Happy 2009!!!

Hopefully everyone had a great holiday. We sure did!!! Both Josh and I were on vacation for a week and a half and Caleb was home with us so it was nice to all have some time togehter.
Caleb insisted on helping me make coookies for Santa. Only, he wanted to eat them all before we even got them on the cookie sheet. At some point in my life I heard that cookie dough wasn't really good for a person to eat and that's all I could think about as my kid kept stuffing his mouth full of it. Oh well, at least he was happy and there were less cookies for me to eat when we were all
done which was a good thing.

We celebrated x-mas with Josh's side of the family the weekend

before x-mas as my brother and sister in law from Arizona were

home and also my brother in law from New York. It was a full house at the Klingers over the weekend but then I had to come home Sunday night to go to work Monday and Tuesday the week of x-mas. So, Caleb stayed with his grandma and grandpa and his aunt and uncles for a couple days. It was so nice since they don't get to see him often and I know he had an absolute blast. All he talked about for days were Pol and Meena (his aunt and uncle Paul and Amanda), Beazeeeeer (their dog Beazer) and Digger (his uncle Eric).

Here's a picture of him and Meena watching a movie together. He is so into movies right now with Boz (Wizard of Oz) being his favorite one. He will watch that darn thing over and over and over again.

X-mas morning we woke up and opened gifts at our house for a while and then went to my parents for the day where we spent the entire day opening presents. Yes, I literally mean the entire day. It's crazy!!! It was fun to see Caleb get into it a bit more this year but he still got way to overwhelmed with it all. We were still opening presents under our tree at home long after x-mas.


The day after x-mas we moved him into a toddler bed. He got one for his b-day and we were purposely waiting til vacation to transition him out of his crib just in case it didn't go well. Much to our surprise.......it was a breeze. He loved it from the get go and has slept through the night in it since the first night. I will consider ourselves lucky with that because I've heard horror stories from other parents. Now, if potty training could only go that smooth.

Other than that, we spent most of our vacation getting little projects done
around the house, hanging out playing with lots of new toys and just being lazy. It was a nice break but it was also nice to get back to our daily routine. I returned to work last week and started a slightly new schedule. I still just work 30 hours a week but am now working wednesdays (which use to be my day off) and working a couple more hours that day and then I have thursdays off and my fridays are even shorter days now. I only work a 4 hour day. I think I'm gonna like it. Caleb also started at his new daycare/school in Hudson last week. It was tough as it's so different from his old daycare. The first couple days went alright but then the rest of the week was not good. He was very upset when we got there and didn't want us to leave. He screamed and cried for me not to leave and one day he even ask to go to Robins (his old daycare provider). That was hard. I'm sure all you parents know exactly how I was feeling as I'm sure you've all been through it as well. This week we had another bad day on monday but monday night Josh and I went and talked to the director to try and figure out some things that would make drop off easier on him and us. Yesterday went a little better and today went good so I'm hoping he's getting more comfortable there and things continue to go good. I can't believe the things he's learned there already. The other day I picked him up and they had learned about fires and firetrucks and worked on stop, drop and roll.

He was so into it, he just wanted to keep doing it over and over again. Then the next morning when I woke him up he asked me to do stop, drop and roll for him. These little ones memories are amazing!!! He has finally learned what his name is but can't quite pronounce it right so he calls himself "Cable". So funny!!! I will leave you with this funny picture of him. Lately in the tub he loves to pretend like he's swimming and lay down on his back with his head under the water and he'll act like he can't hear you talking. He's so silly!!!

Later, Erin

We Are Alive

I've had several people contact me to ask what the heck is going on and why I haven't updated in so long. One of the biggest reasons is we haven't had a computer for a long time. We got another really bad virus and had to send it off again and we just got it back. I've learned we shouldn't rely on computers so much. So, I thought I would mostly update with some recent fun pictures of Caleb. Here he is dressed in his halloween costume. He was a cute pirate. We spent the day with my sister and my nephews and took the boys to crystal cave, then home for a nap and then went out trick-or-treating around my sisters neighborhood. The weather was really nice (nothing like we've had lately) and the boys had so much fun.
It was cool to see Caleb get so into this year.

The picture of Caleb and his guitar just cracks me up. He loves to watch Josh play guitar hero and he carries the guitar all over the house and gets so frustrated cuz it's so big for him. So, we thought he might like his own little one. Well, he does. The thing of course makes lots of noise and plays songs but he would much rather still play with the big one. Oh well, we tried.

Josh and I both took the day off work for Caleb's birthday. We had a fun day. We took him to the giggle factory in hudson first and he ran and played and had a great time. Then we went to lunch and then took him to his first movie. We saw the second Madagascar. Thankfully, we were the only ones in the theater cuz he wasn't real interested in sitting and watching the movie. He got into the movie but wanted to be up and running around the theater and sitting on the steps to watch it. After fighting with him to stay put by us, we lost the battle and he got to have the theater all to himself. We figured it was fine since we were the only ones in the place. But, we won't be taking him to another movie anytime soon that's for sure.

Here's a picture of him at his birthday party blowing out his candles. He actually almost did it. He had a Handy Manny party and thought that was pretty cool. He got lots of great gifts for his party. One of them is the little toddler table he's sitting at in the picture below. He's so excited to have his own little table and he sits at it and colors and plays so well. The other guys were given to him also for his birthday. Mickey came all the way from New York where Calebs uncle digger lives.

Then I was lucky to find the big Handy Manny and of course had to get that as well since he's so into him. He likes both these guys to sit at his table with him so he has company. We got rid of his high chair so we have room for his new table and he's now sitting in a booster chair at the big table with us. I went and got him his own placemat and he knows that is his spot to go to when it's time to eat. He has been doing better with his eating since we've made this change. I think it just helps for him to be at the table like I big boy with mom and dad. He thinks it's pretty cool anyway.

Here's a picture of him eating at his new spot. He doesn't look too thrilled there huh? And he looks so small in that huge chair.

The day after his birthday party we put up our x-mas tree and worked hard to decorate it. Caleb was really good at helping us put the ornaments on the tree. He was so excited because many of them were special for him. Now that his birthday is over we can focus on x-mas. I can't believe it's already next week. We are actually going to have it at Josh's parents this weekend as everybody will be home so we are exicted for that. Then next week Santa gets to come and Caleb is very anxious for that. He gets it!!!

I hope everyone has a merry christmas and happy new year and I will be back to update more after the new year. I'm going to be home on vacation for a week and a half and so will Josh so we are looking forwar to spending time together as a family.

Take care, Erin

Future Baseball Star???

I just love this picture of Caleb posing with his baseball bat. The bat was actually Josh's when he was little and when my sister and brother-in-law where in town a few weeks ago staying with Josh's parents they did some major house cleaning and all the boys got all their stuff back that was stored at their mom and dads for the past years. So this bat and a couple others were just a few of the items that were in the boxes. This picture was taken the same day he went in for his procedure. You would've never known he had anything done by looking at him there. Josh was working hard with him, showing him how to hold the bat and swing. It was so cute. He now goes and grabs his bat and ball and brings it out to the yard and plays what he calls "soball". Definately a Klinger, that's for sure!!!

We went in for a follow up with Caleb's specialist yesterday. I guess you could say the results were both good and not so good. Good news is, all his test results have come back normal. The not so great news is that he was down a little over a pound in weight so that's not good. I had cut back the amount of pediasure we were

giving him to 8oz. rather than 16oz cuz it was getting so expensive. Meal time is still not a favorite time of his so the doctor told me we needed to go back to a minimum of 16oz of pediasure a day and that we need to keep a close watch on his weight. He needs to at least maintain where he's at and not lose much more or she brought up putting a feeding tube in him. I don't even want to think of how awful that would be. We will have another follow up visit in 2 months with the doctor and until then we will be pounding the pediasure and feeding this boy anything his little heart desires. You can see that he loved his corn on the cob that was drowned with butter. YUM!!! It amazed me how he went to town on it.

Other than that, we haven't been up to a whole lot. Just trying to enjoy the that last few nice days we've been having. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather and being cooped up in the house for months. I can only imagine how difficult it's going to be for Caleb as much as this little man loves to run and play outside.

Til next time, Erin

Tough Day Over

Sorry no new exciting pictures for you all but I promise some with the next post. Josh's brother took our computer back home to pheonix with him to clean it up and get rid of the virus we had so we are hoping for a safe return of that by early next week. Man, what did people do back in the day without computers and cell phones? Josh and I were just talking this morning how terrible it would be if something happened and the computer got lost in the mail or something. I'm not even going to talk about it anymore cuz it makes me sick to think about. Our life is on that thing. Photos, videos, music etc. Some of which we have backed up but not everything.

Well, Caleb made it through his big procedure on Wednesday. He did really well. We arrived at the hospital around 10:00am and they called us back shortly to get him all preped. The nurse he had was fabulous and made him as comfortable as he could. It wasn't before long and Caleb was holding the guys hand and walking around the unit with him checking things out. It was so cute, he was in his little hospital pj's and he had plastered stickers all over them. I even thought of bringing my camera but didn't feel it was very appropriate. Plus, it wasn't a day that I really wanted to remember much of. The entire medical staff came in to introduce themselves and answer any questions we had and then they swept Caleb back to the operating room. Josh went with him while they put him to sleep so at least he had a familiar face to see until he was out. It was pretty tough on Josh to have to watch that so I'm thankful he was able to be strong enough to do it so that I didn't have to. The nice thing was that they didn't even put his IV in until after he was out so we didn't have to fight with him to get that in place. It was less than an hour after they took him back that the doctor came out to talk to us. So the procedure was quick. They took biopsies of his colon, both small and large intestines, stomach and esophogus. We probably won't have any results until early next week but hopefully we will find some reasoning behind his not gaining weight and all his digestive issues. He was so irritable when he came out of the anesthesia it was hard to see him like that. So groggy, in and out of sleep and crabby. I just wish he could understand why he had to go through all that but maybe it's better he doesn't know. He won't remember it all anyway. We had to stay at the hospital for a while and then they discharged him. He slept the whole way home and then I rocked him back to sleep when we got home and he slept for another couple hours and when he woke up it was like nothing even happend. He was back to his happy playful self. Nice to see. He's still got a bit of a cough from having the camera and breathing tube down his throat but that's about it. It's all behind us now and we just wait to hear some answers.

I will update more when we find something out.

Have a great weekend everyone. I was out of town last weekend on a girls scrapbook retreat so I'm looking forward to staying home with the little monkey this weekend.

Talk to you soon, Erin

Fun In The Sun!!!

Oh my gosh, I'm a bad blogger. We've been too busy having fun I guess. Above you can see Caleb's new ride. He loves that thing. Every morning when we leave the house he asks for a ride and then every night when we get home we've gotta go riding. Luckily, in order to start the thing you have to push the emergency break in super hard which he can't do. But he's figured everything else out at far as turning the key and having the start engine button in the correct place. There's no way he can hold down the emergency break though cuz I have a hard enough time with it. Thank goodness!!!
My good friend from highschool Jeny B and her husband and daughter were here visiting from Texas a couple weekends ago and we were fortunate enough to get an entire day with them (well almost). We got going a little later than planned due to a small mishap at the Klinger house. Josh went down in the basement that morning to find our utility room flooding. There was a leak in the main water pipe and it was spraying out all over. Who knows how long it had been doing that as we don't go down in the basement too often. Needless to say, we had a lot of cleaning up to do and hussled to get a plumber out to the house. Luckily Josh has connections and a guy he knows works for a company close to town and came over to fix the problem for us. But man, what a mess. Wet cat litter has got to be the nastiest ever. It was like cleaning up wet cement and stinky. Gross!! Good thing we discovered it when we did cuz Josh left for Canada the next day and I had enough to deal with while he was gone. Anyway, we had a great day with the Burrell's. First we had a yummy lunch at Culvers. I was admiring little Flinn cuz she's such a good eater and my kid didn't want any of his meal. Not even his custard.....what the heck is wrong with that picture? At one point Caleb was getting in Flinn's space and she was worried he was going to take her food. Josh was quick to reassure her that she didn't have to worry about that. Then we took the kids to Lake Elmo Park Reserve where they got to enjoy the afternoon swimming at the
manmade beach. I had never been there before. It was so
nice and clean but very busy!!! Afterall, I guess it was a
Saturday. I tell ya, little Caleb has no fear what so ever. It's
actually kind of scary. He loved the water so much he would

just keep walking out until he would go under and then one of us would grab him. He's crazy!!! You can see how much fun was had and happy he was to be there. After swimming, we brought the kids to the sitters and met up again for dinner at pier 500 in hudson and then headed out on the town for a while. I guess it was a very short while since someone (yes, myself) had too many different kinds of drinks and ended up not feeling so hot. I guess all those different things don't sit so well in the tummy. It was a good thing though cuz the B family had a busy day planned for Sunday so we didn't keep them out too late. It was a great day spent with them.

The next morning Josh left for his annual Canada fishing trip so I played single mom for the whole week. It actually went well but I was exhausted by the end of the week and ready for Josh to come home. And Caleb was missing his daddy too as he was asking for him quite a bit. I give props to all you single parents out there cuz it is hard work!!!


Here's my proud husband with his big ol' fish that he caught. I don't even know what kind it is but it looks nice.

Lets see......what else can I tell you all. We got good news about Caleb's cystic fibrosis test. It came back negative so that was good. I took him in for another follow up this morning and he has gained over a pound in a month which is good for him. Since we started seeing the specialist a couple months ago he is up about 2.5 pounds which makes me happy because before he was only averaging a pound gain every 3 months. His appetite is still very poor and he's not eating much but he is taking 16 ounces of pediasure every day and I think that has helped the most. It's getting to be expensive but we've gotta keep at it as long as it's working. There are still some things that aren't normal with his whole digestive system so today we discussed the next step which is an endoscopy. He will have to be put out for the procedure which I really don't like but they will be able to go in and look at his esophogus, stomach, intestines and rectum and they will take biopsies also so I'm hoping this will be the last thing he will have to go through and we will have some answers.

Last week while Josh was gone in the evening playing softball we had a car drive right up in our driveway and go into my car that was parked in the driveway and steel my i-pod. It not only makes me really mad that somebody would do that.....it freaks me out. I've always been a bit on edge living out in the country like we do with it being so dark at night and all but I really didn't think I had to worry about locking my car up in my own driveway. How bold of someone to just drive right up to my car and go into it. My neighbor across the street saw the car pull in but he thought it was just Josh coming home. I would love to find out who did it but I'm pretty sure that won't be happening. So now, I lock my car and I've warned all the neighbors to do the same.

Here are a couple pictures of my new nephew Henry. He is so precious. He's already a month old. My sister took the cutest picture of Caleb giving him a big kiss. He loves babies.

Hope your all enjoying the summer and we'll talk with you all soon.

Erin

Quick Update.........

Sorry to those of you that only look at this for the photos. Once again our computer at home has a virus so I haven't been able to do much on it. So I promise some pictures on the next post. Here's a rundown of the past week.........Caleb only ended up having one test done last week as he was running a little fever the day we were suppose to go in and get the second one done. So we are off again to the UofM tomorrow for the second big test. Gratefully, so far everything is looking normal. All of his bloodwork, stool samples and GI results have come back normal. Tomorrow is the sweat test which checks him for cystic fibrosis and we really pray that one comes back negative. So keep on thinking positive thoughts for the little man :O) We also met with a dietician last week to talk about some other high calorie food ideas and recipes we can try. So far none of them have been much of a hit besides the fact that he loves his pediasure and he must like the flavor that all the butter I've been putting on all his food has. He continues to eat very little so we are still frustrated but he did gain a whole 3 ounces in 3 weeks. YIPPY!!!

Caleb has a new little nephew. Henry Vincent was born last Monday morning. I got to be present for the whole labor and delivery and I must say, there is nothing more special than watching a baby enter the world. Absolutely unbelievable!!!! Henry was having some trouble breathing and some issues with his tummy after he was born so he spent his whole time in the NICU which was tough. I didn't even get to hold the little guy until he came home. He is doing much better now and is so adorable and such a good baby. His big brother Miles is having a little more difficulty adjusting but it can only get better right? Caleb thinks Henry is pretty special. He was so sweet when we went to see him he kept just calling him baby and kissing him. So we started working on his name. Caleb now calls him Hony (which sounds out like horny when he says it). So funny to hear.

Well that's all for now. I will update more after tomorrow and post some pictures of the new little guy and of course more of my main man Caleb.

Stay cool, Erin

Summer Time Fun

Summertime is the best!!! As you can see in the pictures, Caleb is having a blast enjoying the wonderful summer weather we've been having. He just loves being outside and absolutely loves the water. In the picture to the left he is showing me how excited he was to go out and play in his elmo sprinkler. He still amazes me each and every day with all the new things he does and says. I swear his vocabulary is growing a few words longer each day.

A couple weeks ago he came down with a fever at daycare that he had for 3 days and was just not himself so I finally
took him into the doctor to find out he had fifth's disease. What the heck...I have never heard of such a thing but it sure sounds worse than it really is. When the doctor told me what he had, I must have looked extremely worried because she was very quick to let me know that he was going to be alright. It was so sad though, all he wanted to do was snuggle (which of course I didn't mind that) but he didn't want to play, eat or do anything. He would just cry and cry to no end. One morning he woke up screaming and we did everything possible to just calm him down and nothing was working. It went on for over an hour before the motrin must have kicked in and given him some relief but man, that's tough as a parent to listen and watch your kid be so miserable and not even be able to console them. Thankfully, he has now
recovered from that yucky bug!!! We are still struggling to get weight on this poor guy. I took him in now about a month ago for his 18 month check and he hadn't gained anything in over 3 months so his primary doctor thought it would be best for us to take him to a specialist and look into things further. So, last week we took him to see a Gastroenterologist (I simply call her the "gut" doctor). So far he's had a bunch of blood work done to check for a few different things, he is on 16 ounces of pediasure a day for more calories, we are to put butter on absolutely everything he eats and he will be undergoing an upper GI barium and x-ray series next week to look at some other things. He will also be going in for a sweat test next week to check for cystic fibrosis. So please keep our little man in your thoughts as he goes through all this icky stuff. Last week he did so awesome when he took his blood though, he didn't even cry. The lady told him to lay down on the pillow and he just layed there as she drew his blood. So unfair that he's got to experience that at such an early age. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of all this soon. My boy needs some meat on his little bones.



Here's a picture of my little fish on the 4th of July in our friends swimming pool. Like I said, he just loves the water and would've swam all day long if I would've let him. We had a good 4th weekend. We took him to the Hudson parade with his cousin Miles and he had a blast and between the 2 of them they collected over a bucket full of candy. Caleb loved all the firetrucks and sirens but his favorite were the bands. He would get out on the curb and dance away as they went buy. It was so cute. He also got to go on his first rides at the carnival which I thought he would be frightened of but no, that wasn't the case. He cried when he had to get off and wanted more. Then we went and watched the firework show which he also finds very amusing.



Other than all that, not much else going on. We are very anxiously awaiting the arrival of Caleb's new cousin. My sister is due tomorrow and is so uncomfortable and miserable so hopefully she will go very soon. I'm so excited, my mom and I will both be there for the delivery and we don't know what she's having so it will be a wonderful surprise. I think we are all secretly hoping for a girl but of course would be totally fine to add another boy to our family. We should know soon :) I ordered Caleb and myself a fun new toy that should be arriving sometime this week also. We are getting a little 4-wheeler for us to cruise around on. I can't wait. Anything motorized that he can ride on he just loves.

Till next time...take care, Erin