First birthday and more big events...

So much has happened in the last month and a half. This is really the first time I've had to sit down and let you all know how we've been and what we've been up to. Please forgive my absence.

We finally sold our house in the city and moved to the "country" 3 weeks ago. We're all settled now and love our new digs. It's so quiet here and the house is very "Kyleigh friendly". She's even got her own little play area in the basement and is free to roam at her leisure. Plus, the house sits on 1.5 acres and Kyleigh loves to run around outside.

Taking a step back, Kyleigh celebrated her first birthday quietly with a few close family members at home. Mom Mom, Pop Pop, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Tom, Jen, Sam, Joseph and Aunt Pat all helped us celebrate. Kyleigh got lots of cool gifts and spent the evening playing with her cousin Joseph. We all enjoyed the butterfly cake that mom made. The previous week we made a trip to Nana's so that Kyleigh and Nana could celebrate their birthday's together. We had a nice cookout with a few of Nana and Auntie Paula's friends and then had cake. We can't believe our little girl is one already...where did the year go? At least we all survived!

Other recent happenings include a trip to the pumpkin patch. Mom and Mom Mom met up with Jen and Kyleigh's cousin, Joseph, as well as a few of Kyleigh's other friends - Grey and Sophie. We all went for a hayride, which the kids seemed to love and then we treked through the field in search of the perfect little pumpkin. We discovered at the park that Kyleigh loves the sliding board!

Halloween was exciting this year as we finally got to give candy to "respectable" trick-or-treaters. Kyleigh was the most adorable skunk ever! She really fit her name...stinky!

I've attached a few photos for your viewing pleasure. Till next time...

A month...really...so soon???

I just checked my friends blog and decided to peek at my own as well. I cannot believe its been exactly a month since I last posted an entry. I'm so sorry to all of you that faithfully check in to see how Kyleigh is doing. We've been very busy lately, which is only a semi-acceptable excuse to have not posed. Even Kyleigh's 11 month birthday has passed without note. To explain my absence, we've sold our house (or at least we're in the process of selling our house). The whole transition from city to county has been quite stressful. Add in 6 months of pregnancy and a walking almost-one-year-old...I've been very tired! I'm happy to report that the sale of our house has been going smoothly thus far and we are scheduled to settle on October 14th. We've decided to rent a house for a year since we haven't found anything that we love in the area we want to live. The house we're renting is a 4 bedroom rancher. It's tiny by Parkton standards, but really its about the size of our house today. The bonus is that its in a great neighborhood, on a no-through street and sits on 1.5 acres of pretty level land. Is it strange that what I am most excited about right now is that I am going to be able to put pumpkins on my front porch and they won't disappear! Plus, I can really envision Kyleigh running around in the grass with all the fall leaves around her. I LOVE this time of year!!! As for the truly important one...Kyleigh is doing great! She "officially" began walking on September 4th and we haven't been able to stop her since. That afternoon, Rob and I were sitting in the living room and she had crawled into the kitchen. She stood up, which she could do easily, and then she started walking towards us and didn't stop till she had crossed the living room rug. We were both so shocked and were cheering her on the entire way. She loved every minute of it! I can't believe that she's turning one in just 9 days. Time has really flown. I'm so relieved that we've survived. I have faith that we can also survive the next one! I only hope she's as good a baby as Kyleigh has been. I promise...I'll post for her one-year birthday. We're not having a party, but will definitely let her eat her own cake! I'll be sure to have photos.

Weekend with Nana

We wanted to post a few photos from our weekend with Nana and Auntie Paula. We figured since it would be a long time till we'd get to see them again, with the trip to Hawaii and all, we paid a visit to their new home on the Eastern Shore, VA. We had a very nice visit and even got to go for a quick swim. Oh, and they had some oh so cute kittens. Nana tried to get us to take one. Hahaha! Fat chance, 3 kitties is quite enough for us.

First's

I can hardly believe it (though I've been predicting it for weeks). Kyleigh took her first independent steps on 7/15. Rob was on the sofa and I was in a chair about 4 feet away. Only in the last two days has Kyleigh discovered that she can stand without holding onto something. So, she was standing near one of us when the other encouraged her to come to them. I can't remember which way it was and with whom. But, she repeatedly was trying to move between the two of us and next thing you know, she had taken 3 steps from one to the other. She repeated this about twice and then I think she was pooped. Our girl has no fear. Her other new feat is climbing the steps. She can climb our steps bottom to top in rapid succession. Then, she likes to turn around and come back down...adult style. She gets quite indignant if you will not allow her to take both your hands as she maneuvers her was down the steps, one at a time, while standing up. She has worn out a few of us doing this over and over. Finally, one last funny thing. We broke down and bought good baby gates to protect Kyleigh from taking a nose dive down our steps. Now, since we have three cats we have to creatively place them so that the cats can a) get to their food and b) get to the potty pans. Wouldn't you know, in a matter of moments Kyleigh figured out that if the cats can squeeze under the gate...so can she! It was like she was in training to be a Navy Seal. The only thing preventing her from falling down the steps was that she banged into all the cat food bowls and made a ruckus. If she's going to be a Seal, we need to practice her stealth! Till later...

Hawaii 2008 - K's first big trip

Aloha friends and family, Well, we survived a 2-week vacation with Kyleigh. Actually, she was really, really good. I don't know why I was so apprehensive, considering she's always such a good child. I'll try and give a brief overview of our trip without going on, and on, and on... We left on the day of Kyleigh's 10-month birthday. We were all up at 4am (silly me thought Kyleigh would sleep through loading the car and I'd just sneak her out in her pj's at 5:15am). Our flight left at 7:30am. Our first big suprise of the trip was that Kyleigh fell asleep DURING take-off and slept for the first 2 1/2 hours of the flight. Wow, we got to eat breakfast and watch an entire movie before she woke! We managed to make up quite a comfy bed for her in front of our seats (see photo). The next flight to Honolulu was as un-eventful. With a 4-hour layover till our flight for Kauai left, we walked a lot and Kyleigh spent some time exploring her new MacLaren stroller. She finally pooped out (during take-off again) and slept pretty much through till the next day - through the de-planing, rental car shuttle, rental car ride, transfer to the hotel, transfer to the pack-n-play. What a trooper!!! The most amazing part is that once she did fall asleep on this last flight, it was midnight our time. Wow! All in all, Kauai was a great trip. We spent a lot of time just relaxing and lounging. Kyleigh loves the water - any kind of water - baths, pools (big and small) and the ocean. She spent most of her time in the pool "surfing" on mom mom's chest. We went out to eat a few times and then splurged for a babysitter one night so we could have a nice "grown-up" meal at Roy's. Heather and Rob got to spend their last day in Kauai kayaking a river/ocean on the north shore and then we did some snorkeling. After one week with mom mom, pop pop and Aunt Karen, we parted ways and the Musick's headed to Oahu for a few days. We stayed at the hotel where we spent part of our honeymoon. It was wonderful, but not the same with a baby. A hotel was much more challenging then our 2-bedroom condo. Naps and early bed times were a challenge since we had no where to go and nothing to do. By accident, we discovered that a perfect evening could be had by all...with Rob watching a movie using headphones, Heather reading a book and Kyleigh sleeping. I suggested we spend some evenings like this once we get home. We basically did nothing in Oahu. We spent more time in the ocean here since the water was calmer than in Kauai. We also lounged by the pool, ate out and sat on the veranda each evening listening to local music. We discovered that Kyleigh loves music and will be-bop to just about any beat (including ringing cell phones). We made it home in one piece and after only two days, were back to our normal routines. It took mom a bit longer to recover then the others, but I guess being 5-months pregnant had something to do with that. I'm glad we did the trip, but will not be making such a jaunt for some time. Hope everyone is well. Hugs and kisses to all. Heather, Rob and Kyleigh

Wow, not even a full month has passed...

Can you believe it? I'm managing to post and a full month hasn't even passed yet. I spent a little time the other day trying to learn how to jazz up my blog. Like the changes? It's still a work in progress, but I like the modifications so far.

Not a whole lot to report right now. We've had a few lazy weekends and we're now gearing up for the next few weeks being busy. We're headed to the Eastern Shore to visit Nana and Auntie Paula next weekend. We'll post some pics of the trip. Then, on the 26th, we're off to the land of paradise...Hawaii! Sadly, I'm going to start packing today. I know, I'm a little pshyco, but what can I say, I HAVE to be prepared!

Kyleigh had tubes put in her ears last Monday, the 7th, and she seems much happier now. Not that she wasn't happy before, but you could tell that her ears were somewhat of a constant annoyance. Now she sleeps better, wakes better and isn't always rubbing at her ears. She really isn't doing anything "new", but is doing some major cruising. She pulls herself up on just about anything within reach and can walk/scale everything in her path, gracefully (and quickly) moving from the living room, to the dining room, to the kitchen - and all the way around it until we have to remove her from the cat food area.

The few photos posted are from her cousin, Joseph's, 2nd birthday party on the Fourth of July and from our friends son's christening party on the 12th. Many of our good friends were there. Someone joked that he didn't remember there being a blackout last year...there were so many babies close to the same age.

If I don't get back on for another post before Hawaii, I'll be sure to update everyone on our first family vacation after we get back.

7, 8 and 9 months

Oh, I'm such a bad mom for not doing a better job of keeping up with my blog. We've had so much going on in our lives lately and the last thing I've felt like doing is spending time in the basement alone.

For those of you that haven't already heard...the "big" news is that we're expecting another baby in December. Kyleigh is going to have a sister! The due date is December 23 and I just hope that I'm not in the hospital on Christmas Day. Needless to say, I'm exhausted almost every night and can't wait to go to bed after dinner.

As for Kyleigh...the one you REALLY care about. She's grown so much, we can't believe she's going to be 9 months old this week. I know I last updated when she was 6 months, but forgive me if I don't know exactly when she did what. But...here's the latest and greatest. Kyleigh has 2 teeth on the bottom now. She's eating well with her fingers (the pincher grasp). So far, she likes baby puffs, graham crackers, and bananas rolled in oatmeal. She's not been a fan of cantelope, watermelon or nectarine. I need to get on board with trying more things for her.

Just in the last fews days she's really been on the move. It's making mom and dad realize how "un-child friendly" their home is. It's a difficult time for us because our house is constantly being shown to prospective buyers and we hate to change it too much for fear of scaring away non-baby weilding prospects. Last weekend she was fine with her small play area and now she's crawling to the tables and sofa so she can get the way she prefers to be - vertical! She's able to move all the way around the coffee table, though she does fall some and that's never pretty. Next weekend I'm picking up a play pen so that she can move around safely. Kyleigh doesn't appear to love crawling, but she's definitely proven she's capable of doing it.

Enjoy the photos from the last fews months. They include a visit to Aunt Alison's in Pittsburgh (Rachel, 3 and Ava, 1) and a visit to great-grandparents Apop and Hilda. Hopefully, it won't be another 3 months until I post again. Until then...love to all!

6 Months

Yo, waaatssup??? "Word" from Kyleigh... (second from top photo)

Wow, can you believe it??? Kyleigh has passed a milestone. She is now 6 months old (well, once again, plus a few weeks). It's so amazing how much she continues to change, yet in many ways remain the same. She's still the laid back, easy going, happy baby that she always was. However, she is so much brighter now. She pays so much attention to what we're doing, watching every movement we make and trying to mock us. She's recently taken to trying to get a drink of daddy's beer. It's too funny! Daycare says she wonderful, and so did her pediatrician at the 6 month appointment (actually, I think her exact words were "perfect").

Kyleigh is now eating 2-3 meals a day, and most recently has been eating food that mom has made. She loves most things, but the verdict is still out on avocados and fresh banana (odd). A new favorite is pears with blueberries. As you can see from the photo above, she has become quite independent the past 2 weeks and likes to feed herself her evening bottle. We just lay her down on the sofa propped up by a pillow and she feeds herself. Now, mind you, she gets it in her hair, eyes, nose and neck...but she seems to love the independence. Another milestone was that we've FINALLY stopped swaddling her. YEAH!!! One more thing worth mentioning is that she's almost sitting independently, she just needs a little something behind her to break the occasional roll back.

A few exciting events this month were Lucy's Christening on the 30th (photo of Kyleigh in her beret). Nicole was kind enough to host the first "Baby's and Bagels" event at her house. See all the babies on the couch (with Chrissy's protective "Thing" hand in the foreground). And yes, all the moms knew each other while we were pregnant, it was quite a site when we all went out to dinner! On the sofa you've got Sophie, Will, Lucy, Will, Kyleigh and Ben. They're all a few weeks apart, with the first Will being the oldest (his mommy was having him during my shower) and the youngest being Sophie. I think I've said this before, but Kyleigh and Ben are only 12 hours apart. Their's already speculation that they will be boyfriend/girlfriend. They are both so laid back.

Easter 2008

What a nice Easter we had. Kyleigh made out like a bandit, with so many cute new things. She got a few adorable outfits, socks, sunglasses, a new bathing suit, new rattles and teethers, stuffed bunnies galore, hats, bibs... Thank you to everyone that was so generous (you know who you are). I've posted a few pictures to highlight the day. Note: the one of Kyleigh in her Easter dress is, in my opinion, the cutest picture ever! We've entered it into a contest to be on the cover of babytalk magazine with an appearance on Good Morning America. We'll be sure to tell you when to watch! :0)

Irish Princess

Ahhh, St Patrick's Day. A favorite amongst all of us irish lads & lassies. We began the day's celebration with blueberry pancakes at our house. Kyleigh got to spend some quality time with Auntie Di and Aunt Debbie. After filling up on hearty food and mimosas, we bundled up for the parade. The parade was lots of fun for everyone. Kyleigh spent most of the time snug in her stroller, but she got out for just a little bit to hang out with her friends Gwenie and Lucy, and her newest friend, Nate.

5 Months and Counting...

Kyleigh is now 5 months old (well, and some extra days). We just can't believe how much she's growing. She now weighs 15 pounds, though mom swears its more each time she picks her up in her car seat. She still has the brightest blue eyes and her hair is really coming in, though it doesn't appear that it's going to be red. That's still up for debate since in certain light, we swear we see red undertone. We've all gotten into a routine now and each day is pleasant and predictable. We start each day around 6:30am with Kyleigh cooing in her crib. It's her way of letting us know that she's up. It starts quite and builds to a crescendo of babbles and squeals. If we ignore her too long, she does the old "fake cry". Usually, we can unwrap her (yes, sadly we're still swaddling our 5 month old) and give her a few toys. Most days, she'll happily play by herself for a half hour, giving mom and dad some time to wake up. Once she's has enough of playing alone, we will get her and bring her into bed with us. She's such a happy baby in the morning. One of our favorite parts of the day is that first foray into her room, when we peek over the rails of the crib, she slowly recognizes we're there, and then there it is...that huge "I'm so happy you're here" smile. The rest of the morning goes like this...mom and dad get ready for work, we dress Kyleigh for the day (in one of her adorable outfits, compliments of mom mom or Nana), fix bottles and food for the day and off we go to daycare. Speaking of food, Kyleigh has quite a repertoire of food now. She's eating oatmeal and rice, apples, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and yogurt. Mom is soooo excited that there is little evidence to date that she's going to be a picky eater like her father. She seems to love all food and eats with gusto. On to daycare. Her caregivers, Ann (who everyone calls Ma) and Miss Kathy always comment on what a happy baby Kyleigh is. Each month they send out a newsletter to the parents and in February's issue, they introduced Kyleigh as a new member. Here is what they had to say: "We would like to welcome our newest baby Kyleigh to the infant room. Kyleigh is our youngest baby and she is doing great. She loves to have everyone talk to her throughout the day, she smiles so big. She is a very social baby. Kyleigh enjoys sitting in the bumbo chair looking around at all her friends. She has adjusted well to her new teachers and friends." I happy to report that there has never been a day when Rob or I have shown up at daycare and Kyleigh has been doing anything but smiling! Evenings are predictable as well. We get home from daycare around 5:30-5:45pm and Kyleigh is hungry and tired. She eats, gets into her pj's, listens to a few stores [Good Night Moon and Goodnight Thumper - mom's personal favorite], has a bottle and drifts off to peaceful sleep in dad's arm. Yes ladies, dad puts her to bed. I know you're all jealous. For the most part, Kyleigh is a great sleeper and wakes once or twice for her paci and then once to be fed. It's hard to complain because we get plenty of alone time in the evening and a quiet dinner, but we wish we had more time with her before she goes to sleep. Daylight savings time has helped some, but 6;45pm is the latest she'll stay up. We've seen Nana and Auntie Paula lately as well as Mom mom and Pop pop. We're so lucky to have such great built in babysitters. Nana let's mom and dad go out each time she comes to town, and recently Kyleigh had her first night away from home by spending the night at Heather's parents. It ended up being quite the adventure with the power going out from a nasty storm. Well, I've been making up for lost time and think I've "typed" your ear off quite enough. Check back in a few weeks, as we're sure to have an update for St Patrick's Day (Auntie Di's FAVORITE holiday) and Easter (wait till you see her dress!). Love to all, Heather, Rob and Kyleigh (and Orion, Matchka, and Samantha)

January 26, 2008 - 4 Months Old

Today Kyleigh is 4 months old. We can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. Every day brings something new - she has very good hand dexterity now and loves to play with her toys, she has also begun to laugh a bit, which delights her mom and dad very much. A few times she has rolled over from her tummy to her back, but its not something she can do regularly yet. We've begun to let her spend time in her highchair seat each day and she seems to love sitting up like the rest of us - it's only a matter of time before we have to retire the swing and the saucer seat. The pictures were all taken on her birthday - notice that she loves to have dad sing to her. MomMom will also be happy to see that she likes her baby doll. Until later...

Kyleigh and her Friends

Mom and dad had a party on January 5th and I had a lot of new friends there. I wish they had taken more pictures! We all had a good time. My friends that were at the party were Gwen (2 years) and Lucy (5 months), Will (9 months), Gray (3 1/2 months), Charlie (5 months), Renee (3 months), Jessica (3 years), Sophie (3 months). Dad said our house looked like an episode of "John and Kate Plus Eight".

The photos here were taken at diffent times. They are me with [1] Uncle Tom Rakoske, [2] Keith Ramsay, [3] Ben (his birthday is 12 hours before mine), [4] Christine, [5] Debbie Kale, [6] Debbie McMath, and [7] Lucy and Gwen.