Kaylee turns 2!

The morning of September 7th dawned like any other...except it was the last day Kaylee could answer "how old are you?" with this...
On September 8th, our first little angel turned 2. And we celebrated the following Saturday, the 13th, by telling Kaylee to get herself all gussied up; a task she set herself to with great relish and gusto! She brushed her teeth.
She did her hair.
And then she looked at us..."now what?"
She seemed to get a little bored wondering what the big "to-do" about the day was.
But she soon learned...as her friends and family started to pile into our house...that it was her birthday party!
Her friends joined her for some Minnie Mouse themed frivolity...and cake!
"Get that camera out of my face already Daddy," Kaylee said, "I'm trying to have some cake!"
(Daddy was on camera duty, because Mommy had to feed Rowan.)
All the kids seemed to like the dessert cuisine well enough.
And Rowan eventually spent a few non-crying minutes getting to know her great-grandparents: Great-Grandma Chip on Mommy's side and Great-Grandpa "Ba" on Daddy's.
But Kaylee had to get in on that action too, she wanted some attention from "The Greats" too. It was "her" day after all.
But then she got side-tracked as it was time to start attacking the ridiculous mountain of presents.
She sure had a lot to open...so much that by the time it was all said and done most of her friends had fled for bed-time was fast approaching.
Kaylee really liked her recorder from Sophie, which she insisted on opening right away...and hasn't wasted an opportunity to fill our home with "beautiful music" since!
Thanks to everyone who was able to come and celebrate Kaylee's 2nd birthday with us. Its all a big haze to me, as Ro was only 2 weeks old and I was barely functioning, but I think it went alright:)
More pics of the 2 girls to come...check back soon, will try to post again tonight or tomorrow.

More pictures of Ro's first few days...

Alright, these pictures are somewhat out of order...but you get the basic idea...
Here is Kaylee meeting her new little sister for the first time, held up by Grammy.Kaylee really enjoyed the baby doll that Rowan "brought" for her. While Mommy was feeding Rowan, Kaylee fed her baby (taking a little nip from the bottle for herself as well, naturally.)
Kaylee visited the hospital each day that Mommy and Ro were held captive. On Saturday, she even held Rowan all by herself.

Thick as thieves already?
And Kaylee loves giving Rowan her pacifier, and by 'giving' I mean shoving it down her gullet!
Here is Daddy and little Ro, but I believe this was on Friday, the 29th, day #1.
Also on day #1, Auntie Diana visited with her beau, Charlie. Very happy to be an auntie again, methinks.

And proud Grammy and
Grampy!
Back to Saturday, here is Kaylee sitting with Mommy and holding little Ro; again, wielding the pacifier as a weapon.
On Sunday, the Levys dropped by to see our new addition. Emily got to hold Rowan, so did Jackie and Phil, but do you think I took a picture of that?
Again, back to Saturday, Kaylee gives her little sister the first of many hugs...

and kisses.
Here's a tired Mommy, on Friday, with little Ro at just a few hours old!
And on Sunday, while I didn't snag any pictures of Jackie holding Rowan, she did manage to capture a picture of both parents holding their new bundle of joy.
And on Monday, we dressed Rowan up and got her ready to go home.
Kaylee welcomed her little sister home with open arms...

and really hasn't asked to stop holding her since.
And on Tuesday, Rowan's first full day in her new home, new sisters started their day with a snuggle.
I am pretty sure Kaylee is going to be a great big sister!
All in all, I couldn't ask for more. Kaylee is being fantastic and Rowan, despite a rocky start with jaundice and weight loss seems to be on track and is actually giving us a couple of 3 hour breaks at night for sleep! Are we lucky or what?

Introducing Rowan...

OK, I have a lot of pictures, but I have to go through them all and decide what to save, edit blah blah blah...but I wanted those family members who live a little bit further to have a first glimpse of the newest beautiful addition to our family.
Rowan was born on Friday August 29th at 8:03am.
She weighed 8lbs 15oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.
These pictures were taken Saturday August 30th, when just she and Mommy were hanging out at the hospital getting to know each other for the first time.
I am already amazed by her.
As I said, lots of pics including some cute ones of new big sister holding new little sister. Hopefully I can get to them in a timely manner while still getting some sleep!

long overdue

Alright, hi everyone. I realize its been a while since my last post and I apologize. However, I am exhausted, and not feeling very witty, so here are some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks, with minimal anecdotes to go with them. Please keep in mind, we'll have our new addition in a week and a half, so there will be even less posting then...although hopefully more content when I do post!
Today we went to the Discovery Stop. We'd never been but lots of people had recommended it. It is very similar to the MET except bigger and cleaner and generally less hectic. Kaylee really loved the climbing structure.
She had fun in the kitchen too, she made Mommy some lunch. Grilled Cheese please!
And of course, she road on the tractor. I actually have a lot more pictures, but these are the best 3 and I just really want to lay down myself for a while before Kaylee wakes up from her nap.
Auntie Yinnie and Uncle Mike visited this past week, and they stayed with us last night. Kaylee had a blast getting to know her great Aunt and Uncle.
I didn't snap that many photos though...but photographic evidence was obtained at least.
Yinnie was very excited that Kaylee eventually warmed up to her. Although Kaylee, once again, showed her affinity to the men in her life when she crawled up next to Uncle Mike and said, "Hi sweetie!"

On Sunday, we went to the newly renovated Humphrey Park with Bailey and Sam. The girls hadn't seen each other in a while, so they had a lot of fun catching up underneath the slide.
Are these stools, drums or plates? No one knows.
Awwwwww Bailey got a big hug from Kaylee. They missed seeing each other.
There's a new fountain/water park part of Humphrey and we ran into our friend Sophie there. Here's a pic across the park and through the fountain.
Kaylee is not a big fan of the water spraying in her face...but got a little braver when Daddy was around.

And she showed her stability and balance control on the slider.
On Saturday morning, we went blueberry picking at a local farm.
She did really well for about 20 minutes picking her own berries and in general having fun. Not bad for a sub-2-year-old if you ask me. Kaylee did awesome with her "Blueberries for Sal" imitation. Kerplink, Kerplank, Kerplunk!She even managed to not dump all the berries she picked back onto the ground.

And Mommy had plenty of berries to can for the winter...erm, I mean make blueberry muffins with.
Then Saturday afternoon it was down to Grammy and Grampy's for a big ol' family barbecue.

Yinnie hadn't quite won Kaylee's affection yet, but we were getting there.
Kaylee is always all smiles for Daddy.
She was the table's main entertainment, and although none of us were really sure what story she was going on and on (and on) about...it sure was funny!
Here's the whole gang, except Auntie Yinnie who apparently managed to hide behind Daddy's big head!

This was taken last Monday morning, pre-hairdo. Despite the hair in the eyes, I like the picture.
Then it was off to our friend Henry's house for a play date.
Gee, Henry sure is nice to share all of his toys with Kaylee.
So in gratitude, Kaylee gave him a hug from behind. He didn't seem to mind though.
And that is that. I had an ultrasound last week and actually got some pretty cool 3-D images on CD of the new baby about to come into our family. She has Kaylee's nose and lips...it is so weird that I can know that already!