What's in a name?

I'm sure I'll blog about Christmas at some point in the future, but right now this is taking top priority in my life.
Chad and I are really struggling with finding a name for our up and coming baby girl! There are a few that we are able to agree on, but none of them seem to fit. We've always liked Madison (Madie for short) and Alex but they just don't feel right! So, for the past 7 months I've been hounding Chad with possible options only to have them all turned down and rejected. I'm getting desperate. I told him that I refuse to go to the hospital without a name and that I'd have the baby in a tub if it came down to that. His only help has come in the suggestion of two names. Several months ago he threw out the name Tangerine. Of course he wasn't serious, but he hasn't offered any other suggestions until the other night.....Britteny. At first I was dead set against it! Immediately the image of a bald Brittney Spears popped into my head. Brittney has never been on my list of names, but the more I thought about it the more it wore on me and really seemed to fit. It's a common name, but isn't really being used nowadays! I don't know. At this point I'm getting desperate and need your input, suggestions, and advice. I've listed a few names that we're okay with on a poll on my sidebar. So go vote and if you have any other ideas please let me know! Thanks for your help.....I really don't look forward to calling my newest little girl "baby no name" for the rest of her life.

A White Christmas

On Friday Dec. 18th we took Kinsie to the temple and became a forever family. I'd have to say that this has been the best Christmas ever!

Little Cindy Lou-Who and her morning do...

Kinsie's hair has been getting longer and I finally broke down and bought some mini rubber bands so I could start putting in some little ponytails. Of course Chad rolls his eyes at me every time I attempt to do this, but I think she looks super cute. Well, the other day I couldn't help but put in two mini pigtails. The result....our very own Cindy Lou-Who!The only draw back with the longer hair is the morning fro that comes with it. The other day I woke up to find Kinsie's hair all over the place. I couldn't stop laughing at my poor orphan child and her mangled up mess. I had so much fun snapping this kodak moment and trying to get her to smile and not stare dumb founded at the camera. I'm always amazed at how much better my days are with her around!

New Family Tradition??

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday this year. We were able to have 2 Thanksgiving dinners with our families. MY sister and her family came in from Arizona, so we celebrated early with my family on Wednesday and then spent Thursday with Chad's family. We had lots of fun and lots of food. Then Thursday night we decided it would be fun to go out to Chad's grandparents cabin for the rest of the weekend to do some hunting and four wheeling. We've done this before and have loved making a little vacation of Thanksgiving. So, my vote is that we start counting this as one of our new family traditions. Kinsie all bundled up and ready to go riding on the wheeler with daddy.

She absolutely adores being on the wheeler! Chad said she started talking during the ride. More than likely she was saying "daddy go faster...."

I had to post these next two pictures just to show you Kinsie's new trick. She's getting really good at scooting backwards and is anxious to start crawling. She wasn't too happy when I snapped these shots and you can see her crocodile tears in the last one.

I couldn't stop laughing!

We've enjoyed watching Kinsie learn new things and progress to each new phase. Lately we've been starting to give her small bites of what we call "mommy and daddy" food. Well, while daddy was snacking on a roll, while holding Kinsie, she decided to take a little bite of it. The funny thing is she didn't even try to grab for it. She just went in face first. What a little nut.

Kinsie at 5 months

We took Kinsie in to have some pictures taken. I would have waited until she was six months, but I wanted to put something together for her birthmom's birthday and thought some professional pictures would be nice for her to have. (you can see what I made at the very bottom)
Kinsie is doing really well. As you can tell she's a good eater and is such a happy little girl. Right now she is......
-rolling over
-sitting up on her own
-holding her bottle by herself
-sleeping through the night (10-11 hrs. straight)
-eating solids without any complaint (although we haven't tried peas yet)
-able to recognize when mom and dad aren't the ones holding her
- playing with her feet and toes (and I love it)
-little miss gabby
-slowly getting some of her hair back
-a morning person (I've never seen anyone so happy in the mornings)
-getting harder for me to pick up and carry around
-the sweetest thing I've ever seen and she makes our lives complete
We love her some much and consider ourselves the luckiest people on earth. She really has brought so much joy into our lives and we couldn't imagine life without her. We love you Kins!
p.s.-I didn't put blush on her cheeks. They are naturally that rosy!

Kinsie's birthmom's birthday gift from our family. She loved it and it was super fun to put together for her.