Tired of the beach yet?...uuhm, no!

We just keep going to the beach. We can't stop. We need to go to beachgoers annonymous. Barry has actually been swimming in the ocean when we go & that's his new favorite thing. Not me. I just get my feet wet. I have a whole lotta pictures here because we've been taking so many and they're just too cute to pick just one or two - so I'm just going to post a bunch. I hope you don't mind. We finally worked in the yard last weekend a little - Kaelyn paid the price though because she got tons of mosquito bites on her poor little head - luckily they almost went away by the next day. I had a bunch of moms & kids over today to play in the yard - the weather has been picture perfect for about the past 3 weeks - mid 70's, sunny, light breeze. Now both our parents are visiting in the coming weeks and I bet the weather will suck. Hopefully not. Kaelyn is 7 months old now by the way, and she finally started sitting up on her own on a regular basis. She just hates sitting. She just wants to stand up all the time instead. I can't even get her legs to bend - she just stiffens up like a board and stands up when I pull on her arms. Already giving us problems at such an early age!

This first group of pictures are all from last weekend at Plum Island near Newburyport. It was a huge beach & there were like 5 people there total.

There is something seriously wrong with my hat. It keeps getting thrown in our bag & looks worse and worse everytime I put it on.

It's feeding time at the beach.

Are these towels shrinking or is she just getting that much bigger?

The next beach pictures are from Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-sea. The sand is supposed to "sing" when you step on it - I guess we weren't listening carefully enough.

She was supposed to be sleeping - instead she just pulled the cover off her carrier and flashed that devilish smile.

We went to Salem and she went on the swings for the first time. She seemed to like them, but it was actually putting her to sleep.

This was the first night she sat up for a long period of time totally on her own with no pillow behind her. It's about time!

Misc.

We have had lots of projects around the house that we wanted to get finished before each of our parents come to visit us in September - but the weather has been so great, & fall & winter are just around the corner, so we've been doing our best to enjoy the outdoors instead. I figure, there will be plenty of crummy days when we'll have nothing better to do than work on the house - but our beach days are numbered! Kaelyn and I have been enjoying lots of playdates with our moms group we joined - Kaelyn is making all sorts of little pint sized friends. She experienced the baby swings at the park this past weekend for the first time - I think she's hooked now. I don't have a picture here with her on the swings, but I will next time I post. She's doing lots of reaching and grabbing for things & becoming very active & social. It's been a lot of fun for sure!

Who is that cutie pie under there?!

We went to Rockport a couple weeks ago & it got cooler while we were there - so we bundled Kaelyn in a receiving blanket. She looked like a samurai. Barry was doing his best impression of "looking manly" since he felt stupid carrying her around looking like this.

This is supposedly the most painted and photographed building in the U.S. (who am I to argue - I have no idea) It would've been more picturesque if the large boat wasn't parked in front of it. Still pretty though.

Here is a preview of Kaelyn's Halloween costume. Can you guess what she is going to be? I can't wait - it is going to be adorable!!

I got my hair cut a little shorter last weekend. I don't think it looks all that much different, but it feels soooo much better! I also highlighted it myself (to save money) - we all know how these things go...I had to spend twice as much to get the coloring corrected because I screwed it up!

Happy baby

Her future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades. Cheesy, I know. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

Big smiles for mama! That baby bjorn ends up in so many of our pictures - they should be paying us for the free advertising. Sometimes we try to cover it up, but they've strategically placed their logo everywhere!

Summer Fun

Well, we've been enjoying the beach some more. Every weekend we say we are going to get stuff done, but then the weather is so nice all we want to do is go out and enjoy the day. That's OK, we will have plenty of crummy days to work inside the house I'm sure. It has rained here almost every single day this week, which has made the pleasant weekend all the more appealing. I guess every town around here has their "thing" - their special event in the summer that they are known for. Well, Beverly has "Homecoming Week". I don't know who's coming home, but there have been some fun events. There was a classic car show yesterday that was walking distance from our house, so we went to that and then walked to the ice cream store down the block. Let's see, ice cream within walking distance of my house...I love this place! Then our neighbors invited us to the beach, so we were there until it got dark - we had pizzas delivered to the beach and sat around and drank beer while all the kids played. It was lots of fun. Everyone here seems to really try to get the most out of summer, probably because winter seems so long.

I think this is one of the best pictures we have gotten of Kaelyn in awhile - the lighting is great and she looks so pure - I love it!

I really liked this one as well. So sweet.

Sweet little smile.

We thought this would be a great angle for a picture - which it was, but her mood wasn't cooperating. It actually still made for a pretty amusing shot.

Even though this is off-center, I still think it's so sweet. Barry captured our "moment".

Barry and Kaelyn with their hats.

A rare family shot. We are due for some professional pictures so we can get some nice family shots while she's still semi-cooperative.

We were at West Beach in Beverly Farms - it's private, but our neighbors have a parking pass, so they got us in. It was nice & practically no one was there - even better!

Just in case you were curious what Kaelyn might look like with hair - or as the lead singer of The Cure.

Again, bad mommy.

August is here

Well, not much new going on here. Kaelyn has tried some more new foods. She is liking all of her baby foods, but definitely does not like any of the grown up foods we've given her a taste of - like ice cream, a popsicle & an apple (we just let her lick it, not actually eat it). It's really fun to see her disgusted face though - pure entertainment for mommy & daddy. We have a lot of company coming in the next couple of months, so we're trying to get some projects done around the house. We've been working on our bathroom since last November (no joke) so our goal is to get it done by the time my parents get here in late September since my dad helped us get started with it when he was here in November! Here are some pictures to let you see what we've been up to.

Mommy loves to kiss baby Kaelyn whenever she gets the chance!

We stuck a granny smith apple in her mouth to she what she would do. I don't think she liked it

It was really fun for us so we did it again - however, still didn't like the apple

I used to be able to wrap her all up in this towel like a baby burrito. Now I can barely keep her covered up!

Here is just one example of why I will not be getting a "mom of the year" award. I was sitting at my parents kitchen table with a beer, a trashy magazine, a box of Fanny Mae chocolates & the baby monitor.
Actually, maybe I should get the award - I can seriously multi-task!

Ok, now Barry & I will definitely not be getting a "parents of the year" award - but South Park is a cartoon, so that has to count for something.

We visited another beach in our town. The weather was perfect. Kaelyn loves when Barry flies her around

Just enjoying the day. As you can see, Kaelyn has not caught on to wrapping her legs around me to make it easier for me to hold her. Hopefully that will come soon since she's getting really heavy and I could use some help from her!

Catching up!

Well, I have waited waaayyyy too long to post to this blog. We have been so busy and I have so many new pictures I haven't had a long enough span of time to work on this. But I'm just going to do it. We were in Chicago area for 3 weeks visiting family and friends. We managed to squeeze in a trip down to KY during that time, which was tons of fun. In the past week or so Kaelyn has started some "real" food like squash and peaches. She seems to be liking it. She had her 6 month checkup on the 22nd and she is just growing in leaps and bounds - she measured 28 inches long which put her in the 99th percentile, and 16.5 pounds, which was 60th percentile. She's growing over an inch a month! Her 9 month clothes barely fit her - but luckily it's summer and it's mostly the length that doesn't fit, so with shorts you don't notice. We have been enjoying weekends at the beach for the past couple of weeks & it has been lots of fun. We are just trying to enjoy the summer here as much as possible because I know what comes next...winter! Last week Kaelyn had her first "modeling" job - she was a foot model! Our neighbor is a professional photographer & he is shooting a toy catalog, so she got to model a pair of Robeez shoes. She got to keep the shoes, along with some other baby swag. Too funny. Kaelyn & I went to our first outing yesterday with a new mommy/baby group we joined - it was at the beach (of course) and I got sunburned. Today we are going to a pool party in the afternoon. This stay-at-home mom stuff is rough. Barry said he's going to get me a box of bon-bons to complete my look. I have no shame - sounds good to me!

Here's Kaelyn in her new "suit" that my mom got her. She's a glamorous bathing beauty.

Eugene & Abby's rehearsal dinner in Chicago. We had just landed not even 2 hours before this, and Kaelyn was at home with my parents screaming her head off for hours...poor thing. I spent half the night just calling to check on her.

At Eugene's wedding. We had a really fun time. We did lots of shots!

Eugene & Abby - the happy new couple.

Ella had everyone over for dinner when we were in Lexington. It was great - unfortunately Kaelyn fussed a lot, but we still had a really fun time.

While in KY, we went to my favorite place - you guessed it, the Herb Farm. Though they were highly outnumbered by females of all ages, Barry & Tim still joined us.

Last time I ate here, none of us had babies. Hope it wasn't something in the food.

Kaelyn in her 4th of July outfit. She enjoyed celebrating her independence.

My brother and his girlfriend, Kim, finally getting to hold Kaelyn without her crying. It's all in the timing.

For some reason, Kaelyn kept crying when she saw Zach - but, then she got over it bigtime & was his new biggest fan.

I love my Uncle Zach!

Zach taught Kaelyn how to wear her hat. She's all street now yo...and I, clearly, am not.

Her new kitty cat hat. It's really for winter, but I couldn't wait.

While we were in Crystal Lake, she rode in the shopping cart like a big girl for the first time ever! This was actually the 2nd time because I didn't have a camera the 1st time. Never, ever leave the house without the camera.

Here's all of us at the beach a couple of weeks ago. It was impossible to get all of us (namely, Kaelyn) looking at the camera at once, but I thought it was super cute.

Mommy and baby enjoying the beach.

There was this little island off the beach and the waves just sort of went around it - you can sort of see how they actually cross over eachother here. Well, where they cross, a sandbar has formed and you can just walk over to the island. You just don't want to get stuck over there when the tide comes in!

Here's Barry checking out the sandbar. He looks more like he's trying to cross over the border illegally. Kaelyn & I stayed on dry land. We actually all got caught in a big rainstorm just minutes after this. Very messy.

Here's Kaelyn on her 6 month birthday enjoying her baby einstein toy. Love that smile girl.