Month: October 2017

IT’S BIRTHDAY WEEK! Ah!! The ultimate question…to continue her blog or stop? 🤷🏼‍♀️

I guess I’ll kick this post off with the big news from the weekend: Kensie started taking steps without being coaxed! 3 separate times today, (that I saw) K let go of what she was holding on to and took 2-3 steps to get to something else. She’s starting to figure out the shortcut. 😳 

K’s weekend was off to a rough start on Saturday after her late night out Friday. She’s not one of those babies that “goes to bed later, wakes up later.” She’s a go to bed later, wake up at the same time as usual and be super grouchy kinda girl. 

This video is not her being grouchy, it’s just cute.

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I gave up on trying to get her to go back to sleep and we went to the gym. It kept her occupied enough to stay happy until nap time! 

Ah, nap time. My favorite part of Saturday. K slept for 2 WHOLE HOURS Saturday afternoon. She woke up happy as could be (finally) just in time for the babysitter!!! Our sweet friend Sarah came over to watch Kens for us so we could go to he UCF game, sans baby. 

Sunday by some stroke of magic she slept in until 8am!! (She’s usually up between 6:30-7). She only woke up at 8 because our neighbor decided that was an appropriate time to mow their lawn. I was slightly pissed, but I was in shock she even made it to 8 so I tried to be grateful and not go throw rocks under their lawn mower. 

We decided to go out for a breakfast date and Kens was extremely happy with that decision. She ate a pouch while we waited and then devoured some scrambled eggs and a few bites of pancake! 

If you read this blog regularly you know that Kensie is very hit or miss with “real” food. Sometimes she’s all about it other times she refuses it. Not only did she eat at breakfast, but she also ate 2oz of yogurt before bed! K went 6 HOURS between nursing today!! I don’t know if I’m happy or sad about that…but I’m proud of her. Lol 

Kensie was doing all sorts of funny things with her mouth today. She makes this new sucking motion with her bottom lip and she shoves her finger in her pacifier and chews on it. Tonight I was pushing K on her swing and got a good angle to see the top of her mouth. I was wrong about the top 2 coming in. The TOP FOUR ARE COMING IN. Woof. No wonder she was on the struggle bus a few days ago. 

In my mind, babies didn’t start tantrums until they were about 2. You know. “Terrible twos”, right? False. My child has figured them out already and holy hell, if she keeps it up she’ll be an only child. She’s perfected this new high pitched scream that she does when you take away/won’t let her have something she wants, and it’s everything I don’t enjoy listening to all rolled into one. 🙄 Luckily it’s only come out when she’s been really tired/grouchy but I’m hoping she doesn’t make it a thing. 

It was a great last weekend of being a “baby” 😭 and we’re so excited to see Aunt Shell this week and celebrate Kensie’s big day!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever had a set of more hilarious photos to post of Kensie than I do today. I’ll admit for a split second I was like “hmm maybe I shouldn’t do it. The judgement might be strong on these.” Then I looked at them again, laughed just as hard as I did while it was happening in person, and decided to post them anyway. 

We had a Corn Hole event at the gym tonight. It started right at K’s bedtime so I wasn’t too sure how late we’d make it. I think it’s safe to say Kens was having a BLAST. 

Why is she so good at that 😂😂😂 We couldn’t stop laughing. For the record, the bottles were empty. If anyone has a connection at Blue Moon, tell them they’ve got a new ad campaign model. 

Don’t worry, it gets better. 

Or maybe it doesn’t and no one will find this as hilarious as I did. Andres gave Kensie tattoos and it really had me second guessing her Halloween costume this year. 😂

It was an expo marker and it came off with a rag and water – but damn it was hilarious while it lasted! 

We also caught this little booger WALKING on video tonight! She did it a few times and seems to be getting much more confident with it! Uhhhh ohhhh!!!!! 

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Earlier today, Kens helped me do some reorganizing in her closet. Home girl was loving it!

We ran a few errands after her morning nap and K sacrificed ANOTHER binky. This time it was her elephant. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I even went back in and looked for it and asked customer service if someone turned it in. No luck. 

On this day last year, it was K’s due date! Obviously, she was late. I got an email from Baby Center today. They’re usually titled “Your Baby – Month 9” or something like that. Today’s was titled, “Your TODDLER – One Year!” 😭 Just, no. She’s still a baby!!! 6 more days…

Kensie did so much today I wanted to tell you guys all about that I wasn’t even sure which thing to start with. Then I put her to bed and she topped it all off and gave me my answer. I was singing to her and she was sucking on her pacifier and had her head on my shoulder like usual. Then she sat up, took it out, and gave me 2 kisses without me even asking. 😭😭 Top 5 moments of my life. 

It’s bittersweet how quickly time is going by but it is so much fun watching her grow and learn and develop into the little human she’s becoming! 

I ran open gym before I coached this morning so I hung out with K in her baby jail and she could not have been happier about the situation! 

Class was during her nap time so instead of napping, she played hard. So hard, that this was Kensie by the time we got home. 

We had a quick break at home and then it was back to the gym. She didn’t have much of an afternoon nap since her morning nap was so late but apparently she didn’t need it. This kid didn’t stop moving all afternoon. 

Kens found her old chair in the corner of the gym and decided to use it as a walker…sort of…a knee walker?…while she shoved it around the ENTIRE gym. 

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Once she was done with the chair, she moved to a barbell. Watch until the end…she saw Uncle Will come in and literally couldn’t contain her excitement. It was so damn cute. 

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Before we left, Kensie made her way over to the barbells and took one of the rags and started wiping them. 😂 I was half in shock. I know she is there all the time and sees it, but I guess I never really knew she paid attention to those things. Watching her piece things together and do/use them in the right context blows my mind. 

K got her daily walk in hanging out with Uncle Will before his class. She still only takes a step here and there without holding on to someone or something, but we’re all keeping an eye out because she’s going to get up and take off any day now, just like she did with crawling. Zero to hero is her style. 

If you can’t tell in those photos, K Baby more than earned her bath tonight. 



For the 3rd morning in a row, after wrestling Kensie to change her diaper (sit the eff STILL!!!!) she picked up her necklace, put it to her neck and then handed it to me. Then, she picked up a bow (that didn’t match) and put it on top of her head. 😂😭 So, next week she’ll just be getting ready all on her own?! That’s surely how it feels!

I was the WORST picture taker today but I sort of got a video of K’s new “cheese” trick. 

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Today we had a lunch and shopping date with Aunt Ashley and Baby Henley! Kens was a crazy lady at lunch and plunged her whole hand into my chili bowl. Like up to her wrist. Luckily it had been sitting out a while and it wasn’t that hot anymore.🤦🏼‍♀️ 

For Kensie’s birthday, Chris and I wanted to write K a letter each year that we would save and give to her when she turned 18. Ashley got us the best gift for it today!!! Check out this super cute book, “Your life in letters”, made for keepsake letters from Newborn-18!

The amount of writing I have for a letter for this little girl will take her from her 18th birthday until her 21st just to read it all. 😂

I am sure the long, sweet letters will turn into much shorter letters when she’s about 13. That one might be a few lines similar to “You’re quite the asshole lately and you’re lucky I love you.” 🤷🏼‍♀️😜

For now, she’s the absolute sweetest. Chris came and picked up Kens from the gym while I finished coaching and went to the grocery store to grab dinner. I came home to dinner, flowers and a blizzard! Chris said he let Kensie pick the flowers out by herself. 

Looks like I’m not giving up breastfeeding just yet. Have to go burn off these extra calories real quick. Ice cream is worth it. 😜

Well it seems Kensie has a new favorite food. Confession: I usually grab a snack to eat while K is in the bath. I don’t get to dinner until 7:30-8 so I’m STARVING when we get home from the gym. (See where K gets her drama from?) 

I bought these super healthy Ritz Cracker/Chips because…BOGO. It’s also me trying to take advantage of still being able to eat these things until I stop breastfeeding and actually have to go back to not cramming my face with chips and PB&J. 

Anyways, Kensie kept grabbing for them so I licked the salt off a corner and gave her a piece. Y’all. MIS. TAKE. She was grunting and pointing and ooing and straight BEGGING for them. I gave her a few more. We went and got her PJs on. I sat down to feed her. She rolled off my lap, crawled away, found the chips and started pointing and grunting again. 😂

Kensie has also mastered “cheese!” She’s usually pretty good at posing for photos if I tell her to smile but today when she was distracted I kept telling her “say cheese” and she’d look right at the camera and smile. 😂

This morning K partied in her diaper and ate breakfast on the counter. I was trying to eat some breakfast quick and she kept trying to climb up my leg. I set her up by me and handed her a banana to see if she’d eat it. She was too high to hand it to the dogs so it was a lot more successful than anything she eats in her high chair. 

I’ve been giving Kens Motrin before bed as her top teeth start to break through. She was SO happy all day yesterday and seemed fine so I skipped it. This morning she was still happy but a little clingier and extra snuggly. 

Once Kensie found the energy to stop clinging to me and play, it was full on rock climbing mode today. 

K took her morning nap in the car between errands and had an early and short afternoon nap at home; which meant an extremely long and exhausting afternoon for this mama. Kens was in bed asleep by 6:45…and I’m not far behind her. ✌🏼 

Kensie was one happy, kissing, smiling little copy cat today!!! 

I think I’ve also solved our “Kensie won’t eat” problem. Kensie won’t eat if you treat her like a normal baby and put her in a high chair and give her her own food. Well, excuse me. 

However, if I give her anything I am eating, and let her sit with me, she’s all about eating “real” food. 🙄 She also won’t fall for the fake “oh look I’m eating this too” and trying to get her to eat her food. Too smart for her own good. 

She has mastered putting silverware from the food into her mouth, but she’s still working on getting food on it first. 🤦🏼‍♀️

K had a blast playing with Riley, Harper and Levi today!! 

She was a trooper for my morning workout and took 2 long naps in between playing today. I finally got a good view of her upper gym and we have TWO top teeth broken through! Maybe now she can attempt to chew some food. 🤷🏼‍♀️

As you can see, I also resolved the picture issue. I  migggghhhtttt have maxed out the storage limit and had to purchase more. 😳 

I tried to get a video of Kensie giving kisses when she went on her smooch spree this afternoon. She got distracted by the camera (shocker – literally saw it and posed for a photo) but we caught one of her sweet, open mouthed, wet smooches for ya. 😉😙

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BREASTFEEDING MOMMAS: check out the end of my post – I need ya! 

We have a SMOOCHER! Kensie was handing out kisses like candy today! It’s extremely cute but make sure you’re ready to commit if you ask for one. She’ll grab your face and plant it on…and she hasn’t quite mastered keeping her tongue in her mouth so you may get some slobber. 😂

Kensie had a fun weekend full of teething and football! She cheered on the Gators and UCF with daddy on Saturday and rooted for the Jags and Packers on Sunday. Home girl was 3 for 4 with the WINS! 

And now WP is saying I don’t have room to upload any more photos sooooo I’ll have to figure that out tomorrow. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Get it together WordPress, we only have 12 more days to finish off our year! (😳😭)

Kens grew up again this weekend. She’s started saying “all done” instead of just signing it. It sounds more like “ah don don” but the sign language clarifies it for us. Haha! She also took her brush after bath and tried to brush her own hair. 

Today I started to attempt weaning K from breastfeeding. I can’t believe we’ve made it the whole year!!! My original goal was only 6 months, so I’m extremely proud of us and thankful for making it this far! However, I’m going into this “weaning” process with no manual. So, mamas that have been there, advice is welcomed!!! 

The last 2 weeks I started stretching out her feedings. She goes 3-5 hours between nursing depending on the time of day. I give her real food in between to hold her over. Today, I tried to completely replace a feeding (mid morning) with breakfast. The hardest part was getting her to actually eat. It took 3 separate attempts but she finally downed some turkey and yogurt. 

I have no intentions of going cold turkey and still plan to nurse her before bed or in the mornings  until around the New Year, then have her completely weaned by March. So, we have some time to ease into it! 

I’m half looking forward to having my body back to myself and half sad that this stage went by so quickly. I’ve said before I was completely indifferent about breastfeeding. Having gone through it, I’m now amazed by it. The fact that one thing, provided by one person, can grow another human’s bones, muscles, organs, etc is mind blowing. Anyways, I’ll stop going off on rabbit trails now. If any mommas have some weaning tips and tricks that worked for you, please send ‘em my way! 

It was not a fun Thursday night in the Hall household. Kensie woke up every 2.5 hours last night screaming. The first time I thought it was a bad dream. Second time maybe she was hungry. The 3rd or 4th time she woke up (don’t judge me, it’s a blur) I realized something had to be wrong. She didn’t have a fever and I couldn’t feel any teeth (not that it means they aren’t there).  Around 3am I gave her some Motrin and she went back to sleep until 6, ate, and went back down for another 90 minutes. 

To top it off, I had a super sore throat and got put on a Z-pack today so waking up to a screaming child every few hours last night was less than pleasurable. Cherry on top? Last time I was on antibiotics it gave K a yeast infection. So, this weekend is looking promising. Lol 

Kensie was off and on between happy and losing her shit all day long. 

Kensie hung out at Titi Char’s house while I went to the doctor this morning and helped her work. 

I think the multiple wake ups last night got to K today because she seemed like she wanted to play but she was tired so like her momma, she had no patience and kept flipping the switch to clingy/cranky. 

She cheered up when we got to the gym and had so much fun walking around with Robin while I coached!

While at the gym, Murii also solved our mystery: when she was tossing Kensie up and down she got a perfect view of the top of her mouth. Looks like we have a top tooth trying to break through! 

While my class was doing the workout, a few people were across the gym playing with Kens. I started hearing her crack up and looked over to see her newest skill. Throwing balls! Which is apparently hilarious. And I’m pretty sure we have a lefty! 

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I gave Kensie more Motrin before bed tonight so I am hoping the poor babe doesn’t wake up in pain. To all of you that have babes that weren’t phased by teething: I am extremely jealous. That is all. 

If I could have bottled Kensie’s energy today and sold it, I’d be a millionaire. I know that’s probably true for most kids, but damn. Someone spiked her milk today, and it wasn’t me. 

Along with her energy came some sweet dance moves. I’ll attempt to capture a video but oh my goodness this girl was cracking me up! 

I coached a morning class today and K would not stop moving. She was standing with her hands on a bench and I turned the music on for the class to start the work out and K went crazy popping her leg. She’s done it before but I didn’t realize it was connected to music. It resembles the stanky leg and it is hilarious to witness. 

The last few weeks I’ve been spacing out Kensie’s feedings in hopes of starting to wean her shortly after her birthday. It’s been going well and she’ll go 4-5 hours between feedings but it’s still been hit or miss with the food. 

In order to skip what used to be a breastfeeding, I’ll give her table food. Sometimes she’ll eat it, but most of the time she plays with it. When she’s done playing, she throws it on the floor. Then she will go about 30-60 minutes and start shoving her head into me so I’ll feed her. 🙄

I know it’ll be a long process and I’m completely fine taking our time to get there – but what can I do to make this babe more interested in actually eating “real” food? 

Kensie was super happy all day (except when I wouldn’t set her down and let her speed crawl across the gym) but she wore me OUT. I don’t think I’ve ever had to chase her so much. Also, I’d like for everyone to know I carried Kensie and 4 grocery bags into the house all at once these evening. Pretty sure I’ve officially made it as a mom now. Mad skills. 

One final note: typing day 350 in the title gave me a mild heart attack. Almost ONE! BUT HOW?! 😭 

Today, I’m thankful for Amber necklaces. I don’t care if you think they’re B.S. They’re like magic in Kensie’s world!

Kensie has a fussy, clingy morning. It’s like she knew I had a lot to get done so she spent every second attached to my legs, asking for “up” or fussing. She wanted anything that wasn’t hers and to be anywhere she wasn’t supposed to be. 

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Of course I gave in multiple times and sat there and held her; sometimes that wasn’t even what she wanted. I wasn’t to sure what she wanted. 

I walked out of her playroom and didn’t shut the gate completely. KB was out of my sight for maybe 20 seconds and I hear a splashing noise. 🤦🏼‍♀️

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Oye vey.

After K’s nap she was still a crank. I remembered a few weeks ago she dropped her Amber necklace behind her dresser. I got it out and put that baby on. Y’all. 20 minutes later…I swear I had a new child! 

The rest of the day went much better than it started off. 😅

Chris got home early and K gave him her excited squeal when he walked in! 

Kensie wasn’t in any sort of mood to entertain herself, but she was happy at the gym today as long as she wasn’t in baby jail. 

When Kens was ready to go, she was sure to let me know. 😂

She’s been crawling into her car seat lately when she’s tired and I find it hilarious. K took it one step further today and decided to turn it into a balance board so that game had to end. (At least until she gets a helmet). 😜

You better believe that necklace is going back on first thing in the morning!