First Word!

Today Kezzie said pappies (puppies). She always gets so excited in the morning when daddy goes upstairs and opens their kennel. She can hear them trampling down the stairs to come looking for her and her legs start kicking and she gets such a big smile on her face. I always say, "oh no, here comes the puppies!" I guess she just caught on...she said it once and Brian and I looked at each other unsure if that was what we heard, but she said it 3 more times even more clearly. I guess besides mama and dada, we can call this her first word!

For the record!

I want to have pictures from every month on here of Kezzie and since I didn't start this blog until after she was 7 months, the youngest picture I have on here of her is 8 months...so I will do a catch up post and just back date it to around her 8th month. If you are interested in seeing how much she has grown, take a peek, I will call it Previous Months!

10 months & 6 days!

We missed our usual-on the day-picture in her big brown chair since we were in Florida, so 6 days late will have to do! She is continuing to grow and amaze us every day. She stands to everything now and has even begun to brave trying to step away to grab onto something else. What a blessing and joy she is in our lives!


She loves her Minnie Mouse she got in Florida!

Made for Each Other!

We had a wedding in Cedar Rapids on Saturday for a good friend of mine that I used to work with when we lived in Marion. These two are so meant for each other. I couldn't be happier that they are finally married! Congratulations to Jami and Eric!!

We're Back!

We are back home, safe and sound on the ground! We had a wonderful trip. A lot to tell about and share! Along with oodles of pictures. If you want to view our slide show just scroll down to the bottom of this page. It's not the most sophisticated way to post them, but it will do! Austin had a blast as well as Kezzie! It was stressful at times but that is to be expected with a 10 month old. Let's just say it may be a while before we hop back on a plane again! All in all, I can't complain...it was wonderful weather and just awesome that I got to wake up every day and spend all day with my kids and husband! What more could you ask for!

http://

Florida, here we come!!

Well, this is it...we are leaving on our journey of a vacation! Tomorrow morning, 4:30am to be exact, is going to come really quick. I just wanted to post and have you all praying for us since it is going to be an adventure with a very determined spirit of a 10 month old! It is going to be a blast though and a time that Austin (or any of us) will never forget. We are so blessed to have this opportunity to spend as a family on such a great vacation and to get to have Brian's parents along with us! I will post when we return...so good-bye for now!!
Kezzie insisted that she help me pack (or unpack). I was putting things in her bag and she just kept pulling them all out. I felt like I was repeating time! When I was finished, I closed it up and she climbed right on top and sat down. It was so cute!

Weirdo!

Today Kezzie found a thing of string cheese that I hadn't gotten around to eating yet. It was still in the package and I guess she thought it felt cool to bite down on because she carried that thing around in her mouth for the longest time. She would take it out of her mouth and try sharing it with me and then stick it back in her mouth. This went on for almost an hour until she got tired of it and left it somewhere only to be found by our dog, Bucky. You can about imagine what was left of it and the package...he is such a scavenger!

Cutie Pie!

Whenever Kezzie gets up in the morning or wakes from her naps you can usually tell her mood by whether she talks in her crib or immediately starts crying. And a lot of times when we go in to get her this is what we find...

She's such a big girl. And almost always happy!!

People Food!

Over the last week Kezzie has really taken an interest in the food that I am eating. So for every meal now I have been trying to have at least one thing on my plate that I know I can share with her. It's so much fun to eat together!

Surprise!!

Yesterday (Saturday September 13th) I threw Brian a surprise birthday party for his 30th birthday. It was so much fun and he never suspected a thing. I was a little worried he wasn't going to leave the house to watch the Iowa/Iowa State game but a friend of his talked him into coming over to watch it at his house. Besides, my mom was coming to 'hang out' (actually to help get ready) so Brian didn't feel any pressure to be at home hanging out with me and the kids. I told him to go and have fun and that he might as well plan on watching a couple games there since we were just going to sit around and watch TLC all day anyway! He called around 4 to check in and I told him we were feeling pretty hungry and wanted to plan on going out to eat around 6 so he needed to be home then. It worked like a charm! People arrived between 5 and 5:30. We all hid in the garage and when he got home the door came up and...SURPRISE! He just sat in his car laughing! We grilled hamburgers, chicken, and hot dogs and ate plenty of other food. There were so many leftovers! Some of the guys played bean bags, but mostly we all just hung out and talked (and drank beer!). Austin was a big help in decorating with Keith! Jamie put together the veggie tray and Brian's mom mixed the hash browns in a roaster and marinated the chicken along with bringing some deviled eggs and chex mix. LaVonne (Brian's grandma) made him a wonderful cake (pictured below). She used to make wedding cakes, and oh my...it was delicious! My mom spent all day Saturday with me just getting ready for the party and helping with more things than I can list! She is always great to have around. I love her company! Thanks everyone for your help in making it a successful party!

Standing

Kezzie is doing such a great job of pulling herself up and standing to things now. She has even started to try letting go of things to walk, but falls within seconds. All she wants to do is pull herself up and see what is on top of tables. I think she likes that view a lot better! She started pulling herself up 8/20, but seems to have really gotten the hang of it over labor day weekend.

Flag Football Season!

Austin is in Flag Football again this year. He gets excited every year for the time to come around! Brian is coaching again, which I love to see! They have a great team and have pretty equally won some and lost some! Most importantly Austin has several friends on his team, so they always have a blast. Sadly, it only lasts 3 weeks so after this week, we will be done with it. Austin will end up missing the last couple games while we are away in Florida this next week!

First Booboo :(

Last night was a push to get Austin's homework done (as is almost every Sunday) so I was sitting on the couch trying to help him and at the same time trying to watch my ever so daring Kezzie. She is trying to stand up to everything and most of the time is pretty successful but I looked over just in time to see her forehead bounce off one of the iron legs on our end table. I wasn't sure if it was her eye or above it, I couldn't tell, but Austin knew I was panicked...he stood up and immediately grabbed the phone to begin calling 911. He was screaming and bawling he was so scared. I picked her up and went to the freezer to get some frozen peas. She was completely fine and in fact hardly has a mark on her head. I did stop Austin from calling 911, but I had to convince him she was going to be fine. I think I had to comfort Austin more than her (and moments before that he was telling her she was annoying him!) I know he loves her. He has such a sweet heart!

Life of the Party!

On Sunday I went to my good friend Kristin's baby shower. She is due in October and is so adorable! She got some great gifts and we had a good time chatting. Kezzie seemed to steal the show though with her continuous squeals and irresistible cuteness! It was so good to see friends!

Going it alone!

I had another garage sale this last Thursday. It was during the Davis Rally Celebration (motorcyclists). I thought since it was a Thursday and since I woke to a steady rainfall that I wouldn't have many buyers, but my customer flow was pretty consistent (outside of one hour of not a single person showing up). It all turned out great given the fact that I was doing it without anybody there to entertain Kezzie. I did have help when I needed to take her inside to nurse her, but otherwise she hung out with me in the cold garage all day! She was such a trooper and when customers needed to pay, she willingly sat in this box and played with her toys!

Lucky #7!

Kezzie has been working hard this week. She has gotten in her top middle right tooth and also her bottom side left tooth. It seems like she has been getting them in twos! I think I am finally catching on to the signs now...she only wants to nurse a couple times a day, doesn't want to eat anything and when she does nurse, she bites in between sucks (ouch).

Labor Day Weekend!

This weekend we didn't do much! Sometimes that's best though! Austin was promised a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa at the River so that's where he went (even with a terrible cold on top of allergies). There, he got to celebrate his birthday with them and other relatives. A close cousin of his has his birthday around the same time so we celebrated both of them. I went up to the river all day Saturday and stayed until Sunday mid-day. Austin was ready for us to leave as the area in the camper is tight quarters with a pack-n-play in there. Kezzie did wonderful taking a 3 hour nap on Saturday and sleeping through the night only waking to make sure I was there. I didn't get to do any fishing, but maybe next year! On Saturday afternoon we grilled hamburgers and ate dirt cake and 'moldy' lemon cake (per Josh's request of his mother)and sang happy birthday to the two boys. My Aunt Jill and two of her kids were there and stayed in a hotel that has a nice 'water park', so Saturday night we headed over there for some fun. Austin wasn't feeling up to it so he stayed at the camper with G-ma & pa and did some more fishing and relaxing!

Austin is perfectly content fishing off the doc. My Uncle Perry is taking some of the kids out 'hunting for bobbers'! What a good Uncle!

Keziah was perfectly content on an old comforter from home, thrown down over the hard rock!

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Austin and Josh. This is where we gather for our meals!


Austin is opening his gifts from Grandpa & Grandma Smith (a large spot light, an Iowa Hawkeye body pillow, and a Wal-Mart gift card), and Jamie & Keith (a guitar). He loves them all!


Here we are at the 'water park'. Kezzie had a great time crawling around in the very shallow area and hanging out with mom and Aunt Jamie.