Kellyn Margaret

My life changed dramatically the minute I saw my little Kellyn drop to the floor for the first time, fresh out of momma's birth canal (yes, she pretty well dropped!): I had a girl.

Those first few days I thought quite a bit about how I would handle potential suitors for my eldest daughter, nearly two decades before I needed to worry. And yet, how could I ignore the possibility that some hormone-driven, pimply teenager may one day darken my doorstep and whisk my daughter away on a date! God forbid!

I finally came to the realization that I have plenty of time to build a plan to intimidate these little punks the minute they set foot in my house. Instead, it's best to focus on my precious little one while she's still small and innocent :)

Small may be stretching it a bit; she hasn't been small since about four months in utero. She came out around 8 and a half pounds and packed on the weight very quickly afterwards. About 3 months in, she was so roly-poly that changing her diaper was like a scavenger hunt; you had to search every crevice for feces, and boy did she have lots of crevices! It was quite the adventure!

Speaking of that lovely task, I must admit that I was initially terrified of the whole ordeal. I mean, this little creature had a vagina! What the hell do I know about those things! And I didn't even think females got one of those until puberty! Whenever she had a particularly messy poop, I had to call Shannon in to get the goods out of her (ahem) vagina (I can hardly say/type the word). I had to draw the line somewhere . . .

At about five months old, children get to be a lot of fun; they start moving more, become a little less needy, start babbling, etc. Kellyn was no exception and the fun has continued into her 8th month . . . she's finally to the point where she can be away from her mom for an hour or more and is starting to enjoy my company somewhat. We have lots of fun playing in the floor, tickling, babbling, rocking in the crawl position and jumping. Boy, does she love to jump! Not independent jumping, of course, but I'll grab her in front of me while I'm sitting indian-style on the floor and she'll push with her legs and I'll throw her about a foot into the air; we'll then repeat ad nauseam (she gets to be really heavy after about 30 seconds!).

It's always exciting when they start to move around more, but I forgot how vulnerable your home feels after that. Now that she can army-crawl, she's into everything. Anything on the floor she can get to in seconds. And of course at this age, everything goes into the mouth. She's ruined more than one piece of music I've left lying on the floor . . . serves me right, I guess.

Both of our children are at great ages; it's so wonderful to see how happy they are when I return from a day at work. Cavan runs into my arms and Kellyn gives a look of extreme excitement while kicking her legs. What blessings they are! I can't believe they'll be grown someday . . .

Our Little "Cleopatra"

[Please forgive the infrequency of our posting...the Christmas season is taking its toll. :)]

Since my last post was all about Cavan, in all fairness, I now have to post all about Kellyn. Let me explain my title. She indeed is our little "Cleopatra". If you have spent any amount of time with her, you would have noticed her much favored side-lying position. She will lay on her belly and she will lay on her back, but what she seems to prefer most is in the middle of the road. She will balance on her side (what appears to be an amazing feat to us as she often has her chest and legs tipping farther back than you would think gravity allows), with much of her weight resting on the side of her forearm. It really is something that needs to be seen firsthand. As it is the position reminiscent of what the real Cleopatra would have assumed (or at least, what we have been led to believe she would have assumed from what the movies portray), Heath and I have affectionately dubbed her as our "Little Cleopatra".

Kellyn seems to grow and change daily, as all infants do in their first year. She absolutely ADORES her older brother and has found hours of amusement and giggles simply by watching him in his individual day-to-day antics. She really gets a kick out of him when he is running around as a car, train or any number of animals. (Incidentally, Cavan knows an insanely high number of animals for a 27-month old!) While it still may be too early to tell, Heath and I are pretty confident that these two are going to be thick as thieves as Cavan dotes on her equally as well.

Probably about a month ago, she began true "babbling"...almost overnight. One day, she was making an airy "puh" sound with her jaw bobbing up and down and the next...she was stringing off "bababa...dadadada...nananana...mamama"! She has not since really vocalized "mama", seeming to prefer the sounds in "dada". No worries for me. Her clear arm reaching and body lunging assure me as her mother that I am still the preferred parent figure. ;) (At least until we get to the age of pitting mom against dad when it's time to go out with friends for a night.)

Kellyn has also recently began attempts at crawling. She will rock on hands and knees, but is not quite sure where to go from there. So, she has artfully begun pushing with her monkey toes and pulling with her little arms to get where she wants. It is not exactly the typical "army crawl" that Cavan demonstrated for awhile, but it is similar in form.

Lastly, she has really begun to show some peaks of separation anxiety from mama. At times, this is really heart-warming... but it can also be a VERY frustrating phase for a mother. Having her in the sling or baby wrap does help during the day in getting some things done, but there is only SO much you can do with a baby attached to you! It can be mentally and emotionally exhasuting as well when all I want is a little respite alone. I try to take comfort in knowing that "this too shall pass" and when these stages are over, they will be missed. I do look forward to the days when my sweet babe gains some independence from me, but I try to remember that for now, I need to serve her as best I can. God has called me to be a mom, and I want to be the best that I can. Ultimately, that means seeing Christ in her little eyes and living as if He was living in my home (especially during those times when all I want to do is run). Just as Cleopatra was served by others, I shall serve my little Kellyn...until the day when she can spread her wings and fly from our nest.

Cavan Part 2

Yeesh, I haven't posted in almost a month. My apologies, but work has been taking up oodles of time . . . but our Christmas concert is over (it was great!) and I have free time again!

I really enjoyed reading Shannon's post about our beloved son and I thought I would add some reflections of my own.

Cavan is a true joy in every sense of the word. He's always been a wonderful child but this age in particular is quite endearing. As his awareness and vocabulary increase, his personality has matured also. He likes to give hugs and kisses and has started to grasp the concept of love somewhat (though the concept can never fully be understood). A typical exchange in bed often goes somewhat like this:

Heath: Cavan, say, "I love Da-da."

Cavan: "Wuh-wuh, Da-da. Wuh-wuh, Ma-ma. Wuh-wuh, Buh-buh (baby). Wuh-wuh, me-me.

We used to have to prod all of them, but sometimes he'll just do them all (probably so we'll stop bugging him! :)


His proficiency in being a wonderful older brother is inspiring. He loves Kellyn; he hugs her and kisses her and (sometimes) shares his toys with her. He always runs to one of us when he hears her cry upstairs after a nap and lets us know we need to grab her. Cavan loves to make her laugh and when she herself does something he finds amusing, he'll smile, point a finger at her and cheerfully say, "Buh-buh."

One of the most wonderful things about being a father is walking through the door after work and having Cavan say, "Hi, Da." And then running into my arms and wanting to play. There's nary a better way to be received, I don't think. :)


Shannon left out some of his best word combinations in her previous post that I shall immediately rectify:

Cavan was overjoyed to discover his rear end a couple months ago and proudly flaunted around the house (sans pants) joyfully proclaiming, "buh-buh" while slapping his hindquarters.

When he uses the potty, we always ask him if he needs to "poop" or if he just needs to "pee." Lately, he's been informing us after he's finished that there is "mope poop" ("no poop") with a rising inflection for "mope" and a tailing off in inflection for "poop." Also, he can't say it just once; a minimum of three or four times in a row is required, apparently.

The child loves popsicles; but somehow, they are pronounced "bah-zhee." Don't ask me how that one happened . . .

When he needs to use the restroom, Cavan (who of course, waits until he can't possibly hold it any longer) grabs his crotch and says "bfff, bfff." And no matter what, he won't let go of his crotch until he's in the can and his pants are being pulled down.


What a blessing!