Kaelyn's First Christmas!

Kaelyn's first Christmas included her first long car ride. We drove up to LA to be with daddy's family for Christmas day. Kaelyn slept for the 2 hour ride up. And she thoroughly enjoyed hanging out in everyone's arms all day. She got to meet her Auntie Jen and cousins Stephanie and Carly for the first time. She loved spending time with them and can't wait for them to come visit her. Of course her favorite part was the huge assortment of Christmas gifts! She had no idea how fun Christmas would be!

Grandpa showed her some new moves - and gave her more of a thrill than daddy's usual "flying" ride. And she was sure to have a full conversation with grandma - oohing and gooing away!

The car ride home was a bit rougher. She made it one hour and then needed a diaper change and some food. But we still made it home in 2 hours and she slept for 8.5 hours. I guess she was pretty wiped out! Merry Christmas everyone. We think we'll celebrate it again next year!

The Godmother

We finally got to have an official meeting with the neighbor twins tonight (Camryn and Taylor, tho I can't tell you which is which in the photos below!). They are 3 weeks old, Kaelyn is 8. Time sure is going quickly, but their respective sizes are still visibly different! It seems Kaelyn is quite comfortable taking the 'big girl" role. I am guessing she'll be fighting to play "mom" when they are older and play house in our backyards. We are so lucky and blessed to have two neat little girls next door. We can't wait to watch them all grow. First things first, we need to all try to get out for a walk together ;-)

Growing by "sleeps" and bounds!

The picture below shows what a happy "I just slept for 9 hours" baby looks like! Yup - 9 hours. Funny thing tho, mommy and daddy hardly slept. We were watching TV in the family room at 8pm. She fell asleep in Mike's arms. Mike was really tired from the night before (she wouldn't fall asleep till 1am). Since we never DREAMED she'd sleep for very long after we put her down, we put her in her travel crib downstairs. I (Kathy) said I'd stay with her till she woke up and then bring her up to the bedroom - that way Mike could sleep for an hour or two first. Well, she slept, and slept and slept. I kept waking up thinking she'd get up at any moment. Mike kept waking up wondering when we would come up to the bedroom. Ah! Finally at 5am, the dog got up and so did Kaelyn. Never wake a sleeping baby, tho - that's what they say, right? At least we know she can pull an all nighter now. Crossing our fingers for two nights in a row!

Here she is showing off her strong neck and open eyes!

And here is her newfound favorite "flying high and holding my neck up" position with daddy!

My friend, the M.O.G.

Kingston is not just a dog, he's a MOG - part man, part dog. That's because he acts like a human - most of the time! He really is a "man's best friend," and now he's really beginning to become my best friend!

This week mommy took us on two walks. It was the first time she attempted to walk me in a stroller and have Kingston on the leash - all by herself. It went really well. Kingston adapted and didn't pull as much as he usually does. Mommy didn't think we'd get more than 2 houses away and have to turn around or end up with the stroller on it's side. But we ended up walking for a hour each day. Apparently Kingston likes me even more now that I'm his official "walk" buddy. Not that he wasn't friendly to me before - but it was more about licking the milk off my face. Now, he just wants to be by me.

Here we are hanging out by the Christmas tree. We're both wondering which presents are ours. I told him I wouldn't tell on him if he snuck a peak and told me what he found!!

And here we are on my play mat. He wonders why he never got his own playmat. All dogs should have a mat with toys on it. But he finally figured out that we can just share mine! First he laid at my feet - keeping my toes warm and testing things out.

Then he ended up ON my tummy. This wasn't that comfy for me but I put up with it because I liked having someone on my level. It gets lonely on the floor ;-)

Cute outfits!

The benefit of being a girl is that everyone likes to shop for me! Here I am wearing some fun outfits from some terrific gift-buyers!

Here I am going out on a rainy day. I needed a warm hat so daddy put this super soft, cuddly bear hat on me. It's from his co-worker Keiko. The striped pants are from the couple, Adrian and Joke, that mommy and daddy stayed with last year for Christmas at their Chateau in France. The organic pink shirt is from daddy's friend's Eric and Dawn - he likes to go riding in the sand dunes with them on dirt bikes. Someday I'll join them - but I'll probably need this warm hat if we go anytime soon!

Mommy met her friend Stacy for lunch and dressed me in this super cute purple outfit from Auntie Nancy. It is really a summer outfit (shorts), so I had to have some pants underneath it to keep me warm. Good thing she bought the matching sweater so I stayed nice and cozy! It was chilly and we ate out on a patio so when I cried I didn't bother anyone. I ended up snoozing through their lunch. Their conversation was a little boring for me...

Growing so fast!

Here we are having more fun with Kaelyn's First Christmas! It seems the "baby" year will be the best for photos. Most parents we know with 1yr olds and older have more and more trouble getting good shots!

Kaelyn was good enough to show off her smile - she's getting really good at smiling quite a bit. We went to yoga again today (tried last week and didn't make it thru). I go to a pre/post natal yoga class and you can bring the baby. Have been going to the class for well over a year and it seems all the other babies slept hapily in the stroller or laid happily on the floor thru the whole class. Not Miss Kaelyn. Both weeks she got super fussy. Week one I left. Week two I fed her (even tho she just ate 1 hour earlier) in hopes of making her happy and then completing some of the class. Nope. But when she was done eating and the class had ended, she was ALL smiles! Wrong timing I guess.

She's good with photos but you have to be fast. You have a 5-10 minute timeframe. Our friend Robin took these great shots of us with our Christmas Tree. I think we now have our money's worth of the Santa suit! She didn't seem to mind it one bit. As a matter of fact, she liked to chew on the fur.

Approaching week 7, we are noticing Kaelyn is growing by leaps and bounds. She's officially outgrown her bathsuit (she wears it after bathtime). Last night she had a diaper explosion which suggests it's time to move on to the next diaper size (that means possibly more than 12 lbs). She's fully in 3-6 month sizes and they fit "well." She's also having completely different sleeping and eating needs. She has had multiple weeks of sleeping 5-7 hours a night. Then, she'll go back to a max of 3 hour increments. Well, this week she has decided that she just doesn't like to be put down after falling asleep at all. So she won't sleep for more than 10 minutes. And she gets REALLY mad when she's super tired. So we've turned to the swing. I'm biting my cheek on this one. Mike says you can't spoil a baby for the first 3 months (others say this too), so we should do what it takes. I am not so sure and fear we're creating a swing baby. I'll keep trying the bassinet tho. In hopes of a new "week" starting anytime where she'll be willing to sleep 5-7 hours in her bassinet again. Did I mention she's quickly outgrowing her bassinet?? I'll try to get a picture of that to send ;-)

Here she is in her cute little Juicy Princess hat and socks from mommy's friend Tracy. She's not liking hats as much lately, but she complied for this pic!

A visit with Santa

Kaelyn really enjoyed talking to Santa today. She was particularly fond of his (real) beard. She asked if she could join him on his sleigh ride this year but he thought she was a little too young. He did give her her first candy cane tho...

We went with Helen and Aiden. Although Aiden wasn't as thrilled with the big guy, his pic turned out really cute too. Helen videoed the experience so once I get the footage and figure out how to post it, you'll get to see it live!

Holiday Fun

Aunt Nancy decided to send Kaelyn an ornament a day for the 24 days before Christmas.

The first one was the year 2007 and Kaelyn really liked it! Perhaps it was the bling?

We had a few friends over for the holidays and took a "kid" photo to show how everyone's family's are expanding. The twins (2) are on the left (Ryan and Lucie), Aiden (1) in the middle, and sleeping Kaelyn (5 weeks) on the right. Unfortunately this was taken at the end of the evening and Kona snuck out before we took the pic. We'll have to find a way to edit him in...

Andrea (with Khary in the background) shows off Kaelyn in her little party dress. Our sweet friend Kay sent us some of the clothes her 6 month old daughter Maddie has outgrown and the dress was just perfect for Christmas! Thank you Kay Kay and Maddie!

Sad to say goodbye

Grandma and Grandpa were the last of the family to leave after Thanksgiving. They enjoyed staying at the Lawrence Welk Village. We had a great time visiting them and having them around. It will be a while till we get to see them again.

Family Visit

Kathy's sister Nancy and her family was the first to arrive for Thanksgiving week...soooooooo happy to see the baby!

Next was Kathy's sister Marlene and her kids - Samantha and Aaron - are featured below.

It happened to be Samantha's birthday when she arrived, so grandma made a special cake - with special candles. Turned out they were hard to blow out while holding a baby!

Here are a sampling of the cousins that Kaelyn has joined. From left to right - Kerry, Samantha, Kelly, and Aaron, are the youngest four of the 10 cousins (now 11) on Kathy's side.

Everyone had such a great time holding the baby and did such a great job of cuddling with her. She will surely miss all the company!

Grandma enjoyed some belly time. Apparently good for getting the "gas" out, it also provide at least 10 minutes of fun for baby. She gets to show off her strong neck and arms - seems to be ready to crawl. I think we're in trouble!

1st Thanksgiving

Our First Thanksgiving! The only Thanksgiving where Kaelyn will be smaller than the turkey!

More visitors!

Helen and her mom Kathy came to see us. Unfortunately Aiden was not available for the photo - we have to make some time next week for the two of them to get together!

Mentor and colleague Robin came to visit little Kaelyn. It was her first lunch out. He's smitten, as you can see!

Our friends Chris and Megan, with their twins Lucie and Ryan (visit their blog on the right...) came to visit. They brought a yummy lunch. It was the first time we had additional children in our house and it went really well. Of course, Lucie and Ryan are little angels, so that helped! They really liked the baby - Lucie even put a little blankie on her so she stayed warm!!

Andrea had been trying to see Kaelyn since day 2 and she finally made it. I think she could have held her all night ;-)

First Photo Shoot

Today was our first official photo shoot. Tim Otto (www.timotto.com), who was our wedding photographer, came to take Kaelyn's first pictures. You'll get to see them in the announcement when we send that out. I took a quick pic of Kaelyn in her "pre-photo" dress (didn't want her to spit up or do other things on the fancy dresses for the "official" photos. Her cousin Delilah bought this cute white diddy. It was finally warm enough for her to wear short sleeves. The outfit is completed with Mary Jane socks from our friends Megan and Chris. Too bad you can't completely see them in this pic - they are really cute.

Here is a sneak peak of one of the dresses she's wearing for the official photos. She did pretty good for the photo shoot. Of course, she got fussy after outfit number one. Leave it to mommy to think it was a good idea for a costume change mid-session! I got these shots after Tim left and her tummy was full again. Hopefully Tim's will be even better since he is a much better photograher than I!

Grandpa, grandma, and our first dinner out

Hard to keep Kingston away from his baby girl!

We went out to our first dinner with our good family friends Ken and Debbie Dubs. Their son Kenneth and his wife Erin just had a baby boy (Joseph Henry) two days after Kaelyn was born. We like to sing "Joey and Kaelyn sitting in a tree..."

Although grandchildren are old hat to this grandpa (Kaelyn is #11), Kaelyn enjoyed her turn on his lap! He loves to watch her smile ;-)