You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2008.
Kivrin’s favorite holiday decoration was probably the animatronic and completely annoying talking Homer Simpson.
On New Year’s Eve, Kivrin and Dan both wore their glow-in-the-dark party jewelry!
Kivrin wore her best New Year’s Eve outfit — it says “Party Animal” and she obviously was one!
Our good friends Alex and Carrie came over to spend the evening with us. Kivrin entertained all of us.
Dan showed off his new toy, the Roboraptor. We weren’t sure what Kivrin would think of it, but if I could read her mind, I think she was saying “look, a big green kitty. I want to pet it.” The roboraptor has different personality settings, like “playful” and “guard” and “agressive.” Kivrin seems to like it when the dinosaur pursued her, trying to bite her hand and growl at her. Unlike the kitty cats, who always run away from her, the “agressive” dinosaur just kept trying to get closer to her, no matter how much she grabbed at it’s face!
By 9:30 pm on New Year’s Eve, Kivrin was winding down and in pajamas. A quick good night visit with the big cat (followed by a thorough hand-washing) and she was off to bed!
Kivrin and Mommy didn’t make it to midnight, but Dan woke me up at 11:59 pm to wish me a happy new year (so he says…) For some reason, this is the only photo we took on January 1, 2009. It has a definite “morning after” feel to it, even though really we were trying to show that she can lift her burp cloth over her head and sometimes forgets to bring it back down…
Kivrin meets a tiger (a gift from cousins Mindy, Kevin and Becka) and they get to know each other better. She has a lot to learn about how to play nicely with cats – whether big or small, toys or real….
I don’t know if these are official developmental milestones, but Kivrin is quite impressed with herself and her new skills…
…holding a toy (or burp cloth) with both hands and raising it above her head.
…grabbing little things, like the tags on her toys, and using them as handles.
…raising her head up really high while on her belly, and sometimes reaching out for toys while on her belly.
…reaching for things with both hands, whether she is sitting up, laying down, or in a standing position. If she can, she’ll throw her weight around to try to maneuver closer to something you want.
…using her stomach muscles to lift her feet up in the air. She grabs her pants or her socks or her toes. Sometimes she even flops over to the side in an “L” shape, but she hasn’t rolled over yet.
…and she’s an expert grabber, of her toys, blankets, her own shirt or pants, her bib, her burp cloth, mommy’s watter bottle or drinking glass, her parents’ hair, mommy or daddy’s glasses, etc.
Kivrin in various stages of catching, throwing and holding her new balls from Nana and Lee.
Kivrin is sitting with support wonderfully these days – she likes it because she can play with her new toys more easily while sitting up, including her new phone (Thanks Kate – you are right, thankfully this toy does NOT have annoying ringer!).
Colin let Kivrin look at his cool new Legos.
Attack of the giant baby! Since Kivrin is too little to play with Legos, Aunt Leigh Anne let her walk on them instead.
Kivrin enjoyed touching the textures on the Lego and reading the instructions for building a house. She was very impressed by how quickly Leigh Anne can create things, especially while Colin is napping. She can get her own Legos in a few more years!
We enjoyed a Christmas lunch at Jim and Gwen’s house with all of the Staley family.
Colin and Kivrin hanging out together.
Kivrin was eyeing Colin’s new toy as he made the train go around the track.
Uncle Gary and Aunt Carol have lots of grandaughters so they are experts at appreciating little baby girls!
Kivrin had a blast hanging out with Aunt Gwen.
Sitting with Dan, Kivrin watches Grandpa and Colin playing with a helicopter.
The Staley tradition continues – dominoes around the dining room table after dinner.
Kivrin thought her cousin Allan was very amusing!
Colin holding on to Uncle Lee.
Kivrin sitting with Uncle Jim and talking to Grandpa.
It’s a flying baby santa Kivrin!
Kivrin wanted to be clean and good-smelling for Santa on Christmas Eve so she took a bath in this makeshift bathtub on Grandpa’s kitchen counter!
A family picture under the Christmas tree (with the treats for Santa).
Winding down on Christmas Eve, we snuggled up in Grandpa’s basement to watch WALL-E together (well, not Kivrin… when she kept turning her head, she got her view blocked by a combination of boxes so that she couldn’t watch the TV).
Our favorite neighbors from the old house on Village Drive, Kara and Jeff, came to visit and hang out with our kiddos.
Kivrin wasn’t too cooperative when Jeff offered to hold her, but we figured out that she wanted to play instead. Kara entertained her with tissue paper and that reliable standby– swinging hair!!
Later on, Grandma Denise came for a Christmas visit.
Her traditional gift to Dan– a Simpson’s Christmas decoration– was a cool ornament this year.
Kivrin can’t wait to grow into this one — an Illinois sweathshirt just like mom and dad’s!
Kivrin had fun playing and opening her presents.
Colin got a floor hockey set, which was the funnest thing ever! He and Grandpa had to play it right away.
Did Santa come? I think he did! Colin, Leigh Anne and Grandpa all rush to the living room to check under the tree…
Once we were reassured that Santa had delivered some presents, Colin took some time on Christmas morning to enjoy some milk and play with baby Kivrin before he opened his packages.
Kivrin was happy to sit in the high chair with us at the table while we had breakfast. Since she doesn’t eat solid foods yet, we call that thing in front the “toy tray.”
Colin gave Kivrin a colorful jacob’s ladder toy; he was showing her how it works.
Kivrin got a special “Money Savvy” piggy bank from Grandpa – it has FOUR coin slots, for save, spend, donate and invest. Right now, Kivrin just likes to look at her own reflection in the shiny surface, but we will teach her how to designate her money for saving , spending and sharing with others.
Dan’s big present this year was a robotic dinosaur. Colin saw it early, before we got to town, and was supposed to keep it a secret until Christmas. Alas, it was just too exciting, and the first words out of his mouth when he saw Dan were about the robot dinosaur…Dan still had to wait until Christmas morning to open his present though!
Colin did a great job of playing with his cousin and handing her the ball over and over when she dropped it. Kivrin really likes to play with him!
Here is a collection of videos from Christmas. They are all also available on youtube.
Colin and Kivrin watching the train under Grandpa’s Christmas tree
“The only reason to turn on the annoying music on that train is if you are shooting a video.”
Some clips from Christmas in Collinsville, December 21-22, 2008
Kivrin playing with cousin Colin, Colin riding the carousel and watching Uncle Lee’s trains, Kivrin playing with Nana and getting raspberries on her tummy from mommy.
Fogt family Christmas in Kansas City, December 20, 2008
Opening presents (and wrapping them) is always more fun with infants around!
There is an episode of the O.C. called the Nana and even though our nana isn’t the same as Seth Cohen’s nana, they are both pretty great.
We went to Nana’s for Christmas lunch on Tuesday. We came early to help with the food, but she had everything so prepared and organized that we just lifted dishes in and out of the oven at the scheduled time. Nana’s food was amazing and she made all of our favorite- green bean casserole, candied sweet potatos with nuts, cauliflower with white sauce, buttered corn, vegetarian stuffing, mashed potatos and gravy, turkey and veggies with dip, plus lots (and I mean hundreds) of cookies!
Colin loved Uncle Lee’s trains, and he also enjoyed the large cardboard box his present came in.
Kivrin liked everything– the people to hold her and smile at her, the wrapping paper, and her new musical balls that are just the right size for her!
Here she is being jealous of Colin, who was getting an airplane ride complete with barrel-rolls from Dan. Kivrin had fun a bit later though when Colin blew raspberries on her belly!
Kivrin wasn’t old enough this year to play Santa and hand out presents, but she dressed up for the occassion anyway and let Colin do the hard work of delivering (and helping to open) the packages.
See a few more photos on flickr December 23, 2008 Christmas at Nana’s house
Leigh Anne and Colin arrived early at Papa Staley’s house to travel between two big snowstorms in Milwaukee.
We made sugar cookies, rolling out the dough, cutting shapes, baking, icing and adding sprinkles. Kivrin watched from the highchair, and later she just snuggled with Grandpa.
Under the Christmas tree is the train– Colin loves to help turn it on and off and even baby Kivrin liked to watch it and reach for it as it went by.
I brought home some magic rocks for Grandpa and Colin to grow together– science is really fun, especially crystals!
Some of Leigh Anne’s friends came over and everyone shared silly smiles.
We ventured to St. Clair square in search of yummy lunch at Olga’s and so Colin could tell Santa to bring a firetruck for him. No trip to the mall could be complete without a little breastfeeding in public though.
See a few more pictures from December 21-23, 2008 A few days before Christmas at Papa Staley’s house here.
Christmas came early at Dan’s parent’s house this year- we celebrated with them the weekend before Christmas on our way to Collinsville.
After a week of work, we packed both cars Saturday morning with baby parephenilia and presents and headed east.
Kivrin was happy to see Grandpa Steve and Grandma Sandy. We enjoyed a tasty lunch and then opened presents together. Last year at Christmas with 6 adults was VERY different than this year with the two new additions to the family!
Kivrin loved the tissue paper and anything that made a noise. Dan and I got spoiled with wonderful gifts as well.
Kivrin isn’t quite old enough to play with her cousin Thomas, but she liked watching him play.
We had planned to go to Gloria Dei on Sunday but the bitterly cold weather kept us inside.
We squished into Dan’s car for the drive across Missouri, where I learned the painful lesson that none of my favorite traveling restaurants have places to change diapers in their restrooms. What was Taco Bell thinking? So tragic…
See the rest of our Fogt family Christmas 2008 pictures here
Kivrin helped us wrap everyone’s presents this year, but she took the time to make sure that nana’s present got extra special care. We made a video to show what a great job she did.
SPOILER ALERT: if you want to be surprised when Nana opens her Christmas present, don’t watch this video!
Kivrin’s teachers Judy and Debbie got us a Christmas present. Kivrin was wearing her jeans for casual Friday, just like Mommy and Daddy do. Kivrin helped me open the gift- she liked the sound the paper made. Besides the storybook, each of the kids in Infant A made an ornament with their picture — their classroom nickname is “Angels” so we will always remember Kivrin’s first Christmas at school!
Kivrin Anne 
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