Harper's Bizarre Life

Family Vacation

2010-10-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

We took a family vacation to Iowa and Minnesota. It was Sam's grandma's birthday and the whole family got together for it. We added time before and after the party in Minnesota with Jon, Kate and Eli.

To make this house a home

2010-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

We bought a new house last month. It was built in 1978 and is in a great neighborhood with good neighbors. We plan on modernizing it room by room as time and money allows. Our first job....wallpaper.

Here, Kaitlyn is giving her baby (named One More) a tour of the new house in the "bjorn"

The fruits of my labor

2010-07-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

No store bought tomato can come close to comparing to one grown in your own garden. My garden is now in full swing and I am picking something new every day. My tomato plants are so overgrown that I have had to add extra high metal gates and even support them with some curling ribbon (I could not find any rope/twine/fishing wire in the house....so you gotta make due with what you do have...right?) I'm also growing zucchini (yellow and green), bell peppers (supposed to be green, but some are coming in yellow too), basil, and tomatoes. It's been fun throwing the veggies from my garden into dinner and finding new ways to eat tomatoes.

Back in May

Now

Everything is out of the garden....except the cheese and pasta

Presenting Beckie Barkley

2010-07-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Beckie got married on July 17. It was a wonderful day yet hectic at times. Having all the little kids running around made pictures interesting. A big change from when we got married and we didn't even have a flower girl or ring barrer!

Me and Kate heading over to the church:

Kaitlyn is a good kisser! Gideon wore the flower girl headband much better than any of the girls!

Just like Mike Tyson. FYI: she got a "time out" after this outbreak.

Family Pic:

Our flowers and shoes:

Beckie with her brothers and sis-in-laws:

Me and Kaitlyn:

Beckie's bouquet:

Deb helping Beckie get tied up:

The reception was at a farm where they also had old firetrucks and cars:

My parents made it for the day. They helped out a ton with Kaitlyn while Sam and I were busy being part of the wedding:

Another family pic:

The girls danced ALL NIGHT LONG!

Beckie and Kevin looking happy:

Sam and me enjoying some time alone:

This pic doesn't show that he got her too:

No more sharing....

2010-07-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

....my name that is. Now that Beckie is married and has a new last name, I am now the only Becky Harper (at least that I know of). We spent the week before the wedding getting together with family, planning, decorating, and we even threw in a shower. Here are some pics from the week. More pics from the wedding itself in a later post.

The reason we all got together:

Jon, you're busted....that's mine!

Cupcakes from the shower:

Beckie looks happy to get new underwear:

Sisters:

Beckie and Diane at the rehearsal:

Practice for the Big Day:

Summertime fun with cousins

2010-07-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Gideon, Ashya, Debbie and Paul came up to visit in May for Beckie's wedding shower. We played a lot in the back yard and even made a surprise visit to Chuck E. Cheese.

The girls tried on their flower girl headbands. Gideon wanted in on the fun too!

On our way down to Glendora for Beckie and Kevin's wedding we stopped in L.A. to see Steve, Larissa, and Aaron. Somehow I didn't get a pic of them in the ball house :(

Before the wedding we spent the week together with family. These 2 love to be tossed around.

Great Grandma Frazier surprised the kiddos with clown ice cream cones. Eli didn't get one, but he did get in on the photo op.

Couch time in the 21st centruy

2010-05-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Whatcha doing Kaitlyn......

2010-05-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

.........Oh, just watching the birds.

Fun with cousins

2010-05-26T13:18:00.001-07:00

We have had the privilege lately to spend some time with cousins. A few weekends ago we visited my cousin's family in Fresno and this Kaitlyn's cousins came into town for a vacation. Here's a snapshot into the fun that we had.

Jordan showing off his math skills

Croquet models

This ride is not made for 29 year olds

Ashya and Beckie at Beckie's bridal shower

Modeling the headbands for the flower girls

Engaged by the simulation ride

The benefits of living in a house...

2010-05-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

We've made the move out of a condo and into a house. Some obvious benefits are more space (both living and storage), a yard, patio/BBQ, and garage. Now one thing I'm hoping for is home grown tomatoes. Nothing store bought can come close to matching one grown in your own garden. I've grown up eating my parents and grandpas vegetables, so this year I thought I'd give it a shot and grow my own. In addition to tomatoes, I also planted bell peppers, and two kinds of squash. Hopefully I have learned a thing or two about gardening from my elders.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day this year (just like last year) I had to work. I suppose that's part of working in the health care system. I did get some surprise visitors during my lunch break :) Kaitlyn made me a flower pot and card. This brought a tear to my eye when I saw it because it made me feel special and brought back memories of the little crafts I used to make for my parents when I was little. Sam put his culinary skills to work and made me breakfast, dinner, and dessert.....the best, of course, being dessert!

Asparagus Festival

2010-04-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

We went to the Asparagus Festival today. Forgot to take a pic of the deep fried asparagus.

I'm back

2010-04-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I'm back! It's been a crazy last 2 months. We've moved, gotten new jobs, found a house....so moved again, been to the doctor multiple times (each of us, all for different things), and had a dear friend from college pass away. With all of this things have somehow not felt too crazy (Priase the Lord!) Anyhow, I managed to get my camera out a bit and captured a few good shots.

Kaitlyn with her cousins and grandma:

Sam turns 29:

Kaitlyn enjoying corn on the cob on our new patio:

A weekend away

2010-03-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Sam and I spent the weekend in San Francisco. His new job started today and so we wanted to spend some away time amidst all of the transitions we are going through. We met up with some friends from San Diego and spent our time at eateries and drinkeries much cooler than we were. Even went to a speak easy for drinks and a club for Sunday brunch.

Now back to the grind.

Lodi, here we come....

2010-02-09T21:54:00.001-08:00

It's official. We are packing up the U-haul and moving back up north on February 20th. It's been a great stent away, but we're excited (and a bit nervous) about the change. There are still many unknowns. They include:

1. Where we will live. (Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us move in until we get this straightened out).
2. My job. I will currently be used on an as-needed basis with CVS.
3. Who will watch Kaitlyn while I work.
4. What I will drive. We need to buy a 2nd car now that we are leaving our walkable community.

This is a lot of change and unknowns for someone like myself that likes stability and comfort. It's nice to know that Sam has a job lined up that includes health care and decent pay. This means I get to work less...maybe only 1 day a week.

Heidi's home

2010-01-14T14:28:00.001-08:00

Heidi made it back safely from her month long trip overseas. It was great to see her when she got home.

Chlidren's Museum

2010-01-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn and I visited the Children's Museum today thanks to free passes from our neighbors. It is in walking distance of our condo, just giving another reason living downtown is amazing. Kaitlyn was a bit young for some of the activities, but she found ways to have fun anyways.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas up in Lodi this year. We made it up to Sacramento for Christmas Eve with the Marks family and spent Christmas Day in Lodi. Kaitlyn got to open tons of presents and has continued to want to rip anything made of paper ever since.

Getting "bowed".....a holiday Marks family tradtion:

Steve popped in to say hi:

A Becky sandwich:

Christmas with the Hupps

2009-12-21T13:34:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas with the Hupps early this year since Debbie will be working on Christmas and can't head up north to Lodi. We had dinner, opened presents, and went out to look at a fabulous display of Christmas Lights.

Classic Christmas Shot (hard to coordinate smiles)

Kaitlyn gets a bath tub coloring book

Kaitlyn trying to give Gideon a kiss (Gideon appears to still be shy around the ladies!)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Well it actually FEELS like Christmas much more than it LOOKS like Christmas. No snow, no tree, minimal decorations. Such is the life of living in San Diego and trying to sell your house during the holidays. Despite the lack of physical atmosphere we've been playing lots of Christmas music, drinking hot chocolate, and shopping. We had a few Christmas Parties on Saturday including Team Lodi's annual bash as well as Sam's company party. Hopefully I'll make some time to bake cookies.

An afterthought.......should have gotten Kaitlyn dressed up for the impromptu family photo :(

1-2 Buckle my shoe

2009-11-19T06:37:00.000-08:00

Kailtyn loves shoes. From the time she wakes up in the morning to when she is in her PJ's ready for bed she is always looking for her shoes, my shoes, or Sam's shoes. She will bring them to me and want them on. She is even fairly accurate at bringing the right shoes to the right people. Maybe this is the natural consequence of having a daughter. But my gut thinks it's her way of expressing what she likes to do best....go outside. Home is just the same old toys with the same old people. Outside is where the people are, where the action is. Outside she can climb, slide and swing. My high energy daughter wants to be where the energy is.

Fall is here, but not down here

2009-11-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

With fall comes a change of weather, crisp air, colorful trees, and warm clothes. Well, we don't always get to experience the lovely change of seasons down here in San Diego (not that I'm complaining about the weather here even a bit). I was delighted to experience the change in seasons at Lodi Lake over the weekend. The trees had changed colors and were shedding their leaves. It was beautiful.

Halloween

2009-11-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

I'm in Lodi again this year for Halloween. We visited with family, neighbors, and went to the church Halloween Party....ugh, I mean Fall Festival.

Getting out of the house.

2009-10-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

I take Kaitlyn to the park close to every day. It is a great park for her size, she loves to get out of the house, and it is only 2 blocks away.

We went to the zoo today to pass the time when our condo was being shown to a group of realtors and potential buyers. It went on the market today and the idea of moving makes me very anxious. I'm really not ready, but we really could use more space. We'll see what happens....
While at the zoo we visited the children's petting zoo for the first time. She, predictably, liked it.

Home sweet home

2009-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Sam and I got back from our vacation to France last Thursday night. With high hopes of being greeted by smiles and clapping, I was instead greeted with a confused blank stare and a molar breaking through. Very disappointing. She is still struggling with the tooth (and runny nose, fever, etc that all come together), but has quickly warmed back up to us.
We had a great time on our trip. By the end we were ready to come home (mainly because we really missed our daughter). Check out a few more pics from our trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43698347@N03/

Getting ready for Paris

2009-09-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

We leave for Paris in 6 days! While I feel less organized for this trip than any in the past (due to less me time), we have all of the major items all lined up.

Babysitter for Kaitlyn, check.
Flights, hotels, rental car reservations, check.
International cell phone (emergencies only!!!), check.
A new set of eyes, check. That's right...I got LASIK surgery about a week and a half ago. I now can leave my glasses, contacts, solution, etc all at home!

Just 1 more Target run and we'll be set. We will for sure need to run through our Rick Steves' tour books on the flight over there!

Au Revoire

Labor Day weekend pics

2009-09-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

Better late than never....

He throws her around and she loves every second of it

Family pic @ Heidi's house. This is after swimming in her pool and before the BBQ

Aaron chillaxin at Petco

A day at the zoo. Kaitlyn now likes to point at the animals.

This is at Gideon's b-day party the next weekend.

Gabby's Wedding

2009-09-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

We went up to the OC last Saturday to celebrate James and Gabby's wedding. It was both a beautiful ceremony and reception. It was great to see some old friends from college as well as be out for a night with Sam. We left Kaitlyn with my parents who were down for the long weekend.

Note: Allison is pictured on her "good side"

It's not too often we get all dressed up these days

College friends

Baby tricks

2009-09-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn is starting to do cute little baby tricks. It started a few months back when she learned to wave. Now it has progressed to this:

Kaitlyn walks

2009-08-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn took her 1st steps alone about a week and a half ago. Here's a video I took a few days back. When given the room and encouragement she can actually walk across a whole room. She still prefers to crawl everywhere.

Kaitlyn's 1

2009-08-13T14:17:00.001-07:00

Kaitlyn turned one on Sunday. We celebrated by throwing her a party out at Balboa Park. Kaitlyn enjoyed the time outside and was exhausted by cake time. Once she got a taste of the frosting she lost all motivation of ripping into the cake (aka banana bread). Here are a few pictures from the day.

Kaitlyn and Grandma Marks hanging out before the party

A family shot before the guests arrived

A before shot of the cake

Kaitlyn testing out the frosting

Testing out her new stroller and doll

Taking a rest with Grandpa Marks

Things got a little out of hand at the after party

All of us together

Opening presents on her real birthday with Grandma Harper

5 years strong

2009-08-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sam and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on Friday. We will be going to Paris in October to celebrate, but wanted to have a special time together on the actual day We had tried to get a babysitter for the night, but everyone was out of town or already busy. I worked all day and Sam surprised me with flowers and dinner when I got home. It was great and better than going out because of the time, thought, and effort involved. The absolute highlight was the chocolate lava cakes fresh from the oven. The were so good we ate them before taking a picture for the blog despite getting my camera out before with the intentions of a good blog pic. Oh well, web images are good too.

Too cute

2009-07-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

Heidi came back from Costa Rica with a new dress for Kaitlyn. She looks great in it!

Vegas Baby!

2009-07-28T10:59:00.001-07:00

After our family vacation in Lake Tahoe, I flew down to Vegas for Gabby's bachelorette party while Sam enjoyed a few days in Lodi with his mom and siblings. I realized that my body has aged and cannot handle early morning bedtimes. All in all it was a good time with some old friends.

Family Vacation

2009-07-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

We spent most of last week up in Lake Tahoe with Sam's family. We rented a beautiful and large house so that we could all spend time under one roof. It was nice to get away from the city life and retreat into the crisp air of the mountains. We did lots of relaxing, some hiking, and a few beach days. And of course there were a couple of Starbucks trips mixed in!

Eagle Lake Hike:

At the beach:

This early morning trip to Emerald Cove saved us from food poisoning:

Kaitlyn with Kevin and Beckie after bedtime:

Kaitlyn playing bubbles with Jon, Kate, and Ashya:

Kaitlyn and Gideon cruisin' around:

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July with family from out of town. Sam's grandma and mom stopped by for a few nights on their road trip to Lodi from Iowa. It was a low key weekend and it felt relaxing. Diane and I even made it out to the harbor to watch the fireworks show. Here are a few pictures from our time together.

Beach Day

2009-06-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

I took Kaitlyn to the beach twice this week. That's pretty good considering she had not been to the beach at all yet. She liked it, but can you blame her.

Kaitlyn Going Mobile

2009-06-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

We have always thought that Kaitlyn would skip crawling entirely and go straight to walking. But she has proven us wrong. Although I think that walking isn't far away! Time to babyproof the house.

Brushin' those pearly whites

2009-06-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

I recently visited the dentist for a normal cleaning. I brought Kaitlyn along for the experience. My friend Karen, who runs the show over there, watched her while I got poked and prodded. As a parting gift, Kaitlyn was given her very own toothbrush. I had never brushed her teeth (bad mom) mainly due to fear that she would hate it. To my surprise, Kaitlyn likes getting her teeth brushed and likes doing it herself even more.

Swimming

2009-06-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

We, or I should really say Sam, took Kaitlyn swimming on Sunday. The water was far too cold for me, but it didn't seem to bother the two of them. Here is some video evidence of Kaitlyn's love for the water.

Kaitlyn waves hello

2009-06-04T15:26:00.001-07:00

Kaitlyn's newest trick is waving. Not only will she wave at people, she's been caught waving at plants, her stuffed animals, and our wedding picture that hangs on the wall. Here's a quick video of Kaitlyn waving to the camera.

No Diaper Zone

2009-06-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

In order to combat a persistent diaper rash, we took the challenge of letting Kaitlyn go diaperless for 2 days. Those were a LONG 2 days. We did use a diaper (one size larger than normal) during naps and bedtime. We set up a No Diaper Zone in living room to contain the mess consisting of garbage bags and towels. By the second day, Kaitlyn and I both got bored with the amount of activity you can possible do in such a small area.

Some other tips we tried to get rid of the rash:
1. I browned flour and used it on her butt
2. Nystatin cream (Rx from doctor)
3. Cut out yogurt from diet (though some would say yogurt actually helps a rash...I had a suspicion that it may be contributing to it)
4. Barrier creams like Desitin creamy, Bordeaux butt paste
5. No wipes
6. Hair dryer during diaper changes

I would say that going diaperless was the most effective, since we stayed clear of anything topical during this time. I'm curious to reintroduce the yogurt and see what happens.

Our No Diaper Zone

Kaitlyn shielding herself from the paparazzi

My mermaid

2009-05-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn has always like the water. She likes splashing, kicking her feet, and will sometimes put half her face under. Here are a few pictures of us swimming a few weeks ago at Heidi's house.

Lost

2009-05-22T06:38:00.000-07:00

Lost our camera at the zoo on Mother's Day. We were hoping to get it back, but that doesn't appear to be the case at this point. Until we buy a new camera, blog posts will be few....or boring and pictureless.

We are looking forward to a full weekend of family and no work! Hopefully San Diego comes through with lots of sunshine.

The stats are in.....

2009-05-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn had her 9 month well-baby check up today. She greeted her doctor with a wave when she walked in the door :)

Here are her stats:
Weight: 22 lb 15oz (96%)
Height: 29" (92%)
Head: 17.25" (50%)

She continues to stay large for her age even though she appears to have slimmed down a bit. She is overall healthy and the doctor predicts walking before crawling (Sam and I have been thinking this for months).

Post pregnancy weight loss

2009-05-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

There's a common saying that people throw around when talking about post-pregnancy weight loss. "It takes 9 months to put it on, so naturally it takes 9 months to take it off." I have never really believed this to be true thinking that if you worked at it the weight should come off much faster. I now believe the saying after living it myself.
I lost about 75% of my weight right away after the first few months (thank you breastfeeding) despite not being careful of my diet and not working out regularly (I'm not counting walking around downtown as exercise). Since then I've found that my body would not shed any weight for a while then drop about 5 pounds, then plateau again, then drop another chunk of weight. I have been going to the gym regularly about 4 or 5 times a week and staying as long as Kaitlyn allows. I returned to my pre-pregnancy weight about a month or two ago, but not my pre-pregnancy body. Over the last month, my body had toned up more and I've even shed a few more pounds. My stomach could still use some work....I guess I'll have to use those pilates DVD's.

Bath time

2009-05-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn has always liked her baths (minus the first one at the hospital). There must be something soothing about the water because it has the power to change her from a fussy little girl to content and perfectly happy. She has had the same two bath toys ever since she realized what toys were. A small rubber duck (her absolute favorite) and two rings hooked together. Unlike her other toys that she gets bored with, these two bath toys are good entertainment every bath every time. Recently we added a third "toy," a small cup which we had to start using to rinse her hair.

Oh, and yes, Kaitlyn has a farmer's tan despite SPF50 with every outing. Must have gotten some of my dad's and Heidi's genes.

Lap baby

2009-04-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn was once again a lap baby (a baby under 2 riding on the lap of a parent in an airplane....basically so you don't have to buy them a ticket) for our trip up to San Jose to visit our friends Steve and Katie. This was 2 weekends in a row for her and her 4th vacation in an airplane. If only she could accumulate frequent flier miles! In steep contrast to last weekend with Sam where she cried almost the entire flight, I was able to put my mama magic into play and managed to get her to sleep in my arms for both flights. Our time in San Jose was relaxing and enjoyable. Steve and Katie prepared us some great meals and we were even able to go out Saturday night thanks to Katie's parents offering to babysit Kaitlyn. Somehow, the camera never came out of the suitcase :(

Easter Extravaganza

2009-04-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend was busy, yet exciting. My parents came down to visit. We hit up two Padres games, church, and the zoo. Here are some pictures of our weekend (minus the baseball pictures which will hopefully come in an upcoming post).

10 down, 1 to go

2009-04-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

Since this blog isn't ENTIRELY about Kaitlyn......

Sam passed his last written test to get his license. This was the last of 10 tests. Now he just has to get a bunch of paperwork approved by the state (which will take a long time since we're talking about a state agency), and then take his oral exam. This is great news. Now just one more BIG hurdle.

Zoo

2009-04-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today I took Kaitlyn to the zoo where we met up with my Aunt and Uncle who were in San Diego on vacation. Heidi, who is on Spring Break, also joined us. The weather was good, the animals were active, and Kaitlyn stayed happy almost the whole day.

With Tom and Joan

Happily sitting with Tom who "never looses control" when it comes to babies.

playing w/ photobooth

2009-03-29T15:45:00.001-07:00

Our new macbook pro has a program called 'photobooth' that lets you take all kinds of fun pictures. After Becky got home from work today we spent some time playing around with it taking family portraits.

Tummy time

2009-03-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn has recently started to prefer her stomach to sleep. Shocking, I know. Kaitlyn has always HATED her stomach. Now, more and more, when we put her down for naps and at bedtime she squirms until she makes it to her belly, then falls asleep. Today, she had a bit of a tough time making it to sleep for her afternoon nap. When I peeked in to check on her, this is what I found.

I looks as if she had a little fun in her crib without inviting me :)

new cousin

2009-03-23T21:50:00.001-07:00

Saturday Becky had her first weekend off in four months. It was nice to do something together as a family on the weekend. Heidi joined us and we went up to LA to celebrate the soon to be newest addition to the Marks family.

Daddy daughter weekend

2009-03-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Sam and Kaitlyn took a trip up to San Luis Obispo last weekend to meet up with his old college roommates and their families. They left me behind to labor at Longs :( They had a great time and came back with some great pictures. One of his old roomies is now a professional wedding photographer so he snapped a few shots of Kaitlyn while hanging out.

Changing a diaper in public

2009-03-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

Being a first time mom has made me think about ways to do things that I've never thought about before. One such thing is changing a diaper in public. Before actually having a child, I never gave this issue any thought. When the situation arises where Kaitlyn needs her diaper changed and I'm not at home I have found myself pondering this issue. For me, it's a no-brainer to go into the woman's restroom and handle the situation. The problem arises when there is no restroom nearby or if it is inconvenient. I ran into this issue at the airport last week. When we got off the plane I headed straight to the woman's restroom to do a quick diaper change (she needed it for about 45 minutes...oh the poor man next to me!) Of course the line was out the door. I made the decision to do the "quick" diaper change at baggage claim because, frankly, I didn't feel like waiting in line to just get into the restroom. My plan quickly backfired when I took off Kaitlyn's pants to find a whole weekend's worth of waste in her diaper, on her pants, up her back, and quickly on her socks when she kicked. While wiping her up she started to pee everywhere. Needless to say, my "quick" diaper change turned into a long and drawn-out fiasco for the whole airport too see. I quickly became 'that mom' that people talk about behind your back. If I had to do it all over again, I would have waited to use the restroom, however I still don't feel that I'm totally against changing a diaper in public under certain circumstances. I think my view is still a work in progress. Do you have any thoughts on the issue?

Oh, and by the way.....I also realized that I have now become "that person" who doesn't return the shopping cart at the grocery store. Once Kaitlyn is all strapped in I don't want to leave her alone in the car to return the cart....so I don't. These people used to annoy me....now I'm one of them!!!!

Visiting Lodi

2009-03-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

I traveled up to Lodi last week with Kaitlyn. I was nervous about flying alone with her (would I be able to carry everything, what if she starts crying on the plane, etc...), but found that all the worrying was unwarranted. People were over-the-top friendly and helpful. Kaitlyn did well during the flight other than some expected crying during takeoff and landing.

Our time in Lodi was great. I felt relaxed and at ease. These are two things that I really haven't felt in a while. We spent our time visiting family and friends. We also went on walks during the day. I took Kaitlyn to the park that I grew up playing at and put her in a swing for the first time. She loved it.

And as a side note.....Kaitlyn got her 4th tooth. And of course, she waited until we saw Grandma for it to come through!

Holidays + Grandparents = Teeth

2009-02-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

It seems as if Kaitlyn likes to save her teeth cutting for when her grandparents are in town. She got her first tooth on New Year's Day when my parents were in town. My parents came back into town this last weekend. She cut her first top tooth on Valentine's Day while my mom was watching her. Some other notable times this weekend for Kaitlyn included going to Petco Park for a rugby match, playing with Hayden (a girl Heidi was babysitting on Sunday), and just hanging out at home with her aunt and grandparents.

The stats are in.....

2009-02-09T13:01:00.001-08:00

Kaitlyn went in to see the doctor today for her 6 month check-up. Happy 1/2 birthday Kaitlyn!

Here are her stats:
Weight: 19lbs 7oz (97+%)
Length: 27" (90%)
Head: 17" (75%)

The doctor says that her large size is a genetic thing....not sure if that's coming from my side or Sam's. I'll have to have our mom's check out our old baby books to find out.

Mashed Green Beans....mmmmmm!

2009-02-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

We started Kaitlyn on solids about 2 weeks ago. We first started her with rice cereal. Let's just say she wasn't a pro when she started. It took about a week for her to become interested in the food that was going into her mouth. Now I sit her in her feeding chair (a chair that clamps to our table) and she gets a BIG smile on her face because she knows what's coming. It's pretty cute. When I tried giving her squash, she got the worst look on her face, but kept opening her mouth for more....it was really funny. Yesterday, I gave her green beans (pureed of course) with the similar results. The major difference was that she was not quite as eager to open her mouth for more (can you really blame her, the thought of eating pureed green beans makes me want to gag).

Grandma came to visit

2009-02-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Grandma Harper came to visit the weekend before last. I had to work all weekend (the downfall of my schedule), but she was able to spend some time getting to know Kaitlyn better. Aunt Judy from South Carolina was in the area so she came down on Saturday to spend the day. I think Saturday Kaitlyn was in one of her best moods ever. Anything and everything made her laugh. So much fun. Here's a couple of pictures from the weekend.

A getaway to Temecula

2009-01-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

For Christmas/Valentine's Day, Sam got me a getaway to Temecula's wine country. We left Kaitlyn with her Aunt Heidi (who is such a champ for helping us spend some time together) and headed up north on Sunday afternoon. We stayed in a beautiful villa at a local winery. It was decorated quaintly and even had a huge jacuzzi bathtub. The highlight of the trip was the hot air balloon ride we took on Monday morning. Despite having to leave at 6am it was an amazing experience that I never before even thought of doing. We had a great time and it was nice to get away from our little one so we could invest in one another and our relationship.

It only took about 15 minutes to get the balloon out and ready to fly, however it took over an hour to find just the right spot to launch from.

Another passenger's birthday.

The view from the sky

Changes with the New Year

2009-01-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Once the new year began, Kaitlyn started making some advances. She now has 2 teeth (as mentioned below), started sitting up on her own, started rolling over from tummy to back, and started eating solid foods. Now that's a lot of change for 3 weeks!

Teething Troubles

2009-01-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn has been showing signs of teething since a bit before Thanksgiving. One little guy FINALLY surfaced on New Years Day (just under 5 months old). I say FINALLY, because the sprouting of this first tooth was accompanied by just about every symptom you can find in the books. I hear some kids blow through this "teething" process without any problems....no so for our little daughter. She started acting fussy, had a slight fever, diarrhea, was sleeping badly for naps, was congested, had a cough, and wouldn't breastfeed well. I even rushed to Longs to buy saline drops, a humidifier and Vapo-steam to try to get her to sleep and breathe better. Once the tooth surfaced, it was accompanied by waking in the middle of the night (but possibly due to her not getting enough to eat during the day since my milk supply decreased while she was not eating well). Thankfully, everything has since gone back to normal and Kaitlyn is laughing, smiling, and "talking" more than ever before.
On a more recent note.... tooth #2 just sprouted yesterday without a hitch.

Here's Kaitlyn showing us how many teeth she has.

Blame it on the breastfeeding

2009-01-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm a person with lots of ailments....mainly small ones, but ailments none the less. When I was pregnant, they all got blamed on the pregnancy. Now that I'm breastfeeding, I blame them on breastfeeding. It's not that I'm sure breastfeeding is causing them, but more hopeful that it's from breastfeeding because that way the ailment would only be temporary. Here are some of my current ailments:

1. arthritic hands
2. inability to wear my wedding ring due to a weird rash that appeared under the ring. It is now turning into cracked skin.
3. Eczema patches on different placed of my body.
4. Thirsty and hungry all the time
5. An intense craving for chocolate (oh wait...I've always had that)

A late Christmas in San Diego

2009-01-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

My parents came down to San Diego after Christmas to spend some time with us as well as to celebrate Christmas as a family since Steve and Larissa were in Hawaii for Christmas. We spent one day at the Zoo, one day at the Animal Park, and the rest of the time around the house.

Heidi, Kaitlyn, and me at the Wild Animal Park

I can't believe it's December, look at what we're wearing!

Riding skyfari at the zoo

Kaitlyn managed to stay happy all day even though she was cooped up in her stroller

Playing the board game Quelf..... why is dad on the ground?

All of us (minus me) opening presents

What could a person possibly do with 4 Mr. Beer Kits?

Kaitlyn's 1st Christmas

2008-12-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

We flew up to Lodi to spend Christmas with our families. We did a ton of running back and forth between houses, but in the end we were able to spend time with both our immediate families as well as my extended family on both my mom and dad's side. Here's a bunch of pictures of Kaitlyn from our trip.

Our family together on Christmas Day

Cousin Mark with Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn getting hugs from her 2nd cousin Brayden while being held by aunt Linda

Kaitlyn with her dad

It looks like Kaitlyn is the only one who knew to look at the camera!

Grandma Harper with Kaitlyn and Gideon

Kaitlyn with her cousins on Christmas Eve

Me and Debbie with our little ones

Kaitlyn and Sam

Kaitlyn with her Aunt Kate

Kaitlyn with her Aunt Heidi

Kaitlyn hanging out under our tree

A family Christmas photo.....sorry, didn't get the cards out this year!

Babysitter update

2008-12-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn was great for the babysitter and slept the whole time except for when she was woken up to eat. Pretty easy cash for the babysitter and a relaxing, enjoyable night out for us.

Babysitter

2008-12-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

Well it was bound to happen sooner than later, we hired a babysitter. Team Lodi (Heidi, April, and Charise) is throwing a Christmas party at their house Friday night. We were planning on bringing her along with us and just putting her on Heidi's bed to go to sleep for the night. Today we decided that it would just be easier to hire a babysitter to come to our place and let her sleep in her crib as she normally does. Heidi has done lots of babysitting for us so far, but nobody outside of family has watched her. Hopefully all goes well and it frees us up to relax and enjoy some holiday cheer.

My new do

2008-12-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

I saw my friend Eileen the other day and she noted that my hair looked really long. I replied, "yes it is, because when you have a baby it's rather impossible to get your hair cut." She totally understood what I was talking about and let me know that she had not gotten her hair cut since Justin was born (7 months)! A few days later we came to the agreement to watch each other's kids so that we could get our hair done for the holidays. Monday was my appointment. I wanted to go short because Kaitlyn is at the age where she grabs my hair then subsequently gets her fingers tangled up in my mop. I also wanted bangs since I was already being 'daring' going short, I might as well go all the way and get bangs. I know it's not too daring to most, but to me I feel like it's a big change. Overall, I like it. Hopefully it will grow out nicely because I'm not sure when the next time I'll have a chance to get it cut again!

These aren't your mom's cloth diapers

2008-12-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

.....but I still could not handle them for more than a day. My friend, Natalie, loaned me her set of Bum Genius brand cloth diapers. She used them with their daughter and liked them. She said she did not have a problem with blow-outs or leaks and it saved her a lot of money. The thought of free diapers sounded appealing, however I was skeptical about them holding in the goods. I figured I'd give it a try.

I will say that, to my surprise, they did not leak and held a good sized poo. However I could not handle the idea of taking off a dirty diaper and saving it for later. What I also did not like was that it was a hassle to get the liner inserts inside the cover and I also didn't like how they looked bulky under Kaitlyn's clothes. She's big as it is so adding a bulky diaper did not help the issue of her clothes already fitting tight.

I'm probably just a bit too lazy to do the whole cloth diaper thing, so I washed them all last night and I will be giving them back to Natalie ASAP!

The stats are in

2008-12-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

I took Kaitlyn to the doctor today for her well baby 4 month check up. Her doctor told us that she is the size of a 6 month old! I guess there's something good in her milk. Here are the stats:

Weight 15 lb 12.5oz (95%)
Length 26.5" (97+%)
Head 16" (50%)

playing on the bed

2008-12-08T06:50:00.000-08:00

Now that Becky has gone back to work, I get the luxury of playing full time parent Friday through Sunday. In our playtime I found that Kaitlyn loves the queen size bed, and gets excited when we play games on it. The best part about the games shown on the video is seeing Kaitlyn's anticipation of getting tickled by daddy!

Check out the video.

Little bundle of joy

2008-12-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure I've fallen more in love with my little daughter this week. I can't put my finger on it, but it sure feels great.

*This picture is in appreciation for our new zoo passes and my hands-down favorite animals there.

Goodby swaddle, hello PJ's

2008-12-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

We decided that we were overdue to wean Kaitlyn out of her swaddling wrap. We been either using a blanket or a swaddling wrap with velcro (or both at once!) pretty much ever since birth. She has slept so well this way that we've been hesitant to have her sleep without being swaddled. She has outgrown the wrap and her coordination with her hands is better now so she won't accidentally swat herself with her hands. Thus, to both her grandmother's delight, we've done away with the swaddle starting 2 nights ago. It turns out that Sam and I may have been more attached to the swaddle than Kaitlyn. We've had 2 straight nights of continuous sleep (9 hours), the same as she slept with the wrap. The only difference we see is that during her daytime naps, she seems unable to put herself back to sleep after waking during the middle of the nap. This has led to a challenge of getting her through her nap without waking up our whole building.

After a short time away....

2008-12-01T07:34:00.000-08:00

Due to traveling and then coming back to work a ton, blogging has taken a side seat....but I'm back! Sam, Kaitlyn, and I went up to San Jose for the weekend to attend a wedding. Since Sam was the best man, I mostly had Kaitlyn duty all to myself. This turned into a bigger challenge that I would have thought. She was out of her routine and we were crammed into a hotel room. Needless to say, I forgot the camera (as well as some other essential items) in the hotel room for the wedding....no pictures :( We got back to San Diego and I worked all week except had Thanksgiving Day off. We had family in town all week as well as hosting both of our families for Thanksgiving dinner. Add that to having Kaitlyn waking up 4 times on Saturday night (very uncommon for her....teething maybe....or maybe just a bad night...) and you have yourself one tired mom. Here are a few pictures we got from Thanksgiving Day.

I think this is our first family photo since the hospital room.

The Marks family

Kaitlyn with her great grandma Frazier and her cousin Gideon

My sister, Kaitlyn, mom and me

Back to work

2008-11-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

I started back to work on Friday. Everybody keeps asking me how it was and how I feel about it. My feelings are mixed. I feel stir crazy staying home all day and find myself bored often. In that case, going back to work provides me an outlet for my brain and body. On the other hand, going back to work.....is work. Also, I am having to deal with the never ending pumping that has to happen for me to keep up my milk supply. I had to pump 4 times at work on Friday alone! Friday was hard (11 hours), Saturday was easier (8 hours), and Sunday felt like a breeze (5 hours). All in all, it was OK and I'm actually looking forward to this Friday..but just a little! Here is a look at our fridge now that pumping is in full force at work.

Here's Kaitlyn chillin' in her Fall Dress

Let the baking season begin

2008-11-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, so to prove that this blog is not totally about Kaitlyn (but I'll admit, it is about 95% about her) here is a post unrelated to our little tot. In my last day as a stay at home mom, I decided to make some cookies. The fall is a great time to bake, especially with some canned pumpkin. I tried out a recipe from my sister-in-law's blog. You can find the recipe here: http://larissamarks.com. I made some small changes from what was posted. First, I made 1&1/2 of the recipe because I didn't want the excess pumpkin to go to waste. I also used vegetable oil instead of canola oil. I used wax paper to line my cookie sheets instead of parchment paper (is there a difference?) I've never lined my cookie sheets before, but I thought I'd give it a try since it sounded like easy clean-up. I found that the wax paper left a stubborn scum on my cookie sheets that was much more difficult to clean than cleaning them normally. This may be because I used wax paper instead of parchment paper, I don't know???? They turned out ok. If they were less cakey and more sweet, I think I'd like them better. Overall, not a bad turnout for my first (and possibly last) baking session of the fall.

Kaitlyn meets Lodi

2008-11-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sam, Kaitllyn, and I headed up to No.Cal on Thursday afternoon. We stopped for the night at my aunt and uncle's house in Fresno. There I was able to see my uncle, cousin (Jen) and her family. We were able to play with her adorable sons, however Kaitlyn thought she would introduce herself to them by crying at the top of her lungs. Jen promptly rocked her to sleep. The next morning we headed up to Modesto where we met up with our friends Josh and Edena. Josh and Sam headed over to the bay area for a bachelor party while Edena and I drove to Lodi to visit family and friends. We went to a baby shower and had a BBQ at my parents house. Kaitlyn met all of my dad's side of the family as well as my mom's parents. She met 3 great-grandparents in one weekend! Kaitlyn learned how to play the piano.....(can bat her hands on keys that light up and play music). This was the first time I've seen her touch something on purpose, so we all got very excited. Overall it was a great weekend. Here are some pictures from our time.

Kaitlyn with her mom and 2 grandmas at the baby shower

Great grandparents and grandparents

Who's that masked man?

Liz and Kaitlyn

Great Grandpa Marks

Kaitlyn can now play the piano

Grandma Harper, Edena, and Kaitlyn

Happy Birthday to ME!

2008-10-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

I turned 28 on Friday so Sam and I celebrated that milestone with one great date the next day. We headed up to LA in the morning and dropped off Kaitlyn with her aunt and uncle, Paul and Debbie, for the day. We had tickets to Wicked waiting for us in will call at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. We sat in so much traffic on the way to the theater that I pretty much knew that there was no possible way that we would make it in time. The show started at 2 and by 1:30 we had not even gotten to downtown, let alone find a place to park, pick up our tickets, or eat lunch. Somehow we sat in our seats (with a full belly and after finding free street parking) 30 seconds before the play started. A miracle! I went in with high expectations after hearing great reviews from everyone who has seen the musical. I was not disappointed. The music, acting, costumes, set, special effects, etc. all came together beautifully to keep my attention for the whole 2hr45min production.
After the play we picked up Kaitlyn and headed back to San Diego where my sister, Heidi, was waiting at our condo to watch her for the night. We went to Bucca de Beppo for a nice dinner with great service (Thanks April!) and then headed to The Sofia Hotel. We won the room at a silent auction fundraiser a few months back and decided that this would be the perfect night to use it. Sam slipped in that it was my birthday when he checked us in so we were upgraded to a suite and found a complimentary bottle of champagne chilled in ice when we arrived! I guess it never hurts to ask! This was one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at. It's a boutique hotel so it has little details of charm that made the stay wonderful. It also probably helped that we didn't have a crying newborn to worry about!
To top off my birthday extravaganza, when we arrived back home the next morning, Kaitlyn greeted me with a huge smile and laugh. It was probably the happiest I've ever seen her, and it made me feel GREAT!

A pic from the "Orchid Suite":

These are a few of my favorite things

2008-10-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of the most useful baby things I've found so far (in no particular order) and why I like them so much:

- Sling (Hotslings): Kaitlyn ALYAYS without fail will go to sleep in it within 5 minutes. This makes it easy to take her places during her nap time (or bedtime).
- Baby monitor (Sony Baby Call): It shows when the baby is making noise by lighting up lights. The more lights lit, the louder she is crying. This is great for the shower when you can't hear it and can only see it.
-Swaddling blanket (Swaddle Designs Ultimate Receiving Blanket): This is no ordinary blanket that you just wrap your baby in. It is large and lightweight so that you can get a tight wrap that our little Houdini can't work her way out of at night. Would never have thought to buy this pricey blanket, but we've used it every night since we received it as a gift from Sam's office.
-Sleep sack (Kiddopotamus): We use this under the swaddling blanket for extra protection from a middle of the night escape.
-Breast Pump (Medela Pump in Style Advanced): This double electric pump works on both sides and works fast. I can now pump a whole feeding in less than 10 minutes. Since I used it about 7 times a day for the first 2 months of Kaitlyn's life I've gotten my money's worth already. I know it will come in handy for me as well when I go back to work in a few weeks.
-Quick Clean MicroSteam bags (Medela): You can put all of your pumping equipment as well as bottles and nipples into the bag and pop it in the microwave for 1 & 1/2 minutes. Everything is disinfected without having to scrub or run the dishwasher. Good for traveling too. My sister in law turned me onto these (Thanks Deb!).
- Baby 411: This has been my go-to book for all q's relating to babies. From sleeping and eating to growth and developmental milestones....this book has it all.

Photoshop Fun

2008-10-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Sam played a bit with Photoshop yesterday and this is what he made:

BVH Tennis

2008-10-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn and I headed down to Chula Vista yesterday to watch Bonita Vista play Otay in Tennis. My sister, Heidi, is the coach. Kaitlyn wore her #1 Fan outfit to the match that Heidi had custom made for her. On the front it says BVH Tennis and the back says #1 Fan. This was an important match for Heidi's team since Otay is a good team. They beat Otay earlier in the season and ended up beating them again yesterday. We'll probably be heading down again on Friday when they play the Catholic school (who beat them in a close match earlier in the season...they're the "team to beat"). GO BARRONS!

Breastfeeding breakthrough

2008-10-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that Kaitlyn has had a difficult time breastfeeding ever since birth. We have been supplementing with a bottle of breastmilk after every feeding since she has never been able to get a full feeding on her own. I've been going to a breastfeeding class 1-2 times per week. At the class I can weigh her before and after breastfeeding to see exactly how much she's eating. The scale is very sensitive and measures in ml. She was stuck eating 2 1/2 ounces for a while (normal feeding size would be 4 oz). Last week she made some progress and ate 3 oz (now a typical feeding should be 4-6 oz). Today I took her in and she ate 5 oz!!!! That's a full feeding. This will now allow me to stop giving a bottle after she eats and also frees me up from pumping as much (I had been pumping 7 times a day for a while). I feel like all the hard work we've put into getting her to eat normally has finally paid off. It's taken her 9 weeks to get it, but better late than never.

More pictures

2008-10-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

A gift from grandma

Grandma now has her hands full

Grandma came to visit

One of Kaitlyn's first smiles (around 5 weeks old)

Having fun with her cousin Gideon. They are only 4 weeks apart! (7 weeks old)

Marks family vacation to Dana Point

On our way to church in her new dress (8 weeks old)

It's taken me 8 1/2 weeks....

2008-10-09T10:42:00.001-07:00

Well it's now here.....a blog for our family....but in all honesty, it's mainly to post Kaitlyn updates and pictures! My brother and sis in law just announced that they are pregnant and already have a blog going (check it out here www.familymarks.net ), so that's what really made me realize my procrastination.

Here is a quick recap:
Birthday: 8/9/08
Weight: 8 lb 15 oz
Height: tall (I forget the exact lenght)

At 2 weeks she was 1 lb under birth weight, diagnosed with acid reflux (prescribed Zantac), and we started supplementing her feedings with a bottle.
At 4 weeks she got cradle cap pretty bad and it caused her to go partially bald in spots.
At 5 weeks, hematoma on head went away, colic-like behavior ended, reflux seemed to improve, and she started smiling. Week 5 was GREAT!
Favorite song: If you're happy and you know it....

2 month checkup:
Got 1st set of shots
Weight: 11 lb 11 oz (55%) (gaining weight well now, but still using bottle every feeding)
Height: tall (again...I forget the exact length, but 95%)

Ok, enough with that stuff....here's some pics:

Happy because I have my epidural in (one of the best decisions I've made in my life)

Our new baby (with our doctor)

3 generations

She slept A LOT at the beginning

Still in womb possition