Babykenny’s Weblog

We had the most beautiful family photos taken by Ifong Chen a few weeks back. To see the gallery visit:

http://www.eternalgracestudios.smugmug.com/gallery/8893304_LnTbr#589871097_o8Uvd

password: “babykenny”

It’s not very often that I actually sit down and write on this Blog. Mostly I like to post up cute pictures of the little munchkin. However, it’s one of those rare days I can’t seem to get my mind to stop racing… Thus, I’ve decided to become “blogger momma for a day”. Please forgive my randomness…

Kenny and I are doing incredibly, wonderfully, passionately-in-love awesome and have seen so much growth in our relationship this past year. We will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary next month (crazy) and I am so thankful for every situation and circumstance we have gone through together over the past 4 years. Marriage is such a beautiful experience. The good parts and the difficult parts work together to show us how much God loves us, and how much we can’t do anything without His help. There is nothing more comforting than feeling that deep excitement and admiration for your husband (or wife). I feel like my love and commitment to Kenny grows each day, and we talk all the time about how we can and will fight to continually encourage our marriage to grow in the right direction over time. I so wish we could live closer to some of our good friends like Mike and Jess or Cale and Angelique, but the Lord has brought some wonderful families into our lives, and I know we are both grateful.

Kenny just finished his classes at WSU for the year which means he won’t have class all summer!!!! WHICH MEANS….baby and I will actually get to spend lots of time with Daddy. I also just finished my final projects for my last two classes of my degree. Yahoo! It is official that I’ll be student teaching either 3rd or 4th grade at Southside Christian School from August-December 2009. I am so excited to fly out to Arizona and graduate next December. It took me way too long to finish school. *Sigh* How much longer until summer gets here? We just got a wonderful jogging stroller from Baby Kenny’s grandparents, and I traded photography services for a bike trailer so I hope we will have lots of opportunities to get out as a family in the sun.

I’ve noticed that Baby Kenny is the only baby I know that hasn’t had a haircut yet. Really, he has no hair. Is this normal?! I am insanely jealous of all my friends’ babies who at 8…9…10 months have massive amounts of hair. Baby Kenny still looks like a little old man. A bit around the edges, but not much on top. *lol* Another strange thing baby has started doing recently is walking around with his tongue sticking out. Did anyone else’s kids go through a phase like this? I am considering painting his chubby tummy blue and calling him the blue hindu god Vishnu. Another thing that’s been on my mind a lot lately is the immunization issue. I can study and read up on all the new developments, but there is still an unsettled “feeling” I get either way. So far baby has only had his Hib shots, and I am thinking we will do the whooping cough or polio next. I at least figure doing one at a time is a little safer? Oh, I don’t know! Then there is the issue of how to get him into daycare while I do my student teaching when he won’t have all his up-to-date immunizations. Any advice?

Love,

Amber Halpin

We had so much fun visiting family down in Oregon. Daddy Kenny had his first Triathalon race and did an AWESOME job.

Baby Kenny turned one-year-old on April 16th at 11:32 pm. He is such a sweety…walking, babbling, giving hugs, waving “bye bye”. *sigh* There is nothing like him in the whole world!

Some fun pictures from his birthday party

The Monster Cake–My 4 day project

Lots of Kiddos

The Goofy Baby

Unwrapping Presents

Baby’s First Cupcake!

MMmmm…SUGAR

You are invited to Baby’s First Birthday.

Baby Kenny’s 2-year-old cousin Carson, his Auntie Kiara, and his Uncle Jeff came to visit last week. We went to Cat Tales our only “zoo” in Spokane. Apparently a couple of the big kitties have killed people before. Suddenly that fencing didn’t quite seem like enough space between our babies and those crazy cats! *Lol*

THANK YOU AUNTIE KIARA & JEFF FOR TAKING THESE PICTURES!

This is Kenny’s silly cousin Carson Wyatt Barr : )

My beautiful boy! Ten months old already.

Auntie Kiara and I with the bundled babies…

“Ohhhhh Mommy, such BIG kitties. Can I keep one?”

Daddy’s Big Boy

I knew I loved Baby Kenny from the beginning. I remember the first time I felt him kicking in my tummy, and the first time he looked at me with his puffy newborn eyes. I remember his first smiles at us, his beautiful giggles, and his slobbery kisses. Really, Daddy Kenny and I cannot imagine our world without him…can’t remember what it was like without him. When one of my friend’s babies took a tumble a few weeks ago and broke her leg, she said she felt like a horrible mother. Of course this notion was silly, as no mommy that loves their baby as much as we do would willingly let them hurt.

Yesterday BK and I were visiting Adrianne who just had a baby five weeks ago, and whose husband is overseas for a few months with the Air Force. I was holding the most beautiful new baby in my arms, visiting with Adrianne, and trying to keep my eyes on my newly mobile Baby Kenny and Adrianne’s two-year-old Alyna. I never realized there were stairs until I heard something that sounded like a plastic toy crashing on hardwood floors. I think Alyna opened the basement door, not understanding Baby Kenny can’t go down stairs. Adrianne immediately jumped up, knowing. I followed in what felt like slow motion, a million thoughts going through my head…none of them good. How could I not have thought to ask if there were stairs? How could I let him out of my sight? There are no words to express the absolute terror that gripped my heart seeing my tiny baby laying at the bottom of stairs that seemed to go on forever.  I was sure he was gone, and I couldn’t get to him with Adrianne’s sweet baby girl in my arms. I felt helpless….  

Thankfully, other than a few bumps and bruises and a little fat lip, baby is completely fine. I haven’t stopped thanking God for how little BK is hurt! I know it could have easily been a much different story, and I could be writing something very sad. I also understand that Baby Kenny is really the Lord’s baby and not mine…. He could take him home to heaven any time. Nevertheless, I am grateful it wasn’t yesterday. Baby Kenny I love you so much, sweety. I still feel like a horrible mother, and wish more than anything it was me that fell down the stairs and not you sweetheart.

We had a GREAT time in Glacier, MT. for Baby’s first Christmas. Here are a few cute pictures for everyone!

This was our cabin

Grandpa making baby “Ffflllyyyy”………..

Me skating on a frozen lake Christmas morning

Baby likes unwrapping presents!

The signature “naked baby in bathtub” picture

The GOOFY parents and the fat baby

Our new Christmas present from Grandpa

Merry Christmas Friends and Family!

It is hard to believe that we will wake up in just a few weeks and it will be 2009! Kenny, Baby Kenny, and I send our love, and pray the coming year is full of growth and blessings for each of you.

Us:

            We love our little family! It’s amazing to think that it started with just Kenny and I. Now we have our beautiful little namesake Kenny Jr. and our two puppies Kota and Bolt. That makes five! We are so spoiled to have a wonderful church family in Coeur d’Alene, our cute little house in Spokane, and everything we could possibly need.

Kenny:

            Kenny started his PhD at Washington State this fall. For now he is continuing to work full time at Spokane Falls in the athletic department and goes to school part time. Thankfully he only has to commute to Pullman once a week, but Baby Kenny and I pout about it anyway. It was so special to see him graduate from Gonzaga this past May, and I am ridiculously proud of him for his passion and determination. Kenny is truly a man that puts the Lord and his family before himself. When he has free moments, Kenny can be found playing his Xbox360 and drinking microbrews. *LOL*

Amber:

            I love being a mommy! It’s absolutely wonderful and special to be able to stay at home with Baby Kenny. I love our “pillow talks” in the morning, and how his whole face scrunches up in dimples when he smiles at me. My photography business has been a huge blessing for us, and I already have twelve weddings booked for the summer 2009 season. Wow! Make sure to check out the new http://www.eternalgracestudios.com launching in January ’09. It will blow you away! For now, you can see some of my recent work on http://www.eternalgracestudios.wordpress.com I will also (finally) finish school this year. I have three classes that I will be taking in the Spring, and my student internship/teaching in the fall. I can’t believe it has taken me eight years to graduate!

Baby Kenny:

            At eight months old, Kenny Jr. is the joy of our lives. He started sitting up on his own in November, and has seven beautiful baby teeth that go perfectly with his dimples. His eyes still look exactly like Daddy’s, and his button nose looks just like mine. His gentle spirit and chubby cheeks attract attention wherever we go. You can tell that Baby Kenny is a good little man, and we can’t wait to see the love and joy he will bring to this world. Baby Kenny is also excited to FINALLY have a real nursery. We started out thinking he would sleep with us forever…. And even though he sleeps in his own room now, I sneak in to steal him back to our bed early each morning.

Love,

Kenny, Amber, & KJ Halpin