Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

My parents recently came up for a visit and along with all the hugs, kisses and gifts they brought for Kaiya they also brought some warm South Carolina sunshine. We had the best weather, which melted our final snow piles and we got our backyard back. The weather change also brought about Kaiya's new favorite phrase, which we hear often from the time she wakes up until she turns in at night, "Side, pay!" which translates to, "Outside, play!" Kaiya had so much fun running, playing, swinging, sliding and hunting Easter eggs in our new-found backyard with Papa and Babka during their short visit.

My parents were amazed at Kaiya's vocabulary and enjoyed all of their conversations. It was fun to hear Kaiya learn new words from them as well. Some funny new additions to her vocabulary, courtesy of Papa and Babka, are "cone-bed-ah" (corn bread), "bud seed" (bird seed), "pine chee" (pine tree), "big ock" (big rock), "lil ock" (little rock) to name a few. My mom got a great video of Kaiya's running commentary at dinner one night, but unfortunately their video camera isn't digital so we won't be able to upload it here. Hopefully we'll get some cute video clips soon of our little chatter box.

We were also quite productive during their visit and put together Kaiya's big girl bed, which she will hopefully be moving to soon, and we found and ordered Baby Boy's crib bedding to transform the nursery once Kaiya has moved out. We also bought Kaiya's Easter dress (a huge thanks to Meme and Pawpaw for buying that and all the accessories) and had her Easter picture taken. That was a crazy experience and I'm thankful that both my parents and Andrej were there to lend helping hands.

Kaiya has an unbelievable amount of energy in the late afternoon/early evening and our picture appointment was scheduled for 4:00 pm. It would have been fine except when we arrived at the studio they were way behind schedule so we had to wait FOREVER before having the picture taken. There was no containing Kaiya so my dad and Andrej took turns chasing her around the store. By the time we were called back for the shoot, Kaiya was so wired she would not sit still. Thankfully, she was in a good mood so the few pictures the photographer managed to snap (five total) featured huge smiles on Kaiya's face. Two LONG hours later we walked away having placed an order (single portrait package) for the first picture shown below.

 

Sunday morning was also a first for Miss Kaiya and one that I hope was related to my parents being here and will not be a normal occurrence. As Mom and I dropped Kaiya off in the nursery at church, she started to cry. She usually whines a little each week, but is easily distracted by all of the toys and ends up having a lot of fun. My mom didn't want to release the crying Kaiya, but I reminded her that lingering only makes it worse. We promptly left and headed into the service. About twenty minutes into the service I see Kaiya's number pop up on the screen alerting me to come to the nursery. I was shocked as this was the first time this has ever happened. I quickly made my way to her classroom where I found all of the other toddlers sitting around a table having a snack and Kaiya sobbing in one of the workers arms, screaming in between sobs, "Papa, (sob) Babka, (sob) hat, (sob) coat, (sob) go! (sob), bye-bye, (sob) Mama, (sob) Dada, (sob) go!, (sob) coat (sob)", until I called her name and she saw me standing in the window. It took a few minutes to get her to calm down as she was clearly ready to leave the nursery pronto. Kaiya must really love her grandparents because there was even a snack involved and she wanted nothing to do with it.

Overall, it was an extremely fun visit and none of us wanted to see it come to an end. Andrej and I enjoyed the free babysitting, yummy food, good conversation and helping hands. Kaiya enjoyed all of the attention and love she received and all of the time spent playing outside. Papa and Babka enjoyed being grandparents and spoiling their granddaughter (and us too). It was really sad when Kaiya and I dropped Papa and Babka off at the airport. It has been a week since they left and Kaiya has yet to recover from their absence. She talks about them constantly. During breakfast the other morning, she looked over at the empty chair next to her and said, "Papa's seat." She also demands frequently, "Babka, sing!" or "Kaiya side pay Papa" (Kaiya play outside with Papa). Thankfully, they will be back in just a few short weeks for a much longer stay when Baby Boy decides to make his entrance. Thanks Mom and Dad! We had a great time!