Repurposing

I absolutely hate it when I know that my trash can be reused, I just don't know HOW. I've been collecting old coffee cans and baby food containers for months know, but I usually end up throwing them out when I realize I have no good ideas. Enter my friend Wendy, who introduced me to Modge Podge. Now I can make my little food containers into something cute like this:
Also, I've seen numerous tutorials on the web about turning men's button-up shirts into toddler skirts. I thought it was a little masculine, but I was bored so I tried it anyway (kinda reminds me of boxer shorts). Here they are next to some clearance fabric I bought this week (look for it to be turned into a skirt soon!):

Last is my piece de resistance. Not really, but I am pretty proud of myself. I turned one of my old button-up shirts into a little dress for Kiki. The best part is that I just did it! No pattern, no tutorial (although I have seen some for doing this). I trusted my machine and my ruler, and it didn't turn out half bad. AND, there are probably a million button-up shirts at Goodwill for next to nothing that I can make into little dresses like this!

Note that probably 75% of the sewing and finishing is already done for you if you cut up the shirt carefully.

Oops

I kinda feel like an ass. I'm trying not to go too far into drama-queendom by lamenting how much at I am fault, but you just feel that way when your toddler breaks her leg. That's right. I said broken. Kiki is in a cast. A hot pink water-proof cast, that is. Nothing but the best for my little baby.

Here's the story (I must document it for posterity, of course): We were at a local indoor bouncing place and Kiki and I were playing inside one of the inflatable toys. Her and Finn both generally love these kinds of places since they are so active, as evidenced by the broken leg. I took her to the top of one of the small inflatable slides and sent her down. Now, she usually does the large slides all on her own. She's sweet, but she's a bit of a thrill-seeker. The problem this time was the slide was pretty steep. She zoomed down and crumpled. I thought she wouldn't stop crying because she was scared, but after about 10 minutes I knew something was wrong. The fact that she wouldn't put any wait on her leg was pretty convincing evidence as well. A car ride, an doctor visit (luckly my pediatrician saw us and we didn't have to go to the ER), and an x-ray later confirmed it. Broken leg.

Now there is an upside. We are going to have to slow down for a few weeks. I think in the snowy madness we've had lately, I've gone a little crazy making sure we get enough physical activity. With somewhat disastrous results (there's that drama queen thing). Also, everything is a learning experience. Here's what I've already learned: 1) Have better judgement on what a 1-year-old can handle, and 2) my girl is a trooper! Except the 30-40 mins of wailing before the Motrin kicked in, she hasn't really cried once. She let the doctors poke her, she took an x-ray and she's been chilling in front of the TV on pillows with grace. Now, I can't guarantee that will continue, but for the moment I think she can handle it. That's my girl.

Before & After

I've been logging more than my fair share of HGTV hours lately. This always results in a room makeover of some sort. I set my sights on Kinley's bedroom.
I decorated her room not long after we moved in here, but I don't think my vision fully came together. I wanted this sort of really bright, orange & pink thing going on. It just wasn't really working:

I decided that Kinley needed something a bit softer and more girly. I still have a few finishing touches to do, but I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out!

Surprise Surprise

I am about 95% sure that McKinley is a lefty.

It started when she was a newborn and she showed a serious preference for her left thumb. Now that she uses utensils (she LOVES to use a fork and spoon. Finn didn't really want to feed himself until he was 2!) she always gingerly holds her them in her left hand as she tries to scoop up food. My case rests with the fact that she scribbles with her left as well.

This is sort of a shock to me. I was expecting a mini-me in all forms from McKinley (we are both Virgo, Libra rising--in fact, everyone in our house has Libra rising. Kismet, huh?). But lefty I am not.

I associate Lefties with a certain mental state. To me, they are more cunning, more artistic. Scott is one, after all. In fact, nearly each generation in both of our extended families has lefties. Genetic? I don't know how that works.

Seeing Kiki as a lefty is requiring me to make a major mental shift. She is not me. She is she and I really don't know who that is yet. But it's so exciting to find out!

Kiki

McKinley has grown up so fast this year! Just in the last week she has started walking all the time instead of crawling. It's like she suddenly turned into a toddler! We had so much going on this year that I'm not sure I really noticed just how much she was growing until now. Some aspects of her personality were apparent from birth, but some she is just showing to us now:

• She seems a bit finicky about her sleep. Until about 7 months old, she would only take 30 minute naps. I don't know if that was just how she operates, of if her loud 3-year-old boy is a factor. Once we moved into the new house and her bedroom became a bit more secluded, she started napping better. I myself am obsessed with sleep and cannot fathom why a child would voluntarely NOT sleep when she could be getting the recommended 12-16 hours a day.


• Kinley is not a fish. She does not enjoy a bath, a splash in the kiddie pool or a dip in the waterhole. Once we went to a local pool and she actually enjoyed herself. That scenario hasn't repeated itself.


• McKinley is a thrill-seeker. She loves to be dipped and "tossed" on pillows. She loves to bounce. She is very cute bopping around on the couch, until Finn starts jumping too and I have to kick them both off.


• Kiki is very easy to entertain. She just piddles around the house, playing with toys, looking at books. She loves to watch her brother.


• Feeding one-year-olds is so EASY! Kinley eats almost everything I scoop in her mouth. I'm just waiting for the revolt to begin. Her favs: Boca Burgers, bananas, graham crackers, melons.


• Kinley has a bit of a reserved nature sometimes (she IS a virgo), but she is generally friendly. I think she sort of likes being in the middle of a lot of people.

I always thought that the first year of life for a girl was going to be a lot different than for a boy. It was different, but due to personality, not gender. I think having 2 kids and seeing how they differ personality-wise, weighed heavy for the "nature" debate. Over the last year, I have had to let go of a lot of my control issues to adapt to the little people I now live with. The most important thing that having 2 kids has taught me is to just let things go, and try to enjoy yourself!

Don't Worry, She's Fine

We decided to have some good old outdoor fun this Memorial Day, so I filled up the pool and put the kids in. It started like this:

Kinley wasn't having a very good time, so we moved on to this:

But she wanted to be standing:

Which ended up like this:

Finn's Eye View & Who Dat Ninja?

Finn got ahold of my camera again. I love it when he takes pics!

Kinley has got some mad ninja skills. She is a master of the army roll and backwards crawl. She can cross a room in no time. Scott and I left her alone for a couple of minutes the other day and when we came back we couldn't find her. She was under the coffee table! Just hanging.

Milestone: First Words!

I bet you can guess what Kinley's first word was! Watch this:

That's right! Her wonderful "Bubba" was blessed with being her first word! She just loves him so much! She started this Wednesday night when we were still in Vegas. We were getting ready for bed and she just started up with the "ba ba ba"-ing. I guess she missed him. Now I know that babies start babbling at this age, but I think it is no coincidence that she decided to pick that sound to start with! (Finn's first was "Dada").

Back to your regularly scheduled life...

All of our stress is finally over! We've moved and we've gone on vacation! (Two great things of course, but also very stressful). I'm so glad to get back to reality.

We moved into our new home last week. It was very exhausting, but we got all of our stuff over here in a little less than 24 hours. So far it is truly amazing! We really like the new house and all the space. Even doing the dishes is more enjoyable (the water actually gets hot fast!). Kinley has been napping so much better too in her new secluded room. It's awesome. I'll post pics and whatnot soon.
We also went to Vegas! I had some serious doubts about going on Sunday night. Kinley had just had a very fussy day and I didn't want to go if I was just going to be trying to calm a crying baby the whole time. But Monday she woke up in a great mood and we had a great trip! She really came out of her shell in Vegas too. It was probably the millions of people that stopped us to tell her how cute she was! Here's some highlights:
The gardens at Bellagio. They had the coolest fringed tulips!:

The white lions at the Sigfried and Roy Dolphin and Wildlife Habitat. This was probably the best part of the trip. We got to see a lot of cool dolphin tricks and then some white lions and tigers. The lions started getting a bit "frisky" with one another (I've got it on video). There were 3 male white Siberian tigers in a pen together and 2 of them got in a fight right in front of the crowd! It was evidently kind of a big deal. The trainers were getting very worried. Too cool:

This is from an AMAZING chocolate shop inside the Bellagio. We saw these the first day, right after we finished a meal. I couldn't stop thinking about these desserts though, so we made a special trip back:

Here's the 3 of us on top of the Eiffel Tower. We went here with Finn two years ago too, but he slept through it:

We saw Britney while we were there! She posed for a special shot with Kinley (who thought she was getting lunch):

Kinley had quite the adventure actually. Here she is with Brangelina. I had to hold on tight so they didn't try to snatch her up!:

And Kinley even got to interview Cameron Diaz! Lucky girl!:

Okay, I'm a lier. We visited Madame Tussand's Wax Museum. It was pretty cool. I got a shot with the lady herself:

By the fountains in the Caesar's Shops:

And finally on the plane ride home. We gave her Benadryl, but it only knocked her out for about 30 mins. each time:

Happy Valentine's Day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day a little early today with some pals. Kinley had a good time. Lately, she's had a lot of separation anxiety when Scott or I leave her with someone or someone else even holds her. Today, she was loving all the people! She espiecially liked all the male attention from Noah and Sawyer:

And she got in a little time with baby Phoenix too:

We had some nasty storms move through a couple of days ago, but we had no damage. Other than that, we have been enjoying the lovely weather! Here's Kinley in her swing:

Here it is...

This is about the closest we've ever gotten to getting Kinley to smile on camera:

And here's just a funny one:

She rolled over today! I missed it because I was talking to the cable guy, but when I turned back around, she was on her face! She's been sitting up a lot in her Bumbo chair too. We got her an exersaucer for Christmas and she'll no doubt be ready for it!

I've been making Finn play outside a lot lately since the weather is still warm. He has a huge box of chalk that he loves to draw with outside (thanks Leah and Noah!). He's definitely a righty! Kinley might be a lefty though, she is ALWAYS chewing on her left hand! Anyway, I was trying to think of ways that I could teach Finn Spanish. He is just such a sponge and absorbs EVERYTHING! He already knows how to count in Spanish and I don't even know where he picked that up (Dora I guess, but we haven't even been watching it lately). I think I'm going to focus on teaching him Spanish words this winter and also on letter sounds and recognizing words. He already knows most of the letter sounds, but I thought I would start pushing the letters that words start with. It's so amazing how much he loves reading! He always has! Starting when he was about 1, he began recognizing all the letters and loves any toy or book that has to do with the alphabet. Anyway, I don't mean to go on about it, but I just wonder if it has to do with the fact that I've read like a maniac to him since birth, or if he just would have liked it anyway? It's definitely his "thing."

Here's a couple more cute pictures! I love Kinley's Christmas tree bow!:

What a Week!

This week has been so full! Lots of ups and downs and new things! It was Scott's birthday on Friday. He is 28! It reminded me of the first birthday he had after we got together. We had started dating about a week before that, and he felt awkward telling me it was his birthday since we just started dating and he didn't want me to feel obligated to go buy him a gift or anything. I was so embarrassed that everyone knew except me! Anyway, I think he had a pretty good b-day this year.

Kinley started sleeping in her own room this week. We've had her in a bassinet next to the bed at night, but she is SUCH a noisy sleeper. I finally decided it was time. The best part is, I've only had to feed her once each night! She has gotten so much bigger just over the course of a week! She is holding her head up so well! I think she is nearly ready for her Bumbo chair! She loves to sit up on your lap now. Where did the time go with that one? How is she already getting so much more mature? Here she is having "tummy time."

Also, Scott got a really cute video of her laughing. She first did it for me on Monday, then he got her to do it some more:

Finally, the really big news this week is about Finn. He used his potty twice this weekend! I am so excited! My friend Becca let us borrow her potty doll, so we started by showing him how that works. Then we've basically just been letting him run around pantless through the house so that he can use his potty easily. I'm going to have to make a few less outings this week in order to keep him near his potty and really drive it home:

This Little Baby Wears Cotton...

We figured out yesterday that Kinley has rather sensitive skin! She fussed and cried ALL day long and when I finally took her out of the cute dress she was wearing, she had a rash all over! I felt so bad for the poor thing! She's doing a lot better, but I've purged her clothes and blankets of all things polyester-blend! Hopefully this will help her be a lot less fussy. But she DID look so cute!:

We're looking ahead to Thanksgiving now. It's such a fun holiday, espiecially since I'm so hungry all the time now! Finn and I made "turkeys" the other day:

I can't wait until Christmas! I want to do it up so much that Finn's head explodes! Of course not really, but I want him to have a good time!

Here's another cute one of Kinley:

Bows!

I

LOVE

HAVING

A

GIRL!!!!!!!!