A Baby and Some Grass

And literally, the title of my post is just what this post is all about.   It's amazing what some sunshine and playing outside can do for this little girls mood. It's moments like this, just being outside with her, watching her hair blow in the wind, her feet kicking around in the grass, and how at peace she is with just sitting outside, that make me realize what life is about.  

I just love this little girl to pieces.  

Hump Day Humor

Today started just like the rest of my days: early! Kinsley woke up at 7:00am, I tended to her and her needs and then we played for a bit before Kyle got back from the gym. I was sitting at my desk working and Kyle had just got back inside from taking Marley out. He mentions to me how he saw this woman walking down our street, barefoot and appeared to be crying. We thought it was strange, but carried on like usual.   Then Kyle mentions that there were three cop cars outside and the lady was back in sight, pacing the street and on the phone. So I did what every nosey person would do, I open our front door and take a glimpse of what the heck was going on. Yup- three cop cars, a barefoot woman on the phone, and she was huffing and puffing, very apparent she was crying and upset.   Kind of boring stuff to me, so I close the door and Kyle and I try and figure out what could be going on. Next thing I know, Kyle starts shouting "oh my gosh he's chasing her!"  "WOW! He just threw something at the cop car!!!!" "HOLY CRAP HE'S NAKED!!!!". So, I'm still standing by the front door, and quickly lock it before some weirdo naked man tries to come inside! Kyle rushes to our front window (his office) and keeps saying "OMG he's naked and running with a broom!!!!". So of course, I go to join in the watch party from our front window. Sure enough, clear as day, there's a young man running down our street butt naked with a broom in one hand, and his other hand covering up his "junk" with a cop chasing him down the street. Uhhhh....what the heck?????? Kyle tells me that after I closed the door, out of one of the townhouses down the street from us this naked guy comes running out- and appeared to be chasing this barefoot woman we saw. The woman took off running, the guy is running behind her, he decides to throw a bunch of stuff at the cop car, throws a basketball at the lady who is running away, and keeps on running with a broom in his hand-butt naked. The naked man on the loose ran off into a woody area, turned around and ran behind the cop car and between some houses. About 5 minutes later, five cop cars and our shock of "holy cow we just saw a man running down our street naked", the cops surfaced with the naked man (now wearing a skirt- ha!) in handcuffs. And then came the ambulance and a firetruck. The guy was screaming so loud. Who knows what happened, but he left strapped down in an ambulance.    I'm secretly refreshing the mugshots for our area because this is huge. It's like the biggest news to ever happen in our neighborhood. For a quiet, gated community, this is pretty big. We're assuming it was a domestic dispute, or the man was just crazy and on a lot of drugs. I mean who willingly runs out of their house naked, throws a BASKETBALL and glass objects at a cop car, while carrying a broom? Needless to say I'll never look at a broom the same again. So if you're having a crappy day, just think...you could have been chased by a naked man this morning. Or you could have been a witness to it ;) Happy Hump Day!

A Moment in Time

There are times I get a picture of Kinsley that I absolutely fall in love with. Like, I swoon over it, I melt into a million crumbled up pieces of Reese's Pieces, I get a little choked up inside and I just want to freeze time for a minute.   This is one of those pictures.

 If I could bottle this moment in time, I would. I would keep her this little forever. 
But that's not possible.
So instead I will forever remember this moment in time that I captured in a picture.
I'll never forget the way she gets shy around Kyle. I'll never forget all those scrumptious rolls. I'll never forget the way her big brown eyes sparkle. I'll never forget the way her hair lays, no matter how many times I sweep it to the side. I'll never forget how angelic she looks. And I'll never forget the way a simple smile from her can brighten my day.

{kinsley's weekly letters} 38 Weeks

 

Baby Girl,   Oh sweet baby girl, where did this week go?? I swear it only lasted two days and here we are again making your letter.   You have been quite the ham this week. Blowing raspberries is by far your favorite thing to do. You'll start going and last for a good 5-10 minutes. I have to remind you to stop for a second to catch your breath, and then you continue right back up. Your daddy is teaching you bad habits, although I am partially to blame for this habit of yours.   You have been sleeping AMAZING! There was only one night I had to go in there and give you a pacifier, and then you were right back out. It's been awesome and I can't thank you enough for giving me the gift of little, uninterrupted, sleep! Your naps have also seemed to be getting longer and longer, and you (usually) go down easy for naps. On average your nap for 1.5 hours at a time, but you've been throwing us loops with 2 hours and even 2.5 hour naps. Hooray!! I love nap time!! You learned how to turn the pages of books all by yourself. I noticed one day you started reaching for one of the pages and I brought the book closer to you, and you reached over and flipped the page. So I tried it again, and you did it! Now it's one of your favorite things to do. You'll reach into a basket, get a book out and look at me like "can we read this one, momma".  It's so cute!   You experienced baby jail and absolutely hated it. Your Uncle Jeremy let me borrow his baby play yard and thought it would be the perfect solution to keeping you out of everything while I work. FAIL! It worked the first day, just because it was something new. But the next day you wanted nothing to do it with and just sat there crying at me like "are you serious, mom??". SOOO it has since come down and is put away for the time being. I gave up the fight and this is the first week you actually have objects in your weekly picture. Taking your picture, changing your diaper and getting you dressed deserves a gold medal. Because it's quite challenging and I have the hardest time!! Like I'm sweating and my anxiety is out the door once I'm done. Oh boy.   You love to kiss now. And by kiss I mean open mouth, lick the person or object and refuse to move your head afterwards. You love to  "kiss" my face, "kiss" the mirror, "kiss" your baby doll, "kiss" the sliding glass door, etc.. It's so funny to watch and you always make this funny little grunt when you do it. You also love to chomp down on my shoulder and teeth on it. Not the most pleasant feeling, but it's hard for me to say no to you. SO I let you chow down on it and deal with the red marks that follow.   I feel like so much happened this past week, but I'm forgetting all of it. This week has FLOWN by and I'm not enjoying that one bit. Well, actually I am, but I don't like the feeling that I can't even remember all the fun stuff you're doing. We love you more than words can ever say.   Love, Momma

Behind The Scenes

So you may see our pictures every week of sweet, smiling, Kinsley. And yes- they are pretty adorable, but let me tell ya this: IT'S THE HARDEST TASK TO DO!! 

  I actually dread having to take these pictures now just because how impossibly hard it is to get ONE cute picture to use. So here's a little sample of what our usual photo shoot consists of.   I take her pictures every single week in her room. I lay down a blanket or quilt (lately it's been the same white quilt), open up the blinds, get my iPhone ready (sometimes I use my Nikon. Today I used my bad boy Nikon) and brief myself mentally for the battle. You can do this, Jenna. It's only a few minutes of your life and if she flips over a thousand times, it'll be OK!

 So I lay her down on the quilt and she'll instantly grab the nearest object. Today's object was a brush. Hey- at least it matches the outfit so I said screw it, if that makes her happy we'll keep the brush in the picture! (i'm getting that desperate). And as soon as she gets that brush she decides she wants to pass gas- hence the horrid red face.

 Yup- she was still passing gas.

And then decided the brush was her BFF again. And I must note that I've flipped her from her stomach to her back, knocked her in the head with my camera lens, had the camera strap choke me from her grabbing on to it approximately 7 times by now.
This is where I huff and puff and my blood pressure is orbiting in space somewhere and I call in Kyle. And by call in I mean scream, "CAN YOU COME HELP ME!?!?!!!" completely out of breath, flushed face, and sweating profusely.

So in come Kyles with all his magical picture taking glory. We kind of prep each other by saying "you ready?" "you got your goods out" (and by "goods" I mean toys, weirdos), "we can do this" and get to work.   We attempt to take the object away from her and Kyle shakes dolls and toys in her face to get her to smile. We get the baby voice going in full force by saying stupid things like
"P-U, you stinky" and blow raspberries in hopes of getting one single smile. It lasts for about 2 milliseconds.

 

And then the rolling over starts. Which leads to this...

Because we told her "no" and rolled her back onto her back. And then that leads to more of this...

And then I say SCREW IT, WE'RE DONE, and then sulk in the rocker with my head in my hands thinking why can't I get ONE good picture, ever!
So I call the photos officially d-o-n-e, look through what little pictures I do have and then see this little girl come crawling over to me and decide she's perfectly fine now.

And then I get a picture that just absolutely melts my heart and I realize that getting that "one" perfect picture each week really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Bow Romper