Brennan Photos!

We visited Stephen, Steph and Brennan at the hospital this morning. Brennan is so tiny! Hard to believe Kaylee was ever that little... :-) Brennan slept pretty much the whole time we were there, though she did open her eyes for a few brief seconds so we could get a glimpse of her dark eyes - very dark blue/gray. (She shut them right when I got the camera ready, of course!!)

Shortly after we arrived, a doctor came in and asked if they were ready to head home today, and - without hesitation - they both said "yes!" We left before noon, and they were hoping to be on the road shortly after 1:00...it's 4:00 now so I'm guessing they're back home with Ethan by now. (Apparently Ethan was ready for them and Brennan to come home Thursday night - her birthday!)

Here are a few photos of my grandparents, Jamie and me with Brennan. I realized after we left that I didn't get a photo of Brennan with her parents!! Oops!

6 month checkup

Kaylee had her 6 month well visit today. She is now 18.5 lb and 27.25" long. According to the pediatrician, she's still perfect and adorable. (Have I mentioned we love our pediatrician??) The doc did not expect to see her sitting up so well, either - she has been doing very well with that lately. They also did an eye test that checks for lazy eye...she had electrodes stuck to the back of her head, forehead and temple, and wore an eye patch. I guess everything went well with that...? If not, I'm sure we'll get a call or find out next time. We didn't really find out any results today and were otherwise occupied with her vaccines so didn't think to ask. She did cry during the shots, and for a minute or so after I picked her up, but calmed down quickly again. It was naptime when we left, and she fell asleep in the car on the way home, then took a good nap at home, too. She will get a flu shot (2nd of 2) in a month and then her 9 month well visit is in early January.

By the way, the paper she's sitting on in the pic below was completely destroyed when she was done with it! She was having a blast crumpling it and tearing it. Who needs toys, right?? The other picture is from earlier in the week.

Another new cousin...it's a girl!!

My cousin Stephen and his wife Stephanie, along with big brother Ethan, welcomed their 8lb, 20.5" bundle of joy Brennan Marie yesterday at 12:44 pm! Congrats to the family!!

Jamie and I are taking my grandparents (Brennan's (and Kaylee's) great-grands) to visit tomorrow morning...I'm sure we will have photos to post here, so check back soon! (or if you're itching for photos now - click on Brennan's link, to the right)

"ahahahah...ahahahahah"

Sometimes when Kaylee starts "talking" I will put my hand on her mouth and pat it over and over to make it sound funny (funnier?) She'll usually only make the sounds 3-4 times at most, maybe going for about a minute with this "game." Last night my brother Jeff came over and I started doing this, but she kept doing it for at least 5 minutes or so. I said, "this would have been a funny video," and Jeff got the camera. I didn't expect her to keep it up for that much longer, but once he started recording, she went for another 3 minutes! We were both cracking up.

6 month photos!

Wow - Kaylee will be 6 months old on Thursday. My little baby is growing up too fast!!!

This past Saturday we took her for her first professional portraits - here are a few of the best shots. It was so hard to decide which to get printed...the photographer took nearly 150! Kaylee was an angel the whole time - even while we sat there for 30 minutes narrowing down our choices. She stayed up about an hour past her usual nap time and fell asleep about 8 minutes from home...luckily she transitioned to her crib just fine and slept great (we were afraid of a power nap situation!!).

We brought Kaylee's giraffe (Smacky) as a potential prop and almost forgot to use him. I put him in her lap and she sort of hugged him - so cute! I'm glad we did bring him, as that's one of our favorite pictures from the session.

They wanted to use the black with her red dress, but we vetoed the red and black right off the bat (Go Jackets!!!), and I am so glad because I love the way the green plaid dress shots turned out with the black background.

Redemption! :-)

Kaylee said "Mama" - yaay!! :)

Rawhide!

Kaylee's started rolling!!

Laugh, Spit, Eat, Talk, Play...

Kaylee has figured out how to blow raspberries. So I've spent most of the past few days with a layer of spit on me (in addition to the coating of drool that I usually wear). (Who came up with the raspberry phrase anyway? Kaylee also goes crazy when the "tickle finger" comes to tickle her neck.

Kaylee's getting better at the eating thing already! We just feed her about a tablespoon of rice cereal before her 2nd and 4th (last) bottles. She really opens wide and leans in for the food!

Today Kaylee started saying "dadadadada" - I think because she's started spitting and is now figuring out how to use her tongue to do different things and make different sounds. (I'm hoping she figures out the "mamamama" soon!!)

Yum, Yum!

Kaylee will be 6 months old on the 25th - less than 2 weeks from now! We had decided (based on her pediatrician's recommendation) to hold off on giving her any solid foods until 6 months since the earlier you start babies on solids, the more susceptible they are to allergies. And since both Jamie and I had lots of food (among other) allergies as babies/kids, we didn't want to put Kaylee at any greater risk than necessary. As we'll be feeding her solids so soon, and Jamie has to be out of town pretty much the next two weeks, I think he was afraid that I would start feeding her while he's away (I would have waited for him!), so we went ahead and gave her some rice cereal a couple times today. (We are still holding off on "real" foods - fruits & veggies - until after the doc's appointment on the 26th.)

She was a real champ at eating!! She only ate maybe a teaspoon of it the first go-round, but I don't think she was really hungry (she'd just had a bottle about an hour before). The next time we gave her some just before her bottle, and I think she would have kept eating if we'd let her. We still only gave her about a tablespoon, but she ate it all, and subsequently drank a bit less of her bottle.

Sittin' pretty

Kaylee sits up pretty well on her own, but still tips sometimes so I put the boppy around her so she won't bonk her head. She started laughing at something (I forget what) - as you can see in the last two photos, too cute!

Dogs & Strollers

Yesterday we went to see Kaylee's Uncle Robbie (Jamie's brother) & Aunt Brooke and their 2 dogs, Abby & Alex. Kaylee got a kick out of the dogs - could not keep her eyes off them!! (By the way, no, we will not be getting any dogs of our own - Jamie and I are not "dog people" - but Kaylee is free to enjoy others' dogs. :-) )

We got another umbrella stroller for Kaylee (Jamie didn't like the way the other one handled...). I put her in it to go for a walk tonight and she was so excited! She loves strolling around the neighborhood.

5 month difference!

What a difference 5 months makes! The first photo is from 4-2-08, second is from 8-30-08. Kaylee takes up the whole tub now! And enjoys bathtime much more. :-)

Are you ready for some football??

Kaylee's ready for football season! As you can see, she loves to be in the middle of the action, though she is a little hesitant to jump right in. She doesn't want to tear her clothes, like that one guy... (click photo to enlarge)

Lots o' pictures!

Kaylee and Smacky

Or as Jamie calls the giraffe since I spilled coffee on him the other day...Caramel Smackyatto



A friend told me about a consignment store in Cumming. I went on Thursday last week and again yesterday and got tons of great clothes for Kaylee at next-to-nothing prices!! The most expensive dresses were $5, most were $3 and $4. The outfits were $5-7. Also got her some pants, shoes and the umbrella stroller (just $7!!) in the photo way below. Most of the clothes are 18-24 month size, but a couple dresses are for this year and the outfits are for this winter. Oh, and two of the dresses (the last 2 dress photos) probably won't fit her until she's 4-5 years old, but at $4 each I couldn't resist!! She's going to be one well-dressed baby - watch out, Suri Cruise!! ;-)

Kaylee and Daddy yesterday evening - can you see her smile behind her gummy??

In her new stroller - she's getting so big!! She can also sit up pretty well on her own, but still tips sometimes.

:'-(

Yesterday we went to my parents' house for lunch, then stopped by my cousin's place to visit with them and their son (Nate - just over a month old). Kaylee napped okay at my parents' house, but a bit later than usual, then wouldn't nap at my cousin's, so she slept in the car for about 35 minutes and woke up just a few minutes before we got home. Jamie parked in the driveway and was getting some stuff from the trunk while I went to get Kaylee, who was so happy to see someone! There were a few bags in the seat beside her, so I took those inside first and dumped them in the kitchen, then went right back out to get her. I sat next to her and her face was turning red, her bottom lip was poking out and both eyes were filled with tears! It was so sad - I guess she thought we were just going to leave her out there. She didn't look scared like she does sometimes, just very upset that we might leave her all alone. She never actually cried (I was probably gone only a minute, if that), and she started smiling once I got back there and told her we wouldn't leave her, but smiling through watery eyes. Of course it was the cutest little sad face ever, but I'd rather just see her happy!!