Kayleigh Faith - 13 months

Kayleigh was 13 months old on Monday . . . just a few fun facts about our sweet, curious, playful and giggly baby girl.

Things she says . . ."Hi", "Bye", "Ma-ma", "Da-da", "Uh-uh" (uh-oh), and "Rock". She regularly signs "Please", "All done" and "Hi/Bye". She cries everytime she sees a kleenex or washcloth coming her way . . . and can spot a cupcake, cookie or dessert from across the room!!

She took 4 steps on February 13th at our friend's house for small group. She has taken 1-2 steps since but crawling gets her there faster, so she isn't all that interested in learning the whole walking thing! She moves fast if she is walking behind something . . . and often gets creative about what she uses: a stool, chair, toy shopping cart/stroller, pretty much whatever she can find! She also started standing up without pulling up on something on February 13th.

Her favorite toys: anything that plays music (so cute watching her bop to the music), play kitchen and tea set, the TV remote and Daddy's cell phone. Her favorite past-time: playing "peek-a-boo", opening kitchen cabinets and drawers and emptying the contents on the floor while Mommy isn't watching, pulling folded laundry off the couch, climbing in her little rocking chair and "rocking", and crawling after her brother and sister and waiting for them to open the bathroom door so she can get to the potty and trash can! : ) Kayleigh also LOVES bathtime . . . she stands by the side of the bath while we run the water and leans over trying to start splashing as soon as the water is high enough to reach! It is a great evening activity if she is getting fussy before bedtime . . . cheers her up everytime! She has loved being outside this past week . . . swinging and going for walks around the neighborhood.

In the past couple weeks, she has gotten much more affectionate . . she has started giving "hugs" back and snuggling in when we hold her and even tucking her arms in, wanting us to squeeze her for a tight hug! She loves to be tickled and play wrestle/tackle.

Though I thought Kayleigh was really taking to milk when I first introdcued it to her . . . that is not so much the case now. She LOVES to drink water, of all things . . . her favorite foods (right now): blueberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, grapes, applesauce, pb&j, steamed broccoli, string cheese, pizza and lasagna. She has always been pretty serious about her food, but since being weaned, she is even more serious about it. As a result, she has chunked up quite a bit . . . she has gained 2-3 lbs in the past month . . . and is close to 20 lbs. now! Dave turned her carseat around last night and she really enjoyed the car ride this morning to the church getting to see everything! She has 7-8 teeth as of now, but that could change at a moment's notice . . . she has been "teething" for a few weeks!

Girls' Night

While the boys enjoyed their night at Monster Jam . . . the girls and I had a fun evening! We went out to dinner with a friend and her baby . . . Kayleigh and Kinsey had a ball splashing in the bath together (I couldn't resist a picture) . . . Kinsey and I snuggled up on the couch after Kayleigh went to bed and watched a princess movie and painted our finger and toe nails (hot pink of course). Kinsey's smile says it all!

Monster Jam 2011

Dave and Jackson went to their 1st Monster Jam last night in St. Louis with some friends. Our friend scored some pit passes, so the boys took off after lunch and got to spend the afternoon seeing the trucks up close, meeting the drivers, signing their name to one of the cars that got smashed during the show and other fun things. As soon as Jackson got home late last night, he told me all about his favorite truck, Mohawk Warrior and showed me his monster truck tattoo and the checkered flag he brought home! Definitely a fun Boys' Night!!

Enjoying the warmer weather . . .

We have had an awesome week of weather . . . temps near 70 almost everyday! The last piles of snow around town have completely melted away and a glimmer of hope that we might someday experience spring is renewed. With all the snow and ice this winter, I was honestly beginning to wonder if we would ever see it disappear! We have been playing outside as much as possible . . . though everything around here is still really muddy! The kids didn't have preschool on Friday, so we took a little road trip to a State Park that has some bike trails and took along the kids' bikes. It was a nice change of scenery to ride their bikes around the lake marina.

2011 FCC Basketball

My Funny Little Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day 2011!! Now that Kayleigh is very mobile (she took 4 steps last night at our friend's house and even stood up without pulling up on something), trying to capture a picture of all 3 together with everyone looking and smiling is VERY difficult, so here is the best that I could do! I also snapped one of each of them individually and some other candid ones. . . trying to capture their sweet smiles and infectious laughter! 11 years ago today, David asked me to marry him! Hard to believe!! It has been a fun and sometimes wild ride that I'm very blessed to be on! Today we also celebrate my parent's 35th anniversary!! Happy Valentine's Day all!!

Kayleigh's Favorite Chair

Kayleigh LOVES the little wooden rocking chair in our living room. These pictures were taken a week and a half ago . . . everytime I walked into the living room, I would find that Kayleigh had climbed up into this chair and was sitting and watching the other two playing! I think part of it was the new challenge of mastering the climb, but she loves to "rock" and wave "hi" as we pass by! Kinsey couldn't resists climbing up in the chair with Kayleigh when I snapped these!

Ice Storm 2011

The view from our front windows . . . fortunately the ice storm did not end up being quite as "epic" as originally predicted. We did lose power from 8 pm one night until 5:30 am the next morning and had a family sleepover around the fireplace in the living room.

Kayleigh Faith - 1 year

Jackson's 1st Basketball Game

Jackson had his first basketball game of the season on Saturday. What a difference a year makes, Jackson was much more aggressive, made 3 baskets and was really into the game the whole time!! It was a lot of fun to watch!! Kinsey was almost just as excited as he was . . . she had her pink cheer outfit and Illini pom-pom all ready to go the night before!

1st Day of Wee-Wildcat Preschool

Jackson and Kinsey are both old enough to go to Wee-Wildcat Preschool this year. Kinsey was especially excited about going to her very 1st day of preschool. She had been talking about it for weeks before . . . she kept telling us that she was BIG and could go to school with Jackson!!

Jackson Turns 5

Jackson really wanted to have a "Boys Only" Diego themed birthday party this year. So we found a time that Grammy could have a special "Girls Only" sleepover with Kinsey and Kayleigh. And we were even able to have his cousin Nathanael come to sleepover the night before the party. Jackson was so excited . . . he even wore a vest and backpack like Diego does! They decorated their "Field Journals" at the "Rescue Center", got their "Rescue Badges", went on an "Animal Rescue" scavenger hunt, and much more! They all seemed to have a GREAT time and so did the birthday boy. It was special for him to get to have some "Boy Only" time and celebrate his special day! How can he be 5 already!? It is hard to believe!!