Fourth of July 2014 Weekend Wrap-up

Fourth of the July is starting to become one of my favorite holidays. I love spending time with family, watching fireworks, eating lots of yummy summer salads, being outside & enjoying the nice weather, sitting around a fire pit and most importantly, celebrating this amazing country that we live in.

 

This is the 4th year that we've hosted a July 4th celebration at our house for family & friends. It started because my sister mentioned at Thanksgiving that we had a great location for camping out and setting up a white-trash slip & slide. And so that's what we've done!

 

My family started trickling in throughout the day on Friday. We made homemade pizza for supper and sat around the fire pit at night. We could see 3 or 4 town fireworks from our yard, so we didn't even have to leave to see them. Doug even brought some fireworks, so we had our own little fireworks show!

 

When we woke up on Saturday morning, my parents had already left to go home. They had received a text message from their neighbor that their garbage can was floating away and the house was flooding!! Not a good way to start the day!!  It was also a rainy day at our house and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to have our party. We laid around the living room watching movies until early afternoon. Luckily, the sun started coming right when people began arriving and the weather was perfect!!

 

 

 

We had a big swimming pool set up the last two years, but after realizing how much time & cost it takes to maintain a pool with our crappy well water - we decided to get rid of it at the end of last summer. Unfortunately, this year we didn't set up the  slip & slide either {a 100 foot piece of plastic on the huge hill in front of our house}. Due to the fact that we're selling our house, we didn't want a big dead spot in the yard.

 

We did have a baby pool, water table, swing, slide, wagon/bikes and bouncy house for the little kids to enjoy. We played outside during the afternoon, ate in the evening and sat around the fire pit again that night. It was a great day with family & friends and I can't wait to host our 5th annual July 4th celebration next year at our new house!!

 

 

 

 

 

The Lost Files: Kimber's First 4th of July

I was going to try to get this posted before this 4th of July, but with a busy work schedule and a baby that doesn't like to sleep...that didn't happen. So it might take me a year to get the pictures from this 4th of July posted!

 

For Kimber's first 4th of July, we went to Tom & Jane's house for a bbq with family & friends.

 

 

Nick's friends were married within a couple years of us and we all have little ones around the same age. In prior years, they spent 4th of July weekends camping & tubing & drinking. Things have changed now that they are all Daddies!

 

All of these little ones will graduate high school in the same year {the baby in Steph's belly, not in her arms}

 

 On Saturday, we had our annual July 4th celebration at our house. Kimber enjoyed lots of snuggle time from my family!

 

 

We set up the slip & slide, big pool, baby pool and bouncy house. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time spending more time with friends & family!

 

 

 

 

Kimber: Thirteen Months Old

 

 

I wasn't sure if I was going to continue to write Kimber's monthly updates, but I feel like she's changing so much right now and I want to remember these moments. {and I don't do a good job of documenting them anywhere else!!} So for now, I'll stick with these monthly posts but I changed the location of her pictures to spice things up a little! But I won't be taking as many pictures since she doesn't like to sit still these days!

 

Weight: 22.6 pounds {home measurement}

 

Height: 29.0 inches {home measurement}

 

Diaper Size: Size 4.  Moved up to size 4 on May 31.
 

Clothing Size: 12-18 months.
 

Sleeping:  She's mostly been sleeping thru the night.  We have nights that she wakes up and we have to put her back to sleep, but a majority of the time she's sleeping thru the night. We are working on getting her to fall asleep on her own. Some nights when we give her a nighttime bottle, she'll fall right to sleep and sleep thru the night. Other nights, she finishes the bottle and is wired. These nights it takes 2+ hours to get her to sleep. Oh well, some kids fall asleep easy and some don't. Guess there are two ways of looking at this - it sucks when we're at home and we want her to go to sleep so we can get stuff done. But it's nice when it's a weekend night and we're hanging out with friends and she can hang out until 10pm and we don't have to leave early to put her to bed!!

One nap a day at daycare. 1.5-2 hour nap at 1pm.
 

Food: Table food & Cows milk. It's official - we're done with mama's milk. Kimber had her last of the frozen milk on June 11. She now has cow's milk in the morning before daycare, with lunch and at night before bed. In total, she's getting about between 20-24 ounces of milk a day. She also takes apple juice or cran-apple juice {mixed with water} throughout the day in her sippy.

Kimber is a good eater. She eat just about anything we put on her plate & she usually eats whatever we are eating for supper. The funny thing about Kimber's eating is she won't let you put the food in her mouth, she puckers up her lips and won't let it in. If we do happen to get it in her mouth, she'll pull it out, look at it and then put it back in her mouth herself. Nick & I think that maybe it's due to us sticking medicine in her mouth so much {from all the ear infections} that she's afraid we're putting medicine in her mouth? But after she tastes it and it passes her test - she sticks it back in her mouth & will then let you feed her or eats more herself.

Uncle Bob made ribs this month and Kimber went nuts for them! She did the same thing back in February at the Super Bowl party and it was so cute. She attacked those ribs!!

We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse for her birthday dinner and again later in the month. She LOVES the rolls with cinnamon butter! But who doesn't?!?

Favorite Foods: pancakes, cheese, bread/toast, mac & cheese, ham, cooked carrots, applesauce, bananas, spaghetti, hotdogs, grapes, green beans, pork chops, steak

Least Favorite Foods: mash potatoes, hamburgers

Health: Kimber had an ear infection almost the entire month. When we went for Kimber's 12 month appointment, the doctor confirmed that she had an ear infection and they put her on amoxicillin. It seemed like it had cleared up by the time we finished the 10 days of medicine, but within a couple days her ears were draining again. Which didn't surprise me because amoxicillin didn't work for her the first time she tried it. They {finally} prescribed her the antibiotic ear drops and augmentin.  The infection is finally cleared up!!
 
Nicknames: Kimber Sue. Kibber. Sissy. Monkey {by Dad}

 

Likes: {new} Playing peek-a-boo. Climbing up her slide.

She has really started playing peek-a-boo recently. She'll hide under a blanket/shirt/toy and wait for us to ask "Where's Kimber" and she gets excited when we see her again!

We bought Kimber a slide on Craigslist that she is able to climb up herself. She loves playing on it! And is so proud of herself when she gets to the top!

{same as last month}:  Vtech Sit to Stand Walker. Eating. Bath time.  Puffs. Music/Dancing. Standing. Scooting around. Apple Juice. Showers. Giving Hugs.  Kisses. Stuffed Animals. Sharing. Being on the move. Swings. Slides. Rides: Wagon/Bike/Lawn Mower. Crawling up the steps.

 

Disikes {new}: Same ol' stuff.

{same as last month}: Getting Dressed. Changing her diaper. Getting told 'no'. Face Washed. Being held {during church service}

 

Words {new}: Papa. Oh. Shoe. Traci. Roma. Tickle, Tickle, Tickle. Kitty.

 

Kimber is starting to say more & more words. Sometimes she only says them once, but you can definitely tell she said it.  She was playing with my shoes in the closet while I was getting ready and I said "Are you playing with mommy's shoe?" and she said "shoe". But has not said it since. She did the same with Papa and Roma.

 

I usually do the daycare drop off and pick up since Nick isn't working in the same town anymore. When I get to daycare in the morning, before I even walk in the door Kimber is saying "Hi, Hi, Hi Traci" and waving her arms up & down all excited! When I walk in the door, she sees Traci & Baby Roma and lights up! She crawls over to them as fast as she can and stars giving Roma kisses and loving on her! It's the most adorable thing ever!! And after work, when I pick her up - the second she sees me walk in the door she crawls over to me as fast as she can & is SO excited to see me! Flapping her arms, bouncing on her bottom & saying Hi!

 

She has started saying "tickle, tickle, tickle" while tickling us. She must have seen us do it a time or two?!? She'll even tickle her baby doll!

 

Kimber says "Oh" a lot. She'll say Dada and I'll tell her that Daddy is at work. Her reply: Oh. Nick's Dad said I say Oh a lot, so she must have figured out how to use it properly from me.

 

Words: {same as las month}: Dada. Hi. Mama. Jayde. No. Okay.

 

 

 

Things to note:
Kimber is moving so much more now and I want to note the milestones of these dates:
Walked with the walker for the first time: May 31

She's really starting to get more confident and walk along the furniture while holding on with just one hand. She hasn't officially taken any steps on her own yet, but she's getting close. Nick & I sat across from each other and tried to have her walk - she'd take 1-2 steps before she fell forward. But that was mostly just from the forward momentum and not actually walking. We have less than 2 months until she's suppose to walk down the aisle as a flower girl at Aunt Paige's wedding and I think she'll be walking by then!!
 
2 new teeth - for a total of 6 teeth!
Top right lateral incisor tooth: June 7
Top left lateral incisor tooth: June 12

Since she has more teeth, we have started brushing her teeth in the mornings & at nights. We sing the ABC's to her while we brush them to keep her entertained. Sometimes she likes it and other times, she fights us.

We had Kimber's last AEA appointment on June 10. She has really advanced in her gross motor skills, so I didn't see a reason to continue the sessions. She she's still not walking on her own, but I figure she'll do it at her own pace and there is no reason to rush her.

Kimber lost her Great Gramma Hickethier this month. I wrote about it here and here.