7 Months!!

Well, I haven't gotten an official "7 Months" picture yet because 7 months came in with a bang! It started out with Kaia getting the stomach flu. 4 days later, on Wednesday, Josh and Kinley got it. Meanwhile, I had a terrible cold. That night and the next day we got our 1st blizzard, which kept us snowed in. During this time Kinley ended up with the stomach flu, the cold, and a high fever. Then we lost power for 3 1/2 hours, just as it was getting dark. Being snowed in, with no power and a sick baby, was no fun!! She finally got over the flu and fever, but the cold has taken a turn for the worse. And I have it too, so the last few days have not been fun! We did have a great Christmas, however, and Miss Kinley loved the bows, paper, and her toys. I think Kaia loves them even more because I have to keep reminding her to let Kinley play with them!! Despite being sick, Kinley is on the move. Right now she is not quite 7 1/2 months. She army crawls everywhere, and pretty quickly. She follows me into the kitchen saying "Mama Mama". She can go on her knees and also sometimes does the bear crawl on her toes. She is pulling up on everything and always wants to be on her feet. If I try to sit her down she locks her legs so she can stand. She is also crawling up stairs...a feat she has mastered the last couple days. We have 3 stairs to the landing and she can race up those no problem. Yesterday she did the rest...that's 11 stairs...by herself! As you can see from the picture, she also loves to pull herself up on the dishwasher. She's so proud of herself! She also gives high-fives, "loves", and sticks her hand out like a wave. She babbles a lot but her only real word is mama/mom mom. She understands the few signs we've done so far...her favorite is "all done"...she gets a big smile at that one! Kaia is still her favorite person, second only to Mama. Kinley will go to other people and be fine, but if she sees Mama then the waterworks begin! She has a constant smile on her face and it's a joy to see her changing every day!!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we made the trip to Wichita to see Mandy and Drew and the kids. Kurt and Julie came too, as did Justin and Colbi.  Miss Kinley was not the greatest traveler, but it was worth the drive to be able to be together! The weather was gorgeous-in the 70's on Thanksgiving.  It was so nice out that we were able to sit outside and eat our dinner! The kids loved being able to play outside without their coats!  They had a blast together like they always do, and it was hard to leave! We're looking forward to seeing them again at Christmas!!

 

 Ella, Addy, and Kaia

 

 Cousins!!

 

 Grandma Julie and Grandpa Kurt with all the grandkids!

 

Kinley and Grandpa!!

Halloween!

Better late than never!! Here are pictures from Halloween! Kaia was a Princess/Popstar from the movie Barbie Princess and the Popstar.  Kinley was a pumpkin! Kaia had a party during her preschool class and then went trick-or-treating with some friends!  We had a great time and the parents even got in the spirit and dressed up!

 

Kaia's preschool party...

 With her friend Drayton

 

 With her friends Leyla and Paige (and Paige's little sister Hazel)

 

With Drayton and his little sister Delylia

 



This picture cracks me up! It tells the story of trying to get everyone to look and smile at the camera!  Drayton and his family live down the street from us, so we get to play sometimes after school! Kaia loves playing with both Drayton and Delylia, and Demry and Kinley are starting to play together too!

 



 Our princess/popstar and pumpkin!

 

 With their friends Suri, Solomon, Simeon, Silas, and Addie!

 

 Kinley and her friend Nathan! They are 1 month apart and were both pumpkins for Halloween!  It's so fun to see them together and how they interact!  So sweet!

 

A New Chapter!

At the beginning of November Josh's dad started a new job with the State Public Defender's office after 30 years of having his own law practice.  So all of Josh's family went back to Bloomfield to celebrate Kurt's birthday and his new job!  We're so excited for Kurt and Julie as they start this next adventure in life and we were glad everyone was able to get together and share memories in their house and office!

 

 The Swaim Family!!

 

 Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids!!

 

While we were back we were all able to go visit Grandma Vi! She is such a blessing and we're so thankful to be able to spend time with her!! She always has quarters for the kids and seeing her is always a highlight of our trip to Bloomfield!!

6 Months!

On November 17th Kinley turned 6 months!! At that time she had started cutting her 2 bottom teeth, was sitting up by herself, and working on crawling.  She was pushing herself with her toes and reaching her arms REALLY far to reach things.  She was able to go forward a few inches!  But her primary mode of getting around was by rolling.  She'd roll across the living room to get what she wanted. We were also coming off a two month stretch of no sleep! Kaia got a cold back in October that went around to all of us and lasted 1 month.  Kinley ended up getting sick again, in the midst of teething.  So needless to say the last couple months have been a blur for Mama!  At her 6 month appointment Kinley weighed 16 lbs 11.5 oz and was 26 1/2" long! So she's a growing girl! She has started babbling and mostly babbles Mamamamamama. She also babbles Babababa.  She has a huge smile for her daddy when he walks in the door and usually greets him with grunts. LOL. She usually only does that for him! She LOVES people and always has big smiles for everyone, especially kids.  She absolutely loves Kaia and laughs at her all day long.  I love her sweet smile and contagious giggle. She often keeps me up all night.  But when I get her out of bed in the morning she gives me the biggest smile and I just can't be mad at her!! She really is a joy and a blessing!!

Fall Pictures Take 2

If you read my post about Kaia's Fall Photos you know how disappointed I was to lose the pictures I took of both girls.  So I decided to try again.  This time didn't go much better.  Silly Kinley just refused to look at the camera/smile! Maybe next time!!

 

 These 2 pictures are good examples of how most of them turned out.

 This one cracks me up...Kinley was NOT a fan of the leaves!!

 

 The best shot of the day! At least Kinley is looking!!

 

 

Kaia managed to get a little smile out of her!!

Kinley's Photo Shoot!

Here is Kinley's photo shoot! She did a better job of smiling for me this time!!

 

Kaia's Fall Photos

A couple weeks ago we had absolutely gorgeous weather! I decided to take the girls' pictures with the beautiful Fall leaves.  Kinley slept for the 1st half, so I got a chance to take some great pictures of Kaia! Kinley finally woke up and I worked so hard to get her to smile with Kaia for some pictures of the girls together.  She is at a stage now where she will smile all day long for you until you get the camera out...then she looks away.  I got a few good ones and was really excited.  When I got home I realized all the pictures of the girls together were missing on my memory card.  I was so bummed!  I took a few more pictures and those showed up, so I had my friend Jennie go back to the park with us so I could take some more, since Kinley always smiles for her!  I got a few great ones.  When I got home those wouldn't show up either! It turns out all the files of both girls together were corrupted and I can't retrieve them.  I was so upset!  Thankfully the images of Kaia alone were not affected and I ended up with some great ones of her! Here are my favorites!

 

Mama's Girls!!

Favorites

Here are some of my favorite pictures we've taken recently...

 

 

Sweet Girls!

 Kaia at about 4 months, after her bath!

 

Kinley at 4 months, after her bath!

4 Months

 

 

 

On September 17th Kinley turned 4 months!!  It is so fun to watch her grow and change so much!!  She had her doctor's appointment and weighed 14 lbs 3 oz and was 25 inches long!  She's about 1 1/2 pounds smaller than Kaia was at this age, so she's our long and skinny girl!!  She's wearing 6 month size clothes.  She is rolling all over the place: from one side of the living room to the other. I have to watch her because she tries to roll out of her seat. But when I call her name she rolls back over, like she knows she's doing something she's not supposed to! She babbles all the time and loves to laugh and smile, especially at Kaia.  She usually wakes 1-2 times at night, but when she wakes up she either yells or shrieks to get me to come over!  Kinley still only takes catnaps during the day and only if she's held.  She is really getting interested in toys, food, drinks, and anything I have in my hands.  She grabs for everything and is starting to grab her toes and bring them to her mouth.  She's such a joy and we're excited to see how she grows in the next month!!

Gone Fishin'

Uncle Greg and Aunt Angie got Kaia a fishing pole for her birthday.  So a couple weeks ago we went to their farm and she got to go fishing for the first time!! She had a blast! She helped Angie catch a few fish and Kaia even caught 2 all by herself!! Kaia did a great job reeling them in, was brave enough to touch the fish, then worked up the courage to hold one! Pretty soon she started throwing the fish back in.  She even got the worms out to put on the hook...she's a lot braver than me!! She's a fishing pro now!

 

 Holding the fish!!

 

 Throwing the fish back in!

 

 She caught this one all by herself!!