Jon's Birthday

Jon's birthday was back on March 10th, and it was a beautiful spring day. Kylie and I wanted it to be his day so we did our best to let him choose all of our activities for the day. :) He started out by sleeping in until about 9:30-10:00am. I know he would have preferred to sleep longer, but I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to waste his whoooole day sleeping. We met friends for a picnic and adventure at Oxbow Park. It was a little windy, but everyone seemed to have a good time. We even enjoyed some yummy birthday cupcakes made by Erica!

Our little family in the parking lot of Oxbow!

The guys in front of the wolf cage: Chris, Jon and Brandon.
For all of you Twilight fans, they creatively named the wolf, Jacob.

The girls: Kristen and Halle, Erica and Annabelle, and me and Kylie.

After lunch, we came home so that Jon and Kylie could nap! :) Once Kylie woke up we headed up to Hudson so we could spend some time with Jon's family...and there was only one bump (or maybe two) on the way up. First, Kylie apparently wasn't feeling 100% because she threw up in her car seat when we were about half way there. So, like champion parents, we remained calm and stopped at the nearest gas station for an outfit change. I took Kylie and cleaned her up in the bathroom while Jon did his best to clean the car seat. This is where bump #2 comes in...Somehow in my packing rush, I forgot to pack clothes for Kylie. So, poor, little Kylie had to ride the rest of the way in her pajamas on top of plastic Kwik Trip bags. This might seem like no big deal, but the reason this was a semi-emergency was because we were supposed to be meeting Jon's parents for dinner at the Lake Elmo Inn, and we were running late. I envisioned my daughter sitting in a fancy restaurant in fleece, footy pajamas (that smelled a little bit like vomit) and just did not feel right about it. Thankfully, Jon's parents were able to stop by the nearest Target to pick up a new, adorable outfit (or two) for her. So, except for the smell that was lingering in our car, everything turned out well! Dinner at the Lake Elmo Inn was amazing, and Kylie was an (almost) perfect angel! After dinner, we ate some of Jon's mom's world famous carrot cake, and spent the night in Hudson so we could visit with them some more. We loved spending time with Jon's parents, and I think Jon really enjoyed his birthday!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of Jon's b-day, but I forgot...I'll do better next year for the big 3-0!

A Little Monkey

Over the past few weeks, Kylie has developed two new favorite, monkey-like activities. Her most favorite activity right now is climbing. She climbs onto everything: stairs, the toy box, chairs, couches, the toilet, and pretty much any other obstacle that presents itself. It's cute and scary all at the same time. It's cute because she is so proud of herself for accomplishing such a feat, but it's scary because she doesn't really know how to safely get down. She has some new bumps and bruises to prove it.

She climbed into the toy box, but could not figure out how to get back out.

She loves climbing on to the toy box.

She does this many times each day.

We have started to surround the toy box with pillows and cushions in case she falls.

So proud of herself!

Her other new favorite activity is swinging! On Tuesday, when the temperature got up into the 60s we spent quite a bit of time outside. We went for two walks and even made a stop at the park. Kylie discovered how much she loves to swing!

Having fun in the swing!

Loving Life

We are just loving life these days...Here are some cute and recent pictures of Kylie Girl!

This is one of Kylie's new favorite spots to play.

It's under the chair that we use to block her from the lazy susan!

This is how she gets in and out of her new favorite spot.

I'm not sure that is the easiest route, but it's definitely the most fun!

Now she's just being cute!

How can we be expected to ever say "no" to that smiling face?!?

15 Months!

Kylie Bean is 15 months old!

Pretty smile!

And one with her glo-weem.

How, oh how, can my little baby girl be 15 months old already?!? She truly is not a baby anymore, but a full-blown toddler. She is really thinning out and growing long, skinny limbs. Bye-bye baby rolls! :( Hello sassy attitude! :) But we are loving this stage...She is acquiring new skills each day, and it's becoming obvious that she understands the things we are saying to her. She is showing a lot of love with kisses and hugs, and that makes parenting soooo fun!

So this month, Kylie is loving some different toys. She has started to show interest in her baby dolls. She hugs them and kisses them and carries them around with her. She also likes her dinosaur walker, and anything that plays music. She likes being read to, and will actually sit still to listen to a book for short periods of time. She still likes getting into drawers and the lazy susan, but we have FINALLY put baby proof locks on the dangerous cupboards so she can't get into those anymore. She likes being around other kids, exploring new places, and getting attention from anyone who will give it to her. She still looooves food, and is constantly asking for "more" by signing it. She will eat almost anything we give her, which is awesome! She also is even more in love with her bunny that she sleeps with...She calls him "na-nee." :)

Walking with Dino!

Once again, her main dislikes this month are being hungry and the bath. She does not appreciate when people are eating around her and she is not eating. She is like a dog, and will beg at that person's feet until he or she shares with her. Maybe she hangs around Huey too much. At home, we try to all eat meals at the same time, but when we go to other peoples' houses or have people over, we usually end up letting her nibble and snack while everyone else is eating. As for the bath, she HAAATES it! I think it all started with her not liking to get her head wet, but now she is miserable during the entire bath. She starts to get upset as soon as I turn the water on, and isn't happy again until she is dry and back in her warm clothes. It has not been a fun experience lately, and is actually more of a sporting event for me. I try to get her in and out as fast as possible...Like a race! But seriously, if anyone has any suggestions on how to get Kylie to like the bath again, I welcome them...I'm at a loss.

As far as her milestones go, Kylie is learning new things everyday. It's been really fun to watch her grow into a little human! She is starting to speak a few words...I think. They aren't really words, but she seems to be saying the same sounds for the same things, so I should say she is trying to speak a few words. She definitely says, "da da" for Jon and "na na" for milk/food/snack. She also says "da" for dog and "na-nee" for bunny. I swear she tried to say cheese last night, but it sounded more like, "eese." But she definitely knows a lot more words than she can say...She signs, "more," "milk," and "all done," so she knows what those mean. She will go get a ball, baby doll, and her dinosaur walker when you ask her to. She seems to understand the word, "no" and will usually stop whatever it is we are telling her "no" for. She will stick out her tongue when you ask her where her tongue is, and shrug her shoulders when you ask her where her shoulders are. We are currently working on belly button and nose, so hopefully she'll know those next month. She has a choreographed dance that goes, "clap, clap, clap...Clap, clap, clap...Shake your groove thing." She claps and then makes little fists and twists her torso for "shake your groove thing!" She still isn't walking independently, but she walks all over the place with her dinosaur walker. She really doesn't want to stand or walk at all without something to hold on to...She will immediately sit down when you take away whatever she is holding and try to make her stand. She's a stubborn little thing! She is eating pretty much exclusively table food, (unless I am lazy and don't want to make her anything) and drinking COLD milk from a sippy cup. YAY! She eats 3 meals (at 8am, 1130am/12pm, and 530/6pm), 1 snack (at 4pm), and 4 cups of milk (the first 3 with her meals, and the last one before bed around 7:30/8pm) a day...I'm actually trying to be pretty strict on the 1 snack a day thing because I know she will eat better at meal time if she is hungry. The hardest part has been the whining for snacks, but we are working on distraction techniques so that she forgets she even wants a snack! :) She is still wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes, with a few 18-24 months shirts, size 4 shoes, size 4 diapers during the day, and size 5 at night. Sadly, she won't keep headbands and clips in anymore, which makes me so sad, but I do think her hair might be long enough for a "Pebbles" ponytail! YAY! Hopefully, I'll be able to post a few pictures of that hair do if it works out!

If it isn't obvious by my lengthy post, we love to watch Kylie grow and learn, and we are so so so sooooooo proud of her and all of her accomplishments!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our sweet, little Kylie girl!

Ice Hawks

For the past few years, Jon has had the opportunity to volunteer to work with the Rochester Ice Hawks every now and then. The Ice Hawks are the local hockey team, and Mayo's Orthopedic Department does sports coverage for their games. So basically if someone is badly injured or needs stitches, Jon gets to do work otherwise he just enjoys the game for free. He usually covers 3 or 4 games per year....He had one such game last Saturday. So Kylie and I thought it would be fun to join him for part of it...We lasted for 2 of the 3 periods! The actual game was fun AND we got to see Jon in action! We had a great time hanging out with our little family and meeting their mascot! We can't wait for a few more games next year!

Kylie loved sitting on Jon's lap!

He kept trying to give her to me, and she just kept wanting to go back to Jon.

She is such a daddy's girl!

She liked looking at the Ice Hawk's mascot, but did NOT like being held by him!

Ear Infections Are Not Fun!

Remember when I said Kylie had come down with a cold on our vacation to the North Shore. Well it turns out that illness was actually the beginning of her very first double ear infection! Who knew that fever and cold-like symptoms were also ear infection symptoms?! Okay, I'm sure a lot of people know that, but these first-time parents had no idea! Poor Kylie...We let her suffer for 6 days with a fever between 100-103 before we took her in to see the pediatrician. At least I was filling her full of Ibuprofen, so I think she felt okay most of the time. We could totally tell when the medicine was wearing off, though, because we would find her lying on the floor or wanting to be held when she would normally be playing and jabbering on and on. The doctor prescribed her Amoxicillin, and after about 2 days of that (and 8 days total of symptoms), she started acting more like herself again. I took a few pictures of her during the days of suffering....

Just lying around...

...and cuddling with daddy!

But don't worry...She is feeling better and back to her old, smiley self!