Grandpa and Caelyn injury

Reading to my baby doll

Move Date

It looks like our official move date is February 10th, but it is subject to change. :(:(

Update

We are still in Austin. We will be here until around the beginning of February and then we will officially be New Yorkers. We are still trying to sell the house and try to find a place to live in New York. Sorry there have not been any blog updates lately. We have been busy with Caelyn, work and other things. I will do my best to update on a more regular basis. Everyone is doing well.

The nutcracker

When putting up the Christmas decorations, we found out that Caelyn was afraid of the nutcracker. At first she would not go anywhere near it. She even claimed one day that the nutcracker bit her.

Breakfast with Santa

Aunt Rosie, Granny Carlie, Grandpa, and Mommmy took Caelyn to have breakfast with Santa. Caelyn enjoyed the show filled with dancers and music, but she was not feeling sitting on Santa's lap.

Caelyn's birthday and Birthday Party

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween night

St Catherine Halloween Carnival

Granny Dee and Mommy took Caelyn to the St. Catherine's Halloween Carnival.

Halloween Carnival

Aunt Chelsa and I took Caelyn to the Halloween Carnival in Kyle. Caelyn was pretty good at playing the games, but she really enjoyed throwing the bean bag through the hole. She was just a little impatient waiting her turn.

Little Miss Kyle Pageant

Caelyn was in the Little Miss Kyle Pageant in October. She won best smile. She was a little shy, but I think she had a little fun. She was the youngest in her group, so I am not so sure she knew exactly what was going on.

Austin Children's Museum

Aunt Rosie and I took Caelyn to the Austin Children's Museum. I think this is when Caelyn's obsession with trains began.

How you know it is time to potty train

1) Caelyn is telling us before hand when she needs to poop. It is time to potty train.
2) When Caelyn woke up from nap today, I found her standing in her crib holding out her diaper and she saying "Poop, yucky". I could already smell poop when I entered her room, so I did not know what to expect. When I got closer to the crib I found "black jelly beans" in the crib. It is time to potty training if you can take off your diaper and handle your business. I am sure you would appreciate the lack of photos.

A new project for us to work on :):)

Picnic

Caelyn has a small table and chairs and had a picnic with her best pal.

Trip to Cabela's

Everyone, especially my Mom, has been telling me to get Caelyn out of the house and go do something with her. So on the days of the week that she does not attend daycare, we are going to take morning and afternoon field trips. To test this out, I decided to go to Cabelas. I know it sounds lame, but we needed something to do. We had such a good time. There were a lot of animals to see. The fish were all called Nemo. The hogs were pigs. There were several Bambis. We even saw Bevo and Sonny (our dog). Caelyn threw a fit because Sonny would not come play with her.

Shoes

Caelyn likes putting on others shoes and walking around in them. She is actually good about determining the correct foot to put the shoe on.

Caelyn's first UT game

Caelyn attended her first UT game with her Daddy. She had a lot of fun. Of course we had to find her the perfect outfit and her Granny and Papa bought her the perfect shoes. She is getting really close to being able to do the make the Hook 'em horns sign. She played with other children in the stands and met a lot of people. She had a great time with her Daddy. She loved listening to the band and walking alongside of them after the game. She was also excited to see Bevo!!

Clown

To fill up our day, Caelyn made me a clown using some old makeyp I had.

Canyon Lake

Family Update

Well we are still here. At this point we will be here in Kyle/Austin until the end of the year. Chad is back and forth between Austin and Albany. He has several conferences in Houston, San Diego, and Lake Tahoe in between his trips. Caelyn has started attending daycare three days a week. I think it is good for her to be around other children to work on her social skills and learn from other kids. I thinks she really likes it. Plus, it gives us a break from each other. I think Caelyn wants to see someone other than me every once in a while. I am still trying to find a little part time job until we leave. I am thinking about trying substitute teaching. So overall we are all doing well. Caelyn is just growing up so fast. She is talking more. It is really fun to try to figure out what she is saying. She is working on learning her colors and alphabet. She still loves reading :):)

Symphony Square

Aunt Rosie and I took Caelyn to Symphony Square for Children's Day Art in the Park twice this summer. We had a good time. We saw Cowgirl Sue and Auntie E perform. Caelyn made beautiful artwork using paper plates and colored musical instruments. She met Ronald McDonald and told him how much she loves his chicken nuggets and fries. She even got her face painted.

Easy Breezy Beautiful Caelyn Girl.

Caelyn has started her own line of lip care products. It is called "Crayola". She decided that I did not have enough color on my face and she applied "lipstick" to my lips using a crayon. She even turned my head if I looked away, said something I could not understand ("X#@hshidl&") and showed me how to press my lips together. I think reds, browns, and blues are my best colors.

Feeding Sonny

I have already given Caelyn chores. Each day she enjoys feeding Sonny his food, literally. She is pretty good about dumping his food in his bowl, but she insists on sitting right next to him while he eats. She takes a piece out of his bowl and tries to stick it in his mouth. Poor Sonny. And she gets really mad when he does not want to eat the piece of food she is trying to feed him.

The sheriff

There's a new sheriff in town!! Caelyn had fun trying on Papa's boots.

Hanging in Tyler

4th of July

Caelyn got to do her own fireworks this year. She threw Snappers and with some help held Sparklers and wrote her name. They were all safe and harmless.

Going to the zoo

We took Caelyn to the zoo for the first time. We all had a good time. Caelyn was naming and pointing to the animals or doing the signs for them. At times, Caelyn seemed to be more interested in eating Cheerios and looking at the people around her. She really enjoyed petting the goats. We think she was more interested when the animals were closer to her.

We did not teach Caelyn that

Chad look-a-like

Brick Oven dinner with family

We had a great time hanging out with the the Hornsby clan after the track meet:):)

Pet store fun

I had to go to the pet store this week to get Sonny his free birthday toy. I now know what to do if I ever need free entertainment for Caelyn. I will take her to the pet store and let her look at all the animals. She had so much fun. It was neat to see her name or sign the animals. She danced and laughed when she saw them. She really liked the turtle and birds. I had to be quiet when we walked past the sleeping kittens. She told me to shhh. We are excited to take her to the zoo in a couple of days.

Germany

Chad and I went to Germany for a conference he had. We went to Berlin and the conference was in Bad Saarow. It was amazing over there. The sites and the food were great. There is so much history over there. This was out first overseas trip without Caelyn. We missed Caelyn terribly while we were gone, but we know she had a good time at her grandparents houses.

Silly Girl in the pool

Caelyn had a lot of fun while we were in Germany, especially in the pool and blowing bubbles.

Father's Day

Father's Day was a little sad this time around. Chad was in Albany working. Caelyn missed him, but we got to hang out with family.

New York New York Dinner

We all had so much fun at the New York New York Dinner at Baby A's. Way to go out, Texas style. :):) Thanks to everyone that was able to come out. We really appreciated it.

Playing golf

Grandpa loves to play golf and is going to show Caelyn how to be the next Ann Gregory. :):)

I can do it myself

Caelyn tried to put her own sunglasses on. She did a pretty good job once she figured out what to do.

Water play at daycare

The kids in Caelyn's class had water play today. Caelyn had a lot of fun. I was glad I got to stop by and take a couple of pictures.

Update-Crazy

It has been a little crazy trying to get the house on the market. Hopefully someone will come by and take a look at it and buy it. Chad is working part of the month here and the other part in Albany. We miss him terribly. Caelyn is busier than ever and into everything. The school year is about to end. I really need a quick break to sleep. Can't wait until summer :):) Sorry there have not been any postings recently. I will keep on it this summer. I have a new respect for single mothers. I don't know how they do it.

Watering the grass for Mommy

Caelyn really likes to be helpful. So I put her bathing suit on and let her help me water the grass. She sprayed me a couple of times.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I was made to cut the grass. JK

Caelyn enjoyed riding the lawn mover with Grandpa and Daddy. She could be the poster child for John Deer. :):)

Mommy's graduation

You are too big to fit in that basket

Caelyn likes to squeeze in small things she can't fit into and then she usually gets mad.

18 months

Caelyn turned 18 months on Thursday. She is getting so BIG. She has a strong personality and wants to be independent and do things on her own, which often leads to frustration and anger. She was promoted to the Toddler class at day care and is doing very well. She is still a pretty good eater. She is still signing and recently learned help, sleep, stars, and moon. She is saying more words now too. She says apple, mama, bye, orange, up, cookie, ball, dad, pup, water, eat, and bath. Her favorite word of course is No. She usually repeats what you say but there are a couple of syllables missing. She knows a couple of animal sounds: pig, horse, cow, duck, and sheep. She can repeat the alphabet to the letter "k", although a lot of the letters sound alike. Her fine motor skills are developing nicely. She can find the smallest piece of paper on the floor and pick it up to give to you. She is still very loving and enjoys giving hugs and blowing kisses.

Amazing Two

We read A LOT of books to Caelyn and she really enjoys reading. She brought me a book that I have not read to her in quite some time and said "go go go", which is the title of the book. Caelyn seems to remember things really well.

Amazing One

Caelyn is doing things now that I think are amazing, maybe what she is doing is age typical. Anyways.... We have been working on sign language with Caelyn. At this point she knows about 35 signs. Every time we I change Caelyn's diaper we play the sign language CD and sing the songs while we sign. Caelyn for the most part signed a whole sentence on her own. She signed please, milk and drink for "please give me some milk to drink".

Helping in the Yard

We were doing some yard work and I was planting flowers. Caelyn wanted to help. Every rock I took out of the flower bed she put right back in it. At one point I think she was trying to throw dirt over her shoulder, but it ended up in her hair and all over her shoulders and back. We had to change her outside becuase she managed to get dirt in her diaper. She had fun.

Moving to Albany

It is official. We are moving to Albany New York in July. We are really sad, especially Caelyn.

A day at Great Granny and Grandpa's House

Today we went to hang out at Great Granny and Grandpa's house and Caelyn played with with Cousin Braisen and Braxton and Uncle Byron.

Caymen Islands

Chad and I went to the Caymen Islands for a wedding. It was my first time away from Caelyn and I missed her terribly. The wedding was BEAUTIFUL. The prettiest I have ever been to. The beaches were beautiful and the food was great. And we actually swam with sting rays. I was a little scaried, but it was really cool. We were excited to come home and see Caelyn though.

Easter Rodeo

On Easter Day we took Caelyn to the Easter Rodeo in Liberty. She had a good time looking at and petting the horses. She even wore her cowgirl hat for a couple of pictures. As the horses walked by she would not take her eyes off of them.

Easter at Uncle Sonny and Aunt Lil's

Check out Caelyn

My Dad made this. Copy and paste the link below. It is pretty funny.

http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/2008focus/index.asp?section=ThemeSong&mid=26551734

Associations

Caelyn is really starting to make associations between things and actually remember them. She has a lot of plastic eggs from this week. I was picking them up tonight and she started making the sign for bunny and said "egg". I guess she knew/remembered the Easter Bunny brought her those eggs. I wish I had it on camera. It is just so hit and miss with her. She also out of the blue started doing the sign for cat. We have not shown her the sign for cat in a while because we thought it was too advanced for her. Of course it is modified, like every other sign we show her, but she is doing it.

St. Patrick's Day

 
Caelyn got a cool shirt from her Aunt Cerissa to wear on St. Patrick's Day. As soon as Caelyn got up in the morning she went straight to pantry to get her Bailey's bottle to play with. :):)

Fried Fish

We went to eat fried fish at the Manchaca Fire Hall. Caelyn enjoys eating fish too.

Don't drink and drive

Caelyn loves to play with steering wheels.

Eggtravaganza

We went to the Easter Eggstravaganza with Granny and Grandpa. Caelyn participated in many of the games as well as the egg hunt. She is pretty good at throwing the bean bags through the holes and throwig the velcro balss on the targets. Maybe we have a softball player on our hands :):).

Easter bunny Caelyn

Tattoo

Caelyn gave me a tatoo yesterday morning.

Webberville Easter Egg Hunt

This weekend we took Caelyn to the Webberville Easter Egg Hunt. Caelyn did pretty well. She got about 8 eggs. She was afraid of the Easter bunny. She liked the duck pond. At one point she tired to climb in the pool. And like always, she loved the playground. We will see how she does at the Kyle Easter Egg Hunt.

Wet T-shirt Contest

Caelyn likes to try to drink out of our glass. She is not very good at it. It may be hard to see but it looked like she entered a wet T-shirt Contest. Her shirt was soaking wet.

Easter Dress Fashion Shoot

Caelyn tried a couple of Easter dresses to see which one she liked. She settled on one. I guess she got tired from all the hype.

Let me make you a drink

Chad and I have two miniature bottles of Bailey's in the pantry that we got from a flight we took. Everyday Caelyn likes to go in the pantry and get the bottles out to play with. One day she decided to make Chad and I a couple of drinks. :):) She makes them extra strong :):)

Peanut Butter Crisis

At daycare this week, Caelyn was put in a class with much bigger kids. For snack the children had peanut butter and crackers. The teacher realized she was not sure if Caelyn had a peanut allergy or not. Anyone who has seen Caelyn eat knows that when the teacher tried to take the crackers away, Caelyn tried to stuff them in her mouth and pitched a fit. Caelyn was monitored closely and she was fine. Needless to say, Caelyn at this point does not have a nut allergy. I called her doctor and she said Caelyn was going to be fine. When Caelyn is eating something she likes, there is no taking it away.

Sitting in Sonny's Bed

Caelyn is fascinated with sitting in Sonny's bed while he is in it. Poor Sonny. He must love Caelyn :):)

Walking Sonny

Caelyn's newest thing for the week is walking Sonny. She insists on and becomes upset if she can't put Sonny's leash on him and walk him around the house or outside.

Wimberley Market

We took a trip today with Aunt Rosie to the Wimberley Market Days. We had a lot of fun and found a lot of neat stuff to buy. Caelyn had a good time. She looked around at everything, ate Cheerios, and fell asleep.

Fun at the Park

This was Caelyn's first time at the park. She really enjoys going to the park and walking on her own. She does not like to be held when she has the opportunity to walk.

Don't break my dishwasher

I voted

 
Caelyn went to vote today. She voted for the candidate that best addresses issues pertaining to toddlers specifically in fashion, playtime, naptime, mealtime, diaper changing, and bathtime. She was also interested in who had the best strategy for potty training. :):) Caelyn was proud to wear her voter sticker.

Belly button fun :):)

If you don't know already, Caelyn loves to play with people's belly buttons and her own, but what she can't understand is that you don't have a belly button on your back. So if you sit on the floor, she lifts up the back of your shirt and searches for your belly button. It is quite funny.

New signs

Caelyn now knows flower, ball, book, and hot (although she can't discriminate between the "a" and the "o" so hat and hot are confusing to her). The Baby V-smile is really helping Caelyn to learn. She loves playing with it. We take it everywhere and plug it up to the TV for her to play with. We always tries to pair the word up with the sign. Although she only say a few words, she is able to communicate better than some kids that are older than her because she signs. :):)

You think you are so sneaky

Caelyn thinks she is so sneaky. She loves playing in Sonny's water bowl. It is usually not a big deal, just some water to clean up, until Caelyn starts licking her hand and getting her empty cup and trying to fill it with water to drink. When we tell no, she goes and sits next to his bowl and when we are not looking she will reach behind her back and stick her hand in his water bowl and proceed to sticking her hand in her mouth.

Ash Wednesday

We had to make sure Caelyn went to church to get her ashes for Ash Wednesday. Her Godmother, Cerissa, even called us to make sure we took her to church :):)

Hiding in the cabinets

Caelyn loves to be in the kitchen while I am cooking. She has started hiding in the cabinets to occupy herself.

Cupid's Chase 6K

Yesterday we participated in the Cupid's Chase 6K run. We all had a lot of fun. There was a bunch of us that participated. Caelyn came in first in her age group:):) She was the fastest 15 month old. She was so tired when she crossed the finish line and needed some help. She just cruised in her stroller in her jogging suit and ate Cheerios the whole time. We had to stop and look at the ducks and she still come in first.

The Superbowl

Although this is not Caelyn's first Superbowl, it is the first one she did not sleep the majority of the time. We had a house full. Chad made fajitas. We had a great time. Caelyn ate so much we think she got heart burn.

First time to San Antonio

It was MLK weekend and we wanted to get away, so we went to San Antonio and stayed on the Riverwalk. We had a really good time. The first night we met up with my brother, Reno and his girlfriend Allison for dinner. We had a great time. Sunday morning we took Caelyn to Mc Donalds for the first time. She had pancakes, fruit, and a some sausage. She really likes pancakes!! We walked around for a while and went to the Market. Caelyn tried on a couple of sombreros, but didn't keep them on for long. She doesn't like to wear anything on her head, but we got a couple of pictures.

Tubes

I am going to back track a little bit to update everyone on what was going on in January. Caelyn had tubes put in her ears. She has had many ear infections since starting daycare. She had an ear infection that we just couldn't seem to get rid of, so we decided to go ahead with the tubes. We did not want her hearing and speech to be affected. I went ahead and went to work the morning of the surgery. Chad and Aunt Rosie stayed with her at home. I hear she did really well considering she couldn't have anything to eat or drink and Caelyn likes to eat. I got to the hospital about an hour before her surgery and she was fine. Daddy was pulling her around in the wagon. I had to buy her a couple of stuffed animals to have with her after the surgery. We could not go back there with her. It was really sad. I think a little bit of both of us wanted to cry. But she was back about 10 minutes later. She was very disoriented after she woke up. I don't think I have ever heard her cry like that. But after she got home, ate and took a nap, she was back to her old self.

The first entry

I thought I would start a Blog for Caelyn and really our whole family. It seems like everyone has a blog and this might be an easy way for others to see what Caelyn is doing and she is actually doing quite a bit. Caelyn is 15 months and she is absolutely hilarious. This is such an awesome age. She started walking right before she turned 13 months and now it seems like she is trying to run. She walks so fast. Sometimes it seems like I can't keep up. She can say a few words, Mama, Dada, eye, Bye bye, light(yes she really says light), wow, and up. She tries to repeat every one syllable word we say or tries to say one part of what we say. She tried to say hippo the other day. She is also pointing a lot, especially when she wants you tell her what something is. She is signing a lot. She can sign duck, toothbrush, bird, shoe, sock, bath, hat, eat/drink, more, no no, eye, all done, diaper, and fish. She can point to her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and belly button. It is amazing how she associates things. We were at church and she she started doing the sign for bath when she walked past the fountain. I was also telling her that something was squishy and she thought I said fishy and started showing me the sign. She has a funny and very strong personality. She likes to explore and do things over and over and over and over. She finally figured out how to go down the stairs. She also likes to make shadow puppets on the wall when she is getting her diaper changed. She went in for her 15 month appointment. She weighs 19 pounds and 29 inches long. She is in the 10-25th percentile. So she is getting a little bigger. I guess this explains why she is beating up other kids at the day care and occasionally goes to time out. :):)