Baby Kayla, watch me grow!

Birth

2 weeks

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

1 year

Memories... Sweet, Sweet...Memories

At five weeks Kayla began to smile!

Everything I had read, said that it was just "gas smiles" and that babies were not able to smile as a emotional response at this age. Josh repeatedly said "see, she just smiled at me" and I continued to tell him it was not possible. Then one day around the 6 week mark I was doing something and Kayla smiled at me! Well, then I realized my husband was on to something the "experts" just weren't aware of. Kayla was really smiling in response to us!

 Began blowing raspberries! 15 weeks

Began to understand how to make noise while I patted her mouth with my finger in order to make the funny ba ba ba ba sound. LOVE IT! 15 weeks

Kayla laughed out loud tonight.

She was nursing and playing with my face. I started pretend munching on her hand which made her laugh! yea for baby giggles! 10/1/11 16 weeks

Kayla began to play with her feet this past week. So cute when she balls up to reach them! 16 weeks

She sat up by herself!!!! 10/14/11 18 weeks

Kayla rolled over a few times this week 10/28/11

Kayla ate her first bowl of homemade sweet potato baby food! 11/03/11

She is now sitting up for long periods of time (20-30mins) by herself with out falling over! 11/14/11 22weeks

Kayla found her hair! 

She began stroking it with the back of her hand while nursing. So sweet. 11/14/11

Kayla learned how to make noise by inhaling deeply, it is soooo funny! 11/28/11

Kayla began to really play with toys.

She's shaking them back and forth. And began throwing her hands above her head. Fun stuff! 12/01/11 25weeks

This week Kayla got really good at passing items back and forth between her hands.

 She is now able to pull items you put on her head off, like the clean diaper I put there to play peek a boo! 12/7/11

She's now going from a sitting position to her tummy!

She leans forward to get something or some place and ends up on her tummy.  She also scoots backwards and in a circle on her tummy!!! She's moving, I'm not really ready for her to crawl yet so this milestone is progress enough for me ;) 12/18/11 27weeks

Kayla's clapping! 

I love this so much. It is so much fun to play with her nowadays. She giggles out loud a lot more often too.  I'd have to say that six months is my favorite baby age. 12/18/11

Wow she's really growing!

This past week she started to really get the hang of scooting around. She uses her arms to "army crawl" in circles, she can also scoot backwards. 1/2/12

I had to take out the bassinet from Kayla's pack n play.

She can sit up on her own and use the side to get onto her knees and sometimes onto her FEET!!!  Now she sleeps on the mattress on the bottom of the pack n play. Kinda made me sad to have her all the way down there. 1/11/12

Kayla cut her first tooth today. 

Stop growing my sweet baby!!!! Front, bottom, left. No wonder she wouldn't sleep
This also happened to be the last night she slept on her back. Since that tooth has come through its been some pretty funny sleeping positions. Including... sitting with the blanket on her lap leaning forward over it, on her tummy and on her knees with her butt in the air and her face down on the bed! 1/12/12   31weeks

Crawling is in full swing! I love my little pooter. 1/29/12

Tooth number two made its appearance today!!! Front, bottom, right. 1/30/12

Wow if this girl doesn't slow down I may cry!!!

 I <3 my BABY and am not ready for a toddler! She began pulling herself up on me and furniture this week. 2/1/12    34weeks

Kayla stood with out holding onto anything for a few seconds today! 3/7/12

Kayla is growing and changing so fast its hard for me to keep up to date on here. 

This is a summary of what she's up to these days.
She is of course crawling and doing so faster and faster each day.
She get into everything! She has little to no interest in her trillion toys but LOVES anything electronic, her sister's school supplies, everything on the bottom two kitchen shelves,  her sisters toys and every tiny speck on the carpet!
She says dada, mama, baba, and the most recent one is upa ( not sure where this one came from).  I think she knows who she's talking about when she says our names but I'm not certain.
She loves to eat! Especially when its finger food she can feed herself.
Separation anxiety has kicked in.
She adores her big sister!
3/13/12   40weeks (9months)

Kayla cut her third tooth today!

 It's the upper right lateral incisor but she hasn't got either of her upper central incisors?! Hoping they come in soon so she doesn't have a funny looking grin :) (oops didn't put the date!!!)

Three more teeth cut through! 

Top left lateral incisor and both central incisors! yea!!! She really loves cruse along the furniture these days and has even began to stand independently for a few seconds at a time. 4/21/12 (10 months)

She took her first steps! 

Right into papa Rod's arms. Oh my sweet girl, how I love to watch you grow! You bring such joy to my life!  
5/4/12 47weeks (almost 11 months)

In the past few weeks Kayla has begun some new and fun tricks! 

She loves to crawl up into big sisters little chairs all by herself. She has completely learned the signs "more" and "please" and is working on "eat", "drink", "milk" and "thank you". She loves to point to things she wants. And is saying the words "mama", "dada", "ball", "baby", "up" "all done" and the super special one "ella" (When we traveled to Arkansas our relatives had a winner dog named... ella!) She is working on "kitty cat", "meow meow" and "bike".  She is getting good at giving kisses and her hugs are wonderful! She continues to work on walking, taking up to five steps at a time and is constantly crusing the furniture or holding our hands to walk. Kayla is no longer a fan of nap time but continues to need two. One a few hours after getting up in the am (usually 10:30a) and one later in the afternoon (usually 3p). My favorite new trick is that she began to dance!!! This is so fun to watch and brings smiles all around.  6/1/12 (almost 1!!!)

Kayla's First Birthday was so much fun. 

I can't believe how well she did with the heat, attention and sugar. There wasn't a complain out of her the whole time! She ate almost all of her giant chocolate cupcake and drank more strawberry lemonade then I did. She was blessed with many wonderful gifts including a riding toy, shaker balls, giant squishy ball, leap frog learning turtle, pink and purple sock monkey, bouncy ball, all her favorite baby snacks, baby sunscreen, little swimmers, Thomas the train book, pajamas, target card, gift card to Claire's to get her ears pierced!!!, and a savings account! Wow that's one blessed little girl. 6/9/12

Kayla officially began to walk on her birthday!

She walked across the yard to get to one of her toys that she had opened, and we got it on video! Since then she's been a walking machine. She loves to hold our hand and go for walks. She will lead the way and if there are stairs she heads straight for them, she loves going up and down them while holding our hands. One seems to have marked the time for her to really start to show that she is human and is sinful. I feel like I say "no touch" 500 times a day! I love my little peanut so much! 6/15/12

Ok I will admit that Kayla is BEGINNING to act more like a toddler than a baby... but I still refuse to call her one. She is my running, climbing and attempting to jump 14 1/2 month old BABY.  

Her vocab is growing growing growing. 
Here's the list...
Momma and baby are still her favorites
Ella
Tucker
ball
all done
thank you
open
ruff ruff
meow
dada
grandpa
grandma
bike
up
uh oh
here you go
She signs...
more
please
eat
She can point out her...
nose
mouth
teeth
hair
ears
feet
hands
bellybutton 

I have begun training her to obey me by following the command of "come touch my leg" she is doing pretty well obeying.  She will not drink her ovaltine milk every time with out coaxing. She wants to do EVERYTHING her older sister does (which causes some conflict as she wants everything her sister has). She is still the best snuggler I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. 8/27/12

Kayla will be turning 17 months next week. She is such a joy. 

I love how much she loves her big sister! I don't love that she HAS to do everything her sister is doing. As this makes for much conflict between them as well as more stress during sisters schooling. 

She adores going outside. I think she would spend all day out there if I let her.

She has again remembered? how to say "dada" and loves calling her daddy's name. Melts my heart. 

She does this awesome run and hug anytime one of us returns from being away. Greatest thing ever! 

She is not so fond of naps and bedtime anymore. :( She would much rather stay up and play.  She will still let me hold her like a baby and rock and hum to her but only for a few seconds at a time. 

She continues to be more and more picky when it comes to food. I have given up fighting the 3 square meals a day bit with her. If she is only going to eat crackers and cornbread on chili night then so be it. She'll be fine.

She stays true to herself and gives the best squeezy hugs! 

Oh little girl, you put so much joy in my heart!  11/2/12

This little girl is so much fun! She turns 20 months tomorrow, she's growing so big and strong!

Long gone are the days of sleeping on my chest, silky soft baby hair and teeny tiny fingers. 

But here are the days of running, jumping and dancing! Here are the days of silly grins and great big hugs. Here are the days of pigtails and bath time fun. Here are the days I love watching her grow and learn.

My heart delights in the sweetness of this little girl. She absolutely loves babies! I pray that never changes. It is truly a tender part of her personality.

I'm so excited for springtime so we can get outdoors again. I know she's itching for it as she tried to ride her bike on our way in the door the other day.  I'm so excited for the new adventures we will have outdoors.  But for now its all about being inside dancing to ELMO! Girl has a thing for that little stuffed ball of red fur! 

Kayla, mommy prays you grow to a great women of faith, and that that faith would carry you until the day you see our Savior face to face.  Love u! 2/8/13

 

This week Kayla will be turning 23 months, one month away from TWO!!!

This last year has has its peaks and valleys but as always the Lord held our hand through it all. Kayla has been such a joy to watch grow. I will now officially call her my cute little TODDLER.

She is more adventures than her older sister was at this age. Guess she gets that from her daddy. I've been told he climbed refrigerators before he was two! I know in part she seems to be growing up faster than my first because she has to keep up with that big sister of hers. She climbs things that Kiara never would have at this age and has less inhibitions than I wish she had, makes my heart skip a beat on a regular basis.

A few fun things about these past few months...

things she says;

•  dats cute

•  hon on (hold on, says this while holding up one finger)

•  MINE (were working on this one)

•  play? (her way of asking if she can)

•  coat! shoes! (she always wants to go outside)

•  Kinki (she still loves her binki)

•  i nunu pray! (she doesn't like it when you start praying with out her!)

• Daddy home? 

• Kiki go? (she must always know where her sister is)

• nack (she asks for snacks multiple times each day)

• ticul! (loves to be tickled)

• un, two, tree, yeahhhh! (were still working on four and five)

She's a superstar at running now and will often take off across the room only to do a flop landing onto the ottoman.

She loves being outdoors but since she can go outside alone like Kiara can (in front of our sliding glass door) she often stands at the door and watches Kiara and her friends and plays along with them in her own way.  (cute but sad, I know how bad she wants to join them)

She's such a great helper with the dishes! She and her sister actually argue over who is going to help do what. They help load and unload the dishwasher almost daily.

Lately she has been a extra early riser, getting up as early as 6:30am, she used to sleep until 8:30a-9:00a but nowadays she is up by 8a. I'm not such a fan of this as I am a night owl and have been trying to adjust my sleep schedule with no avail.

She still LOVES babies! Real ones and her dolls the same. Her imagination is growing, she will feed, cuddle and put her baby dolls to bed daily.

Her sense of independence has grown quite a bit as well. She likes to put her own coat and shoes on, on a regular basis and usually insists on buckling the top part of her car seat independently. I'm grateful she has not gotten too independent and still needs me to kiss her boo boos.

She has begun to show interest in using the potty. We have put her on the toddler seat on the big potty a few times but no success.  As her interest have continued to grow we have even gotten out her own little potty and put it in the bathroom for her to begin to explore.  She loves to sit on it but only thinks to do so after she's gone in her diaper. But she really doesn't like to have a wet diaper anymore and will request to sit on the potty more and more.  And she is one of those kids who likes to take off all of her clothes just to sit on the potty, silly girl. I've been debating on weather or not to take the time to potty train now or wait the six weeks until we move into our new house.

I thank the Lord for you everyday my sweet little girl. I pray he guards your heart as you grow to know and love him. We love you very much Kayla! 5/5/13






9/24/13 Kayla is now 2yrs and 3months old. And she is just as sweet as ever, but has now added a heaping pile of spunky to her personality! She remains to be a momma's girl, daddy isn't too pleased about this but I can't say I really mind. She makes me smile ear to ear daily and I am so blessed to be her momma. 

Some fun updates

• she's still weighing in just under 30lbs
• her new sayings are "don't wanna" and "don't yyyikkk it", not mom and dad's favorite
•  We took the plunge and got rid of her binki a few weeks ago and she is doing GREAT! One day after talking about it for what seemed like months, daddy just snipped off the end of her binki and said "we're all done with binki's" Oh man you should have seen her sad little face, her reply was "no daddy, no!"
• We plan to do the three day potty training method last fall/early winter.
• Every morning she climbs into bed with me...love it!
• She really likes to do stuff herself, tooth brushing, buckling her car seat, and holding anything she is going to take a bite of. 
• She has begun to ask to pray and will list off things she's thanking God for; mommy, daddy, kiki, my bed, my toys. Warms my heart.