2010 Christmas Card and Letter

Hey Everyone!

Keelie stopped taking her naps, so our blog updates have been lacking. I used to work on the updates while she napped so she wouldn’t climb in front of the computer and ask to see more pictures. This update will also be serving as our environmentally-friendly (all-electric!) Christmas card and letter, which should work just fine, since you are here reading it.

We’re so excited about wishing you a Merry Christmas…

Can’t you tell?

“Lemme tell you about what a great deal this is, lil’ brother. We go to sleep, and when we wake up, there are new toys over there under the tree!!!”

Print that out, if you must have a tangible card.

This year has been mostly another boring one. which is good. Once again, we didn't lose our home, I didn't lose my job, no major crimes were committed against us, we didn't have to file a lawsuit against anyone, none of us suffered a major illness or injury, and the dog didn't die.

But we WERE interviewed for a podcast called “The Enthusiast Enthusiast”. We talked about being Disney enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, we did have two family passings this year. Aunt Vicky, the honorary grandmother for whom my younger sister was named, passed away after years of declining health. My stepbrother Justin also left us; he was too young to go. Both are missed!

On a positive note, we’ve been able to enjoy the growth of Keelie as she passed her third birthday celebration and Kyle as he enjoyed his first. And he did enjoy it…

Unlike his cousin Lainey, who had her celebration together with Kyle’s, Kyle had no problem getting messy with cake.

Kyle is almost 16 months of age and he still doesn’t sleep through the night except for rare nights here and there. I heard a lack of sleep may efekt mentle abilly tees, bud eye havn no tissed uh problum.

Kyle is a daredevil climber. He also has quite the temper. Not sure where he gets that. Ahem. He likes music a lot and will dance to it when he can.

Speaking of dancing, as we said in a previous update, we enrolled Keelie in dance class (ballet and tap) since Kori enjoyed dance classes when she was a little girl. Keelie’s class had a recital at an Anaheim holiday event.

She loves going to dance class, but it is hard to get her to pose for the camera with a good smile. We have to take the good shots candidly. Keelie also enjoys Sunday school, educational programming, and long walks on the beach. Uhm, well, ok I made that last one up.

We didn’t take any trips this year. Our free time that we spent out of the home was mostly spent with family. It is always nice to have the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins entertaining the kids because otherwise, given their ages, when we are out somewhere with them all of our energy and attention goes into making sure the kids don’t maim themselves or other kids, don’t break anything, don’t get stolen, and don’t miss a trip to the restroom or changing table. Take heed all of you who are planning to become parents.

Although we didn’t take trips, we did use our annual passes to take the kids to Disneyland frequently and now we also have Knott’s passes, so the kids are going to visit there regularly, too. Thanks to the grandparents who have contributed to both sets of passes!

That’s our year in a nutshell – er, uh, blog posting.

Whether you are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and worship Him as Lord and the One who has saved you from your sins… or are enjoying other festivities and traditions of the season, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year.

Below are some of the better pictures from the last several months… at least the ones that aren’t incriminating, if you care to look…

Please keep in touch!
–Ken, for the Pellmans of Anaheim
December 2010
KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com

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Kyle enjoying a park in late August…

Keelie posing for Granddaddy Keel, expert photographer…

Puma, Uncle Steve, Kyle on my lap, and the back of Granddaddy Keel’s head…

Keelie at the Huntington Library, thanks to Grandma Kathleen…

Grampa Pellman holding his youngest grandchild…

Keelie ready for it to get dark on October 31…

Keelie enjoying a local park…

With Nanny at Teddy Bear Tea at the Langham…

Kyle is all dressed up and ready to wreak havoc with a crayon…

See ya next time!

Paying Our Respects to Uncle Gary Johnson

Kori and I both have ties to central Illinois. Kori’s mother Pam (Puma) lived in Illinois and continued to do so as she attended Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU), and she met Bill while they were working together in Illinois. Kori attended IWU, living there (Bloomington-Normal) while school was in session. My mother and her two brothers were raised in Peoria, and my maternal grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins all lived in the area and stayed in Illinois until recently. Uncle Ron and Aunt Kathi still live in the Peoria area, while everyone else has scattered. Even my sister’s husband has sisters, nieces, and nephews who live in Mendota, which isn't too far away.

We have made a few trips to Illinois over the last several years for funerals and weddings and to see relatives. In 2004, in the middle of a trip to northern California to see Kori’s youngest sister compete in Junior Miss, we flew out to attend my grandmother’s funeral in Peoria in a whirlwind visit that included an hour with the Johnsons in Bloomington-Normal and a night in Mendota. In May of 2005, we took a longer, more relaxed trip so that Kori could be a bridesmaid in sorority sister Kelly’s wedding, and we took the opportunity to visit the Johnsons and Bloomington-Normal, the IWU campus, and my relatives in Peoria. In June of 2006, we had a short trip to Peoria for my grandfather’s funeral.

This time, we went back for a funeral. Gary Johnson, D.D.S., was “Uncle Gary” to Kori, though not actually an uncle through marriage or birth. As the story goes, Pam was living in Illinois and decided to attend IWU. She and Chris (short for Christine) ended up being sorority house roommates, and became best friends. Thus, Chris became “Aunt Chris”. While in school, she started dating local football hero, frat boy, and dentist’s son, Gary, whom she married. Pam was the Maid of Honor.

Gary and Chris raised 5 children – Marnie, Gary Shaun, Ashleigh, Tyler, and Dylan, and were surrogate parents to Kori while she was attending IWU. Uncle Gary and Aunt Chris made it out to California for both our wedding and Kendra & Steve’s which was less than a year later.

Word came last Monday that Uncle Gary had passed away suddenly and quietly in his sleep. It was unexpected as he was still relatively young. Coincidentally, Pam & Bill had been there for a weekend visit, so they changed their plans to return to California in order to stay in Bloomington-Normal for Aunt Chris and the family. Kori planned out our trip, reserving the flights, hotel, and rental car.

Wednesday morning, Kendra and Steve dropped the three of us off at the Long Beach airport for our flight to Chicago – or rather, they rode with us in our minivan and drove it off, taking Shelby to the vet to be boarded.

The airport is a tiny one by LAX or O’Hare standards, but it does have honest-to-goodness major air carriers. Jet Blue flies out of Long Beach, and we like their cheap rates, leg room, and entertainment, which helps the flight go by faster. Fortunately, we had a non-stop flight. Jet Blue now sells headphones instead of giving them out… but the price is only a dollar and the headphones are standard in that you can use them with your own electronic devices. So, you can bring your own to help you enjoy your choice of XM radio or Direct TV channels. Don’t expect pillows or blankets.

Traveling with a baby or toddler is no fun. Fortunately, Keelie is generally very well behaved (at least, according to what other people tell us), though when she gets bored she snatches our glasses from our face and tugs on our earphones. The biggest hassle is getting through security, because you have to take off your shoes, put everything on the conveyer belt, hold the toddler, break down the stroller/car seat combo, and then they have to examine the stroller separately because it is too big for the scanner. Meanwhile, if one of you is pulled off to the side because you set off the metal detector, that leaves the other person to collect everything, including the stroller, while shoeless and holding a toddler. The stroller/car seat combo gets checked at the gate, which is good because it doesn’t count as a carry-on and it can be used up until boarding.

As it turned out, our flight’s departure was delayed for over an hour as there was weather hold-up in Chicago. We would allow Keelie to walk around the waiting area as we closely followed her, keeping her from most perils.

We had an uneventful flight to Chicago, save a dirty diaper.

From the airport, it was a two-hour-plus drive to the Bloomington-Normal area, with much comfort from the warm sticky weather, thanks to the air conditioning.

The viewing for Uncle Gary had started at 3pm and was still going strong after 8pm, when we arrived. Clearly, Uncle Gary was a very loved, respected, and admired man. He had taken over his father’s dentistry practice, serving an area in which he had lived all of his life, save dental school. Being the guy that he was, father, local boy, football hero, and supporter of local causes, he had made a lot of friends in the area.

We made our way to check in at our hotel from there.

After the services Thursday morning, everyone headed to the Johnson home. With so many people wanting to be there (I did mention that he was loved, respected, and admired), everyone parked in a large nearby parking lot and members of the football team shuttled people to the home, a beautiful place on a private road. Uncle Gary was the “team dentist” for these boys and a huge general supporter, so they were there paying their respects.

The home, inside and outside, was packed. Biaggi's, a local Italian restaurant in which the Johnsons invested, catered with a seemingly endless supply of delicious food. (There are barely 20 Biaggis now – they are taking a slow-growth approach to preserve company control and the quality of the dining experience.)

People traded stories about Gary’s antics and generosity. Slideshows and videos played in different rooms.

We stayed as long as we could, until there were only a handful of people sticking around.

Friday, Kori’s sorority sister Kelly drove down with her 5 week old baby boy Jonathan to meet us at our hotel and join us for lunch at Steak & Shake. Steak & Shake is a must whenever we are in an area that actually has them. Cracker Barrel usually is, too, but we just didn’t have time for it this trip. Steak & Shake originated in Bloomington-Normal.

Later, we dropped in to see the Johnsons again for a little while.

Saturday, we were able to drop in on the Johnsons again, bringing Gondolas from Avanti’s and getting our fix of that other local must-do food place. Kori needed their pizza bread. She probably would have kneaded it, too, if they would have let her. We couldn’t stay at the Johnson’s long, though, because we had to make it back to Chicago for our flight.

As it turned out, the weather delayed our flight again. As we were waiting at the gate, it even hailed. The weather had been so good for the whole drive in, but it didn’t hold up. Our plane wasn’t able to land, and with fuel running low, they pulled up and went to Peoria, which I’m sure was probably the destination for some of the passengers to begin with. It took a while for the refueled airplane to get clearance from Chicago to take off from Peoria to fly to Chicago, thus our flight was delayed for something like 3 hours. (Jet Blue handed out water and comped drinks and the in-flight movies and headsets to make up for it.)

While waiting at the gate, and in between following Keelie on her toddler adventures, we talked with a couple next to us and found out that the gentleman also works for Los Angeles County and had worked under my father, and that they were in law school together. They were great in helping to pass the time and in keeping Keelie entertained.

Keelie fell asleep as we stood in line waiting to board, but she awoke not long after we sat down – quite a short nap for a very tired girl.

The plane touched down in Long Beach after 11pm, and after the curfew for the airport – they had to ask for permission to do so. Kendra and Steve were kind enough to greet us with our minivan.

It was nice to see the Johnsons again, although we were sad that it was to say goodbye to Uncle Gary. They were so sweet and gracious and Keelie was happy to meet them. They told us how munch Uncle Gary loved us, and we hope they could tell it was mutual. There was no need to swing by Peoria – Uncle Ron and Aunt Kathi are the only close family members left there, and they were out here in California during our time in Illinois. Go figure! (Okay, technically cousin Jeff and Anna are still in the Peoria area, but they're getting ready to move and so we let them be.)

Grad, Dads, and a Birthday!

So hard to believe it has been over a year since Keelie emerged into the world!

Keelie is doing well as far as height, weight, head size, and developmentally. She got her latest round of shots and was really upset about it but was fine after a couple of minutes.

We tried to surprise my father with dinner out the Friday before Father’s Day. All of us – Kathleen, my dad, Kori, Keelie, and I - hadn’t been together since Easter Sunday.

In this picture, you can see Keelie’s technique of getting everything from the bottle without using her hands, which she likes having free to pick up things and to point.

These days, if you pick her up, you are almost guaranteed to get her to point to something and say, “Muh!”

Here she is having a good time sitting next to Grampa. Notice the bottle.

For Granddaddy, Kori’s family - all of us but Toby and Kirby, who couldn't make it - got together at Marie Calendar’s on Father’s Day.

Keelie has become obsessed with patty-cake, and will grab your hands or wrists, no matter where they are, so she can get you to perform for her. Like so...

Shelby and Keelie are interacting more, with Shelby being more willing to allow Keelie to put her hands on her. But it sure looks like she’s tired.

My nephew Blaine graduated from SPHS, my high school alma mater, and the ladies and I joined my entire family at the graduation ceremony. At an SPHS function, you’re just as likely to recognize a face because of their appearance in film or on television as you are because of family resemblances. “Do I know you? Or do I just know your work?”

As always, the grads are reunited with their friends and family on the baseball field after the ceremony.

Here they are all together – Mike, Blaine, Kim, and Macon. In the background, you can catch a glimpse of the high school’s pool, where I spent much of my childhood and adolescence engaging in recreational swim, swimming lessons, swimming practice, races, and community service. And sunbathing. Ah yes… soaking up the deadly rays of the sun and going through puberty in a Speedo.

We did go swimming after the festivities… but that was back at Nanny’s condo complex. Here you can see Keelie in a rocking chair at Nanny’s that is a family heirloom. My mother was counting up the generations that had sat in that chair as of Keelie’s use… I think it was six.

Keelie’s birthday was celebrated over at Puma & Granddaddy’s. Here’s Keelie about the moment she reached a full year.

Keelie and I enjoyed the pool. I have been taking her “swimming” at our condo, too.

After dinner but before presents, Keelie got to enjoy a cake, albeit with everyone standing around - two big, flashing cameras, and a video camera pointed at her.

She probably expected me to take the cake away and clean her hands and face. She seemed a little hesitant.

She did manage to get into it enough to make a little mess. Such a cutie.

Thanks for stopping by! Please let us know how you are doing. You can leave a comment for us here or e-mail us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

A Bar Mitzvah and a Baptism

Wow, November is flying by, which means before you know it will be Arbor Day! I swear, every year I promise myself that I’ll have the tree ready to plant by the end of March, but I’m always running around at the last minute trying to find the right one.



It has been a while since the last update here, so this will be a longer one. Hopefully, you’ll find it entertaining, too!

Keelie is very “talkative” these days, and thus cuter than ever. Too bad she still doesn’t sleep through the night. She’s been reaching out for Shelby lately and giving her soft pats. She’s also been reaching, grabbing, and holding on to glasses, hair, and necklaces with all of her might. She’s just started holding her own bottle to the point of pulling it out and putting it back in again.

From joy to sadness...As I noted previously, Bruce Gordon, someone who was a hero of mine, passed away suddenly – and way too young - not long after our previous full update here. That bummed me out and cast a cloud over me. You can read more here.

Early in the month, we were battling colds and really wanted them to be cleared up before Keelie’s first flight, especially since air travel can be extra hard on a baby with a cold. Flying is draining enough on me, and I used to keep myself down to carry-on luggage, but of course marriage and a baby and security restrictions have all made that impossible now.

We were all set to fly out of town on the 8th and fly back late in the afternoon of the 12th on a trip centered around a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday the 10th for my father-in-law’s eldest grandchild (Kori has two older half-sisters from Bill’s first marriage). Word came that Bruce’s memorial was set for 2 p.m. on the 12th. I reserved hope that we could end up changing our flight back in order to make the memorial. I felt a need to pay my respects and have an event to deal with my feelings.

Though the Bar Mitzvah festivities went well and were a good time, the overall trip ended up NOT being one of our better trips. I was already trying not to focus on Bruce's death, but then some other things happened.

We were up early on Thursday the 8th, after not getting enough sleep. Kori had packed most of our luggage days earlier because she was so stressed about our first trip with Keelie. We drove over to her parents' place and then Bill drove us in our minivan to LAX. We were flying to Philadelphia through Vegas, and we did not get a seat for Keelie because we knew she'd want to be held most of the time anyway. It was a hassle to get through security with the stroller/car seat combo and everything else.

For the flights out to Philly, we were in a row of three, with someone else, so we were packed tight. Keelie did well enough flying. Her cold was mostly gone, and we deliberately gave her the bottle during takeoffs and landings to help with her ears. When she did cry, the sounds of the plane were loud enough that she wasn't much of a problem to others.

The flight into Vegas was short, of course, and it is always interesting to see the Strip from the sky. All of our flights seemed to have a lot of turbulence. Nothing too violent, but more than enough bouncing around. The turbulence didn't bother Keelie. The announcements about turbulence, though, would jar her awake.

We had to switch planes in Vegas, which was a hassle, but the silver lining was that Keelie likes to be walked around.

I'd never been to Philadelphia before. The drivers struck me as much more friendly than here. Our hotel was in the boonies. It was a Marriott that Kori picked because of the lower rates and because they had a kitchen in the room, so we could store the breast milk in the freezer and fridge, then warm it up with little hassle. The way the room was set up, I would get out of bed and automatically be standing on the kitchen tile. I could reach the fridge without getting out of bed. Now that’s a man-friendly design!

Checking the Blackberry, I could see there was a lot of activity at work, including some e-mails to which I had to respond right away. This is why some people are reluctant to take vacations. They end up not being restful because the work piles up at the office, especially if you are they are the only person who handles certain things.

We completely forgot to watch Survivor until the very tail end of the episode. It was late when we finally got around to dinner. We had Philly cheesesteaks delivered. Yummy.

Friday the 9th, we slept in. Keelie slept in a crib just fine, so we decided she no longer needed to sleep at an incline in the bouncer on our bed at home.

We drove to meet up with Kendra & Steve, who were staying in the main hotel were everything was happening, had lunch in a small local place, and then went into the city for sightseeing. We visited the Liberty Bell (lots of security! expensive parking!) and Independence Hall. Got some pictures. The area is beautiful. For dinner, after enduring really slow traffic back out of the city, we hit Cracker Barrel. But then we couldn't find the onramp to the freeway so we managed to successfully guess our way back to Kendra & Steve's hotel on meandering surface streets.

Saturday the 10th was Bar Mitzvah day. We managed to sleep in again. We skipped the actual ceremony, since we had the noisy baby and all. There was a cocktail hour with great food during which we gathered for photos, as this was a rare occasion where all of Bill’s grandchildren and four of his seven children and their spouses were together. The mother of the Bar Mitzvah had made it out for our wedding and Kendra & Steve’s wedding, and it was nice to see her again.

The party/meal was good, with a live band and live dancers. Kori and I lit our candle to the band playing "Zip a Dee Doo Dah". When we picked that song, I had no idea of course that Bruce, who oversaw Splash Mountain (which features the song), would have just died.

Keelie was a hit.

We retired for a bit to Pam & Bill's room, and then went back down for the "family" dinner in the skybox. The appetizers included, among other things, crab cakes and BBQd shrimp wrapped in bacon. Mmmm.

On Sunday the 11th, we slept in again. Pam, Bill, Kendra, and Steve came to pick us up (Bill had rented a minivan) and we continued on to Hershey, where Bill lived through much of his childhood. Hershey, of course, is where the Hershey chocolate company is based and where the Hersheys provided all sorts of philanthropy. I was s bit cramped in the back with Kori and Keelie, and perhaps suffering from food poisoning. The drive out there was about 2 hours, and the countryside was beautiful and free of the litter, graffiti, burned-out cars, and dead bodies to which we’ve been accustomed during our drives back home. We even saw an Amish horse & buggy going by! (Cue Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise”) The only problem was… I wasn’t doing well. Perhaps car sicknesses was playing a part. We drove slowly through Hershey, including by their awesome theme park (closed for the season), and stopped by Bill's childhood home. It was all very nice… but I wasn’t doing well.

Kori had us stop at a Wendy's because she needed a quick bite and she thought I could also benefit from raising my blood sugar - bless her. The smell of the place only made it worse for me. Kori got me a huge lemonade, which I barely sipped, and a frosty, of which I had very little. That's when you know I'm sick... when I turn down food. Kendra switched places with me for the 2-hour drive back, which gave me more room. That was very nice of her. I went into sort of a shut-down mode, crossing my arms over my chest and bowing my head with my eyes closed... and kind of slept. That seemed to work. I felt like I was making it through. When we got back to surface streets, I directed Bill back to our hotel, and realized I was feeling as bad as ever. We pulled into the parking lot and I jumped out of the minivan and lost it. Steve helped Kori get Keelie out and followed me into the hotel room.

Unfortunately, in the dark and the commotion, we left our brand new digital camera in the back of the rented minivan, something we wouldn't realize until we got home to Anaheim. This is why this posting does not have a picture of us at the Liberty Bell. The others continued on to dinner while we retired for the night. At dinner, Steve bit into his food to find *a staple* that chipped his tooth. The manager at the restaurant acted as though this happens on a weekly basis.

Oh- and there was no way we'd be able to fly back to make Bruce's memorial. Ugh!!

Monday the 12th, we had to get up early to make our flight. Keelie had woken up frequently overnight, but was able to sleep soundly in the morning as we prepared to leave. There was a lot of traffic heading in to town, so we were in a big hurry as we approached the airport so as to not miss our flight. Thus, we returned the rental car to Hertz (that’s the Hertz at the Philadelphia Airport, for those of you keeping score) with half a tank of gas, and they charged us $7.19 per gallon. The gas charge almost doubled our entire rental bill. I guess they must hire Donald Trump to fill up the gas?

We made it for boarding, but I noticed that our three-piece car seat, base, and stroller combo wasn't tagged at the gate in the exact the same way it was on our flight out.

On the flight to Phoenix, we had the three seats to ourselves, which was nice. No such luck on the short flight from Phoenix to LAX. When we got to LAX... TA DA! Our stroller/car seat set did not arrive with us! My mother had come to pick us up. After about an extra hour, we left with a loaner car seat and my mother drove us back to Pam & Bill's in Anaheim. We wanted to get dinner for my mother to thank her, and we ended up taking along Pam & Bill to a family Italian place around the corner, even though we were exhausted and Keelie was very grumpy.

At Pam & Bill's Kori had looked for our camera. We confirmed we didn't have it when we got back home. Keelie was grumpy from being overly tired. Kori was tired and upset and swore off traveling.

Tuesday morning, the 13th, I ended up looking after Keelie until Kori got up in the afternoon. She needed to rest, and I’m glad she did. She was feeling much better.

That was also the day Keelie reached 21 weeks of age! She was so excited, she grabbed her left foot.

The airline called and said they had our car seat/stroller. We told them to deliver it to Pam & Bill's because we were going there for Bill's birthday dinner. Everyone made it for dinner.

Unfortunately, it meant getting home way past my bedtime, so I got all tired out.

We have been unable to reach someone live at National Rental Car at the Philadelphia Airport. We have left messages about our camera, but have not heard back. Clearly, it has been stolen. The camera had been registered with Kodak online, and I called Kodak to tell them the situation. I’m sure it won’t matter. I know there’s a way to track these things, but I know they won’t do it.

Last Friday, I covered a "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" 70th anniversary event at California Adventure for LaughingPlace.com. Since Kori is a big Snow White fan, I decided to go ahead and spend the money getting her the expensive package, too. Kori appreciated the thought, but she wasn't all that into it. Giving birth has changed her. She’d rather spend her time with Keelie and spend the money on diapers.

We dropped off Keelie with Kendra, who was gracious enough to babysit along with Steve, who was on his way home, and went to the event. You can read about that here.

Sunday the 18th was a special day. Keelie got baptized at the church where her Puma and Granddaddy sing in the choir, and where Kori used to go.

I had no idea how big of a deal this was going to be, but I should have, considering how Pam feels about her first granddaughter.

The church Kori, Keelie, and I attend regularly baptizes people when they ask to be baptized, not when their parents want them to be baptized. They "dedicate" babies instead, because Jesus was dedicated in the temple as a baby and then baptized as an adult, according to the Bible.

Keelie’s godparents are neighbors to Pam & Bill - Jerry and Lynda. Very nice people, and it was so sweet of them to agree to this. Great people.

We got there to the church in Huntington Beach as the first service was letting out at 9:30. Many people swarmed around Keelie. It was obvious that Pam must talk about her a lot. My father came...

and my mother came down...

...with Kim, Mike, and the boys.

Vicky had to work and Chris couldn’t make it either. Kori's siblings were all there, and Steve's parents were even there. I mean, this is their daughter-in-law's niece getting baptized. I'm surprised – and honored - they made it.

The baptism was early in the 10am service. The pastor (a nice woman) called us all up in front of everyone. Keelie got three splashes of water to the side of her head. Different churches do different things for baptism. Some dunk you in the ocean. Me? I had gotten two wet fingers tapped to the side of my head three times. Then the pastor walked Keelie around the room so everyone could get closer look. After the pastor ended one of the prayers in the baptism with "amen", Keelie said something - most people heard "amen". It was funny.

After the service, everyone swarmed around Keelie again. Then we went back to Pam & Bill's for a reception, complete with food, gifts, and speech by Pam. It was a big deal. My dad scored points with my nephews by letting Blaine drive his convertible BMW from the church to the house.

Work has been busy, so I’m thankful for the holidays.

We have much for which to be thankful, so it makes sense that we celebrated Thanksgiving twice. We did Thanksgiving at Pam & Bill’s on Wednesday night, since that is what worked with Puma’s work schedule. Yesterday, we went to my mother’s in Pasadena to have Thanksgiving with her and my siblings. All of this meant more attention for Keelie, of course!

Thanks for reading. Remember – with most of the pictures in these postings, you can see a bigger version by clicking on it. And you can also save the picture by right-clicking on it. You can leave a comment here and you can send us an e-mail message at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Four Months Old Today!

Today is Keelie’s 4-month birthday!!!

Okay, okay – so it has been “forever” since a Keelie Pic Update. Sorry. I know everyone’s life revolves around seeing new pictures of our baby.

We've decided that Keelie gets her hair, feet, lips, and dimpled chin from me, and her eyes and nose from Kori. We have no idea where her ears came from.

As I wrote earlier, she has started to turn over on her own. She’s hitting all sorts of developmental milestones, which is good, considering she’s turning Four Months Old. She’s gaining weight and height, and is where she should be as far as that goes. All of this means she is much more interactive with us, and cute as a button.

Especially when I have work the next day, Kori has been tending to Keelie when she wakes up in the middle of the night. Sometimes, when I’m home and Kori needs more sleep in the morning, I’ll take Keelie out of the bedroom and try to keep her entertained and fed.

For some reason, Keelie likes football - certainly more than me. Must be the colors and movement and men and noise - she likes white noise. Sometimes, when she falls asleep in a noisy room, I want to say “Could everyone please keep it UP?”

So, when Kori is catching some sleep and I am holding Keelie on a Saturday morning, I can try to watch the History Channel, and not hear anything because Keelie is screaming, OR I can watch football with a quiet baby. She quite often prefers that the person holding her walk around the room, and will fuss if they stop. Maybe she's going to be a personal trainer?

Her temperament has improved a lot. We figure she was dealing with some pain and have treated the likely cause. Hopefully, this will make her more comfortable and she can be entertained more by her toys while we do some chores.

Besides holding, feeding, and changing Keelie, what else have we been up to? Not all that much.

Closing out September, I read and reviewed a book for LaughingPlace.com in a short amount of time. Kori was supportive of that, thankfully, and she had some extra homework to do herself, as if tending to Keelie wasn’t enough!

We’ve finally made it back to the main service at church – the first time since Keelie was born. Previously, we’d gone to the group meetings only. This time, we chose going to the main service instead of the group meeting. Then we caught lunch with my mother and Kim, who were clamoring to see Keelie in-person again. Mike and Macon were also there. Blaine is driving now, so he’s scarce. Later that night, Kendra and Steve dropped by. It had been a while since they’d seen Keelie.

During the following week, we dropped in at Pam and Bill’s.

Last Friday, we met up with the Friday Night Group that we’ve only met up with one other time since Keelie’s birth. It was a larger group and a lot of people took their turns holding Keelie. We declined to join the group back at the house after dinner, as it was getting late and who wants a screaming baby in a home theater?

Over the weekend, we went up to my mother’s place for lunch and stayed through dinner so that everyone could see Keelie again. I also got my hair cut. Haircuts are becoming a lot less frequent since I grew “Apart of the Mouse”. Here's a cell phone pic from my mother's place...

We had dinner at Pam and Bill’s again this past week.

We also had some appointments over the last couple of days, including getting Keelie’s 4-month immunization shots. She was very, very upset. We heard a cry we hadn’t heard before! But the good news is that the doctors say she’s doing well overall. They have been very happy with her progress.

We're still getting gifts, and people have been so generous. THANK YOU! We are still trying to get birth announcements out to a few people. Thanks for your patience... Keelie has been quite a handful.

That’s all for now. You can read some of my thoughts about fatherhood over on my personal blog here.

Thanks for reading! You can e-mail us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.
-Ken

Mid-July Update From the Pellmans

Wow, it has gotten harder to provide updates now that I’m back to work. The last entry was from July 3. Keelie will be a month old in just a few days, and thus, officially no longer a newborn. Considering how fast my nephews grew up - one just turned 15, the other will be turning 17 next month – I believe people when they tell us that time will fly by.

The evening of July 3, we discovered that Keelie doesn’t like taking a bath. Then again, she cries almost all of the time she is awake anyway. She must be working on her lungs - she does have singers in her family, after all. She’s quiet once she’s settled in to eating, riding in the minivan, and being held by a “new” person (usually), and when sleeping. Dirty diapers don’t bother her. Hiccups don’t bother her. She cries most of the rest of the time, including when those diapers are being changed.


That's Keelie on her first Independence Day.

Being the wild and crazy bunch we are, we stayed home July 4th and watched KCAL 9's fireworks show. They were 13 minutes into it before someone figured out that the sound (music, narration) wasn't hooked into the broadcast. It was also odd that the spectators interviewed to fill time talked about "HD" being one of the reasons they were happy to be there. Uh, they were in person. Only the audience at home would care about KCAL's HD capabilities.

Below you can see Keelie in her bassinet.

She likes the one side for some reason. Notice the pacifiers. She almost invariably hates them. She tries to stick her own hands in her mouth, but that hasn't quite worked out yet. She prefers one of Kori's fingers, or a knuckle of my pinky, or she'll pretend to be hungry, only to fall asleep when in position to eat.

On Thursday, July 5th, Jenn & Dave brought over dinner - bless them!

We drove up to have lunch with my mother (Nanny) and sister (Aunt Binky) on Friday the 6th. Aunt Binky is especially ga-ga over Keelie.


My mother likes to share meals with us - bless her! I pack on the pounds, Vicky has done a good job of dopping pounds and keeping them off.

Speaking of dropping pounds, Kori is has been doing very well and is pleased with herself (I'm pleased, too!) with the progess she's been making in losing the prengancy weight. She fits into almost all of her tight clothes now. We'll have to get a good picture and upload it soon.

Also on Friday the 6th, James & Chrissy brought over dinner - bless them!

On Sunday the 8th, we drove up to Glendora for Homecoming and another couple got to meet Keelie for the first time - Aaron and Cherise.

This past week, I went back to work on a regular basis. It was hard to peel myself away from the two ladies. I didn’t use Family Leave for my time off, so I still have that to fall back on if needed.

Aaron and Cherise brought over lots of yummy food this past Tuesday – bless them!

Wednesday evening was Kendra’s birthday dinner, so all of us were at Puma and Granddaddy’s. Puma and Granddady sure love having the gang over and feeding us all - bless them!

This past Friday, I made a run for Costco. Going alone is a little dangerous, because I can spend forever in the media section looking books, CDs, and DVDs. In the evening we went to introduce Keelie to everyone at Donna B’s monthly Hometown Buffet get-together of current and former cast members. Keelie showed off her crying skills. A lot of people assume that a crying baby means hunger, a dirty diaper, or being too hot or cold. That isn't always the case. There are babies that simply cry a lot, often to release energy, and only so much a parent can do to quiet the crying.

So, things are not so exciting right now, other than enjoying the new, noisy life we get to hold in our arms. There are some movies I’ve wanted to see, but those will have to wait. Heck, we weren’t getting to the cinema before the birth, either.

I’m also going to miss going to see “Weird Al” Yankovic and his White and Nerdy Band at the Orange County Fair this week. But... that's life. Kori has been doing a wonderful job mothering Keelie and withstanding the lack of sleep. Eventually, a new normal will set in. We'll have to give Keelie her first Disneyland visit before too long. We can keep it nice and short. Unless the place stops her from crying.

Thank you all for your ongoing advice, assistance, and prayers. We're working on "thank yous" for all of you who have given gifts, but let us also say here... THANK YOU!