Kailyn's 3rd Birthday Party

It's been a really hectic couple of weeks as I have been planning and preparing for not only Christmas but also for Kailyn's 3rd birthday party. It wasn't a huge turn out, which I actually prefer, but still a few kids came and Kailyn had tons of fun. I don't think I saw Kailyn for a couple of hours while the kids were here, it was very strange. In fact, every time I went into her playroom to check on her she would say "go away mom". Lol...I thought she was turning 3 not 13!


Our theme this year was Toy Story. I kept going back and forth on the theme this year, she's been really into Handy Manny for most of the year but as soon as Toy Story 3 came out she has been addicted to it. So, I actually asked her what she wanted either Handy Manny or Toy Story and she said, "Toy Story!" loud and clear. So there it is.

Here are the kids piled into her chair waiting for the movie to start.

Look how cute the are and how luck Austen is, he's got 3 beautiful girls all to himself! :)

While they were doing their thing, Mommy was doing her thing, catching up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was very much needed.



Present time came and I am not sure what happened but Kailyn got really shy when all the attention was on her and she had a bit of trouble opening her presents, she needed her friends help to open them. It was quite cute actually, I'm glad she included them. I think it was a big overwhelming for her to have everybody staring at her.
A big THANKS to everybody for their great gifts, she's enjoying them all to the fullest!


Then, came time to sing to her and blow out her candles on the cupcakes mom tried to make so perfect, and once again she didn't want the attention on her. I thought that would have been her favorite part, after all she had been asking me to blow out the candles all day.





All in all, her party was a success and I'm glad it's over, I was stressing a little to make sure that it was as perfect as I could get it. I am not a party planner whatsoever but it came out pretty good.
Until next year! :)

All Thru The Night

I am so proud of my big girl. She slept in her big girl bed all night without waking up once. I couldn't be happier! I actually woke up in kind of a panic this morning because she didn't wake up, but all is now very well in the Patin household. Thank you God for giving me the extra little patience that I needed.

Now, we are just counting down the days until Christmas and Kailyn's 3rd Birthday. This is going to be the best Christmas thus far.

Sleep Update

So, I thought I would update you on Kailyn's sleeping issues since getting her beautiful new fairy princess bed.

All I have to say is SCORE for us! She has slept so much better since getting her new bed, it's unbelievable! It still takes us a while to put her down but not nearly as long (maybe 1 hr instead of 1 1/2-2 hrs) and she hasn't been fighting us to put her down, let's just say she's going down more calmly and a lot easier. She will wake up maybe 2-3 times during the night but she only gets out of bed maybe 1 out of 3 times. A BIG improvement from before. I give her a cuddle, let her fall asleep and put her back in bed. What a huge relief! Unless you have actually experienced this, you have NO idea what an accomplishment this is for us and how relieved I am. I really wasn't sure how long this whole sleeping situation would go on for, I was thinking the worst, you know, like how it was when she was newborn! Up every few hours and getting hardly any sleep.

Let's just hope it just keeps getting better! :) Thanks everyone for your advice on helping me get thru this sticky toddler situation.

New Fairy Princess Bed

K in her new bed, her "fairy princess bed" as she calls it.

So, we got Kailyn's new bed yesterday and put it together right away. It is so frickin' cute!! I think I have been looking forward to this as much as she has! lol... I have been making a huge deal about her new bed, how beautiful it is, how special it is, and how now it officially makes her a "big girl", hoping that this will encourage her to stay in her bed.

I sat Kailyn down and had a little talk with her about her staying in her bed, that if she did, tomorrow she would get a reward. She woke up once, at 11ish, all wet and throwing a fit. After wrestling with her for about 5 min, I was able to finally change her and put her back to bed. She ended up sleeping until 8am! I woke up a few times during the night to make sure she was still in her bed because she was so quiet.

When Kailyn woke up this morning, I made it a point to tell her how proud I am of her that she stayed in her bed and slept all night. I kept my promise to her and she got her reward this morning for being a "big girl" last night. She said her bed is "so comfy". :) I'm glad.

Well today I feel well rested (FINALLY!) and Kailyn got a full nights sleep, I couldn't be happier! Let's just hope that this lasts! Wish me luck folks! ;)

Advice Please!

This post is for the moms of toddler's out there, I need some advice from you:

How did you keep your toddler to stay in their bed at night??

I am running very low on patience when it comes to keeping my almost 3 yr old to stay in her bed at night. She will not sit still or lay down for about an hour after I brush her teeth, read her books and gotten ready for bed. Once she finally calms down a little, the only way I can get her to fall asleep right now is by laying next to her or rocking her in the chair. She used to do fine falling asleep on her own, I think it's because she is no longer in her crib she feels she needs to assert her independence by leaving her room.

Might I also add that she started this just about 3 weeks ago. It's happened very fast. She went from sleeping in her crib (which she loved) for nap time and bed time and now she's skipping her naps and won't stay in bed. Let's just say I have a very cranky child in the evenings because she is so tired, I know she misses her naps but she just has this new found freedom she can't get quite enough of. I've tried bribing her like you wouldn't believe and even that doesn't work. She is getting her new "fairy princess toddler bed" next week so she is currently sleeping on her mattress on the floor. I am hoping once she gets her new bed, she will want to sleep in it all night. Wishful thinking on my part ;)

So, if you have been through this and you have found a way to keep your child in bed, would you please, please, please, share it with me so that I can get more sleep!!!??

Sure, she only looks innocent...lol.

The Big 30!

O.M.G. I'm 30.

I think I'm ok with it. There are a lot of people out there who dread being 30 but I accept it. I'm at a really great point in my life, I'm married to a wonderful man who is also a great father, I have a beautiful daughter (who's 3 wks shy of turning 3) , a house and yes, complete with a dog. I couldn't be happier with how my life is right now at 30. I'm looking at this as a new chapter in my life. What do my 30's have in store for me? I'm not looking too far down the line cuz I don't even want to look at the #40, now THAT scares the hell out of me, but luckily that's 10 yrs down the line.


I didn't have an over-the-top birthday this year, as it also landed on the same day as Thanksgiving. I spent my 30th at home with my family being thankful for everything that I have been blessed with. Kailyn helped me blow out my candles on my cake and just seeing the satisfaction and the enjoyment on her face just makes everything that much better.

Here's to another great year!

Priceless. :)

Our 3rd Anniversary

We went away early for our Anniversary this year since it was so close to Thanksgiving and my 30th birthday lands ON Thanksgiving. We went to Napa and spent two wonderful nights at the Old World Inn B&B. It was beautiful, the architectural detail that has been preserved, the food, and the cute little cottage that was all secluded in the back. I loved it!

The first night we were there, we had dinner on the fabulous Napa Valley Wine Train. It was so amazing! I know it sounds cheesy, but it was so nice and so romantic being able to sit and enjoy dinner with my husband while enjoying a 3hr train ride. No rushing to get out of there, just enjoying every bite of our 5 course meal and enjoying each others company. At times it felt like it did when we were dating, we were goofing around, flirting, nothing to worry about except what kind of wine we were going to get for our dinner. During "intermission" how they like to call it, or when the train stopped to turn the engine train around, we walked thru all the cars to check it out. Each car was like a different place in time. There was the "old west saloon" with nothing but wood on the walls and the floor and basic chairs and tables. There was the "waiting area" with big comfy chairs and plush carpets and walls. Then there was the "dining area" with plush carpets and fancy tables. And then there was the area where we ate, or VIP as I like to call it, the "Vista Dome" where there were windows that let you look at the starry sky, it was on the second floor, and the people from the other cars "were not allowed." It was pretty great, to say the least.

The next day we took it easy, we went and ate breakfast and met some other guests. I love how friendly they are, how open they are. B&B's are so small that you have to share tables with others and it gives you a chance to get to meet some pretty great people. We met this couple of guys who were telling us about their previous stay at that same B&B, they had the cottage that we were staying in, they agreed that the huge pull down projection screen on the bed was awesome! I mean who wouldn't like that??

After breakfast, we got ready and went out to Calistoga driving around, checking things out until our spa appointment at The Golden Haven. I have never had a mud bath before so I was really excited to try it. Well, it definitely shocked me when I went in there. It's stinky, very hot, messy but it is relaxing, rejuvenating and detoxifying. Once we got out of the mud we took a hot spring shower to rinse off then sat in a hot mineral water jacuzzi tub. After that they took us into a wrap room to sweat it out. I was so hot from the mud and jacuzzi that once they wrap you in blankets you sweat it out, a great way to detoxify. THEN... it was time for our massage...oh yeah!

Once our massages were over, we were famished. We decided to walk around downtown Calistoga until we found something that would satisfy our taste buds. We found a nice little family style restaurant with great food and cheap drinks! We went back to the B&B and watched a few movies on the huge projection screen that was at the end of our bed. It was great.

As much as I missed Kailyn during our trip, I really didn't want it to end. It was so relaxing to spend some stress-free time with my husband and not worry about anything.

Thank you to my incredible husband for setting this up and giving me (or us) a fantastic Anniversary. Here's to many more to come, I love you!!

Happy Halloween 2010

My Beautiful Butterfly Princess

Can we say SUGAR HIGH?? It was Kailyn's first time trick or treating this year and although she was nervous about going house to house (which is a good thing) once we got back to the house she was in candy heaven. She hasn't had any candy in her life yet so experiencing this was absolute pure joy. Her favorites were lollipops and Reese's Pieces. Now that she knows what happens when she goes trick or treating, she will be prepared next year for sure :) Now to wait until this sugar is out of her system.... she has been OUTTA CONTROL!! Lmao!

Mommy and her princess

Trick or Treating

Mmmmm.... Candy heaven!

Shake it

This is just too cute not to post. My little princess loves to shake it!

An Update

It has been a while since I've blogged and I wanted to give a little bit of an update on Kailyn.

It amazes me how much she has excelled in the last couple of weeks. She uses proper, full sentences now and her speech is much clearer. Out of nowhere she uses words that I didn't think she even knew.

Here are a few of my favorite Kailyn quotes:

1. Coming down the stairs in the morning and seeing our dog, Coda.
"Morning Doda, how are you?"

2. My little, bilingual, backseat driver.
"Derde (verde) green go! Ojo (rojo) red stop! Aillo (amarillo) yellow slowwww doooowwn!"

3. K: "bye, bye mommy"
Me: "Where are you going?"
K: "shopping"
Me: "Oh yeah? What are you going to buy?"
K: "ice cream for you"
Me: "Oooh, lucky me, what else?"
K: "Pudding for you, pickles for you, peanut butter for you, olives for you" (her favorite things)

4. When daddy leaves for work in the morning, she likes it when he honks the car horn.
"Daddy go work, honk honk"

5. When we leave the house to run errands.
"Bye Doda, see you later"

6. She's very polite too, she'll will say "bless you" when you sneeze, she says "thank you" most of the time, and when she gets something you ask for she says "welcome."

7. Her favorite thing to say right now is: "I'm busy". It doesn't matter what she's doing, but if I ask her something she always replies, "I'm busy, too busy."

8. Kailyn loves to help me while I'm gardening in our backyard.
Me: "Kailyn, are you going to help me garden today?"
K: "Yeah mommy, me help youuuu"

After about 30 mins of helping me pick up trimmings, like full armfulls:
me: "You can go play Kailyn, you've helped me a lot"
K: "No mommy, I'm too busy helping you, me pick up"

She is too sweet!

9. K: "soccer mommy, me play soccer, soccer's fun"

And last but definitely not least:
10. when she sings "rain rain go away, nice day" hahaha... she's working on it.

What a crack up!

Kailyn has been talking more and more lately and she makes me laugh all the time. The other day Kailyn and I were hanging out in our backyard and she got into her little red car, her purse over her shoulder, started waving and said "bye bye mommy" and I asked her "where are you going?" to which she replied "shopping". Haha!!

Today was no different, only I shut my elbow in our sliding door (don't ask me how I did it, cuz I have no idea!) and I went and sat down. Kailyn came over to me, looked at me with this look on her face, little puppy dog eyes, she put patted me on the shoulder and said "okay mommy". Aww my darling little girl. :)

Antioch Fair

This past Saturday we met up with a couple of our friends at the Antioch Fair. It was a beautiful day, although it did get really, really hot. We walked around and checked out all the little animals they had there that were getting judged. They had bunnies, chickens, sheep,goats, pigs, cows, and even a dog show. After getting all dusty from that, we walked around the rest of the fair. We hit up the kiddie rides and Kailyn went for the carousel first, surprise surprise. After that Kailyn went on her very first roller coaster. I was really hesitant b/c she's only two and all the other kids on the ride were so much older than her. She found another little girl to sit with and thankfully she's at the age where she copies everything anyone does, so the little girl put her hands on the bar and so did Kailyn. I just had to suck it up and let her go on her own, after all she's not a baby anymore. :( When the ride started she wasn't quite sure of it, but the second lap around she was really liking it. Success! After that ride Kailyn and I went on an even bigger roller coaster, keep in mind it's still a kiddie roller coaster. ;) She then rode a car and a motorcycle.

After using up all our tickets we went back to the campgrounds where our friends were staying. It was really hot and I needed a break anyway. Kailyn ended up meeting one of the little girls around there and they hung out for a bit, it was really cute. Even though the other little girl was 3 and very talkative and Kailyn's 2 and can talk a little, they still had their own little language going on, it was adorable. It ended up being a very long day but a very fun one too. Here are a few pics that we took.

Kailyn and Auntie Robin

Riding the carousel

On her very first roller coaster!

She's such a big girl now, makes me sad and happy at the same time.

My baby girl and I after her first roller coaster ride, she's all smiles :)

On her second roller coaster with mommy, a little bit bigger this time!

Driving a car, on the British side...haha!

Of course she had to hit up the motorcycles, she loves them!

Kailyn and her new friend, Katrina.

Looking for sticks together, something they have in common. :)

Aww this was super cute!

North Carolina

My family and I went on a trip to North Carolina to visit some of Mike's friends that he met while sailing in Greece many years ago. Although I had never met them, I already felt like I knew them from the many stories Mike told me and talking with them on the phone. It was great to finally meet them. Kailyn really took them, especially Jayson or 'papa' as she called him.

'Papa' & Kailyn

The airplane trip was long in itself. Kailyn was very excited that she got to ride in an airplane, it wasn't her first time, it was actually her third time, but she was so much younger before that she doesn't remember. We went from Oakland to Seattle, changed planes, then Seattle to Chicago, a stop over and then Chicago to Raleigh. I had NO idea that we had to go to Chicago, what a pain it is to fly out the way! Kailyn did not nap at all while on the plane (even though she was exhausted), she was just really excited about everything. So, we landed in Raleigh at like 11pm, which was really 8pm Cali time. We stayed at a hotel and Kailyn slept great on her new travel cot we got her.

Kailyn, watching her toons on our ipod.

The next day, Jayson and Sandra drove 2 1/2 hrs from Charlotte to Raleigh to pick us up, even though we said we would rent a car, they insisted. They are so sweet, that's the kind of people they are. Now that it's day time, I can see what NC actually looks like. I have heard from tons of people how beautiful it is and I have been so excited to see it for myself. I could not believe my eyes, it is SO beautiful! I have never seen SO many trees like this in my life. So big, green and everything there is so lush. I am used to living in CA where they cut all the trees down to build housing communities, but in NC they just cut out a spot to put the house and leave the rest of the forest surrounding it. And what a difference it makes, you can really tell by the air quality, so much cleaner, thanks to the trees! :) And don't get me started on the houses there, they are absolutely amazing, they have so much detail, so much character, and they are pretty affordable for the size you get, some of them are MASSIVE! The only thing that I don't like is that they don't build fences around the property, that's something you have to get a permit for if you wanted to add one. I guess it's a good way to get to know your neighbors, but it lacks privacy and not good if you have kids and dogs, it's hard to tell a 2 yr old where the boundary ends.

Our friends house, just gorgeous.

We spent quite a bit of time driving around sight seeing from downtown Charlotte to the raceways to the mall to the boardwalk, all which are absolutely spotless. I couldn't believe how clean everything was, even the building themselves were spotless. And the people, SO friendly.

Out to lunch by the marina, it was perfect.

My love :)

My little supermodel :)

Us at the boardwalk

Kailyn's 1st carousel ride!

We hung out at the house some days just relaxing, which was great too, Kailyn really loved hanging out in their backyard waiting for bunnies to emerge and their driveway jumping over cracks...that's her new thing these days. If we were inside, she was watching fish in either of their 3 tanks, I guess we're going to have to put our fish tank together when we move into the new house. They were like instant babysitters, I mean she would stand there and watch them forever!

Hanging out in the backyard, check out those trees, amazing.

We went to the zoo one day and I don't mean to sound so repetitive but OMG it's SO beautiful! It's 500 acres of lush greenery. The trails that take you around the park felt like hiking trails, you couldn't even tell that you were in a zoo. You were literally surrounded by forest. The animals look happy and they have lots of space to roam. I am used to the Oakland Zoo which is like the complete opposite of this. We walked around the African part of the zoo which took about 2 hrs and they have a whole other section called North America, which we weren't able to do but they say would take about 3 hrs. One of the main reasons we decided to go to the zoo in the first place was b/c they had a 4D Dora and Diego Adventure show, we knew Kailyn would love it, it's her FAVORITE show. Well, she didn't like wearing the glasses so she didn't get to really experience it like Mike and I did, it was actually really cool! It felt like you were there with them exploring. Very cool.

Diego, Kailyn, Mommy & Dora :)

Diego, Kailyn, Daddy & Dora :)

All in all, we had a really great time, even if Kailyn didn't nap AT ALL and went to bed late, I really didn't want to leave NC. I am trying to convince Mike to move there eventually or to buy a second home there...that would work for me. :)

New Toy

Daddy bought Kailyn a new toy while he was away on his business trip; a roll over dog. It is really cute and super funny. It reminds of a drunk old Englishman laughing in a pub. The laugh is so contagious that it's hard to contain yourself. Kailyn absolutely loves it! We've named him "Chuckles". I wish we had this when she was 4 months old, when she was learning how to roll. :)

Here is a video of Kailyn and Chuckles, enjoy!

Hooray for the potty chair!

Today Kailyn and I went to Target to buy her a potty chair. We already have a potty seat up in her bathroom, which she uses very well; however, she still has trouble getting onto it from her stool, she can't quite turn around to sit on it. So, we bought her the chair for the downstairs bathroom so that when she needs to go potty, she can just run to it and sit on it on her own. She was so excited to have her very own potty that we had to test it out the second we got home. I put it in the bathroom and she ran right over and wanted to take all her clothes off so she could try it out. What a pro! She sat right on and gave me the biggest smile followed by the cutest laugh! First 5 minutes and she went pee in her new potty, go Kailyn!! I swear we must have spent at least 30 min in there just sitting on the potty and getting off, on, off, on, off....you get the drift, she loves it. I think she'll be potty trained in no time at all, now we just need to buy her some new panties. :)

I was contemplating adding this photo, I know she'll hate me for it later but I just thought it was way too cute not too.

Chop Chop!

I finally got my hair cut, it was LONG overdue! It was getting to the point where it was getting in the way of everything and getting stuck everywhere! This is the longest that my hair has ever been and as fun as it sometimes was, it had to go. PLUS, it made me look young, hopefully I am looking closer to my age and more like a mum. Now it feels fabulous! :)

Before

After