Walking in Memphis....Again

As most of you know, babies come when they are ready and not necessarily when we plan for them to arrive. This was the case this past Monday with my sister's newborn baby, Mara Ellen King. My mom, dad, Klara, and I were planning on leaving for Memphis Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning to arrive in time for Karrie's c-section on Wednesday. However, the little gal decided she wanted to be born early. Karrie called mom and dad around 2:00 am Monday morning and we were on the road to Memphis by 3:30 am. We knew that we did not stand a chance of getting to Memphis before the baby arrived, and we were correct. Karrie's doctors delivered Mara by c-section around 4:00 am (central time). We arrived in Memphis around 10:30 (eastern time) so we were a few hours late! Mara weighed 6lbs 8ozs. She is so little! Perhaps that is a normal weight for a baby, but compared to Klara's 8lbs 7 ozs Mara seems so tiny! Karrie is doing well, and they are all back at home. Klara, dad, and I drove back on Wednesday because Klara started getting a runny nose and I did not want to expose the baby to any additional germs when she came home. I wish I could have stayed longer, but you don't always get what you want. Here are some pictures of my beautiful niece!

Klara meets Mara

Macy and Klara playing after a day at the hospital

Mara Ellen King

Karrie and Mara

Auntie Kattie and Mara

Walking in Memphis

This past week Klara, my mom, and I went to Memphis to visit my sister Karrie before she has baby #2 in a few weeks. The trip up was quite miserable towards the end because Klara SCREAMED the last hour. However, the trip back to Cleveland was very nice and Klara did not fuss one bit. Klara had tons of fun playing with her big cousin Macy. They looked adorable wearing their footy pajamas following each other everywhere. We also stopped and visited some of my mom's family in Tuscumbia and Florence (Alabama). While we were visiting my Uncle Bobby, Klara took her first steps! We were all so excited!!!!!! She started standing up by herself on January 29th, so I thought it would be a while before she actually walked. However, she surprised us and took her first step on February 7th. My little baby is growing up!

Christmas 2008

Our Christmas was wonderful this year! Since pictures can say a thousand words, I will let them do the talking.

Sleep? What is that?

Quiet. Peace. Sweet dreams. That is what most people are experiencing in the wee hours of the morning. Not so at my house! Last night Klara decided that she did not want to sleep. After putting her to bed at her normal bedtime (8:00ish), she slept until midnight. She then decided it was time to PARTY! I got up first to feed her and change her diaper, but those two things did not put her back to sleep. Alex got up second to try to rock her to sleep, but that did not work either. By that time it was about 1:30 am. I got up again but could not get her to go to sleep. I finally just put her on the floor and off she went! She had a great time crawling back and forth across the living room. Alex came and joined us because he could not sleep either. I took some videos to show you all a little bit of the excitement that we enjoyed very early this morning. By the way, I do not recommend early morning television. The only thing on other than infomercials was the SanFrancisco's Gay Men's Choir.....we ended up watching the Nutcracker on GPTV around 4:00 am. Fun times.

A Laughing Matter

Babies are so funny sometimes! Yesterday I got the best video ever of Klara and her little buddy Jeremiah playing together. Jeremiah (who stays with me on Mondays and Fridays) thought Klara was being rather silly, and he was laughing his little head off! It was the cutest thing ever! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2008

What do turkey and seizures have in common? They were both in attendance in our family this Thanksgiving. Sad, but true. I was very excited about Karrie, Brad, and Macy coming into town for Thanksgiving since we have not seen them since August. However, Karrie called us Wednesday morning and said they had to rush Macy to the ER. To make a long story short, later Wednesday afternoon they had to call an ambulance and rush Macy back to the hospital because she was having a seizure. The docs ran all kinds of tests and determined that Macy probably had a viral infection that caused a fever which caused the seizure. She is fine now, but it was quite a scare for our family. So since Karrie, Macy, and Brad were not able to come into town, Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated with just Alex, me, Klara, Mom, and Dad. We still had a great time, but we definately missed the rest of the family (Wade ate lunch with his girlfriend's family).

Klara's first Thanksgiving was very memorable! She enjoyed her first taste of real sweet potatoes (as opposed to Gerber). She seemed to enjoy them, but towards the end the new texture made her gag. She also discovered the joy of snowglobes. My mom bought her a HUGE snowglobe that blows snow around and plays music. She enjoyed watching it and slobbering on it. We also took Klara for her first trip to visit Santa! She seemed uncertain at first about whether or not she wanted to like Santa, but after seeing that Alex and I were still there she smiled long enough for a great picture! We also put up our Christmas tree and Klara had her first "No-No" lesson. She desperately wanted to grab the ornaments off the tree, but I would tell her no. She seemed to understand because she would stop her movement and begin to cry. She did this for about ten minutes. We finally had pity on her and moved her away from the Christmas tree. We could tell she had learned enough for one day!

I am ready to see Santa!

I think I can, I think I can!

Hmmm....which one should I try to grab?

Papaw and the snowglobe

Birthday, Anniversary, and Fun!

Over the weekend my family and I had loads of fun celebrating my mom and dad's 33rd wedding anniversary (Nov. 22) and my 28th birthday (Nov. 23). Yes, I am 28. I can't believe it. My sweet Alex took me, my parents, my brother Wade, and Wade's girlfriend Ashley out to eat at the Japanese restaurant here in Cleveland (I can't remember its name). We had a blast! The young man who cooked for us was hilarious! Not only was his food great, but his presentation made the night memorable. At one point he was using a red sauce bottle to add sauce to the veggies he was grilling and then he flung the bottle at my mom! However, it was only a red string that flew out of the bottle onto my mom's shirt, but we got a good laugh out of it! He then made a onion "volcano" that scared Klara out of her pants! I think she will be petrified of fire for the rest of her life! He also did some cool tricks with an egg, and he let me have a go at it. I failed miserably. My egg broke. The food was great and the fellowship was priceless!



Sunday (my actual birthday) we ate lunch at my parent's house. My mom cooked my favorite chicken pot pie, and Alex made me a Paula Dean birthday cake. I believe the cake had 2 1/2 sticks of butter in it! Now that is my kind of cake! It also had marshmallows, chocolate, brown sugar, and pecans. What more could a girl ask for?

Sunday lunch at my parents' house

My first birthday as a mommy!

I tried to flip the egg and make it twirl, but it broke.

Hmmm.....was it my mom or Klara that tasted the lemon? hehehe!

Klara and Wade's sweet girlfriend Ashley

My mom and dad on their 33rd anniversary! They have set such a good example for us!

My sweet husband!