Our Favorite Books

I have run across several book lists for favorite baby/toddler books but they often have books Kyleeann didn't like, are missing some (or all) of the ones she loved, or both! I decided to make my own list because I love a good book list and am always looking for new books and assume others are too. 

These are in no particular order but I did try to do the baby ones first and then the toddler ones. I am making the list on my iPad and do not know how to hyperlink them but they are all on Amazon.com or Usborne.com. Usborne uses consultants so ask on Facebook if any of your Facebook friends is a consultant or having a party. 

1) Indestructible books: this one is first because any age can have this book and it won't get destroyed! That is not something you can say often in regards to books when a 6 month old is involved. As the cover says they are chew proof, rip proof, non-toxic, and 100% washable. Robert didn't believe me when I came home with an indestructible book so I told him to try and rip it and if he did I would return it, we now own several. When Kyleeann was younger she loved to squish the pages and chew on it. I loved it because it was light (great for diaper bags!), and I didn't have to worry about her ripping pages or getting paper cuts. 

2) Open the Barn Door: we got this as a gift and loved it. This is another book that is great for the diaper bag because it is small, it fits in the palm of my hand. Kyleeann loved all the flaps and had fun listening to me make animal sounds. 

3) Usborne's Thats's Not My series: Usborne is a great place for kid books. They have so many titles in this series from animals to pirates to cars etc... Kyleeann loved all the textures of these books. They are also short and don't have a lot of words on each page, that bugs her even still. We have several of these and she still likes to read them, she has even been "reading" them to herself since she was 6 months old. 

4) Animal Hide and Seek: Another favorite from Usborne. This one has flaps and textures so Kyleeann loved it. It was this book that she got really good at turning pages and opening flaps, great fine motor skill practice! 

5) My Turn To Learn by Natalie Marshall: This book we found at the library and loved it. The first one we got was opposites and I picked it because of the owls but we both loved it and so when we went back for more books we got colors, shapes, and numbers. They are all great, bright colors and great sturdy pages and tabs. 

6) Goodnight! A peek a boo book: This was another find at the library but it will get added to our library.  This one has a lot of pages but it is a quick read so it doesn't feel super long. You can see the face on each page and Kyleeann had fun sticking her finger or soother through the hole of the pages. My one thing I don't like about this book is the last page says "again" but I usually just said something else unless I was actually willing to read it again. 

7) Red Truck: A book that Kyleeann loved probably because it has a yellow school bus in it and she loves buses. The text is in different sizes and colors which I think makes it less boring to read as a parent. 

8) Les Petits Fairy Tales: There are 7 so far that I know of but we have only read Goldilocks so far.  A cute way to expose baby and young toddlers to fairy tales. Each page is colorful and has only a word or two to help tell the story. Which is great, the reader gets to pick how long or short they want to make the story. Kyleeann loves to look at this one by herself and once she gets a little older she will be able to read the story. 

Random photos from the summer

Kyleeann and her cousin Hyrum coloring a box. 

Kyleeann hanging out under the table, she likes to go under there, not sure why. 

We went to Candace's wedding (June 12th), it was a lot of fun! 

Helping me decorate sugar cookies

We went to the splash pad a few times this summer

There is a park next to the splash pad that we like to visit after Kyleeann is done with water

This baby chair was in Kyleeann's closet but I moved it for something and brought it out in the living room and Kyleeann loves to sit in it. 

My girly girl, she loves purses! 

Playing in her laundry basket

She likes to use her toes as a "holder" for her soother when her mouth is busy (like eating fruit leather). 

She likes my pregnancy pillow

Sister Calton served in our branch the first chunk of her mission and she is awesome! She was about to go home and so we took her and her companion to lunch so we could see her again before she left. 

Kyleeann likes to paint, the paper, the paint plate, her hands....

She now likes to ride inside the cart 

Kyleeann now has 3 owls and loves them all. It funny watching her walk around with her arms full of owls and blankets

She has really liked playing with her towels and here she was walking around for several minutes wrapped up in one. 

I bought a Tula for the new baby and I wanted to try it out so I used Kyleeann as my helper and she loves it! She gets in it and laughs and is all smiles, if I ask if she wants to go in she comes and cooperates. It is so nice! I am so glad I got one, wish I would have had it from the beginning with Kyleeann! 

Wow picture overload, that is enough for one post! 

Baby #2

I'm pregnant! This is one of the reasons I have been so bad at blogging lately. 

I am due February 7th but I'll have a scheduled cesarean so it will be probably around a week before that. They will be 2.5 years apart pretty much exactly (Feb 2nd would be exactly). 

Kyleeann is excited about baby now, hopefully she still will be when the baby comes out. 

I have very bad morning sickness so we have watched a lot of Netflix, she is learning about being a big sister from Daniel Tiger. 

Poor thing thinks the baby is going to come out of my mouth, still need to work on explaining that one. 

Kyleeann is 2!

Kyleeann's birthday was on a Sunday and so she had a fun morning playing in Nursery and then we took a nap when we got home. The dress she is wearing we bought while we were in Mexico in December but when we put it on her it drowned her so we decided her birthday was a good opportunity to try again. 

We face timed both sets of grandparents so they could watch her open the presents from them. She had a lot of fun with that but I was distracted with the video chatting I didn't get any pictures of it. 

This is Kyleeann opening her present from us. She actually had fun unwrapping presents. 

It's a bike! Robert doesn't consider it a bike since it doesn't have peddles and has three wheels but it's name is the foldable fly bike so that is what I call it. 

A few days before her birthday I still hadn't decided what kind of cake to make her and so I asked her. Well she was playing with her owls and so I asked if she wanted an owl cake and she gave me an excited "yes"! 

I let her pick out the cake mix we used (chocolate) and I picked the rest but she loved it until we put in the candles. 

After we took the candles out and gave her a piece she was excited again. 

It was fun to see her eating with a fork all nice and clean (mostly) and think back on her last birthday when she used her hands and got it all over her. 

It was a great day! We are still working on when she answers the "how old are you" question, she answers with three and even holds up three fingers. 

At her 2 year well check up she was 26lbs (41%) and 33.5 inches (50%). These are her highest percentiles yet! 

This is her in the car after. The bandaid on her finger is from a blood draw they did. She did really well with it and didn't cry at all while the nurse did it.