Christmas Celebrations, Part 2

Here's a cute picture from Christmas Eve dinner. Why play with new toys when there's a bowl around? Kaitlyn had us in stitches all evening with her antics. At least it allowed us to eat dinner in peace!

Christmas morning was filled with excitement...for the adults. Of course, Kaitlyn had no idea that Santa had visited the night before, but we were eager to celebrate her first Christmas. She was a great sport for the first few presents, happily ripping paper and chewing on ribbons. But apparently it's hard work opening presents, and she started getting a little cranky after a while. We opened the rest for her while she watched and took a much-needed break.

Here she is eagerly opening her first present from Santa...

...and here she is towards the end. She's not too sure about this strange new contraption.A little later, we took a picture of Kaitlyn with all of her Christmas morning loot.


And finally, some Christmas family pictures.

Christmas Celebrations, Part 1

After being out of town for a week, we are glad to be home! We spent a few days with my family in Fayetteville, and then traveled to Memphis to be with Jeff's family. It's always fun to be with loved ones over the holidays. Because of our travels, we celebrated Christmas several times, including one with just the three of us before we hit the road. Santa and the grandparents were very good to Kaitlyn this year, and she now has lots of new toys to play with and clothes to wear! Our car was packed to the roof with baby gear and gifts on the way home!

Like all babies, Kaitlyn had loads of fun with the wrapping paper. And she was moderately interested in the actual gift too! Here are a couple of pictures from our first celebration at home with Mommy and Daddy. Even though she had no idea what was really going on, she still had a great time.

In Fayetteville, we made the rounds to some extended family members. Here's Kaitlyn with Aunt Judy, my late dad's sister, on Christmas Eve.


And with Jerry and Sue, my mom's brother and sister-in-law.


The family visits continued on Christmas Day. We dressed Kaitlyn up in her Santa dress and took her to see my 97-year old great Aunt Lena. She can't get out of the house anymore, so she was happy to get a visit from her festive "great-grand-niece."


We ended up the day by visiting with Jim and his family. It was Kaitlyn's first time to meet Danny, Moneca, Dan David and Jon Morgan. I can't believe that Dan David's in high school! Time certainly does fly!

More pictures to follow in the next couple of days!

Christmas Girl

Here is Kaitlyn's official Christmas picture, taken by her own personal photographer, aka Daddy. We really have too much fun playing dress up with her!

Jeff and I have noticed a significant increase in Kaitlyn's activity level lately. When she's awake, she's constantly in motion. And those hands never stop grabbing for anything within reach. Although she's not crawling yet, she can pretty much get anywhere she wants to go with a combination rolling/scooting motion. We can tell that she wants to be able to move more quickly (i.e crawl), but she just hasn't figured out how to coordinate those arms and legs yet. But that's okay with us! I don't know if we're ready for the craziness and the childproofing that comes with increased mobility!

Her First Tooth!

Kaitlyn has officially entered the world of pearly whites. After her lunchtime bottle, I noticed a little spot on her bottom gum. I put my finger in her mouth and felt a sharp little tooth sticking out. Those things come up fast! I checked her mouth a couple of days ago and didn't feel a thing! I haven't gotten a good look at it yet, much less a picture. She either sticks her tongue out or puts her fingers in her mouth whenever I try. Fortunately, she hasn't been fussy at all with this first one. In fact, she's been sleeping a lot more the past few days. Maybe the whole teething process will be like this :)

Breakfast with Santa

Yesterday, we attended "Breakfast with Santa" at our church. One of the great things about being a first-time parent is having a reason to attend all those church functions that we never went to before. Our children's ministers, Janet and Melanie, put together a fun-filled program that included Christmas carols, stories, crafts, breakfast, and, of course, pictures with Santa. There were almost 200 kids in attendance, so Santa was definitely one popular guy!

We were hoping for the best when Kaitlyn met Santa for the first time, but we were prepared for crying. After all, a stranger in a bright red suit with a white beard covering his face is a scary prospect for a baby. I kind of "backed her in" to Santa so she wouldn't get too freaked out. She barely even looked at him. Instead, she was delighted by all the wonderful sights and sounds in front of her. She flashed the biggest smiles while the camera flashes were going off around her. Maybe she has a future on the red carpet!

Kaitlyn and Mommy

Kaitlyn with Mommy and Daddy

Kaitlyn, Kasha and Mirrors

Two things that Kaitlyn loves to do during the day:

(1) Look at herself in the mirror. It's instant entertainment that apparently never gets old.


(2) Watch our dog, Kasha. She also loves to grab a handful of fur and yank with all her might. We're working on the meaning of "Be gentle." Until we master that concept, Kasha has learned not to get too close.

Noah and Kaitlyn

Jess and Noah came for a quick visit yesterday. I can't believe the cousins are almost seven months old! They were much more aware of each other this time. Kaitlyn spent lots of time checking Noah out and admiring his Exersaucer. They're going to have so much fun together when they get a little older.

Unfortunately, Kaitlyn came down with a cold last night and didn't sleep very well. Poor little thing couldn't breathe through her nose because of all of the congestion. Somehow Noah managed to sleep through all the screaming. The rest of us were not so fortunate.

Uncle Jeff and Noah

Six Month Pictures

Here are some recent pictures that Jeff took of Kaitlyn to commemorate her six-month birthday.

Asleep with her Bunny

Since learning how to roll over both ways several weeks ago, Kaitlyn hardly ever sleeps on her back anymore. She definitely prefers her tummy or side. She loves to play and roll around in her crib as she's trying to fall asleep or after she wakes up. In this picture, she fell asleep holding her favorite bunny. How sweet!

Thanksgiving in Fayetteville

We spent Kaitlyn's first Thanksgiving at my mom's house in Fayetteville. She slept through the whole dinner while the rest of us pigged out on yummy turkey, cheesy potatoes and pumpkin pie! Kaitlyn got to spend a whole day with her Dad while my mom and I joined all the other crazy people for Black Friday shopping. And my mom was in heaven when she finally got to show off her granddaughter to all of her friends at church yesterday.

Kaitlyn with Papa Bell on Thanksgiving

Kaitlyn and Gran after church

Off the Charts, Part 2

I think Kaitlyn's height is actually 27 inches, not 29 inches. I measured her myself this morning. She was pretty squiggly during the exam yesterday, so I think the nurse got an inaccurate measurement. Maybe she doesn't have a future in the WNBA after all!

Off the Charts

For those of you keeping track, Kaitlyn has been hovering in the 97th percentile of height and weight from the very beginning. Well today, we found out that she is no longer in that percentile. She is now officially "off the charts." At her six month appointment, she weighed in at 21 pounds and measured 29 inches long. When my doctor plotted her measurements on the growth chart, she raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh my, it looks like she had a growth spurt recently." A nice way of saying, "She's huge!" No wonder she's already growing out of her 9 month clothes! I'd say that Kaitlyn is well on her way to being tall like her Mommy. But even though she may be larger than the average baby, she's perfectly healthy and as beautiful as ever.

In other news, Kaitlyn has mastered the skill of consecutive rolling. She's been rolling over both ways for a while now, but she recently discovered that she can get to the other side of the room if she just keeps on rolling. It's definitely made things more interesting around here in terms of supervision and childproofing!

Back from NJ

We've been in New Jersey the past few days visiting Jeff's parents and friends. Kaitlyn, of course, was the center of attention during the whole trip. She got to meet a lot of Jeff's friends, as well as everyone at the Pitman Church. But best of all, she met her great-grandparents for the first time. Grandma and Bob stopped in NJ for a couple of days on their way down to Florida for the winter. Kaitlyn loved the "Pat-A-Cake" game that Grandma taught her.


We took her over to Philadelphia to introduce her to the big city. She'll have to wait a few years, though, before she can sample the famous cheesesteaks from Pat's.
On the way back from Philly, we stopped by to see Jeff's dad at work (he's a dentist). Kaitlyn got her first dental "checkup" and had lots of fun trying to eat the big toothbrush. It looks like we'll have to keep waiting for that first tooth!

On Friday, Jeff and I left Kaitlyn with her grandparents while we visited Amish country in Lancaster County, PA. I had never seen such beautiful farmland! I am fascinated by the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle. The little black buggies are a common sight in this area.

On Saturday, we headed up to North Jersey so that we could rock out at the VAN HALEN concert! Jeff has been a big VH fan for years, so we had to catch their reunion tour with David Lee Roth. It was a true rock-n-roll performance, complete with the throwing of equipment off the stage. Definitely an unforgettable show...and a fun night out for us!

Now we're back--with piles of laundry to do, a dog who missed us terribly, a baby who needs to get back into a regular schedule, and a long list of errands and chores to do. We need a vacation to recover from our vacation! But it was a wonderful trip and we're glad we went. It's nice to know that traveling with a small child is not impossible!

Walden Farm

Kaitlyn, my mom and I went to Walden Farm recently to pick out her first pumpkin. She was moderately interested in the pumpkins, but she loved playing with the straw on the ground. And one of the calves at the petting zoo took a particular liking to her. It tried to nibble on her foot through the fence! I think she makes a cute pumpkin.

Weekend Getaway

Kaitlyn got to experience her first weekend without her parents! Jeff and I took a much-needed vacation this weekend while my mom took care of Kaitlyn. On Saturday, we went down to Lynchburg, TN to sample the tasty barbeque at the Jack Daniels World BBQ Celebration. Then we headed on to Chattanooga via lots of back roads. I haven't been to Chattanooga in years (other than to drive though it on my way to other places), but I was very impressed with its downtown area. They have done a marvelous job of revitalizing the waterfront area. In addition to the famous aquarium, there's a pedestrian bridge over the Tennessee River, and a charming artistic district located on a river bluff. Not ones to rest on vacation, we got up Sunday morning and drove up Lookout Mountain and on into North Georgia. We did a very strenuous hike in Cloudland Canyon and enjoyed some nice fall foliage.

According to mom, Kaitlyn did great all weekend without us. But judging from her smile, she was very glad to see us when we got home. A couple of quick updates on the little one: she now loves eating all kinds of vegetables; she's started rolling over and sleeping on her stomach on occasion; and even though she's only six months old, she's already growing out of some of her nine month clothes!!!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Chattanooga's art museum on the bluff as seen from the pedestrian bridge.

Downtown fountains on the Tennessee River

Civil War monument atop Lookout Mountain

Funny Faces

Kaitlyn still hasn't come to terms with green beans. Jeff took some pictures of her while she was attempting to eat the offensive vegetable.

But thankfully, she is quick to forgive and forget. She has been sitting up for a few weeks now, so we decided that we should probably post some pictures of this milestone. She still topples over from time to time when she reaches for a distant toy, or when she leans back a little too far. But it's all part of the learning process. At least she doesn't have very far to fall yet.

Vegetables!

Over the last few weeks, Kaitlyn has grown quite fond of her bland rice cereal. She happily eats it three times a day. Imagine her surprise when she discovered green beans on her spoon instead of her beloved cereal! Fortunately Jeff was standing by with the video camera to capture her priceless expressions. Judging from her contorted face, squinted eyes and gagging noises, I'd say that she definitely did not like the taste. And who can blame her? Unsalted, pureed green beans aren't high on my list of favorite foods either! But we'll keep on trying. Next week, it's on to peas!

Family Reunion

It's been a very busy week, so I haven't gotten a chance to post about a fun thing that happened last weekend. We took Kaitlyn down to Alabama for my extended family's annual reunion. To set the stage a bit, my grandmother was one 12 children. The reunion is for those siblings and all of their descendants. Unfortunately, my grandmother has passed on, and so have many of her brothers and sisters, but the Williams reunion is still going strong.

Here are a couple of pictures from the reunion. The rest of the pictures are posted in the "Photos" section (for any interested family members). The first picture is of Kaitlyn, me, my mom and her Aunt Betty, the youngest of the original Williams siblings.


The second picture is Kaitlyn playing with my uncle Charles (Mom's oldest brother) and my great-uncle "Spud." Uncle Spud is a wonderful bluegrass musician, and I have fond memories growing up of him and his friends making music at our reunions. He still plays a mean guitar!


I mentioned that this reunion is held in Alabama. For those of you who like geography humor, the reunion is held on Butter and Egg Road, not far from Lickskillet, Alabama. No joke!

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is an outdoor festival held every year in the Germantown area of downtown Nashville. It's a fun time of polka music, bratwurst, and lederhosen. Jeff and I have been for the last four or five years, so it seems to have become a family tradition. Today, we introduced Kaitlyn to the festivities. It was a beautifully sunny day, so we had to put on her oh-so-cute sun hat :) In crowds of people, she's always too distracted to smile.


There are all kinds of colorful people at the festival. This organ grinder is there every year in the same spot. I guess it's not politically correct to have a real monkey anymore, so he has a stuffed monkey that dances around as he cranks out a version of the "Chicken Dance." He was nice enough to pose while we took a picture.


I also finally posted some more pics on Picasa. Click the link on the right.

A Swaddle-Free Life

Although Kaitlyn is almost 5 months old, we've still been swaddling her for naps and bedtime. She's always slept so well when wrapped up...and so poorly when she wasn't. But now that she's getting more active, we realized that swaddling was no longer safe. So we took the plunge this weekend--we ditched the swaddle wrap. We expected lots of crying and flailing arms. We were prepared for some sleepless nights while she made the transition and got used to sleeping with more freedom. But to our utter amazement, none of that happened. Kaitlyn fell asleep immediately the first night and didn't wake up until morning time! We're still working on naps, but hopefully she'll get those figured out soon.

One side effect of not being swaddled...she is now free to move around the crib as much as she wants. This is a picture of her when she woke up Saturday morning. I'm not sure how she got all the way down there, but she was quite proud of herself.

Kaitlyn and her Grandparents

Kaitlyn has gotten her share of spoiling lately. Jeff was out of town on business for a few days last week, and my mom (Gran) came up to help with Kaitlyn. I think my mom's greatest pleasure in life is playing with Kaitlyn and making her laugh. And I'm quite happy to let her while I run errands and catch up on housework!

Kaitlyn loves her Gran!

A couple of days after Gran left, Jeff's parents (Mimi and Papa Greg) came into town, and the spoiling continued. We had a picnic at the Bicentennial Mall where Kaitlyn got to put her hands in the fountains. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Kaitlyn with Papa Greg and Mimi at Bicentennial Mall

In keeping with the water theme of the weekend, Kaitlyn got to experience her first boat ride when we took a cruise down the Cumberland River on the General Jackson. She was fascinated by the lights of downtown. And she loved staring at bridges as they passed overhead. We're really enjoying this cooler weather so that we can enjoy the outdoors again!