Kaylee Jade Caesar

NEW BLOG ADDRESS!

2012-01-09T13:09:00.004-05:00

I'm combining Kaylee & Andy's blogs! I know I haven't posted much in the past month or so -- the holidays are always too crazy with so much going on! I also realized I usually just post the same thing to both blogs, with maybe a couple different photos or slightly different text. So to make it easier for me, as well as to have just one blog to keep track of for readers (the 2 there are?? :) ), I've combined the blogs and have them at a new address - so please bookmark this for future posts!

caesarfam.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-04T10:39:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Feast

2011-11-27T15:11:00.003-05:00

Kaylee's Thanksgiving Feast at preschool was a week before Thanksgiving. She knew Andy and I would be there, but was surprised that Jamie, Poppy (Dan) & Baba (Barb) came as well. The kids sang a couple songs ("I'm Glad I'm Not a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day" and "Hello, Mr. Turkey") and said a prayer, then we ate and hurried out to let the next round of Feasters gather.

Photos

2011-11-24T21:12:00.008-05:00

Here are some photos we did a couple weeks ago with Denise Crull Photography. Andy was not doling out the big smiles - I think he has another tooth (or two?) coming in on the bottom and he's had a runny nose - and Kaylee was not being too cooperative, either. And of course the day we met for the photos was the worst runny-nose day Andy had! But here are the pics...

The following photos I took when Kaylee was having a good hair day a couple days ago. :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-05T23:17:00.003-04:00

Kaylee had such a fun Halloween! She picked out who she wanted to be at least 2 months ago and never wavered in her choice. She was Kiki from The Fresh Beat Band. She also says she wants to have a FBB birthday party, so we'll see if she changes her mind in the next 4 months.

Here's our little Kiki before and after her transformation, and some FBB/Kiki pics:

I wasn't sure which costume Andy would wear, so I tried all 3 on him and took photos while Kaylee was at school one day. When I showed her the photos later, I started with the one of the monkey where you can't see Andy's face. She said, "is that a real monkey on our porch?!?" Then I showed her the one showing Andy's face and she thought it was so funny that he looked like a real monkey crawling around. :)

The photo below of Kaylee and Andy with the pumpkins is from earlier in the day and the one of all of us is just before heading out to trick or treat.

Halloween weekend, we went to our neighborhood fall festival. Kaylee had fun in the huge bouncy there, and also loading up on sugar! She got a cute black cat face painting and a balloon sword (she'd been wanting one for a while after having seen some kids with one a couple months ago). She also thought the spider cookies that someone brought were very funny!

Cumming Greek Fest

2011-10-18T21:44:00.002-04:00

While Jamie stayed home with Andy, Kaylee and I went with some friends to the local Greek Festival. We didn't stay long - just long enough for the girls to jump in a bouncy house and go down a bouncy slide a few times, plus have dinner. Here's a cute photo of the 3 girls we took! Kaylee, Ellie & Delaney

Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-18T21:04:00.006-04:00

We took Kaylee, Andy & a friend (Erin) to Kinsey Family Farm on Saturday. We took pictures (obviously), tried to feed the catfish, but I guess they were stuffed (we could see some swimming just below the surface, but none came up to eat), tried to feed the goats and cows, but they didn't want the crackers (there were plenty lying on the ground by their feet), though they would munch on an apple we offered and picked out pumpkins!

We bought 7 pumpkins and an apple gourd (like the green "pumpkin" on the haystacks behind/above the kids in the first photos) that are currently sitting on our front steps (5 of the pumpkins are the tiny ones, so we didn't really go way overboard).

Kaylee has two identical pairs of shoes. I didn't realize until we'd been at the farm about an hour that she was wearing the two left ones! It didn't seem to bother her, at least.

Mystery Reader

2011-10-09T11:16:00.002-04:00

On Friday, Andy and I went to surprise Kaylee's class as the Mystery Reader (and baby guest). I took two of Kaylee's books and read them to the class at the end of their school day. It was fun to surprise her (and everyone) and to meet all the other kids.

2011 Atlanta Greek Festival

2011-10-06T15:59:00.005-04:00

Jamie spent the day with his dad and some friends at the Petit Le Mans (car race) while Kaylee, Andy, Baba and Aunt Sharon went to my parents' house to go to the Atlanta Greek Festival with them. Andy was not too thrilled with it; I think it was too loud, too cold, and too close to nap time for his taste! He did manage to get in a little nap in the stroller, at least.

Kaylee had fun on the rides. She liked the fast swing one best; it was the first and last one she rode and by the end it was getting pretty cold in the shade...as she was demonstrating with her "I'm freezing!" face as she was waiting to get off the ride.

Great first day!

2011-08-30T20:26:00.000-04:00

Kaylee had a great first day of her new preschool year today! When she got home, I asked her what she did and she said, "you have to look in my folder to see if you find a project!" That made me chuckle. She had made a fish out of her handprint. She said she got to play on the playground and she saw Cameron - the boy in her class last year she had a preschool crush on (every day we'd hear, "Cameron is so funny, he makes me laugh!"). He's not in her class this year, but I think they have playground time together sometimes, so we'll probably still hear about him from time to time.

First day of 3 year preschool

2011-08-30T09:53:00.004-04:00

Today is Kaylee's first day of 3 year preschool and she was SO excited to go this morning! She'll be going 4 days a week, Tues-Friday, from 9-1. She has an awesome teacher and I just know she'll have a wonderful year. I am her room mom...not sure what I'm getting into with all that, so we'll see if I'll be willing to do it again!! I am looking forward to seeing her this afternoon and hearing all about her first day!

Silly kids

2011-08-30T09:41:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures from a few days ago...Kaylee was being super silly hugging Andy and making him laugh, which would then make her laugh; it was very cute.

You can see Andy's tooth in the first one below, and his expression in the last photo just makes me laugh.

Destin 2011

2011-08-23T13:51:00.002-04:00

We came back to Miramar Beach in Destin, FL again this year; the house we rented is on a street literally one turn away from the beach house we rented last year when we came with two of my cousins and their families. This year it's just us - our first family vacation with just our family! Every trip we've taken with Kaylee so far has been with other family, too. It's been fun, crazy, hectic and tiring trying to get everybody ready to go. Then Andy's ready for a nap so one of us takes Kaylee to the beach or pool while the other stays with him until he wakes up. Andy, however, does not seem to like the beach. Not fond of the sand, cries when the water touches him and is not happy out there for more than about 5 minutes unless we're holding and/or playing with him. He's also not used to being out in the heat so much, so even in the shade of the umbrella and the little pop up tent we brought for him he gets all sweaty. Ah, well, maybe we'll try again in a year or two and it'll be better for him then.

The house we're in is so nice and very big for just us! We got a 3 bedroom so the kids each have their own room. Kaylee wanted the queen size bed and Andy's pack and play is in between 2 twin beds in the other room. The master is very large - at the end of the king bed is a pull-out twin sleeper loveseat; even with that pulled out and the armoire and desk at the end of the room, I would imagine there is plenty of space to walk around (we didn't pull out the sleeper). The master also has a little balcony off it. The downstairs is big, too - we weren't expecting such a large kitchen area, for one. It's nice, since we brought food from home (and made a little grocery run for a few things) and are just eating in. The dining area table seats 6 (or more, squeezed in) and the living room - once we scooted the coffee table over - has enough room to spread Andy's new little quilt out for his toys and leaves room for Kaylee to play.

Andy's first "real" food - peas! He loves it! He's also had baby banana yogurt, which he devours. So far so good on the eating. Oh, and he also likes puffs!

Our not-so-beach baby, in his few minutes of happiness at the beach before the crying started...

Jamie said it looks like Andy held out the camera and took his own picture here.

Mesmerized by the crashing waves...

Hot, sweaty and cranky if I put him down...then fell asleep on the walk back!

Kaylee wanted to be buried in the sand one day, then the next she wanted Jamie to be buried, too!

Quick photos before a thunderstorm hit (thunder and lightning as we walked back - luckily just a 5 minute walk and it wasn't right upon us yet).

While it rained we went to a souvenir shop around the corner. Kaylee finally found an orange dress - every time I wear my orange dress she says she wants one. We looked around and I saw this one. She started to get excited, then said, "but it has pictures on it!" (talking about the colors and stitching on it); I turned it around to see what the back looked like and she frowned, sighed and said, "pictures on the back, too? I want it to have this (pointing to the buttons on my dress) like yours!" I told her this was probably as close as we were going to get, and it didn't have to be exactly the same, but it was mostly the same color. She finally conceded that it was good enough, then seemed to get excited about it, even, wanting to put it on when we got back to the house. She also got the little frog bracelet she's wearing in the photo, and a glitter globe with a fish in it. (It's a snow globe but instead of "snow" it has glitter that floats around when you shake it.) Oh, she's also wearing some of my lipstick for the picture. Her usual "lipstick" is chapstick (that's what we call it for her so she thinks she's being more fancy...ssshhhhhh!).

Bud's 1/2 Birthday

2011-08-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

Andy is 6 months old today! A friend took some photos of him, Kaylee and some family shots on Saturday morning; we've seen a few but not all yet. Unfortunately Andy had woken early from his morning nap, so by the time we met her for photos he was not in the mood to smile much. I think she still got some good ones; we should see the rest within the week.

Yesterday I set up a "studio" in our garage using a curtain hung from the garage door rail and some comforters piled up on the floor (now freshly washed and back on the beds!). With the garage door open, it let in some really good light and I think I got some good shots, if I do say so myself. Playing around with them a little in Photoshop helped even more. I took most of the photos with just Andy while Kaylee napped, then she came out for a few at the end, but Andy was wearing down by then. Here are some of the best from yesterday; check back again soon for Saturday's!

More Things to Remember...

2011-08-04T20:52:00.006-04:00

Of course I thought of a few more things since my last post...and I'm sure there are more, but these are the 3 I have for now!

Instead of saying "fine," Kaylee says "find." e.g. on Sunday Jamie asked me to help him with something, but I had to put Andy down for his nap and put some laundry in the dryer first, which only took maybe 10 minutes. By the time I got back downstairs, he was almost done and Kaylee had helped him. She held up her hands (as if to stop me) and said, "don't worry, Mommy, we're find. I'm helping Daddy."

She makes food for us in her play kitchen. One of her favorite things to make is stoup (stewp?) - apparently it's a cross between stew and soup. And usually pretty tasty!

She calls Lightning McQueen (from Disney's "Cars") "Lightning BeeQueen." She's done that for a while (at least 2-3 months).

We were playing CandyLand last night and when Jamie picked a card that took him near the end of the trail he said, "sweet!" Kaylee pulled her card next and it was two blue squares. She said, "sweet!" and we all cracked up. Then she said, "why did Daddy say that?" We explained to her that was just a funny way of saying you really liked something, and reminded her that a character on one of her current favorite TV shows (Fresh Beat Band) says that on the show. So for the rest of the game, every card she pulled earned a "sweet!"

Last Art Class

2011-08-04T20:42:00.004-04:00

Kaylee's last art class was yesterday afternoon. As you can see, she made a toucan with a flower. Now we need to get crackin' on hanging them in her room! They've sort of been piling up as I waited for her to be done so we could figure out where to put them (her room v. play room). She already has 5-6 in her room, so we're running out of wall space in there...

BIG screen!

2011-08-04T20:35:00.004-04:00

Kaylee went to her first movie in a theater! We saw Winnie the Pooh yesterday morning while Daddy was at work and Baba stayed at home with Andy. Kaylee had a great time and enjoyed it all - the popcorn, the movie, the fruit snacks, the chocolate milk, the "big TV!" - and hugged her Pooh Bear the entire time.

On the way home she told me that we need to get a big TV like that for the play room. Then she can use that TV and Jamie and I can still use our other TV. She can also use our other TV, but we can't use hers unless ours is broken. Sure, seems fair.

Things To Remember

2011-07-27T20:01:00.001-04:00

Some cute/funny things Kaylee says and does at the moment...

She calls Andy "Bud" more often than not. Seems that nickname might stick. :)

She loves to dance crazy for Andy, while he watches her and laughs. Then we hear, "look, Bud likes it! He's laughing!"

Also, she likes to "make up dances" all the time. When music's on she'll come over and say, "look, I maked up a new dance!" then do some crazy moves. Tonight she said, "I maked up a new dance. It has to take a lot of practice." Then she did her "dance" and asked, "now can you do it?" Um, not that one, it was seriously crazy!

She calls the perfect curl of hair that hangs at the front of her head her "spring," and she's always telling me not to mess up her spring.

As of the past week or so she's mostly started calling them the right names, but somehow she would mix up words with "re" - the recycle bin was the "cycle bin," but Andy's baby monitor was his "remonitor," and she still calls erasing "rerasing" (or she needs to "rerase" or use the "reraser"). She also calls the "thermometer" a "remometer" or sometimes it's also a "remonitor."

She says, "I love you! I love you, too!" and/or we count - "I love you!" "I love you, too!" "I love you three!" etc. but after "I love you nine!" she says "I love you infinity!"

Art & Craziness

2011-07-27T19:53:00.006-04:00

Here's Kaylee with her under the sea artwork from today. The vertical(ish) lines are seaweed, as are the blobs of glitter glue. The fist are made from modeling clay and smashed down onto the paper (not sure how long that'll last if we hang it on her wall!). I think all the kids in her class enjoyed smashing the clay and sticking the googly eyeballs in the most. She only has one more art class left for the summer. I can't believe it's almost August already. She starts preschool in just over a month!

In the other pictures I was laying on my back and she was propping herself up on my bent knees being silly. I thought it was funny how her "spring" hung down.

New Bath Seat

2011-07-22T22:36:00.002-04:00

For tonight's bath, we decided to try putting Andy in the bumbo. Of course Kaylee had to have her turn in it once Andy was out...

Cake & Art

2011-07-21T22:01:00.007-04:00

Last weekend we went to my parents' house to celebrate my dad's birthday. Kaylee had a super fun time swimming and eating cake! She had a cake goatee after she finished, as she refuses to use a fork to eat cake.

Every art class (unless we're the last ones!), Kaylee gets to doodle with markers as we wait on others to arrive. Jamie got home early and we were able to leave Andy with him, so we got to class even earlier than usual and Kaylee got to do a lot of doodling as she was the second (out of just 4 this time, normally 5) to arrive. They also did 2 art projects this week, so she had 3 things to show off! The art on the left is her marker drawing, the one she's holding is a chameleon she fingerpainted to look like the chameleon in the book "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni, and the one on the right is "dot art" of a ship sailing on the sea...I guess it's sailing near the shore, since there's also a tree. The blue sea was made by painting on bubble wrap then pressing that on the paper. I thought that was a fun idea that turned out really well!

Mini Monet

2011-07-14T14:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's art class project was to copy Monet's Lily Pads painting. Here is Kaylee with her version...

More Pool

2011-07-09T23:31:00.001-04:00

We went to a neighborhood pool party this afternoon/evening. Kaylee spent at least 3 hours in the pool and even Andy seemed to enjoy it some this time. The water was pretty warm, even despite all the rain we've had this week, and was much more like his bath water temperature than the cooler water the last time he took a little dip. Kaylee got a new bikini and was eager to wear it and show it off. She loves it and told me, "it's okay if you see my belly sometimes, because that's what you're supposed to do when I wear my monkey bikini." I suppose that's true. Here are the (taken with my phone because I didn't think to bring a camera with all the other tons of bags we were taking) photos!

Kaylee was a little jealous of Andy's fun pool float, I guess. She spent about 10 minutes in it before she got tired of not being able to go wherever she wanted since she couldn't steer the thing.

Dinosaur Drawing

2011-07-05T13:06:00.004-04:00

This morning Kaylee watched a show called "Dinosaur Train" (great educational cartoon about dinosaurs on PBS; I've learned a lot watching it, too!). Afterwards she was drawing on her magnetic drawing board and then came to show me what she'd drawn. "Look, Mommy! I drawed a dinosaur!" I'm not sure if it was a blob she drew that she noticed looked like a dinosaur or if she was trying for a dino, but it does look like a T-Rex - even has a tail!

Happy July 4!

2011-07-04T22:03:00.008-04:00

Happy Independence Day, Americans! We had a fun weekend, filled with fireworks and festivities. Saturday night a church near us put on a great fireworks show, and had a huge inflatable slide and jumpy house for the kids. Kaylee went down the slide 7-8 times and was super sweaty all that climbing, sliding and running. Jamie went with her each time, too, so he was worn out, as well. :) We had brought some sparklers, so she did that right before they turned out all the parking lot/stadium lights for the fireworks to start. Kaylee was excited for them last year, but I think she enjoyed them even more this year. We enjoyed that we found a place so close! Last year it probably took about 40 minutes for us to get home because of all the traffic (for what otherwise would have been a 10-15 minute drive). This year there was NO traffic getting out. From the time the fireworks grand finale ended, we were home within 10 minutes, including packing up our chairs and walking back to the car. Definitely know where we're going from now on!!

Sunday night we went over to a neighbor's house for a cookout. Some of them were planning to go to the city's fireworks show, but decided to pass in the end, so we took the party outside to our cul-de-sac and stayed up until about 10:30. We were glad we'd taken Kaylee to the fireworks the night before. She would have been fine not seeing them, but she did have a great time so we were glad she got to enjoy them (even though we could see some over the houses as we were playing outside, wasn't the same as being there).

Today we just enjoyed a mostly lazy day at home. I took Kaylee out to ride her bike some. It was hot out today (July in GA...of course it was!), but we were out about 30 minutes. She is getting really good at it! She still needs a push sometimes to get started going uphill, but has come a long way in a short time, especially considering we haven't taken her out much because it's been so hot!! See our video blog for Kaylee in action on the bike!

On to the photos...I think Andy was upset that we were taking Kaylee to see fireworks, but leaving him behind with Jamie's mom. He slept through it all, though, so I'm pretty sure he will be okay. :)

The "shirt" Kaylee's wearing (above) is actually a 12-18 month size dress that she wore two years ago! I realized we didn't have any festive attire for her this year and went digging through her old clothes. Luckily we could pair this with some shorts and re-purpose the dress as a shirt this year.

Here's our happy little Andy on the 4th, and with Daddy, getting ready to head up to bed. Now sleeping soundly through night 3 of fireworks!!

Sweet Siblings

2011-06-30T08:42:00.004-04:00

Kaylee really does love her little brother! I think she calls him "Bud" as much as she calls him Andy, if not more. Common phrases are now, "where's Bud?" "Night-night, Bud!" "You're my favorite brother, Bud." So here are a few photos of Kaylee and Bud:

TV Zombies (they get this from their father...)

Kaylee reading to Andy. You can tell from Andy's expressions that "Play Time with Spot" is a very intense reading experience.

Bud loves it when Kaylee spends time with him!

Art Classes 3 & 4

2011-06-30T08:20:00.005-04:00

Last week there was a thunderstorm that knocked out power to the art classroom. So class was canceled and they had a makeup day for us on Tuesday this week. So Kaylee had art 2 days in a row! Here she is with her two latest creations.

This is her interpretation of Picasso's "Three Musicians"

This is a row of houses with fireworks bursting overhead. I think she used all black and dark blue glitter for the fireworks. And you can just see her American flag hiding on the left; it's on a flagpole, but that ended up behind the frame.

She's signed up for the next 4 week session of art, which will start the week after next. She's glad to have more to look forward to!

One picture (updated!)

2011-06-21T21:07:00.003-04:00

Here's a cute photo of Kaylee from today...

That's all!

Okay, I realize I wrote, "that's all," but remembered that this morning as I was trying to tame her bedhead, Kaylee said to me, "Mommy, don't mess up my spring!" referring to the one perfect curl she almost always has in front. The rest of her hair can be crazy out of control, but somehow that one "spring" is always there!

Cuddly gal

2011-06-16T21:49:00.004-04:00

We had to wake up Kaylee to get ready to go to a wedding on Saturday, and Jamie found her all cuddled with her favorite blankies, Froggie and Mimi. Froggie seems to be the toted-around favorite, but she went back and forth between Mimi and Froggie for a while before Froggie completely took over that role. Kaylee gives her a bad rap, but she is often cuddled with Mimi when we catch her still sleeping.

In case you're wondering about all her other blankets, she has quite a few and "needs" them all in bed with her (but just in a pile next to her pillow)...she has the aforementioned Froggie and Mimi, then there's Kitty, Hippo, bear blankie (aka Beary - Barry?), flower blankie, pink blankie, bee blankie, stripey blankie, special blankie and a little stuffed crab and yellow bear, too. So for those of you keeping track at home, that's 10 blankets and 2 stuffed animals she has to have to sleep. Luckily she only needs this at home and when she sleeps elsewhere she can make do with just one or two. My guess is once she moves to a full size bed (she's still in her crib converted to a daybed), she'll have to have the quilt that she uses as covers included in her blanket pile.

Andy is on his way to rivaling her...in his crib (soon to be removed once he starts rolling/scooting more!) he's got Mr. Monkey, Cuddle Monkey, Lambie, an elephant blankiet and Softie (aka Fake Softie, since it's called Softie because it looks like the favorite blanket ("Softie") of a friend of Kaylee's). Oh, and a stuffed dragon. So only 5 blankies and 1 stuffed animal thus far. Halfway there. We're apparently suckers for cute little blankies!

Art class #2

2011-06-09T16:02:00.002-04:00

Kaylee made an owl at yesterday's art class. No class next week, but back at it on the 22nd!

Pool Time!

2011-06-04T22:56:00.003-04:00

Kaylee's crazy spiral hair after being at the pool, and baby brother with his big blue eyes!

Stylin'

2011-06-04T13:07:00.002-04:00

Kaylee chose her outfit today...of course it coordinates, don't you see the flowers on everything?

Summer Art Classes

2011-06-03T13:03:00.004-04:00

Kaylee's taking art classes (8 classes total) through the county again this summer; she has the same instructor as last year, but is in the 3-4 year class (they work independently) instead of the 18-36 month class (a "Mom & Me" class). Her first class was Wednesday afternoon; here she is with the first completed project of the summer!

In case you can't tell, it's a sunset, whale and some sand with a crab on it (though the sand was supposed to go in the corner - now it's more like an island on which the whale is resting).

Pink Eye

2011-05-23T09:53:00.004-04:00

Kaylee's pink eye cleared up pretty quickly once we started using the eye drops, and she got her last dose last night. Of course yesterday my right eye was annoying me all day, then late afternoon I noticed it was pink/red and gunky. Great. So she got her last dose and I got my first! I was going to go to the doc this morning for a prescription, but I figured I could use the same drops...most likely I got it from her and since they worked for her, should work for me, too. Some friends said that their doctors had told them if anyone else in the family got it just to use the same drops, so that's what I'm doing. Save some copay and prescription money, as well as the time it would take to wait/see a doctor and wait/pick up the drops.

This morning I told Kaylee that her eyes were all better, but now one of mine was sick. Our conversation:
Kaylee: If your eye is sick, you might need some drops.
Me: I do. Since you're all done with yours, I'm going to use them now.
Kaylee: Don't worry, Mommy. There's plenty for both of us.

I hope so! I think there should be enough drops left, as long as it doesn't spread to my left eye. Also, when I told Kaylee I'd already put drops in for the morning, she got upset and said her eyes were still sick and she wanted drops in her eyes. Apparently she's okay sharing them with me, but does not like giving her things away - even if it's eye drops that she didn't ever want to do! (Note: she did not like getting the drops, but she did cooperate pretty well, especially considering we had to 2 drops/eye 3 times/day.)

Music Program

2011-05-22T14:36:00.006-04:00

Kaylee's music program at preschool was 5/12; her class sang 4 songs, and she did a great job with all of them and the hand movements, too. They sang Jesus Loves Me; Love, Love, Love the Lord; Lightning Bugs & 5 Little Monkeys. I took Andy, who slept through the whole program, waking up just after, and Kaylee's Baba, Gramma & Grampa came, too. Here she is all dressed up for her big performance. She even had her hair in a fancy ponytail for the occasion!

Friends from a 3 year class (Kaylee will be in that class next year), Erin & Olivia

Baba, Gramma, Grampa, Mommy & Kaylee

Flavors of Forsyth

2011-05-20T16:47:00.006-04:00

Last night we went to the Flavors of Forsyth, where various restaurants have booths set up and you can sample their foods. We ate a lot of yummy things, mostly trying food from places we hadn't been, and Kaylee was excited to have her photo taken in a fire truck and with the Chick-fil-A cow and Mellow Mushroom 'shroom (though she keeps calling it a pickle?!?). Andy slept in the stroller for a while, then enjoyed crowd watching.

School's out for summer!

2011-05-17T09:37:00.006-04:00

Kaylee is very excited about her last day of preschool today. I'm sure she'll have lots of fun with her friends, and they're having a pizza party lunch, but I think she's most excited about being able to go to the pool soon! Ours actually opened this past weekend. Last week the temperatures were in the 90s, but over the weekend it dropped down to 60s again and, while it's supposed to be back up in the 80s starting tomorrow (Wed), it's not exactly swimming weather with the water so cold.

I'm glad she is able to go to school today. Her eyes looked red on Saturday, but seemed to be clearing up on Sunday so we didn't take her anywhere. Then on Monday morning she woke up and said she couldn't open her eyes when she woke up, and when I saw her, there was a lot of crusty goop in her eyelashes and around her eyes, and her eyes were pretty red again. Jamie took her to the doctor and it is definitely pink eye! But we got some drops for her and the doc said she should stay in yesterday but would be fine to go to school today. I was happy to hear that - who wants to miss the last day of school? That's the most fun day of the school year!!

First day of preschool: 8/31/10 & last day of preschool: 5/17/11

Her hair sure has grown this year! It's partly pulled back today to keep it out of her eyes; they need as little extra irritation as possible, and she's got one curl in the front that bounces into her right eye.

Showtime?

2011-05-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

This morning Kaylee was looking through her DVDs...
Jamie: What are you doing?
Kaylee: Trying to find a show to watch.
Jamie: Who said you could watch a show?
Kaylee: Probably nobody, but I want to watch a show!

And so it begins...

2011-05-13T15:36:00.001-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T15:02:00.000-04:00

Me & my babies! These photos are actually from Saturday, but close enough to Mother's Day. :) Of course the two kids did fine for photos, but I blinked for all 3 takes before Andy got fussy. Oh, well.

Carrot stew

2011-05-08T14:22:00.004-04:00

Kaylee has this food set - the pieces stick together with velcro and can be cut apart with the wooden knife. A couple days ago she was playing with her kitchen while Jamie, Andy and I were in the other room when we heard a very scared-sounding scream and crying. Jamie could see her from the couch and said, "that's why you don't put toys in your mouth," as we both went in to see what happened. She had put a chunk of the carrot in her mouth, but somehow shoved it far enough in to get it wedged behind her teeth. Jamie had to turn it a bit and make her open her jaws wider to get it out. Didn't take long, but obviously she was scared! She's usually pretty good about not putting things in her mouth; not sure why she did that unless it was to get attention? In any event, I doubt she'll be doing that again any time soon!

First Dentist Visit

2011-05-04T15:25:00.006-04:00

Kaylee's first trip to the dentist was this morning. I took her while Jamie (working from home) stayed with a napping Andy. I sat in the waiting room while she went back for her cleaning. After that the dentist came out and introduced himself (Dr. Jason Bongiovi) and said Kaylee was the model patient, very mature for just having turned 3 and he wished all his younger patients were as calm and cooperative. He said they were next going to see if she would let them do x-rays and then I could come back to take a look at those and ask any questions. She did great with the x-rays, too, and the dentist said her teeth look great. We could see the middle four top and bottom permanent teeth already in there, but it'll be at least 2-3 years before she loses any baby teeth.

We had already started using a flouride toothpaste, as she will gargle, rinse and spit with no problems and doesn't swallow the toothpaste. (It's pretty funny to watch her gargle, though I guess gargling in general is a funny thing to watch...) We're supposed to start helping her floss, too, to prevent cavities forming in between teeth. He said it's best to help them brush (i.e. do most of the brushing for them) up to age 8. EIGHT! And he said really up to age 13 would be ideal, as kids get sloppy about brushing, but most kids won't let you help after about age 8. :) So we'll see. So far we do the brushing for her, but let her give it a shot before or after we're done if she's interested.

All in all it was a successful first visit to the dentist, and I'm very proud of her for being such a good patient, as well as going back for the entire appointment on her own! She was proud to show off her sticker, bouncy ball, weird stretchy toy and new toothbrush, and she was excited about getting new toothpaste and a little flosser, too. Ahh, the little things. She said she had fun at the dentist. Her next appointment is in November; let's hope she's still excited about it then!

Cooking in Style

2011-05-02T13:42:00.001-04:00

Kaylee's Great Aunt Sharon gave her this dress-up skirt in an Easter basket. She loves it, but maybe I should have her wear it *over* another skirt?!?

Easter Morning

2011-04-28T18:30:00.000-04:00

This one's actually from the day before Easter when we had a birthday party and our neighborhood egg hunt. Kaylee wanted to hold Andy and have me take their picture.

The Easter Bunny came to our house and left some goodies for the kids!

Kaylee had fun hunting for eggs and digging through hers and Andy's baskets...

...and Andy got to try on his new sunglasses. He's glad he won't have to borrow Kaylee's anymore! (The polka dot glasses photo is from the week before Easter when he wore some of hers.) And of course Kaylee got a new pair of shades, as well!

Egg Hunt #1

2011-04-28T16:41:00.005-04:00

Each class at Kaylee's preschool did an egg hunt on Good Friday. I took cookies and Easter goodie bags to her class and got there in time to watch them "hunt" - as you can see, it was challenging to find the eggs strewn about the grass. ;)

The kids all enjoyed the cookies afterward, too. I also took frosting so they could frost their cookies if they wanted (no one declined). All the other kids were done with theirs after just a few minutes, but Kaylee was still trying to spread the frosting on hers perfectly and wouldn't eat it until it was just right...just like her Mommy (I think I have corrupted her). The teachers were trying to clean everyone up so I finished spreading it for her so she'd have a chance to eat the cookie. Not sure what was going on with Kaylee's expression in the last photo, I was asking her to smile, and this was her reaction...weirdo.

Whatever it takes...

2011-04-25T16:40:00.004-04:00

These days Kaylee will say/do about anything to try to get out of napping or going to bed. Today when I told her it was nap time, she even said, "this playroom is a mess! We need to clean it first!" Hah. I assured her we could clean it after nap. We got up to her room and then she said, "I'm not sleepy." I told her she couldn't have a piece of her Easter candy for dessert if she didn't take a nap, and she'd have to go to bed early. "I want to go to bed early and I don't want any candy for dessert." *sigh* Somehow I got her to agree to a nap, though she insisted she wanted to sleep on the chair in her room. Usually when she starts out that way, she ends up moving to her bed for a nap, or (more often) not napping at all. Today she did nap, but I hadn't heard anything for 2.5 hours; when I went in to see if she was awake and just being quiet, I found this:

I think this is only the second nap she's actually taken in the chair...and she's quickly outgrowing it, as you can see by her leg hanging way over the edge.

Cousins

2011-04-20T23:12:00.002-04:00

We went to visit Robbie, Brooke and Mason today for lunch, and took some pictures of the kiddos together...6 day old Mason, 9 week old Andy and 3 year old Kaylee. Mason was the most cooperative for photos. :) Of course Kaylee wouldn't smile for the photos of all 3; I was hoping Robbie got one of them all looking decent, but really these are pretty funny!

Kaylee told Robbie and Brooke that she wanted to hold Mason for 10 hours. Made us laugh!

3 year well visit

2011-04-19T22:37:00.001-04:00

Kaylee's 3 year pediatrician appointment was Monday afternoon. Andy's 2 month appointment was the same time - luckily Jamie was able to come, so it wasn't as crazy as it could have been. But a drug rep was chatting with us as they weighed both kids and got Kaylee's height, so I don't know what her weight was (and they didn't give us any printouts with it listed this time) - it's been around 37lbs when we weigh her on our home scale. And she's 39" tall.

Jamie went with her to do her vision test and apparently she aced it - in part because she actually did it (covering one eye at a time and telling what shapes they see from a chart on the wall; seems most 3 year olds aren't too cooperative), and because she did get them right (though their butterfly shape apparently looks like a pretzel, because that's what she said for that one - Jamie said he and the tester both looked at it and agreed with her). They tested her ears and her right one passed, but left one did not - again, though I don't think they've tested since she was 11 months old. I'm not quite sure what that means; the pediatrician said her ears look fine (when she looked in with the otoscope), but based on the we might need to see an audiologist again. I need to call back and ask if we're supposed to take her to an audiologist for the more in-depth testing again or wait another year and see what the hearing test says at her 4 year checkup. She seems to be hearing and developing fine, and at the last audiologist appointment she had (at 11 months old), they told us she was hearing as well as a hearing aid would correct to, so they didn't recommend that we get one for her.

Surprise Meeting!

2011-04-18T19:40:00.001-04:00

Look who we ran into at the pediatrician's office today! Kaylee and Andy got to meet their new cousin Mason a couple days earlier than expected!

Thanks, Daddy!

2011-04-18T13:52:00.001-04:00

Kaylee has a great daddy! She was crying after Jamie left this morning because she wanted another goodbye hug and kiss. I said we could call and say bye again, but he was already on his way to work. On the phone she told him she really needed a hug and kiss, so he came back home to say goodbye to his girl again, and she was very happy!

Meet Cousin Mason!

2011-04-18T13:28:00.004-04:00

Sending a big welcome to new cousin Mason, and congratulations to proud parents Robbie and Brooke!

Mason Reed Caesar
4-14-11 @ 8:38am
8lb 2oz & 20.5"

Kaylee & Andy are excited to meet him later this week!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-18T13:27:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter! We took Kaylee and Andy to see the Easter Bunny on Saturday. Should have worn sunglasses - very bright!!

SOS! SOS!

2011-04-12T22:59:00.001-04:00

I keep forgetting to write it down, but I think it's so cute and funny that whenever Andy cries, Kaylee says, "we have to go save Andy!" She loves looking out for her little brother!

My Favorite Things

2011-04-08T15:41:00.003-04:00

My 2 favorite things! I like how Andy smiled for the pictures, too. :)

Divas and Bathtime

2011-04-06T21:29:00.003-04:00

Kaylee had a great time painting and decorating her "Diva Puppies" she got as a birthday gift from her friends Katie, Olivia & Kendall! You can see her one finished one in the first photo here, and she was painting the other two that day. She actually still has to finish decorating them, so more fun times to come. :) She was the one who put the necklace around her head "as my crown!" (and another that you can't see around her waist as her belt); apparently when painting Divas you have to accessorize like a diva yourself!

Bathtime with little brother Andy! Their first bath "together" - Kaylee thought it was very fun to have him in the big tub with her tonight.

Holy Smokes!

2011-04-05T11:38:00.002-04:00

Conversation between Erin (who will be 4 in July) & Kaylee (who turned 3 a week & a half ago)...

Erin: I'm 3!
Kaylee: I'm 3, too!
Erin: I'm gonna be 4!
Kaylee: Then I'm gonna be 4! We'll both be 4! Holy smokes!

3rd Birthday Party

2011-03-27T20:25:00.014-04:00

Kaylee's big birthday party with her friends was yesterday at Chick-fil-A. The one near us doesn't technically host parties, but they'll reserve tables for a big group and the kids get free ice cream with a meal purchase. Plus - best part? - the play area has sound proof glass from the dining area!! :-) (Well, best part was probably that I didn't have to clean up my house before and after the party, but the sound-proof play room at CFA was a close second!) Here are a ton of photos from the party!!!

Kaylee is THREE!

2011-03-25T13:29:00.006-04:00

Happy third birthday to my sweet, smart, funny, tantrum-throwing little girl! :) We gave Kaylee a dollhouse this morning and she was so excited about it. She had about 30 minutes to play with it before school, and she did not want to leave. I reminded her I was bringing cupcakes and Andy to her class after lunch today, so she relented, but ran right upstairs to play with it as soon as we got home from school.

Here are the cupcake-eating munchkins. I should say frosting-eating, as most left the cake part after devouring the frosting! Andy was the hit of the party, too - as soon as I got there, Kaylee was right by his side showing him off to everyone and after having their cupcakes, all the kids were fighting to sit next to him and watch him sleep - so exciting! :)

Kaylee shares a birthday with one of her teachers, Ms. Laural. She's sitting near Kaylee in one of the cupcake-eating photos.

Big sis, little (but big) brother

2011-03-23T21:29:00.000-04:00

I pulled our bumbo (the blue chair seen below) out of the basement today to see how Andy would do in it. I know we put Kaylee in it by 2 months, maybe earlier - I just remember a photo of her in it at 2 months - and since Andy's about the same size now that Kaylee was at 2 months, I thought I'd give it a shot. He did pretty well in it; holding his head up and looking around for a bit before starting to go all bobbly-head. Kaylee had to get in on the photo action, so here's a picture of Kaylee, 2 days shy of 3 years old, and Andy, 5 weeks.

Portrait Session

2011-03-18T12:42:00.002-04:00

Our neighbor, Joe Cole of Forrest Cole Photography, took some great newborn photos for us when Andy was 11 days old, as well as some of Kaylee and the family. Here are a few of our favorites!

Sharing & St. Patty's Day

2011-03-18T11:44:00.003-04:00

The other day Kaylee shared all her blankies with Andy; what a sweet sister. :-) I should have taken a photo from the side...the pile was probably about a foot high on top of the little guy!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I asked Kaylee if she wanted green eggs for breakfast, but she had already told Jamie she wanted a Pop Tart. Then she saw the new jar of pickles I'd just gotten and was so excited that she had to have some for breakfast. So she did end up eating something green. Pop Tarts and pickles...the breakfast of champions!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little lady in green!

Congrats from Preschool

2011-03-08T11:07:00.005-05:00

Kaylee's preschool director posted the following message on their website the week Andy was born:

Congratulations to the Caesar family on the birth of little Andy. Kaylee is such a proud BIG sister.

I thought that was very nice of them...and Kaylee IS such a proud big sister! :-)

Pic with Bro

2011-03-08T10:33:00.003-05:00

Last night Kaylee scooted her little chair next to where Andy was in his bouncy seat and she said, "take my picture with Andy!" Here it is:

Wow - when did she get so big?!??

Fun with baby brother

2011-02-28T21:57:00.001-05:00

Kaylee thought it would be funny to cuddle with Andy before naptime - she gave a big smile, then wanted a picture of her and Andy with them both "sleeping."

Loving Sisterhood

2011-02-23T14:41:00.003-05:00

Kaylee is doing very well as a big sister! She wants to help hold and feed Andy, and especially give him his pacifier when he cries. Here they are Monday morning; Andy just 6 days old (young?)...

Kaylee does have a bit of jealousy, though. Well, I think she's more upset that I can't pick her up and hold her right now than actually jealous of Andy, though occasionally when I hold him she'll come over with a sad expression on her face. I try to explain that I just have to heal for a little bit before I can hold her and play with her the same as before Andy was born. I think she sort of gets it, as she'll now sit by me and look sad, but when I tell her I can't hold her but we can cuddle, she'll say, "because your tummy is still sore from having Andy." I'm not sure who will be happier once I'm completely recovered: me or her! :)

All in all, though, she's coping very well with the change and mostly just wants to make sure Andy's okay all the time. The first thing she usually asks when she gets up or comes home from being away is, "where is Andy?" (Or, "where is my baby brother?") She likes to keep tabs on him!

Big Sis Kaylee!

2011-02-17T09:35:00.004-05:00

Kaylee would like to introduce her new baby brother, Andy!
Andrew Ryan Caesar made his arrival at 8:11am on Tuesday, 2-15-11.
8lb 9oz and 20.25"

Kaylee is super excited to be a big sister and loved holding and helping feed her baby brother!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T15:49:00.002-05:00

A cute picture of Kaylee from this morning. Happy early Valentine's Day!

Couldn't resist

2011-02-08T08:35:00.003-05:00

If Kaylee naps too late in the day, bedtime seems to come too early, so we usually wake her up by 4/4:15. This is what I found yesterday when I went in to get her. Couldn't resist taking a picture of my sleeping "baby."

New haircut the next morning

2011-01-31T08:28:00.006-05:00

Here are photos of Kaylee's haircut this morning. She's still excited about having it cut and I think it looks so much better already!! Even Jamie said, "it makes a bigger difference than I'd have thought." It was just so uneven, with longer pieces that wouldn't curl the same in the back and hung down/stuck out crazy. I'm glad she likes it, too! She keeps saying she's going to tell everyone about her new haircut!

First haircut...finally!

2011-01-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

Jamie finally agreed to let me trim Kaylee's scraggly curls in the back. Not that they weren't cute, but very uneven and crazy looking. :) So after her bath this evening, I trimmed somewhere between 2-3" off. We'll see how it looks tomorrow! She was excited to get it cut; I told her I'd cut it last night and then ran out of time. As I was leaving her room at bedtime, she said, "Mommy, wait! You didn't cut my hair! You have to cut my hair!" :) I told her we'd do it tonight, and she reminded me about it a few times today. So there was no getting around it!

Of course while she was really good and tried to stand still, she kept trying to look and was squirmy, so it took a few tries to trim it straight. Or at least mostly straight! With it being so curly, though, I wasn't too concerned about a precise straight cut. Here are some photos of the cutting...

Before...During...

And After! The last photo was after we towel dried it a little bit and it curled up. Within a few minutes it was even curlier and fluffier again. I'll try to remember to take and post a photo tomorrow of it all dry and hopefully less crazy than before!

2 & 2 to go!

2011-01-30T20:49:00.000-05:00

Someone asked yesterday if I thought I was carrying lower this time or if maybe Andy had already dropped. I haven't really paid attention to how I've been carrying him, but I had taken a photo yesterday and I looked at the photo I'd taken at 37 weeks when I was pregnant with Kaylee. Looks like 1-this is apparently my 37 week pregnancy photo sweater (I didn't realize it until I checked the old photo later, after I'd already taken the new one!) and 2-not sure if I've been carrying lower the whole time or if he's dropped (though breathing has gotten easier and I've had to pee more lately, so that could be), but my belly does seem to be lower this time.

2 weeks and 2 days until Kaylee's a big sister!

Just a big

2011-01-20T16:51:00.002-05:00

Kaylee told me, "when Andy comes, I'll be a big sister. Right now I'm just a big." Gotta love kid logic.

Jan 2011 Snow!

2011-01-10T16:08:00.006-05:00

We measured 5" of snow on our driveway this morning, and I think it was even a bit deeper than that in other places (some neighbors measured it at 6"). Kaylee didn't have school today anyway, but yesterday our county canceled school for today and I just saw an update that it's closed again tomorrow (Kaylee would have had school tomorrow). We went out in the snow with her for about an hour and a half this morning; when she finally had enough, she came in for a warm bath and hot cocoa. She had a great time playing out in the snow, though! She made about 20 snow angels, had fun falling down in the deep snow and sledding down a hill in a pool inner tube.

I made snow ice cream this morning and that's what we had for breakfast! (Along with some granola bars.) Kaylee loved that!

When we first walked outside, Kaylee's pants were gray. That lasted all of about 2 minutes, until she discovered how much she enjoyed falling down into the deep snow!

GA Aquarium

2011-01-04T21:52:00.008-05:00

Jamie had yesterday off work for New Year's, and we made a last-minute decision to take Kaylee to the GA Aquarium. The only aquarium she'd been to is the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg and she was only 7 months old when we were there. Big difference 2+ years makes! She was most excited to see the penguins and ride the whale slide over and over and over.

She loved crawling through a tunnel to get to see the penguins up close.

Not too sure about that giant turtle, but enjoyed checking out the "fishies!!" and sea worms.

Just one of many trips down the slide. Also, on the moving walkway with Daddy under the huge glass tunnel of fish, sharks, etc. A huge ray, a huger whale shark and ...not sure... trying to break into the tank?

She thought it was funny to lie in all the bubble openings and didn't want to leave to give others a turn! And when I told her the funny looking creature (below right) was a "sea dragon" she said, "what?!?!!" in a high-pitch voice - sort of like she was saying, "no way!" (I apparently say "what?!?!!" to her all the time when she says/does crazy things and she picked it up.) A woman standing next to us thought that was hilarious...it was pretty funny!

She was interested in touching the water, but did not want to touch any of the sea life (again, taking after Mommy?) She finally - reluctantly? - agreed to touch the little ray that kept swimming past. It kept swimming low/out of reach, but I think she eventually did reach it a time or two.

With the lionfish.

Cousins' Christmas

2011-01-04T21:44:00.005-05:00

On New Year's Day, we enjoyed a late Christmas celebration with my mom's (aka Gramma's) family. Here are a few photos of Kaylee and some of my cousins' kids. Caleb, Ethan, Ryker, Esther, Kaylee & Brennan.

Eating machine!

2010-12-29T18:39:00.000-05:00

Kaylee often comes up to us after finishing a meal or snack and says, "I'm still hungry!" (where "still" has 3 syllables and pitches - as in "sti-iii-iiilll") But what she really wants is more snack type food, fruit or a cookie/something sweet, even though she's not truly "hungry." This is what she just ate for dinner tonight...I seriously expected her to be done after the cookie, so I guess she really was hungry!

blueberries
slice of bologna
grape tomatoes
cookie (after which she asked, "what's for dessert?")
goldfish crackers
2 slices of pork tenderloin
1/2 banana

Her stomach made a funny noise a few minutes after she ate the banana and she laughed and said, "now I'm full!" Finally!

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-12-21T19:56:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday to Jesus! Like last year, our church gave out cake mix and frosting to the young kids so they could bake birthday cakes for Jesus' birthday. Of course Kaylee wanted to make them as soon as we got home, but I held her off until yesterday. When I went to get her in the morning I said, "good morning, sunshine!" She replied, "I'm ready to make cupcakes now!" and hopped out of bed. The kid does not miss a beat!

The first photo is at church; she's standing by a Christmas tree made of balloons. The rest, obviously, are from our baking, frosting and eating cupcake session...

Preschool Christmas Program

2010-12-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

Kaylee's preschool Christmas program was on Friday. She was one of two kids in her class who did the hand motions and sang along to the 3 songs they performed. Gramma, Grampa, Memaw & PawPaw also came to see her performance; she was very excited to see them all there!

With her friend Olivia, who is in the next class year, and Olivia's little sister, Kendall (their big sister, Katie, had school). The last photo is Kaylee being silly in the bathroom afterward.

Early Christmas Present

2010-12-19T16:55:00.003-05:00

Kaylee's Gramma & Grampa gave her a play kitchen for Christmas; because it's so big and it was already at our house, she got to open it last weekend when they were over (they stayed overnight so Jamie and I could go to his company holiday party). She loves it and shows everyone that comes over "MY NEW KITCHEN!!" A few pics from the weekend.

Early Christmas Photos

2010-12-10T15:12:00.004-05:00

Cookies I made for this year's neighborhood exchange; they were a hit with all the kids!

Kaylee and our Christmas tree!

Writer's Block

2010-12-01T19:05:00.004-05:00

Kaylee was sitting at her little table in the kitchen, staring at a blank piece of paper with a pen in her hand. She said, "Hmm. Let me think." (brief pause) "Oh, I have an idea! I can write my name!" Then she proceeded to try to write her name. i.e. she spelled her name while drawing lines and scribbles on the paper. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-27T21:46:00.006-05:00

Last weekend at the Christmas in Central Park craft show, Baba bought Kaylee a cute crocheted hat with a pink flower clip. She's worn it a few times already; sometimes for longer than others - after we laughed about her pulling it off the other day, she thinks it's funny to pull it off right after we put it on her. *Sigh* Here are some photos from Thanksgiving day and today (different bow/clip on the hat today). She's with Nate in a photo, Brennan & Uncle Mike in another & Baba in yet another!

Santa

2010-11-25T10:05:00.003-05:00

We went to see Santa again this year at the Christmas in Central Park craft show. Last year as we waited in line, Kaylee seemed excited to see him. Once she sat with him and Mrs. Claus, though, she got scared and Jamie and I had to get in the picture with her. This year we were first in line, and she again seemed excited - we'd been talking about seeing Santa for a while, and she wanted to tell him that she wants silly bands for Christmas - but we weren't sure what would happen once she sat with him again. She sat up there, told him what she wanted and smiled big for the camera!!

We saw Santa first, then shopped at the craft show and had lunch there, so it was 2+ hours after Santa that we left. On our way out of the parking lot, Kaylee said with a sad face, "Santa didn't give me any silly bands!" We had to explain that she had to tell him what she wanted and give him time to get it ready for her on Christmas morning if she was good until then. She seemed to be okay with that, but still wanted those silly bands that day.

Thanksgiving Feast

2010-11-25T09:34:00.004-05:00

Kaylee had her first preschool "program" last Friday. Gramma, Grampa, Baba & I went to have lunch with her. Her class came out and said a prayer before the meal, then we all ate together. I think she really enjoyed us coming to visit her at school! Here are a few pictures of our cute little pilgrim.

Fall Photos

2010-11-08T15:37:00.006-05:00

We did an outdoor photo session with a photographer last Sunday (Halloween morning); here are some of the photos from it. Thanks to Joe Cole of Forrest Cole Photography!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T22:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween from our little bee!!

Kaylee with Caroline & Mason

Taking inventory already after just a few houses!
Kaylee the bee and Lane the dinosaur.

Lane & Kaylee again; Shaun (knight), Kristin (angel), Kaylee & Lane

Running to the next house for MORE CANDY!
Brooke the dino had enough by night's end.
Kaylee enjoying a juice break on the walk home.

Quick stop at a neighbor's house for a photo with their decorations.
Inventory and consumption time back at the house!

Potty Update 2

2010-10-28T08:20:00.003-04:00

I know what some of you are thinking, "another bathroom update?" Hey, it's what's happening in Kaylee-land. Check back after the weekend for Halloween posts and pictures. At least I'm not posting pics of the potty stuff!!

Kaylee's had 48+ hours of dry diapers, Pull-Ups and panties, including at school, for naps and 2 overnights in a row! She wakes up in the morning and tells us, "I was holding it! I have a dry diaper!" Yesterday she even told me she had to go poop in the potty and did. I hope that catches on as quick as the rest.

Potty Update

2010-10-26T21:03:00.002-04:00

Kaylee had a dry Pull-Up/diaper all day, at school, out shopping (she did go in the bathroom at the store) and even through nap! She seems to have caught on very well how to "hold it" - she's been telling us when she has to go, and tonight she told us but I guess we were too slow...she went into her bathroom, took off her pants and Pull-Up and went all on her own before we could get in there! Still working on "#2" though she has done that on the toilet once recently. Looks like we may be rid of diapers earlier than we'd planned. Yay! (Of course right after we bought an economy box of them at Costco...)

A New Era

2010-10-21T09:09:00.003-04:00

Today is Kaylee's first day going to school in pull-ups instead of just diapers! She's been doing really well using the potty the past couple weeks. Even though we usually have to ask/remind her, she has told us and her teachers a few times. Hopefully it won't be a long, drawn out process, but we weren't really planning to start trying until we had a longer break from school (at Thanksgiving or Christmas). Glad she's doing so well!

Cumming Greek Festival

2010-10-16T15:37:00.002-04:00

We took Kaylee to the Cumming Greek Festival for lunch today. She enjoyed bouncing, sliding, dancing and eating! Even with her sunglasses on, she was shielding her eyes because it was very bright out, so first thing we did was buy her a hat (it says "Koukla" = "beautiful doll" in Greek).

Eating lots of Daddy's baklava sundae:

Apple Picking

2010-10-10T16:08:00.010-04:00

Kaylee sort of has enough hair now for a ponytail (pigtail?). She wanted to wear her new Halloween hair bow, so I put it in a ponytail for school on Friday. She then wanted to take pictures in our graveyard. I have more headstones, but need new ground stakes before I can put them out!

Yesterday we took Kaylee to Hillcrest Orchards, where she enjoyed apple cider, the petting zoo, a wagon ride and, of course, picking apples!

Petting the chick - she didn't want to hold it (probably safer for the chick!!). She enjoyed holding the kitten until it started slipping and tried to grab her leg with its claws, then she was all done holding kittens for the day!

This was her petting stance - ready to run if needed. As you'll see, one of the little goats startled her at one point and she did turn and run!

Riding the saddle horse and going down the big slide!

Family on a wagon ride, then apple picking! Kaylee insisted on carrying the bag herself, even though it was pretty heavy for her (as she told us a few times).

"Milking" Buttercup the cow:

Good pictures

2010-10-05T21:49:00.005-04:00

This evening after a walk around the neighborhood, Kaylee sat down on the steps and said, "I want to take a good picture with my pumpkins." I guess because the other day she was just making silly faces and I told her I wanted "a good picture." So here are the results of her "good picture" session:

Atlanta Greek Festival

2010-10-03T22:42:00.006-04:00

The annual Atlanta Greek Festival was this weekend, so we once again drove down to my parents' house and walked to the festival for a yummy lunch and good times with friends and family.

Kaylee relaxing on the way to Gramma & Grampa's house:

With her friend Ellie. They rode a spinning ride, a Ferris wheel & bounced together. Some of the bouncing shots cracked me up...you'll see!

On the way to the pastry shop to get cookies! And showing me how she takes a BIG bite of her yummy Greek cookie.

We went for a walk around 7 this evening. It was so nice out! Slight chill in the air, ahh. We all grabbed jackets or sweaters and walked around the neighborhood for a bit. Happy fall!!

Pumpkin Farm 2010

2010-10-02T21:56:00.005-04:00

This morning I took Kaylee back to the Kinsey Family Farm to pick out some pumpkins, take a hayride and feed the catfish. To her delight, there were also some goats to feed this year. Not much to write, I think the photos speak for themselves. :)

2.5 year checkup

2010-09-28T09:53:00.004-04:00

Kaylee's 2.5 year checkup was yesterday, and for the first time they measured her on the "big kid" equipment: the scale they stand on and standing against the wall for the measuring tape (which I think is more reliable than lying on the paper that gets crunched then stretched out when they actually measure). She is now 35 lbs (97%) and 37.5" tall (92%)...at her 2 year appointment they measured her as 37.75" which I thought was a little high. At any rate, the measurements should be more accurate from here on out.

On our way to the pediatrician's office, we passed Chick-fil-A and Kaylee said, "I want to go to Chick-fil-A. I don't want to go to the doctor, just Chick-fil-A!" Jamie wasn't going to be home for dinner anyway and I didn't have anything planned, so I told her if she was very good at the doctor we could go, but we had to see the doctor first. She said, "I'm am very good. I want chicken nuggets and fruit." (She doesn't say "I am" but "I'm am." :) ) She was very good, even with a 1/2 hour wait in between seeing the nurse and doctor (I guess that's what happens when you take a 4:30 appointment; they're backed up by then!). At her 2 year visit, she pretty much was weepy or crying the entire time a nurse or doctor was in the room with us, but this time she was happy the whole time, except for some crying for about a minute after she got a shot. They were out of flu shots, so she got the nasal flu mist instead, which I'm sure she preferred!, and just the one shot. She got a sticker at check out then we went to Chick-fil-A and she ate all her chicken nuggets and fruit. They have fall decorations up (scarecrows, pumpkins, etc) and Kaylee was quite excited about that, too. As I ordered, she went over to a big scarecrow display and danced around, so she was quite happy again, shot all but forgotten...until bath time when she saw the band-aid again and told Jamie about how she got a shot, but she was brave.

Too loud!

2010-09-28T09:32:00.000-04:00

This picture is from about a week ago; I had to go in and wake Kaylee for school, which the camera flash helped me with.

Saturday night we went to Kani House (a Japanese steakhouse) for Baba's birthday dinner. The chefs clang their spatulas and knives on the cooking surface and it's pretty loud. Kaylee did not like all the noise - she kept telling us, "it's too loud for me!" - and kept her hands over her ears nearly the entire time we were there! Even as she was eating (with her chopsticks, nonetheless!), she had one ear covered. She much preferred the rock garden, fish tank and waterfall in the lobby to the noisy dining room.

All better...we hope!

2010-09-13T09:28:00.003-04:00

Kaylee still had a fever last night when she went to bed, but she was acting more energetic than Saturday night/Sunday morning. She again climbed into bed on her own, said, "night-night" and went to sleep right away. She slept until 8:30 this morning, so I guess she really needed some sleep! We went in to get her when she woke up and she bounced out of bed like she usually does and was acting normal again. Her temperature was back down to normal and so far she seems to be better. Maybe just a 24 hour thing? In any case, we're happy she's doing well and as long as she doesn't spike a fever later today, she'll be fine to go to school tomorrow (kids have to be fever-free for at least 24 hours before returning to school after being sick). Sort of put a damper on our weekend and we skipped church yesterday, but at least she's not missing any school - and we have today for her to finish recovering before diving back into major activities.

Toddler Bed Update

2010-09-12T15:27:00.003-04:00

Kaylee's first night in the toddler bed, after her short crying spell, she slept well and didn't get out of bed until we went in to get her at 8am! She had been awake since a little after 7, but just talked and played in bed. We had told her she could only get out of bed if one of us or a grandparent was with her, and so far she's listened. She took a nap yesterday and stayed in until I got her, and this morning only climbed out of bed once I opened the door and went into her room. She's just woken up from her nap today and I can here her up there talking to her toys, but it sounds like she's still in bed. (Just got her and she was still lying in bed.)

Kaylee's had an off and on cold the past week (thanks, preschool!), and yesterday afternoon she wasn't feeling the greatest again. At 5pm we had a birthday party at Catch Air, which she loves, and she was excited to go, but once we got there she was very lethargic and only played with a couple things. A little boy (smaller than her, probably not too much younger, though) ran up to her and scratched her on the neck and after that it was all over for her. Lots of crying and she just clung to me the rest of the time we were there. I told her we could go home, but she really wanted to stay for the cake (and by cake, I mean frosting). So we stayed - which was a mistake, but at least she got her frosting. She took maybe 2 bites of pizza and ate the frosting off her piece of cake, but was crying most of the time before she got the cake (partly from seeing the cake and not getting to eat it yet).

Once we got home, I gave her a quick bath and put on her pj's for bed. As soon as they were on, she crawled into bed, said, "night-night," and that was that! I don't think that's ever happened (recently)! We usually read a book or two, play a game or sing songs, but she was worn out. She even went to bed an hour earlier than usual and I didn't hear a peep all night. She was even still quiet when I went in to get her at 8am, though she was awake.

This morning she was like a little zombie, and felt really warm. I took her temperature and it was 101.6 - her first fever! :( We gave her some Tylenol Cold a couple hours before nap and she perked up a little bit and didn't feel as warm. I just took her temperature again after nap and it's back up to 101.6 again. Grr. Hopefully it'll pass quickly and she'll be back to her normal crazy self soon!

Toddler Bed Time!

2010-09-10T20:08:00.005-04:00

It's been getting tougher lately for me to lift Kaylee into and out of her crib, and I figure it'll just get tougher as I get further into this pregnancy. So we decided to change Kaylee's crib to a bed. We debated going straight to a full size bed, since we didn't buy the toddler bed rail that goes with her crib (because they wanted as much as some toddler beds cost for just that rail!), but it seemed like too much of a change for her all at once, plus we'd have to buy a mattress and springs for her and just didn't want to do so right now! So we decided to turn the crib into a day bed and use a store bought bed rail on the side (a rail that we can later use on a full size bed if needed). I bought the rail today, took off the front piece (what will eventually be the foot board of her full size bed) and put the rail on. It seems secure and hopefully will work well. Kaylee got in and "tested" it by bouncing and rolling around before bedtime. She was very excited to have a toddler bed now! We were afraid she might climb in and out to play, but she's been up there nearly an hour on her own and we haven't heard a peep since we left. Knock on wood! Of course, she was probably super worn out after a day of school, no nap and a friend's excitement-filled birthday party. The real test might be nap time or bedtime tomorrow!!

Update: seems I spoke (err, wrote?) too soon. After just over an hour, she woke up crying, got out of bed and was wandering aimlessly in her dark bedroom. I put her back in bed and turned on a nightlight, which seems to have calmed her down some; she's still fussing a little, but I think she's staying in her bed...for now...

Preschool Prayer

2010-09-06T20:39:00.003-04:00

At Kaylee's school, the kids say a prayer before snack and lunch. The teacher told us they'll learn and say a different prayer each month (at least I think she said it changes monthly). Kaylee goes to school Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and she's only gone one week so far. Thursday afternoon and evening she was saying what sounded like a prayer, but just in bits and pieces, not all strung together. I didn't know the prayer but tried to help her piece together what I could - we pretty much put together the first part (all the "God made" things below), but she wasn't saying the "Thank you" parts. Friday after school she was reciting the entire thing in correct order, and she's saying it again now as she's in her crib to go to sleep for the night. Here's the prayer:

God made the sun.
God made the sea.
God made the fish.
And God made me.
Thank you for the sun.
Thank you for the sea.
Thank you for the fish.
And thank you for me.
Amen.

I thought it was pretty impressive that she already knows the entire thing and is reciting it all the way through correctly after just 3 days of learning it at school!