Kacey and Jordan and Caitlyn Grace

Christmas

2011-12-27T18:31:00.007-06:00

As always we were very busy over Christmas, even though I took an extra day off (we had 4 days instead of the normal 3 days). As with every year we take our camera but forget to actually take it to places for pictures. Maybe one year we might remember.

To start our Christmas weekend we stayed with my parents for a change (the Lundy Bed and Breakfast was a little full). We were treated to Imo's pizza for lunch (yum) and off to my grandparents for Christmas Eve dinner and the first round of presents. We all got some cool stuff. Jordan and I received some really good gift cards and Caitlyn got some toys and clothes. (I'm not going to list everything cuz it's a lot) She was very happy to get a new hoodie.

Next stop on Christmas Eve was Dale and Evelyn's house for presents round 2. Again some really good stuff. Books, clothes and some other things. Then the boys went down to play ping pong. (the first of many games this weekend)

Christmas day is the big day of eating for us. (I'm sure after reading this you too will be full to the brim) So to start we opened presents round 3 at my parents (more clothes, books, and toys). So here's were we tell you that our camera was in the bedroom and stayed there but Cailtyn got a v-tech kidz digital camera. You will see evidence of our budding photographer later. I will tell you that in a two day span she took 368 pictur

es and 2 movies. After presents were opened we had breakfast (french toast and bacon). Then to get dressed and head to Dale and Evelyn's again for lunch (turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, corn, cranberry salad, green, salad, rolls , cookies and fruit cake) and of course to hang out with friends. Our friends Jenn, Ray and baby Ephraim came as well as friends of the family Wayne and Betty. It was great catching up with all of them and of course more ping pong ensued. After that we had to head back to my pa

rents for dinner (BBQ ribs, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, green beans, spiced applesauce, potato salad, deviled eggs, cookies and fudge) and opening presents round 4. Thankfully after all of this we were able to relax a little.

We all slept in the next morning, then we met up with some more friends (Toby, Jane, baby Duncan, Dave and Angie) for lunch and catching up. Then back for a nap for Caitlyn and the movies for us and Ryan, Christine, Alex, Ray and Jenn. The Muppets was an excellent film, completely funny. You know it has to be good when Jordan asks if it's one we should buy when it comes out on DVD. Then to end the day it was on to the ping pong championship of the world.

Finally to end our wonderful trip we met with Julie, Ray and Jenn for lunch on our way out of town. It was great to see every one (sorry to the one's we missed). I really am thinking I might have to try for a week off next year. We'll see. Now on to our pictures:

Our Xmas decorations at home. VeggieTales.

Kacey got a cupcake cookbook for Christmas:

Uncle Boy helped set up her princess castle:

I think she enjoys it:

And here she is putting some of her Christmas presents to work. Hooray for watercolors!

-kacey

Thanksgiving

2011-12-03T20:08:00.009-06:00

I know it's been a little while since the last post so hopefully this will make up for it. We had a very busy Thanksgiving week, yes week. We started with Alisa and family visiting for the weekend prior. The boys and Caitlyn got along great. Which is a good thing since they were going to be with each other for the whole week. Here are the kids playing with Cailtyn's Mobigo. It was a giant hit with them all.

So Monday was our trip through the fog and rain to Bentonville Ar to visit a family friend and her family. It was a really nice short trip. She had an air hockey table that switched to a ping pong table and pool table. Jordan and Fredrick started right in on the ping pong. Although every one had a go at air hockey. It was too cute to see Noah and Caitlyn play since their heads just barely were above the table.

After tearing the kids (big and small) away form the air hockey, we were on our way to Tulsa Ok. Thankfully the sun was shining. We had another great visit with Great-Grandma and Great-Granddad. The kids even sat still long enough for a few pictures.

After one night in Tulsa we were on our way again, in the fog and rain, to Madill Ok. Once there we were able to catch up with family and friends.

Here is the Donnelly Family (Jordan's other sister and family).

The Cognard's fishing, before they got scared of the fish.

We were even able to get Evelyn to play games with us. Which it appears that she enjoyed.

One morning Granddad Lundy made his famous pancakes. Caitlyn's request was for Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.

We then headed to St Louis to pick up our dog (thanks mom, dad and boy). We went to a small birthday party for Xenia and then headed home. Over all it was a wonderful trip. I guess we will go again next year.

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:07:00.006-05:00

So we had a great Halloween. Caitlyn had trouble deciding what she wanted to be until we were at the store. She didn't even pick out any of the things she told me she wanted to be (a witch, a princess or a pirate). So she was Tinkerbell. Isn't she cute?

Caitlyn started her day a daycare where we left her costume since they were going to have a Halloween party.

We did something a little different this year. One of our small group leaders had an idea of going to some of the local retirement homes for trick or treating. So we did, it was fun the residents really enjoyed seeing the kids in their costumes and even had some candy to give to them.

Our leaders are making arrangements to come back at Christmas for caroling.

I did take Caitlyn around the block when we got home. She had a good time. We have a lot of candy left over since we didn't give all the candy we bought away. Good news for me.

-kacey

When does Caitlyn listen?

2011-10-06T07:51:00.006-05:00

Here's a conversation we had this morning, as Kacey was leaving for work, and Caitlyn and I are leaving for St. Louis for a few days:

Kacey: Be good for your daddy, and listen to him.

Jordan: Do you listen?

Caitlyn: She always listens.

Jordan: Who?

Caitlyn: Mommy.

Jordan: Yes, mommy listens well. I'm worried about Caitlyn, though. When does she listen?

Caitlyn (turning away and smiling) I don't know....

Here are a few pictures to tide you over til next time.

Just in case you didn't think Caitlyn was a normal kid, she does like to talk on the phone:

Read:

And perform for us. I'm sure she was singing "Twinkle Star" or "ABCs" for us here:

My dad let her go play in the rain, as she was requesting to. He thought she'd just stand outside for a bit, and then want to come back in. Those of us remaining dry inside chuckled at the idea:

I'm sure she didn't spend more than 30-45 minutes outside, anyway.

The yellow arrow in the next photos is to point out the flying monkey, which is kinda the point of the game we're playing:

-jordan

Caitlyn is sooo cute

2011-09-11T10:40:00.001-05:00

The other day I had a headache and sinus infection (blah). Well I told Caitlyn to please be quiet because I didn't feel well. Here's the rest of our conversation. By the way Jordan was out of town.

C-You're head hurts?
K- Yes it does.
C- Go to bed.
K- I can't.
C-Why?
K- Who would make Caitlyn dinner or put her to bed?
C- Mommy don't go to bed I need you. (hug and kiss on head)

She is so sweet sometimes.

Caitlynisms cont

2011-08-14T20:22:00.002-05:00

Jordan asking Caitlyn about lunch.

J: What do you want for lunch

C: Protein!

J: What kind of protein?

C: YOU! *fake bite*

Maybe we should rethink some of the ways we play with her.

My little Girl

2011-07-15T18:21:00.012-05:00

So I know I have a girl and all but does she really have to wear a dress everyday? That's what she did this week. She also has been doing her own nails. She is actually quite good considering her age. She doesn't paint her hands or fingers. Here she is at it.

and her toes. She even picked out the color.

It was more fun when she picked out the black polish. I'm not sure where she learned that...

-kacey

The Zoo

2011-06-28T18:43:00.009-05:00

Jordan, Dale, Evelyn, myself, Caitlyn and a small tag a long, Alex thought the trip was great but super hot. It has been a long time since I was in the children's zoo, I didn't remember pretty much anything in it.

We got to pet a hedgehog, a guinea pig, a rabbit and goats.

When I told Caitlyn we were going to the zoo she said she wanted to see zebras and elephants. So we made sure to hit those enclosures. We also saw other animals on the way between those two.

This is all we saw of the hippos.

Here are just a few random pictures from the zoo. Looking cool with her sunglasses and water.

and why did we bring the stroller?

Caitlyn's 3rd B-Day

2011-06-24T19:06:00.011-05:00

We had Caitlyn's party on the Sat after her actual birthday but this way most of my family could come. It was great. She got a lot of presents.

The day of she helped grandma Lundy and me make her cake. Which she picked out. Devils food cake. I think she has my taste in food.

I asked her what she wanted as a cake. At first I kept getting told Tinkerbell but then a few days before she changed her mind. She asked for block cakes so this is what I made. It was actually pretty easy to do.

Before any one thinks we didn't do anything for her actual birthday we did. We had her favorite meal, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese and apple sauce. Plus I made cupcakes with Tinkerbell figurines.

Our Vacation

2011-06-09T18:46:00.008-05:00

So our sitter was going to be closed for a few days and instead of staying in CoMo I decided to go to St Louis. We had about 10 days to spend doing whatever we wanted. Although Jordan was going to camp for a few of those days. Evelyn told me while we were there that we sure knew how to take a vacation, do nothing, rest and sleep. I did have a few things I wanted to do while we were in town, such as Caitlyn's birthday party and going to the zoo. Plus eating at a few places we don't have in CoMo.

Jordan and I actually had a few minutes to ourselves. Evelyn offered to watch Caitlyn if we wanted to go away so we took her up on it. We had our first real date in who knows how long. It was great. After that we got to spend at least two more meals together just the two of us. It's nice to know we can still talk about other things than the kid.

We had one night when Ryan, Christine and the kids came over to play. It was very cute we had a small pool set up on the deck and the kids had a blast.

Separate posts with pictures of the party and the zoo to come.

Caitlynisms

2011-05-08T17:50:00.010-05:00

So the other day on our walk Cailtyn told me to "Don't fall into the storm drain. I like you." With all the emotion she could muster. She also grabbed my leg to help. How cute is our little girl?

She told her daddy at dinner "Don't cut yourself, I like you. I like you, I like you." Reaching her hand out to her dad. She was very concerned that he might hurt himself with his fork.

In the car with her dad:

Caitlyn: "Dad are you tired?

J-Yes a little bit. Are you tired?

C-No

J-That's because you are full of boundless energy.

C-That's because I have an Easter Egg. (laughter)"

(We split up the Easter candy into the eggs and she is allowed to have one a day.)

Caitlyn's first haircut.....

2011-05-01T20:15:00.008-05:00

of sorts.

I wasn't sure if we were going to need to cut her hair. She managed to get it caught around the wheel of an automatic toy of Trev's. She didn't cry but she did say it hurt. My mom and I were able to get it all out. Although it took a little bit of time and pulling of hair. Thankfully her dad was holding her. I think she learned her lesson. Don't hold rotating things next to your hair.

So if you all don't know I've been cutting Jordan's hair for the past few years. I think I'm getting really good at but we don't always get around to it at the right time. So we are training our kiddo to help out. She had her first lesson tonight.

She had fun. I did most of it since Jordan seems to want to keep his ears on his head.

If any one needs an idea of presents to get the monster, she loves stickers. She goes through them quite fast because she sticks them everywhere.

Jordan brought her home from daycare today and she wanted to play with this puzzle. She solved it correctly a couple of times, and then decided to make sure and put all the pieces in the wrong places. That's a kind of organization, right?

And as you can see she still likes climbing into the toy box.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:24:00.006-05:00

Our Easter Bunny wishes you a Happy Easter!

Caitlyn, Kacey, and I had fun dying Easter eggs Saturday night:

And their fingers:

Caitlyn got encouraged to search for all the eggs that the "Easter Bunny" left hidden around the living room the night before. We'd have hidden them outside, but we've had all that crummy Missouri spring weather here recently. She had fun anyway:

She had to open each egg after she found it:

She also got a basket of gifts:

My mom came in a couple of weeks ago and helped make our yard look better. Caitlyn also wanted to help, so we got her in the garb to do so:

She came home sick from daycare one day and just wanted to lay on Daddy and watch Charlie Brown. She didn't do much watching:

She has also been requesting to be an airplane a good amount:

The other day she pulled out a Super Nintendo cartridge and wanted to play. I'd like to point out that she actually earned some points playing Battletoads. It's only a matter of time before she starts beating me:

And here's a cute one to finish the blog with. Enjoy!

-jordan

Our Little girl is growing up

2011-03-04T18:19:00.015-06:00

I'm almost afraid to say this but she is almost done with potty training. She has managed to go 14 days and counting with dry underwear all day with only two accidents. We've known for a long time she could do it but she just didn't want to. So, taking advice from our daycare (she said to put her in underwear) we jumped in. It only took one day of her having to change clothes three times and she's been dry ever since.

She has also been wanting to drive mommy's car. When we get home and I get out she climbs from her seat into mine and drives. She turns the steering wheel, hits the buttons on the radio, turns on the turn signal and messes with the kid mirror. She's only honked the horn once, it really scared her.

She has also decided to increase her chores. She took off with the laundry basket the other day, when I finished emptying the dryer.

Also she has taken it upon herself to change the silverware draw. I don't know if Jordan will let her help with that any more.

And now the random photos.

Our Valentine's day dinner. Yes I know it's silly but it was good.

This is what the monster got from her party at day care.

One should be careful when looking in the toy box. Especially when the toys are on the ground next to it.

I don't know why but the one day at dinner she tore her bacon into pieces and put them onto her pancake pieces.

And last she has been bending in half for fun. Not doing somersaults but just bending over and laughing.

Snow! Round 2!

2011-02-02T12:02:00.003-06:00

This is our frozen tundra. It's really cool the way it's all layered like rocky land around rivers. Really, really cold rocky land around rivers:

The wind left a neat walkway in front of our garage:

And no walkway on our walkway:

Caitlyn wanted to go out and play while mommy and daddy shovelled the walk and driveway:
Mommy wanted to just go flop down in the snow. I figured that was a good picture opportunity:

Daddy needed to sit down for a minute:

Yes, this is how tall the snowdrift was in front of our door.

This is the last picture, as it was the time Caitlyn decided to throw her snowball at the camera. Good thing she doesn't have much of an arm yet:

Stay warm,

-jordan

Snow, Silliness, and, oh yeah, Christmas pics.

2011-02-01T16:35:00.007-06:00

Yep, guess it's been a bit since we posted. Here's the big news from our region right now:

Looks like we're getting in the neighborhood of a TON of snow. It's really weird to look out the window and see snow that more resembles fog in terms of seeing any sort of distance. Should make for some good sledding, though.

Caitlyn wanted George to be in her Xmas pictures:

She also had been wanting to use Mommy and Daddy's chopsticks for stir-fry for a while, so we found some that she could use without the difficulty of needing a certain level of dexterity for them:

Last time we had snow, I tried to teach her to snowboard:

Occasionally, when I work through dinner, I'll look in the fridge to see what the leftovers are. This is what I found the other night:

Caitlyn likes it when her mommy helps her build towers:

Here are a few from Xmas:

So, Caitlyn's cousin Benjamin formed a "Spider Brigade" to keep spiders out of his room. Not sure what Caitlyn was trying to accomplish with this (besides being cute), but I think she took a page out of his book:

Two-year-olds are silly:

Here's hoping the snow melts by June!

-jordan

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T19:18:00.006-06:00

So I know we haven't posted in like a month so here you go.

This month hasn't had much different or exciting things except for Christmas. Unfortunately I forgot to remind Jordan to bring the camera to my grandparents' house so the only pictures we have of Caitlyn opening presents is from Dale and Evelyn's. She had a blast. She was very excited about all her presents and wanted to play with them after she opened them. I did notice a theme from my family with all of her gifts. I have taken a few of her playing with all her presents since then.

So here you go cute pictures of the monster.

Halloween

2010-11-01T13:50:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again. As Caitlyn came in from trick-or-treating at her aunt and uncle's house, she said, "Daddy?" I said, "Yes?" She smiled, put her teeth together, and told me, "I want candy!"

She even got escorted around the neighborhood.

Plodding up to a house for candy.

Caitlyn also got to go to the corn maze a few weeks ago.

She got tired of being pulled in the wagon, but likes to prove she's tough, I guess:

Kacey found the one stalk of live corn in the field.

Aunt Kelly stomped on Kansas. Can you tell she's a Mizzou fan?

This is a picture to prove to Jenn and Ray that Caitlyn does wear her Cardinals jacket. It was just a little too big for her when she got it. She was also sharing her cereal with me.

She does funny things still, like twisting up her hair.

And wearing her blanket as a "hat."

-jordan

Caitlyn the chef

2010-09-20T13:40:00.006-05:00

Yes I know she's only 2 but you should start early. She has been wanting to help making food for a while it's just most of the time it's food on the stove or oven. However, she does get to help pour ingredients into things and mix stuff. Which now she comes running to help if you need some thing stirred, such as kool aid or juice.

Well this weekend my parents were in town and my mom made dinner for my sister's birthday on Sunday and of course Caitlyn wanted to help. So we let her help. We had fried chicken, dumplings, and green beans.

First we flour the counter

then kneading the dough

then rolling it out

and pulling it into bite size pieces.

I think she managed to get more flour on her than anything but she had fun and the dinner tasted great. I'm going to have to find some more things she can help with in the kitchen.

Our first trip to the Urgent Care Center

2010-08-31T15:36:00.002-05:00

First off Caitlyn is fine. My sitter called me to tell me that she fell backwards off her chair and hit her head on the Thomas the Tank engine train set. My sitter is awesome, she rushed over picker her up and carried he to the sink. She told me that by the time she made it to the sink that Caitlyn had already stopped crying. We have such a tough girl.
When I picked her up and she had an ice pack wrapped around her head but otherwise fine. On the way to the urgent care center I asked her if she had an ouchie and she said yes and pointed to her knee (an old ouchie). I'm sure I'll hear later that her head hurts.
While in the waiting room, for an hour and a half, she sang songs, counted and played like nothing was wrong. When we got to the exam room the nurse asked her if her head hurt and Caitlyn didn't answer but let her look at it. She's still shy around people she doesn't know. So the doctor came in a took a look and thank goodness it's too small for stitches or glue. She cleaned it up and put on some triple antibiotic ointment and said to do that twice a day for a few days. Caitlyn was such a big girl she got 2 stickers before we left. I was given all the warning signs to watch for with head injuries but the doctor didn't think she had any besides I know she's fine. So now after our exciting afternoon she's taking a nap and I'm relaxing.
So at 2 years old we have had our first urgent care experience, although I'm sure it won't be our last. She has too much of her uncle Boy in her or Grandma Lundy from the stories I've heard.

The fun of a 2 year old

2010-06-24T12:53:00.006-05:00

So Caitlyn is just of soo much fun. You can really tell she's 2 at times. Although some times she is a really sweet girl. She is a very smart 2 year old. She's learning what buttons to push with which parent. Now seriously she is very smart. She knows her shapes and she can count to 10 only missing 1 and 2 (we're working on that), she's learning her colors and letters. She knows most of her alphabet already and she is learning more and more words by the day.

She has also started getting into one TV show. Yes just one. It's the one she wants to watch every chance she can. Too bad it's only on once a day. It's called Super Why. (for those of you who don't know what it is they tell fairy tale stories kinda) It's actually cute. Jordan and I don't even mind it. She responds when it asks the questions and sings with it. Unfortunately she watches most of them online because it's an early morning show on PBS.

And now for the real reason most of you all check this: The pictures.

Caitlyn watching Super Why.

This is a wonderful way of getting her to do stuff. Tell her we will paint your nails after.

Jordan thought this was cute

wait.....

You can never have enough clips in your hair or at least that's what she thinks.

Jordan asked her is she was going to sleep in her toy box so she climbed in and said yes. Silly Jordan!

Happy Birthday Caitlyn!

2010-06-01T13:32:00.011-05:00

It's official Caitlyn is 2. We had a party for her this past Sat. She was a little unsure of all the people in her house but was ok. She was very cute opening presents even though she didn't sit in my lap most of the time. We would like to say a big thank you to every one who brought/sent gifts.

So for every one who wasn't at the party (and for those of you who were) here are the pics. Enjoy!

It was a great party. She loves all her gifts.

Having fun

2010-04-30T10:33:00.002-05:00

is what we're doing most days, I think.

She, of course, has to get her mommy's attention first...:

To trace her hand:

Then it's Daddy's turn:

I have to admit, I think it's funny when she copies me making faces at her:

She's also been playing with the new Legos she got for Xmas:

And been putting the Lego people in her shoes for whatever reason:

Yep, just checked, she's still cute.

-j

Happy Easter a little late

2010-04-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

We all hope you had a good Easter. We had fun. Caitlyn enjoyed dying the eggs. She did almost all of them. We went to my sister's house to dye eggs with them. Caitlyn was so excited to finally wear her Easter dress. Ever since she saw it two weeks ago she has been wanting to put it on. I wanted it to not get dirty until she had to wear it so finally she got to put it on. One problem with little girls, they want to lift the dress over their heads. So of course there was a lot of Jordan and I saying put your dress down. Silly girl, but boy did she love it.

We've had quite a few changes at our house. Proof of our little girl is getting older. We've taken away her booster seat, which she does really well sitting at the table and asks to get down. That didn't take long. She drinks from a real cup and not a sippy and for the first time this weekend she took her nap with out her pluggie. Much to her disappointment, but she slept just fine with out it.

She's asserting her Independence too. She'll go into the pantry and get out crackers or some thing to eat by herself, which Jordan is not a fan of when she doesn't ask or show us what she's eating. (there is nothing she can't have within her reach so to me it's not bad) Also she can open the fridge and get the milk out, when it's half full other wise it's too heavy for her.

Oh the joys of a growing girl. As proof look at these wonderful pictures.

Potty training is going well.

What's in her cup you ask?

It's coffee, of course. She's already addicted.
She's playing in the corner while I cook. At least she's out of the way.

Side note she is soo my child. We were outside the other day working on my car and she picked up a worm and showed it to me. Plus she loves to mess up the ant hills on the back patio with her fingers. I love my kid.

I know she's mine but...

2010-03-26T13:25:00.005-05:00

How did I get a girl? I know she's a girl but a girly girl. I wondered where she disappeared the other day and this is what I found.

She does this a lot and when I go see she tells me to go away. She'll even bring out the barrettes to put in her hair. She also will bring a comb, brush and spray bottle out to do my hair.

Oh and my mom bought her a cute dress for Easter and as soon as she saw it she wanted to wear it with the sandals. She cried when I told her no not today.

She does do some thing really cute. Another girly thing, or so I'm told. She has a doll that she insists it be wrapped in a blanket and held. Then she'll bring her sippy cup over for you to feed it or she'll give it a cracker. Our daycare told us she watched her pick up the crying doll she has and pat it on the back while trying to calm it down. The next part is how I know she's mine. When she couldn't get it to stop she look up at Heather who shrugged, so Caitlyn threw the doll on the ground and walked away. Now to let you all know I do not do that to Caitlyn or any child.

I guess I have to come to terms that she's going to be girly.

1 1/2 going on 13

2010-02-23T12:34:00.008-06:00

I know it's not true but well have you seen Caitlyn lately. She looks like a minature teenager. She also has the attitude to match. Not only does she say "no" a bunch, she also says "go away". Every morning I go to get her up that's what she says and pushes me away. She will also say it during the day as well. Just ask Jordan how many times she says no or go away or pushes him. Mind you she does not get away with that. I would like to raise a nice child, however it doesn't seem to be happening. Her sitter told me the other day that she has nice tendencies. She'll make sure that every one has a block to play with or that they have flashcards. Then of course the same day she'll go up to some kid minding their own buisness and hit them for no reason. Oh child.

-kacey

She does help around the house sometimes:

I suppose it depends on your definition of help:

She drove around for a while herself on Mario Kart.

When she's really bad, we make her clean the tub. Actually, anytime we clean around the house, she wants to help, so we let her where she can.

Sometimes she likes hanging out and playing with her dad.

Yep, still cute.

Christmas and New Years

2010-01-04T13:19:00.015-06:00

So I'm trying to get this one out before too long. Caitlyn loved Christmas. She is getting really good at opening presents.

She is soo cute she does what every little kid does, she wanted to play with what ever she got instead of opening another present. I guess that's how you know she likes the gift. Alex received this really cool rc car from his Romanian grandmother. It was a little hard to get a good picture while it's on but here's what we have.

You have to imagine hearing Romanian disco music with it.

We all had a good Christmas, first off we had a white Christmas. It snowed that morning. Jordan and I got to spend time with family and friends we haven't seen in a long time. I even took one extra day off work so we had a relaxing Monday to get back home.

Caitlyn decided that over the Christmas holiday she would try some thing new. She wants to start potty training. Oh joy. She took us to the potty and says the word, then starts to pull down her pants, unsuccessfully and she does know when she needs a new diaper. So we are now potty training our 19 month old. It would be much easier if she actually sat on the toilet or even pulled her pants down (both of which if she does she screams and runs away). So a long process awaits us. She is getting better she actually sat on the toilet with out screaming last night, now just to work on the pants. Does any body know a good potty book?

New Years was actually quiet. Neither Jordan or I watched it come in. I think Jordan said some thing about being old and I was getting up with the monster in the morning. Oh well another year come and gone. We hope this year will be better not only for us but for all of you as well.

Now for the real reason you all come to the blog- the pictures.

Caitlyn playing with some of her Christmas presents

Caitlyn also helped me open up our present

Thank you Ryan and Christine for the great game.

Here are a few for the parents who saved their old toys for their kids to play with. The cabbage patch kids clothes that belonged to myself and siblings. Also Jordan's Larry the cucumber that talks.

It's really cute and at the same time a little sad.

Oh and for everyone who told me that my child needed her bangs cut, these are for you. I told you she likes them in her face as proof this is what she did to me the other day.

I guess it would be payback for me having hair in my face that annoyed my mom but I don't care. Sorry mom.

And finally just some random fun pictures.
Raising an independent multi-tasker. Brushing her hair and teeth at the same time.

Cute picture of Ryan and Xenia

and of course this is what we saw of Dale most of the weekend and we love him anyways.

Thanksgiving Fun

2009-12-08T14:05:00.014-06:00

We had our annual Thanksgiving trip with a few minor changes. The first being our niece was born on Sunday. Xenia Timea decided to come early so we could all see her and bring pictures to the rest of the family.

Ryan: "Alex, come over here. That's your baby sister."
Alex (after looking through the window at her.): "Oh."

I think he ended up being pretty happy with her, though.

Caitlyn did pretty well on the car trip down to Tulsa. She had fun with her toys and snacks.

She even tried to share her graham cracker with her doll:

We stopped for gas shortly after entering Oklahoma and found a buffalo ranch to walk around and look at:

And this terribly educational historical marker:

Caitlyn had fun playing with her cousins at Grandma and Grandad Lundy's house:

Even if they did wear her out:

Here's Frederic looking at the phone confusedly:

Benjamin had lots of fun with Uncle Jim:

We tried to get the kids to sit still for a picture with their great-grandparents. Got a couple of ok shots.
Most were more along this line, though:

Benjamin was happy I brought "Monkeys" down to Thanksgiving:

All the kids (and some of the adults) had fun at the playground.

Caitlyn and Noah both decided their Great-grandad Crowe was alright since he'd pick them up so they could go down the slide:

Noah apparently goes down slides backwards:

Then he dared me to make fun of the way he does things:

The second minor change was not stopping in OK city to visit friends. Sorry Les. Two of the three friends couldn't make it and the monster was already sleeping in the car. (life is much better when children sleep on car trips). The third difference was we left at night hoping Caitlyn would sleep the whole way back to St Louis. We were not so lucky. She woke up when we stopped and unfortunately couldn't get back to sleep cuz we made several small stops with bright light which kept her awake. (gas station, toll both ticket station, toll both paying station) It took us about an hour and half to get her back to sleep, then the rest went rather well.

My parents took care of Caitlyn when we got back so Jordan and I could sleep. That was very much appreciated. She had a good time at the Science Center with her cousin. Thankfully the trip back home was much less exciting although long. It must have been all the college students coming back, cuz it took us twice as long as it usually does to get back.

All in all a good trip. We got to see lots of family and we all had a great time. Can't wait for next year, then again maybe we can.

Caitlyn had a lot of fun at Thanksgiving. We got back home and she still has fun.

And sometimes wants all of her barrettes put in her hair.

But we have put her back to work:

And she's figured out that my headphones make noise sometimes.

She's started bundling up for the cold, too:

Hopefully our Christmas blog won't take as long to put up. =)

On our way to Thanksgiving

2009-11-20T16:57:00.006-06:00

We're doing our usual whirlwind trip to Tulsa, OKC, and Madill for Thanksgiving.

I (Jordan) spent 7 days with the kiddo since her babysitter had her third daughter, and took a few weeks off for that. I haven't lost all of my adult communication skills yet, but....

Anyway, here are a few cute pictures to hold you over until we get back:

She picks up a few things from the dog now and then:

She also is excited about playing the French game 'Boules' that my sister and her husband have imported into the country.

And in case there were some of you who think she's not enough like Kacey and I:

Yep, that's peanut butter. On a spoon.

Have a good holiday!!!

Halloween

2009-11-02T13:09:00.008-06:00

So we actually went out trick or treating this year. Caitlyn looked so cute in her costume. She did alright, although she didn't speak to anybody. I think it was a little overwhelming. She did get a good haul of candy. Problem is she can't have most of it like gum and and blow pops and what not. Oh darn Jordan and I will have to help her eat it. We have decided that she is only getting a limited amount a day. She ate a small Airhead before trick or treating and went a little crazy.

We also didn't stay out long due to the fact that she is recovering. She's been sick and grumpy, but she's better now. She had a good day at home with mom last week and hopefully a good day with dad this week.

Just to show that Alisa is not the only one who enforces child labor. The trick is to let them think it's fun.

Pumpkin patch

2009-10-19T13:08:00.012-05:00

So we went to the pumpkin patch this weekend with my parents, sister and nephew. It was fun. There was a maze for the little kids, animals to feed or pet, a hay ride, face painting, plenty of picture ops and of course pumpkin picking. We did almost everything, not the maze or the face painting. (the maze seemed enclosed and not tall enough for an adult and the face painting..... I'm really allergic to it and I didn't want to see if Caitlyn was or not besides you have to sit still which is not some thing the little monster can do)

She liked looking at all the animals:

And even petting some (don't worry, there was hand sanitizer out that we used afterwards):

She even posed for me a little bit here and there:

And look where she climbed to!:

Well, Grandma is holding on to her. And put her up there. She loved it.

She did pick out her very own pumpkin.

Thankfully it's small.

Trev did a little posing himself:

And jumping around:

When he really started to get out of control, we put him in the paddy wagon:

She had a blast playing in the hay. Throwing it, digging in it and pulling it in her (and her father's) lap.

Good thing she's cute:

While I (Jordan) was away from home for a bit, apparently she decided to see if my shoes fit her:

They're a little big, I think:

She also apparently couldn't get her fix, and attempted to herself:

Now if she'd only learn to brew it....

Just too Cute

2009-09-28T13:33:00.006-05:00

I know I'm biased but still it's true. There is one big problem with her being so cute and that's the fact that she knows she's cute. Little monster. She is good most of the time but like any little girl she knows how to push my (or Jordan's) buttons.

She has started going to her room when she throws hissy fits and comes out when she's done or she stops when we go get her. Sometimes we are surprised at how well she listens and obeys. Although we are raising her that way so it shouldn't be that surprising.

Jordan came home the other day from being gone almost a week and she was very happy. I try and get pictures of how cute they are together but it's really hard. She is a ham and will stop what she's doing, run to the camera and smile and if you don't know, Jordan prefers to be behind the camera. This makes the pictures I get much more precious.

We've decided she's going to be in some sort of gymnastics. Shes already doing somersaults and loves to flip around. Although her favorite thing to do is spin in circles and then walk. I've told her that that can be dangerous but it hasn't stopped her. (I busted my head open doing that when I was young) She also likes it when her dad does it to her.

And now time for some random cute pictures.

She hasn't figured out how to put her shoes on yet but she's figured out she can put mine on.

She's decided that she wants to sit at the table in a big chair not her seat. She gets up and down by herself so I guess that's not bad.

I thought this was great. She's finally big enough to wear this shirt. It makes sense when Jordan wears his shirt.

Super Caitlyn says good-bye

The mini milestones

2009-09-13T19:30:00.005-05:00

So Caitlyn had her 15 month appointment the other day. We are glad to say that she is finally slowing down in height and gaining on the weight chart. Jordan said it's because all the other children are not gaining now that they are walking which I guess that makes sense. She is still little, 31 inches and 21 lbs.

Caitlyn has been talking for a while now. She has about 10 words and 10 signs which makes things around home much happier. She has learned a new word and is getting pretty good at saying it. Football. Her father is so proud. I won't mention all the other colorful words she could learn by watching the Rams play with her father. Thankfully she doesn't sit still long enough to figure out any of them.

Jordan did teach her some thing really cute. She gives kisses now. She used to just lean forward and receive a kiss when you asked for one, but now she will kiss you or the air next to you. It's really cute.

Unfortunately there isn't much else new. She's still teething, eating everything she can, walking/running, talking and being the cutest little girl.

(I might be a little biased)

-kacey

I guess it's that time again.

2009-08-24T18:52:00.007-05:00

I know I know, we've deprived you of cute pictures of the kiddo for too long. She's increasingly active, and constantly finds ways that we need to catch up to her. She still climbs on everything she can (or that we let her.):

She loves playing with shoes. She's almost getting to the point she can put her own on:

She's been riding around on her birthday present from her Uncle Boy and Aunt Tera:

And, she's ready for the fall like I am:

She likes to go for walks, and is often ready before we are:

She also is taking to one of our pastimes:

Still working on getting the hang of it, though:

Caitlyn likes playing with Curious George:

And taking him places:

She also likes her Cabbage Patch doll:

I promise she's not emulating the way we take her places:

And, of course, she loves her books:

And her (my) coffee:

-jordan

Too long since our last post

2009-07-14T13:55:00.010-05:00

I know some of you think that we have given up on the whole blog thing but we haven't we've just been busy. Jordan was working on a movie last month, which meant he had a very crazy schedule. Caitlyn and I got to hang out together and I was attempting to find a new daycare. That is not an easy task. (Alisa if you can convince your husband to move here you are more than welcome to watch Caitlyn) I amazingly have quite a few people who would be willing to watch her, problem is none of them live here. However I believe we found her a good place. She started yesterday and I haven't gotten a phone call yet so I guess that's good.

So let's see all the fun and exciting things that have been going on...

Father's day-Well it might have been better had Jordan not worked all day but Caitlyn and I made him some father's day pictures.

My birthday-Again would have been better had Jordan not been working. Although my parents came into town for the fourth of July and took me out for dinner.

4th of July- Caitlyn tried out her pool. This was so cute, even when she went head first out of it. She loved it. Unfortunately Jordan did yard work and didn't get to have fun. We didn't go any where to see fireworks but there were plenty around our house seeing as we don't live in city limits (where they are illegal). Thankfully Caitlyn slept through them again just like she did last year.

Our Anniversary- It was ok being that it was on a Monday and we both knew the day. Maybe we'll try and do some thing this upcoming weekend. Who knows.

On to other fun Caitlyn news

She is getting her molars. Two are through just two more to go. Not fun when we are trying to teach her not to put her toys in her mouth. Thankfully she has a gum massager she likes.

Not only has she figured out how to get on the rocking chairs she gets up into the computer chair also. We both found this out when coming back into the room to find her sitting in the chairs smiling and laughing. The other day Jordan left his juice on the computer desk as usual and she managed to get it down and drink from it. Thankfully she only spilled it on herself and a little on the chair and not all over the keyboard. She actually likes trying to drink from real cups but she needs more practice.

She is also very cute in the mornings. She goes to wake up Jordan just to say Bye-Bye (very clearly I might add). Then she's ready to go get in the car and leave. Told you it's cute. Jordan doesn't even mind, the mornings that he wakes up.

The weirdest thing I think she has started and we are not sure where she learned it is she has an evil cackle. That's right our wonderful Innocent 1 year old cackles. It is really funny.

Maybe we will try and keep up with this a little more since there isn't much going on this month but who knows.

Here are some random shots of her enjoying some of her birthday presents.

and Thank you Aunt Alisa, Uncle Fredrick, Benjamin and Noah. She enjoys the bag way more than the shirt but I love it.

Caitlyn's 1st BIrthday Party

2009-06-02T18:52:00.019-05:00

Oh my it was a fun filled day. I wasn't even stressed, at least until part way through the party. I had made some really cool cakes. Aren't they cute?

Unfortunately one didn't do so well in transport. The head fell off, twice.

But Caitlyn had fun. She and the other kids went to the play ground and went on the slides and swings and other stuff.

I think Trev and Alex had a blast together.

Caitlyn got a lot of clothes, a few toys, some stuffed animals and of course books from the teachers in the family. She even read the cards. Well she at least stayed still while I read them to her. Thankfully she already knew how to open presents. Although she would have liked to play with the tissue paper instead of her gifts. Oh well.

And the best part.... Caitlyn eating her cake. She didn't dive right in at first but it sure didn't take long for it to be all over her face.

Well after this fun filled afternoon we went home for a nap and to read a book.

We missed all of you who couldn't make it. Hopefully this will make up for it...sort of.

It's getting closer.

2009-05-13T19:48:00.025-05:00

That's right. Caitlyn's first birthday is June 1st. As one of my business associates put it: "The days are long, but the years are short."

Caitlyn's zooming right along the milestone chart. She's doing all of the things little girls 2 months older than her like to do.

She eats food very messily. But she does eat real food. She loves food that happens to be on my plate, and that I'm eating. Here's her first meatball:

I think she likes it. Or she likes posing for the camera. You decide:

As most kids do, she likes bubbles.

I hope she doesn't really eat them. That'll make the threat of washing her mouth out with soap less of a threat.

She does like her (my?) Caterpillar dump truck with Legos:

And why sit, when you can stand?

She does enjoy playing with others. Even her cousin:

She also enjoys playing with her mother's shoe. And mine. I found a little man from her castle in my shoe this morning. Fortunately, I found it before I put my foot in.

She does like to help around the house, which we're going to foster and develop. Just today she picked up an unnoticeable sliver of paper which was in the floor. Apparently, she does that at the sitter's house, too. We're hoping for an OCD for keeping things clean.

She also helps her mom with the laundry. She picks up clothes out of the basket:

And hands them to Kacey, whether she's ready for them or not.

Such a good helper!

Sometimes she'll just stand and stare out the window for long periods of time.

Well, not really, I was out there mowing. I can't wait to teach her how to do that. And how to fix things around the house. And basically all the chores I hate doing.

She has also figured out how to crawl up on things, like the cushiony chair which we have set at the window for the dog. She also can get down now, which is getting less scary by the day as she figures out better where to set her feet and how to catch herself.

Random cute shot:

She even wears the dog out:

This shot is pre-dive tackle:

Post dive tackle:

She's growing up fast, but she sure is cute.

We're looking forward to visiting with a bunch of friends and family at her birthday party. Let me know if I didn't send you an invite, and you want/can come to Columbia on May the 30th at noon. Sorry, Alisa, I figured you can really only handle one long trip with your boys a year, and we expect you there at Thanksgiving.

-jordan

Caitlyn finally did it!!

2009-04-26T08:34:00.001-05:00

That's right she took her first steps today. I was in the floor with her and she took two steps toward me then fell into my lap. Unfortunately she was tired and screamed at the fall, it was just before nap time. Also Jordan is out of town working. I called him and his response was "oh no."
I knew it was just a matter of days. Well we'll keep practicing and maybe by her party she'll be walking.

Where has the year gone

2009-04-20T11:02:00.005-05:00

It doesn't seem possible that we are planning Caitlyn's first birthday party, but we are. I guess when you look at all she as learned so far it is. I never would guessed it would go by so quickly.

We went in earlier this month for our weight recheck and well She's just going to be skinny. She is 29 in long (90%) and 16 lb 4 oz (10%). The doctor said if she stays there or decreases on the parentage charts we may have to do bloodwork. We think she's fine. She's healthy and she's always eating. She eats four or five times a day and she eats everything, as you can tell by the pics below. She just never sits still, even in her sleep. Besides I was never on those charts, my sister was always at the bottom and I'm pretty sure Alisa was never on the charts either. So it runs in the family. Oh well we'll see at her next appt in June.

On to other wonderful Caitlyn news. She has unfortunately learned a new word. One Jordan keeps telling my nephew is a bad word in our house. That's right she learned "no". It was cute when she shook her head no because she thinks it's funny and doesn't understand the meaning but actually saying the word, not so good. Of all the words she hears, she repeats the one she hears the most, go figure. Maybe we should focus on another word.

Well that's pretty much it at our end of the world. I'm going to go work on the invitations. Oh and of course the cute pics.

Our first spaghetti dinner

and of course the bowl is on her head

She's really good at climbing on us when we are in the floor

and Jordan has found a new exercise program

That program works great, we have both been losing weight.

10 Months.

2009-04-04T14:22:00.020-05:00

Well, she's almost a year old. She's been hitting every milestone about 2 months early, but she's still merely making noises, instead of really talking. She does "ma-ma-ma..." and some other noises like that. We've been teaching her a little sign language for certain things she wants like "up, please", "eat, please", "drink, please", etc.. We think she did "up" today, so I picked her up and she was happy. Hooray for communication! She has, to this point, signed "please" a couple of times, and she's also clapping on her own. Sometimes with prompting, sometimes without. It's pretty cute.

We're gearing up for her first birthday party, which will probably be here before we have everything ready. Of course, we'll probably have ridiculously messy cake pictures and fun present opening pictures...maybe not in that order.

Kacey's parents visit pretty regularly, and my parents came in last weekend. She has a lot of fun playing with all of them. (pictures to follow)

She's still zooming (crawling) around the house, following Kacey and I whenever we go into another room.

Now, some way cute pictures:

She had fun playing with Grandma:

And Grandpa:

I figured we should get some from her perspective:

She finally convinced Grandpa to put down the camera and let her take a real picture:

She loves to explore, and she's learning to love to read:

I said to Kacey as we were talking about the books on the shelf, "You know what she should read..." She got it out on her own.

And apparently wanted to read it:
She was so proud of herself:
Afterwards she got out a book that Kacey got for her so that she can understand why I'm always griping at the TV during the football season. Well, really it just explains the game. I'll still have to teach her about salary caps and bad coaching choices:

She only has her pacifier (plug) while she's in bed, but often she tosses it out anyway:

I've titled this piece "Consequences of Actions":

And here are some more cute ones:

This one really made me laugh:

Only a couple more months until she's one year old. Yikes!

-jordan

Nothing New I think

2009-03-02T14:15:00.016-06:00

So I noticed that we haven't posted in a while, but there really isn't much going on. Caitlyn did have her 9 month appt today. She's still tall, 28 in (80%). However she's only 15 lb oz (10%). So we are going to really push the proteins. That will be fun since she hates the meat dinners. Maybe we should restrict her activity. She rarely sits still any more. This past weekend she started standing on her own in the middle of the room. She's much better at getting up holding on to some thing and letting go but she's trying it by herself. We are pretty sure she will be walking before her first birthday.

Of course like always we have been taking really cute pics of our kid, so here they are....

(captions by Jordan)

She can apparently find her own music:

And play it:

Poor George:

Who's happy?

Yep. She can stand for a few seconds at a time now.

And read:

Well, maybe not:

She does like to play with my pants.

I think they're both cute:

Happy Valentines Day.....

2009-02-16T15:12:00.007-06:00

to all of you who celebrate it. Caitlyn had her first Valentine's party and cards. Our daycare got together with a friend of hers who also runs an in-home daycare and they had a party. I was told that she didn't cry but she sat by herself and watched the other kids. Not surprising to me since the other kids were older and that is what she does when Trev or Alex are around. I think it's because they are so interesting. It was surprising how much candy she received. I was silly and bought all of the kids bubbles thinking that who doesn't like bubbles. Besides most of the children were 1 year old or younger and don't have teeth or very few, so I wasn't thinking candy was a good idea. Oh well, I now have quite a bit of candy.

Caitlyn is sooooo big that we broke down and got a new car seat. Since she is not a year old however it's a convertible. So she can still be rear facing for 3 1/2 more months and then it faces forward. Plus it's good for up to 40 lbs. So she'll be in it for a while.

old car seat

new car seat
and just for fun here she is as a Teddy Bear

She keeps developing

2009-01-18T18:32:00.008-06:00

Ok so we haven't been keeping up with the blog lately. sorry. it's hard to do when the little girl is mobile. I don't remember if we mentioned this last time of not but I'm thinking not. She is crawling every where. So now she can get into quite a bit of stuff if you're not watching. We decided to move the mattress in the crib down a bit too. She's getting to that age and sure enough when we heard her crying after a nap and went in to see her this is what we found.

We are very glad we moved the mattress before she figured that out. So now we have to watch her about every second because she doesn't realize that some things will fall over on her when she pulls on them. It has however helped kick our butts into making sure this place stays clean. Let's see other big news, well Caitlyn loves to feed herself. We are giving her finger foods that melt in her mouth and she's great with them. That's really all the news on our end. Here are some other cute pics of the kid.

Watching the NFC championship game with dad

Peeking over the couch

she's still curious about the camera

Oh the Holidays

2009-01-05T13:11:00.012-06:00

Well Caitlyn has made it through her first Christmas and New Years. We all went in to St Louis for Christmas. Caitlyn made out like a bandit, toys, clothes, books, even a movie. I'm pretty sure we came home with more stuff than we brought. Her favorite part was tearing up the paper. Although she was interested in some of the stuffed animals. My aunt Kathy kept saying that Caitlyn could go live with her or she might sneak off with her. The funny thing is she took this picture

and texted my uncle asking which one she could bring home.

Needless to say my family loves Caitlyn. She was the center of attention at my grandmothers house. Unfortunately she had to share the attention the rest of the weekend.

For New Years we were giant bums. I wasn't planning on doing anything because of Caitlyn having to be in bed a 9 pm. Although Caitlyn decided she didn't want to go to bed. She cried from about 10 p til 11:40 p. So our New Year's eve wasn't exactly pleasant. She did get calm and went to bed and woke up at 7 am the next morning all happy and cute. I took advantage of her napping by napping myself that same day.

So the real cool thing that she has been doing lately, well one of them, she goes to sleep by herself. I was talking to Jordan a bit ago about how we needed get a way for her to calm herself down and go to sleep. He seemed to remember this and started it on Fri when he was watching her. He wrapped her in her blanket laid her bear down with her and put in her plug then patted her back and walked away to do something in her room. When he turned around she was asleep. So he did that for the rest of her naps and it worked. I said great and tried it for bedtime, that took a little longer but she did go to sleep. Well three days later and she goes to sleep with our help. It's really kinda nice. No more rocking til she's asleep, or singing or pacing. I'm so proud of both my husband and Cailtyn.

Ok so the other really cool thing that she has been doing lately is she pulls herself up on things. As proof of the photo below.

She's starting to get really good at it. That walking thing is coming around the corner isn't it? hmmm.

She is mobile however. She's not really crawling but getting up and flopping forward. This past week however she's started to place one hand in front of the other and then flop. So maybe she will crawl before she walks. Although she still doesn't like to be down on the ground. Only my child, right?

Alright already so here are some more cute pics of the kid.

She liked looking into bags

She's interested in the pretty tree.

She got a new Winnie the Pooh

We met a new kitty too

See mom she likes her doll or at least the doll's plug

She's trying to figure out the camera

Here's a pic from her point of view.

Jordan makes a great jungle gym

Yowza!

2008-12-11T19:22:00.014-06:00

Where to begin? We travelled to St. Louis for the weekend prior to heading down to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. Kacey decided that might be a good time to get sick. We went to my buddy Mike's wedding, but left before the reception so that Kacey could get some rest. She apparently decided to share her sickness with her father, who started feeling bad on Sunday, as Kacey was getting over it. Since she was feeling better, we went down to Tulsa that Monday, spent a couple of days with my grandparents, then went on to Madill. When we got down there, Kacey decided she wasn't done being sick, and Caitlyn decided she didn't really like her regular sleep schedule and decided not to as much as possible. After a few days of this, we left to return to St. Louis to retrieve our dog, whom my parents-in-law watched for us for a couple of weeks, and went back to Columbia. As all of this ridiculousness gave me my first ever stress headache, I was ready to get back to work. Fortunately, I was scheduled to go shoot at an art fair in Miami. I went down for a couple of days, enjoyed the weather, shot some video, then came home. We've been laying low the past week trying to get back in the swing of things.

Caitlyn had her 6-month appointment the other day, she's in the 20th percentile for weight, and the 90th percentile for height. I guess she's kind of a string bean.

Now, what you've all been waiting for, pictures of Caitlyn enjoying her extended family. Oh, and some pictures of my French brother-in-law filleting a catfish.

Caitlyn had fun walking to Grandad:

And playing with Grandma:

And playing with Grandad:
Noah hid from us some of the time:

Though he did think his mother's fingers were tasty:

Benjamin got to hang out with Uncle Jim and Mimi:

And he got to dive tackle his dad:

And play with Aunt Kacey's feet:

And he was nice to his cousin:

Yeah, Alisa had a camera there, too.

Christine offered to help hold Caitlyn some during Thanksgiving:

Alex even got to help feed her:

Caitlyn and Noah got to play together a bit:

Kacey and Caitlyn and BethAnn and Kyra all played together for a while:

Alisa and Frederic's Christmas present to us was a game called "Jumpin' Monkeys" which they made us open before Thanksgiving. The instructions told us to use the catapults to fling our monkeys into the tree. The goal of the game seemed to be to cause chaos and ridiculousness, much like any other game we play at Thanksgiving.

There's Kyra hanging out with her daddy:

There's Noah hanging out with his mommy:

WARNING BETHANN!!! FISH IN THE NEXT FIVE PICTURES!!!!

There's Frederic hanging out with his fishy:

At least one of the following pictures may be a little graphic, don't look if you don't like eating catfish. Or if you do and don't want the experience ruined for you:

My dad and brother finally went at it...yep, they played Wii Boxing.
Here's a picture from last year of the three pregnant girls:

And here they are with their kiddos:
Frederic's French. He's still having trouble with this catfish concept:

Oh, and here's that cute girl that keeps growing up:

Just today Caitlyn started chewing on her teething ring voluntarily with the upper portion of her mouth. Top teeth shouldn't be far behind.

-jordan

Big News

2008-11-18T14:37:00.008-06:00

So, of course, right before Thanksgiving we have a few things to say. First off Caitlyn is teething! She is actually doing very well with it. She is soo cute.

Second..I have joined the club of deer hunting with my car. Thankfully I'm ok and I was by myself. My car doesn't look bad but the estimate I was given is a lot. The stupid buck was unaffected, he got up and ran in front of the car behind me. Oh well I guess it was bound to happen eventually when you live in the country.

My poor car.

Caitlyn's already to go to Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is around the corner

2008-11-07T13:24:00.012-06:00

This year seems to be flying by. Caitlyn keeps progressing. There will be a time when she slows down right?

We are preparing for our first big car trip with Caitlyn. So far she has been fine going to and from St Louis but that's only about 2 hours in the car. She was alright this last weekend, though we did have to make a stop to start getting her fed. Kacey stayed in the back seat with her and she seemed to do ok. Thankfully she can keep herself occupied some of the time. She likes playing with the toys on the car seat. It will also help that she can hold her own bottle. Now if we can only start getting her to tell us what she wants.

The Thanksgiving trip will be 6 hours to Tulsa, 3 to Madill, then the full 9 back that Saturday, if we can do it. If not, we may stop in Tulsa again. I'm crossing my fingers.

This past weekend, Kacey went to have a girls' night with her sister and sister-in-law. I went to play paintball Saturday morning, then went to a nice steak place with "the guys" for my buddy's bachelor party. Unfortunately, I came down with the same cold that Kacey and Caitlyn had, therefore Saturday night was no fun. Nor Sunday night. I'm staying home with Caitlyn today, though, and she's sleeping like a log.

Here's Caitlyn and Trevor on Halloween:

She like sleeping on the couch:

And playing with the dog:

And playing with her mom:

She's been working on sitting up on the floor so she can play at daycare:

The sitter called Kacey today with some good news. She said that Caitlyn was getting up on her hands and knees and lunging forward. She'll probably be crawling any day now.

-jordan

Growing and Growing

2008-10-27T13:54:00.006-05:00

Another month gone. Wow it's surprising how fast they go. Caitlyn will be 5 months in just a few days. Jordan is going out of town again for business and I'm still love being a working mom. Not much has happened this month. It's finally getting cool around here so we had to go and get some long sleeve onsies and pants for the kiddo. You'd think that finding plain white long sleeve onsies wouldn't be that hard but apparently around here it is. We did find some long sleeves colorful stuff, but I would like some white ones call me picky. It's amazing how fast she is growing. She's wearing 6 month pants because she is so tall but they don't really fit around her waist. They kind of fall of if you pick her up out of her walker. She is getting really vocal these days too. She will just make tons of sounds and she laughs if you are laughing. It's great.

I'm still convinced she hasn't read the book about babies. She is almost crawling. She lifts herself up on all fours and kinda lunges but only sometimes. For the most part she moves backwards when she's on her stomach. She'd still rather be up on her feet and try to walk.

She's getting really strong too. She can almost stand holding on to some thing by herself. We can't wait to show her off at Thanksgiving. Well that's all that's been going on here so now for the cute pics of the kid.

4 Months Old

2008-09-30T13:08:00.011-05:00

That's right we had our 4 month appt today and she is 13 lbs and 24 1/2 inches (80% height, 55% weight). So she's still tall and skinny. She apparently hasn't read the book about what babies are supposed to do and when. Her bottom gums are getting hard and inflamed meaning her teeth will soon be coming in. She has been standing for ever now, and trying to walk. She is getting less wobbly and starting to hold on to stuff while she's standing. She still doesn't like to be on her belly even though she can lift most of her body on her front arms.
We bought her a walker a few weeks ago. I thought it was cute and she loves to stand and she can get heavy after a while. I know she isn't supposed to fit in it or use it but she doesn't know. She loves it plus she figured out that if she's in the kitchen she can move, backwards but still she's moving. She is also teething yes it's a little early but you tell her that. She is chewing on everything she can put in her mouth. She's also getting better at that too. Her hand eye coordination is definitely improving. She holds her own bottle and when it come out of her mouth she tries to put it back in and sometimes gets it. I know children are supposed to grow up fast but this fast? Maybe it's just my perspective. Any ways on to the pictures.

We still scoot to the corner of the crib.

and if you look closer she holds on to the sides. It makes it hard to get her out in the morning cuz she won't let go.

She is so flexable.

Not sure about this

Oh wait it's fun

And here we go again.

Hooray for me!

Sweet mohawk! yes it's natural.

And just for fun, this is how I found the dog the other day.

I'm glad some one is using the boppy.

The Big Wedding Weekend

2008-09-15T14:13:00.006-05:00

Well my brother finally got married. He's only been dating Tera for about 9 years. So we packed up and went to St Louis. I would like to report that this trip was a vast improvement from last time. Caitlyn slept most of the way and the portion she wasn't asleep she was quietly playing with her hands or toy. I was so happy. Jordan was already in St Louis working so I was by myself driving in.

The wedding was beautiful. My new sister looked wonderful. It was an outdoor wedding beside the Butterfly house. Thankfully the remnants of hurricane Ike did not show up until Sun. Although the sky started looking troublesome,

but there was a breeze that cooled us off. Besides it wasn't that long of a service. Caitlyn looked very cute in one the numerous outfits Alisa sent. She even slept through the service so she was quiet unlike another baby there. He wasn't that bad the unfortunate thing was he belonged to the matron of honor and best man. The reception was nice. I got to see a few of my brother's friends I hadn't seen in a long time and even talked with some. (my brother had friends I didn't really care for back in the day but most of them have done a lot of growing up and are now pretty cool).

We tried to get pictures of everybody holding Caitlyn but the battery died on the camera and we didn't have another. For some reason Caitlyn was just as popular as Tera and Boy that night. I guess it's because she's soo cute.

3 months old

2008-09-02T12:07:00.008-05:00

Happy Labor Day to those of you who live in the States.

We had a fun and almost full weekend of stuff. We had three dinners to go to. Thankfully they were all split so we did one each day of the weekend. Not bad when you have a baby who gets fussy when she is not on her schedule. It was good to spend time with friends and family (my sister and family). Besides free food is always good.

We have been doing well since the last post. Caitlyn just wont stop growing. Although it's length wise and not width wise. So she's tall and skinny and oh so cute. She has learned a few more things. She knows how to roll over but doesn't like it. She screams when shes down on her back then she'll roll to her stomach and scream even louder. Still not liking to be down. She can sit up with help as from the last pictures, and still loves standing. Now she can pretty much do it all herself. I just have to give her my thumbs and get her to a sitting position then she will stand up with help for balance of course. She has really strong leg muscles. She is also starting to hold and shake her toys. Even reaching for some. It doesn't really seem like she is 3 months old already.

Oh I thought this was funny, and I know my dad will too. The other night she was a little fussy while Jordan had her so he turned her facing the tv (she likes to watch colors move) but she still fussed. Jordan changed the channel to something else he wanted to see and she still screamed. Well Jordan kept channel surfing until he came across the St Louis Cardinals game. Here's the funny part Caitlyn stopped fussing. He thought it was strange and told me so I changed the channel and she started fussing again so I put the ball game back on and she calmed down again. So needless to say we watched the ball game until bath time. Whatever works right?

Work is going well for both of us. It's the same old same old for me but Jordan is getting work from a contact he made on his last project. We are very happy about this. He is building a name for himself and people like his work. Well that's all that's been going on now for the cute pictures.

Let's see who can find Caitlyn?

Is she in there?

Oh wait...

Getting closer

There she is

Hmm wonder what dad's finger tastes like

She's ok with peek-a-boo

Here's how we are after we wake up

Yes she smiles

Thrush...yes, it's more than just a little bird

2008-08-19T13:11:00.019-05:00

That's right the babysitter called me the other day and said she thinks Caitlyn has thrush. Oh joy. So I went to pick her up and took her home while waiting for the doctors office to call back. Thankfully since this is so common they just called a script in for meds. Unfortunately since it's contagious one of us had to stay at home with her the next day. Jordan asked if I had any sick time left to which i responded no I don't. For those of you who may not know I used all my sick time, vacation and personal days so I could get paid for my maternity leave. So Jordan got to stay at home and take care of Caitlyn.

-Kacey

AND OH WHAT A DAY IT WAS!
Caitlyn didn't sleep but 20 minutes at a time about three times. She likes to scream now, immediately, if she thinks things aren't going her way. I hope it's just the sickness, 'cause this is rough. Regardless, we made it until Mommy got home, and now she's cooking me dinner for my birthday. Oh yeah, it's my birthday. For those of you who forgot, don't worry; I forgot too.

In career news, I'm going to be operating camera for a tv show pilot in Saint Louis this weekend. It's gonna be a few long days, but worth it in the long run, I hope. This is through some contacts I gained in working on a film in Saint Louis through most of July. I almost feel like a grown-up.

Now, pictures:

Caitlyn scoots around as she sleeps as evidenced here:

Here's a cute one:

She does smile at me occasionally:

And winks at the dog:

And somehow she learned this way too early. She's not supposed to stick her tongue out at me until she's at least 2, I thought.

I interrupt this photofest for a picture of 2 really cute girls:

It's football season! Almost. Unfortunately I think I'm letting her watch a Tennesee/Oakland game. Not the prettiest. Then again, I'm probably going to subject her to the Rams this season. Sigh.

After this, apparently she figured out how to work the remote:

We don't get great TV:

But she finally found something worth watching:

She does like bath time. I'm making it a point to not take bath pictures that she'll hate me for when she's older.

And she does get tired once in a while, fortunately for us:

That's all for now.

-jordan

Back to work and more

2008-08-07T13:25:00.009-05:00

That's right, I'm back at work. It's not that easy to just go back and leave my baby with a sitter after being with her non-stop for 9 weeks. Although I'm glad to report that she is doing great with the change, she doesn't cry when I leave her or get anxious when I pick her up. The sitter says she's easier than her daughter. I keep getting told that Caitlyn is such a wonderful baby so I guess I should believe it. We decided to go with a home day care so Caitlyn would get more one on one attention and still get the interaction with other children. There is the sitters daughter who is 6 mons old and a little boy who is 5 mons old. So Caitlyn is the youngest and gets a little more attention than the other two.
I am glad to be back at work it does give me interaction with adults at least. Besides I don't do well when I'm at home for very long even if I have a little one to take care of.
So for those of you who didn't know Jordan took a job in St Louis which started July... so this meant I spent the remainder of my maternity leave and first week of work being a single parent. Soooo not easy by the way. I don't know how she does it but every time I thought it would be safe to eat or nap or shower she'd start screaming and need to eat, be held or changed. The upside to being on my own with her, at least one, was that I set her schedule and no body has been around to mess it up. She even sticks to that schedule at the sitters house too. I also got to bond with her a lot. We started talking to each other, or really she'll start cooing and I respond then she looks at me. Although she goes back and forth like that with Jordan and the sitter, that doesn't seem fair. We have also started working on sitting up and standing. Actually she started it, she doesn't like to lay down when she's awake. She loves to stand with some one supporting her of course, and she'll sit up but when you go to lay her down because she's heavy she'll scream until you let her stand again. I tried to get to roll over but she hates being on her stomach when she's awake. She does move really good in her bed a night on her stomach so I stopped trying to get her to roll over. I have also found out that she likes to hear the song "Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes". I started singing it to her and she smiles and laughs. I've tried a few other songs but I don't get the same response with them. I love my baby.

Jordan took Caitlyn to her 2 month check up fri the 8. She must be eating very well since she's 10 lb 6 oz and 23 1/4 inches. I'm not entirely sure where she gets the height from, nor am I sure it will last. Oh well. She also got 3 vaccines. Jordan said she didn't like those at all but like a good father he said she'd be fine and didn't make a big deal out of it. She only ran a slight fever afterwards to but that went away with a little Tylenol. The doctor told us we could give her some if that happened. So a few days later and she hasn't reacted to any of them so hooray for that. Her next appt isn't for a couple more months. I'm almost afraid to see how much more weight she'll gain. She is such a good eater.

We took another trip into St Louis the past weekend as well. I'm not sure we will want to do that again. It was stressful for all of us. Poor Caitlyn was thrown off her schedule and was passed around so much she was sooo not happy. The sitter said she slept most of the day today I think she was making up for the lack of sleep she got the past few days. Anyways the reasons we went is was first Alex's 4th birthday party. Yep that's right he's 4 if you can believe that. It was good, the kids had fun and the food was yummy.

They played water balloons oh my

Opened presents

Ate Cake

Like father

like son

and played with the toys. Oh yeah and this is what we saw of dale

Over all a good party.

Another reason we went in was so that I could spend some time with my sisters and go to Tera's bridal shower. I don't have any pictures of those cuz I forgot the camera. I can tell you that Caitlyn has finally met the rest of my extended family, I think. The shower was fun even if Tera didn't want to play any games. I guess to each their own. I know that doesn't sound like it would be stressful but trying to pack that stuff in with church, seeing my best friend before she leaves, diner with family and making sure we left semi on time to make sure we made it home before Caitlyn's bed time. Oh and I forgot to mention that we took the dog with us since we didn't have any one to watch her, maybe because we forgot to ask until friday. Let's just say we learned a few important lessons about traveling with a kiddo and a dog. We'll see how well we learned them next month when we go in for Boy and Tera's wedding.
Now to end this long post with some adorable pics of our little baby.

Caitlyn's first trip

2008-07-16T19:28:00.011-05:00

Amazingly there has been a lot going on for us. My grandparents and aunts came in for the day to see Caitlyn. It was a good visit. My sister and nephew also came to lunch with us. Here are pictures of that day. This is one of my aunts

My grandmother:

My grandfather:

My nephew giving Caitlyn a kiss

We also went into St Louis that weekend. Jordan has a job there for the next three weeks and my brother was moving into his new house so I figured I'd go in as well. It also gave me a chance to see how Cailtyn would do on a car trip. (Jordan took his car since he's going to be there longer than me)For those of you who don't know, St Louis is about 1 hr 40 min to 2 hr trip. Well she did alright for half the trip but the rest of it she was a little fussy but not bad. I just had to keep putting her plug back in. Unfortunately she did the same thing on the way back home. I guess that's not too bad being that it was her first trip and she's only 6 weeks old.

Well we spent quit a bit of time with family and friends while we were there. After dinner with the Lundy family, I had lunch the next day with my mother and showed Caitlyn off at her office. That's also how I ]found out that she now weights 9lb 5 oz. It's really nice have a pediatric nurse for a mother. Then I met up with my best friend. It was a good day. We also helped my brother and his fiance move on Sat. After months of looking they finally found a really cute one. This also gave us a chance of getting my brother to hold Caitlyn.

He kept saying that she was too small. Like he was afraid of breaking her. It's a good thing that Jordan doesn't really give people a choice. He did alright even if it was only for a minute or two.

I don't know who all of you remember but this past weekend was also our anniversary. We've been married for 6 years. It doesn't really seem that long, considering we've been together for 10 and 1/2 years. Anyways we took advantage of the fact we were staying at his parents and let them babysit and we went out. I don't even remember our last real date. Of course my mind isn't really what it used to be.

Over all it was a really good trip in with the exception that it threw Caitlyn out of her schedule. I'm trying to get her back on it, and she seems to think it's ok to sleep on people and not in her bed. That makes bed time a little hard.

But I know I can get her back on her schedule even if she drives me crazy with all her fussing.

I hope Jordan will be able to deal with the schedule I put her one since he'll be gone for three weeks. There is a good note. She has sleeps for about 7-8 hours at night. She has done this for a week. So I'm at least getting a decent sleep. That's all the fun things that have been going on. Maybe Jordan will write on here again. We'll see. Here is another cute picture of Cailtyn holding the monkey that Evelyn got for her. She has a really good grip.

One Month Old

2008-06-30T15:50:00.011-05:00

So I'd like to start by saying that Ryan, Christine, and Alex all saw Caitlyn earlier too and we didn't get pics of them, but here they are now.

I know I have pics of my sister holding her too,l i think with our camera. If and/or when I find them I'll put them up. Oh and Alisa if you want you can email us a picture of you and we can photoshop Caitlyn in for you and post it.

Now on to the original thought.

WOW!! She's already a month old. That can't be right, really? I guess so. Well I'd like to say nothing has happened since our last post but it has been two weeks and there has been a fair amount going on here. First off Caitlyn has grown. At her two week check she was 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 in long. Since then I can tell she's getting bigger, she has chubby thighs now to go with her adorable chubby checks which she gets from her father. She still spends most of her time sleeping. As you can see.

But we like it that way. She's been eating more too but on the bright side she sleeps about 5-6 hours at night. Which we are both very grateful for. Lots of people have been through to see her like both sets of grandparents, they were both here this past weekend along with Ryan, Chirstine, Alex and Melinda (Christine's mom). That was a good visit. Alex played a little bit of Mario Cart with the boys. Starting early with the video games, although not as early as we are with Caitlyn. Right now she lays there and watches us play but one day she'll get the hang of it. Jenn came and stayed on her vacation too. We're trying to get some of our friends into the idea of having children starting with Ray and Jenn, just cuz she was here. Although we have some friends who after seeing her a few times are thinking about talking about having one. Funny it's our friends here in Columbia who are talking about it or having one's of their own.

Jordan is taking a lot of pictures as evidence below.

This is what I get for staying still too long i guess. Well little does he know but I've got one of him too.

See he's teaching her how to play computer games. He is a great help with her. I'm really lucky to have that. I'm not sure how a single mother can do all this. They are truly heroes in my opinion.

That's all that's been going on but there are still a few things to come. We are planning a trip into St Louis in July and another for Sept due to my brother getting married, then of course I will eventually have to go back to work, boo. Well I guess life is going to have a lot of changes from now on. Hope we're ready for them.

Wow, 2 weeks have passed.

2008-06-17T11:22:00.013-05:00

That's right, we've blinked, and suddenly it's two weeks later. I know you're all waiting for more pictures, so I won't delay. This is where she squirmed to the other day:

Kacey and I figure if she's comfortable, then she's happy:

Since birth, she's gotten to see Grandma:

And Grandpa:
And Grandma:
And Grandpa:
And Aunt Tera:
She also got to see Uncle Kyle, but he wouldn't hold her; and I haven't gotten pictures of her with Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jason yet. She doesn't do much anyway, yet, except for sleep:

And here are some other cute pictures:

See, Alisa, our kid can wave, too!:

That's all for now. I think we're kinda getting the hang of this parenthood thing. She goes in tomorrow for her 2 week checkup.

-jordan

Caitlyn the Wiggle Monkey

2008-06-05T08:32:00.004-05:00

She's doing well. Though she does kick and squirm and move when she's not sleeping. Here's Kacey holding her last night:

We wondered if she might sleep through the night better propped up a bit, as she sleeps in our arms all day. And here's how Kacey found her this morning when she got up:

She apparently has gotten her father's sense of not wanting to wear socks and shoes.
Things are going well, Caitlyn's doing all the things that newborns do; and yet, we're still having fun with her. =)

-jordan

Day 2 at home!

2008-06-04T17:38:00.006-05:00

Kacey and Caitlyn and I came home from the hospital yesterday. Gizmo is still figuring her out a bit; looking at her a bit funny when she makes noise, but we think they're gonna be good friends. Caitlyn's doing well, she's just sleeping a bunch as newborns do. It'll take a little more time to get some good eyes-open pictures.

And here's what you've all been waiting for: Even more pictures of the cutest baby in the world!!

Pictures! Yay!!!!

2008-06-03T12:47:00.007-05:00

Here she is!!!!! :

Born with a full head of hair:

And her mom even looks pretty good for a few hours away from giving birth:

-jordan

She's here!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-01T21:24:00.001-05:00

Caitlyn Grace was born at 1:13 pm on June 1st, 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 lbs. 11 oz. 20.5 inches long! (tall?)

Pictures coming soon!

almost there

2008-05-23T19:12:00.005-05:00

yep that's right everyone. my doctor has told me that it could come at any time now. that's a little scary considering jordan has been crazy busy at work and i don't really see much of him these days. of course the other scary thing is that my doc is also estimating that the kiddo is about 8 pounds. that's a little bigger than i had expected. oh and also, i'm stealing a line form alisa, the kid has an eviction date also. you just in case it doesn't come soon. so if you don't hear that we've had a kid through the grapevine of however the next 2 weeks you should by june 6. my induction day, again only if needed, is june 4. yep you read right they are willing to induce me before my due date. oh darn. but we get back to the point of i don't really think that's going to be necessary. if you don't already know i'm a little impatient. considering i'm already 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced with technically two weeks to go. that makes me very happy.
we are, or at least we think ready for the kid. we have the nursery set up although not clean, hmmm maybe we should do that. my bag has been packed and it's in the car waiting, the registration papers are all filled out. my wonderful coworkers gave me a shower today. it was so nice. we have toys for the baby and lots more clothes and bath stuff. so i think we even have everything we need. or at least we think so.
it seems a little odd that my coworkers are taking bets that i'm not going to show up on tues, hooray for three day weekends. but at the same time i'd be fine if i didn't have to go to work next week either. i even have students telling me that they don't want to see me next week unless i have a newborn with me. i have great students and friends at work.
and i thought for all of family and friends who haven't seen us, or really me, here's a picture.

who know i would get sooooo big.

so hopefully with in a week you all will hear that we have a baby boy or girl.

Time flies...

2008-05-15T23:36:00.003-05:00

when you're working hard.

I started work today (yesterday?) for the Summer Film Institute at Stephens College in town. I'm working with that through Boxcar Films. I'm the rough cut editor for each of the productions. There'll end up being a short film, 2 commercials, and a music video. Pair that with taking care of a lot of the other Boxcar editing as well, and you have a 24/7 job.

Kacey and I "toured" the hospital the other day; which conisisted of finding the right floor,
knowing where to check in, and seeing the rooms. Looks like a pretty decent place. They even have a TV and DVD player, so that when I'm not doing anything else, I can actually catch up on my Netflix list.

We've got a list, as well, of things we need to get done prior to the child arriving. It sure does feel good crossing those off, until you put 2 more on to replace it. Based on the rate Kacey's progressing in her pregnancy, it's going to be tough to finish.

Well, that's it for now, I think.

37 weeks done, 3 to go!!!!!!

-jordan

Nursery Pictures and the Lazy Dog

2008-05-08T07:42:00.002-05:00

Well, here's the nursery:

And a closer shot of the rocking chair corner. The rocking chair may change, I don't know if Kacey decided on that or not, but we had an offer for a free, potentially comfier chair.

And here's the crib, all put together by yours truly:

And, apparently, we're leaving my "collector's box" in the nursery. The kid better not eat all my cool stuff, though.
And as an added bonus, here's how we usually see our dog.

Things seem to be speeding by once we got past the 8 week mark. Kacey's doctor visits are weekly now, and everything seems to be going well. The kiddo and Kacey are both healthy. I think we actually have most of the stuff we need to get started, since we picked up the carseat the other day. I've just gotta start preparing mentally for dropping everything to get to the hospital.

36 weeks done, 4 weeks to go!

EDIT: I guess I should mention, too, that our voting is now tied at 18-18 for whether we're going to have a boy or a girl. I wonder how that happened....ALISA. Oh well, I guess that works since there's a 50% chance we have either.

-jordan

Finally...

2008-04-23T19:54:00.009-05:00

I've got pictures from the baby shower, and time to put them up. Yay!!

That's Grover's cake, which I'm sure Kacey enjoyed.

That's a cute one of Kacey holding the monkey she registered for. I mean, for Grover, of course.

And here's one of Kacey holding the sleep sack which my sister got for us. I was mean and made her wait to open all the gifts at her shower, even though they arrived here early. Also, the words on this one are in French.

And here's one of Kacey, her sister Kelly, and her soon-to-be sister-in-law Tera. That's a lot of dashes.

Today is also the day that I finally got a digital camera. Yes, I gave in. It is a single lens reflex, which just feels better to me. Kacey even opened the package and put it together, so I guess she'll be taking pictures, too. It seems to be functioning well, at least much better than my wireless keyboard I spilled coffee on the other day. Fortunately, I'm replacing that, too.

I should be posting some more practice pictures (maybe even one of Kacey) once the Compact Flash card arrives.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Apparently somebody (Alisa?) has been voting more than once. I'd like to reiterate, one vote per visitor, please. No matter how many times you vote, it won't change the outcome, I was just curious what people thought. You can try it in November, though.

33.65 weeks done, 6.35 to go!!! (I rounded those numbers a bit. Hooray math!!!)(**Hooray math! Boo English. Thanks to Rachel's astute reading, I have changed the word "days" to the word "weeks". That, and I have misplaced my mind.)

-jordan

Hooray for a weekend full of family, friends and presents

2008-04-16T12:40:00.003-05:00

So this past weekend trip to St Louis wasn't so bad. It was so I could go to my own baby shower. Which was nice. My aunts did a great job. We of course played games and ate and presents. The nursery is taking shape nicely. There is definitely a lack of echo in there now. I am very impressed at how many people I know that made things by hand. Oh and Alisa next time you send stuff you don't have to put Jordan's name on it. He was mean, he wouldn't let me open your presents until the shower which is not nice to know the presents on the table, that sat there for almost three days, are for you but you can't open them.
The rest of the weekend was good as well. We spent some time with friends who we haven't seen in a while. Although the game night wasn't quite fair seeing that it was boys vs girls and two of us were pregnant. Needless to say the girls didn't do well with the games but we had fun talking and stuff instead. We also got invited to a dinner party of sorts, guess that makes adults or some thing. Which was nice. Talking and catching up with people is always good. So overall the weekend was lots of fun. Hopefully we will be getting a camera soon so you all can see the nursery and of course the kid when it gets here.

Oh one more thing, if any one is having a girl or knows of some one having a girl we have some stuff you can have.

Rockin' ouuuuu.....lemme take this call.

2008-04-09T15:07:00.003-05:00

I realized I'm old. I didn't know the phone call was going to be about life insurance, which is probably necessary for us to think about now anyway; however, I was listening to "Detroit Rock City" decently loud in my car with my windows down when the call came. I turned it down to take the call. I'm old.

The nursery seems a lot more like a nursery with the crib and rocking chair in there. Now the crib has a mattress, too, thanks to Kacey's parents. I thought it'd be fine if the kid sleeps on the mattress support, but apparently nobody else thinks so.

Kacey and Grover(our name for the unborn child) get a baby shower this weekend in St. Louis. Hopefully we'll get a bunch of neutral colored stuff since we're not finding out whether it's a boy or a girl until it's born; but I've heard rumor that one of Kacey's friends has already gotten us something girl-themed. Fortunately, we live in the county where there are no burn laws....

It appears spring has started here in Columbia. I know this because of the ants who like to search for scraps in our kitchen. I refilled the outdoor poisoning centers (kid and animal safe, I promise!), so hopefully they'll cease to be a problem.

I think that's it for now.

Still kinda 31 weeks done, 9 to go. (I fixed this for jordan-kc). I may not really know the count.

-jordan

Maybe a little bit of stuff is happening now...

2008-04-05T13:08:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we put the crib togther, that my in-laws purchased and had shipped to our house. It's one of those cool modular, transforming cribs; so it'll be a toddler bed, and a day bed, and a full size bed someday. Of course, with all modular furniture, there's one piece that never works right; with this crib, it was one of the drawer handles (oh yeah, it came with a drawer and changing table, too). They have these metal inserts that the screws are supposed to jive with, but that didn't happen. It came out. Fortunately, that's a wood glue fix. Should be easy.

Here's a picture:

Just kidding. But I'm practicing for when I get my tax refund and economic stimulus back this year. Buying a camera seems a necessary part of having a kid these days. I'm also excited that we get a refund. We finally figured out how to not have to pay the government at the end of the year. Yay!

Kacey and the baby are still healthy, and are on track for early June, which keeps getting closer and closer. I'm sure it'll seem even closer after the baby shower next week. Well, that's all for me for now, I think. You happy now, Alisa? I blogged.

Almost 33 weeks done. 7 to go. Yikes!

-jordan

Life in the midst of pregnancy...kinda boring

2008-03-17T14:00:00.002-05:00

so jordan told me that it's my turn to write on here so i guess i should find something to say. Let's see....the kiddo is doing great. It's very active, it doesn't seem to stay very still for very long. Which is fine until I want to go to sleep. And yet again I'm at the point of sleeping a lot. oh boy. Also my doctors appts are now every two weeks, guess that means we're getting closer to being done.
We are heading to st louis this weekend for easter and see my family. My dad told me that they were waiting to dye easter eggs until Trev, my sis' kid gets there. That will be fun to watch. A 3 year old trying to dye eggs. Besides he's cute. We have almost everything together, or at least we are tricking ourselves into thinking we have almost everything ready. We still need stuff for the nursery but we should be acquiring that stuff soon. We do have names although we are not sharing yet. The house is slowly getting clean and staying that way. It's hard to stay in good habits. Well I think that's about all that's going on right now. So now it's jordans turn and he always has something to say.

Wow.

2008-02-25T18:10:00.002-06:00

It's already the end of February. Kacey and I are doing well, after a small bout of sickness. I empathized with her vomiting, by doing so myself. However, we're over that now.

We spent the weekend in St. Louis last weekend and registered for baby stuff. It was almost 3 hours of searching and thinking and deciding and shopping without the gratification of leaving with anything. Well, I guess we did get a few freebies from Babies R' Us. Kacey's also been using Target's website for registering, too. Now if we just get a baby shower in place... =)

Hopefully we'll get a few more things done around the house before the arrival, like a workbench in the garage so that we can clean up a good portion of it. We do have most of the random stuff out of the nursery now, so we can start cleaning it up and organizing the closets a bit better.

That's about it for us for now.

27 weeks done, 13 to go! Woah. That looks a lot shorter than I thought.

-jordan

When they can't do ultrasounds anymore, I guess I'll have to buy a camera.

2008-02-13T20:17:00.003-06:00

Kacey went in for another ultrasound today since last time our child didn't want to cooperate. This time it did, and they got the profile shot they wanted:

They also got a face shot that Kacey thinks kinda looks like a monkey:

I still don't think they found any prehensile tail, but I'm holding out hope.

We're still working on some names. We came up with a good one for a girl, but I haven't made it all the way through the boys' names yet; once I do, we'll compare and contrast and probably only come up with one we like.

My parents came in to visit this past weekend; we had a good time. We played a game which my brother and sister-in-law purchased for us for Christmas. Apparently my dad likes it, since he won 2 of the 3 games we played.

Other than that, things are rolling along as usual. We've had a bit more wintery weather here, but nothing we're not used to.

25 weeks done, 15 to go!

-jordan

Second Ultrasound

2008-01-31T14:10:00.001-06:00

So here they are for all of you who have been bugging us, Alisa, we have new pics. We did have the second ultrasound and so far the baby looks healthy and just like last time it didn't want to cooperate. So we go in a few more weeks so they can finish. Only our child would not want it's picture taken, go figure. We do have some really cool pics for everyone this time, such as the one of the heart (you can see all 4 chambers),

a hand,

a foot,

and another face shot.

The interesting thing is after this ultrasound Jordan turned to me and asked again, "are you really having a baby? This is an elaborate joke you are playing me." I looked at him and said "yes dear, I wouldn't purposefully make myself vomit."

Everything is going great right now. I'm done being sick, for the time being. My coworkers say I finally look pregnant. Something about wearing big scrubs makes me not show. Who knew. Jordan is being very helpful these days which is awesome. We are almost ready to start putting together/decorating the nursery. We had to fix a small leak and moldy wall first. Love owning a house. We are also in the process of picking out names. This a lot harder than either of us thought it would be. Apparently we are very picky about what we name our child. The book we got is helping but so far we only agree on one girls name. Although there is a great list at the beginning. It's popular celebrity baby names. Yep staying far away from that list. Well so far that's what's been going on in our lives. We might have some more pics in a few weeks, months, or whenever the baby gets here. We'll see.

-kacey

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-17T19:59:00.001-06:00

That's right, I've finally put the first ultrasound pictures up. Kacey's got another ultrasound appointment on the 23rd, so we'll put a few of those up, too.

This one is the hand. Looks to have opposable thumbs, which is good. Much easier to eat finger foods that way:
Looks to have no opposable toes; so much for it being a monkey-child. Or maybe this one is the hand. I don't remember:This is a profile shot. There's a nasal bone in there:
And this is the one the nurse called the scary alien face. I don't think it looks too bad. If it stays that way, we won't even have to buy Halloween costumes for our kid:

Hope you all enjoy these. More to come soon!

-jordan

All holidayed out.

2008-01-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

Wow, yeah. The holidays were spent with much merrymaking with both sets of family and a whirlwind 5 meals in 2 days. Now we're back in Columbia, and Kacey has her next ultrasound appointment in a week or two. Guess that means it's about time to get the old pictures up. I did realize, after making promises of pictures, that I still have to scan them all in and get them to a good size to upload, and I also realized why it's so stupid that software companies issue serial numbers with their programs. I have to dig up the number so that I can install Photoshop and get the pictures to a more manageable size. So...once that's done, I'll really put them up. I promise. I don't promise how long it's going to take to locate my serial number, though. Maybe I'll just scan them a million times until I find one that's the right size.

Anyway, Kacey's still healthy (had a doctor visit last week), and our house is getting in shape for the kid to appear. I cut a big hole in the wall to find a potential leak in our attic, and found nothing; nothing apart from the somewhat moldy drywall and moisture in our insulation. I had the roofers out to look for leaks, but they told me they couldn't find anything, so they took apart the box vents and resealed them. Hopefully that'll take care of it. I definitely don't want to cut open my walls every year.

That's our fun for now.

19 weeks done! 21 to go!

-jordan

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-21T13:10:00.000-06:00

I returned from Texas on Wednesday evening. I went down for my cousin's wedding, and then over to Dallas for a business trip so that I could make everything tax deductable. I find that long trips always bring up pertinent questions, such as: 1. Why do they do road construction everywhere I want to drive? 2. Why do people like to cut me off so much? 3. Why do I have to pay money to drive slower on a road they're perpetually doing construction on? and 4. Why do people like to cut me off so much?
Once I answer all these questions, I'm sure I'll be a much smarter man.

Kacey and I leave this evening to go to Saint Louis for Christmas. We recently got a new printer/scanner, so we'll put up the ultrasound pictures after the holiday, and hopefully we'll get some pictures from the holiday we can put up too. We wish everyone a good holiday.

15.5 weeks done, 24.5 to go!

-jordan