Holy smokes! Where does the time go? The last few weeks have been a busy blur and I'm still not back in my daily routine. Clay is still home on vacation so it's been thrown off and we've been having extra lazy days with the kids. While I enjoy the time together, I'm also a little ready to get back in my routine that includes my morning shower, tv time, clean up time for the house, lunch, and then an afternoon nap somewhere too between the feedings and time with Chase. With everyone home, the shower is pushed to whenever and the house cleanup time well....would be now at 8pm and I just don't have the energy now (which is why I try to do it first thing on regular days. Don't know when I'll do it after I go back to work.)
Side note: Speaking of back to work, I got the HR letter that I have to go back on 1/26/11. I'm sad as I know that will be here all too soon and I'll have to part with my little man (and some of my me time.)
Anyways, we have been up to quite a bit these past few weeks. I guess I'll start around the middle of Dec (12/16) I had my 6 week checkup and all was well. Clay's folks also arrived for their holiday visit and got to meet their grandson for the first time.
I think all parties were smitten with each other :)
That next day (Sat) we had Kenley's 2nd Birthday party. I decided I didn't want to do it the same weekend as Christmas this year (or the weekend after which is New Years) so we went for the 17th. Plus we wanted Grandma and Grandpa Brockman to be here. We did a Dora theme as Kenley is absolutely OBSESSED with Dora the Explorer. I decked the house in a few themed decorations and thought I kept myself in check as I could have done much more.
HA! Now that banner threw me for a loop when I opened it. It was supposed to say "Happy Birthday" and it says "Party * Fiesta"...oh well, whatever. Here's the proof though...
We even had the Dora cake (from Sam's) to boot. It was done quite nicely. (Of course it wants to load the picture sideways...geez!)
We had a nice turnout. I had considered inviting some of K's friends from the sitter's but after I got the initial family and friends list, we had almost 20 adults and a handful of kids and decided that was plenty. Thanks to everyone who came. (I promise I'm still sending Thank You cards. Just haven't made it to that on my list yet... )
Kenley had a very nice time and got some very nice gifts. Of course many were Dora themed as well so they were a big hit too. Here are some additional pictures of the fun we had that day!
The week between the birthday party and Christmas was spent hanging with Grandma and Papa Brockman. They took her on a few "field trips" to play at the mall and we even made a trip to the library one day. We also had lots of cuddles and play time at home and the big people even got to relax and play some games after the kiddos were in bed. Again, I'll share a few pics :)
Here Kenley was showing Grandma B how to fix Chase's toy.
And here the Brockman men were just chillin on the couch :)
Kenley also enjoyed "exploring" with her backpack and high heels.
And Grandma B enjoyed getting lots of smiles and coos from the lil' man of the house.
Of course Kenley wanted some cuddles with Grandma B too...
But Kenley also likes to cuddle with all of her "friends" on the couch. I swear she is in this picture if you look :)
One of the big hits from the week was Ormi the Pig. It's a video about a pig trying to get cookies. Kenley thought it was the funniest thing and just laughed up a storm when Papa B let her watch it on his laptop.
We also took some time to try our hand at making cookies...YUM!
Here is a picture of the fun they had at the mall. You couldn't have made me go fight the crowds but they had a nice time taking her to play.
Kenley and Grandma even rode the train around.
But we didn't shirk from our other duties during the week either. We tried to tidy the house for Christmas. Kenley even helped vacuum the crumbs out of the couches.
Somehow we also all snuck some naps in. Here are my two boys catching some zzzz's.
The week passed much too quickly and before we knew it, Christmas was here. We continued what we want to be a Christmas Eve tradition and watched Charlie Brown Christmas. Kenley enjoyed it and watched very intently the entire time.
Then after she was in bed, we played Santa and set up "the tent."
Christmas morning we gathered the troops and headed downstairs. I was on the wrong side of the room when she saw Santa's gift but you could feel the glow of the smile :)
This year instead of the normal cinnamon rolls we made a nice breakfast casserole. I attempted some hashbrowns but something went awry and they ended up like crunchy potato sticks. Oh well, I made some toast and called it done. Then after breakfast we opened gifts. Kenley and Chase must have both been very good last year.
Both kids got some very nice things. Kenley couldn't decide what to play with first but she enjoyed herself so much. We also had a nice lunch and some time to visit and play games. All in all a lovely day.
The day after Christmas, the in-laws left and headed south to FL to pick up their camper and then head West to TX for the winter. They will return sometime in April/May which seems so far away but I'm sure it will be here before I have a chance to blink twice. Time just keeps going faster and faster as I get older.
Then Tuesday the 27th was Kenley's actual birthday. We decided we will always try to take the day off and spend it with her. This year we took her to open gym at the gymnastics place down the street and she had a blast in the foam pit and on the trampoline. She even walked across the balance beam with some help. Surprisingly she didn't like the bounce house even when I went in with her but all in all it was a great experience. Chase in his normal fashion, slept thru the whole thing.
We also took our annual birthday picture :)
and took her out to eat at Avanti's. The girl loves her some pasta!!! However we didn't know it was $4.99 all you can eat Spaghetti night so it was a bit busier than we expected.
WOW! That was a lot... well... that almost catches me up.... the rest of this week we have had some super lazy days. You know the ones where you stay in jammies most of the day and just run around playing. We like those!! Yesterday was New Years and we all headed to bed early. Chase did wake up about 1155pm and so I rang in the new year giving kisses to my sweet little man and rocking him back to sleep after he ate.
In other random updates, we noticed Kenley is getting her 2 year molars. The 2 on the bottom are breaking thru and she is trying to chew on her fingers whenever she can. The past week she has also had some napping issues :( She wakes up after 30-45 minutes just screaming and crying big crocodile tears. She never goes back down so she is sometimes bit fussy until bed. We had considered potty training this past week but didn't get to it. I think we all needed some downtime and we did send Kenley back to the sitter 2 days so that wouldn't have worked out. Chase is doing good and usually eating 2x a night about 4-5 hours apart. It's not too bad really as he goes down pretty easily when he's done eating and I've been falling asleep in the chair a lot less so that helps me. Chase has his 2 month appt this Friday and I'm interested to see how big he is. We took Kenley to her 2 year appt last week and she is 36 inches tall and only 25lbs. Tall and skinny for sure!!!!
It's hard to believe we have a 2 year old and an almost 2 month old. They both keep us very busy but they keep our hearts so full of love!! 2011 has been a big blessing to The Brockmans (including the new house we call home) and we can't wait to see what 2012 brings our way as we watch our little girl continue to amaze us and watch our little man grow up. I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Year. I promise I will try to post more as I get settled in a routine and return to work but I'm sure until then, the posts may be sparse. Just know I have them all swimming up in my head and will get to them when I can. Thanks for reading!! (Especially if you made it to the end!!!)
