Saturday, November 13, 2010

7 Months Old

Dear McKenna,

You are now 7 months old!

7 months old, November 9, 2010

Oh, how wonderful and unforgettable the past 7 months have been. We are in awe of you as you conquer milestone after milestone. Life with you is simply amazing, something I cherish each and every day.

You are inquisitive, observant, loving, charming, silly, happy, smart, beautiful, and fun.

You love to play with anything and everything around you. But you do have your favorites...your favorite toys are your LeapFrog Spin Spin Spin Again, your dolly, your Mozart orchestra cube, and your jumper. You love toys that play music and ones that you can put in your mouth. You are always chewing on dolly's hands, feet, and head!

You also love technology! You are mesmorized by our laptop and you are always wanting to grab the T.V. remote or my cell phone. It's either because they light up or because you're already wanting to text! :)

Here we are talking to GranMom on the phone!

You love your puppy, Trippy, so much! You are always looking for her. It makes you laugh so hard when we chase her around the house and when she is chasing her ball. Trippy sure does love you right back.

I know it doesn't look very good, but Trippy was actually snuggling in with Kenna and then Kenna put her arms around her neck to snuggle her back. They were both loving it. Kenna was giggling so hard!


Your eyes are so bright, so expressive. Your smile lights up the room.

You are wearing size 2 diapers and you're wearing size 6 month clothes. We know that you're still a peanut, but in our eyes we can't believe how much you've grown.

You are still a great eater. You love everything we give you, and you'd really love it if we'd let you eat right off of our plates! We began giving you yogurt this month - peach has been your favorite - just like mommy & daddy! You are loving your new found independence with eating finger foods. You like to snack on fruity puffs and yogurt bites...Trippy does too :)

You held your bottle all by yourself for the first time at 7 months 4 days! You did it during your 6/7 month pictures! You were laying on your back and you didn't just hold your bottle, but you took the bottle out of your mouth and put it back in. Daddy & I were loving it! The photographer was able to capture the moment right on film!

This past month you got your first cold. You were congested and had a very hard time breathing. You had a hard time drinking your bottles and sucking on your pacifier...and that made you even more mad! We took lots of warm baths to try to help you breathe bettter...but there wasn't much else we could do.

You've been in the beginning stages of crawling. Aunt Krissy taught you how to prop yourself up on your hands and knees, but after awhile you just fall back down onto your belly where you are more comfortable. When you would attempt to move forward you would actually end up pushing yourself backwards, not really getting the idea of how to move forward to get where you wanted to go. You get so frustrated with just laying on your belly; you so badly want to be able to get to a toy, to Trippy, or to Mommy & Daddy. Slowly but surely you're starting to inch forward. Recently you have figured out how to get where you wanted to go by doing a flopping thing while laying on your back, combined with rolling over. You lift your butt up in the air and then push with your legs to scoot your body forward, then you just roll over onto your tummy to see if you made it. It's so funny to watch. Yesterday, at 7 months 1 week old, Aunt Krissy & I witnessed you make your way toward the remote in an army crawl kinda way. It was the next step toward crawling and I couldn't be more proud of you as you begin to conquer yet another milestone!

light up toy Aunt Krissy brought Kenna back from Vegas!


We found out this month that you're going to have a baby brother! Do you think he'll want to play Barbies or house or are you going to play baseball with him? It sure will be fun to have a brother to play with, won't it??

We just got a double stroller, so that when Ben gets here both of you have a place to sit...isn't it crazy that you get the big girl seat already?! No more baby seat for you!!!

you're going to be my lookout girl! riding in the front seat with style!

There are so many ways you are like me, one of those is that you love love LOVE taking baths! They help you to settle down when you're fussy and when you don't feel good, they also comfort you when you are over tired and can't quite fall asleep. We both think alike...there's nothing better than a nice warm bath! You've just started to want to play more in the bath. You like to splash with your hands, and with my help you roll over so that you can kick and "swim"! We can't just use one washcloth...we always have to have two because you like to hold one while I wash you up with the other! It is too funny! Just this week, I decided that we needed to get a bath seat for you. Our friends, Jenny & Madisyn Kammer, came to our rescue when I couldn't find one anywhere! Madi had a bath seat that she wasn't using, so she let us borrow it! The first night we got it, you took a bath and absolutely loved it!

cute little bunsers!

Trippy is always by your side...even when you're in the bath!

peek a boo!

splish splash I'm a takin a bath!


Just know that you are the most perfect little girl in the whole world.

I love you sweet girl.

Love, Mommy

I'm having a lot of fun taking pictures with my new camera. I decided to try my hand at some photo editing. There's this great free photo editing website, picnik.com...I know they aren't anything too crazy, but it's been fun. Hope you like them...


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Family Dinner

We haven't had a family dinner over at my parent's house in quite awhile. So, my mom and dad put the call out and we headed over there for some absolutely delicious Spaghetti & Meatballs...with Tiramisu for dessert! It was perfect timing because Lizzie was in town...Mackie never made it over though, so we missed her :(!

McKenna snacked on some peach puffs!
she's so independent!


Cheers!

Drink up!

Kenna & her Aunties

Awkward Family Photos...

Week 21!
McKenna will be 7 months in 2 days!

The girls!

Brian and Dad had already moved to the couch...

happy girl

Brayden Everett Samples

What a wonderful, wonderful day!

At 40 weeks and 2 days, our best friends, Brad & Megan, made their way to the hospital this morning after a night full of contractions - yuck! We, of course, headed over there as soon as we could. Brian & I know what it's like to sit around the hospital waiting...so we thought we could bring some sort of distraction - and lunch for Brad!

soon to be Mommy & Daddy

me, Megan...& our boys!

yum yum Big Apple Bagel sandwiches!

waiting...waiting...

soon to be Grandma Sassy and Uncle Todd arrived!

...more waiting...
what did we ever do without cell phones?!

Todd's girlfriend, Jenna, joined us in the waiting room!


After a couple of hours, Brian & I headed over to my parent's house for dinner with the fam. We got another call around 6pm letting us know that Brayden had finally made his appearance!!! After dropping Lizzie off at the train, we went back to Edwards Hospital to meet our newest "nephew".

Brayden Everett Samples
born: November 7, 2010
5:59pm
6lbs. 1oz.
19 inches

a VERY excited Grandma Sassy!

Grandma & Grandpa Arundel

Grandpa Jimmy

The Samples Family!

Brian, Brayden, Brad
...now we just need Benson...to round out the B4!

nurse Lynette

Brady is a Daddy!!!

Kenna can't wait to meet Best Friend Brayden!

I love you Sweet Boy!

man...we've come a long way since Waubonsie...

ready to roll

heading to their new room

Congratulations Brad & Megan on the birth of Brayden! Oh what fun the future holds for all of us. Just think of all of the memories there are to be made...we couldn't be more excited. It sure will be fun watching these babies grow up together. Why do I think there's going to be a lot of baseball played??

...McKenna wants to make sure that tea parties are still going to happen too! :)

We love you!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Best.Gift.Ever.

My birthday was last Monday, November 1st. I turned 31.

Out of nowhere...I turned 31.

But this little trinket made it much much easier! Brian and my parents got me the camera I have been wanting - the Canon Rebel. I have a lot of reading to do so that I can learn about shutter speed and all the different types of settings and things I can do...but with the pictures I've taken so far...geez, this thing is awesome!

...and I thought I took a lot of pictures before!

first picture taken...my #1!

the flash made Trippy blink!

now we just need a smile!

...oh...my sweet girl McKenna...
you can't get much more beautiful than this...