Reaching for the stars...literally

It seems as if we're still raising one of the stars of the Team USA women's basketball team. We had Kendall's nine month checkup yesterday and here are her stats:

Weight: 20 lbs. 2 oz. (74th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (99th percentile)

Head Circumference: 17 1/2 (65th percentile)

2032 summer olympics, here we come!

Happy Halloween!

We got a coupon for Picture People in the mail, so we took Kendall to get some pictures taken of her in her Halloween costume. I hadn't used Picture People before, nor was I sure about how the little bee would handle the studio setting, but she did amazingly well and the pictures turned out great. I'm just shocked by how grown up she looks!!

We also got some great pictures of her in her flower bow and zebra diaper cover:

What a cutie!!

I'm 9 Months Old!

Kendall turned 9 months old on October 6th! I suppose this is more of a 9 1/2 month post since I'm late, but not too much has changed since Kendall hit the 9 month mark, so this update wouldn't have been much different if I had posted 2 weeks ago.

As you can see from the above picture, it's hard to get this girl to sit still. She's crawling everywhere and she wants to play and investigate EVERYTHING. If you open a door or cabinet, she's right there to see what new things she can get into. We've done some baby proofing in our house, but I need to do a lot more ASAP. Rolling around on Lani's dog beds has become a favorite activity. Books are also one of her favorite things. She loves to be read to and loves to flip the pages.

In addition to crawling, Kendall is now kneeling and pulling herself to stand. She does this with ease and doesn't need a whole lot of support. She still loves music and is bopping and dancing to the beat of many commercials and television shows. For some reason though, she does not dance in the car when the music is on.

Kendall now has four teeth (two on the top and two on the bottom) and has started to eat bits and pieces of food. So far puffs, mum mums, cheerios and pieces of fruit are about the only things she'll eat, but we're trying more and more everyday. She's a great eater and is inhaling what seems like a ton of food at every sitting. I'm still making some of her food, but honestly, now that I'm working and she's eating so much, it's become really hard to keep up.

I just can't believe how quickly she's turning into a little girl. She has her own distinct personality, and is so easy to read. There's no mistaking when she is upset about something, hungry or tired. She's giving kisses and starting to give hugs, which makes the challenging times a bit easier. She's a happy baby!!

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

38 Weeks

39 Weeks

We're Back

It's only been a few weeks, but it really does seem like a lifetime since I've updated our blog. The past month has been a whirlwind and we've only barely had time to sit down and relax for a minute or two, let alone upload pictures and blog about it all.

Dan has been working just about every weekend, sometimes all weekend, and sometimes for only a half a day. Even when he does only work half a day on the weekend, it means he's up at 5 a.m. and out the door by 5:30 or 6. It's normally not that bad, but weekend after weekend with little time off has begun to take it's toll and has us both searching the internet for a weekend getaway. Luckily the weekend work should now be over with, and we can return to enjoying Dan's days off.

As for me, I've also returned to the workforce. I'm now officially one of the millions of "under employed", working three part time jobs. I looked for a full time job for a while, but it became painfully obvious within a matter of weeks that my previous field has been decimated and it was going to be hard to find something in the land use planning field. So, I started looking at other things, and think that I'm actually going to be very happy using some of my other skills. Job #1 - I'm working a bit for my dad taking care of his monthly billing. Job #2 - I'm an Area Manager for Dragonfly Designs, a company that teaches jewelry making classes throughout San Francisco, and now San Diego. The owner has focused on after school classes and birthday parties for kids, but we do hold a number of adult classes that I'll hopefully be teaching after the first of the year in San Diego! Job #3 - I'm working for my friend Tim at his seafood supply company, Jaemar. I'm going to be the squid person, working with international buyers and local suppliers. I'm only just starting this job, but think it will be pretty interesting based on the first meeting I had with Tim.

As for Kendall, she's as good as ever. With me working, she's now at a babysitter a couple of days a week. The babysitter happens to be a friend of mine from high school who has a 13 month old named Knox. So, she hangs out with the two of them while they play, and I feel very comfortable knowing that Kendall is with someone I trust. She seems to be enjoying herself so far!