Hangin' Out...

Happy Friday everyone - it's Darin. Kinsey is napping and said to say hello. I'm not sure if you remember the crazy days of my life when the child didn't want to nap, but I'm so grateful that those days are over! Kinsey has finally embraced naps for the beautiful things that they are. She is great at it now and it is very rare that we have any fussing at naptime. I am so glad!!!

So far, we're still at a "2" count for teeth. They seem to be bugging her a little bit today as she has been chewing on her fingers a little bit more lately. She just isn't on board with the teething toys - she'll put them in her mouth, but chewing on them just isn't her thing.

You know she's so cute - it cracks me up what a ham she is though - literally she sees the camera and this is what she does:So her new favorite toys are watches - especially shiny ones. But she'll settle for mine. It is so cute - she will stare at it and turn it over and over in her hands for the longest time! She loves it:
This afternoon Kinsey and I had some quality Mother/Daughter time in the bedroom while
Daddy took a nap. She is such a good baby - she played with her toys and I worked for a while. I realized I mostly take pictures of her smiling and looking up, but she spends a lot of time in serious contemplation of her toys.

And then I guess she realized she wasn't getting to ham it up for the camera, so she was like "Mom, whoa!"

So I decided to give in and let her ham it up :) - Have a great weekend!

Can you see them??????

Can you see them? Can you? Can you?? That one on the right is my first big girl tooth and the little white line just to the left is my second one!!! Well yes, I still have some of my rash on my face, but it's gone from my neck and chest and stomach and back!! Diflucan is my new favorite antifungal!!!!

Speaking of my teeth - it feels a lot better when I can chew on something, and today Mommy gave me a super yummy frozen peaches thing that made my tooth AND my tummy feel good. And it's really fun to make a big mess and get it all over me because then Mommy lets me take a bath and I LOVE bathtime.Daddy has been working with me on crawling a little bit. I haven't quite got it figured out yet - I've decided to take my time with it.
I have the coolest Daddy! He got me my very own set of keys with a clicker that makes cool noises and keys that Mommy says won't put my eye out. I am ready for my baby SUV now :) Today my friend Riley and her Mommy Krista came over to play. Mommy and Krista took us on a walk and we got to nap and then we played some. Riley is really cute for a little kid - she's only 4 month old so there's a lot I can teach her. So for my Uncle Robert, here are some shots of me trying to play Mario Kart. Mommy says when I get a little older, he can show me all kinds of really fun video games. This picture was taken while I was really yeasty so that's why I don't look like I'm having much fun.

I got a swing :) ...and some yeast :(

What a cool weekend I had! I got to spend the weekend getting totally spoiled at Pops and Nana's house and they got me my very own big girl swing! It hangs from a tree in their backyard and it's really fun to feel the wind in my face and get to see the trees and water sprinklers and flowers out there while I swing. I got kind of sleepy this time and didn't get to do it again because it was too hot and humid, but Mommy keeps saying Fall is coming and then I can swing a lot more often!

My tooth is coming in more and more, but I'm still keeping it a little bit secretive and not letting Mommy get a lot of pictures. I might let her try tomorrow. It doesn't hurt too much, just makes me like to keep my paci in more often so I have something to chew on.

So Mommy and Daddy say I need green foods which is a bummer because green doesn't taste as good as orange!!! I'm getting to tolerate green beans now, and I had carrots today - those were good because they're orange and orange is my favoritest color!

So the bad news of the week is that I drool a lot and my icky drool rash turned into a Super Icky yeast infection on my neck. Here's a picture of me chillin' watching my movies today so my neck can dry out. Mom rubs this cream on me a few times a day and it seems to be helping. I'm being really patient with her and trying to stay in a good mood.

Have a great week everyone!
-Kinsey

Getting a tooth!!!

Well, we had our first food rejection today - in a big way. So far she has seemed to like, or at least tolerate everything, but she was having NOTHING to do with Avocado today. It's supposed to be like the perfect first food because it's soft, you don't have to cook it, and it's loaded with nutrients but apparently Kinsey didn't read the same book I did because she spit out every bit she was fed and pushed it up in her nose and all over her face. So for all of you who have asked me if she ever doesn't smile, here's your answer.

So I don't have any pics of it yet because Kinsey isn't cooperating when we get close to her mouth, but she is getting her first tooth - yea!!! After months of people seeing her drool fountain and telling us that she's teething...she finally is :). It's the lower middle right one if that makes any sense, and you can just barely feel it and see a faint white line. She hasn't had too much trouble with the teething so far, but she is a little bit more needy and a little whiny today. So we'll hopefully have some pictures soon as it comes in.

We spent some time at Pops and Nana's house this weekend. Kinsey took a swim in their big tub and had a blast.
She also had some family reading time - Good Night Moon was always one of my favorites so I'm glad she likes it, too. Pops got in on the feeding action...
...And got his hair pulled - Kinsey's awfully good at grabbing hair and facial features now.

So you all know that Kinsey is the light of our lives, and you know she is precious. I also want to share with you that the absolute BEST part of my day every day is when she wakes up in the morning. It is usually sometime between 7:30 and 8am when the baby monitor tells me she is cooing and talking. So I go in her room and say her name and before the light even comes on, I can see her kicking her feet and rolling from side to side because she's so excited that it's time to get up. The other morning I finally grabbed the camera to capture these morning moments.

As you can see, her hair is a little crazy and she's got sleep-rosy cheeks and the big grin. What I can't convey in a picture is the sweet morning baby smell, the smooth warmth of her cheek against mine, and the total snuggle when I pick her up and she wraps her chubby little arms around me (and yes, grabs my hair) and sighs and burrows her face in my neck. After a minute of hugging, she looks up and cranes her neck around the room to make sure everything looks the same as it did yesterday, see if Bullet has come in with me to say good morning, and then she starts talking and telling me all about her sweet dreams - they must be amazing because she is very passionate with her words. How did I ever get this blessed? How do people say they can't have faith in God because they can't see Him and touch Him? These people must not have the joy of waking up a tiny miracle every day and holding her close. I am so grateful for the gift of being Kinsey's Mom and the joy of parenting with Douglas. Watching him play with her, toss her in the air, turn her upside down and make her shriek with laughter is the other best part of my day.

Wow - I did not expect to get so mushy and deep today. I can't possibly end this post on such a serious note, so I'll tell you that as I type this, Douglas is putting Kinsey to bed and through the monitor, I'm hearing a LOT of grunting and groaning. I holler, "is she pooping?" to which he replies "Oh YES". Ah my precious little angel - sweet dreams.

p.s. Barie finally got on the blogger bandwagon - take a look at the cutest boys on the planet http://fergusonhome.blogspot.com

Hi everyone - the blogger website was giving me problems uploading photos for the last couple of days so sorry for the delay.

Grammy and Poppi were here this weekend so here are some shots of them with lil' punkin. Kinsey had her 6 month checkup yesterday - 18.5 pounds!!! 27 inches long - that puts her in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. Doctor says she's doing great and she was very impressed with her sitting skills and her never-ending fountain of drool. Of course she did get shots and that wasn't fun, but we gave her a bottle immediately and that completely calmed her down.

She is such a sweetheart - I know we are biased, but she is such a blessing to Douglas and I. She just gets prettier every day and I can't seem to stop taking her picture! Here are some more shots of her eating - as you can tell, she really likes to feed herself. She's now had Sweet Potatoes, Zucchini, Acorn Squash and Peaches. She hasn't really rejected anything yet - she seems to like the Sweet Potatoes the best.


So even with sweet potatoes and rice all over her face, including on her head, she's still absolutely gorgeous. And yes, a total ham because whenever she sees the camera, she automatically grins big.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

6 months old!!! - Updated

Hi everyone!!! I'm 6 months old today! This is me eating my first veggie - Sweet Potatoes. I'm getting really good at it - it's yummy and a lot easier to make a big mess with than plain old formula. Mom says she'll write more later, but she wanted to go ahead and get these two pictures up now!

Hi everyone - it's Darin. Kinsey said I could take over the blog for a little bit. Douglas and I cannot believe she's 6 months old already!! I know I say that every month, but 6 months seems so old compared to the tiny little infant we brought home from the hospital in March.

She is still sitting up great - getting better every day at balancing and sitting back up on her own when she falls over. And she is really enjoying eating big girl food! We started with a little bit of rice cereal and some yummy Sweet Potatoes. I found a great website - www.wholesomebabyfood.com that has tons of recipes and information on making homemade baby food. It's really not very hard, but it does take a bit of planning and time. Grammy and Poppi were here this weekend so I was able to do a lot while they played with Kinsey. Basically you just steam or bake the fruit or veggie and then puree it in the food processor or blender to the desired consistency and then freeze it either in ice cube trays or in little blobs on a cookie sheet and then stick it all in a ziploc. So far we've got sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, applesauce, and peaches all just waiting in the freezer to be introduced to little punkin's palate. Still to come: mango, banana, carrots, peas, and green beans. Of course, it's not the easiest thing to feed a baby as many of you know. The veggies have ended up everywhere from her hair to her ear and my favorite - up her nose. She loves grabbing the spoon and putting it in her mouth by herself.

Tomorrow we try squash and zucchini - mmmm good. By the way - peach puree is really really good - so are pureed Gala apples.