Academy Award

I always knew where Kamdyn got her personality and wittiness, but today was when it really ALL made sense. While I was upstairs catching up on the blog, Richard was reading Kamdyn LOTS of books. All of a sudden I realized that not only was he reading them to her, he was reading them in the most low country southern voice that I have ever heard come out of his mouth. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. This particular book was, "The South Carolina Night Before Christmas." Why do we still have Christmas books out? I don't know! I guess because she LOVES them so much. I don't think Richard knew I was recording this!

Talking on the Phone

Kamdyn really enjoys talking on the phone. She amazes us with how well she talks and carries on a conversation. Last weekend while Kamdyn was at Nanny and Pop Pop's house, I got to be on the other end of the phone. I couldn't believe how well I could understand her through the phone. Parts of this video are boring because you can't hear Nanny talking, but I wanted to document one of her favorite things to do. I must also tell you that as soon as she is finished talking she will either put the phone down, tell me that whoever is on the phone hung up on her (when they did not), or she will tell me that she doesn't want to talk anymore. She is quite a character!

Putting Shoes On

Richard and I worked incredibly hard on our house all day. Click here to see what we did. At one point during the day, for about 15 minutes, we were working while Kamdyn was in the house alone. She kept coming to the front door to check on us. When I went inside to check on her, her pink sandals were on her feet, but the buckles weren't buckled. I asked her if Daddy put her shoes on before he came outside. She said, "No, I put them on, but I couldn't do the buckles." I nearly fainted! I've attempted to get her to put on her shoes for the longest time. I guess she knows that I will always do it for her. Today, she wanted to come outside with us so she put them on herself and they were even on the right feet. It's the little things that excite us these days!! Our little baby girl is growing up!

We're Getting There!

We have been doing our best to get Kamdyn to use the potty. Friday was my first day off from work so we "officially" began the potty training process. We started the day with Tinkerbelle panties. She didn't go all morning until about 10:30. Then, I hear her get quite in her room and ran in just as she started screaming, "I have to go pee pee, Mommy!" Out it came on to her floor where I quickly threw her changing table pad underneath her. She immediately began saying, "I sorry, Mommy. I sorry, I pee peed in my panties." Then I took her and sat her on the potty. She is just not understanding that she can turn that "faucet" on and off by herself. She knows when she has to go and can tell me, but she can't make herself wait until she gets to the potty.

Next, we put on a pull-up. It stayed dry pretty much all day. During her lunch time, she exclaimed, "Mommy, I need to go to the potty!" We ran to the potty, but NOTHING! Later on in the afternoon, she said she was "peeing" in her pull-up. So, I scooped her up and managed to get her to the potty before she finished. We did actually get a little trickle in her potty! This was a great improvement. Up until then, we have NEVER had anything actually in the potty. She was SO proud of herself and couldn't wait to tell Daddy!

Ruthie bought her this "Wiggle Bug" to play with while she is sitting on the potty. She LOVES it, but knows that she can only have it while sitting on the potty.

Please pray that this potty training thing will get much easier for her (and me) ! :)

Ducks

Yesterday we witnessed the ducks having a "party" on our dock. We were amazed that they were out of the nice cool water standing on our warm dock. Kamdyn spotted them first and started yelling, "Daddy, come look at the ducks!" We thought that maybe there would be one or two swimming in the water. We were just as surprised as Kamdyn! Not sure which duck was in charge, but it seemed that one told the rest something rather meaningful because they all jumped back in the water at once and they were gone! Just like that!

Pool "Party"

Since Jacob and Kamdyn only have a few more days at Georgia's before summer, Georgia decided to let them swim, swim, swim! They LOVE this pool! The slide is actually built into the pool and is a perfect size for toddlers. They don't even have to get out of the pool to slide. Kamdyn did have a little mishap the first day when her head went under the water as she slid down. After a minor meltdown, she survived and was ready to swim again today. Thank you, Georgia, for being so wonderful to those "babies." I know that you and Kamdyn will both have withdrawals from each other over the summer and will have to get together often!!




Relaxing with her "best friend," as she calls Jacob.


"Don't Splash Me" face


This looks like an "I'm Freezing" face!


Kamdyn wasn't so sure about her 2 piece swimsuit today. She had another meltdown over the fact that her tummy was showing. I guess she is modest!!

Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

I know that children are technically not "supposed" to jump on the bed. But at Georgia's house and at our house, we allow Kamdyn to jump on the bed with close adult supervision. :) Afterall, she can't get on the bed unless we put her there. Jacob and Kamdyn had fun jumping on Kristin's bed.

Fun at Georgia's

These are some more cute pics that Kristin took of Kamdyn last week when she was wearing her tiny mini skirt! They were too cute not to share!!

She Changes SO fast!!!

Georgia's daughter, Kristin, sent these photos along with other more recent ones today. I was amazed at how much Kamdyn has changed in just a few short months. These were taken only a few months ago!!



Making cupcakes with Jacob. Georgia is a fabulous cook. Hopefully Kamdyn will learn a lot of cooking skills from her. I know who she won't be learning cooking skills from..... :)

ROTTEN

How rotten can one child be? We only thought she was rotten until staying a full 4 nights and 5 days with Nanny and Pop Pop. WOW!!! They definitely entertained her every second that she was with them.

On Friday, Kamdyn went to work with Nanny all day. I wonder how much work Nanny actually got done? I'm sure all of the people who called loved hearing Kamdyn chatting in the background because she doesn't quite understand the concept of being quiet. This is Kamdyn with Nanny's wonderful boss, Larry.


On Saturday, Kamdyn played at the park before going to the Zoo. This is either at Cleveland Park, where my Daddy used to take me all the time when I was little, or it is at the park that is actually inside of the Greenville Zoo.


Kamdyn loved the Zoo. This was her first visit to the Zoo. Hopefully her Daddy and I will be able to take her soon to either the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia or the Atlanta Zoo. Augusta doesn't have a zoo. :( Now that school is out, I will have a lot more time and energy to devote to her!

Kamdyn was not scared of the animals according to Nanny and Pop Pop. She went right up to them to see what they were doing. They said she wasn't even scared inside of the reptile house.







Apparently, when she got to the orangutans they were making A LOT of noise. They said Kamdyn yelled to the top of her lungs, "WHAT'S ALL THIS NOISE IN HERE?"

One of the main attractions of Nanny's house is getting to play in the makeup. You see, Nanny lets her have the makeup wherever she wants it, like right on her sofa. Not Mommy!!! I'm not quite at the point yet of having a mess all over everything that won't ever quite go away. I don't think I will ever be at that point. My Type A personality will not allow for that. However, I'm glad that she gets to explore at Nanny's house for the experience. Luckily, Kamdyn is a pretty clean/neat child. She doesn't really make big messes.




Kamdyn also got to visit with my Mom's side of the family: Aunt Tina, Aunt Brenda, and Robin. She also got to visit with Mama Lucy on Sunday. No pictures from these events though! :)

Thanks, Nanny and Pop Pop for everything!! We definitely needed this weekend to ourselves and it looks like Kamdyn didn't miss us one little bit!!! In fact, she didnt' want to come home with us today when we picked her up in Greenwood.

Missing my Baby Girl!

You know, I always say how wonderful it would be if we had family nearby to sometimes watch Kamdyn for us even if just for a couple hours while I clean the house, go to the grocery store ALONE, etc., etc. Even though our families are 2 hours away in all directions, they are GREAT and we truly appreciate the help that they do give us. This long weekend, my parents graciously offered to keep Kamdyn for us. Usually we go to the Black River in Georgetown every Memorial Day that I can remember, but for the first year in I don't know how many it just didn't work out for our crew to go! Richard and I decided that a weekend to ourselves would be good for "us!" So, I took her to Greenwood on Thursday night to meet Nanny half-way. Kamdyn was truly ecstatic to go to Nanny's! It didn't really bother her a bit that I was leaving her. As soon as I got home, even though I had tons to do around here, I found myself not knowing what to do.

I'm usually in such a race with the clock to get her fed, bathed, things ready for the next day, bedtime ritual, etc. I truly did not know what to do with myself when I wasn't catering to her every need. Things are so much quieter around here and I miss the sweet and frequent, "I love you, Mommy," and even all of the demands, "Mommy, I thirsty," "Mommy, read this book," "Mommy, here's you some tea," and the list goes on and on. I found myself listening for her on the monitor the past two nights and I even walked by her room a little quieter last night thinking she was in her bed asleep. I am so conditioned now! What did we do before she entered our lives and made our days/nights so much more complete? While I am so thankful to have this time with my sweet husband at our house, I do miss my sweet baby girl! Being a Mom is so confusing at times. One minute you wish you just had a few minutes without them to get something done and the next you don't know what to do when they are not here!

Fun at Ruthie's

This past weekend we went down to Ridgeland to visit Ruthie. We always have such a good and relaxing time. It is always an adventure. While Kamdyn, Daddy, Uncle, and Ruthie were standing on her back porch a raccoon came by right in front of them to drink water that she actually leaves out for them! I missed it, but Matthew managed to get a picture. I will post a picture of the ugly little thing when he sends it to me. Kamdyn called it a cat! :) Kamdyn was also introduced to LOVE BUGS. There were EVERYWHERE down there. YUCK!!!

It was Ruthie's birthday and while we were there Daddy went on a fishing trip with Uncle Matthew and Patrick. Matthew also has much better fishing pictures that we had on our camera. While the boys were fishing, Kamdyn, Carly (Patrick's girlfriend), and I hit the outlets in Bluffton. Thanks for having us Ruthie! We hope you had a Happy Birthday and we wish you many, many more!!

Sesame Street Live

Last night we took Kamdyn to see Sesame Street LIVE, or "Esame Street," as Kamdyn calls it. Boy, did she have a blast! Before the show started she was screaming to the top of her lungs, "Elmo, where are you?" Our luck was good last night because the Letter of the Day was "K." I couldn't believe. She, of course, can spot a K wherever it may be. She was LOVING the K for Kamdyn. She sang and dance with the characters and only sat down towards the end of the show. It was so wonderful to see the spark in her eyes!

As we were leaving she said, "I don't want to go home. I want to stay at Esame Street." I told her that Mommy and Daddy were going home. She said, "I want to stay here by myself at Esame Street." She hasn't stopped talking about it ALL day today!!!

On our way to the show! Can you tell that she is excited??