Anxiously Awaiting August

Not going to lie, August is my 12th Favorite Month. It always has been. Why? It is the hottest month in Texas, summer camps/swimming is over, school started, and it was BOTH my sisters birthdays...no gifts for me (middle child)! I have a feeling this August will be different. I will spend the first week in Sacramento to train for the position I'm covering for a woman on maternity leave. Although I'm nervous to be away from my baby girl and favorite man, I'm very very excited for the opportunity. At the end of the week, Eric will fly up and we will spend the weekend in Napa. Hello, Romantic Getaway! We got our Top Chef Dinner Reservations and expert winery tastings set up. Once we get back, we will be anxiously awaiting our FIRST baby nephew, Noah, to come! So so so excited! Between travels, jobs, and baby, we will be celebrating FIVE family birthdays....yes five. Not to mention BIG birthdays, Eric's dad's 60th and brother's 30th. Once we finish out August, we will celebrate 1 more family birthday and head to Chicago for Labor Day. So basically, I am blogging now if you don't hear from us in awhile. :) No, I will try.....too many exciting things happening!

Dora The Explorer, Scratch That, Kaylee The Explorer

Kaylee doesn't have too much time to watch TV, but when she does she watches Dora The Explorer. At this point, I would say Dora is one of her BFFs. She speaks of "Dora", responds to Backpack & Map, and does the Dora "We Did It" Dance. The video touches on her dancing, but it really doesn't do it justice. We also got the Old McDonald had a "Turtle" on video. A Kaylee Classic. Enjoy!

20 Months Old

Kaylee turned 20 Months Old this past week! Eric and I definitely feel a big change in her maturity level. I would describe her as a very sweet, responsible (borderline ocd), cautious (in a smart thinker way), and very witty little girl.

What Kaylee is doing now:

-Saids too many words for us to list, but she is moving in to 3-4 word sentences/questions.

-Very Sweet and Loving.....gives kisses to us, stuffed animals, pictures of Blake on Facebook, and of course her Baby Doll.

-Very responsible and has taken ownership of her possessions. She is in love with her Baby Doll....feeds, bathes, travels, put to sleep, plays with, sings to, claps hands, kisses....you name it she does it. She adores her "Baby".

-Very interested in ABCs and Counting. She will stop be in a middle of song and make me sing ABCs.

-Still on track to being Potty Trained. Traveling made it difficult, but she is definitely still successfully going in the potty!

-She tells what she doesn't wants. This is good and bad.

-Her attention span is longer.....so eating out, watching movies, traveling is much more relaxed for us.

-She always has been a cautious kid, but it has become more apparent on the playground. You will see kids go face forward, flying off things, etc.....where Kaylee always thinks before she does something. This obviously comes from Eric, my methodical thinker.

-She enjoys making us laugh....making silly faces and dances. I'm not sure where she gets that from. ;)

We wanted to record a video of her Dancing and this is what we got. Our Big Cheese! Haha! :)

Iowa Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July this year, we headed up to Iowa for Eric's Cousin's Wedding as well as the Ernst Family Reunion. Either Kaylee is getting used to flying or Eric & I are better prepared, because the flights to and from were rather smooth. However, Kaylee was a bit clinging due to being out of her comfort zone. Away from home with lots of new faces took a toll on her as well as my arms! I think if we had a few more days there or weren't going city to city, she would have been all over the place. The first night, we spent it with Eric's Grandparents in Ames. The weather was in the 70s and everything was green...a nice change from the miserable Texas heat! Kaylee loved being outside and checking out their gorgeous flowers....especially the "purple flowers". Next day, we headed to Des Moines for Tim & Kristen's Rehearsal Picnic. We had to wake Kaylee up from her overdue nap, but she was in a better mood once she saw the playground. When she goes down the slide we count 1, 2, 3. She surprised us when we said 1, she finished 2 and 3! When did you learn to count little girl?! Next day, we headed downtown Des Moines to eat a Brewery. Of course Eric sampled ALL the beers and feasted on a true "Iowa" Pork Sandwich. Then, that night we went to Kristen & Tim's beautiful wedding! It was great to see the whole Bachman Family and meet some new faces! Then on the Fourth of July, we headed to Prairie City for Eric's Dad's side of the family's reunion...The Ernsts! And I thought I came from a big family? There was a lot of people and kids, Kaylee seemed comfortable to run/dance around. Finally I got to put some faces with some names....it was great to meet/see everyone! We headed back to Austin on the night of the Fourth, so we got to see Fireworks from Dallas to Austin. It was really awesome. Kaylee kept saying...."Whoa!".

Eric looks like a little kid at a Candy Store!

Ernst Family at the Wedding (Minus Dana & Noah)

Ernst Invasion!

Kaylee giving her "Cheese"

Insisted on pushing Bunny around the Airport