Snow Day!

My first real snow experience was yesterday as well as Kiley's. I saw snow in CT for the first time in December of 2001, but it was only flurries not enough to play in. Jeremy had gone snow skiing once with some buddies, but they said the snow was not as good as what we got here.

This time the snow stayed and piled up! It snowed almost 5 inches at the farm. Unbelievable! Every where you looked it was white! It was an exhausting day playing outside in the snow all day. I changed clothes several times as I got wet and cold! I just had to see if you could really roll a snowball and it get bigger like in the cartoons. Well, it does work. It was crazy how big and it can get. I made Kiley a snowball and she ate it and loved it.

I was able to get my snow list checked off...I made a snowball, made a snowman, and made a snow angel! I even made a snow chair but it only lasted a few seconds before it cracked and I was on the ground. Jeremy had just stopped recording to take a picture so he missed recording me breaking it. I am torn whether I like snow or sand better. I like the durability of the snow but sand is so much easier to work with! Kiley and I even went for a tube ride pulled behind a four wheeler in the hay field across the street. We had so much full.

Here is a picture collage.

Catching Up

Well it has been over 6 months since I updated the blog so I figured I would update by adding some monthly picture collages.

7 Months8 Months9 Months10 Months11 Months

12 Months1st Birthdays

6 Months

At Kiley's 6 month appointment, she weighed 13 pounds 9 ounces and was 26.25 inches tall. She was still in the 50th percentile for height but dropped to the 18th percentile for her weight. We were told to make sure she doesn't miss any meals and to keep an eye on her weight. I felt like a bad mother at first, but after talking to a few friends I feel better. Not all babies are going to progress the same. The doctor even said she is very healthy and doing fine. Kiley is overall a happy baby. She is starting fuss a bit more, but it may only add up to an hour or two a day. Some days are better than others.

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. I got some things for my embroidery machine that I had been wanting. We also had some take out Bang Bang shrimp from Bonefish. Jeremy also made me some of his famous chocolate chip cookies. I LOVE them and eat too many of them when he makes them. He also has started saving me some of the cookie dough. Yumm...

Kiley has now figured out that she can get her toes into her mouth. Just one more thing that she puts in there! It amazes me that she tries to put toys twice her size into her mouth. She has sat on her own for a few minutes. She still topples over a few times before she is able to stay in the sitting position, but she is getting better. Kiley is also into textures. She loves scratching on new surfaces.

On Memorial Day weekend, Kiley went on her first boat ride. We went with some friends to Shell Island. Kiley was having so much fun she would not take a nap. Kiley also started her first solids of rice cereal. She lunged at the spoon and then did not know what to do with the cereal in her mouth. It then all came right back out! She was messy once she was finished. I think it was a learning experience for all of us. I can't imagine how much a mess we will have on our hands once we start colored foods! Kiley is now sleeping in her crib in her own bedroom. I think it was harder on Jeremy and me than it was on her. She did fine and slept through the whole night.

Speaking of Kiley being in her crib, sometimes I put her in there when she is fussy and I can't get her to calm down. Her crib bumpers have little fish on them and their fins are made out of tulle like material. Well one day while she was in her crib during her fussy moment, she pulled the fins off two of the fish. Her little fingers fit right through the little holes. She showed me! I have now turned the bumpers around!

She still has no teeth and is not crawling. She does know how to get around by rolling. She is really getting the hang of rolling from back to stomach and from stomach to back. She loves jabbering and does it more and more everyday. Every thing is still going very well.

Kiley Mixed Video - (1 min 42 sec) the end of the video has Kiley eating rice cereal for the first time

5 Months

Kiley is still doing very well. I took my P.E. exam April 25th and am very glad that is over. It will be about 10-12 weeks before I get the results. It was hard studying with Kiley sitting next to me. She is starting to jabber more, and it is so cute. I wanted to play with her instead of study. Check out the video below.

We have discovered that Kiley likes to look out the sliding glass door at the cars driving past. We prop her up on the couch with pillows, and she will stay entertained for about 30 minutes to almost an hour. It is amazing.

Kiley took her first trip to Lakeland to meet her new cousin, Ava, and other family members. However, while in Lakeland we had a tragedy in the family. My cousin died in a scuba diving accident which made the trip a bit more emotional. I think it was a bit much of a trip for Kiley. She really clung to me the whole time. Every time she woke up she was somewhere new with new faces. I am sure she was very overwhelmed. She practically cried every time someone besides me wanted to hold her. We did enjoy spending time with the family though.

Kiley is developing well. She has discovered her toes and likes to play with them. She rolled over from her back to stomach for the first time. Kiley is in a new phase where she likes to stand up or lay down rather than sit up. After my exam we stopped swaddling Kiley, and she has been doing fine sleeping through the night. She still looks like Jeremy, and she is still very healthy.

4 Months

At Kiley's 4 month appointment, she weighed 13 pounds and was 24.5 inches tall. She is right around the 50th percentile for both. The doctor said she is very healthy.

The big news from this past month is that we are now proud owners of a Honda Odyssey minivan. We found a great deal on the van; however, it was in Texas. Kiley and I flew to Texas to pick it up and drive it back. Yes we could have had it shipped, but we were able to visit with our friends. My friend, Ansley, gave birth to her son, Myles, about 2 weeks before Kiley was born. It was a short trip but worth it.

Walking onto the airplane with Kiley, I soon realized I was one of those people who you don't want to sit next to you on the plane. Once I sat down, the man next to me asked to be moved! He said he wanted to give me more room, but I knew he thought Kiley was going to cry the whole time. It was a full flight so he couldn't move. Needless to say, Kiley did not make a peep! I was so proud of her.

The ride back in the van wasn't too bad. Kiley did well for the first 6 hours, and then she was done sitting in her seat. When I stopped to feed her, I would let her play for a few minutes before putting her back in her seat. Every day Kiley is becoming more active. It is so much fun.

3 Months

Kiley weighs about 12.5 pounds (total guess) and is about 23 inches tall. Getting Kiley to take a bottle was not as easy as I thought it would be. The first time I just gave up because she was not having it. The second time it took 45 minutes for her to finally take it. Each time we tried it got better. She does well taking one now. She even held her bottle a few times (more like propped her hand under it, but hey it was on her own!) We don’t give her a bottle all the time, maybe once or twice a week. I still prefer nursing her; to me, it is just easier.

Kiley had been sleeping from about 10pm to 7am. Just the last few weeks, Kiley has been waking up for a 4am feeding. It is not too bad because she does go right back to bed. We think she is going through a growth spurt. I can’t believe how fast she is growing though.

I would say Kiley is most active first thing in the morning. Once she wakes up, I bring her in bed with me and unswaddle her. She immediately stretches. I love watching her stretch. It is like a full body experience for her. You can tell how much she loves that freedom. She smiles so big and laughs and giggles. I love my morning time with her.

Kiley is able to keep herself entertained for quite a while on her activity mat. She kicks her legs and swats at the butterfly and sun that hangs down. She laughs and giggles. It is so cute. She is still not too big on tummy time, but we do it for a bit anyway. She can hold her head up very well now. Kiley is able to hold a rattle in her hand and shake it around. I have added a video of her with the rattle. The first clip is when she first was able to hold the rattle and shake it without losing it. I don't think she really realized what was in her hand. I also thought it was funny because it looked like she was waving to the camera. The second clip you can tell she is examining it more. She tries to eat it too. You will also hear Lost playing in the background of the second clip.

Fsd saaaaaaaaaaaaae//?f=– That was Jeremy let Kiley type a bit. I have also added a collage of pictures taken of Kiley from the last month. The picture of her smiling in the Bumbo was taken March 7th, and the picture of just her face below that picture was taken February 7th. We have a hard time catching Kiley when she is talking with Jeremy or when she is smiling lots. She sees the camera and then becomes fascinated with it and stops everything and just stares at it! We have tried sneak attacks but she must sense something is up because she stops! Thank goodness for the endless pictures you can take with digital cameras!


Nothing too much has changed with Jeremy and me. We started watching Lost. I guess Lost is pretty big at JEI so we trying to catch up. We just finished season 3, and only have a few more seasons before we are caught up. It is a very interesting show.

I ran more like jogged/walked the Seaside Half Marathon (13.1 miles) at the beginning of the month. I didn’t get to train like I wanted to. I only trained for about 3 weeks, and the farthest I jogged was 3 miles. I knew it was going to be a rough race, but I ran in it the last 2 years and I wanted to this year too. I just wanted to finish; I didn’t care about my time. I jogged for 30 minutes and then walked for 10 minutes. That worked fairly well for me. It took me 2 hours and 51 minutes, but I finished! I definitely felt the effects of poor training the next few days.

I still have not gone back to work yet, and not sure when I will full time. I have talked to my boss and I think we have worked out where I can work part time from home. What a blessing. I couldn’t imagine leaving Kiley. Also I am working on starting a small home business selling handmade items and other neat gifts. I am pretty excited about it. Check out my website: Expealidocious.com. Well that is about it for now.

2 Months

At Kiley’s two month check up, she weighed 10 pounds 15.5 ounces and was 22.5 inches tall. Again, her doctor was very pleased with her growth. We have decided it was time to introduce Kiley to a bottle. We will see how that turns out. She is becoming more alert everyday. Kiley is so beautiful and looks still just like Jeremy.