Spring Pics

Today Kennedy and I went to the Arboretum for some pictures with our friends. Kind of like we did last Thursday, but this time we had a real photographer there. Like, a professional. Kelli has done some wonderful photos of Kennedy and I was so happy she wanted to do pics for us today. I have been stalking her for a Sneak Peek and I finally got one a little while ago. This is the best picture I have of me and Kennedy and made the whole day totally worth it. I know she has a million to upload and edit (7 babies, 2 hours of photos, you do the math) so I am going to have to be patient for the rest. That will not be easy!

Olive

Olive, our 4 year old Morkie, has had a tough 9 months learning to share the spotlight around here. At first she put on a show of disinterest towards Kennedy. Sniffed her a few times when we came home from the hospital and that was it. Cautiously kept her distance. As time has passed, she has shown interest little by little.

Now, Olive is great around Kennedy, comes and licks her on the nose and allows petting (when supervised by me or Greg). We will have to be careful to teach Kennedy to be gentle with Olive...she is a fragile one and can get hurt very easily. Just 2 years ago, Olive was chasing after Mr. Crabman (stuffed crab toy), slid on some wrapping paper and tore her ACL.

Its really cute to watch them interact and Kennedy thinks Olive is hysterical.

And just for fun, a picture of Olive we had done by a pet photographer when we lived in NYC and apparently had disposable income for 'necessities' like pet photographers.

Girly Girl

We got the rest of the pictures from our little sesh we did during Kaylie's visit. Such cute pictures of both girls. Here are a few of my faves:

Springtime

Spring in Texas is quite nice. When it isn't windy, its really beautiful outside and the tulips are everywhere. My geraniums are blooming nicely, even though they are being dug up by squirrels on the regular. I don't have a green thumb, but its nearly impossible to kill a geranium and petunias. Hence the only plants in my planters. I wish I was capable of planting (and maintaining) beds of flowers, but I accept my shortcoming and enjoy the flowers at the Arboretum.

Which brings me to today, Kennedy and I met our friends at the Arboretum for a picnic and photo opp. Kennedy enjoyed playing in the shade and I was glad she has a nice, big canopy over her stroller to protect her skin from the sun. I walked away with a pretty sweet watch tan.

Mason (in the blue Bumbo) and his ladies.

Getting all four of them to look in the same direction...impossible.

Mommy and Kennedy

Back It Up

Kennedy has her own version of crawling. Its really more of a corkscrew motion but it gets her where she wants to go. Most of the time. Moving forward is still something she is working on, hence how she gets herself wedged under multiple toys.

Pi Baby Phi

We had such a fun visit with our out of town visitors this weekend. On Friday night I left Kennedy at home with Greg and enjoyed dinner and drinks out with the girls. Saturday afternoon was Natalie's 1st birthday. Liz decorated the house so cute in a pink and black French poodle theme. Natalie really dug into her cake and loved every messy handful of it. Note to self: don't get black frosting on Kennedy's cake.

We were all in Pi Beta Phi together in college and now a few of us have our own little legacies in the making. Sam and I received these cute angel wing bibs at our baby showers and were excited to take a few pics of the girls. Of course the girls had a different agenda (I can't blame them, Natalie's playroom looks pretty fun).

Now I'm not saying Kennedy has to be a Pi Phi, but the next 18 years of me singing Pi Phi songs should help her make the Right Choice.

Pi Baby Phi

Play Nice

While I don't think my sweet, innocent, little Kennedy is doing anything to actually cause bodily harm to her Bestie, this picture may suggest otherwise.

Girls, play nice.

Tutu Times Two

Sam and I took Kennedy and Kaylie to get their pictures taken yesterday at Photography by Kelli. Getting one baby to look at the camera and smile is hard enough, but two, well those girls really made us work! Sam and I were pulling out all the stops with funny voices, high pitched noises and clapping to get them to look in the same direction and smile. We also got a few shots of each girl on her own while the other took a rest. Kelli posted a sneak peek this morning, as per usual, I am dying to see the rest.

St. Patty's Day

We have some special visitors in town from ABQ, my college friends Jessica and Sam, plus Sam's daughter Kaylie. Kennedy and Kaylie are only 4 days apart. I can't believe I didn't order a themed outfit for St. Patricks Day, despite my previous posts about the Irishish shirts! Anyway, we put a little green on the girls and headed to Northpark to meet our friends. I was excited to introduce Sam and Jess to all my Dallas friends and introduce Kaylie to all the babies. The weather was a little too windy for a picnic, so we took over a section of tables upstairs. After lunch, Jess, Sam and I headed out for what turned into kind of a marathon shopping trip.

Despite my Irishish heritage, I can't stand the whole corned beef and cabbage thing. So, in lieu of traditional Irish fare, we opted for BBQ brisket and picked it up on the way home. Jess headed out to meet some of our other friends (also in town) for a St. Patty's Day celebration sans babies. Sam and I had a more baby friendly evening with the jumperoo and some wine.

Hope everyone had a fun St. Patty's Day!

Olive is freshly groomed with her festive green bandana.

Irishish lad and his lasses.

Just doing a little core work, this here is a side plank.

Our make-shift St. Patty's Day cocktails.

Silver Shoes

I love me some silver Tory flats - they go with just about anything and the metallic leather makes them feel slightly fancier than normal. I wear them with everything, literally. You might think I am slightly exaggerating here, but this is my 3rd or 4th pair of the exact same shoes. Though Tory isn't making infant shoes (yet), my mom and I were able to find a pair of somewhat matching silver ballet flats for Kennedy.

Is Kennedy excited about her new silver shoes? I think so.

Mommy and Minnie

Playing the Piano

We might have another musician in the family. I'll be the first to admit, she gets no musical ability from me as I have zero capabilities in this area. It was formally brought to my attention during college, specifically Rush Week. I was an active member and we were getting ready to welcome the Rushees to the Pi Phi house. Being on the petite side, I am always in the front row of any and all formations, lines, etc. During rehearsals our music chair pulled me aside and asked me to "just whisper" the song. Ouch.

However, my brother Alex and Greg's dad are both fantastic musicians. Alex (see also: Uncle Pickles) has been playing the guitar since he was a Wee One and he has been excited to play with/for Kennedy. We were in ABQ last week for a visit and he sat down with her a few times to play the piano, guitar and banjo.

This happens to be a recording piano and a very expensive piece of equipment. Kennedy's pounding on the keys was making both me and my mom a tad nervous, but she was having a blast.

Tree Swing II

The tree swing was really an amazing addition to the back yard. I think I could post about it at least once a week. It was a gift from our friends, The Hinckles, and we absolutely love it. We do have baby swings in the park next to our house, but its nice to be able to just step in the backyard and play for a little bit. Kennedy has been playing in the swing pretty much every afternoon and evening. The weather has been a little shifty lately so we were in a sunhat one day and a knit cap the next.

This hat nearly deserves its own post. Get ready to see it in a lot of pictures this summer.

This little pom-pom hat was made by my mom's cousin in CA. Such a fun surprise to get in the mail this week.

What a busy and fun weekend for The Hunters. The most notable event was Kennedy turning 8 months old on Saturday. Here's what she is up to these days:

On The Move (sort of)

I think in another couple of weeks we are going to have a crawler in the house. Right now she gets around the house by back-scootin' and rolling. She gets up on all 4's and rocks herself forward and backward. She is very happy now that she can put herself in a sitting position from her tummy or back with out any help. Its pretty cute in the mornings when I come in to get her out of bed and she is just sitting there waiting.

Nom-Nom-Nom

Kennedy is a pretty good eater when it comes to solid foods. She much prefers to eat food over taking a bottle, so I have to sneak formula into her food to make sure she is getting enough. I've been making a lot more of her food these days and she is yet to turn anything down. We are starting to give her table foods: whole wheat bread, cubed fruits and veggies, cheese and Cheerios.

Sleeping Beauty

Kennedy has always been a fantastic sleeper but lately has been waking up in the middle of the night to eat. I think its probably a growth spurt and I am looking forward to her sleeping all night again! She still naps twice a day and is a happy girl so long as she doesn't miss the critical Morning Nap.

This is how I found her this morning in her bed.

Chatterbox

I know she doesn't really know what it means, but I love hearing her yell maaaa-ma! She talks a lot. She has long conversations with the baby in the mirror (any mirror). She is starting to recognize some of her friends and loves to talk to Emily.

Ruthless Toothless

No teeth yet, though I think she has been teething for about a month now. Nothing has come through so she still has a little gummy smile.

I can't really think of anything she doesn't like right now, she is such a happy and content little girl. She really is such a little bundle of joy.

Probably Not An Athlete

Ok, so we won't rule out sports altogether, but it doesn’t look promising when Kennedy’s natural reaction to a playground ball is: fear.

She might be taking after me just a little here. Growing up, I was never really the Sports Girl. In middle school I hated PE with a white hot passion. I mean, I certainly didn’t spend hours each morning sculpting my bangs into the perfect formation to only have them wrecked in 3rd period playing some game outdoors. I preferred a more lady-like approach to after school activities in the form of ballet, jazz and in my later years, tennis. One spring, at the age of 7, my parents talked me into expanding my horizons and enrolled me in little league baseball. I wasn’t “good” at any aspect of the sport, unless you count drinking grape slushies from the concession stand. I should mention I was one of two girls on the team. So my teammates could not relate to the turmoil I was going through having to figure out a way to get my hat and bangs to work together on Team Picture Day.

Of course I can’t wait to take her to her first ballet class, but maybe we can work on this Sports Thing so Greg can take her to her first soccer practice some day.