Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Crawling, Eating and Sleeping Solo-Style!

My elation over Kavella's new discoveries, specifically crawling and eating, push me to post this entry out of sequence! Long gone are the days of wheel-barrow-style back scooting and in are the days of maneuvering one arm/one knee and then the other arm/knee in order to perfect her crawling skills! Within two days of crawling, Kavella began pulling herself up to the standing postion using any solidly placed object (e.g. coffee table, couches, t.v., crib, changing table, mirror, etc.)! For our personal record, she was 7 months when the crawling began! Of course, along with this milestone comes a greater dose of curiosity--every basket is scoured, every table top is explored and each cupboard proves a challenging puzzle! Even Choco is on the run! What started as, "Choco, be nice...it's the baby," has quickly turned to, "Kavella, be nice...it's the Choco buddy!" Every once in a while, they'll even have a squareoff--Choco grasps his toy securely in his mouth as Kavella uses all her might to steal it! I'll have to work on getting pictures of that! In the meantime, here are a few of Kavella's new accomplishments!

Ever curious....



Pulling herself to the standing position using the couch....

Standing up via coffee table....


Crawling just as fast as she can, can, can! Trying to get away, into the night, and then I put my arms around her and I say....I think we're alone now....wait...awkward!

We moved her crib mattress down from the middle position to the bottom position within a week! We took this picture on a Saturday morning! She just hangs on to the bars and stares at the door.


Annnnnd, accomplishment #2, EATING! Kavella loves her vegetables, fruit and cereal! Just as with breastmilk or formula, she remains pretty indifferent to what it is she eats, so long as it's done! When we first began eating, I used a little bouncy seat (that Dan and LesLey gave us) because we didn't have a high chair. Thankfully, the seat cover was machine-washable. You can imagine trying to feed a baby who has the ability to bounce....





Eventually, though, we got a little booster seat, which was a sweet $25.00 purchase. High chairs run over $100.00, so we thought this would work for a while.

Annnd the #3 success, SLEEPING all on her own! This one was a little bit more difficult to master. In fact, we're still working on it, but there has been steady forward progress! When it is time for naps or sleeping, we do our little "calm down" routine (singing songs, rocking, bathing, breast feeding, etc.) and then we just put her in her crib. Her allotted cry-time is up to an hour, which she has only reached a couple times. Do I feel bad? Do I feel like a neglectful parent? Not even a little bit. In fact, this could possibly be the best thing I've ever done!! Furthermore, I'm stoked to not have to rock, walk or swing her for hours on end only to have her wake up the minute I lay her in her crib! Here are a few pictures of our early experiences:






Ever since she's learned to crawl, she's been a lot less interested in her bouncy, but she clearly enjoys it every once in a while!

Getting a clean diaper feels SOOOOO good, man!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Huntington Beach Livin'

We sure love living in Huntington Beach! I don't want to live anywhere else--the weather is great, the people are nice, the Wakehams are close, we love our ward and we're only a couple blocks from the beach! It makes me sad to think that we'll have to move if we ever want to own a home. Kavella is IN love with the beach--I think she chose the right family!




Melody is such a great friend! She is easygoing, always happy, confident and nice to chat with! We've been going to the beach and on walks--it's nice that Corban (her son) and Kavella can pal-around too!

Mel and Corban

Our morning walk to Main Street....my two babies!









This is my good friend Chante! Her and Melody actually grew up in the same town! Chante is sweet, patient, hardworking and trustworthy! We love going to the beach with her, Eden and Merrick!

Ha, ha, ha! "I'm the BIG brother you jerks."


She was reading "In the Heart of the Sea--the Whaleship Essex." Yes, she's very advanced.


Sometimes Kavella and I walk to Lake Park in the mornings (pics above and below). It's a cool park with a playground, bbq grills, water fountains, benches and a large grassy area (which is hard to find in California). Kavella likes to bring her doll wherever we go!

I love being a full-time mom!

Fourth of July

These pictures are backwards. This is the Huntington Beach firework show off the pier! The beach was covered with people on blankets, all of them enjoying the firework display! Kavella stayed up late for the show and seemed to be quite interested in the array of colors in the sky!


Our faces were lit up by the works! See all the families and friends on blankets? It was really fun!

Tasty cheeks!


Our little family. Next year we're bringing Choco.

Bath time! The sink is still the easiest place to bathe her!

I'm not actually this excited--this hat is squeezing my head so tightly!

Every Fourth of July our city has a Main street parade! It starts at 8:00 am and goes for a few hours! Where I grew up, even if we had EVERY organization in Broken Arrow participating, it wouldn't last that long! Since we only live a few blocks from Main, our streets become a sea of people and parking is impossible! Basically, we park our vehicles on the street and we don't move them the entire weekend! We usually leave our driveway open for friends or if we MUST drive somewhere.... After Kavella woke up from her morning nap, we strolled down to Main, enjoyed a bit of the show, then got some lunch at TK Burger!

Dustin is appreciative of our troops, but he really just wanted a picture of the Hummer!

These planes kept flying over head!


On July 3, Dan and LesLey invited us over to barbecue! We enjoyed some tasty burgers, sat in the hot tub and lit off some fireworks! When Dust and I went to purchase the works, I was slightly disheartened at their prices and selection! You see, just a few days before this, I stopped by a firework tent off of 71st St. in Oklahoma; they had whistle chasers, sparklers, roman candles, smoke bombs, snakes, black cats the equivalent of bottle rockets. Thiry yards of goodness under that tent--plus, they gave away punks for free! Bryce, Bean and I filled a bag for only $5.00. Back in California, where they don't even sell sparklers, bottle rockets or whistle chasers, Dust and I got approximately seven lame items and it ran us over $20.00 AND we had to buy our punks! Oh, well, they were still fun to light and watch--especially "Purple Rain!"




Conner liked the smoke bombs!

Snoozing in the hot tub! "Ahh, back in the womb.."


Kavella and Amanda thought Conner sure was funny using the crab as a mask...see him?


California Firework stand--ten yards long. Look how sugary Kavella is in her pajamas! Go on, enlarge the photo.....scrupmtious, huh?