Kenley at 12 months

Kenley is 1! Yay! You couldn’t be a sweeter baby girl. Everyone comments on your calm and content demeanor. “Doesn’t she ever cry?” You do have your moments when you are tired or hungry, but overall you are just a happy soul.


Last week we had your first birthday party and it was lots of fun! Most of your extended family was at our house to celebrate and you loved all the attention. The same afternoon as your party you finally started to do the army crawl. You are also quite skilled at turning 360° while sitting on your bottom, and you’re getting better at balancing while pulling up and standing.

Your growls and coos have been replaced by sounds that seem more like words every day. “Dada” comes through pretty clearly, and you’ve made the Sss for our dog Sadie and “Ca” for your favorite babysitter Carissa. When you want mama, you usually just grunt at me or make a cute face that I can’t resist.

You’re a great eater and becoming more interested in what the rest of us are eating. You try little bites of all our table food, and still gobble up the fruit and vegetable purees at breakfast and dinner. Now that summer is warming up, you’ve had a couple tastes of ice cream and you are a big fan (who wouldn’t be?). I still nurse you about three times a day – early morning, midday, and before bedtime.

This month we traveled to Decorah for Aunt Bethany’s college graduation. Then we visited Grandma and Papa in Des Moines while Dada was fishing in Canada. You had your first ear infection that week, so we saw the rare “sad and grumpy” Kenley.

Last week you started waving and it is adorable! You do a funny side-to-side hand motion that looks like you are in a parade or beauty pageant. You also love patty-cake and “Kenley is SO big!” You like to play games where we pass things back and forth, and you even played fetch with Wrigley in Des Moines when we visited. Your favorite things to play with are: my car key, an old hacky sack ball, and your rhythm eggs. It is common for you to carry any of them around for hours at a time.

I have been looking over the photos from this past year and reminiscing about the fun we have had. I can’t wait to see what this next year (and all the many more ahead) will bring! Love you!