A Great Thanksgiving!!

I'm happy to say our family had a great Thanksgiving! Kaia seemed to feel well and had a lot of fun. Because she hadn't been feeling well, we waited until Thursday to head to Nana and Papa Keller's house. That meant Kaia had a chance to watch her 1st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...which she loved! She loved the balloons and the marching bands, and was especially excited when the Sesame Street float went by. We made it to Nana and Papa's house in the afternoon and had a great Thanksgiving dinner with them. Kaia loved the corn, mashed potatoes, jellied cranberries, and real whipped cream. These were her favorites and she did not want anything else on her plate. She had fun seeing Uncle Greg, Aunt Angie, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Teresa, although she wasn't sure what to think about Larry's beard and didn't warm up to him until he was leaving. Don't worry Larry-she feels the same about Santa! Kaia got along great with Nana and Papa, and she's a bit of a Papa's girl (a lot like her Mama when she was little). But she had lots of hugs and kisses for Nana Hazel too and thought it was funny to stare Papa down and then laugh when she couldn't keep it in any longer. She enjoyed entertaining them and even go to hang out with them by herself for a while, which she loved!

Kaia went on her 1st Day after Thanksgiving shopping trip and did great. She had a lot of fun and got to pick out a few Christmas gifts-thankfully she won't remember and will be so excited to open them on Christmas Day!! Don't worry-we didn't have her out at 5 a.m. We started our shopping at 8:30 a.m. and enjoyed finding most of the things on our list and not having to stand in long lines. She got a few new clothes and we've discovered that she's quickly going to be wearing her 24 months size pants. Some of her 18 mos size pants still fit, but some of them are too short and I tried on her new 24 mos size pants and they are a little long, but not as long as I expected, and they fit her better in the waist. She's getting so big!! At her 15 month appointment we found out she's only gained about 1 lb in the last 3 months, but has grown almost 2 inches. She hadn't eaten much in the last month because she'd been sick, but this last week she's been devouring everything in sight, so we're thinking she's going through a growth spurt (and making up for last month).

We're enjoying all the Christmas decorations-Kaia was very excited about the Christmas trees at the mall and seeing the reindeer and snowmen. She's not too sure what to think about Santa, and will wave to him from a safe distance. We're hoping to get our tree up next weekend, and it will be interesting to see what Kaia does with it. It's an exciting time and even more exciting to see it through the eyes of a child!!

I have lots of pictures to post...I'll try to do that tomorrow-so check back!

Frustration

I was all prepared yesterday to get on the blog and boast about how Kaia had been illness-free for the past week and had been sleeping great and let us get a whole night's sleep Monday night without a peep. Then I got knocked down a few pegs. Her daycare called late yesterday morning and said Kaia was pulling on her ears and being fussier than normal. So I got her into the doctor yesterday afternoon and she was diagnosed with a mild infection in both of her ears and her eyes. Fortunately, the doctor said both were mild and in the early stages, so she shouldn't require drops for either her eyes or ears. So she got another round of antibiotic and I am thankful I took her in when I did. I'm hoping this takes care of it. She slept well last night and ate well this morning and was playing like usual, so hopefully it's not bothering her too much. I'm feeling very frustrated at her being so sick and not staying healthy for long. I'd heard that when kids start daycare they are sick often, but I expected her to have colds...not full-blown illnesses like pneumonia and ear/eye infections. And it's doubly frustrating that this is happening right before Thanksgiving, but it could also be a blessing since I already have the time off work and don't have to take any days this week while she gets better. Hopefully I'll have better news next post! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

15 Months!

Kaia Mae is 15 months today. Her friend Liam turned 1 year this week (Happy Birthday Liam!!), and it made me realize how fast these past 3 months have flown by and yet how long ago it seems we celebrated Kaia's 1st birthday. It's been a busy time and the past month has been full of illness-ever since she started daycare. Which has really put a damper on the excitement of moving and starting a new job. As of today, Kaia still isn't feeling all better and my day off on Wednesday was not as full of fun as I had hoped. She had another high fever, which we went to the doctor for. He took some blood work just to make sure it wasn't some antibiotic-resistant bacteria, since she's been on an antibiotic for 10 days for her bronchitis. It wasn't, which means it's some viral bug that's bringing her down. So all we can do is pray it goes away soon. Last night was another night of little sleep and we're all ready for some rest--literally.

On a positive note, Kaia is learning so many new things and enjoying discovering the world. Lately she has become much better about entertaining herself and her favorite pasttime is being a mama to her dolls. She wraps them up in blankets and gives them a bottle and lays them down to go "nigh nigh". She loves to give them kisses and hugs and always says "aww". She loves to read books and her newest favorite is "5 Little Monkeys"...during which she shakes her finger and says "no more monkeys" during the phrase "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!". We bought her a Sesame Street DVD since she likes the characters on her diaper, and she makes us replay the ABC and Baa Baa Bumba (baa as in a singing sheep) songs over and over again. And she loves when we count things. Her favorite thing to do at daycare is stack the blocks and then knock them over, saying "oh no!". Now whenever she sees blocks anywhere she says "oh no". She's a great helper and LOVES to clean! She must get that from Papa Vernon. Whenever something spills she wants a paper towel to clean it up, and if I'm cleaning something she has to clean something too. Last night she was cleaning the bathtub while taking her bath. She also loves to help with laundry, especially putting the wet clothes in the dryer. She's becoming more and more like a little girl and it's so neat to see her develop and learn new things every day!!

Beautiful!!

We had such beautiful weather this weekend that we had to get out and enjoy it!! Kaia had lots of fun at the park and playing in the leaves! I've been wanting to take her picture in the leaves for a couple weeks, but she'd been sick and it's been so cold that we hadn't had a chance. Plus, it seemed like they fell so quickly and got cleaned up that I hadn't found any to take her picture in! Luckily, we stumbled across some in the park this weekend and she had a great time!

Finally...some sleep!

Kaia had seemed to be feeling better the last couple weeks, except for a slight cough. We thought she had the bronchitis beat. But last Sunday she started coughing a lot more and her breathing became really raspy. Then she started having a fever. She went to the doctor on Monday and he gave her a more powerful antibiotic and sent her home. Her fever finally got better by Tuesday night and I stayed home with her Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. She was better enough to go to daycare on Thursday and some on Friday, but she was not a happy camper. One would think that after a few nights of barely sleeping she would just crash. But not our energizer bunny. She spent the whole week barely sleeping at night and hardly taking a nap during the day. We think it was due to her congestion not allowing her to get into a deep sleep. Let's just say it was a grumpy week for everyone. She finally had a great nap Saturday afternoon and slept through the entire Hawkeye game...something I wish I would've done too, given the outcome. And only woke up once Saturday night. She didn't do quite as well last night, but definitely did better than last week. So we are thankful for a little rest and hoping she gets better this week!