Miss Kinsley @ 12 Months!

Here is a link to our friend's photography blog. Rachel is in my Bible study and she took some pictures of Kinsley at 6 months that I LOVED so I asked her to take 12 month pics too. Kinsley and I met our friends Sari and Witten at the Plummer House here in Rochester and had fun taking some pictures with Rachel and her daughter Kaia. Turns out Miss Kins has an ear infection so I'm proud of her for being such a good sport even though she wasn't feeling well. Witten's pictures are listed first. :)

http://rachelsviggumphotography.blogspot.com/2010/08/witt-kinsley.html

Here is the link to the 6 month pics that Rachel took.

http://rachelsviggumphotography.blogspot.com/2010/02/kinsley-is-6-months.html

GUESS WHO'S ONE TODAY?!?

KINSLEY ALLISON STRYKER

August 13, 2009

8:29AM

8lbs, 19 3/4inches long

Happy birthday Baby Girl!

Now for a little trip down memory lane...

At 12 months Kinsley:

-wears size 4 pampers

-wears 18 months size clothing

-likes to clap, dance, and give kisses

-loves to read books. Her favorite book right now is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." She loves it when Mama says "what does the goldfish say?" and then I proceed to suck in my cheeks and make fish lips. :)

-takes two naps a day. Her bedtime is at 8 and she wakes up at about 7.

-loves to climb all over her bouncy chair and use it as a baby recliner to watch Cars (STILL!!)

-can walk pretty well holding on to just one of our hands

-is VERY, VERY vocal. I wonder where she gets that from...???

-can go pick up some of the things that I ask for, like "go get your monkey."

-loves to climb up stairs and pretty much climb up anything!
-is so full of life, happiness and energy. We are so blessed to have such a happy baby. :)

We love you sweet Baby Kinsley!
Love,
Mama and Dada

Out with the old, in with the new.

Well.... sort-of.  Kinsley turns one on Friday and I have been thinking more and more about how we are going to get rid of the pacifier.  I am the first to admit that we have used the pacifier as a crutch and have encouraged her to use it, but I love the fact that she can totally self-soothe herself and has been able to do so for quite a while now.  We can be in the car, and she starts to feel a little fussy so she plops the paci in and is a happy camper.  How on earth are we going to transition from the pacifier?? Problem solved!! Check out this video! Ha!!

So, not really but it was a nice thought!

This past week had a few new firsts for Kinsley:

First time at the county fair.

First time on a horse.

She wasn't too sure about this.

First time eating spaghetti.

You think she liked it??

Louie and I had a first for us this week too.  We made fried catfish and hush puppies and by "we," I mean Louie did all the cooking and I did all the cleaning.  It was delicious!

First course: salad

Bring on the fried food! Here's a pic of Louie frying up the catfish.

And some yummy hush puppies. 

A lot more seafood is to come when we head down to Jacksonville, FL Oct-Dec so that Louie can do a pediatric rotation.  I'm looking forward to some good seafood. Funny enough there is not a lot of great seafood places in Rochester, MN. Hmmmm...

Have a happy rest of the week.  More posts to come with pics of Kinsley's first birthday!!

July 2010 Trip to Texas

On Wednesday, July 21st, Kinsley and I packed up and headed north, so we could head south.  My mom and Marcus had a free stand-by ticket that expired July 31st so we figured we should take advantage and take a trip to San Antonio.  Southwest Airlines only flies out of Minneapolis so Kinsley and I left early Wednesday morning and took a drive up to The Cities and caught a flight to St. Louis, then on to Dallas, and finally we arrived in San Antonio that evening.  The flight back was even longer where we got to spend about 5 1/2 hours in Denver.  As much as I appreciate the free flight I'm not sure the stress of flying with an 11 month old on stand-by is worth the toll it took on both of us. 

All the traveling aside though, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Texas.  Especially because my friend Andrea's twins decided to grace us with their presence and make their arrival into the world at 7:09 am (literally being born right after each other in the same exact minute)...Cooper weighed 5.4 lbs and was 17 3/4 inches long and Clayton weighed in at 5.14 lbs and was 19 inches long. YAY!!! I was so lucky to be able to be in town when they showed up. 

They are just precious.  I know Andrea and Colby have their hands full right now and are probably getting zero sleep but they have lots of family nearby to help out and these sweet boys are worth all the hard work.  I miss them already!

Here is a little clip of Cooper and Clayton's nursery.

I wasn't very good about taking pictures while in San Antonio but here are a few:

Making homemade ice cream!

Yummmm!

My cousin, Amanda, (who I haven't seen in like 15 years!!!) just recently moved to Austin from Georgia so she drove down to see us and meet Kinsley.  We had a fabulous day and I'm so glad we've reconnected!

While in Texas, Kinsley learned to clap... yes, I know she's pretty behind the learning curve on this one, but it made me that much more proud.  This video was day 2 of clapping.  She's a clapping monster now.  She does it all the time and says "yaaayyyyyyyy."  It's too cute!

These last couple of shots are from the pool here in Rochester before we left for Texas.  We had a Saturday at the pool with Daddy. It was a great weekend.

Kinsley loved walking through the kiddie fountains.  We probably went through about 15 times before I asked Louie to film us.  She was totally leading here, although it looks like I'm forcing her through the water. :)

Lastly, here's a silly video of Kinsley while we were stuck in the airport at Denver.  There's only so many things you can do with an 11 month old at an airport before they start to get a little bored....