A Few Firsts

Our little girl is growing up so fast.   About two weeks ago ( I think it was May 30th...) Kalea managed to roll from her back to her tummy for the first time.  She had been so close before that but she was having difficulty going all the way over since she kept her fingers in her mouth.  Finally she managed to figure it out and no one saw!  I have her on her back one minute as I went to brush my teeth and the next thing I know I come back and she is on her belly!  Luckily, she did it again later that evening when both Pat and I could see.  

Since then she has mastered rolling over and getting her arm out from under her.  She has even mastered rolling over in both directions, so she is now an "ambi-turner!"  (10 points if you know the movie that is from=)

The fun part is now when she gets to her belly she either falls asleep, gets mad that she can't go back the other way, or enjoys pushing herself up and looking around.  She is getting really good at pushing herself up now that she can control the amount of time she spends on her belly.

Here she is fast asleep on her giraffe.

What a long day she had!

We recently went to lunch with my family, my sister's fiance, and her future mother-in-law to test out a possible rehearsal dinner location.  There were ceiling fans spinning and one caught her eye.  She just kept looking up at it to see what it was doing.  It is really fun to watch her as she discovers more and more of the world around her. 

Kalea is still spending her nights in her cradle in our room.  I love having her next to me so that I can be there as soon as she wakes up.  In the mean time, we have been trying to get her used to her regular crib in her room as well.  We don't want  it to be a complete shock to her when it is time to move her to her room.  She seems to love it whenever she has a nap during the day.  This is how I found her sleeping the other day!

As she nears the 6 month mark, we are in preparations for her to try solids.  Last week we put together her high chair and now she joins us in her own chair as we eat dinner.  She looks so tiny in it!  The straps are as tight as they can go and yet still way too loose.  She loves taking the shoulder strap and gnawing on them to help her teething gums.

One night we gave her a baby spoon to "play" with and she seemed to enjoy checking it out.

Finally, the day came to try out her first real food.  Aunt Sara came down for the occasion.  Saturday, June 9th, we got out the camera, video camera, and phone to capture her first taste of food.  On the menu...homemade oatmeal cereal.  We decided to go for the Bumpo in the beginning since the high chair is just a bit too big for her.  Here she is all ready for her big moment.

At first she was way more interested in the hanging mobile from the ceiling fan then what I had for her.

"What is this stuff, Mommy?"

She took to her fingers for comfort in between bites.

Daddy got in on the action as well

Yumm...fingers and food at the same time!

She seemed to like it and kept opening wide and leaning forward toward the spoon.

Nice mess she made for her first meal.  We decided to let her go at it since it was a special occasion, plus she was due for a bath that night anyway.  Here is our beautiful girl when she was all done!

She has been on oatmeal for 4 days now and so far so good.  i think we are going to keep it going a little longer since she is still learning and not really needing to have too much of it so far.  I have already prepared home made green beans, sweet potato, and carrots for follow-up food.  Can't wait to have her try those!

Last Day in Vegas

The last day of our surprise family reunion for Gma, we all got together for breakfast at Hash House in Vegas.  I didn't take many pictures of this day, but here are a few.

Here is my cousin Corrie and her husband Keith.  I love John's smile in the background...

Here is my cousin Tracy and Jacque with Aydan.  Our big party had to spread over two tables. 

 My Aunt Carol with her grandson Owen

The whole group, but without Hunter who was with his Grandparents. =(  Almost a whole group shot. 

We went back to my brother's house to hang out with the under 21 crowd while the rest of the family won some money without us.  Luckily my sister gave me a portion of her winnings!  

Just for comparison, here is Kalea and Owen when she was a little over 2 months old and he was about 7 months old back in February 

 And here they are 3 months later!  

 Owen was a big fan of Kalea's head

 And of course miss Aydan wanted to get in on all of the fun

Just the girls =) 

 Uncle John was able to get in some quality time despite having to work so much during this weekend.  It was such a great weekend!

More Family Time in Vegas

As I previously promised, I have tons more pictures to share from our family reunion for Gma's Birthday.  Sunday of Memorial weekend turned out to be a beautiful day to spend by the pool.  Luckily, the annoying winds stayed away and the day was just about perfect.  We were staying at a family-friendly Marriott off the strip so we had plenty of space to hang with our party of just under 20.   

The last time our entire family was together for a vacation was almost 8 years ago when we were in Hawaii celebrating our Grandparents 50th anniversary.  It also happened to be the vacation where Pat and I met.  It has definitely been too long for our entire family to get together.  Hopefully it won't be 8 more years when it happens again.  

We love hanging together at the pool and I took a good 150 - 200 pics in the matter of a couple of hours; I enjoyed every moment of it.  It is definitely difficult to pick out a few to share, so I have included just a bit more than that.   

My beautiful cousin Jacque and her son Owen.

 My too far away Austin, Texas cousin, Corrie with Hunter

Danny, finally in Vegas trying to get Aydan's ice cream. 

Aydan "posing" for the camera while Danny plays with Owen in the background 

Owen and Hunter hanging out.  Hunter wanted what Owen had of course, and then they would switch...aww the attention span of a baby.

 Gramma snuggling with Kalea, Aydan looking on in the back.

 The proud daddy Keith with Hunter

 Corrie giving kisses to those kissable cheeks

 I am sure Owen is telling Gma something very important!  Uncle David is a very good Grandpa "P-pa"

 Grandma Linda with her Grandson Hunter (My Aunt)

Aydan holding a flower in one hand and a monkey in the other...She came up to me saying "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" 

 I had a better shot lighting wise of these two, but I wanted to include this one to show how goofy my Uncle David is.  He kept dropping in my pics when ever he could.  Keith and Jacque exchanged hats and both looked great!

 Grampa enjoying some Kalea smiles!

 We had to get a quick pic of us in 

 Our family set-up.  Almost everyone can be seen in this picture.  I think me, Pat, my Dad, Sara, and Kalea are the only ones not seen from this vantage point.  Poor John was at work during this fun!

 I caught a great one of Aydan while she tried on her moms hat.  

 This next one is probably one of my favorites.  Jacque is so photogenic and Aydan so adorable, I had quite a few good ones of the two of them.

 We tried to get a good shot of Kalea with Hunter, but Hunter was getting a bit grumpy.  Close enough I guess!

We are so lucky to have the wonderful family we do.  I hope we can figure out how to spend more days all together pool side!  I still have one more post about the weekend, mostly just to share more pics from the last day.

Going For a Swim

In the middle of a family trip to Las Vegas, we had the opportunity to introduce Kalea to the pool for the first time.  She has so far loved bath time so we were hoping that would translate into loving the pool.  For some reason, Pat and I didn't think about bringing a swim suit to Vegas over Memorial Day weekend...I know it was crazy thinking.  Too bad, since that meant that I had to go shopping!  Luckily I found Kalea an adorable new bathing suit to add to the two she already has at home.  Pat ended up with a great new suit as well ($20!)

Now that we were all prepared, it was time for the water.  First, we took a quick family shot before hand...

 Then it was time to test the waters.  We were a bit weary of how she would react since the water was a bit chilly on an unusually cooler weekend in Vegas.

 She seemed to love it, at least she didn't scream like she hated it.  

So we went in a little further, and still just as happy as can be. 

 Happy family!!!

 She was totally relaxed and only fussing if we took her out of the water.

Hanging out on the step before it was time to get out. 

All wrapped up  and time to snuggle with Mommy!  It was a huge success for her first time in the water.  We are very much looking forward to spending some hot summer days at the pool both at our house and at Gramma and Grampa's house.