Boogie Baby

My little boogie down baby

Kenzie 9&10 months Old

Oh little girl, we are having so much fun with you. In the last two months you have had a personality boom! You point at things and call our attention to them, you give high fives, dance to music like Dora, shake your head no-no-no and talk all.the.time. It's not so much talking as it is high pitch screaming. You have no problem telling us when you have been in your high chair for too long or no longer wish to crawl and want to be held. We hear lots of DAAAAADAAAAAA! and DOOOOOUGH! You just love eating like a big kid. We've been exploring solid foods more and you are just thrilled to be included in meal time, so long as it doesn't involve purees. You have also cut another tooth, a top one this time, and I think the second front top one is right behind it. You still hate your car seat, though you tolerate it better now then when you were younger. To get you to stop crying in the car I have to clap my hands to a beat and sing the ABC's or the Little Einstein's theme song. I've tried other songs (I'm partial to you are my sunshine) but no dice. I'm sure I must look pretty comical to neighboring cars at stop lights, but hey, if you need it, I'll do it. Your big sissy loves to sing to you and help mommy out too. If you start to crying she'll sometimes start singing before I do. I love how much you two adore each other.

You have really mastered crawling and are very close to walking. You still pull yourself up on anything and everything and cruise around and you'll walk if we hold your hand. You amaze me little girl. You love to play with toy cars, anything paper and cupboard doors. Your sister's cupcake kitchen is a big hit for you since you can hide things in the oven door and find them over, and over, and OVER. Peek-a-boo is still your favorite game, though flipping backwards like a gymnast with your Grammie Cheri is a close second. I really need to get a video of that one. I don't think I posted before about this but you also won't hold still for diaper changing. At ALL! Your Mimi compared it to wrestling a wild boar and she isn't kidding. You have some major muscle strength and your Dad's stubbornness (okay maybe some stubbornness from mom too) which makes for interesting battles between you and baby powder. Ah my little Silly, you bring me so much joy. I find myself kissing your soft baby skin every four steps walking around the house with you. You cling to me like a little monkey. I just can't get enough of you. It's hard to believe your birthday is just around the corner! The year has gone by so very very fast. Love you my silly.
Love,
Mommy

First pedi from Mommy

Tug-a-war!

Peek-a-boo!

The fake cry face

cutest little booty ever

BlogHer 2012: My 15mins of living like Carrie Bradshaw

 I have been in love with New York City since I first set foot there at 13 years old. For this little suburbia raised SoCal girl it doesn’t get much better than walking the streets of the big city. Plus, being a big Sex and the City fan I have had lofty dreams of living life like a fashionable writer in the city that never sleeps. Well last weekend I had my fifteen minutes of living like Carrie Bradshaw. I was in NYC, in my own little apartment, hanging with awesome well dressed girl friends, attending fabulous parties wearing fabulous shoes and get this, I was there as a "writer". No seriously, this little blog that I like to call my own qualifies me as a blogger so I was actually in the big apple to attend BlogHer 2012!
 BlogHer was described by Variety magazine as the "Comic-Con for women bloggers", I can't think of a more apted description. Over 5000 women bloggers all got together to celebrate, learn, and share about blogging. Oh, and collect insane amounts of swag. I was actually turning swag away by the end. It was crazy! Even better than the swag though was a very impressive line-up of key note speakers including Martha Stewart, Katie Couric, and President Obama (via live video). I found Katie particularly inspiring. Being a working mother I always like to hear from other women who have made it work for their own families. Hearing Katie say that  of all her amazing achievements, like raises millions for cancer research and staring in her own show, that her children are her best accomplishment was comforting to hear. If she can do all of that and still be a good mother I can certainly maintain a reasonable career and be my children's rock. I also like that she is gearing her new show to women who want to talk about more than Hollywood gossip and nail tips. We want intelligent conversations AND tips for our nails! Katie gets that. Think she made me a fan.

My beautiful friends: 
Janelle, Natalie, Melissa, Tessa, and Dani

Being surrounded by women who share a common interest in blogging was a very unique experience. I know that the conference was meant to help me meet new people and forge new relationships but what I took away from the trip was really more of an enriched relationship with the friends I already had. I traveled to New York with 5 girl friends that I have known for about 6 years now, and how 2012 is this, we met online :)
These women are some of the most beautiful, caring, funny, incredible people I know. They made me laugh. They made me think and self reflect. They just made me happy. I love that we are so diverse even within our own group. We are wives, mommies, stay at home warriors, self employed entrepreneurs, corporate ladder climbers, formula feeders and breast givers, quietly spoken and extreme extroverts. But the best part is each of us has embraced exactly what works for our families and live our lives that way, with nothing but support from each other. Take that mommy wars! I’m so very grateful for these women in my life. Just like any good relationship they help make me a better me. So a big thank you to my friends. I will treasure the memories from this trip for a lifetime. 
I left BlogHer and New York feeling more empowered then ever. So many amazing women are making their dreams happen everyday, myself included. All that determination surrounding me was infectious. If you are a blogger thinking of attending the conference next year, do it! It doesn't matter if you have 5 readers of 50,000. You will learn something and have a blast. 
 And now for picture overload of my amazing 4 days as Carrie Bradshaw ;)


 I am lucky to have family in the city so instead of staying at a hotel for the conference I had an apartment all to myself in Chelsea. I pretty much felt like a bad ass New Yorker for 4 days. 

The Chelsea street I wanted my
luggage to stay at forever

Since I have lived in the same small(ish) town my whole life it was so fun to get a taste of what it would be like to live in the city. I am so in LOVE! I just don't think you can get much more American than New York City. Forget Nascar and Coors Light. To me the American dream is being who you are, doing what you love, and finding a home that lets you do both those things together. I can't think of any better example of that than New York City. It has the perfect blend history and modern living. Chelsea is my new favorite place in the world. A sweet neighborhood lined with brick building with gorgeous trees hanging over the streets. Around each corner a different ethnic restaurant, store, cafe, gallery.... I was seriously ready to uproot the family and move them out there over the weekend just so I would never have to leave. Granted, I didn’t have to work while I was there, and did nothing but attend fab parties and eat great food with friends but isn’t that what people who live in the city do everyday? (Don’t spoil my dream by saying no) But, le sigh, I have returned to my tracked home with an hour commute to work each way. Whatcha gonna do.

Me and my cousin on the Highline

Chelsea Market

My awesome New York family

Central Park with Starbucks. Gave us a chance to catch up our first morning together

Perched at Central Park

Times Square

Being Goofballs at the Hasbro Party

Me and Dani at Sparklecorn

Natalie and I bought I Heart NY flip flops after our feet just about
 fell off walking after the  Hasbro Party in Times Square

Tapas dinner in Chelsea

Yummy Sangria

Walking back from Tapas dinner in Chelsea.
Notice all the flats! Haha it was 40 blocks, we learned our lesson

Until next time NY, until next time....

Day's First Day of School

It has been two weeks since Day started school and so far so good.  It has been an adjustment for sure, but overall I think everything is going very well. On her first morning J and I both went to drop her off, and baby Kenzie came along too to wish her sissy a great first day. The school she is going to is seriously rad. They have farm animals, a huge outdoor play area themed like an old western with a train, town center and much more. They classrooms are also super fun with a slide and upper mini-library level for the kids. Once Day realized there was a slide in her class she was gone. There were no tearful goodbyes or apprehensions, just joy as she bounced around looking at all the fun things to play with. Oh the adventures she will have! Speaking of adventures, apparently Day has been giving her teachers one. She is having to learn quickly that sharing and listening are important. I had been worried about this and to be honest, I was embarrassed. What a crap mother I must be! My kid doesn't know how to share! But her teacher reassured me that she is already doing loads better than she did the first week and she reminded me that these behaviors are exactly why Day is in school, to LEARN how to be social with other children and act in a classroom environment.

I keep drilling Day with questions at the end of each day. Who are her friends? What did she play? Did they read stories? So far I have only gotten out of her that a baby rabbit made a mess and didn't get a special treat (no idea if this was a story or a real rabbit) and that she takes naps at school. I find it only slightly humorous that my kids who raises hell each Saturday with me at nap time is one of the classes BEST SLEEPERS. Go Figure. She is just having so much fun that she gets worn out! Here are a few pics of my little bugs first day.

Daddy walking her in

This parrot is bad ass. He waves hi and if you ask him what a duck says he'll say "QUACK!"

Day and Miss Melanie

She was so stoked that they had Dinos in the class. She impressed Miss Brandy knowing the names of every one of  them :)

Of course her first day at school she slipped and bruised her cheek and got sent home with an Ouchie Report. Figures. She has her mother's sense of balance poor kid.

Preschool Eve

 

Tonight I spent more time choosing an outfit for my daughter then I spend on myself in a week. It's ridiculous really. She won't care what she's wearing, so long as it includes the little purple Dora backpack that she's been bouncing around the house in for the last week. Tomorrow is Day's first day of preschool. We have been planning this day since before she was born. I fell in love with this school at 8 years old, no joke. I was so sad I couldn't attend myself and my mother told me "Well one day when you have kids maybe they can go there". And wouldn'tcha know just 22(!) years later..... my daughter will be spending her first school days there. Even better one of my very best friends will be her teacher. As much as I am excited for this day I'm freaking out too. Not about Day, I know she'll be fine, it's more the recognizing that our lives are changing.  For the past 3 years Day left the house cozy in her jammies, blanky in tow. Now when she leaves she will be fully dressed and ready for a day of learning with her peers. This simple change makes me realize just how much she is not a baby anymore, and while I love the little kid she is growing up to be, I already miss baby Day. I know that school will start to bring new adventures in her life, and for that I am excited. She will make friends, we will have Christmas programs to attend, and art projects to display on the fridge. Of course Day will still be with her Grammie Cheri and sissy two days a week which I think will help us all ease into this transition. It's a bittersweet time in our lives, but as always, it's still sweet.

Photos by Tessa of Grin and Share It Photography

Baby Kenize 7&8 Months

Dear Kenzie,

Just one short week after you turned 6 months old you cut your first tooth, and just a few days later your second! You also learned to crawl that week, talk about a development spurt! For a while you would do this hilarious crawl where you'd push your back legs straight and basically walk on all fours. You have since learned that using your knees gives you an advantage so you cruise around pretty quickly now. You also love to pull yourself up onto everything! Standing just thrills you so if there is something to climb on we find you there. We are still taking it a little slow with solid foods since you seemed to react to yams (!) and don't care much for rice cereal. You actually don't care much for purees at all so we typically chop soft food super small for you to munch on. So far you love avocado, carrots, cheerios, and cantaloupe.

You have started communicating more as well. Mommy has been a slacker on teaching you baby sign but I think we may start soon. You learned how to clap and squeal with delight when others clap along with you. I think you also started saying your first words. You have been saying "Dada" tons! You only say "mama" when you cry, just like your sister did... sigh... but at least I know the days of happy "mama" calls are coming. We are also pretty sure that you say "hi" and "baba" since you have said those a few times in the right context. One morning you woke up and looked at your big sister smiled and exclaimed "tidd terr!". Day was so excited! She kept shouting "Mommy she said Tidd Terr she said Tidd Terr!". Since you only said it that once it's unlikely that you knew you were saying "sister" but it sure made your big sissy's day :) You love to point at things too and babble at them. I really thought that since you were such a quiet baby that you wouldn't be as verbal as your sister (that's the word people use to describe her incessant chatter) but looks like you will be quite the chatter box yourself. Love you little silly. Can't wait to hear more <3
Love,
Mommy