Funny Moments

We put Brady in his bumbo chair for the first time to see how he would do. He was still a little floppy, so we made sure to have our hand behind him incase he flopped backwards, but he's getting stronger. Skinny K can also sit in the bumbo seat.


My mom's friend Annemarie is in town from Holland and brought K these slippers that resemble dutch wooden clogs. Katelyn loves wearing them and even slept in them the first night. When her pj's are on, she has the slippers on at all times. Brady has a pair of blue ones, but he has to grow a bit before they fit.



K and the slippers.




I heard Brady giggling and belly laughing and saw he was pulling the mirror on his play gym towards him to catch his reflection.





Katelyn likes to show Brady how to lift his head when he's doing tummy time.

Halloween 2008

Katelyn at her school's halloween party with DJ's little brother Daniel. They trick or treated in each classroom and had a little parade, then had a party after lunch with treats and juice.


The kids and I at a make shift pumpkin patch....there were only 20 pumpkins left, so the lady working there helped me stage a picture.

Our little cinderella. The high heels didn't make it trick or treating...just for the picture.

This Halloween, we had some special guests. My Uncle Kim and Auntie Carol from South Africa came over with my parents to experience their first Halloween. After ordering some chinese food, we got Katelyn dressed in her cinderella ("cinder-brella" as K says) costume. Bryan, U. Kim, and my dad got a beer and they trick or treated with Katelyn. Our street was pretty quiet, but the street behind us is happening...garages turned into haunted houses, lawns decorated with those inflatable ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, etc. At one point, Katelyn returned home to dump her full treat bag, then went back out to fill it up again!! She doesn't even really like candy, but loved being outside and ringing the doorbells. Brady stayed home with us (my mom and a. carol) and we handed out the candy.

Dora Birthday Party

Dora birthday cake...1/2 vanilla, 1/2 chocolate...very good cake from Target!


Mimi the clown does her magic show. The kids loved it!



DJ and Katelyn with their Tiger face paints.



For Katelyn's 4th Birthday, she wanted a Dora/Diego theme birthday party. I was surprised by her choice...we never watch those shows, so I wasn't sure where she got that idea. She insisted that's what she wanted, so we got the invitations, balloons, plates, cups, tableclothes, etc. We were Dora crazy! We also hired Mimi the Clown to come and do a small (but very cute) magic show for the kids, then they lined up for face painting. The kids loved it! And it was the perfect thing to keep them occupied. Once the clown finished, we had hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone, then the Dora birthday cake and then it was over. It really flew by!! Brady slept through the whole party and Katelyn started to come undone as the party progressed (just too much excitement and a bad night's sleep after a long day at Epcot the day before), but she held it together. We received so many great gifts for Katelyn and she loved them all!

Happy 4th Birthday to Katelyn!

Katelyn Isabelle Burless, born Oct. 27, 2004. My baby girl!


Now 4 yrs. old. Blowing out candles on the cupcakes we made...she didn't want to take her new helmet off. In fact, she wanted to sleep in her helmet!



Surprised to get a new bike for her birthday.




Taking the new bike for a spin in our house.





Birthday girl at her party.





Four years ago, I entered North Florida Regional Hospital six days overdue and more than ready to have my baby girl. Our first baby. A dream pregnancy. A nursery at home stocked with more pink clothes than any baby could possibly wear. The first grandchild on both sides of the family. Everyone was so excited to meet this little girl. We kept her name a secret (and good thing because we totally changed it 3 weeks before she was born, she was going to be Sarah, but we couldn't agree on a middle name). I was thrilled to finally have a room (we were supposed to be induced 2 days earlier, but the maternity ward was too full). We felt very prepared for labor and delivery and I had watched every episode of "A Baby Story", so I thought I knew exactly what to expect. Our childbirth teacher told us contractions would feel like "bad diarhea cramps" and if we breathed through it, we could do it without an epidural. Wow...was she wrong! Once our pitocin kicked in, I was in so much pain. My water broke in front of my dad and I was mortified. I had dilated to 7cm before I could get an epidural. Then I pushed for over 2 hours with no luck. My dr. tried to vacum her out. No luck. Heart rate dropping...rushed into the OR...cord wrapped around the neck...and finally at 6:56pm on Oct. 27, Katelyn was delivered via emergency c-section. We had a quiet moment where they held Katelyn up to my cheek...I could finally feel her, smell her, hear her breath....what a relief!!






And now that baby girl is 4 years old and I feel like it was a blink of an eye and here we are. That baby girl doesn't stop talking or singing or playing or running. That baby girl is now a big sister, and the best big sister there could be. She is so smart and outgoing and social. She is loving and kind and full of imagination. But she will always be my baby....

Fun time with the Coopers

Trying on a sombrero at the Mexico pavillion in Epcot. Perfect fit, don't you think?


K and Goofy at the character spot at Epcot. All the main characters are there to meet and greet all day long, but the line is unreal. Bryan waited with her while I fed Brady on a bench outside of the building. I fed Brady, went inside to change his diaper, back outside and read the map, info. on the food and wine festival, called my mom and sister and talked to both of them, watched a performance of these guys playing music on buckets, and they still weren't through the line. I think they waited over an hour. But it was worth it...Katelyn was thrilled to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto.



One of the coolest places in Epcot...the Cool Zone where you can sample coke products from around the world. Here is Bryan enjoying a sample. My personal favorite is Krest Ginger Ale from Mozambique (also sold in South Africa). They have a very bitter soda from Italy, a watermelon soda from China, a sprite from Germany, etc.




Exhausted before we even enter the park!! Brady had a blast! He was sooooo awake the whole day,(except here as we enter the park) just taking everything in.





Ready for the day! We got our money's worth and stayed for 11 hours. Yvonne had a pedometer on and at the end of the day we had walked 11.3 miles.





Bryan's best friend Sam, his wife Yvonne, and their 2 yr. old twins, Avery and Amaya drove down from Ohio and spent the week with us at the end of October. We set up pack and plays in the office for the twins and Sam and Yvonne slept on the futon in our front room. Katelyn had a blast playing with "the kids" and they all got along very well. While they were here, we went to our local playground, enjoyed the Orlando Science Center (how have I lived here this long and never gone?? What an awesome place! Katelyn loved all the hands-on exhibits and we arrived in time to watch the alligators get fed.), and went to Epcot for the day on Friday. It was a fun week! Bryan was able to take a few days off work, so he and Sam went golfing one day and then to a shooting range together. Yvonne and I also enjoyed some time away together and went to starbucks (the pumpkin lattes they have this time of year are the best!) and just wondered around Target (kid-free! We really enjoyed it). When Katelyn was at school, they took the twins to Downtown Disney and Lake Eola Park. It was nice to have to company. Hope to see them again soon!

Pirate Party

Face painting at the pirate party. Getting her face painted is one of K's new favorite activities!


Such a happy girl!



Katelyn's pirate outfit. We found beads in her dress-up box and then tied one of my scarves around her waist.




Brady in his pirate outfit.

On Oct. 18th, Bryan's work hosted a barbeque and "Pirate Party" for all the families. We got into the pirate theme and had Brady and Katelyn dress up. We raided Katelyn's closet for her costume and Brady already had an outfit with pirates on it, so that worked out perfectly. The party was held on a large lake up in Apopka, about 30 min. north of us. There was a playground there and covered pavillions with picnic tables. Katelyn loved the playground and played for hours with the other kids. This was the first year we didn't have to tend to her at all times...she played and we knew where she was. We could see her from the picnic tables and had confidence in her ability to climb the slide, etc. Brady enjoyed being passed from coworker to coworker. All the ladies were eager to hold and spoil him and he was all about it. Each family received tickets where we could enter to win a variety of prizes. The mystery prize was a flat screen tv (no, we didn't win). We did win a cuisine art sandwich maker, which Bryan really wanted and we've put to good use. Did you know you can make omelettes in it? The weather was perfect and we had a blast! We all slept well after this fun day!