Noni and Pa Paw

My parents came by for a visit this weekend. It was short but definitely great. My mom has been under the weather and schedules haven't aligned for them to visit very much since Kaylor came. Here's a shot of the happy grandparents. My mom wants to be called Noni (Nah-nee) and my dad is Pa Paw.

And another one of the proud dad.

I felt inspired

My cousin recently started her own blog about being more crafty and made reference to me lending her some tools to repair her ottoman. I have to say, I am a little crafty but not very handy. Yes, I have been known to hand some things here and there but never with ease free of frustration. This time, it was different. Ginny and I bought Kaylor a picture of Jesus Christ and wanted to hang it on her wall. I got my measuring tape, a level, hammer and some nails to get it just right. The frame is one of those with two flappy thing on opposite sides of the frame in the back to hang it (does that make sense?) Anyway, it has not been easy for me in the past to hang frames like this. I measured, centered and marked the spot it needed to be. I hammered the nails into place and hung the picture in one step. There was no hassle. I felt so accomplished. I know this may seem like a novice feat but I felt very proud of myself. Here are a few pictures of my triumph

We are finally one month old

Actually, as of today, we are 5 1/2 weeks old. We have been still learning how to be parents; a full time job, most definitely. We have learned a little more about our little one and have really tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Here is a picture of Kaylor at 1 month. She is sitting next to a giraffe named Sofie. You should click on her name to find out more about this toy. A friend of ours gave it to Kaylor and she says Sofie has great children soothing powers.

Kaylor looks like this 90% of the time. I'm afraid she's practicing much to early to say, "I'm innocent."

We also have a video of Kaylor playing with her new toy. Of course, she's a little young for it but she does get it to make noise every once in a while.

Also, Kaylor has told us that she does not like Hello Kitty! If anyone purchases any Hello Kitty paraphernalia, it will be returned immediately. This is ridiculous.

I do need to be clear. I'm really the anti-Hello Kitty fanatic (oxymoron?) However, I never have liked anything Hello Kitty and certainly feel she his highly overrated. Nonetheless, all there is not place in our home for such a monstrosity.

Ginny wanted me to post this. We have both made a point of trying to sleep when she does. I'm glad the Garners all love to nap. Please note the uncovered cushion I rest upon. We were airing Kaylor out (on one of her bad bum bum days) and she got a little too free with her bodily fluids. So, we discovered that our cushions are completely machine washable.

ANOTHER VIDEO?!?! I'm feeling crazy, y'all. Although, please, even if you think I'm one of the crazy parents who plaster too many pictures of their child online, do not tell me!

There is some back story to this. A few years ago, I had an obsession with a scene from Dennis the Menace the movie. I tried to look for an old post I had which I thought told the story but I guess I never posted one. The scene is hilarious mainly because Gunther is an adorable cross-eyed adolescent and has great facial expressions. A mean man asks him "Whatcha' eatin' there sport?" to which Gunther replies, "A Apple." It's so funny. Youtube it, right now. Anyway, here is my own version from a loving father to his most adorable daughter.

Please don't shoot.

I know I'm on the list of blog's most wanted because I have yet to post more pictures of Kaylor. Here are a few I thought you would like...and the only two I've taken since the last post.

Kaylor is incessant about holding her own plug (again, please replace the name you call it if you must. I grew up calling them nuni's but Ginny's family calls them plugs.) It's a wonder how much she loves it some days and then spits it out other days.

Our little girl loves to snuggle when she's tired. She also loves to bury her face into our chests. This is definitely the way she likes to sleep. She is most definitely going to be a stomach sleeper like her parents.

However untraditional it may be, we put her on her stomach once to take a nap and she slept so soundly. We made several trips to her crib to be sure she was still there. Don't worry, we won't do it overnight just yet. Although, she is very good at picking her head up when she's on our chest and she even moved her head when we placed her on her stomach. We are still figuring it out. Although all of the books say wait at least a year before we put her on her stomach, we feel she doesn't sleep the best on her back.

For those of you who know her bum has had a gnarly rash, things are so much better. We got some medication to help clear things up. We also started using plain washcloths instead of wipes. The wipes were the only consistent variable so we took it out. Our friends Mike and Adi were kind enough to let us use their wiper warmer. It has saved us so much time. We just wet the rags and place them in it to keep them warm. It works wonders. We have planned to wait about a week to be sure things are cleared up and then we will be able to phase in cloth diapers. I am very excited about this!

Our precious gift

We have thoroughly enjoyed our little girl. She has been very alert from day one but has been focusing more with her eyes. She knows when she is going to get her diaper changed and if she is going to get fed and quits crying before each. She loves to sit up and act like a big girl. She holds her nuni/plug/paci/pacifier (whatever you call it) in with one or two hands. She can put herself to sleep if we leave her long enough. She does like car rides but doesn't like stopping in the car. She flatulates like a champ. We are very thrilled and happy with her.

1 year of blissful happiness

With everything that we've been doing these past few weeks, we are very glad we were able to take a little time and celebrate such a great year. Ginny and I were sealed a year ago and have been growing closer to one another ever since. Our lives are intertwined in such a way that allows us to understand one another ever so perfectly. We are not perfect but have a distinct ability to sympathize with one another and try our hardest to be there for one another. We have been testing our skills with the birth of our little Kaylor. We have a pretty good pattern going so far and are sure it will change soon enough; especially when Ginny and I go back to work/school.

We are happy to report two close friends volunteered to watch Kaylor so we could get an evening with just the two of us. Of course, these two friends would have watched her anyway because they are kind of addicted to her. Ginny and I had a great dinner at Cate Street enjoying one of our favorite foods, sushi. I forgot to get a good shot of the food before we ate it all. This is the aftermath:

We had a roll called "300" with crawfish and yellowfin tuna; delicious. Ginny had her favorite, spicy tuna. And we also got another one with fresh tuna bbq eel. All of it was great and our evening was amazing.

We also reached into our freezer and pulled out the top layer of cake from our second reception. The icing still was great but the cake had received a touch of Jack Frost. We exchanged presents as well:

And trust me, there will be more pictures of Kaylor to come.

What!! NO CHERRY?!?!

As I sit watching Burn Notice while one of my girls is sleeping on the couch next to me,

and my other girl sleeps in the big bed (no picture; you're welcome, Ginny!), I noticed my happy hour Sonic Cherry Ocean Water is empty so I went to throw it away. I happily dump the ice in the sink to get to the cherry...I was disappointed. Why?! Why can't you do just a simple little thing like drop a cherry or two in a drink? Other Sonic bartenders get it right and some don't. Be consistent! Does anyone else have this problem? It made me think of an old cartoon I saw when I was a kid. It was hilarious when I was younger but has since lost it's luster.

To give a little update on our little joy, she is doing well. She has a bit of a diaper rash. We were putting some yeast infection prescription on it but it didn't really clear it up. Our physician explained to change the diaper even more frequent. I'm pretty sure we've gone through 80 diapers in the past week. But we will do our best. We are also letting her air dry as often possible. We have also switched to Boudreaux's; it works wonders. She's up to 8 lbs. 15 oz. We think she's getting so big. She's still adorable. She is starting to smile a little more and laugh in her sleep. I haven't seen it, just Ginny. She's so lucky.