Four months have flown by since my last blog update. I honestly do not know where the time has gone. School has taken over my life and I finally had a moment to breathe during the last two weeks. Let's start with a recap of what Kalyn has been up to...
She has been spending her days with two amazing women... Miss Elaine and Miss Lorene. She goes to Elaine's four days a week and to Lorene on Fridays. It's such a blessing to know she's in wonderful hands while I'm at work!

She was dedicated at church on September 19th. She had all her grandparents and great grandparents present... a total of 6 grandmas and 4 grandpas. Goodness! That explains why she's so spoiled!
She started rolling back in September and doing the army crawl in October. She still is army crawling, just really fast. Not sure if she'll ever do the "real" crawl or not. Why would she bother, if she can get wherever she wants doing it her way? I sure would appreciate her crawling on all fours, as the bellly and arms of her shirts get extremely dirty!

She had her first bites of baby food in November. It took her awhile to get the hang of it, but now... there's nothing that can stop that girl from getting her food! She is eating rice puffs, Cheerios and crackers all by herself. No teeth yet, but there are bumps!

She is now 7 1/2 months old and into everything. She enjoyed her first Christmas, especially the paper on the packages. She got tons of new clothes and toys from her family. We have had to rearrange the living room to accomodate her loot.

One of her favorite things to do is take a bath. She has loved her baths since we came home from the hospital. She really got into splashing and has just recently started sitting up in the tub and playing with toys.

So, what's new with the rest of us? On August 28th, Shaun's sister Sara and her husband, Jason, welcomed two beautiful babies into this world. Jaren and Allison were born 8 weeks early and spent a month in a NICU in Indiana. They came home on their 1 month birthday and have quickly put on the weight. We were able to go out on Labor Day weekend to see them in the hospital and then we went to Shipshewana over Thanksgiving. They came here for a week over Christmas. We enjoyed cuddling with them!

While we were in Indiana, we had family pics taken.

What a ham!

Shaun was busy during fall harvest and has stayed busy doing odds and ends in December. He had a 50' x 80' shed built at our house to store all the equipment that has been sitting out. They just finished pouring concrete last week. He's been going to some auctions the last couple of weeks, looking for good end-of-the-year deals.
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As for me, it's been school, school and more school. I still feel like I'm paying for not getting into my classroom during the summer. This last week, I took a day and went to school for a couple of hours and started tossing LOTS of stuff. I filled up every trash can in site and then left. Tomorrow we have a work day and I will continue going through stuff (along with planning and grading).
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The fall is always such a busy time for us, as my family takes a couple weekend trips to Cassville, MO and Dodge City, KS every weekend. Throw in the two trips to Indiana and monthly trips to Topeka, and it doesn't give us much time at home.
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I try to spend as much time with Kalyn as possible, because I know my cuddling days will soon be over. I look forward to a slower start to the new year (I hope!) and will cherish every moment I have with my baby girl. Before I know it, she'll be 1 and walking all over the place :(. I will be hoping and praying for some snow days during the months of January and February!!!!