Cranky pants!

I went out for a little birthday shopping for myself today and Kelsie was a little terror! She has officially reached the age where it is near impossible to expect her to sit quietly in her stroller while mommy shops! She wants to get DOWN, touch everything, pull things off shelves, explore, and RUN away from me! She used to want to get out of her stroller for me to hold her...now if I try to carry her, she just has a fit to get down so she can run around. Well, that obviously is not safe or appropriate, but of course, SHE does not understand that! She screamed, hit me, bit me, and tried to throw herself out of my arms when I picked her up. And yes, I just threw down my stuff and toted her right out of the store where I popped her little bottom! I realized after that, I am now "that mom with the screaming kid." I used to look at "those moms" and feel bad for them, but probably on some occasions, did think that they must have just had poorly behaved children. Sure, I've judged how other mom's take of their kids and handle those situations, every mom does it!! But its an awful feeling to be on the other side of it, ya know?! When its your kid throwing the fit in the check out line and everyone is staring and judging YOU, its just makes you want to turn around and run! But I didn't. I managed the situation, was assertive with her, held those little hands as tight as I could for about a minute and told her why hitting was bad and when she calmed down, I put her in her stroller and gave her a snack to keep her occupied. But not before I had to pull out her enzymes and open those little capsules up and mix them in applesauce there in the check out line of Ann Taylor Loft while everyone was watching! And I'm sure people were judging again thinking I was drugging my kid, wondering what-in-the-world-kind-of-pills I was giving her.  Well, at least I'm not the type of person to really worry about what others think in that type of situation. So I did my thing, and got out of there. I was determined to finish my planned trip despite her tantrums, so I drove to Old Navy. She did much better there and rode in her stroller for a good stretch of time. But then she started getting antsy towards the end and all that twisting and trying to get down was impossible to hold, so I ler her walk. And that is great at first...she is happy as a clam! Until I pick her up and she proceeds to try to attack my face!! A little hellion today, I tell ya!! I was so mad at her! And I saw another woman see her do that and made the face "OH NO, she didn't!" Rest assurred she got a talking to about that too. But sometimes I'm just at a loss on how to best discipline her right now. I did spend 2 years in graduate school studying nothing but children and adolescents, and I advise parents on behavioral issues all the time. But like everything else, its still easier said than done. And its different when its your kid! I know that all kids have tantrums. Its part of normal development. And its also normal for her to want to be down exploring, touching and looking at all the new things she's never seen before. I know, developmentally, she doesn't understand why she can't just run around like she wants to. So its just hard to know how to communicate that to a 15 month old. I guess I may just have to take a break from our mommy/daughter shopping trips for a while! Well, probably not. I will keep trying at least. :) And to her little defense, tonight I did feel that a new molar has just popped through, so that could have been contributing to some of her non-sense!

Nevertheless, she is definitely a strong willed and independent little person, and I'm happy about that, but boy, when we are out and she starts exerting that independence, I can't help but wish she would just be a little less active and a little more laidback for once! 

Here she is a lunch today (before the tantrums started) being a little flirt! She was blowing kisses at random people! And no one told her to!

This was after her big tantrum once I took her outside...definitely loving being down huh!

Cool fountain!

I put her in her blow up pool once she got up from her afternoon nap. She loved it! But this is what happened when she took out her headband haha! This look pretty much sums up our day! Lol.

15 months old!!

Kelsie was 15 months old last Friday! Growing up so fast! At her 15 month physical last week, she was 23lbs 11oz and 32 inches tall. That's 90th% for length and ~75th% for weight. Not sure where shes getting that height from but its been stepping up higher and higher in the percentiles each time we go.

She is just doing all kinds of fun things now. Her language has exploded in the past few weeks and she has started saying lots of new words. Here are the ones I can think of in addition to mama & dada: up, ball, balloon, book, apple, out, shoes, cheese, hot, bird, bubba, pa (Grandpa), papa (pawpaw). She tries to say lots of things but doesn't have the full word yet so most of her "words" sound more like sounds. Up and apple are very distinct. She repeats lots of things we say and if she hears us say something she knows how to say, she will repeat it over and over. She tries to say "pretty" and "precious" and "please" too. :)

She is also noticing objects and calling them by name without me pointing them out or naming them. While in the checkout line at the grocery store, she will point to where they keep the free balloons and said "boon" (even if there aren't any left, she still knows where they are supposed to be!). And she will point to a balloon in the book and call it by name. She will look out the window and try to say "bird" and calls out "buh buh" when she sees a ball. When she sees a dog, she says "ffff" trying to say "woof woof".

She has the best head nod to answer "yes". If she eats something and likes it, she nods her head up and down before you even ask her if its good! If she's tired and you ask if she's ready to go night night, she nods her head so big. And does the same thing when I ask her if she loves mommy, and if she's pretty. :) She also shakes her head no appropriately too. 
She loves to listen to music and dance. She just squats and bobs her head. It makes me laugh every time!

Balls and books are her favorite things to play with!


She can point to or show you several body parts when you ask where they are...hair, nose, teeth, eyes...


She stands up in the bath and will use her wash cloth to try to wash herself (she just rubs the cloth down her chest and belly over and over). She picked that one up on her own! And she does the same thing if you tell her to wash her hair.  Its so cute!


She also loves to put things in and out of containers and carry them around. She will load up a basket and then make a straining sound to pick it up like its hard work. I think its so funny! 

She is very affectionate and gives the sweetest kisses. And a variety of kisses. Sweet ones right on the lips! Aggressive ones that look more like an attack to my face. And soft cheek to cheek ones. We are giving Eskimo kisses now too. She just started blowing kisses yesterday and gives the sweetest "wink" with both eyes. She can bat those eyes, make that sweet little sound with her voice and be so charming! A heart breaker one day I tell ya!

She gives kisses without even asking too. Those are the best! Tonight as I was reading her a story and holding her sweet little hand, she just turned her head, took out her paci, and reached up to give me one big fat kiss on the cheek!  Made my heart double in size!!!


She is super social and LOVES to be around other kids! No matter where we are, if she sees another kid, she gets SO excited and if you let her down, she will run over and try to hug them. I have to pull her away all the time and she gets so upset! She is also now waving and smiling at random people when we are out.

She is still super active. Loves to run all over the place and is climbing more too. She knows how to go up but then she gets stuck and starts calling for us to help her down. But she is getting braver all the time so I'm sure this stage won't last long. When we go outside she likes to run up and down the driveway over and over again carrying her balls.


She is terrified of anything with a loud motor like a lawn mower, 4-wheeler, tractor...poor thing just screams!

She is very independent! She thinks its fun to walk and hold my hand some times but most of the time, she likes to let go and do it by herself! A lot of it is her age and development, but I hope she will keep that independence as it will be a very beneficial quality one day!


She has a strong will about her too and definitely throws her share of tantrums. I'm still trying to learn how to handle the discipline at this age.


She is sleeping through the night, with the brace on even! And if by some chance she does wake up and cry out, it doesn't take her but a second to roll over and put herself back to sleep. She is even falling asleep on her own for naps as well. This is the time I've been looking forward to for the past 15 months. I think we all worried she would still need to be rocked to sleep at age 5 and sleeping in our bed until she went off to college, but now its a non-issue! Brings mommy so much more peace and freedom!!


She is a super good eater and has a very hearty appetite! When it is meal time she does not like to wait for her enzymes! It can be quite tense trying to get her enzymes together while she is having a fit to eat!  


I could go on and on...its just so much fun to watch her everyday. And this is such a great age watching her grow into this little "big girl"! (I know I say that all the time, but I'm a first time mom, so every stage is new and exciting, right!?)  Kelsie has such personality and I am so proud to be her mommy. She makes me laugh and smile all the time, except when she's throwing a tantrum, but I still can't enough of her!

This girl loves her ball

Kelsie has a new favorite toy - a softball! A real one! My sister and her fiance (yes, that still sounds weird to say) came up to stay with her for a couple hours so yesterday so I could run some errands and they got my glove and ball out to play. This was the first time Kelsie had seen a real softball and apparently she had a lot of fun with it. Today, we went outside to play and she saw the ball and started saying "Bubba bubba". I assumed she was saying her aunt Bubba's name because she was associating her with the ball. (Or she could have been saying "ball" - I don't know really haha). But anyway, she had a ball (no pun intended)! She ran back and forth up and down the driveway carrying that ball. She would drop it, watch it roll, and chase it, then pick it up and run with it some more. She had a fit if I tried to take it away! And brought it inside and played with it some more along with her other ball and glove. We went back outside after dinner and she carried both balls! When she wanted to point at something or reach for something, she would put the little soft white ball in her mouth so she could use her other hand, but she wouldn't put it down! She even took both balls with her to bed! I always wanted her to be athletic and enjoy playing ball, so I hope she keeps this affection for sports. :)

She ran non-stop! And didn't want mommy's help either!

Time to rest and rehydrate!

You make me happy when skies are gray

Its been a crazy week for Nathan and I. We have both been really busy and stressed at work this week and its definitely taking its toll on us. We are both so tired and never feel like we can get caught up, much less get ahead. When I'm not at work, I have all my charting to catch up on, but also have this rambunctious little toddler to chase around! And of course that is what I prefer to do anyway! So on my days off, when I know I need to try to make time to do my notes, I choose to spend that time with my baby and take her on play dates, go shopping, etc. And when I do that, I just end up getting more behind at work and hence, more stressed. Nathan is even way more stressed than I am. He has moved into a higher role at his job and that brings about more responsibility, more work, and for now, a lot more stress. I am very thankful for our jobs but do pray that things will start to settle down some. I feel like we never get a chance to just relax. I would just love to be able to get in the bed before 11:30 at night!! But on the plus side, Kelsie is sleeping so well these days! Since we did the sleep training and she stopped nursing, she has been sleeping through the night! FINALLY! And over the past week has even been sleeping ALL night in her OWN bed! Nathan commented tonight how much worse we would feel if she were waking up like she used to! So we are both VERY thankful that we all get a full nights sleep around here!

But as I was telling Nathan tonight, no matter how bad of a day it has been, there is one thing that is always true...that little girl of ours always brings a smile to our face and can brighten our day in an instant. When I walk through the door after a long day at work and see that 2 feet tall little darling running toward me, I forget about everything else and just think how blessed I am to have her.

Here are some pictures and videos from the week. :)

Dressed up in mommy's shoes before mommy goes to work

I guess when you're that tired, you can sleep any ol' way

Chasing boys already ;) With our buddy Price Batchellor

First time in pigtails!

With our besties at the park

Arm in arm - so sweet! This is always where she ends up after daddy does chest PT when mommy is working.

Out to dinner at our favorite restaurant - Nantucket

She is saying lots of new words now. Here is "Apple".

Mother's Day at the Beach

Life has been so busy lately! But, I guess that's normal for working families with a toddler, right? Sometimes I wish life could just sloooow down and give me about 2 extra hours every day! But I guess life on the move is just more exciting. :) With all the business at our jobs and at home raising this little stinker of ours, we have really needed to just get away. Not alone (yet), but just take a little trip with the 3 of us. We have talked about riding down to the beach for the day for a while but just haven't found a good time. So Saturday night around 6:30, Nathan asked if I wanted to go down to Wilmington for the night. Well, if you know me, you know I love spontaneity like that, so of course I was on board! So we packed up and in a little over an hour, we were on te road. It was after Kelsie's bedtime but we kept her awake and knew she would sleep the whole way there. Well, she did and that was great, but then she woke up as we were getting on the elevator at the hotel. Still, I was able to lay down with her and she went back to sleep. I did chest PT, then Nathan and I took turns getting ready for bed, and little miss started tossing and turning and eventually just sat up looking around. I suppose she was wondering where in the world she was and was either excited or nervous about waking up in a strange place.  At that point it was 12:30am and Nathan and I were both ready to sleep! However, Kelsie was determined to do otherwise! She would not lie down (and would kick and scream and throw a fit if we tried to make her!) We tried to feed her and she didn't want that. We changed her. We did everything we could do in a hotel room but eventually, we knew it would take putting her back in the car and riding her around to get her to relax enough to go back to sleep. So at 1:30am we head back to the car and rode around for 30 MINUTES!! She had finally just dozed off so we pulled back in the hotel and again, she woke up!! Well, we were so exhausted by that point, neither of us could drive any longer. So I again laid down with her in the bed and wouldn't you know, the little stinker started sitting up talking in the bed again! I was so frustrated! We didn't know what to do but it surely didn't seem like she was going to sleep. She did eventually...around 3 or 3:30am!! Needless to say, it was not the night we had hoped for but we still woke up in time to have a great day at the beach!

It was Mother's Day and I got to spend it watching my beautiful daughter dance around the beach for the first time, witnessing two of God's most beautiful creations. What could be better? Kelsie absolutely LOVED the beach! We took her last year but she was only 3 months old at the time so clearly not old enough to truly get the excitement of it. So I didn't know what she would think this time. I was thrilled to see her light up when she saw the ocean and her feet hit the sand. Even the cold ocean water brought a smile to her face. She could not stop running around babbling and laughing. It was one of my greatest moments with her so far. She would just take me by the hand and run, clearly having a great time (and thankfully forgetting how sleep-deprived she was!)

This Mother's Day, I couldn't help but think how truly blessed and privileged I am to be a mommy, KELSIE'S mommy! She brings more joy to my life than I ever expected (and I expected a lot!) Her face is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, her voice is the sweetest sound I have heard, her skin is the softest and most delicate thing I have ever felt and her life is the most precious thing I have ever known! I am thankful for each day I have with her. Motherhood is the craziest, most beautiful journey I have ever experienced and I am loving every minute of it!

Here are some pictures and videos from our trip!!

 

Playing in the sand with Daddy

This is my fave! Come on mommy! The water is this way!!

Me and my baby at the beach, no place I'd rather be!

I love you too baby! <3 Her hugs are the best!

 

She really enjoyed running around the beach!

Me and my girl

Cutie patootie!

Look at those birdies!

My happy girl! Always laughing with mommy! :)

At the Children's Museum in Wilmington!! We stopped here on a whim and were only able to stay about 45 minutes before it closed but Kelsie LOVED it!

Vote for Kelsie!

I casually entered Kelsie in a cute baby contest a few weeks ago and forgot all about it. But I got an email today saying she was selected as one of the finalists! Help her win! Go vote - click the link below! (I posted the picture below too)

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/1297695

Cutesie Kelsie

We met my mom, sister and aunt in Greensboro to do a little wedding decor shopping. Kelsie and I didn't get to hang around for all of the shopping because we had to get those naps in, but I still had a great time spending the day with the wonderful women in my life. We got back home in time for Kelsie to run around the yard as I admired the new paint on our fence that Nathan and his dad had worked so hard on!!

Sitting in the big girl chair at aunt Ana's house

What do you think of this headband?? ;)