Easter 2008 in Monroe

The babies on Easter morning. They were siting on the deck outside the ULM alumni center by Bayou DeSiard. It was really quick b/c we were scared that they would crawl away into the water. It was really dificult to get them both to look at the camera.

My family on Easter morning. So, fun to see us multiply each year.

Amy, Chad's cousin. The two red-heads together.

Chad's cousin, Allison, took pictures of Kayla at a local park that had beautiful tulips in bloom. Allison in a very good photographer and loves to shoot Kayla. These pics turned out really good. I'll show some later. This is one that I took. Her's are much better.

Fascinated with the Easter eggs. We had a good time staying all afternoon over at Brittany's house. We enjoyed boiled crawfish that evening. Chad devoured 10 lbs of it.



Our first Easter photo as a family. This was outside the ULM alumni center by the bayou. We went to church in the coliseum. North Monroe Baptist Church had their services there and it was really nice to praise and worship there. I saw a lot of old friends from high school and they got to meet Kayla. It was nice to go to Easter service with my family.

Papa loves having both his girls with him

Kayla and cousin Tristin loved looking in the mirror and making crazy faces and talking to themselves. Kayla can hold her own now with Tristin when they get to crawling on each other. She doesn't fuss as much, but Tristin is still more outspoken than Kayla.
Both of them peeking while the dads hide the Easter eggs.

We had so much fun with the babies hiding and picking up Easter eggs in my sister, Brittany's, back yard. Of course they weren't really hidden and we did all the finding, but it was fun for us, at least.

Pulling up and Standing

I found her here by her high-chair on Thursday, March 27th. This was my day off to spend with her. I'm really loving being with her more nowdays.


Kayla loves to pull up on everything nowdays and will even cruise around the furniture if it is stable enough. She can even stand unsupported for about 1-2 seconds if she had her balance. She's very wobbly. Chad and I love to help her walk around the living room and down the hallway. She loves to walk too. She is able to do everything that the Dr. asked if she could do, except for drinking from a sippy cup. I'm trying to offer it more nowdays with formula in it, but still not too interested and not sure how to use it. Its fine for now though. Its still early for that.

9 months old! - and sick

She checked out good at her 9 month well child Dr's appointment. She is in the 50th percentile with height and weight. She weighs 18lbs and 11oz (yeah, almost ready for the big car seat). Her head is a little big though, in the 75th percentile. We always knew she would have a big head like Chad. :) She got her blood tested for iron level, which checked out good, except she bled all over my pants after they drew her blood. Oh well, it came out.
Kayla has been crawling for about 2 weeks now. She's getting into everything and we're having to tell her "no" alot more now. I've had to keep her out of the dog bowl. Once, I left the room for 2 minutes and walk back in to see both hands full of dog food and a piece in her mouth. I quickly got it out and she protested loudly. I guess she thought it tasted good. Speaking of eating, she's eating 2nd foods a lot better nowdays. I've tried some 3rd foods, but not too used to that yet. She'll eat about 1/3 of the jar at a time then wants some 2nd foods. She'll still eat any finger foods too. Puffs, bread, cheese, and pretty much anything else that I'll give her and she can "chew" disolve in her mouth.
She's talking alot more too. She'll say ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, and ba-ba-ba-ba. Chad still hasn't convinced her to say da-da yet despite many trials. She's so much fun and exploring everything. Has lots of faces and cute gestures that she's learning the meaning of.


Kayla turned 9 months old on April 15th, Saturday. The night before she seemed fussy and vomited after a trip to the mall and then vomited and had many loose "blow-out" diapers on her birthday. This day we had to attend 2 parties and she was really not up to par. She went through 6 outfits this day, 3 before we came home from the parties. That night, she cries uncontrolably for about 3 hours and we desperately decided to get in the car and drive around town for an hour to settle her down. Well, she finally got about 3 hours of sleep, then we couldn't sleep. It was a long night leading up to Palm Sunday. That day, was long b/c we stayed in taking care of Kayla. She was very sleepy this day and would fuss any time she was awake after 3 hour naps. Needless to say, she slept all through the night Sunday night. Chad's parents came in to take care of her for about 3 days while we had to go to work, even though Monday she seemed a lot better. We found out that it may have been from the antibiotic she had been on for the ear infection. The ears were all clear though, we were happy to find out. After that weekend she has been really happy and fun to be around. Nine months came in with a bang, but we're really enjoying this time with her.

Pretty in pink on Spring-like days

The 1st Sunday she was able to wear a bow in her hair. It was cute, but it didn't last long b/c her hair is so fine and thin. It was a mild Sunday morning at 70 degrees, so it was fun to put her in a spring-time dress. It snowed the next day though.
Kayla's first experience with grass.

She's so cute nowdays when she lays her head down. Her face got red on one sid after going outside in the sun for only about 10 min. I guess I'll have to keep sunscreen on her in the summer.

Ear infection

Kayla love to play with her blocks and hit them together. Chad will build a tower and she loves to reach way out to knock them down.
If you haven't heard. We had to bring Kayla to the emergency room last Thursday night, Feb 28, 2007. She had 103 degree fever even after we gave her Tylenol an hour and a half before. The pediatrician clinic was closed and 8:00 and we just missed it, so the nurse advised us to go to the ER. In hind sight we should have just went to the clinic the next morning. Long story short, we got to the ER at 8:30 PM and didn't see a doctor until 4:30 AM the next morning. They did a triage and got her fever down before we went into a room, but it was so tiring and frustrating to wait all that time and find out that she had an ear infection. Over the weekend she seemed to feel better and laughing and playing alot. It really hasn't affected her sleep either. If anything, I think she's sleeping better. I went back to her doctor today to see if it had gone away and she still has a bad ear infection in the right ear. He gave us a stronger antibiotic, so hopefully this will cure it for good. We go back for our 9 month check up in about 3 weeks, so hopefully no more ear infections.

This was on Monday or Tuesday night (March 3rd or 4th) after her ear infection. She's still happy in the evenings and loves to play and try to crawl and pull up on everything. She's not doing either really good by herself, but she soon will. Here's a video of Chad and Kayla playing and her laughing.

Eating finger foods

"Yum, Yum... this is A-OK food!!! I like feeding myself!!"
She is serious about her food and shoves it in her mouth.
Dinner time is fun nowdays with Kayla feeding herself. She doesn't choke on them. Dr. was pretty worried about this and wanted to make sure that she is monitored. I assured him that she is.
Scary spagetti baby

The latest developmental leap that we have taken is the world of Kayla feeding herself. I think that this has been the issue for these two months that I've been stressing over what to feed her. The girl just wants some texture and to feed herself. When I try to feed her baby food, she just wants to grab for anything in sight, so I saw that as a sign to have her feed herself. The problem is, she doesn't have the teeth to east just anything. I've started with pieces of bread and she loves those. Also ventured out to bannanas and maybe pieces of cheese next. Anything that she can gum and will disolve in her mouth. I'm also feeding 3rd foods in between the bites she feeds herself. It was Spagetti in these pictures. She's not too keen on it, but she can't get full off of bites of bread and bannana. (given she only gets about 1/2 of them in her mouth.) Dinner time is alot happier nowdays. :)