Time to catch up...

So I know that I haven't been keeping up with this site very much. I am sorry. I will really try harder from now on.

A lot has happened since the last time I updated this site. Since August 2010, we have had my birthday, Halloween, Kayla's birthday, Thanksgiving, a couple of vacations, Christmas, New Years, and some other family birthdays. Well, lets just dive right in. Hang on to your hats, this could be a long post.

September 2010 -
It started out with my birthday. I turned a quarter of a century old. That one will hit you when you're not looking. Personally, I think that 30 will be the worst of them all. Just something about that number gets to me. Didn't do anything real fancy. Just celebrated with family. We didn't celebrate that much because a week later, the entire Caruss, Nagy, Brown, O'Mara clan went on a lovely family vacation to Florida. My parents have a condo in New Symerna Beach, FL that we have had for years. We rented 2 additional condos on the first floor of this complex for the Nagy's and for us. It was so much fun! We went for a week. My grandparents (mom's parents) beat us down there and got everything set up for us. We hung out on the beach, went shopping at the Disney Marketplace, the kids got tattoos and rode the carousel there. For Todd and I's 3rd anniversary, my parents took Kayla for the day and we went to Universal (now Disney Studios or something). It was great to relax and just take the day as it came and not having to worry about nap times, food, or rides we couldn't go on with Kayla. After our day we went out to dinner at Planet Hollywood. They gave us a free dessert since it was our anniversary. Amazing! Here are some pictures:







October 2010 -
We had Lucas's birthday party. kayla had fun playing with Luke and all his new toy. We had to keep pulling her back. Also in October was Halloween. Kayla dressed up as a monkey! She was the cutest monkey I have ever seen. We went to the mall for some indoor trick or treating a few days early. Then on Halloween, we stuck with tradition and went to Mimi and Papa's house. There were all the Caruss cousins dressed up. Even through it was cold outside, we trekked out with Charlie (who was Batman) and hit up all the houses on their street. Kayla had so much fun, she tuckered her self out. She fell asleep in Todd's arms. Here are some pictures of that:





November 2010 -
This was the month of Kayla's 1st birthday party! Can you believe it. We had a big party at Sheild's. There were 50+ people that showed up for this. We are truly blessed to have so many people in our lives that support us. Kayla had no clue that the party was for her. She didn't really want any cake. She actually seemed a little scary of it. Todd and I sat on the floor with her to open presents and all she wanted to do was crawl away. So Todd and I opened her presents without her. So got so many presents that light up or make noise. Those are her favorite. I made goody bags for all the kids that came and of course forgot to hand them all out. I was upset. I think they all eventually made it to the kids they were intended for so that is good news. Here are some pictures:





We went on a family vacation to Frankenmuth. Todd had an accounting conference at the Bavariann Inn. Kayla and I got to go sightseeing, shopping, and swimming while he was in session. Once he got out, we got to go to dinner and hang out as a family. Sadly, we forgot a few items so I had to drive back home with Kayla the morning after we got there. She was a great sport about it though. We had fun. Here are some cute pictures from that:






Also in November was Thanksgiving. It was fun. We went to Todd's Aunt's house to be with the rest of the family. Then the next day, we went to my parent's house for a morning version for Thanksgiving. My uncle Rick brought my grandmother up for a day or two. It was nice to get to see them even for a short time.

December 2010 -
Of course the big event here was Christmas. We got to do a few different Christmas gatherings. We did one with just the 3 of us, one with my family, one with Todd's family, and one with Todd's extended family. All were fun but some more then others. Kayla actually started to understand that you can rip the paper off a present and you get to keep what is inside. Although, she does much better with tissue paper then wrapping paper. She opened her gift from us all by her self and even pulled it out of the bag.

My dad's birthday is in December. He turned the big 50 this year. So of course, some old man jokes were had by all (all in good fun). Lindsay and I decided that as a birthday present, we would sneak in to the house on his birthday (with mom's permission) and make him breakfast. There were homemade pancakes, bacon (yum!), eggs, fruit (and of course fruit dip), kids, parents, and laughter. It was so much fun. Everyone except Todd was there. Since it was the week between Christmas and New Year, Todd was the only one that had to work. He missed out on some fun. For New Year's Eve, Todd and I went to my parent's house while Kayla went to Mimi and Papa's house for a sleep over. They got to spend some time with Kayla one on one and Todd and I got to enjoy some adult conversations.

January 2010 -
Kayla officially started to walk! She had been trying for a while and falling down after just a few steps but now she is on a roll. She just gets up and walks away from me now. She is getting so good, that she is starting to pick up some speed. She will be running in no time. She still falls when she comes to a stop. I don't think she knows how to keep her balance at a stop after being in motion. She loves to walk. She doesn't want to crawl anymore. It is now to the point where she is faster walking then crawling. She is getting faster now that we can walk outside in the parking lot (if it isn't a busy one). We walk down the hallway to our class at daycare and walk right into the room. She is liking her new daycare. That is something new we started in January. She started out as the only kid in the room that wasn't walking so I think that might have helped her get a push in the direction of walking.

Lets see....What has happened since the last update?

Kayla is still working on her top right 2nd tooth. It is poking through but just a tiny bit. She went in for her 9 month check up. Her new stats are 17 lb 5.5 oz (25%), 26 1/4" (25-50%) and 45.3 cm (90%). I am sure we has grown since then. She is always growing. Kayla likes to stand next to the couch now. She can stand for a good amount of time before she plops down on her butt. I bought her a walker at the last mom to mom sale I went to. We are playing in that a little everyday. We also work on crawling around the family room. She isn't quite mobile yet, but is starting to be on her stomach more and will stay on her hands and knees!!



Lindsay, Luke, Mom, Kayla, and I took a road trip down to Indy to visit everyone. It was fun. Got to meet up with pretty much all of the family that was in town and then some. We met the newest member-to-be Monica, ate some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, socialized, and drove....A LOT! No more roads with young babies/kids.

Not much has happened with Todd and I. We work, we come home and play with Kayla. I have started attending a Zumba class at church. This program is kicking my butt, but I love it. My mom and boss are both coming with me tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.






We went to the park on Sunday and had a little play time.

Hello everyone! I know, I know, it has been way too long since my last post. So I am taking the time to try and fill you all in on the goings on at the Caruss house.

Kayla has started to sit up on her own. She is so stable. She goes from a sitting position to rolling all over the floor. You put her in one spot and come back and she is in another place altogether. The one thing we can't seem to get her to do is to stay on her stomach. As soon as her stomach hits the floor, she is already trying to roll over or on to her side so she won't have to stay like any longer then she has too. She is teething nicely. She only seems to really cry or get fussy when she is a sleep. During the day, she just chews on anything and everything in site. She has had the 2 bottom teeth since she was about 4 months old. She popped through the top left around 7 months and is popping through the top right one now. One day a few weeks ago, she wore 3 month onesie, 6 month overalls, and newborn shoes. Now she is fitting nicely in 9-12 month clothes. She still has really small feet but hit a good growth spurt. We bought a little inflatable pool and seems to be a investment. Kayla LOVES the water. She will splash and splash as long as you'll let her. She loves bath time. We are working on standing. All she wants to do is stand on one foot, bend at the waist, and look down at what she's doing. This causes all her weight and momentum forward. Doesn't work so well. She is expanding her diet regularly. She is eating more and more. I feel like I'm over feeding her but I guess I'm not if she keeps taking it. She is starting to get some baby fat rolls on those legs of her. So cute.

As for Todd and I....hm. Well not much is going on with us. We are both still working full time. Todd still has his part time job after regular work. Kayla and I try to have dinner ready for him when he gets home so we can sit down for a nice family dinner. Then, some days, it just doesn't happen. Oh well.

Here are some random pictures from the last 2 months or so.

Stomach Bug

Our happy, smiley little girl got an ugly stomach bug. Last Friday night, we just started throwing up before bed. This continued on for several days. We thought she was getting better and then she would do it again. We wanted to wait at least 24 hours before sending her back to daycare. Then like clock work she would throw up at night and we would have to hold off for one more day. Thursday was our first throw-up free day! We were so happy. This meant that we were able to send her the next day and we could get back to work. We knew that we was getting better when she started downing all her bottles. Before she would have about 24 oz, cereal, and veggies in a day. Now she is having about 30 oz and cereal a day. She definitely has her appetite back. She is back to her giggly normal self.

While at the doctor, we asked about the bump/rash on her head. We found out that it was "Ringworm". Ringworm is a fungus (not an actual worm) that develops when moisture collects in a spot over time. We figure it was her sweat collecting on her boppy pillow. We have made changes to help fix this problem. Also, we were told to put a cream on that spot for a few weeks. It already looks a TON better. It is hardly noticeable now. I had to pick Kayla up from daycare the day we found out what it was. We started putting bandaids over it and all is good.

We had our 6 month check up on Thursday. With being sick recently, Kayla lost some weight. She only gained 1 pound since her 4 month appt. They aren't worried about her being in the 10-25% for weight because of her throwing up or that she is in the 10-25% for height. She just hasn't hit her growth spirit. We always knew she had a big head but now she is in the 90-95% for head size.

Kayla is doing better with her development. She can now sit without support for longer and longer. She is up to about 2 minutes. She still hates to be on her tummy so she doesn't get much tummy time. She is doing better at pushing up and holding herself there. We are just waiting for her to be mobile. Shouldn't be too long from now. She loves her exersaucer. She can spend a long time entertaining herself in there. It is nice that she can keep herself busy.

We took Kay on my parent's boat yesterday. She had a blast. We put her in her exersaucer and placed her on the floor of the boat. I honestly don't know if she even knew where she was. She couldn't see over the sides of the boat and was having fun playing. We put a hat on her and she was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Todd took a picture with his phone so we have one but not one to put up.

Nothing has changed for Todd and I. We are still working and enjoying having Kayla around. Kayla and I went and watched Todd play softball on Friday night. She was having a blast and got to meet other kids. Her and a 10 month girl had a staring contest. I don't know who won because I lost interest. We have our family fitness day at the end of the month. We should really start working on getting ready for that. It has been hard to go anywhere since Kay has been sick. Now that she is better, we'll start going for more walks. We will walk to get away from all the construction that is going on right outside our house. We will have a nice paved street but we can't use our driveway or garage. Hopefully by the end of the week we will be able to.

That's all for now!
Ally

Mother's Day 2010

So I got to have my first ever Mother's Day on Sunday. It was a fun filled day. It started with a trip to church and then back home for a little bit before heading to my parents for the afternoon. We had delicious steaks! The whole meal was more then enough. We then got to sit down and give mom/dede her presents. Lindsay and I got together and did a photo shoot with the kids, framed the pictures and gave that to her. She loved it! Well, who wouldn't....pictures of her grandkids that she probably couldn't get on her own. Here are a couple of them for ya.





After pictures and some cake, we all tried the 'miracle berry'. Lindsay and Brian brought these tablets of this dehydrated berry that alters your taste buds for a little while. Sour cream tasted like cream cheese, lemons tasted like lemonade, limes like limeade, grapefruit like sweet candy. It was great! Different but fun!



Once all the festivities were done we went home, dropped stuff off, picked up some other stuff and headed to the Mimi and Papa's house. Got to talk with them for a couple of hours, ate pizza, and gave Mimi her collage picture of Kayla. She seemed to like it.

Since we did all this on Sunday, Todd and I didn't get to go out for MY Mother's Day dinner (that I was being treated to by my loving hubby). We had to reschedule it for today. I am excited. We got a Lindsay to watch Kayla and we are going to Benihanna and maybe a movie. It will be nice to get out. I have been inside the last 2 nights cause of the rain and b/c Kayla was having a few bad days.

Here is a family picture of us from Sunday.



Talk to you all later!
Ally

Cereal!

So tonite we tried cereal for the first time! If I had to say, it went pretty well. She seemed to enjoy it enough to pull my hand close and keep asking for more. I say she ate a good amount. Here are some pictures.







In other news:
Kayla got her second tooth not long after her first one came in. We are just waiting for more to pop thru. She seems to be teething, drooling all over the place and placing everything in her mouth that she can get her hands on.

On Wednesday (while I was out), Todd reported that Kayla finally turned from her back to her belly.

So Sunday will be my first Mother's Day! I can wait to get to experience what my family has in store for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there that do what needs to be done day in and day out.

Ally

Runny Poop

Tonite after Kayla had her dinner, I put her in her exersaucer to play while we ate our dinner. Right before we were finished, we noticed that the bottom part of her exersaucer was filled with this runny green POOP! 'Oh goody' I thought. While Todd was cleaning up dinner, I was cleaning up Kayla. We have come to love our bath time! She kicks and kicks and loves how the water feels. She just grins from ear to ear.

We have started getting into a routine where her bed time is 8:30-8:45. That is a whole hour earlier then before. To our surprise, she has done great with this new change. She still sleeps through the nite until we wake her up at 7 am to get ready for the day. Today was a little hiccup though. She decided to wake up at 5 am! She was coughing and was having a hard time breathing. I sucked her nose out, gave her some Tylenol, and 2 oz of formula and put her back to bed. She then slept until 7 when Todd woke her up. This bears the question, should we increase her formula intake or start her on solid/cereal? Since Todd is not a fan a change, I think we might up her formula intake. To do this, we could either add more to her current bottles or add one more 'dream' bottle.

As I mentioned before, she started rolling over. She only rolls from her Tummy to her Back and usually to one side over the other. Yesterday, I was having tummy time with her and she refused to stay there. 6 times she rolled over so she wouldn't have to do tummy time! 6 times! I finally gave up and decided we would work on it more tomorrow. So today, after the bath, I laid her down on her tummy and again she just rolled over. I came back and put her back and again she rolled. Another 2 times she rolled to her back to get out of tummy time. I held her leg down so that she couldn't roll. She was not happy about that (of course). I put her on the boppy pillow to help prop her up and she just laid over it and started to suck on it. Not the point baby girl... We will continue working on it.

Tomorrow, Kayla is going to spend some time with Mimi while Todd and I go out. Maybe she can get her to stay on her tummy. She seems to like it when Mimi is down there too, talking to her. She will be 5 months old next week. I can't believe it! Time just is flyin by.