The Comforter

Okay, so Kinley has NEVER been good with sleep. As the second child, I had a lot of assumptions as to what she would be like. I was ignorant to think she would be a lot like her sister. Emily was great with naps (aside from the first six weeks). She was in her own room at approximately 8 weeks. Well, Kinley, wanted her own identity. She would sleep for about 15 minutes at a time. People always told me to sleep when the baby slept---GOOD LUCK. The first six months were AWFUL when it came to sleep not only for Kinley but for us too.

She finally started sleeping through the night and it was amazing. I didn't think I would ever know what more than two-three hours at a time would feel like. I felt refreshed and kept telling myself that I wouldn't be exhausted. However, my little sweetheart does not like to sleep in. This morning for instance....she was up at 4:00. 4:00....oh my word.

Okay, Jennifer, where does the title of "The Comforter" come into play? When we put Kinley to bed, she often has pacifiers and "lovies" thrown about in her crib. Well, this morning she had her giant frog from build a bear in her crib. Neither Brian or myself placed it in the crib, so we asked Emily how it got in there. "I put it in Kinley's bed when she was crying, I think she wanted a lovey." So stinkin' cute.

Funny Moments

Kinley desperately wants to keep up with Emily. Sometimes it's adorable and sometimes it's scary. Emily climbs everywhere and Kinley is quick to follow. Tonight she watched how Emily climbs into a chair and does a fancy landing onto the couch, guess who wanted to try? Yes, Brian. Just kidding. Kinley copied exactly what she did and I can't fight it anymore. I have to let her play into her adventurous side, so I just sit close in case I need to do some catching.

The girls take their baths together. Kinley was ready to get out so Brian started getting her ready for bed. He got her dressed in a diaper and she walked straight back to the bathroom and I hear lots of giggling and next thing I heard was a splash followed with Emily screaming MOMMY!!! I was right there (thankfully) because Kinley leeped into the tub because she wanted to be with her sister.

They are going to be the best of friends...

Lovin' my girls

I don't think I have the words to describe the incredible amount of love that I have for my children. They crack me up. We recycle just about anything we can around here and Emily has apparently witnessed this. Sometimes we put the items in the recycling container in our house and for the bigger items we place them by the stairs to take on our next run down. Tonight, I was in the other room and when I came out and put Emily to bed, I noticed that she had taken the milk carton off of the counter and carried it to the stair drop. The only problem was that although, yes, that was the goal I had in mind, I needed to empty out the tiny bit of milk left over.

Kinley gives high fives and will mimic washing her hands on command. When I arrive at daycare to pick the girls up, Kinley kinda "flaps" her arms to her side in excitement. She walks REALLY fast toward me and surrounds her small, sweet arms around me and gives me a hug. Melts my heart every time.

Before and After

Kinley 13 months

I cannot believe it has been a month since I last posted! We have certainly been very busy this past month and my sweet Kinley is growing and changing so much. She's practically running these days she's so fast! She LOVES music. She loves to dance and will clap along with the beat. She has become very good at copying what anyone is doing. I had my head resting in my hand the other day and when I looked over at her she was copying me. Brian, Emily and I were all washing our hands and Kinley started rubbing her hands together as though she was washing hers. She's extremely observant. It's so fun to see what she's taking in.

Kinley is very curious. She gets into everything, looks at everything, touches everything. She is so busy--our house really does look like a tornado after she's gone through it. She loves two drawers in our kitchen that houses all of the girls cups and bowls and these things are found ALL OVER THE HOUSE!!! She's so funny.

Although there is still a lot of whining and pointing when she wants something, she's working on words too. "Uhhh" while holding her arms up is up. "MMMYYY" when screamed at her sister is Mine. She's still using Mama and Dada fluently.

Kinley is not a huge fan of milk. I mean, turn her nose up and turn her head at it when we offer a bottle or sippy cup with it inside. I nursed for 1 year and apparently that is her preference. She took a bottle at daycare everyday and we still offer frozen breastmilk to her and even that gets a stiff no. I guess the big bonus is she is pretty much weaned herself from bottles. She doesn't want anything before going to bed and is placed in her crib awake and falls asleep peacefully. The bummer is she wakes up early, but one of these days we'll get through it.

She is cutting all four molars right now and believe it or not, I think I may have seen swollen gums around the I teeth....oi vey.

I'm adding a video---not as great as I had hoped. She was totally singing into the microphone before I snapped this, but at least it is close to her 13th month!