9 Month Checkup

Well, Kaia got her 9 month checkup 1 month late. We had some issues getting an appointment with a new pediatrician after we moved. We really hated leaving our old pediatrician because he was awesome, but we thought it would be better to change in case Kaia got sick, since it would be torture having to drive a sick child 2 hours to go to the doctor. So, she finally got in today. And she's doing great! She weighs 21 lbs 11 oz, which is in the 85th percentile. And her length is 29 1/2", which is in the 90th percentile. So she's a big girl! We're just happy she's growing so well. They said everything sounded great and she was a very good girl-no crying at all! It helps that this is the one appointment where she didn't have to get shots! We're happy to say she's doing great!

Born to shop!

Auntie Liz will love this one...this is a picture I took with my phone on Sunday when we were shopping. Kaia found 2 dresses she loved and was not ready to let them go!

Silly Girl

Giving Daddy kisses

I crawled up on the coffee table by myself! (using Daddy as a stool)

I love sitting on the coffee table! Grandma and Grandpa Keller will love this one...Mama used to do the same thing when she was little!

Wearing Daddy's shoes!

A Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend! On Saturday Josh and I were able to go to our friend Courtney's birthday party, which was super fun! And we also were able to stay overnight in Des Moines and get some much needed us time! The only bummer for me was Kaia's reaction when we picked her up on Sunday. She was so excited to see Josh and could not even care less that I was there! She went right to Josh. Which I understand because she is a huge Daddy's girl. But then both Julie and I were standing next to him and I was trying to get her to come see me and she went to Grandma instead. I know it's probably because she sees me all the time and she loves being around other people, but I did expect her to at least be a little happy to see me. I'll admit it did hurt my feelings a little because I take care of her 24/7 and I would hope that she'd miss me. But I know she was in great hands with Grandma Julie and Aunt Mandy and I know she had a great time with them. So after we picked her up(they were staying in Des Moines too), we went shopping and then to the Mark Schultz concert in Grimes City Park, which was fantastic! Kaia loved it and found lots of little kids to play with. So all in all it was a fun weekend. Below is a picture of Kaia listening to the concert!

10 Months Old!

Kaia Mae is 10 months old today!! She is finally getting over her cold and is sleeping a little better now. She is always busy and interested in everything. Lately she's discovered kleenex and the toilet paper roll. Her favorite game is to pull it apart and laugh while I tell her not to put it in her mouth! She loves to shake her head "no", and is starting to understand what it means. When she's about to do someting she's not supposed to, like lift the toilet seat, she looks at me and smiles and shakes her head "no". I'd say her ornery streak is definitely showing!

Kaia loves to play with toys. Her favorites are books, balls, and stuffed animals. We were at a garage sale yesterday and the box of toys were just her height in the stroller. She grabbed a bear and would not let that thing go for anything. I finally distracted her with a ball since at least that was something I could clean when we got home!

She's a sweet little girl and she's started mimicing emotions. If someone is laughing she'll start to laugh. Same with crying. She also mimics coughing. She's really good at giving hugs and kisses, and she showers Daddy with them when he comes home. If you ask for a kiss she opens her mouth wide and puts it on your mouth and then smiles really big! Kaia loves other kids. She gives her cousins hugs and waves at every other kid we see. She also loves animals, especially dogs. She says "da" for dogs. She also likes ducks. There's a picture of ducks in the Swaim office and she always points right to it and says "duh" (ducks). She also loves plants. We were at the mall this week and she made Uncle Jon take her to every plant so she could touch them. She points at things she wants and bounces up and down when she wants more of something. She does know the sign for "more" and does it sometimes, but usually she just bounces. As you can see from the picture above, Kaia loves to put everything over her head. And she can pull her shirt off over her head, which sometime makes it interesting when you're trying to put her shirt on and she just takes it off!

Kaia's eating a lot of big girl food now, and she would much rather have that than her baby food. If we're eating something she wants some of it. Her favorites are chicken, hamburger, crackers, grapes, banana, hummus, pasta, and pizza crust. Last night I was eating taco pizza and she LOVES the crust because it has refried beans on it. She kept pointing to it wanting more and I'd have to tell her "1 more" bite of pureed food before she'd get more pizza. She's an old pro at the sippy cup and loves to drink water and juice. She has 6 teeth now, 4 of which have come in the last month. And I see more white showing, so she'll probably be getting more soon. She'll be biting into things before we know it!

She's doing great. We love her lots and are so blessed to be able to watch her grow! Kaia seems to learn things so quickly now and we're excited to see what she does in this next month!

Sleepless Nights

We've had a few sleepless nights around our house lately. We'd already been low on sleep with Kaia teething the past few weeks. She has 3 new teeth by the way! But then she got a terrible cold on Friday. She was up all night with a fever of 103, so Josh and I of course were up also. Saturday night wasn't much better. Then both Josh and I got the cold, so that's made it doubly worse. We've been taking turns staying up with her, but then neither of us can breathe and feel miserable, so we barely sleep when we finally get a chance! Last night she was doing better and I actually got her to sleep in her bed. But then about 10:30 we had a severe thunderstorm and that woke her up. So I was up with her until 3 and she finally stayed asleep. On top of that we had some major hail, which knocked out a window on our back porch and also damaged our vehicles. So I am definitely ready for some better days ahead! And maybe some sleep tonight!

Weekend Fun!

We went away this weekend for a little family fun. Kaia went to the zoo for the first time and loved it. I don't have many pictures because my camera died not long after getting there, but I'll post the few I do have. She also went to the outdoor pool for the first time yesterday and had a blast! She loved splashing in the water and especially loved watching all the other kids. She was smiling and waving at everybody. It was so nice to have such beautiful weather and I'm missing it today since it's cold and rainy.

Kaia at the pool...I love this one because it shows her teeth!

After we got home Kaia was so happy to see her bear!

Mama and Kaia

Kaia and the big bull

Checking out the giraffe

Daddy and Kaia!