Delaney and Her Puppy

Here is video from a few months ago. Brundibar has a great deal of patience when it comes to Delaney. Please ignore the partial nudity. Enjoy!

Sick

Poor Baby!

Delaney's been fighting a cold for awhile now, but we were desperately hoping it would just run its course. The one time in the past that I did take Delaney to Kaiser because of cold symptoms resulted in the doctor telling me "Yep, she has a cold." There's $15 and 2 hours of my life that I won't ever got back. So, based off of past experiences and my strong dislike towards all things medical, I was really hoping her cough and runny nose would just go away. But on Saturday night when she started tugging on her ear, I knew it was time for a visit to Kaiser.

So Miss Delaney has her first ear infection and a case of bronchiolitis. She is on antibiotics and a nebulizer for breathing treatments. Of course this is my week to work and she's not supposed to be around any little friends. Thankfully, my family is rallying around sick Delaney and everyone is taking a day off of work this week to play pass-the-sick-baby.

Delaney's in awfully good spirits for a sick kid, but very sensitive and a tad unpredictable. Right now she is happily playing with the cats' toys. She has a plethora of beautiful, developmentally appropriate baby toys, but she prefers the cats' toys. But really, who's surprised by that? She is called Delaney Cat more often than not, and I have been known to purr to her to calm her down...

Sun Day

The clouds finally parted here in SoCal, so we threw the baby in the stroller, grabbed the pooch, and headed out for a family walk.

Blue sky, hooray!

Getting a kiss from the mama...

Brundibar already knows that Delaney's the boss.

Big girl

Now that Delaney is 10 months old, she doesn't bother herself with baby stuff. Instead, she'd rather...

Play at her chalkboard...

Sit at her table...

And read her books--a girl after my own heart!

Storm Watch 2010

Ok Mr. StormCloud, let's see what you got...

I'm ready for you!

What we do after dinner...

December Photo Shoot

About a month ago, we enlisted the help of our dear friend Jon to take some photos of Delaney and our little family. We had never taken Delaney to get her pictures done professionally, because she cried a lot in the beginning and who wants to pay good money to document that? But as Christmas was nearing, we decided that Delaney was ready for a photo shoot. She did great, and we are so pleased with how all of the photos turned out (side note- Jon does amazing work and you should totally hire him if you live close by). As you can see, I'm posting a lot of the pictures because they're all so good I just couldn't chose a few. Besides, who am I kidding? Chances are you're checking out my blog for updated pictures of Delaney anyway.



The end. Whew!

Inevitable

I knew this day would come sooner or later.

It was bound to happen, and try as I might, I couldn't stop it.

Today Delaney found Brundibar's dog food.

'Nuff said.

Guess What?

This baby now weighs 15.4 pounds!!!!! I know, I know, to most people that's still teeny tiny. And it is--Delaney's weight still doesn't register on the growth charts. But we're getting there. The doctor is pleased with Delaney's growth, and that makes this mama very relieved. So, what's our weight gain secret? No, Uncle Jimmy, it's not Bud Light and steak--we're adding heavy cream and butter to almost everything we can. I know it sounds ridiculous, but we're trying to teach Delaney's body how to crave enough calories to sustain her. Man oh man, I wish I could add butter to everything I ate...

Hooray for me!

Christmas in Riverside 2009

We continued the holiday festivities with the Dunlaps when we returned to California. Delaney was blessed by handmade gifts from her Nana, Papa, and Uncle Monkey.

First things first--posing underneath the tree.

Delaney's Uncle Mike (AKA Uncle Monkey) painted this picture for his favorite niece. Let's hope Delaney inherits some artistic ability from her uncle...

This red Radio Flyer wheelbarrow was Steve's when he was a kid. Steve's parents found it in the attic and brought it back to life with some major TLC and a nice powdercoat finish. I never knew a wheelbarrow could be a thing of beauty, but trust me, it is.

Lastly, Steve's parents made Delaney this tinker-toy chair. It's pretty spectacular and I think the girl likes it. She'll be big enough to sit in it all by herself all too soon *sniff*.

Thank you to all of our friends and family for making us feel so loved, and for making Delaney's first Christmas very special.

Christmas in Oregon 2009

Merry Christmas and happy new year! As you might know, we spent our Christmas in Oregon celebrating with family and friends. We chose to drive, because we're crazy like that. However, Delaney did very well in the car, all things considered. We're just now getting back to a routine and getting over the inevitable cold/flu bug floating around these here parts. After reviewing my pictures, I realized that there are very few pictures of adults, with most pictures focusing on Miss Delaney (shocking!) So, enjoy!

Delaney with "cousin" Jack. He's going to be a big brother very soon!

On Christmas Eve, my parents let Laney open one of her presents. It was a Delaney Claus outfit! However, she didn't wear her get-up too long before she upchucked her caloric intake on Uncle Jimmy. It wouldn't be the holidays without a kid getting sick, right?

We got together with the Lee side of the family on Christmas Eve. Here cousin Bailey is entertaining us all. Suffice it to say, the kiddos were the life of the party!

Grammie & Grandpa...err, I mean Santa, brought Delaney this toy Christmas morning. It roars, plays a catchy little tune, and would totally annoy me if Delaney didn't love it so much.

We headed to Beaverton later Christmas morning to celebrate with the Rasmussen side. Cousin Solveig and Delaney are both exhausted from all of that present opening business.

Delaney received this pink and noisy tea set from my cousins Solveig and Gunnar. Yes, it's pink, and yes, she loves it.

As you might have noticed from the pictures, Delaney wasn't feeling her best on our little trip. She didn't eat a lot, which wreaked havoc on my nerves as we have to weigh in (yet again) this week, and I have to count every calorie that this kiddo ingests. I thought we were past all of this Delaney-isn't-growing-fast-enough-for-Kaiser's-charts business, but I guess we're not out of the clear yet. So wish us luck with that...

All I wanted for Christmas...

You know you're a grown up when all you want for Christmas is central heating and AC. Heck, it's what I've wanted since we moved in two summers ago. Santa heard our plea and responded by installing central heating and air. And, to top things off, our house got insulated as well! Now if we could figure out a way to make Santa foot the bill...

No more cold toes on the bathroom tile! Such a beautiful, Christmas-y sight.