Picture update

I figured I should post a few pics of the kiddos.

A 6 month catch up

I was supposed to update everyone post surgery for Addie, however I failed miserably. So, I think it's about time that I get on here and let everyone now what has been happening since March, a mini-6-month update.

Well, firstly, Addie's surgery went well and the scar is slightly smaller then the initial bald spot on the back of her head, we may have to do this again when she is older to reduce the scarring. Aside from life altering surgeries her life has been much the same. Growing, babbling, running amok, and harassing her big sister. She's grown so much it's actually quite amazing, I will be posting pictures of her in the near future on the next blog (as I have no camera access currently).

Paige finished first grade with flying colors and has moved on to second with Mrs. Dowdy. Her first day (which was today) went well and she's very excited about the prize box in Mrs. Dowdy's classroom, she has every intention of collecting as many plus tickets as possible so she can expand her 'Littlest Pet Shop' empire. As for learning, I hope more of that goes on as the year continues.

Aaron and I have both started new jobs since March. He as a Cable installer and I as a bartender. A what? you say. (I know these things) I bartend at the local casino, it's a career endeavor I never thought I would make but it pays the bills and has it's enjoyable moments. Aaron seems to enjoy his cable job, he likes leaving the office and not having his boss go with him, as my father always said.

We had an interesting summer with a lot of ups and downs, mostly ups. The girls and I spent much of our time at the river, bathing in the sun and despite many valiant efforts Paige still refuses to learn to swim. She has decided that her head should never be underwater, Addie on the other hand is a regular water baby. She dove right in, head first a few times.
My children are growing faster then weeds and learning new things everyday, they even teach me a few things occassionally, but don't tell them that they think that I am all knowing.

We recently had a loss in our family, which I think may be the reason that I decided to sit here and get this updated. My older cousin Brent passed on August 21. The loss of him has made me re-analyze so many things that I thought I knew. I have a large family with many cousins but they have each had their signifigance in my life and made their mark and the last week I have found myself racking my brain to remember every good memory I ever made with any of my cousins, Brent especially. He was a good man and my most recent and fondest memory of him was a recent visit at Thanksgiving in which Paige latched on to him and made him play with her over and over and over until I sent her to bed. For hours he continued playing with her, like it never occurred to him that he didn't have to be her private jungle gym. There are very few people that have impressed me with the way they handled my children but Brent did and he will be greatly missed by many.

Addison's Surgery

We're sitting in the waiting room at Doernbecher's while Addie is in surgery. As far as it all goes this is considered a "minor" surgery. It's not invasive and it's really just the skin on her head (they're removing her bald spot), but it doesn't feel minor. All I can say about it is that I hope none of my children ever have any serious diseases or hospitalizations because I haven't slept in three days and I cried when they took her to the OR. General Anesthesia freaks me out. You hear stories about people who went under and never came out again, but my baby girl is going to be just fine. I'll post some before and after pictures when we get home (I didn't brink my phone adapter thingy with me and I haven't seen the after yet anyway). Poor baby was so angry with us because we couldn't let her eat, she really likes her milk in the morning. But, alas, clear fluids only and water just doesn't cut it. Paige is with her grandma because we thought it would be easier for her then the waiting game that we have to play and easier for all the other people in the waiting room as well. I can't wait for this to be over, so she can heal, and I can get some sleep. I'll let everyone know how it all goes.

The birthday girl in all her glory.

We had Addison's first birthday party yesterday. My daughter will be one year old in 3 days, oh how the time flies. We had a small family party, but if you know my family you know there is no such thing as small family gatherings. So, we stuffed about 20 adults, 5 little girls, and 2 babies into our not-so-large living room. It was full and loud and so much fun. Addie got lots of fun stuff, but loved the boxes the best. Paige had fun playing with all the other girls her with and we adults chatted and ate pizza, cake, and ice cream, all the necessities of a birthday party.


Paige got her report card and it was amazing. All E's and S+, which is the equivalent of A's as they don't start giving the standard letter grades until the 3rd grade. I'm pretty impressed with her talents myself, I always knew she was a smart girl. Well, except for when she was 3 and I thought she was color-blind, but that was simply because I am so impatient. Obviously, it turned out she wasn't and I think she's the smartest kid in her class.

All the girls taking a break from their playing to eat some cake and ice cream, Aaron gave them all as much sugar as he could before they went home, just to be sure that their parents got to enjoy the left over sugar Rush that he knew we would be enjoying. His theory was "they aren't sleeping here".

Addison after she ate her cake, her tongue was blue from the frosting. It was pretty darn cute. Her birthday is on the 3rd, she'll be one and her Grandpa Reller will be 81.

Playing with their new games with Daddy. Happy Family.


I realize I didn't give much of an update on Christmas and I found my memory card so I can post some of the pictures. Although, I'm sure most who read this have seen most of the pictures on my facebook or myspace, but oh well for my imaginary friends who haven't seen them I'll post them for you.

Christmas was great. Addison and Paige both made out like bandits and had a great time. Gifts were given, food was eaten, family was visited, and joy was spread around. Addison was uniinterested and did not even make any attempt to open any of her presents, she played with the paper while I unwrapped all of her gifts. Which was cool for me because I felt like I got twice as much stuff. :) It went well for a baby's first Christmas though I am pretty sure that we'll be spending the rest of the year recovering from the holiday season, it was still pretty great.

Playing with her Cash Register. Price check on Aisle 3.

Paige is back to school and reading like a fool, though they sent home some reading material that I must say I found questionable for a first grader, when grading it on content, so I have to ask a few questions there. She informed Aaron yesterday that she doesn't have school on Monday because it is "Carl's Junior Day". We laughed for about 5 minutes before we clarified it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, not a day for rememberance of a fast food franchise. She FINALLY has one of her front teeth coming in, there for a little while I thought she was going to be toothless because it took so long for them to come through.

Addison singing her song, her talent is astounding.

Addison has learned to say NO and throw a tantrum. That girl can throw a fit with the best of them. It's amazing, I have no idea where she learned it, is it just something they have engraved in them so they can drive their parents nuts? I'm not allowed to leave the room without her, lest she might throw a seizure-fit.
Her head surgery has been approved and scheduled. In March, they will fix her scar and make it smaller. It's a bit nerve wracking, what with the anethesia and all, but I'm confident that the doctor's at Doernbecher will do an excellent job.

I also had a lot of fun playing with the children's toys at Christmas... It's good to have an active imagination, Right?

Twenty-Ten.... The Year

We're a week into the New Year, what fun, what fun. Addison had her appointment at Deornbecher with Dr. Kuang (a pediatric plastic surgeon) and ll went well. They said that she would be up for her surgery in a month or so, which is very good. The surgery is pretty much a cosmetic one, but I think it will be necessary to have it taken care of before she enters Kindergarten, so the younger the better. At least this way she will be to young to remember.
It was a long trip that involved a lot of screaming from her and a lot of singing from me, as that seems to salm her a little bit, she didn't sleep nearly as much I would have liked. We had a very good trip other than that, she got to hang with Melissa Box, whom neither of us had seen since she was only 3 months old.
In other New Year news, our dog Joey was in and out of the vet over the last week a few seperate times. He was pretty sick, and quite frankly I thought we were going to lose him. Fortunately, he recovered and has returned home.
Paige is a toothless fool, she's lost 5 of her front teeth, yea that's right 5 teeth. 3 up top and her 2 lateral incisors on the bottom. I can't find my memory card so there are a few photos today, sorry. I'll post more later!

The End of a Decade...

...And what a decade it's been. Follow me through a little recap of the first ten years of the new millenium, or as I like top think of it a wistful walk down memory lane...

Y2K, who could forget it? We all awaited on pins and needles to see if the turning of the century would bring another day or erupt into worldwide chaos. Except for me and a few friends, nope we sat around watching the ball drop on MTV, goofing off, and doing things I'm sure our parents wouldn't have approved of... It was a good New Year, I still have some good pictures of it, in my memory and as proof that we survived. It was also the year that the second Bush was elected president among much controversy involving vote counts in his race against Al Gore, I wasn't old enough to vote, so I didn't get to cast my vote for my own personal choice.

2001, well that was a rough year, for me, my family, and all of America. For my family and I because we lost a few of our members that year, they were both too young and left too much behind. For the country (this is an obvious one) 9/11, what a tragedy. Such a wasted loss of life, so much hatred, yea that was a definite low point and I can tell you still, exactly where I was when I heard that news on the radio, funny how those tragic moments are frozen in time. I do have to throw in one high point for me, I attended my first major concert with Carly Moe, oh yea, we went to see the Backstreet Boys at the Rosea Garden and it was AMAZING!
I'm not going to bore anyone with a memoir of my first decade, just a few of the high points.

The next year was a moment when everything changed, in a big way, and yet it was good, High School Graduation. Yep That's right, the class of 2002 walked down the big aisle and we were handed our diplomas, a group of people I'd grown up with were sent out in the world to find ourselves and become grown-ups (though I don't think we all have yet). All the teachers cheered so relieved to have us off their hands finally. We were good kids, some opf us just had mouths and attitudes that I'm sure were quite wearing on the already fragile nerves of those poor teachers.

Now, in the years following not too much happened I attended college for a couple years, worked a few jobs, dated a few guys, made and lost some friends.George W. Bush beat John Kerry and John Edwards in the 2004 election, with just as much controversy as his 2000 victory presented. 2005 my paternal grandmother passed away, that was a rough time, but that rough time had a bit of silver lining as I met Aaron during that time. So, 2005 was up and down, had highpoints and lowpoints, a LOT of both. In meeting Aaron, I also met my future daughter, Paige which was a great thing. She has truly been one of the highest points of the decade, when she's not driving me crazy....I kid, I kid.

The next year (2006)came one of the greatest changes of all, I moved to Oregon City with Aaron and Paige, got a job as a dental assistant to an Endodontist. It was the biggest and most radical change that I ever chose to subject myself to. It was a great decision and a great experience, I got to re-establish a friendship with one of my best friends, with trips to Powell's and Sushi. :) Aaron also proposed that Christmas, which was a nice topper for the year.

2007 My kid brother graduated and started his journey towards adulthood, he's still on it as well...lol... We got our dog Joey, who Aaron seriously contemplated murdering after he ate a hole in our brand new bathroom wall. Paige found a new best friend in our new neighbor Ian, her senior by a year.

2008... Since it was more recent, what has happened in that year was, well, ALOT. We expanded our family with Cleo, our pit bull who has been a sister to both Paige and Joey, and a dog-ter (instead of daughter, get it?) to Aaron and I. We set a date, found out I was pregnant, and got married. Yes, in that order... We had a great wedding, thanks in large part to our family and friends who were present. We moved from the thriving metropolis of Portland back to my hometown. Paige started Kindergarten with Mrs. Mary as her teacher. And for the country, Barack Obama made history when he was elected the first black President this country has ever had, and was immediately thrust into one of the worst economic crises since the depression.

And now for the final year in this chapter (2009), Addison Kaylin was born on Feb. 3, 2009, on her Great-Granpa Reller's 80th birthday. Due to a condition on her head she was taken to Doernbecher to be checked out, we were there for a few days but she was released when the doctor's gave her a clean bill of health. We took her home. Paige turned 6, and fininshed Kindergarten with high marks (which in K means ++'s). Aaron got his contracting license and started his own flooring business, we moved into a nice place next to people that I've known all my life. Addie learned to roll over, then crawl, then walk, and she's starting to talk. Aaron turned 30. My mom turned 50 and my brother turned 21, so it's been a year full of milestones.




It's been a decade I'm glad I got to be a part of, imagine in 20 or 30 years when the teens are all saying I wish I could have had the experience of living through the 00's... Kind of like I think living through the 50's or 60's would have been pretty neat. I can look at my kids or grandkids then and say, "Hey, I did live through that decade, and what a decade it was."