Visit to Tucson

I have to backtrack some here - The weekend of Feb 8-10, Kelly, me & Koleen all hopped a plane to Tucson for a visit with Nikki, Liam & Lucy. I had to take a disposable camera with me on this trip because I still didn't have my digital camera fixed (long story continues!), so it took me a bit to get through the whole roll and then get it developed....

Anyhoo, we had a fantastic time! We didn't do all that much, but simply visiting, hanging out together, playing with the babies, eating, drinking wine, and getting away from it all was exactly what the doctor ordered!




Kelly did very well on the plane - a little squirmy, but no crying or tantrums or anything. And she just loved hanging out with the babies, Scrappy, and Mister (I think I only saw Elcie once). She had fun gathering all of her toys & her DVD player that we brought with us for them to see and play with! Too funny!

The babies are gettin bigger and more active. They sit up on their own and also enjoy hanging out in their exer-saucers. They are very happy, jolly babies and seemed to laugh and smile the whole time we were there.

Nikki is just an absolute pro at conquering the double-everything: feeding, bathing, changing, you name it! Koleen & I were in awe!

We did get out Saturday morning to the Arizona-Sedona Desert Museum. We walked the exhibits, enjoyed the views of the amazing cactus-filled landscape, and had a nice lunch at the restaurant there.

Thank you again Nik for having us all - we loved seeing you & the babes and had a great time! We look forward to another visit real soon!

Playdate at the Park (Post-faceplant!)

Ok, so here is proof that Kelly continued to enjoy herself at the park the other day despite her faceplant onto the concrete! We mommies all noted proudly that our little gaggle of kiddos played together really well that day, especially for an almost 4-hour playdate! (they must take after their mommies! :-)

Faceplant!

Kelly has up to now avoided getting any serious owees - I would say we've only had one...last year we had the black eye from a fall off the slide at day-care. But I think yesterday topped it...we had our first faceplant/face-slide onto the concrete sidewalk. We met up with Jen/Katie/Andrew, Kathy/Tommy/Nicole, and Mary/Devyn at a great little park in Sabre Springs. The kids (and the moms too!) were having a great time. Not long after arriving, Kelly in her excitement, was running and didn't see a small concrete curb that she should have stepped over. Instead she tripped over it, and BAM! down she went, face first onto the concrete! My poor sweetie screamed for about 5 minutes until Jen was able to distract her with a special snack from her sack (mommy's snacks weren't working - not even binky baby!). After a few more minutes of mommy kisses & love, off she went to play for another couple of hours with the gang. So, we figured...must not be too bad! As the night wore on, her nose became quite swollen & red. (I had to catch myself from calling her Rudolf!) But she didn't appear to have any deep cuts, just surface wounds/scrapes and quite a bruised & sore nose & lip. Other than a bit of wimpering last night (especially after she saw her owee in the mirror), she is doing fine and I think it will heal nicely w/hopefully no scarring. She's our little trooper!

Kelly & Archie

Ok, I had mentioned in my earlier post, "Archie Remembered", that I had a couple more photos of him that I wanted to add that had Kelly in them. So finally here they are (had to go digging into my photos archives - she not even 3 and I have 10s of backup discs with her photos!). He was really pretty funny with her when she first appeared on the homefront scene as a crying, pooping little blob (at least that's how I thought he may have seen it - heck, that's how I saw it!). After a very short time though, I could tell he became quite protective of her. He would always seem to "check in" on her, sniff her a lot (even cats love that baby smell), and lay/sleep near where she was. I may have some more recent photos of them together (havn't gotten thru all the photos yet!) but maybe not too many as we started to separate them as she got mobile, mainly for HIS safety! Anyhoo, these were taken when Kelly was just a couple months old...

Potty Training

It has begun... She has started to sit on the potty. And better yet, she has actually gone in the potty a couple times as well too! That ratio is about 100 to 1 though. So, I get a little short with her at the end of the day after I have, for the 20th time that day, removed her 3 layers of clothing and her fresh diaper that I JUST put on her 10 minutes ago (if she hasn't stripped that all off herself and run thru the house naked), and helped sit her up on the potty, only for her to jump off two seconds later saying, "all done" with absolutely nothing to show for it! I know, this is all part of it! All that aside, I do think she is actually off to a good start and is doing very well so far. Gary & I broke into cheers of celebration over her first "poopie" in the pottie a couple weeks ago. And the ladies at daycare give me the pee-pee/poopie report every day when I pick her up. Its all very exciting stuff. And Kelly couldn't be more thrilled with these new important activities. She definitely relates these new pottie skills to being a "big girl" now. I look forward to her being done with diapers for good and going on that shopping trip with her to pick out "big girl" underwear!

That Beautiful Hair

Kelly has the most beautiful hair! And I don't think I'm saying that just because I am her mother... no, REALLY! :-) Too bad she doesn't allow me to do anything too fun with it like ponytails or braids. It is amazing if I can even get a barratte in there to keep it out of her face. Some days she is putting up such a fuss, that I don't bother anymore. Other than her constantly wiping it out of her eyes, it looks good down too. Should I be worried that she is getting that little head tilt to one side? Will that screw up her neck & posture? I keep threatening her that I will just cut it all off. But she doesn't care about that. I will never do that because I love her long hair! So, the daily morning scuffle continues.

A Little Daddy Time

Kelly definitely has her moments when she prefers some attention and cuddling from daddy vs. mommy. It always seems to come at the perfect time for us as well. Like maybe right about the time when I could use a little break, or right about the time when he might need that snuggling from her the most. I might enjoy the break, but in the next moment when she is wanting her mommy, I am always ready again for the opportunity for some snuggling with my baby. My heart gets just as warm though seeing her and her daddy like this.

Just a Couple Cute Ones...

Kelly's been getting better about smiling nice for the camera. Either that or I am getting better at snapping them at just the right time. I got a couple cute ones from her today. Just love that cute smile and funny little expressions!

A Knight to Remember

For my dad's 65th Birthday, we went to Medieval Times in Buena Park (Gary stayed home w/Kelly as we didn't think she'd make it for 30 minutes in that arena, let alone 3 hours!) Funny that I have lived no more than a couple hours from there for over 20 years, and had never been! It was a really fun family night together, and we had a great time cheering on our Red Knight in the Knight games & jousting. We also enjoyed the giant roasted chicken leg and beef ribs that we got to eat sans utensils. Mmm!

Archie Remembered

Ok, not exactly a Kelly story, although I do have a photo with Kelly in it that goes with this.... I just felt I needed to write about this though. A couple of weeks ago, I had to put down my beloved kitty Archie. He was my sweet pet for about 16 years - we estimated his age to be about 3 when I got him which means he was 19! Not a bad lifetime! He went through a lot with me over these years - many many moves (about 10!), boyfriends/housemates, parties, being left/let out all night (he was strictly an indoor cat), travels, declawing, grooming-shaving!, sharing his quarters/cat box/food/attention from me with other cats that came in & out of our lives temporarily. He also had to deal with being temporarily adopted during times when I could not keep him. But right about the time Kelly turned one and started walking/creeping around, I realized it was just not safe for him to stay with us. I was afraid that Kelly, being a typical 2 year old and mostly out of her excitement over petting him or being around him, might crush him or hurt him accidentally. Or vice versa, that Archie, being a typical animal might try to bite or scratch Kelly in defense of himself (he did attempt it once when she snuck up behind him and whapped him on the head one day!). He was just too old for that and I started having to keep him sequestered in our little utility room about the size of a closet. Many of you might remember my trauma over this issue and my difficulty in trying to find a "temporary" home for him. Nobody I knew was in a position to take him, and pet shelters were hesitant - he was not "adoptable" because of his age. And then there was that shelter that took in "all" animals and let them stay until they died - yeah, well, by the third time I called them and the lady still couldn't meet with us because she had yet another animal with some disease or one that had died that week.... I decided I couldn't send him there! So, upon hearing and seeing my sadness and angst over it all, my stepdad Don lovingly stepped up and took Archie into his home, "temporarily"... So, more than a year later now, I know they became good pals and Don would call me often and tell me a funny Archie story or update. Archie's health had been declining rapidly in the past 6 months and he was going blind. During my visit at Christmas, I could tell it was time. I cannot even begin to express how much I have appreciated Don taking care of Archie this past year. I will never forget this true act of kindness! And I know that they became close and that Don misses that yowling critter too. It was so hard to let him go, but I know it was for the best and that he had a long, happy life. I still find it amazing how much an animal can mean to you and have an effect on your life. He gave me so much love and companionship and helped me through a lot of tough times. I will miss him! So I just thought I would share a few cute photos of my little furball. (I have a couple more that I will add when I get home to my archived photos. I sure wish I had gotten one of him & Don :-(