Smilebox Take Two

You will need to pause the music on the blog page as the scrapbook plays its own music.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Smilebox Test

I found Smilebox while doing reserch for my current technology course for my master's class. This was my first attempt to use it.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Welcome Home, Daddy!

Matt returned home from Florida on Sunday, and Kelsey and I were thrilled he was back. Matt had a wonderful trip with the baseball team. They were able to get in a lot of practice time, as well as scrimmages. Plus, they were able to attend a New York's Mets practice and game. Matt came home with many autographs including Santana and David Wright. He even got a foul ball! When we picked him up, he was in shorts and was glowing with a nice, brown tan.
To update on the sickness status in our house, I am thankfully feeling better, but Ms. Kelsey is not :( She has a double ear infection. She has had a fever on and off since Saturday, runny nose, bad cough, change in appetite, and icky diaperes, so she has been home from daycare the past two days. She definitely is not her bubbly self. Even though she smiled for pictures, she has been really off since Sunday. Let's hope she breaks her fever and can move on to being healthy again.

Kelsey missed her Daddy!

Thanks for our shirts!


Baseball fan in training

Missing Daddy and Sick

For the past week Matt has been in Florida with the baseball team. Lucky guy! He said the temperature was in the 80s all week. He is in a for a rude Minnesota awakening when he gets back and the temps are in the 20s. He returns home today and I could not be happier. Kelsey and I have really missed him. I am always very appreciative of everything he does for us, but I gained a new insight as to just how appreciative I am. When Matt left on Tuesday morning, it was up to me to get Kelsey to daycare. I guess I didn't realize how much I was carrying out to the Durango (diaper bag, school bag, purse, pump, carseat) and when I went to lift it all in, I hurt my back. I hobbled along for the early part of the week, but managed to evenutally start feeling better. Then on Friday, I noticed my throat was really scratchy. By Saturday morning it was so swollen that I could not even talk. My "hangy ball" was seriously the size of Texas. Nasty! Turns out I have strep throat. UGH! Plus, Kelsey has come down with an awful cold as well, including a fever. Needless to say, it has been interesting with Matt gone. Thankfully, Matt's parents are WONDERFUL and took Kelsey and I in Saturday so we could both be watched. I am not sure I would have been able to do it without them. Now it is Sunday and we are anxiously waiting for Daddy to come home! It is the longest he has been away from Kelsey or me, so it will be so great to see him. I will definitely be giving him the "I appreciate you" speech. If I hadn't hurt my back or gotten sick, it would not have been so bad. But when you are not feeling well and neither is your baby and you are by yourself, trying to take care of everything alone gets a little crazy. Thank you Dave and Vickie for all your help!

Waterpark Getaway

On Saturday afternoon, the Skala clan packed up for a waterpark weekend getaway. Matt's parents, sister and family, and brother were all part of the crew. We went to The Waterpark of America in Bloomington, MN. It was awesome! First, we checked in our rooms and celebrated our nephew Jacob's and Nolan's birthdays. Jacob just turned three and Nolan will be turning 2. After presents, we all got ready for the indoor waterpark. It was quite the place. It was Kelsey's first time in a hotel and swimming. She absolutely loved it. She would sit in the water and splash and giggle. Daddy also took her down a waterslide with him. When she was not in the water, she enjoyed people watching and taking everything in. There was so much going on that I am not sure she knew where to look first. Plus, she enjoyed playing with her cousins too. Saturday night we were all pretty tuckered out. On Sunday morning, we went back to the waterpark for a few more hours. We finally checked out about noon and made our way back to Owatonna. Now I am avoiding doing school work by updating the blog! We are all still pretty tired, so I am guessing it will be an early night. Enjoy the pictures! There are a lot of them, but how can we resist taking pictures of her in a swimsuit? She looked SO cute, we couldn't help ourselves!

Go Badgers and Playing the Piano

The Wisconsin Badgers made the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and Kelsey and I were very excited about this! Kelsey was so pumped that she just had to put on her Wisconsin Badgers cheerleading outfit. She must have been their good luck charm because the Badgers beat Florida State in a huge upset the first round of the tourney. Unfortunately, they lost today to Xavier. It must be because she did not wear her outfit ;) Kelsey will just have to save her outfit until football season rolls around!


Kelsey enjoys sitting with me when I play the piano. She teven tries to join right in by playing a few keys. Hopefully she enjoys the piano and wants to play it when she gets older. Goodness knows we need someone who can actually play well around here because Daddy and Kelsey must be getting tired of hearing me by now!

Say Cheese

Dressed in green and smiley as can be for St. Patrick's Day.
Rub a dub dub, Kelsey's in the tub!

Thanks for stopping over Uncle Nate!

Dinner time! Kelsey loves squash, sweet potatoes, pears and bananas.

Tooth #2

So not only does Kelsey have one tooth, she now has two! The other little guy popped out right next to her other one. So she has two bottom middle teeth now. She is still pretty shy about them though. I would get her smiling and laughing tonight in an attempt to take a picture of what I can see and she would immediately cover them with her tongue when the camera came out.
On the food note, she tried green beans tonight for the first time and actually did not seem to mind them. Next new food on the menu, peas! Yummy!
If I ever end up getting pictures of those pesky teeth, I will be sure to share!

A few firsts

It's official--Kelsey has her first tooth. Now I would love to post a picture of this wonderful new addition, but Kelsey is not all about showing off her pearly white just yet. I have only seen it on rare occasion because she tends to cover it with her tongue when her mouth is open. I have felt it though, so I know it is there. We knew that it was coming because Kelsey has been "off" the past week. For example, she stopped eating her baby food, her cheeks have been getting bright red, and she has had a very upset belly. Plus, she gnaws on her nuk like crazy too. I will keep trying for a picture to attach to the blog!
Another exciting thing that only I witnessed tonight (so technically Matt said it doesn't count) was Kelsey saying Mama! I was getting her dressed after her bath and she was very tired and babbling in a whiny way on the changing table. All of a sudden, she started saying mamamamama! Now whether or not that counts is still being debated, but it was the closest thing I have heard so far! It definitely melted my heart.

Picture Time

Kelsey is always so happy that she makes it irresistible to take pictures of her. Here are some of my new favorites.



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Eventful weekend

I was lucky enough to have off of work on Thursday and Friday, and I must say, it was quite busy! On Thursday, Matt called me from work complaining of sharp lower back pain, along with a few other symptoms. I told him I would call the doctor and see what they said. Due to what I described to the nurse, she wanted him to come in and do some blood work. It turns out Matt had a kidney stone! So, needless to say, he was in some pain until he finally passed the stone on his own! Thank goodness. On Friday, he had to get a CT scan to make sure things were looking ok. Due to this, he had to take the day off. Plus he was still pretty out of it from everything. So Kelsey and I got to play nurse and make sure he followed the doctor's orders. Friday night he did feel a little better and still supervised the intermural all-star game. It was the final game he had to supervise for the season. Yippee! Kelsey and I even went to watch. Matt and I attempted to watch a movie later that night, but I fell asleep. Sorry Mattey! Saturday morning, we all headed to Woodbury to meet Kristen and Liz for lunch. I love those girls! It was SO GOOD to see them! They brought along their men-folk as well, so Mattey was not in the minority this time. Liz is 8 months pregnant and looking beautiful as ever. Can't wait to meet Baby Seubert. The three of us ladies are definitely three of a kind. I am so thankful I was able to spend a couple hours catching up. (Yo Mama's Cheese anyone? hehe)

While in Woodbury, we also did some shopping. It was a gorgeous day and we went to an outdoor mall. Kelsey got some new shades so she is ready for the sun! When we got back to Owatonna, we stopped at home to drop off our treasures we had bought and then went to a party with Matt's academy teachers. They are a fun crew and we enjoy getting together with them. When we got home Saturday night, I was beat! Sunday brought church, breakfast at the Elk's with Skala's, errands, master's work, and time at home relaxing. Tomorrow we are back to work to start the week all over again. It is Matt's last week off before baseball starts, so Kelsey and I plan to take in as much time with him as we can.

7 months

Kelsey turned 7 months on Sunday. In the past month, she has made many gains. She is doing great with eating! She loves squash, sweet potatoes and bananas. She is not too sure about her rice cereal yet, but does manage to get some down. Next on the menu, green veggies like peas and green beans. She is also on the move. We barely get her on the floor before she is continuously rolling everywhere. I set her down in the middle of the living room and went to the frig to grab something to drink. If you have not been to our house, the living room is right by the kitchen, so I could see her pretty much the whole time. In the 10 seconds it took me to get my drink, she had rolled into the kitchen by me. She is also so close to crawling. She gets on all fours and just starts rocking. However, when she tries to go forward she does not move her hands and face plants. She has mastered spinning in a circle while on her belly. She loves books, but still likes to chew on them just as much as look at them. As for sleeping, well she still gets up about twice a night. Secretly, I don't mind getting up with her ;) I will miss these nights someday! She loves bath time and splashes up a storm. She plays with her bath toys and of course, smiles away :)
We are pretty sure she is teething too. Our daycare lady thinks she can feel a bump, but I can't feel anything! But Kelsey likes when I rub her gums, so I guess I will just keep checking! As always, we thank God for our baby girl!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! Yesterday was Dave's birthday. Stacey had Kelsey and I over for dinner, along with Grandpa and Grandma of course. Matt could not join us because he had baseball camp and basketball intermurals. Too bad for him because Stacey made a great dinner! After supper, Grandpa blew out his candles and had help from all his grandbabies. We love you, Grandpa. As we say in Polish, Sto Lat!

Uptown

Last Friday, we went out to celebrate Matt's Dad's birthday. We all headed to Uptown in Minneapolis. Lucky for us, Brian and Molly were willing to watch Kelsey so we could go out. We went to dinner and then went to Comedy Sportz. I have to say, it was pretty funny! It was sort of like the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". We definitely enjoyed ourselves.