Happy Holidays

Ah, the holidays. A time to celebrate our faith, our sense of giving and our family. What a perfect time to begin potty training. And Kelsey has not disappointed. Her first day sans diapers and running around the house just bare bottomed resulted in no accidents, and poop and pee in potties and toilets. Hoorah! Today, day two, not as good. I was sitting with Addison, reading a book, when a somewhat red-faced Kelsey came up to us and said "poop." "In the toilet!" I exclaimed. Unfortunately, Kelsey was making a statement, not a request. As I picked her up, two stinky chunks dropped to the floor. She did manage to get a third piece in the toilet along with wee-wee. Yes, it could have been worse. Later, I was reading to all three girls with Kelsey on my lap, when I suddenly felt the dreaded warm, wet sensation on my crossed legs. Ugh! I rushed Kelsey to the bathroom where she put more wee-wee in the toilet. Yes, it could have been worse. After these two incidents Kelsey did much better and went to the potty on her own to pee two more times today.

Life the past two months has been a bit of a whirlwind. We visited the Meyers in Maryland for Thanksgiving. We met Mike's grandnephew and ate lots of good food. Mike and I also ran in a 5 mile turkey trot. We finished in just over 43 minutes which was significantly better than we expected.

Addison and Lily had their Christmas production at school December 15. The next day we drove to Geogia to spend a week with the Sheppards. Kathleen and her family and Billy and his family joined us for a couple of days. The older cousins provided great entertainment for our three children. We experienced riding the Pink Pig with Coleman. And spent an afternoon and evening with the Kaplans. We also were able to spend a quick visit with the Best Burgers in Town in Charlotte, NC.

We arrived back in Athens late Christmas Eve eve. Fortunately much of our Christmas preparations we completed before we left for Georgia, so we didn't have to stay up all night Christmas Eve. Christmas morning was quite fun. Addison and Lily definitely have the hang of opening presents. Addison received her beautiful Belle ball dress which she wore all day long. Lily received her new blocks (legos)...and more new blocks and more new blocks. In fact there were enough new blocks that Addison and Kelsey were also allowed to build things with them. After all of the presents were opened, Addison and Lily actually enjoyed playing with them. After the Belle dress and blocks, the favorite toys for all of the girls are the new play castles and princes and princesses and horses and carriages. Kelsey received new toys as well, just like Santa promised.

Once again we realize that we are very blessed and fortunate to have our family, friends and health. Hopefully after a few more days of potty training I will still feel blessed.

Fast forward

So here we are. Kelsey is now 18 1/2 months old. She is quick as a whip and amazes us with the new things she says and does every day. She definitely wants to do everything her big sisters do...including jumping off the arm of the couch like Addison. She repeats a lot of what Addison and Lily say...so much so that we've had to focus on having Addison and Lily correct some bad habits so that Kelsey won't learn things incorrectly. So now we are working on all three girls saying "mine" rather than "my's".
Addison and Lily are quickly approaching the 3 1/2 year mark. They started preschool two days a week back in September. For the first few weeks we had a bit of separation anxiety, but they now happily go off to start playing when we drop them off. Just yesterday I went for my first parent/teacher conference. Mike, unfortunately, was out of town for work. Addison LOVES dress up clothes. And she loves the dress up clothes at school. Apparently a bit too much. I was informed that she would put on her favorite dress and then that it was nearly impossible for the teachers to get her to go and do anything else. Ultimately her favorite dress had to be hidden away. I guess the teacher's best description of Addison is shy. In fact one teacher said she is sure that she has never heard Addison say anything. But all of her development and activity is normal. Yea! The only concern I heard for Lily was that the teachers have a difficult time hearing her when she talks. Yikes! If they could only hear her shrill new sound at home. It is deafening! And Lily is also "normal".
One fastastic thing these days is that Addison and Lily can dress themselves. A few negatives...Lily was wearing multiple layers and long sleeves back when it was still in the 80s everyday. These days she usually only wears 2 layers. She has gone through phases of wanting to wear everything backwards, everything inside out, two different colored shoes, shoes on the wrong feet, two different colored socks. She still seems a bit disappointed if her outfit matches too well. Addison, on the other hand, believes that the fewer clothes the better. Her favorite thing to wear is a bathing suit top and underwear. It was a change to go from no-sleeves, to short sleeves and finally to long sleeves. These days Addison will easily put on all of her long sleeves and leggings to go to school or wherever we happen to be going that day. But the second she gets in the door, she gets in her bathing suit or a dress without sleeves. Addison also loves changing clothes. She might go through 4 outfits in a day.
On Tuesdays Kelsey attends Kindermusik during Addison and Lily's school. She loves dancing, singing, clapping and running around in class. She is SO different from Addison and Lily in this respect. Addison and Lily didn't really participate in Kindermusik until they were 2 1/2 or so. Kelsey is the youngest child in her class, but she fits right in with the others. On Thursdays Kelsey goes to the Community Center with me for Wee Wigglers. This is a time for young children to play with a bunch of stuff. There are big foam blocks to climb on, a jumper, trikes, a balance beam, hula hoops, balls, balls and more balls. Kelsey's friends who also attend Wee Wigglers are more athletic than she is. Carter is the OU Volleyball coach's son. Luke is the asst basketball coach's son. And Ellie has three older sisters who are all athletes and have given her a boost in her desire to play soccer. Ellie's mom had to remind her to kick the ball gently to Kelsey. Otherwise she'd knock Kelsey over with the ball. Watching the other kids kick and bounce the balls around at Wee Wigglers has motivated me to not only work on kicking, throwing and hitting with Kelsey, but also her older sisters.
This past weekend the whole crew flew out to San Antonio, TX for ND/Washington St game. We stayed with the Tubbesings. Mike and I attended the game. Thankfully we won easily. We all went to Sea World. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed Sea World more than anyone else.
Back in August Mike and I attended Dave and Ann's wedding in Minneapolis. Mike served as Dave's best man. My mom and dad spent the weekend with the girls. It was a wonderful time.
Flying to and from San Antonio was quite taxing. For the girls and for Mike and me. On our last flight from Atlanta to Columbus, the plane was scheduled to leave at 9:30p. It ended up leaving at 10:25p. Needless to say, we had some tired girls. I was sitting with Lily who was getting rather frustrated because the cabin lights kept going on and off during our time sitting at the gate and taxiing out to the runway. She wanted me to stop turning them off. I explained that it wasn't me turning them on and off, it was the pilot. After a pause, Lily said "The pilot is really good at turning the lights on and off." Mike was sitting directly in front of us with Addison and we both had a good laugh at that.
Following are some pictures from the past few monthdays. The last one I took today. All three girls got to finger paint with Cool Whip that I colored with food coloring.

Keeping up

Hi all.

Just another "what's going on post".

We had an exciting event yesterday. Addison and Lily put together a 35 piece puzzle on their own. It is an ABC puzzle with animals. Up until yesterday they have always "helped" Mommy or Daddy put the puzzle together, but yesterday they were working on it and I turned around and it was done!

Also interesting, but not so exciting...today Lily called down to me from upstairs and said "Teresa, will you help me?" I did a double take and asked her if she called me Teresa. The answer was Yes. To which I said "Well, my name is Teresa, but what is it that you call me?" I was referred to as Mommy for the rest of the day (thank goodness).

Kelsey continues to develop at breakneck speeds. Today she said "Read that book." Up until today it has been "Read that." She says "Up. Please." when she wants to be picked up. Although sometimes she still says "Hold it, mommy (or daddy)." when she wants to be held. A really cool thing is that Addison and Lily realize that Kelsey can communicate. Yesterday Kelsey said "Hold it." and Addison was the one who replied "What do you want to hold, Kelsey?" Lily's response to the same request was "No, that's Lily's".

Kelsey now sings along with Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She counted to three the other day. Then today in the car on the way to Kindermusik she counted to five. Addison and Lily were watching their Notre Dame movie. The voice over said "One." And Kelsey, very clearly, continued with "two, three, four, five."

Lily has a sleep sack or wearable blanket that has become her security blanket. It has been referred to as "sleep sack", then "sleepy sack" and now has become known simply as "E". It is such a big part of our family life that Kelsey knows its name is "E". But apparently Kelsey hasn't clearly identified "E". She sees it as a piece of fabric that one normally finds lying on the floor somewhere. The other day she found an article of clothing on the floor (unfortunately an all too common occurence at our house), and picked it up, called it "E", "E", "E" and proceded to carry it to Lily.

Last week we had our first real trip to the emergency room. Lily fell down our stairs and complained that she hurt her neck. The crying and complaining continued for an hour or so, then she had a couple hours of napping and continued to say her neck hurt. Our neighbor is a PA at the ER, so Mike asked him whether or not we should get her checked out. His advice was better safe than sorry when it comes to injuries that may involve the head. So I got to spend quite a bit of time with a scared, hurting almost 3 year old at the hospital and work with the xray techs to try and get the xrays needed. The few that were successful showed no real injury. Lily had a good dose of Motrin when we got home and when asked if she wanted more medicine the next morning she declared her neck was "perfect."

Addison and Lily turn 3 years old at the end of this month. We are so excited that Jessi is coming back for their birthday and for a 2 1/2 week visit. Who knew that Athens would be so exciting that she would want to come back for vacation?! We are planning a Madeline themed party for kids and adults.

While Jessi is here, I'll be having surgery up in Columbus at OSU. I'm having the right lobe of my thyroid removed due to a large nodule. The indications thus far are that it is a benign growth, but because it is large, the recommendation is to have it removed. The surgery is scheduled for July 10. I'll stay overnight and my doctor says I should be feeling pretty good by Monday.

This summer Mike will be teaching the first summer session. In early August Mike will be going to New York for an Accounting conference. Then we plan to spend a while in Ocean City, MD with Grandma and Grandpa. And we'll finish the summer with a trip to Minneapolis for the wedding of our dear friends Ann and Dave. Mike is honored to be Dave's best man (as Dave was Mike's best man at our wedding). Gram and Pop are coming to Athens to stay with the girls while Mike and I go and enjoy the wedding.

Speaking of Pop, last week I took Kelsey to have her 12 month vaccinations. While we were waiting we saw an older gentleman in the hallway. Kelsey looked at him and said "Pop." I explained he wasn't her "Pop."

Turning one

Hi there.

So Kelsey did finally start walking. Her first solo steps were taken April 7, 2009 at Kindermusik class. She was so focused on musical instruments that other children were playing that she accidentally took two steps. Then when we got home, she took about 6 steps and fell right on the sippy cup she was carrying. So it took a few more days before she walked on her own again. She turned 13 months old today and is walking proficiently and can stand up without pulling up on something.

We celebrated her birthday Easter weekend when Gram, Pop and Grandmama were visiting. We have a video of her cake experience that we will surely post some day. April 26 Kelsey was baptised. Gram and Pop returned for that weekend. Grandma and Grandpa were also present. And Mike's Aunt Maeve and Uncle Bob served as Kelsey's godparents. We have pictures from the baptism that we will surely post some day as well.

So what is the latest with the girls. Lily can write her name. You have to be there watching her do it to really recognize all of the letters, but she is writing them. Addison's drawing abilities now include putting eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, ears and feet on her smiley faces. Lily can spell both her name and Addison's name and is getting quite proficient at matching pictures to their corresponding words. Both Addison and Lily have taken to telling very involved stories. Generally it is very difficult to follow what the story is about. Rather than story we should probably call them a stream of consciousness. Addison's stories today usually involved Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), horses, bees and Madeline. The other day Lily was reciting a story (to no on in particular). She continued talking and walking around our main floor for about 5 minutes. Then she went upstairs, talking the whole way, and we could hear her over the monitor upstairs still talking. One of Addison and Lily's favorite things to do these days is wear their "eee-hee-hee" hats. These are hooded towels that they put on their heads and run around the house saying "eee-hee-hee". They also love watching Beauty and the Beast. Addison and Lily start their mornings by entering our living room and finding a basket of toys and dumping it out. Then they find a bag of Mr PotatoHead parts and dump it out. In a matter of 30 seconds they can totally trash the room.

Kelsey amazes us every day. She is a sponge for information and language. She says phrases like "hold it" and "open it". About 3 weeks ago she started Peoopee's full name...it is one of her favorite things to say. About 2 weeks ago she started participating in Old McDonald. If you sing most of the song, she'll sing E-I-E-I-O in the correct places. In the last week she has started singing the ABCs. She will sing ABD all by herself, but if you sing most of the letters, she'll participate with D, E, F, G, O, P, T, U, V and she's starting to the get the "me" at the very end. Last week she also started pointing to herself and saying "me". We have a box that has the letters A-B-C on it. If you point to the letters she'll say A and B. She still doesn't have C yet. Kelsey started helping with counting this week. If you say "one" she'll say "two" and then you say "three". You can ask her how many feet she has and she'll say "two". She likes to say "Hi" and she follows it up with something that sounds like "How are you?" To which we of course respond, "I'm good. How are you?" She responds, but that response is still unintelligible.

The other day, Mike was helping Kelsey eat her dinner. Here's how the conversation went:
Kelsey: "hold it"
Mike: "hold what?"
Kelsey: "hold it"
Mike: "hold what?" (looking around)
Kelsey: "HOLD IT"
Mike: "what?!"
Kelsey: "HOLD THAT!"
Mike never figured out what she wanted to hold, but good for Kelsey trying to explain it better.

Every night Kelsey gives Mike, Lily and Addison nite nite kisses. The last 2 days Kelsey has been saying nite nite and she will walk over to each of the three and give their kisses and say nite nite.

My guess is that Kelsey's vocabulary is up to about 60 words if you count all of the words she says and signs.

Well, there's our update. Happy Spring everyone.

It happened today

So the title of this post is a bit deceiving. I intended to post to the blog last week when these things really did happen. And now I can't even remember what all of these "things" were.

But one was very exciting. For Christmas Addison and Lily received some word match up cards (100 to be exact). Each card is a two piece puzzle. On one piece is a picture and on the other is the corresponding word. Addison and Lily LOVE these cards. Mostly they like to take all of them apart and carry them around in these clear plastic boxes in which Mr Potato Head and friends. So for many days now our nightly clean up involves putting together 100 2 piece puzzles and then putting all of the Mr Potato Head and friends parts back into the appropriate box. Amazingly enough we have only lost one piece of the 100 cards thus far.

About 9 days ago, Addison came over with two card pieces. And she stated "This is kite." Surprisingly she had the picture of the kite and the word kite piece and she was putting them together. I wasn't sure if they happened to already be together or if she really had figured the word out, so I didn't get too excited. But then about 7 days ago, Addison came over to me and our babysitter Katie and she was saying "This is K-K-K (K sound). This is K-K-K." While she was doing this Katie and I both saw the word was "clock." We stayed silent and Addison finally said "This is clock." And she already had the picture of the clock. So I'm prety sure she had figured it out. And interestingly she has memorized what the word "jacket" looks like. If you ask her to spell it, she doesn't seem to know how, but if you hold up the card with the word "jacket" she immediately knows what it is.

Lily these days is repeating back everything we've ever said to her. This afternoon during lunch she told her sister, "Addison sit down. Addison...one...two...three." And after Peoopee got into a batch of brownies the other day, both Addison and Lily know a) brownies are made with chocolate and b) that chocolate is bad for dogs.

Kelsey is expanding her verbal vocabulary daily. And we continue to work on sign language with her.

Here are some videos from the past two months.

Here's Kelsey when she was on the verge of crawling.


Here's a funny one. Kelsey laughing and then Lily has a great line at the end.


Here's one with Kelsey using the walker. We find the end funny.


This one is just Addison and Lily being downright cute.


This one just has Kelsey talking and a little signing.

Some videos

Addison and Lily's last day of tumbling class back in November.





Christmas morning



Kelsey playing peek a boo back in January. As you can see she didn't have the whole cover the eyes thing down yet.






Addison and Lily enjoying some snow this year. Cute snow gear courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.




Addison and Lily reading books together. A common sight these days around our house.




Kelsey doing fun stuff back in January.

What's new?

Hmm. What has changed in the last month...

Let's see, right around the middle of February Kelsey started crawling. Thank goodness. According to some book I read, babies start crawling between 8 and 10 months. Kelsey got it in just under the wire of that 10 month mark. Now a 2 weeks later she is crawling everywhere. And going from crawling to sitting. And pulling up on the furniture, mommy and daddy, the dogs, toys, etc. At 10 1/2 months she is saying the following words...dog, bottle, banana, brush, duck, Jack, Peoopee, cheese, snail, doll, Daddy. And there are probably a few others.

We are also working on baby signs and sign language with Kelsey. So far she is communicating "DOG" by saying "Daa" followed by panting. And she signs and says "All done" in relation to eating. Unfortunately she is so excited that we understand that she is saying "All done" that she starts signing it as soon as she sits down for a meal. Signing is something we did with Addison and Lily. But when they started doing lots of talking the signing fell by the wayside. But now we are back to using it with them so they can help with teaching Kelsey. They are really into it and keep asking how to sign different words. This is keeping us on our toes and on websites that teach us how to sign these words.

Most nights these days Kelsey sleeps through the night. (Hooray). And she has 5 teeth and is working on cutting 2 more in the near future. About a month ago we stopped feeding Kelsey baby food because she really seemed to hate it. She is just eating regular old soft foods these days. Also, about 2 weeks ago, I stopped nursing Kelsey. I've still been pumping breastmilk for her, but as of now about 80% of her milk is formula.

Developments with Addison and Lily. They are learning to spell different words. We have a toy call the Word Whammer from Leap Frog. It allows you to put in 3 letters and then it will tell you what word you have spelled. So far Addison can put the word CAT in with no problem. Last time we checked, Lily gets the correct letters but usually spells it TAC. We are also having some success with words like DOG and FOX.

Addison and Lily continue to be very nuturing. These days their affection is directed towards their water bottles which they refer to as "Wado". Occasionally their milk sippy cups also get special treatment. And please call them "Milko".

We have several videos to post. Perhaps sometime in the near future I'll make that happen.

Teresa

Jessi, are you still here?

Hi all. Just thought I'd post a few pictures from January.

These are a couple from Jessi's last morning with us. Addison and Lily agreed to be in the picture only if their new Christmas clocks could also be in the picture. Their clocks are toy clocks that talk and are designed to help them learn how to tell time. The clocks have taken on a life of their own. Addison and Lily are quite nurturing towards them. Their clocks sleep with them (along with just about every stuffed animal and doll they own). Clocks are frequently dressed up in the new dress up clothes that Santa brought. In this picture the clocks are wearing Mike's Hawaiian shirts one of which is known as "black dress". Clocks are also cheered as Addison and Lily help them go wee-wee in the potty. And Clocks are brought toys to play with as Kelsey who is sitting right next to the clock is ignored and is lucky to keep any toys she is playing with.

These pictures are of Addison and Lily's new favorite "costumes". They consist of fleece jackets. Lily added a fleece aviator hat to her costume to complete the look. These pictures could only be taken if Molly, Maggie and pink bear would also agree to be in the picture.

Thanks to modern technology and the internet, we've had a couple of web video conversations with Jessi. During one such "visit" from Jessi, Addison and Lily decided they wanted to sit next to Jessi. While this is endearing and quite cute, I think Jessi got a little bored of looking at the fireplace in our living room. Lily was also quite happy to be able to give Jessi a hug.


Kelsey's new fun thing to do is play Peek a Boo or "Where's Kelsey?" She sits in her high chair, clasps her hands together and lifts her hands to her forehead. Then you have to say "Where's Kelsey?" "Where's Kelsey?" She sheepishly grins and looks at you. Then she'll suddenly take her hands down and joins in "There she is!" with a sort of loud "AHH-AHH-AHH".

Wife of the Year, Dad of the Year and one Funny Kid

First Wife of the Year 2008.

In our living room we have a Tivo box with remote, DVD player with remote, TV with remote and a cable box with a remote. Our set up is such that two wires from the Tivo box drive the cable box like a remote. Those wires are frequently knocked out of position by the lady who comes and cleans our house. So we are frequently re-aligning the wires. Well, one evening Mike started to go about the task of realigning the wires. As he was moving them, he was using the Tivo remote to see if the Tivo box would change the cable box channels. He was getting quite confused, because the channels on the cable box were not changing as he would expect. After a bit of frustration, Mike realized that his loving wife was behind him on the couch with the cable box remote making the cable box change channels too.

About 2 1/2 weeks before Christmas, Mike seemed a bit flustered after spending a bit of time on his computer. I asked him what was up and he said that he wasn't sure one of the gifts he had purchased for me would be arriving in time for Christmas. A few days later, he basically said it was still up in the air. Then, shortly thereafter he said he thought it would get here, but he would have to pick it up in Columbus. Hmmm. All this and he also expressed concern that I might not even like it anyway. Mike was heading to Phoenix, AZ and was flying out of Dayton. He got notification that the present was in Columbus, so he was going to pick it up on his way to Dayton. Well, from Phoenix Mike called and said he had tried to get it, but when he went to pick it up it was actually lost and "they" were trying to track it down. The next day we received a call at the house. I answered. The lady on the phone asked for Mike, and when I said he wasn't available, she said "There is a package here that he needs to come and get through customs." "Customs?" I said. "Yes, it is some sort of gilded mirror." she said. (Please note I did not ask what it was). So now I have some idea of my present...but why Mike had to get a mirror from some other country I was dumbfounded by. That night I spoke with Mike and let him know that the package was again in Columbus awaiting pickup. Mike said "Did you ask what it was?" I replied "No, I didn't ask, but she said it sounded kind of like a puzzle." Needless to say, my little prank did cause Mike additional angst. But in the end, he was able to get the mirror and on Christmas day I was surprised to see a beautiful mirror that we saw in Capetown, South Africa. Excellent present, Mike, and well worth the additional gray hairs.

Now, for Father of the Year.

Truly Mike is a wonderful father. His three girls love him dearly. But here's the story. On Christmas Eve we attended a children's service at our Methodist Church. Gram, Pop and Grandmama drove separately and arrived at the church well ahead of us. The day was cool and we were running a bit late, so we devised a plan that Mike would drop Jessi, Addison, Lily and me off in front of the church. Then he would park the car and bring Kelsey in. Well, Jessi and I had just gotten Addison and Lily's coats off and we were settling in when Mike came in to the church to join us. I took one look at him and said "Where's the baby?" A look of horror came across his face and he dashed out of the church. Yep, he left Kelsey in the car. Fortunately, the car wasn't far from the church, it wasn't too cold outside and Mike found Kelsey was pleasantly enjoying her solitude.

And our Funny Kid

Generally Addison and Lily do not have sweets. At Halloween they each enjoyed just one lollipop each. On birthdays, they've gotten a small bit of cake. And even during Christmas when they got a bag full of cookies at our Kindermusik cookie exchange, they didn't have too many cookies. But they did have a few days of cookies after lunch. Then the week after Christmas, Jessi and Mike were giving the girls lunch. Kelsey and I showed up in the kitchen towards the end of their meal and to my surprise they both had a cookie. I asked (knowing the answer was Daddy) "Who gave you the cookies?" When there was no answer, I repeated "Who gave you the cookies to eat after your lunch?" Very quietly Addison answered "Santa"

New Year...New You

Oh my gosh. I can't believe that it has been 2 months since we've posted anything. And the last post was pictures from October! The New Year brings a resolution from Mike and Teresa to get healthier through regular exercise, healthier eating and weight loss. But seems it should also include posting to this blog. It is such a wonderful way to document our children's lives with milestones and stories we do not want to forget.

Well, first let me write down a few things about Kelsey. She is now 8 1/2 months old. Two days ago she weighed 19lbs 12oz. She continues to be a wonderful baby. She is very content and could sit all day long with a few toys around her and her sisters running around entertaining her. With her laid back attitude, she's been resistant to moving about too much. We posted a while ago that she was rolling over. But really that was that she could roll over. Not that she would choose to do so on a regular basis. So far her 8th month has been a big one though. At 8 months 2 days her first bottom tooth showed up. It was the bottom left and looked REALLY crooked. At 8 months 7 days we were able to get Kelsey rolling again. It required putting something that she wanted just out of her reach. Oh and it couldn't just be a fun toy. Usually something she shouldn't have was the most effective way to get her to want it (i.e. a small object she could choke on, a sharp knife, Jack's slimey ball). At 8 months 9 days her bottom right tooth pushed through. Fortunately as both bottom teeth continue coming in, it appears her bottom left will straighten out.

Some of you may remember Lily's first word...NICE...in response to a burp...as in...NNN-IIII-CCC-EEE! Well, Kelsey's first word? Burp. At first I was sure that it was just impressive that she was getting the b and p sounds together. But after a few days of consistently hearing "bup" followed shortly there after or preceded by a burp, I'm pretty sure this is her first word. She also says DaDa, and Adda (Addison), and Ja (Jack), and PahPahPah (Peoopee). She also likes to pretend she is a dog by panting. We are using sign language to try and promote that with her.

Perhaps our only complaint about Kelsey is night time sleeping. She usually will wake up one time between 8p and 7a to nurse. On a few special nights she will sleep until 5 or 6 in the morning. On some not so special nights she will wake up at midnight and decide it is fun to be awake. Mommy does not think it is fun to be awake then. Especially if after Kelsey going back to sleep at 2a she decides to wake again at 6:30a.

Kelsey is taking two naps a day. Usually around 9:30 and again around 2:30. She is quite easy to put down for naps. Read a book, tell her it is time for sleep, lay her down in her crib, turn on her jungle mobile, and leave the room. She may talk for a bit, but she puts herself to sleep. Night time is a different story. If I leave the room before she is asleep or mostly asleep, she screams bloody murder. Fortunately most nights she goes to sleep pretty quickly, but this is one issue I'd like to get sorted out soon.

Kelsey has been eating baby food since she was 5 1/2 months old. She likes to eat a variety of foods and will even gladly eat green beans. Around the time of the appearance of her first tooth we started giving her food that she can pick up on her own. She is quite good at picking up milk soaked cheerios one at a time. She's even getting pretty good at picking up banana pieces even though they are a bit slippery.

Kelsey is kind of pulling up to standing, but so far only uses mommy for pulling up. But she will stand at her Leap Frog Learning table for quite a while and even moves around it a tiny bit. She has developed a love for walking holding on to someone's hands, but she still walks a bit like Frankenstein.

I'd say Kelsey is a long way from crawling. When on her stomach she will turn herself around, but she doesn't roll over on her back and she is not getting up on all 4s. She does kind of scoot herself backwards, but she hasn't figured out propelling herself forward using her legs. Truth be told she doesn't get as much practice at this as she should...did I mention she is very content sitting?

Well, Kelsey is waking from her morning nap now. Jack woke her by barking and over the monitor I could hear "Ja. Ja. Ja."

More later. I have several funny stories to tell and Christmas info to relay. And updates on what Addison and Lily are up to.

Teresa