Best Friends and Sisters

I am a firm believer that God puts people in our lives for a reason. Two people don't cross paths on accident, God has a plan for those people. After rushing Kappa Alpha Theta, I instantly connected with Katie. She was such a passionate person and was always putting others before her self. We spent all of our time together and practically lived together. We lost touch a bit while she finished her Senior year and I was swamped with my student teaching, but God had a plan. Not only did we get married 1 week apart, but we were pregnant at the same time. We were scheduled to have our babies at opposite ends of the month of January in 2012. They decided to come almost 12 hours apart from each other, Annie was 1 week late on January 16, 2012 @ 10:19pm and Kinsey was 1 week early on January 17, 2012 @ 10:17am. Katie and I spent the following year texting at 3am, sharing our daughters milestones and giving each other advice. I knew then why God brought Katie and I together; to Survive Motherhood!! :) We live about 4 hours apart and are both super busy, but try and take turns visiting the other with our tiny tots in tow. 

This time it was my turn to house our friends and we had a blast! The girls are so active and talkative that they wore each other out! Katie and I attended a huge consignment event and were able to have a little one-on-one time thanks to my awesome hubby! We both walked out with great deals and are already planning on going next time. It's amazing how months can go by with quick texts to check in and when we are together again, it's like no time has passed. I am forever thankful for the friendship I have with Katie Gaston, and even more thankful that our daughters are best friends and one day may be sisters like Katie and I. 

The only day I was really able to get pictures of them was the morning we went to the park. We have a park right across the street from our house, so we were able to walk there and burn some energy before eating lunch and laying down for nap!! The girls had so much fun!

 Sweet Friends holding hands

 Two Toddlers and open space... what could be better?

 Annie Lin

 Kinsey Brynn

Best Friends

Kinsey still asks for Annie when she gets up in the morning or when she's home from school. We can't wait until we see our friends again :)

Kinsey's love and mine,

Brittany

Her Half-Birthday!!

Kinsey is 18 months today!! She is half-way to 2 and is acting like it more and more each day! We went to the Doctor for a little check up and she is growing growing!!

19.6 pounds 32 inches 18.5cm head circumference  

Her doctor was not surprised to hear she is out of her crib and into a toddler bed and was impressed with all of the words she can say! We talked about ways to foster independence without causing multiple tantrums throughout the day! 

 When she was first born we took this picture and it is currently hanging on the wall outside the hospital nursery where she was born. We had to chance to swing by and see it and I had her stand by it to get a picture. This is something I am going to try and do every 6 months from now on!

Sleep: Kinsey sleeps in her toddler bed in her new room upstairs. She loves to watch a little Curious George before bed and always has her Bear, Blanket, and her Pass (Paci). She sleeps about 12 hours at night and is napping for 2 hours at school.

Food: Still won't drink milk. She will only drink Stoneyfield Drinkable yogurt, which can get pricey. Hardly a meat eater unless it's a hot dog or chicken nuggets. She loves bananas, oranges, peas, corn, and "dip dip" (ketchup). 

Clothes: Still teeny tiny!! Depending on the store she wears anywhere from 3-6m to 18m. Mostly small bottoms and longer tops. 

Favorites: She loves Curious George and Doc McStuffins, as well as Minnie Mouse and Sofia the First. Her bear and blanket are with her all the time and she would live with a Pass if I let her. She loves to color (even on my walls!!) and read books. She has grown really fond of her Papa (Michael's dad), but still loves her Nana (his mom) and her Aunt Ashley (my sister). 

Words: She loves to talk and is learning a new word every day. Most times she at least tries to repeat words I say to her and just recently said her own version of her name (Sinsee).

As of now these are the words she can say:

-hot                    -out                        -up (up, up)
-down                -help (elp)              -dog
-yeyo (Yellow)  -Purpuh (purple)    -no no
-uh oh                -more                     -done
-gen (again)       -book                     -outside
-bubbles             -shoes                    -socks
-ya                      -hi                         -bye bye
-off                     -on                        -op (open)
-wa wa (water)   -juice                    -cack (cracker)
-moo                  -duck                     -cack cack (quack quack)
-fench fies (french fries)                  -dip dip (Ketchup)

People she can name:

• Mama
• Daddy
• Nana
• Papa
• Ach (Aunt Ashley)
• Dew (Uncle Drew)
• Ama (Gama)
• George (Curious George)
• MeeMee (Minnie)
• Doc (Doc McStuffins)
• Sha (Ms. Shaela)

 She just has the sweetest face! :)

 Never without them!

While unpacking she found all of her bears and blankets (I swap them out every so often so they get equal wear and tear. That way if she loses one, she has others that aren't "new").

Amongst all of the moving chaos I am so thankful to sit down and reflect on these past 18 months with my Sweet Mackenzie Brynn!! She is such a blessing and lights up my life every day! She is continuing to grow and becoming increasingly independent. I look forward to what these next 6 months brings. 

Kinsey's love and mine,

Brittany

Cleaning bath toys!

Now that life has started to slow down (more like I'm getting used to the craziness) I thought I would take a whack at this again! I think it's so cool to see my blog friends who are able to stay up to date with their blogs!! Kinsey is almost 18 months old, talks my ear off, and is certainly trying to be independent. She has 11 teeth and is growing like a weed (more about that later!)

While beginning to pack my little family for our big move this weekend, I decided it was about time I cleaned Kinsey's bath toys! So after perusing Pintrest and my favorite DIY blogs, I came across a formula for a vinegar mixture. I've learned a lot about white distilled vinegar these past couple weeks. One is that it's a natural disinfectant and keeps harsh chemicals from harming by sweet girl! I have started making many mixtures using white distilled vinegar and it has made cleaning my house so much easier and cheaper too! I came across Heather's blog that gave a few ways to clean bath toys and it was a total success! 

 http://welovebeingmoms.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-why-to-clean-bath-toys.html

Since my tub needed a good cleaning too I just put her toys in my tub with hot water and 1/2 cup of vinegar. I let the toys soak, scrubbed the foam letters/numbers, and was sure to suck some of the mixture into the squirt toys to be sure the insides got clean.

It worked like a charm and I didn't have to worry about bleach getting soaked up and Kinsey accidentally ingesting it!



 For more ideas of how to use vinegar check out this website!!

http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7

Kinsey's love and mine,

Brittany

Kinsey's First Day of School!

With the semester starting back and me taking a heavy load of 18 hours (ya I'm crazy), the hubby and I decided to enroll Kinsey into "school" 3 days a week. This was a very hard decision for me to make, but in the end I reminded myself that I am doing a good thing for her finishing my degree! Although I would love to stay home with her 24/7, I promised both my parents and Michael's parents that I would finish school. We spent a few days checking out the local day cares in the area and then I sat down and compared them all and prayed about it. Michael and I decided on the Xplor childcare down the street from our house. Friday February 11th was her trial day and it went pretty well.

 First day of school! :)

She was all smiles before we left the house!!

They made her this sign and it was hanging up when we walked into the toddlers room

Isn't this the saddest face!? :( (this is shortly after I left)

 Playing with her friends!

She found the books!!

Taking a nap, on her nap mat! (no crib!!)

A lot of these pictures her school sent me throughout the day and I was free to call in and check on her whenever I wanted. They were so welcoming and accommodating to her separation. I dropped her off this morning and she didn't even cry!! She just went right over to her teacher and her friends and jumped right into circle time. They said she was amazing today! You never would have been able to tell it was her second day. I am so thankful that God helped me and guided me while I made this decision. She loves going to school and it makes it much easier for me to finish up at UNT.

Kinsey's love and mine,

Brittany