Send Thanks to Our Troops

Halloween

This year we dressed up as a pirate, a piratess (okay, okay, a wench), & a parrot.

Carving Pumpkins

For an FHE last month  we carved pumpkins with Miriam, Steve & Brennen. Here's how ours turned out:

Pumpkinland

For a date-night in October we went to a small pumpkin patch at the local nursery. It was really fun & we got some cute pictures:

Super Behind

Since I have lots of pictures and things to post, I'm just going to do a few short posts to get caught up.
Sadly, we had to find Charlie a new family as he was getting too protective of Kaelyn and me. We gave him & all his things to his new family for free. We just wanted him to be happy and have a much needed backyard. Matt called about a week later to check on him, he seems to be doing fine. We miss our doggy, but hope he's happy.

On a happier note, Matt took the LSAT and got a 164! (That's good, not quite as high as he was hoping for but nothing to thumb your nose at.)

Coming soon....pumpkinland, pumpkin carving & Halloween costumes!

Loss of Wisdom

Life is busy as always, but right now I'm just takin' it easy. Friday I had 2 wisdom teeth removed (luckily, I only had 2 to begin with). It wasn't as bad I had anticipated & Matt took great care of me & Kaelyn & Charlie too. Matt took the LSAT and we're so happy that's over! We'll get his score probably in about a week and a half. Kaelyn is as cute as ever & seems like she really wants to be mobile, but hasn't quite figured out the crawling thing yet (still several face-plants away from that I suppose).

6 months

Now that Kaelyn is closer to 7 than 6 months I've finished her 6 month scrapbook page. She is such a happy baby :) and we're so happy to have her.
Things are crazy as always but we're all doing well. There's less than a month until the LSAT (hooray!); we've almost finished redecorating the great room (pictures coming soon); and I've got the beginnings of my new website/business up and running!

Oops, I'm not keeping on top of this blogging thing very well....

I really will need to start posting more with all the fun things Kaelyn is doing now! Can't believe she's 6 months old already.

She rolled over completely on her own and infront of more than just Matt while my mom was here a little over a week ago. She rolled from tummy to back; now she rolls both front to back and back to front.

She's really enjoying soild foods now & I've started making baby food and freezing it. She likes: carrots, avocado, bananas, peaches, little tastes of bread and accepts rice cearal but would rather have fruits or veggies. Sadly, this is the end of the era of those nice breast-milk-only-diapers :( Yesterday Matt was changing a diaper and I heard him from the other end of the condo exclaim, "Oh My Gosh!" I went to check on him and the baby to discover everything was just fine, Matt was just in shock at the volume & smell-factor of 6-month-solids-eatting-baby-diapers.

She also enjoys playing with toys, Mommy, Daddy, Charlie and anything else she can get her hands on and preferably into her mouth. She babbles a lot and is currious about everything.

In the midst of all this execitement we are also redecorating trying to get our condo ready to sell next summer (we want it to look as big and nice as possible). We've sold most of our great-room furniature via craigslist and have bought new (or in some cases new to us) funiture, I've sewn drapes and curtains, throw pillows and a TV stand cover (thank you Mommy for helping with Kaelyn so I could do so much).

Well, we'll keep you posted on the amazing things our girl does and the things we're doing too, I'll post photos soon.

Back in the US of A

So I'm almost done with scrap-booking our trip you can see it here. I also did Kaelyn's 5 month page; which is good since she's already 5 and a half months! My how time flys! All in all things are going well: I quit my online job (keeping on top of their new guidelines and such was taking too long --and they don't pay you for that part!), Matt is still getting ready for the LSAT, Kaelyn is growing like crazy and starting to sample soild food--so much fun! We did find the cammera cord, but we erased the video of her eatting rice cereal! Oh, well, we'll get footage of some closer to real food (mashed up veggies of some kind) when she turns 6 months.

Oops it's been much longer than I'd intended

Kaelyn is now a world traveler and is 5 months old. I've started scrapbooking the trip and will let you know when it's done. Here are some pictrues to tide you over.

We saw beautiful castles and landscapes

Kaelyn loves the good stuff

We saw Great-Grandad and Grandma

We let Kaelyn drive the Benz

4 months!

Well, if I ever find the cammera cable I'll post the video of Kaelyn's first taste of rice cereal, but here's some 4 month photos...

New Job

Kaelyn is still as adorable as ever, she recently found that she can grab her foot...so cute, but we'll have to keep Charlie from licking her feet now!

I found a job that I can do when ever is convent for us (during Kaelyn's naps mostly). Unfortunately, it's as an independent-contractor (so I'll have to set aside money for taxes) but it's convenient over all. I passed the qualification exams and Leapforce and I now have a contract for me to rank websites in relation to a search query term.

Matt is studying as hard as ever for the LSAT (he's getting good scores on the practice tests). He also has a big contract in the works at work; we'll post when it comes in.

We'll be posting Kaelyn's 4 month pictures soon! (We'll take them on Sunday. Oh, and if I remember to get some she'll have rice cereal that day too:)

It's Been a While

So much has happened lately, here are the highlights:
- We went to Vegas to help Becca & Stephanie when Steph had surgery (she's doing okay)
- We went to California since we were so close anyway...This was Kaelyn's first trip!
- We flew home (Kaelyn did really well, thank goodness!)
- We're getting ready to go to England on July 3rd
- Matt is still studying for the LSAT and plans to take it in September
- We've updated Kaelyn's scrapbook!
- Kaelyn & Mommy have been going to playgroup at the pool on Wednesdays and Kaelyn is doing really well in the pool :)
- Kaelyn likes to blow bubbles, babble (as you can see in the previous post), sit up (with help) and even stand (with help).

Here are some recent pictures!

not much time to post, wanted to get this up

Why Not?

I saw this on Brenda Willis' blog and thought it sounded like fun! Here's how this works:The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees you will like what I make.

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It will be done this year.

4. You have no clue what it's going to be.

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post of picture of what you win when you get it! Who's in?

2 Months

We didn't do pictures on the day Kaelyn was 2 months because she was very sad after her immunizations and was still sad most of the next day; but that could have just been because it was tax day. She was much better today so I gave her a bath and grabbed the camera.

This one is actually from the 12th, Kaelyn & Daddy studying for the LSAT

Dancin' Baby
Don't have a caption for this one, it's just cute

Hooray! We're all done....

So I'll take a nap.

23

Yesterday was a great birthday; I already had my Kitchen Aid, but with my birthday money from my parents and Grandad and Grandma I purchased a sewing machine! Matt also brought me flowers and we went to PF Changs and Coldstone (yummy!) Plus Kaelyn let me get a shower and has started doing really cute things! Kaelyn has started blowing bubbles, cooing and laughing! We're hoping to get some pictures/videos of these fun things soon, when we do we'll post them.

Kindle2

Matt really wants a Kindle 2 but they're way expensive, here's a chance to win one (for yourself or if you don't want it, give it to Matt , the winner is picked April 16th) http://www.helpusnameus.com/

Scrapbook

Finally feels like Spring, changed the background and got some scrapbooking done; here's the link to Kaelyn's scrapbook (I'll post the link again any time I've updated it)

Kaelyn

To Change the Background or Not?....

I was thinking it was time to change the background on the blog now that it's spring, but it was snowing outside this morning....so, I think I'll wait.

As far as an up date on us....

I'm mastering one-handed-typing-while-nursing & really enjoying my early birthday present from Matt--he found a great deal on Craig's list :)---and I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer! (He's enjoying me using it).

Matt has started studying for the LSAT; he went to his first LSAT class last night and actually really enjoyed it.

Kaelyn continues to excel at nursing, messing her diaper and burping. However, on a more exciting note, she's started lots of social smiling, likes to hit the rattle toy on her bouncy-seat and has been sleeping in 4-5 hour stretches at night!

1 Month Photo Shoot

This one was too funny to leave out

A little blurry but so cute

Daddy Builds the Crib

We did get this done before Kaelyn was born, but hadn't posted it yet:
we got the pieces out of the box

Matt felt trapped by the project

Charlie wanted to help too

will this really hold?

All done

Mommy added the finishing touches.

So Much for Our Last Date

I haven't really had time to do much since Valentines when our beautiful little Kaelyn decided she couldn't wait any longer to see her mommy and daddy; my water broke right as we were leaving for our "last date before kids".....oh well, she was a better present than dinner anyway.... Here's some pictures of our little Valentine.

Baby Shower

Here are some pictures from our shower that was on Saturday.
Thanks go out to Elizabeth for hosting and providing yummy food and to
Melissa for planing activities and to everyone who came.
(there are a few other pictures on facebook if you really want to see them)

Interesting...

Saw this feature on Jaime's blog and tried it out....impressive no?

Baby Shower

Just thought I'd post the cute shower announcement---especailly for those outside of UT who didn't get one since I certainly don't expect anyone to come all the way out here just for a shower ;)

Getting Ready for Kaelyn

The due date is ever creeping nearer, my belly is getting huge, aches and pains are setting in, we've started building our baby-registry and we started child-birth classes! It was really nice to feel like so far the classes have been more of a refresher course rather than brand-new info (thanks to spending much of my first 5 years in a Midwifery and having a mother and grand-mother who taught child-birth classes). It's pretty funny to watch Matt's face during class though....I think my favorite comments so far are---"No wonder you're grumpy, look at where the baby is putting all your internal organs!" and when the instructor asked if anyone had questions Matt whispered "Ask her where babies come from"

The Holidays Were Busy

Wow, I hadn't realized it had been so long since a post! Things are still going well for us. Matt had a fairly large deal come in a few days ago so that's letting us breath a little easier--they're starting to really push the guys at i365 now that sales have dropped so much (thank you American Economy) and profits are down....So the good news is Matt still has a job and the much needed health--especially maternity--benefits :)

We spent Christmas in California with both sides of the family and had a nice time there. We did, however, have some adventures there too....Our cell phones were supposed to work and didn't--10+ calls to Cricket customer service later and we've switched to Verizon--no more unlimited minuets *sigh* but we still have unlimited text and calling other Verizon customers is free, so if you have Verizon give us a call anytime :) Oh and if you need our new numbers send us an email and we'll get it to you (not crazy about posting them where anyone in the world could see).

More adventures occurred when Matt arrived with Charlie...Asher (Whittam dog) and Charlie (our dog) like each other--we think, but both seem to have trouble knowing when to say when. There were no injuries but some pretty rough play was broken up a few times.

Asher also showed off his puppy side (much to our dismay) and ate (well, chewed up) the only copy of Kaelyn's ultrasound (I know, I know, you'd think a girl who works for a web-hosting company and a guy who sells data-back-up and recovery would have thought to make at least one other copy!) Anyway...thanks to Mommy and Daddy footing the bill, we went and got a 3-D ultrasound (and have uploaded a copy to the desktop and plan on burning at least one or two copies to DVD). Here are some pictures of the 3-D stuff.....

you can see her right hand by her cheek in this oneboth eyes (closed), nose and mouth are visible--she kind of looks like she's smiling
here's a profile shot (the stuff in front of her face is umbilical cord) and yes, it looks like the back of her head is missing, it's just how the 3-D rendering produced the shot
the image on the left is a regular frontal shot, the left is a 3-D profile you can see her arm in both shots