Brigham's Block

Where did the summer go: part 2 - July 2011 Corpus Christi Vacation

2011-09-19T21:50:00.001-05:00

Mid July we took a trip to Corpus Christi with both sets of grandparents. This seems to be the way the travel right now while both kids are so small. It is really nice to have 8 extra hands to help us with the kids. My parents and my in laws get along really well and my kids adore them all as well. It makes for nice travel.
We didn't have a hard set agenda, I just had two things I wanted to do which we accomplished: 1) letting the kids go to the beach and play in the sand & 2) going to the aquarium to see the fish.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from vacation:

Kallen loved the water

They both loved "jumping" the waves

Sand crabs

She requested to touch the alligator

They were too afraid to travel out on the pier

Where did the summer go?? - part 1

2011-08-31T20:06:00.002-05:00

My husband says that summer doesn't exist anymore since he no longer gets one. Well, it does exist in my world and it went by in a flash this year. I was dreading working 10 hour days because that meant the kids would be in at school for 10 hours, but it was all worth it because we had 3 day weekends for 10 weeks straight. It was really nice, and they didn't mind being at school that long because they both seem to like the school (I am so grateful). Here are a few highlights from July and August.

Visit with Tiger's grandfather:

Thank you to Cathena for Kyleigh's art project

Brigham men doing what they do best!!

Grand Daddy Brigham with Kyleigh & Kallen

Afternoon at the park:

I will post more of our summer adventures in the upcoming posts....

Kyleigh turns 3

2011-07-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

On July 14th Kyleigh turned three years old. It is so hard to believe, let alone say that I have a 3 year old. It still seems weird every time I'm asked how old Kyleigh is, and my answer is "3".

She is such a sweet girl with lots of energy and a great personality. She loves her family and taking care of her brother. Tier and I love watching them play together. She can give you a smile that will melt your heart and light up the room.

Birthday pictures:

We had dress up clothes over load

New ride from Grandpa & Memaw

yes, we are in our 2nd dress of the evening

Princess Kyleigh in her new Benz

She took her brother for a spin

Cake time!!! Yes that is icing on her face already

Party pictures:

Bouncy castle for our princess

1st time down the slide in the rain - I was so worried that the rain would ruin the party fun

Eme had a blast on the slide

by party time she was an expert on the slide

Austin enjoyed the slide too

Yeah for Aunt Debbie, for getting everyone to sit still for a quick picture

Kyleigh,

Your daddy and I love you so much big girl. We have enjoyed the past three years and look forward to watching you grow in the future!!! We thank God daily for the gift of you being our first born. You definitely have given us an introduction into parenthood. We wouldn't trade a minute of if for anything in the world.

Red White and Blue Parade

2011-07-07T22:41:00.001-05:00

Last Friday the kids had a July 4th parade at school. It is so nice to be off on Fridays during the summer so that I can attend school events. My parents even snuck in and surprised Kyleigh at the parade. Here are a few pictures from the parade and Kyleigh's class party.

Kallen led the way for the infant room stars

Kyleigh freezes when she spots her grandparents in the audience

Kyleigh & Eme

She does pause for a quick picture with Mommy

Kallen even snuck in to join Kyleigh's class party

Back at home after the party, Kallen tries to eat Memaw's shirt

Kyleigh wrestles Grandpa to the ground

My two babies are growing up so fast!!! (I promise to work on Kallen's smile)

Kyleigh conversations

2011-06-24T23:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, Kyleigh is a character and has such a personality. She says somethings that just make us scratch our heads and really wonder if she really only two years old. I try to retell some of our interactions and can't always remember how they go. So, I've decided to start putting them here on the blog, so when I eventually turn this into a book I'll have them all.

Today, Kyleigh was not exhibiting the best behavior at the table during breakfast, so I decided that I would try to explain to her why I was not happy with her behavior and see if that would make a difference. Here is our conversation:

Mommy: I'm not real happy happy with the way you are acting. I need you to work on listening to Mommy.

Kyleigh's response (after looking at me for a few seconds): Jesus does not like it when you are mean to me.

Mommy's response: Jesus wants me to help you be a good girl, and he doesn't like it when you don't listen to Mom my and Daddy.

I really wonder, what is going through her head at times. Where does she come up with the comments?????

Return to blog land

2011-06-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

I know I promise to write more often every time I fall off the grid, so this time I'm not making any promises. May was filled with events for work, travel for Tiger, wrapping up the school year, preparing for graduation, and trying to be the best parents possible to two very active children. Life is very tiring, but we wouldn't trade a minute of it. These two blessings from above keep up running, but they are so worth every ounce of energy.

Here are a few highlights from the past 6 weeks or so that you've missed us (or not):

Kyleigh convinced her Dad that she wanted this "dress up" outfit and not the Doctor's kit from Toys R Us one Sunday

Tiger went out of town for a week, so the kids and I went to spend the night with my parents. Memaw had Kyleigh a new swim suit waiting for her!!!

Kallen enjoyed the country too. He napped well outside in the playpen while his sister played in the water

Kyleigh went to the grocery store in this "ensemble"

Kallen is still a very happy baby, who loves to eat

Schlitterbahn 2011

2011-05-09T22:03:00.001-05:00

It took a lot of convincing, but Tiger finally gave in and agreed to join 10 other families from church on a trip to Schlitterbahn. Kallen had been having issues with his allergies, so I was really worried that we wouldn't make the trip, but it all worked out in the end. It was nice to get away and really not have a lot planned except a trip to a huge water park. Tiger wins Daddy of the year award because we were the only family to hit all three parks in one day. Kallen and Kyleigh were troopers!!!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Dinner on Friday night minus a few families

Entire group (minus Ashley Harris)

Thanks honey for agreeing to this, I hope this is one of many more group trips.

Kallen - 7 months old

2011-05-05T21:54:00.001-05:00

Still hard to believe he has been around for more than half a year now!!! Tiger loves to remind me that I am now a mother of TWO kids. It is hard to believe and life is really crazy right now trying to balance home with the end of the school year activities, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world (except more sleep). I just don't have babies that sleep well in their first year of life. Oh well, Kyleigh now sleeps about 10 hours straight, so I know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Kallen has two teeth, is an independent sitter, and loves to eat. The only thing that he hasn't liked so far is peaches (can't believe it because I love them), but I plan to try them again in the future and convince him that he needs to change his mind. His sister seems to be the only entertainment he needs. The smile I get when I arrive at the daycare to pick him up melts my heart. Kallen is no where near where Kyleigh was at this age, but in time it will all come is what I'm told. It is probably for the best because it would be very dangerous for him if he was mobile now because his sister would love to get her hands on him. She really thinks that she can pick him up and hold him (even though he is more than half her body weight).

Easter Weekend

2011-04-30T11:54:00.037-05:00

We started off having a lazy day on Good Friday. Kyleigh, Kallen, and I did a little shopping and found Easter outfits for everyone. Tiger had to work, so he was stuck finding something in his closet. After picking up lunch on the way home, we tried to take naps. Kallen and I succeeded and Kyleigh ended up laying down on her pallet for 3 hours watching TV, I guess I should be grateful for the quiet time. Late Friday afternoon, we headed to Tiger's parents house for a craw fish boil, fish fry and bar-be-que. I know that doesn't sound like it goes together, but my father in-law is allergic to sea food so we always have to an alternative for him. We had a good time hanging out with family and eating.

Kallen enjoys shopping with us right now, I know this will change in the future

Saturday we enjoyed a Easter outing with friends from church. Kyleigh has been talking about the Easter bunny all week. I love this age where she really understands enough to enjoy things. Too bad, I didn't think to put both of my children in the picture with the Easter Bunny.

Kyleigh & Greysen getting ready for egg hunt

Kyleigh found a golden egg

I had a hard time getting her out of here to go home (maybe a grandparent will buy one for their backyard-hint, hint)

Kyleigh & Tiger going on a train ride

Sunday, we went out to my parents house after church and a late lunch with my parents and my brother and his wife. Kyleigh adores her Aunt Erin, I'm just glad that Erin is an elementary teacher and has the energy to keep her occupied. Thanks Erin for entertaining my drama queen!!

Easter Grandparent Bunny bought Kyleigh a Dora big wheel

Aunt Erin helped Kyleigh make a playground in the backyard

Daddy finally let her fly the kite all by herself

Kyleigh dyed eggs all by herself this year (I don't have a little girl anymore)

Grandpa makes a great playmate

Meemaw wouldn't stop leading Kyleigh to the eggs

Erin and My Dad hanging out on the patio

Herman Tyler preparing to cook lunch

We had a great three days off last weekend. Even if Kallen did have a fever and heavy congestion most of the weekend. His fever just gave me a four day weekend, because I had to stay home with him on Monday as well. Poor guy can't get healthy and stay that way.

Downtown Aquarium

2011-04-09T19:01:00.007-05:00

We ventured out for a visit to the downtown aquarium on a Saturday afternoon. We started out with a late lunch in the restaurant and headed outside to ride a few rides. We had a blast, I just wish it was a little cooler. I hope the current weather isn't a prediction of the summer to come.

After lunch in front of the big tank

Kyleigh would have stayed in here for hours

He loves watching his big sister

We rode the train through the big shark tank

She had to have a pink dolphin

He was so tired, he passed out

Of course, she wouldn't touch anything

Kallen is 6 months

2011-04-05T21:48:00.001-05:00

Okay, we have reached six months and I don't have many pictures because the poor child has been so sick. We are on our third ear infection since Spring Break, and the pediatrician has mentioned an ENT to us to talk about getting tubes put in his ears. Here are a few updates from the past month:
- loves to eat
- eats cereal twice a day
- still on 6 oz bottles
- starting on baby food and so far loves everything (sweet potatoes, carrots, and green beans)
- tried oatmeal again and will now eat it (I told you he loves food)
- using a sippy cup to drink water and Gerber juice (loves this too)
- wears 9 month clothing
- size 3 diaper
- is a happy laid back baby
- would still rather drink and eat what Mommy is having over anything else

Spring Break Drama (True Madness)

2011-03-31T18:50:00.003-05:00

I had so many plans for spring break, I planned to get my taxes done, mani/pedi, massage, shopping, and the kids were going to school a couple of days so that I could do some spring cleaning around the house. How that all changed in a short amount of time. The Saturday before spring break Kallen had a little congestion and that evening he spiked a fever. I thought he was just coming down with a cold, he wasn't his normal active self. He wasn't interested in eating and all he really wanted to do was lay on us and sleep. By Sunday, I noticed that he was taking short, quick breaths (panting) and kept a fever most of the day. Monday morning before Tiger went to work, he asked me to keep an eye on him and if he didn't improve to call the pediatrician to see what she thought. So Monday afternoon rolled around and he hadn't eaten well all day and the breathing seemed to be getting worse. I finally called the pediatrician and they didn't have any openings for Monday, but could work him in Tuesday morning. The nurse could hear him wheezing over the phone, and asked me to watch him for an hour and if it didn't get better to go to the Urgent Care center because she didn't want him to wait until Tuesday to be seen. We were the third ones signed in at the Urgent Care facility when they opened at 5:00 p.m. After getting in to see the nurse, she went to get the pediatrician immediately. Of course, by now I am starting to get a little nervous. The pediatrician doesn't like the wheezing and puts him on oxygen and they start to monitor his pulse ox levels. She then orders a RSV test and a Strep test to rule them out (they both came back negative). The next step was to be transported to Texas Children's Hospital in the medical center. At this point, I am very worried and I call Tiger. My next call was to my Mom to come and get Kyleigh, I knew Tiger would be enough for me to handle and that Kyleigh did not need to be around for everything that was coming next. My mom arrived just as they were loading Kallen and I in the ambulance. Tiger was able to follow us and arrived at the emergency room shortly after us. Intake took a few minutes with the transfer of information from the ambulance crew to the TCH staff, but we were shortly sent to pediatric emergency care. After a few hours, more oxygen level monitoring and an x-ray, we learned that he had an ear infection, was in respiratory distress, and severely dehydrated. The lungs looked clear, so no pneumonia. An antibiotic was issued for the ear infection. The plan was to try and get him hydrated, which in turn would help the breathing. Once this was accomplished we could go home. Well, being dehydrated meant that they couldn't get a vein to stay up for an IV. We went through about 45 minutes of trying to get an IV in unsuccessfully, and then turned to pedialyte to hydrate him. After a few more hours, we learned that the little pedialyte he did take in wasn't enough so they planned to admit him and were going for another round of IV attempts. After 5 sticks, they finally got an IV in his foot and we were moved to a room for the night. He was hydrated and monitored all day on Tuesday. Tuesday's diagnosis added pneumonia to the mix, but he was already on an antibiotic for the ear infection. Finally discharged around 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday and headed home. What a great start to Spring Break!!!

Kallen and I spent spring break indoors while he recovered. Kyleigh was a trooper, she actually got to stay two nights with my parents and went to school a few other days. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end of the week and didn't go back to work rested. I needed another few days just to recover from the emotional roller coaster during spring break.We'll try again next year for all of my plans.

March 5 - First Family (maddness part 4)

2011-03-31T17:30:00.005-05:00

We hosted our first family and had a great time. Tiger was very nervous about children all under the age of three being loose in the house, but it went very well. I love that all of our kids are about the same age. I look forward to them growing up together within the church. We are missing Melissa and Ashley from the pictures because she was off feeding. We also missed the Grundy's (we'll get them all at the next event)

Kid table is hilarious, they have so much fun together

The little ones had to sit at the adult table, but this time next year will be a different story

Dads all stand back and watch, don't they look relaxed.

March 5 - Kallen turns 5 months old (maddness part 3)

2011-03-31T17:30:00.003-05:00

Kallen is turned 5 months old and his personality is slowly starting to surface. Here are the highlights:

- starting to eat cereal
- wearing size 3 diaper
- wearing 6 month clothing (3 month clothing is way too snug)
- drinking 6 oz of milk at a time
- sleep is a bad subject, because we are not doing well (hopefully the cereal will help)
- don't like oatmeal cereal (will have to try again later)
- happy baby, who loves to watch his sister
- weighs approximately 15 pounds

first bites of cereal

cereal is all gone and he likes it

March 1 (March madness - part 2)

2011-03-31T17:01:00.003-05:00

Tiger turns 34!!! He is a year away from his age rounding up to 40. He is starting to realize that he is getting old. I am so sad to say that I don't have one picture of the birthday boy from this month, so I've gone back and found one of my favorite pictures. His birthday gift arrived in the mail a few days later (a new golf club).

Oldie, but still one of my favorite pictures!!!

March Madness

2011-03-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

March was such a crazy month that I'm going to attempt to blog it all in one day.... we'll see if the kiddos let me get it done.

Wrapping up February

2011-02-28T16:29:00.022-06:00

I have to go back and finish up February because I have to post the zoo pictures and the quiet afternoon at my parents. Better late than never......

I don't remember what the inspiration for all this was, so I'll just post the pictures for keepsakes when I finally make time to put this all together in a photo book.

We stopped at Baby's R Us on the way out and picked up some sidewalk chalk and paint (I really think this was Tiger's idea of a great activity)

We discovered that Kyleigh and I don't share well together

Tiger's creative side coming out

Memaw and Grandpa trying to help Kyleigh stay clean (I knew there was a reason we did this at their house)

We also took a last minute trip to the zoo on February 27th. We got there late on a Sunday afternoon, so we only really had about an hour an a half. But when you take Tiger to the zoo along with two small children, that is really plenty of time. I have to apologize early for the red snowcone all over Kyleigh's face (Tiger was helping her eat that one).

Kallen loves to get out of the stroller every now and again to see what's going on

The only animal we got a picture of?????

This is as far as we got with the African exhibit

Kallen wanted to get out and play too

Taken as they are asking everyone to report to the front gates for closing time. Tiger didn't want to leave!

Mother of 2

2011-02-27T14:49:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I was showing pictures of Kyleigh and Kallen to a co-worker this week and she said, "I can't believe you are a mother of 2 kids," and "it is so funny to hear you talk about your kids". Well, I sometimes can't believe I am a mother of two also. But to see the smiles on their sweet faces, just melts my heart.

Here are a few recent pictures of my two babies:

Look at that smile

He adores his sister

She would hold him forever, if he would be still

Again, who can resist the smile?!?

Kallen Update

2011-02-27T14:40:00.000-06:00

Kallen finally went to the doctor this week for his 4 month check up (I know this is really late) and here are the important statistics:

height: 25.5 inches

weight 15.8 lbs

Also, I drug the family out to have pictures taken because I am so tired of people walking into my office asking for pictures of the baby. They turned out way better than I expected, but I can go without repeating that experience again. The photographer that took all of Kyleigh's pictures is out on maternity leave, but she will pick up with Kallen's pictures in April when he turns 6 months old. I cannot wait and I now have a new appreciation for what she does. Here are a few of my favorites:

Of course, his Daddy wanted a picture with all the sports props

His Mommy thinks he is just so darn cute!!!!

My Sweet Valentine

2011-02-14T19:11:00.000-06:00

Kyleigh has been running a fever for a few days straight, so she got to stay home today with my Mom. Well, I called to check on her several times today and she seemed to be doing much better after a day home with Memaw. With my afternoon check in, I told her that I would bring her a surprise home. Needless to say, she met me at the garage door this afternoon waiting on her surprise. Here is a quick picture of my sweet little girl with her Valentine surprise.

Elmo's Healthy Heros

2011-02-13T18:13:00.001-06:00

We went as a family to see Elmo's Healthy Heros on Saturday. I was a little nervous originally for two reasons. 1) I didn't know if Kyleigh would be able to sit through the whole show and 2) I wasn't sure if Kallen would make it either. Well, they both surprised me and did a great job. Kallen slept through the whole first half and Kyleigh was glued attentively to the stage. I'm not sure who was more excited, Kyleigh or Tiger. They both got so excited with each act and sang all the songs that we've heard a million times on her dvd's. I couldn't believe how much she enjoyed the show. We did end up in the bathroom two times in the last 30 minutes, but I just think she liked getting up and going down the stairs. Kyleigh was actually at the beginning stages of getting a nasty bug, but she made it through the show with no problems and told us over and over how she had a good time at Sesame Street. She also said that she was happy that we went as a family. I can't believe how this little girl melts my heart with just a few simple words.

Before the show started they we were all so excited

Elmo Fans!!!!

Valentine Bags

2011-02-09T21:00:00.011-06:00

Each month we are responsible for a school project. January was our first month and we made "freedom flowers" for Martin Luther King Day. I thought I did a good job printing several daisy flower stencils off the internet and made two cute little flowers. I was really proud of my flowers, until the flowers got posted in the hallway for everyone to see. My flowers didn't look so good next to some of the other flowers with glitter, stickers, and lots of color. Well, when the month of February rolled around, I knew that we were going to have to do better with the project (valentine bags) becase they were going to be displayed for everyone to see.

Tuesday, after school Kyleigh and I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out supplies to decorate their valentine bags for school. She had a good time picking out lots of stickers, letters, and glitter to decorate with. Thank goodness all the supplies were marked down 40% off. Below you will see our finished projects:

Kallen worked so hard, he needed a break

Kyleigh had a great time making this mess!!!

Kallen's bumble bee bag

Kyleigh's ladybug bag

4 Months Old

2011-02-05T21:10:00.000-06:00

Poor second born child does not have nearly as many pictures as the first born. I can say that we love him just as much and that we are having so much fun with him, just like the first time around. The only thing I can't figure out is why we don't have as many pictures??? I guess its because the adults no longer out number the children, so we dont' get the opportunity to snap as many pictures. I promise to start trying to do better because it makes for a boring post if there aren't as many pictures.

Kallen is now 4 months old and is a great baby. He loves to watch TV and his big sister. He could literally watch her for hours. He also loves for anyone to talk to him. When Kyleigh talks to him, he gives out a big belly shaking laugh. It is so cute because he really thinks she is talking to him. He eats around 5-6 ounces six times a day. He sleeps pretty good at night getting up only twice (on a bad night, we get up every 2-3 hours which is still better than Kyleigh). He is wearing 3-6 month clothing and size 3 diapers. He can roll from his back to his side and back with no problems. He has accidentally rolled to his stomach a few times, but doesn't do it consistently enough for me to think he knows what he is doing. We are going to the doctor in two weeks, so I'll post updated stats at that time. I'm betting we are probably close to 15 pounds now, but we'll see.

Saturday Ride

2011-01-23T14:40:00.001-06:00

Tiger has been sick all week and finally went to the doctor on Thursday to learn that he has bronchitis. Well when Saturday rolled around and he still didn't feel well, the kids and I decided to take a day trip to my parents' house. Kyleigh loves it becuse she has both of my parents wrapped around her finger, and it usually means her little 4 year old cousin, Miley, will come over to play as well. A new favorite at Grandpa & Memaw's house is Hickory. My Dad says he bought this horse for himself, but I have a feeling Hickory was bought for a certain Granddaughter who also got a new pair of cowboy boots on Saturday as well.

Kyleigh didn't want to get off

New boots from Grandpa: she loves them!!!!

Monday Playdate

2011-01-22T14:07:00.016-06:00

This past Monday we hosted a play date at our house. Kyleigh wants to thank Greysen, Austin, & Riley for coming over with their Mommy's and siblings. She loves to have guests over to play and they just made her day. She talked about it for days afterwards. It is so different now that Kyleigh is getting older, she loves to socialize and play with others. It was neat to hear her talk about her "friends" coming over to her grandparents as well.

Riley & Kyleigh playing on the balcony, while Greysen vacuums

Austin did a great job of cleaning up after everyone

Riley & Kyleigh pausing for a picture

I took 20 shots of the entire group, and this was one of the best pictures

We really enjoyed having everyone over, and look forward to many more play dates as the kids grow up together.

3 & 30

2011-01-16T12:35:00.000-06:00

From day 1, Kyleigh has loved her little brother (we will see how long this lasts)

On the 5th of January, Kallen turned three months old and on the 14th, Kyleigh turned 2 1/2 years old (30 months). I can't even begin to describe how much fun we are having with these two. I have a new story to share daily with the Grandmothers because Kyleigh is a busy little girl with a strong personality that keeps us on our toes (I have no idea where this comes from). Kallen on the other hand is very laid back, and usually only cries when he is hungry, sleepy, or has a dirty diaper.

If we would let her, she would hold him all the time

Kallen
You've only been around a short time, but boy have you made a world of difference in our household. You took us from a family of three with Kyleigh being the center of everything to a family with two children to love and care for. You are currently in a size 2 diaper and are wearing 3 - 6 month clothing. You love to take baths and watch TV. You go to bed in between 8 and 9 each night and are sleeping 4 - 6 hours at a time at night only waking once to feed at night. How nice this is for Mommy!!!!You have taught your sister so much about sharing, being gentle, and taking care of another person. For all of this I'm very grateful. You are a great eater, in fact the ladies at the daycare love to let me know when I'm not feeding you enough.I love it that you will sit in the bouncer, swing, or just lay around with us for long periods of time. Most of the time you stare and watch your sister play while I cook, clean, or work on the computer. Your sister never did these things, so I'm glad you do. You have actually got more use out of the bouncer and swing in the last three months, than your sister ever did in her whole first year of life. You are a happy baby and we love having you in our family. That smile of yours melts my heart. You have survived being pounced, poked, and who knows what else she has done to you while we weren't looking. We can't wait until you become verbal and mobile so that you can play with your sister (I might regret this later).

Kyleigh
Words alone can't describe this little girl. The best big sister there is for Kallen. Always wanting to help do something for or to him. Her vocabulary is beyond our belief at times. Just yesterday, she gave me a long irritated sigh and told me I was getting on her nerves. Potty training took a few steps backwards right after Kallen was born (she wanted to be in a diaper just like him), but you are picking right back up. We are only using 1-2 pull ups a day on a good day when you feel like cooperating. Every time I get ready to let you wear your "big girl panties" all by themselves, you have an accident in your pull up and I change my mind. Thank goodness, you are equally satisfied with wearing the panties on top of your pull up. You are wearing 3 - 4T in clothing and a size 8 shoe. You go to bed around 8:30 each night and sleep all night. On weekdays I wake you up at 6, but on the weekends you sleep to around 7 (give or take 15 minutes). I've never met anyone who could frustrate me to no end and then make me laugh at the same time. You definitely have shown me what unconditional love for a child is. Out of know where you will ask me if I need a hug and a kiss and I just can't resist. Such a busy little bee who wants to help with everything we do. Cooking is your specialty right now, you've seasoned chicken, helped bake cake, stirred hamburger helper, and probably several other things that I'm not aware of. Thank you Memaw & Grandpa for the kitchen set, because I've quite a few meals cooked for me and I'll blame you guys for any extra pounds I gain. You are very social when you get comfortable with others and do a great job of keeping your brother entertained. It amazes me how you can pounce on your Daddy, and then turn around and be very gentle with your brother. You love your Grandparents and would love it if they came to your house every weekend to play with you (hint, my child calls you every weekend to invite you to her house - for some reason you don't respond to her phone calls). You have a huge imagination and have done a great job learning to play alone with your dolls and animals. You have a memory out of this world, you remember lots of things and love repeating the things we say. I guess, that's enough on you because you are now calling My Mom to tell her that I am not listening to you, so I think you need a little attention (this happens at least five times a day when i get in trouble for not listening).

Kyleigh loves helping to take care of her brother

2010 Wrap Up

2011-01-08T15:30:00.047-06:00

I am going to blame my lack of blogging on going back to work. December flew by and I spent quite a bit of time trying to balance home life with two children and work. Wrapping up the fall semester and preparing for the spring semester kept me really busy. Tiger stepped up and was a great help!!! Almost a month later and I think we are finally getting it down pretty good. Now, I'll have to find more time for blogging.

Here are a few pictures from the month:

Christmas Festival at the kids' school:

Meeting Santa at Kyleigh & Kallen's school

They had face painting, a bounce house, popcorn, hot chocolate, and a hay ride

She was willing to smile and stand next to the snow man, so we had to take the picture (unlike Santa)

Christmas 2010

Christmas was so different for her this year, she enjoyed what was actually under the wrapping paper this year

Poor Kallen spent the Christmas day asleep most of the time, we both were sick

Kyleigh's kitchen early on Christmas morning

Kyleigh's kitchen late that night (she was asleep when he finished)

She was excited to cook for us the next morning when she got up

Kyleigh's first horse ride on Hickory

Kyleigh & Kallen with their Memaw
Poor Kallen, when you sleep so much, we don't get many pictures

Kyleigh sharing her Grandpa's lap with Miley

New Year's Eve Zoo trip:

Thank you Memaw for the new cool stroller!!!

Long horn cows (they have a real name, but didn't remember that one)

Kyleigh and Kallen both love the stroller

Playing drums in the new African Forest exhibit

First carousel ride

Visit with Tiger's Grandfather:

Kallen enjoyed meeting Grand Daddy Brigham

2 Months Old

2010-12-05T18:05:00.001-06:00

My big boy is two months old today. We went to the pediatrician last week before I headed back to work, so here are the height and weight info:

12 lbs 4 oz
23 inches long

Kallen did a great job adjusting to daycare this week, and I did okay with my return to work (I promise, I didn't cry). It waws a 100 times easier to return to work this second time around. Well, it's time to start preparing all the bags for school/work tomorrow so I have to go. (I promise more pictures later)

What I'm thankful for....

2010-11-27T20:49:00.022-06:00

....my family
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. With both Tiger and my family being local and us having a hard time splitting the holiday evenly, we started rotating holidays last year. This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family. We had a very nice day with my parents, my brother and his wife. It was a laid back day, with great food and a good timespent with family. I am very thankful for my family because we all really like each other (sometimes this is a hard thing to come by) and I love hanging out with them doing nothing all day long.

Kyleigh is giving orders to everyone on where to sit and what to do (as usual, she has everyone surrounding her)

My Dad in his captain's chair

My brother walking in to be caught of guard by Photographer Bob

I am most thankful that God put these three people in my life:

Play Date

2010-11-26T20:30:00.000-06:00

Miley came over on Wednesday for a play date with Kyleigh. The girls had a great time playing together and with Tiger (their third playmate). He hadn't planned on being an added playmate, but the girls both wanted him to be in the same room with them most of the day. They went up and down the stairs, ran circles around the couch, and giggled most of the day. Tiger was initially afraid to be left alone with them, but did great on their outing.

After lunch, he took them to the park to let them swing, play, and run up and down the big hill (in lieu of taking naps).

By the end of the day, they both were ready for a bath and had no problem falling asleep.

Fashion Bug

2010-11-21T20:28:00.002-06:00

This picture says it all about how much Kyleigh loves to dress up. I was cleaning out some old clothes today and she had a blast trying on various clothes and accessories. Even though most of the clothes she has on in this picture belong to her, the cute part is that she picked out the entire outfit. What's even better is that Tiger took her with him to pick up lunch with this outfit. He says that she got quite a few stares and even a few comments from people in the restaurant.

My Birthday

2010-11-17T21:58:00.014-06:00

Okay, so the day came and went without too much excitement. As I get older, birthdays just don't seem to carry the same weight. I am glad to say that I made it another year and thank you to all who sent birthday wishes to me on my special day.

My wonderful husband brought me lunch and got me the Shark steam vac for my birthday:

I can't wait to use this!!!!

Kallen and I made a trip to the Cupcake Cafe and bought dessert to share after dinner. I love the option of getting to try different cakes in one sitting. My favorite were the strawberry and red velvet. I've heard good things about Sprinkles, and plan to make a trip there soon as well. Overall, a very low key day and I loved it that way. Family celebration will be on Sunday with my parents and in-laws.

Miley's Birthday party

2010-11-14T21:11:00.019-06:00

My Uncle David and his grand-daughter share the exact same birthday, November 7th. This year my Aunt Leah threw them a joint birthday party to celebrate Miley's 4th birthday and Uncle David's 50th birthday. The entire family loaded up and headed to Wallis on Saturday, November 13th for the party. I didn't think we would all make it with the weather being a little chilly, because Kallen has a very overprotective father who would love for him to stay in the house away from the world until flu season is over. Well, after a lot of persuading on my part, we convinced him that it would be okay. Kyleigh was very grateful because Miley is one of her favorite people right now and she had a great time celebrating her birthday. She sang Happy Birthday to Miley for days leading up to party day, and was glued to her side a the party.

Kyleigh & Miley eating cake

Kallen and I were confined to the house for the party

Isaiah enjoyed his bouncer during the festivities

Uncle David did a great job on the Olivia cut outs along the back wall.

Not sure how this happened, but she went down the slide backwards

Kailyn, Miley, &Alana going down the slide

Kyleigh loves to jump in bounce houses

Overall, it was a great day except for the flat tire we got in my truck on the way home that night. Being on Hwy 59 in the dark on a Saturday night is not a fun place to be stranded. Thank you to my Dad for coming very quickly with your huge flash light to wait with us until the wrecker truck got there. (Santa could bring me a flashlight like Daddy's to keep in my truck) Thank you to Tiger for being with us because he does not usually attend little kid parties, and only went to guard Kallen against the outside world germs. The biggest thank you goes to the awesome tow truck driver who came and towed us to a gas station and then changed the tire for us. Didn't know they would do this, but will definitely keep this in mind for the future!!!

My new found friend

Cooking Cupcakes

2010-11-08T12:42:00.001-06:00

Her favorite thing is to stir things, I'm just not sure how it got on her face

Kyleigh has taking a liking to "cooking". She likes to stir her food and tell me that she is cooking (really she is just making a huge mess). So I decided to take advantage of this new found hobby and let her help me when I do finally cook something. I knew that it could get messy, but I had no idea how quickly she could dirty up herself, the counter, the floor, and anything else near her. I didn't really think this through when I first started this, but it's too late now because she loves it.

Yesterday we made cupcakes for Daddy. She had a blast and made a huge mess that I'm still cleaning up a day later. I didn't realize how quick her hands were because before I could stop her, she had eaten butter, cake flour, attempted to lick a raw egg, and put her hand in several cups of cupcake batter before I got them in the oven. We won't tell her Daddy about when she licked the bowl or spoon until after all the cupcakes are gone. So far he hasn't seemed to mind because he had three cupcakes last night alone!!!

She ate so much cake batter last night, I was waiting on her to have a stomach ache

1 month

2010-11-05T14:50:00.001-05:00

A month has gone by and we are rocking along pretty well. I am afraid to talk about how good it has been so far, because I'm waiting for the hard part to come. Kyleigh has been great with adjusting to her brother, and Tiger and I have done good with dividing and conquering all the needs of both kids. I have to secretly say that I am very proud of my husband, he has done good with making sure all three of us are taken care of. This includes making a trip to the grocery store on a week night because we were out of milk and a few other critical kitchen needs. He came back traumatized saying that it was madhouse and that people were not nice to him in the store and he never wanted to do it again. It was great!!!!! I really was proud of him even though he felt traumatized by his grocery shopping experience (it was a weeknight, so it wasn't nearly as bad as Saturday morning). He's gotten over the trauma and even offered to go again, but Kyleigh, Kallen, and I have taken care of the grocery shopping for the past two weeks.

On to Kallen, he is doing great. He mostly just sleeps and eats, so life is pretty good for him now. He and I spend our days looking for things to watch on TV and deciding if we are going to unpack a box or two. We usually watch TV and nap, unfortunately we haven't gotten to many boxes unpacked. Hopefully, that will change in the next few weeks and I will have them all done before I go back to work.

Here are a few pictures from the first month:

My "handsome" sleeper

Kyleigh loves to take pictures with her brother

I love these people!!!

Fall Festival

2010-11-03T10:58:00.001-05:00

This year with Kallen being so small we couldn't all attend the Fall Festival at the church. For some reason since I'm the one nursing, it was decided that I had to stay home with Kallen while Kyleigh and Tiger went to the festival.

It was very boring staying at home, and neither one of them could tell me more than one person they saw when they got home. I guess I should be grateful that he took her and even took a few pictures while he was there. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of her with any other children. I now know I still have quite a bit of training to do with her Daddy. She did tell me that she had fun and she came home with some candy (Daddy was really slacking in this dept). I sent her on a mission to get candy for her and Mommy, but this did not get accomplished. Kyleigh did enjoy playing on the playground and wearing her costume, so I guess the night wasn't so bad. Here are a two of the pictures from the night.

Was there a prize attached to this game?

Such a lady sliding in her Abby Cadabby costume!!

Homemade Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-31T18:16:00.002-05:00

Okay, so Tiger thinks Kallen was too small to venture out to a pumpkin patch this year. I couldn't let that stop me. With a little help from my parents (thank you so much for the hay & pumpkins) and a little creativity from my husband, I have a homemade version for this year.

It is hard to get a two year old to do what you ask sometimes, but these will work.

We tried to warm Kyleigh up by taking pictures of her alone at first, still not a good smile.
She complained that the sun was in her eyes and she needed candy.

I don't know why I thought he would have his eyes open for the pictures?!?!?

She is giving us a half smile now that her brother has been added to the pictures
(I'm also in the background promising candy for a smile)

Her daddy has snapped about 30+ pictures and she is not having fun anymore.
Notice Kallen is not having any problems with the picture taking.

Tiger couldn't resist getting a family photo!!

My Munchkins

2010-10-29T13:56:00.000-05:00

I am still trying to wrap my head around being a parent of two kids. Kallen has been here almost four weeks, but it doesn't seem real sometimes. So far it has been great, and I hope we continue rocking along like this. I have another month off from work, so I plan to enjoy every moment of this time with Kallen. Overall, Kyleigh has done really well with the addition of her little brother to our family. She is always willing to help out in any way to take care of him. He is the first person she asks about in the afternoon when she gets home, and the first person she looks for each morning when she comes downstairs. Every now and again she gets a little jealous and wants to be held like a baby. This was one of those times and Tiger thought it would be good to catch it on camera

Kyleigh loves to come home and tell me she needs to hold Kallen

Kyleigh had a Parade of Costumes today at school. Kallen and I were able to sneak in towards the end of her parade debut to bring cookies for her class party. The owner of the school was nice enough to watch Kallen while I went out with Kyleigh's class to pick a pumpkin. Too bad I didn't have a camera. It was a sight to see all of the kids in her class running around picking mini pumpkins up that were scattered on the playground.

Kyleigh dressed up as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street this year. I found the costume on-line and ordered it through the mail two weeks ago. I've had to keep it hidden from her for the past week. This morning when I went in to wake her up for school, I got no arguments about combing her hair or putting on her clothes because I let her know that she was getting to wear her costume to school today.

My sweet little Abby Cadabby this morning before she left for school.

My little man taking a nap after our morning out of the house.

5 Years Ago

2010-10-22T21:34:00.003-05:00

Our Wedding 10/22/05

I married my best friend five years ago today, and my life changed forever (definitely for the better). The time sure has flown and I can't believe that it has been five years. We have actually been together for ten and half years, if you add in the five and half years that we dated prior to getting married. Yes that's right, we dated for over five years before Tiger asked me to marry him. We won't even talk about the six months that he had the ring before he finally popped the question. If you ever get a chance to visit with my Mother, you can ask her about that one. We have gone from being a newly married couple to a family of four!!!!! Can you believe it we are parents to two great children??? I've enjoyed the journey and I'm looking forward to whatever the future brings, as long as we are together.

Here are a few pictures from the past 10+ years:

Astros game 2000

Chris and Val's wedding Dec. 2001

A Night out w/ friends Sept. 2002

"Children of the corn" July 2003

Texan's Game Nov. 2004

Disney World Mar. 2005

At a wedding Feb. 2006

Europe Vacation Aug. 2007

June 2008: Waiting on Kyleigh

December 2009

I love you Tiger!!! Thank you for a great decade, and I can't wait for the years to come.

Spaghetti

2010-10-20T21:46:00.000-05:00

A few months ago we had spaghetti for dinner and Kyleigh is just like her Mama, a huge pasta fan. Towards the end of dinner she started making funny noises, like something was caught in her throat. I kept telling her to drink something hoping to wash it down. Tiger kept an eye on her for a minute and then decided he knew what was wrong. He proceeded to look up her nose and using a napkin pulls out a 3 inch long spaghetti noodle. This was huge for Tiger because he avoids all bodily fluids of anyone but himself. I was so proud of him because he did not hesitate when going up her nose, even if he did use a napkin. I have no idea how or when she put the noodle up her nose.

Well, tonight we are having spaghetti again. Kyleigh and I started eating before Tiger got home. She is slowly eating her spaghetti and watching a recorded cartoon on television. Tiger comes home and comes to the table to see what we are eating. Kyleigh is captivated by the television and is sitting there with a finger up her nose. Tiger's first thought is a flashback of a few months ago. He asks her what is up her nose (this time he starts with a question), and she replies "buggers". Her response caught us both off guard and we fell out laughing. He then fussed at her about having her finger up her nose and I told him, you asked and she told you.

Kyleigh joined in on the laughing not understanding why we thought buggers were so funny!!!!

2 Week Statistics

2010-10-20T01:28:00.000-05:00

Kallen went in for his two week check-up yesterday and here are his stats:

8 lbs 8 oz.

21 inches long

Overall, he is a very healthy baby boy!!! Pretty much laid back slept the entire visit except during the state screening. Can't say I blame him for screaming when the nurse pricked his heel and squeezed blood out of it for her samples. We learned that he has very strong legs, and it next to impossible to get him to stretch them out when he doesn't want to.

9 Days of New Blessings

2010-10-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

Okay, I think it is finally starting to sink in that we now have two children and are officially a family of four. There has been so much going on with the new house and a new baby, that I don't think I've given much thought to how blessed we are. I have a wonderful husband, who would do anything on earth to make me happy. We have two healthy beautiful children, and we just moved in to a wonderful new home. Our parents and family have been great with providing support to us in this huge transitional time.

Now on to the pictures:

10/7: Our first day home from the hospital

Hanging out in Mommy & Daddy's bed

Trying to figure out why Mommy is pointing her phone at my face and is talking to me in a silly voice

10/8: Our new house on moving day

Introducing Our New Addition

2010-10-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

Kallen McCory Brigham

Arrived @ 10:03 a.m.

7 lbs 12 oz

21 inches long

Quiet before the storm

2010-10-02T17:43:00.000-05:00

I have so much to do this upcoming week, but have been extremely lazy about getting anything done today. I call this time my quiet time before the storm. A huge goal was accomplished, I made it through my brother's wedding last weekend. I was really worried for a minute on Friday night that I wouldn't make it to the wedding. At my doctor's appointment this past Tuesday, I learned that I was 4 cm dilated and that the baby could basically come any day. She told me to pay attention to contractions, and if they got 10 minutes apart to go to the hospital. I told her that I needed another week or so because we close on our house next Thursday and would like to go from the hospital to the new house. I really didn't want to be homeless having this baby. Don't get me wrong, my in-laws have been super accommodating for the past 5 weeks, but I really am ready for my own home again. My doctor told me that it was really up to the baby, but lots of rest and no stress would help me make it. She finds my goal setting quite entertaining. My coworkers all come searching for me each morning to see if I made it through another night. They are taking bets on when the baby will arrive. They are so compassionate. I just talk with him daily, and ask to be another day closer to closing so that hopefully we make it to the new house. I had a scare on Thursday night and thought we might not make it, but laying down for a couple of hours seemed to keep him content in the belly. So my daily prayer is for him to be born after we close on October 7th. That's only 5 days from now. Doesn't sound too unreasonable does it???

Herman & Erin's wedding

2010-09-26T13:00:00.060-05:00

I just learned how to back date a post, so I've gone back and added my brother's wedding. I eventually plan to get this blog made into a book, so I don't want this to be left out.

Herman & Erin got married Saturday, September 25th. Kyleigh was so excited about being a flower girl. I personally thought they were crazy to have three 2 year olds as flower girls, but it actually worked out and was really cute. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Friday's Rehearsal:

Kyleigh didn't want to take a picture with us

No problem taking a picture with Miley

Saturday's Wedding

Beautiful, Happy Bride is glad it's all over!!!

Been Too Long

2010-09-26T08:31:00.000-05:00

I don't even know where to begin on this post. So here's what I think I'll do, try to give you a quick update. We don't have a lot of pictures because we haven't done anything too exciting. We have just gotten consumed in the business of selling one house, while having another one built. Also, work has been super hectic for Tiger and I both, so all of my free time has been spent with doing stuff for work. I was so excited to go to a web based student information system, but in the end that meant that I was bringing a lot of work home each day and that is what I did with my down time at home. Did I also mention, I have a 2 year old to keep up with at home along with being in the last trimester of my pregnancy with Baby # 2.

We put our house on the market the day we left for our San Antonio vacation (July 8th). This started the drama of having to keep a super clean house because you didn't know when a potential buyer would want to come by to see the home. The house showed really well, I now believe in hiring someone to stage your home. I couldn't believe how nice it looked in the pictures on the website. We had a buyer after about a week and half of being on the market, so that was very exciting. They officially closed on the house September 2nd, so we have been living with Tiger's parents for the past month. The new house was started on July 14th and we are scheduled to close on October 7th. (We have taken quite a few pictures that I will post soon once I get them all on my laptop). There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel for being homeless and trying to return to normal life.

San Antonio Family Vacation

2010-07-24T10:16:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month we took our first ever family vacation with both sets of Grandparents. I want to start off and say "thank you" to the grandparents for going with us and helping out.We went up on a very rainy Thursday afternoon. Plans for the four days were to go to the San Antonio Zoo and Sea World. In between those two major events, we just wanted to enjoy the River walk.

This was the big planning meeting in our hotel to decide what to do with the rest of our Thursday evening:

Well we thought that we would head out to eat first.

Kyleigh was good exploring the restaurant's cool seats while we waited for our table.

She even went upstairs with her Daddy to check out the forest

Well, that ruined it for her. It was way too much noise and we had to leave before our table was ready.

After we finally did find a place to eat, we walked around and enjoyed the River walk

Friday we started off at the San Antonio Zoo. We had a good day with a little shower (which actually was okay because it helped cool us off).

Half way through we had to stop and take a needed break

Kyleigh and her Nana in their sunglassess

Here are a few of the many animals we say this day:

I know this looks like a big rock, but it is actually the backside of a hippo

Friday's zoo trip ended with a ride on the train

After the zoo we went back to the hotel for showers and naps. After that we headed out again for a boat ride on the river walk.

Saturday was filled with a very hot 5 hours at Sea World

Kyleigh's first carnival ride with Daddy

Yes, she's still smiling

Our very tired group at the end of our Sea World Adventure

Sunday morning before we headed out, we had to get a family picture on the River walk

Again, Tiger and I need to send out a big THANK YOU to our parents for all your help on vacation. I can't wait to start planning our trip for next summer.

Happy Birthday Kyleigh!!!

2010-07-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

My baby girl turned two years old today!!! We are planning a family celebration on Saturday, but we couldn't let the day go by without making sure she knew how much we love her and are so glad that she is in our lives.

She started off telling me that she didn't want to have a birthday today, but by the end of the day she kept telling everyone it was Kyleigh's birthday. I had the hardest time convincing her that she is now 2 years old, because she made a good argument this morning, making sure I knew she was still 1.

7/14/08

7/14/09

7/14/2010

Lady Buggie cake for my Lady Bug

Tiger went a little overboard on the gifts today

June 2010

2010-07-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, I missed a month of blogging and will now give you the quick version of what our lives were like in the month of June. I don't have many pictures, but really plan on putting all this in some sort of book one day, so I need to at least need to try and write it all down. In late May we started talking about getting a new house. We are currently living in a four bedroom 1 and half story home that we have outgrown. It is a great starter home, and I love my little house on the water. With a fourth edition to our family joining us in October and us making the decision to keep our guest bedroom (my Mom is great about coming to stay whenever we need her), the decision for getting a bigger house was an easy one. Especially, since this meant that Tiger's office (smallest bedroom) would now become the baby's nursery.
New house had two different definitions for Tiger and I. I was thinking a larger house that is already built (a.k.a. used home), and he was thinking let's build another home. I was not even a little bit interested in building a home because I was 4 1/2 months pregnant at the time, and the new house timeline did not fit well with my pregnancy timeline. Well, the hunt for a new house started. We have spent the last 6-8 weeks looking for a home. We searched the internet looking for used homes, and Tiger even convinced me to visit a few model homes in the area to just take a look. It consumed every free minute we had for about two weeks straight. We had our parents going with us to look at homes, and talked to them constantly to get their opinions and advice. When Father's Day rolled around, I had everyone over to the house and we talked about new homes with both sets of parents all together. The final decision was made on a new home, and yes Tiger won out and we are building a new house less than 2 miles from our current house.
The past two weeks have been spent getting our current house ready to put on the market. Thank you so much to both sets of parents who have dropped everything and come to help us clean, pack, and move half of our stuff into storage so that we can make the house presentable. The house officially went "live" on the market this past Wednesday. Since then we have had people out to see the house Thursday, Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. Talk about pressure to keep a clean house. Maybe this will help in my plea to get a maid permanently. Wish us luck with selling this house. I can't wait to share the progress of the new house with you in the upcoming months.

Shoes

2010-05-29T18:16:00.000-05:00

My daughter has an obsession with my shoes. Everyday when we come home she tell me "shoes off Mommy", which translates into me taking off my shoes and her putting on them on. She then bullies Tiger into telling her that she has on pretty shoes.Here are a couple shots that Mama has caught of her in my shoes.

Kyleigh, Kyleigh, Kyleigh

2010-05-29T17:48:00.000-05:00

We have a very busy little girl at our house. She keeps us laughing daily with the things she is saying and doing. In the past few weeks she has had quite a personality emerge. Her vocabulary is growing weekly, and she is stringing more words together in an effort to get her point across.

This morning she woke up and spotted a peppermint on the counter and told me "I got candy". She loves to go outside and when we go to the door, she will turn around and tell her daddy, "be back." My favorite is when we wake him up in the mornings before we leave for school so that she can tell him good morning, she will now tell him "see you later alligator" when we leave.

Kyleigh & Mommy on the way to the FFA Banquet

Kyleigh solo shot

wearing a bow at her insistence

talking to Elmo on the phone

Brigham Baby # 2 is....

2010-05-29T11:00:00.001-05:00

A BOY!!!!

Here is a picture at 10 weeks

Here is a picture at 19 weeks and 3 days

Tiger is so proud of himself for making a boy. It was so funny to hear him telling people that he made a boy all week long. He is crazy about his little girl, but it seems like life is complete for him now that he has a boy on the way. I get cute little messages left on my cell phone during the day of him checking on his son. I get reminders daily that I have "his boy" in my tummy. I have really enjoyed the past week watching him strut around and beam with excitement. Wait till this kid gets here, what will I do with him then?????

Mother's Day

2010-05-21T06:13:00.001-05:00

It's nice to have my own family now and have a husband who will do whatever I want on Mother's Day. Don't get me wrong, in the past we have tried to alternate seeing our Mothers or splitting the day so that we both get to see our own Mom on Mother's Day. This year we spent Saturday with the Brigham's and on Sunday my entire immediate family came to our house. Don't worry, I didn't have to cook because my brother took care of that. We also celebrated my future sister-in-law's birthday, so it was a really nice day.

More pictures from the weekend:

Kyleigh in front of Nana & Papa's house

Kyleigh running Nana around

Kyleigh & Me

Kyleigh & her Daddy

Kyleigh chasing her Uncle in our backyard

My Big Girl (she's not a baby anymore)

Got to Get Better

2010-05-03T21:39:00.001-05:00

I really have to work on posting more regularly!!! I make all these plans to take pictures on a weekly basis and share everyday stories, but I find that weeks pass by and I haven't posted anything. I do have pictures and a few stories to share, but I haven't uploaded the pictures from the camera yet. Twenty-two days of school left for the kiddos and then I think my work schedule will be sort of normal during the summer. Hopefully, then I will do a better job of updating the blog.

One story to share before I head to bed:

About a month or so ago I bought Kyleigh a potty to start trying to get her ready for potty training. I planned to work on this during the summer when my schedule is a little more consistent. Well, one Saturday morning we are in the kitchen and she tells me, "pee-pee on the potty." I get so excited and take her in to the bathroom and take way too much time trying to get the potty out of the box. By the time I get everything ready, she has peed in her diaper. She thought it was great just to have the opportunity to sit on the potty so I went with it. A couple of days later, I am running her bath water and taking out the trash at the same time. I know the next part of the story is not one I am proud of, but I have to tell it anyway. I run outside to add one last thing to the trashcan before Tiger puts it out on the street and I leave Kyleigh in the bathroom (I know running water and all, I am such a bad parent). When I come back in she is standing next to her potty, telling me that there is water in the potty. I figure that she has taken bath water and poured it in her potty. As I get closer and take a peek in the potty, I notice that there is yellow liquid in the potty. I am so upset she went pee-pee in the potty all by herself and I wasn't even there to see it!!!!!

Here is the potty I bought her, minus the reward stickers. They were not selling them with the potty when I bought hers. Which is okay because I have used candy as her reward for actually going on the potty.

She thinks she is such a big girl. She sits on it several times a week. I have to say that she has successfully used the potty three times in the past month or so, but not for any particular reason. She just tells me when she feels like it and goes in there and pees. I have no idea how to make this a regular occurrence, but hopefully this summer it will all come to me because I think she is ready.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-18T18:16:00.001-05:00

I know I'm a little late posting Easter weekend, but better late than never. I finally made time to upload the pictures to my computer. I really don't think my family likes reading my blogs, their real reason for following the blog is to see the pictures of Kyleigh.

We started off the weekend with a birthday party that included an egg hunt. This would the first hunt ever for Kyleigh and I wasn't sure exactly how she would do. Needless to say, by the time we reached the third egg she was done. That egg happened to crack open and she realized their was candy inside. She was no longer interested in finding more eggs, she just wanted to sit and eat her candy.

Kyleigh getting ready for the party:

Kyleigh on the swing (she didn't want to get off)

Kyleigh getting her first egg:

Here she is picking up the dreaded egg # 3 that is open:

After the egg hunt with chocolate on her face!!

On Sunday after church, we spent the day at my parents house. Kyleigh loved the entire day because she spent 90% of the time outside (her favorite place to be). I had a hard time making her come in for a nap, but when I did finally get her down, she slept for three hours. My dad and brother had to come in and wake us both up. After waking up, we dyed eggs for the second egg hunt of the weekend. This time Kyleigh had no competition, but still got bored after the fourth or fifth egg. My Dad said that next year we are only hiding 5 eggs because a dozen was way too many for her.

Family picture right after church

Kyleigh's favorite Easter friends

If we let her, she would have stayed here all day

Kyleigh loved having room to run

Getting everything ready to dye eggs

Kyleigh getting to dip an egg with help

While we finished dying eggs, Kyleigh snuck off with Grandpa to pet the cows

Kyleigh starting out on her egg hunt

I had to end up packing the basket to get her to actually finish

1st Zoo trip

2010-03-27T15:42:00.001-05:00

We took our first trip to the zoo over Spring Break with a few of the girls from church. I think I was more excited than Kyleigh about the trip. I just can't believe how crowded it was. We were there for a little over two hours and didn't even cover half of the zoo. Kyleigh loved the animals, but didn't enjoy staying in her stroller. I learned a lot about wagons and packing snacks, so we will much more prepared for our next visit. I am glad I made the investment of getting a family pass, and we will make many more trips to the zoo in the near future.

Kyleigh & Austin patiently waiting to go in the zoo

Kyleigh, Greysen, Austin, & John David watching an elephant get a bath

It took so many tries to get everyone set up for this picture, I'm not sure if anyone got a good picture

If anyone did get a good picture, please email it to me.

20 Months Old

2010-03-27T15:30:00.001-05:00

Kyleigh turned 20 months old on March 14th. I have no idea what happened to my little baby. She is such a big girl now, and I don't know where to begin describing everything she can do.

Weighs about 28 lbs
Wears in between a 2T & 3T in clothes
Diaper size 5
Shoe size 7
She communicates well telling us what she wants and especially doesn't want
She asks for things like "chocolate milk"
Tells me night, night when she's sleepy
Can count to 10 by herself
Will tell you her age when she is in the mood (and will even hold up one finger)
Tells us she loves us, when we tell her fist
Is starting to say more than "Hi" on the phone when talking with her grandparents
Can identify more family members by sight
Loves to be outside and swing
Enjoys watching "Yo Gabba Gabba" & Elmo videos
Will sing along with Wonder Pets' teamwork song
Can follow 2 step directions
Can identify quite a few animals and tell you what sound they make

I know there are so many other things that she does, but I can't even begin to describe them all in writing. We are having so much fun with her and are looking forward to everything the future brings.

my two favorite people

Tiger turns 33: March 1st

2010-03-27T15:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, this speed blogging is easy stuff. I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back to updating everything on a regular basis.

March 1st Tiger turned 33 and we had a small family celebration at our house.

We decorated the house with # 33's in honor of the birthday boy:

Kyleigh helping Tiger open gifts

Catching Up: Finishing out February

2010-03-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

It has been way too long since my last post and so much has happened that I didn't know where to begin. So I decided to post a few small posts to let you know what we did in February. I hope you all enjoy.

Sunday Park Visit with Daddy

2010-03-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Tiger took Kyleigh to the park one Sunday afternoon, and she loved swinging and runing up and down the hill.

College Day at the Daycare

2010-03-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

Our little Aggie

19 Months old

2010-02-14T19:15:00.000-06:00

Time has really flown by. Kyleigh is officially 19 months old today. We just had her 18 month check up on Friday, so I actually have current stats.
      Weight : 26 lbs 11oz
       Height: 33 inches
     Both in the 75th percentile

She is starting to branch off and attempt to play with other children. Holding on to my leg less and less. She is even trying to put together two word phrases. Which is mainley "come on" and trying to drag us to the refrigerator. Other words and phrases are: on, off, more please, Daddy home, Daddy car, Mama car, bath time, night night, shoes off & all done are the few that come to mind now. Favorite shows are Yo Gabba Gabba, The Wiggles, Elmo's World, and the Night Time show on Sprout. She will watch other shows like Caillou & Dora the Explorer, but they don't hold her attention as well. She loves to outside no matter what the temperature is. Sleeping is not perfect, but we have more good nights than bad (but way to many bad nights in her Daddy's opinion).

We have definitely slowed down in the picture taking dept, but here are a few taken over the past month:

She is finally learning to smile on request (when others aren't around)

At the park today with Daddy

Coming down the hill for the first time

She is running down

Back up the hill

Running down the hill sideways

18 Months Old

2010-01-17T18:07:00.002-06:00

Kyleigh turned 18 months old on Thursday (the 14th), and I cannot believe that she has been around for a year and half already. I don't know where the time has gone. It seems that she was just needing me to do everything for her. Boy, have times changed. I think life would be so much simpler if she would let me do things for her. Instead, she whines and screams to do everything by herself.

My 18 month old:

weighs about 26 pounds
wears a 2T
shoe size 6 1/2 - 7 (depending on the brand)
will sit and watch Elmo for about 10 - 15 minutes
feeds herself (boy does she make a mess, but doesn't like to have help)
will not start any meal without a spoon (even if she eats everything with her hands)
loves to eat crushed ice (sonic is the current favorite)
can drink from a cup with no lid
drinks from a water bottle without making a huge mess
eats cereal and milk with a spoon (someone has taught her to drink the milk out of the bowl - I'm blaming her dad)
will drag us to either the refrigerator or pantry when she wants something
runs and jumps on command
will say Elmo when she wants to watch one of her videos
attempts to take off her socks, pants, and shirt when it's bath time
loves to throw things into the trash for me
when she is in the mood will talk with her grandparents on the phone (she ususually prefers to sit there and have them talk to her)
will hum several different nursery rhyme songs (twinkle twinkle little star is the one she is humming now)
will start to sing her ABC's and gets to E by herself, but will muttle through the entire alphabet if I sing with her.

I'm so sure she does way more than this, but these are things that come to mind right now.

White Elephant Gift Exchange

2010-01-12T23:47:00.003-06:00

Our First Family finally got together this past weekend to celebrate the holiday season. It is so nice to have a group of friends who are all at the same stage in life. I really like being able to have girls to talk baby talk with. I really look forward to having our children grow up playing together. I've just got to work on my child not being the one who is eating off of everyone's plate and dragging every adult who will follow her to the window to look out at the dog in the backyard. Her daddy really needs to get her a dog.

Guy, Fran, & Greysen with their new chia pet (Guy will definitely be taking this one to work)

Lisa and Avery with their new "designer" frame

Melissa and Austin with their digital picture key chain

Kyleigh and I have our gifts hidden in the bag because I don't want them stolen

Cold morning with "yello" & a forgotten gift

2010-01-09T11:58:00.006-06:00

Hard to believe that it is actually about 22 degrees outside!!! It looks too pretty with the sun shining, but my opinion quickly changed when I stepped out to take this picture.

I went into the guest bedroom closet to find a "great" gift for our First Family gift exchange this afternoon, and found one of Kyleigh's Christmas gifts. (I know we are bad parents) She was so excited, I couldn't even get the stroller packaging off this morning. She pushed her doll around the house for over an hour. The only problem we had is that she didn't like being told that she couldn't sit in the stroller too. She would try to find a time when she thought I wasn't looking, and back up towards the seat of the stroller. She would cut her eyes at me and start to squat down before I caught her and made her stop.

Kyleigh taking a snack break to eat one of her favorite snacks "yello"

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-02T23:50:00.006-06:00

Quick moment to wish all of you a happy and prosperous New Year from our family!!!!

Now on to review how I did on last year's resolutions:

Show love and affection more to my husband - Let's just say that I'll be working on this again this year.
Spend time weekly reading the bible more - I did more than I actually thought, but again still have room for lots of improvement
Stay focused, positive, and productive at work - I think I did really well at this, but also took a promotion in July, so I am still working on this one
Become a healthy person & maintain my weight - looking back I'm 10 pounds lighter than January of 2007 so I guess I made improvement, but that puts me 20 pounds heavier than January of 2009. (I was pregnant in 2008, so that year doesn't count I'll definitely modify this goal too for 2010)
Do a better job of nurturing friendships - what was I thinking working on this with a 5 month old and taking on a new job with more responsibilities!!!!

Okay looking back it seems as I didn't do to well at this resolution thing, so I shouldn't attempt it again for 2010. Yeah right, I'll just learn from last year's mistakes and make more realistic goals this year (I hope).

Open, Open, Open

2009-12-28T15:52:00.008-06:00

That was definitely the phrase of the day for Christmas this year. Kyleigh received her first gift on Christmas Eve from a family friend, and she didn't really seem to know what to do. With a lot of hand over hand instruction, she eventually got the gift open. This was a whole different story by Christmas day afternoon. She would walk up to all gifts and say "open, open, open", and proceed to open them, no matter who they belonged to. We continued our split holiday with Christmas day with my family and the next day with Tiger's family. I have to say, it really makes for a relaxing holiday.

Christmas Day
We started out with our own small family celebration at our house. Tiger and I had cups of hot chocolate, and Kyleigh had milk with a little chocolate in it so she could be like Mommy and Daddy. There will be no pictures of the tree because it didn't have any ornaments. Kyleigh did not understand that she could not pull the "balls" off the tree. We did finally find shatterproof ornaments at Target on Christmas Eve, but decided to wait until next year to put them on the tree. (She broke two ornaments on my Mother's tree, so I knew better)

Bath Time Elmo was the first gift she opened

Coloring with Mommy in her new coloring book

Kyleigh with her Sesame Street characters & Bath time Elmo (she can name all the characters, plus a few more)

Tiger with his new Nike gear

My plan was to leave for my parent's house by 11:00, but we finally ended up leaving the house around 11:50. I think that's not bad considering it was the first Christmas where Kyleigh actually independently participated in the gift opening.

Posing with Miley for a few pictures..Once with Grandpa

then again by themselves in front of the tree (they really didn't want to cooperate)

Helping Uncle get into the big box

Trying to figure out exactly what was in that big box

Kyleigh hanging out on her new couch with Elmo

Kyleigh showing everyone she really knows how to really use her couch

Does anyone besided me see the repeating Elmo theme in Kyleigh's gifts??? My child is obsessed with a furry, red monster. Everyone participated in feeding this obsession this year. She got Elmo hands, Elmo Live, Alphabet Elmo, an Elmo couch, and Elmo books. She has built up quite a collection of videos, and has a few of them memorized. It's so bad that she calls her portable DVD player "Elmo".

Aunt Onion & Uncle

Helping Memaw open her gift

Tiger got a new toy for Christmas from my parents (what were they thinking???)

My entire family at the end of the day posed for a group picture

The Next Day

We went over to Tiger's parents house on Saturday around lunch time to do Christmas with the Brigham family. Unfortunately, there are no pictures because Photographer Bob forgot his camera. Kyleigh got the opportunity to experience gumbo for the first time on Saturday (she actually had rice, with very little roux so I'm not sure if it really counts).

The Elmo gifts continued here as well. Tiger's uncle bought her an Elmo sing along toy and Elmo read along books. Tiger's sister finally broke the tradition by buying her a Tigger bath time toy. She didn't know who it was. I would say that it is time that we starting looking for other characters for her to learn.

17 months old

2009-12-14T19:16:00.003-06:00

Today was supposed to be a fun day because Kyleigh turns 17 months old, instead we are on day 3 of a whiny little girl with fever, runny nose, and horrible cough. She almost made it all day, but I got the dreaded call from the daycare at 1:45 this afternoon telling me that Kyeligh had a fever of 101.4.
Seven days have passed since I started this post, so from this point on I'll write in past tense. Kyleigh ended up missing two days of school this past week due to having a bad cold. She spent a day with each of her grandmothers, who both had a hard time believing that she was sick. Neither one of them complained about missing work to take care of her. Thank you for helping out, because with the end of the semester responsibilities I couldn't miss work.

Here is a picture my mother texted me on Wednesday mid day. She doesn't look sick at all.

Kyleigh returned to school on Thursday in time for her class Christmas party, which I'm told she really enjoyed. She then attended two birthday parties on Saturday (hopefully, I'll get pictures emailed from someone so that I can post them later this week- hint).

What Kyleigh is up to now a days:

weighs 25 lbs
has about 14 teeth (I can't keep her still to get an exact count)
wears a size 4 diaper, 6 shoe, 24 months to 2T in clothing
loves to watch Elmo, actually has several of the shows memorized (her Daddy came home on Friday with 5 more Elmo DVDs for her)
follows one step directions (when she is in the mood)
is slowly starting to identify more family members (anyone with a bald head is her Uncle)
knows that Uncle goes with Onion (future Aunt Erin)
can identify more Sesame Street characters: Big Bird, Cookie, Abby, Zoe, Ernie, Bert, Grover, and sometimes Oscar
loves to dance (at least that is what I think she's doing)
will jump on command
loves to be chased
has a great personality, when she gets enough sleep
can ignore me, when she doesn't want to do something
understands well enough to tell me no, and take off running if she thinks I'm going to make her do something

We are having so much fun. We are definitely getting into the disciplining stage and it gets a little frustrating, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world!!!

Miss Independent

2009-12-11T17:43:00.003-06:00

Kyleigh has decided that she doesn't need our help to eat anymore. She actually eats more if I let her do it all by herself. The only problem is she creates such a big mess for me to clean up. Here is what I found when I let her feed herself last night. There was more food on her forehead and in her hair than left on the plate.

She is growing p so fast, it is hard to believe that she doesn't need me to do everything for her. Actually, I think she does need my help, she just doesn't agree with me. A new phrase she has learned is "mine." Every Friday she gets a cookie from the daycare and we usually share it on the way home. Well, last week when I asked for a bite, she told me mine and held the cookie out of my reach. I was so shocked, I didn't know what to do!!!

Sleeping Beauty

2009-12-11T17:33:00.004-06:00

I walked in to get Kyleigh up on Thursday morning and this is what I found:

I then flipped back a corner of her blanket, and this is what was underneath:

Too funny, she moves all over the bed during the night. The only problem is that she bumps into the rails and wakes herself up. I had taken out her bumpers, but then decided she needed the cushioning so I put them back in.

It's Snowing!!

2009-12-05T17:12:00.004-06:00

Yes, I can honestly say I didn't believe it when the weather prediction of snow on Friday. Well, I was definitely proven wrong. Even though I had to work all day on Friday, I still had the opportunity to enjoy the weather. I went out several times to chase the children back in the building during class changes. I even got to stand out there for 15 minutes after school doing student parking lot duty watching the students have snowball fights. I really enjoyed watching them get so excited about the weather. Kyleigh's daycare even took the classes out to enjoy snow. It is not something we see often in the Houston area, so it was nice experience for us all. So we all had our experience with the snow day. Here are a few pictures from Friday's adventure:

My parents' house out in Wallis

My car at work after lunch:

Brandon and his dog:

Syvonne & Symmone with their snow woman:

Thanksgiving Turkey Recap

2009-11-30T05:58:00.009-06:00

This year we decided to do something different over the holidays. We have decided to split the holidays between our two families. We will visit one family the day of the actual holiday, and go to the other family either the day before or after. This way we don't have to run around and try to worry about evenly splitting time between both households. So the Sunday before Thanksgiving we pulled out a coin and flipped it. The Brigham's got Thanksgiving and the Mayo's will have Christmas. With the first holiday down, I have to say I don't regret the decision at all. It was so nice to get up on Thanksgiving morning fix breakfast for my family, and then head over to the Brigham's for the remainder of the day. We didn't have to rush or worry about watching the clock all day. Then on Friday morning we headed to my parents house after breakfast for the remainder of the day. Don't worry for those of you who know my Mother, she was up and out of the house by 3:25 a.m. on Friday morning. So she didn't miss her Black Friday shopping at all. She was probably back home before we even got out of bed on Friday morning. With three of us now it's not so easy to pick up and go, so this made it a lot easier.
I have so many blessing to be grateful for, that I wanted to share a couple of them with you all.

My wonderful husband, who will do anything to make me happy. He is also a great daddy to our little Thanksgiving Turekey.
I have a wonderful 16 month old daughter, who keeps us on our toes and smiling each day.
We both have great parents who are always there for us as well.
Great immediate families that we love hanging out with. Kyleigh has really taken to my brother and his fiance, Erin. She now goes around the house saying Uncle & Onion (the first time I tried to get her to say Erin, she said "Onion" - sorry Erin, but I think this name is a keeper!!!)
We also both enjoy our extended families, even though we don't see them as much as we would like to.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving:

Brigham Thanksgiving food

Kyleigh and Jayden the Dragon

Friday with the Mayo's

At the end of the night, Kyleigh was ready to show everyone how to play Wii!!!

Finishing Up November

2009-11-30T05:46:00.003-06:00

The last two weeks in November have flown by. I can't believe we only have 26 days until Christmas is here. This part of the year seems to take forever to get here, but goes by extremely fast once we do make it here. In the last two weeks, we've been able to spend a lot of time with family. That is one of my favorite things to do. I think that is why I like to holidays so much.

Tiger threw a small family gathering at our house to celebrate my birthday. The question that everyone likes to ask is, "how does it feel getting another year older?" I'm not sure what answer they are looking for???? I feel the same as I did six months ago. It doesn't feel any different. I think I have finally reached the point where age is just a number to keep up with. The next few months Tiger and I get to be the exact same age, and he doesn't let me forget it. I just have to keep reminding him that he is still older than me and always will be. Kyleigh loved being the center of attention and having everyone on her home turf!!! Thank you Tiger for organizing a great birthday celebration.

I'll have to download the November pictures for the next post. Hopefully, I can make time to do that this afternoon when I get home from work.

16 Months Old

2009-11-14T21:51:00.006-06:00

It is so hard to believe that I no longer have a little baby. We went to the doctor on Thursday to get her 15 month shots (she had strep throat in October when we went to the doctor, so she couldn't get her shots then), and she weighed 24 lbs and 13 oz. She had gained over 2 pounds since her last appointment. She is currently wearing a size 4 diaper, and most of her clothes are in between 18 - 24 months. She does have a couple of 2T outfits. Her shoe size is in between 5 1/2 - 6 (I know she has a big foot). She is just so long and slender, it's hard to find clothes that fit just right.

Each day she continues to amaze us with something new that she has picked up. Her new trick for this week is to take the top off of every bottle under my cabinet in the bathroom and then try to put the tops back on (my friend Debbie says this means she is going to be an engineer).

Things that Kyleigh likes to do:

act silly with her daddy (he is so in love with his daughter)
play peek-a-boo
go outside
watch Elmo videos
drink soda (of any kind)
dance with her daddy (this just melts my heart)
cuddle on the couch with Mommy when she gets sleepy (she is so spoiled, it's not even funny)
color (we are working on not eating or breaking the crayons)
scribble with a pen
open and close drawers (she's gotten good at getting Tiger's toothbrush out the drawer)
climb up the step ladder in my closet
feed herself, she eats so much better if she can feed herself (I am struggling with this because it makes such a big mess)

A recent picture of "Our Family" at a wedding last weekend:

She really enjoyed her spaghetti dinner.

I couldn't resist adding a Mommy & Kyleigh picture

We went to a birthday party for Greysen today, and this was the best picture we could get of all the babies. It is so hard to get them all to sit still at the same time.

Halloween Pics

2009-11-05T18:06:00.003-06:00

Okay, Kyleigh's Memaw has been waiting to see these pictures!!!!

We didn't exactly make it to a pumpkin patch this year, but my parents back yard was actually much better. Tiger showed off his photography skills by taking this picture of Kyleigh with a pumpkin we bought for carving.

Here is a picture of Miley & Kyleigh with my very first carved pumpkin!!!!

Here is a picture of my little lady bug before the Family Festival at Church.

It was almost impossible to get a good picture with all the babies, hopefully I will get a good one emailed to me. Here is one of all the Mommies & kids.

Visit from the Pumpkin Fairy

2009-10-24T13:37:00.003-05:00

Kyleigh got a visit this past Monday from the pumpkin fairy (aka Grandpa). With all the pumpkins coming out for the Fall season, she has really taken a liking to pumpkins. Whenever we see one, she screams "pukin" over and over as loud as she can. My Dad heard about this and while out on Monday morning, picked up three pumpkins for Kyleigh and put them in our yard while she was out at school. She saw them as soon as we turned in the driveway. She wouldn't let me rest until we were outside playing with her new pumpkins!!!

I bought her a bag of smaller pumpkins last week, but there were not a cool as the big ones her Grandpa bought her. The only good think about my "mini' pumpkins is that they are portable. But she did try to pack around the big ones. We now have two of them outside, and one of them in the house so that she can play with it whenever she chooses.

We are planning to attempt to carve a pumpkin this weekend. I have never carved a pumpkin in my life, so stay tuned for pictures of this new adventure for us all.

15 months

2009-10-14T19:37:00.005-05:00

Who can believe that Kyleigh is already 15 months old ??? She is so busy that the afternoons and weeks just fly by that I can't even believe another month has already passed. I had such big plans to blog more, but most of my free time away from work is spent playing with Kyleigh. It has taken me three afternoons to finish this one post. I don't know how parents with multiple children do it!!!!

As she gets older and demands more of our attention and time, we find ourselves taking fewer pictures. One thing for sure, we are still loving every minute of the time we get to spend with her, and it is amazing to see more of her personality emerge each month. She is such a happy little bossy girl who loves to be the center of attention (not exactly sure where that comes from).

Here are a few pictures that I have taken over the past few days

This is what I find some mornings:

She loves to go play in the backyard in the afternoons:

On our way to school one morning:

14 Months Old

2009-09-18T17:56:00.002-05:00

Kyleigh officially turned 14 months old on Monday, September 14th. I tried really hard to get her to smile for the picture above, but she was not interested. She instead wanted to look away from the computer and try to do the splits.

It's been so long since I've updated you all on everything she's doing, I don't even know where to begin with the list.

She can press every button on the DVD player until her video starts (or turns off)
Says please (pease) when asked about 25% of the time
Gives kisses on request and even on her own sometimes
Loves to sit in between Mommy & Daddy
Points to everything she wants and says mine
Will drag us to the door or kitchen and say "up" so she can point at what she wants
Loves to eat ice
Loves to be outside
Loves to fall out if she doesn't get what she wants (this has started way too early)
Words she is saying: up, come on, eat, milk, snack, juice, eye, ball, bubbles, teeth, mouth, elmo, hello, bye, big bird (not very legible), please & thank you (again only with strong prompting)

Grandparents Day

2009-09-18T17:44:00.004-05:00

Kyleigh's daycare celebrated Grandparents day last week on Friday, Sept. 11th. My Mom and Dad along with Tiger's Mom attended the Grandparent Breakfast at the daycare with Kyleigh. Here are a few pictures from their activity:

An obsession

2009-08-31T17:50:00.003-05:00

My daughter has officially become obsessed with someone. I never thought the day would come that she would insist on watching something on TV. Tiger bought her an Elmo DVD a while back, and put it in one day last week when they were home together. An Elmo loving monster was created. We have watched the DVD at least six or seven times in the past three days. I have never seen her sit so still, and watch the TV. She now will drag one of us to the DVD player and say "Uhmo" (her version of Elmo), until we turn on the DVD. On Saturday, Tiger was cleaning out the closet and gave Kyleigh an old CD. She proceeded to walk over to the DVD player and punch every single button, in an attempt to open the play and insert the CD so she could see Elmo.

August Heat

2009-08-29T17:09:00.007-05:00

You would think that with the start of the school year being later this year, that it would mean that the temperatures would be cooler. So not true!!! Kyleigh and I are sitting "outside", in the afternoon heat because she loves to be outdoors. Thank goodness I have this huge umbrella that blocks the sun completely so she can play outside. The only problem is the 90 degree breeze that's blowing is not helping to keep us cool. So we've shared three cups of ice water, an ice cream cup, and a grape popsicle. She is loving every minute of being out here. It really is nice to have a great reason to be sitting outside in the heat (watching her play independently), I only wish it were a little cooler.

Here are a few pictures from our inside camping adventure one Sunday afternoon:

Yes, even Tiger got into the tent!!!

It was so much more fun, watching him try to get out.

Kyleigh enjoyed Payton's birthday party at the Sugar Land splash park.

Kyleigh loves getting all dressed up for daycare each day, it's just too early for me to get good pictures!!!!

Start of Another School Year

2009-08-23T13:50:00.002-05:00

The summer has really flown by (I know I really didn't have a summer, but the kids are returning tomorrow). It is so strange to be starting another school year already. I love my new job and I'm very excited to start this new school year. There are so many of you teachers out there who know how exciting and exhausting this first day of school can be. For the others of you who have school age children, you too share in the excitement of the first day of school just from a different view point. The others of you who choose to stay at home with your children, you will also notice a difference as you set out during the day and notice that there aren't that many children at your favorite play spots. I just wanted to take a quick minute to wish you all luck on the first day of school tomorrow.

Busy Summer

2009-08-02T15:12:00.004-05:00

Tiger and I have really been busy over the past few weeks with work. Then I feel as if we always have something planned to do on the weekends as well. As you can all see my blogging is suffering because of it. Today, I decided that we would do nothing on Sunday. It has been a great afternoon so far. Kyleigh has been napping for the past hour, and I finally found some time to sit and play on my computer. (Yes, there are so many other things I could have been doing around the house, but I felt like playing on the Internet took precedence).

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks:

Happy little 1 year old

Swinging at the Hill house

Chilling in my sunglasses

My first Hippo pool experience

Aunt Tweety got me a puppy for my birthday

Daddy bought me a car for my birthday

1st birthday party

2009-07-21T21:27:00.006-05:00

I can now say that I survived the first birthday party!!!! I am so excited I don't have to think about another birthday party again for at least another 11 months or so. I've been told the first one is a big one, and it won't be nearly as big of a production after this ( I sure hope so). I could not have gotten everything ready without the help of my wonderful husband, who became a cleaning machine; my parents for making three trips to my house the week prior to help get everything ready; and my brother and his girlfriend who spent Saturday with us doing last minute things, and cooking all the food for the day. I am so glad to have all of you in my life, I love you all. Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way let's go back to the party. My house survived having 50 people at the party (yes, by the end of the party 50 people had passed through my house in a three and half hour period). It was really nice that everyone was gone by 7:00, and Kyleigh had been fed, bathed, and down for the night by 8:00. She actually fell asleep while I was feeding her dinner. The party really wore her out. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

Kyleigh & her cousin Miley

She thought she was blowing up the balloon

She was excited to show Austin around her party

Kyleigh & Myles

Kyleigh & Olivia (she really enjoyed hugging her guests)

Hot dogs and Cheetos went over well

I think there were too many people staring at her, so she didn't really get into the cake

She loved the musical cards more than the gifts

The farm animal puzzle was a top gift

My family hung in there to see all the gifts get opened

After the party she was pooped!!!

Happy Birthday Kyleigh!!!

2009-07-14T21:36:00.007-05:00

Born July 14, 2008 @ 12:06 p.m.

One year ago today, my life changed forever. This was the day that I became a Mommy, and it has been the best thing ever. I cannot believe how much this little girl has changed our lives and brightened our household. She is a handful, and we are loving every minute of it. We are planning to celebrate her birthday this weekend with family and friends, so tonight I just gave her some vanilla ice cream for dessert and she loved it.
I took her to the pediatrician for her 12 month check up today (I know, what an awful mother to let her get shots on her birthday). She was 21 lbs (50%), 30.5 inches long (90%), and her head circumference was 17.5 (75%). The visit was a little stressful, but we made it through and Kyleigh joined me a work for the rest of the afternoon.
Things that Kyleigh is currently doing:
- walking all over the place (she even attempts to run from me, if she has something that she doesn't want me to take from her)
- loved it when we turned the car seat around
- attempting to mimic things we say
- loves to say "uh oh", "dada", "mama" (not exactly sure if she knows who each person is), and her very own version of "thank you"
- blows kisses on command
- gives mommy and daddy hugs and kisses, without being prompted
- can sign "eat" and "more"
- slowly adjusting to table food, even though I get lazy and feed her baby food quite often
- loves watermelon
- sprite and lemonade are two of her favorite drinks
- seems to turn on the smiles when a camera is around
- can drink out of a straw very well
- drinks from a water bottle without making a big mess
- is trying to drink out of a cup, but still has room for lots of improvement
- loves to dance to any type of music
- currently wears a size 4 diaper
- currently wears 12 month clothing and a size 4 shoe
- drags us to all parts of the house
- loves to go outside (a long walk calms her down every time)
- likes to play in water (bath time is a highlight of her evening)
- has 9 teeth!!!

Here are a few pictures from the last two months, since I skipped month 11:

Kyleigh enjoying a chocolate chip cookie

Trying to figure out how to open the baby gate we have on the stairs (yes, we finally got one)

Making fashion decisions on her own (yes, we did leave the house in her swimming shoes)

On Kemah boardwalk earlier in July

Helping my dad roll up the carpet in our living room

Long Overdue

2009-06-06T18:49:00.003-05:00

Okay, it has been way too long since my last post. We've had a busy past few weeks, and I could never find time to sit down and post to the blog. Work has been crazy, due to all of the end of the school year activities. School is officially out (we actually had graduation last night at 6 p.m.) and I have another three weeks of work. Work will be much more laid back for the next 15 days because there are no students there. I plan to be very productive, and leave on time every day. I am really looking forward to my five weeks off with Kyleigh. I am excited to sit down and plan outings for us. We are up for play dates too, for all you others who will be at home this summer.

I've slacked off on the picture taking and video recording, so I don't have anything interesting to attach to this post. Today we had a very lazy day. Kyleigh and I went to two different Academy's trying to find aqua socks for her splash days at the daycare that start next week. Hopefully, we can get some pictures or video tomorrow, and I'll do another post tomorrow so you can see how our little lady bug has changed!