Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Cold? What Cold?


Kaia's been really sick the last few days. She picked up a nasty cold on Friday and has been struggling with a fever, cough, and runny nose. None of us got much sleep this weekend. She's started feeling a little better today, and nothing's going to stop her from getting the computer! She loves to pound on the keys and even tries to get in my lap when I'm working on the computer. She's napping now and that's the only way I can get anything done without her "help"!
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Trip to the Science Center

Last week we went to the Science Center while in Des Moines. Kaia loved it!

Crawling around on the squishy mat.

Mommy and Kaia's hands!

Oooh...look at the snakes.

Turning the wheel!

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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Our Hero

Josh's brother-in-law Drew left for Iraq early Friday morning. He heads to Georgia for a week and then will be sent to Iraq until early July. He's a doctor in the National Guard and will be taking care of our troops while he's over there. All of Josh's family went to Des Moines on Thursday to spend the last night with Drew and we saw him off at the airport on Friday morning. We're so proud of Drew and ask that you keep him, Mandy, and their 4 kids in your prayers while he's gone.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

7 Months!

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Kaia turned 7 months last Friday! It was the second time her "birthday" has fallen on Friday the 13th. I heard on the Today show that this year there are 3 Friday the 13th's, and that only happens every 11 years or so. Just a little trivia for you! We can't believe how quickly she's growing! Here are some things she can do now:
  • Crawl...all over the apartment, and pretty quickly too
  • Pull herself up (to everything it seems...the furniture, drawers, us)
  • Entertain herself with her toys, and any electronic we leave lying around
  • Wave "hi" and move her hand to say "bye bye"
  • Babble, especially when she's excited
  • Lean toward a person or toy she wants to go to and lift her arms to say "up"
  • Instinctively find anything she's not supposed to play with

Library Trip!

Kaia made her 1st trip to the library yesterday. She loved playing with the blocks and looking at lots of fun books! There was another little girl there who was 7 months also, and it was fun to see Kaia interact with another baby her age!


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Saturday, March 14, 2009

Say "Mama"

Kaia has gotten to the babbling stage. She says a few monosyllable words over and over, one of which is mamamama. I know that most of the time she's just babbling and not really meaning to say "mama". But she does understand that I am "mama" and Josh is "dadda". If I'm holding her and ask her where Daddy is, she'll look right at Josh and vice versa. Today I had a personal day and Kaia got to spend the afternoon with Josh. When I got home she looked right at me and with a huge smile said "mamamama"! I think she was really meaning to call me mama! It was very exciting!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Picky Eater

Kaia was a picky eater for the 1st time tonight. I've been feeding her sweet potatoes the last couple days, but tonight she refused to eat them. She's never refused anything, especially not sweet potatoes. But once I switched to bananas she suddenly got her appetite back! So maybe I'll skip the sweet potatoes for a little bit.

Busy Bee

Helping Mommy with the laundry

Sitting pretty!

Standing up! She pulled herself up to my arm and then just held on with one hand!
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Monday, March 9, 2009

Kaia's 1st Swim!

On Friday we went to a waterpark to celebrate Ella's (Kaia's cousin) 4th birthday! Kaia got to go to the pool for the 1st time! She wasn't sure what to think at first, but she had a huge smile on her face by the end!

Getting ready to swim!

In the lazy river

Standing with Daddy in the wading pool
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Thursday, March 5, 2009

Ready for Spring

Kaia and I went to the park today since it was almost 70 degrees this afternoon. It was her first time there, and she wasn't quite sure what to think. The wind was pretty strong, so I don't think she was a big fan of that, and we didn't really stay long. But, getting out and about really makes me ready for Spring!

Kaia just went down for a nap and I was sitting here thinking about some of the new things I've had to get used to since moving to a small town. Driving 25 minutes to get groceries or go shopping or to the movies isn't really that different. Taking traffic into consideration, it sometimes took that long to get to places in Des Moines. And I didn't necessarily always have my bank close to where I've lived. But that hasn't been a big deal since I hardly ever ATM-I just use my debit card everywhere I go. That is, until I went up to Uncle Bob's (a restaurant in town) one night after we'd ordered take out. I only took my debit card, since I figured that was all I needed. I stood in line at the counter, and when it was my turn I pulled out the trusty debit card. The kid at the register just stared at me and shook his head "no". So, I had to drive back home, find some cash, and head back to get my dinner. Luckily, it only takes about 3 minutes to get there from home. So I learned to always keep a little cash around. But the one thing I'm not sure I'll ever get used to is the sound of horses' hooves clip-clopping outside my window. There's a sizeable Amish population which lives around this area and they come into town to do business. Since we live on the square, I often hear an Amish horse and buggy go by. Now, that's not something most people see every day! But it is pretty neat to see how the Amish choose to live their lives and I'm excited for Kaia to be able to see and appreciate others whose lifestyles are different from ours.

1st Trip to the Park!

Kaia had her 1st trip to the park today. It was pretty windy, so she didn't have quite as much fun as I'd hoped. But, there were a few other kids there too and she loved watching them play!

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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

New Pictures

Kaia playing with Daddy's guitar!


Mommy loves Kaia!!



What a big girl...playing on the computer! She pulled herself up to it all by herself!
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March Madness

Things have been busy around here since my last posting. First of all, Kaia is getting TWO teeth, not one. A couple days after I felt her first tooth I looked at her gums and saw the second bottom front tooth coming in! It's very exciting! She's been pretty fussy at naptimes this past week, and I'm hoping that once her teeth come all the way in that will cease.

Kaia's been busy crawling all over the place. She's made it over the pillows I put up as a barricade and is using those pillows to help her get up on her knees so she can reach the coffee table. Let the babyproofing begin. Kaia's favorite new toy is the computer. She is fascinated by it, and as I type she's climbing up my lap, trying to reach the computer on the coffee table. She also loves the cord and I'm constantly having to shoo her away from it. "lokpkioo.oi" - Kaia just reached the keyboard and wanted to type a message. =) She's made her way over to the kitchen floor, but isn't quite sure what to think of it. She gets over there and then starts fussing. She usually bear crawls around...she gets up on her toes to crawl, but sometimes she uses her knees when she's on the carpet. But when she gets to the kitchen floor she refuses to use her knees and will only bear crawl. Kaia loves to stand and even prefers it to sitting now. When we try to sit her down on the floor she digs her feet in and tries to stand up. I don't think it'll take her too long to figure out how to pull herself up to standing.

Grandma and Grandpa Keller came to visit last week, which was great! We loved having them over and it was great for Kaia to get to see them. They couldn't believe how much she's grown in just the couple weeks since they saw her last! She's definitely growing and changing every day!

Kaia's back in her room and getting used to her new crib. We bought her a crib back in January and started transitioning her into it for about 3 days and then the ceiling in her room had some pieces fall, so we moved her out of her room right away. We had to take the crib apart to move it and all of her furniture out of her room, so we decided to wait to put her back into it until after her room was fixed. We had the ceiling replaced and then had to replace the carpet since it was ruined by the falling ceiling. We finally got that all done and her room put together this past weekend, so she's back in her room and sleeping in her crib! The first couple nights were a little rough, but she's getting used to it now. I'm also not sure how many of her night wakings were due to being in a new bed and how many were due to her teething.

We're doing well and eager for Spring to arrive!!