Spring has sprung!

It was a beautiful Sunday! Highs in the 70s and sunny all day. We both took advantage of the nice weather - I mowed the lawn and washed and hung the comforter outside to dry and Aaron washed his truck.

Saturday was not so nice as it rained the entire day. So together we graded papers and watched the Wire. Later we went to visit our friends the Weidners who graciously made us dinner for watching the kids earlier in the week. They have the sweetest kids who are so well behaved. We watched Spiderman and made paper airplanes.

Kendall is now a bit over 5 weeks old and growing a lot. Here are the latest round of pictures.

Here she is after the bath.

Here she is hanging out in her swing. And here are several shots of her cute little parts.Look at the those chubby little cheeks...

Her cute little "fight the power" fist...

Gma and Gpa Mason will arrive next weekend on Sunday to visit during Spring break. I'll go back to work on Wednesday for the day - which should prove to be an interesting test. I have to admit that I am really enjoying my time at home. Then Aunt Erin arrives on Thursday, April 8th to meet Kendall for the first time and hang out for a little over a week.

World Travelers

Not only do we have the cutest little girl, she is also a world traveler. As mentioned earlier, Kendall and I accompanied Gma and Gpa Redmond back to Michigan to visit family and friends (some for the first time). We left on Wednesday and took our time getting there stopping along the way in Atlanta, Chattanooga and Indianapolis. We tried to get pictures of all the state welcome signs along the way in order to document our fun in Kendall's baby book.

Here is Kendall with life-long friend Jennie.

Once there we visited Gma Char and Gpa Jack Mason, Aunt Mary, Aunt Robin, Gma Redmond, and the Mason and Collins families.Here is Kendall with our friend Gary as the group prepared for the fantasy baseball draft party.

Kendall meeting Uncle Adam for the first time.

Kendall meeting her cousins for the first time. The Collins family poses for a group shot outside of Dinos in Northville.

Gma and Gpa also blogged about our adventure - seen here.

After a great weekend, Kendall, Aaron and I flew back to SC. Kendall did great on her first flight...virtually sleeping through the entire event.
We arrived safely back in Columbia on Monday afternoon to sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 70s.

Thanks to all our family and friends we got to visit along the way. Thanks to Gma and Gpa Redmond for all there help in getting Kendall settled in. Thanks to the Denja for all their fine hospitality. Thanks to all our family and friends for everything. We had a great time and are only sorry we couldn't stay and visit longer.

Game Night

Well mom and dad returned from their visit with Coakleys on Wednesday afternoon after stopping through Beaufort, SC for a layover at an B&B.

Kendall had her 2-week Doctor's visit on Wednesday morning as well. She is still doing great - beefing up to 8 lbs. 7 oz. and growing a half an inch to make her an even 21 inches long.

On Thursday Gma, Gpa, and I worked on the yard a bit. Gpa cleaned out the garden box and Gma and Gpa both helped to plant some things in the flower boxes as well as generally helped to trim some things back and fertilize.

On Friday, our friends Brooks and Brandi came to visit for the weekend to help us celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Gma and Gpa were nice enough to babysit so that we could all go out with some friends. In fact, they were so nice they also agreed to watch DeSean (one of Aaron's coworker's little boy seen here). I enjoyed getting dressed in some old familiar clothes that I am able to fit in again and spending some time out on the town with some friends.

On Saturday we had planned to make it down to 5 points for the annual St Patty's festival (where mom and dad helped us celebrate last year), but alas the weather here was a constant drizzle and quite cold so we opted to stay at home and play games, order pizza, and watch movies.

Here we are playing Celebrity and very fun game that Gma and Gpa taught us.

Here is Aaron watching an incredible dumb movie called "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist."

Best of all here is Gpa Bob after a Yahtzee.

After Erin got us addicted to the hand-held version, we decided to introduce mom and dad to the fun by buying them their own to play.

We all have a competition going to see who can get the highest score...Erin holds the record at 609.

This morning, its eggbake and coffee to start the day of right. Gma, Gpa, and I will leave on Wednesday to head back to MI - stopping through Atlanta to see Jennie for lunch. We'll take a few days to make the trip home...having lunch with Great Gma Char and Gpa Jack Friday afternoon before spending Friday night in Sturgis with Great Gma Alice. It will be the first time for each of them to meet Kendall. Then on Saturday we'll head to Detroit to visit the Denjas. Aaron had already planned to fly home this weekend (leaving SC on Saturday morning) for the fantasy baseball draft at Dino's. Fortunately I was able to purchase a one-way ticket home on Monday that is the same flight as Aaron. It will be a fun trip home and one of Kendall's first adventures I know I won't forget.

Daddy is not so nice...

So Kendall has been a little stuffed up/congested as of late. As such, we have taken to "snot-sucking" in an attempt to provide some relief. However, this lovely duty usually falls to me (just the beginning of me being cast as the "bad guy" I am sure)...not last night. Here is a video of Aaron's attempt to get in on the action.

A stroll through the park

Well today we decided to have a picnic in the park - Virginia Hilton Park in downtown Lexington, which is about 1 mile from our home. We made sandwiches and packed up the stroller to head out. It was another beautiful day, with a little more wind than yesterday.

We returned home about 1:30 and Kendall stayed awake for nearly 4 hours. Gma was especially happy to be able to spend so much time with her alert rather than sleeping.

We also hosted several more visitors...a coworker of mine seen here who made an afghan for Kendall and a coworker of Aaron's who made a chicken pot pie.

Right now Aaron has us watching season 3 of Andy Griffith. We'll probably head out soon for dinner to try to catch some southern fare or at least some wing chips.

Oh, and Aunt Kathy decided to try a bottle with Kendall. She took to it very well. It doesn't look like daddy will have any trouble feeding Kendall with the pumped milk this summer. She gulped down 2 ounces in about 5 minutes and then fed some more with me. She is going to be quite the little chunk.

Spring has Sprung!

Yesterday was so nice here. We had a great day just hanging out. Gma Linda, Grandpa Great and Aunt Kathy were all here visiting. We even had a visit from Great-Great Uncle Jim (Grandpa Wayne's brother) and friend. They live on James Island - near Charleston.

Here we are saying goodbye after lunch and a nice visit at the house.

We also took advantage of the great weather and went outside to hang out in the sun. We took the opportunity to snap a few pictures.
Four generations.

Aunt Kathy cooked us a great dinner - steaks, vegies, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was so good.

As for today...who knows, but it is suppose to be beautiful again today. Here is a little video of Kendall and I hanging out this morning. She is so cute sporting her University of Michigan gear from Uncle Adam.

The Future is so bright...

...she has to wear shades. Here is Kendall making her debut in her shades and trying to catch some rays... Yesterday Kendall and I headed into the big city to fill out some paperwork at work and so that I could show her off - of course everyone was impressed...who could blame them?

Then, last night Grandpa Great, Great Aunt Kathy, and Gma Linda arrived to visit for the weekend. Not really sure what is on tap for the day, but it is suppose to be really nice (sunny and 81)! Despite their best efforts, Kendall wasn't too cooperative and just wouldn't wake up. But, I think it is safe to say that they were just happy to see her.
Grandpa Great looks pretty comfortable and as does Kendall.

Also, a big shout out to the Coakley family for sending the complete dinner in the mail. It all looks and sounds good! Of course we really appreciate it and can't wait to try it.

Is this what my future holds with a daughter?

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Hanging with mom

So today Kendall and I are just hanging out. Yesterday was a first full day alone and we did fine. I slept when she slept and read the book that Gpa Bob got for me (TouchPoints) to her. I am sure she wasn't interested in the content, but thought she might like to her my voice anyway. And, after watching Oprah yesterday about feral and neglected children (and sobbing on the couch) I don't think it was a bad idea. I can't imagine!

She is a little congested so we have been running the humidifier at night hoping that it is helping a bit. She slept for 4.5 hours last night! She woke up at about 4:30 a.m. this morning to eat and Dad was nice enough to keep quiet when his alarm went off just as we were going back to sleep.

She lost her belly button stump too (I think on Sunday)...here is a picture of her new found belly.

It is sunny here now, but still a bit cold for a walk...so maybe tomorrow.

Snow Day

Sunday we had another nice day of just lounging around the house. Kendall was a bit fussy early Sunday a.m. But, beyond that she has seemed to taken to just waking up once around 3 a.m. to eat and then getting up for good at about 7 a.m. Not bad.

Here she is hanging out with Dad.

In other news...Aaron found out at about 5 p.m. Sunday that he didn't have school today. We were suppose to get a few inches of snow - heaven forbid! We got none. Although, the upstate did appear to get 3-5 inches. Last night while watching the news, Columbia Police Department was busy preparing by adding chains to the patrol car tires - seriously!

Here is a picture of Kendall's new rocking chair for the front porch. Thanks Gma and Gpa Redmond. She is a true southern lady!

As for today - just hanging out again. Had a few friends visit over the last several days. Here is one of Aaron's coworkers with her new baby boy, DeSean. He is about 5 weeks older than Kendall.

My friend Val also came over to meet Kendall and the Weidners dropped off dinner for tonight. We are so lucky to have such great friends!