Priceless

$220 for airport parking.
$395 for doggie daycare.
$80 for a cat sitter.
$160 for a baby swing.
Kessler’s diaper leaking during the landing into Oakland airport--leaving Mark with a giant wet spot on his crotch. Priceless.





Realizing that Kessler’s diaper didn’t just leak, rather it came off. Then realizing that, while attempting to refasten the diaper, it wasn’t just a *wet* diaper. And making this realization not by seeing, but feeling. Then, attempting to change a diaper with poop smeared hands while aboard a plane that’s in the process of landing. All priceless.

That was the beginning of the end of our trip and an excellent representation of the majority of the rest of the trip. Priceless. Priceless. Priceless. Priceless. Priceless.

For example, meeting Mickey for the first time....



And, being molested by Mickey for the first time...



Your first Merry-go-round..



Giggling while you wait for your first Disney World parade!



Playing the guitar while singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider".. for the first time..




Seeing a wonderful friend for the first time in years.. and meeting her husband!!



And meeting some of their wonderful, wonderful friends..





Learning with whom your son would replace you.. (he does have good taste!)



Being taught how to make fart noises...




Dressing your son up like the Michelin man for his first boat ride...



Learning just how resourceful (lazy) your husband is..



Seeing that she still loves him...





Yep, Priceless!

Jon's Girlfriend

It's amazing; posting to my blog does not make my to do list any smaller. I will continue to test this theory.

I obtained this photo from my friend Jon.



Everyone has been guilty of bad judgement, but really, what was she thinking?

Coffee Cup

You can always tell when I'm busy.. I make a lot of posts to my blog as a way to avoid whatever is attempting to make me busy.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Femme, challenged me to a weight-loss competition. Around the same time there was a fundraiser at Makena's school where I found the perfect gift for Femme--leaving her looking very catty as she sips her coffee. I was going to modify said gift by adding the words "except Kelly" at the end, but realized that the gift would remain at my house for months and months with all my best intentions of making the modifications. So, instead I had it sent directly to her. I told her about my intended modifications and very kindly asked her to make the modifications for me. Apparently she is not good with directions.



At least now I know why I'm gaining back all the weight I lost!!

Meow

The doorbell rang a few minutes ago. I gazed through the peephole trying to figure out who it was. (Mark has already met our annual quota for magazine purchases from door to door salemen--so I try to avoid such solicitors.) Anyway, the guy on the other side was making a funny noise. I finally worked out that he was meowing, yes, meowing.. over and over again. After a few more seconds I recognized that he was our Bug Guy. A few more seconds passed before I deduced that he was having a conversation with our cat that he could see through the office window. Perhaps the pesticides are getting to him?

Makena's Birthday Weekend

Saturday

What a great weekend! We went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and thanks to the recount on Makena's height she was able to go on some rides all by herself! She LOVED it!

Mark took her on her very first rollercoaster ride ever!! You can't exactly tell by her expression, but she loved it. Mark did too, except his knees were aching the rest of the day!



This photo was of Makena on a mini version of "The Drop Zone". It basically drops several feet and leaves you feeling like you're free falling. She went with Mark first and he said she giggled the whole time. She wanted to go again, so I took her the second time. I was shocked at how scary it actually was.



Here are some more photos from Santa Cruz.




BIRTHDAY Sunday

At 6:45 this morning Mark went to the garage to get Makena's presents so I could wrap them. He had to open the garage door which is just under her room. She was already awake (but would have definitely fallen back to sleep), but the opening of the door was her queue to get up. As luck would have it, she came out of her room just as Mark was coming upstairs with her unwrapped presents. Mark managed to scurry to our bedroom as I diverted her back to her room. Close call!

Unfortunately, she wanted nothing to do with going back to bed, so we wished her a happy birthday and tried to get her excited about it. She practiced telling us that she's 3!! Not 2, not almost 3 (as she had been for the last 2 weeks), but 3!!!

We had to have the festivities early because Mark had to fly to LA later. We ended up making a last minute logistical change and had cake and opened presents at the park across the street. I set things up while Mark distracted Makena and Kessler at the play structure. When I was ready he brought them over. Here's the conversation.. (for some reason it didn't occur to me to video tape this..)

Mark: Let's go over here Makena.
Mark: Oh, look, who's that?
Makena: It's Merlie Dog. (I had Merlin with me.)
Mark: Yeah, who else? (They're about 75 feet away.)
Makena: Mommy.
Mark: What else?
Makena: (A bit of a pause) IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! (and she takes off running in my direction.. bypassing all the presents--heading for the cake! :) Is she a Pellas or a Knight?)

We convinced her to open 2 presents before we had to have cake.

While I didn't get video of the "It's My Birthday" realization, I did take pictures. Apply the transcript from above to the photos below and it'll seem like you were right there with us today!





We had such a fun weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKENA!! We love you very much!!!

What's been happening..

Here are some photos from breakfast one day last week. Fun Stuff.





While I'm here I'll update you on some things that have been happening.

Kessler

Besides consistenly falling asleep in his jumper, Kessler has been cutting his fifth tooth. We've had quite a few sleepless nights since this past Monday. But, it seems to be getting better. And while he doesn't like growing the teeth, he seems to like having them. He's a biter. It is extremely funny when Mark is Kessler's snack of choice, but I've learned it's no fun to be anything but a spectator in the activity. He bit me so hard last night it brought tears to my eyes and a bruise to my shoulder. OUCH!

He had his 9 month check-up yesterday and all is going well. He's 22.4 pounds (75th percentile) and 31.5 inches (90th percentile). I don't recall his head circumference, but he's in the 75th percentile as well. All the nurses were trying to flirt with him.. he'd smile and curl up into my chest, which made the nurses flirt more. He already has it figured out.

He hasn't thought much of crawling since a few nights ago. He is pulling himself up quite regularly though.


Makena

Makena is doing well. I can't believe she will be 3 on Sunday!! Time goes too quickly. She loves to play with her baby dolls. She tells us off all the time for being too loud. For example, we'll be at the supermarket and she'll say, "Shhhh, mommy, you're too loud. My baby is sleeping." "Where is your baby?" "At home sleeping, shhhh, mommy." I guess I'm really loud.

She still loves school and swimming. She never complains about either, which is so nice. Her favorite shows are Mickey's Clubhouse and Dora. Mark and I are ready for her to outgrow Dora, but she's still holding strong.

Her favorite foods for the moment are oatmeal, applesauce, yo baby yogurt (strawberry), budda bars (breakfast bars--strawberry, apple), strawberries, avocado and mac & cheese. A new favorite is pistachios. She calls them nachios. Sort of sounds like nachos, which has led to some mistakes by the kitchen staff. Really, I should be fired.

I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well!

Addendum: Makena had her 3 year check-up on Friday. She weighs 30.5 pounds and is 37 inches tall. She's finally in the 50th percentile for both!!! Yay!! It was a bit frustrating because the nurse measured wrong the first time; originally she had 34.5 inches which put her in the 5th percentile. That height along with her weight made her overweight. We contemplated making an appointment to see an endocrinologist, but decided to check in 6 months to see how she's doing. On the way out of the doctor's offie I decided to measure her again.. in 20 minutes she grew 2.5 inches and went from the 5th to 50th percentile!!

Happy Birthday Sister/Cousin, Niece Phoebe!!!

We hope you are having a wonderful birthday! We wish we could be there with you!! Have a piece of cake for us!!

We love you!


XOXOXOX - Makena, Kessler, Uncle Mark and Auntie Kelly!!!