the Three Little Birdies

Hump Day Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:29:00 +0000

Today started just like the rest of my days: early! Kinsley woke up at 7:00am, I tended to her and her needs and then we played for a bit before Kyle got back from the gym. I was sitting at my desk working and Kyle had just got back inside from taking Marley out. He mentions to me how he saw this woman walking down our street, barefoot and appeared to be crying. We thought it was strange, but carried on like usual. Then Kyle mentions that there were three cop cars outside and the lady was back in sight, pacing the street and on the phone. So I did what every nosey person would do, I open our front door and take a glimpse of what the heck was going on. Yup- three cop cars, a barefoot woman on the phone, and she was huffing and puffing, very apparent she was crying and upset. Kind of boring stuff to me, so I close the door and Kyle and I try and figure out what could be going on. Next thing I know, Kyle starts shouting "oh my gosh he's chasing her!" "WOW! He just threw something at the cop car!!!!" "HOLY CRAP HE'S NAKED!!!!". So, I'm still standing by the front door, and quickly lock it before some weirdo naked man tries to come inside! Kyle rushes to our front window (his office) and keeps saying "OMG he's naked and running with a broom!!!!". So of course, I go to join in the watch party from our front window. Sure enough, clear as day, there's a young man running down our street butt naked with a broom in one hand, and his other hand covering up his "junk" with a cop chasing him down the street. Uhhhh....what the heck?????? Kyle tells me that after I closed the door, out of one of the townhouses down the street from us this naked guy comes running out- and appeared to be chasing this barefoot woman we saw. The woman took off running, the guy is running behind her, he decides to throw a bunch of stuff at the cop car, throws a basketball at the lady who is running away, and keeps on running with a broom in his hand-butt naked. The naked man on the loose ran off into a woody area, turned around and ran behind the cop car and between some houses. About 5 minutes later, five cop cars and our shock of "holy cow we just saw a man running down our street naked", the cops surfaced with the naked man (now wearing a skirt- ha!) in handcuffs. And then came the ambulance and a firetruck. The guy was screaming so loud. Who knows what happened, but he left strapped down in an ambulance. I'm secretly refreshing the mugshots for our area because this is huge. It's like the biggest news to ever happen in our neighborhood. For a quiet, gated community, this is pretty big. We're assuming it was a domestic dispute, or the man was just crazy and on a lot of drugs. I mean who willingly runs out of their house naked, throws a BASKETBALL and glass objects at a cop car, while carrying a broom? Needless to say I'll never look at a broom the same again. So if you're having a crappy day, just think...you could have been chased by a naked man this morning. Or you could have been a witness to it ;) Happy Hump Day!

A Moment in Time

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:13:00 +0000

There are times I get a picture of Kinsley that I absolutely fall in love with. Like, I swoon over it, I melt into a million crumbled up pieces of Reese's Pieces, I get a little choked up inside and I just want to freeze time for a minute. This is one of those pictures.

If I could bottle this moment in time, I would. I would keep her this little forever.
But that's not possible.
So instead I will forever remember this moment in time that I captured in a picture.
I'll never forget the way she gets shy around Kyle. I'll never forget all those scrumptious rolls. I'll never forget the way her big brown eyes sparkle. I'll never forget the way her hair lays, no matter how many times I sweep it to the side. I'll never forget how angelic she looks. And I'll never forget the way a simple smile from her can brighten my day.

{kinsley's weekly letters} 38 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:36:00 +0000

Baby Girl, Oh sweet baby girl, where did this week go?? I swear it only lasted two days and here we are again making your letter. You have been quite the ham this week. Blowing raspberries is by far your favorite thing to do. You'll start going and last for a good 5-10 minutes. I have to remind you to stop for a second to catch your breath, and then you continue right back up. Your daddy is teaching you bad habits, although I am partially to blame for this habit of yours. You have been sleeping AMAZING! There was only one night I had to go in there and give you a pacifier, and then you were right back out. It's been awesome and I can't thank you enough for giving me the gift of little, uninterrupted, sleep! Your naps have also seemed to be getting longer and longer, and you (usually) go down easy for naps. On average your nap for 1.5 hours at a time, but you've been throwing us loops with 2 hours and even 2.5 hour naps. Hooray!! I love nap time!! You learned how to turn the pages of books all by yourself. I noticed one day you started reaching for one of the pages and I brought the book closer to you, and you reached over and flipped the page. So I tried it again, and you did it! Now it's one of your favorite things to do. You'll reach into a basket, get a book out and look at me like "can we read this one, momma". It's so cute! You experienced baby jail and absolutely hated it. Your Uncle Jeremy let me borrow his baby play yard and thought it would be the perfect solution to keeping you out of everything while I work. FAIL! It worked the first day, just because it was something new. But the next day you wanted nothing to do it with and just sat there crying at me like "are you serious, mom??". SOOO it has since come down and is put away for the time being. I gave up the fight and this is the first week you actually have objects in your weekly picture. Taking your picture, changing your diaper and getting you dressed deserves a gold medal. Because it's quite challenging and I have the hardest time!! Like I'm sweating and my anxiety is out the door once I'm done. Oh boy. You love to kiss now. And by kiss I mean open mouth, lick the person or object and refuse to move your head afterwards. You love to "kiss" my face, "kiss" the mirror, "kiss" your baby doll, "kiss" the sliding glass door, etc.. It's so funny to watch and you always make this funny little grunt when you do it. You also love to chomp down on my shoulder and teeth on it. Not the most pleasant feeling, but it's hard for me to say no to you. SO I let you chow down on it and deal with the red marks that follow. I feel like so much happened this past week, but I'm forgetting all of it. This week has FLOWN by and I'm not enjoying that one bit. Well, actually I am, but I don't like the feeling that I can't even remember all the fun stuff you're doing. We love you more than words can ever say. Love, Momma

Behind The Scenes

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:07:00 +0000

So you may see our pictures every week of sweet, smiling, Kinsley. And yes- they are pretty adorable, but let me tell ya this: IT'S THE HARDEST TASK TO DO!!

I actually dread having to take these pictures now just because how impossibly hard it is to get ONE cute picture to use. So here's a little sample of what our usual photo shoot consists of. I take her pictures every single week in her room. I lay down a blanket or quilt (lately it's been the same white quilt), open up the blinds, get my iPhone ready (sometimes I use my Nikon. Today I used my bad boy Nikon) and brief myself mentally for the battle. You can do this, Jenna. It's only a few minutes of your life and if she flips over a thousand times, it'll be OK!

So I lay her down on the quilt and she'll instantly grab the nearest object. Today's object was a brush. Hey- at least it matches the outfit so I said screw it, if that makes her happy we'll keep the brush in the picture! (i'm getting that desperate). And as soon as she gets that brush she decides she wants to pass gas- hence the horrid red face.

Yup- she was still passing gas.

And then decided the brush was her BFF again. And I must note that I've flipped her from her stomach to her back, knocked her in the head with my camera lens, had the camera strap choke me from her grabbing on to it approximately 7 times by now.
This is where I huff and puff and my blood pressure is orbiting in space somewhere and I call in Kyle. And by call in I mean scream, "CAN YOU COME HELP ME!?!?!!!" completely out of breath, flushed face, and sweating profusely.

So in come Kyles with all his magical picture taking glory. We kind of prep each other by saying "you ready?" "you got your goods out" (and by "goods" I mean toys, weirdos), "we can do this" and get to work. We attempt to take the object away from her and Kyle shakes dolls and toys in her face to get her to smile. We get the baby voice going in full force by saying stupid things like
"P-U, you stinky" and blow raspberries in hopes of getting one single smile. It lasts for about 2 milliseconds.

And then the rolling over starts. Which leads to this...

Because we told her "no" and rolled her back onto her back. And then that leads to more of this...

And then I say SCREW IT, WE'RE DONE, and then sulk in the rocker with my head in my hands thinking why can't I get ONE good picture, ever!
So I call the photos officially d-o-n-e, look through what little pictures I do have and then see this little girl come crawling over to me and decide she's perfectly fine now.

And then I get a picture that just absolutely melts my heart and I realize that getting that "one" perfect picture each week really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Bow Romper

Pool Days

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:50:00 +0000

One of my favorite things to search for these days are bathing suits. There are soooo many cute options out there right now and because we try and take Kinsley to the pool every week, a cute suit is a must! But because we live under the scorching hot sun, sunscreen and covering up is a must! We are lucky that we get to enjoy having a pool, without actually having a pool. We live in a cookie cutter community (ya know, where every house looks like the one two doors down) that has a community pool. We live right down the street from it so we just pack up a bag and walk on down to it. It's a really nice amenity to have. And because we usually are only there for 30-45 minutes at a time, I don't have to stress about packing a bag filled with goodies for the day. But one day in the near future we WILL finally take her to the beach. Weird we live on a beach and have never been to it with her.
Here is a set of our favorites for taking Miss K-Boo to the pool.

Sunscreen Hat Float Sunglasses Swimsuit Swim Diapers
Sunscreen is so, so important. I can't even stress that enough!! Not just because I am extremely fair and so is Kinsley, it's important for anyone...especially a baby. We used the Aveeno baby sunscreen, but after trying the Babyganics- I'm hooked! Is there anything BabyGanics makes that I don't like? No- don't think so. I also got a pack of miniature ones to keep in my diaper bag, my car, and any place I might need some in an emergency.
We love the float we have because it has a sun canopy and blocks out a lot of sun from Kinsley's head. I sometimes put her hat on while she's under the canopy, but for picture purposes the hat always comes off. Same with the sungoggles. She will not let you put sunglasses on her yet, so these are awesome because they actually will stay on! Although they do usually end up around her neck, and she does attempt to eat them 99.99% of the time.
We love our Baby Gap swimmie, and of course you can't forget swim diapers! We right now use the Huggies, but haven't tried any others yet. So far these work just fine and do the job- or so we think ;)
What are some of your favorites for pool days/beach days/hanging out pretending you're at a pool or beach? I love, love, love little baby suits. SO CUTE!!

{kinsley's weekly letters} 37 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:56:00 +0000

Baby Girl, Another week has come and gone and that means we are getting THAT much closer to your birthday. AHH I don't even want to think about that yet! This week has been so much fun! Minus one day of you being an absolute fuss-pants, you have been so great this week. Last Monday was rough. You would cry any second you had, and would barely nurse and just really not yourself. I thought maybe you were not feeling well, but the next day you woke up just fine- nothing to worry about! But other than that one day, you were your usually happy self. You have been sleeping so, so well!!!! This momma is HAPPY! And if I jinx myself by typing this, I'm going to cry all night long. Just kidding ;) You really only wake up once, if that, around 4:30 to nurse and then go back to sleep until 7:00am. A couple nights you actually slept through the night and I was super duper happy about that. You also have been taking longer naps during the day and seem to really be doing well with our schedule. You are slowly, but surely, starting to make more "mmmmm" sounds, and I'm just waiting on the tip of my toes for you to say momma. One day you will, I just know it! You also are becoming much more vocal and love to squeal. Especially if I'm in our bathroom and I have you in our room, you crawl down the hallway and squeal to hear your echo. It's so cute! You have discovered that you can stand up on just about everything, and have also learned how to get down. You usually just plop down or cry for someone to get you, but you now will put your little hands back down on the ground and sit back down, every time. It's sooooo cute! You also are really starting to express emotion. Anytime you watch a show, like Mickey Mouse, you kick your little legs so quick in excitement. And while you are watching it, and any show for that matter, you start doing the funniest expressions! You look like a grumpy old man a lot and we think it's hilarious.
We started doing family hugs and you think it's the cutest thing in the world. If I'm holding you, daddy will come up behind us and give us both a hug. You get the biggest smile and it melts my heart a little. Also, if you see momma and daddy kiss in front of you, you let our a squeal and smile. Trust me- that won't last forever. One day you'll think it's absolutely gross to see us kiss! You also are starting to remember things. In the morning, I usually take you into our room to see daddy & Marley in bed. When we leave your room to go towards our bedroom, you start kicking your legs and making horse grunts, and then when I start to open the door you smile and peak your head around to see them on the other side. I swear you know they're in there! So many memories were made this week and I just don't understand how lucky I got to have such an angel in my life. You are the cutest, sweetest, most loving little girl and I feel so lucky to be your momma.
Love, Momma

{weekends} Momma's Day Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:15:00 +0000

Whew- what a weekend! I swear the weekends go by faster & faster, but I enjoy them oh so much. This weekend was Momma's Day Weekend and Kyle, Kinsley & I had a pretty fun filled time. Friday night we went on a sushi date. Oh my gosh, it was SOOOO good! We really don't go out to eat very much, mainly because I get really nervous about taking a baby to a restaurant. I'm one of those moms who has a nervous breakdown when Kinsley makes a noise and people look at us. I feel bad, and I get all sorts of stressed. But occasionally we do go out to eat in the real world, and this was just what I needed. We have a serious love for sushi. Even as expensive as the stuff is, it's totally worth it! We grabbed dinner at Blu Sushi at an outdoor shopping mall here- my mouth was watering the entire time.

Bow Dot Dress Flower Headband Saturday morning we enjoyed waffles and juice, made by Kyle- the breakfast master. Kinsley went down for a nap and ended up sleeping for almost 2.5 hours- umm, wow! After she woke up, and Kyle sneaked off to buy my "present", we ate lunch and headed to the pool. Kinsley was not feeling it as much as she usually does, so it was only a quick trip. We came back home, fed her lunch, gave her a bath and then she went down for yet another 2 hour nap. Umm...hello new trend: I'd be happy to see you stick around!

Pink Bathing Suit Black & White Fedora Saturday night we went to my brother's house to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. We had some bomb BBQ from one of our favorite restaurants, Famous Dave's, and had fun hanging out with family. Kinsley was a little angel baby and surprisingly did well not sticking to her usual routine. She passed out the second we got into the car and slept pretty good through the night! Score!

Fuschia Jumper Gold Gladiators This morning I had the privilege of a super, super fussy baby! Kyle went to Publix to get food for breakfast & dinner and the second he left she came unglued. Crying, fussying, hold me, don't hold me, I want down, no I don't want down, don't touch me, please touch me, etc. etc.. It was brutal and my stress was out the door by the time Kyle came back. Needless to say, she was back in bed at 8:30am! My mom came over and we had biscuit and gravy and scrambled eggs, with my Aunt's guava jelly. Yum!! Then my mom and I opened our Mother's Day gifts and went outside for some fresh air & pictures. Oh, and I made a really adorable collage for my mom for Mother's Day. We call her Choo Choo, "Chooch" for short, and got a really cute set of photos for her.

Funny story about the Happy Birthday bag: I walked out and saw this bag and said "it's not my birthday??". Kyle said, yeaa.... well....I was thinking this was a birthday present went I got the bag out of the closet...so sorry. Funny, funny, guy.

Pink Shirt Green Shorts (not available but same style here) White Onsie Indigo Shorts Then by 11:30, Kinsley was back in her fussy mood and kept rubbing her eyes. I was shocked that she could possibly still be tired, but we put her down around 11:45am and she didn't wake up until 2:15! That party must have worn her little booty out! We ran a few errands this afternoon, I cleaned the house with the help of my handy man, and enjoyed some play time with an extremely tired and fussy little girl. We literally pulled every toy out of her basket in hopes of helping the situation. Didn't work too well.

Our delicious Mother's Day dinner consisted of: steaks, oven roasted potatoes, salad, bread & butter, bread pudding. Oh my lord it was good! Sometimes you just can't beat a meat & potatoes type of meal! So, so good. AND I had a glass of wine, WOOO!!!!

For the first time in a really long time, Kinsley actually fell asleep on me before I laid her down in her crib. I sat there for more than usual just to soak it all up. I think it was me special Mother's Day present from her. And I snapped this adorable picture of my little sweetie pie drifting to sleep.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great upcoming week!

Happy Momma's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:36:00 +0000

First and foremost, Happy Momma's Day to all your momma's, new momma's, soon-to-be momma's, and anyone who has taken on a momma role. The world is better and brighter because of you all!
Second, Happy Momma's Day to my very own Momma. Words could never describe just how amazing she really is and how much she means to me. I can't imagine my life without her and she has made me who I am today. I could only dream of having the relationship I have with her, with Kinsley. She's my best friend, my role model and the type of person I want to be. She's the sweetest, most loving, most caring, most selfless person I know and I can't thank her enough for everything she has done for me through all the years. I love you to the moon & back, Mom!

And last, but not least, Happy Momma's Day to me! Becoming a mom was what I had always wanted to do, and what I always felt like I was meant to be. The second I held Kinsley in my arms, I knew my heart would never be the same. To the little girl who stole my heart and melted it in a million pieces the very first breath she took, I love you more than words can say. You are the light of my life, the apple of my eye, the reason why I wake up each and every day. You are my entire world and you will forever hold a place in my heart. Being your mom has been the most incredible gift, and one that I cherish more than anything. I love you Kinsley Delana!!

Make sure you all tell everyone how amazing of a mom they truly are, and just how special they are to you :)

Feeding The Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:53:00 +0000

By request, I'm putting together a post all about feeding the baby, when we started solids, and everything in between. Newborn- 4 Months

All she had until her 4 month check-up was breast milk, straight from the source. Really the only time I ever had any problems with nursing was when my milk came in and engorgement hit me hard. It was painful, stressful and I was about to say NO WAY, but every day it got better and was the most convenient option for us. She never took to a bottle, and I had no reason to get her on one so we nursed for every single feeding.
*Our favorite item to get us through the feeding/nursing frenzy in the beginning were Gerber cloth diapers (used for burp cloths). She was a pretty big spitter-upper and we always had to have these on hand, in every room, ready to go at any given second.
4 Months- 6 Months

At her 4 month check-up, we got the green light to try out cereal with her. I had done my researching prior to this and knew I wanted to skip rice cereal, and go straight to oatmeal cereal. That day we went to Babies-R-Us and picked up a box of Gerber Oatmeal Cereal. She really seemed to like it and so we stuck to it for awhile. We were only giving her a small amount, pretty liquidy at first, in the morning to get her used to eating from a spoon and having a "meal", other than from my boobs. She enjoyed eating it, her tummy did not. She would go a couple days without pooping, would sometimes spit it all back out, and so after a week or two I decided to stop trying and wait it out until 6 months. A few weeks before she was 6 months I started giving her stage 1 foods: pears, mashed up avocado, banana, etc.. I only would give them to her a few times here and there, just to see how her stomach reacted.
She was still nursing for every single meal, no bottles, and pretty much the same as with her newborn-4 month stage. She still spit-up pretty bad so burp cloths were are BFF's.
6 Months

At 6 months, I decided to go full force with solid foods. I have a Beaba Babycook and made a lot of her first foods for her. But after being out one day, not having "cooked" baby food for her, I went to Target and bought Happy Baby Stage 1 food pouches. She LOVED them, I loved the convenience and decided to give up the quest of making all her food. Some things you just can't do, and this was the thing I decided to give up.
We went between different brands: Happy Baby, Plum, Ella's Kitchen, Gerber, etc.. I personally liked Plum and Ella's Kitchen, just for the variety of flavors you could find easily. We started off with fruits, and did the three day test. Wait three days before introducing something new to check if there may be an allergy. So far, so good- she's had no reaction to anything. Then once we ran out of stage 1 fruits you could find, we started introducing veggies. We only were giving her "food" once a day, usually at night for dinner. She has a pretty sensitive tummy and I didn't want to over do it and cause her problems.
There was only one thing we tried feeding her that she really was not a fan of: sweet potatoes. Everything else she would eat up like a champ and she seemed to really enjoy it. Her favorites were peas and pears. Carrots are a very close favorite. She still nursed for every feeding, no bottle action going on at all.
I also started her on Mum Mum's during this month, and after almost having a heart attack the first time she ate one and was choking, I was put at ease when I realized they melt almost instantly in their mouth that they really can't choke on them. We had the banana flavored ones and she would munch on them like there was no tomorrow. I will say they are VERY messy and harden almost instantly, leaving a really crusty mess on everything.
*Some of our favorite items during this stage were: Plum Organics Baby Food Ella's Kitchen Baby Food Munchkin Spoons Mum Mum's Target- $1.00 section kid bowls 7 Months

Once we had tried pretty much every stage 1 food out there, we decided to switch it up to stage 2 foods. Basically the jars are bigger and there's more than just one food in the jar. So we moved on the carrots & peas, bananas & apples, oh joy oh joy! Also, the pediatrician said we could start introducing meats and grains into the mix.
We started feeding her twice a day: breakfast & dinner. I also decided to give oatmeal cereal another try, because I know so many babies love to eat it with fruit. I started mixing up 1-2 tablespoons of oatmeal cereal (with water) and pouring in fruit into it, mixing it up and giving it to her for breakfast. It was a total success and really helped fill her belly! For dinner we would give her a jar of veggies, and try to find some with meat mixed in as well.
Now that she was eating a lot more, more frequently, the pouches of food really added up and was getting to be pretty expensive. So I decided to try the jar food and we haven't looked back since. Our personal favorite is Beech Nut, which you can find at any grocery store (I think?) and Walmart. I usually stock up at Walmart. They have a great variety of flavors for jarred food and it's about half the price of the pouches. We also started introducing puffs and yogurt melts into the mix. She is a very late bloomer for teeth (as in she still has NONE) so I was afraid of the whole choking factor, but they dissolve so quickly in her mouth that it's nearly impossible for that to happen. I tried the whole organic route at first, but that stuff is pricey! So I gave Walmart brand puffs and melts a shot and she actually likes them WAY better! They're the Parents Choice brand and much, much cheaper! Just a little FYI for those cost conscious :)
She still nursed for every feeding and I had no interest in giving the bottle another shot.
*Some of our favorites during this month were: Beech Nut Baby Food Tommee Tippee Spoons Tommee Tippee Bibs Parent's Choice Yogurt Bites Parent's Choice Puffs Target- $1.00 section kid bowls My advice on puffs, yogurt melts, and what not: a momma knows best! If you think your baby is ready for them, give them a shot. If you don't, then don't worry about it. Kinsley doesn't have teeth so that kind of scared me at first, but after eating them myself and saw how it's impossible for her to choke on it, I felt safe doing it. 8 Months

Now we are in whole new territory with feeding her. She still nurses for her feedings, no bottle, but we now have entered lunch time into the mix.
For breakfast she gets 1-2 tablespoons of oatmeal cereal, mixed with a jar of fruit. Sometimes I'll warm it up for her, to spice it up a bit. I also give her a handful of Cheerios too and she absolutely LOVES them.
For lunch we give her a jar of veggies with puffs or small bite size pieces of steamed broccoli/carrots.
For dinner we give her a jar of veggies, half a jar of fruit (sometimes- not always) and a handful of yogurt melts.
I also have been experimenting with sippy cups for her and she drinks water with her meals. She doesn't drink too much from it, but she's at least learning the concept of having to get something out of something other than my boobs! We also give her puffs from time to time between lunch and dinner to hold her over.
We still use the Beech Nut brand of baby food, the Parent's Choice puffs and yogurt melts and we recently started giving her the Parent's Choice Little Munchers - they're basically baby cheeto puffs. I've experimented with bite size pieces of banana, blueberries, steamed broccoli, steamed carrots and watermelon. So far, she's loved them all. The only thing she seemed to have a reaction with was the blueberries- she spit up a bunch of it, but I think I may have given her a few too many.
*Things we've been loving this month: Beech Nut Baby Food Gerber Oatmeal Cereal Cheerios Nuby Sippy Cup Parents Choice Puffs Parents Choice Yogurt Melts Parents Choice Little Munchers Tommee Tippee Bibs Tommee Tippee Spoons Target- $1.00 section kid bowls After her 9 month appointment with the pediatrician at the end of the month, I'm sure we will be adding in more foods and water/juice into the mix. Finger foods will probably start replacing baby food and nursing will probably start becoming more infrequent. I will say, this is what gets me excited about her getting older!
The highchair we use is the Chicco Polly High Chair in Zest. It's ok, but I wish we had gotten something simple, not so bulky and spaceship looking. My mom has a cute wooden, spindle (Jenny Lind style) at her house I might steal and dump the Chicco one. Really there's nothing wrong with it, I just find it bulky and hard to keep clean.

Day In The Life

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:18:00 +0000

One of my all time favorite things to see other bloggers do is day in the life posts. And after I got a lot of comments from you guys who said you like seeing them too, I figured I'd put one together today. 5:00am

My alarm goes off at 4:45am. I usually lay in bed for a minute or two, wonder how on Earth it's already time to get up, and get myself up for the day. I walk out into our family room, turn on my computer, and get my day started. 6:00am

I get my first cup of coffee brewing. Today I'm spoiling myself with flavored creamer. I've just been using half-and-half lately, but it's Thursday- so why not spoil it a little. 7:00am

Kinsley wakes up, gets a diaper change and nurses for about 10 minutes. After she's done, we usually go back into our bedroom and wake up Kyle and Marley. Then we set up camp, drag all her toys out and hope that everything can entertain her long enough to make it to breakfast.

8:00am Breakfast time!!

After she's done eating, we play some more, read books, I drop her off at Daddy Daycare (which is Kyle's office), and kill time before her nap. Usually once I leave her with Kyle I'll make up the bed, straighten up the house a bit, wash my face, brush my teeth and get breakfast.

Today I went with some cinnamon wheat chex with blueberries on top. It was delicious!

9:00am Nap time!!

I go back to working without any distractions for a good hour. It's heavenly! 10:00am Today she woke up at 10:15, so she slept a little bit longer. She gets a diaper change, I nurse for about 10 minutes and then we play, hang out, catch up on some tv shows, and keep her entertained while I work.

11:00am We play, play, play and take another trip to Daddy Daycare.

And that would be a Publix bag on his head. It keeps her entertained :)
12:00pm Lunch time! Today she had mango baby food and sweet potato puffs.

Once I give her the puffs, I straighten up the kitchen/unload the dishwasher while she's occupied.

1:00pm Nap time for Kinsley, lunch time for me! I also finish up working and usually am done for the day by this time. My mom came over today and brought me some lunch. YUM!

2:00pm I get ready while she's still asleep. Makeup is my friend ;)

Once she wakes up from her nap, I'll nurse her and get her dressed for an afternoon of running errands. Yea, I know it's 2:00 and I'm just putting real clothes on my kid. Don't judge.
3:00pm Target run!

4:00pm We're home, I'm brewing some coffee to make an iced cup of Joe, and we're reading books, playing and hanging out with daddy and Marley.

5:00pm Dinner time! She had a jar of veggies, half a jar of fruit and some puffs to hold her over.

We set-up our iPad to the Disney Jr. app and let her watch a show while she eats her puffs. It gives us some time to do stuff (prep dinner, clean up stuff, whatever) and is the perfect 20 minute distraction.

Then we all play until it's bath time.
6:30pm Bath time!

Kyle and I dress her together, he gives her good night hugs and kisses and then it's momma time. I nurse her, usually, till she falls asleep but tonight she wasn't having it and went to bed wide awake. I have a feeling it's a sign of things to come later on. Uh oh!
7:00pm Kinsley is off in la-la land- or throwing around her pacifiers and slamming her lovie against the crib. Kyle sweeps the floors and picks up Kinsley's toys while I get dinner ready. While it's simmering I grab my mop and go over the floors real quick. Tonight we had my favorite, Ramen Noodle Stir-fry. It's soo good!

Once dinner is done, I clean up the dishes, load the dishwasher, wipe down the counters and call it a night. And now I'm getting ready to hit the shower, relax for a bit and then go to sleep myself. I usually am in bed by 9:30 (cough cough GRANDMA cough cough) but I do wake up at the crack of dawn.
And that's our day in a nutshell :)

What Do YOU Want To See

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:44:00 +0000

So my blogging as been on a little hiatus. Really I chalk it up to running out of ideas to talk about. But then I have an entire notebook filled with ideas to blog, but I just can't find the motivation to start any of them. Or I think about it and I'm like, nobody would care about reading about how I floss my teeth?! Ok- that really was never a topic, but some of the ideas I've had seem so off the wall for me that nobody would want to hear about it. So I'd love to hear from YOU and what you'd like to see on the blog. More Kinsley posts? More day-to-day stuff? More favorites? Relationship stuff? My work-at-home life? Really- anything... I'm totally open :) And if you never ever comment and could care less about what I write about, that's cool too. But I feel like I'm having major writers block so help me out. What do YOU wan to see on here??

Please give my momma some ideas so she'll stop dressing me up in her old clothes and taking a million pictures of me. PLEASE!!

{kinsley's weekly letters} 36 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:09:00 +0000

Baby Girl, I don't even know how it is even possible that you are 36 weeks old. I say it every week, and I will keep saying it every single week until the day I die probably, but where the heck has the time gone??? I feel like so many things happened this week, but when I actually sit down to write this weekly letter I can't even remember what day it is. So bare with me if I miss some things. You can now sit up by yourself without even flinching. You were a pro at rolling over pretty early on, you mastered sitting, and you started crawling around 6 months- but you never really went from being on your belly, to sitting all on your own. But now- you can do it and you do it all the time. You roll over, flop around, sit up, crawl...you're just always on the go.
You HATE being inside the exersaucers now. You would rather climb on them from the outside. The second we put you in (mainly when I put you in for some relief so I can work), you immediately cry your eyes out like I'm torturing you! The second you're out, you're happy as a clam. You love to be on your feet. You want to climb, pull up, stand on everything. You are even trying to get your legs up high enough to actually climb on stuff, like the wooden walker, your crib, the couch. Your little legs just aren't long enough {thank goodness} so you usually just give up.
You do the cutest thing when you want to sit back down after you've been standing. You'll look down at the ground, slowly bend your knees and extend one arm out to touch the ground, and then plop down on your butt. It's hilarious to watch and so cute when you bend your chubby little legs!! You are a mouth pooting machine. It's your favorite thing to do in the entire world. Saying momma, daddy, babababa, mamamama, lalalala, anything...nope, you have no interest. Instead you like to make it sound like your dad is passing gas on every aisle in Target, when in fact it's just our dainty little fart noise daughter going to town. It makes us chuckle pretty hard core. We started giving you some bigger food items, like actual pieces of steamed broccoli, steamed carrot pieces and chunks of banana. You loved being able to feed yourself and ate everything like a champ! Your Choo Choo, however, did not enjoy changing your broccoli filled diaper. I'm very thankful I didn't have to experience that one. You are definitely a momma's girl. I love it, but at the same time I wish you weren't so picky about it. I feel really bad when your daddy wants to hold you or your Chooch and you just cry for me. Sure, I love knowing how much you love me, but I want them to be able to enjoy you, too. We love you oh so much little girl. You know exactly how to make us smile so big and have made our hearts filled with so much love and joy. You are the absolute BEST! Love, Momma

Keep It Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:12:00 +0000

On any given day, our house usually looks pretty well kept- considering we have an 8 month old with enough toys and crap everywhere to make it look like we have 4 kids. But just like I'm sure 99.99% of the world is at times, our house can be a bit messy, unruly, and look like a hurricane came through and took a crap on us. I try my best to do a little bit of housework every single day, not only for my sanity, but so we don't go through the rare a-hurricane-came-to-visit-us days as often. After seeing a bunch of bloggers post about spring cleaning, their favorite products and what not, I figured I'd jump on the wagon and take a ~~swiffer~~ stab at it.

one two three four five six seven Every Day Like I said, I try and do something around the house every single day. But usually this is what makes the list consistently, every single day: - Make Up Bed - Sweep Floors - Swiffer Floors - Load/Unload Dishwasher - Spray/Disinfect Kitchen Counters & Sink - Pick Up Toys I swear I instantly feel better if our bed is made. I don't know what it is, but I feel like the inch of dog hair that has compiled at the end of the foot board or the giant piles of my shedding hair don't stand out as much to me. It instantly cheers me up and takes less than 2 minutes to do! I also sweep and swiffer the floors EVERY day! I have to, honestly. Kinsley crawls around everywhere and if I don't, she usually ends up choking on either my hair or Marley's hair because it's literally everywhere. Once I put her to sleep, I make my rounds around the house sweeping and follow up with my favorite lavender scented swiffers. *Side note: I just got the babyganics floor cleaner which I'm going to use once the swifter pads get used up. I'm kind of weird about the whole "toxic" stuff with her. We also pick up her toys every night, too. Even though I know they just get thrown around hours later, I can at least go to bed knowing the house was once tidy for a short period of time. The last area I always pay attention to is the kitchen. Nothing annoys me more than seeing dishes sitting on the counter. So the dishwasher gets loaded every night, and if it's full we run it and then I unload it in the morning- or I make Kyle, depending on if he made me mad or not ;). I also wipe down the counters and disinfect the kitchen sink just to make it feel more clean. I am obsessed with Mrs. Meyers cleaning products, especially the Lemon Verbena scent- ohhh it's intoxicating how good it smells! I use the counter spray in our kitchen and sometimes in the bathrooms, too. I also have the all purpose cleaner that I switch out with the BabyGanics stuff from time to time. Every Week I will say that some weeks I don't get to cleaning my house because I am flat out exhausted, but I try my hardest to stick to it! I am a weirdo and get really happy when my house is clean. I actually enjoy doing it, which is totally weird, right? So here's what we do every week: - Clean Bathrooms/Scrub Showers - Vacuum Carpet - Dust (including baseboards) - Empty Trash/Diaper Genie - Laundry The mirrors get cleaned, the counters and toilet get sparkly, and the tile and tub get some TLC every single week. I try and stick to non-toxic cleaners, especially in the bathroom we use for Kinsley, but sometimes you just got to use bleach. I usually stick to bleach in our bathroom (specifically our shower), but sometimes I'll pour it down the drains and in the toilet to really get things disinfected. For the counters I use the BabyGanics all purpose cleaner; for the mirrors I use BabyGanics mirror cleaner (because she is notorious for licking our big mirror); for the toilet I use the Method line. I scrub the shower with all purpose cleaner and bleach, when need be. The carpet gets vacuumed. What more do I need to say about this? We dust (and by we I really mean ME) the entire house, including the baseboards. I used to never worry about them but a baby changes your perspective on everything. EVERYTHING! So yes, all the baseboards get a quick dusting. I like the swiffer spray because it smells amazing, but I feel like I'm doing serious cleaning when I have to spray a product out. Weird, I know. We empty out the trashcans and especially the diaper genie! It's not always full after a week, but boy can it get stinky!! I try and separate the laundry out over two days (usually Monday & Tuesday). I'll do two loads each day: wash, fold & put away. It's the only way that it actually will get put up, or else it just sits on the washer and piles up week after week. So splitting it up over two days makes it way more manageable for me. And then a few times a year I'll get a wild hair in my bones and decide to clean all the windows (inside & outside), wipe down the kitchen cabinets, clean out the fridge & disinfect, and whatever random tasks come to my mind that I want to tackle. We also love candles and having our house smell yummy. I use the glade plug-ins around the house and keep candles on hand at all times. In our bedroom we use the lavender vanilla scented ones and around the house we use the sweet pea lilac scent. It's heavenly :) And I am kind of obsessed with Method hand soap, specifically the honeysuckle scent.
What are your cleaning staples and items you absolutely love?

{beauty talk} Purple Nail Polish Picks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:57:00 +0000

I love me some nail polish. But then again there's really not much that I'm not head over heels obsessed with. Nail polish is definitely one of my things and I've been very, very good about not buying nearly as much as I did.

{true story: I used to buy a new nail polish every single week. Kyle would have a hissy fit, I would yell at him for being inconsiderate of my needs, and it was just a really ridiculous habit I had that caused some pretty stupid arguments at Casa de la Gilreath. Glad that phase is over! Now we just argue over all the stuff I buy Kinsley. But I can totally justify EVERY purchase I've ever made for her}

I love me some lilac, lavender, purple nails for spring. It's one of my favorite colors and there are so many variations to pick from! Here are a few of my favorite, staple colors I turn to:

one two three four

My favorite, favorite, favorite color is the Sephora by OPI in Domestic Goddess. I would drive like a lunatic to the Sephora store in Orlando {back when we lived there} on my lunch break JUST to go buy a new bottle of this stuff. But I do love all of those colors, that one just happens to be my favorite :)

What are some of your favorite purple picks for spring?

{weekends} Birthday Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:35:00 +0000

I had every intention of posting this on Sunday, but after a busy weekend...I wanted to sit on the couch and do absolutely NOTHING Sunday night. And that's just what I did. It was nice and a very rare occurrence. So better late than never, right? I celebrated my 27th birthday on the 25th. I've never been big on "oh I'm getting old" or being dramatic over getting older. Sure, it kinda sucks that I feel like I'm still 18 and in fact I'm 27, but hey- that's life. My birthday started off with my favs: donuts, coffee and my little family. Kyle drove to get me some Dunkin' Donuts because it's my fav and I chowed down on my gourmet breakfast. He also made me open my gifts at like 5:30am, but I can see why... He got me these awesome new pair of Nike Free's and made me the most sentimental, adorable photo poster of all my pregnancy pictures. He really surprised me on this one ;)

My mom came over and brought me lunch, which was amazing!! Shrimp salad, fresh fruit and dill pickle chips. YUM! And I got another pretty bouquet of flowers from my bff, Tessa :)

And my day would not be complete with out some pictures of me and my baby, matching- duh!

Then for dinner I requested one of my favorite meals: chicken enchiladas. They might have been the best ones my mom has EVER made. She also made this amaze balls corn and black bean salsa, that I swear I could have just ate alone! SO GOOD!

Friday night we met up with some friends who live in Tampa that had come down for the weekend, and got some dinner and frozen yogurt. They have a little 1.5 year old daughter who the last time I saw was Kinsley's age! Now she's walking, talking and such a big girl! Crazy to realize that soon Kinsley will be just like that :( Saturday we met them at the time share they were staying at (which I used to work at) and enjoyed some fun in the sun and some floats down the lazy river. Ahh- it was heavenly!

I ended our Saturday by cleaning the entire house. I try and do this every week- some weeks it just doesn't happen- but I feel so much more at ease when the house is clean. Sunday morning we headed to my mom's house to do some tree trimming. Well, I was the babysitter...Kyle helped trim trees. My aunt, uncle and cousins came over, too, so I was in charge of Kinsley and my cousins daughter, Lillie. We did some water coloring, drawing, doodling, laughing...ya know, all that fun kid stuff.

Kinsley was exhausted. And have I mentioned yet how much we LOVE our new car seat??? Seriously- it's amazing!! She falls asleep the second she gets put in it. I call it the miracle worker. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it to any momma looking for a big girl {or boy} car seat. Then we met up with my brothers and sister-in-laws for my birthday dinner. We went to Olive Garden because it's like my all time favorite place (I'm easy to please). It was delicious! I scored some gift cards so this little momma is going to do some shopping. And I'm forcing myself to actually buy it for ME, and not Kinsley. But I'm sure I'll get her a little something, too :) Hope everyone had a great weekend and have a wonderful week!

{kinsley's weekly letters} 35 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:55:00 +0000

Baby Girl, Where did this past week go? Seriously. I can't even believe it's been an entire week since I last wrote your letter. This is not okay in the least bit. I swear you grew hair overnight (or over the course of last week) because it's even longer and filled in more than before. I can't even explain how happy it makes me that soon we will be clipping in bows instead of wrestling to get a headband on you. Either way, your hair is so pretty and I have a feeling it's going to have momma's wavy-ness. It's definitely gotten lighter than when you were first born, but I have no doubt you will end up with dark brown hair. Your eyes are starting to change color, too. They've been the dark, newborn baby blue/gray color for ever!! Now I'm starting to see some green, brown and gold to them. Hmm... I wonder where you get that from? I always thought you'd end up with your daddy's eyes (which are a really pretty light green), but now I'm thinking they're going to be closer to mine (which are an emerald green/hazel color). You are impossible...and I mean IMPOSSIBLE...to change now! The second I lay you down, which is also a difficult task because you just want to stand, you instantly will flip over. Even with the help of someone holding you down while I quickly attempt to change your diaper, it's hard! I usually end up in a sweaty mess by the time I'm done. Oh, and I've mastered how to put a diaper on you while you're laying on your belly. That's talent!! You are also impossible to photograph, too! I swear by the time I call it quits trying to get your weekly pictures I need to shower. It is quite a difficult task these days. You are pulling up on everything!! The newest thing in your repertoire is crawling over to the couch, pulling up to stand, and reaching for us to pick you up. It's the cutest thing ever. It blows my mind how standing up used to be some what of a challenge for you and now it's like "yea, that was easy" and you're standing on your feet in milliseconds. I'm not ok with this!
You helped me celebrate my 27th birthday last week. We had a really fun, relaxing, low key day. Just what I wanted!
You haven't said mamamama or dadadadada yet, but we're working on it! You usually are more interested in "b" sounds or doing "ah-baa". It's ok- we're making up for the lack of vocalizing by your speedy crawling, standing up skills. I swear by the time you're 10 months old you will be walking. Scary, scary thought.
This has been such a fun week little girl. I've enjoyed every single day with you and feel beyond blessed to call you my own. We love you more than words can ever say. You are truly the best gift we could have ever, EVER, asked for!
Love, Momma

{monthly check-in} 8 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:24:00 +0000

I feel old saying that I have an 8 month old baby. How on Earth has it already been 8 months??! That means in 4 months...4 short months...she will be a year old! :(

Weight

I'm going to guess she's about 18 pounds now. She doesn't go to the doctor until 9 months, but if she gained a pound a month she'd be around the 17.5 pound mark. I also think she definitely has gotten longer as I've noticed her little legs are getting more and more like her daddy's. Health She's as healthy as a horse. She's never been sick {knock on wood} and we've never had any serious issue with her other than an umbilical hernia when she was a teeny tiny baby. She still has no teeth and no signs of any sprouting any time soon. Sleep

For about two weeks now, her sleep has been the best it has ever been!! She goes to bed at 7:00pm and wakes up at 7:00am- with one nightly feeding in the mix around 3:30, 4:00am. She takes two naps, sometimes three if the two naps weren't for very long. But she's been getting at least two 1.5, sometimes 2 hour naps every day. It's been great!! Routine

7:00: Wake up & diaper change Nurse for 10-15 minutes 8:15: Eat breakfast (1-2 tablespoons of cereal & a container of fruits) 9:00: Down for nap #1 10:00/10:30am (depending on when she wakes up): Nurse for 10-15 minutes 11:30am: Snack time (puffs, yogurt melts, etc.) 12:30/1:00 (depending on when she woke up from nap #1): Nurse for 10-15 minutes 1:30: Down for nap #2 3:30: Nurse for 10-15 minutes 4:30: Snack time (chunk of food in her mesh food feeder) 5:00: Eat dinner (1 container of veggies with some puffs or yogurt melts) 6:30: Bath Time 7:00: Nurse/Bed Time Clothes

She still is wearing 6 month size clothes with 9 months mixed in. Pajamas she's in 9 months stuff because of the length. Shorts she wears 6 months because her little waist is so tiny. Shirts and onesies she can squeeze into 6 month still, but she has more room in 9 month stuff. So it's a big combination of different sizes. I hate this in between size. Diapers

She still wears size 2 diapers, because her waist is so small. But we put a size 3 on her at night, just for maximum absorbency. I think it helps her sleep better, too! Diet

She still is 100% still breastfeed and only gets momma's milk. She also eats baby food twice a day, along with rice rusks, yogurt melts, puffs & some chunks of real food here and there. Her favorite foods so far are peas, carrots, pears and mango. Crying

She has been such a content baby {most of the time} this month. She does the usual crying when she's hungry, tired, needs to be changed- the usual baby stuff. She also cries when she's being held by almost anyone but me or if I leave the room. She literally has a hissy fit if she can't see me. Poor baby. Milestones

3/27: Decorated her 1st Easter Egg 3/28: Learned to sit up on her own from laying on her back 3/31: Celebrated her 1st Easter Ate her 1st mashed potatoes 4/1: Ate whole green beans and used her mesh food feeder for the 1st time {apple} 4/2: Ate her first strawberry 4/3: Ate her first egg yolk 4/5: Ate her first cantaloupe 4/7: Ate pieces of avocado with her fingers 4/8: Pulled up from a sitting position on to the changing table 4/12: Crawled on hands and knees for the 1st time 4/13: Pulled up on her crib while laying in it 4/15: Played in her pool raft for the 1st time 4/18: Started making "poof" noises and blowing air on my face 4/19: First time sitting in a high chair at a restaurant {Texas Roadhouse} 4/21: Got a big girl car seat 4/22: Slept through the night!! 4/25: Celebrated momma's 27th birthday 4/26: Had her first play date with our friends in Tampa *Only spits up on occasion now *Turns away to strangers or people she's not comfortable around *Loves to smile Momma's Favorite Moment Taking this little girl to the pool, for sure!

Momma's Least Favorite Moment

Kinsley got a big lump on her head thanks to our dumb dog, Marley. He got spooked, took off running and Kinsley was crawling right behind him. His knuckle head collided right into her head- instant tears and she was really unhappy. I hated to see her in pain like that and all I wanted to do was hold her close. I didn't enjoy that at all! Videos

Big Girl Car Seat

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:18:00 +0000

We made the switch and Kinsley is now in her big girl car seat! This was the most researched product I've looked at since registering for the baby. I looked at tons of blogs, looked at what they got, did research and felt completely confused. Britax seemed to be the number 1 choice of seat to get, but I just hated the way it looked. It was too bulky, too old lady looking, and didn't feel all that comfortable to me. While at Target one day, my mom and I wondered through the car seat aisle and came across the newest car seat by Chicco. One touch and I was sold. We went with the Chicco NextFit in the style Gravity. It is honestly the most comfortable seat I have ever come across. It feels almost like memory foam and the material is so soft and easy to clean. It reclines in 9 positions and the most amazing feature is that it is a rear facing & forward facing seat. It holds up to 70 pounds and adjusts in height as the child grows. Everything about it made me want it. I read the reviews, and although it is a brand spanking new car seat, those momma's who have it loved it. Kyle ended up getting this for me as part of my birthday present. Yea- I'm one of those moms who would rather get gifts for my kid than for myself. So we went to Target to go get it, and it was on sale for $223.99 thanks to a one-time limited sale offer. The second we saw the price tag, we were like uhhh....WHAAAAAAAT??....and instantly put it in the cart.

It is so easy to install, so easy to get her in and out of, and she absolutely LOVES it! She took over an hour long nap in it the first time she was in it. I chalk that up to a happy, safe and comfortable baby :)

{baby favorites} 7 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:11:00 +0000

How is it possible another month has gone by? Geez! I swear this month has been so much fun and Kinsley has definitely started to get a little personality. Although this is a little early, I'm taking advantage of a 2+ hour nap and getting some blog posts done!

Here are the items we were loving this past month:

Blabla Dolls: She has a few Blabla dolls and I absolutely LOVE them. And by me, I mean Kinsley. Ok, maybe I love them a little bit more than her but she is never without one. They are so soft, cuddly and absolutely adorable. Everytime we go out in public and she has one, people always ask where they are from.

Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder: We have been loving this thing big time. I put chunks of avocado, apple, frozen banana, ice cubes, whatever inside and she goes to town! Granted they can get a little messy and can be a pain to clean at times, they keep her entertained for a good 30 minutes.

Mam Pacifiers: After my BFF Tessa recommended these pacifiers to me, I went out and got some the next day. I am so, so happy I did because they're awesome!! They actually stay in her mouth better than the Nuk's, and will go to town on sucking on one for hours on end. They're awesome!

Tommee Tippee Bibs & Spoons: I bought these on a whim because I was desperate for feeding equipment while we were out one night. They were on sale and I had been wanting to get some silicone bibs because I HATE cotton bibs. Hate, hate, hate them! These bibs are awesome and I can just rinse them off when she's done eating. Also, these spoons are wider and hold more food which makes feeding Kinsley much easier! And she can grab onto them better which is helping teach her how to feed herself.

Imaginarium Wooden Walker: I bought this months ago when Toys-R-Us had an AMAZING deal on it (I got it for $15.00- thanks to Hip 2 Save) and have been waiting for months to get it out for her. When she started showing early signs on wanting to pull up, I got it out and she has been in love ever since. It's so cute to see her sit up on her knees to play with things and now stand up on the thing. She even has taken a few walks around our bedroom with it!

And that's what we've been loving this month. Any recommendations for new products to try? I have a few items coming soon from Amazon (surprise, surprise) that I can't wait to open up and let her explore. The bad news with her getting bigger is she can actually play with toys now- which means my bank account will be hating me because of course she needs every cool toy, right?

7 Month Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:31:00 +0000

Literally, the second I hit publish on my "Day In the Life" videos, I changed our entire routine up. Well- let me take that statement back, I rearranged the schedule a bit. I was desperate, frustrated, tired, emotional, helpless....all that jazz. I tried everything under the sun to get Kinsley to sleep at night. Let me recap what life was like a little... Kinsley would take about three naps a day and they were torture for us. She would cry and cry and cry every time we put her down. Going to bed was just as horrendous. I'd nurse her until she fell asleep, lay her down, and without fail she would wake up 20-30 minutes later and it was an all night battle. Things around our house got a little tense to say the least and I was pretty close to trading Kinsley in for the baby I first had. So like I said, I was desperate for some help and answers. On a whim, I just googled "sleep schedule for a 7 month old" and came across this website. I looked it over, thought hmm...it's pretty similar to what we do anyways...and gave it a shot. I wasn't expecting much, but I ended up with a miracle! Honestly- a miracle! Kinsley now lays down for a nap and usually goes right to sleep. Ocassionally she'll stand up, scream and cry and after we go in, give her a pacifier and lay her back down, she's out for the count! Bed time is a breeze as well. Like with her nap time, she'll ocassionally wake up and cry but usually self soothes herself back to sleep. So here's the schedule with a little tweaking from the website:

I still breastfeed her for every meal so where I have "nurse", you can substitute with a bottle :)

7:00- wake-up & nurse

*Pretty self explanatory. She also gets a diaper change as soon as I get her out of bed. 8:15- breakfast *she gets about 2 tablespoons of oatmeal cereal mixed with a container of fruit. I believe there are about 3.5/4 ounces in a stage 2 container/jar. I don't feed her pouch food anymore- just regular baby food in a jar. 9:00- nap *She usually goes straight to sleep in the morning. I literally lay her down awake, give her a pacifier, and walk straight out. After a few minutes of her flipping around in the crib and the occasional cry fest, she's out cold. She typically will nap for an hour and a half. Most days though she doesn't make it to 9:00, and goes down around 8:45. 10:15- nurse *self explanatory 12:45- nurse *self explanatory 1:30- nap *The afternoon nap is hit or miss. Sometimes she does go straight to sleep, but usually this is the challenge. I lay her down awake, give her a pacifier, and walk out. She usually ends up standing and holding onto the rails of her crib like she's in jail, and I have to go in a few times to get her to sleep. But again, once she's asleep it's usually for at least an hour. 3:00- nurse *self explanatory 4:30- {optional} catnap *If she doesn't get at least an hour nap in for the morning and afternoon, I make her take a catnap. Or if she's showing signs that she's still tired I'll let her take a short nap. It makes things at night go much more smooth. 5:30- dinner *She gets a container of vegetables at night with about a 1/4 cup yogurt melts and a handful of puffs. I don't really measure them out I just estimate what looks like "enough" for her. 6:15- bath time *I let her play as long as she wants. She usually is in there for at least 15 minutes, but on occasion she wants out sooner. After she gets dried off and her jammies are on, I nurse her until she usually falls asleep. 7:00- bed time *baby girl is out for the night and momma & daddy enjoy some time together!! She only wakes up once at night to nurse, which usually is around 3:30/4:00am. Going from three naps to only two (with the occasional catnap) has really, really helped! The biggest lesson I've learned through this all is sometimes it's ok to let them cry. I used to jump to my feet the second I heard a peep out of her, and now I'm a big proponent of the 5 minute method. After 5 minutes of straight up crying (honest crying- not just whinning), I will go in and lay her back down, kiss her goodnight and walk out. If she does it again, give it 6 minutes- go in and address the situation. I kept doing this, and increasing the time in 1 minute intervals until she gave up the fight. Now- I barely have to walk in her room after I lay her down for the night. Score! She also will eat puffs here and there throughout the day in between feedings. I haven't braved giving her lunch, too, but probably will start when she's 8 months. Which means that the schedule will probably change again, but I'll be ok with that. I hope you momma's who are struggling with naps and bed time find this useful. If it helped me, I'm sure it has to help you in some way. I try and stick to it pretty well, but I know that things happen and sometimes you have to veer off the schedule. So far, Kinsley has adjusted and we've had no major flops. And this has been over a week and still going strong :) Lets just hope I didn't completely jinx myself, or else I will go cry myself to sleep.

Pool Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:37:00 +0000

We sure do love any chance to head to the pool. We bought a water camera for our honeymoon two years ago and we dusted it off and took it along for the swim. There's really nothing too special about either one of this videos, other than seeing Kinsley in all her cuteness in the pool :)

{kinsley's weekly letters} 34 weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Baby Girl, This has been the best week ever! And I'm hoping it's a sign of many more amazing weeks to come. Why? Because we have a good sleeper on our hands!! I started you on a schedule last week. Although we naturally feel into our own routine, after researching a typical schedule (which was pretty similar) I tried it out and oh my goodness it worked! You go down every single night without ease, and if you wake up you usually cry it out and fall right back to sleep without needing momma and daddy. You also only wake up once to nurse and it's truly a miracle. You love to have your tongue sticking out. If you aren't smiling or fussing, you have your tongue sticking out like a little puppy dog. You have learned to blow air out and love to make little "poofs". Usually as soon as I get your our of your crib from a nap you love to poof all over my face and giggle like you just did the funniest thing. I think it's hilarious so I usually laugh back with ya. You are in a big girl car seat now!! We got it over the weekend, for seriously an amazing price and I am in love. We tried it out today for the first time and you took your first nap in it. I'm going to guess you like it because you slept for over an hour in the car. That's kind of unusual unless we're going on a road trip. Score! You seem to be much more content lately. I don't know if it's because you actually get two good naps in (over an hour each) and are sleeping so well at night, but whatever it is...you are just a happy little girl. Sure, you still have your moments (like the entire morning today), but overall you're just happy, happy! We officially have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse lover on our hands. The second you hear the song, you pep up and stare at the television while kicking your legs all frantic. Like "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Mickkkkkkkkkkey!!!". Needless to say, I can't WAIT to take you to Disney for the very first time. If your daddy didn't think I was nuts, you would have already been ;)
I wish I could explain how heart warming it is to feel your snuggles and hugs. Anytime you actually give me a real hug I melt. It's the sweetest and most incredible feeling. It makes me realize why I wanted to be a momma so bad. I love you more than words can say. You are the light of our lives and the reason we do all that we do. Love, Momma

{weekends} Great Outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:52:00 +0000

I usually like to put up a weekend recap, but after a busy and fun filled weekend, I kind of forgot about it. Kyle's parents came in town to spend the weekend with us and we have had a great, relaxing time. We got some new clothes for the little girlie girl today and a big purchase for an amazing deal...her big girl car seat! (more details to come on that) So yesterday I took a fussy Kinsley outside to get some fresh air and Kyle came out and took some candid photos. Needless to say, they melted my heart when I looked at them later on that night.

Could she be any more sweet? Today was our shopping day and any chance that I actually put "clothes" on, I have to capture the moment. And yes, Kinsley and I are matching- surprise, surprise!

And if you look very, very close to this picture you'll notice an object of some sort to the left. Wanna get a closer look at what was lurking behind us and residing in our back yard??

Yup. A freaking alligator! We do live in Florida, after all.
It's crazy how we've lived in this house for almost 2 years and since having Kinsley, we spend more time back in our backyard than ever before. I like to get out, enjoy the fresh air, take a long walk around our neighborhood, but sometimes it's really nice to just sit in the grass, look out on the lake and take it all in. Kinsley is definitely a lover of being outdoors and will turn a fussy girl into one pretty content baby.
I hope everyone has had a great weekend! I'm finishing up some prep work for our dinner tonight, Chicken Limone. It's pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself :)

{kinsley's weekly letters} 33 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:09:00 +0000

Baby Girl, You are 33 weeks old today and do I even need to say it? "I can't believe you're already 33 weeks old!" This week has had a lot of ups, but it also has been a little challenging. You can officially pull up on anything and everything in sight. You LOVE to army crawl over to the nearest tall object, get up on your knees and pull up to a standing position. I love it, but it's also a reality check that oh my gosh...you're growing up! You also discovered this weekend how to stand up in your crib. We were blown away! Speaking of crib, and the sleep thing...it's terrible! Granted, it is getting a litttttttttle tinnnnnnnny bit better, but it still sucks. Anytime I put you down for the night, within 20 to 30 minutes you start screaming. SCREAMING at the top of your lungs and producing crocodile tears. I try and let you cry-it-out for about 5 minutes but then I just can't take it anymore. I try and put you back down, stick a pacifier in your mouth and comfort you back to sleep. This has a 50/50 chance of working- usually I end up back in your room 5 minutes later doing the same thing until eventually you give up the fight. I swear you have separation anxiety and do NOT want to be away from me. Is that good or bad? I don't know. You started getting into the big girl crawling position: hands and knees! I was so excited about this and your daddy and I just looked at each other like whaaaaaat!??? For so long now you just army crawl and scoot every where so it's weird for us to think of you crawling any differently. You got your first bump on your head. I wanted to cry over it, but momma's gotta make you tough! Your daddy was in his closet getting ready and Marley was standing right by him. You were crawling over to see them and I warned your dad to be careful with Marley. He took a step, it spooked Marley, and he took off running. Well, when he turned around to take off...his block head went directly into your head, leaving you in major "I'm hurt" tears and a bump on your head. I felt terrible and wanted to go buy you a new toy. I didn't, but don't think I didn't want to! Despite the trouble we have at night trying to get you to go to sleep, you have been so happy this week! Sure you get fussy and cranky when you want to take your nap or you just want some momma time, but overall you have been so amazing and it make me so happy to see. You usually are very content in the morning, you take a nice long nap (usually an hour, hour and a half), and love to crawl around and play. The afternoons are usually the same but you get your fussy period right before bath/bed time. I am looking forward to getting your sleep situation fixed. I know we just have to be patient, but it breaks my heart to see you so upset every night. Trust me...one day you will LOVE TO GO TO BED!!! So why not just figure it out already?? ;) We love you Kinsley Boo and you brighten our lives every single day. Love, Momma

A Day in The Life

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna ) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:35:00 +0000

I've been wanting to make A Day in The Life type post for a long, long, long time. But every time I start to document our day, without fail, I forget or just get fed up with it and forget about it. Well...I forced myself to do it this time and instead of the usual picture type post, I made a video. Oh yea, that's right, you get to follow us along all day- with and without makeup, bright and early, and all the fun we have along the way! I almost...ALMOST...gave up on this entire thing because editing the video and putting it together turned out to be a bigger headache than I had anticipated. Anyways, Kyle's MacBook saved the day and I finally got around to putting it all together. This was filmed April 5th. And I will say that every day is different. Some days Kinsley is an angel and our day is simple as pie. Other days she's a little terror; she won't nap, she cries and whines all day, she only wants to be held and the day is very, very challenging. But our schedule is usually the same every day. I hope you all enjoy our A Day in The Life videos!! :)