1 Month Old

You weigh 7lb 5oz and you are 20 inches long. Your head circumference has increased by 1 full inch. You are a good nurser. You eat about every 2 hours. Your most awake hour seems to be in the middle of the night or early morning. Which is not very good for the Me right now. You love to be cuddled and will readily sleep in my arms or nuzzled against me and wake up the moment I place you in the bassinet. You cry with your bottom lip poked out and it just breaks my heart.

You don't mind taking a bath but scream your head off when I put lotion followed by clothes on you. When I talk to you, you stop crying or hold still and listen. When I hold you upright, you look around the room as if you're taking everything in. You grunt all the time. At first, I thought it was because your belly was upset, but it looks like it is also to voice your displeasure.

I love taking your picture (proof of how many photos are with this post). Now that you are here, it feels as if you have been here forever. I love you sweet baby girl of mine.

My Little Cailin

My little Cailin. You are 2.5 years old and such a big girl. You love to play and annoy Ariel. You insist on doing things on your own. When someone tries to help, you say "I do it."

You like to read and to paint. Your favorite books are "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and "Green Eggs and Ham." You love going to the park and the library. Your favorite cartoons are Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, and your absolute favorite is Spongebob Squarepants. You are very social. You like to play with the little boys next door and all kids around your age. You have learned to play tag and will take turns counting (to 3) as well as hiding. You pick pretty good hiding places around the house. You have managed to trick Ariel.
You say the darndest things. In the car on the way to Chuck E Cheeses, you exlaimed, "I like Chuck E Cheeses! It's exciting!" Now where did such a little person learn the word "exciting"? Or how about the time I was fussing at you for getting into my lip gloss and you told me, "I was trying to be beautiful." That one made me laugh. Your Dad shares the times that you have been eating with him and you asked, "Can I have the last one?" Smart girl.



You adore your little sister. And so far no signs of jealousy. You like to hold her and kiss her. Here you were excited to be holding her for a picture.

And you did this all by yourself. You are a natural snuggle bunny. You ask, "Can I hold you or can I hug you?" Which means can you pick me up. You tell everyone that you love them and then share kisses. You are tinkled pink when you say, "I love you Momma"

And I say, "I love you, Cailin." And you follow it up with, "I love you Keshia." This always starts you to giggling.

You know your full name, but only say it with prompting. You know how old you are. You can count to ten and sing most of the ABC's. You are attempting your colors and can recognize whether something printed is a letter or number. You can go to the potty, but so far only if prompted.
I love you sweet Cailin.

I Lub Rylie

Cailin always says, "I lub (love) Rylie."

She thinks the world of her. She asks, a million times per day, can she hold her.

She smothers her with kisses.

And for some reason points at her too.

Silly Girl!

She came up with this face on her own.

And once she started doing it....

she just couldn't stop!

Happy Christmas

No matter how many times I say, "Merry Christmas"- Cailin always says, "Happy Christmas". After all, it is "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Halloween".

We got to see Santa during the Mother Goose Hour at the library. She went right up to greet Santa. I didn't get to hear her reply when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas.

And she gladly accepted the candy cane at the end.

It's a Girl!

This delivery was by far the easiest. Maybe because I knew what to expect this time around. Rylie was born on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 3:58a.m. She weighed 5lb 11oz and was 19in long. She came out really awake and alert. Heck! Look at those eye on this photo (she is 2 days old). She is a champion nurser, but that could be because I've done it before. We were discharged from the hospital after she was 24 hours old and I took her in to see the pediatrician the following day, because it was going to be a long weekend (due to Thanksgiving being in a few days) and wanted to establish her with the practice. The pediatrician was concerned about her weight lost as a result of the breastfeeding and suggested that I supplement her with formula. Nevermind the fact that she should know that it takes a few days for your milk to come in and the baby is being fed collostrum until it finally matures. I wasn't going to use the formula , but I did supplement her with additional breastmilk that she didn't manage to get from the breast (this was Jerry's idea) . So, imagine my surprise when we go in for a weigh in and she has gained 8oz over 2 days. That's 1/2 of a pound and simply amazing! I was glad that I didn't listen to the doctor and trusted my gut.

My Big 6th Grader

Dropping her off at the Middle School reminded me of taking her to Kindergarten. I was weepy both times. Both times she said, "Good Bye" and ran along without me. I look at her sometimes and literally wonder where does time go. How can she already be 11 years old and not 2. Makes me want to shut her in the freezer to just slow down the time. Especially since we are on the cusps of the "Dreaded Teenage Years".

Ariel says that she is stuck in the house with Adults and Babies. I thought about that for a long time. And you know what? I agree. So I decided that I would just have to make more time for her and I to hang out or make myself available for her to just hang out more with friends.

On this day, however it was just her and I making a run for ice cream. My camera came along too- he he!

So quiet and thoughtful. She reads alot. She can finish a chapter book in about a week. This is in addition to homework. I never have to tell her to take time to read. Also reflective and conscientious. She's not really a risk taker, she likes to know all her options before ever making a decision. It reminds me of when she started to walk. She would always stand but no amount of coaching would make her walk across the floor without something to hold on to. She comes back and apologizes for acting out. I can hardly believe this, because I certainly wasn't doing that at this age.

Most of the time, she is a really good big sister. She looks out for Cailin- making sure she is safe. However her patience is really short when it comes to Cailin and her room. She rarely allows her into her personal space.

She LOVES chocolate! This is the smile I got when confirming that it was ok to have chocolate ice cream. This child ate at least 40 chocolate bars in two days. She wiped out all the Halloween candy in the house.

She has recently decided that my skills for picking out clothes were inadequate. Over night she has decided that I don't know how to dress her and she can do a much better job.

Which leads us to these shoes. I cringed while her face just lit up over these shoes. I am giving her the space to choose what she wears. My only stipulation is that it is neat and age appropriate.

Love you sweet sweet Ariel!

Halloween 2009

I love Halloween and always start months ahead brainstorming different ideas. Initially, when I was thinking of Ariel's costume, I was thinking Hippie. However it started to morph, while I was shopping around for accessories. I almost brought her a pair of clogs, but didn't think that really meshed with walking around all night Trick-or-treating. As we were leaving, we stopped by my neighbor's house and he said, "Angela Davis"! And I thought, "Bingo" she is dressed like the 1960-70's!

Cailin got to be Minnie Mouse this year. She always give me this smile. It always makes me laugh, so she keeps doing it. She will say, "Momma look at me!" and I turn around and I am greeted with this face. Jerry says she looks mischievous. No farther comment from me!

Notice anything different in the last two photos? She broke my DIY bow and insisted on taking the leggings off. The story of my two year old!

Ariel got a lot of compliments on her costume. This child was a witch like 565 times in a row, until I started making suggestions for different costumes last year.

Doesn't it make you want to sing, "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy?

Cailin was so upset in this photo. She is in the "Can't catch me Phase"- meaning she will just take off running and you running after her only makes her run faster. I have tried everything to get her to stop doing this, but she just thinks it's all a game. On this day she was running straight towards a 4-lane street. She got a few seconds lead on me and with my 8 month belly- well sometimes she is the winner of the race. I send Ariel instead chasing after her and I am yelling at the top of my lungs for her to stop. I'm sure we thoroughly terrorized her in the process, but when I think of the alternative.....

Anyway big sister made her feel better.

In the interest of keeping all things fair around here, Jerry painted belly baby for me!

8 months

8 months pregnant! My belly is huge! I looked in the mirror and discovered a long stretch mark on my belly. That is new and something that I can attribute to just you. I'm afraid of having a wrinkly belly, but I"ll just take it as proof that you are getting big in there. You are probably the best kicker so far. Your kicks feel like jolts and I enjoy watching my whole belly shift and teepee from your movements. Your are a very busy baby as I feel you moving almost constantly. I also feel as if I can feel you hiccup pretty often as well. At least once a day. They feel like short jerky movements that happen like 10 times in a row. When you press a knee or foot out and I touch there, you seem to press and hold it there pretty firmly.

We had some scares and I thought that you would be delivered early, but that fear is no longer since I am about 3 weeks away from you being full term. Yay!

I'm a little anxious because I'm afraid of the labor pains. I am a little bit of a wimp when it comes to pain, but I'm hoping that when it happens it happens quickly. However you stay in there and cook a little longer and we will see you soon little one.

33 weeks 5 days

I joked with your Dad that this looked like a "Cardine nose"!

(Oct23) We found out that you were about 5 pounds and 2 ounces. I was pretty excited about that because I was really worried that all my stomach issues would not allow you to pack on the pounds at the end. The doctor assured me because of all the measurements they did to get the calculations that you were probably +/- about 2 ounces. That was such a relief because Cailin was born weighing 5 pounds and 7 ounces, but you will probably be bigger than that.