Christmas at the Swensen's

We were all invited over to Sharon and Arne's for Christmas Day dinner and festivities. We had a great time and a delicious ham dinner. The kids had fun with Rock Band.

Matt had a flight out the next day and we hated to see him leave but we were so happy to have him join us for the Christmas holiday. Hopefully that will become an annual affair!

Christmas morning

Oops....I goofed at the end and let the song run after the video was over. When the screen turns black, the video is over. :-)

Cousins from New Mexico

Nephew Erik and his girls Kadin and Gracie stopped by for a visit Christmas Eve day. Drew had lots of fun with them but I wouldn't let him go swimming with the girls!

Merry Christmas!

Thank goodness grandpa's out of Iowa!

The weather in Iowa (and the entire midwest) sounds downright frightful. I saw there were around 220 school closings and as far as I can recall the most I had ever seen previously on the website was around 130 closings. I don't know if it is ice or snow causing all the problems, but probably both. Luckily Matt is in Las Vegas right now so he is dodging it, too. Ironically when he landed in Vegas there was snow on the gounnd there, too. Now the chances of that are really quite remote. Strange weather everywhere. Well, not everywhere....it is pretty nice right here! :-) Matt gets to Phoenix on the 22nd so we are all excited about that. He will be meeting Kayley for the very first time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season with family and friends!

Now, let's play ball:

So close

This video shows Kayley "almost" rolling over from her back to her tummy, a milestone that she had not yet achieved. Later in the day she did finally make it, then kept practicing that feat over and over. Andy has the video of her completing the job on his blog

Kayley says hi

A busy week

It was a rough week on Kayley. Too many doctor appointments! Wednesday she saw a GI specialist because of her poor bottle feeding. They gave her a barium "cocktail" and took x-rays to rule out anything internal causing the problem. Everything looked good inside but they could tell immediately that it is definitely a really bad case of reflux and that is probably the cause of her fighting her bottles. I assume they will talk to Megan and Andy about different meds they can try, etc. to help her combat this until she outgrows it. After the GI appt. she had her 6 month check-up with her Pediatrician and got a shot in each thigh. As I said, a rough day on the little gal!

Thursday and Friday were equally hard on her, as she became very constipated from the barium and that caused her (and me) fits on Thursday. I felt so badly for her and the doctor wanted to see her that afternoon. She didn't eat at all well (worse than usual) Thursday or yesterday. Hopefully she is all recovered from her ordeals and is having a good week-end with her Mom and Dad.

Sharon and I hiked Squaw Peak this morning. We hadn't done that one for a long time and we both forgot how tough that climb can be. I would say I definitely got my heart rate going into overdrive during the trip to the top! It was gorgeous once we got there and I took pictures of the view. After the hike we went to the Apple Store and Border's at the Biltmore mall. This is in a very fancy part of Phoenix and our hiking attire and sweaty duds and hair probably had us standing out a bit among the well dressed shoppers but each place was happy to take our money despite our appearance!

The pics are from our hike and the videos were from the past two days.

Getting a Christmas card photo...

We have been trying for a couple of days to get a good photo of Drew and Kayley to put on a Christmas card. Everyone knows how difficult this can be. The probability of a 23 month old and a 6 month old both looking happy AND still at the same time are pretty remote.........

How to eat yogurt

TGIF

FYI

Several people have asked Megan about making a donation in Kayley's honor to charity. Megan's college friend, Aubrey, created a band in Kayley's honor on the March of
Dimes website for those of you who are interested in making a donation. If anyone would like to donate to the March of Dimes in honor of Kayley, please click here.

A sunny Monday

It is a beautiful day here today and it was also a beautiful holiday week-end. Mark sent me a picture of the farm this morning looking a bit snow covered. I replied that it looked quite pretty and he replied back "it was very cold." :-( I am not so sure he will be getting any more tilling done this fall with snow already falling in Iowa. He needs to get out here and warm up!

Megan took Friday off so I helped her put up her Christmas tree. We figured it would be a job for two with Drew being so "helpful". It looks really nice. That put me in the spirit so I went to the town house and put up my tree the same day.

Saturday morning Sharon and I hiked Pinnacle Peak. It was a very busy trail that morning. The weather played a big role in the size of the hiking crowd. That afternoon I did a little shopping. I don't plan on doing a lot of that this season so I guess I won't be helping the economy recover!

Have a great week everyone. Christmas break is just around the corner for you working folks!

Drew steals my water bottle whenever I am not looking. I had forgotten all about "backwash"...... :-)

We're full

Megan, Andy, Drew, Kayley and I were invited to Sharon and Arne's for dinner. I brought the turkey and stuffing and Sharon made all the sides. I don't think anyone left starving. Sharon's daughter Lisa and sons Erik and Aaron were there along with her grandsons Taylor and Nick. Weather was cooler due to clouds and a big rain last night but Drew spent a lot of time outdoors at their home. Taylor, Sharon, Drew and I jumped in her golf cart and we drove to a pond to feed the ducks some bread. Sharon said they usually go crazy for the food but today were a bit uninterested in the morsels. We decided they had already been fed Thanksgiving dinner by someone else! Drew seemed more interested in throwing rocks into the pond.

The picture is Kayley and Erik. The videos are today at Terravita.



Arriving at the Swensen's



Let's go for a ride!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving feast and a great time with family or friends. I am not going to Iowa for this holiday as the air fare was ridiculously high for such a short stay. I hate leaving Mark and Matt alone on the holiday but they understand. My biggest regret is not making my two guys their favorite meal, Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. Mark is going to feed Matt this holiday and I would assume it involves the grill. :-) I have no doubt it will be very good. I will make them both a turkey/stuffing dinner for Christmas when they get out here. (Matt is coming here sometime around Christmas to meet his new niece.)

We are invited to Sharon and Arne's tomorrow. I am bringing the turkey and the stuffing and Sharon is doing all the side dishes and dessert.

I am having a good time watching my two grandchildren. I am definitely more tired when I get home than I was just watching one! Kayley seems to be growing before our eyes and is very alert and happy. She takes after Drew in the napping department (awesome) and the night time sleep: all night, every night. Megan and Andy do know how to produce children that are cooperative about napping and bedtime! Drew is such a charmer and definitely has grandma where he wants her. I am trying my best not to spoil him but that is the hard part about being babysitter/grandma....conflicting roles. :-)

I love tummy time

A good day for tormenting

Back to the grind

Megan's family leave came to an end this morning as she went back to work today. I am sure she is missing her cute babies so here's a quick video just for her!

Lots of visitors for Drew and Kayley

Megan and Andy had guests last week-end (Megan's college roommate Brooke and family). This week-end Andy's brother Chris and his wife Jenny and daughter Macie are visiting. During all this Drew caught some bug from someone and spent one night in mommy's lap vomiting and then had diarrhea for a few days. Megan then caught a slight cold so we decided that I would strictly watch Kayley for the week and Megan and Drew would stay as far away as possible to do our utmost to keep her from getting this stuff, especially a cold. We succeeded on the cold part but she did get some diarrhea but it didn't seem to phase her much and was always happy and usually ate well. So, we think our plan was pretty much successful. The scary part about a cold is Kayley's delicate lungs....they were told in the NICU that a bad cold would most likely send her right back into the hospital. That is not an option any of us want to experience!

Sharon and I hiked Black Mountain by her home yesterday morning. It was another beautiful day (surprise) and we really enjoyed the climb. Sharon and Arne are seriously considering moving to The Villages in Florida if they can get their home sold soon. Not everyone is as excited about their move as they seem to be. :-) I will certainly miss hiking with her and seeing her occasionally on week-ends, holidays, etc.

Mark is having a terrible time harvesting the corn this fall. The weather continues to bring lots of moisture to Iowa as it has done all spring, summer and now fall. He thinks he will have to wait for it to really get cold there so the ground is frozen and he can take the combine back into the fields without getting stuck! Such a year '08 has been, both personally for our family and also nationally. One can only hope that 2009 is a better year for everyone!

Some pics from the week and week-end:
1. Drew sleeping on mommy's lap, still feeling a bit under the weather
2. Drew helping grandma Clorox LOTS of stuff in the house!
3. Kayley in a new bib purchased by.....guess who.
4. Drew stole her pacifier and wanted to try it out for himself. This is particularly amusing because he never used one himself. His trusty thumb tasted much better.
5. Kayley is relaxed.
6. Drew with his aunt Jenny and cousin Macie.
7. Drew and Macie getting ready to go out to dinner on Friday night.

A conversation with daddy

An oldie but a goodie

I was going through old videos today and came upon one of my favorite Drew/Andy videos....daddy feeding Drew his very first "chunky food:

Breast Cancer Walk today

Megan and Drew picked me up at 6:45 a.m. for the walk around Tempe Park. It was cool when we arrived as we waited to meet the other gals from Megan's firm but the sun warmed us up rapidly as we walked. I haven't a clue how many people participated in the event but we had many "slow downs" in the crowd. At times it was like merging onto the freeway! I can't say the walk (three miles) got our heart rates up at the pace the group moved but it was certainly for a great cause. Drew was very good and never made a peep from his jogging stroller....just looked around and took it all in with great interest.

When I got back from the walk I planted geraniums in my pots and even planted some petunias. I still feel weird planting flowers in November but now is the time to do that in AZ. When Mark comes for the winter he is bringing canna bulbs to plant. They did exceptionally well last winter and people always remarked about them so we're hoping they do well again this winter.

Speaking of winter, Mark said it was freezing today in Iowa. That just sounded horrible to hear! I cannot wait until his crops are out and he can get his cold body out here to warm up for the winter!

A few pics from today's walk and also one of Drew combing his hair with the dog's brush and one of him lounging in Kayley's seat.

Can we talk?

Kayley has been making lots of sounds lately but every single time I turn on the video camera she gets really "shy". :-) Actually, she is so mesmerized by the red light blinking from the camera that she just stares intently at it....usually in dead silence. But, I will keep trying to catch her talking!

Then and now

I was browsing through my pictures and came across one of Kayley's very first pictures and was just amazed at the "then and now" difference. Kayley has come a long way since June 9th!

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Sunday afternoon fun

Niece Lisa and her son Taylor visited Megan and Andy yesterday and met Kayley for the first time. We had a good visit with her and Drew had a great time with Taylor!

Happy Halloween......it's a bird, it's a plane

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