4 Months Young

Our little Kaylor has made it two months with amazing, flying colors. Yes, I know I put 4 months in the title. Funny story. An old friend came into town and visited our ward this past Sunday. She asked me how old Kaylor was and I immediately replied, "4 months." I think I've been so worried that I might be like other guys and forget her birthday or something like that. But, she is only 2 months; of course, I corrected my mistake quite quickly and was oh so embarrassed. To let you know we are still with our little girl, here are a few pictures of her. Of course, one with Sophie and the other...against a pile of clean clothes. I feel like our laundry machines don't stop. Sorry the Sophie one is so small, still figuring out this whole new camera stuff.

STATS:

11 lbs. 12 oz.

23 inches

She's starting to "talk" to us a lot, especially when we talk to her. She talks to Ginny a lot during feedings. We've both witnessed her laugh and even giggle. She smiles upon coercing. She has been very good about sleeping at night and even has slept for over 8 hours...wow!! She even sleeps like both of her parents, on the stomach and one leg kicked out. (see below) We are so blessed with her and are so excited to continue growing with her.

A day out an about

Last night, Aunt Bea came in and we and Auntie Leesa went to the Hammond Mardi Gras parade. Ginny used our little harness and Kaylor enjoyed a good little nap in it.

This morning, we all went to eat Sushi during the minor hurricane we had here then jotted up to Amite to go to Hudson's Dirt Cheap. For those of you don't know what Hudson's is, you're missing out. Basically, it's a cross between Goodwill and Ross. Quite interesting. The aunts thought that Kaylor needed a new ride.

Doesn't she look absolutely thrilled?

Ginny and I ran into another store for a few minutes and the Kaylor was talking to Aunt Bea.

Here's a little video of their conversation.

Throwed Off

This past weekend, Ginny had a great opportunity to present a portion of her thesis at the SEACSM conference in Jacksonville, FL. She created a poster and displayed it for a few hours while others attending the conference came and asked her questions about it. She was a bit nervous at first but then really enjoyed it.

We took the opportunity to take this trip as a little pre-Valentine's getaway. We knew with school and work, Valentine's Day would not be as special as we would like. We left Thursday morning and arrived later that night. Kaylor was a trooper and only became fussy the last couple of hours of the trip. It's the longest we've required her to be in the car seat. I rode in the back with her for the last hour or so keeping her plug in her mouth because it was the only way she would sleep.

On the way there, we stopped at BabiesRUs to get a baby harness. We ended up with the Mamas and Papas Morph. We were going to get one anyway before this weekend of Mardi Gras parades but now we are very glad we got it earlier, especially since we may not be going to any parades; pending weather. We absolutely love it and we got an excellent deal on it because it was marked incorrectly(more than half off). Kaylor loves it too. We strapped her in quite a bit over the trip. She sleeps in it quite comfortably. We even had a guy stop us and ask us about it because it looked so comfortable for baby and parent. We highly recommend it.

We were able to meet up with a friend from Ginny's high school days, Monica and her husband Brent. The drove a few minutes to meet us for sushi at Jacksonville Landing. They are a great couple and too bad we don't live closer.

We also are incredibly obsessed with custard, if you didn't know. And what, might you ask, did we do for a fun adventure? But of course, we found Shakes, a frozen custard establishment. It was about 25 miles away but took us more than an hour to get there. This actually reminds me of something Brent said at dinner, "we don't measure distance here by miles but by time." Ginny told me this about California as well. But the custard was well worth it.

The conference ended Saturday but we just chilled another night

and left Sunday morning for the trip back. We stopped at a preplanned destination for Slupper (a late lunch early dinner) at Lambert's Cafe, home of the throwed rolls. It is amazing. I first visited the restaurant while on my mission in Missouri but we saw a sign for one in Foley, AL and had to go. Ginny (and Kaylor) had never been so we took a "little" detour and made our way there. The food is traditional and delicious. In addition to your meal, servers bring around extra sides like fried okra and smothered potatoes that you can munch on for the remainder of the evening. Also, if you put your hand up, a delicious, fluffy, heavenly and warm roll is thrown to you. We definitely will be going again.

On the way back, Kaylor was a bit done with the car seat idea and wasn't overly patient with us. At one point, Ginny even leaned over the car seat to, uh, soothe Kaylor so she would go to sleep. We were all ready to get back home.

We have a life, too!

Monday, Ginny and I finally were able to eat a meal at the table. After 6 weeks of balancing eating dinner and Kaylor, it was a nice relief. We feel she wants to be included in the family dynamic and eat when we eat, sometimes. She seems very adult-like sometimes. We have asked her questions to which she replies with a resounding affirmative or negative with a shake of the head of an audible "Yeah" or "Uh-huh". We have yet to get an audible "no." It cracks us up. We realize she still doesn't comprehend much except. She can barely get her thumb in her mouth 2 out of 3 times. Although, she tends to understand when she is going to get her diaper changed because she is irate when she has a dirty diaper but the minute I start walking to the changing table and tell her I am going to change her diaper, she calms down and sits politely and quietly when we change her.

That reminds me. We have slowly been introducing cloth diapers to her. She seems to work well with them. We love them and it is definitely saving us some cash. Our washing machine seems to be running daily but what else is new. We probably washed two loads of her clothes every day for the first 4 weeks because she peed or pooped on a lot of blankets while we aired her out. Her bum rash seems to be holding strong. We put her in disposable diapers at night so Ginny doesn't have to rinse out the cloth diapers while balancing feeding her. We are still using warm wash cloths to wipe her. We will probably continue except for outings.

Another breakthrough, Kaylor slept through most of the night last night. Ginny fed her around 10 or 1030 and then she feel asleep and didn't wake up until 5. This was amazing for us both. Although the parent inside of us woke up several times to check on her. Mine was more due to my bladder but I still checked on her. It was a great night and hopefully many more to come.

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.