on becoming a family

Holidays and a Haircut

2010-02-10T20:55:00.006-06:00

Hello!

Gosh, so busy with the new house, haven't had time to update this blog! If you have time, check out the house blog.... http://thehouseonmarblestreet.blogspot.com

Since the last time I posted, gosh, we've had Thanksgiving, Christmas and Kai's first haircut... and next week, the little booger will be TWO! Can you believe it? She acts every bit of the terrible two, especially when we're out and about... like at Lowe's for the 50th time in one week.

We stayed in Arizona for Thanksgiving, but Shawn's dad came out. We had a wonderful dinner (including my first turkey!) at our friend Jill's house. Jill is a dear friend from college that is fortunate enough to be able to spend time here once a month or so. I love being able to see her so often! My good friend Tyna, another friend from college, lives in the area as well, and was able to join our feast too. I felt very blessed to spend Thanksgiving with such dear friends! The pictures are on facebook, and i can't seem to locate them right now, so if you'd like to see, send me an email.

Before the holidays, we headed out to the Phoenix Zoo for Zoolights. Before the sun set, however, we hiked up to the hole in the rock close by and took some family photos.

Zoolights was pretty cool, lots of light displays like this one

And a choreographed tree light show to music. We rode the carousel and drank hot chocolate and had a really nice time, except that it was pretty cold. :)

We also had this picture taken of Kai for a fundraiser for my MOPS group. It was a hit with the grandparents, and especially the great-grandparents this Christmas!

We closed on our new house on December 22nd, I took my Anatomy final and we loaded up the mini-van and headed to Texas. We made it just in time for the "blizzard" of 09... and a white Christmas!

Here's Kai bundled up with AJ waiting for the snow to come.

Opening presents at Pepaws house... including a tricycle!

And jamming to the Yo Gabba Gabba Plex Piano from Aunt Jenny

Snow at Gramma and Pop Pop's House on Christmas Day!

Visiting with old-time BFF Noli, sharing some colors

Watching MORE snow fall out the window!

Lounging

And running in heels, pushing the walmart shopping cart... awesome.

See the mullet above? We decided to go ahead and get baby's first haircut while we were in town... and her mullet became no more on Dec 31, 2009.

That's all for now folks! The next post will be Disneyland and birthday pics!

these boots were made for walking...

2009-10-27T18:56:00.004-05:00

snapping pictures of kai are harder than ever... she's always on the move. and even though you all think she's a perfect angel, the truth is, she's got a little rebel in her and will pose and smile for other people taking pictures, but not mommy. can't imagine where she gets that from.

so we've had a pretty busy couple of months. in september, we drove out to oklahoma and texas for a visit. i'm so bad about pictures when we visit, and this time, i was more focused on taking pictures of all the family members for kai to see so she could learn everyone's names even while we're 1000 miles away. but i managed to get some pretty cute ones.

our first stop was at cousin jerry's out in the country of OK... it is so different than what i'm used to, but the 20 degree temperature drop was very nice! kai had a great time with cousin jenny and all of the animals (they have dogs - pups while we were there, donkeys and a goat)

here's kai enjoying the sunset from the front porch with jenny:

the next day we drove into Oklahoma City to pick up cousin Michael from the airport and make our way to the Spears' family reunion in Okmulgee, OK.... it sounds about as exciting as it is! we had dinner in a little cafe on the square, complete with live music and a diner full of retirees. :-) after dinner, we spent some time hanging out.

kai and jenna sharing a moment

i love this photo because it looks like kai is on a mission!

after the reunion, we drove down to d-town and had a labor day bbq with my family - like i said, i have lots of individual pictures of everyone, but not too many action shots. after lunch we went on a walk with pop-pop (my dad) and jersey (the dysfunctional basset of my grandparents)... elle decided to join us and help with kai:

we also went to dinner with kari and rob, who are expecting baby boy in feb! and melissa, expecting baby in may! we went to target afterwards and kai got some new clothes from aunt kari and aunt mel. here she is checking out the purchases!

on the way back to phoenix, we decided to take the less-traveled, non-interstate route through the mountains... it was a little more interesting than the drive through tucson, but lots of stops and 25 mph zones along the way. here's a pic at the crossroads... she's probably in the middle of saying "shoo-ee" about her feet... ok, not really, because she just learned that a few weeks ago... she takes off her shoes and smells her feet and says "shoo-ee!" it's adorable.

since we've been back, we've met DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba

been silly at dinner

learned to floss! (ok, not really, just copying mommy)

and spent many minutes riding "horsey" who sings and neighs and wags his tail!

october has brought cooler weather (finally!), but not any change in sunlight or foliage... it's kind of odd not to see leaves changing colors. this last weekend we were invited to a birthday party at a local farm... about 5 minutes down the road (we're kind of on the edge of civilization out here in east mesa... not to worry though, necessities like sonic are still right around the corner)... it was so fun to take kai because she actually knows the names of all the animals and we have the awesome pink cowgirl boots on loan from a new friend.

the first stop at the farm was the fake cow, whose udders were dripping water... shawn was more interested than kai, apparently

we then made our way to the animals... pigs, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, a donkey, and a cow.

we paused briefly to take a mommy and kai photo

then headed to the cow-train...a handful of white and black barrels pulled by a tractor... which kairi really loved!

kai decided to do a little reading while the birthday boy was opening presents

and then the battery died... we also did a corn maze - for about 5 minutes - because by now the sun had come out in full force and it was like 20 degrees warmer than it was when got there - and because kai wanted to be carried instead of riding in the wagon, and i told shawn we needed to go back... it was like a 3 mile maze or something crazy. we also looked at a few pumpkins... but she wasn't really that into it.

i know halloween is coming up and we will get more pics then, but in case you don't have facebook, or you haven't seen what shawn and I were this year... here's your opportunity.

shawn was invited to a halloween party by a co-worker who told us the theme was sequins... so my wonderfully creative husband decided to go as richard simmons, which meant i had to be a sidekick... his biggest fan, and success story #4,326. :-)

that's all for now folks! hope you are all well, and I'll update again post-thanksgiving!

i'll leave you with this funny, dirty, precious toddler face!

75 words or more

2009-08-26T18:23:00.004-05:00

Not the number of words in this post... although you probably will only read that many, I know you all just want to see the adorable pictures! That's the number of words Kai can say (that we or at least I) can understand! So smart, I know.

So she's officially on her way to becoming a two-year old... 18 months old and counting. Where has the time gone? Here are her stats from her check-up:

Height: 30 3/4" - 23rd percentile

Weight: 23 lbs 4 oz - 34th percentile

Head: 46cm - 34th percentile

Doctor said she was perfect! I couldn't agree more... :-) I'll spare you the complete list of words, but here are some of her favorites (and what they actually sound like):

poo-poo.... sounds exactly like it's supposed to

teeth... tee... always accompained by moving her potty stool to the sink in an effort to brush her teeth (or at least eat the toddle toothpaste of the brush)

helicopter.... sounds like hell-caw-ter.... shawn taught her this one!

peek-a-boo.... sounds like pee-boo... also a synonym for yo gabba gabba... which sounds like o-bah-bah

cheese... still one of her favorite foods

water... sounds like agua... how do you like our little splanglish speaking baby?

elmo.... she can ennunciate this one perfectly, much to my shagrin

oh, i could go on, but why bore you with the erudite language of a toddler, when i can show you pictures?

The fourth of July finally rolled around and Kai got to finally wear this adorable outfit from aunt jenn... unfortunately the festivities were cut short because Kai got sick that night... ended up with croup... it was awful! She sounded like a bulldog when she was sleeping.

Here's our little fashionista sporting her shades

And shopping for some more...

We decided to get her a more sophisticated potty than the one we had bought at Ikea... this one supposedly plays a little tune after you do your business... not that we would know anything about that... she goes poop on the big potty if we can get her there in time... otherwise, she'll sometimes sit on it for a bit to catch up on the latest book.

We've had to get creative with things to do on the weekends... usually it's too hot, but that didn't stop us from checking out the railroad park in scottsdale a couple of weeks ago. We were the only ones on this little train (probably because everyone else was smart and stayed indoors)...

Kai also rode the carousel... i tried to get a good pic, but it was going really fast! She was so cute, she would smile and laugh everytime it came back around to where i was.

Since Shawn doesn't have a house to work on, he has to be a little more creative to stay busy. He built Kai this car a few days ago.

And last but not least, we ventured out to a nearby ghost town (about 20 minutes east of us)... the train there was advertised to take 20 minutes, so we thought it would be worth it... what they didn't say was that it only went about 2 mph and you had to listen to a bearded mountain man talk about the legends behind the superstition mountains.

All I could think about was how creepy this place was... can you blame me?

That's all folks! Shawn's birthday is Monday and we're heading to Texas by way of Okmulgee, OK in a couple of weeks! We should get lots of good photos. Until then...

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

2009-08-26T18:03:00.003-05:00

A little while ago, Shawn's hours got cut to four days a week. He arranged it with a friend to have a 4-day weekend every other weekend... so when my parents said they were going on a wild west RV tour, I mentioned that we could meet in Vegas... mostly so Shawn and I could go on a date! Turns out, he got his hours back, thank goodness! But we still went up to Vegas at the last minute. We should have probably just stayed home... things didn't work out to well for us... but we got some fun pics!

Westward ho! This wagon was in the parking lot of the McDonald's in Wickenburg, AZ.

Stopping at the Hoover Dam for some photo ops... notice the construction in the background... the dam is apparently not doing so well... they don't allow big trucks or buses to go over it anymore and they limit the speed and traffic of all the cars. They're building a huge bridge to by-pass it, but it's behind schedule apparently - the signs said it was to be completed in like the Fall of 07 or something...

They were just missing one piece of the arch while we were there... thanks to my super public school education, I know that the center piece of the arch is what makes it all work. :-)

This picture is from underneath the bridge... look how tall it is! And we of course were already pretty high up on top of the dam.

We had some time to kill while we waited for my parents to make it from Cali to Vegas, so we took the opportunity to pose in front of the vegas sign (I had never done it before!) and yes... Lucy is part of the family, even if Shawn thinks otherwise.

Kai got to hang out with Pop-pop (that's what she's calling him these days) and Gamma while Shawn and I had our date night. Apparently she didn't have too much fun here:

Can you blame her, I mean, there's a creepy clown in the car with her! And the last photo is a self-portrait of my man and I... strip style.

It was nice to get away from house-hunting for a while! Too bad we didn't win any money to help buy one! :-)

First Visit Back to Texas!

2009-08-17T18:58:00.002-05:00

So Kai and I made the journey to Texas without Shawn back at the end of June. The flights went well, we had a whole row to ourselves on the way there and Kai slept the whole way back. That being said, I'm not sure I'll ever take a toddler on a 3 hour plane trip alone by myself again! You should have seen me at security... stroller, diaper bag, toddler, taking mine and Kai's shoes off! It was insane. Here are some photos of our journey!

Daddy and Kai waiting at the airport before our flight.

And here's our big girl all buckled up! Actually, she rode in my lap, but I took this before we took off. Look how excited she is! :-)

When we got to Texas, Kai stayed a couple of days with her grandparents and I went on a little road trip down to Port A with the girls.

Here we are walking down the super long boardwalk to the beach...

I'm not sure what they were looking for... I mean, it is the Gulf of Mexico.

After a fun-filled few days, we headed back to the big D for a couple of nights before returning to Phoenix. It was the longest I had been away from Kai and maybe even Shawn... and I'm happy to report that I missed them both, even Shawn. :-)

We were fortunate enough to meet up with my old teaching buddies at Northpark. Here is Kai enjoying a Tiggemantastic puppet show

Couldn't leave without a group shot. See how we've multiplied!

Our last night back home took us to the *NEW* Irving El Fenix (AKA old Don Pablo's) for some Tex-Mex.

Kai was excited to see uncle Matt and aunt Rita!

It was a great trip and we look forward to our next trip home in just a few weeks! Shawn's coming this time... and probably Lucy too. :-)

phoenix fun

2009-06-23T14:07:00.007-05:00

so you guys are probably wondering how we're adjusting to living in the desert, right? well it's been pretty great so far... june has been unseasonably cool (low 90's) so it's been very nice as far as weather goes. it still gets hot, but it's not unbearable. luckily, there are tons of splash pads here... the first time kai encountered one, she wasn't quite sure what to think

but as you can see from this photo, it didn't take long for her to figure out what you were supposed to do... get wet!

mom came out for a visit a couple of weeks ago and took kai swimming (she's a total water baby by the way... watch out michael phelps!)

and we spent an evening up in scottsdale... the fancy pants mall has a fancy pants play area for the kiddoes - seriously, the coolest playhouses i've ever seen!

and mom came with me to a MOPS playdate at another splash pad/park

kai's favorite word for a while was hot... which she kept saying as i pushed her in the swing

we've also been blessed to have an old friend from FBC Irving close by... Karen has watched Kai a few times (and even now as i'm updating the blog - much easier without a 16 month old climbing in and out of my lap!) her son Nicholas loves Kai and is so good with her!

she snapped this great pic of kai in the swing one evening when we had just moved here

we're so thankful for karen and brad and nick for their kindness... and it's nice to have someone to talk "texas" with!

last weekend we didn't have much to do, so we decided to go for a little road trip. Payson is a town about 75 miles north of our apartment... it's up in the mountains, so it's about 20 degrees cooler and one of shawn's coworkers actually commutes from there so we wanted to see what it was all about. it was a nice drive, but i can't imagine doing it twice a day!

here is red mountain... seriously about 5 minutes from shawn's office

about 15 minutes into the drive

and about 30 minutes

most of the drive is through Tonto Nat'l Forest and along the way is Saguaro Lake... we're planning on getting an annual pass so that we can go offroading and camping and boating and stuff of that nature...

when we arrived in payson, we were a little disappointed... wasn't much to it. we ate lunch at a little cafe

and turned around to head back to mesa, i did my best to get some good snap-shots of the mountains through the window in our moving vehicle...

can you believe this is like 45 minutes from my front door?

and this is even closer, although it does look a little more like it belongs in the desert

it was a nice alternative to house hunting and car shopping which has taken up much of our free time since we've been here.

well, that's all for now folks. consider this blog up to date! kai and i are heading to dallas tonight... and i'm going to the beach with the girls... so photos of that to come.

maybe if i'm bored (yeah right!) i'll post one about what a 16 month old is like through her mother's eyes. :-)

california dreamin'

2009-06-23T12:51:00.008-05:00

Shawn was off the week of Memorial Day, so we took advantage of the short drive to Cali and headed to San Diego! The cool weather was a nice change, but it was overcast the whole time, so unfortunately S.D. was a bit gloomy. The drive along Interstate 8 was fairly uneventful (although I do think it's more interesting than the drive along I-10)... but we did come across these awesome sand dunes:

we figure this is where they shoot all those crazy desert scenes in the movies... they were huge!

we stayed right on the beach in Ocean Beach... if you don't know about O.B., let me tell you... the natives are very laid back, like hippie laid back... and there are hardly any corporate run businesses in town. it's a great little town, particularly if you appreciate surfers and hippies and a few homeless people.

the first night we were there, they were having their weekly farmers market on the main street... it was the busiest we saw it, but there were all kinds of yummy, fresh foods and beautiful flowers.

after perusing the market, we walked down to the sand (just across the street from the hotel)... since i had the stroller, i stayed on the sidewalk and shawn walked kai down to the water... she didn't know what to think of the sand at first... but loved the water (even though it was frigid! shawn still doesn't understand why people want to go to a beach where you can't swim because it's too cold!) kai played in the waves and her daddy let her get soaked in the chilly water... i didn't get any pics because i was so concerned about getting her back to the hotel and out of her freezing clothes! but here's a sweet one of kai and her daddy:

after we dried off, we headed downtown to find a place to eat and walk on the boardwalk...

i thought this was a pretty cool picture

after walking for a while, we headed back to the hotel and rested up for our trip to the san diego zoo the next day!

the first thing we did was ride the double-decker bus for the tour... this was the best family pic we could get...

this is kai's excited face

after seeing the animals from the bus, we headed to the children's zoo where kai tried to feed the goats and sheep

then we rode the sky tram (so scary for me!) across the park

to see the polar bears...

pandas...

and homeless people, oh my! (this wasn't actually at the zoo... it was at our hotel... but it was ironic because we had spent all day at the zoo)

our last stop at the world famous zoo was their new elephant exhibit... this was the closest kai got to any elephant - although the exhibit was the best thing about the zoo by far (we felt a little ripped off by the $35 per person entrance fee - it was big, and yes they have polar bears and pandas, but a bit overrated in our opinions)

we made one last stop at the sign before heading back to hippie holl--- i mean ocean beach

we enjoyed some time in the quaint courtyard of our hotel

and walked around a bit more

and turned in for a relaxing night before our long trip home the next day.

i'll leave you with our beautiful girl enjoying the cool ocean breeze (check out that mullet!)

2009-06-08T14:31:00.004-05:00

i'm not sure if you all realize this, but taking a 2 day road trip with a moving truck, dog and 15 month old is quite exhausting... kai caught a cold just before we moved, so she was a bit fussy on the ride... but did way better than we could have imagined! unfortunately for the blog and our fuzzy memories down the road, we didn't get many pictures of the trip... and the strangest thing happened... i took a couple of pictures at 'the thing' in eastern arizona and when we got here and settled in, i couldn't find the memory card that was in my camera.... very eerie!

so about the move: we signed our house over on monday morning and ran a few errands and hit the road. we made it to midland by about 7 pm and thought, it's still daylight out, let's keep going... not sure if you know it, but there's hardly more than some desert brush, truck stops and cheap motels between midland and el paso... so we kept trucking all the way to texas' finest city - el paso - we arrived around 2:30 am and were pooped but didn't have as far to go on tuesday, so it worked out well. we got to our new apartment sometime tuesday afternoon and shawn didn't sit down until he unloaded the truck (mostly by himself!) we spent the first week here shopping for some odds and ends and driving lots of neighborhoods! more on our time in phoenix later...

before we made the semi-cross-country journey, we had the chance to say goodbye to many good friends... unfortunately, we don't have many pics... but here is kai with kari and rob a couple of days before we left i-town - we miss them so much!

uncle rob had fun pushing kai in her homemade diaper box car racer!

kai also made sure to share lots of love with kari

we also spent lots of time with our dear neighbor louise... kai loved going over to visit susie, louise's doggie

annie and noli came over just before we hit the road and why i didn't get any pictures of us all together i don't know... but annie was kind enough to take one last family photo in front of our first house for us

like i said, we didn't get many pictures on the road - mostly because gas stations and mcdonald's look pretty much the same in every town... we did stop at the first mile marker in arizona and snapped some first photos

and i caught this video of kai dancing in the car

and pretty soon we were here... our new temporary home - sorry we don't have pictures of the inside... it's your pretty standard apartment and quite frankly, our decorating is a bit embarrassing for now...

we are looking forward to hanging out with old friends and meeting lots of new ones!

next post - our second family trip to southern california!

easter and the arboretum

2009-06-08T11:12:00.005-05:00

i promised these pictures a long time ago! i can't remember if it was before easter or after, but we went with cass and tobey and jen sperl (in town from snowy co) to the arboretum and snapped some lovely pics... the weather was good and it was my first time going... they had these 'playhouses' that were an art installation, but the kids could play in and on them... there was a pirate ship, alice in wonderland, dr. seuss, and more... they were all based on different storybooks.

we had a picnic lunch before exploring... here's kai's closeup

tobey and kai peeking into the gingerbread house

kai and tobey, hand in hand

my beautiful baby

wait for me!

playing on the slide at one of the houses

and finally, our little model (serious about the shoot!)

for easter, we headed down to pepaws house for the annual easter egg hunt... it was pretty cold, so it took place indoors and since i'm still learning how to use my camera, i didn't get many good pics of the hunt...

here's kai taking in her spoils (lots of gummy candy and quarters)

after the hunt, we spent lots of time outside with friends and family... self portrait of daddy and mama

slam dunk

aj, i'm open!

fun times on the trampoline... run

hug...

and take em down!

next up, the move, san diego and fun times in phoenix!

kai's first birthday

2009-05-18T00:02:00.005-05:00

i realize i'm like 3 months late with this... but we've been busy. :-)

here's a few pics in case you couldn't make it... and if you did make it, thank you so much for coming and for all of the wonderful gifts! we felt so blessed to have so many people want to share in kai's special day!

this is my first attempt at making a cake for a child... kinda rough around the edges... but i did the best i could! the cupcakes above were lovely thanks to annie's cupcake decorating skillz!

kai didn't seem to mind that it wasn't aesthetically pleasing...

and ate mostly frosting...

but didn't take long to say in her own words - enough's enough!

kai had lots of friends and family come to the salem house for her shin-dig

kai opened some awesome gifts...with the help of bff, noli... (this picture is awesome)

and crashed pretty quickly in her swing outside!

pics of the move and such coming soon... maybe this week if you're lucky!

****ps... if you're picture is on here and you would like it removed, just email me and i'll gladly take it down... no questions asked, no hard feelings!****

Arizona bound!

2009-04-22T22:28:00.003-05:00

so... we're about 99% sure we're heading to arizona on may 11th (we're still waiting on the "official" details from shawn's company - say a prayer we get them tomorrow!)... we have that date because it's the date we're closing on our house! we sold it in about a month, without a realtor, and for 15% more than we paid two years ago! we're pretty proud of all the work we've done and feel very blessed that we will get back what we've invested into it in this market!

so... on to more exciting stuff!

we went out to phoenix to visit (shawn's first time - he loved it!) and find a place to live... we will be living here until we find a house.... which hopefully will be in the next seven months!

we did a little sight-seeing, but mainly drove around different parts of town to get a feel for where we might want to buy a house. shawn also spent a day at his new office and met some of his new coworkers. when i picked him up, he was like a giddy school-boy... we're very excited about the move!

shawn was only there for the weekend... we stayed in this funky hotel (very reasonable) in scottsdale.

and then i headed down to agritopia to spend a few days with my friend jill from college... our girls had so much fun together! i'm so excited to be able to see them more often and to let the girls "grow up together"

i drove back yesterday and today and came home to a mess! shawn started "packing" - it looks like the house exploded! we have so much to do before may 11th! shawn did sell his truck today (even made some money on it!) and we've sold some of our furniture... we're having a moving sale next weekend (may 1st - 3rd)... so come by and take a look... we may have something you just can't live without! and tell your friends too! 1815 salem st 75061

ok... i'm off to watch a couple of episodes of lost! i'll try to get some pics of the little darling up soon, but life's pretty crazy right now!

a-town

2009-03-30T00:23:00.009-05:00

So... We went to Austin for my 30th and kai's 1st birthday. I realize
I am over a month late in posting this, but I've been trying to go
through some 300 pictures that I took that weekend and edit some good
ones. I'm still learning how to use my new camera... So it's taken me
a while to sit down and play with them on photoshop. But you guys
aren't all that interested in all that, are you? Here's what we did...
With some pictures in case you are one of those "I don't read unless I
have pictures" kinds folk (shawn).

2.19.09

Started the trip off with a bang... stopping in pflugerville to visit cousin melissa! she was so gracious to let us stay with her and even slept on her sleeper sofa so we could have the comfy bed!

2.20.09 - suzy's 30th birthday!

melissa left early to head to oklahoma to be with her dad... so we didn't get to visit long... but we did stop by her store - which is the nicest wally world i've ever been in - and shawn picked up my cake while i got a really decent pedicure!

after the morning's errands, we met up with kari and rob to head down to lockhart, texas... home of the country's best bbq and filming local for one of my all time favorite movies, waiting for guffman!
the bbq places there are not typical restaurants... you enter through a soot-covered hallway and go through a smoky room where you buy your meat by the pound...

then you go into the actual restaurant and order your sides and drinks and dig in... no forks on premises!

we filled up on yummy meat, white bread and iced tea and walked around downtown for a bit... it's like most small-town downtown squares in texas... not much to see or do.

we headed back to a-town (about 15 minutes north) and checked into our home-away-from-home that we found on this awesome site... www.homeaway.com... we split the very reasonable rent with our friends, the anderson's and my buddy tyna who flew in on a whim from phoenix.... so it was great!

friday night, we went to the original chuy's on barton springs for my birthday dinner!

with full tummies, we headed back to the house to rest up for a busy day on saturday!

2.21.09 - kai's 1st birthday!

we woke up and headed up the street to juan in a million's... yummy cheap breakfast tacos!

and then headed out to visit catherine on the farm! they had six-day old piglets which kai thoroughly enjoyed with an excited "eeeee" the whole time we were here. we also visited the chicken coop and toured the veggies that were planted!

after the farm, we headed back to downtown and hit up so-co for some fun window-shopping and of course, more yummy food! we visited hey cupcake! to get kai's birthday "cake" and grubbed on some yummy pizza!

saturday night, we took it easy and lounged around the house with some wine and good
conversation (after the babes went to sleep!)

sunday morning we woke up and packed up and cleaned up... we stopped by zilker park for the mini-train ride before we ate our last austin meal at huts and headed back to the plex!

it was an awesome trip and i am so thankful for good friends that ventured out with us and made my thirtieth and kai's first so memorable!

our little monkey's birthday party coming soon!

our house, is a very, very, very fine house!

2009-03-18T08:39:00.006-05:00

so... some of you have heard the news that we are most likely relocating to phoenix in a couple of months! it is exciting and scary to think about... and nothing's official yet, so i hope we're not getting our hopes up in vain... but we've put the house on the market anyway. we scrambled like mad, and thanks to the habitat for humanity store, were able to put our finishing touches on updating the home before sunday... when we had our first showing!

here are some pics of the house in all it's glory:

our austin trip, kai's party and a trip to the arboretum coming soon!

so much to post, so little time!

2009-02-04T21:52:00.011-06:00

so i have been dragging my feet big time on posting! so sorry! i officially have a toddler now, so i'm definitely not literally dragging my feet, rather, following her around all day long... so i'm pretty wiped out by the time she hits the hay... and we also rediscovered my nintendo ds, so i've succumbed to the video game gods more than i'd like to admit.

anyhoo... you probably want to know what's going on in the world of kai!

well, she flew through her first christmas with flying colors... and made out like a bandit! and believe it or not, we're gearing up for her 1st birthday, which is in less than 2 weeks! everyday she amazes us with new tricks, here's a list of what our little genius child can do:

speak in tongues - we have no idea what she's saying, but she talks all day long
walk backwards - and forwards and sideways and speedily and like a drum major
climb - as long as it's no higher than a foot or so off the ground (she's a munchkin!)
sit on a seat - as long as it's no higher than about 4 inches (again, she's a munchkin)
squat - how i envy her agility
bite - she hasn't bit us yet (thank goodness!) but she can bite off pieces of food with her silly front teeth
itsy bitsy spider - one day she was playing with her fingers so i started singing it to her... now when i sing it, she automatically does the hand motions
bathtime - we say the word, she does a beeline for the bathroom! (totally GT, i know)
diaper - a couple of times, she's brought me a diaper and is, as a matter of fact, in need of a new one
love lucy, or daddy, or mommy, or her dolly, or a stuffed animal - but especially lucy - she'll walk up to her and give her a big hug and say "awwww"
waving bye-bye - you know, the whole open/close fist thing they do
feed the fishies - we say it, she goes to the tank
sing - she doesn't quite have the range of mariah carey, but she's getting there
dance - is anything cuter than a baby dancing, i think not
play the recorder - ok, i know you think i'm crazy, but she does and i have video to prove it
barks - she couldn't do a voice over for a dog, but she does copy lucy (especially if lucy's barking at the door to come inside)
laundry - she is a pro at closing the dryer door, and also taking folded laundry out of the basket... we're working on putting it back in
sweeping - she holds the dustpan for me... ok, not really, she usually grabs a fistful of dust but i tell her she's a good helper anyway
type - or rather bang the keyboard.
text - she totally texted annie the other day

do you think i should go ahead and test her? just kidding.

we haven't heard many intelligible words (although others swear they have)... here's a list of some words we think she knows.

daddy - alot of times, no matter what she's saying it sounds like dada... of course shawn thinks she's always talking about him, but i know better
dog - again, quite indistinguishable from dada... but she does use only one syllable
cat - that one's a stretch... it actually sounds more like kitty
fishie - which sounds more like shhhhishhhhhee
mama - but she only says it when she's crying (awesome, i know)
thank you - more like ehnk ew (and not very often!)
hi - which is more like heh!

so i guess that's all for now... i'll try to be better at updating again. we're working on the back room that used to look like a garage and it's going to look awesome! i can't wait to post pics. also, we're heading to austin for mine and kai's actual birthdays, and of course her first birthday party is coming up... so there's lots to share in the coming weeks!

hope everyone is doing well! love to you all!

ps... if you didn't get a holiday card, don't hate... we grossly underestimated the number we would need, so i didn't get to send one to everyone i wanted to... we'll get you next year, promise!

here's a copy for your digital files:

enjoy our latest pics (by the way, if you skipped all the wordage, you really should go back and read it... funniest post yet, comic genius, will make your day):

piano time with dr. doe and addie

mommy finally finished (kinda) our stockings on christmas eve

mommy and kai on christmas eve

what a cool present!

ummmm, could you guys hurry up already?

mesmerizing...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

let's see if this is the right size...

go ahead and say it... cutest baby ever! i know!

this is for cass

2008-12-19T22:36:00.004-06:00

cassi tagged me... which means i get to answer some questions that i'm sure you guys are dying to know...

8 tv shows i watch:

1. The Office

2. Kath and Kim

3. ER (off and on... but i'm watching this final season pretty regularly)

4. Any of the Rock of Love franchise

5. Intervention

6. Dog the Bounty Hunter

7. Ugly Betty

8. Super Why

8 things that happened to me today (let's do this week):

1. got my vitals checked

2. found a pair of black boots

3. got a free route 44 at sonic

4. was told my baby was so cute (a few times- not that i'm bragging or anything)

5. only spent 13 dollars to fill up my car (it wasn't quite empty)

6. saw snow/freezing rain and 80 degree weather (in the same place, not at the same time)

7. made my first crock-pot meal

8. started a new book - Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

8 things i look forward to:

1. kai being able to tell me what's wrong when she's unhappy

2. the end of teething

3. taking Painting I

4. selling more stuff on etsy

5. bunco at the first of each month

6. getting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans

7. a sonic diet coke

8. my birthday

8 things i wish for:

1. contentment

2. money to not be such a stressor

3. all my friends to live close by

4. more understanding

5. to be able to see more of the world's cultures first hand

6. my phone to be fixed

7. a wii fit

8. a good camera

people i tag:

1. Annie A

2. Vanessa

3. Melissa

4. Jen Sperl

5. Abby (or James - or both)

6. Rachel

7. Bonnie

8. Carolyn

(but my feelings won't be hurt if you don't participate... except you, Annie.)

ok... bye for now... four christmases coming soon!

tis the season for sweaters, crafting and a growing baby

2008-12-09T14:03:00.011-06:00

so sorry it's been a while! well, i guess technically it's only been a couple of weeks... but boy has a lot happened!

first off, we had our 9 month check up... here are the little one's stats:

height: 27 3/4 in - 50th percentile

weight: 20 lbs 8 oz - 75th percentile

head: not sure, but 25th percentile

so kai's growing has definitely slowed down - but doctor said she looked good and that she wasn't worried about anything because now that she's a mover (and she doesn't sit still unless she's asleep) she's using more energy... also her tiny hands and feet most likely indicate that she'll be petite (no idea where that comes from!)

we had baby's first thanksgiving... and didn't get any pics (can you believe it?) somebody send me some if you have some. kai got to eat pretty much everything... and liked it all. in fact, if it's on mommy or daddy's (or any grown-up really) plate, it's awesome.

along with her first thanksgiving came her first solo steps... aunt deanne and cousin leslie were the lucky people to witness along with mommy (although it was really just from one piece of furniture to another)... but low and behold each day she took a few more. tyna and jimmy, visiting from arizone, got to see a few more on friday, and then some girlfriends got to see a few more on monday... and by the end of last week, she was walking across the room! now she's become a pro at pushing/pulling her little walking toy around - we thought we were going to have to keep it put away until christmas... but she thinks she's so big!

here's some video to enjoy:

in other news, we attended rob and kari's sweater party -

kai got her picture taken with senor santa:

and i've been crafting...

i've actually made my first sale on etsy.com - check out my page by clicking on the banner on the right side of the blog.

abby inspired me to make our own stockings... pics of those next time.

the artistic stuff started with me painting kai's first triptych:

and we've decorated the house:

whew! i'm worn out... so let me leave you with a picture of the cutest baby ever:

3/4 of a year!

2008-11-20T21:37:00.006-06:00

well, i must say these last 9 months have flown by compared to the 9 months before... maybe it had something to do with the big ole baby in my belly!

things are good in the land of kai... not much to report... she's still cruising and letting go every once in a while... she can drink out of a straw... and has learned the art of clapping. it really is a joy to see her learning and growing and changing... and to think her birthday (and mine - don't forget!) is just around the corner is a tad bit crazy!

she still loves the fish tank...

(look at the older posts to see her at 3 months enjoying the view from her bumbo)

eating cheerios... and feeding lucy a snack as well

yes those are zebra print parachute pants (thanks DD!)

i forgot to mention the fine art of climbing! she put herself on top of her favorite cardboard box for this one!

we went to the zoo last week (half price wednesdays!)

napping with noli on the way

checking out the chimps

mommy and kai and an old man gorilla

pig... but noli's more interesting over there

riding the train with our bff's

just can't stay awake

to see this beautiful, sad lion

also, last week, we went to a memorial service for one of shawn's former coworkers so we stopped by to visit grandma candy's grave

the weekend brought cousin AJ's 5th birthday party... cosmic bowling!

kai also got to see cousin brian... a rare treat...

check out that score... i don't know if you can read it or not, but the 99 goes with Suzy and the 36 with Shawn... not that i'm boasting or anything....

that's all for now! happy thanksgiving!

a chessire cat, a monumental election day and falafel

2008-11-05T22:29:00.005-06:00

For Halloween this year, we threw around some ideas... Popeye, Olive Oil and Sweet Pea.... Fred, Wilma and Pebbles... but finally settled on Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Chessire Cat. Grandma J/Amba/who knows what we'll actually call her made Kai's tail and ears (thanks!) and Shawn put together his ensemble with one trip to the thrift store (complete with size 8 women's pants - i'm just a tad bitter)... I spent all week looking for mine and still people were like, and you are...??? Guesses included Ma and Pa Kettle (what?!) and someone Irish - thanks to Shawn's green hat I suppose. Anywhoo...we had a great night. We stopped by my parents house to show off the costumes and my grandparents and then headed to some friends' house where they were having a block party. Kai was so good! She enjoyed watching the older kids hit the pinata and ride their big wheels round and round. When the older kids went trick or treating, we got the bounce house all to ourselves and Kai's godfather, Rob, took her for a ride in a wagon!

enjoy some pics!

the whole gang:

Kai with grandma j:

Kai and daddy:

Shawn enjoying his own private tea party

Riding around with The Godfather:

So tired!

Mommy and Kai:

Saturday night we went down to Shawn's dad's for the annual halloween party... we didn't get any pics, unfortunately, but a good time was had by all!

Tuesday brought election day as we all know! My friend Katie (that I've known since 1st grade!) was in town helping her dad out, so we stopped by her post and kept her company for a couple of hours. It was also her birthday so we took her a special treat! What dedication to spend your entire day at the polls! Don won... so it was worth it! Go Don!

Kai and Katie:

Future pollster??? (she stood up all by herself for this one!)

And finally, tonight we went to dinner with our friends, the Andersons. If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you know that Kai is a week younger than their sweet pea, Noli. I can't believe how much they've changed in this nine months! It's so fun watching them start to interact with each other!

Besties forever - if only we could look at the camera at the same time!

And... this picture pretty much sums up why i love Annie so much.

Obamadios (totally stolen from someone much more funny than I) for now!

California and the Great Pumpkin

2008-10-30T23:51:00.001-05:00

No... that's not the next installment of Charlie Brown... it's what we've been up to lately! Sorry it's taken a while to post... after we got back from california i caught a nasty cold and i've been running around the plex trying to put together my halloween costume... pictures will be up next week of that... right now, sit back, grab a cup of joe and enjoy the stories and slideshows- which have to be separate posts, thank you blogger(grrr)!

*disclaimer* the following is a play-by-play of our trip to california... you won't hurt my feelings if you decide to skip the wordage and view the slideshow... but you're gonna miss out! (not really... humor me)

10.18.08 - We wake up and finish packing (of course it wasn't even started until the night before... do you people know me?) and head over to my mom's house to drop off the dog... we head up to Lewisville to drop off my car that's making funny noises and then head to the airport. Everything with check in goes smoothly... including the new baggage fee that United implemented AFTER we booked our ticket... until we get to security. Shawn's backpack needs to be searched... hmmm... it's the toothpaste that's the culprit. The odd security man says, "do you have someone waiting on the other side of security that I can hand this to?" And we're like, "no, it's ok, just throw it away." and he's like, "Are you sure, because it would be no trouble to just hand it through?" and we're like, "No, really, it's no big deal, we'll just buy some more." and he's like, "Are you sure?" and we're like, "Yes!"

Whew... so glad that's over. Onto McDonald's for brunch and to the gate to wait. We find a fancy, hi-tech tv stand that shawn helped design at one of this many jobs from the past 3 years... and sit for a bit... until shawn goes upstairs and finds the sky-link train. Woohoo... something to do for a while! We're hoping it doesn't take more than 45 minutes to make the circuit... turns out... only 15. So if you need to kill some time, there ya go.

11:45 PM - Board our first plane together as a family! It's tiny! Only 17 rows... and the center aisle dead ends at the lavatory. Little claustrophobic but not too bad because there are only two seats on each side... so we didn't have to fight over any armrests. Kai does really well... even gets a few compliments on not crying. Way to go Kai!

1:30 PM - Arrive in the land of sunshine... get our rental... head to In-N-Out... so yummy and right by LAX so we got to watch lots of planes landing as we enjoyed our burgers.

4:00 PM - Meet friends Michelle and Laura at Santa Monica Pier... we had a great time catching up, looking at pictures and enjoying the cool California evening. Michelle has a baby girl that's 4 months older than Kai. I'm so excited for them to grow up together!

11:00 PM - After a LONG drive to our hotel in Anaheim with a couple of pit-stops along the way... check-in and crash! By the way, we stayed at Hotel Peppertree... and it was a diamond in the rough! Check them out if you're visiting the area any time soon!

10.19.08 - Wake up in California! Decide to go ahead and visit the only Sonic in So Cal for my caffeine and head up to Hollywood. Shawn can't help but notice how dirty LA is and how many homeless people there are. I am like, if you were homeless wouldn't you want to live here?

Hollywood BLVD was touristy and crowded but we got a few good pics and even got to see the Tinkerbell Premiere from across the street. We left in quite a hurry because I had left my wallet in the car (but hadn't remembered doing so - does the pregnancy fog ever go away?).

We stopped at Pinks Hot Dog stand, but the line was an hour long and it was hot... so we decided to continue to Venice.

12ish - Arrive at Venice! Ah sweet Venice! Walked around, took Kai to the water - well not the water, water... took some pics of her tasty the sand... ate pizza... laughed with the crazies... fun times had by all. My favorite was a guy sitting on top of a trash can with a cardboard sign that said "Why lie? I need weed."

3ish - Arrive back at hotel after a drive down the coast and rest!

7 - Dinner with Chrissy at Claim Jumper! I ordered a piece of cake to go and ate it every other day we were there. Yummy!

10.20.08 - DISNEYLAND! Shawn's favorite day... and mine too! We were so fortunate to be able to meet up with Beth and her family. She was a roomate in college and has two boys and a little girl on the way! She was so kind to sit with Kai while we road some of the bigger rides like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Also, Shawn had been the lucky recipient of some Dream Fastpasses that basically allow you to cut in front of at least half of the line!

We also met up with my friend Jill and her family. It was great because I hadn't gotten to meet her daughter either! They had been at Disney all weekend and were pooped so we had a low key dinner (well as low key as a dinner with 6 adults and 4 kids under the age of 4 can be).

The park was only open till 8 and we felt pretty rushed and will definitley have to go back (no arguments here)... but the last thing we did was visit toon town and went pretty quickly through mickey's house to his "movie barn." Turns out he was still back there doing pics... so we got some great pics with mickey - Kai was not scared at all! she kept petting his face... it was fun.

After we left Disneyland, we walked to the Lego Store and took some fun photos... Shawn is a huge lego fan... and we would have gone to Legoland on Tuesday, but we were pretty exhausted!

10.21.08 - A pretty low key day... we drove up to check out how much Biola had changed since i graduated almost 8 years ago! got pedicures... so cheap compared to dallas! and went to huntington beach to meet up with leland for fish tacos at wahoo's. there was a street fair going on (on a tuesday night, so awesome) so we walked around for a bit and of course watched the surfers for a while.

10.22.08 - Took a drive up through Beverly Hills and Brentwood on the way to the airport... no luck with the celebrity sightings!

It was a great trip... you all know i love me some cali!

Tonight we went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch and got some great pictures as well. It was beautiful weather and i can't wait to go at Christmas time to see the trees!

All is well in the land of Kai... her two bottom teeth are sticking out of her cute little gums and she is a pro-crawler now. She loves to pull up on anything and everything... has let go and held her balance a few times... and even stood up in the high-chair TWICE at area restaurants... crazy girl! We love her!

Kai and the Great Pumpkin

2008-10-30T22:43:00.001-05:00

California Slideshow

2008-10-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

exciting stuff people... exciting stuff!

2008-10-06T23:51:00.008-05:00

first of all... our wedding was picked to be in the "real weddings" section of the next issue of D Weddings! We are honored and excited and so thankful to our awesome photographer, Julie Robles and her husband Alberto for taking such wonderful pictures and for submitting our wedding. It will be on newstands Dec. 26th! Here's a sneak peak... i had to scan in pages from our awesome album since i can't find my cd with the images on it...

in the world of kai... trouble, trouble trouble! not really... but she has become a pro at crawling and pretty much starting pulling up the day after she started crawling... her favorite thing to do is crawl over to the couch where lucy is lying, stand up and stick out her tongue for some licking action... gross! of course i stop it, they both look at me like, what? and try again. I can't blame Lucy... kai's the sweetest thing in the house! here's some video to enjoy!

other recent news included celebrating rob's 35th b-day... dinner time is fussy time and kai only wants to be in mama's arms... as indicated by this awesome photo:

and we managed to all be looking in the same direction for a split second to get a family pic:

with sunday morning comes the hard-to-ignore tug on my heart to go to church... so i packed up kai and headed to first irving where she got to hang out with ms. amy in the nursery... here she is swinging and most likely eyeing another child's toy thinking, if only i could get out of this thing... his toy looks better!

after church we headed to my brother's house to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday... kai was the star of the show of course... but she was more interested in playing with the guitar as indicated in the pics below... she's actually standing up and holding on to the guitar in this one:

and wanting to eat the strings while pop plays some johnny cash:

she also got some good floor time with aunt rita... well, she was trying to get at her camera for some tasty metal-munching:

kai's new favorite toy... yes, that's a plastic jar with some chocolate covered raisins inside... it's the simple things people.

playing with her exersaucer from the other side! what a big girl... and she even stood up on her own for this one!

i thought this was funny because lucy gets so jealous! tonight she just came over and sat in shawn's lap! silly lucy!

and last, but not least... eating time. kai is eating all kinds of fruits and veggies... sweet potato, squash, green beans, pears, avocados, pumpkin... and her bottom two teeth have broken through and are emerging more and more each day... i can't wait to get that toothy grin on camera... in the meantime, enjoy this video of her silliness during dinner recently!

we'll be celebrating kai's 8 month birthday in sunny CA! so our next post will have lots of pics from disney and the beach! adios for now!

time to baby proof the house

2008-09-22T22:15:00.005-05:00

lots of pictures and some pretty important milestones this update.

seven months old... can you believe it? we're on the latter side of the first year and going strong... it seems like this last month flew by! i'm finally getting the hang of being a stay at home mom... we joined a baby and me work out class twice a week (only $20 for 8 weeks - thank you city of irving)! kai loves playing with the other kiddoes - well mostly just touching their heads and i love getting out and exercising with the other moms... my buddy annie and kai's bff noli go with us!

also, i'm subbing just one day a week when Gilbert (the school i most recently taught at) needs me for a bit of extra money and some adult interaction... i have my first gig this friday and am super excited!

shawn and others (buddy brad, cousins michael and wesley) have finished the ceilings in the other two bedrooms as well... so the house is almost done! i'll get pics after we de-clutter with a garage sale this weekend...

ok... enough blabbering... here's what you all are here for!

fun times at the park... she LOVES the swing!

isn't this a sweet picture?

a couple of weeks ago we went to tobey's bday party and kai got to ride the train with daddy!

now about those milestones... we had to lower the crib because i came in to find this one afternoon...

and then this...

she is trying super-hard to pull up on her crib and has succeeded once... she loves to hold on to the side if i help her up... and... she officially CRAWLED today! i'm assuming in the next couple of days she'll become a pro and i'll get some good video!

we went to toys R us and got this horsey bouncer thing on sale because the store is relocating... sadly she has never enjoyed it as much as the first night we brought it home! that is pure bliss people!

i mentioned cousin wesley above... he came up to dodge Ike and got suckered into helping shawn put the finishing touches on the rooms... but i think he enjoyed seeing kai! he was great with her!

when the weather changed, i couldn't resist buying these leg warmers for kai... and she's so smart, she knows when she sees the orange light on my camera that a super bright light is coming... so that's why she's got the funny face!

and for the sad news of the month... kai had her first major boo-boo... she fell while we were at the park last week with some friends and scraped her head and nose on the concrete (ouch!) she was such a trooper though and it's already almost completely healed! it was way harder on me than her... i bought her a super soft stuffed monkey for being such a tough gal!

noli and kai doing the butt-touch as only bff's can do

and a final note... this saturday we had a youth group reunion... over 150 (including spouses and kids) people came including our old youth pastors rick and angela! it was amazing to see everyone 10 years grown up... so much fun! here's our group pic...

until next time!

saavy six months!

2008-08-25T22:52:00.005-05:00

hey everyone... kai is officially half a year old! on one hand, it goes by super fast, on the other, painfully slow... it was weird not having a classroom to get ready this year and it still feels like summer to me, even though most of my friends have completed yet another first day!

we had our 6 month check up today... and kai got her first vaccine... the dTap... it's a combo of diptheria, tetanus and pertussis... unfortunately the only one she really needs is pertussis, but they don't make it alone... i've been debating this shot for a while because it's the one that both my OB and Pediatrician recommended above all the others... and i'm wanting to put kai in the church nursery so she can get some social interaction.... so i did it... she did well, i nursed during it, so it distracted her a bit... and she's had a good evening, so all is well. on that note, since i had to vaccinate my little girl for a disease we can all catch and spread... you all should go out and get yours done as well... shawn and i are both planning on getting it... there was a news special on an outbreak of pertussis in the DFW area... so i'm thinking it's a good one... and Dr. Sears says it's one of the least reactive, so go for it. ok enough of that...

growth!

height: I forgot to ask them the official measurement, but i just measured her while she was sleeping and got about 27 inches... that means she's grown 7/12 of a foot since she was born! crazy... not sure about the percentile...

weight: 18 lbs 14 oz... i guess our scale at home is different from the scale at the office, or she's lost a pound in the last couple of weeks (not entirely impossible since i was giving her corn syrup - yuk! - in her bottles to combat constipation and for the last week or so, she's only wanted me)

head: 42 cm... 50th percentile... in the words of Dr. Agrawal...a big noggin

otherwise, we're still not crawling... well, she can do a 360 on her cute little belly and can scoot backwards across the room and do a push up on her cute little toes... but she still hasn't put it all together yet... we're thinking in the next couple of weeks at most... fun times!

dr. agrawal also gave us the ok on ALL fruits and veggies! so fun... i made our first batch of sweet potatoes tonight... i figured some things will be easy and cost effective to make and others i'll buy... like bananas and avocados can just be mashed up... the sweet potato was super easy... just bake and blend with a little water... i made one ice cube tray from one fairly large potato ($0.98) which is the equivalent of about 4 jars of store bought stuff ($0.50-$0.99 per jar)... so that's a pretty good deal if you ask me!

hmmm... sorry this is so long and i'm such a chatty cathy... lots to say i guess... but i'm done now... enjoy some pics!

the other day i put kai in her crib like this:

and came back to find this:

she's a mover!

this is what eating looks like in our house:

a couple of weeks ago we went to the Dallas World Aquarium (a misnomer to say the least) but kai enjoyed the fish she could see... here she is with her older gal pal emma:

shawn has already had two cookouts in honor of his birthday and will get another one this saturday... here's kai with her two great-grandmas on my side:

and here's kai's first sweet potato souffle ala ice cube tray

i guess that's it for now... love to you all!

our sloppy eater

2008-08-11T21:50:00.004-05:00

so i've started giving kai just a taste of some foods... namely cereals (not a big fan), avocado and applesauce... i've also let her play with the sippy cup a few times, but when she gets the water, she makes a face like, this is not milk!

can you see why i'm so in love with her?

such a dainty sipper - pardon her french (it was a gift from friends)

avocado is yummy! and a fun color!

she loves the irobot - which helps me get things done around the house (cleaning the floors and keeping her entertained!)

and now for the really fun stuff... just a peek of what i get to watch everyday!

kai trying to crawl

funny baby eating applesauce!

day by day

2008-07-30T23:25:00.003-05:00

it's amazing to me how much kai will be changing in the next few months! each day she gets better at sitting and closer to crawling! i'm actually excited about her 6 month birthday because we get to start solids for real and i think it'll be fun (although i hear the diapers are not so much!) we've had a busy week/weekend... we attended a pool party (check out carolyn's corner for pics) and a water slide party right afterwards for my nephew's 5th birthday... kai did extremely well until the very end (which is unfortunately when i busted out the camera)we still haven't thought of a name for kai to call my mom and dad... we might have to wait until kai starts talking to see what comes out... i do like papa G for my dad though...

sunday was a pretty low-key day, although we ventured to costco (not recommened on a sunday!) while we were waiting in line to check out, i put kai in the seat of the shopping cart to see how she would do... she loved her new vantage point!

here's our pro-sitter (she still weebles a little bit, but she's pretty much got it down and she's only knocked her head on the way down a couple times - so hard for me, but i guess that's why we have skulls!)

today my cousin and her girls came over - the girls hadn't seen kai (except when she was 2 weeks old) so it was fun...

and this evening we took my grandmother peach ice cream for her birthday ... but i left the camera at home, so we're going to have to go back and visit again..
we probably wouldn't have gotten a great picture any way because kai was super fussy... it was a long night for us!

that's all for now, folks... shawn is having a pretty invasive test done on monday so say a prayer for him... we still don't know exactly what's going on with him... thankfully he's got GREAT insurance with his current job... we've joked about having another baby right away because it's so much better than my insurance was through the school district.... but the key word is joked... :)

five months!

2008-07-21T22:28:00.004-05:00

Today is Kai's five month birthday... we celebrated by going shopping with the girls at Northpark... she totally had a good time... especially in spite of the last couple of days... we've been having major moodiness for the past few days marked with eating every hour or so in the evenings... i think she was going through a growth spurt and making me up the milk production... because today was MUCH better and i think she drank more in one sitting than she has in a couple of months! so, hopefully the crankiness is over for now.... it was really, really beginning to wear on me... physically and psychologically!

In other news, Kai has almost mastered sitting up by herself... check out this video:

why are you sitting on my rug mr. octopus?

she also ate some rice cereal with mama's milk a few days ago (trying to help with the insatiable appetite!) she did really well and seemed to like it in spite of the face below:

she wanted to feed herself i think!

let's see... what else, we've been swimming a few times in our new pool - the one that sent shawn to the ER... i'll try to get some pictures later this week... thankfully she's a total water baby! i don't know what i'd do if i had a child that didn't like the water!

as far as shawn goes... we got word back that his vitamin levels are ok... so i guess that means they've ruled out a vitamin deficiency as the cause of the anemia... so that just means more tests.... he's feeling fine and spent all day yesterday cleaning up the backyard (it looks great by the way... we're ready for a bbq now) we'll keep everyone posted!

update on shawn

2008-07-16T12:40:00.003-05:00

well, we went back to the doctor today... all of his abnormal counts were back to normal... but he's anemic... so she's doing more tests to pinpoint the cause... hopefully it's nothing serious! say a prayer if you think about it!

in the meantime, enjoy some adorable pics:

first "big girl" bath - she loved it!

our cute little family

new baby

2008-07-14T13:46:00.002-05:00

shawn's that is...

yes, shawn has a new object of his affection, a 4x4 toyota 4runner... he took the top off and we went for a ride to my parent's for my brother's birthday

don't worry, there are no front airbags so it was "safe" - well at least as safe as it was in the 80's

we went down to shawn's dad's house for the 4th and kai went swimming

then we put her in an innertube, just her size... she crossed her feet at her ankles and is almost ready for a trip down the guadalupe!

after some swimming she hung out with peepaw and bentley II on the swing

i'm so bad about taking pictures of the little one!

in other news, we had to take shawn to the ER last night... we were clearing a spot for a pool in our backyard and he kept getting really tired... we thought it was just the heat... he got nauseous and threw up everything in his stomach and laid down... he got up with severe "flank" pain - the area in between your ribs and pelvis... it finally got so bad he was dry heaving, so we rushed to the hospital... they did a ct scan and chest x-ray and did blood work... they thought for sure it was a kidney stone, but ruled that out after the scan... his blood work came back a little abnormal, so we went to the regular doctor today to get it done again.. if it comes back abnormal again, he'll need to go see a kidney doctor most likely... say a prayer, it's a bit disconcerting not knowing what's going on! we'll keep everyone posted!

that's all for now.. kai will be 5 months old next week... more to come soon!

it's an anniversary!

2008-07-02T13:55:00.004-05:00

well, our wedding anniversary was yesterday - i can't believe it's been a year already! we celebrated by taking our first date without the baby saturday night... i had a margarita (yum!) and got my nose pierced for the 5th time! i've always had to take it out for work and since i won't have that problem come august, i've done it for hopefully the last time! we didn't get any pictures, we're slackers... but it was fun to be out without kai, it kinda even felt like we were dating again!

then yesterday i took kai to her 4 month exam (details coming soon)... and then picked up shawn from work (we're sharing the CR-V since we sold the Matrix) and we went to pappadeaux (shawn loved it, me, well, i'm not crazy about seafood, but the greek salad was great!)... we came home and looked at the top tier of our wedding cake,

took one whiff and decided that we didn't want diarrhea and put it in the garbage where it belonged... after shawn posed with the gooey mess

oh yeah and shawn sent flowers which upon delivery woke me up from a glorious nap, but it was worth it! i just went back to sleep after admiring them for a bit...

i also got my rings resized so i could wear them again (depressing and exciting at the same time)

it's been a pretty eventful year for us... new house, marriage and a baby all rolled into one! it's going to be hard to top it... but i'm sure we'll manage.

so... what you've all been waiting for... Kai stats:

weight: 15 lbs 14 oz - 90th percentile
height: 25 1/2 inches - 90th percentile
head: again not sure - 50th percentile

dr. says she's still a big baby... not sure where she gets it from... but i'm glad she's healthy and keeps growing... here's a run down of her sizes (they're all wonky)

shirt/top: 3-6 or 6-9 but some 12 month items fit
bottoms: without cloth diaper 6 months, with 9-12 months
feet: 0-3 months! i don't think they've grown since she was born! they're TINY!

what else... well dr. said don't start her on solids till 6 months, so i'm going to wait on that... she's doing well on breastmilk alone... while we were there i put kai on her belly and the dr. said she's already trying to crawl... won't be long! the only thing she mentioned for me to do was massage her back because she's still got quite the hairy butt crack - the doctor thinks massage will help it fall out... but i think it's kinda cute! she's recently rediscovered her feet (i'll try to get a picture for next time)... and has succeeded in putting her foot in her mouth at least once... she tries to put EVERYTHING in her mouth, even lucy's ears if they get close enough... oh well, they say dogs help build a baby's immunity!

go ahead and say it, cutest baby ever!

more pics of the little darlin' next time, promise!

Four Months Old... But Who's Counting?

2008-06-23T12:18:00.005-05:00

Well, not much to say... we've added some decorations to the nursery... lots of monkeys because we like to call Kai our little monkey because she was born with lots of excess body hair (don't worry, most of it's gone now!)

As far as developmental milestones, she's rolled from her tummy to back on her own a handful of times... and can go the other way with just a bit of help... I've thought about introducing rice cereal, but i'm going to wait until our pediatrician visit next week... kai likes to watch us eat or at least the food that we're eating... i don't think she's made the connection between food and mouth just yet. She's laughing a ton and smiles lots, of course by the time we whip the camera out, she's done or becomes so fascinated with the camera that the smile is replaced by the open, drooly mouth of curiosity.

On other fronts, Shawn has finished working on the back bathroom and we sold the Matrix! So things are going well!

Kai's name in Anthropologiesque letters resting on her dresser:

Some of the awesome "Animalz" we got on clearance at Target:

Jumanji anyone?

They keep a watchful eye on us at night!

Beautiful (drooly) Baby:

See Shawn, there are benefits to me staying home - "gourmet" meals!

Stunning eyes eh?

Angry face in spite of Mr. Octopus - cutest thing ever!

2008-06-10T14:00:00.003-05:00

somehow kai went from being a newborn to being nearly 4 months old! we have lots of updates because i was crazy busy wrapping up my 7th school year of teaching. on that note, i turned in my resignation and as shawn's grandmother says, am taking a sabbatical! that's right, we're going to wing it on one income so i can stay at home with precious kai!

so updates... well for memorial day we took our first family vacation to the stunning island of galveston (no sarcasm here folks).... we stayed at the hotel galvez which was very nice and spent alot of time walking around... we did spend one afternoon at the beach which was a bit more complicated with a baby, but decent... the family behind us lost their son and when the beach patrol guy found him, he dropped him off right in front of shawn's sand sea dragon... needless to say the excited family didn't really pay attention to what they were stepping on and crushed the dragon's hind tail...

since then we've been busy with shawn's side of the family - aunt deanne was in town and cousin judge graduated from booker t.... deanne cashed in a $12.50 savings bond from her grandmother and bought the family a chinese dinner friday night while we celebrated cousin brian's birthday and just spent time together at a family friend's gorgeous home on Swiss Ave... i wish i could say that Kai was the perfect house guest, but she was super cranky and screamed/cried much of the night... the only thing that seemed to console her was nursing or mama's arms... not sure what the deal is...

so about kai... i weighed her with me and we figured 16 pounds! we'll have a more accurate number in a few weeks when we take her for her 4 month check up (which happens to be on july 1st - shawn and mine's wedding anniversary!) she's been drooling A TON and is cranky so do we think teeth in the near future? who knows?

oh and even though i swore we wouldn't buy one, we bought an exersaucer thingy and kai loves it! see below!

enjoy some pics!

silly face on the car ride down to galveston

mr. catepillar was a life saver in the car

born to be a beach princess

shawn's handiwork before it got trampled by the reunited family

hanging out with aunt deanne

her favorite ADHD maker

3 months old!

2008-05-22T23:25:00.004-05:00

her favorite show!

classic cars and bluebell ice cream at first irving:

self portrait time while daddy babysits:

kai and pepaw on mother's day:

you lookin' at me?

can you believe my mommy put a bow on me??

get off my mat!!!

i guess you can stay - but if that arms goes up in my face one more time...

i think i'll just chill after all

that's some good milk

i will say this - the past three months have gone by SO much faster than the three before Kai was born... something about that last trimester...

my first mother's day was swell... shawn put some photos in frames for me and gave me some little thoughtful things and spent the afternoon with me instead of working on the house... we also hung out with our families.

we're headed to galveston tomorrow for our first family trip! i'm so excited... check back next week for some photos (and hopefully some fun stories)

oh yeah, we took kai to her first concert, but the pictures are on the other computer... i'll post those next week too... it was awesome!

2008-05-08T15:08:00.002-05:00

Many people have asked what the baby's middle name is, or maybe given us a strange look when they hear what it is. It is not a common name but it is a living memorial to Shawn's mother, Candy, who passed away when Shawn was 7. His aunt Deanne wrote this poem about her after her death, and his Grandma shared it with us a few weeks ago. Some of you undoubtedly know the story of Shawn's mother, and I still learn new details daily. I love visiting with Shawn's grandmother because she tells us stories about Candy. The poem below talks about her life after a major accident in which she was run over by a car. She survived and as you will read recovered beyond any doctor's prognosis. As my first mother's day approaches, I find myself thinking about how our life would be different if Candy was still with us, if I had ever met her. I wanted to post this as a tribute to Kairi's paternal grandmother, and namesake, who is only able to be with us in spirit.

CANDY

They said she would never be able to walk again...
but she did.
They said she would never be able to hold down a job or live on her own…
but she did.
They even said this 27-year old should be put in a nursing home…
but she did not go.

This young woman of conquest was not overly athletic,
overly ambitious, or
overly educated.
She might even appear to be quite average,
but she was not.
She had atremendous will to live,
to thrive,
to be made whole again.
Her spirit is an inspiration to me daily.

I saw her just 12 hours after the accident.
Was this the same girl I had known my entire life?
I wasn’t even sure at first.
It was not the body I had known.
This one was hopelessly damaged.
It hurt to look at her.
My honest hope was that the good Lord
would take her quickly
and not let her suffer...
not let me suffer.

She had a different hope, however, and she did live.
She came out of the coma
and was with us once more.
Her will to live was so strong and sure
…a miracle to me…
pure determination to her.

The machines that pushed air into her lungs were at last unplugged.
The tubes that fed her were disconnected sometime later.
She was truly on her own.

Her legs,
useless for so long,
were urged on by her deeply committed will not only to live,
but to thrive.
Month after month of painful therapy and her perseverance made
that pair of misshapen legs move once again.

She left the hospital after nine long months.
She found a place to live that met her special needs.

A large department store even allowed her to work with the public.
She would greet her customers
with the throaty rasp of one with a tracheotomy,
and would walk in her own special way
towards the cash register to ring up their purchases.

She had made it!
She had accomplished her goal!
She was thriving.

Without warning, the Lord took her away.
He took her away from me
and you who never had a chance to know this person with so much life.

Her enthusiasm was infectious.
Her love of life well documented.
I am so proud to call this
woman of determination my sister.

nearly 10 weeks

2008-04-28T19:36:00.003-05:00

here are her stats from our 2 month exam:

height: 22 3/4 inches - 75th percentile

weight: 12 lbs 8 oz - 97th percentile

head: not sure, but 50th percentile (must not take after her big-headed mama!)

other highlights of parenthood to infant kai:
-increased interest in things that make noise (fishtank, tummytime mat, people)
-lots of smiling - she's a pretty happy baby which is a total blessing!
-occasional laughter - doc says most babies don't start till 4 months, so we feel pretty proud (she assured me breast is best!)
-sitting up - she's gone from laying in my lap to practically sitting up a couple of times - talk about strong abs!

here are some adorable pics of her in her bumbo seat (on loan from the schweers - thanks so much!) check out those cheeks!

totally two months

2008-04-22T22:14:00.003-05:00

we've had a busy couple of weeks!

we visited with my side of the family the weekend before last for my nephew's birthday - kai hung out with her cousin ryan for a while:

then mid-week we visited with shawn's grandmother:

this last weekend kai got to hang out with her cousin aj:

and tonight, in honor of earth day - i tried to catch her smiling - but it didn't work out and the flash is so bright you can't really read her onesie - but it says "lil tree hugger"

we have our 2 month check up tomorrow - and the first batch of cloth diapers should be arriving any day! i returned to work (not too happy about that one) last thursday and shawn's been working so hard on tiling the kitchen and hallway and back bathroom... it's nearly finished, we'll post pictures when it's done! hope everyone's well... leave us a comment or drop us a line anytime!

sweet seven weeks

2008-04-10T23:01:00.004-05:00

can you believe it??? seven weeks already... we went to Dr. Dominique for my 6 week post-op appointment...

unfortunately, I think Kai remembered her as the "awful person who pulled me from my warm mother's womb"

and here's the adorable bath photo:

and asleep in my favorite baby-gap-flower-child-jumpsuit:

a girl's gotta shop!

2008-04-04T22:42:00.004-05:00

shawn and i signed up for childbirth education classes prior to baby... at our first class i was surprised to see a couple of former classmates (go IHS)... little did i know that the wife of one would become a dear friend...

the first time we hung out was an afternoon trip to babies r us after i took maternity leave but about a week before i had kai.. it was the 13th... the whole time, annie joked about how scared she was my water would break while we were out and about... she was due 5 weeks later.

we got home and annie left my house to go home...i got a phone call about 15 minutes later and since i didn't answer, a text message a few minutes later "my water broke!"

needless to say, annie gave birth to magnolia that evening (and I was a tad bit jealous!)

these days, you'd hardly know noli was 5 weeks early! she and kai have already become BFF - sporting matching strollers and the question "are they twins" every 15 minutes while shopping

on another note... here's our new dining room chandelier - rehabbed by my very handy husband, donated by the andersons:

baby and bunny

2008-03-29T16:35:00.004-05:00

we had our one month check up friday - well, it was really 5 weeks because we switched pediatricians and they couldn't get us in last week... so here are her new stats:

22 1/2 inches long ..... 11 lbs 7 oz.... things are good!

my two baby girls:

mommy, i'm so tired of this dress!

trying to eat daddy's nose!

our "professional" posed easter pic:

i'm such a doll!

one marvelous month

2008-03-22T00:36:00.006-05:00

so "technically" i'm a day late - but to me, it's still Kai's one month birthday! everyone seems to want to know her sleeping habits... so here's a normal schedule in the day of our lives:

12 AM - settle into deep sleep until...

3-4ish - rouse for feeding, settle sometimes quite quickly back into sleep until...

7-8ish - rouse for midmorning snack - mom tries to stay awake but joins me rather quickly in midmorning nap

11:30ish - rouse for lunch - mom stays up for good after this feeding, i usually fall asleep just as dad is getting home for lunch which gives mom time to take a shower and get me ready to run errands if we need to

3-4ish - rouse for mid afternoon snack - it's a little harder for me to fall asleep after this meal - i like to check out our house, especially the ceiling

8 ish - wake up for late dinner - sometimes i stay awake after this feeding until the next one - i'm a party animal!

11ish - midnight snack and sleep (i've let mom and dad sleep till 5 a couple of times!)

here's me waking up from a nap today:

aren't i cute?

also, her belly button has completely healed and i wanted to take a picture, because let's face it, i'm her mother and think everything about her is adorable... but do you know how difficult it is to get a picture of a newborn's belly? i can't use the flash because it's way too bright and if i turn it off, she squirms too much for it to take a clear picture... but take my word for it, it's precious

we should've gone for her one month check up this week, but we're switching pediatricians and the soonest they had was next friday - i'm anxious to see how much the little monkey weighs... hmm... maybe i'll do a poll...

well, expect some more pictures after sunday, being easter and all - until then sweet dreams:

always read carefully

2008-03-11T15:30:00.003-05:00

i try to teach my 5th graders this lesson daily... maybe i should spend more time teaching my husband!

we went to whole foods last night because i wanted to check out their selection of baby products (more on that later)... and because we needed groceries...

i took shawn with me, which i usually don't do, but it's nice to have an outing with the baby and feel like a family... so he came. we were in the meat department and he spots a brisket out of the corner of his eye... the price tag says 8.99... shawn's like, that's a great price for this... so i'm like, well get it then...

let me mention that he is totally excited about his brisket... we're checking out and he picks it up, looks lovingly at it and says, mmmm grass fed beef, this is going to be good... i'm like, where does it say grass fed? and he's like, i don't know...

so we check out and our grocery bill is over $200! ok, feel a little guilty - but some of that was diapering stuff and well, i hadn't spent any money in over 2 weeks... so i didn't feel so bad.

as we're heading for the door, shawn says, i should've read the price on that brisket more carefully... and i'm like, why? was it 8.99 a pound? shawn kind of awkwardly grins, yeah... it was like $29 or something...

turns out the price was printed on the meat - just like it usually is on packaged meat - 9.99 a pound x 3.9 pounds = $39.76!!! all the way home, shawn felt sick to his stomach - this is a man who thinks $4 a pound for ground turkey or beef is a lot!

so we'll be eating 40 dollar brisket this weekend if you'd like to join us... but please, bring a side - we can't afford potato salad!

kairi the social butterfly

2008-03-09T23:34:00.007-05:00

my brother got married on saturday...so kai had her first party!

resting up in the car on the way to the reception, isn't she adorable?

with the bride and groom, uncle matt and aunt rita

our first family photo

representin' the crooked I

two weeks today

2008-03-06T22:36:00.004-06:00

time flies doesn't it? well, it crawled by when i was waiting for her arrival, and now it goes too fast... each day she changes... i can't believe how different she looks already from two weeks ago! i figured i needed to type up her birth story soon, because each day the memory fades a little more and more... i suppose it's nature's way of keeping up reproduction! here goes:

*disclaimer - may be some gore involved*

2.21.08

6:00 - woke up eager to get ready to get to the hospital

6:45 - pretended like my water had broken, rushed to hospital (one exit down the freeway)

7:00 - arrive a Baylor Irving, Labor and Delivery, check in

7:30 - Dr. Dominique comes in and breaks my water for real, very strange feeling... find out there's meconium in water which means baby has had a bowel movement in utero, freaks me and shawn out a bit, but no big deal to everyone else

8:00 - contractions begin - not too bad, kinda like a period... nurse comes in and says, ok, we're going to begin pitocin

9:00 - 5:00 - time becomes foggy/irrelevant - pitocin makes the contractions worse, they give me Stadol - makes room spin, makes pain disappear and makes Shawn a god

Stadol wears off, torture nurse returns with more pitocin

contractions start to take my breath away - shawn no longer a god, in fact, becomes cops-watching-wife-neglecting-doofus with his hat on crooked

ask for epidural and cry alot because of pain and feeling of defeat, i look at shawn for a moment and see a tear streaming down his cheek - no longer a doofus but a sweet husband who just doesn't know what to do

anesthesiologist arrives and the horrendous experience of an epidural begins - the first time she stuck the needle in my spine and started "routing around" i could feel everything quite painfully but not as painful as the contractions in my right hip - strange sensation... she says, ok, i'm just going to find a different spot... puts bloody needle on bed beside me which makes shawn queasy - he has to leave room so he doesn't pass out... she does it again and it takes, tells me to lie down... about the time my blood pressure drops to like 70/40 and the baby's heart rate dropped to i don't know what and i start vomiting and feeling like i'm dying and begging someone to help me... they stabilize us and leave us be for a couple of hours... only complaint is that i'm numb from the neck down instead of the waist down.

at a couple of points, they check my cervix for progress... at 3 PM i had made it to a 5... they came back at 5 PM and i was still at a 5, my contractions had pretty much stopped... so Dr. Dominique was called and I was prepped for a c-section

5:30 - enter torturous anesthesiologist again - she gives me the drugs via IV and the nurse makes me drink some stuff that's supposed to keep me from vomiting... they wheel me out and through the halls to the OR... getting queasy, anesthesiologist asks if i get motion sickness alot - no - hmmm - we get into the OR and i start vomiting again - all the stuff that was supposed to keep me from vomiting - all over my cheek and shoulder... lovely

we make it into the room and i make an interesting observation - all of the people working on us are women, not a man in the room... i was very impressed that they could move me from bed to bed with no men... girl power! i digress... so they strap me to the table and all the sudden i can't swallow... FREAKS me out... the anesthesiologist is like, it's ok, you don't need to swallow and i'm like, i can't swallow, i can't swallow! over and over again and then start trying to get free from the table and she's like, ok, here's something to calm you down... thank you!

5:55 - so i just kind of drift in and out of consciencious until shawn comes in... they start cutting and before you know it

6:02 - we hear a baby crying and then we see her... shawn says "i feel like i'm dreaming" and all of the sudden we're parents of the most beautiful baby girl in the world... just like that. crazy how that is.

in case you forgot what she looked like then:

and here she is today:

this is one of those, you have to look at from far away....me trying to be artsy again

some more pics

2008-03-05T10:10:00.006-06:00

I don't have as many as i thought... but here are a few:

Kai with her god parents, Kari and Rob:

One of my favorite things:

Mama likes to try artsy angles, but i just like my hand:

Noli and Kai, 8 days apart:

on the drip

2008-03-02T22:30:00.002-06:00

so, i went to the ER Friday night... they were really good about getting us in a room pretty fast so Kai wouldn't be exposed to all the nasties... turns out i had some kind of "oma" which is basically a collection of blood that might have been infected... so they put me on an iv with antibiotics and did some blood work... and sent me home... the pain was significantly better upon leaving the hospital, and i haven't had it since... so i'm assuming i did have an infection... still on antibiotics, going to follow up tomorrow... but things are better... i guess i just assumed it was part of the healing process...

i'll post some more pics of the baby tomorrow - and maybe get around to her birth story sometime this week!

pain

2008-02-29T16:45:00.001-06:00

say a little prayer for me... i've got to go to the hospital tonight because i'm having some pain in my abdomen... the incision is fine, but i could have an infection inside or a hernia. i'm in a lot of pain when i walk, and the pain medicine doesn't help... i'm scared because i don't want to leave the baby and am worried about nursing, so we're waiting until the middle of the night so hopefully the ER won't be as crowded... and i certainly don't want it to be a major ordeal.. i'd like to be healed so i can give 100% to my baby girl!

thanks for all of your kind words and support!

one week already!

2008-02-28T16:16:00.008-06:00

Well, baby Kai is one week old today and had a busy first week of life!

She's learned how to eat... been to the doctor's office...had tummy time... gotten her first bath (wasn't too crazy about that one)... had some explosive diapers... and stolen her mommy and daddy's hearts.

Two little glow-worms...

Daddy's little girl

Tummy time closeup

like mother like daughter

2008-02-25T22:11:00.002-06:00

Suzanne Leah Johnson

2.20.79

Kairi Candy Spears

2.21.08

can't help myself

2008-02-25T22:08:00.003-06:00

i've never known love like this before... she's become my world!

We've been home from the hospital for a full 24 hours now and let's just say that last night was one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult in my life! But thank the good lord for ibuprofen and vicodin and sleep...today's been a dramatic improvement. We are truly blessed to have such a beautiful baby girl!

it's official

2008-02-23T13:30:00.004-06:00

her birth certificate has been filed:

Kairi Candy Spears

We changed the spelling back to the original even though some might pronounce it wrong... it's still like K + eye + ree...

Kai means ocean in Japanese

ri means village

So her name means ocean village (mama suzy wished she lived in one of those!)

She keeps getting cuter each day... even though she wears us out!

our new baby girl

2008-02-22T10:33:00.002-06:00

Introducing: Kairi Candy Spears

February 21, 2008

6:02 PM

9 lbs 14 oz

20 1/2 inches

early voting

2008-02-19T17:02:00.003-06:00

hey guys... just a quick plug for the primaries...

if you live in Dallas County, get out and vote for Don Adams - a republican is running against him in the democratic primary for judge... i don't know why he can't find his own court! anyhoo... if you can, get out and vote for Don.... he's great!

www.judgedonadams.com

still no baby...

2008-02-18T09:06:00.004-06:00

is it just me, or does it seem like it's been a month since i posted last?

remember i said i had a ton more energy... well, i take that back. Sleeping has become increasingly difficult and well, let's just say i'm uncomfortable pretty much all the time. I can hardly wait for Thursday and each night say a prayer "ok God, I'm ready for her, just bring her!"

So, to keep you guys entertained until we meet our little darling... here are some pictures of the bathroom and nursery... we still need a few finishing touches, but they're both completely functional which is awesome!

Here's the new counter vanity - Shawn used left over bamboo flooring for the blackspash - isn't he creative? Everything else is IKEA except for the sink.

And here's the toilet - Shawn built the window ledge out of bamboo.

And the shower - remember, this room was gutted to the studs over the summer! And you can't see the recessed lights, but they're there.

Our IKEA crib - custom painted with custom bedding. Shawn - paint, Carol (mom) - bumper. Suzanne - color scheme... i wish i could take credit for something. I do want to make a mobile to hang on the wall eventually.

And here's the sweet rocking horse that Shawn's aunt gave us! Excuse the mess on the dresser!

The bassinet that Shawn slept in as a baby - mom made some more custom bedding for it as well - aren't you impressed?

And the last corner of the nursery - the Eames chair will be our rocking chair for now... at least it's nice and comfy!

the news you've all been waiting for...

2008-02-13T14:08:00.002-06:00

... well, the baby's still in my abdomen... but we do have some news.

Assuming she doesn't make her debut before, I'm going in for an induction on Thursday, the 21st... a day after my birthday (I hope she doesn't resent me for that)!

Of course, I'd be just fine if she came sooner... things are definitely uncomfortable! But it does give me time to get things in order at home... and Shawn time to finish up the bathroom (it's almost done!) And, since I've been home this week, I have a ton more energy and the swelling has gone down and I feel way less stressed... so that's good!

february and full term

2008-02-08T21:15:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since an update!

Well, I'm officially over 37 weeks - which means full term and officially on "maternity leave!"

We had our appointment Wednesday, with ultrasound because baby is big... she was weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds! Yes, with three weeks to go. Sooooo... we're going back on Wednesday (the 13th - happy birthday Maria D!) for another ultrasound. If she's 4500 grams (that's 4.5 kilos - or about 10 pounds)... they can induce or schedule a c-section. I've battled with this decision since Wednesday, but will probably take the latter route... we'll just have to see. This is assuming she doesn't make her debut before then - which is also a possibility because I'm already dilated to a 2. Of course, all that means is that i have 8 cm to go.

So... we still haven't settled on a name... but the nursery is pretty much complete (minus a rocking chair/glider, a crib mattress, and some wall decorations)... AND the big news is that Shawn has been working super hard to get the bathroom finished and it looks awesome (even though it's not 100% just yet).

Here are some pics:

Shawn, Eddie and Richard putting up sheetrock in the baby's room

Shawn "changing" his first diaper at our class:

My coworkers and my big belly at our work shower:

Shawn working on the bathroom tile:

Shawn's very proud of his dresser remake (it does look pretty good, doesn't it?)

More to come soon (including bathroom and complete nursery)... keep checking in!

let's play a game

2008-01-09T18:38:00.000-06:00

guess what kind of shoes I was wearing...

big baby girl!

2007-12-29T20:48:00.001-06:00

So we had our biweekly appointment the day after christmas with ultrasound... the baby is weighing in at 4.5 pounds... about a pound more than "average"... which puts her at 9 pounds if she goes all the way to 40 weeks... and if she only gains the 1/2 a pound per week like she's "supposed" to.

I asked my OB if that meant she would be early and she said... not necessarily... we'll have another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see how big she is then. that's my girl!

Ugly Sweaters Abound

2007-12-23T08:50:00.001-06:00

1st annual Holiday Sweater Party...

Good ole USA

2007-12-19T10:37:00.000-06:00

Here's an interesting article on maternity leave in the US compared to other countries. For you Californians... LUCKY (think Napolean Dynamite)!

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/LoveAndMoney/TakeTheLaborOutOfMaternityLeave.aspx?page=1

Personally, I'm going to be "docked" for over half of the days I'm missing... thanks to a nasty cold that I've had for 3 weeks now.

On a happier note, I'm at 30 weeks - which makes it feel like the end is in sight. We have another ultrasound on the 26th... I'll post pics if I get some good ones.

12 weeks to go...

2007-12-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

... more or less.

It's crazy to think that in that short of time, we'll have a baby to hold in our arms!

Here are some photos of the house - it's coming along... slowly but surely!

Next on the agenda is the baby's room...

Scary Stuff

2007-11-15T10:59:00.000-06:00

So, i'm realizing that becoming a parent is a bit scary. The latest fear factor: vaccinations.

Did you know that in the late seventies-early eighties (when Shawn and I were born), 1 in 10,000 kids was diagnosed as autistic?

Today it is approximately 1 in 100.

What is going on?

Lots of people think it has to do with the increased amount of required vaccinations. In doing some research, I found that pharmecutical companies use a preservative called Thermisol in vaccinations that contains a form of mercury. It was "banned" in 1999, but not taken out of the system.

Everything you read says that pregnant women should avoid excessive amounts of fish because of the mercury. Exposure to mercury leads to neurological damage. Infants are highly susceptible to the damage caused by mercury.

So here's my question. Why are we injecting infants with approximately 30 vaccinations containing mercury before they are a year old? By the way, children of the eighties were given only 8!

The flu vaccine is one of the only ones left that is allowed to contain this preservative. It's actually allowed - and they really push that stinking flu vaccine. I've never had one, nor the flu.

All of the government health organizations claim there is not enough evidence to link vaccinations with autism. But there also wasn't enough evidence at one point in time to link asbestos with lung problems.

I'm hoping that I will find a pediatrician that will allow me to exercise freedom in giving our baby girl vaccinations. I'm concerned for especially the uneducated in our nation (i usually end up teaching their children)... and wonder how common autism will have to become before something is done about not just treating it, but figuring out where it's coming from.

I'm pretty tired of greedy people putting the public at risk for dollars. I'm tired of the links between big money and our government. I certainly don't intend to knowingly put harmful chemicals into my baby's body so that companies like Merck can continue to get richer and richer. I wish we could trust the "people" that are supposed to be helping us stay healthy... but I don't think we can.

Each day becomes a bit more scary... it makes the labor and delivery part seem like the least of my worries now.

Week from the Twilight Zone

2007-11-12T16:53:00.000-06:00

So last week was weird! It was just a long, weird week at work... and then Thursday happened.

I went with 5th grade on a field trip to the symphony... well on our way back, a guy trying to change lanes lost control of his car, spun out, bounced off the bus we were on and landed facing the wrong way on 183. His car hit the tire of the bus that i happened to be sitting on top of. Needless to say, all of the kids were fine, the driver of the car was fine... but it was crazy to watch it all happen outside of the bus window. I called Shawn and let him know I was fine.

Not long after I called Shawn with the wacky news... one of his coworkers was fired to his surprise.... and then he was told to let one of his team members go. That team member decided to go outside and slash all of Shawn's tires (little did he know how much we needed new tires for the Matrix)...

So Shawn was stuck in Fair Park until 9 o'clock... thankfully a kind-hearted coworker stayed with him - since it's not exactly the best neighborhood in the area.

Meanwhile, I came home after school and called the doctor just to let them know what had happened. They said normally that you should go to the hospital any time you are pregnant and in a car accident. When I explained that we hardly felt anything... they said to drink some juice and lay down. If the baby doesn't move 10 times in an hour, go to the hospital.

Well wouldn't you know, that the baby decided to take a 4 hour nap that afternoon (highly unlikely)... I guess due to the earlier adreneline rush.... and Shawn wasn't home and I started getting concerned.

So mom came and took me to the hospital... Shawn showed up a little while later... and the baby is fine. We got to listen to her heartbeat and alien-like movements for an hour, though, which was pretty cool.

And the guy that slashed Shawn's tires has been reported to the "wonderful" Dallas PD... we'll see if anything happens to him. Shawn tried to follow up on Friday and was told, "Those detectives won't be back in the office until Mondy." Great... crazy men with knives can run around Dallas all weekend with no worries. And people wonder why Dallas has the highest crime rate in the country!

On another lighter note.... the baby seems to like Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion. Whaddya think about that? Scary!

square dance

2007-11-02T13:49:00.001-05:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Baby Pictures

2007-11-01T15:15:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd share the ultrasound pics we've got so far...

9 weeks:

17 weeks:

hola!

2007-11-01T12:55:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone...

I figured I should start a blog for the baby mostly... a place where you guys can see pictures and tell me and shawn how cute our little family is. :-)

I'll post more later... I have to go home and check on the latest addition to the family - Roscoe Pico!