Family of 4!

Family of 4!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

9 Months Old!

This little girl amazes us more and more each day!  We had a big month with learning how to pull up all on our own, to trips to Topeka and DisneyWorld, so close to crawling (which now is mastered, yikes!), and she did it all with a giant smile on her face! What a beautiful personality this little girl has, and she is pretty cute too!!








9 Month Stats:
17 lb 10 ozs. 
28 inches long, she is going to be tall like Mommy!


I didn't get a great amount of good photos from this little photo shoot.  It was hot, she was sleepy, and this was what we got.  And don't worry, the plastic will be staying on that lollipop for teh foreseeable future!

My Grandma's are here!

Still going back in time, to the 17-19th of June (part of Father's day weekend that we just talked about) we had my Mom and my Grandma Chester here with us.  Tenley was a lucky little girl to have two of her Grandma's here to spoil love on her!

These 2 are great buddies! Such fun to watch them play!! We love Grandma!!


one of our 1st times pulling up on something other than our fingers.

Love my bath

sleepy girl

thanks for coming to see us Grandma, come back soon!!

1st Father's Day (a month later)

Way behind....yes! Better late than never I guess. 

We celebrated Father's Day on the 18th of June (it was the 19th) because Daddy had to work at the fire dept on the 19th.  It was such a special day, not only did we get to celebrate what a great Daddy Tenley has, but it was also out 6 year wedding anniversary.  My Mom and Grandma Chester had gotten here on Friday (my 28th birthday) to celebrate the weekend with us.  It was nice to have them here and it really helped on Sunday when I was getting us packed for our Disney trip. 

But back to Father's Day!! We are working on our outdoor room on our back patio, so we decided to get Daddy some speakers to put up out back.  They will be great for BBQs and he wants to have a TV put out there by football season to watch games!  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and daddy in our lives.  He is so attentive to Tenley and I love seeing him with her each and everyday!  I thought I loved him before, but now, since Tenley came into our lives I love him even more.  What lucky girls we are!!

helping Daddy unwrap his gift


melt...

to heck with the speakers, this box is GREAT!



I just love her expressions in all of these photos.  Pretty stinkin' cute...but then I am a bit bias!

DisneyWorld Cont...in pictures

Starting the day at Sea World!



Tenley LOVED the dolphin show!

This face is why I would not hesitate to take her on another vacation as a baby! I love the wonder and happiness in her eyes.




Cars at Epcot!


Drinking their lunch in Germany!


Layla had big smiles for Nemo.

The Nemo ride



Back to Magic Kingdom
The Mice who started it all!


playing peek-a-boo with Mickey





Woody and Jesse, the line was pretty long and it was HOT so we just snapped a picture of them.


 On the "It's A Small World" ride, it was very cool!
I was really excited to take her on the carousal, we both enjoyed it!


So did Shawn and Layla


This one cracks me up, it looks like she did a self portrait!


We had such a wonderful time at Disney, and are so greatful Sam, Shawn, and Layla invited us along!  We look forward to our next vacation with them!

For anyone wondering (or thinking) if it is crazy take a baby on vacation, here is my thoughts...sure, she won't remember it, but we will.  We will never forget that experience with her or the look on her face when the fireworks when off, or she experienced something new.  It is a moment for her, and that is what made the memory so special for us!

Plus, I am convinced there is no easier place to take a baby than Disney!  They are set up for it..the babycare centers made life so simple (and they are at each park.)  They are centers that have nursing rooms, changing tables, high chairs, and great air conditioning.  We would head to it when it was time for Tenley to eat her solids. For just nuring, we would just go with where we were at. They are spotless and have very helpful staff.  Strollers could go in someplaces,  but everywhere had stroller parking.  If babe was sleeping then *most* places would allow the stroller to come in as to not disturb them.  It is truely family friendly (as it should be) but they do a fantastic job of accomidating everyone! Maybe it really is the happiest place on Earth!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

DisneyWorld! June 2011

So we did what we said we would never do, what we thought other parents were crazy for doing. We took our (then) 8 month old sweet baby girl to DisneyWorld. And ya know what, we would do it again IN A SECOND!!

We had a last minute trip opportunity come up towards the end of June.  Some great friends of ours asked us if we would like to join them for the week, as they were taking their 3 year old daughter as well.  We were so excited that it worked out that we could go.  It was a bit unlike us me to do something so last minute (I had about a weeks notice) because I normally plan/research our vacations A TON!  However, with an 8 month old and a 3 year old in tow, our "plan" was to do what worked at the moment and let them lead.  That plan was successful!! 

The trip started super early with a 6:20 a.m. departure out of KS City, this put us in Orlando before 11:00 a.m. eastern time.  This was my first worry, how would Tenley do on the plane? I really didn't want to be "those" people on the jet! Since she is normally not even out of bed in the mornings until 7:30ish, waking her up at 4 a.m was bound to throw her off.  However, she proved to us just how sweet she is (of course) and was a doll.  She didn't' get fussy until just before take off.  This was actually perfect because we wanted to give her, her morning bottle on takeoff and climb out to keep her ears clear with the pressure changes.  We also didn't have a full flight so we were able to have a full row (3 seats) to ourselves.  This allowed her to have some room to play and stretch, however, Mommy wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to cuddle her while she slept!! So we played and napped, and then we were starting descent, I nursed her again on this portion of the flight to again keep her ears clear.  It worked like a charm and before we knew it we were taking on DisneyWorld!

Since we got there so early we still had basically a full day to get settled, get our tickets, and check out a park.  We decided to start at Animal Kingdom.  It was fantastic, we saw a great parade pretty much as soon as we got there.  It was at this point that Tim and I knew we had made the right decision to bring Tenley.  When the parade started she started giggling, clapping, and was glued to all of the movement, colors, and characters in front of her.  It made my heart erupt with joy to see she so happy!  After that we took on a safari, which was so neat.  We all loved it, but Tenley was getting super tired, and fell asleep on Daddy while we "toured" Africa! We also met Minnie at Animal Kingdom.  We turned in fairly early that day since it had been such an early morning, and we wanted to get a good start the next day. 

Wednesday, we started at one of the water parks, Typhoon Lagoon.  We got there mid-moring which was perfect because the heat of the day hadn't set in yet, and it was much less crowded.  The girls loved it, and so did we!  After the water park we headed to the main event...Magic Kingdom!!  We had about half a day left and then we were also staying for the light parade and fireworks that night.  It was all amazing!  We went and met Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella before taking in some of the park.  What fun, it is interesting because the characters are constantly "in character" even to the adults...Belle told me about her new teacup :) Tenley did great meeting all of them! We thought the light parade and fireworks may be asking for a meltdown since they began at 9:00 eastern (8:00 central....ie...bedtime), however, again our sweet girl was up for the challenge.  We ended up standing in one spot for about 1.5 hours so that we had a PERFECT spot for the parade.  She fell asleep at the beginning of our camp out (as did Layla, our friends girl). She got a good, hard nap, and then as if on que, when the parade started she woke up and was is such a wonderful mood.  She LOVED the parade, she would watch one float until her little head couldn't turn anymore and then she would find the next one.  She also loved the laser show on the castle, but I think the fireworks may have been her favorite.  With each display she would clap, and cheer, and giggle!  It was such a special moment to watch them with her and her Daddy, I actually got really choked up. I so enjoy creating all of these moments and memories with my wonderful little family!

The next day, we slept in a bit since we had kept everyone out late the night before.  Thursday we took in Sea World and Epcot.  It was blazing hot that day which lead us to go back to the condo for awhile for a nap and cool off for the girls.  Tenley

Friday, we were back at Magic Kingdom to take it all in at a slow pace.  We saw all of the park that we wanted, found some great meals, and met Mickey and Minnie! It was fantastic!  Tim and I both agree that Magic Kingdom was our favorite! So much to see, rides to ride, shops to check out, and just a great place to enjoy.  We look forward to taking Tenley back many times!

Here is a very brief photo recap:

1st Plane Ride

awkward family photo

We LOVE that face..and that $3 juice...the bottle was a hit the whole flight!

Sam, Layla, and Shawn R @ Animal Kingdom

Our little Family!

waiting for the parade

It's started!


Getting set for our safari

Animal watching is hard work!

Now I am ready to go again Mom!

Meeting Minnie

Typhoon Lagoon

Water Baby



Welcome to Magic Kingdom




Princess Aurora (we didn't know this one, I am sure we will soon enough)

Guess Belle liked Tim..& Tenley like Tim's sunglasses! (a casulatly of the trip, they got left on the plane when we got home...Oakleys...yep!)

Sam's childhood dream!!

Yay, meeting Cinderella


 

There is the first few days, stay tuned for the rest of the trip!