It's May tomorrow? Already? How? April has flown by and I am so excited that Summer is officially right around the corner! This will be my first "Summer experience" in the education world, and boy am I excited! Only four more full weeks of school and the it's part-time for the next couple of months! Whoo-hoo! That means lots of fun Kinsley-mommy time ahead!
Kinsley has been a busy little bee since turning two back in March, and I wanted to capture some fun little random photos I had in my phone, as well as all of her latest "happenings." In the past several weeks, we have begun the potty-training process. Not totally seriously, yet. But just beginning to get her comfortable and acquainted with the big-girl potty. We took a trip to Target where she got to pick out her Dora (of course) potty seat for the big toilet at home. So far, she has gone pee-pee twice AND (this was amazing) poo-poo twice as well! Now, we're nowhere near ready for a diaperless tush just yet, but we are making progress and she is starting to understand the "feeling" of needing to go and gets really excited when she does it, evening literally shouting "hurray, I did it!" She she loves flushing the toilet, although she knows she can only flush if she goes. This process is going to take a LOT of patience from mommy, as we have been known to sit there for 20 minutes or longer before she has gone. We tell lots of stories about "Princess Kinsley," read books, make funny faces, practice counting to ten, etc. Speaking of counting, she's getting better and can almost count 1 to 6. Except lately, she skips from 2 to 5, poor numbers 3 and 4 just get left out.
Kinsley's speech has taken-off for some reason in the past month as well. She's always been a chatter-box, most of the time it's been in her own baby-jibberish language, but now she is making full sentences all the time now and can communicate to us just about everything that she needs / wants. Her memory is unbelievable and she is zeroing in on things, like billboards or radio towers for instance, as we are driving down the road and will repeat what she sees until you let her know that you see it too! And don't tell her you are going to do something or go somewhere and then not do it...she will definitely remind you later! And unfortunately for mommy and daddy, she has also gotten very good at communicating her feelings when she doesn't get something that she needs / wants...yes, we have experienced our share of your classic, run-of-the-mill 2-year-old meltdowns. They are extremely overdramatic, and actually pretty funny sometimes in the privacy of our home (not so much if we are out in public).
We're still adjusting to the big girl bed! Still haven't completed the bedding / decorating process, but she loves her bed. She's definitely going to bed later, not sure if it's the new bed or the change in daylight savings and the sun staying out longer, but her bedtime has definitely moved back. Tougher on mommy and daddy, that's for sure. We're just still adjusting to falling asleep (that seems to be the hardest part), cause once she's asleep, she does really well. Except for the three times that she has made her way to the foot of the bed, and despite my make-shift barricade of pillows, has rolled OFF the bed into the floor. It startles her AND us, but after a few tears, she easily falls back asleep and seems to not remember falling off the bed when she wakes back up in the morning. But, boy, that "thud" of your child hitting the bedroom floor can make your heart jump...I am just glad that we went with the "low-profile" box spring for her mattress set!
And as for baby Carter, Kinsley is already calling him by that name! She will tell or show you where he is in mommy's belly, but then sometimes she will also go over to Philip and point to his belly too, so not sure that she totally gets it! But we are starting to stock up on some blue items around the house, and she is pretty good with understanding that "this is for baby Carter." I even caught her testing out Carter's blue Bumbo that I found in perfect condition at a local consignment sale!
Our next appointment for baby Carter is next Monday. I will be just over 18 weeks (and feeling good!) and they are going to do the routine "20 week" anatomy analysis, where they confirm he is in fact a boy :) and check his heart, brain, organs, etc...so hopefully all looks healthy and perfect with our sweet little baby! Here is the image (that I never posted before) from the ultrasound tech when we found out our baby is a boy at 15 weeks! It's not as clear as they couldn't get a good position with the "belly" u/s scanner and had to check my cervix / placenta anyway with the "other" u/s version (you mom's out there know what version that one is). Luckily, he was "sitting" and they got a good shot of him from underneath!
So here are a couple of photos from the past month or so...Spring has come and gone and Summer is on officially the way!
Getting ready to go to school!
Home from school, laid out on the rug in the den watching Little Einsteins, with her little jean skirt hiked up around her sweet monogrammed bloomers. So cute.
Kinsley at school with her classmates!
Can you tell it was dress-up day? :)
Playing at the park!
Mommy has already "popped" at just under 16 weeks!
Philip got a new yard toy...a big yard toy. I need to post some photos of the work that he has put into our yard lately. It looks amazing. Thanks hon!
Kinsley loves helping out with mommy's chores around the house: she will come running to help out with uploading the dishwasher, putting clothes from the washer into the dryer, and sweeping in the kitchen... Exhibit A: "her" Swiffer.
Mom, do you mind if I break in this new Bumbo seat for baby Carter? I want to be sure it works okay.
Yep, nice and sturdy.
Okay, well, I think I will just chill here for a little while and watch Mickey Mouse.
First boat ride of the season - she was a little unsure about the motor and waves at first...but 15 minutes in, she was an old pro and loved being out on the water in "dada's boat!"
Dinner by the lake!
Such a big girl - loves to have her own "big" cup and has a new crazy obsession with straws!
Sunny weather in the upper 80's calls for the baby pool to come back out of the storage room!
Can you believe these adorable curls? And coming from a mommy and daddy that both have stick-straight hair? Ahhh, LOVE!!!
