The Kelleys: December 2011

The Girls

Each year, our little group from college tries to get together. This year we were not able to get our schedules together for everyone to be there (we missed you Kristen!) but we still had fun. Our little gatherings sure have changed in the years since graduation. They moved from the bar, to 1 baby, and now it was like baby city with 3 kids running around and 1 in the oven. We always get a little bit farther away from each other, but manage to still get together. This year I was the central location, so everyone came to my house. It was kinda creepy how I was in the exact same position last year...very pregnant.


Shannon, Nicky, Me, Shannon, Reagan, and Shannon. Minus one baby

Alyssa's room

We have been seriously procrastinating putting Alyssa's room together. I painted the walls a few weeks ago, gave up on painting the baseboards, and haven't touched it since. Our furniture was coming Monday so we had no choice but to clean everything else out. Granted, we still have a twin bed in the middle of the laundry room, but the room is cleaned out. Grandpa stopped by to help with some other parts of the house. Grandma and I put the furniture together. Nicky was also there to lend a hand.

Some wall decals

Helping unpack the box

Don't worry mom. I've got this!

Inspector #4

The dresser was a gazillion pieces

Seriously nothing was labeled correctly

I got exhausted by the end and Grandpa took over

Clothes are in the closet

Room is ready to go. A certain little boy decided he wanted to play with baby toys again. They aren't cool until you realize they are going to be given to your baby sister.

All set

I think we are ready to go for her. Clothes are washed and put in the drawers. We have just a few weeks to go but seriously with the pain she is inflicting on my insides, she can come today. Nicky was a big helper, using his plastic hammer to put together the crib for his baby sister. And really when I started pulling all the baby gear out of his closet and putting it in his sister's room, he was all of a sudden really interested in playing with it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for your help.

Snack bandit

Nicky has learned where the snack cupboard is. This hasn't been a problem so far because he just pulls out the boxes of nutrigrain bars and shakes them. I was cleaning up the dining room the other day and heard him in the cupboard. I walked in to find this:

Someone found a new part of the shelf. The bagels! The best was he was really using his teeth to take bites.

He brought it back to the living room to show daddy

"What? I'm not being naughty"

The second before he found out his was busted

I tried tying the bag closed, but then Nicky decided to bite through the bag to get the bagels. He throws everything else in the bread basket down. Buns...nope. Bread....no way. Bagels...that's the stuff!

Baby boot camp

Nicky is getting ready for the 1 year old classroom at school. This means no more bottles, whole milk instead of formula, and 1 nap a day. Since I am home this week, I decided to make the transition with me instead of putting his teachers through the torture. Nicky has actually responded really well. He is currently only drinking a bottle with half formula half milk when he wakes up and before he goes to bed. He drinks whole milk from a sippy the rest of the day. I've been having sippy issues. He drinks from the cup but the last sip he forgets to close his lips and it all comes spilling out. I thought maybe he would like the cup with a straw since he loves juice boxes. He hasn't figured out how to work them and since, has done much better with the regular cup.

Picking my favorite cup

Really don't like that straw one

Hmmmmm decisions

All while watching my new truck movie

Nicky's new schedule is snack at 9:30 with sippy, Lunch at 11, nap from 12-3, snack with sippy at 3. When we head back to school, we'll probably need another snack on the way home since we don't leave until 6. So far so good!

Christmas part....what number are we on now?

The last stop on Christmas was Great Grandma's house. We quickly changed into some jammies because there was so much going on and Nicky was really sleepy from it all. I didn't get many pics because Nicky was with other people most of the time.

The loot

In the middle of chaos

Grandpa did a silly dance with his crazy hat

So sleepy but must see what is happening

Momma was in a lot of pain from baby sissy and was trying to hold it together

Thanks again to everyone for making Nicky's first Christmas special. He slept the whole way home and it was the first time I got him out of the car seat and into bed without waking up. He slept all night with his coat still on. How are we going to do this next year with two kids all over everything????

Christmas part 5

Next we headed south to see Grandma and Grandpa Bowden. Nicky and daddy had fun eating donuts and taking a nap in the back seat while mommy drove down.

This is how Uncle Jeff and I feel about snacks before lunch

First present

My very own tonka truck! Were are the metal pieces and rust?

Whoa ride on car!

I love the horn

Opening some more with Gram

Checking out my plane

Love that everything has fresh batteries and makes lots of noise.

Blocks taste pretty good

Yay! Christmas!

Daddy put together my basketball hoop

Maybe the stairs aren't the best place to play

Got a little overwhelmed so helped daddy open gifts for awhile

Looks like spot the dog. But why is he dancing?

Reading some books with Uncle Jeff

Learning the finer points of Dr. Seuss

Thanks for all the gifts! Only one more stop to go!

Christmas part 4

Nicky must have been a good boy because Santa came and brought more presents! Nicky slept in until like 8:30 so we had to quickly open presents from Santa before leaving the house at 9:15 to head south. These are in random order.