Ethan is ONE!

My boy is ONE! Are you kidding me? Sweet boy! We love you so very much. You are all over the place these days.  You started walking around 11 months and have been running ever since.  You still have just two teeth but it’s not holding you back from eating, you’re a good eater. 

We took you to get your first haircut on your birthday and you did great.  The blow dryer scared you once but other than that, you sat perfectly still while Mrs. Kelly trimmed everything up.  I think it is the cutest little style for you.  You had a cupcake after dinner but someone those two events are the only things I captured on your special day.

Pictures of January

Three year old well visit and first trip to the dentist. First sucker for Ethan…loved it! Last minute trip to the zoo.Candids…always so blurry! We love Regal! First hockey game with friends!And just because I love my kids to the moon and back!

Kendall is THREE!

On January 4, I put my little two year old to bed, behind her crate paper decorated door (that she hadn’t yet seen). And on January 5, I woke up a sassy, energetic, sweet, smart beautiful THREE year old.  Crazy, crazy how time flies, I tell ya.  She actually woke up in the middle of the night and thankfully didn’t get scared by the hanging streamers.  It was cute to witness her excitement, in realizing it was just for her.  She took cupcakes to school and we had a party for all of our family and friends to help celebrate on . Her birthday party was at Monkey Joe’s (an indoor jump castle spot) by her very own request.  She loves Monkey Joe and will dart after him anytime we are there.  And bouncing…she would do it all day if you let her.  She had a blast!  Her cake was a castle cake, at her request as well.  Thank you to all of our family and friends for helping to celebrate our incredible girl!It is bittersweet to know how fast time can fly by, truly in the blink of an eye! Happy third birthday to our baby girl! We love you so very much! 

Some firsts..

I realize Ethan is wearing the same outfit in all of these beginning pictures, however, slacker me does not remember if they were all on the same day.  I have to do better!!

This was Ethan’s first time trying a sippy cup, his first wagon ride and the first time he held his bottle on his own.  He still needs a little help with that if the bottle is full. First time shopping with mommy!First time at Publix in the “car” cart. First time in a NFL jersey. Please forgive the quality of some of these photos.  My iPhone tends to fail me sometimes.

A ponytail…

Brought so much joy to Kendall’s face.  We were reading bedtime stories and I was playing with her hair at the same time.  Although she still has such fine baby hair, I was able to get most of it up.  She thought this messy-almost all of her hair up pony tail was so cool that she asked to sleep in it.  What a cutie!!

Two year old well check

Kendall was perfect when we went to see Dr. Nordby.  She cooperated while she was weighed and was so very still when she had to  be measured for her height.  I was so proud and happy.  I was sure she would pitch a fit as she had the previous times we had to go to the doctor.  Thankfully she did not have to get any shots at this visit.  I’m hoping this will make for flawless visits in the future.  We actually had a fun time while we talked with Dr. Nordby and Kendall checked out with another clean bill of health. She HAD to have the stickers on her belly and “lay on pillow” which was no more then an incline in the table. She made sure to scoot all the way to the top! We had some fruit snacks to help with the wait too, however, they weren’t really needed!  

                                                        Height: 36 inches – 93rd percentile

                                                   Weight: 27 1/2 pounds – 60th percentile

                                       Head circumference: 48 centimeters – 63rd percentile

It’s gone! It’s gone!

The pacifier is officially gone! I have to admit I didn’t consistently try to get rid of the paci in the last few months.  I knew Kendall was going to be transitioning with a lot of new things and I was trying to pick my battles.  Well, I think she decided she was done with it all on her own.  I couldn’t find it this morning when she woke up and she saw me searching for it.  We left her room and I got ready for Ethan’s baby shower.  I told Ryan about not finding it and said “good luck during nap time.”  I went to look for it (without her) before I left and I found it against the wall, resting on her bed frame and put it in her dresser drawer.  Ryan knew about the hiding spot.  Well, in the middle of the baby shower I get a text that says, “she’s asleep with no paci.” I was so excited.  She didn’t even make a big deal about it.  Ryan said, “we can’t find it” and she was okay with that.  Needless to say, that was that and we’ll see how things go! Way to go, big girl!!

Kendall’s Art Party

I had a lot of fun planning Kendall’s 2nd birthday party with the help of Pinterest.  I decided to have the party at an art studio so that each child could paint something and take it home with them.  It worked out perfectly and with less mess for me to clean up if I would have had it at home like last year.  Here is your WARNING of the picture overload, enjoy! Thank you to my sister and mother in law for all of these great pictures! I really appreciate all of them!

Happy birthday party day to you sweet girl! I really enjoyed making these chocolate covered Oreos to snack on and I think they were a hit with everyone! You just can’t resist chocolate on an Oreo! Thankfully they weren’t too messy! Along with the ceramic each attendee chose to paint, I made Rice Krispie treat paint brushes to hand out as a thank you! One of the Pinterest ideas (along with the Oreos).Possibly Picasso was the name of the studio and the staff was very helpful in helping the kiddos pick out which animal they wanted to paint.  I think the most popular was the pony and monkey.  I missed out on getting a picture of all the final products but check out these faces of concentration…adults included! Kendall wanted to paint a dragon.     I think Uncle Randy had just as much fun as Sullivan, painting their Steelers penguin.Once everyone was done painting, it was time for cupcakes and presents.  I saw the idea to make cupcakes in mason jars (on Pinterest) and loved it.  They almost looked like paint jars. We hadn’t practiced with blowing out candles so I didn’t know how Kendall would do.  She needed some help from mommy and daddy and blew out her 2 candles in three tries.Sweet girl was all about the icing and tried to stick her face in the jar.  She had icing in her hair, on her face, up her nose and managed to get some in her mouth.   She was a hoot! i think I should have brought spoons instead of forks, oops!! And some presents… We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and we thank you for celebrating with us.  Our 2 year old had so much fun and it was clearly evident when she went to bed that night.

Kendall is TWO!!

It can be said over and over, “time flies” and it is truly evident when you have a child.  They grow so fast and do new things in the blink of an eye.  It’s amazing to me that Kendall is already two.  I could go on and on about the things she says and does but it just doesn’t do it justice unless you interact with her.  She has developed such a personality and is quite the character.

I brought her to day care for half a day on her birthday because she has recently started in a new classroom and I didn’t want to interrupt the transitioning phase (plus I wanted to bring cupcakes to her class).  I was off from work that day so I picked her up right after lunch and we enjoyed the rest of the day.  I love this first thing in the morning sleepy eye, say “cheese” picture. When we got to the day care, this sign was outside of her door.  And my cupcakes that I made decided to topple over in the car so they are somewhat pitiful looking.  I didn’t get any pictures of all of the kids enjoying the cupcakes because I was too busy passing the cupcakes out.  I think Kendall ate one un-iced cupcake and chose to lick the icing off two, just in the time I was there. When daddy got home from work, we opened some presents and then headed to Chuck E Cheese for dinner.  She is so fast these days, I think most of the pictures were of the back of her head or very blurry.  The only time she was really still was sitting on the Barney ride, dancing with the stationary Chuckie and to eat.  Smarty pants knows how to ask for money for rides too!In typical non-photographer Lindsey fashion, I forgot to take a picture of the uncut cake and did not have a single candle (or two) for our baby girl to blow out.  That did not bother her and she knew exactly what to do with every bit of cake that was on her plate. It has been an incredible two years and I can’t even imagine how much joy and happiness Kendall will bring in the years to come.  She has made my heart bigger and I smile every day because of her.  So many people love you, sweet girl!  Happy 2nd Birthday to you!

Santa Claus…

Was not Kendall’s favorite this year.  We headed to see the Christmas lights at Old Santee Canal State Park with the Gehlken’s.  Kendall loved the lights and was even happy to eat some marshmallows off a stick however Santa was a no go.  Last year was a piece of cake so we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see what picture we get next year.  Maybe having her little brother  sit next to her will make it all better. 

Twenty two months old

Do you see the focus in this twenty two month old? You can’t miss it. And all because of Dora. Kendall watches tv for a little bit after she gets home from day care and Dora is her most favorite right now. She can name Dora, Boots, Swiper , the map and the backpack without hesitation. Occasionally, she will say the Spanish words when the characters say to do so. Azul (blue) has been the most recent. I was surprised when I heard her say it. Future linguist?

Kendall has eleven teeth now but that has not added much to her list of foods she will eat (insert sad mommy face). I continue to try new things and reintroduce old but she is one picky eater, I tell ya. I keep hearing, “one day she’ll eat you out of house and home.” I beg to differ right now. She is showing signs of really wanting to start potty training however the classroom she is in does not help with that at her age so i don’t want to confuse her. We’ll start soon enough.

She continues to talk like crazy and is putting two to three words together. I love it. She is more in tune with my growing belly and knows that there is a baby inside. I’m working on teaching her to say brother and Ethan but those don’t come out so clear right now. In case anyone wonders, she does, to my dismay, still have the paci. I am thankful it’s just at night but still wish it was gone. I think I can! I think I can! That’s what I’ll have to tell myself in order to get rid of it.

We continue to be blessed with a healthy, happy, growing little girl who makes us smile every single day. She is so full of life and makes my heart bigger every day. Thank you sweet girl!

Apple

We were walking out of the door for work and school this morning and I was running out of hands to hold everything that I needed to put into the car.  I asked Kendall to hold my apple because I knew it was something she could hold in her little hands without dropping.  Little did I know she was going to start eating it AND loving it.  I had no clue her seven front teeth could do such a job on an apple much less that she knew what she was doing.  It cracked me up!

She worked on the apple from home to school which is about a seven minute ride.  When I took the apple from her, to have part of my breakfast, this is what I had left of the apple. Too funny!

Nineteen months old

Well, I am way over due on this post but things have been extra busy and stressful around our house lately.  I don’t have many pictures either but I promise the next months post will be better.

Kendall now has, get this, SIX teeth coming in all at once.  The day we went for her 18 month well visit, Dr. Nordby checked her mouth and showed me her two upper molars and pointed out the other four that were coming in.  Kendall has handled teething, since day one, without any problems and I am so very thankful.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that baby number two is just as lucky.

These pictures are from the Charleston Mommies 4th Birthday Bash.  We all had a blast.  A company called Jump Bunch provided activities for the kids, we had clowns and carnival themed games.  Kendall thought it would be fun to jump over the net a few times too, and needless to say, her shoe got stuck but she was fine. I couldn’t help but share these two pictures.  They are blurry but you should have seen what this momma went through to get just these.  Kendall wanted to try on Grandma’s glasses a few times and thought they were fun to play with.  We didn’t let her keep them on long.I love Kendall’s personality as she is growing.  She laughs all of the time.  She can copy most words I ask her to say, she is counting (but mainly focuses on the number 2).  I am continuing to teach her about colors and letters and she seems to pick up things very quickly.  Not too much new to update.  Our happy, healthy, ball of energy 19 month old is funnier, prettier, taller, smarter and more fun as the days go by.

Eighteen month well check

We saw Dr. Nordby today and checked out with nothing but good news.  She said Kendall was very advanced, had a great vocabulary and was growing right on track.  She even made a comment that if she continues to grow so well that she will be very tall and skinny.  Six foot, she said!  I’m hoping she will be skinny and maybe 5’7” or 5’8”, not too short, not too tall. 

Guess what else? Kendall has MORE teeth.  I noticed one on Saturday, the top right, but didn’t get any pictures to make a post.  I still don’t have pictures but they are there.  The doctor was doing her exam and noticed five starting to come in right now. The bottom two outer, the top left and top back molars.  Kendall said, “I waited long enough, I might as well get more than one two at a time!”  I tried to get some pictures of miss priss but she did not want to be put down for very long at all.  She was ready to go and was over the visit before it even started.  She stood on the scale just long enough for a (blurry) picture and for the nurse to get her weight.  Thankfully she cooperated for Dr. Nordby for most of her exam and only cried briefly during her two shots.

                                                   Height: 34 1/2 inches – 98th percentile

                                                    Weight: 24 pounds – 44th percentile

                                     Head circumference: 47 centimeters – 63rd percentile

Eighteen months old

Look how big my baby is getting!  She looks so tall.  Her most recent, newest, favorite thing is to eat Cheerios out of a tupperware container.  She thinks she is hot stuff. “MINE” she says if you try to take it away or even help her to hold it upright. What a sweet face! Kendall really enjoys puzzles and stickers right now.  They keep her occupied for quite a bit of time.  I love to watch her focus on what she is doing.  She has learned many more animal sounds, which are the cutest thing to hear and I have been working on a few numbers and colors.  Her vocabulary is growing and her little personality is flourishing.  She is a hoot, I tell ya!  Kendall still has two teeth and is quite the picky eater.  The newest thing she will eat is cream cheese, either on a waffle or an English muffin.  I am thankful for this.  Not much else to report with our munchkin.  She goes for her eighteen month well check next Monday so we’ll see what her bill of health has to report.