Fake Sneezes are Funny

Apparently fake sneezes are like, the funniest thing. EVER.  At least according to Kennedy.  This all started today when I was reading The Littlest Reindeer to her.  She was cracking up when the man in the moon sneezed and blew Santa's sleigh around.  And she kept laughing every time I did it after that.

We also attempted round two of Santa yesterday.  It went much better.  Santa wasn't grumpy, which made for a much more interested Kennedy.  I have to admit.  It was an outdoor mall, and it was 83* out.  If I was Santa, I would have been grumpy!  But it went well.

I promise.  Regular blogging will resume after the holidays.  Until then you're just going to continue to get cute pictures of her.  I'm sure you're all okay with that.

No Excuses (Photos, photos, more photos)

I have no excuse for being as behind as I am on blogging!  We had a WONDERFUL weekend with my dad visiting.  Since he lives in New York, it's not often that he gets all the way down south.  In fact, it's been six months since he was last here.  We had a wonderful time showing Grandpa the way we do Christmas in the south.  That included a musical Christmas show at the mall - including fake snow, and an evening trip to the zoo for their Winter Wonderland event.  Grandpa took lots of photos while he was here! 

This was prior to Grandpa's arrival, but too cute not to share.  Apparently Kennedy REALLY missed her Grandma and wanted to give her kisses!

 Grandpa's here!!!!!

I really love hanging out with Grandpa!

 I also love my new friend Lowry, she's a penguin!

Water bottles are fun too.

I love the Christmas lights mom!

What's this cold wet stuff?

I don't really understand mom.  But it's pretty neat!

 I'm still trying to figure this one out.

Look Grandpa!  I got a boat!

I LOVE the lights....but I don't love dressing like this.

Kennedy LOVED the lights at the zoo.  She was just mesmerized.

What are those things mom?  They're kinda weird and creepy looking. (About the goats.)

For real mom? What are you doing to me?

See Grandpa!  I love to swing!

 It's kind of breezy out today!

I can really go down mom?

Squeee!!!  Was I supposed to go backwards?

Christmas has sort of snuck up on me this week.  I have a lot of things to finish up, and a lot of activities planned!  So I'm not going to lie.  My blogging may be a bit spare the next few days, but I promise, I'll eventually make up for it. 

Excitement!

Now that Kennedy has made the official announcement, I can confirm!  We'll be welcoming baby #2 to our family at the beginning of August!  Kennedy is very excited to become a big sister.  (Just in case you couldn't see the excitement in her face, in the last post.)  Thank you all for the congratulations and well wishes.  We are very excited to expand our family! 

I've got lots of photos to post from today, but I'm exhausted!  I'm going to blame first trimester fatigue on my lack of posts lately.  We have a very exciting weekend coming up.  Grandpa is here visiting for the first time since before Kennedy had her surgery.  He was surprised to see how much she has grown up!  I promise to post lots of photos tomorrow.  Until then, here's a few pics of miss cutie to hold you over.

Out to lunch with my mom!  I love Panera!

Home sweet home!!!

Kennedy's Big Secret

A picture is worth a thousand words....

My Little Traveler

My husband and I really hit the jackpot.  How did we get so lucky to have a baby that loves to travel as much as Kennedy does?  This kid loves hotels.  And she's totally tolerant of road trips.  Of course, we have Grandpa to thank for that.  With out the portable DVD player we would have had serious issues on the ride here.  (Never mind that mommy is still repeating Baby Signing Times in her head.)  I'm sure she'd do great on a plane, but we haven't ventured there yet.  Mostly because mommy and daddy can't seem to pack everything compact enough for a flight.  (Remember - we are the people who had to buy a new SUV before our first road trip with her.)

Despite the all nighter that she pulled in Orlando a week and a half ago, Kennedy has learned that vacations are meant for sleeping.  And I'm happy to report that she's slept in until 8:30 for four days in a row now!  Mommy could get used to this!  Not getting my hopes up though....

Kennedy also seems to like eating out.  Specifically pancakes and chicken tenders.  Oh, and she loves eating menus and tearing apart coloring mats. 

Where's my chicken tenders?  And do you think Santa will bring me a hotel for Christmas?

Snuggles On Demand

This little girl melts my heart more and more every day.  For awhile now she's been raising her arms up when we reach to pick her up.  But today she started something new, which takes the cake for the sweetest thing ever.  For now at least.  We were sitting on the bed, and she was playing with her piano.  This is her FAVORITE toy, and it happens to have the worlds most obnoxious microphone on it.  She said, "mom mom" and when I looked over at her, she raised her arms up.  As soon I picked her up she snuggled all over me and gave me kisses.  Sweetest. Baby. Ever. 

This is huge for me.  Of course she has her way of communicating that she's hungry, or wants milk, or is bored, wet. etc.  But this is a big one in my eyes.  I'm so incredobly proud of her.  Every day truly brings something new. 

I have a bunch of photos to share, but I'll admit, the cold weather has me slacking a little bit.  By the time we get back to the hotel, the last thing I feel like doing is messing with the camera or memory cards.  So here's a few cell phone pics.  She polished off an entire pancake at Cracker Barrel this morning.  We're talking about a pancake the size of the plate!  And she threw Cheerios every where today, and was quite pleased with herself. 

Mmmm....crackers, how come I don't eat these more often?

Oopsies mom!  Sorry...hehehehe.

I Changed My Mind...

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I said I missed the cool weather and the change of seasons?  I'm pretty sure I wrote about it.  Looking at everyone's fall pictures...the true pumpkin patches, apple orchards, babies playing in leaves.  It made me miss living in the north.  However, I got over that pretty quickly, and if you remember, we were at the beach on Sunday.  Now that we're "in the north" where the leaves fall and the seasons change, I've decided maybe I don't miss it so much.  It's quite a hassle to have to dress and undress the baby every time we go somewhere, and get in and out of the car.  I'm not to sure that Kennedy is a fan of coats or hats.  That said, she does seem to like her furry boots.  Then there's all the cold dry air outside, and the dry air from running the heat.  I forgot just how bad living in the north was for my sinuses!  But that aside, we are having fun.  It's great to have some extra daddy time!  And of course, there's something to be said for an indoor pool, housekeeping, turn down service, and not having to cook.  Of course it's somewhat inconvenient that we have to store Kennedy's milk in the hotel freezer.  If that's the case, I don't know why I can't just call for room service when she's ready for a bottle.

I like breakfast in bed.  I even let mama sleep in today!

Forget Cheerios, I want the package.

Oopsies.  Did I do that?

I love my furry boots mom!  Can I wear them more often?

 And my sweaters too!

Where to now mom?

Hope Haven Visit and Photos!

We had our visit at Hope Haven in Jacksonville yesterday!  It was WONDERFUL!  I cannot say enough good things about everyone we met there.  They are such sweet people and have so much information and knowledge to share.  We were able to meet with a speech and physical therapist.  Unfortunately, the occupational therapist was out due to childcare issues, which was a little disappointing but the others were able to answer most of our questions and address our concerns.  There was also an educational session, where we were able to discuss all of her cognitive skills, education, learning, etc.  I really cannot say enough wonderful things about everyone that we worked with yesterday.  I look forward to receiving our full report in a few weeks, and I'm excited to go back next year!  There is a lengthy waiting list, but I encourage anyone that's able to take part in it, to do so!  We also met some other children and their parents.  There was one little girl in particular that reminded me of Kennedy.  She was 18 months old and so busy!  Running around, playing with toys.  I can just see Kennedy doing those things when we go back next year.

Okay, and here are the long awaited Christmas photos, taken by my good friend, Stephanie Willson.  She was wonderful to squeeze us into her busy schedule right before we went out of town.  Kennedy was less than thrilled for the family shots (someone was a little sleepy and apparently mommy and daddy are the only ones to make her smile.)

Here are some other quick cell phone photos that show off all of her adorablenes!

Another hotel! I'm so excited mommy!

 I can't wait to meet the people at Hope Haven!  And go to another hotel!

I like this hotel.  But not so much the hat and jacket.  This really is the land of the chilly people, huh?

This is more my style mommy!

Go Baby, Go!

Kennedy has got this crawling thing down!  Backwards.  She can get across the whole room. 

Unfortunately that also means she can get stuck under, and around pretty much anything.  Furniture.  Christmas trees.  Walls.  Today I was doing laundry and heard a very upset baby screaming "Mom mom mom mom."  I came running in, and saw this:

Mommmmm!!  Stop taking pictures and get me out of here!!!!!

So just a little note to my sweet little Kennedy.  Mommy is SOOOOOO proud of your newest and one of the biggest milestones.  But if you started crawling forward, you would stop getting stuck under everything.  I promise!!! 

Catching Up!

This is always a busy time of year, but I promise, I will get back to blogging regularly soon.  I'm exhausted after a busy weekend, and have an even busier week ahead, so I don't have much to say.  However, I do have TONS of photos to share.  We went over to Orlando this weekend to "do Disney" but after considering how crowded the park would be, we opted to do it in another month or two, when the park is less crowded and we're more likely to enjoy it.  So we stayed at one of our favorite hotels, and then visited all the other (much more expensive hotels - like the Grand Floridian) and saw their decorations and went to Downtown Disney.  We all had a wonderful time, and wrapped up the weekend with a stop at the beach.  We really don't take advantage of all that Florida has to offer, so we're determined to start doing that more.

I also have our Christmas photos to share, but they deserve a post of their own, so look for those later in the week (or maybe even as early as tomorrow.)

(Oh, and by the way.  Kennedy crawled completely across the room today....backwards.)

You're giving me WHAT for lunch?

Ravioli and meatballs are a lot better than I expected.

I give this meal a thumbs up!

Can I have this more often?  It's also fun to play with.

What's in these noodles?

Look blog people, I'm a big girl now. I can take a bath with out my tub in a tub.

 Do you people know how much I love vacation?  And this is a super big hotel.

Chicken tenders? More new food.  I like this.  Sorry I bit your finger mom.

I'm gonna help daddy with this project.  As soon as he's done working we get to go have fun.

Our hotel has SAND!

Mommy says this is one of her favorite hotels.  Now I know why.

 Mommy and daddy said maybe next year they'll take me to the real Key West.

Daddy, don't let the gators get me!  And why are there gators in the hotel anyway?

Can we have a Christmas tree like this at home?

I'm snug as a bug on mommy.  I've seen enough decorations for tonight.

I slept through all of Downtown Disney, now I want to party and enjoy this hotel.  Until 4:30am.

Oh, I'm tired.  Do we have to go to breakfast now?  I guess I should have listened to you mom.

Can we have a fishy tank like this at home?  Maybe in my room?

Look at that one dad. 

You don't mind if I play with this place mat do you? 

Who needs a high chair when you can sit on the table?

 This is the life.   Mommy says this is why we live in Florida.

It's fun to play in the sand.  And kick my feet in it.  And eat it.  See my castle? I did it with my feet.

 This feels funny on my feetsies.

Mommy it feels weird!

MOMMY!  The water got me!  And it's cold!

Help me! I'm sinking mom!

Mommy and daddy even took me back to the hotel they got married at.  They said it was also my first vacation, but I don't really remember it.  I think it was before Dr. Q gave me all my extra energy.