adding a link

Here is the link to the PainterBaby blog in case you want to read up on all the fun (or not so much) of pregnancy!

dirty socks

Since I have been cleaning twice a week...windows, surfaces, and floors, I would have thought that the floors would have nothing left on them. So how is it that the one time she runs around in clean white socks, they have brown footprints on the bottoms of them?

spoon fed

Kira fed herself for the first time today! We've been working on it for a while now, but she never could quite get the whole sequence in order. She was so excited this morning when she put the spoon in the cereal, made it to her mouth, and licked the spoon! Mommy was cheering, Kira was laughing. It was quite the party!

so big, yet so small

This is an extension of the post in Painterbaby's blog.

This time last week, I remember looking at Kira and thinking that she was getting so big. She is really growing up fast. Now, after learning that we are going to have another baby, I feel like she is so small!

And I worry about taking away the plans I had for her because of this new addition. Her music classes that she loves so much...will we still be able to go? All the special mommy time we have at the park and the zoo...will I feel up to it? Will there be time? I feel like she is losing out somehow.

Or maybe this baby will be her best playmate. Someone to hang out with and play with when she is bored. Her little sibling to teach and love.

It's just so hard to think that I will find enough love to share with the new little one when I give out so much to her. I know these feelings are normal, but it's one thing to teach it to people in class and another all together to apply it to myself!

Of course, for now, she has no idea. Except that everyone keeps telling her she is going to be the "big sister" and that there is a new baby coming! And momma wants to give her less and less milk.

So, soon, we will be starting the "big girl" training. Big girl milk, big girl bed, and maybe even big girl potty...or maybe not!

push my buttons

I have no idea when she figured this out, but she has learned how to push the buttons on all her toys to make them move, sing, or stop. She especially loves her car, the puppy that "Christmas" gave her for Christmas, and the tumbling tigger! Of course, this also means she has learned how to use the remote for the TV and loves to change the channel and turn the volume up and down!
And on a side note, totally unrelated to buttons of any kind...
Kira slept in her own bed last night! She fell asleep at 7:20, poor tired thing. Since Jeremy and I had to continue to hacksaw our toilet seat off the toilet (don't ask...it's one of the joys of an old, broken down house!) to put a toilet lock on, I put her in the crib instead of our bed. She slept there for EIGHT HOURS! So bittersweet. I sure do love snuggling her at night, but...the ROOM, the FREEDOM, the not sleeping with something on my chest (well, actually the cat took over that part). And we did get the seat off and the lock on. No more splashing in the toilet!

the little gardener

I know, I know...I thought of one more topic.
Kira is such the little gardener. Always wanting to go spend time in the great outdoors. She loves to explore nature and pick up sticks and mulch and pinecones. She also loves to "pick" flowers, which could be detrimental to my garden this summer. Most of my poor pansies have been deadheaded prematurely. She likes to stick them in my hair as she goes, which always makes her laugh. At least she doesn't "eat" them like last year!
She also loves the potted plants in the house. They keep getting higher and higher on more tables. I often find her standing beside one of my favorite plants, tossing dirt out onto the floor!
She needs a few lessons, but I'll turn her into a master gardener yet!

where is your belly?

This will be the last post of the morning. And I think I might actually be caught up for a while! Nothing like getting up BEFORE Kira to get this done! The peace, the quiet, the typing without a baby in my lap!
Kira loves to "find" things for us. She can find the following:
daddy (of course, her favorite)
doggy
cat
ball
baby
juice
monkey toes
quack, quack
light
paci
book
and the ever popular...belly! (she loves to lift her shirt and pat her belly when we ask...makes her giggle so much!)
You will notice that mommy is not in this list. We are working on that.

playdates

Shortly after Christmas, mommy began to get a little restless. We needed something to do to get us out of the house and out with other mommies and babies. So, I did what I always do...I did an internet search for mom's groups in the area.
The first group seemed nice enough, but the moms were quite young and the kids quite old. And everytime I turned around, Kira had another french fry, piece of candy, or sip of someone's coke. Ugh.
The next group the moms were young, but the kids the right age. But, the group still wasn't the right fit. Lots of playdates at McDonalds, not much conversation for mom.
The third group never meets...sort of defeats the purpose.
So, we tried one more time. And thank goodness we did! It is a small group of mommies just the right personality for mom, and all the kids are 2 years old or younger. I was a little intimidated at first, since they wanted to "meet" us before inviting us in. Yikes! I had the first date jitters for the first time in years! But, it turned out to be a great adventure. And we were invited back.
Since then, we have met with our new friends once a week at someone's home, at the zoo, and for meal exchanges.
Yup. Meal exchanges! We make enough servings of the same dish to trade with everyone else. A week's worth of meals for the effort of one night of cooking! Yum! We were even featured on the news this week for our "cooking club."
Other than the fact that Kira loves to show off her "take it out of one diaper bag, put it in another bag" skills, everyone gets along fine. As long as they know she is a little thief, and check their diaper bags before leaving, everyone is happy.
And mommy finally gets to go to other homes that are childproofed and safe to let Kira explore in. And that leave time for...relaxation, conversation...who knew!

the baby is in the trunk!

Not really, it's just that her favorite things to do are to carry around "babies" and put stuff in the trunks of her fleet of cars.
Kira is only 14 months old, but she already has 3 cars for her use. A beat up one out of a friend's sister's garage, a low to the ground one that plays (quite loudly) nursery rhymes with the press of a button, and the cadillac of cars...a pink princess one with all the best fairy tale women featured that plays songs, lights up, has moving dancers, and even a rear view mirror!
She doesn't care too much to drive the cars, but she does love to push them around and loves to push the buttons to hear the music. And she loves to put things in the trunk!
This is fine as long as it is legos, blocks, or books. Not always ok if it is the only remote to the TV, a sippy cup of day old milk, or momma's shoe. But, she loves to sort, organize, and put things away. Such a little momma's girl.
And she loves her "babies." Her favorite babies, though, are not babies at all. She can't go to sleep at night without her pals..."monkey toes and quack quack..." both stuffed animals from grammy. Monkey toes is a Curious George with a big red heart and quack quack...obviously is a duck.
She does like to play with her cabbage patch doll, "Fantasia," but more to swing her around the room and throw her into the bathtub. I guess she isn't ready for a sibling...maybe just a pet monkey.

Books, books and more books

Kira loves to read! She definately takes after her momma and grammy! Those somewhat scary moments in our day when I realize the house has suddenly gotten "too quiet" are those moments when I usually find her with one of her many books, flipping through it looking at the pictures. Sometimes right-side-up, sometimes upside-down. And sometimes it is mommy's book or magazine. She loves to carry them around, sit down and "read" them, and "put them away" (this sometimes means tossing them in the bathtub or placing them in her kitchen cabinet!)
And the best times with books are the before bedtime storytimes. We toss a bunch of books on the bed with her and let her "sort" them for a while. She moves them from one place to another, to another...and finally, she will pick one out and hand it over. Sometimes it is mommy that reads them, sometimes daddy. She gets to pick out 3 or 4 each night.
Her favorite book is "Clifford's Animal Sounds." This little board book is not even as old as 14 month old Kira, but is so tattered that I actually had to order a new one. All the pages are separated and a few are missing. But, daddy and mommy know the book by heart. Of course, we both have our own versions of the story...
Mommy just reads the book with appropriate sounds. How boring.
Daddy likes to give each animal a flamboyant personality.
"What does Clifford say?"
Mommy, "bow wow, bow wow"
Daddy, "bow wow wow, yippy yo, yippy yay"
She loves both versions.

Crazy laughter, garbled words, and more!

This is going to be a general update for Kira. Since I seem to be getting lax on my posting these days, I have to recap the past few weeks....again.
Kira has developed this hysterical laughter that is enough to improve anyone's mood. It is part real, part exaggeration. Like a forced laugh at someone's terrible joke. But, she loves to make other people laugh, and she has figure out the best ways to do it. We went to the park at the zoo yesterday and she was cracking herself up as she chased after other kids, ran through the green plastic tunnel, and climbed all around. I have been trying to capture this on video for a couple days, but she must be afraid to laugh on film!
And her words are really improving. Here is what she says now:
"doggy" (meaning dog, bear, elephant...etc)
"tat" (cat)
and what does the cat say? "eeah" (meow)
"daddy" (daddy)
"ma" (I hardly ever hear this one, but means mama)
"tite" (she points at the light!)
"kak, kak" (quack, quack...duck)
"jus" (juice)
She also knows the baby signs for:
down
up
milk
more
all done
Such a communicator!
She loves to pull her bib off after meals, too. She pulls so hard that it makes her head and neck shake, but she's laughing the whole time! It cracks me up!
She runs everywhere. No more walking for her. That is so "yesterday."
And she loves to sit in her chair like a "big girl." Her Dora chair is her favorite, but she loves to sit next to mommy and daddy on the couch, too.
And the best news of all...no more milk in the middle of the night! Momma is so happy about that! She still wakes up a few times in the night, but it is getting better all the time...she will sit up in bed, make the milk sign, flap her arms in frustration when she realizes the milk is "still asleep" and pops her paci back in. She sometimes has to lay in my arms to fall asleep again, but it is so much better than 5-6 times a night feedings! And we are back in the crib for nap time, too!
She still eats most of her meals well...we are trying to teach self feeding with a spoon, but it's not going too well. And veggies? She likes the taste, but the texture must bother her. She will chew them up but spit them back out! Wierdo!
I am sure there is more to update, but it is early and I am listening with one ear for the princess to wake up...

Pineapple all around cake

A few weeks ago, daddy decided to go grocery shopping for mommy to give her some time to relax. He got a few extra things that weren't on the list. One was a box of pineapple cake mix. I had good intentions of baking it for him...eventually.
I was at work one day when he called to ask me if Canola Oil was the same as vegetable oil. Curious, but not surprised (since he sometiems asks random questions) I told him it could be used that way in certain recipes. "How about shortening" he asked next. In my mind, I am now thiking..."uh,oh...he's up to something!" I told him where the shortening was and that it was NOT the same as oil. He said that he was just trying to explain it to Kira. Right.
He calls back a while later and asks if he has to spray my stoneware bundt pan with Pam in order to use it. Now I KNOW he is up to something!
He was planning a surprise for me. He was baking his first cake.
Apparently, the cake turned out perfectly. Moist, delicious, and came out of the pan in perfect condition. He prepared it with perfection in my rubbermaid cake server and set it on the table to wait for me...
This cake server is Kira's favorite toy. She loves to push it all around the house, beat on it like a drum, and even turn it over and sit in it! (I am sure you know where this is going...) She must have spotted it on the table. And wanted it. She is much taller than we thought.
By the time Jeremy found his masterpiece daughter with his masterpiece cake, it was too late. Kira and Brittany (the shih tzu) were having a ball...digging in it, eating it, smashing it around! Ah, the site must have been hilariuos and devastating at the same time.
He called me when I was on the way home, crushed by this disaster. I managed to keep my composure on the phone, but was laughing so hard there were tears running down my face when I hung up...the picture in my head was so funny!
He also managed to save about half the cake. None of it hit the floor and the part he saved remained miraculously untouched by child or dog. It was the best cake I have ever had!