Chatty McChatterbox

I remember reading about "word explosions" when Kendall was first born. I wondered to myself if I would know when she was having one of those...um, I can definitely say that yes - she's having one now. It seems like everyday she surprises me with a new word...one that we haven't even been trying to teach her. Like today's word - socks. I had no clue that she knew that word. She just randomly saw a sock and said "socks". I love it! Parenting has gotten more fun and a little easier since she has been able to ask for juice or an apple. She's such a joy...truly, she is.

Surgery went well...

Thank you so much for your prayers. James' dad came through his procedure just fine and is resting at home this week. The recovery period is a few weeks and he'll be back to normal. The way God shows up in medical stuff just flat out amazes me.

While I was away at the conference (which was beyond fabulous, by the way), James took Kendall shopping and bought her some new shoes. Let me tell you, that girl is proud of her shoes. Whenever she wears them - she is constantly looking down at them and saying "SHOES!!" in her excited voice. It's precious. Poor child is obviously gonna take after her mommy in that regard. Just picked me up a new pair at Target about an hour ago, as a matter of fact...

Life moves pretty fast...

I can hardly believe that it's the end of July. Summer is flying by, as time tends to do. Things are going really well for the Mason family. We're gearing up for our October vacation and I, for one, CAN'T WAIT!! This will be our first family vacation with just the 3 of us. We are usually crashing either my parent's vacation or his parent's vacation, so this year we're having our own! Because of an unexpected surgery that his dad has to have (more on that in a sec), his parents won't be able to use their timeshare in Hilton Head in October and they have graciously extended the offer for us to use it instead....like that took any thought whatsoever since Hilton Head is our favorite place on earth!

Unfortunately, James' dad is going to have to have a defibrillator implanted this coming Monday morning after suffering from an irregular heartbeat. He has a history of heart problems, including a triple bypass in 2000, so his cardiologist feels this is a good move for him to make. Of course, I'm nervous as all get out since I am somewhat of a spaz about...well, everything. But James' dad is very upbeat about the surgery and is glad that his doctors are being proactive.

I'm headed to a Beth Moore conference this weekend with my mom and lots of other ladies from Cross Culture. I'm very excited about going...these events are usually wonderful. Kendall will be staying overnight at James' parents for the first time. She has her own room over there, all decked out in purple paint and flowers and butterflies, so she'll be good to go.

Please pray for James' dad as he goes for his surgery...I really appreciate it!

Busy Saturday

Today was a craaaazy busy Saturday. We woke up early to get Kendall all dressed and ready for her first flower girl appearance. She was in my sister Lexie's wedding (dad and stepmom's oldest daughter). She looked absolutely precious and we were 30 seconds from walking out the door when she climbed up in a chair while I was pouring her some juice for the ride and dumped an entire cup of Mommy's Diet Pepsi down the front of her baby pink dress. I completely FREAKED out. I'm talking semi panic attack. Luckily, the wedding wasn't until 11, so we had time to wash and (mostly) dry the dress before Kendall's debut. Whew. Crises averted.

She did a really, really good job. She walked down the aisle like a champ. Unfortunately she decided that she liked prancing in front of everyone so much that she kept running across the church and I had to chase after her. Good thing I had on my running heels...

After the wedding, which was truly lovely, we came home and had a nap and then headed to a birthday party for a sweet LifeGroup kiddo. Let me just say that I'm going to have to step my birthday party game up if I'm going to "compete" with these LifeGroup mommies. They are like the queens of parties, for real. So far, we've had a pool party, a movie night under the stars (complete with popcorn), a lake cookout and today a treasure hunt. Good grannies!

We're baaack!

How is it that a workweek d...r...a...g...s by, but a vacation is in warp speed! It feels like my time at the beach flew by. We had so much fun soaking up the sun, eating, laughing and resting. I'm headed back down on Friday and I can't wait.

I am proud to say that I only got a little bit sunburned on my back - which is a change from my usual burn it til it browns motto. I had SPF 30 on almost the entire time. Gotta stay as young looking as my hubby, you know!

Kendall absolutely loved the beach. The days of relaxing with a good book are over - that girl kept us running the whole time! She loved running down to the water and saying "Wee!!" everytime the water chased her. She didn't even turn blue although the water was arctic. She only ate a little bit of sand and one sea shell, so we're doing good!

Summer is here

So this week, we're packing up and heading out of town to ring in the start of summer. I have been fortunate to have grandparents and parents who have kept a place at the coast since I was a baby, so the beach feels like home to me. It's so funny to think back on the weekends I begged to stay in Durham instead of going with my parents to the beach...now I'm begging them to let me come with them!

I can't wait to see Kendall playing in the sand. I'm sure she'll eat her fair share since sand is her favorite outdoor snack. Surprisingly enough, things like this don't bother me. Shocking, I know. I figure it's better than that ladybug carcass she munched on back in the winter.

Even though I don't worry about my child eating sand, I am absolutely flipping my lid worrying about sun exposure this year. You know me - I pick something to obsess about quite frequently and right now it's making sure Kendall never gets a sunburn. I wonder if it'll be too hot to make her wear jeans and a turtleneck on the beach?

15-month check up

Yesterday we had Kendall's 15th month check up (even though she's already 16 months). Here are her stats:

• Weight 21.1 pounds (20th percentile) - I'm just happy the kid finally broke 20...geez.
• Height 31 inches (55th percentile)
• Noggin 47.4 (85th percentile) - No head jokes from the doctor, so that's always progress

She was NOT HAPPY with being checked out, I can tell you that. It's amazing to me how strong such a little girl can be. She flipped out on poor Dr. Rand. And we don't even want to talk about how she reacted to her shots - MMR and Chickenpox...I seriously think she would have kicked that nurse in the throat if mommy didn't have a death grip on her entire body.

She's developing well, the doctor is pleased with everything, which is fabulous news. However, the best news was when Dr. Rand told me not to worry about Kendall having her paci at nap and bedtime...I about kissed her when she said that!!! I'm sure we'll start working on it before too much longer, but right now, she's safe to suck that paci until her heart is content (in her crib, of course).