Holiday Hoopla #2 (Atkinson Family)

We went to Mexico, MO for 5 days to see Mommy's family. Sunny was a trooper with being handled by everyone and their mother. Seems like we were saying "Hi" then "Bye" over and over. We were always putting her back in her car seat to go over to someone else's house. She took naps in her car seat and played on the floor with everyone around. Her 4 month birthday was on Christmas day!! And guess what she learned to do ALL BY HERSELF?..... yes, on Christmas morning, she learned to roll over from her back to her tummy! It was funny watching her try over and over. She would lean to her left and kick her legs really hard to get over. She finally mastered the skill and the rest of the weekend everyone spent watching her do it. She was like our little pet .... we would lay her down on the floor and say, "Sunny, do your tricks." And she would smile and roll over! See the video below.



Here's our little sunshine wearing her "Santa Loves Me" onzie from her friend Carmen.



Sunny's cousin Airen Atkinson was visiting Mexico with his Mommy (Dorrie) too. Uncle Joe wasn't able to be there as he's still in Iraq, BUT scheduled to come home in January! Wahoo.
Airen is 14 months old and your typical rowdy boy! He's so adorable! He runs everywhere and is into everything. We spent several times trying to teach him to "gently" touch Sunny. He was to play rough house with her instead.

Here's their first encounter. Airen looks like he doesn't know what to do with a little one younger than him!


Here he is comforting his cousin Sunny.



Here the Mommies are playing airplane with them. They giggled and loved it!


Airen is giving his first kisses to Sunny in the video below. Watch her reaction....I believe she thinks she was violated.



My brother Joe and I always like to tease that each other's kid is going to beat up the other one. Well, Airen may be 10 months older, but we think Sunny's going to be taller. Airen is only 4 inches taller than her now! He's got some weight on her, but it won't be long until we can actually see how the "thrashing" will go down in the ring. Here they are practicing.



Aunt Dorrie kissing her "pretty princess". That's Sunny's name given by Aunt Dorrie.





Christmas and Grandpa Jim and Grandma Barb's house. It was fun to watch Airen tear into the presents while our little sunshine slept through the whole thing!


She got several awesome things from everyone! Thank you Grandpa Jim, Grandma Barb, Aunt Dorrie, Uncle Joe and cousin Airen!


Grandma Barb made this cute little book pillow.



Worn out and feeling secure with Grandpa Jim.



We also seem to think Sunny might be teething at times. She drools all the time and seems to get relief from baby oragel. She can semi hold her teething ring and chew on it.



What a treat ... Bath time in the kitchen sink!

We also had Christmas and Nana & Pee Paw Decker's house. Here's Sunny with her Baby Einstein set from them! Thanks guys!

Nana with a dressed up little Sunny. She's wearing her outfit from Nana and her bow from Kristen!

We ALL went to the Christmas Eve service at the Presbyterian Church. Sunny was quiet for the most part and only made sucking noises when she was eating.

One of many feedings during the weekend. Sunny didn't eat as well I believe due to the distractions and her coming down with a cold.

Think she's ready for real food yet? I don't know....she sure is staring awfully hard at it.

Mommy had to work remotely on Friday, so Daddy had to take care of Sunny ALL day. He and Aunt Dorrie had fun. You can see in the video below. Mommy found these videos on the camera when we got home. This one made me laugh out loud!

By the end of the day, they both were tuckered out!

Holiday Hoopla #1 (Wright Family)

So sorry I haven't kept the blog up to date! We've had a busy Christmas with family and your normal Christmas busy-ness. Our first Christmas gathering was Friday, Dec 19th with the Wright family. Sunny wore her little Santa outfit and when we walked in the door to Grandma and Grandpa Wright's house... there was Olivia dressed up in a similar outfit! It was cute watching the two little ones open presents and play together.

Olivia wanted to play more than Sunny did. Olivia is almost 7 months old. She's 2.5 months older than Sunny.

Look what we caught Sunny doing!! She's only done this a few times, but it's so cute when she does. She holds her hand the same way Mommy used to. See pic below.

Here's Olivia's Mom (Shannon) and Grandma Pam.

Sunny was excited for all her gifts from everyone! Thanks guys! Here she is with her new learning puppy from Aunt Janette and Uncle Beia.

Sunny got G-ma & G-pa Wright a framed pic of her 3 month old pics.

Afro Queen's Got Skillz

Over the past few days, Sunny has done lots of fun activities! She's started "talking" more, she completely turns herself around in her crib at night and she rolled over a couple of times!

She and Daddy also have a fun of their own. You can see in the pic below.


Here she is wearing Mommy's scarf.




Here's the video of her first roll over from back to tummy.


Last Thursday, she came home from daycare making all sorts of noises. She's starting to sound like her friend Carmen now! She makes her sounds longer and does it like she likes hearing her voice! See in video below.




Daddy also has been working with her on her typing skills. It will help her when we are in front of the webcam to type/talk to Uncle Joe in Iraq and all our relatives out of town. She wanted to get a head start on keeping in touch with folks over the holidays.

Nana got Mommy these cute little singing snowmen for her birthday in November. Everytime I play it for Sunny, she really watches them closely. Watch her head move back and forth while each different snowmen is taking turns singing. She gets confused when they both sing at the same time! It's funny/cute.

Front Page News ... Gloworm Assaulted by Baby

As we have said on previous blogs...we think Sunny's just about ready to start reaching out to grab things. We always put her hand on a toy in front of her to show her that she can touch it, but she always pulls her hands back like she's afraid. Well, tonight was a break through! I put Mr. Gloworm in front of her and she started attacking it! Check out the video below.

Again, the assault from a different angle.

Here she is showing Mommy how excited she gets when she kicks her legs! She gets so wound up, it takes her breath away. She's been doing this since she was born! She came out kicking!!

I caught her in the act of trying to sit up herself! Can you see how she's raised her head about 3" like she's trying to do a sit up?

After the assault on Mr. Gloworm, she was pooped out!

1-2-3 Look at Me

Sunny got to stay home with Daddy today while Mommy worked from home. These are fun days because Sunny gets quality time with Daddy and Mommy gets to sneak in a few kisses here and there. ;-)

Daddy did several activities with Sunny today. She was worn out so much that she took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon!

Although Sunny isn't grabbing for things just yet, she sure does grab the bottle and pull it towards her mouth! We take the bottle out of her mouth, hold it a few inches away and she opens wide, crosses her eyes to focus on the bottle, gets excited and pulls both arms toward her mouth. Her arms and hands hit the bottle on the way there. See the pic below for evidence of this new skill.

Daddy also read some bible stories to her. Watch the expression on her face when he is reading to her.




Here's the video of her waking up from her nap. She's usually so happy and we love it!




Here's Daddy playing around with her in a chair.




In the past week, Sunny has been lifting her head on her own. Meaning, when she is laying down, she will lift up her head like she's going to do a sit up! She even does it when I have her lying in my arms. I thought she was starting to dig her head into my chest, but I finally figured out she doesn't want to lay down ... she wants to sit up and see the world! Now, we "practice" sitting up. We will lay her down and count to 3. On 3, we help her sit up and she loves it! Her eyes get really big like she's saying, "OMG, I really can do this!" Watch the video below to see an example.

The Blue Angels

We went over to the Link house tonight for some Mexican food and fun! It was a good chance to get the girls together to see what kind of trouble they could get into together. Ha ha. They actually hardly noticed each other. But, we parents were excited to see the interaction. Here are the Dads "flying" the girls around. I don't know who had more fun... the girls or the Dads! See the video below too.






Here's the attempt to get the girls to sit together. Sunny was upset and Carmen just wanted to look at her.



Here they are talking about life as a baby.

Here's how we imagine the conversation going ...

Carmen: Hey Sunny. What do you think of this tummy time thing our parents make us do?

Sunny: I hated it at first, but then realize my mom and dad weren't going to let up if I don't at least do some during the day.

Carmen: I so know what you mean! I think I like it better now that your in front of me. That's more fun.

Sunny: Yes it is. I want to do this all the time. I wish we could play together more.

Carmen: I'll ask my mom if I can come over in a couple of weeks to your pad.

Sunny: Cool! Maybe we can play together on my playtime mat.


Here's a short clip of how the interaction really went.



Earlier today, Sunny was yelping with a high pitch squeal! It was so cute and she was so talkative! Check it out below.

Santa Visit

Yesterday, we took Sunny to see Santa! She was so excited as you can tell! Ha (not). She didn't smile for Santa, but she didn't cry either. She just observed.

We walked around the mall afterward and she was such a good little girl. It was her first time at the mall, so Mommy showed her the gumball machine which it looked like she liked.

We came home and and tested out the friendship between Friend and Sunny again. Friend is getting much more tolerant of the new little stranger in his house. We put Sunny's hand on Friend and she immediately grabbed some of his fur and pulled it! He was a good sport and didn't get too mad. He figures this is going to happen more than once.

1st Parents as Teachers Visit

Sunny was all smiles today passing them out to Mommy, Daddy, Becky and Vicky (our parents as teachers volunteer). She had a good day at day care with good naps and a healthy appetite. She's been consistently sleeping 11 1/2 hrs a night for 2 wks now! I have to wake her up in the morning, so who knows how long she would sleep!

As a follow up to Sunny's lab tests ... we got a call from the Dr.'s office and everything came back normal. So, I guess we're to think she had a pretty bad case of the stomach flu for 2 whole weeks! We're just glad she's back to normal and eating healthy. She's up to eating 5-6oz now! Wahoo. She had lost weight in the past couple of weeks, but we're now thinking she's going to chunk up for sure!

We had our first Parents as Teachers visit tonight. These are volunteers from the school district who come to your house every 6 wks to evaluate your child to see how they are developing. They also give great tips on how to help your child learn. One tip we learned tonight to help strengthen Sunny's neck is for Daddy to carry her around like she's Super Woman! She loved it! See the pic below.

The Kitchen Help

Sunny had a much better day at daycare today. She didn't have a good time yesterday I think because it was the day after we traveled. It's hard to get back into a routine. But today was good. Becky said she smiled more and took better naps.

It took Mommy and Daddy a little while to get home today due to the snow. The roads were very slick! Mommy drove extra careful when transporting our little angel.

When we got home, Sunny wanted to help us in the kitchen. As you can see in the video and pic below, she did a wonderful job. Hopefully she'll take after her Daddy and like to cook... unlike Mommy. ;-)





After dinner, we all spent a little time with Friend the cat. He's feeling pretty neglected these days. We love you bud!

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Mexico, MO Weekend Wrap Up

We all went to Mexico, MO this past weekend to visit Sunny's grandparents. She did pretty well on the 4 hr drive. However, she was getting fussy the last hour, so Mommy was trying to come up with creative ways to entertain her. She found the Disney Channel on her BlackBerry, so Sunny watched "Mickey Mouse saves Santa". ;-) Of course she loved it and even was making cooing noises while watching! It was like she knew what the story was about.


When we got to Grandma Nana's house, it was 9pm, so we quickly gave Sunny a bath. The only place that was convient to bathe was the kitchen sink! In the pics below, you can see what she thought of the whole ordeal. She was skeptical, but we think she had fun.





Sunny also had fun with her Grandpa Jim. Here is a pic of one of the many conversations they had. This particular one seems to be on the economy and Sunny showed compassion for the tough times people are going through this Christmas.



Here is a pic of Sunny with Nana's sister-in-law who was visiting as well.



IN LOVING MEMORY... The first night we were there, Nana had to break some bad news to me. Nana's beloved cat (Angel) has passed away the day before due to complications in surgery. I was heart broken and shed many tears. Angel was 17 yrs old, so she had been in our family for a great while. We love you Angel and you will be missed!

On a happier note, Nana couldn't wait until Christmas to give our little sunshine a few gifts. Here's some video and pics of Sunny opening up her first Christmas present! Thanks Nana for all the cute outfits and orniments!






Among some cute outfits Sunny recieved was this cute little orniment of baby shoes! You can see Sunny is getting worn out! Mostly because she didn't take her regular naps all weekend, so she was a wee bit tired.


Another gift were these cute little tennis shoes! They are the smallest size baby shoe you can get, but since Sunny has tiny feet, her little toes have a long way to grow in them! These will stay on her feet though since we can tie them.



While we were at Nana's house, Sunny's uncle Joe called from Iraq! This was the first time to hear his voice. You can see in the video below that she was trying to figure out how come this object (phone) in front of her was making noise (Joe). ;-)




We all also went to church on Sunday. The choir sang a medley of Christmas songs and in the video below, you can see Sunny was very interested! She was so interested that she decided she should conduct the choir! See clip below.



Below are some other miscelanious pictures and video from the weekend.

And by the time we got back to Gardner, KS .... you can see a pooped Mommy and a pooped Sunny!