Photo Friday

Pop Diva or Snuggle Bunny

Before Kylie was born, I knit her a sweater. It is a sweet, snuggly, frothy sweater and I couldn't wait to see her in it.

The other day, I decided to take her for a walk and put this hand-knit sweater on her. I quickly snapped three pictures and we were on our way.

When I downloaded the pictures from the camera, I was alarmed to see this:

My darling little girl looking like a Pop Diva. I mean, the only thing missing from this outfit is some big jewelry and a gold hat! Yikes!

Fortunately, the other two pictures came out a bit better.




And the one I snapped today was cute too. A little more snuggle bunny and a little less pop.

Wordless Wednesday--a little late

Toes

It's amazing how a normal baby photo shoot can turn into so much more.

Kylie was being adorable and smiling for the camera this morning.


Making her mommy very happy with her smiles.


When all of a sudden, she once again found her toes.


Any attempts to get her to look up and stop playing with toes were futile.


Her toes were incredibly fascinating and Kylie decided she simply must have them in her mouth.


Making her mommy laugh with her perseverance and bending abilities.


Strangely delicious!


Yum!!!


So maybe that photo shoot didn't go as planned. What of it? You're happy. I'm happy.


-Wendy

The "No" Face

We first saw the "No" face back in August. I even blogged about it here. This was the first photographed "No" face.


But since then, I've seen the "No" face several times. It looks like this:






It is a very level, serious, non-blinking stare combined with a slightly pouted mouth. It is the Tony Soprano of level gazes. It's a look that says, "Are you talking to me?"


When I compare the two, I swear I think Kylie's is more threatening. Who knows how many times I'll have to see that "No" face over the months and years to come. And I thought an Aries child was going to be strong-willed and not stubborn. Yeah...right.

Sigh. Heaven help me. Seriously.

Skritch

Did you know that skritch is not a real word? Even though it's on the cover of Kylie's favorite book, "Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy"?

Skritch is a combination of a scratch and a rub. And Kylie does this rub & scratch thing with her hands all the time. She feels the texture of everything around her--from her highchair table, to her crib, to our clothes and faces and her clothes and face, her toys, everything. She's constantly exploring the world through her hands by skritching.

Let's see... a few more new things. She likes to pat any words, pictures or patterns on our shirts. She can remove the puzzle pieces from her large-knob Melissa and Doug Puzzles. She's started reaching for her spoon as we feed her. And still babbling like crazy.

Here are a few new pictures. You can also see more new Kylie pictures on our Flickr site.

Celebrity sighting

On our return from our whirlwind trip to TN, we sat 4 rows behind Steve Zahn. I loved him in Sahara and loved his small part in You've Got Mail and also his guest appearance on Friends years ago where he played Phoebe's "gay" husband who ended up realizing he wasn't gay. He's a cutie.


I caught a glimpse of him when I was putting our bags in the overhead compartment but didn't know for sure until I made a trip to the lavatory and ogled him on the way back. It was pretty cool. I once saw James Earl Jones at a distance in the Dallas airport, but this was my first real up close celebrity sighting.

Of course I was too timid to speak to him. I didn't want to be one of "those" weird fans who bothers the famous person when they're trying to be incognito. So, when we landed I thought the moment was over. But then, I saw him waiting in baggage claim! So, I serupticiously pulled out my trusty iPhone and tried to snap a few photos of him without him knowing. Well, I succeeded in getting three shots (they're all crappy), and if you didn't know it was him, well...you wouldn't know. But, I promise you it's really him. He even had "ZAHN" on his backpack (again, the photo is too fuzzy to make it out, but trust me...it's there).


It was a fun way to end our trip. What I'd really love to know now is what he's doing in Portland?!?!?

- Karen

Okay, I have to add my two cents to this post. Don't let this casual blog post deceive you. Karen was totally ga-ga over Steve Zahn. She got all giggly and pink-cheeked and star-struck. She kept whispering "Steve Zahn" thoughout the entire flight home and she made SEVERAL trips to the bathroom just to walk by him. I'm not even going to comment that all of her serendipitous pictures were of his backside! You are too cute and star-struck Karen! Yep...we're going to have to watch Sahara and You've Got Mail AGAIN.

-Wendy

We're Home!

We're back from a whirlwind trip to Tennessee. What an adventure!

Karen's 95-year-old grandmother was admitted to the hospital last Monday and we decided that we really needed to be in Tennessee. So we flew home on Wednesday afternoon. We had one tired, over-stimulated, crying, refusing-to-nurse baby on our hands for that long trip to the east coast. She did okay during take offs and landings but it was an incredibly hard day. By the time we got there, Kylie had a cold and I was on my last nerve.

We rolled into Karen's parents house around 1am EST. Karen's sister and mom had quickly found us a pack-and-play, high chair, baby tub, formula, baby food, wipes and diapers and had it all waiting to greet us and make us comfortable.

We woke up Thursday and went to the hospital so that Karen's grandmother and Kylie could meet. And it was incredible. Karen's grandmother lit up the room when she saw Karen and Kylie. It was such a memorable moment and we got lots of wonderful pictures.


Later in the week, Karen's grandmother was allowed to go home (with 24 hour family care). And we got to see my family. My dad got to spend time with us. He hadn't seen Kylie since she was born.


My mom got to see Kylie again. She made us some fantastic home-cooked meals and had her guest room all ready for us and Kylie. Thanks Mom!


And my grandmother was able to meet her great-granddaughter for the first time. It was an awesome afternoon.


Then it was back to Karen's family where Kylie got to spend time with Karen's sister Amy and her husband Tony, Amy's daughter Emily, Karen's brother Teddy, and a bit more time with Karen's grandmother.








Somewhere in the middle, we met up briefly with our good friend Mimi.


Kylie was such a great sport through it all. She had a runny nose, feverish, coughing cold and was still so amiable to being passed around, held by strangers and having over 300 pictures taken of her with various family members. She had a bit of a hard time settling down in a new room each night--she really missed her crib and swing. But through it all, she smiled and charmed the hearts of all who met her.

On this trip, she also learned how to hold her own sippy cup and became even more fascinated with eating her toes.




She stayed at her first hotel, the Airport Hilton in Knoxville and then we flew home yesterday/Tuesday morning. She was an angel for her flight home, nursing often and sleeping a lot. Last night we all collapsed gratefully in to our beds--it feels so good to be home.

I could write lots more but wanted to give you this quick update about us. Kylie still has the snuffles but is happy and sleeping well.

Lastly, yesterday 10/2 was KAREN'S BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday, my Love! I promise we'll make time to celebrate it!

Sitting Up

Yesterday, Kylie sat up for over five mintures by herself. We've been practicing for a week but she's been very tottery.

While I was practicing with her, I was pulling her legs out in to a wide V thinking it would be easier for her. But she's actually more comfortable with her legs straight in front of her with her knees just slightly bent.

Now, she seems to have found her own balance. We're so proud!

Of course, we were snapping pictures like crazy. But I really wish I had taken her huge bib off!

Lots of pictures

After five days of teething pain, Kylie woke up Saturday feeling much better. She's still chewing and drooling like mad but the sparkle is back in her eyes. Thank Heavens!

She tried applesauce over the past few days and simply loves it! This is her after eating her applesauce. With a smile like that, I want to feed it to her every day.


We played and played on Saturday and took lots of pictures. Her teeth haven't cut through so I'm taking lots of pictures of her last gummy smiles.



I keep meaning to set up our tripod and put the timer on the camera in order to take some photos of the three of us. But since that hasn't happened, here's some individual mommy shots.






Today was one of those days where I feel like I can't get my house picked up, much less cleaned. I must have made a thousand trips up and down our stairs but as I sit here and look around, the house still looks crazily disordered. I think I'm in a black hole of cleaning efforts. Do you ever have one of those days? Where you work and work but it seems like all that effort is getting sucked away and not having any effect?

I've had knitting days like that. Where I knit and knit for over an hour but when I measure, my knitting is exactly the same. Oh, as if I didn't need another distraction, I've joined Ravelry which is like knitting mecca. It's still in beta so I'm lucky to be able to join it. I hope that this will help me start knitting more--my yarn is really not happy with me.

But one thing I can do is take LOTS of pictures of our baby.


I call this one an homage to Pavarotti.


Of course, I can't post pictures without at least one hand-in-mouth shot.




Hope you had a great weekend!
-Wendy