Strawberry

I'm a huge picture taker (not a photographer). I take pictures of everything. I don't want to forget anything. And I'm always telling my Mom or sisters to take pictures too. But I'm a hypocrite. There's something that over the last almost eight months that I had not taken a picture of. Tim told me I needed to and I have to agree.

Since Kinsey was 3 weeks old I have never taken a picture of her back without a shirt on. I love those pictures of babies that are naked and facing away from the camera with their little bums showing, but I don't have any of those of Kinsey. Why you ask?

Kinsey has a birthmark which I know isn't really a big deal, right? She wasn't born with it. When I was dressing her for her blessing day I noticed this tiny little red mark on her back. I thought I scratched her or something. But over the weeks it grew. And it grew fast! And it's still growing. I asked the doctor about it and he said it's a Strawberry Birthmark. He said that her birthmark will continue to grow and the bump will too until she's 12-18 mths old. But in most cases Strawberry birthmarks disappear by the time the child is 5 years old. It's a lucky thing that it's on Kinsey's back and not on her face like so many are.

So I'm not really sure why I didn't tell you about her birthmark or why I haven't taken a picture of it. When I take her swimming I make sure her bathing suit covers it. Mostly because I don't want strangers to wonder what's that huge red bump on her back and stare (cuz you know strangers stare and don't ask). I know I'm being weird about it. It's actually a pretty big deal. We have to go see a specialist about it in May. Right now her birthmark is a bit bigger than the size of a toonie and it bumps out about an inch from her back.

Here are some pictures of Kinsey like never before:

Kinsey's Silly Face

Kinsey's Silly Face - 7.5 mths old
Originally uploaded by trnilsson

Check out this silly face Kinsey has been doing the last few days. It cracks me up. When she gets into the garbage I’ll tell her to get away from there and she'll turn to me and makes this face. Way too funny!

Easter & Camping

Tim had five days off, so we headed out camping for our Easter Weekend! Our first trip of the year never goes as planned and this was no exception. The place we had planned to camp still had so much snow. So at the last minute we switched campgrounds. We ended up going to Lundbrick Falls. It was a really nice little campsite right on the river. It was pretty chilly at night, but we dressed warm and it was cozy in the trailer. The Easter Bunny brought Mommy and Daddy some new bikes (what a good guy) so it was fun to pull Kinsey around in her Chariot with the bikes. She loved it. It was an easy way to put her to sleep. Kinsey was very sick though. She and I have been sick for over a month now. This time she was puking everywhere. Poor little girl couldn’t keep anything down. She even puked all over her new Easter dress. But she was still very happy while camping and was sleeping through the night. Weird!

Hanging out with Mommy in the trailer (with some wild hair):

Decorating Easter Eggs:

Kinsey loves camping:

Roasting some hot dogs with Daddy:

She was really excited about her 1st Easter basket. Thank goodness the Easter Bunny found her camping:

Her pretty Easter dress:

On Sunday we headed to Jaffray for a few days. Tim did a ton of quading and I actually got to go for a ride too. It's the longest I've ever been away from Kinsey. But Kinsey's Mama did a very good job of taking care of her. It was so fun to go quading again after 17 months of not being able to go on a "real" ride.

We found a HUGE mud hole that Tim just had to play in:

Zoo Much Fun

We took Kinsey to the Zoo for the first time. We went up to Okotoks with Trent, Tara, and Blake and spent a few days with Julie, Kendall, and Kyla at their house. They were such great hosts. They even put up with my sick (and crying) baby. The six of us took our babies to the Zoo on Saturday. It was a little chilly, but was actually pretty nice out for April. Kinsey wasn’t really excited about the Zoo. She’s still pretty tiny to grasp the animal thing. She fell asleep within the first half hour and slept till we were ready to leave – hours later. But Tim and I still liked the Zoo. We hadn’t been since a week after our wedding. I’m sure we’ll get to go many more times with Kinsey.

Kinsey & Mommy with the Lions:

In the Dinosaur area:

The girls and the babies:

The gang:

My backseat buddies - Kinsey & Blake. I tried getting a picture (but wasn't fast enough), but sometimes I'd look over and they'd be holding hands. It was way too cute. You can see in this pic that Kinsey just pulled her hand away.