Who Took Our Daughter?

I think I'm being unbiased when I say that Zadie has always been an unusually calm, content, and overall easy baby. But over the past week or so, some other personality seems to have overtaken our sweet angel Zadie. She has started screaming/growling when she wants something.

I'm sure you're familiar with the behavior because you've seen other kids do it -- their mom takes away something and then they scream because they're mad. But somehow I didn't think MY kid was going to do that. It's like Zadie has all of the sudden discovered that she can cry not only because she's sleepy or hungry, but also because she's mad or because she wants something.

So I'm not a big fan of this new stage and I'm soliciting advice on what to do when your kid starts crying if they don't get what they want. I have tried talking to her sternly (what I will call the "Hal Kuykendall" approach), but that doesn't seem to work and for some reason cracks Tori completely up. Tori's approach is to try and ignore it as much as possible and reinforce her when she's not growling. I'm sure that's a far better approach.

I hope she's not going to be like this during the holidays with all the family members!

Grandaddy Hal

My mom and I took Zadie to get her follow-up flu shot today and she weighed 19 lbs 4 oz.

I really love this video of my dad and Zadie. It's really sweet!

Zadie has always loved her Granddaddy Hal. In fact, he was the first person to elicit her belly laugh when she was only a few months old. She particularly likes his singing, which you'll see in the video. My dad used to sing me these very same songs. And, of course, he always told me that he taught Willie Nelson how to sing and I got in huge arguments with people, notably Pat Stender, insisting that he DID teach Willie Nelson how to sing.

Thanksgiving

I wanted to do this much sooner, but I'm finally posting a few photos from Thanksgiving. We all went to Julian and spent it in the mountains. I thought about it a long time and I decided this was my favorite Thanksgiving ever. First of all, I think the food was better than any other time. Mom, you have to make those same mashed potatoes next time! But more than just the food, it was so cool to hang out with everyone and play lots of cards, Scrabble, pool, king of the jungle, etc. I had lots of fun with my nephews and nieces -- it was a great time.

I really like this bathtub photo of Zadie and her cousins. Don't ask me why they're wearing rabbit ears -- my mom just thinks they're cute and likes to put them on the girls. The photo of me and Zadie and Tori was taken in downtown Julian and we were dancing with Zadie sandwiched in the middle. And I LOVE the photo of Zadie in the basket on my mom's tandem bike. A similar photo will be featured on our Christmas card, which I'll post later.

Zadie is mostly a really amazing baby. She's very happy and full of smiles, even though we sometimes push and wake her up by dragging her all over the place. We're very lucky. She's ten months old now and loves to stand up and hold on to the coffee table and carefully edge around it. She only has the one tooth, but she's eating lots of different kinds of solids and is pretty good at gumming stuff.

A Tooth!

I've been so overwhelmed by all the things that I want to post about that I can't find the time to write it all down. So I'm just going to start chipping away at it with this one little post.

Zadie's first tooth appeared on Monday, December 1st, at exactly 10 months. She didn't fuss at all -- it just appeared. Our little Zadie is a trooper. It's one of her bottom teeth, right in the middle and there's another one next to it that I predict will appear soon because her gum is a different color there.

Bathtub Video

I know this video is kind of long, but I just couldn't edit out any of her cute little laughs, especially when she does the crazy laugh at the end. Zadie only recently started taking her baths in the actual bathtub (she started in the bathroom sink, then progressed to the kitchen sink, and is now in the big bathtub). I've taken a few baths with her recently and it is so much fun. She has a grand old time and doesn't want it to end.

Zadie's new favorite thing is standing up by holding on to something like the couch. Her balance is really improving and I'm afraid she might be an early walker -- yikes! Then again, what do I know?

Any Resemblance?

When I first saw this baby photo of me at about seven or eight months I thought I saw a resemblance between me and Zadie, but now that I'm comparing them side-by-side, I don't see it! We tried to stage a similar photo in the bathtub, but Zadie's coloring (eyes and hair) is a little darker than mine was. Although she had blue eyes for about the first three months or so, her eyes are now a kind of hazel/greenish color. I don't know if they're finished changing yet. I kind of hope she has brown hair and not blonde, but we shall see! I'm pretty sure I'll love her either way.

People often tell me that Zadie looks like me, but then again they also say the same thing to Tori, too! Many people actually come up to Tori and say, "Well, you can sure tell she's yours!"

I do think that Zadie has my tiny ears and also my eyebrows, and other people have said that she has my lips, but I don't see that so much. I also think our face shape looks a lot different. I'll try to find another photo where we're closer in age and compare us. I think she's going to have the same super duper straight here that I had as a kid, but I don't intend on giving her such an awful bowl cut. Thanks a lot, Mom!

Beach Photos

One of our favorite things to do with Zadie is to take her to Manhattan Beach. Now that it's finally getting cooler out, we tend to go in the evenings to see the sunset, walk the pier, and get an ice cream at the Manhattan Beach Creamery. Zadie has always loved the beach, but particularly likes playing in the sand and kicking around in the water. Mama T is so proud because I don't know what she'd do if she got a baby who didn't like the beach!

Here's some photos we took this weekend at Manhattan Beach. The ones with Zadie and Tori came out much better than the ones with me. Zadie wasn't in a particularly smiling mood on this occasion, but she still looks pretty cute!

On A Lighter Note

After my last post was so heavy, I thought it would be good to brighten things up a bit with a photo from Zadie's first Halloween. In true hand-me-down fashion, she was a bumblebee (thank you, Izzy and Sophie!).

I also posted a video from when Grandma Linda was here, right before Halloween. Unfortunately, we somehow managed to have a five-day visit without taking a single photo of Zadie and Grandma Linda! But we do have this one video of how cute they are together. I don't know if all babies like to be thrown in the air as much as Zadie does, but she loves it!

Bittersweet

Dear Zadie,

Yesterday was a very momentous day in history and I want you to be able to read about this night in your early life when you get older. Barack Obama became the very first African-American to be elected president. Your two moms voted for Barack and cried tears of joy during his acceptance speech. You, on the other hand, slept your way through his speech. We don't have a television, so we went over to your Great-Aunt Susie's house to watch the speech and we're really glad we got to witness such a special occasion.

But the other side of this story is that Prop 8 passed, which means that California has amended the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Your two moms worked very hard (though certainly not hard enough!) to help defeat this proposition. The process of working on this campaign was very difficult and the aftermath is even harder. I'm just going to copy and paste an email that I sent out to our family (who were very loving and supportive!) so that you can now a little bit about what was going in your parents' lives during this time.

well, today is a very bittersweet day for us. we are discouraged and demoralized about the passage of prop 8. i knew it was going to be close and i was less optimistic than many of our friends who live in gay bubbles (el segundo kept any optimism in check!), but i'm shocked that 52% of california, the most progressive state in the nation, voted to amend the constitution in this way. the worst part is that the polling about six weeks ago had our side about 17 points ahead, which slipped to 4 points a week before the election. there's no doubt about the fact that television ads telling voters that their children will be taught about gay marriage in school were a deciding factor. i most definitely respect people's opinion that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but i wish they could understand the distinction between a religious marriage sanctioned by a church and a civil marriage approved by the state. i would have loved to have had the opportunity to show concerned voters that my marriage does not threaten anyone else's marriage. and, of course, i wish that all the kids who are raised by gay parents could grow up without feeling that their parents are less than equal under the law.

but today is bittersweet because if anybody can make you feel hopeful about how america can change, and how things that seemed impossible suddenly become possible, obama is certainly the man. we watched his acceptance speech last night and loved seeing the huge throngs of people who were celebrating such an historic occasion. dana, i'm sure it was amazing to be in times square. we probably should have gone somewhere where they were celebrating because we could have used the energy boost.

so, although we're very disappointed, we're trying to look on the positive side and hope that better things are in store for our future. also, we both know from experience living overseas that we are lucky to live in a country where we actually have the freedom to live openly as a couple and raise our daughter. so that's certainly no small consolation.

Quality Family Time

Zadie has been getting lots of quality time with her family members lately. We spent last weekend in Houston and got to visit with my grandma, four aunts, and a few cousins (including 1-year-old Jonas). When we returned to L.A., Tori, Uncle Hank, and Grandma Linda all came to the airport to pick us up. Zadie enjoyed her time with Grandma Linda so much that she even rode down to San Diego with her. And then she spent the past two nights with my parents in San Diego. Everyone has raved about how delightful Zadie has been on all of her journeys. I'm going to copy and paste part of an email that my dad sent yesterday to my relatives that I thought captured this fun stage she's in -- and how much her grandparents are enjoying her company.

Kate had called and said Tori's mother Linda was on her way with Zadie. I was working in my office anticipating her arrival. When I heard Linda drive up I rushed out to get Zadie. When I lifted Zadie out of the car seat I was rewarded with the biggest smile I've ever seen. All evening she smiled and laughed and flapped her arms like a bird trying to take flight - she was just so excited she couldn't contain herself. We played with her and fed and bathed her and eventually rocked her to sleep. She never whimpered about anything. She is bursting with joy and she couldn't care less about the financial crisis. I'm going to be like Zadie today. So far I haven't been able to flap my arms as fast as she does but I'm trying.

It's a GREAT day to be alive!!

Hal

Mumbo Jumbo

Zadie's been doing some great talking lately and I caught a little bit of it on film. Tomorrow Zadie and I are going to Texas to visit family and my mom will meet us there. The plane ride should be interesting now that she's so squirmy and wants to roll all around. Hopefully the people sitting next to me will be good sports and will find her charming!

9 Month Checkup

Zadie had her nine-month checkup today and all was well. She weighed 17 lbs, 13 oz (25th percentile), she was 28.5 inches long (75th percentile) and I can't remember how enormous her head was, but it was 91st percentile. I was a little disturbed that she had dropped to the 25th percentile in weight, but the doctor said it was completely normal and not too worry. I feel like she eats a TON and is somewhat pudgy, so I'd like to see the other 75 percent!

I also asked the doctor about why Zadie's right ear is sometimes horribly smelly, but that remains a mystery. Her ear canal is fine and normal and everything looked okay. Still, when she gets water in her ear (after swimming or sometimes after a bath), that ear smells really rank!

She Crawls (sort of)!

Our friend Sidney very kindly gave us a little video device that I used to take this video (instead of the 10 second snippets I was doing w/our digital camera). Unfortunately, I had to compress this video in order to upload it, so sorry for the grainy quality.

Yes, the big news is that Zadie is sort of crawling. You can see for yourself in this video. It's not pretty, but she's kind of pulling herself around. Maybe more of a scoot. Scary!

I kind of wish we could turn the sound off because Tori and I both sound like weirdos, but those (unfortunately) are our baby talking voices coming out. Okay, now I'm kind of embarrassed because I watched the video again and it's really not impressive. Not much of her crawling is captured here, but I'll get more on another day. Just take my word for it!

Three Years and Counting

I also wanted to be sure and write a quick note about the fact that we just got back last night from a really wonderful anniversary weekend. Tori had told me all along that she was going to surprise me for our anniversary and so on Thursday night we left in the evening and spent the first night with our friends Jim and Brittany in Santa Barbara. Then we woke up early the next morning and drove along Highway One and the coast was incredibly beautiful! We stopped for a picnic lunch at Hearst Castle -- Tori knows that one of my very favorite meals is cheese and crackers, salami, salmon, olives, grapes, etc. Then we went on a tour of Hearst Castle and it was really amazing, although Zadie slept through a large part of it. It was a great way to break up the drive, even though at this point I still had no idea where we were going.

So the big surprise was that Tori took me to the Chaminade hotel in Santa Cruz, where her friend Erin works. That was key because Erin (1) got us an amazing rate and 50% off all our food, and (2) babysat Zadie for us for TWO nights! I really love hotels and am always trying to convince Tori that we should stay in one, but we pretty much only travel to places where we don't have to pay for a hotel, so I think this was the very first time we've ever stayed in a hotel together (when we weren't on a family vacation, that is). It was really nice to have so much down time, to sleep in past 6am, etc. Tori even let me order a movie in the morning when we woke up, which is amazing since she generally only believes that movies should be watched when it's dark outside.

We did end up missing Zadie a lot -- but not enough to go get her from Erin. Thank you, Erin, for giving us such a wonderful weekend! The photos are all from our drive up along the coast.

I'm so impressed with Tori's planning and lack of cheapness. Way to go, Tori!!

Tutus, Biking, New Poses, and More!

It has been a month since I lasted posted -- ack! So much happens in the development of an 8-month-old baby in one month, so I feel terribly behind. I can't sum it all up, but here are some of the items I missed out on writing about:
(1) Tutus! Zadie and her twin cousins received some very cute blue tutu onesies from my parents about a month ago. They were such a hit that my mom decided to make her own version, but bigger and better. So check out the photos of Zadie in her beautiful pink tutu. Thank you, Mom!
(2) Biking. As an early Christmas present, my parents bought Zadie (and Tori, really!) this cool "co-pilot" bike seat and helmet. So now Tori can ride with Zadie along the strand. It's a good thing Zadie has such an enormous head because she just barely fits into the smallest helmet.
(3) Adorable New Pose. You might be anxious to know whether Zadie is crawling. Nope! But, more importantly, she has a very cute new pose that she likes to do. Check out the photo of how she rests her chin on her hands.

So these are just a few of the items I've missed blogging about. In other news, Zadie has been very on-the-go as usual, and we've been enjoying the last bit of hot weather.

Up on her soapbox

Zadie's only a bit over seven months and already we're exploiting her for propaganda purposes. Here she is demonstrating her opposition to Prop 8, which would ban gay marriage in California. We have this yard sign in front of her house and, as you can see from the photo, Tori laminated a cut-out from our New York Times photo and taped it below the sign. As anyone who has been to our house knows, we love to sit on the couch and watch the people go by on the sidewalk. Now it's funny to see people walk up to the sign and lean over to look more closely at the sign. I don't think there's any conclusive science on the effectiveness of yard signs on political elections, but we figured we'd try and do what we can. We'll also be walking in Manhattan Beach's Hometown Fair 10k in our wedding dresses and white Converses with "No on Prop 8" signs. Again, who knows what effect this will have, but we do feel that we'd like to try and do something because the election will be so close.

If you check out the other photo closely you'll see that Zadie is wearing an "I love public transporation" onesie. Slightly less controversial than the "No on Prop 8" cause, but important to us nonetheless.

So the theme of this post is propaganda. We hope that even if our readers (all three of you) don't agree with us, we can all agree that Zadie looks pretty darn cute!

Oh, I also posted some new photos on Kodak, which you can view by clicking the link on the right (labeled "August/Sept 08").

Rockin' It

It appears that Zadie may have escaped the Kuykendall curse and may actually have some musical talent. Yesterday we had a Peace Corps party in our backyard and someone brought a West African drum. Check out the video to see the belly laughs we got from Zadie when she heard the drum. She loved it! The other photo is when she tries her own hand at the drum.

Tori's brother Hank, who is our new nanny (or "manny"), is already signed up to take Zadie to a percussion class, so we'll see if her musical talents flourish. She certainly won't be getting any help from me or Tori.

Famdamily

Kim, Eric, Izzy, and Sophie came for a visit last weekend. They only stayed one night, but we loved the company! It was their first time to El Segundo and we tried to convince them to move down here -- no luck yet. Izzy and Sophie went to the beach for the very first time, we had great barbecue in Venice, and ice cream in Manhattan Beach.

These aren't the greatest photos of Zadie and the twins, but let's just say it was an accomplishment to get a photo with all three of them looking at the same time. Actually, I don't know what's wrong with Izzy and Sophie because Zadie is clearly focused and looking directly at the camera. Haha.

I think this was the first time that the three cousins got to really interact and play together. Now that Zadie can sit up she can interact and defend herself a little better when the twins try to maul her!

G.I. Zadie

Here's Zadie in her pink camouflage outfit that my dad bought at a recent Seal Team reunion. It may be hard to see the little Seal Team insignia on the right-hand side. Let's just hope she sticks to Seal Team onesies and doesn't go out and get the Seal Team insignia tattooed on her forearm like her crazy Granddaddy Hal!

My mom came up for two nights and just left today. She was really surprised how much bigger Zadie had gotten and couldn't believe all her new tricks. She seemed pretty disappointed that I hadn't mentioned that Zadie could sit up on her own (which she's been doing for a few weeks now). Sorry, Mom!

This is my favorite age so far (Tori laughs at me because she says I say that at every stage). But really, Zadie is super fun and interactive, but she doesn't know how to crawl and get around very well so I don't have to chase her all over. I don't look forward to that one bit.

Back-Back

One of my favorite Jamaica stories that Tori has told me is the one about a chicken in her community that only walked backwards. Everyone called the chicken "back-back" and they never ate the chicken because that thought it was too special. Anyway, we just started calling Zadie Back-Back because she just started learning how to crawl backwards. Well, it's not really a crawl, but more of a scoot. Still, she can cover a little bit of ground -- but she can only go backwards!

She WILL Eat Her Veggies!

I know I already posted one video of Zadie making bad faces while trying to eat zucchini, but this one was too funny. She's actually grown accustomed to the zucchini, but this is her trying avocado for the first time. We've also given her rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, which she likes, but we're pretty determined to make her like green foods. She's being a good sport and downing what we give her. Sorry for the poor video quality...

Summer with Cousin Cheryl

Since Zadie was about five months old, she's been in the loving care of cousin Cheryl. Cheryl is Grandma Linda's cousin, so we have no idea what that makes her relation to Zadie exactly. Either way, Cheryl has taken care of Zadie four days a week for the whole summer and we could NOT be any happier with the wonderful love and care she's received. Cheryl and her husband Stacy take Zadie on a walk almost everyday and often take her down to the beach. Everyday when Cheryl comes to pick her up, Zadie smiles really big and that makes me really happy. I wish I could spend more time home during the week, but in our absence Cheryl has been a godsend. Oh, and Cheryl is a very talented seamstress and even made Zadie a dress -- the first of many handmade dresses, right Cheryl? :)

Thank you, Cheryl and Stacy, for being such loving and wonderful caregivers!

Grandma Linda

I don't know if I mentioned in earlier posts about the visit from Grandma Linda. She left about a week or two ago. Grandma Linda, along with Uncle Hank, took Zadie on lots of adventures to the beach. She even got to go on a bike ride, pulled in the little trailer behind the bike. And Zadie *particularly* enjoyed Linda's visit because she fed her LOTS of milk and made sure she was always stuffed and happy!

This is a sweet photo of Grandma Linda taking Zadie swimming in my parents' pool.

Six Month Checkup

Zadie had her six month checkup last Friday. She weighed 15 lbs, 8 oz, which is less than I reported about a month ago, but that time I didn't take her diaper off. The doctor said her weight is fine (47th percentile), but I feel like I haven't been able to give her all the milk that she wants, so I may have to start supplementing with a little bit of formula. She was 26 and one quarter inches (73rd percentile) and her head was in the 95th percentile. So she's really slowed down in all the growth areas except for that enormous head!

She's finally started liking rice cereal and a few other vegetables like peas and squash, so that's been a new experience.

Like Mother, Like Daughter?

I know that Zadie is wearing this outfit in a lot of these blog photos, but it's because I really love this onesie that my cousin Amy sent her. Some of you may already know the background on this -- aside from being a cute little outfit, it's very reminiscent of my high school uniform.

The summer before my senior year in high school, I was riding in the car having some talks with my aunt Kay (Amy's mom), as we often did. On this day, we were arguing about the merits of private school education and I was arguing that she should send her kids to public school. But I did concede that uniforms were really cool and that I wished I could wear a uniform and never have to worry about what I wore to school. And Kay said, "Well, you know you can wear a uniform and go to public school." And so was inspired the idea to create my very own school uniform at a public school (this is, by the way, one of the many half-brain ideas that Kay has inspired, most notoriously convincing Tori and I to sell bbq off of Granddaddy's old fishing boat on Lake Jacksonville!).

Anyway, when I came home that summer I bought three Dickie's work shirts and had my name sewn on them (see photo). I also had a few matching pairs of navy blue shorts and also jeans that I wore. I remember showing my mom my new uniform and being so confused as to why she wasn't really excited that she didn't have to go school shopping that year. I can't imagine why she wasn't thrilled about that outfit!!

So for my entire senior year of high school I wore that baggy work shirt, tucked out, with Birkenstocks (except I wore "normal" clothes on Halloween). In the hallways at school, lots of people I didn't know would yell out, "Hey, Kate!" or "I want 5 bucks on #3" (I looked like a gas station attendant). The previous year I wore a baseball cap every single day and refused to be seen without it, but that's another story.

So hence Zadie's cute little outfit and this photo. I hope Zadie grows up with a strong sense of self and individuality, but maybe she won't have to go quite as extreme as I did. Although I would like to save $$ on her wardrobe!

Zadie Meets Mary Alice

Dear Zadie,

Here is a photo of you and your great-grandma, Mary Alice. I'm so glad that you got to meet her because she has been a very important and treasured part of my life. I spent many summers in Jacksonville, Texas with my grandma and granddaddy. Grandma was always full of fun: she would organize watermelon seed spitting contests with us, take us driving on scary roads and tell us criminals had just escaped from the local prison, and teach us how to crack mass quantities of the pecans that had fallen from their trees. My memories with my grandparents are some of my favorite childhood memories. Granddaddy Kirk isn't here to meet you, but I'm so glad you got to meet Grandma Allie.

Zadie Rolls W/Her First Quake

I've gotten behind on my posts, but I did want to commemorate the fact that Zadie experienced her very first earthquake this past Tuesday. It only measured 5.4, but it felt stronger than that to me. Zadie was over at cousin Cheryl's house (she's watching her for the summer) and her Uncle Mike Wilson was rocking her in the rocking chair when that chair started really rocking! Zadie is reported to have taken it all in stride.

This weekend we're in San Diego hanging out with my parents and also Grandma Linda and Uncle Hank. Last night we went to see the wonderful and amazing Dolly Parton, but poor little Zadie didn't get to go because infants needed a ticket. We're sorry she missed the experience, but in honor of our love and admiration for Dolly Parton, we are hereby re-naming Zadie Dolly. She'll officially be Dolly Wilson Kuykendall. And we expect her to be just as musically talented -- but hopefully not so surgically enhanced!

Oh, this photo is from the family reunion and it's our little Zadie swimming in the buff (or actually just finishing swimming). The reunion has a great swimming spot called the Blue Hole and Zadie floated around in there for a while. And that's her great-aunt Dana gazing lovingly at her.

Zadie Gets in Touch with Her Roots

Zadie spent this past weekend in Leakey, Texas at the K family reunion. It was her first trip to her long-lost homeland (Texas). She was the youngest of approximately 60 or so Ks in attendance.

I think she liked Texas because she was in a very good mood all weekend. Everyone was so impressed with what a calm and happy baby she is, but I think part of the secret was that she was outside all day with a nice breeze blowing in her face. That's always when she's happiest -- I think she gets that from her Mama T. And it's a good thing she likes the outdoors so much because if she didn't, Tori might take her back to the hospital!

These are two photos taken by my sister, Kim. I love the outfit Zadie is wearing (a gift from cousin Amy). And I also wanted to put one in of Zadie's twin cousins, Sophie and Izzy, so here they are with Grandma.

Zadie Tries Her First Food!

After six months of breast milk, tonight we gave Zadie her first try at solid foods. Tori made some zucchini with the food mill and we put Zadie in the high chair for the first time. Other kids have to use those fancy new high chairs that are all germ-free, but Zadie gets her very own vintage, 1950s high chair full of 50 years of germs. We bought it about four years in Texas and have been waiting for a little baby to appear in our lives and put it to use.

So check out the video of Tori feeding Zadie -- so far she's not a big fan of Tori's cooking!

Mama T and Baby Z

This is a classic photo of Tori and Zadie. Tori has a special talent for making Zadie smile and she goes all out with weird voices, silly songs, and crazy faces to get a good smile. In this particular case, she was singing the Don Dinker song. How does that go? I'll ask Tori again when she gets home, but I know that's a favorite of my mom's, too.

Anyway, this is just one of the many special things that Mama T and Baby Z do together. Here's a list of their most common bonding moments:

• Tori watering the grass early in the morning with Zadie on her hip and in her pajamas.
• Tori bathing Zadie in the bathroom sink (Tori doesn't believe in those special baby bathtubs!).
• Tori cooking with Zadie in the Moby wrap (especially when I was in grad school and was doing my school work).
• Tori and Zadie lying on a blanket in our front yard.
• Tori taking Zadie to the beach and sitting under our big striped umbrella in the sand.
• Tori holding Zadie cheek to cheek and bouncing her to sleep at night.

I wish I could have photos or videos of all of those moments, but I'm pretty happy to have this one.

Family Photo

Today we got a CD in the mail from a photographer named Renee Jacobs who very graciously sent us all the photos she took on our 2nd wedding day, June 17th. We think this is a nice family photo -- thanks for saving us a trip to the Sears photo studio, Renee!

This past weekend we went to Visalia to Tori's dad's house and had a very fun time. As is typical of Tori's family, it was a super duper active weekend! We floated down the river, rode the zip line into the river, slid down the mega slip-and-slide, and played ping pong (I continued my dominance) and croquet. Zadie didn't get to take part in those activities, but she did get to jump on the trampoline -- or at least bounce along while Mama T tried to make sure her head didn't get too jiggled. Hopefully one of her family members will send me a picture of that.

Lucy's Big Vacay

My dear friend Jenna and her 7-month-old daughter, Lucy, came for a visit this past week. Check out how adorable Lucy is! Zadie is very jealous of her long eyelashes because the poor kid got stuck with my short, stubby eyelashes.

Speaking of which, today we were looking at some newborn photos of Zadie and we were really, really surprised. She really didn't look that cute. So now we're wondering if the pictures lie and she really WAS cute like we remembered or if, in fact, she looked like most crinkly newborns and really wasn't all that cute! But I do remember that when we used to take photos of her I was never satisfied with them because I didn't feel they captured how adorable she was -- so maybe the issue was just that the camera couldn't capture her cuteness!

Our Smiling Baby

I was looking through our blog today and realized that we don't really have a photo of Zadie smiling. So I'm posting this photo of a cute Zadie grin. She's a very smiley and happy baby, so we certainly need to represent that here!

We just returned from a staff retreat on Catalina Island. My mom came with us as our babysitter, which was a big help.

Zadie, you are such a good little baby. We take you pretty much everywhere and you politely sit through long dinners and multiple forms of transportation with nary a peep. I hope this pleasant disposition stays with you all your life!

More Wedding Photos

Photographers from our June 17th wedding have been kind enough to send us lots of photographs, so I thought I'd post a few more. I think Zadie looks particularly cute in the top photo, although I clearly need a haircut! And the bottom photo was taken by my uncle Mike as he watched us on CNN with Wolf Blitzer. I never thought I'd be that close to Wolf Blitzer!

Also, one photographer who spent a lot of time with us that day actually posted 226 photos of us on her website. She's also going to send us a disk so that we can have the photos forever. She and my mom spent a lot of time together that time and apparently people kept asking them if they were getting married that day. I think that's pretty funny that my mom was mistaken for a lesbian!!

In other news, we're having a great visit with my friend Jenna and her daughter Lucy from Wisconsin. I'll post a photo of Zadie and Lucy when I get a chance to download the photos.

Kate and Tori Get Hitched (Again)!

On Tuesday, June 17th same sex marriage became legal in California. Never one to miss a large gathering or celebration, Tori arrived the night before and stayed overnight to secure the very first place in line. We were thrilled to get our very official marriage certificate and participate in such an historic occasion. I could write so much more about the importance of this day in our lives and what we hope it will mean for Zadie, but I have so many other things to summarize.

Partly because we were first in line, partly because we were dressed in poofy white dresses, and mostly because we have a beautiful child, we had tons of cameras following us and requests to interview. It was a wonderfully crazy day and pretty much a media circus that even wiped indefatigable Tori out. Our photos or comments were seen in the NY Times, L.A. Times, Seattle Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly (see above), China Daily, London Telegraph, International Herald Tribune, CNN, and local television stations. We were on the front page of the L.A. Times hard copy edition and the front page of the nytimes.com page (see above) -- that generated by far the most attention and emails and phone calls from friends (some of them long lost friends!). We will treasure having all these memories for Zadie -- can you imagine conquering all that media at the age of five months??

Oh, and today a reporter called from People Magazine and apparently they're going to run a photo and a small blurb in this week's edition.

In all seriousness, it's been fun to be a part of so much excitement, but we also feel honored to be representing the gay and lesbian community in some small way. We were not a part of all the hard work that went into making this victory happen, but we are grateful to those who made our legal marriage possible. Hooray!

So Long to the Squawk?

We're spending this weekend at the grandparent's house in San Diego and that means lots of relaxing by the new pool. It's like staying at a resort!

Zadie went swimming a few times this weekend and she liked it -- Tori would probably disown her if she didn't like it, so no pressure.

Zadie has all of the sudden found her voice and I'm not sure if I like it. Instead of her normal cute little squawk, she's started kind of talking in a yelling kind of way. Hard to describe, but maybe I can figure out how to video it -- I may have missed my opportunity to video the squawk, which is actually kind of sad. So long to the squawk.

More Friends

This is a photo from our weekend in NYC with my friend Tekla and her two-month old daughter, Hayden. Zadie is making lots of new friends.

Doesn't Zadie look like a giant?

Her visit to NYC included a late-night stroll along the bright lights of Times Square (she liked all the commotion), a trip to 95 degree and very muggy Central Park, and quality time with friends from Hamilton and my cousin, Matt.

Back to Work :(

After four and a half months, our time at home with Zadie is finally up. It was a sad day, but yesterday Tori and I were both at work. We're lucky that we've been able to leave her with family (Tori's sister this week, my mom next week, and then Tori's cousin after that), but it's still pretty hard to leave her.

Today Zadie had her 4 month check-up and she weighs 14 pounds (50th percentile), is 25.5 inches long (90th percentile), and her head is 95th percentile. It appears she has inherited the huge Kuykendall head gene.

I wanted to put a photo in this post and I chose this one, even though it was about a month ago, because I like her outfit and it's a cute one of her friend Nathan (Amy and Jenelle's son).

Zadie Hits the Big Apple

Little Zadie Zoo is pretty well-travelled already. In only 4+ months, she's already been to San Francisco, D.C., and New York. I had a conference in D.C. and so we turned it into a family vacation and a 10-day trip. I wish I could post a photo, but I'm on someone else's computer. Will do later.

On her first night in New York, we walked through Times Square late at night and Zadie loved all the bright lights. Then yesterday we went to Central Park and hung out in the 93 degree heat.

Zadie has been really, really good this whole trip. We're so proud!

Zadie's bath

Kim was sweet enough to post this video from last week when we were visiting. I'm excited about it because Zadie's sweet smile has been captured on video!

Tori is usually the person who gives Zadie her baths and so this is actually the first time I've ever been in charge of giving her a bath. Believe it or not!

We are now in DC for the week. Zadie is only 4 months old and has already been on the plane 3 times. Tori and I took separate flights yesterday and Zadie flew with me. She was very, very good and I was so thankful. She has a very calm disposition like her Mama K!

To Do List

I haven't figured out how to post videos from our camera yet, but I wanted to make a list of stuff I want to capture with a photo or video:

• "Dancer hands:" These are special little hands motions that Zadie makes when she's half asleep.
• Drunken Zadie: I'd like to get a video of what Zadie looks like after she's completely full of milk and passed out on my shoulder.
• The Squawk: Zadie is world-famous for her silly little squawks and we need to capture it on video!
• Makeshift Activity Mat: The toys that Tori put together in lieu of an activity mat because she hates too much kid paraphenalia!
  

zadie's zzzzs

We're at Kim's house for Memorial Day weekend and she took some video of this cute little quirk that Zadie has. She always nurses in her sleep, which I think is adorable. Maybe every single baby in the world does this, but I think it's pretty cool! You don't have to watch the whole video because she really just does the same thing throughout.

Kim also posted this video of the three cousins playing together (sort of).

Hip Hip Hooray!

As the previous post mentioned, my dear sister Kim created this blog for me. Technology is not my forte, so hopefully this blog thing is going to work out. For those of you who also read Kim's blog, don't be expecting all those fancy video clips!!

It is no coincidence that I chose this weekend to write my very first blog entry. I graduated two days ago from USC and so I am thrilled to have a bit more time on my hands. I'm really excited about this blog because there are so many special moments that we've already had with Zadie that we haven't recorded.

About a week ago, for example, Zadie let loose with her very first out-loud laugh. Kind of like a giggle from the belly. We had the pleasure of hearing two of those laughs that night and then she was all silent for another week. But then Granddaddy Hal came to visit and she's been doing some belly laughs! He has a special talent for making her laugh, especially when he rubs his bald head on her tummy.

I just added some new photos, mostly from this weekend, which can be viewed by clicking on "Almost 4 months" on the right.

just getting started

This blog has been created by Kate's sister, Kim, who is anxious to receive regular updates and pictures of her beautiful niece, Zadie. Our entire family is eager to hear about the adventures these two wonderful mothers experience as they raise their first child together...and as they think about adding more to their brood!