Independent Woman

Keltie has been working very hard on standing up on her own lately. It's so neat to watch her work towards the goal of standing by herself. She can be in the middle of the room without anything around her and tries to push herself up. It's funny to watch as she gets her little but up in the air. She has made it up a couple of times, but since she hasn't had anything to hold on to, she has fallen right away.

Last night we got out her little table for her to stand at. She was so excited to be able to see things from a different view.

Here she is getting a little bit of encouragement from Daddy.

Keltie and Daddy being silly.

I did it! Now what am I supposed to do?

Winter Fun

Kevin has unfortunately been laid off of work this week. (I guess it was probably his turn, but it's still difficult.) Keltie is absolutely loving it and of course so is Kevin. She gets to spend another week at home and not have to go to daycare. Kevin and I are both ready for her to go back to daycare so she can have some sort of routine again. Luckily, it has been nice weather so they have been able to get outside a lot this week. Keltie got a sled for Christmas, but for some reason she does not enjoy riding in it.

Here's her first attempt in it. It reminds me so much of the movie "A Christmas Story" and the quote "I can't put my arms down."

We do have a backpack that we are able to carry her in and she adores this. She is just in awe of everything that she sees when she is in it. Kevin had the snowmobile out the other day and she kept trying to look out the window to see what he was doing. I'm sure she will eventually get her first ride on it. If she's anything like her daddy (which she obviously is, at least in looks), I'm sure she'll love it.

Nine Months Old

I can remember back to when I was pregnant and everyone told me to enjoy that time because once the little one arrived, time would go by extremely fast. I never really belived this until I had Keltie. She turned nine months old on Sunday! Where has the time gone? She is growing up before our eyes way too fast. Yesterday we took her to her nine month check up. She now weighs 18 pounds 10 ounces. It's no wonder that she is getting heavy to carry! She is 28.25 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight and the 75th percentile for her height. I have always thought that she is going to be tall and skinny like her daddy. The doctor said that she is developing right where she should be. She was such a little ham for him and his assistant. The doctor asked if she could wave bye-bye. Just as Kevin and I are telling him that she waves, but doesn't consistently do it, she is waving like crazy at the doctor. Of course she had to make us look like fools.

Over the nine months it's so amazing how much she has changed. This is a picture of her on her first night at home. (She is the one in the middle, in case you couldn't tell. The other two are her twin cousins born 7 weeks before Keltie)Here she is this morning.

Today she went back to her babysitter's house after having 20 days off. Between my Christmas vacation and our sitter's vacation, Keltie has had a lot of fill in babysitters. We are very thankful that we live very close to both sets of grandparents. They are always happy and willing to fill in when needed. Of course Kevin and I splurged and took a day off as well. Hopefully she enjoys being back with all of her friends. I think that she got too spoiled being at home with all of us.

A look back in time

January 7, 1996 is a day that will forever be etched in my memory. I still can't believe that it has been this many years since my brother Jason was taken from us. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of him. Dealing with this loss has become more bearable, but it hasn't become any easier. I know that they say time heals all wounds, but I don't think that it ever can completely heal. I miss all of the good times that we had together. I even miss the true tests of brother/sister love. Looking back, I wonder how things would be different if Jason was still here. I know that I can't turn back the hands of time though so I have to hold tight to all of those memories. I hope that he is smiling down. I know that he is with me in every step of my life and I am so thankful for that. I just wish that Keltie had the opportunity to know her "Uncle Jason." Today my thoughts are with him. Thanks for all of the memories, big brother. I love you and miss you.

I love the camera and the camera loves me!

Last night while I was busy Kevin fed Keltie. She absolutely loves eating peas. We mashed a bunch of them the other day and then froze them and I couldn't get the smell out of my mind. I am not a big fan of cooked peas, but Keltie is. Well, I think that Kevin fed her in record time last night. When he was finished, she had peas all the way to her ears. It was messy, but oh so cute.

I couldn't get a picture before he wiped it off of her, but this was an after shot.

As soon as I got the camera out, she perked right up and started to ham it up for the camera. I tried to put it away at one point and she started to whine about it. When I took it out again, she was all happy and smiled. I know that she doesn't get that from me. I run from the camera.

Here she is in the spotlight.

Look at my tongue!

So happy!

Keltie's First Christmas

So I have always been told that Christmas is more fun when you are able to share it with little ones. I was excited this year to experience that with Keltie. We went to church on Christmas Eve and she was totally in awe of all of the people, the music and the lights. It was neat to just watch her face light up as she saw everything. We then went to my Grandma's house. Of course she was able to try to open presents there. She wasn't really too interested in it. I think that my aunts probably had more fun opening each of them for her.

Here she is getting a little help from Mama.

Christmas morning we got to wake her up. Again, it's not like she was real excited. It was fun to watch her try to open her presents.

She got a Cabbage Patch Doll since every little girl needs a doll (or two or three or four).

Then it was off to the Will's for Christmas. That was interesting with all of the babies there. It was cute to see all of them together. It will really be interesting next year when they can more around more.

Here she is with her cousin Autumn. Autumn was very excited because Keltie's dress was very similar to the one that she had on.

Friday we went to my mom and dad's. Keltie was finally a little bit more interested in opening presents. I guess she finally figured out exactly how to do it. She loved playing with the wrapping paper and was sometimes more excited by the tissue paper than the actual present.

Update on the crawling progress: She is now all over the place. There is not any thought to crawling any more, she just does it. I tried to undecorate the tree the other day and of course she wanted to "help" with it. She is now working on trying to pull herself up. Needless to say, Kevin put up the baby gate. Now we just have to get through teething, which I think we have started.