Needed to Update...

Since we are half-way through 2010 and I am feeling guilty for not posting in 2009, I thought it might be nice to add a little slideshow of some of the highlights for Kayah and I in 2009. Here's a poem I wrote recently. It fits my mood at the moment...

"A glistening radiance shining upon me. The dark night is broken by this small sliver of beauty. So small and seemingly so alone in the vast depth of the night. I look up and see the surround of stars and get a sense of warmth despite the chilling cold moving through the air and through my skin. I shiver, I smile, I close my eyes and say a silent prayer of thanks. I'm here this night looking at the purity of existence amidst the darkness of the sky. I'm here to witness simplicity at its finest amidst the chaos of the spinning world. I'm here feeling a strong sense of passion for life despite the challenges that have been tossed my way. This tiny piece of solitude holds much significance, much purpose in the universe. Lives depend on this brilliance for direction, for guidance, for comfort. A glistening radiance so small, yet so heavy with importance. I look into her eyes and squeeze her tight. My saving grace, my glistening radiance, my purity of existence, my simplicity of the world, my passion for life, my guiding light of comfort, my beautiful child.
My daughter."
For Kayah, my amazing little miracle!

Updated Photos!

Winter '08 Update!

I thought it was time to give an update. Life is movin' along at a pretty quick pace, so I guess it is important to add in these little updates whenever I can. This winter season has been a lot of fun for us. Kayah is at that stage where she's literally learning something new every day. She's either saying a new word, making a new funny face, dancing a cute new dance step, etc. Here are some of her most recent accomplishments...She can make the animal sounds of the following animals; dog/puppy, kitty, cow, sheep, snake, and monster...She can say "Chris" (which sounds like "Tris") (chris is the guy i've been seeing since june) I'm working on getting Kayah to say Dyllon & Nolan. (those are chris' two boys)...She likes to tell Momma "Nnnoo"(even when she means yes)...She spins herself in circles to Ring-Around-The-Rosie...She swings her hips back and forth, rolls her hands in circles, bops up and down, and throws her hands in the air when she's dancing (chris is trying to teach her the sprinkler)...She can, for the most part, successfully locate her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, belly, butt, legs, and toes...Whenever she sees someone wearing a band-aid she says, "Owww"...She can almost say "One" and hold up one finger if you ask her how old she is...She colors with crayons on paper, on Mom's coffee table, and in the bathtub (all but one of those is okay)...She says, "Jesus" and points him out every time she sees him on a cross...and I could keep going because, like I said, she is literally doing something new every day, but you get the picture.

Kayah helped me put up the Christmas decorations this year. I didn't know that even little ones who have never really been exposed to the excitement of the holidays can still be filled with the Christmas Spirit!! I got out those Christmas decorations and let me tell you...that little girl was the most hyper I've ever seen her. There are pictures in the first slideshow below of her climbing on top of the tree box, bouncing up and down. She also "helped" me place all the branches of the tree. It was a lot of fun. I doubt she will be as much help with putting it all away, though...hmmm...

Kayah also had her first adventure with sledding. Chris took Kayah and his little one, Nolan, out sledding one day in Lincoln. They LOVED it! There are pictures of that in the first slideshow below, too.



Now, this second slideshow is all Christmas! From Christmas Eve at the Amen's, Christmas morning at home with Santa's gifts with Mommy & Chris, Christmas Day at Gma & Gpa J's house, to the day after Christmas at Great Gma & Gpa Pete's house, you'll find all the Kayah excitement you can handle! She was a lot of fun with opening presents. She wanted to be in the middle of it all. Sometimes she would get hung up on a particular gift and not really care that she had more stuff to open, but usually she'd refocus and go back to ripping paper. I think she had fun. :) The holidays are definitely amazing after having a little one of your own, that's for sure! Check out all of the joy in the slideshow below...oh! And you'll have to see how much Kayah LOVED visiting Santa! It's a classic!

Whoa!

Sorry I haven't been keeping this updated. What a crazy ride life is taking me on. Good thing I have Kayah along with me, otherwise it'd be hard to stay focused. I don't think I had mentioned in any previous blogs that I had begun seeing someone at the beginning of my summer vacation. We had a great summer together with our kids. I regained a lot of confidence that I think I had lost over the past few years, so it's been interesting. Along with that confidence boost, I've been losing weight. As of right now I'm down 45 lbs since May! I'm pretty excited! I think just the fact that emotionally I felt more in charge of myself and the fact that I had someone to actually go out and do things with helped greatly.

Now I'm back into the swing of things at work. A new year, new kids, new problems, new everything. It is interesting in my job how differently things can be from year to year. Kids are unpredictable. Kayah is no longer going to her in-home daycare. She is with a nanny and her 1 year old daughter all day. They go between my house, her house, and another client's house. They do play groups and take trips to the zoo and other places around town. I think Kayah loves all the interaction, yet still gets to have more individualized attention. It seems to be working out really well.

Kayah is all over the place! She walks pretty steadily now and at times practically runs. She climbs up and onto everything. She "talks" like crazy, although not a lot of real words are coming out yet...but she thinks they are! :) She's so beautiful. She's my world. She's my everything.

Here are some new pics of Kayah & I...

oh my!

Summer is quickly coming to an end. I'm down to only two and a half weeks until school starts up again! :( Kayah is doing amazing things! She is teething again and is finally getting her top front two teeth. She'll have a total of 4 teeth once they fully come in. She is babbling like crazy, which is a lot of fun. She also took her first steps today! I shot a quick video clip, so let's see if I can get it to upload here.

Kayah's First Steps!!!

this has been a while!

Sorry to everyone that still keeps up on Kayah and I through this blog. I guess with the stress of the last few weeks of school, then with the freedom of the first week out of school, I didn't really sit down to update. There's so much to update, too!

Kayah Lu is growing so big! She is coming up on 10 months old, believe it or not! She is crawling everywhere...even up the stairs. She pulls up to stand on anything and everything. She will slowly cruise along walking while holding onto things. She is starting to eat some table foods, like certain fruits and veggies. She waves and makes sounds that resemble "hi!" (this is very cute, especially when taking her out places!) She says, "uh,oh!" She is starting to say "mama," but it is more or less babble right now. She has 2 bottom teeth and is going to be getting more soon, I think. She is just such an awesome little girl. Fun. Fun. Fun. :)

I am doing well, too. I had a week off of Master's work, so I took advantage of that time and found something fun to explore. Now I'm back into coursework, so it's going to be a little busy again. However, not teaching will help out immensely. I am hoping this summer keeps going as well as it has started off. It's so much fun being home with Kayah, not having to drop her off at the sitter's every day. I love being Mommy!

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