Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night! (I wish)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. We had a great time up at my parents' house and enjoyed several days of laziness. Reina really got in to her "First Christmas, Part Deux," by tearing into anything that looked like wrapping paper! She was also treated to some peppermint ice cream and Christmas cookies. In all the hustle and bustle, and probably sugar highs, she has also seemed to decide to stop sleeping. That is, to stop sleeping like she used to; by herself. She has developed a preference for being rocked to sleep and also has decided to forgo one or both of her usual daily naps. Awesome. Now that most of the excitement is over, we are trying to get back to normal life; finding places to put all the thoughtful gifts, making time for thank you notes, laundry. Hopefully we'll all get back on track and go back to having a good night soon...

Buddies and Babies: Eric and Emma H. play with Bill and Reina K.

Reina and Emma again, instant friends.

RMK and Santa C. catch up from their last visit together (12/2006)

4 Generations again, this time with my Dad and Memere and Pepere

Memere and Pepere with great-grand-girls: 2nd cousins Vivienne and Reina

Happy First Birthday!

We celebrated Reina's first birthday yesterday (although it is actually today) with a family gathering and cookie exchange party. Since I'm not the strongest of bakers it was my ploy to get some home made Christmas cookies! Reina was so very good, despite missing a nap and eating more junk than she ever has in her year-old life. She babbled and played with every toy, not wanting anyone to feel left out. She smiled at everybody and scooted around all day in her tutu. Bill's vote against said tutu was vetoed. We enjoyed so many tasty different treats plus our favorite, Jimmy John's subs! Today, she's sleeping it off a bit while I try to finish with the present wrapping.

Enjoy the following photos. The small ones are from her latest portrait session and I've been eagerly awaiting posting them until today. Sorry if anyone is offended by the nudity. Bill definitely is. Tough noogies.

RMK pre-party, chewing on a farmer friend. Good hair day.

Reina and Nana

First cupcake. Liked the icing, the rest was too much work. Prefers chocolate chip cookies.

first cell phone, tastes delicious!

Sorry all of these portraits are so small. Those sneaky photographers make you think you own the pictures, but then they're teeny tiny online!

Mea Culpa

I'm sorry Bill. I had to do it.

Problem one: several days of copious nasal drainage.

Problem two: a child who looks like Cousin It. Wait for it...

Solution: a baby who's hair isn't plastered to her face every morning by her own snot!

Gorgeous! Best makeover ever!

Again. Sorry Bill. I promise it'll grow back.

Mad Skills

Reina continues to amaze us with her a-la-carte style of development. By that I mean the way she picks and chooses which milestones to meet. While she still refuses to hold her own bottle and can only stand for a few seconds at a time, never mind walk, she has seemingly mastered the ability to morph herself into other objects. For example, the photo below. My daughter, the Transformer.

With the amount of amusement she found in this box, Christmas is bound to be full of laughs. At this point gifts will be redundant. Maybe I'll wait to give them to her until 2008...

She can also take off her pants by herself. We are thrilled.

Bill's 2 favorite things merge into one. Yes, she's IN the box.

More Buddies

A couple more of Reina and her 4-legged friends:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindog

Not a terrific picture, but Reina is mesmerized by our tree. She loves to look at the ornaments but isn't quite sure of the prickly needles.

Hungry?

Shhh, I don't want to jinx our recent luck, but Reina may have finally turned the corner when it comes to eating like a normal baby. Well, semi-normal, she's now eating 2-3 jars of baby food a day (up from 2-3 a week) and seems ok with the idea of a spoon. Mostly. We've had our ups and downs, but at least she is sleeping all night again and not waking up for a bottle at 1am!

Last Saturday, Bill and Reina had a Daddy-Daughter Day where he was relentless with the feeding solid foods. I think maybe she need a change of pace from my usual frustrated food shoving. Daddy has a different technique, or just Daddy-star power. She worships him. I guess I shouldn't mind since he was so nervous about having a girl. They are best buddies. Here's a few shots of their day together:

I love you Daddy! Eat real food? Whatever you say Daddy!

Bill thought this was hilarious. Somehow that Cheerio just stuck there throughout the meal.

Still buddies despite occasional battles over self-feeding privileges.

I love my Daddy!

Have we seen this face before? (hint: see Thanksgiving family picture)

Thanksgiving is For Family, Dares, and Incarceration

Got your attention now, don't I? It's not that juicy, but read on...

While I was working my requisite holiday, Bill's family got together as most families do to celebrate our National holiday of Thanks. Great food and hilarity ensued. Thanks to Lauren and Janine for saving me a plate! Gina-mom had all her chicks in the nest: Ryan and Kristin drove in with Elizabeth and Ava and a surprise, baby #3 on the way! Andrew and Lauren brought us Milo to meet for the first time. And of course, the local favorites, Reina and Bill were on hand and I arrived for dessert.

Michael-dad and Gina-mom and their babies. Note mine hamming it up in the middle. Which apple tree did she fall from?

Nana M, Gina-mom, Bill and Reina. 4 generations, after somebody's bedtime.

Needing some respite from playing with "babies, babies, babies!" , mini-mother-goose-Katie and bad-influence-Billy entered into a dare to see if she would eat a piece of sushi for cash. She would. Easy money.

After receiving numerous threats, both verbal and internet in origin, regarding the pounding this ferocious duo would inflict upon her after they squashed Milo, Reina put her cousins in their place and showed them who's boss.

Kissy Lips

We've accomplished open mouth baby bite-kisses, now for some real smoochies. We were crying we were laughing so hard at her. She even made lip smacking noises...pucker up!

Miss Independent

Reina has a prematurely over developed sense of self. She's never been much of a cuddler, unless sick. She has definitely made her preferences known to "do it herself" when it comes to eating, or choosing not to eat, solid foods. She is an explorer and not afraid of anyone. The other day at the park with friends Ann and Brayden, Reina continued to do her own thing, including crawling about a mile away to check out the fall leaves on the ground, not once looking back for reassurance. This does not bode well for the teenage years...

Stop squeezing me Mom, I've got to keep moving!

See ya later, suckers

Reina and Brady: she's mad because she wanted to drive the dragon.

Reina's cousins will soon be arriving for Thanksgiving and her independent streak will be put to the test. Elizabeth and Ava can walk and Milo can apparently flatten her with his bulk. Asserting her uniqueness will need to come in handy because judging from their encounters without her, I think it might be a survival of the fittest weekend!

Old Block and Little Chip

Sorry to those of you who are "relieved" Reina takes after me. There's more than enough evidence to prove I'm not the only parent she resembles. It's amazing we're only a month away from her first birthday.

This was taken in January, note Reina's displeasure...and her itty bitty-ness.

More recent of Bill's mini-me, taken in October. Jedi is likely sulking somewhere. Hermes still looks psycho.


November blooming rose. In Ohio. Weird.

Playground Fun

Trying to take advantage of a sunny yet not too cold day, we trekked to the local park and playground for some fun. Reina was pining to go outside all week, going to the door or window every time the dogs were outside. So, not very original, but here's another video of my giggly-swingly girl. This time, Daddy was able to come, too. I'm not sure who had more fun...

this video might not work...it's taking all day to process...I'm posting this anyway!

Razzamatazz

I had my first real weekend away from Reina just after Halloween. We went with some friends to Las Vegas and although I didn't play one slot machine, I did eat some great meals, have a wonderful spa treatment and see a really cool show based on the Beatles music. Hanging out with friends and without baby duties was nice too. I'm glad to be home for a while, though. I brought this video with me on my camera in case I started to miss her. It reminded me just what a sweet little stinker she is! Enjoy!

Which Witch?

Thought I was a witch, eh? Thanks. Little Dorothy had 3 of us to surrender to...the Wicked Witch of the East, the Wicked Witch of the West, and me, the Wicked Witch of the Midwest. Plus a Power Ranger and Michael-Dad.

I've got you my pretty, where are your little dogs?

Who's under this witch's hat?

It's Gina-Mom! Look at all those kids on sugar highs!

Aunt Katie as another witch! And Uncle Austin, the Power Ranger.

Taking candy from a baby? Go ahead and try to keep her away from it!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

While the All Powerful OZ is at a wizard conference in Las Vegas (or is that Emerald City?) I've been feeling a bit of a Halloween Humbug. Until today, when I finally got that old excitement I used to have as a kid when I'd plan our porch decorations for weeks and my costume for months. For Reina's first Halloween, I was going to make her a vampire because of her peculiar tooth growth, fangs. That is, until the other top teeth came in and kind of ruined that idea. As there are always plenty of fairy-princess-ballerinas out there, and she is sure to want to join their ranks as soon as she can talk, I opted for another option. Perhaps it is just to justify the purchase of her ruby red slippers...

Flying Monkey, Toto, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow...where is Dorothy?

she's off to see the wizard

guess who's the witch?