Monday, September 26, 2011
6 month photos!
It took 4 times to take photos without rain cancelling us and awhile to get them back, but here are some shots from Zoey's 6 month photos (really 6.5 month) with some of Sam and the family thrown in. I love what Sarah Bisesi or Gemini Photos did (http://www.geminiportraits.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
The sand, the surf, the sun, and Sam (and Zoey)
What a crazy week so far! I have been covering for Nick while he has been in Vegas for a conference. I have also had my own classes, tons of grading, meetings, a playdate to attend, AND I am hosting a playdate at my house on Friday. Those who know me well know that being exceptionally neat is not one of my strong points and since we have still not fully organized from the move, this was more of an inspiration than an expectation of achieving organization by late September. I really want to be better and buying things for a house we own has helped. But I did not realize Nick would be gone this week when I planned it. I am so glad my parents have been available or I would be totally insane. I still have so much to do. And Zoey has not been exceptionally cooperative about napping or agreeing to not be held. But I will get there or at least close enough. Maybe I will post house pictures soon before chaos reigns again. We did start putting up pictures recently, although we have a long way to go.
Zoey is doing well. She has been sleeping a bit better. Sam picked out her outfit today from her hair band to her bib. Go Jackets!
She has realized that her doorway is a portal and not a boundary. I left her on her floor while I was sweeping the hall and she ventured out. I knew it was coming. Time to finish steam cleaning everything. The baby is really mobile now. And she puts everything in her mouth, including dirty thumbs (if the floor is not clean).
Sam is also doing well. She loves having Nana and Papa so close. I think she would move over there if we would let her. She loves to go over. Although it sometimes means no nap or rest, which makes her rough in the evening. But she is in that transitional period between needing a nap and not. She likes school this year, which is such a blessing. She has been really getting into their theme days. First, it was colors and now it is shapes and they can bring an item for show and tell and dress for the theme.
This was what she wore for circle day and she got a balloon for one of the kids birthday. She had a blast bopping it up in the air.
Here she is on picture day, wearing an outfit she and Grammy picked out. She wanted Daddy to see what she looked like. She really misses him.
Her art has been so cool to see.
Here is the world.
And her self-portrait. I love it!
Here is a funny story from my mom. Sam pretends a lot, such a vivid imagination. I did too as a kid and I had an imaginary horse. I think it was blue. Sam often plays at being the mom. Sometimes Zoey is her baby and I am the big sister. Sometimes she is mom to a doll and Zoey and I are neighbors. But she always says her husband is John/Jon. He is usually at work. But the other day at my moms, she was saying "Hush, Calm down, take a deep breath." My mom asked what was wrong and she said, "Huh (exasperated sigh), It's John. He is upset and I am trying to calm him down." Too funny. A lot of kids have imaginary friend, but she has an imaginary husband. I will laugh so hard if she dates a John.
And since Sam had never been to a beach, we finally made the trek. It was on a day we had a playdate in the afternoon and we did not want to be out in the sun too long anyway. So we drove 1.5 hours, stayed about 2, and drove back 1.5 hours. But Sam had a blast. Zoey did not really care for it, especially when the waves hit her while she was sitting at the surf. She and I spent most of the time under the umbrella while Sam collected shells, jumped waves, and made sand towers.
Here are the copious amount of pictures.
Sam is actually in front of Nick, but disappeared right as the bird walked up. I still think it is a cool picture.
More birds.
Waiting for the water to wash away the tower.
Jumping waves.
Hanging out.
Zoey says, "What is this stuff?"
I took a lot of Zoey under the umbrella. Ignore the drool :)
I took both girls out in the waves.
Zoey about to cry. Her reaction reminded me of Sam and snow.
More umbrella pictures. She was so hard to keep in the shade and entertain.
Zoey is doing well. She has been sleeping a bit better. Sam picked out her outfit today from her hair band to her bib. Go Jackets!
She has realized that her doorway is a portal and not a boundary. I left her on her floor while I was sweeping the hall and she ventured out. I knew it was coming. Time to finish steam cleaning everything. The baby is really mobile now. And she puts everything in her mouth, including dirty thumbs (if the floor is not clean).
Sam is also doing well. She loves having Nana and Papa so close. I think she would move over there if we would let her. She loves to go over. Although it sometimes means no nap or rest, which makes her rough in the evening. But she is in that transitional period between needing a nap and not. She likes school this year, which is such a blessing. She has been really getting into their theme days. First, it was colors and now it is shapes and they can bring an item for show and tell and dress for the theme.
This was what she wore for circle day and she got a balloon for one of the kids birthday. She had a blast bopping it up in the air.
Here she is on picture day, wearing an outfit she and Grammy picked out. She wanted Daddy to see what she looked like. She really misses him.
Her art has been so cool to see.
Here is the world.
And her self-portrait. I love it!
Here is a funny story from my mom. Sam pretends a lot, such a vivid imagination. I did too as a kid and I had an imaginary horse. I think it was blue. Sam often plays at being the mom. Sometimes Zoey is her baby and I am the big sister. Sometimes she is mom to a doll and Zoey and I are neighbors. But she always says her husband is John/Jon. He is usually at work. But the other day at my moms, she was saying "Hush, Calm down, take a deep breath." My mom asked what was wrong and she said, "Huh (exasperated sigh), It's John. He is upset and I am trying to calm him down." Too funny. A lot of kids have imaginary friend, but she has an imaginary husband. I will laugh so hard if she dates a John.
And since Sam had never been to a beach, we finally made the trek. It was on a day we had a playdate in the afternoon and we did not want to be out in the sun too long anyway. So we drove 1.5 hours, stayed about 2, and drove back 1.5 hours. But Sam had a blast. Zoey did not really care for it, especially when the waves hit her while she was sitting at the surf. She and I spent most of the time under the umbrella while Sam collected shells, jumped waves, and made sand towers.
Here are the copious amount of pictures.
Sam is actually in front of Nick, but disappeared right as the bird walked up. I still think it is a cool picture.
More birds.
Waiting for the water to wash away the tower.
Jumping waves.
Hanging out.
Zoey says, "What is this stuff?"
I took a lot of Zoey under the umbrella. Ignore the drool :)
I took both girls out in the waves.
Zoey about to cry. Her reaction reminded me of Sam and snow.
More umbrella pictures. She was so hard to keep in the shade and entertain.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Let the games begin
Life stays busy and Zoey changes everyday. She does not like solid food as much, she will take it but still is slow about actually eating it. She is getting better, but it is slow. She is a crawler now. Below is a video from September 6th. She is a lot better now. She can crawl all around her room, easily getting to any toys she wants. She still has not figured out she can go through the door, so that is nice :) She has also learned to pull herself to a stand, which meant a few nights of delayed going to sleep when she was too scared to sit down after standing. It is amazing watching all of this, even the second time. And I can hardly believe that she is a full blown crawler at 6.5 months. She has also been teething more, which has brought a slightly elevated temperature, snot, more drool and some crankiness and restless nights. That is not as amazing to go through, but she will need teeth :)
On Nick's birthday, we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. A restaurant near us had a contest about Flat Paddy, basically Irish Flat Stanley, so we took him along.
Happy Birthday to Nick! We finally got to return to non working riding mower and buy one that actually runs.
I made him a ribs dinner and a german chocolate cake and icing from scratch. I did not have the right pans, so it is "3" layers :)
My Aunt and cousin's daughter came to visit. My Aunt is a big gators fan, so she taught Sam the gator chop.
Sam loved hanging out with Alexandra.
Her first time holding a baby :)
Aunt Julia and Zoey.
It has been awhile since a Nana picture.
Nana was reading to Sam and she fell asleep, when she seemed to want more space, Mom got up and this is how Sam ended up.
We found a cool sand table at the kids consignment store near us. Sam loves it.
Zoey loves Sam's balloon. She giggles whenever we walk past. Although she was distracted for the video. Reminds me of Sam when I got my birthday balloon (http://southernkellings.blogspot.com/2008/10/cute-videos.html).
It is funny seeing everyone post on facebook about cooler weather when we are still hitting 90's. I do miss WV fall and the festivals that came with it. But I am loving life here. My mother's club is very active, Sam likes school, and of course my parents are here to help. I think Sam would move over there if she could.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Feeling blessed
I am really enjoying having my parents here. Even with all of their move stuff to do, they have been a huge help. I have gotten more done in the last few days then probably in the couple of weeks before.
A few of my friends have also had some really rough things happen, and these really put things in perspective. A friend from Huntington who now lives in Ohio had her basement flooded. But an even sadder one happened to a fellow graduate student. She was ahead of me and the first projects I worked on, including the giant panda foraging one, were her projects. She helped me in designing my masters and we had reconnected over facebook, sharing being academics and mothers and commenting on each others cute photos. She has a 5 year old girl and 2 year old boy. They live in Bastrop, Texas since her husband does cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. They were out of town in Dallas and a huge fire burned through their neighborhood (http://www.kvue.com/video/featured-videos/Update-on-Bastrop-fire-129290693.html). All they most likely have left is their lives, some clothes, and some toiletries. Their pets were most likely killed, but they cannot get back to check. I cannot even imagine how horrific this would be. It definitely makes the day to day stressors seem so insignificant. Every now and then something like this comes along to remind me how cruel life can be and how you must really focus on your blessings and enjoy what you have. And that you need to be prepared the best you can. It is not a bad idea to have a video surveillance of your home and to keep photos digitally somewhere besides your house.
We continue life as usual, staying busy. Sam does not like to nap, so we let her "rest", which usually involves reading and singing. The other day she fell asleep with a book on her head.
And we have been so busy with everything that I have hardly taken pictures. But here is one with my mom and the girls.
Zoey is loving sitting up and playing with toys.
But she can crawl short distances now. I am sure she will put it together soon.
A few of my friends have also had some really rough things happen, and these really put things in perspective. A friend from Huntington who now lives in Ohio had her basement flooded. But an even sadder one happened to a fellow graduate student. She was ahead of me and the first projects I worked on, including the giant panda foraging one, were her projects. She helped me in designing my masters and we had reconnected over facebook, sharing being academics and mothers and commenting on each others cute photos. She has a 5 year old girl and 2 year old boy. They live in Bastrop, Texas since her husband does cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. They were out of town in Dallas and a huge fire burned through their neighborhood (http://www.kvue.com/video/featured-videos/Update-on-Bastrop-fire-129290693.html). All they most likely have left is their lives, some clothes, and some toiletries. Their pets were most likely killed, but they cannot get back to check. I cannot even imagine how horrific this would be. It definitely makes the day to day stressors seem so insignificant. Every now and then something like this comes along to remind me how cruel life can be and how you must really focus on your blessings and enjoy what you have. And that you need to be prepared the best you can. It is not a bad idea to have a video surveillance of your home and to keep photos digitally somewhere besides your house.
We continue life as usual, staying busy. Sam does not like to nap, so we let her "rest", which usually involves reading and singing. The other day she fell asleep with a book on her head.
And we have been so busy with everything that I have hardly taken pictures. But here is one with my mom and the girls.
Sam keeps trying to bring the 80's back. These made sense in WV winters, not so much in FL summers.
Zoey is loving sitting up and playing with toys.
And she keeps trying to crawl. She can go for 3-5 strides and use rolling to get all over her room. But she often gets in this downward facing dog position, bottom up, legs stretched out, and seems to expect to move forward.
She usually ends up sitting though.
But she can crawl short distances now. I am sure she will put it together soon.
Monday, August 29, 2011
6 month check-up
Zoey went in today for her check-up. Sam at 6 months was 27 inches and 15 pounds 14 ounces (http://southernkellings.blogspot.com/2008/08/our-crazy-life-all-that-and-tree.html). Prepare your guesses for Zoey.
So here is a comparison:
Zoey's 6 month picture:
And Sam at 6 months:
One at just before 6 months with her actually smiling for a better comparison.
Zoey was 28 inches and 16 pounds. Although Zoey did have on a fresh diaper and Sam was measured naked. And the height measurement is not as precise as it could be. But both girls are following similar patterns. Zoey is a little live wire, so I am sure she will not gain much between now and 9 months, just like Sam. The doctor did say she might slim down. I just hope we can avoid the concern we had with Sam.
So here is a comparison:
Zoey's 6 month picture:
And Sam at 6 months:
One at just before 6 months with her actually smiling for a better comparison.
Zoey was 28 inches and 16 pounds. Although Zoey did have on a fresh diaper and Sam was measured naked. And the height measurement is not as precise as it could be. But both girls are following similar patterns. Zoey is a little live wire, so I am sure she will not gain much between now and 9 months, just like Sam. The doctor did say she might slim down. I just hope we can avoid the concern we had with Sam.
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