Animal Sounds

Kinsley loves talking about all the animals!!

Winter Break

Kinsley has been enjoying her time at home this week. We have been playing a lot with babies- walking them, feeding them, giving baths, and putting them "ni-ni". She also has developed a fascination with looking at the snow, birds, squirrels, and deer outside of our patio window. We will be enjoying one more week at home before going back to reality!

Kinsley and Cloey- April '10 (8 months)

Kinsley and Cloey- Dec '10 (almost 16 months!)

Beautiful girl

Jump, Jump, Jump

Merry Christmas

Kinsley celebrated three Christmases this weekend- we did Christmas at home Friday morning, with grandma's family on Friday night, and grandpa's family today. She had a blast at all of them and really got into opening her presents! We will be celebrating one more Christmas with mommy's family over New Year's.

Going for a walk with her new baby and stroller from "Ho-Ho"

With her Aunties and Cousin Taylor at the Williamson's

Wearing her unicorn blankie

Christmas morning at the Owens'

Loving on Snowflake

The Ice Cream Incident

Baskets and Museums

Kinsley's weekend was all about playing in baskets. She started out in her little toy basket and then upgraded to a laundry basket. She loved pretending to go "ni-ni" with her baby and eating snack in the basket.

Today we went to the Children's Museum. They were having a free day since it was the Coralville Luminary Event. Kinsley has been there before with her baby-sitter and knew exactly where she wanted to go. As soon as we went into the Imanginacres exhibit she made a beeline for the little house where the babies and the play food were. She also liked pretending to shop in the grocery store and just having an open space to walk around after being in the house all weekend. It was definitely a cool place and has a lot of exhibits that Kinsley will be able to grow into.

A bite for baby

And a bite for Kinsley

Baby signing "more"

Fun in the dryer

Basket #1

Basket #2

Lovin' Cloey

Airplane at the Museum

Feeding the baby

Doing some groceries

Adventures

Kinsley has been having a lot of fun adventures in the last week. On Thursday she learned to lick her ice cream instead of using her spoon. She had a blast and would clap and say "yay!" each time. We are still working on getting the video transferred from Michael's phone.

This weekend we put up our Christmas tree. Kinsley had fun putting some ornaments on the branches but was more interested in trying to get into the ornamnet tub. After decorating the tree we took her to see Santa. While we waited in line she made friends with another little girl. She was very excited when we could see Santa in his chair and kept saying, "Ho, Ho". Of course this led to a screaming and crying meltdown once she got to sit on Santa's lap!! They took the quick picture and Kinsley signed "all done" until we were out of the Santa area. We then went to another store in the mall, and while we were walking down the hall she began saying, "Ho, Ho" again and in the store wanted to wear her reindeer antlers. Hopefully she'll feel a little more friendly next year when she understands it more.

Outside of those adventures we've just been enjoying time at home watching the snow and the birds and deer in our backyard. Kinsley still spends most of her time playing with her babies, and even has her baby sign "more" when she's pretending to feed her. She also likes to help mommy out by dusting and throwing wrappers away in the trash can. We definitely loving this age and counting down the days until Winter Break when we get to have a lot of days at home!

Giving baby a kiss

Helping dust

"I dressed myself!"

Kinsley loves ice cream

Helping decorate the tree

Santa FAIL

Happy Holidays!!!!

Thanksgiving Recap

Kinsley had a great Thanksgiving last week. On Thursday she got to go with daddy to his family (mommy stayed home with strep) and on Saturday everyone went to mommy's family. Of course Kinsley loved all the attention and getting to go out and about!! She loved getting to try all the new foods and especially liked the pumpkin bread and pie.

The cold spell came finally came today and we got our first flurries. We are planning to do the Christmas decorating this weekend and hopefully all will go well with a tree and a toddler in the house.

In other news...if anyone is keeping track of Kinsley's allergy status. We got blood testing back from LaCrosse and she showed reactions for peanuts, eggs, wheat, soy, and milk. Long story short, with more research there was some question on the accuracy of the blood test (especially since Kinsley shows no physical reactions) so after talking to her pediatrician we are going to do skin testing in January to confirm or rule things out. It comes down to the blood testing being so new that it's not perfected yet...and skin tests are the long proven way to diagnose allergies. So for the next month we aren't further eliminating anything besides nuts (to be safe) and are holding off on starting the antigen drops for food. Hopefully after January we have clear answers, a path for treatment, and any future testing would be for progress monitoring!

Peek-a-boo!

Watching Baby-Signing Time, if you heard her sing "baby, baby" you'd give in too

Rocking her baby

Mowing-with a baby in the backpack (see a trend here?)

The view from our window

Daddy's Deer

Un-busy

We are having a calm weekend at home- and after the craziness of last week it is much needed! We are definitely hoping for the next weeks to go quickly and are looking forward to the holiday breaks and enjoying time with families.

Walking her Cabela's "oof-oof"

Not sure if she's a pig-tail girl- as soon as I got them in she said "off?"

Helping do laundry

Learning to eat with a spoon

"Can we go bye-bye please?"

LaCrosse

Tuesday night we headed up to LaCrosse to take Kinsley to the Allergy Associates Clinic. She was a good traveler and a big trooper on Wednesday during all the tests. She reacted to all of the skin tests- pollens, dust/mites, and pet dander. In two weeks we will get the results of the food tests. We came home with her first round of antigen drops and are now working hard to reduce the allergens at home. The doctor said we should see improvement in a month, and we also have a follow-up phone call with him in December, and then a return visit in March.

Going for a ride on her lion

Up and at 'em at the hotel

Waiting for the doctor

Happy (and tuckered out) to be home!

Trick or Treat

Kinsley has had so much fun celebrating Halloween this week! On Monday Michael carved his pumpkin and Kinsley and I painted ours. She really loved painting and then playing with the "bubin" after it was dry. On Thursday Kinsley had Halloween playgroup while she was at daycare, and we also did trick or treat at an Iowa City Mall that night. At first she was a little upset that people were putting things in her bucket, but that all changed when we got home and she got to eat a sucker and carry around her toothbrush. Tomorrow night is beggar's night in Coralville, our plan right now is just to lay low and hand out candy at home.

Painting is fun!


Kinsley's pretty pumpkin

Little "ooof-ooof"

With her bucket

Enjoying her loot

Looking cute in her doxie dress

Crazy Girl

This is what Kinsley spent about 20 minutes doing tonight. It's so nice to see her feeling good and having the energy to go and go and go again. What a great way to end our weekend!

What K's Up To

Kinsley is almost 14 months old! And she is growing and changing everyday. I thought I'd put a post of some of her "things"

Favorite toys: Play kitchen, babies, musical instruments, hats/shoes/etc

Favorite non-toys: dog collar, cell phones, remotes, lotion bottles

What she's saying: nak (snack), woof-woof, due (shoe), isley (Kinsley), side (outside), rou-rou (Wheels on the bus), peas (please), ank-oo (Thank You), belly, dir (deer), ni-ni (night-night), juju (juice), and tons more!

Favorite song: Wheels on the Bus

Favorite thing to do: Going bye-bye anywhere!

She loves her pumpkin

Kinsley still loves books

Check out these shoes!

Sassy hair-do and sassy dancing