Update on the Headband

I would have won my money on the Ogre issue. Caitlin was THRILLED to see me when I picked her up from school. She did not suffer any lasting ill effects from our morning disagreement and in fact she told me that she doesn't want to wear the "crown headband" to school any more because it doesn't have any "catchers" ie teeth to pull her hair back and is therefore uncomfortable. ARRGH! If she would have listened to me in the first place this wouldn't have been an issue. Ok I have officially turned into my mother with that statement. Lucky me I like my mother. Our evening together was uneventful and pleasant, just the way it should be. We tried to play some games together on Sproutonline.com but got discouraged when the computer kept telling us that the site was unavailable only to become available when we clicked the 'back' button. So we decided to read some stories instead. Now she's asleep and I am reflecting on what I could have done differently so that I didn't spend the day feeling guilty. Live and Learn I suppose.

Headband Hell

So on Sunday Caitlin and I went school clothes shopping for Ally-bug with Ally and her mom at the beach. Ally starts kindergarten this fall so it was a "girls day" at the beach. Well, almost a girls day. Baby Matthew was allowed to tag along, but being the sweetheart that he is, he slept most of the time. Our original intent had been to have a picnic lunch on the beach after shopping, unfortunately it rained. So we wandered through the outlet mall in Lincoln City and bought the girls "princess crowns" and had a picnic in the car while looking at the beach. Caitlin was especially good because we were not shopping for her-only Ally. She mentioned a couple of times that it was hard to shop for someone else and not get anything for herself. When it's her turn in a couple of weeks to go shopping for new fall/winter clothes she's not going to take anyone with her except Mommy and Daddy. All in all the day was pretty fun. Then yesterday Caitlin decided that she had to wear her new crown to school and life was good. Today on the other hand when it came time to walk out the door, she decided that she need to wear the crown again, only it had to pull her bangs back.

I tried to put the stinkin' thing on the way she wanted but after 3 absolutely "unacceptable" attempts she started a full on foot stomping, arm flailing, scream fit. Which pretty much hit all of my buttons and made me consider breaking the new prized crown in half and dumping it in the garbage. Which I of course told her would happen if she didn't get herself under control. My daughter is incredibly intelligent and so stopped said temper trantrum- for about 5seconds. Then it turned into a whining 'you're not doing it right' fit to which I asked her "does this whiney behavior EVER get you what you want?" She answered "No it gets me into timeout." SO WHY OH WHY does she do this stuff- and why more importantly does she do it when we're walking out the door?! We made it to school and work on time, but the entire three minute drive from home to daycare was spent getting a lecture, for which I (at the end) felt guitly about because when we got to the school she asked for a napkin to dry her tears. She had been silently crying the whole way to school while I lectured on appropriate behavior regarding head bands and getting dressed. I didn't have time to snuggle her as long as I wanted before I had to leave for work from her daycare so I left her tennis shoes (which she has to wear instead of the flip-flops that she went to school in) for her teachers to help her put on, gave her a hug and a kiss and walked out the door. Because I was feeling guilty about our fight this morning, really who is the adult here?(I should have handled it differently- I could have just said ok we'll fix it at school let's go instead of saying FINE YOU DO IT ), I called her school to talk to her for a minute. The child REJECTED my call, she told her teacher she didn't want to talk to me. I didn't give her the choice, I told the teacher to put her on the phone anyway. She had a smile in her voice when she talked to me and acted like it was all no big deal, while I went on about my day with a stomach ache because I have felt so bad about having a fight first thing in the morning! Seriously, children should not have the ability to cause their parents so much grief! Granted my mother would probably say this was payback for having been a completely rotten child- but still! We'll see what the true result is when I pick her up at the end of the day, since I am just on my lunch break now, but I'd be willing to put money down that I will still feel like an ogre and she will be just fine.

Rafting pictures

Here are some shots from Ryan's rafting trip. I think I am jealous! I should have been irresponsible and called in "sick"! Oh well that's just not practical, Caitlin gets sick too often for real. Maybe next year we won't have any family emergencies and I will take a real vacation. Enjoy the pictures.For those of you who don't know Ryan yet, he is the one holding the oar out of water and not wearing a hat. At least he has a life jacket on today!Ryan was in the boat with his cousin Cecelia and brother Matthew. Cecelia is in the front wearing a gray cap and Matthew is behind her in a black baseball cap.

Our 3 Year Wedding Annivesary

Well today is our third wedding anniversary. Next April we'll celebrate 10!years together, and I will make sure to take time off for that momentous occasion. Under normal circumstances I would have spent today with my wonderful, generous, loyal, kindhearted, funny, loving husband. But this year has not been normal. Heartbreaking, eye-opening, and educational, but not normal. Because I took a little more than a month of leave in April and May and have subsequently taken many individual days off I could not really afford to take today off to go with Ryan to the Deschutes River where he was rafting. Instead I very practically went to work, came home, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry, vacuumed and steam cleaned the carpets, took out the trash, changed the cat litter and listened to the radio. Sometimes being a responsible adult bites. Although I will admit it is nice to look around the living room and dining room and see clean floors, clear counters and a semblance of organization. Ryan said he bought the CD of photos from the rafting company showing them going through the rapids so maybe I'll be able to post those soon. Caitlin and Ryan left yesterday and camped outside of Maupin with a lot of his family. Ryan's mom and sister stayed in the campsite today with Caitlin and his sisters twins Gioia (pronounced Joy-uh) and Ian while the rest of the adults went out on the water. It sounds like the adults had a pretty good time, and since Caitlin loves camping she probably did too. My day wasn't as exciting, but at least it was productive.

The week in review

WOW! That's all I can say about the past week. I had grand intentions of posting every night while Caitie went to sleep but like I said last week, I thought I would be exhausted after Saturday and I was. Holding Matthew was so wonderful, just like I thought it would be. He is such a snuggle bug and smells so sweet like all babies do. I was also right, Shannon was thrilled to let me take him to my room for the night:) Too bad for her there wasn't enough milk to last all night so when he woke up to eat at 3am I brought him straight into her room and that is where is he stayed the rest of the night. Lucky for me Caitie knows the meaning of sleep in so we stayed in bed until 9am, unlucky for Shannon her kids got up for the day around 7am. We played all morning and early afternoon at home and then went to a party at one of Ryan's co-workers where we had a BBQ in the afternoon and then left that party to go to Ryan's older brothers for Sunday dinner with all of his siblings and a few cousins. All in all the weekend was quite full. Fun, entertaining, and busy. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from this week because I misplaced the memory card reader with the card inside of it until just a day or so ago. After the busy weekend it was back to work and daycare as usual- for all of one day. I thought we would just relax in the evening but then we decided to invite Chandra Mark and Lucas to come over for dinner. On Tuesday we played in the park we our friend Paul and his son Dominic, then went over to their new house for dinner with Paul's wife Sam. Wednesday we drove to McMinnville (an hour away) so Ryan could get some help with repairing his boat motor and we saw Shannon and the kids again. Thursday was really long because Ryan and Caitlin went with Shannon's dad and Alexandria to the beach to go crabbing ALL DAY LONG! They didn't get home until 11:30 at night. While they were busy on the water, I went to see "Dark Knight" with Mark. It was surprisingly good, then again I pretty much like any action oriented flick. My favorite movies are still romantic comedy, but once in a while you just need some good ol' fashioned booty whoopin'. Luckily Caitlin went to sleep at 9pm on the way home so at least she wasn't up too late. On Friday Caitie went on a field trip with her class mates in the morning, then Mark, Chandra, and Lucas picked her up from school and drove her back to the beach to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a sleep over. Which meant Ryan and I were able to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary a few days early. At least until bed time when Caitie had a complete meltdown because she was so over tired. She slept most of the day away on the boat while they were crabbing but she didn't have a nap at all on Friday. I don't know what they did all afternoon but I do know that they went swimming at the public pool in the evening. When they got home and started getting ready for bed I got a phone call. Right in the middle of our dinner. So in effort not to disturb other diners, I took the phone outside and sang Caitie songs, said bedtime prayers and promised to see her later today. She was so tired that it took a really long time for her to calm down, which in turn meant that I pretty much missed most of my lovely dinner. It also meant that our promise not to talk about our child or anything not related to just "us" went out the window mid date. Oh well, that's what happens when you have kids. Last week and last weekend were so go go go that our plan for the coming week is to relax. I doubt it will happen that way, especially since this afternoon we are on our way down to the beach to celebrate Chandra's birthday and get our kid back. Oh yeah and more crabbing tomorrow, but really after that we're done for a while....At least until the next invitation we can't resist extending or accepting:)

Fun in the Park

So Caitlin is definitely "all better" and today was FUN IN THE PARK. Every year our town puts on a free kids day in the park next to our apartment and local vendors sponsor jumping structures, clowns, mimes, balloonists, face painters and temporary tattoo artists and a TON of other activities just for fun. Of course there are options to purchase services, sign up for new doctors and dentists and food to eat but all the activities are free and you can pack a picnic lunch if you don't want to buy pizza or greasy noodles. Caitlin and I took her cousin 'Little Luke' and wandered around. We went down a jumpy structure slide that of course Lucas was too small to go on alone so I had to go with him and when we got to the bottom I was VERY embarrassed to face plant trying to get off the thing. But it was either eat dirt or drop a 1 year old. So of course I ate dirt. We shared ice cream and Lucas knuckle bumped one of the vendors who was SO excited that he had to get his wife to come watch Lucas do it again and then reward Lucas with a pencil. After two exhausting hours (chasing a 4 yr old who is chasing a 1 yr old is too much!) Caitie and Lucas got tattoos and we went home.

Want a bite? Cake Batter icecream at Cold Stone is the BEST!

Sleepy little soccer boy
Pink is the most beautiful color after all....

I was ready for a nap and desperately hoped both kids would fall asleep so I could too... But alas Caitlin, the never ending ball of energy, didn't want to sleep, she wanted to color, then she wanted to have a sleep over. I couldn't really think of a better excuse to say no other than that I wanted a nap, so I said OK and invited my God-Children 5 year old Alexandria and 6 week old Matthew to come have a sleep over tonight. Their mom is driving them over as we speak. I am sure she agreed because she's planning on a restfull nights sleep since I'll get up with the baby as long as she has pumped enough milk. All in all I think today was fun and this evening will be too. Exhausting but fun.

Back to normal- I hope

Caitlin went to the doctor yesterday, only to seem perfectly fine. With the exception of a sore throat she didn't seem sick at all- starting the second we walked into the doctors office. Before that she was miserable, sad and sick. But as children are apt to do, she put on a smile and life was grand for the doctor. He thinks she may have strep throat even though the five minute culture came back negative. We'll know for sure tomorrow after the long culture grows out. Finally her fever is gone and she's been saying that her throat isn't as sore so maybe it was just a virus and all is well again. I went back to work today and let Ryan stay home with her. After all I am not the only parent here so he can do some of the sick kid duty too. I really hope that she is still ok this weekend because its "FUN IN THE PARK" weekend and I really want to take her to it, plus I NEED to get out of the house for more than just a walk and to go to work. The weather has just been so perfect lately that it seems shameful to stay cooped up in the house. After fun in the park on Saturday I am not sure what to do with our weekend. We've been invited to a party at one of Ryan's co-workers homes, which would be a lot of fun except that last minute she decided to invite not only all of the people from their office, but also her entire family, and her ENTIRE neighborhood. Ryan said the invite list is in the 2-3 hundred range. For cryin' out loud that's not a party- that's a wedding reception! Caitlin gets pretty overwhelmed in big gatherings even when she knows everyone so I am not sure how long we'll stay if we make an appearance at all. I know it would disappoint the hostess if we didn't at least show up... but seriously?! 2-300 people!!! HOLY COW! We'll see, I guess I shouldn't get too worked up about it until I know whether or not Caitie is still sick. Since she's asleep now I am going to turn in too. I have no doubt that she will be in my bed in 4-5 hours despite the fact that she is currently in her own bed- in her own room. I am not sure how kids manage to get into their parents bed, even crawling over their parents to get in the middle, and not wake the parents up. But inevitably that is where she is when I wake up in the morning so in effort to get the most sleep with room to relax I pretty much have to go to bed as soon as she's asleep.

Still sick but in bed now.

It's 7:30pm and Caitlin is already in bed for the night. Her temp has been holding steady at 102 degrees with Tylenol. Plus now her legs are "itching on the inside" and all of her joints hurt. Poor Baby. Lucky for me she's not particularly cranky-just very hot and cuddly. If the fever isn't gone in the morning I guess we'll be heading in to see the doctor. But as my earlier note said I am adding more pictures. Enjoy the photos- we certainly enjoyed the trip. We took a "behind the scenes tour" of Sea World where we learned all about the animal hospital and rehab center. Of course a trip to Sea World San Diego just wouldn't be complete without watching the Shamu Show.

Feeding the Sea Lions.

Hey that bird just stole my fish!

These three shots represent both the best and worst part of Sea World for Caitlin. She absolutely LOVED feeding the sea lions, especially the "poor baby" who was losing her eyesight, but the birds were quite aggressive and would steal the fish right out of the air if not out of your hand. The middle picture shows Caitlin's reaction to those thieves in a rather comical manner.

Home Sick Today

Well when I picked up Caitlin up from daycare yesterday she was complaining that her mouth and throat hurt. The thermometer told us that her temperature was 101 degrees so she had some tylenol and went to bed early. This morning the fever was back (or sitll here) and higher so we stayed home today. Caitie is taking advantage of my weakness for a sick kid and watching a movie so I decided that it was high time for "later" to make an appearance in the scrapbooking department.

So far the scrapbooking part hasn't been successful but I did get two collage frames filled and put up, also more importantly I found the discs from costco and since google has made uploading pictures so easy I decided to add some from our trip to DisneyLand and Sea World in May. In retrospect I think it may have been a better idea to fly and rent a car when we got there but since the trip was pretty much my version of retail therapy and completely unplanned, even as far as the not truly knowing the destination until we were already on the road, I guess the car trip worked too. Caitie was SOOO excited to be "on the way".

We stopped at a park in L.A to have lunch on the second day on the road. Caitlin RAN and RAN and then slept the rest of the way to San Diego where she was super excited to then go swimming in warm Cali water. Unfortunatley that lasted about 10mins before she started screaming that it was stinging and we had to wash her legs with fresh water. But I really liked this picture of Ryan and Caitlin when they first went into the water.
The rest of the pictures are going to go into their own bloggy without words because this is ridiculously long, fun for me but LONG.... :)

Caitlin and Faith Best Friends and Fishing Buddies

Well it turns out I really get a kick out of this blogging thing and many more people utilize it as an informational tool than I realized. Which is great. Now I can be addicted to my own blog site as well as everyone elses. Today Ryan found the memory card reader for my digital camera so I can really simply upload photos. This may be the first time in history that recent pictures of Caitlin will be accessable! No more begging and nagging to get photos of my adorable little monster, just log in and view my blog. It's not that I don't take pictures of her... Not at all it's just that once I take them I save them to cd at costco and have prints made and then prompty file them in the 'scrapbook later' box. Later has yet to make an appearance in my life. So here are the most recent pictures. The life jacket ones are from a couple of weeks ago when Ryan, our friend Phil, Caitlin and her best friend Faith and I went up to Timothy Lake to go for a boat ride/fishing trip. Really it was to go pick up Ryan's boat with the new trailer because the wheel thingy on his old trailer was defective and not worth replacing but if we were already gonna be at the lake we may as well make a day of it and go fishing too right?

Caitlin and Faith both caught their own fish. I believe it was a first for both girls. In the past they have reeled in what their daddy's have caught, but this time they each did it all. From choosing the bait, to setting the hook, to reeling in the fish and helping each other net the fishes. We had a delicious trout dinner that night! The girls were so proud of themselves. I wish that I had the camera while we were out on the lake because they were quite adorable. Caitlin is the one above and Faith is the one on the right. Faith is our little Diva Girl. Every time I asked her to show me the fish she would jut out one hip, cock her elbow and fluff her hair. I almost fell on my tuckus laughing at her antics.

I'm givin' it a try

So my cousin Amy created a blog account that my mother forwarded onto me and I decided that its a great way to keep everyone informed considering the fact that I almost never respond to emails in a timely manner. Also I tend to repeat the same information several times a day on the phone to various people when I could in fact just write it all down once and be done. We'll see if the blog option becomes a reality but for now it seems like fun. Plus I think I should try most things at least once. Like "My Space". That was fun for about a day or two and it was a great way to keep track of what my friend Traci's teenager was posting to make sure that everything (online at least) stayed above board. Plus what a better way to ramble on and on about my family and people will listen? It's like group therapy. So here goes my first attempt at blogging.
I am sitting outside Caitlin's bedroom, as I do everynight while she goes to sleep-in her own bed!:), and I think that this may work. I am more likely to put it away after she goes to sleep unlike a book, which I will stay up reading for hours, and its fun. Now that I am pushing 30 years old I have to make sure that I do fun all the time or run the risk of becoming a dreaded BORING adult. Which really is quite amusing to think about considering that I have pretty much been boring forever having always been a homebody kinda gal. But really, I am going to be 30 years old soon so its about time to start being adventurous. Go out on a limb, try something new, eat wierd food and sing Karaoke. I am still open to suggestions on the wierd food option but I did try Karaoke at the company picnic that I organized yesterday. The party was a success and may deserve its very own blog, the Karaoke however does not necessarly deserve a repeat performance. I did it anyway and had fun taking the road less traveled. I might even try it again at my birthday party which will hopefully deserve its very own blog too. Well she's asleep so I am off to bed myself- Hasta.