Snippets

Can you believe Keifer took this gorgeous picture of Kyla? Yes, we all know Keifer adores taking pictures, and I loved this on when I found it upon uploading. And, yes, Kyla adores EATING these days- anything and everything she can stuff into her mouth (and her pincer finger skill is amazing!) And yes, that is a strawberry in her ear.Love it?

Sissies, on a Sunday Afternoon
Miss Thang, once again at Sam's club on a trip with her beloved Daddy. Man, how I love this girl. Instead of diapers, this time she scaled a mountain of juice boxes (I think this was when they were shopping for her birthday party, which I haven't uploaded YET ((badddddd mama))

And some "can you believe she said that?" snippets for you, regarding Miss Keifer Lynn:

*Keifer loves to go to the mall now, and begs me to ride in the "alligators" aka the escalators, or elevators *(take your pick)*

*K1 knows her flowers. Thanks to many grocery store visits and Sam's club stops, and us allowing her to literally stop and smell the roses, Keifer loves to do just that: stop to admire and smell ALL the flowers in the cooler cases. While we visited Trader Joe's together after Ballroom last month, K1 stopped at many of the flowers and to my great surprise, was able to correctly name many of the flowers! Daffodils, tulips, roses and daisies. The girl knew them all. And, the best part of all? As primed by her mama, when asked what her mama's favorite flower is, she can very matter-of-factly tell you "tulips" with no hesitation! Love her!

*I recently was lucky enough to go on a shopping spree. Keifer noticed right away that many of my tops were new, and she will tell me, "Oh, I love your shirt, Mama, it's so pretty!" which makes me feel pretty darn good (since nobody else exclaims over my shirts like this) and she also admired my newly pedicured toes last month: "I LOVE your toes, Mama! They are so pretty". Of course, it was *(honestly!)* the FIRST thing she noticed when she arrived home after arriving home that night. And, lord forbid if her toes or my toes have any chips in the paint - according to K1, they are *add drama to this word*: BROKEN! As in, " uh oh, your toes are BROKEN!". Girl knows chipped paint is not good!

*Driving home another night, Miss Sassy in the back seat enjoyed a granola bar. When done, she wanted to hand me her wrapper. I attempted to reach into the backseat to grab the now-empty wrapper from her, but couldn't reach. "That's OK, Mama", she told me, "you just take care of yourself!". Um, OK, sassy pants!

*And one of my favorites: in our house, dirty clothes go in a dirty clothes hamper in the closet, or if you're bad like us, we throw/toss them down the stairs to the landing in the basement. Not very orderly, but easy on the weekdays. Keifer has unfortunately learned this trick, and will toss clothes around the house after she takes them off, left and right. One night, while helping me with laundry, I took off her dirty pillowcase and told her to put it in the wash. She brought it to CJ, and said to him, "here Daddy, here's the suitcase!" and then whipped it at him, in her attempts to"toss it " down the stairs. LOL. Yep, she meant "pillowcase" but it came out suitcase!

It's gorgeous

Yesterday, on our way from Elaine's house to Baby Ballroom, we passed a beautiful crab apple tree that was in full bloom.

"Mama, that tree is GORGEOUS!" exclaimed Keifer from the back seat.

"Who painted that tree? Did somebody paint that tree?" she asked.

I explained that it was a real tree,and it was in bloom, and agreed, it sure was beautiful.

Later, after Ballroom, we hit the mall for a quick shopping expedition. As were were heading towards our destination, we saw the mall's main elevators, which are glass, and housed under a structure that resembles (especially if you are newly 3 years old) a house top.

"Mama, look at that gorgeous house!" Keifer told me.

Apparently, GORGEOUS was the word of the day around here!

Giggles are contagious

Watch out: once you watch this, you will be a giggling fool, so be sure you aren't fooling around at work. Man, do I love this monkey girl or WHAT? (and how awful do I sound at the end, calling my K1 a "whiner"? Bad mama!)



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Pushing Buttons

Kyla has been consistently (and frequently) pushing the button on her mobile bottom in her crib. It was so funny the first time we heard this on the monitor; now, when she pushes it, it's either because she isn't going to sleep, but rather fooling around looking at the baby in the mirror, or sticking her hands through her crib rails to push or pull things on her dresser, or playing music and bobbing her head. Silly girl. I tell her she's going to be my engineer someday: my quiet, serious, curious little investigative monkey who loves pushing buttons, and stacking rings and trying to put bowls back into each other in the toy kitchen.



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MOA w/the crew

Last month, my parents and I took the girls to the MOA to meet up with our longtime family friend, Bryant, and his family- Sara, Cameron and Cooper. We've met up with them several times; in fact, Sara and I were PG with Cooper and Keifer together, although she had him a few months prior to Keifer's big debut. Here is a snapshot of Keifer's FIRST meeting with Cooper and his family. Keifer and I stopped by their house a few months ago, but this time, the kids got to meet up at the Nickelodean Universe and enjoy some rides together, before we ate out a yummy Mexican dinner.
Here's a funny Keifer-ism that she said to me before we left for our get together: I had just returned from getting my hair cut and colored, and so I told them all that I would just run upstairs and change my clothes,and we could leave.

Keifer asked me: "mama, when you are done changing clothes, then we are leaving for the Mall of the United States of America?". *(get it? Mall of America? How smart is my girl? LOL)*

Loving on Papa Dale before we leave

Sissy love

Our first stop was the Merry Go Round- Papa agreed to go on with Keifer- although she still prefers to sit vs. riding on a moving horse (and notice she is a chewer? She loves to chew her clothes!)

Mama was NOT a fan of this ride: "Deigo's Rescue Rider" ~~ it went up and around in the air....my stomach can't handle these types of rides anymore! It's hard to believe I used to be THE biggest thrill seeker on rides- the bigger, the better; my, how age has changed my body! LOL

I initially thought Keifer was scared of this ride - Oh, how I was wrong- her quietness was one of PURE JOY- "I like this" she told me as we were dropping down.

While Mama rode this with K1, and Bryant rode w/his boys, Kyla was meeting Sara and admiring her tasty bling-bling.

Then, it was Papa and Sara's turns again on the Balloon Race ride. Keifer adored this ride, too!

Too bad nobody likes a baby. Ha. Bryant got HIS fill of Kyla, and played a gum teasing game with her.

We ate dinner out,and afterwards, Cooper and Keifer were "hanging out" in their strollers while the adults chatted.

The most ADORABLE line - up- I love how Kyla is checking out Cam and he seems to be swooning over her. LOL. And WHEN did my Keifer girl start to look so OLD? She looks like a little girl in this picture *sob*

After dinner, Papa agreed to go on Diego's bus ride again with Keifer, to her delight. Mama couldn't handle it after dinner.

Kyla hanging out in her big sissy's hand-me-down clothes. How pretty is she? *sigh*

And for old times sakes- here is KEIFER in this outfit. Man, how this girl makes me laugh!

That's all,folks. More dropshot video clips of our afternoon/evening with our friends can be seen here:

Out on the Deck

Daddy took about 90 pictures out on the deck tonight with the girls. It was SO gorgeous out; Kyla loved exploring the deck with her hands and crawled all over the place, and Keifer was excited to climb all over her bench that was taken from hibernation in the garage, and showed us how she can hop on one leg. Many pictures to come....but this is just a teaser ....yes, lots of teasers lately, but mama has only so much stamina to post.............

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Beauty 1

This was our sick sleeping beauty back in March when she was sick with a fever for almost a week and had pneumonia/ear infections.

Healthy sleeping beauty after a busy, busy, birthday weekend

Moving right along.....to 11 months!

Pictures and summary to follow-but until then, a video clip of our own speed racer - she's small and determined and she get there! Eleven months yesterday (Monday, the 19th) and my heart is full of sadness that the first year will be gone oh-so-very soon! What a lovie this doll baby is..........



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I can hogue (hold) her in my arms

These are the beloved sissies in their matching Puppy PJ's a few weeks ago. They adore each other, as you can see in the pictures. We are so lucky that so far *(knock on wood)* Keifer has been so good to her baby sister and is the best little helper around. She loves to fetch things for Kyla, and always has words of advice if Kyla is fussy - such as "Kyla needs a bottle" or "Kyla needs a new diaper".

A few weeks ago as well, I overheard Keifer talking to her Daddy via the monitor. He was putting her to sleep, which is a few hours after Kyla goes down. Kyla was apparently fussy that night, and woke up crying. Keifer was lying in her bed, and she spoke to Kyla: "shhhh, it's OK, Kyla, I"m right here". It must have worked, because Kyla quieted down once she heard her sister's voice. Typically, when she's sleeping and Keifer wakes her up, she (K2) pops up with a huge grin on her face, and squeals of excitement.

That night, in the dark, I overheard Keifer telling CJ, "I can hogue her, daddy, in my arms....I'll cuddle her!", but to her dismay, we wouldn't let her take Kyla out of her crib. Eventually, both girls were sleeping, but it just melted my heart to hear Keifer talking so sweetly about her baby sister. *sigh*.

I'm not sure why these pictures are turned sideways, but you can see the joy and love in their faces! K1 tries to smooch K2

Ahhhhhhh! Big smoosh!

Kyla kisses

She looks like she's trying to take a big bite out of your face, but this (to her) is her version of a big, wet kiss! She LOVED kissing Nana Dian all weekend last weekend! It was very sweet! What a dolly!
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She crawls!

She crawls, she crawls! Kyla crawls! At 10 months of age, she is finally up on her hands and knees and moving along. She has the battle wounds on her face to prove it! Pictures to come!

The big bash invite:

Many thanks to my friend Taryn, who always does an amazing job of making invites or cards for us! Party pictures and recap to come soon. Mama has to work, though (damn that real world stuff) and Keifer and I have ballroom tonight, so it'll be another day or so.......Hold tight!

Party Hangover (belated Happy 3rd Birthday, Angel Girl

Is that a walrus or a Keifer girl?

Yesterday, my angel girl turned 3 years old at 5:03PM. We had an extraordinary party for her-and we have over 250+ pictures to dig through in order to share. Mama has party hangover. My girl had a most excellent time and she was (behavior-wise) an angel indeed all day long!

The baby ballroom dancing party started at 10:30 AM at our church. Because we are members, we are able (aka LUCKY) enough to use this wonderful space for no cost. We had loving family to help us set up and do the food, and Mama did the socializing with the families and children that came to have fun dancing and celebrating with the birthday girl. Miss Meghan (Keifer's baby ballroom teacher for 2 years now) was the "leader" of the fun dancing. She ran it just like a ballroom class we attend every week. Keifer and her 2 dance friends, Dani & Mazzy, were the leaders and the other kids/friends and their moms and dads were joyful followers. We.had.a.blast! We ate afterwards, had a Mickey Mouse and friends delicious cake, and then we crashed. LOL.

No, really. Mama is going to crash now. After the party, we had 2 sides of extended family in town, so we did dinner out for a few hours, and then this AM was more socializing. And more eating out for lunch at the Birthday Girl's favorite (and Mama's): Teresa's!

Pictures and more detailed stories to follow- but needless to say, our girl and our family is very, very, very blessed to know such wonderful, fun, loving friends and to have such devoted family. It makes me teary-eyed with love to ever write that (yes, I'm a sappy tired mama).

On top of it all, I participated this weekend in my first ever consignment sale, so that was busy, too!

Happy birthday to my beautiful Keifer Lynn. You are truly cherished!

Mama and her girl at (as close as we could make it) 5:03 PM, 3 years after the birth date
Keifer grooving at her ballroom party- she was one happy dancing birthday girl!

Went to the doctor, and the doctor said.....

One more day. ONE MORE DAY and my first born baby is turning 3 years old. Three years have gone by since I gave birth. It makes me feel shock, awe, and sadness that she is growing up so fast. She is starting to lose the "baby" toddler look and is starting to resemble a big girl. Her face is losing it's chub, and her body is getting tall and lean. The buddha belly is falling away, the more she moves, dances, and runs.

We have the "big party" tomorrow - more to come on that fun event- but yesterday, we did her 3 year check up with Dr. J.

Keifer was very excited to see Dr. J., because she was aware that her check up was BECAUSE she is turning 3 years old. For months now, she's been able to tell us that "April 10" is her birthday, and she'll be 3 years old. With a Mickey Mouse cake. And a dancing party. At our church. With Miss Meghan (dance teacher). Hee hee.

Her stats were great for her age. She is no longer on the "baby "charts for development; now she's on the "big girl" charts *sniff sniff*. Dr J. and I discussed her eating habits (not good at home but awesome at Elaine's house, go figure), we discussed possibilities as to whether Keifer has night mares vs. night terrors, as she's up a lot crying and talking in the night. We talked about how she most likely has allergies. Her ears and throat and lungs were checked, as she had her second double ear infection last week and she had pneumonia in her right lung last week as well. Keifer didn't want anything to do with the eye/vision check- I think she was confused as to what the nurse expected from her and NO WAY was she going to put that 'patch' over her eye to see. She also had her blood pressure taken: the cuff gave her arm a hug, so it was cute to watch her have that done.

Overall, our girl resembles a typical, healthy 3 year old who is moving a long like she should. As always, her language skills were sky high for her age - as the girl has a vocabulary and sentence structures that would blow your mind.

Stats:

Weight: 38 1/2 lbs = 96%ile

Height: 39 1/2 inches = 93%ile

Although she is ONLY in the 93rd percentile for height (ha ha), she seems like a monster to me. She's as tall and as heavy as many of my friend's children who are 5, 6 or 7 years old! She is wearing size 6 in most tops, and size 4 or 5 in bottoms, and a size 10 or 10.5 in her shoes.

Dr. J checking out K1's lungs and breathing. It was so sweet to see her little body in a doctor's gown. She didn't really know what to think of that!

Happy 10 months, K2 (late, again, of course)

That Mama. Late again, at least she had my pictures in the post before I even TURNED 10 months; she's just late on the uptake of posting this! Hee hee.

My shirt was my sister's: it says "SMILE" and I LOVE to smile at people!

Kyla Whitney: Thoughts as they come into my head, on you turning 10 months.
Let's see:
Ten months. Four teeth- 2 on the top, 2 on the bottom. Millions of giggles, chuckles and squeals. Or should I say growls? You growl for food, demanding it, often with an accompanying pound of your tiny fist on the high chair's tray. You love to eat. LOVE IT! You eat a whole big jar of a meal (food) and one jar of dessert. You LOVE to explore new fruits, pancakes, and mushed up breads and pasta!
Kicky feet. "So big" arms. Sleeping for 12 hours a night (bliss for mama and daddy).
Almost 20 pounds, and looking like a longer and leaner version of your sissy. One dimple that melts everyone who meets you. Loving to be out in public places, holding on with both hands to the carts: one on the front of the cart, one on the side. Flirting with boys. Flirting with Papas. Trying oh-so-hard to turn on the music on the bottom half of your mobile in your crib -and succeeding. We put you down to go to sleep and we hear you making sounds. We'll come check on you, and there you are, rolling around, grabbing some of your lovies, and beaming away at us like we just saw you. Little dickens.
Books? Your sissy LOVED books at this age. Although you enjoy books, you prefer to EAT THEM! You are constantly chomping on books and making your little teeth marks on anything you can grab with your hands. You do love when we sing to you, and Mama adores looking in the back seat to see you gazing lovingly and adoringly at your sister as she sings to you on our way to Elaine's in the morning.

Pictures: You aren't so hot on Mama taking your picture anymore, but you do enjoy exploring the environment that we put you into, so without further ado.....your monthly pictures!

Ohh, a book.

Who needs chewy toys when I have books?

See this sign? THIS is what I Think of this sign!"arrrrrrrr- tasting good"

OK, I'll give you a sneak peek at my 4 chompers coming in!

Thanks for looking! Sage is my pal - I LOVE when she walks by my high chair and licks my hand that I stick down for her!

The wanna be Idol?

"Mama, that girl is silly" - says K1 to me as she was watching the singer Ke$ha flounce around the American Idol stage a few weeks back, singing her song "Blah Blah Blah".

"I like this show, it's a funny show; can we watch her sing again?" This was her response to watching the insane performance Ke$ha put on, complete with dancing TV HEADS on stage with her. That' s what got my girl: the dancing TV heads. In fact, when we heard the song in the car a week later, Keifer said, "mama, this is my favorite song!" (although she says that about most songs she likes), and she even referenced that there were "dancing TV's" with this song on TV. Nice.

Yep, that's my girl. She is now really into the Idol this year - for the first time, and of course, it's a season when the talent is only so-so (in my humble opinion). What's interesting to me and CJ is that our girl seems to have a good ear for the "good" singers. She will bluntly tell us to not listen to the ones that are awful, and get really quiet and intent on watching when the singing is good.

"Is he/she good,Keifer?" we'll ask, and she'll nod her little head and whisper "yes".

She doesn't like "all the talking!" (NO TALKING, NO TALKING!) either, except if we happen to see judge Kara talking. "I like her", she'll say, or "I like that boy, what's his name?" about Ryan. Cute. My kid has a crush on Ryan Seacrest! LOL.

IPhone Dump: Part 2

Iphone Dump, Part 2.
Taken while shopping on a Saturday about a month ago. Target and Sam's Club- K1's favorite stomping grounds. Can my girls GET any damn cuter? I think not. Look at this baby: pure perfection in her face. *sigh*

She is so cute- she holds onto carts and her strollers when she rides -it's so cute- like she's on a ride at the fair or something!

These sissies are in LOVE with each other
Do you know it is next to impossible to get 2 young girls to look at your camera at the same time? Yeah, it is.

But we managed with ONE picture. One.

Trying to pose, but not quite there....

Thanks for looking!