I'm Back!

For those who don't remember that there is a third member of this family I'm here to remind you.  I'm finally back though I think this is the first time I've blogged in close to six months.  First I was tired, then I was sick, then I was tired some more and then we had a change of management at my work and I've been working what seems like full time.  Luckily I really enjoy my job.  That being said there is nothing harder than coming home and trying to cook dinner and be a mom after being at work all day.  I'm just tired and I want a break.  After the initial surge of excitement I get from seeing Kenna wears off I'm exhausted.  Though it is really fun to have her jump into my arms then ask me to chase her around the house.

I have been trying to make up for being an absent mom by doing extra fun things with her when I'm around.  Unfortunately this usually involves spending money because I'm so happy to be around her that I have a hard time saying no.  I am also happy to report that she has stopped screaming when I drop her off at Lixi's house.  This also makes going to work much easier.  We worked out a deal for that which involved her getting a 'rolly skatey' dog from Build-a-bear.  Its a little German Shepard (that she named Kenna) with white shoes, pink roller skates and a pleash (leash) so she can drag him around the house and to random stores.  We killed two birds with one stone here.   Not only did she stop crying when I dropped her off but we now no longer have to buy a real dog.  Score.  Lately, however, she has taken to wearing the skates and the pleash and asking me to walk her around the house/yard.

We had a great Mother's Day and Kenna was really excited to give me her gift.  She even showed me where it was hidden two days early (and no I didn't peek).

 I don't have any pictures of Kenna in the pool yet, but summer is in full swing.  She is already at least five shades darker from all our time outside and swimming.  I do my best to keep her from burning and my child is the ridiculous one at the pool wearing a rash guard and huge floppy hat but I figure it will all pay off when she doesn't get skin cancer.  The sun here is scorching and I find myself burning even with multiple applications of sun screen.

This is Kenna after the bath.  She loves to play the hiding game.  One of us will get her out of the tub, wrap her in the towel and go tell the other parent that he/she needs to get  her out.  She then runs toward/into them completely blind and we have to ask what the towel is doing walking around at which point she breaks into hysterical laughter.  It is pretty cute.

 Kenna took her first ride on her big girl bike, helmet and all.  We found this at a thrift store and have been holding hostage until she poops on the potty.  When  we got back from Utah she pointed out to us that she pooped on the potty once while she was there so she should get one bike ride.  Can't argue with that logic.  She pedaled around the garage for a while and had a great time honking her horn.

 Kenna loves to play dress-up and sing and dance.  She clicks and clacks as loudly as she can on the tile floor and whirls and twirls while waving wands or shaking instruments.  I never get sick of watching her!

Kenna has gotten so used to seeing Jenna that even when I am home she asks if Jenna can come play every afternoon.  They are playing together and it is really cute to watch.  We took them to a movie (at what Kenna calls the movie gator) one Saturday and it was fun to sit and listen to them have a conversation for the entire 15 minute ride down there.  I'm really glad they have each other but it makes me realize how fast they are growing up.  Kenna and I spent some time watching old baby videos the other day.  r She couldn't believe that she was the baby and I couldn't believe that my baby was not a baby anymore.  Time flies by so quickly that I sometimes feel I am not taking advantage of it.  I try to spend as much time with her as possible so that I have lots of memories when she is big.

I think watching the videos made her even more excited about having a baby.  We have taken to calling it her baby in the hopes that she will be excited and not jealous.  We watched the videos and talked about all the things she can teach the baby to do.  She had also named the baby - twice.  First time around it was William (the  baby from Olivia the pig) and most recently it is Kenna.  Today she wore her big sister shirt and told everyone that she is a big sister.  I'm glad she's excited and I hope that excitement sticks.

Nate said I should write about this pregnancy since I'm halfway done and have had nothing to say about it yet - well that's because who wants to remember being pregnant?  If you did you'd only ever have one kid.  I remember with Kenna after the sick phase ended I reached a point where I felt really good.  I remember thinking I didn't even feel pregnant...well that hasn't happened this time.  I'm not complaining or anything.  I knew what I was getting myself into.  Those are just my thoughts on being pregnant.

I'm very excited that we are having another girl.  I think it will be fun for Kenna to have a little sister and for us to have two girls instead of one.  We have a great time with Kenna and girls are so sweet.  If we make it though having a newborn we'll be good to go.

Also Kenna has tried to say Oshkosh b'gosh and we got 'mustard be gum' and 'washcloth and bum.'  Hilarious!

Back on Track

Things were a little crazy there for a week or so with the car accident but our household has seemed to recover from the funk and we are in a pretty good place right now.  Here is what has been going on.

First of all, we bought a new car.  We went with a Rav 4 with pop up seats in the back in case we need to cart around extra kiddos.  We like it a lot and it is nice to have all the car stuff dealt with. Kenzie's tailbone was pretty sore after the crash and she spent a couple weeks sitting sideways on chairs (which looked like she was getting ready to bolt from wherever she sat).  The biggest inconvenience was at church where we had to sit on the hard metal chairs.  This was not our fault though.  The first Sunday, we showed up 10 minutes early and there was not space for the three of us anywhere in the chapel on the cushy seats.  We were amazed, especially because Mormons are notorious for being late.  The next Sunday we figured if we were just 15 minutes early then surely we would get a seat, but we were out of luck and it just ended up adding 15 minutes onto our 3 hour church day.  Boooo Mormons.  Somebody needs to split our ward or tell people to show up later.

 The metal chairs are good for something though.  For stake conference we chilled out in the Primary room and brought our fridge magnets.  Kenna was in heaven for a full hour.

 Texas has been heating up which means that we brought out the old blow up pool which made the journey all the way from Richmond.  We also have a water slide now too.  We put the blow up pool under the slide from the playset, put the hose on top and BOOM, instant waterpark.  Kenna is blissfully unaware of anything better so this blow up pool has worked great on hot days when the pools haven't opened yet.

Kenzie has been working like a mad woman.  She has been doing 3 or 4 days a week for work for the past few weeks and that keeps her very busy. She really likes her job a lot better than working in the schools and is learning a lot more about giving therapy in a medical context rather than helping kids say "rabbit".  Kenna has been enjoying her days with Jenna, Lixie, and Bo. 

 This weekend, I got to spend an entire day with Kenna.  It was an awesome time and I am glad that I get to do it.  We didn't do anything ground breaking, but she had lots of fun doing little dumb stuff.  We went to Walmart to do some shopping, got her a new Fancy Nancy book, finished Kenzie's mothers day present, etc.  When I asked her what she wanted to do for lunch, she told me "Let's eat at the Potle (Chipotle)".  I love that kid.

 

Mothers day was a huge hit.  Kenzie and I went out on a real date for the first time in a few months and went to dinner and a movie.  It was a ton of fun to be out and about for a night and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Kenna even got put to bed by the babysitter and didn't have any problems.  That is a huge chapter in Kenna's life and in Kenzie's life.  It took almost 3 years, but Kenzie has finally chilled out enough to not worry about a sitter putting our baby to bed.  Kenna decided to celebrate Mothers day with a 6am wakeup call, which I responded to so that Kenzie could sleep in.  As soon as Kenzie woke up, Kenna bolted to get the present that we made her.  She was so excited to give it to her.  It was a couple pictures of Kenzie and Kenna and a colored card from Kenna.  Kenna helped make the whole thing which really sped up the process.

 

After church was a steak dinner and some time at the park. And since Kenzie loves public sappiness so much, I will sing a few of her praises.  She is the bomb.com.  I am really lucky to be married to her.  She listens to everything Kenna says and responds to her better than I do.  Kenna is very lucky to have a mom that cares about her so much.  Sometimes I wish that Kenzie would listen to me as well as she listens to Kenna.  Kenzie works hard at keeping our house together, teaching Kenna, growing another baby, and working as a Speechie.  She has to juggle a lot of things and she does such a good job at it, all while looking fantabulous.  I love you Kenzie, and Kenna does too.  Thanks for being a great mom/wife.