Merry Christmas!!!!

Kaelyn's first Christmas was a hit!!!! We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Renstrom's for dinner on Wednesday and then we opened gifts. We got to see Uncle Kip, Aunt Penny, Uncle Buddy, cousins Tony, Jacob, Sera, Noah, Sunny, our niece Lucia, her husband Albert, and their son Alex, and the missionaries. It was crazy!!!!! But we had a good time and it was nice to see everyone!!!! Kaelyn had fun opening her presents and playing with the paper and ribbon! She was up until 10pm but did very well! Then on Thursday morning we woke up and opened a few presents from my parents and some toys we got for Kaelyn. It was low key! All in all it was a great Christmas!!!

Christmas day also marked Kaelyn being 8 months old! She has been learning a lot and getting more mobile. She has started crawling-army style! She uses one arm to pull herself forward. She is attempting to crawl on all fours, but it is easier to scoot along. Her two bottom teeth are coming in and have finally both popped through. She can hold herself up while standing but can't pull herself to stand yet. She can also get into a sitting position from laying on the floor. She loves to be tickled and has the best laugh!!! We have been trying some finger foods, but she doesn't seem to really like solid foods yet, although she had her first cheerios and seemed to like them. She likes to hold on to them more than she likes to put them in her mouth and eat them! She loves her bottle and will stick it into her mouth as we are going up the stairs for bed time!! She definitely will let you know when she wants it!!! We have tried a sippy cup, but she doesn't seem to like that either. She would much rather just drink right out of a cup! She is getting a lot better at waving although she hasn't mastered it quite yet. She also loves her stuffed animals and blankies. Every night before bed she pulls her blanket up over her head and snuggles in! She definitely likes to cuddle too, which I love!!!!!

Holidazzle Parade

So this is kind of late, but we went to the Holidazzle parade a few weeks ago down in the Nicollet Mall area. It was absolutely FREEZING, but being the true Minnesotan's that we are we headed out with Ethan, Kim, Kelsey and Bryson! It was actually really fun, and Kaelyn did a great job! She was so bundled up she could barley move!!!!

Ho Ho Ho!!

Last Saturday was our Christmas party for church. And we had a visitor......Santa!!! Kaelyn wasn't too sure of what to think about him, but she didn't cry so I would say that it went very well!!! We are looking forward to having her open presents this week. I think she will like the wrapping better than the actual gift. There will be more pictures to follow.

Holiday Pics

My friend Kim did our Holiday pictures. Here is a preview to our Christmas card we will be sending out!!!!

All I Want For Christmas Is.....

...my two front teeth!!!! I got a text message from Kim (at daycare) yesterday. It said, "Have you seen Kaelyn's teeth?" So I wrote her back and said, "What???? No!!!!!" And she wrote back saying that her two bottom teeth were poppin' through!!! I was so excited, I couldn't wait to go and pick her up!!!! And sure enough I could just barley see them in there! So today we were checking her mouth out and you can just feel the bottom right one poking through! I knew it was coming, but I still can't believe it! Our little girl is growing up so quickly!

You can't really see them in the picture, but they are in there!!!!!

She has also started "crawling". But it is army style. She doesn't get up on all fours. She uses her arms to scoot forward. I got a little of it on video so I will post that for everyone to see. We are so excited that she is growing, but sad because she won't be little very much longer!!!

7 months

Well, it's hard to believe another month has gone by! Kaelyn is doing very well and is so much fun!!! She has mastered sitting and loves to sit on the floor with all of her toys. She is figuring out how to put the fishes in her fish bowl and take the rings off of the stack. She still loves "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "All Around the Mulberry bush". She loves to "fall"! She arches her back so she can fly backwards! Her favorite thing to say is "da da" and "na na". She hasn't quite figured out "ma ma" but gets a kick out of it when you say it to her!! She is also learning how to wave. She gets her fingers moving every so often when you wave and say hi or buh bye!!! Her favorite thing to eat is squash and sweet potatoes. She had her first taste of mashed potatoes, ice cream, a french fry, crouton, cooked carrot and noodles. She hasn't figured out how to crawl yet, but she is working on it. She can get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. As soon as she figures it out she will be off!!! She seems to like Roxy and reaches her hand out to pat her. She is a very happy kid and doesn't mind being passed around!!!! We are so blessed and can't imagine life without her!!!!!

Oh no......what have I done???

So we have been thinking about cutting Kaelyn's hair for a while now. Needless to say our daughter has had a mullet!!! The back has been way longer than the top and sides. We are going to get her 6 month pictures taken on Saturday and decided we should just cut it. She was a litte antsy and wouldn't sit still--she is only six months after all!!!! So one side ended up a tad shorter than the other. But I did my best and it will always grow back. Now it should even grow evenly!!!!!!

6 month check up

So this is a few weeks late, but I thought I would give everyone Kaelyn's stats since she went to the Dr last week. For her six month check she was 15 pounds 5 ounces and 26 1/2 inches. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight and 75th for her height. She is accomplishing all the things a six month old should be and doing very well. I thought I would post a video of the thing she is best at right now, which is rolling over, and over, and over!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Kaelyn's first Halloween was a success! The weekend of Oct 25 we went to a "Trunk or Treat" with Ethan and Kim for their ward. Everyone lined their cars up around the parking lot and the kids went from trunk to trunk to get candy. Then it ended with a chili cook off and some fun activities inside. It was fun to see everyone with their costumes. Kaelyn was a monkey and Joe and I went as zoo keepers! Then for Halloween we stopped by the neighbors and Grandma and Grandpa Renstrom's. It was low key, but what else can you really do with a six month old!!! We got some cute pictures!!!

6 months

Wow, it has been a busy month! As you can see from the previous posts we had Uncle Nate and Aunt Elizabeth come to visit this month. And we also had our first trip to the apple orchard. Kaelyn has been very busy this month. She has started rolling from her front to her back and then over again. There have been a few times when I have left her on the floor and come back into the room to find her on the opposite side of the room!!!! She has been sitting up by herself and getting a lot better at it! She has gotten a taste of baby apple sauce, pears, bananas, and peaches. None of which she seems to care too much for!!! But if we mix it in with the cereal she eats like a trooper!!! She has started saying some consonants such as "da da" and "blah blah" which Joe absolutely loves!! She sounds so different then just a month ago. Another thing she does is scoot. She gets her knees up underneath her and scoots her face across the floor and moves forward just a little bit. I keep thinking she is going to get some serious rug burn on her face!!! She also loves being thrown in the air, but not too high!! Joe swings her back and forth and even turns her upside down and she loves it!!! She always gets a big smile on her face. We have been loving watching her grow and figuring out the world around her. She keeps us busy but we are lucky to have her!!!!

Minnesota Fall

I love the fall time in Minnesota!!! It is the best and most beautiful time of year. This year we decided to take Kaelyn to the Minnetonka apple orchard. Grandma Faye and our neice Sera and nephew Noah came with us. It was a beautiful day, although it was a little chilly but we had a lot of fun!!!! Kaelyn experienced her first taste of an apple and loved it!!! She goobered and slobbered all over it!!! We went for a hayride and even did some off roading through a corn maze! She seemed to really enjoy herself!!! Everyday she finds something new and it's amazing to see it all connect in her head! Here are some pictures from our adventure....

I love my Uncle and Auntie!!!

This past weekend my brother Nate and his fiance Elizabeth were up to visit from Texas. Nate was here the weekend Kaelyn was born, but this was Elizabeth's first time meeting her. We had such a fun visit with them!!!! They gave us the night off on Friday so we went out to dinner, saw a movie and went to a bon fire. It was great to get out just the two of us!!!! Nate changed his first diaper and you can tell he loves being an uncle!!!! Of course Kaelyn seemed to love them both and had fun being smothered with love!!! Here are a few pics from the weekend!