Christmas 2006

Some photos from Lyla's first Christmas...

One of her first presents
















Steph, Tracy & Lyla
















Grandpa's turn
















Grandma & Lyla

What's the difference between 8 weeks and 2 months?

4 days and a smile! Here's a series of Lyla chillin' in her crib.

Santa, baby; Baby, Santa

Lyla apparently is not fazed by celebrity. Her big chance to talk to Santa, and she's out like a light. I stepped in and told Santa that she wants an electronic drum set and a new car for Christmas. We'll see if Santa comes through.

8 weeks old!

One of our dreams in life is to take an RV around the country. Not just one time, but to actually own an RV and use it on a regular basis. This will happen. Last week Santa had an RV show in Fort Myers so we went and checked it out. I don't think this makes us rednecks, although having an inflatable pool in our backyard might. Here is Stephanie and Lyla in front of one of the big daddy RV's. We'll probably start with a small pop-up or something like that, but one day we will be cruising the country in style.






Stephanie is from Philadelphia, so this picture is in tribute to Rocky Balboa. I don't think Rocky ever wore a lime green robe when he entered the ring. Apollo Creed could probably get away with it, but not Rock.




Aunt Laney and Uncle Parker holding Lyla.

Shopping at the mall

Lyla's first trip to the mall


My Al Bundy impersonation


Helping Daddy work (and teaching him to type one-handed)


Lyla asking for the check at Smokey Bones

My favorite color: Ecru

Lyla loves her changing table. Whether she's hungry, poopy, or tired, it never fails to calm her down. And whoever said that baby's diapers don't stink until they start eating solid food was lying.



Get in my mouth!


I am tanner than daddy!

'tis the season

Nothing gets me into the holiday spirit like the temperature dipping into the upper 60's. That and FM 93.7 which started playing "All Christmas music - All the time" two weeks before Thanksgiving. So after Thanksgiving dinner over at Grandma & Grandpa Kiehl's (Thanks Grandma Kiehl, delicious as usual! Next time I get my fair share of the turkey skin) we hung the requisite Florida Christmas lights on our home. These are not quite as nice as the lights my Grandpa Meengs used to put on their mobile home in Clearwater: a strand of colored lights wrapped around two shuffleboard sticks tied together end to end and fastened to the mailbox out front.
Those lights stretched to the stars. This year I passed again on buying the fake snow: it's some kind of wavy white plastic that you fasten to your roof just above the gutter. I'm not that desperate to re-enact a white Christmas.

Thanks for my outfit Auntie Tracy!

Grandma Kiehl and Lyla Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Dinner

The after dinner nap (or was it during the Lions game?)

Vultures in the tree behind our house...circling Wolverine national title hopes?

Lyla vs. Pooh: The staring contest

Pooh and his beady little eyes eventually won out.


Lyla's first phys-ed class.


The o-face normally made when filling her diaper.


A peaceful picture.


A girl and her paci.

Grandma Neal's first visit

Yay! Grandma Neal visited last week and met Lyla for the first time. Thanks mom for everything and also for letting Stephanie and I get out of the house for the first time as just the two of us. We went to Kohl's and didn't really know what to talk about (besides our daughter) so we just did some power shopping instead! We love you!

Let's go Outback tonight

So the three of us went out to dinner for the first time...one of Stephanie's favorites: Outback. Lyla pretty much slept through dinner in her carseat. This was great for us, but who wants to sleep through a free steak dinner? She'll learn.

And then, the most poignant thing happened...a father was sitting across the aisle from us with his teenage daughter and they were just getting ready to pay when we sat down. After we got Lyla all unbuckled and settled in I just happened to look over when he was paying and noticed that he asked the waitress to add a gift card onto his bill. When they got up to leave, he walked over and asked if he could take a photo of us with our camera which was sitting on the table. He took our photo and then told us how touched he was with how little she was and what good parents we were going to be. Then he gave us the gift card he had just bought and said just to make sure she knows God. I was blown away by the kind words and generosity of this complete stranger...it reminded me of the commercial where one person does something nice for a stranger without expecting anything in return, then that person does the same for someone else, and so on. So needless to say, our first dinner out was a resounding success.

Halloween

Here's a photo of Lyla in her Halloween outfit with mom and the pumpkin. Lyla wanted to go as a Powerpuff girl but we felt she was a little young for that. This was the first Halloween that Stephanie and I have actually given out candy...two years ago we were on a cruise and last year we were hermits and turned out the lights. This year we gave out Reese's peanut butter cups. I'm always a little afraid of going to the door because there's always those couple kids who have costumes on which you can't really tell what they are. And you can't just say "oh, nice costume", you have to say "oh look, it's Spiderman" or "oh, what a pretty princess". So with the mystery costume, it always ends up being something awkward like "oh, it's Mickey Mouse with a lamb suit and curly elf shoes, how cute!"

We carved our pumpkin to look like Whisky's face. Can you see the resemblance?

Lyla photos now on Shutterfly.com

Okay already, here are some more photos of Lyla's first week!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BaOGTFw4ZMXQw&notag=1


Sometimes Shutterfly gets temperamental so let me know if it isn't working...

Lyla's Picture Wall

Click on the sunset photo below and check out Lyla's picture wall on video...no photos of her here; this is a video version of Mr. Picture Wall in our house...great photos of our family.


Lyla's Picture Wall


Thanks to my cousin Andrea for the heads-up on this video montage website. The Jagers are carrying me into the 21st century on my computer.

The newest Browns fan

1980 was my first memory of being a Browns fan. The Kardiac Kids. No one believes me but I remember Red Right 88, where Brian Sipe threw an interception in the end zone at the end of the fourth quarter which cost them a chance at the Super Bowl. I was also in the stands for The Drive, where the whole crowd was chanting "Super Bowl! Super Bowl!" and then Elway drove 98 yards and ruined everything. My mom remembers how quiet that stadium was as everyone trudged out after the loss...the sound of 80,000 fans with their hearts torn out. I had all the Browns gear...the stocking cap with the brown and orange fuzzy ball on top, the orange foam hand with the index finger sticking up that said "We're #1" (by the way, these foam hands are made of a material that really stings when they poke you in your eye, so when you are waving one try to keep it above head level), the old charcoal pencil reprints of Kevin Mack, Earnest Byner and Clay Matthews, everything. Even though we usually get dumped on, we will always love the Browns. I guess it's just eternal hope; hope that one day, all the sweat and tears that have been poured in to rooting for them will be rewarded.

Here's a photo of Lyla and I watching last week's game and our dog Whisky with his Browns gear on. Although it looks like Lyla is sleeping through the game, she was actually just listening to the broadcast and resting her eyes. Go Browns.

My first post

Welcome to our blog...we basically started this because:

1. Our daughter Lyla was born last week, and
2. A lot of our friends and family don't live in Florida

So, hopefully we can keep in touch with everyone and let you all know what's going on in our lives. Hopefully you find it interesting!

Here's one of the first photos of Lyla Diane. She was born 10/20, which makes her 8 days old today! We can't tell who she looks like yet, although she definitely has my haircut.