Memorial Day/Baby K is 13 Months!

We have been MIA this past week because Baby K and I went to my parents' house to celebrate Memorial Day. We left on Wednesday, Dave joined us on Saturday, and we just got back home a few hours ago. My mom and dad are so funny.... They decided to turn their front yard into a "zorb" party. {image below}.

Man... I hope I am still this fun and crazy when I'm a grandparent! K and I even got to zorb too! {Well, I guess this would be considered a form of zorbing?} We had such a great week grilling and chilling with family, friends and neighbors! So on this Memorial Day I am thankful for all those who have fought and continue to fight for the freedoms that all Americans are so blessed to have! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Today is not only Memorial Day, but it is Kennedy's 13 month birthday! {I promise I will eventually quit doing month by month postings but since I started this blog to help document our journey with our baby and we are still crossing so many milestones.... I'm going to keep it up!}

So what's new this month you ask?

Well.... a week ago, we finally decided to push the Gymboree air log. {shown in the video below}.

This may not be too exciting for you, but after a few months of NOT pushing the air log while all her Gymboree friends did... she finally did it. I felt like doing the Dora Explorer "We Did It!" dance. So that video was a week ago and oh my goodness... you should see her now. She is still a couple weeks away from walking completely on her own {my momstimated guess}, but she is taking steps on her own... about 6-8 on a good walk. All she wants to do is push something or have us hold her hand and let her walk. We are down to 1 finger. She is still not completely confident with herself, but I am already amazed to have seen her go from no desire to walk to HUGE desire to walk within a week. I can only imagine what is on the horizon for us.... bumps, bruises, no sitting down, never a second without watching her.... but man oh man... crossing the walking milestone will be exciting!

Another favorite thing to do is climb the stairs. If she catches the gate opened... up, up, up she goes!
Baby K loves to play outside. She cries and screams for it. We went swimming at a friend's home while visiting my parents and she LOVES swimming, but when mommy jumps off the diving board it freaks her out! The water table/sand table is a favorite.

She also loves the "baby pool" my mom got her! Those swim diapers are weird though... pee just comes right through. I'm sure she just was peeing away and playing in it in the picture above. Oh well... guess that's no different than the bath tub!

K is LOVING to read books. She cries for us to read them to her. She is starting to say more things, but she still doesn't talk much. She doesn't put any endings on her words. For example, Dog = Dah

Ball = Bah

She points to everything she finds interesting or something she wants. She was spoiled rotten by my Aunt Kim over Memorial Day weekend. Anywhere K would point, Kim would take her.

Animals. Animals. Animals. K is obsessed with animals. She squeals with delight when she sees a dog, bird, cat... you name it. She loves them. Maybe we have a future vet on our hands?

She is still tall and skinny, but I think she has gained weight, which is a good thing! She feels heavier to me at least. She still eats like a bird {mostly chicken/squeezable baby food/ and junk... hardly any veggies} and LOVES her evening/nighttime bottles. I don't think we will ever get rid of the bottle. If she hears the word...she has a specific cry that sounds like a mix between a laugh and a cry that she makes. She does the same for her blankie.

Sleep... what's sleep? We still don't sleep good in this house. We are still up twice a night for feedings. I think my body, mind, and soul has actually just gotten used to this! ha!

She has been going to the nursery on Sundays and staying all through the church service! She seems to be doing well. She is really a friendly baby for just being around me most of the time. This is pretty surprising to me!

And that's my smorgasbord of new happenings with my big 13th month old girl!

I can't believe this was her a year ago!?????!!!

Seriously!? For all you non mommies... I know you hear this all the time and I know you think it's a cliche mommy thing... but babies grow soooo fast. I am so thankful for my sweet Baby K. The gift of watching a child grow before your eyes and the role of shaping them into exactly the person God created them to be is one of the greatest blessings anyone could ever experience!!! I'm so thankful for the 13 months that God has given me with her....

Happy Memorial Day!

p.s. Pray for Dave as he turns over a new leaf tomorrow by starting a new job!

Gleeful Perfection!!!

{make sure you silence my playlist at the bottom!}

Fun in the Sun!

Summer feels like it is finally here in the Bluegrass and K and I spent it outdoors yesterday! She will go and stand at the back door and scream and cry to go outside. She loves it!

Our neighbors, who have older kids, gave us this Little Tykes slide that they weren't using. Dave scrubbed it and K LOVES it.

She will just climb to the top of the slide and sit and watch Sam run around the yard.

He cracks her up! She is a rotten one!

"Hey mom! Stop taking pictures!"

She still hates the grass and the way it feels on her toes. She is paralyzed when she sits on the grass....scared to move!

She love love loves the swing!

It was so hot, I decided to blow up her baby pool. After 5 min of attempted manual pumping... I gave up.

She was already playing and trying to climb into her water table...so I just helped her out.

In she went. Clothes and all. Now, I understand why swim diapers are necessary. That diaper on her butt puffed up so big and was soooooooooooooo HEAVY! Babies would be drowning if they wore those things in a pool.

After lots of fun in the sun, we stripped down and enjoyed some goldfish while watching our new favorite, Dora.

These beautiful summer days playing with my baby are going to be some of the very best days of my life! I just know!

Looking for...

blog design?

web design?

logos?

invitations?

stationary?

business cards?

to name a few....

Well, then check out...

Go to http://www.themaplestudio.com/index.html to learn more about this new graphic design business started by none other than one of my best friends, Hannah, of the blog Maple and Shade. You will be sooooo glad that you did! =)

Fashion for a One Year Old!

When it comes to picking clothes for myself, I think it's safe to say that I'm NO expert on style. However, when it comes to baby fashion...that I enjoy!!!!

I have had so many people ask me where I buy clothes for K and I will be honest with you for a second... Kennedy has a Grammy that likes to spoil her and I both with the most adorable baby clothes on the planet. My hometown has several adorable children's shops and boutiques, and I think it's probably safe to say that K has better style than me! ha! I will share some of the brands that I think make unique baby clothing, so you can search and see if you can buy online or find a store that sells that brand near you! I have tried to list the main company website with the name of each brand, so all you have to do is click on the name!

{sidenote-Kennedy has grown very slowly... she is 12 months and is barely in a 12 months, so we tend to be able to stretch our clothing out and make it last longer and get a bigger bang for our buck!}

So let's pretend for a minute... if I had ALL the money in the world...here is an idea of how I would spend it on Kennedy's clothes! {Kennedy doesn't have these clothes... this is in pretend world to show you the brands we love!}

Baby K Summer Palette by daveandbritplusone on Polyvore.com

So this would be our summer palette! The frillier, the poofier, the girlier, the better! Brands that are featured in this polyvore are:

Keedo

Baby Nay

Giggle Moon

Ooh! La, La! Couture

Tralala

Juicy Couture

Matilda Jane

Gymboree

Of course, you already know about Gymboree I'm sure! I love Gymboree for bright and comfortable everyday clothes, along with Baby Gap and Old Navy. Carter's doesn't seem to fit Kennedy well right now {she's too long and too skinny}12, but we used to buy a lot of Carter's when it did. We also like the Target, Circo Brand. As for the other brands that were listed above, you can find ALL {but Matilda Jane} at one of my favorite online boutiques called LaBella Flora. I will go ahead and warn you that these brands are pricey. I would suggest searching the brand/outfit you like on google shopping and then seeing what online store carries the lowest price! Try Ebay too! That's what I like to do. As for Matilda Jane, you can find it at matildajaneclothing.com

Pink Princess K by daveandbritplusone

So moving on... here we have my pink princess collection! Some brands that I haven't mentioned that are featured in this polyvore are:

CachCach

Haute Baby

Baby Biscotti

Kate Mack

Sweet Baby Jess

Little Mass

Again, you can find a lot of the brands from LaBella Flora or try googling the brand name or click on the name with links available that I have provided and see if they list state and online retailers. I love dressing Kennedy up like a little doll! She will probably look back in photos and cringe! ha! The funny thing is... most of the time we have nowhere fun to go to, so I just dress her up and take pictures of her! She truly is my little live baby doll!

Other brands that I really love, but didn't include in the polyvore are:

Mudpie Baby

Luna Luna Copenhagen

Peaches n Cream

Kelly's Kids

Katie Rose

Le Top

Baby K Swim by daveandbritplusone on Polyvore.com

Finally...I bring you to the swimsuit collection for Princess K. {This is in my perfect dream world, of course!} Kate Mack also makes the most adorable swimwear that I have ever laid my eyes on! I will say I have found a similar version of Kate Mack's ballerina tutu inspried swimsuit at Target and at Old Navy for a much lower price! So besides Kate Mack, this polyvore also features Juicy Couture, Corky and Co and Lilly Pulitzer. And this last polyvore would not be complete without our Coppertone Baby Sunscreen lotion and stick, beach towel, Nuby flip cup, baby Goldfish, and sunglasses which will ALL be essential items for the summer! =)

So anyways... I would say that K's wardrobe is more of smorgasbord between Target, Walmart, Gymboree, Baby Gap, Old Navy, Garage Sale/Hand me downs, and thanks to grammy... some very cutesy "special" outfits like the ones featured in the Polyvores above.

So for the many that have asked me about "where I shop for Kennedy" then I hope this helps you in shopping for your special little one who I'm sure is probably like Kennedy and would rather just be naked! Ha!

The Sartin Family

My cousin Ashley brought the Sartin Family to my attention and asked me to blog about their struggles. After reading, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share these prayer requests with you.

Meet Sam Sartin {pictured above.} On April 13th he was diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma and given a 30% cure rate. Once again, I cannot imagine! Join me in praying for this sweet baby boy and his family.
You can find more specifics and follow Sam's battle with cancer through his mom, Cassie, here.

It's a bird...It's a plane...It's a Kennedy!

Kennedy has four new pearly whites that have finally taken up residence in her mouth. In order for us to get a sneak peak of them, we have to do this.

and this. Please notice I blurred Dave out of this one and it resembles the Lost "Smoke Monster". Speaking of which... I CANNOT believe tonight is the finale!

So after you really get her giggling like this....

You throw her up, up, up... one more time and then...

Flip her upside down and there you have it. Four brand new pearly whites. {ignore her boogers}.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!

Passy Princesses

Meet Princess Kennedy and Princess Ava. They enjoyed a ride in their pink motor carriages today through our neighborhood. Both have pretty brown hair, enjoy Cheerios, semi-long walks, & Dora the Explorer. And both love their pacifiers...aka the passy.

The passy is great for helping plug up an overly opinionated divalicious princess.

Don't let their adorableness fool you... they can get a bit of road rage...so we, the Queen bees, must plug a princesses mouth up every now and then.

What one princess has... the other princess wants and I'm not talking about just the passy.

Trying to teach a princess to share her balls is hard work.

So today... was a passy day.

And for a few hours with playing that doesn't involve whining or fussing... I think I'm okay with that! So here's to the passy and the princesses that love them so much!

Besides playing with her best friend, Princess Ava, Kennedy and I went for a pedicure.

I avoided going to get a pedicure for pretty much the entire first year of Kennedy's life because I knew she would be a terror the entire time and I didn't have anyone to watch her for me. To my surprise, today was the second time that I have gone and taken her with me and she LOVES it. Maybe her calling is to be a nail tech?

The people at the nail place I go to love her too! I mean she gets the special treatment by getting to go back in the break room to bounce on their exercise ball! Ha! This sweet lady also held her hands to let her walk around the entire nail salon which Kennedy loves to do. The poor girl... I know K broke her back!

And here she is with the guy who worked on me today. He played with her while I was drying. He was making funny noises and I've never heard her laugh so hard.... we are talking hold your breath belly laughs. Everyone in the salon was laughing with her.

Not many nail places would watch, play and entertain your child too! I didn't even need her passy! Next time she will probably throw a fit!