Out and Over

She has broken out.
None of my kids have had cribs. I saw them as a big pain so mine have always been in a pack n'plays for ease. Trevin was out of his around a year. Garrin made it to 18 months. Kiya almost made it 2 years. Last night we put her to bed as usual and came back down to finish watching a show. A few minutes later we hear a door open and some footsteps down the stairs. Joe and I both assumed it was Garrin, since he is the one that opens his door and comes out. We look up and see our little girl dragging her blanky behind. After we got over the shock and a few giggles we realized it would be an exhausting night/few days.
We had bought a "big girl" bed for her almost a year ago anticipating this very night. Luckily she did take to the idea of sleeping in her big bed and it only took us 3 more tries to get her down.
She did wake up around 2:30am and came into our room. LUCKILY, I have trained my kids well and she just walked in and said, "Daddy..." ha. That means I get to stay in bed while he takes her up. She stayed in bed until about 7am and then called for me to come and get her out. Which was nice. It took a few times this afternoon to get her settled, but hopefully she will get the idea quickly.
I've been very blessed with good sleepers and plan to ride the train as long as I can.
Now if I can just get her to keep her pants on....

Kiya 6 Month

Garrin had to get in on the photo action...and see that popsicle? that's the only thing he eats these days. Those with chips and salsa are the only nutrients this 2 year old accepts lately...sigh.

Kiya's Sweet Tooth (if she had teeth...)

When daddy come home for lunch he sometimes splurges and makes himself an ice cream cone...Kiya has discovered that she very much like them.

Kiya 5 months

Kids at home...

Now that Above Average Joe is working again the kids and I have a lot of time together. Kiya has a new bumbo that she loves...
Garrin likes it too...

...for several reasons...

Kiya has an exersaucer (thanks to a generous neighbor) and she loves playing with it...

...almost as much as Garrin does!

Hold, Please

Garrin has adjusted to having Kiya around in superhuman ways. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that he has very little to complain about in the attention department even with her around. See one of the blessings of Joe being unemployed is the fact that there are two loving (if occasionally sleep deprived) parents always around somewhere. So that natural "I-hate-this-new-thing-that-has-invaded-my-world-and-sucked-all-the-attention-away-from-me" phase, just really never happened. And I'm hoping never will now that there is a certain routine around the house.

Now because Garrin has no issues with his little sister he actually really likes being around her. He holds her hand, calls her cute, gives her his blanky when she is crying...all that good stuff. But my absolute favorite thing that he does is plunk him bum right down on the ground next to me and say "hold, PEASE". Not kidding, the first time he did it I welled up.

He sits very still and I put Kiya on his lap leaning against his chest for a moment and then pick her back up because even though he WANTS to hold her, he hasn't quite mastered how to. But everytime I pick her up for the first time I hear "PEASE, PEASE, PEASE!" And I place her on him again for a little bit. He will then turn his head to her and kiss her (or at least make the sound) and that is my cue to pick her up again. These are the things that I love about being a mom.

Miss Kiya's 3 month pictures (prof)

A big THANK YOU to my neighbor who pulled out this dress and let me borrow it the night before pictures were taken. My beautiful baby girl...

Kiya's 3 months

Kiya had her first pedicure this week. she did a great job sleeping while mommy painted.

Kiya is now 23 inches long and i'm guessing a little over 12 pounds. She is, by far, my cutest girl!

2 Months...kinda

I'm a slacker and you'd think that I'd be able to get SO much done having Above Average Joe around all the time, but really we just end up being lazy together. So these are Kiya's 2 month pictures. My WONDERFUL NEIGHBOR took these shots and they make me cry, they are so gorgeous. At her 2 month appointment she weighed 11.5 pounds and was 23 inches long so obviously all the fat I am eating is spilling out a little into my milk, but mostly just clings to my thighs. Kiya was not terribly appreciative of the shots in her bum but she recovered quickly and has since forgiven her nurse.

The summer is only getting hotter so being outside is getting more uncomfortable, plus working around 2 kids naptimes makes it a bit tricky to be too outgoing but we are enjoying the family time together. Joe still has had no luck on the job front so I have gone back to part-part time work. Nothing too strenusous or gainful but helpful, none-the-less. In efforts to do something to bring money in Above Average Joe did help out his brother-in-law for a few days in his bee keeping business and it kicked his trash. It only confirmed that even though Above Average Joe rocks and stuff...he really prefers a desk job. But if you want any really good honey for your food storage, let me know. This stuff kicks any regular honey bear's butt!

Trevin is enjoying the days of summer by spending a lot of them with his dad and his new wife and 4 kids. Garrin is on the verge of turning 2 and so full of energy and fun. He keeps amazing us and I need to be better about posting all the greatness he is so that my sleep haze doesn't take away too much from these formidable memories.

We are just trudging forward waiting for fate/karma/employment to really take hold and give us a better sense of direction. Until then we will continue to enjoy our lazy summer days with our beautiful family.

Blessing Day Photos

this and that *UPDATED WITH PHOTO PROOF*

I have a ton of pictures to upload but honestly, I'm too lazy to do it today. So for today I will just say that Kiya now smiles! It melts both her father and I and it makes the sleep depervation a little more worth it.

Garrin has now learned to climb to the top of the bunk bed. The problem is he has yet to learn how to climb down so we get called in at random hours of the day (when nap time should be) and early in the morning (when everyone should still be asleep) to assist the small lad down to the floor. And just this evening we discovered that he can climb up on our bed on his own. This is no small feat. If you have seen our bed, you know of what I speak. I have to climb to get into our bed. It's tall enough for Above Average Joe...so it's high. This little guy is getting more and more difficult to keep up with. But his little sister does love watching him.

Blessing Dress

Can you stand how cute this dress is? My mom did it all. The crocheting, the ribbon, the beadwork. It will have a slip underneath as well so it won't be as drafty but, oh...mom, you just ROCK. I couldn't love this dress more.

Blankets

I am so blessed to be surrounded by talented people. I come from a pretty long and decent line of those handy with the needle. Because of this whenever there is an occasion (like a new baby) we get new blankets to show off. One of these days I'll post all the stunning quilts that tell various stories of times of my life but for now these are the adorable blankets we have recieved for Kiya. This one was crocheted by one of my visiting teachers (Tiff). I LOVE the colors and it's really soft.

My uncle (Dad's brother) is close to us and he brought us one of the cutest blankets ever for Garrin. To this day he still tells me he quilted it... THIS gorgeous quilt is for Kiya and when I saw it I decided that when this little girl has her own room this quilt will be the inspiration for the colors and pattern of it.
This patchwork quilt is from my step-grandmother Lavonne who is an incredible woman and quilter. She has sent so many lovely things for all of us over the years and did not fail Kiya with this beautiful and colorful quilt that Kiya loves to play on and look at.

My mother has also promised a crib quilt for Kiya (and Garrin) but she has been so busy making her blessing dress that we won't see it for a while. But WAIT until you see this dress. She brought it over today and I just about started crying with how gorgeous it was. I will post pictures soon. I am so lucky to have these people in my life...

Kiya's 1 Month photo's