Great Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy

Four Generations.

Today after we got settled in at mom and dad's we headed out to Buckeye to see Kennedy's Great Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy. We spent a few hours over their and they were just so excited to finally meet her. Kennedy had a good time snuggling and playing with them.


She slid around pretty easy from one to another on the table. She had fun stretching and kicking.

Great Grandma feeding Kennedy her bottle. She is so hungry!

Bye-oh, Bye-oh, rock-a-bye...

So Cute!

A long, long day...

Yesterday was something else... wow. We ended up leaving the house around 5:45am. Kennedy got her bottle from daddy about 4:15 while I took a shower, pumped and finished packing. It took just over an hour to get out of the house but once we got on the road it went really smooth. Kennedy slept until I woke her up when I had to stop for gas and to use the bathroom at 9:00. We had a 45 min pit stop to feed her and change her diaper and then we were back off. We had one more small stop before we got to Alan's around 2:00. Alan watched Kennedy for me while I ran to Wal-Mart, pumped, washed the bottles and then it was back on the road around 4:30. We made a quick stop in Brimfield to pick up Joey and to see Kim and then we were on the road again at 6:00. We then made a stop in Davenport to see Drew and Kendra that was perfect timing because Kennedy was having a meltdown just before we got to their apartment. We got Kennedy fed and her diaper changed and let her stretch out a little more and then we were off again; on the final stretch to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She did pretty good the rest of the way considering how long she has been in that silly car seat! We finally got to Grandma and Grandpa's house at midnight! How many hours is that???? I lost count. She fell asleep around 11:00 in the car and slept until 6:00 this morning. She was wore out!


Kennedy and her Uncle Alan at Cate's apartment in Peoria. HALF WAY!

Snuggling with Kim after a little snack before heading back on the road.

All rested up after a good nights sleep. She loves her new toy that Grandma and Grandpa got her!

Ahhh, Grandpa's girl!

Leaning to organize...

This week I learned that I have some work to do in the organization skill. It all takes on a new meaning when you are trying to get ready to take a baby on her first long road trip. I spent most of the weekend and this week doing laundry and cleaning up and trying to figure out what I was going to pack to take with us to Iowa. Tom was working over time this week so Kennedy and I were home by ourselves a lot this weekend. I did a little at a time all week long and it got done, but just in time. It seemed like I was packing up until the minute we walked out the door to leave for the weekend.



Tom took Kennedy and me to lunch on Saturday to get us out of the house for a little bit and to hang out since we wouldn't be seeing much of each other until next week. Kennedy was such a good girl at the restaurant. She slept like a baby most of the time. She just woke up to drink a little of her bottle and then back off to sleep.

Learning how to sit up like a big girl!

Daddy keeping her warm after her bath time. What a little snuggle bug!

Riley loves getting her picture taken. She sits so pretty for the camera.

this week

Kennedy is still doing so many new things all the time. She is definitely having more awake time however, it seems to be on an every other day thing. She really likes hanging out in her swing and watching her mobile. The mobile attached to the swing has got to be the best baby invention ever! We've pretty much just been hanging out trying to soak up what is left of my maternity leave. I can't believe that I am going to be going back to work in a week and a half. I'd like to just not think about it yet!



Have you ever heard that racket balls were supposedly indestructible? Well, they are supposed to be. The only other time that I have seen one break is when the science teacher put one in liquid nitrogen and then dropped it on the ground. Shirley has jaws of steel. She did have the thing for a little over a month and this is only the second one that she has gotten through but she broke apart another one the next night. That was our sign that she needs to go on more walks with her daddy.

We tried to have a little tummy time which she usually likes. This time she must have been too tired for that because she kept just burrowing her head into the blanket and getting frustrated. We had a good time just playing on her back. We did a little peek-a-boo and we got lots of little giggles.

Jammie time after her bath. Time for a nap.

Look Grandpa, they do make Grandpa Loves Me stuff. And Kennedy loves her Grandpa too. She is looking forward to coming to Iowa next week to see him and Grandma and meeting all her other family too!

We had a nice weekend. Saturday was quiet. Tom did his weekly stay at home and clean the house and watch the baby while he let me go out by myself and do some shopping. It was really nice. Yesterday Kennedy and I went to a friend's bridal shower while Tom went over and helped a friend work on his demolition derby car. We got home and had a nice dinner together.

Shirley wanted the racket ball so bad that when I threw her the tennis ball and it landed on her paws that she didn't even blink to take her eyes off the racket ball until I threw that for her. What a freak dog!

Kennedy all dressed up to go to her first party, the bridal shower. She was a big hit. Everyone thought she was just adorable. Too bad I didn't bring my camera in. In the make a wedding dress out of toilet paper we dressed up a bride and made her the flower girl. We were a shoe in for first prize. How precious. I will have to have Bridgette send me the picture to share.

Hanging in her swing. Kennedy's favorite pass time.

Extreme close up sleepy time. What a precious face. How could you not fall in love with her!

Kennedy Slept through the night!

I am still amazed at how fast Kennedy is growing and how she is doing new things all the time. She now watches her mobile. It is so cute to see her starting intently at the moving pieces. She even tracks them with her eyes. You can see her eyes moving to watch each one as they pass by her. She really loves it. She makes little noises and even smiles every once in a while until she falls asleep.

Shirley always finds her comfy cozy spot to keep warm. She must have had a cold nose because she had it nuzzled into Tom as close as she could get...

Kennedy all dressed up in her lady bug outfit that her Grandpa gave her

This must be her comfy pj's because this is what Kennedy slept in last night when she slept through the night for the first time! Tom put her to bed about 11:00 last night and I woke up so many times between 3:00 and 6:00 thinking that she would be up any second and at just after 6:00 she finally woke up. WOW! I haven't experienced a full nights sleep in MONTHS! 7 hours. a couple more would be nice but I will definitely take this for now. I am sure it will not be every day and maybe not even again tonight. But, every now and then if Kennedy can give her mommy a little treat and sleep in that would be soooo nice!

So today I had to go back to the doctor. I finally convinced the doctor to see me about my nipple issue and I felt that my episiotomy was not healing quite right. The doctor gave me a prescription cream for the yeast and it turns out that the incision is not healing quite right and I had to have a silver nitrate treatment done on the incision and it was very uncomfortable. It is still a little sore but the doctor told me that in two weeks I should be healed, finally! Thank goodness for Kennedy being such a good baby, because I don't know what I would do if she wasn't and I had to deal with that on top of everything else.

Rough Week.

So I haven't been keeping up with this very well this past week and its been because I really haven't been feeling well. I have had a bit of a hard time getting over a hump with recovery. It turns out that none of my stitches dissolved from my episiotomy and I started to develop an infection. That meant I had to take antibiotics. (After I had the doctor scrub the area with peroxide and remove all the stitches for me) The first dose was topical and lets just say that didn't go over well. Ouch! Then I stated taking oral antibiotics and no one told me that they could lead to a yeast infection. Ya, a yeast infection of the nipples! Sorry if that is too much information, but that's what I got! I didn't know until Wednesday when I went to the lactation nurse because I was having so much pain breast feeding. She helped me with latching and gave me some new attachments for my pump and said to keep going with nursing Kennedy. It turns out that it is pretty painful to keep nursing so I am just keeping up with the pumping as much as I can and supplementing her with formula. She doesn't seem to mind and it is helping a little. I got Kennedy some drops for Thrush to put in her mouth even though she is not having symptoms. My doctor wouldn't prescribe me anything for the yeast so I am just using over the counter stuff. Hopefully when my antibiotics are done in a couple days, I will start to feel better and maybe be able to get back to nursing.

Tom has been such a big help to me today. He has pretty much taken care of her all day with the exception of when he went to the gym. He got home and cleaned and did laundry and let me sleep. That alone made me feel so much better.


All snuggled up in the swing.

Saying bye to Grandma Pat.

Pat got to stay here for a whole week and it was so nice to have her help especially with Tom being gone over the weekend at Reserves. It was sad to see her go but we will hopefully get up to Chicago soon when the weather gets nicer to see everyone.


Daddy is keeping Kennedy warm after her bath. Thanks Daddy!

One last snuggle session before saying goodbye.

Time to go. We will miss you Grandma, come back soon!

Fun with Grandma...

Kennedy is really starting to develop a personality. She has all kinds of really cute faces. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is already a month old! She seems to change and grow every single day.

Grandma likes to sit her in her boppy and play with her.

Smiles for Grandma!

Tummy time in the tub. Grandma sure does like to mess with her! But, she loves it!

She loves her bath :)

Grandma Pat' visit

Pat got here late Wednesday morning. This is the first time that she has got to see her little baby Kennedy. So far they have been having such a good time together. Grandma loves to tease her and Kennedy likes to make lots of funny faces at her Grandma.

Cuddling on the couch with Grandma Pat.

Grandma teaching Kennedy how to swim in her bathtub. Kennedy enjoys her baths much more now that she gets to be in the tub rather than getting her sponge baths. Although she did get a little gulp of the water and she didn't care for that too much.

All wrapped and warm... Ahhh. Clean baby!

Daddy got home from Birmingham last night. We all missed him so much as I am sure that he missed us like crazy too. We are glad to have him home for sure!

Hopefully, I will not take so long to get the next post up here. I guess I really blew my wanting to get a picture of her for every day of her first year but it is still close. I just can't believe how much she changes every day. She is really starting to get quite a personality. She is also really starting to sleep well at night. Last night I put her down after her last night feeding around midnight and she didn't get up until 5:30!