National Blog Posting Month

November is National Blog Posting Month...aka nablopomo! This seems like quite the challenge so I decided to join! As the rules state I must do 30 posts in 30 days for the month of November. Yikes, I hope I will survive...or better yet, I hope all my thousands of blog readers will survive...LOL!

This means you will be seeing The Spences for the next twenty eight days in row! I'm sure everyone will be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the next exciting post or should I say unexciting post! You can be the judge of that! Wish me luck and if you are a blogger and are up for a challenge sign up and join in the blogging madness!

H Is For...

HALLOWEEN

It has been quite a while since I have written a post from my ABC's of Blogging Project.

I have always enjoyed Halloween, but since having a child it brings a different level of fun. As amazing as it is, to me at least, Kyle has celebrated three Halloween's. I can't believe Halloween is just three months away. The past couple of weeks, while shopping in a few stores, Halloween displays are already set up. It seems to get earlier and earlier each year. Well, for now, we will still be enjoying the summertime.

Kyle's 1st Halloween was celebrated in the NICU as The Tin Man, from the Wizard of Oz. A little girl in the NICU next to him was Dorothy. They were such a cute little couple. We actually purchased his costume from Build A Bear and as you can see it was still way too big for him.

Halloween '06. Mommy and Daddy had different ideas about what Kyle should be for Halloween, so he actually had two different costumes. Mommy wanted her Little Munchkin to be a pumpkin and Daddy wanted a little dinosaur.

Rombach's Pumpkin Patch - Oct. '06 Rombach's Pumpkin Patch - Oct. '07

Halloween '07. Kyle was a lion...ROAR!!! Mommy with her Little Lion - '07

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G Is For...

GATLINBURG, TN.

AND

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS

This past September we took our 1st official family vacation. I say official because earlier in the year we went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but we don't really consider a trip to New Orleans a true vacation. Many people may not consider Gatlinburg, TN. for a vacation with a toddler, but there are so many activities which are extremely child friendly.

We decided to drive, but stopped in Nashville on our way down and also on the way home. We actually planned to stay in Nashville for two nights on our way home, but we were having such a good time in Gatlinburg we decided to stay there an extra day.

We rented a two bedroom condo in Gatlinburg, which was in walking distance to the majority of our entertainment. The condo itself was beautiful and the view from our balcony was so peaceful, calm, and tranquil. We will definitely stay there again on our next visit.

One of our favorite activities was riding the Sky Lift. We rode the lift one time per day and a couple of times we rode it at night...the view was absolutely amazing.

Ober Gatlinburg was another fun family outing. Pictured below is the tram which you ride to the top of the mountain. The alpine slide was one of our favorites at Ober Gatlinburg. I was hesitant to attempt this, but sure was glad John talked me into it. Kyle was even able to take a ride. John rode with Kyle, since I was wasn't sure what to expect. Unfortunately, since we were riding the slide at the same time we weren't able to get any pictures, but pictured below is Kyle taking a little test drive. We did spend a couple of days, driving through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The park is really beautiful and such a sight to see. I would love to take a trip during the fall while the leaves are changing. Now that, I can imagine is a sight to see. The aquarium was another fun attraction Kyle really enjoyed. Dollywood is also close to Gatlinburg and that was on our list of things to see, however, we changed our mind and didn't go. I'm a little disappointed we didn't see what it was all about, but there is always next time. We chose to spend some time at the outlet mall instead. Outlet malls are always fun, no matter where you are! Well, at least for me...I'm not too sure about John and Kyle.

We really enjoyed our vacation and plan to go back one day in the future. Each year, my parents would take my sister and me on a vacation and one year we went to Gatlinburg. One of my favorite memories was actually seeing a bear while we were having a picnic in the park. Unfortunately, we didn't see any bears on our trip, except for the bears which were on display.

Of course, now that Kyle is getting older there are many other destinations we want to show Kyle. Hopefully, we will be taking another family vacation in the next few months, but haven't made any definite plans.

Do you have any vacation plans this summer? If so, where are you headed?

ABC's of Blogging

F Is For...

FALL

Yes, I realize that in my post yesterday I was discussing summer and now today I've moved on to talking about fall. To keep with my ABC's of Blogging project I wanted to highlight past memories of Kyle from the fall. October seems to always be a jammed packed month for us, so we tend to spend quite a bit of time enjoying the last few days of the pleasant temperatures. I'm sure in the next month or two we will be ready for the fall season to arrive quickly, but for now we will enjoy the lazy days of summer.

Pretty Scenery from a Local Park October '06

Kyle is determined to catch the leaf. October '06 Kyle - November '07

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EATING

Unfortunately, feeding has been one of the hardest struggles we have had with Kyle. I'm not sure why I decided to highlight this on the blog since it was never an enjoyable time. The pictures below of John and me are probably the only times we were smiling while feeding Kyle. To this day, eating is still a tremendous challenge, but it is slowly getting better. I assume everyone has their major challenge in raising their children...I guess eating is just ours. There weren't many pictures to choose from for this entry, since that is one time of day the camera is far away...LOL.

Mommy and Kyle

November '05 Poppy and Kyle (my Dad)

February '06

Daddy and Kyle

March '06

Kyle eating sweet potatoes. May '06

I'm not sure if he got more "in" his body or "on" his body. 1st Birthday Cake October '06

ABC's of Blogging

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DADDY

Daddy is Kyle's second favorite person in the world, Mommy being his favorite...LOL! Actually, that's not a correct statement because Kyle doesn't favor either one of us...he loves us both equally!

Included are some photos to document John's journey as a Daddy! He is such a loving, thoughtful, and caring Daddy...and husband, too!

Kyle and Daddy -NICU Nov. '05

1st Father's Day - June '06 Rombach's Pumpkin Patch - Oct. '06 Kyle and Daddy in the Smoky Mountains Sept. '07

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CHRISTMAS

Yes, I do realize it is only June and I'm doing a post about Christmas. As you know, I've started the ABC's of blogging and my goal is to create past memories of Kyle with each letter of the alphabet. I typically post recent updates about Kyle, but wanted to take this opportunity to give a little history about My Little Munchkin.

It truely amazes me that Kyle has experienced three Christmas holidays. Below is a little journey of the holiday through the eyes of Kyle.

NICU - 2005 Christmas Card Photo

NICU - 2005

First Christmas Family Photo

Christmas 2006 Santa's Little Helper

Christmas Card -2006

Kyle with Santa - 2007 Christmas 2007 Ball-Pit was a gift from Santa.

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BIRTHDAY

This post continues my "ABC's of blogging" project.

Kyle's First Birthday was such a special milestone and we really had a fun celebration. My parents came to STL for the festivities. We began a tradition that year of going to the zoo. Kyle's actual birthday is October 5th so the weather is typically nice and it is our last zoo outing for the season.

When Kyle was in the NICU, Hayden was Kyle's neighbor for the majority of his journey. They were born one day apart and spent the same number of days in the hospital. I became good friends with Hayden's mom, Angie, and we have kept in touch since. We decided to have a double 1st birthday party for the two "little miracles". The party was held at a local park and the weather was perfect. It was so much fun and the perfect way to celebrate his first birthday milestone.

Included in the birthday invitations was this cute picture of Kyle and Hayden (shown below) with a sweet saying on the back of the picture. The card read:

No we're not twins.

We're not even related!

BUT we are two little miracles,

born a day apart and months too early!

We laid side by side in our little "boxes"

fighting for our lives for three months!

We have become dear friends and

thought it was only proper

to celebrate our first year of life together.

Picture included in the party invitations.

Mommy and Kyle at the Zoo - Oct. '06

Kyle's 1st Birthday Party

Kyle eating his cake at the party.

Our Little Family at the party.

Kyle's 2nd Birthday was more low key than his first. Instead of having a party, we had a small family celebration. We made our traditional trip to the zoo and had a celebration at home with cake and presents. Kyle's favorite "present" was his balloons. He played with the balloons for a week after his birthday!

The Birthday Prince at the Zoo.

Kyle wearing more of the cake than he ate!

Writing this post sure did bring back many good, fun memories. Time sure does fly...I can't believe he will be 3 in October.

I hope you enjoyed Kyle's birthday journey down memory lane! A is For...

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ARTWORK

Kyle is becoming quite the little Picasso. At preschool he creates quite the masterpieces to bring home and as a proud Mommy, I display them on the refrigerator. I'm pretty sure he gets a "little" assistance, but I sure give him all the credit. I treasure each and every one of his drawings, paintings, etc. One day I know Kyle will enjoy looking back at some of his artwork from his toddler years.

Below is just a small sample for your viewing pleasure.