Kenzie: Fifty Two Weeks Old

MACKENZIE IS OFFICIALLY ONE YEAR OLD! 12 months/52 weeks/365 days have zoomed past and no amount of blogging and photos and videos were able to capture all the precious moments we have experienced.

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 36
Sleep: 100 hours
Feeds: 89

Leap 8 sucks! I don’t know if any Leap is a “good” Leap as Kenzie figures out how to work through her mental development changes and it had to happen right when she turns one year old. We had to make a few adjustments with her nap schedules as well as giving her more attention and cuddles as she tries to get through this Leap. We know it’s not easy for her as she tries to navigate her new developments.

We celebrated Kenzie’s first birthday at Arthur’s Cafe in Baulkham Hills where we had our own private area  to enjoy the birthday celebration with family and close friends. I’ll be writing a separate blog post about her birthday celebrations as we still have to celebrate her QLD birthday celebrations in a few weeks time. I can’t express how thankful I am for my family and friends for helping us. Unfortunately, as Kenzie was experiencing Leap 8, she was in “stranger danger” mode and she didn’t enjoy her birthday very much. She cried 60% of the time as she was overwhelmed by all the people wanting to hold her and cuddle her. By halfway through her birthday, she was so tired and slept throughout the rest of her birthday. After speaking to other moms, it’s very common and I understand why parents don’t put too much focus on a first birthday but it’s her FIRST (and we didn’t want to do dishes).

This week, we were in “party prep” mode, baking cookies, making cake pops, making loot bags picking up the cupcakes and cakes and ensuring everything would go smoothly on the day. We wanted to make sure it was stress-free and that food and dessert and decorations would be the least of our worries on her birthday and so that we can give Kenzie more attention during this clingy phase. I find baking therapeutic and I can’t wait till Kenzie is older and can help us out in the kitchen!

Kenzie’s top teeth still haven’t erupted and we know it’s bothering her as she continues to chew and gnaw on anything that will help her relieve the discomfort. It does look like it’ll be coming through soon and we’re hoping they’ll cut through any day now.

To celebrate her last few minutes of being exactly one year old, she decided to surprise us with mini heart attacks by climbing out of her crib! Yes, we are due to move her crib to the lowest setting as she outsmarted us and climbed out. We could not stop laughing! We were so sleep deprived and we were in fits of laughter as we watched her determination to get out of her cribs and back into bed with us. Sometimes, she’s too smart for her own good!

One sure fire way to get her to sleep this week is singing her to sleep. Thanks to YouTube, Ramon and I have been singing karaoke songs and Kenzie falls asleep so quickly, it’s so adorable. It always helps us introduce her to songs we love.

A part of me will miss writing these weekly entries on the blog and I don’t know if I should continue writing snippets of what we experienced as we raise Kenzie (on a weekly basis). I wanted to focus creatively on videos and I know it’ll it’ll be tough to get one out every week as we are still working out editing and capturing content. One day, we hope Kenzie will read through these entries and see how hard we tried raising her. For the next year of her life, we’ll definitely still try get a blog post published once a week of events that occurred in a more candid light as it’s so much harder to have a toddler pose when all she wants to do is run around and chase cats and dogs in the house.

I still can’t believe one whole year has passed since we’d given birth to Kenzie. She has made me feel a level of happiness I never knew existed. She has made me discover who I truly am and has challenged me and made me a stronger person. When I look at her, I know we’ve done something right. All I want to do is give her the world, I want to be the best version of myself, she makes me want to be better and do better. My heart feels so full, she makes me feel a love like no other. We’re so excited to see what the future holds.

If Kenzie ever gets the chance to read this blog later in life, remember this… WE LOVE YOU. I’ve become lost for words as I’m overcome with emotions. You complete our lives. You are our happiness.