9 Month Stats

Thank you to Janet Kempke for this adorable handmade outfit!

Kyra's "Brando Face"

Kyra had her 9 month check up yesterday and, amazingly, this little girl just keeps growing and learning (exactly as she's supposed to!).

Weight: 20 lbs., 12 oz.

Height: 29 inches

Head Circumference: 44 cm.

Grandpa Phil managed to snap a couple photos of Kyra's Marlon Brando face recently. He's lucky he got them when he did, because she hasn't been making the face nearly as often as she was a week or two ago. These days, she's too busy pulling herself up to a stand to bother herself with making silly faces. It is amazing to watch her pull herself up - you can really see her thinking and figuring out her next move! She's so strong and squirmy and mobile now. She's so mobile, in fact, that her Mommy is now struggling with some really annoying lower back pain. It's been rather persistent, so that's probably not a good sign. But it's worth it!

Kyra's been practicing her sippy cup skills and, yesterday, she fed herself how own snack of banana puffs during a stroller walk. That was pretty cute! Not to jinx it, but she's been sleeping really well this week! Her Mommy and Daddy must be doing a pretty good job of exhausting her during the day.

We're looking forward to Kyra's first Thanksgiving next week. December will be here before you know it, and I'm really looking forward to taking Kyra on Mrs. Claus' Christmas trolley through Beverly Hills, which drops you off at Santa! We did it a few years ago with our nieces, and it was really fun. Hopefully Kyra won't be scared of Santa but, either way, it'll make for some adorable photos!

Free Shutterfly Holiday Cards

I don't usually use our blog to plug deals, but this promotion is just TOO GOOD to pass up! Did you know that Shutterfly is giving away 50 free holiday cards to bloggers? All you have to do is blog about your favorite card designs, and then fill out a form. Couldn't be much easier than that! So, I hope you'll excuse this shameless plug for Shutterfly, one of our favorite companies! Our family has been keeping them pretty busy, particularly since Kyra was born!

I absolutely love holiday cards! I love sending them and receiving them, hanging them up in the house for all to see. They definitely add a nice touch to seasonal decor, and they really make the holidays feel like the holidays. The thing I think I love most is pouring over the photo websites to select my all-time favorite card to put together our annual holiday card. I spend far too much time doing this! Shutterfly always has the best designs and the most variety, but I always have trouble picking out my one favorite design. I haven't put together our 2010 card yet, but I can already see that Shutterfly is offering up some adorable new designs this year!

I always have a tough time picking out just one favorite photo to put on our holiday card, so we usually end up with a collage card. That way, I'm not forced to leave out any cute photos. This will be the first year that our little Kyra gets included on our holiday card (with the exception of my super-pregnant belly on last year's card), so I know there will be no possible way for me to select just one photo! Collage card, here we come! I'm looking forward to putting together an adorable collage to showcase our beautiful baby girl!

Here are just a few styles that I enjoyed looking at today. I don't know how I'll ever make my final decision!

I'm also a sucker for cute graphics. Shutterfly always has really cute graphic cards. These are just 2 of the many cute styles they're offering on Shutterfly.

I can tell that this year will be the toughest yet when picking out our card design and the photos to include on it!

Holiday cards can be found at http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards, and photo Christmas cards are at http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery. Shutterfly is also a great source for gift ideas. We love their photo books and mugs! Photo books are easy to design here - http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books, and mug designs can be found here - http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs.

If you'd like to take part in Shutterfly's 50 Free Holiday Cards promotion, fill out the form found at this site http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/, and Shutterfly will email you directly with more specific information. Here's another link, just in case: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Happy holidays!

9 Months Old!

Look who's standing up!

Playing with Daddy in the park

Could they be any cuter?

Kyra LOVES pulling herself up to a stand!

Our little girl turned 9 months old yesterday! To celebrate, we took her to the Long Beach Aquarium - she loves to look at all the fish. The sea lions were also entertaining and playful! Throughout the day, Kyra gave us her "Marlon Brando" face, as I've been calling it. For some reason she keeps sticking her chin out, making this silly little face. I think she's discovering more areas of her mouth and how her teeth feel against these different parts of her mouth. It looks hilarious. I'll have to get a picture of it. She's also figured out how to pull herself up to a stand, and she's definitely practicing her new skill! I think, pretty soon, it'll be time to put the legs on her music table and, soon after, show her how to use her pre-walker push toys.

The pictures above were taken last week at the park, during an unseasonable heat wave in Southern California. Kyra definitely enjoyed the warm weather, but I've been enjoying putting some of her cute little jackets and long sleeve shirts on her now that it's cooled down a bit. The photo below shows just one of the cute jacket outfits we found discounted at Ross a few months ago. I've been waiting a while for it to finally cool down enough to pull the jackets, corduroy pants, jeans, and long sleeve shirts out of the closet! I'm sure we'll get a few more chilly days this winter, so we'll have jackets at the ready!

Last weekend, Kyra got to play with her BFF, Natasha, and the girls had a great time together. They'll see each other again tomorrow for a Birthday party, so hopefully we'll get some pictures of the girls together.

Enjoy your weekend!

Halloween - Part 2

Kyra went door-to-door!

She had her very own Trick-Or-Treat bag,

decorated by her Mommy

Kyra didn't spend too long in her stroller

- she loved going door-to-door

Kyra's Aunt Jen with her Mom Cathy,

and Kyra's cousins Mia (aka, Hannah Montana),

Maddie (a rockstar),

and Izzy (Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba)
Kyra got a lot of candy!

Too bad she's too young for it

- Mommy & Daddy had to eat it

(Mommy's still working on it, actually).

It was so much fun to spend Kyra's 1st Halloween with her cousins

& the rest of the family!

Kyra & Grandma Linda

Reading a pumpkin book a couple days before Halloween

"Meow"

Kyra, in her "Wickedly Adorable" T-shirt, with Grandma Carol.

Kyra and I already picked out Halloween shirts on clearance the day after Halloween.

She's all set for next year!

Kyra & Mommy at the costume contest at the mall.

Kyra was the only baby kitty cat!

There were tons of people there,

and Kyra had a great time looking around at the all the activities.

I tried so hard to teach her to say "Meow,"

but she wasn't ready for her first word yet!

She did manage to stick her tongue out like a kitty in this picture,

although I'm sure it was completely random.

We had such a great Halloween this year! We really made the most of it, with activities and dressing up for 3 days leading up to the main event on October 31st. Kyra loved her kitty cat costume and was so cozy in it. It was the perfect choice to keep her warm during Halloween night trick-or-treating. It wasn't too cold, but we knew she was nice and snuggly!

We went door-to-door in Aliso Viejo - it was so much fun to go trick-or-treating with Kyra's cousins for her very first Halloween. Kyra really seemed to like trick-or-treating, but she didn't get to enjoy any of her candy. We, as parents, had so much! I think Halloween is so much better now that we're parents! I always loved Halloween, but it's going to be so much fun to watch Miss Kyra get dressed up and have fun each year!

And now we have officially started the holiday season! We're gearing up for Kyra's first Thanksgiving (she already has an adorable handmade outfit waiting for her - thanks Grandma Carol!), and Christmas is just around the corner. Geoff and I usually go looking at Christmas lights at least one evening each year, and we're really looking forward to doing that with Kyra from now on! I suspect that Kyra might need to visit Balboa Island and all their festive Christmas lights! I'm excited to hang up some decorations this year! I bought Kyra a Christmas stocking last year when I was pregnant, so it'll be fun to put some little items in it for her. I've already purchased a couple Christmas ornaments for her - I think that'll be a tradition for us, to build her a nice little collection that she can one day decorate a tree with. We won't be getting a big Christmas tree - someday when we have a bigger house - but I think I'll put up a couple of our fake mini trees. And Kyra and I have been working on her Christmas wardrobe - she's definitely got some cute and cozy things ready to wear, including a couple dresses from Grandma Carol!