Crazy for Craisins....

Kelsey tried "cranberries" for the first time the other day, out of my salad. Then yesterday I gave her some craisins and she was so crazy. She was smiling and laughing, sitting up (squatting)and then laying down on the tile...she was just all over the place! All of these pictures were taken within a matter of moments as she was ALL over the place eating her snack. Below is a little video from the second time I gave her some (she wasn't quite as active)

Ms. Independance

Kelsey has decided that she wants to start doing things on her own.

One of those things is getting herself on her bouncy zebra and riding:





The other is using the spoon at feedings. Needless to say this makes meals much longer and messier (and a little frustrating as well) Pardon the crying in the video...she's just trying to get her way.

More Steps...

So I finally got a few steps on video. Unfortunately our camera has a slight delay on the video side, so I missed 3-4 of her steps by the time it actually started filming.

So close...

As of yesterday, Ms. Kelsey is taking more and more steps and getting more comfortable while doing it. Of course she still will not "perform" on cue. I still have no video even though she was walking all over yesterday, I had left my camera at home (we were at Gma/Gpa McD's). Who knows, she may be full on walking by her 1st birthday, which if you are counting is only 6 days away ;-(
Totally off subject, but 1 year ago today was my original due date (Happy Birthday Chris)! But my stubborn little girl was just so comfy she decided to hang out a little longer. It's kinda funny because sooo many people I met said, "oh girl that baby is going to come early, you aren't going to make it to 40 weeks." Hah...I proved them wrong ;-)

Go Fish...

Now that she is almost 1, we decided it's time to try fish. The first fish we tried was Cod. I poached it and she loved it!

Kelsey's Bouncy Ball

She just loves this ball (best $0.97 I ever spent). And Lou even taught her how to roll it to him, so cute!

99.9% done

Countless hours (and sweat drops) later and the swing set is now 99.9% finished. All that is left to be done is to put the ground anchors in. Yeah Lou!!! He did an awesome job. I helped out some too, but he did a major majority of it. (I know that's kinda redundant) Kelsey has already been enjoying the swing almost everyday and after nap she can try out her new slide (with our help of course) Even though it was alot of work and we had to undo and redo things....I think we both agree it was not worth paying someone $600 to put it together. Happy early 1st Birthday Kelsey Bear (we won't be topping this gift for many years to come...if ever)!!!

Last weekend when Lou was out of town

Even Aunt Kellie helped out too!

Lou putting in the last few screws to secure the slide

Daddy's Little Helper

New found drawer...

Kelsey has found the Tupperware drawer. We used the tot locks on all of the cabinets in the kitchen, but just used the catch type latches on the drawers. Obviously, the latch on the Tupperware drawer is not catching, because this is what I found the other afternoon.....

I couldn't get a picture of it, but she was taking the clear lid that's in her hands and smushing up to her face and looking up at me. By the time I got the camera I couldn't get her to do it again.

Stepping video

As I stated in a previous post, Kelsey has started to take some steps. Last night we were at my parents' house and my sister Cindy caught a little on video (of course she didn't get the 2 times when Kels actually took 3 steps, we only got 1 1/2 steps) It was quite funny, it was time for bed and my little sister Kellie picked up Kels and she started fussin', so Kellie put her down and she almost tried to run to me. So, we did this again and again for a few go 'rounds. Catching a little on video. Kellie was not happy to have her cry when she picked her up though, so she was a reluctant participant. (Thanks to my sisters for helping to get some footage of it)

More fun photos from our vacation...

Check out more pictures from Lake Norman at my sister's blog. She's much better than me, she actually labeled her pics.

More Lake Norman Photos

Lake Norman

We spent the 4th of July week at Lake Norman, just outside of Charlotte, NC. We were with my entire family plus 2 of my dad's brothers and their family as well. On our biggest day we had 26..20 adults and 6 little kids! It was a long drive up with our little bear, but she did pretty good. We were trailing a wave runner so it took us even longer than it would have if we just had Kelsey with us. She warmed up to everyone right away giving big smiles. She was a little shy when it came to going to other people, but she eventually got over that. We spent everyday floating in the lake around the dock as the house was on a little cove off of the main channel. Kelsey loved the water and loved watching all of her cousins just splashing around. We even had an inflatable pool for the kids to hang out in. Kelsey even went on a few boat rides and when she didn't like the wind in her face, she just turned to face me. The wave runner was out and about all the time, even mom got on it (way to go Michael!!) The boat was for cruising, skiing, tubing and knee boarding. I think my brother and dad may have even taken it out fishing too. Since I forgot to pack her duckie bathtub, Kelsey took her first bath in a real bathtub with no seat. She did pretty good, except night two she took a bath with cousin Colin and he taught her how to stand in the bath.
We took her to see fireworks on the 3rd, but they didn't start till after 9 so she was passed out in the car.

She eventually woke up and didn't really care one way or another for the pretty lights in the sky. Oh well...maybe next year.

What an incredible week spent with family.

Swingset Continues

Day 3....what a nightmare. Now the set we bought is supposed to be cool because you can add on LATER. Later being the key word in this sentence. Lou and I (mostly Lou) had decided to construct the main tower and swing beam first so it would be done for Kelsey's birthday, and if we had time we would add on the terrace and picnic area. So far things had been going easy schmeesy (like how I make up words??), so Lou decided to go ahead and start the terrace. The directions for the main tower and swing beam said to set the tower platform at 47 1/4 inches, so we did. Now when Lou opens the terrace box....those directions state to set the main tower platform at 59 1/4 inches and the terrace at 47 1/4. Sure sounds great, however in order to move the main tower platform we had to basically deconstruct the entire bracket system on the main tower, move it up and re-secure everything again. Had we bought this terrace addition 2 years from now and read the directions, needless to say it would have been returned. In a nutshell day 3 was spent undoing everything, raising everything a few inches and redoing it all. Lou was determined to get it done, so we were out there in the dark after dinner and finished at 11:30 pm.

Day 3: 3 1/2-4 hours

Looks almost exactly like Day 2's photo

FIRST STEPS!!!

Right before bed I brought her back downstairs so I could throw our dinner in the oven. I was letting her go on her alphabet mat and she took 2 steps on her own!!! Of course she would not repeat this when Lou came in from outside (working on the swing set) to see ;-( No pictures...but just wanted to share the next exciting milestone with you all!!

Getting her B-day present early

We decided to get Kelsey a swing set for her birthday. She absolutely LOVES the swings at the park. The debate was whether to buy a smaller one now and then in a year or two upgrade to a bigger one. We found a really cool plastic one we liked and it even had free shipping. After talking with my brother, Lou decided it was best to buy the wooden play set from Lowe's (skip intro, click on tower with grand terrace, click on add swings and add roof to see what we are building) because you could add on as they grow. All we really need right now is the swing and with that comes the tower to hold it in place. All of this was decided while we were on vacation. Lou was looking it up online and decided to look in the Lowe's ad and what did he find....but the entire swing set on sale for just a little over what we would pay for the tower and swings alone. He called the store on the phone and ordered it and was even able to finagle 10% off without opening a Lowe's card (since we really wanted to buy it with his award debit card) Now the task is to get it together. It was going to cost $650 to have someone from Lowes do it....Yeah right!


5 hours on day 1 (we both worked while Kelsey napped, then Lou continued after)

1 1/2 hours day 2 (Pics of Lou working)

Kelsey loves it!!

Stay tuned for Day 3......Ugh!!!!

She's Standing!

Kelsey has been trying to stand for a bit now. SHe would get into the squat position and try to stand, but would fall back on her toosh everytime. Well, while we were at the lake she mastered it. And now she does it all the time. She even can stand while holding objects, like a big wipes container or blocks in both hands. (You'll have to pardon the crooked pigtails..she likes to grab at the bows now and makes them go off-kilter)

We're back!!

We went out of town for a family vacation, but we are back now. I didn't get to upload the pics from my camera before we left so I have to back-blog.

Kelsey has been trying to assert her Independence for a few weeks now. She has been trying to get up on everything from the ottomans to her leap frog table. Those two objects we have been trying to keep her off of, but with her Dora Ride on toy and Spin and bounce Zebra we have been helping her on those. Well, right before we left she just climbed up and off her dora toy all by herself. The first couple times off was more like just falling to the floor, but eventually she made it look a little more graceful!

She has even taken to getting on it backwards....not as much fun if you ask me!