Thirteen Months and Counting!

Keelie has passed 13 months! It has been too long since we’ve uploaded pictures and video.

Also, as I mentioned in the previous entry, significant events have been happening for our family.

The first was that the three year legal battle in which Kori was the plaintiff was settled ahead of formal arbitration, saving a lot of people a lot of trouble.

As typical with such out-of-court settlements, we won’t be able to go into details, and nobody - especially not the people who had to pay a bunch of lawyers and still issue a settlement check - admits guilt… blah blah blah. Most of the people we maintained were responsible are no longer with that company anyway. Most. They know who they are, we know who they are, and so do a lot of other people.

Anyway, the lawyers have been paid, the check is in the bank, and the matter is over. I guess it is fitting that it happened near Independence Day.

Speaking of Independence Day – we celebrated at the home of David & Jennifer, along with some other friends.

Certain fireworks are legal in that city. Keelie wasn’t exactly captivated by them. But then, she’s teething more teeth - they just keep coming - and it is hard to tell if she is having trouble with that, or is frightened by something.


Summer has brought a welcome return to swimming, and getting Keelie used to pools – which, despite her expression in the picture above, she tends to enjoy. The three to which we regularly have access are outdoor pools – the one at our condo complex, the one at my mother’s condo complex, and the pool at Puma & Granddaddy’s. So it isn't like we can enjoy them much in the winter, when Anaheim and Pasadena are known to get down to a chilly 60 degrees F.

Below, Keelie reaches for her cousin.

The other big news is that we found a house in Anaheim! We hope to get everything squared away so that we can officially call it ours. Our plan is to hold on to our condo for a while and rent it out. We’ve been waiting for conditions to be right to upgrade, and with the housing market being what it is these days, and with our settlement adding to our savings, the time was right. Who would have thought it would turn out to be a good thing that those people kept dragging out the inevitable conclusion of Kori’s case? A big thanks to them.

Here is Keelie in a secret undisclosed location.

She reaches for the outlet and is told “no”.

So here is a video of her performing what we call “The Tripod”, which is one of her signs of pouting or despair.

You can see in the picture below an example of something else Keelie has been doing lately – putting herself inside boxes and baskets and shelves – basically, wherever she will fit.

Recently, we helped Aunt Kendra celebrate her birthday at the beach.

It was nearing sunset when we got there. Keelie had never been to the beach and we wondered how she would react to sand, considering how grass and dirt freaked her out. She was tentative at first, then she loved it.


She was even flopping over on her belly and making "sand angels". Here is some more video, alas with no sand angels.


Awwwww!

We tried to take her down to the water, but she didn't like the wet sand and never got near the water.

Lightning provided a beautiful show and we could even see the Disneyland fireworks from the beach.

Keelie has been learning more sign language. Soon, she’ll know more signs than I do!

Here’s Keelie in a favorite spot – the bookcase.

Look at Elmo. As Moe from The Simpsons would say, "He ain't laughin' no more!" Actually, Keelie will put herself in that box, too.

She's always loved climbing on stuff, and she’s getting better at it. She’s figured out how to climb up on a wooden rocking chair, on which she will wobble precariously while standing. I tried to discourage her from climbing onto the chair by tilting the chair foward and resting it like that, but she climbed up on the chair anyway, as you can see in this shot.

Yeah, she's determined and creative. I blame her mother.


That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by. You can find us on MySpace and Facebook (see the sidebar). You can leave us a comment here or e-mail us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

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.

Birthdays, an Anniversary, and Indy... Oh My!

Thanks to another new camera that Kori got for Mother’s Day (this being a “real” camera), we’ll have some better quality pictures to post here. Remember - you can click on the pictures to see bigger versions.


Puma is reluctant to let Keelie go.

Keelie is over 11 months old now and is getting smarter by the day. Since I was still days away from turning five when my youngest sibling was born, I didn’t remember how fast kids grow and develop new skills. Wow! She’s learning new climbing techniques; she has learned to point to things that are out of her reach, which is effective – as long as it is something we want to give to her. She's also started doing the sign for "more" when I'm feeding her, and developed a habit of sticking her fingers far enough back in her throat to gag herself (girls learn so early, don't they?).

My two ladies!

Keelie has figured out how to get around the gate we use to keep her in the living room. When Keelie does manage to get around the gate and I pick her up, she is okay until I take her back across the gate, thus thwarting her progress. Then she'll let me know she isn't happy. Her sulk mode includes sitting on the floor with her legs apart, leaning forward so that her face is nearly on the floor, and crying. She seems to be able to do simple counting, too.

One of the best feelings in the world!

She likes it when I'm home when she wakes up for the day, and she knows based on Kori's routine whether or not I am home and in the other room when they wake up.

There she is, no doubt plotting a way around that gate.

We bought some new clothes for Keelie since she's finally outgrowing most of the clothes she received as gifts. While we were in the store, we picked up a toy she likes because of the music, sounds, and lights. Stuff that lights up – like cell phones or buttons on a remote – capture her attention.

I wish they could stay this peaceful.


Adorable!

Who knows what she is plotting here? Look at her tummy peeking through.

Since our last photo update, we celebrated a belated Mother’s Day at Puma & Granddaddy’s, and we went to Nanny’s place to jointly mark my birthday and my brother’s. I spent a little time in the pool. Keelie didn't mind the water. She wasn't thrilled about it... probably didn't know what to think about it.

There she is with her Aunt Binky.

I took a couple of days off from work for my birthday/our engagement anniversary and so we could see a midnight screening of the Indiana Jones film with the usual suspects at the Big Newport in Newport Beach, as I wrote elsehwhere.

Oh, the places we go!

I like this shot below because Keelie is laughing, she's playing with her new toy, and the dog is in the frame, too. Me? I needed to shave.

Thanks for stopping by. Let us know how you are doing. You can submit a comment to this blog or write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. Thanks!

Ken's Indiana Jones Film Review Online

My film review (and a little bit of what we did yesterday) can be found over at my individual blog by clicking here.

Keelie is Seven Months Old

Keelie is seven months old, and Kori also celebrated a birthday. Wow, how time flies. I still want to write 2007 when writing the date.

I finally managed to catch Keelie gumming her toes on camera.

Not wanting to be rude, she offered me her toes, too.

Who can resist?

It has been a couple of weeks since out last blog update. In that time, Kori turned...an age older than seven months. Yes, another birthday has come and gone. We celebrated by getting sick with something that has been going around.

Actually, first we had a blast celebrating Steve’s birthday late at Puma & Granddaddy’s where Kendra threw him a party. Puma had to leave for work, so she only got to hold Keelie for a bit. Granddaddy, though, was at the party and helped put the karaoke machine to good use. There was a good turnout and more than enough good food. People took turns holding Keelie.

Several days later, the celebrations for Kori’s birthday began. First there was the dinner at Claim Jumper – just the three of us. Then another day, our dear friend Dale got our good friends Dave & Jenn into Disneyland Park so that we could treat them to dinner. It was our graduation present to Dave. We also took some rides, including Keelie’s first trip on Pirates of the Caribbean. Here she is being our lookout on the Buzz Lightyear attraction.

See how she cleverly pretended to be asleep on my arm? That child is a military genius!




Then came Kori’s birthday dinner at Puma & Granddaddy’s. We had a birthday dinner again the next night at Nanny’s.

Here's Keelie being a lookout again.

Finally, last night we had a specially prepared dinner with Grampa and Grandma, prepared by Grampa, to jointly celebrate Kori and Kathleen’s birthdays. You can see Grampa still working away on dinner in this shot.

Keelie really likes gumming fingers.

In this shot, Keelie forgets to not smile when the camera takes her picture.

Grampa and pink tissue paper is all that is needed to entertain Keelie, but Grampa used a stuffed animal anyway.

We finally had the cable company install their recorder, and we’ve instantly become addicted to it. It will help us keep up with the new seasons of American Idol and The Apprentice, and of course it is handy to pause those political ads on the ballot propositions so we can see that they are sponsored by "a coalition of people who sponsor ads for some ballot propositions and against other propositions and the Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things."

Keelie still likes watching football. Too bad the season is almost over. She also really likes to stand up, using our hands for balance rather than support. However, we're still trying to get her to crawl properly instead of rolling and using other work-arounds to bring what she wants closer to her.

Not much else to say, because we’ve been taking it easy to recover. Thanks for stopping by again and let us know how and what you are doing. You can comment here or write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [com].