Compare and Contrast

Thought it would be fun to see how closely or drastically different Kenadie and Berkley looked when they were both 6 months old.  Kenadie was about 2.5" longer and weighed 3 lbs. more than Berkley at this point.  They both have brown eyes, but Kenadie's are like a golden honey brown, if that's a color :) and Berkley's are dark brown.  The bracelet they are both wearing still doesn't fit Berkley enough yet to wear without it falling off, she just had it on for the picture.  I definitely won't go as far as to say that they look just alike, but I do think they favor some.  I showed Kenadie these two pictures and told her that I was seeing how much she and Berkley looked alike at 6 months.  Her response... "Well actually, Berkley doesn't have a check mark on her face like me." :)  She knows it's a birthmark, don't really know where check mark came from, but I thought it was pretty funny :)

Such A Big Girl

Where oh where do I start???  I'm really just going to let my pictures tell the story of the Great Ear Piercing Adventure, but I guess I will throw in a little background information first:)  So, about two weeks ago, I asked Kenadie, "Would you like to get your ears pierced?" to which she gave me a very confident "No way!"  That was pretty much the end of it for that week, and I went on about my business.  I had always thought that we would get her ears pierced when she inquired about it.  I got to thinking, and decided that she was probably going to take a little nudging in the ear piercing department, and if I didn't, she would probably NEVER do it!
So, this past Monday, I randomly asked her again about it and she smiled really big and said "yes mam."  I couldn't have been more shocked with her response, to say the least!  We started talking about earrings and she quickly requested that they be pink :)  Yes, I thought, I can do pink earrings :)

And then it hit me, where, how, when etc. etc. etc. do we do this???  And so, what did I do?  I polled my trusty Facebook friends :)  And with a whopping 41 responses, I had instantly done my "homework."  If you are a friend on Facebook and you read the ear piercing post, you will be relieved to know that a nice lady who I'm going to say always dresses like a lady did Kenadie's ear piercings :)  We actually went the safest route to avoid the "questionable" being I was NUMEROUSLY forewarned about and did it right here at the Claire's in Laurel.  That way, Aaron got to be a part too, ha!  He has recently texted me telling me how proud he was of her :)  Glad he could participate in the girly fun :)  The pictures pretty much tell the story, and if you are thinking about getting your little girl's ear's pierced, I will interject some great tips I learned from my friends :)

Here is my little angel pre ear piercing :) I thought it may be a good idea to put her hair in a ponytail so that her hair wasn't in the way.

"Piggy" the pig was invited to attend as was her Happy Meal toy in her right hand.

Step 1) Cleaning her ears.  Today's adventure was $43.  Once the earrings are opened from their very sanitary sealed container, they are yours, regardless of if you actually go through the process or not :)

Step 2) Using a purple pen to mark on her ear where the earrings would go.  Yes, for the OCD person like myself, it was very hard to utter out the words "yep, looks good."  I had all necessary paperwork filled out before Kenadie entered the store.  That's where it helps to not do this alone!  She had already picked out her pink earrings from their website.  It actually worked out well, the only pink earrings they have are the birthstone for October, perfect for an October birthday!

Step 3) The actual ear piercing.  I should really call this picture anticipation, and the next one the actual piercing :)

 Step 4) And then there were tears :(  Keeping it real, people!  Not going to sugar coat it :)  It is at this point that one ear is done, and I am just a wee tad worried that we may be leaving there with only one earring :(  But, my big girl pushed though and did the other one :)  It was also at this point a mad rush of shoppers entered the store and the one worker needed to tend to them.  I had a chance to calm Kenadie, but regardless, she knew what was coming...   

It would have been great if there had been two workers, then she could have had both done at the same time.  Weekends are probably better for chancing having two workers.  My lap is needed for her to get the other ear done.  Aaron assumes all camera responsibilities :)

The finished product :)

And next, because anytime your little girl does something bravely, she gets...

her favorite, ice cream!  And her daddy shared his cookie critter with her, while I......... resisted :(

And they all lived happily ever after :)

Whew... glad we got this over!  Kenadie would sum up this experience with "Mommy, do you know what part I didn't like?"  Me: "What's that?"  Kenadie:"The part when the lady poked holes in my ears." :)  But in the end, she sure is proud of her two little pink jewels :)

Dance Recital

Kenadie had her very first dance recital this past Saturday afternoon at 2:00.  Was it the cutest thing you ever did see?  Absolutely!!!  Did I tear up throughout her entire performance?  Absolutely!!!  Would I change my emotions in any way?  Absolutely not, because apparently I enjoy crying my eyes out!!!  I can't ever seem to stop :)  Why oh why does my little girl have to be growing up so quickly?

Here is my big girl with Kay Kay at the dress rehearsal.  What would we do without her???  She's the one who rocks at fixing hair under pressure!  I can handle the make-up part,  but just not hair!  When I did Kenadie's make-up for the first time I told her she looked like a little princess, to which she said "No Mommy, I look like you :)"  I took that as a compliment :) 

And perhaps the reason I get so teary eyed about all this big girl recital stuff is because in my mind, she should still look like this...

I snapped this sweet moment of these two as we were about to leave her to go get to our seats.

The theme of the recital was "Every Season" and Kenadie's class danced to "Pretty Rainbows."

They sing the words to their dance song which makes it all the more PRECIOUS!!!

Sweet friends who have known each other since before they were born :)

Hey Berkley!  She was there too :)  and no, Berkley isn't missing any hair on the front, not sure how that happened?



Afterwards, we went to eat at Long Horn and this is how Kenadie felt about it all...

And in case you haven't had enough of the dance recital :)  click on the following link for a video of Kenadie's class doing "Pretty Rainbows".  Actually make that Kenadie doing Pretty Rainbow... I couldn't help but zoom in on her :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAxxzrixF04

And one more video of the finale... soooo cute!!!!!  They have done this little dance at the end of every dance class since we started last Sept.  It's my favorite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_dneC6LgnQ



Bringing Home Baby, Part 1

Well, in approximately 16 days, we will be meeting the newest precious angel of our family. We are so excited, and can't believe the time is finally here! With Kenadie, we were obviously beyond excited awaiting her arrival, but we just didn't exactly know how much JOY she would bring to our lives. I can't wait to see if Berkley favors Kenadie, will she have any hair, how big will she be... And speaking of "how big will she be", I have just recently started referring to Berkley as a toddler! For those of you who never knew or may not remember, Kenadie weighed 9.1, one week early!!! I have a hunch that this baby is going to be bigger than Kenadie. I am actually having an ultra sound this Wednesday to get a ballpark of how big she is. At my appointment this week, my doctor agreed with me in thinking that she was going to be big! Another side note about Kenadie... I felt like she was going to be big, and my doctor assured me she would only weigh between 6 & 7 lbs. I remember specifically asking "so not even 8lbs?" to which he said "no way!" Well, he was right about one thing, she didn't weigh 8 lbs... :) we totally skipped that number! I guess a mother's intuition can be right :)

I was wanting to post nursery pictures when it was completely finished, but seeings how I have been patiently waiting 2.5 months for a large frame to come in that I ordered/paid for at Mistletoe... I may be waiting a while longer apparently. The nice lady has contacted me twice, but yet I still have NO beautiful frame! Just last week, I started calling every other day/leaving messages to which have all been failed attempts :( Oh well, hopefully I will EVENTUALLY get my frame, and perhaps it will still be during the time Berkley's room is referred to as a nursery.

My gem of a mother actually made this bedding, and we used it for Kenadie. When we found out we were having another girl, I was ever so excited to get to use the bedding again, as was my mother, seeings how it was her summer project of '07! I'll just tell you this, I have hardly any sewing skills, but when it came time to hem the dust ruffle, my mom quickly invited me to join her bedding project :) I will never forget, we sat on her couch and in one day, we EQUALLY put in 12 hours on hemming that thing! That's a grand total of 24 hours! And yes, it DID have to be done by hand! So, here ya go folks, some nursery pics...

Kenadie's room had a lovely mural on 3 walls of her room, as well as a pink crystal chandelier that did make the move with us, however; the ceilings in this house are taller and Berkley's room is a little bigger than Kenadie's old room, so the chandelier that I had to "fight" to keep from the buyers of our previous home... yeah, well it's not being used here... oh well. That's a total post for another day... But, before you speculate, I DID ask our realtor if I should take it down to which she INSISTED I NOT do!!! It was supposed to be in the paperwork that it went with us, but didn't make it into the agreement. In the end, I still have my chandelier, that I MAY use one day... but until then, it has a lovely home in our attic :)

If you are looking for a good baby pink paint, the wall color is Benjamin Moore "Elephant Pink". We used it in Kenadie's room. It's just a good pink that doesn't pick up any lavenders, just a true "baby pink".

Here's the mobile, and yes, there is a reason they tell you to take it down when your baby starts to pull up... hence the stranded bunny on top who needs to be secured back in her original place with the other 4.

This next picture is of some random items that I either threw away or that needed to be replaced. Let me just tell you how strange it felt adding these things to my shopping cart! With Kenadie, someone gave us all these types of things and they were all tucked away neatly in her closet, MONTHS before her arrival. Second go round... I just threw these staples into my buggy like they were milk and bread. Kinda made me sad for some strange reason, but the important thing is, Berkley will have all the things she needs, regardless if they weren't on hand months before her arrival :) I'm determined not to fall into the "you won't do that for your second" trap :) I want to make things just as special and take just as many pictures of Berkley as I have Kenadie :)

So what's left to be done??? Not too terribly much. I need to pack our bags. Kenadie didn't come early, I was induced with her. Berkley seems to not be going anywhere anytime soon, so I really don't feel too much pressure just yet on getting our bags packed. All clothes/articles are clean and on a list of what needs to be packed, so I feel pretty good there. We need to put the car seat in at some time, pick up some formula and diapers, and I think we will be pretty much set :) Enjoy your weekend. I think I am about to go back to bed. I started this post about an hour ago at 4:00 a.m. when I was unable to sleep. So long for now :)

Pretty In Pink

On December 14th, Kenadie's dance studio held their Open House where parents and grandparents, etc. were invited to come and observe their class. I am obviously there every week, peeking through a small window, so this was a treat to get to sit in on the class, take pictures and video, along with lots of "oooing and aahing" from the crowd. Speaking of "taking pictures and videoing", did you know you could do that simultaneously at the same time? :) I knew Aaron would want to watch Kenadie, so I somehow managed to take pictures with one hand and record with the other :) Not the best footage, but better than nothing.You certainly can't point your child out to another parent as "the one with the pink bow." :)
"Watch me kick, nice and high. I can kick up to the sky."
Papa and Kay Kay couldn't miss out. I guess I will have to document this as their first "grandparent event" to be invited to :) Well, maybe their second. Kenadie was baby Jesus in our church's Christmas program when she was five weeks old :)This WAS a family photo, and yes, it WAS necessary for SOMEONE to be cropped out :) Enough said, maybe I will appear in my next post :)

Twinkle Toes

Today was the big day! We started dance!!! Kenadie's ballet class is from 9:00-9:30. She had a great time and all of the little girls were precious in all their PINK. Pink is the color that is required for her age group. My only regret... I didn't think to bring the camcorder, however, you could probably piece ALL of the pics I took together and pretty much make a video, not missing a beat :)

The first thing they did was choose a beanie baby to do some of their little games/activities with. At this point, some of us moms were snapping our last few photos before the door closed. Kenadie had to come show me the one she chose. I watched this little dog change into about 10 other beanie babies until she finally decided on the cow. I think Papa had some influence on that decision :)
The rest of my pictures were taken from the little observation area, behind a tinted window. It was today that I found a new setting on my camera :) It's called TV... don't really know what it's for, but I do know when I tried it, my pics looked 100% better. Maybe Heather will leave me a comment :)Sweet friends... wish I knew what they were saying :)Playing with sticks. She made sure to tell me "we don't run with sticks."Can't wait to go back next week! and with our camcorder!

Tu Tus and Twirls

It's so hard to believe we are going from this...To this...I'm sure all Moms, when you find out you're having a little girl, your mind goes straight to dance lessons and all things pink, or at least mine did anyway :) I am so excited about Kenadie starting dance, but at the same time, you guessed it... I'm a little sad that my baby girl is old enough for this :( I received an email recently from a children's clothing company, whom I like to order from, announcing that they were now carrying dance attire. Of course I just HAD to order the most adorable leotard, and would you believe who started to cry before she made the purchase??? ME!!! You would think I was sending my baby to Kindergarten :) Whew... at least it is JUST dance :)

My Mom, Kenadie and I finished up our dance shopping yesterday with all the necessary articles/accessories. I think we are officially ready! Now, for one excited little girl to wait one month for it to start :)

New Hair Accessories

So, when you have this much hair on your 1st birthday...pigtails seem just a tiny bit unfathomable. Well, we've got 'em now :)This morning we went to church for Bible study, and she was SO proud of her pigtails! She showed just about EVERYONE we saw by just pointing to them, didn't say a word, just pointed :) So far, so good with her letting me fix her hair. Hopefully she will stay this way, but if she is anything like her mother... this MAY not happen. Rumor has it, I wasn't the best client in my mother's "beauty salon" every morning when it was time to fix hair :( My hair was always either too "bumpy", not "bumpy" enough, too tight or not tight enough! I'm so sorry Mom--

You will be glad to know that the planter I was trying to "fix-up" with the Impatience the other day is now complete :) A BIG thanks to my dad for spending his day off last week working in our yard! We, I mean HE, planted Gerber Daisey's, Zinnia, Lantana, and Periwinkle in the front yard. He also planted a Japanese Maple in the back yard. So far everyone is still alive, thanks to my little "waterer." If you were to drive by my house at ANY given moment, you are likely to see...It's Kenadie's new found love! When I think the flowers have had enough water, we usually just start watering the bushes/grass/driveway... until it's time to go to bed. If Kenadie's happy, Mommy's happy, right?