A Change is a Coming

Major changes are underway here in the Hinton house. I am in the midst of wrapping up my masters, which is culminating in my student teaching beginning September 1st. This is the same day Mckinley will start daycare for the first time. This time in our lives is bringing mixed emotions of excitement, anxiety, and a little fear. I think that getting back to work will be a great thing for me, but at the same time I am horrified to put Mckinely into daycare. I know that she is going to love it and will do just fine, it is just hard for me to hand her over to strangers. It will just be a period of transition I think. Tons of little kiddos go to childcare everyday and they are fantastically happy--Mckinley will be just the same. Still, as her mommy, I am a little teary-eyed. It will be a good test-run for us though as my student teaching is only 3 1/2 months. I will keep you all posted on how the horrible exciting first day goes.

I feel certain this time in our life will stir up a lot of new experiences and changes; however, I also feel that they are all going to be wonderful for our family. Mckinley cannot stay a baby forever (which has been totally apparent for quite some time), I have plans to return to work, family-life changes. These are all good things in the end. It is just sometimes hard to see the forest through the trees.

Water Baby!

Mckinley has inherited the love of water from her daddy. Not that I don't love the water too, well really I don't--I kind of have an irrational fear that I will drown since I am a VERY poor swimmer (and by very poor I mean I can't swim), but I can appreciate it and be jealous of those who get to enjoy it. Anyways, Mckinley LOVES the water. Her first swim was at the pool on our trip to Disney World. We quickly realized she was going to be a fish just like Kev. She literally splashed non-stop (both hands and legs going like crazy) from the moment we put her into the pool until she was pulled out.

This love has continued through the summer as she has enjoyed some time in her own little pool here at home.

As you can tell splashing is still her favorite game! :)

This weekend we went and spent some time at the beach and Kinely got her first swim in a lake (again courtesy of daddy). While it was really hot out, the lake was freezing. Which led to a shivering laughing combo. She is fearless too---she plows her face right into the water at any opportunity (bath, pool, dirty lake--yuck!). She wasn't too pleased when we had to take her out though due to overshivering/blue-tinged/prune skin. Things are tough for a babe right? I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures...don't worry though we will make a ton of trips to water venues and I will continue to get pictures of Mckinley splashing away annoying everyone around her! :)

Big Blues!

So I am once again coming back to the Writer's Workshop at Mama's Losin' It. This week in her list of prompts one stood out to me that I just could not pass up for reasons you will soon see. The prompt I chose was #3 "The most unbelievable blue eyes you've ever seen...".

These eyes come from MY daughter! It is ironic because it is almost unbelievable that they are blue since both her dad and I have brown/hazel eyes. She got the two recessives from us somehow though. I wouldn't typically brag about the beauty of my daughter (well maybe I would), but these blue eyes are something else. It is the absolute most frequent comment I get. From the grocery clerk, to a fellow Costco shopper, to the doctor, to the gas station attendant. EVERYONE comments on them. The pediatrician in the hospital even commented on how blue her eyes were...at 2 days old! Which I of course eat up as a proud mommy! They are pretty incredible! :)

I think back now to when I was pregnant with her and how I would endlessly think about what she would look like. Would she have lots of hair at birth like I did, or would she be bald? Who would she look like most? Never once did I imagine that I would have a blue-eyed baby. We of course thought they would change right away too, but they haven't.

Even funnier though is that she also has sandy blond hair (again her dad and I both have dark brown hair) and it is a little curly in the back (again her dad and I have straight-as-can-be hair). Kevin keeps telling me that he really is going to start to wonder about the actual likelihood (or lack there of) that she is his one of these days. If she wasn't exactly like me and him in every other way he might actually contemplate her paternity!

Even if Kinley did not have blue eyes she would be beautiful, but they do add a special something that is hard to not notice! We'll see if she keeps them, but as I have always thought, I think she will!

 

What features do your kids have that are so far from what you expected or different than yourself?