Why do I bother?

Anyone know where I can get 20 grand for free? I would love to have new flooring throughout the house, and a remodeled kitchen and bathrooms. As I type this my hand is cramping. Why? Our tub is a nice shade of salmon with a plastic liner covering nice salmon tiles around the walls (I hope you can sense the sarcasm when I type this, it truly is ugly). The liner is off white. Whoever put in that liner did a shotty job. The tiles are falling off behind it thus making the liner bubble out. I had recaulked the between the liner and tub when we moved in because the caulking was moldy and gross. One year later, same problem. So today I recaulked again. But as I'm sitting there caulking I'm thinking to myself, why bother? With the liner bubbling out it's only a matter of time when someone leans on it and the caulking splits allowing more moisture in and mold once again. We just need to gut it all and start over. But until then I have to keep recaulking because I fear mold spores.

I could go on and on about flooring issues and cabinets woes but I'll spare you. It just gets overwhelming sometimes owning an older home. Seems there are countless tasks that need to be done to make it more liveable and we are always in a constant mode of waiting until the money is right to do the things we want.

Then I'm told by others who hear our complaints, "Welcome to home ownership." It never ends. And I can't help but wonder, am I spoiled? There are so many people that have less than I do and there are many people who have more. Do I really have the right to want more? Why do we do that to ourselves? Will it ever be good enough? I suppose the answer is no. It's human nature to always want more, always want better. How do we break those chains? Why can't we just be content with what we have? I try to but it is soooo hard. Just needing to vent.

Toodles

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Bilberry Christmas 2007

We had a great holiday! Christmas Eve I played my violin on stage for most of the Christmas Eve Church service and Jeff got the great privelage of trying to keep an almost two year old still and quiet. Apparently she was wiggling around like crazy saying, "Mama, mama, ite, ite (light), baaaaa, baaaa (bath, she thought the baptistry was a bath)" After about 15 minutes of that I saw him give up and take her out to the foyer to burn off a little energy.

Christmas morning we woke and ate cinnamon rolls, unloaded our stockings, and then dug into our presents. This year we decided to splurge quite a bit and I must say it was a memorable and fun experience. I even sent Jeff on a treasure hunt for his "surprise" gift. Kadyn did rather well with it all but would get into each gift too much and loose her motivation to open others because of it. Her favorite gift was the travel size doodle pad. I thought that weird considering she already has a big one. She also was quite fond of the Mr. Potatoe Head's glasses which she insists on wearing. She has yet to put them on the Mr. Potatoe head. For lunch we made Chile Renos. Yummy! No family, no friends, just the three of us the whole day and it was a lot of fun.

Ho Ho Ho

Santa came to the Bilberrys early this year. I got new dining room chairs! No more stains to clean off of the seats, no more sticky chairs (long story regarding my attempt to repaint the chairs), no more wobbly chairs, no more Brutus claws snagging fabric,no more storage problems (new chairs fold). Life is grand! Thanks Santa!

Mother Teresa

Some time ago Kadyn decided to get silly at the dinner table. Jeff
calls this her Mother Teresa look. Enjoy!

A moment in time

Sunday night Kadyn figured out how to adjust the volume on her stereo. I heard it blasting through the baby monitor. Next thing I know Jeff, Kadyn, and I are all doing the boogie to a Kanye West song in Kadyn's room(a personal favorite of mine). Every time something like this happens, I always will myself to soak in the moment as much as possible because I know that these times are here today gone tomorrow and I don't want to look back and wish I had done a better job of living in the moment. I love that my little girl loves to get down, I love that my husband is a good sport and joins in on the fun. I am so very very lucky!

Kadyn is now putting two sometimes three words together. Some of her accomplishments include: baby go night night, come on guyeeeeez, bye bye guyeeeez, bye bye ya'll, boo pooped, where dada, and I pooped. Her vocabulary is just exploding and I am loving it! It's so much easier to communicate with her and understand her, although like every mother of an almost two year old, I'm sure only Jeff and I understand her most of the time. Sometimes I'm surprised what I can interpret. Two days ago I asked her to ask for juice instead of just demanding it, so "juice please" came out "doof cheese." Then there is my all time favorite, "drink" is always "gunk," I had to clue Jeff in on that one. She's done it forever, I was kind of surprised he didn't get it by now.

In other news we are supposed to be in the middle of another ice storm. It was predicted to be as bad as last year's storm but so far it has been much milder than last year. The next round is coming from 6:00 p.m tonight to 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Hopefully this year we will be spared the power outages we had last year.

Yakking and a new phase?

You know it really amazes me how many times a baby will try something until they finally figure out that it's a no no. Will (one of my daycare kids) has been trying fifty something times now to touch this computer, so we'll see how far I get with this entry.

Last week my youngest, Kendall (another daycare kid), showed up with the stomach flu for two days. His mother thought he was better and sent him because she was sick as well. I have to give her credit though, as a new mother it can be really difficult to tell whether your child is really sick or not. Infants can be finicky eaters for any number of reasons and with them spitting up as often as they do, it's hard to tell whether it's real puking or not.

Well to make a long story short, the other toddler caught it and hurled all over the table and carpet two times before his mother came to get him. Needless to say, I have been frantically sterilizing every toy and steaming all my carpets like crazy ever since. With all that puke I am really amazed that as of today, none of us have caught it.

As for other news, I think Kadyn may have entered a new naughty phase. Seems whenever she gets frustrated for whatever reason (usually not getting her way) she hits. It's never very hard or forceful and so far it has only been directed towards Jeff and I, but I think it's her new way of showing she is displeased. As hard as it is not to laugh, I keep my composure and off to the naughty spot she goes and the rest goes as follows: cry, cry, she proceeds to hit the wall while on the naughty spot....off to the crib we go for two minutes...more crying, louder crying...back to the naughty spot to try to do it appropriately for two minutes...crying....stand up explain again why we don't hit, tell mommy your sorry...hug mommy, mommy tells daughter she loves her...wipe the tears away....remind her what will happen if she does it again.

Last weekend seemed to be the worst of it, today she has been very well behaved. Hopefully the phase is over. What a week!

Our trip

Well we're back! I went all the way to Garden with my camera and didn't take one picture. I'm dissappointed in me. I wanted to take head shots of the fam and put them on magnets so Kadyn can start learning the names of her relatives. Oh well. Another time.

Our trip down was good. We opted to travel overnight. Kadyn was great. She slept for about half of it. Surprisingly she was awake a good portion of the wee hours of the morning. She seemed a little dazed. She just sat there quietly and gazed at the lights. Our trip to Wichita on the way back wasn't as pleasant. 3 hours can seem like eternity when your kid starts getting restless. The trip from Wichita to Springfield was good. Play dough, crayons, toys, silly songs, snacks, and DVD's saved the day.

The family was good. Kadyn seemed to bond with papa (my dad) and baba (Jeff's dad) very well. She even cried, in fact, when she had to leave papa. We celebrated Christmas with my sister and parents and Kadyn got a vacuum which she LOVES. When I clean house I have a little mini me. We also went to the YMCA and went swimming with my family. This was Kadyn's first real big pool experience. She was very quiet and soaked it all in.

We spent one night in Wichita and visted our good friends Keenan, Sara, Ari, Kelsey and Brent, and Karis. They were all very good and the babies, of course, were cute as pie. Ari seemed especially fascinated with Jeff, perhaps it was the beard. Karis was a big ham. Cute, cute, cute. It was good to catch up and have a half way point to break up our trip back.

Overall we are pleased with our trip. Hope everyone else had a good time too. Back to normalcy. Until next time.....taa taa.

Pics of Kadyn's true love

Elmo reigns supreme!

Out of all the children's character's out there I've always heard that Elmo was the favorite. I guess this is true for Kadyn too. She spotted a stuffed Elmo last week at Borders and fell in love. She kissed and hugged it and said his name over and over again. Now I'm not one to just buy whatever my kid wants, especially right there in front of her, so we put Elmo back on the shelf despite her objections and said our sad goodbyes. Three days later she still spoke of Elmo.

I couldn't resist. Jeff drove me back, and we secretly bought him and gave him to her at home. Of course he went to bed with her that night, and 10 minutes after I put her down, I heard her in there having quite the conversation with him, saying his name over and over again, a little bit of jibber jabber, and a couple mentions of mama followed by smooching sounds. It was soooo cute. Ever since then he joins her for all storytimes and prayer before bed. He even went on a trip to small group with us last Wednesday.

So everyone, we are now the proud parents of one bubbly little girl and one giant red stuffed Elmo.

On to other news, we got our family photos taken last Saturday. Kadyn was not easy to persuade to smile. She thought the camera lady was nuts and wanted nothing to do with her. I tried everything from singing her favorite songs to doing jumping jacks (originally asked Jeff to do that one, but he wasn't a good sport about jumping jacks). Finally I hit the magic button, "Want a COOOKIE?????" Big smiles. I'm surprised I could ask her as many times as I did without having to follow through and get a smile each time. Of course when we were all done she did get her reward. Again, I am not a parent that uses bribes, but sometimes you reach for deperate measures to get your kid to crack a smile for those moments you know you will loose forever once the day it through.

We will be traveling to Garden for Turkey Day and seeing both sets of parents, my sister, and Jeff's brother. We are contemplating whether we should leave the night before and drive through the night or just chance Kadyn being a complete mess stuck in a car seat for 8 hours during her wakeful times. I really don't know what I prefer. I get worried about one of us falling asleep at the wheel if we drive through the night, but Jeff is such a night owl. With the right music and caffeine, he usually fairs pretty well. We could take turns but hmmm, still not too sure.

Well at the risk of this being rather lengthy I'll stop for now. When I'm free of kids I'll post some Elmo pics for you all to see.

Hope you all have a yummy, fun, safe, and happy turkey day.

Too cute not to post!

Kadyn got a new book and we started singing it together "The Wheels on the Bus." She made me read it so many times I lost track. She really got into it as you can tell.

New microwave drama.

Let's see if I can get this all typed before all 4 kids wake. It's a miracle they're all down at the same time.

Two days ago our microwave went blitz. We bought a new cheap tiny one to replace it for now. I decided I wanted to put it on this cabinet beside the fridge so I didn't take any of our countertop space up. Got the fridge pulled out only to find a two pronged outlet. Had to put it on the countertop whether I liked it or not. As I was pushing the fridge back, the water line to our fridge busted. Water was going everywhere. I started letting it drain into a trashcan and alternated with another bucket dumping them every two mintues. We don't have a turn off valve inside the house for the water. The only way to turn off our water was going into the crawl space under the house or going out to the street (we both fear there are snakes under our house). We opted for the street.

I had seen our culligan man do it once but didn't remember very clearly, so I sent Jeff out with a flashlight and a wrench. Apparently all you had to do was turn a knob half a turn for off and half a turn for on. Jeff just kept turning it round and round. The water would slow down and speed up, slow down and speed up. We were dumbfounded. 45 minutes later and one phone call to the 24 hour plumber (which never returned our call until the next morning), we finally got the water off.

The good news, I had a brand new microwave to warm up the water I got at the quick store around midnight to wash my face and brush my teeth with. No showers the next day; we were stinky, but we are now the proud owners of one brand shiny new shut off valve to the water on our fridge.

I'm still exhausted from that night.

Bilberry bowling 2007!

Lately I've been thinking that I've got to come up with more indoor activities for the upcoming winter whent the kids can't go outside anymore and I thought of bowling. I've been making Jeff drink a whole bunch of mountain dew so I could use the bottles as pins and I bought a cheap volley ball as the bowling ball. Jeff was happy to oblige with the Mountain Dew request.

Tonight we gave it our first go around after we ate supper. We had a blast! I think Jeff and I got into it a little more than Kadyn. Jeff did win, but I've got plenty of time to practice up with the kids during the day. It took Kadyn awhile to realize that the point was to try to roll the ball from afar rather than drop the ball right on the pins. We enjoyed it so much that we are thinking of making it a Bilberry family tradition that we do every Christmas after Lunch. We'll see. We really want to start some traditions that are uniquely ours and this one seems to be a forerunner. I highly recommend it!

Hot pepper!

Last night we went to the spooktacular put on by our local zoo. It was really neat. There were jackolanterns lining the entire walkway, cutouts of all kinds of children's characters within the exhibits, Christmas lights everywhere, and all other kinds of Halloween decorations. There was a maze, dinosaur bone digging activity, and a blown up castle trampoline. Along the walkway there were also booths with people in costume to give your little trick or treater some candy. Kadyn went all decked out in her chili pepper costume. She did really well until we saw Ronald McDonald, then she FREAKED out! She dropped her pumpkin and came screaming to me. I guess she doesn't like clowns. After we were done we walked out with 10 pieces of candy and one exhausted little girl. There was a lot to take in. She couldn't do a lot of it, but I think she really enjoyed herself.

In other news, today I tried to find a coat that fit Kadyn. Grabbed a hand me down out of the closet that looked like it would fit and instead she looked like a giant marsh mellow. I laughed so hard when I saw her in it that I had to take a picture.

I also have attached a video with Kadyn teasing Brutus with her new ball. Brutus pops just about every ball we give Kadyn so this seemed like a good way to play with Brutus and keep the ball intact. She thought it was hilarious.

The newest fan of the retired Orange Poodle Juice!

Seems Jeff discovered and old OPJ hat. Kadyn was sporting it around the house on Saturday!

The fascination with belly buttons.

I'm not sure what it is, but it seems every toddler has some odd fascination with their belly buttons.

Big shoes to fill!

So many endearing things.

For everything that makes raising a toddler so challenging, it seems there are many more things that make it so rewarding. Yesterday I saw Kadyn laying on the back while holding her babydoll up in the air pretending to play airplane with her like I do with the babies at the daycare. Then when I rocked her and sang to her before she napped, she started singing along; there weren't any real words, and it was completely out of tune, but it was so adorable. At supper time she finished her meal and then proceeded to say "ishee." That is her version of icecream which she learned the night before when we made a impromptu trip to Culvers for icecream. Apparently that was a memorable moment for her. It seemed all day she was just being so ridiculously cute and it really made me glad I'm at home with her and getting to experience these moments that I know I will carry with me forever. I love my little girl!

I love tents!

I made Kadyn and the other toddler in my daycare a tent out of some sheets, our kitchen table, and chairs. She loved it.

Bologna/cheese/mayo sandwhich and ketchup?

Sound gross? Kadyn didn't think so. Seems since I started this nasty habit of giving her dip to get her veggies down she feels entitled to have dip for every meal. Yesterday I gave her tator tots with ketchup for dip. Only problem was she dipped her bologna sandwhich in it too. She loved it. Ate every last bite. Gulp!

I love play with daddy!

Kadyn has been having a lot of fun with daddy lately. I attached some of her latest play sessions. I also attached a picture of her using markers for the first time. I'm sure some of you have seen much worse, and honestly I was expecting her to get much more on herself. That's why I stripped her down to nothing but her diaper. Jeff calls the picture nude art.

I think I have finally found resolution to Kadyn's sleep issues. Leaving the door open is doing the trick. I have even had a couple of times where she didn't cry at all. If she does cry, usually going in a time or two does the trick, so I am feeling much better about the entire situation. Wonder what she'll trip me up with next:)

Lost and found for good!

Dad found the horse! I think he is OK and they brought him home tonight. I don't know any more than that, but glad that he was found.

And for more good news, Kadyn went down tonight without even a wimper. This new method of leaving the door open is starting to work. Last night she slept through the whole night; that is a first in a week. I just hope this new improvement continues when the kids are here tomorrow and they all go down for their naps. Liam, the other toddler, always cries for 10-15 minutes before he falls asleep, and that seems to egg Kadyn on, so we'll see. At least for now I feel so much better that she isn't pitching fits anymore about going down. The worst it has been all weekend was just a couple wimpers with me having to go in and remind her to lay back down a couple times. So needless to say, looks like this week is off to a better start.

Kadyn is really starting to try to say all kinds of words these days. She now will try to say house, moon, car, flower, Boo (Brutus), up, down, more, help, mama, dada, and her all time favorite apple. She says apple a lot. They are all so adorable when she says them and she practices them quite a bit, especially at the dinner table. They are far from perfect and perhaps her father and I are the only ones that can translate them, but at least we are starting to communicate.

I have also taught Kadyn how to pray. We pray before every snack and every meal. She knows that it is always expected before we can eat and seems to respect that. I just melt when I see her fold her hands, bow her head, and mumble in complete jibberish along with me as I pray outloud. I have even forgot a time or two and she took the initiative to remember for me. Oh, such sweet times!

Another new thing for Kadyn has been timeouts on a time out rug. For awhile we were doing time outs in the crib, but with all these sleep issues I decided I needed to try something else just in case. I have tried to do the rug before but I think she was too young to understand the whole concept of it all. However, she seems to comprehend it now and is starting to get the hang of it. She does not like it by any means, which means it is working. She only tried to get up the first two times I have used it and since then, stays there until her 2 minutes are up. I am so thrilled it works. Her latest offenses have involved stealing toys and pushing the other toddler. I'm so embarassed that my kid has to be the daycare bully; we are going to nip this in the butt as soon as possible.

So here's to a new week of new methods that are working.....for now.

Lost and found....well almost!

Last night was a bit unnerving. At about 7:30 p.m. I got a phone call from my sister. Apparently my dad (who probably wouldn't want me to write about this) was riding his horse in the bookcliffs alone and got lost; my mother was with a friend out of town for the day. To his credit, the area he was riding in was VERY easy to get turned around in and it's not like my dad to get lost. It was dusk Colorado time and the weather was starting to get a lot cooler with a little bit of rain. He had enough juice in his phone to call someone and tell them he was lost and then his phone died. He had a little bit of a water and a sandwhich and a poncho and nothing else.

Once word got out a search team of 100 people went out to look for him. Around 11:30 I got another call that he had been found, very tired, freezing cold, and almost too weak to even walk. The horse was loose and was on foot. This morning I heard that he was back in the cliffs with a gentleman who is very familiar with the area looking for the horse on horseback, which apparently is the only way to get to where he left him. The worry is that the horse will be too weak to get out or even injured, that is if they can even find him. There is no food or water for the horse in the canyon and the only way to give him water or food is to carry it in on horseback. If the horse has made it out of the canyon on his own, he should be able to find some food and water and perhaps some of the other wild horse herds in the area. According to the gentleman who has gone back into the canyon with my dad, there are only 3 ways to get out of this canyon and a helicopter lift isn't an option for the area.

So if you are reading this, please pray for my dad and the recovery of this horse. I know it's kind of a weird request to pray for a horse, but it means a lot to my dad, and I'm not sure how well he would take it if something happened to this horse. My dad sees this horse like we see our dog, he's part of the family.

Jeff's new blog

I think Jeff got jealous or motivated! He now has another blog site up and running. Take two for Jeff! To all you music buffs, enjoy. If interested clink on my link on the side of the page.

And the saga continues!

Warning! This blog is a bit wordy. It's been an emotional day and I need to think out loud (or type in this case) to clear my head and collect my thoughts. I guess you can say it is therapeutic.

It has been 5 days since my last post about Kadyn and her sleep issues. What a week. We have had some days where it took her 5 minutes of screaming before sleep, some days of 10-15 minutes, and today an hour. Every night she has woken up crying at least once if not two or three times which thankfully only lasted 5 minutes or less each time. This morning she woke an hour before she normally wakes and it was still dark outside. I decided to wait it out and see if she would go back to sleep. Forty five minutes later she was still crying and it was time to get up. Now I was facing the option of getting her up for the day and sending the message that if you cry you'll get what you want, or making her stay in the crib until she calmed down, regardless of the fact that it was now time to get up. I chose the latter because I had parents showing up and really didn't want them witnessing Kadyn's little fit. Then surprise, surprise! Nap time took an hour for her to go down, the longest time since Monday. Perhaps I should have made her stick it out. I'm so tired of the crying. It really gets to you after an entire week.

Needless to say I end today very tired myself and a little emotionally drained. Why is my little girl struggling with this? By the time all the kids were picked up for the day and Jeff came home, I finally broke down and cried. Kadyn look so concerned and just wanted me to hold her. I think she knew I needed comforted.

She had a doctor's appt. for her 18 month check up Tuesday where the doctor confirmed that we were doing the right technique going in every 10 minutes or so and telling her to lay back down, but so far I haven't seen any significant results. It seems to differ everyday. I was really expecting to see a more steady improvement by now.

What makes it worse is that when I lay her down for her nap she may cry for awhile and then calm down, but as soon as I put another child down for a nap and that child starts to cry, Kadyn gets stirred and starts crying again. It's almost like they fuel each other. And to top it all off, she has a cold and might be teething again. Therefore, I'm not even sure I'm being fair expecting an improvement knowing she's ill. However, I really don't think this behavior has anything to do with a cold or teething. Read on to find out why.

Today I tried something new just because I was desperate. When I went in after she had cried for 10 minutes, I left the door open as I left. Then she started to cry and I went in IMMEDIATELY and told her to lay down and left again; again door stayed open. The minute I would step through the door she would lay down without even being told and be quiet. I did it maybe 4 or 5 more times and at last.....silence. That sure took a lot less time and crying out of the equation. So tonight I did the same and got the same results. Took maybe 2 or 3 minutes tops. Maybe I'm on to something. Everything I've read says that at this age they can mentally picture you in their minds and it's no longer out of sight out of mind. That sometimes they think that you've really left when you walk out of that room; it's called object permanence. So....perhaps by leaving the door open and popping in the moment I hear her start in, I'm reassuring her that I haven't gone anywhere. The only thing I don't like about the door being open is if there is a loud noise, she wakes. Therefore, I'm closing the door as soon as I know she's asleep. However, if she wakes tonight to a closed door, I'm sure there will be more crying. Hmmmm....what to do, what to do. I guess I'll play it by ear.

Well anyways, I suppose I should end this blog session, Jeff is bugging me to get off so we can watch some TV together and tells me that all my blogs get a bit wordy and he doesn't always have the patience to read them. So....if you have made it this far, congrats. You don't have ADHD. Thanks for reading my lengthy rant. I feel much better now. Here's to another week of less crying, hopefully. I'll keep you posted.

Toodles for now!

Sleep training.....again?

As you should know from my last post Kadyn is going through some sort of clingy/separation anxiety issues, a new phase have you. Anyways, this weekend it all came to a head. I really thought I would never have to sleep train my daughter again. We have had our set backs here and there, usually from illness, but lately I find myself on a whole new turf. Kadyn used to go to bed for naps or nightime without any problems what so ever. In fact, until the middle of last week she would even smile, blow me kisses, tell me she loves me in sign language, and I would walk out the door and never hear a peep until she woke. But half way through last week it suddenly changed. She freaked when I left the room and wanted me there right by her side to fall asleep. This is really impossible when I have other kids at my home daycare to watch. The first day it started it took me and hour to get her to fall asleep. That evening she would wake several times in the middle of the night for me, "mama, mama, mama."

So Saturday rolled around and she literally cried for an hour and a half when I put her down for a nap. I kept going in every 10 minutes, laying her back down, and telling her to go to sleep. She would scream at the top of her lungs in her crib and stomp her feet. Obviously, she was throwing a fit. After about an hour and a 15 minutes, Jeff looked at me and asked how much longer I was going to let her cry. I really didn't know. Hmmmm what to do, what to do? As a mother you want to run in there and comfort her, but as a parent you know that doing that could potentially make the situation more difficult for next time. Your mind starts to play tricks on you making you think that you are permanently physicologically damaging your child's emotions and feelings all the while telling you that if you go in there and whisk her into your arms and give her the attention she's wanting, she has won and the battle; that you have only taught her that if she cries long enough and hard enough, she can have her way. Your mind is also telling you that there is no end in sight, that she will never stop crying and 3 hours later you will have no choice but to give in.

So what did I do? I prayed and waited and kept going in and telling her to go to sleep every 10 minutes until at last an hour and a half into this process there was silence. She was out. Desparate to know if I had done the right thing I made Jeff take me to the bookstore and buy the supernanny book which seemed to support my stance. Thank goodness. At least one expert agrees with me. That night I was pleasantly surprised that it only took her 5 minutes of pitching a fit to go down. The next day the same for her nap and bedtime. We are by no means back to where we were, and I anticipate some days may be worse than others. However, I do see an end in sight and I am glad that I stuck with my guns.

Supernanny says separation anxiety peaks at 9 months and 18 months. Kadyn is 18 months. I'm guessing that is what brought this all on suddenly. She turned 18 months on the 20th almost exactly when this all started.

I am happy to report that I was able to drop her off at the church nursery and attend the entire service without being paged. I know she cried, but it was nothing like last week. So I am feeling more confident that I am still a good parent. To all you parents out there that second guess your decisions, know you're not alone. But usually if you follow your instincts and stand firm, you will prevail and your child won't resent you forever. It's super hard to do, but it does pay off.

I think I can, I think I can!

This weekend Jeff and I decided to trade in the ol' treadmill for some bicycles and a little cart for Kadyn to ride behind in. There are some really great bike trails around town and we thought that we should take advantage of what our community has to offer, not to mention that we really need the exercise. Yesterday we rode the bikes around our neighborhood (about 2 1/2 miles total) and looked at roof colors to help us decide what color our new roof should be. Today we rode about six miles round trip on a trail that begins in a park very close to our house. We didn't even get to the end of the trail which is around 8 miles, 16 miles round trip! We were huffing and puffing, to say the least, but I thought it felt so good to get out and move, a biker's high so to speak. Jeff felt otherwise. Apparently being exhausted from a good workout makes him grumpy.

Kadyn has finally returned to normal health after two days of high fevers, a mysterious rash, and horrible crankiness. Although I don't know how long it will last. She played in the church nursery this morning, and I forgot to have her wash her hands before lunch. Everyone knows how loaded with germs church nurseries can be. I guess I'm a bit of a germ phobe. But germs is the least of my problems right now. Kadyn freaked out at the nursery for the first time this morning. I was paged to come in and calm her down. It was her first time in our new church which may have been what scared her. However, I'm a bit nervous that she has started a new phase. Ever since we returned from our trip from Colorado she has been very clingy to me and very shy around strangers. My sister said both her girls went through this stage. I was really hoping we could skip it. She won't even hold daddy's hand when we go shopping these days, which breaks his heart. I really don't know what to do about it other than ride it out and make Kadyn spend more alone time with her daddy. I miss my independent little girl who loved to go to church nursery without even whimper when I walked out the door. It made me feel good to know that she felt confident enough to be without me for a couple hours. I also hate to see her be stand offish towards her daddy. She does still love to play with him, but when it comes to being comforted when sick, being in unfamiliar places, or holding someone's hand in public, mommy is the only one she wants anymore. So needless to say it is a bit more exhausting for me from day to day, but I'll love her through it. She's worth it!

When it rains, it pours.

What a week this is already going to be. Kadyn has had a fever since yesterday morning so no daycare today. The jury is still out whether I will have to cancel daycare tomorrow too. Then, today midmorning our sewer starting backing up into our sink as I was running the washing machine. Jeff came home for a thorough inspection before we called in the big guns, and the damage was worse than we thought. Our garage was soaked with water which included the entire drywall on the other side of the washing machine. So...I suppose a bottle of draino won't work. Bring on Mr. Plumber.

We found a spot on our ceiling that we had not noticed before. When we touched it, we discovered that it was damp. Our roof is leaking again (this after a 500 dollar repair last year)! Needless to say, we're scratching our heads now thinking, where do we start? This part of home ownership is for the birds! Anyone have some lucky lotto numbers we could borrow?

Kiss the moose goodbye!

We're back! It was a good trip. We did a lot of sight seeing and spending quality time with the folks. Kadyn was in hyper drive the first day. I think she was a bit over stimulated from the drive, flight (which she did really well on actually), and the new environment. It was fun to see her soooo excited. She warmed up to my parents more than in the past. Although as the days went by, she got more and more tired and therefore more and more clingy and grumpy. To be expected, I guess, of a 17 month old.

Overall, we had a good time and really needed the time away to refresh a bit. Some of pics attached show the views at my parent's house and there is also a picture of us resting on a large rock at Moab. The area where my folks live is really amazing. The landscape changes drastically depending on which direction you go in as little as a 10 minute drive. There is a lot of things to do, most we can't do until Kadyn gets a bit bigger. However, it's good to know we have a great vacation spot for years to come. I think my favorite part of it all was sitting on the front porch taking in the views every evening, having adult conversation, watching Kadyn lift a hundred rocks and deliver them to my mother as gifts from her rock garden, and watching Jeff ride a horse. That last one was humorous! I can't believe he got on, and it was his idea too.

Putting on our shoes and getting out of town!

Thursday afternoon we are off to KC to catch a flight early the next morning to Colorado. We haven't been out of town on vacation, I think, since last Thanksgiving. I'm so excited. We will be flying to the Grand Junction area to visit my parents for a couple of days. I don't have any expectations for the trip really. Just hoping Kadyn will be on her best behavior and won't be sick or teething, so we can enjoy our time together. My parents don't get to see her often, so when they do see her, I always want her to be able to be herself. It seems lately all of our parents seem to catch her when she's sick or teething.

Yesterday went to home depot and it was next to impossible to make it anywhere in the store because Kadyn decided she had to stop every couple of feet and dance in the middle of the aisles. It was so funny, although I'm not sure everyone around us thought so, especially if they were trying to get through the aisle. I'm afraid we came off looking like those obnoxious parents who adore thier child too much and expect everyone else to do so. Oh well! She is adorable what can I say? Some people found it cute along with us, but there were others who I could tell where annoyed that we didn't just pick her up and keep moving. Poo on those people I say. We're making memories.

Well until next week adios!

I love babies!

Kadyn loves babies! Here is a video of her expressing that great love. Enjoy!

Boogie Woogie Kadyn

We had a lot of fun with Kadyn this weekend and our new music channels on cable. As you can see in this video Kadyn really knows how to break it down. In fact, we took her to a wedding reception and she got to show off her new moves. She enjoyed it so much that she cried when we had to leave because it was bedtime. I think watching her dance is one of the cutest things I ever saw.

Poor Brutus

Last night Kadyn got ahold of a napkin and chased Brutus (our weiner dog)all over the kitchen trying to clean him with the napkin. It was so funny. I just didn't have the heart to take the napkin away. Poor Brutus; he really does handle children well considering everything they put him through. It's moments like these that make life worth living. I will certainly miss these innocent times when my little girl is just trying to be like her ever so cool momma.

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

It has been sooooo hot here lately. Usually mornings are very pleasant but lately I can hardly stand it by 9:30. Needless to say, we have been trying ways to cool things down a bit, and Kadyn and the gang really enjoy swimming in the baby pool, although it is a BIG task getting 3 kids ready to swim. After I change all their diapers, put on their suits, pack a bag with all supplies, and put on sunscreen 30 minutes have already slipped by in a wink. Thankfully, they really enjoy the pool so it is all worthwhile in the end.

Peekaboo!

Yet another adorable video from your dearest! It's one thing to watch your child grin from ear to ear as you cover your eyes and boo in thier face, but you know they've reached a whole other level when they become the peekabooer.

I've also added two picks of Daddy reading Kadyn some stories (she loves reading) and a few pics of her helping me cook. She really wants to help me now days. The other day she found a rag on the floor and went around pretending to clean everything with it. Do I have her trained well or what!

Catch me if you can!

Last weekend Kadyn had a great game of chase going on with Daddy. She has recently learned how to run, not very quickly yet, but still fast enough to be classified as a run. And of course, as all new parents could testify, any new development is like the cutest thing you ever saw in the world. I had to post both videos because they were both just too cute to only pick one. Enjoy!

Smile....or not

This morning we went to one of the local parks (probably the prettiest park I've ever seen) and had our photos taken by a friend. It has been over 6 months since our last family photo. I just feel like when kids are this young they change too quickly to not take family photos more often. So we loaded up in our new minivan and headed to the park late morning to capture this moment in time. It was like a sauna, of course, but we managed the heat. The problem was getting Kadyn to sit still and smile. This age is soooo difficult for taking pictures. Seems I can get a smile out of her easily at home, but anywhere else and forget it. There are just too many distractions and things for which she is dying to get into. We spent a good deal of time playing in a puddle which fortunately had a base of rocks so we didn't get too dirty.

My friend took 267 pictures, these are just a few of the good ones she picked out. I have yet to see the majority of them, but thought I'd at least share a few she sent me.

Bun phone

Kadyn has taken to pretending to talk on the phone a lot lately. She'll use about anything as a pretend phone. Some of my favorites have been a belt, the remote control, and a link letter. However, her all time favorite pretend phone happens to be a bun from her subway sandwich kit. I call it the bun phone. In this video you will see her chatting away on her bun phone. I love watching her do this, she is so serious when she does it. She often imitates daddy nodding her head yes and laughing as if the person on the other phone is sooooo hilarious!

Turning into a tomboy

OK I think my daughter is slowly turning into a tomboy. I wondered if that would happen being around 3 boys all day, but I'm not sure that has anything to do with it now that I see it happening. Why, because I haven't witnessed the other toddler being quite as brave as Kadyn has seemed to become lately. Last time I wrote, Kadyn would go down the slipper slide but with some assistance. Today after watching the other toddler attempt to climb the ladder, she decided to give it her best shot, over and over and over until at last she got a system down. It isn't graceful climbing but she can do it, with mommy closely supervising of course. The funniest part is that once she goes down she gets so much momentum that her feet stop and the rest of her keeps flying face first into the rocks. She just gets up, dusts off the pebbles that are stuck to her face, munches on a few more that slipped into her mouth, applauds her great accomplishment and goes back for more. Time and time I saw her go down landing face first in the rocks and expecting my little drama queen to appear, but she never did. She was such a trooper and was having so much fun!

So today I have managed to dig out not only pebbles from her mouth but also moldy mud which she also managed to cover her nice jean dress in. How in the world do toddlers make it to double digits? Eating dirt and rocks, banging their heads on the table a thousand times because they forgot they were too tall to stand up underneath it, falling face first on the floor because they just....tripped. It's amazing that they survive it all. If there's one thing that this has all done for me as a mother, it's made me worry less because I'm beginning to realize how resilient they really are. The video I attached doesn't show Kadyn climbing the ladder or applauding herself for going down and surviving because it was taken the first day we got the slipper slide, she was still getting her courage up at that time, but you can see how much momentum she gets when she goes down. Enjoy!

It's official!

It's official, I'm middle aged. I turned 30 on Saturday. My birthday was pretty good. I asked for a swingset, and I got it. There's no better present than getting to watch your child having fun. What a lucky girl, getting a BIG present on your mom's birthday. Kadyn loves the slipper slide and swing. The other parts of the swingset she's still a bit little for.

I also got some new tupperware and cookie sheets.....silence, chirp, chirp.....I know does that scream middle aged or what, but I really needed them.

A new baby started at my home daycare today. He is 5 weeks old. Kadyn thinks he's pretty neat of course. She loves all babies. She likes to chatter away to them (none of which makes any lick of sense), pat them, and kiss them over and over again. Of course, it did take a little training on my part to get her to pat gently. The poor mother of this baby was a wreck. She told me later it made her feel so much better to see how excited Kadyn was to have the baby at the house. He is so tiny. It's amazing how quickly you forget how tiny they start out. Then of course Kadyn was a whale when she was born so maybe I didn't forget anything.

So now I officially watch 2 toddlers and 2 infants. It's a full house! Don't think I'll be taking anymore. Kadyn loves it most of the time as long as the other toddler doesn't steal her toys or try to sit on her. She is learning to share on a daily basis, something that doesn't come easily to her and is hard for me to explain to a 16 month old.

Posted with this post is a picture of my birthday cake and a number one candle. Just to clarify, I haven't decided to start over as a one year old. I insisted we have a candle on my cake for me to blow out which Jeff thought was silly, but come on, it's my birthday and I wanted a candle. Unfortunately all we had around the house was 3 number one candles from Kadyn's birthday.

We had three of them because...well that's a whole other story.

Well until the next post taa taa! Hopefully my computer will be up and running by then and I will have some videos and photos for you all.

Take care!

The great abyss

OK you know we all have them. You know what I'm talking about. That one room in your house where everything that doesn't have a place gets thrown aka the great abyss. For us, it is the spare bedroom which also doubles as Jeff's office. I would rather think of it as the great abyss. Once in you may never find your way out. Of course to his credit, it is half the size of Jeff's old room in our Lee's Summit home, and he didn't have to share it with our spare bed at that time, but I try not to visit it often, or I get a little queasy (Ok that was like the longest run on sentence ever, and I digress). The rest of our house is in perfect order, but this room is technically deemed Jeff's space and therefore, I do not touch.

Recently we have changed phone plans. Instead of buying a plan that offers an allotted amount of minutes, we are buying our minutes and using them up and then forking out the money for more. I used to take pictures with my cell phone almost everyday. Now that we have changed plans it will cost considerably more. Thus, I have to learn how to use our digital camera. A few more steps to get them up and loaded onto the computer, but.....doable. Except for one teensy problem.......the camera is currently dead and the charger is in the great abyss. My head is spinning just thinking about it.

So the point is this, more pictures to come on "The Bilberry Clan Can" once we conquer the great abyss. The Bilberry clan can find that charger, but this may take awhile:) Toodles!

Testing, testing, one, two, three

OK so I logged onto Sarah's blog just to see if she had anything new and decided to comment on her oh so cute pic of Phin not realizing you must be a member to make a comment. Next thing you know I end up signing up for my own blog. I've seen several now and thought to myself, if they can do it, so can I. No peer pressure or anything. Actually, Jeff tried to start one awhile back and just hasn't been able to keep up with it. I'm better at those things so I'm giving it a shot. What better way for friends and family to keep up with you eh? So here's entry number one, more to come from, The Bilberry Clan Can. Taa taa for now!