Thursday, February 23, 2012

17 Months

She said "Love you" (da-du) for the first time. Melted both of our hearts. A few weeks ago after we laid her in the crib we told her we loved her as usual and then walked towards the door. As we walked away she said it. I wasn't sure if I was just hearing things or not though. I turned to Niel in shock and we both had the same look on our face. We had both heard the same thing. It was the sweetest thing.

She also started saying, "hi daddy!" (eye-dadd-ee)

She likes stacking things. Mostly my baking goods. I turned around and she'd made this awesome tower without my help.
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She hates getting her teeth brushed and makes it very difficult for me. Pursing her lips, curling her body into a ball, wiggling out of control. Probably my least favorite part of the day.

She likes stacking her blocks.
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Her favorite part of the day is when dad comes home from work. When Niel honks the horn she gets so excited and runs for the door. She squeels and laughs and sometimes gets teary eyed when he comes home. Then she gives him kisses and holds onto him for a long time.
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She is starting to show interest in what clothes and shoes she wears. Sometimes she will shake her head no at the shirts or pants I'll pick out for her to wear. Other times she will hand me the shirt or shoes she wants to wear.

I love it when I find her reading (jabbering) to herself. Photobucket
She started playing mommy with her baby and puppy. She gives them food, wraps them in blankets, gives them pacifiers, changes their diapers, etc. It's the cutest thing ever. She would be a great big sister.Photobucket
She is such a sweet and loving little girl who gives us so many hugs and kisses. She will walk up to me and hug my legs while I'm cooking.

She is a sweetheart but also very strong willed and has a mind of her own. As she gets older this is more apparent but thinking back she has always been that way. Even as a baby she was that way. She makes up her mind about something and will do whatever it takes to get it. We have to be pretty firm with her because if we give her an inch she'll take a mile (figuratively speaking). I wasn't sure how to discipline a 17 month old . I mean, she is still so little but at the same time she needs to know that hitting, throwing food, tantrums, etc. aren't ok. I tried putting her in time-out for one minute (in her crib). It has helped a lot surprisingly. I thought time-out was for older kids, but it works for Kensie.

We are in the halls about 70% of the time at church. Counting the days till nursery.

She loves to do 'Ring around the Rosie'

She goes up the stairs and down the slide at the park all by herself now.

Kensie keeps getting better at independent play and eating the same thing we are eating. Still doesn't like her veggies though.

If she wants something she comes up to me, grabs my hand, pulls me to where she wants to go, and then points to what she wants to eat/do.

The other night when we took off her clothes to put on her pajamas she ran from us (not unusual). Then she wanted to wear my necklaces. She was walking all over the house and acting so funny. I took some pictures that capture Kensie's fun personality.
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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Girl Time

Kensie is a total daddy's girl and prefers him over me. If dad is around she usually doesn't want much to do with me. At night, she always wants her daddy to hold her and put her to sleep. Heaven forbid if I try to do it.

Last week, Niel went to San Francisco for a medical conference so Kensie and I had some girl time. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hold and cuddle her before bed time. She also gave me lots of hugs and kisses. It was nice to feel like the important one for a few days.
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We went to story time and played at the park. Every night except Friday we went to Subway for dinner and shared a footlong. Saturday night was a special occasion and we went to McDonalds. She had a blast playing in the play land.
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And let's be honest...we did some shopping while dad was out of town too. Kensie got new dresses, shoes, and summer clothes!

We had lots of fun together but by Saturday afternoon I was exhausted and ready to have Niel back home.

On a side note. I love having one child right now. I frequently think about how fun it is to have one little buddy. Just the two of us. She goes everywhere with me and we do just about everything together. We can get out of the house fairly easily, go shopping, run errands, etc. I know I want more kids but it makes me sad sometimes thinking about how it won't always be just me and her. I love how much one on one time I'm able to spend with her. I look forward to having more children but for now, I'm loving how it's just me and my little girl.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Playgroup

I started a small playgroup for Kensie and three of her little friends. Kensie gets bored of me and she loves being around other little kids so I thought it was time to start a playgroup. And let's be honest, I wanted to have some 'me' time while she goes to her friend's house to play. We're having it every Tuesday morning for a few hours. This week I hosted. We played with toys, had snacks, sang some songs, and played outside.
Mitchell and Kensie had fun sharing their snacks with each other.
I took my eyes off Mitchell for about one minute and he'd climbed into Kensie's high chair. He is only six months older than Kensie, but he looks so much bigger and older.
It was fun watching these little munchkins run around and play together. The kids were really well behaved but I was worn out afterwards. It will totally be worth it when I have the next two Tuesday mornings all to myself though!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Landscaping

When we moved into our house, there wasn't much landscaping left. The previous owners tore out the artificial grass and the palm trees were dead. The only thing we kept the same were the boxwood shrubs and the rock behind our covered patio.

BEFORE
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We didn't do our landscaping all at once. First we paid a couple guys to install artificial grass. Growing up on a crop farm, I never thought I'd have artificial grass:) It's the way to go though when you live in a place like Las Vegas.

AFTER
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Over time, we put in more shrubs and trees. We have six different types of palms and a few other trees now. The patio set was a new addition over the summer.
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Then Niel put in a stone paved walkway that goes from our front yard, through the side gate, and connects to the pool slab in the back yard. He also planted those bushes that go along the paved walkway.
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Last month we got a pool fence. Not the most glamorous looking thing, but safety comes first when you have a toddler on the loose. It's been so nice to open the back door and let Kensie run outside without worrying about her.
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The yard is a work in progress but it's come a long way since we've moved in. We will continue to add more trees and flowers over time but the major stuff is done.

Who wants to come swimming at our place in a couple of months? I'm starting to get excited. But for now, I'm embracing our 50-70 degree weather before the heat comes.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Painting Our Kitchen Cabinets White

I remember shuddering the first time I saw the green countertops of the home we now live in. I thought it might even be a deal breaker. But we loved almost everything else about the house. I told Niel replacing the green granite was the first thing we'd do once we moved in.

That didn't happen.

After realizing how much it would cost to have it ripped out and replaced, we decided against it. Instead, we had the cabinets painted white.

I love white kitchens and thought the green would look less awful with white cabinets. It was too big of a project for me to do with a baby so we got a couple quotes and had the cabinets painted professionally.
Before
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After. Yes, the green granite has sparkles in it. Don't be jealous.
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I made my own DIY milk glass to put above the cabinets using this easy tutorial.
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Then I spent about three weeks trying to decide on hardware. Have I mentioned how indecisive I am?
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I wouldn't have chosen the green granite, but I'm ok with them now. Almost even like them:) I decided to embrace the green so I got these awesome green accent rugs for the kitchen.

Looks so much better than before. Phew. I am happy to a have a white kitchen. They are my favorite.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Stairway Photo Collage

This weekend I finally finished the photo collage I've been working on for months. It's been a long, drawn-out project. I'd heard photo collages were hard but it still ended up being harder than I thought and taking me longer than I anticipated.

This was the process I went through...
Finding photo CDs long lost in our move
Weeks of sifting through a bajillion photos trying to decide on which photos to enlarge
Three different 'enlargement runs'
Deciding which pictures of the enlargements looked good together
Five different trips to buy/exchange frames
Cutting out pieces of paper the size of the frames and arranging them on the wall
Three weeks of making changes/hanging the frames

View from the top of stairs
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This is the view looking up from the entry way of our home. I really like how you can get a sneak peak from downstairs.
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Some things I learned along the way were (mostly preferential things)...

I didn't like black/white or sepia photos mixed in with the collage
I liked photos with lots of color
Closeups looked best
I didn't end up using any of the frames with matts
Lots of the 5x7's I enlarged didn't make it into the photo collage
Since I was working with a huge wall space, the bigger pictures tended to look better
The photos I enlarged at a professional enlargement company look 10 times better than the ones I had enlarged at Costco. No joke.

Hopefully my next wall collage will be easier. I like it a lot but don't love it. I would do some things differently if I did it over. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my first wall collage. I will continue to add and switch out some photos in the future but for now I'm so relieved it's done! What do you think?