Kinsey at 13 months

At 13 months- -Kinsey LOVES baby dolls. There is one in particular with a cloth body but hard head (and no clothes) that she really loves to carry around. She pats baby on the back, and puts it "nigh nigh" She takes it from room to room with her. -She isn't talking much... She is capable of saying "mama" "dada" "dog dog" "duh duh duh duh duh" (Dora), "done" and a few more words but she refuses most of the time. If you ask her if she wants anything she shakes her head very affirmatively (is that a word?) but will not talk. -She will go get anything you ask just about and follows directions like "Take this to daddy" and "lets change your diaper" where she will go lay on the floor by the diapers. Its so cute!" - She loves to go to the fridge and get fruit cups out of the door. She loves to eat and will run to her high chair and point to get up there" -She REALLY loves cats. If she sees one on tv she runs over and practically climbs the entertainment center SCREAMING. -She waves bye bye and blows kisses whenever anyone leaves or its time for bed. -She loves to wake her sister up in the morning. She's still an early riser and will tolerate mommy time for about an hour but then she is determined to get sissy up! -She only drinks out of a cup at school but if we give her one at home she usually throws it at us. -She's quite the daredevil. She loves to climb everything. If she thinks you are coming to stop her she goes even faster. -She LOVES to hide and play Peek A Boo. She hides in the sheer curtains in the front room or just goes to another room and stands there thinking she is hiding. It is ADORABLE! She SQUEALS when you find her. She has been sick with nasty colds most of this month. She was sick on Halloween but still was a trooper going trick or treating in her owl costume. Kinsey and Ashlyn were so adorable!

Happy Birthday Kinsey Sloane!

Our sweet baby... I can't believe you are 1.  This year has gone by too fast.  Sometimes it didn't feel that way... when you were colicky and miserable and our hearts broke for you... I felt so alone and so helpless.  Now I know it was all part of you wiggling your way into our hearts. Now I wish I could have those moments back.. You and I rocking... Mama's girl. Everyone said they would be over before I knew it and they were. 
You feel things so strongly.  When you are happy it is impossible to be sad around you. When you are sad we are all sad with you.  You experience life to the fullest! Your laughter is contagious. 

Although you are mama's girl there is nothing sweeter than the way you squeal when your daddy comes home. You run right to him and cling to his legs until he picks you up and when he does you lay your head so sweetly on his chest.  I love the way you love your daddy and the way he loves you!
Your very favorite person in the whole world though is your big sister.  You run and hug her so tight.  She loves you too.  Whichever one of you wakes first you run to find and wake the other. Then she lets you climb all over her, often pulling her hair and she never complains. If I try to move you she says no she wants you there.  Mornings with the two of you are my favorite time of day. You sweet baby truly made us a family.  Our dynamics are perfect and we couldn't be happier with you in our lives.

At 1....
-You have an amazing musical ability... You tap out the beat to songs you hear on the radio, you dance to the rhythm perfectly... you hum your favorite songs to request them... Music plays at our house almost constantly and we have wonderful dance parties in the kitchen... even Grandma can't resist them and they can last hours!
-You love animals... especially dogs, cats, ducks, and your gerbils.  We can't go into the basement without you requesting to visit Chewy and Ugloo at least a few times.
-You love to eat... meat, bread, cheese, pasta... you don't care you'll eat it.  You REALLY love yogurt, graham crackers, and lunch meat. 
- You are right on target with your clothing size (12 months) and weight (20 lbs), yet you look like a little doll and nobody can believe you should be walking.  They are shocked when I tell them you've been doing it for several months!
-Your favorite song is "The Good Morning Song" You request it first thing when you wake up in the morning... You even request it at 2 am if you want it to be morning.  You also love "If You're Happy and You Know it"
-You love Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Bubble Guppies, and Little Einsteins
-You aren't afraid of anything, including stairs, climbing off mommy and daddy's bed, climbing up onto the window ledge etc...
-You are absolutely beautiful!

Thank you for teaching me to slow down and appreciate the little moments with my girls... We all love you more than you will ever know! Enjoy your party and your day sweet girl!

Just don't grow up too fast!

*All pictures taken by Greyberry Photography

Kinsey at 8 mo.

Kinsey's 8th month was a busy month but I guess summer always is busy for us! We have to cram in enough fun to survive the winter! Kinsey got Roseola on the 16th of June and was MISERABLE for well over a week. It was really tough. We still managed to have a great Father's Day though. We also had fun at the Strawberry Festival and Greek Festival. Mommy and Daddy celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Kinsey is really getting to be a happy friendly baby. She still worships the ground her sister walks on but is also becoming quite a Daddy's girl. Kinsey is sleeping in a crib now thanks to our friends the Kleimans! She usually makes it about 5 hours before she wakes up wanting a bottle and a snuggle from Mommy. It's way better than before though! She's learned what she isn't supposed to do and loves to do it if you are watching. Then when you call her name she giggles and crawls off really fast. It's so cute but she is such a stinker! The kinds of things she loves to do is get ahold of paper, push buttons on the cable box (this one really annoys Ashlyn), put shoes in her mouth, and climb things! She makes this face we call her snorty face where she wrinkles up her nose and snorts. It looks really mean and angry but its actually anytime she is really enjoying something. She does it all the time especially when she's eating and it cracks us up everytime! At 8 mo Kinsey... is standing alone... 18 lbs even... loves an audience... loves all food especially meat (pot roast from Culvers, pork from Chipotle)and rice... loves music and dancing... still loves Mickey Mouse and will crawl to the tv when she hears the theme song... wears 12 month clothes... and drinks out of Ashlyn's sippy cups!

Kinsey at 7 mo.

Kinsey is 7 mo old and man is she moving. She goes non-stop and hates to be contained... this includes exersaucer, car seat, mommy's arms... she just wants to go go go... that also means she wants to sleep even less! We got to do lots of fun things this month. We went to Florida for a wedding so Kinsey and her sister got to spend lots of time with Grammy and Poppy and cousin Alissa. The first night she was really tough on them but the second night she relaxed and had fun. We also went to SeaWorld but it was SO hot! The Culvers by our house opened and Kinsey loved trying ice cream! We went to Glencoe Beach and she got to play in the sand for the first time which she also REALLY loved! We got a pool pass for the pool across the street. It's nice because it's zero depth but that doesnt stop Kinsey from charging in full speed ahead and crawling until it's too deep to crawl anymore. She loves the water! At 7 mo Kinsey... - is 17 lbs 6 oz - is wearing 9 mo clothes - is into anything her sister is into as well as paper and shoes... she wants nothing to do with toys - likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - is crawling at warp speed and creeping on furniture - is starting to climb - LOVES food including beets, ice cream, mashed potatoes, all fruits, green beans - hates carrots - is absolutely adorable!

Kinsey at 6 months

Kinsey is getting so expressive! She loves to clap especially when Mommy comes into the room. I can just go to the kitchen and come back and she starts clapping! She loves to laugh especially at her sister. She is still totally a mommy's girl but she is letting daddy help her a lot more which is nice. Our biggest news though is that she is CRAWLING! I can't believe it! She loves to be with sissy and now she can follow her anywhere! She is so independent yet so attached. She might be trouble here soon! At least now we have a big house for her to crawl all over!!! We love you Kinsey Sloane!

Cheerful Nest

I had to give a plug to an AMAZING interior designer. Sarah at Cheerful Nest is amazing. She was able to take all my ideas and fully execute my vision for our bedroom in this fantastic mood board. I love that I can send her a picture of something I saw and she can not only tell me where to find it but what it's made out of and how I could find it or make it cheaper! She really is fantastic. The craziest part? She's never even seen my house or existing furniture except in pictures I took and she totally nailed it!!! I can't wait to commission her to do other rooms in our new house! If you are redecorating she is amazing and will really help you achieve your vision! Visit her blog to see our mood board and to check out some of her great decorating ideas. I just love how she uses color!

Kinsey at 5 months

Kinsey at 5 mo:
- is 14 lbs 5 oz
- is sitting up!
- is rolling over
- raises her arms to be picked up
-wakes up 2-3 times a night to eat (12 and 3 maybe 5)
- loves bananas, avocado, and peaches
- does not like carrots

Kinsey at 4 mo.

I'm feeling the pressure! Tomorrow my Kinsey is 6 mo. old and I haven't even blogged the last 2 months! I love you sweet Kinsey and prefer to spend all my time with you and your sister so I don't get to blog as often as I'd like! Plus we just moved but that's another blog all together! So thank goodness for facebook and timeline I can just jump back and see what I posted about you there!
We took Kinsey swimming for the first time at the indoor pool in our community. She is such a little fish! She absolutely loved being in the water and splashing around!
She is really good at lifting up her head and looking around during tummy time. She loves to chew her hands and loves the lights and mirrors on her tummy time mat.
Valentine's Day was wonderful. Daddy treated all his Valentine's super special! He got the girls stuffed dogs, balloons, and flowers. Kinsey loved her dog and would hold it and bring it up to her mouth for big sloppy chewy kisses! She is starting to grab things more, which of course means everyone's hair. Ashlyn is really good about understanding that she isn't trying to hurt her when she pulls her hair!
We started Kinsey on cereal which she wasnt a huge fan of and it really isn't helping her sleep any better. Mommy got a Baby Bullet to make Kinsey's food and she really really loves avocado and bananas. We are worried though that the apples were upsetting her stomach so we've stopped giving her those!
She is getting so big and at 13 lbs 6 oz she is wearing 3-6 month clothes and 6 month sleepers! She is starting to interact more! It really is fun to see her and Ashlyn together!

Kinsey at 3 mo.

My poor Kinsey... I'm always a day late and a dollar short... I got on to scrap her 4 month pics and realized I never did 3 months! Im sorry sweet baby! I guess it's true what they say about the 2nd child... you just can't do it all and I am so busy giving you meaningful experiences! :o)
At 3 months you weighed in at 12 lbs 2 oz. You still eat small amounts more frequently. At least you are really getting into a regular pattern with sleeping. You go to bed at 8 pm at the latest and usually sleep until about 2 am before waking at 2,4,6 to eat. I'm glad I get a good chunk of sleep at night since I am back to work! You are so sweet and smiley now. It's hard to believe you were so colicky! Another fun discovery is that you have a dimple in your right cheek!!!

Ashlyn- the "threenager"

My beautiful baby... you are turning into such a fun little girl! I can't believe you are 3 years old! We had a fun birthday party for you at Nibbles Play Cafe. You love Nibbles. It's right next to Gram Gram's house. We have a 10 visit punch pass so you can go all winter. You love to play dress up, with the trains, in the kitchen... and you love to play with your "friends" as you call any little kid around your age. Your party was Dora themed. You wore a beautiful red dress just like Dora wears in the Christmas special. One of your gifts was a purple Dora cape like in the movie. You were adorable wearing it at your party. It was fun because you told me exactly which friends from school you wanted to invite. You had so many friends there. 5 of your friends from school came as well as friends from church and other friends like Sean and Evan. You all played so nicely and had so much fun. I was excited that it was your first party with your own friends! After the party we went to lunch with your friend Lila's family (they are from the FSU Alumni club) at Chili's and then to the Brookfield Zoo for the Christmas lights. It was such a fun but long day.

Let me tell you a little about you at 3...

-You talk in sentences... all the time... non-stop... unless you need to go potty and then you just shout "potty!" and go!

-You love your sister tremendously... You tell everyone to "be careful her a baby" and like to play with your dolls just how mommy takes care of your sister. You make up nicknames for her like calling her "my little hummingbird bella". If she cries in the car you make up your own songs for her with lyrics like "No cry Kinsey... we'll be home soon... Ashie is here with you!"

-Anytime you see Daddy and Mommy kiss or hug you say "Awww two-chothers" and run over to get kisses too.

-You love to be just like Mommy. If Mommy wears stripes, you wear stripes.... If Mommy eats an English Muffin you eat an English Muffin. Not only that but we have to do it bite for bite. Its hilarious to watch you watch me eat because if I put mine down you rush to put yours down. If I grab my drink you rush to grab yours. The whole time exclaiming how we are eating "Two-chothers" which of course is your combination of "together" and "with each other" I love that word so very much!

-You also like to be like your friends. You insist you need two pony tails like your friend Emily Rose every morning. You needed a pink hat because Lilia has a pink hat. You are learning social cues and graces and get very upset if a child you are playing with doesn't say thank you or good bye... unfortunately many times you think you are playing with a child and they are just parallel playing so you get your feelings hurt.

-You have the cutest little words... "eye ceam" for ice cream, and "twaberry" for strawberry.

- You count to 18 in English occassionally missing a number or two... You also count with one to one correspondence at least to 12 but sometimes higher... You can also count pretty high in spanish thanks to Dora.

-You know all your letters and can tell me several things that start with each letter. You can spell your name outloud.

-You love to get your big stool and help with laundry, get snacks out of the pantry, help me cook (we bake everything two-chother), brush your teeth and basically just be a big girl!

-You remember things we did a long time ago but everything thats in the past happened "last weekend" to you.

-You love to push the limits. Most things are a battle even if they lead up to things you want to do. Sometimes time out works but usually it doesn't. You will do almost anything to get to go to "my session" in "Targie" We spend alot of time in the toy aisle (your "session"/section). You are really good about leaving without buying something most of the time.

Daddy and Mommy were just mentioning how grown-up you look all of a sudden. You look like a kid now. You act like a kid now. Everyone else has been mentioning it too. You are turning into such a beautiful kind but questioning little girl. All we have ever wanted for you is for you to be kind, happy, and inquisitive and at 3 that is exactly who you are. We love you sweet girl!

Kinsey is 2 mo!

At this point she is a little past 2 months but I will tell you what was going on a couple of weeks ago. The colic is getting better. We are having more and more good nights with less crying. At 2 months she has amazing head control and loves to stand on your lap. She is starting to smile which is adorable! She isn't much of a napper and is still waking about 1,3,5 am. She likes to take a nap in the morning but her sister likes to wake her up so it's a constant battle to keep her asleep.
Her doctor check up went great. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and height. She weighs 11 lbs 5 oz. and is 23 inches long!