Life.Is.Good.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Testing...

Just taking the new camera for its first "test drive" tonight with some cute, quick shots of both our babies...

Sunday, January 15, 2012

22 Months at the Beginning of 2012!

Twenty-two months! And now, we're just shy of 2 months until our baby girl turns TWO! How is that even possible? Crazy to think how fast it all goes, and how many fun memories we have made in these nearly two years! I was reading back over some past blog posts from this time last year (which is why I LOVE this blog), and then looking at Kinsley now and how much she has changed! Still the same funny girl, with the same determined spirit, the same contagious laugh, and the same sweet disposition. We are so lucky. At 22 months, she is really showing signs that she is truly not a baby anymore, but a big girl. I think that there are only three things keeping her as our "baby" for a little bit longer: diapers, paci's, and her crib. Other than that, she is just amazing us with how big she is getting. And not to mention, how daring and adventurous she continues to be. In the past month, (and on top of the normal pieces of furniture that she climbs with ease), we have found her climbing bar stools in our kitchen, attempting to get to the top of our bar top table. Awesome. But she has also nearly mastered the art of going backwards down the stairs. Whew. However, all of this climbing caught up with her this past week, when she went to "jump" from the fireplace ledge to Hunter's large dog pillow, and tweaked her ankle - he first major injury (of many, I am afraid). It was a pain cry I haven't heard before, and we definitely knew something wasn't right when she ceased to put any pressure at all on her left foot. A trip to the doctor and Northside Radiology confirmed that she has a "sprained ankle." Booo. It hasn't been easy to keep her off of it, and she is still not walking (nor running, as she normally does, all the time) like normal. But once again proving that she is definitely our child - I don't think that I ever played a soccer game growing up where I didn't have a brace on one or both of my ankles.

She's doing great at school - there was absolutely no issue with going back after the long and restful two week break. She is now eating "hot lunch" on Friday's with all of the other kids, still doing great eating at the toddler table, still sleeping soundly on her mat, and bringing home lots of adorable artwork on a daily basis! She still loves all the same foods (and add to those the newly-discovered love of marshmallows and Cheese-Its, and will ask for both by name, granted it comes out as "mah-mohs" and "chew-itz") and is loving playing in her playroom after a very generous Christmas! But the thing I am probably most proud of: Kinsley can get along with anyone, boy or girl, new friend or old friend. She is proving, even as we approach the "two's" that she loves to share and loves to play with others. Makes me smile every time.

And last but certainly not least, another major milestone occurred over the past month. I almost hesitated to put this in the blog because it has been such a strange phenomenon around this house, and something that none of us understood, particularly me, but were told to not to worry one bit by our pediatrician. See, up until this past month, I have been a "mama-less mommy." I had never heard the word "mama" from my daughter's lips. She knows exactly who I am, and if you asked her where mama was or who her mama was, she would just grin and point or run to me. But if you asked her to say "mama?" Nothing. I had stressed about it and there have been tears once or twice. I learned never take anything for granted. Some babies say mama at 6 months old. I think Kinsley first said "dadda" that early. I had to wait 21 1/2 months to hear those sweet words. Some mom's get so tired of hearing "mama this" or "mama-that," but not me. I cherish it! I will say, I have no idea what happened. One random day when I picked her up from school right after the New Year, she proclaimed "MAMA!" three times as she ran to me. Her teacher probably had no idea why I started tearing up. And now, it is her favorite word. "MAMA-this" and "MAMA-that" all the time at our house. I am soaking it up! I am not sure what clicked, but something did. She is now repeating and saying nearly everything that we say, including all of her grandparents names. Like I said, major milestone. MAJOR. Made this past month exceptionally great!

So, here are some photos of our adventurous, happy little girl at the start of 2012! Getting closer to becoming a big 2-year-old. Now, mommy needs to get to work on some birthday-party-planning...

BUSTED!

Up on the bar stool. Seriously - she climbs on everything...it seems the bigger the challenge, the more inticing it is to her.

Meet our newest "member" of the family, Shee-shee the fish.

Kinsley loves her Shee-Shee!

Although, she has a hard time understanding that she can't pet the shee-shee.

Her shoe basket. She LOVES shoes, just like her mommy!

Winter weather = lots of static electricity in our hair!

Cleaning our "her toy drawer" in the kitchen...all so that she could proceed to crawl in it!

She just couldn't make it through lunch one day. Priceless!

Kinsley's first ankle sprain. Poor baby.

At the Atlanta Boat Show with daddy!

She remembers how to drive from this past summer! We are ready for some warm weather!

Big girl, sprawled out watching some cartoons on a cold, rainy Saturday with her best bud, Hunter.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas & The End of 2011

~Our sweetest gift!~

We wrapped up a memorable 2011 with a fun family Christmas and a low-key, at-home New Year's Eve. We had such a great December getting ready for the holidays (per the many previous blog posts this month), and it was definitely a memorable one for Kinsley! I had wondered up until Christmas Day if she would "get it"...Santa, the presents, but most importantly, Baby Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. Well, I would say that we got really close on the Santa / presents thing...and she received a Nativity Scene in the days leading up to Christmas, and she loved playing with it and showing us Baby Jesus (and she loved the donkey and sheep), but that part should become a little clearer next year, when she's a little older.

If you ask her what Santa says, she will tell you "Ho, ho, ho!" And she finally named her Elf on the Shelf ("Shaaa" we think...not sure, but that's what she would say when we would go find him in the mornings after he had "moved"...and now she still loves watching the Elf on the Shelf movie, even post-Christmas, and she'll point up to the fireplace mantle and say "No Shaaa." So yes, we think his name is Shaaa.). She definitely got a little confused when she woke up from her nap one day and all of the decorations were gone..."No tree" (our Christmas tree went to the recycling pile at Home Depot); "No ka-canes" (the light-up candy canes that lined our sidewalk); "No Choo-choo" (referring to the neighbors light-up Christmas train in their front yard); "No Santa" referring to the large inflatable Santa and characters in the yard down the street - but little does she know mommy snuck out to Home Depot post-Christmas and found a 4ft inflatable Santa at 50% off for her next year!!!). It was a little difficult to explain that they all went to the North Pole for a little while but they'd be back. I already can't wait for next year. Until then, here are some fun photos of part of our Christmas (Uncle Danny, with the great camera, still needs to send us the ones that he took). Oh, and speaking of cameras, we are getting a new one! The nice DLSR camera, purchased with some of our unused points from Delta or Marriott or one of those companies, but it's been on back-order since the middle of December. So soon enough, no more "point & shoot" camera - no more "missing the moment" in so many photos because it won't "click" fast enough for me to catch a very quick-moving toddler. I can't wait!

But for now, we were just pleased that she was one happy little girl on Christmas morning! We spent a great Christmas Eve at my parents house, celebrating with my mom's side of the family during the day (Christmas #1) and attending candle-light service that evening before hunkering down to watch the traditional National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. We all stayed over at my parent's house that night (us, Angela, and Danny) and woke up to Santa's visit the next morning (Christmas #2) - and let me add, Kinsley slept until 8:15am! She NEVER sleeps that late - in fact, she was the LAST one to get up! Crazy! So we celebrated Christmas morning (complete with the traditional beignets), had time for Kinsley to catch a nap, then it was off to celebrate Christmas #3 at grandam's with my dad's side of the family, and the finally off to Christmas #4 with the Stanford's over at Kelly' and David's house. It was a busy two days, but a blessed two days, and I wish I would have taken more photos on my camera, but here's what I got...a little recap of the end of our December, 2011:

Mommy and Kinsley's First Gingerbread House!

(I mean, we're not winning any awards or anything, but it certainly was fun!)

******

~Christmas Eve~

Kinsley and her great-Nanny.

Hanging out with Papa.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Ang!

The ladies (minus our littlest lady)!

******

Christmas Morning - and Santa had arrived!

Just loved her reaction as she opened up her Dora guitar! Priceless!

Ready to cook in her new kitchen!

Kinsley loved helping Beebe open her gift from Papa.

Testing out her new Red Rider tricycle!

Our close-up, no-make-up, mom-seriously-I-don't-have-time-to-stop-for-photos-cause-I-have-presents-to-open, Christmas morning family photo. :)

Her favorite: her "rah-rah" as she refers to it! Her first motorized ATV, just like her daddy's...she loved it!

She actually doesn't mind the Dora helmet! Although it's a little snug - and it's for 3 yr olds.

Ready to roll! Maybe this is easier outside...

Yep! It is! And way more fun!

Such a big girl!

Angela and Danny gave us some BIG news earlier this month that we can finally celebrate publically! Kinsley is gonna get another COUSIN (her first one on my side of the family) - that's right, Uncle D and Aunt Ang are EXPECTING and due this July!