10 month old baby

I am such a slacker!

I really can't believe I haven't written a post in about 6 months!  Yowza

Well, I will try to squish a whole bunch in here without being too much of a bore to you...

Since my last post (ages ago), Kensington has been growing like a weed.  At her 9 month check up she was 28 inches long (somewhere around 92% percentile) and weighing in at 19lbs 9ozs.

Staring back at pictures of her when she was younger, I can't believe it, but it seems she has lost some of that cute chubbiness in her cheeks and body...and I have always thought she was such a skinny lil thing with big ole chubby cheeks ;)

She has been crawling around like crazy.  

 We even say she puts on her "after burner" when she puts her head down and attempts to go at lightening speed to her destination.

She is a little hard to keep up with at times, so the whole thought that she may be walking before too long is really scary!

She pulls herself up regularly and will teeter around furniture or anything she can grab onto for support to walk-with-help around.

Her walker is interesting, to say the least, in that she doesn't balance out the whole "go forward slowly and balanced" thing and tends to over do it going forward and races along or leans back and ends up back on her tush.

She even lets go and stands on her own for a bit

This one is the scary part

I know she is feeling out her independence and gaining confidence in herself to stand and soon enough walk

She speaks a few things:

Dada

Mama

Shoe

Cracker

Duck/Dog? (we have a dog, but at daycare they swear she says Duck)

and my fav...Uh-Oh!

She eats solid foods like a champ and it's been kinda nice preparing dinner for a family of 3 instead of something special for her along with dinner for 2

The thing that makes my hear soar is that she really loves my homemade applesauce :)

and my famous grilled cheese sandwiches!

She is such a sweetie and I honestly can't believe how much time has flown by...mostly been preoccupied with her at nights and on weekends with little time to spare for the blogging world...I mean I am lucky enough to get the house cleaned!

She had a wonderful 1st Thanksgiving and Christmas and slept through the New Year celebrations.

I can't believe in 2 short months our little baby girl with be 1 year old!

So in the meantime, here are a few pictures to update on how she has changed!

Family Beach Vacation 

Sitting with her monkey

At a wedding with her daddy

The beginning of crawling

Super Smiley

Happy girl headed to daycare

Pretty girl owl hat

Strolling girl cuteness

Ready to crawl and take over the world

9 month old sweetheart

pizza face!

Looking at books

Doggie smooches

Smiley girl

Pulling up on everything

Christmas outfit

And at 10 months today, she is ready to cheer on her Redskins with friends!

Through the eyes of a 3 1/2 month old

Sometimes I wish I could be a little baby again, 

everything is SO new and fresh

You have adoring parents to take care of you

and grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc to spoil you.

The smallest thing that you do is considered the cutest thing EVER

from a smile,

a laugh, 

a giggle,

holding a toy close,

cooing,

rolling around on the ground or in your crib,

playing with anything...including your hands and feet.

This morning as I peeked in Kensington's room, she had somehow managed to squirm her way to laying in her bed perpendicular to how we had put her in there for bed...

look out, she's slowly on the move now!

The other day at daycare, she was placed on the mat on the floor with the other infants and allowed to play, and apparently bottom scooted over to the carpet...

she most likely got this from me, since I never could sit still as a child!

She seems to grow up so fast right before my eyes and I can hardly believe she is 3 1/2 months old...15 weeks officially tomorrow!  She has gotten cuter by the second and is the MOST curious baby I have ever encountered...if she is not able to see her surroundings and look at everything, she gets cranky...she's just taking it all in, and loving it!  She most always has a smile on her face (a big grin like her daddy) and can be heard throughout the house now that she has found her voice...

my personal favorites might be her high pitched squeal that we hear on the monitor as she is amusing herself in her crib in the early morning hours.

Kensington came home from daycare Friday with a card for her daddy, his first Father's Day :)  He loved it and we spent most of the weekend playing with her and spoiling her a bit ourselves...we bought her an activity center that has wheels so she can stroll around and it also turns into a walk behind apparatus, so she can learn to walk...but for now she sits in there and stares at the lights and owls on there and tries to smack the buttons...cute ;)

Here are more updated pictures since the Mother's day stuff (I can't believe I posted almost a month ago!)

Oh how I love my sweet baby girl!

Mini-skirt giggles

Bath time cuteness

Precious Kensie

Love her!

Teddy Bear CHEEKS!

Wee lil girl!

Hungry lady!

Preoccupied!

Man, I have really meant to keep up with this blog, but I have been a little preoccupied with one really cute baby girl of mine :)

I can't believe she will be 11 weeks old this coming Tuesday...time has FLOWN by so quickly.

She has changed so much from birth that I can't even believe it...

• she now smiles AT me, not just because she has pooped and feels better
• she recognizes mommy and daddy
• she is probably 13 pounds by now (her last check up had her at 12lbs 11oz)
• she has rolled from her tummy to her back (at daycare and at home)
• she's in big girl size 2 diapers while at daycare, but cloth diapers still at home
• she slept for over 8 hours last night (so mommy and daddy actually got some legit sleep too)
• she is grasping at my hands and any toys in front of her
• she is cooing
• she cooed a lot (like multiple coos one after another) for the first time on Mother's day (super special 1st mommy's day for me!)
• she's not screaming her head off anymore for hours on end
• mommy and daddy can actually tell what her cries mean now (I'm wet, hungry, tired, etc.)

I feel like she is growing more every day and changing right before my eyes...my parents saw her the past two weekends in a row and already thought she had changed so much in 1 week...I think they're right!

Here are some photos of my little love bug, Kensington

5 weeks passed SO fast!

Sometimes I have NO idea where the time goes...

For instance, I now have a 5 week old child...seriously!

The past 5 weeks seem a blur of days/nights, 

company coming to visit, 

attempts at getting out of the house with a crying baby,

TRYING to get anything done around the house

and naps here and there

Not to mention a bajillion pictures and videos of my sweet baby girl Kensington!

In the near future I hope to document some of this better for her to see later on in life, but for now, here are some cute photos to pass the time :)

3 weeks old

couldn't resist buying her sweet bows

Visit by Auntie M and cousin Lillie

Love!

Glamour shot

Lifting that lil noggin

No Leap Day baby here

So I seriously was convinced that I was going to have my little girl on Leap Day yesterday.  Ever since I found out that 2012 was a leap year and that I was due with her March 6th...it just seemed that she would be destined to truly celebrate her birthday once every 4 years (on the actual day)...not saying there would be no birthday celebration, cuz I don't roll that way, no sir!

But, alas, she did not come yesterday.

I think she was being stubborn and just KNEW that her real birthday would only happen once every 4 years, and she was NOT about to have that.  I mean, I thought for SURE she was coming to meet us yesterday.

I woke at 2 am and started timing contractions

Naturally, these were sporadic and lasting different amounts of time and weren't the "true labor contractions"...but I was having them nonetheless...and they continued to go on from 2 am til almost 10 am, without really stopping...which in my head meant something was destined to happen yesterday and that oh.my.goodness. we are about to finally meet our sweet girl

But, she is stubborn...

We have been trying our best to "help her along the way..." with spicy food at every meal since Tuesday night (except for breakfasts...) and we took a REALLY looooooong walk today since it almost got to 80 degrees outside.  But, she remains in there for now, milking the whole cuddly/cozy effect being inside my belly has on her.  

I guess I can't blame her...

Apparently my poor mother carried me an extra week past her due date (I apparently did not want to be born on Halloween!) 

So, we shall continue to play the waiting game with this girl...but she better know that come Monday evening when mommy starts to be induced, she better start making her way into this world, cuz I don't think I am going to wanna wait much past then!

In other news, miraculously the swelling that has been plaguing my poor feet has completely disappeared...not sure why or how this happened, but mommy is VERY thankful!

7 days to go (or less!)...39 weeks!

Pics taken at 39 weeks

1. How far along? 39 wks
2. Maternity clothes? maternity clothing
3. Stretch marks? none :)
4. Sleep? making waking appearances at sometimes 3:30 and 5ish
5. Best moment last week? getting out to the movies with hubby and a good friend...really enjoyed myself
6. Movement?yesterday she was going nuts and thrashing around...I thought she wasn't supposed to have anymore room!
7. Symptoms? linea negra,swelling in ankles although not as bad this week, Braxton Hicks contractions
8. Gender? Baby girl...Kensington!!
9. Labor signs? other than my Braxton Hicks...no real labor signs
10. Belly button in/out? outtie!
11. What I miss? 
12. Looking forward to? being able to hold Kensington in my arms...by this time next week, she should be here since we are scheduled to go into the hospital the night of March 5th...so in 1 week, she should be making her appearance :)
13. What's going on with Baby A? (from www.thebump.com)

Are we there yet? You’re probably feeling like you want to get this baby the heck out of you. We’re not sure, but the impatience and discomfort many moms feel around 39 weeks (and beyond!) might be nature’s way of getting you mentally prepared for delivery. Remember how freaked out you used to be about it? Now, at week 39 you probably don’t care what you have to do, you just don’t want to be pregnant anymore!

Your baby's the size of a wintermelon!

Baby keeps growing, despite being so crowded in there. He probably weighs around 6.2 to 9.2 pounds and measures about 18.9 to 20.9 inches.

your baby at 39 weeks

• He's probably able to flex his limbs now.
• His brain is still rapidly developing -- he's getting smarter by the week!
• His nails may extend past his fingertips.

My sweet husband

I'm really not sure what could be any cuter than my husband...

at least until baby girl gets here, I am pretty sure her chubby cheeks are going to win over anything else in the entire world in our eyes...

Sometimes I am not sure which one of us is more eager to meet Kensington...he came up last night after his really late soccer game and kept telling me how much he loved me and that he is excited to meet our sweet girl...and what can we do to get her here faster (if I knew, I would be all over it...promise!)

He talks to my belly (mostly math equations...never start too early right?)

He massages my poor swollen feet

He makes me dinners

He gets up to get me things at night so I can keep my feet propped up

He offers to do squats with me to *help* get her here sooner

He gets excited about installing a baby toy net in her room

I know he is just as excited (if not more sometimes) to meet our little baby girl, and that makes me happier than anything in the world

I already know he is going to excel at fatherhood and being an amazing parent

(I've seen him with my sister's kiddos and they adore him)

Now if we could only get OUR little girl here so we can both enjoy time with her as a new family...

tick

tock

We are ready to see you Kensington!

Single digit countdown days...

I still can't exactly believe that in 8 days or less, I am going to have a baby girl in my arms

completely dependent on me and her daddy

Sometimes when I look down at my belly, it's still hard to imagine that a little human being is in there

waiting to come join the world

in 8 short days or less!

I have my last and final doctor check-up tomorrow mid-morning and I am hoping that I hear more good news (as far as progressing goes)
I guess anything further along than what I was this past Thursday will be great news, really

I am not sure if any of the old wives tales work as far as helping induce labor or getting things going, but I have been doing my best at some of them...

-walking

I still park my car at the bottom of a hill and walk up to work and then back down at the end of the day

I also still walk all over the place while at work (since I work in a lab)

-stairs
I work on the second floor of a building and take the stairs if traveling up and down
My house is also 2 stories, and I tend to need something on the other level...

-squats
attempting to get in 30 good squats a day

-exercise ball/birthing ball bouncing
recently started this one, but it's super comfy to sit on one of those balls and just bounce...plus if it helps get baby girl pushed down farther I will take it

-spicy foods
oh how I am craving chips and salsa daily...and I love medium salsas...so I think I have had my fair share in the past week

-accupressure
I have heard that massaging 4 inches above your ankle on the inside of your leg or that meaty part in between your thumb and forefinger can help, plus massage feels so good


My husband had heard of some home brew tea that is supposed to knock you into labor, but he wasn't quite sure what it was called, so I plan to steer clear of that unless he gets a definitive product name.

I guess at this point with knowing that baby Kensington will be here for sure by March 6th (since I am going in to the hospital for an induction on March 5th), anything to help the process seems like an easier road at the hospital...right?

Any natural/home remedies you have heard of that I haven't been trying?
Tried any yourself that worked great/horribly?

Still...pretty pumped for what the future holds and the fact that I get to meet my baby girl VERY soon!

Maternity photos!

So, being that this lil girl could come anytime between now and March 6th (since I am officially scheduled to be induced the night of March 5th), I figured it was time to get the hubby to snap a few shots of my baby bump

It also helps a lot that he is AMAZING at photography

and

he got a sweet new macro lens

So, here are a few of my favorites in no particular order...

I am hoping to nab a few more tomorrow including the hubby in them (more than just his hand...)

Pretty pleased with a little at home photo session, plus it was super cheap and we could do what we want and take our time...

Still waiting for baby girl to arrive!