Month 6 - June

I know it's been awhile. The Christmas season and activities (along with Kalin) have taken over my life recently. We are now residing at my parents house in Aromas along with both my sisters, my brother-in-law, and my niece. We haven't all been together like this since Kasey and I got married in 2006...well, I guess really we've never ALL been together like this with the babies. The last time we had Christmas together was in 2002 so this is quite the treat. I will continue my monthly reminiscence with the month of June.

A big milestone was reached during this month. Kalin had his first food other than breastmilk. Yummy yummy rice cereal.

Snuggle time with mom.

Snuggle and sleepy time with dad.

Celebrating my dad's birthday.

Trying out the rocking chair that I used as a child. Maybe some day it will be his.

He liked (still does, I guess) to feed himself. It makes things quite messy.

He was getting stronger and stronger every day. He was about ready to start crawling at this age.

His new shades for when we went swimming. He didn't like them and they wouldn't stay on his head.

He got a big boy sippy cup!! It took him about a week to figure it out. Then a week later he decided he preferred to drink from a cup like we do. So the "sippy" part didn't last long.

More snuggle time with mom.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane (I wish)

Kalin got what I call "his first big-boy injury". He got into a scuffle with the parking lot and ended up with scratches on his eyelid and eyebrow. As our pastor, Mike Fitzgerald, told Kalin, "The parking lot will almost always win...even when you're older". So true.

On Saturday morning, Kalin and I got ready alot earlier than we're used to, and headed to the San Francisco airport with my parents to pick my sister up who was flying in from China. This was Kalin's first time in an airport so we had to get a picture with him in front of some kind of sign that looked "airport-y". As I was walking through the airport, I realized that I haven't flown anywhere in a year and a half. For somebody who, for 4 years, was accustomed to flying at least 4 times a year, this is a major difference. I miss it. I love flying. Of course, the last time I flew anywhere, I was about 12 weeks pregnant and throwing up (both on the plane and off). So that wasn't the best experience...but I still miss flying.

Even though I had been showing Kalin pictures of his Aunt Jessi, it took him a few minutes to warm up to her. They have not seen each other since he was a month old. They quickly became good friends though and had some fun together this weekend.

Kalin will be almost anybody's friend if they have Cheerios and cheese to offer.

Don't worry, we didn't actually let him drive us home.

Since it was such a beautiful day (no rain!) we decided to take a walk along West Cliff.

Sunday after church, Kasey, Kalin and I headed to Watsonville where we would meet up with the rest of my family at my Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle's house to make Christmas cookies!! Before we could do that though, Kasey and I needed lunch and to finish up our Christmas shopping at Target. We were very successful and made some wonderful purchases. Kalin kept getting himself into trouble: standing up in the front of the cart, grabbing anything he could get his hands onto, and ripping the pop-up book I was going to buy for his stocking (I still bought it since he ripped it, I'll tape the broken piece back on). I was glad to finally be done and get him back into the car and then to a place where he could run around and play.

He had so much fun playing with Legos, first with my mom, then with my dad and sister.

It was a very busy weekend. And a very fun weekend.

Cuteness to the Extreme - Month 5 (May)

After I had uploaded the pictures for this month, I noticed that Kalin was extremely cute in every single one. This might be one of his cutest months yet. Of course, as his mom, I think all of his pictures are cute, but there was just something in this month's pictures that caught my attention. It might be that his personality was more developed and it showed up in the pictures. These pictures sure do bring a smile to my face (and sometimes an outburst of laughter).

He sure was having fun in his stroller on this day!!

A walk along West Cliff when Kasey's parents came to visit for a few days in the beginning of May.

Kalin is happily sitting on Grandpa Ken's lap.

I love the hat and the face. I believe this was a hat the hospital gave us when he was born. It still kind of fit but his head was getting a little too big for it.

He looks a lot older than 4 months in this picture.

Squawky!!! That's what Kasey thinks every time he sees this picture.


He kept spinning himself around and getting stuck in this position. I would turn him back around and he would do it again.

Showing off his Bubba Gump shirt that Grammie bought him.

Kalin and I on our first Mother's Day (outside the womb). I remember reminiscing on this day about the previous Mother's Day - my first day of morning sickness, I thought it was very appropriate.

Everytime I look at this picture I think, "Aww, he would have made a pretty girl!".

I love the look on his face because he knows we're just messing with him and there's not much he can do about it.

It looks like he's scared but he was really just babbling up a storm and I caught him with his mouth wide open. This picture makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.

I loved this outfit because it showed off his little arm rolls.

He looks like he's ready to take off and get into some trouble.

You gotta start them early rooting for the right team.

He looks old in this picture, too.

Trying to get him to prop himself up in a sitting position.

He did it!! For about 10 seconds...then he fell over.

Working those abs...He enjoyed doing crunches.

Yummy toes!!

Brrr...it's cold

The weather turned cold this week and we had several rain showers. Now, anybody who knows me well enough knows how much I love the rain. But I found myself getting annoyed with it. Now that I'm so addicted to my daily walks I have a hard time when I'm not able to go outside. This is a problem that I have never had to deal with in my life. I've never been sad that it's raining or that I can't get outside to exercise. I guess I need to find something to do indoors (besides chasing Kalin around). So far, I have only been able to go on 2 walks this week...a big change from my usual 5. But enough about me for now.

Due to the change in temperature, I put Kalin in some thermals under his regular clothes to keep him extra warm. I love how his belly sticks out so far in them.

On Wednesday night, while Kasey was at youth group, Kalin and I had a great time reading and playing. He kept handing me the same book (Moo, Baa, La La La) over and over again to read. I think I read it about 15 times. Sometimes he would sit (or stand) and listen to me read, but sometimes he would wander around the house. At one point though he grabbed another book, sat down next to me, opened his book, and started babbling. It was SOOO cute. I wish there would have been somebody else around to catch it on film. It made me really excited too because it shows that he gets it!! Or at least he's starting to understand the purpose of books.

On Thursday I was inspired, by my friend Sarah's ocean pictures, to ask Kasey if he would like to take a long lunch and have a picnic down by the ocean. Keep in mind that it was sunny when I first had this great thought. It did get overcast by the time Kasey got home but we still headed out, picking up our not-so-nutritious-but-oh-so-yummy Taco Bell along the way. It was cold but not too cold so we ate outside on a blanket and watched Kalin chase the birds. It did start to rain but not until we were about done anyway. It was just so nice to see the ocean again. It's sad that we live 15 minutes from the beach but don't seem make it down there very often.

Kasey just reminded me tonight that we only have a few more days left with our lovely Christmas tree. We'll be away from home for 11 days starting Christmas Eve so we won't be able to keep it watered. That made me so sad. It seems like we just got it. I think I should get my Christmas tree before Thanksgiving so I have more time to enjoy it.

Tomorrow, Kalin and I will join my parents in driving to San Francisco to pick up my sister from the airport!! She's flying in from China for Christmas. We haven't seen her since February when she flew in to meet her new nephew and niece. I'm so excited!!

Kalin in the month of April (his 4th month)

He was trying to roll over. This was as far as he could get on his own, until April 25th when he rolled over all by himself!!


Our first trip to West Cliff after Kalin was born.

Leraning to suck his thumb (instead of his whole fist).

His 100 days cake!! We celebrated his 100th day which is a Korean custom.

He was having a hard time with tummy-time. He hated to be flipped over onto his stomach and refused to lift his head or body up. So I put him on the Boppy pillow where he was forced to hold himself up. It worked and we never had a problem with tummy-time again!!

I love his eyes in this picture.

The onesie says it all.

He's our little monkey.

His first trip to Yosemite (outside the womb). We went with my parents for their Spring trip. Kasey and I had also gone with them for their Fall trip.

Beautiful background for a family picture.

The mist from the falls was cold.

His new toy!! It took him a couple weeks to warm up to it but he had lots of fun playing (and chewing) on the toys.

Our first heat wave. He hung out in just a diaper alot.

Playing with dad.

Reading the comics with Grandpa on a hot day.