Merry Christmas

Where to begin!  So many things have happened in the last month since last posting!  :o)  I will try to just give you the highlights!!! 

12/4/2009 ~
We took a trip with Uncle Andy & Ansley to Home Depot to pick out our Christmas trees!  :o)  We wanted to try something a little different this year and go and cut down our own tree... but then we called and priced it out!  Well lets just say "maybe next year"!!!  So we ended up at Home Depot.  They really do have the best prices! We ended up with the most beautiful tree!  It was the first time Kellen had gloves on...he kept looking at his hand like "where did my fingers go"???  After picking out our trees we headed to Shane's rib shack to have some dinner!  It was YUMMY!!!

12/5/2009 ~

We spent the evening decorating the tree.  It was a very different experience trying to decorate with a small child, so Grandma Dee helped out by hanging out with Kellen!  Here are some fun pictures from the evening...

12/13/2009~
My "bestest" friend in the world invited to attend a fundraiser that her hairdresser put together for her to help raise money for her wig.  Seven hair dressers of Studio 301 volunteered their time and offered haircuts for women, men and children with all proceeds being donated to Jerilyn..  So Kellen got his first "real" haircut!!!  He was so good...he sat on my lap and let her do her thing!  It was so cute!  Matt, my mom, our good friends, Chris, Sarah, and Glenn got a hair cut too!

12/18/2009~

Visit to Santa!  Kellen was such a trooper!  Matt had his work holiday lunch and I left work a little early so we could take Kellen to see Santa.  The weather was nasty, but I figured maybe that would work in our favor of keeping the line down a little....so we headed to the mall.  When we arrived we got in line and waited and waited and waited.  Finally, after two hours, we got to see Santa.  Now, you have to realize that when we got in line it was about 5 pm and when we got to Santa it was about 7 pm.  Normally this is Kellen's headed to bed time, but here we were at the mall, in line, waiting for Santa. On top of that, Kellen had not had anything to eat! Grandma Dee was a huge help in taking Kellen to play in the kids area while we waited in line.  When we got to see Santa...Kellen wouldn't smile, but he just sat there and looked and looked at him.  He looks so tired in the picture, but it was so cute.  When Grandma Dee went to go get him, he wanted to stay with Santa!  We then headed to eat!  By the time we were eating it was about an hour after bedtime!  Then we did  some shopping!  Kellen was a trooper.  He never got fussy!

12/24/2009~
Every year on Christmas Eve we have chili and cornbread and then we open gifts.  This year was so much fun to watch Kellen!  He racked up let me tell you!  We did go a little overboard, but Kellen didn't really have any toys.  So he now has some toys to play with!  He was more interested in pushing things around!  Uncle Andy and Grandma Dee where there to share in all the fun!

12/25/2009~

We enjoyed a morning of stockings and breakfast with us and Uncle Andy and Grandma Dee! Kellen got some cute socks, a book, a new cd  for bedtime, and a chair from Santa (really Grandma Keeta)!  Soon enough it was nap time for Kellen and pick up time for Mommy and Daddy!  Around noon we headed to Papa and Mimi's house for more gifts and dinner!  We had so much fun with all the cousins together!  We were spoiled this year!  Greg and Sheryl got Matt and I a Wii!!!  Bowling anyone???

MERRY CHRISTMAS from our family to yours!

May 2010 bring you many, many blessings!!!

10 Months & Thanksgiving!!!!

Where is the time going!!!  I am running a little behind!!!!  I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I wanted to share a few pictures from our family Thanksgiving!  We had my mom and Andy and Ansley over for dinner!  It stated at 8am with pancakes and then the parade!  Soon we started cooking and of course there ended up being WAY to much food, but boy was it yummy!  Kellen really enjoyed Thanksgiving....I think it is because of the food that was involved!  He is a lover of ALL food!

The Table Waiting for Everyone to Sit Down & Eat!!!

Kellen Ready for More!!!

Kellen and is Pilgrim's hat from daycare!

Ansley Flying High with Daddy!

Then my baby celebrated his 10 month birthday!  I can't believe it....can Kellen really be 10 months and so close to a year old.  Where has the time gone???  Kellen is keeping us VERY busy these days...

He is pulling up on everything, into everything, and LOVES the stairs...if he sees the gate open he gets there as fast as his little legs and arms will get him there!  He is standing on his own and will try and walk with help, but so far no steps on his own without trying to hold on to something! We got him a walk and ride toy and he loves it, but still loves pushing our kitchen chairs!  He is still eating everything, but is becoming a little bit more opinionated in what he is eating.  If he does not want it he WILL NOT EAT IT!!!  Also in the last month Kellen has started to throw little tantrums when he does not get his way...it is hard not to laugh at him as he puts his head down on the floor and cries!  It lasts about 5 seconds and then he moves on!  We are really struggling with the napping!  He will nap twice for us when he is home with us for the day...but at daycare I think that there is too much going on and he will only take a short nap most days.  This makes for a VERY difficult Kellen at night when we get home with him.  I think he has a lot of his mommy in him...tired or hungry....WATCH OUT!!!  He has almost got "blowing kisses" down.  He will stick his hand up to his mouth, but hasn't got the blowing it away yet!  ;o)  He is loving to talk these days, even though it is all jiberish, we are getting a word here and there!  He told his ball bye bye one day and we are trying to work on "ball"!  He loves any kind of ball!  Football, bouncy ball...you name it and Kellen loves it!  He is weighing in at around 26 lbs and is growing like a weed.  We continue to struggle with keeping him healthy and he is now on another round of antibiotic for another ear infection!  But on a positive note we were able to keep it out of his lungs and he did not wheeze!  We did one breathing treatment!  We got a battery operated nasal aspirator and love, love it!  It plays a little song just sucks a bunch of gunk out!  I LOVE IT!!!  At Christmas he will be home for a week and a half, so we are hoping to get him nice and healthy so that we can schedule his surgery first thing in 2010!!!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Holiday season!  We have LOVED getting all the cards and seeing everyone's pictures!!!  :o)  I will share pictures from decorating the tree with you all soon!  Merry Merry Christmas! 

 

PS...Kellen is getting his "first" non mommy haircut this weekend!  I can't wait to post pictures!  

9 Month Photo Session

They are finally up!!!  I am so excited and have been waiting ALL day!!!!  Jason was awesome....from the moment we met him it was like we had known him for years!  He caught some awesome pictures.  All I can say is Jason Pendley you are AWESOME!!!!

Go to www.jasonpendley.com
Then to "clients"
The Password is "matthew"

Enjoy! 

Happy Halloween 2009!!!

I can't believe that Halloween has come and gone!  I have been talking about dressing Kellen up, and what he would be, since last year at this time (and he was still in the womb)!!!  He made the cutest little monkey!  We thought that it was very fitting since we call him "our little monkey"!  I found the costume on amazon for a reasonable price, but will probably never spend that much again!  :o)  It was a busy day, but it was a lot of fun.  We had our pictures taken by Jason Pendley....It was cold and rainy and yes we did them outside!  :o)  The weather was not too bad during the session, but it was a little cold.  After our shoot was over we rushed home to get all our costumes on...yes Matt and I dressed up too!  Matt was "The King" from Burger King and I was a pirate (to go along with Kellen, the monkey)!!!!  After we were dressed we ran over to Cousin Ansley's house to get some pictures of the two together.  Ansley was Tinker Bell and Grandma Keeta made her costume!  It was too cute!!!  Mommy gave Kellen a box of Nerds to "shake"...I turned away for a minute and he had got the box open and had a few Nerds and was happy as can be (I think he may have Mommy's sweet tooth)!!!

From there we came home and fed Kellen before we started making our rounds to friends and family for trick or treating!  Our first stop was Auntie Jenn's new house!  She had the best candy!!!  We hung out for a bit and got to see a 7-week old Trick or Treater named Penelope  (she was a unicorn).  We had a glass of wine, took some pictures, and we were on our way with a hand full of candy!  Did I mention it is was the good candy???

We made our way to Aunt Jerilyn's and Uncle Chris's.  We stayed for a short visit and got a couple pieces of candy, but better yet...Jerilyn sent us with quesadilla's and salsa!  Score for mommy and daddy!!!

On to Uncle Andy's....we ended up picking up Andy and heading to Mimi and Papa's...This is where we failed in the picture department!  We hung out for a while and mommy had a few drinks and Daddy had some Rootbeer!  Kellen was a trooper...we left there around 9:30ish...about 2 hours after bedtime.  As soon as we got home Kellen was in his Halloween PJ's that Grandma Dee got him and he drank a bottle and was out!  Mommy thought for sure Kellen was going to sleep in, BUT he got up at 3 am the next morning!!!!  Mommy was very tired but Kellen was WIDE awake....maybe it was the nerds he ate!!!

Nine Months

What has Kellen been up to these days?

(I think between 8 and 9 months I have seen the biggest change since birth. He has really just taken off)

Kellen is weighing in at 21 lbs 13 oz and is 29.5 inches tall. He has slowed down a bit and is coming in in the 80th percentile (this is the first time since birth he is not in the high 90th percentile). He is wearing 12 month clothing and some 18 months depending on the brand. He is in a size 3 shoe (and I have finally found some cute ones). We just are finishing up the last of the Size 3 diapers that we have and then will be putting him in size 4 all the time instead of just at night. They seam to help out with leaking.

He is still drinking 4 - 7 oz bottles a day (but has begun to refuse some of them). In the past couple of weeks we have started him on "real" food. He is such a great eater and prefers the "real" food to the jarred food. The other night we went to a Mexican restaurant and ordered him a mini cheese quesadilla and he ate the WHOLE thing!!! On top of that he ate some banana and rice and beans. The only thing he has not really liked and refused to eat is grits. Other than that his teachers at school are amazed at how well he eats "real" food. He is getting a little frustrated with us when we try and feed him the jarred food now. I have to say that it is a little hard, because I don't know how much food he is getting. When you feed him formula or a bottle, you know how much they are drinking. When you feed them jarred food you know how much they are eating. But with real food it is hard to gauge how much they are eating. One of Kellen's favorite foods is Mac and cheese. So far so good though he is eating very well for us!

As far as sleep goes, he is an okay sleeper. I can't really complain. He goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and then will sleep anywhere from 4am till 6:30. Recently, it has been closer to 4 am every morning and sometimes 3 am. So it has been hard on mommy and daddy. He will take anywhere from 1 to 3 naps a day and those naps can last from 30 min to 2 hours. I guess it all depends on how he feels! :o)

His favorite toys right now are what we call redneck toys...he loves plastic bottles. He will sit on the hardwood floors and bang the bottle around the floor. He loves the noise it makes. He also loves to chase the cats. Now that he is really crawling he will zoom after the cats. Holly is SO good with him. Skyler continues to not be so good with him. He loves to play peek-a-boo and loves his rocker chair. He is saying ma-ma and da-da and ba-ba. In the last week he as started to wave...it has to be the cutest thing ever! :o)

A day in the life of Kellen goes a little like this....

• Wake up (really whenever I wake up) or by 6:15 (but mostly around 4 am these days)
• Get dressed and drink a bottle and play for a few minutes while Mommy finishes getting things together
• Out the door and on our way to day care by 6:50
• Mommy drops me off at day care at 7 am
• Nap, play and eat (I am trying lots of new foods and new activities)...I love my teachers and they LOVE me a couple of weeks ago I moved up to Infant B. I am doing so much more and trying so many new things that I get really tired during the day!
• Daddy picks me up from daycare at 5 pm
• Eat dinner at 5:30
• Play with Mommy and Daddy till 7pm-ish
• Bath Time (between 7 and 7:30) I don't really like to get my hair washed, but I love to play in the water. These days though I am so tired that it is hard fro mommy and daddy to enjoy bath time.
• Bed time...Mommy and Daddy try to read to me, but I am SO tired that I just want my bottle and to go to bed. Mommy started playing music during bottle time and I am not sure what I think about it

Kellen is really pulling up on everything. The last couple of weeks he has gone from not being able to pull up ...to pulling up... and then to pulling up like a pro! He really has no fear....when he is done standing he just plops down and goes about his business. He is really keeping us on our toes.

I really don't know where the last 9 months have gone. Kellen has been such a blessing in our lives. I really can not imagine my life without him. Still daily you can hear Matt say, "I can't believe that we have a son." No matter how tired or stressed or worried or sad I am it all melts away when I see his sweet little face.

We will have his 9-month pictures taken on Saturday with Jason Pendley.  I will share the link with you all as soon as they are up on his website! :o)

Happy 9 month birthday baby boy! We love you so much!!!

New Hair Cut & Pumpkin Farm

 
What a busy week!  Last weekend I decided to give Kellen a haircut.  His hair was just too all over the place for me...so I got out the clipper's and buzzed it.

It is a little short and would like it to be somewhere in between how long it was and how short it is now.  He is such a trooper.  He sat through it all and did not get too antsy until the end.  And here it is....

Grandma Keeta is in town for the week so we thought it would be a good idea to hit up a pumpkin patch.  I found Yahoo Farms that is located in Jasper.  I had picked it because it sounded like a lot of fun with a pumpkin bunny, a pony ride, corn maize, pumpkins, hay ride, and so on.  It turned out to be fun, but not as cool as it sounded on the website...the pumpkin bunny was a women with ears on her head.

 

But we got some cute pictures of Kellen and some great family time.  Both Grandmas went and uncle Andy too! 

We took a hayride and Kellen went on his first pony ride...He loved it or at least I think he did.  There was no smiles, but no crying either.  They even went around twice.  All in all it was a great day!  I have already found a different place to try for next year!  :o)

I love this face!  :o)  Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!

Hip, Hip Hooray...Kellen stood up today (well last Tuesday)!!!

I have been trying to get this posted since last Tuesday!  Kellen is now standing up!!!  He has been pulling up for awhile now, but never quite had the strength to make it all the way up!  Well on Tuesday he did it!!!  The window in our living room is the perfect height for Kellen to crawl over to and look out the window and has been enjoying watching a lizard and a caterpillar that live in our hibiscus bush outside the window.  Well On Tuesday he made it to standing position!  :o)  The funniest part was that a cat that happens to hang in our back yard from time to time just happened to be walking by when Kellen stood up!  The cat walked over to the window and just stared at Kellen like,  "what are you and what are you doing???" It was so funny to watch.  They stood looking at each other for awhile!

Kellen didn't really try again till Saturday!  He is now pulling up and standing anytime that you will let him!  On Sunday we decided that we would lower the crib since he was now able to stand up!  It was a GOOD thing that we did, because after his nap Grandma Dee walked in to go get him and he was standing in his crib like it was nothing!!!  :o) 

Our baby is growing up so fast!  It has been so much fun to watch him grow and learn new things!  We are working on the whole clapping thing and it is SO funny to watch him try to imitate what we do!!!  

Kellen also has started to eat "real" food (as I call it) instead of "jarred" food!  He has tried pears, bananas, chicken,  green beans, and pasta!  On the menu tonight...mashed potatoes and peaches!  :o)