Merry Christmas

Kalea had her 2nd Christmas this year and if this was one to foreshadow the future, then this girl has a lot of presents to look forward to. We did a double dose of Christmas this year, one at my auntie's house and then Christmas day we hosted at our house with Aja's family and my Mom and Bonnie. Kalea unveiled a new look this Christmas - pigtails! Her hair is now long enough for multiple ponytails, so the lil munchkin rocked the Boo look from Monsters Inc this Christmas. She handled gift opening very well, and seemed to not get overwhelmed with all of her new things. She loved the boxes and wrapping paper. She even went as far as kissing a picture of Rudolph on one of the gifts wrapping paper. The kid is full of love that she enjoys to express through kissing everything in sight. We really have been lucky to have such a great lil rug rat enter into our lives, and it is such a treat to watch her as she grows. It is also so much fun to see all the people in her life come around her and cover her with love. Christmas takes on a new light when a child enters in your life, and I have enjoyed watching Kalea during this season play with family, sit on Santa's lap, open presents, and just have fun.

Bag of Tricks

Kalea has a few things down now when you ask her questions. She is able to respond & show that she understands what is being said. This past week Noelle and Bonnie were able to catch a few of them on camera. Please excuse the brief nose picking - this is a trick that we are not very proud of.

Veggies!

Kalea's favorite show has got to be Veggietales. She has watched it since she was little and it was the show that would grab her attention so much that I used it to give her a bottle when she was younger. Now that she is older, Bob and Larry still are her favorite. She has said "Bob" for a while now, and whenever the start of the show happens, she automatically glues her eyes to the screen & asks "Bob?" Here is some of the enjoyment we get out of watching our little kid lovingly dance along and sing with the opening to Veggietales.

Learning

One thing that continues to amaze me about being a parent is watching how fast kids learn early on in their lives. Kalea is really beginning to sound things out and making her own words right now while beginning to grasp new words all the time. She is always asking "what's that?" or her own version of that same question and pointing at things. She is so curious and eager to get into things so that she can see what they do and what she can do with them.
We have set up gates in our house now so that Kalea can't get into the kitchen and go into the hallway. Kalea is already trying to find ways to get around these gates. She constantly tugs on them, and recently she has begun to try and climb these things when she really wants in. she sticks her little foot in any nook or cranny that she can find and tries to lift herself. She has also used her blocks box as a step in some cases to give her a stool to climb up on to help her in her quest to get to the other side.
We have invested in this time of curiousity and learning by getting Kalea a reading system designed for kids under 5. We are expecting it to come in the mail soon and hopefully this can keep Kalea's interest in the right direction instead of using all that brain power to figure out ways to out-think our child safety devices.

Kalea Slideshow

Auntie Bonnie put together a slideshow of Kalea's pics through the last year.

Kalea and Her Kisses

Halloween

Kalea dressed for halloween for the first time this year since last year her mom and dad didn't even reaalize it was halloween until we went out to go to Kalea's first doctor's appointment and saw a bunch of people with costumes on walking in the streets - having a baby seperates you from the real world for a couple of days. Kalea dressed up as bumble bee and we went and had brunch with Aja at her work. Followed that up with a visit to grandma's with a little modeling of the costume. We went window shopping, and then finished the day of at the Kawase's for some dinner & hanging out as trick or treaters interrupted our scary movie watching. The little bee was cute as can be, and I think she knew it because every time she put her costume on she got a smile on her face and looked around for a reaction which was never hard to find. The kid is getting a personality and becomes more aware of her surroundings and what's going on everyday.

Pics from the Party

There was bubbles, presents, cake, and it ended with a much needed bath!

1st Birthday Party is in the Books

Kalea had her first birthday party today. She was a little confused about having so many people in her house, but she did her best to be a good host. Well, she was a good host until she saw someone trying to move in on her mommy. Our friend Adam was here with his grandma and grandpa, and Aja was just saying how much she missed having a little kid to hold, so she jumped on the chance to grab little 3 1/2 month old Adam. Everything was fine until Kalea caught an eyeful of another kid being held by her mom in her house. The birthday girl wasn't having it! She scurried her way to her momand grabbed hold of the bottom of her shirt in demand of being picked up - so Aja was forced to put the baby down and pick the little booga up. Kalea quickly shot a glance at Adam and pointed her finger at him to let him know who's mom that was, and they were back to being friends again. Although i caught a glance at the poor guy minutes afterwards and his face was saying that it wasn't his idea to be held by Aja at all, he wasn't looking for any trouble.
The party was a success though, and Kalea was blessed with a room full of people that love her. She seemed to enjoy opening gifts but wasn't to crazy about having to put something new that she just opened down to go to the next gift. Boxes and wrapping paper were a big hit. She is a cheap date at this point. Kalea also was introduced to the world of cake today. After a slow start of getting through the frosting on top, she dug in and made of mess of her little cake. Before you knew it she was elbow deep in a mix of different color frosting, yellow cake, and lemon filling. She had a blast hanging out for the rest of the time with friends and family - she even showed off a little with her walking skills. The little girl is growing fast and it's hard to keep up sometime. Nonetheless, we are haivng the best time following each footstep.

The Proof!

Here she is in all her glory today at my mom's place. Auntie Bonnie was able to catch the newly mobile Kalea quick feet.

I Hear Steps

Kalea has still not really taken to crawling, but her walking has stepped it up the past week. She was initially hesitant to take steps without holding things around her. She's kind of a scaredy-cat when it comes to trying new things she hasn't done on her own. I decided that i would try and make it a game for her the other week, and i started to reach out from her just out of the distance where she felt comfortable. She took to this game right away, and she began taking litle steps to get to me. I caught her before she could face plant & immediately began giving her high fives and kisses so that she would think it was cool. Well, the plan has worked, and now Kalea is taking steps on her own and even stopping for a second or two once she is away from whatever she's holding and then finishes falling forward into my arms. This is one of the most fun times with her. She giggles and is obviously impressed with herself. I hope to get video soon to post so everyone can see.

Cinco!

5 Years ago Aja and I began a wonderful marriage that has brought us on this trip of life and love which has given us Kalea. We're now a family making it in San Francisco, working hard, but never losing focus on our love for each other. There are times that are hard, but we've been lucky that the good times have far out-weighed the bad. Throughout it all, we have learned and continue to learn to work with each other and I am so lucky to have the support and encouragement of a wonderful partner in life. Here's a pic of the two of us way back before we were married - and I can really say that we are as happy today as we were back then.

Piggybacking at the Zoo

We brought Kalea to the zoo the other week and Auntie Noelle came along. One of the little monster's new favorite things to do is piggyback ride. She's a little character now & in this video she not only shows off her new found love, but also gives the camera a crazyhead, and a nice little song.

Sharing

Kalea has really been into sharing lately - her food, her toys, and her lambs. She has a bunch of soft fleece lambs that are small rag-like toys that she just loves. She uses them to go to sleep & they have become her comfort thing. She has begun to learn to kiss. She often takes her lambs and gives her version of a kiss to them which is really an open mouth slobber of a kiss. She enjoys sharing this event with her loved ones as well as you can see her doing in this vid with Auntie Bonnie.

Making Life Work

Recently Aja and I have been juggling our work schedules around and trying to make everything work with child care as i assume most new parents do when they are adjusting to living with a new member of the family. We have been blessed so much so far with having family step up and help us out by watching Kalea. Both our moms have helped out considerably, and have really relieved a lot of stress in finding child care. My sisters have been a big help too, stepping in and taking care of Kalea while we are at work & really coming through when we are in desperate need of last second care. An added bonus to my sisters watching Kalea is that they are both really good photographers. They come well prepared as well with beautiful cameras and photo sessions in mind. I love coming home and hearing about how Kalea's day was, but it's so much fun to actually see what she was doing that day 'cause there are massive amounts of pictures of her just being her. Here are some gems that Noelle took this past week, and Bonnie took when I went to pick Kalea up from my Mom's place last weekend.

New Teeth, New Toy

Kalea has added more teeth to her three bottom that came in not too long ago. There is now another tooth on the bottom & two top teeth have cut their way in, making the little kid a full on toothasauraus. She has not complained much at all besides being somewhat moody here and there. She loves being able to bite through things now & puts those chompers to full use whenever watermelon, canteloupe, or peaches are anywhere near her. She also loves crackers when she can get her hands on them.
We went shopping at Babies R Us yesterday and picked up baby-proofing equipment because this little girl is on the move! She has been figuring out how to get all over the house now that she is getting comfortable with walking around while holding on to something for support. We wanted to pick her up something that will encourage her to step away from the coffee table and furniture that she usues to support, so we bought her a little shopping cart to use as a walker to get around the house. She absolutely loved it causing her to show off those new chompers as you can see in the pictures. The cart makes little noises and is full of toy groceries, so she would pick them up and place them in the cart which made the music start playing and made the teeth come out. She was so excited about the whole thing. Next up...walking around without the use of a cart!

Crazyhead!!!

The other week Kalea started shaking her head like she was saying no with her eyes all bugged out & she just thought it was hilarious. We started calling it her crazyhead & she now does it on request when she is in a performing type mood. We were able to catch it on our camera in all it's glory. Check the end of the video for another one of her tricks - waving bye.

Bath Time

Here's a video from a couple of months ago when Kalea was still able to fit her little baby bathtub. She has graduated now to the kitchen sink where she likes to have a few minutes of splashing before she is cleaned. She loves water!

More Songs by Kalea

Auntie Noelle was able to catch this video of the little chatter box while she was hanging out in her crib the other week.

Zoo visit in April

Here's an old video from April when we went to the zoo with my sisters & the Kawases right before Aja's birthday. Unfortunately uncle Toshi was in pain for the next few days after this little swing maneuver he had going with the little girl. Guess his back doesn't work this hard when he is tossing bowling balls.

Shock Dat Monkey

Kalea was playing a little peek-a-boo with Aja the other day with our red fleece blanket that we keep on our couch. We just washed the blanket, so there was an extra amount of static electricity flowing through the blanket which quickly made itself known through Kalea's hair as you can see from the timely pic we were able to snap.

Being Silly at Grandma's

Kalea was super tired when i picked her up today from my mom's, but auntie Bonnie was able to grab this quick video before we took off.

Sample Shrieks

Here are some of the high notes that Kalea loves to hit when she's busy playing.

...and a goofy smile - she uses this look to flirt too.

Teeth!

They are now officially in. Kalea sprouted her two front bottom teeth & she has been putting them to use. She has continued to be an amazing eater, and even food that she initially didn't seem to like, she now wolfs down with nothing but smiles. She has dug her teeth into cantaloupe and has improved her motor skills with her hands enough to where she grabs and slams down cheerios to no end.
She visited the doctor last week for her 9 month check-up. Yes, she is 9 months old already! The doctor gave her an A+. She has mastered the ability to stand while holding onto the coffee table and she can make her way around as long as she can balance herself using her hands. The crawling continues to be a skill that she doesn't show much interest in, but rolling is her go to method when she get's down on the ground. The girls is a squeeker. She shrieks with joy when she sees Aja or I return after being gone for awhile. She also likes to hit high notes when she's busy playing and singing.
Dancing is a new skill that she has picked up on in the past few weeks. Whenever a song comes on, she goes for it with head bobbing and shoulder rolling. If she is in her bouncer or standing up at the table and a song comes on she bounces her legs - the girl's got talent!

Late 4th of July Post

So we went to my auntie's house for 4th of July & Kalea was exposed to her first fireworks. She was a little interested in the ones that lit up & made a bunch of colors. I thought she would be a bigger fan because of her complete interest in light fixtures and chandeliers, but the fireworks didn't captivate the little one. Then came the loud popping of firecrackers and the usual noise that comes along with the 4th. She was not into that. The cracking began, and she didn't know what to make of the sounds. She looked wide eyed for the first few & then began crying. She calmed down after awhile, but then more snapping brought more tears. Aja ended up leaving the show early and went inside to read Kalea a book and she soon fell asleep - looking to put this extremely noisy holiday behind her.

Growing Up

Kalea continues to grow up in front of our eyes. This past week she pulled herself up from sitting down to standing without any help from her parents. She was sitting in her crib and i went to turn the light on for her room which she thinks is the coolest thing ever right now. I got to the light switch, and i turned around to see her little hands on the rail to her crib. she looked at me and pulled herself up a little but wasn't able to get her feet underneath her. Then she saw the light go on, and that got her big head looking up. She pulled again and this time she went straight up and was on her feet. She looked at me and let out one her now famous excitement shrieks, and we celebrated togehter.
Then a few days later, i get a call from Aja when i was working to let me know that Kalea had finally cut her first teeth. Her bottom two front teeth have come out to play. they aren't all the way here, but we can definitely see the two of them now. She hasn't shown a whole lot of discomfort through that process so we're greatful for that. She is now able to mow down watermelon so the little monster is greatful for that.

Classy Babe

Last night Aja and I were sitting on our couch watching How I Met Your Mother on DVD. Aja was feeding Kalea in preparation for her to go to bed for the night. Kalea finished her meal, and Aja sat her up. I looked over to see the little lady stare right at me, and she goes into a full on smile. This made my heart all warm as it always does when i get to see her toothless grin. She looked as though she was about to let out one of her squeals like she does now when she gets excited. There was no squeal on this particular occasion though. Instead of a declaration of love through one of her made up words or exciting shrieks, Kalea looked lovingly into my eyes with a full on smile and let out a huge BURP! Aja was watching the whole time of course, and we both started cracking up. The little one has started to make a habit of making her parents laugh uncontrollably lately. The personality unravels itself more with each week.
Her newest trich that she added skillset is waving hi and goodbye. We've been working on it with her lately, but she was stuck on clapping as her one trick with her hands. She likes to go with the one hand in the air with an open close of the fist as her wave. Next up, crawling! She seems to be very interested in our cat when she's down on the ground, so we're thinking of using our old kitty as bait to get our rolly polly of a child moving.

Old Video

Here's an old video of Kalea when she started getting into kisses!

Father's Day/Mother's Day rewind

Aja and I were able to experience our first official Mother's and father's Day this year. Unfortunately Aja had to work on Mother's Day, but she was able to leave a little early and come celebrate with my family at my uncle's house. It was a fun day of relaxing and watching Kalea have a ball with her great-uncle Toshi & great-auntie like she always does when they are around. Auntie Bonnie and Noelle also got their hands on the little rascal, so she had a full day of family love & Aja got to sit back and relax a little, and may have had a sip or two of champagne.
Father's Day ended up being a 2 day ordeal for us as we hosted Aja's family for dinner on Father's Day eve, and then had an early dinner at my Auntie's house on the actual day. Both meals were amazing, and Aja put together an amazing picture box for me full of pictures and momentos from when Kalea first's few weeks. The little girl makes it awefully fun to be a parent, and both Mother's and Father's Day became a fun little reminder of just how truely blessed we are to have such a kick ass little kid.

Feed Me!

The other week Kalea's high chair came in the mail. I quickly assembled it & she is now eating at the dining table like one of the grown folks. She continues to try new foods & is now entered the wonderful world of being a carnivore. She had turkey for the first time & seems to like it. That just seems crazy to me that this little girl is already sitting in a chair scarfing down protein - seems like it wasn't too long ago we were taking her home from the hospital after she was born. She loves to eat though, and it's fun to see her expressions as new tastes and textures are exposed to her.

Life gets Busy

So sorry to slack on the blog the last few weeks. We have been pretty busy getting things straight in the team paez household. Our roommate Ed moved out & Aja's oldest brother Frank moved in a couple of weeks ago, which was a pretty good transition. We will miss having Ed as a roommate with everything that he did around the house to make our lives easier. He watched Kalea once a week the last month he was here, he always washed up any dishes that we left in the sink, and he would bake bread at least once a week making our house smell delicious and provide us with free bread - my kinda roommate!
Kalea is getting bigger and bigger with every week. She is sitting up like a champ now & is eager to learn to stand up. She rolls all the way over now. She hasn't learned to crawl yet, but is able to rotate herself around. No sign of a first tooth at this point, but her hair is long enough to get in her eyes now. She shows signs of be ing a girly girl - she's very interested in shiny things like watches and earrings, she loves looking at big girls shoes, and she likes boys. I hope to get some more pictures up soon - we have anew camera that I bought for Aja on the mother's day, but we're not quite smart enough to upload the pics on the computer yet - that and we haven't had a lot of free time to mess around with it - but they are coming!

Big 'Ol Dome

Kalea had a doctor's appointment on Thursday. She is on track with all of her developmental skills, rolling over, discovering how to use her hands, and sitting up for 20-30 seconds at a time. She is in at least the 85% range with her size with the exception of her head which is off the chart in size. our daughter has a huge cranium. This was no surprise to Aja since the last time she went shopping for hats for the little girl, even the 1yr old sizes were a little snug on her - she's only 6 months old. Aja held back laughs at the dcotor's because she knew that Kalea's dad has a pretty big head on his shoulders, so she knew exactly where that came from. So we're hoping she develops a strong neck on her shoulders to hold all the weight she's carrying up there.
She now weighs 17lbs 12ozs and is 25in long. She has slowly been getting new tastes of food including banana, zucchini, and butternut squash. We are trying to hold back a little on her curiosity with food because it seems her little body isn't all the way ready to handle that food. We were feeding her food twice a day, but are looking at limiting that to once a day & letting milk be her primary source of nourishment. She loves eating from a spoon though, and she now leans forward in her chair when we bring the spoon up to her. She's a very funny lady. The only taste that she seems to not be crazy for so far is prunes. She rocks her head back at the first taste of them and sways it back and forth like she is saying "no". The girl knows what she likes, and doesn't hold back in letting you know what she doesn't like.

Day at the Zoo

Last weekend we went to the zoo with my sister's & the Kawases. It was a great day of being out with the family. It was also one of the hottest days so far this year. This gave us the chance to bust out some of Kalea's sun dresses that she has. We haven't been able to put them on her up to this point because San Francisco doesn't usually give us weather that cooperates with those kind of outfits. Sunday was definitely an exception though, reaching up to the 90's. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it under a huge tree in front of the zoo's playground. Auntie and Toshi loved holding and playing with Kalea as we ate lunch. Kalea was a star while we there despite the sun shining in her face and forcing us to drench her in sunscreen.
We walked around and saw a bunch of the big cats, bears, and kangaroos. Kalea was as interested looking at all the big kids running around the zoo as she was looking at the animals that were there. She is facinated with kids bigger than her. We brought one of her bucket hats (which Aja loves on her) and we thought we would take her hollywood diva look a step further and took out her sunglasses. She styled away as auntie Noelle clicked picture after picture. She put up with her sunglasses longer than i thought. She's been so grabby with everything lately that i thought there was no chance she would leave the glasses on her face, but after some adjusting, she kept them on for a little while. We ended the day with some Easter gifts from the Kawases for Kalea. She got a a huge bubble wand, a bath toy, & a little outfit for her to grow into. Aja also got an early birthday gift - a new baking cookbook from sur la table. She was very excited, and we're all anxious to taste some of the results the recipes. It was a wonderful weekend day with the family!
Kalea got another chance to go out in her sun dress the day after when Noelle came to watch her for the day. The girls went out to the park next to our house & spent some time in the sun. As usual, Noelle had her camera & also brought her friend Angela who also had a camera, so Kalea put on another fashion show. She has many pictures to add to her portfolio now. The kid knows she's cute already, and she loves to look at herself in the mirror or on the camera after snapping a picture.

Aja turns 27!

Aja had her birthday!!! She had a big year this past year. Last year we were telling our families that we had a baby on the way at her birthday parties. Now we have a little lady that takes up our time and energy. Time does fly! I got Aja a new digital camera for her birthday which was an easy gift to get because we had gone window shopping the weekend before and looked at the cameras that are out now. She really wanted a new camera to catch all the moments that we will have with Kalea.

Growing Up Before our Eyes

Kalea has continued to do more and more with each day that passes. She has successfully mastered that art of rolling from her stomach to her back. There's no keeping her doing her tummy time now. She began this past Tuesday when she must have rolled over 15 times in a row while i was playing with her on her blanket. Aja was in the kitchen when she did it the first time & yelled to her that she just rolled over. Aja was pissed that she missed it so i threw her back on her stomach to see if she would do it again, and almost instantly she was back on her back and looking at me like, "Did you see that? I'm freakin amazing, huh?"
She has also gotten really into watching Veggie Tales and Little Einsteins. I don't know if Aja and i are going to win any "Parents of the Year" awards with letting out 5 1/2 month old watch tv shows, but it helps in the morning when we're getting ready for work. She has already really enjoyed music & listening to different songs when we're in the car or when she's been going down to sleep, and both of these shows have music involved with pretty much every episode. She watches intetnly & talks to the tv at times - very cute. She is so interested in everything that you putin front of her now, that it's fun to see her taking different things in and wondering what's going on in the pretty little head of hers.

Return to Vallejo

Today I had the pleasure of returning to a job site that I worked on with Mike and Matt for a little less than a year when we were all with DDG. The remodel was a lot of work and happened in a 9 story place with some not so great neighbors. We powered through it though & it came out amazing. As with most of our jobs with DDG, i never really got to see the final product once everything was done and the family moved in. However, two or three years later & I get a call from Mike letting me know of an oppertunity to grab a little side job and re-seal all the tile that they have in their place.
I jumped on the oppertunity to make some extra cash. It was a bit weird being there by myself though. I have grown so accustomed to working side by side with Matt on jobs, that sometimes it hits me that he isn't around anymore. The place looks amazing, and it was fun to see it being well taken care of & being able to sit back and admire all the work we put into it. When i was working on it, i never really appreciated what we were doing, but now being away from it a bit, has really helped me to look back on those times with a lot of joy. Wroking with Matt and Mike was a huge blessing for the years that we all were pushing to get things done. Sometimes the work seemed overwhelming and hard, and we complained, but now, as I'm in a different situation, I see how lucky I was to have those times with those guys. I learned so much, not only construction skills, but work ethic and what a good days work really looks like. I got a little spoiled in that we all got along so well, and there was never a dull day with those two around. Also working with someone you grew up next to and share so many memories with, makes it easy to deal with any hard labor that might come along with the kind of work we did.
Anyways, the tile looks amazing now, and i earned a few extra buck to help make things work at home. I have another side job next Saturday, so hopefully God keeps providing me with oppertunities to pick up extra work so that Aja and I can keep afloat.

Get in my Belly!!!

Kalea has moved into the land of eating real food! She has been eating rice cereal for a while now & the other week got her first taste - sweet potato!!! she moved to bananas this week and seems to like them. She has been watching very intently whenever Aja or I have been eating. She follows our forks as we bring them to our mouths to eat, so I think she will be OK with the whole process of eating.
She has also really begun to use her hands to grab and bang on things. Last night we took one of her toys down from the bookshelf that she hasn't been able to play with yet. It is a liitle tikes piano that plays music when you press the keys, turn the roller, or move the top in any way. She absolutely loved it!!! She reached out for it on our dining table and banged away for a good half hour. She continues to grow up more and more with each day - we're such lucky parents to be able to be a part of her life.