Happy 2nd Birthday Kennedy!

It's hard to believe it was 2 years ago that God gave us our biggest blessing ever, our sweet daughter, Kennedy Hannah Kaune.



Here are some things to remember about what life is like for you at 2 years old:

*You no longer use a paci.

*You go to bed between 7:30-8:00. On weekdays, Mommy wakes you up about 6:30 but on the weekends, you will sleep until anywhere from 7:00-8:00.

*You wear 3t clothing and you are in a size 5 diaper.

*You are moving up to the 2 year old room at church and at daycare this week.

*Your favorite toys are: dress up Minnie Mouse, No Mess Crayola art kits, baby dolls and strollers and your Doc McStuffins doctor kit.

*Your favorite book currently is the Golden book version of Frozen that your Uncle Bubba gave you at your birthday party. We have read it every night since your party and last night we read it twice in a row.

*You continue to be very friendly and never meet a stranger.

*You are talking in sentences now! So many new words and phrases. Too many to list!

*Your best friends at school are Emma and Garris. Outside of school, you love to play with Janna, Evie and your cousin Marley.

*Your favorite teachers so far have been Miss Michelle, Miss Angie and Miss Stacy.

*You love to play outside in your playhouse and on your swing.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Cruella Deville, Nana and Spike come to visit and Kennedy's 2nd Birthday Party!

Warning! This is one of all those all over the place random posts, so bear with me!

 

Friday was an awesome day! It was "Book Character Dress Up Day" at the school I teach at. I was dressed as Cruella Deville and the rest of the third grade team dressed as my Dalmations. Ya'll, my hair was insane! My co-worker Shannon teased it and put baby powder in it. It took a lot of conditioner to get it out but it was worth it. The kids loved it! The kids went all out with their costumes as well. I have to be careful about putting student's pictures on the blog but my friend Becky's twins, Luke and Ella are in my class this year and they were dressed as Jack and Annie from The Magic Treehouse series, so adorable! The fourth grade team was dressed as the Grinch and the Who's from How the Grinch Stole Christmas and one of our 5th grade teachers was dressed as the Magic School Bus. They took a picture of her "running over" the Grinch, absolutely hysterical!

 

 

Meanwhile, Kennedy was so excited that her Nana and Spike were coming all the way from Oregon for her birthday and Thanksgiving! So excited that she wore her Oregon Ducks shirt to school that day!

 

 

Saturday was the day of Kennedy's 2nd birthday party. Mommy and Nana took Kennedy to the park that morning and wore her out so she would nap good before her party!

 

 

 

Kennedy had a blast at her party. As always, I was a bad mom and took hardly any pictures. Honestly though, I am so glad that I was just running around having fun with Kennedy and soaking up every moment. I still think next year I may hire someone to come take pictures though because  we hardly have any pictures of her playing with her friends or her cousins at the party. We rented a bounce house this year which was a big hit with the kids. Oh and the décor? If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that's just not my thing. All the decorations came from Party City. It was a Minnie Mouse theme so very easy to find. For the food, we had "Hot diggity dogs" (pigs in a blanket), Daisy's Fruit and Vegetable Garden (fruit and veggies with dips), "Goofy's Gooey Dip" (cake batter dip with animal crackers) and "Plutato Chips and Dip"  (cheddar bacon ranch dip and chips)  Here are some of the few pictures we did get that turned out okay:

 

 

We are so blessed to have so many friends and family that we were there to celebrate our baby girl's 2nd birthday. She is one loved little girl!

 

Today is a rainy Sunday and we are relaxing around the house. Kennedy and Spike are playing with her new set of bangles that her friend Asher got her for her birthday. I will leave you with this hysterical picture. Spike looks really thrilled, right?

 

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughts about the 2nd trimester

I am very excited that I am in my 2nd trimester of this pregnancy! Not only because I am hoping my sickness will subside some, but because that means we are closer to meeting this baby! :)Am I the only one who thinks pregnancy goes by slow? I don't know why but for me, it always seems to go by very slow which can be a good and bad thing at times.

A lot of people told me that they felt movement with their 2nd as early as 13-15 weeks and that you will know for sure your 2nd time around when you feel it. I think I may have felt some flutters in church yesterday but I am still not 100 percent sure it wasn't gas, lol. So much for knowing for sure! I didn't feel movement with Kennedy until I was about 19-20 weeks so we shall see.

I still cannot eat sweet foods. Yesterday I was feeling great so I ate a fun size bag of M&M's. Oh my goodness, they tasted so wonderful. Not so much 10 minutes later, when I was gagging over the toilet. :( I ate a bowl of ice cream several times a week when I was pregnant with Kennedy. This time around, even the thought of ice cream makes me sick.

A lot of the Old Wives tales have been pointing towards boy with this pregnancy but I don't want to jinx it for Nick, lol. Plus I am super stressed out because Nick and I have been disagreeing about the boy name. We have had a first name set since we were pregnant the first time and we also had a middle name set but then all of a sudden this time around, Nick has decided he doesn't like the middle name. So now we are trying to come up with a different middle name. We are thinking about a family name on my stepdad's side (my stepdad and I are extremely close) but the problem is people are constantly mispronouncing it because the spelling is different from how it sounds. Also, I am worried it may hurt my dad's feelings that we are using a family name from my stepdad's side even though my stepdad has always been there for me more than my dad. My dad had a stroke last spring and I have really just put aside a lot of the hurt and resentment I had towards him because I just feel like life's too short plus he's still my dad and I love him no matter what. I am a total planner when it comes to stuff like this so I really want to have this decided before the gender sonogram but it's really just a tough one.

We have a girl name set in stone but we also changed that from a name we had previously decided to use. I am a little disappointed because I have always loved our original name since I was a little girl but it has become SUPER POPULAR and so many people we know were naming their little girls this name. Not to mention, Kennedy has two little girls in her class at church with the name and one at daycare. Being teachers, Nick and I are very sensitive about not using over popular names because we don't want our child to be in a situation where they have their last name initial stuck to their first name their whole school career. However, I really like the name we have come up with. It's a K name so it goes with Kennedy very well, it's very unique and we have Nick's grandmother's name as the middle name.

I feel like I have been able to enjoy this pregnancy a lot more than I did with Kennedy. Still having a bit of anxiety here and there. It doesn't help that our youth pastor's wife recently lost her baby at 16 weeks. She went in for her 15 week appointment and everything was great then went in at 18 weeks for her gender sonogram to find out the baby had passed away at 16 weeks. I can't even imagine. Please keep JT and Brittany Black in your prayers. I talked to my doctor at my 11 week appointment and he told me that while it is very sad, it is also very rare to have 2nd trimester miscarriages. I know God is in control of the situation and so I just continue to believe and have faith that everything is going to be just fine.

Here's to the 2nd trimester!

Oh Hey Friday/5 on Friday

It's Friday and I am so excited to be linking up with the fabulous ladies of both of these awesome linkups!

Here's what's been going on with the Kaune's:

1. Last Friday night, the collegiate Phi Mu girls hosted a spaghetti dinner in conclusion to their "Miracle Week" in which they had various fundraisers around campus for our national philanthropy, Children's Miracle Network. They raised 1,900 dollars for CMN, which is awesome! Kennedy and I went to the spaghetti dinner and both of us had a blast. Kennedy had salad for the first time and LOVED it which surprised me. I love salad now but when I was little I hated it so I just had never bothered to try it with her. She barely touched any of the spaghetti but ate up her salad. They had dessert on sale for an extra dollar and Kennedy had an absolute meltdown about wanting cake. I didn't have any extra cash but my sister Courtney was nice enough to buy her a piece of chocolate cake. Of course Kennedy ate two bites of it and then said "all done" leaving Mommy with the cake. The cake was delicious but I ended up getting sick later that night. I still can't handle sweet stuff in this pregnancy which makes me super sad. They had a DJ there but no one was really dancing except for Kennedy of course and my sister Helen, who was kind enough to keep her company on the dance floor.

2. Last week my friend Valerie took our family pictures and Kennedy's 2 year old pictures. Taking pictures with an almost 2 year old is stressful. It was really hard to get Kennedy to look at the camera and smile. Valerie posted a sneak peak on Facebook though and I am absolutely in love with this one. It may end up being our Christmas card picture!

3. I am super late on this but a few weeks ago, my friend Jessica and I went to see the new Nicholas Sparks movie, The Best of Me. I don't know if it was the pregnancy hormones or what, but I bawled through almost the entire movie. However, despite the cheesy ending, I thought it was a really good movie. The love story kind of reminded me of The Notebook and I liked how it was set in the 90's. :) The actors that played the couple when they were young had great chemistry too.

4. I am 13 weeks this week. Last week in the first trimester, woohoo! I have only thrown up twice this week, which is fabulous. So far my only craving is fresh fruit. Still can't eat chocolate or ice cream which sucks because I have always had a sweet tooth but it always makes me sooooo sick! I haven't gained any weight yet with this pregnancy. Every time I weigh myself I am usually right at my pre-pregnancy weight or a few pounds under. When I was pregnant with Kennedy, I had already gained 6 pounds by this time. My doctor told me he doesn't really worry about weight gain in the first trimester and that it's normal not to gain weight since I have been so sick. I am really looking forward to my next doctor's appointment on the 25th. My parents will be in town that week for Kennedy's birthday party and Thanksgiving so my mom gets to go with me to my appointment and hear the heartbeat. After that, our next appointment will be our gender sonogram on December 18th, so exciting! A lot of the Old Wives Tales are pointing to boy and the Chinese Gender Chart also says boy but I won't be completely convinced until that sonogram. My friend Becky was one of the few people who predicted that I was having a girl when I was pregnant with Kennedy and she thinks I am having another girl so we shall see!

5. Big milestone for Kennedy this week: we are done with the paci! After all that stressing about it, all we did was make her throw her pacis in the trash, sounds harsh I know, but it worked. She asked for her paci when we put her to sleep that night but sung herself to sleep. She hasn't been really taking very good naps at school this week and I am pretty sure that's due to not having the paci but her teachers say she sometimes asks for it and other times she doesn't. She still sleeps, it's just not her usual 2 hours. So, she is still adjusting, but I am excited that we have been a whole week without it and no major meltdowns!

This upcoming week is her last week in the Toddler II class and I am actually kind of sad about it. She has had some really great teachers in this class. She usually bonds with one particular teacher in each of her classes. In the nursery, it was Miss Michelle, in Toddler I, it was Miss Angie and this class, it has been Miss Stacy. Miss Stacy is the lead teacher and is always doing fabulous art projects with the kids. They sent home Kennedy's fall art and ohhh, the cuteness! She also did Kennedy's hair in French braids the other day, so cute! I can barely get Kennedy to sit still for me to put her hair in a ponytail!

 Kennedy continues to be "all girl." The first thing she does when she wakes up is asks for a bow. Her latest obsession now is having tea parties with Mommy and her dolls and stuffed animals. So much fun! Can't believe 2 weeks from today we will officially have a two year old!

Have a great weekend everyone!

5 on Friday/Oh Hey Friday!

Linking up with all the fabulous ladies in the Oh Hey Friday/5 on Friday linkups today! Here's what's been on my mind this week:

1. Embarrassed to admit but my new reality tv show obsession? SLEDNECKS on MTV. It's Jersey Shore all over again but set in Alaska. Sort of like a Jersey Shore on Ice, bahahaha. It is hilarious! They had me from the first episode when Sierra blows up her ex boyfriend's couch.

2. I am already on the hunt for maternity clothes especially since I have hardly any winter maternity clothes due to being pregnant with Kennedy in summer/fall. I absolutely love Old Navy's maternity line so thinking some online shopping is in the near future. Our Old Navy in store maternity section is terrible. It's always very picked through and they never seem to have mediums. :( I also plan on hitting up Kohls. I love their "Oh Baby" line. Where is your favorite place to buy maternity clothes?  

3. Chili is one of our favorite things to eat in the winter. Nick usually makes it with deer meat. My sorority sister Kim gave me her corn fritter recipe and we have been having corn fritters with our chili which makes for an amazing fall dinner! Super easy recipe, all you need is 1 can regular corn, 1 can cream corn, a block of cream cheese, and a cup of shredded cheese. You mix it all together and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then sprinkle a little more shredded cheese on top and bake for another 10 minutes. YUM!

4. Bumpdate: I am 12 weeks this week. Still experiencing some nausea but overall it has gotten better. I am in a stage where it's hard to figure out what to wear because I am really not quite ready for maternity clothes but a lot of my regular clothes are uncomfortable. Leggings, dresses and palazzo pants are where it's at for me right now! The pictures below are of 11 and 12 weeks. In the 12 week picture, I was irritated about something, so excuse the fake smile.

5. Big sis Kennedy is doing great! She is moving up to the 2 year old room in a few weeks at school. We are very excited about this because her best friends, Creighton, Emma and Garris have already moved up and she misses them! However, we will really miss her wonderful teachers in the Toddler II room. We are slightly nervous because there is a no paci rule in this classroom and Kennedy still uses her paci at naptime and at night to go to sleep. We are in the process of trying to wean her off of it, but it's hard. Especially since I want her to sleep!

Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

Yesterday was one of those days. It was a field trip day and usually that's fun but in this case due to a student who just couldn't behave, it turned out to be stressful. Then that afternoon, I got a text from my mom saying that Thursday she and my stepdad will be putting down our beloved family dog of 15 years, Zeke. Zeke has been such a good dog. I still remember the day we got him. It was the beginning of my sophomore year of high school and my mom let me miss school to go to the breeders to go pick him out. He has been a great family pet, but a wonderful companion to my mom, who works from home. Zeke is a pug and usually pugs only live 10-12 years so we have been lucky to have him this long. It still doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye. However, I agree with their decision. Zeke is deaf and blind, struggling from dementia and his overall quality of life is just not good. Kennedy absolutely adores him and our other dog, Toby. Every time we FaceTime with my mom, she says "puppies?" Tomorrow we are planning to FaceTime one last time with Zeke so we can all say goodbye.

 

 

Then I got to daycare to pick up Kennedy and discovered that she had her first "write up" for biting. :( I was relieved to hear that another child was hitting her and she did it out of defense but was still not happy to hear that she did it. We have never had issues with her biting or hitting other kids so that was not fun to hear. I started fussing at her immediately and she burst into tears which of course made me feel bad. Then, as we were leaving the one teacher at her daycare that I absolutely can't stand stopped me. This teacher is a "floater" and fills in whatever classroom needs extra help for the day. I always cringe when a teacher is out in Kennedy's room because I don't like her in there with Kennedy. Apparently for years her and her husband have been trying to have children and have been unable to, which I can sympathize with and I truly do feel bad for her. However, her attitude is terrible and her tone with the kids is awful. I have heard from other parents that when you complain to the director, the director will say that she acts that way because she is unable to have kids and the job makes her sad. Ummm, get a new job?  Anyways, she said that I really need to get Kennedy off her pacifier since she is moving up to the 2 year old room in a few weeks and no pacifiers are allowed. Then she said "you don't want her to be the only one in there with a pacifier do you?"  I get it, but she only uses it for naptime! Plus, it really irritated me that she was telling me this when she isn't even one of Kennedy's regular classroom teachers. Very overwhelmed with all the information given to me and honestly I have no clue what we are going to do about the pacifier because she really does have a hard time falling asleep without it.

 

When we pulled into the driveway, Nick was out in the yard. Kennedy said "Daddy, I go to timeout today." Nick looked at me and I just burst into tears. I think the pregnancy hormones just made the bad day even worse. I am so glad that we have the day off today for Election Day. I needed some time to regroup and spend time with my family. This morning, Nick and I dropped Kennedy off at daycare for a few hours so we could vote, go out to breakfast together and then I had an eyebrow wax. Went and picked Kennedy up and spent some time with her. Now, she is napping and when she wakes up, my friend Valerie is taking our Christmas card/Kennedy's 2 year old pictures. Trying to just relax and not stress. This too shall pass and just like Alexander's Mom says "some days are just like that, even in Australia!"

 

 

 

 

Is it really November already?

Halloween was so much fun this year! Kennedy understood what was going on this year a lot more and she had so much fun trick or treating with her friend Evie around our neighborhood. I was so excited because Evie's mom, my friend Brandi, is pregnant as well! She is due in June. We are so excited about being pregnant together again and for many future play dates with both kids being so close in age together!

 

Kennedy had already had experience with trick or treating at Boo at the Zoo so she was very excited to go up to the houses and ring the bell and say "trick or treat!" Our subdivision goes all out for Halloween so even though we left early, it didn't take long for the streets to fill up. We came home after about an hour because it got so crowded and it was hard to maneuver the wagon around. The girls had about had enough at this point anyway.

 

We came home and Kennedy helped us pass out candy, which was super cute.

 



 

It was a great Halloween and I know it's going to get better and better the older she and Baby #2 get. Now we are preparing for the even busier months of November and December. Things to look forward to: getting family pictures done, Kennedy's 2nd birthday, Nana and Spike's visit, Thanksgiving, lots of Christmas parties, finding out the gender of Baby #2 the week before Christmas and of course Christmas and all the magic that goes along with it! Can't wait!