Merry Christmas 2014 - The Year of Clark

Hello family and friends,

Another year, another amazing Christmas letter from the Gailans. 2014 was truly an incredible year with so many family visits and some wonderful memories we will treasure forever!

A Trip – In February, we finally decided to take a trip to visit Dana’s old mission grounds: Santiago, Dominican Republic. Mom and Dad Kitchen and Sarah and Taylor Woodbury joined us for the trip. The country is so beautiful and can I just say, sitting on a warm beach listening to the crashing waves is really the only way to do winter. We saw lots of wildlife, including a pet lizard who frequented our rental and a few cockroaches in our car. We went scuba diving, drove terrifying roads, ate probably too much helado (ice cream) and jumped, scaled, slipped and stumbled down the breathtaking 27 Waterfalls – a park I am sure would not be legal in America which is why it was so awesome!

 

A Reunion – Sometimes the best things come to those who wait and for the Kitchen Family Reunion, it was well worth it. We finally gave a beach vacation a try and in August spent 7 heavenly days on the pearly, white sand beaches of Destin, Florida with 2 parents, 6 kids, 6 spouses, and 20 grandkids. The whole vacation can be summed up as warm, relaxing, and something we will be doing again.

An Injury – Just after hitting his 32^nd birthday, Dana joined the manly ranks of guys who tear their ACLs at church basketball. He’ll be having surgery at the beginning of December and will then have 4 whole weeks where he’s allowed to trip people with his crutches in the halls. We are so grateful to have an amazing orthopedic clinic that has taken such good care of him and hope this event will not be repeated in future newsletters.

A Little Man – But of course, the biggest event of the whole year came on May 15^th at 6:12 in the morning when our cell phone rang with the news that Clark Pascua Gailan had finally made his way to earth. If you want the full details of how Clark came to be a member of our family, check out our blog at www.kelliplusdana.blogspot.com. The short story is, we prayed for him. Then we flew and got him.  In between was a lot of the Lord’s guidance and some seriously awesome family members. He was officially adopted on May 21^st in Mena, Arkansas. He was then sealed to us for time and all eternity at the Columbia River Temple on July 6^th with friends and family all around. In between and ever since he rules the roost at the Gailan household. He just hit his 6 month mark and weighs in at a whopping 17.6 lbs (30^th percentile) and 24.5 inches tall (umm…1^st percentileJ). He has an insane amount of hair and big dark eyes that will just suck you in until you give him anything he wants, like the whipped cream on your plate he isn’t supposed to have yet. He’s very chatty and sleeps all through the night with his thumb stuck in his mouth. All in all, we can’t stop feeling blessed. He will always be the best gift we’ve ever gotten.

And that’s our year. We hope this letter finds you and your family happy, healthy and blessed. We hope you feel the love of the Savior in your lives. We love you all and wish you a very blessed and merry Christmas!

What a Change a Month Can Make

Hello all! November is waaaay over and was super fun and here is what we did:

Turned 6 months old! 
The stats: 24.5 inches short (1%), 16.9 oz (25%). No teeth yet but he makes up for it with that smile. Now can roll tummy to back and back to tummy. Usually rolling to the tummy is done at 2AM and will upset the baby who will call for his minions to turn the little prince. He also sleeps ALL over the bed and is a little devious at times now.

Half Birthdays/Whole Birthdays
    One of the more fun coincidences in our life now is Clark's half birthday falling on Dana's real birthday. We look forward to it being a fun tradition every year. This year, we did all the usuals: birthday pie, dinner with Dana's fam, feeding Clark a lemon. Just usual stuff.

Dana's presents this year were quite spectacular if I do say so myself. First, new work shirts. Second, a Top Ten Golf Legends mug. Look closely, whose that in the number two slot right below Tiger Woods? Why I believe it's one Dana P. Gailan. Third, a secret photo shoot with my good friend Rachel produced these adorable photos:

Can I just say how hilarious and fabulous these photos are. Some super cute. Some super distinguished. Some just funny. Poor guy was not gonna smile for my friend if he could help it.  

The family dinner was amazing as always. Matt made delicious ribs and then had fun trying to freak my kid out with a lemon. But of course Clark is way to cool for that and simply licked his lips and asked for more.

 

Cry Baby Cry
I just have to add this in because it's hilarious. One day Clark was in the exersaucer while I worked and out of nowhere this happened:

The one at the end is my favorite. Or maybe the one with the little tear.

Thanksgiving!
We have so much to be thankful for this year and one of those things is being so close to Dana's family so we can celebrate with delicious foods. We also finally got a photo of just the Gailan men. And yeah, I know Clark isn't looking at the camera. I figure that will go on for the next 18 years or so.

Dana the Lame
No, I'm not saying our Dana is lame in the cool sense, but lame in the actually can't walk sense. One morning he came home from basketball limping. Seems he tried to pull a Lebron James move and his ankle went one way, his knee the other. Youch! One long day of his right knee swelling up like a balloon and we decided to head to the Orthopedic Urgent Care in town. An x-ray and an MRI later the diagnosis was confirmed: ACL and meniscus tear. Bummer. They put him in physical therapy for a few days, let the swelling go down, and on December 2nd he went in for surgery.

This is Clark saying how sad he is for Dana

The surgeon was Dr. Roux and if you've had an ACL tear in Yakima within the last 50 years, he probably did the surgery. Honestly, he was AMAZING! He said Dana had a beautiful 9.5 hamstring graft (he told me like 10 times how nice it was:)) Here Dana's getting into his stylish gown and yellow socks. I had to go walk the halls while they put in the needle for fear of making myself a patient. Never fear though, I returned in time to watch a nice nurse shave my husband's leg. Nice.

Once he got the IV in, they wheeled him away and two hours later they returned a super sluggish, very tired, fully repaired Dana P. Gailan to me. He didn't say anything funny which was unfortunate because I was all set with my video recorder.

At least I got to watch him muscle down those three whole crackers they gave him though. It was a long day and I'm honestly not sure how I managed to get him in the house and in the bed. The last week has been crazy with all the activities I've had going on (hosting a baby shower, book club, and RS meeting at the house) but we've managed. Dana basically slept like a log Tuesday. Wednesday he was feeling not too shabby, even squeezed in some work, but by Thursday the good drugs had worn off and he was suffering. In true Dana style, though, he pushed through with dignity and ice cream. Now his days are 4-6 hours in the knee mobilizer with his trusty ice water machine by his side. By the way, this is how the Gailans think exercise should be done - sitting down with your phone. He'll be off his leg for the next week and then will be on crutches for a few more weeks. That means he can't drive so the Gailans will be spending a lot of quality time together:)

And that's our November. Seems I'm now doing monthly updates:) It was a great one and we are thankful for good insurance and good doctors to take care of Dana. We're also grateful for all our friends who offered and gave help while I was running around like a crazy chicken without her head. We truly are blessed. 

October Fun

The month is over already? Whaaaaaaa!

Yes, okay, but it was a great month. We love Octobers around here. Dana loves the nip in the air. I love the spooky spookiness!! For Halloween, we finally did a family costume but the one we wanted (Elf, Arctic Puffin, and the Norwall) crashed and burned so at the last minute we scrapped together adorable penguin plus two ice bergs (ummm...90% of us is underwater and thus not white:). Yeah it was a stretch but the penguin is pretty cute. 

Halloween started with a Trunk or Treat at the ward. Our friends have some pretty cute kids so it was fun to see all the primary kids gussied up. Clark contributed by looking peeved in his penguin costume (by the way his head is so wide the little strap couldn't go under his chin. I love my chunky baby:0). He did, however, hold his own little candy bucket so there's hope for him yet. Halloween night we visited Uncle Matt at work and stopped by G&G Gailans, then retired home for bed and a few trick or treaters. 

Now the month is over but we hit a few more landmarks like: puffs! Yes, the first one was not a hit and it took a week before he stopped making a disgusted, why are you doing this to me face, but now he freaks out whenever he sees the container and even leans forward to suck them into his mouth.

 He's rolling around more on the mat, getting closer each day to the crawling.

New outfits make Mom hyperventilate because does this not look like he's taking a 1st day of school photo? Why does he have to look so old in his little jeggins?

On the bright side, the jeggins (jean/leggins) are very bendy so Clark can still eat his feet. A must.

  His faces continue to get better....

and better...

 and maybe even better!!

 He's still sleeping like a champ - waking up occasionally (mostly when Dana is home alone so I think he's missing me) but we think it might be a tooth.

 He continues to make new friends wherever he goes. The shaky toy is now his favorite and we often hear the aggressive pulling coming from the back of the car when he gets his little mitts on shaky shaky.

Tried to be modest on this one. He finally took his first real bath in the tub. Wasn't a fan so we went back to the sling. Yeah, sitting in your own filth water doesn't appeal to us either babe so we get it.

And how cute it this! Clark came to our client night in Richland for work and we had to pose him at the table. Future CEO coming through.

Great month. Ready for the next! 

5 Months Down!

Another month. More milestones. First, his smile just keeps getting bigger if you can believe it.

But even more that those adorable cheeks, his personality is really starting to come out. He loves to kick and smack anything nearby. We finally got him to enjoy the bouncy, round playpen toy left by Sarah. He love it. He's got new faces but this is my favorite. He'll purse his lips together and then make a smack sound. 

 And that crawling thing? It might be just around the corner. He actually got his legs under his butt the other day but mostly he moves in a circle and has recently started backing up a few inches when we aren't looking. I love how guilty he looks.

 Since it's my blog, I can say it: our baby is the cutest. We love him and all his funny, loud, noises and weird face plants and excited wiggles.

Fall Happenings

The weather is turning, the summer is over. What have the Gailans been doing? Mainly just hanging. That sounds boring, we know, but this little man keeps life interesting enough without trying to find adventure.

 When we get bored, we mess with his hair. Or hang him upside down.

 And try to make sure he's a well rounded individual who can make friends. Pooh is his current bestie and doesn't mind when Clark sucks on his arm. Or he does. We don't know. Pooh is pretty quiet.

 We spend a lot of our time now trying to keep Clark entertained. The bumbo used to be sufficient but clearly that's not going to hold him for long.

 Had to throw this one in. It's his Zoolander mouth.

 Oh, yes, we did tackle on big project this fall. I promised myself when I was a stay at home to finally give canning a real try. We dabbled last year but this year I did jams, tomatoes, and just last month my first applesauce. We have a really nice man nearby who lets people come and glean when the season is over. All I knew was to show up at Telly's in the morning. It was hilarious because half the ward was there so we were this giant caravan of Mormons going up the road:) But it made fun picking buddies. I was picking with Lizi and Brittany. I had a big purple bucket that got full super fast so I would muscle it down the row, rest, walk back and pick up Clark in his car seat, move him, rest, repeat.

He actually did pretty good considering he was just sitting on his butt in an orchard. Turns out, picking the apples was the easy part. Then we hauled them home, cored and peeled them, cooked them down, and finally did the actual canning. Not the easiest process with a baby who likes to be held but it worked. All in all we got 17 quarts which should be enough for some delicious cookies and a great, nutritious start when little man is ready for solid foods.

And last but not least, we took on our biggest parental challenge to date: the dreaded, feared, awful, horrible....sleep training. Yup. We did it. Or are doing it, I guess, it never really seems to stop. For the last five months, our spoiled little guy has slept double swaddled, with a binkie, in a soft, cozy, swaying swing. Doesn't that just make you tired? But, for the last month he's been waking up 3-4 times a night wanting us to come put the binkie back in. That got old--fast! So on the advice of my wonderful sister and mom, we decided to cold turkey him.

 Last Sunday, we came home from church, fed the little monster, zipped him in his new sleeveless sleep sack and....put him in the crib. A few kisses. A few pats on the head. And we were out the door. It didn't take him long to realize he was not being rocked to sleep. And his hands were free to smack him. So he cried. And cried. And that night he cried for probably 2 hours and then woke up a few times during the night to cry. Honestly, we felt like terrible people. The only positive was watching him on our video monitor and laughing at his funny hands as they tried to figure out what to do now that they were free. (Most of the time he still sleeps with them at his side like he's swaddled but occasionally ventures into touchdown territory)

But the next day he took a decent nap in the morning, less of a decent one in the afternoon, and that night cried just 30 minutes and then slept through the night.

Hallelujah!! Yes, he did it. The afternoon nap is still a work in progress but we are going on a week now and with just a few whimpers he sleeps all through the night without a peep and even takes a solid morning nap. He even fell asleep at church without all the wailing we usually get. It was the hardest thing we've ever done but totally worth it.