Off we GO and some SAD news

We will be leaving for Latvia on Thursday and staying for 18 days. Yes, 18 days. It will be Kiyahs first ride on an airplane. It takes about 24 hours to get there. We have 3 seperate planes with layovers in Chicago and Sweden and our longest plane ride being 10 hours. I fully expect by the time we land that Karlis and I will want to kill each other. Which is not good since there are only so many people I can talk to once there. We will make it though. We are going for his first cousins wedding and Kiyah will be Christened there. All the plans have been made and everything sounds beautiful. It will be a great memorable time.
We were both excited to go and then our little awesome french bulldog Zamboni died unexpectedly. He would have been 5 next month. We guess it was just his time to go. He wasn't sick, was eating well, going to the bathroom, all the things that dogs do. Karlis came home one afternoon while I was out of town in Memphis with work and found him in the backyard. He had gone through his doggie door and was laying under a tree. It has been one of the hardest things to get used to. We miss him so much. I can't imagine how much longer it will be until we are happy again. He was our first baby and one of the best dogs ever. So that has made everything seem a little sad. I am sure once we get going and get to Latvia it will be great but I worry that we will know that once we return he won't be at home waiting on us. Losing a pet is one of the worst things. It is like a part of you is missing and will be forever. I could go on and on and on but won't, it is too sad. So.....

Here are a couple of pics:


Look what I found in the dryer..............


Slim and Kiyah (best friends)

First year Dr Appointment

Four shots!!! Which totally stunk. She screamed of course and bled and now has bruises. So pitiful. She weighs 25 pounds (93%) and is 31.5 inches (99%) in length. A very big girl. She is closer to a 2 year old in size. Everything looked good and she is healthy. We can start milk now but I am going to put if off until we are back from Latvia (more on that later). She LOVES to dance. It is more like a very very fast really wide stance march. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Her face gets very serious and then when she finishes she will smile or laugh. And when she does it she does it so hard and fast her little cheeks bounce up and down. I am going to try and get a video and download it so I will have it forever.
What she is up to these days……………
Goes to bed between 7 and 8 and gets up around 7. She has become obsessed with her bunny rabbit and wants to drag it with her everywhere she goes. She got this as a gift before she was even born and it is the softest sweetest thing. It is the Jelly.cat brand. When she started becoming attached to it I bought 4 more of them. It is something she would have trouble going to sleep without. She really likes blueberries and strawberries. She loves to open and shut doors, drawers, cabinets, etc. She likes to hand something to you and you hand it back over and over again. She started saying “ball” and “ight” for light. It is the sweetest thing to hear. She knows what her baby doll is and who Slim is. If you ask her to go and get something she will and bring it back. She loves to play outside, naked, with the dog water bowls. She picks them up and dumps them all over the concrete then splashes the puddles with her feet. Oh and stairs. She would climb 100 of them if we had them. She can climb about 15 with me standing behind her just in case she falls backwards but she never has even wavered.
She is loads of fun. I can’t imagine how it was before her. It is a lot of work but so rewarding.

First Sentence?

Hi Daddy. Kiyah said that to Karlis when I took her into the bedroom this morning. First time she has put words together. I think it was total luck but who knows. It was priceless to hear.

Kiyah is ONE

I had planned on a few different small parties with family and friends but instead we ended up in the emergency room in Alabama. I had gone home for the weekend because Karlis was out of town and Kiyah got a high temperature of almost 104. I could not get it to break and the pharmacist said we need to go. So we went. They couldn’t really figure out what was wrong so they treated her for an ear infection which I wasn’t too happy about since they said her ears were just slightly red. It turns out her fever would not break because I was giving her WAY too small of dose. She weighed 24 pounds so I needed to give her double what I was. There was a problem though since all fever reducers had been pulled off the shelf. So we finally found some generic and went home and the next day she did seem a little better. I ended up taking her to her own pediatrician a couple of days later (on her actually birthday) because I did not like the fact she may have been on antibiotics for nothing. So we went and her ears were actually clear but she did have a throat infection. I had noticed she was crying when she swallowed so that explained things finally. So her first birthday was a bust. It hurt to swallow so eating cake was no fun. It will be easy to remember though what we did.

Moving and Shaking

Kiyah started walking. At 10 months and 3 weeks she took off. A few steps at first and within no time she thought she could run. She started saying bye and waving the same week. She has been clapping her hands forever but bye took a little while longer. It is nerve wracking to watch her walk and fall and walk and fall, repeat, repeat, repeat but we do it.

little miss mischievous

Do you ever have to watch this kid. She is always into something. As you can see she is beginning to work this cabinet.

Score!! She got it open and look at that eager little face. You can tell she thinks she hit the jackpot.

And this is the "the look". The look that is a question to mom to see if she is about to get her little hand popped. You can see she has her hand out touching something and looking back at me. Just testing the waters.

After passing "the look" test it becomes a quick free for all. I am not going to get into trouble for this so here I go!!! She was practically in the entire cabinet by the time I pulled her out of there. It was her wonderland.

just helping a friend out

Kiyah is so very interested in Slim and his tennis ball. He is very good to her and lets her take and play with it (gross!) but she loves it. He will not let Karlis or myself have it but he does her. He is by far the best dog we have when it comes to her. So here they are playing with it back and forth.....
And then Uh Oh it rolls underneath the cabinet. You can barely see Slim's legs on the other side where he is looking under it as well (ignore lazy Biscuit in the background; she is not wasting the energy on looking for anything).

And if this isn't getting pro-active and taking charge I don't know what is. Look at that form and physique as she gets down and looks under for the ball. Too funny!!

Little Piggies

So I walked around the corner a few days ago and say Kiyah doing this..........

I thought she had passed out. She looked so still and was in such a weird position. Until I got closer...... And then I said to myself is she really doing what I think she is doing.

And a little closer............. (check out Slim in the background, he even thinks she has lost it)

And then I see she is eating her little toes. Which is fascinating to watch. She grunts and roots around until she gets one in her mouth. Not the cleanest of things but hey who am I to stop her from going on a piggie hunt.

And the obsession carries over to the car.

You Aren't Supposed to Eat Hydrangeas?

So I was trying to get Kiyah to smell some hydrangeas that are growing in our yard. She would lean in and get really close then open her mouth really big and shove what she could in. Then I thought I rememberd something about them being poisonous. So we immediately stopped that. This picture is not that great but you get the idea. She loved touching them. She was really gentle and then she would pull her hand away quickly like she was scared of what it might do to her. She LOVES being outside and usually cries when you come back in. We are looking forward to lots of spring days outside! :)

Dog Tired

I check on Kiyah nineteen billion times when she is napping or sleeping. I know this because I count each time I go in. Was I suprised to walk in and see her sitting over hunched on all her stuffed rabbits and favorite puppy dog. Her little body just gave up on her and she passed out. So cute!!

So Grown Up

Sometimes it already seems like Kiyah thinks she is a big girl. She is already trying to do her own thing sometimes. I thought she looked so cute and grown in the buggie. Then she started putting on a little show for mom. I can just hear her thoughts........


Da Da Da Dum, humm just look at all these people shopping. I am so glad I drove here to get a few things. And good thing I can always find my keys since they are in my mouth most of the time.

Here mom, you want to maybe drive us home? I can share my keys for a little bit.



Oh, I can't belive I said that. That was funny. You..drive? No way. I can take care of it.

what cha cookin daddy?

Ballls and Ice Skates

Don't even think about it......

Where's the beach????

No, seriously.........where is the beach. I can't see a darn thing. Can someone tell me which way the beach is? And who put this on my head? And what are these strings? And does anyone else feel a draft? Oh my, is that my belly button? Everyone can see my belly button! Can someone help me?

Curls

I am hoping that Kiyah gets my curls. She has some now but it is really thin and hard to tell if it will stay forever. My hair really didn't get super curly until puberty so if that is the case with her we have a long way to go until we know.

How LIfe is at 10 Months (almost)

We love the outside. There are so many new things to see and smell and hear. I love to shout and yell and talk to everything I see.
I can now eat just about everything my mom and dad eats. I already think highly of homemade pizza and vegetable soup. Graham crackers, yogurt and club crackers are also good things to munch on. Anything really cold makes me scrunch my nose up and look at mom like she is trying to poison me.
I weigh 23 pounds and 30 inches in length. I am at the 98% for both. My clothes are mostly 12-18 months and size 4 shoes.
I think Slim is the best toy that I have. I like to pull and bite his ears and rub all over his body. I would do the same to Biscuit and Zamboni but for some reason they will not come within 20 feet of me. I like to grab the cats and pull their hair. I did this to Lilly and she hissed at me and hit me in the face, thank goodness she is declawed. It was scary and I cried.
I think standing up and pressing all the buttons on the cable box is hilarious. I laugh when my mom tells me "no". When she gets up to come and gently slap my hand I get down and crawl as fast as I can in the other direction.
I tried to take a step the other day but fell down instead and rolled a few feet. I don't think I will do that again for awhile. I can get to where I want by crawling or hanging on to everything and walking. I look like a monkey swinging from tree to tree.
I am way too old for bottles. If mom or dad tries to feed me one I hit it, hit them, have a fit until I get my sippy cup.
I am still not that interested in TV. Maybe just for a minute then I am down on the floor exploring.
When I ride in my carseat I throw all of my toys on the floor and then take off my shoes and socks. Before long I will probably arrive naked at most of my destinations.
I talk a lot. No one understands me but I understand perfectly well. I say the same thing over and over hoping someone will catch on but no one ever does. I like to talk to Slim. He seems to understand me though.
Lastly, I am ready for Spring when I get to shed some of these clothes. Naked is the way to go. Here are a few pictures and let me tell you the grass was really scary at first but I am getting used to it.

WHO is ready for EASTER

Kiyah and I took a quick trip to Tar.get and walked by these cute little bunny ears. The more I looked at her the more I laughed and the more I laughed the more she laughed. She looked so darn cute.

All bundled up and I LOVE PLASTIC BAGS

We have been SICK!!!

This is pictures from the last TEN days. Kiyah has had a stomach virus with severe diarrhea and vomiting, a cough/runny nose/cold and 2 ear infections. She has slept way more than normal and has spent a lot of time laying on us. She has been pitiful. She is FINALLY starting to get a little better. Fingers crossed!!
Her mom and dad had the stomach virus also. You can even see Karlis in the background laying on the couch in one of these pictures. It has not been fun.