Bump to Baby: Kinsley

It is hard to believe that sweet little baby is already two! We have had a busy year with all kinds of changes and fun things going on.

Kinsley got to ride on an airplane twice this year. The first trip was in August to Nashville/Huntsville. Chris had a class for work that he went to so Kinsley and I tagged along. We had all kinds of fun running around town while he was at his class. Since we were so close, we spent some time with Nick and Danae. Kinsley did such an awesome job on the plane. She slept during both flights and only fussed a little.

First time on a plane

Fancy dinner out

Hanging out with Uncle Nick

The second airplane experience did not go quite as smoothly. Kinsley and I flew to Colorado for Audrey's 1st birthday in May. It was much more difficult going by myself. Kinsley did not sleep at all even though I purposely booked flights during nap and bed time. She still did pretty good and we had a great time visiting Audg in Colorado.

Such a big girl carrying her own bookbag

Matching at the zoo

Kinsley loves her cousin!

In November Kinsley got to be the flower girl in Kim and Josh's wedding. That weekend I realized I could no longer deny that my baby was now a toddler. She walked down the aisle like a pro, danced all night and even tried to catch the bouquet.

Walking down the aisle!

Dancing with the ring bearer

Dancing with the bride

Trying to catch the bouquet. I'm going to have to watch this girl!

Each holiday has been so much more fun this year. Kinsley really enjoyed each of them and we got to start some fun traditions.

For Halloween Kinsley was an owl. She even learned how to say "Whoo Whoo" like an owl. At first she did not want to wear her costume, then she saw other kids with their costumes on and decided she wanted to wear hers. It's a good thing because that thing took some time to make! Just before Halloween we took a hayride to pick out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. I thought painting pumpkins would be easier than carving them. Kinsley really enjoyed it and was very particular about her painting. I tried to turn the pumpkin to a clean spot, she got mad and turned it back.

Hayride

Finished product.

Cutest owl I've ever seen!

Thanksgiving was spent with family and eating turkey. Kinsley also got to sit in the living room, eat her breakfast and watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Eating breakfast while watching the parade. Doesn't get much better.

MMMM turkey leg!

Kinsley had so much fun at Christmas unwrapping her gifts and helping pass out gifts to everyone else. On Christmas Eve Kinsley got to open her Christmas Eve present (new pj's, a book, an ornament and a sweet treat) and set milk and cookies out for Santa. Unfortunately, Santa couldn't eat all of his cookies so Kinsley finished them the next morning for him.

Christmas Sunday

She loves her new jammies!

Picture with Santa

We did some crafting for Valentine's Day. Kinsley loved painting the canvas and her hands! The huge mess gave me a little anxiety but she had fun making it. We gave one to each grandma and kept one for our house. Kinsley got a couple of little gifts like a new book, new Valentine's day shirt, balloons, and a new plate. All of our meals that day consisted of heart shaped foods.

What a mess!

I love the final product!

Easter was so much better this year! Kinsley actually enjoyed getting in the grass and hunting Eggs. We also decorated and dyed a few eggs. Kinsley got an Easter basket full of goodies (book, book bag, crayons, bubbles).

Family Easter picture with all FOUR of us ;)

Hunting Easter eggs

dyed Easter Eggs

Matching Easter dresses

During the winter and spring Kinsley was a busy girl with all of her activities! She had playgroup on Monday, Story time at the library on Tuesday, Bible study on Wednesday and gymnastics on Thursday. In between all of her activities we found time to walk to the park, bake, play in the snow and walk to the shop to visit Daddy. Kinsley loves having things to do.

Headstand at gymnastics

Making cupcakes

Playing in the snow

Yummy snow!

One day after playgroup Kinsley decided she didn't want to hold my hand on the way to the car and thought instead she would run across the parking lot. It is a terrible parking lot with a blind corner right where she decided to run. I went and grabbed her hand and walked her back to the car. She was not happy about having to hold my hand so she threw herself to the ground. I picked her up and put her in the car. She was still crying but I could tell it was an "I'm hurt cry" not an "I'm mad" cry. I couldn't see anything obviously wrong with her arm so we headed home, ate lunch and took a much needed nap. When Kinsley woke up she was still holding her arm and wouldn't let me move it or touch it. I called the Doctor's office and they said it sounded like a Nursemaid's elbow which would need to be fixed in the office. Five days, two office visits, an X-Ray, a couple of suckers and a cute sling later she was back to normal. I felt really bad but now she almost always asks me for my hand before we go into a parking lot.

What a pitiful face.

The biggest change this year was finding out Kinsley is going to be a big sister! She is so excited to have a little sister. She already talks to the baby, sings to her, gives her hugs and kisses and wants to hold her. I can't wait to see how she does when the baby actually arrives. Hopefully she is just as excited.

"Super Sister"

Kinsley is a sweet, outgoing, strong-willed, independent little girl. She gives the best hugs and kisses, yells "HI!" to everyone she sees, and likes to do things all by herself. Although we have had some rough days (or weeks) I have truly enjoyed spending so much time with Kinsley and getting to see her personality take shape. I am so excited, and a little nervous, to watch as she grows even more.

On our way to birthday dinner

Two year pictures

Age: 2 years

Weight/percentile: 26 pounds/42nd percentile

Height/percentile: 35.5 inches/89th percentile

Head circumference: 18 inches/22nd percentile

Eye color: Blue with green in the middle

Hair color: Light brown or dark blonde with some curls around the edges. Kinsley has had about 4 haircuts. The back always grows faster than the front.

Teeth: Kinsley has a full mouth of teeth.

Diaper size: Size 5.

Clothing size: 24 month or 2T. Size 6.5-7 shoes

Favorite food: I think cottage cheese or "hot cheese" as she calls it may be her all time favorite food. She really isn't picky and will eat most things I put in front of her. She doesn't really like ground beef and will immediately spit out crab ragoon (maybe it's the texture?)

Favorite activity: Swimming, swinging, jumping on the trampoline, riding her new bike, "playing with kids", riding the train.
Favorite TV show/Movie: Kinsley loves 'Sofia the First' (she calls "beeta") and 'Frozen' (she calls "first time ever"). We have the Frozen soundtrack and listen to it anytime we are in the car.

Movement: Kinsley is running, jumping, kicking and throwing a ball. We are still working on catching.

Sounds/talking: Constant! This girl does not stop talking. She loves to call people on the phone and just chat away. Most of the time I can understand her 4-6 word sentences and we communicate pretty well. Sometimes I think she takes random words she knows and puts them together to make a sentence. It might sound something like "Ball outside in the corner at church play with kids". My favorite sentence is "I wudjew Mommy". Kinsley can count to 10 with no problems and is working on counting to 13 (she leaves 12 out). She is also working on spelling her name. Right now we have "K-i-n-s" and then the rest of the letters come out randomly.

1 year

Well, the time has come...I no longer have a baby, I now have a toddler! I am excited to see Kinsley grow and see her little personality take shape. I am also a little nervous about the attitude. Kinsley is already a drama queen!

So much has changed in the last month and there have been a lot of firsts. Kinsley met her first and only cousin, Audrey. She wasn't too impressed and sure didn't like when her Momma or Grandma were holding baby Audrey. Kinsley seemed like such a big girl while we were visiting in Colorado. Not only was she so much bigger than her new cousin, but she actually new what was going on and even helped a little. It was a long 8 hour trip each way but she did awesome and it was well worth it!

Aren't they just so cute with their matchiness!

Kinsley is over it. Cuteness!

Kinsley had her first swim lessons the first week of June. The water was frigged but she LOVED it! She didn't care that she was shivering and her lips were blue. We are still working on blowing bubbles instead of breathing in the water...

Waiting patiently to get in the water

Kinsley stayed at both Grandma and Grandpas' houses for the first time while Chris and I went on vacation with 3 other couples. It was nice to get away but I sure did miss that little girl, attitude and all!

The girls at Lambert's

While we were gone Kinsley got her first tooth! She took her first steps the Sunday before we left. I am really glad because she took more steps while we were gone and was ready to practice when we got home.
The day before Kinsley's birthday she got her first haircut. She did a great job! There wasn't much that needed cut but it helped to even the ends up.

First haircut

On Kinsley's actual birthday 20 of us went to a Royals game. Karissa made Kinsley a sign in hopes of getting us on TV.

Not the best picture but cute sign!

I didn't see it on TV but... we got it signed by the Shortstop Alcides Escobar! It is a cool story, but kind of long so skip on down if you don't care about the story. Here it is:

So Chris, Kinsley and I were in the truck waiting to pay to park and a guy in another truck rolls down his window, yells at us, and asks if we have a parking pass. We tell him no and he hands us this purple parking pass. Since we were with other people I felt like we needed to park by them but we could at least use the parking pass as a way to get in and not pay the 10 bucks to park. We get to the booth thing and the lady scans our purple pass. Chris asks where we are supposed to go. She looked shocked and said, "have you never parked here before? You are in for a treat! This is as close to the stadium you can get, it's where the players park." When were heard that we said forget about the rest of our group we are parking in this lot! It really was so close. It was amazing. After the game (the Royals lost 9-1. Terrible!) while we were getting ready to put Kinsley in the truck we saw these amazingly nice cars driving out of a back lot and people running to their window. They all yelled that it was Escobar. I grabbed Kinsley and her sign and ran to his window. I felt a little bad that I was bothering him especially after a loss like that so I made sure he knew it was Kinsley's birthday and then I told him he had a sweet car. He said "Thanks" and rolled up his window.

Kind of a girly autograph but whatever

Kinsley's birthday party was the Saturday after her birthday. She will also have one tomorrow night (a week later). The party went really good. Kinsley had fun with all of her friends and got a lot of new toys and outfits.

Birthday girl!

I hate that you can't see her dress in this picture! It was the inspiration for the theme of the party. The dress was pink and green polka dot. She looked so cute in it!

I made the cake to match the theme. I was pretty proud of it!

Birthday cake

Surprise polka dots on the inside

Kinsley hasn't really ever had sweets so I was excited to see her reaction as she dug in to this delicious cake!

That is what I got...just picking at it...no smashing or anything...disappointed. She really didn't even make it to the cake part, just the icing. I guess it's not a bad thing that she doesn't have a huge sweet tooth yet.

Kinsley had her One Year pictures done tonight! I can't wait to see how they turn out. Pretty sure she is clapping in half of them...

I almost forgot! Kinsley got her ears pierced on her birthday! She cried a lot but now she doesn't mess with them at all and they look adorable!

Age: 12 months (it sounds better than one year!)

Weight/percentile: 20.2 pounds/34th percentile

Height/percentile: 29.75 inches/69th percentile

Head circumference: 17.5 inches/31st percentile (so Kinsley bonked her head really good a couple of days ago, I think the nurse measured the bump too. Otherwise her head grew a lot!)

Eye color: Blue, sometimes green if you look deep into her eyes

Hair color: Light brown. It is getting long and thick in the back. I even pulled it back into a little pony tail. She looked adorable

Teeth: 2!! On the bottom right in front. Those little boogers are sharp!

Diaper size: Size 3

Clothing size: 9 month clothes fit fine but she wears a lot of 12 month clothes too. Except in shorts, I have to get a 6 month size or smaller for shorts. Size 2-3 shoes

Favorite food: Kinsley will eat any fruit. She isn't liking green beans at the moment and is loving carrots. Maybe she got burned out on green beans. She transitioned over to vitamin D milk a few weeks before her birthday. For the most part she is a good eater!

Favorite activity: Swimming! Playing outside, playing with new birthday toys

Movement: Kinsley practically runs around the house with her little walker. She has taken quite a few steps but I think she is still a little chicken to do too much.

Sounds/talking: I Anytime she sees Chris she says "Hey Dada!" It is cute. I love how excited she gets to see us!

Well, I guess I can't blog on here anymore since I don't have a baby! I'll just have to start over... just kidding!

***Update
I thought I should add a few of my favorite pictures from Kinsley's birthday parties and her one year pictures.