Gearing up for Christmas!

Wow, I can't believe Christmas is only 5 days away! The past few weeks have flown by as we've been busy decorating, shopping and wrapping! One of the highlights over the past few weeks was when we made our first trip to the Christmas tree farm in search of the perfect tree! After about 45 minutes of roaming the fields we found it, and Kent sawed it down. We had such a great time that we decided to make it an annual tradition. Unfortunately, it was cold and raining the day we went, so we decided to leave Kayla with Gigi and Gramps but we look forward to next year when she will be able to help select our tree. Here's a picture of Kayla in front of the tree at Gigi's house...



Oh, and how can I forget about our snow day! Yes, we had snow in Houston on December 4th! So, I went ahead and bundled little Kayla up so she could "see" snow for the first time. She wasn't a big fan of the wet snow on her face so we only stayed outside long enough to take a couple pictures before we headed back inside!



Kayla wishes everyone a Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving with our daughter! We have so much to be thankful this year!!! Our day started off pretty early...Kent and Kayla went to watch Caitlin and me run the Turkey Trot. That was the longest 6.2 miles I can remember but I made it to the finish. Not too bad since I had only run twice since Kayla was born and hadn't run that far since January! It was so nice to see the two of them on the side cheering for me! Afterwards, we went to breakfast with Cait and Dane who were celebrating their 4th anniversary. Congrats to the two of them!!!

Right when we arrived home it was time to get ready for our TWO thanksgiving dinners. We are so lucky to have both of our families live close to us.

Our first dinner was at Kent's parent's house. All of the Bayazitoglu's were there...even Matt made it down from Dallas! We had a wonderful time and took some great pictures of all the cousins! It was Kayla's first chance to meet her youngest cousins but I think they hit it off really well! :)

Then it was off to my parent's house in Spring for another delicious meal. Tim's parents were in town from Kentucky so we had a nice time visiting with them.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Here are some pictures from the day. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at Kent's parent's house so we didn't have it at my parent's house but hopefully I'll be able to get a few from Gigi and Gramps' camera!

November Update!

November has been a busy month for us! As I mentioned breifly in the previous post, I returned to work at the start of November (part-time). While it's nice to be back at work, I definitely miss being with Kayla. At least I still have a couple days during the week with her!

We celebrated Kayla's 2 month birthday with a trip to the Doctor for her check-up and first round of immunizations. Everything went great until it was time for the shots. I can honestly say it was the first time I saw her cry so hard that she had tears. It broke my heart! She's a little too young for a lolli-pop but we had a bottle ready for her once the shots were done. That seemed to make her happy again because she ended up sleeping for a few hours after that!

The biggest news is that Kayla is now sleeping in her crib! Up until a couple weeks ago she had been sleeping in a cradle in our room. We loved having her next to us so we could check on her throughout the night but decided that the time had come for her to sleep in her own room. Kayla adjusted really well...since the big move she has slept throughout the night except for twice! We figured that it had to have something to do with the colder weather we were having so decided to put the long sleeve pj's on before we swaddled her and that solved our problem! She's back to sleeping through the night again! Hooray!!!

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks...

Happy Halloween!!!

Yes, I know Halloween was last weekend, but I started back to work this past week and haven't had a chance to update until today. Needless to say, we had a great weekend. We kicked things off on Friday night at Natalie and Juaquin's house for a pumpkin carving party! Kayla couldn't wait to wear her costume so we decided to go ahead and let her wear it to the party. Isn't she such a cute little pumpkin :)

By the way, this was Kent's first attempt at carving pumpkins. I think he did a pretty decent job! Major thanks to Natalie for drawing Kayla's name for him!

Digging out all the pumpkin seeds so we could roast them!

The finished product...

Kayla with her first pumpkin!

All the excitement wore our little pumpkin out!

We spent the next day (Halloween) running errands and passing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. It was such a great weekend that we're all ready looking forward to next year! We hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween!

Weekend of Firsts...

What a FUN weekend! I had my first slumber party at Gigi and Gramps' house Friday night so Mom and Dad could go out. I think Mom was a little nervous...she said good-bye to me like 20 times and gave me so many kisses before she left me with Gigi. Then, a few hours later she and Dad called to check up on me. Mom says they weren't worried about me; they just missed me! No need to worry though...Gigi and Gramps drove me back home to Mom and Dad Saturday morning!!!

Then on Sunday afternoon I had my first play-date! Mr. Dexter and Ms. Charmaine brought Dominique over. Dominique is 6 months old so just a little older/bigger than me but that didn't stop us from having a great time together! I can't wait until next time :)

October Update...

Wow...we've had a busy few weeks! During the week, Daddy goes to work while Mommy and I hang out at the house. For the past couple weeks Miss Jill has been coming by for a few hours to play with me while mom runs some errands. We have a great time together and I always sleep extra long that night. Dad says it's because I had my weekly "Jill-aerobics" class.

The highlight this month was finally meeting my Great Grandmother, Mamie, last weekend! For those who don't know, Mom and Dad named my middle name, May, after her! I also met my Great Aunt Mary and cousins (Josh, Zach and Adam). Needless to say, it was quite the weekend! I even played putt-putt for the first time! We had such a great time with everyone at GiGi's house but I was exhausted when we got home Sunday afternoon!

Other exciting news...Daddy turned 35 on Wednesdsay! We had a great birthday party/dinner with BabaAnne at one of the local turkish restaurants. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!

1 Month!

This past Saturday marked Kayla's 1 month birthday! To celebrate, Kayla and I went to lunch with Gigi and Gramps at Willie's before making our first trip to Target. Let's just say we had quite the experience! After about 15 minutes Kayla decided that she was hungry so Gigi and I made our way down to the baby section to pick up some formula and water (we are currently supplementing her feedings with some formula a couple times a day). Then we mixed her bottle and fed her as we walked around the store. An hour later (yes, we browsed all the aisles) I was exhausted so we checked out and headed back to Gigi's house. Evidently Kayla was tired too because she fell asleep about 2 minutes after we got in the car!

Shortly thereafter, it was time for Kayla and I to make our way to Rice for the Rice/Tulsa game. Daddy met us in the parking lot to help get her in the stroller then walked us over to the tailgate so she could meet everyone. We stayed for about 30 minutes before it was time for us to head home and watch the game on tv (the combination of the flu season and the rain coming down isn't exactly the best thing for a 1 month old). Unfortunately, Rice lost so we're hoping that Kayla's pink/brown owl outfit will be better luck next weekend!!

It's hard to believe that it's already been a month since Kayla's arrival. Looking back, it feels as though it's been a few really long days with some naps along the way. Lately though, Kayla has decided to sleep anywhere from 5 to 7 hours during the night which has been a blessing to Mommy and Daddy! While we have enjoyed the extra sleep, I have to admit that I still wake up every couple hours and lean over to look in her cradle just to make sure she is OK! Speaking of sleeping, that's what she is doing now so it's best that I do the same!

In closing, I'll leave you with a picture from her bath earlier tonight. Thankfully, she loves bath time!!!

Kayla May Bayazitoglu

She's finally here!!! Well, she's actually been here for just over 4 weeks but I'm just now getting around to updating our new blog! Life with a newborn makes it hard to find any 'free' time, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

For those who don't know, our baby girl, Kayla May Bayazitoglu, made her grand entrance on September 3rd at 3:04 pm, weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long. It is impossible to put into words how we felt in those first few moments that we first layed our eyes on her and heard her cry - it was truly an amazing experience! We are so fortunate and grateful for her safe arrival and the start of our new family!

Just as we expected, life over the past few weeks has been very busy with feedings, diaper changes and sleepless nights; however, it's been such a joy to hold her, play with her, and watch her grow. Speaking of growing, at her 2 week appointment Kayla weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces (25th percentile) which was such a relief since she was down to 6 pounds the day we left the hospital. She was also up to 21 inches long (75th percentile).

We are so thankful for all of the visits and well wishes from all of our family, friends and neighbors. I'm a little behind on thank you notes but promise they are on the way :)

Here are some pictures from her first few weeks. Hope you enjoy!!!