Traveling Around The Holidays

This year we made our way down to Beaumont to be with Brandon's family for Christmas and had a small Christmas with my family the weekend before. Kaitlyn received so many cute things from her grandparents and I couldn't even point to one of her favorites as she enjoyed having a few new toys to play with at Christmas time. What a fun time to watch her open presents. She made sure every piece of wrapping paper went in the trash.

I am proud of myself this year as we were able to celebrate Christmas together a lot this month. We went to see the lights in Deerfield Park at least three times with our families. We went to see Santa Claus, shopped early and I even got creative and made earrings for several friends and family. As much as I want to keep Christmas about Jesus; I also want to celebrate our family and beliefs for God has given us so much to be thankful for.

Kaitlyn with Poodles on her ears!



With Christmas and the New Year around the corner, reflection on 2006 and the upcoming year is all I can think about. So I have decided to write a few things that come to mind.

2006
1. I am so thankful for having flown Kaitlyn and myself to Kansas to see my Grandmother one more time before she passed away on Nov. 7, 2006 at age 80. Gran was a great cook, listened well and could always give good advice.

2. On Feb. 5, 2006, I was so thankful to have made it a year with Kaitlyn. She has grown into a little girl right before our eyes. Now she walks, talks, feeds herself, runs, dances, sings, colors, plays with playdoh and says, "Mommy," which gives me such great joy to hear her.

3. On July 5, 2006, Brandon and I celebrated three years of marriage and look forward to another year.

4. On Sept. 6, 2006, Brandon made my birthday sweet by taking me to a fun restaurant, although I think I am looking forward more to my 30th birthday because Brandon went to DisneyWorld for his. I can't imagine where I can convince him to go with me now!

5. A tradition was born this summer with Pool Time Fridays for Kaitlyn's friends and moms. It was so much fun to play in the pool. We built a pool fence to hold those kiddos in. I can't wait to see what happens this summer!

6. We enjoyed our first family vacation to San Diego in August. We had so much fun and it was pretty economical. San Diego was a great choice as Kaitlyn still talks about the beach and the zoo.

7. This Christmas season I will remember mostly Kaitlyn playing in her new car, giving hugs and kisses to her grandparents and opening presents by one piece of wrapping paper at a time.

8. Kaitlyn is so active and keeps me running after her all the time. I look foward to her having more stamina to sit and play with one toy for longer than five minutes. Oh boy, that would be great! Oh and can I put in this request: Brandon and I be able to take her with us somewhere and she is not running around the whole time. Our little explorer can wear me out, especially when she disagrees with me.

9. On Nov. 17, 2007, Kaitlyn will be a flower girl for the first time. I look foward to seeing her in a pretty little dress again.

10. I look forward to how my relationships will grow with God and within my family, extended family and close friends.

Procrastinate

Why is it we procrastinate until the last minute when there are a ton of things to be done? I have been doing this all week. I thought I would be ready to head on down to Beaumont for Christmas tomorrow morning, but I just don't feel ready. I have tried to be a little more creative this year for Kaitlyn and making some fun memories, like making some presents and practicing Christmas traditions with Kaitlyn. I think I need to read the "Simple Christmas" book lying on my end table. Ha.

Today, Brandon and I took Kaitlyn to see Santa. He is actually the same Santa as last year and he was really sweet to her. She was excited to see him as we stood in line and waived hi. However, it was another story once she was on his lap. She looked at the camera like she had been hit by a bus. Not one thing came out of her. She clammed up because she was shy. I know it doesn't help to have these people standing around saying, "Give us a big smile," "Say Cheese," and the one I usually always get a smile with, "Boo!" Who can blame her? We stood in line for about 30 minutes and in her world that is an eternity!

Jingle Bells

So we haven't shown you our house all decorated... Here are a couple of photos of our lights and Disney tree. We are putting up a little more every year. Brandon has not completed his dream of Disney characters dotting our yard, but I am sure we will have those soon enough.


Kaitlyn has her first sucker.









Kaitlyn performed in her Mother's Day Out School Christmas concert. It only lasted about 15 minutes; however, it was just precious. And like the fun feeling I had with my first parent/teacher conference, Brandon and I both couldn't believe we were seeing Kaitlyn perform, i.e. stand in a box with the other toddlers watching the older children sing with the hand movements and the parents everywhere with their video cameras. Kaitlyn's favorite song is Jingle Bells and tries to sing and dance to it.



Kaitlyn (1 yr class) and Ashley Dickens (3 yr class)

O Christmas Tree

We are busy little bees here. Ever since we returned from Kansas City for Thanksgiving, we have been in the holiday spirit. We put up all of our Christmas decorations in a day. We have most all of our Christmas shopping done. We spent last week sending out Christmas cards and now we have moved on to holiday get-togethers.

Our favorite thing this year has been driving over to Deerfield Park on Legacy by our house to look at lights. We like to say "Pretty Lights." With Christmas music in the background, it is very Christmaseee.

Brandon's parents, Gigi and Big Daddy, came in town last weekend and watched Kaitlyn on Monday for my meeting. They were able to listen to Kaitlyn talk A LOT. She even said Big Daddy. Before we know it, she will be putting sentences together and that will really blow us away. Where did our baby go?


Kaitlyn had lots of fun this weekend and so did mommy and daddy. We went to an office party and we felt totally out of place in the hot, trendy bar in Uptown. But, as usual that didn't stop us from having some great times with some new friends. The smoke is what killed it for us, we totally forgot about that. Thanks to Papa for watching Kaitlyn. We really enjoyed not having to pay a babysitter!

This weekend for Kaitlyn, there was a bounce house birthday party. Brandon and the other dads had just as much fun because they were going down the slide, sometimes without their kids! Kaitlyn was a little young to really enjoy it. She played mostly with the cars and in the toddler room, but did enjoy the big slide with daddy a couple of times.



Tonight, Brandon and I wrapped presents until we could not wrap anymore. That is a big chore, for sure! We are definitely looking for tips on being a good and efficient Santa Claus for Kaitlyn!!

Then we had a little book exchange with some little friends. Kaitlyn didn't want to share her toys with her friends, but they all liked making sugar cookies and opening a present.

Let It Snow

Wow, today it is BRRRR cold! We bundled up to play in the snow for just a few minutes as it is 28 degrees out. BRRR! The snow was crunchy on the grass and the wind was blowing it around. It is fun to look at from inside in my opinion, but Kaitlyn seemed to like to run around in the cold all bundled up. Fortunately, this is short-lived and we aren't stuck in our igloo for long. :)

You Will Not Recognize This Kid

If you have not seen Kaitlyn in the last couple of weeks, you will not recognize her. Here are a couple of things she has started doing in the last week or so.

She is talking so much now it is unbelievable. The four roadtrips we have made to KC this past month have been interesting with her pointing out all of the cows. She would say, "Hi Cow," "Big Cow," and "Cow".

Since this summer we have been counting more with her. Today, I said "one" to start counting and she said "two" very clearly. I said "one" again later in the day and she said "two" again. The inflection in her voice was perfect too as if to go to three.

Again, the car ride is fun with her. She loves her Veggie Tales CD and sings, "la-la-la" to it all the time now. She loves the "If You Are Happy And You Know It" song too.

During her first year, I would read every update and milestone chart on what she would be doing every month. I still do somewhat with the "What To Expect During the Toddler Years," but I just can't believe that we are moving at such a fast pace even now. This summer I wondered when she would put two words together and talk more, count more, etc., and now I have my answer. I am completely entertained with her. I take her to go grocery shopping and I accidently bump into someone (Before Thanksgiving, it was a madhouse.) and I said "I am sorry." Kaitlyn then says, "Sorry," too. What a surprise for me, I tell you what.

I invite you to come with us shopping. As most of you moms who have little ones, you will think that I am crazy to take her because she can't sit still. Of course this is true, but if I am fast and I give her a little sample of something in the store here and there, she is perfect. Also, she is turning into quite the helper with wanting to pick things up and put them in places. Today, I had her organize all the soft drinks in the little fridge. Ha, just kidding, but she did do very well placing the drinks in the fridge, one-by-one.

So Cute I Cried - Sappy Alert

There are so many wonderful moments in becoming a mom and a dad. As you can tell, I write about Kaitlyn almost always as we are so proud to share all her special moments. I had a tear in my eye today as I do most times when Kaitlyn has fun, but this was just adorable today.

Shoes

I am trying to get a video uploaded and will try again tonight. It may not be small enough to be posted. I am not sure.

Kaitlyn has changed so much in the last couple of months. She began saying "no" on Friday and there is no turning back now. She is not saying it too much, but the way she says it is funny. Her voice goes up and it is drawn out.

She also put on her brown shoes on her feet for the first time all by herself on Friday. It didn't take her long and she pulled the velcro strap over to secure it. It was pretty amazing. She is trying to put on her socks by herself; however, she has not mastered that task yet. She will get frustrated and throw it if she can't fit it on her toes.

An update on Uncle Larry as well, it looks like all the tests are coming back normal and that the cause is stress. Hopefully our visit will lighted the load this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless. Safe travels to all!

I Can't Believe It

I can't believe that this will be my first blog entry since October. Wow! Where does the time go? At the beginning ofNovember, we did not have any plans to go anywhere and were going to enjoy staying at home before traveling around the holidays; however, life is unpredictable. We received free tickets to the A&M/OU game so Brandon and I headed down there for a weekend. It was a lot of fun. We even got a few photos of the "Game Day" ESPN crew while they were filming live at the stadium.

My grandmother passed away on November 7 and we went the following weekend to Kansas City for the funeral. It was nice to be with family. We are also traveling to KC for Thanksgiving next week. It will be crazy with all that driving, but it will be nice to be with them as Gran has just passed away. In addition, my Uncle Larry went into the hospital this morning for chest pains. He has been under a lot of stress since she passed away as he was the one who took care of her most of the time. Please pray for him and that this may be something minor.

So this weekend, we planned to do household chores and hang out. Kaitlyn received her first haircut at Cool Cuts for Kids.

The salon has little toy cars kids sit in to watch videos during their haircuts. Kaitlyn loved it! She watched some Baby Einstein and sat completely still for the hairdresser. She just trimmed Kaitlyn's ends and now it looks a little fuller. She has thin hair like her parents. We then went to a hamburger joint where Kaitlyn shook it like a "Salt Shaker."

Ooo, Spooky, Ooky Halloween

It's Halloween! Kaitlyn was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz this year. She was so cute in her blue dress and red, sparkily shoes. She went to her school's fall festival, the Plano Symphony Halloween bash, and a friend's Halloween party in her dress.

We saw several Dorothys out trick or treating at the mall where there were tons of kids dressed up as The Incredibles, Pirates, Minnie Mouse, and animals. We saw parents also dressed up. We thought about it, but didn't have time to come up with other Wizard of Oz costumes, especially since it is Brandon's dream to be Nacho Libre and it is my dream to be Audrey Hepburn.

Kaitlyn loved Owens Farm the best this weekend. We went there on Sunday for the Pumpkin patch, farm animals and hay ride with some other little kiddos. She enjoyed feeding the cow and sheep at first, but then became scared of them. She really, really loved seeing the horses in the barn. She kept saying more and we would take her down and back to see all of the horses.

She really has turned into a little girl. She is talking more and is very creative. This morning she turned our bathtub into a slide. She sat on the edge by the wall and then slid down the back of the tub. It was hilarious and she laughed at me laughing and admiring her little creativity.

The other Kaitlyn story of the week is her love of riding anything with four legs. She has been trying to ride Heidi like a horse lately. Heidi would just sit there for awhile while Kaitlyn pretended she was a horse. She got a big kick out of that. Then when we went to Caroline's house for some food after Owens Farm, there was another little girl there named Sarah. She still crawls a lot and Kaitlyn saw that she was just about Heidi's height. In the middle of all the chaos with parents and other kids in the living room, she got on Sarah to ride her like a horse. Sarah didn't know what Kaitlyn was doing. Everyone was laughing so hard.

Baylor and A&M are on a roll!

We are lucky that we have had some lazy time on Saturdays to watch some college football. It has been fun to hear A&M and Baylor having good seasons so far. Baylor has been incredible with its best start in Big 12 history and winning this past weekend! I am pumped for this weekend. I think it will be a great game between Baylor and A&M. We will be wearing our colors on Friday for Spirit day at the Meche Household. Brandon and I both wore our shirts last week! Now the problem will be what will Kaitlyn wear as she has an outfit for both teams???

Grandparents Weekend

October is a fun month. You've got football, fall festivals, Texas fair, Halloween, pumpkins, and the holidays are around the corner. This weekend was the fall festival for Kaitlyn's school and we were able to enjoy the weather and see Kaitlyn with sparkles in her hair and her face painted. She was crying when it was time to leave because she wanted to play more. Everyone commented on her red sparkly shoes as part of her Dorothy outfit.


Brandon's parents, Gigi and Big Daddy, came into town to help Brandon's brother/sister-in-law, Spencer and Christy, move into a house in Fort Worth. We went to visit and take a tour. They have done a lot in just a few days. Kaitlyn had fun showing off her imitation skills by laughing when we laugh.

Counting, Signing and Talking

Before I forget and move on to a million other things around the house, Kaitlyn has today said ABC, signed for more food with her hands and saying more, and I am hearing her say 1-2-3 more.

I feel that I can say a sentence and she understands the whole sentence. I asked if she had a ball in her hand today. She then looked at her hand and grasped the ball. It is very exciting especially now that she is increasingly frustrated when we do not know what she wants.

What a Nice Place

We went to St. Louis this weekend for my cousin's wedding, Eric Klein. Eric and I, along with several other boy cousins, were born within a year of each other. Every holiday we would all play together or hang out together and get into trouble.

The wedding and reception was fun and a lot of the family made it to the wedding, even Aunt Kayt found a flight and flew in from San Diego. We had fun staying in the same hotel and were able to watch the A&M game in between the wedding and reception. Brandon was very happy! I was happy just to joke around with the family because Baylor beat K-State a couple of weeks before!!

Kaitlyn did very well on the plane this weekend. We have been on a plane with her once a month for the past three months, and I can tell you that she knows the drill now. We always sit by the window and this works well because we can confine her to our laps. The first thing Kaitlyn did once we sat down on the plane this time was pull out the catalog magazine to shop. It kept her attention for a good 30 minutes. Then she played with the window shade, up and down. On the way home to Dallas, she was saying bye-bye and looking out of the window as the airplane pulled onto the runway. She then stood on my lap and said hi to the people behind us. After that, she settled down on our laps for the ride and sleep.

It was so nice to see the family and that everyone was doing well. We saw new babies, cousin Katie and Brian's little boy, our pregnant cousin, Erin, and even how grown up Kia and Zach are now. Kaitlyn visited with our St. Louis cousins, The Pruetts, and they have a little one (Caroline) a couple of months older than Kaitlyn. They played on the swing together and built a block tower together at The Pruetts for brunch before leaving town.

Going to their house for Sunday brunch was fun and it made us want to move somewhere that has basements in homes. The Pruetts have tbe best set up for their five kids. The whole basement is a playland, wonderland with dress up, tea table, kitchen, old-style school house desks, dollhouses, puppets, chalkboard and map. The setup gave us several ideas for Kaitlyn, but we don't know where we can put one in our house. It was awesome!

The wedding was at 2 pm and then the reception was at 6 pm so we had to kill some time in between. We played with Kaitlyn all around the hotel. We knew it inside and out. Kaitlyn's favorite place to play were the stairs at the hotel.



Now we are excited to be home for awhile for fall festivals!

October? Is it really?

s it really October? Not with 90 degree weather outside! We have stocked up on clothes for fall and winter for Kaitlyn. Unfortunately, she cannot wear them just yet because of the heat. I took a few photos of her playing around yesterday and today in a couple of new outfits while it was cool in the morning.

Here is the link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=hhuz2tp.39823mr1&Uy=-3w3rfg&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

We are gearing up for a fall festival at Kaitlyn's school and a costume/orchestra petting zoo at the Eisman center in Richardson. The Plano Symphony is holding a Halloween event where kids can play with all of the instruments, arts/crafts and a music concert. So with all of these events, Kaitlyn is going to dress up at Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz this year. We just received her dress in the mail and maybe she will win the contest. Her friend Ian has a Lion costume, however his mom says he is scared of it. Lions are Kaitlyn's favorite animal right now.

Brandon and I thought we could each dress up as the Tin Man, Scarecrow or Lion; however, we haven't checked out costume rentals yet. I should see if they have a couple of dog costumes and we can complete the group. Ha.

Here is Kaitlyn swinging at the park.

Second to last wedding this year

We went to my friend Angelo's wedding this weekend in downtown Ft. Worth. It was beautiful as the reception was on a terrace in the Renaissance hotel. There was a nice breeze and I was able to catch up with a few friends from high school. We love downtown Ft. Worth. It is really fun. The reception was actually across the street from the Mexican restaurant, Cabo, where Brandon and I had a second date. It was the first place we had our picture taken together. We also went to the Bass Hall for The Nutcraker and a Dixie Chicks concert in one weekend. The wedding brought back fun memories for us.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn is absolutely hilarious. Here is a video I took last week.




I am upset that I forgot my camera on Friday night. We went to John and Amy Woodard's house to visit and give John a birthday cake. They have a two year old, Jake, and a 3-month old, Abby. Jake and Kaitlyn warmed up outside on the little toddler slide and had a grand old time in Jake's room with all of his toys. They climbed on the toy box to get on his full bed and then crawl to the other side and slide down. They did this repeatedly. After dinner, they held hands and walked back to his room to play. He also liked to wrestle with Kaitlyn. He practically sat on her or squished her and she would just laugh. He wasn't too rough with her as Amy said he does this with one of his best girlfriends. They were sooo cute together! I think the Woodards will forward some photos to us soon and I will post.

Those darn old viruses

Of course, we knew we were in for a lot of colds and viruses when we enrolled Kaitlyn in Mother's Day Out. She has a little cold and it has made Kaitlyn very cranky lately. I have been up with her at night and it is hard to keep her occupied during the day. I think most of it has to do with lack of sleep. She is like me, loves her sleep.

Today, I made a cake for Brandon's friend John. Brandon and John have a birthday tradition where they make a cake for each other each year. Brandon has been swamped with work lately so I made it for him. And whenever a cake was made in the Klein household, us kids were able to lick the spatula and bowl. It always made us happy. Here is Kaitlyn getting chocolate on her face. She didn't care for it too much, but she sure loves cookies. She says "cook" all the time.

Video

Since the video would not show on the previous post. Let's try this again.

Great Weather Keeps You Busy!

Sooooo, this blog has been a little empty this week. All I can say is that there has been some great weather outside that has kept Kaitlyn and me out playing as well as working on our landscape. We have also enjoyed the park almost everyday.

Kaitlyn most recently climbed out of her crib. It was a very strange, scary thing to hear her around the room when I put her in the crib for a nap. Then again at bedtime, Brandon and I both saw how she did it. She just flipped her leg over and slid down. She fell backwards (lightly) and I think that may have scared her. She has not climbed out again. We are not quite ready for her to move to a toddler bed just yet and need to figure out how we are going to transition her and when.

Since Brandon was pretty busy on Friday, I went to my first parent/teacher meeting with Kaitlyn's teacher, Ms. Carol. Ms. Carol couldn't say enough sweet things about Kaitlyn. She definitely sees her sense of humor and sweetness come out everytime she is there. Ms. Carol said she can always count on Kaitlyn for a hug and when Ms. Carol changes her diaper, Kaitlyn says, "Hi" and then giggles.

I can tell Kaitlyn likes the class more everytime too. She turns on her CD player in her room without me having to show her and she dances to the nursery rhymes. She loves books and music right now.

Since we have been in town for this beautiful weather on the weekends, we have completed a project, which we have wanted to do since we moved into the house. We took down a little wood fence (rotting) when we moved in, which separated the pool equipment and pool area. We finally built a little stone wall to replace it. The stone came from our front yard as we took out the overgrown monkey grass and now plan for grass to grow around the trees instead.


The only sad part about taking out the monkey grass is that we had a little bunny who lived there sometimes. I haven't seen bunnies around the neighborhood in a long time, but I am sure he found a home at the house across the street. The house has a forest for a front yard.

We also went to the Plano Balloon festival on Sunday. This was fun, although it was too windy for the balloons to take off. Kaitlyn had a blast running around the field and eating corndogs. Mommy and daddy got a big workout because it was a 3/4 mile walk just to the entrance.

Climbing Out and Jumping Around

So Kaitlyn is a lot better today and I hope she will not hate me for waking her up at 6 in the morning to get on a flight to Kansas City tomorrow. Afterall, we spent the first part of the week not sleeping at all. But I am excited that we were able to get a Southwest flight for $49. (It leaves at 7:55 am.)

While Brandon is in San Antonio with his A&M buddies at Ol' Sarge, we will be in Kansas City hanging out with my grandma and mom as well as her side of the family. We will be pretty low key because Gran (grandma) will have to have dialysis all day Saturday.

Today, Kaitlyn decided taking a nap was just not for her. Just as I was walking into her room to get her out of bed, her foot was on top of the railing and was about to swing it out. I knew one day she may think of this, and we did pretty well to get to 19 months before she tried to climb out. I have to say that I was shocked because I hadn't thought about it in awhile. She is climbing all over the place!

Here is a video of her counting to three and jumping off the step to the fireplace. She really likes performing for us and is really happy to receive applause and cheers.

Sleep, Sleep, Wake Up

While this birthday has come and then passed very quickly, we have kept our plates full with a little bit of everything. And this is why I have not blogged in a week and sorry for no photos of Kaitlyn lately, but more will be coming!

Since we were in town for a weekend, I thought it was going to be quiet and peaceful, but it was not. We went to a little pool party with Brandon's old work friends. There Kaitlyn played with two other little girls and imitated them the whole time. They taught her how to dance and held her in the pool. She was completely happy with doing whatever they did. It was really cute to watch her with other little girls who loved playing with her.

Then on Saturday, we had Kaitlyn's little friends and their parents over for one last swim time. Kaitlyn kept giving Zoe a hug and remembered her from the past couple of weeks of playtime. We met Zoe and her mom, Katie at Baby Swim class and they are very sweet. Kaitlyn's other friends, Caroline and Ian, played around too and kept us entertained with riding toys and in the pool.



Sunday wasn't fun as Kaitlyn started a 102 fever and was up that night as well as Monday and Tuesday nights. She caught a little virus and I think she is starting to do better today. Even though I haven't had as much sleep, I am doing great. I think it is from the early days with Kaitlyn and now I have my "Parental Immunity" where you are now immunized from being too tired from lack of sleep. Of course, it is nothing like when you have a newborn, I felt like I earned my stripes again this week.

Today, Ms. Brenda called to see how Kaitlyn was doing and we are excited to hear that she is a busy nanny for three families now. Ms. Brenda took care of Kaitlyn last year when I was still at 7-Eleven. If you see this, Ms. Brenda, please stop by. I know Kaitlyn would love to see you! :)

Happy Birthday

Yes, it is my birthday today. I now feel that I am old enough to stop giving out my age. That is when I know I am ready to not age any longer. But of course, there are things to be experienced at at every age. I just know I am going to miss my 20s as they are slowly passing me by. So in replacement of talking about age, let's talk about things that I have learned in life so far.

1. Like my dad ALWAYS says, "What comes around, goes around." I have learned this first hand. When I really prepared for a test and made a good grade, continued to work on a news release until I made sure every word was just perfect or worked throughout college just so I could go to Baylor.

2. The sweetest things in life are living in the moment and never taking life for granted. Having a child like Kaitlyn has shown me just how sweet and special life is and to cherish it every moment.

3. Love is the Greatest. Brandon has certainly made life entertaining for me and we laugh a lot. But I have got to say, he really has all of my love. Whether it is with a smile, a little squeeze or even a complaint about all of my picture taking, I know he just can't live without me and I him.

4. And of course, gotta shout out to my parents. Mom and Dad have a lot of credit due to them for loving and caring so much throughout the years.

P.S. If you haven't seen me in awhile, I now have clear braces on my teeth. I will have to wear them for a little over a year. My teeth were constantly moving and Heidi ate my retainer. I also hope this will help a little more with my TMJ problem (My jaw always clicks), but no guarantees.

We are back from San Diego!

Here is a little diary of our trip. For pictures of our trip, please go to:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=hhuz2tp.8brzqjqd&Uy=-pwzbyf&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=839752853851_432961630405

Boy, what a trip we had! We really made the most of our four days to San Diego. We left at 7 am on Thursday to catch a plane and got back to Dallas Sunday night at 10:30 pm. We didn't mean to get back so late, but due to storms every flight was delayed an hour.

Going into this trip, I had no idea how Kaitlyn would react to being on a plane for two and half hours. It is hard just to keep her in one area at home as she is into everything. We found out early on that we would either have to keep her in her stroller or fold it up as she wanted to push it everywhere and her steering capabilities were not well-defined yet as she was running into everything. Fortunately, there was a play area at DFW before the flight. The actual flight was good since we had three seats to move around in. One guy changed seats so we could have an extra one. Kaitlyn watched Baby Einstein and listened to the headphones for a good while. And then she got cranky and wanted to sleep. We were a little nervous because we didn't want to be "that couple" that couldn't calm their child down. She finally not only put herself to sleep, but my leg as well. Instead of trying to move around and bring back to life my numb limb, I fought through the pain and let Kaitlyn take in a few Z's.. She woke up about 30 minutes later as we were coming into San Diego.

We then got our car, checked into the hotel, and ventured on for a few groceries and dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican spot. Much to our dismay, there were no stores around all the hotels whatsoever. We drove for 15 minutes and couldn't find anything until stumbling upon the greasy, but good restaurant.

After our return, Kaitlyn took a nap before heading out for a quick visit to the beach. Mission Beach was a great location, equipped with a fun boardwalk and tons of people. The water was really cold, but the breeze and air felt great. The sun made it hot. Kaitlyn was okay with the sand, but she really loved the waves and water once she got used to it. She couldn't figure it out. She loved all her sand toys, but the shovel was her favorite. Just holding onto it was fun enough for her.



We lucked out. The hotel was cooking some hamburgers that night, so inspired by Brandon's resourcefulness (alternative word for CHEAP), we took advantage of the 1,2,3,4 burgers and 2 hot dogs, as well as a couple of free beers.

Friday, we went to the San Diego zoo, only a 5 minute drive from the hotel. They had bus tours, a sky tram and tons of fun animals. Kaitlyn loved the monkeys and elephants. We were one of the first to arrive at 9 am and left around 2:30. We wore her out! The Sea Lion show was fun, the petting zoo was okay, but they had some animals we don't normally see in Texas like Panda Bears (They had four of the 11 in the U.S.), polar bears, great exhibits to see the animals in, weird looking pigs and koalas.

We really liked the zoo and were fresh for the day. After Kaitlyn's nap, we went to the beach again just for a little bit. We got pizza on the beach and that was kind of a disaster as birds wanted our food. Kaitlyn was too distracted to eat.

Saturday, we went to Legoland. The highways have tons of lanes. It is crazy. It was a cool little park. I think we were a little worn out already and enjoyed watching Kaitlyn play in the toddler area, but after that it was hot and we were ready to go to the beach. It is a great park for 3 to 5 year olds, definitely! Kaitlyn had a great time there too.

Saturday night we went to Coronado island, had Mexican for dinner. Kaitlyn loved her quesdillas. The beach was great around 6:30 pm. Not as many people, but the water seemed to be colder. Kaitlyn loved running up and down the beach. She also found some kids she liked watching build a sand castle. They were from Venezuela and so sweet.

Sunday morning we went to the beach again and it was cool, but very nice. And then went to Kansas City Barbque after loading up the car to go to the airport. Kansas City Bargque is where Top Gun filmed the sleazy bar scenes in 1985. It was pretty cool, except the barbque was not good. And being that I am from Kansas City, I know good barbque. The owners are from there and that is where the bar gets its name.

The flight back wasn't as bad as it sounds. We were stuck in the airport for a couple of hours and had to keep Kaitlyn entertained. There were a couple of other toddlers who ran around with her. She was pretty loud and we had to walk around with her a lot. The plane started off bad because she was so tired, but she slept the last hour and a half killing Brandon and my's arms.

Little things to remember about the trip:
1. Kaitlyn said hi and bye to just about everyone we came into contact with in the airport, on the plane, at the beach, at the zoo.
2. Kaitlyn loved to push her stroller by herself.
3. She and mommy caught colds on the trip.
4. Kaitlyn wanted mommy on the plane and the first time in the water, but wanted daddy going deeper in the water and to play in the sand.
5. While she was supposed to be asleep in the room in the hotel, we found her standing in her crib looking out the window pointing to cars and saying "car".
6. Kaitlyn loved the stuffed lion from the zoo and wouldn't let go of it and kept roaring at the zoo.
7. She liked to make us clap our hands when others clapped.

A Phone Girl

Kaitlyn has always had a fascination with phones whether they are cell phones or basic telephones. She now loves to listen for about five minutes and say hello. If you catch her at the right time, she will listen and talk back. In this video, she says pool and roars like a lion.

High School Reunion

Here are a couple of photos from my 10 year high school reunion this weekend! Go Martin Warriors!


Can you believe it? I dragged Brandon with me and we went with a couple of girlfriends that I still keep in touch with. I am so glad we did it that way because we had no idea who we would see or what would happen. We all saw several old faces and were able to mingle the first night at the bar. The second night was in a hotel ballroom and it was very stiff. Poor Brandon sat at the table while I mingled with some friends. It wasn't as fun as the night before, but a girl did come up to him who went to A&M and told Brandon that she had his and Tim Duffy's pictures all over her room freshman year. I thought that was hilarious.


As for me, I was a wreck because I had no idea who I was going to see. I saw a lot of friends, but unfortunately none of my junior high or high school crushes, which was probably good for me with Brandon there. Ha! It seemed as though everyone was pregnant or recently married too. I definitely felt like a kid again when we all took a class picture again! Anyway, it was nice to go, and glad that Brandon and I went!

And recent August photos in a cool new film loop:

Pool Time Fridays

Pool Time Fridays have been fun this summer! Kaitlyn and her friend Caroline played in the water yesterday. It seems that they are definitely recognizing each other more and want to play together. It is neat to see that now because when we met, the girls were only a couple of months old.

We only have a couple more Fridays of pool time as we are going to be out of town for a couple of them soon. I hope we can last until maybe the end of September and with this heat, we may just be able to pull it off!

Are we boring?

Today started out late. I woke up at 7:45 am and Kaitlyn woke up at 8 am. We didn't have any particular plans, except a few errands and I needed to do a little work while Kaitlyn slept. We took our time with my orthodontist appointment this morning, returned a couple of things at the store and then it was time for lunch. Kaitlyn took a long nap and Brandon came home early. It was like the old days where we worked side by side at our computers. Kaitlyn woke up and then we played. She really likes reading her books now while laying down on her tummy or on her back. She is a pretty good reader. I just wish I could understand her language. Once I figure it out, I will be sure to share!!

Kaitlyn thought I was going to leave her at the ortho's office today. Once I turned a corner to pick up some papers, she was crying. The office had a play area and it looked like fun; however Kaitlyn really wanted to pull tissues out of the box and try to stuff them in her mouth or almost wrecking a mold that the orthodonist had on her desk. It was classic.

I guess I am a in a little of a ho-hum, boring mood and I don't know why. We have plenty to do, plenty of things coming up and Kaitlyn is never short on entertainment. Hmmm... Maybe it is time for a vacation to get out of this! Oh that is right, we are going to San Diego next week! Ahhhhh!

Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate Kaitlyn's book-lying position.

A Healthy Checkup

Except that we skipped the 15-month check-up, Kaitlyn did well with receiving three shots at the 18-month check-up on Friday. I am not too worried about being behind on shots, but the doctor seemed to be a little annoyed. I am guessing she was annoyed that we missed the last check-up. I don't feel bad about it because I asked when the next check-up was back in March and looked at the papers they gave me and everything said 18-months. In addition, the doctor's office (doctor and front office) never talked about a 15-month check up at her sick visits in June nor when I made the 18-month appointment in July. Hmmm? Not a big deal, but I am beginning to feel that they may have too many patients to give each one the attention they need and we have very healthy child.

I don't mean to start out on a sour note; however, I am used to feeling pretty good after going to Kaitlyn's check-ups. She is always so healthy and above average, which leads me to the good news. She weighed 26 pounds 2 ounces and is in the 75 percentile for weight; she is 33 inches tall and is in the 90 percentile for height; and, she has a head circumference of 47 and a half centimeters and is in the 75 percentile for size.

She is right on target for a lot of the developmental activities as well such as playing with jigsaw puzzles, stacking blocks, walking down stairs and pointing. I am looking forward to her beginning to put two wards together soon.

Swinging and Reading with Kaitlyn

We have received an overwhelming request from a certain Birthday Grandmother for video of Kaitlyn. Here are a couple of Kaitlyn swinging and reading.

The Hills are Alive with Music

This week Brandon pulled out the guitar and we had fun listening to him strum along!

Karoke Kaitlyn

Test, 1, 2. Test. Next up on the mike, Kaitlyn!!!!

A New Beginning

This morning marks a big milestone for Kaitlyn. Her first day at Mother's Day Out, while her parents are crying their eyes out, being sentimental and trying to hold it together. Brandon was teary-eyed at work this morning ,and I felt as if I was moving in slow motion trying to remember every little moment. Coming back home was so empty and I felt so sad and teary-eyed.

I could tell she was ready to play when she walked into school at 9 am and immediately sat down at the table with two other children with a little snack. I took a couple of photos, kissed her on her forehead and walked out. She didn't even notice I was gone. I couldn't believe how easy it was. How exciting for Kaitlyn to be with other little friends and getting to sing, color, play on the computer and be with other children today!

When I came to pick her up at 2 pm, she was playing and I stood in the doorway with a couple of other parents. When she looked up and saw me, she came straight over. She started to cry and then I picked her up and she was fine. She was very, very tired because she didn't take a nap with the other kids. She immediately fell asleep on the way home and is now sleeping.

She colored a happy face today and her teachers had nothing but great things to say about Kaitlyn. She really had a good first day at Mother's Day Out! Yeah!!! Go Kaitlyn! I knew she would do fine and can't wait to see how she does next week. And on that note, I see what my parents meant when they used to tell me that I was growing up too fast or how they were so sad to see me go.

Here is a video of her practicing yesterday with her backpack on rollers.

Starting Mother's Day Out TOMORROW!

I can't believe it! Kaitlyn is going to Mother's Day Out for the first time tomorrow.

We went this morning to a teacher orientation and to see her room. She is in room 11, which has a connecting room for more space. The room has toys, a toddler-sized table and chairs, and a little hook plus cubbie hole with her name. Her teachers are Ms. Kelly and Ms. Carol. There is a teacher's aide named Katie who has down syndrome and will be helping the teachers this year. Kaitlyn liked her and gave her a hug by the time we left. There are 10 kiddos in her age group, seven boys and three girls (including Kaitlyn). Kaitlyn's friends, Ian and Davis, are in the same class.

As soon as we entered the room she went to play with the toys. She came back to me only a couple of times, but really enjoyed the room. I think she will do really well in the program. I know she will miss our normal routine at home a little bit, and maybe her mommy. I will miss her. The time will fly though as I will be busy working on PR projects and errands.

It was just this time last year that she was starting to eat baby food, and I was still feeding her. Where does the time go? It is a bittersweet moment, but truly a happy moment for me to see her start to interact with other kids in a safe environment and learn new things like singing and more sign language. The teachers say most kids by the end of the year are singing like songbirds and signing a lot. I can't wait to see what she learns.

THE FENCE

Here are a few photos of the new pool fence being installed today. This will definitely help when we have pool parties with other little kiddos and Kaitlyn. We can never be too safe or let our guard down when it comes to having a pool in our backyard. Kaitlyn is really great around the pool and is only interested in it if one of us is in the pool and that makes us feel good; however, we are going to feel even better knowing we have another guard against the pool. We still have a couple of alarms to put up and of course continuing to teach Kaitlyn about the water and pool safety.

Same thing, a different day

Today, has been a little boring. Y es, I will admit it. We are going to stay low-key this weekend so we don't have a whole lot to prepare for this week other than going to the store and the toddler class. We have played in the backyard and went to swing out front and now Kaitlyn is taking her usual nap. I think we are going to have to go to the mall this afternoon to get out of the house! Next week will be a very busy week, so I guess this is the calm before the storm and we better enjoy it!

I have been procrastinating with my project work, but it is hard to get much done with Kaitlyn pulling my shirt or trying to pinch me. So then I put work off and go play with Kaitlyn. It is hard to teach her that mommy has to do housework or do other work while Kaitlyn plays. This morning I tried to have her color while I did a little work, but her attention span lasted about 10 minutes.

Last night she ate part of my taco. Yeah!! Definitely excited about her wanting to try what we are eating. She ate with us around 5:30. For lunch today, she went to the pantry and pulled out her own box of crackers and grabbed some to eat with her jelly sandwich. She also finally ate some dried fruit and tried a rice cake with peanut butter. We are thankful that we are making a little progress in the eating department!

August is Around the Corner

Here's to another month of record heat and finding other ways to keep Kaitlyn entertained! While we have enjoyed a couple of weddings, pool time, a visit to Beaumont and the Plano Parks and Recreation toddler time class, we have seen Kaitlyn grow leaps and bounds in her cognitive and physical development.

As you can tell from this blog she is learning many things, it is fascinating how she can watch us do something and then repeat it only after a few tries. And after this weekend hanging out with some friends from college who all have one-year-olds we laughed because as I was talking about Kaitlyn's many sleep positions, they all said the same about their children. I said Kaitlyn would sometimes sleep with her toosh in the air or if she is extremely worn out, she would lay spread eagle; friends would raise their hand in agreement. It was so neat to hear that as much as they have these unique personalities, they all develop in the same way.

Kaitlyn has now learned how to listen to instruction. She has done this throughout the month, but this weekend would touch Daddy's arm and then when asked, go and touch Mommy's arm. She is also feeding and rocking her baby dolls now when asked to do it. This morning she was cooking up an omelet in her little kitchen and putting the utensils in the baby's mouth. Now that is mmmm-good.