Kelson Noel Albert- 2nd Bday

Oh my gosh- where has time gone? I cannot believe we just celebrated Kelson's 2nd Bday- ALREADY. Well I have to say that it has been such a fun and wonderful experience so far and I can't wait for it to continue. Kelson has been such a joy and has been our main entertainment since she arrived. I am not sure what we did before her :) So much has happened in 2 months since I've last posted. Kelson still sleeps in her own bed and doesn't really show any desire to get into a toddler bed- just yet. She got a Tinkerbell comforter with sheets set for her bday. We let her take a nap in the big girl bed and she woke up soon after since she wasn't familiar with the situation of not being in her crib. She has used the potty a few times, but hasn't showed much desire to do that either, so I'm working pretty hard on giving her treats when she does. She is starting to tell us when she has pooped or peed in her diaper, so I guess that's a step- she is understanding what she is doing. She still takes a pacifier (pap pap), but happily gives it up after getting up from her nap or bedtime. She has a bottle at night too- that was a lot of us enjoying that bonding time, but now its more of habit, so I'm going to start giving her some before bed- in a sippy cup to ween her off the whole "sucking" habit. It’s a lot of work going from baby habits to teaching her toddler ways. I know it all takes time and patience, so I'll just keep telling myself that. She is a VERY smart little girl so I know she will catch on to it whenever we start enforcing them. I was told to wheen her off the pacifier to cut a little bit off the nipple so she doesn't get the suck effect and it won't appeal to her, then each day cut a little bit more to where she doesn't want it anymore. My whole reasoning was why not let em have a pacifier- mostly is was to stop them from their teeth getting all weird, but who doesn't get their kids braces these days? But I know it could ruin her bite too and I don't want that to happen. I was fortunate and didn't need braces, but Jason on the other hand did, so its 50/50 with her. Plus I don't like seeing a toddler walking around with a pacifier in her/him mouth.
We had Kelson's 2 yr old checkup with Dr. Zbell- who we still just adore- and she had to get her shots- she did very well and seemed to get over it rather fast. Dr. Zbell said that Kelson is ready for her first dentist visit- I couldn't believe it- already!? She also said that she was in perfect health and is already on a 3 yr old learning level in her verbal, motor, and memory skills ;) We knew that Kelson was smart for her age, but its nice to hear proof :) How exciting. I think signing with her really helped with her speech- its unbelieveable the things she can say and remember. She is the cutest little girl ever and is such an entertainer. She weighs 28.8 lbs and 33.5" tall. According to the Lucy Albert old wives tale- when a child turns 2 you double their height and that's how tall they should end up being. All three of her kids were within a 1/4 of an inch from when they were measured. So according to the measurement- Kelson should be around 5'6 and a half or 5'7 :) Sounds like a perfect height to me. I'm 5'6 and Jason is 6 ft so that sounds good for a girl's height. Kelson is in the 45% for her height and 70% for her weight. Works for me :)
Last Friday- August 14th- Lucy had a mini-bday party for Kelson at her house.
She decorated her house with balloons and baked some delicious YGG cupcakes for the kids. Kelson seemed to really enjoy her bday celebration. Lucy, aka Memere, made macaroni n kabasa for everyone to enjoy- yum yum. We did a few presents from family and then Jason had to leave to go to Nashville for a video treatment meeting. Luckily he got to stick around for most of her bday celebration weekend, but it was exciting to know that Heartland is working hard on their new single/video. Yea Dadda!
On Saturday we had her BIG 2nd Bday party- joint party with her cousin Corgan- Keri and the family were visiting so we decided a joint party would be perfect and help save on some of the costs since she wanted to have a Yo Gabba Gabba party for Corgan this weekend. The party was a HUGE success- had both friends of mine and Keri's attend, so we were happy with that. The theme was "Yo Gabba Gabba"- it’s a new show on Noggin that a lot of the kids enjoy. At first it was a little off the wall, but we grew to like it. We had another "water party" like last year's party.

This year Kelson got to enjoy it even more since she was able to run around with the other kids and Papa ;) I was going to rent an inflatable waterslide, but they were outrageously priced, so I researched online and purchased one instead. It was the Bonzai Blast- its freaking awesome and was a big hit at the party. Kelson also got a Trampoline for her bday- we were contemplating that or a swingset, but she seemed to get more use out of this and we seemed to of made the right decision. She loves to jump on it and its good exercise for me too :) The trampoline came with a safety pad that goes on the springs and an enclosed safety net, so really there is no way they can fall off the thing- saves a lot of worrying and heartache. Its so much fun and I'm really glad that she is getting use out of it. Keri and I worked very hard on all of the little details of the party (more so Keri than me) but we did a lot together and it was fun to do party planning with my sister for our babies. I ordered pizza- which was a great deal- and easy clean up.

DJ Lance (the black DJ) from the show even showed up at the party (it was Anthony- one of my friends who happily accepted to dress up for the party). What a guy :) and he played the role wonderfully with his high pitch voice, enthusiasm, and high kicks ;) I had a friend of mine Summer make the YGG themed cakes and OMG- they turned out so freaking awesome.
I can't believe how great it turned out. She is the same one that made Kyle and Renee's engagement cake. She is so crafty and I was very pleased with the results. We handed out goodie bags to the kids which consisted of: YGG stickers, lolipops, bubbles, blowers, smiley face fruit snacks, and muno marshmellow snacks that Keri and I made.
The weather was nice and warm, but not too hot and I laid out tarps for the other kiddie pools and a place for adults to get their feet wet. Overall it was a WONDERFUL party. We had so much fun that we ran out of time to open presents, so we did that after the party was over. I have my "thank you's" ready to be sent out to friends and family. Kelson got lots of wonderful presents from everyone- from dolls, to princess stuff, to a guitar from gigi and papa, clothes, and so much more. She is a very loved little girl!!!! Happy Bday Kelson- my little girl!


Thank you Papa for sharing your bday with your grandbabies- I know you had a great time sharing the time/weekend with them- that's the best present of all ;) Kelson n Corgan's 2nd YGG Party

Barbee June Wedding...

I'm a little behind on this post, but I wanted to write about how well Kelson did in her first wedding as a flower girl. Adrienne asked Kelson and I to be in the wedding back in March and of course we were honored- this would be Kelson's first wedding to be in, so I was a little nervous. She is a very outgoing child, so I wasn't worried about her being shy- just walking down a specific path throwing petals. I was a bridesmaid in the wedding, so it helped to ease some of the tension of having her walk down the isle to a bunch of people she didn't know. Adrienne and Tim had the wedding in our backyard- which turned out beautiful. Elliot was the ring bearer and did a VERY good job as well. I was very proud of the kids. Jason was attending a Heartland gig, so he wasn't able to see his girls in actions, but we took lots of video and pics. Kelson looked so cute in her pink and light green colors. Adrienne was a gorgeous bride- I was happy to say that I did her makeup and she loved it :) It was nice to do something like that for family and they really appreciate the effort and help we all did to make that a special day for them. Me and my side kick- Tabatha- took lots of pics with my camera, so we were their photographer as well. For not being professional- the pictures turned out very well. At the reception, I convinced Adrienne and Tim to do the money dance- its a canadian tradition, but I knew they needed some honeymoon money, so overall they did very well and were able to go to the beach- like they wanted to with that money. A few months before Adrienne and Tim had entered the biggest loser competition with all of us and won for both the men and the women- $750total- so they bought their wedding bands with the money- I thought that was super cool. They are perfect for eachother and I was happy to be apart of their day. Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Barbee!!!! Barbee Wedding Pictures

Space and Rocket Center- Hsv, AL

It had been YEARS since I've been to the Space and Rocket Center, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Keri Hipp and her little boys came to town and wanted to go, so we all decided to try it out. I have always been a huge fan of astronaut ice cream, so I couldn't wait to go purchase some. We got a few pics of the kids in front of the shuttle and with an American flag picture. Next we went into the gift shop and tried on some funny hats and got a few good laughs.
Then we headed to the museum portion- which we got in free of charge- not on purpose, but we happen to just "walk by" the ticket counter without realizing it. Oops. The museum portion was pretty interesting from an adults point of view- all the facts and stuff- but overall the kids just had a fun time running around everywhere. They didn't have much to do inside, so we headed outside. They had a few rides for kids so we headed that direction. They had a maze like crawl through area that Kelson seemed to enjoy but they also had a mini-version of Space Shot (where they seat you side by side and shoot you up in the air- but drops you down too- like the tower of terror ride at Universal Studios). This one only went up about 25ft, but for kids 8 and under, it was pretty scary. I was shocked when Kelson wanted to go on the ride. She is Miss Little Dare Devil, but I thought the ride attendant wouldn't let her go, but she said she would be safe if she decided to go. SO, I held my breathe and convinced Jason to let her go. We were both so nervous, but were standing underneath if something were to happen. The attendant said she would let her go up a few feet and do one of the drops and see how she reacted. We also asked her older cousin Nicholas if he would ride with her and hold her hand- he didn't seem to excited about it- but he finally caved in and agreed to go. So he sat next to her and they held hands. Nicholas looked more afraid of the ride than Kelson did. Haha. Anyways, so the ride begins and all the people were standing around to wait to see this child reaction and.... TA DA... She was all smiles and LOVED IT.

She was laughing and then when the ride stopped she wanted to do it again. So, she won and got to ride it once more without Nicholas- he was done. Again, she had a great time. It was like pulling teeth to get her off of it and away to get some lunch- she really enjoyed it. I still can't believe we let her go on the ride by herself- esp after seeing the pics of how high she went. You can even tell a difference in her height and age if you compare her to the other riders in the picture. So needless to say, I think we are gonna be in for some real trouble. This girl is not afraid of much. This day reassured me that we are gonna have a freaking blast when we got to Disney World and the other parks next month. No fear from this girl. After the ride we went and had some lunch at the Cafeteria at the Rocket Center- it was really yummy. About that time kids were ready for naps, so we went and grabbed some astronaut ice cream- one of my favorites- and now Kelson's :) I bought neapolitan and mint choc chip flavors. They were just as good as I remember them.
Space and Rocket Ctr Pictures