Music class

Last fall I signed Kinley up for music class at the Music Factory & I was SO excited to see what she would do in a class with other kids her age.  I was also pretty pumped to be doing our first "activity" together (major bonding time with my peanut)!

 

I left the first class feeling a little unsure of my decision.  Kinley just sat on my lap looking at all the other kids, no smile. ever.  To be fair, she was crawling but not walking yet so I don't think there was much incentive for her to get off my lap and socialize.  This continued for the next few classes and I wondered if I was just wasting my time but the teachers assured us that even though most kids are not participating, they are watching and learning all the time.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt and we kept making the trek to the other side of town every Thursday evening.  (Driving 20 minutes to the other side of town & 20 minutes back every Thursday got old real quick especially after working all day.  I soon realized that my mom had driven that route most nights of the week for our dance classes and I'm so thankful for that.  So now I've resigned to the fact that I'm becoming a mommy taxi and it will only get worse but that comes with the "job.")

 

Anyway, after a few weeks we had a small breakthrough moment - Kinley clapped during the welcome song & put her hand in the air for the "choo choo" part of the song!  Proudest mom ever! (ok, a little exaggeration but I was still proud).  It finally hit me that even though she wasn't acting like she loved being at class, she really did enjoy it and definitely was learning!

It became a little joke between the teacher and I that we were going to get "serious Kinley" to smile before the session was over.  I gave it another week and we actually got a smile and giggles out of her!

 

From then on, it seemed like every week she did something new.

 

One evening she got off my lap during instruments time and crawled over to the daddy/baby next to us. 

Wow, a little independence! 

 

Another week she knew to start bouncing on my lap before the song started.  She really did remember what were doing every week!

 

And my proud mommy moment came when the teacher said, "now tap your feet" and she watched intently and tapped her feet like the teacher. 

She's focusing on the teacher & following directions!

This might all sound boring but I love watching her learn and grow!

We had tons of fun singing and playing instruments together during the past few months but at 27 weeks pregnant, I was ready to be done.  Not only did we sing, but we got up and danced, hopped, and twirled around the room and that got harder every week with my growing belly.  It was probably my best workout of the week, ha!

 

We decided not to sign up for Spring session since we're going to be a little busy but hope to start again in the Fall.  I also want to start Kinley in a mommy-and-me gymnastics class so I think I'm going to have to decide how many activities a 2 year old really needs.  Haha, am I really becoming that mom already?!

 

And I can't end the post without highly recommending a music class (I think they have Musikgarten-type classes nationwide).  I feel like Kinley learned so much and got a lot of interaction with kids her age.  (No, this is not a paid advertisement, I just loved it!)

I can't wait to sign baby #2 up next year!

January 16-22 in Pictures

Last Saturday we met some friends at the Corner Pub to celebrate Ryan's 30th birthday and watch the first Blackhawks game of the season!  Kinley & I matched in our red pants & black tops but I think she looked much cuter!

We took K to my parents house for the afternoon and I thought she looked like such a big girl reading her book in the car on the way over.

We have so much fun with these two (they tie the knot in May, yay!)  Of course the guys can't take a normal picture...

That's better, except we look like aliens..and my baby bump miraculously disappeared into my black shirt! :)

Kinley & I made "puffins" on Sunday morning.  They're pancake muffins & we topped them with chocolate chips, blueberries, & turkey sausage.  Yum!

Kinley helped me work on the "28 week" chalkboard for our picture.

We went to visit Scott's brother after his back surgery & to celebrate my niece Delaney's 11th birthday on Sunday.  Kinley sure loves her 'Lala!'

I had Monday off so we went & visited Scott at work that afternoon.  Kinley already found her new ride for next summer.

She was also very helpful at his desk...She opened a few programs and rearragned the icons on his computer...oops!

Bump Watch 2013: Week 28

Has it really been 4 weeks since my last Bump Watch post?!  Obviously, life has been busy but nothing too exciting.  Baby girl keeps growing and so does my belly!  I feel like I'm already huge so I looked back at my 28 picture from last time and it's not as bad as I thought.

 

Boy, do I miss being pregnant in the summer.  Have I mentioned that?  Blonde, tan, and still walking everyday.  Now I'm pale and have no desire to walk during our breaks at work...kind of blah.  Oh well, I'm so looking forward to spring already!

 

I had an appointment at 27 weeks and everything looked great.  I'm measuring slightly bigger but nothing too crazy.  Baby wanted her presence to be known when we were listening to her heartbeat and kicked right where the lady had the doppler wand.  She also decided to kick at Dr. Stone when she was measuring me.  She's an active & strong little peanut!

 

Picture morning didn't go well - Kinley wanted me to hold her and did NOT want to pose with the chalkboard.  Oh the life of a toddler...  Kinley wanted to help me decorate the chalkboard this week so I used her coloring as the background.  Kind of looks like grafitti so it's fun!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 28 weeks

Size of baby: 14.8 inches & 2.2 pounds

Total weight gain/loss:  19 pounds

Maternity clothes: Maternity pants and tops but normal dresses.

Gender: It's a GIRL! 

Movement: We might have a soccer player in there!  She rolls, kicks, and flips throughout the day and it makes me laugh every time.  Scott loves feeling her kick but Kinley hasn't been patient enough yet to feel her.

Sleep:  My hips were really hurting when I woke up for a while but the pillow between my legs seems to help.  Otherwise, sleep is...whatever.  Kinley is not the best sleeper but I'm used to it.

What I miss: Nothing major this week

Cravings: Sweets, but that's kind of normal for me.

Symptoms: I had a few issues with my lower back bothering me but it comes and goes.  Otherwise, the usual - growing belly, acid reflux, some braxton hicks.

Memorable moment for the week: 28 week doctor's appointment - hearing her heartbeat again.

In case you couldn't tell above, she was NOT happy.  My sweet little mama's girl.  :)

January 7-15 in Pictures

We went to Osaka to celebrate my sister's birthday and Kinley was very impressed with her first hibachi experience. She was also impressed with Aunt Beth's purse!

Attempt at a family pic... Kinley with a few of her aunties!

 

Baking has got a lot more fun and messy with this little one!

Caught chocolate handed!

That little wrinkled up nose gets me every time!

Scott did a golf themed bar crawl Saturday and Kinley found an extra putter that he left behind. Driving to the golf course! Since the snow hasn't stuck around for long, we decided to sled through the house! Kinley had to bring a babydoll home from Sue's house one day.  They watched Dance Moms with me. This is part of our nightly ritual - turning her lamp on and off. And I'll leave you with a little nap time picture of our sweet girls.

January 1-6 in Pictures

I love these simple posts.  I can let the pictures speak for themselves and don't have to write much.  I think they capture our everyday life so perfectly.  Some are posed but many are just every day moments that I don't want to forget.

 

Playing with poker dice/chips on the first day of 2013.

 

Kinley discovered that she loved eating handfuls of buffalo chicken dip (and it was spicy)!

Celebrating New Years day (1/1/13).

I was back at work this day so Scott & Kinley had a fun day.  I was jealous that Kinley got to work from home in her pj's. 

The booty in the air sleeping position will never get old.

Scott gave Kinley her first bathtub mohawk one night.  Her hair is finally growing so I want to attempt a "Pebbles ponytail" sometime!

We still rear face Kinley in the car but decided to turn her around on the way back from Rock Island so she could watch a movie as a special treat.  This did not end well.  She just needed a nap but wouldn't give in so we had lots of fussing on the way home.

That weekend, I got to attend a bridal fair with my brother & fiance'.  I love doing stuff like this & was so happy that they asked me to tag along!  A local radio DJ was interviewing them in this pic, so fun!

  We love bathtime at the Tucker house!  Everyone always says that Kinley looks like Scott, I think I see it here.  What do you think?

More Christmas & Birthdays

We made the trip up to Rock Island to celebrate Christmas with my dad's family on January 5.  We also celebrate my Grandma & sister's birthdays that weekend, too!

I was a terrible photographer that day and didn't get many pictures of anything besides Kinley...imagine that.  Even though I take tons of pictures, I still feel annoying when I ask everyone to pose for pictures.  My cousin Kari also blogs and feels the same way but we both agreed that we are so happy when we actually have lots of pictures of everyone! (I'll try harder next time).

Kinley entertained us while we waited to eat.  She is SUCH a cheeseball & I love it!

Ryan & Kari's son, Tyler, got a hold of my camera at some point so I had lots of beautiful self portraits!  I think he's following in mommy's footsteps.

My brother, Andy, & Alicia (recently engaged!) and Cora.

Do we have a future gymnast in the making?  Kinley practicing her bridge on the table...maybe we need to start working on manners? Oops!

Here's big sister practicing on cousin Jake!  He's only 4 months younger than Kinley but is still a peanut so she thought she was big stuff playing with him.

Hhmmm...I'll take that bottle!  She was super sweet but laid on him a few times, ha!

Here's G-ma & G-pa opening their gifts. 

This post has been all over the place so I'm just going to wrap it up.  I love getting together with our family from up North but it's never long enough!  We had a great extended Christmas season and feel so blessed that we can make time to get together with everyone in our huge family.

New Years Eve 2012

We decided to host the NYE party this year for the simple fact that I'm pregnant and wanted to be able to go to bed whenever I wanted.  (I think you get a pass when it comes to being a brat when you're preggo so I use it when I can).

 

We had fun celebrating the last day of 2012 with our peanut.  I mentioned to Scott that I wanted Kinley to stay & hang out for a while before I took her to my parents & he looked confused.  He thought that all the kids were coming over to celebrate, too, and looked a little bummed that they weren't.  I mean, seriously, how would we have got 4 kids under 4 years old to go to sleep while the parents partied?  Yeah.right.  But it was still really sweet that he wanted them there.  (Brownie points for daddy!)

 

'Miss Thang' really wanted to wear her sassy leopard dress that night to go to G-ma & G-pa's!

We took advantage of my DIY photo booth before we left.  She's already working on her model poses...or trying to rip her bow out.  ;)

We had a couple close friends over to celebrate the new year with lots of food, drinks, and games.  How cute is this "shrimp boat" that Julie brought?!  I found out that Scott's parents bought it as a wedding gift so now I'm jealous that we don't have one!

The girls hung out in the dining room and played cards (ie:  whatever drinking games we could remember from college) while blasting music from our phones.  The guys watched football and gambled - always up for something new...not!

And because these were SO good...

 

After the other ladies had a few drinks, we took our turn in the "photo booth."  I found some printables on Groop Dealz and knew they'd be a hit at the party!  That also meant that I had to make some kind of backdrop (Party City to the resuce!)  Ashley & Julie were the first up:

Jill, Jules, & Becca

Cheese!

We had a little too much fun and for some reason the guys didn't want to join...

Happy New Year!

We missed the NYC countdown but made sure to get our smooches at midnight!

 

A few of the gentlemen finally humored us and posed for a picture.

 

I actually made it until 2am when the party started winding down - only about 4 hours past my bedtime!  Even though we missed our babydoll, we had such a fun adult night with our friends!  Cheers to a new year!