Keely's First Christmas!

Well, unfortunately we don't have any great photos uploaded yet (sorry!). Our Christmas celebration started by going to the Lights of Christmas with Eric's family and spending the weekend on Camano Island. We had a great time and for the most part Keely did fantastic sleeping in the pack n' play. Keely enjoyed pulling bows off and chewing wrapping paper and magazines!!

Once back home, we were joined by my parents and auntie Meg...we attended Christmas Eve candlelight service at church and headed to bed, eagerly awaiting Santa. Much to Eric's dismay, we did not open presents or stockings Christmas Eve, but opted to wait until Christmas morning. We enjoyed a leisurely morning opening presents, stockings, watching Keely play with new toys, eating yummy breakfast casserole, and taking afternoon naps. Mom and I made a rib roast (a first for Christmas) which was an unexpected but wonderful departure from turkey.

While Eric had to work on Boxing Day, the rest of us enjoyed leftovers and nearly six hours of Wii!!

Playing Wii

The Lights of Christmas

We took our second annual trip to Warm Beach Camp's Lights of Christmas with Eric's family. Keely was mesmerized by all the lights and managed to stay warm (and even fall asleep!) with some major bundling.

Eric's 30!

Well, I pulled off a surprise (for once) for Eric, a 70's themed party to celebrate the old man turning 30...

Snow Day!

Check out those bright blue peepers!


Our first snow of the season, just had to take some pics and then cozy up inside...

Cheap Thrills

Keely loves playing with the tree and presents...we always introduce her to new sensations (touch, smell, etc) and she likes feeling the needles and making ornaments jingle. Of course, next year I imagine it won't be so cute as I'm trying to keep a toddler from "un"decorating the tree and eating pine needles! Boxes and ribbons are also fun "toys"...

O Tannebaum...

We took our traditional Saturday after Thanksgiving trip to a tree farm in the county, to bring home a beautiful evergreen tree to decorate for Christmas. We have always gone to Fullner's, a little farm just past Nugent's Corner. Our first Christmas, trees were only 15$ and we scored a gorgeous 8 foot Noble--what a deal! The second year, same story (ask Eric about the sideways rain). But year three they raised the prices to 4$ a foot, still a good deal and we found a great Fraser fir--great thick needles, shiny and long lasting, and come'on, nearly a name sake. Last year, it was pretty hard to find a great tree, even the first weekend after Thanksgiving...most were dougs. We did come away with another quality Fraser, but it was slim pickings.

So this year I wanted to try a new farm, realizing of course, that it would probably be a bit more expensive. But cutting down a tree right after Thanksgiving was something I had done since I was a kid, an a tradition I was happy to bring to our new family. After two failed attempts to visit Stoney Ridge Farms during the Halloween season to procure a pumpkins and enjoy the other festivities I was determined to get our tree there. Mission accomplished! Eric, Keely, Nonnie, Meg, and I braved the near freezing temps this morning to scope out a great Noble fir. It now sits on our garage, acclimating and awaiting the trimming tomorrow! I can't wait for that wonderful fresh smell!

Giving Thanks

There's so much to be thankful for this season...

Of course, our little Keely bug brings smiles to us daily. We're very thankful that she is gaining weight now (the verdict's still out on why she was losing) and has such a happy disposition. Hard to believe six months have already passed!! She was a supercute tiger for Halloween

We also enjoyed a great family trip to Hawaii in October. We stayed right next to Poipu Beach on Kauai and snorkeled with huge sea turtles, surfed at Hanalei Bay, visited Waimea Canyon, and Keely took her first foray in the ocean. You'll have to check out the pics on flickr, sorry I never got around to fully blogging about it.

We are also thankful that we found a great church that we are super excited to be a part of, a true community of folks who are following Jesus together. We are becoming official "members" and Keely will be dedicated on December 30th...


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Grunts + Jump-ups = Major Blowout

Keely *loves* spending time in the Johnny Jump-up, bouncing, spinning, playing with her rings and drooling tons.








Today, while on the phone with Eric, I made a comment that she was grunting lots and probably pooping. Well, when taking her out of the jump-up I noticed my hand on her back was warm and squishy...when I pulled aside her warm up jacket, the whole back of her onesie was destroyed!! Of course, she didn't really seem to mind...


Let me tell you, it was a trick getting her out of her clothes without getting poop everywhere! Afterwards she enjoyed herself in the bath and then we read and she took a marathon nap, nearly two hours (in her crib!), a Keely record...

Yikes!

So Keely had her four month check up today...boy has time flown by. And yes we know, we've been terrible bloggers lately. Eric did upload some new pics into flickr, so check it out. I'll try to get some new posts up soon!

She keeps growing--14 lbs (50-60% percentile) 25 3/4" long (80% percentile) and 40 3/4 cm head circumference (50%)--right on target! More shots :( but she did great with a little Tylenol on board!

Eric's been doing a great job as Mr. Mom on Thursdays and Fridays as I returned to work after Labor Day. Work's okay, everyone was excited to see me and I've gotten back into the swing of things more easily than I expected. Our course, I'd rather be at home with the bug. Knowing Keely has great Daddy time takes the sting out of going to work...It's worked out pretty well and he brings her by so I can still feed her at lunchtime. However, we really need to find someone to watch her on Thursdays as Eric is out of sick time. Any ideas?

2+ months!!

Keely had her 2 months check-up this week....growing like a weed! She's up to 12lbs 6 oz and 23 inches! That puts her in the 75th percentile for both height and weight, perfectly proportioned. I forget her head circumference, but it was the 50th percentile (I guess she got Eric's small head :) She got three shots and took them like a champ--I'm sure the pre-med w/Tylenol helped. Anyways, she's right on target in her development...the time sure has gone fast!

Keely's Big Adventure

We took an epic adventure down the I-5 corridor July 12th-15th...well, epic may be a bit much, but certainly the biggest trip little Keely's been on! Were we able to catch up with lots of old friends and visit family too--it was great!

Thursday we celebrated the Gaffney's ministry at UPC at a dessert held in their honor, as they are moving on with Mike now working for Young Life full-time. It was awesome to see friends from college and Eric's old colleagues from his days on staff for the Inn. Keely got to meet Caleb Epps--future prom date? We stayed the night at Meg's which worked out great even with 2+ dogs and cat. Thanks Meg!

Friday we got to visit with Kathleen and play with Gavin and Ava--so cute. It was great to catch up and spend time with her beautiful family. Thanks for graciously spending your afternoon with us, even with many things on your "to do" list!! I wish we got to spend more time together--hopefully the bike rides in B'ham will become a reality...

That evening we barbequed with Eric's old core group guys and significant others. So fun to hear what everyone is up to and meet Mark Zimmerly's new little guy. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet the Lenssen's newest addition as he was adjusting to a new sleep schedule and life in the states with Mom at home. Thanks for hosting Spencer!

We spend the night with Josh and Jacqueline Hawkins at their apartment in Ballard. We are so happy they are back in Seattle and can't wait to hang out more...of course Josh's schedule as a surgical intern is rather demanding. Congratulations to Jacqueline on her fantastic new job--God is good. Keely actually fell asleep on her own and went for 5 hours!! Of course, she woke up at 5am and wasn't much interested in going back to sleep so we went on a nice walk around Ballard and enjoyed some Starbucks...I brought home fresh Great Harvest cinnamon bread which Jacqueline made into fantastic french toast!

We then traveled south and made a stop at Uncle Bob & Aunt Jan's, where Aunt Ruth surprised us too! It was Keely's first introduction to Uncle Bob and the Auntie's enjoyed a little bit of baby holding--unfortunately Keely was in the middle of a nap when we arrived and was a bit grumpy during the visit.

We got back on the road and arrived in Portland Saturday evening to stay at the Erickson's home. The last time we were down there was about a year and a half ago and Chris has done amazing work in the yard/garden since then. The landscaping was amazing, the rock walkways turned out awesome--overall I was very impressed and inspired. We both enjoy spending time with their family and it was fun to see how much Malia and Bright have grown. Eric got a brief introduction to ActionScript and is excited to learn more...Thanks again for your hospitality--we wish you were closer!

Sunday morning we headed to Vancouver and met up with Eric's Aunt Teresa and cousin Christina. We then visited his grandma Marie, who had recently moved to an Alzheimer's care facility there. We hadn't seen Marie in about a year--it was difficult to see how she had deteriorated. She seemed to enjoy meeting Keely (even if she wasn't a boy :) and seeing Eric. It was very fortuitous that we were able to spend time with Marie as two days after our visit she passed away. After our visit we headed to Rib City where we enjoyed fantastic barbeque followed by delicious frozen custard for dessest. Back at Teresa's, Eric and Christina had fun looking through old photos and Eric rescued a stack from the trash pile. He's become much more interested in his family history and documentation with the arrival of Keely Wynne--it's pretty cute.

We were back home Sunday night. Overall, a fantastic, whirlwind trip. Keely did great, it was Mom and Dad who were exhausted!!

Off the Grid

Sorry there has been a paucity of posts lately...July has been a very busy month, and while we've documented our adventures, we haven't had the time or energy to get around to posting! Flickr has lots of new pics so check it out, and we'll be catching up posts here too...

Glacier

Meg surprised us with a visit this weekend which was fantastic!! I've been fighting a cold and Eric had to work Saturday afternoon and night so it was so wonderful to have Auntie Meg around to pitch in with Keely--I even got a nap!!

Sunday after church we headed up to Glacier to Eric's family's propery--we just missed Kathryn and Steve but got to hang out with ElRae and Ron and enjoy some brats. Keely had a great time and we hope to camp up there with her in the future!!

Strawberries!!

Although Eric had to be at work at 5:30am after the 4th, Keely and I had the pleasure of picking strawberries with our friends Mike and Shannon out in Ferndale!! It was another beautiful, hot day and the strawberries we ripe for the pickin! It was a bit of a challenge bending over to pick with Keely in the sling, but we made it work...I mean ladies all over the world are doing stuff like this every day, right?

Afterwards we brought the booty to the Frazier home and made freezer jam! It was a super fun collaboration--Thanks Mike and Shannon!

Independence Day

Auntie Meg came up to spend the 4th of July with us---it was a beautiful hot sunny day in Bellingham! We started by attending the parade in Blaine with Mike. Keely was pretty content in her shaded carrier and we set up shop near the end of the route and managed to snag a fair bit of candy!

Then we returned home and enjoyed an afternoon nap to rest up before attending several shindigs. We started at the Coletti's (one of the doctors I work with) who have a beautiful home with gorgeous views of Lake Whatcom. We enjoyed a yummy barbeque and were entertained by the kids throwing themselves down the inflatable water slide and battling for position. We even took a turn on the trampoline--Keely included!

Next we traversed around the lake to the Hansen's where we met up with friends. Keely, Meg and I visited, while Eric got his Blongo on with friends. Unfortunately Keely was pretty fussy, the usual evening fuss plus more--I'm sure from the long day and meeting so many folks. When it turned dark the Hansens opened up their arsenal of fireworks and Eric and Mike jetskiied to Firwood to help set off the display there which we enjoyed from across the lake. Being the cautious parents we are, Keely's ears were well protected!

Overall, it was a great, but long day...poor Eric and Meg had to be at work bright and early the next day!

The future is bright!

There's been talk of an infant superhero moving into town...Well, you might have checked out our flickr page and seen miss Keely practicing her flying too (shhh...keep it quiet for purposes of future secret identities...)

However, she may have future in entertainment...already stealing some moves from the King of Pop...

Or perhaps she will be the next great female boxer...

Of course with Pixars new movie Ratatouille, maybe her future is in the culinary arts...

But, if all goes according to dad's plan, which he will of course try to force upon her as much as possible, she will spend lots of time with her new best friend, Sam Alexis Woods, become a great golfer, allowing dad to spend some quality time on the golf course with his daughter and her best friends dad. This is, I'm sure, the most likely path for beautiful Keely.

Blongo!

Well after the doctor's we dropped by "uncle" Mike's to say hello. We chatted, indulged in mini Ben & Jerry's, checked out the garden (looks good!), and played a little blongo!

Tummy aches...

Last week was rough...Keely was often screaming in pain after nursing, only eating for five minutes and spitting up and burping a *ton*. I was growing weary by Friday and made a doctor's appointment for Monday.

Well, Keely went to the pediatrician today and it appears that she has acid reflux, pretty common in infants less than six months. Although it hasn't affected her growth (a stunning 10lbs 11oz today!), because she is so uncomfortable we're starting her on Zantac...hopefully happier feeds await us!

Movie Week.

If you hadn't noticed, there were/are a mess of good movies out this summer that we really want to see. Keely definitely made this much more of a challenge. I was able to sneak away with a friend about a month ago to go see Pirates and had a great time, but I also knew that Em wanted to see it but she had to stay home, and it would have been much better to have her along. So earlier this week we were hanging out with some friends and out of the blue they suggested that we get to see a movie now or it probably won't happen for a long time. We decided to give it a try on Thursday and went to see Oceans 13 and wouldn't you know it, she did great. Em had her in the sling and she was asleep until the last bit of the movie when Em gave her the pinky to satiate her 'til the end. It was great, we had a great time, really enjoyed the movie, and enjoyed the chance to get out and go on a date of sorts. It went so well we decided to try again today and went to Shrek 3 this evening with the Rushii and Kennedii. Another success! Maybe we are on to something. Two movies, in their entirety, no theatre disruptions, what a great week.