Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Brandon's birthday and the boys were all for making the day special. They made his breakfast and dessert practically by themselves and that night Grandma treated us all to Snuffers (it usually takes about 10 tries to get a picture of Brandon with his eyes open - or half open:)

As far as Kenadi's 8th week she's started to do a couple of new things. She loves it when we help her sit up - she'll smile great big and look around then cry when we lay her back down. I'll wait just a few more weeks till we get out the Bumbo so she can sit without our help.

She also took her first ride in the swing outside - she seemed to love it till I gave her a push - she held her breath, turned bright red then let out a big scream. She still likes it though; it was just that one push :)

Kenadi also discovered how to scoot on her back. The other night I layed her down in the middle of her crib. A few minutes later she started crying so I check on her and I found this (her tears instantly turned to a huge smile).

We also tried really hard to get her to laugh out loud. We can tell she is very ticklish but no laugh yet. She also discovered sucking on her hand; no thumb yet (or fingers), but I've been trying to get her to take the pacifier whenever she does it - PLEASE no more thumb-sucking. I'd rather be the mean parent that "looses" the pacifier than wanting to cut off a thumb because you can't understand a single word coming out of your childs mouth :)

Week 7

Kenadi was just full of smiles this week. She's growing so fast - there were some days that she looked like she grew overnight!

The little game we play where she blares her eyes :)







As for the boys, we had a couple of rainy days this week including Saturday so they made a little fort/hideout that morning and were so proud of it.

Also, last Monday Cole lost another tooth!
Here in Texas, it looks like our two weeks of Spring are over :( This whole week is supposed to be sunny and hot - we already had to turn the air on tonight to cool the house off. I'm looking forward to summer weather but when it get's really hot here is when we usually take our trip to California. California didn't work out last year and though I'm determined to go this summer we still kind of have to see. I really want to be there for the 4th of July - my family has a tradition of cooking breakfast on the beach every year thanks to Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Marc - then mid-July Brandon's family has their traditional Lobster Bake thanks to Aunt Marie and Uncle Rick. It's been 2 years since I've been back - look at how little the boys look!







The other babies of the family.

Chase still had his baby elephant!

Can't wait to make some new memories!!!

Week 6

Week 6 has definitely been one of my favorites. Kenadi has been very responsive - making eye contact when you talk to her, cooing and smiling a ton - real smiles, not just from gas :) She also likes to track every move Brandon makes.We can keep her attention for long periods of time without any crying - she loves all the attention. We can get some funny reactions out of her too - making her blare her eyes by making funny noises. I love it! As far as sleep goes the car seat has suddenly become magical. At the beginning of the week she was only staying asleep in her crib between 5 to 10 minutes at a time (that got very old at night) but she falls asleep and stays asleep easily in her car seat. Now for the last couple nights she'll sleep half the night in her crib and then fall back asleep in her car seat for the remainder of the night. Hopefully sleeping through the whole night will be coming soon!

Easter Sunday

We had a nice relaxing day going to church and Grandma's house. The sun did come out that evening so we went outside for some bubble blowing. Chase literally hid the bag of Easter eggs so that we couldn't find them till that night - so much for our easter egg hunt!
Hope you had a day full of wonder and reflection :)

"But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved" Ephesians 2:4-5

Easter Pics

Since it's supposed to be rainy tomorrow for Easter I decided to take the boys out for some Easter pictures today. First we went to the park that we always take our bluebonnet pictures at to check and see if they were in bloom (or if they were still there). To my surprise they were! The boys were pretty good - I refuse to get frustrated when I can't get them all to look at the camera or to smile normal - I just have to think the picture catches more of their personality :)


Next we drove back over to Heritage Park where all the tulips were. Of course they were all gone because of all the cold weather we had. There were so many other beautiful flowers in bloom but the boys were pretty much out of picture taking mode, so we took the little walk around the park and I tried to get some pics of Kenadi laying down in the shade. I made 2 of the regular flower clips this morning - one of them was a white gerbera daisy that was so big we're going to have to wait till her head is a little bigger :) and this was the other one. Again one of the things I enjoy getting to do that obviously I couldn't do with the boys :)


Oh, by the way, Brandon said we have to go back and take pictures in the bluebonnets because we left Dakota out - he took her on the annual camping trip with him this weekend (I stayed home with the kids - don't worry they already came home so he'd be back for Easter) so I may be back with some more bluebonnet pics :)

Sleep Tight

Kenadi is growing non-stop but the best part about week 5 is that she pretty much slept through 2 nights this week! One night was from 12 to 7 and the other was 10 to 4. It was fabulous!!!

Kenadi in one of her cute little dresses.

This week we also went to the Highland Village Easter Egg hunt. I parked in the wrong area though so as we were heading over we could hear them starting the egg hunt without us (I think I was more disappointed that I didn't get them over there in time than they were). We missed it but it was still fun to walk around and play at the park.

This week my good friends Misty and Dan were in town from New York (we all use to live in California). It was so good to see them and spend some time together - they're considering moving to Texas!!!

The boys loved playing with Dan and Kenadi was so content with Misty.

We'll miss you guys but hope we'll get to see you again in a few months!!!

Week 4

4 Week Highlights

*At the beginning of the week Kenadi started losing all of the hair on top of her head. We're excited to see exactly what color is going to grow in it's place.

*On Friday her little belly button stub finally fell off!!! 4 weeks was a long time!

*Sunday night she took her first bath in the bath tub.

*Monday night while we were having some tummy time she rolled over from her tummy to her back (pure accident, I know)

*There was one night this week she slept from 11:00 to 4:30 - that's the longest stretch of sleep she's had so far :) We're getting closer to sanity!

*I've given up marinara sauce completely since eating it really doesn't make for the best night of sleep.

*Today her left eye was really watery and crusty - I'm trying the old wives tale of squirting breast milk in it to make it better (why are you giving me that funny look:) - if it's still the same in the morning it'll be off to the dr. we go.

Kenadi's couch potato look :)

Finished!

I am now officially done with Kenadi's room. This weekend I finished the bedding for her crib. I love how it turned out. Thanks April for bringing all the fabric!

I also took down the curtains and changed them a little bit. I think they look better around the window now. I don't think I ever posted pictures of the rest of Kenadi's room finished. We got great deals on the nightstand and the glider and ottoman (we just put new fabric on the cushions) - yeah craigslist!




I also wanted to show off this awesome diaper cake my friend Sara made for me. She does such an incredible job of incorporating room themes and colors to match the nursery with every diaper cake she makes and I LOVE mine! Not only is the diaper cake itself a great gift but she even stuffs little gifts inside the bottom tiers. Thank you for such a great gift Sara!

Happy Birthday April!

Today is Auntie April's birthday and I thought I'd share these little video clips with everyone. I know these will make you smile April! We love the new CD you got for us. Chase's favorite song is Little Liza Jane - he just sings his little heart out :) Thank you!

Celebrating Auntie April's birthday when she was in Texas earlier this month.
We LOVE you Auntie April!!!

Adorable New Flower Clips

I just finished adding a new item to our shop! They're our new shabby chic hair clips. When April was visiting we talked about making them and now we both tackled the project, coming up with two different styles.

Elizabeth Hair Clip

Kenadi Hair Clip

This is the first one I made so it looks a little bit different since I was experimenting.

I love the vintage look they have to them. Each flower measures approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter and is connected to a no slip grip alligator clip. We're planning on making a couple more and then seeing how they do in the Etsy shop. I'll keep posting pics as they come along :)

Week 3

As we near the end of Kenadi's 3rd week, today I looked in her crib and realized how big she's getting. She normally loves to be swaddled at night but this morning when I went to check on her she looked two sizes too big for her blanket!

This week we also said goodbye to all of her newborn size clothing . . . my last time getting to use those teeny-tiny clothes that are oh-so cute. Kenadi also discovered that daddy's chest isn't just nice to sleep on but fun to play on too.

For my little photo shoot this week (I know I won't be able to keep this up every week but I have so many ideas!), it didn't exactly work out. Everything is starting to bloom, including the beautiful tulips over at Heritage Park. Since Kenadi can't exactly sit up yet I thought I'd use a cute little pair of butterfly wings I found, stick them on Kenadi's back and have the tulips in the background for a cute spring picture (kind of like the Anne Geddes fairy pictures she does with the woodsy backgrounds). Well I didn't have any such luck - I was able to take 2 pictures total - with three boys running around and Kenadi being awake (not sleeping like I wanted her to be) and a little fussy, neither turned out very good.

This one would have been okay if I would have placed her better in the light and if she would have kept her face turned to the side so you could see her little ear (I love how they go up in a point). I WILL get a good picture in the tulips - just not for this week.

As far as sleeping during the night it's been a hit and miss deal. Some nights she'll wake up at 2 and then 6 - which after that I'll start my day; but then some nights I'll have trouble getting her back to sleep and be up for about 2 hours - I never had that problem with the boys. They always went right back to sleep.

This is my view when I feed Kenadi while Cole's at school. Chase and Cy like to come in Kenadi's room and read :)

I do have some new Needle in a Scrap-Stack updates that I can't wait to share with everyone. We just need to do a little bit more work before we show it off. Can't wait!

Sunshine

Like I've said before, I LOVE all the hats and headbands with the big flowers attached to them for little baby girls. Near the end of my pregnancy, I bought a cute little crocheted beanie with a cute crocheted flower on it off of Etsy. I couldn't wait to take pictures of Kenadi wearing it and had to do it soon because I don't think it will fit her very much longer. Here's Kenadi, 2 weeks old.





When my mom and sister were here helping out one of the things April did was make Kenadi's quilt for her. I love it!!!


Kenadi had her 2 week check-up and everything looks great. She's now 20 1/2 in. and 8lb 11oz. She's been a very content, easy going baby which is such a relief! Nights are still a little rough especially if I eat something for dinner that's spicy or had marinara sauce (she'll wake up a lot more or won't go back to sleep till she poops!). Lately, for the most-part, the last feeding for the evening is between 10:30/11:00, she'll wake up again at 2:00, won't really want to go back to sleep right away, be back asleep by 3:00 and then up again between 5:30 and 6:30. This next week I'm going to work on keeping her awake a lot longer before she goes down for the night and see if we get closer to sleeping through the night.



I'm really looking forward to getting outside this week - Cole's on spring break and it's supposed to be warm and sunny everyday (unlike all the rain and cold we had last week). With all the sunshine, we took Kenadi on her first trip to the park yesterday (the boys had been wanting to go to Kids Kastle) and it was beautiful.

I'll leave you with a picture of Cole playing with a shaving kit that Oma and Auntie April got for the boys while they were here. It was so cute watching him trying to be just like daddy.