Kinley is 13 months old

I was hoping that we'd see a happier girl as we entered toddler-hood and left baby-hood behind, but that isn't proving to be true... yet. Before I talk about Kinley being a cranky pants, I have to start by sharing her exciting(!) achievement! She is officially a walker!! I'm still surprised at how fast it happened. When I wrote her one year post and mentioned that she didn't seem anywhere near walking, I really meant that she wasn't anywhere near walking and then she surprised us just days later, on March 23rd, by taking three steps towards me in our living room. It was crazy because she had only used her walker a few times before that. Travis and Tyler were there as well and it was fun for us to all witness her first steps together- I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard our hooping and hollering! :-) She still didn't seem in a hurry to walk after that and only took a couple of steps each day with her walker for the next week or so, but she pretty much ditched her walker the day after Easter and has been walking non-stop since. She falls often and gets frustrated, but it's exciting to see her go. I tried to get her her first pair of good shoes yesterday and bless her heart, the top part of her feet are too fat to fit in any shoe they had (seriously, not one single shoe fit!). I'm on a mission now!

Back to Miss K being a cranky pants... I really thought that once she became mobile, she'd be happier and less demanding, just like Tyler was, but she's generally just cranky about everything! Being mobile only means that she can now follow me around and whine and yell at me. It's a lot to take most days. And even though she has a little more freedom, she chooses to stay very close to me. If I'm not within her sight, she's upset. She has become even more territorial of me lately. If Travis hugs me or touches my hand, she screams and cries. She has even tried to push Tyler away if I'm loving on him and Tyler has had to remind her that I was his mommy first. :-( It's difficult for all of us at times.

I usually try to find some excuse for her fussiness and this could definitely be a good one. Her one year molars are coming in right on schedule and three of the four have just barely surfaced. I KNOW that is bothering her, but I swear, her fussiness seems constant... teething or not.

She's becoming more picky with eating and spits a lot of foods out, even things that she typically likes, which I guess could also be because of teething, but it's frustrating. No real change on sleeping yet, despite my high hopes that she'd sleep longer than a two hour stretch once she started walking. We're still in the early stages of walking though... there's still hope! Her afternoon naps have become hit or miss over the last week, but I know there's no way either of us are ready for her to drop to one nap. I have to figure out a way to get this girl to continue taking two naps for forever!

She's doing a lot of baby babble now and on top of attempting to say momma, dada, and bubba, she says 'hi' and always combines 'hi' and 'dada,' which comes out as 'hida.' She says that to everyone. She tries to say 'no, no, no' and shakes her little finger while she says it, which is adorable. She started putting her dirty clothes in the hamper (score!!) before bath and likes putting trash in the trashcan or toilet paper in the toilet and flushing it. She loves being outside and being around Cooper.

She's been such a stinker lately, but take one look at this sweet face and you're hooked. She can pretty much get away with anything! :-)

First walking pictures:




First walking video:


Progress videos: