sesame street live!

While we were in the country, Gammy and Bam-pa took Caleigh to see Sesame Street Live! I was really so excited for Caleigh to get to go and see it - she loves Elmo. Before we left to go out of town we went to get Caleigh a special Elmo shirt to wear to the show.

The show was called, "Elmo's Green Thumb" Caleigh even got a special little stuffed Elmo as a treat! It looked and sounded like she had so much fun - makes me wish I could have been there - but I know it was an extra special time with her Bam-pa and her Gammy - thanks y'all for taking her!

a little too quiet

You know how you get that feeling when it is a little too quiet in the house (ie - you know your two year old is getting into something that she thinks she isn't supposed too). I had that feeling last week and when I walked into our bedroom this is what I found.

She was typing away on the computer - my sweet little studious girl.

2 little monkeys, sitting on the bed...

The other day I put Andrew on Caleigh's bed for tummy time since Caleigh and I were playing on the floor in her room. I went out for a minute to put the clothes in the dryer and when I came back I saw that Caleigh has climbed into her bed and sat down right next to Andrew and was reading her bible (to him?).

Andrew was very interested in what she was doing.

4 hole swamp

Last weekend we headed down to 'the country' to celebrate all that is redneck - camo-wearin', cornholin', deer huntin', 4 wheelin', skeet shootin', porch-sittin', and the like. We intended to go to celebrate the Hunts and spend some time with them before they leave for Prague - but at the last minute we had a change of plans and the Kulps, Dirks, and the Dyers ended up celebrating without them. First time seeing Adam in camo and a trucker hat -

I was laughing so hard I was crying when I saw Tyler in his jacket - I think it is the camo version of an old ladies leopard print fleece... hilarious... On Friday night after the guys took an unsuccessful trip deer hunting we hung out and ate some chili, played some cornhole, some Settlers, and celebrated Adam's birthday which was the day before (Nov. 12). Sorry Carrie - this is not the best picture but it shows the hilarious corn candle we put in the cake. On Saturday morning we got ready to play outside... We shot some skeet... The girls went 4 wheelin' through the mud at 4 hole swamp... And stopped for a classic self time shot in this deer stand... We did manage to get stuck in the mud once while on the 4 wheeler - but we put our heads together and figured out an ingenious way to get out of that sticky situation. I also learned to drive the 4 wheeler! After a roaring start (Carrie almost flew off the back!) I figured it out and had a great time! We came back to find little A was partaking in some cornhole action. This picture is awesome T Dirks - it makes me want to sing, "this land is my land, this land is your land..." And I shot a gun for the first time ever! I shot down the skeet on the 3rd try - thanks to all that practice playing duck hunt in the old days. Group picture - We had such a great time and hope to truly celebrate with the Hunts in January. It was a weekend of firsts for me though - first time I wore camo, first time I shot a gun, first time I drove a 4 wheeler... Praise the Lord for great friends and the Lord's beautiful creation that we got to enjoy!

solids - finally...

We starting trying solids at 4 months with Andrew because he was so hungry! Up until 4 months Andrew was doing well nursing only and eating about 5 times a day (a good schedule of 8, 11, 2, 5, 9). Starting at 4 months Andrew got the 45 minutes intruder and it lasted for a whole month! So the last 4-5 weeks have been tough for us. He got to the point where he was nursing 6 to 7 times a day (every 2 hours) - and he really wouldn't sleep. We knew he was hungry but my milk supply was still good, so we stuck with nursing and tried offering him solids. He hated them. For 4 weeks I made solids and danced around in front of his face like a crazy person to try to get him to open his mouth and accept them. He wouldn't. And when I would finally get a smile out of him I would jam that nasty rice cereal in his mouth... which he would promptly spit back out. It got to the point where he didn't even want to get in his high chair because he knew he didn't want to eat that stuff.

"Look Mom - this is my mad face which means I don't like this stuff... hence the reason I have spit it out all over myself." But I guess I know I am still cute... So good news to report - 2 days after Andrew turned 5 months old he finally started accepting solids. I gave up on the rice cereal - I mean it really is so nasty and I made him some sweet potatoes (can't believe we are already back to making baby food again). He loved the sweet potatoes! Basically starting on the same day he accepted solids, he also started taking really good naps again. All I can say is... finally! I think it was a coincidence that both things started going better on the same day. I am so glad those last 5 weeks are behind us and am excited (and not excited at the same time - oh the hassle of baby food) to be starting this new phase. Here's to hoping this becomes a trend.

bampa has his hands full

And they are both sucking their thumbs - Cals with the right thumb and Andrew with his left.

trick or treating

It is hard to get an elephant to look at the camera!

On Saturday, in keeping with our yearly tradition, both of our families and some friends came over around 5 pm for some early trick or treating, followed by chili with our families. We had a great time despite the rain that forced us inside after about 10 houses (better than the 3 houses we got in last year!). Caleigh went to one house, got a lollipop (darn that bright shiny colorful candy - Caleigh, go for the candy in brown wrappers next time!), and promptly sat down in the grass and prepared to eat it. A little lion accompanied us on our journey. He was about the happiest little fella that night - he had all of his favorite things: a full tummy, a warm outfit, someone carrying him, he was around lots of people, and the person carrying him was walking the whole time. He loved it and did great. A family shot in the rain. An attempted picture of all the kids (minus the 3rd lion, Andrew - we didn't trust any of the other lions to keep him safe). Thanks Aulls and Dirks for trick or treating with us! You can see how Caleigh is burning with envy over the little car that Harrison is riding in - she wanted in it the whole night! Caleigh did enjoy a wagon ride with her favorite friend Maggie. And a group shot - a surprising number of people and kids are actually looking at the camera! And Caleigh is in the car. Hilarious.

1st Annual Adults Only Dyers' Halloween Bash!

On Friday, Oct. 30th Lois and Clark (pictured below) hosted the the first annual adults only Dyers' Halloween bash. The theme for costumes this year was movie couples (though there were some slight deviations). We had so much fun and a great time of fellowship with friends!

Some others in attendance were:

a tooth and the tooth fairy mrs. duggar and her 18th child johnny cash and june carter pauly bleeker and juno (with real baby) pauly bleeker and juno (with fake baby inside) olive oil and popeye edward (oh, he sparkles!) and bella jack and kate (from Lost) - with Dharma beer! mr. incredible and elasti-girl king kong and jessica lange What a fun time! Looking forward to next year!

pumpkin carving...

Last Wednesday evening we carved the pumpkins that we picked. It brought back so many memories from when I was little of sitting around our kitchen table with my dad and brother, newspaper spread out everywhere where... We carved them on the porch and it was a little dark! Caleigh really enjoyed scooping out the seeds with a spoon. She did try it once with her hand and then spent about 10 minutes trying to shake off the goo that was sticking to her arm.

Daddy and daughter, hard at work.

The finished product! (a little ghetto and a little 'scarier' than we had hoped for, but not bad for the first time in probably 15 years).

pump and accidently dump

So today at work was one of the worst days - not because of the work I was doing or because it was busy, but because of my pumping mishap. So here is the story. I went to pump at work at like 9:15. When I sat down and started to pump I realized that one side of the pump wasn't working. So I tried to fix it. The first thing I did was to switch out pumps. This didn't work, it was still broken. The I tried switching around parts and figured that my tubing must have a leak in it somewhere. So I went up to 8 tower (the post-partum floor) and harassed a nurse into giving me spare tubing that is not supposed to be given out - because naturally I am somewhat freaking out - I have limited time, I have to pump, and everyone is watching the clock waiting for me to get back... So I run back down to the employee lactation room on the 7th floor and try the new parts. They do not work. At this point I am SO frustrated. So... I go and rummage through the drawers and find some more spare parts. I try changing out various valves and what not and finally it starts working!

I am overjoyed that it is working and so I am praying and thanking God that it is finally working after 30 minutes (more than half the time I am allotted to pump). And then I feel something warm and wet on my leg. And I look down and realize that in my haste to diagnose the problem with the pump I have forgotten the most basic thing of all - to screw on the bottle to collect the milk! (as in the picture above - see how the bottles are so nicely screwed in). And so I realize that I have been pumping for the last 3 minutes not in to a bottle but all over my scrub pants. Great. So now it looks like I have peed 3 ounces of urine all over my pants... and not only that but it is going to reek in about 2 hours of rotted breastmilk. So... I call my friend Pamela who is working downstairs in the pharmacy and she brings me a pair of OR scrub pants. So after I get done pumping I am stuck in this tiny room with 6 other girls and I have to change out of my navy scrubs into some ill-fitting, 3 sizes too large bright green OR scrub pants (with my mismatched navy blue scrub top). After all that - which I actually had to laugh at because it was very comical (and I told several other people who all had a good laugh) - the redeeming factor was that we got some free navy scrubs (also at least 3 sizes too large) for pharmacy week. So I was eventually able to change into my free CMC navy scrubs and head home, 1 hour late, with a large bag of laundry.

milestones

We had a great weekend and a really fun time at our first annual adult's only Halloween Bash on Friday night, along with trick-or-treating with family and friends on Saturday. I will post about those events later, but I wanted to share some major milestones that Caleigh has been accomplishing...

• On Saturday we got her a big girl bed (a toddler bed from craigslist). We weren't planning to move her into it so soon but as soon as she saw it she was absolutely obsessed with it and I think it would have been harder to keep her out of it. We have joked that some parents have to figure out how to keep their kid in the bed - with Caleigh we have to try to keep her out of the bed. Anyways - we were worried because Saturday night was the time change ('fall back'), Halloween (hello sugar high), and the first night in her big girl bed. Once we put her in bed for nighttime (specifically not telling her 'do not get out of bed' as to not plant the idea in her head) she cried out once or twice like usual (queen of stalling already!) and then we didn't hear from her until she fell out of bed at 7:15 in the morning. We think she was already awake but playing when she fell out. She did perfect on Sunday night sleeping from 7:45ish until 7:45 am Monday morning. She is in there napping now and really is doing so well. The crib is still in her room as we are hoping to move Andrew in there around Christmas time and she always talks about it being 'Andrew's crib.'
• Then on Sunday night we took off her diaper to change her before bed and she said 'mama, tt (what we call urine), potty' and so we told her to run to the potty - so she ran in to the bathroom and sat on her potty for a little while looking at a book. After a couple of minutes she actually tt'ed in the potty! We were SO proud and made a big deal about it and gave her some candy corn (her new favorite treat) as a prize. Then again today when I was changing her before her nap she said she had to tt on the potty and she ran in there and did it again. So... I can't decide what to do. I really don't want to potty train her yet just because of hearing how much easier it is in the spring than in the winter but she really does seem pretty ready. I think we will hope to wait until after Christmas and then we will try training her in January-ish. But SO proud.

So many big accomplishments for my little 23 month old!