Molly's 1st Trip to the Beach!

Last weekend we decided to try taking Molly to the beach for the first time.

We haven't taken her before because we weren't really sure if she would like it or not, and we also weren't sure if she would bark her head off at all the people or not. We didn't want to get out there and then have to immediately come home.
Turns out, she was pretty interested! She did bark some, but it wasn't totally annoying. Mainly she would bark at the waves when she ventured out in the water.

She got a little concerned anytime one of us would walk out into the ocean. She would come with us and bark at the waves to make sure they knew who was in charge.

Kendall had a yogurt snack.

Then she fed some to Molly.

Molly spent a lot of time rolling around on her back. I don't think she liked the way the sand and water felt all up in her coat.

Kendall had two cups of juice and had to make sure she could get to both of them at all times.

Molly thought our beach bag would be great to roll up against. Everything in it got sandy.

She was worn out pretty fast! All in all, we think she enjoyed it, but it didn't really enhance our beach experience very much. Probably she will be staying home from now on. But now we know!
Here are a couple videos of her swimming out in the waves. She really did seem to like it!

Potty!

For about 2 or 3 months now, Kendall has been interested in all things "potty." She is interested when we go, she talks about her diaper, and we've been wondering if it was getting close to time to potty-train. When Kiki and Pops came down to Lake Jackson in July they brought Kendall a potty and she has REALLY been interested in that. When they first brought it to her, she got the bowl out of it, put it on the couch, went and got the bag of cereal, and brought it in and tried to pour the cereal in the bowl. We laughed really hard, but decided to put the potty up so she didn't start thinking it was something you play with (or eat out of).
Yesterday I was changing her diaper and we started talking about the potty. I asked her if she wanted to get the potty out and she said "Potty!" So we got it down, I took off her pants and her diaper, we got some books, and she sat on the potty. She didn't stay there long though, and she kept standing up, and then sitting down again. I asked if she needed to tee-tee and she said "no" so I put her diaper and pants back on and told her to tell me if she needed to go potty.
We started playing in the living room with her puzzles and about 3 or 4 minutes later she looked at me and said "Potty!" I said, "Do you need to potty?" And she said "Potty!" and nodded her head. So I told her to come here and let me take off her pants and her diaper. We walked over to the potty and she pulled on her shirt and said "off! off!" so I took her shirt off. She sat down on the potty, put her hand to her ear like she was listening, and she actually tinkled in the potty!!!! I can't tell you how excited I got! She was probably thinking, "What is wrong with you, Mom?" I said, "Kendall, stand up! Look what you did!" She stood up and I showed her the tinkle in the potty and she just smiled and smiled and clapped and danced. I didn't have anything to give her, like an M&M or anything, so I just kept saying "Hi five!" and giving her hugs and high fives. We were super excited. And yes, we did save the tinkle in the bowl to show Dad when he got home. Then we celebrated all over again!
I don't think we're ready for full-on potty training yet, but we're definitely moving in the right direction! I think the fact that she told me she needed to go potty, and then was able to hold it while I took off her clothes and diaper, and then actually went in the potty is a pretty big deal!

Two and a half? Or 18 months?

This morning we went to see Dr. B for Kendall's 18 month check-up. She has been 18 months for 3 weeks now, but we had to reschedule our appointment. We have been looking forward to going and seeing how big she is! Well, turns out she is about the size of a two and a half year old! She weighs right at 30 lbs and is 34 inches long. Both are still above the 95th percentile. So, Dr. B said it's great that she's still proportional, and that she's just the size of the average 2 and a half year old! So big! We had some questions to ask him about her eating habits - she still doesn't eat "our" food, she usually just eats yogurt, fruit, veggies, and bread and crackers - but he said, "Obviously she's doing just fine!" Then he got to see how strong she was while he was examining her. She kicked and screamed and twisted and turned and did not like laying on that table today. He said everything looked great, though! The only teeth she lacks are her 2 yr molars, and we talked about weaning her from "Sass." This week we have only been letting her have it when she is in bed and that has gone great! I think we'll do this for a couple more weeks and then try to take it away completely.

She has been making us laugh so much lately. I keep meaning to blog about all the funny things she does, since this blog is her scrapbook and baby book, but I haven't sat down to do it. I'll try to remember some of the funny things she has said and done lately.

Today she was not happy to be at the doctor's office, she cried pretty much from the time we went back to the room until Dr. B left, and then again when she had to get shots. Of course she wouldn't talk to Dr. B at all, but right when he walked out of the room and shut the door, she said, "Bye!" Randy and I just laughed and laughed. On the way TO the doctor's office, I said, "Kendall, we're going to see Dr. B. Can you say 'Hi Dr. B!'" So she said, "Hi Bobba-D!" It was so cute!

Another funny thing she does is that she talks about her friends Ethan and Ella ALL THE TIME. She just loves them. She calls Ethan "E-E" and she says "Ella" really well. She also says "A-ron!" and "Olly." We will be driving down the street, not talking about anything and all the sudden she will say "E-E, Ella, E-E, Ella, A-Ron!" I don't know what makes her think about them, but she says their names all day long. When we were in Ft. Worth she talked about them every day; I think she missed them a lot. One morning when we were there we woke up and heard her singing through the monitor, "E-E, E-E, Ella, Ella...." She is such a sweet friend, and is so kind and loving to all her little friends. Even though Ethan is pretty rough with her, she still loves him and loves to play with him. She goes over to Holly and gives her and Ella hugs and kisses all the time and she loves to play with Sarah Grace. One specific thing I've been praying for Kendall for a long time now is that she will be a sweet, loving, kind friend and it is neat to see that starting to happen as she is getting older.

Something else Kendall does is that she will spank her own hand when she is close to something she knows she isn't supposed to play with. We had to get on to her a lot right around when she was a year old about not playing with the fireplace screen. So now, anytime she walks past it or is standing on the fireplace, she will say "No, No" and slap her hand. It's like she is saying, "No no fireplace! Don't tempt me! I'm not going to play with you!" She also does the same thing when she is walking close to Molly's food and water bowl. Self-discipline=awesome!

The past three mornings we have been going to Wee Place so that I can go to inservice training. Kendall has been able to play there while two ladies watch her and some of the other teachers' children. Each morning I've talked with her about going to school and she gets so excited. She says, "Scoo!" She is going to love it! The ladies that watch her have been amazed at how fearless she is; they can't believe she goes to the top of the slide by herself and doesn't get scared. I told them today that they should see her at the pool! She has no fear!

Kendall repeats the last word of pretty much everything we say. We were singing in the car yesterday and she was saying the last word I would say and then I said "Kendall is cute" (I think we say that a lot. I think she knows it.) When she said "cute" she raised her shoulder and cocked her head to one side. She does this anytime she says "cute." Yes. She knows it.

That's all I can remember right now. I will try to be better about writing the funny, random things she says and does during the week. I want to always remember how precious and cute she was at this age. We say 18 months is our favorite so far, and then we remember that we say that every month! It just keeps getting better and better! We love you will all our hearts Kendall-girl!

Ft. Worth Trip: Peeps' and Gigi's House

Tuesday we left Kiki and Pops' and headed to Gigi and Peeps' house for two nights. We enjoyed spending time with them and letting Kendall and Gracie play together a bunch. Kendall loves to play with "Sacie!" Tuesday night, Val, Jeff, Kathy, Mamaw, Papaw, Brenda, and Wayne came over for dinner. It was great to get to see all of them!

Wednesday morning we went to NRH2O with Gigi, Peeps, Val, and Gracie. I told Kendall that this was where I had my first job - I was a lifeguard there the summer between my Junior and Senior years of high school. She wasn't too interested in that bit of information. But she did LOVE the water park! Her favorite parts were the slides. She went down the big yellow one with us, but she was able to go down the orange ones by herself. Unfortunately, the camera died before I got a picture of that, but she looked so big!

Wednesday night we went out to dinner for my birthday and then came back to the house to play more. We tried to get a good picture of Gigi and Peeps with their two girls, but that didn't go so well. Here are the best ones we got:

Kendall even let Gracie play with her new purse Granny got for her. It has keys, a powder compact, a coin purse, and even a cell phone in it. They had some good girl time together!

We had a great time with you guys, Gigi and Peeps! And Gracie, Kendall said she loved playing with you! We love yall!

Ft. Worth Trip: Pops' and Kiki's House

Sunday morning we left Granny and Papas' house and went to Bear Creek for church. We loved getting to see all our friends and letting them see how big Kendall is getting. It was a great morning!
After church we went to lunch with Michelle, who Kendall calls "Shell." We got to go to Freebirds, which I love! Before we left I tried to get a picture of the three of us, but pictures with Kendall are not easy these days. Here are our attempts. Kendall fell that morning and got a carpet burn on her face, so she has big sores on her face in the remainder of our vacation pictures. That's just how she rolls these days - it's always something!


After lunch we moved to Pops and Kiki's house for the next two nights. Again, we were spoiled by Dad and Lisa and had such a great time. Kendall loves to cook in the kitchen anytime Kiki is in there. She has her own drawer full of stuff she can play with and she goes straight to it everytime.

We swam every day we were there. Kiki pulled out the garden hose and Kendall thought that was too much fun. She loved filling up her cups and funnels and pouring them out. Kiki even taught her how to drink out of the hose! Fun times!



Monday night Dad and Lisa had my Granny and Oscar, Aunt Donna, Alden, Scott and Maegan over to celebrate my birthday. This was the awesome cake!

For Christmas, we had given Dad and Lisa a croquet set because they had mentioned it would be a lot of fun-they have a great place in their yard to set it up. I thought it would be fun for us to play after dinner Monday night, so Dad set it up and Scott, Lisa, Randy, and I played. It was a blast! Kendall thought it was fun, too.

Thanks for a great visit, Pops and Kiki! We had a great time! We love you guys!

Ft. Worth Trip: Papas' and Granny's House

Randy took the past week off from work and we went to Ft. Worth for the week for vacation! We left on Friday and spent the first two nights at Granny and Papas' house. We had such a fun, relaxing time, swimming in the hot tub a lot, playing around the house, and shopping on Saturday. Kendall just loves playing in their hot tub. I think she would stay in there all night if we let her!

Something she loves to do lately when she swims or takes a bath is blow bubbles. It's so funny because she starts making the sound before she gets her mouth in the water. We took a video of her in the hot tub.

Saturday we went to Southlake Town Center to do some shopping. Gap had a great sale and we were able to get a lot of new fall clothes for Kendall. While we were picking out clothes, she played in the window display. I'll take one of those, please!!

Along with the Little Tyke car that Granny and Papas have, they got the VW bug out for Kendall to play with this visit. She thought the convertible was pretty fun!

Granny and Papas, Kendall loves you, and so do we! Thanks for a relaxing and fun two days!