Christmas...

Kay had a fun first Christmas. We spent the time at our house relaxing and hanging out with family and friends.

The day before Christmas eve Kay's Uncle Scott, Aunt Marcia, and Cousin Charlie stopped by for a visit. We also had several of Scott's friends and our friends stop by. We were busy with the cookie factory that afternoon as well. Grandma converted Scott's childhood stocking into one for Charlie this year. She plans to do the same for Kay next year. What a special gift! I don't think Charlie really understood what it was this year. I am sure soon he will be excited to dig the treats out of it on Christmas day! We tried so hard to get a picture with the two cousins. It took two photographers and one uncle/dad acting silly and we still did not get a good picture! Maybe next year...



Christmas Eve was another relaxing day. We had an early dinner over with some of our closest friends from Church and their families. Hannah and Jimmy threw another great party and it was nice to see their parents again. We left their house to go home and get Kay ready for bed. She went to bed in her car seat so we could go to church. We drove around to see Christmas lights before heading to the church service. Kay was perfect and slept during the entire 9 pm church service. We sat toward the front and the organ music was pretty loud. I thought she would wake up, but she did not make one peep! I was also impressed with myself being able to stay up that late and not even take a snooze! Craig and I knew we needed to take advantage of one last time at the candle light service. The next several years we will probably include going to the kid service. Before tucking everyone into bed we read Twas the Night Before Christmas.



On Christmas morning Kay enjoyed opening presents (with some help). As expected, the box was almost as much fun as the gifts. We relaxed and watched movies for the rest of the day until Craig's parents flew in. We had a nice dinner with them when they arrived. Craig made some very tasty steaks and of course steam pudding (a tradition of my family).


Dad loved the hand and foot ornaments we made for Kay's first Christmas. Nana and Pops gave Kay a stroller made for tall people!


We are trying to get Kay to take a paci instead of her thumb. She showed us what she thought of that as she shoved her thumb in the paci hole to suck it through the paci. One determined little girl...



We tried cereal again. It was much more entertaining for Kay to have a cheering squad for her to eat it. She gobbled it up this time! Unfortunately, after all the family left she realized it was just mom at home on Monday and was not as excited about her cereal.



The next day we hosted all of Craig's family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) We had a houseful including 4 kids under the age of 3. We had a very yummy BBQ meal from Craig's smoker. It was really nice to see everyone again and Kay got a lot of snuggles. It was a crazy house, but a fun house.


It is hard to believe that 2009 is coming to an end and 2010 is about to begin. We are thankful for our many blessings, friends, and family.

Yumm.... Cereal....

Well...our little girl is not a fan. She found the bib more entertaining than the food. The second time went a little better, but we are a long way from her actually eating the stuff instead of wearing it.

6 months...

Kay is 6 months old now. We went to the doctor last Friday to get her vaccines and discovered she had a double ear infection so the shots would have to wait. We have a tough little girl to not even let us know she had a double ear infection. We were surprised! Now we wait several weeks while she gets better and try again. We had her weighed and she actually lost some weight from the last time we were at the doctor. We now will be going back in a couple weeks for another weigh in. We are hopeful the loss in weight was just from not feeling good. She continued to get much longer and is now 26 inches. She is down to 3% in weight and 45% in height.


Craig was in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for 10 days last week. I survived! We were able to visit with Craig while he was gone over Skype. I don't think Kay realized that dad was on the other side of the computer. It was nice for Craig to get to see her.


My friend Melanie flew in town to keep me company while Craig was gone. It was so nice to catch up with her. We also got together with our old college roommates for lunch. Melanie gave Kay a kit to take a hand and foot print for Christmas. We had a lot of fun making the project.




I felt pretty tired by the end of the 10 days. The ladies at our daycare asked me for more diapers. I was SO HAPPY that they left me a note on Kay's diaper at bath time because I definitely would have forgotten!


Craig bought the dress for her 6 month pictures in China. A special present from daddy....


Kay is giggling all the time now. She showed major improvements while Craig was gone on her upper body strength. It was almost as if something in her head clicked and she finally understood that she could sit up. She is still working on understanding that her hands can support her. She is able to now sit up for a few seconds before toppling over. I think she would be able to sit up much longer if she would put her hands down and catch herself. She is really reaching and playing with things now. I have a scarf that has some decorative trim on it. She loves to pull on it when I wear it. It won't be long and I won't be able to wear jewelry.

Craig and I have a thumb sucker! We joke that she is asleep only when she has "assumed the position". Here is Kay's sleeping position...

Seattle!

Well, we made it. Some called us crazy for flying across the country with a five month old baby, but we survived!! We arrived home last night from visiting Craig's brother and family in Seattle. Last time we visited Craig had food poisoning the entire time and it poured rain. We were able to see the city this time and there was hardly a cloud in the sky!

Kay did wonderfully on the trip. Although we traveled "infant in arms" style (without Kay having an assigned seat) all legs but one had an extra seat for her. Everyone on the planes loved watching Kay because she would smile, giggle, and flirt with everyone. She did not make a peep or cry the entire time. Thankfully, she slept or played for most of it! We were so proud of being able to pack light enough to carry on. We had only a 30 minute layover each direction and on the way home we ended up running through the airport to make it because of a late flight. We did not want to get stuck in an airport for hours! Kay's favorite part of the airplane ride was getting to see the Cascade mountains out of the window.


Walking around downtown Seattle...
We met Uncle Phil for lunch at a yummy restaurant and then went to pick up Hazel and Miles. The downtown was decorated for the holidays. Kay was asleep the entire time so we missed out on the ride on the carousel. Miles and Craig had a blast in the back seat of the van on the way home.



Playing at Phil and Malia's house...
The girls had matching PJs so we couldn't resist a picture. Kay loved getting a bath by her aunt. I ate something that bothered Kay's tummy and she screamed all night Saturday night. Malia was nice enough to take a three hour shift for Craig and I so we could get some sleep. Kay was passed out on her dad's lap the next morning because she was so tired (so were we)!



We took a long hike each day we were there. The views were amazing. I can't believe they live just minutes from such great parks and views. Again, Kay was asleep most of the time (she was a little confused about time zones). We took some pictures of her with the views to show her what she missed out on :)