Keeping up with the Joneses

Mom's best friend of 24 years, Kelli Jones, and her family came to town this weekend to celebrate my Godsister's 1st birthday, and boy, did we celebrate. Although it was a little chilly on Sunday, we continued the Easter-themed celebration without concern. There were so many new friends to make at the party, and I couldn't look like a baby, even as the youngest person in attendance, so I showed off a bit by sitting up all by myself to enjoy the craziness, as well as the plastic eggs. I even skipped my nap so that I wouldn't miss a thing. Naps are for babies; although, I am sure as the afternoon continued Mom wished that I hadn't foregone that nap. I think that Reese had a blast opening gifts and getting a pink bunny nose, but the best part of the day was definitely the cake. Oh, how I wish I could get just one small bite to curb the craving. At least I now know that cake is a 1st birthday rite of passage - only about 6 months to go and then you shall be mine, delicious, sugary frosting. Reese took full advantage of her cupcake wait. Reese and I played together a little; however, I was more interested in figuring out what she had in that sippy cup. I can't help it that I have a one track mind at this point. Next time I will try not to be so distracted as I am sure we will continue to hang out and play throughout the years. As the night went on, we decided to turn the party up, but Reese's tolerance is a little low, like one sip low, and Dad wouldn't let me get my lips around his beer bottle. Parents - they ruin everything! (It's a joke - I promise; don't call child services.)

When all was said and done, the party was quite a success. In fact, Reese was passed out before all of the guests had even left, and I passed out as soon as I got home. In fact, I was so tired that I couldn't even pry my eyes open long enough to finish dinner - now, that is tired! First big birthday bash - check - Amazing!

Happy Birthday, Reese!

Mom and Kelli got to go out and party on Monday night, and because Dad was in a big meeting most of the night, I got to hang out with Grandma; however, it wasn't as fun as normal because I got a cold from the weekend of partying. All good things must come with a price. Thanks for taking care of me and my boogery nose, Grandma. Today, I am just going to hang around the house and get some much needed rest.

By the way, there was a glimpse of the beautiful warm sun yesterday, and I took full advantage with a trip down to the park with Opie. Now, back to the gloom and doom until the next time the sun decides to come out and brighten my day, literally. I just hope that it is sunny for Easter because I am so ready to hunt some eggs and get a visit from the Easter Bunny.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

This week has been yuck-y! Just when going to the park and enjoying the beautiful weather outside had become a regular occurrence, Mother Nature throws a curve ball, and I have not seen the park in far too long. On the bright side, I got to wear the new raincoat that Aunt Stephanie got for me. Now, I didn't actually get wet, or even come close to getting wet, so it was more of a fashion statement than a necessity. It is still a little big, which is a rarity when it comes to me and clothing, but that just means I will get to wear it for many more rainy days to come. Although the outside activities were a no-go this week, I still managed to have lots of fun. I played with my stuffed animal friends who live in my Moses basket, learned to pull the rings off of the Rock n' Stack, and practiced rolling over, which is now a piece of cake (mmmm...cake...). Mom and I ran lots of errands this week, and I got to pick out a birthday gift for my Godsister, Reese. Mom and I put a beach bag together for her, complete with bathing suit, sunglasses, beach hat, sunscreen, pool float, boats, and swim diapers. I am sure that she will love it because I have impeccable taste - my Aunt Stephanie swears that I get my gift of shopping from her. I went over to Hudson's house and hung out with him and Brayden while Mommy and Ms. Allyson had lunch. We decided to form a band and eat...I mean play some instruments from our repertoire. Hudson and I make one hot, chunky couple. We know what is important in life - food. Hudson and Brayden have tons of fun toys! I even sat up by myself for a few seconds; although, I still need a little help to sit up for any length of time. Then Ms. Teri came over and played with me for a couple of hours. I showed her some of my new tricks, like raspberries and pulling the rings off of the stacker. Overall, the week went pretty well, and I did not let the nasty weather get the best of me. Everyone who knows me is amazed by my ability to go with the flow and make the best of a bad situation; I even impress myself. (HA!)

Tomorrow, I will be attending my first big birthday party to honor Miss Reese, and I cannot wait to wear my new Polo dress that Grandma Purnell got for me and play with all of the other kids. I'll let you know how it goes; I am sure that I will be the life of the party.

You learn something new everyday.

Things I have learned this week:

• Applesauce is kind of tart but pretty tasty.

• Homemade baby food tastes much better than the jar concoction Mom was getting from the store, and I can eat a lot more of it, so keep it coming, Mom.

• I don't like when Dad goes out of town because I miss him too much.

• I do like having a slumber party with Aunt Stephanie; she is very fun, and she buys me awesome clothes. I now have a blue and white polka dot raincoat that I cannot wait to wear. We had a full girl's day complete with shopping, lunch, and a movie; we need to do it again when I can actually stay up to watch the movie.

• High school students are crazy, and Mom's coworkers are even crazier. High school is going to be fun; I can already tell.
  

• Beautiful weather means that I get to play outside a lot more, which I love, and that my social calendar is jam packed. I can't help that I am so popular; I mean have you seen the cheeks - who could resist?
  

and finally...

• My excersaucer makes a great place to nap. Play hard, sleep hard - that's my motto!

Busy Baby!

I'm going to warn you now; this is going to be a lengthy blog because this has been a crazy week! Let's start with last Sunday; I finally got to try a real vegetable, and boy was it disappointing. Sweet potatoes are not going to be one of my favorites. It tasted terrible, and then bumps appeared around my mouth. Go figure that I have an allergic reaction to the first food, besides cereal, that finally enters my mouth. Mom, of course, called the doctor, and I have been told that we have to shelve sweet potatoes for a few weeks and try some other vegetables. Darn! (I'll pretend to be upset so that Mom doesn't catch on to the fact that it was psychosomatically induced so as to move on to bigger and better veggies asap.) The next exciting vegetable was squash - not bad, especially in comparison to the sweet potatoes; the taste took a little getting used to, which caused a few unpleasant faces, but I think I'll give this one another shot.

Aunt Mallory babysat me last Saturday, and she encouraged me to try out a new trick. This is my latest favorite past time:


It is even more fun to do while eating! You know you love this one, Mom.


I'm so glad that I picked up the new trick when I did because I had lots of people to entertain this week. I finally got to meet my Granddad, Grandma Trish, and Uncle Doug. Unfortunately, Uncle Darren and Miss Felicia couldn't make it, but they got me an awesome pair of new kicks, which I feel serve a much better purpose in my mouth rather than on my feet, but I guess that is just my opinion. Thank you Uncle Darren and Miss Felicia; I hope I get to meet you guys soon.

Uncle Doug was really fun! I loved starring at him, and he always made funny faces on the sly to keep me entertained. He got to go out with Aunt Mallory one night; I didn't get invited, which I find a bit rude, but I think that he had a pretty good time. I really like him, and I hope I get to see him again soon.

It was wonderful to finally meet my Granddad and Grandma Trish; they came all the way from Arizona just to meet me - and I guess to see Dad and Mom too - but really to meet me. I think I made Granddad a little nervous; I guess that my moodiness when he held me didn't help, but I'm kind of like a dog in the sense that I can practically smell fear. However, by the end of the week, we had a pretty good thing going. I can tell that he is going to be a really good Granddad, so I guess I'll give him a break next time. Grandma Trish didn't waste any time getting down and playing with me; she knows a good thing when she sees it, just refer to her purse collection if you don't believe me. We had a great time hanging out and holding hands. Dad really enjoyed their visit also since he doesn't get to see them very often. I really liked getting to see my Dad with his Dad and the rest of the Kendig clan; you know a girl has got to know where she comes from.

We all had a busy week together. I was quite the little tour guide taking them around town and showing them the sights...alright, alright, Mom and Dad were the actual masterminds, but let's not get caught up in the small details; I was along for the ride, after all. We checked out a few of the historic towns in the area, like downtown Alpharetta and downtown Roswell, where we did a little shopping. We enjoyed many of the local restaurants - wait, let me rephrase that - they enjoyed many of the local restaurants while I tried not to throw a hissy fit because of the apparent injustice in this whole food deal. However, I think that I did a pretty good job of holding it together, and I even found that a few of the establishments made a nice spot for a quick nap. We got to meet a couple of Grandma Trish's friends, Dave and Janet, who were extremely nice, even when I decided to have a bit of a meltdown at their house. I can't help it; I was tired. I introduced Grandad, Grandma Trish, and Uncle Doug to Grandma Purnell, Aunt Mallory, Aunt Stephanie, and Uncle Ian, which turned into a lovely evening at Grandma's house. As icing on the cake, we took them to see the King Tut exhibit on Friday, which was my 5-month birthday, by the way. Next time, I would rather go to Chuck E Cheese, but I guess King Tut was okay this time. I slept through most of the exhibit, insisted on a bottle towards the end, and dressed up like a Pharaoh in the gift shop - not my idea. I think that everyone really enjoyed it - the exhibit I mean, not my moment as a Pharaoh, for which I am thoroughly embarrassed. I really hope that they all had a great time because I am so happy that I finally got to meet them, and I cannot wait to see them again. Arizona - here I come, perhaps.

Today has been a day of relaxation after the very busy week. I ate a little squash and played around in the awesome ballet outfit Grandma Trish got for me; again, I think that it's rightful place is in the mouth. I make one good looking ballerina; perhaps, this is a viable career option; although, dainty is not really a choice adjective that I would use to describe myself. Then I did what any normal 5-month-old does on a Saturday afternoon and lounged around the house dressed up like a flower, a great ending to an exquisite week. Now, I need to sleep for quite awhile to catch up on my beauty rest.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

So, this weather stuff is confusing! On Sunday it was so cold that I got to see snow, and today was so warm that we got to go to the park. It's a good thing I don't dress myself, or I would really be in a tizzy.

Anyways, my boys and I headed to Sims Lake Park with the moms today. It was so pretty out! The wind felt really good; it kind of tickled my face, which made me laugh, but it also made it hard to breathe at times, so I had to pant a little to catch my breath. We strolled around the lake while Brayden, my older boyfriend (a friend who is a boy, dad), rode his scooter. Then we stopped and fed the geese, but I was more interested in all of the people than the actual geese; they're geese for Pete's sake - boring. Of course, Mom insisted on taking several pictures; I better get a modeling contact after all of this practice. After we fed the geese, we got to play on the playground. I bounced in a bouncy car, went down the slide, and swung on a swing with Mom. It was quite eventful if I do say so myself. The park was packed, and one disgusting little boy kept spitting in the other kids' faces; boys can be so gross! I didn't go near him; I am way too classy for that. i took everything in while Luke was full of smiles, and Hudson was really sleepy. After working up an appetite, we headed to Chick-fil-A where the moms got to eat what I can only assume is tasty food, and I got my bottle. Go figure! Even with that small upset, the day was wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself; I didn't make even one disgruntled noise the entire time. On the way home, I was so exhausted that I barely made it out of the Chick-fil-A parking lot before being lulled to sleep, which continued well after we got home. I give the park two thumbs up!

I hope that I got dirty enough at the park to warrant another bath tonight because I love my new ducky bath towel. It's just another reason to look forward to bath time, like I need another reason. I have yet to find anything more fun than sucking on my plastic bath monkey while splashing Mom with my feet and getting her soaked. Hi-lar-i-ous!

On a side note, my teeth have been hurting really badly. I just wish that they would hurry up and get through my gums. It has been so painful lately that the only way to gain some relief is to suck on a really cold, wet towel. It was so bad the other day that it was interrupting my beauty sleep regiment, and although I was exhausted, I couldn't fall asleep until Mom gave me a cold towel to suck on, which finally allowed me to drift into dreamland. This teething stuff is a real pain. Do I really need teeth? This better be worth it!