Sweet Moments of the Day

Addison loves to blurt out, "Jesus died on the cross!" at random moments. I think it just occurs to her and so she shares it. We've been trying to help her complete the thought by always adding, "...and then He rose again!" to which she always enthusiastically yells, "Yeah!"
Today as we were reading their Storybook Bible, Addison shouted out her revelation again.I prompted her, "...then...." and this time she continued, "He roasted!!"

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Caelen: "Hey Mom! Remember when I got my first Henry and Mudge book and I couldn't read the words?"
Addison: "Were you born Caelen?"
Caelen: "No Addie, I was 5."

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Dubs asked for apple juice, she says it as clear as a bell but always with the same sing song accents on certain sylables. I was busy so I said, "It's in your room." And this little 17 month old turned around and left the kitchen, went straight to her bedroom and peeked in. I know the moment she saw her cup because she then quickly disappeared and came back out drinking her juice. I couldn't quite believe it!!

Big Steps Forward!

Tabitha's vocabulary is exploding! I don't know when it happened for my other girls, but this past week Tabitha has taken off in the communication area. Within the last week she has busted out with new phrases and words such as:
Look at me!
Woodrow
Here you go
I don't know
Theres a (_____) eg: doggy

Tonight she began my singing for me while we rocked in the rocking chair and I could vaguely make out sounds from Jesus Loves Me. When I lay her down to sleep she said, "EIEIEIEIEIE Ohhhhh. Woof!" So we had to finish with one round of Old MacDonald who, of course, had a dog.

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Finally, it is finished. Caelen's tonsils are gone. The bane of her existence since our trip out to Larisa's in April of 2010 when she contracted Mononeucleosis and they swelled to the size of golfballs. And only eight months after her adnoidectomy when they gave me the option of removing her tonsils but I said No because they had never been a problem!
Poor Caelen. I think the surgery was the easiest part for her. But taking her liquid Vicodin, you think it just might be killing her. She takes a good 30 minutes to swallow about 15 mls of meds mixed with juice. This is a incredible small amount of liquid that would take me maybe one swig. But she labors over it with blood, sweat and plenty of tears every four hours. The worst is in the night when I have to wake her up, bring her to bed with me and deal with the process. She has always been this way but I pray she won't always. How rough for her!
Nevertheless, she is on her way to a tonsil free life and her voice already sounds different. She's swollen in there but I can't imagine any more swollen than having golfballs guarding the enterance to her throat. I'm happy they're gone, I just want my happy, healthy girl back now.

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We mailed out our federal fingerprinting requests for our dossier and we also mailed out ALL our homestudy paperwork back to our agency!! YAY! Medical reviews for us and the kids, financials, fingerprints, employment verifications, applications and forms, forms, forms. DONE! Now we get to meet with our social worker a few times who will write up our homestudy (oh how I look forward to THAT day!) International Adoption really is a series of milestones. There's tons of them to celebrate. Each things checked off the list is one more step towards our baby. It's like the milestones in pregnancy, just so different. We have finished 5 of our 7 online classes for adoption education and are almost 75% done with our workbook. All of that has to be finished before our homestudy is written up so we're working away at those furiously.
This really is an amazing time. I am just trying to enjoy the process. There is so much I never knew about what this all entails.

Ode to Dubs

The girls and I have been looking back over this blog for the past half an hour and now I'm so sad that I haven't taken the time in the past couple of years to keep it updated. Poor Dubs (Tabitha) isn't going to have the record that her sisters had. I suppose I will have to re-commit myself to frequent updates. It's just so worth it to read the stories, see the pictures and even the videos!!

So to honor my negelected third born whom I love so much, a picture from every month this year!

 Jan at the beach

 A beautiful February Day

 March in the tub

 I'm ONE! in April

 With big sis in May

 Playing in June

 Fun in the laundry! July

First day of school for Caelen, Tabitha wanted her picture taken too! CHEESE!

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Tabitha's "Cheese!" face is hilarious and she does it all day long. I don't think she can smile without some cheese in her grin. She inevitably makes new people laugh when they see her as her little eyes squint and her nose go white from the scrunch. Tabitha is almost always happy, greeting everyone who walks by with a sweet little "Hi" and a limp-wristed wave. But when this girl is cranky, then she's like the little girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead. Yes, horrid is the only way to describe her temper tantrums which have recently begun to include high pitched screaming.

The worst time of day for her is when Caelen is doing Kindergarten and my attention is focused on her oldest sister. She spends most of the morning screaming and hit things, dumping them on the ground and throwing herself down. Today she spent most of the morning on time out in her room.

But thats not the norm for this typically very happy and self-entertained little girl. She is a real joy and a lot of fun. She reminds me of Caelen in some ways but is so very much her own little person.

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 Our Adoption Orientation Packet arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago and we had an hour long converation with our inquiry coordinator describing the entire 2-3 year process of adoption. We promptly notarized all the documents and sent them back with our first installment of seriously hefty fees to bring our baby home. Right now we get to take a breather, a breather sprinkled with online adoption classes here and there, learning Bulgarian, and a few errands such as getting passports renewed and ordering birth certificates. Once our Adoption Planner arrives in the mail, the next steps are going to be the biggest! We will spend the next few months working on a dossier and a homestudy. To us, they are two seperate things, but to Bulgaria it's one compilation of documents that says we are a good family for one of their orphans.

Aww come on, don't we look like a fun family? ;)

Well we have officially taken the first step! Thomas and I submitted our application with our adoption agency last week and were approved the very next day. Before we knew it, papers were in the mailbox and we were staring at documents written partially in Bulgarian. 77 pages of official adoption paperwork detailing the entire 2-3 year process is, well, incredibly overwhelming. I knew it would be. Our new motto has become "One step at a time." I think we say that at least once a day now. We have to. We only have grace for today. I don't have grace for a homestudy interview yet, or for travelling to meet my child in a Bulgarian orphanage. I most certainly don't have grace to leave them there for months while the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice finalizes all our paperwork. A process that to them means just more documents but to us means our baby isn't home yet. I don't have grace for flying home half way across the world with a child that has only spent a few days with me, but is mine. And no grace for the re-adoption, VISAs, post-adoption processes etc.
But I do have the grace to look through the papers in preparation for our orientation call on Wednesday and to do a yard sale this weekend. That I can do. One step at a time.
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Today was Caelen's first day of Kindergarten! She was so excited she was bouncing off the walls and begging me to start school before 8:00. We had so much fun reading, doing math, phonics, spelling, music and handwriting. Her sisters participated as much as they could which made it fun for everyone. Math was the most loved subject and where we spent most of our time. Addison worked on some simple mazes to increase motor skills and did really well. The linking cubes were a huge hit as well.
All in all, I can't believe that Caelen is in Kindergarten. It's going to be a fun year. The challenge will be keeping enough books around for her today read. Today, during school, she read at a 5th grade level and then bought an 87 page chapter book that she finished in one hour. I definitely don't want to let her down by not feeding her voracious appetite for books!

Baby Number Four

How do you share your heart in a blog post? It's virtually impossible. Although sit down with me and in the course of a few hours together I might be able to begin to convey my heart to you, on a blog post I will just never be able to do it justice. So I feebly attempt to now:
When I was a little child I saw a commercial for child sponsership with a man (who looked much like my Grandpa Tom) squatting in the dirty next to a dirty, shy-looking child asking people to send money in support of these desperately poor. That night as I climbed into the tub to wash up I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to bring one of those children home and to clean them up and make them really good food. Tacos! (A 7 year olds idea of really good food!)
Fast forward to me at 16 with my first job and one of the first things I did was sponsor a child through World Vision. He lived in Malawi and I sponsored him until he aged-out of the program.
Then when the doctors told Thomas and I we were infertile back in 2005, the idea of adoption began brewing.
In 2010 we began supporting another child through World Vision who is the same age as my eldest, later we added another the same age as my second daughter.
About this time Lord began breaking my heart over the plight of desperatley poor children. He speaks so much of caring for orphans and the fatherless in His Word, that if those verses were removed we'd have a serious hole in the Bible, the idea behind "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns which also began to open my eyes and break my heart further. Missionary stories like those of Amy Carmicheal and Gladys Aylward with their adoptions of orphans greatly influenced me and all the while a voice was whispering "adoption" to my heart.
Though there are so many more personal details and perfect timings that I would never be able to share, this is just a glimpse into the work I believe the Lord has been doing in me since I was very young to prepare me for what we now really believe the Lord is calling us to do.
And so through prayer and counsel and navigation of some of the hoops, Thomas and I are now headed down the path of internation adoption. For us, we believe the Lord has called us to orphans, and therefore we go international. Some countries have millions of orphans waiting for a home. We have been directed to Bulgaria were there are over 7000 orphans in orphanges.
We have a placing agency and some requirements. Our adopted child must be the youngest child in our family (required by our agency) and since it is a 2-3 year process we are looking at a child 0-3 years of age. We absolutely believe that the Lord will supply all our needs for this process, and He's going to have to because international adoption is no small financial hurdle. We've been told to expect to pay about $33,000.
We need about $7000 to begin: To apply with the agency and begin our homestudy which would sent the process in motion and begin our 2-3 year wait. We have not even done that much yet. We are waiting.
We are SO thankful for the over $500 that was added to our funds in the month of July! And in the meantime we are able to pray and research and gather papers and get new passports ;)
So if you would like to stay updated on the process and how close we are to bringing our child into their "forever family" we'll be hoping to stay up to date on here.

That wasn't the point.

Today God gave me the most brilliant idea. At my wits end over these two girls of mine fighting, I was desperate for a way to get through to them that this behavior was NOT okay! All of a sudden it dawned on me, I grabbed my Bible and said, "Lord, give me a verse!" I landed right on Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called [children] of God."
Sweet! I read it to them and we discussed what that meant. What does it mean to be blessed? What's a peacemaker? Do we want to be children of God or children of Satan? The girls were super excited and getting into it. So we wrote it down and stuck it on the fridge at the level of a termite on time out. I explained that they would sit and stare at this verse each time they fought.
Right off the bat Addison whacked her sister, so I set her down and had her repeat after me. I set her timer and when it was over she apologized to her sister. Happily they went off together to play in Caelen's room. Five minutes later Caelen slowly emerges from her room, shamefully walks down the hall and says, "Mom, I guess it's my turn for time out." "Oh it is?" I replied, "What did you do?" "I kicked my sister in the head. Can you help me with the verse?"

Yesterday the girls were on their ride-on toys outside. Addie had a lion and Caelen was on the bus. Caelen, thinking her sister's ride looked pretty good, rolls up to her sis and says, "Hey Addie! Where'd you get your lion washed?" Addie replied, "I don't have a lion washed."

My Absence Excuses

With three kids I have more updates, interesting stories and funny happenings in one day than I used to have in a month and most certainly can't keep the blog updated. As the day passes I often think to myself, "That has to go on the blog! I really need to make time to update that blog!" but then life continues on and if I have a moment free I quickly try to decide should I spend it on laundry, a shower, reading the Word, exercising or crashing on the couch? The blog soon drops down to #58 on my to-do list and I completely forget all the fun stories, important milestones and interesting updates.
The ones that are concise enough end up as Facebook status updates which I try to transfer over here over time. Pictures from my blackberry get posted with a quick caption to let the world in on our lives and then fall off my Facebook profile page in just a couple days. Life is happening fast, and it really is wonderful. I know I'll never be able to capture all the wonderful moments on my blog or in a picture. So I have been spending the past couple of months just soaking it in, enjoying our "termites" and knowing I'm blessed. I hope when I look back on this time, when Tabitha was new and all my babies were home all day, I'll remember joy. Reality is crazy and no one (especially myself) is perfect, that's not how I'll remember it. But it's really been enjoyable and at the end of the day I'm thankful and wouldn't rather be living anyone else's life.
The truth is Caelen is driving me crazy with her inability to just take things at face value. She asks me "why" to questions you can't ask why to. One question leads to another and another and another. A simple statement can lead down a road I never intended to travel down and usually can only end the insanity with an "I DON'T KNOW!" Addison's simple, "OK" in response to a statement is so refreshing I almost snuggle her to death every time she says it.
Addison on the other hand is sassy and uses her cute face to get away with murder. When I'm trying to discipline her she usually is smiling and looking dreamily at the ceiling or anywhere else but my eyes, anything to avoid taking me seriously. The girls get into fights a lot more often now that Addie can fight back both physically and verbally. Addison is usually the one who resorts to violence.
Tabitha is an angel. She cries if she's hungry or alone on her back and bored. Otherwise I have never had a more smiley, talkative and happy baby. All she wants is to look people in the face and talk with them. She sleeps from 8:30pm - 7:30am when I wake her up to feed her and begin our day. But lest anyone think she's perfect, she hates her carseat, I mean HATES, and she is a little high maintenance when she's awake but I adore her.
Tabs had her tongue tie clipped on Thursday, along with her shots, and now she takes a binkie like a pro! Things may get a lot quieter around here. She is also a big fan of her thumb though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Addison has learned how to jump. She also knows she's funny and often is laughing at herself saying, "Funny Addie." She's precious beyond words.
Caelen is learning and soaking everything up like the biggest sponge. She's doing a first grade workbook, learning spelling and reading, and math much higher than someone her age should be able to do. She's also in swimming lessons and is really excited about anything that involves learning. She is an amazingly special girl with a precious heart for the Lord.
And in the meantime I pray constantly. Nothing takes you beyond yourself like having kids. I rely moment by moment on the Lord for strength, patience and wisdom and He's gracious to give it.

Bath Time... I mean, Table Time.

In the tub a few evenings ago Addison had a rare solitary moment after her sister exited the tub earlier than usual. I had a chance to just sit there and observe Addison playing alone to see what she was all about when out from under the influence of others. She was stacking toys on the edge of the tub and chatting away to herself as she organized. She was well aware that I was there, watching, but she didn't involve me.
As she talked I heard her say, "It's table time!" That was an interesting thing to say, I'd never heard it before, and then it dawned on me, "Hey Addie," I said, "Do you have table time in class?" (Sunday School). "Yeah, " she said. And then she gravely added, "I gotta pray." So we bowed our heads and in her high-pitched tiny little voice she almost sang, "Thank You my Jesus, thank You my Daddy, thank You my mommy," then she looked up, "All done." "Amen!" I laughed.

Bosses and Goo Goos

Caelen and I were watching the Giants game last night when randomly she looks over at me and says, "Mom, it's just hard for me to understand who's the boss." I replied, "Huh?" She reiterated, "It's just hard for me to understand that you and Daddy are the boss and I'm not!" to which I answered, "Oh! Well honey, the sooner you understand it, the easier your life will be."

Yesterday Addie was jumping on the couch saying, "Catch it! Catch it!" with her hands in the air. She's kind of a hippy and does random things like that so I didn't pay much attention until she stopped jumping and said, "Mom, where'd my Goo Goo go?" "Goo Goo??" I asked. "Where'd my Goo Goo go? Oh! There it is!! (resumes jumping) Catch it, catch my goo goo!"
It was a fly. No idea.

Tabitha gives Caelen most of her smiles. Is it strange that I'm a little jealous?

New Kline Lady

Welcome Tabitha Morgan Kline! Born April 19, 2011 @ 7:03pm. 6lbs 13ozs and 19 inches!

Babies are always worth it. Worth all the morning sickness, the going without sushi and wine for 9 months, being huge and uncomfortable for months. But Tabitha was also worth waiting over 12 hours in a hospital room to have our "scheduled C-section". The one that was scheduled for 9am and happened at 7pm. She was worth my spinal anesthesia wearing off half way through my surgery (umm.. yeah THAT'S painful, I felt like Braveheart with my guts open while I was strapped to a table. I was contemplating yelling, "Freedom!!"). She was worth the pnuemonia that took hold of my body when it realized I was weak and recovering from a surgery. Worth the ER trip and the fear that I was losing my milk. And she's worth the residual breathing problems (apparently it can take a month to get back to normal) and the pain from surgery that I'm still experiencing.
Everything surrounding her arrival just pretty much sucked. But last night Thomas looked at me holding her and said, "She's worth it huh?" Without a doubt, no questions asked, yes she is.

The third time around it's so much more enjoyable for me! I don't know if it's her temperment; she's happy or sleeping most of the time, unless she's hungry or gassy. And since Mom was literally unable to leave the couch for 3 weeks, she is used to being comforted sitting down. So far, no pacing back and forth to make the crying stop. If she sqwaks, you either feed her or pat her back. I'm sure this will all evolve and change (especially now that I've written about it!) But blessedly, while chaos reigned in the Kline home after her birth, Tabitha took it easy on old Mom and Dad, and she is so enjoyable. No first time (or second time) Mommy nerves, just enjoyment.

The Thursday after she came home she rolled from her tummy to her back twice and has done it over and over since. She smiles often at Caelen and I got my first smile yesterday while she tried out her vocal chords for the first time. She sleeps at night, stays awake most of the morning, takes a big long nap in the afternoon, is awake in the evening and then off to slumber land for the night. What a blessing!!!

Addison loves to lay her head on her sister, or kiss her head. She also palms her head and I'm always trying to make sure she's not pushing Tabitha's soft spot. But Addie is gentle and shares her tabby blanket. Caelen wants to be Mommy. She wants to hold her all the time, read to her, be in her face talking with her. Caelen has a hard time if I tell her it's time to back off or give her back to Mommy to eat or be burped.
Addison was clingy to Daddy at first. She didn't want much to do with Tabitha and espeically Mommy, but she's coming around now. Her only obvious display of adjustment is her refusal to sleep in her bed. She sleeps on the floor now.
Caelen had her own bedtime tactics that involved all kinds of stalling, getting up to pee 5 times in half an hour, crying that the light wasn't right. You name it, she tried it. She would be up until 9pm some nights. She's become a bit more head strong and little more defiant, we've actually had more trouble with her than Addison and we actually expected it the other way around. But overall I'd say the little Kline ladies are doing well.

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Addison said her first prayer at bedtime on Tuesday. It was shyly whispered with a smile but she thanked Jesus for Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, Daddy, sisters and all her books.

The State of Things

We've been doing all we can to get ready for Tabitha's arrival on Tuesday. I've washed her car seat, boiled her binkies, cleaned both bathrooms, and done the laundry. Thomas has joined me in nesting; he scrubbed the stovetop, cleaned out the car and tidyed the yards. Thomas and I both feel more at ease and like we can relax when things are clean, so by having most the chores caught up on, we can feel relaxed after the baby's arrival. Monday is our last day as a family of four. I'll go to work, grab a few more groceries and do any last minute cleaning. Then I'll pack the girls up for Grandma and Grandpa's and I'll finish packing my hospital bag. At 5am on Tuesday I have to call Labor & Delivery to make sure everything is ready to go and then I'm to arrive by 6am. So the girls will get dropped off, PJ's and all, at my parents on our way to the hospital. The C-section is scheduled for 9am. I'm so thankful it's all first thing in the morning!! As crazy as everything sounds like it's been, it really hasn't been! I feel extremely relaxed and so far our weekend has involved a lot of sitting in the sun. Unfortunately I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I've been drinking tea, taking Vitamin C, and praying it not turn into anything bad. On the upside, I'll be on so many meds after the C-section, I probably won't notice the discomfort of a cold!

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Today Caelen was playing with her Cinderella doll and as she put Cinderella in the carriage, Cinderella said, "Bye Mom! I'm going to the ball, but first I have to go to Target to get some new shoes for the ball and some paper towels!" This afternoon Addison patted Woodrow on the back and asked, "Ride this one?" Compared to Addie, Woodrow really is the size of a horse!

Research Shows Horses Have a Vocabulary of over 200 Words

Driving in the car usually involves Caelen yakking away, me replying, "Uh-huh" and Addie quietly staring out the window, but things are beginning to change. Addison joins in the conversations a bit more and I try to encourage that. Of course that means a whole new balancing act for me of making sure I'm answering their "Mom?"s with equal attention. Anyway, to the point I've wandered away from. Driving up the freeway yesterday Addison says, "Bunny Rabbit Mommy!" so we started talking about what a bunny rabbit says.... which is basically nothing but wiggle their nose, in case you were wondering. Then Caelen says, "Hey Addie, what's a horse say?" and Addison replies, "Rocking Chair!" Right........

It's a girl!... and a Salad.

What do you do for fun a couple of weekends before your life changes forever and a new baby interrupts the "peace" and routine of your family? Why, go to a goat farm of course! Thomas has been working any jobs and projects he can get his hands on and happily, he had work. Unhappily, it was on Saturday, but what are you gonna do? How about take the kids to a goat farm!! Ok, I'm done. It was a fun little field trip though!

Lots of friends were there.... actually I'm beginning to wonder if my kids could do anything independently of the company of their friends.... or if I could....

Addie would pet a goat, or pull it's tail, and sweetly coo, "Aww baby."

It was a beautiful day, perfect for wandering around and tasting cheese, caramel, yogurt, spreads, basically anything with goat's milk in it. That's what lured me and kept me there. The kids just loved running around.

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Today Caelen plops herself down next to me, both of us enjoying a mid-afternoon salad and asks, "So.... how'd it go at the doctor's?" So we began discussing how Mommy isn't supposed to eat breakfast the morning Tabitha comes out.

Caelen was a bit confused, "But Mom. We're SUPPOSED to eat breakfast."

"I know baby, but when you're having surgery and they're gonna cut your tummy open to take a baby out, they don't want you to have eaten any food." I explained.

"Yeah," I could see she understood, "Cause then the baby would be all dirty and they don't want that."

Tabitha's Arrival: T-1 week!!

A Leprechaun at Disneyland

I am having so much trouble with this blogging site uploading, or not uploading I should say, my pictures. But before it completely failed and shut down my whole internet I was able to upload and save a few! Caelen has been hard at work in her playhouse painting murals. It started when her friends were over Wednesday, all happily playing in the playhouse. We didn't suspect a thing until the first child emerged covered in the acrylic paint I thought was high enough out of sight to remain out of mind. I don't know what I'm thinking most of the time. Then one by one the rest of them showed their grinning faces around the side of the door and revealed various combinations of color and design all over their little bodies. Since then I have given up and allowed free reign of the playhouse to go to Caelen, she is my little artist after all and she does good work.

Does the face get any sweeter than that? I think not.

That's adorable concentration!

Here's the final product. It's (from left to right, if I can remember) Snow White, Ariel, Belle, Sleeping Beauty?, Caelen (the one that looks like a little green leprechaun), and Cinderella at Disneyland together. The little person underneath is me taking pictures of them.

While helping my wonderful man put away the dishes he had washed (yeah, that 3rd dishwasher in 8 years died) I hear a little voice call me, "Mommy! Look it me, I'm pretty!"

Oh Princess!! That would be chocolate chip cookie all over her face, and this is after her 2nd bath for today (which was of course followed by a third). I should just call her Little Orphan Addie. And come to think of it, I should quit letting the water out of the tub and just keep sending them back in periodically to scrub off.

Symptoms: Cough, Runny Nose, Hallucinations.

Today Addison ran into the hallway, wrapped herself around her sister in a big bear hug and said, "I wuv you, I wuv Sissy." Caelen hugged her back smiling and said, "Aww." As they walked away together to head outside to play I heard Addison continue, "Wuv me? Wuv me sissy?" Addison has had a rough day today. It started with a cough that eventually went away, then the snot came on. Then she was super cranky so she slept for 3 1/2 hours in the middle of the day. But the weirdest part of her entire day has been the spider hallucinations. Yeah.... She seems to think there are spiders on her, or near her, I'm not quite sure, but it renders her frozen in place. Wherever she is when an attack of the "spiders" comes on, she's stuck there for good, crying and begging someone to pick her up. This has occured in the bathtub, on the slide, in the sand box, on the lawn and in her room! The last time it happened she insisted, "The spiders are coming!!!" No amount of reassurance fixes the situation, only picking her up. Interesting....

Caelen Convo

Caelen came running in from the backyard with this excitment spread across her face and says, "Mom!! I don't have to go potty! Isn't it a miracle?!!"

As she was playing in the backyard, "Mom, how does bad bacteria get died by good bacteria?" All I could say, "No clue babe."

Driving in the car the other day:
Caelen: Mom, what are you going to ride in to get to the hospital when Tabitha's born?
Me: The car.
Caelen: But what will WE ride in?
Me: Well, Dad and I will take you to Grandma and Grandpa's and then....
Caelen: WHICH Grandma and Grandpa?
Me: Grandma Janet and.....
Caelen: But I wanna be WITH you when Tabitha's born!!
Me: Well, you'll come to the hospital as soon as she's born baby, Mommy has to....
Caelen: Oh that'll be good cause then we can ride in Grandpa's new truck!!!
(Our conversations are intense with emotion and exhausting for Mommy!! LOL)

All's Fair in Childbirth

A few days ago, before the endless rains decended upon Sonoma County, we took the girls to a local park that has lots of wonderful sand for digging, one of Addison's favorite activities. So I put some brown sandals on her feet. While I was strapping them on she looked at her feet and excitedly squealed, "I JESUS!" Shocked I asked, "Are you Jesus because you have the same shoes?" Yeah!" she answered. At which point Caelen piped up with, "Jesus had white sandals Addie." All I could say was, "Well maybe He had a couple pairs honey."

Last night one of my BFF's and current partner in pregnancy was admitted to the hospital due to bronchitis and pnuemonia which sucks for mama but is apparently potentially dangerous for baby. We're so thankful that the baby looks healthy and normal but in the meantime she's there getting oxygen, medicine and some much needed rest. So last night I started to tell Thomas, "Adria's in the hospital..." and Caelen yelled, "How come she got to go first!?!?!" Caelen was pretty indignant that Adria may have gotten her baby before Caelen got hers. :)

First Time on the Potty!

Permit me a TMI Mommy moment as I record a milestone. Today Addison went pee on the potty! The best part is, it's been her idea and she's been asking to. I don't push my kids to start potty training for a couple reasons:
1) I know my kids, they're stubborn by nature. Show them something they should be doing and they'll resist it longer than necessary.
2) I don't really want to deal with it. I have enough battles all day, I'm not picking another one.
3) I don't care whether I'm changing diapers or having to accompany them to the bathroom each time and teach them how to wipe well. Either way, it's all a pain.
So just in the past couple of days Addison would open the towel cupboard and kind of lean in / sit on one of the shelves and declare that she was going potty if I happened to be going potty (there's no privacy in my house, even the flippin cat joins in on the affair.) So one time I showed her her potty seat and how she could sit on it. She was a little scared of falling so I had to hold her tightly and then she was over it.
Well, today as we were starting our day she put the potty seat on the toilet and told me she had to go poopy so we gave it a shot. No dice, but she was patient and gave it her best shot before saying she was done, hopping down and announcing, "It's broken, my bum." as she left the room.
We tried again at Grandma's house, same routine. But tonight as I was headed to the bathroom she told me she had to go and she set her seat all up. I put her on it in her diaper, jammies, everything. She looked down and said, "Off with the diaper." So I got her stripped down, sat her back on and sure enough there was the tell-tale tinkle sound. She smiled her huge gap-toothed smile and said, "I did it!"
Daddy and Caelen came running in to congratulate her and give her some high-fives but after that she covered her face with her hands and we knew she was getting overwhelmed. So everyone left and I quietly assured her again of how proud I was as she flushed and said, "I did it!" just a few more times.
I'm so proud of my girl, and as her baby pictures are flashing across our home computer screen saver, I'm wondering where all the time went.

My Heart Might Melt Away

As I was vacuuming the other day, Caelen came running over shouting Mom Mom Mom! I knew nothing was really wrong, but when she reached me she turned the vacuum off and said, "Mom, (grin forming) it's just really hard to tell you I love you with this thing going."

Best investment ever was their little plastic slide. They'll fly off that thing one after another, over and over for a good 15 minutes at a time, maybe longer, and multiple times a day. They giggle and squeal, until of course it turns into shouting and whining because someone decided not to move their butt from the bottom of the slide and the next one wants a turn. Either way I'm thankful for that thing.
A couple nights ago they were at it again and begging Daddy to watch every slide down. Then Caelen thought she'd really show off and jump off the top, which is fine unless you have slidey hardwood floors underneath and the thing goes flying out from under you, which has happened before. Thomas spoke up before any damage was done and said, "Caelen, I'm too tired to go to the ER tonight, so sit down and don't hurt yourself." Caelen wanted some clarification, "The ER?" "Yes," he said, "If you fall and hurt yourself I'll just have to let you bleed cause I'm too tired tonight." Caelen is finally figuring out her Daddy's sense of humor but she still gets all rowdy at his "threats". "No Daddy! You wouldn't just let me bleed! You would get me a band aid and some medicine and you would HOOK ME UP!" I burst out laughing, "That's my girl!"

Addison's referring to herself in the third person is killing me. And she's always, "My Addie". She said to me yesterday, "I closed the door, my Addie." I suppose that meant, "I, Addie, closed the door." It's not so much what Addison says as how she says it. And she's such a charmer. When I picked her up from Sunday School yesterday she spotted me before I had barely poked my head in and began squealing at the top of her lungs and running for me. Her teachers were just laughing to themselves and remarking on how cute she is. I picked her up and she said, "Go find Daddy.... Go find SISSY!" I set her down and she ran squealing across the hall into her sister's class and they literally ran into each other's arms, like long lost friends in a movie (I could almost hear the music) and hugged each other tight. Sometimes I wonder how I am so blessed.

In other heart-melting news, I have been singing Jesus Loves Me to Addison every night before bed for probably a year. She's always content to just listen, head on my chest. Once she could talk she began pointing to the rocking chair saying, "Jesus, Bible", but would quietly listen once the song began. Two nights ago, for the first time ever, she sang along in her mosquito soprano. She knew every word and even completed some of the phrases. All this time she'd just been soaking it all in.

Now I Know How to Draw a Cow

Addie owns the world, everything belongs to her as far as she's concerned. Driving down the street she'll remark from her carseat, "Look-it my clouds!" "Look-it my moon!" At the snow in Geyersville yesterday it was also her snow, her water, etc. Yesterday at her Grandma's house for dinner, one of Uncle Ryan's friends came over to talk to her and she pointed to me and said, "That's my mommy!" then pointing to herself, "That's my Addie," and last hugging Caelen, "That's my sissy."
Now I'm beginning to think she says it oftentimes to get her sister all worked up because she knows it works everytime. "That's NOT yours! Addison!! It's everybodys!" I left the car for just a few moments and came back to both of them in their carseats fighting over whose sun it was and Addison was in tears.


Anyone who knows Caelen knows that she's a hypersensitive child. She feels everything about ten times more than anyone else feels it; hair being brushed, tight clothing, even simple touches are interpreted as tickling. Addison is actually pretty similar. She's not a fan of the hair brushing either, but her funny quirk is that she gets super worked up when there's a mark left by clothing on her skin. Especially socks. And she started saying they were owies and flipping out because the lines on her skin wouldn't go away. We constantly told her it would "be better."
Now a sock mark on her foot is offically called a "be-better" and she points them out everytime saying, "Look at my be-betters"

She also doesn't know the names of everything yet of course, being only two. Combine that with the fact that everything belong to her and one of the most common phrases out of her mouth is, "Look at my this!"

One time Caelen said to Addison that she wasn't "going to play with [her] never ever EVER!" in the meanest voice a 4 year old can manage (which is actually pretty mean!) and so Addison now says, "Ever Ever EVER!" when she really means something. For example, "That's mine sissy, ever ever EVER!"

If you hear a mosquito in my house, it just might be Addison singing. She goes super-soprano when she sings and unless you can make out some words, it sounds like she's just doing her impression of some high-pitched insect. It's pretty sweet!


My birthday was fun this year, minus the turning 29 part; I got to go out on a date with my man, got to see tons of friends at bible study who made me feel special with flowers, sugar, and other gifts, and one of my girlfriends gave birth to her baby girl Lola on my birthday! But one of the sweetest things about my day was that Caelen so badly wanted to get me a gift that the night before she had her daddy take her to JoAnne Fabrics (where many cool things come from, that and Target). Thomas let her pick out a couple of gifts for me and then persuaded her on one final item.
I opened a little St. Patricks Day bear figurine which is now on my nightstand, a How To Draw Farm Animals coloring book and pencils, and a basket of lavendar bath products. I definitely knew who had chosen what and it was just precious. Thomas told me that when they put the stuff on the counter to buy it the cashier woman asked Caelen if those couple of things were for her and Caelen said, "No they're for my mommy, it's her birthday tomorrow." The woman asked if she was sure and she assured her she was. The cashier then asked if she would make me breakfast in bed and Caelen confusedly replied, "No.... my mommy doesn't eat her breakfast in bed." The lady laughed and said something that prompted Caelen to tell her that I was pregnant. And the woman said, "Well are you going to treat her like a princess." Caelen was even more confused and told her no. As Thomas and her were leaving she told him, "My mommy's not a princess she's just...... just wonderful."