Nick' Appendix and Recovery

Monday Nick was experiencing a lot of abdomen pain. We ended up at the hospital around 9:45pm. I left as Nick was going into surgery at 5:30am Tuesday morning. Nick got to come home Wednesday at 11am. We were so lucky to have my Dad come and help with Cali while I took care of Nick and worked. We also had great friends who brought over food! Nick spent most of the week resting. He has been really sore and wiped out.

Today, Saturday, was the first day we were able to get out as a family. We took Cali to a park to try and get her tired. This was the first time she went to a park as a walking toddler. She loved it!
Then we went to the mall for lunch and to get a birthday present for a friend. Lunch was Five Guys burgers and fries! Yum-o!


We also hit target. The trip included Starbucks. Cali enjoyed my decaf carmel frappiccino.
After Cali and Nick took their afternoon nap we headed to meet Nick's brother and family for dinner. It was so fun to show off Cali walking. Cali and Leigha had a great time playing together. They even had a dance party in the parking lot.

15 Months Old

Cali Maple is 15 Months Old Today!

She has become such a big girl lately! She isn't our little baby anymore, she is a toddler now.

Here are her stats:

- Is a true "walker" now

- Takes 2 naps a day

- Sleeps through the night from 7pm to 6am

- Loves to feed herself with her fingers or a fork

- She gets into everything!

- Wears size 3 diapers

- Wears 12 month cloths

- Wears size 4.5 shoes

- Her favorite foods include: pancakes, waffles, pears, cookies, crackers, cake, chicken, cheese, sliced meat, ground beef and pasta

Happy Birthday Kimmie

Saturday was Kimmie's 6th birthday party. Cali had a great time in Toyland. She ate party snacks, tried to open the presents and played with toys.
She was so busy I didn't even get a picture of her face. Everyone was so impressed by her walking skills.

Cali can WALK!

Look what Cali learned to do at the beach!

Duck Beach #1

We are so blessed to have good friends that invited us to join them at the beach for a few days.

We have been busy enjoying the beautiful beach, the pool and the beach house. Cali has been so good!

Here are some photos from our first couple days.

Cali in her pool floaty
Playing with Daddy
Walking on the beach
Our sand Princess
Being cute
Playing at the sand dunes
Crawling up the sand dune. She was on a mission.
Our little family
Cali and I in the light house

Outside the light house

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a busy Mother's Day weekend. Saturday we went over to my sister's house. Cali had a wonderful time playing with her cousins and grandparents. They were so cute playing together.

Cali helping Grandma open her Mother's Day gifts.

Cali and Kimmie playing in Michael's "big boy" bed.

Cali playing with her Grandma and coloring.

Cali playing with Leigha at Grandma's house

Why Cali Maple?

In the past 14.5 months we have had lots of people ask us how we came up with the name "Cali Maple" for our little girl. Basically we had a boy name already picked out so when the ultrasound said girl we were at a loss. We both wanted something that was different but meant something to us.

We went through baby name books and endless baby name websites. We were tossing around names when Nick said "What about Cali like California?". We both loved it! It was different but not too different. After talking with a few friends we decided it was perfect for us.

With Cali decided as the first name it was time to decide on a middle name. Our first thought was Rae. This is my middle name and also my dad's name, Ray. But after hearing it said together "Cali Rae" it just didn't sound right. Then we looked for a name that was tied to Nick's late father Henry Darrell. Nick's dad had a furniture frame business for over 15 years that Nick took it over in 2005. The wood they use is maple wood. I work for a landscape company and we plant lots of maple trees.

So Maple is a statement of where we were in our life when Cali was born. Nick was building furniture frames out of maple wood and I was working with a company planting maple trees. It is a nice way to pay tribute to Nick's dad and his work as well as remember what Nick and I were doing for a living at the time Cali was born.

Cali Maple

Messy Messy Messy

Cali LOVES to feed herself! She normally does a good job of eating most anything you put in front of her. The downside is that she also LOVES to put her messy hands and food in her hair.

We used to be able to give her a bath 2 times a week -she has had 4 baths in the last 5 days! It has just gotten to a point where it isn't worth fighting her to keep her hands out of her hair. We just let her do it, clean up what we can after and give her a bath before bed.

She had already had chicken pie for lunch today when she pointed to the cheese doodles Nick was eating. She had one in the mouth and one in the hair.

This is a close up of Cali's hair. This is what cheese doodles look like in hair.

This is the face she makes when she is proud of herself. She thinks it is hilarious to put her messy hands in her hair. I'm sure it is my fault for making a big deal out of it early on. Oh well. We'll just take lots of baths, I guess.