Be warned -- this post is extremely long. Read at your own risk.

So I've neglected the blog. I'll admit it. And I would be ashamed of it, except what can compete with a vacation, Christmas, presents, ringing in the new year, my birthday, and more presents? The blog can't, that's for sure. But don't worry, one of my New Year's resolutions is to write in the blog more (I may or may not have actually made that resolution, but I CAN promise that I am back from hiatus and, might I add, better than ever)

I'm still deciding whether to blog about my vacation to Salt Lake City and Christmas. I feel tired from just thinking about it. In fact, most of the people who read this blog were there. They know what happened. But in all fairness, I will include three of the highlights. The first being. . . .

Highlight #1. My Christmas Eve party.

This party was a plan I hatched way back when we first moved to Syracuse, when I had no family and a only a cranky baby for company. Both sides of our family would be in Utah for Christmas -- why not! Well, I somehow pulled it all together, and it went off (practically) without a hitch. Everyone had a good time, and we all enjoyed some wonderful Christmas-themed fun.

Here was the itinerary:
1) Lunch
2) A rousing game of pictionary (not for the faint of heart, mind you. Just try drawing melekelikimaka -- ask Katryna how)
3) An epic gingerbread house competition (think Iron Chef meets Martha Stewart meets Candy Land) complete with a crappy recipe for gingerbread house icing (note to self: no tarter sauce = runny icing), people complaining about the icing (hint: Mom), and fervor not seen since Dad played in last year's Halo marathon competition.
4) White elephant. Gifts included: a bag of oranges (hope you're enjoying it, Jeff!) , hand sanitizer, a box of scissors, Halloween candy, and more!

I have lots of video, but really don't want to edit it right now. You'll just have to wait for that. If it ever comes. Which it probably won't.

Highlight #2: The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The saying good things come in small packages was never more true than Christmas 2008. It was then that I met my new best friend, the Iphone. A month later I'm wondering how anyone lives without one, let alone how I ever did. I don't want to cheapen things by trying to describe a love that is indefinable, so let's just suffice it to say that it's AWESOME. If you can get one, I'd recommend it.

Hightlight #3: The Christmas wallet miracle.

I classify this as a Christmas miracle even though the event happened after Christmas, because "after Christmas miracle" just doesn't sound as special. But lets not get caught up on semantics. This miracle played out like most miracles: things seemed to be going great, then tragedy happened, and then. . .the miracle saved the day (and possibly the money in my bank account -- oh, and me having to wait in line at the DMV, among other things.)

So there we were two days after Christmas. We decided to stop at Carl's Jr., because they don't have them in Syracuse and Kenny wanted to get as many trips in as possible. We enjoyed our meal, and were about to leave when someone (not Kenny) hugged me and whispered "Just let it happen." Who else could it be but my good friend, Lindsay Redd (Hogan) and her husband, Andrew. Except Andrew wasn't hugging me, only Lindsay (that would have been awkward). We chatted, remembered old times, and then said our goodbyes and Kenny and I drove to Walmart, five minutes away. I had ordered Kenny a present that arrived after Christmas and we were going to pick it up. Presents. Old friends. Carl's Jr. What could go wrong? Well, I looked in my bag to find my driver's license, and guess what, my driver's license wasn't there, because it was in my wallet and my wallet wasn't there.

So after a few minutes of freaking out (mostly on Kenny's part -- what can I say, he's a worrier), we drove back to Carl's Jr. , because I had it there last, and I thought I must have left it on the table or dropped it outside of the car, or something. We looked where the car had been parked, we looked on the sidewalk, we looked in the restaurant. Nothing. Ken and I of course assumed someone had stolen it. And maybe we thought that the homeless man that was standing inside the Carl's Jr. at the time had something to do with it. I told the Hogans, who were still eating, and they came out and helped us look. And then Andrew went in and asked everyone (including the homeless man) if they knew where it was. Nothing. We looked again. Nothing! The Hogans left, and seeing the homeless man inside staring at us suspiciously, I asked Kenny to go ask him again. Kenny did, and the man told him that he always turns in wallets when he finds them.

So we left, dejected. That wallet contained everything of value -- my credit cards, driver's license, insurance cards, punch card for pita pit. What would happen without it? My wallet seemed doomed, until in a sudden moment of inspiration I remembered that I had set a cup on top of the car before we left, and might have set the wallet there as well and forgotten about it. We drove the exact route we had taken from Carl's Jr. to Walmart and made it to the street Walmart was on without any luck. Enter the miracle. As we were turning in, Kenny looked over at me with wide eyes and said "I think I saw something!" He immediately turned the car around and pulled to the spot where he thought he saw it. I looked out the window. And there it was, buried under a foot of snow on the side of the road, only it's little corner sticking out. Did I mention it was nighttime and very dark outside. I jumped out, grabbed it, started screaming and jumping, and then almost got hit by a car. But I didn't, so I got back in, and we drove home, happier than ever before.

The morals of this story 1) The Hogans are really nice people 2) Don't suspect homeless people of committing crimes just because they are homeless 3) Miracles do happen. Especially around Christmas.

So that was Christmas. Unfortunately, New Year's wasn't nearly as exciting. We decided to avoid the New Year's Eve party route, because we had to be up at 4am to get to the airport for our six o' clock flight (don't worry, lesson learned). We decided to rent a classic movie to watch until midnight, then ring in the new year, then sleep for 3 hours (more like 2 with a cranky baby). We picked "It Happened One Night" with Clarke Gable and some other actress (who I think is famous, but I can't remember her name). Listen, I have nothing against classics. I'm a big fan. But let's just say watching this while trying to stay up until midnight wasn't the best idea. If you've seen it you'll know what I mean. The word bored-out-of-my comes to mind.

So that was New Year's. And now we're all back in horribly frigid Syracuse. It was -7 last week. That's cold.

Oh, and a few weeks ago I turned 23. We had an impromptu party. Nothing special. I got all the presents I didn't get for Christmas (I know, I know, what on earth could I have wanted after an Iphone?). The cake was white with raspberry filling. That's about it.

I saved the saddest news for last. Don't lose hope, it has a happy ending! We took K3 to the doctor few weeks ago for his checkup. It turns out he only gained 1/2 lb in three months since his last check up. In case you don't know, that's not good. He should have gained at least 1/2 lb every two weeks (there's a whole chart with a curve -- but let's not get technical here.) So the doctor and I decided to supplement breast feeding with formula. The doctor said that if he gained weight in a week then there were no serious problems. If he came back and still no weight gain -- not good. The first feeding after the doctor I let him nurse as much as he could and then gave him a bottle with a few ounces of formula. He looked at me weird for about 2 seconds and then gulped it down. No problem switching to the bottle for him. He ate 4 ounces in about 5 minutes. We went back a week later and he hadn't gained a pound. He had gained two pounds! We later found out that we were looking at the wrong side of the bottle and instead of 3 ounces we were giving him almost 6 ounces, thus explaining the two pound gain. So now we just supplement a few ounces every feeding. So, the good news is K3 is now getting all the food he needs (and is already getting pretty dang fat -- double chin, chunky thighs, pot-belly). Bad news: he was starving for three months. But luckily he won't remember it when he's older.

Well, that's it! Congratulations on making it to the end of the post! Your reward includes. . . . . multimedia! And this multimedia includes . . . . . a montage! Nothing special -- just a few longer clips of the baby from the past couple of months. But titles and music are included. As a note, the bath clip was shot two days ago, so its the most recent video of little K3 (and keep a lookout for a special bonus clip at the end!) Enjoy:





Coming in a few days. . . . .Pictures!!

I've got videos galore this time. What follows are some clips of cute things K3 has been doing recently. They are all separate and unedited. So in other words, it's just like a video montage, minus all the work it takes me to put it together. If you still want that montage-like ambiance, just play a little music in the background while you watch. As a suggestion, "What a Wonderful World" induces heartwarming emotions when played in conjunction with anything baby.

Video 1. Tummy time (I would play this video with the "mute" button on - you are forewarned):





Video 2. Laughing (Do not mute this. Full volume would be best):





Video 3. He did this all day long for about 4 or 5 days straight. Apparently, I thought it was hilarious:





Video 4. Just him trying to wake up (P.S. - that's my arm):




Video 5. One night he just wasn't falling asleep so we set him down to play. Twenty minutes later we saw this. The little cutie was still trying to play even thought he was dead tired:




In other news, we got the piano tuned this week. And yes, that's the most exciting thing that's happened recently. Ed the Tuner (as he introduced himself) stopped by for a couple of hours and did his magic. And I have it on good authority (Kenny AND my dad) that is sounds great. So thanks, Ed.

So if you're looking for somebody to have sympathy for, look no further. As the temperature in Syracuse plummets, so does the temperature in our drafty, poorly insulated apartment (our heating bill, on the other hand, is steadily rising). Since the crappy electric heating units serve no purpose except to keep the apartments above us warm and toasty (heat rises, remember) we've resorted to keeping K3 perpetually in his "pooh suit" (as pictured to the right) . In an attempt to bring our apartment back up above freezing, we are going to cover all our windows and our sliding glass door with insulating plastic, further cutting ourselves off from humanity. We will emerge in the Spring, hopeful for a warmer, happier world.

As you may be able to tell at this point, it's been a slow couple of weeks. But Kenny, K3, and I are doing great. I'm happy to report, also, that K3's neck is stronger than ever and he's making good progress with respect to that.

Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pictures these past couple of weeks except the pooh suit ones. I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But if you're feeling a bit gypped, just scroll back up to all those videos. Remember those? Remember how wonderful they were? Ah, yes. . . .

Well, hopefully by next post I'll have tons of pictures to share. Until then.

Oh, do I have a treat for you. I finally hunkered down and created a video montage of all the 80 videos we've recorded since the last montage. And it's epic. It's over 7 minutes long and not for the faint of heart. The video comes in three parts: Section 1) A montage (with music!); Section 2: the baby making cute noises; Section 3: clips of the baby laughing!

In the future I'm going to put up video's as we record them, instead of spending forever going through them later. So get excited for future posts, which will be full of videos!

And here it is:






Also, here's some pictures we've taken in the last couple of weeks.


He loves this stuffed elephant we got him:




















From a trip to the park:




































































Just some pictures we took the other day:

Special Update

K3 went to the doctor today about his torticollis. Kenny and I were shamed by the doctor for not doing his stretched enough (which we didn't) and the doctor sent K3 to a physical therapist. The physical therapist said that things were looking good and if we are just dedicated to doing the stretched everything will be okay. Hooray!

Also, Kenny reached a kind-of milestone today. He was able to sit up by himself using his hands. It was a bit slouchy, hence the kind-of milestone. But I'm counting it. And luckily I got it on video:

Halloween Special

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

In order to celebrate, Kenny and I took K3 trick-or-treating for the first time! We had a blast. And to chronicle our good time, I made a special Halloween video!

By the way, this video almost didn't happen. After finishing my masterpiece, I took a quick break before I rendered it. But when I opened back up the laptop all the clips, to my horror, were little red X's instead of clips. Distraught, I tried everything to get the clips back but to no avail. So I gave up. But then in a last ditch effort I tried just closing the program and opening it back up. Lo, and behold, this did the trick and the clips were back! I still can't explain it. But I'm happy it happened. And here it is:



Well I can tell you that we weren't gonna pass up an opportunity to dress up K3, even if he was too young to even know what was going on. But everyone there just loved K3 and thought he was so cute. And Ken and I got some candy out of the deal, so all-in-all I call it a raging success!
Later that night we also went to a little Halloween party with some people in our ward. Unfortunately, I don't really have any pictures. But I'm sure you can use your imagination.

As far as other things go, I can't help myself and go ahead and judge me, but I'm getting really excited for Christmas. And I've been getting excited for some time now. I'll admit that I've been doing the following: listening to Christmas carols AND singing them to the baby, planning Christmas activities, picking out presents, and just getting in a jolly ol' mood for the Christmas season. In fact, I've been doing this for months (much to Kenny's chagrin. But not the baby's -- I'm molding him into a Christmas-lover just like myself. And no one can stop me!) And for all those of you who find celebrating Christmas 4 months early ridiculous, all I have to say is: Scrooge! Go spread your Christmas hate somewhere else. In fact, take this:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In other news, Kenny's school is starting to heat up. This month is gonna be killer as his classes start to wind down and all the big projects and papers are due. But he will perservere -- only four more weeks to go! (Which, incedentally, is also the amount of time before we fly to SLC for Christmas!)

Also, I'm gonna be studying hard for the GRE, which I take mid-December. I'll apply for graduate school starting at the beginning of the year for next fall, so I better get cracking!

Well that's pretty much it. The baby keeps growing - when he got weighed and measured a week and a half ago he was 25 1/2 inches and 14 1/2 lbs. And I'm almost positive he had a growth spurt this week so he's just gonna keep on truckin'! Also, we go in for a check-up to see about his neck so we'll keep you updated. We've noticed that things are getting a lot better so hopefully the doctor will agree.


Here's some more pictures from Halloween:















Baby and Mommy

















Just having a good time
















Baby and Daddy

















Poor guy - so exhausted after a long night of trick-or-treating!

















After Ken and I had divvied up the candy. My stash is on the bottom - I totally got the best stuff.


Well, until next time!

So I know I promised a new K3 montage, but I'm gonna try and break this to you softly -- it's not here. Nor will it be in the immediate future. To be perfectly honest, I haven't even started it. But I figure, if I post a montage every other post what's gonna keep you people (all 3 of you) coming back for more? So go back and re-watch the last one. Savor it. It may be a while before you get another one.

Now onto promises that I am going to keep. Grandma Matthews visited us a few weeks back. And boy, did we have fun. K3 will NOT stop talking about how much fun he had (at least I think that's what he's saying). We went to Ithaca and Moosewood, the Sacred Grove, Skaneateles (we can pronounce it now!) , and just hung out and had a grand ol' time. Here's a cute video of Gma and baby hanging out outside our apartment:






While those in Salt Lake were enjoying snow and cold, here in Syraucse we experienced a wonderful weekend of sun and fun (we're talking highs well into the 70's here). To take advantage of pretty much the last few warm days before the bitter, bitter cold Syracuse winter, we decided to go to Green Lake state park and walk around, you guessed it, the green lakes.



And to clear things up, the lakes really do look green, just see for yourself!:
















It was so beautiful! The leaves were changing colors . . .
















it was quiet, the baby was happy in the snugli.















All was perfect. Except. . .

An incident which I happened to catch on video. Be warned, the following may disturb some viewers:



I think this picture speaks for itself:

















And the close-up:










Oreo mustache is clearly visible. I'll let you be the judge.

Breaking news! K3 has officially rolled over! To prove it, we've got video. See for yourself (there's no sound because Kenny and I got really excited and started yelling in excitement):





Coming soon: a new post and another K3 video montage!