Random things and such

Kaylee went to the doctor today – turns out she has an ear infection. That explains some of the trouble we've been having. She's on some pink antibiotics now – so hopefully she'll be back to her chipper self by Christmas. (And hopefully she'll stop passing her illnesses on to me! *coughackcough*)

Package from GG and Aunt Ruth and Uncle Kieth came the other day. Kaylee's gift from Ruthie didn't come wrapped – so we're having a hard time keeping it out of the kid's grasp. The dog seems awfully familiar ...

We've done a pretty good job keeping her away from the tree – but it's getting more and more tempting. Especially with all those wrapped presents underneath. Yesterday I caught her dragging around a gift bag from GG. She didn't care to open it ... just drag it around.

Kaylee has started to bring home "art" from daycare – including this ornament that Rae thinks is so very cute. I disagree.
I love the fact that Kaylee made it, but the thing is just hideous.
I may be a parent ... but I'm not blind.

Kaylee's new word

Kaylee picked up a new word (finally) over the last couple of days.

We keep encouraging her to say "hi" when she sees the animals or when playing with a phone or when she waves to one of us.

She now says "hyyyeeee" (yes, it's long and drawn out and really cute), usually when chasing a cat or tackling a dog – but never to one of us.

Kaylee today: Grumping.

But I'm a girl ...

Reason #127 why people think I'm a boy when I go out in public:
My parents insist on dressing me in jerseys from loser sports teams.
At least give me a Pats jersey ...

Kaylee today: Still sick.

Vacation photos, part the final

And after a few days of west and wewaxation we ventured north again. And since we would be in town for Kaylee's actual birthday – we had plans to eat more cake and trim the first ever Kaylee Birthday Tree. (Which also doubles as Maggie's Christmas Tree ... but I'm claiming it for the kid.) It's amazing how wide-spread these birthday trees are already. I can't drive a block without seeing one in a window. It's very touching actually ...

This is one of my favorite pictures from vacation – even though I know Maggie will say that her big head ruins the shot. I disagree. I managed to crop most of her big head out.

Kaylee spent most of the day asserting her dominance over Maggie and the cats. The cats managed to run away – Maggie, not so much.

Mags and Kaylee in a "funky tooth smile" contest.
Not sure who won.

"THIS IS MY TREE! AND DON'TCHOO FORGET IT!"

Kaylee's second birthday cake was red velvet with whipped cream icing.

Kaylee shares.
(Note Rae trying to clean as she goes. Silly, silly Rae.)

Once the shoes came off the party really got started.
And Rae stopped trying to keep up with the cleaning.

The brutal aftermath. And for the record –
red velvet cake stains clothes.

The flight back was a long one. Kaylee just wanted to play and fuss ...
but passed out as soon as we got to Tucson.

We had a beautiful rainbow waiting for us in the parking lot.
Some would take this as a sign that it was good to be home.
I took it as a sign that the cold and wet had followed us to Arizona.

And thus concludes our vacation photo slide show. I hope we didn't bore you too much. And we'll get back to posting our daily goings-on once we get around to it.

Or after the holidays. Whichever comes first.

Vacation photos, part the fourth

So I'm home with a sick baby (on her third outfit already today) and she's finally asleep – so this is the perfect time to update the blog with more vacation photos. From our Vandalia leg of the trip:

I hate to break it to everyone – but I think Jasmine wins the "Kaylee's favorite" award for this leg of the trip. I'm not sure how Jaz felt about that though ...

Introductions go something like this: Kaylee, Kiley. Kiley, Kaylee.
Yes, we're confused too.

Look Grandpa Charlie ... Grammy didn't have too much trouble getting her hands on Kaylee ...

Kaylee's newest game – trying on everyone's shoes.
When she found my boots it got really interesting ...

Kaylee teaches Papa Allen her other favorite game ... "gimme your hat."

Bailey didn't think Kaylee was properly unwrapping her birthday present.
So she helped. And lost interest once she realized the bag was filled with clothes.

Grammy tries to teach Kaylee how to play "You're so cute I'm going to eat you. No, not really. It's just for pretend. I'm not really going to bite you."

Apparently, the game was a lot more interesting to Grammy and Rae.

Vacation photos, part the third

After Thanksgiving it was off to Grandma Della's house on Lake Gillespie. We had a couple of days of rest, relaxation ... oh, and a little party.

Della, don't bother telling Kaylee to look at the camera.
GG already tried that yesterday. It didn't work then either.

The hardest part about decorating for the party was keeping the streamers away from Kaylee.

Kaylee's cake. Courtesy of Grandpa Charlie.

And he was kind enough to get one for the rest of us to share.

The crowd sang a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" (which even if I had shot video of I wouldn't put online for fear of owing the estate of Patty and Mildred J. Hill an insane amount of money.)

Due to circumstances beyond her control, Maggie was unable to join us. But through the power of AT&T Wireless she got to join in the festivities. Though – for some reason she only sang every other word ...

Kaylee wasn't quite sure what to make of the cake …

… but it didn't take too long to figure out.

Before any journalists pipe up:
A) I didn't take this photo and B) I swear it wasn't staged.

I managed to find one photo of Cindy with her eyes open.
Kinda.

Kaylee wasn't too into opening presents. She would rather just watch Mom do it. She did manage to open this nice edition of all the Curious George books from her "favorite uncle."
We're still trying to figure out exactly who that is.

And by the end of the night, she finally got those streamers …

Vacation photos, part the second

Our trip to home to see Dad culminated with a trip to the bustling metropolis of Melvin to carve turkey and break bread with some of our extended family. (A big thanks to our hosts Marty and JoAnn, the food was great and the atmosphere was divine. And the pumpkin roll ... can't forget the pumpkin roll.)

The lack of photos of "Kaylee enjoying her first Thanksgiving dinner" can be attributed to the fact that A) she mainly just grazed on whatever was around, and B) I was too busy stuffing my face to pick up the camera.

Kaylee wasn't too sure what to make of Uncle Steve. After all – he's HUGE.

But after an extensive background and dental check she decided he was good enough to take her afternoon nap with.

Uncle "Ladykiller" kept the girls entertained for much of the afternoon.

It takes a small army to pull off the photo for GG's annual Christmas letter.

I'm not sure if GG was saying "Kids, look that way" or
"You – with the camera. You better not mess this up."

Some photo problems are easy to take care of digitally these days.
However, some still require a bit of physical labor.

Four minutes and 50 photos later we were back inside
– and praying we got a good shot.

Shy little Kaylee actually spent much of the day with Dad's lady friend Cindy. She's a nice person – but suffers from the inability to physically keep her eyes open while I am pointing a camera at her.

Vacation photos, part the first

OK – I'm finally updating the blog with vacation photos. And there are so many I've got to split it up over multiple posts. Here's round one. You'll get the rest when I'm good and ready.

6 am flights are no fun. But Kaylee doesn't seem to mind.
As long as she has something to play with.

Perhaps the most important part of our trip.
Kaylee's first Slider and also her first brain freeze.

The drive down to Jacksonville was four hours of screaming.
This is one of the few moments that wasn't.

This is Erika trying really hard to deny that Kaylee is the cutest baby ever.

The day after I took this photo it turned wet and crappy.
I'm glad we took advantage of the leaves when we did.

Mom and monkey swinging in my favorite park.

One of the few times Kaylee was content to sit with Grandpa Charlie.
The rest of the time she fussed and cried.
Soon she will learn he's just there to spoil her.

Uncle James – however – had no problem getting in good with the kid.

Alice and Kaylee have learned how to play nice. Kind of.
At least there wasn't any Baby Fight Club this time.

Say 'ello to mah leetle frehnd*

I know, you're looking for vacation photos. Or birthday photos. Or photos of farm animals. (You'll have to go elsewhere for that one.) I'll start posting those when I have a chance to breathe. In the meantime, enjoy Kaylee's latest photo.


Since she's started walking (really practically running) she's getting her fair share of cuts, scrapes and bruises. Most of them seem to be on her head. Her latest comes from Eddie "bucking" her during a full-body hug and introducing her face to the bedpost.

And as if she doesn't have enough bruises – her birthday present from Aunt Becky came today. A sit and spin. And thank you for choosing the "Dora the Explorer" model. Now I get to hear "Rapido! Rapido!" all night. ;-)

In other news: Twelve month check up was Monday. All is well, and the kid's recovering nicely from the five thigh-piercing shots. She also moved up to the "big kids" room at day care. All in the same day. So fresh from vacation, new teacher, new room, lots of kids and two bruised thighs. Yeah, that didn't go so well. But it's getting better.

Kaylee today: Bruised.

* It's a "Scarface" reference. If you didn't get it you're obviously not up on your so-bad-they're-classic '80s gangster movies.

Home again. Home again.

Jiggity jig. And as promised – video.

I've been working on this for a while now. (If you couldn't tell by the number of photos involved.) We've been shooting a photo a day for a year now and they've all been strung together with one of my favorite songs in the background.

There's more than 365 photos in there. And I'm not 100% sure the months are in the right place. But it's pretty impressive watching my little girl grow up in three minutes and fourteen seconds if I must say so myself.

Happy birthday kid. Dad loves ya.

Kaylee today: Grumpy as hell because we just got home from two weeks on the road and are ignoring her while we clean house and try to settle back into real life.