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)