Family Vacation!

Worlds most traveled baby:) Throughout the first year of Kenley's life she has had the opportunity to travel and visit some amazing places. When she was 2 months old, we spent the weekend at our timeshare in San Diego with some good friends. Then at 3 months old, the three of us drove to Palm Springs for a weekend getaway! At 4 months old, she experienced her first plane ride to Kansas and since has been back 4 more times to date! The day after Kenley's first birthday we began our drive up the PCH, where we visited Malibu, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Carmel, San Francisco and Napa Valley!  If you have never had the opportunity to make this drive, I would highly recommend adding it to your bucket list! The views are breathtakingly beautiful!

Our first stop Malibu! One of my favorite beach towns!

Santa Barbara! 

Both grandmas came along too!

Hearst Castle!

Breakfast in Carmel! 

San Francisco! What an amazing city! 

Wine country! 

Del Dotto Winery, our favorite winery in Napa!

Our little girl is 1!

Yes, I know I am a little late on this post, as our little peanut is 12.5 months old! I blame this procrastination on our week long trip up the west coast, which I will blog about later.

On March 31, 2010, God gave Blaine and I the most amazing gift in the world, our baby girl, Kenley Olivia Clark! At birth, Kenley weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. 

Kenley, a few days old!

Today we had Kenley's 12 month old well baby check up. She weighs 17 lbs. 7 oz (3rd % ile) and is 29 inches long (50th % ile). She is for sure a little peanut! 

Within the last few months/weeks Kenley has learned and grown so much. Below are some of the things she is doing, as well as activities she enjoys:

• She is completely off pureed baby foods;
• She is beginning to take a few steps;
• Points at everything she sees;
• Her favorite word is dog. When we go on our walks she has to point at every dog she sees and yell DOG...DOG;
• She still loves to play peek-a-boo;
• Drinks out of a cup and from a straw;
• Claps, waves bye bye, gives kisses, blows kisses, gives high fives;
• Understands the meaning of no and shakes her head to indicate no;
• Says, "mama, dadda" and associates us with these words;
• She is still experiencing stranger anxiety;
• Is able to follow simple commands (i.e., get a book and come sit in mommy's lap);
• Her favorite foods are: blueberries, peas, cheese and turkey sticks;
• She loves to read books. When I get home from work we always read for at least 15 to 20 minutes. I think we read approximately 40 books a day. 
• She enjoys riding on her Winnie-the-Pooh mobile;
• She is saying 8 words: ball, book, Max, bubba, dog, mamma, dadda and no!

We love you Kenley!

Eventful Weekend!

This weekend Kenley was invited to 4 birthday parties! We were so excited to get everyone presents and attend 2 out of the 4 parties (as 2 of them were in KS). However, our little princess had a different plan in mind. For about the last week Kenley has not been herself. She has been really fussy and very clinging to mommy, more so than normal. We attributed it to her cutting her second top tooth. We went ahead and celebrated Sophia's birthday on Saturday. Kenley put on her party shoes for the day and helped her friend celebrate the BIG 1! On Sunday, Kenley woke up screaming, which has never happened before, we rushed to her bedroom and immediately began to console her. She was sweating and running a low grade temperature. We gave her some Tylenol and went about our day. After a few hours had past, we noticed she was pretty lethargic so we took her temperature again and it was over 103 degrees. Being the over-protective parents we are, we got in the car and headed to the hospital. On the way there, Kenley appeared as though she was passing out (her eyes rolled in the back of her head and one of her eyes was drooping). I grabbed her out of her car seat and stripped her down to her diaper, as quickly as I could, all the meanwhile crying for Blaine to do something! After a few minutes she gained some strength back and by this time we were at the hospital. The doctor told us that more than likely she had experienced a febrile seizure, due to her temperature spiking too quickly. From what I gathered from the doctor, this is not all that uncommon, thank the Lord! They gave her a steroid to help reduce her fever and some medication to help with her cough.  Needless, to say our fun-filled weekend did not turn out as planned.

Below are a few of the pictures from Sophia's 1st birthday party! Thank you for inviting us to celebrate with you Miss Sophia!

Kenley and a few of her new friends! Sophia is in the pink dress!

Bubbles! 

Peek-a-Kenley! 

Mommy and Ken Bug!

Daddy and his little princess!

Climbing through the tunnel! 

A Weekend of Celebration!

This past weekend we traveled to Kansas to celebrate our little darlings birthday! I have been planning and thinking of this special day since our angel was born. This past year has been a year of pure joy and love in our home. I never knew how much I could love someone, until Kenley was born. The love of a child is truly amazing and unlike any love I have ever felt in my lifetime. Thank you for this Kenley!

 We want to thank all of our family and friends who celebrated this special day with us!

Our little family at Kenley's birthday party!

 Kenley does not look very excited because we had to wake her up!

Opening gifts!

Kenley and her girlfriends!

Eating her cake!

It is exhausting being, almost, one!

We also had the opportunity to celebrate Miss Paxten's birthday! As many of you know, Paxten, Blake and Libby's daughter, was diagnosed with Leukemia 3 months ago. Paxten has beat this horrible disease,  however she will continue to receive chemo treatments for the next 2 1/2 to 3 years. This tiny fighter is a true inspiration to our family, and her parents faith in God is absolutely amazing! Please continue to pray for Paxten and her mommy and daddy!

Miss Paxten...The Big 1!

Life's A Beach!

We have had gorgeous weather here lately, therefore today we took Ken bug to the beach! After a nice, relaxing lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in L.B., (The White House) we headed to the beach. Kenley is going through a phase right now where she is extremely clinging to us, mainly mommy:), in public. After approximately 10 minutes of koala bear clinging, I was able to put her down.

She use to stay on her little island, the blanket, however she is now crawling off it onto the grass.  Making mommy and daddy's job a little harder:)

Not too sure about the sand!

Warming up a little. No worries though, we have all summer to get her use to it.

My little bundle of joy!

Our sweet angel!

I cannot believe our little angel is almost a year old!  She is by far the best gift God has ever given us. Since Kenley was born I was told that the first year would fly by and it definitely has. Kenley has brought so much joy and love to our home this past year and we have cherished every moment with her. She has the cutest personality, she is very loving and cuddly, yet extremely stubborn and strong willed at times; I think she gets that character trait from her daddy:) She is really into climbing right now, on everything! She loves to play peek-a-boo and is starting to stand up all on her own! She now is saying 5 words, mama, dadda, Max, ball and yellow (her favorite color)!

I am in the process of planning her first birthday party, which is going to be a tea party theme! The invitations have been sent, cakes have been order, tea sets are polished and her birthday outfit is on its way. Now awaits the BIG day!

Our Love!