Keeping Up with Kallen-- 18 Months Old!

Kallen Gentry...
A year and a half  (18months on July 3rd) !? Crazy how that happens :) You are still the sweetest, cuddliest baby. I so love my time with you. You are such a Mama's Boy and I love every minute of it!

You throw EVERYTHING. When we play with you, or really, anytime we're around you we have to watch you because you'll throw whatever you have at us. A ball, a cell phone, a sippy cup, an iPad. You name it. Theres already been a handful of times you've thrown something at me when I wasn't looking and got me good. The other night you threw a big 'ol light up play toy thing that was super heavy and hit me right in the ankle and hurt like a mother! I think something like that happens weekly. So we're guessing you're either going to grow up to be some sort of athlete that involves throwing (maybe a pitcher?) Or you're going to be a professional dancer. LOL. I'm gonna guess Daddy hopes for the first of those 2. And you don't just throw it...you look at me, or whoever you're throwing to and get it right to us. You also say "Catch" but that's usually after you've already chucked it. You have great aim and an incredibly strong overhand throw.

You have tons of words. Raya didn't have this many at your age. You say all kinds of things and you also mimic people really well. I remember getting the weekly Babycenter updates with Raya when they talked about "Oh at this point your baby is probably mimicking you." Raya never really mimicked, but you do a lot. Many times we can say a word and you'll say it right back (or at least attempt to ;) You say Mama, Dada, Raya (which sounds like Yay-Ya- so cute!), Jack, Dog, Nana, Bubble, Pop, Bye, BALL!, Catch, BBall, Tree, Jump, Mike (for Mike the Knight), bottle, just to name the ones I can think of. Oh and my 2 favorite words are Mickey Mouse and Chip. Mickey Mouse sounds like Mick Mou and Chip sounds like Chipeyy. Its hilarious and SO CUTE!!! You also do the sounds for Cow, Cat, Monkey, Frog, Dog, Bird and are getting pretty good at knowing all your facial features. You're just a little sponge these days!!! Raya wasn't very "babyish" and seemed older at this age, but word-wise you say a lot more than she did. You have 3 phrases and they are "Oh, Wow" "Ah Man" and "WoooW, Cool!"

You can jump with both feet at once. In fact you jump off your chair and stick the landing every time. You're a fast little runner. A great thrower. Love to do summer-salts. Love to swim. You let me take you under water occasionally and you have no problem jumping in. You LOVE the water. You hate any kind of floatie device and try to get me to let go of you. Obviously you can't swim by yourself, lol, so we are definitely working on it!

You have all of your teeth, except your molars. You've become a better eater....kinda. I still give you baby food because its the only way you get all your nutrients. You'll eat just about any kind of potato: fries, hash browns, baked potatoes, chips. You still drink 4 bottles a day. You'd probably drink milk all day long if I let you. You LOVE your milk. You also love fruit snacks and dum-dums. Dum-dums are my bribing tool with you. You are so content when you're eating one. Best idea ever!

Your Stats: You weigh 30.5 lbs and are 34.5 inches. That's the 95percentile for weight and 75percentile for height. You're in size 24month/2T clothes. You can still fit about half of your 18mon clothes, but for the most part you went from 12mon to 24mon, so I don't have many 18mon items as it is. You're in a size 7 shoe. You're in a size 4 diaper...I could probably put you in a 5, but you get more in the size 4 box ;) You are a solid kid. A Tank!

You have quite the temper, but that's not new. You've had a temper since you were in my belly. I remember trying to sit really still, or bracing myself in the car so I wouldn't move because you'd kick/punch me so hard and I thought if I moved less I'd be less likely to make you uncomfortable. HAHA!! You just get mad really quickly. And frustrated pretty quickly. You get over it just about as fast as you get worked up, but its still quite the fit.

You're a very happy boy. Typically you're pretty calm. You're not going 24/7 like your sister. You enjoy cuddling or sitting with me and watching TV or sitting out in the back. You make me laugh all the time. You know how to be funny and the faces you do are hilarious. Right now you're really into hugging and kissing me. Its the SWEETEST!!! You love your sleep and generally fall asleep really easily. Especially in the car. Sometimes you'll be asleep before I even start the car. You're down to 2 naps a day, morning and late afternoon. And you sleep pretty solid at night, although you HATE when you wake up in the night. You almost always instantly cry or holler. But as soon as you find your pacifier you fall right back asleep.

And you are still a huge DANCER!!! You dance all the time, especially to your Daddy's mixes. Lol. Your favorite show is The Fresh Beat Band. You stop everything you're doing and run to the TV and start dancing as soon as you hear the theme song. Its pretty hilarious. I have a ton of videos of you dancing. Its my favorite!!! 

I so love being with you everyday. I'm so lucky to have such a sweet son. You are my heart and I just can't believe I have a child that loves me as much as you do. Thank you for being so perfect!!! I love you!!!
Xoxo,
Mom

Gettin Ready for TEXAS

Nothin like searching for a new place to live AND packing for a 10 day trip while 32 weeks pregnant (I promise that's all the negative-nancy in this post). The last few days have been nice because I've been so occupied with getting ready for our trip that I've had less time to be bummed about the fact that I'm really looking for a place to live AGAIN. I'm very excited to go to Texas! We are going to spend the first 5 days in Texarkana with Gentry's family and the 2nd 5 days in Dallas with my family. I love Texas. We always have such good vacations when we're there, so I'm very excited. It's going to be cold, that's for sure, so I've had some interesting time trying to pack for an 18month old because all her clothes are for Southern California weather. Dressing her here for the cold means leggings and a long sleeve shirt :) And as of now, she can still get away with wearing her flip-flops when we go out. Raya still has a HUGE issue with socks and shoes. When we put her in her car seat she immediately starts kicking her legs to let us know the socks and shoes need to go before we are finished buckling her in. So this should make our trip to the cold a little interesting. I usually leave her barefooted from the house to the car and don't put her shoes and socks on until we are somewhere that she's going to be walking. I got some slippers in hopes that I can put those on her for our trips to the car and in and out of where ever we are going. She also doesn't really do hats, so that'll be fun. I did get her a super cute peacoat for the cold for $14! Old Navy had all their outerwear half off, so it was a great deal.

Gettin Ready for TEXAS!

This will be our last trip as "Party of 3." I'm a little bit sad about that. Not at all because I'm sad about the new one coming, I'm very excited for him! But one, I'm not a huge fan of change, and two, life with 3 (and travel with 3) is pretty easy and fun. So its very bitter-sweet. I know I've talked about it in previous posts, but as the time gets closer for baby boy to get here, I get a little uneasy about having a 3rd party added to my daily life with Raya. Uh, I sound like I'm not ready for him. That's not it at all. And I'm sure there's other parents out there that went from 1 to 2 with the same kind of feelings :) I just so enjoy my days with my BFF and I don't know what to expect....Pretty sure its the same kind of anxiety I had my senior year of high school knowing I was about to go to college and I had no idea what to expect, so I was very uneasy. Luckily I LOVED college, so I'm sure this will be like that x100!

And my favorite picture of the week! Why, because she took it of herself!!!! I saw her grab my camera and hold it up and say cheese, but didn't think at all that she'd actually get her face. I have no idea where she learned how to hold the camera away from her face at a flattering angel, say cheese and snap a head shot ;) But my kid can officially take her own Facebook Profile pictures! Its a proud moment as a parent, and a milestone I will be recording in her baby book. 

Raya Recently

My favorite outfit of the week!

Shirt is from her Aunt Romina (she got it at Target)

Jeggings (Children's Place)

Nike Air Maxs (That she's already growing out of :(

It was hard to get one good picture of the outfit...so here's a couple different angles. She's really starting to look like a little girl more than a baby :( Uhhhhh, stop!!!!

She got to go in Nana's spa this weekend because the heater was broken so it was more like a kiddie-pool. She LOVED it! It was a Nana/Grandma weekend...and clearly she was loving it :)

I LOVE THIS KID

Me at 31 weeks. I'm sure I could do a whole (long) post on the super fun past weeks ;) But I'll spare you. Baby is healthy and growing by the minute. There's a good chance he's a cage fighter! You know when you get trapped under the sheets or in a sleeping bag and get claustrophobic and have a mini freak out and kick and wail? Sometimes that's what it feels like he's doing. I keep trying to get it on video. It's crazy how he moves around. Sign of what I have to look forward to???? 

We're still looking for a place to live. I was super stressed about it last week, but for some reason I'm super hopeful this week. WE SHALL SEE...one of the most annoying things is that I can't put up Christmas decorations I bought 2 years ago!!! Right cause that's what I need to be worrying about. LOL.  We leave for Texas on the 20th and are there for 10 days and get back Dec 1...so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have a place to move into the beginning of December (and a place I can decorate!) 

Hope ya'll are having a good weekend! (Yep, I said Ya'll. I'm preparing for Texas :) 

Pumpkin Princess

Wow, Halloween was almost a week ago and I'm just now posting about it. Oppsies ;)
Sunday was our big "Move Out Day," so it was long and tiring. I debated throughout the day if I would be able to take Raya trick-o-treating and I am so, so, so glad I took those couple hours out to take her. It was so much fun watching her!!! My mom and I took her to the very first house (our neighbor) and told her to knock, which she loves to do and did in a heartbeat. When our neighbor came to the door and handed her candy she was a little shocked and probably confused, but it was only a matter of seconds before she decided it was the best thing ever. I took her to about 15 houses, and she said "Thanks Bye" to every one of them. I didn't even think to try and teach her "trick-o-treat" during the weeks prior to prepare her for the big night, but "Thanks Bye" was so sweet and so cute. The funniest thing was she wanted to hold her candy and tried to keep as many pieces in her hand as she could. At one point she probably had 3 pieces, which is a lot for a little tiny hand, and she did this claw thing and opened her fingers up between her knuckles and would stick her hand in the bowl and then clamp down- Just like one of those claw games at the mall. When she pulled her hand out, she'd have all the same pieces plus a new piece between her knuckles. It was hilarious. And entertaining for the people handing out the candy as well. So much fun!

Halloween Morning in her Halloween Jammies

The Pumpkin Princess

The 1st house

"Thanks Bye"

Off to house #2!

Such confidence ;)

And that was how long the hat lasted

So even though it was a LONG day, this was the absolute highlight to my whole weekend. I'm so glad I took the time to take her and be a part of her 1st trick-o-treating experience. 

I took a bunch of pictures, duh...My whole Halloween Album is here

I also wanted to include a link to this Fabulous article about a little boy wanting to be a girl cartoon character for Halloween. A friend of mine posted it on Facebook and I want to share it with everyone I could. It's pretty fun, but more importantly its an example of amazing parenting. My little brother used tights and a tutu as part of his Halloween costume at least 2 times...so it reminded me of him dressing up and my mom and dad had no issues with it. It was never an issue in our house, it was always about what we wanted to be. As long as it wasn't offensive to another group of people we could do it or be it! Just an example of letting your child make their own choices and loving them unconditionally :) 

The Article/Blog: My Son is Gay

18 Months-Raya Recently

I have a 1 and 1/2 year old!

Little Ms. Raya...you've become quite the sweetheart. You've always been a cuddle bug, but now you make sure to kiss Dad before you go to bed at night and even if you're just leaving the room you kiss me and say "Bye." Not gonna lie, I already have flash-forwards of you doing this when you leave me to go to college. At the rate this 1.5 years have gone that's going to be here any second, I'm sure. If case you're wondering you can live at home with me for however long you want :) Do you want me to homeschool you, cause I totally will?!

Your new words this past month are Ball, "This" which refers to your pacifier, Jack, Dax, Nice, and my favorite, Cheese! I know there's some more I'll think of later...You know just about all your body parts and can point to them when I ask where they are. You're working on saying Mouth, Eye, and Nose. When I say Cat you Meow, when I say Cow you Mooo, when I say Dog you try to bark and sometimes growl and when I say Pig you scrunch up your nose and try to snort.

You get funnier and funnier everyday. I love that you know how to be funny. You sometimes "fall" and make "uh" sounds and then get up and fake fall again over and over just to get us to laugh or, like you did yesterday, to get the older kids at the playground to laugh. You like to jump on the couch and pretend like you're going to fall off. The other night you did a back roll off the bed and thought it was your funniest trick yet. OOOooo, and we have shelves in our room that go all the way up to the ceiling and in a matter of 5 seconds you were gone and by the time we found you you had gotten to the TOP. And you got me in trouble by Dad because I tired to grab the camera before grabbing you :)

You sleep 10-11 hours a night. You still prefer 2 naps a day, but we're working on getting you down to one longer nap in the afternoon. Right now you'll take an early nap for about an hour and then a 2+ hour nap around 4. I always have to wake you up from that nap. Then you go to bed at like 10! So that's why I'm trying to get you to take a 2 hour nap around 1 in the afternoon...we'll see how that goes.

When I vacuum you get your lawnmower out and vacuum right along side of me. When the dogs bark you either hold your finger to your mouth and say Shhh or you shake your finger and say No. The other night when we were out to dinner a baby started crying and you told her Shhh. That was hilarious! You've also started playing with my hair. Especially when you're tired or getting ready to take a nap. If you're restless I can put your hand on my hair and you immediately start playing with it and calm down. It's sweet. Right now you're sitting next to me on the arm of the chair watching cartoons and playing with my hair.

 And my favorite thing this month is your "Cheese" face. When I get ready to take a picture you say "Cheese!" and do this face:

I'm not sure what your "Stats" are, but I'll find out at your doctor's appt next week.

You are so so so much fun! I could (and do) hang out with you 24/7. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing daughter. I always tell your Dad "If I could've picked out everything I wanted in a daughter, Raya would totally blow that little girl outta the water." I had no idea what was in store for us and I can't believe that we got You! 

I love you! Xoxo, Mom