9 months

Dear Miss Kinley,

Happy nine months sweetheart! I finally get to say that you have officially been out for as long as you were in. I loved the time that I was pregnant with you. I loved your kicks and your hiccups, and even though I hadn't met you yet, I could already tell that you were going to be a feisty one. (just like your mamma)

While I loved my time being pregnant with you, I have loved having you here in the world to love and hold and get to know you SO MUCH MORE! I love seeing your personality develop every day. Like my prediction you are very feisty, and also an absolute joy to be around. I love your laugh and your constant smile I like how observant you are. And I love that you are always waving your arms around when you are happy or sad or mad. You will definitely be an animated speaker (again, just like your mamma). You bring a level of joy to my life that I never experienced before.

You are growing up so fast! You weigh about 13lbs now (still/and always will be my petite little girl). You can scoot and can almost sit yourself up. You still love every food you taste. You have quite a passion for eating (that was probably passed down to you from your late great papa). One thing Dad and I got excited about this month is that you FINALLY moved up a size in diapers!! You have been in size 1 diapers since you were 3 months old and you finally moved up to size 2! They are still a little roomy on you, but we enjoyed hitting the milestone. Speaking of things you are growing out of, you also grew out of your baby bath tub. We started giving you "big girl baths" in the tub! You still take a minute to adjust to your much roomier tub, but you are soon splashing around and smiling once again. Your hair is also coming in thicker now and Dad is not only excited about that, but also that it is still brown. You look just like your daddy, but with my big eyes (we adore that about you).

My little Kinley, I love you so much more everyday. I love this time I have to watch you grow and to savor the sweet moments with you. I'm so glad I get to bask in your time of babyhood, but also can't wait for you to keep growing. I wouldn't trade this time with your for anything.

Love you lots,

-Mom







First Christmas

I know this post is a little late, but really, "it's never too late", right?

Matt and I were so excited to have our very first Christmas with Kinely. It was just us, so while it was a little quieter than our past holidays, it was also such a special time for us to be together as our little family. We took some traditions that both Matt and I grew up with, and made some of our own.

On Christmas Eve, we decided we wanted to keep up with Matt's family tradition of having a Nazareth Supper. For those of you who aren't familiar, (I never heard of this until I met him and his family) the Nazareth Supper is something my in laws do on their Christmas Eves. Basically we have a dinner that is roughly similar to what people in Jerusalem, during Christ's birth, would have eaten. Key word being "roughly" here. Our first Nazareth Supper consisted of pita bread, deli meats, cheeses, grapes, mandarin oranges, olives and sparkling cider. We turned off most of the lights in our little apartment and ate by candlelight while we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke in the Bible. I loved it. I feel like it really brought the spirit of Christmas in our home. I think when our family is a little bigger and older, I'll have everyone dress in robes and shawls. I think that would make it a little more fun as well.

Another thing I really liked about this tradition is that it was so easy to put together and clean up! No cooking was involved at all, which was awesome because the very next day is all about the cooking! Although I will say that one year I do want to try and have salmon, so that will be a little more prep, but, I can handle that.

Kinley is so excited for our Nazareth Supper

On Christmas Day, we waited for Kinley to wake up and hurried out to open our stockings and our presents. I will admit that Kinley did not get anything in her stocking. I decided to tell Santa that the huge pile of gifts for her under the tree would be more than enough. Matt and I kept up my parents tradition of having oranges in our stockings. They are not the same as the big, juicy, delicious oranges that came right off our tree from my childhood backyard, but the sentiment is still nice.

I also talked Matt into opening our Christmas gifts in shifts. He was reluctant, but he went along with it. That's something my parents also did. I remember as a kid waking up and having our little family Christmas early in the morning. We'd open our stockings and all our gifts from our parents and Santa, then we'd hurry and get ready and all our extended family always came over to our house. We would then have Christmas brunch and then open presents that our extended family would bring. Then after awhile our house would empty again and that would be the time that my parents napped and that us girls played with our new toys! Later that evening we went to my grandparents house (my mom's parents) and have Christmas dinner there and we would open all of their gifts then. I just remember that it was so fun having it spaced out like that.

Since it was just us for Christmas, and I knew we'd be skyping with our families at some point during the day I convinced Matt to follow the same pattern. We opened our gifts to each other first and then when we skyped with our families we opened the gifts that they got us.Of course, Kinley didn't realize what was going on, but it was fun to watch her play with the wrapping paper and her new toys. We are so blessed and feel so loved by everyone! I won't name everything we received, but I will say that I got Matt a Blu-Ray/DVD player, and he got me a watch. =)

"yay for all these presents!"

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She was so intrigued by this bow!

about 98% of these are Kinley's! ha!

Blu-Ray player! He never expected it

Love my watch! I was so surprised

After the presents were opened and everything was cleaned up, it was time to start Christmas dinner. One thing you need to know about Matt and I is that we are both HUGE fans of dark meat on the turkey. However, a full turkey is a lot for just the two of us, so some friends of are told us that we should try duck! It's a lot smaller and all dark meat! We were sold. We found a place that sold duck, got a recipe and we were off. Prior to this Christmas, I had never had duck, and Matt had only had it a couple of times, so I was excited to try something new. Also, I love that Matt likes to be in charge of the bird for the holidays. I honestly have no interest in preparing it, I'd rather take care of all the sides and desserts, so that's how things are done in this Glenn home. Matt did an AMAZING job with the duck! It turned out great along with the rest of our dinner! We were so impressed that we decided, while our family is small, duck will be our bird of choice for Christmas dinner. (Thanks for the suggestion Burrastons!)

All the fixins

Later that night we were invited to a friends house for a breakfast party and games! Even though we are far from loved ones, we have been welcomed into so many people's homes since we've been here in Texas. As soon as people find out that we are alone in this Lone Star State (<--get it) they always make sure that we have somewhere to go and something to do for the holidays. Matt and I feel so blessed for all the wonderful people we have met here! Matt and I loved having our first Christmas the way we did. I would not have changed anything. I am so in love with my little family and can't wait to see what the new year brings!

And there you have it. Our first Christmas, alone, but together!





You think I was going to leave you without more pictures of Miss K? I'm not that cruel. lol

I love this hand me down dress we got! I'm so glad I found it in time for Christmas!

book from Mom and Dad

I love her face!

new toys!!

of course she got clothes!

8 months

Dear Kinley,

Eight months old you are today! You continue to be Mommy and Daddy's little ray of sunshine! You are about 13 lbs now and are finally starting to fit into 3-6 month clothes, yay! You still eat like a champ and never turn anything down. Let's talk about your milestones so far. You currently:

sit up
babble, all the time
clap your hands
nod your head, and
scoot backwards

We love watching you grow, even if it's very very slowly! Mommy is always reading on Facebook about other moms and their kids "growing up too fast", but I always tell your dad that I have the best of both worlds. I have you who is "growing" and hitting milestones all the time, but you are still so little that I feel I am getting all the time in the world to watch you be, well little. You are such a firecracker. We can already see a feisty side in you, which you get from your mother.

In this past month you celebrated your very first Christmas! In my opinion it was my favorite Christmas yet! When we brought home our tree you were in awe of it for days! You loved looking at the lights and the ornaments. Then, the presents came and boy did they come! About 95% of the presents under the tree were yours, but do you know what your favorite present was? WRAPPING PAPER! At one point we put one of you new toys right in front of  you and instead of showing any interest in it at all, you decided to twist all the way around to grab some wrapping paper to crumble and chew on! This Christmas was a little quieter than our previous ones, but it was so wonderful to celebrate with our new little family. Your dad and I would not have wanted it any other way.

As always, Miss K, we love you dearly. We love spending time with you and watching you laugh and play. We are so excited for your coming days and to see how you will grow.

Love, Mom

Here are some Christmas card pictures that didn't make the cut...

7 Months

Dear Kinley,

Another month has come and gone, way too quickly. I don't think time will ever be slow enough for me. So let's keep going. You are seven months old now! You weigh whopping 12 ish lbs, most people when they see you think you are three months old instead of seven. Your hair is starting to come in more. There have been some request by a certain set of grandparents for your hair to turn blond. I'm not sure what I can do about that, so we're just going to roll with whatever you get. You are beautiful either way. You are still happy as can be. You officially have two teeth now, and are not such a bad teether to be quite honest. Mommy didn't even realize you were teething until one day I saw your two bottom teeth had already cut through! You are such a champ! I hope the rest of your teething days follows suit. We're still giving you solid foods and you are trying more and more things all the time. You are so interested in what Dad and I are eating, it's fun to watch your curiosity.

Let's see, what else...? You took another plane trip to California for your first Thanksgiving with the Nunes grandparents and got a crash course in living with not one, but three dogs! The bigger dogs seemed to intimidate you a bit, but you seemed to like Grandma's dachshund, Roger, and Aunt Jenna and Uncle Dan's pitbull/basset hound mix, Tank. Tank has had some experience with a baby already, so he was the best with you. We did lots of eating and we did some Christmas shopping with you and you just went right along with it all. Daddy and I feel so lucky that you are so easy going. You still babble a lot and you now say, "ma ma, da da and ba ba". We love listening to you and laughing with you!

We are so excited for your first Christmas and can't wait to set up all the decorations and the tree and to shop for some of your presents. Hopefully, Mommy can be better about taking more pictures this next month. I don't think I busted out our camera once during Thanksgiving, or on most of the trip for that matter. Sometimes I just get caught in the moment with you. But I'll try harder next month.

As always, we love you sweet girl! So happy for another great month and we are thrilled for what's in store for the next month.

Love, Mommy.

6 months

My dear Kinley,

You are 6 months old! Half of a year old! I cannot believe it! Most days I'm wishing for time to slow down, but I also love watching you learn and grow! Let's recap everything from this past month.

-You are 25 inches long and 11 lbs 13oz.
-You can now roll onto your tummy AND back... when you remember you can.
-You can sit up
-You are starting to respond when we say your name
-You like hanging upside down and being thrown in the air
-You love to suck on your fingers and toes
-No teeth yet, but we are starting to see some coming...
-You giggle lots more and are more chatty
and
-You started solid foods and are LOVING IT!

Mommy and Daddy's favorite times are when you are giggling. You have some pretty funny faces and your personality is showing more and more. We are also so excited to start introducing solid foods to you! You are so interested in all the things mommy and daddy are eating! You love rice cereal, bananas, pineapples, watermelon, peaches and strawberries. All but the peaches and bananas Mommy has only let you suck on, but you can't get enough! While we are thrilled to have you try lots more things, we are a little less thrilled with your diapers. They are A LOT  stinkier than they use to be. We are missing the not so pungent smells that exclusive breast milk had to offer, but we knew those days wouldn't last forever. As much as you love to eat and try new things, you are still very small. Most people who don't know you can't believe you are already 6 months old. You still fit into all your 3 month clothes; Mom and Dad are loving how long your clothes are lasting!

You love meeting people and always have a smile to give. You also had a visit from Gigi and Grandpa Glenn this past month, which was loads of fun and you also celebrated your first  HALLOWEEN! Mommy decided to do something easy with your costume. Since we already had a Utah State University onesie for you, (which I may add is a 3-6 month size and basically swallowed you whole) I decided to get crafty with some tulle and made a tutu for you! You were the cutest USU cheerleader I've ever seen! They would be lucky to have you on their squad!

Well, that's about all I can think of that has happened last month. We still have so much more to look forward to. Your first Thanksgiving with the Nunes grandparents and your first Christmas, which we are so thrilled about. Mom and Dad are really going to have to control ourselves with the presents for you! =) We love you so much, Kins. Our lives have been so enriched with you in it. I wouldn't trade these days with you for anything!

We love you!!! Happy 6 months!

Here are some more pictures. I just can't resist.

5 months

Dear Kinley,

Happy five months, little one! Time is going so fast, and mommy is loving being home with you to make all these wonderful memories with you. You are about 12 lbs and a little over 2 feet tall. You are still so little! You can still wear some 0-3 month onesies or just 3 months and can fit into some 3-6 month bottoms.  You have your adorable, chunky legs to thank for that. But anything over 3 months in tops completely swallows you. Mommy and Daddy aren't complaining too much. Your clothes are lasting a lot longer than we expected which is A-okay with us.

You continue to babble and chat all day long. You have the funniest growl when you get frustrated, or when you are a little backed up (sorry.) You are always making Daddy and I laugh! You have almost given up the pacifier completely and now suck your thumb to calm yourself, or most recently your index and middle fingers! You roll over like a champ and will put anything in your mouth that you can get your hands on. You have started eating rice cereal and are getting use to eating from a spoon. You are so interested in what Mom and Dad are eating, so we are really excited to start solid foods with you month! Another big thing to note is that we finally got a crib for you! Even though you are little you were growing out of your bassinet very quickly. We decided to borrow a crib from my good friend and so far you seem to like it. I think you are getting use to ALL the space! Some mornings we find you turned in another direction and sometimes you wake up on your tummy. It will take some more getting use to, but at least you have plenty of room to grow now. One last thing I want to mention is you are just about sitting up all on your own! We usually prop you up on the couch or have a boppy behind you, or Dad or I will sit behind you for extra support, but you are getting stronger and stronger by the day! We are so proud of you and are always commenting on how smart you are. You are still VERY observant, to the point where we can't get you to take a nap during church anymore! Once we get you to sleep the slightest noise will wake you up and there is no going back! So we've had to adjust to that. Oh well, we are learning right along with you and it's been fun, for the most part.

Oh Kinley, we love you more than words can say. We are so happy that you are in our lives. You are such a blessing to your dad and I and you have made our family that much more complete!

We love you, little! Happy  five months!! =)