Full of Laughs at 2 and a Half

My little girl had her 2.5 birthday not too long ago! Yes, my family somewhat celebrates 1/2 birthdays. We don’t go all out, but we acknowledge the day and sometimes have a small treat and present. My mom always celebrated our 1/2 birthdays, so my sister and I have tried to keep up the tradition with our kids. Kinsie’s half birthday falls on the same day as her Papa Tim’s real birthday, so we usually try to do some kind of little celebration for the two. This year, we all got together at Aunt Megan’s and Uncle Tim’s new house and had dinner and ice cream cake. Kinsie had a BLAST chasing their pup Ali around, and getting to see some aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins.

Whenever I do a development blog update on my girl every 1/2 year, I am amazed to look back and see how much has changed in the last 6 months. Her development has just exploded in every way. She is no longer a baby, and sometimes doesn’t even act like a toddler…but an actual little girl. She is spunky, sassy, stubborn, sweet and silly. She completely exhausts me, especially right now while I have little energy to start with, but I can’t even imagine my life without her sweet little smile!

Updates on Kinsie Kay at 2.5 years:

• Kinsie is officially out of the crib and sleeping in a toddler bed. She is doing great, other than falling out here and there (and not even waking up in the process)!

• She has been pacifier-free since last October.
• She is still potty training. The process is taking longer than I expected, but I know that she’s slowly making progress. She definitely KNOWS when she needs to go, she is just too stubborn sometimes to stop what she’s doing to go sit on the potty. She does great at home, but has a harder time other places where she is usually playing more or with other kids.

• She is in a major “mama’s girl” phase. This is unusual for her, because she’s usually very independent, and will happily go with anyone she feels comfortable with. She must sense the fact that the baby is coming soon, which makes me a little nervous for when he actually gets here. She still loves her daddy time, and loves playing with and climbing all over him when he’s home!
• She has pretty much given up naps. The only time she’ll nap now is if she rides in the car in the late afternoon, then she passes out.
• She has an unbelievable imagination. I love watching her when she plays by herself… she comes up with the most creative games and dialogue between her toys!

• She speaks in full sentences that are (usually) grammatically correct.
• She can count up to 20.
• She knows all of the main colors and shapes.
• We are trying to teach her the individual letters of the alphabet. She knows some of them, but usually she doesn’t have the attention span to sit long enough to actually learn them. Just lately she has had more interest in letters, asking what letter a word starts with, or asking for a word that starts with a specific letter.
• Favorite colors right now: green and pink
• Favorite animal: hippopotamus
• Favorite foods: pickles, yogurt, and any kind of “snacks” (just like Uncle Ry Ry)
• Favorite movies: The Good Dinosaur, The Land Before Time, Lilo and Stitch
• Favorite song: The Olaf “Summer” song
• Favorite books: Biscuit the dog books, “Gallop,” and “Waddle” by Rufus Butler Seder, and anything that incorporates Spanish
• Her two biggest obsessions are Olaf and dinosaurs.
• Currently in gymnastics class, and will start up soccer again this weekend.

• She is officially signed up for preschool starting in the fall.
• She loves “tattoos.” She is always wanting them on her hands and arms, and if we gave her as many as she wanted, she would have tattoo sleeves.
• Other things she enjoys: Stamps, play-dough, playing outside, jumping, playing with her cousins, climbing on daddy, reading books

This girl brings us more joy than I ever thought was possible. I can’t even begin to fathom the added joy that will come when our little boy gets here in May. I pray that Kinsie adjusts well and will be the best big sister ever!

 

Coming Down the Home Stretch

Today marks 32 weeks, or about 8 months of pregnancy. I am definitely getting close, and my goodness am I getting more anxious! I have such a strong craving to snuggle this baby boy in my arms, and I am counting down the days (the best I can) until I can do just that. Luckily, in the mean time, I have a little girl who has been extra snuggly with her mama lately! In the last few months’ updates, I mentioned how fast this pregnancy has gone, and for the first 6 months, that was true. But now that I am in my third trimester, I feel like time is going in slow motion. I think because I became more physically uncomfortable earlier in the pregnancy, it has caused me to feel like I’ve been 8 or 9 months pregnant for several months now. I am coming down the home stretch now, and our little guy really will be here in about 8 weeks!

How I’m feeling:

Like I’ve said before, I am so grateful to even be pregnant and get to experience the miracle of life, but now I’m kinda ready to have my body back. Overall, compared to what some other pregnant women have gone through, I feel great. It’s more the little things that aren’t as big of a deal if you don’t have another little one to care for at home. My lower back is in so much pain by the end of the day that I can barely stand. I’ve been having extremely uncomfortable hip pain and pressure that makes it hard to even walk across the room. I already feel bloated everywhere and feel like a beached whale when I try to stand up or roll over. Let’s just say I’m ready for this baby to come for more than one reason.

Baby Size:

Right now, baby boy should be about 4 pounds and the size of a head of lettuce. This whole pregnancy I have felt much bigger than my last pregnancy, but this is the first week that I feel like I am starting to even out a bit. I am definitely still bigger, but it isn’t as much of a difference in the two pregnancies like it used to be. Either way, I am to that point where it is a daily challenge to find something to wear!

Wild Man:

I heard somewhere that around this stage is when you feel the baby move a little less because they don’t have enough room to make as big of movements…not the case with this kid! He is kicking me stronger than ever, to the point where it hurts. Even so, I am still so grateful for every movement I feel. Something tells me that this boy will have his Grandma Bev’s energy just like Kinsie, because he is moving more than he is still! He is especially active around 9 or 10pm, and Ryan and I will just watch my belly move around for extensive periods of time.

Here is a video I took the other day that shows a little bit of his wild side!

Other baby updates:

Baby’s name: We have names narrowed down to our top 3, but we haven’t made any decisions from there yet. Mainly because we have reasons why we really like all 3, and we really can’t decide which one is our absolute favorite. When we do choose, we are planning on keeping it a secret until his birth day.

Baby’s nursery: The only thing I’ve really had time/energy to do so far is buy stuff for the nursery (mainly online shopping). The room will really be the nursery/office because we only have one bedroom left, and we still need a place to put Ryan’s desk and all of our book shelves. The office has also been somewhat of a storage area the last couple years, so Ryan finally had an extra hour last weekend to go through all of that stuff and find another place for it. Now that I am on my 2-week spring break, my only goal is to finally be able to work on the nursery. My nesting instincts have been in overdrive for months now, but now I finally have a little bit of time to work on it. Because of the current colors of the wall (dark red and tan), we decided to go with a sock monkey theme (both Kinsie and Uncle Nate love sock monkeys, so we figured they would be happy!) My mom and I have found some really cute sock monkey decor, so I am excited to finally start setting things up. Once I’ve made some progress, I will post pictures!

What else we’ve been up to this month:

I’ve been doing my best to get through a rough time of the school year…the end of winter and ISTEP testing. Any other teachers out there know the torture of standardized testing! We still have one more round of testing after spring break, but after that we’re done for the year. Ryan is finishing up his Internal Medicine rotation, which has been a rough one. He has been working 80+ hours weekly. Most days he works from 7am – 5pm, but every fourth night, he works from 7am – 9pm (sometimes later). These nights are the worst because he doesn’t even get to see Kinsie, and we don’t get our much needed daddy time. Luckily, this is the last week for this rotation, then he moves on to a Psych rotation, which SHOULD have better hours.

At least now we are getting to experience a little bit of spring time. The weather has been random, but we have had several beautiful days so far. We get outside whenever we can, and lately, Kinsie’s biggest goal in life is finding a good worm to become friends with!

We started up gymnastics again this month, and Kinsie is loving it just as much if not more than she did last fall. It is amazing the improvements we’ve seen in her agility since November. She is still in the “Mommy & me” class, but now that she is 2 and a half (stay tuned for a blog post about this soon), she is old enough for the next class up where we would not be out there with her. I think she may be ready for this class in a few weeks, but I’m still a little skeptical because she isn’t the best at following the teacher’s directions yet!

Well, I hate to say it but I think Kinsie is officially done with regular naps. Not the best timing, considering I need naps more than ever when I’m home on the weekends. Even though she isn’t taking regular naps anymore, if we put her in the car in the late afternoon to drive anywhere, she is out like a light! She falls asleep almost every time Aunt Renata brings her home on days she watches her, so she’ll bring her in and lay her down on the couch, and sometimes she keeps snoozing for a little while!

We also officially transitioned Kinsie to her big girl bed! We figured this was a good time with the baby coming, and since we’ve given up on naps anyway. She’s obsessed with it. She had her first night in the bed last night and did great. She fell out of the bed a couple times (luckily it is a very short drop and her blanket was under her when she fell), so that will be a little bit of an adjustment. Whenever she doesn’t take a nap, she’s usually exhausted by bed time, so we probably won’t have to worry quite as much about her running around the room or trying to escape!

We are all anxiously waiting for May to get here…even Kinsie. She is constantly hugging and patting my belly, and telling me she loves her baby. The other day she even lifted up my shirt trying to find him because she wanted to see him! I can’t blame her one bit…I want to see him too!

6 Month Update

Tomorrow marks 24 weeks, or about 6 months of pregnancy. As cliche as it sounds, it has been flying by! With my first pregnancy, I was able to savor every moment and sit around and blissfully dream about the little life inside my womb. Now, I don’t have much time for dreaming! While I still try to savor this pregnancy, I spend most of my “spare” time chasing a toddler around. However, May will be here before we know it!

How I’m feeling:

I’m honestly feeling pretty good. So far, I have been blessed with great pregnancies. My fatigue went away when I entered the second trimester, but then it came back in full force when I started school back up after Christmas break. Kinsie is pretty good at letting me “rest” when I get home from work…but we are in the midst of potty training, so I have to be on call at all times to run her to the potty. Ryan’s hours this rotation aren’t too bad, so when he gets home from work between 5 and 6, he helps in any way he can. It is nice teaching 5th grade, because they can be very self-sufficient. I try to sit at my desk a lot while they are working independently, and if they have a question, I make them come to me! This time during my first pregnancy was when I started having severe back pain because of the sideways position that Kinsie was in. Knock on wood, but no back pain with this one so far! I did have one spell of Braxton Hicks contractions one day that were uncomfortable on my back, but that has been all so far.

The most difficult thing at this point in the pregnancy is that I am becoming much less mobile. I am on the floor with Kinsie all the time, and standing back up takes some serious skill and effort. Other little things like picking something up off the floor, and even putting on shoes or socks is a difficult task. I am usually very independent and don’t like relying on other people to help me with things, but now I don’t have much of a choice. My diminishing mobility makes it difficult to be as good of a teacher and mother as I want to be, which can be very frustrating. However, I don’t let that get me too down because I constantly remind myself how blessed I am to even be pregnant.

Baby on the Move:

I am still convinced that this little boy is going to be a wild child. He moves all. the. time. No complaining here…I LOVE feeling him move! As he gets bigger, I feel the movements even stronger and they are almost constant. This has been such a blessing because, like I said before, I haven’t been able to savor this pregnancy as much as I could the last one. However, baby boy makes sure that I acknowledge him throughout the day! Lately, he’s been nestling up towards my ribs. Maybe he’s cold?? Kinsie got to feel him the other day and she got all excited! She said, “My baby is moving! He’s a happy boy!”

Size:

Baby boy is apparently a little over 1 pound, and about the size of an ear of corn. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m thinking this boy is bigger than that. He was almost a pound at my 20 week ultrasound, so he’s probably far past the pound mark by now. I am still shocked by how much bigger I am during this pregnancy than with my first. I compared pictures with those of my first pregnancy, and I honestly feel that right now at 24 weeks, I look like I did at 30 weeks the first time around. I knew that it is common to show faster with the second, but I didn’t know that that idea maintained throughout the entire pregnancy. I’m hoping the speed in which he’s growing slows down just a bit soon so that I’m not a horribly uncomfortable whale by spring!

(Left pic: 24 weeks with Kinsie, Right pic: 24 weeks with Baby #2)

Kinsie’s Thoughts:

The more time that passes, the more excited Kinsie seems to get. She talks about her baby brother all the time. She says she can’t wait to hold him and play with him. When we ask her what we should name the baby, she says “A boy.” Original I guess? I am praying that she transitions well and stays this positive throughout the whole experience, especially once he is here.

What else we’ve been up to this month:

Well, it’s been January. Need I say more? We had our first big snow a few weeks ago, so we took Kinsie out for a while to play. Last year she didn’t really like it…it was too cold for her. This year she loved it! She was running around, making snow angels, and even eating the snow!

We started potty training during Christmas break, in hopes that she’ll be pretty good to go by the time the baby comes. She’s actually been doing pretty well. The biggest obstacle for her is stopping her playtime to go potty. She hasn’t quite gotten that part yet because to her, playing is the most important thing in the world! When we’re home, she usually just doesn’t wear pants…just underwear or a pull-up, but she doesn’t seem to mind! Her stubbornness has become more apparent through this process, and she’s really testing my patience, which, let’s face it, is not super high these days anyway. But I’m proud of the progress she’s made so far and pray that she continues to get better at it.

This is always the hardest time of year…with the cold weather, dark mornings and evenings, ISTEP prep at school, and now the lack of energy and mobility that I have. At least we have Ryan home now. Winter storms the last few years were the worst because he usually got snowed in while in Muncie. To get through this winter, I am resting when I can, enjoying baby boy wiggles in my belly, enjoying time with my girl, and soaking up her snuggles that she constantly wants to give me right now! We will all look forward to spring and warmer weather, and then soon, our sweet baby boy!

Puppies and Pumpkins

Ever since I stopped dressing up and trick-or-treating, I have never been that super crazy about Halloween….until I had a child. Now I think that Halloween is even more fun with a child than when I was a child! Kinsie got really into Halloween this year, as soon as costumes and decorations started being sold in stores. I wanted her to pick what she would be for Halloween, so we thought about the things that she was into at the time and gave her a choice. She chose a dalmatian puppy. We found lots of opportunities throughout the month for her to wear her costume. We went to Zoo Boo, then we went to a kids Halloween party at Heritage Lake, we went trick-or-treating on Halloween night, and then finally went to a costume cookout at my sister’s. Kinsie was always such a happy puppy. I may have to take her puppy costume with us everywhere we go just in case she is in a bad mood…it would perk her right up!

Like I mentioned in my last post, Kinsie was quite the little pumpkin picker. We let her decide what she wanted on her pumpkin, and, to no surprise at all, she wanted Olaf. We also let her help us pick out what we would put on our pumpkins, so we went with Shrek and a dinosaur. We let her help clean out her pumpkin and collect the seeds so I could bake them. We weren’t sure what she would think of the slimy pumpkin guts, but she didn’t mind at all! She was really excited about her Olaf pumpkin when we finished carving it. Then later that night after she went to bed, we carved Shrek and the dinosaur (while watching Hocus Pocus of course). When Kinsie woke up the next morning, she was super excited about all three of her pumpkins!

The week before Halloween, Heritage Lake was hosting a kids Halloween party. We got Kinsie suited up and took her, and it was a lot of fun and perfect for her age. They had crafts, snacks, carnival games, a cake walk, and dinner. She did that cake walk for a good 30 minutes and every other kid around her would win, but not her. She was determined to stay until she won. Finally, with us and the people in charge of the walk rooting for her, she won! She was pumped about her cupcake prize! Another one of the highlights of the night was the tattoo station. Kinsie got to pick out which tattoo she wanted, and of course she picked the dinosaur. She was so proud of her tattoo, she would show everyone and even talk about it in her sleep!

Halloween fell on a Saturday, so Kinsie had soccer that morning. The kids were encouraged to wear their costumes, so of course Kinsie was down for that. She has soccer class with her cousin Kerigan, and her third cousin, Emery…so the girls (and Briggs) had fun running around playing soccer in their costumes. Kinsie loves playing soccer, but she is often anti-following directions in class. Not this week…I swear, that puppy costume works wonders!

For Halloween night, we went to my parents’ neighborhood, and Ryan’s parents and brother joined us. We just trick-or-treated around their cul-de-sac, and as soon as we got back around to my parents, it started raining…but by that time, Kinsie’s little puppy legs were getting tired anyway. She was so cute trick-or-treating, and she thought it was so much fun! She has never really had much candy in her life, but she was excited about all the candy she was getting. When we got back to my parents, she enjoyed helping pass out candy to other trick-or-treaters. I let her have a couple pieces of candy, which kept her occupied most of the evening while we watched Hocus Pocus (yes, again…there is no limit as to how many times I can watch it during the Halloween season). Kinsie had such a fun night, and, a week later, she is still carrying around her pumpkin full of candy everywhere she goes!

The next evening, my sister had a little costume cookout for our family and some close friends. The kids had one more opportunity to wear their costumes, so they were ready to party. We had food, sat around the fire, and let the kids run around and make forts in their costumes. It was a lot of fun!

Once Halloween was officially over, Kinsie got pretty upset, especially when our neighbor put away his big inflatable black cat and gargoyle (she loved looking at them through the window every night). But we had to remind her, that now Christmas will be coming soon, and we can celebrate that. She is already talking about Santa Claus and Christmas trees! Like I said before, holidays are so much more fun with a child!

Fall Break Adventures

Well my fall break ended 2 weeks ago, so this may be a little late, but better late than never! It always seems that Fall Break is one of the most needed breaks of the year for me. Starting off a school year is long and exhausting (procedures, beginning of the year testing, more procedures, more testing…you get the idea), then throw in working full days PLUS parent-teacher conferences before and after school during the last couple of weeks, I was beyond mentally and physically exhausted and ready for a 2 week break with my family. During Ryan’s third year of med school, they get one “break” rotation…where they aren’t actually doing a clinical, but are usually still expected to do something. The nice thing was that Ryan got to choose when he got to have this break, and what he got to do with it. So we purposefully planned it so that he would have this rotation while I was on fall break. He chose to do some emergency medicine research, which mainly required him to enter data into his computer…which he could do from home. So for the first time in a LONG time, Ryan and I both had somewhat of a break at the same time. As much as I would have loved to go to Florida with my family, we just didn’t know what Ryan’s schedule would be early enough, but it still turned out to be such a nice, relaxing 2 weeks. Kinsie was perfectly content staying at home playing with her toys and playing outside (it was a BEAUTIFUL two weeks). We also took little day trips to places like the Children’s Museum, pumpkin patches, and even downtown Danville! I’ll share some pics from each of our little adventures!

We were finally able to take Kinsie to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum for the first time. She loved it! Her favorite exhibit was the dinosaur exhibit. Ever since then, she’s kind of been obsessed with dinosaurs. She has wanted dinosaur toys, dinosaur fake tattoos, and even made Ryan dress as a dinosaur for Halloween! Ryan’s inner child is pretty happy about this dinosaur phase that Kinsie is going through!

Like I said, we had some beautiful 60-70 degree weather during my break. You already know how much Kinsie likes to be outside, and now she is starting to embrace the beauty of fall. She loves the colorful falling leaves, and has even starting collecting them, thanks to some inspiration from her cousins. Ryan gets really into any hobby that Kinsie currently has, so he bought her a leaf-collecting kit. Between collecting leaves, sticks, and finding colonies of bugs, she was one happy girl to be outside!

Downtown Danville is always festive no matter the season, and I drive past it every day on my way to work, so I had seen that they had a scarecrow display around the square. Kinsie really likes scarecrows (and anything else dealing with fall), so I thought she’d like to walk around and see it. Plus, this is the closest place to us that has crosswalk signs, with which Kinsie is still obsessed, so we knew she would be happy either way! She LOVED the scarecrows! Different local businesses made different scarecrows to display around the square, and some of them were really creative! Kinsie’s faves were the Doc McStuffins and Olaf scarecrow. After we walked around, we ate lunch at Mayberry Cafe (their salad bar is one of my favorite things in life). It was a nice little family day trip!

We went to two different apple orchards/pumpkin patches over break. We first went to Anderson Orchard just the three of us. We picked out pumpkins, ate biscuits and apple butter, drank apple cider slushies, and played on haystacks. Kinsie probably could have stayed there all night. We love Anderson Orchard because it’s cheap and not as crowded, but still offers lots of fall fun. Once my family came back from Florida, we all went to Beasley’s Orchard. We took a hay ride, bought apple snacks, and let the kids run around the pumpkin patch. Kinsie became a pumpkin-picking pro, and even later helped carve her pumpkin (post to come soon).

I was very grateful to have 2 weeks off with not only Kinsie, but with my husband too. It was SO refreshing, especially after a month’s rotation of him being in Muncie again. We got to have so much quality family time during those 2 weeks, which is all I ever ask for. We didn’t go anywhere super special or do anything extravagant, but we were together, which made it perfect!

O-FISH-ally Two!

We had Kinsie’s birthday party at her favorite place…the lake! Based on the fact that we were having her party there, we decided to go with a “fishing” theme. She was all about it from the moment we told her. She talked about her fishy party for weeks leading up to the party. We knew we were going to have one happy little girl when her party came! I honestly wish it was my full-time job to plan birthday parties for toddlers. It is too much fun. Thanks especially to Pinterest and Etsy, I found lots of cute ideas to make the party unique and fun.

Thanks to the help of my mother-in-law Bev, my mom, Ryan’s aunts – Rita and Renata, and my aunt Mary Lou…there was plenty of food to go around. And of course we had to add some “fishy” fun with the food as well! The main course included hot dogs, hamburgers, and Bev’s famous chilli. Dessert included cake (Brenda’s Cakes), dirt and worms (Aunt Mary Lou), fish cookies (Renata), and fishy chow (rather than “puppy chow” – made by my mama). The food certainly did not disappoint!

Ryan and I both worked hard to have plenty of fun activities for the kids. There was a coloring and craft station, fish cornhole, a magnetic fishing game, and of course, boat rides!

I was really curious to know how opening gifts would be with Kinsie this year. I had a feeling that she would want to open and play with each gift as she opened it, and would be overwhelmed with all her new toys. Well, I was kind of right. She did want to open and play with each gift as she opened them, but after she opened about the 5th gift, she was done. She obsessed about the toys she had already opened, and didn’t want to open anymore! She just sat and played with those toys while I opened the rest of her gifts. Once we got home and got all her new toys out though, she was a happy camper and played with everything!

Kinsie has been really into the “Happy Birthday” song lately, so when everyone sang to her, she was on Cloud 9. She certainly enjoyed being in the spotlight and eating cake and ice cream!

The only down side to her party, was that her cousin (and best friend), Briggs had to leave a bit early. He woke up that morning with hives, and a swollen face. He still tried to have fun and enjoy the party, but you could tell the poor guy just didn’t feel well. He started getting more swollen as the evening went on, so they left early to take him to the hospital. He got worse before he got better, but after a couple days, he was pretty much back to himself.

Other that the issue with Briggs, the party was a huge success!! Kinsie had a blast, and of course, if Kinsie was happy, mommy and daddy were happy too. All of the guests seemed to have a good time as well, and we were lucky to have a beautiful day on the lake!

Kinsie Kay is TWO!

Is this real life? How can my baby be two already? It honestly does not even seem real! These have been the best two years of my life. She certainly exhausts me and tests me to my breaking point, but I have more love for that girl than I ever thought was possible. She has brought so much joy into my life, and has helped me find joy in the little things in life. I feel so lucky that God chose me to be her mom!

Kinsie’s 2 Year Updates:

• Her vocabulary is incredible. Not only does she pick up on new words very quickly when we teach her, but she is a sponge that absorbs so much even when we aren’t trying to teach her.
• She knows the entire ABC song, and starting to work with her on identifying individual letters.
• She can count up to 15.
• She pretty much knows her colors. Sometimes she gets lazy and just says that everything is blue, but when she’s ready to focus, she’s got her colors down.
• She is still in the potty training process. She decided to take a break for a few months (refused to sit on the potty), and now she’s back at it.
• She has a sporty, adventurous side, but also a girly-girl side. She loves playing soccer or any other sport, loves being outside and playing with bugs, and isn’t afraid of exploring and getting dirty. However, she also loves playing dress-up, putting on fake make-up, taking care of baby dolls, and carrying around a purse.
• She got her first haircut a couple weeks before her birthday. She was scared at first, but perked up when we gave her a sucker.
• She is obsessed with stuffed animals. She sleeps with about 15 in her bed, and she will notice if I try to sneak some out when she’s not looking.
• We say a prayer with her every night before bed. Her favorite things to pray for include her grandmas/grandpas, the lake, Mickey Mouse, and Briggs’ soccer games.
• Her favorite songs are Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus, ABCs, and almost anything she hears on Barney.
• Favorite characters: Mickey Mouse, Olaf, Shrek, and Barney
• Favorite food: Pickles, macaroni and cheese
• Favorite movies: Jungle Book, Frozen, Aladdin
• Favorite books:  Anything by Sandra Boynton, and “I know a Rhino” by Charles Fuge
• Favorite animals: Monkeys, Elephants, Tigers
• What she enjoys: swinging, swimming, bath time, cousin fun, picking out movies (and watching about 2 minutes of it before picking another), coloring, playing soccer, gymnastics, and seeing any/all kinds of animals.

Kinsie had a very busy birthday weekend. On Sunday, we had a fishing-themed birthday party for her at the lake (blog post on that later). Her actual birthday (today) happened to fall on a Monday, and I couldn’t bare the thought of not spending the day with her on her birthday…so I took the day off. My original plan was to take her to the zoo, her happy place. However, from the second she woke up, she was asking to play with all her new toys she got from her birthday party. She didn’t want to leave the house all day! I was able to pull her away from her new toys for 10 minutes to run to Dunkin’ Donuts to get her a birthday donut…which she was pumped about! We pretty much spent the rest of the day playing with all her new stuff. It was a beautiful day, so we went outside for a little while in the afternoon too. Ryan came home from Muncie to spend the evening with us. We asked Kinsie where she wanted to go to eat dinner for her birthday, and she said she just wanted to stay home and play, so we got Red Robin carry-out. We used some of the leftover “dirt and worms,” (Oreo ice cream with gummy worms) from her party to use as her birthday cake. She loves the happy birthday song right now, so we sang to her a few times and blew out her candle. It was a nice, quiet (or as quiet as it can be with a 2 year old) evening just the three of us for her birthday. It was perfect!

I am obsessed with this girl’s spunky little personality. She makes life so much fun.

Happy 2nd birthday my sweet Kinsie Kay!

A Boot-Scootin’ Labor Day

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to celebrate my dad and sister’s birthdays as a family. Kinsie is in that phase of life where you can’t really tell her things until right before we do them because she will get really excited and then get mad when we don’t do them right away. With this in mind, I hadn’t told Kinsie about the upcoming trip yet, but my dad spilled the beans and got her all pumped! She asked about the trip every day, multiple times a day, the week leading up. She would tell her toys and other random objects (like her toothbrush), “Bye! See you later! I’m going on a trip!” So once the moment finally came, she was stoked!

After I got off work and Ryan got home from Muncie (Yes, he is back in Muncie this month), we hit the road. I had plenty of movies, games, and toys to keep my busy toddler occupied in the car. She was an absolute champ in the car! Not once did she get bored or antsy. In fact, when we stopped somewhere to get food, she cried because she wanted to continue the road trip! She enjoyed listening to Barney music, watching episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and drawing on an Aquadoodle. As it started getting late, we stopped to put on her PJ’s and get her some milk, then “tucked her in” the car seat for bed. We hoped she’d sleep for the last couple hours since we wouldn’t get there until 10 or 11. Well, I guess she was just too excited to sleep. She never fell asleep, despite the fact that we arrived around 11pm! She wasn’t grumpy or anything, she just hung out and didn’t sleep. But of course she passed out as soon as we got there and put her in her bed!

The next day, regardless of her getting to bed so late, she was up at the crack of dawn ready to start the day. She hadn’t seen her cousins yet, so she was itching to get out of the hotel room and see them. We met my parents and the kids at the Nashville Zoo, per Kinsie’s request. We had a blast even in the sweltering heat! As soon as we were leaving the zoo, Kinsie kept telling us how tired she was, and she wanted to lay down. She didn’t even want to eat lunch first, and we planned on heading straight to the Country Music Hall of Fame, where we thought would be a good place for her to take a nap in her stroller. She fell asleep almost instantly in the car on the way there, and then slept in her stroller for maybe 30 minutes before she woke up, as grumpy as could be. She was exhausted and hungry, but wouldn’t eat or sleep…every parent’s dream! She eventually settled down, and we headed back to the hotel to just relax for a while. We ordered carry out, and then ventured back out for ice cream. Kinsie (and Ryan and I) are always up for finding fun ice cream shops. We found a little place that had very unique flavors. We tried peanut butter ice cream, mango ice cream, salted caramel ice cream, and a few others. Kinsie’s favorite part, however, was the waffle cone! After a long day, we were all pretty spent. Kinsie crashed hard that night!

The next day, we wanted to go to a very popular Pancake restaurant for breakfast, but as we pulled up, the line was wrapped around the entire building…so we went with Plan B…Dunkin Donuts! At least just to hold us over for a while. Then we walked around on the pedestrian bridge. We ended up just getting carry out from the pancake place for a late lunch. After naps, we took the kids swimming in the hotel’s indoor pool. Kinsie was SO happy getting to swim with her cousins! For dinner that night, we went to a nice sushi restaurant. They didn’t have high chairs, which I immediately knew was going to be a problem…mainly because our child is a nut and takes every chance she gets to waller anywhere and everywhere! She got a little ornery through the dinner, but we made it through by taking turns wrestling with her.

We left Nashville on Monday morning after breakfast. Again, Kinsie was a winner in the car. She even napped for the last two hours…which I was very grateful for because I was exhausted too! With our busy schedules and limited budget, we don’t get to travel much these days, so it is always a blessing when we do. Since we are not in the city much, Kinsie saw crosswalk signs for the first time. Most people don’t think much of these…in fact, a lot of people don’t even notice them or how common they are in the city. Well, our random child became OBSESSED. Every time she would see one, she would point it out and say “My hand!” or “My person!” depending on which sign was lit up. She made it her mission throughout the entire weekend to scout them out around the city, and she would become giddy every time she would see one! My daughter teaches me something every day…but here she really taught me to enjoy the little things in life!

A few hours after we got home, we ventured back out to take Kinsie to Frozen on Ice. This was kind of an early birthday gift, because she LOVES Olaf, and talks about Ana and Elsa on a regular basis as well. She was super excited to watch the “Oflaf show,” as she called it. Grandma Bev and Papa Tim gave her some money before the show to buy a souvenir, so between her toys that she picked out, the popcorn, and the great seats, she was in heaven! Mickey and Minnie opened the show, which was a fun surprise…but Kinsie cried when they left the stage. We had to reassure her that the real show hadn’t even started yet! She loved the show and danced around and waved to the characters. She even got to see her cousins before the show, so they were all showing off the different toys they got. On the way home, she was a little chatter box, retelling everything she remembered about the show. She even wanted to take her souvenirs to bed with her, but we compromised and put them on the table across from her bed so she could see them as soon as she woke up.

Even though I know she probably won’t remember things like this, just seeing the pure joy on her face while it is happening makes it all worth it. A Happy Kinsie = a happy mommy. It was so nice to spend a whole weekend with Ryan and Kinsie without the distractions of jobs, school, and household chores. Quality time is my love language, so after a great weekend with them and the rest of my family, my love tank is full!

Summer Lovin’

Well, I hate to say it but this was my last official day of summer vacation. It is uncanny how quickly these summers go by now that we are on the balanced calendar. Eight weeks for a summer vacation just isn’t long enough! But then again I am very grateful to even have a job where I can have this much time off. I haven’t posted much the last few months, so here is a recap of our summer.

Ryan took his STEP 1 Boards in early June, then started his clinical rotations a few days later. His first rotation was in OB/Gyn…which is notorious for being one of the most intense rotations. This rotation included 13 hour days, 6 days a week (and keep in mind he isn’t even getting paid!) He would barely get home in time to see Kinsie before she went to bed. Because of this, he learned pretty quickly that this is not the field of medicine for him. After this, he got to experience the other end of the spectrum, Anesthesia. During this 2 week rotation, he only worked 40 hour weeks with weekends off. It was glorious! We got in SO much quality time with him during these 2 weeks, and he even had time to build Kinsie her very own swing set in the backyard! Being able to spend time with his family is obviously a priority for him, so anesthesia is not off the table! Today he started Plastic surgery which I’m sure will be an adventure! It is still taking some getting used to having him home every night…in a good way. Sometimes I just forget that he is coming home at night! One of the hardest parts about when he lived in Muncie was at night after Kinsie went to bed. It’s definitely no fun going to bed alone every night. But now we’re enjoying our time snuggling on the couch and watching Orange is the New Black while eating popcorn. It is SO good to have him home!

This summer in Indiana was actually a bit depressing…probably 80% of our days were rainy and muggy. Not only is this depressing for someone who loves the sunshine, but it’s especially so  for a toddler who loves the sunshine and has a ton of energy! I had to be very creative coming up with indoor activities for us to do on the many days we couldn’t go outside. We took trips to public libraries, did arts and crafts, read a lot of books, and watched a lot of movies! Well…I shouldn’t say a lot of movies. We watched the same movies over and over again. Her new obsession is Shrek, so we watched the 4 Shrek movies and the Shrek musical pretty much on loop!

Kinsie started gymnastics classes this summer! She had been climbing on everything and tumbling around nonstop, so we figured this would be a good thing for her. She absolutely LOVES it! Her favorite thing to do is somersaults, but she also loves the balance beam and the bars. She even got her first trophy last week!

We had a busy 4th of July. First we went to the Brownsburg parade. Kinsie, Briggs and Kerigan were all about collecting the candy thrown by the floats. They were proud of their big bad of candy at the end! Later we went to the lake, like we do every year. Kinsie had fun playing with cousins, doing sparklers, and watching fireworks on the boat. Last year she wasn’t able to stay up late enough to watch the fireworks, but we made sure she did this year!

Two of our favorite places to hang out this summer were the zoo and the lake. You all already knew that Kinsie was obsessed with the zoo and animals in general, so of course we tried to find as many not-rainy, not-too-humid days to spend at the zoo. She especially loves it when we meet her cousins there!

The lake, however, is a new obsession. We can’t even mention the word “lake” unless we are driving there. For a while, every time we got in the car, she would say “lake?” and when I’d say no, she would pout. When we say her prayers at night, she prays for the lake. When I ask her in the morning what she dreamed about, she says the lake. The lake is her happy place. She loves the boat, the toys, the fishing,…everything. We made as many trips there as we could this summer, and will continue to make weekend trips when we can even though school is starting. I don’t blame her, I love it there too!

Even though sunny days this summer were few and far between, whenever it was nice enough, we were outside. Wagon rides, trips to the park, swimming at my parents’ pool, you name it. God must have been looking out for us, because our last full week of summer was BEAUTIFUL! I had one very happy girl! To add on to that, like I mentioned earlier, Ryan built a swing set in our backyard…complete with 2 swings (a Kinsie swing and a “mommy swing” as she calls it), a climbing rope, a bar for gymnastics, and even a balance beam. Kinsie was on Cloud 9! Every morning as soon as I opened her door, she’d ask to go swing. I didn’t mind because I could swing right along side of her!

Some of the water fun we had this summer!

Parks, wagon rides, and bubbles.

Kinsie’s new swing set. Kudos to Ryan for the excellent craftsmanship!

Finally, the last full week of summer was also the week of our county fair. I love going to the fair for the good food and to see my students with their 4H projects. Kinsie loves the fair for the animals and balloons. We went twice during the week, and both times she was one happy camper. She wouldn’t stop talking about balloons until we got her one, but once she did, she strutted around like she owned the place with her balloon in hand. She loved the “hop hops” and the goats, especially when they licked her hands. I love how much she loves life!

I’m sure you can tell that overall, we had a pretty good summer! I am so grateful for all the quality time that I got to spend with my girl. Her newest thing is always wanting to hold my hand. No complaining here! I know that she won’t always want to hold my hand as she gets older, so I’m savoring these special moments. I’m not ready to be away from her all day again, even though I know she’ll be in the best hands. She is just too much fun and so full of life. She has changed my life in so many ways and has taught me to live in the moment and just enjoy life. Thank you, my sweet baby girl. I love you more than I can ever explain!

Here’s to the start of a new school year!

Kinsie at a Glance: 18 Months

It just doesn’t seem real to me that I have a 1.5 year old. But this is real life! My little ball of sunshine just turned 18 months old. Kinsie is too much fun to be around. Her little personality is infectious and she just makes life more fun. God blessed me more than I ever deserve when He made me her mom!

Life with a toddler is…in a word…exhausting! If anyone needs to lose weight, just chase my daughter around for a few weeks! She definitely keeps me on my toes. It has been a long winter being stuck playing inside with such an active child…especially with our tiny house. She only has so much room to run around, and only so many toys to play with (which is a lot…but she still becomes bored with them after so long!) Luckily she gets a change of scenery between our house and both grandmas houses. This girl has needed some fresh air, and she is finally starting to get it with the nicer weather slowly creeping back. Now that I’m on Spring Break, summer is already on my radar and I am counting down the days that I can spend all day with my little BFF.

Here are some updates on Kinsie at 18 months:

• Her vocabulary is flourishing. She is becoming a little parrot and repeating everything we say!
• She has a name for all the people she loves. We are Daddy and Mom.
• She  knows all her animals and they sounds they make.
• She knows all of her main body parts and can point to them.
• Some of our favorite Kinsie words include:
  • “nack” (translation: snack)
  • “ish” (translation: fish)
  • “pup” (referring to any dog)
  • “yeah” (and sometimes “yyyep”)
  • “Cout” (translation: her stuffed bear named Scout)
  • “Animal” (really its more the way she says it that’s cute)
• Her favorite book is Jump Pup.
• Her favorite movie is 101 Dalmatians, which she calls “Pups.” I can’t even count how many times she’s made us watch it.
• Her favorite TV shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins.
• She loves Elmo. We never introduced her to Sesame Street, she just kinda picked it up on her own. She always says his name in a high-pitched sing songy voice.
• Her favorite foods are applesauce, pickles and cheese sticks.
• Her favorite song is “If You’re Happy and You Know it,” and the ABC song.
• She still loves bath time. As soon as she hears me turn the water on, she’ll stop what she’s doing and run in the bathroom screaming happily.
• She still loves reading books. Sometimes she wants to sit on our laps while we read to her, and other times she likes to sit and read on her own (reading = talking jibberish on each page)
• She loves playing doctor. Her daddy has taught her how to use the tools in her doctor kit, so she is constantly checking my ears, eyes and heart.
• She is starting to really enjoy art. She loves coloring, painting, stickers, and stamps.
• She has an unhealthy obsession with brushing her teeth. Grandma Bev bought her a bear that sings a song about brushing teeth, so now we have to listen to the song every time she brushes her teeth while we all dance around.
• She loves kicking soccer balls and just started her first soccer class.
• She is in the early stages of potty training. Whenever she is making her potty face and her grunting sounds, we put her on the potty. She is always so proud and loves waving bye-bye as we flush it down the toilet. We are working with her on telling us when she needs to go. Sometimes she tells us, sometimes she’s just too busy playing.
• She is going through a mama’s girl phase. She has to always know where I am, she follows me around, and is constantly climbing and rolling all over me. Of course I don’t mind!
• Whenever she plays with her toy phone, she is always calling Daddy.
• She enjoys sneaking onto my phone and taking selfies. No joke.

Just sitting on the potty trimming her toenails!

I am not much of a selfie person, but who doesn’t like Kinsie selfies?

Those eyes!

Loving her first Lil’ Kickers class

Waving to her fan club

Happy 18 Months our sweet sunshine!!