16 Months at Mid-Summer!

Wow! So much to post...so many photos! Needless to say, June and the beginning of July have turned out to be much busier than we anticipated! Between work and activity-filled weekends surrounding Father's Day, the Atlanta visit from Kinsley's cousins, and July Fourth up at the lake, we have been busy, busy, busy! And all of it can be best-captured in photos, of course. Although trying to capture the attention of my little 16-mo-old moving target is extremely challenging these days...you'll see that in the pictures below.

And after a rocky start to July - (just after the July 4th weekend, Kins came down with a high fever that lasted for days, and turned out to be Roseola...the ped said it's a very common virus that occurs in most children b/w 6 mo. and 3 yrs, and that - like Chicken Pox in our days - once you have it, you can't get it again...well, at least we crossed that one off the list). So anyway, we are now moving right along into July...or as I like to call it, Kinsley's "Full Social Calendar" month...we have started our weekly swim lessons and music classes...both going well so far! And I have to give a shout-out to Philip...on two separate occasions, he has been the only dad in attendance at both of these sessions...he loves being a part of these things with his girl...I love that.

Some other 16 month milestones to capture...Kinsley is definitely forming more words now, and is cutting about 6-7 teeth all at once right now, including her molars...poor baby. She is also getting very opinionated about what she wants and does not want to do...oh boy.

So, onto the photo recap of this past month! So...many...photos...

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~ Father's Day Cont'd. ~

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~Kinsley's Cousin's Visit and Kelly's First Shower~

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~ Stanford Family "Kids" Lake-Day-Get-Away ~

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~ Kinsley on July Fourth ~

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~ Having fun at the Waterpark at Lake Lanier Islands ~

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~ Any Given Summer Weekend ~

Testing out mommy & daddy's new wakeboard boots!

They're a little big....

Our new idea of a *perfect* datenight...no longer dinner and a movie...we prefer takeout and a sunset cruise......

Daddy's Girl

Kinsley, you make your daddy the happiest daddy in the whole world...

~Happy Father's Day 2011~

15 Months & Ready for Summer!

Our big girl turned 15 months on Saturday! It's been such a fun start to the summer, spending all of our weekends thus far being outside as much as possible, at the lake, on the boat, in the pool, running errands, eating out, and letting Kinsley just have fun with her "girl friends!"

Kinsley is busy, busy, busy! She is practically running everywhere. She doesn't want to sit in a stroller, or hold your hand to walk, she wants to explore on her own! Explore everything! One thing that we are learning about our girl is that if she is familiar with her surroundings, she knows no danger, and she is ready to explore! And anything that is not "baby proofed" is fair game! (And as a side note, we have now been through our 4th stage of baby proofing around our house...). On the other hand, if Kinsley is not familiar with something - be it people, the environment, or a particular new experience - she clings tight to mom and dad until she feels ready...we are just easing her into trying things, and so far, so good!

As far as food and beverages go, we are up and down. With food in general, things are going great...she is doing really well with the full on transition to solid foods, still downing her vegetables and fruit whenever she can at lunch and dinner and still loving her oatmeal / toast / banana for breakfast. The more we let her try with regards to new foods, the better. BUT, we are still at odds with the milk-in-a-sippy-cup thing. I mean, she LOVES milk in the bottle, and LOVES water/juice out of a sippy cup, but so far joining the two together has been unsuccessful. So, rather than make her go without any milk at all, we start and end the day with a bottle of Horizon organic milk...and I know that our goal was to be off the bottles by 15mo, but, well, that just didn't happen. But we are down to 2 bottles a day, so I am good with that for now...

Naps: still thankfully on 2 a day, and not seeing that trend let up at this time. She is on schedule to take 2 solid 1.5 to 2 hour naps a day. So until she fights me at nap time, or is only sleeping for like 30 minutes during one of the naps, I am going to keep this trend going as long as I can!

In addition to playing pick-a-boo with her hands over her eyes (a new favorite game), loving playing with balls and cars (I am waiting for "girlier things" like dolls to kick-in), Kinsley is still a chatter-box for sure...and still babbling in her own language most of the time. I know that she is telling me absolutely fascinating stories, but most of the time we still have no idea what she is saying. BUT, here are a few words that we know she's saying:
Hi = "Hi"
Cooh = "Cool"
Oh Wow = "Oh Wow"
Dohhh = "Uh-oh"
Fwah = "Flower"
Fah = "Fan"
Bah = "Ball"
Pooh = "Pool"
Sha = "Shoes"
Car = "Car"
Oooo = "Oooo" (when she sees something "new")

More teeth are on their way in, and bringing some obvious pain and fussiness with them. But guess what else is growing in??? HAIR! A full head of it - finally! It's not long enough yet for all of her cute little girly bows, but it won't be too long before she's sporting pigtails! Okay, maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself...

*Added on 6/16/11*: Kinsley's 15-month check-up at the pediatrician went really great today! We got her stats, and they are very happy with where she is! She's come so far in 15 months from starting out as a tiny-tot, and is getting soooo big...she is SUCH as toddler now!

• Height = 31 3/4" (75th percentile)
• Weight = 23 lbs 13.5oz (75th percentile)
• Head = 49.1cm (97th percentile)

So anyway, here are some photos of our summer so far.......

First, it was some time up at the lake with my grandparents, mom, dad, Ang, and Dan for Memorial Day weekend and my mom's birthday!

And speaking of the lake, we've been spending a lot of free weekend time up on the water. Kinsley loves the boat (so does Hunter) and it has become a great way for us to escape away for some fun together! We've got our routine down too...she eats meals in her Bumbo chair, keeps up with her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iPad, plays in her tent on some of the random lake "beaches," loves helping daddy drive, and can take some of the deepest-sleep naps ever when the motor is on and we are rocking to the waves.



Here's a photo of Kinsley and her friend Eloise making the most of their baby pool at the lake!

We also took Kins up to Suwanee this weekend to play in the fountains with her friend Caroline! We got some great photos of her playing in the water in an oh-so adorable pink tu-tu bathing suit that she got for her birthday, and playing in the grassy park area before dinner.

The rest of June is relatively calm and relaxing at home...we are expecting a fun visit from out-of-state family (Jenn & Chris and Kinsley's cousins Julian, Alex, & Lilly), a kick-off to Kelly's wedding with her first bridal shower, and then rolling right into July with Kinsley's month-long weekly swimming lessons and music classes, and our first vacation trips on the horizon!

Bring on the summer!!!