Dim Bulb

Mr. Funny (the goat) is turning out to be a bit of a dim bulb. He has a propensity for getting his head stuck in things. So far it's just been the fence or the gate...but yesterday he somehow got his head stuck in his (and Scuttle's) food bucket. He managed to slip the bucket off his head and around his neck, where it stayed until Lewis and I stopped laughing!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby!

Kaia has passed the one-year mark! I can barely believe it. One year ago, I was holding my infant daughter, a cuddly, sleepy, adorable little bundle...and today I was watching my little Kaia chase the goats out in the front yard.

On the morning of Kaia's birthday, we made blueberry-banana pancakes, and served them to her with a pink candle in place...Then we went to feed the pigeons, which was very exciting...and for dinner we had a lovely "baby's favorites" feast: rolled up sliced turkey, cheese, watermelon, strawberries, and polenta.

We decided to forego the big one-year birthday party, and just have the grandparents come for a mellow celebration. So, Kaia had a Zucchini-banana-carrot cake with lots of tasty whipped cream, berries, and bananas, which she adored, and Emma was the official decorator, and did a very nice job!

Kaia had lots of big-sister help opening her gifts! It was a good thing, too...because that wrapping paper can be very intriguing to a baby, so it freed her up to taste the different varieties of paper!

Emma Grace's favorite thing right now is princess dresses, as I've mentioned before, and it just melts my heart that when it came time to choose Kaia's gift, she wanted to find a baby princess dress so "Kaia can be a princess, too!". Em gets a little jealous when Kaia's getting lots of attention, but she sure loves her baby sister, and that is the most wonderful thing to watch!

Almost One!!!

Kaia will be one on Thursday, and I can't believe it! This year has flown by at lightning speed...and the girls are growing and changing and all I can do is watch in awe!

Kaia is big into cruising...still moving around on every piece of furniture she can find. She loves being upright and can't wait to walk! She says "dah!" (dog) and "go!" (goat) and "mama", "dada", and "Emma". She always gets Emma's name right...although admittedly Mama gets called Dada periodically! She loves to eat--bananas, strawberries, and chicken seem to be favorites recently.

We decided to adopt a couple of baby goats...we're working on a little farm (if Em has any say, we'll have some of every kind of animal "except whales, because they're too big and need too much water"). Emma named them Scuttle and Mr. Funny. They are adorable and little eating machines! There are little bald patches in the yard where the tasty weeds once were. Now they're working on the second-string weeds, and seem to be enjoying themselves.

We are loving spring--even with the crazy weather we've been having! Last week the girls ran around outside, swam in the kiddie pool, played in the hose, and wore hats, scarves, and gloves while checking out the hail!

I know, I know, more pictures...

Kaia's changed so much lately...developing and growing like crazy! She has figured out how to pull up in her crib, she's eating most anything we eat, she waves, claps, and signs a little bit (more, milk, tired), and she loves to dance (she has always been so enamored with music! She used to go wild when I was pregnant whenever we had music on--especially American Idol on TV (don't judge! It's a machine! It sucks the American public in, and we are powerless to stop it!)). Little Princess Emma Grace is changing, too...she loves to be the big sister *boss*, and she's a little pathologically obsessed with her Princess dresses. Every day, she wears one. Every day, someone sees her out in her dress and says, "Wow! A princess! This must be a special day!". The great thing is, it does make every day even a little bit more special!

more...

Movin' on...

Kaia has crawling down now! She is so speedy! It's so cute to watch her go after whatever captures her interest. She's also really enjoying cruising and standing for brief (2 second, 3 second) moments every now and again. She forgets she's not holding onto anything and does fine until she looks up and realizes she's not holding on and then *PLOP!* she sits down. It's like those cartoons where the character runs off a cliff and is suspended in midair until they realize that there's no ground beneath their feet, and then they fall. PS Kaia made that sad face for like 2 seconds before she started smiling...I love the many, many faces of Kaia! Em loved her St. Patty's Day Milk!

What's the haps? It's possible this is very boring for everyone who's not me...

Sorry for all the jabbering---feel free to scroll to the pictures instead!
Tonight we were eating watermelon (which Kaia adores, by the way...I think it is her favorite food, although squash is a close second), and Emma said, "I don't like the nuts in the watermelon, I like mine with no nuts". It was cute. She also had a gummy bear, which I don't think she'd ever had before, and she said, "I love this chewy bear! Chewy bears are so chewy and good!"


We got to hang out with Emma and Bucket's Auntie Kirstie and Auntie Scott last week, we had so much fun! I love that Emma has totally gotten to know them. She just thinks Scott is the best. (Your guess is as good as mine as to why...just kidding, Scott!) She follows him around, asks him questions constantly (What are you doing, Scott? What are you eating, Scott? Where are you going, Scott? What does your shirt say, Scott? What are you watching, Scott?), it's pretty cute. Em loves her Auntie Kirstie, too (as does Kaia, of course), and loves to paint her nails with her and do other girly things together. Kirst and Scott got Em a princess dress for her birthday, and I don't think she took it off for a week!


Kaia is really trying to crawl. She's definitely soldier-crawling at this point, and yesterday she got a little red spot on her nose from it...she plants her face in the carpet and raises up her butt and pushes with her legs and then lifts her head up and pulls with her arms...Anyway, it's so adorable and uncoordinated, but she moves pretty quickly! She kind of looks like a baby horse when it's first born and trying to stand up. Lots of wobbling, limbs everywhere, but somehow movement is happening. She's cruising, too, and quite well. Also, Kaia's vocabulary has taken off (I am using that term a bit loosely...but she's moved along from ba-ba-ba and has da-da-da, ma-ma, and tuh-tuh for turtle.). She has her 9-month checkup tomorrow at the doctor...and she's definitely grown a lot! She is wearing 12-month clothes now, and is much taller and heavier! I can't wait to find out the latest official stats!


Em is pretty hilarious. She's really into "rubber princesses" lately. She received a Belle princess set from her friends Kayla and Hannah, and it has a little doll and all these rubber dresses that slip onto it. She wakes up every morning and says, "Mama, I want to play rubber princesses!" It sounds so bizarre. She also received an older iMac computer for free from a guy locally that refurbishes them for kids, and it has a bunch of educational games for 5-8 year olds. She's been doing some counting and spelling games on there and likes it a lot. It doesn't go online, or do much besides games, which is perfect, because it's safe and easy for her to use with help.

We had a little at-home birthday party for Em on her actual birthday, and she wanted to cut the cake herself. She must have made 40 cuts in the surface of the frosting with her little plastic knife. The cake looked a little interesting after that, but it still tasted good!

Enjoy the new pictures!

Some details: the turtles started "tandem basking". So cute!! We all went on a bike ride recently--Kaia's first, and the helmet took some adjusting! Em did great and was quite the glamour girl in her fancy shades and tutu. Emma taught Kaia to make that funny face, and now she gets her to do it all the time...it's pretty funny to watch her contort her face like that. (I guess instead of laughing I should be telling her, "If you're not careful, your face will stay like that!", right?).