Breakfast for everybody!

Kelly and I made candy bacon and eggs for her daycare New Year's party.

I thought everyone in the world knew how to make these, but judging from all the people asking how to do it, I guess not! The bacon is made of pretzel sticks, the egg white is melted white chocolate, and the yolk is yellow M&Ms. You could use green if you're feeling particularly Seussy.

I wasn't with Rob when they brought them in, but he tells me the teachers started taking photos of them, they were so impressed. Heh.

Kelly in comic-book form

The little girl on the far left of this Jughead Double Digest looks eerily like my Kelly!

Also, who knew that Jughead's Double Digest had a blog? You go, Archie Comics!

Happy birthday to the world's best two-year-old

When I asked Kelly how old she was going to be on her birthday, she always told me, without fail: "Um, six."

Happy birthday, angel.

Kelly Hildebrant marries Kelly Hildebrant

You know, I kind of love that my Kelly's name is unisex, but hope she won't marry another Kelly Cooper.

Best part of waking up

Someone special is 19 months old today.

Baby Loves Disco

This sounds fun for when Kelly's a tad older: Baby Loves Disco is like...a music event for kids, with bubbles and music and babies (6 months to 7 years) dancing with their parents and friends.

Now, of course you can do this at home, but having a big space and a bunch of other kids to bounce off of is always fun. There's a Seattle location, we may need to look into it.

I'm still here!

I'm still here! It's just been one busy month, but I hope to post more frequently to PCJM now.

And the big news: Miss Kelly has turned one! Best year ever. Best baby ever. No doubt about it.

Bubble up

Kelly likes most things. She is a most agreeable baby and is almost always in a good mood.

Until, that is, you blow a bubble-gum bubble. As I learned today, that freaks her the heck out. Maybe she thinks a big pink monster is eating your face? I don't know, but I'm not blowing any more bubbles around her, that's for sure.

Saint Kelly?

Miss Kelly was baptized this weekend. Neither her first name nor her middle name ("Lake") are saints' names, but apparently that doesn't matter now. (Didn't matter when I was born, either, as there's no "Saint Gael.")

According to this really thorough saint index, there may be no Saint Kelly, but there are a lot of other saints I never heard of. Is your name on there?

I went to Catholic school, and for one assignment, we all had to research and write about our patron saint. Since there was no Saint Gael, the teacher just told me to pick a saint whose name started with G. I picked Saint Giles. My middle name, Lee, isn't on here either, but there is a very interesting Saint Lea. And since my middle name derived from the nickname of my mom's good friend, Rosalie, I guess I can claim the cave-dwelling, flesh-mortifying St. Rosalia.

Suggestion for God

Babies' foreheads should turn colors when they have a fever so you know for sure if they have one.

(No, Kelly doesn't have a fever, and we do have a great rub-across-the-head thermometer, but I still think it's a good idea.)

Seattle namesake

I have never met anyone else who spells her first name as I do, GAEL. (Although I met someone whose sister reportedly did.)

So I'm always secretly entertained when I see mention of another GAEL in print, as in this Seattle P-I article about the rare heat wave here.

Speaking of...I know it's not Arizona or Florida hot, but Miss Kelly was baptized in an un-airconditioned church on Saturday, and even the priest, WHO IS FROM KENYA, was sweating up a storm. That is officially Africa-hot, when your Kenyan priest is overheated.

Kelly watch the stars

Miss Kelly is eight months old today!

Here's an Air video featuring our Kelly's name, although seemingly as a last name, not a first name. I love that this video features a Pong flashback.

What mothers do

What a first Mother's Day so far. We spent the night in the ER with Kelly. Diagnosis? Ear infection.

I'm still barely removed from the terror of the whole thing (Kelly never cries, so to hear her wailing is just awful, and that whole hospital driving through silent streets at 2:30 am is surreal)

Kelly does seem better today.Waking up was hard for her, but she is asleep now. I have her in her bouncy chair so she can sit up a bit and maybe help the ear drain. We also have numbing drops for the ears, baby Tylenol, and are keeping her hydrated with both water and formula. I think we could start our own baby pharmacy with all the things we now have at hand.

Of course, I could think of nothing but Linda's story and was pretty much slamming the ER docs up against the wall pleading TELL ME IT'S NOT MENINGITIS PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME. Sometimes there is such a thing as knowing too much in this world. Sometimes I am not sure I am strong enough for it.

Happy half birthday!

Someone special is six months old today. How time flies.

Little Twins fan

Miss Kelly in MN.

It's a girl! Wait...

Yes, our Kelly is a girl, but not all Kellys are...

As you can guess, we love this commercial.

Heh

Of course I don't feel this way, but ... heh anyway. Forgive me, Miss Kelly!

Oh, the doo-dah day

When I'm burping Kelly, if there's music playing, I find myself patting her little back in tune to whatever song is on.

If no music is on, I find myself burping her to the tune of "Camptown Races," only with these lyrics:

The Camptown Kellys sing this song, Kelly, Kelly
Camptown racetrack five miles long, oh, the Kelly day
Gwine to run all night, gwine to run all day
I bet my money on the Kelly, somebody bet on the Kell. E.

I cannot really explain this myself.

Pigging out

Apparently Miss Kelly was born in the Chinese Year of the Pig, which may not sound that great to us, but is considered extra-lucky in China. There is some debate over whether she was born in the Golden Year of the Pig or the Earthen Year, but no one is debating the Pig part.

Her father was born in the Year of the Dragon, and her mother in the Year of the Sheep/Goat, depending on the particular placemat your local Chinese restaurant gets.

Sock it to me

Baby socks just will not stay on Kelly's tiny feet.

The ones that stay on the best are these cute Mary Jane lookalikes given to us by a friend of Rob's. I also love their ballerina ones.