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.