11 months old

Happy belated Fat Tuesday. I got gypped on the beads but I was sporting the festive onsie. My hand is in festive colors as well because I have a burn. I was helping Michael test the temperature of his hot tea and learned that the best way to do it is NOT by pouring it on yourself. I also learned that teenagers watching the Grammy's don't always make the best babysitters. So mom is making me wear this annoying bandage until the blisters are gone. 

Here are my current stats:

18.2 pounds
26.5 "
8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom)
word count- 0
favorite foods- waffles, bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, broccoli, carrots
not a fan of cherrios or the other puff snacks at the moment
not a fan of pureed food anymore. I like the real stuff



Mom and dad still say I'm a very easy baby. I am happy when I'm awake and I am still sleeping 4 hours at a time at night so it wasn't a fluke. I don't even mind my crib or my own room now. Just as long as someone delivers my food as scheduled throughout the night, I'm willing to continue with this arrangement. 

I am becoming a bigger helper every day. I am learning taxes and paperwork. Mom brought it to Telluride to work on during nap time. I found it in the suitcase and helped her organize it

I am learning where mom keeps things in the kitchen so I can make sure its all put back in the right place

Keeping the laptop clean is also a good idea. I thought I'd wash the keyboard cover

I even help when I'm at others' houses. I got to attend Dr. Cambray's baby shower and helped with the gifts. Charlotte's grandma even joined me under the table because it looked like so much fun

So just holler when you need some help around the house. I can come right over!

Happy Valentines Day

alexa

Active in Colorado

This is going to be one of those back to back post weeks. Mom had really good intentions of dictating my 10 month recap last weekend but once again, the execution just wasn't there. 

As you saw in my last video, I am a walker. I walk everywhere and I'm getting more balanced doing it. Here is another video of my improved skills. I haven't gotten to play on the tennis court yet, but they are letting me play with the balls in the lobby

In keeping with traditional Colorado winter activities, I am also a skier now...well at least a master of the magic carpet. "skier" may be a bit of an overstatement.  The conditions were less than ideal as it was dumping snow by the foot and quite chilly. But there were a couple breaks of better weather so I convinced mom to try it (the fact that she was too cheap to pay for the nursery helped my cause). Our main goal of the day was to get to watch one of Drew's races. They put the course in the middle of the mountain which meant spectators had the option to ski down or hike up (NOT!). So we chose the ski down option. As long as I look like a skier and not a baby in a backpack, I am allowed on the lift or gondola. So I got dressed and ready to go. Lift ticket and all.

We decided it would be best to start on the magic carpet to get the hang of things. I LOVED the moving belt that takes you to the top of the baby hill. My balance was better than moms and I was smiling the entire time

Next was the practice hill. The limiting factor here was plastic skis in powder. Not exactly the fat waisted rockers you normally see on a powder day. But I worked with what I had.

Here I am going down with Drew to get the hang of it

The final challenge was taking the gondola up the mountain and skiing to Drew's race course. I had a blast. Mom, not so much. She had to bend down so I could ski between her legs and said she had no idea how long that run was. We made it to the course but we were going to have to wait 40 racers to see Drew. It was cold and I was only having fun when I was actually moving. So we watched a few of his teammates and finished our run to the bottom. Mom wished she could video it because I was making a "weee" sound as we were going down. Hopefully this weekend will be much warmer so I can practice skiing independently. Mom said her muscles are too old to go down together again and I wouldn't let her take the breaks she desperately needed. Maybe I will work on dad. He is a softy.

Mom will post again in the next day or two with my 11 month old stats and some more pictures. 

Cheers!

alexa

I am upright

I am walking and I have beaten the Keller record by 2 months. Hayley held the top spot for 16 years by walking at 12 months. I blew it away by walking at 10 months. I have been testing it out for a couple weeks but now I'm getting pretty good at it. This is a video from a few days ago. Hopefully it works.

Aunt Angie and Jay came to visit last week. We saw Hayley perform in the Cinderella ballet on Friday and then headed to Telluride for the weekend. I hear Hayley and her friends were amazing in the show. I wouldn't know first hand because they didn't trust me to stay quiet so they made me stay home with Michael.  It was snowing like crazy in Telluride so I will have to wait a bit longer to try out my skis and my Paul Frank helmet. I'm sure I will kill it in the 2 feet of powder they have gotten this week. I missed this years X-games but perhaps Kate Rapiejko and I will be ready by next year.  

This picture of Angie and I was taken on Monday. The funny part is that she should have been teaching class in San Jose at this time. Every time she comes to visit, United Airlines decides she needs to spend more time with me and cancels her flight home. Its now happened 3 times. They obviously know (better than she does) how long she would like to stay. Jay got to spend his birthday with me. Here I am convincing him it was the best place to be.

Not sure if I mentioned it in my last post but we made some adjustments to my reflux meds and it is now completely controlled and guess what...I finally sleep! Since birth I have gotten up every 1-3 hours either to get comfortable or to eat. As of this week, I am consistently sleeping 3-4 hours straight. And would you like to know how I was rewarded...

I was booted from mom and dad's room! Not cool. Mom said she was too old to get out of bed every 1-2 hours with me. But she has no problem with every 4 so here I am on the other side of the house. 

Food continues to go great. I no longer need blended food. Just cut me up a pear or a waffle and I'm good to go. I have a hard time remembering to pace myself and try to stuff it all in like a squirrel but after a few more choking scares, I will figure it out. 

I have gotten 2.5 more teeth so I now have 4 on the bottom and 1.5 fangs. And the tooth grinding was short lived. Mom is happy because she said it was a pretty gross sound. 

No words yet but I "talk" up a storm in the car using my own language that slightly resemble Chinese. Now that the snow here is melting, hopefully mom can get better pictures using something other than her phone camera.

Since mom is typing for me right now and not at the pre game festivities in New Orleans with Mindy, it must not be a Broncos/Seahawks superbowl. Hope everyone enjoys the big game this week anyway. 

Cheers!

alexa

10 Months

Wow. 10 months already. Mom says I'm growing up too fast. Here are my current stats

17 pounds
25.5 inches
3 teeth- 2 bottom and 1 fang- my new trick is to grind my teeth (or tooth)!
no words yet but I now shake my head "no"

My record is 4 steps by myself but I still prefer my very awkward crawl. I'm fast and stealth-like. Here is a video mom took. Hopefully it will work on the blog. She likes how my left leg almost hits my left elbow. But notice how fast I got to my snacks!

I love to put everything I can find in my mouth and my favorite place to crawl is on the stairs so I am now being trailed by someone wherever I go. That can definitely get annoying when all I want is a little privacy to tear up a magazine and eat it in peace. Speaking of eating and food, I LOVE it all. I will eat anything and everything thrown my way. I can eat whole bananas, waffles, roasted pears, apples, squash, broccoli and mangos just to name a few. It is a little concerning that I have an insatiable appetite and my fat rolls clearly show it.  Besides all the food I eat, I also drink bottles every 2-4 hours day and night (much to mom's dismay). We aren't sure why I am so hungry but we are hoping its a growth spurt that will lead to added height, not just weight. We will see. 

my waffle

I have a great time with my two pets, Cooper the dog and Linus the ferret. Cooper is a bit like a grumpy old man who just wants to be left alone when he sleeps but Linus and I share toys. Here we are looking in the toybox

Here is Linus taking Sophie the giraffe back to his house

It has been crazy cold in Grand Junction this month. On a warm day we will hit a high in double digits. One morning last week it was -12 when H and M left for school. And that didn't even include the windchill. So I pretty much stay indoors. We are in Telluride this weekend where it is 40 degrees. We are in an inversion weather pattern so the valley is cold and the mountains are warm. Weird if you ask me. 

Health wise I am doing great. We checked carnitine levels last month and they are in the low normal range with my medicine so I will be on it at least until summer. There is still some hope I may come off when I'm older but it will not happen anytime soon.  My vomiting has been well controlled with the help of modern medicine too. I got my very first cold a couple weeks ago and did great. Nothing more than kleenex needed. No ear infection and no wheezing. Mom says that is a Keller first! There are lots of viruses going around right now so we are  laying low and being careful who I am around. Everyone would agree that sick babies are no fun. 

Aunt Angie and Jay come this Thursday. We will be back in Telluride next weekend and I may try out my new skis if it's still warm. I will sign off with a demo of my mad music skills...

Cheers!

alexa

Where did December go?

I would love to tell you the reason for the lack of posts this month has been holidays, family and friends visiting, football playoffs and multiple trips to Telluride. But the real explanation for the silence can be summed up in two words...Homeland addiction. That's right, my ghostwriter was introduced to the series and didn't stop watching until all 24 episodes were viewed. Thankfully the next episode doesn't come out until fall 2013 so there should be no further interruptions. Unless of course the Broncos make it to the super bowl. 

My ninth month has been very exciting. We had visitors staying at our house for almost 2 weeks and it was great. Cousins are the best. I got to meet Jordan and Mara for the first time and spend Christmas with them. The Hendersons came on the 26th. You may remember that Pier and I are only 2 weeks apart so that was a ton of fun. Here are some pictures of our visit

uncle Mike, Jordan, Mara, and Pier

I'm not sure how I caught the cold that Pier had. Gross, I know. Can't help it

Drew celebrated his 13th birthday over the break. As usual, no one was brave enough to share their cake with me. I guess I make everyone nervous about trying new foods. 

He got the new game of Life. Can't wait to try it out

My first Christmas was as good as people made it out to be. Dad had to leave for work early so we had to wake up at 6am to open presents. Luckily we could go back to sleep after he left. Santa had already been here when I woke up and left me a piano and other fun, noisy toys. 

Just in case...

At one point dad moved me about 3 inches so mom could get a better picture. I thought he was stealing my present so I reacted appropriately

I recovered quickly

My new piano

The weather has been frigid here and we have lots of snow on the ground. I got to try out my new snow suit while dad pushed me on the sled.

staying warm with aunt Kelly and little D

And that was how we ended 2012. We had a few friends over on New Year's Eve and I stayed up to watch the ball drop

Now that the holidays are over, its time to get serious about snow sports. So mom found me the smallest outdoor snowboots which just happen to be the same ones she had when she was little... the original "moon boot"! They rock.

And they fit in my first pair of snow skis. All I need now is a helmet and I am ready for the slopes, or at least the magic carpet run. Drew can't wait to teach me.

And what post would be complete without the bedhead photo of the day. This one has a bonus of me eating all by myself

That about sums up the past 3 weeks. Now let's get ready to cheer on the Broncos next Saturday. Mom and Dr. Hendrickson made a deal that if Seattle (Mindy's team) and the Bronco's make it to the super bowl, the three of us are headed to New Orleans. We can dream, right??

Have a great week.

Cheers!

alexa

9 Months

The Holiday Season

The Christmas decorations are going up and I am eager to help. Whether its rearranging the low lying ornaments on the tree after tasting each one, or making sure there is enough water in the tree stand by sticking my hand in it, I'm ready to assist wherever needed. 

Gotta love Pottery Barn mass production so my stocking matches the old ones

We shopped for a tree Sun. and didn't even have to get out of the car. There was only one extra tall tree left in GJ so it made the decision easy

Not sure when mom is going to be brave enough to start putting gifts under the tree. She is lucky this year because she won't need to put name tags on them. I can tear the paper off each one for her. 

Dad put lights on the trees in front of our house so I will try to get pictures of that for the next post. There are a few "Griswald" houses in our neighborhood I will get to see. One had to use a crane to put the giant star up. Its quite impressive.

Today I am 9 months old. I'm sure my height and weight have not changed much in 2 weeks so we will stick with 16# and 24.5". I'm saving dad money because with a 30#,32" limit on my infant seat, I may be able to use it till kindergarten. I'm walking very well with my block cart but not quite ready to go it alone yet.

In my 0-3 month size pants everyone says I look like a computerized special effect of the walking baby

Mom's idea of buying 6-12 mo. dresses that will last all winter (and next)

I got to meet my 4 month old friend, Kate Rapiejko, for the first time this weekend at the Hogeston baby shower. Kerri and Cody are having twin girls soon so we will be quite the foursome. Can't wait.

I was trying to figure out why they were stealing my carseat and in the confusion I may have attacked her. Sorry Kate. She will get me back I'm sure because she will likely be bigger and taller than me by next month. At least I will be faster for a bit longer so I can run.

Food is going well. I will eat anything and everything they give me, even brussel sprouts. And my two teeth are helping me eat the yummy spinach snacks shaped like cherrios. We have finally found a combination of reflux meds that are working really well. I am sleeping for 3-4 hours straight and laying down instead of sitting up doubled over. Mom is looking more well rested too which is definitely a good thing. 

I am making funny hand gestures and so far no one knows what they mean. Any ideas?

I currently have a 2 word vocabulary. Bah, and Rah. Impressive, I know.

And finally, my bedhead photo of the week. Thanks Hayley

Cheers,

alexa

On the move

Here is what I have been up to.

Here I am Tuesday...

I'm very fast

Here I am helping mom with dishes on Weds

And here I am today (Thursday)

why crawl when you can walk up

I use the wires to help me. Just my height. Great design mom! And I can now fit my first pair of 3-6 month pants! Woo Hoo

So that is what I have been up to. I can now push my blocks in the cart but I haven't taken the unassisted first step. Its coming any day. And in exactly half the time it took Brandon. This house is so un-baby-proofed, who could resist the temptation to walk a little early and take advantage. Word on the street is that mom is researching baby gates right now. Big bummer. Good thing I can still have fun throwing her big decorative rocks from the planter onto the slate tiles. Wait till I'm tall enough to hit the window. 

Last weekend was our first of many trips to Telluride. Our condo is right in town so we got to enjoy the warm weather and take lots of walks. Here I am at the base of the ski slope seeing Drew off

Don't let the pic fool you. There is not much snow here yet

Very toasty in my stroller sleeping bag

So needless to say, blog updates will be very sporatic.  The easy life of babies who can't move or throw temper tantrums is over. Now, while mom is cleaning the floor because I still have reflux, I can run away and find new things to play with. Football season is in the final stretch of the regular season. With any luck I will get to watch Peyton all the way to Feb. 

Cheers!

alexa