Month: October 2017

Kensie has had such a fun time in Colorado visiting her Uncle Andrew and (soon to be) Aunt Catherine! She’s struggling a bit with the time change, but the views have kept her happy in between her naps! 

The flight out was the longest flight K has been on. She fought her nap with a few screams but other than that she was great, she just wouldn’t sit still. Holy wiggle worm! Not that I expected anything different. 

Catherine (my brother’s fiancé) flew us out to surprise him for his 30th! Surprised he was!! Kensie hasn’t seen them since she was 2 months old at Christmas, but she was pretty excited! 

Our first stop was a brunch spot called Snooze! 

Kensie ate some eggs and played a game called “empty every sugar packet from the bowl and then put them back and do it again 600 times”. Super fun. 

Then we headed to Garden of the Gods! The views and weather were AMAZING. 

The travel, exploring and time change made for one super sleepy babe!!

Today we headed to Cave of the Winds. We did a cave tour and zip lined on the side of the mountain! K just spectated for that part. 

After the caves we went to lunch and did some shopping on Colorado Ave! I am in LOVE with this weather and walking down the street with mountains in the background isn’t too bad, either. OH! And K said the word “book” today! 

The time change (2 hours behind) meant a 5:30a wake up today and some crazy thrown off naps, but Kensie has been so good through her sleepiness and has been loving spending time with her family and looking at new places and people!

 We still have one more day in Colorado, but I figured I’d break the trip up into more than one post or the amount of pictures might freeze the WordPress app again. 😝

KB has a busy day…and it ended at the Pumpkin Patch! Kensie picked out her very first pumpkin. She made sure it was a good one by licking the side and attempting to chew the stem. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Thanks for the Facebook recommendations for those who gave them! (Minus Rob’s Publix suggestion 🙄) We went to Painted Oaks and they had an adorable set up!

They also do horse rides and Kens was mesmerized watching them!! After she was done staring in amazement she called it a dog. 

This morning we got to meet another sweet friend, Baby Charlotte aka Charlie!

Baby and momma are doing well and we are excited to have another little lady in the tribe! If anyone is looking to get pregnant, especially with a girl, come join CFEO. I think we’re up to 12 pregnancies and 9 girls (in the last 12 mo).  Something like that. 

This morning K and I paused for a photo shoot before we got in the car because the weather was too gorgeous not to enjoy! She was killing the model game. 

I guess the cool weather makes her extremely happy. It has that affect on me, too. 

The rest of our day was running to the chiropractor, swim refresher and the gym. Kensie is cutting MORE teeth so her float and breathing was not the best today. Mrs. Heidi is going to have K back in 2 weeks once the teeth are through to make sure she’s truly good to go for the fall. 

We have another crazy day tomorrow but hopefully it’ll involve both of K’s naps. For my sake.

Verdict is in! KB is still a tiny little nugget. 

Little boo came in at 18.3lb (I was off) and 27.75inches! (I was close, but I kind of cheated because I had to try to measure her when we did her passport photo so I had a slight idea.) She’s in the 8th percentile for height and 33rd for weight. 

Chris and I are not short, so not sure when this little sprout will bloom – but my mom said I was a slow and steady grower, too! The doctor told us  their height isn’t an accurate measurement of how tall they’ll be until their 2, so we will wait and see! 

Kens did great at her appointment. She didn’t like the nurse and cried when anyone touched her, but she LOVED her doctor. She reached for her when she came in! 

Complete disclosure: she really just wanted her computer 😂 but, she was very content on her lap once we wouldn’t let her have it. 

Kensie may disagree, but her appointment went well and her doctor was very impressed with her coordination and motor skills! She said she has the social skills of a 15 month old but I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone. 🤣

We do need to up KB’s iron intake a little. She was on the lower end of the “acceptable” spectrum. Since Kensie seems to like eggs lately I’m going to attempt sneaking some spinach in there. 😉 I also got some tips on weaning and getting Kensie to drink normal milk. Kensie only nursed 3 times today!!!! She had Chipotle for lunch and even ate some guacamole! (She isn’t a fan of avocado or guacamole normally. You can’t even trick her into eating it.)

After her check up we had a quick nap and went to day 2 of her swim refresher! Her float was much better today and she was already back to dunking herself under water. 

Once Kensie learned her rollback to float, she started leaning forward to stick her own face in the water as soon as Mrs. Heidi gave her the signal that she needed to take a breath. Such a goober. 

Ever since Kensie started having these top teeth break through she’s been fine during the day but her sleeping at night has been rough. She was doing great sleeping from her dream feed until the morning; now she’s back to waking up 2-3 times for the past week or so. 

I’m not sure if she will go back to sleeping better once these next two finally cut through or if we need to re-sleep train. Is that a thing? It’s about to be a thing. We are going out of town this weekend so I’m holding off until we are back since anything we retrain at this point will get ruined with the schedule being thrown off. 

OH! And speaking of out of town, I bought a travel case for her car seat and a gate check bag for an umbrella stroller since the guys that pack up the planes are apparently careless and inconsiderate. So, if they’re good, I’ll post the amazon link. 



It was a sleeeeepy, sleepy day for momma and KB! We were both on the struggle bus after a busy, but fun weekend! Kens woke up at 6:45 and we relocated to her playroom where I was half zombie, half sleeping on her playmat. 

On Sunday we went to brunch to surprise the birthday girl, Carolyn! K CRUSHED some eggs, so, apparently she likes those now. 

After brunch we went to a baby shower for sweet Baby Axel!! I somehow didn’t take a single picture with the pretty momma, but she got one of KB! 

I spent the morning (post zombie – once Kensie went down for a nap) trying to get everything put away from her party and then KB had a fall refresher for swimming today! 

K took a super short morning nap and then it finally caught up with her. Her afternoon nap was 2 long, quiet, blissful hours. 😂 I actually woke her up from it so we could go to the gym. 

Speaking of “go”…that’s Kensie’s new word. This morning I got her dressed and said “we have to go!” And was telling the dogs to get out of the room and Kensie started saying “go, go, go!” She then proceeded to say it for the next 5 minutes until we left the house. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Kensie got extremely cranky right before bed tonight and started chewing on her bib and hand. I felt her 2 top middle teeth but the 2 outside of those haven’t broken through yet so I have a feeling they’re on their way. 

Tomorrow morning is KB’s one year check up!!! My guess is 27 inches and 21lb. I’ll keep ya posted. 😉

What a weekend!!! I think I’m less sure of what to say in this post than I was on Kensie’s actual birthday. 

Saturday was Kensie’s birthday party and holy moly…I won’t have to buy this kid anything for the next 7 years, at least. K needs another entire playroom just to fit her new books, noisy toys, slide and pink Maserati. 🤣

I asked people to bring letters for Kens to open when she’s 18 and some of the gifts/letters/time capsules that people came up with were SO special. I made the mistake of reading some of them and let’s just say I hope I don’t cry that much when I reread them in 17 years. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

The best part of Saturday was seeing how many amazing people Kensie really has the privilege of growing up around. She really is so, so loved (by them and those that weren’t there!) and Chris and I are so grateful to have the absolute best friends and family. 

I owe a HUGE thank you to Michelle, Charlotte and Ashley for spending so much time helping me with the party before, during and after! You ladies are amazing. And to my momma, dad and brothers for helping me clean up, taking care of KB and putting together all her new toys so I didn’t have to! 

Kensie had a few moments of uncertainty but overall she had a blast playing with her friends and loved all the attention! She even gave out some kisses. 😉 

​​
I sent a friend a few photos (“few” hahahahahaha) and he made a pretty amazing video to capture Kensie’s first year for us! Hopefully this link works…and I was told I should give you a tissue warning. 

As I write this Kens is sleeping next to me in her new 12 month PJs and they actually fit her. That happened literally overnight. 

Now, if someone can tell me how/where to store all these bulky ass baby toys and chairs I’d appreciate it. 😫

It’s HERE! It’s Kensie’s first birthday!!! What a year it has been. First off, thank you all so much for the the posts, texts, phone calls, etc. KB is SO, so loved! 

It’s truly been the best year of my life (and hers, by default 😜) and I am SO glad I kept up with this blog and have all of these memories to look back on! I started scrolling through the very first posts the other day and while it feels like yesterday, I also had already forgotten so many details. 

I don’t event know where to start with documenting this month! I feel like she’s grown up so much in just a few short weeks. 

Kensie still loves the puppets on Baby Einstein and gets SO excited to see them. Now she mimics their movements and some words! 

She can say dog (her favorite word 🤷🏼‍♀️), duck, jack (more like dack), Dada, bye, and a word that sounds like “this” or “kiss” (I haven’t figured it out yet). Kensie can say and sign all done, bye, hi, and sign more, eat and please! She mimics sounds, including whistling, yet still won’t say mama. 🙄

As of today, Kensie has started finding food she wants and bringing it to me to open for her! We made it a whole year of breastfeeding which I’m so proud of us for! (And looking forward to weaning 😉) 

K gives the best hugs and kisses and loves holding hands. When people tell her “hi” she turned to them and gives the cheesiest, yet cutest smile. If they’re extra lucky she waves. 
She has 4 teeth up top and 2 on bottom. K is 20ish pounds and 27 inches tall! She finally fits in some shoes which is perfect timing because she is walking alll over! And climbing. I have a feeling she will be getting out of her crib on her own soon. 😳

Kensie is catching on to everything in her routines and “talks on the phone”, tries to brush her own hair, puts her necklace to her neck, and puts bows on her head. 

Well guys, I did it. I kept a small human alive for a whole year! It was a year of learning and growing for both of us, but I’d say we did alright. Words can’t express how grateful I am that I had the opportunity to work from home and take care of KB full time. It wasn’t always easy, but every second was so worth it. 

As we all know, parenting doesn’t come with a manual. Luckily we have some amazing people in our village to guide us and the most important thing they’ve done (other than love the mess out of KB) is offered advice and supported the decisions we’ve made. 

Kensie slept in a chair inside of her crib for months. She sleeps on her belly sometimes. We coslept. I fed on demand. I vaccinated her. I let her watch TV. She’s in a gym that’s way too loud and dirty for her; she literally licks the floor sometimes 🤦🏼‍♀️ (I don’t know why..don’t ask). When her pacifier falls I wipe it on my pants or use my own mouth to clean it and then I give it back to her. I’ve left her sitting in another room screaming for a few minutes because I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I wake up in the middle of the night and feed or hold her if she cries. I’ve used anything and everything as a burp cloth. I’ve kept her out way past her bedtime. According to the books I did a lot wrong. But I look at her and I’m pretty damn sure I did it all right! 

Happy First Birthday, Kensington Brooke Hall! Your daddy and I love you so very much and we are and will always be your biggest fans! 

Today was the best day because AUNT SHELL IS HOME!!! She took leave and came all the way from Afghanistan to be here for KB’s first birthday!

The daily FaceTimes must have worked because K definitely recognized her and gave her the sweetest hug! Michelle is Kensie’s God mom so it is so special to us that she was able to make it home! 

We weren’t the only ones excited to see her… Jack was all out of sorts this evening. He completely lost his mind and climbed up on the chair over to her but we let it go for a minute because we needed a photo. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Speaking of Jack – he was “out of sorts” earlier today too. He was acting extremely weird this morning (usually does when he did something bad) and then I discovered he went to the bathroom in the house. 🤦🏼‍♀️ The point of me telling you this is because Kensie thought me telling him it was bad was absolutely hysterical. 

​​
This morning K and I got some last minute party errands done and she made some important new friends. They’re important because they work at Starbucks. 

As far as K’s “big girl” skills go – she was an amazing eater this morning for breakfast and she even got her first babysitting practice in trying to help with Henley at the airport. 

Henley was crying so Kensie gave her her pacifier. 😂😍 I wish live photos worked in WordPress because this one is perfection. 

For breakfast K nommed down some eggs like they were going out of style and  let me feed her yogurt! 

I know I sound ridiculous and cliché and blah blah blah – but I cannot believe this little girl turns one tomorrow! I put this in my blog a few days ago but Incase anyone missed it – Chris and I want to write a letter for K on her birthday each year and save them for her when she’s older. I wrote her letter this afternoon as she napped and damn…let’s just say someone must have been cutting onions while I was writing. 

To clarify, I’m not sad she’s turning one. I’m so excited for every single day with this babe and it’s so much fun to watch her grow and learn. I’ve truly enjoyed every stage of ages so far (Seriously; it just keeps getting better!) it’s mile markers like these put life into perspective and make you realize how precious time is and how fast it goes by. 

The blog will have to keep going for at least a little longer. Now that we hit the year mark, I owe you guys an update on that bow count. 😜

This night a year ago, I went into labor with Kens! Actually as I write this, it was the exact time we were getting ready and heading out the door for what would be the 27 most painful (yet rewarding) hours of my life! So, how fitting that today we installed Kensie’s BIG GIRL car seat! Ahh!! HUGE thanks to my friend Kendall who is car seat safety certified for coming to help me install it correctly!!

Kensie is loving it! She’s up higher now and can see out the window and she is all about that life. 

I was in full party prep mode today while Kensie was in full “practice being a big kid” mode. 😭 She was walking all over and even squatting down to pick things up and standing back up with them all on her own. 

This afternoon Aunt Casey came to visit kens and bring her an early birthday present! K loved the tissue paper and seeing her boyfriend, Riley. 

One more day y’all. ONE. MORE. DAY!!!

Here are a few more photos from K’s One Year shoot. The photographer wanted to stop here and get these while we were walking to a different spot. So glad she did. They’re too sweet!!! (Behind the scenes spoiler: Kensie kept trying to eat that flower. 🤦🏼‍♀️)

I’m going to start this post with the end of our day, because it’s my favorite. (Sleep is great and all, but that’s not what I’m referring to). After I dream feed Kens, she always rolls off me and lays on/near me. A few times she’s crawled over to Chris and laid on him. We all know I’m feeling extra sentimental/emotional this week (judge me. I don’t even care) but the little things like this are what I am going to miss most as she keeps growing! 

Heck, I already miss cosleeping. When I try it now Kens flails around like she’s fighting a bear blindfolded and usually wakes me up with an arm or foot to the face. 

Today was a GREAT day for miss Kens! She had more wake ups than usual last night but the Motrin seemed to help some. She slept in until almost 8!! Since we were (ok, I was) so well rested, we made it out of the house before her morning nap! Not a usual occurrence for us…

This kid. Would not. Sit still. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I looked like a very careless mom with my child standing/turned around in the cart as people walked by. I promise I buckled her in and kept making her sit back down. I needed 3 arms in order to hold her down and push the cart at the same time. Our bodies do amazing things when we are pregnant. Not sure why growing an extra set of arms isn’t one of them. 🤷🏼‍♀️

We headed back home for a quick morning nap and then B came over to play with Kens! 

I was very thankful for the extra time to get some party crafts done and run some errands while Kensie hung with B and showed her all of her new skills: walking while talking on the phone being one of them. 

When I got back home K was nice and worn out and went straight down for an afternoon nap. I actually had to wake her up from it to go to the gym. 

K worked on her selfie game today with Nichole while they hung out together in baby jail. Kensie loves taking photos of herself and I love how hilarious they always turn out. 😂

Okay if you’re still reading, here’s you’re reward: more photos from her one year session!!! Ah!!!! I seriously cannot stop looking at these. I’m SO happy with how well they turned out. 

For her cake smash photo my sweet friend Jany (Jany’s Sweet Delights) made her cake for me!! I know I sound ridiculous but I didn’t want Kens on a sugar rush or to puke, so I didn’t want “real” cake. Jany was the BEST as we sent recipes and ideas back and forth and came up with this Zucchini bread cake and coconut cream frosting! (K loves zucchini so I thought it may go over well. Success!)

Well, today confirmed it. Zero to a hundred is DEFINITELY KB’s style – we have a WALKER!! It’s not a step here and there, either. It’s crossing rooms without even bribing her! 

Every time I set K down, I put her on her feet. Usually she squats down and crawls. Today I did it, and she took 10 steps across the room. Pretty sure my jaw dropped. I stood her back up to see if she’d do it again…13 more. Wahhhh?!?

​​
I figured as soon as I tried to get a video she would stop. I was wrong! She strutted it for the camera and I caught another video of her walking in her playroom! 

​​
She’s still crawling of course, and I think she knows that’s still faster, but she’s definitely intrigued by the idea of walking! 

In between practice KB was such a sweet cuddle bug today. Her nap schedule was all sorts of off and I think her teeth were bothering her, but she was a happy sort of calm! 

I randomly decided to replace one of Kensie’s feedings today with whole milk. She wasn’t exactly down with that. 

Once I moved it into the bottle Kensie would take a sip here and there and toss the bottle. Haha! 🤷🏼‍♀️ A friend recommended mixing it with breastmilk to transition her little by little. To be honest I didn’t want to have to pump every time in order to do that so I figured I’d give the cold turkey thing a shot. K is apparently not going to let that happen. 

It’s been a rough start to the night with 2 wake ups in the last 2 hours. 😔 I gave Kens some Motrin because she keeps chewing her fingers. I’m hoping it’ll hold her over for at least a few hours so she can rest. Poor babe. 

Along with the walking excitement today – we got Kensie’s one year photos back!!!! I am OBSESSED with them!!  Briana Lugo Photography amazes me once again. 

Here are a few from the beginning of the session – I’m saving the others for her big day. 😉