Kayleigh received a ducky bath tub for Christmas, and she loves it! We gave her her first bath in it last night. She liked being able to splash around in the water. Her old tub wasn't very conducive to play. We let her stay in a little longer than normal last night, and watched as she splashed about and played with a little rubber ducky.
I'd like to think that Kayleigh enjoyed her first Christmas. It was a busy holiday season for sure, but we got to visit with lots of family and friends. After the Eikeland family Christmas, we went to dinner with the Giuniperos. Kayleigh's eye had been gunky on Saturday (the day of the Eikeland get together), and the next morning I was positive it was pink eye. Yuck! Sunday morning we were in a walk in clinic getting a prescription for her. The doctor also wanted to give her amoxicillin because she thought that Kayleigh might have a sinus infection. She gathered that from her runny nose and the fact that she couldn't get over her cough. By that afternoon we were off to my parents' house. We spent the evening with Valerie and Matt at my parents' house. On Monday, we visited with Granny and Aunt Ola. They wanted to see Kayleigh even though she was sick! Monday night we had dinner with the Woodsons and my grandmother. Kayleigh opened most of her gifts Christmas morning before conking out for a nap. She liked to pull the paper off of her gifts, but then she put it straight into her mouth! I'm not sure she understood that the good stuff wasn't the paper, it was what was underneath the paper!
Saturday was the Eikeland family Christmas. The adults have an ornament exchange, and we give gifts to the kids. Of course, Shirley, being a mom, still gives gifts to her big kids! We had a delicious lunch of ham, baked beans, potato salad and more!
I know there are a bunch of pictures this time, but they were all so good! I would have liked to put more on, so you're welcome for trimming down the list. :)
P.S. Chaille, I still want that recipe for your White Trash!!!
During this past week or so, I've notice that Kayleigh is learning to pull herself up to a standing position. It's a little torturous to Romeo (the cockatiel). Kayleigh usually pulls herself up while I'm holding her in my lap and Romeo on my shoulder. Kayleigh desperately wants to pet the bird, even though the bird wants nothing to do with her. So, while Kayleigh is sitting in my lap, she'll start to reach up to my shoulder to get at Romeo. Romeo will then start climbing down my back to get away from Kayleigh. Undeterred, Kayleigh will then proceed to pull on my shirt and straighten her legs so that she's in a standing position. It's pretty neat! She's still in the process of learning to crawl, too. Her teacher said on Wednesday that if she put something behind Kayleigh, she can push off of it. I then reminded the teacher that we do NOT want Kayleigh to learn how to crawl. I guess she listened because on Friday the teacher said that Kayleigh was only happy if someone was holding her. That's not entirely true...She was also happy if she was sitting in front of the mirror looking at herself!! Erik and I DEFINITELY want to get a video of Kayleigh pulling herself up so that everyone can see it. Be on the lookout! For those of you that know Kayleigh well, you know that she is not a performer, so this could take a little while!
Try as I might, I just couldn't get Kayleigh to eat her peas in a civilized manner. I think I got 2 spoonfuls in her mouth that she didn't try to grab out of my hand! I have a couple of videos, and I might try to post them again. If you think you can do a better job, feel free to give it a shot!!
On Thursday night, Erik and I had his parents over for dinner and to open our Christmas gifts. On Saturday, we'll have Christmas part 2 when we celebrate with the rest of the Eikelands. Part 3 will be Christmas morning with my parents in St Pete.
I know that it's the middle of December, but today was my first day back at work. It was a success (meaning, I made it through the day without incident), and it looks like I'll be able to make it through the school year. I was in the classroom with my substitute. She's there through Friday and will give the kids the exam. She's really nice, and it was an easy way to start my time back at CHS. There's a little bit of an overlap with her stuff and mine, meaning I want her stuff out of my desk!!! Hopefully I'll have everything back in order by the end of the day on Friday. Luckily, we also have a planning day in January before the kids get back, so I'll have one extra day to get things done that I need to get done.
For the first time today, I tried my hand at making my own baby food. Chat had talked me through it the other day, and I was feeling confident in my baby food making skills. I'm sure I'll get better with practice, but I made Kayleigh some organic peas today. Yum! I'm not sure if she really liked the peas, or if she just liked chewing on the spoon. She kept grabbing the spoon out of my hand so that she could chew on it. It helped her get the peas down, so I'm not complaining! She did make a bit of a mess of herself, though. The lesson I learned after making the peas is that I need to make a LOT more if I'm going to be doing this full time. I got about 2 meals out of what I made, and I'm only supposed to give her a tablespoon at a time while we're in the trial period. (That means that she tries the food and we wait to see if she has an allergic reaction. Fun times.)
We Eikelands are up here in North Carolina celebrating Jonathan's graduation from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. We're enjoying our time up here with Jonathan's family who we don't get to see often. They have a 15 month old daughter, Mia, who is having a good time with Kayleigh. Earlier, she offered Kayleigh her sippy cup, but wasn't happy when Kayleigh accepted the gift!
Kayleigh got to visit Santa last week. I was going to save the pictures for a Christmas card, but they're too cute to wait! Santa is actually Granddaddy Jim, but he plays the part well. I don't think Kayleigh could tell the difference.
There are probably a couple of reasons why I've waited to take and post Kayleigh's 6 month pictures. One reason is that the laptop isn't working, so it's harder to get the pictures on the computer. Those of you with a desktop probably know what a pain it is to plug the camera cord into the back of the computer. Another reason is that Kayleigh has another cold, so I've been keeping her at home and it's hard to get things done when she wants attention. But, the most likely reason is that admitting that Kayleigh is 6 months old is also admitting that my time at home is quickly coming to an end. Oh how I'm going to miss these days at home with her. Of course, in a perfect world, I would still be a stay at home mom who could take Kayleigh to day care a couple of hours a day in order to get things done around the house. :) Kayleigh's super cute outfit was a gift from Mama Shirley. It was cold on Tuesday when I took these pictures, and it was fun to get to put her in the outfit. On to the 6 month stats. Kayleigh had her check up this morning. All is well. People can stop talking about how much she's grown, though, because she is just as tall (or short, depending on how you look at it) now as she was at her 4 month check up. I guess she hasn't hit her latest growth spurt yet. She is up about a pound, though. She's 18 1/2 pounds now. At her 4 month check up she was 17 lbs 13 ounces. Kayleigh also had to have 4 shots today. YUCK! We did NOT like them! But, we survived, and she's taking it all in stride.
