Baby on the way!

So the time has come to finally finish the news of 2012.  It is actually January 2013, but I will be backdating all of my posts so that they actually match the appropriate month.  At Easter, we had one more little surprise, but we waited to tell our friends and family until we were sure. In Jon's Easter basket I put a jewelry box with a little present inside: a positive pregnancy test!  So on April 26, I turned 32 with the knowledge that I was going to feel sick for the next few months, but luckily it turned out to be a much shorter period of nausea than with the first pregnancy. A few weeks later we were told that we would become a family of four on or around December 16. Then that date changed to December 18.  Both wrong dates, as I predicted.  But these are the happy and busy months of 2012 that ended with the arrival of our baby girl... :)

Hoppy Easter! (A Week Later)

This year, Kira had fun toddling around Grandma and Grandpa Tippets house on Good Saturday with her cousins. We even got to meet the newest addition, Alexander Isaiah Tippets who was born just a few days earlier on April 4 to Matt and Becca.





















After playing piano with Hannah, Eve, and Eliza, Kira enjoyed her first Easter Egg hunt with cousins in the backyard.

"These eggs are empty! I've been gipped!"

Grandma helps Kira get the hang of finding eggs in the grass.
It was a little difficult for Kira to walk in the backyard, but she kept trying--even if it meant she looked was though she was tightrope walking at times. :)

This year, Kira was not quite so agreeable about letting me put bunny ears on her. However, she did find my shadow to be quite interesting.






































Kira enjoyed her second Easter Egg hunt on Easter Sunday at our house after going to church and checking out the Easter baskets - one for Kira, Jon, Kirsten, and Aunt Lisa. Of course, Kira's is the biggest one. :)


Omi, Opa, and Lisa enjoyed watching, photographing, and urging her to find the adorable "Critter Eggs" that were painted like bumblebees and ladybugs.








































On Easter Monday, we went to Sears for formal portraits and they turned out really well. I resisted purchasing the CD, so that is why I cannot post the pictures yet. Plus I think I've included enough photos for one post. :)

New look

Since spring break is here, I decided that a little pampering was in order, and I splurged on highlights and a haircut. Here's the new look! Unfortunately, my hair will never look like this again until I go back to the hairdresser for a professional blow dry!

Newest developments

Well, from months 12-15, Kira has been learning like a sponge! She has developed quite a personality and she has become a lot of fun to interact with, which also comes with some difficulties as well. While she is mostly a very pleasant child, she has started to test more boundaries, and to demonstrate what I believe to be intentional disobedience. Fun!

However...like I said... most of her developments are good and very cute. She now loves to put on her shoes because she seems to understand that this means she can walk around. Kira LOVES to go outside and points to show me that she wants to go in the stroller for a few laps around the neighborhood. She has such a playful demeanor, and a streak of mischief as well! She enjoys hiding my shoes, my keys, my phone, and taking anything out of my purse and wallet. In fact, she likes accessories of any kind, but especially sunglasses. The other day, she didn't take off her blue heart sunglasses the entire time we were in the supermarket, and the other shoppers couldn't help but laugh or smile when they saw her.

She now plays lots of games and throws a darn good fit, complete with belly flopping on the floor. We haven't put any locks on the kitchen cabinets, so one of her newest hobbies is rearranging the bottom two drawers of towels and oven mitts and the cabinet of tupperware. She first started this habit in her bedroom by doing the exact same thing with the clothes from her dresser and the laundry basket. Sometimes she puts the things back in the drawers, and sometimes she doesn't. ;)

At meal time, she enjoys pretending to feed me and then taking the food away at the last second to eat it herself. However, Kira is more than happy to feed me the food she doesn't want, and if I am not close enough, she loves to throw it off her highchair. She understands "clean up" and if I give her a tissue, she will wipe up the table or floor, which is really cute. I think she may have learned this at daycare. She loves to high five and to feed herself with a spoon. She often claps when we have finished a meal and she said "nom nom" or "nummy" if she is eating something she really likes. It's a nice reward for making her food. :)

She says a few words, and understands much more. Seriously, every day she does something new! Between yesterday and today she went from vigorously shaking her head to saying the word "no." Yippee. I knew this day would come. Now I'm sure it will become her favorite word. She now calls her pacifier her "baby" and says "book" and "ball" whole holding or pointing to them even though both words kind of sound like "ba". She enjoys kicking balloons and Lisa's soccer ball around the house. From the looks of it, we might have a little soccer star in our future. A few days ago, I was talking aloud as I was searching for her shoes so that we could play outside. I couldn't find them anywhere! I said aloud, "Kira where are your shoes?" and seconds later she came back into the room holding both of them in her hands. Pretty impressive, I think!

We are working on blowing kisses.. she's got the kiss sound down, but hasn't quite coordinated it with moving her hand. I think we are now down to one 1-2 hour nap during the day, and we are still working on sleeping through the night. She has two top teeth and four bottom teeth, and many molars on the way, which I think are the cause of the latest disruption in sleep! Good times.

Spring is here...and so is Ladybug Girl!

Flowers and trees are blooming, and I found a very excited ladybug in our front yard! Yay for spring! It would have been nice to have a few snow days, but since that wasn't going to happen, bring on the warm weather!




















After briefly checking out the daffodils, Kira is off to see what kind of trouble she can get into. I like to call this her "baby Godzilla face." She tried her best to get grass stains on her new white stockings before we went out for a belated birthday dinner with my parents at Mimi's Cafe for my mom and Jon's birthday.

She is off an running, in open-mouthed awe at everything around her. She then became fascinated with finding sticks in the driveway.

Who knew that playing with sticks and gravel could be so much fun? And in a dress no less!





















Here mommy, I found this special stick just for you (aka, I'm bored with this stick now, so you can have it). But now I must have my sunglasses and pacifier to make my outfit complete...

Mommy's Little Shopper

Or should I say... purse snatcher. Yesterday, Kira picked up my purse (luckily it was zipped shut) and took it on quite the joy ride around the house. She tried to put it on her shoulder and toddled around the kitchen, then waved goodbye and said "bah bye" as she walked straight to the front door. I couldn't believe it! It really made me realize how she is constantly observing and learning from every little thing that we do.

Later that day, I was cleaning out my wallet and I left it on the couch. When I left the room, Jon tells me that she went straight for it and pulled out my credit card. I'm really going to have to watch my money with this one! :)

Isn't it ironic?

So, I have yet to find a pair of baby shoes that Kira will permit to remain on her feet for more than 3 seconds. She whines, cries, squirms and yanks them off. And yet... she is fascinated with our shoes. She picks up our shoes and would walk around with one of mine or Jon's (if I would let her). The other day, I even found her trying to step into Jon's shoes by the front door. So then Lisa helped her into Jon's Redskin sneakers so I could snap these photos. Go figure!

Kira has never been a big fan of socks for any major length of time either, so I suppose she takes after me. I love to be barefoot. I think that now that she is walking, shoes feel heavy on her feet or don't allow her to grip the floor the way her little toes can. So needless to say, I am not able to let Kira walk around in public until she is willing to wear shoes. If you have ANY baby shoe recommendations, please let me know! :)

Be My Little Valentine

Happy St. Valentine's Day! Tuesday was a long day of work, followed by my Sign Language class through the county. However, at 7:00 it was a great feeling to be driving home, knowing that what awaited me was not 1, not 2, but 3 Valentines! This year we celebrated Valentine's Day as a family and Jon, Lisa, and I enjoyed a feast of Chinese food after Kira went to bed. When I walked in the door, and came into the kitchen, this is how Jon and Kira greeted me:

There's nothing better than coming home to my family and beautiful roses! And when I said, "Will you be mine, Kiraline?" she reached for me and gave me a great big hug. I'll take that as a yes. :)

Shoeless Fun at the Library

Many weekends, Kira and I enjoy taking a trip out to the Howard County Library in Glenwood. It is a 30 minute drive, but they have a great Children's section with a nice play area of toys and books. Kira especially likes playing with the wooden puzzles, plastic fruit, and John Deere tractors. They also have an extensive CD and DVD section which I love! It is well worth the drive. This was Kira's first trip to the library where she was able to walk around. However, you will notice that she is not wearing shoes. Whenever I try to put shoes on her feet, she bursts into tears... so socks it is! :)

Here, in the pictures below, she is fascinated by the other children reading books with their parents. She is so interested in people, and often stares in amazement with her mouth open. Eventually I will have to correct this behavior, but right now it is quite cute. Every time a toddler came over to "play" with Kira I was sure to point out, "Look Kira. See how they are wearing shoes ?"




















Then, she tried to feed the plastic apples to the rocking cow (above). It was quite adorable and I wonder where she learned this. Kira also enjoyed picking out her own books (while continuing to keep her eye on the other children nearby)... and sometimes she even read the books all by herself! Other times, she hands me a book and has started to say "bah" which I believe is her attempt at "book." With all the fun we have at the library and reading books at home, I really hope that Kira will enjoy reading when she gets older...And I hope she will wear shoes. :)

Dance Dance Read-a-book

Kira really loves three things right now - reading, music, and walking/dancing.... so why not combine all of these together? Well, today she did!

Walking and Talking!

Get ready for an action packed one-minute video from Jan 28! Here is Kira walking around the family room, knocking over a toy and saying "uh oh," and blowing raspberries at mommy. Fun times!

My Happy Hour

While some may head to nearby restaurants and bars after work, walks around the neighborhood with Kira are my "Happy Hour." It's afternoons like these that I am so thankful to get home early enough (4:30) and it is warm enough (considering it is winter), sunny, and there's enough daylight left to take a stroll. It is great to take in the fresh air and get some exercise. It seems like Kira continues to enjoy looking around and checking out the scenery.

Although, I must admit, as much as I am enjoying the milder weather for the purposes of being able to get out and enjoy the afternoon with Kira, I would also like to have some snow days before this "winter" is over... =)

Just one look at this sweet face, and I think you can see why I call this my "Happy Hour." <3

New words and foods!

It's so much fun to see how quickly Kira's adds new words and foods to her repertoire! I would consider her to be a very interested eater and I can't think of any food that she hasn't been willing to try...I'm really thankful she is so adventurous about food, even though it sometimes makes it difficult for me to enjoy a meal now. She is always curious about anything on my plate and if she had more teeth, I would feel more comfortable letting her try additional table foods. Currently she has 4 teeth (the two top and two bottom) and she is currently cutting two more bottom teeth on either side of the existing ones, which is making for interesting nighttime sleep patterns.

I can't really say that she has a favorite food, but Kira especially enjoys cheerios, goldfish, puffs, pasta, yogurt, and any fruit or vegetable. She is also now showing an interest in trying to eat with a fork and spoon. I've let her try a few times, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to deal with the mess. She accidentally flings more food on her tray and floor than anything else. In this photo, Kira does more than "give peas a chance." She did not want to eat from her own plate; she insisted on eating out of the serving bowl. She seemed especially pleased with herself and the adult-size bowl was a heavy enough that she didn't try to dump out the contents like she has been doing lately with her child dishes. Unfortunately, I think she has had an allergic reaction to banana and some citrusy fruits like pineapple and mandarin oranges. She loves the tastes, but patches of her skin develop redness that seems to be unpleasant and uncomfortable. I hope we will be able to reintroduce these foods at another time because she really does love feeding these foods to herself.

As for words, Kira now says bye bye and uh oh. When she says "uh oh" it's pretty funny that she often says it *before* she drops or throws something. I guess it's kind of a warning for me to duck or watch out for flying objects. Usually she is chucking her pacifier or sippy cup and it is pretty amazing how far she can throw things. We are trying not to laugh when she does this, but it is really hard!

I also think she is working on saying "all done" at the end of a meal because she raises her arms and it sounds like "ah dah." I know there are a few more words, but I forget to write them down and when she starts saying them more, I'm sure they will stick in my mind. I keep hoping to catch her talking on video, but she is old enough now that when she sees the camera come out, she often stops what she was doing and is more interested in the device. I feel like I need to set up a hidden camera to catch all of the memorable developments! :) I'm so excited to see what other new things this week holds. Literally, every week there is something else to record and it is so much fun! :)

The Art of Walking...like Frankenstein

Well, in the last week, Kira has officially graduated from crawler and cruiser to toddler extraordinaire! For the last month, she has been walking by holding onto furniture and sliding her hands along the wall. Last weekend, she started taking between 4-8 steps at a time before flopping down to her bum or knees because crawling was just so much faster.

But...In the last two days, she has been walking quite confidently around the house with her arms outstretched. Now that she walks for more than just short spurts that last only a second or two, I'm also quite confident I will be able to capture some good video to share soon! :) Currently her favorite room to explore (probably because of the fun magnets and so many cabinets to get into) is the kitchen. This weekend we will be working on the kitchen and installing baby gates. She showed her first interest in climbing the stairs today, so we have to kick the baby-proofing into high gear!

Party of Four?

Things have been busy around here! As of last Monday, I have not been able to enter the front two rooms and a good portion of the basement. Our household is officially a party of four... Lisa has moved in and will be staying with us for the next few months!

As one of her first orders of business, she graced us with some babysitting so that Jon and I could go out on our first date in months! I wish we could say that we did something more exciting, but for a Wednesday night we went to Olive Garden and enjoyed a free meal, courtesy of some gift cards from family. We had a great time and left stuffed, but with plenty of leftovers. Lisa took this picture while she was watching Kira, and she seems to be enjoying the opportunity to be a 24-7 auntie. I just hope that comes with a lot more babysitting! :)

Kira's One Year Stats

Kira was a trooper today and survived 4 more shots at her one year doctor's appointment. She cried a lot longer than ever before, so I think these are starting to hurt more. :( After today's check up we now know that Kira weighs 20 lbs 8 oz and is almost 32 inches tall. This means she is in the 34th percentile for weight and the 93rd percentile for height! We were shocked!

She is such a fast crawler and cruiser that she is clearly burning off all the food she eats. She is practically insatiable in the evening. We are going to start experimenting with more table foods and hope that she will continue growing into a healthy, happy girl. We have a feeling that she will be walking without holding onto the furniture any day. Jon is predicting that it will happen this weekend. The video camera is always within arms reach, so hopefully we will capture some of her first real, consecutive steps. Needless to say, baby proofing is in full swing now! Kira is so smart and strong that our current "barricades" cannot contain our little Houdini. :)

Singing to Kira

Thank you to Aunt Lisa for capturing this video! :)
I, unfortunately, was so in the moment that I forgot to give Jon notice that I was lighting the candles and to have the video camera ready. I also forgot to give someone my camera to take photos. Oh well, at least we have some footage / documentation!

Kira's "Words"

So... Jon and I are having a hard time deciding whether Kira has intentionally said her first words yet, but she consistently makes the following sounds the last few months:

Dada
Mama
Baba
Hi
Hey
Yeah
Yay!
Uh oh
Dah (and points)
Hi dada (with wave)
Bye dada (with wave)
Mah (and signs "more" while eating)

She definitely seems to understand that waving means hello and goodbye. When she is very happy with herself (or us) she loves to clap. I'm still trying to get it on camera, but ever since November, she likes to dance and clap to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."

In the photo above, Jon is wearing his Christmas present from Kira. :)

Kira turns one!

Well, we can hardly believe how fast time has flown by, but we had a great time celebrating Kira's first birthday on Sunday January 8 with family and friends. The party started at 2:30pm and Kira was in awe of the kindness and generosity of everyone who came to play with her and showered her with presents. We had three kinds of cupcakes made by Jon and lots of finger foods. I tried to display some of the cupcakes in the shape of a number one. Can you see it?














We played in the basement for the first time and Kira got to bat balloons around with all the kids and play pin the tail on the donkey with her cousins. When it came time for her first taste of pure sugar, Kira very daintily ate her cupcake and seemed to enjoy the icing, but it definitely made her thirsty for milk!

One day, she will ask me: "Mommy, who came to my first party?" (aside: I can't wait until she says mommy) and I will want to tell her, so I will list them here:
Aunt Lisa
My parents (Omi and Opa)
Aunt Alisa, Rachel and Annie
Aunt Becca, Uncle Matt, Hannah, Eve, Maggie and Eliza
Dawn
Sarvin, Lilia, and Natalie
Kim and Noah
Erin, Chris, and Colin
Matt and Amanda
Greg, Amanda, and Hayden

We had lots of fun and now I have tons of thank you notes to write! :) So until then, thank you to everyone who was with us in person and in spirit. My aunt Eva even sent Kira (but really me) a German Chocolate Hazelnut cake in the mail!

Later that evening, Kira fed herself like a big girl. For dinner, she had macaroni and cheese for the first time and chunks of sweet potato (one of her favorite foods). For dessert, she had puffs and whole milk. Yum! She was so tuckered out from her party that she went to bed early and slept like a baby (ha!)

Now to figure out when to clean up and take down the decorations... I have a feeling there will be balloons in the basement for a while! :)