Auntie Vanessa is Gone...

I love visits from out-of-town people. It's so fun. It's like you put your own life on hold for a few days and have a vacation right in your own house. Aunt Vanessa was here for 4 days from Seattle and we loved having her.

She was able to babysit Maelin on Friday and they had a great day. They hung out and took naps and played and read books and sang songs. They're great friends. Vanessa has a really good friend that lives not too far away so she came down and took Vanessa out on the town on Friday night. They had a nice time together and it's so nice that Vanessa is able to see so many people when she's in town.

Saturday we took Maelin to her first Gymboree class! It was so much fun and I have great pictures of her playing with bubbles, rolling on the mats, playing under the parachute, going down the slide,etc. but I'm here at work so I'll try to post some pics of that later when I get home. We thought about enrolling her full time in a class, but it was just too expensive. My sister Heather mentioned another class that should be cheaper, so we're going to check that one out.

We had Mexican Night at my dad's house on Saturday night. He went all out: he made beef, pork, chili rellenos and mild and hot green chili. It was soooo tasty. Maelin loves the beans and cheese...we haven't tried chili with her yet although she's so agreeable to new foods, she may just like them.

Sunday was a busy day. Vanessa, Aunt Kat, Vanessa's friend and I all met at Prima downtown for their "Unlimited Prosecco Brunch." Kevin and Jeff babysat and we had a grand time. After drinking our fill, Maelin and I took a nap and Vanessa and her friend got Manicures and Pedicures at the 5th Avenue Nail Salon downtown. She said it was the best manicure she had ever had, so you know I'm heading there soon!

We went for spaghetti on Sunday night and Maelin loved it! She was so funny: she was eating her oatmeal just fine but not super excited about it. I loaded up a spoonful of spaghetti and meatballs and as soon as it was in her mouth, she let out a squeal and opened her mouth so wide! I guess she liked it...

Yesterday, Vanessa and I got some quick errands done and Vanessa took one last nap with Maelin. It was great: she was able to cuddle the baby before she left and I was able to finish laundry and other odds-and-ends that I haven't been able to do for months. Then we got a great surprise: Aunt Heather was feeling better (she and her two boys had been horribly sick all week so they weren't able to come see Vanessa and Vanessa wasn't able to go up there) so she drove down to hang out before Vanessa went to the airport! It was so much fun to have her! All 4 of the Kimling Kids :-0 were together along with Kat, Maelin and Kevin and we had such a nice evening.

Then Vanessa had to leave. It's so sad...we had such a nice time and now she's gone and she's heading into her busy time at work so we're not sure when she can come back. I know we're lucky to have such a great family who lives close by, but I wish we could all get together like that more often.

Now I'm back at work and looking forward to spring break. How many more weeks???

Auntie Vanessa is here and other happenings...

Maelin's Aunt Vanessa is in town from Seattle and we're so excited to have her! She got in LATE last night and is babysitting today so they should have a good ole' time hanging out together. Maelin can show her all her new tricks. I know Vanessa misses everyone being so far away so we're very grateful to Papa Dan for paying for her ticket!

Not sure what we're going to be doing this weekend. Vanessa was supposed to stay with Heather and the boys last night and tonight but they got really sick and Heather very graciously (but sadly) told Vanessa it would be better if she didn't come up there. That's a bummer. We are having a Mexican Night at Papa Dan's tomorrow and Heather isn't even sure they are going to be able to come to that...which is sad because I love seeing the boys and I haven't been able to see them much lately because I've been so busy at work.

Grandma Mimi is also in town from Michigan and she hasn't seen Maelin since July, so that will be fun for her to see how much she's grown. She's coming to Mexican Night so I'm so happy that Maelin is getting over her cold and wasn't poisoned! :-)

I think I may try to get us all to go to a Champagne Brunch on Sunday...hopefully Heather will be feeling better by then. Until then, I'm so excited to have my hip little sister here! I didn't get to see her much yet but I will soon!

Maelin and I have a Gymboree class scheduled for tomorrow morning...I thought Vanessa would be w/ Heather when I planned it but Vanessa can just come along if she wants to. I'm really looking forward to it...if I remember right from my nanny days, they put the babies in the middle and sing songs and blow bubbles and give them scarves and things to play with. Our friends Missy and her 10 month old daughter Peyton are coming along too...Maelin is getting playdates! Her social calendar is filling up quicker than mine!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend...Maelin says "bababababaaaaaaa" to you all!

The Day Keeps Getting Worse

Last night we called Poison Control for the first time...don't worry, Maelin is fine but I gave us all a scare. The benadryl and ibuprofen look the same. They're both clear, liquids and in plastic bottles. You're not supposed to give babies benadryl at all, but I give her a tiny bit when she has a cold so she can sleep.

Last night, I gave her her normal amount of ibuprofen because she's teething and seems to be really uncomfortable. Then I opened the baby advil bottle...and thought, what? Didn't I just give her this??? Oh my gosh...it was the benadryl that I gave her...not the advil. I gave her a pretty big dose of benadryl without meaning to...

I called Sherry who is a nurse who said the amount I gave her shouldn't cause any problems but I should watch her carefully. How do you do that when she's sleeping? This was all at 9pm. So then I called Poison Control and the lady was very sweet...she figured out Maelin's weight and the amount I gave her and said it was no big deal at all. Basically there's a formula they use to figure out how bad idiot parents have hurt their kids and they don't worry till the kid is at a 10 or more and Maelin was at a 5.1. She said just put her to bed and she'll be fine.

Whew.....

So after me feeling horrible about how I could have really hurt baby Maelin, we put her to sleep. She was acting fine...We decided not to give her the advil because we figured her system had enough drugs for a while. Turned out, that was a big mistake.

3am...waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! I open my eyes and poor baby is screaming. I stumble out of bed and grab her and she's whimpering and seems really uncomfortable. I nurse her, rock her, walk her up and down the hall, take her into bed with me...everything I can possibly think of.

5:30am. Baby is still awake and crying. Maelin is usually so good, something has to be wrong. I'm crying at this point, Kevin is up and trying to help but we've tried everything we can and Maelin just wouldn't go back to sleep. Kevin gets the proper dose of advil and gives it to her. 20 minutes later...baby is fast asleep.

6am. Alarm goes off. I let baby sleep on me for another 45 minutes while I sit and debate whether or not I should go to work today. I don't have sub plans written so I'd have to go in for a bit this morning anyway to write them and baby was going to Grandma Jean's house today so that's better than sending her to daycare if she's tired. I decide to go into work and take the afternoon off if Maelin isn't feeling better.

9am. I'm at work and I call Jean...Maelin is taking a nap and seems fine. Good...I breathe a sigh of relief and tell my kids how tired I am so they'll be good. They all promise to do their best today.

11am. I have a ton of work to catch up on but I run into the supply closet to quickly pump and...Kevin forgot to pack the pump stuff. He was so tired, he just spaced it. Now I can't pump. Not good. So I call Kevin. He's exhausted too but he's going to leave work, go home and get the stuff and bring it up to me so I can pump during lunch.

Now when do I eat lunch? Maybe while the kids are doing their math...

On days like these, being a teacher is the hardest job in the world. I have no flexibility to eat lunch at a different time, or to run home quickly or leave 10 minutes early to get to the doctor before they close or even to go to the bathroom. I have to keep "up" for my kids even though I've been up since 3am and I'm so exhausted, I forgot to brush my hair this morning.

Keep your fingers crossed that this the worse the day will get...

Maelin's New Trick

I wrote about this before but then deleted it because I wanted to add a picture of Miss MaeMae doing her cool new trick. We've got a new camera and we're still figuring it out, so the best pictures I have of her doing her new trick are a bit blurry...:-(

Maelin has figured out how to pull herself up on her crib so that she's kneeling and looking out. She sure thinks she's hot stuff...she likes to look over the edge and usually Gizmo is there so she squeals and screams at him which is pretty darn cute. We're going to have to keep a good eye on her to be sure she doesn't launch herself over the side of the crib!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

My nephew Ryan was 4 years old on Jan 6 and my sister had a party for him at an indoor amusement park that is actually right next to our house. We brought Maelin and boy, did she have a great time!

Ryan had his older cousins there and was running around like a crazy man because he was so excited. I can't believe he's 4 already: I remember holding him when he was just a day old and now he's this adorable little toddler who has an opinion about everything and isn't afraid to let you know about it! He's so outspoken and friendly and just plain adorable. It was so fun to be at his party because we weren't able to go last year. Here's a pic of him blowing out his cake w/ my sister and his brother Coley...


Anyway, it was Maelin's official first birthday party. We weren't sure if it would be too much stimulation for her because the place is pretty noisy and there's lots of flashing lights and people are running around, etc. She had a ball! She loved the train ride and we also put her on the merry go round, the ferris wheel and the whip. She was hilarious on the ferris wheel: Aunt Kat and Uncle Jeff were standing at the bottom and every time the wheel would go by them, she'd scream and squeal and laugh and had just the best time. Here's Maelin on the ferris wheel:


She totally knew how to ride the horse on the merry go round and the only time she got a bit nervous was on the whip...it was a bit fast for her. She didn't cry though: just kept her thumb in her mouth and looked at us like we were crazy. What a trouper!




We sang to Ryan and watched him open some presents, then we had to go take a nap because we had another bday party that night...(more on that later). Maelin fell right asleep when we got home: plumb tuckered out.

It was a good experience for Kevin and I to see what lies before us in the world of kids' birthdays. It's a fun time!

Maelin is 9 Months Old!!!

So this post is a bit late because Maelin was 9 months old on the 6th, but here you go anyway. I've been so busy getting back into the swing of things at work, I just haven't had much time to post.

We took Maelin to our favorite picture place, Portrait Innovations to get them done and she was adorable. She loves to laugh and giggle and as long as Aunt Kat or I was quacking like a duck, she was having a great time!

I decided to jump in for one with her which turned out fantastic. I have it blown up in my classroom and it makes me a bit teary every time I look at it because I just can't believe how lucky I am to be the Mommy of such a beautiful,happy and precious little girl. (I don't have it up yet because I'm working on cropping it and turning it black and white like the studio did...the hard copies are awesome...)

I have a LOT of these pictures (of course) so if you'd like one, I can't promise that I'll ever get around to sending you some, but I'll try my best!! Let me know which is your favorites!!

Maelin has been very busy lately, so I'll post soon about her first birthday party, her first amusement park rides, her ear infections, her new favorite toy, her first attempt at sharing with a 7month old, her first playdate and her new trick that about gave me a heart attack!! Stay tuned...

Malein is Sick Again

Another day, another ear infection. Poor baby. Just as we get healthy, here comes something else! Maelin has another ear infection and we've had to take her back to the doctor because the original antibiotic they gave her wasn't working and not only is she dealing with teething pain, she now has to deal with ear pain as well. Poor little thing.

Not that you'd know anything is wrong. She's currently screaming as loud as she can because she's banging her toy crab on her activity table and blowing spit bubbles at the same time. She's so good natured when she's sick...she certainlly doesn't get that from me!

We're going to have a fun but busy weekend. Tomorrow is Ann's graduation party (my student teacher) and then on Sunday, we're going to get "mommy and baby" pictures taken along with her 9 month old pics. I'm excited to get them done but these days I hate any picture of me, so we'll see how they go.

Here's a recent pic of baby after she got done mashing sweet potatoes into her hair. That was a fun mess!

Back at Work

I'm back at work and it's okay. The great thing about teaching is that you are so darn busy throughout your day that you don't really have time to think. That's also a bad thing, but it's great when you're sad about something and you need a distraction.

Maelin was so cute this morning: she got up and and ate and was squealing and kicking and was excited to get into the car...where are we going? We thought she wondered where she was going...we got to Sandra's and Maelin grinned at me until Sandra opened the door. Sandra was thrilled to see Maelin, but Maelin just stared at her...who are you? I don't remember you! It took a few minutes, but then MaeMae went to her and was grinning again.

I started crying, so I quickly left. I cried all the way to work...

Anyway, now I'm here and I'm actually a bit excited about the coming semester. I don't have my wonderful student teacher, but I have fresh ideas and my kids hopefully will be ready to try some new things with me. I'm going to introduce a few new things: including webbooks and online movies and stories that they can watch and create. We'll see how that goes.

So I tried to upload a pic of my fabulous student teacher Ann, but I'm here at work and it's not working so I'll try to add it when I get home... She worked so hard FOR FREE and she totally saved my sanity on my very hard and rocky adjustment back to work. She even came in today for a bit to clean up the teacher's lounge for us! We are going to her graduation party on Saturday, so Maelin will be able to thank her in person for all she did.

To all of you who called or emailed me today to see how I am, thanks for the kind thoughts. Maelin and I will be okay...I'm just sad that I don't get to spend every waking moment with my daughter as she grows. But maybe that's not such a bad thing...we'll have to wait and see.

Here We Go Again...

My wonderful 2-week vacation with Maelin is offically over. She's still sleeping, poor thing, and I have to go in there in 3 minutes to wake her up, feed her, get her dressed and packed up and shuttle her off to daycare.

I made her some eggs, cheese and fruit yesterday to eat at Sandra's. It made me feel a tiny bit better: even though I wasn't going to get to be with her, she'd still be able to have her favorite foods. She loves to feed herself, so she should have a pretty good time today.

My heart is breaking all over again. This time off was like a huge tease: "See how wonderful it is to stay at home with your baby?" I totally loved being the one Maelin wanted and knowing exactly what went on with her every day. Now we're back to her crying because she wants Sandra and I only get her for 3 hours every day.

The worst part about the whole thing is how disconnected Maelin and I get after I've been working for a while. Two days on the weekend is just not enough time to reconnect after being apart for so long. I remember thinking before my break that I didn't really know my baby anymore...

Now I know her again and I'm so amazed that Kevin and I are so incredibly lucky to be the parents of such a friendly, funny, smart, entertaining, loving and adorable baby girl. She is so sweet and wonderful. She lights up the world.

I better go in there and wake her up and explain to her that here we go again. I just hope she understands how much this kills me and how much I wish I could stay home with her. Keep your fingers crossed that she doesn't cry again when I come to get her this afternoon...

Gizmo Misses His Friend!

I wanted to write a quick post about one of Gizmo's best friends. This guy loves Gizmo. He doesn't care that Gizmo is a bit overweight: in fact, he thinks it's great. He also thinks that it's great that Gizmo will plop himself down on his gut in the middle of the night and sleep for hours without moving there while he is suffering from a lack of oxygen.

Gizmo has a few people who love him: Keith, my dad, Grandma Lea and Grandpa Larry, but this friend thinks Gizmo is pretty cool and I know Gizmo misses him. You see, his good friend lives pretty far away (in England!) and only comes to visit every two years. It's been almost a year and a half since Gizmo has seen his friend, so we're getting ready for a visit! (we hope).



Martin, if you're reading this, hurry up and visit because Gizmo has been feeling rather neglected lately and he could use some good lovin' from you! We miss you and Zana!

New Year's Fun

I was able to go out for New Years! It was sooooo nice to be out again. Kevin graciously offered to babysit for Maelin so I could have dinner with Emily, Katey and Emily's mom Cathye at a great resturant, Prima in the Hotel Teatro downtown. (actually, it works out really well because Kevin doesn't really like to go out anyway, so it makes him happy that I get to go out and he gets to stay home)

We had a great time at dinner. Katey is newly engaged and we had fun talking about weddings and the like. Katey is my last really good friend to get married, so we'll have fun planning...AND she said MaeMae could be the flower girl if she's walking well by the time the wedding rolls around! We'll have to wait and see on that one...

Prima was amazing. Emily's husband works there and so we had an "in" which is always nice. We had champagne to toast the New Year and Kately's new ring and we had some wine with dinner and appetizers, amazing pastas and all sorts of yummy stuff.

The best part was when the bill came...normally for a fancy dinner the bill is the worst part of the experience but they had compd the whole meal! We figured it was about $260 for all four of us and they said it was free! Happy New Year to us!

Since we were right downtown, we walked one block over to see the fireworks on the mall. They were pretty and loud but it was so COLD! Plus, I'm used to seeing Disneyland fireworks so it's pretty hard for our city to match that...



We had a great time out and I had so much fun being with my friends again: all dressed up and celebrating. It was like old times and Maelin slept the whole time I was gone. You can't ask for a better New Year than that!