A few more XMas pics

Actually, these are from Christmas eve, when Elena and Jamiellin came a-visitin'.

Jamiellin took some pics, as well, so, hopefully she'll get a chance and send us any good ones.

So, last one first, I was sitting on the couch with Summer and put my hat on her and had Elena take a picture. Her camera takes great photos.


This next pic is from when Elena got here, Summer was napping. We heard her making noise, so I went to get her and I started busting up laughing when I saw her. She is getting so smart. She doesn't wanna just be stuck in her crib looking at the bumper, so she scooted over to the side, reached up, pulled it down and looked out. She had a silly grin on her face when I asked her what she was up to.


Elena got a few good pics that kinda show off how Summer likes to help unwrap her own gifts. Notice in this picture she has a little bit of the paper in her hand. She reaches and grabs and pulls, so she opened a lot of the presents with minimal help. We just had to be careful and make sure she didn't eat the paper. She was pretty darn quick getting it into her mouth though.


So, Elena got Summer a roll-a-round toy. Hers was based on the Zoo (we got her a big dinosaur one), with an elephant ball, a lion ball, etc. You put the balls through holes and they fall down to the bottom (the piece you see in the picture) and then the wheels start spinning and the balls go round and round. As you can see, Summer loved the toy before it was even put together.


OK, will have some more, later. Gotta get some from Gabe. Took some today from visiting Erika, which, heck, I'll put one of them up now. :-) Since I emailed to myself from her place. Others I have on my camera.


Also, obviously, I took some video, so I'll have to post a video and maybe capture a few images from that. Til later. Summer's crying a little bit right now, she's having trouble getting to sleep tonight. Too much excitement lately, hah!

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Day, Everyone! Today is Summer's first Christmas. She had SO MUCH FUN! And thanks EVERYONE for all the SUPER DUPER gifts!

We'll post a bit longer post later tonight before going to bed. Gabe and Krissy are coming over for dinner later, so we'll have more pics and more words to say. For, now, here are some from this morning! (they have not been edited/cropped/adjusted in any way...so, take them for what they're worth. I'll try adjusting a few of them, later, as well.)

Our morning started at about 7AM. I ran downstairs, set up the cameras, turned on the lights and Jess got Summer out of bed. (Yes, she was already up and crying for her toys! ;-) She was up a couple times in the night again, so she didn't need to eat right away, so we were able to get right to the presents!) Make sure to click on the pics for larger images.

Of course, what's Christmas without a Stocking. First things first...here she is with her stocking.
Here she is with all her gifts before opening them.
Wow, this is TOO cute. Gift from Aunt Ginger, Uncle Harry, Nick, Nat and Lindsey. This and a purple and gold state/coin bear, so Summer can learn all about Minnesota.
Just another gift amongst the gifts.
Another from above with all the gifts. From another camera and bit different angle is all.
Opened up a dress. She was so over inundated with all the gifts. She didn't know what to look at or when!Summer dug her Furgle, the CD holder. She thought it was another kitty with its soft fur...or, so I think she thought. ;-)
And lastly, here she is with her Tumble Time Tigger. What a fun toy.
She will be entertained for hours with all of these toys.

Merry Christmas, again, everyone. We love you and thanks again. This was My and Jess' best Christmas EVER. Summer makes it the greatest!

Two days til Christmas!!!

YAY!!!!

So, I took about 40 pictures of the tree with my junky (in low light) digital camera...and this is what I came up with, after some adjusting/editing. Check out that loot! That's the most gifts Jess and I have ever had under any of our trees...All thanks to Summer and all her gifts...she sure is loved by us and everyone.


And, with the flash, the picture is clearer, but loses the lighting from the tree quality...will need me a better dSLR some day. :-) Not this XMas, though. Check out Summer...what a cute little cow-girl! This has gotta be the best gift. So SUPER CUTE! Thanks Deb and Dad!


When came upstairs I couldn't help but notice Hamlet and Cheeto napping together. They love each other so much!


And, of course, Summer loves them, too, as I've shown MANY times...But now Summer is starting to share her toys and play with Cheeto. It's so amazing to watch. Cheeto is being very gentle and lets Summer pull on his fur and everything. Cheeto just loves lying on Summer's blanket and playing with her toys.

Summer Dresses Up

OK, this was another picture Jess and I wanted to put up. It came from our daycare. They put the Santa hat on all the kids. The daycare gives us pictures every now and then to put into a keepsake book, to remember the time in daycare. Well this is the day they put on the Santa hat.


Adorable, just adorable!

Summer is sleeping right now, so I had a moment to put this up. Now, back to work for me! Wrapping more XMas presents... :-D

XMas Photo

Oh, oh, I just thought of one. Since we sent out our XMas cards, I figured I can post an XMas photo now! If you didn't get a card, there are reasons why...we can only get so many, we don't have your address, etc...if you're interested in being on our XMas card list, just post a comment with your address! :-) But, without further waiting, here is the picture:

A Couple Older Pics

As mentioned in the last post, Summer just adores Cheeto. She reaches out for him, she smiles when she sees him, etc.


And just a quick pic (is there such a thing as a slow pic? Hmmmm.) of one of her XMas gifts. We are getting her a more girly CD Player and some CDs. Well, she needs a better CD holder besides the CD jewel cases. And this is what we found...a Furgle!


OK, so that's that. I'll see if there is anything else I can post about, or pictures to put up. If I get some time during these coming two weeks I'll put up a few movies, as well. Need to get her opening a gift, giggling, etc.

Have a super day, and, again, Summer, Happy 6 Month Birthday!

Happy 6 Months!

Hey all! 6 months old, today, and only 6 days from Christmas! What a day. So, here are some pics from just today! Woke up at 6:30 and read a book with Jess and then I fed her at 7:30...TONS of oatmeal, but check out this face! We think she may be feeling some teeth?


Really? Is it possible? The doctor said he felt them a little bit, just under the surface, so they're coming!


So, about that doctor appt. She only weighed 15 lbs and about 2 ounces. She weighed 15 pounds 9 ounces when we went in for the Diaper Rash appt. A little weight loss from the diarrhea? Who knows, just a normal swing. I'm sure I'll fatten her up, since she'll be home for 17 days with me. I feed her til she's done, which is always more than I feel she would eat. It's amazing.

So, she's like me, I suppose. She has a high metabolism. She eats tons, but still remains in the 25th-percentile rating for rate, etc.

We got her so many XMas gifts, but her favorite toy is still Cheeto.


Finally, I had a link to the older labor day photos for her size in the activity center. We took a similar picture last night of me holding her, so, feel free to compare that to this:


OK, so that's pics from today/last night, for her 6 month birthday! Happy Birthday Summer! 6 more to go until you're one year old!!!

Last day of the year...

For daycare that is. I just dropped Summer off at daycare and will be picking her up for her 6 month appt and shots later today. Wow, can you believe it's been SIX WHOLE MONTHS?!?

This seems like such a perfect time for the holidays with Summer. She's sitting up, she's pulling at everything, she is so ready to rip up those gifts!! Those GIFTS, wholly-cow, what a spoiled little baby girl! Our tree has more gifts under it than EVER! And there is more to come. The greatest gift for Summer so far has got to, by far, the rocking horse Debbi and Dad sent out! Too big to wrap, so when opened the box, there it was! Too cool! Pics coming.

Just wanted to say, "Hi," and mention I will be home for TWO solid weeks with Summer. Going to have a blast!! I'll have all sorts of time, I think, so I'll be able to take some good pictures, finally put up a growth chart, maybe and all the details of what's she's been up to! That picture of her in the activity center I just took and compared to the Labor day pic made me really think as if we've missed so much...we've been there, but these six months have FLOWN! Summer's gone from a 7lb 7oz baby, to (nearly 16 pounds...we'll see the weight later today...) and so long and sitting and rocking and coo-ing/trying to talk, everything. The next 18 years are going to be AMAZING! Thank you Summer!

Summer is so Big!

OK, so this is much quicker than the last two. I won't get the video up tonight, and will try to get better than I got tonight...it was a little dark, as you can tell in these pics, but, they get the idea across.

First, here is Summer in her activity center.


Compare this pic to the one from the Labor Day post. Can totally see how much taller she is, and more interactive, even in a still photo you can tell her arms are out touching and moving things, not just trying to keep herself up/reaching out.

This next pic is just her holding her bottle by herself. Last night, as an example, she woke up, crying and needed a bottle, but also needed her diaper changed. Well, now we can do both at the same time, because Summer can hold her own bottle as we change her diaper. Check it out!


OK, that's it, gonna get a good night of rest tonight...I hope. Sleep through the night Summer! Will try to get a better video soon of her rocking. I at least got some tonight. That takes a bit mroe to download and prepare, though. See ya.

Playing Catch-Up

OK, last two posts were pretty spread out...and this one is a long time coming.

So, what have we missed? Happy Thanksgiving, Happy December, getting the Christmas tree prepared, visiting friends, long drives, diaper rash, first visit to the doctor, afterwork/unplanned...

What can I say? Mostly I want to post the latest pics, but to summarize. Summer went on a few long trips in the car these last couple of weekends. Visiting friends, going away for Thanksgiving and all that. This may have been a culprit in her diarrhea and diaper rash? It's hard to say the cause, but needless to say we ended up taking her to the doctor and got an opinion on what to feed her to limit the diarrhea and what ointment to use to protect her bum. After a couple of days, one of which I stayed home from work to let her lie around naked and give her bum some air, she was back to mostly normal. She still has some bumps, but no broken skin and she feels much MUCH better. So much better in fact that the last two nights she has slept for 11 and 10 hours, respectively! That is awesome! We've gotten pretty decent sleep. Which, itself, is good, since I (Daddy) got sick, and am still sick and recovering.

Jess was sick for a few weeks, now I got sick, Summer was sick, but luckily never had a fever. Now Jess is feeling a bit of a sore throat coming on again. Hopefully we'll all feel better/good/SUPER by Christmas time!

So, anyway, time to upload a bunch of pics. Here we go!

First up is Summer with Don (Jen's husband) and his two kids. They all loved Summer.


Next up is Summer with her bud Tanner, he really took a shining to her, as you'll see in a couple of pics.


This one shows Mommy holding Summer and Shayne. Shayne also totally loved Summer and has already asked for a play date when Summer is bigger. :-)


And here's the shot that shows Tanner's true feelings. He has already fallen in love. He stole more than one kiss from her that weekend!



OK, one night we went out to Dinner at Denny's, of all places. Figured a safe enough place for Summer, if she got a little loud. And when we got there, we figured we'd give the restaurant seat a try. With the blanket, it worked out kinda well!



OK, lastly, I'll show off Summer's first Christmas tree. She went out with us and was a good girl in the chilly Santa Monica night. Here is the tree, bare, first set up!


Here is the tree fully decorated and with a few of Summer's many gifts.


And lastly, we got this "angel" last year, and just thought it was great. It's a Disney Tinkerbell.


All right, that's all I have to share. We didn't take as many pictures lately with all the running around preparing for the Christmas Holidays. We really need to take some more pics of her sitting up, some video of her on her hands and knees rocking, before she actually starts full-on crawling. She is coming along quite nicely.

Oh, and one last thing, don't think I mentioned. We took her to the doctor to check her possible strabismus which did turn out to be psuedo-strabismus, which is good. But, in the testing we decided to go ahead and let the doctor dialate her eyes and check for any infections and to get a rough measurement of her eye-sight. Well, lo' and behold...Summer is near-sighted, just like both of her parents. So, somewhere between 2nd and 4th grade, she will likely need to get glasses. That is a sad thing, but, hey, now we know, we passed on that genetic trait and we can be prepared for it, so we can ask her, get her tested, etc. and not just wait until she starts doing bad in school because she can't read the board. We'll be prepared. And that's us, we always like to be prepared. OK, off to work for me. Till next time. Hopefully a little quicker...sorry to all the grandparents and other family that have been waiting patiently for an update!

Wow, we're busy!!

OK, so We've been running around visiting friends and going all over and driving everywhere. No time to post. Sorry, so I figured I had a minute, but now looking around, I cannot find the photos we took. Will post more later, but, just know we're all OK and we're getting into the swing of the Holidays!!! Summer cannot WAIT to open her gifts!

She's ready!

At least I found some of the Christmas pictures we took are on our PC. Will get more pics later, of course...I hope I can find them...wish me luck!