Kayla is so much fun!!!  It feels like everyday she is doing something new and this last month was full of firsts.  She started sleeping through the night consistently, said her first word: “ba-ba”, had her first earn infection (sad), and started to army crawl!  Here is a short video of her on her first day of crawling.  She’s even faster and more coordinated now!

California Christmas

We flew out to California the Monday before Christmas so that we could partake in all of the Tankersley traditions and get some good family time.  Emily was home from China/Italy/other various countries and Lisa & Kevin came up from LA.  It was so much fun to have everyone together for the first time since Lisa & Kevin’s wedding last September and it was Emily’s first time to meet Kayla!  The night we arrived she was so over-stimulated from the day of travel but we let her come out and see everyone for a little while since she wasn’t going down for bed very well.  I have never seen her so excited and happy!  She was the center of attention and everyone wanted to hold her and play with her and that pretty much continued all week

On Wednesday we did our annual High Tea & Yuletide Fest.  The food was amazing and we played Christmas charades and had a special verse added to my Dad’s ever-evolving family Christmas song.

Thursday all of the girls went to a quaint little town in the foothills called Murphys to have lunch, do a little shopping, and see a family friend.  The guys kept themselves occupied at a scenic golf course.

We spent Christmas Eve with the Moores (my dad’s brother and his family) having a big dinner and a White Elephant gift exchange.  Christmas morning we opened gifts at my parents house and enjoyed our delicious Christmas brunch featuring my Grandma Maxine’s Stolen (a german bread similar to fruitcake).

Kayla had a cold the entire time we were traveling, but managed to have a lot of fun regardless.  We feel so blessed to have such wonderful families on both sides.  It makes for really enjoyable holidays!

A few of my favorite things at 7 months:

• When she see’s herself in the mirror of her activity jumper, she squeals with delight!
• Daddy found a ticklish spot on her tummy and she has the funniest little giggle
• She is starting to look for things… for example, if she drops something on the ground, she realizes where it is and turns her little head to see where it went
• When I take her to her room and hold her close while whispering “it’s nap-time” she puts her her head on my shoulder, closes her eyes, and sucks her thumb…sooo sweet!

We were in California for Kayla’s 7 month birthday, so these pictures are a few days afterwards.  She is growing so fast!  Kayla enjoys various fruits and veggies and we even had a bit of a nursing strike for a week or so!  Hopefully we will make it to a full year with nursing, but if not she does great with her solids and is gaining weight really well

Since it was dead I had to do something because it would rot and eventually start to lose branches which would hit our roof directly beneath.  This past weekend I got a company to cut it down.  It was hard to bring myself to do it, honestly.  Not only because I had some emotional attachment to this tree (stop laughing) and did not want to admit it was dead but because the cost to cut down large trees is absurd.

Anyway, I went forward it  and here are the pictures.  R.I.P. Gummy.

Some new things she is doing:

• Sitting on her own
• Eating rice cereal
• Laughing and squealing
• Blowing bubbles and making the “brrr” sound
• Jumping in her bouncer
• Sucking her thumb

Kayla did okay with the travel.  We drove up to Longview Thursday morning (4 hrs) to be with Brady’s mom’s side of the family at Aunt Sally’s.  As always, it was very relaxing, and full of delicious food and good company.  Becky took some pictures of the group and some of Addisyn and Kayla together.  Isn’t Addisyn adorable!?!?

On Saturday we got together with Brady’s Dad’s side of the family.  There are 4 (including Kayla) little baby cousin girls that were born all within a few months of each other!  It was fun getting them all together so they could meet and play (i.e. poke each other in the face) .  We had some good food and caught up with the rest of the family.  It was a nice time.  Check out this picture of Kayla sizing up her little cousin Addisyn.  She doesn’t look scared though.

Kayla did pretty well sleeping in the hotel room with Brady and I, and despite some nap disruptions she was generally happy.  On Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch.  Aunt Becky took some really great pictures despite Kayla’s fussiness and disinterest in the pumpkins.

First Cold

"I'm sick"

Just a few days after her 3-month birthday, little miss came down with her first cold.  It was awful.  We had some rough nights of very little sleep and trying everything to keep her comfortable.  This is when we were introduced to the “I’m in pain” and the “I’m really scared” cries… so heartbreaking to watch her panic when she couldn’t breathe very well due to congestion.  Sickness was always a bummer before but as a mom, I HATE it.

Grammy & Pops Visit

Brady’s parents came to visit the weekend after her cold.  It was just the right time to get some extra love and they brought her favorite toy EVER: the firefly!

4-Month Birthday

weight: 14 lb, 14 oz (67%)   height: 24 (89%)

Trip to California

Kayla and I got really brave and took a flight to California to visit my family for a week.  I was really hoping that she would sleep the whole flight, but she proved to be too observant (gets that from her daddy) and kept me on my toes the entire time.  She didn’t fuss too much though and her sleep schedule didn’t get thrown off like I feared.  And she didn’t get sick!!!  That is what I feared the most after the miserable cold she had just recovered from… Praise God!

Kayla loved hanging out with Grandpa Matt.  He made crazy sounds and faces that took some getting used to but once she warmed up to him, he got lots of smiles. He showed her fun things like the “tushy toss” and the “booty bounce”

Nana and I took Kayla to visit my Great Aunt JoAnn in Stockton.  She is my mom’s dad’s sister and I have many memories of playing at her house as I grew up.  It was so nice to spend some time with her over delicious tea and cookies.

Auntie Lisa escaped her busy life as a grad student to come up and spend the weekend with us.  We all had so much fun eating yummy food, hanging out around the house, clothes shopping, and sewing.  Sadly, we didn’t get any pictures of Kayla and Lisa together on this visit.

5-Month Birthday

Some highlights from this month:

• She is so alert!  So much so, that where we had to fight to keep her awake to nurse, we now struggle to keep her on task.  After the initial hunger is cured, sometimes she would rather look around or smile and talk to mommy instead of getting a full meal.  I try hard to avoid eye contact, but she can be very persistent with her huge gummy smile and I often give in and smile back (during those times I affectionately refer to her as “little rascal”)
• Kayla went to the nursery at church for the first time.  They tell us she is a good baby and when we go to pick her up, she seems to be very calmly observing her surroundings.
• We had several days of more frequent feedings.  We aren’t sure if this was due to a drop in my milk supply, a growth spurt, or perhaps a combination of the two.  Thankfully, we are back to the 3 hour eat-wake-sleep cycle now and the milk supply is back up!
• She found her hands!  She has been holding her hands together and putting them in her mouth a lot.  She is also becoming more coordinated and instead of just batting at toys, she concentrates really hard on touching them.  She can also grip a ring when we put it in her hand.
• We are pretty sure she started teething/pre-teething.  She started gnawing on her hands constantly and chomping on Brady’s thumb and suddenly has large amounts of drool.  These signs accompanied by increased fussiness and sleep disruption make us think she must be having some pain
• Kayla loves playing in her play gym.  She spends a couple hours a day looking at the birdies and swinging at her favorite rattle