It's almost here!

Keira's 1st birthday is just around the corner.  Now I'm no longer counting months until she's 1, I'm counting weeks!!  A couple people asked me today how old she is and I had to say "She'll be 1 in 3 weeks!" YIKES!!  Where did the past year go??????  I can honestly say this past year has been one of the greatest years of my life.  Fastest ever...but greatest none the less.

I keep reminding myself throughout the days that I need to update my blog.  I haven't written in over a month and I feel like I'm going to miss out on recording and marking things that Keira's doing and the new things she's learning.  While some of you who read this may not care when she takes her first steps, or what she's eating, or how she laughs so hard at Wrigley, I'm more writing it down for myself so I can come back to these entries when she's older (or when I have other kids to compare) and remember these days.  I never want to forget this first year of my first daughter's life and so I write...or type....the little details that may mean nothing to you but mean everything in the world to me!!

Words - She is JABBERING on and on and on these days!  Literally this morning I don't think she stopped talking for like 20 minutes straight.  I LOVE it!!  :)  She just plays on the floor with her toys (or the dog dish or Wrigley's kong or her bibs and washcloths or the dish towels and placemats...) and talks talks talks to herself.  Her voice melts my heart.  Sometimes she gets this really high pitched voice and I think she just likes to hear herself when she does that voice.  It is the sweetest thing ever!  That little girl said "mama" as her first word for like 2 weeks straight and as SOON as she figured out how to say "dada", I haven't heard "mama" since!!  That little stinker!  I say it to her all day and she just looks at me like "what are you doing mom?!"

Faces - She's just started making this face where she scrunches her eyebrows and nose and purses her lips and it's almost like a mad face but whenever she does it I just have to laugh so hard.  She also loves to stick her tongue out all the way and then of course mommy has to do it and we just look at each other making funny sounds with our tongues hanging out.  :)

Schedule - Our schedule is pretty similar at this point each day, other than Sunday when we have church.  Keira's been waking up around 8 am and I always go in finding her standing up at her crib smiling away with her crazy bed head.  I love her little grin as I walk in the door cause she knows I'm coming to get her up.  :)  She nurses right away and this is the feeding that will be the hardest to give up. When she wakes up, she's ready to eat!  And eat a lot!  It's not going to be a fun week for me when we drop this feeding! OW!  I'm dreading it already.  After she eats though is some of my most favorite times of the day.  We always read together and read about 3 books.  One of them being her Tiny Bear Bible.  It's super short, rhyming Bible stories that are just perfect for her.  We cuddle while she continues to wake up and she just LOVES being read to!!  That 15 minutes or so of cuddling and reading are some of my favorite moments of the day.  :)  After that she eats breakfast (cereal mixed with fruit) and then plays for 1 1/2 hours till she goes down again at 10.  She usually sleeps for 2 hours then nurses again and has lunch around 12/12:30 pm.  Plays some more or we run errands and then nap again at 2 (if we're lucky!).  Bottle and snack at 3:30 then dinner at 5:30/6ish with Daddy. After dinner she spends time with Pete and he always puts her "jam jam's on" (they have a song they sing while doing it!).  :)  So cute.  :)  Bed at 7.  And I must add that she is a CHAMP when it comes to going to bed.  I barely ever even hear a word from her after I lay her down.

Food - She's eating most everything these days.  I tell ya that little girl has an appetite!!  Pete asked me last night if I should stop feeding her at some point. haha.  I told him I don't care how much broccoli and cauliflower she eats!  I'll give it to her if she wants it until she's so stuffed she can't get another bite into her!  Being that my huz doesn't have the greatest eating habits (pizza, spaghetti o's and hot dogs...ugh!), I'm being pretty strict with Keira and what she's allowed to eat.  I want her to grow up liking veggies and fruit and making healthy eating choices and there's no better time than to start than right now!  When she wants more of something, she tries to say "more" but it just comes out like mumbles.  Her little arms shake and her legs kick and when I sign more and ask her she gets a big grin on her face so I know she understands what it means.  :)

Sleeping - Last night I put Keira down at 6:45 pm and she didn't wake up until 8:30 am!!  I was starting to get a little worried cause she's usually at least stirring by 8 am but she was just fine.  This spring ahead time chance has definitely worked for my benefit.  I wasn't a fan of the falling back an hour, but I just kept putting Keira down at 7 even after we sprung ahead (and it would have been 6 pm) and now she just sleeps an hour later.  :)  I've heard that the earlier you put your baby down, the longer they will sleep and I couldn't agree more!  I think that is one of the best "rules" I've heard yet haha!!  She has been fighting her naps though.  I'm wondering if we're getting close to dropping down to 1 nap.  In the mornings she goes down at 10 and always sleeps a good 2 hours.  It's the afternoon one that we've been having trouble with lately.  Every day is different...one day she'll sleep 2 hours in the afternoon then the next she won't sleep at all.  I'm just going to keep trying to stick with 2 naps at this point because I'm not ready to give up that second "mommy" time!  :)  I still think it's good for her to have a rest time anyways.

We've been doing a lot more things with friends and their kids.  Keira's getting to the age where she plays and interacts with other kids and I love it!  I'm so anxious for summer to get here so we can go to the pool and the zoo and take walks outside!!  There have already been multiple 70 and even 80 degree days here so we're definitely getting out of the house more which is great!  Although I will say I'm not looking forward to the 95/100 degrees in July and August.  ugh.  I always thought I would love the heat, but summers here are brutal!  Maybe I'm just having bad memories of last summer when I didn't want to go anywhere with Keira just being a couple months old and out in that heat, but I just remember being miserable!  Hopefully this summer will be different as we can actually get in the water now.  :)

This past week my mom and sisters and Elyse came to visit for a few days.  It was great to have them here and I'm so thankful for them!!  We spent many hours talking and laughing and watching the babies crawl around and eat their toys.  Elyse and Keira are so different.  Not only in size, (Keira's a beast compared to little petite Elyse!!) but in personality as well.  Elyse is definitely more assertive and vocal and much more dramatic.  Keira seems to be more laid back and passive.  It's funny to watch them together!!  They are just so sweet and I hope they grow to be great friends!!  Now we just need to live less than 10 hours away from each other so that can actually happen.

Keira took a few steps while they were here and that was so fun to see.  :)  She's definitely still wobbly and her problem is that she leans forward to reach out to me or Pete and that throws her off balance.  It is still super cute and while I know life will pick it up a pace once she starts walking, I'm anxious for her to do it.  :)  I just love watching new babies walk.  There's just something sweet and special about it.  :)

Well I think that's most of the updates.  Again, for those few who read this, it was probably pretty boring, but I do it for myself to go back and read later on.  :)  I'm still obsessed with my girl and so, so, so, so, so thankful that I get to stay home with her.  The Lord has definitely in every single way possible provided through painting for Pete and Thirty-One with me to make that possible.  I'm living my dream right now - an incredible husband and a beautiful daughter (and a crazy, hyper but in a weird way I still love him, puggle Wrigley).  :)  My life is BLESSED!!!