Trip Home to Michigan...

We finally arrived in Michigan late that evening (Wed, Nov. 11) with a total travel time of about 21 hours straight from England.  It was a really long day and we were exhausted!  Surprisingly, Kaelyn hung in there and did really good adjusting to everything.  This was her first time to meet all of Robert's family in Michigan.  Robert's Dad and his brother Ryan where at the airport waiting for us and she got to meet the rest of the family when we got to Robert's parent's house.  Here are some pictures of them first meeting her and holding her...

Kaelyn meeting her Grandma and Great Grandma for the first time.

Grandpa holding Kaelyn for the first time.

Grandpa feeding Kaelyn for the first time.

Kaelyn and her cousin Stevie holding her.

Needless to say, she was very spoiled!  They had everything waiting for us when we got there... she had a new bed to sleep in, a swing (that she liked way better than the one at our house), a play activity mat, a bath tub, and a walker.  We were all set to go.  Here is a picture of Uncle Ryan playing with her in her walker...

Look at my new shoes that Uncle Ryan got for me...

They are Mom's favorite... she even wants a pair for herself!  :)

Grandpa has been learning how to play the guitar for a while now and he decided to play and sing me a song...

Daddy took us shopping and we found this really cool Michigan bike that he wants to get me one day.  Mommy says a Georgia one would be better!  :)  Take a look...

Kaelyn got to meet so many new people while we were home.  Here are some pictures of her with our good friends Nick, Kate, Brandon and Krista...

Kaelyn with Nick and Kate.

Kaelyn and Krista

Kaelyn and Brandon

We'll see you guys next year for your wedding!!

Kaelyn got even more spoiled because we celebrated Christmas early with Robert's family, so she got lots of goodies to bring home.  Here are some pictures of us having our early Christmas...

Stevie passed out all the presents to everybody.

Here are some of the presents that Kaelyn got...

A Michigan cheerleading outfit.

Grandma and Grandpa got her a Harley Tool kit with little toy tools inside.

Kaelyn with Grandma and Grandpa.

Robert's Uncle Mike finally got his GA shirt from us that he had been wanting so bad... see I'm gonna convert them all!  :)

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We left England to go home and visit family and friends on November 11th.  So this was Kaelyn's first time on an airplane and she did great!!  We were so worried about how she would do... so of course we booked seats in the very back of the plane, trying to be courteous of others.  We actually lucked out because we had only two seats by the window and the flight attendant offered us the entire back row since it was vacant.  Needless to say, it was a life saver sitting in a 3 seat row versus a 2 seat row.  We had a ton more room and Kaelyn got to have her very own seat in the middle.  She slept majority of the time, including the take off and landing.  We were flying to Detroit to visit with Robert's family first, but had a layover in Atlanta.  Yep that's right, Kaelyn's first state was Georgia... so doesn't that definitely make her a GA Girl now!?!  :)  Anyway, here are a few pictures of Kaelyn's first flight and us going through Atlanta to make our connection to Detroit...

Kaelyn and Robert at the ticket counter in England.

Kaelyn and Mommy on the airplane getting ready to leave London.

Kaelyn and Daddy on the airplane.

Kaelyn's first airplane ride!

Walking through the Atlanta Airport.

On the train in Atlanta going to our next gate.

Some Baby Pampering...

We attended a Baby Massage Class back on November 6th and really learned a lot of neat stuff.  Kaelyn did great- I have to brag for a minute... she was the only baby out of all 7 that did not cry!  She's so good!  :) Anyway, I think that she really enjoyed it!  Here are a few pictures of our time in the massage class...

Getting ready to get started.

Robert is such a good Daddy... he was the only guy to show up for the class! The instructor didn't want him to feel left out, so she gave him a little doll to practice on... he named him William. :)

Robert and William

Kaelyn was very interested in the doll.

Kaelyn getting her massage...

She was so relaxed!

Having fun with Daddy at the end of class!

A lot of Catching Up To Do...

We haven't forgotten about our blog for those of you that were wondering why we haven't posted anything new in a while.  We are just a little behind right now from going home for a month, having the holidays and other things that seem to distract us and get in the way.  But I am working on getting things up, so hopefully we will be all caught up soon.  So keep checking back...

New Discoveries...

I figured out how to post videos.  So turn up your volume and get ready because there are a few to view... :)

Kaelyn is growing and changing so much from day to day.  She is 3 months old now, weighs 13 pounds and is 23 1/2 inches long.  She is so aware of everything around her and has such a little personality already.  She makes us laugh all the time with her 'cuteness'!  She has discovered so much in these past few weeks.  She loves to look at herself in the mirror and thinks it is so funny.  She has started to laugh out loud and cracks herself up while doing it (must get that from her Poppy).  Here is a video of her and Robert laughing in the mirror...

She is gripping onto things really well now, especially the 'death grip' to Mommy's hair!  I now understand why so many people cut their hair short after having a baby.  :)  She is holding onto and reaching out for her toys, and of course everything tastes sooo good in her mouth!  Kaelyn started lifting her head up like she wanted to sit up by herself when we were holding her, so we decided to try out the bumbo chair.  She loves it!  Guess it's that little bit of independence that makes her feel like a big girl.  Her little neck is getting so strong and she is holding it up really well while doing tummy time.   Here is a video of Kaelyn on her new tummy time mat...

During the weekend of Halloween, Kaelyn kinda rolled over by herself for the first time.  She gets a little frustrated but she just needs to figure out what to do with that arm that gets stuck underneath and she'll be good to go.   Here is a video of Kaelyn rolling over for the first time...

Baby's First Halloween...

Kaelyn got to experience her very first Halloween this year!  At the beginning of the month we went with our friends, Jody, Shaye and their little girl Madelyn to the pumpkin patch.  We had a great time with them and also found some pretty good pumpkins to carve.  Here is a picture of us at the pumpkin patch...

Jody gave us an idea to put Kaelyn inside the pumpkin and take some pictures.  Well we did and let me tell you, she did not like it at all!  I put some paper towels down on the bottom for her to stand/sit on, but I don't think that helped too much.  She only had on a diaper, so I'm sure she didn't like that it was so cold!  Here are some pictures of her in the pumpkin...

Her first reaction...

Definitely hates it!

Ok, this might not be so bad.

Our little pumpkin

Kaelyn was a very lucky little girl, having two costumes to wear.  Great-Grandma Pat sent her a little pumpkin costume and Poppy got her a deer costume to wear.  Both were just a little big on her, but still very cute!  Since we live on a street that is a private drive, we didn't have any trick or treaters this year.  But we were still able to go experience all the fun.  We met up with our friends, Melissa and Joe, their daughter Kaylee and Melissa's sister and her family on base.  Needless to say, Robert and I had never seen anything like it!  There were seriously hundreds of people walking around everywhere.  At some points there would be atleast 20 people/kids at one person's house... talk about overwhelming!  And can you even imagine how much candy you would have to purchase for all of those little kiddies!

Here are a couple more pictures of Kaelyn in her Halloween outfits...

Showing off her 'Baby's First Halloween' bib

  Halloween onesie from Nana and Poppy

Doing some Tummy Time... look how strong she is getting!

Playing Catch-up...

A Princess is Born...

Our beautiful Kaelyn arrived July 27, 2009 at 6:32 am weighing 8 lbs 3.9 oz and 20 inches long.  After 6 hours of labor, she came right on her due date... although a couple doctors thought she would come a little earlier.  We are so blessed to have a healthy baby girl join our family and we couldn't be more proud!  She is absolutely perfect and brings so much joy to us!  Here are a couple of pictures from when she was born...

Right out of the oven

All cleaned up and so beautiful!

Our first family photo leaving the hospital on July 28, 2009.

Nana and Poppy Came to Visit...

My parents flew in August 1st and stayed for two weeks.  We were so excited to have them here!  It was there first time being in Europe and we kept them pretty busy.  They were able to see quite a bit of stuff around here, went to London and also had a short trip to Paris!  And of course the most important part of the trip... to see their first born Grandbaby!  They were a HUGE help to us and needless to say, we were very spoiled having them here!  Only wished they could have stayed longer!!  Here are a few pictures of their visit...

Kaelyn meeting Nana for the first time.

Kaelyn meeting Poppy for the first time.

Poppy loved pushing me in my stroller everywhere we went!

Mom and Dad having their first 'proper' English Tea at Harriett's in Bury St. Edmunds.

Nana, Poppy and me at the Old Cathedral Ruins in Bury St. Edmunds.

We took Nana and Poppy to Great Yarmouth to see the North Sea.

Mom and Dad on the Big Bus Tour in London... you can see Parliament and Big Ben in the background.

Family picture with Nana and Poppy.

Kaelyn's First Photo Shoot...

We took Kaelyn to get her newborn pictures made on August 11, 2009 when she was two weeks old.  It was even more special because my parents were here visiting and they got to come along and be apart of it too.  The pictures were done by Becca Wohlwinder Photography.  We found out about Becca through some other friends of ours that have used her.  She is a military spouse living on base and trying to get a career started in photography.  She is just the sweetest and most patient person, not to mention so creative!  Becca is also who we used for our maternity pictures and we will definitely be using her a lot more over the next year that we are here.  Most of you know that I LOVE pictures and just can't get enough!!  Especially now that there is a baby in the mix!  :)  Here are a few of Kaelyn's newborn pictures...

Sleeping Beauty

So Sweet!

Our Little Princess

One of my favorites!

So in Love!

Our Precious Gift from God!