Bad Hair Day

Brianne has had a little baby dandruff, otherwise known as "cradle cap". It doesn't bother her at all, and isn't even that noticeable. But the last time we were at the pediatrician, her doctor gave us an over-the-counter treatment - cortisone ointment rubbed onto her scalp at night, then washed out with dandruff shampoo the following morning.

Her doctor said the cortisone would wash right out in the morning - yeah right. We tried this the other night, and it was like putting vaseline in her hair, totally slimy and impossible to wash out. We washed her hair 3 times in the sink, twice with the dandruff shampoo and once with her own shampoo. Her head was still sticky after 3 washings, and we didn't want to irritate her scalp, so she stayed sticky the rest of the day.

Here we are 2 days (and 2 baths) later, and the stickiness has almost completely gone away. Her head still smells funny, but I am hoping that will clear up soon.

Yikes - what a little grease ball. At least I'll have another photo to black mail her with when she's a teenager.

Merry Christmas!

You haven't really experienced Christmas until you've spent it with a little kid. Seeing their eyes light up with excitement at all the presents under the tree is one of the most fun things ever. So maybe in Brianne's case, she was more dazzled by the lights on the tree and the shiny wrapping paper than by the prospect of new toys, but it was still cute.

Even though Brianne already has enough toys to entertain an entire class room full of children, I couldn't resist picking out a few things I thought she'd like. In return, Brianne gave us a full night's sleep (she slept through the night until about 7:00am!). After she got up, we gave her a bottle, then went to open presents. I parked her little Bumpo chair right next to the tree, and she had a blast banging her little hands on the presents and pulling the bows off. I assisted her opening her presents, though once we got them open, she seemed to enjoy the paper and bows more than the presents themselves.

And that was only the first gift session of the day - we had two more at Grandma Mimi and Grandpa Monroe's house, then again at Mi Ma Debbie's house!

Here is Brianne gearing up to open presents. Those boxes are bigger than she is!

Here I am helping out. Brianne had fun wearing her bows on her head.

After we opened presents at our house, we went to Aunt Casey and Uncle Scott's house for Christmas morning brunch. Here is Brianne with her cousins, Taylor and Tyler.

Brianne just finished opening presents at Mi Ma's. Her little arms were tired from all the unwrapping!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Now that we have Brianne, it's more important to us than ever to create some new traditions for our family, particularly around the holidays. I remember when I was little being so excited for Santa that I couldn't sleep, singing Christmas songs, and doing fun holiday activities with my family. I wanted to get our Kiar Christmas traditions on the right track, so Brianne will have memories to treasure herself. Ok, I know she is only 5 months old and wont necessarily remember this Christmas, but I wanted to do some fun things in honor of this special holiday.

First, we made some customized Christmas ornaments. This consisted of stamping Brianne's hand, and trying to get it straight on a piece of paper. Thanks goodness my mom was there to help. Trying to uncurl those little fingers and not smudge is a lot more difficult than it looks!


After about 10 tries, we got a clean print! And bonus, all ink was on the paper, none on her!


After making our ornament, we decided to bake some cookies for Santa while listening to some Christmas tunes. We made ginger snaps from scratch. Brianne was more interested in testing out the whisk, but was still a great little helper. The cookies turned out delicious!



In the early evening, we went to mass at St. David's. Brianne got to relive her glory as the Baby Jesus and was able to get through the service without getting mobbed by paparrazzi.

This was also Baby's First Mass, so we were a little nervous that she would start fussing. But, good baby that she is, she sat quietly with her Daddy and Aunt Casey through the whole service. After church, we went home and put Brianne to bed in preparation for Santa's arrival!

A Star is Born

The week before Christmas, Marty and I found ourselves a bit double-booked. My brother graduated from Navy basic training, Marty had a fundraiser, and Brianne was the Baby Jesus in our church pageant. All on the same day. Unfortunately, I had already booked my air to Chicago for the graduation, so I had to miss Brianne's theatrical debut. Though I was thrilled and proud to see Jon graduate. He looked so handsome in his Navy dress blues :o)

Grandma Mimi and Aunt Joan wrangled our little actress for her performance, and took lots of pictures and video. From what I heard, Brianne did fantastic, and didn't cry at all. She was too busy taking everything in - from the singing angels, Christmas decorations and all her adoring fans. She was definitely a little star!

Here is the cast of the church pageant. And you can't see it from here, but she is wearing a onesie that says Angel on the front and has little wings on the back. I could just die from the cuteness of it all!

Here we are in the beautiful Great Lakes Naval training facility in Waukegan, IL. We got to enjoy some cold weather (in the 30s), and I got to wear the long coat I bought 3 years ago, but have never had the opportunity to wear. I think us Floridians were the only ones excited about the snow - everyone else there looked tired of the bad weather. At least the ceremony was inside! Jon was standing right up front and center, so we could easily see him. He actually was the leader of his section, won an Expert Marksman medal, and was one of 10 trainees (out of 700) to be invited to have breakfast with their captain. Jon rocks!

You've Got Mail

Every year, it's my personal goal to send out Christmas cards on time. Last year, I actually bought Christmas cards, hand-wrote them all, addressed them, then made the mistake of asking Marty to take them to the post office to mail (I didn't have any stamps on me). Little did I know that my Christmas cards only made it as far as the center console in Marty's Tahoe. We went to Sanibel on vacation, and while I was sitting in Marty's car, I happened to open up the console and found all my Christmas cards. It was December 29 when I found them - yes, 4 days after Christmas. So after all that effort, we ended up tossing them.

With the baby, I was more determined than ever to do Christmas cards. It's actually easier when you have a baby, because you can do those picture cards. They may not be hand written, but I love getting cards with recent photos, so it sounded like a good idea to me. And I learned my lesson, and bought stamps in advance so my Christmas cards made it into the mail this year, instead of Marty's car.

Some highlights from the Kiar's Christmas card.... We had to take about 50 pictures to get the two we put on our card. This one would have been good if Brianne didn't look like she was trying to rip out Cooper's eye.


We tried to get a picture of Brianne and Cooper, but Cooper kept running off, and Brianne kept looking the wrong way. This was the closest we could get, but Marty's arm was in the way.


My current favorite picture of Brianne. She did so good sitting up in her little chair.

Five Months Old

Brianne is five months old as of October 17. I know I say it every month, but I cant believe she is getting so big! Right on schedule, Brianne did a full roll - from back to front and onto her back again. You could tell she was just as surprised as we were. We are also working on sitting upright and standing. She really likes practicing standing.

She is developing quite a little personality, and loves to laugh and smile. She loves meeting new people, and looking at new faces. She is reaching out more and more, for toys, and best of all, for us! There's nothing better than seeing her reach her little arms out for you. She also likes to touch our faces, especially our mouths while we talk. You can almost see her working it out, putting together the mouth movements with speech. I swear, one day she will just look over at me and say "hey mom!"

She is still teething, but her little teeth haven't quite made their way through her gums. I feel so bad for her knowing how painful it must be. I just try to keep a supply of teething toys handy. Watching her grow and change is so much fun. We feel so lucky that Brianne is ours!

Brianne enjoying some fun new toys, and practicing sitting up right.

Festival of (Boat) Lights

Winter brings with it a lot of fun activities, one being the Winterfest Boat Parade. I would normally say "and cold weather", but we've had precious few cool days as of late. This year, we watched the parade from my dad's condo, which is located right on the New River by Riverfront It was the best place to watch the parade, since the start of the parade was right outside his balcony. It was especially nice since we had a down pour that evening.

Even with the rain, everyone had a great time seeing all the decorated boats. We even saw Kim Kardashian! The show Keeping up with the Kardashians is our guilty pleasure reality show (and the inspiration for the name of our family blog :o) They opened up a store (Dash Miami) on South Beach this past year. I tried to convince Marty to go down so we could shop there and maybe even be on the show, but he said no.

We had some fun taking Santa pictures while we waited for the parade to start. Here is Santa Bree!


Our cousin Ashley was down visiting for a couple weeks. Brianne had a blast with Ashley and was laughing and smiling up a storm.

Here's the view from the balcony. You can kind of see the boats down there behind the trees. Pictures dont really do it justice.

Reunited and It Feels So Good

Marty had another special session over the last 10 days, which was the most time he spent away from Brianne since she was born. It is good practice for next Spring when Marty has to go to Tallahassee from March through May. He'll come home a few weekends in between, but he'll be gone for awhile, leaving us plenty of Mommy/Baby (and grandma) bonding time. We missed Marty a bunch while he was gone, and were so happy to have him back.

With Marty gone, I had to be on 100% baby duty after work, which didn't leave a lot of time or energy for much else (like updating a blog, for example). It's a lot of work, but to quote one of my friend's husbands - it's the hardest job I love to do.

Brianne worked on some new tricks to show Daddy while he was gone, like rolling all the way over, and (assisted) standing. She was so proud of herself for her accomplishments, and she was so excited to show her dad.

Marty and Brianne reconnecting with some tummy time.

Look Ma', no hands....well, almost.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Christmas shopping madness has been in full effect at the Kiar household for the past couple of weeks. But instead of spending endless hours fighting the crowds, I've done almost all our Christmas shopping online. Whoever invented Amazon.com should get an award. I've poured through tons of catalogues and asked friends with older children about the best presents for 5 month old babies, and have narrowed it down to a few choice items I think Brianne will love. I'm not sure why I bother, since Brianne loves random things like cloth napkins, paper towel rolls and her own feet. But I just couldn't help myself. Oh well. We'll spoil the crap out of her this time around, and save the life lessons about materialism and the evils of consumerism for next Christmas.

Here is Brianne playing with one of her current favorite toys, a rubber worm I got for $2 at Walgreens. Babies are so easily amused :o)

Yummy in my Tummy

This past weekend, we experimented with solid (well, semi-solid) food. Brianne tried rice cereal for the very first time, and actually seemed to really like it. We weren't sure how she'd take it, but the last time we were at the doctor, Brianne's pediatrician advised us to start introducing solids, so we gave it a whirl. I even bought her a special bowl and spoons.

She did really well sitting up in her high chair, and opened her mouth right up when I brought the spoon toward her face. She kind of looked like a little baby bird waiting for food. She only ate a few bites, but she didn't hardly spit any of it out. She'll probably stick to a bottle/rice cereal diet for another month or so, but coming soon to a high chair near you - sweet potato!

Brianne enjoying some delicious rice cereal.

Here is Brianne contemplating the mysteries of eating with utensils.

It's Great to Be a Florida Gator

On Saturday, Marty, my mom, and I drove up to Gainesville to see the Florida Gators play the Florida State Seminoles. We usually go up to Gainesville to see a game once a year, so it was great that we could go for this big rivalry game. It is also the last game Tim Tebow (Gator quarterback) played in the Swamp (sniffle). Early this year, I actually spoke to Tim Tebow on the phone. The Gators were in Tallahassee after winning the National Championship, and Marty, the good husband that he is, elbowed his way up to Tebow and asked him to talk to me on the phone. It only lasted for 60 seconds, and I cant even remember what either of us said, but it was one of the greatest minutes ever (can you tell I love Tim Tebow?).

Brianne stayed with Grandma Mimi and Grandpa Monroe. We missed our little Gator while we were gone, but had a blast tail gating, visiting with our good friends, Emily and Adam, and watching the Gators stomp the Noles. I can't wait to bring Brianne up to my alma mater so she can experience the thrill of college football - dont be surprised to see her in a little Gator cheer leader outfit sometime in the near future!

Here is Brianne having a great time at Grandma Mimi's house.

Gobble Gobble

This past week, we celebrated Baby's First Thanksgiving. We are lucky that we have all 3 sets of grand parents living within 20 minutes of us, so we didn't have to travel far to see everyone. We started off the day visiting Grandma Janet and Granddad Steve. After that, we went to Marty's parents house, where my mom made dinner for all of us. We had a great time visiting with everyone and counting all the blessings we received in 2009 - the biggest one being Brianne!

Here is Brianne and Granddad Steve taking in the view on Grandad's balcony.


Brianne practiced sitting up in her high chair while we ate Thanksgiving dinner.


We spent Black Friday back at Grandma Mimi and Grandpa Monroe's house. It actually got a bit cooler (60s!), so we got to break out the long sleeves and pants!

Can I Get Fries With That?

Brianne is getting more and more interested in solid food. When we go to restaurants, she's not content to sit back in her car seat while we eat. Now she likes to sit in our lap and grab at items on the table. She also likes to watch us eat, and will watch the fork as it goes from our plate to our mouths. I've been giving her little tastes of things, and have had fun watching her facial expressions as she tastes new foods. The best one was lemon - you could tell she was thinking "what the heck was that" when she scrunched up her face from the sour taste. We're looking forward to introducing her to all kinds of new foods. I know it will be a family milestone when she first tries ketchup - with his love of ketchup, I'm sure Marty will be tearing up from pride.

Here we are at Crispers. Brianne ate her bottle, but we could tell she really wanted some of Marty's Asian Flatbread Salad.


I guess she was still hungry, since it looks like she was trying to eat the bottle whole.

Come Fly With Me

One of Brianne and my favorite new games is "air plane". It's really just me trying to get creative in encouraging her to spend more time on her tummy, but she seems to enjoy it. I am really enjoying how she delights in these kinds of simple activities. She is mesmerized by all the little things - from the wind blowing the branches on the tree on our patio, to the way she can make water splash by waving her hands and legs in the bath tub, to blowing rasberries (her other favorite activity). But she is especially captivated by our faces, and the expressions we make and the songs we sing. Pretty soon she'll be into the latest toys, movies, etc, so I am trying to make the most out of the time when a ride on my knees is the coolest thing ever.

Here is Brianne taking a ride on Mommy Airways.

Four Months Old

Brianne is 4 months old as of October 17. I can't believe how fast the time has flown! Brianne had her 4 month check up, and had to get some shots. Brianne measured 26 inches long and 13 lbs, 10 oz. She's in the 50th percentile for her weight, and is in the 95th (!) percentile for her height. That means she's on track to be super tall. She must get her height from her dad's side - Marty is 6'2" and her Uncle Marc (Marty's brother) is 6'5"! She is overall very healthy, and is doing very well.

Developmentally, she can lift her head and shoulders off the floor when she is on her tummy. She has started laughing, which is the greatest sound ever. She grabs at things (including my hair), and tries to put it into her mouth. She is starting to get mobile, and scoots herself around on her back. I think she has started teething. No teeth yet, but she is extra drooly and constantly chews on things. This weekend, we'll start experimenting with solid (well, semi-solid) foods - baby cereal! Stay tuned for more on that!

Here we are in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Brianne isn't nervous at all!

Here we are waiting for the doctor.

Brianne right after getting her shots. She took them really well, and only cried for a few seconds (and I didn't cry at all!)

The Greatest Ship Ever Built

This past week, I left Brianne for the first time ever. Yes, it was really hard, but the reason I left was to attend my National Sales Meeting on the Oasis of the Seas. So while I missed her like crazy, I was distracted by getting to see first hand the most incredible cruise ship in the world. Those of us at Royal Caribbean have been anticipating the arrival of Oasis for years now, so it is still a little unreal that she is here. Words cant even describe all the wonders on this ship. The 3 days I was gone was not nearly enough time to see everything, so I think we will be booking our vacation on the Oasis sooner rather than later! Check it out online at http://www.oasisoftheseas.com/.

While I was gone, Marty was supposed to watch the baby all by himself. He ended up getting a lot of help (and I mean a lot), and probably saw Brianne less than when I am home. My mom came over Monday night and Wednesday night, picking the baby up from day care and then watching her until she put her to bed (Marty had meetings). She even made him dinner. Then on Tuesday night, Marty should have had some daddy-daughter time, but was fortunate enough to have his wonderful sister, Casey, come and help so he could go for a run. Lucky dog. We are definitely lucky to have so much support around us!

When I got home, Brianne was super excited to see me, which was such a nice feeling. I thought she'd for sure forget who I was after not seeing me for a few days. I had a great time exploring the Oasis, but I missed my little family and am so glad to be back!

Here is the view from my balcony on Oasis. I had a room on the Boardwalk, and this is the back of the ship. That's the Aquatheater, an outdoor amphitheater where they will perform shows.


Here is me and my team at our awards night. I didn't win any awards, but my managers Tricia and Kevin did - go team!

Here is Brianne spending some time with Grandma Mimi while I was gone. I'm sure she had a great time, but I can tell she is missing me :o)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Marty played baseball throughout college, and loves to re-live his glory days by playing softball. He is trying to instill a love of sports in Brianne by showing her the mysteries of baseball, like the pros and cons of aluminum versus wood bats, how to pitch a no hitter, and the best way to get out of a pickle. We had to start out slow, but she already seems really fascinated by the ball and bat.

Looks like we'll be signing her up for tee ball sooner rather than later. I cant wait, since its the cutest thing ever to watch the little kids all running after the ball together. Marty is really looking forward to coaching, though im sure it will be a bit different trying to direct 2 year olds versus 20-something college men.

A quick fun fact - my Granddad Jim (my dad's dad) coached Marty in high school baseball, before I even met Marty. So baseball definitely runs in our family!

The proud dad and Brianne, collecting soft balls after some batting practice.


This bat is taller than she is!


Brianne enjoying some break time after running drills and shagging flies.

Fun On Our Feet

After I went back to work, I moved to a Mommy and Me class on Saturdays. In this new class, Brianne is the oldest baby there, which is kind of weird to me, since I am used to her being the youngest. I love looking at the tiny babies and remembering when Brianne was a little lump like them. It seems like she's come such a long way, though it's only been a couple months.

Now that she's holding her head better, she can spend more time up right (which is good, since the back of her head is starting to get flat from laying down all the time). In the class, they have this exer-saucer thing which props them up right and has all kinds of cool toys. Brianne was mesmerized by this one toy in the shape of an hour glass that had little colored beads in it. She sat there gawking at it for a good 10 minutes, which is like a year in baby-time.

Brianne in the exer-saucer, staring away at the hour glass.

Bubble Bubble, Bathtime Trouble

Our night time routine is one of my favorite times with Brianne each day. We follow the same pattern pretty much every evening - bath time, put on jammies, eat a bottle, fall asleep. The tricky part of this process is bath time. Not because Brianne doesn't like baths - she loves them. It's the transferring a naked baby from her changing table to the bath tub without getting pooped or pee'd on that's the hard part.

A few nights ago, I had gotten her changed out of her clothes for her bath, and we made it into the bath tub. All of a sudden, I noticed some little bubbles in the bath water. We both thought this was really funny, until she did number 2, right in the bath. I started shrieking, and Brianne just kept on laughing. I whipped her out of the tub, put her on her towel, hosed out the tub, then refilled it. Then I put her back in, and a minute later, she did it again!!

So I had to do the whole process again, and finally, on the third try, I got her completely clean and poo-free. Marty was very unhelpful and only came upstairs to laugh at me before going back down to continue watching TV.

What a little stinker!

A Day of Discovery

This Sunday, we decided to take a journey over to downtown Ft. Lauderdale to visit the Museum of Discovery and Science. Of course, we wanted to show Brianne some cool stuff, but mostly, admission was free this weekend for Bank of America customers (which we are), so we thought, hey, why not. On the way, Brianne started fussing and fell asleep. When we got there, she was still sleeping, so Marty and I absorbed some knowledge for her. Luckily, she woke up in a good mood and was ready for some learning. We looked at some animals, and watched other kids exploring the museum. Brianne is still a little young to fully appreciate the museum, but I think she had a good time seeing something new.

Here we are checking out the aquarium in the museum. Brianne loved watching the little fishies swim on by.


Brianne looks really excited by the crazy loops on this toy. She is probably just trying to figure out the best way to put it in her mouth.

Baby's Best Friend

Brianne has recently started to take notice of Cooper. She loves to watch whatever he's doing, and cracks up when he starts rolling around, playing with his toys. Cooper is mildly interested in Brianne, and is more interested in getting our attention. He will sometimes sit directly on the baby to get himself in between us and her. Luckily he only weighs 7 lbs, so he doesnt hurt her, and Brianne thinks it is some fun game.

Poor Cooper is definitely feeling some jealousy, but I think he is warming up to Brianne, especially now that she has started petting him and giving him attention.

Brianne checking Cooper out.

Cooper actually layed down and rolled over on his own and Brianne started petting him. No lie, they did this all on their own. I can tell they will be best friends!