Christmas #1

This will probably be the first of a couple of holiday posts...I've not uploaded any of my other Christmas pictures yet, though I need to!

Little Man in his "fake tie" shirt! ;)

Love this pic, just captures the curiosity and mischief in him...

Grandma and Grandpa came on the 23rd, we couldn't wait, and it's been fun and busy since they've been here!

They do more than I could ever ask, and make life so much more fun for the kids, and easier for me...words can't really express how much we love them, and how sad we will be to see them go later this week. I will try to get more pictures up and spend a little more time writing later on, but I'm going to bed before midnight for once this week!

Making a list...

Or not, is it really almost Christmas? Am I already out of school? Do I still really have shopping to do? I desperately need to make a list! It's time to prioritize...

Big news first:
~Calder's hand healed up perfectly from the 2nd degree burns, hardly even any noticeable scars...SO grateful that he is beyond that injury!

~Since then, he has fallen down the stairs and bumped his head a few times...this kid never quits?! I'll be the one in the hospital, he will probably give me heart failure one of these times.

~Had a great Thanksgiving

~Managed to decorate most of the house...now if we could just get the rest of it cleaned up? :)

~Somewhat successfully visited Santa (pictures to follow)

~Getting ready for our favorite out of town visitors to come for Christmas: Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Aaron, Stephanie and Caleb!

I hate that I haven't been on here as often as I'd like. My goal was to post once a week...maybe that can still happen. For now, some new pictures to enjoy!

Calder showing Wally the love...and sharing Sophie the Giraffe!

Thanksgiving at Mamma and Pappa's house.

Looking for trouble...

How could this little cutie be naughty? ;)
Grandma sent these pajamas, they pretty much say it all!

FINALLY, the Santa pictures:
Calder didn't really enjoy this, but it made for a few keepsake photos!

Good...

Better...

BEST!

I don't know who I feel worse for...Santa, or Calder?! My poor little monkey, hopefully these pictures will be his only memory! Before we went up to Santa, he was a total ham...waving, laughing, arching to get down and get closer...GO FIGURE!

If I don't get on here before this weekend,
Merry Christmas!
Remember the real reason we celebrate...God's blessings to all!!

Thankful...

So, last weekend Calder burned his left hand pretty badly on the inside door of the oven. He is recovering from 2nd degree burns with Silvadine and bandages, and has taken every step of the way in stride. THIS kid is an absolute amazement to me...what a trooper! We are hoping that his hand will not need any reconstructive surgery, and have 2 plastic surgery appointments next week. One for a post-op palate check...and now one for the hand. I'm assuming that I'd better get used to it, he is a boy, and ALL over the place, so I'm sure it won't be the only injury we have to deal with. I'll try to update next week about the appointments. Our pediatricians have told us that burns take a long time to heal, especially when they are on the hands, so we will just have to wait and see what happens.

But, I really just wanted to get on here and say that I'm thankful for having such an amazing life. I run into situations all the time that put things back into perspective when they seem slightly askew, and for that also, I'm thankful. I have a wonderful husband, that I don't always appreciate like I should. I have an incredible 4 year old daughter who is truly "my best girl ever". My NAUGHTY little 13 month old boy, who lights up the room with his smiles and cracks us up daily. Our home, our jobs, our families, health, friendship...we are blessed beyond measure.

I am just thankful...

More October...

These are in order from earliest to most recent!

Here are Caydree and Nicelle at our school's Fall Festival!

Mommy and Calder at the festival...my little skeleton!

Took little man to get his first "real" haircut, because Mommy and Mamma are not really the "professionals" we'd like to believe we are. I pretty much gave him a "Dumb and Dumber" chop job...poor thing! As luck would have it, he played the typical 1 year old and wouldn't sit still, cried, threw a big fit...and got NO haircut. Mommy got some advice, that's about it. ;) Maybe next time. Doesn't he look SATISFIED in this next shot? Turkey.

So, after the haircut, we went to our favorite "beach park" instead! Much better time there, I must say.

Waving to the kids...

laying in the sand...

The following week we carved our pumpkin! Daddy did most of the hard work.

She thought it was "SO spooky"...

I haven't uploaded much of Caydree lately, this is a new video of her singing! This is pretty funny, and she normally CAN count, but I love her confusion in the 2nd song...ahhh, my little funny girl...don't grow up anymore, I'll keep you just like this forever!

We went to a Harvest Festival at Tom's Farm in Corona...that was really fun. Caydree loved the ferris wheel! Here we are at the very top! Mommy got to hear some of her favorite Christian bands play, Calder got to dance, we had a good time!

On Halloween I took Calder for some good old Sears pictures today too...wanted to get some of him with the "1". He did alright...and I know I just need to call on all of my amazing photographer friends when I get the picture itch...so from now on, that's probably what I'll be doing. Such a hassle at Sears. :/

Halloween...the night was rushed, and we didn't get to do all we wanted to, but on the whole had a good time.

Caydree dressed up like a "black kitty cat ballerina", and the little while Calder
was dressed, he was a monkey.

I want to go trick-or-treating too!

End of the evening...we'd call it a success!
Happy Halloween!

pumpkin pickin'

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend, to pick out some pumpkins. So, what happened to the good "old fashioned" patch that basically consisted of pumpkins? Thankfully, the one we went to only had a petting zoo, pony rides, a train, a big corn maze, pig races and an ice cream truck...and yes, pumpkins. Holy moly, all we really wanted was a pumpkin! ;)

We were happy and the kids had a good time! Caydree found the perfect pumpkin...shared a cold treat with baby brother...

Calder found the perfect pumpkin...

I've gotta say, I can't get over how quickly he has healed up and gotten back to his normal, stubborn, little feisty self. He is a handful, and I love EVERY bit of it!

Palate Repair...

So, we are home and recovering from palate surgery, and a minor lip and nose revision. Calder's surgery was Monday morning (early), lasted about 4 hours, and he came through like a champ. We thankfully spent one night in the hospital, up pretty much on and off throughout the night, but it was nice to have the nursing staff there to support and help us. He was one UNHAPPY little man, cried and whimpered almost nonstop for that 1st 24 hours unless he was fitfully sleeping...that first afternoon/night/morning were the pits! Part of getting to go home is how much they will drink on their own. OH, there were many moments we thought we might be there for at least another day, but he finally started to drink some orange juice out of a little cup, tears of joy--thank goodness he kept it up and we were able to go home that next afternoon.

He was hooked up to an IV, oxygen, heart, and respiration monitors, and had to wear arm restraints...so I don't really know what was making him the most angry!? I know he was in a little bit of pain, but the tylenol with codine knocks most of that down enough...if only it didn't taste SO BAD! He hated taking that medicine more than anything. It took 3 of us to give it to him--he is one strong cookie! Shane has been recovering from some back pain, and my arms are finally starting to recover (4 days later), but this little boy just wanted to be held, so holding him is ALL we've been doing. It breaks your heart not knowing exactly what you can do to make them feel better...at least he can communicate through pointing and shaking his head 'no'...

Grandma is here for another day from Maryland, and Mamma has been here helping so they have been a God-send! He is now starting to regain his energy, and get back to his normal busy self! He can only have a liquid diet for the first week, so that has been a struggle, but he is starting to figure out that he needs to eat to feel better. ;) Took him off the tylenol with codine yesterday...it's notorious for causing constipation and we could tell his tummy was giving him some problems. So now, we just have him on regular tylenol and motrin, they seem to be doing the job. Our biggest hurdles now are getting him to "eat" as much as possible, and sleeping. I'm not quite comfortable yet putting him back in his crib so he's been sleeping on a bed with one of us, or in the bouncer...neither of which are my 1st choice, or really giving him good spurts of sleep either, but it's what's working for now. I don't want to put him in the crib because of the arm restraints...he can flip over but not well, and the last thing I need is for him to flip right on his face! He has always been a snuggler too, so I don't really know if I want him smashing his face into the blankets! I can probably use socks on his hands to keep him from putting fingers in his mouth, but I'm going to wait until next week after we see the doctor on Monday. We are almost there... :)

So I'll put a few pictures up of the process...still waiting to get a good picture of his new "Frankenstein-ish" palate!

Get this thing off of me!

I love you Mommy...for a little while longer, at least...

Recovery...ahhh, morphine...sweet sleep!

Daddy holding me in our room.

Still really out of it, maybe 4 hours after surgery?

The next morning...snuggling with mommy.

Starting to feel a little better in the afternoon, when Grandma and Mamma came to visit!

Even managed a little smile!

Heading home, goodbye to one of our favorite nurses, Beth...

Terrible, horrible mommy is what I am...not cut out for this having 2 kids, working full time, and trying to keep up with the blogging thing, that is FOR SURE! It's times like now, when I have to check myself, and remember that I LOVE my kids, I love my job, and I really do love to blog, I just also need to remember life has priorities. ;)

That said, we are still here! Less than a week away from our big palate surgery (and lip and nose revision) on Monday, Oct. 4. I'm a nervous wreck. The surgery itself is a big deal, but I am so much more worried about the recovery, and how little man will handle it all. He is such a stubborn, rotten little monkey...it will either be a piece of cake or absolute hell! Hoping for choice #1...keep us in your prayers, PLEASE! Speedy recovery for him, sanity and patience for me, right?! Grandma is coming to help, and Mamma will be here as well, so between 3-4 sets of hands we are hoping that the 1st week just goes by quickly. There may not be much sleep, but we will see...I have a couple of ideas about how that might work.

Anyway, a couple of updates from the past month.
--Calder is up to 5 teeth now! Loves to bite and pinch when he doesn't get his way...Naughty.
--Caydree turned 4 on the 23rd
--Calder turned 1 on the 27th...we celebrated their b-days with a pirate and mermaid themed party...ARRR!
--Calder went to his 1 year well-check and is 19.2 lbs...he is in the 6th %ile for weight, WOO HOO!!
--Caydree's preschool (at my site) is closing due to lack of enrollment, so she will be going back to Ms. Linda's...where I know she is loved and will be happy! It was a good experience for her, and I will miss the more "formal" school aspect of it, but she'll head to kinder next year (holy smokes) and will be just as ready, no big deal.

I want to post a couple of pictures from birthday...and Calder's 1st year video...so I'll leave it at that, for now. Look for surgery updates early next week!





Little man's 1st year video...sorry, it's a little long, I got carried away!

school, school, school...

This is where I work, eat, and practically sleep these days. Things are good, but I'm not keeping up with anything else. Thank you Shane for doing the laundry last weekend, I apologize for the filthy house and sink-full of dishes!! :( Back to school is hard for mommy, but GREAT too!! Caydree is also with me at school, and liking it so far. She is in the kinder-readiness program, with only 3 other kids so far, so we will see how it starts to pan out! Her teachers are Ms. Sylvia and Ms. Sarah. She plays hard, doesn't nap as well, gets to go to the library and computer lab, and eats lunch from the cafeteria. BIG changes for my little girl.

Mr. Man is way too much to handle...been walking like a maniac for more than a month now...into everything, and is the boyest of boys I know!! ;) I'll put some new videos on here to share just how fun he is these days! Not talking yet, but makes lots of noise. Just waiting for the words to come flooding out, but for now the facial expressions, screaming, and head shaking will have to do!

4th of July...vacation in Washington

So, apparently, I'm not very good about staying on top of this. :( I'm posting some 4th of July pics from our trip to Washington to visit Uncle Aaron, Aunt Stephanie and cousin Caleb. We had a great time, despite the lack of schedule and being out of our "element"!

I love my family!

Here we are with Uncle Aaron, Aunt Stephanie, and cousin Caleb!

Mommy and Caydree at Lake Cushman...self-taken. ;)

Calder in the water, trying to eat the rocks...yum!

Caydree on the boat with her noodle!

Sister at the playground...

Little man and mommy after a wet afternoon in the fountain!

Trying on mommy's sunglasses on the ferry ride to Seattle!

With daddy on the deck riding to Seattle...

Mommy and Caydree at the Seattle Center, riding the carousel.

The group...at Pike's Place Market...watch for flying fish!

Great view of the fireworks from Port Orchard at Aunt Stephanie's parents...thanks!!

Getting ready for the fireworks, but tuckered himself out and missed them all!

It wouldn't be the 4th of July without some sparkler action!