A day at the zoo

Last weekend the three of us made a trip to the zoo.  Daddy had never gone with us, and we really have not gone as often as we would like since we got our family pass for the summer.   We went in the morning, but it was still quite warm.  However, this did not stop us from having fun.  

 Kyley loves to sit in her stroller with her cheerios and water and take in all the sights and sounds.  When she makes eye contact with an animal...watch out...she yells and talks loudly at them.  Thankfully there are not any rules at the zoo to "keep your voices down".  We got quite a few chuckles out of her.  Unfortunately for sharing purposes we took more video than pictures because it was so cute and funny to hear her talk to the animals. 

 She loved the giraffes, elephants, birds and especially the penguins.  She loves when we have Happy Feet on the tv so this did not surprise us at all.  Of course she loves seeing all the other people walking around too.  

The American Kid's Petting Farm was the end of our visit, and as you can tell she was getting pretty pooped...rose red cheeks, lack of a smile and complete exhaustion.  She still had enough energy to be interested though!  We cannot wait to go again, but we may wait until it is a bit cooler this time!

 

Yesterday was 14 months already

Can you believe that this big girl is 14 months old?  She was not even supposed to be born for another month!!  We cannot believe how much she has grown and how fast time has gone...where is our little baby?  Kyley is getting so long/tall and she really has a belly since starting to eat all of this big kid food.

 Meal time has become so much fun for all of us.  We get to try new things, textures, shapes and flavors.  She seems to be a bit pickier than she was with the baby food, but we are happy to have made that transition.  She does still eat some baby food fruits in her morning cereal, but we will be out of all of that soon too.  Her favorites seem to be bread, cheese and avocado right now.  She definitely makes more of a mess, but it is so fun to see her growing into a little girl and feeding herself (although I will miss my baby dearly).  Meal time also takes a bit longer, but it is good to get her in the practice of slow eating right??

 After dinner time often directly comes bath time...and not because I am OCD...just because that is our routine.   We have graduated to only using the big girl tub, and she loves it!  She could play in there for hours, and she is actually much easier to control as she gets more mobile.  Our swim classes have also made all water activities a fun time.  So, it is a game to pour water on her head to rinse out the soap.  I think it is obvious that she doesn't seem to mind bath time at all!  This is just another sign that our baby is growing up:( :)!

Work hard, play hard and short sleeved pajamas?

No, I have not lost my mind based on the title of the post today.  But, I seem to always be playing catch up these days so I wanted to share what was on my mind when I looked through the recent upload of pictures.  And, I wanted to get it posted before something else came up and ate up all of my time.

 Kyley works and plays hard from the minute she wakes up these days.  We used to have some down time in the mornings, but that is an activity of the past.  She still loves the darn remote, phones and cameras (note the toy phone and camera are her favorite...but not as good as the real deal). 

 Kyley loves to sit and play and play and play.  However, she is never in the same spot for long.  I know we have said it a million times before but she is ready to move.  She goes from sitting to crawling position to rolling to army crawl to trying to pull up on things.  I know that when I turn my back she will be in a different position every time.  I am afraid that one of these times I will turn my back and she will be on the move for real!

 Okay, the story behind the short sleeved pajamas.  When Kyley came home from the NICU last summer the doctors made it very clear to keep her warm to help control her body temperature which in turn will help her grow.  Well, I have had a really hard time breaking out of that pattern.  I think that I was cooking her a few nights in long sleeved pajamas.  And, it was not that I did not have any of the short sleeved ones...I just was worried my baby would freeze.  Well, surprise, surprise...she has been sleeping through the night again (for the most part) since I started putting her in the short sleeved version a few weeks ago when the temps have stayed in the near 100's every day.  Is it coincidence or fact...we will never know.  However, I do know that she seems to be doing and growing just fine, and she looks cuter than ever in them!

 

A special Father's Day weekend

Of course Father's Day was going to be special no matter what as Kyley loves her daddy, and he sure loves her.  However, we had a few special visitors for the weekend.  Great Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Bob came to visit.  It was a VERY fun weekend, and Kyley got to spend a lot of quality time with both of them.  And, I think Great Grandma had a hard time leaving her side which Kyley did not seem to mind.  The extra attention was right up her alley.  They sat and played for hours every day on the very blanket that Great Grandma made for Kyley back on Christmas.  I hope Kyley looks back some day and realizes how lucky she is to have her Great Grandma in her life! 

 

 Grandpa Bob had a special delivery when he came.  For Kyley's birthday her Uncle Brian, Aunt Angie and cousins, Ian and Erin had given her this ball pool.  Well, due to travel issues and changes of plans, we were never able to get part of the gift back to Wichita.  So, Grandpa Bob brought the "missing pieces" with him last weekend...all of the balls!!!  Kyley had so much fun in her ball pool.  She did not know what to think at first, but she easily made herself comfortable.  She got so excited Saturday morning when she woke up and saw the ball pool still sitting there. 

Kyley got to spend lots of quality time with the most important person of the weekend...her daddy!  We went to dinner, for a boat ride, relaxed, danced and played.  It is not tough to notice that she loves driving the boat with her daddy, dancing with her daddy and goofing around with her daddy! 

 Kyley and Grandpa Bob had fun being foolish as always.  She was so busy trying to get the pen out of his pocket that she did not realize he had put it on her hat several times...they sure will be quite the pair in the years to come.  All in all I think it was a pretty special weekend for everyone! 

1 year pictures

Well, I am not sure why I have waited this long to post her 1 year photos.  We had these taken back on a VERY windy day (aren't they all in Kansas)...April 30th.  You would never be able to tell it was windy based on the quality of photography, but it was crazy windy.  Anyway, it was the first time we had Kyley's pictures taken outside of our home, and it was the first time Kyley got to play in the grass or be in a park for that matter!  We have an amazing photographer that seems to always capture Kyley at just the right moment and angle.  Amber (Making Smiles Photography) has been so wonderful to work with and she does such an excellent job.  Here are a few of our favorites...as there were like 64 and I cannot post them all!!!

Miscellaneous Moments

There are many miscellaneous moments that I snap pictures of Kyley and catch her in the funniest moods or poses, so I thought I should share some of these.  They are the pictures that she will hate me for sharing when she gets older, but I personally think they are too classic to keep to myself.  Usually I get these snapshots when I am trying to get that "perfect" picture of whatever it is she is doing at the moment.

Like when she looks like she is really contemplating the meaning of life...

When she looks like Hugh Hefner in her 2 piece button down pj's....

 When she is deeply committed to her show...

The "hey I did not know you were watching me" moments...

When she is doing her stretches...

When her pinks don't match because we got food all over the other shorts...

The "what" moments...

When she is looking back to make sure her daddy is still there...

The "look mom, no hands" brave moments...

The times when we think she is having fun but looks bored to pieces...

And, the times she makes life look so relaxed and easy!

 These are the times I want her to always cherish and remember!

She likes to move it, move it!

Kyley sure is a busy, social little girl.  I know that all kids at this age are more active, but she really is a nonstop chatterbox and playing all the time.  Just recently she has decided that she would much rather stand than sit the majority of the time.  Due to the fact that she is not 100% able to stand unassisted this requires extra attention from mommy and daddy...which I think she knows and is part of the reason that she does it.  Kyley would much rather have someone paying attention and watching what she does as she may be a bit of a little show off! 

 

I am sure this little table that was a hand-me-down has been in several pictures over the past six months.  However, she has rediscovered it's coolness!  When we got home from Minneapolis it was sitting in the living room exactly where it had been for months, and she started squealing when she saw it.  So, I stood her up next to it, and the last few weeks are history.  All she wants to do is stand up next to it and play.  She loves to throw the spoon off of it so that I say "uh-oh" then she yells in her own little way for me to pick it up.  It is such great practice for her too.  She does not even know that she is strengthening those little legs, working on balance and many other skills.  

One of Kyley's other favorite things is to go out to eat.  She loves to sit in her highchair, eat her snacks and entertain.  It is so funny to watch her engage her "audience".  Whether it is the friend or family member we are having dinner with, the waiter or waitress or the people in the booth  next to us, she sure can make a simple dinner out enjoyable!

She can also make sitting on the floor look like a whole lot of fun!  Kyley will play with about any toy or object you put in front of her.  She is so in tune with the "new" of everything, and she takes her time checking things out. 

You all already knew that she loves water and loves to swim.  She got to enjoy the pool last weekend over at the Millers.  She was not to sure about the floaty when we were on vacation, but it must have been the fact that this one was decorated in the best NFL team logo...as she would have stayed in it for hours!

When you are as active as she is...nap time is still a much needed time of the day.  And, she will be the first to tell you when it is time to do just that.  Kyley is so stinking cute to watch sleep, but she is even more adorable when she wakes up this happy!