2012 March for Babies

Yesterday, we walked in our fifth March for Babies.  It was great because:

1. Myla got to walk across the finish line again (truly, my favorite part.)
2. We had our whole family there – I even made Johnny get up to be there.
3. The sun was shining and the day was beautiful.
4. We did it up right this year and had matching t-shirts, well, except for Myla’s, which was a little bit different.

But the best part?  It was for my little girl.  It was for the tiniest baby that SMU NICU had seen in 30 years.  It was for the most amazing little spitfire to ever arrive at under a pound and a half.  She had one lady who asked if she was the one on the back of our shirts.  And when I answered yep, this was her, she gave Myla a high-five and said “you’re awesome!”  And she doesn’t even know her!  But its true, she’s awesome, and I’m so thankful every day that she overcame all sorts of odds, or climbed all sorts of mountains, or checked off all sorts of milestones to be able to walk with us across the finish line and march for all babies.

Like her little sister – who was also fantastic all the way through the walk.  She simply surfed in the wagon, watched the people and snacked.  I had wanted (in my own little mind) for Myla to walk across the finish line holding her sister’s hand, because THAT would have been really awesome.  Here are two little amazing little girls who delight me and drive me crazy and make me laugh and cry and make me want to be the very best I can be to make them proud to call me mom.  Because I am beyond proud to call them my girls.  They change the way I see the world and I am forever grateful for being blessed with these crazy, silly, smart, fun, beautiful girls.

Thank you to all who supported us this year, the years past, and who know Myla’s story and tell it to others.  Because yesterday, we marched for babies – all babies and we hope that everyone who gets a chance to hug a child the next chance it comes to them, understands just how awesome these little kids are.

More Trouble

Every day she covers more and more real estate.  Next, she'll be running!

Danger Will Robinson!

Don’t let that sweet face and crazy baby hair fool you – she’s trouble!  Kinsley has mastered going up all of our steps, she’s pretty quick about it too.  And she’s very proud of herself when she does it.  She doesn’t like it when Myla goes up there without her, so she’s going to make sure it doesn’t happen.  Of course, it scares the living daylights out of us and we have devised a make shift baby gate that has eliminated the temptation, until she figures out how to get around that too.  She’s so incredibly smart that we don’t think it will be long.  She talks up a storm, Johnny was sure she counted to seven one day, and is starting to use the signs that we’ve been trying to teach her for months.  She’s been taking a few tiny steps between things, but mostly likes to walk holding on to one of our hands or onto her stroller.  See – trouble.

Myla is just as much trouble and just today recited the Pledge of Allegiance for us.  Multiple times, in fact.  She throws around these big words that amaze and astound us every time.  Last week, Myla and I went with “the girls” to see Annie on stage, and she was belting out all the songs she knew.  It was so cute, it brought tears to my eyes.  The guy in front of us even enjoyed it, but made sure not to look at her in case she stopped.  This week, she’s been full of facts about butterflies and birds, even played a “guess what” game with me about things that she could see.  We’ll have to work on making the clues a little harder…

See, trouble-makers, the both of them.

Easter hoppy-nings!

The girls had a lot of fun on Easter Sunday.  My mom made them cute little – sorry, “pretty Easter dresses” and the sun was shining and it was the perfect day to wear them.  The Easter bunny brought their baskets here, but took all the eggs over to Auntie Karen’s and my parents to hide there.  So after a morning of playing with some new things from the basket, we packed up to go search for eggs!

There were cousins and eggs and jumping on the trampoline and an all around good time to be had.  Kinsley wasn’t sure what all the commotion was all about but had fun finding the eggs.  She went under the table to grab one and actually put it in her basket.  Myla had the best time searching and finding which eggs were hers (pink, her favorite color – thanks EB!) and was especially taken with the gold egg she found.  After the egg hunt and dessert, Myla spent time on the trampoline while Kinsley relaxed in the swing. 

After the egg hunt, we went back to my parents house for a wonderful Easter dinner and more hunting!  Myla was so funny – she didn’t care if they were plastic or hard boiled eggs, she just threw them all in her bucket.  (And of course, the hard boiled ones cracked.)  In all, we had a great day with the family and celebrating the holiday.  And those girls looked so cute!

I think they might be crazy

These girls are so full of personality and spunk and craziness, there is sometimes nothing to do but laugh along with them.  The sunshine and spring has made them sleep hard and play even harder – we’re just trying to keep up with them.  Here’s a sampling of our fun lately…

Myla surprised us by coming down the stairs with our socks on her hands and legs and her daddy’s sandals on her feet and her shoes on her hands.  She dug through the clean laundry and picked four different socks.

Kinsley will eat, oh, anything.  She’s had pickles, pepperoni, and that all over her face?  Tacos.  Some of it does seem to end up on the seat next to her, but she will scream if you don’t give her more before she’s full.

Remember when I said they were sleeping hard – so hard that Myla couldn’t even make it all the way up onto her bed.  Honestly, we took this at 9:30 at night.

Kinsley is just everywhere, and she loves to push her little car while she goes.  She will say “vroom!” and push it and then chase after it.  Another favorite toy for the moment – the side table with the lamp on it.  Look mom!  It moves!

And many, many more memories and fun times being had by all…

Spring already!?

We’ve had a number of really nice days already that have given us all a chance to play outside, plan a backyard and garden and take wagon rides with the dog.  It has been good for all the fresh air to come flowing through the windows.  Myla is most excited for the tulips and other flowers that are popping up and Kinsley is … really enjoying being down in the dirt.  She isn’t afraid of the grass either and she much happier down on the ground moving.

Myla is busy learning lots of new things – big words like “expedition” or how to write her letters or how to take pictures of herself (she must have been taking lessons from A2).  Her imagination has taken us to the circus in the basement and into the fort from the Kinsley-monster and on searches with Hailey-dog in the backyard.  She had a random fever last weekend that made her less than her tornado self and had us worried for a little while, but she kicked it and today ran 3/4s of the way on our walk.

Kinsley has decided that she’s quite the funny girl and sometimes will say something and then laugh.  She is a big talker and sometimes I can almost make out what sounds like complete words and sentences.  She loves to play with her sister and still thinks its very funny to pull her hair.  Kinsley is everywhere and has begun trying to stand on her own and will walk with us while holding on to our pants.  Another step closer to chasing down that sister!

Omaha Trip

We got news of a new niece in Omaha born in December, so the first weekend in March, we packed up the car and headed out for the baby blessing.  It was Kinsley’s first loooong car trip and we weren’t sure how either of the girls would do, but we were pleasantly surprised.  Of course, we left at 4:30 in the morning and they slept the first leg of the trip… details, details.  On the way out to Omaha, we stopped in York and had some ice cream to break up that last part, and on the way home, we stopped in Wiggins for lunch.  The last hour was hard for them, but they hung in there and I think its safe to say we’ll do it again.

It was fun to be with the family and to see all the Washburn cousins together.  No more room on the couch though… Myla had the best time playing with her cousins and even went to see the Lorax movie with her Auntie Becky and Miss Crissy.  (Such a funny girl, after she got in her seat, she said “I won’t be scared mom, bye!”  He, he!)  Kinsley was content to walk around the furniture or to scoot around from room to room.  The only part they didn’t like was those winds that whipped us around from the time we crossed the state line until we were home. 

Thanks family for having us around on Isabella’s special weekend!  Here’s some more cousin fun!

Myla was so good holding baby Isabella.  She loved to keep track of that new baby!

Cousin Kaidy brought princess dresses to play in.  Aurora and Rapunzel.  So cute!

See my little ham – she was “playing” golf with cousin Tank but saw the camera and came in for a picture.