Hanging around in airports

Yesterday was a long day. We woke up at 3am, packed into a taxi at 3:30am and arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 4am. Our plane left at 6am for Milwaukee, WI. Nancy had been staying with us for a week, and her plane wasn't scheduled to leave until 11am, so she spent a lot of time reading while waiting for her flight. We then flew from Milwaukee to Toronto and arrived there at 10am est.

The flights went very well. Marissa was excited about flying, riding in a taxi for the first time, and riding on a bus for the first time (we took a shuttle bus to a different terminal at Toronto). Kaitlyn noticed the descents while we were flying, but I encouraged her to yawn and she fed so she didn't fuss. Due to the early rise Marissa was tired but she was a very good girl.

Unfortunately, when Nancy was supposed to board her flight, it was cancelled! She had to rebook a flight through Chicago and arrived at Toronto at 6pm. While we were waiting we sat in her car at the airport and watched movies on the laptop. We also tried to nap a bit in the car. When Nancy arrived we quickly started the drive to New Liskeard. The drive went very well - both girls slept until we got to North Bay (about 1.5 hrs short of New Liskeard). So we stopped at Timmy's for a break before continuing on. We arrived at the house at 1:30 this morning. (Both Grandpa and Uncle Dayn were fast asleep.)

We will be spending Christmas and New Year's in Ontario. We are scheduled to fly back to Bloomington January 2. Chris starts his 8th trimester (there are 10 trimesters in total) Jan 3.

Marissa, Nancy, Mel & Kaitlyn at the Minneapolis airport (4am!)

 

Slideshow: Kaitlyn's Dedication

On November 26th, Pastor Dave Friesen officiated at Kaitlyn's dedication service at Maranatha EFC in Winnipeg. My sister Jen, and Chris' brother Mike and his wife Kristi agreed to be Kaitlyn's godparents. What follows are parts of the service, for those who were unable to attend. Dave, you did a wonderful job! Thank you.

Kaitlyn - Celtic/Gaelic - Pure
Nancy - English - Grace (named after Nancy Kramp)
Isabel - Spanish - God is my Oath (named after Nora Isabel Nicholson)

Father, we bring thanks to you this morning for the life of Kaitlyn. We thank you for the decisions and declarations made here by her parents Chris and Melanie. We pray that you would receive this child into your loving arms. May Kaitlyn by your mercy grow in health of body and mind, and serve you faithfully according to your will all the days of her life. I pray that you would give your wisdom, patience and strength to Chris and Melanie as they seek your will in raising Kaitlyn. I pray that you would continually bless them as they serve you and that these things would be passed on through example to Kaitlyn. I pray that she would always know and remember that you are in control and seek your will in her life as she grows. Father we ask that she would be a close companion of her sister Marissa and that the two of them would encourage one another to grow closer to you. I pray also that she would come to know you in her own personal way when she is able to understand, and until then we entrust her to you. I ask that she receive from you your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, be glory and honour forever. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Kaitlyn Nancy Isabel Kramp, you have been blessed with many names. May your life be a life that is Pure. May you be known for your Grace as you encounter all on your life's journey. May your character be integrity and let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no' for God is your Oath. Above all, stay true and hold fast unto God your entire life. Amen.

Family Pictures

We took some family pictures today at the church after the Christmas Ladies Brunch...

O What a Night!

I feel pretty bad that my last post was about getting to Bloomington. I meant to post more pictures, but it's been pretty busy trying to get everyone settled and into a routine. Still working on that routine...

Anyway, last night we drove back to Winnipeg. It was a very smooth drive - just a few stops on the way. We left at 3pm and arrived at 12am.

We will be here until Sunday. On Sunday we are planning to have a dedication service for Kaitlyn at Maranatha. Saturday morning all of the girls (Jen, Di, mom, Marissa, Kaitlyn, and myself) will be going to a ladies brunch at Jen's church - the ACCC. Hopefully we win some great prizes like we did last year!

So far Chris is having a hard time acclimatizing to the Winnipeg weather.... ;-)

Halloween 2006

Marissa dressed up as a fairy princess this year. Kaitlyn dressed up as a baby. ;-) We took them to the Family Fall Festival held at our church in Bloomington where we played some games and Marissa enjoyed the inflatables. The pictures below are from the church. We also stopped at Chris' school for some more games, a walk down a haunted hallway, and more goodies! Kaitlyn pretty much slept the entire time - I was carrying her in my sling.
A final note - Chris saved Marissa from a tommyache by eating most of her treats!! ;-)

Look ma! I got a tattoo!

Safe at Home

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are back in Bloomington now. The drive went very well - we left shortly after 2pm and arrived here shortly after 11pm. This included 2 stops - one for gas shortly after the border and one for a meal at Fargo. Both girls did very well - Kaitlyn slept and Marissa watched movies, listened to Narnia on CD, and slept too. The only bad side effect was that Kaitlyn was pretty awake until 1am, and Chris had to go to clinic this morning for 7am. But I'm pretty sure he made it on time....

Pictures from Grandma Manweiller's camera

These pictures are taken on my mom's camera the last couple of days we were with her in Winnipeg at the end of October.

 

Pictures from Kaitlyn's 1st visit to Dauphin

We went to Grandpa Nicholson's for a visit from Nov 22 to Nov 27.

Kaitlyn and Great Grandma Nicholson

My cousin Melissa holding Kaitlyn @ The Denim Wall.

Auntie Jody holding Kaitlyn

Grandpa Nicholson + Kaitlyn napping - take 1
(my dad has a very calming effect on her!)

Great Grandpa Nicholson playing "puppets" with Marissa

Kaitlyn's first smile caught on camera
(she is very social and loves it when you talk to her)

Melissa reading to Marissa

Grandpa & Kaitlyn napping - take 2

Update on the girls...

Yesterday Marissa, Kaitlyn, and I drove to Dauphin with my dad for a visit. The drive went very well - both girls slept most of the way of the 3.5 hour drive. We will be here until Thursday night, and then we will drive back to Winnipeg.

I was able to get the paperwork done for Kaitlyn's passport last Friday. It will be ready for pickup this Friday. Thanks to Jess and Dave for driving us around! ;-) It went pretty smooth except for having to get the pictures redone - thankfully there was a picture place in the basement of the passport office, so we were able to get them done right away. It just took a while for me to wake up Kaitlyn! (Her eyes have to be open in the picture.)

Chris is coming to Winnipeg this weekend, so we will all be going back to Bloomington this Sunday. We are all excited about finally being able to be together as a family!

We girls have been doing pretty well. The public health nurse visited when Kaitlyn was 4 days old, and was amazed that she was already 7lbs. Apparently it is pretty rare for babies to be over their birth weight at 4 days. Kaitlyn is a good eater! Right now Marissa and I follow Kaitlyn's schedule, which means that breakfast and lunch are sometimes late meals, and we might not get showered and dressed until the afternoon - but that's okay. Marissa also enjoys doing pilates with me - she runs around me in circles while I follow the video encouraging me to do all the moves. A couple of times she has asked me to put Kaitlyn down, but other than that we are all getting along just fine.

Last week we all came down with colds too. But that was nice in one respect because Marissa napped more. (ie. I got to have a nap.) On the other hand, Marissa had a bad cough so she kept everyone up at night!

I also went to the Franklin Graham Festival in Winnipeg on Friday night. I pumped a bit so Marissa was able to feed Kaitlyn a bottle. Mom says she really enjoyed this, and had a huge smile on her face she was so proud. Unfortunately I didn't leave near enough milk, so the next couple of hours were not happy ones for Kaitlyn or my mom. (Marissa never drank from a bottle, so I had no idea how much she would need.)

The festival was great though - Paul Brandt was one of the featured acts, and he played "our" song! (Please don't embarrass Chris by asking him which one - he never remembers! ;-) ) The hormones must still be raging though 'cause it made me cry. The stadium was full, the music was awesome, and the message was great too. I went with my sister Jen and we rode a transit bus - something I haven't done in a long time. I can't say it brought back a lot of good memories. ;-)

Anyway, I have some more pictures to post, so look for those soon...

Kaitlyn's 1st Bath in a tub

Here are some pics of Marissa and Kaitlyn having their first bath together. Marissa is a good helper! Kaitlyn absolutely loves having a bath, so she has one every morning. Probably needs it too as she has a bm everytime she eats!!! We go through a lot of diapers!
Both girls are wearing cloths... and duckys are essential too.

1st Stroller Ride?

Marissa begged and begged me to let her push Kaitlyn in her doll stroller, and I said "No, she is too heavy." Grandma, however, didn't know that I said "No"... it was a great picture though!!!

Announcement Card Photo Session

We (my mom, my sister Diana, her friend Scott, and myself) took some pictures to use in creating a photo announcement card for Kaitlyn. Okay, we took A LOT of pictures - here is a small sample. We tried very hard to wake Kaitlyn up, but were unable to do so, and in the process of trying to wake Kaitlyn, Marissa fell asleep! So the photo session ended...

Sisters

Marissa wanted to hold Kaitlyn by herself...

Sleeping Sweetie!

At least someone in the family is sleeping!
:-)

Some comparison pics

Here are some pics of Marissa when she was born to compare with Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn's First Outing

Kaitlyn's first trip, other than leaving the hospital, was going to church. Here are some pics of that morning...