Taxed For Time

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for is here!

Keelie loves playing with red plastic lids.

Greetings from record-hot Anaheim. Certainly no flooding or snow problems here.

It’s been almost a month since the last update on what we’ve been up to. Mostly, we’ve been watching Keelie grow and develop. I’ve been working, but Kori has been doing the really tough job of holding down the fort. Keelie is very blessed to have the Mommie she does. One of the things Kori does is make Keelie’s food from scratch from fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of using jars of store-bought baby food. What a dedicated Mommie.

Kori did our taxes already, thankfully, so we’re not running around trying to get those done this weekend.

Keelie dives for the floor in an escape attempt. It's okay, Keelie. We file our taxes honestly.

Getting back to Keelie...she’s now almost ten months and has progressed quite a bit since our last update. When we go shopping, she loves sitting in the cart and trying to make eye contact with everyone. She’s become quite the quick and determined crawler, much to the dismay of the dog. But she’s also good at standing and walking, as long as there is something nearby to hold as security. Keelie does brief stints of standing without support - she doesn't even realize she's doing it, really. For some reason, she loves tearing up paper napkins and trying to eat them. She gets a little upset when we remove the pieces from her mouth to keep her from gagging.

When she is on the couch standing next to me, she’ll sometimes start jumping from a squatting position, over and over again. Her legs must be getting strong. If she’s not doing that, she’ll the glasses from our heads with the speed of Bruce Lee. But mostly, she isn’t content to stay on the couch anymore. She'll start climbing up the back of the couch, or slide off head first down to the floor so she can stand up at the coffee table and grab stuff, or move on to other parts of the room. I just want to hold her and play with her, but she has better things to do! At the coffee table or television, she’ll “slap” the surface like she’s a drummer. She’ll also do this when she crawls over to me when I’m in bed... standing there and slapping my shoulder and arm like she’s giving me a massage.

Keelie with Grampa Pellman on Easter Sunday. She was tired.

She gets thrilled when she's in the playpen, and standing at the side and looking out, and we'll play a game where we are face to face, then we both duck down and are looking at each other through the mesh of the play pen, then we straighten back up to look at each other over the top... she finds that hilarious.

The other night, she was having a good time dropping food over the side of her feeding chair and laughing at Shelby, who would franticly it up. Shelby loves to act as though we don’t have a bowl of food available for her at all times.

Keelie still hates going to sleep, hates changing clothes, and has now developed an aversion to the car seat. The moment we get to the car seat, she’ll arch her back and then, when she feels something, she will flip over, preventing us from snapping her in. It’s quite the effort to finally get her in, now, and she protests.

Speaking of protests, Keelie has picked up clapping, but doesn't quite know the uses for it yet. For example, she will clap in the middle of a crying session. Perhaps she is being sarcastic?

Awwwww!

Easter Sunday, we fell behind schedule because Keelie wouldn’t go to sleep the night before. We stopped by to see Grampa Pellman, Grandma Kathleen, her niece, and everyone else at her niece's place. We couldn't stay long, but we did take some pictures, as you saw. From there, it was on to my mother's, where the rest of my family was getting together. My youngest maternal cousin, Jennifer, was there from out of state on Spring Break from college.

Keelie was really tired because she hadn't taken her usual naps, so she ended up falling asleep in Kori's arms for about two hours (above). We waited for her to wake up before we left my mother's.

We’ve returned to my mother’s place on a weekly basis since, so that my mother, sisters, brother, brother-in-law, and nephews can see Keelie. We’ve also been over to Kori’s parents’ place, but not as often because Puma left town on a trip.

I took Shelby into PetsMart for grooming, as she was getting stinky and her fur was getting bad, and the weather is getting hot. Shelby now looks like a different dog and Keelie probably thinks she is.

Last weekend, we were able to slip in a short visit to the Disneyland Resort. Keelie really enjoyed the tram ride. Heck, we could have turned around and gone right back home and she would have had a great time.

We walked around Disneyland Park a bit and took Keelie on Peter Pan’s Flight for the first time. She didn't like it, because we had to hold her to make her face forward with that lap bar in her face. We ran into the same problem we’ve been running into lately with placing her in her car seat. We slipped into California Adventure to check out some of the recent construction there.

So, as you can see, nothing too exciting going on these days, and that can be a good thing.


Thanks for stopping by. Leave a comment here or write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Granddaddy's Pictures of Keelie

It's been way too long since an update - thanks for acting as though life goes on as normal even though we know you're suffering "Pellman Update Withdrawl Syndrome". (Actually, thanks for indulging us as first time parents.) We're going to reward your patience and effective coping skills with some "new" pictures from the last several months. One of our regular updates will be coming soon.

Keelie's Granddaddy is an excellent photographer. Recently, we were able to take home some copies of his pictures. All eight pictures in this entry are from his files. Thanks, Granddaddy!

Remember - if you click on the picture, you can get a bigger version.

This one is from around Thanksgiving.

Here is the man himself with his granddaughter. Check out that expression on her face.

That picture was from around the first of the year as is this one below - we were celebrating Uncle Steve's birthday. There's Aunt Kendra, Uncle Steve, Kori, and... some lucky guy holding Keelie.

From mid-January, Keelie celebrates her mom's birthday...


There's Keelie snuggling up to the birthday girl. A beautiful lady and a cute little girl.

These next two pictures are from late January. Puma is getting her granddaughter to laugh and smile, and Keelie is returning the favor.

Too cute.

Finally, from the start of March, here I am enjoying being Daddy.

Thanks for stopping by. As I wrote above, we hope to update you on what we've been up to over the last few weeks. You can leave a comment here, or write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

We Survived the Ides of March

Happy Palm Sunday! And Happy BIRTHday to a certain special little girl who couldn't wait for her due date to get closer, and a huge congrats to Bob, Julie, and their families.

Wanted to check in with a few pictures and a short video clip. Since a high school classmate of mine checked in with a comment, I wanted to remind you that if you want to drop us a line, that’s great. If we don’t have your e-mail address, it is probably a good idea to write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com so that we can write back.



Keelie continues to gain mobility, much to the dismay of Shelby. We’ll all be on the king sized bed Kori and I have, and Keelie will crawl around, trying to get to the poor dog. Fortunately, Kendra has been over a few times helping Kori to babyproof while I’m out fishing. Uh… I mean… working. Keelie doesn’t know about Daylight Savings Time, as it turns out, which means she was staying up and hour later than usual, at least by the clock. She now makes a clapping motion, and has figured out how to make clicking noises with her tongue, since her teeth aren't poking through yet.

Check out Elmo in the background. This Elmo is the one who talks, laughs, falls over, doubles over, stands back up, asks to be tickled, begs you to stop tickling, ice skates, solves quadratic equations on the walls with permanent marker, and tries to set the house on fire. He’s probably spying for the Children’s Television Workshop and siphoning funds from our accounts to PBS.

Keelie is so active, and if she is fussing and climbing up the back of the sofa, we alternate between sitting on the floor with her, putting her in the playpen, putting her in her Winnie the Pooh plaything where she can stand up and be ringed by toys, or in the doorframe jumper. She enjoys jumping more on the Pooh plaything than the actual jumper.

Here she is jumpin' a bit.

Recently, we went to a little fruit and vegetable market we have nearby where Kori picks up fresh fruit and vegetables, many of which she turns into food for Keelie. I don't think we've bought any jarred baby food. Kori is very dedicated to making fresh baby food. We then went across the street to Stater Brothers to pick up some stuff, parking near this camper/RV. The people in the RV, by their stares, seemed a little too interested in us, making me wonder if our van would have something stolen out of it. There was liquid on the ground... and after we stepped in it, went shopping in the supermarket, and came back to the minivan and stepped in it some more, I realized what was going on. The people in the camper were dumping their sewage into the parking lot... and we were walking through it.

I pulled our minivan up to a security guard in the parking lot and told him what was going on, but he didn't care. Apparently, even though he usually faces out towards the parking lot, he was there to work for Stater Brothers, presumably to keep someone from running of the store with some shoplifted cheese. He told me to talk to the parking lot security... which drives around in a little cart. It would have been easier for HIM to contact them. We didn't see them as we drove out. It is rare to catch illegal dumpers red-handed... and very frustrating that this guard didn't do anything about it.

Dave & Jenn were sweet enough to have us over for dinner recently. They even sent us home with some lemons after I drank up a lot of homemade lemonade. Mmmm.

We’ve been over to Puma & Granddaddy’s for a couple of family dinners since the last update, the most recent one being last night. We went over early to hang out and enjoy some time in the hot tub. Keelie currently hates taking baths, but doesn’t mind a dip in the hot tub. Go figure.

Work wise, I recently talked on-location with a reporter from KFWB AM 980 about some work state crews were doing that my coworkers were monitoring, and so clips of me were being played on the radio throughout that day.



Thanks for stopping by. You can leave a comment here or e-mail us. Let us know how you are doing! -Ken

Bonus: Keelie's 8-Month Pics

Because you have been so good (not because we can't stop bragging about our little girl... no), here are Keelie's official 8-month photos. The portrait studio asked Kori to sign a waiver allowing them to use the images for promotion, because they came out so well.

Remember - you can click on a picture to get the largest image.

Time Marches On...Into March

That was Keelie at seven months. Yes, she keeps getting more and more adorable.

These updates are getting less frequent, but time is short as a parent… as you other parents know… but will never tell your kids until they’ve already made grandparents out of you.

We all battled some bug that was going around, the strongest symptom of which was a lingering cough. I dealt with it the longest. It finally seems to be almost completely gone. Long after getting over it herself, Keelie decided to go on a weeklong strike against solid food. Kori prepares such great stuff, and Shelby is always eager to have some hit the floor. But for some reason, Keelie took about a week off from her normally enthusiastic eating sessions. Still, the doctor said she is really good at putting on weight. Those would be my genes at work. But it is a mystery to me how a creature who will readily stick anything she finds anywhere into her mouth, will be so determined to not allow a spoonful of food in.

Here's the little darling somehow finding this a comfortable napping position.

Keelie likes to say “ma ma ma ma ma” and “da da da da da”, which is exiciting, until she goes on to say “bah bah bah bah bah”. She does seem to have picked up the ASL sign for “milk”.

She has this preference for non-toy toys, such as a round, red lid to a jelly bean jar, plastic bottles, phones, eyeglasses, and remote controllers. Junk mail and paper napkins are especially entertaining.

Keelie still avoids taking long naps, but she has taken one or two now over 90 minutes.

Thanks to modern communications, Kori continues to be able to stay in contact with (mostly) first-time mothers across the country with children about Keelie’s age. It started when they were pregnant, and it was organized around the month their babies were due. Some of them, of course, are pregnant again. It is helpful to be able to compare notes and I’m glad Kori has that interaction.

Since Keelie sailed past the 8-month mark, we have finally arrived at the point of returning some of the baby stuff we borrowed. Thanks again, Carla & Steve! One of the things we returned to them was the swing Keelie is using in this shot to help her stand up.

It’s at the point where we need to strap Keelie down now to change her diaper, since she has become so good at turning over, sitting up, crawling, and standing up by grabbing something. I’ll get her diaper off, and then off she goes, reluctant to be clad in a fresh one. We finally got her a playpen, so we wouldn’t have to hover over her like penguins sitting on eggs when she is on the floor. She’ll stand up using the edge of the playpen, then “ring” the playpen over and over by walking sideways while holding on to the top of the playpen.

I think she's looking for weaknesses... just like a velociraptor.

As usual, we have enjoyed visits to Nanny’s and to Puma & Granddaddy’s during the time since our last update. During one trip to Nanny’s, we finally went back to Burger Continental. I don’t think we’d been back there since we took Nanny there to tell her Keelie was on the way.

Due to how retirement pay is calculated, February is always retirement season for the County of Los Angeles. This past Thursday, we joined Grampa Pellman and True and Marina at Don’s retirement party. Don was the Director of Public Works, where True, Marina, and I used to work. The party took place where Kori and I had our wedding reception, and it was packed! We took Keelie along so she could meet some people with whom I used to work. It was all a bit overwhelming for her, I think, but clearly good that her Grampa was there.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments are welcome, either here or via e-mail at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. Please let us know how you are doing, especially if you don’t have your own blog for us to read to keep track of ya.

We Survived Groundhog Day

It has been more than couple of weeks, so it is time for another update.

Keelie tends to wake up in the morning in a great mood, but strongly protests bedtime.

We’ve been seeing Puma & Granddaddy regularly, as they often have their kids over for dinner.

Keelie has had recent follow-ups with doctors. She’s at the taller and heavier end for her age. When she got the second part of her flu shot, she took it pretty well. Much better than getting four shots in rapid succession.

On a recent afternoon off, Kori arranged for us to drop Keelie off with Kendra & Steve (who are great at being her aunt and uncle) for a couple of hours so that we could be alone. It seems ridiculous, but that is where we are for a few reasons, including the fact that Keelie doesn’t take long naps and she’d much rather be interacting with one of us than playing with a toy.

But... she is very cute when she does nap.

Of course, we think she is cute all of the time.

Keelie has been enjoying all sorts of “solid” foods, most of which Kori has diligently prepared from raw materials. I am usually the one to feed Keelie her dinner (Kori feeds her the other meals), and it is a lot of fun. She gets all excited and slaps her hands on the tray, makes a face as she inhales sharply, and then says "mah-mah-mah-mah", which she has taken to saying at other times, too.

Below, she sits in her feeding chair, anticipating the culinary delights.

She promptly falls asleep when the sound of it doesn't excite her.

But then she perks up when she realizes that she has inherited my eating genes, and loves just about any meal!

Keelie seems to be fixated on left ears. Not sure if that is because we hold her on our left sides more often, or what. She also is interested in Kori’s hair, which Kori has taken to wearing in a bun so that less of it is torn out. She is very good at snatching our eyeglasses for taste tests, and loves running her hands over our faces in general. Crinkling up junk mail can keep her entertained for several minutes.

Here she is with the drawstring from Kori's sweatshirt.

We went to babysit for Chrissy & James, who have an 18 month-old boy. Our daughter and their son got along just fine. But they really didn’t interact all that much.

This past Friday evening, we had dinner at Puma & Granddaddy’s. The highlight was when we were all standing around and Keelie said "Ma-ma!"

It had been a few weeks since my mother and siblings had seen Keelie, so we went to my mother's place for dinner this past weekend, where my mother, Kim, Vicky, and my nephews could see how Keelie had grown. I think Blaine has grown even more. He’s 17 and getting really tall, so he looks different each time we see him.

Here's Keelie with Aunt Kim.

And Keelie with Kori...

Keelie has become quite adept at rolling to get from here to there, and has finally picked up crawling. She’s not an expert crawler yet, though, often sliding on her belly or getting up on her feet instead of her knees. Her favorite thing is standing, grabbing our thumbs for balance. Lately, she has realized that she can stand up by grabbing on to furniture, too.

Shelby continues to adapt. She knows exactly how far away she has to stand from Keelie to avoid her clutches, as Kori noticed.

Like 100 million other people, we watched the Superbowl. One more NFL football game left, and then Keelie will have to find something else that interests her until the next pre-season. I liked the commercial with Richard Simmons.

And now, since you've been so good, here's a word from Keelie...

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment here or e-mail us directly at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. We want to know how you and your loved ones are doing!

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].

Happy New Year 2008

Happy New Year!

We hope you and your loved ones are doing well. Thanks for stopping by.

The holidays were nice, but busy. Keelie has a lot of adoring family nearby, and everyone wanted to see her.

All three of us, plus the dog, spent a night at my mother’s place so that Kori and Keelie could be there all day on Christmas Eve while I went in to the office. That way, I didn't have to drive home after work and double back with the ladies to my mother's.

When I returned to my mother's place on Christmas Eve, we enjoyed Mexican food for dinner and exchanged gifts. My little sister was working, but my brother, other sister, brother-in-law, and nephews were all there in addition to Nanny.

Christmas Day was a long day. We were late getting over to Puma & Granddaddy’s for the morning session (yummy food), and thus we were late in getting up to Grampa & Grandma’s for their brunch (more yummy food).

Here's Keelie with her Grampa Pellman...

And here she is with Grandma...

The usual gang of Kathleen's family was there. It was nice to see everyone again.

In the evening, it was all the way back to Puma & Granddaddy’s, where everyone had reconvened – Kendra & Steve, Troy, Toby, Kirby, and more. We had dinner (more yummy). Keelie was exhausted and I took her into a different room while everyone exchanged gifts, so she could nap in my arms. What a feeling that is.

I was supposed to be back at work the next day, but ended up needing to recover, so I took the 26th off.

We were back at Puma & Ganddaddy’s again Thursday night to celebrate Steve’s birthday.

Friday night, we joined up with our friend Tony and the gang for dinner out and then some Christmas cheer back at his place. Everyone took turns playing with Keelie, who loves flirting with the guys. We didn’t stay too late, of course. It was a nice time and it is always nice to see everyone who makes it there. For the first time in years, we missed Dave & Jason's annual Crappy Gift Exchange, because I mistakenly thought it was on Saturday, despite Dave's mastery of EVites. Keelie would have had a blast there.

Here's Keelie taking a break from the flirting...

The next day, we were hosted in a very lovely home of a fellow LaughingPlace.com contributor and his family for a lunch along with Dave M and Doobie & Rebekah, who were in town from Florida. It was great to see them again! I liked it when they lived nearby. So many of you have left us here in SoCal!!!

This update is like a really easy game of Where's Waldo?, only with Keelie.

Doobie was getting some good practice.

Sunday brought another dinner at Puma & Granddaddy’s.

Our friends Craig & Kristen and their daughters had us over for a while on New Years Eve to have dinner and exchange some gifts. Their 2007 baby is walking! And she was very affectionate towards Keelie.

Craig is holding the walking, hugging, "older" girl of 2007, and Kristen is holding... take a guess...

For the turn of the year, though, we were home and taking it easy. We also took it easy on New Years Day. Keelie and I had a lot of good bonding time.

Keelie is almost crawling (she rolls instead of crawls) and very clever. She seems to understand that just because something is out of sight doesn't mean it went away. Also, she figured out that it is easier to pull a blanket closer to her to get something on it than it is to crawl. It is a little scary. She responds to her name and gives kisses. Since she hasn’t mastered crawling, her cheeks often get rosy from friction as she climbs around and as she propels herself with her legs. When she gets tired of me and starts to fuss, her absolute favorite thing is for Kori to take her off of my hands so that as she sits on her Mommie's hip, she can look down at me where I'm sitting and smile.

Keelie is trying different foods. She loves oatmeal.

Kori snapped a bunch of pictures yesterday when Keelie wrapped herself up into a Keelie burrito...

Thanks for coming by again. You can comment here or you can e-mail us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. Let us know how you are!