The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

When I started writing this post, I was going to tell you how our weekend was good, bad, and well...ugly. But then I decided, nobody really wants to read about poor us and how "bad we have it." So I decided to erase the parts about Jackie throwing up about a half dozen times on Friday night and about our lack of sleep lately, including only about two hours last night(that's the ugly part.) Instead, I'm just going to elaborate on the Good!

Saturday morning my "Hubby of the Year, " surprised me with an hour massage! Yea, that's right ladies...he's all mine, and you can't have him :) Anyhoo, I enjoyed every moment of it, considering I knew I was going home to a sick child. Lucky for us, Jackie was feeling quite a bit better by Saturday afternoon!

On Sunday morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn once again (due to our little one's sleeping issues)...but it worked to our benefit as we had signed up to run the Head for the Cure 5k. It was a beautiful morning to run and all went successful. We think we might have even finished in the Top 5 of the unofficial stroller event!

Also on Sunday, we finally got the "porch" swing put up! I'd like to call this "Jackie's Happy Place."

Any Resemblance?

It was kind of fun to find this picture of myself at 18 months and compare it to Jackie's. We definitely have the same nose and mouth..she has her daddy's eyes though! Now I just need to find a picture of John at 18 months!

Picture Day

Considering we had a bit of a rough morning, and she fell asleep to and from the picture place...I thought she "shined" for the moment! Here's a sneak peak of Jackie's 18 month pictures. Hard copies to be sent in the mail :)

Fun-Filled Weekend

14 adults, 8 1/2 kids, 1 dog + a baby shower, grill out and nice weather = Lots of Kennedy fun! This weekend we were very fortunate to see lots of John's side of the family, who traveled to town for Angie's baby shower! We started the weekend on Friday night with a grill out. Saturday, the main event, was the baby shower of course...but we managed to throw in some backyard fun and pizza too! Sunday we rounded out the weekend with a little fishing, church and then John and I collapsing on the couch from exhaustion :) What a fun weekend and we were so happy to get some good family time in! Thanks everyone for coming, it was good to see you all!

Grilling out on Friday night...I wonder if I'll ever graduate to the "big kids" table?

Maddy, Jackie and Stephanie had fun playing in the basement.

Mommy-to-be and the Hostesses

Maddy and Lizzie enjoying some backyard fun

Taking a break on the front porch

Jackie and her Uncle Joe...she has become quite fond of him lately

Jackie playing with cousins, Lizzie and Stephanie on Sunday morning

Zoo...Take 2

On Saturday, we hit up the zoo for the second time this year. This time, John, joined us and we opted out of all the other exhibits and headed straight for Africa. That's where you find all the good animals! Jackie loved the gorilla, chimps, lions and elephants the most. As a matter of fact, both, John and I, did too! We got to watch the Cheetah run...which was interesting, but a little uneventful. Another interesting thing, Barbie was at the zoo...wearing fish net tights! Since when does Barbie wear fish nets? We skipped over her, figured Jackie wasn't ready for that yet! We snapped a few pics from the visit below:

My Baby

Even though Jackie has become such a big girl lately...a few things remain. She still loves her puppy dog, loves her paci at night time and still sleeps in her sleep sack :) As far as I'm concerned, she can keep doing these for awhile...because that makes her still seem like my baby!

Jackie had her 18month Dr. appt today. Her stats:

Height 34.5 inches (99%)

Weight 27lbs (75-90%)

Head Cir. 19 inches (90%)

Where does she get all that height?

18 Months Old

Today is Jackie's 1 and a half yr. birthday! She has become quite the "big girl" lately. She loves to play with her babies the most. She has about 6 of them that she cares for, rocks, kisses, feeds, diapers, throws around, etc, etc. I told John one day that when we have another child, she might be disappointed if we have anything less than sextuplets! Her vocabulary is expanding by the minute, it seems. She repeats or tries to repeat just about everything. She is starting to put a couple of words together, like "more strawberries mommy, " and "baby night, night..shhhh." Jackie has pretty much mastered the stairs now and can walk, up and down, them while hanging on to the railing. The baby gates have been put away now for a couple of months...whoohoo! Jackie has learned to jump recently....She loves to go around jumping, and will usually say "Ready, Jump!"

She is starting to become a little more picky in her eating...unless she gets really hungry. She has interestingly been able to weed out veges from her dishes and sets them to the side or throws them on the floor.

Yesterday, the day before her 18 month old bday, Jackie decided she wanted to potty train ALL day long. We spent most of the day in the bathroom and she successfully went each time. She has also correlated brushing her teeth with going to the bathroom, and so therefore she brushed her teeth 6 times yesterday! Today she has done just as well, so far...we are just kinda going with it around here. Everyday I look at her and wonder where our baby went. She is getting so big and is definitely becoming more of a little girl. She is so independent and wants to do everything like the big kids are. She has her tantrums now and then. Most of the time she just needs to work it out on her own. I call it, "being too big for her britches."

Happy 1/2 birthday to our little monkey!

Rocky Mountian High

On Thursday, John and I jet-set to Denver to spend a couple of days seeing friends, attending a wedding in Breckenridge, and spending some good ol' "just us" time. Jackie stayed back home with Grandma and Grandpa Mehmen...and from what they reported, had a pretty good time.


We arrived on Thursday afternoon and after settling in at Casa de Uhl, we went for a little walk downtown Denver at the 16th St Mall. John and I enjoyed a coffee happy hour and walked the streets of downtown, until it was time to meet up with Ted.
Ted, John and I met up with friend, Morgan, and had a nice dinner at a restaurant called, NoRTH, in the Cherry Creek district. After dinner we met up with some other friends.....looky who we found in Denver..that's right, we traveled all the way to Denver to hang out with YMR, who is from KC! Above pictured: Ted, Me, John, Beef(John), and YMR(Ben)

Thanks Ted for letting us crash at Casa de Uhl on Thursday night! We loved your place and it was great seeing you.

On Friday morning John and I headed for the Rockies. The whole reason for traveling to Colorado was to see my great friend, Haley, get married in Breckenridge! Above is a picture of the mountains; which was very cool to see, since we had just skied these same slopes in December.

We drove up the slopes(in our rental Buick LaCrosse..which is not exactly a mountain climbing vehicle) to the Ten Mile Station where the wedding took place. I'd say a rather breathtaking scene for a wedding!

Everything was perfect, including the bride and groom! I have to add, I've never cried so much at a wedding before! Of course, everyone was crying and it was definitely contagious! It was just so beautiful and we were all so happy for Haley and Tobin.

Scenic picture of John and I at the wedding venue

Haley and me...I felt so fortunate to be able to celebrate her wedding with her and her new hubby. I've known Haley since my senior year in high school and we have shared many memories together throughout college and beyond.

Full of Words

Jackie is really full of words lately and seems like she picks up something new every day. Below is a video of Jackie saying a few of her favorite words, while we were playing around the other day.