February and March 2009

February and March were very busy months!  We went to Disney for Valentine's Day, Mimi and Pop became official Florida residents, Haidyn took her 1st steps, Great Grandmother and Granddaddy came to visit, and Kealon started reading 3-letter words!

Here are some Haidyn updates: 

What is Haidyn eating?  

I think her favorite food over

 the past few months has been chicken and star soup from the can! Other favorites include: nuggets and fries (of course), spaghetti and meatballs, pancakes and waffles, chicken, fish, steak, pizza, yogurt, hotdogs, grapes and strawberries, and cooked veggies...everything, really!  She enjoys trying to feed herself with Kealon's little metal forks and she actually does a pretty good job.  Miss Independent at 11 months old :)

What is Haidyn saying?  

Hi, bye, uh-oh, thank you (doo-doo), peek-a boo (which sounds a lot like "thank you"), whoa (when she falls), da-da, ma-ma, and she makes a "woof" sound for dogs, cats and sometimes for birds, too.  

What is Haidyn doing?

Our little angel has developed quite a temper and will throw anything that's in her reach when she is angry. After beating on whatever she is frustrated with, we'll see it flying through the air. Giving her a very stern NO doesn't seem to be doing the trick.  She also enjoys beating-up on her very tolerant big brother, who laughingly encourages all the the smacking, hair pulling and ear grabbing...until it really starts hurting!

Haidyn took her FIRST STEPS at church on Feb 24 after just turning 11 months.   She has been very happy since she's been getting faster at moving around.   Soon she'll be chasing Kealon all over the house! 

January 2009

I have a lot of catching up to do with this blog!  During month of January we had a lot of fun with cousins Andrew and Aubrey and with Aunt Leah, Uncle Jim, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tim!  We did so many things while they were here visiting...of course, we had to go to Dinosaur World :)

Later in the month, we also went to a circus with the Smith's.  The kids were amazed with the animals and acrobatic acts!  I personally enjoyed the circus treats the most.

Christmas 2008 and New Year 2009

We had a very Merry Christmas this year!  On Christmas Eve we slept at my mom and dad's house.  My dad and brother were still in NJ, so Mimi was all alone in FL!  We all had a very nice time wrapping gifts into the wee hours.  In the morning I had to wake Kealon up--he still hadn't understood the connection between Christmas morning and presents yet!  He was totally surprised to see all of the gifts under the tree when he walked into the living room :)  I'm sure he'll have it down for next year!  Haidyn was mostly interested in the paper, of course.  Stetson jerked a whole chicken for lunch and Mimi made an array of side dishes.  Everything was really good!  In the evening, we drove home and had a delicious dinner with our neighbors and their families.  Feliz Navidad!

After the Christmas festivities came to an end we relaxed at home, took down all of our decorations, went to the zoo, and celebrated the new year with friends from church!  2009 is off to an amazing start!  I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in this new year!

   

November and December 2008

Wow!  The holidays are already coming and going!  Could I get some pictures up already?

So much has been happening since my last post!  Haidyn is now crawling-she's getting faster every day!  She is also waving hello and bye-bye, which is really cute.  She has 8 teeth already! Her favorite "foods" are Cheerios and rice cakes.  I've completely given up on baby food, except for the occasional attempt at baby cereal.  Oh, the other day I found Haidyn standing up in her crib, so we had to lower the matress!  She is trying to pull-up on anything she can reach.  My little baby girl is growing way too quickly!

            

Kealon is really in to rhyming and telling us what letter different words start with!  He's learning so much at his little school 3 days a week!  He loves pretending, riding his bike, reading books, and playing with Haidyn (his "best friend"--he's so cute!).  Right now Kealon's favorite "food" is probably a candy cane.  He gets one from our neighbor EVERY DAY!  Thanks, Maria and Aldo :)

            

I have been enjoying working part-time at our church.  I'm getting to know so many different people through overseeing the Sunday preschool volunteers and other activities.  Stetson is doing really well with his Masters courses and is now on vacation from work and school!  It will be nice to have some family time together over the next 2 weeks.  

Christmas is almost here and, of course, I still have some shopping to do.  Luckily, Kealon somehow hasn't made the connection between Christmas and presents yet!  We are taking advantage of that and going easy on the gifts for as long as we can :)    We plan to stay in Florida this year for the holidays...Leah and Sarah are actually coming here after Christmas with their families!  I see another Dinosaur World trip in our future!  

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!    

  

October 2008

This past October has been a busy one!  Mimi, Pop, and Uncle Keith have been settling into their new home here in Florida and it's been nice to be able to see them more often.  A few weeks ago, Cousin Brad flew down from NJ with Pop to visit.  He and Kealon had a blast going to Dinosaur World (of course) and hanging out with our friend Tammy at her Disney timeshare!  Kealon loves when his cousins come to play.

Kealon is also enjoying his sister as she grows and is able to interact with him more.  He likes to get down on the floor with her and help her sit up again if she "accidentally" topples over--she seems to fall over a lot more when he's around!  :)  Kealon's "new thing" is talking to his fingers (I guess they are his imaginary friends).  They always wiggle and talk back in a high voice. We think it's pretty hilarious!   

A typical conversation might go something like this...

Fingers:  No!  Don't eat us!

Kealon:  Don't worry, guys!  I won't eat you.

Fingers:  But you are going to eat us! 

Kealon: No, I'm just eating my pizza! 

Fingers: Oh, ok.

Haidyn is also doing new things.  Her favorite thing right now is jumping in her bouncy chair or exersaucer.  She goes crazy!  I have to get a video on YouTube soon.   Her eating habits continue to baffle me.  I thought she was ready to wean, but then the next week she got back on track with nursing!  She won't drink from a bottle, but I did find a sippy cup she likes.  But she refuses to drink any formula out of it!  As for eating, she closes her lips and turns her head when offered any type or any stage of babyfood. Sometimes she will eat a bowl of baby cereal, but that's it!  So, at 6 months I resorted to table food.  Now at 7 months, she is eating spaghetti and meatballs, chicken noodle soup, instant oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pancakes...almost anything that we are eating.  I'm not sure how she manages it, since she only has 4 teeth and they are all on the bottom!  She certainly appears to be a healthy and happy baby, so I guess I'll just keep going with the flow :)  

Choo-Choo!

Trying out a gift from Thia Maria!

Hurray for Philly!

Mmmm!  Spaghetti and meatballs!

Trip to Canada

I've been VERY behind in adding pictures to the blog!  Sorry!  Since we've returned from our trip we've been keeping pretty busy between colds, church activities and just the everyday routine stuff.

We had so much fun during our trip to Canada! We were able to visit for over a week with Auntie Jan, Uncle Jan, Dee-Dad and lots of friends.  The weather was actually really nice, even during the last couple of days when the temperature started to drop--brrrr!  It was nice to experience some fall weather and see the leaves changing colors.  I think Kealon's favorite part was going to the park with Uncle Jan to see the black squirrels!

We love our Dee-Dad!

Auntie Jan and Kealon at a gathering to 

honor fallen policemen and women

Parliament building

Uncle Jan and Kealon in the garden

Haidyn was not enjoying the cold!