Zadie Sings Hank Williams

Zadie Sings Hank Williams from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

My dad always sings "Hey, Good Lookin'" to Zadie (just like he did when I was a kid) and so now Zadie is pretty good at singing the lyrics herself. Hopefully you can hear her well enough here. She initally refuses, so you have to stick with the video for a minute, but I didn't want to edit that part out because in the very beginning of the video Zadie says her name and it is SO cute when she says her full name.

Oh, the background behind this video is that my mom was in Seattle last week as her dad was dying and she was feeling very sad, so we filmed this for her and then didn't actually get it uploaded in time to send it. This is why she sends it out especially to Mama Niece and Daddy Hal.

Sick Puppy Dog

Zadie is one sick little puppy dog. Thursday night we noticed she had a bit of a fever and the following morning she woke up and was clearly not feeling well. It was my Friday at home with the kids and I freaked out when I saw her temperature get to 104.1. I raced to the doctor's office and started worrying that her brains were cooking inside her skull, but the doctor assured me that they were not.

The doctor said her throat was a little reddish, but strep throat was going around and she'd give me a prescription just in case it happened over the weekend. She also said there's a virus of little sores in the mouth, too. I'm so glad she gave us that prescription because in the evening Zadie started drooling (another sign the doctor told me to look out for) and crying about her tongue and her throat. She kept asking me to put a Band-Aid on her tongue!!

Tori ran out and filled the prescription for antibiotics, but it didn't have time to really kick in and last night I would estimate Zadie slept only one or two hours. The rest of the time she was literally wailing and saying "Owie" over and over again. It was truly awful.

We've been really fortunate that, aside from the 24-hour flu more than a year ago, this is really the first time Zadie has been really sick. I wish it were the last because it's awful to see her in so much pain that she can't sleep and there's nothing you can do. I really hope Skip doesn't get it.

Today I had a work event most of the day, but Tori said that Zadie snapped out of it for a few periods and then would crash and burn again, but this time was able to sleep. I brought her popsicles and she was pretty darn excited about that.

On a side note, I was so impressed with Skip's ability to sleep through all of Zadie's crying. He finally woke up at about 5:30am, but he slept through the rest of it.

Here's hoping that tonight goes a lot better than last night! And that no one else in our family gets sick!

Goodbye, House

We've completely moved into our new place now and we gave the keys for the old place back today. I've been going over in the evenings to do the cleaning (trying to get that hefty deposit back in full!) and I've been feeling very sad and nostalgic about our old house. As most people know, I tend to get very attached to things and can be a bit on the sentimental side. Besides, Tori and I had both lived there longer than we've lived in any place since we were 18 years old and it was the home we lived in when both Zadie and Skip were born and all those first memories happened.

Anyway, I've been saying lots of goodbyes to all the things I'm going to miss about our old house.

Goodbye, coolest tree in El Segundo...

Goodbye, red door and red mailbox (yes, I'm pregnant in this photo)...

Goodbye, garden that Linda put so much love into...

Goodbye, big backyard and home of many barbecues and gatherings.

Goodbye, house.

It's Official!

Today we went out to Monterey Park for Skip's final adoption court hearing. Everything went great and he is now officially ours. The judge, the court reporter, and all the other miscellaneous people in the court room were overwhelmingly positive and kind and everyone raved about what a good and adorable baby Skip is (the seersucker suit was a hit!). They were so effusive in their praise that Tori and I both got teary-eyed (as you can see in my picture with the judge).

Our time in the court room was pretty brief. We swore under oath that we would love and care for Skip as our "natural" child and that we were aware of all the rights and responsibilities that came with that. And of course we have regarded Skip as our "natural" child since the day we brought him home from the hospital. We also had to agree to something about Skip being entitled to a future inheritance, but don't be counting on any big money, Skipper!

After our appointment we went out for some celebratory Sichuan food in San Gabriel and then tonight Aunt Susie, Jim, Hank and Steven came over for celebratory pizza. Although of course he has always been ours in our mind, it's a big relief to have the official paperwork completed.

We feel very lucky to have you, Skip!

Skip's Final Court Date!

We just found out today that Skip has his final court date scheduled for next Tuesday, April 20th. We're so excited to hear this because we weren't expecting it to happen so soon. Barring anything unforeseen, Skip will *officially* be ours next Tuesday. Of course he's been ours in our minds since we brought him home from the hospital, but this legalization of the adoption is a really important step.

We didn't do birth announcements when Skip was born because, well, we only found out on Day 4 and we wanted to wait until things were a bit more concrete. But we'll start working on sending out an adoption announcement and we want to make sure and take photos of the court hearing so that he can have those photos to look back on.

We're feeling very fortunate, all the way around. First of all, we somehow got Skip, who has an incredible personality and is a great baby. Second, we managed to avoid a lot of the emotional back-and-forth that is fairly typical of the foster-adopt process (and that we've seen many friends struggle with). Lastly, our adoption will have been completed in 9 and a half months, which has got to come close to a record for a county adoption!

Skip's 9-Month Checkup

Skip had his 9-month checkup on Monday. Unfortunately, for as long as we can recall he's had a runny nose, a cough, and congestion. People often ask us if he has a cold, but it doesn't feel like we can say yes because he's always been this way -- that's just Skip. So then recently people started suggesting maybe he has allergies and that's why he's always like this. But the doctor told us she doesn't think that's what it is since he was this way prior to starting solids (but couldn't he be allergic to the formula?). Poor Skip! Zadie never had to tell with any colds or sicknesses like this and it can't be fun, but he still continues to have an amazing personality. Hopefully the congestion will go away with the start of the warm weather.

Skip was 29 and 3/4 inches long in length (93rd percentile), which really surprised me. I don't think of him as taller/longer than other kids his age. He weighed 19 lbs and 13 oz (45th percentile). His head circumference was 17 and 1/4 whatevers (10th percentile). I'm a little concerned about the head circumference because of the whole flathead issue, but the doctor told Tori that his head is definitely growing and everything is fine.

Easter Egg Hunt

This past weekend was Easter and we had Grandma Linda, Tori's sister Katie, and her baby Gavin all staying with us. This was quite interesting since we only have a two-bedroom house, but the most interesting part of all was that every single night we had a different sleeping arrangement and every day we would spend forever plotting out where we'd put everyone. It was like a complex LSAT question or something.

Katie and Linda were kind enough to babysit for us on Saturday while we went to a baby shower and a birthday party (date time!). While we were away, they went to the store, secretly bought candy and plastic eggs, and then hid them in the front yard. I was really surprised how quickly Zadie spotted them through the window and of course she wanted to run out there right away.

Unfortunately Katie was still snoozing for the photos, but I did catch some photos of Zadie and Grandma Linda in their pajamas. Zadie was pretty cute -- she can really muster a lot of joy for candy!! Too bad for her we hardly let her eat any of it and soon thereafter she kind of forgot about it.

SophieIzzy

Zadie loves her some SophieIzzy. In her mind, they are one entity and she doesn't talk about them independent from each other. They are, simply, SophieIzzy. It used to be FofieIzzy, but her pronunciation has really improved.

Zadie giggles like a little maniac when she's around SophieIzzy and somehow I think they bring out her wild side. It's kind of like she's putting on a show for them. Unfortunately she only gets to see them three or four times a year, but she really does love them (correction: my sister has informed me they see each other six times a year!). And, we try to keep up via Skype, as well. It makes me SO happy to see them playing together and giggling.

It's hard to get a photo of the three girls together, but here's one where they're all kind of looking at the camera.

Giggling Skip

Giggling Skip from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

Last week Skip had a fever four days in a row (first time in his life) and this video was taken during that time. Skip is so good-natured that he gets a giggling fit even when he's sick and feeling awful. Either that or he was just delirious!

Reunited with the Beach

Zadie loves her some beach! The past few posts have been about the Skipper, so this post will be devoted to the Zadie Zoo. This past weekend Zadie was reunited with the beach -- her favorite place on earth!

When we first got to the beach Zadie was loving playing in the waves and was completely filled with joy. But then later in the day (or was it the next day?), she got knocked down by a wave and kept on tumbling and couldn't get up on her feet. She cried but then went right back out in the water. But then the exact same thing happened within 30 seconds and then she was done with it. Hopefully the trauma won't last too long, but she just contented herself with playing in the sand and demolishing sand castles.

Best. Photo. Ever.

I love this photo my sister took of Skip. Last weekend we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday and had an amazing weekend. We stayed at a great spot right on the beach and Skip got to have some solid beach time in. It's funny because he went to the beach twice in the first week of his life (he was born in July, right in the heart of beach season), but all last summer he was really too young to interact with the beach. Last weekend he loved playing in the sand, but he wasn't a big fan of the freezing cold water. Hopefully the water will grow on him.

More photos to follow!