Saturday, December 1, 2012

1 YEAR OLD!!!

Okay, Okay, I know I am really late on this.  Sorry Kinley, Mommy loves you though. 


On October 26, 2012, Kinley turned 1 year old. Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girl!

It seems like only yesterday that we were laying in the hospital room so eagar to meet you. It has been such an incredible experience watching you grow and learn. You are the most amazing thing that has ever happened to your Daddy and me. Kinley, we love you so much more than you will ever know. Although it saddens us to lose our "baby girl", we are excited to see you grow into the sweet little girl that you are. Happy Birthday and thank you for giving us the best year of our lives.

Okay, time for updates.....

Kinley is becoming such an amazing little girl.  She has definitely developed her own personality and .... well, it is a very independent one.  She is very independent and loves to do things on her own.  She is not really a fan of letting us help her to learn to do things.  Occasionally, she will let us help but most of the time she insists on doing it herself (example, learning to use her fork/spoon).  Kinley is one of the sweetest and most loving children I know.  However, she is also one of the most stubborn children I have ever met.  Our parents just laugh at this (especially mine) because they say we were the same way.  For example, she has started throwing "fits" if she does not get her way.   When this happens, I just sit back and tell her "when you are ready to stop crying then mommy will talk to you about it."   Sometimes her "fits" only last a few minutes, but sometimes they last a LOT longer.  Usually longer when she is tired.  I have to say that it is really hard not to laugh when she is doing it. 

She LOVES playing in the cabinets so we are working hard on this not being an issue.  For a while we were constantly removing her and saying "not for Kinley".  We finally decided to give her an entire cabinet that is hers and she can do whatever she wants with it.  This has helps dramatically.  She is still a little sneaky though.  I have caught her getting in a cabinet and running down the hall to her room to play with things she shouldn't have.  SNEAKY.  I also once found her sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by trash bags.  She had removed EVERY bad from the box and just thought she was hilarious. 

Kinley continues to love going to school.  It makes me really happy to know that she enjoys it so much.  But, it also makes me a bit sad because every morning when I drop her off, she practically jumps out of my arms and runs over to her teachers and her breakfast table.  Bitter sweet I guess. 

Kinley has officially been a full time walker since about 10.5 months.  Now, she is super fast and can practically run.  It is SO adorable to watch her go that fast for something she wants or to come to us when we pick her up at school or when Matt gets home from work.  She has mastered going up the stairs to the point that we aren't worried about going up.  In fact, she will go up and then try to close the gate at the top of the stairs behind her.  Cute.  We are still working on going down stairs.  That is a lot harder. 

Here are a few of her stats:

HC: 46.5 cm (86.64%)
Height: 29.5" (59.51%)
Weight: 21# 11.2 oz (74.55%)

Teeth: Kinley has 4 teeth.  2 top front, 2 bottom front

Clothes/Diapers:  Kinley is wearing size 3 Pampers Cruisers.  She is still in 12 month clothes although will be transitioning to 18 month soon.  She wears 18 month pajamas.  She is wearing size 4 shoes.  It is hard to find her shoes because most that come that small have soft soles and aren't meant for kids that are walking. 

Sleep:  Well, this area hasn't changed much since her 9 month update.  She continues to go to bed between 7 - 8 pm with 7:30 being the average.  She will usually sleep until 5:30-6:30 (10-11 hours).  On weekends, she is typically pretty good about getting up, eating, and then going back to bed until 7:30 or so. 

Feeding:  Kinley has become a little picky in her eating these days.  She used to eat anything that we would offer her.  Now, she will clench her mouth closed, push things away, and shake her head "no" if she doesn't want something.  She won't even eat things that used to be her favorites (fish, chicken, broccoli).  For veggies, she continues to love avocados, peas, and carrots.  She loves anything carbs (woman after my own heart unfortunately).  For meat, she will occasionally eat chicken but rarely (not even nuggets), she likes fish sticks (unfortunately), turkey, and hot dogs.  Man, that is bad.  Kinley will still pretty much eat any fruit and she loves yogurt.  We are working on using forks/spoons with eating.  She will hold them and even sometimes get food onto them, however will then pick it off and eat it with her fingers.  She is drinking whole milk from a sippy cup.  Currently, she still gets 1 bottle in the mornings.  This is really just more for us so she will go back to bed.  We are getting ready to take this away too. 

Okay, enough updates.  Enjoy these pics from Kinley's 1st Birthday session.....









Sunday, November 18, 2012

It's A Party!

Happy 1st Birthday Kinley!

Kinley's Birthday weekend was full of fun and family.  We were so excited that everyone could make it.  Grandma and Grandpa Queen were able to come for 6 days!  Uncle Jordan, Aunt Brittany, Gammy & Granddaddy Telg were also here for 3 days.  It was SO great to have everyone here and we truly appreciate each of them making the trip to celebrate Kinley's birthday with us. 

We had plans to visit the zoo for the first time however the weather did not cooperate.  Instead, we visited the Children's Museum.  Kinley loves it here!  Although this time I think she had more fun watching the people than playing. 

On Saturday, we had Kinley's party.  I have to be honest, after I set everything up  - I just stood there, looking at her pictures from the past year, and cried, cried, cried.  So proud to see her growing into such an amazing girl but so sad that my little baby girl is growing up.  Okay, enough sadness. 

We were really hoping that she would tear into her cake and make a huge mess.  Not so much!  Kinley had no interest in touching the cake and even got a little mad at us when we made her.  So funny.  She did however REALLY enjoy eating her cake IF we fed it to her on a fork.  Silly girl. 

After cake, Kinley got to open all her presents.  Well, really Mommy opened then and Kinley played with them.  THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL THE GREAT PRESENTS!!!!  She absolutely loves her Cozy Coupe, Disney Ride-On, wagon, and her purses.  It is really cute to watch her play with her toys.  Funny how she knows just how to ride/play with each of them even though she has never seen them before. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!  We LOVE you!

Come on Grandpa, let's slide!

WEEEEE!!!!

Don't worry Daddy, I got this!

Not sure if she was interested in the bubble tubes,
or the people on the other side.

Hi, Grandma, look at these blocks.

We had a picture for every month of her life. 
This is what made me cry.


Are we ready yet?

Mommy & Kinley

Hmmm, not sure about this

Okay, I'll touch it but not too much. 

Yummy!  This is good!

WOW!  Are these all for me?

Thanks Gammy & Granddaddy

Thanks Depenbrocks

This is fun!!!!

Cool, this thing claps and sings!

Nothing like reading in my wagon

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa! 

She LOVES Aunt Britty!

Weee!  This is fun Granddaddy!

Look Gammy, this plays music

Unfortunately, she didn't care for Uncle Jordy holding her

But, Uncle Jordy is okay when Aunt Britty is there. 

Gammy & Granddaddy

Yeah, another ride.  Thanks Grandpa!

Umm, backwards is fun too

Snuggling with Grandma

This is a sign I made for her party. 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Let's Walk!

Kinley has really taken off lately with her walking abilities.  She isn't officially a walker because she is still crawling about 50% of the time but she is testing herself more and more each day.  It is the absolute cutest and most exciting thing to watch.  She gets so proud of herself.  I think having all our friend's kids over last weekend really helped her.  Kinley wanted so much to walk with all the other kids. 

We have managed to get a couple good videos lately to show her progression.  Such a big difference in 2 weeks time.  She is going to be running by her birthday!

Enjoy!

 
This is about 2 weeks ago - approx 10.5 months
 
 
These were 9/30/12 - just days over 11 months
 


Sunday, September 30, 2012

Visit with KC friends

This weekend we had an amazing visit with our KC friends.  The Schonhoffs (Dan, Lisa, Kylie (2 1/2), and Gavin (18 mos?) and the Colwells (Jeremy, Kelly, and Kinsley (13 months)) came up for Kansas City to visit for the weekend.  The guys and Kelly all went to the Nebraska vs. Wisconsin football game in Lincoln while Lisa and I stayed home with the kids.  It was so much fun!  Kinley absolutely loves being around other kids and was in pure heaven to have so many friends to play with. 

Saturday morning before the game, Lisa and I took Kylie, Gavin, and Kinley to Valas Pumpkin Patch and met up with Lisa's friend Lis and her 2 kids Elias(2) and May(3 mos).  It was awesome!  The place was huge.  We were there for 2.5 hours and probably only saw 1/4 of it.  We did the petting zoo, train ride, played on a wooden train playset, slides, corn pit, and pony rides.  Kinley wanted NOTHING to do with the pony rides and screamed until I took her off.  She lasted about 2 minutes.  The other kids liked it though and she enjoyed watching them.  She also did not care for the petting zoo/feeding the animals.  She just continously shook her head "no" when I tried to get her to do it.  Kinley did however LOVE the playground, corn pit, slides, and train ride.  We are definitely going to have to come back to this place.

Later that day, we hung out at the house with all 4 kids.  They all had SO much fun playing with each other.  It was interesting to watch 4 kids ages 2&under running around the house.  Kinley really starting walking more this weekend because she was watching all the other kids.  It was so funny because Kinley kept chasing Kinsley around the house.  Kinsely is such a fast walker and Kinley couldn't keep up.  She kept looking at her and then back to me like "Mom, I want to play with her.....". 

Sunday, before Dan & Lisa hit the road, we took the kids to the park.  Again, Kinley LOVED playing with her friends.  She gets such a kick out of standing on the equipment and swinging with Kylie. 

It was so great to visit with all of our friends.  I miss them SO much!  Hopefully we can get together again SOON!!!!

Enjoy the pics!

Testing the corn out - hmmmm

Okay, this stuff is alright

Wow, this is cool!

Kinley's first train ride!

Pumpkin pose!

My little pumpkin

This train is so fun

Look Gavin!

Yeah!

Smiling with mommy

Well, I came down it - why can't I go up it?

Mom, don't tell G2... but I HATE this pony!

Get me OFF THIS PONY!

Kinley was very interested in Kinsley

Look, you can put the pieces in here....

Let's play some music together.  It was funny watching all 3
trying to climb on the bench at once!

Snack time!

Gavin really liked Kinley's oranges.  She then decided to steal his mac & cheese!

Looking for the puppy

Where did the puppy go?

She loved the swing

Yeah, Daddy!  Push me higher!

Walking to Daddy in the playground

Kinley and Kylie loved swinging together!