Kendree Walking - July 2011

So I didn't get Kendree walking until she had been doing it for a month and a half. Can you say second child?

Here she is!

Kendree - 17 months

At 17 months, Kendree is really turning on the chatter.  She says the following words consistently and will attempt to copy almost anything you want her to say (except her name and Easton's names--those you have to catch her in the perfect mood):

all aboard - (aw bob)
outside (ow sye)
Kendree (kaw ee)
Easton (ceee)
more (mo)
please (sssssss)
Mama (pawpaw)
Daddy (dada)
out (ow)
uh-oh
Night-Night (nye-nye)
apple (aw-pull)
up
tag (ta)
purple (purr-pah)
banana (dada)
five (fye)
thank you (tay-to)
hot (ha)
hat (ha) (the signing is the only way to tell the difference between these two)
catch (ta)
what's this (wah dis)
what's that (wah da)

She continues to sign constantly and it is such a help when she wants things she can't say (like "drink").  She also is very good at going over to the fridge and attempting to open it whenever she is hungry/thirsty.

As I mentioned last month, she has been quite the screamer.  She would scream really high-pitched if she didn't get her way/you didn't understand, etc.  With the addition of more words and signs, the screaming has diminished SIGNIFICANTLY!  I don't know if I could have handled it much longer, so it has been fantastic.

I find myself beginning to think of her as a toddler instead of a baby (gasp!).  She never stops moving and attempts to do anything that Easton does. (I think the words tag, catch and all aboard illustrate that quite nicely). The one thing that slows her down is the stairs.  She goes up with no problem, but HATES to turn around to go down.  I think that stems from Easton not turning around.  So, she will stand at the top for a minute or two and then, well, I'm not sure what she will do as so far I have always been there to help her down.  As soon as she has a grip on even one of my fingers she steps off with complete faith.  The girl is going to really hurt herself someday. :)

She got two new teeth this month (total teeth =5).  Her top left came in on July 2nd and the one next to that came in July 16th.

Kendree continues to nap one time a day and sleep through the night.  She loves the outside and cries when I won't let her out in the hottest parts of the day.  We love our Kenny girl!

Dressing up as Elmo!

 The closest to an "official" 17 month picture that I got.

 Silly Glasses:

 Wants the camera:

 Wearing goggles while watching everyone else swim (not that I wouldn't let her, the water was just a bit cold for her)

Videos of her walking are currently uploading, so I'll get those up in a separate post very soon!

20 weeks

So if you've been paying any attention to these little updates, you may wonder how I progressed backwards in this pregnancy (I need to update my other posts now).

Here's the scoop:
I went in for my 22 week ultrasound on Monday, July 11th.  I was at that time supposed to be 22 weeks and 3 days.  In all of the measurements (head, femur, etc.) the baby was measuring in the 19-20 week range.  I'd like to say here that I tried to convince the doctors initially that my due date was off, but they said that they had to go off of what they knew (my last monthly visitor) and that was that.  Then, they told me that my due date was 11/11/11 and that was darn cool and I got used to the idea.

So now, my due date is 11/30/11 (19 days seems like an eternity, but it does give me more time to get projects done!).  I hit the 20 week mark yesterday. I think we can safely kiss the 11/11/11 birthday goodbye, but as Ronnie pointed out "Lots of people are born without cool birthdays and they are totally fine."

In other baby news, everything looks great.  No concerns from the ultrasound.  As for the gender, I decided I wanted another surprise and Ronnie was kind enough to humor me.  The baby was also on my side, since he/she had their legs crossed super tight for the entire ultrasound.  The technician said several times, "Even I don't know what this baby is!"

While I was in California I was able to go to a massive fabric store M&L Fabric that just happened to be having a 20% off sale for the 4th.

Fabric for the "everyday" blanket for a girl.

 The girl crib bedding fabric.

 The two fabrics on the very right are my most favorite ones every.  I love them!

And the boy crib bedding.  I have two quilts from when I was pregnant with Kendree just waiting, so I didn't need anything more.

Initially, I planned on using the crib bedding from Easton and Kendree for all of our boys and girls and just making two new quilts for each child (and everyday quilt and a more "special" quilt--the equivalent of a crib bedding quilt).  My sentimental husband (love him!) thought that it would be cool for each child to have all of the bedding and the quilts to take with them someday.  Anytime he okays purchasing fabric, I don't ask questions!

Now I just have to get busy!

18 week update.
16 week update.

Notes from travels or how I love Southwest

First, I should probably tell you that the kids and I returned from a trip to California on Saturday.  Ronnie flew down with all of us the week before, but then work sent him back on the 5th, so I had to travel on a plane with two kids by myself.  It was a bit scary, but we all survived!

Now, onto the bullets!

• when you are pregnant, you can get disability boarding from Southwest and board the plane VERY first.  It was an absolute life-saver.
• I have never been on a completely full Southwest flight with a lap child, so my kids have always gotten their own seats. This was a crucial reason that Kendree and I weren't both crying by the end of our flight.
• When you call Southwest the night before to ask about escort passes and car seat rules (only one per row, in case you are wondering) you will have the option to keep you place in the "holding" line and have them call YOU when it is your turn for a service agent.  Best. Thing. Ever.
• Flying alone with two kids is no picnic.
• Escort passes were created in heaven and have my kiss of approval.  Ronnie even got one for when we landed so all I had to do by myself was actually walk down the tarmac and find our seats/get off the plane and walk back down the tarmac. (kudos to my lovely mother-in-law for being my escort at LAX).
• My secret weapon (sixlets) only had to be pulled out after we had landed and were taxi-ing in Denver.  How we all made it this long, I have no idea.

We had a wonderful time with the Cali side of the family.  Pictures coming VERY soon!

Easton Mows the Lawn

Easton loves to help daddy mow the lawn.  Usually he just follows right behind as Ronnie mows.  It is quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

And now a few videos of him in action:

18 Weeks

And here we are 3 weeks later.

I continue to feel great and continue to love this stage of pregnancy.  Not even any swelling yet (and with the heat we have been having, that is a small miracle).  I'm starting to feel movement a bit more, but still nothing consistent.  The baby continues to do well at my appointments and is definitely a mover, since not a single visit has resulted in a heart rate measurement for as long as the doctor would like because that little baby is moving all over the place.

I'm sleeping great and don't have to yet get up in the middle of the night.  Easton will now remind me that there is a baby in my tummy and asked the other day, "I touch it?  So softly?"  It was very cute.  He thinks the baby is a girl, because Kendree was a girl baby and says that we should name it Kendree (that wouldn't be at all confusing). 

Want to see the 16 week update?  Check it out here.
Pregnancy with Kendree at 20 weeks.
No picture of my pregnancy with Easton at 20 weeks, sorry.

Kendree - 16 months

Whew!  Another month (and two weeks, but who's counting) have gone by already!

At 16 months, Kendree:

• Is walking!  No more crawling for this big girl.  She made the decision to just go for it around 2 weeks after she turned 15 months and there has been no turning back!  Sadly, I don't have a video of it yet (bad mama!) but will soon, I promise!
• Got her third tooth (top right) on June 13th.
• Takes one nap a day.  I've had to get used to a "normal" child when it comes to naps.  My sister always warned me that Easton's 3-hour naps daily were not the norm, but I held out hope.  I'm lucky to get 2 hours from Kendree regardless of when I put her down.
• Answers "yeah" when she wants something and when she shakes her head yes, it is really a shake of her entire upper body, which is hilarious.
• Signs please and thank you like a champ.  She will say thank you (tain-to) but please is just the sign and an occasional hissing sound along with it.  She will copy any sign you say to her, but sticks to her favorites when she is trying to communicate.  New favorites include cheese and drink.
• Is so easy to put to bed.  PJ's on, tell the family "night-night" and then a quick verse of Teach Me to Walk in the Light as you lay her down and walk out of the room and you won't hear from her again.
•  Loves to wrestle and can occasionally be found taking her brother down so he will wrestle with her.  This does not always result in happiness.
• Screams like no one you have ever heard.  I HATE IT!  She lets out the most high pitched scream you have ever heard if she doesn't get her way, or wants something a little differently, or if you are not understanding what she wants.  It is not fun.  She is that one kid in church that the whole congregation has to roll their eyes at.  Oh well!  At least I know she will grow out of it as she can express herself better (I hope!).

On to the pictures.

The only shot I got on her actual 16 month "birthday." She is sporting Easton's cowboy boots.

 Playing dress up with big brother.

 She loved pushing the fake buttons on his outfit.

 Wearing Grandpa's glasses.

 Kendree has an obsession with carrying around random pieces of clothing.  Her favorites are garments, but since I didn't want to take a picture of that, I waiting for the day when it was her swimsuit.

 Hanging out with daddy (photo by Easton).

 Wearing her new hat (well, new to her).  Easton and daddy wear hats, so she always wants one too.  I dug out Easton's old Cowboys hat so he wouldn't get upset about her borrowing his current hats.

 It was a Sunday right before church.  Kendree was eating lunch as Ronnie and I were finishing getting ready and starting to load up the car.  I only had to put a bow in her hair (or so I thought) and she would be ready to go. Enter the banana.

 Needless to say, we were skimming into church that day.  I didn't get everything out of her hair, but she at least looked presentable.

How I've tried to fix my parenting mistake

So, Easton has never been a big fan of milk or water.

Let me re-phrase: Easton hated milk, even chocolate milk when I weaned him so I allowed him to become a watered-down juice drinker, almost exclusively.

Parenting fail.

Since he has been able to "reason" so to speak, I've tried various things to get other liquids into his diet.  The kid struggles with consistency in "going" so I'm always trying to improve his diet while not slowing things down with less liquid than he needs.

So far, everything I've tried has led to a battle of the wills.  Tantrums and refusal to drink from him and yelling and frustration from me.  Then, for the sake of normalcy around here (bathroom-wise) I usually give in.

Then, I had a brilliant idea. 

The drink chart. 

We've been using this method for just over 2 weeks now and haven't had a single tantrum.  Easton just checks the fridge to see what drink he is on and is perfectly fine when that is what he is offered.  Stickers go up and we all move on.

I realize that not every one's kid struggles with this...but since the visual solution has worked so well, I thought I would share in the hopes that you could adopt it for what is driving you batty.

Notes: I created the chart in Word using an image I found online.  I colored every other glass the color of apple juice and on the white glasses, Easton gets to choose whether he wants water or milk.  I'm happy to email it to anyone who could use this exact chart.

16 weeks

I assume from the enthusiastic response I received when I asked if people wanted belly pictures when I was pregnant with Kendree, it is no different this time around.

So here we go.  Me at 16 weeks.  I would say that I'm past that phase of people thinking that I just ate a lot for dinner.  I lost about 5 pounds during the first trimester and have yet to gain that back, so I like to think that the bump is all baby so far.

I'm feeling really good.  I love this stage of pregnancy.  Energy is up, belly is not in the way, etc.  The kids and I have been enjoying bike rides and walks now that summer seems to have arrived in Cheyenne.

I'm still not craving anything consistently, and food in general doesn't hold the same appeal for me as it usually does.  Too bad I can't keep that feeling after the baby is here!  Baby is moving around, but it is not very consistent or really all that frequent yet.  I have 4 weeks to decide if I'm really going to let this baby be a surprise since they do the ultrasounds at 22 weeks at my doctor's office.  Ronnie would really like to find out this time and I'm still on the fence.

My pregnancy with Kendree at 17 weeks here.

The long awaited (by about 3 of you) house tour

Here it is folks.  I figured I couldn't delay much longer. :)

The view from the front door:

And from over by the love seat looking towards the garage door and desk/piano area (a big hello to Easton playing games at disneyjunior.com):

Another view of the piano area:

Next, a few views into the kitchen, that door you see leads into the laundry room:

Which looks like this (there are also pantry shelves behind the door that I didn't think you cared to see):

And then we have a view into the main room from the kitchen (by this point, you should really feel like you are IN this room with me):

And one last view of the doors, which lets you see that we don't have a coat closet (GASP!).  I know, how I overlooked such a thing when we were looking at what seemed like hundreds of houses is beyond me.  Oh well!  Hooks from Target work just great.

A view into the dining area:

The stairs to the unfinished basement (which looks like a bomb of boxes and long term storage went off in it) are just off the garage door.  Ronnie and my dad installed this baby gate which I love!

Now we can finally move on to another area of the house--the hall! (note the fan that keeps the kids cool-ish at night as we are adjusting to no A/C--our first time without it in over 3 years--I know we were insanely spoiled).

Straight ahead in the last picture is the kid's bathroom which almost always looks as you see it here...ready for Easton to use it at any given moment:

If you turn to the right from the bathroom, you come to Kendree's room (with Easton, our tour guide):

And to the right of that is Easton's room:

And to the left of the bathroom is the door to the master bedroom:

The door on the right is the master bathroom and the door on the left is the closet.

Standing in the doorway of the closet you see this:

And this little girl who loves to tear shoes off of mom's rack.  Good thing she is cute!

And that's it!  Congrats if you made it to the end. Now you just need to come visit!