4 Days & Counting till PARTY TIME!!!!

I can't believe it that my baby boy is going to be 1 tomorrow!  We are busy, busy planning away and trying to get things done.  I sometimes hate the fact that I am a little OCD and have to have everything just so!  Poor Matt and my mom they really have there hands full with me over the next couple of days.  I also have decided to make Kellen's cake so I am super stressed over it turning out just right!  :o) I have my "List" going and have been working to check things off.  But the ALL the stress and ALL the planning will be so worth it so get together with all our friends and family.  We will have a house full and I am super excited!

We are very excited for the Whitfield's who are making the trip here from Augusta with their newest addition Hampton Cole!  He is SO cute and I just can't wait to meet him!  Their oldest, Sarah Scott who is about 6 months older than Kellen is a doll and just as sweet as sugar.  I have already decided that they will make a perfect couple when they are older!  :o)  So I decided to take a picture of Kellen for Sarah Scott...

I loved this onsie!  It was a total steal at Target...I got it for $3.00.  I love shopping for Kellen...there are some really cute things out there, but I am having a hard time deciding what to have him wear for his party!  :o)  Hopefully I will find something today!  :o)

The Adventures of Mommy & Kellen!

I have sat down several times and tried to blog, but the words were not flowing!  I am going on my second week home with Kellen and I do have to say I think I may be more busy now than when I was working.  Kellen is on "GO" every minute of the day.  He is walking everywhere and even has taken on the stairs a couple of times.  The other day I was feeding him and finished and put him down....I thought he was playing in the Living Room...meanwhile my mom had gone upstairs and neither one of us realized that the gate was open.  I turned for a minute and then heard Kellen on the stairs.  My mom thought I had brought him upstairs, but no he followed Holly up the stairs.  I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest!  I guess I am lucky that Daddy lets him go up the stairs and follows closely behind him, so he learned how to go up the stairs.  :o)

It has been really easy falling into a routine as far as Kellen goes.  He gets up around 7ish and then we have breakfast together.  He is definitely my child as this is his favorite meal of the day.  Then we play and play some more.  I love his giggle it is so cute and very contagious.  Around 10 I lay him down for a nap and he will sleep until about 12.  During this time I try and fit in as many things as I can.  Then we have lunch...He has learned if he drops his food off the side of his highchair the kitties will come running and see what goodies he has dropped.  He thinks it is the funnies thing!  After lunch we usually will try and get out of the house and go window shopping, grocery shopping, or something of that sorts.  Then we try to get back to the house around 4 and he will lay down again for a bit.   I have had a tendency to lay down at this time too!!!  Oh I love NAP time!  :o)

I have been busy with Kellen's party planning!  I can't wait!  Our good friends the Whitfield's are coming in from Augusta and I am so excited (we will finally get to meet their newest family member, Hampton).  Our friend Ashly is going to take pictures through the party so I am so excited to see how they come out.  Matt's grandparents will be here from Indiana and it has been a while since they have seen him.  My friend Jennifer is going to help me make Kellen's cake and I am super excited.  Not having a job as allowed me the time to play Martha Stewart for a bit!  We are so lucky to be surrounded by such great friends and family that will help us celebrate such a special time!  I can't wait to share the pictures with everyone! ***Can you tell I am "excited" I used the word a lot in this paragraph???***

How can you say NO to this face????

Kellen can't be 11 months....Can he???

Where has the time gone??? Where did my little, snugly baby go? All I can say is what a difference a month or even a few weeks make. Kellen has taken off! He went from taking a step or two to now taking as many as he can before he loses his balance and plops down. He does pretty good balancing, but he gets going so fast that his legs can't keep up with him! :o) Here is what he is up to these days...

•  He is still weighing around 26lbs. He can wear 12 months still, but we have had to move to some 18 months due to needing some more belly room and the arms on the shirts needing to be a little longer. He is wearing a size 4 diaper and we are about to have to buy some new shoes for him.
• He has begun to eat all table food. He still eats pretty well, but he is becoming a little more opinionated and will not eat the same thing more than once in a row. He loves pepperoni...I thought it would be too spicy for him, but he loves it. He is beginning to like hot dogs and still loves mac and cheese. He got to try eggs and blueberry pancakes while mommy was home last week. He seemed to love them both. He loves bananas and pretty much all fruit. He really loved veggies when they were in a jar, but now he is not so into them....I may have to get sneaky and start putting them into other things. Of course I decided to let him try ice cream and he LOVES it. Bad Mommy! :o) It is so hard though because when you are eating he will come up to you and give you puppy eyes and grunt at you like "what about me"??? I know that it seems like he loves all food, but it really does depend on the day...we have been struggling trying to find something for him to eat because one day he will eat it and the next he won't and then the day after that he will eat it again! I think he is just trying to say "Mommy I have an opinion on what I eat"!!! On is 11th month birthday I decided to take him down to 3 bottles instead of 4 and introduced whole milk. He loves milk, juice, and water!!! Next weekend we are going to start weaning him off formula and bottles all together! We will see how it goes!
• The week before Christmas he decided it was time to try walking and since then he hasn't stopped...he gets further and further each time. He has a couple of walker toys and will just buzz around the kitchen and living room. He still loves to push chairs around the kitchen. So yes, Kellen is walking! I can't believe it...what happened to my baby! He is growing way to fast. Kellen still loves his bath and loves to play with all his ducks. I got him a basketball hoop and these balls to play with in the tub he Loves it!
• He is really into music right now. Any time he hears music he stops what he is doing and will start dancing! It is the cutes thing...I will have to try and get it on video. I love it! :o) We have this fisher price thing that goes on the fridge that has animals you try and match up and it will tell you interesting facts about them and of course plays music. Kellen will just push the music button over and over and dance away. The cutest thing was on tv the other day music started to play so he crawled over to the tv console and pulled himself up and started dancing to the music! It was so cute!
• Still no words other than "mama" and "dada" and we are working on "ball".
• He has 8 teeth, but more are coming...I feel so bad for them. He has one on the way and it seems to be really bothering him. The amount fo drool that comes from him is amazing! :o) We still have not scheduled his surgery, but hope to get it done before his 1st b-day so I will keep you up to date on that!

 Every day I am amazed at how much Kellen is changing, growing and learning! He has been a blessing from the start. I could never have imagined 2009 and how it turned out. It has been an amazing year. The good days have out weighed the bad by far this year. Even bad days are really not so bad anymore, because I know at the end of the day I get to go home to the two loves of my life!

Kellen ~

Mommy and Daddy love you SO much! We can not imagine what life would be like without you! Your smile and giggles are the cutest and most precious gifts! We can not wait for you to start talking and see what you have to say!

Love you,
Mommy