"Come Ginger!"

Kayleigh has figured out how we call the dogs to us and now uses it herself. It makes me laugh, because I guess it is how I always call the dogs and never realized it until Kayleigh started doing it herself. It doesn't really work for her, though, because the dogs don't understand her when she calls. Kayleigh is making the kissing sound on the video, and the first word she says is Ginger, but I think you have to listen for that if you don't understand her.

This method of telling someone to come can work on humans, too. Mama Shirley will come running when Kayleigh calls, and this afternoon, I heard her call her friend, Jack to come over to where she was. Erik and I try not to give in to her when she calls us like that. We'll at least tell her to say please so that it doesn't seem as bad.

Big church

We had a combined church service today, which means instead of having a traditional and then contemporary worship service, everyone was invited to one service at 10:30. The church does this every year around the holidays because of the lowered attendance. I liked starting so much earlier (the contemporary service starts at 11:15) and getting out earlier. Our Sunday School class is getting ready to combine with a couple of other classes. Before the combined service, we had a big pot luck breakfast. Yum! All of the kids were invited to breakfast as well, so Kayleigh stayed upstairs with us. She was so content to be with us that we decided not to take her to the nursery when we went to church. She cracked us up and embarrassed us during church, so I don't think this was the start of a new tradition. I can't imagine having to keep her with us every week, because it is so distracting. Here is what she did this morning:

--At the end of several songs, she clapped and cheered, "Yay!!!"
--During one of the prayers, and yelled, "Amen", more clearly than we've ever heard her yell.
--She tried to rearrange the hymnals and Bibles.
--She tried to help the worship leader conduct the songs. It was funny watching her move her arms around like she was mimicking the conductor.
--She saw someone leave the sanctuary and realized that it was a door we were sitting next to in case we needed a quick escape. She started miming knocking on a door and said, "knock, knock!"

It was funny for one Sunday, but I think that was enough for us.

Videos

Here are two of the videos that I tried to take of Kayleigh chasing Grandma. They're both short and cute, so I figured you could handle watching them. We've decided that next time, as soon as we see Kayleigh doing something cute, we're going to run for the camera and try to capture the moment. Until then, here you go!

More Merry Christmas

We three traveled to see my parents and other family members for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we had a Cuban dinner. Lots of family came over for the visit, and we had a great time seeing everyone. On Christmas morning, we took our time getting up and ready to go. We even ate breakfast before we started opening gifts! Kayleigh got a neat little armchair with an ottoman. She also got a basketball hoop from Aunt Valerie and Tio Matteo. She is good with a basketball, let me tell you! We're excited about it because it's something that she can do outside besides try to chase the random cats that roam the neighborhood! One of the funniest moments was after she got a little talking phone from my parents. My aunt called the house, and while Mom talked to her on the real phone, Kayleigh talked on her toy phone. Too cute!

Today we went to visit Granny and Aunt Ola. Aunt Ola is recovering from a heart attack in the hospital. We took Granny over to the hospital so that we could all visit together. Granny fed us some delicious white chili and fresh cuban bread. Yum! I think we're going to a Thai restaurant with my parents tonight. We got a lot when we're down here, but it's a treat for Erik and me because we don't eat Thai food back home. Tomorrow we'll travel again so that we can go to church on Sunday. We're having a big breakfast with 3 different Sunday School classes that are going to combine in January. We'll have some new teachers, and more study topics to choose from each week. I think it'll be a little weird at first and that each of the Sunday School groups will stick to themselves, but it won't be too long before we branch out to our new classmates.

I'll end this with a video. You have to know that Kayleigh LOVES her grandma! Earlier this morning, Kayleigh was chasing Grandma back and forth down the hall while Grandma was trying to get some things done. Of course, by the time I wanted to get it on video, Kayleigh had pretty much given up the chase. It's still pretty funny, so I have to share....Okay, the video didn't work tonight and I'm tired. I'll try again tomorrow when we're back home.

Family Christmas

On Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with Erik's family. We made out like bandits and Kayleigh got some good stuff! We have some pictures of Kayleigh with her cousin, Thor. They liked the gifts that they each got, and were upset when one wanted to play with the other's toys!

On Tuesday night, we went out to dinner with Erik's parents, and then went back to their house to open a few more gifts. I had forgotten our camera at their house on Saturday, and when got it out to take more pictures, the batteries had died. Go figure! Kayleigh is getting good at opening presents, but she doesn't have the attention span to stay with it the entire time. One of her favorite gifts was a "Tickle Me Cookie Monster". That thing is VERY ticklish, and would roll on the floor laughing if you tickled him. I think Kayleigh got a kick out of it until it rolled towards her one time. Then she was a little freaked out, but wasn't ready for Daddy to put it away. Thanks again, Jim and Shirley, for all of our great gifts!

Next, it's off to see my family and have one more Christmas celebration. It's a busy season, but it's always good to spend time with family.

Christmas parties

Last weekend we went to two Christmas parties with Erik's work. On Friday night, his company hosted an adult party at a country club in town. There was a photographer there that took our picture. I had teased Erik while we were in line about doing a prom pose for our picture, and almost started to laugh outloud when she actually made us do it! The party was fun. We hung out with people that I already know, and I got to meet a lot more coworkers of Erik, including the father of one of my students!



On Saturday night, we went to a kids' party, again hosted by Erik's company. They had it at a place in town with a bunch of blowup slides and play areas. Since Kayleigh is so small, we got to go on the slides with her. We had so much fun, but I was sorry that I wore a long sleeved shirt and pants! It was cold outside, but I was hot from all of the playing I was doing. At that party, all of the kids got to have their picture taken with Santa, a gift, and a $10 gift certificate to Walmart. Do you like the look Kayleigh is giving Santa??? Priceless.

18 month check up

I know it's a little late, but Kayleigh just had her 18 month check up today. She was able to get in and out without shots, which is awesome. She knows which nurse gives her the shots and is never happy to see her. For her percentiles, Kayleigh is 27.6 pounds, so that's the 87th percentile, and is 30 1/2 inches, or the 15th percentile. I think her weight percentile has gone up, but so has her height! She's consistently short and chunky.

Today is the first day that Kayleigh has worn her hair in a pony tail to school. She does NOT like for me to try to get her hair in a pony tail, but she's starting to sit still for me, so I thought I would attempt it today. I need to work on making it neater. I'll get better with practice.

We had a couple of Christmas parties last weekend for Erik's work. One was a kids party with a chance to take pictures with Santa. Can you guess who was not thrilled to sit on Santa's lap?!?! Other than that, Kayleigh had a good time at the party. Erik's work gave each kid a $10 gift certificate to Walmart! Isn't that nice?? We used it to get Kayleigh a pair of church shoes. Wow. We're such good parents to splurge on our daughter! :)

We have a couple of more Christmas parties this weekend. Luckily, I'm done with work after Friday, so I can handle all of the excitement. I also want to go around and see some Christmas lights. I know of a neighborhood in town that goes all out every year. We went last year, and it's a tradition I want to start with Kayleigh.

I'm sure I'll take a bunch of pictures this weekend because we're having our Christmas celebration with Erik's family.

A look into the future

I thought I would have a few more years before Kayleigh wanted to drive, but I guess she is ready to take that step now. Yesterday when we got home from school, Kayleigh climbed over the center console into the front seat. She knows that the handle for the brights will turn the lights on, and the blinkers work if the car is on. Kayleigh did NOT want out of the driver's seat, so I ran inside to get the camera and start taking pictures. Enjoy!

Where is Kayleigh???

Do you feel like you're playing this game a lot lately? Kayleigh has a new hiding place. I couldn't get a picture of her coming out from behind the curtain, but she was having fun, trust me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know, I know, it's a day late. But, I really wanted to wait until the pictures from the Turkey Trot came online so you could see us running. Erik and I did a 10K (6.2 miles) yesterday, and it was torture! Not really, but I haven't been training much lately, and it almost killed me. I was fine for the first half, but then started to get tired for the second half. For the last couple of miles, we had our eyes set on some women who weren't too far ahead of us. We finally caught them around the 6 mile mark, and never let them catch back up. We accomplished my goal of not finishing last. :)
I definitely learned my lesson about re-hydrating after a long race. I got so sick yesterday, and Erik really thinks that I didn't drink enough water after the race. I felt terrible and ended up having to miss Thanksgiving dinner. I felt bad because I wasn't there to celebrate, but I needed to be home sleeping and trying to recover. I feel much better today, though.



Proof that we ran. :) Did I mention that Erik pushed Kayleigh in the stroller? He needed something to slow him down so that he could stay at my pace.



Where's Erik??

So cute!

I got brave this morning and put Kayleigh into tights and this cute dress from her cousin, Mia. She thought she was hot stuff and strutted around our bedroom twirling and putting her hands on her "hips". (it was more like her armpits! She'll figure it out.) This dress has a matching jacket, and it'll be perfect for this chilly day and church. The only downfall to her outfit is that she doesn't have cute shoes to go with it. She'll be running around in her tennis shoes today.

Sonny's revenge!

Okay, so the activities haven't been so exciting in our house lately. You are probably wondering why I have the title that I do. I'm calling for a ban on Sonny's BBQ. Let me paint a picture for you: Kayleigh and I had the day off on Tuesday for Veteran's Day. Valerie gave me the bright idea to meet up with Erik for lunch. We decided to go to Sonny's for lunch. Lunch was delicious. I think Erik and I knew there was a problem that night when he had the chills and a fever so high he could have been the heating pad for my sore stomach. I felt terribly sick to my stomach and hung out in the bathroom for awhile, trying to decide what would make me feel better. When the room started fading in and out, I had to go to the floor so I wouldn't fall off of the toilet. Poor Erik was asleep and I knew he didn't feel good, but I had to have someone in the bathroom. He came in and was such a trooper. He gave me a wet rag for my neck and turned a fan on me. I thought I was a little better the next morning and tried to make it to work. Kayleigh had different ideas. She had a major blowout right after Erik left for work. I got her cleaned up and called for a sub. I feel better now, but Erik is still not up to 100%. Kayleigh is mostly okay, but I don't think she is 100%, either.

Onto other family news! Dad's birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday! Valerie's and my birthday is Saturday, so don't forget to wish us a happy birthday! I am officially training for my first 15K. I'm doing a run/walk program, because actually running those 9 miles just might kill me. I'm running a 10K on Thanksgiving morning. Erik is going to run it with me, pushing Kayleigh in the stroller. I think that is the only way that he could go that slowly! I'm supposed to run 5 miles this weekend, but I think those miles are going to have to wait. I'm sure it would be good for me to run that far before a birthday dinner and dessert, but since I haven't eaten much since Tuesday, I might let my body rest.

I hope you enjoy the following videos. The first one is of Kayleigh dancing to "If you're happy and you know it". She has been able to do the "stomp your feet" part for awhile, but I mostly sing it to her in the car when she gets bored. She is rocking out to the song tonight. Sorry about my poor singing--there's your advanced warning!


You need to know that I was talking to my dad on the phone when I took this second video. Kayleigh likes to pretend to talk on the phone, but she doesn't like to talk on it if someone is on the other end. I think she's been watching me when I talk on the phone. I usually don't like to sit still while I'm on the phone; I usually pace around and check out what's going on in the house.

For Abuelo and Mia

This video is of Kayleigh saying "abuelo" tonight. While she was in the tub, I asked her to say it, and was very surprised for her to repeat me! She said it a few times after that, so I know she said it for real.



These pictures are for Mia. Kayleigh thanks you for the warm pjs. We had a cold snap this past week, and those pjs were much appreciated! Kayleigh was running around with her milk, so she has a little milk goatee. My favorite part of the pjs is how her belly is emphasized. It's so cute!

Happy Halloween!!

We have some fun pictures for you today. Erik carved a pumpkin a couple of weekends ago with our friend, Erick. While we were in St Pete last weekend, the pumpkin shrank like the Wicked Witch of the West! When we got home from St Pete, there was a weird smell in the garage, but the first thing I noticed was the trail of ooze.
We don't have anything for Kayleigh to dress up for this year. Last year she wore her Halloween outfit to her day care, and to the church for Trunk or Treat. Neither place had any activities this year, so I just dressed Kayleigh up for the pictures. It's probably a good thing that we didn't have to take her anywhere, because I think the wings on the outfit bothered her.

Kayleigh pictures

Okay, Okay. I know you want to see pictures of Kayleigh, not me, so here you go! Sheesh! The first picture is of Kayleigh carrying her bag outside. She and Erik were on their way to see Granny and aunt Ola. The pictures of Kayleigh on the couch are of her watching a squirrel eat peanuts outside. If you look closely in the picture where she's climbing on the couch, you can see the squirrel on the wall outside.

More reunion pictures

Okay, I know that this isn't interesting to those of you who weren't there, but these are my friends, so look at the pictures, anyway! I seem to be missing one picture, so I'll have to get it from you Valerie.

High School Reunion

I won't say how long it's been since I graduated, but this weekend is our reunion weekend. Earlier this afternoon we had a picnic time at the gym. It was bring your own food, but also an extra chance to hang out with people we haven't see in a long time. For those of you who know our high school friends, there were Meghan, Molly, George (the only guy that came!), Polly, Jana, Kelli, Ashley, Alison, Valerie and me. We had a good time talking and catching up with everyone. Miss Jones, our 7th and 8th grade history teacher even came for a little while. She left NCS, and just came back this year. We have a dinner tonight, so I'll be posting more pictures later. Out of the 68 people that graduated with us, only 20 are coming. A couple of the girls are pregnant or have just had babies, so that's a pretty good excuse. Others are out of town and couldn't make it in for different reasons.

Kayleigh's first "date"

We invited our friends Erick and Amy over for dinner last night. Amy had a prior commitment, but Erick said that he still wanted to come over. We told him that it was couples only, so he asked if Kayleigh could be his date. We figured he would be a good date, so okayed the offer. Erick is definitely one of Kayleigh's favorite people, too. When Erick came over, he brought Kayleigh a rose. It is super pretty, and Kayleigh loves to smell it. I put it in a cup and brought it up to Kayleigh's room last night. When she woke up from her nap this afternoon, it was the first thing she wanted to do was smell her flower. She was literally sitting in her crib, reaching out to the flower. We have decided that all of Kayleigh's dates need to be like the one she had last night--at our house and over by 8:00! :)

More pumpkin patch pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures from the pumpkin patch this morning. She had fun, can you tell? If you didn't see the other picture, scroll down to the next post.

Pumpkin

 

We went to a Pumpkin Patch this morning to get some pictures of Kayleigh with the pumpkins. We did it last year with Nick, Robyn and Taylor, and I thought it a neat tradition to start with my family. I'll post more pictures later, but I stole the idea for this one from my friend, Jenna. I think it is really cool, and I'm glad that I was able to get a picture of Kayleigh that the effect would work with.

Bag lady

Kayleigh's latest "thing" is wanting to carry a purse/bag whenever she can. I always put her school stuff in a plastic bag, because it's easier for me to carry her things in just one bag, rather than trying to carry them separately. Her lunch box is always heavy, because I have to put a cold pack in it, along with all of her food for the day. She doesn't care. She'll try to carry it anyway. Last night before we went out to eat, she wanted to carry her diaper bag. Later, she was carrying my purse. And, don't try to take the item away from her! You will see a very angry Kayleigh if you do!

Ginger

I can't remember if I've posted pictures like this before, so here we go again! Erik told me that Ginger had climbed into the dirty clothes basket this evening. I went into the room about 20 minutes later and was very surprised to see that she had fallen asleep in the laundry basket. Usually she heads straight for the bed.

My big girl!

Kayleigh HATES to wear anything in her hair! That is necessary to know before I tell the rest of the story. This morning, I put a bow in Kayleigh's hair, and to my amazement, she didn't immediately yank it out. She kept it in her hair all day! It fell out a couple of times, but she would take her bow to one of her teachers to get it put back into her hair. Hopefully, this means that she'll wear bows more often.
P.S. Kayleigh was chased around by another boy today! Her teachers think that it was because of how cute she is with her bow. :)

My kid cracks me up!

Kayleigh was being so silly this morning. I went to Tropical Smoothie and poured some of my smoothie into another cup for Kayleigh. After she was done drinking it, she played with the straw. She also decided to see what her toes taste like. She must not have liked how they taste because she didn't do that for long. There isn't much sound in the video besides my laughing. I think you'll still enjoy it.

Beach Blast

Erik competed in his second triathlon this weekend in Mexico Beach. We made a weekend out of it, going over Friday night and coming back Sunday morning. Erik did well, coming in 4th in his age division.
Of course, the pictures are all of Kayleigh. She is too funny when she eats, double fisting her bagel. I think she wanted to make sure she got to eat all of it, and we didn't take it away. The picture of the 3 of us was taken by a lady at the restaurant we ate at Saturday night. The last couple of pictures are of Kayleigh eating this afternoon. She decided that the food was too good to just eat, and rubbed it on her face! That's what all of the brown flecks are.

Look down!

I finally got the videos up of Kayleigh. You have to go down a couple of posts, because I started that blog a few days ago, and I guess blogger.com keeps them in calendar order, rather than the order that I post, if that sense.

How could I forget??

Kayleigh's height is 28 1/2 inches, and her weights is 24 pounds 4 ounces.
I am seriously working so hard to get a video of Kayleigh making her noises! I got a good one last night while she was in the tub, but then realized that you can see ALL of her, and I won't publish that on the internet. So, you'll just have to wait a little longer! She would NOT do it for me today, either! I think she's rebelling! I guess if you want to hear it, you're going to have to come over for a visit!

New sounds

As September gets closer to its end, I have been thinking about the new things Kayleigh can do at 15 months:
She will sort of blow her nose, and at least not freak out as much when you wipe it. She has gotten into books, and will back into your lap to read one. She even has her favorites!
She really likes to open drawers in the dining room and get into the refrigerator. She'll come running to the kitchen if she knows the door is open.
She is starting to make more sounds. I've told you about the "toot toot", but she is also working on other animal sounds. When you ask her to, she will moo, buzz like a bee, "hoo" like an owl, and oink like a pig. Granted, the moo and hoo sound pretty much the same, and Kayleigh just makes a funny noise when she does the oink, but she knows what she's trying to say, and she's consistent.

I FINALLY got some videos of her making the sounds! No, I don't think they're as good as the first one, and Kayleigh won't do the bee in it, but it's still super cute!

This first video is of Kayleigh making her sounds


This video is of Kayleigh saying, "Toot toot!" She is also playing with her nasal spray. She likes to take the top on and off, and I let her play with it while I brush her teeth and blow dry her hair.

15 month check up

Yesterday, I took Kayleigh to the doctor for her 15 month check up. Everything is great, and the doctor was impressed that she has two molars coming in. She had to get 3 shots yesterday, which was not fun. The nurse had me hold Kayleigh in my lap while she gave the shots. While she was screaming, I'm pretty sure I saw a bottom molar starting to come in.
She is still short and chunky, coming in at the 4th percentile for height (!) and the 71st percentile for weight. She's grown 2 1/2 inches since her 1 year check up, and has only gained about a pound and a half.
I don't have any cute pictures or videos of Kayleigh this time. We are trying to get one of her saying "toot toot!" She learned that from my mom while we were in St Pete. We have also taught her to pinch her nose and say "toot toot". If she's feeling really brave, she'll do it to one of us!

Pictures!!

I realize some of you are going through withdrawals since I haven't put any pictures up this week. Last night while Erik and I were getting ready to go out to dinner with our friends Rob and Cassie, Kayleigh was sitting on the bed waiting for us. She was so cute leaning up against the pillow like her dad does when he watches tv. Then today, I was able to put one of my small hair things in her hair and make a little whale spout. She kept trying to get the camera again, so it was hard to take a good picture. By the time she was done playing with the camera, she wanted the pony tail out of her hair!
Kayleigh was sent home from school yesterday because of some stomach issues. They have carried over to today, but she is mostly acting like her normal self. We are just VERY careful before we change her diaper so that nothing runs out on us. Gross!!