Mr. Gattis fun

One of Tyler's favorite things to do right now at Mr. Gattis with his buddy, Trace.



Switching places.

Sleeping babies

It's still such a rare occurrence for Tyler to fall asleep on his own so I get pretty excited to find him like this. It's hard not to cuddle him up when he's so sweet and peaceful. :-)





However, this one has tried to fall asleep at the dinner table several times over the last week. After letting her sleep long enough to get these couple of pictures, I definitely learned my lesson by having to stay up with her an extra 1 1/2 hours that night so no more drifting off at dinner. Equally as sweet and peaceful.

Silly string gone bad

After telling Tyler what silly string was, he thought it would be the funniest thing to get his Daddy when he came home from work, but it didn't work out exactly as he hoped when he couldn't push the button hard enough to get the silly string to come out. haha.

(This is actually a couple months old... I just saw it on my camera and Tyler still thinks it's the best thing to watch this video over and over). :-)

Bluebonnets

I may have been a little frustrated about the rain recently, but it sure has helped in providing some beautiful bluebonnets this year. The kids were much more cooperative than last year. Now if I can only figure out the best time to go for good lighting. Oh well... :-)

Kinley is 1 year old!

My baby girl is ONE! That still sounds crazy to say! I think I spent a lot of time this past month at either end of this birthday spectrum- either planning for her big birthday party or in complete denial that my baby was about to turn one- and that makes the past month seem a little like a blur. ;-)

We had her one year check-up yesterday and everything went well. She weighs 23lbs 3oz (75%) and she's 28 1/2 inches tall (25%). Stretching out and slimming down. It's funny because even though she's still a big girl, she seems like such a skinny-minny to me as she's shedding a couple of her rolls. For comparison purposes, Tyler weighed 20lbs 9oz (15-25%) and was 30 1/2inches tall (50-75%) at his one year check-up. I still get amused to see them in such different percentiles.

Okay, let me think of all the fun and new things that Kinley is up to these days. She still doesn't seem like she's in any hurry to be walking, however, she is standing on her own for a few seconds at a time and has decent balance. She uses her walker in tiny increments. The first time she used her walker and walked any real distance was in our living room during her birthday party. That was kind of exciting because the grandmas got to share in it. She started giving out kisses on her birthday and I was the lucky first recipient. :-) She got another bottom tooth (3/06), which makes eight pearly whites total. She also figured out how to suck out of a straw and loved that the reward for figuring that out was some of her brother's Icee. She loves passing out high-fives. She continues to be a hard core Momma's girl, but she has taken an extra liking to Travis recently. Saying 'Dada' more often and getting really excited when he comes home in the evening or when I talk to him on the phone throughout the day. However, it stops there. She's stuck to me (and my hip) like glue. :-)

I'm sure as we enter toddler-hood, there will be lots of fun stories to share, but I think this about covers the baby stage. Oh, how I am going to miss these days!!!!







silly girl~

Happy First Birthday, Baby Girl.

It's hard to believe that you are already ONE year old! The time has flown by faster than it ever has and I remember the day we found out we were having a girl just like it was yesterday. I was surprised to hear the news because I was so used to raising a boy, but I have always dreamed of the day that I would have a daughter and was so excited about your arrival.

One year ago today at 5:33pm, you made that dream a reality. Perfect in every way, I fell completely in love the moment I saw you. Your Daddy and I love your brother like crazy and I think it's a common worry to wonder how you can possibly love anyone else as much, but you immediately had as much of our hearts as Tyler did. It's pretty amazing how that can happen. Since that day, we've shared many hugs and kisses and I have some wonderful memories that will last always.

You have grown and changed so much in the past year. You went from one of the smallest babies I have ever seen to one of the biggest. A sleepy newborn to an inquisitive toddler. It wasn't long ago that you could barely grasp at a rattle with your tiny fingers and now you pull yourself up on everything and climb each staircase, giggling all the way to the top. You truly have "a smile that will light up a room" and I have seen it happen more times than I can count. You scrunch your little nose and flash your pearly whites and people just fall in love with you. You are lucky to have such a charming ability. You are stubborn and persistent. You have a temper like no other and keep us on our toes. You 're loud and opinionated, but you can also be shy and reserved. I love the moments when you choose to be shy and reserved because I get to hold you close and snuggle. You are my little shadow, definitely a Momma's girl and I absolutely love that we already share a special bond.

This past year has been overwhelming at times with trying to figure out the dynamics of being a family of four, but I think we're doing a good job at getting there. I think that you have made our family more fun... more complete and I'm looking forward to all that we'll share together during this next year. I hope that this next year brings you many discoveries and more love than you can handle.

Thank you for adding more beauty and happiness to my life. Happy first birthday, baby girl.

I love you,
Mommy


Waking up from naptime to a room full of balloons~
























I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect first birthday gift for you and I hope that one day you'll appreciate your first set of pearls. I know you won't wear this bracelet very often, but I loved the idea of an heirloom gift that you can use on your wedding day or pass on to your own daughter one day. :-)

Kinley's First Birthday Party!!

We celebrated Kinley's first birthday this past Saturday and I still can't believe just how fast this past year has flown by... that we're already celebrating her first birthday! I was excited to have an outdoor Spring garden-type of party, but Mother Nature apparently had plans of her own. I started stalking the forecast eight days in advance and it looked like perfect Spring weather ahead. I mean, we had beautiful weather for so many days before, why should that change??? Unfortunately, it did. The forecast for the party got worse as each day passed and of course, it was supposed to change just before Kinley's party and of course, it was supposed to clear right after the party. Go figure! I had a vision of the "perfect" day for my sweet girl and crappy weather was NOT part of it. The weather went from 83 degrees and sunny on Thursday to 50 degrees and raining on Friday. The 70% chance of rain in the below picture for Saturday ended up being 100% chance of rain. Seriously?!

(Thursday morning)




(possible flash flooding and outdoor parties = not a good combo)


After getting my anxiety in check, we shifted gears and planned to host [a lot] of people indoors. There was no way that we were going to let crazy rain and cold weather spoil my baby's special day! And it didn't! Despite the weather, we had an amazing turn out of close family and friends and we managed to cram 52 people inside our little house. That's 30 adults and 22 babies/kiddos and even though it was a packed house, I wouldn't have guessed there were that many people here. I know that Kinley was a little overwhelmed by the crowd, but we are very fortunate to have so many people that want to share in special moments with us. I love that! And she definitely warmed up as the party went on. I thought it was a great success! The house was a complete wreck, which is a good indication that the kids had fun. We enjoyed pizza, pasta, salad, lots of sweets, but most importantly, good company!



































































It took Kinley a few minutes to compose herself and actually enjoy her cake after we sang Happy Birthday to her. She started out all smiles as we sang and ended in a pretty pitiful cry. Guess she wasn't a fan. ;-) Once she did figure the cake out, she definitely enjoyed it!

































Kinley received some wonderful gifts and I think she's completely set for Summer! She wasn't that interested in opening the gifts so Tyler assisted. My favorite moment was when Tyler opened a tea set and exclaimed, "WE don't have one of these!!" He has definitely been enjoying Kinley's gifts as well. :-)









































Our beautiful girl had a fabulous first birthday!! Thank you(!) to everyone that came and celebrated with us!










(And as predicted, the weather cleared after the party, but I'm not bitter or anything- haha).