A Tribute to Big Papa Howard

Last week, Michael's beloved Grandpap, Howard Valentine Mlakar, peacefully transitioned to his eternal home in heaven. 

To Katelyn, he became known as "Big Papa Howard" and the name stuck with us too. Big Papa Howard gave selflessly to his family, showed unconditional love to his grandkids and great-grandchildren, and served others without expecting a thing in return. 

He was also one of our most loyal blog readers. We will miss him dearly. To learn more about this wonderful man who lived a vibrant and service-oriented life, his obituary can be found here.

Grandpap, thank you for all the time and love you provided over the years. Our memories with you will always be cherished and your rich legacy will live on through our lives and those of our children. 

And we can only imagine how amazing the reunion in heaven is with his bride, Josephine...

Rest in peace, Big Papa Howard. 

12 Months Old!

Our second born is now embarking on her second year. Wow. Just WOW. It went way faster than any other year of my entire life - probably because it was a lot of fun, a lot of busy, and included our share of blurry, sleepy, we-have-a-newborn-baby-and-a-toddler weeks. In addition to keeping family and friends up to speed on what we're up to, I'm so glad we have the blog to serve as a mini time capsule to look back and remember what actually took place in the last year. Because somewhere in there, our Kendall (also known as Kendi and KJ) gained 12 pounds and grew 9 whole inches!

Here are her official one-year stats from her recent wellness visit:

Weight: 19 lbs, 15 oz (30%) - up from 7 lbs, 15 oz at birth

Height: 30 inches (78%) - up from 21 inches at birth

Head circumference: 17.75 inches (50%)

According to Dr. Tammy, she's healthy and thriving. Can't ask for much more than that.

Disposition: Kendall is curious, cautious, sweet, active, focused, and sensitive - a combo of characteristics that make her one-of-a-kind. It's fun to have two girls that are quite different in terms of personalities - it keeps us on our toes, keeps us learning, and keeps our appreciation sharp for their unique traits. Kendall is most comfortable with familiar faces and is currently in the thick of separation anxiety (although she's always been extra sensitive to being away from loved ones). When we drop her off in the nursery at church, tears always ensue, but she does eventually recover and has fun playing with toys and friends. Which, let's face it, is way more fun and socially stimulating for her than being stuck in the back of church! I've said it before and here it is again, Kendall is just as sweet as pie. It's been a joy watching her evolve into the person God created her to be.

Sleeping: Kendall goes to bed around 7:00 pm and sleeps until about 5:15 am. She wakes up to nurse and then goes back to bed until 7:00 am. She's also taking two naps a day at 9:30 am and 2:00 pm - each about 35 minutes long. She loves to sleep on her tummy with her arms and knees tucked under her and her rear end up in the air. It's how her daddy used to sleep as a baby, too!

Eating: Kendall is undoubtedly enjoying her newfound independence at mealtime. She enjoys three meals a day and is also still nursing 2-3 times daily (usually just early morning and right before bed). Her favorite foods are pasta with red sauce (can we say messy?!), mac and cheese, turkey, quesadillas, yogurt, fruit (strawberries, blueberries, and grapes are tops), cheese, and crackers. We're still working on getting her to embrace (even try would be great) veggies and whole milk. She's a champ with the sippy cup, but still prefers water over milk. She has yet to sign "more" or "all done" back to me, but I swear when she's done eating she reaches her arms up and says, "ahh-dahh" which sounds a lot like "all done." She's still just rocking her two bottom teeth - can you believe it?! I'm glad the scarcity of her teeth doesn't inhibit her adventurous tastebuds!

Mobility: We've got a walker, folks. The day after she turned one, Kendall decided to turn up the heat and proceeded to take 4 steps. She hasn't looked back since and is drawn to stairs like a magnet (oy!) The other day, she climbed up our entire flight of stairs going up to her room (Michael was right there with her but there's no doubt she's capable!) If she needs to get somewhere fast, she defaults to crawling, but she is getting more and more comfortable with walking. Here's a video of her first few steps back on August 8 (you can tell she's excited! And Katelyn is still saying "happy birthday" to her - ha!)... 

Vocalics: See video :) Kendi still favors "dada" as her word of choice, but also up there is "dat" and "huh-duh" with her pointer finger extended. She points to various pictures of Michael around the house and says, "dada!" She squeals and giggles a lot and likes to match the volume of Katelyn's voice - let's just say it gets a little loud 'round here sometimes! (Ahem. See video. Again. :)

Tricks: Kendall enjoys clapping, waving, dancing (bouncing) to anything with a beat, doing "so big" and giving hugs (leaning in with her head). She's also been perfecting blowing kisses - which is pretty much a palm to her open mouth :) When Katelyn asks her to "say ahhh" she'll do it with her long tongue sticking out (we do that to check and see if she has anything in her mouth. Once we discovered a wad of chicken in there from lunch. Twenty minutes after lunch was over. Oh my.)

Kendall Jean, you have blessed our lives in ways we never dreamed of. Our capacity to show and receive love has exploded with you in the family and the bond you share with your sister is about the most beautiful thing we've ever witnessed. We love you for who you are, the baby you've been, and the sweet young girl you'll become. Thank you for an incredible year! Now could you try to put on the brakes a bit for the next 12 months?!

Pretty please?! 

1st Birthday Party

Ahem. Could someone please tell me how it's possible that I'm posting this...

Despite my pleas, our littlest lady went right ahead and turned ONE last week. One whole year old. It was by far the fastest year of my life. I swear I blinked and here we are. I think this makes her a ... t-t-t-toddler now... *tear!* I don't really consider myself that sentimental as a mom, but this 1st birthday had me feeling so nostalgic - way more than I expected to be. I went back and looked at our hospital pictures and the very first videos of Kendall (including her actual arrival) and it was amazing to re-live it all again, especially knowing how she's abundantly blessed our lives since those first few days. 

Since 365 days had passed since we first met our blond-haired, blue-eyed Kendall, it was high time to celebrate her first year! This was the invitation to her first shindig...

We used the star theme from the invitations throughout her party but changed up the color scheme and went with pink, yellow, and turquoise. Bright and summery for our bright-eyed August baby t-t-t-toddler. (See, I can hardly bring myself to say it!)

The party started at 11 am and we were fortunate to have an absolutely beautiful day weather-wise. For food, we had tortilla wraps, croissant sandwiches, fruit, chips, orzo salad, potato salad, veggies, and meatballs. 

As with all parties, this one was made extra special by the birthday girl and our wonderful guests! My parents, brother Ryan, Aunt Cindy, and Uncle RJ came from Iowa (Ryan from KC) and we had several of our local friends and their families join in the fun.  

The kids certainly could have made their own fun, but why not bust out the swimming pools too? We set up the baby pool and had a larger pool with a slide.

It was so fun to see our family and friends mingle and catch up. We are beyond blessed to have these incredible people in our lives.

The birthday girl giving the camera a nod - she looks like such an old soul in this picture!

Some of the party guests included Gamma Phi friends. I love that we all live up here and have continued our friendships through the joys and trials of wife-hood and motherhood.

Finishing up lunch and getting the vocal chords warmed up for the big serenade.

Special thanks to our friend Matt who took a bunch of pictures with our camera since we were busy - it's great to have the party documented yet not have to worry about taking pictures the whole time.

Kendall got her own little (free!) smash cake to match the big cake. It was so cute and apparently she thought so too - she barely touched it!

She thought it was pretty special that everybody was singing to her and at the end she gave a round of applause :)

She was pretty tentative about the whole cake thing and especially leery of the frosting on her fingers (this one fusses when she gets sand or dirt on her hands!)

Aaaand, she's had enough... 

Who knew turning one would be so sad?! Notice the completely in-tact cake. It remained that way until we tried to see if she'd go for it on her actual birthday. Again, no dice.  

The big cake was a hit with our guests though. After we got our sugar fix, we moved the party inside to open gifts. And Kendall had a whole pile of 'em!

Birthday parties are a good reminder to snap a family photo and we were glad the birthday girl was happy again :)

Party dress. Blue eyes. Piggies. Sweet smile. This picture makes my heart happy.

With all the excitement of the party, I was so bummed when I realized I neglected to get a picture of all the kiddos together. :( It was funny how it worked out because the kids at the party were all boys except for our two girls. 6 boys. 2 girls. Needless to say, the party favor bags didn't include princess stickers and bracelets! 

Big thanks to all who made it out to celebrate Kendall's first birthday! It was so much fun!

~~~

The rest of the weekend continued to be full of good times. Kendall did her share of hand-guided walking. (Which has since turned into independent walking. Yes, we have a walker. More on that in an upcoming post.)

And look at these lovely ladies! It was such a special treat to have Aunt Cindy and Uncle RJ spend the day with us.

Uncle RJ and Kendall talked about the stock market... :)

Kendall got so many kisses for her birthday. There's no such thing as too many.

We spent the afternoon on the deck since it was such a nice day!

Katelyn and Aunt Cindy had so much fun together. Does this picture give it away or what?!

Katelyn even learned how to cross-stitch - she patiently sat next to Cindy and pulled the thread through countless times. If Kate ever asks to cross-stitch with me, I'll have to learn. Like learn everything. Do I need a hoop thingy? I haven't a clue!

The next morning Kendall was pleased to see Gramma, Papa, and Uncle Ryan were still visiting...

But they had to leave that morning, so we took a couple more pictures...

... gave big hugs goodbye...

... and called the birthday party weekend a wrap. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Kendall and we had a blast making memories with family and friends. Thanks one and all for making it so special and memorable. Kendall is a lucky little girl to be surrounded by so much love. And we're lucky to call her our daughter. ♥