Happy Anniversary!!

On July 22nd, Dan and I celebrated our 4th anniversary! This past year has been pretty eventful, so to celebrate, we took a quick trip to Las Vegas for the weekend. Kendall stayed with Gram and Dude, and we stayed at the new Aria resort in City Center. The place was amazing, and I highly recommend it! We found a great deal online and were able to upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite. We weren't up very high, but the suite was awesome!

View towards the Monte Carlo and New York New York

Dan also decided to take the opportunity to try out the new Skyjump attraction at the Stratosphere. If you haven't heard of it, they take you to the top of the hotel, hook you up to some harnesses and you jump for about a 20 second free fall. I guess it's not really a free fall since there are harnesses controlling your speed, but you get the idea.

All strapped in and ready to go!

A look up towards the top

Dan has jumped. Can you see him? If you can open this picture as full size, you'll see a little tiny figure just off the platform, between the two ropes. That's him!!

Still falling. Look for him about 1/3 of the way down. The glass tower is behind him.

Almost all the way down

The eagle has landed

Dan said it was a lot of fun. He said that the weighted ropes don't allow you the sensation of falling, but that it's more of a fun ride. He did say that it was pretty scary when he got up to the top and looked out. One guy did chicken out while we were there and tried to give the crowd a bunch of excuses about being too heavy. They don't weigh you again at the top, so that was obviously not why he came back down via the elevator.

Happy anniversary, Dan! Here's to another great year!

5 - 6 month recap

I realized after my last post that I forgot to include a photo recap. Here are week by week photos of Kendall from 5 - 6 months:

22 Weeks

23 Weeks

24 Weeks

25 Weeks

I'm Six Months Old!

Kendall is six months old! I know I'm a couple weeks late with this post, but I wanted to wait for her 6 month checkup to post her stats. Truth be told, our printer was also out of ink and I couldn't print her sign. But, we're back on track now!

It's hard to believe that half a year has passed! She has grown and changed so much over that time; it's really amazing to watch. She is now eating solids twice a day, and she likes just about everything she's tried. Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots and apricots are probably her favorites. Green beans are the only thing that she does not like. She's doing so well that I think we're going to progress to three times a day and some Stage 2 foods starting next week. So far I've been making most of her food, but I don't think that I'm going to be attempting to puree meat.

Kendall is also becoming much more independent. She's spending more and more time playing with her toys on her own. She's now sitting up on her own (with the occasional tumble) and is so much happier now that she can sit in stroller when we out and about, or a highchair in our kitchen at home and when we go out to eat. She now has two teeth, but she's been drooling quite a bit again over the past couple of days, which makes me think that another one might be on it's way.

Kendall is also still growing like crazy. Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 pounds 14 ounces

Height: 27 inches

Head Circumference: 16.75 inches

We squeezed our well visit into another doctor's visit that we already had scheduled, so I don't have the percentages from the doctor's office. But, according to Babycenter, Kendall is between the 75th and 90th percentile for height and weight and the 50th percentile for her head circumference.

I also thought I'd post a few more shots from our photo session. The above picture wasn't her best, but she didn't want to sit still and I had to be quick. Here's how the rest of the shoot went:

At this point I pulled the paper away and there was a piece missing. I guess we can add paper to her list of solids that she's tried!

Naked Baby!

There's something so sweet about bathing babies. I know these are the kinds of pictures that kids grow up to hate, but we all take them and we all use them later at strategically planned out moments. My mom waited for my senior ad in my high school yearbook. I'm only starting to think about the possibilities...

But I digress. I had wanted to take some pictures of Kendall in her transition bathtub for a few weeks now, and took my opportunity last night. About a month ago it became apparent that bathing Kendall in her bathtub made for the sink wasn't working anymore. Let's just say that mopping up post-bath was taking longer than the actual bath. After a couple of weeks of being scared, she now loves it. She loves that she can play with her toys and she loves to splash around in the water. She was more than happy to pose for a few photos.

Embarrassing for her down the road? Yes. Outrageously cute. Yes again. By the way, check out Kendall's full gut in this last one. I think she's eating more at mealtimes than I am these days.

Theme Park Fun

The past 7 days have been pretty eventful for Kendall and I. It seems like we've had something planned just about every day. We've been to the Wild Animal Park with my mom's group, the SD County Fair with Dad and Caleb, and Sea World with my friend Rachel, her husband Paul and their kids, Peyton and Riley, who were visiting from the Bay Area. We've had so much fun getting out and exploring; I know that we're going to have a great summer.

Ready for the Wild Animal Park. Note that our big girl is now riding in her stroller, not in the car seat within the stroller. She's SO much happier!

Safari Tour at the Wild Animal Park

Checking out the rides at the fair

Dan and Caleb after their final ride of the day

We enjoyed the petting zoo from a far

Kendall did seem happy to see the animals though

Caleb, Kendall and I checking out the turkeys. Think Caleb is ready to go home?

Riley and Kendall braving the game area at Sea World

Peyton seemed to like Kendall, and vice versa

Showing some more love

Kendall is such a lucky girl to be living in a place where there are so many cool things to do. We are now season pass holders at Sea World AND the Zoo/Wild Animal Park, so see quite a few more trips in our future!

Happy 4th of July!!

We spent time with family and friends, swam in the pool, bar-b-que'd and watched a few fireworks from a far. You'd never know that Kendall was cutting her second tooth - she was pretty happy all day long!

Check out my stars and stripes!

Aunt Dusty and Kendall

Kendall and Gram

Dude and Kendall