Apple Blossom Parade

I haven't been to a parade in years, but this past weekend we took the kids to the Sebastopol Apple Blossom Parade. Lots of friends were there, luckily, because otherwise I don't think my husband would have had a decent time. With Rep. Lynn Wolsey going by, and all the 60 year old hippy belly dancers I thought he would about have a heart attack. As it was, he was booing as loud as he could for the Sebastopol City Cousel! LOL
But he did admit to having fun even with all the fruits and nuts :)

Our church did a float commemorating their 100 year anniversary, and they were treated well and happily surprised that people waved to them.

Caelen hated the noise and ended up putting napkins in her ears, which was very inventive I thought.

Lilia held Addison who slept through most of it.

Flowers are Blooming

I just love this time of year in my backyard. It's not the prettiest my yard will get, but the promise is there :)

I like to overlook the patchy lawn, garbage Woodrow has stolen away to the lawn and chewed up, the still unfinished play house and the bare spots in my planters, and just enjoy the greenery that seems to take over my yard about this time. There are a few good angles to view my yard from (and a few not-so-good ones!) and this is one of them. I'll post it again in the summer when the daisies are blooming and there's just more color.

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My big girl just learned how to pedal a bike! I'll have to post a video, because she's riding like an old pro already. And with Addison growing out of clothes left and right (and fitting into some 3-6 month clothing) I'm just freaking out.

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WEEK IN PICTURES -

Caelen helping Mommy make echiladas.

Surgery and Smiles

So Caelen's surgery is on Monday. The doctor came in, spoke to me, and said that in that short time he could tell just by listening to her breath that her adenoids were huge. He looked in her mouth, said tonsils looked a little big but not huge. Looked in her nose and said it was perfectly clear. When I asked if he was going to look at her adenoids he said that after looking at her and listening, it was either her adenoids or something that needed to come out and be biopsied.
Our options were live with it, use a steroid nasal spray in hopes of shrinking them (it works 33% of the time and she'd be on it every day for upwards of 6 years!) or take them out.
It's a simpler surgery than a tonsillectomy. It takes about 4 hours from walking in to walking out and she can eat anything she likes afterward. He said liquid Tylenol and she should be fine. They'll give her a juice to drink that'll make her so groggy she won't care when they take her back to the OR and she won't remember a thing. That made Mommy feel better :)
So she has a pre-op appointment tomorrow and they're sending me a packet in the mail. I'm sure Caelen will be fine, and I'll just be praying my anxieties away in the waiting room. But this is seriously going to change her life. We'll be able to understand her so much better and I keep joking that she'll pass out from O2 overload when she can breath through BOTH her nose and mouth. Hopefully no more choking on her food in an effort to get it down fast enough so she can breath again, no more snoring, and probably a lot less snot.

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Little Addie is an extremely social girl and we've been just soaking up her coos and gurgles. She smiles so big when someone comes to talk to her and she tries to talk back. A couple of days ago I went to see her in her bouncy seat and she smiled big and said, "HI!" I literally shook my head, it was so strange! Kind of freaked me out to hear a little baby accidentally say a real word! She's way more talkative than Caelen had been at this age which makes me wonder, could anyone possible talk more than Caelen?

Mystery Solved?

I love hot weather, always have. But I think I love it even more now that I have a toddler. There is nothing like throwing the doors wide open and watching as she heads out of my cramped house and into the great outdoors. I'm reveling in the return of my sanity now that the cabin fever has receded and am thankful for the return of the heat. I think Caelen is too, but not in so many words. She just loves her new sandbox and new "non-winter" activities. Coloring got old months ago.

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At Addison's 2 month check up we spent more time discussing Caelen's inability to breath through her nose than anything else. She was prescribed a nasal spray (woo-hoo) and has an appointment with ears, nose & throat for her adenoids today. Just like my sister, they suspect Caelen's adenoids are swollen. From the day we brought her home she has never been able to breath through her nose. In fact, on her first night home I was on the phone with the advice nurse because my brand new baby was so snarffly I was sure she would die in the night. They assured me it was because she was C-sectioned and that it would clear up. Then we thought she had a cold for the first few months of her life. Looking back I know now it wasn't the case. And of course it never cleared up.

Our courses of treatment could include just continuing on the nasal spray to see if that shrinks them. Doing a sleep study (because of the related sleep apnea). This includes an over night in the hospital wearing a vest that tells them when and for how long she stops breathing. When I informed the doctor of Caelen's frequent night terrors and gymnastics while she sleeps, she was quick to say that she was pretty sure they were linked. If she's not getting enough oxygen while she sleeps that can lead to night terrors and crumby rest because she's waking up to start breathing again. Ultimately if the adenoids need to come out that would mean surgery. It's an outpatient surgery and fairly simple, although it's still surgery.

Anyway, your prayers for my Caelen would be greatly appreciated. We want to make the right decision by her. My parents were told my sister would grow out of it and she never did. She called my mom "Bob" for years and to this day feels she may suffocate if she only breaths through her nose for too long.

If it does turn out to be adenoids and it can be solved, then alot of mysteries will be solved in my mind. The fact that Caelen has always had a runny nose, drank a TON of fluids, had night terrors, can pronounce certain letters, thrashes in her sleep, and chokes on her food in an effort to get in down quickly so she can breath again. I have seriously begun the Heimlich on her multiple times. 5 times in the first year of her life and many since then. It would be great to solve this mystery.

A Yellow Bauchie's Life

So I have to say, my Ode to a Bauchie Blog is totally inspired by my friend Amy who blogged about her son's lost blankie. It entertained me so much, it inspired me to chronicle the favorite lovey of our house, the Yellow Bauchie.

I finally looked back in Caelen's baby book to see who the heck gave it to us. It was at my co-worker baby shower and it was from a lady who had worked in our office only a couple of times, but for whatever reason was kind enough to come to my shower. So thank you Dana LOL

Here it is on a plane to Hawaii, swaddling a six month old Caelen. So I thought about it.....
Bauchie States Visited - Hawaii, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado

It comforted her when she had to have 7 stitches at 10 months old.

Longest period of time without the bauchie that I can recall was 3 days. We left it in the church nursery and didn't make it back to church until Wed. when Thomas had a meeting. And that was back before she was as attached as she is now.

It's been to the zoo, the fair, the hospital, camping, RVing, and to church almost every Sunday.

It's such a permanent fixture in Caelen's life that it's extremely hard to steal away to get clean. The best time is at night after she's fallen asleep (but I better get it back in her bed before I go to sleep because if she were to wake up with out it, the tears would start flowing!) or mid-day before naptime. But even then she'll ask where it is through out the day and does a pitiful little cry if it's unavailable i.e. in the laundry, or left at home etc. It really goes EVERYWHERE with us; grocery stores, Grandma and Grandpa's, out to restaurants, Sunday School, friend's houses, the park, you name it.

And you know she's a real sweetie because she shares it with Addison now. She'll lay it on her, but only for a minute or two :) Can't expect too much, I mean, it's THE Yellow Bauchie for Heaven's sake.

A Sandbox and other Tales

Here's a cute story. We had the Bishops over for dinner last weekend and if they want to stay late, the only thing that works is putting Ty and Caelen in Caelen's room for a little "sleep over". Ty cozies up with his blankets on the floor while Caelen chats with him from her bed. You can hear these little voices going well past when they would normally be asleep. This is what we found when they went to take Ty home for the night.

For the first time in history Thomas estimated how long it would take him to get a project done and he was right! Estimated time : 20 min. Project: Sandbox.

He ended up buying river sand because it was way cheaper than the play sand and I wasn't there to insist he get the good stuff, but the girl's aren't ever gonna care.

While Caelen broke it in, Addison checked out the trees that have filled out in the past couple of weeks. She was quite happy!

And so here's our week in pictures, because I take too many and can't help myself from posting a ton:

Where's my suitcase?

My two year old got fed up with it all and tried to run away from home yesterday. We found her half way down the driveway (she had exited out both open garage doors) saying, "I'm leaving, I'm going away now." When Thomas picked her up and threw her over his shoulder to bring her back in, she laughingly protested. What set her off? I told her I wasn't going to take her shirt off because she got a little droplet of water on it. Poor thing, it's a wonder she hasn't tried it sooner.....

Happy Birthday & Easter

I wonder what impression Sunday made on Caelen. I wonder if every Easter she'll think she should sing Happy Birthday to Grandma and Grandpa, or if when it's their birthday if she'll start looking around for Easter eggs. But I'm willing to bet she just won't remember.
Either way it was the first Easter egg hunt for Caelen and it was my mom AND dad's birthday on Sunday. Church was wonderful with a ton of baptisms and people excited about their new (or long) walk with the Lord. Thomas was singing which meant I got to get myself and 2 little girls ready for Easter service by myself! (Did I mention service is at 8:15 am!?) But we made it ;) And on the way home from church Caelen just wanted me to tell her stories about Jesus. When I was done she'd want another one! It tested my Bible knowledge (and creativity, making those stories so a 2 year old can understand what your talking about takes some quick thinking!) and when I told her Jesus died she got so sad, but then I got to tell her He rose again, that's why we celebrate Easter! And He went to live with His Father in Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. She got so wide eyed and said, "In MY heart Mommy??" and I told her yep, if she wanted, she just had to ask Him. She pondered that for awhile and then asked for another story. Sweet little heart.
After a quick bite at home, and constantly reassuring Caelen that we WERE going to Grandma and Grandpa's we just had to _______ first and then we'd go (wait for papa to get home, eat lunch, feed Addison, whatever.)
Joy is a 2 year old girl finding Easter eggs. Just see for yourself.

She spied an egg on the other side of the trampoline, and heck, the shortest distance between two points....

Yes, she's pulling at her chin and saying something like, Hmm.. there's still more, let's keep looking. At one point she told us all to "Shhhh! We don't want to scare the other eggs away!"

Getting some golfing lessons from Grandpa.

Imagine how colorful her hands were afterward!

Our first annual Kline Family Easter Egg Coloring Day! (or something like that....)

All home grown eggs! Caelen had a blast coloring, and putting stickers on her eggs. On Easter, which is my parents birthday, we'll have dinner at my folks and a big Easter Egg hunt for Caelen after church. She doesn't know this yet, we take life one day at a time :)

Here's a big smile from my baby girl! She was very smiley this particular night.

And this is what you might see in my house during storytime before bedtime....