18 months and 21 weeks!

Happy November!! We had a great Halloween hanging at Mimi and Bop's and handing out candy to all the trick or treaters. We attempted to take Scarlett downtown (Petaluma shops do an awesome afternoon trick or treating for all the kids), but there were too many scary masks for our little lady! haha

Pregnancy Update: 21 Weeks!
This pregnancy is FLYING by! We had our 20 week ultrasound last week. All is great. The baby wouldn't stop moving, so after 10 attempts, the tech gave up on getting a clear profile picture or a 4D shot. We thought it was quite funny :) Jeremy had to physically cover my eyes for the gender revealing...I would have loved a peek!

This pregnancy is SO different that the first one...which is why I totally think BOY! I've only gained around 4 pounds (half of what I gained with S at this point) since the beginning, yet my belly definitely looks bigger :) Luckily, I am able to fit into almost all of my regular clothes still- good thing! It's been in the 70s and 80s all month and I am still living in my summer shorts and tops! The baby is kicking A LOT (mostly at night) and I started feeling kicks early, around 17 weeks. So enough Jeremy will be able to feel too. I'm feeling great, and we are finally starting to look at baby names. Starting fresh from the beginning for the girl names, but still love our boy name from Scarlett's birth....I can't wait to know!

Scarlett 18 Month Update
Can you believe we have an 18 MONTH OLD?! That is just crazy to me. As I have been imagining Scarlett growing up, I've never really thought past the 18 month mark because it seemed so far away! Now we are here and loving it. This is SUCH a fun age!

Just got back from her 18 mo appt this morning. All is great with Miss Scarlett. She is at the top of the language development scale with close to 50 words (a chatterbox like her mommy and Nonni). And, quite healthy too :) Our pediatrician (Dr. Lee, whom Jeremy secretly wants to be best friends with) calls S the, "quintessential Gerber baby" with lovely cheeks, tummy, and thigh rolls to boot!
 Our little lady is measuring in at: 27 1/2 lbs (94%), 31 1/2 " (48%), and head is 83%. She is just perfect!

Newest Tricks
Talking talking talking. This kid doesn't ever stop talking! We usually know what she's saying, so thankfully her frustration level is down these days.

Scarlett's latest obsession is mimicking everything we say and do. If Scarlett drinks water, then mommy has to drink, daddy, Mimi, Boppy, etc. When Mommy takes her prenatal vitamins, the Scarlett needs to take one of hers at the same time. When mommy blows her nose, then of course S must as well. Everything needs to be the same! It's actually quite hysterical.

Scarlett also LOVES to pretend. She pretends to be a kitty, doggy, baby, mommy, etc. We spend a lot of time perfecting her "mommy" these days, carrying around a little purse from Mimi, which holds her essentials- mommy's chapstick, a train, and a few little cars. I already foresee some great acting skills!

Favorite Toy This Month
TRAINS or "choo choos" are now everything we talk about! We ride the train at the outlet mall weekly (she points to the mall when we drive by and yells, "CHOO CHOO, MOMMY!"), have visited Train Town in Sonoma twice this month, and we have miniature trains that S carries around with her everywhere she goes. For being such a girly girl, this lady loves herself some good old fashioned boy toys!

Biggest Thrill
Big girls. Scarlett can do without any children under the age of two. But two and older, and she is smitten! Scarlett loves watching and playing with (or right next to) any big girls. This was quite evident at Bodie Knueppel's International Day Parade at his preschool. We came to cheer him on, but once we found the kindergarten girls manning the Japanese tea house, we glued ourselves to that station for about 30 minutes, saying, "Hiiiiiii!" every 15 seconds to get some attention :)

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge
ROAD TRIP TO OREGON! Enough said, right? I was so proud of Scarlett for being such a super baby during our long weekend in Oregon celebrating the Dillon wedding. She was an absolute angel on the drive up and back (literally didn't cry the whole time!), stayed up past her bedtime without losing it, and was a real trooper with being on the go/hotels/etc.We had a great four-day weekend celebrating and exploring and were so lucky to have Peg and Cliff with us too...four pairs of hands are always better than two! Scarlett gets an A+

Sweetest Moment

There are two.
First is that Scarlett LOVES saying grace before dinner. When we hold hands for prayer, she smiles the whole time. And, as soon as we are done, she says, "More!"

Secondly, we are really working on manners, replies, etc. But most often we are saying, "I love you" and trying to get Scarlett to say in return. When prompted, she is usually pretty good with a reply, "Ma moo." So after months of doing this, last week after I had just put her down in her crib for bed and was closing the door, I heard a quiet, "Ma moo." Ahhhh. What a sweet feeling to get an unprompted "I love you"!!! :)


 We are already looking forward to lots of family and friends time in the coming weeks. This weekend, a fun adults dinner with our newly formed Supper Club. Next weekend, we are heading to So Lake Tahoe to visit the Brennan family, and then get an early Thanksgiving arrival from Taylor and the kids the following week. Can't wait for some cooler weather, yummy food and smells, and fun times with all of our favorite people! Happy November to everyone!

Love of Love!
The Kings!

17 Months & 17 Weeks

Happy autumn! It just cooled down this weekend to the low 70s and we decorated our front yard with heirloom pumpkins and a cute scarecrow (Scarlett is obsessed with her new, funny-looking friend). Our first rain even arrived this morning.



Pregnancy Update

I am 17 weeks pregnant this week and finally feeling like my old self! My energy level is slowly returning, and I'm so busy with S that I often forget I am pregnant :) I'm still able to wear all my regular clothes (except jeans-- I welcomed the stretchy band jeans last week) so that is nice, although I'm starting to notice my shirts are getting a little short :) No weight gain yet, but there is definitely a belly!

Scarlett 17 Month Update

We just got back from a week vacation to Southern CA visiting the Huefner clan and my high school girlies. It was awesome! Scarlett immediately made herself at home at my mom's house and started chanting "Nonni" and "Evi" all day long to her grandmother and uncle. She was already a chatterbox last month, but she literally picked up 10-15 new words/phrases in the week that we were down there! We also had an awesome surprise bday dinner for Jeremy at the private room at El Adobe in San Juan Capistrano- all of our OC family and family friends made it. Even Taylor drove up for the celebration, which made Jeremy's day! Scarlett even mastered saying her auntie's name..."Tay Tay."

Newest Tricks

Scarlett is a monkey. She climbs on everything now- up the couch, the rocking chair, kitchen chairs, benches, etc. You name it, she wants to get on it...ALL BY HERSELF. She no longer welcomes help!  Miss Independent wants to figure out everything on her own first. Sometimes, if she's stuck and desperate, she will ask, "Help please." Well, it sounds more like, "hep eez."  :)

Other new words and phrases this month: book, eat, thank you, love you, choo-choo, dolly (she finally knows the difference between dollies and babies), park, cart (shopping cart), juice, milk, more, outside, duck, bath, teeth, knee, etc. The list goes on!

Favorite Toy This Month

We are still obsessed with books, but now getting back to dollies too.
Scarlett spent most of September feeding her dollies, pushing them in their stroller, burping them, or changing them. Yes, changing them. We spend hours putting real diapers on and off her dollies :)

Biggest Thrill

Swings. She is OBSESSED. We can't drive by a park, or see a picture of a swing set in our books without her getting excited (sometimes hysterical!). We go to the park 1-2 times a day just to get it out of her system! Although, now we can't even say the word out loud. It's P-A-R-K until we get there to keep her from going crazy!

Secondly, Scarlett has been dabbling with potty training. This has been going on for about 7 weeks now and she goes potty on her little potty a few times a week. Nothing consistent, but enough to say that she is getting the hang of it! Some of my bribes include Fig Newtons, juice, & oatmeal cookies.

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge

I hate to say this because I may I jinx it, but this month has been SO much easier than the few months prior. Scarlett gets it. She can talk so much better and has even been able to put together some two word sentences (Dolly poopoo. More please. Hazy outside. etc.). We are grateful! No major challenges to report this month- hurray!

Sweetest Moment
There are always too many darling moments to remember or write. But the one that sticks out is Scarlett's singing. At our music class, we sing a special song to open and close the class. Scarlett sings the tune ALL the time. Now, she puts her family members names to the tune. So multiple times a day, I hear her singing, "Boppy boppy...mimi mimi....mommy mommy....daddy daddy...nonni nonni....evi evi...hazy hazy...." to the melody of our music class song. PRICELESS! :)


 

 
Happy October!! Lots of love to you all!
The Kings!

16 Month Update and....

WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!
Yay! Yay! Yay! We can finally let the cat out of the bag.
Baby #2 is due March 15th and we are thrilled! Scarlett and her sibling will be 22 months apart. What a blessing!

Pregnancy Update:
I am feeling better now, hitting the second trimester/13 weeks on Monday. July was pretty brutal with morning/all day sickness. My diet consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches, cereal, and oranges. Now, I'm back on the eating train. Only real complaint is being tired- but that could be from the 80+degree weather or the fact that I RUN and CHASE Scarlett all day :) My belly popped out right away, but hasn't changed much in the past month. I heard the heartbeat at my appointment last week which is always a BIG relief!  We are not finding out the gender again (groan!), so another 27 weeks of being antsy. Although, we think this one HAS to be a boy! There have been four King girl cousins in a row. A boy is due, literally!

Scarlett 16 Month Update

Scarlett is 16 months going on 3 yrs. She understands everything we say ("Can you please put your shoes back in your room?") and is constantly asking for the names of things. She is a sweet girl with a big personality. We LOVE how much fun this past month has been!

Our vacation to Santa Barbara and Shell Beach was incredible! The house we rented was gorgeous and we had our own pool and spa that was heated to 90 degrees! We spent our days at the zoo, parks, and strolling State Street. We had a babysitter for two nights and a day, so we were able to make it out for some yummy dinners and an afternoon in Summerland. We're still high on vacation bliss.

Newest Tricks:

Scarlett spent A LOT of time in the pool this summer. Not only is she a great "kicker", she has gotten going under water down pretty good too! No crying either!
As soon as she gets to Mimi and Bop's house, she walks straight to the kitchen and points to the pool :) Such a water baby.

Also, Scarlett's vocabulary is expanding each day. New words: shoes, "abby" her word for her "owlie", book, and cheese.

Favorite Toy This Month:

We are back to books! She looks at them on her own or wants to be read to hours a day. She loves wandering the book store too! Next week she is finally old enough for story time at the Petaluma Library. This girl LOVES to read.

Biggest Thrill:

The sprinklers! What do you do when it's 88 degrees at 5pm? Run through the sprinklers naked of course! This is an almost daily occurrence around here :)

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge:

A parental highlight is that we took Scarlett off the pacifier this past month. Now it is only used for naps and bedtime- and what a difference! This child was immediately happier and less fussy! She also didn't blink an eye with this new routine. She asked for "pappy" once on the first day, and Jeremy and I told her that "pappy" stays in the crib for bed. That seemed to work for her. Yay!

Our newest challenges is separation anxiety. The kid who would go to anyone is now catching on and only wants Mama, Dada, grandparents, or Angela from daycare. This became very apparent when I went to my first MOPS meeting on Thursday. They have childcare provided and I dropped Scarlett off and left to meet the mamas. Scarlett was FURIOUS and screamed bloody murder (yes, I could hear her from the luncheon) for about 20 minutes before she realized that I wasn't coming back. SAD :( Hopefully she will learn to like her new Moppets and childcare leader!
Sweetest Moment:
This past month has been filled with countless "sweet" moments. Scarlett loves to hug us now and show us affection. She is also OBSESSED with older girls- and giggles, waves, and blows them kisses. At church last weekend, she stayed in the nursery long enough for Jeremy and I to hear the sermon and receive communion. Then, when she came back in, she became enamored with a big 9-yr old daughter of a client of Jeremy's. Sweet 4th grader Taylor thought it was cute and let Scarlett hug & kiss her. Then, Scarlett spent the last 10 minutes of the service walking around holding Taylor's hand and smiling. She LOVES big girls!

Happy September!!
Love, The Kings!

15 Months Old...Where did the time go?!

Scarlett 15 Months!

Happy August! We are in awe that we have a 15month old! Where did the time go? Scarlett seems to be changing daily and is so curious and smart. We love watching the "light bulb" go on when she figures out something on her own!

We have had a great summer so far. It's about to get even better next week when we head to Santa Barbara for a week with the Fleischmanns for our annual King/Fleischmann vacation. We rented an awesome house with a pool and are excited to relax, swim, and watch Harper and Scarlett play. Then, on our drive home the six of us are spending the weekend at the amazing Dolphin Bay Resort in Pismo. So excited for 10 days of fun!

Newest Tricks:

Scarlett has become our little "parrot" in the past month. She loves trying to talk and mimic us. Her newest trick includes pointing to all the major body parts: hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, belly, fingers, & toes. And, she loves trying to make animal sounds! So far she can anwer, "What does a ____ say?" for a cat, dog, monkey, elephant, birdie, & baby (she loves to pretend cry like babies do). This is just precious to watch. We practice our animal sounds daily of course!

Favorite Toy This Month:

Scarlett loves puzzles or any toys with parts! She gets frusterated when she can't get the pieces in sometimes and arches her back and squeals. But, for the most part she can do a pretty good job and enjoys practicing with shapes and putting pieces back together.

Biggest Thrill:

S loves exploring her yard. She loves riding in her pink car, playing Chuck-It with Hazel, smelling the flowers, and getting into mischief outside :)

 

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge:
Our biggest challenge has been Scarlett getting sick. In the past 6 weeks she has come down with Hand Mouth Foot and Pink Eye. Both were pretty brutal on S and us since she was in so much pain for both. Whewww. We were all exhausted!

Our biggest highlight has been Scarlett's independence and having her formulate her own opinions. She definitely has preferences on almost everything.  She will tell you exactly what she wants whether you like it or not :)
For example, today when we were walking around Train Town together and I asked her to hold my hand, and she said NO! She wanted to walk all on her own!
Miss Independent.

Sweetest Moment:

Jeremy and I have been trying to get out once a week for a date night. So far, we've been successful two weeks in a row! When our babysitter Kailyn was here watching S this week, she asked Scarlett if she was ready for bed. Scarlett took Kailyn's hand, walked her to her room, and pointed to her crib. Ha! She WAS ready for bed! Too cute.

We are excited for a fun-filled August and looking forward to lots of fun family & friend weekends coming up this fall. Jeremy has been busy at work, and now I get to enjoy this year as a mama. It will be so weird not going back to school in 3 weeks, but I'm excited to give this stay-at-home mom thing a shot. We are thankful and blessed.

Lots of Love,
The Kings!

14 Months & Summer Fun

Happy July everyone! We are loving our warm weather and sunny days here in Petaluma. We had the Larabees in town for a week and Scarlett LOVED her cousins, of course! A photographer came and captured this cousin photo (and many others). By the time you read this update, this photo may be need to be updated as Kim is in labor and Baby King cousin #5 is arriving today!

Scarlett, Shane, Hollace, & Hanley

Newest Tricks:
Scarlett now RUNS. She and Hazel have fun chasing each other around the house. She also has been in the pool A LOT with this warm weather and has mastered "kicking" on command. She seems to understand everything we say (or is just really good at pretending) and nods her head yes or shakes her head no for any given question. After a only few days with my family in OC, she was able to point to Uncle Ev when we asked her where he was. She is SMART! S also loves to dance and runs in a circle until she gets so dizzy that she falls over.

New words: "ow" for her Owl lovey, "Mimi" for Peg, although she hasn't said to to her, "bubu" for bubbles (our favorite summer activity), "baba" for baby, and we've evolved to "Haz" now for Hazel.

Favorite Toy This Month:
Bubbles, her water table, or her baby pool are all tied for this. Anything outdoors and active makes Scarlett happy.

Biggest Thrill:
Scarlett loves praise. Her biggest thrill is now when anyone claps or cheers when she does something to be proud of. Then, she will continue to cheer and clap for herself to get everyone going again.

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge:
Still communication. She wants what she wants when she wants it, although we are slowing starting to understand each other better and better. Jeremy and I are very consistent with our dos/don'ts and she totally understands the things she is not supposed to do/get in to. The head nodding and shakes from her helps us immensely.

Secondly, Scarlett came down with Hand Mouth Food virus right before we left for Southern CA. I had NO idea how awful it would be for her/me. She was in a lot of pain, was up all night for multiple nights, and lost about 3 pounds from her eating strike due to the sores in her mouth. If we can survive that, we can survive anything!

Sweetest Moment:
After being gone for 8 days without Jeremy, Scarlett was beside herself when she saw Jeremy at the airport. When he picked her up, she yelled, "Dada" and started crying. Too cute. She LOVES her daddy!

Happy Summer!
Love, The Kings!

13 Month Old Lady

 Well, a lot has changed since Scarlett turned ONE...seriously! She's such a BIG girl at 13 months!



Newest Tricks:
FULLY walking. About a week after S's bday, she really took off. I caught 17 steps on video, and now she walks (and falls) all day long.

She's also chatting up a storm- "ba--" for ball, "up" to be picked up, "da" for "that" or something she doesn't know, "bab" for baby, and of course her staples- Bop (for Cliff), Dada, Mama, Ha (Hazel), Nana (bananas), and the infamous GRUNT when she points to something.

Scarlett now shakes her head "no" when she doesn't want something, which is so funny. She definitely has an opinion! When she does want something, she squeals and claps her hands.


We also love that S can now follow simple instructions: give kisses, sit on your bottom, bring me a book, etc. How cool is that?!

Favorite Toy This Month:
Books! Scarlett loves to be read to or to look at books on her own. She is constantly pointing to things, wanting to know the names of people/things/animals. We love that she is so curious.

Biggest Thrill:
Her cousins! We spent 5 nights with the whole King fam in Redlands/Santa Monica to celebrate Luke's graduation from medical school (yaaay Luke!). Scarlett was so lucky to get 6 whole days with her darling cousins, who are SOO sweet to her and share all of their toys with her! Scarlett was in HEAVEN. She adores all three! She played and idolized Shane and Hanley, and would give baby Hollace kisses whenever she could. SO darling.

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge:

Scarlett is desperately trying communicate with us. Not only is she saying "words" but she also points at things she wants all the time. This is awesome, because we can usually figure out how to make her happy! This is also very, VERY challenging because when she wants something she can't have....YIKES. Yes, the tantrums have arrived :) Wish us luck!

Sweetest Moment:
In the past month we've spent time with my family in OC and all of Jeremy's family this past week. Right now Scarlett is starting to recognize her out-of-town family- hurray! She gives them hugs and smiles and flirts with them.  I hope we've avoided "Stranger Danger" reactions?!



What made our trip down south even more special was that Scarlett Isabel got to spend time with her Great Grandma Isabel again. I love that! So darn wonderful.

And, the sweetest moment for MOM this month is that I'm done with work in one week! Yahooo! I can't wait to stay home with my little lady from now on! :)


We are loving 13 months, can't wait to see what is in store for us this summer!!


Lots of Love,
The Kings!

ONE...UNO....UN...EINS!

Scarlett Isabel is ONE today! So exciting! I can't believe that we were in the hospital meeting our little GIRL last year at this time :)

We had a FANTASTIC 1st birthday celebration at Peg and Cliff's yesterday. The weather was an amazing 80 degrees, the pool and jacuzzi ready for splashing, lots of yummy food, and  fantastic family and friends everywhere!

Nonna flew up for the celebration

Morgan and Harper with their besties, Jer & S

Michele (6 mo pregnant) and Lucy came to play!

Bop and Mimi!

The BIG birthday girl turns ONE

Scarlett's special organic birthday cake (homemade by Michele)

Here's a little update.....

Newest Tricks: Walking! Scarlett practices walking all day long. Her longest stride was 5 steps in the circle of her music class last week. All of our music friends cheered and clapped for the big, walking girl and Scarlett squealed with pride!

Showing off her stand!

Favorite Toy This Month: Too many to say! Scarlett was spoiled by all of our family and friends yesterday. She's in hog-heaven at home, jumping from toy to toy! Kristin, Nathan, and Gordon sent us a really cool ball popping machine that she is especially fond of :) Check it out in the video clip below...(I hope it works!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO4CmmksHPI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Biggest Thrill: BOP a.k.a. Cliffy. When Scarlett sees her Bop, her face lights up, she squeals, and reaches for him! I already predict that she will bring Bop as her first show-and-tell in kindergarten :) As for material thrills, plastic pink car really makes Scarlett happy too!

Loves going on pink car rides!

Wagon rides with Cliffy are such a treat!

Biggest Highlight/Biggest Challenge: Surviving and enjoying the first year of parenthood! We've done it once, so the next time will be easier, right?! Scarlett is VERY spirited-- her BIG personality is like an elephant in the room!  But, we enjoy her independence, her strong will, and her sweetness.  She is so smart and we are so blessed to have such a determined and wild little girl.


Sweetest Moment: S loves to lean in for "kissies", which melts my heart. She always offers her forehead and also continues to practice kissing (slobbering) on Dolly too :)

Cuddling with Mimi and Dolly #2

Happy Birthday, Scarlett!!
Lots of Love, E, J, & S