HALLOWEEN

As promised - a little late - here are pictures of Kenley from halloween. Kenley and matt went together to pick out her costume. She got to disply her elephant cuteness 3 different times - at my office on Friday, for trick or treating with friends on actual Halloween and at the Munchkin March @ Pearl Street on Sunday. At the Munchkin March, Kenley even had a few random people ask to take her picture. She was definitely a good sport on Halloween because it was really cold out, but she didn't fuss at all. We ended up having a potluck with the Boccis, Holmbergs, Wanges, Yeagers and Jordan Weins. Matt and I dressed up too (as you can see). Matt was Chia Obama and I was "The Room"...see if you can figure out how that related to Kenley as the elephant.

"Kenley, Mommy said no"

While feeding Kenley lunch yesterday she discovered the pleasure of blowing as soon as the spoon hit her mouth. I had always prided myself on the fact that I could keep Kenley so clean during her meals...until yesterday. The only thing that kept me sane during the feeding fiasco of 2009 was the thought of writing about it on Kenley's blog!

These are a few of her favorite things...

As Kenley becomes more active, it becomes more obvious what she loves by her body language. She can't yet tell me, aside from a few squeals, in words when she gets excited or wants something but she does let me know by bouncing, wiggling, reaching and leaning toward it. Some of Kenley's current favorites are:

Coleman - I was going to title this blog "Kenley and Coleman sitting in a tree, K I S S I NG" but I thought some people might find that distasteful...even if it is true that Kenley loves Coleman's kisses (she welcomes them with a mouth wide open - kind of gross actually).

Mommy's cell phone - Keeps her entertained for at least 15-20 min while Mommy works!

The BusyZoo - One of Kenley's favorite toys. It says it's for kids 12m+, but she's pretty advanced ;)
Single Ladies - the song (not to say that there aren't some single ladies out there that Kenley likes)...As seen in the video.
Her Bottle - Nothing makes Kenley happier when she gets it or more upset when it's taken away than her bottle.
I promise I will post something next week for Halloween with Kenley in costume, so keep an eye out for that!

Oh to be a new parent

I realized when Kenley turned 6 months, as I was dressing her, that she still fit in the same outfit we took her home from the hospital in. I knew it was a little big on her at the time...but to fit into it six months later...

Poor blogging etiquette

First, let me apologize for taking almost two months to post anything...I know that's poor blogging etiquette. To explain: as I was putting away our suitcases last weekend, I realized our family had been out of town 6 of the last 7 weekends. Phoenix (Vacation!) 7/31-8/3, Woodland Park (Kenley's shower) 8/8 - 8/9, Crooked Creek (YL Camp) 8/21-8/23, Woodland Park (a wedding) 8/29-8/30, Knoxville (to visit the Cutters) 9/3-9/7, and then Crooked Creek again 9/12-9/13.

(Here we are all gussied up for Kenley's 1st wedding.)

It made for a busy, but exciting summer. I love that Kenley is flexible enough to sleep in different cribs and pack n' plays all across the country. Along with all of our travels, things at work have been very busy which doesn't leave me much time for "extra curriculars" such as blogging. This past week I worked close to 55 hours (most at home, thankfully) without any childcare (just Matt and I). I feel so blessed, though, because in the midst of everything Kenley is just a very happy baby. I am usually greeted with a huge smile that makes me seem to forget all the craziness from the day, which is a great welcome home after a long day of work. I don't expect many more weeks like this past week, so I should be able to get back to keeping you all updated with the latest in Kenley's world.

The past 3 weeks have been fun with Kenley because she is learning and trying so many new things. She can now say "ba ba ba" and "da da da". I love watching her work so hard to form "words". I tried really hard to get this on video, but every time Kenley saw the camera she stopped talking and just stared at the camera instead. Kenley has also become a pro at sitting on her own. This makes things both easier and harder for me because while Kenley can now play with more toys, she also has the potential of face planting onto the floor.

Kenley decided a couple weeks ago she no longer likes being swaddled and really likes sleeping on her tummy. Between sitting and sleeping on her tummy, her bald spot it finally growing hair (much to her daddy's delight)! In addition to sitting really well, Kenley has begun pulling herself up on things and likes to stand as well. Standing she's no so great at yet, so I'm usually close at hand to catch Kenley when her leg finally give out or she loses her balance. When she turned 6 months, Kenley started eating vegetables. She tolerates green beans pretty well, hates peas, but loves sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut squash. I am trying to avoid giving her to many veggies with beta carotene, though, so I don't turn Kenley orange. We are avoiding giving her fruit for a while so she doesn't become a picky eater. Maybe we'll introduce fruit next month. Tonight Kenley is going to her first Rockies game (I know, I can't believe it's only her first game either) and will be sporting official Rockies gear! I'll make sure to post pictures of our family in purple and grey. I'll also add some more pictures of Kenley to this post when I get them from various family members, so keep an eye out for those as well as a rocking video of Kenley dancing to "Single Ladies" by Beyonce.

Little Miss Adventure

First, let me apologize for not posting sooner. I know that's not proper blog etiquette. As you can see, over the past month Kenley has officially earned the title of Little Miss Adventure.


Riding a horse at the Wiens Ranch for Blair's 2nd Birthday (7.18)

Rocking it out (to Mat Kearney) at the Mile High Music Festival (7.19)

River Boarding at Clear Creek Whitewater Park in Golden (7.25)

Boating at Boulder Reservoir with the Richards (7.26)

On a plane flying to Arizona (7.31)

Swimming with Daddy at Nana and Grandpa's in Phoenix (8.3)

Case # 4190587

This is Kenley's first case number with Rocky Mountain poison control (RMPC). I have been wanting to plant flowers around our house for weeks now and decided today was the day to finally get to it. While Matt ran the crossing (for YL) at our house tonight, Kenley and I planted flowers. Kenley really seemed to love it. She was very chatty and kept reaching out to touch the flowers when they were within reach...which actually turned out to be the reason for the call to poison control. At one point, Kenley pulled a leaf off of a petunia I was planting. I didn't think much of it until I realized the leaf was in her mouth. Trial by error...sorry Kenley, I'm learning all of this through you. Anyway, I googled "plants from Walmart" and of course got several hits regarding the dangers of pesticides on plants sold at Walmart, so to be on the safe side I went ahead and called up Doug at RMPC. Kenley is currently asleep and has been for about an hour and I'm sure tomorrow everything will be fine, but for now I will continue keeping an eye on my little leaf eater throughout the night just to be safe.

Daddy's little girl or Mommy's little girl?

People are always trying to guess who Kenley looks more like so I've put together some photos to compare. What do you think?

Happy Father's Day!

Matt and I had a very full weekend celebrating his first Father's Day. Our weekend started Friday with dinner at Hacienda Colorado, one of Matt's favorite restaurants, followed by some game playing at Dave and Buster's. Kenley got to spend the night with the Yeagers and Taplins while mommy took daddy out to honor him for being so great! I wanted to have one night focused on Matt since the remainder of the weekend was going to be spent with family honoring all dads everywhere. I also needed to take Matt out so he could be surprised by Chris and Brittany who flew into town as a Father's day gift to Matt and Doug (Matt's dad). Matt had no idea they were coming and it was really fun watching his reaction when he realized they were there. Thanks Yeagers and Taplins for making the surprise possible! Saturday morning we spent the day relaxing and simply enjoying each other's company. We walked to Starbucks (mainly so Chris could "Bjorn it" with Kenley), Matt and Chris made us girls lunch and then we drove into Boulder to walk around Pearl Street. Doug has been playing in a golf tournament in Omaha, so he flew in Sunday morning and drove to Boulder to meet the rest of us for the day. As he walked into our house, it took him a moment to realize Chris and Brittany were there too but once he did he started laughing and asked "what are you doing here?" The whole Walker family was together for the first time since Kenley was born. Katie and Deb prepared brunch followed by a family picture (which I'll post once Katie edits it). Sunday afternoon we headed into Eben G. Fine park in Boulder for some Bocce ball and to tube Boudler Creek. Even though the water was running high and it was a little rainy, the Walker men braved the Boulder Creek rapids. Around 4:30 my parents, Scott and Scott's new GF Libby met us in the park. We stayed and played in the park and the creek until 6pm at which point we went home to clean up and then to BJs in Westminster for a big family dinner. While it was action packed and slightly exhausting, it was a great weekend with family! I hope in the midst of it all, my dad, Doug and Matt felt celebrated.

I Work Hard for the Money

I just put Kenley to bed and Matt is out longboarding with some Young Life guys, so my house is very quiet. As you might be able to tell from my one lonely post over the past 2 weeks, I am starting a new stage in my life as a working mom. I am working from home 3 days a week which makes working full time possible. It is such a blessing that I even have that option and that Matt has the flexibility in his schedule to take Kenley whenever my job doesn't allow me to watch her. At work, I have gotten right back into the thick of things which I like, but it also makes the balance challenging while working from home. For someone like me, who is a planner, having a baby makes you anxious because there is no way to predict what comes next. I am learning about letting go of control, slowly albeit, which is really good for me. I'm sure once the fall hits Matt and I will need to revise our plan, but for now it seems like it's going to work for us. As for Kenley, she has been developing new skills every day it seems. As you can see from the videos, last week she developed the ability to reach and grab for things AND she learned to roll over, which she is now a pro at. It's hard because I know I am going to miss things while I'm at work, but the fact that she is with her Daddy or her Memaw or her Grandma makes it okay.

5 Full Years

Today Matt and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. The past 5 years have been the most FULL years of my life. Full of adventure and joy and frustration and surprises and change and discomfort and wonder and love...and I can't imagine having gone through it all with anyone else! Last night, to honor each other and our marriage Matt took me out to dinner and then we stayed at the Magnolia hotel in downtown Denver. Matt's original plan was to make the entire night a surprise, but after getting suspicious that he might be planning a night away from Kenley I made him spill it and prepare me to be without my baby. Although I ruined part of the surprise, I knew if I wasn't thoroughly mentally and emotionally prepared I would not have been able to be fully present with Matt all night. I had previously begun putting together a binder with helpful information and a copy of Kenley's schedule for potential babysitters, so I spent a portion of Friday finalizing that so I knew everything would be covered. Kenley spent the night with her Dobbie (Matt's mom) and aunt Katie while Matt and I enjoyed being able to focus our full attention on each other for the first time in 12 weeks. We went to dinner at Osteria Marco, an authentic Italian restaurant (with amazing cheeses made in house) followed by dessert at a nearby gelato place. You may have noticed a theme...well that's because my anniversary gift (really our gift) is a trip to Italy in January. Matt had already done all the research and set-up all the plans, he just needed my go-ahead to book everything! The trip is going to consist of us flying into Rome and then traveling down to Naples and the Amalfi Coast including Sorrento, Positano and Isle of Capri. Check out details @ http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/italy/amalfi-coast-and-capri/. While it was hard to be away from our Kenley bean, it was really nice to have that time with Matt to really celebrate 5 years of a great marriage. I'm excited to see what the next 5 are full of!

3 Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day! This weekend was a crazy one for our Kenley bean. In Boulder, every Memorial Day weekend they have the Boulder Creek Festival which consists of hundreds of vendors setting up tents including everything from face painting, to homemade jewelry, to the Boulder Atheists and even The Sham-Wow (which I purchased...I'll let you know how it works). There are also carnival rides, funnel cakes and roasted sweet corn - the best of everything! We had planned to meet up with 8 of our friends and their kids (14 of us in total) at the festival on Sun after church but of course as soon as we parked it began to rain. Matt, being the eternal optimist, was convinced it would pass but, alas, after an hour of seeking shelter under a tent trying to sell us liposuction and botox, we finally gave up. Instead we: went home and dried off, met everyone for "lunch" at 3:00, went to a movie at 5:00, went back into Boulder and met the Boccis for dinner at 7:30. All in all, Kenley was out and about almost 12 hours. Today, we made our second attempt at hitting up the festival and this time with success! We met Ned, Molly and the kids and got to partake in some delicious roasted corn and, as previously mentioned, purchased ourselves a Sham-Wow. From there we headed to the Boccis to finish celebrating Memorial Day with some mexican food and Nuggets basketball.

First Swimming Adventure

While giving Kenley a bath last Friday, Matt and I decided it would be fun to take Kenley swimming for the first time at the Lousiville Rec Center. We put on her adorable swimsuit from uncle Chris and aunt Brittany and hit the pool! It was so fun and she did great. Daddy was excited to share his love of water with his daughter. As Loudon Wainwright put it "That's my daughter in the water, everything she know's I taught her....everything she knows."

Still sleeping...

It's 8:45 and I am trying to find ways to distract myself because my baby is still sleeping. I put her to bed after her 9:30 feeding last night and she's still asleep. I woke up around our usual wake-up time at 7:30 but she wasn't up yet so I fell back asleep. Next thing I know I'm waking up at 8:30 to a still sleeping baby. The past 3 days she has been so sleepy. I feel like I have gotten hardly any time with her and it's been a very busy 3 days. On Sat we started our day with a baby shower in Castle Rock. She slept the whole way there. She behaved herself well and hit it off with everyone. She's excited to meet her net friend Driggs soon. From there I drove us home, while she slept. When we got home I fed her and we both fell asleep right away and took a 2 hour nap. Sat night we had a surprise birthday party to go to. We got to party for a couple of hours and then it was bedtime. Sun morning we went to church where Kenley slept and then headed to lunch with my family. We had to make it quick because Kenley and I had a wedding shower at 2. Unfortunately during the shower Kenley got hungry a little earlier than expected. This normally wouldn't be an issue because I'd just throw on a cover and feed her during the shower, but I tried to look cute by wearing a dress...not conducive to feeding in public. After the shower we headed home where Kenley could take a nap in her crib, which she did. Sun night we all had to get to bed early because Monday was the Young Life golf tournament, which is an all day event (5:30am - 11:00pm for Matt). Monday Kenley and I had our normal morning (just a little less play time and little more sleep time) while Matt and my parents headed to the tournament. Matt's mom watched Kenley for a couple of hours in the afternoon while I headed over the the tournament to help in whatever way I could. Kenley joined us on the golf course around 3:00. I'm glad she wasn't there any earlier because it was so hot yesterday...mid-90's. I'm not sure if it was the heat but Kenley slept most of the afternoon as well. We were at the tournament until 9:00ish but I felt like I should bring her home so she could go the bed in her crib..and that she did at 10:00 last night and she is still there at 9:00 this morning! I think it may be time to go get her up...

My First Mother's Day

Mother's Day is an interesting day for mom's (this I realized half way into the day). Being a mom is a lot of work. Physically, you give yourself over to your child starting with pregnancy, then labor, and now with feeding, carrying, and playing with her. Not to mention your body looks and feels very different than it did before becoming a mom. Mentally and emotionally a mom is constantly trying to learn what's best for her child and give that to them - for me it's trying to express an indescribable love for her through singing, hugging, kissing, smiling, etc., balancing time engaging with Kenley vs. teaching her to entertain herself, spending time with the Lord so I can best raise her to know Him, praying for her and her future...all this while reserving emotional and mental energy for Matt. So on Mother's Day, you want to feel celebrated, but you have to realize you're not the only mom. I had both my mom and Molly to honor as well. So for my family, we had to weigh in the wants of 3 different mothers, which made for a bit of a hectic day. Luckily I have a great husband who knows me well and knows how to make me feel honored so at the end of the day my first Mother's Day was a winner.

Numbers

8 - The average number of bibs Kenley goes through in a day
37 - The number of people at our house Wednesday night for the YL end of the year BBQ
11 - The number of pounds Kenley weighed at her Dr. Appt yesterday
9.5 - The number of hours (in a row) Kenley slept on Tuesday night
1 - The number of outfits Kenley has outgrown (too bad it's one of my favorites)
23.5 - The number of inches Kenley is long now
3 - The number of miles I can run (again, in a row)
10 - The number of diapers Matt and I change everyday
240 - The number of minutes I spend feeding Kenley everyday

Of course, there are also so many other things I can't quantify that Kenley brings into our life. We are falling more in love with our baby girl every day! I love being a mom.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

A Week of Firsts

Kenley's 8th week marked a week of firsts for both of us starting with our trip to Casa Bonita last Friday. We knew one day we would have to endure Casa Bonita's cusine in order to introduce Kenley to Black Bart's cave,the cliff divers, game room and puppet shows - I just never thought it would happen so soon. Kenley (and I) also got her first taste of some new feeding experiences this week. Unfortunately, for both of us, Kenley's first time eating in a public restroom was the same night we found ourselves at Casa Bonita. On Monday, for Matt's birthday, we decided to see a movie. While it wasn't Kenley's first time @ a movie, it was her first time eating during a movie. We knew a 12:30 movie on a Monday afternoon was fairly safe, so we went for it. Kenley didn't make a sound, and after eating slept through the entire rest of the movie. Kenley also enjoyed her first time feeding in a dressing room on Wednesday night. After picking up a few grocery items at Target, I ventured into the clothing section to pick out and try on clothes. I'm not sure why as I knew nothing would fit. While we were in the dressing room my sweet Kenley got hungry and angry (like mother, like daughter) - so rather than attempting to keep her calm while checking out, I opted to just feed her then and there. I am sure I confused the dressing room attendant that came to check on me after being in there over 30 minutes. Last Sunday, the Browning's came to visit and Kenley spent her first afternoon at the Pearl Street Mall. We had lunch at The West End Tavern, Matt carried Kenley around in the Bjorn and we stopped for coffee and to feed Kenley at Paradise Bakery. Finally, last night Kenley spent her first night at a hotel. Matt & I, the Bocci's, and the Yeager's all stayed @ aflot - a new hotel in Broomfield. Lauren's sister, Hannah, watched Kenley and Blair while we went to dinner and had some drinks @ the hotel bar/lobby. Aside from Kenley's feeding schedule being askew, she had a fun night as did her parents. I was babyless for close to 5 hours -which was nice even though I did miss my Kenley bean.