold up one part of a crayon and ask him to find me the correctly colored missing piece. 3 out of 4 times he picked up the correct colored piece!! He had lost interest in the little game by the fourth time. It showed me that he can follow direction well and that he can match colors together (and also that he isn't colorblind).

He appears to have gotten a new tooth. I don't know when. I have it marked on my calendar as last Wednesday because that is when I found it but I'm pretty sure it had already been there for a couple of days. He doesn't let my finger in his mouth to explore very often anymore. So that makes 6 on top and 3 on the bottom. He's a little lopsided.

So there a few tidbits of news from the last couple of weeks.

Ok?

2009-06-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

I know. It's so bad. It's one of the things that you're not supposed to say to toddlers and young children. But I have found myself, in spite of my knowledge and resolve not to, ending sentences, requests and commands with "ok?". Lest you think me an inadequate parent, this habit is not so bad that I throw it on the ends of sentences or commands which are meant to keep Kalin out of harm's way or about rules which are set in stone. You won't hear me saying, "Kalin! That's hot! Don't touch, ok?" or "Do not throw food on the floor, ok?". It's more the small, seemingly insignificant things that the "ok?" gets tacked onto. "We're not going outside now. We'll go outside later, ok?" "Eat one more bite of veggies before you have another piece of bread, ok?" Thankfully, he has yet to catch on that my words are implying that he has a say in the matter. I realize that sometimes the "ok?" could be used to make sure the words are being understood by the listener, but I have a feeling that, the majority of the time, this won't be the way it gets interpreted by a young child. Sometimes, even as I'm saying the sentence I'm telling myself, "Don't do it, Lindsey. Don't let that word slip out.", and then I hear myself saying "ok?". It's frustrating :-) Don't worry, I'm not really beating myself up about this. I realize that it's just one of those habits that most people have and Kalin is just going to have to learn that even if it sounds like I'm asking for his "ok" about a situation, I'm probably not.

It seems like Kalin has been picking up more words in his vocabulary in just the past week. I may not be able to remember them all as I sit here. He definitely LOVES to say "mama" now. Although, I'm afraid that with all the hugs and kisses he gets awarded with for saying "mama" so much, he might back off for fear of getting smothered :-). He tweets when he sees a bird and says his version of "bird". I think I mentioned in the last post how so many objects in his world start with "b" so lots of things sound the same coming out of his mouth. He points to the window and says "tee" which means "see" as in "I would like to see what is out the window, please.". He's becoming better at saying "up" and "down" and is starting to imitate us more. I even get him to say "poo poo" and "pee pee". I'm not sure if he connects the meaning of the words yet but we're working on it. I figured now would be a good time to get him used to those words in preparation for potty training. He likes to pull the handle that makes the recliner on the love seat pop up and when he does it I yell "pop!!" and he copies me. He has found that having the recliner part up helps him get onto the couch all by himself. I am much more confident in his abilities now to get down from the couch or chair properly that I will actually walk away to get something from the kitchen or to check my e-mail while he hangs out on the furniture. When he wants your nose to make a funny noise (a fun game of ours) he'll now reach out his hand to push your nose and say "beep!". Just yesterday, while we were hanging out in Kasey's office waiting for him to get off work, a car alarm started going off in the parking lot and Kalin imitated the beeping.

Since Kalin received his little car from my parents for Christmas, it has stayed inside since we don't have a real yard to go play in. But this weekend we decided to take it down to the parking lot and see how it would do out on the road. Kalin had a blast! It's a much bigger area to ride in than inside the house and, since he can push himself on it now, had so much fun rolling around. For those who have been to our parking lot, you know that it's on a bit of a slope, so we decided that it would be fun to let Kalin go downhill with somebody just a few yards away to catch him. He had so much fun!! It went a lot faster than either Kasey or I had expected and we both realized that if we ever do that again, Kalin needs a helmet. One little bump in the road and he would have taken a rough tumble onto the asphalt. We have video but Kasey doesn't want me to post it online for fear that somebody will come across it and call CPS on us because of Kalin's lack of a helmet :-)

Kalin has started pretending like he's cooking. We gave him a spatula to play with and he'll grab one of my pots and start stirring. Then he'll take a lid and put it on the pot, then take the lid off and stir some more. It keeps him entertained for quite awhile.

He's been waking up earlier than usual for the last week. We thought we had the problem fixed but that lasted for only a day. He'll wake up around 6 now which is too early for us. I'm wondering if maybe we do need to try a one-nap-a-day schedule. Maybe he's getting too much sleep during the day so his nights end up shorter. I don't know. We'll see how this week goes. We try putting him down again after he wakes up and sometimes it works - for about 20 minutes. A couple mornings ago Kasey got up with Kalin at 5:56 and put him back down with his pacifiers and came back to bed. I had slept through this and didn't know that Kalin had already been awake, so when I heard him at 6:25 I went in and did the same thing. I'm surprised now that he didn't cry since this had already happened to him once before that morning. He managed to stay quiet (I don't know if he slept) until 6:45 when Kasey's alarm was about to go off. It's so reminiscent of Kalin's first 10 months of life when it seemed like this is what we did all night long. Then even after he finally started sleeping through the night, he would wake up at 5am and we would be trying to get him down again for another couple of hours. So either we need to cut out a daytime nap or I need to learn how to become a morning person. I'm not really sure which option sounds better to me right now.

Random Videos

2009-06-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

This first video is of Kalin sitting in his high chair watching my dad work on the computer. We had him show us different body parts. It's kind of just a video of Kalin being Kalin.

This second video is to give you an idea of what I hear all day long. We don't understand 99.9% of what comes out of his mouth but it's usually pretty entertaining.

Aunt Jessi is here!!!

2009-06-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the San Francisco airport to pick up my sister, Jessi, who has flown in from China for the summer. It was Kalin's 3rd trip to an airport and his second time to make the trip to greet his Aunt Jessi. The timing was such that Kalin's only morning nap was 5 minutes in the car before we arrived in the parking garage at the airport. I had hoped that he would sleep most of the way to the airport. I had even given him his pacifier and blanket but he wasn't able to calm down enough until we were almost at our destination. I guess I still expect him to sleep the way he did when he was in his rear-facing seat and was reclined. We haven't taken very many long trips with him forward-facing yet but he definitely does not sleep as well. He did surprisingly well today on only his 5-minute nap and we made it home in time to get him down for a good 2-hour afternoon nap. He did end up being really cranky this evening so we put him to bed much earlier than normal - I hope he doesn't wake up before 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Kalin had fun in the airport playing with my dad and running around. He wasn't quite sure what to think of his Aunt Jessi at first but he warmed up to her. He liked to look at her a lot.

He is still very "talkative" but we don't know what he is saying most of the time. He says "ding" when the toaster oven dings, says "ra ra" to imitate a dog barking, says "ah ah" to imitate a monkey and, aside from the other words that I've mentioned in previous posts, says "ba" for just about everything else. I've realized though that there are quite a few things in his world that start with either "ba" or even just a "b". Tonight he was singing my praises as he just kept repeating "mama" over and over again. That makes me so happy :-)

As with most infants and toddlers, Kalin is fascinated by other people's shoes. He loves to put them on and try walking in them.

He still amazes me every day with the things he understands. Kasey asked him this morning if his feet were cold and if he would like some socks - he signed pleased then went to his room and grabbed his socks off the floor. I was looking all over the house for his milk cup and finally asked him if he knew where it was - he walked right into his room, opened the cupboard on his dresser, and pulled out his sippy cup. I keep having to remind Kasey and myself that we need to be really careful now what we say around Kalin because he is understanding a lot more than we realize.

He is still a funny funny boy who can also be really really frustrating. I'm doing my best, with only the help God can provide, to make sure that I spend more of my days in laughter than in frustration. Some days I don't do too well but more and more I'm finding a patience within me and wisdom I didn't know I had to approach each situation in the most productive and loving manner. I love the moments when I'm successful in remembering to look at Kalin and see that precious little baby I fell in love with and the active toddler who is so full of life and eager for experiences instead of the sometimes willful, tantrum-throwing, rebellious little boy he can be. This is all part of growing up, right? This is the stage we're at right now and I know with some patience and wisdom we'll come through this just fine. We truly are loving this stage of Kalin's life (I think I say that about every stage) and look forward to whatever lies ahead.

17 Months

2009-05-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Kalin has another tooth!! My dad was the one who found it. It wasn't where I was expecting one. It is an upper right molar - maybe. I'm not 100% sure that it's a molar and he doesn't let me get my finger in his mouth very often to explore so I'll have to wait a bit to find out which tooth it is. So that makes tooth #8 and I'm expecting a couple more to show up sometime soon.

Kalin had his 15-18 Month check-up on Thursday. I had originally thought that they called it just a 15-month check-up but apparently it covers 15-18 months so we were still within the range. He is 32 inches (78th percentile) and 25 lbs. ( 63rd percentile). I'm not completely sure how accurate the weight is though. Our doctor's office hasn't gotten their new digital scales yet so they're still using the ones with the slider (I'm sure there's a technical term for them) and Kalin was not happy about being put on it so he was crying and moving and reaching for me so I think the nurse got an estimate and just went with that. It's only a few ounces more than 3 months ago but he has been eating less and they say that this is when the weight gain really slows so who knows, it could be accurate.

Sadly, I think Kalin is starting to recognize the doctor's office. A few seconds after we walked into the examination room he started looking around and getting fussy, like he knew the horrible things that go on in there. He did get 3 shots and handled it just about as well as we had expected. He did keep trying to take the band-aids off afterwards until we put his shorts back on him. The nurse said that it happens alot because the child thinks it's the band-aid that it causing the pain. Thankfully there hasn't been any reactions to the shots. And we were told that we don't have to go in again until after Kalin's second birthday!! Of course then I remembered we'll probably have to go in October to get his flu shot. But still, that's 7 months without a check-up appointment!! I guess I'll have to measure him and weigh him myself now.

Overall he appears to be doing quite well. The doctor once again mentioned that he has a nice, big head and also commented on his strength. Kalin was not happy about the doctor coming close with the stethoscope and kept pushing his hands away. The doctor also called him a brute. Kasey and I had a good laugh over that.

The only question I had at this check-up was to make sure that his verbal skills are where they should be. I wasn't really worried but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Now, I know that you're not supposed compare babies too much and especially between genders. But when my niece, who is a month younger than Kalin already has, like, 20 words in her vocabulary that she pronounces quite clearly and can already say people's names while Kalin still doesn't call us "mama" and "dada" frequently and his 5-10 words aren't understood by anybody other than his parents - it made me wonder if he should be farther along. The doctor was very helpful and reassured us that as long as he's understanding what we're saying and has a few words that he uses for things then he's doing just fine at this age. 5-10 words is normal at this age and boys are usually about 3 months behind girls in verbal expression. He also told us that as far as pronunciation and understandability goes the norm is for 50% of what a 2-year old says should be understood by a stranger, 75% for a 3-year old and by 4 years a stranger should have very little trouble deciphering what is being said. This put my mind at ease. Kalin is slowly but surely figuring out how to say things and he most definitely understands what we say. I still have many days though when I wish he knew how to say more. It would cut down on a lot of frustration. Many times he'll just look at us and start signing "please" and we have no clue what it is that he wants. Then he gets frustrated that we don't know what he wants. Sometimes he'll be able to point in the vicinity of the desired object and we try and figure it out from there. But I would love for him to say, "Excuse me Mama, may I please have some Cheerios?". Ah well, that day shall come. As with all developmental things, this too cannot be rushed. I'll just keep naming and labeling everything for him, talking to him and reading to him. Little by little, object by object, we'll figure out how to communicate better with each other.

Climbing, Praying, and Teething

2009-05-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Kalin has become a little climber over the last couple of weeks. He still needs our help sometimes but has mastered climbing onto the rocking chair and ottoman in his room. It's pretty amazing that he can do that by himself because they both rock as he's climbing up there, but somehow he manages. The couch and recliner in the front room are still difficult for him though. He needs a boost from us to get up there. He loves sitting up there though and playing with his helicopter or reading a book. The downside to this is that when he's sitting on the couch or chair, one of us needs to be right there with him. He hasn't mastered getting down from the chairs by himself. We're working on it though.

He's learned our routine at dinner. I didn't really know we had a routine but apparently we do the same thing often enough that he's caught on. I'm usually the last one to the table as I'm grabbing last minute utensils, beverages, condiments, or napkins; I finally sit down, we hold hands (Kasey grabs Kalin's) and one of us prays. Kalin waits for the moment I put my bottom in that chair then thrusts his hand out towards his dad with a big grin on his face. He knows the routine!! He even caught us off-guard on Saturday morning. We don't usually have breakfast together, even on the weekends. So this Saturday we decided to have french toast and even set our table up so we could all eat together. We decided to just eat the pieces of french toast as they came off the stove instead of keeping them warm until they had all been cooked. Kalin was already set up in his high chair eating, and Kasey had already started in on a piece or two by the time I had one for myself. As soon as I sat down, Kalin grinned and stuck his hand out. Kasey and I just started laughing and thanked Kalin for reminding us that we should also pray for our breakfast - even if some people had a head start on eating. We'll hear him mumbling sometimes during the prayer, or he'll even bow his head and mumble after we've prayed but before he eats his first bite. It's way cute and makes us smile :-)

He's teething again. I think it may be a molar this time. While I know there's some controversy regarding teething causing fevers, I believe that was Kalin issue on Thursday night and Friday. He was not a happy camper and had no desire to be put down. I ended up carrying him most of the day (he's so heavy now!) or even just sitting with him in the chair and rocking. The fever is gone now, no tooth has erupted, but he still isn't very happy and keeps gnawing on his finger. He's also decided not to nap these past two days. He napped so well on Friday when he had the fever (even taking a 3-hour morning nap!!) but these last two days we haven't gotten more than 1 1/2 hours total out of him. It made me a little nervous to drop him off with our friends, the Meyers, on Saturday evening while Kasey and I went on a date. But I also figured that the different faces, different environment, and 8-month old Luke would probably keep him stimulated enough. I was right. It was a positive report when we got back to pick Kalin up. He was a little loopy but hadn't had any meltdowns. By the time we got home and put him to bed, he had been awake for 9 hours!! Thankfully our nights haven't been bad. It's just been the naps during the day.

Kalin has started to say "mama" a lot more often. It makes me so happy :-)

We have a doctor's appointment coming up this week. It's supposed to be his 15-month check-up but since we're running late it's actually a 17-month check-up. I really hope they don't need to do a finger stick again for blood. The shots I can handle...the finger stick I cannot.

Outdoorsy

2009-05-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

As a teenager, when I would babysit, I never really enjoyed when the kids would want to play outside. I preferred sitting inside playing a game or watching a movie with them. I've never really enjoyed being outside that much - unless it's raining. The sun is bright and hot. It gives me headaches and burns my extremely white skin. Ick. So wouldn't you know it, I have a kid who loves to go outside. Several times a day he'll take my hand in his and lead me to the front door. He'll look up at me and sign please while trying to open the door. He always wants to follow Kasey out the door to work and runs for the open door any chance he has. It wouldn't really be such a big deal if we had a real yard to play in - but we don't. We have a bunch of weeds on a steep hill. And I have to carry him and walk down 30-something steps to even get to level ground. It always sounds like so much work. Thankfully, since being a stay-at-home mom, my desire to get out of the house has increased and my physical activity has increased giving me more energy for the things my toddler wants to do.

Now that Bethany University has let out for the summer we have a nice, big, empty parking lot downstairs. It has become Kalin's playground. We wander all over the place, chasing birds and the UPS man. He tries to pick up all the trash and always ends up walking straight to the building that Kasey's office is in. He knows where his daddy works and he wants to go visit him!! Even if we've just left daddy at home and the building doors are locked (like on a Saturday). We'll wander around campus a bit until he gets too tired or too hot then we head back home. They're usually brief outings (20 minutes max.) but long enough to wear Kalin (and me!) out.

He loves picking up rocks and pulling up some of the weeds that are outside our house. He loves the birds chirping and always points at them when they fly by us on our walks. I love that he's so active and wants to be outside doing and learning and I hope he continues this lifestyle into adulthood.

I've heard about 2 year olds sitting and watching full movies. Really?!?! I know Kalin is still months away from being 2 but I don't see him sitting to watch anything anytime soon. By no means do I want him to become addicted to TV but it would be nice if he could sit and watch a 20 minute Curious George episode with me. I guess that's just asking too much of his attention span at this age.

In other news, we're having another heat wave up here. Thankfully it's supposed to be a short one but we bought Kalin a little kiddie pool to help cool all of us off during these summer heat waves. I don't think he ever intentionally sat down in it today but he'll get there. The water may not have warmed up enough for it to be comfortable sitting in.

My 3rd Mother's Day - Sort of

2009-05-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

MyFirst Mother's Day (May 13, 2007) - Having just found out I was pregnant one week before I was looking foward to my first (sort of) Mother's Day. I had to work - which was unfortunate. What was even more unfortunate though was that it was my very first day of morning sickness. I deemed it quite appropriate that it would start on that particular day.

My Second Mother's Day (May 11, 2008) - Had a great time celebrating with Kasey and Kalin and loved the fact that I actually was a mommy this year and I had the baby in my arms to prove it!! We went to church, ate some Chinese food and hung out at home with our 4-month old. A couple weeks later I got my Mother's Day present. A full 2 HOURS all by myself at home!!! This had not happened since Kalin was born. The only time I had spent away from him at this point was to go grocery shopping or to a doctor's appointment. It was pure luxury! I think I watched an episode of Gilmore Girls while reclining in the chair and then laid in bed and read a book. Kasey and Kalin came home from their 2-hour outing with a card and some candy for me. That card hung on my fridge until today.

My Third Mother's Day (May 10, 2009) - I got one of my presents on Saturday. A beautiful gerbera daisy plant!! Kasey had Kalin hand me my other present this morning. A funny and very appropriate card with a Jamba Juice gift card inside and the promise of more time alone - either in the house or out on the town (the card didn't actually specify that but I'm assuming that I get to pick where I spend my time alone). I'm thinking about a haircut and a trip to Jamba Juice or a coffe shop where I will sit and read. We went out for donuts this morning before Kalin's nap and church. After church we headed to Watsonville to spend time with family where we ate some really good food and Kalin took a fabulous 2-hour nap!! He sure was happy and playful once he woke up and had a good time entertaining the family. They loved all of his babbling and his funny faces. I look forward to the day when Kalin understands Mother's Day and gets to help pick out my present. It'll be interesting to see what I end up with :-)

I actually did get out of the house by myself on Friday and I think seeing how happy and energetic that made me helped remind Kasey how much I need that and also what a great present that time alone would make. Or it's possible that he was already thinking about making that part of my present. I seem to remember talking last year and deciding that we should make my "alone time" a monthly thing....that never happened. Kasey took Friday off so I scheduled a much needed eye appointment then decided to run a few errands. I even bought myself something fun at K-Mart!! I spent a whole 3 hours away from the house by myself.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Squawky Talk

2009-05-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

I've got some video of Kalin talking. It might hard for you to really understand what he's saying because he doesn't speak words very clearly (and he tends to leave the last letter off) but trust me, he's saying them. His favorite words are chocolate, hot (he'll even say this when he sees steam coming from food), hat, and sock.

It's tradition that when we get back from our walks I let him play with my water cup. He now feels like he deserves to have water in it so he can drink it like a big boy. I'll put a quarter of an inch of water in it for him and he does fairly well for a 16 month old. He's at least learned that he needs to hold it with both hands and he gets it to his mouth and then tips it - just a tad too far. He ends up soaked and sputtering but always asks me for more by holding the cup up to the sink and signing "please". So the other day he was holding one of my measuring cups and looked at me like he was asking me what it was called. When I told him it was a measuring cup he immediately went to the sink and asked me to fill it with water. I guess he heard the "cup" part and figured it was for drinking. The other day after a water cup incident where there was a nice puddle on the floor he grabbed a kitchen towel and started wiping the floor to clean it up.

The other day, when it was foggy, I mentioned to Kalin that it was foggy outside. He gave me an odd look then walked over to his froggy toy, picked it up, and handed it to me. I was a little confused at first until I realized how much "foggy" and "froggy" sound alike.

Kalin has been having some random meltdowns recently. Sometimes they're brought on by him being told "no" or getting in trouble for something. Even when that happens though he kicks it up a notch to this meltdown - or tantrum I suppose. But sometimes it seems more random and it leaves Kasey and I feeling like we did when he was a newborn and he was crying and we couldn't figure out what was wrong or what he needed. Thankfully, they're over pretty quickly. What makes them sad though is that, most of the time, it's not an angry cry, it's a sad cry.

Kalin and I visited with Sarah and Luke last Tuesday at their place in Santa Cruz. We had a good time and enjoyed playing at the park together!!

Kalin (and Kasey) have both been a little bit sick this past week. Thankfully it's not nearly as bad as the last bug that hit our household.

Kalin loves to see doggies on our walks and gets upset when we can't stop and stare at them for an hour.

He loves it when we sing the ABC's. It can calm him down when he's upset and makes him smile whenever we sing it to him.

I am amazed every day at the things he can understand. I love that he knows what I'm saying when I'm talking to him.

He is still a picky eater sometimes. It's mainly the meat I can't get into him still. Every once in awhile he goes on a green veggie strike - he still loves his carrots though! I was frustrated last week that he wouldn't eat any green beans so I started hiding them in his food. I would make him a little pizza on a piece of wheat bread and I would mash the green beans up and mix them with the sauce. It worked!! He ate a serving of green beans and didn't even know it! I was starting to think I was going to have to revert back to my pureeing days. I got so desperate that I even made him a fruit smoothie yesterday with some green beans and soy beans mixed in. I tried it and you could only taste the berries. A few minutes later he surprised me by eating 2-3 servings of green beans and carrots that I had just cooked. What is up with him?!?! He also did really well today with eating his green beans. I guess he'll just have some off-weeks and some on-weeks.

Kalin really surprised me today with his stacking abilities. Check out how he got the soy sauce to balance on the little top of that vinegar!! I was quite impressed.

Number 7

2009-04-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Kalin's 7th tooth has arrived!! It's his lower left lateral incisor - those are the ones right next to the teeth in the middle. He now has 4 teeth on top and 3 on the bottom. (sidenote: this picture has nothing to do with his new tooth - it's just a goofy picture.)

We had a good weekend. Kasey had lots of homework to do so we did our best to just stick around the house so he could get that done. I was really cagey on Saturday morning though and mentioned that once Kalin woke up from his nap he and I would head to K-Mart. Kasey then reminded me that the car needed gas. I could have insisted on being a big girl and just filling it up myself (sadly, something I have never done) but he assured me that he didn't mind sitting in the car reading while Kalin and I shopped. He then agreed that a trip to West Cliff after our shopping trip sounded like a good idea. It was slightly chilly but the sun was out and it was a beautiful and windy day.

Because Kalin slept in that morning ('til 8:30!) his nap had been later than usual which made for a weird schedule. I had assumed that by the time we got to West Cliff he would be ready for a nice nap in the stroller. Well, he didn't nap in the stroller and he didn't nap on the drive back home either. I just knew that this meant it was going to be a crabby evening for him and would probably result in a really early bedtime. He wasn't crabby and he didn't go to bed early. He ended up being awake for over 7 hours. That's a long time for him!!

Sunday started early (I guess he wanted to make up for letting us sleep in the day before). He even got a rare Sunday morning nap before church. During his afternoon nap I became a gardener - sort of. We had bought a tomato plant and a red bell pepper plant at K-Mart because I really, really, really want to grow some of my own stuff. The big trees that surround our house are a blessing and a curse. A blessing because they provide us with shade and keep the sun from reaching us. A curse because they provide us with shade and keep the sun from reaching us. It's hard to grow sun-loving veggies when you can't find enough sun during the day!! But we're experimenting with container growing. It's my job everyday to drag the container around the front of our house while following the sun. I've been watching where the sun hits for the last couple weeks so I have a pretty good idea when and where I need to place the container. We'll see how things go. I realize this has nothing to do with Kalin.

The rest of our Sunday was uneventful. Kalin didn't eat a whole lot today (his eating patterns are still random) but had a blast playing ball with Kasey.

Have I ever mention how Kalin helps me cook? If he sees me get out my food processor or KitchenAid mixer he automatically brings me the jar of olive oil. I had him help me once when I was making hummus - he brought me the beans and the olive oil. So he always assumes now that I need the olive oil. It's very cute. Tonight I was getting my mixer set up to make some cookie bars, the bowl wasn't attached because he likes to play with it, so I turned around to pick it up off the floor and Kalin was standing behind me, holding the bowl and trying to hand it to me - then he brought me the olive oil :-)

Some other cute things:

1. In Goodnight Moon, when the line "And the quiet old lady whispering 'hush'" comes around he whispers "hush" either before I say the word or right after I say it.

2. I randomly asked him to bring me the Pooh Bear book where it's hot and he walked over to a bunch of books sitting on the floor and came back with Pooh's Very Hot Summer Day. He's so smart.

3. At the beginning of the aforementioned Pooh Bear book, Pooh wonders if it's hot everywhere. Kalin copies my hand motion for "wondering".

4. In general he has become more imitative of my hand gestures and facial expressions.

The video I took of him saying "chocolate" didn't come out very well. He whispers it every time so you can't really hear it. I'll try to get more video some other time.

Short and Sweet

2009-04-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make this blog short and sweet. Much has happened in this last week and a half. We've had several firsts and some fun experiences.

Kalin's first plane ride went just about as well as I could have expected. We breezed through check-in and security and then had just under 2 hours to sit and wait. It didn't help that our plane was already running a little late. Thankfully, the terminal was fairly empty when we first got there so I spent much of that first hour following Kalin around. I figured it would be best to let him walk as much as possible before we had to get on the plane. We walked up and down the terminal a couple times. He had a blast climbing on the seats and over the arm rests and spent a good amount of time eating Cheerios, reading books, and drinking water. Then he started to get sleepy (it was already way past his naptime) and since it was getting crowded I couldn't let him wander around as much. Finally, we got on the plane. His favorite thing to play with was the tray table latch. He did really well during take-off. We let him have his pacifier and sippy cup and his ears didn't seem to bother him at all. He looked out of the window a little bit but didn't seem quite as interested as I had hoped. Then he started to get really squirmy. My mom did a good job keeping him occupied with Cheerios, pretzels, and some juice. The flight went really fast and before we knew it, they were cleaning up the cabin and getting ready for landing - of course, there was supposed to be lots of turbulence on our descent so they cleaned up early to give the flight attendants time to get situated. This is when Kalin started to get really, really cranky. I don't know if the change in pressure had anything to do with it or if he was just really tired and upset that he couldn't get down and play. He spent a couple minutes crying and screaming until he finally just collapsed on my chest while I rocked back and forth. He slept straight through the landing, deplaning, the walk through the airport, and then 10-15 minutes of me sitting in baggage claim while my mom got our baggage. He only woke up when it was time to walk outside and the chilly wind hit him. Overall, it was a very successful trip but I really would not want to carry a lap-infant for any longer than that hour-long flight.

My mom was such a big help while we were in Hemet. She watched Kalin a couple times while I needed to attend wedding activities. She even spent the night with him while I attended a bachelorette sleep-over. Yes, that's right, I spent my first night away from Kalin. I was away from him for about 17 hours. It was fun, refreshing, and sad. It was so nice to be able to hang out with the girls and not have to worry about being anywhere at a specific time. I was free of my normal responsibilities and obligations. Of course I called in to check on him after I knew he was down for the night and I thought about him through the evening and wondered what he was up to - but I knew that if anything happened my mom would call me. It was a good experience.

I spent a lot of time away from him the rest of the weekend too. The Priors were a huge help while I attended the rehearsal and dinner. They fed him, played with him, took him to the park (because that's what good aunts do), and bathed him. I made it home from the dinner just in time to put him to bed. Wedding day came and I was feeling reluctant about leaving him again for several hours. But I didn't really have a choice. I was hoping to make it back home in time to put him to bed but he was really tired after spending time out in the hot sun and went to bed early. Oh well. I knew that, starting the next day, we would be back to our normal schedule - where the only breaks I have are his naptimes. It's funny how much I long for some time to myself or to do something not related to Kalin, and yet when I get that opportunity, I spend a lot of the time missing him. I guess it was just a lot of time away in a short period of time. I need to space it out more.

We had a great time in Hemet and an uneventful drive home.

"Chocolate" seems to be Kalin's new favorite word. It started on our drive home. Kasey was sitting in the back with Kalin while I was up front with my dad and I heard Kalin start repeating the same "word" over and over. I looked back and he was pointing at something Kasey had. It was Kasey's Cadbury chocolate bar. Since then, anytime he spots chocolate, he says his special little word. I think it might be one of those words that only parents understand. It doesn't sound a whole lot like "chocolate" but it is most definitely what he is referring too. I think I got some good video of him saying it the other day. I'll have to see about posting that sometime soon. The bad thing about this being one of his first words is that in order to hear him say it, I have to offer him chocolate, and that's not something I'm willing to do 10 times a day just for the pleasure of hearing him say the word. I find it funny that this is one of his first words. It's not like he eats it that often. I really expected ball, or monkey, or Cheerios to be one of the firsts.

Our Week in Pictures

2009-04-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

When I wait a week or more to blog I tend to have a hard time thinking of what to blog about. I'll think about things throughout the week to write about but forget them by the time I sit down at the computer. I usually end up going back through my pictures to remember what went on that week.

The Fort -

It rained a bit last week and on one of these days I decided that Kalin and I needed a rainy day project to keep us occupied since we couldn't go on a walk. I decided to build Kalin a fort. My sister's and I used to do this all the time when we were kids so I thought it would be fun to build one for Kalin. He was surprisingly good (not helpful, but not destructive either) while I was building the fort. I think he was just confused about why mommy was draping the front room with a bunch of blankets and sheets. He enjoyed the fort once it was built though.

Chocolate Puddin' -

I made some chocolate pudding and let Kalin lick the whisk. He thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up looking a lot like I did as a kid after eating chocolate pudding.

Easter Eggs -

I know that this wasn't Kalin's first Easter, but it was the first Easter that we could actually do something fun for him. He was only 2 1/2 months old last year so I wasn't really worried about trying to make it a fabulous first Easter. Plus, I wasn't really in a state of mind that would have allowed for that much forethought and planning. So this year I was excited to buy him a special Easter outfit (which my Aunt Nise ended up buying for him - Thank you!!), color some eggs with him, and put together an Easter basket for him. We colored eggs on Good Friday since Kasey had the day off of work and we were going to be busy on Saturday. After a first failed attempt in which my entire bowl of hardboiled eggs fell off the table and broke (two could be salvaged for coloring purposes), making some more eggs and giving Kalin a nap, we finally colored our eggs. I think I enjoy the thought and anticipation of coloring eggs more than the event itself. My creative abilities get tapped out after two eggs and I no longer find it enjoyable. The same thing happens when decorating cookies. Kasey is much better at this stuff than I am. But we had a good time and Kalin even got to join in the fun. I think he liked the brightly colored eggs and tried to eat more than one of them.

Grandpa Stan's B-Day -

We celebrated my Grandpa's birthday on Saturday so we headed out to Watsonville after Kalin's morning nap. Kalin once again got to lick some beaters. This time it was whipped cream. My dad was able to capture a picture of the funny way Kalin walks sometimes. Usually when he does this it's with his hands clasped behind his back but this time he was sticking his hands in his pants. He's such a boy.

Easter -

On Easter Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday service (earlier than usual) then an Easter Brunch with our soon-to-be church family (we should be officially accepted into their membership next Sunday). We then headed off to my parent's house where Kalin received an Easter basket full of clothes and fun stuff from my mom (it was like Christmas again!) and took a much needed nap. I had to go wake him up after two hours because it was time to head to my other grandparent's house for Easter lunch with my dad's side of the family. We took a short little walk and took some pictures before having a mini-Easter Egg Hunt for Kalin. He didn't really care too much about it. He wanted more to squeeze the eggs, eat the eggs, or bang them together than anything else. We spent the rest of the day back at my parent's house then headed home when it was time for Kalin to get to bed. It was a busier than usual weekend.

And now I have one more day left at home before it's time to head to Hemet for Shannon's wedding!! I have a feeling things might be a little crazy while I'm there. I have no idea how balancing my motherly duties with my bridesmaid duties is going to work. Especially since I won't have a car of my own. Thankfully my mom will be there to help out.

Kalin's first plane ride is coming up on Wednesday!! I'll let you all know how that goes. I'm slightly nervous about the whole check-in thing. I'm always afraid something will go wrong and they won't let us on the plane. I've got his birth certificate though so we should be fine. I also have no idea how he'll actually do on the hour flight but I'm very thankful that it's only an hour. He can't sit in my lap for 2 seconds much less 1 hour but maybe if we get a window seat and can look outside he'll be ok. And he might be a little timid being in this new experience and just want to stay close to me.

Kalin's eating has still been off and on picky. I don't think he really ate much of anything on Saturday or Sunday except some bread and yogurt. Then tonight at dinner he surprises me by eating a banana, several pieces of chicken, and some steamed vegetables. I can't figure him out. He also never really nursed this weekend. He would take a sip and then just bite me (oh the biting!! That's a whole other issue!) And boy was I feeling those effects by this morning!! I was starting to wonder if he was just wasn't interested and if this was the end of our breastfeeding relationship. He nursed twice today though without too much trouble so I don't know what's going on.

The Biting -

He'll just randomly start biting us. Sometimes he's frustrated but most of the time we're just playing or not really doing much at all. He'll come at our knee caps with his mouth open, or while we're holding him he'll bite our shoulders. Kasey did some research today and found some articles. They give several reasons why toddlers bite. It seems the main reason though is an outlet for their feelings. They don't know how to express themselves and how to release the tension that they may develop through their daily activities. He's past the experimental biting phase where, according to the article, it's appropriate to respond loudly with an "Ouch, that hurt" and other such things. But it seems that what the articles are saying is that those reactions now aren't helpful. He needs our undivided attention and willingness to listen to whatever tension or feelings he needs to express. Of course, this will be much easier once he can verbalize it but it gives us a good starting point in dealing with this. Some of the instances of biting that they talk about in this article are exactly what we've experienced. The biting that occurs when we're cuddling. The wiggling or laughing that occurs when I'm trying to let him know that I'm there for him after he's tried biting is apparently a good sign that whatever tension he might have had is starting to get released. It's been enlightening. Kasey and I both noticed that he isn't biting out of anger or biting because he's trying to be mean. It's just kind of random (to us at least) and has taught me to be more aware about what might be going on that he's feeling this need to bite. Maybe my attention is on something else and he's feeling lonely, or maybe he's been overstimulated. This is some of the same stuff I've come across with my research on toddler's hitting themselves too. Lots of things to think about.

And to end this blog on a completely different thought. I've been missing watching him sleep recently. I used to watch him for hours every day and night sleep in my arms. Last night when he feel asleep in the car on our way home, I spent most of the time watching him in my visor mirror - until it got too dark to see him. A couple nights ago, when it was chilly, we opened his bedroom door to let some of the heat from the house into his room, and I snuck in to cover him with his blanket (which he had thrown on the floor). I wanted so badly to stand there and watch him, but he stirred so I had to get out of the room before he woke up. Maybe some day I'll be able to go stand over his crib again and watch him sleep.

Playground Fun

2009-04-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend was wonderful. Most weekends tend to go by way too fast, but this weekend had a nice leisurely pace to it. Saturday started out much the same as a typical weekday. Kasey had a meeting at 9 so Kalin and I were on our own for a while. In the afternoon, while Kalin was napping, I took a trip to the dollar store and grocery store by myself. I love the dollar store. So many fun things for so cheap!! I bought some stuff for Kalin's Easter basket and some bunny ears for him to wear. It's hard to say "no" to things when they're only $1. Around 3:30 my dad called and asked if we wanted to have Mexican food for dinner. I would have been crazy to pass up seeing my parents and having a free meal! While I waited for them to arrive I took a walk over to the yard sale that Bethany University was having. I found a heater fan (we'd been looking for one) and a book. We ended up having to wake Kalin up from his 2 1/2 hour nap to meet my parents for dinner. After dinner my mom suggested going to the playground to let Kalin run around and play. He had a BLAST!! The slide is his new favorite thing. We couldn't get him off of it.

Sunday was a relaxing day. We all took naps in the afternoon (Kalin took a 3 hour nap!!), ran to the laundry mat to wash a load because our washer is broken and has been for over a week now (grrr), then ate some pizza for dinner. It was a fabulous weekend and the week hasn't started off so bad either!! I hear there's even some rain in the forecast. Yippee!!

That upper tooth has finally broken through his gums and I think I caught a glimpse of another bottom tooth just about to come through. Hooray for more teeth!!

Kalin has started nodding his head. He used to just shake it but he's figured out how to nod. Quite honestly, I'm not sure if this really is a new skill or if it's just the first time I've noticed it.

Everything is "dada" or "ga" these days. I'll repeat a word over and over and he just keeps repeating either "dada" or "ga". This was one of our conversations on our walk today:

Me: Bird

Kalin: Dada

Me: Bird

Kalin: Dada

Me: Bbbirrrrddd

Kalin: Dada

I think you get the picture.

Something disturbing that he's been doing is hitting himself on the head. He does it when he's being silly and when he's excited but most often when he's frustrated or mad. He'll just start hitting his head with both hands. Does anybody know if this is normal? I thought I'd ask the doctor about it at our next visit. I'm wondering though if he just doesn't know how else to express himself so that's how his emotions manifest themselves. I really don't like it though. It makes me sad to see him hitting himself.

We like to find lizards on our walks. Kalin likes to watch them run across the sidewalk in front of us.

That's all the news for now. Here's a video of Kalin's first experience on the slides at the playground. I had to rotate the first two clips 90 degrees so that's why they look a little funny.

Picky

2009-04-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

Kalin turned into a picky eater this week. Not only did he become picky but his food intake drastically reduced. I had heard that this happens around this age because their growth slows down. I've had a hard time adjusting to his current food intake though. There were a couple days where I wasn't sure if he ate enough good, healthy foods. And that frustrated me. I have to pay a lot more attention now to when he eats certain things (like Cheerios) in relation to mealtimes. And I need to make sure he eats his veggies and protein before he gets a taste (or even a glimpse) of the bread or cheese. Once he sees certain foods that he's in love with, there's no going back to the stuff that's already on his tray. Now, I know that there's nothing wrong with him eating bread and cheese - it's better than potato chips or sweets - but it's a problem when that's all he wants to eat for the day. Besides his milk, I think the only major source of protein he had this week was eggs. He rejected most of the turkey burger, the salmon and all the chicken I tried to get into him. Maybe he's a vegetarian - I'll send him your way, Sarah!! He also started rejecting peas. He'd pick through the carrot and pea medley on his tray and only eat the carrots - then either mush the peas in his hands or drop them one-by-one onto the floor.

That's another thing he's started doing - throwing his food that he doesn't want on the floor. I do not like that one little bit. And being the smart little toddler that he is, he's realized that when he starts doing that, he gets taken out of his high chair and away from the food REAL quick. So when we're all sitting at the table for dinner and he's all done but Kasey and I are still eating, he starts throwing things on the floor hoping that it will get him out of his chair. He's sneaky.

So not only has he started rejecting previously desirable foods, but his little body doesn't need as much. I used to be able to set him in his high chair with a handful (or two handfuls) or Cheerios and some milk while I made dinner and he would still have plenty of room left for a full dinner. Now if I do that, the Cheerios and milk will end being his dinner instead of just the appetizer. I've also had to adjust what I give before and during our late-morning walks otherwise he won't have any room or desire for lunch. So this week's meals have been a bit frustrating with lots of wasted food. I hate wasting food.

In other news, he's getting better feeding himself with his spoon and his fork. One of my tools to get him to eat another bite or two is to give him big cheers and lots of clapping for feeding himself, using his utensils. He loves the praise and will dig right in to pick up more food and show me what a big boy he is becoming.

Earlier this week I noted to Kasey that Kalin hadn't been drooling much the past week or so. The next day he started drooling again. I didn't notice the cessation of drooling in time to enjoy it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the stubborn upper tooth will finally break through his gums. The matching tooth that came in about a month ago is getting big enough that it's noticeable sometimes when he smiles really big and quite frankly, it looks a little goofy not having the pair. He's got 3 teeth on top and it looks a little lopsided.

Today Kalin grabbed my oven mitt (which isn't unusual, he likes to play with it) and walked over to the oven and grabbed the handle. For safety reasons, I'm trying to teach him not to touch the oven or worse, hang on the handle (he's been known to do that). So I turned around to tell him not to touch the handle, but then I looked a little closer, and noticed that he actually had the oven mitt on his hand and was trying to open the oven. I guess he's seen me get things out of the oven often enough and he was trying to imitate me. I just started laughing and then he handed me the oven mitt and wanted me to open the oven and pretend to pull things out of it. I though it was very clever of him.

Last weekend I started something new. Kalin is not allowed to have his pacifier while he is awake. I just got so fed up with it constantly being in his mouth when I knew that he didn't really need it - he just wanted it and if he could see it then he had to have it. So when he wakes up from a nap or in the morning, I gather his pacifiers (or take them out of his mouth) and put them away - out of his sight. There's been some protesting when I actually have to take it away from him but for the most part, he's perfectly fine during the day. Although Kasey and I have noticed an increase in biting, or attempted biting. That could also have something to do with the drooling and teething.

We've been working on climbing this week. He enjoys standing on our stool but has a hard time climbing onto it. It's a bit too tall for him still. He did successfully climb onto it once with Kasey sitting behind him to help him if he needed it. We can't leave him alone on the stool though because he has a tendency to forget that he's not standing on the ground and will either step off the stool or dance off the stool. He loves being taller though while standing up there.

Sarah and Luke came by on Wednesday. I ended up only have Luke for a half hour but we still had fun. It was fun to watch them check each other out once Kalin woke up from his nap. Luke was sitting and Kalin would just stand next to him and they would reach out and touch each other's hands or Kalin would grab (gently!) Luke's upper arm or pat him on the head. At one point Kalin stared at the front of Luke, then walked around behind him and stared at his back, it was like he was trying to figure out who or what this strange little creature was sitting on the floor of his house. I had just recently read that at this age, toddlers have no sense of empathy. They don't understand that what they do can hurt others. Other people are just toys to them - to be poked, prodded, pulled, and pushed. I'm wondering if he thought Luke was a new toy I had gotten for him. At any rate, it was fun to see them interact. I couldn't get Kalin to cooperate for a picture though.

I got Kalin to draw his first picture!! What do you think it is?!?! And yes, it's hanging on my fridge. Those five minutes of coloring time were filled with me saying, "Crayons are not for eating.", "Crayons are not for throwing!", "Kalin, don't eat the Crayons!" We've already had two crayon fatalities. Two broken crayons and we've only had them for a week. I guess I better get used to it!!

Miracle of the Moment

2009-03-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Not much to report for this week. Same ol' stuff is happening here!! Oh, Kalin has been climbing his crib this week. Not to get out though, he wants to get in. Or maybe he just wants something that's sitting in his crib, such as a pacifier or his sheep. It's fun to watch though. He reaches up and grabs the top of the crib, then puts his feet on the bottom rung, then steps up onto his mattress and tries to do chin-ups. He's a strong little boy!! Had I mentioned in the previous post that he's learned how to bounce on his pony? I no longer have to do all the work for him!! He happily bounces on his own. Oh, we also bought him some Crayons this week!! He has yet to color his own work of art though. We sat down with him yesterday and showed him how cool they are and how they work but the paper was full of all of our colorings and not just his. Maybe tomorrow I'll sit him down with a blank piece of paper that is all his to work with. Then I shall hang it on the fridge and proudly label it as his first drawing!! As you can see in the picture, he's a two-fisted colorer. So I guess there were some fun happenings around here this week :-)

The main reason I was going to post though, was to share a song. You know how you can hear a song a hundred times and then all of a sudden one day, you actually sit and listen to the lyrics? And you have that "Wow" moment. This song speaks to what I've been realizing through this last year or so (and reflecting on more so this last week due to my friend Sarah's ponderings on her blog) after having Kalin. I don't think I had ever fully grasped the meaning of living in the here and now, of not holding on to the past or worrying and fretting over the future until Kalin came along. Watching and helping a little one grow-up and learn seemingly simple things about our world has given me a whole new perspective. There's nothing quite as fun as fully living in toddler-land for a few hours - putting aside e-mail, housework, and other responsibilities until he's down for a nap. It's freeing to just be in those moments with Kalin. Just the two of us, learning, playing, laughing and loving. I wish I could remember to have these moments more often. Anyway, here are the lyrics to one of Steven Curtis Chapman's (my favorite muscial artist of all time!!) songs.

Miracle of the Moment

It's time for letting go

All of our if only's

'Cause we don't have a time machine

And even if we did

Would we really want to use it?

Would we really want to go change everything?

'Cause we are who and where

and what we are for now

And this is the only moment

we can do anything about.

So breathe it in and breathe it out

Listen to your heartbeat

There's a wonder in the here and now

It's right there in front of you

And I don't want you to miss

The miracle of the moment

There's only One who knows

What's really out there waiting

In all the moments yet to be

And all we need to know

Is He's out there waiting

To Him the future's history

And He has given us

a treasure called right now

And this is the only moment that we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

And if it brings you tears

Then taste them as they fall

Let them soften your heart

And if it brings you laughter
Then throw your head back

And let it go, let it go

You gotta let it go

Listen to you heartbeat

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

Random bits

2009-03-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Just some things that Kalin has been up to:

On Wednesday when I gave him his bath, the first thing he did when he got into the tub was to line up his squirty toys on the ledge of the tub. Kasey said that he normally will put a couple up there but never this many. I thought it was so funny that I took a picture.

After he was all dried and dressed from his Wednesday bath, he did something else that made me laugh. I was standing at the kitchen sink and I turn around to find him holding his dirty diaper (I had left it on the bathroom floor, all rolled up of course) over the trashcan trying to throw it away. Our trashcan is motion sensored and he was having a hard time getting it to open so I walked over and opened it for him and he threw his own diaper away!! I laughed and told him what a good boy he was!!
He has started trying to climb everything that he shouldn't be climbing: the oven (makes me really nervous), the chairs that keep him away from the computer, his bookshelf, the table. I'm trying to steer him towards the couch and chair and get him to climb on those instead but he just looks at me like I'm crazy. The reason he climbs those particular objects though is to see what I'm doing, which is also why he's constantly asking to be picked up. He just can't stand the fact that he's not tall enough to see everything that's going on.

Bibs aren't working out for us anymore. I think I would need a poncho to keep him clean. Thankfully, it's getting warmer which means I can just take his shirt off while he's eating (and sometimes his pants, too). It will be easier on me, on him, and on his clothes!! Plus, I have a feeling that once summer rolls around he'll be walking around in nothing but his diaper anyway.

He loves playing with magnets on the fridge. Once he's a little bit older (and won't distribute them all over the house) I think I'll get him those colorful letter and number magnets to play with.

Kasey swears he said "peaches" tonight while he was eating them. We couldn't get him to duplicate it though.

He loves it when we play "keep away" with the ball. He gets to run back and forth between Kasey and I, laughing and trying to get the ball, before we throw it to the other person. Of course, we always give it to him eventually so he doesn't get frustrated. He enjoys throwing it back to one of us.

He loves it when you tickle his ribs and neck. He laughs really hard.

We're still waiting for that 6th tooth to erupt. It's hanging out just below the gums but hasn't made it's official appearance yet.

I think that's all I've got for now!! We really haven't had a very exciting week. We did go over to a family's house that we know from Bethany for dinner on Monday night and on Friday we went to Costco and finally got ourselves a membership, but other than that, not much has happened. Kalin's getting over his cold and I'm fighting something (that I hope is just allergies).

Goodnight!!

Hi, Da

2009-03-17T19:49:00.001-07:00

This morning Kasey said, "Hi, Kalin!" and Kalin responded with "Hi, Da!". It was really cute and fun to hear.

Before having Kalin, I never realized how exciting it would be to be a part of a child's life while they were learning some of the most basic skills that we as humans are capable of. When other parents would talk about their infant's or toddler's new skills, I didn't really understand the excitement. I mean, of course they can roll over, or sit up, or babble. But I get it now. Seeing your helpless babe change and grow and learn right before your eyes is amazing and exciting. And the joy of realizing that they've learned a new skill and are closer to becoming an individual who you are able to carry on a conversation with and really communicate and share with is a wonderful feeling. I had one of those moments today.

Kalin's been able to follow simple commands for a little while but today I got a very clear picture of how able he really is. We had been playing on his Bounce 'N Spin Pony today but he had lost interest so I had turned it off. A few minutes later, he started signing "please" and pointing at the receiver for the game which plugs into the tv and receives the signals from the pony as it moves. I thought at first that he wanted to play with the receiver but then decided to test him a little. Without pointing or motioning I said, "If you want to play again go sit on the pony". He walked right over to the pony, climbed on, and looked up at me. I was shocked and amazed. He really does understand what we say. Which brought about a couple of realizations for me.

First, now that he has demonstrated his capabilities in understanding me, I can let go of my notions that he might be too young for certain things: such as being disciplined when he has repeatedly been told "no" to certain activities and decides to do them anyway. If he can understand the instructions I had just given him, then he can definitely understand and be expected to obey, "No hitting", "No throwing food on the floor", "Don't grab the remote" and other various instructions and requests. This realization brought with it a sense of freedom for me. I can raise my expectations of him up a notch. He's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler, and with that comes more responsibility on both of our sides: him to obey and me to discipline.

Second, we have to be really careful what we say and how we say it. Who knows what attitudes or language he's picking up on (not that we walk around cursing or speak with angry tones but there is the occasional "crap" and "sucks" which I don't really want my toddler picking up).

So even though he still doesn't communicate with us verbally (with words instead of babble and grunts) it's good to know that communication is working in the other direction.

A few other observations:

When Kasey gives Kalin a bath, he says that Kalin will make a "duck" noise when he's holding his rubber ducky. Kasey's been working on this with him for a couple weeks.

Also during bathtime, Kasey and Kalin have come up with a new game. Kasey slides him back and forth in the tub making waves and splashes. Kasey used to call it the "wave game" but then one time he said that and Kalin started waving at him. Kasey decided to come up with a different name so Kalin doesn't get confused.

Kalin is really good now at not only taking objects out of the box, pot, or basket but is also really good about putting them back in. Of course, after working for several minutes to gather all the objects together in the receptacle he ends up picking it up and turning it upside down so they all fall out again. But then he'll just start all over putting everything back in. I admire his persistence and focus. In this picture, he is putting little round pieces of paper into the pot and then dumping them all out again. He did this for about 20 minutes last week. One would think that this would be helpful when it's time to clean-up the toys. It would be except for his need to dump everything back out.

Instead of constantly knocking my tower or pyramid of blocks over, he has started participating in the building process. I'm very proud of him. This is a big step from when he couldn't stand to have any of his blocks remotely resembling order and organization. Of course, he eventually will knock it over but only after he has added on a few blocks of his own.

Sometimes he likes to walk around the house with his hands clasped behind his back. It's really cute and I hope to get a picture or video of it soon.

He's been sick for about a week now. I hope he gets better soon. He still coughs (it can get bad at night and I feel so bad for him) and now has a runny nose which is starting to get raw from all the wiping. Poor boy. It hasn't disrupted his nighttime sleeping but his naps have been really short and inconsistent. I hope once he's all better his naps go back to the way they were. I miss those 2-hour afternoon naps.

I did get to enjoy lots of extra hugs and cuddles from him for a couple days when he really wasn't feeling well. He was perfectly content to sit with me and watch tv or read...for about 20 minutes. Then it was back to playing. He has so much energy. It makes me tired. I need those 2 hours back in the afternoon.

At last...

2009-03-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

...it's time for another post. It's probably been time for another for quite awhile. What's it been now, over 2 weeks since my last one? Yikes. Well, what matters is that I'm here now to type an update, right? Ok, so here we go.

Kalin had his 12-month check-up on February 26th which made it, technically, a 14-month check-up. All reports were good. He's thriving and growing. He was 24lbs. 11.5oz. and 31.5 inches. This makes him 75th percentile in length, 66th percentile weight-for-age and 75th percentile weight-for-length. Oh, and he's in the 80th percentile for his head circumference. The doc actually mentioned that he has a nice big head :-) Lots of good brains growing in there (we hope).

All in all, it was a great check-up. Oh wait, except the parts about the shots and Kasey and I leaving the office feeling like we deserved the Suckiest-Parents-of-the-Year Award. Kalin was scheduled for two shots at this visit, the MMR and the Chicken Pox vaccines. I figured it would be no big deal. He's had shots many times before and he would cry a little and be over it. I don't know if these needles were bigger or what but they REALLY upset him. It nearly tore my heart out. Maybe it was because it had been awhile since his last shots and since I'd seen him that upset. I don't know but it was not fun for either of us.

Ok, so the hard part was over, right? WRONG!! Next comes the finger prick. That doesn't sound too bad. A little prick instead of a giant needle? Sounds easy enough. Maybe if all they needed was a drop of blood. But no, they need to fill a vial from one little finger. My job was to hold Kalin on my lap and try to keep his shoulder and arm from moving while the lady squeezed as much blood from his finger as she could. I don't know if it was the actually prick, the lady squeezing his finger, or the fact that he was being restrained, but for a full 3 minutes he was screaming and writhing around in my lap while throwing his head back and letting HUGE tears stream down his face. One of the worst feelings I have yet to encounter as a mother. Kasey was having a rough time with it too because he was just standing in front of Kalin while Kalin would periodically look at him like, "Hey dad, why aren't you helping me?". So sad. Glad it's over and hope we won't have to experience it again anytime soon.

Kalin's been saying "dada" a lot more so we're making some progress on the verbal development.

He also waves a lot more now. He'll wave to Kasey as he leaves to work, he'll wave to people in the store and people we pass on our walks. He even randomly started waving to a fence we passed on our walk.

There's another tooth hanging out just below the surface of his upper gums. I can feel it but it has yet to make it's appearance. The other tooth took about 2 weeks to break through so I'm hoping in the next week we'll have another tooth to report. That would make #6. Oh, at our appointment I asked the doc if Kalin was about average in tooth development. He said that he might be a little below average but in his opinion, the later the better. I didn't ask why he thought that though.

One of the most fun things I have to report is his use of his cell phone. Kasey got a new phone so we gave his old one to Kalin to play with. He'll put the phone up to his ear and say "Hi" in a singsong voice. It's so cute and sometimes he'll babble with it up to his ear. He also loves to dance to the different ring tones.

We took a trip down to Hemet for Shannon Farmer's bridal shower. I've known her since we were like, five years old, or something so this is really special. I will also be in her wedding in April so I'm really looking forward to that. We had a good trip down and back up. Kalin got really grumpy about an hour outside of Hemet so I had to try and entertain him and keep him happy, which wasn't really fun since my throat was on fire and my ears were all plugged. But we managed and had a good time!! Kasey couldn't come because of work so it ended up being my mom, my aunt, Kalin and I. It made for a fun trip.

Grandma Jody (Kasey's mom) watched Kalin for me while I attended the shower. It was so nice to have a little break and be able to focus fully on the shower and on the bride-to-be. Later that evening we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday at Kasey's parent's house. It was nice to see the rest of Kasey's family and to celebrate another year of Jerry. Unfortunately, I never once got my camera out while I was down there so I have no pictures. I do have some pictures though that my mom took while we were traveling. It was a quick whirlwind trip; we left on Saturday and came back Monday. The next time I go down there, for the wedding, Kalin, my mom and I will be flying down!! I'm excited for Kalin's first plane ride.

I think that's all the news I have for now. If I think of more I'll write another post...maybe in a week or two :-)

Smarty Pants

2009-02-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Kalin is so smart. Here's a few of the fun things that he's been doing. Most of these are new skills that I've noticed just since my last post when I claimed to have nothing to write about.

1. He understands what "outside" means. When we mention going outside or ask him if he wants to go outside he'll go to the front door and try to open it.

2. He tries to repeat me when I say "hot", "off", and "on". It's hard to explain in writing what it sounds like but basically he'll whisper the "ho" from "hot" and the "o" sound from both "off" and "on". He also has developed his own way of saying "tickle" and "chicken". There's really no way of explaining that one in writing and he wouldn't cooperate when I tried to videotape him.

3. He understands when I ask him if he wants to brush his teeth. He'll go into the bathroom and point up at his toothbrush.

4. He's starting to sign "please"!!! This makes me so happy.

5. His "all done" sign is just throwing his arms straight up. I didn't actually intend to teach him that. I think I randomly did that a couple times one day and said "all done!!" and he copied me so now it's habit.

6. During the week, Kalin gets up while Kasey is getting ready for work and they hang out while I lounge in bed for a few extra minutes. Yesterday, as I opened the bedroom door, I was greeted by Kalin holding the nursing pillow. It was so funny. He knew I was in the bedroom so he was standing there with the pillow waiting for me to come out. It made me laugh and made my day!!

7. Kalin has a new tooth!! So this has nothing to do with him learning anything but it's exciting too!! This makes tooth #5. I'm hoping it's matching pair is also on it's way. His teeth come in pairs, usually within a week of each other. I think this is the first tooth since October.

8. I feel like we're getting close to hearing Kalin call Kasey "dad". He's been using the "da" and "dadadada" babblings more frequently and more often when Kasey's around and even once when he saw Kasey walk in the front door after work.

I just realized tonight that I haven't taken one picture of Kalin this week. How sad is that?!?! So here are some random, funny pictures from this month.

Lull

2009-02-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

I would love to tell you how my lack of posting is due to the fact that we've been extremely busy doing all sorts of exciting things and that I just couldn't find the time to sit down and type. In reality, it's just been kind of boring around here. There really haven't been any new skills or major developmental milestones reached in the last week. Things definitely have slowed down in that department since Kalin turned one. He changed and developed so fast in that first year. In Kalin's first couple months there were all sorts of milestones reached - smiling, holding his head up during tummy-time, tracking objects with his eyes. Not to mention that his little face and body were changing every day. Here we are, 6 weeks after his first birthday, and he's basically the same as he was on December 31st, 2008. I know that there are still some really exciting things to look forward to in the next few months but there's really no telling when he'll hit those milestones. He's been drooling up a storm for months so I'm hoping one of these days 5 teeth will pop out (it'll make all the drooling and crankiness worth it if more than one tooth comes out). I've been labeling every item he comes into contact with hoping one day he'll say the name of the item back to me. I know his little brain is absorbing all this information and that it might still be awhile until it gets translated into words coming out of his mouth. But for now, our days are very predictable (which is nice) and kind of boring. We play alot. We walk when the weather is nice. We read lots of books. We laugh. We say "no" a million times a day. Here's a little look back on our last week or so:

1. We watched Luke on Wednesday while his mom met with students on campus. We had a wonderful time! Kalin and I were looking at pictures of Luke on his mom's blog today and I kept pointing at Luke and saying his name. I think it would be fun if Kalin can learn to say Luke's name. It will probably sound something like "uke" or "yuke" but I'm excited for when that day comes.

2. Kasey and I had our Valentine's Day date on Friday. We took Kalin to my parent's house and headed to Gilroy. We had discussed doing a dinner and movie (typical) and then running some random errands which are just easier to do without a baby. We decided, as much as we love movies, that we wanted to do something a little different (and cheaper!). So instead, we went to Barnes & Noble. We used to do this when we were dating and had nowhere else to go. We would find a bunch of books or magazines and then sit for hours reading. It was so much fun and such a flashback to our pre-Kalin days. I don't even remember what we did last year. Considering Kalin was only 6 weeks old I doubt we even thought about doing anything. Our lives were pretty much consumed with Kalin and squeezing sleep in wherever we could. Anyway, so my mom watched Kalin for about 6 hours while we were out and about enjoying our baby-free selves. We spent the night at my parents and spent all day Saturday there visiting. Kalin did very well with my mom and apparently learned how to drink from his sippy-cup and like it. He also was much more obedient for her than he is for us. How does that happen?!?! We say "no" he smiles at us and continues what he's doing. Or he just keeps going back to whatever the forbidden activity is even though we've said "no" and pulled him away. My mom says "no" and he stops what he's doing. I'm so happy that he wasn't a big pill for my mom but where's the respect for your parents, kiddo?

3. I finally scheduled his 12-month appt. with the doctor. I had been waiting for an insurance situation to get resolved and it finally did on Thursday. I immediately called the office and scheduled his appointment. Unfortunately, they can't get us in until the 26th. So his 12-month has become a 14-month appointment. Oh well. At least we're finally getting that done.

4. We had some fun weather on our drive to my parents. We were driving along the 1 in Aptos and it started hailing!! It was so crazy and fun.

5. Kalin's getting cagey. It's been raining off and on all week so our walks have been a little sporadic. Today it hasn't stopped raining which we love but I think that it may have contributed to Kalin's grumpiness.

6. We cut Kalin's hair. I did the front on my own but was too nervous about doing the rest without help. A couple days later Kasey and I did the back. It...umm...turned out alright :-) It really isn't that bad...if you don't look too closely.

7. Kalin likes to stand on things. His bike, his pony, and the little rocking chair at my parent's house.

8. He had his first taste of a smoothie from Jamba Juice. He enjoyed it.

9. He ate cereal. Not baby cereal, but Cheerios in a bowl with milk.

10. He got into my flour canister.

11. I got him a silly songs Sesame Street DVD from Netflix. He actually sat on my lap for 10 minutes and watched part of it. I figured since he likes to dance maybe he would enjoy the songs.

I know little by little he's growing and learning and that someday soon I'll be writing about how he looked at me and said "Mama" or pointed at a book and said "book" or that he has 5 new teeth!! There were these lulls in developmental milestones in the first year and then all of a sudden 5 amazing things would happen in a short period of time. I guess we're just in one of those lulls. I need to sit back and enjoy where we're at...even if doesn't make for good writing material.

The Quicker Picker-Upper

2009-02-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

I could have used some Bounty today. Unfortunately, I'm too cheap and buy the 89 cent rolls of "Basic Red" from Safeway. Let me back up...

I've been thinking recently about weaning Kalin. Maybe not completely but about half-way. He just doesn't seem that into it anymore...and I'm starting to feel that I may be losing my love for it as well. I guess it's a good sign though if we start to lose interest at the same time. It will probably make it less painful for both of us. He still asks me for milk but more than half the time he'll take a sip then get distracted by looking around or talking to me. It's sweet until it gets annoying. He ends up twisting all around like he's a contortionist while still trying to take a sip here and there. It's rare that nursing Kalin is relaxing or fun anymore. It turns into a wrestling match. He typically nurses 4 times a day - in the morning, around 11 am before our walk, around 3:30-4 after his afternoon nap, and then 30 min. before his bedtime. I'm thinking about cutting out the middle sessions.

So to prepare him for this change, we've been trying him out with some good 'ol cow's milk. His little body has been handling it just fine (for which I'm thankful). It took a few days for him to get used to the taste and not just let it dribble out but he seems to have warmed up to it alright. He usually gets his liquids by cup - not bottle and not sippy cup - just a plain old cup. However, he's not coordinated enough to hold it himself without spilling it so we end up holding it for him. But if I'm going to be giving him several cups of milk a day I don't want to have to hold the cup for him all the time. We tried the sippy cup back when he was 6 or 7 months old and he used it for about a week. He just didn't like it so he has actually gotten really good at drinking from a regular cup. I don't really want to go backwards though and teach him how to use the sippy cup when he's almost mastered drinking from a cup. I thought I'd give him another go at it and see what happened. I put the sippy part in his mouth and he just looked at me like he was saying, "And what would you like me to do now, mom?". So that wasn't going to work (I was secretly thankful for that). There is a removable valve in the lid of the cup that is used to control the flow of liquid. I took that out, knowing that I could still end up with a mess if it got tipped over, but also realizing that it would be a much smaller mess than if there wasn't a lid at all. This seemed to work alright and I finally got him to hold onto the handles of the cup and do it himself. Of course, then the inevitable shaking of the cup occurred along with tipping it upside down. He created a nice mess on his tray, the floor and on his head. I also found out that he preferred the milk warmed rather than straight from the fridge. So, tomorrow, we'll try cutting one or two nursing sessions out and practice some more with our cow's milk and cups.

It makes me feel good knowing that I'm not forcing my kid into things he's not ready for. When we taught him to fall asleep on his own at night it wasn't traumatic and he took to it really well and quickly. That showed me that he was physically and emotionally ready for that step. And now that we're taking "baby steps" in the direction of weaning, it's comforting to recognize the signs of nursing-disinterest on both of our sides. Most of you know that even a month ago, I was dead-set against weaning him just yet. I wasn't emotionally ready and I wasn't catching any signals from him that he was ready either. I think the process that has led us both to this point was teaching him to fall asleep without nursing. He realized that there are other ways to find comfort and rest that didn't require nursing.

I might still be sad when he's completely weaned but I know that it will also be freeing. With every step and process we've taken and gone through I've had to let go of a lot but I've also gained a lot. I've gained more time to myself, more time for Kasey and I as a couple, more time to catch up with friends, and more time to rediscover my passions. We'll see what this next phase may bring.

Long Time No See...or Write

2009-02-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

There just hasn't been much to write about recently. Plus, I had posted, like, 3 videos in a row the week before and it wore me out. But I'm back to give a little update on what's been going on in our lives.

1. The other day I heard Kalin wake up from his nap and thought that I would go in and rescue him from his crib. He wasn't crying yet and I wanted to catch him before he got upset. I walked in and found him sitting in his crib holding his stuffed sheep by one leg. He turned and gave me a look that I interpreted as him saying, "Excuse me, I was having a private conversation with my sheep. Who invited you?". Apparently I had interrupted something.

2. We had fun stacking cans the other day. Kalin had fun unstacking them.

3. He likes to turn our stool upside down and stand it.

4. He can get on his pony all by himself.

5. We had spaghetti tonight. Kalin liked it.

See, there just isn't anything exciting going on. We are excited though that it's supposed to rain at the end of this week and we're looking forward to spending time with baby Luke tomorrow.

I Want That

2009-01-26T20:38:00.001-08:00

Boy, I'm full of videos this week!! Here is a video displaying what we think is Kalin's ability to say either "I want that" or "what's that?". I guess it's time to teach him please and thank-you. He's heard them enough from both of us that at least they won't be foreign words. The trick will be in teaching him how to copy us and how to use them appropriately. I think I'll try to teach him in both words and sign-language and see which one he picks up on first. Enjoy the video!!

Facing Forward

2009-01-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today, Kalin took another step out of infant-hood and into toddler-hood.

We turned his car seat around. He now has the pleasure of seeing where we're going instead of where we've been. He'll have a better view of the cars, buildings, and trees we pass. I have a feeling he's gonna like it. I think he may be more vocal as well since there will be so much more to see and get excited about. We took a ride around town this evening and he seemed to enjoy it.

He seemed a little confused when I first put him in the seat. For one thing, it's at a different angle than when he was rear-facing. He was reclined in that position. I hope it doesn't affect how well he sleeps on long car rides now that he's upright. And I think he was confused because he's never really seen the front of the car like that.

As we were driving I found that I felt obligated to be more entertaining since he can see us now. This is just silly though because with all the new things to look at I'm sure he won't be needing me to turn around and talk to him, right? I hope so because car rides are kind of my time to relax and not entertain...at least for now. I know that as he gets older and better able to communicate I'll have to come up with all sorts of car games to entertain him on long rides. For now I think he'll be happy observing his new view of the world.

He also wore some really cute overalls yesterday.

So you think he can dance?

2009-01-24T20:36:00.001-08:00

When Kalin first started dancing he would just move and stomp his feet. Now he's learned how to get his arms moving too. I love watching him dance and I thought maybe you would too!!

Dis or Dat

2009-01-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

I think we're finally done with presents...at least until next Christmas. We finished up celebrating Kalin's birthday with two parties this weekend. On Saturday we hosted a small get together at our house for our friends from Bethany University. We had a wonderful time, ate some good food, and watched Kalin run around the house. I had planned the party at a time that I thought would work out well for Kalin's nap schedule. I figured I could get him down for a late morning nap and he would be good to go for 3 or 4 hours, making it through the party being happy and pleasant. He ended up only taking a 30 minute nap. Thankfully, there was enough stimulation with all the guests here that he did better than I had even hoped for. But boy was he tired by the time everybody left!! Kasey and I put him down for a nap then kind of collapsed ourselves. We knew we should probably clean-up but did not have the energy for it. We put away only what was necessary (refrigerated items) then put a movie on and just relaxed. We were so exhausted that evening that we went to bed much earlier than usual.

Even though I had specifically asked for no presents, people brought some anyway. I guess it's hard to pass up the opportunity to buy a present for a one year old. Kasey thinks that next year we should make the request for no one hundred dollar bills and see what happens :-)

Sunday was another busy day. After church we headed to Watsonville to spend time with some of my family. It was also Kalin's last party. He got some really fun stuff from both my aunt and my mom. I am so thankful for friends and family who love our little boy and who are so generous with their time and money. I'm also thankful that we won't have to go through this present overload again for almost 12 months. I guess this is the way it's going to be every year. It's a hazard of having a child so close to Christmas.

It was nice that Kasey got Monday off as a holiday. It gave us a day to just relax and let the 3 of us hang out together. We ended up taking a nice walk and stopping at the park to see if Kalin would be interested in the playground yet. It was his first time in a swing and he didn't care for it too much. He did have fun on the little springy toy and he enjoyed walking up to another little boy and grabbing his shirt. The other little boy just kept pointing at Kalin's shirt and saying "Mickey!". Apparently he had just recently taken a trip to Disneyland and recognized Mickey Mouse on Kalin's shirt.

Kalin has been a big grump today. I haven't been able to pinpoint the reason. He's got a bit of a snotty nose...maybe he's not feeling well? His drooling has picked up...maybe he's teething? He also hasn't eaten much today at all. He was refusing food at lunch. I hope we're not hitting a "picky eater" stage but I guess those usually come sooner or later. Maybe he just didn't feel like eating. This is around the age when their food intake generally slows down anyway because their growth slows down. But, again, maybe he just isn't feeling well. At any rate, this is one of those days where I couldn't wait for it to be naptime.

We've noticed sometimes when he points he'll say the same thing over and over. It usually sounds like either "dis?" or "dat?". We're thinking it's his way of either asking for "this" or "that" or he's asking what something is. I think it's very exciting!! He is definitely a vocal little boy now. I'm hoping to capture it on film soon.

I got so excited last night!! He actually played with the same toy for over 10 minutes!!! I believe that's a new record for him. That's the first time he has focused on one activity (besides eating) for any length of time. I know it's normal for toddlers to be extremely active and have very short attention spans but I'm really happy to know that he is capable of concentrating and focusing on one thing.

Not ready

2009-01-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not ready for another child. Today I had the privilege of babysitting Luke, a sweet 4 month old baby boy. It was only for an hour but when Sarah e-mailed me yesterday asking if I would be available I jumped at the chance!! Literally. I actually bounced up and down in my chair with excitement. I figured we would be fine, especially since it was during the time that Kasey would be home for lunch. And it really was just fine, we made it through unscathed without any meltdowns but then again, it was only an hour and Luke was happy for most of that time. When he did get sleepy I left Kalin with Kasey and closed the door to Kalin's room and put Luke down for a nap. When we do have two kids, I won't be able to just shut the other child out like that...unless he's old enough and responsible enough to take care of himself for awhile. At one point, while I was entertaining Luke, I turned to Kasey and said, "Don't worry, when we do have another baby I won't totally ignore Kalin like I'm doing right now." It only made matters worse that Kalin was jealous of the attention I was giving Luke (which only makes sense at this age). Suffice it to say, WE'RE NOT READY!!!

I'm starting to wonder now if training Kalin to go to sleep without nursing is working too well. My original plan was just to have it apply to naptime. I'm perfectly fine nursing and rocking him to sleep at night...in fact I look forward to that time. However, 2 out of the last 3 nights he has not wanted to be nursed to go to sleep. It's not that he's weaning himself, he still enjoys nursing and asks for it several times a day. But it's not necessary anymore for bedtime. On Monday I nursed him expecting him to go sleep, instead he decided he needed to play longer (it didn't help that we let him nap until 6 that evening). Finally, at 8:30 I decided that I was just going to put him in his crib because he wasn't acting tired but I knew he needed to go to bed. I put him down, walked out of the room closing the door behind me and waiting to hear the screaming. It never came. In fact, he didn't make a sound - not even a little whine. Tonight it was much the same. He asked for milk at 7 just after his bath so I decided it would be alright as long as he didn't fall asleep at that time. He did fine but at 8 when I was going to nurse him again to put him asleep, he just wanted his pacifier. So I obliged and decided to just put him in his crib to see what would happen. Again, not a sound could be heard coming from his room. Weird, I thought. I'm not sure what to do with this new revelation. Quite frankly, I don't think I'm ready to give up nursing him to sleep at night. Maybe he is though. It got me thinking. Will I be ready to send him off to his first day of school? Will I be ready to send him off on his first date? Will I be ready to see him graduate from high school? College? At this moment in time - no. When those times come - maybe. As with most things in life, you learn to adapt and adjust. If you don't, you end up living in the past and missing out on what's happening right here, right now. Sure, I may get nostalgic, thinking back to those moments that meant so much and are now gone, but how exciting to see him growing up before my eyes and take these steps towards becoming an independent adult who may one day experience some of the great milestones in his own child's life that we've witnessed in his.

And now for some observations:

Kalin has a new fascination with light switches. He loves to point (which he's almost an expert at now!!!) at them and when I get close enough he practices switching the lights on and off. I let him go through about 5 rounds of "on/off" before pulling him away. I'm glad that he's not tall enough yet to reach it on his own. It means I still have all the power in whether or not he gets to play with them.

My aunt recently told me this story: A co-worker walked in to my aunt's office and saw the picture of Kalin she has hanging up and said "It's just impossible to have a bad day after seeing that face!!" A little bit later that same co-worker came in with a nurse who had been crying and pointing at Kalin's picture said, "There, now look at that. Doesn't that make you feel better?" I told my aunt that it's like Kalin's ministry to people. He has such a sweet smile that people can't help but to smile back.

Kalin's favorite book to pull off the shelf right now is The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. He kept bringing it to me like he wanted me to actually read it to him. Sorry kiddo, maybe in a few years.

I was recently reading that somewhere around this age they start "jargoning". According the definition in the book that means they start to "talk" but it sounds like a different language. I think it's safe to say that Kalin is "jargoning". What I had always deemed as "babble" somehow crossed the line into "jargon". It's really amazing to listen to Kalin as he "talks" (or jargons) away. He'll use inflection and actually tries to have a conversation with you. I feel so bad that I don't know how to respond because I would really like to give him the response he's looking for so he continues "jargoning" and doesn't become frustrated at our lack of understanding. Of course, this is assuming that he actually is trying to tell me something and isn't just practicing sounds. Either way, I think it's really exciting that he's trying to communicate and is working on learning how to speak. And I think the word "jargon" is my new favorite word.

A Little Bit of Life

2009-01-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Kalin and I have been on our own tonight. Kasey is in Marin tonight with the Junior High youth group from our church. Tomorrow they will be exploring a few places in San Francisco. If Kalin weren't sleeping through the night there is no way I would stay home alone with him. I think I would probably have run off to my parent's house. Thankfully, my parents are coming to visit tomorrow afternoon to ensure that Kalin and I don't go insane.

After dropping Kasey off at the church Kalin and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some soda and some batteries for my camera. We got home and it was time to make some dinner. We had a wonderful fare of scrambled eggs, toast, juice, banana, and to top it off, a little bowl of Life (Kalin had a few Cheerios). There is nothing like having breakfast for dinner. We had a blast together sitting at the table, eating, and listening to my Josh Groban station on Pandora. I had to put the camera on it's timer setting to get the pictures of us together and Kalin got a big kick out of the flashing light as the timer counted down.

After dinner, Kalin was gracious enough to let me get the dishes done. He entertained himself by wandering around the house finding different things to play with while spending most of his time in the kitchen pulling things off of shelves. After dishes it was bath time!! This is usually dad's thing with Kalin but tonight I had the privilege. We had a blast!! At one point, I was afraid he was going to poop. His bottom was in the water and all of a sudden there was a noise and a big bubble of air in the water. He made the funniest face then started laughing. It was priceless.

Before Kalin went to bed I made myself a bowl of air-popped popcorn from my new popper that Kasey gave me for Christmas!! After I got Kalin down I grabbed Kasey's laptop, poured myself some soda, and grabbed my popcorn. Then I hopped into bed ready for a fun evening of eating popcorn and watching something on the laptop. It's been fun but I must say, I miss having the presence of Kasey in the house. Now I only hope Kalin sleeps in tomorrow morning!! Goodnight!!

P.S. This picture is of Kalin walking around in his new big boy shoes. They have hard soles and it's been funny watching him try to walk around in them. He's used to going barefoot, in socks, or in his soft-soled shoes. He fell alot the first time he wore them but I'm making him practice every day and he's getting better. He looks like such a big boy in his shoes. He's a toddler, not a baby anymore.

This other picture is of the toy pony that I finally put together last night. We haven't hooked it up to the tv yet but we've put him on it to see what he thinks. His feet don't quite reach the ground yet so he might need our help with the bouncing and spinning but he's all smiles while he's on it.

Back on the Road Again

2009-01-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't wait to get back on the road again. After almost two weeks of practically no excercise (well, no big long walks, taking care of Kalin is exercise all by itself), I have finally gotten back out on the road, taking my almost 5 mile walks. The first day started off great. I felt alive, I felt my muscles rejoicing, saying, "Thank you for letting us work out again!!". Then I got tired really fast and wondered if maybe I should have taken it a little slower or made my walk a little shorter. But I persevered (mainly because I didn't want to have to call Kasey asking him to come pick me up because I couldn't make it up the hill) and made it up the hill (thanks to some distraction in the form of some Bethany students losing some shelving out of their truck...it diverted my attention for long enough that before I knew it, I was up the hill!). My second walk felt easier and I could feel my muscles getting back into shape. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I would feel this way about exercise. I told Kasey that the only thing that would surprise me more would be if I became a runner. I've always wished I enjoyed running because I know that it is just awesome excerise...but I hate it. Well, at least I used to. Maybe that was because I was so out of shape that it just made me miserable. Maybe I should give it another try now that I'm in better shape. I know that I originally started this blog to talk about Kalin's milestones but getting into shape is a big milestone for me so I felt it worthy of discussion. Plus it's my blog so I can do what I want :-)

So what has Kalin been up to? We're working on language skills. He babbles an awful lot but I still can't pick out any "words" he may have for particular objects. I know that he recognizes the names of objects when I say them (which is amazing!!) but he hasn't been attempting to say them. Or at least I haven't picked up on his attempts. We read ALOT these days. Since we got so many new books for Christmas and his birthday (plus all the books the Priors have been supplying us with) we have a wide selection to choose from, and yet he enjoys handing me the same books over and over again. I'm willing to comply with his wishes up to a certain point. After he wants me to read Goodnight Moon for the 10th time in a row I start to hide the book from him. Now, I know that sacrifice is part of parenthood but come on, we all have our limits, right? All joking aside, I love that he is developing a love of books, and music!! He has started his own version of dancing now. His favorite songs seem to be tv show theme songs: King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and yes, NCIS makes him smile (don't worry he doesn't actually watch NCIS, he's just heard the music). He also loves this puppy that his Grandma Jody let him bring home. You can push different parts of the puppy's body and she says things or sings songs. He knows that the button to push to get songs is the puppy's right, purple paw that has the music note on it. He presses it over and over and over again. I have the songs memorized by now.

In other news, Kalin has diaper rash. It's so sad. I don't know why he got it this time. It might have been because I didn't realize he had pooped and ended up sitting in it for the duration of our walk, or it could have been something he ate. Last night as I was changing his diaper to get him ready for bed he was screaming and crying and his face was bright red. Thankfully the Lord granted me mercy and Kalin wasn't trying to roll over or get away. When he does this it requires two people to change him and Kasey was at youth group. So as I concentrated on gently cleaning him up, I also had to concentrate on being the soother. The first songs that popped into my head were the silly songs from the puppy - not very soothing. So I ended up humming Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He ended up going to bed an hour earlier than usual (I guess he was just too tired and too hurt to stay up).

On a happier note, Kalin's nap times this week have been delightful. I started to realize that most of the time, he gets nursed to sleep. Once I start to wean him (time still to be determined) he won't have that anymore. We needed to figure out other ways to put him to sleep. I could rock him but the motion of standing up and putting him in his crib tends to disturb him and wake him. I tried standing in his room with his sound machine on and just rocking with him, but he's much to heavy to be able to hold for too long that way - and he woke up when I put him down. I ended up just leaving the room, closing the door behind me. He cried for a couple of minutes then "sang" himself to sleep. So for this week, when he gets tired and tries to hand me the nursing pillow signing "milk", I say, "You need a nap, not a snack.". I go into his room, get it ready for his nap, let him relax in my arms for a minute then put him down and walk out. The most he's cried is 3 minutes I think. I think he feels it's his duty to complain a little but he knows he's tired so he lays down and goes to sleep.

Still Christmas

2009-01-05T10:58:00.001-08:00

It's still Christmas in our house. The tree is still up and decorated and the other decorations I had managed to put up are still in place. Not to mention when we got home from our trip we had to unpack our presents and it felt like Christmas morning all over again!! We had fun playing with Kalin's toys and reading his books (we came home with a lot of new books!!) and sorting through his new clothes. Sadly, the tree and decorations will come down in the next couple of days - but first I need to get the laundry folded and put away. One motivation for getting the tree down is there will then be room for one of Kalin's fun new toys...his Smart Bounce and Spin Pony!! I'm excited for him to try it out (I'm excited for me to try it out too - too bad there's a weight limit). It's a little pony that he sits on and there is a receiver that hooks up to the tv and as he bounces and spins he'll be learning shapes, colors and numbers. I'm excited that it's a 3-stage game meaning as he grows and learns he can move up to a different stage and learn different and more complex things. But before I can even think about putting it together I need to get the tree out of here. We don't have a whole lot of room and the tree takes up a good portion of our available floor space.

We had fun on our trip down south. We relaxed, saw friends, and just had a chance to hang out. But boy is it good to be home. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I walked in the door. Granted, having a grandma and grandpa around to get Kalin up in the morning is nice (as is finally getting out of bed myself to find Kalin already sitting in his high chair eating breakfast). I didn't realize it until last night that I don't play with Kalin as much when we're at another house. I guess it's because there are other people around to entertain and I could always use a break. I actually woke up this morning, ready and eager to play and have fun with Kalin today. It helps that after he went to bed last night I organized and opened the accumulated mail, update Quicken, and paid necessary bills so that isn't hanging over my head today. Sure there's piles of laundry still to be folded (and the floor desperately needs to be vacummed) but it was time for Kalin-mommy playtime. We've had fun with his new Legos and reading his new books (well, I've had fun reading his new books, he gets distracted a couple pages in).

Kalin has now gone down for a nap (fairly easily) and I decided to treat myself to a bubble bath. Thanks to my husband for buying me some bubble bath for my stocking. I usually have the baby monitor turned on when I get in the shower, but as I was getting my bath ready I decided to switch my end of the monitor off. If I was truly going to relax I didn't need the constant sound from his sound machine (if it had been real rain I was hearing I wouldn't have minded, but it's the fake sound of rain) and possibly him waking up to distract me. I knew that if he did wake up anyway, I would hear him through the walls when I had the water off. I had a marvelous time relaxing and reading. Now I am lounging around in my Eeyore shower wrap/towel/robe thing (I don't know what it's called) that my husband also got for me for Christmas. I love it!!

Some fun facts about Kalin:

One of his new things is to spin in circles. We're not sure where he picked up on this but it's really funny. He'll just start to walk and spin in circles. He makes himself really dizzy and usually ends up just falling down. I guess he'll be good at playing Ring Around the Rosy.

He has become much better at pointing. He can almost get his index finger out. Most of the time he still uses his whole hand to point but we're getting there. And thanks to Grandma Jody, he knows where to find lights. We'll ask him, "Where's the light, Kalin?" and he looks up at the ceiling and "points" searching for the overhead light on the ceiling.

He is such a big boy that he can use a toothbrush. Up until now we would just use a washcloth to wipe his teeth (which he didn't really enjoy). For Christmas he got a toothbrush from Kasey and I and also from my mom. At first he didn't really like it, it would make him shiver like it was tickling his gums, but today he loved it!! I carried him into the bathroom and let him watch in the mirror while I brushed his teeth. He willingly opened his mouth and soon grabbed the toothbrush to do it himself!! Now if only I could remember to do this on a regular basis for him. I'm so bad at remembering to brush his teeth and I know that it is so important even though he only has 4 teeth right now. Maybe the fact that he enjoys it now will make it easier to remember. I also need to figure out when it will best work into our routine which will also make it easier to remember.

He's a big boy now!!

2009-01-01T12:36:00.001-08:00

We've had a great time down here in Hemet these last few days. We've been able to see some old friends and also spend lots of time just relaxing. It's been refreshing.

We had our Christmas "South" with Kasey's family on Saturday night after we got into town. We had breakfast for dinner (my favorite!!) and then opened presents.

On Sunday we were able to make it to church where I got to see many people that I have not seen in a very long time. It was fun to introduce Kalin to them. Some had seen him at Easter so they had fun seeing how much he had grown. One of my really good friends, who lives in Mississippi (and soon Hawaii!!), I hadn't seen since last Thanksgiving when I was still pregnant!!

On Monday, we relaxed and took a long walk around the neighborhood. Kasey and I also did something that we aren't able to do at home; we went out after Kalin was in bed!! We went to Marie Callendar's for a piece of razzleberry pie (yummy!!) and to Wal-mart.

On Tuesday we headed to Murrieta to spend time with the Priors (Kasey's sister and her family). I also went out with a friend to try on my bridesmaid dress for her wedding in April!! We had a really good time (and really good pizza) except Kalin would not take a nap!! So he went the whole day with only about 20 minutes of sleep. Needless to say (so why am I saying it?), Kalin was very cranky and very ready for bed by 6:30. Kasey and I again went out after he was in bed!! This time though it was to get groceries for Kalin's party the next day!!

Wednesday was my sweet little Kalin's 1st birthday!! It was fun in the days leading up to his birthday and especially the night before to look at the clock and say "What was going at this time a year ago?" I woke Kasey up when I heard Kalin making noise in the next room. Apparently he wakes up kind of early but will talk and "sing" to himself for awhile. It's nice because he's not upset and crying so we can go in and get him while he's still happy!! So when Kasey and I decided to get up I grabbed my camera and we went to wish Kalin a happy birthday!! I took a picture of him right when we walked into the room then Kasey and I sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a fun way to greet him and to celebrate the day of his birth. I burned his special candle (that his Grammie bought for him) through year one and family came over around 12:30-1 and we had spaghetti and meatballs for Kalin's birthday meal!! Kalin was past ready for a nap by the end of lunch so I put him down for a nap that lasted over 2 hours!! He would have kept sleeping except some family members needed to get going for their New Year's Eve plans (I have a feeling we'll run into these issues every year) and I really wanted some cake!! So we woke him up, opened his presents (he wasn't too thrilled about this part) and then had cake (he loved that part)!! We had bought some party hats (surprisingly hard to find) that the family had fun wearing but Kalin wouldn't leave it on for longer than a couple seconds (not surprising). It was a very fun day that ended with Kasey and I going out (again!!) after Kalin was in bed. We went to my sister's house where she was a having a little get together. We made it home just in time to welcome the new year. We laughed when we realized we haven't stayed up this late in a really long time and also when we realized that last year we went to bed around 7.

Kalin has had some big boy moments this week. As I was putting him to sleep on Saturday night, we had his noise machine and projector on. The projector was rotating through stars, moons, sheep, and a cow and projecting it onto the ceiling. Kalin and I had fun watching it go round and round as I pointed out and named the different objects. I had stopped doing that and was concentrating on getting Kalin to nurse when he looked up at the ceiling, did the closest thing to a "point" that I've seen him do and said "Baaa". I looked up and sure enough, there was a sheep being projected on the ceiling!! I told him what a smart boy he was then turned the projector off so he would stop being distracted. I was quite proud of him though.

Another "big boy moment" has actually happened two separate times. Kalin has pooped in the toilet. Not really on purpose though. Kasey was giving him his bath and he started to poop in the bath tub so Kasey, being the quick-thinking person he is, grabbed Kalin and held him on the toilet. I didn't find out about the first time until Kasey came out of the bathroom with Kalin and told me. The second time though, Kasey called for my help and when I walked in and saw what happened I told him to wait a minute so I could get a picture. It was really funny.

So we now have a one-year old and we are looking forward to what the next year may hold while enjoying this fun age and stage of learning and exploring. As I was putting him down for a nap on his birthday I spent a few minutes just staring at him, memorizing his features, marveling at how big he is and thanking God for the last year and all that it held. In the dimness of the bedroom, I realized that his sweet, sleeping profile looked exactly how it looked as he laid in his bassinet in the hospital the day he was born. I then prayed for the year to come and all the milestones and exciting adventures we're sure to have. His Grandpa Ken gave him two things that he should accomplish in this coming year: learn to talk, and learn to climb a tree. I'm not so sure about the tree climbing but the learning to talk is an excellent goal for this year.

Month 9 - September

2008-12-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

I decided that the September reminiscence post will be the last reminiscence post for two reasons: the first, seeing as how I started this blog in October, there are already lots of newer pictures posted; the second, his looks didn't change that much from September to December. I hope that you have all enjoyed looking back with me and watching Kalin grow up this year.

We kept trying to get a picture of Kalin standing on his own. I believe this was one of those attempts.

I've found it much easier to dress him in his crib now that he can stand. He's much too squirmy to dress on his changing table or on the floor. Once he sees me coming with a onesie or a shirt, he runs to the other side of his crib trying to get away from me.

We tied his blanket around him like a cape!! He was super Kalin!!

The bookcase was his favorite place to go. Unfortunately, they weren't his books that he was pulling off the shelf and trying to destroy. It was hard to discipline him from going there because I don't want to discourage his interest in books. Kasey and I both love to just sit and read and we hope he also becomes an avid reader.

His big, mean baby face.

You can finally see his two bottom teeth!!

When he sees the fridge open, he comes running!!

Kasey likes to put him in a deep hole in the bean bag chair so he can't get out.

Cruising around the room, clearing all of my tabletops of objects.

What can I say? He's just cute!!

Trying to get pictures of him standing on his own again.

Still trying to get a picture of him standing. He would fall or sit down right when the picture was taken.

Kalin and Kasey grabbing each other's ear. I think Kalin started this game.

Out on a wonderful walk!!

Eating cheese for the first time. He loved it!!

He likes to play with our groceries when we bring them home.

Wishing my Grandma (Kalin's great-grandma) a happy birthday!!

Christmas and Kalin's Birthday "North"

2008-12-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

We have had some crazy, crazy days. On Wednesday, we prepared to leave our house for 11 days...the longest time we've been away from home with Kalin. We spent our first 3 nights in Aromas with my parents, sisters, brother-in-law and niece. We ate our somewhat-traditional Christmas Eve dinner (Missouri Soup and Corn Chowder) then went to the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church in Watsonville. It was fun to be together as a family again...especially during the holidays. My sister and her family were sleeping in the apartment above my parents garage (where Kasey and I lived for 3 months) and Kasey, Kalin, and I were in my parents wonderful trailer. It worked out really well for putting the babies to bed. Once they were down for the night we would turn our baby monitors on and go back into the main house where we could spend the next few hours playing Wii, laughing, and in general - just being LOUD.

We woke up Christmas morning and took some pictures of the babies in their matching pajamas while trying to get them to be interested in their stockings. Stockings, for me, have always been an important part of Christmas. They've always been filled with lots of fun stuff and are sometimes better than the actual presents. The next part of our Christmas Day was spent at my Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt and Uncle's house in Watsonville for Christmas brunch. As expected, the food was delicious!! We opened some presents here then headed back to my parents house to get Christmas dinner ready and open all the other presents. I love this stage in Kalin's life because any present for him, is really a present for me. He gets clothes, that means I don't have to spend the money to buy them. He gets toys, it gives me more ways to play with him and watch him learn and grow (not to mention they entertain him). I can say without a doubt, that I was way more excited about his presents than he was (did we really expect anything less?). He did enjoy playing with the tissue paper (well, he enjoyed eating it).

Kasey was excited because Kalin got his first toy that required his dad to put together for him. Kasey saw it as a rite of passage for him as a dad to be able to do this for his son. I'm glad he saw it that way because I'm sure at some point his first thought will be, "Oh great, something else for me to put together."

After a fun afternoon of playing and a stressful afternoon/evening trying to get dinner on the table, we sat down to a most delicious Christmas dinner. Yummy!! Kalin was so tired by this point (he wasn't able to have a decent nap all day) that he almost fell asleep at the table. So he went to bed early leaving Kasey and I free to visit and play with my family.

Day after Christmas. We have a family reunion to attend for my dad's immediate family. It's not very often that we all get together so my Grandpa really wanted to do something. With my Grandma's health and mind not doing well (I don't think she knows who any of us are, she just kind of goes along for the ride) it was really important to everybody to have this time together. My grandma had a great time watching the babies and just couldn't believe (no matter how many times she was told) that all these people belonged to her!! It was truly a wonderful time. Funny story...Kalin again got really tired while we were eating, but this time he actually did fall asleep in his high chair.

Friday night, after our reunion, we decided to have an early and mini-birthday celebration for Kalin. It wasn't anything big but it was fun. He had his first cake and got his first birthday presents. He loved having everybody look at him and sing Happy Birthday to him. I almost started crying as we sang. His 1st birthday!! Can you believe we're already here?!?! It doesn't seem possible that this year has gone so fast and that he is so big already.

Saturday morning, we packed everything up again (leaving our presents at my parents for lack of room in the car) and headed down Hemet. We're tired but having so much fun. The festivities of Christmas and Birthday "South" will have to be another post.

Oh, my favorite present? A touchless trashcan. I'm hoping it will make it easier to keep Kalin from getting into it if he can't just open it and reach in. I'm so excited to get that home and try it out.

Month 8 - August

2008-12-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

It was nice when he could crawl around and get his own toys. It made him better able to entertain himself.

Hanging out at Round Table Pizza wearing dad's hat.

He was a very messy eater.

He learned how to pull up!!

Spider Kalin.

Playing in the kitchen.

It was so cute when he first learned how to clap.

We love his big, mean baby face.

This picture cracks me up.

He would carry things around in his mouth so his hands would be free.

He flipped the laundry basket over onto himself. I took this picture through one of the holes in the basket.

Ready for bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house!!

Baby on the Go!! - Month 7 (July)

2008-12-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Kalin and his cousin Hailee meet for a 3rd time on the 4th of July!! Aren't they just the cutest?

Kalin's first time in a swimming pool!! He wasn't too impressed at first but later had fun bouncing with Aunt Kami.

He's on the go!! Kalin started crawling this month!!

Once he had learned how to roll over, this became his favorite sleeping position. We asked the doctor about it because you're still supposed to be putting them down on their backs at this age. He said what we had suspected: there's not much you can do if they keep rolling over. It's so cute.

Happy, happy boy!!

He's driving?!?!

He liked to play with the baby in the mirror. Sometimes he would turn the mirror over trying to figure out where the baby was. He wasn't too bright.

He made a mess...the first of many.

Sitting up and reading a book.

He was a very happy boy this month.

He reminds me of Schroeder from Peanuts.

This is what he would do when he was trying to stand up.

His first cute big-boy outfit. It was cute khaki shorts and a collared, button-up shirt.

Hanging out after a swim.

This is how we wished Kasey's mom a happy birthday since we couldn't be with her.

He had to move on to big, adult towels. He just got too big for the hooded baby towels.

He was starting to pull up on things and climb onto his bouncer.

I love how straight babies sit. They have such good posture!! And his little grin just cracked me up.

There are very few times in a person's life where it's funny to be covered in food. Being a baby who is learning to eat is one of them.

He loved playing with the new toy at Grammie's house. He was concerned for the bee and kept trying to get it out.

Month 6 - June

2008-12-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile. The Christmas season and activities (along with Kalin) have taken over my life recently. We are now residing at my parents house in Aromas along with both my sisters, my brother-in-law, and my niece. We haven't all been together like this since Kasey and I got married in 2006...well, I guess really we've never ALL been together like this with the babies. The last time we had Christmas together was in 2002 so this is quite the treat. I will continue my monthly reminiscence with the month of June.

A big milestone was reached during this month. Kalin had his first food other than breastmilk. Yummy yummy rice cereal.

Snuggle time with mom.

Snuggle and sleepy time with dad.

Celebrating my dad's birthday.

Trying out the rocking chair that I used as a child. Maybe some day it will be his.

He liked (still does, I guess) to feed himself. It makes things quite messy.

He was getting stronger and stronger every day. He was about ready to start crawling at this age.

His new shades for when we went swimming. He didn't like them and they wouldn't stay on his head.

He got a big boy sippy cup!! It took him about a week to figure it out. Then a week later he decided he preferred to drink from a cup like we do. So the "sippy" part didn't last long.

More snuggle time with mom.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane (I wish)

2008-12-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

Kalin got what I call "his first big-boy injury". He got into a scuffle with the parking lot and ended up with scratches on his eyelid and eyebrow. As our pastor, Mike Fitzgerald, told Kalin, "The parking lot will almost always win...even when you're older". So true.

On Saturday morning, Kalin and I got ready alot earlier than we're used to, and headed to the San Francisco airport with my parents to pick my sister up who was flying in from China. This was Kalin's first time in an airport so we had to get a picture with him in front of some kind of sign that looked "airport-y". As I was walking through the airport, I realized that I haven't flown anywhere in a year and a half. For somebody who, for 4 years, was accustomed to flying at least 4 times a year, this is a major difference. I miss it. I love flying. Of course, the last time I flew anywhere, I was about 12 weeks pregnant and throwing up (both on the plane and off). So that wasn't the best experience...but I still miss flying.

Even though I had been showing Kalin pictures of his Aunt Jessi, it took him a few minutes to warm up to her. They have not seen each other since he was a month old. They quickly became good friends though and had some fun together this weekend.

Kalin will be almost anybody's friend if they have Cheerios and cheese to offer.

Don't worry, we didn't actually let him drive us home.

Since it was such a beautiful day (no rain!) we decided to take a walk along West Cliff.

Sunday after church, Kasey, Kalin and I headed to Watsonville where we would meet up with the rest of my family at my Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle's house to make Christmas cookies!! Before we could do that though, Kasey and I needed lunch and to finish up our Christmas shopping at Target. We were very successful and made some wonderful purchases. Kalin kept getting himself into trouble: standing up in the front of the cart, grabbing anything he could get his hands onto, and ripping the pop-up book I was going to buy for his stocking (I still bought it since he ripped it, I'll tape the broken piece back on). I was glad to finally be done and get him back into the car and then to a place where he could run around and play.

He had so much fun playing with Legos, first with my mom, then with my dad and sister.

It was a very busy weekend. And a very fun weekend.

Cuteness to the Extreme - Month 5 (May)

2008-12-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

After I had uploaded the pictures for this month, I noticed that Kalin was extremely cute in every single one. This might be one of his cutest months yet. Of course, as his mom, I think all of his pictures are cute, but there was just something in this month's pictures that caught my attention. It might be that his personality was more developed and it showed up in the pictures. These pictures sure do bring a smile to my face (and sometimes an outburst of laughter).

He sure was having fun in his stroller on this day!!

A walk along West Cliff when Kasey's parents came to visit for a few days in the beginning of May.

Kalin is happily sitting on Grandpa Ken's lap.

I love the hat and the face. I believe this was a hat the hospital gave us when he was born. It still kind of fit but his head was getting a little too big for it.

He looks a lot older than 4 months in this picture.

Squawky!!! That's what Kasey thinks every time he sees this picture.

He kept spinning himself around and getting stuck in this position. I would turn him back around and he would do it again.

Showing off his Bubba Gump shirt that Grammie bought him.

Kalin and I on our first Mother's Day (outside the womb). I remember reminiscing on this day about the previous Mother's Day - my first day of morning sickness, I thought it was very appropriate.

Everytime I look at this picture I think, "Aww, he would have made a pretty girl!".

I love the look on his face because he knows we're just messing with him and there's not much he can do about it.

It looks like he's scared but he was really just babbling up a storm and I caught him with his mouth wide open. This picture makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.

I loved this outfit because it showed off his little arm rolls.

He looks like he's ready to take off and get into some trouble.

You gotta start them early rooting for the right team.

He looks old in this picture, too.

Trying to get him to prop himself up in a sitting position.

He did it!! For about 10 seconds...then he fell over.

Working those abs...He enjoyed doing crunches.

Yummy toes!!

Brrr...it's cold

2008-12-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

The weather turned cold this week and we had several rain showers. Now, anybody who knows me well enough knows how much I love the rain. But I found myself getting annoyed with it. Now that I'm so addicted to my daily walks I have a hard time when I'm not able to go outside. This is a problem that I have never had to deal with in my life. I've never been sad that it's raining or that I can't get outside to exercise. I guess I need to find something to do indoors (besides chasing Kalin around). So far, I have only been able to go on 2 walks this week...a big change from my usual 5. But enough about me for now.

Due to the change in temperature, I put Kalin in some thermals under his regular clothes to keep him extra warm. I love how his belly sticks out so far in them.

On Wednesday night, while Kasey was at youth group, Kalin and I had a great time reading and playing. He kept handing me the same book (Moo, Baa, La La La) over and over again to read. I think I read it about 15 times. Sometimes he would sit (or stand) and listen to me read, but sometimes he would wander around the house. At one point though he grabbed another book, sat down next to me, opened his book, and started babbling. It was SOOO cute. I wish there would have been somebody else around to catch it on film. It made me really excited too because it shows that he gets it!! Or at least he's starting to understand the purpose of books.

On Thursday I was inspired, by my friend Sarah's ocean pictures, to ask Kasey if he would like to take a long lunch and have a picnic down by the ocean. Keep in mind that it was sunny when I first had this great thought. It did get overcast by the time Kasey got home but we still headed out, picking up our not-so-nutritious-but-oh-so-yummy Taco Bell along the way. It was cold but not too cold so we ate outside on a blanket and watched Kalin chase the birds. It did start to rain but not until we were about done anyway. It was just so nice to see the ocean again. It's sad that we live 15 minutes from the beach but don't seem make it down there very often.

Kasey just reminded me tonight that we only have a few more days left with our lovely Christmas tree. We'll be away from home for 11 days starting Christmas Eve so we won't be able to keep it watered. That made me so sad. It seems like we just got it. I think I should get my Christmas tree before Thanksgiving so I have more time to enjoy it.

Tomorrow, Kalin and I will join my parents in driving to San Francisco to pick up my sister from the airport!! She's flying in from China for Christmas. We haven't seen her since February when she flew in to meet her new nephew and niece. I'm so excited!!

Kalin in the month of April (his 4th month)

2008-12-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

He was trying to roll over. This was as far as he could get on his own, until April 25th when he rolled over all by himself!!

Our first trip to West Cliff after Kalin was born.

Leraning to suck his thumb (instead of his whole fist).

His 100 days cake!! We celebrated his 100th day which is a Korean custom.

He was having a hard time with tummy-time. He hated to be flipped over onto his stomach and refused to lift his head or body up. So I put him on the Boppy pillow where he was forced to hold himself up. It worked and we never had a problem with tummy-time again!!

I love his eyes in this picture.

The onesie says it all.

He's our little monkey.

His first trip to Yosemite (outside the womb). We went with my parents for their Spring trip. Kasey and I had also gone with them for their Fall trip.

Beautiful background for a family picture.

The mist from the falls was cold.

His new toy!! It took him a couple weeks to warm up to it but he had lots of fun playing (and chewing) on the toys.

Our first heat wave. He hung out in just a diaper alot.

Playing with dad.

Reading the comics with Grandpa on a hot day.

Kalin's 3rd Month

2008-12-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

And so I continue my reminiscence with Kalin's 3rd month (March).

As you will see, he became quite chunky in his 3rd month. Kasey and I noticed that from months 3-6, he looks like a different baby. Then all of a sudden at 6 months, we were like, "That's Kalin!!" I don't know if it's because his face got so chunky or what but he looks alot different from the Kalin we know now.
This was right after his 2 month shots. It made him extremely sleepy.

It was rare that I was able to put him down while he was sleeping so it was worth taking a picture.

Another photo shoot where I was able to catch some goofy faces.

Was he dancing? Notice the belly hanging out of his pants.

Practicing bearing some weight on those chunky legs. Gotta give them a workout!!

Taking a nap on dad's chest.

I was actually just testing my camera when I captured this adorable picture. It was so cute we e-mailed it to our families with the subject line "The Cutest Baby Ever!!".

I love this picture.

Kalin and cousin Hailee meet again down in Hemet for Easter.

Sometimes the only way to calm him down was to prop him up on our legs like this so he could face us. I would rock him back and forth with my legs and he would eventually fall asleep. It seemed like every couple of weeks (or sometimes days) we were having to find new methods to comfort him. There was no one way that would always work.

Chubby little guy.

Hanging out in a diaper watching tv. I think he had just had a major diaper blowout that I was trying to clean up so once he was in a clean diaper that's where I put him so I could clean everything else up. Kasey thought it would have made for a funnier picture if he would have had the tv remote and a beer can...unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we didn't have any beer at the time.

Another nap on dad's chest.

That's a good smile.

Reminiscence - Month 2

2008-12-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

Such a goofy little face.

His first really good tummy-time.

Kalin meets his cousin Hailee for the first time. He wasn't yet 7 weeks old when we took our first road trip down to Hemet. Even now I wonder how we managed that without vowing to never take another roadtrip again. We had been so careful not to take Kalin out into public for those first 6 weeks (per hospital and doctor's orders - to help him avoid catching a cold or the flu) and then we decide to take a 7 1/2 (which I believe ended up being 9) hour trip. All went well of course but it's still crazy to think that we did that.

The best way to get him to smile was to tickle his upper lip with his burp rag. I believe that's how this smile was captured.

He loved to play and talk with this monkey from Cedarville. I loved to pose the monkey with Kalin for pictures.

I was bored so I propped him up and had a photo shoot.

There's that darn monkey again :-)

He's propped up on the couch this time because my bum was getting sore sitting on the floor with him. This is when he really started learning to ham it up for the camera.

He was a happy and smiley little boy...most of the time.

We used to stare at each other and mimic what the other person was doing. I would smile...he would smile. He would coo... and I would coo right back. I would open my mouth into an "O" shape...and he would copy me!! I had actually forgotten about this until I started looking at these pictures. It's so much fun when they start to interact with you.

Getting stronger every day!!

I think the stuffed animals are attacking him.

So he decided to punch Eeyore.

So that covers Kalin's 2nd month (aka February). Hopefully I'll be able to post his 3rd month tomorrow. It's so much fun to look back at these pictures and remember. Remember what Kalin was like and what we were like. We've learned and grown right along with Kalin this year.

Recent Activities and Reminiscence

2008-12-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Laundry - Kalin likes to help me with the laundry. He's a big help in the sense that he lets me get it done. Well, he lets me get the folding of laundry done. Getting it washed and dried is a bit harder when he won't go down for a nap because it involves me going outside and down to our storage/laundry room below our house. It's possible to do it while he's awake but I have to take him with me, carrying both him and the laundry basket - not easy. He likes it when I fold though because he gets to play with all of the clothes in the basket and dump the basket over (and chew on his socks).

Puppy Chow (aka Muddy Buddies) - Kalin liked it when I started to shake the Chex mixture with the powered sugar so I let him help.

Kalin's Door - We finally decorated Kalin's door. Thanks for the poster Grandpa Ken and Grandma Jody!!

Christmas Shopping - We braved a trip to the Capitola Mall this past Saturday. It wasn't as crowded as I had expected. I guess we wore Kalin out though. Overall it was a VERY successful trip and I am quite pleased with our purchases.

Date Night - Well, it was kind of a date night. If you consider hanging out with fellow Bethany employees a date. At least we were without Kalin for a couple hours. It was the annual Christmas party for Faculty and Staff of Bethany University. This year it was held in the cafeteria so we didn't have far to go!! My parents came up to babysit, bathe Kalin, and put him to bed. We had a delightful time and the only time I thought about Kalin was when people said "Where's the baby tonight?" And I would reply, "At home with the grandparents. He was screaming as I walked out the door but I'm sure he's fine now!!" Once he no longer senses my presence in the room or house he tends to calm down and be just fine. I guess I actually thought of him twice. The second time was when we were singing Christmas carols. The interim president (who was leading the singing) said "And now for every child's favorite." Of course, nobody knew what that was supposed to be until he started singing "Away in a Manger". I started thinking about Kalin. Depending on his language development, next Christmas (or maybe the Christmas after) he could be singing these songs and doing some motions. And I stopped to think about how sweet it will be to hear his little voice singing Christmas carols. It almost made me cry!!

Sweet Tooth - Kalin is getting ready for his birthday parties that are coming up in just a couple weeks. Last week he was found eating chocolate. This morning, I found him eating brown sugar. He had grabbed the canister while my back was turned and when I noticed he was being quiet (usually a sign that something isn't right) I turned around to find him licking sugar off his fingers and clumps of brown sugar on the floor. I decided to get a picture of this since I missed out with both the chocolate and the Chex from last week.

Speaking of Kalin's birthday. I've been getting a bit nostalgic recently as I'm sure many parents do as their children reach another birthday. I got to thinking...it's really not fair how fast time goes. I mean, I waited for 9 months for the opportunity to hold my 7lb. baby and then all of a sudden he's 10lbs., then 15, and now he's over 20lbs. and his first birthday is only weeks away. It went too fast. So, in these next couple weeks, I'll take a look back at some of my favorite moments of Kalin's first year. This set of pictures are from Kalin's first month.

Fresh from the oven!!

Ready to go home.

Practicing his new trick.

Cute new outfit from Aunt Nise.

Hanging out in his new bouncer.

Gotta get those gas bubbles out!

The happiest baby on the block? Well, we tried!!

Sweet little sleeper.

He wasn't really a fan of his first bath. And he really wasn't a fan of getting out of the bath!!

I love that little face and those big blue eyes.

Four generations

His little acne covered face.

There's that sweet little face again.

Challenging

2008-12-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and today have been challenging days for both Kalin and I. I don't know what brought it on but yesterday morning I woke up, not feeling like being the mommy I know Kalin needed and wanted. I wished I could give him to somebody for 8 hours so I could have a chance to do whatever I wanted to do for a WHOLE day. I wanted it to be like when I had a job, and got a day off. A day to lazily surf around on the internet, read books, have uninterrupted thoughts. Basically, a day to care for and focus on myself...on only myself. I've only truly had a few of these days since Kalin was born, but when they hit, they hit hard. There were things on my to-do list (bills to pay, Quicken to update, things to research, laundry) that were not getting done and it was frustrating me. Several times I asked Kalin why I couldn't have a single moment to accomplish a task without him hanging all over me and whining. He, in return, let me know loud and clear (in his 11-month old way) that this was his time to play and he needed me to pay attention to him and play with him. Well, I wasn't happy with that. I told him that if he would go down for a decent nap, then maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation. So after a frustrating morning (where he finally went down for a nap around 11:30) we (meaning, I) eagerly anticipated an afternoon walk. Walks are a glorious way, not only to get exercise, but to clear my head, breathe in the crisp autumn air, and not have to really deal with Kalin. We usually start our walks off with a song and discussions about the weather and the trees and plants we see (and how fast cars speed by us on Bethany Drive). But yesterday, I was in the mood for silence, and later on some adult conversation (not adult as in dirty, but adult as in intelligible...just thought I'd clarify). I ended up talking to my friend, Kristen, from Cedarville. She is 12 weeks pregnant and spends most of her evenings laying on the couch feeling sick. We talked for 4o minutes of my 70 minute walk. It was so refreshing.

But last night I started to feel guilty. Like I had wasted a whole precious day with my little boy being annoyed and frustrated. So I purposed in my mind and heart, that today would be different. I would play with him until he was exhausted, I would hold him for his nap if that's what he needed, we would do everything the way he needed it done. That mindset resulted in me not having showered by the time Kasey came home for lunch at 1:00 and Kalin finally taking a nap (in my arms) from 12:30-1:30. He had a weird meltdown (the likes of which I have not seen for many months) around 11:30. I think he was overtired and sick. He's had a stuffy/runny nose since this morning. He has also had really weird eating patterns. It started last night. He just kept asking for more milk (by using his sign language). Then this morning he asked for it 3 times within an hour and a half. I obliged until he started spitting up. I decided he just wanted the comfort of nursing (which could be because he wasn't feeling well) or because he wanted to sleep. If I try to distract him from wanting to nurse, he'll grab the pillow I use when nursing and bring it to me. He's so smart to connect those two things!! We had a better afternoon. We took a walk (later than usual), stopped by to visit Kasey and his co-workers, and had a good evening together after Kasey headed off to youth group. I had the pleasure of giving him a bath, rubbing him down with lotion, and then putting him to bed by myself. He went down earlier than usual because he was starting to act really cranky and tried to fall asleep while I was nursing him at 6:45 (his normal bedtime is 8). Today was much better. I went into it with a better attitude which resulted in a more willing heart to give my boy whatever he needed to make his day fabulous.

A few thoughts:

It's amazing how my drive and desire to take a million pictures of Kalin everyday has drastically decreased over the months. I have no new pictures for tonight, so I'll just post some more from our fabulous excursion to Crest Ranch for our tree.

Kalin got into the Chex tonight while I was doing dishes. I saw him playing with the box but was keeping my eye on him to make sure he didn't get it open. Well, he did, and I didn't realize it until I heard him crunching on something. I guess he needed a snack. He had dumped probably 2 cups of the cereal on his lap before I got to him. It would have made for a good picture, but I was focused on making sure he didn't cram so many in his mouth that he choked.