Kiera's Loot

We went down to my sister's house to celebrate Kiera's first Christmas. Between Amy, Kiera's Auntie, and Kiera's Nana and Pop-Pop, she had quite a spread. We didn't know that a kid that hadn't even hit a year old could get that many gifts. She got more socks that we could count, some of the cutest outfits that we can't wait to put her in, tons of new toys to try out and enough books for a years worth of bedtime stories! It was fun to see how much she could enjoy opening up her gifts even though she was only 8 months old. With as much as she enjoyed this Christmas I am sure next Christmas is going to be tons better.....especially if we can include another kiddo. (p.s. I am not prego, we are just trying)

Rainless in Seattle

Growing up I remember thinking every year how much I would love to have a white Christmas and every year would come and go with a perfectly rainy Christmas. I am not sure if all my wishes were lost in the mail and were finally delivered this year....but it sure seems like it. All the news anchors warned us of snow but we scoffed thinking it was like every year that they tell us we are going to have a rainless summer - HA! Well, here we are sitting knee deep in snow wondering what the heck happened.
The first night we started seeing snow fall was the night that I decorated our Christmas tree as you saw in my last blog. When we awoke the next morning we had 6" of snow (per the video and picture). A couple of days later it had all pretty much melted away and we thought that we had our day of snow - all true Seattle-ites know what I am talking about...although, this usually happens in January or February. I was mistaken. It started to snow like it had never snowed before in Washington. Despite the weather we ventured out and went down to see my sister, Amy, in the hopes that my mom and dad would come in Friday night, which didn't happen - a whole other story. Anyway, halfway through our visit we went to see Amy's in-laws and on our way home we got lost and some how ended up down the BIGGEST hill in Tacoma with no way out, some place called Day Island. (To my defense, I haven't lived in Tacoma in 13 years) We tried 4 times to get out and then finally tucked our tails between our legs and called my sister to come and pick us up. A truck, 3 guys, 5 jackets and a $20 bet later, we got the car out by pushing it out of the "pit of dispair".
Today we had to make our way home for various reasons and we knew our car wouldn't make it, as history dictated. We borrowed my sister's car for the trip home, you can see photos of our trip down the freeway below, and made it to within a 1 mile of our house and got stuck. We parked the car, geared up and started to make the trek with all our overnight stuff up the hill to our house. Luckily, our guardian angels swooped in, in the form of an elderly couple who offered to take us home and they even had a car seat in their SUV!!! So, needless to say, we are NOT equipped for the snow. This time we got 9-1/4" at our house since Friday night and it is Sunday afternoon. **whew** I need a vacation somewhere warm. Enjoy the photos of our winter weather.....in the next blog are some cute photos of Kiera enjoying her first taste of winter.

By the way don't eat the yellow snow......

As promised above, here is a video and some photos of Kiera's first encounter with snow.

O Christmas Tree

Yippee! Paul took me out to get my first Christmas tree since we have been together - that is over 7 years I have waited for this tree. It smells so Christmas-y, it is so full and beautiful. And to top it all off, as soon as I was done decorating we looked outside and noticed that it was snowing. It was so beautiful...man, life is good! I so thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience I had to share!

Oh, and for all those Kiera lovers - I added a photo of Kiera at the end. I don't want to disappoint her ever growing fan club!

New Outfits

Kiera recieved two new outfits from each of the grandparents. And they are ABSOLUTELY adorable on her....actually, a paper sack would look cute on her, but anyway. Enjoy little miss cuteness!

Stocking Stuffer

Now that Kiera is on the move whether it be crawling or "walking" she needs her hands. So, being the ingenious baby that she is, she figured, "hey, I can hold a pacifier in my mouth.....why not any of my other toys?" ("toys" obviously being a subjective word, all things in this world are Kiera's toys - just ask her). Below are is a video and a couple of pictures of how she now holds her 'toys' to get from one place to another.

New Gifts

My mom & dad sent Kiera a Christmas gift a little early - a new highchair. Kiera loves the colors and likes to "pet" the side while waiting to be fed. As you can see, she has some room to grow...almost can't see her little toesies! And Amy, Kiera's Aunt, never comes to see Kiera without bringing her a gift - which I tell her is a quick way to bankruptcy but she continues. This is now Kiera's favorite book...and in the video you can tell she has a favorite page as well. Enjoy!
Hmmm.... I also just realized that in the book photos she is wearing the same outfit that she was wearing in most of the videos in my last blog entry. I think that maybe I need to retire that outfit. At least for a while so that it looks like I have more clothes for my baby than just the one outfit. Yikes!

Videos galore.

So, if you were thinking to yourself....I just don't see enough of the little k on video, you have come to right place. She is a mover and a shaker and she cannot just sit down and be content. She has hit so many milestones lately it makes me tear up....where is my little baby who used to lay on my chest and fall asleep. Oh well, guess I'll just have to have another baby! Ahh!
Below are 6 videos. *whew*
The first is of her need to walk. She has been doing this consistently for about two months now and we just can't convince her that she is too young to want to do this. (Sorry - it is sideways)
The second one is a new one and she just started on Monday - we have one strong baby.
The third video is of her crawling...we have been waiting for this one for a while, the scoot was cute but this will really help her get moving on her own. She hasn't quite mastered it but she'll get there.
The fourth is of her new favorite play spaces - the stairs, good thing we installed a gate. She loves it and will just stand there and shake the gate back and forth.
The fifth and sixth ones are of her latest and greatest trick - one of which we love and hate at the same time. She has learned to get herself up into a standing position...as you can guess this makes for a difficult nap/bed time.
So, without futher ado...

Update Photos

It has been a bit since I have posted last so...here are a few random photos of Kiera for your enjoyment!

Who's mommy's little piggy?

Kiera has evolved on her eating technique. It is an interesting one but she eats her whole bowl of food! Enjoy the update!

Rubber Ducky....You're the one...

Kiera has become more and more a fan of bath time. Before the bath is even set and she is undressed she is already trying to wiggle out of my arms to get her bath only toys..Mr & Mrs Ducky. Below are some really cute pictures of her playing in the water and a video to show how much really does love bath time.

My nemesis

I am sure that you are thinking to yourself..."how can this little sippy cup be her rival?" Oh but it is! I have read many a book on Kiera's growth and what I should do and expect. One of these books is called "Super Baby Food". It tells you how, when and what to feed your child for optimum health. So in a sense it is my go-to for Kiera's eating habits now and in the future. Kiera has hit the 6 month mark and as you can see in my last blog she has started her road down eating solids. In the book, the author tells you to slowly introduce food starting with rice cereal...check. She also says that this will not substitute breast milk/formula but rather supplement for a while...check. She also says that this might be a good opportunity to introduce the sippy cup...um...okay, check. So, after a week of trying the cereal alone, I thought heck lets give this a try and see how Kiera takes to it.
I put a couple of ounces of formula in the sippy cup and give it to Kiera to try..well, actually I put it in her mouth and let her try it out. I noticed that there was NOTHING coming out the cup. Curious...So, I investigate. I turn the cup upside down, nothin'. I open up the cup and look under the lid and there were plastic pieces. So, I remove those thinking that maybe these are "packing material". I turn the cup upside down and it POURS OUT. Okay, not a good idea and obviously the plastic pieces were NOT packing material. I put the plastic pieces back on and think to myself, "what am I doing wrong?". Then the famous last words popped into my head: "I'll just try to use the sippy cup". BAD MOVE. I knew that the formula smelt bad but how was I ever to know that it was to be the FOULEST thing to ever enter my mouth. I sipped on the cup and down flowed the formula. First thought: "okay the sippy cup works", second thought, "Why did I just do that????" Too late and no where to spit it out, so I swallow it. But it only gets half way down my pipes when I start to gag. The formula comes back up out my mouth AND nose. Now I am dry heaving, my nose stings and I think that I might permanently smell formula for the rest of my life, all the while Kiera is cooing and squealing - thanks for the sympathy... So, now I guess you could say that this simple, cute, pink, little sippy cup is now on my nemesis list - a short list, but it is there. So, take it from me - sippy cups work that way and do not put that cup in your mouth even if it is for the sake of your baby....

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Last Friday we decided that it was time to get Kiera on the solid food bandwagon. When we first started it, she was a little confused but accepting. A couple of minutes into feeding her she caught onto what we were doing and started making some interesting faces. Enjoy!