The girls

Just wanted to share a couple pictures and a video taken this last week of the girls.  Kaelynn is growing so quickly and beginning to "plump" up like Morganne did.  She is smiling occasionally now and is beginning to coo.  One of the greatest sounds in the world.  Another one of the greatest sounds for us is Morganne singing, and boy does she love to sing.  It always makes us smile.  I hope you enjoy!

(I was really shocked Morganne continued to sing once she realized she was being videod!  I am so thankful she did as I love this video.)

Afternoon with Annabel

Last Sunday we decided to get together with Derek, Lynsey, and Annabel. The girls got along very well and it was a good visit. We wish we lived closer so the girls could grow up knowing each other better. They are so much fun to watch. Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

I have also included a video of Morganne singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has been singing this song for about a month now. At first it took us a while to figure out what exactly she was singing as we noticed it was the same tune everytime and it always included "Up above" and her arms going up over her head. It was quite cute. Now she sings it all the time and wants us to sing it back to her along with Jesus Loves Me. There is nothing cuter. I'm so glad she did it for me on video. It's something I'll cherish forever...

Morganne's version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" Listen for the "Up Above" and "How I wonder". She sings it almost two times through. She's quite proud of herself at the end. She makes us smile every day.

History in the making

Everyone has seen video of Tiger Woods swinging a golf club at age 2-3 years. So, we decided to document Morganne's "ability" early in case someday she becomes famous. :cD It's just too cute. I can say she's been doing this for a while and her eye-hand coordination is quite good. Soon we will begin to teach her to be a switch hitter! :cP So far she swings right handed but often will throw left. Gotta love the softball and baseball influence. We've told her from the beginning that she will have to see Aunt Nicci or Brittany to teach her about basketball!!

Trip to the county fair

The Boone county fair was this last week and we visited a few times for dinner and to see the animals. It's like an annual reunion where you can see people you haven't seen all year. It was amazing to see all of my old friends from 4-H that now have kids close to Morganne's age. One afternoon Brit, LeighAnn, Nicci, and I decided to take the kids out and have lunch at the fair. (Can't beat fair food in my opinion, but it may just be the atmosphere where we eat it!) I for once did not bring my camera, but thankfully LeighAnn did so here are a couple pictures from our day. The first one is the 3 kiddos checking out the baby chicks and Young McDonald's farm. Morganne was fascinated most by the bunny rabbits I think.
Dylan and Morganne

Brittany, LeighAnn, and the boys watching the horse show.

It's been a while since I've posted any video of Mo. So here is a little bit of her yesterday. She is getting so big and makes us smile everyday.

0 for 2 for the Zoo

Justin got off early today, it wasn't raining, it wasn't hot, Morganne got an early nap, so we headed for the zoo, in hopes that we would be there longer than 45 minutes and everyone would stay happy. The drive down was great, the weather was perfect, but DARNED IF THE ZOO WASN"T CLOSED TODAY!!!! In prep for Zoobilation they were closed all day. So, once again we turned around and came back home! This is getting frustrating. Third times a charm?!?!?

So, once home Daddy decided to take a nap and Morganne and I decided to entertain ourselves and broke out the finger paints. Here is a little video from our creative time. She loved it, I just wish her attention span were longer. It only lasted about 15 minutes total before she was ready to move on to the next thing. She then got a second bath of the day. (I realize it looks like she is in her birthday suit in this picture, rest assured, she is at least wearing a diaper!)

Getting more courageous!

Something clicked and all the sudden Morganne is trying to walk!!! Yeah!!! As far as we know this all started yesterday at Nana and Grandad's.

Even though he hates most strangers, Zeke, is great with Morganne and allows more contact by her that from us sometimes. He's the only animal we have that really acknowledges her presence. Too cute.

KEEP READING, I caught up today and made 3 posts!!!!

Happy belated Mother's Day!

On Mother's day this year, like so many in the past, I spent the day at our Golden Retriever Specialty show. This year however, I was showing my mom's dog Denver in conformation. He did pretty well, winning his sweeps class both days and then placing in his regular class on Saturday. Not bad for his first show, and it being a specialty (which means only golden retrievers were allowed- a lot tougher competition). Technically I did spend the day with my mom, and showed her dog for her, so it was a special mother's day. Justin brough Morganne out to visit, and then we had a family dinner that night. Hopefully I can post a picture of Denver, mom, Morganne and myself from Saturday soon. It's not available from the photographer yet.





Here are a couple video clips of Morganne in the last few days. The first is of her riding her rolling horse toy from Grandma and Grandpa. She loves it and usually dances with the music. Only one problem, she only knows how to go in reverse! So, we help her going forward and it's a repetitive game.

This next video is Mo playing with her blocks. She gets so proud of herself when she stacks- and "un-stacks" the blocks. She a lot of fun and makes us smile so much.

Morganne wearing her bug hat that she "made" at her daycare. She's pretty goofy when it comes to wearing things on her head. Too funny.

Funny videos

Real quick, here are a couple new videos. I know I've been posting a lot lately, but it's so neat watching Morganne change and learn new things. This site is primarily for family and loved ones far away that don't get to see Morganne grow. We miss you guys and want you to be a part of our lives, even far away! This first video you can hear her say "Daddy" and also see her beginning to crawl. She is now crawling with confidence and able to move just about anywhere. I have a feeling she will be trying to take steps soon too.

Sorry this video is so dark. We really need a real video camera. If you can see it, the moving black blob is Zeke chasing a laser light. Morganne is sitting by the couch. I hope you have your sound on!!!

(This makes her laugh every time! It's great!)

Mo is on the move!

Morganne began crawling this week! However, no one but Justin and I have seen it yet. She has been so close for the past month and then Wednesday night finally realized how to work her legs. Everything in her own time, she can't be made or enticed to crawl. I took her to daycare on Thursday and told Amanda that she was crawling and to watch for it. She didn't all day. Nor did she crawl when Nana came to visit Thursday night. She is a very laid back child, has been since birth. Oh well. I think part of it is our very small house. Everything is within reach, why move?!?! I have appreciated the low stress child that she is. She is also very observant and catches on to things very quickly. She knows the sign language sign for cat and dog and has been doing them reliably for about a month now, even to pictures in books. It's quite cute. She has also said her first word- Daddy! (Boy is Justin thrilled! :cP) I do believe she knows Justin is "Daddy" however, she really likes saying it, and calls just about everyone she knows Daddy now. It makes us laugh. She has said "Mommy" but it's not as fun as saying "Daddy" over and over again. Next, we're working on "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". :c) We're not over-achievers!

We got a great report from Dr. Berrios, Morganne's orthopedic specialist, last Friday. We went in for a 3 month check up, and like always had hip x-rays done of her and he said that they look completely normal now! No more double/triple diapering her anymore! Yeah! We go back again in 3 months just for another check, but he said that if they continue to look normal, then he will see us once again after she's walking and we could be done! We were thrilled!

Justin is currently finishing his 10th day in a row of work. Lovely responsibilities. If only this can spur him on to finish school and get a job he enjoys. I know it's hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes. Luckily, for his weekend off, the weather looks fairly nice. The sun is shining today! How much do we appreciate something so normal, but when it's cloudy, rainy, and cold for days in a row, the sun is a nice sight to see. Even though it's still a muddy mess in our backyard, I feel better about leaving the dogs out longer when the sun is shining. I do believe our kitchen floor is permanently colored brown though. There is only so much mopping and vacuuming that you can do to keep up. Here are a few pics taken recently:

Working on her hip flexion after a bath! :cP

You can't beat natural lighting when it comes to photography!

Studying up! Her favorite thing to do is have Mommy or Daddy read books to her. She definitely has her favorites too.

Daddy's favorite thing to do.

Ripken's favorite thing to do! ;cP

Unfortunately, our coffee table is a junk mail collector as well. Well, now that Morganne is moving, she decided to help us with the cleaning too. This is what I walked into the other day. She was very proud of herself! I guess she will make mom and dad better at picking up the house, you think?


I tried three times to get a video to link of her crawling. No luck. So, it remains that Justin and I are the only witnesses so far. I promise she is crawling! :c)

Fun video

Sometimes you just can't help but smile...

It's an amazing phenomenom when children begin to develop their own personality. It's my first taste of losing control. She has the ability to make me frustrated and to be honest, annoyed, but never a day goes by when I'm not totally thankful for her and she can make me smile. I will say I do not know how single parent's do it, and I have so much more respect for them now. We are so blessed.

MUD!!!!

Unfortunately, in Indiana, warmer weather means LOTS of mud. I really hope it dries up soon! The poor dogs are living either outside or in their crates and I we are constantly mopping the kitchen floor. We've accepted the fact that our carpet will need to be replaced whenever we sell this place. It's a losing battle.

Loving me as Christ loved the church

So, I have a wonderful husband. It was his birthday this past Monday (2/2, he is finally 26! :c)) and he was fortunate enough to have the day off so he stayed home with Morganne. He is so good with her. She is saying "Daddy" now, and it makes his day every time he hears it. Not only did he play with her all day but he went to the grocery, cooked a great dinner (on HIS birthday), and cleaned the bathroom and kitchen. Wow. I am so blessed. (His dinner is the Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese, see the link to the side. Very Yummy!) He's such a hard worker and a great friend to everyone. I got a good one I tell ya! :c)

Last weekend we got rid of the Jimmy! Yeah! (Those of you close to us understand why we cheer!) and Justin got himself a truck. A big truck. It was a good deal and it fits the whole family. Luckily, our neighbors are great and they don't mind the noise it makes. Did I mention it's a diesel?!?!? A '98 Dodge Ram ext. cab Cummins Diesel. I think I got that right.... :cP Justin is like a kid on Christmas morning. He smiles every time he talks about it. Boys are just big kids really and a boy with a truck..... I will attach a picture soon. I will admit that I like how it looks, and am happy with the decision to buy it. I felt at peace about this truck, where most of the others he's looked at just didn't make me at ease. So, keeping our fingers crossed we will pray it's not a lemon...

So, officially we now have a 2002 Honda Accord for sale with 78, 000 miles. We are asking $9000. Great car- seriously. We will be sad to see it go. But he has the free, yes free, '94 Nissan Sentra to drive to work and back and I now need a vehicle that can fit a car seat and dog crate.

Here is some recent video of Morganne's ever developing skills. She loves to play ball now. It's so crazy what all she is learning now. She can point to her nose, eyes, and mouth too. She is 11 months old today. Boy does time fly...

Also, here is a video of Justin with Morganne. Unfortunately, he saw the video camera too quickly and stopped. But you can get the idea. This is a frequent happening around here. It's so cute!

Morganne videos

Here are a few videos of Morganne taken recently. The first is her new "trick" as we like to call it. She is quite the ham and so smart! :cP The second is Daddy and Morganne reading her new favorite book. In here she also does her "so big" move too. It is so fun to watch her grow and learn new things. She is figuring things out very quickly now. Still no crawling, but she is definitely mobile. The baby sitter told Justin last week that Morganne perplexes her. You can sit and watch her for 20 minutes and she won't move, but walk away and when you come back she will be across the room! She scoots, rolls, and creeps. She is always happy and LOVES to go out in public like the grocery and the doctor's office, where she can get people's attention. We are truly enjoying this age. It's hard to believe she will be 1 year old in less than 2 months!! Better be planning a birthday party....

Morganne

So, I apologize for not blogging more recently. We have been very busy this past month and our computer was sick for part of it too. There are a few posts for today, so be sure to keep on reading. I wanted to post some recent pictures of Morganne for everyone. She has grown so much and is really starting to discover her world. We love to watch her learn. She is now very interested in the animals. She will start talking to them and when they walk towards her she will shreek and laugh with excitement. We had her 6 month check-up today. She weighs a hefty 18lbs. 10 oz. and is 26in. long. In the 75th percentile in both height and weight. She is a very healthy girl!!! Believe it or not she is wearing some 9-12 month clothes already. She is growing so fast!! Here are some recent pictures and video:

This is a dress that I wore when I was her age. Luckily, it's not fitted! (Acording to mom, I was 19lbs. at a year old!)

Reading a book with Daddy. It must be a scary one! My buddy Ripken loves me. Just wait Rip until I start eating real food!
Such a ham!

My Nana and Granddad can't get enough of me!

Bath time fun! I LOVE playing in water!

Although, Daddy thinks he's funny and makes me have a Mo-hawk afterwards. Doesn't he know my hair already doesn't stay down very well!

Mommy and Me

Guess what Morganne did today!?!?!?

And she's SOOOO proud of herself!!!

Morganne's not a newborn anymore!

Morganne is growing and changing so fast. She loves to blow rasberries and is constantly covering her mom and dad in baby saliva! She is making all new sounds and loves to shriek when she gets excited. We still don't have a true "belly" laugh yet, but we are getting close. She is now able to sit in her saucer and entertain herself with toys. She hasn't quite figured out the jumping part yet. We are still very blessed as she sleeps solid through the night and goes to sleep very well once put in her crib. She is just the best baby. It makes us worried for her teenage years and if we have a second child! We thank God every day for her. Here is a video of her first time in the saucer. She thinks she's quite big stuff!

SOOO happy when she wakes up! Just shot this one today and had to share! 6-28-08

New videos added!

I was looking through the bits of video we have of Morganne and thought some of you who haven't seen her in a while would like to view them. She has changed so much so fast! Plus, a couple of the videos are quite funny, thanks to Ripken! See them all below! I will post more as she grows and changes. Sorry about the videography- they are taken with our digital camera.

Morganne and Daddy's version of the "sprinkler" and again Ripken decides to interupt! 6-3-08

Ripken decides he needs to be center of attention- as always! Obviously we are not too worried about dog germs!

Morganne starting to make sounds! They make us smile every time! 5-10-08