Kennedy's First Christmas - Reflecting on Our Blessings

We headed back to Amarillo for Christmas.  We are always thankful for the time we get to spend with our family back in Amarillo, and this instance was no exception.

Jason's sister, Whitney, recently became engaged to her long time boyfriend, Nate.  It is evident that Nate loves Whitney with all his heart and she will be blessed to have him in her life.  We were happy that we had the opportunity to celebrate their upcoming milestone with them.  We look forward to the coming months as they begin preparations for their big day and their future together.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, we attended the candlelight service with Rachel's family.  This was an especially touching time as we reflected on our little blessing that we received back in July.  In an instant, Kennedy had so deeply and profoundly touched our hearts.  With time, our love for her only continues to grow deeper.

The evening of Christmas Eve, we were able to gather with Jason's family.  Bella, the daughter of Jason's cousin, was such a cutie and she was a big hit with everyone.  Sitting around the room, it was neat to see the pure joy on the faces of Jason's grandparents as they looked around the room and soaked up having their family and legacy all around them.  Being parents now, we were able to at least partially comprehend and share in their joy.

On Christmas, we woke up to a white Christmas.  It was pretty special for Kennedy to have a white Christmas for her first.  After having some breakfast, we opened gifts with Jason's family.  We also had the bright idea that we should put Kennedy in her stocking and take her picture.  It turned out to be a little tighter that we first anticipated, but we went ahead and snapped a couple of photos.

That afternoon, we headed over to the Kime household to have a traditional Christmas dinner.  Later that afternoon, we all gathered around in the living room and Dennis read us the Christmas story.  Afterwards, we opened gifts.

The holiday passed too fast and we were sad to leave this morning. We sure enjoy the time we get to spend with our families and wish we were able to be closer. We will continue to work on Whitney and Nate to move to the DFW area after graduation :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and have a blessed New Year!

Another Short One

On Thursday, Jason's company had their Christmas party out at the Ranger's ballpark.  We had a good time conversing with all the folks there.  It sure was fun getting to show Kennedy off to all the co-workers.  Santa also made a visit to the party so Kennedy made sure to go by and visit him.  We were expecting her to get pretty upset, but she did really good.  

We spent quite a bit of time doing chores around the house this weekend.  Rachel made chex mix and pumpkin bread for our co-workers.  Between that and cleaning, we managed to stay very busy.    Not a very exciting weekend, but a productive one.

Kennedy continues to do well. She seems like she could crawl any day now with the way she sits up on her belly. She also continues to drool more and more which has us watching for teeth!

Funny Times

We wanted to report that Kennedy has been doing much better with her rice cereal.  It didn't take her too many times before she started to get the hang of eating it.  She still doesn't quite have all the mechanics down.  Sometimes, she even tries to lap it up like a dog, but that techniques just makes a big mess.

On Saturday, we went out to see a movie.  Matt's parents offered to watch the kiddos and we didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.  We got to the theater and it was a surreal experience.

Before we left, the girls also had an exchange of Christmas presents since we weren't sure if they'd be able to get together again before the end of the month.  Kennedy received some clothing and a stuffed dog that sings songs and teaches lessons.  It even sings "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."  That is one of Whitney's favorite songs to sing to Kennedy.  We have fond memories of her singing it to Kennedy from her stay shortly after Kennedy's birth.

Matt and Courtney also have a couple of dachshunds.  Before we left for the movie, one of them hopped up and started to lick Kennedy.  That startled her pretty good and she started to cry.  They ended up putting the dogs away because she was getting pretty scared.  When we returned from the movie the dogs were back out and Kennedy started to behave pretty strange.  When the dogs would come near, she would start to make a growling noise and even yell out at them.  Her little body would jerk as she hollered out.  She did this several times over and it was one of the funniest things we have seen in a while.

On Sunday, Jason watched Kennedy while Rachel went out and ran some errands.  Jason got himself into some trouble though.  He accidentally dropped a glass coke bottle that made a major mess.  While he was cleaning it up, he heard the new stuffed dog sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" repeatedly.  He was excited because he thought that Kennedy was engaged and playing with the dog, but when he looked over to check on her, he saw what you see below.  Kennedy was using the stuffed dog as a pillow while she was watching football on TV.  Funny girl.

We're also happy to report that Kennedy has been holding her bottle fairly regularly.  She's not alway great at steering to the right spot, but she's getting the hang of it.  It sure helps in freeing up a hand while feeding her.

We've also included a little video of her playing in her bouncer.  She's such a sweetie and we hope you have a good week ahead!

Christmas Decorating and Dr. Checkup

With Thanksgiving weekend behind us, we've had an opportunity to settle back into our normal routine.

We've spent a few evenings decorating for Christmas.  It's been extra special this year since we have Kennedy and this will be her first Christmas.  We got a new Christmas tree.  It's a little skinnier than a normal tree.  The advantage there is that we got to set it up next to our stairway.  We also finally got around to getting Kennedy her stocking.

On Wednesday, Kennedy went to the Doctor's office for her 4 month checkup and shots.  The doctor gave a favorable report.  He also shared with us where Kennedy stacks up on the growth chart.  She is in the 25th percentile for her head circumference, the 35th percentile for her weight, and the 90th percentile for her length.  For the time being, we have a pretty tall and skinny kiddo.  He recommended that we start feeding her rice cereal with a spoon (more on that later).

On Thursday, Kennedy started to run a fever; however, she seemed to be feeling OK.  She was still smiling.  We speculated that perhaps the shots were causing her to run a slight fever.  The Montessori had to send her home though.

On Friday, Rachel stayed home with Kennedy since she has to be fever free for 24 hours before she can go back to school.  Although, they made it up to Rachel's office for a lunchtime wreath making party with the ladies at TRWD.

On Saturday, Rachel went to get her hair cut, colored, and styled while Jason and Kennedy went to do a little Christmas shopping.  While they were out, Kennedy got into a giggly mood and Jason shot this video.

As usual, Sunday was a day full of chores.  We were originally slated for the Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon, but we didn't participate for a couple of reasons.  One, our training has recently seen a dramatic decline and Two, the weather got in the way.  Strollers are not allowed on the course so Jason's parents were going to come to town to watch Kennedy while Jason and Rachel participated in the race.  The weather forecast for Amarillo called for pretty sever winter weather and it didn't make sense to risk it.  We weren't too disappointed because it was cold and rainy this morning.  It would have been pretty miserable.  That evening, we finally got around to our attempt at feeding Kennedy rice cereal.  Initially, it didn't go too well as evidenced by the photo below.  Kennedy eventually came around though.  Rachel was able to work her magic.

This will be a brief post.

We had an excellent trip back to Amarillo for Thanksgiving.  It was especially nice getting to see all our family, many of which hadn't seen Kennedy since late August.  Keith took some photos of our get together.  We have a few posted below.

When we returned, we met up with many folks from Rachel's family who happened to be in the DFW area for the holiday.  We had a chance to meet Dylan for the first time and it was fun getting the kiddos together.  Dylan taught us something new.  He really seemed to get a good laugh from seeing someone drop something from their head.  On Sunday, we tried it with Kennedy and it seemed to have the same effect on her.  Here are a couple of sample videos that  show Kennedy laughing and giggling.

Rolling at night

Alright folks.  This will be another quick post.

This week, Kennedy started rolling over repeatedly in her crib at night. She now ends up on her belly more times than not so we had to remove the rolled up blanket from her swaddle.

We've also had some sickness around the house.  On Monday evening, Jason came down with the stomach flu.  He even had to take off work on Tuesday.  Kennedy still has her upper respiratory infection and Rachel has come down with a sinus infection.  Perhaps a little sickness is to be expected as the season changes.

We're also getting ready and looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Here are a few videos from the week:

Another Week in the Books

This was a relatively calm week for us so we don't have too much to report on.  We both had a good week at work.  

On Friday, Kennedy's school offered to watch the kiddos while the parents went on a date night.  We took them up on their offer and went out for a nice dinner in Fort Worth.  We ate on the patio of an italian restaurant.  Jason really enjoys Forth Worth and would sign up to move there if he could.

On Saturday, we had some friends over for dinner.  Kennedy didn't feel 100%.  She kept spitting up her milk.  She has had some drainage and we think that the mucus didn't sit well on her tummy.    

Here's a couple of pictures from the weekend.  We hope that you have a great week ahead.

Little Developments

Howdy Folks,

On Monday, we celebrated Halloween with many of the neighbors.  We all met for our usual neighborhood stroll, but this time we had all the kiddos in costume.  The infants didn't trick or treat, but the older kids got to go take advantage of all the candy.  We put Kennedy in her lion costume again and got some photos of her in front of the decorative yard display.

This week, Kennedy continued to show development.  We've started to notice that she is focusing in on small objects near her face.  She has a little play mat and she really focuses in on the little toys we have attached overhead.  In fact, she has even been reaching out to grab them.  It's fun to see her starting to develop her hand-eye coordination.  She also has a little toy that we attached to her carseat and on Saturday, when we went to the bank, we could hear her pulling on the toy which makes a clicking sound when you pull it.  Funny how we get so excited about little developments that would have normally seemed very ordinary.

It's been breezy lately and Kennedy has taken note.  When we go outside and the wind is blowing, she sticks her tongue out.  You can tell that she likes the sensation on her tongue.  We were out and about on Saturday and were able to capture her with her tongue out.