Look alike contest

Today was the first day of school, which meant it was just me and Haddie for the afternoon, which was very strange. I actually had time to download the pictures off of my camera. So for today let's play who does Haddie look like. I actually only need to put pictures of one other human being to figure it out. So, how much do you think Haddie looks like Baby Kinley?

Baby Kinley

Baby Haddie

Baby Haddie

Sweet little Haddie joined our family on July 16. I know, this is way late, but better late than never, right? I really can't believe that she is almost 4 weeks old already. She has been such a sweet baby. Kinley is absolutely loving having a baby sister and I think she gives her at least 500 kisses a day.

For those of you that would like to skip the labor details, feel free to just scroll down for the pictures. I woke up at 4 am to get a snack and when I got out of bed my water broke, well, it would be more accurate to say that it had a very small leak. Rich and I debated what to do until we finally went to the hospital at 11:30 am. I thought for sure they were going to send me home and tell me I had just peed my pants or something. Luckily, I passed the amniotic fluid test and they let me stay. The lovely nurse started my I.V. and started the pitocin around 1:00 pm. I thought for sure it would be a very fast process since I was only in labor with Kinley for 6 hours. Boy was I wrong. My labor progressed very slowly which gave me time to enjoy the Swamp People marathon that was on. If it wasn't for my epidural making me throw up every 30 minutes it really wouldn't have been so bad. Finally at 10:51 little Haddie joined the world and put me out of my misery. Now, on to the pictures of our adorable little girl.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I woke up Tuesday at 2:00 a.m. with one of those "wish you were dead" kind of flu bugs. I vaguely remember Tuesday. All I really remember is Kinley asking for an occasional snack, popsicle, or for me to put something on the t.v. Luckily Rich was able to leave work a bit early and save the house before Kinley burned it down. He also was left to make dinner.

Later that night, when I felt less like dying, Kinley was having a bad dream. I got up to lay by her for a little bit and had this most excellent conversation after asking what she had for dinner. She responded by asking me why we never have "man cheese sandwiches or boy cheese sandwiches." I was not following so she added, "you know, we have girled cheese sandwiches so why don't we have man cheese sandwiches?" How classic is that? We apparently need to enunciate a bit better around this house.

Be careful what you say....

Just a warning to any of you out there that may have the chance to spend some time with Kinley. You need to be careful what you tell her. Why you ask? Simple, she remembers everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Recently, Kinley was spending some time with my dear, sweet mother. My mom was telling her how she and my dad go to the prison once a month to work with an inmate. My parents do "Family Home Evening" with a prisoner once a month. My mother, with the best intentions, told Kinley all about prison and what it's like to go there.

Well, let's fast forward to today. Kinley and I were paying for our groceries at Walmart when the checker told us that somebody had been caught shoplifting. She then told Kinley what that meant and that shoplifters have to go to jail. Kinley responded with, "You want to know something awesome? My grandma has to go to jail all the time. She walks in through a big door and it shuts behind her and she is locked in there. But she likes it because there is a church she can go to." I was trying so hard not laugh while I explained to the checker why my parents were going to the jail all the time. I really feel like it was one of Kinley's better moments. I wonder if my mom will too?

Little Miss Party Planner

Kinley and I spent this last weekend without our Daddy around. Rich was out of town on a "retreat" with his firm. Apparently shortly after Rich left Kinley, became overwhelmed with a sense of missing her Daddy. She immediately began planning a "We missed you Daddy" party. In order to have a "successful party" as she put it, you need to have lots of decorations. She spent about 6 hours water painting pictures and hanging them with yarn for the party. She woke me up at 6:45 Saturday morning and said, "Mom, get out of bed. We've got to get set up for Dad's party." After witnessing her dedication to this project, I am now concerned she may have a bit of an addictive personality. No matter what I tried, I could not get the kid to quit painting. She is such a thoughtful little girl and I'm sure her Dad was super thrilled to see his 37 water painted pictures. Here are the pictures she demanded, I mean asked me to take.

Christmas...finally

So apparently Christmas has come and gone and I have failed to acknowledge it. We had a wonderful Christmas at home. Kinley, like most 4 year olds, wanted everything she saw on television. She finally narrowed it down to a lady bug pillow pet, Polly Pockets, and some blue castle she thinks she saw in a store or on a commercial. She already had a castle, so she got a Leapster instead. The day after Christmas Kinley told us that she is so thankful for Christmas so we can remember that Jesus walked on the earth. Apparently some of the Christmas spirit sunk in. Here are a few pictures to capture our Christmas morning.

Kinley at her best

First of all, I admit, I am the lamest blogger ever. For some reason I have just lost interest in blogging. I would commit to doing better but I'm pretty sure I won't. However, I will take this opportunity to share a classic Kinley comment so it will be recorded somewhere. When we got out of the car today at Kinley's school I commented on how stinky it was outside. Kinley said, "I sure hope it wasn't my bum cause that would be super embarrassing." I told her that if her tiny bum could stink up the entire parking lot there would be something seriously wrong with her.

I was lucky enough to be the parent helper today at school. Kinley is part of a special pre school that is geared towards helping children with autism. Kinley was selected as a "peer model" which she is doing a wonderful job at. There is one little boy with a severe case of autism that absolutely adores Kinley. I was so very pleased to see her playing with him, showing him how to play with babies, building blocks with him, making sure he had something to play with, and just letting him follow her around all day. I have spent a great deal of time trying to teach Kinley to be kind, considerate, and understanding of those around her. Today was one of those proud parent moments for me where it seemed like my child had actually been listening to me. As we were leaving the school Kinley told me that when I was reading to her friends I did the voices wrong and she "was so embarrassed for me". Proud parent moment over.