Our Precious 2 Year Old!

On Wednesday, July 6th, Kaelyn turned two! I know I speak for many parents when I say that Robbie and I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by and that we are now the parents of a two year old! In our eyes, Kaelyn is really mature for her age and such a joy to be around! She makes us laugh all the time (most of the time we have to hide our laughs from her so she'll know we mean business) and she is growing to be fearless in trying new things. This might be my favorite age thus far because Kaelyn minds pretty well and is just independent enough to help out. For her actual birthday, Rylan and I took her to pick out her own donut for breakfast and then as a family, we went to GattiTown for dinner and play. I think she really knew it was her special day and loved all the attention (especially when anyone sang the birthday song to her).

Birthday Donut (sprinkles of course!)

Playing skee ball at GattiTown

Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy

A new baby that looks just like Kaelyn

(even wears purple Crocs)

"Don't worry; I've got my diaper bag and I'm

pushing my baby through the house."

Sweet girl laying her baby down on the exercise mat

On Thursday morning, we had Kaelyn's wellness check-up at the doctor's office. I was really impressed with her willingness to cooperate with our doctor. Unfortunately, she had to have a shot and then we had blood drawn. She wasn't as happy about that part of the visit, but still remained very strong (just a little sad)!

Kaelyn's 2 Year Stats

Weight: 28.4 lbs. (75th percentile)

Height: 34.5 inches (80th percentile; FINALLY)

Head: 20 inches (95th percentile; LOTS of brains)

Kaelyn at age 2:

• Loves Piglet. He travels everywhere with us and she hugs him all night long as she sleeps. He's truly her best friend.
• Enjoys watching a variety of television shows including: Backyardigans, Strawberry Shortcake, The Fresh Beat Band, Barney; she has even watched half of her first Disney movie, Tangled. (Mommy and Daddy can't wait until we have Friday night movie nights together)
• Has become quite the little fish. Enjoys the pool and the lake as well as bath time!
• Loves playing "hide and seek" with daddy. It's really funny to watch her watch Daddy while he looks for her. She doesn't want to miss a thing!
• She is very independent and enjoys putting on her own clothing and shoes. She's even started playing dress up. The one downside is that she is still very much into her head-bands and often wants to wear them out in public. It would be okay if there were just one or two, but not eleven head-bands at once, literally.
• Her baby dolls. Kaelyn walks her babies around like her Daddy walks her while imitating what Mommy says to Rylan saying "Shh...Shh...Shh."
• Has been jumping and dancing for a while now, but just now got off the ground in her jumping and has really learned how to shake her bottom in her dancing.
• Enjoys cleaning (whose child are you?) and often helps Mommy with diaper wipes (so cute and frustrating at the same time)
• Starting to use complete sentences: She says "I do," instead of "Yes." Often says the phrase "I get it," and plenty of more really cute ones.
• Is learning her colors and ABC's. Kaelyn starts school in September and we are really working with her at home.

Saturday, July 9th, we celebrated Kaelyn's birthday with a party at Pump It Up! Ordinarily, this would not be a place for most 2 year old birthday parties, but Kaelyn attended our cousin Kade's party there in May and absolutely loved it! She couldn't get enough of all the slides and obstacle courses. We decided that it would be cost-effective and allow us to enjoy the party if we held it someplace besides our house. It was amazing! Robbie and I got to play and climb in all the bounce houses with her and the adults even had a competition in one of the obstacle courses! The staff there took excellent care of us and we didn't have to worry about much of anything which was super nice! We even had our own cameraman, Uncle Keeton, to capture the moments.

Patiently waiting for the party to begin and all her friends to arrive

First slide down with Daddy (pure delight on that sweet face)

Can't leave sweet brother out

(He slept for the first part of the party)

Bounce House Jumping

PawPaw and Uncle Bentley collided on the slide

"What? Is that Mimi sliding?" 

KK and Kaelyn

(at the end of the slide, they were upside down!)

Our wonderful friends and family who celebrated with us!

KK, Kaelyn and Mommy inside one of the obstacle courses

(Great job Camera Man Keeton for climbing in to capture this shot)

Kaelyn easily scaling one of the walls (I struggled a bit)

Nana and Great-Granddad cheering us on with Rylan

Jason and Edie slide will Ava looks on!

Collin and Henry race down!

Grant and Luke playing King of the Mountain

One happy little girl!

Pop and Kaelyn

Cousin Brice along with Uncle Kylen entertained all

of the boys playing King of the Mountain

Natalie, Kade, Jackson, and Henry

Pop taking a break and holding Rylan

Group shot (almost everyone who didn't have to leave early)

Kaelyn is still an Elmo Fan!

(Great job Sam's Club for a delicious cupcake cake)

Getting ready to sing to the birthday girl!

Blowing out her candle!

Aunt Kim and Bre holding the newest additions to the Perry family

(Kipton and Kooper)

Licking the icing first

At the house while everyone assembled new trampoline,

I took pictures of the 2 month difference between Rylan and

Kipton and Kooper (Yikes!)

Kaelyn loves her new trampoline!

It's a great size and fits in the center of our gameroom!

Playing with water table on Sunday with PawPaw

Still our headband girl!

Dear Kaelyn,

Your Daddy and I cannot believe how much you've grown this past year! You are such a beautiful little girl inside and out. You have grown to be a great big sister to Rylan, and he loves watching your every move. You're fun loving, fearless personality and smiles are so contagious. Your compassion shines through when you kiss Mommy and Daddy's boo boos without us asking and when we see you taking care of all your baby dolls. We are very excited to see what this next year holds as you start school two days a week and continue to grow! We love you with all of our hearts and can't imagine life without you. You are truly a gift from the Lord!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Of course, I can't post a blog entry and leave out our precious Rylan from the pictures! 

"Where do you think you're going Rylan?"

He scooted clear off his mat; Mommy is not ready for this! 

Rylan loves his mobile in his crib!

My little blog helper! He kept me entertained while I updated. 

We have just one weekend left before we head to Destin, FL for our family vacation, and when we get home, we begin the adventures of moving Kaelyn to her toddler bed and begin potty training!

Wrapping up the Month of June

The month of June proved to be lots of fun around the Hudson household. My youngest brother, Kylen, came to spend a week with us and Kaelyn loved every minute of it. Back when Keeton and Kylen were younger (during the first years of our marriage and both boys were not able to drive yet), Robbie and I had them come spend a week with us and called it "Camp Little Elm." Since Kylen is spending the summer after his freshmen year at Texas A&M living back home, he decided he wanted to have another "Camp Little Elm." One of our camp activities was the pull out the good ole' slip 'n' slide. Kaelyn loves the water and loved the slip 'n' slide.

"On your mark, get set, GO!"

Uncle Kylen (Ky to Kaelyn) sliding. 

Daddy slippin' and sliding

Sheer delight on that sweet face. 

Loving this activity. 

Bama even got some love from Kaelyn. 

We also wrapped up our swimming lessons in June. Our last swim lesson was great! The class usually has 6 adults and 6 kids in the water since it's a Parent/Me class, but there were only 2 of us there, so Kaelyn basically got a private lesson with her swim coach. She has come so far since the beginning of June. She is very independent (a little too independent and scary for mommy) in the water. During bathtime, she is swimming on her stomach and blowing bubbles and then turns over and lies on her back without complaining about her ears being in the water. She loves to jump to us in the pool and enjoys her daddy throwing her up in the air after going underwater. She has become our little fish!

Splashing kickers in the water

Monkey walks along the side of the pool

Kaelyn has gotten so comfortable floating on her back!

"1, 2, 3, bubbles!"

Underwater swimming

Learning to climb out of the pool on her belly

During the last week of June, our church held their annual Vacation Bible School. Since I volunteered, Kaelyn was able to attend each morning and go to the 2 year old class. She did so well in class each day and loved the worship time at the closing of each day. Here's a video of her praising the Lord and dancing!

On Friday, July 1st, we left to spend the weekend at Lake Limestone with my family! It wouldn't be July 4th weekend without a lot of skiing, swimming and pyramid building. This year we decided to build a 7-man pyramid. We were successful even though the picture doesn't show us all the way on top. After the 7-man was complete, we built a 5-man to wrap up the day. On Monday, July 4th, Kaelyn practiced her skiing in the lawn. Pop pulled her around on her skis to get a feel for what it would be like in the water. Then we put her on the side of the boat and let her ski! She loved it and Pop only had to hold her to help her keep her balance. Hopefully by the end of summer, she will ski behind the boat with little help. We are so proud of Kaelyn!

Swimming with KK

First Inner Tube ride with Mommy and Daddy

Beginning to build our 7-Man Pyramid

Here's the last picture before the fall! We did get all the

way up to the top even though the camera didn't capture it! 

5-Man Pyramid

Kaelyn gave her daddy a mud bath!

Putting on her skis to begin practicing in the yard

"Don't worry Mommy and Daddy, I've got this!"

Bending her knees for the waves!

She loved skiing on the side of the boat!

(Soon to come...Behind the boat)

KK got some Rylan love while we were teaching Kaelyn to ski!

Happy 4th of July! 

Practicing her picture poses with Mommy!

(She was really concerned with getting her hands just right!)

Kaelyn has her "say cheese" smile down!