Kennedy was so excited to celebrate Thanksgiving that she woke up at 3:45 yesterday morning. That made for a long day, with few naps. I could not have asked for a better day though. Kennedy and I have both talked about what we're thankful for over the past few weeks. Most of all, Marlon and I are thankful for Kennedy. She is truly a dream come true and the start of our family. She is what we've dreamed of for many years. We always talked about holidays with kids, and how they would be so much better - and they are. We're also thankful for our family and friends who have been so supportive this year. We have experienced some of the most wonderful and also challenging things all at once this year, and we sincerely appreciate everyone's support.
Kennedy also wanted me to let all of the readers know that even though she's thankful for her piggies, hair bows, clothes, toys and Grandma's Visa - she's most thankful for her mommy and daddy! She knows Mommy and Daddy love her more than anything and would do anything for her.
Here's some photos from Kennedy's First Thanksgiving. We spent a quiet day at home with my mom and mother-in-law. Kennedy enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and spent the day eating her favorite foods.
Toast and the Macy's Parade, what more can a girl ask for?
Look Mommy!! Snoopy!!
What's that mama?
I found another piece of toast.
Grandma, look at my feetsies.
Seriously, these people are boring.
Hey Grandma, can I have your credit card? I need to order these skinny jeans.
Hey mom, how's lunch coming?
Daddy stop tickling me!
Yummmm! Sweet potatoes!
Hi Grammy! Whatcha drinking?
I want to help cook the turkey daddy!
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Hey Grandma, look at my toy.
I'm going to eat this toy until dinner is done.
Grandma knew where the Cheerios are!
Thanks for cooking all the good food daddy!
Look at my ball Grammy.
Almost time to eat! I should have napped, I'm getting sleepy.
We've had a pretty busy week and some of you may have noticed, I've been slacking a little in the blogging department. I think I'm finally taking a much needed break after all of my awareness posts! I will have lots of pictures tomorrow, which will most likely be posted upon my return from shopping on Friday.
The week was kicked off with another birthday party. Kennedy once again enjoyed her cake and party hat!
The crazy bath time baby also struck again. It's completely hysterical to watch. But don't give her a bath unless you're prepared to be soaked, and to clean the bathroom.
And who can forget about PT and EI? I figured this weeks sessions were going to be off to a rough start when Kennedy fell asleep 10 minutes before her PT showed up. Apparently she thought this was a good way to get out of working.
However, that didn't work. And for the first time ever, she managed to only scream through half of her PT session. The rest was all smiles. I was a little concerned that this meant EI would be a disaster. After all, what are the chances we could have two successful sessions in one week? Well, we hit the lottery jackpot this week! I'm proud to say that for the first time in 6 months, we made it through an ENTIRE session of EI, and we didn't have one tear. Amanda was really excited, and so was mama.
Kennedy also figured out how to scoot herself backwards this week. At one point she ended up off her play mat and against the sliding glass door, and the other time she ended up under the table. Note - she won't do it when we're in the room.
Mommmmmmy! Help!!! I'm stuck!!!
Someone posted a question on Facebook, about what's the ONE thing you're most thankful for. Of course I'm thankful for my amazing husband and wonderful family. But most of all, I'm thankful for Kennedy. She has opened my eyes and taught me so much in 9 short months. She's changed my life in ways that I never imagined. She's shown strength and determination. And she's been through more in 9 months than I have in almost 30 years, but always comes out on top. She's a fighter and I could not be more proud, or any more in love. I am thankful to be celebrating this Thanksgiving with my husband and my big girl! (And the Grandmas!)
Kennedy, Marlon and I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I still find it hard to believe that Kennedy is already nine months old. Three quarters of a year. Seriously, where has the time gone. I know, I know. I say that every month. But this month it really hit me just how fast time is going. last year at this time, we were wishing for the holidays to fly by, in anticipation of meeting our baby girl. And here we are, getting ready to celebrate her first Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Kennedy, you have changed our lives in ways that we never imagined. You've brought so much love and joy to our family and to everyone that meets you. You bring endless laughs, and your smile brightens every day. You mean the world to us, and you are what we live for. My goal every day is to make you laugh and smile. I love to teach you new things and watch you take everything in. I love to see the world through your eyes. You amaze me every day, and I'm so proud of the little girl that you are becoming.
We celebrated Kennedy's 9 months by going to her friend Daniel's birthday party at Gymboree. Kennedy has a whole new list of things she's thankful for. In fact, she asked for special permission to tell you about them herself. (I told you she was becoming more of a little girl.) Okay, okay. Now I'm turning the laptop over to her, so that we can all go to bed.
Mommy doesn't usually let me play on the computer, I think it's because I end up slobbering up the keys or something. But anyway, she's been asking me what I'm thankful for, and I have some new things that I'm thankful for today. And mommy said she got cute pictures too. Duh, I'm cute, of course the pictures of me are adorable. Today was my first real birthday party. I've been to one other one mommy says, but I slept through most of it. But not today. It was at this fun place called Gymboree. I'm thankful for Gymboree and all the fun stuff there. I'm gonna ask Grandma to get me all the same stuff they have. I bet she'll do it (remember the other day when I said she uses her Visa card a lot?) I'm also thankful for my friends. It's really fun to play with them, and soon I'll be crawling along with them. Daniel's mommy also served Cheerios at the party. I'm thankful for Cheerios. Mommy has never given them to me before, I'm not sure what she was thinking. I made her promise that she would go to the store and buy me some tomorrow. Oh, and I'm thankful for party hats. At first it was kind of weird having this cardboard cone with my piggies shoved into it, but everyone said how cute I looked. And you all know me, I love to accessorize and anything that makes me cuter than I already am, I'm up for. Oh, and most of all today, I'm thankful for cupcakes. Daniel's mommy was really thinking and made special sugar free cupcakes so us babies could eat them. (They even had pumpkin in them.) I really really like cupcakes. I need to have a talk with Grandma because mommy would only give me a little bit. She told me I can have more in three months, when we celebrate my first birthday. But who can wait three whole months for more cupcakes? I had so much fun today and found so many new things to be thankful for. Mommy and daddy took me shopping after the party and found me some fury boots and a new sweater. I can't wait to show off all my winter clothes on vacation. Oh yeah, and I'm thankful for Daddy's Visa card too. I'm giving mommy back her co mputer now, I'm sleepy!
Before I head off to bed, here are some adorable pictures and videos.
I'm not sure if Kennedy mentioned how thankful she is for water or not. But she apparently loves running water, and this morning, she found a new appreciation for splashing in her ducky tub. Enjoy the following videos!
Oooh! This place is so fun, I love it already!
I want one of these mom!
Look at me daddy!
Really mom? I can slide down??
Oh mommy this is so fun!
Um, hello. Why did you people stop bouncing?
Do you like my hat?
Daddy! Stop tickling me and give me more Cheerios!
Why have you never given me Cheerios before mom?
Can we go buy some when we leave?
Enough pictures. Just give me more Cheerios.
These things are SO good!
WOW! What's this? This is better than Cheerios!
Oh mommy! You've been holding out on me all this time? Forget chicken, I want cupcakes for dinner.
Excuse me. Give me MORE!
YUMMY!!! I know you think this is adorable, so you'll let me eat some more.
More? Please? Mommy....come on.
Okay, okay. Playing is good too.
Can someone help me up please?
Hey...what's that?
Haha daddy, you can't get me in here!!
I don't know why they call it a frog pond, but it sure is fun! This green stuff is pretty tasty.
Oh hey Riley, what's up. I haven't seen you in a few weeks.
So what do you think of this Gymboree place? I think our mommies should bring us here every week for Mom's Group.
Hey Riley, can you show me how you make that noise with your hand on your mouth.
Just like this Kennedy, let me show you!
Oh okay, cool. Thanks.
Hey mom, you don't mind if I go down face first do you?
First of all, Kennedy wanted me to let you all know that she was too overwhelmed with trying to come up with EVERYTHING she's thankful for all at once, so she'll just be posting a few things a day from now until Thanksgiving. I figured everyone would understand.
Today was pretty typical. Eating, napping, playing, swinging, and Early Intervention. After yesterday's disastrous physical therapy appointment, I was dreading today's EI session. It started out as usual. Lots of tears. I pretty much let her know that this just wasn't working for me anymore, and that after several months of "adjustment" and "re-adjustment" after heart surgery, we were still no better off. I had a long talk with a friend of mine this morning about EI, and PT and how their daughter reacted. It just so happens that our PT also worked with her daughter. I was finally at the point where I was ready to "fire" her, since clearly we couldn't make it work. Well, the light bulb apparently went on, and she found a way to get what we needed out of the session while letting Kennedy do it on her terms. It just so happens that it meant sitting in her princess chair and playing with toys. Kennedy was ALL smiles, giggles and babbles. It was like Amanda got to see the TRUE Kennedy. It wasn't me just showing off videos and photos, while claiming that she does all these things. I was really happy and I'm pretty sure Amanda was impressed with the true Kennedy. I just hope this was a turning point.
Now, onto what Kennedy is thankful for. She said of course she's thankful for her mommy and daddy, and for the heart surgeon who fixed her heart. All the doctors and nurses who took care of her. But she's also thankful for milk, a big wardrobe, pigtails, and mommy's ability to make cute bows for her hair.
Less obviously, she's thankful for the following things:
Swings. Lots and lots of swings, and three different parks around our neighborhood.
I'm thankful for mommy's Ray-Bans at said park.
I'm even more thankful that mommy went all the way home to get my Carter's glasses.
I'm definitely thankful for Grandma's Visa card. Which she uses so generously to buy me toys and clothes. Oh yeah, I'm grateful for those too.
I'm thankful for Grandma too, not just her Visa.
Kennedy said she's getting tired, so she'll continue with what she's thankful for tomorrow.
By the way, tonight I'm thankful for the fact that Kennedy slept until 6:30am today. This is a huge improvement over the 5am wake-ups that we've been dealing with since the whole time change.
Today was exhausting. I have a lot I could say, but I don't have the energy to type it out! Kennedy still hasn't adjusted to daylights savings time, and is still waking up at 5am. Except, she's stopped going to bed early, and isn't going to bed until 8pm. With little to no nap. Silly baby!
PT was a disaster today. She screamed through the whole thing. And I wanted to scream by the end. I've just kind of accepted that this is how it will be, but it doesn't make it any less exhausting. As much as she resists and fights it, clearly we're doing something right. Look at my big girl playing with her activity table!
One of my biggest worries since we got Kennedy's diagnosis is what the future will be like. I'm sure I've said it over and over. And really, you don't know what the future is like with any child, so I don't know why I worry about it so much more. I read this article today and it brought tears to my eyes. This is my hope for the future. a happy and healthy individual that is living her life to the fullest, and achieving all things that are important to her.
For now, she likes to swing, and that's exactly what we'll do.
I don't get it mom. Last week it was fleece, today it's shorts.
This is so fun! Push me higher mommy!
(This is what happens when Kennedy refuses to nap before the park.)
