But we've also had our fair share of downtime too, which has been really fun. :) Currently, K is all about her dollhouse and books (always books) and we spend hours upon hours with those in the living room while she arranges and rearranges the furniture in her dollhouse and has me read books to her while she plays.
David's birthday is November 5, and per tradition, we went to Tucano's with our friends Brook and Amy, and Colin. Colin's wife was going to join us, but she wasn't feeling well. K spent the whole time trying to eat the ice that was in my glass, and ate nothing on her plate, until right before we left she started eating a roll and asked for more, but by then we'd already left and she couldn't have another one. It was really weird because she usually loved and chows down like it's going out of style. Oh well, more food for us. ;)
As far as David goes, I am constantly amazed by this guy and how lucky I am to be able to watch him tackle life. He is so hard working and so ambitious. He started a company with his friends Brook and Colin (Sirviso, check it out on Facebook!) and has been working so hard trying to get it off the ground and make sure it's successful, while working a full-time job and going to school. And he always makes sure to take time for K as well. He is amazing with how he juggles things and he usually handles it pretty well. There have been a couple times where he has had to step back, but he regrouped really quick and was back in it. He is loving it though and wouldn't change it for anything. He's wanted to start his own company for a while and this has been the perfect opportunity for him. We also realized that if K hadn't been born when she had (albeit about 2 years before we would've originally planned) he never would've met Brook and gotten involved, so we have her to thank for this amazing opportunity. :) David keeps saying he owes her big-time. haha
A few weeks ago, K and I were in an accident. My car was rear ended at a stop light by a guy who thought our light had turned green, when it very much hadn't. It definitely could've been a lot worse and we were very lucky that it was such low impact. Both she and I are fine, baby boy is fine, and the only thing she really remembers from it is that her bucket fell down onto the floor of the car and she was not pleased about that. So we were very lucky and blessed it wasn't that bad at all.
My car however, may not agree. There was some pretty severe trunk damage (when we were trying to get the trunk shut and shaking the car is the only time K cried during the whole ordeal) and a cracked and chipped bumper. So the guy's insurance provided us with a rental car and we have loved driving it around the last few weeks. We had to return it yesterday because my car was repaired and it was a little sad. One day maybe we'll be able to afford a new car. In any case, I am glad that my car was fixable, that the damage wasn't as much as the car (though it was pretty close), and that it took them a little while to fix it so I could feel really fancy driving around in a fancy shamncy car. ;)
K came to me asking if we could have "cute hair". She would hand me a clip and tell me to put it in my hair or her hair. So naturally, we had to take a picture afterwards. She has really gotten into me doing her hair lately, which has been a learning experience for me because I'm not very good at doing my own hair, let alone someone elses. But she loves it and gets so excited about it. She shows everyone she sees her "cute hair" and just seems to happy
She loves pomegranates. We haven't tried them in a while, I was worried she wouldn't really know how to handle them, but she munches like a champ. She ate probably close to half a pomegranate by herself. She did love to share them with us though. She'd put one on the table by David, one by me, and then eat one herself. Then she'd repeat that until all the seeds in her bowl were gone. :) She is sometimes good at sharing!
The week of Thanksgiving we decided to bite the bullet and take the front off her crib to prepare her for a toddler bed, because when this little guy comes, I do not want two cribs. She has done amazing! We were really nervous she'd just get up and play and come out of her room and we'd be up all night trying to keep her in bed, but she has only gotten out of her bed for two naptimes and never comes out of her room. Even in the mornings, she waits until I come in to get out of bed. She loves being a big girl and will always tell us how she's a big girl because she stayed in her bed all night. The first night, I told her if she stayed in her bed all night, we'd go get a donut for breakfast so that definitely helped I think. haha. But she hasn't needed any bribing since then. We did have to put her front back on once when she kept getting out of bed at naptime, but she hasn't done it since then and has even napped in an actual bed twice without getting out! We lucked out, that's for sure and I just have to hope she keeps it up! We are so proud of her and how quickly she has caught on. Definitely less stress for us this way.
I didn't get many pictures of Thanksgiving, but that was because we were having too much fun and I didn't think about it until later on. We spent Thanksgiving day at Karin's house with them and Adam and Carlee. It was a lot of fun for K to be around so many cousins and have so many people who play with. She and Luke and Jane just have so much fun running around together. And Miriam is so sweet with them. She was following them around, carrying the bucket, playing with them, and was making them laugh a lot. It was nice to not really have to worry about her and spend time playing games like Heads Up (My 90s and Superstar knowledge are definitely rusty haha) and Pandemic. David was in charge of cooking the turkey and he had been talking about it and researching how to make the most moist turkey for about a month, if not longer, and was SO excited about it. It turned out really good, even if no one there was super proficient in how to carve a turkey. The meal was all awesome and we were definitely well-fed. It was a really fun day with family and good food. I can't really ask for much more than that.
Friday we spent at my parents house doing Thanksgiving with them and my sister's family. Kollyn is so lucky to have so many awesome cousins on both sides of the family that just love spending time with her. The girls always get so excited when she comes over and she loves being the center of their attention. She also loves being treated like a big girl, and they do a great job of including her in everything they do. :)
It was a lot of fun watching her play the dog game with the girls, try to play Old Maid with us, and eat all the popcorn that she could get her hands on, even if most of it did end up all over the floor. She just really loves being big. I sometimes forget that she's only 2 and think she's older than that. Most people who meet her assume she's 3 or almost there, and I think sometimes I feel the same way. She just loves being big. :)
Speaking of birthdays, November 30, K turned 2. It's hard to imagine that 2 years ago, we were adjusting to life with a newborn and now here we are with a toddler and expecting another one. So much has changed, but for the better. :) In the days leading up to her birthday, I kept remembering what I was doing 2 years ago, not knowing that sooner than expected (I was expecting to hit my induction date because I hadn't progressed at all) we'd have our little girl.
Saturday the 28, we went to Airborne in Draper with Karin, David, and Luke. She LOVES to jump and is always bouncing around on something, whether that's her bed, the couch, the little trampoline at Karin's house or at my parents house, the big trampoline at my parents house, or just bouncing around the house, she just jumps all the time. So this was a no-brainer. We were there about an hour and a half and when we left, she was not happy about it and glared at us the whole time we were getting shoes on, getting her into the car, and driving home. She did not want to leave. We'll definitely need to get her in a gymnastics class as soon as we can. :)
Sunday we had a little party with the cousins, just cake and ice cream at our clubhouse, and Kollyn had a lot of fun running around and playing with all the cousins. We love having so many family members so close!! And because she is obsessed with sharks, of course it was shark "themed".
She hasn't put down the inflatable sharks since, and it's been almost a week. haha. She takes them everywhere, even to my physical therapy appointment. But everyone there thinks she's the cutest thing ever and the fact that she loves sharks makes her even more adorable to them. :)
I'm really pleased with how the cake turned out. :) David and I were a little nervous about how it would look, but it turned out better than I even imagined! :)
She was really excited about all the sharks on her cake, and that it was a "hammer head shark" on her cake.
She wasn't sure about the candle though, and so David had to blow it out for her.
She loved opening her presents and being the center of attention. :) I love how she has her little tongue stuck out while she concentrates on opening the present. She got a bunch of new books and she has been loving reading them all!
So, because of her love of sharks and other marine life, we were really excited to find out that the Living Planet Aquarium was free on Monday, her actual birthday!! And it's right by my chiropractor so we were already going to be up there anyway. Talk about the perfect timing. :) So we went over after our appointments and got in line. Naturally, because it was free day, the line was long, but it only took about 10 - 15 minutes before we were inside looking at all the fish. She'd been asking me if we could "watch fish" since I told her we were going that morning and she was very excited. Sadly, David couldn't join us, but it was a fun outing for the two of us and she was so fascinated that we were there for almost 2 hours.
It was cold so she sat in the stroller most of the time with her hands in her pockets to keep them warm. :)
The otters were definitely one of her favorite exhibits. She loved watching them dive and jump and swim around. She is still talking about how the otters "jump the water and swim!" and gets really excited about it. We watched them for about 10 minutes because they were so active and playful. She didn't want to leave.
She also loved watching the penguins swim around, especially when they got right by the glass so she could see them better.
She started yelling when she saw the Megladon jaw, "MAMA! BIG SHARK! LOOK! BIG SHARK!" so naturally we had a stranger take a picture of the two of us in the jaws of the giant. She was really excited about it and talked about it the rest of the day. When I put her down for her nap later, she kept saying her favorite thing was the "big shark picture".
This was her watching the actual sharks. They didn't have this exhibit the last time we went, and so we were both amazed by it. The stingrays and sharks would come swim right up by the glass and she was so fascinated. We sat there watching the sharks and fish and stingrays and the sea turtle for 20 minutes. She would get so excited when she saw a shark swim by and honesty could've been there for a lot longer than 20 minutes, but it was getting late and we needed to get home.
And for your watching pleasure, this is a snippet of the time we spent at the shark tank. :) I love how curious she is about things! She loves to learn and picks things up so quickly. It's so much fun watching her learn and grow!
It's been a busy, yet really fun, month. I still can't believe I'm the mom of a 2 year old, but I also can't believe she's only 2 because it feels like she's been in our lives forever. We have so many good things happening in our lives right now, and more to come. We are definitely blessed in many ways!
