Christmas Pics

Here are Kylee's Christmas pics.

Give her Kisses!

Friday night while I was making dinner Mike and Kylee were playing. He took her into our room so she could "play w/ the baby". I kept hearing him tell her to "Give her kisses". Here is what I found them doing..... I was wondering why my mirror had little hand prints and slobber on it!

Snow day!

Friday we got about 8-10 inches of snow. Kylee and I stayed home.... I don't think we would have made it out of the driveway! Here is a pic of the snow when I opened up the front door.

1st certificate

Kylee and I had our last Mommy and me swim class tonight for the season. She got a certificate and everything. Kylee really enjoyed the pool and being around other kids. I think we will do it again.... but when it gets warmer! If we do another "mommy and me" class in the winter we will pick something that we can keep our clothes on for. We will miss our class but not going out into the cold.... could have been worse tomorrows forecast is calling for 8-12 inches!

Standing in her crib!

So today I put Kylee down for a nap in her crib. I wanted to make sure she fell asleep so I started to check me emails and was listening for silence. Well instead of silence all I hear is the rattling of her crib rail. I peak my head around the corner and to my surprise Kylee is STANDING in her crib! I had just uploaded pics to the computer the day before so my camera was on the desk. I grabbed it to take a pic of my little stinker after she pulled herself up by herself for the 1st time. Look at her, she is soooo proud of herself!

I guess that Mike was a crib diver and I hope that Kylee doesn't follow in her Daddy's footsteps! To be on the safe side Mike is going to lower the mattress in her crib. She has a wood floor in her room that I would hate for her to end up on!

Making Messes

Kylee now gets into everything. When she is awake we have to keep an eye on her at all times! She wants to touch, taste and explore EVERYTHING! Here is just one example, she is getting into Danny's old movies when we were babysitting Saturday night!

Kylee's Cookie from Santa

Stacy asked for a new video so her ya go.....
With the "treasure" Kylee got from Santa she got a small Mrs. Fields cookie. We gave it to her at lunch and she LOVED it! Based on how she ate the cookie I think that she is ready for stage 3 foods! We had Mexican for lunch in case you can't tell by the background music! LOL

Santa... the real deal!

Today Mike had the day off so we took Kylee back to Somerset to see Santa. We got there about 9:30 and only had to wait for 1 family in front of us. Kylee was such a good girl! She was all about talking to the other kids as she stood in line. Yes, I said stood.... that is all she wants to do these days! Anyway we got her picture taken. She didn't smile she was too busy checking Santa out! After they take your pics they let the kids pic coins out of a treasure chest. They can turn the coins in at different store for fun trinkets or sweets. She got a bookmark and a cookie from Mrs. Fields. We gave her the cookie at lunch and she LOVED it! I am glad that we went back today, the pics turned out well and Daddy got to go with us. Oh and of course she had to scratch her poor little head the day before pics!

Santa.... the 1st try

Saturday My Mom and I took Kylee to Somerset Mall to see Santa. We got there at noon and were told that they were already booked for the day. They booked up at 11 AM for all of that days appointments! They are open until 8 PM! That's just crazy! The girl told us if we were to came back Monday or Tuesday morning they wait would not be very long because most kids are in school. Mom and I left and went to O'tooles for lunch. They were having a "Brunch with Santa" so Kylee got her picture taken there. It's a pretty crappy pic so Somerset here we come.........

Oh and it was not really a big deal that Kylee didn't get to see Santa that day but can you imagine telling a 5 year old that they were going to see Santa that day and get there and not be able to! That would be one unhappy kid!

Nap Time

We have been putting Kylee in our bed at nap time. We can hear her better (we use the monitor at night) and she is all snuggley warm in there. The other day I went to get her up from her nap and Charlie had cuddled up in bed and was sleeping with her! They even look like they were holding hands! Too cute!

Kylee's 1st non family babysitter

Well December is a busy month! Mike is working a ton of hours and we have lots of things to do and get done. Last Thursday I went to the annual "Girls Christmas Party". The GCP is an event I started going to about 3 years ago. It is a lot of fun and each year the $$ raised goes to a charity. All the women in my family go and Mike had to work later then planned due to a last minute party so Becky (a long time friend of mine... and family in my eyes) babysat Kylee for a few hours. She had to feed her and do the whole nine yards! Becky said Kylee was great and they had fun.

1st Zweiback

Last night we gave Kylee her 1st zwieback biscuit. She liked that she was feeding herself and gummed it for about 15 minutes before she moved on to the next thing that caught her eye. I was pretty impressed that it held her attention for 15 minutes! She is a VERY busy girl!

Trying to walk

Kylee is now going through the stage where she doesn't want to crawl she wants to stand. When you put her down and try to get her to sit she arches her back to stand. She is starting to walk w/ someone holding her hands but can not even begin to stand on her own (she is just now sitting up on her own!) This is very frustrating to her to so Mike and I have to take turns walking her around!

Trimming the tree

Yesterday I put up our Christmas tree. I was going to wait because I thought that Kylee would want to "eat" everything on it but my Mom and Grandma have theirs up and she left them alone. We got a smaller tree this year (6 foot the old one was 7 1/2) so I was able to put it up on a box out of her reach. Since we downsized the tree we had a ton of ornaments to put on (I skipped on the gold this year) so it took a while. Kylee was really good the whole time! She was more about the boxes that what was in them! I am still working on Kylee's tree (need to get a small set of lights) and I will post that when it is done. Here is a pic of my silver, blue and white tree and one of Kylee excited that the tree is up. Now to start shopping and wrapping..... ahhhh!

Beans & Pickles

Yesterday at Thanksgiving my Aunt Mardel brought one of her Favorite pis of Danielle to dinner. The pic was taken when Dani was 6 months old and looks a lot like the pickle pic of Kylee (she was 6 months in that pic). One day (about 15 years ago) Mardel was snapping beans and Dani was sitting in her highchair wanting one.... so Mardel gave it to her and she stuck it in her mouth. It's funny how simalar the pics are! and yes we only have bald babies in our family (Mike's family has baldies too)

remember you can always click on a pic to make it bigger!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was Kylee 1st Thanksgiving. We are so thankful that we have her after 3 years of trying! She is the biggest joy in our lives and love watching grow. We are thankful for family and friends, near and far. We hope you all know we love you and we hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Today we went to Great Gram's for dinner. Gram did the turkey and stuffing and we all brought a dish. We ate dinner, watched football and then played some games. I got Kylee "turkey and broth" baby food so she could be like all the adults.... she HATED it. I don't blame her it smell NASTY! So she just ate the squash and fruit. We did let her try a little of the chocolate pie and she loved it.

I had her in a little turkey hat and gobble gobble bib, it didn't seem to bother her. She had fun playing with everyone and even wanted to join in the train game.

Guilt go to me and I replaced the pics w/ a layout.

Kylee meets the Wallet side of the family

Okay long story short I have not really kept in contact with my Dad's side of the family. That being said my Dad met Kylee for the first time on Sunday night. It made him a very happy man to be a Grandpa. Tonight Mike and I took Kylee over to meet my Grandma Wallet (her Great Grandma) and have dinner. Kylee and Great Grandma Wallet had a good time playing together. Over all it was a good family "reunion".

Go Blue...

Well Saturday was the U of M vs Ohio State game. Kylee wore her little Michigan cheerleading uniform to help cheer on her team. Even cousin Toby (she went to Michigan State) was cheering for U of M (something about if Ohio lost it would help State go to the rose bowl). None of it helped! Michigan got killed. Better luck next year

Hard at Work

Her is a pic of Kylee and Freida (the lady we help out during the day). Kylee loves to sit w/ Freida... it's crazy because she sits still for her and wiggles for everyone else. I think Kylee knows that Freida can't hold on to her so she sits still. Every afternoon we read a book together and then Kylee and Freida take a nap.

Kylee & Charlie.... High 5!

Kylee LOVES Charlie! She will take attention from him anyway she can get it! Tonight they were playing "high 5"!.... well at least that's how Kylee saw it! LOL .... and yes Charlie is declawed!
As you can see I really like that I can add videos here too. I know that some are kinda dark but I taped them spur of the moment!

Bath Time Fun!

Tonight when we gave Kylee a bath we taped it. We really love bath time!

7 months old!

WOW how time flies! Here is Kylee on the day she turned 7 months. She is sitting up really well now. We are working on drinking from a sippy cup, she gets more on her than in her mouth but she will get it. You can really see her teeth in one of the pics! (if you click on the pics it makes them bigger)

Kylee's New Trick

Kylee amazes us everyday by doing new things. Kylee can now make "raspberries"! I do it all of the time to her and she started doing it back last Thursday. It's cute ..... as long as there is not food involved! I took the video this morning before we got ready for church.

Oh and by the way it's snowing here. We had snow last week and it didn't stick but this time it did. BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Kylee & Reese

This is a pic of Kylee and her friend Reese. Reese goes to the same church as us and was born the day after Kylee (they are really only about 12 hours apart). The girls were only a few ounces apart at birth and have stayed that way ever since! They are soooo cute together! They reach out to each other and hold hands! Shannon (Reese's Mommy) and I love watching them grow, comparing notes and hope that they will be great friends as they grow up together!

Hunter Roth's Birthday Party

Last Sunday we went to the 3rd birthday party for Hunter, the son of my oldest friend. We had a great time... Kylee wanted to help open presents too. She was all about the paper... she should be fun at Christmas!

A star in the making!

I take Kylee in to get her "milestone" pics done (3, 6, 9 months) even though I take a ton of pics. I feel like if I don't I will regret it. I only buy the one pose package that I have the coupons for but I usually take her to Sears and JC Penny's. They are both in the mall so I change her outfit between and walk away with 2 poses and pics for less than twenty bucks.... totally working the system I know! LOL Anyway I picked up her pics from JCP today and they wanted me to sign a release form so they could use her pic! They are for sure going to use it in their studio but they are submitting it to corporate to see if they want to use it nationally! Pretty cool eh! The pic they used was a collage of about 6 pics and was really cute. I will get one of them soon and they will let me know if she will be used nationally as soon as they know (I'm sure it is a long shot!). The pic is the pose I picked from that sitting. I picked it because she is kinda crawling in it and that's what she is doing now. I don't think I have mentioned that... she has been doing the "Army crawl" for about a week and a half and now is starting to get her knees under her. oh and No, I don't think that we get paid for them using her pics... just bragging rights.

Mommy and Me swim class

Well yesterday Kylee and I started Mommy and Me swim classes. It is at my old high school (Waterford Mott) and the pool is only about 3 years old (yeah, they didn't have that when I was there!). Kylee had a ball! As soon as we got into the pool she was so happy to be around other kids! She was reaching out for them wanting to play. She is such a social butterfly... wonder where she gets that from? There are 4 girls and 1 boy in her class and they are all about the same age. It was really pretty cool. It is mostly for fun and to get them use to the water but we did do some exercises to help them swim. We tried to get them to blow bubbles... but Kylee wanted to eat the water as you will notice in the pic! We even put them under water (you didn't have to). Kylee was fine the whole time and never cried but did get a bit cold after awhile. She totally loved the water.....I think that she may be part fish!

Sunday Best

Kylee had on such a pretty dress for church on Sunday that I had to snap a few pics ......shocking I know! LOL

Playing in the leaves

Saturday it was a really nice day so I took Kylee outside to play in the leaves. She was not liking it to much. I don't think that she really knew what to make of it so she just laid there. Maybe she will like snow better.......

Kylee's Friend Sonny

As you know Kylee goes to work with me. Well the Walsh's have a dog named Sonny that Kylee LOVES! She wants to pet him all the time and he let's her. Today I caught them playing ball! Sonny has a ball that he likes to play fetch with and he was giving it to Kylee and she would pass it back to him. This went on for about 5 minutes. Kylee was just delighted that an animal would play with her since our cat Charlie won't go near her for more that a few seconds.

Halloween 2008

For Kylee's 1st Halloween we went to our church's Trunk or Treat. Great Gram, Grandma, Mommy & Kylee went early and Daddy met us when he got out of work. The weather was GREAT so Kylee got to be a fairy since we didn't have to bundle her up (she had a back up lady bug costume if it was cold). Every one thought that she was soooo cute and she had a great 1st Halloween.

Pumpkin Carving! 10/30/08

After our weekly family dinner at Great Gram's we all carved pumpkins! We mainly did it because it is Kylee's 1st Halloween... like she even cares! LOL You forget how gross it is cleaning them out if you haven't done it in a while! We laughed a ton and had a good time!

Just wondering .... does anyone read this?

Kylee's new "babysitters"!

Kylee and I go to church w/ the Martin's and they live next door. Sunday after church Lydia (6) wanted to come over and play with Kylee so Malachi (3) did too. It worked out GREAT! It got the kids out of the house so Amy could have some peace (she is 6 months preggo) and Lydia and Mali "watched" Kylee for me so I got some stuff done around the house! Don't worry I was in the house but she had someone to play w/ besides me so I got a few things done too. I think that this will be happening more often on Sundays!

... and no that is not what she wore to church! I changed her when we got home!

6 month DR appointment 10/23/08

Well I know I have to add some more from our TX trip. Since I want to try to keep this as current as I can I am going to come back to that. Since it is Fall and there are lots of other events and most of you have seen all of the TX photos via email I will post more later.

So Kylee had her 6 month DR appointment on 10/23/08. She got more shots but did really well! She now has 2 teeth and has for about a month (the second one came in about a week after the 1st one). She is 17 lbs 10 oz and 26 1/2 inches. She is in the 75 percentile. Kylee and her friend Reese that was born about 10 hours after and was about the same size when born are neck and neck with in 1/2 an inch and a few ounces so she is par for the course!

The morning of the doctor I had all of her toys pick up and was running her bath and we were off to the DR. Well since she had no toys to play with she wiggled over to her diaper bag and and got out the toys and every thing else that was in it! Little stinker! I guess she showed me!

Grammy

We all loved going to Marc and Wendy's wedding and it was awesome for Kylee to get to meet the rest of Mike's family. One of the best parts was we all got to spend time with Mike's mom (she lives in GA). It was great that Kylee got to see her Grammy again and we all wish that she was closer to us and we could see her all of the time! Oh and how cute is our little ham all dressed up for the wedding!

The car ride

Kylee had a great time in TX! She was such a good girl while we drove 12 hours a day for 2 days (both ways). She played w/ her toys and she loves the tags on things! She caught up on her reading and Mommy even let her try licorice! Mommy let her stay in her jammies so she was comfy (and that is rare because if she leaves the house she is dressed!) We got out to eat and stretch our legs as often as we could but she just went with the flow! We are so blessed to have such a good baby.

Pickles!

On our road trip from TX Mike let Kylee try a pickle! She LOVED it! She didn't make the yucky sour face at all! She is gonna have my taste buds and try everything.... at least we hope! LOL

Harvest Happenings 10/5/08

On a beautiful fall day after church we went to Hess-Hathaway park with our neighbors the Martins. They had rides for the kids, a petting zoo, pony rides, cider, doughnuts and more. Lydia and Malachi had a great time and I can't wait to take Kylee again next year when she can really enjoy it too.

1st tooth!

Well Kylee got her 1st tooth! It is the bottom left. She has been drooling like crazy lately so we knew it was coming but she was never really fussy so we didn't know it had popped through. I took her up to Mike's work yesterday and our waitress (Amanda) wanted to hold her so we let her. So Amanda had her on her lap (Lucky's was slow on a Monday) and Kylee start chomping on her hand. Amanda said oh she has her 1st tooth! I was like she does? and sure enough there it was. It had to have popped through that morning because I just felt her gums and there was nothing there. Nothing like a stranger (well she works with Mike) to let you know you baby has teeth. I kinda felt bad that she was the one to find it but like I said it must have just popped out. I tried to get a pic of it but Kylee was not having it! She kept pushing her tongue over it. So the pic is one that was taken over the weekend with our neighbor Malachi.

Cider Mill

Sunday we had a 4 generations trip to the cider mill (My Gram, My Mom, Me & Kylee). We went to Diehl's Cider mill in Milford. It was a warm fall day and they had some children dancing, crafters and fresh yummy cider & doughnuts!. The cider mill was packed. After checking out all the craft booths and waiting in line for 20 minutes for cider and doughnuts we left and went to Calasanti's to eat out doughnuts over looking the duck pond. My mom let Kylee try a doughnut but she didn't really want it... she was to busy checking out the duck pond!

Kylee's in her big crib!

Well we finally put Kylee in her big crib. We had her in a pack-n-play in our room up until now. We had her in there at first for middle of the night feedings and then because it was cooler downstairs then up in her room. So Friday night we put her upstairs in her own crib and she did really well. She slept all night (she has since about 2 months). We had the monitor on and when we went to get her in the morning she was her cheerful self! She is so happy when she wakes up! I think that it was harder on Mike and I then it was for her! We miss her in our room ... but she is getting bigger and it was time to move her up.

The Elk Pig Roast.

Well summer has come to a end in Michigan. We spent one of the last warm days at the Elk Pig Roast (9/20/08). We went early and hung out with friends and family. My mom made a ton of munchies to tide us over until the pig. Kylee really wanted to try what was on everyone's plates but she had to settle for her baby food. I did let her try a cracker until it started to crumble and I had to take it away before she choked! We had a really nice day.

Kylee & Charlie

Kylee would like nothing more but to have Charlie as her buddy! Charlie is our 8 year old cat that is use to being our baby! He is a good cat and is mellowing as he ages but he is still not all about Kylee. He likes to watch her from a far. In the last month has started to get closer but still likes to keep an arm length away from her. Once in a while, if we are on the floor or holding Kylee he will let her touch him for about 30 seconds and he is out of there. This makes Kylee squeal with delight. The other day while I was feeding her Charlie curled up on the other half of my lap and sat with us (she no longer wanted the baba she wanted the kitty!). I think that Charlie knows that Kylee is here to stay and she is growing on him.... at least until she can chase him around and pull his tail!

Got shoes?

Before Kylee was born I was given A TON of clothes for her. Since she has sooooo many clothes I have told my Mom not to buy her any so..... she buys shoes! Sometimes she buys outfits that match the shoes (because what would she ware with them if she didn't LOL). Luckily I am the type of Mom that has her dressed everyday head to toe and that means she always has shoes on! I must say that it's not just my Mom though because she has got shoes from other people too. Amy next door knows what a freak I am about dressing her and she even picks shoes up when they are on sale! LOL The pic is of shoes that she has had birth til now and it keeps growing! She has a bunch more that we have not even got out yet because they are still too big! SPOILED! I have been told that I am creating a monster! It may be cute now but when she is 13 and wants shoes for every outfit I'm screwed! It won't be bad, I'll just tell her to get a job! LOL Someone better have a spring baby girl so I can pass them on.... (Stef you should work on that!)

Kylee's 1st cold

Two weeks ago Kylee started doing this little cough. She started doing it on a family dinner night. I thought she was getting sick but as soon as my family heard it they were all like "she is faking it"! and "that's the sound her Daddy does for her"! As the night went on I came to see that they were totally right! Mike does this little cough/eh noise at her and it makes her laugh so she now does it when she is no longer the center of attention! so we were laughing at her.... and yup now she thinks it's funny too! She doesn't do it when you leave the room only when you are holding her and stop playing with her to talk to someone else. So we now have a 5 month old that fakes a cough to get attention (like she doesn't get enough). Can't wait to see what else Daddy teaches her! LOL

Oh and she has started sucking her thumb a bit, but she does it on the side of her mouth!

But on a more serious note....

The weather is changing in MI and she does have a bit of a stuffy nose. It started Friday and I didn't know if we should take her in for just a cold or wait it out. Her spirits have been great and it has not seemed to bother her to much. Yesterday Mike had the day off so I had him take her in just in case ( then we would know what our DR does for cold because I'm sure it is only the beginning of them as winter approaches). All is well the DR gave her an RX because she is still too small for over the counter and told us to wait 7-10 days to bring her in for colds in the future.

While at the DR she weighed 16 lbs 10 oz (3 days shy of 5 months) that means she has gained 1 lbs 3 oz in less than a month! Lil Chunk-a-Monk!

Therapy Baby

Well as most of you know I take care of an elderly woman M-F. Her name is Freida and she is 82 years old. She is the mother of one of my Mom's childhood friends and lives across the street from my Grandma. We are very lucky because I get to take Kylee with me everyday. Mike keeps her home on his days off for Daddy/Daughter time. So Kylee ends up coming to work with me 3 or 4 days a week and just lights up Freida's day. You have heard of therapy dogs... well she is a therapy baby! Kylee, Freida and I play all day (hence why she is a bit spoiled!) and have a ball! She is always is such a good mood and coo's and lets out these little shrikes that just make us laugh and that make Kylee laugh at us! The first thing Freida asks me when I walk in the door is "did you bring my baby?" If Freida is having a down day (she lost her husband of 62 years last month) Kylee makes her smile. I think Kylee knows how special she is to Freida because she will sit next to her on the couch for hours and play with her so nicely.... and she is such the busy wiggle worm I can barely get her to sit still to eat these days. Things happen for a reason and we are lucky that God put us all together!

Photo Shoot #4

Well yesterday we had a little time in the morning before work so we did a little photo shoot. I really wanted to do it outside but my flowers are dying and it has been wet here. Great Gram got her the little flower hat at the Ren Fest. Kylee did really well with the photos and she smiles more now but she really wants to move so sitting still for photos is NOT her favorite thing right now! She had a little melt down but we got through it. Oh and She was also coming down with the sniffles so she was drooling even more than normal... and normally she drools A TON! So her poor little shirt got pretty wet. All in all we got a few cute shots and that's all I can ask for. She is just too cute I can't help myself!

She had 2 new experiences this week.

September 8th she rolled from her tummy to her back. She has only done it a few times but she is getting better at it and that's a good thing because she hates being stuck on her belly!

September 11th she tried pears. She like them much better than cereal! I think we might move onto carrots next. We'll see how that goes.

Fun in the BIG bath tub

Opps! I forgot one along the way! Kylee took a bath in the "big bath tub" August 11th. It was the 1st and last time. She has a seat to sit in to hold her up but she can't reach any of her toys yet. I'm going to wait to do it again until she is bigger. It just seems like a waste of water at this point because she can't slpash or play with any of the toys. But when she is bigger I know it will be a blast because she loves the water!