Lucky #13!

Already thirteen months? Wow, I feel like we were just celebrating her 1st birthday, and now, another month has come and gone! We had Kinsley's 12mo check-up with the pediatrician after she turned 12mo, and we found out some pretty astonishing stats...when we made the comment that she had "caught up" to the full term babies physically, we weren't kidding:

• Weight: 22.3lbs = 50th percentile...yep, the girl likes to eat!


• Height: 30" = 75th percentile...thinking that she's gonna be tall, too.


• Head: 48cm = 95th percentile...aaaand we're still trending a little high here...

This was a BIG last month as Kinsley took her FIRST STEPS! She now lets go ALL the time and can take anywhere from 3-5 steps on her own. She's not stable yet...like a little baby deer on new legs...but she is getting there! She LOVES to walk around the house / driveway / yard /anywhere holding only one of our fingers. It amazing to see the confidence that she has when she tries to walk, even when she can't do it 100% just yet. And with learning to walk comes falling, which mommy and daddy are still getting used to. It's crazy...I never imagined that she would actually be able to hobble along at an Easter Egg hunt this year (without me holding her) and searching for her own eggs, but that's what we'll be doing this Saturday with the rest of our neighborhood! Can't wait!

We've also adopted a new schedule that is working wonderfully, and introducing new foods that she is doing really well with! So far, the introduction of organic whole milk has been a success at 50% milk/50% formula in her bottle, but not such a success story when it comes to milk in the sippy cup. She loves her apple juice / water mixture, so we're still working on that. Here's a rundown of our schedule...you'll notice that everything is "ish"...I like to have a schedule, but allowing flexibility to the routine is key!

• 7am-ish = Wake up and morning bottle


• 8a/8:30am-ish = Breakfast: oatmeal and cherrios / fruit / whole grain toast.


• 9:30am-ish = Morning nap.


• Noon-ish = Lunch: Boar's Head ham / turkey / roast beef, white American cheese, cut-up fresh fruit, and a fruit puree (yep, I am still making her baby food!). Bottle after lunch.


• 1:30/2:00ish = Afternoon nap.


• 3:30/4ish = Snack: Yo-Baby organic yogurt cup and fruit / cherrios / puffs.


• 5:30/6ish = Dinner: Veggie puree and portions of same types of food that she has at lunch.


• 7/7:30ish = Bath, Brush teeth, Book / Prayers, Bottle, and Bedtime...ahhhhh.

This 13-mo-old is also talking non-stop...and same as last month, it's all pretty much in her own language! She is pointing, clapping, dancing by bouncing up & down or rocking back & forth when a song comes on that she loves...and most of those are the Disney Channel theme songs. She particularly loves a show on Disney Channel called Special Agent Oso...it's kinda her new favorite. It's really cute - I actually don't mind when it's on. She is developing her funny little personality more and more everyday, and she is just SO much fun to be around these days. It's hard to catch her sitting still long enough to grab a photo these days, and even harder to have her looking at the camera, but here are some photos I took of her yesterday while we were downstairs playing...showing off her silly little personality. :)

Why we love bathtime...

Just pulled some old photos off my mom's camera, and came across these...

Now, this is why we love bathtime...I mean, how could we not love it???

Just a Sunday afternoon...

The absolutely beautiful weather here today gave us every excuse to be outside! First, Kinsley's friend Leighton turned one and we celebrated at Thrasher Park in downtown Norcross. Then it was back home to have a "picnic" out in the front yard while we patiently waited on daddy to put together the Cozy Coup that our neighbors got Kinsley for her birthday...her first car...it was kind-of a big day.

At the park...

And later, back home to build the Cozy Coup, and daddy's lil' helper was pitching in...

Kinsley got tired of helping build the car, so us girls (and Hunter) decided to have a little picnic instead...

Checkin' out her sweet new ride...

She had to pull over to take a phone call...

Maybe in 16 years, we'll be taking a similar photo of daddy and his girl next to her first real car...

3 things...

While spending this past rainy Saturday playing indoors, I captured some photos of Kinsley doing three common things these days...

1. Hangin' out with her best bud, Hunter.

2. Letting go of everything...and getting closer to taking her first real steps.

3. Even with her abundance of fun toys, she still loves nothing more than playing with the remote or phone...what can I say, the child just loves pressing buttons!

Blessed to have one happy little girl!

Funny girl

Back when Kinsley was a little over 3 months old, I uploaded a post to our blog called The Many Faces Of Kinsley. It was one of the first times that I really got to capture on camera all of the funny faces that our baby girl was making as her personality really started to emerge.

Well, some things never change. These photos were taken back on her actual birthday, two Friday's ago...all within about a 30-second timeframe. We still laugh about the plethora of expressions that she can give us in such a short period of time...and thankfully, all caught on camera once again.

So here again are a few of The Many Faces of Kinsley...Part II...

"ONE"

This past Friday, March 11th, our little Kinsley turned ONE! A whole year old. It is still hard to believe that 12 months...52 weeks...365 days...have gone by since she let out the most beautiful cry at 5:29pm on 3/11/10. What a year. And for a child who was off to a bit of an unfair start in life, five weeks earlier than expected, she has absolutely blown us away. No more adjusted age for this little girl. No sir. She has 100% "caught-up" in our eyes, and I hope that the doctor tells us that he feels the same way at her 12mo appt tomorrow. So many great things that she is doing these days that keep this house full of laughter and "yay's" from mommy and daddy when she gets-up the courage to try something new, and then succeeds at doing it. These days, it is typical to witness our lil' one doing the following:

• Playing in her new playroom - she is one happy girl when she is playing amongst all of her new toys, in a room designed especially for her and her friends. :)
• Crawling, at what feels like the speed-of-light...one look away, and she is several feet from where we left her.
• Climbing the stairs...with an adult close in tow, of course. Um, baby gate? Yes, please.
• Walking by herself behind her baby-walker, with no assistance needed. I have to admit, I still hold my breathe when she falls, but she gets right back up and keeps on going!
• Clapping her hands when she is happy or excited, and waving both hands to get our attention.
• Talking, in her own language, constantly...we have full-on, long conversations with one another where I am certain that she is trying to tell me a story...and the best is when she is talking loudly - almost shouting - while crawling in her laps around the first floor. Too cute.
• Repeating (usually on-demand) her new favorite saying: "Okay" (which sounds a lot more like "ohh-tay").
• Watching other children...she is so observant of other babies and "big kids"...this child doesn't miss a thing.
• Chewing on anything that she can get her hands on...yes, both top front teeth have officially broken-through!
• Wearing 18-month clothing...this former-preemie that is now 12-months-old barely fits into most of her 12-month clothing. Crazy.
• "Brushing" her own teeth. Well, chewing on the toothbrush is more like it. After mommy scrubs those front 2 1/2 teeth before bathtime, Kinsley gets to take the toothbrush in her hand and have at it. I can already tell that she is going to be one of those children that is going to say, "I can do it myself."
• Grinning from ear-to-ear when we sing her favorite songs: You Are My Sunshine, Good Morning, The Alphabet Song, Splish-Splash, Shall We Dance, I'm a Little Tea Pot, The Hot-Dog Song, and Happy Birthday (we started singing this to her about 2 weeks before her party so she would be familiar with it...but it hasn't let up...I have sung it to her everyday since...)

And speaking of birthdays...Saturday was just the most perfect day, and Kinsley was surrounded by lots of our (and her) local family and friends. There was tons of food and drinks, and the kiddo's got to take full advantage of the new playroom. And God granted me the two things that I prayed for leading up to the weekend: 1. warm, sunny weather in mid-March and 2. that Kinsley wouldn't be sick and/or have an ear infection. Perfect. And everything else was just icing on the cake...and speaking of cake, Kinsley was not a fan...as seen below.

Here are some photos of Kinsley's "Cookout & Cupcakes" 1st Birthday!

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The "smashcake"...that would somehow escape un-smashed...

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Her "party outfit"!

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Playtime with her friends!!!

Kinsley and Leighton - who's also turning 1 in two weeks!

Ahh, brotherly love from Brooks and Carson.

Grabbing a picture during playtime with mommy!

So mischievous...

A visit from her newest friend, Weaver.

Kinsley and Eloise - who's also turning 1 next weekend!

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Time for cake!

I'm not too sure about this...

Ok, I am NOT loving it...

Aaaand, we're done...

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The presents!

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Her keepsake frame of the invitation, signed by everyone (or almost everyone) that attended...it's now hanging in her playroom...a great memory of her 1st birthday.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy 1st birthday dear Kinsley,

Happy birthday to you!

And many more......