Halloween - Part 2

Happy Halloween from Kennedy and Olive!

This evening Kennedy and I met up with Jill and the Hinckles to take Audrey Trick-or-Treating. She was an adorable Goldilocks and filled up her treat basket almost immediately. The weather was very warm today and Kennedy definitely enjoyed the evening walk. Poor Greg had to miss out on the fun due to what we think is a stomach bug.

Earlier in the week, we got to have my mom come visit for a few days. We went to a book signing at Williams Sonoma to meet one of my favorite bloggers, Bakearella. She just put out a book about cake pops and other tasty mini treats. I can't wait to make some of these cake pops in the book!

During my mom's visit, we played with Kennedy, went out to lunches, walked around Northpark and also attended Greg's agency Halloween party. Kennedy was only in a party mood for a short time before a level 5 meltdown. Once we got home and put the baby to bed, and we enjoyed a relaxing dinner and evening.

In a party mood at the Firehouse Halloween party.

Gramms and Kennedy.

Trick or Treat!

Meeting Bakearella and getting out books signed.

Hanging out by the fountains at Northpark.

Its (Free) Christmas Card Time

Tomorrow is November 1, and that means it is time to start thinking about Christmas cards. Greg and I have never sent out Christmas cards but this year we have already started talking about a card to celebrate Kennedy's First Christmas. Will it be a funny card? Will it be all 4 of us (puppy included)? Will it just be the baby and Olive? We haven't decided on those details, but we have decided we will order the cards from www.shutterfly.com. I Shutterfly because they are offering 50 FREE cards for writing a blog post about them! I will gladly participate - we already use Shutterfly to back up our photos, order prints and share photos on Kennedy's share site.

There are literally hundreds of designs to choose from and it is really easy to upload your own photo. The hardest part is picking the design! Check them all out at: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

You can even custom order address labels to match: www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/address-labels. This makes the tedious task of addressing the envelopes one step easier.

Some of my favorites:

I love plaid. I wonder what it would take to get Greg to agree to matching family Hannah Andersson sweaters for this year's card.

I like simple and clean designs, this one uses a full bleed photo.

A little bit more modern, I love the snowflakes.

Bloggers: follow this link to get your 50 free cards: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

Halloween Week - Part 1 of Many

This morning Kennedy and I were dressed and out of the house earlier than usual to meet our friends at the Yummy Mummies Halloween party. One of the Mummies arranged for all the kids to put on a costume parade at the Plano Senior Center. It was so cute to see all the little ones in their costumes and the audience definitely enjoyed the show. More than half of the kids can walk, the rest were in strollers or carried by their mums. Kennedy wore her super cute halloween outfit from my friend Danita at Petite Pineapples (petitepineapples.blogspot.com).

Kennedy was in a happy and chatty mood this morning after a long night's sleep and morning nap. After the parade, we all headed outside to enjoy this beautiful weather. Can it please just stay this nice all year? The 'big kids' got to play in the bounce house while the babies rolled around on the blanket. Its funny to watch Kennedy and Emily "play" because they definitely notice each other now. They just stare pretty intently at one another.

We still have a few Halloween activities lined up for the rest of the week including another trip to the Arboretum (or two), the party at Greg's agency and a little parade on Sunday.

Emily and Kennedy in their festive Halloween outfits. Trying to get one of them to look at the camera is tough, but trying to get them both to look...at the same time...well, that's just not possible!

Amanda & Kennedy (4 months), Caroline & Emily (6 months), Ashley & Alex (8 months)

Gregtober

On Friday Greg celebrated his 30th birthday and his 1st birthday as a daddy. We had a special breakfast with eggs, sausage and a donut, which was a welcomed departure from his Fiber One Pop Tarts, and I baked him some delish cupcakes to take to work. Kennedy, Olive and I gave him a new dart board and darting accoutrements, and a Longhorn for his car. We also left Friday evening to go to Midland to celebrate with his family and friends.

We had all of his friends over to the Hunter's house for dinner and drinks (and football...so much football). Kennedy got to meet all of Greg's friends on Saturday and a lot of the Hunter's friends today at church. It was so fun to hang out with everyone and we are looking forward to seeing them all again at Christmas.

In addition to celebrating Greg's birthday, we also wanted to drive to Midland this weekend to see how it might be to drive over Christmas. We keep going back and forth - driving or flying. The road trip was a success - on Friday evening I fed Kennedy and went through our normal night time routine. Greg picked up snacks and drinks and packed the car. We were so surprised and relieved that she slept the entire way from Dallas to Midland with out a peep. The way back was just as smooth and we decided that car trips with Kennedy (and Olive) are pretty easy. We made great time in both directions and didn't have any traffic, bad weather or baby meltdowns.

So, the Christmas travel verdict: flying. While 5 hours and 30 minutes could be considered "making great time" between Midland and Dallas, it was about 5 hours and 15 minutes too long in the car for me.

Snuggles

Last night was a big night for us - Kennedy slept in her own room. She has been in our room since we brought her home from the hospital, and our plan was to move her to her own room once she started sleeping though the night. Well, that happened a while ago, but I just wasn't ready to move her. I don't know what made last night THE night, but we went for it and she did great. There was one minor hiccup around 4:00am. Our baby monitor also has a movement sensor, and it will send off an alarm if it senses the baby has stopped breathing. The alarm that went off in our room included insanely loud beeping and buzzing coming from the monitors on each of our nightstands. The surround sound sirens scared the bejeezus out of both of us and we went flying into her room. Of course, she was sleeping soundly and had just scooted herself off the sensor.

Lately Kennedy has been very cuddly and I am soaking up as much of it as possible. Today we met our friends Ashley and Alex to see The Social Network at a Crybaby Matinee. I love going to movies in the middle of the day, and I love snuggling with Kennedy, so the Crybaby Matinee is a win-win for us. Kennedy had a bottle when the movie started and then slept the whole movie all snuggled in my arms.

Evening snuggles.

Showing off our new moves.

She brings her knees up to her chest and pushes off. She even scooted herself off her play mat yesterday.

Uncle Pickles

This weekend we had a special visitor come to Dallas, my youngest brother, Alex. It is his college fall break and he decided to come spend some time with his niece (and sister, and brother-in-law, too).

Since I knew Alex was excited to have some one-on-one time with Kennedy, I asked him if he wanted to babysit for me on Friday while I got my hair done. I knew he would do great and I was only planning to be gone a couple hours. I tried to prepare him as much as possible: I made sure Kennedy had a nice long morning nap, I had bottles made and ready to go and walked him through diaper changing. But no amount of training could prepare him for what appeared in her diaper shortly after I left.

There was only one thing I was actually worried about, and that was Kennedy having a big poopy diaper. Now, Kennedy is a lady, so we don't blog about her 'business' but she had not gone Number 2 in a few days (BTW this is normal). So you can imagine what it is like when she saves up. Actually, don't imagine it, its gross. But as I was getting my hair blown out my phone rang. I knew exactly what he was calling about. A very nervous Uncle Pickles was on the line asking me to please walk him through changing a poopy diaper. He survived his first major diaper change and I assured him she was finished. Spoiler alert: she wasn't. I was about halfway home when my phone rang again. He was concerned with how much she was grunting...and then...she filled another diaper. Lucky for him, I was very close to the house and was able to come in and take over.

After the diapers had been changed and Kennedy was fed, I took Alex and his mustache to a few beer stores so he could add to his collection. I really felt like Mother Of The Year walking Kennedy around in the stroller in The Majestic, a massive liquor store. He was in beer heaven and all his precious beers made it back to Albuquerque in one piece.

Alex is to beer as Amanda is to shoes.

On Saturday we all went to the Arboretum to walk through pumpkin town and enjoy the nice weather. We stopped at the super Whole Foods for some lunch and afternoon drinks before putting Alex, and all his beer, on a plane back to ABQ.

It was a fun weekend and it really meant a lot to me and Greg that he wanted to spend his college Fall Break in Dallas with us.

Kennedy and her Uncle Pickles.

Let the Pumpkin Pictures Begin

Today was the second of many trips this fall to see the pumpkins at the Dallas Arboretum. Caroline, Rachel and I loaded up in one car, and even though it was a big SUV, we still took up about every square inch with babies, strollers and gear. Kennedy has a few specialty outfits for pumpkin picture taking and she wore her black and orange tutu dress today.

The weather is beautiful outside right now, so even though the girls weren't so interested in the pumpkins, they definitely enjoyed being outside. There are literally thousands of pumpkins in rows, heaps and little story book houses. We stopped at a bench in the shade to feed the girls and have a sip of "mommy juice."

Such a fun afternoon and I can't wait to go back!

Happy girl

Stretching out by the pumpkins.

The stroller brigade - watch out, Kennedy might run you over in her SUV stroller.

3 Months Old and Big Tex

I'm a few days late posting the 3 month pictures, but I have had my days a tad confused this week. I think Kennedy hit a growth spurt because she was fussier than normal this week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were a little rough. She didn't want to nap and was pretty upset most of the day.

On Wednesday afternoon I thought it would be good to get her out of the house (and by her, I mean me...I needed to get out of the house), so we met our friends at Target and then headed to Baby Gap. I was already a little frazzled and she was fussy. I knew our time was limited, so we looked around in the Gap and then stopped in 1 or 2 stores before we made our way to the car. I got all the way to the car with a bunch of outfits from Baby Gap still hanging from the stroller! Obviously, I walked them back in (I'm not a thief) but I was super embarrassed!

By Thursday she was back to her smiling self and I was happy to see my sweet baby girl again.

She is officially an infant now and has left the 'fourth trimester' behind. Some 3 month milestones: rolling over from her tummy to her back, transferring objects from one hand to another, smiling all the time and the best of all...sleeping through the night! She has been doing this for a while now, but its consistent and we are very, very happy.

Meet Kennedy's new bestie, Sophie the Giraffe.

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Today we went to the Texas state fair and ate our way through Fair Park. GrammyFlash and Big Poppa were already there and started the feeding frenzy with some fried gua-tay-malee (that's how Rhonda says guacamole). We had the following: funnel cake, a chocolate cupcake, cheese-only nachos, grande nachos, Fletchers corney dogs (I sat that round out), macadamia nut cookies (David only) fried cookie dough and a fried PB&J with bananas (due to the bananas, I also sat this round out). In hindsight, we could have used more protein. A turkey leg or some chicken-fried bacon would have been solid additions to the feast.

Napping in the stroller and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Couldn't get Kennedy to look at the camera, the people watching was just too good.

Funnel cake. Powdered sugar everywhere.

Chocolate cupcake. Chocolate frosting everywhere.

Cheese only nachos for Amanda.

Grande nachos with all the fixins, Texas shaped chips and topped with a Texas tooth-pick flag.

Corney dog.

Fried cookie dough - the highlight of my day.

No, the highlight of my week.

Kennedy did not miss out on the feast.

The PB&J Monte Cristo with bananas.

Baby Workout

Today was Kennedy's first official day at her gym, My Gym. It is a brightly colored baby gym similar to Gymboree and we met Caroline and Emily over there for a 45 minute baby class. We sang songs, played on a swing and did lots of tummy time. Everyone talks in high pitched, sing-songy voices and makes exaggerated faces at the babies. The babies love it. Kennedy did pretty well and it will be fun to watch her get more engaged with the activities over the next few weeks. We are going to go every week during October and see if this is something she will really benefit from.

It was a little cool out this morning so I decided long sleeves would be best. Plus this onesie and legging combo are adorable and I have been dying for her to wear them. This afternoon we got back into our usual routine of eat, play, nap and got a little story time in. She has some cutesy baby books we read, but my favorite is, Petit Connoisseur: Fashion. The book uses fabulous illustrations to introduce couture vocabulary and the designers that every high fashion baby needs to know.