You are now entering month four

Kaylee was a little tired for her photo shoot this morning.

I'm on the fence about this. I can't decide if it's harder to believe that Kaylee is four months old already – or that she's only been around for four months. It seems like only yesterday that we brought her home – but it's really difficult to imagine life without her.

She's got a whole new wardrobe, because she's officially outgrown everything she's been wearing for the last month (including going up a diaper size). And she's wiggling like you wouldn't believe. She'll be crawling around the house and getting into trouble before we know it.

Talking? Not so much. Every now and then she "blah, blah, blahs" about something, but for the most part she's still pretty quiet. Right now the only thing coming out of her mouth on a regular basis is drool.

She's taken a real interest in the animals – watching them and reaching out for them whenever they get close enough. I don't think the animals are too fond of it – just wait until she's mobile.

Monday afternoon is her check up with the Doctor of Babies. We'll find out how she's doing and get some questions answered. (Like when does she get to start cereal? That should give my camera a workout.)

More as it develops. Film at 11.

The Knack

Remember the blocks? That cursed engineer block?
My daughter is doomed to a life of "utter social ineptitude."
I blame my father.

Bailey & Kaylee

Bailey likes to help Kaylee with her bink. Even when Kaylee doesn't want it. (Actually – I think that's Bailey's bink. They look the same. So either she like to share or she's just confused. I'm going with the latter.)

She really seems to like the kid. Unless ...

... Mom is holding the wrong kid. If Bailey has anything to say about it – there will NOT be another baby on Mommy's lap. (Heck, she gets jealous of the dog.)

Luckily, there is enough room for two.
(Though that really only makes her happy for a moment.)

Tax time ...

Wasn't nearly as painful this year. In fact, it was really good.
Thanks a bunch kid!

It's all happening at the zoo ...

Rae's favorite sister is visiting – no not that favorite sister, the other one – and she brought little Bailey along with her. (And she's not so little anymore. Quite the opposite in fact.) So what do you do with two kids in tow? You do what every other parent does – go to the zoo.

Kaylee's bib wasn't an advertisement, despite what some of the carnivores may have thought. (And yes, I know the albino peacock in the background posed no real threat.)

But these jaguars? And see the sign? It's to prevent people from getting confused by bibs exactly like Kaylee's. (I heard that happened in London once. Except it was a rather snotty eight-year-old.)

At not even four-months-old, much of the wonder and magic of the zoo was lost on Kaylee. She's not really checking out the rhino – we just caught her the one time her head was turned.

Bailey wasn't too impressed with the zoo either.
She totally ignored the brand new baby zeebra …

And the giraffes …

But anything with wings was pretty damn cool.

Llama.
(Extra specially for Aunt Maggie)

Visitors ...

Sister-in-law is coming tomorrow.

She's bringing the baby.

(And her husband.)

Baby likes to run and grab things.

(Don't know if the husband does.)

So the dog got shaved.

Poor dog.

Under the weather

Rae thought the outfit said it all today.

Kaylee was sent home from day care today. A quick trip to the doctor of babies (actually one of his minions) tells us she's running a slight fever. DOBM says it could be viral or, based on the amount of drool coming out of her face, it might be early teething.

Either way, she's had a bath and she seems to be in much better spirits this evening. Hopefully we'll have an uneventful evening and she can go infect all the other babies tomorrow.

Kiss me, I'm Irish*

It's not a Guinness, but it'll do in a pinch. Happy St. Paddys Day.

* There's bound to be a little Irish in there somewhere, right?

How to start and end the day

Kaylee and I get about a half hour every morning to hang out.
I drink coffee. She drools.

And this is how pretty much every night wraps up.
I'm on the computer – and they crash out on the couch.

Second post of the day

This is a bonus picture.
Why? Because my daughter is just too damn cute.
Consider yourself blessed.

Being this cute is a chore

Kaylee often gets tired helping Rae and I around the house.

On a side note – do you know how hard it is to sweep the floor with a sleeping baby strapped to your chest? You can't see what you're doing. You can't bend over to sweep under stuff. And you keep smacking the kid in the head with the broom handle.

I'm surprised she came through the event well-rested and unbruised.

Hard to believe ...

... but we've managed to keep Kaylee in relatively good health for the past 100 days. What were the Vegas odds on that?

But that's not why we're here. We're here to discuss blocks. Yes, blocks.


My Aunt Mary sent us a set of blocks for Christmas this year. (By "us" I mean Kaylee, but I play with her toys more than she does.) Now these blocks are cooler than I first thought. (But trust me, I was pretty excited about the blocks already. Toys that don't make noise or eat batteries? Awesome.) These are special blocks.

Magic blocks.

Here's what the card that came with the blocks has to say about it all:

GOOD FORTUNE WOODEN BLOCKS
In Korea, on a baby's 100th day, family and friends get a peek into the child's future. During the celebration, parents place objects representing different professions on a table and whatever the baby touches is said to fortell their destiny.

See? Magic blocks. So we laid the blocks all out and she touched one ...

But we didn't get a picture of it.

So we decided we wanted to throw out the rules.* We're not content with her just TOUCHING a block – we need more concrete proof than that. Kaylee needs to pick up a block ...

So we let her peruse the blocks. Taking her time to choose the perfect one ...

And she grabbed "e." I was excited, because I always wanted to have an elephant trainer in the family. That's job security. Everyone, everywhere will always need a trained elephant. They're great in the circus – or to help you get a stranded cat out of a tall tree.

But then Rae showed me that "e" stands for engineer. I was a little worried about that – trains went out of style decades ago. How will she ever make a living driving them?

Then I saw the picture on the block – it's some math tool thing. So it's not even a cool engineer. It's one of those physical / chemical / environmental / margarine-making / poly-hydrogenated engineers. It's the kind of job no kid wants - it's the kind of job for old men. Real old. Like Grandpa Charlie old ...

Poor kid.**



* Actually, we never had the rules. Rae, in her infinite wisdom, removed the card back in December to put away in a baby book or something. So we were just winging it. I didn't really know the rules until I looked them up on my sister's site so I could steal them for this. So if Kaylee grows up to be a "T stands for teacher" and not an elephant trainer, that's why.***
** There are many fine engineers out there. And I'm sure many kids aspire to grow up to be them. One happens to be my father, hence the ribbing. And I'm sure he'd rather be an elephant trainer too.
*** Nothing to see here. I just wanted to see what it looked like when a footnote got a footnote.

Random photos

Kaylee showing off what will likely be her summer outfit.
(If we can get her to wear that much.)

My aunt bought Kaylee this thing that lights up and plays music when you kick it. Rather, when Kaylee kicks it.
When I got tired of hearing it, I kicked it and it stopped working.

Kaylee has finally noticed those fuzzy things running around our house. It's only a matter of time before she starts chasing them now.

Pooh shoes.

Saturday morning photo shoot!

A camera??!! But I'm still in my pajamas! This will never do!

Much better.
Lose "Old Smeller," a change of clothes and a change of location. This dark couch makes my skin look great!

Isn't this dress fabulous? And check out these socks!

You're right. I do look awesome from that angle.

But THIS is my good side.

All right, who invited her? Get out of my shot! You're ruining it!
Fine. Lose the shirt woman, it's time for lunch.

We got a laugh!

Just one of the pictures I shot tonight ... you can start to see those eyes changing color ...

So I got my first laugh out of Kaylee tonight. I had to work for mine – I still don't know how Lauren did it by just showing up. (She's not that funny looking.)

Finally after a rousing game of peek-a-boo I got a laugh. And then another. And then another. And then another.

And then she got the hiccups.

And then she puked on me.

And then the dog licked her face clean.

I'm still kicking myself for not having the camera set to video ...

Dad made me do it

Strip!

Credit goes to Jessica for pointing this out to me.
(Click image to make it large enough to read.)

Playing catch up

OK – I've been a bad blogger. No updates since Wednesday. But in my defense, work has been busy and Kaylee's Grammy and PawPaw have been here. No time for the rest of you. But we just dropped them off at the airport, so ...

Kaylee's sick: She's had a cough and the sniffles since I left. Now she's got a cough that really reminds me of Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings." Poor kid. She hates anyone who tries to de-snot her, especially if you use the sucky-ball thing. On the upside – she's a little hoarse, which means when she gets REALLY ticked off her screaming isn't that hard to handle.

Kaylee's new best friend: Is Dad's big screen TV. If it's on and she's in the room – it's tough to get her to pay attention to anything else. If there was any doubt before – I am now sure that I will be watching The Wiggles in HD in a year's time.

Grammy time: Kaylee really seemed to enjoy her week home with Grammy and PawPaw. She ate more from the bottle on Thursday and Friday than she usually eats in a whole week of day care. I guess Grammy just has the touch. (Good news for the kid – Grammy's flight just got cancelled, maybe she'll stay another nite?)

All hands: Kaylee found her hands not too long ago – and now she's starting to figure out what they are for. She's got the thumb sucking thing down pretty well; but what's got us impressed is that she's figured out how to pull the Bink out of her mouth – and nine times out of 10 she can put it back. Even while she's sleeping.

Bomb-britches: Kaylee has taken to saving up all of her "number twos" and giving us at least a "number eight." Yesterday's poo-splosion filled her diaper and her pajamas. I tell you, footy pajamas seem like a good idea until you fill one leg with feces. I had to wipe down her back, her legs, between her toes. When I went to wash my hands afterward, it looked like I'd tried to finger paint with the stuff. And the pajamas? If kids clothes weren't so expensive, I'd just burn them.

(Insert witty sign-off comment here – 'cause I've got nothing.)

Home again, home again ...

Syracuse was a blast (despite the 14 hour work days – yes, we do SOME work) but I'm glad to be home. Happy to report that Kaylee didn't learn to walk or talk while I was gone – but I swear she's grown about an inch. ;-)

Brought home shirts for the whole family – because I'm a dork like that. I was only going to get one for Kaylee (in hopes that the newspaper design connection may rub off on her) but decided I wanted one for myself as well. And then I HAD to get one for Rae so she didn't feel left out.

Now we're one of THOSE families with matching shirts. I'm laying down a family rule stating we're not allowed to wear them on the same day. (At least not all three of us.)

Even I have some standards. Low standards, but standards none the less.

My final post

Mike is home tonight!!! His girls have missed him. But we have been distracted from his abscence with lots of fun with Grammy Janetta and Papa Allen.

Grammy and Kaylee get to know each other.

Kaylee sleeps the day away in her stroller while...

... Grammy Janetta and Papa Allen enjoy the desert museum.

More grinning with Grammy.

Still no more laughing (Lauren, are you ready to come back over?), but I imagine it's coming soon. Kaylee's in a great mood today, she must know dad's coming home.

Mmmm... tastes good

She has discovered that her thumb is the best tasting of all her phalanges.

While the Mike's away...

... the women will be sick.
I've got Kaylee's cold. Our little one picked the weekend her dad goes away for the first time to have a cold AND give it to mom. In fact, dad may have been the original giver of the cold as he was a bit under the weather before he left. Even so (since the whole daycare is sick) I won't hold it against him.

As you can see here, I'm getting pretty good with the snot sucker.

(Yes, Mike is allowing me to post on the blog, but only because he's out of town. You'll get him back, don't worry. – Rae)

I'm appreciated

FYI - I'm in Syracuse and all is well. Much better trip than last year's "layover" in Chicago. Since I'm not at home don't expect a lot of news over the next few days – though Rae has said she might post a photo or two here.

Waiting for me when I arrived was this email. It's got some news in it ... and some great visuals. My wife's a decent writer. Who knew? Maybe I should let her update the blog every now and then?

We might talk before you read this, but our baby has her first cold. No fever or anything like that, but the amount of green snot that came out of her nose this morning when I was changing her diaper made me think I was changing the wrong end. :)
Dropping her off at daycare this morning was just as hard as it was that first day (though I didn't cry, well, not yet). I just want you to know how much I appreciate you dropping her off in the mornings. Not just because it's hard for me, but because I know it's hard for you too.
You're a great dad and husband.

See? I'm great. (No, I didn't add that last line. Though I may have bolded it.)

I wonder if Kaylee has green snot-cicles?

Syracuse bound ...

Someone remind me why I volunteer for this again?

Cross your fingers for me ...

A few more firsts ...

Kaylee would like to wish everyone a happy Valentines Day. Or I'm sure she would if she could talk. Either way, it looks like she's enjoying her first Valentine – courtesy of Great G'ma Rice. (Don't worry – I didn't let her chew on it for too long.)

Also in the news – Kaylee has figured out that she doesn't have to stuff her whole hand in her mouth, she can just suck her thumb instead. It's quite cute – though it is also quite LOUD. And messy.

Also also in the news – Kaylee let out her first laugh last night. Lauren, a co-worker of mine, came by the house and the baby lit up when she saw her. She must have liked her, because instead of her usual "happy sounds" she let out a full-fledged "ha-ha." And then another. And then another.

She hasn't laughed since. I think Lauren needs to come visit more often. (Maybe I could pull some strings and make it overtime for her?)

Those nasty popups ...

I think I figured out how to kill them. Please let me know if they continue to ruin your day.

Biz trip

I'm leaving in a few days for beautiful upstate New York. Normally I'd be all excited about this – I get to work 15 hour days with a bunch of friends I get to see maybe twice a year – but not so much this year.

It sounds stupid – but I have a hard enough time giving the kid up for 8 hours of work, I'm not sure how I'm going to do it for almost a full week. She'll probably start walking while I'm gone or something. (Just so long as she doesn't start dating.)

I'm not terribly worried about leaving Rae to take care of everything though. She'll have to do it for a few days – but then Grammy Janetta and Papa Allen will come to town to help pick up the slack. I can't tell you how excited Rae is to have her mom coming to visit. (As evidenced by how much she is making me clean the house.) This will be her first time visiting since we moved here AND her first time seeing the baby. That's a lot of new for one trip.

got rice?

Now Rae just needs on that says "got milk?"

OH MY GOD!

I'VE GOT HANDS!

Daycare update: She did much better today. She was pretty happy and she ate like a pig. And yes Maggie – she is Kaylee. Though Rae didn't tell me what she ate for lunch today.
I suppose she could have been pretty happy and eating like a pig too.

Day care – day two

It got easier. She's still not eating all that much at day care ... we're a little worried about that. But I figure she's going to get comfortable there – and when she's comfortable, she'll eat.

Worst case scenario – she eats like a pig when she gets home.

Correction. She continues to eat like a pig when she gets home.

Day care – day one

Today was the first day of day care.

We dropped her off. Rae cried.

She fussed a lot. Didn't eat much.

Rae picked her up at the end of the day. And cried.

Kid pigged out at home. And passed out.

Tomorrow will be better.

Bear down! We have a Bear down!

I had high hopes for today. It was Kaylee's first Superbowl AND Chicago was playing for the first time in many, many years. So dad and daughter donned their Bears best (Kaylee had to improvise – those socks aren't quite Bears Blue) and gathered around the TV for the Hoosier beat-down.

Things started off so well. And then, well ... let's just say I thought the little girl would be in the audience – I didn't know they also made up Chicago's QB and most of it's defensive line.

The good news is this should prepare the kid for the upcoming Cubs season ...

Monkey-mania

The whole point of this photo was to show off the booties (I was going to make a "Das Booties" joke to play off the name of the film and everything) Great-G'ma Rice made for Kaylee. They are from the same pattern she used to make Grandpa Charlie's booties way back in the day. But when she sent them – she put them on a monkey. So we put the monkey in the picture.

Then we realized the monkey looked lonely – and we remembered that Grammy (have we settled on what Kaylee should call you?) Janetta sent us a monkey too. So we put that monkey in the photo. Pretty soon she was all smiles and cooing because she was surrounded by fuzzy monkeys.

Then we realized the booties weren't really in the photo at all. (That's the rainbow colored thing in the lower left corner.) But by the time we repositioned everything and tried to reshoot – Kaylee was grumpy and hungry and making the angry face.

So this is a photo of three monkeys and almost a bootie.

Well, that was fun

So she got her shots today. Two needles in each leg – and I swear those needles were coming out the other side. It wasn't a vaccination, as much as it was a crucifixion. But when it was all over she screamed a bit and then passed out in her car seat. She doesn't seem too worse for wear – but there's still a chance she could have a reaction in the next day or so.

So tell me...is it true that it hurts you more than it does the kid?

While it wasn't fun to watch, I can't imagine it was great for her either. And after all was said and done – I wasn't the one bleeding from my thighs. Though I do have a bit of a head-ache from all the screaming still.

But that's not all we did – I've got Kaylee's new stats to share with you. She's pretty average on her weight – but so far she's at the top of her class when it comes to height. (Though I still think it should be called length until she can stand up. Really, with all the time she spends laying down – she's only a couple of inches above the ground.)

Weight: 11 pounds 4 ounces, 50-75th percentile
Height: 24 inches, 95th percentile
Head: 38.5 centimeters, 25-50th percentile

Hmmmm ... basketball scholarship?