Our Family's Food Sensitivities

Ever since Caylen was born, she had a problem with her stomach. As a newborn/infant, it was called Colic, and as she got older, those around her referred to her as temperamental or fussy. I knew something was wrong in the beginning, but being a young mom, with my husband overseas, I felt a little isolated and clueless.

I nursed Caylen for 12 months + 3 weeks. I wanted to go longer, but she was absolutely ready, and therefore so was I. My breasts were not, but that is another story. So, we started her on cow's milk. Every time she drank cow's milk, she threw it up. I had, of course noticed this and informed her daddy, who was now at home with us, out of the military. We thought it might have been lactose intolerance, or just a phase she would outgrow so we used milk substitutes. She seemed to be okay with other dairy products like cheese, but we did know that she did still seem to have stomach viruses often, which produced vomiting, and that she pooped several times a day, but she was still technically a baby, so we didn't know. Also, her daddy has always had stomach issues too, and can throw up on command, so I figured she inherited some odd Burkhead gene.

Fast forward a year or so. In the throes of potty training, Caylen is taking herself to the potty when she needs to go, but is still having a hard time getting on the potty in time to not poop in her pants. I had heard this was a common problem, so no big deal, but she was still not progressing at the age of 3. She back on eating cheese and dairy, since the throwing up had since disappeared and her doctor could find no reasonable excuse not to eat it. I was also trying to get pregnant. Which was totally not working.

So, in the spring of 2012, Caylen was 3-- she was mostly potty trained, with quite regular, unexplained accidents, accompanied with pooping about 6 times a day. Was this normal at this age to still be pooping this much? I had no idea since she was my first child, but I wanted to try something. There was a diet I had heard about that was supposed to be great for people with stomach problems especially, and given the fact that 2 out of the 3 people in our household do have stomach problems, I was all for it. Also, it was great for those who wanted to lose weight, which I didn't necessarily need to, but I did want to get leaner, if you will. It was called the Paleo diet, and it was restrictive! No dairy, grains, legumes, or sugar. It was hard to think up meals at first, since it is so different from the American diet as we know it, but I felt great. Even better was the fact that within 3 days, Caylen was fully accident free, which was a total miracle! She went from having 6 poops a day to 1-2, and I was amazed. She seemed to feel a lot better, and I did too! I managed to lose about 3 pounds in the month before we went to Disney, and Caylen and her Daddy's stomach problems were becoming a distant memory. Little did I know what would happen next!

After a almost 2 years of trying (everything) to get pregnant, I missed my period and cursed the hormones that were obviously so messed up that I had apparently had an anovulatory cycle (meaning I didn't even pop out an egg that month). My doctor had scheduled for me to start Clomid, a fertility drug, but I decided against it, since the side effects are so notorious. Well, lo and behold, that cheapie, blue dye Equate test had a positive! I cursed the test for its false hope and figured it was wrong, since it was after all a blue dye test. This was the first positive home pregnancy test for me! I had 6 negatives with Caylen, with 1 positive blood test. Well, the test was correct! And, now I have a 6 month old bouncing baby boy to prove it! He is an absolute miracle, and I am sure that he was conceived due to our family changing to the Paleo diet.

As for Caylen, she is doing great still.  Through trial and error, we have found her sensitivities definitely include dairy and gluten, with legumes bothering her still, but the least of all.  She is not as sensitive to grains or dairy as she was, but she still cannot tolerate them. However, there are foods with hidden ingredients, so when we go out, she usually gets something that makes her somewhat sick. So, we are still working on it, and probably will continue for some time.

If you are curious about the Paleo diet, I highly recommend that you read The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. It will change your life!

Long Time, No See!

Long time, no see! I haven't written in about 2 years I guess, so there's no time like the present, right? A lot has happened since the last time I wrote! We were attempting to adopt from Russia, which was exciting, but that all fell through, just the way it was meant to. We also looked into adopting domestically, but that didn't work out either. So, we just gave up on trying. I tried the Paleo diet to lose a few pounds......

and, then we got pregnant with this sweetie!
Ezekiel James, born Sunday, January 20th at 5:15 PM, at home.

So, then fast forward about 6 and a half more months, and we are here:

Yep, that is 6 month old baby Zeke, taking a bath in the sink! Isn't he a sweetheart? I definitely think so, but I am a little biased. ;) Oh, and Caylen started pre-k this year-- here she is:

She is definitely loving school! I sure do miss her though. She is beginning to read already, which is wonderful, of course. I did a lot of work with her on letters and their sounds, beginning at age 2. She knows quite a few sight words, but we are currently working on sounding out words. She hasn't quite grasped it yet, but she is doing great. I am so proud of her, and I know she will do a great job this year! Going to the CEC last year definitely helped-- we plan to start Zeke there when he turns 2.

Speaking of Zekey.....

Zeke has 2 teeth already, the bottom 2, and he is currently working on his top 2 teeth. This is all new to me, nursing a baby with teeth, since Caylen got her first 2 teeth just a couple of weeks before she turned 1. I weaned her about a month after her first birthday, so nursing her with teeth was a very brief period. He is sitting up like a champ, eating like nobody's business, and trying to become mobile, which he can wait just a little longer for that! :)
He still sleeps in the Rock n' Play, which is not something I am proud of, but apparently, (trust me we have tried) he won't sleep anywhere else for longer than a 2 hour stretch at a time. Even if he's with us in the bed. Oh well! If there is one thing I have learned in this journey of parenting, it is to ditch the guilt for the things you can't change! We tried to get him to sleep in the crib for quite a while, from the very beginning in fact, but 2 sleep deprived, irritable, annoyed, did I mention tired, parents decided that sleeping in the rock n' play wasn't so bad after all...... Choose your battles!

I am still a happy stay at home mom, which I love and I value, despite the loneliness and monotony.  It definitely helps to have a parent staying at home, taking care of the kiddos while the other spouse works. a lot. at not only one job that takes more than 40 hours a week, but also being a part-time EMT. It's alright though! I get a gym membership out of it! I really do love staying at home though-- I find it has been the best fit for our family and it is a very hard job, but it's also a very important one.

That's about all for now, hopefully I will write again sooner than 2 years from now!

Just a Routine Update

Well, maybe it's more than that. I just had a few things to touch on, and I needed a name to group them all together, so I called it that. Update 1: Potty Training. Currently at a stand still due to her 'not cooperating' at daycare. I figured it would be okay to wait for a bit. She's only 20 months, right? This brings me to update 2: actually, she is 21 months today, July 16th. Happy 3/4 birthday Caylen! Time is just flyyyying by! Update 3: We are in Pigeon Forge, yay! But not so yay, it is after midnight and I have yet to go to bed. Have I ever mentioned that I am a 10 o'clock-at-the-latest-bedtime kinda person?  I have been told I turn into the Hulk without sleep. Maybe that is why Caylen slept in the bed with me for 9 months? It did greatly improve my amount of sleep, I must say. That's just how I work! Anyway, I tend to ramble (note that all of this is in one paragraph...)when I am overly tired and get my second wind, which I am on currently. The deal is this: Caylen will not sleep on vacation. Never, ever, ever. We just got back from a trip to KY a couple of weeks ago, well not even, and on that said trip she slept nada. None. Zilch. She also, since being in daycare, is always sick on vacation. I am not lying. She is fine up until the first night of vacation and here comes this runny nose, cough, and drainage thing. Same thing every time. She will go to sleep okay, she is thankfully pretty good with transitions after all our moves and instability.... anyway she goes to sleep pretty fast, but then you hear her breathing, and you can tell she is congested, then she sucks some of that back and every few breaths she will have to cough, and this wakes her up. This means that she wakes up crying at least every 30 minutes. Great for the sleep cycle. Not only is the night so frustrating you want to go jump off the nearest cliff but you are too tired to look for it, but also the next day is complete agony. You, your spouse, your baby, are tired and grumpy and no one wants to deal with anything the next day and it takes all you can do to even get through it. So, tonight Brandon and I watched a movie after Caylen went 'to bed' and it wasn't over till 11. We turned the lights for about 2 minutes, then got up to tend to Caylen. I decided then, and I had been thinking of this earlier, that we would not go to bed at all. Unless, that is, she is asleep and no stirring for a good 30 minutes. This is about the best we can hope for. So far, nothing. I have come to a couple more conclusions, though. You all can take note of this and hopefully be able to hold me to my word. or, wordS.
1. We will not go on any overnight stays, with Caylen, anywhere other than our own home until Caylen is over 3 years of age. This means nowhere, folks. Brandon and I have talked alot about this lately and we are both on the same page here and we feel like we are shooting ourselves in the foot for even taking her anywhere overnight.
2. If I feel the urging of wanting another child before Caylen turns the said age of 3, I will attempt to take her somewhere overnight and remind myself of how impossible it would be to have anything more than just her.

Caylen does terribly, horribly bad on vacations. Not just at nighttime either! She screamed her way all through Walmart when we first got here-- I was thoroughly embarrassed at her behavior. We had to scarf our food down at Cracker Barrel whilst picking various objects off the floor that she would throw down while trying to keep her quiet enough as not to cause massive heartburn for anyone and everyone within a 10 mile radius. So, I have concluded that we have been terribly foolish even thinking of vacationing with her.

My parenting style, Attachment parenting, which I try to follow in the way I think is best for our family and for Caylen, talks about how each baby is different and how you can't treat any 2 babies the same. I am a big believer in this, and even though I know most people with a baby Caylen's age do travel, I know that we can't. It's not fair to her for us to put unrealistic expectations on her to act a certain way that she can't handle yet. I can't be too rigid with her, she is just a baby! So, I am just going to have to get realistic here and go with the flow.  Going with the flow is sometimes hard for me because I want things to be predictable and follow a routine, but really I am the one going against the routine and predictability. Experience has shown that 100% of the time Caylen will not sleep while we are on vacation, she will act out 300% more, and she will get sick. So why am I acting like the odds are in favor of her sleeping or otherwise? I tell you why: I like to think that every night she gets a new 'chance' if that makes sense. Tonight could be different and I want to go into it without feeling jaded. However, that really is just blindness! I am blinding myself to the fact that she never sleeps on vacations, so why would she sleep now?

Well, I guess I am done rambling. I just had to sort all this out I guess and restructure my thinking!

Caylen is Finally Walking... For Real!

So I waited a few days to write on this one, just to make sure that it 'stuck.'  On Friday, exactly 2 weeks after she initially began walking (i.e. taking more than 2 steps at a time), she was at home with Daddy while Mommy was at work. He brought her there and he put her down and BAM she started walking! Like 10 steps or so, not a stumble at all; like she had been doing it forever! She kept doing it, doing it, doing it, and I figured it would stick this time. I really hoped. Saturday morning, she kept walking, and kept progressing! She was getting up by herself, walking, and she would initiate walking by herself to get from one place to another! Sunday morning, she woke up and didn't want to walk, but I think it was the footed pajamas that got her off track there. Once I changed her clothes, she was walking. Now, she is still crawling a little; it seems to be her preferred form of transportation, but I think that she really is enjoying how much she gets praised for walking and she is doing it more and more every day! She does such a good job at it-- I guess she just acquired all the walking skills at once! She can walk fast, turn corners, she walks fine in shoes, and she barely stumbles! I am so proud of her! Although I knew she would walk sometime, the waiting was just so hard! I was so afraid that she was unable to walk for some reason, but she is just on her own time!
To see a video of Caylen walking, you can visit my youtube site and watch it here.

Too Good to Be True!

So last night, right before Caylen's bath and bedtime, after we had drove home from work, her screaming the whole way, Caylen walked! Yes, she walked. At 16 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days, she walked. Yay!  My heart was so full; I couldn't even believe that she had done it!
Ok, back it up a little bit... I was so excited that I had to share right away! So yesterday, we were getting ready to leave work, waiting for Ava to be picked up. Caylen Loooooves to be around Ava!! I am guessing it was partly her who inspired Caylen to stand up on her own.
Ok, back it up a little more.... Caylen has been 'bear crawling' or 'crab crawling' for a while now. She crawls on her hands, and instead of on her knees, she is on her feet. You get the idea, right? Well, anyway, she has known how to do that for a long while, but here in the last few days, she has been deciding that she wants to either be mobile by 'crab crawling,' cruising, or walking with her walker. Given that information, I guess we are ready to go...
Soooo, I guess I can get to the standing by herself thing. Caylen has been able to stand by herself for a few weeks by now, but she always got to that point by pulling up. Well, last night, when she was playing with Ava, getting ready to go home, she went from a 'crab crawl' to standing, all by herself! I couldn't hardly believe what I saw! Then, we get in the car to go home, she doesn't want to go in her seat, cries (screams) all the way home, and we get home and chill out-- brains fried from the ride. I throw together a peanut butter sandwich for her, she eats really well, and we let her watch the Goodnight Show until it is bathtime, like usual. Well, Caylen starts doing her funny crawl thing again, and she stands up! Again, again, again.  Woo hoo! Brandon stretches out his arms and says, "Come here, Caylen" or something to that effect, and voila, she does! Like she has been doing it forever. Didn't even have to think twice. Just went. I couldn't believe it! She took at least 4 steps to him like it was nothing! Then, she proceeds to do it again, again, again. Wow!!! We have been waiting for sooo long for this! And, here it is, happening!! Right now! Well, she decides that she is tired, and she doesn't want to do it anymore, so she 'crab crawls' to the tub. Ready for a bath. I was so excited for her, I could barely contain myself!........
 Next morning (today):
I was so excited about her feat from the night before I couldn't wait to get her out of her footed jammies and put her in something easy to walk in. Would she do it again? Of course, right? She did it last night like she had done it all of her life! Piece of cake.
Nope. Not by 8 AM, not by 10 AM. She takes a nap. Maybe she was tired? Nope. Eats lunch; maybe she was hungry? Nope. Not a single sign that she ever did walk in the first place. She is not even standing up by herself today! She is not even standing alone as much as usual.
Wow.
There is the real shock. I allowed myself to get so excited over her walking, just to see that it was a fluke? I feel ashamed at myself for thinking that this stubborn child would ever actually walk. I should have known better. I shouldn't have thought for a second that those first steps would be anything but short-lived.  Ok, I guess I know somewhere deep inside that Caylen will eventually walk someday. I think/hope? But when, I don't know. One thing I have learned from this child is that you can't count on anything she ever does to ever happen again. So, who knows? I just feel so let down and foolish for actually thinking she would still be walking today.

Is this normal? Is it normal or 'average' for a child to pick something up and forget about it? I just feel so jaded, and like I never want to get excited about anything she ever does again. Sounds horrible, right? But if any of you moms have gone through the same ups and downs with your child that we have, you probably can relate. I just want to know, should I be worried? Or, is this just a stubborn child trait that we just have to overlook?

Caylen's Evaluation Pt. 2

Today was the big day. At 1 PM, Caylen had her pre-screening for Babies Can't Wait. Caylen did really well and the lady was really nice, but things went as I had feared they would. She was concerned that Caylen was not standing yet, as well as her expressive language.

As far as her language goes, I don't think there really is a problem, but she has said like 30 words that just pop up and then go away. Is that normal? She says a lot and mimics a lot, but it is very sporadic and inconsistent. She says about 3 words consistently, mumum, dada, and bye bye. She says many, many more words than that, but more inconsistently. She has said cat, dog, book, ball, more, all done, no, etc. but most of those are on the sometimes, once in a blue moon, word list. Others she has said were on the 1 word wonder list that never seems to reappear. Is that normal?

See, I don't know. This is my first child. Is any child normal? I don't know. I don't have much experience with babies and toddlers, but I just want to do what is best for her. If she has a delay, I want her to catch up. If she has something more, I want her to get the best help she can. I know there are a lot of other moms out there who have told me that they have experienced the same delay either with themselves or their own children. Thank God for those great women because I think I might be a total basket case now if it weren't for them!

I am a realist myself, but when it is something so touchy and potentially horrid as something being wrong with your child, it helps to know that it could turn out okay. The lady that came today didn't seem to think there were any signs of autism, nor do I, but there are a million other things that it could be. Granted, autism is one of the scariest so I am relieved, but I still just don't know what could be causing her delay. She is, more than likely I hope, just fine. She is just probably taking her time on hitting her gross motor milestones and enjoying watching me squirm while she's at it. I just am so stressed about it, thinking I might have caused this, or what could I have done better? I don't know, but I will continue to update on her status. She will probably be screened for Babies Can't Wait in a couple weeks and we will go from there!

Caylen's Evaluation

Well, today we were supposed to have Caylen evaluated by Children 1st but our appointment was canceled due to the evaluator's child being sick. We rescheduled for Monday at 1. So, I figured I would take this time, which would have been during her appointment to talk about why she is being evaluated and to get all that stuff out. Caylen is 15 months, but will be 16 on the 16th of this month. She is still not walking, and we are getting her checked out. Her language and everything else seems to be great at times, but she is so inconsistent that we are not sure if we need to be worried or not. She calls everyone 'dada' and has just recently been referring to me as 'mumum.' She has said a million words once, but she only says 2 to 4 consistently. She will say new words every day but she doesn't repeat them often. Or, she will say a new word and it won't show up again for a month or more. Is this normal? I don't think she has a specific disability such as autism or CP at all, but I wonder if she is a little delayed, and why? She has always been a 'high needs' baby but I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I know there is a lot going on in her head, I can tell, and she is very able to do things fine motor wise and most gross motor abilities, but I am wondering if there is perhaps a processing problem somewhere, if anything. Maybe that is why she is easily frustrated as well. I am easily frustrated too, so maybe she just gets it from me, as well as stubborn, so maybe she just hasn't made her mind up to walk yet. I am also quiet and 90% of what goes on in my head stays there, but I don't want to assume she is the same way. It is just really hard to come to the realization that there could be something wrong with your child; all those dreams and hopes you had for this child when you were pregnant might all be completely different from what you had imagined. Like I said though, I don't think it is anything serious or even moderate, but if she even has a mild disability I want to know about it as early as I can, so I can begin to help her! I ask that you please pray for us during this difficult time, as it might be a long process before we know anything.

All About My Caylen

So I haven't dedicated an entire post in a while to just Caylen so I figured I would. She hasn't gone through any major changes so I haven't felt the need to write about her, but I have realized that she really has changed a lot since I wrote about her last. So, She now has 5 teeth, and that means that she has had all of them come in within a matter of about 2 months. She hasn't really had too hard of a time, considering she is just constantly getting them in. She now has two on the bottom, in the middle, and three on the top, the two middle and one to her left side. They have came in sort of out of what I would consider 'order' or how they are expected to come in. She got the two in the bottom first, which is normal, but then she got one on the top middle, and then the other top middle and the one to her left at the same time. She looks like she is going to get the top right one in soon now because she has a lump there that she won't let me touch; er, if I touch it I get bitten..... haha Oh and speaking of biting, she loves to give me 'love bites' and I love it! Sometimes they hurt, but most of the time they just tickle and we both get to laughing really hard!
She is really such a good baby, almost toddler; I am really blessed to have such a good little girl. She was not such an easy newborn and younger infant however, and because of that I get queasy at the thought of having another one, on top of having her! I have heard a lot of people say that their babies were easy but once they hit the 1 year mark, they threw fits and tantrums and were less easy going. She is just the opposite though! Since she has hit a year, she has been so easy going and wonderful-- just a joy! She goes to sleep for naps and at night with me just holding her and talking to her. Sometimes she just wants me to put her down in her crib and pat her back and sing to her! I never even dreamed that a baby would go to sleep that easy at all! I mean, when you're pregnant you wish for such things but you never really think it will really happen. Especially to the baby that screamed like a wild animal when being put down in her crib to sleep! I was afraid that she would be a very clingy and high maintenance child like she was when she was a younger infant, but she really has become quite independent! She likes to have her own play time to herself and she will just entertain herself for quite a while! I am so lucky to have such a beautiful, wonderful little girl-- I just had to brag on her!

Weaning!

So, I know I just said like 2 posts ago that I didn't think weaning was in our near future, but it has actually happened! This past Friday I felt that we were ready to wean. I was really planning, and hoping, to make it to the 15-18 month window of weaning, but I have been noticing lately that Caylen has been showing signs of being ready to wean. And, her having 3 teeth can be very painful since she only nursed for comfort for the past month or two. For instance, if she decided she was done, she would just chomp down and yeah, like I know that is a way of communicating to me you are done, but I am definitely not a fan of it! So, on Friday I decided to wean her and since we only do 2-3 feedings a day, just for sleeping purposes, I just decided to drop it all at once. (And for those who are wondering, particularly my fellow nursing friends, I had no engorgement!)I knew that when the time was right to wean for us, I would just know it was time, and it would go smoothly. Well, it has! When I just get a hunch that it is the right time to do something, and when I act on that feeling, it almost always turns out well. It is much like the time I decided that Caylen was going to sleep in her room in her crib. I just woke up one morning, literally, and decided I was going to dismantle the crib so I could move it 10 feet into the next room. I just knew it was time for her to sleep in her own bed, in her own room. For those who don't know, I love personality typing and I am an INTJ, and the "N" is for intuitive, which is the only way I can explain these 'hunches' I get.

Well, she has done so great with it and I am so proud of her! She is actually going to sleep better and is less fussy. Who woulda thunk it? I can't explain why, but for some reason she is a much less fussy baby! This was a huge part of my and Caylen's life, and to see it ending is kinda sad, but to know that my little girl is getting independent and growing up makes me very proud!

We Have a Crawler!

Yep, so Caylen is officially a full-time crawler by now! She started crawling back in Texas, as referenced before, but now she is crawling everywhere! And, her teeth seem to be cutting any day now. She has started babbling a lot, and sometimes it sounds like she is speaking her own language! Her favorite word is "dada" or "adda" and she also says a few more 'word approximations' like "no," "uh-uh," "kee" for cat, and she did call my mom's dog "do" the other day a couple of times, but I am not positive that is what she meant. She has been sleeping through the night, too, for the last few weeks, and I am so glad! She refuses to take naps in her crib though, now, but I can handle that better than lack of sleep. She has discovered the stairs at my mom and dad's house and she has started to try and climb them! She is starting to use some of her signs, too, even though her receptive sign language vocabulary has been built up for some time. Example, I sign "drink" and she knows to get her cup but she has yet to sign "drink" herself. She is just growing up so fast; I am so proud of her! I love to watch her grow and change almost every day!

Well, as for the rest of the family, Brandon is still loving his new job and I am very glad of that! I have a job interview tomorrow, Monday, with a school system for a half-time SPED position. I am nervous-- I haven't done an interview in a while and I haven't been an actual teacher for a while longer! I think it is a great position though and I hope I get it, but if I don't, it is okay because it really breaks my heart to think about putting Caylen in daycare, even if it is just part-time. Well, there's no use in worrying about the interview, it is all in God's hands, and it will inevitably work out the way it should as long as I hold up my end.

Well, there really is more to say but that is all I can think of tonight so that is it until next time! Perhaps I will have a new addition to the blog tomorrow??

Back in GA at Last!

Well, we are finally settled in! We have actually been 'settled' since Wednesday of last week, but we just now got internet! I can't believe that we made it this long without internet, to be honest. So, our household goods came here to Dahlonega on the 31st. We also did our walk-through on that day as well. The movers were done by early afternoon that day so we had the rest of the day to unpack, and then we unpacked Tuesday and Wednesday everything was put away! We were lacking a few things so we went to Target for them and bought Brandon some work clothes as well while we were out. Brandon started his first day on Monday and he absolutely loves it! Never in the 4.25 years we have been married, exact to the day actually, have I ever seen him come home from work with a smile and want to talk about how his day was! I am so happy for him, and we are all so happy to be back with everyone. I, however have been so so so SOO incredibly busy I think the top of my head might spin off just any minute! There is so much to do, really, and it seems like the minute we got here there was a never ending list of to-do's.

Caylen is almost 11 months already! Whew, it has all gone by so fast! This means she is having a birthday coming up soon and I feel so unprepared. I know I have not put up many recent pictures, but I have just finished putting up a few on facebook that are a mixture of Caylen at 10 months old. She has changed so much this month! And, we have been so busy too! Those pictures can be viewed here, by the way.

So, next month, right before Caylen's birthday, we are all going to Disney World! Yay! I always thought Caylen would be older for her first trip, but I know she will have fun anyway. We are going with mom and dad, and Anna and Ava (aka Caylen's favorite little girl :-] ). Well, that is about it for this post; Caylen is taking a nap, oh glorious nap, for the first day in 5 days so I am going to take this time to breathe deeply......

Creeping, Almost Crawling! And a Creepy Crawly.....

Well, since the last post, Caylen can not only clap, wave, and say dada, but she is finally creeping and can crawl a few steps too! She is finally getting mobile, thankfully, but she just had to do it in her own time I guess! Still no teeth, however, she has been acting like she has been having teething pain. A lot. She is pretty much sleeping throughout the night now though, except for a couple of early wakings due to what seems like teething. She will go to bed at 7:30 and get up at 5 am for a feeding, then go to sleep 'til a little after 6. She is definitely an early riser! She has been taking much better naps though! She naps for at least an hour, generally, and her morning nap is great for me to shower and relax! So, I am finding out that it actually does get at least somewhat easier as they get older!
As for the adults in the household, we are getting ready to move! Not quite as fun as it sounds, but we are excited about being in Georgia once again. So, I have been a cleaning and organizing maniac! We also have to get rid of a lot of stuff so we can fit into a 2 bedroom house once again, but this time with a baby as well.
We had an interesting incident happen the other day too. I figured it was worth mentioning on here since it was so peculiar. I was walking by the kitchen the other day and I saw what looked like a banana peel string underneath the chair. I went to pick it up and thought it was actually a stick, but upon inspection concluded it was a lizard tail! Yuck. Well, Brandon somehow convinced me that the lizard must have ran back outside so I didn't worry too much. Well, the next morning I saw the cat hovering over something by the door and it was the LIZARD! It was big, too! The thing was about the size of a small mouse and when I called Brandon to tell him, he convinced me to throw a towel over it and toss it outside. GROSS! But, I did and it ended up dying not long after that in our yard. I guess the cat is good for something after all! ;)

The First Post

So.... I guess I have a lot to say, considering that this is my first post on the blog, but I will just hit the high notes. I decided to create a blog for our family so we can keep everyone, family and friends (whether on facebook or not) updated with our family happenings and pictures. This week I have been in Blairsville visiting my family, in hopes of retaining my sanity that has been threatened while in Texas. I got a good deal on plane tickets and I am glad that I came now because if I had waited much longer, we would already be moving out here! Yes, we will be coming back to GA much earlier than planned because of Brandon declining orders to Ft. Campbell, and thus being eligible for an early seperation. We are very happy about this, of course, since we have been wanting to go back to GA ever since we got to Texas.
Since I have been here in Blairsville, Caylen has decided to do a lot of new things! She started with babbling repetitive consonant sounds ("mamama, dadada, gagaga" etc.) and then she started waving! The waving went to clapping hands (!) and now she is (finally) starting to try to crawl. She has been trying for a while but just gets too frustrated and didn't seem to have enough core strength. She did push herself around today though with her legs while on her belly so that is a great start! She also seems to be teething, but who knows if it will actually end up in teeth this time??? She also plays peekaboo-- she takes her shirt or a blanket and puts it over her face.... very cute
So, our lease/purchasers decided not to buy the house in Dahlonega, long story but oh well, so we will be moving into that house when we move back in September. It is small for us, 2 bedroom, but if we get rid of some stuff and squeeze in real tight, I think we can make it work. I absolutely love that house so it won't be hard to move back there, and I love Dahlonega so I think it will be good overall. Plus, we can go to Gold Rush around Caylen's birthday and enjoy the beautiful fall weather on our covered redwood porch. I can just imagine having a nice hot cup of tea in the morning (yeah still no caffeine for me) on that porch, or sitting out on it, watching the sun set. We have so many things we want to do to that house to further improve upon it, and we can't wait to begin our lives post-military!