Ok where to start...

'Our little family' has really blossomed in the last few weeks!

Kaleb's tantrums have almost completely disappeared (keyword 'almost'), and they have been replaced with an enormously verbal, polite, affectionate, and playful little boy. His communication has exploded and now Lou and I are the ones without words.

Some examples: the other day Lou sneezed and Kaleb said "bless you Daddy", and when Lou leaves for work Kaleb says "love you Daddy". Most times when you give him something he says "thank you Mama/Daddy" without us even prompting for it, and he has a little stuffed bear with a picture of Popo on it, we call it Popo Bear, and yesterday he said "where's Popo Bear?". He also will come up to me with a very serious face and say "Mama", pauses, and then continues to say what it is he wants, as if to make sure he has my attention first. And when he hurts himself he will now come up to me and I ask him to show me where it hurts, and then I kiss it to make it all better. So the other day he fell back and landed on the wooden part of his rocking horse. So when he came up to me and I asked where it hurt he said his bottom, so then I gladly proceeded to kiss it and make it all better! What we do as mothers!

Although his pronunciation is still a little off on some things, he has gotten much better with others. He used to call a banana just 'nana', and now he has added the 'ba' part in to say the full word. He also used to call Diego 'Gogo' and now can say it right (I think before he was missing the Diego part altogether since the song is "Go Diego Go").

But of course there are still words that only we know what they mean, and I am in no hurry and have no desire to see them go at all! He still says 'wahme' for hungry, daddy actually comes out 'dowry', and brushing teeth is still 'lepies' although he does know how to say toothbrush so not sure if the other is his way of saying 'brushing his teeth'.

He also loves to sing, mostly cartoon theme songs, but also, surprisingly, some of my songs too! I finally put my foot down and now we "share" listening time in the car. So when we got in the other day and my CD kicked on and it was a song by 3 Days Grace that is somewhat of a pop-rock song and he started singing it, I was floored!

And as far as Kelby and him, "WOW!", is all I can say. When I look at the two of them playing, especially when they don't know I'm looking, I am so overwhelmed with love that I feel like laughing and crying all at the same time! Since Kelby has become mobile (crawling and wanting to cruise so bad!), they just can't get enough of each other! Wherever he is, she is right there by him. Sometimes she definitely is the annoying little sister, knocking over his carefully arranged Lego's, or pulling his crayon box off his table and eating his crayons.

When he is in his highchair eating she is like a little puppy dog sitting and waiting underneath for him to drop some food. And if he thinks I am not looking he actually drops it down to her on purpose, and for those times when I really haven't been looking, she has now tried red peppers, chocolate, corn, goldfish, animal crackers, and of course anything that may have gotten by me altogether.

Kelby is such a little personality all her own. She is very verbal and seems to actually intend to say "mama" and "dada", as opposed to it just being meaningless babble like it was with Kaleb. She is also very curious about things, and really likes to size things up to see what all they can do. She is an extremely fast crawler, and if you're not ready for her to come around the corner looking for you, you will surely step on her (ok so it's happened once but now I know to look!).

She is very adaptable to any situation, and will fall asleep just about anywhere, as long as she is with daddy or me. Her only vice is that she is going through some major stranger anxiety, which luckily we bypassed completely with Kaleb. She does ok with new people as long as she is able to test them out for a bit prior to them trying to engage her.

Although she really isn't what I would consider a cuddly baby, I love to pick her up and just hold her and hug her real tight, and just relish in her "babyhood". She is our last, and even though not regretfully so, I know we are going to look back on these days and wish we could get some part of them back. Like with Kaleb's communication increase, Lou and I were talking last night about how someday he will just be able to come in and talk to us as if there was never another way to do it, and we have vowed to not ever take it for granted! Thank goodness for today's technological advances in the ease of documenting these moments with video and pictures! I can just see us, 20 years from now, the kids are in college, and we're sitting at home watching home movies and crying in our martini's about how much we miss our babies! Ok maybe that's a stretch...half crying, half hallelujah to be free again! LOL

Kelby had her 9 month check up last week and here are her stats:
Weight: 18 lbs. 14 oz. (55%)
Height: 28 1/2" (90%)

One of the hardest things is that with each new milestone and exciting new accomplishment, there is always a part of me that is so sad that my dad is not here to see it. Although I will forever be thankful that he was here as long as he was and got to meet my children, at the same time it almost intensifies my grief to think about how much they will miss of him in their future.

Kaleb still talks about him non-stop (hence the idea for the Popo Bear), and as happy as it makes me that he still thinks about him, I dread the thought that he may really be mourning his absence even at such a young age. But his daily mentioning of Popo, however painful, helps to keep his memory alive, and if someday his memory of him seems to be fading, I will make sure to step it up and keep it going.

The length of this entry is two-fold; I have gotten behind, and I'm also feeling especially emotional today. No, not pregnant, no, not that time of the month...maybe it's the holidays, maybe it's the surge in the kids milestones and knowing we're not having any more. But whatever it is, I am especially thankful for my life; my family, my friends, my husband, and my kids, and not for one second do I take their health and happiness for granted!

Now on a less somber note, here's some recent pictures...

Kelby chewing on a toy rolling pin...poor teething girl!

Hugs for Santa...when you push a button this Santa shakes his booty and sings "I like to move it move it..." and then at the end says "I'm going to shake it, like a bowl full of jelly!". Kaleb loves it!

Riding the train at the mall

Yummy...banana!

Showing off her strong legs! She gets up like this, and then bends over and looks between her legs, and then sits back down again. No cruising...yet!