Another Month Older

10 Months Old! Double digits... Wow! 10 months sounds like such a big number. It was sad enough when I had to call her an infant after retiring the "newborn" name, but now infant doesn't seem to describe Kins at all. Baby almost seems too small of a word to describer her. What is she? She is my little girl now...my little girl with a whole lot of personality. She is so much fun, and each month keeps getting better.

Kins, Kris, and I took a trip up to Santa Barbara to go back to what we call "Turtle Park" on her actual 10 Month Birthday. We played at the park, fed ducks her little puffs, went to farmers market; the weather was beautiful and Kins was in a great mood. Throughout it all, we were in search of a cupcake shop. We wanted to place a candle in it, sing happy birthday, and create some great photo moments. No cupcakes were found unfortunately, so my monthly photoshoot had to be postponed until a cupcake was found. Cupcakes are such the latest craze, I was surprised they weren't more easily accessible, especially in a place like Santa Barbara. Two days later, one was found, and although I had in mind a bright, colorful, sparkly one, this red velvet cupcake was going to have to do. And since she is in the double digits now, I felt it okay for her to dig in and enjoy this yummy sweet.

Enjoy the fun Photos... 10 Months Old!!!

Park Fun on Kins' 10 Month Birthday

I love, love, love...

Gingiber Prints... link within

The Bluebonnet Bandit whose crime was picking bluebonnets on a highway in Texas...So Cute!

And what better way to express love than with two Narwhals...

Fun Kids Rooms... link within

I'm keeping this bookshelf in mind when we can expand Miss Kins' room. I have always wanted to perfect the art of making a bookshelf look like art. This one comes pretty close.

Part 2 of Swim Lessons...

I couldn't resist posting these photos. Kins Grandpa came today to watch Miss Kins in action in her swim class. He got some great photos of her and I, and thought I would make this a part 2 of 2; little writing and more emphasis on the adorable photos. She did amazingly well again today, dunking her head under twice. She started getting comfortable with floating on her back, and seems more confident in the water. And like I said yesterday, these swim classes are great not only for her but me as well. She has been asleep for almost two hours now!!!!!

Enjoy...

My dad captured one of her dunks. See... a little surprised but still happy as can be. Good job my Kins!

Swim Lessons

I always knew Kins liked the water. Baths are always her favorite activity and has been that way for quite some time now. So when a friend informed me about these swim lessons being offered by our city, I knew I had to jump on them. It was day 2 today, and Kins is preforming rather well. All the babies and children in this class are actually quite brave, but because I am Kins' mom, I'll hype her up a little.

Like I had thought, Kins really does enjoy the sensation of the pool. She is so comfortable, confident, and at ease, smiling throughout the entire class. I already have her dunking her head under water. The instructors gave me a great trick; blow in the babies face, stunning them a little bit. This allows the baby to hold their breath for a second or two. They still inhale a little water, but not enough to cause any damage. Kins loved it and came up with a huge smile, licked her lips, batted the water off her eyes, and seemed to be asking for more. I just stuck with one dunk today; perhaps I will ease her in to the whole submersion process. She is also quite eager to get back in the pool when I place her out on the pool deck. I count to three as I hold out my arms towards her, and she falls forward in to the pool, I of course catch her. She giggles quite hard, and I repeat this over and over and over again. It is such a great 30 minutes that I get to spend with my Kins; I know she has a wonderful time too. I also can't deny that I love how tired she is after wards. Mommy get an hour to herself after she comes home. SO GREAT!!!

I took her bathing suit off, but here is a great picture of Kins posing after her swim class today!

And Kins and I... my little dark baby :)

As it quickly approaches...

Kins' first birthday is still on my mind, in a huge way now, as I am trying to develop some sort of theme. I think I am almost there, but as you all know, I want her 1st birthday to be absolutely perfect, so I am second and third guessing myself daily. I at first wanted a color scheme of magenta and robins egg blue as a theme, as you might recall from a previous blog I posted. But since I wont be able to paint any of my walls in my house these colors, I thought it might be wiser to go with something else. Kris and I went out in search of a theme on Friday. We started and stopped at Michael's when we found this incredible collection of the most beautiful paper. Designed by Carolyn Gavin, her paper is bright, bold, colorful, and full of cute and adorable illustrations, perfect for the kind of gal Kinsley is turning out to be: fun, bold, and quite colorful herself. I am pretty sure I will stick with Carolyn Gavin as our theme, I just hope she has enough decor, invitations, paper, artwork, decals, banners, hats, and streamers to support my crazy overbuying that is about to take place. Only the BEST for The KINS!!!

Catch up

Life is all about catch up, at least right now. I am never ahead of the game anymore. But as all you mom's out there know, it really doesn't matter, as your little ones of course come first.

I have been thinking about wishing you all a happy fourth of July for a couple of weeks now, so maybe I will follow through with this thought and just do it already. Hope your fourth was a great time. We, as in Kris, Kins, and I, had a fun-filled day. It was a great day to go to our local annual fourth of July street fair. We were accompanied by my mom and sister, bought random but beautiful things, ate kettle corn (yes Kins loves kettle corn), and played in a water fountain. We attempted to go to a museum, honoring to history of Ventura, but Kins had hit a wall by the end of it all and crashed on my chest on the walk back to the car. Those moments are so precious to me, as they never seem to happen anymore. It was a beautiful day, so we continued the celebration back at my parents house, where food and wine were plentiful, music was blasting, and the sun was shining. At the end of the day, I had in my head imagined how Kins would absolutely love fire works. She would ooo and ahhh and laugh and giggle with excitement. But it was late, and her day was long, so when I attempted to show her some street fireworks, performed by our neighbors, she shunned them instantly, digging her head in to my chest, giving me the sign that she MUST go to bed. Oh well, next year I am sure will be different. Happy late Fourth of July!!!

Fourth of July Photos

Helen Dardik

I found this really great artist while blog surfing today, her name is Helen Dardik. She is a great illustrator, painter, and pattern designer, all things that I absolutely love! Here are a few that stood out to me, as I am always looking for new things to spruce up either my house or Kins' bedroom.