Au revoir

Kaiya is growing so fast, that sometimes I put an outfit on her that she wore just a few weeks ago, and it is way to small, so today when I put a very cute ensemble on her and realized that this is the last time she will wear this, I decided to have a little photo shoot. Here are the results (and I think there is something wrong with the camera, I promise we don't live in a cave).

You would think someone taught her how to pose...

Happy Girl

Okay, are we done here? I have places to go and puppies to harass!

Pebbles

Well, at this very moment, I need to be emptying the dishwasher. It has gotten to the point that I have only one utensil in my silverware drawer, and it is a butter knife. So that is probably why I am choosing to tell you all about Kaiya's first hair style!

She has these crazy long hairs right on top of her head that are the ones that never fell out after she was born. They are a different color on the end and everything; so I got some tiny, tiny, tiny rubber bands, put those long hairs in a little pony tail right on top of her head. If it was Halloween, I would dress her up as Pebbles, from the Flintstones.


Okay, I will go do the dishes now...

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter everybody!!! We had a lovely Sunday, and the Easter Bunny visited Kaiya this morning before church. The Easter Bunny had a special delivery for Kaiya from her G.G. (Great Grandma) in California; the cutest stuffed bunny, which of course she immediately loved.


I will tell you what, this girl and her stuffed animals! She picks them up and just hugs them, and snuggles with them. We haven't let her take one to bed yet, but somehow I don't think that is too far away.


Kaiya also got her very first Easter basket, which mostly had books in it, and much to Jamie's chagrin, no chocolate bunny. But we did have the cutest bunny on the block on our sofa!

Happy Easter!!!

Harry Hillarity

Oh my goodness, this made me laugh!!! Thought my fellow Harry Potter fans might enjoy it too!

We Love the Zoo!

Another trip to the Fort Worth Zoo, and yet another adventure! This time we were accompanied by Jen and Haylee. We also had several bird "encounters". First we all went into the giant human sized bird cage filled with, I don't know, maybe a million and half blood thirsty parakeets. I tried to act cool; they can smell fear you know. Haylee had a popsicle stick with birdseed on it, and the birds didn't pay a lot of attention to her at first, but for some reason they kept whizzing right by my head! I think it is because I was the tallest person in there, they needed to buzz the tower ("Tower, this is ghost rider; requesting a flyby"). (Okay, sorry for the superfluous Top Gun reference...but seriously, that was what I was thinking!)

Haylee patiently waiting for a bird to feed

Haylee is always so sweet to Kaiya; she always wants to help.

Probably my favorite part of the trip was the baby giraffe we saw! He was adorable; just frolicking and running around making his own fun. I have a special place in my heart for the giraffe, one of the tallest animals, it holds its own among the hunters of the African savannas, yet somehow isn't mean or menacing.


As we left, yet another couple of bird encounters. This tiny screech owl, reminded me of little Pigwidgeon and made me want to read Harry Potter again.

Then as we were leaving, I made the mistake of trying to take a picture with a menacing looking macaw, who had a mind of his own.

So here is a picture of me saying "QUICK! Take the picture, the bird is giving me the stink eye!"

"I'm Ready for My Close-up!"

Kaiya's a trendspotter already with her big sunglasses!

Doesn't Kaiya take after her Grandma?
(who believes that sunglasses don't fit properly unless they cover her eyebrows...no seriously, it's the truth)

What a silly girl...

Who could resist this face?

It's Not the Thing You Fling...

So I've been doing some thinking lately, we're barreling towards Kaiya's first birthday, and it seems like every time I look at her, she is a little bit bigger, or can do something else for herself. It gives me so much joy to see her accomplish things, especially since she is so happy about her new abilities.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in achievements, and looking toward the next step, that we miss what is happening now. It makes me think back to when I was a teenager, and how when I was 12, all I wanted to be was 14, so I could go to dances. It seemed to me that everything would be wonderful, as soon as I could go to dances. Finally I turned 14. I was nearly paralyzed with fear that nobody would ask me to dance, or worse, I would be sitting down, and a boy would ask me to dance, I would stand up and he would be 10 inches shorter than me.

But my first Stake Dance arrived, and a boy did ask me to dance! His name was Kyle Thurman; he was at least 6 foot 4, and a senior to boot! I didn't know him at all, and it just seemed so romantic. But the moment passed: when we were dancing I told him I wasn't 16 and couldn't date, and he lost interest; then he turned out to be totally conceited and I lost interest. But there had been that perfect moment, when the slow song started and a cute, tall boy asked me to dance.

So is that what life is really about? A collection of ideal moments? Can we ever truly appreciate those moments as they are happening, or are we destined to look back and say, "I wish I would have known that moment was meaningful."? I am determined to do my very best to truly appreciate and capture those moments as a mother. I wanted to be a mother for so long, and now that it is here, I just want to find joy in every day; and not get caught up in achieving milestones or say "I can't wait until Kaiya can ....." or, "If only Kaiya was able to...."

Now, you may ask how is this determination connected to an early 90's TV show? Please watch the following video clip to understand why "It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself."

Snow!!!

Today was the most fabulous snowy day! It was just beautiful, and made me miss Utah; but it was so much fun to take Kaiya out into her first snow!



We set her down on a big Rubbermaid container lid in the snow, and she immediately leaned over the edge and put her hand in the snow.

She didn't like that.

She reeeaaallllyyyy didn't like it.

But she did cheer up and eventually enjoyed herself.

The Many Moods of the Kaiya Bird

I'll tell you what, Kaiya is one hard working baby girl. She is earnestly endeavoring in learning to pull up. Most mornings, when I go into Kaiya's room, she is on her knees, holding onto the bars and bouncing up and down waiting for me. What is she waiting for you ask? A kiss and hug from her mom? Nah, she wants to stand up, hold onto the bars of her crib and try and grab stuff. But she is so happy in the morning that I just couldn't help myself and we had a little photo shoot, a photo essay if you will, entitled, "The Many Moods of the Kaiya Bird"...

Mischievous

Content

Joyful

And finally she says to her paparazzi Mom, "No more pictures please..."

Almost as Good as Camping

Saturday morning Jamie, Kaiya & I went to watch the boys from church play in the stake basketball tournament, and between games we went to REI with Nick & Josh, 2 of the guys from Jamie's scout troop. REI is like a giant toy store for those three, and so we stayed a while and played with all the cool stuff. I think the twins enjoyed the sleeping bags.



























Jamie, of course, chose to model this fabulous hat... perhaps he needs a bigger size though.


We ended up staying so long that Kaiya got tired of both sitting in the front of the cart and being held, so I made a little play pen for her in the back of the cart; which she enjoyed much more.


We stayed for several hours, and only bought a nalgene (although it was fabulously pink) so all in all, some pretty cheap entertainment for a Saturday afternoon!