Lego Block Climbing

Yesterday, she told you all about her borrowed Lego Block.

Today, she's in animation form, to show you how truly amazing her climbing abilities are.

Did you hear all the noise in the background toward the end of the video? That's my hunk of a husband banging around in the kitchen fixing dinner for Cayman and I. He spoils us with his culinary skills!

Big Lego Block

If Cayman could write, this post would probably go something like this...

Daddy calls this a Lego Block... Miss Jodi let me bring it home from therapy. I like her. Sometimes I pull her hair. Mommy tells me no. Mommy tells me no a lot about that. Grandma lets me. I don't see what's the big deal. It doesn't hurt me.

Oh yeah, I was telling you about my Lego block.

I use it as a table sometimes.

See...

Mommy tries to get me to stack the cups but I only like to throw them. I don't see what's the big deal. Grandma lets me throw them.

And sometimes Mommy sits me on the edge of the Lego Block. I don't like my feet to hang over the side. So...

I scoot myself back.

Ah, that's more comfy.

I can stand on my knees real good too.

See...

Mommy gave me a book to look at. I bet Grandma would have given me candy to eat.

And here's one that Mom just showed me how to do...

She gave me a boost up onto the Lego Block... and then tried to show me how to crawl up onto the couch. But I told her "I can do this myself."

Watch me go...

I can get myself turned around..

See how big I am!I love sitting on the couch. Sitting on the floor, no way, that's for babies.

But this has to be the best use for the Lego block... Mommy turns it upside down and it becomes a comfy bed for me to watch, what's that show called that always starts out with the colorful caterpillar crawling across the screen? That's what I like to watch. And my mom gives me chocolate milk to drink.

Ah, I've got the best mommy!

Eating with a Fork

Cayman has been learning to eat with a fork. She completely entertains us at our dinners as we watch, mesmerized by her cuteness.

She sure is looking and acting older.

She'll push the fork at the pieces of food, rarely accomplishing a successful stabbing without some help but she never minds that. As long as she can drag the fork through the ketchup or barbecue sauce, she is completely satisfied.

Condiments are her favorite part anyways.

A Wish Come True

Grandma Sue bought Cayman a book for her birthday (among many other things). Toward the end of Cayman's party, I was tidying up and organizing her lovely new things. I picked up the book and fanned its pages and replied, "Whoa, this is a long one! No way will Cayman's attention span let me finish this new story. I'll have to read it on my own first."

We giggled over the sweet, gift of having a little girl with a typical attention span of a two year old. And then Sue told me the book was really more for me anyways and I would understand when I read it.

That night, it was my pick for my nightly ritual reading I like to do. Mike chuckled a little when he saw his wife crawling into bed with a children's book. But when I told him of his mom's mysterious comment of the book being meant more for me than Cayman right now, he was intrigued too and we read it together.

Oh it's so precious! The whole book is a conversation between a Mama bear and her baby bear.

Let me take you through a little of its dialogue, specifically the parts that connected to the beat of my heart as Cayman's mama.

You are my Wish come True
by Marianne Richmond

"Mama," said Barley. "Tell me again how I'm your wish come true."...

"A long time ago," said Mama to Barley, "a wish started growing in my heart. At first, it was a quiet wish that nobody knew. Then it became an out-loud wish that grew and grew and grew. Until one day my wish came true."...

"Why did you wish for me, Mama?" asked Barley...

"Because," explained Mama, "I had an empty place in my heart that I wanted to fill with love for a special child like you. Someone who would be my cuddly little one and I would be his Mama."...

"Did you wish for me all day, Mama?" Barley asked...

"All the time," said Mama softly. "I wished for you with my morning coffee and when I made my bed. I couldn't get my wish for you out from in my head."...

"When I first wished my wish," said Mama to Barley, "...I asked God to think about my wish and to create the child who would be the perfect one for me....Of all the children in the whole wide world, God made you for me."...

"Did you ever think," wondered Barley, "that your wish might not come true?"

"Oh yes..." said Mama, remembering how long the waiting seemed sometimes..."

"Did you imagine me to look exactly like I do?" asked Barley.

"You, Barley, are more beautiful than I ever dreamed." said Mama...

"What did you do when you first held me?" asked Barley...

..."I fell deeply in love with you. I looked into your sweet face, and right then, you became my wish come true."...

This book made think of a journal entry I wrote about a year and half ago after receiving a doctor's second opinion of the high risks involved if I get pregnant again...

Journal Entry:

I don't know if I'll ever be pregnant again. I have mixed feelings about this. Fact is, it felt like it was a miracle in itself that I got pregnant with Cayman and it took us only 14 months. During that time though it did not feel like only 14 months. It felt like an eternity and I wondered if I'd be left forever wishing for this dream to come true. I was not ovulating regularly, and only once or twice a year.

We talked about the options fertility treatments have to offer. I thought long and hard about that decision but could not find a peace for myself in that journey. So we left it entirely in God's hands.

And now, when I look at my little Cayman,

Remembering my wish of wanting a baby of my own,

A smile stretches across my face,

And I think to myself, "God sure didn't disappoint me."

A photo of my little wish come true taking a nap.

The Silver Lining of a Place In Holland

I'm not sure when I wrote this entry, as it was on a loose sheet of paper found in a folder among a collection of quotes and poems I've gathered whenever I was inspired by one. (I really should date things better.)

Journal Entry (sometime after Cayman was born):

Here's a little bit of Holland inspiration...

There is a place called Giethoon, a village in Holland, that was built without a single road. Only peaceful water canals and bike trails mark the transportation routes around this quaint village.

Thinking about that for a moment, I would imagine the natives to that village take life a little slower. They enjoy the scenery longer and soak in the details of their surroundings.

That left me feeling inspired and I remembered these words:

"It's slower-paced than Italy." (from the poem Welcome to Holland).

I see a silver lining in finding myself in a place that teaches me to slow down (mentally) and take life in one day at a time. (read my post Living in the Moment)

"Lord, please make my heart 'free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland'."

The Silver Lining of Winter

Here's an entry I recently wrote after seeing these beautiful flowers pop up in our yard.

Journal Entry (March 15, 2010):

I am not a cold weather person. If it was not for the strong attachment I feel for my family and Mike's, I would pursue a different climate to live in, for sure.

But for me, there is a special silver lining in enduring winter. Every year I experience a heightened, fresh euphoric in watching the warmth, color, and life return that comes with Spring.

It's easy not taking this kind of weather for granted when every year I go through a period of time living without it. I can say it almost makes winter worth it...well, almost.

***I posted twice yesterday. The second one being in the late afternoon, an unusual time for me. Make sure to scroll down if you didn't see it. You won't want to miss it!!

We interrupt this week's blog theme: "Silver Linings" to Bring You this Special Report...

Cayman took her first steps today!!!



Oh what an exciting day it has been!!

posted at 4:19 p.m.

The Silver Lining to Living with My In-Laws

Background details:

When I was five months pregnant with Cayman, Mike received a job offer where its location was closer to our families than where we were living in Northwest Indiana, 160 miles away from them.

Mike's cell phone rang literally just seconds after exiting the door of the hospital at the appointment where Cayman's diagnosis was confirmed by the specialist.

Thinking back on it, I'm surprised Mike even answered his phone at a time when there was so much weighing on our hearts. I think we were in such shock, numb from the pain, that we didn't know what we were doing. We were just going through the motions of life, practically on auto pilot.

It was a crazy time to consider such a drastic change. We realized accepting the job would bring more chaos. It would mean selling our house, searching for new doctor care, and moving in with Mike's parents. We couldn't afford both a mortgage and rent, and my in-laws were gracious enough to open their place to us. It was a big decision but it was also an opportunity we had been hoping for since Mike graduated from college but thought it would never happen. We never wanted to settle far away from our families but we had to go where the jobs were. And I longed to have my mom close during such a rough time.

So we accepted the offer and packed up just our necessary things. We moved in with my in-laws and lived with them for six months until our house in Indiana sold.

Journal Entry (written a few months after we moved out from my in-laws):

Not having a place of our own was a very trying time. I could not satisfy my nesting urges by putting together a nursery for Cayman. She had a single dresser for her things and we kept out only the bare necessities of what we needed for ourselves.

The rest remained in boxes. Boxes mean chaos, unorganized, and confusion. No matter how many sharpie pens we went through trying to accurately label each box's contents, it still remained daunting to find any item we were in search for.

The worst had to of been when I sold one of Mike's old college books online. I had listed a few of them while we were still living in Indiana. Before we moved back to Ohio, we sorted out all of our belongings into two categories:

Take With Us

and

Leave Behind

We decided to not move everything. We kept our furniture and several items stored at our house. A furnished home makes for a more inviting tour anyways plus we figured we were paying a mortgage every month, why not use our house for storage instead of renting a unit back in Ohio.

That solution made the most sense financially. But when trying to sort out your stuff not knowing when you'll have access to it again, is difficult.

Well, I had forgotten about listing the books for sale. I was reminded a couple months later when I received a notification that a rather expensive book had sold. I searched and searched through every box we had brought with us to Ohio, hoping it was one that we had chosen to bring with us. When its presence did not turn up in my search, I knew it had to be in one of the boxes back in Indiana.

Oops!

So my dear, big sis made that long 5 hour round trip with me when I was 7 months pregnant with Cayman, back to our house in Indiana, to retrieve this book that had sold, making its profits more than worth the trip in gas.

Annoying?

Yes it was!

It was terribly annoying being that unorganized.

It was terribly annoying having our stuff scattered across two states.

It was terribly annoying not feeling the complete settlement of being home as we embarked on a new journey of becoming parents.

It was terribly annoying trying to arrange care and upkeep for our house while living so far away.

My mind was spinning in a million different directions with all the doctor appointments and processing Cayman's diagnosis, let alone all of the craziness of moving and living in a very temporary situation.

It was without a doubt, stressful!

But there's a special silver lining in that circumstance. During those six months, I got to know my in-laws well. My father-in-law has a great sense of humor and it was refreshing to be around a father figure like that.

My friendship with my mother-in-law blossomed and I am blessed to know her as one of my dearest friends now. She's precious to me. With a background experience in teaching for the MRDD, she said so many sweet and helpful things to me when I was pregnant with Cayman. She showed me, without a doubt, a special needs granddaughter would be loved and accepted beyond measure. That meant the world to me and eased some of my fears.

Trapped under a stormy cloud of not really having a home of my own is one that I am grateful for experiencing, even though it was tough.

The ease and comfort I have when I am at my in-laws now, all came to be, because we were once roommates. Their home was home to me for awhile and that's kind of never gone away. I never realized how much we were strangers before especially compared to the friendship I feel I have with them now.

And that's the gain. The precious silver lining.


"I love you Mark and Sue! Thank you for all that you've ever done for us!"

Grandpa Mark

Grandma Sue



At Grandpa and Grandma's house, Cayman has a favorite toy. It's a pink musical box when you wind the key the Disney characters scroll across the screen. It's divinely adorable watching her little fingers work hard with persistence to turn that key.




And when Cayman's not playing with the Disney musical box, she can be found getting into Grandma Sue's newspapers that she's always behind in reading.

The Shiny Silver Lining

I once read that difficult times are like a cloud when it passes overhead and blocks the sun. When you look at the edges of that cloud you can see the sun shining there, illuminating its outline and that is what they call the silver lining.

"Every cloud has a silver lining." -Phineas T. Barnum

It's one of my most favorite poetic sentiments, proclaiming that even the gloomiest situation contains an element of hope or consoling aspect to it.

The people that inspire me and I draw strength off of are the ones that so brilliantly can find the silver lining in their storms. They have sort of a simplicity and happiness that is appealing. They're always looking on the brighter side even when facing some of the most dire of situations. Their hearts never become tainted by their pain. Even when they weep, they never despair. The pain and hurt they feel comes naturally, but suffering from it is an option.

I look at them, admiring the way they collectively hold their thoughts steadfast, and think to myself, "I want to be like that."

So I strive to know that kind insight to my life. It seems to be that it's most about perspective and mindsets, which hold the potential to turn us into dwellers or find happiness from the storm.

In my personal journal, dating as far back as 1998, I have made an effort to document the silver linings in my life. I've written before, how my journal is an avenue, guiding me to stay focused and concentrating on what God wants me to do with each day.

The first person that ever inspired me to do this was a guy I was dating back in high school. I am forever grateful to him for showing me the value our written words can have.

I cherish my collection of journals I have kept over the years. They're my heart in written form. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, I strive to know emotional stability in my days, just like the people I look up to and admire.

I'm far from perfect at it, just as I know those that I hold at high esteem are not perfect either, even if it seems like it to me. And when I'm feeling down and their degree of maturity feels unreachable, I have to remind myself that they have their days too.

Growth and maturity does come in strides.

On this week, I've pulled a couple of my journal entries out from their archives to share with you.


***come back tomorrow to learn the silver lining of living with my in-laws. :)

Home Sweet Home for One Year

March holds another special occasion, besides Cayman's birthday. It's the anniversary month of when we moved into our current Home Sweet Home.

My greatest dream in the materialistic world has always been to have a spacious, beautiful house of my own! I can easily get lost in imagining what every corner of my true dream house would look like if I'd ever have the amazing opportunity to build it.

But I have to say, I definitely feel spoiled with the home we have now even if it's not exactly what I would design. If I could, I would hug my house because I just love it that much! To have a place to call my own and have room to stretch out and grow a little is such a blessing.

Over this past year, it has been a love/hate relationship though. There is so much work to be done on our house and parts of it are very inconvenient to deal with on a regular basis. On the market it was not labeled as a move-in-ready, that's for sure. And even though we're not very handy people, Mike and I decided to take on the task of loving this home and improving its value.

And that's where I am learning patience. You see, I have it all imagined and sorted out in my mind of the updated plans and knowing what I want to see completed on our house, but the money tree grows its goods rather slowly. But it will come, one thing at a time and I will cherish its value all the more because I had to work and wait on it.

It is a gratifying feeling when we do complete a project on our house, big or small. To step back and feel proud of our little corner of the world that we call our own.

February 2009, before it was our house.

March 2010, one year after we moved in.

Long Sunshiny Days Have Returned

It's been a warm and sunny week. Spring is definitely on its way. And the best part about the time change, even though we lost an hour, it means that the evenings feel longer, with the sun still shining bright. So after we've eaten our dinner and the table is cleared, there is still enough time to enjoy a gorgeous walk outdoors.

Ahhh...it's beautiful!

Dinner Anyone?

After a three year hiatus, Mike finally has a grill again! The man is as happy as can be! And Mommy and Cayman are happy too because every evening Daddy grills us up a delicious meal!

Spring Hat Collection

I've been working on Cayman's Spring hat collection.

Stay tuned for a future post about the re-opening of my etsy store where I will make available some of these spring styles

as well as

Another hat give away

Sweet Little Face

In two months Cayman will have a new cousin.

And in four months, another one.

She's glad about that because she hopes that that means Mommy will start taking pictures of someone else for a change.

A Birthday Party for Cayman

Cayman's birthday party on Saturday did not quite go as planned.

Earlier in the week, Cayman had been unusually crabby, so as a precaution I took her to the doctor to get her checked out.

The day of her appointment, Cayman seemed to be feeling a lot better. She no longer had a fever and she sat on my knee giggly while playing peek-a-boo with the doctor. The Pediatrician looked her over and gave Cayman a clean bill of health.

I went home with a peace of mind.

But the night before her party, Cayman woke up crying several times. She was running a low grade temp again (nothing higher than 100.6). With lots of cuddling and some Tylenol, we were able to get her back to sleep.

Saturday morning, the day of her party, came and our tired bodies rolled out of bed. Cayman woke up with a smile on her face and our exhaustion just melted away!

The little princess got dressed in her party clothes and was ready to greet all her guests. Our immediate families on both sides joined us.



Just a few minutes before lunch was served, Cayman began to seize. Her temperature had climbed to 103.8. We spent the next little while working on getting her temperature down and then the little birthday princess took a four hour nap.

While Cayman slept peacefully in her quiet room, we ate lunch, watched the Buckeye's win their Basketball game, and the other kids played games.

Cayman's Aunt Sam (Mike's sister) could not join us for the party because she was busy playing in the band at the Buckeye game. But we got to see her on TV.




Sidney and Madison playing Twister.

I put my mom in charge of the decorations. She came up with this fun idea of growing our own grass and bringing Spring inside. It was sensational!!

I was indecisive on what kind of cake to order. So I called in Mike for help and I think he did a fantastic job ordering Cayman's cake. He chose a cupcake-cake, made up of half white and half chocolate, with a Cayman Island scenery.

When the little party girl finally woke up, her fever was down and she was feeling better, clapping and smiling. The festivities could finally begin!

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

She wasn't feeling all better though. She had a few melt down moments. Turns out, her two year molars decided to show up for her party too.

But Cayman's ouchie teething did not stop her from enjoying her cake and presents.

What a little trooper.

Cayman got a turtle sandbox.
And since it was way too rainy and cold outside to play, I set it up in her room with her 200 balls she got for Christmas.

And That Completes All The Birthday Celebration Posts