About my two growing girlies.

A little update: things are going well. The girls are growing so quickly!

Riley: began this past month standing up holding onto couches and tables...she's been crawling since 6 months old... She's got two bottom teeth. She's eating all kinds of healthy foods and there's nothing she's refused yet, not even peas. She says MaMA and Dada...and babbles on about countless other things. She's officially "sofa surfing." Yesterday, she decided that she was a big girl enough to stand and NOT hold onto anything several times. So here's my cool little 8 month old standing around in the middle of the floor holding a toy with two hands acting all grown up (not in this picture obviously)...How does time escape us so quickly?

I anticipate she will walk by nine months as Cailen did. So far she's at the same schedule of learning if not slightly ahead on some things! She officially chases the cat around and follows Cailen to where she's playing. She will stand up holding Cailen's kitchen set and try her best to play with her. I didn't realize this time would come so soon when they would actually play together. It's awesome!

Unfortunately in Riley's haste to become an independent standing baby, on thursday, she was holding Cailen's wooden chair one handed and fell sideways, face first into the front of the chair...She cut her lip and ripped open her top gum exposing half of the front of the top tooth that had just been beginning to cut through the gum that morning....That was quite traumatic for me (and only slightly for her! She only cried like 45 seconds...) and very bloody. She seems to be healing quickly and the Doctor says it should be fine....*phew*

Cailen is a little ham. She dances and sings. She's got her alphabet song just about perfected. She can count to ten. She constantly invents new songs to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle. She is so wonderful to her baby sister and has really been very big about sharing with her. She does need redirection at times but she so proudly changes her disposition and will hand a toy to Riley and say "Look Riley share!" They love to tumble together on the floor. Just when I think Cailen may be too rough in laying on her or whatever Riley is laughing hysterically. (Obviously they still need to be monitored with that!) One of the things we love is when Cailen says to Riley "Rirey YOU ['RE] FUNNY!" and they laugh together...such sillies they are. Last night Cailen saw a 3/4 moon picture and said "Look the moon is broke!"

She was calling my mom "MOM" and me mommy or mama. Now, she calls my mom "Drammy" and me "MOM." It seems like it's not my name and I feel like I have to correct her...I guess I am indeed mom though. She is starting to say people's name and make friends and warm up to people so much faster than she used to which is a very good thing.

After all the b'day parties we've been to these days she sings "Happy TO YOU, Drianna!" all the time, even though it was Elena, not Adrianna that had a party recently. :)

It seems Cailen sees Riley as her peer now. If we refer to Riley as a baby she corrects us and says "No Rirey, Baby Ben."

This past week we (me, kris and Cailen) came down with the stomach bug...in the following days I would ask Cailen if she was feeling okay and she would pull up her shirt a little to show me her belly and say "No, Ein all bedduh!" (I'm all better!) It was very cute and I loved that she thought she had to show me her belly to get that point accross.

I bought Cailen two $1 target bin tutus and a princess sleeping bag and now Cailen loves princesses. We never purposely got her into princesses but as I look around the house there is SO MUCH DISNEY PRINCESS stuff! toothpaste, boots, plates, crayons, it's crazy! It's very cute though to see her get into girly things and wear the tutus and dance around with them....So fun having daughters :)

I am eagerly anticipating spring. I can't wait to take them out for walks and to the park. In the sunshine and fresh air with two little girls to play together. What could be more fun?

A few words in a time of grief.

Thank you all for your prayers and for always asking how my family was doing in the past few months.

My nephew Skylar Dylan Morris was born at 11:15am yesterday weighing 8lbs 2 oz. and he went home to be with Jesus, at 1:05pm, where his little body will know no pain or suffering and where he will be comforted by his Heavenly Father.

Though my sister-in -law had to have a c-section she was able to spend very precious time with her son before God called him home which in itself was a huge answer to prayer as c-sections take about an hour away from a mom in seeing her baby. Randy and Marcia were able to have both of their parents there to meet their baby while he was here. I know my parents were so blessed to know their grandson while he was here, they were overjoyed to be a part of his short life and so very proud. I was privileged enough to hear his voice over the phone. That in itself was a miracle for me, something I never expected.

It has been difficult for the whole family but there were certainly prayers answered in this situation. I know Randy and Marcia's faith has been a very strong testimony to so many people and I know that lives will be touched and have been touched by the life, though short, of this sweet little boy.

Randy and Marcia unselfishly and lovingly decided it would be best to donate Skylar's heart to help another family who I pray will be blessed by their gift. In the eyes of another family unknown to us, I'm sure Skylar's short life was a miracle though bitter sweet. God's ways are not our ways but we know that He is good all the time. In all things we will rejoice though we may cry. Please pray for the family who will receive this donation. Pray for a perfect match for the baby that is in need out there. Pray that they would know Jesus in their own struggles and victories.

This whole thing has been a whirl wind of emotions. There are so many thoughts on my mind and on my heart. Grief too much to talk more about or imagine how my brother and wife are feeling. Please continue to pray for my family as this healing process begins. Please pray for peace, peace that surpasses all understanding. Please also remember my niece Maddi and nephew Todd as they will soon try to make sense of this in their young minds and hearts.

Sincerely,
me

My Baby is 2!

Last year's theme was Elmo and I had everyone wear red shirts. This year I tried to do an underwater/Finding Nemo theme so I asked everyone to wear blue. I figured I would show my baby then and now as well as show case my "Cailen cakes" while I'm at it. It was a full house which always feels slightly awkward for me because I'm always so overwhelmed and scatter brained that I'm TERRIBLE at introducing the people who don't know the other people at the party...*sorry*

For decorations I had tried to turn my ceiling into the top of the ocean with blue and white streamers and blue plastic swag-ish things strewn about (shredded plastic table cloths). Then I hung printed card stock fish as well as balloons that I turned into fish from the ceiling.

I found two Nemo toys at the dollar store (Dori and the shark). Ironically I couldn't find a Nemo toy for the cake. My mom is always thinking and she found a Nemo Pez dispenser that she brought and we just took Nemo from his Pez-pedistal and boom perfectly completed cake! I will admit I hate writing with gel and the gel I had was runny. I didn't want to write in cursive so that Cailen could recognize the letters on the cake. So, my one big disappointment of my cake was the hand writing. Oh well. For doing the cake betwen 1-2 am I guess it came out alright. :) Anyway, I just can't believe Cailen is two already. It seems like yesterday I was telling the blog world how much morning sickness I had with her and how much weight I was gaining month to month! I can't imagine life without her. She has truly changed our lives and our family and we are so blessed to be her parents.

Before closing I wanted to say, the sweetest moment at the party came when she was opening presents. I bought her the Little People set with a curly red head doll/picnic set. The child on the back of the box playing with the toy had similar hair to Cailen's. As Cailen opened the present Adriana pointed to the child on the box and exclaimed "Look it's YOU!" :) *awesome*

Thanks to all who came. For those who couldn't come, you were missed. :)

Any advice?

So obviously Cailen is my first child. This past summer she spent a lot of time hanging around the house in her diaper, which for her age seemed normal to me. But now it's almost December, she seems to love being in her diaper most of the day. I have tried presetting her, giving her a choice of clothes, etc. etc. When I feel like the room is cold, she feels pretty warm. I think her metabolism runs "high" or whatever you call it. Regardless, it seems like I should be having her wear clothes...I don't want clothes to become a control issue or a power struggle...I'm just wondering, has anyone else been through this and do you have any advice? I feel like a bad mom sometimes because of this...Any ideas? I'm not sure she will just outgrow it because it seems day by day she tolerates clothes less and less.... :(
Help! (I'm taking Riley to the DR. next week I may ask him about it then.)

Back by popular demand

I had to take a break from blogging for fear that I would annoy people with my Obama talk. That being said, I will talk no more of Obama at this point.

Updates:
Riley is a two toothed wonder. I think if I put her at the bottom of the stairs she could almost crawl up them. She sits up on her own now. She can shimey out of her car seat or bouncer if not strapped in and she can arch herself out of her Bumbo seat. She's not quite crawling yet but she gets where she wants to go by scooting or rolling. I already have to keep crayons and small items off the floor because she wants to eat everything in sight. She loves to gargle (like Chewbahka) and do raspberries.

She loves Cailen and is always laughing at her little antics, songs and silly faces.

Cailen is a trip. She makes up songs about anything all day to the tunes of ABC's or Barney's song or whatever...She loves to dance. Despite the house being colder these days she still prefers to wander in her diaper no matter how many times I dress her. I never thought I'd let my kids watch Barney but Sesame Street and Nemo were getting old. She LOVES Barney! What is it with a big purple dino? She loves the song at the end naturally. She often starts hugging us or holding our hands when the final song is sung and the kids start hugging Barney. It's quite sweet. Cailen has a new kitchen set that she loves to play with, she always wants to play "eat." She's also very demanding in making us come over to a certain rug and sit on the floor with her to play ball, color, lay on pillows or even to do nothing. She just loves the floor. In our opinion the floor is so cold! (and we aren't sitting around in just a diaper!)

We have taken the house off the market for the next couple of months. With the mortgage crisis and it being winter, we figure why worry any more about it? It is just emotionally easier to take control of our situation and just say "We aren't selling the house right now because we aren't trying" than to wonder why no one cares, or to clean like crazy for someone who has no intention of buying right now who wants to browse for the heck of it. (Sorry if my sentences are run-on. I'm rushing my update.) So, we are hunkering down for the winter however we need to and we're not going to worry about selling it for now. We are taking our lives back! :) God will get us through the winter regardless of money. Everyone is struggling right now, so we will just continue to be thankful for all that we do have. I am clipping coupons, shopping sales and clearance and making quite a game of getting good deals :)

I am making most of my Christmas gift this year. I will try to take pictures but I can't post them until after they are given out. I'm attempting to do the "buy nothing Christmas" idea. I have spent $32 on some supplies but I am really excited to make gifts and hopefully make more meaningful gifts this year that will be appreciated more than some deal at target that the person will never use or remember where it came from. I am trying to make gifts with love in them to make it all more special. Well, hopefully it will be more special...

We have been using space heaters to heat one room at a time up until today. Compared to last year we could have saved ourselves about 120 gallons by waiting until now to turn on the furnace. Today the house was unbearably cold so hearing the furnace roaring in the basement was actually a welcome sound instead of a stressor.

Well, I guess that's it today. I have so much to be excited about. Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. Cailen's b'day is on thanksgiving. My birthday is the next day. I am planning a party for Cailen. I am eagerly awaiting Keila's baby's arrival. I hope to get together with friends for my b'day but if nothing else I am planning to throw a holiday pot luck at some point. I figure, if we still have this big ol' house we might as well enjoy it! :) I've got some other friend get togethers to try and plan and of course decorating for Christmas for my girls....I'm excited about the next couple of months :) Regardless of not having sold my house :)

Happy Thanksgiving to be!