A Change

It's like that Sheryl Crow song "...a change will do you good..."

It's 3:31pm, Kaylynn is now in her THIRD, yes third, outfit of the day. We spit up all over the first one, pooped through the second, we'll see how long the third lasts until it is absolutely soaked with her drool.

And to think that during her first week she'd wear the same onesie all day, all night, and half of the next day...

I better pack 4 extra onesies on Monday.,.chances are she'll need them.

**Amended at 11:06pm - We did indeed hit outfit #4, before she had her bath and got her pj's on. My poor washing machine.**

Chilling Out, Maxing, Relaxing All Cool

It's a rough life.

More Cleveland

Looks like I lied. I did have a few pictures on my camera.

My little traveller, ready for her first flight. She's wearing a sweater made by her Great-Great Grandma Dickie (or Great Grandma Honey, I don't remember what Honey said).

This is proof that the babies AND Angelo were in The Courtyard! For all you non-Clevelanders, The Courtyard is a restaurant in Brecksville. There's an ongoing joke about how much Angelo LOVES eating there (huge amount of sarcasm thrown in there...)

More proof.

Melissa & Anthony at The Courtyard.

Sweet girl looking especially cute in her button down and cardigan. She's looking a bit red-headed here too. No one believes me...

This is my "yarn project". Not too bad for the first time.

"Mommy, thanks for making me a hat. I want some more next winter."

This Baby Can Fly!

That's right. We survived 2 flights with a 2 1/2 month old! The best part? I'd do it again!

Grandma Frink, Kaylynn, and I flew to Cleveland so Kaylynn could meet her new cousin, Anthony, her Auntie Melissa, and Uncle Angelo. We had a great time up there and it was so nice to have someone to talk to during the day who actually talks back to you. :) It's too bad we don't live closer together (I told him that the house 3 doors down was for sale...I don't think he wants to move back to Cleveland).

Here are some photos that I stole from Melissa. I took the big, stinking camera and never used it. Yeah, good packing.

Her shirt says "Sagittarius - born adventurer, loves to travel" A child after my own heart. She definitely was born to travel. We've been going since she was 1 week old.

Great Grandma "O"!

Kaylynn LOVED Anthony's Boppy swing. She loved it so much that I've thought about buying it for her. Except I gave up "unnecessary shopping" for Lent. We have a swing, thus, unnecessary.

"What up, Cuz?!" Cousins meet!

Uncle Mike: "Say Uncle. Uncle"

Kaylynn: "Uncle Mike is a fun stroller pusher. He pops wheelies and pushes me in a zig-zag pattern."

Kaylynn: "Aunt Donna, I'm so much easier to hold now! It's because I'm a strong girl."

Aunt Donna: "Kaylynn, if you're so strong, how come you didn't finish your plate? I still see some sandwich there."

Anthony is enjoying his brunch at Great Grandma "O"'s house. Kaylynn is looking cute in her homemade hat!

They may look cute and innocent, but these babies are in cahoots with each other. They decided to give everyone who watches them a hard time, except their mommies, of course! :)

Anthony's signature look - the furrowed brow. I love it!

Is that a smile? Yes it is. Anthony is smiling at Auntie Hayley, thanking her for coming to visit and bringing his favorite cousin, Kaylynn. He's got the most adorable little dimple in his right cheek!

Kaylynn is asking if we can go visit again in May. She doesn't want to wait until they come down in July.

Crafty

I made something. Out of yarn. It's wearable, though not by me. My fingers hurt. I'm not telling you what it is, but I'll give you a picture of it when I have it.

I'm basically blogging to appease my father, so he'll get his "Kaylynn" fix before I get back from Cleveland, assuming I'm not able to post pictures while I'm gone.

So here's a random, but not new (well it's new to you), picture of our cutie in toile. The socks were made by one of my student's mom. She'll be sporting something new, very soon!

Funny Valentine

The Champ

I gotta say: it's been a rough couple weeks. Tax busy season is here and is only going to get worse. School has really picked up with my first paper assigned and due in three weeks time. How I'm going to do the research and complete it in a passing manner is beyond my comprehension right now. The days seem to fly by with each providing less and less substance. The highlight of my day, of course, is getting to go home and see my little baby girl. Sure she's a huge distraction that completely demotivates me from wanting to study. And believe me, there have been too many nights were I have not done my reading assignments. But honestly, how could you possibly want to read legal cases when you could spend time with something so precious?

Today was slightly different from the past couple weeks. Being the nerd that I am, I like to think of today like most of the legal cases that I read: it looks almost exactly the same as every other day, but it's got the most subtle of differences. Here are the similarities: I rushed to get out the door to get to work early; I was busy as hell at work and the individuals that were supposed to be helping me out were booked on other engagements; and school was...school.

But here's the subtle difference: I was in a good mood most of the day (aside - it's sad that it's a rarity that I'm in a good mood. It just didn't used to be like this). What I failed to tell you is that while I had to rush out the door this morning because I woke up late (being 5:55 AM instead of 5 AM), I did so knowing that Hayley and Kaylynn were coming to meet me for lunch.

And then I got my big break on the drive to the bus stop.

After weeks of trying to call into the radio station, I finally got in. You see, if any of you folks listen to 94.5 The Buzz in the morning around 6:20 or so, you already know that they play a game called the "Fresh Out of Bed Head to Head". For those of you that don't listen, you may be asking "Just what in the Jack Billy Frick Crapstain are you talking about Brian?". Well, it's a "quiz" game. Basically, the DJ has two people on the line. He reads a question and the first person to shout out his/her name gets the first chance to answer the question. If you get two questions right, you win a prize.

Now, I have been wanting to play this game for a while. You may be thinking that it's for the prizes. You're wrong. You see, when you win the game, you get to do a "victory speech". Granted the victory speech is a template that the DJ feeds to you, but still, you get to insert your name and all that jazz. Not only that, but EVERY victory speech ends in the same word. Yes, I'll tell you what it is in a minute, but just hold your horses. I don't know what it is about the whole thing, but I find the victory speech very amusing. I told Hayley last week that I really wanted to play (and win) simply because I wanted to give the victory speech.

Today was my big day everyone and I got to play. Not only that, but I won my head to head match up and gave that oh so special victory speech. Let me just warn you in advance that you aren't going to be amused by it and you are going to wonder just what has happened to me. What has gone so wrong in my head that the phrase listed below is so amusing to me? I can't give you an answer but all I know is that when I think about saying it, I just smile. Sometimes I giggle.

With that said, let me present to you my victory speech. Just remember what I said. It's a template. It was fed to me by the DJ.

"Good morning everyone, this is Big B Brian, your Fresh Out of Bed Head to Head one day champion. First time playing EVER! Join me tomorrow on Free Beer Friday as I go for the naughty stuff and win number two, you b*tches!"

And in case you didn't pick this up, I am on tomorrow morning again to defend my crown. Prizes be damned. I just want to make another victory speech!

2 Months!!

Dearest Kaylynn,

2 months?! Really?? How can time fly by so fast? This month has been pretty low-key for us. You hang out at home with Mommy and take the occasional trip downtown to meet Daddy for lunch. You really enjoy Murphy's Deli! Why just the other day, you were actually awake to enjoy it!

You smile at us so much everyday. As much as I don't like waking up early in the mornings, you always make my day begin in such a happy way. Seeing you smile as you are being unwrapped from your swaddle is the best way to start a day. You and I usually hang out in bed for a couple of hours, until I am ready to face the rest of the house. You give me a ton of smiles and I get in some good internet surfing while you nap on your boppy. Lucky for Daddy, your smiles do not stop througout the day and he loves coming in from school/work and seeing you give him a big smile to welcome him home. It's the best part of his day!

You eat 5oz each feeding now. It must be helping, as Dr. P was very pleased with your growth. You now weigh 10lbs 1.7oz and are in the 50th percentile. That's a jump from 8lbs at the 4 week mark. You also have grown 2.5 inches since you were born. Daddy and I knew from the beginning that any child of ours had a good chance of being tall (or at least taller) and you are not proving us wrong yet. Everyone comments on your long fingers and then I show them mine and it's obvious you get that from me. Perhaps we'll let you take piano lessons when you are older, since I regret never asking to do so when I was little.

Speaking of growing, you are such a STRONG girl! Everyone thinks so! We love that we don't have to worry about your head flopping around as much and you can sit up in our laps when we're hanging out in the evenings. You still don't enjoy your tummy time, but you are getting so good about holding your head up. I just know that one day you are going to surprise me and push yourself right on up.

You are also loving bathtime more than you used to. Some nights you still get upset when you have to get out of the bath, but you don't complain in the tub (even when we accidentally get water in your face!) You and I still follow bathtime with storytime and you still love hearing your Bible stories before you go to bed. And about bedtime...you have surprised us with 8-9 hrs of consecutive sleep a few times. This is how your 6hrs started out, so we know that it's not far away.

You've got a month of more firsts ahead of you. Your first Valentine's Day, your first airplane ride (you're going to Cleveland to meet your new cousin, Anthony!), and your first time to be taken care of by someone else.

It breaks my heart that I only have 2-3 more weeks home with you before I go back to school. I get very sad when I think about the time when you'll have an early bedtime and I will only get 4ish hours with you a day. That's not good enough for me. Your Daddy thinks I'm silly, but I don't think he quite gets it. But don't worry, you and I are going to have a good time this summer when school isn't going on. I'm just waiting on our big lotto winnings, then I can be with you all the time. :)

Happy 2 months, baby girl!

Love,

Mommy

PS, You'll learn that I can't help it but mess around with photo colors. You'll have to learn to forgive me! :)

A Future Law Student?

Could we have a future law student on our hands? Seeing as she falls asleep when studying with Daddy, I'm thinking no. :)

What can I say? I guess Contracts and Property Law just aren't very interesting.

**I do not clean Brian's office. It is a lost cause.**

Tanner Turns 4!

Tanner had his 4th birthday party on Saturday 2/7. I didn't get a picture of all his presents, but it was apparent that Tanner is very much into being a cowboy! He got quite a few pair of Wranglers, pearl snap shirts, spurs, a saddle, a lasso, and a little cow to practice roping.

The little cowboy showing off his riding skills!

I just can't believe he's 4 already!

Cuteness in a Purple Dress

It's Thursday. That means that sweet girl and I make a trip downtown to eat lunch with Brian. Weather.com said it was going to be 68 today, so I decided that was warm enough to try out one of Kaylynn's dresses. I love it!!

And yes, I realize that these are basically the same picture, but I just love looking at the expressions on her face.

Catalog Overload

I'll admit it, I get giddy when I see my PotteryBarn magazine show up. Why? I have no idea. I rarely ever buy anything from it, as 9 times out of 10 I can't afford it and even when it's on sale, I don't need it.

Then I get a catalog of children's toys from a store that I've never heard of, much less bought something from. Have you ever been so annoyed because you gave your address to certain stores (babies r us, target) for registry purposes and then they gave your address out to the entire United States? Yes? Well, here's what you can do:

1. Grab your stack of unwanted catalogs.

2. Go to this website: www.catalogchoice.org

3. Create a log-in.

4. Type in the name of a catalog

5. Select your mailing preferences (i.e. none, 4 times a year, twice a year, once a year, etc)

And there you go. You have significantly cut down your mailbox magazine overload (or commonly known by me as MMO. Actually, I just made that up! hehe)

Just another one of my "hippie" ways to cut down on paper waste. All I usually do when I get magazines is rip off my address for shredding and toss the magazine in the recycle bin, so I am hoping this helps considerably.

FYI, I still want to get my PotteryBarn magazine. Yes, the evil empire, I know.

Smiling Happy People

I couldn't resist posting these photos real quick. Kaylynn is such a happy little girl. Last night when her daddy got home from a rough day (did someone have a case of the "Mondays"??), the first thing she did was give him a HUGE smile. Also, I'm sure many of you are aware that I'm not exactly a huge fan of mornings. You could call me more of a night owl. Kaylynn, however, takes after the Frinks and her Grandpa Moore and LOVES the morning. 8:30 each day, I begin my day unwrapping Kaylynn from her straight jacket (miracle blanket...if you don't have one GET ONE!...if you are expecting or have an infant, that is) and she gives me the biggest smiles. How can anyone have a bad day when you've got something as sweet as this waiting for you when you get up and get home?!

I found some teeny clips (at Walmart of all places) that actually stay in Kaylynn's hair. The downside, it makes her forehead look large, because she's lost the hair in that area. It's growing back though! I think you can see the little hairs in the pictures.

Eco-Friendly Coloring Products

In my efforts to become a greenie (or more of one...I'm really trying my best, but it's hard and expensive) I saw a giveaway for these free coloring products! Don't the coloring rocks look so fun!!

Why do I tell people about these? Well, 1. because they look cool! and 2. by blogging about them, I get 10 extra entries! Yay!!