Wow. Talk about a major road trip under our belts. Megan, Sheryl, Kennedy and I drove from our hometown of Portland, OR all the way to Whitefish, MT. All in all it was about an 11 hour trip each way. We broke up the drive by stopping overnight part of the way. Kennedy was a champ despite being 'locked up' in her car seat. She was happy to try out all her new toys but her favorite is still Sheryl's cell phone carrier, ha ha.
We went to Whitefish to see my best friend Niki from high school get married to her soulmate Patrick. It was a fantastic ceremony outside beside a river surrounded by trees and nature. The weather was just beautiful. Here is Olivia flowering Niki's hair before the wedding.
Here is Kennedy and Niki after the ceremony.
This trip was the first time Niki and Pat got to meet Kennedy - it was a grand time for all.
When we weren't frantically running errands or preparing for the wedding we had time for a few 'firsts'. It was Kennedy's first time seeing a horse; the first time seeing a lake and the first time seeing a train up close and personal. Choo Choo.
It was also the first time Kennedy went about in her new backpack carrier. Here is Megan trotting her around Bay Point where we stayed on Whitefish Lake. It was just gorgeous there.
Before leaving Whitefish we stopped in to Loula's for breakfast. Megan ordered the Lemon stuffed French toast. It was a sight for hungry eyes.
On the way home we stopped at a rest stop before leaving the state of Montana for a quick picnic.
Kennedy, Susan, Megan and I arrived back in Portland today after our trip to Niki and Pat's wedding in Whitefish, Montana. Expect more info and pictures from that trip in the coming days. In the meantime, here's a picture of Kennedy playing after the wedding.
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came over this evening and brought us salmon, salad, fruit salad and bread for dinner. Quite the treat. They spent some time with Kennedy. Here they are playing together with the duck puppet.
Kennedy spent the evening with Megan tonight as Susan and I were out at a meeting. We think they must have had a lot of fun together. Speaking of fun, Elle the cat has been having some with the new mobile we brought home. Everytime we leave, she knocks the birds off of their magnets. Silly cat. Here's Kennedy in her hooded sweatshirt. C.K. calls her the uni-baby when her hood is up.
Kennedy has really come into her laugh and C.K. can make her laugh at just about anything.
She's also sitting up now. And when she stands she is trying very hard to walk. She puts her feet forward but needs help on the balance part. Dad said my older sister Debra walked at 10 months. He couldn't remember when the rest of us started walking. With the first kid he said you get excited about everything. With any later kid it's more "Hey, look at that, she's walking."
Pink, pink and more pink...
Here is a common sight at our house these days. Kennedy and Elle are inseparable at times – especially when there are fun toys to play with. Kennedy loves to pat Elle and pull her fur (which we try to discourage…)
Today we did the middle class shopping experience; a trip to Babies ‘R Us and then to Costco – sheesh. We got a great new backpack to haul little Kennedy around in. She actually liked it quite a bit but we didn’t get a good photo of her smiling. Honestly. I promise. Anyhow – here’s Sheryl packing Kennedy around the house – the pack is great; it has a zillion compartments and pockets, etc. We can’t wait to get her out in it for a hike.
Monday started the construction of our basement. We are taking down one big wall that divided the space and creating a more livable space (vs. the chaotic storage bin it currently is). There will be about 300 sq. ft. of unfinished storage space and another 600 or so sq. ft. of kitchenette / TV / guest room space. Here’s our good friend Dave starting in on a new wall.
See Kennedy's expression? This is how excited she gets when she sees Elle the cat. Megan, seen here with Kennedy and Elle, is really good with both of them.
As Susan said in a previous post, we went shopping for a mobile yesterday at Mother Natures on Southeast Clinton street. We found the HABA "Zwitscherlinge" "Twitterling" Mobile. It has magnetic pieces that can come off for baby to play with. Great for the changing table area where we put it. We also got a teething toy that Kennedy really likes--in the picture below. It's just the right size and doesn't weigh very much so it doesn't bother her as much when she jerks her arm and hits herself in the head with the toy.
Here's a picture of the mobile, from Kennedy's perspective as she lay on the changing table.
Just a quick note to appease expectant grannies and other family members... Today Sheryl and Kennedy hung out for the day while I was at work. Sheryl then gave me the night off so I could play a little poker with my co-workers. I'd like to say that I took home more than I started with - but I'm still pleased with the fact that I came home with *almost* all of my money! This is only the second time I've played poker and I can say that I'm nearly hooked!
Today Sheryl, Megan and Kennedy took a trip down to New Season's for some shopping and lunch; they bought an awesome mobile that has removable birds (held on by magnets). It's hanging over the changing table now and serves as a great distraction to squirmy Kennedy during changes. It's awesome.
It's supposed to be sunny and warm tomorrow - perhaps we'll go to the zoo?
Johnny Jump Up came back out today and according to C.K., Kennedy had fun and even turned herself around a few times.
To give you a peek into Kennedy’s day – here are the notes CK left us on Thursday last week. A Day in the Life of Kennedy Anderson…
9am; Susan left
Rocked baby in arms; fell asleep at 9:15
We sat down but when she moved away from chest, she woke up at 9:22
Put her in sling and went to sleep at 9:30a, to about 10:45am
Changed diaper at 11am
Ate at 11:05am (4 oz. in 12 min.)
11:30 – 12:30 Play time (singing, talking, chewing, exercises, dancing)
Changed clothes at 12:30
Played with stupid noise thing (SNT) for 10 min.
Took walk until 3pm (Kennedy slept from 1:30 – 2:30)
Changed diaper, fed at 3pm about 3.5 oz. in 14 min.
Put her in bassinet about 3:30
3:50 HUGE POO!
Not happy – poo everywhere. Changed her and calmed her down so I could finish lunch.
Park at 4:15 – 5pm or so – much noise, talking/singing to people and me
Susan home at 5pmToday I put Kennedy into one of the 'heirlooms' that I have; a green jacket that to me looks like a bowlers outfit. It was mine when I was an infant.
Yesterday Kennedy donned an outfit from Aunt Shelly that she’s finally grown into – it’s an adorable green pants outfit with a little dog on front.
The outfit came with a pair of shoes too – but they're far too big for her now; they look like they could fit a 4 year old! Kennedy and I took a moment out of our busy day to pose for a snapshot.
We went to a family gathering at Granny Kay's today. Good food, fun and fellowship. Here's Kennedy hanging out on the couch with Levi, Katrina, and Brooke.
Since Kennedy is more mobile these days she's been trying out new positions in her bassinet. The most frequent sighting right now is in the upper right corner.
Bad Mommies – we didn’t get to writing up a blog yesterday. A thousand apologies to expectant grandparents and other family members! Maybe we’ll get in two installments today?
Yesterday we spent about half of the day getting the house in order – boring things like changing the linens out, cleaning the kitchen and bathroom, blah blah blah. We also took a walk through the neighborhood and visited various shops along the way. Sheryl and I both love being so close to so many stores and coffee houses.
The big event for the day was the acquisition of a claw foot tub from a friend of a friend. Megan, CK and Sheryl will tell you it was heavy and a lot of hard work picking it up and moving it around. From my vantage point, I’d say they’re probably right. We’re going to put the tub into our upstairs bathroom once it is plumbed and ready. For now, it graces the floor of our garage, heh heh.
The new high chair continues to impress us. We’re finding it’s a great place to put Kennedy while we’re eating too – she can play with toys and be at the table with the grownups!
Yesterday we introduced a fun new food to Kennedy: Mango! It was a lot of fun preparing it (we also prepared some carrots but will introduce those later this week) and the look on her face with the new flavor was priceless! She was a little surprised and then wanted more, mommy, more!
Kennedy is finally getting hair back. You can't tell by this picture but her bald head is going by the way. We tooled around today spending most of our time in
Laughing Horse Books . We bought a bedtime book for Kennedy. It's
Counting Kisses by Karen Katz. It's short and fun.
YAY - we have a high chair!!! (Thanks Granny Kay!!!) Our new
Zooper Peas and Carrots model arrived yesterday and it is pretty coolio. Leave it to us to insist on black 'leather' for her first chair - nothing but the best for our girl. To be honest - we really liked this model especially compared to all of the crazy kiddie prints that dominate this space. Plus - we found out later - this company is based here in Portland so bonus that we get to support a local company!
Here is our doll taking it for a spin (and I do mean spin - 4 wheels + hardwood floors + 2 mommies excited about the new toy = lots of zooming around the house!)
Even Elle got into the fun; she especially likes the packaging box in which the high chair arrived.
At last, when the fun was over, we tried out the high chair for its official purpose and fed Kennedy her dinner. (We had to cross the straps because Kennedy is so petite!) Last night we had zucchini squash with rice and a desert of pears. Yum.
Kennedy is trying so hard to sit up. The "stupid noise machine" actually helps. She sits up enough to grab on and play with all the gadgets. It's very cute.
With her cold she hasn't been eating much solid food. Today we tried zucchini squash again. It's all good.
C.K. just can't get over how good Elle cat is with Kennedy and how they play together. So he took these pictures for us today. Here they are checking each other out.
Here they are checking the photographer C.K. out.
And here they are playing with Kennedy's favorite Fisher Price kicking noise making light evoking gym toy, or as Susan calls it "stupid noise thing."
This is one of Kennedy's favorite newer toys. It's a wood bead and wire
Rollercoaster by Anatex. Susan found it used in one of the SE Portland used baby good shops. Score. Elle the cat also likes this toy a lot.
What a special day this has been for Sheryl and me. It’s our first Mother’s Day with Kennedy. Of course, Sheryl has had years of practice as a mom to Stacey – but this feels like the first big day for me. We decided that today we would celebrate with a focus on me (Susan) and for Father’s Day we would celebrate Sheryl’s role as mother so we would each have a special day to recognize our unique contributions to the family. Of course, that didn’t stop me – er, I mean Kennedy – from getting Sheryl a small present anyhow. Sheryl got a mini food processor; all the better for making up baby food from scratch!
Kennedy selected a pearl bracelet for me (which is fantastic!) and Sheryl got me a wonderful baby keepsake box for those first teeth and locks of hair. I can’t wait to start adding things to it right away.
Kennedy, of course, got in on the fun of opening presents; here she is helping Sheryl with hers...
And here she is helping me with mine; I don’t know how we could have done it without her help!
Last year at this time I was visiting my mom, pregnant with Kennedy, wondering what I would be feeling this year – my first Mother’s Day. All I can say is nothing could have prepared me for how much love I have for our baby; a day doesn’t go by that I don’t gaze down at Kennedy and wonder how I could be so lucky to have such a wonderful family.
Kennedy and I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning while Susan weeded.
There's a lot of weeding to do.
Susan called it "weeding the dandelion trees."
Today was a fun day. Kennedy's cold is wearing off and she's found her squealing voice. It's great to hear her practice all the new sounds she's learning she can make.
Kennedy still has her cold, a stuffy nose in particular. Everytime C.K. tried to wipe her nose this morning, Kennedy turned her head away. She is getting very good at turning her head away from kleenexes and from snot extractors. What is the name for that crazy snot bulb anyway?
Three of the
Rank Culture zine-sters hard at work. We had hoped to get our first edition out on May 1st but it's looking more like June 1st.
Kennedy likes pulling the ceiling fan strings and making the light or fan go on go off go on go off go on go off. Her hand eye coordination is very good.
C.K. is in his third day of care giving for Kennedy and she is just loving it. We are too. It's fun to see them have so much fun. Yesterday evening when I got home from work he had her laughing so hard with one of his cartoon voices that she was pounding her hand up and down on my shoulder. It was classic. C.K. read/is reading our favorite book
The Baby Book by the Doctors Sears and he is totally in agreement with attachment parenting. Here's a picture of the C.K. and Elle and Kennedy hanging out and relaxing.
Kennedy amazes us everyday with her developing personality. Yesterday as I was nursing her I started to sing to her. I wasn’t two beats into the song when she started to ‘sing’ with me. Of course, it was more of a humming since she was occupied otherwise, but it was so cute. I told Sheryl of the funny happening and she tried it out as well with much success. Those music classes must be paying off! Here is Kennedy after a recent bath; we love the frog towel!
I am glad we are keeping Elle because Kennedy loves her so. This morning Kennedy tried out one of Elle’s ears for a snack while hanging out with CK.
Elle is so patient and gentle with Kennedy. Not only does she allow Kennedy to snack on her ears, she lets Kennedy rearrange her face a bit too!
Last night Sheryl made up another batch of baby food. On the menu for this week was pears. We all agree they tasted better than the apples from a couple of weeks back. Kennedy agrees; here she is refusing to let go of the spoon.
We had brunch with our buddy C.K. today and went to the park. Kennedy is swinging on her own now. Here's C.K. giving her a push.
Kennedy really likes just hanging out and watching the other children. In this picture she's looking at the girl on the swing next to her.
On one of Kennedy's swings forward she dropped a big glob of spit on C.K.'s leg. He used the Radiohead line "Hey Man Nice Shot." The mom next to us heard that and assumed Kennedy was a boy. She said "What a good lookin' boy." Heh. We bought this blue and green outfit for her recently because she has so many pink outfits.
Editto this post: Stacey called me and told me that Filter, not Radiohead, does the song with the "Hey Man Nice Shot" line. So there you are.
