The A says ahhh!

Thanks to my cousin's wife for her blog post about the Leapfrog Letter Factory Video. Their daughter is a little older than Kelsey, but I decided to get it anyways and all I can say is WOW!! Kelsey knows and recognizes all of the letters and their sounds. She is constantly singing the song and talking about her letters. A long time ago at the dollar store I bought some letter flashcards which she now plays with in the car. What really impressed me this weekend was she was going through them in the car and she would tell us the letter, it's sound and then on the other side is a word/picture that starts with the letter. As you'll see on the video when she got to "K" she tells me that Kelsey and Kangaroo also start with K (obviously neither of those were on the card), so she is really learning, not just repeating what's on the card. Very cool!! (video quality is not great..it's from my cell)

Swimming Refresher....

Normally I would just do this myself, but our pool has been too cool for me to take her in and work with her (however this week it has finally gotten up to about 84). And with my upcoming (unavoidable) c-section I am not going to be able to take Ms. Kelsey in for 6 weeks post. With only a little over 2 weeks until baby sister arrives, I debated and debated and finally decided just to shoot the swim instructor an email last Thursday and see if there was any way she could squeeze Kelsey in for this week. Low and behold she was able to work her in at 9 am (not my ideal time as that's prime snuggle time), so we snatched up the time slot. This way we would have 2 weeks pre-baby to work on her swimming.

I tried making/having Kelsey float the other weekend when I was at my parents and that led to nothing but crying (very loudly) and then full on pouting with her arms crossed and all. I warned Ms. Kirsten that she was gonna cry and she did! Monday she cried basically the whole time. Saying "I want Mama" and telling Kirsten she was done. She still for the most part did what she was asked. Yesterday she cried as I walked her to the pool edge and then for about the first 3-4 minutes and then was done. She did great. And today she cried (more whined) as I walked her to the pool edge and then never cried in the pool. She did wonderful. She was floating really well, swimming great, and even did good when flipped upside down in the water and had to resurface. She finished her refresher in 3 days!! We still need to work with her on using her arms, but that will just take time and practice, but we know she will get it. I(we) will feel much better having her around the pool this summer knowing she's already got it down.

Here's a video from her lesson today.

Super Happy

Kelsey just put her hands in the shape of a heart (well as close to making a heart as she could), she then leaned into me and placed her heart shaped hands on my chest. She looked up at me and asked "Do I make your heart super happy?" I told her yes you make my heart happy. She said "No, do I make your heart SUPER Happy?" Yes princess, you make mommy's heart SUPER happy. How do you not just love that?!?! I'm putting that away in my heart as a special memory to be pulled out in about 10 years!

Day before Easter

Lou's travel schedule changed and he was home the Saturday before Easter, so we took Kelsey to a local park that was having a huge Easter Eggstravaganza held by the local Methodist church. There were lots of crafts, free food, bounce houses and egg hunts divided up by age groups. I forgot to take a picture of the before, but it was essentially a soccer field covered with eggs. You filed in around when it was your age groups time and then when they blew the whistle it was mass chaos onto the field (I'm sure the older age groups were actually chaos, K's age group was just lots of people) She had a good time picking up eggs and then when we were done we sat on another field and let her open them up. She doesn't eat candy (which is pretty much what was in them all) so she'd open them and put the candy in a pile for her cousins, then closed the eggs.
After nap on Saturday we let her dye her Easter eggs. I showed her how to draw on it with a crayon before putting them in the dye and she really liked that. We even made an egg for baby sister, along with an AUburn one, a UF one and a Kelsey bear one. She would've loved to dye about 30 if we had them.

Backwards Counting...

Kelsey just counted backwards from 5, totally unprompted. We are snuggling in bed on this rainy morning and she has a little pen flashlight and was counting her fingers. Then all of a sudden she started with her thumb and said 5 and then put up her pointer and said 4 and so on. So cool!! We don't even work on that.....

Yes, I know I have been slacking. I promise I have a BUNCH of posts coming with pictures. They will be up soon hopefully. 4 week countdown until baby girl #2 arrives!! Aaaagghhhhh!

SeaWorld

Lou had a dinner program in Orlando he needed to be at on a Saturday night, so we decided to take advantage of it (and of him being with us on a Saturday) and go up and spend the morning/afternoon at SeaWorld. It was kinda a last minute trip (I imagine when we have 2 kids, last minute trips will be harder to plan.) By the time we got there, parked and took the tram to the front we only had about 3-4 hours till Lou needed to be at the hotel to get ready for his dinner. I was initially bummed about this, but turns out my 8 month prego body wouldn't have been able to handle much more.

We saw the dolphins playing around from up above (skipped the long line to feed them) and then went to watch them from below as well (I think this was K's favorite part)

We went and saw the manatees

Somehow made it on time for the Shamu Show. he smile I caught on Kelsey's face is why we as parents do everything we do for our children. It just melts my heart.

We rode on the carousel, but she did not want to go on any of the other rides in the kids area. Since we were limited on time we didn't want to push it. Lou even multi-tasked while on the carousel and was chekcing his e-mail..LOL

We saw the sharks. You are on an moving sidewalk through a clear tunnel and the sharks are swimming all around you..this freaked her out just a little bit. She wasn't crying in fear, but definitely was snuggled in close to daddy's shoulder.

Went through the penguin area and saw lots and lots of penguins

And quickly went through and saw the seals and sea lions before we had to leave.

The nice thing is as FL residents, for the price of a 1 day ticket (actually less I think) we can go back all year as many times as we want until Dec 31. With baby sister coming at the end of May, we will prob only be able to go back once in the fall, but still it's a pretty great promotion.

We went to the hotel and while Kelsey went down for a nap, Lou got ready for his program and left. Kelsey and I had a girls night and went down for the managers reception and then went to dinner just the two of us. We took a bubble bath and then snuggled up in bed and watched a movie. All in all we had a great day. Kelsey asks when we are going back all of the time.

Our Flower Girl

Kelsey absolutely LOVES flowers. She picks some out of the garden EVERYday. I try to limit the # she picks, because otherwise they will be non left. She then likes to put them in a bowl of water.Every time we go to Gma/Gpa McDonald's house, she gets out of the car and says "I need to get a surprise for Gramma". She then heads over to the red hibiscus bush and picks a flower to bring inside to gramma. We have told her she is only allowed to pick 1 each time we go there (otherwise mom/dad would have a bare bush in a matter of seconds)

Passed Out....

I was working in my sewing room and Lou asked if I wanted him to get Kelsey up from her nap(I think it was after 4). I said sure and heard him open her door and go in. About 15 minutes passed by and I never heard from either of them, so I went to investigate and this is what I found. (By the time I grabbed the camera, you can see that K had started to wake up)

How to Eat a Dinosaur....

To the Zoo...

With Lou's new crazy schedule he has Mondays off, so we took Kelsey back up to the Brevard Zoo the day after Easter. We really like this zoo because it is not too big and has a great play area with water and hands on things to do like the petting area. Since it was a special trip we decided we would let her "feed" the animals. In the bird area, you can buy a stick of food and a nectar cup for certain birds. She liked the stick, but was a little freaked by the nectar cup because the birds came so close., she was much happier when daddy held the cup.

On our way up to see the giraffes we saw 3 rhinos (they are usually hiding, but were right near the platform. We also saw the cheetahs (which is the new exhibit). We went to feed the giraffes and unfortunately after I bought the crackers they wouldn't come anywhere near the feeding platform..oh well! She still got to see them. We saw the alligators and crocodiles and lots of different types of monkeys. We also stopped by the flamingo viewing area. She really enjoys seeing the animals.

The water play area is very neat. There are 2 shallow pool areas and the bigger one has a rock island in the center. Built into the rock island are PVC tunnels to pour water in and watch where it comes out below. Kelsey was fascinated with this when Lou showed her how they worked. At the far end there is also a HUGE aquarium you can look into and see the fish swimming while you are in the water.

In the Clover...

After our group Easter egg hunt, K plopped down in the clover like one of the younger girls.

She was picking and smelling the flowers. My friend Yanin took some cute pics.

1st Dentist Appointment...

I took Kelsey for her first dentist appointment today. At Dermody Dental they give cleanings/check-ups free to kids under 3! Kelsey did awesome today, I was so proud of her. Ms. Liz took us back and Kelsey got to climb up in the big chair all by herself. We counted all of her teeth (there are 20) and she said she has nice spacing in her molars so we don't need to floss yet. Then she got a new purple tooth brush and Ms. Liz brushed on a fluoride treatment. After that Kelsey got to pick a special treat from the treasure box (she chose a colorful bracelet) There is a play area in the back and Kelsey played back there while we waited for Dr. Rachel to see her. Dr. Rachel was very nice. She took Kelsey for a ride in the chair and even turned on the overhead light. She counted her teeth as well (just in case it changed) She told me the 2 things we were concerned about, we do not need to worry about: Kelsey has an under bite which caused one of her top front teeth to be pulled backwards while it was coming in and she likes to crunch/grind her teeth. Dr. Rachel did say that Kelsey is most likely going to need braces around age 12. (She's doomed from Lou & I) She said the mouth grows in length not width and Kelsey does not have spaces in her front 4 top/bottom teeth for her big teeth to come in.

Moms' Group Easter Party

Again this year we had an Easter party with our moms' group. Snacks and an Easter egg hunt. We each bring 10 filled eggs per child and then they are spread out in a field. We decided to let the the 3 and under kids go first this year and get their 10 and then we let the older kids go. Kelsey had fun, but at 2 1/2 it is a hard concept to understand getting 10 and then going back in the park so the big kids can play too. Needless to say we had a little breakdown (or two). I let her pick up a bunch while I took pics and a video, and then I sat on the ground with her and we counted out 10 and I threw the rest back out. (that was the start of breakdown #1) I occupied her for a little bit by putting her eggs out in another spot and letting her "find" them again. When the big kids took off...she took off too. She was just running with her basket so I let her go, but then she found an egg. I threw it back out so the big kids could get their 10 as well (breakdown #2). Overall she had a good time and the breakdowns were small.
Kelsey, Tatiana & Gianna (& Jayden)
Collecting eggs
Right after couting out our 10 eggs
Opening all of her eggs to see what was in them. She's so good and doesn't even ask for the candy :-)



Here's a video clip of her going after the eggs....

A bunch of our friends gave us their empty eggs. We had alot of fun with these in the afternoon after naptime. I "hid" her eggs and then let her find them. She thought this was sooo much fun. Then she wanted to hide them herself and find them.(hiding them was to place them all in the crack of the couch)

Baby shower...

My girlfriends threw me and my friend Carla a duel baby shower today. We are both due in May with little girls. They are so awesome and I do not know where I'd be had I not met this group of girls after having K. We didn't open the gifts there, but brought them home to open with daddy after he got home from work. Kelsey was so excited to open the gifts for her baby sister and told me all afternoon that she wanted to open the middle one first. So, when we sat down to open gifts, we let her open that one first and then let her choose and open the rest as well. She had the cutest comments on everything and more than once said "This is nice, it's very nice"

K & I opening gifts

Kelsey holding "Baby Lori" LOL My friends thought it was funny to print out a picture of my head and attach it to a onesie (they did the same for Carla as well)

Springtime Berry Planting..

Last year we planted strawberries and Kelsey loved being able to pick them and wash them. So this year we decided to plant them again AND we planted raspberries and blueberries. Kelsey saw the blueberry container when we were at Lowe's and asked to plant them as well. (The only thing I didn't realize until we got home is that blueberries need 2 plants for cross pollination, so we'll have to go pick up a second one.) With the time change we had plenty of time after dinner to get them planted. Since we have a small garden area I decided to hang the strawberries this year and just use extra pots I have for the other berries. That way we still have room to plant tomatoes, peppers and arugula.
Carrying the blueberry plant all by herself. We planted this in a pot near the patio.
She wanted to carry the strawberry plant all the way out to the garden by herself. Below is a little video of clip of her.

Sitting with her raspberries...she has to be careful with these because there are little prickers/thorns on this plant

I found if I click the camera while counting (before I get to three) she doesn't give me the extra cheesey grin!! (See next picture for the after I counted to 3 pic)

Bubbles in the car...

I had to wait in a long line at the Walgreens pharmacy drive thru and Kelsey was getting restless. I dug around and found some bubbles and presto life was all good again!!

Silly Girl...

The other morning Kelsey was playing around and emptied out the tissue box (putting all of the tissues in her basket). She then put on her headband and was a "runner". She began walking around with one foot in the empty tissue box, carrying her basket. She looked sooo silly I had to catch a picture on my phone.

Last Solo flight....

on Dumbo!


Lou & I had 2 days left on our Disney passes (which expired mid-March) so we took Kelsey to Orlando for her last time there as an only child. The week prior all she kept talking about was going to Disney and riding on Dumbo, and seeing different characters. As we were walking into Magic Kingdom on Sunday, a parade had just started, so we stopped to watch it. When it was over, the first ride we headed to was Dumbo. Not used to having to wait in a long line, she did pretty good and we let her "drive" the elephant up and down. We went on the carousel and some other rides and then we went back to the hotel for a nap.

When we went back to the park, Kelsey went on her first roller coaster ride with Daddy (mommy couldn't go because she's pregnant), Goofy's Barnstormer. She had fun and even raised her arms in the air..but she did say it was a little scary for her. (See video clip below) We went on a few more rides and caught the Spectro Magic Parade. As we were waiting for it to start daddy took her to one of the carts to let her pick out a light up toy. What did our little princess choose you ask...a light up sword!!! LOL

On Monday we went to Animal Kingdom. There's actually more there to do than I thought there would be. We walked through and area that had a huge fish tank and Kelsey was loving it. We saw all types of animals, went on a safari and saw Giraffes and elephants! They have an animal petting area that you can take a train to. Kelsey really enjoyed this area as she got to pick a brush and then brush the animals. The last thing we did for the day was to catch the Lion King show. Kelsey enjoyed this but was getting sleepy and just wanted to go to sleep towards the end. We decided to head home after that since she was tired and Lou needed to work the next day.

PS...Kelsey did awesome with the potty training while there. I was a little worried. I bought plastic training pants and put those on over her panties for a just in case. My thought was this way I could carry lots of panties, but wouldn't have to carry lots of pants/jeans as well. She only had one accident at the end of the night on Sunday. We are soooooo PROUD of her!!