I'm Caelen and I'm Thankful for Food!!!!

So what do you get when you take 17 relatives and friends, add turkey and stuffing and mix in a small house? A good time, apparently! I should not have worried because Thanksgiving went off much better than I had anticipated. I guess I was worried about the size of my house and that many people inside it on a cold day when we couldn't spill out into the yard. But we managed to all fit at one of two tables, we got all the (warm) food onto the table at once and I would say everything went really well!


Of course Caelen was a lot of the entertainment. As usual, she was shy at first but eventually warmed up to the idea of so many people in her home and was as fun as ever.
We did a potluck style dinner, so all that I had to make was the turkey, stuffing and gravy. Everything else was provided by all the guests. Caelen got to eat everything we were eating except for the stuffing since it had nuts in it and we're trying not to expose her to nuts yet. She LOVED it all......



.......as you can see from these pics! I think this one will have to go in the baby book under her first Thanksgiving because it says it all. She's never done this before but I'm assuming it was so delightful she wanted to get every last morsel.







Once she realized everyone thought this was funny she did it over and over again. After clean up was done it was straight to the bathtub with her!










We had everyone from my side (who lives in town) and Thomas' Dad's side of the family, some cousins, step-siblings, a gimp on crutches, and even a boyfriend or two. And just for the record, that's a tank top under a sweater that I'm wearing, not a red bra! LOL


Now it's time to get ready for Caelen's 1st birthday..... and then Christmas!

Caelen and the Tale of the Seven Stitches

Once upon a time there was a man named Thomas and his wife Brooke. Brooke will be narrating this story.

Thomas went hunting for ten days and when he arrived home on Friday, decided that to begin restitution he would take me out to dinner Saturday night. We had a babysitter in place and a restaurant in mind. We both looked pretty decent (Thomas having shaved his mountain man beard and with a fairly recent hair cut you'd have never known he'd been in the wilds of Utah for the past week and a half.)

We arrived at Doug, Adira and Tyler Bishop's house to drop Caelen off. She loves it there, it's one of her homes-away-from-home and Ty and her have a relationship better than a lot of cousins. So she went straight to playing while we adults chatted briefly. Finally we decided to go and just as we were leaving....... Caelen came walking over, tripped and smashed her head directly on the corner of their kitchen wall.

I knew as soon as I saw it that it was gonna be bad and by the time I had her in my arms (which was almost immediately) she had blood running down her face at such an alarming rate it would stop any parent's heart.
It was about an inch long starting at her hair line and going straight down towards her nose and it was nice and wide open. Adria got me towels and rags so fast and in no time we were in the car.

While Thomas drove to the emergency room, I tried to keep pressure on her head and hold the wound shut at the same time. By the time we reached the car she had stopped crying and was only grumpy because I had a towel pressed to her head. She ate Cheerios and smiled and laughed the whole way and about half way there it stopped bleeding.

When we walked in the ER she had caked blood all down her face and a nice gash so they descended upon us pretty quickly but when they saw that she was doing alright, not bleeding, and hadn't blacked out they let us wait for about 20 minutes. When she got her initial exam she was really cooperative and the doctor took my temp to show Caelen that it was OK to have this tool put on your forehead. Then he says, "Mom! You have a fever. 101.5!" (Thomas finally figured out later that I had had a flu shot on Wed and that must be the culprit because I felt fine).




When we went in they put numbing solution on it and bandaged her forehead up for 20 minutes. Then they lay her down on her back, wrapped her like a burrito and we tilted her head back. They irrigated the wound and stitched it up. This part was really hard. She was very upset at not being able to move so was crying. I was trying to calm her down and had a front row seat to how deep the gash was and the stitches. Luckily she didn't lose any tissue so it went back together really cleanly. The doctor said that by the time she's 2 you shouldn't be able to see much of anything there. Poor Thomas was having a hard time watching his baby in such distress and wanted to take her out of there and make it all better.

Seven stitches later we liberated our very sweaty child from her swaddle and when she calmed down her crying she looked at us and started clapping!! Pretty adorable. After that you'd have never known anything was wrong. We got her home, she had a bath, some dinner and finally was in bed by 9:00. This morning she's not acting any different than she ever did, as feisty and adorable as ever. The only difference is that just in time for Halloween she's kind of resembling Franken-baby.

good night little mouse....

Caelen's idea of good literature is "Good Night Moon", so she has no idea that both her mom and dad are really obsessed with "Pride and Prejudice" nor would she know why if she even knew what it was! LOL But it's true, as anyone who knows us can attest to. So I am currently reading the book for my second time. Any free moment I get, that's what I'm doing. Pretty much my most favorite book ever, and although I've known this for a long time, it's fun to re-discover old favorites.

Caelen was in the bath tub last night and took a comb I had been brushing her hair with and held it up to her head and did a little motion like she was combing her hair. It brought a little tear to her proud momma's eye. I praised her, she handed it to me and I did it as well. Then I handed it back and she did it again. Such a smart little cookie. It's truly amazing what these tiny people know that we don't give them credit for!
Yep, that's a binky in her mouth! She's finally discovered binkies, but the good thing is, she thinks it's a cool toy, not a lovey. So she sucks on it and bites it absentmindedly and then spits it out and moves on. She is not dependant on it which I'm thankful for.

She loves her Pooh Bear! Here's a few shots of her dragging Pooh Bear around. He's almost the same size as her and the cutest thing is when she snuggles with Pooh or gives him a kiss on the snout! In this last one she's offering Pooh Bear to Gabbie. Gabbie passed on that.

Pumpkin Patch Sunday

Today after church Caelen had her first visit to a pumpkin patch! Who would have thought that she would be walking around the patch all by herself?! I guarantee she was the youngest kid walking around that patch. Her friend Ty and his parents came too and we got some really cute pictures. So here are a few of them:

Walking with Daddy to the patch.

She called every pumpkin a "ball".

Especially this little one!

Lake Tahoe.... 1 year later!!!

I know I haven't used this site in a LONG time. I've been enjoying keeping everyone updated on Caelen's website, but I also can't make up my mind and do appriciate the format of this site.
Anyway! I wanted to use to to post a few pics of our trip to Tahoe this past weekend. :) We had a wonderful time with Caelen's Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Janet on King's Beach, North shore. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! In the 80's at least every day.

Little bug loved it and had a lot of fun in the sun. She played with her Leap Frog table that her grandparents brought along because it's her most favorite toy ever. Thomas spent a lot of time reading Lord of the Rings, while my mom and I read Harry Potter. The evenings were devoted to poker games (once Caelen was asleep.) She will be a future card shark if her love of poker chips is any indication of her future :)

Thomas and I went jet skiing on Saturday for an hour which was so much fun. I haven't done it since I was about 15. Thomas even let me drive! LOL. We only got it up to about 30 mph but it felt like we were flying.

We enjoyed our dinners out and it was nice to have other people to walk with her when she got cranky so that I could finish my dinners. She would just stare at the waiters like, "Hello, who are you?" while they were serving us. And Grandpa taught her how to go underwater... kind of! She guled a whole bunch of water and sputtered all over, but she didn't cry once she gained her breath back and then about 15 minutes later she put her face flat down into the water! LOL

Bug Stats

Weight ~ 14lbs
Height ~ 24"
Current Feats ~ Can hold head up, roll onto her side, put anything and everything into her mouth, laughs

Caelen is 3 1/2 months already!

So no posts on my blog for a long time, I know. Lord knows how many people are still reading it since I send most of my news through E-mails or myspace these days. But I feel like an update is in order :)
Life revolves around Caelen until 7:30pm and even after that most of our conversations are about how amazing she is (because she truely is!) LOL. She's so smiley these days and laughs occasionally. She loves new people and gives everyone she meets a big grin. It's very endearing and it's no wonder people just fall in love with her! She's a loud talker and loves to entertain herself by yelling, "baaa blah nah nah ha ahh" or whatever combination of sounds she thinks sounds good at the moment.
She can hold herself up on her arms while laying on her tummy and look all around, she'll roll onto her back from that spot too. When I place her in her crib she'll talk to herself and spin around the crib. I usually find her at least 180 degrees turned from the way I placed her in there. I think she just puts her feet on the crib walls and walks around.


Bedtime is nice and routine and so Thomas and I get our evenings to ourselves which is beyong theraputic and I look forward to 7:00 as a time to almost "clock out". But of course I miss her too hehehehehhe.
She wants to stand, all the time. Doesn't want to have anything to do with sitting, she wants to stand and once she's standing her left foot starts going, like she's keeping time.
I'm sure all parents feel their child is the most special and it's definitely true of us!! She's amazing and being a mom is better than I ever thought it would be.
I asked Thomas today if he ever misses the days when it was just us and without hesitating he said, "nope." I don't either. Life's so much more fun and full with her in it!!
OK there's your cheese for the day.... LOL

More adventures in parenting

So the bug will be 6 weeks on Monday and we have found the best way to keep her happy is to carry her around in the Baby Bjorn on my chest. She'll nap all day if I just have her close. She hates being abandoned to a room by herself to sleep. So I carry her around a lot now and I'm able to get so much done! Besides, one day she'll be 14 and way too cool for me, so I'm enjoying the fact that she wants to be so close to mommy all the time :)
We were given a mold to make of baby's first hand print so I decided since she was asleep I'd give it a shot. Well she doesn't ever stop moving those little hands and when I put her hand in she grabbed a whole bunch of the mold and wiped it everywhere. So I tried again (well the first attempt looked like crap!!) and the same thing happened. So now we have a mold of a little hand grabbing at the mold in two places and I had to give her a bath and change both our clothes!! LOL It was pretty amusing.


Here she is playing with her Papa. She's getting so interactive!! She smiles alot and has a lot to say these days. Lots of different sounds come out of the little girl and she'll chatter away at you if you'll listen and if she's in the mood.


It's hard work being a mommy, but man is it worth it ;) Here we are at 8:00 pm, we don't stay up too late around my house these days!

Bug Update

Sorry no pictures today :( Caelen's been sick since Christmas. She just got another bug (haha bug..... just like her) on top of the one she had last week, so now she's coughing along with the snuffles. Poor girl. But the doctors say she's fine because she's still eating well and has no fever. Today we went in again and she now weighs 10 lbs 7 ozs!!! That's 3lbs 5oz gain in 4 weeks!! So we're doing infant tylenol, humidifiers, saline drops and steamy showers. Speaking of steamy (for all you Grey's Anatomy fans) her Dr.'s name was Mark Sloan! LOL, but he was no McSteamy :)
Today I also went into the bank and let them know that I wouldn't be coming back. That went really well and everyone was very understanding and also a bit sad. I did really enjoy my job, but I have one now that's beyond a millon times better!!

BUG STATS
Current weight - 10lb 7oz
Current feats - Rolled over (once on New Years Day, and just to prove it was no fluke, 3 times yesterday) Smiling back at people. Talking (well saying "ah-goo" counts right?) Holding head up in some positions.

More pictures of the bug

Here's Caelen doing push ups already at just over 3 weeks old. Last night she almost rolled herself right over and got very frustrated when she couldn't!

Here's Caelen getting burped by her Papa, but the face is just flippin' priceless!Here's a new hat she got from Adria and Tyler. It's been really chilly here lately and so she has to bundle up everyday!

And here's the bug lying on her Grandpa Kevin's chest, eventually she lifted her head to check him out. She can't lay on her tummy without moving around!
So I just thought I'd add some more pictures for everyone to see. Life is fabulous with her here. It's wonderfully scary and overwhelming and totally worth it in every way. Everyday we make it through we get more comfortable with each other and discover new ways of being a functioning family. Having a baby makes you look at the world in a completely different way, I think you begin to discover the truely important things in life for the first time, in ways you couldn't possibly have imagined before.

Caelen Abigail

Our little bug Caelen Abigail came into the world by C-section on Monday December 4, 2006 @ 12:18pm weighing 7lbs 2oz and was 20" long. She is wonderful and beautiful and I don't miss being pregnant at all! ;)

This is seconds after she was delivered and right before they whisked her and Thomas away and I got stitched up. You can't see that I had tears pouring out of my eyes :)

This is the day she came home from the hospital, looking at her papa.

Already filling out in the face! This is today at 9 days old! They change sooooooo fast!

Waiting......

The carpet is done, the crib is up, her room is pretty much set and we are totally ready for her to arrive now! I'm due Saturday, day after tomorrow, in 2 days, Dec. 2nd, but it's looking like she's gonna make us all wait just a little bit longer to meet her. I went to the Dr. today for a check up and she pretty much told me I wasn't progressing toward labor anytime soon. (In more graphic terms of course ;) I was slightly upset since I had been having a lot of false labor all week, which can be very painful at times, and all of it was for nothing. So we made another Dr.'s apt for Monday to come up with "a plan" she said. Basically meaning we would need to talk about induction, which I'm not really excited about, since your risk for a C-section goes up when you're induced and I would really like to avoid that. But we gotta do what we gotta do.
So in the mean time I'm trying to enjoy these last days with her in the belly, I'm reminding myself that it's going to be anyday now whether I go past due or not, she'll be here soon. I was reading What To Expect When Expecting and they were reassuring me that there's never been a pregnancy in the history of the world that DIDN'T end. I know that sounds obsurd, but it was a really nice reminder for me at this stage in the game :)
Besides waiting around for our little bug, life consists of working at my Mom's (we are incredibly busy and very thankful that business is booming) taking naps, visiting with friends, and watching Grey's Anatomy. I got the first 2 seasons on DVD from my mother in law and we've been watching those. After we finished them, I got caught up on the internet. I really love that show, it's fabulous! So tonight is a Grey's night, I will be on the couch by myself, since Thomas will hopefully be out winning us some money at a poker tournament with his buddies. heheheehehe
So I'll keep you posted.... hopefully we'll have some news soon. Have a good weekend!

I didn't want to come home!!

We just got back from Lake Tahoe, that's why ;) It was absolutely beautiful. We went up for three days this week to just get away one last time before the baby comes, and maybe for awhile after that too! It was uncrowded, beautifully clear 70 degrees during the height of the day. Our hotel was right on the water on the North shore.

This was the view from our room, looking out to the little private beach that our hotel had. There wasn't a cloud in the sky :)
The first night we went to a mexican restaurant called Blue Agave in Tahoe City and then we hit the sack early. The next day we ate breakfast at this cute little breakfast house in King's Beach, we did a little tourist shopping in Tahoe City and then we drove all the way down to the south shore. We probably wasted about $10 on slot machines all day because I found on little machine that liked to pay me about $1.50 every few tries. We then spent the afternoon on the beach.

I looked at some real estate magazines just to torture my self while Thomas read a book. It was soooooooo relaxing! We went to dinner at Jason's that night in King's Beach.

On the way home today we drove by Emerald Bay and came home by way of highway 50.

The best part was the time of year that we were there. Not only was it not crowded, but the everygreens were interspersed with other trees that were turning yellow, orange and red for the fall and it was absoluetly just gorgeous up there. Thomas and I couldn't stop marvelling at it.
Anyway, now it's back to reality :( Well at least reality consists of some new exciting events coming up, but I'd still like to stay in Tahoe forever ;)

Sick in September

Ugh, we've been the house of the sickies. Thomas got sick last week and just when I thought I was in the clear, I caught it! Only difference is I can't take medication. Well.. I can take SOME meds, like sudefed which makes me feel like I took speed and the Dr. actually told me not to, and Claritin, which does absolutely nothing! I took one yesterday and I'll be darned if that thing even TOUCHED my cold becuase I was pretty miserable. Today I think I might just get desperate enough to try a sudefed again. At least those things keep my face from draining all over the place!! LOL
Great news! Our bathroom is pretty much done now. I'll post pics when I get a chance because I think it turned out really cute. Now we get to touch up the bedroom and hopefully move back in in the next couple weeks. Then it's on to the carpet. After that the big projects are officially over (inside the house). It will just be finishing touches from here on out, thank the Lord!!!
I went to the Dr.'s yesterday and she gave me my leave date. So my last day of work will be Nov. 3rd. I think that'll be good because I want that time to get ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas and of course the arrival of the baby. Everything else looked good at my appointment. My blood sugar levels came back normal, which is a great thing, because my poor friend has had to re-do that sugar test 2 more times, and it's yucky! The Dr. also talked to me about recognizing signs of labor so that I can call if I have any indication that this baby wants out :) Then I realized, man we're close. She only has 7 more weeks until she's considered full term, only 11 til she's due. YIKES!!
Next time I'll post some pics of the bathroom. Here's hoping ya'll are NOT sick!

Just another day in paradise

Just a couple of quick photos and an update.
Here's Thomas putting the tile in our tiny little master bathroom shower. It's such slow going, but he works really long and hard hours on these re-model projects. I just want to be DONE!
Here's me yesterday. Now I think she was crooked in there because I felt extra large all of a sudden and my belly is sticking out so horizontally that she must have been doing some sort of contortion LOL. She is supposedly 13 inches long and 1.5 pounds. She also should have her hair by now too. I can't wait to see her!

Ready? Set? AHHHHHH

So we only have 3 1/2 months left before we get to meet our daughter and we are feeling the pinch! Of course there's all the baby stuff to get ready, all the birthing, and breastfeeding, and late pregnancy classes to schedule. Also getting state disability and maternity leave all figured out, so that's all on my mind.

But.... now there's something else. It's always been hanging over our heads that we WANT to move outta the suburbs to the county. Well now it's looking like, WANT to or NOT we probably HAVE to move. It's all financial of course. Our mortgage is insane and since I will be a stay at home mom, we are going to be forced to make other living arrangments. Luckily my hubby is a VERY talented carpenter, so plan A is, we buy a couple of acres, put a modular or temp home on it and live there for a couple of years before we build our home. This is very feasible and looking like the best option we have. It's just a matter of getting the land to work out.
Thomas went out to look at some property last weekend and ran into the owner. Turns out he's also the owner of the last property we put an offer on (we withdrew the offer because it was contingent on a ground water test that wouldn't take place for many months, so we let it go, but still love that land). Anyway they had a great talk and this week we're going to make another, better-for-us offer. Hopefully it passes the ground water test.
All that to say please be praying for us as we have to come up with some sort of plan, since we can't stay here LOL. (Niether of us ever really wanted to anyway, it is slightly ghetto).

So a baby AND moving Woo hoo. HEHEHEH Anyway THomas is working this weekend on our shower and hopefully will have the bathroom done soon, so we can get on to getting carpets replaced.

Life's not boring that's for sure!

Feeling huge

So far this is definitely the best part of the pregnancy. Caelen moves all the time and about 5 other people have felt her or even seen her kicking around in her little home. She has a favorite position and a favorite place to kick me, it's so fun to feel like I'm getting to know her already. Feeling her moving everyday and respoding to our touches and voices makes everything (all the throwing up) way worth it.

Yesterday she was really going to town and she stuck her foot WAY out and I poked it and she sucked it back in. I felt like I actually touched her! It was very cool.

The third trimester is almost here and so of course I'm feeling pretty big. I know I'm no where near what I'm gonna be, but my stomach feels squished, my back hurts at the end of the day, and the belly just feels enormous. I wish I could take it off, set it on the couch next to me for a little bit and then put it back on when I was ready! LOL But overall I guess I can't complain much, I feel pretty good, alot of people are telling me I look good, and my hubby still tells me I'm beautiful everyday, so I'm pretty happy. :)

Our days pretty much consist of working, and then coming home eating dinner and watching 24 on DVD. My parents have been going through the seasons and they let us watch them when they're done. It sucks you in and you become obsessed with it, it's absolutely the best show ever. We never want to stop and go to bed, but we know we have to! On the weekends we're still working on the master bathroom and bedroom. But hopefully we'll have it done soon. I really want to start getting Caelen's room all ready. She already has a good collection of clothes, but the problem with little babies is they outgrown stuff so fast, you have to buy a few sizes in advance. So it looks like a lot but it's a collection of sizes to fit through the whole year.

Anyway I can't believe we only have about 3 1/2 months left to go. She's about a foot long and 1 1/2 lbs. Time sure flies!! Before you know it she'll be here and it'll be Christmas :)