Trick or Treat

So.. I know that you already saw Miles’ costume, but I had to let you see him just before we started our Candy Cruise! He loved walking around… begging for candy – not so much! 

Our apartment building offered little door hangers to residents willing to pass out candy on Halloween! Great deal for us since it was raining outside…We definitely passed out candy, but as usual, we bought way too much!  I always over estimate the # of kids stopping at our door!!

Miles would put down his little pumpkin bucket and help me bang on the door. He always got a little shy when people opened their door to offer goodies. After getting something new in his bucket, Miles kept wanting to sit down to inspect and taste the new treasure.

He never really got used to trick-or treating. He would just stare at the people opening the door and then follow me to the next door.  He warmed up to the 20 something twin girls though – Miles already loves the ladies.  He was stunned when a door slowly opened to a 20 something guy – complete with sound effects, smoke, strobe lights, and a vibrating-blinking skull. He never flashed a smile to that guy – even though he got a huge man-sized handful of candy. It took a while to get Miles to walk away after the door closed. Even after we left, he would stop and turn around as if to ask to see the show again.  Silly boy!!

Next year should be a blast!

Daddy put a piece of candy in his bucket… He assumed perfect froggy posture!

Practicing walking with his new feet

Miles falling down as he shies away from someone opening the door.

Miles met some costumed friends

Read more »

Posted in: Miles

The Apple Orchard Afternoon

On Halloween, the weather was actually pleasant, 70 degrees and cloudy with misty precipitation.  Honestly – I’ve survived some really cold, miserable Halloweens!

Miles sat on a big tractor!

He was too little to reach the steering wheel!  We improvised.

We even had some goofy pictures taken in the ‘play area’

 

We went into the gift shop and got some cool stuff. I apologize that I didn’t get a picture of the cashier – her costume was Nintendo Zelda!

Finally – we ended our little orchard adventure by playing in the pumpkin patch! Miles wanted to touch and/or pick up each one!

Miles had a blast running around and getting really dirty! His hands were covered  in mud and his shoes and jeans has lots of decaying pumpkin on them by the time we left. Of course, we stripped him down before putting him in the carseat!

That night, we enjoyed super fresh apple crisp – along with the kit kats and Reese’s Cups from the trick or treating!

Fall is super fun!

Read more »

Posted in: Kelly,Miles,Nathan

Daycare Costume Parade

Miles was a little frog for the parade today


Miles and his friends (superman and monkey) in the rollable cribs for the parade

some of the little babies

The bestest tiny baby costume – a caterpillar!

A couple of the bigger kids! Miles loves these two little ladies!


More of the older infant section

Miles’ buddies….

Read more »

Posted in: Miles

Miles @ 1 year (updated)

Miles is growing… no doubt about it!
He’s about 30 inches tall and 21.5lbs. Just for comparison, Nate weighed in at 23 lbs and was 30.5 inches long on his first birthday – Yes, I broke out our old baby books!  I weighed 23.8 lbs and was 32 inches long.

Miles’ height chart:

Miles’ weight:

Miles still isn’t talking, but grunts and signs. He understands lots of words: Cooper, No No, sit, more, all done, ball, come here, high five, clap/patty cake, hi/bubbye and Miles! Nate was saying mama and dada at 11.5 months. I apparently started saying single words around 6 months.
Miles walked at 9.5 months, Nate at 11 months, and I at 10.5 months.

On his birthday, Miles had 10 teeth, but had 11 teeth 2 days later. Miles was 4 months old when he got his first 2 teeth. The only tooth information I could find on Nate was that  his first tooth was at 5.5 months and at 9 months, he had 4 teeth. I had my first tooth at 4.5 months and 6 teeth by 6.5 months.
Miles eats everything except eggs. I’m not sure if its a smell thing or a texture thing, but he will gag and scratch his tongue to get them out of his mouth. Food allergies are not an issue!
Finally… Miles already loves oreos and recently showed us how much he likes cake!

Read more »

Posted in: Miles

I've been published!!

Before I left Iowa, I put in a lot of time to finish up a manuscript on some of my research (not graduate school research – just my job-research.)


Well… I completed the final draft of the manuscript- as planned, but the initial reviews indicated a rejection from the journal. Luckily – my co-authors are brilliant and can fight a great battle! They made a few changes, fought the “dumb” comments and managed to get the manuscript pushed through - all while I'm living/working on the East Coast!!

The final version in journal format will be available soon!
The link will just show the paper's abstract.  The PDF link will show the provisional draft! I'll let you know when the final article is available! I'll soon be pub-med-able!
My paper

Yeah!

Read more »

Posted in: Kelly,Publication

First picture of the BIG DAY

Miles was up early, hungry and ready to party!

I took a picture, but hadn't even turned on a light yet!

Happy Birthday, Miles!!

Miles was just eating his waffle, drinking his milk and hanging with mom as the sun came up!

Read more »

Posted in: Miles

And then there were 3.....

Thinking back - just one year ago today..........
6:30am
I rolled over in bed and thought that I was wetting the bed.I very quickly jumped up and ran to the bathroom…
What just happened!? Did my water break or did I just make a mess….?
I cleaned myself up and went back to bed to see the mess, but there wasn’t one - so I just crawled back into bed.
8:00am
I woke back up and went to the bathroom, petting my big belly like usual.
It felt a little different, still big, but I thought that I could feel knees and elbows much better.
I woke Nate up to tell him my puzzling dilemma – “I’m not sure, but I think my water may have broken…”He said that all the books say that “if your water breaks, you KNOW.” By now I couldn’t sleep so I got up. My mind was racing. I didn’t feel bad, but I didn’t feel right. Nate got up shortly after, ate some cereal, got changed, and was ready to embark on his really productive Saturday – oil changes, car washes, hair cut, and portfolio stuff. I was ok with that since I had my baby shower at 1pm.
10:00am
I started getting a little crampy and was worried that if my water had really broken, the “timer” had started and the doctors should know what’s going on. Nate told me to call 'first nurse' to get their opinion. Was this all in my head or did my water break? They suggested that I stop in briefly so they could check it out.
I showered and made Nate pack up all of my stuff: overnight bag, blanket, robe, carseat, etc. He fought it, but quickly realized it wasn't worth a battle! Nate was convinced that this trip was nothing more than a formality. He expected that he would resume his orignally scheduled agenda within the hour. (oops!)
10:30am
We checked into the hospital to get the Amnio-check. They were super busy and forgot about me. After waiting around for an hour, I sent Nate to the front desk to ask what we were waiting for. They apologized for forgetting about me, did the check, and told me that I wasn’t going anywhere. My water had definitely broken! It’s now 12 noon!!
12:00 pm
I called my parents to let them know I was in labor. Nate called his parents to tell them we were in labor. They spread the news onto our siblings. I called Erin and Lindsay crying because I would be able to attend the beautiful shower they were throwing for me in less than an hour!! (Luckily they took pictures for me, left me some cake, and dropped the gifts at our place- THANKS!)
1:00 pm
The whole Klinge clan assembled in the waiting room, complete with Wii, Seasons of 24, and guitars.
2:00pm
Contractions finally started.
3:30 pm
Dilated to 6cm! I requested some kind of drug to get rid of my vomiting. I hadn’t eaten all day, tried the hot tub for pain management and it made me sick. Looking back, I’m a little mad I gave in. I really didn’t want to use any drugs at all. I didn’t know the end was so close!
4:30 pm
Dilated to 10cm! Baby was coming out whether I pushed or not. They called for the only available doctor – Dr. Jen Atzen, Midwife!
4:58 pm
My baby took a breath of air. Nate took a long hard look and announced that we had a baby boy!
The lullaby chimed and the Klinge family was hovering outside our door…Nathan opened the door “It’s a boy! Come meet Miles Nathan Klinge!”

Welcome to our family, Miles!

7 lbs 3oz, 20 inches long!

October 25, 2008

Read more »

Posted in: Kelly,Memories

THE cake!!

Those lucky enough to grow up with my and my total quarky-ness know that I have a thing for decorating birthday cakes in a super hideous manner.  Hideous is never my intention, just the outcome.

If you were lucky enough to see my blog showing Nate's cake - you are officially a second hand witness to that flop!
I get myself in over my head....

I know its early, but I had to photograph Miles' 1st b-day cakes immediately.  Right now - they look pretty sweet! However, gravity and the mysteriousness of night will most likely force my decorations to some abstract level!

Proof that my intentions were good.... I'm actually kind of proud of them!!

Read more »

Posted in: birthday,Miles

The night before.......

One year ago today was my last day at work for 10 whole weeks.

When all of the books and websites say that you nest right before the baby comes, they were so right! The funny thing is… I didn’t realize how severe my nesting problem was until after Miles was born..

At work…

I deep cleaned my entire bench area, moving pipette racks and vortexes to remove every speck of dust. I went through my paper piles to get rid of things that were unnecessary or out of date. I cleaned out all of my drawers to straighten them up. I walked my colleagues around the lab and my office to orient them to all of my project work – just in case something would happen. Dr. Doran had me a little worried.

I also prepared a very detailed document of all of my projects for my boss and fellow molecular buddies. This document gave a project back ground, current project status, what steps I planned to do next, and ideas of troubleshooting the project in case a couple of steps would fail.

Finally, I shut down my computer – all the way down – I never did this!!

Weird, huh? It gets worse.

At home, I was making dinner, but scrubbing the kitchen at the same time. When that was done and dinner was in the oven, I found a strange smell in the pantry closet (BTW – this was a huge, deep closet) I pulled absolutely everything out of the closet and scrubbed the walls and put everything back into its perfect place. I never did find what I thought I smelled. Later that night, after dinner, I packed a bag just in case I went into labor. I was three weeks out from my due date and it sounded like a good idea. I also put together a list of things I would have to grab last minute – since I used them and couldn’t fathom packing them up for 3 weeks or longer. By this time, I really should have gone to bed. Instead, I started an hour+ long endeavor to put together the perfect playlist on my ipod for my delivery. I wanted some music to soothe and relax, some to encourage and motivate, some to energize and power through, and some to celebrate and focus!

OK.. super late now! Nate and I went to bed……

Since I have pictures weekly throughout my pregnancy beginning at 12.5 weeks, I thought that I should share. Here’s my first preggo picture (12.5 weeks)and last preggo picture(36.5 weeks) before Miles was born. It was taken the day of my last Dr. appointment. I was huge – everywhere!

Read more »

Posted in: Kelly,Memories

Dinner for 2: just you and Miles

A couple of dinner videos- they are up close and personal. You will feel like you’re on a date with the little guy.

Miles slurps down his dinner.

Hungry

So.. When Miles gets full, he plays with his food. You will also see him wave his hands above his head to sign “all done!”  Finally, its time to get him out of that chair when he starts to feed the dog.  Miles hasn’t yet perfected to “no look drop” yet.  Sneaky!

Not so hungry

Miles practices using a cup at dinner time. He’s usually very good at it. Tonight was not his best night….

Not so thirsty?!

The next set of skills we should probably work on (besides his aim) are manners and table etiquette!

Read more »

Posted in: Miles,Video

The 1st Birthday Card

Miles got his first birthday card in the mail on Thursday! I was only able to record the first few minutes of his reaction….

Cards are very new to Miles. He really didn’t know what to do with it.  By the time he was finished with his bath and ready for bed, he had it figured out. Miles carried the card around the apartment – such a dancing fool.  I wish my camera battery hadn’t died so that you could have seen his skills!

Thanks, Natalie!

We loved the birthday card and miss you lots!! 

Read more »

Posted in: Miles,Video

Good Machinery!

Ahhh…..! Thinking back!!

I have Miles of Memories to share, but I promise to keep it short!

Just one year ago today at 2pm (central time), I had my 36 week OB/GYN appointment.

Dr. Doran said that I was measuring well, my vitals were spot on, and he was ready to send me away for another week.

I had asked him if he would mind checking to see if I had dilated or effaced or anything cool yet!  I knew it was early, but I was so excited to meet my baby!

He humored me, but not before making a comment that he would be able to predict the hour I would start my labor.

As Dr. Doran did his doctor thing, he made a few awkward faces, stepped back, and said “Nope – I’m not calling that one at all!!”

He then wrote in his charts, looked back at me, and in awe, he stated that I was “90% effaced and 4cm dilated!”

What!?!

Technically, I hadn’t felt a pain at all, but was dilated far enough to have an epidural if I wanted it!!

His next line will forever be burned in my mind “Well… Looks like you’ve been blessed with good machinery!”

Well… I guess I have been! I left the office saying that I would see him next week. He shook his head and said “yeah, sure!”

Now the preggo hormones are in overdrive!!! 

Happy, Scared, Excited, Nervous, Elated, Superstitious, Energetic, Ecstatic, Anxious!

What did Dr. Doran know, that he didn’t want to say out loud?!?

What would Nathan say when I give him the update?!

Would have I enough time to ‘close’ projects at work before maternity leave?!

I still have a shower coming up – What do I still need to buy?!?

Is the baby a boy or girl?!?! I can’t wait to find out!!

When will I get to meet him/her?

Only time would tell !!!

Read more »

Posted in: Kelly,Memories

ESPN Zone for Sunday football

Caleb flew out the New York to visit us over his fall break! We were excited to see him.  Today’s weather was substantially better than the last few days were – so we broke out of the apartment for a few hours.

Caleb got to see Grand Central Station, ride a subway, get see a very small part of Times Square. We ate lunch at the ESPN Zone so that lots of football could be viewed at once.

We had to wait to be seated for a little over an hour. It was ok – there were 4 floors of athletic greatness to explore.

The first and second floors were 2 different restaurant lay-outs. The third floor was VIP seating. The fourth floor was an arcade.  We were just about to play a few games when our buzzer went off. It was our turn to eat!

The view – looking straight up from my seat.

Miles and Dad hanging out as we finished eating and headed back to the arcade.

Game time – Miles on a waverunner

Caleb – pitching to a virtual Manny Ramirez (dodgers)

Nathan-pitching to a virtual Andruw Jones (braves)

At this time – I should note that Nathan did pitch 72 mph while Caleb topped out at 71 mph. However, Caleb, using scientific deduction, proved that the machine was highly inaccurate with its measurements – especially after he made the system freeze up!

Nate and Caleb played 4 games of b-ball. Nate won 3 out of 4. They also played 2 games of air hockey. Caleb won both.  Oh.. and the boys shared a turn at some weird boxing game. Sorry.. no pictures of that….

We had fun!

Now – time to go home for a nap – to rest up for the Bears game tonight!!

Read more »

Posted in: Caleb,Miles,Nathan