Growing up fast!

Hello everyone!  Can't believe September is more than half over!  KJ turned 7 months on September 15th!  Not too much to update you on but let's see what's been happening.  KJ is really good at sitting up, and for long periods of time.  She likes to play with her toys and sees just how far she can lean over before falling onto her tummy.  She has been rolling over on her tummy when sleeping.  Guess she likes it there.  We think there is a second tooth coming so this position may be more comfortable?  Who knows.  She also likes to get up on all fours and rock back and forth.  I am sure it won't be too long before she figures out how to coordinate her arms and legs and start crawling! 

Here are more pics of KJ in her adorable USC dress!

Check out my one tooth!



Here is just a cute pic of KJ

Well, we have almost outgrown the infant car seat.  One of Mike's friend gave us their nice car seat that works until 65 pounds so we decided to start using it.  Since KJ can sit up now, that is what she wants to do.  The infant car seat makes her lay back which she doesn't want to do and gets upset.  The new car seat allows her to sit more upright and see more things around her.  She definitely likes it much better.  Plus, she was getting too heavy to carry around in that car seat!  So now when I go shopping, I just put her in the shopping cart with the cute cover that Barb got her.  Also, she sits in the high chair in the restaurant now.  She is growing up!

She loves to take drinks from our water glass also.  She is learning how to suck out of a straw too!  She also likes her sippy cup.  Again, she is still learning.  Her favorite thing is still her bottle!

Here is a pic of KJ playing with my iPad.  She loves to watch Baby First TV, especially if we are watching football.  Even though she doesn't mind watching football!

We went over to Aunt Barb's one day and KJ was sitting in the grass.  She wasn't quite sure what to think about it.  But she kept playing with it!

Here is a pic of Barb with her two babies!

Grandpa came to visit this last weekend.  Mike & his Dad went to the USC game.  We had a great time as always.  Grandpa enjoys his weekends with us.  He even rocked her to sleep while I was at work.  Good job Grandpa!

Here's the gang in their USC gear.

Here's a fun pic of Mike & KJ just playing around.  She loved sitting on his shoulders!

I only have one video to share with you this time.  KJ's new favorite game is playing Peek A Boo.

Firsts

Well I didn't think it would be a long time before posting again, but here it is the end of August already!  Guess we have been busy!  We have some new firsts this month!  KJ got her first tooth, can sit up on her own, and we had our first overnight stay in a hotel!  Whew!  More details later in the blog.


KJ turned 6 months old on August 15th!  Half a year!  Wow how time flies!  We have already started her on solid foods in addition to her formula.  She gets 2 solid meals a day and 2 bottles in between breakfast and dinner.  She has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, avocado, and pears.  She likes everything but the peas.   I don't blame her!  We are trying apples, squash and green beans next!  Obviously she is  a good eater!  She had her 6 month appt on Aug 19th.  Daddy got to take her since I worked the night before and was sleeping.  They had a fun day!  She weighed in at 18 lbs 2 oz (90th percentile), height was 27.5 in (97th percentile).  She got more shots too.  She did really well!

After I got up on that day, we headed down to Carlsbad to meet Grandpa Mike!  He had a really nice condo style room with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen!  KJ did really well on her overnight stay.  She slept in her pack n play.  We realized on Saturday that she had cut her first tooth!  The pediatrician mentioned she saw it but we could feel it on Saturday.   No wonder she had been a little crankier than usual.  Not as bad as I was expecting though.  We went to the San Diego Zoo.  It was my first time going and Mike hadn't been since he was a child!  KJ sat in her stroller without the car seat so she was facing forward.  She got to see a lot!  We saw koalas, elephants, a tiger, a lion, camels, and zebras,  just to name a few.  We were there 4 hours and still didn't see everything.  KJ was done so we figured we could always come back.  Maybe when Mindy comes to visit!

 Another first.  We put KJ in a swing at the park for the first time!  She didn't seem happy or unhappy at first.  Then we started swinging her higher and higher.  She started giggling! 

KJ has also been sitting up on her own these days.   We put her in her pack n play sometimes with a bunch of toys.  She will lean over to get them and still manage to stay in a sitting position.  But then sometimes she will fall over on her tummy.  She continues to play and have a good time.  She can scooch around but is not crawling yet.  I am sure it will be soon enough!

Here are a couple of videos of KJ laughing.  The second one was posted on FB already.  She loves to crack up at Daddy!  She doesn't crack up at Mommy like this!  So adorable!

Back to Work

Well folks the honeymoon is over!  Momma has to go back to work!  Actually I have been back to work 3 weeks already.  Some tears were shed that first day but I am doing much better now.  It really is like riding a bike.  I was nervous at first but one shift in and it was like I never left! 

Daddy takes great care of KJ on the weekends and Aunt Barb has been doing one shift during the week.  KJ loves Aunt Barb!  And actually Aunt Cyndi took care of her last week since Barb was busy at work.  I know they had lots of fun together.  Cyndi was the first to take KJ for a walk in the BOB stroller without use of the carseat!  She can sit up on her own now!  I have been sitting her in the shopping cart with the nice cover I got from Barb.  Its so cute!  I will have to remember to take a pic next time. 

Well two days after my last post, KJ turned 5 months!  She can now roll over both directions!  She is able to push up on her feet, turn to the side and somehow she manages to move forward!  Not exactly a crawl, but a scooch for sure.  Soon enough she will be crawling!  She is definitely more aware of her surroundings now.  She watches everything we do, like she is taking it all in.  She also started saying dada (she doesn't know what she is saying) and talks all the time.  Its sounds like she is talking in her own language.  So different than before.  And she moves her mouth up and down like she is talking.

On Sat, Aug 6th we attended two important birthday parties!  Griffin turns 1 on Aug 12th and we celebrated with a picnic in the park.  Jameson turned two on Aug 7th and we celebrated with them at the Flynns.  Here are a couple of pics.  Oh yeah, KJ LOVES water bottles so we let her try to drink from them.  It usually ends up all over her!

Here are a couple of videos for you to watch.  My next post will have more.  It won't be too long before I post again.


Here is KJ rolling over with Daddy





Here is one of her talking in her jumperoo



 More bouncing in her jumperoo

Kaylen's First Fourth of July

One year ago today my beautiful sister Mindy married the love of her life Rob in Jamaica!  What an amazing day that was!  Congratulations you two!  We love you so much!

Well we didn't get our pool fixed in time for the Fourth of July but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  Mike got some baby friendly fireworks for us.  We introduced KJ to sparklers and fireworks called the Black Widow and the Aquarium.  She was a little frightened but intrigued.  We just had a nice day at home.

We finally got our pool fixed on July 7th.  Mike spent a lot of time and chlorine to get the pool back to beautiful.  It looked the best its ever looked!  So we invited some friends over with their babies to enjoy their first times in the pool.  Ryan, Davina and Griffin came over and had a blast!  Fin loved the water!  Then Courtney and Kyla came over.  Kyla loved the water too!  KJ enjoyed her pool time but wasn't her perky self that day.  She learned to splash the water and would get upset when she splashed herself.

Another thing that happened  is KJ got her first official haircut!  Aunt Barb has had a salon in her house and I have such fond memories in that salon.  I remember as a child coming to CA and getting to do my hair in the salon and getting a shampoo in the bowl.  Well that salon as I know it is disappearing.  Guess its time to change the room for what Barb needs and get some upgrading.  So....I had to get KJ's hair cut in that salon!  Its not that she really needed it but we just trimmed it a little and made it even.  I have some hair for her memory book.



Aunt Barb got KJ a purple talking dog named Violet.  You can connect it to the computer and personalize it.  Its says her name.  She loves it!

Nanna & Poppi come to visit

Well most of you know that my mom (Nanna) and dad (Poppi) came from Texas to visit us!  This was Poppi's first time meeting KJ.  They quickly bonded.  We had such a great week!  They flew in on my birthday and when we got to my house, all of my family surprised me for my birthday!  They had balloons, dinner and a cake!  I felt really special and was truly surprised!  Many thanks to Barb, Cyndi, Tiff, Taylor, and Sharee!  Thank you for making my birthday very special.  The week just seemed to fly by.  Mike took off 3 days of work to spend time with us.  He and my Dad went golfing quite a few times and played Tiger Woods golf on the XBOX.  The boys had fun.  My Mom & I got to have some girly time and got pedicures and went shopping.  KJ just loved all the attention from Nanna & Poppi.  They would sing to her and play with her.  She really giggles a lot now and is so interactive.  Poppi taught her to stick her big toe in her mouth and now she is fascinated with her feet!

Mike & I took advantage of having grandparents in town and we went to have lunch and a movie!  We saw Hangover 2 and had some yummy sushi!  Thank you Nanna, Poppi & Barb!  It was a great date!   This next pic is one they took while we were gone.  One of my friends on FB said it looks like she is giving us the thumbs up and saying "Everything is good over here Mom!"

My mom, KJ and I went to Huntington Beach one day.  My mom loves the beach and she always needs to visit it while in town.  We had a nice stroll, took some pics and ate lunch outside.  What a nice day we had!  The boys were playing more golf that day.

While my parents were here Mike had set up an appointment with a guy to discuss fence options for our pool.  He was a really nice guy and was selling a very good product.  We were sold!  We didn't need to put in the fence for a few months but wanted to get a quote.  When my Dad saw what the quote was, he knew we couldn't pass up the deal.  So he offered to buy the fence for us!  Thank you Mom & Dad!  Now our pool is safe for kids!  You never know when KJ will start crawling and soon enough she will be walking!  Lucky for us, the guy was able to get the fence installed before my parents left.   Now we have a good lookin' fence around our pool!

Now if we could just get the pool in working condition again!  The part was supposed to be here already but now won't be here till next week.  I was sad that Nanna & Poppi couldn't have pool time with KJ.  Guess there is always next time.  Now its 4th of July weekend and our pool still isn't fixed!  Ughhhh!!!!  It's hot outside!  Well, not as hot as Texas!


We had such a great time with Nanna & Poppi!  We were sad to see them go.  When KJ and I got home, I swear she was looking around for them!  "Where did everyone go?"

Here is a video of KJ falling asleep.




And here is a video of Nanna & Poppi singing "Down in the Meadow" which is a song they used  to sing to Mindy & I.  We changed the "fishes" to "beavers"....it just seems appropriate.

Happy 4 months & Happy First Father's Day!

Kaylen is 4 months old now!  Where has the time gone?  She makes us smile everyday.  She had her 4 month pediatrician appt which went well.  She now weighs 15 pounds 4 ounces and is 26 inches tall!  She is in the 97th percentile for height and 85th for weight.  She cried with her shots but was fine a couple of minutes after.  Dr Bennett was pleased with her progress.  We are so happy to have a healthy baby!

We celebrated Mike's first Father's Day!  Grandpa was here too!  Such a treat.  We had a nice brunch on the water and played in the pool for a little while.  Grandpa and Kaylen got to know each other much better.  Such a nice relaxing weekend.  And the boys took me out for a sushi birthday dinner and I got an iPad for my birthday!  I am so spoiled!

My parents are flying in today from Texas.  This will be Poppi's first time meeting Kaylen!  More adventures to come!