More Wildlife at Snow'd Inn

I have been doing an infant massage class on Tuesday mornings with my teacher pal, LeFlore. LeFlore is expecting Kinley's two future BFFs in November. That's right, 2! I am sure Caroline, Julia, and Kinley will hit it off nicely when they arrive. Anyways, our instructor is working on becoming a certified in infant massage so she has to have so many classes before that can happen. I am sure there is more to it but all I know is that I am learning infant massage for free with my friend. She comes to my house and teaches us how to massage the baby. I massage Kinley and they massage baby dolls. Kinley is not always a huge fan of it but I am guessing she just takes after her mom and isn't much of a morning person.

ANYWHO, after class LeFlore hangs for a bit while we chat and she practices being Mommy with Kinley. Whenever she holds her, her babies start moving and kicking. Are they saying 'HI!' or 'Quit squishing us! It's already tight enough living quarters!'?? One day when she left, we walked her out. Tobie bursts out the door to check her front yard land and we hang for a minute so she can do that. As I am coming back in, I decided to pull up a plant that had died. {do you remember what happened last time I pulled up something in the flowerbed???} Lo and behold this guy comes crawling out at me!

I am sure you can imagine what I did! Jump up, screaming and run off... to get the camera!

That is a spider.. with its egg sac attached to it!

I politely put it in some Glad-ware and left it on the porch for Preston to take care of. What did he do? He told me he shook it up real good and washed it down the sink. Say What?! You brought that thing into my house? We will probably have baby spiders crawling out of the drain. Eeeeeeeeeekkk!

A few weeks later, he was on the patio and saw a black widow. And then another. And several egg sacs. What did he do to those? Got the lighter out and burned them. Did you know the black widow will pop when burned? It does. We have (and have had it since shortly after Kinley was born) some spider bomb to bomb our house but you have to be gone for 2 hours. So someday we all, Tobie included, have to leave the house for at least 2 hours so it can rid of spiders.

2 month snapshots

Here are various snapshots from Kinley's second month....

at Kevin and Erin's wedding

Grandpa O visiting... who put who to sleep??

i was pumping so Tobie jumped up on the couch to check on Kinley when she was fussing in her swing
what a sweet big sister!

are these my style??
Dad said, "Kinley! You look too grown up. Those are not for you."

Missy is finally home from Australia and came to visit

an example of Daddy/Daughter snuggle time

Nandy and Pa came to visit
(Aunt Carol came too!)

more Daddy/Daughter snuggle fest

Cody and Caroline and Dad and Kinley

We started having bath time in your bath tub

Happy birthday flowers and balloons from my girls

The following are from our first trip, as a family of 4, to the Arkansas River over Labor Day weekend.

before we made the journey down the little hill

Grandpa O trying to get Petey to swim
(he was not a fan but it was his first time...)

our little river rat loved it!
she was SO worn out afterwards!

Kinley and I hung out, on a rock, under an umbrella

 We took several self photos while the boys were with the pups in the river.... I'll spare you and only post a few.

after Preston and Tobie made it across and back

cooling off while the pups got rinsed off 

2 months

It's hard to believe 8 weeks has gone by! At the end of my pregnancy, time was moving so slowly and now... It's going so fast!

Your 2 month appointment was the day after Mom's 30th birthday. I do love taking you in to see our doctor  because those nurses just love to love on you! One nurse said, "Come on Mom! Let's go parade her back to be weighed." This particular nurse, Jacque, or Nanny as she calls herself, especially loves to love on you. During this visit you got 4 different shots and one oral medicine! 

bright pink band aids for your shots

worn out after your 2 month check up

You were not a huge fan of the shots but did not have any issues later. It was nice to come home, eat, snuggle and then take a little nap together.

Look at that little lip turned out and getting so sad!

You weighed 10lbs 2.5oz which put you in the 51st percentile.

They measured you at 22 inches tall (dad and I think you are taller) which puts you in the 42nd percentile.{we measured you at 23.5 inches!}

Your head was 15 5/8 inches full of brains! (this was a home measurement)

These were your first pajamas. You have officially grown out of them, you tall girl.

At around 6 weeks, you started wearing size 1 diapers after a few incidents. They were not by any means blow outs that I have heard of but if we can prevent that moving up a size, we'll do it! You are still wearing your newborn clothes but we've noticed that some of the onesies are getting a little snug. Some of 0/3 month clothes fit you nicely but some still look too huge for you.

Tobie had enough....

...so she got up and left Little Sister to topple over.

My sweet baby is getting so big!

You are such a strong girl. We got your Bumbo chair out and you hold your little head up nicely while sitting in it. You don't love sitting in it for too long but do tolerate it. 

strong girl!

just hanging out

 You enjoy laying on your play mat and checking everything out. It seems like your feet and hands are always on the move. You are always watching your hands fly around over you and always surprised when one bonks you in the face. Tobie tends to lay further away from you because she doesn't enjoy your sporadic arm and leg movements. We just keep telling her that you are still learning how to control those bad boys.

the flailing hands a only a blur in photos

During the day, you aren't much of a long time napper. I have noticed that if you fall asleep "working" (having tummy time), you tend to nap longer than on your back. So, on your belly, you will nap for at least 1.5 hours. On your back? Only 30 minutes at a time. So I generally give in, pick you up and we glide together in your room. Night time sleeps are going good! You have your last 4 ounce bottle around 11:30, which means we lay you down around midnight, and you wake your sweet little self up around 6. Dad will usually pop your pacifier back in your mouth and get another 30 minutes out of you. Dad says you "sleep like a champ!".

You are smiling more when we talk to you. I just can't seem to catch it with the camera. (I vaguely remember being camera shy when I was little so maybe, just maybe, that is where it comes from. :D) Your favorite time for smiling is when you first wake up and we lay you down to change your diaper. During the day, you get fussy when laid down to change your diaper but then it's like you realize where you are and start smiling again. 

You and Dad still love to have evening snuggles. Sometimes Dad looks at my pictures on my phone and says, "You took a picture of us sleeping?" and then he keeps looking, "Another one?" "More?" You two just look so comfy and content.

just one sweet example of night time snuggles with Dad

  Some of your firsts...

You attended your first wedding and we finally made it back to church. While we were there you had your first 'communion' when you went with Mom and Dad.You had your first river outing when Grandpa O came to visit over Labor Day weekend. You helped mom blow out her candles. You met a future BFF, Caroline, when she stopped by on a visit from Ohio.

 Kinley Binley, every day I look at you in awe of wonderfully made you were. 

I feel like the luckiest girl to be your Mommy and I know Daddy loves you to pieces more and more every day. We are truly blessed.

Olympics

Being that we had a newborn in the house, we watched a lot of the Olympics. I don't remember watching as much in the past. It all seemed so exciting...especially when I was up in the middle of the night feeding Little Miss. I liked the gymnastics. Hubby liked the women's beach volleyball. You would have thought he and Misty and Kerri went way back to grade school together. 

Anywho, in order to watch the events, I had to make it through the opening ceremony with Hubby. Below are some of the things I heard, just during the opening ceremony....

During the Queen and James Bond segment you would have heard these questions/comments...

"Is this Olympic stuff or a dog food commercial??"

"So is this them really going to the Olympics"

"Oh, an old lady didn't really jump out of the helicopter."

"Let me see her hand to make sure that really is the Queen."

Later he asked:

"Why didn't he shake anyone else's hand? What's so important about the violin guy? Why not the cello girl?"

While I realize this would have made more sense to post right after the Opening Ceremony, Kinley made a good reason for me to NOT blog. I just wanted to document how traumatic watching the Opening Ceremony was. I felt like I was going to scream at him! It definitely didn't help that he was in and out of the room and not really focusing on what was going on.

Ever wonder...

... how to separate an egg yolk from the white??? 

Well, me neither. BUT, Pa taught me a way that he saw on TV or at least I think that is what he said. Sometimes you just have to stop listening to him. :D 
(I found out that he read it in an email with a little Chinese girl. "you couldn't understand a damn thing she said but you could see what she did.")

After he told me, we just had to try it. All you need is an empty water bottle. For your viewing pleasure...

All you have to do is squeeze the empty bottle, then place it on the yolk and let go. It sucks the yolk right up!

Now you can't say my Pa never taught you anything (he would always tell me that when he taught me something random, like how to separate an egg yolk from the white).

It's been a while but...

a new installment of Crazy Stuff My Pa Says is coming 'atch ya!!! 

(I picture the crowd, a crowd, well someone, erupting into a roaring cheer and applause)

They (Nandy and Pa and Aunt Carol) were dolls and came to visit on the 18th. I am glad that Aunt Carol (Nandy's sister) came to visit from Texas. I believe she twisted Pa's arm and got him on the road. :)

Snuggles with Nandy

Snoozing with Aunt Carol

While here, he said he didn't want to hold Kinley because "I'm not very stable and if I dropped her I would never forgive myself." I told him he would be sitting so it would be pretty hard to drop her. He still refused. As I was holding her, he got closer and closer and that is when 'Kinley' started talking to him, asking how he 'could resist this face?' and that he 'didn't come all this way to sit and look at me!' So he caved. He tucked himself into the corner of the couch and it started. From the second he got her in his arms, he never stopped talking to her or singing to her.

That my friends is the jewel I have for you today. Songs from Pa. 

Getting ready to sing with Pa

I remember growing up he would always sing ridiculous songs and now I have a few on tape so Kinley will never forget them. It really was sweet how much he talked to her. I could tell by the tone of his voice how over joyed he was just hanging out with her.

When I showed this last one to Preston, he said, "What the hell is he singing?" and then asked if we would be singing Nelly or some other rap song to our great grandkids some day.

And that concludes Songs from Pa. 

Now for a doozie of Crazy Stuff he says.....

He was also flabbergasted that I gave Kinley cold breast milk out of a bottle. "Cold? That's cold milk?! No wonder she cries. Do you put your tits in the fridge to cool them off before she eats from them???"

Hats and Dolls

While preparing for newborn photos, I scoured etsy and pinterest for ideas. Etsy is home to lots of homemade goodies that people sell. There was definitely a wide variety to choose from!

baby Shrek

Squirrel baby

Sombrero and poncho baby

Nipple head
Courtney later explained this one to me...  how it would be funny for the kid to wear it while breastfeeding because people would really think your boob was hanging out. I guess it is a jab at people that think breastfeeding should not be done anywhere in public.

 Some of the items were modeled on quite scary dolls....

 That same week, I went to an antique store with my friend, LeFlore (she's from school, so she goes by her last name), and saw more equally scary dolls!

Regardless of all the funny hats and scary dolls, I decided on the following hats for my precious doll.

How could I not get this snowflake hat for my little Snowflake?!

Adorable!

I just thought this one was fun.

Awe!!!

 I must say I lucked out with a pretty adorable model. :)

Welcome to the Digital Age!

I don't normally think of myself as far from the digital age or not technologically friendly but lately I have. I'm pretty good with the computer. I mean, yes, it took me forget to get a smart phone but the other wasn't broke so why fix it? ;-) 

In the last 2 weeks, I have started using fancy new things on my phone (thanks to a shove and tutorial from Courtney and Tiffany!)!

1) Instagram, which is photo sharing. It's a little annoying to me still but I am slowly getting the hang of it. [Pa, I will have to ask my tutors how you can look at the pictures.] Maybe one of them will comment and tell you step by step how to do it.]

2) Picture collages, which I am a pro at on walgreens but this lets me make a collage and add it to instagram or facebook. Fancy.

3) And lastly, Courtney told me I can get blogger on my phone! So, this is my first mobile post. Apparently this should help me in being able to easily post pictures right off of my phone! 

We'll give it a test drive... This is my favorite (phone) picture from today...

PS- the post didn't work from my phone. :( and the draft wasn't on the computer either. double :(

Snow'd Inn Wildlife

Here at Snow'd Inn (you know, what I call my house), we see various wildlife.

**all of these photos were taken pre-Kinley so if you are only interested in Kinley pictures, you can skip this post. ;)

remember this guy, Franklin? Tobie still occasionally checks for him in the flowerbed

Speaking of flowerbed, here are some of our cute little purple flowers before they got roasted in the 100+ degree weather. They look very sad now, all brown and crunchy.

 Then there is this 'wildlife' that likes to hang out in the 100+ degree weather. She doesn't normally stay out too long after we check the mail but she will just layout on the driveway to catch a few rays. When she has had enough, she comes to the front door to be let back in.

One day (July 15th to be exact) when Hubby was watering, he came back in to tell me there was a bunny in the backyard. So, of course, me and my 9 month pregnant self goes out with the camera to take some pictures. Remember, I like to pretend to be a good photographer? (the new camera really helps with this dramatic play)

Little Thumper from a distance

I got a little closer and zoomed a lot!

I think this one was after I changed the lens to an even bigger zoom
Pretty cute little guy!

He is on the move

 I followed him through the yard, snapping away and found out where he came in it. The next few pictures would be great for a flip book.

checking to see if the coast is clear on the other side

maybe not?!

yep, it is! i'm out of here!

so, long Thumper! See you around.

In the coming days, we saw Thumper quite a bit in the front yard and flowerbed. He didn't normally stick around because Tobie would bark it away. On special occasions, I would let Tobie chase it out of the front yard. She was also very adamant about checking the flowerbed to make sure it was wildlife free.