Eight months old

You are growing so quickly sweet boy. Closer to ONE  as the days go by.  You are attempting to crawl and sometimes get up on your knees but so far you aren’t going anywhere.  Meal time is not a problem for you.  Peas are about the only thing you won’t eat right now, maybe that will change.  The sippy cup has caught your eye when it is on your high chair tray and you are a good water drinker. You love to pull up on things and Kendall wants to help you as much as she can.  She loves you so very much and so do mommy and daddy. Your personality continues to thrive and it’s the cutest.  Your expressions, your squeals, your laughs, I just love it all.  Check out the smile, the mohawk (look closely), the tongue and the funny face! Couldn’t you just eat ‘em up? You love to sit in the high chair when we are out and ‘just take it all in’. I love to watch your face and see your eyes focus on different things that interest you. I wish I knew what you were thinking.You complete our family, little one! I’m so thankful to be your momma and look forward to all the days ahead. Thanks for keeping my heart full!

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!!

Just because

These are some of the most recent random pictures of our TWO year old, soon to be big sister. She’s so funny lately. I wish I could capture her actions and personality on video every day!! Side note: if Ethan doesn’t make an appearance before February 6, we will be induced at 6am on that day!

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. 

Ice cream cone Christmas trees

My mom shared an old idea that she used to do as a kid with Kendall and Jack and they both had so much fun with it.  Cover an ice cream cone with green frosting and decorate with red and green M &M’s, how easy.  Kendall wasn’t sure what to do with the M&M’s to start with but it didn’t take long, after sampling a few, to figure it out. And then, oh my, she wanted another iced cone all to herself….to eat like corn on the cob. I was a little iffy due to the mess it would make but then I thought, “sure go ahead.”  It was a treat to watch her examine the cone and see how she could get the most icing off.  What a cutie!! Thanks for sharing your holiday craft with me Grandma! It was fun! The trees made a nice final touch to our first gingerbread house.

Uh oh, Cheerio!

Soooo, today, I asked my helper to carry in the Cheerio box (yes, the packaging was already open) so that I could carry in two grocery bags and my empty lunch box.  Well, I barely had the bags up on the counter and I hear, “Mommy, help! Mommy, help!” Kendall wanted some Cheerios and was trying to open the box.  I’d say she didn’t need any help, wouldn’t you?

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!

The Washcloth

Kendall was having so much fun playing with her washcloth while she was in the bath tonight.  It was quite comical to sit back and watch what she would do with it.  Her favorite thing was to open it up and stick it to her belly.  She laughed at herself a few times and I laughed with her. She decided to pose for me too.  What a cute tooshie!  I love bath time!

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.

Mmmm, yogurt!

Look at this big girl, will ya? She has caught on to using a spoon rather quickly and really enjoys feeding herself. Her fingers come in to play sometimes but not near as much. Miss Independent!

And here is the final messy face when she was all done! Love her!

Slight obsession….

With the Easter bunny!  This little girl would NOT leave the bunny alone.

We headed to the Summit Club for brunch after we left church and the Easter bunny was there with two full baskets of eggs to greet everyone.  I couldn’t get Kendall to hold still long enough to take a picture, so I picked her up.  Boy, that didn’t last long!  She wouldn’t stay in the dining area long enough to eat before she was back to visiting with the bunny. The plastic eggs caught her attention right away.  She would take two out of the basket at a time, tap them together and either put them back in the basket or hand them back to the bunny.  I figured she was going to try and hoard them but she was considerate and we only left with the initial one that the bunny gave her when we walked in the door. Good job, sweet girl!She would tap the bunny on his knee or tummy as if to say “sit down, I want to sit on your lap!” You had to see it to believe it.  And the bunny followed through.And if sitting on the bunny’s lap wasn’t hightlight enough, she had to stick her hand in the bunny’s mouth.  The bunny wasn’t bothered one bit.  Trust  me, I thanked that bunny a few times for being so good with Kendall.  I am also thankful that there was not a huge line of kids.  I do believe lil’ miss felt that the bunny was there just for her.  It was so very cute!

Fourteen months old

So of course I have been slack, again with taking pictures but I will try to do better…again.  There isn’t much new to report with lil’ miss.  She’s another month older and silly and sweet as ever.  She walks runs all over the place and is ever so fearless.  She has learned how to get up on the couch and the coffee table with ease.  She still has just two teeth but eats well.  A few new words she has picked up on are “oh no,” “night night,” “uh oh,” and “bubble.”  There are many times she’ll just look at you like “don’t you know what I’m saying to you?”  She is quite the talker.  A few times, I feel as if she has said “what’s that?” as she points to different things.  I’m excited to hear her first few sentences one day.  Below is one of her newest tricks.  She sniffs her nose when she does this too.  So cute!

Kendall-

Thank you for being such a sweet, happy girl! You have quite the personality these days and I look forward to every minute we spend together.  You always make me laugh.  We are so lucky to be your parents and to be able to watch you grow into the toddler you have become.  You are a very good listener and seem to really understand what we say to you.   You continue to love the outdoors and watching you explore everything you find is quite entertaining.   You are growing daily and it seems as though in a blink of an eye you are tall enough to reach into drawers you once could barely see into.  You remain in good health and we are so thankful for that.  Thank you for being you, sweet pea!

We love you,

Mommy and Daddy 

Applesauce

I haven’t been giving Kendall applesauce lately because she eats diced fruits that she is able to pick up with her fingers.  Well, we tried applesauce the other night and she had so much fun with it.  Although I tried not to laugh because it is not funny to spit your food out, I couldn’t hold back.  She was trying to make funny noises with the applesauce in her mouth.  I let her do it for about a minute and then decided she had made enough mess.  Her laugh is so contagious!