16 Months

Keira, Keira, Keira.  It's that time again, another update.  You're not alone, I wonder when I'm going to stop the monthly updates too.  ;-)  The little rascal is now 16 months old (two months from going into the nursery at church, not that I'm counting down!)  ;-)

I can't even describe what a joy Keira is.  I just feel so grateful to have her in our life and can not imagine our life without her.  I hate to say it, but people who don't have kids REALLY are missing out.  I never realized such happiness and love even existed.  

One word my cousin used to describe Keira is "busy."  She is.  She doesn't sit still, always on the go.  She is always talking and exploring.  She studies things like she wants to know every detail about it.  She pushes the limits to see what she can get away with, especially with her mommy.  She asks for what she wants by saying "please?", usually more than once, sometimes preceded by or followed with the word of what she wants.  She often says "thank you" or reminds you to say "thank you."  When you're carrying on an adult-like conversation with her she nods her head yes and no like she's really understanding everything you're saying.  She can say soooo many words.  It absolutely amazes me. I think one of the most rewarding things in life is to see your child LEARNING, understanding, and talking.

Sometimes when her diaper is dirty she will say "dirty?" and will feel it.  But sometimes it's just gas.  She can say "kisses" but often if we try to give her one or ask if we can give her one she says "no" and turns her head.  She adores her daddy and one morning got a little upset when I woke up a little later than them and ruined her special daddy/daughter time.  However, I realized that she does love me too when I hurt my back and went to Chris' chiropractor in pain and she was all worried about me and crying to be right with me and only me.  :o)

When we were Christmas shopping and would leave her favorite area, the "babies", she would happily say "bye, bye babies" several times.  I would give anything if she still does that in several years, instead of being the kid who throws a tantrum because she can't have what she wants.  Yesterday when we were leaving the house I told her we were going bye bye.  She ran over to the dog treats and said "treat, treat."  She was all excited to give one to Jason.  And then as we walked out the door she said "bye, bye Jason."

Keira's been wonderful with the Chritmas tree.  She's only tried to touch something once and she did also try to unwrap a gift once.  A couple of days after we put it up she spotted a CareBear and made a growl sound.  She then pointed to a star in front of the lights and said "pretty."

If she hears music she'll break in to dance.  It is soooooo cute! LOL!!!

A couple of weeks ago she cut her seventh tooth, a bottom left lateral I think it's called.  A couple of days later she reluctently let me look further into her mouth (not a fan of people looking in her mouth) and I realized she had already cut an upper molar on each side.  I felt like such a bad mommy for not knowing it was happening.  So now she has nine teeth but you can only really see the two bottom ones when she talks and smiles.

She is sooo good about going down for naps and going to bed at night.  She very rarely cries.  But after we get her all snuggled up, she immediately opens her door that we cracked several inches.

Now some of you (if you live here or Skype) may be thinking "I've never heard her or seen her do that."  Well, I'm not making things up.  But it's not so much with other people or in other places besides at home.  When we're out she becomes a little mute ;-)  and won't even say bye bye to friendly strangers smiling at her begging for a hi or bye.  She knows where she feels comfortable!

Maybe she'll have curly hair!!!  :o)

Keira is my little bundle of JOY and happiness.  She is such a blessing to our family.  I love her more and more every day, even when she's a little stinker.

December

First of all, December?  Where's the snow?  We haven't had ONE snow this entire season where the snow stuck.  I  haven't ONCE been a little nervous driving on the snow/ice/slush covered roads.  Especially since for the first time in the six years I've had my car instead of a SUV I got snow tires!  Snow tires.  And it hasn't snowed.  Seriously.  So probably just as I'm ready for nice, warm, sunny, spring weather, we'll get all the snow.

Anyway....  What a wonderful but busy month!

Keira and I made our first gingerbread hut together.

I realized Keira does NOT like shopping and was so exhausted she slept on Auntie Laura's shoulder in one store.  It also takes a lot longer to shop with an independent one year old who loves to walk and explore everything.  Thank goodness my sister came with me one day!

I've wanted to go to ZooLights for the past 14 years and finally made it!  :o)

Chris thought he needed an air rifle to get rid of the woodpecker and foxes that interrogate our home and pets, so I got to learn to shoot it (into our garage).  And if I do say so myself, at 30 feet, I did quite well.  Beginner's luck.  :o)

Keira and I got to spend some more fun time with Gabriel while Mariana had her beautiful baby boy...

ADORABLE Nicolas Liam Theodoro Wilkins born December 18, 2010

The happy family of four with Mariana's mom from Brazil and Todd's mom from Kansas.

Chris tore down our master bathroom.

You wonder if I finished all of the other projects we've been working on?  No.  I'll continue working on them and Chris has ONE MONTH to COMPLETE our bathroom.  We even shook on it.

Wish us luck!  :o)

Thanksgiving in California

This year we had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving in California, mostly with Chris' aunt and uncle, and his grandmother came with us.  I was there for eight days and Chris for four.  It actually worked out perfectly since I got to spend more time in my beloved Cali and Chris got to spend some beloved time alone doing whatever he wanted!  Boy was he in a GREAT mood when we came home!  :o)  While there we did the usual, Trader Joe's, In'N'Out, and the beach.  We met up with cousins for lunch and Keira and Daddy rode on a carousel together

We found my new dream place to live, Strand Beach, outside of Dana Point.  AMAZING beach good for walking/running, GORGEOUS views, and SUPER expensive homes.

Chris' cousin, Ani, took awesome family pictures.  We haven't had "real" professional pictures taken since Keira was two weeks old.  Ani took time out of her hectic life (on Thanksgiving), being almost eight months pregnant and right in the middle of moving.  She took many great ones, but I won't bore you with all.  :o)

I spent a day visiting my aunt and uncle and their family in Granada Hills.

I had no idea all of my cousins (their kids) and second cousins were going to make it over, and they did!  I hadn't seen some of them in over 15 years!

We had a fun and delicious Thanksgiving celebration with Chris' family.  There were 18 people there!  We got to spend an evening with Chris' cousin, Danielle, and their five sweet kids.  She's an amazing mother and makes having five kids under eight years old look easy.

We also got to help Chris' other cousin, Ani, move a little and spend a Family Home Evening Together.  I wish we lived closer!

And I got to spend my birthday in California!  A dream come true!  31 and almost grown up!  For my Birthday/Christmas I got a sewing machine, KitchenAid Mixer, recipe box, as well as a couple of other fun things!  Although I didn't make it to the beach ON my birthday, I went the day before and after!  It was WONDERFUL!

Finally Time...

to get caught up!  Now that shopping for gifts, wrapping them, and Christmas cards are all done, I can blog again!  Sorry for the many updates all at once!  :o)

15 Months

I'm actually posting this early, for the first time ever!  Maybe I can do the same for other aspects in my life!

Watching your children learn and grow is just amazing!  I just love it!  I love seeing her try to say or do new things.  I love seeing her proud and happy face when she does discover or learn something.  I love to see her understand.  I love that she's finally beginning to be able to tell me what she wants.  Examples:  I usually start giving Keira milk while I'm drying, lotioning, and dressing her before bed.  A few times I didn't and she said in a disappointed voice "baabaa?"  It melted my heart.  She also tries to say paci, which sounds something like "bapies".  I often pretend I don't know what she's saying.  ;-)  She CAN (but doesn't always) say "up" when she wants to be held and please "peas" when she wants more.  She always says "walk" when she wants down or out of a stroller or cart.  She's very good about reminding me to always say thank you if she ever gives me something or does something helpful, like lift her leg up so I can put on her pants.  Often when I say "prayer"she folds her hands.

Other new words: Jesus, dot, Nana, hmmm, and lots more I can't think of right now.  There are so many words that she can repeat after us for her first time.  Unfortunately she recently learned out to scream, both when she's happy and sad.

 She's regressed ;-) (maybe a normal stage) to loving to hold your hand everywhere she wants to go.  She loves to read and is starting to turn a page, babble a little like she really was reading and then turn the next page.  In this pic she was reading to me and didn't want the book to be upside down for me. ;-)

We've introduced two new upper teeth in the past month and for the past couple of days Keira has been acting like there may be more coming.  She's become quite picky, or maybe just independent.  As long as she's feeding herself, she eats great.  She weighs a whopping 20 pounds, 11 ounces now!

Much like my dog when he was younger, she has no impulse control.  If the cat is anywhere near she'll run after her shouting in delight or just laughing and always goes for the tail.  Especially if the tail is moving, she absolutely can't help but to pull it, no matter what the consequences.  I've firmly said no, moved her, distracted her, and even slapped her hand.  I'm afraid she might learn this one the hard way.

Keira is such a delight and a joy.  I love her more than words can describe!

A Long Update

 Wow, this great month has flown by!  My mom was in town for almost a week which was wonderful!  We were able to spend a day and several evenings together.  I love spending time with her and my sister and brother!  For some silly reason (my mom hates pictures taken of her) I don't have anything to show for it.  ;-(

Chris' Grandma has been in town for two weeks and that has flown by too!  She is the coolest grandma ever!  She has been so helpful and fun!  Keira just adores her "Nana"! 

 Keira's favorite thing with Nana is to hold her hand and bring her over to the window and pull her down to kneel. 

 She also loves Nana to read to her.  Grandma was impressed that Keira could point to the cookies.

They even built blocks together.

For the past three weeks I've had the pleasure of babysitting for my good friend Mariana 2-3 days a week.  And unfortunately for Chris, it just made me want another baby even more!  :o)  Gabriel is two months older than Keira and they were so much fun (and a handful at times).  I have even more respect for parents of twins.  =)

Playing peek-a-boo.  The cutest thing ever!

 He's going to be a great helper for his baby brother due in the end of December.

 I think a bath was the highlight.  It was the most fun bath I have ever given!  They were so cute together and played and even shared so well!

Great fun, just don't ask about what I got done on the house.  December will be a busy month.

Speaking of house, we closed on our refinance!  (Kinda funny you close on those!)  We sure will enjoy the $400 a month we'll be saving!!!  I know, we're supposed to be paying the same amount as we have been and pay it off 10 years sooner.  But don't we always hear things like, "Live for today like there was no tomorrow", etc. Well saving more = me working less = more time with Keira = greater happiness, and Chris spending less time watching Keira = greater happiness.  So it's a win win situation.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is Chris' favorite holiday and I was afraid we weren't going to be able to celebrate it since we weren't able to go to our ward's Trunk Or Treat and Chris had a fire ride along on Halloween.  But he made it home in time to hit our block and show off our cute little ladybug.

Her costume wasn't complete since I didn't think we'd be using it.

My sweet brother and his beautiful girlfriend Nicole, Dorothy and the Scarecrow.

14 Months

Keira is the light of my life!  She is just sooo much fun!  She is so cute and sweet and smart and developing such a personality.

 Keira is gaining quite the vocabulary.  She is sooo good at repeating words.  I'm trying to remember all of the new words she can say...  up, hot, back, brrrrr, that (which she says all the time when she wants me to say what something is), appleees, touch, bath, book, bubble, baba (bottle), please (every now and then), puppy, dirt, dirty, trash, babIES, me, eeewwww, yum, yummy, flower, sock, and there are some other words that she repeats after us.  It's also really cute how she says Jason, super excited, it's hard to explain.  She can say a couple of  two words together phrases like all gone or hi baby or hi mommy.  She loves animals!  When asked what does a _________ say?  She roars like a lion and a bear, barks, ee, ee, eeees like a monkey, and meow meows.  And tonight while reading she was trying awfully hard to sound like a donkey.  Needless to say, to the untrained ear or out of context these words may not be recognizable.  :o)

She often can point to her head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, tongue, hands, feet, and tummy.  When eating if I ask her if what's in her mouth is gone, and it is, she'll sometimes open her mouth to show me it's gone.

It's also so amazing to see her actually understand what I tell her to do, and to learn routines.  Sometimes when I tell her to put something back, she does.  Before she gets out of the bathtub I ask her to put all of her toys away, and usually she does.  After our bottle she knows we brush her teeth.  After that I put her down and ask her to pick out a book.  She goes into her room and then runs over to me in the chair for me to read her a couple of books.  She loves books, but mostly looking at the pictures, especially animal pictures.  Now-a-days not much reading takes place.

She's starting to like things to be clean.  If her hands are dirty she looks at them and rubs them and says "dirty."  Or if there's some food on her hand or a little area is dirty she'll say "dirt."  If she can get a hold of some kleenex, a washcloth, or a duster she's in heaven and loves wiping everything.  All of the sudden she doesn't like anything on her food tray, unless a plate or bowl has food in it.  But even so she'll take a handful of the food and stuff as much as will fit into her little mouth.  The second the bowl is empty she'll push it off onto the table or hand it to me.  She doesn't like any crumbs on her tray either and if she's being ornery she wipes them off onto the floor and if she's good she'll hand it to me.  She won't keep her sippy cup on her tray, she'll push that off onto the table.  When she wants something she'll usually point at it and give a little high pitched "mm??"  If she can't chew a piece of skin or something after a while she'll take it out and give it to me.

She's a little bundle of warmth.  I just love to hug and squeeze her.  She's starting to like hugs too. My favorite is when we run towards each other to embrace.  :o)  JHowever, sometimes she shifts to avoid me so I chase after her.  My little stinker.

She can also be a little terror.  Hopefully I already made up my six positives to one negative.  Some days it's like she goes around searching for things she's not supposed to be doing.  Or purposely doing mean things, like hitting Jason or myself.  Or purposely disobeying, like I tell her not put her hands in her hair while she's eating, she'll stop for a second, look at me, and do it again!  Or the same thing with throwing food on the ground.  And sometimes she makes a little path of destruction.

When we're at home (now that she can walk great) she likes to be carried around.  She stands below me reaching up and sometimes tries to climb up my leg, saying "Mommy", which of course melts my heart.  When I give in and tote her around she's so happy and points at everything.  However, if we're in a store, she hates to be carried and will arch her back trying to escape.  She also doesn't like to spend much time in a shopping cart and tries to stand up and usually can despite the belt.

She refuses to wear bows.  And as soon as she realizes it's there will pull out her cute little top of the head ponytail that she can finally pull off.

Just about every time I change her diaper or clothes, unless she has something fascinating in her hands or is drinking milk, she cries and throws down the toy I gave her to keep her happy.

If something doesn't go her way or pretty much anytime I take something away from her, she looks at me like it's the saddest thing that could ever happen, pouts her lip, and usually bursts out in tears.

Which then usually leads to falling to the ground crying.

P.S.  I'm now finishing a shift at work and am wondering how parenting works.  Does it really matter how strict you are and how much you encourage proper behavior?  Or will kids be who they are?  I'm certainly not perfect, but I feel like with my very strict upbringing, I try to guide Keira towards good manners and good behavior.  And I definitely try my hardest to be a good mom and do what's best for her.  But then I have patients who I feel aren't the greatest parents and their kids are soooo good. Example:  Several months ago a 26 year old single, meth-addicted father of a 10 month old come to the ER for abdominal pain.  The baby boy just sat in his car seat for over two hours smiling and seemed as content as can be.  I felt so bad for him.  Tonight a family with three kids, ages six, three, and almost two came in.  The parents seemed just fine, but all three kids were so good, I barely heard a peep out of them.  And then there would be Keira.  She would have explored everything in the entire room and then would be bored to death and probably fussy.  Maybe it's a phase??  :o)  But I love my little sweetheart and wouldn't want her any other way!

My Hard Work Paid Off

Well, all of my HARD work paid off!  We were so happy when we got our appraisal back and it was $22,500 more than the one done a month ago!  Here are the projects that have been consuming the greatest portion of my time.

Sanding, staining, re-sanding, and re-staining balusters.  I still need to sand and then wax.  I also did the handrail and other parts of the railing that are already up.

The old stairs.

Our neighbors, Mike and Anna have been awesome!  

Mike showing me how to saw out the old, ugly stairs.

I must admit, it was not my favorite part.  My entire body was vibrating, it even felt like my brain was. 

Hacksawing the old stairs was better, I guess.

A night without stairs.  Jason was very sad that he couldn't be down working with us.

  Anna was keeping Keira company.

The new stairs!  I did the sanding and staining and then Mike built them for me.  He's spent about 16 hours working on them so far.  They look awesome!  Soooo much better!  It was much more difficult to get them in and took longer than we had hoped.  As you may see, we had to cut out some of the drywall, which is one of my current projects.

Some other things I did to get ready for our appraisal are:
Changed outlet wiring from aluminum to copper
Changed all of the vent registers upstairs
Filled holes, sanded, and painted trim
Cut floor trim for the TV room (May I just say that this might be my least favorite part.  You have to be exact to the 1/64th inch or they don't work.  Plus you have to remember if it turns in or out, etc.)
Hung pictures and decorated
Spent HOURS cleaning and de-cluttering our entire house
And I guess that's about it.  I couldn't have done it without my sweet brother and sister.  Laurie spent a day watching Keira and helping me clean.  And John hung closet doors for me and sanded trim.  I have such wonderful family and am so thankful for them and my neighbors for helping us do all of this work!

And I'm so thankful for Keira.  She was soooooo good and understanding while I was so busy working on the house.  One day she spent over an hour on the couch watching TV!  That was the first time she spent more than five minutes watching something.  (But her and I don't watch TV.)

While the house was being appraised, Keira and I got to hang out with my friends from freshman year in the dorms at Brooke's cocktail party baby shower.  

Maria, Brooke, Gretchen, Alyssa, and me

So now, not only is my deadline done with getting a lot of the work done, so much that I've been wanting to finish for years is done!  And as of last week I'm working less!  I'm back to working 36 hours every two weeks! (Except I picked up an extra shift this week.)  :-(  And hopefully our refinance will be going through soon.  :o)  This experience has made me realize that I can do anything I need to do.  :o)