Bronchitis - anything but cute

Bronchitis has attacked our family and we don't like it one bit! Douglas was diagnosed on Sunday with "acute bronchitis" and we say there's nothing remotely cute about it. Kinsey and I did our best to stay healthy, but on Monday we both started coughing and yesterday Kinsey had some crazy fevers. I am so thankful for our pediatrician's office - one of the nurses gave us some great suggestions for over-the-counter meds and between those and a new humidifier, a couple of lukewarm baths, and a home remedy chest rub of tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil, she is feeling much better today. She slept great overnight and hasn't had fever since before bedtime. It's a helpless feeling to see your child sick - one you can't really prepare for. We have been so grateful that she hasn't been sick before now. Yesterday she was so lethargic. The fever dulled her eyes and her body was so warm and heavy. I was working overtime trying to get a smile and finally got one last night. I guess the one guilty pleasure out of the whole day was the cuddling. Kinsey is usually so incredibly busy and never sits still long enough to get a really good cuddle in. But yesterday she was content to spend most of the day on Mommy and Daddy's chest and lap. I would give anything to keep her healthy, but I didn't hate the cuddle time :).

So, a few more pictures from our Grammy & Poppi visit. Here's Kinsey at the swing overlooking the waterfall. It's such a beautiful creek and forest. This is the view from the swing looking straight ahead and then to the right. And here are a couple of other shots of Kinsey at the swing.

So I think I've mentioned that walking is the new preferred method of transportation around here. It's been fascinating to watch Kinsey go from crawling everywhere to cruising from one piece of furniture to another and really trying to figure out how to walk to where she wants to go.

We've affectionately termed this loaner from Kamden "the big red car" in honor of the Wiggles.

It is awesome - she can walk all over the place AND it plays music and teaches concepts like "open and closed" for the hood. I remember Kamden getting it for Christmas year before last from the Haizlips and we are so thankful that Kam has loaned it to Kinsey while she practices walking. Pretty soon we'll need to return it so Kale can start his walking practice.

The other walker is also a big hit. It's pretty easy to move around with and it has fun things to play with, too. So here's Kinsey wearing her precious nightgown - we think she looks like quite the little lady in it.

Sunday night, Douglas was really hurting from the bronchitis and Kinsey was determined to cheer him up. It's hard to concentrate on being sick when you have a precious laughing baby in your face.

While we were in Jasper this weekend, Kinsey got an adorable german shepherd puppy dog from her cousin Laura. It is precious and she has had a really good time playing with it.

Weekend in Jasper

Hi everyone! I spent an awesome long weekend in Jasper and Silsbee hanging out with my East Texas fam & friends. First, we went into J-town to see the ladies at my parents' old church, First United Methodist Church (which is also where Mommy & Daddy got married!!).

Here's me with Linda, Gayle, Grammy & Conya. These ladies are big fans of this blog, so I hope they are pleased to see themselves here! It was so great to finally meet them - they are a lot of fun and I decided to take my first "step" there. I moved a whole step from a table to Mommy without dropping to a crawl! Anyway, I like them a lot and I hope I get to see them again soon. While we were hanging out at the church, I got a little silly. Here's me playing with Mommy. I also got to meet Debbie at her cool jewelry/clothes/purses/fabulous-stuff store - there were lots of shiny things in there that I really wanted to touch and she had a funny dog. Then we went across the street to The Cottage (where Mommy and Daddy registered for their wedding like a bazillion years ago) and I got to meet Jane who also had a really cute dog! I didn't get pictures with those ladies but next time I'll remember the camera!

Then that afternoon I went to Silsbee to see my fam! I haven't seen most of them since I was just a couple of months old at Ganny's birthday last summer.

So this is my Grandpa Bill, Ganny, me, Laura, and Grammy.

I had a really good time with them. I spent most of the time in the kitchen, which Mommy says is where everyone hangs out at Ganny's. I'm really excited about walking now so I got in a lot of practice there.

We also read a lot of books and played and everyone else ate Pizza but I had broccoli :-).

My cousin Laura is way way cool. She played with me a lot and took me outside for a while, too. I hope she comes to visit me in Round Rock sometime - we will have lots of fun together.

We went outside for a little while to look at my great-aunt Janel's dirt. It's a pre-house :-). Her house was destroyed during the hurricanes a couple of years ago and she has finally gotten to start rebuilding. We danced around in her to-be living room and bedroom for a while. Can't wait to see the house done! Then Mommy and Grammy made me take about a hundred pictures. This one is Grammy, me, Mommy, Ganny, and great-aunt Janel. That's 4 generations of Tennison women there :)

And here's me and Ganny with Grandpa Bill. I hope they come visit me in Round Rock again soon!Let me tell you - Grandpa Bill's beard was about the coolest thing I've ever felt - I was fascinated...

So the next day we were back at Grammy and Poppi's - it was rainy and icky and we didn't get to go outside much at all. I still managed to have a pretty cool day. I spent a lot of time walking and Grammy helped me. I'm getting really good!

Then Daddy hooked up Grammy's webcam and let me tell you - I did not really know what to think about that thing!!!

That's too cool! I got those webcams for my grandparents for Christmas so I can see them when we aren't together. It's pretty crazy to see myself in real-time on that computer screen!

My Grammy and Poppi have these two awesome dogs - Tasha and Laser.

I got to spend a lot of time with these crazy puppies. Here's me talking to Tasha. We watched The Wiggles together and bonded. She is really cool - she let me climb all over her.

And here's me reading to Laser. He is so pretty - he has really long hair that's fun to rub. And here we are just hanging out. I was showing them how to do "SO BIG!!!"Then I got to see fire in a fireplace for the first time. Wow! Ok, so Grammy and Poppi live out in the boonies and a Transformer blew and we lost power for a few hours. During the outage, we went and had dinner at The Stump. I'm not even kidding -that's the name of the restaurant.

Apparently this power outage happens often, because Grammy had this emergency lantern ready to go and I was just crazy about it! I have to get me one of those! So after the power came back on, I was still really interested in the lantern and I tried to yank it from Poppi.

I have more pictures, but no room for them now. I will try to put them up soon - good night everyone!!!

My Eye!!!!

ok, so to all my Mom friends out there - you didn't warn me about the dangers of fingernail clipping. i was clipping Kinsey's nails today on the changing table (laying there while i sing to her seems to be the only way to get her to be still) and one of the nail pieces flew out of the clippers and INTO MY EYE!!!! color me freaked out. i had to get her down on the floor so i could get to the mirror and spend about 2 minutes trying to dig the shard out of my eyeball! geez! it's a miracle we Moms survive!!!

Happy weekend everyone! I love banana - don't you? So this week has been fun - Thursday I got to have Daddy/Kinsey day. It was so fun - he had the day off and out of all the things he could do, he hung out with me all day long! We had a great time running some errands and playing. Then that night Mommy and Daddy and I went and met our friends Mike & Terri & Anna for dinner in Waco. They were really cool and I liked getting to play with Anna and her friend Aaron. Here's a pic of me and Terri.

Yesterday and today have been an awesome time - I am getting to spend a lot of time with my Mommy and Daddy together!!! So fun for all three of us to hang out! It's nice when Daddy has the morning off and Mommy doesn't have to work that day either! We've been doing lots of stuff around the house and going outside (my favorite place to be!) all bundled up because it's been cold.

So another fruit I love is pineapple - it's really yummy and even though it's kind of hard to pick up, I really like it!

I have been working really hard on practicing my walking - my friend Riley gave me an extra walker she had and I've been working on it every day. My friend Kamden loaned me his car walker, too, and today I walked all the way from the living room to the office, which is a way long way to walk! This outfit must be really cute because Mommy took a lot of pictures in me in it that day!

And here's a pic Mom snuck of me the other day while I was napping.

Pictures and a Small Rant

Well, it's been mostly about food here lately - Kinsey is so into trying new things and being adventurous! So this is her with her new favorite snack - a huge apple! We peel it and hand her the whole thing and she gnaws on it until she gets enough. It's so funny to watch her use her bottom teeth to scrape off pieces. She just loves it. I guess we should try smaller apples, but it's so funny to watch her manage the big heavy ones. And blueberries are still a big hit. She likes to wear them almost as much as she likes to eat them!
And now that's she's almost 1, she's really into eating our food, too. That's how the apple thing got started :-). She loves to eat zucchini and carrots from our homemade soup and even small pieces of chicken. And the other night she had some baked potato. So far we can't find a vegetable that she doesn't like! Well, except avocados - those are still hit-or-miss :).

It's been pretty windy and cold here lately, but we're bundling her up and taking her out as much as we can. And before nervous Grandma-types tell me I should keep her inside, I will share with you the words of Parenting magazine "babies in Sweden survive." Bundle them up, they'll be fine. She loves to go outside. If you even say the word, she just repeats over and over in this excited voice, "Sigh, Sigh, Sigh!!!" until we go out. So here she is in her penguin outfit. The penguin slippers are courtesy of our friends Jacob and Emma, who we hope will be in Round Rock with us very soon!!!

And now for the small rant - I don't know if you watched the Grammys the other night, but whoever planned the event owes a huge apology to me and to my man Don Henley. They did a "tribute" to his years in music which involved Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts singing Hotel California, Desperado, and Life in the Fast Lane. Disclaimer: I love Carrie Underwood and I enjoy Rascal Flatts - they are very talented Country singers. BUT the Eagles and Don Henley are not a country band - they are, in my humble opinion, the greatest band that ever has played, and some of their songs can cross over to the country genre, like Take It Easy and Desperado, but that doesn't mean they are country songs. And Rascal Flatts singing Hotel California was about the most painful thing I've endured in a long time - it was way too electric and whiny. Carrie did ok with Desperado, but pardon me ladies, that is a man's song. It just IS. And Life In The Fast Lane? Please. I can't even begin to describe how wrong that was. So if playing his songs wasn't enough of a slap in the face, they then bring out Don, one of the greatest Icons of music history, to the stage with Scarlett Johansson. I'm not a huge fan of her as an actress but now she wants to sing? So they send this "celebrity" out with Don and script for her to ask him if he has any advice for her - and he says "No". Rude? Maybe, but that setup was just the highlight of insult to me - here's a guy who writes songs, plays multiple instruments, has had a career spanning decades and is a passionate artist of music, with a little actress chippy who wants to record a cd. Give me a break. Anyway, likely that an apology isn't coming from the Grammy people for the double-slap in the face but Don, if you're reading this, and I know you aren't, I was offended for you.

Off my soapbox now, must work on lunch - have a great day!

More pics

Hi everyone - Kinsey is on the move all the time, so it's hard to get good pictures that aren't fuzzy - even with the sports setting on the camera :). So her favorite pathway is of course the most difficult. She crawls from the living room to the dining room through a tiny opening between the glider and the coffee table (pictured above). And then she is so proud of herself for navigating it that she turns around for approval.
Next stop is the dining room, if Bullet is under the table, she makes a bee-line for him, often banging her head on chairs, table legs, etc, to get there. If he's not under there, she picks a chair and, laughing the whole time, pulls up on the chairs and walks around them. She is so proud of herself!
Other popular pull-up spots include the speaker by the tv - seen here (I hope drool doesn't affect speaker performance long-term) and......the window sill. It is the perfect distance to practice reaching to the piano and practicing going from one to the other. Also it's good for looking out in the backyard and yelling at the swing.And of course, we still play with toys most of the day - this Dog that says "Tummy" talks to her and sings songs and she's taken to hugging it really tight or laying on it sometimes. And the bright yellow crab does a "peek-a-boo" with his claws that gets belly laughs every time. Just outside the picture to the right is a phone that CC got for her - she has learned to pick it up and say "Hi", only in her little Texan accent, it sounds more like "high". And the favorite book is "Spot" - a present from Adam, Chris, and Jane. Spot is awesome and even though it's a Christmas-themed book, it is still perfectly suited for reading in February :). Spot is lots of fun and when you ask her where the cat is on the first page, Kinsey can point to it and say "Taa" which is her word for cat.