The Whitelaws

8 months today! It is so hard to get these pictures without Jenna grabbing the blocks! She's getting more and more active with her stealth scoot (you set her down in one spot and pretty soon she's moved several inches without you noticing) that she learned sometime between Christmas and New Year's and the more recent "roll all over the floor." I guess she's a roller not a crawler. She bends forward into a crawl stance but falls onto her tummy, then rolls. She has the greatest time rolling all over and squealing with delight.

She loves to be around other kids. She continues to delight people every where we go. She has a great smile and laugh and uses them often. She is ticklish now, which is great fun for us. 22.8 lbs last time I checked. Favorite foods are bananas, avocado, peas, sweet potatoes. She really doesn't have any food dislikes, though. Can you tell?

She has shown quite a temper lately especially when it comes to diaper/clothes changing and placing her in the car seat. Our report from the nursery workers Sunday was that they could not change her diaper!

She has some words now: "Mama (said with lower lip curled down), Dada Dada, 't' and 'b' sounds, and vowel coos.
This onesie says, "When God created me He was just showing off." Her "winter" clothes tend to hide her beauty instead of "showing it off." Check out the beautiful rolls - quite impressive!

What do these things have in common? You can tell them all, "Happy Birthday!" today. Happy 33rd, Kevin! Happy 147th, Kansas! (I love that my Man shares a birthday with the state of my youth - can I get a Rock Chalk Jayhawk?!) Happy 54th, Oprah!

Here is a photo tribute to Kevin - a terrific husband and a great Daddy. You make us very happy.

We had some Whitelaw family pictures taken over the holidays and they turned out pretty good. We could only download the thumbnails so this is the best we can get.
I love this picture! When Bonnie went to pick up the pictures, the lady at the store told her that we have chubby babies. Well, yes, we do but they are healthy and oh so cute!
Three of Jenna's favorite things: a tag, her thumb, and her ring rattle! What more could a girl ask for?!

Three of my favorite things: Kevin, Jenna's laugh, the sound of "Mama" from Jenna's sweet mouth. Last week, Jenna started saying Mama and I wasn't so sure she knew what she was saying. Then, Saturday morning, Kevin got up with Jenna and let me sleep 30 more minutes (what a great husband - he does this often!). When he brought her in to me, I was awakened to the sweet sounds of "Mama" coming from Jenna. So, now we think she knows what she's saying. There were lots of "Mamas" over the weekend. Now they've kind of slacked off. Now we're working on "Dada."

Jenna has learned to do "peak-a-boo" since the last post. She also started kind of clapping (her hands aren't flat for a clapping sound, but she makes the "clapping" motion) on Monday. Two new foods this week: lima beans and applesauce (separate, not together!). I made the lima beans in my new Cuisinart Hand Blender from my sister and brother for Christmas - it works great! I like lima beans and sweet potatoes, Jenna does too, Kevin doesn't. So, maybe she's taking after my taste buds.
I happened across a great sale at Old Navy. An extra 50% off the clearance stuff. This onesie says "Sweet Cheeks" and was only $2.25. Jenna does have such sweet cheeks and is cute and round like the little penguin on the shirt. So naturally, I couldn't pass up such a deal. The pants were only $1.50. Great deals! The best time to shop is after Christmas!

We are trying to get back into a home routine after a nice long break. We greatly enjoyed our time with families, got to see some considerable amounts of snow (and as a result, Jenna and I got to unexpectedly fly by ourselves without Daddy). Kevin flew to Chicago for the Midwest Clinic and was going to fly back to Wichita and then fly with us to Colorado Springs. But, his flight got cancelled. So, he flew straight from Chicago to Colorado Springs and we flew by ourselves from Wichita to Colorado Springs.
Jenna had a fun first Christmas!Good times.

And now we're thankful for a week to get organized and re-group before the next semester starts. Kevin is working hard preparing 2 new classes and choosing concert repertoire. Then there's the housework. Today we raked and bagged 10 bags of leaves - and that was just the front yard! We are rewarding ourselves by enjoying some rented movies.

There are so many good Christmas pictures. Too many to post. But here are a few. The last of the "weeks" pictures (I decided to go to 30, a nice even number). And the 7 month shot.

Another quirk is that she often holds her toys up to her head (Johnny Carson's "Carnac" - style). Funny girl. She is always chatting, smiling, and laughing. She is such a happy girl and ready for a good time. A new good time for her is riding in the stroller. She's too heavy for the carrier-style car seat, so she gets to ride facing forward in the stroller now and LOVES it.