June?

Where oh where has the time gone??? Wow, can't believe I haven't posted in awhile. Lots has happened since my last post. Here is a brief synopsis.

1) I had a birthday. Yup, I made it to 34. What a year it has been. Really it was nothing short of amazing. I have a daughter now. I discovered my love of motherhood. It was great. And I am looking forward to the craziness that this year will bring.

2) Kiya is still fabulous in all ways. She is a total performer. She sees a camera and her face lights up. She loves to make people laugh. She has learned how to fist bump and will do it often. She loves to sing unfortunately sometimes at all hours of the night/early morning. Her favorites are the ABC song and Ring Around the Rosie. She especially likes the all fall down part.

3) This weekend was jammed packed with Brat Fest with my brother in law, a Brewers game and then last night grilling some steaks with the best man from our wedding. Busy busy weekend but fun to catch up with old friends and spend time with family.

Coming up:

We have a busy couple weeks with important appointments for Kiya. Today she has physical therapy. I am excited to show off all of Kiya's new skills. We haven't seen the therapist in awhile. She wanted to wait a little longer so we could see more progress. Well since we last saw her, Kiya has learned to crawl, climb stairs both walking and crawling up and down (if we let her walk up or down the stairs we hold her hand otherwise she will crawl up and scoot down on her own). Kiya can also push a walker toy without the drama and she walks holding on to one hand. She also can get herself to a standing position using just about anything in a room from a table, a wall, a chair, your shirt, whatever she can reach.

We also have her 18 month check up next week. I can't wait to see how tall she is :) We also have to fill out these 2 questionnaires. One is called Ages and Stages to track development and one is an early Autism screening form. They are pretty straight forward and have some things to try with Kiya to see if she does them. I have started working on a few of them. For example, the form asked whether or not Kiya would leave a room to go get a toy if you asked her to. I didn't know, I hadn't asked her. I asked her when we were in the kitchen where her lion was. She couldn't see it where we were. She plopped down on the floor and crawled over to the front door which is where she had left it. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been. Kiya is very smart and follows directions well.

Walking....it will be a big topic these next two weeks. I am really not worried. Kiya is doing great. I got a suggestion from another mom with a late walker to have Kiya hold on to a spoon and then I hold on the the handle and walk that way. Try it for a few days or so and then see if you can let go of the handle and she will keep going. The goal is to try and build confidence and less dependence on our hands. I really feel like she can do it she is choosing not to at this point. I was holding her under her arms yesterday while she was standing up and she started to walk away. I let go and she took another step on her own. She is really close. I can feel it. Talk about trouble when she gets going....

More pictures to come and updates on Kiya's therapy and doctor visit.