Merry Christmas, Kennedy!

This was Kennedy's first Christmas and it couldn't have been more perfect. We kept it easy, pretty low key, and full of family. Nelson's parents came up the Saturday before, and we went to the park near our house so Kennedy could swing. She also went down the slide for the first time, and I'd say she loved it!

And just because I have the biggest kid on the playground:

On Christmas Eve, everyone came over to our house for a (homemade, gotta brag) lasagna dinner. We had my mom and John, Nelson's parents, my dad, and Lindsay and Ben and the boys. When Jackson and Dean wheeled Kennedy's Christmas present in full of presents for everyone, they got started right away. I think everything was open in about five minutes?

Cousin pictures are nearly impossible.

The wagon helped a little.

And we should've known these wouldn't have worked.

But she's pretty good at taking pictures with us :)

After dinner, Kennedy went on some wagon rides around the house and played with some of her new toys - bows included.

 But before she went to sleep, we all put on our matching Christmas pajamas because I know, right?! :)

On Christmas morning, Kennedy woke up around her usual time, but everyone else was still asleep. That gave me and my favorite girl some time to spend together on her first Christmas before it became crazy busy and full of things to do. It was a nice, quiet morning at home eating some breakfast and playing with new toys.

Since she's such a fan of the wagon and it was a pretty (just cold) day outside, we walked to my mom's house to spend the rest of the day with extended family.

It was an exhausting day (see below), but so much fun spending it with family. Leanne drove in from Houston that morning, but my dad had to drive back. Audrey and Liz joined for Christmas dinner, and my mom's cousin Travis and his family spent the day, along with his mom Brenda. 

When we got home, Nelson, Leanne, and I quickly put together my dad's present for Kennedy: a princess carriage. Because of course. Kennedy loves being pushed around the house in it. You can take out the floor and she can one day walk herself Flintstone style, and the horse's reigns also come in the front to pull like a wagon.

This was taken this morning, but Kennedy also got a ball pit from Santa! He must have left one of the boxes at the North Pole, because we had 500 balls with no ball pit on Christmas Eve....

And this is how we all felt that night. Exhausted, full, but so happy and blessed to spend the holiday with ones we love.

Merry Christmas, Kennedy!

Kennedy Anne {10 Months}

Kennedy Anne,

You're 10 months old! How is this happening?! We're officially into the double digits of age and I feel so many different emotions.

While on the one hand I love seeing you learn new things and grow, it makes me sad to think you're not my itty bitty baby anymore. You've started crawling this past month (it's an army crawl, but still counts), so you're officially on the move. You try to pull up on things, only sometimes succeeding. You also got your first tooth! You love clapping and babbling and squealing with delight, and all of those things make me sooooo happy.

But I think I get most emotional and sad when I nurse you. While pumping is no fun, nor is biting (now that you have the one tooth - ouch!), I'm soaking up our special time together now that I feel it coming to an end soon. I know I don't have to quit exactly at one year and you can wean at your own pace, but it still makes me sad. I used to always scroll on my phone to pass the time, but I find myself purposely leaving it in the kitchen so I can just stare at you. I want to memorize every little thing about you while you nurse: how the arm on top is constantly moving and hitting things, how you grab my shirt, the look of your lips pursed against me, how I can see a little bit of your tongue, the way your eyes instinctively close, and how you become a little rag doll when I switch sides. I know we can always do other things together as you get older, but I'm glad I have these moments to treasure.

You're still eating like a champ! Since we've been back from Taiwan, we pretty much eat 3 meals per day. Very rarely do we not have time for lunch, but you seem ok since you're still nursing. You do well eating pretty much everything we give you. It does fluctuate on amount, but I think you're mostly a big eater. You like vegetables (Dad's happy!) like squash, cauliflower, and broccoli. You always eat all of your avocado and eggs. Pancakes are still a favorite, and I introduced waffles this month. You like them, but I don't think as much as pancakes. I've also started ordering you your own kids meal at restaurants! It definitely makes me feel like I have a big kid :)

While you eat lots of food, you still nurse just as much as before haha. Your usual routine goes:

• Wake around 7 or 7:30am and nurse
• Play while I get breakfast ready
• Eat breakfast around 8:30am
• Keep playing until morning nap
• Morning nap around 10:30am, and I usually nurse you to sleep
• Wake up around 11:30am or 12pm
• Eat lunch and play some more - or run errands, see friends, etc.
• Afternoon nap around 3:30pm, and I usually nurse you to sleep (again, which we can break that habit when we wean)
• Wake up around 4:30 or 5:00pm
• Play and wait for dad to come home
• Eat dinner around 6pm, then bath and read a book
• Bedtime around 7 or 7:30pm, and I nurse you, again

We usually stick to the above and it helps me make plans, but life doesn't always work out that way. And I've learned you're actually pretty content just being along for the ride. If you're extra tired, you'll go to sleep early. But if our errands run long, you're totally ok taking a quick cat-nap in the car between stores, and that holds you over just fine until bedtime.

You did go back to your normal sleeping-through-the-night after Taiwan fairly quickly, but you did start waking up around 4am (it's usually 3:50am, almost on the dot, kinda crazy). I don't like to go in since you expect me to nurse you, but you'd fuss in there for a good 45 minutes or so before falling back asleep. This happened for almost a week before I looked it up and read about a sleep regression. But then you got your first tooth, so who knows what's going on. You're still sort of in that habit of waking up, and I hope it breaks soon. I don't know how I did it before because now I'm exhausted!

We're so excited for your first Christmas and the New Year. We love you soooooo much it almost hurts :)

xoxo,

Your Mom

{10 Month Stats}

• Weight: 20-21lb (estimate)
• Height: 30ish in (estimate)
• Head: n/a
• Clothes: 9 months, although I'm going to wash your 12 month soon because the pants are getting short
• Diapers: size 4 (for both daytime and nighttime)
• Shoes: you still wear the shoes from 9 months (measure 4.5")
• Likes: taking baths (you get sooooo excited when we undress you), eating food (same excitement getting in the high chair)
• Dislikes: getting strapped in / down (stroller or carseat, but you're fine once we start going)

*These were BY FAR the easiest pictures I've taken. You cooperated so well :)

Kennedy on the Big Screen

Late last week, Nelson's friend Matt texted him and asked what we were doing that weekend, would we want to come to Houston so Kennedy could compete in the Baby Race at the Rockets' game. I think Nelson and I both thought the other would say no, but we actually felt like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to do, so why not?! Saturday afternoon, we packed up and headed to Houston so Kennedy could be on the big screen.

The trip there is not nearly as easy with a baby now. And of course there was a bad accident on I-10 that caused an hour delay (to go about 4 miles - ugh). Needless to say, we got out as soon as we could so Kennedy could stretch her legs and eat some dinner at Jason's Deli :)

Constant. Movement.

Saturday after morning nap, we went over to see my dad and Patty. We ended up going to a little park by their house and Kennedy LOVED swinging. She had such a blast just hanging out haha.

She looks so long here!

That night, we loaded up the family and went to the Rockets' game. Nelson's friend got us suite tickets. Unfortunately, it was just for us, but Nelson's parents had some pretty nice half-court tickets.

Kennedy's reaction to the lights and players and music was pretty much like this. She didn't know what to think haha.

We weren't in our seats long before someone came to take us downstairs. We did some practicing in the back with the other babies (there were two others, so three total), and just hung out until it was time!

  
It was finally time!!!! We brought the remote to persuade Kennedy to crawl to me, but I'll just let you see how that went:

After the race, we got a little tour of the back by Matt and then went to his suite to chat more with he and his wife. We ate some food and caught up. Ironically enough, I ran into a co-worker by the bathroom who said our Houston office was having their holiday party in another suite, so we swung by and said hello before heading out. All of a sudden, there were 5 minutes left in the game and we needed to get out before traffic got bad! We got home around 10pm and Kennedy went straight to bed. We were so proud of our little crawler and can't wait for the next competition :)

Sunday on our way out of Houston, we met up Paul, Anne, and their kids for lunch! We got to meet Toby and they got to meet Kennedy.... but more importantly, Toby and Kennedy got to meet <3

Such a great last-minute trip to Houston! Glad a baby hasn't slowed us down... too much ;)