Kellan's Clubhouse, and Pister too !!

New computer may = me blogging again?

2011-11-14T17:23:00.001-06:00

Well the kid's computer crashed, and since mine hasn't been working right for a while, I got a new one & the kids got my old one. I'm amazed at how much has changed since my last new computer, which has only been 3-4 years or so. So today I'm trying something new that I've discovered (probably been an option all along, I just didn't know it.) I am typing this post in word?? We'll see. If all goes well, I may be back to the blog world!!

Now I'm just testing the picture insert option, that's what I got so frustrated with before and just quit blogging!

Here goes nothing…..Publish

Swimming in the sink

2010-09-08T15:01:00.000-05:00

Our newest fun wet time has been involving both kids, in my sink. Never did I ever bath Kellan in the sink when he was a baby. Our old sink was much more shallow, and slippery. My new sink is super deep and a type of unslick granite. Campbell makes such a mess eating and hates to have her face wiped clean so its off the the sink we go. And of course, if Pister's in there, "Lellan...bath...ink"

I love this one, shows there true colors. Kellan all sweet and innocent, and Pister the pistol !!

Just a good ole time

2010-08-24T13:43:00.003-05:00

We bought this water spray mat thingy last year on clearance. Kellan would have nothing to do with it (then). This years a whole different story. They clearly both love it!!

Kellan and Campbell

2010-08-13T13:56:00.016-05:00

Warning...this post is heavy on the pictures as there was no way to just pick out a few favorites.

A few weeks ago we met with our dear, sweet, patient photographer friend Jennifer from
Haute Shot Photography. We haven't had any pictures made since January when we did newborn/family pictures. Kellan now 2 years (and 3 months if your counting) and Campbell already 7 months old, going on 17, we figured it was time for a photo shoot. Though we met Jennifer at a VERY early 10am, July in Texas is hot regardless of the hour, but she with out fail managed to capture many awesome shots!!

Thanks yet again for a great photo experience, and in case your wondering, Kellan did get a new Mater later that day for being such a cooperative big brother.

Oh no, Pister fall down!

Looks pretty sweet and Innocent, with a hint of deception in those baby blues!!

"Tickle Tickle, Pister"

Campbell sucks two fingers just like big brother ??

If your wondering about Kellan's silly face, let me explain. This is the face he makes when asked if he wants to kiss a kitty, rabbit and on this day it was a squirrel.

Not to brag, but cute kids!!

Oh how Kellan loves his Pister Baby !!

2010-07-25T13:33:00.002-05:00

Story is, these two are in love with each other !!
If I take Campbell in Kellan's room when he gets up, he insist i put her in his bed. He shows her all his cars and likes to read her Goodnight Moon.

I drug this box out to see how Campbell would do in it. I was thinking I would use it as a prop for the kids sibling shots (and did). Of course, since "Pister was in box", "Lellan in box"

He loves to hold her!!

For the love of Peas !!

2010-07-24T14:08:00.002-05:00

I guess its been 2 months now since Campbell started eating baby food. We waited till she was 6 months mainly because I was feeling a bit lazy. Once we started, there's been no stopping her. These pictures are from the 1st try on June 18th, funny, I guess that's how the hubs and I celebrated our anniversary? Anyways, as you remeber, Kellan was a big fan of the peas as well and still is.

We started her with the itty bitty 1st foods and it wasn't a week before she was eating 2-3 jars per meal. I quickly went to the 2nd jars, same thing. We are currently eating the big ole 3rd foods unless she eats what we are eating which is most of the time. I've been doing the same thing as I did with Kellan and grinding up what we eat for dinner for her. And let me just tell you, girlfriend can eat, and there is no time to mess around when its meal time. You can't get it in her mouth fast enough. She will very loudly let you know when she's not happy about the speed of her feeding!

Unlike Kellan, I've yet to come across anything she doesn't seem to love, I take that back, she wasn't the biggest fan of cucumber last night ?? Her favs include, but are not limited to, squash, tater tots, corn, carrots, french fries, pizza crust, cantaloupe, dip of any kind, ground turkey, cheese, oh, and mashed taters just to name a few.

It didn't take Kellan long before he decided he wanted to feed her. Its the cutest thing. I quote, "Lellan feed pister baby", then he looks at her shaking his head and says "good, huh".

More outdoor fun

2010-05-21T11:06:00.005-05:00

So day 2 of frog pool fun, mamma was prepared. I actually suited Kellan up in his 6-12 month trunks from last year, lathered him up with lots of SPF and brought out all the water/sand/pool toys. He was ready !

Its been working out where Kellan gets up from his nap, I feed Campbell, put her down then its Kellan and mommy time (love it). That's why there are no pictures of her outside, just in case you where wondering.

Then I brought out and blew up myself (sigh) this big ole beach ball (b-day present from the Goldens)that you hook the water hose up to and it spays all over the place. He loved it !!

The next day I invited Kellan's girlfriends Willa & Dovie over to share some of the excitement, only Dovie got sprayed in the face with water and decided to go with her momma for a car ride to pick up her daddy.

These 2 played so well with one another. Couldn't care less they were getting soaked in the face.

Then it was time for a pick up ride, notice Kellan's letting Willa drive ????

Not sure whats going on here ?? Willa's a little rebel, no fear riding the four wheeler off the porch.

Pretty Pister

2010-05-20T11:22:00.000-05:00

Promise I take pictures of Campbell too (just mostly on my IPhone) these are from 5-10-10. Just happened to have the camera handy, Kellan must not have been around ??
So hard to get her to smile on camera, just like brother, but regardless, she's still a doll !!

I know this pictures out of focus, but I just love the big-o slobber bubble.

On this day (5-11-10) while Elmo was babysitting Campbell, Kellan pulled his rocker over next to her, So stinkin sweet !!

Clearly he's explaining the story line to her.

Ok so I forgot about these I took of Campbell yesterday. Such a cutie pie !!

Money in hand ready to go shopping !!

Frog pool fun

2010-05-20T10:50:00.006-05:00

Bibi and Pa bought Kellan a little blow up frog pool his first summer. He has never showed a bit of interest in it. Actually, i think he would scream bloody murder last year if we even suggested he try it out. One Monday a few weeks ago I decided to blow it up and fill it with water while he was napping. Daddy has decked out the open space under his swing set fort so now we have a perfect shady play space. When he woke up, and Pister went down I took him outside to check it out.
At first he just stared at it.
Then I told him he could splash, something he's not allowed to do in the bath tub.

Then he got his feet in, and slipped so he was all wet.

Then it was on!!

And its been a daily hit ever since. Weather permitting we are out there daily.

He had to take a break to cruise in his bubble car.

Then back in the pool, with no shorts ??

Snack break, Lightning juice and applegrapes (what he calls em).

What been going on around here

2010-05-20T10:23:00.004-05:00

Well its been a while since I've made time to blog. Not sure why I can't seem to find the time ?? Since last post, being Kellan's birthday, lot has happened (not really)! Kellan is a typical 2 year old. He talks all day loonnggggggg! He tells little stories about whats going on in his life. And really likes to explain the world to Pister. Brady says he reminds him of my dad (so does, & so sweet) the way he tells stories, he gets his forehead all wrinkled up and shakes his head up and down while he talks.

At his 2 year check up, Kellan still out weighs most 9month olds at 22 lbs, but is pretty tall. Campbell is near half his weight at 13 lbs and is super tall almost 26 inches.

My goal for Campbell @ 4 months old was getting her to take naps in her crib. It all starting out ok, but then we got side-tracked when she got an ear infection, poor baby, then all was out the window, poor thing just couldn't get comfortable. Since that has cleared up, we've been back on track and she's successfully been crib-napping May 1st ish !! Makes a world of difference in every ones life when both babies do all their sleeping in their cribs!!

Campbell rolls over like a champ, prefers to sleep that way. She's a wild women in the exersaucer and can even touch the bottom (couldn't 1 month ago). Its hard to believe she will be 6 months old soon, my where does the time go?

Anyways here's a few pictures of the last month or so.

Kellan really likes to help mommy cook, most nights are spent with him sitting on the island with a bowl saying "stir stir stir". This particular night Pister wanted to help too. They are making dumplings!

Kellan being a goof at lunch time with Lighting noodle juice all over his face.

Frito's with noodle ?? Not sure what I was thinking ??

Pister sitting pretty. Notice she still has her perfect "curl hawk" So cute !!

Here he is tellin Pister all about it, and she just listens to him like its the most important thing she's ever heard (probably is).

Not sure why it went bad, but it did.

More Birthday Pictures

2010-04-21T16:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, so in addition to Kellan's birthday party we celebrated the actual day with a dinner at his favorite place, Kyoto. One might ask how a 2 years old could possible love a Japanese Steak House so much, well........It has been an almost weekly fav of mommy and daddies since long before Kellan was even eating solids. So he's just grown to love it. Its gottin so bad that when we pull into the parking lot Kellan says "noodle", that's what he calls it, cause that's what he eats. Also one evening as he lead us in "Ah-men" the little boy was so kind to bless "mommy, daddy, & noodle" And its not just about the noodle, he drinks the soup through a straw (Bibi taught him that one) picks the sticky rice of my sushi rolls, found the love for the Chatubreon (no clue how to spell it, but its really fancy steak)(thanks uncle Kelly, its near the most expensive thing on the menu) and his latest love is "dip dip" the salad in the ginger sauce for the meat ??? Anyways, week after week we sit and sing and clap and chant "Hey Hey" for every one else birthday. I think its must be one of the most popular birthday dinner spots ever. So I figured we needed to start a tradition and take Kellan there for his big day. It was a true hit. He really got a kick out of every one singing and chanting for him for a change. Now on with the pictures. All his fav peeps, cousin Ah-me (Macey), Bay-be (Bailey), Haley, he can actually say her name correctly ???, and Bubba (Spencer's nick name).

Aunt Rah-Rah (Robin self made nick name) & Uncle Toddy

Pa, Bibi, Aunt Pad-dy (Patti), Uncle Mark & daddy

Bailey feeding Kellan lemon!

The birthday singing crew.

One last present, as if he needed any thing else, but he really likes to help daddy drill things.

Kellan's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-04-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

Not sure how it happened, but momma forgot to send out Kellan's birthday party (3-27-10)pictures so I'm back dated this post so I don't get my blog unorganized.
I think anyone who knows my boy, can probably guess his party was Car themed. Kellan (and daddy) is a caraholic (as is daddy). Even before seeing the Disney movie Cars, Kellan has found the love for Lightning, Chicks, Mater, Limo, Vern, and so on and on, I (he) could go on for days !! We were so blessed for great weather and lots of good family and friends to join us in the celebration. This year Kellan really got into the whole thing. The morning of, Kellan just woke up and discovered Mater was on the cupcakes (I made,by the way).

This is what happens when daddy is in charge!! Way to teach em!!

All the cupcakes are frosted (pat on the back for momma).

Lightning cake Aunt Rah-Rah (Brady's sis) made ! Awesome !!

Kellan knew exactly what to do when it came time to blow out the candles.

Little miss Dovie..... her cupcake fell in the grass, but that didn't stop her. What us girls will do for chocolate!!

Present time, and guess what?? He got cars and cars and even more cars!! And many other goodies. I was greatful for all the non-cars, just sayin!!

It was my cousin's Devon and Sammy's 3rd birthday the weekend before so they got a few presents of there own. She was so rockin it out with her new keyboard and mic.

Kellan helped himself to cousin Devon's birthday drill and fixed momma's bubba cooler, didn't know it was broke!!

My big bro Scott and his son, my nephew Jordan enjoying chill time with Campbell. You can't really see in the picture but Campbell has on a Cars dress with matching hair bow. So cute !!

Cousin Mark and his twins Devon and Samantha, both of which are being silly!

Finally time to play with all the loot. Kellan was being such a big boy and shared his toys with his BFF Tyler who just happened to be in town from St. Loius.

March 31......a day that will never be the same

2010-04-01T11:41:00.005-05:00

March 31 is a day I will never, ever forget. Two years ago on that day my sweet boy came into this world. And man, what an awesome journey its been ever since.
3-31-2008

3-31-2009

3-31-2010

Happy Birthday to my boy !!

March happenings

2010-03-31T09:19:00.004-05:00

Slowly I am getting back into the routine of normal life and finding time to do things like blog. Campbell has been a perfect baby and Kellan's been a perfect big brother, but I am not saying he's been a perfect two year old !! He certainly has really, really been pushing the limits. But when it comes to Pister, he's a little gentleman.

Campbell moved out of her pack-n-play in our room and into her room the end of February and has been sleeping though the night in her big girl bed ever since. That alone makes life seem more normal. Naps on the other hand are yet to be routine. She has yet to nap in her crib, but with out fail she will fall fast asleep in her swing. My goal for this month (April) is to get the nap thing worked out. When Campbell's awake, she's the happiest little thing you ever did see. Loves to talk and giggle. And loves Kellan to talk to her. He will get right down to her level and baby talk just like we do to her and she just lights up. He will say "Hi Pister" over and over and give her lots of kisses.

Kellan is a little grown up, he helps me clean up, vaccum, cook, really anything I ask him. It amazes me all he can do, if I just ask. Oh and he can now open doors and climb the ladder to the fort of his swing set. Now poop in the potty, what ever, not quite that smart yet. He loves to run and play, loves his cars, boots, noodle and spending time with all his family.
He's so strong and can pull his wagon all over the place, currently its in my living room !!
Apparently his wagon had a mind of its own and he was quite upset with it.

Beau has decided he likes to cuddle with Campbell on her floor mat.

Yep, she's that much of a big girl. Freaks me out that she old enough to sit up.

Kellan and Campbell sharing some good quality play time together.

Kellan helping me make dips for his birthday party, I'm sure no one minded that his hands were all up in the dip !!

The days start off cool and warm up by afternoon, so Campbell's been having to change clothes mid day to accommodate the weather change. Plus she's got a bazillion spring/summer outfits and hair bows to wear !!

When I take pictures of Campbell, I think he gets a little jealous at times, so here was his "Cheeeeze" pose. Handsome boy !!

By the way, these are all pictures for March. More to come soon, hopefully !!

A Texas sized snow

2010-03-30T13:03:00.012-05:00

I think everyone in the world knows us Texas folk where quite surprised when the flakes started falling February 11, 2010. It was like no other Texas winter I had ever experienced. And possibly the only snow filled Texas winter my kiddos will experience. Of course Campbell slept thru the whole thing.
Notice the flying dog in the back ground.

He's sitting on the snow.

Margo chasing Bella

I think you can tell from the pictures who enjoyed the snow the most. It brought out a different side of the doggies. Margo has never once played with Bella and Beau, but something about the snow, they all three played together.

Kellan's favorite part was daddy throwing snowballs in the air and watching Margo catch them with her mouth. Oh and his bubble car !

Where to begin?

2010-03-30T12:18:00.005-05:00

Its clearly been a very, very long time since I have blogged and/or sent out any pictures. Something about 2 kids, 4 dogs, a over worked hubby, mini house remodel, Kellan's turning 2 and so on and on and on that's got me just a little busy. I really don't even know where to begin. The last few months have been quite a joy. Campbell is growing so fast, its hard to believe she's already 3 months. And Kellan........2 ALREADY. I don't understand. This was taken 1-20-10, so she was 1 month old

1-22-10. Kellan loves to do what ever Pister is doing

1-22-10. Both kids bathed and ready for nin-night

1-25-10. Kellan sitting in the dog bed, set of keys in one hand in front of an electrical outlet, what do you think he's thinking ? By the way the outlet does have a cover on it.

Mid Jan. Campbell just being pretty.

1-24-10. Kellan has discovered the snap and zipper on his jammies.
Campbell's not allowed to have the paci if Kellan's around.

Unless Kellan says so and gives it to her.

Kellan being Kellan. Car in one hand, juice in the other and his hard hat. This is from Jan.

Bite for Pister

Bite for Kellan. Feb. 22

Daily routine, mostly at bedtime. Kellan wants Pister to lay in bed with him for a few minutes before she gets feed and goes to bed.

2-14-10. Kellan putting sunshades on Campbell that he got from his school Valentines party.

That's all I have for now. I am determined to get caught up, so more to come soon, promise.

My Family of Four

2010-01-26T13:36:00.017-06:00

Mommy and Kellan's kissin face, and I wonder where he got it from ??

Campbell is wearing the ring (on her toe) daddy got her for her birthday.

Snug as a bug

Ring is on her finger in this one.
Kellan shoving a hand full of "bites" in his mouth.

Just wanted to share these with everyone. If I may say so myself, I think they turned out just great. These are a few of my fav, not so serious shots. Jennifer @ Haute Shot Photography did these for us as well as our maternity shoot. I think she really did an awesome job. So thanks again Jennifer.

Kisses from brother

To see more from our newbie session click here.

Kellan & Pister together at last

2010-01-07T15:54:00.005-06:00

Well after nearly 2 weeks of Kellan being sick and us trying to keep the 2 of them apart, we finally have the OK for them to be together and even touch !! Doc told Brady "Take Kellan home, let him kiss her and take their picture" and that's exactly what we did. I can't even tell you what it does to a mommies heart to witness the love he already has for her !! (Yes I know it won't last for ever !!)
Kellan pointing out pister's ear

Nose

Look at those puckered up lips to kiss pister with

Greatest picture ever !! No clue how daddy managed to catch this one !

Kellan offering for pister to eat his car, I guess??

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T14:48:00.000-06:00

What a Christmas, I must say. It being Kellan's 2nd and Campbell's 1st Christmas made the day extra special. Who could ask for a better present(s). Knowing I would just barley make it home from the hospital in time for the festivities, I suggested everyone come here to celebrate rather than me running all over town. It couldn't have worked out better.

Lots and lots of presents.

Kellan being a ham in front of the presents.

Daddy being silly.

Haley and Spencer tickling Kellan.

Our big Texas style Christmas eve snow !

A few of the Christmas Eve bunch.

The most important part, FOOD!!

Kellan quite excited about finger puppets from the Golden's.

Kellan driving 2 of the bazillion cars he got.

Uncle Todd be a goof.

Pa modeling his new hat. It has a light on the brim, pretty fancy!!

Kellan modeling his Home Depot gear. (This was momma's pick so he could help daddy be handy)

The Christmas morning loot from Santa.

I really tried to get a good picture of Campbell with all her goodies.

Kellan got a motorized car. He wasn't so sure of it at first, but a week later he's got the hang of it and running all over the house and into everything, thanks Santa !!

Clearly Kellan likes his tent tunnel thing from Bibi & Pa !!

Meet Campbell Leigh

2009-12-30T11:06:00.006-06:00

Well for those of you who don't already know, our sweet baby girl has arrived. Campbell Leigh Kirby was born 12-21-09 @ 2:17 PM. She weighed 8lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long. I had a perfect uncomplicated labor. None of us could believe how big she was, Kellan was only 8lbs 7oz, and I gained much more weight with him, we were expecting a little bitty baby girl.

So far since we have been home (next day) all has been going great. She has been a perfect little lady. I know everyone wants to know what Kellan thinks of his new sister, but I really can't tell you. He has been sick for almost 2 weeks now and been with Bibi and Pa. The little time he was around her he either referred to her as "puppy?" and when we correct him and tell him "no, this is sister" he replies "pister?" . Brady is going to take him back to the doctor in the morning to hopefully get clearance that I can have both my babies at home. I'm crossing my fingers, I miss my little boy !!

Me fake smiling through a very painful contraction, pre-epidural

Campbell just a few minutes old

A very happy momma and sleepy baby girl

Daddy on first diaper duty

Proud daddy

Bath time, in our roomCampbell not so happy about foot printing for her baby book.

Day 2

Day 3 on out way to the doc for a jaundice check, she all dressed up in her Christmas outfit.

Nursery Pictures

2009-12-20T15:16:00.009-06:00

Campbell's room is finally done and has been for a few days now. It was a long process and a lot of work but I think it turned out beautifully. We couldn't of done it by ourselves, that's for sure. We had lots of helpers. Brady's sister put the final touches on it last Friday Night. Oh, we still have something to hang above the bed if your wondering why the blank space, but Brady needs to build a frame for it first.

View walking in from the hallway
Ceiling medallion, chandelier and handmade shades

Her crib (thanks aunt April) and bedding I ordered on line.

Painted wardrobe Brady's aunt Cathy got for Campbell
Wardrobe open with fabric paneled doors for all her memos and such. Brady also built shelves so she could put all her toys inside.

Vanity being used as changing table

Rocking corner and curtains Brady's aunt Patti made

Stuff on shelf Brady made.

More stuff

Birds corner behind wardrobe

Little tea drinking area

Painted vanity and dresser.

More stuff up top

View walking out of her room.

My baby bump

2009-12-03T13:25:00.006-06:00

Not wanting to ever forget the beauty of being fat and pregnant, we went for maternity pictures a few weekends ago. I was referred to Jennifer (photographer) from a friend of a friend. The great thing about her is she local, very talented and she offers the CD of the pictures. Check out her blog post from our session to see a few more shots.

Thanks Jennifer, we really had a great time, we'll see you in January for newborn shots !!

Just for fun, here's a few shots from when Kellan was growing in my belly.

Moving along like a heard of turtles !!

2009-11-16T11:55:00.001-06:00

Just a quick update.....unfortunately not much has changed. We are still diligently working on baby girls nursery. We seem to be held up in the furniture department. Poor Brady (along with many helpers) has worked his fingers to the bone trying to get the furniture project finished. It always seems like it will be easier than it is. Well we are about to start on weekend 3 off painting furniture.Pictures of the furniture after lots of handy work and a good sand job.Primer coat #1 tot he drawer fronts.All the knobs (along with many other things) got a coat of shinny black paint, thanks to Aunt Robin and Uncle Todd.

Ice cream chairs Aunt Cathy gave to us, the plan is to cover the seats and for Brady (in his free time) to make a little table to use them with.

Daddy and Kellan took a break to ride around in Kellan's hand-me-down Chevy that now works with the help of a new battery.

I really think Daddy enjoyed it more than Kellan !!

This weekend it back to painting, hopefully one more day then we can start putting the room together.

Sister's room-in progress

2009-11-02T14:36:00.005-06:00

Not much has changed as far as getting ready for baby girl, but I am happy to report the room is painted !! Oh, and it has a shelf all the way around it. Hopefully this coming weekend we will make a dent in sanding/painting the furniture.

Kellan is ready to help paint dressed in his bibs, just like da-dy.

Brady built a crown shelf thing that goes all the way around the room. Little girls need lots of room to display there goodies !!

The almost finished painted project. I get the pleasure of putting a second coat of trim paint on the shelf, then the painting of the room will really be done.

I just had to try out the bedding, of course Kellan wanted to go ni-night in baby sisters bed.

A whole lot of random-ness

2009-10-28T15:37:00.007-05:00

I was going thru recent pictures I have taken and realized I had lots cute one, but no real story to tell about them, so I'm just gonna post them all !!

We picked up this little chair at an antique store. Who knew Kellan would love it so much. He would sit in it, get up, carry it 2 feet then sit again.

On this day, Brady was building a shelf for baby sisters room so we were back and forth between her room and the garage. Kellan would pull his wagon of cars back and forth.

For some reason, Kellan thinks if it has wheels, its made for ridin !!

We got Kellan a new back pack for school, all I wanted was a picture of him wearing it. No such luck !!

Again with the riding on trucks !!

Kellan has decided he re-likes the baby swing. Many days he climbs up in it, and just swings.

McDaniel Family Reunion

2009-10-13T14:48:00.008-05:00

Saturday (10/10/09) was my dads side of the family's annual family reunion. When have it out at Green's Lake in Emory. Story has it my Grandjim worked for the Green family as a youngin and some how managed to stay in contact with him many years later. Mr. Green is kind enough to allow us to use his property yearly for our gathering. This year was a little bit different than the rest, my dads brother Kent passed on the previous Friday so the tone was certainly a bit sad. But at the same time it was a happy time remembering him as we spent a lot of time telling good ole uncle Kent stories and laughing at old photos, especially the one of him in shorty shorts with knee high socks !! Love you Uncle Kent !!

My dad, Kellan's "Papa", what a happy duo !! Now Papa'a getting his nose honked.

Brother Scott, me and cousin Mark looking at photos

Dillan crusin in the Tonka

Kellan all bundled up, but still managing to handle his juice (water)

Devon going for a Tonka ride

Jenice pretend kickin Jess whose tickling the pee out of Dillan
Notice the pink wet booty behind Kellan. That's Sam, soaking wet from the grass, not caring at all !!

Lots of story tellin going on here !!

Kellan with his "nack", aka snack
The whole big McDaniel gang, love you guys !!

Might I add, the pot luck lunch was great as always. Love me some grocery store fried chicken and Jenice's take on Grandji's Lemon Apricot cake.

Also this was one of the few times Kellan, and Dillan, who is my great niece and twin cousin's Devon and Samantha have ever spent time together. It was cold, it was wet, and it was muddy, and those kids could of cared less. They had such a great time together !!

A day in the life

2009-09-23T17:10:00.008-05:00

Anyone who has or has had a toddler knows is an always entertaining life. Daily I am amazed at the new and old things Kellan does to keep me smiling. Last Thursday was like no other. Kellan and I decided to make daddy some brownies. Kellan, like mommy, really likes to cook. I will usually get all my gear gathered and to the island and plop Kellan on top so he can assist me. Most often a spoon will satisfy him. This particular day was clearly a smart day for Kellan. Brownie batter was in the pan, awaiting to go into the oven and Kellan decided he couldn't wait till they where done. In went a finger. Umm, this is yummy. Then a hand, then it was all over with.

Obviously after brownie batter was smeared all over his shirt, pants, hands, face so on, he had to be stripped down to his skives (thank goodness for wife beater onesies). Then as I am trying to put grocery's away he is playing one of his many favorite games, hide in the pantry. I soon discovered the game is much more fun to him if he locks mommy in the pantry with him.

Then its , lets run thru the house with a giant box of goldfish. Thankfully unopened !!

And for the finale, his newest favorite kitchen find, the inside of my salad spinner ????????? He seems to daily get it out of the cabinet, take it apart and carry around the strainer part. I think it makes a mighty cute hat !!

Like I said, its a fun and entertaining life with a toddler !! Man I love em !!

Getting ready for baby

2009-09-16T12:36:00.008-05:00

This past Sunday was quite a productive one. Since it was raining for the 3rd straight day we chose an indoor project for the day opposed to working outside. Its been making me crazy that the room baby girl is going to use for her nursery was still a fully intact guest room. So many things needed to be accomplished in there before moving forward with the transformation. With Brady kicking and screaming I forced the guest room clean out. Pictures had to be taken off the walls, closet cleaned out, bed taking apart, stuff packed away, not to mention I had to move out all the many loads of stuff baby girl has already acquired (thank goodness for gracious friends with lots-o-hand me downs). Surprisingly we got a lot done in there and even decided to put the crib together so we could try to arrange the room to get an idea of where everything was going. The crib was given to us by a friend (thank you, April!) And the rest of the nursery furniture is a collection of odds and ends. My dad bought my mom an antique bedroom set when they where married a ba-gillion years ago. Mom gave it to me a few years back and its been our guest room furniture ever since. We are going to use the dresser, as a dresser and the vanity as a changing table. The full sized bed will have to be packed away until baby girl is big enough to use it. Brady's Aunt Cathy picked up a wardrobe for us to use as extra storage in her room, (a girl can't have enough storage), we just have to go to San Angelo to pick it up. Brady and I found a rocker in Brownwood at an antique store many years back for $8 (what a deal, couldn't resist) that we are going to fix up to use. All the furniture needs some fixin up, but all and all, its it awesome condition and we didn't have to run out and buy a 2nd crib, changing table, rocker and so on (Kellan is still currently using all his stuff). Point to my story is, while were doing all this, right under foot helping, as always and he wanted to try out baby sisters goods. We couldn't resist the photo op. Enjoy !!
Kellan testing the shocks out on the sisters bed.

Kellan helped himself right up into the rocker, after he kicked Bella (dog) out of it. I know the chairs in sad shape now, but I promise, I have a vision !!

Kellan checking out his handsomeness in the mirror on whats going to be the changing table. Seems like its going to work out as a great changing table, he laid there for ever.Beau checking out what Kellan's doing laying on the furniture ??

I forgot about these....

2009-09-04T10:13:00.006-05:00

I keep my old camera in my purse, just in case, we are out and about and something worth snapping a photo comes along. Problem is, I always forget to upload them. Today I remembered. These pictures are from one Sat., probably a month ago when we went to the pet store for a Greyhound meet and greet. Kellan really wanted to stretch his legs so we let him push the stroller around for a while.

I think you can also see that he loves mommies sunshades. They keep him quite happy at times.

They also had the baby grocery carts in the store which were the perfect size for Kellan.

See the tears ?? He clearly wasn't happy to go into the stroller.

Just a truckin....& playin

2009-08-28T12:26:00.005-05:00

I think we all know by now that we (Brady, Kellan, the dogs & I) love the outside. If we are home, we are typically working on some sort of outdoor project. Last weekend was no exception. Thank goodness for cooler weather !! While Brady worked of fixing up a Craig's List truck toolbox find, I sat on my pregnant rear, taking pictures and watched as Kellan does what he does, which is play with his toys. His cousin Spencer passed down his battery operated Chevy Silverado Truck. Unfortunately we can't seem to make it work, but who cares. Its still a fav of Kellan's. He gets hours of entertainment from it. He looks under the hood, checks the tires, climbs in, by himself, quite gracefully I might add and is off to driving.

While Kellan happily plays with his truck, the dogs (minus Chuck) decide to enjoy the great outdoors as well. I think Bella and Beau are quite happy with their new home and backyard. They love to run, play and eat each other. Margo of course is just happy with a ball or frisbee. She has yet to really engage in the Bella and Beau fun.

Looks rough, but I promise they having a ball and not hurting one another a bit.

Lets not forget Chuck and Margo

2009-08-13T11:15:00.005-05:00

I feel like the new babies, Beau and Bella are getting all the attention, well, they probably are. But we do still have two old babies.

Chuck and Margo. They may not be the hugest fan of the new babies, but they are tolerating them. And yes, that makes 4 dogs yet again !!

Then there was Bella

2009-08-13T10:42:00.007-05:00

As explained in a previous post, we went from have 5 animals to having 2, and quick. Carmie we lost in Nov. Lucy & Linus in July. We (Brady) decided we must have another dog ASAP, so the search began. We went to an Italian greyhound (what Lucy was) meet and greet after realizing a full size greyhound wasn't for us and fell in love with Beau. We were all decided he was going to come live with us. Once we had made all the arrangements for Beau's homecoming, we found out he had a sister Bella who was living at a different foster home. Two weeks later, my life is even more crazy, but very entertaining. They are really the cutest pair. They play (eat) each other all thru out the day, then cuddle up and nap together. So far they have been great sleepers and head for under the sheets when its bed time. Life is a little insane for the moment, but its been so much fun. Oh, Kellan gets along with them greatly. They take quite a beating from him and don't fuss one bit.

Beau's much bigger and mostly in charge

Bella's the pretty girl with one blue and one brown eye

Its a......

2009-08-07T11:08:00.001-05:00

We went for our 20 week find out the sex sono Wed. To my major surprise,
it is a girl. Wow, who knew. I really was convinced it was going to be a another boy. Of course I am very excited to have a little girl for big brother Kellan to look after. Other than that all is well, things are moving along nice a smoothly, and slowly!!

Welcoming Beau

2009-07-27T08:44:00.001-05:00

With the recent loss of our dear sweet Lucy
And Linus we thought it was time to add a new four legged friend to our household. Though either of them can or will ever be replaced. Our new addition is right at home and having a great time with Chuck and Margo. Meet Beau, he joined us 7-26-09. I think its obvious he fits right in to our household. He is a 10 month old Italian Greyhound (like Lucy was) and he's/we are having a ball.

Kellan 15 1/2 months

2009-07-21T15:00:00.003-05:00

We took Kellan for his 15 month check up today. As always, he checks out just fine, just continues to be a little lanky. He's 20 lbs, 4 oz (5%), very tall @ 32 1/4 inches (75%), and still has a big ole head 19 inches ( 80%). The choppers keep on filling in with 3 on top and 4 on the bottom. He walks like a pro, has a lot to say and continues to be obsessed with trucks and cars. Oh and he's the sweetest baby in the whole wide world !!

This is a fav truck. I don't think its meant for riding, but Kellan has decided it so is.

Its been a long while

2009-07-09T09:28:00.009-05:00

Its been a long while since I have blogged last. Why I ask myself ?? Well, I've come up with a few reasons.

#1 Kellan has given up on 2 naps a day, which means I have less alone time to play on the computer. I think that happened quickly after he turned one. But I shouldn't complain because he wakes up @ 7ish and will quietly play in his crib until I decide to get him out which is usually around 9.

#2 Growing life is very tiring. Being pregnant (15 1/2 wks) with a 15 month old is defiantly slowing me down and I don't like it !! I want my will to do back. I've never been one to sit around, but I am now !! I wake up dreaming of Kellan's nap time so I can rest, not blog !!

Other than that, I really have a good excuse. The whole reason I started this blog was so I would have a way to journal what was going on in life with a baby. I quickly found out with a new baby that everything happens so fast and as much as you think you remember every little detail forever, you can't possibly. So I really need to get back on track before I'm derailed permanently. Why today, well my poor baby is sick with a fever and sleeping more than usual allowing me extra free time.

Since my last post a few exciting things have happened. We finally @14 months took Kellan out of his baby car seat and put him in a a big boy one. At 1st he wasn't loving it, but now he so does. He loves to be able to look out the windows @ all the passing trucks.

He looks so little compared to that big ole seat.

He is now walking like a pro. I guess for a month now. He just let go one day and went, and hasn't slowed down since.

We now have 3 top teeth and 4 on the bottom.

We took him for his 1st haircut a few weeks ago and he hated it. He cried the whole time.

He's completely off the bottle and has been since he turned one, but he has never figured out the sippy cup, so he drinks his milk form a straw cup.

I think that's about it where Kellan's concerned. To keep myself updated with the new life growing in my tummy, I guess I should write a little bout that. Like I said, I'm currently 15 weeks and 3 days. Its seems like its taking forever !! I have been very blessed with no morning sickness or any real issues to speak of other than being beat down, could have something to do with the 100+ temps outside too ? I am dying to know what we are having, but we won't find out until 20 weeks, not sure if I'll make it that long. I'm pretty sure it will be another sweet boy, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't praying for a girl.

These are some random pictures from the last 2 months.

As always he loves the outdoors, and doesn't seem to mind puddles or bushes.

Normally this would be a major NO, NO, but in a mad attempt to do some ironing, it kept him occupied for quite some time. I think before it was all said and done, he emptied both bowls of dog food.

If I'm in the kitchen, so is he. He has found all kinds of goodies from the cabinets that daddy has yet to baby proof. He manages to completely destroy all since of organization I may have had in my cabinets on a daily basis. But he has fun doing it and that's all that counts !!

That's all for now, but I promise to myself to keep up already !!

Good times, outside

2009-05-18T08:08:00.009-05:00

I think yall all know by now, Kellan loves to play outside. This past week it had warmed up quite a bit so we didn't make it outside to play till the evening.

I wish I knew what he was trying to say. What ever it is, its serious !!

Boys are so gross

2009-05-14T20:36:00.003-05:00

All I can say is......Groody & Why ??? I can't wait till he grows up and I can show these pictures to all of his friends.

4 teeth

2009-05-11T07:40:00.004-05:00

As always, I have a heck of a time getting Kellan to pose for a specific purpose. I've been chasing him around for a month trying to get a picture of his 2 new teeth. Finally one day last week he was hammin it up while eating MY Captain Crunch cereal and I finally got a few shots. With the addition of the top 2, we now have 4 choppers. And let me tell you, he uses him. He pretty much chows on anything and everything.

Yes, its true

2009-05-11T07:19:00.003-05:00

Kellan's outfit says it all, but I promise he's more excited than he looks !! Mommy and daddy are pretty excited too. But a little scared, yep, just a little.

A few more swingin pictures

2009-04-29T09:22:00.004-05:00

I personal didn't want Kellan to know the top fort of the swing set existed. I figured once he knows its there, he will always want to go up there, and lets face it, I'm not a s young as he is, I can't be going up there all day long. Leave it to Daddy to show him the cool fort.

I think it clear, they both like it !!

3 things

2009-04-29T09:16:00.006-05:00

I just had to share these pictures for a few reasons.

A. To show my son's crazy, all day, everyday wild hair. No I'm not taking him for a haircut, it WON'T help!!!
B. To show that Kellan's still obsessed with his plastic lobster, why ???
C. To show that he loves his big-ol- monkey he got for his b-day from Granny.

Just a swingin

2009-04-24T08:19:00.011-05:00

We decided to suggest, if we were asked, that people give Kellan money for this birthday. We had a plan of getting him a swing set. To be honest, we wanted one last summer, but couldn't make it happen. Some people aren't into the whole money givin thing and I get that. But we did get quite a bit, enough to pay for almost half of the the swing set we'd been longing for. Now that we had the set, its time to put it together. Luckily we have the most awesome friends that were willing and ready to help. So I cooked Friday night, gotta feed the help, and Sat afternoon was the big swing set party . Brady's friend Mark came over and stayed most of the day. Jay, Alison & the twins Willa & Dovie came and pretty much stayed the rest of the weekend, with only a short break to go home and sleep for the night. Pa came over Saturday also to help, he loves that kinda stuff. All and all it was not the hardest project I'd ever watched, but very time consuming. Best part is, its done !!! Kellan loves it, with the first push in the swing he was laughing up a storm. The twins, not so much. I guess its a boy thing.

Thank you Munchkin People

2009-04-23T13:23:00.006-05:00

All of you know as a mother to be and a new mom, you get lots of advice. Some of which we all choose to ignore and some is actually good advice. One example of good advice I received was if you find something your baby loves like a blanket, toy, bottle or bear, go buy a million of them. So, for me that advice had really never gone into play until now. Kellan just turned one, and like I am supposed to, because "they" say so, my goal was to promptly switch him from the bottle to a sippy. Well, since I never let him self feed himself the bottle, he wasn't quite savvy with sippy cup even though we started practicing @ 6 months. His g-ma had been letting him drink out of her cup with a straw for months, so I decided since he was so good at that, I would find him straw cup to drink his milk from. 1st attempt was a straw cup from Platex, no worky !!! It leaked when thrown on the ground. 2nd attemt was a straw cup by Munchkin I got at Wal-Mart. It worked pretty damn good. I would leak a little, but it was tolerable since I was able to break my boy of the bottle. Since that one was working and he was drinking all of his liquids from it figured I better run out to Wally World (not my favorite place at all) and buy them out !! So I went, they had 2. Went to another, none, Another, none again. What am I gonna do ?? Relief came today as I had nothing better to do and made the journey out of my comfort zone of Rockwall to Mesquite to Babies R us (another non-fav place). At 1st I didn't see what I was looking for, then I saw what kinda looked like it, but different. So I think to myself, "have they change it all together"? Not sure, but gonna try it. So I bought 6. I double checked with the girls (children) up front that if it didn't meet my satisfaction I could bring them back, they said yes. I was on my way. Got home, it was lunch time, hand washed one of my new straw cups, filled it with milk, and handed it to my kid, and...................It worked. I actually think he prefers the "new" construction. Does it leak ?? Not so far. Anyways, this was a very long story, but a very important one in my book. Now that that dilemma is solved, I am sure Kellan will decide he loves the sippy and wants nothing more to do with the straw cup !!

This was the original favorite

This is what I got today

See the little flippy thing that conceals to straw. Very helpful for transport.

FYI, I just went on to the Munchkin web site and they do advertise both and say Wal-Mart carries them ?? I guess some stores just don't carry both??

Easter 2009

2009-04-14T09:18:00.008-05:00

For the 1st time since I was a little girl, I was excited about Easter this year. Prior to having a little one, it was just like, uh another little holiday. Now with Kellan here I figured it was time to really celebrate. We had Brady's fam over for lunch and a good ole fashioned egg hunt. The big girls, Bailey and Macey aren't into egg hunts anymore so they took on the challenge of hiding the eggs for the little kids, Spence, Haley and Kellan. They did a super good job hiding them, so good I found 3 yesterday !! I saw this great post for these super cute Easter cupcakes , and thought" I can do that" Well... I tried, but not as cute.
What to do with empty formula cans??? Decoupage them.What to do when your kid takes a 4 1/2 hour nap, Decorate plastic Easter eggs

I just think these look prettyHad to take a picture of the 10 dozen eggs we dyed Saturday night.

Can't help myself, I love to take pictures of food.

Ummmmmm, homemade fried chicken.

Kellan's (really its for ME) Easter present.

Kellan @ 1 year

2009-04-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

I feel like I should write about what Kellan's up to @ 1 year of age. Mainly so I don't forget, I guess. He had his one year 4-7-09, a week after he turned one. All is well. He weighed in @ 19.13 lbs (light weight) But was 29 1/2 inches tall. His head was 19 inches around that put him in the 90% for his age. Yup, his heads a little big, so I'm told, I think its perfect.

He has 2 full grown bottom teeth and one pretty good sized one on his top left. His top right, you can see what looks like a little piece of rice shinning thru the gums.

We have been trying to transition from a bottle to milk in the sippy, but he doesn't like the sippy much, nor does he really know how to use it. He has somehow learned how to drink out of a straw so I had to find him lidded cups with a straw for his big boy milk. He is a great self feeder and eats most of everything. His favs include, pasta, rice, beans, peas, peaches, yogurt, toast, puffy things, cheese, and chicken to name a few.

With all the changes and activity that have been going on( Granny here, b-day party, painful knotted up chicken pox shot site, no bottle) He hasn't been sleeping as good at night as he used to. As yall remember, he was sleeping 12 + hours thru the night by 2 1/2 months. Doc says its normal for him to wake up at night, I think he says that only because his 15 month old has never slept all night, I think he's always trying to curse us !! Hopefully we will soon get back on track and back to our old schedule of a long peaceful cesta!!

Is he walking you say ?? Not really, but so close. He pulls up on everything and cruses around. He will stand for a split second on his own. He loves to push his shopping cart and truck around.

Saying any words ?? Some say he's talking, the ones that aren't around him all the time, to us its still babble. He has started this new um ah, um ah thing that he will do about 20 times in a row. Its super cute and when he does the um-lips touching, ah- mouth open.

He is quite the "ham" and loves lot of attention, can you tell?

All and all Kellan is now a big boy and "thriving". He is such a joy and can't imagine a day without him. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by.

Kellan & Granny

2009-04-09T08:35:00.001-05:00

Kellan really enjoyed hisGranny spending a week with us. We haven't seen mom (my mom) since the week Kellan was born. I really think now that she's gone he misses her and probaly wonders "where's that nice lady that was here?" He keeps going to the guest room to look around, but no Granny. Hopefully she come visit us again soon.

Kellan & Granny enjoying some bubbles.

Friday night at Red Lobster

Breakfast time

Granny trying to take Kellan with her. I don't think so !!!

At lunch before journey to DFW Airport.

Granny & Grandma Dossie

Kellan's 1st birthday party

2009-04-07T17:14:00.013-05:00

Kellan had his very 1st birthday party on Sat. What a blast. He really enjoyed getting to see all his friends and family and he certainly loved being the center of everones attention. My mom came in from Iowa which was quite a treat since she hadn't been here since Kellan was a week old. We did a Monkey themed party which I thought turned out quite cute !! Thanks to all who came and celebrated with us. We had such a super great time !! Daddy frosting the cupcakes Finished cupcakes Table spread The most awesome birthday cake ever, Thanks to Bibi & Aunt Robin, oh and Martha Stewart !!

Bibi made Kellan a bib and I made the hat
Not sure what he thought of the cake??
Granny helping him with the cake and ice cream The loot

Monkey bean bag toss
Lawson has all the naners

Bailey, Haley & Macey

Good-Bye bags

My baby's all big now

2009-03-31T22:42:00.002-05:00

A year ago

Today

My, my how the time goes. Its hard to beleive it, but my baby is ONE!!

Must read tip

2009-03-27T08:23:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to pass along a little "lesson learned". Don't put bleach in your fountain !!!
Brady made this fountain out of a old whiskey barrel and an old pump thing we had laying around. He told me to put a little bleach in the water before I turned the pump back on to help with, I really don't know what ?? As the day went on, the bubble mound grew. As night arrived, bubbles were everywhere, blowin all over the back yard. Quite funny.

Can I just say, its a good thing I had a boy

2009-03-23T16:53:00.005-05:00

Thank goodness Kellan is the outdoorsy type like momma & daddy. Honestly, I have a hard time keeping him in doors. If the back door opens, he's out. Brady and I have been trying to do our backyard "spring clean up" and luckily Kellan fits right into the mix. He is better entertained, for a longer time outside. The grass is still a little hard so Sunday I put him in some bibs to help cushion his little knees, which also worked out good as a mud barrier. He just crawls around and looks at all the pretty flowers, and sometimes even eats one, but definitely prefers to eat dirt, or mulch !! Again, I'm not sure a little girl would love the yucky, dirty back yard like Kellan does, good thing I had a boy, cuz its hard to keep me inside !!

I have a picture to prove it.........

2009-03-23T16:45:00.005-05:00

We all know Chuck is not the sweetest dog around, but I think he is finally warming up to Kellan. Or at least once.

Kellan was just sittin on the floor, minding his own business, eatin his little person, and here came Chuck and sat right in the middle of him ???? Chuck must have been ill that day !!

Multi-Subject post

2009-03-17T13:00:00.009-05:00

Some days I sware I carry the camera around all day, and then other days ??? The picture taking today started in the morning. Kellan has a new thing. When he's "done" in bed and is ready for us to come get him, all we here on the monitor if the most horrible sounding, you think someones hurting him, but yet extremely fake cry for help. You open the door to find him standing and fake crying. Today I was prepared with camera in hand. This is what I found when I opened the door.

Does anyone feel sorry for him ??

On to the next subject. Kellan has discovered the kitchen cabinets. Daddy has baby proofed most, but for some reason Kellan seems to find the ones he hasn't. Everyone says, let him play with that stuff, I feel differently. I have too many pretties, many breakable to let him get his hands on them. So until the baby proofing if finished, rubber bands our my friend.

Last thought for the day.

Poor kitty !!!! I am sure Kellan has known for a while we had this big ole hairy creature roaming the house that we call Linus. But until a few days ago, he really showed no interest. Linus has very few safe places, one being under the kitchen table, laying on the chairs. Which might I say is super annoying because he leaves big fuzzy hair balls on my chairs !! Anyways, Kellan has since spotted him laying on the chairs which means, kitty's up for the grabbin !!

Ok, I lied, one more.

In just 6 weeks since the 1st tooth and 5 weeks since the second, we are now ready for steak !!

Do you see the size of those things ??

A name for the face

2009-03-17T08:35:00.004-05:00

I know there have been previous pictures of "the face" but until now we thought it was just a fluke. Kellan now makes it often and on command. We say to him"Can you make the goofy face"? And does he ever !! Why the name "goofy face", what else would you call it ??

The funniest part is the sound he makes with the face, its a snorty thru the nose sound.

Love of the Lobster

2009-03-12T11:34:00.006-05:00

No, not the kind you eat, but the kind you play with. Brady bought Kellan a boat bath toy months ago that has lots of different sea like creatures in it. Like a fish, octopus, & lobster. Kellan always seems to have one of the creatures in his mouth while taking a bath. For some reason the other evening after bath time, the red lobster came out of the tub with him. He is since obsessed. He eat, sleeps, crawls, plays & poops with the lobster. It never leaves his hand. And if something else gets his attention for even a second and he drops it, he is soon to go back and get it.

Notice his eyes aren't even open, but he's got the lobster in his hand.

He will hold the lobster the whole time sitting at in the highchair.

Kellan and his fits

2009-03-11T12:06:00.006-05:00

The day has come where Kellan has learned how to throw a fit. Of course its following him not getting what he wants or not doing what we don't want him to do, like trowing his sippy on the floor or holding his hands over the side of the highchair for the dogs to lick. I quote & agree with Brady in saying "I'm not gonna have a bad kid", so we are really trying to be consistent & constant. When Kellan does sometime we aren't pleased with, we tell him NO, in a loud voice. Its yet to really seems to bother him, the 1st 4 times we tell him. So we have to get louder and add a hand swat. That doesn't sit well with him, after about 5 yells & swats. I don't think he's learning not to do it again, I think it just eventually hurts his feelings. His fits usually in-tell him scream crying, to the point of holding his breath, his face turns crazy red & banging his head on the high chair. Its quite comical to be honest.

In these pictures he was upset because, he got his hand swatted after he threw his biter biscuit on the floor for the 3rd time. Of course Lucy(dog) didn't mind the treat at all.

Oh the joys of parenthood !!!

Just showing off my cutie pie

2009-03-11T11:14:00.008-05:00

So one off the many great things about Texas (to me) is the 80+ degrees it can & will sometimes be in March or November. I so totally get "spring fever". As soon as a hint of warmth blows my way, I'm out !! Last week was one of those weeks. I think Kellan and I went outside everyday. We walked with friends to the park a few days, strolled our hood one evening & played in the yard a time or two. And let me just tell you, dead grass & dirt taste oh so yummy, according to Kellan. After a neighborhood stroll Thursday night, I got smart & got the camera out. Kellan was wearing his new hat & looking mighty cute. I got so many cute shots, here's just a few.

The sooner he learns to properly use the mower, the better !!

As always, Lucy has to be in the middle of everything. Son, close your mouth !!

Cute, Cute, Cute, that's all I can say !!

He's clearly not minding the itchy dead grass, I guess that's a boy thing.

Now with all that excitement about the nice warm spring weather, I have to add that due to our many outdoor adventures over the last week, Kellan is now having a major allergic reaction. He's super snotty, coughing a lot and has an ear infection 2ndary to the allergies. Why, I say ?? The good news is, doc says the allergies in reality won't hurt him, just make him miserable !!

February Re-cap

2009-03-03T12:19:00.013-06:00

I feel like its been a while since I've posted anything new about Kellan. Its probably because he's been so super busy. So I thought while he was napping I would do a little re-cap from Feb. I keep a calendar by the computer and when something, anything happens I want to remember, I write it down. I really need to go back and do a post for every month with all the highlights and dates.....another day !!

So, as I look back at February's calendar, a lot has happened. He has mastered Patty-cake. You say patty-cake, and he starts clapping. But if you say "clap" he looks at you like your stupid !! Now that we got that down, we are working on bye-bye, which he gets a little better every day. He does the open and closing of the hand kinda bye-bye, not the wave kind.

He sprouted his 1st tooth 1-31-09 and a 2nd appeared 2-9-09. Both on the bottom, and quite cute. They have tripled in size now. I think I see the start of one on the top, his left, we'll see. I must say, but should probably knock on wood 1st, teething, so far, ain't bad ??
With 2 teeth, he can really eat anything. He is liken the bottle less & less & eating more real food. He most nights eats what we eat. Last night he self feed himself chicken & carrots, and he has polished off a whole banana on a few occasions. Most of the times he is to lazy to feed himself so we have to top him off the spoon feed way. On the eating topic, I have to tell that the dog food has made into him mouth, and he freakin loves it. He'll be cruising around and I'll notice this brownish drool and realize what it is from. I try to pry it out of his mouth, but he's not giving it up. If I could just teach the doggy's to keep their food where it belongs we wouldn't have this problem !!

For about 2 weeks now, he has figured out how to crawl on all fours, problem is, if he's on all fours, he can't carry a toy, so most of the time he still cruising in his elbows, with a toy in his hand. This past weekend he got real good at crawling around while pushing his toy lawnmower, very talented !!

He is getting much better at standing, he most days will manage to pull himself up to a stand using a toy to support him, problem is, once he's done standing, he doesn't really know how to sit again ??

About mid-month he started making the "fish face", its so, so funny & cute. I can't seem to get a picture of it yet.

What else, oh, he can crawl up stairs. He made it up about 10 at my bros house. And he can find me anywhere in the house. If I go potty, here he comes. Kitchen, he's right behind me. Office, he cruses so fast down that hallway to get me. And once he's in the office, its all about the computer for him.

It was a sad day last week when while Kellan was in his bed I heard the sound of his mobile, which meant Kellan had discovered it and was pulling on it to make it play music. Needless to say, I had to take it down. His bed/room just doesn't seem the same with out it.

I think that's about it. He will be one THIS month. So crazy & not right. Yet he still fits into lots of his 3 month clothes!!

I have been bad about pictures lately, mostly because if I take the camera out, he crawls towards it because he wants to play with it. I did take a few the other day, so here you go.

Morning, Glory

2009-02-20T09:49:00.011-06:00

I can't help myself with this one. Those who know me, know I love pretty flowers and plants. One of my all time favorites are Morning Glories and Moon Flowers. I'm not sure why these are favs, just are. You can never find them in plant form at the nursery, so I have always had to grow them myself with seeds. Well, I haven't done this in a while, for sure not since we lived here. I had bought seeds and a little green house thing last year but never got around to it, not sure why, oh wait, NEWBORN, that's right !! So I came across them the other day and thought, I'm gonna start these. In my past experience, they always take lots longer than the package says (10-14 days) to germinate, plus I wasn't gonna put them in a "warm sunny window", so I figured, I better get them going to have then ready for spring. OK, so I put the seeds in on Monday 2-16-09 and I took these pictures yesterday. AMAZING !! FYI, they are twice as big today, but the Moon flowers have yet to really sprout. Stay turned for more Morning Glory pictures !

For those of you who don't know what Morning Glories look like, below is a picture. They are a beautiful, bright, viney plant that blooms in the morning.

Below is Moon Flower, they bloom by the moon light.

Powder Bath Sink Re-do

2009-02-19T11:41:00.009-06:00

You know how it is when you move into a cookie-cutter plain Jane house. Well that's just not gonna fly with me. We have lived here for 2+ years now and always have a project up our sleeves trying to give our home personalty. The powder bath off the kitchen when we moved in was a boring yucky place !! Inspired by Brady's sisters powder bath, we too did a dog/cat theme. We painted the walls and hung lots of doggies and kitty's, but that didn't fix the problem. We had a vision...... a old piece of furniture with a sink to replace the pedestal sink. Now that we had a plan, we were on a mission. We found the perfect piece at an Antique shop on my b-day trip to Fredricksburg in 2007 (I was pregnant then) It didn't fit in the car as we thought so we had to strap it to the roof. That made for a long, slow ride home. Once we got it home it has since lived in my bedroom (Nov 07 till Jan 09). I drug it out one day to use it as a display table for a wine party I was hosting. I re-discovered the beauty of the piece and begged for Brady to "put it in the bathroom already". He did, and I love it, and let me say, I probably appreciate it more since it took so long to happen. Its so pretty and has storage, and who doesn't need more spots to stash crap ?? To properly give Brady props, I must explain that he had to cut the hole in the top to accompany the new sink, re-plum the underneath & cut out parts of the back to make room for the pluming. Thanks honey, your the best !!

Kellan finally meeting Papa Mac

2009-02-17T09:50:00.004-06:00

As most know, my dad is ill, and one of my biggest worries is that he would pass before he got to meet his awesome grandson. We have made a few attempts, but traveling to Houston with a baby sometimes doesn't always work out as planned. We finally made it happen this weekend for Valentines day. Daddy was very excited to meet Kellan, which made me very happy. And little Kellan put on such a show for him. Oh, and dad seems to being doing fairly well, he just wants to break out of " the home".

Papa Mac, Kellan & my bro Kelly

New bath tub trick

2009-02-13T10:03:00.004-06:00

As Kellan was taking a bath last night, he learned a new trick. He accidental slipped from a sitting position onto a tummy lying position. He didn't freak out, instead he realized, "this is new, & kinda neat ". That started a continual, purposeful lying, sitting, lying chain of events. Might I say, there is nothing much cuter than little baby bobo covered in bubbles !!

Notice the bubbles on his chin

Finally a tooth picture

2009-02-11T14:32:00.005-06:00

As I go thru pictures I took Of Kellan yesterday, I found one where you can see both of his new teeth. See em, on the bottom ?

Might I add, he's quite the ham in this picture.

And now we have two

2009-02-10T09:57:00.002-06:00

Pretty much a week after Kellan sprouted the first tooth, here came the second !! As I was changing him yesterday morning, he got to giggling, and there it was, tooth # 2. Its on the bottom, next to the first. I'm still not having any luck getting a picture, he will probably have 20 teeth before I can get him to pose for one. This is the best I can get.

Kellan's "I'm not gonna show you my tooth" face

2009-02-04T17:03:00.006-06:00

I so want to get a picture of the cute little tooth the has sprouted in Kellan's mouth, but after like 500 hundred pictures of me trying, I consistently keep getting the same thing. NOTHING !!

Fun in the laundry room

2009-02-04T16:40:00.006-06:00

Yes, its true, you can have fun while hanging out in the laundry room. Speakin of, Kellan & I did today. One of the must haves when I found out I was pregnant was a new washer & dryer. The one I had was so old & tiny, plus it was a water waster. We found a good sale on a high efficiency front loader & I slowly paid for my new babies before the baby. It truly does make doing laundry more enjoyable & I don't feel so waste full. Anyways, as I'm hangin up clothes today, I hear the piter pat of little hands as they cruise under my kitchen table down the hall and to the laundry room. I think you'll see from the pictures that Kellan thinks my washer & dryer are as cool as I do. Oh, & we keep the dog bowls in there, I don't have to tell you what happens next !!

Yes, he's eating the washer.

If your wondering, Kellan's not the one who made the huge mess with the dog food. That would be my dear sweet Margo. For some reason she has to dig her nose to the bottom of the bowl and push food out ? Oh, & her and Lucy both take food to other places of the house like the living room, hallway, where ever and leave it. Before it was just annoyance, but now since I have had to pick dog food out of my kids mouth, I'm constantly kicking it back into the laundry room. Ugh !!

We have a tooth !!!

2009-02-02T12:59:00.002-06:00

Its finally happened !!! Kellan has a tooth, kinda, at least a little bitty corner of one. It seems to have appeared Sat pm while Bibi was watching him. He's officially a big boy !! Oh, its on the bottom, his right. By the way, he turned 10 months old Sat also. Sorry, no picture of the tooth it yet, he doesn't seem to want me to see it !!

Just wanted to share

2009-01-29T12:22:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to share, what I think is a mighty cute picture. I just love Kellan's expression, its like he got caught doing something really, really bad. Which, lets be honest, that's just not possible !!!

Kitty's new favorite place

2009-01-27T14:06:00.006-06:00

Most of you don't even know we have a cat, but we do, and he's big one. Linus showed up on Brady's door step long before me and has been part of his/our family ever since. Quite honestly I was never really a cat person, but who doesn't love a cat that uses the doggy door which means no litter box and pretty much entertains himself and lives outside 90% of the time. He will though, when the coast is clear, meaning no guest are present and Kellan is asleep wonder into my lap on the couch for a good rubbin. He has had many favorite places around the house to lay, but most of them have disappeared. He loved the extra couch that was in whats now Kellan's room & the big red chair in the office, both are now gone. Pretty much any good comfy spot has been vanished. Currently he hangs in Brady's office chair or on my kitchen chairs. But in the last day or so, he's found a new good spot.

In case your wondering, he is lying on Kellan's gym/mat thing. Kellan rarely plays with it anymore so I moved it into the office for when we are in there. But, Kellan would much rather scoot over to my computer and play with that. I think he's gonna be a computer dork like daddy, he's obsessed.

Wagon Fun

2009-01-24T09:11:00.006-06:00

Kellan got a wagon for Christmas from his Bibi & Pa. So far it has lived in my living room because there is no room in the garage, and not because my car is in there, but because of my husbands CRAP! Yesterday, for the first time, Kellan & I took it outside and went for a ride. He seemed to enjoy it.

The early years

2009-01-24T08:22:00.018-06:00

This year for my birthday (in Oct.) mom did something very, very special. She sent me a goodie box filled with all kinds of treasures. There are too many to list but for example she sent my baby book, old scrapbook my dad started, her old jewelry box my dad had bought for her and many many pictures. She also spent the many hours it takes to scan old photo's and made me a CD from when before I was born and of my childhood. I will cherish these memories for ever. Thanks mom.

Mom & dad's wedding day, they are now divorced.

Mom & Dad anxiously awaiting my arrival.

My PaPaw holding me. FYI, I never got to know him this way, he had a stroke when I was a little girl.

Uncle John, Dossie (g-ma), PaPaw, mom, Jennifer (sister) & me.

Me in a fancy cowgirl outfit.

I think this is from Christmas 19??

Where do I begin ???

2009-01-23T13:23:00.007-06:00

As I sit here looking through all the pictures I have taken in the last week or so, its overwhelming. I can't believe all the talents my son now has. Everyday, its something new, or at least improvement on what he previously learned. He's still not crawling on on fours, but he gets where he's going with his swimming like motion on the floor. He will get to all fours to look around, then its down to the floor when its time to move. He has learned to sit up from a lying position, very talented !! Even though we're still toothless, we have started Kellan on big boy food. Some days its what we eat in the handy-chopper, some #3 baby foods, I've even tried some homemade wonders. In addition to that we are trying to let him self feed puffs, fruit and crackers which is very messy, to say the least !! My kitchen is no longer a safe place, as he has found his way into it, and of course as all kids do, he like to eat Tupperware, yum yum, oh and he has found the occasional piece of dog food, but I don't think its made it to his mouth yet, hope not !!

Standing in my crib, againYummy cracker !!Why kick my stove ??

Mexican Corn Bread

2009-01-23T13:15:00.002-06:00

This one I found in Grandje's stash but it was clipped from the newspaper, rather than a hand written one.

Mix
1 ½ cup milk
1 ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
3 eggs
¾ tsp soda
¾ tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 can cream style corn
Pour ½ of this mixture in a greased oblong pan or large iron skillet. Sprinkle with:
1 lb browned & seasoned ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 chopped hot peppers
½ lb grated cheese
Pour rest of batter over mixture; bake @ 450 for 45 to 60 minutes.

I would assume you could use a pkg of cornbread mix these days and it would work the same ??

Lonesome ?

2009-01-20T20:35:00.003-06:00

It always seems to amaze me, all the funny/odd things we find at my late Grandje & Grandjim's house. We are finally getting close to the end of cleaning out the house and getting it ready to sale. As we were going thru yet another box-of-stuff, I found this typed.

Lonesome?
Like to meet new people?
Like a change?
Like excitement?
Like a new job?
Just screw up 1 more time!

HeHeHe......

Kellan Cartoon By Tori

2009-01-17T10:00:00.004-06:00

This is the cutest thing ever !!!! My sweet niece (Tori) called me last night wanting to know what Kellan's Halloween costume was. She said my mom had given her a picture of him in it and she was going to make a cartoon from it. Honestly, I had know idea what she meant. This morning, mom calls me and tells me to check my e-mail. This is what I found.

What a talented little girl. Love you Tori, Thanks.

Oops, he did it again

2009-01-16T13:57:00.005-06:00

Again, I turn around for 1/2 a second, turn back and he's on his feet again. I have yet to see how he does it.

Yummy Tetrazzinni-2 ways

2009-01-16T13:27:00.008-06:00

One of my all time favorite casseroles is good ole Tetrazzinni. My mom has always made it the way her mom (my Dossie) made it. I thought my dads mom's (Grandje)was the same also. But as I continue my journey of going through my Grandjean's recipes, I came acroos her version. There's not much diffrence, but just enough.

This version was written by my mommy, Laura

This recipe has been in our family since I was a girl in the late l950's. We lived next door to Lloyd & Maxine Dudley on Klondike in Dallas, Texas. Lloyd was a dental student at Baylor University downtown Dallas. Maxine made Chicken Tetrazzinni one day & invited us over for dinner. We loved it ! And mother got the recipe & we've been using this recipe since then. It's great & great for leftover Chicken or Turkey after the holidays.

CHICKEN (or) TURKEY TETRAZZINNI

l Large Canned Chicken (Dark Meat) (or)
(2 Fryers)(3 1/2 - 4 lbs of Meat)
4 oz. Spaghetti
1/4 lb. Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
l Pint Sweet Milk (Evaporated)
1/4 lb. American Cheese (cut in small cubes)
1/4 lb. Old English Cheese (comes in the jar)
l Can Cream of Mushroom Soup (undiluted)
3-4 Stalks Celery (finely chopped)
1 Medium Onion (finely chopped)
l Box Ritz Crackers (enough to top cassorole)

* BAKE @ 375 for 30-40 Minutes
( Better if prepared the day before & baked the next day ).
* ADD CRACKERS CRUMBS JUST BEFORE BAKING.

Boil & De-Bone Meat & Cut into Small Cubes
Boil Spaghetti in Chicken Stock (or) Chicken Bouillon
Finely Chop - Onion & Celery - Then Boil in Chicken Stock til tender

Make White Sauce:

In Large Pot.......Mix (over low heat Butter, Flour, Milk, American Cheese, Old English Cheese & Mushroom Soup til you have a smooth creamy sauce.

Add.....Cooked & Drained Spaghetti & Cubed Meat to White Sauce (Mix all Together)

Pour into 'buttered' baking dish. (Makes a lot....use two dishes) Top with Ritz Cracker Crumbs before baking.

Now this is my Grandje's version

Chicken or Turkey Tetrazzini
Given to Grandje by Mary Wilson
4 oz jar pimentos (chopped)
½ stick butter
2 rounded tbs flour
2 cup milk
3/8 tsp garlic salt or powder
1 green pepper chopped
4 oz jar mushrooms (chopped)
1 can mushroom or celery soup
½ lb Velveeta cheese
1 cut up / 2 cups ???(can’t read her writing, maybe it’s the meat??)
4 oz spaghetti
Black pepper to taste
Make cream sauce out of butter, flour, & milk. When it begins to thicken add cheese, green pepper, pimentos, mushroom, soup & black pepper to taste.
Have spaghetti ready (better if cooked in chicken broth).
Mix all together & pour into buttered Pyrex & bake 45 min-1 hour or until bubbly @350.

Enough with the growing up already !!!

2009-01-14T08:01:00.006-06:00

Someone please explain to me why my baby is growing up soooooo fast. Seems like yesterday he was a itty bitty baby. But no more..................Yesterday I put him on his bobo in front of his stage toy thing so I could run out to the car for 1 minute. When I came back in, this is what I found.

How is it possible ??? Now he has in the last few days with someone helping him kinda pulled him self up, but it takes him a while. He did this all by himself & quick. I can't figure out how he didn't pull the toy on top of him ???

Also, another very exciting happening. Last night at dinner ( just he & I, daddy was still at work) he mumbled a new syllable, mamamama. I know he has know clue what he said, but its a start. Oh, & I got that on video to probe it to daddy.

Tawakoni Texas Pie & Frosted fruit salad

2009-01-14T07:58:00.000-06:00

2 more recipes from my Grandje's collection. Both sound super yummy. Its weird I don't remember her making either of these ???

Tawakoni Texas Pie

FYI Tawakoni is a lake in east Texas, near where Grandje & Grandjim lived
This recipe was found handwritten from the kitchen of Jean McDaniel, & dated 4-15-1976.

1 can pie filling (any kind)
1 can crushed pineapple-drained
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 large carton Cool-Whip
1 cup nut meats-chopped
Mix & chill in 2 pie crust.

Frosted Fruit Salad

2 3oz pkgs strawberry gelatin
1 10oz pkg frozen strawberries
2 large ripe bananas
1 15 ¼ can crushed pineapple
1 cup sour cream (optional)

In large bowl combine gelatin, 2 cups boiling water & strawberries; set aside until strawberries are thawed. In small bowl, mash bananas with pineapple, stir into gelatin. Refrigerate until set.

As if.....

2009-01-12T13:40:00.003-06:00

As if I have nothing better to do today than blog, I do, promise. But I'm waiting for Kellan to wake up then we have places to go and people to see, so no point in starting laundry, or cleaning now !! Anyways, notice my new profile picture. I cut my hair & am so glad. As part of my "I need to get my booty in shape" campaign, I thought it would be a nice boost and help motivate me.

What we learned this week

2009-01-12T13:25:00.006-06:00

My goodness, how fast little ones learn. I swear it seemed like Kellan hadn't done a single new thing in like forever, then all the sudden...... Whooo. When I came home from Houston last Sunday, I tried not to get upset when Kellan moved 2 knee steps across the floor thinking he started crawling while I was gone. So, I asked daddy, "How longs he been doing this" Daddy said, "That's the 1st I seen him do it". Yippy, I didn't miss anything. Since then, he's rockin & rollin. I haven't seen a full on crawl yet, but he's got the army crawl thing down real good. And as if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, he has on many occasions pulled himself up to his knee's and feet. Wow, it's so exciting. These are some random pictures showing his new talents from this weekend. We have been helping aunt Robin (Brady's sis) move and she bought Kellan some new fun (big boy) toys to play with when he's over there.

I promise he does enjoy these thing's & he is having a great time. I'm not sure why he gives me that blank stare when I point the camera at him, but yet when I put it away, he's laughin & screamin at his exciting accomplishments.

FYI, he's riding a v-tech alphabet train. It gets 2 thumbs up from me. It has many, many learning options. And lots of great songs. Thanks aunt Robin !!

Kellan's first Christmas

2009-01-12T08:26:00.007-06:00

Even though its been like forever, I figure I should still put a few pictures up from Christmas. We had a great holiday. It was such a different kinda fun this year having Kellan around. Kellan I went to grandma Dossie's on Christmas eve while Brady worked. My mom (Granny) had mailed a big box of goodies for us and we opened them over there. Then we went to Bibi & Pa's house and spent the night and Christmas day with them and the rest of the fam.

A yummy recipe

2009-01-07T14:20:00.007-06:00

My dear sweet late g-ma (Grandji) was an awesome cook. I am the proud custodian of her recipe collection. I have high hopes of getting them all typed for sharing and creating some sort of book for the family. Slowly but surely, I will succeed. From time to time I thought I would share a few with the rest of the world. This one sounded extremely yummy !! Let me know if anyone is brave enough to try.

Pizza Casserole
8 oz spaghetti, cooked as directed
2 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 can tomato soup
1 cam cream of mushroom soup
2 tbsp Worchester sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic salt
Mozzarella cheese for the top
Brown meat, onion together. Drain, add spices and soups. Alternate beef mixture with cooked spaghetti in 2 quart casserole dish. Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes, top with mozzarella cheese, bake 10 minutes longer. Let cool for 5-10 minutes then cut into squares and serve.

This is a picture of a few of the bagillion cook books my g-ma had. They are really cool, some are from the 40's and 50's.

My kid Rock's

2008-12-31T11:48:00.007-06:00

I was bored the other day and thought......I'm gonna take some pictures of Kellan for last minute Christmas gifts for the fam. As always, I talk a million and only a few turn out, and the ones you didn't think would be cute, rock. Well anyways, see what you think.

By the way, we bought the onesis and guitar in Canton.

What Kellan thinks of Santa

2008-12-22T08:44:00.004-06:00

I figured since it was Kellan's 1st Christmas, I should take him to see Santa. For what ever reason we ended up in Allen. The Santa was awesome, he looked very authentic but Kellan wasn't impressed. Why is it little kids are so scared of Santa ??

Christmas pictures 08

2008-12-19T17:44:00.007-06:00

Well now that the Christmas cards have gone out, whooooo, glad I started that early, I can post some of my favorite pictures of Kellan (at least the ones we've taken so far). It is always so hard to choose the best one, as if, there is no such one. And, of course my favorites are always the ones where he's making a funny face, or crying or getting eatin by a dog. I rarely actually get a shot of him smiling. He is clearly thinking very hard in the above shot.

Baby Blue Eyes

2008-12-18T13:56:00.004-06:00

So as I sit here, bored, on yet another day at home, not doing any thing I should be doing like laundry, or cleaning house, I have been trying to "clean up / go through" the millions of pictures I take. Even though Kellan's been a little under the weather, there's no reason I still can't take his picture. As I look through them I just ahhhhh at how pretty, I mean handsome he is, and how breath-taking beautiful his eyes are. Just thought I'd share.

Going outta my mind

2008-12-17T10:58:00.000-06:00

Ok, so Thursday we took Kellan for the second half of his flu shot. Friday he was so not himself, which means he was whinny and fussy. I had a bad feeling, and sure enough, come Sat, he had fever. Why, I ask. When he had the 1st half of the flu shot he ran fever about 3 days after, could it be from the flu shot??? Could it be from the baby whose mom sat 3 seats down from us hacking up a lung when we were at the doctors office ?? Could it be some funk I picked up while I was at the hospital in Houston visiting my dad ?? How do you know ?? All I know is, I am going to go out of my freaking mind. He's not running fever anymore, but still not back to himself. Plus the weather is a little crazy so I know better than to take him outside, so we are going on 4 days of being couped up. In addition, he's not taking full bottles and he's been waking up at night. Whats up !!! I pray and hope, and pray some more, that tonight he takes his full bedtime bottle, we put him to bed, he sleeps all night like he used to, and tomorrow, he will be back to his full self. Ah....I feel better now.

For the love of Chuck

2008-12-12T12:34:00.006-06:00

Those of you who know our family, know Chuck. He may look cute and sweet on the outside, but...... really, he'll take a finger off. With that said, none of the above seems to bother Kellan. He thinks Chuck is neat, gets excited when he walks by or on him. Always reaching out to give him little love pats, aka loves slaps or grabs. So the other night as Kellan's flip floppin all over the couch, he some how ended up on his knees where Chuck was in plain sight. Well, I think the pictures tell the story.

Now before anyone gets mad, as if we are torturing Chuck or the baby. DON'T. No one was harmed. The more Chuck snarled, the more Kellan laughed. As for Chuck, he just needs to get over himself already.

Kellan @ 36 weeks

2008-12-11T13:21:00.014-06:00

We went for Kellan's 36 week check up today. Still can't believe he's that old already. He has slowed down on growing for the time being and weighed in at a whopping 18.4 lbs which puts him in the 25 % for weight. He's still pretty long at 27 1/2 inches, 50%. Other than that he's right on track with all the "milestones" "they" say he should be doing for now.

Oh, some neat things he has learned how to do in the last week or so.....

1. He has figured out how to lye down from a sitting position, without falling.

2. He was driving a toy truck the other day back and forth, by himself.

3. He has learned if he doesn't want something, like a bottle, he can just push (SHOVE) it away.

4. He can turn himself over on the changing table, but only if his bo bo is covered in poop, and I am by myself. Any tips??

5. He can proudly out loud the dogs, when they back, he screams, loud.

What he hasn't learned is, how to crawl (so close) or grow teeth, but that's ok, mommas in no rush !!

This picture is from the doctors office, he is patiently awaiting his flu shot.

McDaniel Family Thanx-mas 2008

2008-12-02T17:42:00.000-06:00

My dads side of the family (McDaniel's) try to get together every year to celebrate Christmas. This year, this past weekend, following Thanksgiving was the best time for everyone. It was crazy busy trying to make it all work out for everyone, but some how, most of us did. My brother Kelly & his wife Cheryl had it at there new house in Pearland, near Houston. Brady, Kellan and I got there Thursday night. We had such a great time as you'll will see in the bigillion pictures we took.

My brother Kelly and his favorite nephew

Kellan's HO HO HO shirt before he got food all over it

Poor Kellan, getting slimmed by Smiley dog

Amber and her princess Pheobe

Me and my nephew Chace

Another nephew, Jordan

Kelly getting all the meat ready, yum yum

Kelly, wife Cheryl & daughter Amber

Aunt Diane giving Kellan his first taste of purple salad, he liked, duh!

Great Aunt Debbie, cuz Jenice with Kellan

Brother Scott, Chace, Bailey, Justin

Brady napping

What Kelly will do to you while napping, the sad thing is, he didn't wake up.

White elephant christmas gift, Justin gave up a brown ceramic bear thats been passed around for years, only to get a ceramic bull. HA HA HA !!!

Brandon got a moon shine jug, or at least thats what he called it.

Group photo take #1

Take 2

Finally !!

What a wonderful, fun filled family affair. Love you guys !!!

Thanksgiving Part 2

2008-12-01T14:20:00.007-06:00

We went to Bibi & Pa's Wed night to start our Thanksgiving festivities with them. Unfortunately Bailey and Spencer were with there dad, but Auntie Robin came to help us celebrate. We got up early Thursday morning and cooked, and played, and played some more. It was a fun day with all the good Thanksgiving day favorites to fill our bellies.

Getting ready to enjoy the holidays

2008-11-30T14:31:00.004-06:00

Those of you that have kiddo's know how much crap you need when your going to spend a night or two away from home. We left our house Wed. to go spend Thanksgiving with Brady's parents then planned to leave from there Thurs. night to head to my bros house in Houston to have "Christmas" with the McDaniel's. It took me most of the day Wed. to pack all of our stuff.
The pile-o-crap to take with us. FYI, Brady & I are sharing a suitcase.

What back of the van looked like loaded.

Another funny about traveling for the Holidays........ Nothing is open on Thanksging night! So if you plan to stop to let your baby stretch his legs, change his diaper, or eat his dinner, your gonna have to get creative. Places like Jack in the Box are open, but those of you that know Brady, probaly know he's not gonna take Kellan in there for dinner. So, here was my husbands solution.

Notice what he's eating, I packed Turkey & Rice dinner !!!

Sweet Carmie, we will miss you

2008-11-25T20:53:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving part 1

2008-11-24T08:56:00.003-06:00

With so many families, and so little time, we decided to do the holidays a little different this year. Grandma Dossie had us over on Sunday for Thanksgiving. I was great and it didn't seem like it wasn't Thanksgiving day, we still had food, football, family and most important, fun.
I think its clear how much he loves his Grandma Dossie

Good times with good friends

2008-11-11T10:18:00.025-06:00

Let me just set the scene........I had the awesome pleasure of spending this past weekend with a group of good ole friends. J Wilson has been living in St. Louis now for years, and though she does come home from time to time, its never enough. And with the addition of baby Tyler (born 8-21-8) she 's been grounded to her house for the time being.
Wilson and I meet in 1996 and have gotten closer as the years go by. I meet Heather around the same time in 96 and same thing, the longer we know each other, the more the friendship grows. And April, sweet silly April, I can't remember when exactly we meet, but through the years of running into each other, we have made a nice little friendship and now that we are neighbors, it will only keep getting better. Oh, and Heather, April and I play Keno together every 2 months or so. Anyways, with Jennifer having the baby, and all of us wanting to see him, and her and daddy too, and me needing a little break (we all needed a break) from my wonderful life of a stay at home mom of a 8 month old, I was time to load up and fly out. St Louis here we come !!! We all got there Thurs night and the fun began. Friday we got up, sat around drank coffee, played with sweet baby Tyler, giggled and went on for the day. Jennifer took us to a little part of St Louis called The Hill, it was this little Italian hood. Italian flags everywhere, fire hydrants painted red, white and green and the cutest little Italians walking the streets. We ate the bestest food I think we had ever eaten. Saturday we headed up the hills and valleys to the world of winery's. We all thought we were in another country it was so beautiful. But as beautiful as it was us Texas gals couldn't hang long, the high for the day was supposed to be 46, but with the wind I swear it was like 20 !!! Because of the chill in the air we moved on to a warmer local to continue the visit. Its amazing how a group of 4 old pals can spend day and night for 3+ days and never run out of something to say or laugh about. It was truly a great bonding and friendship strengthening weekend. I hope this is the first of an annual gathering. With all that said, I was so happy to come home to my hubby, baby and four legged kiddos, but am already missin my girls!

Friday lunch at Zia's

Saturday at Montell Winery

Freezing our little bobo's off

Winery #2, much warmer with the addition of a fire place.

Just an update

2008-11-07T12:51:00.002-06:00

As before, we are off track with Kellan's well check's, but for insurance reasons we can't get back on track just yet. So anyways, we had his 6 month check today at 8 months. He continues to be long and lean. He weighed in at a whooping 17.7 pounds, and measures 27 1/2 inches. We have successfully doubled his birth weight (finally). So all in all, Kellan is a happy, healthy baby !!!

Favorite things

2008-11-05T14:07:00.010-06:00

A few of Kellan's favorite things other than me....... His doggy Margo. Everyone thought she would be the one of the four dogs that would be really bitter with a baby around, but really, she likes him the best. And Kellan just can't get enough, he loves to pet the dogs.

oops

In addition to Margo, he has a new toy, one that we have all become to love. He loves it because he can look, talk, smile, dance and lick, yes lick himself. We love it for the obvious, watching him do all those things. At times he gets tired, so he uses his feet !!

What I can do now

2008-11-03T13:53:00.003-06:00

There are many things Kellan is getting very good at. In the last few weeks, he has mastered sitting, and he will do it for quite a while. Not only can he sit, but he can play while sitting, which does take talent, well maybe not talent but balance and concentration. Also, we are now riding in shopping carts (with propping) and sitting in big boy high chairs at restaurants. He can even sit on his bobo in the tub !!!

A birthday at the park

2008-10-28T14:22:00.011-05:00

We spent my big 32 the best way I know how, as a family. Though I am a little pissed at the getting older/fatter issue, I couldn't feel more blessed. I am truly overwhelmed with all the joys in my life. Anyways.....our day started with a little shopping, not for me, but for Kellan. Then we had lunch with Bibi & Pa. It was such a gorgeous day outside we walked around and took pictures of our favorite subject, you guessed it, Kellan. And to top the day off, after a wonderful family dinner we got to go out for a drink. Ooh, and the best part, the in laws kept Kellan all night long for the first time !!! Whoo hoo, I am glad that is over with and they can see what an angle he is threw the night !!