The North Shore

Gooseberry Falls!
It was frozen, but you could hear the water running underneath!

For my birthday, Jon was able to get a little time off work! YAY! So we headed up to the North Shore (aka: Lake Superior) for a little R&R. We stayed at the Grand Superior Lodge, just north of Two Harbors (30 minutes north of Duluth). We had a fireplace, two rooms, and gorgeous views of the lake! I would recommend it to all travelers any day!

When we go on vacation, we like to sleep, eat, shop and eat! :) We were able to enjoy many restaurants including the New Scenic Cafe, which came highly recommended, Vanilla Bean Cafe, and an Italian place in Duluth! Everything was amazing.

Jon and Kylie in front of the New Scenic Cafe.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to catch as many zzzz's as we were planning. Our little Bean caught a cold, and had trouble sleeping both nights that we were up there. It's been a rough few days for her, but she is finally starting to feel a little better. Because she wasn't sleeping too well at night, she took a few really good naps, though, so Jon and I were able to relax in front of the fire with a couple of movies. We watched "Fletch" and "The Graduate." Both were entertaining, but we definitely liked "Fletch" better!

Jon and Kylie in the hotel's hot tub.
Kylie really dislikes the water right now, so we didn't last too long.

We actually didn't spend too much time shopping either, but not because we didn't try! Two Harbors is a really cute town, but not a great place for shopping. The lack of shopping was probably a good thing because we were able to enjoy some sight-seeing that we wouldn't have done had we spent our time shopping. We drove up and down Scenic Hwy. 61, which was right on the shore. We also stopped by a lighthouse in Two Harbors, and hiked up to Gooseberry Falls, which was frozen but still AWESOME!

A light house in Two Harbors.

Frozen Rocks!

Kylie and me in posing in front of Gooseberry Falls.
It was a short hike (about 15 minutes round trip), and perfect winter weather!

On our last night, we were able to have dinner with some friends in Duluth sans children! Our friends, the Redmonds, are in their first year post-residency up in Duluth. They hired a babysitter and graciously went out with us for dinner and drinks! The food was delicious, the company was amazing, and the dessert and champagne were FREE for my b-day! YAY!

We loved our little getaway, and are planning to go back again someday! We love the North Shore any time of year! It truly is God's country!!!!

14 Months!

Our sweet Kylie girl turned 14 months old on January 19th!

Kylie continues to amaze us each and every day! She is soooo smiley and so full of personality! She loves being the center of her mom and dad's attention. She likes to chatter and babble endlessly to anyone who will listen! Her favorites toys to play with right now are her blocks, my rubbermaid containers, bread (strange, right?!), her musical table, her books, and her stroller and dinosaur walkers! She still LOVES to eat pretty much anything we give her! And she really likes being sung to or listening to music!

We are still working on toning down the whining. We try to ignore it or ask her to "ask nicely." I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what that means yet, but someday she will! :) She really dislikes when we are eating and she is not, so now she gets some sort of food pretty much whenever anyone around her is eating. She also still does not like getting her head wet in the tub, which makes bath time a bit of a chore. One more thing that she does not like is being forced to walk. I've been working with her on this, and she will scream and cry and hold her legs up until I finally let her sit down. We are starting to see the stubborn streak that is apparently common in the "Calm Scorpio" according to Dr. El Hassan.

Kylie continues to progress and grow and meet many different milestones. I have been a little worried, however, about some of her speech and gross motor milestones, so she has started "Baby Bootcamp." Everyday we spend some time practicing walking with me holding her hands, as well has with her walker. She also has vocabulary lessons, in which I say some words and/or sounds, and I try to get her to imitate me. We look at and point to pictures of different items/objects/things so she can learn about her environment. We also read several books throughout the day. I know I can be a little bit of a momzilla, but it helps to ease my anxiety by being proactive!

Despite my concerns, Kylie has made a ton of progress over the last month. She is pulling up with ease, cruising along the couch and coffee table, and even cruising from one object to the next. For example, she will put one hand on the couch and one hand on the coffee table, and transfer back and forth between the two. She has finally started to take up to 4 steps with her dinosaur walker, which is HUGE because she hates walking! She still prefers the army crawl, but has started to use a "four point" crawl on a more regular basis. We have decided that she likes the army crawl because it is faster and because she can hold things in her hands as she moves! :) Kylie has started to use a ton of gestures to communicate what she wants. She points (with her whole hand), lifts her arms to be picked up, says "more," "all done," and "milk" in sign language, lifts her arms above her head for "so big," covers her eyes for "peek a boo," and puts her hand to her ear when we play telephone." She also gives kisses, waves bye-bye, and wiggles when she hears music! Two of her biggest accomplishments, in my opinion, are that she is now drinking from a sippy cup (YAY!), and is pretty much completely feeding herself table food! We even finally gave her peanut butter, and is was a huge hit! She kept asking for "more." As far as her size, she has definitely plateaued. Her weight has been right around 23 pounds since October, but she continues to grow in height. She is now 31 inches tall! Because she is thinning out, she is really starting to look like a little toddler. She is still wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes, with a few 18-24 month t-shirts and dresses. She wears a size 4 shoe and size 4 diapers.

I think because I took her picture right before nap time, I couldn't get Kylie to smile for the camera. But she was more than willing to demonstrate her many different faces! Here's the proof:

Blowing kisses!

Chattering about something...

This was towards the end of the photo shoot...I'm pretty sure she was ready to be done with me and in bed with her bunny.

Happy 14 months, Kylie Bean!

A Future Gymnast!

The weather outside might be frightful, but the gym is so delightful! I'm so excited that Kylie got to try out gymnastics today for the first time! Let's be honest, this won't be her last time in a gymnastics club, but I'm so glad I was able to capture her first time on camera. As my friend Rebecca said, "When she is an Olympic gymnast, these pictures will be so fun to look back on!" Clearly, my hopes about Kylie's future gymnastics career are quite low! :) Anyway, we had a play group at JETS gymnastics club today, and it was super fun! The kids tried out many different events, and I even did a few tricks myself! I can't wait for Kylie to start actual classes soon! On to the photographs...

Showing off her kissy face!

She liked watching the big kids play.

Watching some kids jump on the trampoline!

Trying out the balance beam!

Using the bars for a little support...

Playing in the foam pit!

Witten is so sweet...He planted a big, wet one right on Kylie's mouth!

It's slow this time of year...

There is not a whole lot going on right now for these Minnesota Barlows. We pretty much spend our days hanging out indoors, playing, reading, and lunching with friends every now and then. Since Kylie hasn't made a recent appearance on the blog, I thought I would share a few new pictures.

Here she is teaching Baby Jacob (the little guy I babysit) how to play in the exersaucer!

She always seems to be happy first thing in the morning!

And this is her new favorite facial expression...I LOVE IT!