Kalia - Valentine's Day

For those of you who are still with us and check out our site :) - Michelle went and took Kalia to get her V-Day pictures done this week. Check them out!

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=44fda342-0fe4-46c1-890a-80896b96caad

Ratliff's are MIA?

Sorry, sorry, SORRY for not posting anything for such a long time!

Since Michelle has been back to work, our time has pretty much evaporated. But, that's still not an excuse :)

We have a bunch of pictures that I'm dying to put up with some explanations, so I'm hoping to do that within the next week. Stick with us and check back soon - you'll see how much our little angel is growing up!

Kalia's 1st Christmas

Kalia's 1st Christmas Eve

Playing in the Snow!

So Dan took my car to work today...it is the snow car...so Kalia and I were stranded at home! So Auntie Jennifer came over, and we took Kalia out in the snow for the first time to play!

Getting ready to go out in the snow in the cute Pooh Bear winter coat Grandma and Grandpa Jane bought her.

Sitting in the snow for the first time!
Having fun...Auntie Jennifer is making sure she doesn't fall over!Laying down to make her first snow angel!

Kalia's snow angel!

Touching snow...the part you didn't see was she cried right afterwards.Auntie Jennifer and Kalia in the snow!Kalia's footprints in the snow!The three of us!

This One is for the Shepherd's!!

So it has been snowing the this week on and off and very COLD!! Jeff and Renee grew up in Seattle, but are now in Vegas, so I thought I would take some beautiful pictures of the cold snow for them. So now I have two school snow days to make up, and Dan has the day off. I know you get some snow in the mountains, but in this snow roads have been closed, people have pulled their cars over to the side of the road, and many businesses are closed. I hope you guys enjoy this! I know Kalia has enjoyed her first snow.

Kalia Visits Santa!!

So today...most of the school districts were closed due to the "Threat of Snow" the news said. We were scheduled to get snow around noon today...well let's just say it is 1:57, warm, wet, and there is still no snow. Buy anyhow, I decided today would be a great day to get Kalia's Santa pictures done. Since my friend Sharon is also a teacher, her school district was closed as well, so she came over to help me out. We headed to Kenmore to the Lake Forest Park shopping mall...they have the old Fredrick Nelson's Santa setup there and there was no wait. Waiting to see her first picture was also my mom, dad, and sister as well. To get Kalia to smile, we packed her bumble bee finger puppet and were off.

As soon as I got there I changed Kalia into her outfit, and she did an awesome job! She smiled and everything! No tears...she even played with his beard too. I brought the camera to video tape it, and I was able to get her initial reaction to Santa, however, for some reason, the camera was more full then I thought, so we weren't able to get as many pictures as I had hoped. My sister is putting her on his lap, and I am armed with a bumble bee to make her smile! Santa did ask my parents if they wanted to come up and get a picture taken with their grandchild and Santa with our camera.....I was thinking what about mommy. However, Santa said that she probably wouldn't get another chance to have pictures done with grandma and grandpa. So plan on seeing the REAL Santa pictures when they come next week, and until then, here is the video and some pictures to tide you over...they aren't the greatest, but they work. Happy Holidays everyone!!

Kalia's First Bite of Food!

Yes...I know I haven't posted Kalia's First Thanksgiving pictures....but things have been crazy! However, we have been practicing the use of spoon with Kalia, and on Wednesday, I decided to give her some rice cereal for the first time. She has been doing so good eating her drop of practice water off the spoon, that I thought she would do great with rice cereal. The doctor had recommended we don't give her cereal until 6 months...but we are almost there and everyone else has started at 4 or 5 months. Watch the video to see how it went...lets just say, she probably doesn't need to have food for a while...I don't think she will miss it.

Happy Turkey Time!! Kalia is 5 months Next Week!

Hi everyone...we have been busy the past couple of weeks. Ever since Kalia's dedication she has been growing and getting bigger everyday. She loves her Jumperoo and loves to jump around in it and spin all the toys...we will have a video soon! She loves to sit up all the time with some help...she even holds on to our fingers and pulls herself up! This week however, she has gotten even bigger. I took her to the Picture People to get her turkey pictures taken/5 month pictures take...yes she will be 5 months on the 25th. During the sitting she sat up all by herself! I was so proud of her. On Monday she worked all day long on touching her toes and was constantly grabbing them, then she rolled over to the side and was working very hard on getting on to her tummy. On Tuesday morning while I was on the phone, she turned over on her tummy all by herself, and finally today she went from her back to her tummy and then back onto her back! She is just so big!! She also has been sleeping in her crib for the past couple of nights...of course with me on the floor! She wasn't getting much sleep and was waking up every hour, then the next night every 15 minutes...so we are trying to rule out some things like...is she teething, is she ready for a crib...does she need more in her tummy at night like rice cereal? She seems to do well in her crib,and that has helped, but goodness she is a loud sleeper and she moves around in circles at night! Thank goodness for Halo Sleep Sacs...or else she would have her feet through the bars too! Anyhoo! That is an update. We have some videos we will be posting soon! Happy turkey time! Oh, I forgot, click on the link to check out the rest of the pictures from the sitting! http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=418793a1-aa88-4950-ac84-6f9cc20df873

Halloween!

I bet you weren't expecting those pictures to pop up right when you loaded our webpage wanting to see how Kalia is doing, did you? :) Here's the story:

So, for those of you who don't know, I play a character named Gordo Finkenhoffer in our Church's drama production called "KidStuf"; it's where "kids bring their parents to church." The last play, Gordo was in a "try-try again-athlon" in whice he had to wear a ridiculous workout outfit. It was so ridiculous...that I decided to wear it again for Halloween :)

Ok, now what you came here to see. Below are a couple of pictures of K when Michelle brought her to my work to show her off. Super cute!