Say Meatballs

The night following the cheese episode was spaghetti night. "Is that an unfortunate mole on your eyebrow?" you ask. "Why no, it's just a little meatball." I also have a picture with a pasta star in her ear, saving it for later I guess. Amazingly enough there is a lot of food that is actually making its way into her mouth.
Maybe the better picture would have been the one of Brian grimacing. He actually said, "I think that they need some cleaner food." Ah, life is good

Say Cheesy

Mmmmm, cheesy pasta, Kendall likes it......to smear on her face and to secure her hair-do. Oh, she likes to use it to color her eyebrows too. Doesn't she just look so pleased with herself rubbing her hands together like that?. I can just read her thoughts...."he he he, guess I'm gonna get a bath tonight, eh??" (sometimes she talks with a Canadian accent, don't cha know?)

We had a great day today. This morning I had Bible Study so Kendall got to go play in the nursery with the other kiddos. Her room had a window in it so I could spy on her, I peaked in the window after class and she was rolling this gy-nor-mous ball around and then crawling after it with great fury. She is so funny, she pushes the ball away and then swing her arms around like a delayed wind up. After study we went out to lunch with Jennie and Anna. The girls had a great time "window shopping" and chatting about life (the big girls that is). The little girls had fun staring at people and generally just looking cute. Kendall rode around in her big girl car seat (still facing backwards) today. After nap time we rushed to the gym for a fitness ball class. Kendall did aerobics (Sweating to the Oldies, I think) in the nursery...man she just loves Richard Simmons and those tiny shorts. Ha, just kidding she played puppets with the other kids.

Tomorrow Jennie and Anna are coming over to go see Woody the wiener Dog at the library. We're not exactly sure what Woody does, but we know we don't want to miss it. I'm a little gung-ho about all the mother/daughter summer activities that are occurring in the city and I don't know if Kendall can fully appreciate it. It gets us out of the house though and gives her play time with other kids.

Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz

While Brian and I were living in Seattle (internship between his two years at HBS) Kim, Brian's sister, sent him some coffee from Mexico. He decided to make it one Saturday morning and he started running around like a banshee. I was relaxed on the sofa and he was cleaning like a madman (Note: we had a cleaning service that came once a week and they had been there the day before). He was scrubbing the sink, jumping from one thing to the next, taking out the trash and even took a few laps around the apartment complex. Well, I feel a bit like that right now. I'm thinking that coffee ice cream may have a LOT of caffeine in it. I came upstairs to take a relaxing bath but somehow managed to end up in my office working and cleaning like a mad woman. But, I can't concentrate on one task. For instance I grabbed a box to put my Kendall pictures in, set it on my desk and got distracted by my computer and blogger. Oops, my attention span is starting to fade....back to the box 'o' pictures.

More tomorrow...when my brain is functioning a little more clearly.

In the meantime, here is a picture of Kendall and her Gram in honor of her upcoming return from Peru!

Ahh, One Good Mess

Okay, I have attempted to post twice since my last update but Blogger has been down. Yeah, excuses...excuses. Dani is playing with Kendall today so that I can get a little caught up on some work. I did a few pages for a clients album and a few pages for the online class I'm teaching (I'm the teacher and I'm dreadfully behind). Anyway, sometimes a mess can stress me out, but a messy scrapping desk is a great sign of a successful day so I just had to capture it on film. Note that the mess was so massive that I had to stand on my desk chair (and hold my camera over my head) to capture it all, hence the toes in the picture. I can just imagine Brian shaking his head at that image too...just an accident waiting to happen right honey??? Life will never be boring with me.

Also, here is a look at Kendall at her first baseball game. Buddy Bat didn't make if very close to her but she was very interested in him from a distance (well, it was either him or the four wheeler he was driving around on).

Tomorrow is Dani's graduation, yippee!!! We're all having dinner together afterward. I made the ever popular Eclair Cake. It was on Paula Deen yesterday!!!! Sara, how did she get your recipe?!?! I would draw the line at her putting it in her cookbook though if I were you, or just demand royalties, ha.

Well, I'm going to get a little be more done and then head over to Lorie's house.

All in a Day's Work

You learn something new every day. I did not know that the Consumer Reports people gave advice such as the kind we received from them today. Evidently when our specific make and model of television has some sort of wire shortage or other such problem you should just buy a new one. Hmmmmm, who knew?? Luckily for me Brian was well learned in this Consumer Report advice and so he could pass the information on to me. So, we are now the owners of a new TV that will soon be hung on the wall out of reach of little fingers carrying Weeble Wobbles. It is possible that those little fingers may be responsible for current TV dilemma since holding the Weeble Wobbles is not enough entertainment and they most bang the characters (Jack & Jill to be exact) against the TV.

In other news, I'm currently concerned that I will be banned from checking out library books since my Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream managed to drip on a page of my current book. The ice cream turned out to be much more trouble then it was worth considering that this evening when I was on the Ben & Jerry mission I was fast stepping it through the frozen food department and my flip flop found a small puddle of water and I took a tumble right in front of the Lean Cuisine dinners.

All a day in the life of a stay-at-home mom.

Oh and this photo is completly unrelated but I just love little boy pictures of Brian and I wanted to share it. Note the Purdue shirt...we also have a photo of him in Harvard shorts/pants(?)....a little foreshadowing, eh?

Kendall and I have been hanging out at home all week. She had her one year check up on Monday, she received two shots (MMR and Chicken Pox vaccine) and since then she has slept horribly and been extremely clingy. I called yesterday to see if she is having some kind of reaction and they want me to bring her back in today. Tuesday we went to story time at the library and to the gym. Yesterday her friend Anna was going to come swim in the pool but they got stuck in traffic and decided to turn around and go home. Our new Bible study starts next Tuesday so Kendall and Anna will be able to play together then.

Just got home from the doctor and Kendall has one ear infection and the other ear is gathering fluid so it's on its way to an infection too. That explains a lot! Poor little Bug

You're Fired

If blogging were my job I would be fired. Week before last Brian's dad, Ron, was in town visiting and we had Kendall's birthday party. Last week Kendall and I were in Pensacola all week. We had a great time seeing everyone. Every time I go there it makes me wish that much more that we lived there now. I am, however, happy to be back and getting back into our schedule (I just wish our schedule occurred there). Kendall had her one year check up today. She fell even lower off the bottom of the growth chart in weight. He was only slightly concerned and said that we will just monitor it. I started to wean her off of nursing today, we skipped her morning feeding. She is in the 10th percentile for height and he said that she was smart and that she looked mischievous. She was showing off for the doctor and showed him all her tricks: "Kendall what does a bear say?" "Roooooawwww"

Blogger isn't uploading pictures right now so I'll add some once it's back up.

This time last year I was sitting in a hospital room knowing that tomorrow I would have a c-section. I was feeling excitement and a lot of fear. Would she be okay? Could I do this?
Here is a little remembering:
Sunday night Brian arrived in Louisville after driving from Boston with Justin & all of our stuff (the day following HBS graduation).
Monday morning we closed on our house and then spent the entire day negotiating on his car. We arrived at our house at 4pm and started to move in. I was 37 weeks pregnant so I plopped down in Kendall's room with Lorie and assembled her crib and changing table. It was my one true night of nesting.
Tuesday morning I had an ultrasound scheduled. Kendall was breech and they wanted to see if they could maneuver her around. Brian wanted to come but he had to be home for our appliance delivery. Lorie wanted to come too but she was teaching that day. During the ultrasound the technician kept saying how little fluid was in there. The doctor came in and kept asking me, are you sure your water didn't break?? They wanted me to go home and pack and go to the hospital. I cried the whole way home, I called Brian hysterical, I called my mom hysterical, and I left multiple messages for Lorie. Brian was in the driveway waiting for me when I got home, I just hugged him and cried (and he said "did you know you just pulled into the neighbor's grass?"). Lorie saw that I had called a billion times and knew something was wrong, she met us at the hospital. I hadn't sent in my pre-admission forms, I hadn't called a pediatrician yet, I hadn't taken the hospital tour yet, it wasn't time. I spent the night getting "hydrated" the next morning I had another ultrasound with the same results and they scheduled my c-section. Kendall was born at 4:06 the next day. Five pounds 13 ounces and 19" of pure joy. My heart that loved so much grew immeasurably more that day.

I've slept in this house only one night more then she has. Sometimes I have to creep into her room at night to make sure it isn't all a dream, sometimes I want to pick her up and cuddle her because my arms feel empty without her. All the time I love her, all the time I love my husband because he loves her and works so that I can stay home with her. My life will never be the same, thank you God.

My Internet No Workie

Just a little note to let you know my internet is down (Kendall and I are at the library updatingt his). So if I'm not responding to your email that is why. It should be fixed by the end of the week (lets hope)!!!

Whetever Happened to Cows & Dogs!?!?

So Brian and I were trying to think of ways we could be stimulating Kendall's brain. My friend Karin loaned me some cute Baby Einstein flash cards that Kendall is loving. Well, I decided we needed to get more since she is so excited about learning (my little genius). Today I picked up some animal flashcards. The box had a picture of a cute little penguin on the front. Well, we got home and I started looking through them and they had the following animals:
red spotted newt, spadefoot toad, piranha, komodo dragon, tuatara???? White sturgeon, sockeye salmon, peregrine falcon, mud puppy, eastern hellbender salamander, caecilian (worm like creature), lamprey, bullhead catfish! Whatever happened to dog, cow, kitty, fish...?!?!?! Well, Kendall started crying when she was looking at the pictures so I think that these may be a little too advanced or maybe scary is a better word.

We had a fantastic busy weekend. Kendall got pretty wound up I think because she has had a couple of bad sleep nights and poor nap times. Or perhaps she is having nightmares about the Eastern Hellbender Salamander.

Note: even the spellcheck doesn't recognize most of those animal names.

Little Paper Doll

I really like the collage artist Claudine Hellmuth's work. She inspired this:

Bloggity Slump

Well, I haven't been the worlds most fantastic blogger lately. I've been staying busy though! I've been to the gym twice this week (and again today), yesterday I had lunch with my gal friend Jennie, Karin and I played outside with the kids one day and Kendall experienced her first real swing, Saturday night I'm having a scrap get together for the local girls in my online class and Sunday Jenn & Justin are coming over!

I'm loving the online class. I like the pages that I'm doing much better then the ones I normally do. I think it's because I plan it out all week instead of just sitting down and expecting the inspiration to come. I've done a couple of pages that are for Kendall's book and my family book that I'll post here. My other pages are on the online class blog.

Kendall and I are going to stay home most of the day. I think we may get out to go the library and the gym though.

Our Weekend

We had a nice weekend with Kendall's Great Gram and Aunt Bonnie visiting. It was nice to visit with them! Kendall got to celebrate her birthday a little early with a cupcake one night. She had a lot of fun with it, Brian came close to having a heart attack watching the mess unfold though :)

Warm Weather = Seeing Chubby Legs

I just tip-toed into Kendall's room to check on her and was kind of shocked by how big she is! Up to this point I haven't been sad at all about her growing up, just excited for her to learn and experience new things. But tonight as I peeked over the edge of the crib and saw her all stretched out it kind of hit me all at once.

Gosh I love this kid. Her personality is really starting to show now and I love it! She is goofy and funny and fun loving. She does fake coughs to get attention (or to mimic people that we pass in a store), she makes silly noises and laughs at herself, she sits down, stands up, sits down, stands up and then laughs at her silliness. Mommying is hard, it requires you to be so selfless, which doesn't always come naturally, but she is SO worth it. I am still excited for her to learn and experience new things but I want to slow down and cherish every little small thing that happens now too and I want to thank God every day, every hour, every minute for allowing me to teach her things and to watch her experience things.
Note: crawling is rough on the knees. We have to wear pants every other day to give them a break, ha

Hippity, Hoppity

So Blessed, I Can't Contain It

Just feeling really blessed these last few days. I have so much to be thankful for:
A beautiful healthy baby
A husband that is a wonderful provider
Fantastic friends
An amazing family
and most importantly
a God that sent His son to die for my sins

I've been getting a lot of stuff done lately. I've started to paint Kendall's room and tapped off the dining room for painting. This morning I dusted, mopped, vacuumed, cleaned, and stocked downstairs. I love being productive sometimes, Spring does this to me.

I took this picture of Kendall yesterday, it was her first time sitting in the grass and she didn't want to put her hands down. Too cute. The other picture is Kendall all dressed up for her friend Anna's birthday party last Saturday.

Lots of things to be excited about right now. Getting a lot of fun stuff done to the house: painting, new furniture...we have a special birthday party to plan for, and we have lots of guests coming to visit within the next month.

New Life Experiences

I get so excited about sharing new things with Kendall. I think that sometimes I may drive Brian nuts saying things like, "this is her first time wearing sunglasses, this is her first time seeing a rainbow, this is her first time smelling vinegar..." Well, I got to share two new things with Kendall yesterday.

1) Her first time eating honeydew. She seemed to like it but she has spit up a couple times since then so I'm going to avoid it for awhile just in case it's related.

2) Her first time experiencing the joy of riding in the car on a beautiful day with the windows down and good music playing.

Hmmm, maybe next week we'll rent a convertible, every girl needs to experience the wind in her hair like that before her first birthday right?!?!?! Okay, maybe we'll wait.

Okay, Okay

I haven't wanted to update my blog because I like to see that pucker picture when I open my browser! But, I have been getting threatening messages demanding an update.

The online class has started and we are having so much fun. I've been receiving phone calls and emails galore :) We're doing self portraits this week (a little challenging) these are a couple that I didn't choose.

Today I spent the day with Lorie and Alex, a nice little unplanned day. Gotta love those. Jenn, we were near your town (at the Gap outlet). If I knew how to get to your school I was going to leave a note on your car!!

I'm happy to have my husband home this week. He's a good guy even though he did give me quite a scare last night. We were having a heck of a storm and the cable went out (poo, no Grey's Anatomy), he was in bed so I tip-toed into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I came out, crept to the dresser and heard the door creak (we're out of WD-40), just then a bolt of lightning lit up the room and there stood....a man. I gasped and darn near wet my pants. He got up while I was in the bathroom to check for tornado warnings, he found my reaction amusing though. My blood was pumping so much that I couldn't go to sleep so he got to listen to me talk for about a half hour (pay back).