Keelie, Weird Al, and Fires - Oh My!

Thanks for tuning in to the Los Angeles Pellmans of Anaheim. It’s time for another photo update. Remember, you can usually click on a picture to see a bigger version.

First of all, as I write, there is a “red flag warning” again as far as the weather conditions, but the fire situation was under control the last time I checked. Where we live, we get ash, smoke, and haze, but the fires don’t ever come close to us, thankfully. But here I am grabbing Keelie just in case.

Okay... so where did we leave off? Oh yes… on the 20th of October, we went to get Keelie’s “official” four-month photo. Unfortunately, the place was busy because everyone was taking pictures for their holiday cards. We arrived in time for our appointment, and Keelie was great for the hour we ended up waiting. Then, the moment it was time to take her picture, she got very upset. It probably had to do with her adorable costume.

We ended up letting some other people go ahead of us and then we got a photo of Keelie after she fell asleep.

Saturday also happened to be the last night of the “Weird Al” Yankovic tour!!! We went to my mother's for dinner and to drop off Keelie, taking along her swing and some other stuff. It was the first time Keelie would be without either of us. My mother and Kim were happy to babysit. Kori and I took off for the Greek Theater. The Santa Ana winds were really going, and the Greek is in Griffith Park, where there had been some fires earlier this year.

The concert wasn’t sold out, and given that it was the last night of the tour, that’s understandable. Al and the band had made plenty of other southern California appearances in the preceding months. Guess who was there, though? Dave, the creative Idea Guy I once interned under. He was being a cool uncle again and taking his nephew to the concert.

Al and the band were flawless. They always put on one heck of a show. It wasn't quite the experience I was used to, though, probably because I didn't have my friends with me who are also Al fans. It’s a long story, but Kori and I were never sure we were actually going to the concert until about a minute before we walked through the door, and that lack of certain anticipation also kind of subdued me.

It was the first time I didn’t linger after the concert. So, I'm no longer a Weird Al Die-Hard Fan. I'm a WANNA-BE Weird Al Die-Hard Fan!!! All of the Close Personal Friends of Al, Al-oholics, Al-lies, and Yank-ees laugh at me and mock me for my failure.

But we had to get back to our little cutie.

Keelie had been mostly good for my family. She was asleep when we picked her up and she slept on the way home.

The next morning, we woke up to find that Malibu was on fire, and for the rest of the week the fires would be on television and radio nonstop. We could hear the strong Santa Ana winds all day and for the next few days.

For dinner that night, we went to Puma & Granddaddy Keel’s.

Okay, here are some pics of Keelie on the couch.

Looks like she is so happy to be photographed. Yes, she is on her way to becoming America's Next Top Model.

"Hmmmm, covering my eyes didn't work. Maybe covering my ears?"

I ended up working quite late at the end of my workweek, thanks to the Medfly. Then, instead of starting my weekend, I was up early the next day and off to the Palos Verdes Peninsula to do news media work.

In the evening, the entire Keel clan met for dinner in Fountain Valley to remember Kori’s Grandmommy Keel, who had passed away after a long convalescence.

It seemed like everyone had some stage of a cold, which was okay because Keelie did, too.

There she is with Auntie Kendra and Uncle Steve, and below are Auntie Kirby, Uncle Troy, and Uncle Toby.

As you can see below, Puma is completely bored with Keelie now ;-)

Granddaddy Keel got his turn to hold Keelie.

We went to Steve & Kendra’s annual Halloween party, which was a lot of fun.

We were able to make it down to see Boot Hill in Irvine, which is getting better and better every year. Keelie wasn't scared in the least.

This past Tuesday evening, we went to El Cholo for our last fix of green corn tamales until next May.

Wednesday, we went back to my old apartment complex (where I still have family) and used it as the base of our “trick or treating”. Really, what we did was dress Keelie up in her costume and went around to show some of the gang in South Pas. We even ended up getting a tour of my childhood home, which I’d been in once since it was sold, but Kori had never stepped foot inside. I was glad she got the tour. The family that bought it keeps it immaculately clean, and they’ve really done a nice job with the place. I had lived there from about the time I had my first birthday until I moved out for my freshman year of college, and my family had continued to live there for a few more years after that.

Keelie was getting fussy, so we had to stop making the rounds.

Kori, mercifully, takes care of Keelie when I sleep, and usually doesn’t have me get up to tend to her. Keelie still tends to wake up a few times overnight, and on my days off, one of us is usually holding her during the day, switching off to let the other person get something done. As a result, we feel like were getting very little done and some stuff just falls through the cracks. I also feel like an old fogie, with cutting back on activities due to time, energy, or logistics.

But gosh darnit, Keelie’s such an adorable little girl, with her laughs and her smiles and her eyes, and it is so heart-warming to see Kori mothering her.

I almost forgot – Keelie really likes her left foot, for some reason. She’ll grab it with her left hand and hold on to it.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this latest update. You can always comment here or you can e-mail us 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

Keelie Just Turned Over

Keelie just turned over - stomach to back.

She's always had strong legs, and once she gets mobile we'll really have to watch out.

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I put up pictures. I'll try to do that within the next couple of days.

Ken’s Latest Book Review Now Online

We interrupt the posting of pictures of our baby with this important announcement...

Go to LaughingPlace.com to read Ken’s review of the unauthorized biography of the Walt Disney World Resort, _Realityland: True Life Adventures at Walt Disney World_ by David Koenig.

Thank you.

A Dip in the Pool and Making the Rounds

After I last blogged here, on Saturday the 15th, we took a trip to the Disneyland Resort, to Disneyland Park in particular. It was the first time we pushed Keelie around in her stroller, still in the car seat because it attaches to the stroller. No pictures, though. I didn’t think to snap one. Oh well.

All we did was walk around. That’s it. We roughly circled the park in the after-dark hours to take a look at how things were, and we came home. Keelie slept for a good chunk of the time. We find it a little difficult to stay out in public too long.

The next evening, we caught a little bit of the Emmys. I think it is a little silly that we have to watch stuff three hours after it happens because we’re on the west coast. The upside is that all I had to do was a quick search online to find out why people were getting cut off in mid-sentence with an odd camera shot accompanied by silence.

We are part of a homeowners association, although there has been almost no activity with it since I married Kori and moved in (yes - in that order). There was a single contentious meeting last year, attended by a rabble-rouser who doesn’t even own or live here. I suspect he was there simply to get people to join his activist organization, because once the “minority” group he was targeting signed up with him, he disappeared, apparently sidetracked with bigger fish to fry in some more high-profile protests last year.

Well, this week there was another meeting. This time, without the huckster. We’ve hired a new management company. The old company didn’t really do anything. This new company claims to be strict, which I know can be a mixed blessing. The downside is that our fees (or whatever the technical term is) will likely increase, but they are ridiculously low right now.

But enough about such mundane matters. Most of you are here to get your Keelie update.

Keelie hit two milestones this week. She hit 3 months of age, and she’s up to the weight she should be, given her birth weight and her age. Yay! Kori has put in a lot of hard work. As a result, we are graduating Keelie from her newborn onesies.

These pictures are from Keelie’s 13-week mark, a day before she turned 3 months old.

Eyes are opening up...

There they are!

Friday, we went to Puma and Granddaddy Keel’s to visit with them and to enjoy their wonderful pool.

It was Keelie’s first time in water, aside from the bath. She didn’t hate it.

I barely recognize this man holding my daughter.

Puma’s enthusiasm for her granddaughter has not diminished in the slightest.

We stayed for quite a while, and so I went and picked up dinner for the four of us. Granddaddy Keel wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t hold Keelie, which is why there is no picture of that.

Yesterday, we ran some errands and made some more visits. That’s no small feat around the Los Angeles County/Orange County area when we’re undergoing the first real rainfall in many months. Even on a Saturday, traffic was horrible and there were accidents everywhere.

We stopped by Nanny’s, so that Nanny, Aunt Kim, and Aunt Binky could all hold Keelie again.

They are also unfailingly eager to see Keelie.

From there, it was off to True’s housewarming/birthday party. The place was packed. Even though we hadn’t seen the house before, we could tell True had really done a great job on the place.

Keelie hadn’t met Marina since being born, so it was nice to let Marina take Keelie off our hands for a little while.

There were two other babies there and lots of food. It was good.

Thanks for reading. We always appreciate hearing from you. You can leave a comment here, or you can write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Almost to Three Months

We bid all of our Jewish friends a peaceful new year.

It has almost been a couple of weeks since our last update. My apologies to all of you who crave the pictures of Keelie.

Keelie is nearing the 3 month mark. Wow. Our lives are so different from three months ago. Yeah, we knew to expect that, but living it is another story, as I’ve said over and over again.

"Get my good side!"

Keelie almost always sleeps well through the night, except her Mommie will wake her up to change her, feed her, and pump, which in turn wakes up Daddy. Shelby will usually leave the room during the pumping - it must be a noise the machine emits. Kori will try to let me sleep if I have work in the morning. I try to give Kori some time alone each day, since she takes care of Keelie around the clock otherwise, and that gives me bonding time with Keelie.

Diaper changes almost never prompt Keelie to cry anymore, although she may be crying for other reasons, such as being hungry since she just woke up. She is pretty good at "anointing" her clothes with one of the two substances that escape from that end. I think she does it on purpose because she likes trying on different outfits.

I joke that she has RBS – Restless Baby Syndrome – because she will often insist that Mommie keep walking around as she holds her. Stopping causes Keelie to fuss. Plus, she is constantly moving around while she is awake. Sitting still is not part of the program. We should have known to expect this, given how much she moved around during the pregnancy. A very active baby, indeed.

Here she is practicing cheers. "Go LSU!"

I’ve been keeping busy with work, even working extra hours. Modern communications mean I can be working wherever I am.

Recently, Keelie’s Puma and Granddaddy Keel made a visit to see her and take some pictures, and we visited them and had dinner at the Keel household -bless them! Both evenings were made possible by Pam’s shift being changed to stand-by.

We’ve also been taking Keelie to church, but not for main services yet – just the group meetings.

This is Keelie at 12 weeks.

Our friends Bill & Paula recently had friends over for a BBQ, and so we went to savor the conversation and the yummy food – bless them! They insisted that everyone travel there lightly by not bringing anything to serve.

Yesterday, we took Shelby to get a long overdue professional grooming. I’m sure she’s just thrilled we waited until the end of summer to remove her heavy coat and leave her almost naked. We also took the opportunity to run some errands, including stopping by the Wonder/Hostess outlet on Orangethorpe. We love the place and we were bummed to hear the recent news that seemed to make it clear that Wonder and all related bakeries/stores would be leaving the area. But we were happy to see the notices up that this place was remaining open and would still carry Wonder products. Yay! The cashier on duty hadn’t seen Kori since the birth, so she came over to us and asked how it all went down.

Here's the nearly naked Shelby.

In the evening, we stuffed ourselves at the monthly get-together at Hometown Buffet that we seem to make every third month or so.

We haven’t really done a lot of exciting stuff lately. We’ve been even more hermit-like than we used to be, because we’re taking it easy, focusing on Keelie and spending time together to help each other with that, and avoiding the hassles of going places with a baby. It makes us unavailable for a lot, but it’s the way things have to be for now. When we do go out, we always hear 1) how adorable Keelie is, and 2) how in-shape Kori is so soon after giving birth. She really did snap right back into shape. Hmmmm, maybe I should give birth.

Thanks for reading. We always appreciate hearing from you. You can leave a comment here, or you can write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Keeping Cool As Summer Winds Down

Every year, August and September get really, really hot in southern California, yet we tend to forget that until we experience it all over again every year. We’re thankful for air conditioning.


My sisters and mother are constantly requesting we visit so that they can fight over holding Keelie.

Tuesday, Kim and Vicky came down to see Keelie and we all went to dinner at El Cholo in La Habra. Kim picked up the check – bless her! Kori and I had to get our green corn tamale fix.

Thursday evening, we dropped in at Kendra & Steve’s. Steve hadn’t seen Keelie in a while and neither had Pam & Bill, who were there for dinner.

Friday, we took Keelie for a follow-up appointment with a specialist. The drive to and from the office, which was not hampered by slow traffic, was longer than the visit. Keelie is getting heavier and longer, like she should. Kori and the doc went over some of Keelie’s symptoms/likes/dislikes and thought she might have silent reflux. So now Keelie has “yummy” (like mouthwash) medicine to take.

In the evening, we went to bid farewell to Jeni, Jon, Graci, and Isaiah (in utero) who are moving to Kenya. Jon’s family is there (he was actually born in Africa). Jenn & Dave hosted the send-off and most of Homecoming was there.

This is Jenn holding her.

Jon, Jeni, and Graci...

Aaron and Cherise...

Cherise, James, Chrissy, and Dave...

Saturday, we went to the Keel household so that Bill, Pam, Toby, and Kirby could see Keelie again, and then we went to my mother’s place for dinner, where my mother, my siblings, nephews, and brother-in-law caught up with Keelie. My mother loves to feed us - bless her!

Here's Auntie Kim with Keelie...

As you can see, Uncle Mike is as sociable as ever...

Another one with Auntie Kim...

With Nanny...

Yesterday, Kori noticed the earthquake that hit about 10:30am. No big deal, thankfully. We stayed inside the condo all day as it was hot outside and we weren’t feeling our best.

On Daddy's shoulder earlier today, thinking hard about what Daddy should write...

We hope all is well with you and your loved ones. Write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.