A Day at the Zoo

Last Sunday Gary, Kendall and I decided to head to the zoo for a day of family time. It was so much fun!



Kendall LOVED the animals. You can clearly see the joy on her face!

Baby peacocks

Feeding goats with Daddy

The grapevine tunnel

Here's some grapes

Look at this, Mommy!

OOOHHHH

Not the horsey, Daddy!



The bench is fun!



Campin' on the 4th

On the 4th of July weekend we had the privilege of going to Campers' Paradise near Nevis, Minnesota for a camping trip. Gary's family went there every summer growing up and he loved it so he wanted to bring his family there ('cause he's sweet like that). We talked our good friends Carmen and John into joining us with their wonderful sons Peyton (4) and Logan (1). We had a wonderful time and we had some exceptionally well -behaved children! We even managed nap time everyday for the one year olds! The campgrounds are on an island and are beautiful and secluded. The beach was sandy and perfect. There was a water trampoline and a big playground for the kids. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather. It only rained for about 2 hours the first night we were there otherwise it was sunny and warm. The campgrounds also have awesome trails for riding bike that we truly enjoyed! It was so much fun that we booked our trip for next year already!




Our BIG campsite!

Our tent (my birthday gift from my momma) thanks Mom

Gary grillin'

John and Peyton playing bean bags

Kendall in the Ergo

strollin'

Kendall and Logan going for a bike ride

The beach

Peyton

Carmen and Logan

Floatin'

Beach Baby

Camping is fun!





 *I was on this trip, too. I just happened to take all the pictures so I'm not in them. And I'm ok with that.



Kendall Through the Seasons

I have a confession

Sometimes we co-sleep. I know many people believe that this is a horrible thing to do. I've heard all the reasons why. It's hard on a marriage to have a child in bed with you. The child will form the habit of sleeping with you and you won't be able to break it. You might roll over on your baby.

Kendall and I co-sleeping when she was 2 weeks old

It started when Kendall was first born. You know how people say newborns are only awake for an hour or so at a time? They lied were mistaken. Kendall was a night owl for the first 2 months of here life. She would be awake from 10 or 11pm until 4 or 5am every single night. She didn't fuss or cry, unless I tried to put her down. She would just lay in my arms. Sometimes she'd drift off and I'd ever so carefully put her in her bassinet. It never failed. The instant she was out of my arms her eyes would pop open and she would demand to be picked back up. I've never been big on the whole let them cry it out idea so back to my arms she would go. This is how we started to co-sleep. I would eventually fall asleep on the couch holding Kendall. It was the only way I got any sleep. At 2 months she started to sleep some at night in her crib and has been a pretty good sleeper ever since. But on nights when she is fussy, teething, sick.... We bring her to bed with us. She always starts the night in her own bed. If she wakes up we try all of the obvious things (diaper, drink, etc). If all of that checks out ok and she is still not wanting to sleep we simply bring her into our room. It doesn't happen all that often. A few times a month. But we don't see any harm in it. It hasn't formed a pattern so we don't feel that it's becoming a "habit". If she wakes up seeking the comfort of her parents we feel like it's ok to give that to her. We don't worry about squishing her and our marriage has grown stronger through parenting Kendall together. Nothing makes my heart melt the way it does watching Gary love our daughter. And who wouldn't want to wake up to Kendall's sweet little face!

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Love

Wordless Wednesday: You Are My Sunshine

Kendall has WHAT???

Thursday I took advantage of Kendall's long nap to do some research on the recent measles outbreak for a school project. I spent a couple of hours digging up information on the disease including lots of pictures of babes covered in the horrible red spots. So you can imagine my shock when I went to fetch my own babe from her bed after nap time to discover THOSE SAME SPOTS! She was seemingly healthy when I put her down for her nap 2 hours before and when she woke up she was burning up and had red spots around her ears and face and spreading down her body. I kept telling myself that just because I was hearing hoof beats didn't mean it was zebras and that babies get rashes from all sorts of things. She couldn't possibly have the measles. Where would she possibly get exposed to measles??? I was panicking slightly at this point and after a call to the Emergency Room Gary and I decided we'd better run her in. Imagine my surprise when the doctor announced that the rash was, in fact, definitely measles. However, they are a weaker strain of the measles. Not the same kind that are rare and breaking out in the cities right now. The doctor called them the 3 day measles. She said that they would go away on their own in 3 days (imagine that). But boy did my heart ever leap when she said that my beautiful girl had measles. It was a scary moment as a mom. God sure has blessed us with a child that is happy no matter what the situation! Even in a busy emergency room, burning with fever, covered in rash Kendall was almost all smiles!



Here she is waiting in the emergency room

Sorry the pictures are so small they're from Gary's i-pod

Kendall's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Kendall's first birthday last month. It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since we held our little blessing for the first time. Yet, I can't imagine life without our sweet girl. We celebrated her big day with a party at a hotel in town with a swimming pool. Miss Kendall loves the water. She had so much fun splashing with her family and friends. We had pizza for supper and cupcakes made by Grandma Nancy. As we sang Happy Birthday to her she watched in awe with a big smile on her face that could have melted any one's heart. She was very dainty with her cupcake at first. She just licked the frosting off her fingers for a while. Then she decided it was pretty good stuff so she picked it up and ate it that way. She was very enthusiastic about her gifts and fussed a little when I would take one away so she could open the next. She loved all of the gifts she got and she got wonderful things! It was such a fun celebration of our darling girl!

Here she is in the swimming pool

swimming

Her cousin Brady

Kendall while we sang to her

Yummmm



Enjoying her cupcake

Opening gifts

Playing with Grandma Trudy and Brady