Paige the Giraffe

When we asked Paige what she wanted to be for Halloween she told us Woobie. For those of you who don't know, Woobie is her little blanket that she sleeps with and he is a giraffe. We found a very cute giraffe outfit for her. We got a bit nervous since a few weeks ago she was telling us that she wanted to be Minnie Mouse. Luckily she went back to the giraffe since we didn't have a Minnie Mouse costume. We went out trick or treating with cousin Lilly and the rest of the family. Paige loved it. You smile cute and say trick or treat and people give you candy. Could it get any better? The odd part is she had some much fun and didn't eat one piece of candy. More for us, right? ;) Here are a few photos of her in her costume.


Thrilled she got candy for saying trick or treat. How can you not give her candy? She's too cute.

Trick or Treat? Anyone home?

Paige the giraffe, Tessa the bumblebee and Lilly as Dora

Ryan, Paige and Mandy

Halloween fun

We have had a week full of Halloween festivities around the Kelley household. We were very excited to carve pumpkins this year with Paige as was she. Last year so was not afraid to reach her arm all the way in the pumpkin and feel the gooiness that is a pumpkin. This year, not so much. She was grossed out by the whole thing and made Ryan do all the work. She would, however reach in with a spoon. She was making Ryan crazy because as he was separating the seeds from the goo and putting them into a bowl for me to cook later (yum!) Paige would use her spoon and put the seeds back into the pumpkin where they belonged. I was quite entertained. I can't say the same for Ryan.
























Then we spent last night making Halloween cookies to bring to daycare for their Halloween party. Paige was having a great time making the cookies but enjoying trying them out best. She wasn't happy that she had to wait for them to cook before she could eat them. We convinced her to take a bath and get her PJ's on, then she could have a cookie. You see the before and after above. No complaints form Paige.





This is our little cutie heading off to school today. We were asked to bring their costumes separately and they would dress them up later in the day. I can only imagine what it would be like to have the kids in their costumes all day; I don't blame them for waiting. Paige did get to wear her cute Halloween outfit that she got from Grammy Dee. She loves it. I will post photos of her in her giraffe costume tomorrow after our evening of trick or treating.

A Holiday Classic

Ryan and I were both very excited about watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" last night with Paige. Now that she is a bit older, she can make it through the whole thing and get it. Little did we realize how much she would LOVE it. She laughed through the whole thing. We actually got a really cute video of it but I'm not patient enough to upload it. I tried and 2 hours later, still not finished. Anyway, she was a huge fan. She really loved that Daddy was lying on the bed with her watching and laughing with her. She asked about it this morning when she first got up "Watch Charlie Brown pumpkin Mommy? Snoopy so silly." Since she actually slept in this morning (until 7am!) we didn't have time before she went to school. Ryan said that she was talking about it to her teacher at school when she got there. I have a feeling we will be watching it again tonight.

Having a child just reminds us how much fun the holidays are supposed to be. It helps us forget the stressful part and just spend time together. Now we are really excited for all the fun Christmas specials to arrive. I know it will be here before we know it. We'll be carving our pumpkins tonight and having a great time I'm sure.

Update on Paige's Eye

Paige went in today for her follow-up visit on the cataract they found in her eye back in February. The recommendation from the doctor back in May was to patch her right eye for 2 - 1 hour spurts each day to force the left eye containing the cataract to work. The good news at that time was that the cataract only on 5% of the eye, which means that it probably isn't effecting her vision. The bad news is that they can't tell if the cataract was there from birth or if it is new. So, were to come back and have it looked at again a few months later to make sure that it hasn't grown.

That brings us to today. Since we now are on Mandy's insurance, we were able to take Paige to Children's Memorial Hospital for her eye exam. You can't get much better for pediatric ophthalmologists in the Chicago area. Overall Paige was a good patient. She was able to identify all the pictures that they show kids to test their vision. She was not a fan of having one eye covered and needing to identify with just one eye. I got nervous at that point because if she can't identify objects with just one eye, that is a sign that her cataract might have grown. They put some dialting drops on her eye and back to the waiting area for 30 minutes so the drops can do their work. She was happy being out there because she could color and watch PBS. The doctor finally got to us (after 1 1/5 hours of being patient) and took a look at her eye. Paige loved Dr. Yoon. He was playing with her and able to get her to cooperate really well. I would recommend him to anyone. Dr. Yoon was able to see the cataract and still wants to closely monitor her eye. Apparently the size and location of the cataract is what is causing some confusion for all three eye doctors that we have seen. If the cataract was slightly, and I mean slightly larger, they would have to do surgery. She is borderline in need of the surgery but luckily all of us agree that we will do everything we can to avoid having the surgery done. He even said that he is primarly a surgeon and loves to do surgery, but doesn't want to do surgery on her if he doesn't have to.

Here is the scoop on the surgery. The downside to having the surgery, besides the obvious, is that they would have to remove the lens of her eye and put in a prostetic lens. With that lens, she would only be able to see far, in turn, needing glasses for upclose. These would be glasses that she would need for a lifetime. And, since her eyes will most likely change as she gets older, so would the need to change the lens that they put in. That would mean surgery after surgery on her eye over her lifetime. Not fun. Especially since her vision is great right now. Absolutely no need for glasses right now.

Bottom line is we have to wait and see. We still need to patch her one eye for only one hour a day. We need to get better about remembering to do that. We were great in the beginning but this last month we have gotten lazy about doing it. It is our own fault. Bad parents, I know. Putting the patch on forces the eye with the cataract to work. If the eye with the cataract isn't forced to work, her brain could just stop using the eye all together. Not good. So we will keep patching and go back in to see Dr. Yoon right before Christmas and hopefully hear good news that nothing has changed and no need to patch. We'll keep you updates as time passes.

Where's the diaper?

This seems to be Paige's new favorite game. Since she has been potty trained, she is not a fan of having a diaper on at anytime. Lately when we go to check in on her at night, we find her with her diaper off. Obviously it can't stay that way so we put it back on her and she doesn't even flinch. You can have a band walk through her room after she has fallen asleep and she won't wake up. Regardless, this one was quite amusing. We did not do this, Paige put the diaper up on the rail of her bed. Usually we will find her with her diaper off and no pants (we have some great photos of her butt in the air but something weird about posting those on the internet). This time she got creative and decided to put the diaper up high and the pants back on. Nice try kid, we are still going to put the diaper back on. She isn't that potty trained. We look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

Erin's baby shower

So I was the lucky one who got to go out to Erin's baby shower this past weekend. Poor Ryan didn't even get to go and see his own family. It was a quick trip but well worth it. I got to spend time with Erin and Ed as well as feel my new niece move! I'm her favorite auntie already :) Erin had a gorgeous baby shower and let me just say, that baby has everything she will ever need up until college. They whole event was quite impressive. Ed's mother leaves no stone unturned. After the shower I got to spend some time with Ryan's family in Hollis. Again, only for a night but great to catch up. It did, however, make me sad that I couldn't be around for everything. The thing that stinks for Ryan and I is that one of our families will always be far away, even after much pleading for them to move closer. That just makes us treasure the time that we do have together, because it isn't as frequent as we would like. The best part to come out of all of this is that I was able to volunteer my seat on the airplane and take a later flight (only 30 min later) in return for some vouchers for another flight. Without those vouchers, we might not have been able to return for Christmas this year. We rotate every year and it is our year to travel out East and we probably wouldn't have been able to go with how expensive everything is right now. So, keep your fingers crossed that we can find something reasonable. Thanks again to Erin and Dee for having me.


Sisters - don't we look alike

Playhouse Disney Live on Tour

Since we are unable to afford a trip to Disney World in the near future, we did the next best thing, we took Paige to see Playhouse Disney Live on tour. For those of you who don't have little ones at home, this is the portion of the Disney channel that focuses on the preschool age. Paige is a huge fan, especially of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She was excited all day about it and was telling everyone that she was going to go and see Mickey. The show featured the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Tigger and Pooh, Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. When we got there, she was dancing in the parking lot out of excitement. Once she entered the doors, she went running straight towards the gift counter. Disney is no dummy, there was a lot of choose from. Paige picked out a Minnie doll and a coloring book, luckily not too expensive. The show was an hour long and had an intermission in the middle. She was a bit upset when the intermission arrived as she was waiting "patiently" for Mickey to come back. They were obviously saving the best for last. throughout the whole first part, she would turn around and ask "Where did Mickey go?". When intermission came and still no Mickey, we got the frustrated, "Where did Mickey go?" question. We told her Mickey had to use the potty and he would be back. She bought it and decided to use the potty herself! After intermission Mickey and the whole gang arrived for the party and she was one happy camper. She either sat and starred in amazement or was quivering in her seat. Worth every penny I tell you. Of course on the way out we got information about the circus and we hear that Sesame Street is coming. Oh brother.


Daddy and Paige enjoying the show, and helping Minnie dance too



Paige waving to her friends


A little hard to see, but you get the gist. The whole gang on stage.

Paige the Painter

Paige received an art easel for her birthday from Crazy Grammy. We were sad that we didn't have a chance to use it while she was here since Grammy loves to paint too. Since Paige and I had the day off yesterday, we decided to take advantage of the amazingly warm weather (high 70's in Oct) and bring the easel out to paint. Little did we realize that it was in many pieces in the box. So, we spent the next hour or so putting it together. She really wanted to help and loved the fact that I had a hammer and screw driver out. We may have to invest in plastic tools for her because she was quite upset with me that I wouldn't let her play with a real hammer. Anyway, once that was completed, off we went. We dragged all the tools out into our front lawn. Paige was in heaven. She just loved painting. She made many different paintings and really loved to tell me the colors she was using. Amazingly she didn't get as messy as I had anticipated. The only sad part was packing everything up so we could go inside and start cooking dinner. She loved it so much that when Ryan got home, she was up in the window yelling out to him and he was coming into the house that she painted with red, blue and lellow (or yellow) paints. She was very proud of herself, as was I.

Working very hard to hold the paper down while painting. It was a bit windy, but not enough to keep her from painting.


Why not use my hands to paint? This is much more fun!

Not nearly as messy as I had thought. Only a few drops in her hair and on her face. Her hands and shirt, that is another story

Mommy's little helper

Paige had decided that helping Mommy cook is big fun. Every time she sees me in the kitchen, she comes running in to pull a chair over to the counter to help me. She got a princess chef outfit from Grandma for her birthday and she won't cook without it. This particular day, she even made me wear my apron...sorry, I don't own a hat. Like any true cook, she spent half the time eating the food while trying to cook. Like any true cook, she loves to eat the food as she prepares it. I had all kinds of trouble trying to convince her to add the cheese to the bowl and not eat all of it. I'm looking forward to the day when she can actually cook us a meal. Until then, we are having fun finding creative ways in which she can help.

Go Red Sox!

Our lives have been a roller coaster of baseball emotions lately. I am still mourning the Cubs loss but as you can see, Ryan and Paige are still quite pleased with the playoffs. I did my very best to make Paige a Cubs fan and every once and a while you can get a "Go Cubs" out of her. However, Ryan has gotten to her and she is a Red Sox fan through and through. She can sign all of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and instead of root, root, rooting for the Cubbies, it is those darn Red Sox. Ryan keeps telling me that she is destined to be a Red Sox fan since she was born in CT. Oh well, I'll keep trying. She will cheer for the Bears though. When Ryan trys to get her to say go Patriots, she looks at him and says "Argh". She thinks he is saying go Pirates. Anyway, at least the Red Sox are moving on. So, for the happiness of my husband and daughter, Go Red Sox!

Running Machine

Ryan participated in his second 5K this past weekend at annual Bucktown 5K in Chicago. Lets just say that we were all a bit nervous since he just recently had his surgery and hadn't exercised since. Paige and I bundled up and went out to support him. Jamie also ran in the race; her first race since baby Tessa was born (she won't let me post her photo, no fun). Ryan did very well and even commented on how he can tell that he is getting more air in. Yahoo! The surgery was a success! Today he is a bit sore but pleased with his time. He finished the 5K in 30.44 minutes which is fantastic. That put him at number 1483 out of 2350. Yeah Ryan! After the race, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast with Adam and Milagro since we were in the neighborhood. Paige was very excited all morning about going to see them and Roxy. Of course she clammed up when we got there. Only to warm up as we were leaving from breakfast.



I know, I know, not the best shot but you can see him in the upper right corner with his sunglasses on. Almost there!!!

Pumpkin Farm

We took our annual trip to Goebberts Pumpkin Farm today. Paige loved it. We had a hard time keeping up. She really loved that they had all her friends there, you know, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella...
Now we just need her to decide what she wants to be for Halloween. For a long time, she would tell us that she wants to be Woobie for Halloween so we got a really cute giraffe costume. Now she is telling us that she wants to be Minnie Mouse. We'll see when it gets closer who she (or we) decide on. There are more photos on Paige's website.






















Lilly, Paige and now Tessa (Auntie MiMi too)
The tradition of having their picture taken next to the pumpkin height chart.




















So happy to be sitting in the pumpkins















Paige and Lilly, our version of Ernie and Bert














Just looking as cute as can be.

The Wonders of Disney

Paige recently discovered the question that everyone asks about Donald Duck...where are his pants? She has a cute Mickey Mouse Clubhouse bath toy set that she loves to play with in the tub. Everything was going normally and all of the sudden so looks at me and says "Oh no Mommy! Where Donald's pants? Oh No!" I regained my composure and said, "I don't know Paige. Where did they go?" She responds with an "I don't know either. Poor Donald." Ah, the innocence of a child. I decided not to point out to her that Donald never wears pants, unless that is he is swimming or he may wrap a towel around him when getting out of the tub himself. Odd duck that he is. I then proceeded to ask her where Mickey's shirt was and she was all concerned. She spent the rest of the time in the tub checking to make sure everyone else has the proper close on. I love this age.