I'm Back...What has been going on

Hello friends!

I know I have been gone a long time but there were just some things that I needed to focus on for a little. I can't believe it has been months since I have blogged...don't judge :) A lot has happened so I thought I would update everyone on life and what has been happening. Sorry in advance for the long post! If you follow me on instagram you have gathered a little peek. Let me start from where we left off.

We went on our first road trip to DC to visit some friends and had a blast. Kinley did awesome on the road trip up and back. She definitely let us know when she was done and thankfully we were just about there when she had had enough. We had such a great time with our friends and can't wait to see them again. The day we came back Kinley's first tooth cut through! No wonder we had all night parties when we were in DC.

We miss these pretty ladies and their sweet boys! 

Shortly after DC Kinley and I went to Colorado to spend some time with my family. I was a little nervous because I was traveling with a baby alone with 10 pounds of luggage. Thankfully she did great and enjoyed all the attention she got from everyone. It was great seeing my sisters and spending time with my mom, dad and step mom. The time always goes too fast so we soak up every second of it. 

Sorry for the crappy picture but it was the only one of all of us. 

Kinley turned 10 months and about a week later took her first steps. It was so special! I even was able to catch it on video! Go me!! She didn't start walking consistently until right around 11 months, and after that it was all over! Just kidding! It has been so much fun since she started walking! 

Matt and I celebrated 3 years of marriage! We had the best wedding in St. Thomas I love looking back at pictures from that day. I am thankful every day for such an amazing husband that puts up with me! Lets be real though I do put up with him too :). We celebrated by going to the new adventure park here and went zip lining. Wow was that amazing and worth every penny spent!

I highly recommend the adventure park if you live in Virginia Beach or come to visit me :)

Kinley celebrated her first Halloween by going trick or treating at the mall. Since she was too young for the candy we walked around and looked at the other costumes. It was perfect since it was cold out and she was too little to actually trick or treat. Of course she was the cutest lady bug around. 

I told you she was the cutest lady bug around. 

We added another road trip unexpectedly to Baltimore. Matt's uncle passed away but we made the best of the trip and enjoyed some quality family time. It wasn't the ideal situation but it is always nice to take a few steps back from everyday life and enjoy one another. Life is truly too short!

We had some family pictures done that I was so in love with! They turned out amazing and I can't wait to book another session with Kirstyn Marie Photography. I ran my first half marathon since having the baby (technically she is a toddler, but she will always be my baby!). I was pretty happy that I finished it in a decent time (for me) and could still walk. My brother in law and father in law ran it with me. 

And the biggest milestone so far was Kinley turning 1. Wow what an amazing day! Her birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year which was so special. We were also in Colorado and got to celebrate with my family. It was special to all of us and she had such a blast at her party. I put a lot of work into the party and was very happy with how things turned out. I will do another blog post on her birthday so I will only share a few pictures, because lets be honest there is probably 1000. When we got back from Colorado we had another party here with our family and friends. Kinley and I were so very excited our friends Erin and Bodie came from Connecticut to celebrate such a memorable day with us! Thanks Erin for making that happen! We love you guys! 

Christmas came and went.  Kinley sat on Santa's lap but was quick to jump down. She is such a busy bee you can't get her to sit anywhere for more than 2 seconds, unless she is reading a book. That girl loves to read books, especially the Llama Llama books. We all had a great Christmas and are truly blessed. We had a great holiday season but to be honest I was glad when it was over. It is so chaotic and with all the traveling it is super busy. I like my routine and was happy to get back in the swing of things! 

New years was nothing special, but I am ok with that. These days I would rather sleep.  Did I mention Kinley is FINALLY sleeping through the night??!!! It only took us a year but we are all getting sleep again. I was definitely more tired the first few days because I was so use to getting up and being up for hours some nights. It is pretty amazing to get sleep again. 

Kinely will be 14 months at the end of January and every day I can't believe how fast it is going and how fast it has gone. I no longer have a baby...we have a toddler. I really do love this age! She is so amazing and watching her learn new things every day is truly a blessing. 

If you are still reading thank you! I know it has been awhile and this post was forever long but I appreciate all of you! I promise to blog more often and keep you all in the loop. We have lots of exciting things coming up this year to include Kinley's first wedding! Gosh we are excited! 

In a nut shell that is what has been going on in our lives the past few months. I will leave you all with a Kinley selfie. Hope every one has a great hump day! 

8 Months

Wow so much has changed this month! One Saturday night we had one of the worst nights ever. Kinley was up almost every hour it seemed. I told Matt the next morning she is going to be crawling soon because there is so much going on in her brain she can't sleep. What do you know two days later I get a video of Kinley crawling. I wanted to cry I missed the first crawl. She is on the move and is faster than ever. She started crawling about 7 1/2 months. Shortly after she started pulling herself up on everything so down went the crib. It is pretty hard to get her in it sometimes. I feel like I am setting her on the ground. She has adjusted well to sleeping on the ground :)

There isn't a dr appointment normally for 8 months but since she was sick we were there. She weighed in at 16lbs 3oz! I was very happy! She gained over a pound in a month and we have officially doubled her birth weight. She is 27 inches long. We are still in size 2 diapers and all 6 month clothes. Yay! Monthly pictures are getting more and more difficult.

We have had quite the month. Kinley got sick for the first time with an ear infection. It was awful. She was so sad it broke my heart. On day 10 of Amoxicillin she broke out in the worst hives ever. Allergic to amoxicillin. Poor girl! She was covered in them! Benadryl helped tremendously though we had to give it to her for a few days. 11 days later she woke up with 103.8 fever. I was a little scared! Or should I say freaking out quite a bit. I gave her some Tylenol and called the dr. The dr told me to see if the Tylenol helps and call back around lunch time. I have been thinking she has been teething for a while now, still toothless, but that was WAY too high of a fever for a teething baby. My fear was it was her ears again. We watched her temperature and though it went down a little it was still too high for my comfort. Back to the dr we went. Her ears looked great but she had strep. How does a 8 month old get strep? Uggg I was so sad for her! She was so miserable again. I couldn't help but feel like a terrible mom because my baby was sick again. She was on Zithromax for 5 days and seemed to do much better after the second day. I can only hope the sicknesses stay away for awhile now. There is nothing harder than watching your baby be in pain and so upset. It was heartbreaking and I felt so helpless.

So smiley at the dr. You would never know she had an ear infection. 

After we got home I think she started to feel really bad. Lots of snuggles!

Sleep: She is still in her crib at night and since she has become very mobile we decided it was time to move to the crib for naps. It wasn't as difficult of a transition as I had thought. I think she really likes her crib. Though she continues to cuddle up in the corner I think she sleeps better. She still wakes at the 30 minute mark and I have to rock her back to sleep but then she is usually good until she wakes up to eat. She gets up once to eat and has been doing better at going right back to sleep at night. I am very thankful for that! She has been getting up really early some mornings, 430-500. It kills me! I usually bring her in our bed, cuddle her and see if I can get her back to sleep. Naps are still hit or miss! There have been many times she has slept 1-1.5 hours. I know it's possible!! I can't figure out what is different on the days she sleeps 30-45 minutes compared to days she sleeps 1-1.5 hours. We do the same thing every nap. Who knows! If you know please share :)

Eating: She is a really good eater. I am so happy we did BLW. She has done so well with it and it is so much easier to give her what we are having for dinner. There are some days we do more than just dinner with her but we are only consistent with dinner. She loves chicken, broccoli and cucumbers. She continues to get only breast milk and is becoming less and less interested in nursing. Sad sad!! I am still pumping 4 times a day and right now pumping enough or more than what she is eating in a day. It will be soon that I will be breaking into my stash in the freezer. Right now I think the amount of breast milk and food she gets are a good combination for her.


Play: Play time is so much fun with her! She doesn't sit in one place for too long but will still stand at her music table for many minutes dancing away. Two seconds later she will be at the dog dish. We definitely have to keep an eye on her! The animals have done really well with her being on the move. They don't seem too phased. She continues to love her music table and Lamaze toys but the best toys is everything that is not a toy. It all goes in her hands for her to examine then right in the mouth. She went on the swing for the first time this month and loved it! She thought it was the greatest thing ever. She went to her first Little Gym class and had a blast. She went peach picking for the first time and LOVED eating them later.

We also got her a big girl car seat this month. We will eventually buy two but for now it is in my car and she is seeming to enjoy the extra space. She continues to do new things every day and perfects the skills she's learned. It is truly been amazing watching her grow.

Other blog posts following her month to month:
7 Months
6 Months
5 Months
4 Months
3 Months