Big Girl Bed

Over the last few weeks we have been thinking about getting Kallie a big girl bed but sort of dragging our feet at the same time. I will admit that I am one emotional mama about this transition. On one hand I am excited to watch her grow and experience new things but on the other hand I want to freeze this moment and keep her as my baby girl forever.

Well today was the day - while Kallie and I were at dance class daddy was at home taking the crib down and setting up her big girl bed! When we got home we went straight to her room to show her the surprise and she screamed with excitement "A BIG GIRL BED"! She jumped right up and put her head on her pillow smiling from ear to ear. It was obvious by the smile on her face that she was ready - so here we go!

UPDATE 5.13.13:

Kallie has been sleeping in her big girl bed for just shy of two weeks. We have had some good moments and bad moments but overall she is doing great. I would say the two biggest issues are that she stalls like crazy at bedtime and she wakes up WAY too early (anywhere between 4:30-5:30)and comes in our room ready to play! Here teacher suggested I try a toddler wake up clock that glows green when she can get out of bed. So far on night two she has come in our room at 5:30 and then I put her back to bed and she gets up when it turns green (she must just sit and stare at it but that's fine with me!). I am hoping a few more nights of being consistent will help her sleep more - we have one tired household these days!

UPDATE 6.7.13

The last week has been rough - Miss Kallie Bates seems to love to get up numerous times (sometimes 8+) throughout the night. Last night was a bit better (up 3x's) but I am really hoping for a full night sleep for everyone in our house VERY soon!

Go Speed-Racer Go

Today Kallie’s class participated in a Trike-A-Thon to raise money for St. Judes Cancer Research. In class they talked about racing for kids that needed help. Here is what her teacher emailed “Friends are gearing up to ride laps to help “those kids who need us” tomorrow morning. We have been talking about why we are riding bikes, and kept the explanation simple, we are riding to help kids who are sick and stay in the hospital for a while with their parents.” I don’t think the kids actually understand why they were racing but I think it is important that none the less.

Parents were invited to watch the kiddo’s race around the track (well daycare playground) as many times as they could in their allotted timeframe. The kids were so excited and many of them even brought their bike helmets from home (including Kallie and Cooper). Kallie was so excited when they said go and she immediately started racing around the track. The best part is most of the kiddos don’t actually use the pedals because they can go so much faster when they scoot! Oh and they don’t know how to stop so they either run into each other or the fence readjust and keep on going.

As a working mom I personally make it a priority to go to any and all of Kallie’s class activities big or small. I love watching her in her element and I can tell by her excitement the she loves it when I am there to watch her. Life is too short and kids grow up way to fast even these little moments and to see the look of accomplishment on her face as she raced by me after each lap . . . Priceless!

I am one lucky mom . . . Happy Mother's Day

Mom’s Day Now that I am a mom I look forward to Mother’s Day every year. My request for that day is that we spend the day together as a family. This year I wanted to plant flowers with Kallie. I bought her a little shovel and rake a few weeks ago so we were all set. We took a family trip to the store and we let her pick out the colors she liked and a few little decorations for our pots. She was SO excited and ready to go right when we got home! I loved having a little helper digging holes and helping me decide where to put each plant – even daddy helped . . . Good Teamwork is what Kallie would say  Mother’s Day is a day that I can reflect and realize how lucky I am to have a healthy, beautiful, sassy, funny and amazing little girl! I am also thankful to have my own amazing mom (friend) to show me the way. I can only hope that I will be as great of a mom to Kallie as my mom is to me!

Mommy Daughter Day!

Today I decided to take Kallie on an adventure . . . which meant spending morning at the Pickering Barn Farmers Market. We had such a great time holding hands and looking at all of the booths. Kallie pointed to every flower and yelled with excitement "Mama look how beautiful that flower is", it was too cute. She was really surprised when she realized there were pony rides. She jumped right on and said, "mama you can let go". . . HA!

My favorite part of the entire adventure was sitting on the grass listening to the live music. Kallie convinced me to get up and dance with her - I am not sure who was having more fun. Watching the pure JOY on her face was priceless. It made me realize that no matter how busy life can get it truly is the little moments that make it all worth it!

 
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Fun in the Sun

This weekend it was 80 degrees and it's only May! We took full advantage and spend the entire weekend outside. We spend Saturday at Lk Sammamish St. Park having a picnic to celebrate Chris and Mandy's wedding. On Sunday we got up bright and early to spend the day on Vashon with Grammy, Papa, Brian, Molly, Finn and Mac. The first thing Kallie said when she woke up was "are we going to find crabbies on the beach"?

It is so much fun to watch the kids play together. Kallie and Mac are two peas in a pod . . . she follows him everywhere! In fact she had so much fun she did not take a nap and even passed out in the car on the ride home. For those of you who know Kallie you know that she does NOT sleep in the car so this was a miracle!!!

I am looking forward to more sunny beach weekends ahead!