6th grade camp

Aiana headed off to 6th grade camp today! I can’t believe my baby is already going to 6th grade camp. I was watching videos of her the other day, she was about 4 years old. It gave me some perspective on how fast time does go by! I wanted to reach into that video and hold my little girl again. She will be a teenager in less than 2 years! Even though there are times when I feel so stressed out, I want to savor each moment with my children and hug them whenever I think of it, even when they are being little stinkers. I also want to get out my video camera more often. It’s so much fun to hear their little voices and watch their actions. I wish I could send a video camera with Aiana to camp!

Sleep? What's sleep??

For the past couple weeks Caylin has been protesting sleep again. It has been painful! I don’t know for sure the cause of this change, but I think it’s a mixture of things. I think she is realizing that Anika is here to stay, plus she wants to sleep in her toddler bed, she also had a cold and was getting her back molars. The one thing I do know is that this needs to change! We are exhausted! First I was putting her in her crib, but now she can jump out of her crib. I now have to gate her in her room. When Caylin wakes, we put her back into bed. If she stays, we don’t put the gate up, but if she runs out…the gate goes up. We ran into a problem after a couple days…Caylin started jumping over the gate. So, we have to double gate her door. Before bed, we go over “Caylin’s sleep rules” and remind her about the “treat” she will get for “following the rules”. The crying time is decreasing, but she does wake at least once a night. I was feeling so horrible about this, but actually since we’ve been enforcing this gate thing, she’s been happier during the day!

On another note, we’ve been “potty experimenting” and Caylin now goes “pee pee in the potty” whenever I go. Which is huge!!! Caylin loves to do the “pee pee dance” when she’s done!! YAY!!! I cant wait to only buy diapers for 1 child!!! We still have a long way to go though.

Blooming Personality

Anika is now 2 months old and has such a sweet personality that is beginning to blossom. When she's not sleeping she's full of smiles. She loves to be sung to and tries to sing along. Last night was so cute when Aiana was holding her and singing, Anika was staring back at her singing along with her. I was really bummed when I found that we were out of video tapes! However, I dont think this is a one time thing. :)

Barley's + Road Trip = Pure Pain

Yes, we did go on a road trip up to San Francisco. Will thought it would be so cool in our van to take this wonderful drive. We decided to break up the trip with a stop in Santa Barbara and Monterey. The van does fit all of us very comfortably, however, we did have to tie the stroller to the top of the van (lovely...and we didn't consider the possibility of rain). We made one quick stop to visit with some family in San Clemente which was nice.

Our stop in Santa Barbara turned out to be a stop in the middle of nowhere (be careful when booking through visitcalifornia.com). I'm glad it was just for the night. We got on the road heading to Monterey first thing in the morning. Our hotel in Monterey was about 8 minutes away from Monterey Bay, not too bad. We did have fun jumping on hotel beds, seal and otter watching, visiting the aquarium, and walking up and down fisherman's wharf. We also found a park that had an old steam engine train to climb on...Caylin LOVED it! After 2 nights in Monterey we left for San Francisco to visit Will's side of our family. We enjoyed seeing everyone and introducing Anika to Great Grandma, Grandpa Dave and Gretchen, Uncle Rob and Aunt Kasey for the first time. :) We are so excited that Rob and Kasey are expecting their first baby in a few months. Our trip ended 2 days earlier than we expected, we were exhausted and decided to head home at 5pm on New Year's eve. Needless to say our New Year's eve was pretty uneventful. Although, we did experience a wind storm at the bottom of the Grapevine. We stopped to get some gas and winds were blowing at least 60 mph. Aiana almost blew away when she got out of the car!

The kids over all did pretty well. Aiana was cozy in the back seat and Anika slept the whole time. Caylin was the most uncomfortable. But that is a long time for a 2 yr old to be in the car. Aiana is such a trooper, she didn't complain once! She is amazing.

Hmm, that doesn't sound like such a bad trip does it? Well, good thing memories appreciate over time!

Got to love hotel beds!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Train park in Monterey

Checking out the seals and otters

Visiting captain uncle Rob at work on the Larkspur ferry in San Francisco

Uncle Rob getting some "daddy" practice

Get me out of this car!!!

Our Holiday Season...

Started out with a lot of Christmas parties. We have always been pretty good about keeping sugar out of Caylin's diet, but this Christmas she has experienced a whole new world of treats! This included her first ice cream cone. We took the kids down to Sea Port Village to enjoy the holiday lights and a ride on the carousel...and ice cream cones! (What better way to warm up on a freezing cold night).

Chiristmas Eve Caylin came down with a pretty bad cold. So our traditional trip to my dads turned into a quiet night at home.

This year Aiana wanted a computer for Christmas. A computer is a pretty big gift, so Will and I decided to prepare a scavenger hunt since she wouldn't have a lot to open. She was such a good sport while Caylin opened her gifts. I could tell Aiana didn't think she was going to get a computer. :) Of course she was very excited when we brought out the first clue. We've always done a scavenger hunt at Easter time and Aiana loves it! She was so cute when she found her computer under Mimi's bed! :) Caylin's favorite present was a stroller from big sister. The whole day was quiet and cozy, I loved it! My brother and his family came over for a while. Caylin played with her toys, Aiana and her girlfriend watched movies in their pj's, and Anika slept!

Caylin's 1st Christmas song

I tried to get Caylin singing on video, but of course everytime we pull out the camera she wants to see herself in the screen. I did manage to get the 1st part of the song :)

When a 2 yr old is quiet, it's rarely a good sign!

Man, yesterday was just one of those days. Anika would not take a nap longer than 20 minutes and Caylin was testing boundaries to no end. I was exhausted! Right before putting Caylin down for a nap, I sat down to nurse Anika. Ahh, a minute to put my feet up and (try to) relax. The house was quiet. I got a little carried away enjoying the peace without even realizing that that was not normal with a 2 yr old who is still awake. All of the sudden Caylin came in to the room and I then understood why it had been so quiet. She had gotten into sister's room and found a stamp pad and went to town. I do not know how she managed to paint her entire face with it, but she did! Thank goodness she did not get this all over the carpet or walls! After attempting to wash this off about 10 times she finally looks normal again.