Daddy

Celeste's first official word is Daddy or Dada.  I think her first word was hi (it comes out hiya).  She uses it appropriately, but it sounds like a lot of the jibberish sounds she makes too.   We'll let Mike count Dada as the first word.  It's hard to hear it in the video since she is more anxious to go see Dad, then say it.   Video

Eyes, Ears, Mouth and Nose

Celeste is growing and becoming more aware of her head.  Here she is with her fingers in her mouth.  She has been chewing on her fingers and drooling like crazy while she has been teething.  Last week her right top tooth came in.  Just today the corner of her left one finally broke through.  I am hoping that in a couple of days the whole thing will cut through and she will get happier and much less clingy!

Just in the last day or two she has discoverd her eyes.  She tries to touch them without poking herself and it's hilarious to watch her try to figure it out.  She is getting more coordinated. 

We've also taught her where our noses are.  If she touches someone's nose she expects them to say 'beep'.  She's also made the connection and expects you to make the same 'beeping' noise if she can find her own nose with her finger. 

She also like to stick her fingers in her ears and up her nose - which the kids think is funny.  She is always enertaining!

Busch Gardens Again!

The kids have been begging to go back to Busch Gardens and with season passes we can!  They had today off of school so we went.  We had a blast (again)!  We went on some new rides, some of our favorites from last time, and saw a 4D Pirate movie.  We can't wait to go back (again)!

Here we are waiting for our 4D Pirate movie to start.  If we all look like a hot sweaty mess it's because we were.  It was 88 and humid!  I was just glad to sit down in an airconditioned building for a few minutes!  The movie was great!  The 4th D is vidbrating seats, water squirting, and wind blowing at all the right times. The kids had never seen anything 3D before and they loved it!  Calvin was convinced that they shot that cannon ball just at him.  Lilah figured out really quick that if it got too scary she just had to take her glasses off.

Here is Celeste waiting for her sisters.  She isn't very happy with me - she can give some dirty looks, beware of her stink-eye!  She is not like my other kids at this age, she loves wearing shoes and brings them to me to put on her and tolerates her hat. 

Psoriatic Arthritis

As I look back I think I've had mild psoriasis off and on for years.  The most recent round started last fall and instead of clearing up on it's own, it got worse.  Last month I finally went to the doctor to have the psoriasis diagnosed and get a perscription.  Today I went to the arthritis specialist and was diagnosed with the arthritis that sometimes accompanies psoriasis - Psoriatic Arthritis.  I'm lucky, in that right now it's only affecting one finger on my left hand.  The pain is manageable but unfortantly the inflamation can cause permanent damage and can easily spread to other joints and cause other problems.  So I'm going on several medications to see if we can manage the nflamation.  It's not a bad thing that the pain, stiffness, tenderness, and swelling will also get better :).  I'm hoping the pills we try work and don't cause too many side effects so that we don't have to try the shots.  I'm also glad that I was refered to a good Dr. that I like, since I'll be seeing a lot of him.  This kind of arthritis can come and go and I'm hoping it goes and that it goes sooner rather then later. 

Can you tell which finger it is?  It actually looks good today - it sometime gets so swollen I can't bend it.  It also happens to be a good rain predictor - seriously, it gets much worse when it rains.  I always thought that was an old wives tale!

Good Monday

The other day my older kids were saying how they love the weekend and didn't like Monday.  I told them that I LOVE Mondays!  I do.  I like getting back to the structure of life.  I like to run errands and go grocery shopping and I usually do that on Monday mornings.  I know I'm weird, but there it is!   Today was an exceptionally good Monday.  After I got my older 2 kids off to school I spend some time making my lists and clipping my coupons and off we went.  The cashiers at Rite Aid know us and they love Celeste.  After that we hit the Grand Opening Sale at Michaels - they opened one at the shopping center only a couple miles from my home - I'm so excited!  We finished our errands and got home in time for lunch with Dad. I don't usually work on Mondays but today was an exception.  I went to work and Mike stayed home - he cleaned up the house, helped the older kids with their homework when they got home and bought me flowers!  I was so happy to come home to a clean house and a beautiful bouquet on my table!  Mike and I played with Celeste and helped her walk all over the living room.  Her 1-2 steps over the weekend have already turned into 5-6 steps all over the room - she gets up and walks completely on her own without any encouragement now.  It's so fun!  After I made dinner we had family home evening, we read to our kids and put them in bed!  Now it's me time!  I just love Mondays!

Garden Makeover

We had to put a fence up around our garden.  Something (I'm guessing a rabbit, they run wild around the neighborhood in the spring) was eating my plants!  I was getting tired of replanting my cucumbers so Mike and I put up a fence last week.  So far, so good.  On a more positive note - we picked some broccoli!  We're looking forward to having it with dinner!

Strawberry Jam

I made 4 batches of strawberry freezer jam.  I don't know if it will the last the whole year like it has in the past.  We'll see how far it takes us...

Here are two batches.

First Steps!

Celeste took her first steps today!  It was so fun!  We quickly got the camera out to try and capture her second steps.   Celeste Walking

64 Crayons

I always buy small boxes of crayons.  The kids are required to take the small boxes to school and that's what's usually on sale so we only have 24 count boxes of crayons.  The other day the kids were talking about a HUGE box of crayons one of their friends had - it had 64 crayons in and a sharpener on the back.  I remember coloring as a kid with a box of 64 crayons.  Today I went to Target and bought a box of 64 crayons with a pencil sharpener in the back.  All the kids were so excited.  It's so easy to please them sometimes!

Combing Your Hair

Celeste loves to comb her hair and everyone else's too!

Celeste and her comb

Happy Belated Birthday

Celeste got a card from her Grammy today in the mail.  She LOVED it! 

Fold Your Arms!

Celeste has learned to fold her arms for prayer - but just while at the table.  She won't do it at church or for family prayer (yet)!

New Photographer

While getting pictures off of my camera to update my blog I found these.  I can only guess that Anna Elise took them:

Playing with Toys

Today Celeste is wearing one of her new outfits and playing with her new baby doll and her new toy.  Madeline and Lilah are helping her, a lot!

Madeline wearing the purse/baby's bed as a hat

 

Lilah is using the baby's blanket

 Celeste in her new outfit, playing with her car and people

Happy Birthday Celeste!

Celeste turned 1 today!  Lilah says she is now a kid!  She is excited because now Celeste can play with her.  I think it's hilarious that Celeste is suddenly 'different' because she turned 1.  Calvin really wanted her to take her first steps on her birthday but she is still determined not to walk.  We work with her and she refuses to.  She'll walk next to us and hold one hand, but will not budge if you aren't holding on to her.  It's actually pretty funny.  She is getting more verbal (read screaming and squealing) playing with the kids more (taking their toys) and getting around more (climbing on more things, sliding down the stairs by herself).  She is a lot of fun.

We sang Happy Birthday to her a lot today - she sang with us!  She liked being the center of attention and hearing her name.  Her dad helped her pick steak, twice baked sweet potatoes, and green beans for dinner and I helped her pick chocolate fudge fantasy cake!  There are (or will soon be) some recipes from dinner on our food blog.  She didn't know what the candle was and didn't open her presents - but she loved the little baby doll and her new toy.

Mike took a lot of video but no pictures, warning some of the videos are long:

Singing Happy Birthday

She enjoyed mushing her cake through her fingers as much as eating it

Opening presents

Garden Update

Our garden is growing.  Our early spring planting was mostly successful.  The strawberries, potatoes, some broccoli, and lettuce is thriving!  Unfortunately very few peas came up and no carrots.  In the past years I never had problems with seeds coming up, it was keeping them alive later that was hard.  So, I was perplexed.  Unfortunately it's too late to plant more peas, but today I did a late spring planting and was able to replant my carrot seeds.  I also added pepper plants, tomato plants, beans, corn, melons, squash, and cucumbers.  We've also put in some blueberry bushes and are going to be getting some raspberries from a friend to transplant.  I am so excited.  I am determined to have a real harvest this year not just a few handfuls of this and that like before.

Celeste slept and Madeline and Lilah helped me plant.  Madeline got bored after a while and wandered off but Lilah helped me to the end.  Such a good helper.  She is really good at finishing things.  I didn't get a picture of her red cheeks and sweaty hair - we've had more unseasonably warm weather. 

most of my garden