Big Families

Today I'm thankful that I have a big family.  I would have been so lonely without my 3 amazing siblings, my parents, my grandparents and all my aunts, uncles and cousins, as well as extended family which we are close too.  I could never have wished for more kind, loving, smart, funny and generally fun to be around people to grow up with in my life.

I promise, I'll be spending a lot of tomorrow (while everyone is watching football) editing photos (amid spending time with family) so that I can post a bunch of Hawaii recaps really easily without much effort or time required! :)

Tylenol and Breastfeeding

Today, I'm thankful for Tylenol.  Kayla is getting all top four teeth at the same time currently, causing some poor sleeping and some SEVERE fussiness today.  I'm not gonna lie, I'd rather her be straight up crying because the fussing has to be the most annoying thing.

Although, I did love the extra cuddle time I got today, Kayla was pretty much attached to my hip all day.  She almost fell right asleep only an hour after she woke up from her first nap while we were dancing to Christmas music when we were home alone!  Poor little stinker....

Thank you, Tylenol, for easing my baby's fever today, the first inkling of a fever she has ever had.  Which reminds me, I'm also thankful for breastfeeding, which I honestly believe has helped keep Kayla healthy these last 10 months (minus the dreaded thrush.)

Tomorrow, I'll be back with maybe TWO Hawaii recaps (if you are lucky and if Kayla is feeling better). ;)

Toddle-r

So Kayla has been perfecting her walking for over a month now.  Yesterday I kept saying to my patients how I'm now understanding why everyone says early walkers are hard.  She gets into EVERYTHING now.  And today, I was thinking about the word "toddler" and when exactly your baby changes to a toddler...so I thought:

Well, you know that rule in the English language where you add -r/-er to the root verb to make a noun that means "one who does said verb?"  So I looked up "toddle" in the dictionary.  No, I'm not joking. :)

To toddle: 1. to walk with short, unsteady steps 2. to walk leisurely; stroll

So a toddler is one who walks with short, unsteady steps (or walks leisurely/strolls).  Well, I guess I've had a toddler for a while now.  Now gonna lie, I'm a little sad my baby is gone.  But...

Today, I'm thankful for my little walker.  Because there is absolutely nothing better than coming home from work, Kayla seeing me and when I squat down to her level and put my arms out for a hug, she toddles across the room, opens her arms and gives me the biggest hug, along with a smile (and a HUGE smile at that.)  

By the way, did you see how I used the word toddle...yeah I'm THAT good. :)

Enjoy:

Kona,HI Day 2

Kayla woke up four times the first night.  I wasn't too mad because she was sleeping in the pack n play in the living room on the third floor.  I should have taken a picture because we were literally in a house STEPS from the ocean with GIANT open air windows on all floors, so Kayla was snoozing to the sound of the ocean waves...and not the ones from a sound machine!  These were LOUD!  So cuddling my little stinker with the sound of the ocean in the background isn't too bad, right? :)

Dad and Brendan spent day 2 golfing mostly.  The rest of us spent the day working on our base tans.  It was glorious.  Kayla swam in the pool and napped like a champ.  Might I also point out that despite the 5 hour time difference, after the first night, she slept from 7:30 pm to around 6 am every night.  I'm honestly still amazed I have such an adaptable baby.  What did I do to deserve that?  (It might have been putting up with a crappy sleeper for 8 months, and teaching her how to fall asleep on her own...or just dumb and blind luck.)

It was a really great first day to just enjoy our wonderful little slice of paradise on the Big Island and think about what we might want to do the rest of the week.  Here are a few photos I snapped on Day 2.

View from the pool deck

Another view

The pool deck, chairs, hot tub

Every morning, there were people doing "sup" right outside the house (stand up paddle)

Another pretty view, how AWESOME is the lava rock everywhere?!?!

My little stinker...don't let her fool you...she LOVES the pool!

Yes, please put on my canopy...

Trying some new things with PS...not sure if I like this or not

Pretty flowers in the yard.

Party in the pool

I need to practice capturing "sun flare" but I still like this picture.

This may be one of the best pictures I've ever taken.  It looks like it could be on the cover of something. :)

Random shot...

We had our own personal guitar player while laying out.

Then Lauren made me take a photo of this large man trying to climb on the lava rocks...hilarious.

Sun setting

I'm running a little behind with editing photos because I'm trying to spend more time with Kayla as opposed to doing some other things I want to do, so I'm not going to be posting a day 3 post tomorrow most likely.  But I promise I'll make it up to you all this weekend with multiple posts!! :)

Also, today, I'm thankful for a really great group of mommas I met through a couple cloth diapering pages on facebook.  I love talking to them and really wish I could meet all of them in person (hopefully I'll get to meet a couple who live near me soon!)  Sometimes, I guess God gives you friends in the most unexpected places. :)

This Little Blog

Today, I'm thankful for this little blog.  It's nice to have a few followers that aren't my family, but I really love this blog for myself.  It's a really great release for me, sort of like a journal, except I don't feel completely comfortable writing about absolutely everything!  This is an appropriate post since today marks my 200th post!  Wow, it feels like I just started this yesterday.

Tomorrow, I will start my Hawaii recaps.  For today, enjoy this picture I took yesterday while Kayla and I were playing. :)

T.V.

Today, I'm thankful for my favorite T.V. shows (really I'm thankful for a lot of t.v. shows.)  They allow me to relax and occupy my mind with something besides everything I have to worry about. :)

Two of my favorites:

Positive and Negative

By the way, it's becoming increasingly hard to think of blog titles for posts these days.

Today, I'm thankful that I have a great job and that I chose a career path where there are plenty of job opportunities.  It is not lost on me how difficult it is for people to get jobs in this economy.  I see it first hand.

Today, I am NOT thankful for teething.  I think you can all assume why...

Aloha from Chicago!

We are safely back, and have been for 2 days now!  It was a great trip and I've been meaning to write a quick post all weekend.  My excuses are these:

1. Our flight was a red eye overnight on Friday and I slept a total of about 30 minutes, so yesterday I was resting and catching up on a boatload of t.v. shows I missed on hulu (I still have about 15 in my queue.)
2. Yesterday we went shopping for new clothes for our growing little girl.
3. I'm tired.
4. I have a million and 2 things to do, blogging being one of them.
5. Did I mention I'm tired and it's 4 am in Hawaii right now?

I plan on doing many recaps (probably shorter recaps of each day of our trip with photos included hopefully) but it's going to take me awhile to get caught up with everything, especially since I'm working all 5 days this week.  I also plan on writing a post about Kayla's new skills and posting her 9 month photos I took in Hawaii.  So stay tuned!  

I plan on posting every day for the remainder of this month at least a sentence because I have a few blog friends and friends on facebook who are stating what they are thankful for each day this month, so I wanted to join in.  I'm a little late to hop on the bandwagon but better late than never I always say!

Today, I'm thankful for my amazing parents who gave us the most wonderful trip, one I will never forget...it was the first time Kayla was with my whole family at one time!

Happy Monday!

My little mover and shaker! 

So happy in my new clothes that fit!

We are ready for the next holiday how about you?