Friday, December 30, 2011

Hanging Out

Really, the last few days I've just been hanging out.  And that is exactly what I wanted to do over my Christmas break.  I didn't have any extravagant plans over break, and I was happy about it.  I've been enjoying the last few days just playing with Kenley, cleaning, organizing, and actually cooking dinner.  Wouldn't I have been such a great 1950's housewife?  It has been fun getting to spend so much time with Kenley these last few days.  She is saying so much now including Doggy, kitty, chicken, and many other things that she will sometimes repeat.  She is also turning into quite the little daredevil and climbing on everything.  Last night, I left her downstairs in our lower level for ONE minute to run to the kitchen to grab her some juice. I heard her little giggle and turned around to find that she had crawled all the way up the stairs!  I freaked out for a second and ran and grabbed her, but she was fine.  I think she was quite proud of her accomplishment.  So, we got the gate to stop her from falling down the stairs, but now I guess we have to really watch her climbing! 

In other exciting news, I can now share that Ray's sister, Alison, got engaged right before Christmas!  I wanted to wait to post so that she could tell all her friends and family first.  Ken called Ray a few days before to let him know he was going to propose, but we thought it wouldn't be for a few more weeks.  Luckily, we didn't have to keep the secret long!  We are very happy for them, and her ring is gorgeous! 

Well, I'm onto a dentist appointment :(

Monday, December 26, 2011

Everything & More


We had such a great Christmas!  It was everything I hoped it would be and more!  We had such a fun day, and I think I had so much fun just watching Kenley all day.  She was having the time of her life and didn't miss a moment!  We started out Christmas Eve night going to Klaus resturaunt with my Mom's side of the family. It was fun seeing my cousins, and really nice that we had a private room so Kenley could crawl around.  When we got home we prepared our milk and cookies for Santa and made sure everything was ready for his big arrival!  (oh ya, and Ray had to wrap presents last minute)

We wondered what time Kenley would be up and were pretty surprised that we were up before her!  Ray was so excited that he couldn't wait any longer so we woke her up around 7:30.  It was so fun to watch her actually pull things out of her stockings and play with the toys she got.  I was excited to finally give Ray his I-pad, and I don't think he has put it down yet!  I was spolied by Ray and got a beautiful grey Coach purse, pjs, perfume, and a gumball machine, among other gifts. 

Then we got ready and headed to my mom and dad's house.  We had brunch with my dad's side of the family and opened a ton of gifts!  Then, we went to Ray's mom's house for dinner and opened more gifts!  We all got really nice gifts, and Kenley was so spoiled by all of her family members.  She was having a blast playing around with everyone and checking out all her new toys!  I can't even begin to list what she got, but let's just say our family room looks like Toy's R Us right now. 

It was really one of the best holidays that I can remember, and I think it was because I was just able to relax and have fun.  I just loved watching everyone watch Kenley and it made me happy knowing she was having so much fun.  We are so lucky to have our families close by so that we can celebrate with everyone!  Now, on to enjoying the rest of the week and start finding room for all these toys!

I didn't take a ton of pictures on Christmas because once we were with the families I was too caught up having fun, but here are a few from Christmas Eve and the morning.
      
   

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The nice list

So, I think I am FINALLY done shopping!  I think that I have thought I was done for the last 2 weeks, but then I would always think of something I forgot to get, or one little thing here and there that I I had to pick up.  All that is left to do is finish wrapping.  I don't even know how our tree could possbily fit more gifts under it.  I am excited about the gifts I am giving this year, and I hope everyone likes what I got them.  The only thing missing now is a little dusting of snow.  It is abnormally warm right now, and I think it was almost 50 degress today!  Normally, I would be the last one requesting cold weather, but I would like a white Christmas.  Just not too much, so that we can still get to our holiday parties easily!

Last night, Ashlee and Will came over with their kids, and it was the first time that all of the adults were able to get together in over 2 years!  It was fun watching the kids play together and seeing how excited their kids are about Christmas.  They were so excited to show me a video Santa sent them telling them that they made it to the nice list. It gave me an idea of how fun it will be once Kenley really gets into it.  It will be fun this year since she will be much more alert and playful.  Last year, I'm pretty sure she slept the majority of the day.  I remember everyone was so excited for the few minutes she opened her eyes. 

So, I'm just enjoying these few days before Christmas.  Right now, I'm baking cookies.  Well, by baking I mean cracking apart the pre-made cookie dough, and putting it in the oven :) Hey, I think that counts!  I don't want Santa to be hungry when he gets here. 

Here are some pictures I took this morning of Kenley in her Santa diapers.  Look at those little buns!



Sunday, December 18, 2011

Rough Start, Strong End

Tried to think about how to summarize this week, and rough start, strong end is just about perfect.  I had a very rough week.  I'm not usually much of a crier, or, at least I try not to be, but this week I did my fair share.  It started off with a really hard start to the week in school.  I have two classes that are just driving me crazy lately.  So, after those bad days at work all I wanted to do was pick up Kenley and come home and try to enjoy a few hours with her and Ray.  Kenley wanted nothing to do with me Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night.  She cried and tried to get away from me the second she would see me. Talk about breaking a mom's heart :(  I already have total working-mom guilt, and this only confirmed my fears that she would not want her mommy because I am spending so much time away from her.  I know that this is completely normal for kids to go through, and I shouldn't take it personally.  But, as much as I tried to tell myself that I couldn't help buy feel horrible.  So, by the third night, I basically had a break down. I was getting anxious about the weekend, since we already had plans for my parents to watch Kenley so we could go out to celebrate Greg's birthday.  I always feel so conflicted because I do like to go out sometimes, but it IS hard for me to be away from Kenley on the weekends because that is what I look forward to all week. I think it is kind of hard for me to explain, but sometimes I just get worked up anticipating being away from her even if it is just for a few hours.

But, anyway, the end of the week was better.  Thursday and Friday went much smoother at school.  I forced my one class that had been giving me hell to do silent work until the end of the week.  Two of my favorite students from another class even wrote me the sweetest letter telling me that I was their favorite teacher.  It was much better picking Kenley up those days, and we were able to spend some time together both nights. Kenley was so snuggly to me on Thursday and Saturday, that I swear, she was trying to make up for the rough nights before. Friday night we went to dinner with Joan, and it was so nice being able to catch up and have some girl talk. Saturday, we went out for my sister's graduation from her Master's Degree Program and my dad's birthday.  Later,  that night, my parents watched Kenley so that we could go bowling with Katie and Greg to celebrate Greg's birthday.  I was really glad that we went and we had a fun time.  

I am determined to have a good week this week!  I only have 2 days of work until I start my 2 week Christmas break!  I can not wait to just be home and spend every minute with my little girl.  I know Christmas is going to be so much fun with her this year.  I am happy that Ray will also have a 3 day weekend for Christmas and New Years.  I am going to focus on my family and getting in the spirit of Christmas!

Friday, December 9, 2011

1st Birthday!

That's right, Kenley is officially ONE!  How is it possible?  We had her birthday party last weekend at the house, and it turned out great!  Kenley had so much fun being the center of attention, eating her cake, and opening all her presents (well, of course she had help with the last one.)  It was fun celebrating with our families and Kenley was so happy all day.  I think there were about a million pictures taken, so pretty much every moment was captured.  Ray and I took the day off today to celebrate with Kenley and we took her to go see Santa!  We had no delusions that she would be too happy and we were right.  She was okay until it came time for her to actually sit on his lap.  But, we still got some pretty funny pictures.  There was the slightest dusting of snow on the ground this morning, and I couldn't help but think about how it snowed while we were in the hospital the day after she was born. 

I thought I would reflect on a few things about this past year:

I realized that I was meant to be a mom.  I don't mean this in the sense that I am the best mom, or that I always know what to do, but for the fact that I love every minute of being a mom.  I always hoped that I would have a baby girl, and I am so lucky that I got my wish.  I remember when we found out that she was a girl, and I truly felt like it was too good to be true.  Before Kenley was born, people would tell me that being a mom is hard, but totally worth it.  I am pretty lucky to say that Kenley is such a happy, easygoing baby that being a mom has not been hard, it's been awesome!  Sure, there are days that are hard, but that is mostly because I get sad about being away from her when I am at work.  It's hard that I can't be with my baby girl all the time, but as soon as I'm with her she puts a smile on my face. 

Kenley has brought our family even closer.  Ray and I have seen a new side of each other now that we are parents.  We bonded over our precious girl, and the two of us look at her in amazement like only parents can.  I love seeing them together and the way Kenley's face lights up when her daddy plays around with her.  Ray and I have both always been close with our families, but Kenley has only made us closer.  We are so lucky to have so  much love, support, and help from our families.  Kenley is SO loved.

Things I never want to forget about this year are:  The nights when I was exhausted, but I would get up in the middle of night with Kenley and it was just the two of us, (sometimes for hours and hours...)when Kenley first rolled over on Easter, and Ray and I were the first ones to see it, when we went to the zoo for the first time, running in the jogging stroller with her in the summer, taking her to the pool, getting her out of her crib in the morning when she is waiting with a big smile on her face, listening to her babble...man, this girl has a LOT to say!  When she learned to give kisses, when she learned to wave, when she doesn't want to go to anyone but her mommy (yes, this secretly makes me happy) when she will snuggle, which isn't often, when she smiles and laughs at the stupid things I do to get a reaction out of her.  This list could probably go on and on, but these are just a few of the things I want to remember.

Happy 1st Birthday Kenley!  We love you so much and you have truly made this the BEST year ever!