Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Memorial Day Memories!

Jon, Kylie and I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday, we tried to go to Como Zoo, but as soon as we arrived, the sky opened up and the rain started pouring. So, we went with plan b...We headed to the Mall of America instead. We didn't do too much shopping, but we met up with Jon's parents for an early anniversary lunch at Twin Cities Grille. We had a great time!

Jon was on call on Sunday, and it was smoking hot outside. Kylie and I hit up the swimming pool in the morning...Kylie HATED the cool water, but I am hoping that she will eventually learn to love it. She clung to me the whole time, which was fine, because I didn't have to chase her around. We just sat in the shallow water and watched all the people enjoying themselves. After Kylie's nap, we brought supper to Jon and then headed out to the farm for our Sunday tradition of visiting with the relatives!

My dad riding in the parade!

 Mr. Mayor giving his Memorial Day speech.

On Monday, Kylie and I went down to Stewartville to watch my dad (or "ba-pa") in the parade and give his annual Memorial Day speech (He's the mayor). I thought this year's speech was fantastic as usual, with much emphasis on the reason for the day, remembering our veterans. After the program, we had brunch at my parent's house and visited with many of our friends and relatives. Afterwards, Kylie was exhausted, so we headed back home for her nap. Then, in the evening (after both Jon and Kylie were well rested) we went to a grill-out at a friend's house. Kylie enjoyed crawling around and playing with Annabelle and Halle! It was another great day!

Kylie, Halle, and Annabelle on the swing!

Kylie and Jon eating delicious homemade ice cream!

We had a beautiful, fun weekend and we are so grateful to all the service men and women who have made that possible for us! Thank you, veterans, for all that you have sacrificed for our wonderful country!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

18 Months!

Kylie at 18 months old!




Our sweet Kylie Bean is 18 months old! It's hard to believe she has been in our lives for a year and a half already...It's been the best!

Kylie has continued to grow and change quickly. She surprises us every day with the things that she knows and understands. I love that she is developing her own personality...She is a sweet, funny, flirty, smiley, sassy little thing! I swear she already knows how to push my buttons, and I envision some "fun" tween years in our future!

Posing with her Glo-Weem

Her favorite toys right now include baby dolls, her walking stroller, empty sippy cups and anything she is not supposed to have. As always, she also loves her "na-nee" (bunny), as you can see from the first two pictures above. I had to give her the bunny to get her to smile for the camera! She is starting to like being read to, although her attention span is all of 30 seconds...She will pick a book (usually one about animals) out of her pile, crawl over to me, sit in my lap, and listen to me read to her. It's pretty sweet. She likes being outside, going for walks in the BOB, dancing, giving kisses to EVERYONE and hanging out with other people. Her favorite foods are cheese, sweet potatoes, mandarin oranges, peaches, fruit snacks, and any other sweet treat. She loves standing on the couch to look out the window, and climbing on anything and everything. She often catches me by surprise when I turn my back for a second only to find her on top of a chair or table....I have no idea how a child can climb like a monkey, and yet refuse to walk...But that's my child! :)

Kylie is still a very happy and content little girl. She really goes with the flow and doesn't seem too particular about anything. I still have my fingers crossed that she gets her daddy's type B personality, although struggling to get two people up and out of bed every morning is going to drive me crazy! :) There are very few things that make Kylie mad, but there are some...She still struggles with bath time every now and then. She does pretty well until she has to get out, and then she usually cries a bit. She HATES the way the grass feels, and since she won't walk, she has to feel it all over her body. I was hoping that might encourage her to stand up and get moving, but so far she just sits there and wails until someone picks her up. She also doesn't like being told she can't get into the drawers or the lazy susan in the kitchen. I do my best to block her from going into those places, and she inevitably throws a fit each time.

Hamming it up for the camera!

Kylie is meeting many milestones, and has pretty much caught up to her actual age peers in every category except gross motor skills. She is talking up a storm, and learning new words everyday. I would say she probably has 30-40 words right now. Some of my favorites are, "rah rah" (water), "wee wee" (Huey), "ba-pa" (grandpa), "bow," and of course, "mama." My least favorite is definitely, "no no." She knows several body parts including her belly button, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, shoulders and tongue. She also knows a few animal sounds. She says, "woof woof" for dog (and many other animals), "moo" for cow, "oh oh" for monkey, and "neigh" for horse. She pointed at a mounted elk head the other day at Newt's and said, "woof woof.":) We're working on that one! She knows when she has gone #2...She points to her booty and says, "poo poo." I've actually appreciated that skill! :) Kylie is currently growing her molars. Two of the tops ones are in, and the two on the bottom are just starting to poke through. So she is up to 10, almost 12, teeth. Kylie is still an excellent sleeper. We are continuing to work on dropping the morning nap, which has been difficult at times, and she still gets it 3-4 days/week. Her afternoon nap is usually between 2-3 hours long, which is a great break for both of us! And she sleeps 11-12 hours at night. We just had to put up black-out shades in her room because she was starting to want to get up with the sun. Since we did that, she is back on her regular sleeping schedule! Kylie still loves to eat, but has become a little pickier in her old age. Thankfully, she likes a few different kinds of fruits and vegetables, so she is able to get some of those in each day. She eats breakfast at 8:00am, lunch at 11:15am, and supper at 5:30pm. She usually gets a snack in the afternoon as well to hold her over until supper. She is growing like a weed...Although, I don't know her exact height and weight, she seems to be pretty tall for her age. She is wearing 18-24 month clothes, size 4 or 5 shoes, and size 4 or 5 diapers. Kylie can climb on anything, including up and down the stairs. She is actually fairly safe when she climbs...She always gets down by going backwards, so I pretty much let her go as long as I can see her. She has also starting "jumping." She usually does this on the couch when she is standing to look out the window. She holds onto the back and just jumps. Kylie might be the fastest crawler I have ever met (probably because she has had several months to perfect the skill). When she gets going, I literally have to run to catch her. :) This, along with a "content with the status quo" personality, are the reasons I believe she doesn't want to walk. Clearly, it's a little frustrating to me, but I'm trying to let my worries go. With the said, she has started to take a few steps unassisted. A few times each day, she will prop herself up and just start walking. She can take about 3-8 steps before she falls down. I guess it's just going to be a looong learning process for her...Hopefully she will figure out that walking is more efficient and just get up and go one of these days!

We are loving our Kylie Bean more and more each day. She is such a sweetheart, and I can't wait to continue to see her personality develop more and more over the next days, months and years!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

A Wonderful Mother's Day!


Me and my Bean on Mother's Day 2012.

I am so blessed with an amazing daughter and loving husband. They made my second Mother's Day a great one!


My hanging flower basket from Jon and Kylie.

Jon was post call, and arrived home around 10:00am with a hanging basket of pretty pink flowers and a card. It was a surprise and I love the flowers! After some quick packing, we headed up to the Cities for lunch with Jon's mom and dad at Fireside in Rosemount. We had never been there before, and it was really good. Once we arrive back home around 2:00pm, we all caught some much needed sleep. After our naps, we headed outside to do a little yard work, which I love on warm spring days. Then we ate supper and headed out to the farm to see my family.

It was a great day full of the people and things I love!

Fun with Friends



A couple of weekends ago, Kylie and I headed up to the Twin Cities to meet up with a two of my college friends. We met Erika and Amanda for a walk around the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and lunch at a fun cafe. I definitely don't see my college girls enough, and I have missed them! It was great to get together and catch up, even though it was only for a few short hours!



Erika, Amanda, me and Kylie with the big spoon.


Kylie loving the big swing!


The girl loves posing for the camera!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Pretty Pictures



Our friend, Rachel, so generously took some pictures of Kylie. She is almost 18 months old, so these will be a great reminder of her at this milestone age! :) Thanks, Rachel! You're the best!