A Daddy's Touch

I must brag on my multi-talented husband. Among the many things he is great at; he is very artistic! Aaron decided that it would be neat if we hand painted the artwork for Brooklyn's room. "WE"....yeah right, its better for me to be involved by watching and cleaning out the paint brushes. Little did we both know just how cute it would turn out :) The bedding that we order for her room has zoo animals on it...not realistic looking, more like scrapbook style. Anyhow, we chose to do a giraffe (my new absolute favorite animal), an elephant, a zebra, and a lion with a little different color scheme. Aaron first drew each animal on his sketchpad, then penciled them onto the canvases and painted them. It was quiet a process, but he finished in a few hours. It is "daddy's touch" on Brooklyn's room. He signed each one with his initials and one from Daddy.

Marathon??

So, Aaron's new goal is to run a marathon by the end of 2009. He has definitely dove into this aspiration with dedication and commitment. He is consistently running for 45-60 mins at least 3 times a week, if not more and doing agility's on his other days. This morning, (an absolutely beautiful Texas morning) Aaron, Brooklyn and I went for a run.....well, Aaron did. Brooklyn and I cheered him on while rollerblading. We were the designated pace-keepers and water girls. He ran 9.6 miles in 1 hour and 29 mins!! Approximately a 9 1/2 minute mile pace. That is super impressive considering he had not broken an hour running rate yet! He plans on running in a few 5K's in the future and make a marathon in the Fall.

On a side note, the three of us went shopping with my mom on Saturday and spent way too much money. But among those items were some running gear for Daddy Hein, Mommy Hein, and Brooklyn.....so cute!

This is her outfit to support her daddy during his marathon.

A Must Read!

A story retold from the womb:

The envelope that my parents received from my sonogram appointment eventually got the better of my daddy. He began to open it up and shockingly popped it through the shredder. Oh my! He told mommy that it was too tempting to keep it around the house. It did not take long, however, before he tipped over the trash can and started rummaging through the hundreds of pieces. What is mommy to do? Well, needless to say, they both ended up on their bottoms sorting through the appropriate paper and slowly revealing my gender in good old puzzle fashion! "Finally," I thought to myself "I won't have to have ALL green and yellow clothing! Pink here we come!"

Mommy, daddy and I went out and bought pink tennis shoes for my long walks with Papa de Wolfe, a pink apron for my cooking lessons with Nana de Wolfe, a purple bathing suit for my swimming dates with Gamma Hein, and a pink camouflage onesie for my trips to the Ranch with Gampa Hein!

Author: Brooklyn Grace Hein

Its the Little Things

Its the little gestures and acts that mean the most.
My sister-in-law, Amanda (Nick's wife) sends me coupons to Babies R Us and general pregnancy/baby info that she may recieve in the mail. How sweet and thoughtful is that! She takes the time to mail me free things that she gets. And on top of that, she sent me a thank you card because I got her cobbler when she was having a bad day.....a thank you card for me because she was going through some emotional times.
My mom got me a mother's day card and gifts and I'm not even a mommy yet. The cutest book and personalized picture frame made especially for Baby Hein's sonogram photo! Of course, my mom is always doing nice things for me, but really.....too gracious!
And my other sister-in-laws (Jen de Wolfe and Amanda, Dan's wife) are constantly calling and checking up on me and Baby Hein.
The women in my life are so thoughtful!

Back in the Swing of Things

Over the course of the week, I have gradually began to get back into my "groove." I actually cooked every night this week (except for Monday: Aaron is in class and my sister-in-law and I always eat out together), jogged outside, and cleaned the entire house (this is not unusual for me, but I actually felt like doing it this time), and went golfing again!!

It felt so good to tie on my running shoes and go for a nice jog in the sun. It was, however, a miserable afternoon due to it being 87 degrees with 70 percent humidity....YUCK! But, it enabled me to break a nice sweat and feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards. Working out at the YMCA on the elliptical is like my high school volleyball practices compared to my college soccer practices.....a bit too calm. Anyhow, it is definitely a completely different, slightly uncomfortable feeling running with a Baby Hein all large and in charge. It will hopefully make for an easier delivery, so I plan to keep it up. And cooking, well, I should be ashamed of myself regarding this issue. In my defense, your first trimester is no bueno when it comes to your energy level. Aaron can be a happy man again with my old habits returning now!

Golfing! Baby Hein and I went with Aaron, my brother-in-law, and my father-in-law.....I know, can you believe they let me go :) I made my first par and beat all the guys on the 15th hole! I obviously did not come close to the guys scores, but it was my first time on a real course. We all had a blast!

The Bigger, The ?

Yes, I am growing by the day along with Baby Hein! At this point, I'm not sure if my belly is an exciting aspect or just flat uncomfortable (emotionally and physically). I have always had self-esteem issues with my size, being that I am so short and muscular......thick.....ok, fat. To look down and see this protruding body part spawns a variety of thoughts and feelings. I often wonder if people who don't know me think I am gaining weight or whether my belly screams "preggo" by its ball-like shape?? I certainly feel HUGE, but I know this is only the beginning of my vastness :) Luckily, working out is still bearable, but I have not been very motivated to run outside like I should. The nice thing is that I am halfway through my pregnancy and I am still able to fit in some of my pants.....Thank you hair ties! All I need to do is last 4 more weeks; school will end and I will have little to no reason to look "professional."
Full pictures of me: scroll down and on the right side of the blog

Kensley's Bachelorette Party

What a weekend! Girls Night Out was filled with 80's attire, W Hotel, Ghost Bar, painful heels, laughs, drinks (water for me), and all kinds of dancing: pole and club! As the sober preggo, I obviously remember way too much about the entire evening. But as I know better, "What happens out with the girls, stays with the girls!" I will say that I had never been to the Ghost Bar located on the top floor of the W Hotel in Downtown Dallas, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really neat! They have a balcony attached that overlooks the city...too bad it was closed because of the rain :(

Kensley, Bachelorette