Four Christmases (Part 1)

These past four days of Christmas brought hospice, eggnog as thick as tapioca, and structural damage to our home. It was Addison's first Christmas and it was the first Christmas that Caelen could read the gift tags on presents. It also brought back family and friends we haven't seen in as long as six years and that, my friends, is always the best gift of Christmastime.

My husband and I agreed not to exchange gifts, a promise that, as we all know, always manages to get broken by someone at some point before Christmas. My husband broke it the moment he got an unexpected monetary gift and he placed a present under the tree that he said would change my life. He later rescinded the extravagant words, saying it would only solve "A" problem and that I would love it, but not as much as my GPS last year. Knowing the mystery would be solved Christmas Eve night, I didn't even try to guess what it was. As we were about to head out for the beginning of a long weekend, I turned on my camera to empty it onto the computer so it would be freshly empty, ready for Christmas '09 memories. It didn't work. After 6 years, my banged up, beaten down camera finally gave up the ghost. Next thing I know, Thomas hands me my gift from under the tree. So I'm loving my new Kodak EasyShare!! and it couldn't have been better timing.
Going into Christmas Eve we knew my Grandma would probably not be joining our celebration. At 96 years old she was put on hospice home care on Christmas Eve morning. With some last minute goodies thrown together so she wouldn't miss out entirely on the festivities, we headed to Great Grandma Evelyn's house first.

And the rest of Christmas Eve found us right where we are supposed to be: my parent's living room. I have spent every Christmas Eve (that I can remember) there and wouldn't care to be anywhere else.

We ate tasty appetizers all afternoon long which, let's be honest, might be my favorite part. Dad showed my sister how his new Droid could map out the stars above your head. And I think, despite the dark cloud of Grandma's poor health and the fact that the economy has been unkind to all of us, we had a very merry Christmas.

************************

Christmas morning arrived with Auntie sleeping on the couch next to a new Disney Princess bike and very full stockings. Addison didn't join in the fun until about a half an hour later, when all that was left was her gift from Santa and a couple socks in her stocking. I mean, really, anything that is small enough to fit in a stocking, a ten month old either doesn't use or will choke on.

Caelen really enjoyed helping us with our stockings and though very unsure of the bike at first, she hopped on after a couple hours and has been riding as often as she can ever since.

After a relaxing morning watching the girls enjoy all their gifts so far, it was off the Grandpa Bob and Grandma Faith's house for Christmas dinner.

Poor Thomas had been plagued by a case of the holiday blues, the source of which he couldn't quite put his finger on, but when we arrived at the elder Klines home and everyone began to inquire after the ham I was sure Thomas might just lose it. Not only had he forgotten the Christmas ham, he never even had an inkling that he had forgotten something. No nagging in the back of his mind, he just completely forgot. But I'll tell you, he wins for recovery of the year, the tri-tip he pulled off was amazing!

The homemade eggnog was good, good and thick! When Caelen received a mug full, she promptly dumped it in a bowl and announced she needed a spoon. We got to visit with Miranda, Faith's cousin, whom we get to see once a year and who Caelen fell in love with. Caelen was disturbed by the absence of a Christmas tree and stockings, but seemed to get over it and enjoy herself quite a bit.

*************************

Saturday morning we had Eddie Kim over for breakfast! We've seen Eddie twice since he was in our wedding, and the last time was about 6 years ago. It was a great time to catch up and eat amazing pancakes.

The rest of Saturday then got very interesting.....

(To be continued)

Unrequited Love

When I have a spare 5 minutes, I'll admit it, I sit down on Facebook and play some mindless rounds of Bejeweled. It's a quick minute so if someone falls and cracks their head open, I'm not committed enough to not be right there for them. But sitting down to blog is a huge commitment and feels like a bit of a risk. Currently the girls are in the play room, eating markers and playing with toys whose batteries are long ago dead. I'm waiting for the slap of hands on the hardwood and thundering of feet to tell me they're over it and coming out to find me.......
Ah yes, now I have one trying to get in my lap and another slapping keys against my leg, but none-the-less, we'll try to get this done.

Caelen asked me yesterday "How do we get to S Mommy?" Which basically means, what comes before it in the alphabet? As I told her, she began writing each letter. When she was done I realized she could write ever letter without help, with the exception of J,U,V,W,X,Y & Z. She has been spending much time underneath ours and Grandma & Grandpa's Christmas trees reading the first letter of the packages and determining who they are for. She doesn't need any help with this task unless she's trying to read Grandma's cursive or, of course, comes across a J. :)

Addison threw her bottle from the couch this morning and said, "Uh-oh." She reiterated it many times, just to get the point across and I laughed and said, "It's not an uh-oh if you did it on purpose!" and Thomas said, "I remember you saying that to Caelen all the time." It took me back too.
Addie also consistently says, Mama, Dada, Hi, All Done and now Uh-oh. She's walking but doesn't have the confidence to just bulldoze on ahead. Some days she feels very brave and lets go, gives herself a hand and then sits down. She's walked across Caelen's room and from the coffee table to the TV many times and so I'm getting beautiful glimpses of when the girls can hang out together, play together and interact. Sometimes I realize they've been in a room together for 15 minutes, playing side by side in beautiful harmony and I feel like a real mom on a normal day instead of a mother to babies. I'm not ready to move on from the baby stage yet, but those moments make me really look forward to what is to come.

Yesterday, in the car, where Caelen and I have our most profound discussions, we were talking about Caelen's great-grandparents. She had seen a picture of my Grandpa Tom in Mom's hallway and wanted to know how many times I had seen him. When I told her only about 3, she assured me it was okay because I could see him again. I told her yes, but he was in heaven now so it would be awhile. Our discussion turned theological and we talked about heaven a bit. She said, "Well, there sure are alot of people up there! I hope they're doing okay up there."

We got to spend most of the day with Auntie Heather yesterday. At one point she ran out to do a quick errand leaving Caelen pining away for her at the window and jumping at every sound asking, "Auntie?" Finally I got her distracted and we colored some princesses together. While we were coloring I, filled with affection for my budding artist, leaned in and said, "You know who I love?" She asked who and I said, "You!". She smiled and gave me a kiss. Then she said, "You know who I love?" I asked who and she said, "AUNTIE!!" So there you have it :)

Addison Walks

Addison has taken some very cautious steps today, no more than two at a time. But when I got out the video camera she did her best walking to date!! Yay Addie!!! (PS, after she walks it's boring and I won't be offended if you stop the video then, plus I have no makeup on :)

Conversations with Caelen and Tyler

I got the priveledge of listening to Caelen and her best buddy Ty in the backseat as I drove them both to Awanas last. The conversations are amazingly smart, absolutely adorable, and carbon copies of the way their mommies communicate as far as their emphasis and mannerisms.

Tyler was spelling his name for Caelen.

Tyler: T-Y-L..
Caelen: I HAVE AN L!!
Tyler: Awesome! E
Caelen: I have 2 E's!!!
Tyler: I CAN"T BELIEVE IT! R
Caelen: I don't have an R.
Tyler: Why not?
Caelen: Because I'm not Tyler.

They were discussing dinner.

Tyler: I had Mac N Cheese for dinner. What did you have?
Caelen: :::pause::: I don't know.
Me: You had meat, green beans and potatoes.
Caelen: Oh yeah!
Tyler: Awesome!!
Caelen: You ever eat that Ty?
Tyler: Um, no. When I eat that, it's fish. You ever have fish?
Caelen: No but my dad says he'll take me fishing when I'm older.

Last conversation of the night

Caelen: When I was little and little and little and little, I fight with my mommy.
Tyler: You FIGHT?
Caelen: Yeah, with my mommy.
Tyler: That's not good, you shouldn't fight, fighting isn't good.
Caelen: I was little and little and little.
Tyler:... cuz the people might get you and then the policemen will come and you'll have to go to jail and you won't be able to fight anymore.

Synchronized Fall and More

Today was Fall. Although the 20 degree temperatures and snow powdering the visible mountains made it feel like one of the coldest winters we've experienced in Northern CA, it was Fall today. On the drive from my house to the freeway, about a 3 minute time span, I counted 16 trees that were absolutely pouring leaves. I've never seen anything like it and I suspect my neighbor hadn't either as he stood on the sidewalk in front of his house and just stared at this tree shedding it's leaves and a rate of many per second. But he didn't get the experience of driving further on down the road and realizing that almost every yard had a tree doing the exact same thing! It was very weird, and really cool. I don't know if those trees all got together and decided Dec 8th would be annual "Shed-All-Your-Leaves-and-Quickly" Day or if the below 20 degree temps last night told them all to just give it up, but they did.

**************

I think Caelen is having some nostalgia about moving on down the aging calendar. She asked me if she being a 2 year old could go to school, to which I replied that she could go when she was five, and not 3 because she wasn't 2 anymore. She asked me what came after 3 and I asked her the question right back. She said, "3, then 4, then 5....." all the way to 10. Then she said, "How do we get back to 2!!!??" I said, "Baby we don't, you won't ever be 2 again." Which prompted her pouty face and a big, "awww".

**************

Addison's words are many now! Dada, Mama, Dat (Dog), Bye, Ha (Hi), Ah Da (All done) and today when I asked her if she was all done she said, "Yeah yeah yeah!" and pushed her tray away. The other night in the early morning darkness, I brought her to bed for a bottle to coerce her into sleeping a bit longer. After she was done with the bottle she flipped over, crawled right over me and said with a big smile on her face, "Ha Dada!" Thomas was very pleasantly surprised.

She's walking as long as she can hold a finger on an adult hand and every time she falls to her bottom she cries in such frustration, but it stops the moment she's standing again. It is like a light switch and really funny. Nothing makes her happier than to walk and she's a happy baby so it's hard to imagine the joy this new skill brings her. She's also has begun crawling like a bear; on her hands and feet. I can't help but wonder if the floor is hurting her knees or if she's half way between crawling and standing?

**************

The biggest struggle right now besides keeping ourselves from freezing at home, is keeping ourselves from freezing in the car because my child is the heat nazi! Just as that heater is starting to kick in and my feet are defrosting, inevitably and I'm not exaggerating, Caelen yells, "AHHHH it's too hot! Turn on the ABC!" as she sticks her two fingers up her nostrils. I told Thomas about it and that I had no clue why she was sticking her fingers up her nose and he laughed and told me it's because the hot air burns her nose, it does the same thing to him and he hates it. So a few nights ago, I was running an errand by myself and literally spoke the words in my mind, "Ah, the heat nazi isn't here, I'm turning it up!"

***************

I love it when a seemingly bad situation turns out really good, especially for me ;) My sweet girlfriend Adria was a bit worried when she found out that her husband's company dinner and the night her parents had chosen to treat them to Wicked in the city were the same day. Long story short, she was sweet enough to invite me to come along with her and her mom and her mom's friend. It was awesome to be childless in the city with my girlfriend! We had a blast and the show was amazing, so now I'm going to read the book. Being such a Wizard of Oz freak as a child and a theater geek in high school, I had a feeling I was bound to love it!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet baby girl Caelen! I can't believe that 3 years ago today I was in the hospital in horrible labor trying to decide how we were gonna get you out of there. In some ways 3 years seems like such a short period of time to have known you, that can't have been it, I've surely known you my entire life. In other ways, having a 3 year old girl is something I never could have imagined and you're precious to me baby. I hope you have a wonderful day and a fabulous party tomorrow!

(Can't post a current pic because computers are both being retarded as usual!) :)