I’m fresh out of babies for the first time in 3 years. I was either pregnant, had three babies, had 3 babies and was pregnant or had a baby and 3 toddlers. Now I have four toddlers. It’s quite a change. In some ways it’s a really great change. Caisen feeds himself, drinks from a straw cup, doesn’t take bottles, communicates well and naps on the same schedule as Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer. On the other hand, I don’t have a baby and all the sweet things that go with them. And I’m not pregnant (and that’s ok).
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/The one thing we really want is for Caisen to walk. Any time we go somewhere that the other three get to walk, he has to ride in the single stroller and he HATES it. The thing he wants most out of life is to be like them and do what they are doing. I take the Dr. Emil Schuffhausen (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) approach, “Caisen, as soon as you learn to walk, you can get out of the stroller too!” Adam thinks that’s mean, but I’m just telling him what it will take to get where he wants to go. Knowledge is power! Take control of your destiny! Don’t be a victim! I’m giving him a gift, really. It’s not like I’m going to let him crawl around the mall, so he’s going to have to learn to walk. He just isn’t interested. He CAN walk holding our fingers, he just doesn’t WANT to. Crawling serves his purposes just fine. The most he’ll do is push the shopping carts around the house. Until he hits a wall, and then he’s done.
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/Caisen had his big birthday bash on my birthday, which is fine because I’ve moved my birthday to July (only Adam and our children will be required to remember and observe the new birthday. Everyone else is off the hook. And honestly, you could tell me happy birthday any day of the year and I’d think it’s great. Throw in a card and a present and you can call me the wrong name if you want to). It’s not that I don’t like sharing a birthday weekend with my baby boy, it’s just that I don’t want to share my birthday. With anyone. And he shouldn’t have to either. Plus, let’s spread out the cake! If we have cake on my birthday and the very next day have cake on his birthday, it’s just not that exciting on day two because yesterday’s cake is still around. Let’s not forget that my anniversary is just a week later, and two weeks after that is Mother’s Day. Let’s celebrate my wonderfulness on a more evenly spaced schedule shall we? Anyway, on with Caisen’s birthday. We can talk about me in July.
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/So for Caisen’s birthday, of course the Guinn family graced us with their presence, as well as Gran and Granddad. That made 13 people right there. Everyone played out in the backyard. The weather was gorgeous. After some backyard fun, Caisen got to open some presents, but not most of them. He had, oh, let’s call it help, in the gift unwrapping arena. I grilled burgers (that’s right, I am the grill master), made potato salad, had some chips and dip, usual BBQ fare.
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/Caisen scored in birthday presents. He got Little People airplane, bus, learn about town, baby dinoland, a vacuum, a broom, Kinex, and a cash register (you know, the Fisher Price one we got as kids). Everyone loved all the toys.
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/There is the birthday boy playing in the tower.
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/Kim running races with the kids. What a nice mom.
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/Anywhere in that pile of kids do you see a Caisen unwrapping a present? Me neither.
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/Oooooh. Caisen opening his Little People airplane.
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/THIS is what I’m going to do to you if the toy snatching continues. If I had more than one tooth, I’d clench them to show you how serious I am.
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/I’m not pinning his arms down to get a picture of him with his crown on. I’m….hugging him. Isn’t that sweet?
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/Gone are the days when I could order a birthday cake (those were good days). Because of Kimball’s food allergies, we make all birthday cakes. I fell in love with this train cake. Granddad was in charge of putting on the M&M wheels. Don’t they look nice? It worked out really well because everyone got their own little train. The only bad thing is the kids discovered that frosting and cake are not necessarily a package deal. They ate all the frosting and wanted more frosting. Forget the cake!
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/The party animals.
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/blowing out birthday candles.
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/Caisen eating his birthday train.
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/Just like a lot of lucky kids, Caisen got the gift of 12-month shots a week later at his check up. He did not appreciate our thoughtfulness. He got a great report at the doctor’s office. He is in the 40th percentile in both weight and height. He weighed 21 pounds 7 ounces and was 29.25 inches tall. He charmed everyone with his exuberant chatter (of course).