Well, I know it is crazy that I haven't updated this thing in about 1 1/2 years now! I guess working, having a home and family, volunteering, and life just got in the way! A lot has happened in the last 1 1/2 years! The boys are now 5 1/2 years old and in their 2nd year of preschool! They could have started Kindergarten last fall, but we decided to have them wait until they are just barely 6. They will start in September and I am so excited for this next step in their lives!
Cameron is turning into a little man who still LOVES trains! Actually, him and Daniel have talked about building a train station here and one of them will be a train engineer and the other a conductor! I could only hope and pray that they find something that they love to do when they are grown up! Cameron has such a big heart and thinks so much about other people and worries about how they are feeling. He is finally completely potty-trained all of the time, including at night! He has been since about their 5th birthday! It is so nice to have 2 completely potty-trained, no accidents, little boys! No more diapers and pull-ups ever again in this house! YAY! Cameron loves to sing, and loves to play with his friends at school! Both boys can write their names and are again learning Spanish at school! It is so cute to hear them start singing spanish songs they have learned! Daniel has turned into a little Lego man and LOVES to "pretend play" by building areas for his lego men to play in. I enjoy seeing the creativeness and stories he comes up with! He has his Mommy's stubbornness and also thinks he is right about everything! I have apologized to my Mom many times for the stress I caused her by being such a know-it-all! Daniel loves to draw and be creative! He always has a story to go with his picture! He also has a very kind heart and thinks about others. Both boys are very kind and thoughtful and I am thankful that they are actually sweet boys. I wish they were sweet all the time, but we of course have our stressful times, as do most parents! I still wouldn't trade any of it!
Last year was a tough year for us. Especially for me. I was diagnosed in July 2011 with Stage 2 Nodular Sclerosis Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I had a lump in my neck and went in to have it checked. After biopsy's and scans, I received my diagnosis. It was very scary and I went through 2 months of chemo and 17 days of radiation. But I was lucky. I was surrounded by so much help from friends and family and received so many prayers. I found out how blessed and loved I am and am thankful to be alive and with my husband and my boys. I don't take my life for granted and I thank the Lord every day for another day on this earth! All my treatments are done and I am just dealing with residual issues and growing back my hair! I will continued to be monitored for the next 5 years to make sure that the cancer does not return.
During my treatments, Bryan and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary! I celebrated my 33rd birthday! And the boys turned 5 years old! I am just happy to celebrate more milestones!
So today I took the boys to see a movie with my mom and sister! It was "Journey to Mysterious Island 2" and it was really good! Their eyes were glued to the screen the entire time and it was entertaining for us adults as well! I recommend it as a great family film! Bryan just got home from work a little bit ago and promptly took the kids outside to play for a little bit! I'm thankful for the quiet time to type this and for the energy they will burn while out there! I have definitely found that they have been more restless during this winter and being cooped up in the house. I thought it would be too cold out at first because we had snow today! Yes, it is almost March and we had snow! It didn't stick, but it was sure pretty for a while earlier! Well, Daniel has come in and announced that he saw white poop! Not sure if it is a kid thing or a boy thing, but I've been hearing a lot about poop lately!
I hope to continue this blog again more regularly! Thanks for checking in on this Crazy Caine family! I hope that you are all doing well and living your life to the fullest!
Love and hugs from our house to yours!
Jen
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, July 16, 2010
Craft time - Crazy Caine style!
Michael's has become my ULTIMATE FAVORITE store to shop at lately! For two reasons!
Reason #1 - that is where I buy all my cake decorating supplies! 40% and 50% off coupons are a MUST and help out a lot!
Reason #2 - They have the BEST craft ideas and supplies at AWESOME prices for the kids! I think that craft time is very important for the boys and I buy little craft things for them in their dollar bins ALL the time! Some of our favorite crafts are usually Mother's Day, Father's Day and birthday gifts for the grandparents and Mommy & Daddy! We have done ceramic mugs that can be colored on, t-shirts with hand prints on them, little wooden picture frames (with magnets) that are colored on with markers! And recently, I have started buying dinosaurs, dragons, alligators, scorpions, trains, planes, birdhouses, etc... that are little wooden items that come with paint kits! Most are $0.48 - $3.00 each and they come with the brush and the paints!
I have a wonderful craft room/play room in our shop (fully insulated, has windows, heaters & carpeting) and I enjoy taking the boys out their for play time while I do crafts, or have them do crafts! Our fist paint time was over the weekend and the boys did a wonderful job! They were both so very careful and meticulous in how they painted! Daniel had the dinosaur and Cammy had the dragon! My favorite part was when they decided to trade and help each other finish painting! I came over a bit later and said I was so proud of how they were doing! Daniel says, "Yes Cammy! I am so proud of you! You are doing a nice job with my dinosaur!". Too funny! So here are the pics from our painting day! Oh, and while they were doing their painting, I was working on cutting material and making quilt block squares for new curtains in my dining room! So it was a craft day for us! Have a great day everyone!
Have a good day everyone!
Reason #1 - that is where I buy all my cake decorating supplies! 40% and 50% off coupons are a MUST and help out a lot!
Reason #2 - They have the BEST craft ideas and supplies at AWESOME prices for the kids! I think that craft time is very important for the boys and I buy little craft things for them in their dollar bins ALL the time! Some of our favorite crafts are usually Mother's Day, Father's Day and birthday gifts for the grandparents and Mommy & Daddy! We have done ceramic mugs that can be colored on, t-shirts with hand prints on them, little wooden picture frames (with magnets) that are colored on with markers! And recently, I have started buying dinosaurs, dragons, alligators, scorpions, trains, planes, birdhouses, etc... that are little wooden items that come with paint kits! Most are $0.48 - $3.00 each and they come with the brush and the paints!
I have a wonderful craft room/play room in our shop (fully insulated, has windows, heaters & carpeting) and I enjoy taking the boys out their for play time while I do crafts, or have them do crafts! Our fist paint time was over the weekend and the boys did a wonderful job! They were both so very careful and meticulous in how they painted! Daniel had the dinosaur and Cammy had the dragon! My favorite part was when they decided to trade and help each other finish painting! I came over a bit later and said I was so proud of how they were doing! Daniel says, "Yes Cammy! I am so proud of you! You are doing a nice job with my dinosaur!". Too funny! So here are the pics from our painting day! Oh, and while they were doing their painting, I was working on cutting material and making quilt block squares for new curtains in my dining room! So it was a craft day for us! Have a great day everyone!
Daniel & Cameron starting to paint! Clean table so far!
Cammy with his dragon!
Daniel with his dinosaur! His favorite color is green, so he started using that first!
Cammy concentrating on his dragon! Notice below how he has his tongue stuck out! ;-)
Daniel painting the tail and holding the head so carefully!
Time to work on the feet!
All done! Not too messy & very, very cute!
And my craft project! My quilt block chicken curtains!
Have a good day everyone!
Jen ;-)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
"The Final Countdown" video!
When I was pregnant with the boys, my husband came across the FUNNIEST You Tube video! He called me over and showed it to me! It is the "Final Countdown" song, with the image of twin baby boys in an ultrasound view and it is HILARIOUS!!! Every time we watched it, we would laugh hysterically, thinking about what our babies were doing in my tummy and kept imaging this is what they were doing! To this day, we LOVE to pull this video up and just have a great laugh watching it! And it brings back the wonderful memories of when I was pregnant! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTwZL-1MUag
Love,
Jen ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTwZL-1MUag
Love,
Jen ;-)
Multiples & More - Question of the Week!
How do you encourage healthy sleep habits in your children?
* When they were infants, how did you get your babies to sleep/nap at the same time?
In this instance, I would have to consider this a positive thing that came out of our 4 week NICU stay. The boys were immediately put on a 3 hour schedule. They would be woke up every 3 hours to have their temperature taken, have their diaper changed and be fed. We continued this routine when we came home from the hospital. We didn't change it at all! As they got a little older, we simply increased the length of time they would be allowed to sleep. Luckily, they pretty much slept the same amount of time. If one woke up and it wasn't too early to wake up, we would get the other one up. Keeping them on a sleeping/feeding schedule was the MOST IMPORTANT thing we did and it made things easier on us and them!
At one point we ran into Cameron waking up in the middle of the night (around 5 or 6 months old), and it was a struggle to get him back to sleep. We would leave their bedroom to avoid him waking up Daniel (anything to avoid waking up baby #2!). The only thing that would calm him down was laying in bed with me. I SWORE I would NEVER bring my babies to bed with me for many reasons. Mainly I was afraid I would role over on top of them! However, we learned that when Cameron was cradled in my arms in bed with me and my husband, I didn't move a muscle while we slept. And if my husband woke up to his crying and I was still sleeping, he would bring him in and put him in my arms while I slept. Cameron would stop crying, and go back to sleep. Here is where my Mommy Instincts were in high gear and my mind and body knew he was next to me. We did this almost nightly for about 3-4 months, and he eventually stopped waking up and would sleep through the night. Of all the things I miss form that young age, this is one of the things that I miss most. This is the thing that makes my arms ache and wish I could still curl up in bed with my baby in my arms!
* If they wake up early from a nap, how did/do you handle that?
Like I said above, if one woke up a little early, we would wake the other one up. To tell the truth, if one woke up, they would cry and 9 times out of 10, they would wake up the other one!
* Do you have a minimum amount of time that you want your babies to sleep, or at least rest in their cribs for?
Well, my babies are currently almost 4 years old. And we still aim for them to sleep about 11-12 hours at night. We recently cut out naps all together (unless they really need it). They are in bed between 8:00pm - 9:00pm and up around 7:30-8:00am. They have done close to 10-12 hours of sleep at night for quite a long time now. Plus they had their nap time(s) during the day.
* Napping transitions (this is a big one!): How did/do you handle the situation of going from two naps to one, when one child is ready and the other(s) were not?
Well, we have learned over time now that Daniel could probably sleep twice as much as Cameron. And Cameron simply needs a 15-30 minute cat nap to give him that boost of energy! But when it was time to transition from 2 naps to 1, it worked out well, because we waited to change the schedule until they were both ready. Even though Cammy could have gone without the 2nd nap earlier, we still had him take the nap. It might have taken a little longer to get him to sleep, and he usually woke up first, but at least he got his cat nap in and some rest time. He learned to play quietly or have quiet rest time on the couch if he woke up early. When Daniel was ready, we transitioned to 1 nap. However, it proved that Cameron was usually the last one asleep and the first one awake!
If you have older multiples- how did the transition to toddler beds affect their sleep patterns? When did naps *gasp* come to an end?
If you have older multiples- how did the transition to toddler beds affect their sleep patterns? When did naps *gasp* come to an end?
This question comes at a time when nap times just recently (about 2 weeks) have come to an end. First off, we transitioned to toddler beds when they were 2 years old and within about 6 months, they were actually in twin beds with side rails (an early gift from the grandparents). Toddler beds and twin beds were a challenge at first because they were no longer confined. And that meant that they could get up and play, or hop onto brothers bed! It took a few weeks to get them to understand that when it was nap time or bed time, they needed to stay in their bed. But they eventually got it.
And so now we are only a month away from their 4th birthday, and we have stopped taking mid day naps all together as of 2 weeks ago! I never thought it would happen this early! But when it is taking 30 minutes to an hour, to get your kids to sleep at night, then it is time to rethink the nap thing! Granted, if we are out running errands on the weekend, and it happens to be during the early to mid-afternoon time, they usually will fall asleep in the car! And sometimes if they are acting really tired, I will call for some quiet couch time with a book or a movie. They get their rest without a nap! And I have to say that not having to go in to their room 10 + times to get them to go to sleep at 8:00 or 9:00, really makes for a much happier Mommy and a much better bed time routine!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Firsts, Father's Day and fishies! Or is it fishy's? Hmmmm....
Daniel & Cameron eating their first cotton candy at Camtown Youth Festival!! We enjoyed bouncy houses, clowns, magician's, the park & hot weather! Took along Grammy & Auntie Am for the fun!
Cammy & Daniel patiently waiting to go on the bouncy obstacle course! Actually, they pretty much just bounced here at the entrance until they were given the ok to go! ;-)
Daddy's Father's Day gift from the boys! A Treasure Box that has been lovingly decorated by the boys! AKA: A shoe box that has had paper taped all around it to cover it up! They made one for each of the Grandpa's as well!
Here is the inside of the Treasure Box! Notice all the animal stickers since Daddy is the Animal Control Officer and he takes care of animals! And since Daddy was working on Father's Day, we had him come home for breakfast and made him waffles! He was given his cards at that time! Then we had him come home for lunch! I asked the boys what they wanted to make him for lunch and they said pizza! Unfortunately, we didn't have any! So I asked again! Daniel wanted to make grilled cheese sandwich and Cammy wanted to make chicken nuggets & fries. So we made both! So Daddy got grilled cheese, chicken nuggets & fries for lunch! And that is when they gave him his treasure box! It was a good Father's Day!
Here is part of the boys "Learning Corner"! As you can tell, it is going to SNOW tomorrow! Actually, the boys guess that it is "Tomorrow it is going to Snow" every day! Poor guys! They don't realize that they live in the Northwest!
OK! Don't laugh at my pink sink! Yes, it has a matching pink toilet & matching pink bathtub! But the bathtub is old, so you can take a hot bath for an hour without refilling the tub! ;-) I recently added the cute little wall decor of ocean fish to continue with the "fishy/ocean" theme! Next to the fish tank is a jar full of sea shells & rocks we have collected at the beach.
And here are the other other wall decor above the pink bathtub! Compliments of the Dollar Store!
And I had the boys help make their lunches the other day! Daniel loves jam sandwiches! We got a little sticky, but they did a great job! Such big boys!
And here is Cammy making his peanut butter sandwich! That is his favorite!
And the finished product! See Daniel's "cheese grin"? What a goofball!
Hope you enjoyed the quick pics!
Love, Jen
Friday, June 18, 2010
My babies aren't babies anymore!
My little babies are growing into adorable little boys! They will be 4 years old in August, and I can't believe how fast the time has flown since they were born! Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that I got that call that we were pregnant! And then laying on the table at the Dr's office for the ultrasound to show us how many babies we were going to have, and seeing those 2 little flutters of heartbeats on the screen! And the delivery of them happening so quickly on August 19th, 2006 and the 4 weeks we spent in the NICU with them! I know that the first six months are a total blur in my memory, but it seems that the last 3 1/2 years are now all gone! We will never get that time back with them, and I deeply miss the little itty bitty teeny weenie babies they were when we brought them home. I miss the non-stop snuggles and cuddle time we got when they were too tiny to get up and run off. If the last 4 years have gone by this fast, I can't imagine what the next 14 years will be like, as they start school and sports and school activities. They will be starting pre-school in September and as excited as I am for them, I am also sad that they are growing up so fast. I try to write down all the funny things about the boys that happen, but we get busy and that doesn't always happen! So here is a brief idea of what the boys are like right now, as they are approaching their 4th birthday! They may be twins, but they are definitely individual little boys, with their own special personalities and attitude!
DANIEL RYAN CAINE (AKA Baby 'A').................
When Daniel was born we kept saying he looked like a little wrestler or football player. He had this stout little body that just looked like it could tackle you! And I'm pleased to say that Daniel seems to be that same little football player/wrestler type, because he tackles Cameron with no difficulty and keeps him pinned on the ground as long as possible, laughing the entire time! We honestly believe he will be a good wrestler and football player when he gets older.
He has always been so very meticulous about the order he has his toys in and this has not changed one bit! His trains belong in a special order (never put the caboose in front and the engine in back), his dinosaurs are in order by type and size, his blocks are stacked "just right" and he lays his blanky on top of him at night "just right" (even laying out the curled corners). He has a type "A" personality that I believe will benefit him in the future! However, the down-side is that he can not be swayed to do something different than the "Daniel way"! And everybody must do it the way he thinks it should be done, or he dissolves into a mess of tears. It is a major challenge to convince him that there are other ways that things can be done. And I will be the first to admit he gets this from his Mommy. I believe that the "Jen way" is the best way!
When you ask Daniel to say "cheese" for the camera, he does this thing where he scrunches up his nose, has a smile like he is about to brush his teeth, and he furrows his eyebrows together! It ends up looking like he is mad, but that is his smile! We are trying so hard to get him to actually smile cute, because when he does, he looks adorable! But for now, we usually get the "Daniel cheese grin"! Such a goofball!
Daniel is afraid of the dark and HATES the closet door left open! He swears that there are monsters in there and he won't go in his room if the closet door is open a crack! He wakes up a couple times a night crying, and he seems to have many bad dreams about spiders and snakes. I don't know why, but Bryan says he has nightmares almost nightly about these things. Poor little man! He also usually wakes up in the same position he fell asleep. Flat on his back, arms over his head or his chest. He likes having cold sheets and he flips his pillow over before he goes to sleep to get the "cold side of the pillow"! He gets that from his Daddy!
He has FINALLY grown out of the stage of growling at us when he gets mad (which he did ALL the time), and has amazingly started to listen to us! WOOHOO!!! So now when we ask the boys to clean up the living room, Daniel says "OK Mommy!" and then gets right to work! (Cameron does not, but we'll get to that in a bit). Daniel has also recently begun to try very hard to color within the lines in his coloring book! He is carefully choosing the colors of each thing, and tries to color things the way they should be! I am so very proud to see this! Daniel is also Mommy's little helper! I absolutely LOVE that he loves to help me carry the groceries into the house and helps me put things away! It just puts the biggest smile on my face! And when I am cooking dinner or making cakes or deserts, he is the first one to pull up a chair to the counter and help pour everything in the bowl and help hold the mixer! Such a big boy!
And Daniel has recently started dancing whenever music is on in the house! And I'm talking crazy, wild, jump up and down, and spin in circles dancing! It is funny to watch, but he just loves it! And when I recently started exercising in the living room, he was the first to start exercising with me! Very cute watching your 3 year old trying to do a sit up! ;-)
And I must share the hilarious thing that Daniel said the other night at bed time! We were singing songs and Cammy started to interrupt. I said, "Don't interrupt Cammy!". Daniel says, "Mommy! Cammy is going to interrupt like a volcano!" It took me a second to catch what he meant. He got "interrupt" and "erupt" confused! I just started laughing hysterically, and that meant the boys started laughing hysterically, and then Daniel started saying it over and over again! "Cammy interrupts like a volcano!" I loved it!
Now on to CAMERON MICHAEL CAINE (AKA Baby 'B')........
When Cammy was born, he was skinnier and just looked longer than Daniel (even though they were both 19" long), and we started saying he looked like he would be a basketball player. He is now about 1 - 1 1/2" taller than Daniel, and is still long, skinny and will probably be taller than his brother. He has great balancing technique and very strong calves from walking on his tip-toes all the time. He is very flexible and does AMAZING somersaults! He just tucks and curls into this tiny little ball! Daniel still tries to do a head stand when trying to do a somersault!
As meticulous as Daniel is about the order of his things, Cameron could pretty much care less! He actually enjoys knocking over brothers towers and doesn't care about the order he puts his trains. However, he does LOVE to chug his trains all around the house and gets lost in his own little world of make believe! Unfortunately, he thinks that his trains need a "wash down" and proceeds to chug into the kitchen and uses the dog water to "wash down" the trains! If I had a nickel for every time he has been told to stay out of the dog water, I would be a millionaire by now! Cameron also loves to play with balls! He love to bounce them, roll them, throw them anywhere around the house. I have found them on the counter, the hutch, the bookshelves, etc... Actually, he just loves throwing anything..... Hmmmmm.....maybe we have a future baseball player in our midst!
Cameron does not listen as well as Daniel and we have not gotten past this stage with him yet. It does not matter how many times we tell him not to do something, he continues to find a way to do it! We have 3 goldfish that have somehow survived over a year now. We started out with the small tank in their bedroom and found that Cameron kept feeding the fish....the entire container of fish food! Yes, it should not have been left down in the first place, but even when we put it up, he would climb to where it was! He is quite the little climber. So it was moved into the hall bathroom. Unfortunately, during the day, Cameron would sneak into the bathroom to stick his hand in the fish tank, or try to feed them more food. So the fish tank was moved into our bathroom. That worked for a while, unless he snuck into our bathroom, and once again, the entire container of fish food would be put in the fish tank! Seriously, we are not sure how these fish have survived this long! So after keeping him away from the fish for a while, we recently tried to put a larger tank with the same fish in their bedroom (the fish have grown from all the food)! Within a few hours, Cameron had tried to take the lid off the tank and tried to "catch" the fish. So it has been moved again into the hall bathroom. The fish food is hidden and so far so good. Either way, he is ENTHRALLED with the fish and could stand in front of the tank with his nose pressed against the glass watching them!
Cameron doesn't like to clean up the living room either because he says "it is hard work Mommy!". He huffs and puffs like he is lifting 20 pound weights when he is cleaning up the living room. It is actually quite funny. He also gets easily distracted and begins playing with the toys he is putting away. However, Daniel used to be this way too, so I have hope! Cameron seems to get lost in his own world sometimes and doesn't pay attention to the things around him. He is quieter than Daniel in this aspect where he quietly does his own thing and knows what is going on in his little world. Daniel talks loudly while playing make believe. It is neat to see the difference in them!
And don't call him Cameron! He immediately says, "NO! My name is Cammy!". We have been calling him Cammy for so long now, that when we call him Cameron, he doesn't like it! We tried calling Daniel "Danny", and he DOES NOT like it! Funny....
And when it is bed time, Cameron is the last to fall asleep! He is wide awake and Daniel is usually snoring. It takes FOREVER to get him to go to sleep! In fact, last night, it was 10:00, before he was finally asleep! And I put them down at 9:00! I was laying on the couch, and he came out twice and peeked around the corner. Silly little boy! He is also the first one awake in the morning and takes the shortest nap. We are lucky if he naps for an hour. They are night and day when it comes to the amount of sleep they need. And Cameron is the most restless sleeper! His bed his torn to pieces by the time he wakes up! Blankets on the floor, sheets all messed up, and even the fitted sheet is halfway coming off the bed!
Cameron also loves to help Mommy in the kitchen! Him and his brother take turns pouring the water, oil, whatever the ingredient is, into the bowl and they both hold the mixer! I love having my boys helping in the kitchen! They love to help Mommy make her cakes!
And we finally have potty-trained boys! Yippee!!! Pull-ups for nap and bed time only and very rarely do we have accidents anymore! Daniel is funny and doesn't want us in the bathroom when he is in there. He likes his privacy. I think he gets a little stage fright! They even wear undies when we go out on the town and the boys tell us if they need to go potty! I am enjoying the fact that since they are boys, if Bryan and I are out together with them, Bryan gets to take them to the bathroom! ;-) Guess that is one advantage to them being boys! Daddy gets potty duty while we are out! Ha!
Well, I know that was a long book, but it took me a few days to get it written, and I'm glad that I did! It gives you a little glimpse in to our world and how the boys are doing!
Have a wonderful day!
Jen ;-)
DANIEL RYAN CAINE (AKA Baby 'A').................
When Daniel was born we kept saying he looked like a little wrestler or football player. He had this stout little body that just looked like it could tackle you! And I'm pleased to say that Daniel seems to be that same little football player/wrestler type, because he tackles Cameron with no difficulty and keeps him pinned on the ground as long as possible, laughing the entire time! We honestly believe he will be a good wrestler and football player when he gets older.
He has always been so very meticulous about the order he has his toys in and this has not changed one bit! His trains belong in a special order (never put the caboose in front and the engine in back), his dinosaurs are in order by type and size, his blocks are stacked "just right" and he lays his blanky on top of him at night "just right" (even laying out the curled corners). He has a type "A" personality that I believe will benefit him in the future! However, the down-side is that he can not be swayed to do something different than the "Daniel way"! And everybody must do it the way he thinks it should be done, or he dissolves into a mess of tears. It is a major challenge to convince him that there are other ways that things can be done. And I will be the first to admit he gets this from his Mommy. I believe that the "Jen way" is the best way!
When you ask Daniel to say "cheese" for the camera, he does this thing where he scrunches up his nose, has a smile like he is about to brush his teeth, and he furrows his eyebrows together! It ends up looking like he is mad, but that is his smile! We are trying so hard to get him to actually smile cute, because when he does, he looks adorable! But for now, we usually get the "Daniel cheese grin"! Such a goofball!
Daniel is afraid of the dark and HATES the closet door left open! He swears that there are monsters in there and he won't go in his room if the closet door is open a crack! He wakes up a couple times a night crying, and he seems to have many bad dreams about spiders and snakes. I don't know why, but Bryan says he has nightmares almost nightly about these things. Poor little man! He also usually wakes up in the same position he fell asleep. Flat on his back, arms over his head or his chest. He likes having cold sheets and he flips his pillow over before he goes to sleep to get the "cold side of the pillow"! He gets that from his Daddy!
He has FINALLY grown out of the stage of growling at us when he gets mad (which he did ALL the time), and has amazingly started to listen to us! WOOHOO!!! So now when we ask the boys to clean up the living room, Daniel says "OK Mommy!" and then gets right to work! (Cameron does not, but we'll get to that in a bit). Daniel has also recently begun to try very hard to color within the lines in his coloring book! He is carefully choosing the colors of each thing, and tries to color things the way they should be! I am so very proud to see this! Daniel is also Mommy's little helper! I absolutely LOVE that he loves to help me carry the groceries into the house and helps me put things away! It just puts the biggest smile on my face! And when I am cooking dinner or making cakes or deserts, he is the first one to pull up a chair to the counter and help pour everything in the bowl and help hold the mixer! Such a big boy!
And Daniel has recently started dancing whenever music is on in the house! And I'm talking crazy, wild, jump up and down, and spin in circles dancing! It is funny to watch, but he just loves it! And when I recently started exercising in the living room, he was the first to start exercising with me! Very cute watching your 3 year old trying to do a sit up! ;-)
And I must share the hilarious thing that Daniel said the other night at bed time! We were singing songs and Cammy started to interrupt. I said, "Don't interrupt Cammy!". Daniel says, "Mommy! Cammy is going to interrupt like a volcano!" It took me a second to catch what he meant. He got "interrupt" and "erupt" confused! I just started laughing hysterically, and that meant the boys started laughing hysterically, and then Daniel started saying it over and over again! "Cammy interrupts like a volcano!" I loved it!
Now on to CAMERON MICHAEL CAINE (AKA Baby 'B')........
When Cammy was born, he was skinnier and just looked longer than Daniel (even though they were both 19" long), and we started saying he looked like he would be a basketball player. He is now about 1 - 1 1/2" taller than Daniel, and is still long, skinny and will probably be taller than his brother. He has great balancing technique and very strong calves from walking on his tip-toes all the time. He is very flexible and does AMAZING somersaults! He just tucks and curls into this tiny little ball! Daniel still tries to do a head stand when trying to do a somersault!
As meticulous as Daniel is about the order of his things, Cameron could pretty much care less! He actually enjoys knocking over brothers towers and doesn't care about the order he puts his trains. However, he does LOVE to chug his trains all around the house and gets lost in his own little world of make believe! Unfortunately, he thinks that his trains need a "wash down" and proceeds to chug into the kitchen and uses the dog water to "wash down" the trains! If I had a nickel for every time he has been told to stay out of the dog water, I would be a millionaire by now! Cameron also loves to play with balls! He love to bounce them, roll them, throw them anywhere around the house. I have found them on the counter, the hutch, the bookshelves, etc... Actually, he just loves throwing anything..... Hmmmmm.....maybe we have a future baseball player in our midst!
Cameron does not listen as well as Daniel and we have not gotten past this stage with him yet. It does not matter how many times we tell him not to do something, he continues to find a way to do it! We have 3 goldfish that have somehow survived over a year now. We started out with the small tank in their bedroom and found that Cameron kept feeding the fish....the entire container of fish food! Yes, it should not have been left down in the first place, but even when we put it up, he would climb to where it was! He is quite the little climber. So it was moved into the hall bathroom. Unfortunately, during the day, Cameron would sneak into the bathroom to stick his hand in the fish tank, or try to feed them more food. So the fish tank was moved into our bathroom. That worked for a while, unless he snuck into our bathroom, and once again, the entire container of fish food would be put in the fish tank! Seriously, we are not sure how these fish have survived this long! So after keeping him away from the fish for a while, we recently tried to put a larger tank with the same fish in their bedroom (the fish have grown from all the food)! Within a few hours, Cameron had tried to take the lid off the tank and tried to "catch" the fish. So it has been moved again into the hall bathroom. The fish food is hidden and so far so good. Either way, he is ENTHRALLED with the fish and could stand in front of the tank with his nose pressed against the glass watching them!
Cameron doesn't like to clean up the living room either because he says "it is hard work Mommy!". He huffs and puffs like he is lifting 20 pound weights when he is cleaning up the living room. It is actually quite funny. He also gets easily distracted and begins playing with the toys he is putting away. However, Daniel used to be this way too, so I have hope! Cameron seems to get lost in his own world sometimes and doesn't pay attention to the things around him. He is quieter than Daniel in this aspect where he quietly does his own thing and knows what is going on in his little world. Daniel talks loudly while playing make believe. It is neat to see the difference in them!
And don't call him Cameron! He immediately says, "NO! My name is Cammy!". We have been calling him Cammy for so long now, that when we call him Cameron, he doesn't like it! We tried calling Daniel "Danny", and he DOES NOT like it! Funny....
And when it is bed time, Cameron is the last to fall asleep! He is wide awake and Daniel is usually snoring. It takes FOREVER to get him to go to sleep! In fact, last night, it was 10:00, before he was finally asleep! And I put them down at 9:00! I was laying on the couch, and he came out twice and peeked around the corner. Silly little boy! He is also the first one awake in the morning and takes the shortest nap. We are lucky if he naps for an hour. They are night and day when it comes to the amount of sleep they need. And Cameron is the most restless sleeper! His bed his torn to pieces by the time he wakes up! Blankets on the floor, sheets all messed up, and even the fitted sheet is halfway coming off the bed!
Cameron also loves to help Mommy in the kitchen! Him and his brother take turns pouring the water, oil, whatever the ingredient is, into the bowl and they both hold the mixer! I love having my boys helping in the kitchen! They love to help Mommy make her cakes!
And we finally have potty-trained boys! Yippee!!! Pull-ups for nap and bed time only and very rarely do we have accidents anymore! Daniel is funny and doesn't want us in the bathroom when he is in there. He likes his privacy. I think he gets a little stage fright! They even wear undies when we go out on the town and the boys tell us if they need to go potty! I am enjoying the fact that since they are boys, if Bryan and I are out together with them, Bryan gets to take them to the bathroom! ;-) Guess that is one advantage to them being boys! Daddy gets potty duty while we are out! Ha!
Well, I know that was a long book, but it took me a few days to get it written, and I'm glad that I did! It gives you a little glimpse in to our world and how the boys are doing!
Have a wonderful day!
Jen ;-)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Reno, a cake, cute boys, ER trip, Nibi and a funeral! OH MY!
Well, the last 2 weeks have been a little crazy to say the least! As you can tell from the title, we have had just a few things going on in our lives! So let's start from the beginning and I'll try not to bore you with all the fun details.
So a few weeks ago we realized that our very first "baby", Nibi, had been losing weight and was pretty skinny. So I took her to the vet. She was a black cat that came into our lives a few weeks after we were married, so almost 11 years ago. She was only 5 weeks old at the time a very skinny. At the recent vet visit they ran some tests and sadly we found out that Nibi had diabetes. We were devastated to say the least. We found that it could possibly be managed, with shots twice a day and many visits to the vet for blood work. We agonized over the decision, and came to the conclusion that she would not be a happy kitty getting tons of shots and having to go the vet (which she hated). We also decided to choose quality over quantity. A very difficult and heart breaking decision. She had a good life and was spoiled rotten. So we chose to put Nibi to sleep on Thursday May 13th. It was a very difficult thing for us to do and we cried horribly over our loss. We were with her until the end and had her cremated. We will miss her terribly and always remember our first "baby".
After we left the appointment to put Nibi to sleep, we drove to my in-laws house to pick up some luggage for a trip that Bryan and I were taking to Reno. We were scheduled to leave the next day. When we arrived at the house, my father-in-law, Bud, was sound asleep. When my mother-in-law, Teri, tried to wake him and ask him a question, she couldn't get him to wake up. And then once he started to wake, he didn't make any sense and was slurring his words and his hands were shaking. We decided to call 911, and the ambulance came to check him out. They decided to transport him to the hospital, so we followed them over. After staying in the ER until 9:00pm, Bryan and I headed home. After everything, it sounds like Bud had worked in the yard too much that day, and it was really hot and he didn't drink any water. And then we think when he came in, and went to take some pain pills, he mistakenly took 2 sleeping pills. To be on the safe side, the Dr. is monitoring his heart to make sure nothing else is actually wrong. He is home now and seems to be fine.
And that leads me to our trip to Reno! Last year I won a 2 night stay at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino in Reno and we kept putting off going. Well, it was going to expire at the end of May, so we decided to go! Now this was a big deal to us to go because we have not flown anywhere on vacation together since our honeymoon, almost 11 years ago! We got up early Friday morning (May 14th) and headed to Reno! When I say early, I mean we got up at 3:00am to leave at 4:00am to catch our flight at 5:30am! Now mind you, we didn't get home from the hospital until 9:30pm and had not had dinner or started packing. Plus we had put Nibi to sleep at 4:00 the day before we left, so we were tired as well from that. So we stayed up past midnight getting packed and tidying up the house before leaving. So needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we arrived in Reno. But we had to wait for our room, so we had lunch! Once our room was available at 12:00, we headed upstairs! It was the nicest room we have EVER stayed in before! It was in the new Tuscany Tower Suite. So fancy and beautiful! The hotel itself was amazing as well! So once we got to our room, we decided to lay down and rest. We ended up taking a 4 hour nap together!!! We absolutely needed it though after the day we had before and how little sleep we got. Our entire 3 days and 2 nights we spent in Reno were a wonderful relaxing time together to do whatever we wanted! No schedule, no plans, no rushing around! We spoiled ourselves with breakfast in our room one morning (they came in and set the table up all nice and pretty too)! We enjoyed the hot tub and laying out by the pool and relaxing! We stayed up gambling until midnight and enjoyed wonderful food at the many restaurants at our hotel! We also agreed that we CAN NOT and WILL NOT wait 10 years to do something like this again! We are going to make the extra effort to take time for ourselves to enjoy time like this again! I think I fell in love my hubby a little more while we were away as well! He really is my best friend and I love being married to him and spending time with him!
When we came home from our trip, I had lot's of work to do! I have been doing cake decorating and had been asked by close family friends to make their 50th wedding anniversary cake! We decided it would be my biggest yet (3 layers) and covered in fondant roses! After about 36+ hours of work with a lot of my mom's help, we completed an absolutely beautiful cake! Our friends were in awe when they saw it and were choked up! So it was 3 layers (bottom layer was white cake with vanilla pudding filling, middle layer was chocolate cake with chocolate pudding filling, and the top was lemon with lemon pudding filling)! It was covered in buttercream frosting (30 cups) and a swag of 80 purple and lavendar fondant roses with gold leaf accents! Fondant heart cut-outs with gold candy dots were put on the rest of the cake to give a nice accent! And it was topped with Dottie's grand-parents 50th anniversary cake topper! It was beautiful (and yummy too)!
And of course, I must include the cutest picture of our growing little men! They were dressed so very handsome for the anniversary party and we took tons of pics of them! Here is the best one we got!
So after the anniversary party was over on Saturday, we relaxed for a little bit. But then my mom and myself needed to prepare for a funeral we needed to attend on Sunday. It was the most difficult funeral because it was a 3 year old little girl that was tragically killed by accident, when a wooden play structure fell on her at her babysitters house. We never met little Abbie Mucha, however, I grew up with Abbie's dad Kurt and his brother Kevin. Kevin and I graduated together, and we have known the Mucha family since I was in preschool. It was so sad to have such a young life cut short early, but the family found it in their hearts to donate many of her organs to others, so that Abbie would live on. It was especially hard because she was only 7 months younger than the boys. I could not even imagine the pain the family feels. But it was nice to see so many from the community come to the service to support the family, and so many that graduated with Kurt. This is one of the benefits of living in a small town and I'm proud of the closeness of our classes. Please keep Kurt, Angie and Lilly Mucha and the entire Mucha family in your prayers. Here is her picture and the link to her obituary.
This is the 2nd child's funeral I have been too, and it breaks my heart. Children should not die. It simply is not fair. So please hug and kiss your children any chance you get. Life is a precious gift and we do not know how long we will be here, or how long our loved ones will be here. And don't forget to tell the the ones you love how much you love them.
So all our love to you from the Caine Family.
Love,
Jen
So a few weeks ago we realized that our very first "baby", Nibi, had been losing weight and was pretty skinny. So I took her to the vet. She was a black cat that came into our lives a few weeks after we were married, so almost 11 years ago. She was only 5 weeks old at the time a very skinny. At the recent vet visit they ran some tests and sadly we found out that Nibi had diabetes. We were devastated to say the least. We found that it could possibly be managed, with shots twice a day and many visits to the vet for blood work. We agonized over the decision, and came to the conclusion that she would not be a happy kitty getting tons of shots and having to go the vet (which she hated). We also decided to choose quality over quantity. A very difficult and heart breaking decision. She had a good life and was spoiled rotten. So we chose to put Nibi to sleep on Thursday May 13th. It was a very difficult thing for us to do and we cried horribly over our loss. We were with her until the end and had her cremated. We will miss her terribly and always remember our first "baby".
Nibi as a baby! She was soooo tiny!
She was very playful and loved to hide under the kitchen rug!
We took her outside to play in the yard for the last time. She was an indoor cat, but loved when we took her outside to play in a contained area. She loved laying the grass and rolling around. The boys came in to play with her and pet her and tried to feed her some grass. RIP Nibi! We miss you baby girl!
After we left the appointment to put Nibi to sleep, we drove to my in-laws house to pick up some luggage for a trip that Bryan and I were taking to Reno. We were scheduled to leave the next day. When we arrived at the house, my father-in-law, Bud, was sound asleep. When my mother-in-law, Teri, tried to wake him and ask him a question, she couldn't get him to wake up. And then once he started to wake, he didn't make any sense and was slurring his words and his hands were shaking. We decided to call 911, and the ambulance came to check him out. They decided to transport him to the hospital, so we followed them over. After staying in the ER until 9:00pm, Bryan and I headed home. After everything, it sounds like Bud had worked in the yard too much that day, and it was really hot and he didn't drink any water. And then we think when he came in, and went to take some pain pills, he mistakenly took 2 sleeping pills. To be on the safe side, the Dr. is monitoring his heart to make sure nothing else is actually wrong. He is home now and seems to be fine.
And that leads me to our trip to Reno! Last year I won a 2 night stay at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino in Reno and we kept putting off going. Well, it was going to expire at the end of May, so we decided to go! Now this was a big deal to us to go because we have not flown anywhere on vacation together since our honeymoon, almost 11 years ago! We got up early Friday morning (May 14th) and headed to Reno! When I say early, I mean we got up at 3:00am to leave at 4:00am to catch our flight at 5:30am! Now mind you, we didn't get home from the hospital until 9:30pm and had not had dinner or started packing. Plus we had put Nibi to sleep at 4:00 the day before we left, so we were tired as well from that. So we stayed up past midnight getting packed and tidying up the house before leaving. So needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we arrived in Reno. But we had to wait for our room, so we had lunch! Once our room was available at 12:00, we headed upstairs! It was the nicest room we have EVER stayed in before! It was in the new Tuscany Tower Suite. So fancy and beautiful! The hotel itself was amazing as well! So once we got to our room, we decided to lay down and rest. We ended up taking a 4 hour nap together!!! We absolutely needed it though after the day we had before and how little sleep we got. Our entire 3 days and 2 nights we spent in Reno were a wonderful relaxing time together to do whatever we wanted! No schedule, no plans, no rushing around! We spoiled ourselves with breakfast in our room one morning (they came in and set the table up all nice and pretty too)! We enjoyed the hot tub and laying out by the pool and relaxing! We stayed up gambling until midnight and enjoyed wonderful food at the many restaurants at our hotel! We also agreed that we CAN NOT and WILL NOT wait 10 years to do something like this again! We are going to make the extra effort to take time for ourselves to enjoy time like this again! I think I fell in love my hubby a little more while we were away as well! He really is my best friend and I love being married to him and spending time with him!
Chalk image drawn of us while in Reno! The guy did a great job!
Waiting for our room to be ready! We were sooooo tired!
My handsome hubby at lunch when we first arrived!
Our GORGEOUS room!
The bathroom! Double sinks, powder counter and TV!
The jacuzzi tub (it was awesome) and the huge walk in shower with double shower-heads!
The view from our room, down to the many pools and hot tubs!
My cute hubby again, doing a little gambling!
When we came home from our trip, I had lot's of work to do! I have been doing cake decorating and had been asked by close family friends to make their 50th wedding anniversary cake! We decided it would be my biggest yet (3 layers) and covered in fondant roses! After about 36+ hours of work with a lot of my mom's help, we completed an absolutely beautiful cake! Our friends were in awe when they saw it and were choked up! So it was 3 layers (bottom layer was white cake with vanilla pudding filling, middle layer was chocolate cake with chocolate pudding filling, and the top was lemon with lemon pudding filling)! It was covered in buttercream frosting (30 cups) and a swag of 80 purple and lavendar fondant roses with gold leaf accents! Fondant heart cut-outs with gold candy dots were put on the rest of the cake to give a nice accent! And it was topped with Dottie's grand-parents 50th anniversary cake topper! It was beautiful (and yummy too)!
And of course, I must include the cutest picture of our growing little men! They were dressed so very handsome for the anniversary party and we took tons of pics of them! Here is the best one we got!
Cameron Michael Caine & Daniel Ryan Caine!
So after the anniversary party was over on Saturday, we relaxed for a little bit. But then my mom and myself needed to prepare for a funeral we needed to attend on Sunday. It was the most difficult funeral because it was a 3 year old little girl that was tragically killed by accident, when a wooden play structure fell on her at her babysitters house. We never met little Abbie Mucha, however, I grew up with Abbie's dad Kurt and his brother Kevin. Kevin and I graduated together, and we have known the Mucha family since I was in preschool. It was so sad to have such a young life cut short early, but the family found it in their hearts to donate many of her organs to others, so that Abbie would live on. It was especially hard because she was only 7 months younger than the boys. I could not even imagine the pain the family feels. But it was nice to see so many from the community come to the service to support the family, and so many that graduated with Kurt. This is one of the benefits of living in a small town and I'm proud of the closeness of our classes. Please keep Kurt, Angie and Lilly Mucha and the entire Mucha family in your prayers. Here is her picture and the link to her obituary.
This is the 2nd child's funeral I have been too, and it breaks my heart. Children should not die. It simply is not fair. So please hug and kiss your children any chance you get. Life is a precious gift and we do not know how long we will be here, or how long our loved ones will be here. And don't forget to tell the the ones you love how much you love them.
So all our love to you from the Caine Family.
Love,
Jen
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