Kylie May smiled for the camera today 327

We woke up and had breakfast, went on a walk, took a nap and sat down for lunch. This is when I started take photos of my little pumpkin. She was just looking so sweet. Then I decided to make her a little crown out of construction paper I happened to have sitting at the table. Then I decided that I might as well take some photos and see if we can get a good one to use for her birthday invitations... and the rest is history. Other then taking a ton of photos, Kylie played, napped and took another little bike ride, this time to downtown to say hi to Marisa, Neils, Raine and Sunny (they were in town at a midwife appointment, Marisa was due yesterday with baby #3, Sky). We came home and Auntie Melissa fed Kylie dinner while Craig and I both got ready for work (Craig and the hospital, me at the studio). My dad came over to help watch Kylie and they enjoyed playing and reading until I got home. Kylie fell asleep and I got a surge of domestic energy and made chocolate chip cookies! Our oven acts up sometimes and sure enough my first batch suffered the consequences. Although we set the oven at 350, every once in a while is just keeps creeping up and finds itself at 450 burning the cookies. Once we let the oven cool back down a little I tried again. In the end I was successful and now have a couple plates of cookies waiting to greet Craig when he gets home in the morning. It has been hard having him gone so much, only 15 more days to go :o)

More to come soon,
Natalie

"Hello Mommy"

"Look a Bow Wow"

"HI Bow Wow"

Kylie, how old are you going to be on your birthday? "One"

"Or was it 5?"

"No, I'm pretty sure it was 1"

"Yummmm lunch is so good"

"Nothing can stop me when I am pushing my wagon and wearing my crown!"

She loves looking at all the painted rocks, thank you again to everyone who contributed, it is truly one of my favorite parts of our home.

Since Daddy didn't get to see her crown during the day, she decided she could wear it for him during dinner :o)

Kylie May went riding today 326

Kylie had a great day today. She started the morning waking up to both her mommy and daddy's smiling faces, yep, Craig was sent home early (5am) so he was able to climb in bed and be there when our sweet one opened her eyes, such a treat! We got up and headed to have breakfast with my parents and two friends in the middle of a trip around the world, they are here in the US for a couple weeks and staying with my parents for a bit. Then we headed to Barnes and Nobel for story time. Although Kylie doesn't really pay much attention to the stories, she really enjoys seeing the other kids. One little boy sat next to Kylie, she was so interested in him she kept touching his hair and patting his back, she loved it and wanted her to sit on his lap, so sweet. Then we came home and Miss May took a nap! Without much fuss either, yeah! We had lunch then my dad came over to help us install Kylie's kid seat to the back on my bike. Once it was all put together, Kylie went on her first bike ride. She was not so sure about the helmet, but she seemed to enjoy riding around. A bike ride to Mimi and Papa's and a little snack then it was back home far another nap! Amazing! This time she slept so well I actually had to wake her up so we could go to my parents for dinner. We had a delicious dinner, said good bye to daddy again and snuggled in to watch Downton Abby, what an episode! Tomorrow will be another fun day, hopefully the weather is good and we can take another little bike ride.

More to come soon,
Natalie

"So this bad is supposed to keep me from falling out?"

"And explain this funny hat to me again?"

Kylie May eats black beans today 325

Craig is working again, so I am left to tell you about our day...

We had breakfast and dinner as a family, those are some of the best parts of our day, for sure. Between these wonderful meals there was a walk, a nap, a quick trip to my work (at the hospital), a surprise visit to Auntie Johanna (who works at the hospital), a trip to the chiropractor and lots of play time. Kylie is talking so much these days, she is putting a lot of different sounds together and it sounds like she is speaking, it's just a language none of us know. She has a few favorite books that she pulls out of her bookshelf everyday, the top two have lots of babies in them. She points to the babies, smiles and then kisses the page, she is so sweet. Her affection has even spread to her Cabbage Patch Kid Macy, she is still not so sure about her hair, but she hugs her and gives her kisses too. The past few days Kylie has been a finicky eater, we have recently introduced quinoa, black beans and ground red meat, she loved the beans but was not so sure of the other two. She still loves avocado, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and blueberries. Her 7 teeth are doing great and she is still working on her 8th. With such bad sickness going around we are hoping she makes it through with out getting anything, she seems healthy and strong and I am still nursing her about every 3 hours, so we will keep our fingers crossed.

Here are a few photos I took over the past two days...

More to come soon,
Natalie

Playtime with Auntie Melissa, gotta love that sweet smile!

Watching a bird in the backyard

She loves kisses from her Auntie Melissa

Kylie loves to grab a whipe when I am changing her, today, after I changed her I went to put the diaper in the washer and when I came back this is what I found. She was still laying right where I had left her with the whipe in pieces around her, there was even a little bit in her mouth, she reminded me of a puppy.

Everyone loves a good nap time.

Kylie May hangs out today 324

This was a typical Sunday for Miss Kylie May. We woke up and headed to church where Kylie decided she was not interested in staying in the playroom with the other babies, she wanted to hang out with mom and dad instead. Hanging out with mom and dad quickly turned into crawling around the floor between the tables, until she discovered a very big "bow wow" (Kylie now says this every time she sees or hears a dog). One of our church members has a beautiful and sweet service dog, Kylie crawled right over, she would get almost close enough to touch the dog and then she would pull away laughing, it was so cute. She kept pointing and saying "bow wow" over and over.
We made a quick stop at Trader Joe's then home for lunch and a nap. Kylie and I took a nice walk outside, did a little rearranging and cleaning, read some books and walked back and forth across the living room pushing her little wagon. Then it was time for another nap, dinner, good bye to daddy, bath and bed. So I thought, but Kylie was not so sure about the bed part, when Kylie gets two naps in she tends to stay up a little later. So she played, read some more books, walked and crawled all over the living room and finally, around 9 she was starting to get sleepy. She has woken a few times, but once I am snuggled in with her I think she will sleep well. Around 11pm the rain outside turned in to hail and the wind picked up, it was so loud in our room I thought Kylie would wake for sure, but she slept right through it, yeah.

More to come soon,
Natalie

Kylie May attends another baby shower today 323

Today Kylie attended her fourth baby shower, fourth? Yep, when she was in my tummy she attended a baby shower for twins Lulu and Tilly (who's first birthday we recently attended) on that same day she attended her own shower at our house in Redlands. About 4 weeks after she was born she attended a second shower for her in Porterville and today, at 10.5 months old, she attended a shower for Jonathan and Raquel (co-workers at Fox dance studio). Raquel is due on March 6th (I'm hoping Kylie ends up with a birthday buddy and the baby is born on the 9th), today she and Jonathan were showered with gifts and love as they celebrated the upcoming arrival of baby Alexander. Kylie had such a great time! There were multiple other kids there and a couple just about the same age as Kylie. Auntie Melissa came with and took care of Kylie so I could take some photos of the party. After a mellow morning, talking a walk, eating and taking a nap, Kylie was rested and ready for all the fun and excitement at the shower. We came home after the shower hoping she would take an afternoon nap, no such luck. Instead we played, ate dinner, skipped the bath and headed for bed. She woke up once around 8pm and it's now 12:30 and she is still asleep, wow! I hardly knew what to do with myself, Melissa and I made cookies, watched a movie and still had time to watch about 5 epsodes of "Say Yes to the Dress!" Now I am just hoping I can finish this entry and jump in bed before she wakes. I did recently go check on her and she is completley upside down in the bed, with her blankets kicked to the floor, silly girl. Overall we had a really great day, it was fun to see Raquel and her cute belly, makes me remember how much I loved being pregnant just one year ago, time goes by too fast.

More to come soon,
Natalie

Kylie taking every book out of her bookshelf yesterday

Kylie made friends at the shower with Vincent (almost 10 months old)

Raquel and Jon

Kylie May's drizzly day 322

Last week we thought Spring had come early, but not so fast, it's winter again (well as much "winter" as you can have in Southern California). We woke up to a drizzly morning that continued throughout the day. Kylie and I headed to our yoga class, two of my coworkers that just had babies came, it was really fun. We have lost Kylie's amber teething necklace, so today we bought her a new one. We think she is working on a few more teeth, so we hope this will help. When we got home we had a yummy lunch and took a long (2.5 hours) nap together, it's always wonderful to sleep when it's rainy outside. When we woke up we had just enough time to play, dance around the living room, read a couple books then it was time for dinner. Craig headed to another night at work, Melissa headed to yoga and I headed to teach at the BI, but what about Kylie? Since my mom and dad left for San Fransisco today, I called upon my good friend (and boss) Kerry! She was able to come watch Kylie until Melissa got back from yoga. Kylie enjoyed playing with Kerry, she didn't hesitate in waving "good-bye" to me when I left, and I guess she continued to wave every time she heard a car drive by, sweet girl. Another cute "Kylie moment" happened this evening before Craig left for work, Craig was holding Kylie and she leaned in to give him a kiss (she is getting very good at giving kisses, sometimes she even remembers to keep her mouth closed :o)) once she kissed him she looked to me and leaned in to give me a kiss. We all stood there hugging while Kylie took turns kissing each of us for about 3 minutes, it was so sweet! It was as if she was telling us how much she loves it when we are all together, we hear you little one, we love it too!

More to come soon,
Natalie 

this is the space-aged strolled we found yesterday, Kylie loved the handle

Yeah for yoga class

Kylie May got to see Uncle Kyle today 321

At about 3am last night my charge nurse asked if there was anyone willing to go home...what?...go home...me please!!!!!! So sure enough she let me pack up and head out. I text my parents on the way to coordinate picking up the little pumpkin, but as it turns out she sleeps like a little rock over there. As grandmas and grandpas should, they let Kylie stay up way past her bed time :o) once she finally fell asleep at 10pm she slept until 1am, took a bottle of breastmilk and went back to sleep until 6!! Wow, where is that amazing sleep schedule for mommy and daddy? So I headed home and enjoyed being in the same house asleep at the same time as my husband, it's the small things in life that bring such joy.

So this morning we picked up Kylie and headed down to meet Kyle in Temecula. Since I dropped my camera, Kyle was willing to let me borrow his for the next few weeks. We met him at a wonderful little diner. It was so fun to have brunch all together, we miss seeing Kyle everyday. Kylie took a little time to remember her uncle, but gave him lots of smiles and kisses before the end of our visit.

Next stop Buy Buy Baby, Bed Bath and Beyond's children's store. It is in Temecula and we have been wanting to check it out for some time now, and wow there was a lot to check out. Kylie enjoyed testing out a few different space-age strollers and looking at the baby dolls, of course. While Craig and I felt like kids in a candy store. So much fun (however much of it totally unnessary). So we left with only two small purchases, a second attempt at finding a pacifier that Kylie might take to as a sleep aid (although if she would sleep like she does for my mom and dad it would be a different story) and a little bath bucket that is suposed to help you rinse the shampoo out without pouring water in the eyes. I know it seems like a silly purchase, but Kylie loves bath time until we have to rinse out her hair, she moves and fusses and inevitably ends up with water down her face. So we thought it was worth the $5 investiment.

Another delicious dinner hosted by my parents, Craig off to work (the first in his 24 out of 25 day stretch) lots of playing, moving furniture, home for a bath (the new bath bucket was ok but will take some practice) bed time story and nursing to sleep (not without an attempt to get her to take the pacifier, massive fail). She has been asleep since 10pm, so I am hoping she wakes up to nurse then goes back to sleep until 6 :o) we will see.

More to come soon,
Natalie

Princess Kylie during her walk yesterday.

Showing her baby doll all the fun things you see on a walk.

enjoying dinner at Mimi and Papa's last night.

Yeah Uncle Kyle!

"I think I will have scrambled eggs and avocado, what about you Uncle Kyle?"

 

This video was during an early breakfast at my parents this morning. Before we got this video, Kylie was playing peek-a-boo with the cloth napkin, she would pull it down, smile, then lean over and give a baby doll a kiss on the head, then she would hide again, it was so sweet!

Kylie May Scrubs and Grubs Day 320

A night off! What that really means is that I didn't have to sleep the day just to stumble through another graveyard shift.  Instead, I got to hang out with a little 10-month old, who's engine puts Seabiscuit to shame.  Kylie May is getting better at understanding the lost art of relaxation, but it doesn't come often.   I did get a couple small moments though where she sat on my lap (book or toy in hand) and just laid her head back on my chest and sat quietly for 22 seconds (only a rough estimate).  In that 22 seconds she pretty much wrapped this dad around her little (but very long) finger.

So...22 seconds of the day down...that leaves...hmm..at least 3 more hours in the day, right?  That was enough time for us to hitch up the wagon and hit the neighborhood. What did we hitch it to? The team of mules of course (aka Nat and I).  The weather was great today, albeit a little bit cloudy and looking like rain.  That didn't bother the mini princess though, because the only cloud she was worried about was the one she was sitting on, cloud 9.  She sat in that wagon like she was Queen of the world, the wagon was her throne, and Karly (her baby doll) was the court jester.  Once again, the wee wagonner may have missed the "relaxing" part of "Hey Kylie. Lets go on a relaxing wagon ride", but she loved it nonetheless.  She talked with the neighbors, chased a couple cats, ate some Cheerios, and blabbed on and on about President Obama's inauguration speech.  Really everything you could ask for in a jaunt around town.

After any hard days work (which is exactly what this was for Mayday), some good eating is necessary.  Gpa Gene and Gma Carol obliged. They fed Kylie (and us) a royal feast of peas, greenbeans, butter nut squash, rice, and lentils.  Full belly and all the little halfling must have felt in debt for such a good meal because she spent about 20 minutes after dinner scrubbing (with the paper towel that cleaned her hands and mouth) Mimi and Papa's carpet and tile.  I'm sure they were grateful to get the carpet cleaned.

A funny thing happened after we ate. Nat went to work, Melissa went to study, and somehow, I came home without a Kylie.  Mystery solved.  What mystery? The mystery of how I am home and actually typing the blog.  Grandpa and Grandma volunteered to watch the little one tonight, and as much as I absolutely love hanging out with her, I didn't object to the offer.  It gives me one night of sleep for the next month, and anything more would just be greedy. :-)

More to come soon,

Craig

Kylie May needed more sleep today 319

The little angle has been restless tonight so this well be quick...

Kylie had a good morning but then decided that she was not interested in taking a morning nap, this led to a somewhat cranky afternoon :o( When she finally took a nap it simply was not long enough, even though I stayed laying in bed with her and tried to nurse her back to sleep, 1 hour and 15 min is all she wrote. So we were back up and still a little sleepy. But then she got to go to Mimi and Papa's house and play while I went to pick up a high chair from a woman I found on Craigs list. We were doing fine with ours until Kylie climbed out of it and decided to sit at the edge of the dinning room table, ahhhhh. So new high chair it is. This one has a very snug tray, Kylie spent about half of her time at dinner trying to figure out how to escape and getting very mad when she couldn't do it. She also tried cauliflower for the first time tonight, I don't think she realized it was anything different, she was way to focused on trying to get out of that new chair.

My camera is officially sent to the repair shop, I hope to get it back soon, but they say it can be a couple weeks :o( Until then we will have a little flashback to one year ago, wow it's gone SO fast!

More to some soon,
Natalie

Kylie May feeds herself with a spoon today 318

We thought Kylie might be hacing a slumber party with Mimi and Papa tonight, but I was not called in to work, so her and I are holding down the fort while Craig is at work. Today Kylie got to take a nice long walk with Papa while I cleaned the house, she also got to spend some time playing with Mimi and Auntie Melissa. Other then that, it was a pretty typical day, two naps, lots of talking (some yelling and throwing fits) lots of playing, a little dancing (anytime she hears music she starts to bounce her body up and down, I can't wait for her to really start showing off her moves) and lots of eating. Tonight we introduced Kylie to her first meat, ground turkey. She really seemed to like it, at first she just kept shoving it in her mouth then she choked and spit it all out. But after that, she seemed to get the idea. She also decided that she was much more interested in eating her brown rice if she was able to feed herself (I think we skipped something, she is acting like she is already two!). Most of the rice ended up in her mouth, but the rest was all over and required a trip straight to the bath. We brought out a new bath toy tonight, bath time letters and numbers! We have been keeping some of her Christmas gifts in her closet and bringing them out little by little so she really has a chance to enjoy them. For the past few nights, Kylie has been taking all of her bath toys and throwing then out of her tub, so i thought it might be time for something new. I only got out the letters to spell Kylie, they are great, they go in the water and stick to the side of the tub, she enjoyed taking them out of the water and trying to put them on the wall. Thank you Grandma Diana for the fun gift!

More to come soon,
Natalie

P.S. We think more teeth are on the way and we have lost her amber teething necklace :o( I might have to get her another one tomorrow, she has been biting everything and drooling everywhere, poor girl.

I cant believe her hair will all fit in a high ponytail!

She looks so grown up.

Kylie May's, Mommy is back, but where is Daddy day 317

Although they survived the night, Craig didn't have a chance to write much about yesterday in the blog, so... here is an update for the past two days.

Yesterday Kylie got to spend time with her second cousin Liam. Emily and Liam came over and we took a walk with the wagon to Olive Market. They were so cute riding together, but by the time we walked back Kylie is in asleep in the Ergo carrier and Emily was carrying Liam. I'm sure we were an interesting site, two moms, holding two babies, pulling a wagon full of stuff :o) The weather was perfect, around 75 degrees, so warm while we were walking that we both wished we would have dressed the little ones in short sleeve outfits. I love January in Southern California! When we got home Kylie napped, played, ate and got ready for her night without Mommy. As far as I know the night went well, no tears. She had a nice bath, story time and fell asleep in the Ergo.

They were both awake when I got home this morning. We had a wonderful breakfast, Kylie got to eat the same things Craig and I did, scrambled eggs, sliced avocado and homemade sweet potato fries, yummm. Craig then dropped Kylie off at my parents on his way to church while I went to sleep. My mom has been teaching in Hawaii for the past 3 weeks and was so eager to see little Miss May. Kylie was happy to see her grandma too! They played, ate and took a nap. When I woke this afternoon around one, Kylie was just on her way back home. Craig then got called in to work, he was supposed to work tonight at 7, but they asked if he would work from 2pm-2:30am instead. He said yes and was on his way. The rest of the day consisted of a lot of nursing, cuddling, a long (2.5hour) nap, dinner at the grandparents, a bath and Downton Abby (this show and sports are the only thing our little one has ever watched on TV, we hope the British accent wears off on her :o)) Melissa has started her new job as an nurses aid in the post partum floor at Redlands Community Hospital. She will be gone 2-10pm 2-3 nights a week, we miss her when she is gone, but she is enjoying the work so far.

More to come soon,
Natalie

All packed up and ready to go walking

Kylie really enjoys looking at all the rocks in our rock garden.

After moving a couple rocks she decided to dig a little, then she was not so sure about the dirt on her hand.

Kylie today after our long nap together.

We have been trying to teach her how to use a straw, but she just thinks is it a fun toy to chew on.

My finger got in the way, but I still love her little smile. Because our bed is on the floor, she enjoys crawling on to it and throwing herself on the pillows.

Kylie May Wagons and Plays Day 316

Tonight is a Natless night so Kylie and I are hard ar work, learning how to sleep.  I snuck away for a second, but just to say that I'll have to post the scoop (even though it isn't too much) tomorrow.

more to come soon,

Craig

Kylie May and new foods today 315

I'm back, Craig is back to work tonight, it was so wonderful having him home, but the bed did feel a little bit smaller and Kylie did her fair share of kicking us both. Kylie and I are finally starting to get into a little routine, Thursday (yesterday) is story time at the library and Friday is yoga class together. Granted it's only two days worth of routine, but it is working for us so far. After yoga, Kylie got to spend some quality time with her daddy while I went to my last training class for work, yay. When I got home we played, ate, bathed and Kylie went to bed. These past few nights Kylie has not been interested in going to sleep even though she seems very sleepy, tonight, however, she nursed and snuggled in and fell asleep relatively quickly (I think the refuse afternoon nap finally caught up to her). 

We have had some fun introducing a few new foods to the little May Flower over the past few days. Two days ago she had scrambled eggs for breakfast and loved it!! At lunch today she bit through the peel of an orange, so we thought "why not?" We cut a few little pieces of orange for her, she seemed a little unsure but she kept asking for more, so we will take that as another success. And tonight she had macaroni and cheese minus the cheese. Another hit! It is starting to get a little easier preparing food for her, it's wonderful when we can modify what we are eating and serve it to her, she really likes it too, she seems to realize she is eating the same thing we are and it make her so happy.

Still no photos, but my goal is to remember to take some tomorrow with my phone.
More to come soon,
Natalie

Kylie May Shares Her Bed Day 314

It has been a whirl wind work week, and the monthly forecast doesn't get much better. How does this translate for Kylie?  Well, she thinks it means she gets a lion's share of the bed every night.  News Flash! I'm home tonight, so red, ded, ded, three people in the bed. I'm sure a few kicks, elbows, and bottoms are sure to flail my way at some point tonight, but it will be nice to be home and spending time together as a family.

The little Kylie cakes had her usual social escapades this afternoon.  Jackson (Gina and Doug's little guy) stopped by for a quick visit.  They are fun to watch interact with each other.  They would really rather not acknowledge each other, except of course, to steal the toy that the other one is happily playing with.  Mostly it was Kylie stealing whatever Jackson was holding.  It's really nice to see our Tony Robbins "Sharing is Caring" seminar paying off.  Maybe someday she'll understand that it isn't entirely necessary to hoard every toy in the house.

Since the gang was all together, we decided to do a dinner/market night extravaganza (it makes it sound more exciting when you say extravaganza).  Kylie always thinks the people, lights, and sounds of Market Night are such fun.  Tonight was no exception.

As soon as the current bout of gymnurstics is over our little one will be out, and another day will officially be in the books.

more to come soon,

Craig

Kylie May met Nixon today 313

If you immediately thought "Kylie met Nixon? Isn't he dead?" Well you would be right if we were talking about our past president Nixon. But today Kylie did not time travel nor did she somehow meet a ghost, instead Kylie was introduced to a much sweeter and much furrier Nixon, Baily's new Siberian Husky puppy. During a quick trip to the studio, Kylie had a chance to play with this little fur ball. She was not so sure about him and seemed more interested in crawling around the office seeing what she could find to put in her mouth. When she wasn't being a human vaccume cleaner, Kylie was showing off her dance moves. It was so cute, when a song with  strong beat would come on Kylie would start to rock her body forward and back, put her arms out to the side and sometimes add a little twist. Can we say proud mama, I think so!

This morning Kylie was entertained by the gentlemen that came to hook up our new cable and home phone line. That's right folks we now have a home phone! We decided that we felt safer having a land line, a number Kylie can memorize and a phone that will always be available if we need to call 911. No one has called us on it yet (besides my sister who called while she was sitting at the dinning room table) but we did practice a few phrases we have not used in a while, "I got it," "the phones for you," "no she's not home right now," we will keep rehearsing so it hopefully flows smoothly when we do start to get calls. After the phone guy left, Kylie was finally able to relax and take a nap, then came our trip to the studio and home again home again for dinner, bath and bed. Tonight she was asleep by 7, but she must have thought it was her second nap, because she was up at 8:45 and didn't go back to sleep until around 11. She is sound asleep now and I can't wait to join her.

Oh also, Melissa asked Kylie "what's a cow say?" and Kylie responded "moooo." We tried to get her to do it again but it must have been coincidence. What was not coincidence however, was that every time Melissa asked Kylie "where are the kittens?" in her Goodnight Moon book, Kylie would point to the two kittens. It was awesome, on all the pages that have the kittens Kylie would point them out. I know I am biased, but she seems pretty advanced to me :o)

More to come soon,
Natalie