Tiger Fan!

This morning Kaylee asked for me to take her picture. This is new territory for the little girl who cant seem to get comfortable in front of the camera.

She came up to me and said "cheese, cheese mommy," while pointing to the camera. so I grabbed it and followed her. She went to sit down on one of the little chairs we got her for her birthday and proceeded to smile and wait for me to take her picture. Here are a few of the ones I got.

Kaylee's Birthday

Yesterday we had a little party for Kaylee's birthday. It was sorta a last minute thing because I didn't want to have a big party when Marcus wasn't going to get to be here for it (that's before we knew we WEREN'T moving to Hawaii). So one day last week I get a text from my brother asking what the plans are for Kaylee's birthday and i thought "Oh CRAP, now Marcus will be here I better get something together! Thanks for reminding me."

We decided to do another small "family" birthday party at our house. So my 2 brothers (and their girlfriends), my sister (and her boyfriend), my mom and dad, Marcus' mom and sister, and a family friend, all came out for the afternoon. Oh yeah and my brothers' girlfriends' daughter, who happens to be only a few months younger than Kaylee. We had tons of appetizers, opened presents, watched football, played with toys (even the grown ups!), and grilled out for dinner. It was a really fun night. Kaylee had an ABSOLUTE blast! And the gluten free cupcakes were a big hit too (compliments of Aunt Concha, who sent me a chocolate gluten free cake mix last month). Speaking of cake, Kaylee was able to blow out her own candle, which really surprised me, I thought she would be scared of the fire but she blew it right out......I think she forgot to make a wish though. Then when it was time to eat it, she decided that she LOVED the taste of it, but HATED getting her fingers dirty. She would leave the cupcake on her tray and lean down, putting her face into the cupcake, to take her bites. That is until Aunty Ceire helped her out by feeding her bites. The night ended with Kaylee's all-time favorite game of hide-and-seek. She loves to try and find Uncle John and Aunt Mary when they hide. But most of all she loves it when they jump out and scare her.

I'm sure next year will be a party full of a bunch of little 3 year olds running around the place.......I cant even imagine what it is going to be like.

See the slide show above for a few pictures of the evening.

Late Night Shananagans

If what I am experiencing now is ANY indication of what is to come, it wont be good!

This little monkey inside me thinks that nighttime is code word for playtime. He is not active all day, and then nighttime rolls around and suddenly he wants to do gymnastics on my bladder. What's that all about?

Clean bill of health

Kaylee had her 6 week post-op appointment with Dr. Shea today and she is doing "Fantastic!" She has not had any ear infections and the tubes seem to be doing their job perfectly. She is even getting a little more used to doctors poking around in her ears. That doesnt mean that she didnt put up a fight, but she definitely did much better than in the past. So that was progress, in my eyes! Let's just hope that she continues to stay ear infection free.

2 Years Ago Today...

I can hardly believe that 2 years ago, my terrified self walked into the hospital to deliver my first baby. I was scared, excited, nervous, anxious, and DYING to meet the little life that had been growing inside me for 9 months. My life was changed forever at 5:15 pm when the wait was over. I finally met my beautiful baby girl, and I was officially in heaven!

The day is still so clear to me. I remember so many details about that days events.

I remember telling the doctors and nurses that Marcus (and only Marcus) was to announce the sex of our baby when he/ she emerged. And then when the moment came, Marcus stumbled over his words, the doctor showed her to him, but apparently her arm was blocking the important identifying parts so he said "it's a.....it's a", and it seemed like hours had past (it was only about 1/2 a second) before my impatient self said "what is it?" And both Marcus and the doctor told me she was a girl.

I remember we had variations of Kaylee's name written on the white board in the room and the nurses and doctors helped us decide on the spelling.

I remember watching Marcus as he proudly texted everyone announcing her birth, and then him reading all the response that flooded our phones.

I remember just staring at her and being so proud and happy she was finally with us.

I remember watching as everyone held her, and seeing the looks on the faces of all her aunts, uncles, and grandparents who waited so patiently in the waiting room for the news of her arrival.

I remember watching as my little brother sat in the corner trying desperately to avoid holding her.

and the list goes on, I hope that those memories are with me for the rest of my life!


Now on to today......
I started the morning off telling her it was her birthday even before I took her out of her crib. We have been working lately on putting up 2 fingers, so i told her that she was 2 and we practiced some more. She can put up 1 finger but she seems perplexed as to why her fingers wont cooperate when it comes to putting up 2 of them at the same time.
Then it was time for breakfast. While I was making her chocolate chip pancakes she devoured a banana. After 3 pancakes and a whole banana she was still hungry so she ate an entire pear. She washed it all down with her usual cup of OJ. She said she was still hungry but i decided to take a break from eating for a while.
I had to give her a bath after breakfast because she had chocolate smeared over much of her body. After her bath we played for the rest of the morning until nap time. I was able to successfully teach her how to respond when someone asks, "how old is Kaylee?" She says "two" and holds up her entire hand. It is really cute! (but who am i to judge, moms are always prejudicial) After nap it was time to leave, so we headed over to grandma's house. Grandma greeted her at the door and as Kaylee ran through the house she stopped when she saw the birthday balloon my mom got for her. It was attached to a grocery cart filled with toy groceries that Kaylee could have cared less about. she was enthralled with the balloon! Thankfully my mom was not upset, she actually thought that Kaylee would like the balloon better. After eating a quick bite for lunch, I headed off to another dreaded OB visit, where I was to sit in the waiting room for nearly 1 1/2 hours, waiting to be told that I have to come back in 2 more weeks to do it all over again. YIPEE! I was able to run a few errands before my doctors appointment though. After my appointment was over i headed straight to pick her up. I hurried her into the car because it was dinner time, and we still had to drive home, which means that bedtime was going to be delayed. My friend Katie called right as I was leaving mom and dad's house, and while talking to her i realized that it was the exact time that I had delivered her, 5:15 pm. Katie told me where she was when she got the text message that evening and her reaction when she heard that she was a girl. That was really sweet to hear her tell the story.
When we got home, Marcus (and Tahoe) greeted us in the driveway. Marcus scooped her up (this is the first time he saw her all day) and they hugged and kissed. I showed him how she knows what to say when asked how old she is and he got that "I'm so proud of her" look on her face when she responded accordingly. I just love seeing the 2 of them together! After giving Oreo and Tahoe nearly an entire box of treats, we went inside. She did not seem hungry, and who would be after leaving my dad's house. He feeds her like a starving child every time he gets his hands on her, like i said before, I guess that is his way of "bonding" with her. I gave her a few bites of crackers and something to drink. She danced to her Sugarland song, I lost count after 3 times of hearing it. She played hide and seek with daddy for a few minutes before he whisked her off to get her ready for bed. Daddy was on bedtime duty tonight, so he brushed her teeth, put her on the potty, got her dressed, read her books, and put her to bed.

It is still so hard for me to imagine that we are about to do it all over again with another baby. I can only imagine the memories I will have in 2 years time.

Kaylee's Big Girl Room (in the making)

I finally settled on a design plan for Kaylee's new room. I am going to give you a few little ideas of what is to come. I am not going to give away everything though, you will have to wait til it is all finished to see everything. First of all the colors I choose are chocolate and blue with khaki and cream accents. Her walls are painted a color called Steel City.

So here is the bedding i choose...





(ignore everything in the picture except the comforter and the shams)






I am going to put a solid chocolate bed skirt with this and alternate between solid khaki and blue sheets.

The curtains are going to be solid chocolate.

There are a few other accents in the room that I am excited to see how they turn out, this whole decorating thing is TOTALLY new to me, so I am hoping it all comes together like I have it planned in my head.

A Few Maternity Pics

My friend Bethany took a few pictures of me and my belly. I really regret not having any pictures of me when i was pregnant with Kaylee. i wanted to make sure that i have them this time around, cause who knows this could be the last time i am pregnant (boo hoo, i am crying on the inside at the thought of that). Kaylee was not too cooperative this particular day, so Bethany has agreed to try again another day, and hope that she is in a better mood. Marcus, on the other hand, was MORE than cooperative! Haha


I tried really hard to pick a few of my favorites from the hundreds of pictures she took, keep in mind we have not photoshopped the backgrounds yet, so you still see our messy living room in the background.

If anyone has any special event that you want to have documented I totally recommend giving my friend Bethany a call. She has an awesome eye for photography and is great with kids too! I have been so impressed with all her work, not just the pictures she took of us.

Kaylee Dancing to Sugarland

This is Kaylee's new favorite song, All I Want To Do. She sings the "ooh, ooh, ooh" parts.

Our New BIG NEWS

It seems our lives have been full of gigantic news lately, so I figure why stop now?

Our newest news started to unravel a few weeks ago when FedEx announced the pay cuts for their employees. As soon as Marcus told me the that, I immediately started freaking out wondering how we were going to make it financially in Hawaii with so much less money. Marcus was busy trying to prepare himself personally and professionally for the job change and move all while trying to figure out how this pay cut was going to affect us. He was finally able to get some answers, 2 days before he was scheduled to leave. Turns out that the financial impact was much more than we could possibly bear heading to such a high cost of living area. So we decided it would be best to pull out of the whole deal. He spoke with many people about his decision and finally made it official on New Years Eve. I think we were both relieved by the decision knowing that we would have been putting our family in a horrible position by going. Now we are focused on finishing the upstairs and preparing for the new baby's arrival. I have been so happy having Marcus at home with us, and couldn't imagine us being separated now, as the plan was before. Not only are we working on the upstairs we are trying to get Kaylee's "big girl room" ready. She is going to move into the front room (the old office), to make room for the baby in the nursery. I am busy deciding what colors and designs I am going to put in there. I think I have settled on chocolate with some pinks, greens, and blues. I will definitely get some pictures as soon as there is something to take a picture of.

I feel bad that days after I sent out our Christmas cards announcing our move to EVERYONE plans have changed.


Upstairs Update.........we have kinda been on hold the past week or so with the New Year and all, but I would consider us on the home stretch now. We are in desperate need of attic doors, they will really help out with keeping the heat regulated and cut down on the never ending drywall dust! I believe all that is left is hanging 2 new windows, trim, doors, and the paint touch-ups. It is really exciting to have the extra space! Feel free to come check it out whenever you want.

Kaylee's New Wagon

Kaylee loves the new wagon she got for Christmas! Especially when Uncle John pulls her fast! She is going to have fun playing in it with her new brother or sister too.