4th of July Weekend

Holy-Maca-Frickin-Roni....I.AM.TIRED.
We had a gloriously long weekend, four fantastic days of family, friends and fun! We were go-go-going non-stop and I feel like I've been hit by a truck as a result. 

Our 4th of July festivities began on Wednesday night after work. I ran the Hot Dam 5k Fun Run. The path was downtown Minneapolis along the Mississippi River and included some of my all time favorite spots of our beautiful city. 

The race ended up really sucking, but more on that later. The only good part about it was meeting up with my dad and step-mom for dinner at Champps afterwards. 

Thursday we kicked off the 4th of July by the pool with my mom and Kenley rocked her patriotic two-piece.

Thursday evening we met up with my mom, step-dad and step-sister at the country club for the 4th of July carnival they put on every year.

Kenley tried her first snow cone {with no flavor, so basically a ball of ice} and loved it!

Then at the petting she got to meet a little baby chick, a baby goat, a giant piggy and a tortoise named Nugget! 

Kenley also "rode" her first pony! She wasn't scared at all....we told it her it was just like riding a giant puggle {she probably thinks we're idiots}.

Then, the rest of our family arrived to enjoy the fireworks!

Kenley handled the fireworks like a champ. Not only did she stay awake long enough to see them, but she wasn't scared at all, quite the opposite, she loved them!

 

Friday afternoon we headed up North to visit Jason's mom and step-dad. We spent the day on the ranch introducing Kenley to the animals and then visited a beautiful nearby park and put our toes in the creek.

That evening The Beeb and her hubby, Jake, came up to hang out. We let Kenley have her first little taste of a popsicle and she LOVED it.

Bailey was especially happy after Kenley's few bites were finished.

Kenley was just as happy as a little clam living the redneck baby lifestyle. She was covered in sunscreen, bugspray, baby sweat and popsicle so it just made more sense to let her run free and naked...she LOVED it.

We all headed back to the cities early on Saturday morning. Jason and I literally got home, dumped our stuff, got our boating stuff and were back on the road again. Some of our friends rented a pontoon on the St. Croix river so we spent the day on the water drinking, grilling and swimming.

It was so much fun! 

Jason was up early and off to golf with my brother and step-dad on Sunday morning so Kenley and I had a little time to snuggle and start crafts for The Beeb's baby shower. Then we were off to the country club again for lunch with my mom and friend Robyn.

I went straight from lunch to meet up with the Beeb and Jake to help them and our friend Sara Jayne take their maternity pictures! It was so fun to be a part of it and I cannot wait to see the photos!

After the shoot I picked up Kenley, went grocery shopping and got home just in time to sit around and be lazy for like 5 minutes before putting Kenley to bed and getting ready for the week to come.

It was a fantastic weekend but I think I need another four days off to recover! 

As always, I am linking up with the adorable Sami and you should too!

Kenley: 7 Months!

I wrote this at the 7 month mark and took pictures at the 7 month mark but somehow forgot to combine the two and post them! So two weeks late, here's the update on Kenley's 7th month of life!

Weight: 

Sleep: Bedtime is between 7 and 8, waking up around 6am and taking 2-3 naps during the day

Feeding: still getting six 5oz "ba ba's" a day with two solid food meals.

Diaper Size: 2

Clothes Size: still in 6 month outfits

Hair Color:  Blondie

Eye Color: Baby Blues

Milestones: Sitting Up! Major drool - a tooth has to be close! 

Nicknames: Kenny, Mou, KenKen, Squeakerdoo, Love Buggy, Boo Baby and a million more ridiculous things that come out of our mouths.

Kenley, 

Already another month older. It's been 7 whole months since the day we brought you in to this world and I love you more and more every single day. You are the.best.baby and everyone tells us so. It makes me so very proud to hear our family and friends and even strangers compliment me on what a well behaved and beautiful daughter I have. Your personality is coming out more and more and you are going to be a fun one, that's for sure. You love to squeal and squeak and "talk" to us. Your smile is infectious. The things me and daddy do (and all your grandparents too for that matter) to get you to smile are ridiculous. But, it doesn't take much, you are such a happy little girl. In this past month you've mastered sitting up and have really started to love playing with your toys and you are obsessed with Mickey Mouse. We play Mickey's Clubhouse for you and the second you see Mickey come on the screen you smile, squeal and kick your little legs as fast as you can.  Being with you and watching you grow and learn is absolutely the best thing I've ever done in my life. I find myself just staring at you trying to soak up every memory I possibly can as I know this sweet baby stage will soon be in the past. I get so sad when I think of you growing up and yet I am so excited to see you walk and talk and dance and do all the incredible things I know you are destined for. 

I couldn't love you any possible more my sweet girl. 

Love, Mommy

{ps. that's not a type-o, my mom always told me "i couldn't love you any possible more" and now I do the same.}

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I hope you all have a WONDERFUL and SAFE 4th of July weekend!!!

Kenley :: 7 Months!

I wrote this at the 7 month mark and took pictures at the 7 month mark but somehow forgot to combine the two and post them! So two weeks late, here's the update on Kenley's 7th month of life!

Weight: 

Sleep: Bedtime is between 7 and 8, waking up around 6am and taking 2-3 naps during the day

Feeding: still getting six 5oz "ba ba's" a day with two solid food meals.

Diaper Size: 2

Clothes Size: still in 6 month outfits

Hair Color:  Blondie

Eye Color: Baby Blues

Milestones: Sitting Up! Major drool - a tooth has to be close! 

Nicknames: Kenny, Mou, KenKen, Squeakerdoo, Love Buggy, Boo Baby and a million more ridiculous things that come out of our mouths.

Kenley, 

Already another month older. It's been 7 whole months since the day we brought you in to this world and I love you more and more every single day. You are the.best.baby and everyone tells us so. It makes me so very proud to hear our family and friends and even strangers compliment me on what a well behaved and beautiful daughter I have. Your personality is coming out more and more and you are going to be a fun one, that's for sure. You love to squeal and squeak and "talk" to us. Your smile is infectious. The things me and daddy do (and all your grandparents too for that matter) to get you to smile are ridiculous. But, it doesn't take much, you are such a happy little girl. In this past month you've mastered sitting up and have really started to love playing with your toys and you are obsessed with Mickey Mouse. We play Mickey's Clubhouse for you and the second you see Mickey come on the screen you smile, squeal and kick your little legs as fast as you can.  Being with you and watching you grow and learn is absolutely the best thing I've ever done in my life. I find myself just staring at you trying to soak up every memory I possibly can as I know this sweet baby stage will soon be in the past. I get so sad when I think of you growing up and yet I am so excited to see you walk and talk and dance and do all the incredible things I know you are destined for. 

I couldn't love you any possible more my sweet girl. 

Love, Mommy

{ps. that's not a type-o, my mom always told me "i couldn't love you any possible more" and now I do the same.}

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I hope you all have a WONDERFUL and SAFE 4th of July weekend!!!

Baby Talk :: Mama Must Haves

Happy Tuesday mamas....it's time for another edition of BABY TALK!

Here's the rules:
{1} Write a post on ANYTHING baby related...pregnancy, parenting, products, stories, advice, you name it!
{2} Grab this button and put it somewhere, anywhere in your post!

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{3} Publish your post on Tuesday!
{4} Come back and enter your post in the super neat link-up tool found at the bottom of every Baby Talk post.
{5} Check back and read the other blogs who have linked up!

Easy as pie!

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I've been a mom for over a year now {I am counting pregnancy as being a mom--because you totally count as a mom the second you see that plus sign} and I feel like I've done a pretty good job so far, but not without help. It takes a lot to take of a baby but you also need to take care of yourself - the happier mama is, the happier baby is.

I've complied a list of the things I deem "Must Have" for mamas and have broken them down into Pregnancy, Childbirth and New Mamahood categories:

Pregnancy

• Tums - I popped these bad boys from day one. I had crazy heartburn and tons of tummy aches so Tums were always found in my purse, at my desk and on my nightstand. 
• Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy - I love this book so much. It's a hysterical look at the craziness that is pregnancy. It's so sarcastic and funny but still helpful. Out of all the pregnancy books I read {and I read a lot of them}, this one was my favorite! 
• Tumbler - I am horrible at drinking water but I was constantly thirsty while pregnant and found that a cute tumbler helped me to drink more water throughout the day. 
• Pillows - I know mom-to-bes who swear by their body pillows, but I could just never justify the cost. I did find that a butt load of regular pillows did the trick! I'd sleep with one or two under my head, one between my legs and then I hugged one. 
• Cocoa Butter Lotion - Stretch marks are hereditary, so I don't know how much help this lotion actually is for that but I do know that stretch marks or not your belly will ITCH as it stretches and gets bigger and for that reason this stuff is amazing! Plus, I love how it smells! 

Childbirth

• Tuck's Medicated Pads - I've heard of people making "padsicles" but in my opinion ain't nobody got time for that. In the hospital and for probably two weeks after delivery I lined my pad with three medicated pads and it felt like absolutely bliss on my beat up hoo-ha. 
• Lightweight Comfy Robe - Hospital rooms are freezing! But, along with childbirth comes post-delivery night sweats (so fun), so having a comfy lightweight robe is crucial. Plus it's easy to open up for breastfeeding and great to cover up when visitors stop by. And let's be honest..it's been 7 months and I still wear mine pretty much every day. 
• Gatorade - While laboring at home and after getting my epidural I was so dang thirsty. Gatorade was perfect because it tasted yummy, hydrated me and had calories to give me some energy since I couldn't eat. 
• CHAPSTICK - Along with being so dang thirsty comes incredibly chapped lips, like brutally dry. EOS Lip Balm is my all time favorite and it definitely came in handy during labor and delivery and those first few days in the hospital and at home. 
• Movies / TV Season DVDs - I suppose this depends on your labor / delivery / hospital but I was SO glad we brought a season of Friends. We watched a bunch of episodes after I got my epidural and we were waiting for progress and we also watched it in the hospital room between visitors. There were very few TV channels so it was nice to have something we enjoyed to occupy the down time. 

New Mamahood

• Easy Expression Bustier - The precursor to this is that you need an electric breast pump! I cannot imagine using one of the hand express ones---I imagine hand cramps and carpel tunnel and a fast track to formula town. But anyways, this bra is the bomb.com. 
• Sleep Sheep - If your baby is sleeping in your room to start I HIGHLY recommend the sleep sheep {thank you Brynn for ours!} Babies make crazy noises when they sleep and when you're a new mom you will wake up to ALL of them. The sleep sheep makes white noise to help drown out babies noises as well as your noises so you don't wake baby. Plus, look how cute it is! 
• What to Expect the First Year - This is a monstrous book but I love having it on hand to read as a new month in Kenley's life comes up. It's got super helpful information and guidelines.
• A cute diaper bag - let's be honest, this bag becomes your purse the second you leave the house for the first time, so you better like it and love carrying it. Dad probably won't love carrying it no matter what it looks like...so get it for you! 
• Netflix - Whether you are able to "sleep when baby sleeps" or not, Netflix is a must have in my opinion. When I was on maternity leave I pretty much had it on non-stop. The baby sleeps a lot, but when she's awake pretty much all she does is eat, so it was nice to be entertained while nursing. Plus, Jason and I didn't get out much so we watched shows and movies together pretty much every night those first few weeks couple of months. 

Any of you mamas have anything to add?

Our Weekend

Raise your hand if you are less-than-thrilled that it is Monday! 

{my hand is raised}

BUT, at least it's a short week! Three hopefully quick work days and then a nice long 4 day weekend!

WE CAN DO IT!

This weekend was the perfect mix of being productive, relaxing and having fun and after the craziness that was last weekend, it was much needed.

Fridays are normally spent running all over town getting all of my errands done, but this past Friday I woke up not feeling so hot and Kenley had a bit of a cold as well. So, we opted to stay home and be productive there instead {and be incredibly lazy}. I was able to get a TON of laundry done and pack up all of the baby gear Kenley no longer uses, other than that we were pretty lazy...like not change out of my pajamas until 6pm lazy and even then I just changed into yoga pants - and it was awesome.
Kenley is now at the age where she is actually entertained by her toys AND is able to sit and entertain herself for at least 30 minutes, which, I must say is frickin' awesome!

Saturday I got to start my day with a glorious massage! I had a gift certificate from my grandma and it was the perfect way to start my day - I really wish I could get a massage every weekend. Then I took Harlow to get a much needed full service car wash and then popped in the nail salon for a quick manicure. After my errands we were on our way to Hudson, Wisconsin for one of Jason's co-worker's gender reveal party!

Jake & Kylee are expecting a girl this October and we are all so excited for them!

After the gender reveal, we dropped Kenley off at Jason's parents and we were off to a BBQ at my friend's house. All of my college friends got together and it was a blast to see everyone. This group of people are crazy, so it's always hilarious when we're all together, not to mention all the college stories and inside jokes that come out.

Me, Robyn & Angie.


Sunday was a pool day! Me, Jason and Kenley spent some time in the sun and the swimming pool.

After about an hour Jason took Kenley home to nap and I got TWO luxurious hours at the pool to myself and I may or may not have had a Twisted Tea with me. It.Was.Fabulous!

When I got home from the pool, I walked in to find this:

Needless to say my heart burst into a thousand little pieces.

After the sleepy heads woke up from their nap, I took the human baby and fur child on a nice long walk and then the final weekend hours were spent grilling steak and veggie skewers, watching Family Guy episodes, playing Candy Crush and starting a new book - my first non-pregnancy or baby book in 16 months!


As always, I am linking up with the adorable Sami and you should too!