Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

I cannot believe it, but in one month our sweet boy will celebrate his first birthday! His. First. Birthday. I’ve asked this question before, and I’ll ask it again, where does the time go? Tobi at 11 months is one active little boy. He took his first unassisted steps on April 15, five consecutive steps before he dove into my arms in a fit of laughter. Each time I would stand him back up and cheer for him to try again, he would laugh even harder as he wobbled towards me. Since then he has taken more and more steps each day. He looks like a little tin man as he moves his stiff legs one foot at a time. It is amazing to watch him learn to balance and navigate upright. I didn't think I would be so excited since I've already experienced one child's first steps, and I knew Tobi would walk eventually, but it seems that no matter how many children you have it is truly amazing to witness each one take their first steps.  (Read more …)

If you looked through photo albums of my childhood, you would see year after year pictures of my brother and me standing outside on Easter Sunday. Dressed in our Sunday best, we were always positioned nicely beside some blooming tree or flowers holding our Easter baskets. I knew on the Friday before Easter this year that there would be no outside pictures of Kaiya and Tobi in the new clothes purchased for them by their grandparents and great-grandparents. A huge snow storm blew in as we were dyeing Easter eggs Friday afternoon. As beautiful as it was to watch the snowflakes fall, it didn't exactly fit my picture of Easter weekend. In the weather's defense, Easter did come really early this year.  (Read more …)

I was quite surprised last week when I posted the story about Kaiya's bad dream to see that an entire month had passed between entries. In my typical catch-up fashion, here are a few highlights from the past month or so that should have been blogged: (Read more …)

Well, in our house it is more along the lines of letters and sticks and cameras…oh my! Kaiya is a champion sleeper. We rarely hear a peep out of her from the time she hits the sheets at night until 8:30 or 9:00 the next morning. However, the other night around 3:00 am, I was jolted out of a deep sleep by the loudest shrieks, screams and cries I've ever heard. It took me a moment in my sleepy-eyed state to figure out that it was Kaiya making all the racket and not Tobi. As I ran into her room, I was expecting to find that she had fallen out of the bed or something worse, but instead found her sitting up in bed screaming, "My letters are falling! My letters are falling!" (Read more …)

When I finished Tobi's 8 month post, I thought that there wouldn't be a need for a nine month post. How much could change in one month that would be blog worthy? Well, I had forgotten that these months leading up to the first birthday are jam packed with developmental leaps.  (Read more …)

I'm not sure what I find funnier in this video:

1. Kaiya's self-styled '80s Olympic runner hair style
2. The fact that she calls her Mr. Potato Head, "Tomato Head". (This is even funnier due to the fact that her father also frequently calls potatoes tomatoes and tomatoes potatoes)
3. Her placement of Tomato Head's body parts.

All three had both Andrej and I in tears from laughing so hard at our silly girl. She does have a cold so you'll have to ignore her stuffy runny nose, but we couldn't let those things stop us from sharing the video. Turn the volume up and enjoy!

We recently received a package from Babka that included a box of Hello Kitty Valentine cards and stickers for Kaiya to decorate. A few days ago we got to work making valentines for family and friends. Kaiya colored on the cards with crayons, added stickers and then told me who the card was for so I could write the recipient's name. Unfortunately, I forgot to mail them. This is partially her fault as she wanted to play with the valentines after we were finished by stuffing them into her purse and carrying them all over the house. Anyway, to make up for not having the actual card in your mailbox on this Valentine's Day, I'm including some pictures of Kaiya, hard at work making cards for those she loves. Happy Valentine's Day! (Read more …)