Allie & Jay

I got an interesting email this week from a website that has been sending me updates since pregnancy. It started with your pregancy this week, then your baby this week, and now they send me your toddler this week. I must say that I usually don’t even open these emails. I haven’t for months because Kennedy is no where near other kids her age. It make me big headed to see the areas she is advanced in and sad in the areas she is delayed. I don’t like to see what she should be doing. Today for some reason I opened the email and the header was “things you never thought your would do.” This got me thinking on the things I said I wouldn’t do and would do that I have or have not done.

Things I said I would never do (but did):

“I will never let my baby watch TV.” Yep, she watches Blues Clues every morning while Jay and I are getting ready and she enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba from time to time.

“I will never let my baby sleep in the bed.” Kennedy has spent many a night between Jay and I and every morning of her life she has joined us in bed for a little while before getting our day started

“I will never let a child nurse when they have teeth and especially when they can ask for it.” Kennedy has been seen on several occasions pointed at my boobs and saying “mmmmmm”. Another note she is over one year old and has 10 teeth. And yes I am still nursing and not sure when I am going to stop.

“I will never let my child eat junk food.” Kennedy likes McDonalds, Wendys, Hardees, Sonic, and don’t even get me started about how much she likes cheesepuffs, cupcakes, and ice cream. You may have seen us at the Sonic happy hour a time or two as well.

Not only did this article get me thinking about the things I said I wouldn’t do, but it also got me thinking about the things I said I would do.

“I will not have a baby on a schedule.” I stuck to this one. We don’t have to rush home for nap time. We don’t have to end a dinner with friends by 5. We let Kennedy nap when she is tired and we aim for an 8:30 bed time. She eats when she is hungry and she nurses on demand.

“I will make my own baby food.” I made everything. She never ate any babyfood from a jar.

“I will never let her leave the house in a onsie.” Kennedy never sets foot outside the door without being fully dressed in a beautiful outfit with a matching bow. I try to dress her in her best clothes everyday. I understand she will mess them up, but when you grow so fast you might as well wear your nice clothes daily.

“My family will sit down for dinner every day.” We eat as a family every night We sit at our little table in our little kitchen, we pray our blessing, and we eat as a family. Kennedy always eats what we eat too. No short order chef in this family.

Things I said I would do but haven’t

I said I would vacuum every day… I don’t

I said I would mop every day…. I don’t

I said I would continue to treat Potter like a person… I don’t

I said I would cook dinner every night… I don’t (although I do cook sometimes)

Overall I’ve done and haven’t done some things. One thing I said I would do was make sure that little girl knew I loved her. I want her to know that we prayed for her. That we wanted her. The we dreamed of her. And that she is everything and more than we dreamed of. This I can easily say we have done.

I only have my class for 7.5 more hours. 3 half days. 1 holiday. 1 teacher work day. Then freedom for the rest of the summer. I can’t wait to spend my whole summer with K-bug. Anyone up for play dates?

The teacher nerd in me is so excited about this week at daycare. Sherry is having fun week. Everyday revolves around one of the students and their interest. She had to combine two students tomorrow due to the holiday Monday. Tomorrow is game day for Nicholas and read-a-thon for michael. I am so excited that I packed up 5 of Kennedy’s favorite books (don’t let the pidgeon drive the bus and chicka chicka boom boom are two of her most favorite!) I am also packing up her birthday cake leapfrog toy as her game. The rest of the week is Ava’s water day, Madison’s bubble day, and Kennedy’s music day. Love it!

Hey Guys! It’s me Kennedy! I’ve been super busy learning all kinds of stuff lately. My favorite word it dog. I like to call Daddy “Dog” even though I know his name. His reaction makes me giggle! I love daycare. I have a really good friend there named Ava. She has pretty hair that I like to play with. Sometimes I really wanna pull it, but when I do Ava cries. When Ava cries I cry. I don’t like to see my friend be sad. Mrs. Sherry is really nice too. I always hate to leave her house when Mommie comes to pick me up. Mommie says it hurts her feelings that I cry when it is time to go home. Mrs. Sherry taught me something really fun! She taught me to count! I can count to 6 all by myself! I like to count everything!

There is something going on that doesn’t make me happy. My mommie keeps putting cold white stuff in cups and calling it milk. That isn’t milk. Milk is that sweet yummy stuff that is served at 98.6 degrees whenever I want it. That stuff Mommie is calling milk is NOT MILK. Don’t let her try to fool you by putting that yucky stuff in a cup. Also Mommie and Mrs. Sherry keep saying it is time that I learn to hold my own cup. How silly is that? Why would I hold my own cup or bottle? Seriously that is why you have hands! To hold it for me:) Mommie has spend all her money trying to buy new cups. Some are soft. Some are hard. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are fat. Some ar skinny. Some even have straws. I’m holding firm though. No way am I drinking from that. Yuck! I am not drinking this white stuff you call “milk” Mom! I’m going to nurse forever! Just call me no bottle – no cup Kennedy!

Wanna know something else cool? I woke up polka dotted the other day. They didn’t itch and I got to see Dr. Kyle so that was cool. I also got to take some medicine that tasted like bubblegum. Yummy! I love medicine! Mommie and Daddy don’t know what made me Polkadotted, but they are gone now.

Well I’m going to bed sans lovie. I don’t really miss her that much. I have a really cool HUGE monkey that sleeps with me now.

Love,
Kennedy

This has been one of the best weekends of my whole life. Kennedy turned one on Friday. (pictures will be coming soon.)

Saturday May 8: Jay was out of town. Kennedy grabbed her ears. I knew she was getting a tooth, but does this cause you to pull your ears? Hmm not sure? Off to the pediatrician’s special sick hours. Yep, they pull their ears when they are teething.

Thursday May 13: NOT! Back to the pediatrician. Still pulling ears. Still coughing. Still snotty. Tooth is completely in. Diagnosis, ear infection!

Friday: I took off of work a little early on Friday to throw Kennedy a party at daycare. It was so special. The kids enjoyed pizza, capri sun, and ice cream cone cupcakes. Kennedy ate almost her entire cupcake! Kennedy got some sweet toys from the kids and for the first time in her life she actually stood up for herself. Typically Kennedy is the kind of kid that is called “easy going.” Older kids would take toys from her and she would smile and find another toy. She was always being taken advantage of because she was “easy going”. Well not any more ladies and gentlemen! As of Friday when her friend tried to take her toy she fought back! She grabbed. She pulled. She went to pull hair. She may have even gotten a slap in on the other child! I have never been so proud. I am Proud that she stood up for herself. The “easy going” label was just getting old. Way to go Kennedy! You are now a strong independent woman who Will Not be taken advantage of!

Saturday: 35 of her closest friends and family came together at our family lake house. We had a pink and green celebration which included boat rides, tubing, kiddie pools, swimming in the lake, cake, hot dogs, and so much fun. I was told that people had never seen a one year old have so much fun at her party. She played and she played hard. She went on her first boat ride which she LOVED. She waved and said “wee” the whole time! We decided the lake may be the annual location for the birthday party. She partied so hard that she actally fell asleep at 6:30! (this is VERY early for our little girl.) My friend and photographer of the day, Sarah, just posted pictures on facebook. Check them out there until I can upload my own.

Sunday: Doc, Dori, Blake, Papa Lovett, and Grammy all stayed at the lake with us. We enjoyed an early morning breakfast and Kennedy really enjoyed checking out the sprinkler with papa lovett. It was sad to see out special weekend come to an end.

Monday: Happy birthday Jay! We didn’t forget about you!

Cool 1 year old facts:

Words: Mama, Daddy, La la, uh oh, see, what’s that, mine, go, dog, duck, balloon, night night, potter, hi, bye bye, boat, and no
Motor skills: crawling, pulling up, cruising
Fine motor skills: eating all kinds of food with her fingers, scribbles on paper with a pen
Favorite: monkey stuffed animal that we named Blink, house toy, wagon rides, boat rides
Dislikes: baked beans, cranberries, drinking from a sippy cup
Cool facts: still nursing 4 times a day, sleeps from 8:30-6:30, naps once a day 2 hours for sherry 1 hour for me, only a few more week before school gets out!

We are almost finished with all the details for Kennedy’s one year old birthday party. We have table decorations, a cake, a location, invitations sent. We have silverware and cups, birthday outfits and birthday presents. It is going to be the best one year old birthday party Kennedy will ever have!

I have lost count of all the words my sweet girl can say. She is now starting to string together a series of words. Today she said “no no po-er” (potter). This week we have also heard her say Lala (lauren) and mine. Her newest trick is to put her hand up and say “no” when she doesn’t want what you are offering her. She also can receptively identify mama, daddy, and Kennedy in our family picture. I love hearing her sweet little words!

She is currently playing with her birthday present from Mama and Daddy. We bought her a play and learn learning home toy by Fisher Price. Her favorite thing to do with it is ring the doorbell and open the mailbox, put mail in, crawl to the other side, and pull the mail back out. I love seeing her doing imaginary play.

Have I told you all that she is crawling now? No not the typicall I’m heading to Iraq crawl, a real crawl. Belly off the floor cute little crawl. She is all over the place now. She also has learned to pull up, especially in her crib. She finally learned to sit back down yesterday. That made for some bad night when she would stand up and scream for mama to come get her down. Now if we could just get this baby walking!

Hey guys,

It’s me Kennedy. I have so much to tell you! As of yesterday Mommy, Daddy, and I drove to Charlotte for my Doc Band graduation. They made me a bear named Charlotte that is going to wear my crown now. I don’t know how I feel about this. All I can do is scratch my head. My hair feels so weird! Did you know it hurts when you pull your own hair? Mom drug me today to the Picture People in the mall to get my picture taken. At first a really scary man kept trying to take my picture. Finally a nice woman came to take over and I gave her some big smiles. I showed her all 7 of my teeth! Yeah I know, I have alot of teeth. I have to though to help me eat all the yummy food Mommy and Daddy give me. I also learned a hard lesson today. Did you know that you can’t pull up on the curtains on the sliding glass door and expect them to hold your weight? Mommy told me that busted lips just make me look “tuff”. I only cried for a second. I’m a tuff girl! I also learned a fun trick tonight. Did you know it is fun to dunk your head into the tub? Well Daddy has the “ba-oon” (balloon) so I think I’ll crawl over and mess with him some. (Yeah you heard me… CRAWL!) Goodnight friends!

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Kennedy may not be the most advanced child when it comes to motor skills, but boy is she learning about language (perhaps that has something to do with what her Mommy does for a living?) She talked the other day for Mama and Scott while they were playing with her in the kiddy pool. She grabbed a duck and gave it to them saying “duck”. She then dropped it and said “uh oh duck”. Of course our first thought was that it was a fluke, but every time the duck reappeared Kennedy would say “duh” or “duck”. She has labeled the duck hundreds of times since this incident and can generalize duck to other rubber duckies too!

Other words Kennedy knows and uses regularly: Hi, Bye, uh oh, see, what’s that (wassat), mama (usually when she sees the boppy or wakes up in the middle of the night), daddy, no no (with finger pointing and tsk tsking), duck, balloon (baoooooon), and dog (dah.. but not potter). That is 11 words so far!

Another cool Kennedy fact.. she LOVES to dance:)

PS: she is now working on tooth #8!

Kennedy is 10 and a half months old

She has 6 words: mama, daddy, see, uh oh, no, and bye bye

She can: point, clap, dance, and walk with assistance

Favorite toys: Easter Eggs, Balls, books, and her walking toy

Silly fact: She calls the boppy mama

Eating: Favorite food – green beans cooked by daddy favorite sippy cup drink – water favorite favorite – mommy’s milk

She love to walk around store telling everyone “bye” (hi) while waving but if they stop and try to touch her she curls into a shy little ball until they leave

She goes to be at 8:30 and wakes up around 7:30

She doesn’t cry when she wakes up… she just calls out for mama

She quit pacies on her own at 6 months

She sleeps better in the crib when the front bumper is out

She can not crawl… only slither

She can make the s sound with her tounge in perfect position

I can’t wait to spend the whole summer hanging out with her!