Angel Face

When we were pregnant with Kalissa, Al brought up the fact that we need to invest in a new camera. He said that our point-n-shoot would be fine for everyday pictures but that we would want to have a better camera available for holidays and special occasions. I was all on board with the idea until I saw just how much these semi-professional-grade cameras cost! Ummm...no thanks. We'll make do with what we currently have. And I have been completely happy with that. Until.....

On Wednesday, Kali and I went to our mom's group. The group leader is an amateur photographer complete with a fancy camera and she offered to shoot the kids to celebrate Easter/Spring. Free pictures?? I'm there!! After she was finished taking photos, I started to take pictures of Kalissa with my own camera. Here are the results:

Not so bad, right? A couple of them I really liked and thought were frame worthy. The inexpensive point-n-shoot came through once again! Then I got an email with the photos that my friend took. Here is a very small sampling of the photoshoot. In the 10 minutes she spent shooting Kali, there had to be over 100 pictures!

Now that's what I call photography! Look at the emotion she was able to capture! She didn't need do-overs. There was no missing the moment. And the shots with my hand in them...I didn't even know she was shooting, I was just trying to give Kalissa the flowers to get her to stop crying. She started off the shoot crying because we put her in the grass (the girl is not having grass!) but once we put her on the deck, she went to work! *lol* Look at that face! I know I'm biased but she looks so angelic to me. Truly a blessing from God.

I was completely blown away by the difference in photo quality. Once again, Al is correct but I still can't justify that expense at this moment in time. So, I'll just be happy with what we have now and add a fancy camera to our very short wants list.

They Think of Everything!

Lately, bath time with Kali has become increasingly difficult. Ever since she decided she no longer wants to lay back and relax on the little mesh hammock thing, giving her a bath became really scary. It's not so much that she wants to sit up for her bath, it's that she insists on standing up and reaching for everything. Which means she slips and falls a lot. Yes, I'm there to catch her but a soapy baby is a slippery baby! In addition, she is fascinated by the faucet. She's always reaching for it and I can vividly see her slipping and hitting her head or mouth on it. Even when her back is to it, I imagine her standing up and hitting her back on it. I tried pulling her tub further away from the faucet but that only gave her more of a target to aim for. I just became very nervous with giving her a bath. That's until I made a trip to Target for bath toys. In with the toys was a faucet cover!!! I didn't even know they existed! Look how cute the little duck cover is. It's perfect and my fears of Kali hurting herself on the faucet are gone. You don't have to take it off and on (the water still runs through a hole underneath) and as a bonus, you can flip up the little duck's hat and pour in bubble bath which is dispensed automatically. How cute is that?! I'm telling you, they have this kid thing sewn up. If I'm having concerns with something, I have to believe that I'm not the only one with that concern and chances are there's a remedy for it. I just have to go looking for it!

Playgroup Buddies

Recently Kalissa and I added another playgroup to our calendar. My neighbor, who has a 5-month old son and who is also a first-time mom and the same age as me, told us about the group and today was our second time attending. I like this group a lot. For one, it meets outdoors and I love me some sunshine! Two, there are many more mommies (and a couple of daddies) in attendance. Lastly, and probably most importantly, Kalissa is the average age. This is great because, unlike our other group, she can actually play with the other babies. Today, Kali showed off her new skills and took a couple of steps (she's not officially walking but she does take a few steps each day). And she was especially chummy with Hazel, the 12-month old, who was sitting next to us. She took Hazel's snack cup but wouldn't let Hazel play with any of her toys. Hmmm...sounds like someone needs a lesson in sharing! She also found it fun to pull the little girl's hat off her head. *lol*

When I took Kali over to the grass, she had a fit! Keep in mind that she's only felt grass once before today. Today's grass had little prickly things in it that I guess she didn't like one bit. I had to spread out our beach towel before she would let me put her back down. I keep telling Al that she is going to be a girlie girl and he insists she will be a tomboy. Hmph...one point for the girlie team!

Rock & Roll Easter

Yesterday was Kali's first Easter! Her Grandparents made sure to mark the occasion with a little something.

Look at all the drool in the 1st picture below. That's because the girl has a mouth full of teeth coming in! The 2nd picture shows 4of them really well, but she also has another on the bottom that has broken the surface and one more that should break through any day now. That'll give her 6 teeth!! ...and yet, she still won't chew solid foods! *lol*


We started the day off with a wonderful and uplifting service at our church. Actually, Kalissa stayed home with Daddy and just my mom, Qiana, Candy and I went to church. Children under 5 aren't permitted in the sanctuary (and I'm not ready to leave her in the church daycare facility) so we haven't taken her to church yet. After service let out, we scooped up the baby and off to the zoo we went. We didn't stay long but I just wanted to get out and soak up some sunshine.

At about 3:00, Al left with the girls to take them back home. My mom was busy playing with the baby so I jumped on the computer for a few minutes. Next thing I knew, I started rocking in my chair! I called out, "Uh oh!...earthquake!" And my mom responded, "where?" I said, "what do you mean where? Here!!" By this time, the whole house was shaking and she had picked up Kalissa and ran out the front door. For a split second I thought about staying inside and standing under a door frame however, that idea went right out the window. We live next to a park and I figured we'd be much safer in an open field. The shaking finally stopped (it lasted about 30 seconds) so we just ended up chatting with my neighbors who had also ran from their homes.

The official word is the earthquake was a magnitude of 7.2 and originated about 100 miles south of Tijuana, Mexico. We live about 30 miles from Tijuana and we shook pretty hard. No damage in our unit but things got shifted around a bit. People at the grocery store said they had stuff falling from the shelves.

So not only did Kali get to celebrate Resurrection Day, but she also experienced her first earthquake! Hopefully, the earth will settle back down soon...this morning I felt an aftershock (5.1 magnitude). You just never know if it's going to be "the big one" and if you should run or just relax. Yes, I'm a little unnerved but we're just fine.

HAIRitage

My mom and I have an ongoing debate about what Kalissa's hair will look and feel like once she does actually grow some. For some odd reason, she thinks that Kali's hair will be that of a mixed heritage. You see, my mom is half white (German to be exact) and doesn't have an ounce of kink on her head (although she claims to). I have to remind her that MY hair is far from silky straight. Insert Exhibit A:

Lemme remind you that this picture is my hair with a chemical relaxer. To get my hair to the state that you see it in my other pictures, I must then kick, punch and beat it into submission thermally straighten it with a flat iron. If I want curls, I would then have to go back through with a curling iron. Yes...a process. Add to Kalissa's DNA her daddy's hair genes and she is destined for gloriously nappy hair. Some people are offended by the word 'nappy'. I am not. Having nappy hair is not a bad thing, it's a beautiful thing! I love the texture of ethnic hair and love all the different ways you can style it. Black hair is all I know and I can't WAIT to be able to style Kalissa's hair and pick out her baby afro! But eight months in and this is all I have to work with:

As you can see, I am already gathering up her little hair tufts! *lol* Everyone keeps telling me to be patient...it'll grow. This I know but I'm just soooooooo anxious to get started! My plan is to not chemically straighten her hair until she's old enough to ask for it. Relaxing is permanent and we don't want to do any unnecessary permanent alterations without her consent. This is also why her ears aren't pierced. We're just letting our baby be a baby!

Garbage In, Garbage Out

This is going to be one of the stories that teen-aged Kalissa will just love me for telling. Today, while changing her poopy diaper, I noticed something thin and brown hanging from her butt. Oh no! My child has worms!!! I immediately pulled the offending matter out from her behind and laid it on her diaper. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was not a worm but a 2 inch piece of yarn from our carpet!!!! ROTFL!!!!!!! Big sigh of relief! I called my mom and shared the funny discovery. After I thought about it, I remember her becoming fascinated with the carpet a few days ago. She would pull on it and then put her fingers to her mouth, but from what I had witnessed she never actually pulled up any yarn. Obviously, at some point she did get at least one piece of yarn in. Hopefully it was only one -- I certainly don't want to have to pull more foreign objects from her butt.

Dearest Kali, I apologize in advance for embarrassing you with this story...this may be the first time but it certainly won't be the last! ;)

Sunny Days

It's raining today. Other than for ecological purposes, I am not a huge fan of rainy days. Add to it that for the past few weeks, we have been getting some unusually warm (about 15 degrees warmer) and sunny weather, and it makes today an extra dreary day. We're spoiled here in San Diego--as evidenced by me complaining about having a little April shower in April. *lol* Oh well, I guess I have to get my dose of sunshine through pictures today.

Last Sunday our neighborhood had its annual street fair. We took Kalissa out for the experience. Unfortunately, it was just about time for her afternoon nap so she went down almost as soon as we walked over to it! Oh well...it was still nice to get out and soak up some sun. Fill up the old reserve tanks for days like today!!