NaBloPoMo?

November is National something or other but the gist is you are supposed to post to your blog every day in the month of November. I know it will be a challenge as my time is limited but I am going to give it a try. Expect extreme cuteness, serious subjects I have been putting off and hopefully lots of updates to our timeline for our Little Man.

On that note, lets just say our paper chase is heating up. Home study is just about done. Application part 2 is being mailed to CHSFS on Monday. Difficult discussion must be had this weekend over the dreaded medical form. I hate answering those questions. Dossier paperwork collection starts next week. OMG--this is really happening. I have a ton to do but hope to push through it all very quickly.

All the while I need to get my butt down to the Social Security office to get Kiya a number and fit in a 2 1/2 hour hair appointment.

The good news is I like to be busy. It keeps me away from the TV and the tempting junk food.

Stay tuned for Kiya in her Halloween costume :) I will leave you with this cuteness for now.

It may have taken her 11 months to finally roll all the way over (she would get most of the way there and stop to suck her finger) but she sure is cute :) She has rolled from her back to her stomach since about 8 months old but just wasn't rolling the other way. Boy has she figured it out now. We really feel this is a huge moment for her and the non rolling was holding her back a little but not anymore. And yes those are her cute little feet sticking out of the rails, mesh bumper is going up today. (I am usually anti crib bumper but am okay with the mesh ones. I had to take a training class for our adoption on SIDS and since then have been anti crib bumper. )

I have said this before but I hate it when people compare babies. So it took her longer to roll over, so what. She is doing great and has come so far. She chose to focus on verbal and fine motor skills first. She will walk, crawl, run when she is ready. I am in no way worried about her and I love to see her figure things out. Her new favorite sound other than dada is Zee zee. Too cute. We are also pretty sure she says the word hi. I have heard it as have both sets of grandparents. :)

11 months old :)

I can hardly believe it but my little Peanut is 11 months old today. WOW. How did this happen??? She has gone from a tiny little 5 1/2 month old infant with little muscle tone to a strong, little girl who loves to laugh, clap, stand, talk and walk. She is almost a toddler.

A toddler??? AHHHHHHHH. Baby proofing 101 will be taking place in my house very soon. I really think she will skip crawling for now as she just loves to stand and walk holding onto our hands. She is getting faster and more confident every day.

We have taught her how to make the touchdown sign and the clap when we are watching football. She LOVES to show off and does this often. We say Kiya, touchdown and hands go above the head and then she claps with a HUGE smile. So sweet. I know kids aren't supposed to watch TV but we live in Wisconsin and you might not survive if you don't route for the UW Badgers and the Packers.

She just amazes me every day. We are pretty sure we are going to have a spirited little girl. She already is showing signs of this. The other day I gave her her sippy cup in the high chair and she grabbed it and immediately threw it on the floor and proceeded to smile at me. So cute yet.... We have also noticed that she is very interested in feeding the dogs from the high chair. She hands crackers, fruit, pasta and anything else she can pick up off the side of the high chair, mostly to Badger. It has become quite the problem as most of the food on the tray is finding its way on the floor. We are thinking the dogs are going to have to go outside during dinner time.

We have tried to say "Kiya that is your food" or "Let's not feed the dogs" as if we say "No" to her (which we have done a very few times) she looks at us and then builds up to this whimpering cry. It is kind of pathetic but it breaks my heart too. I know there is nothing wrong with her but hate to see her cry. We are limiting the use of the word "No" so that it won't be one of the first words she says back to us. Not sure if that will work but trying to be more creative in our redirection.

So as we gear up to our little one being not so little and 1, we continue to enjoy every day with our sweet little girl. She is the light of our lives and we are so blessed to be her parents.

Pumpkin Patch

Here are more pictures--guess I am on a roll here. We finally were in town and had a nice weekend so off to the Pumpkin Patch we went.

We finally picked out our pumpkin :)

For a sick kid, she sure was pretty happy. I am excited to carve the pumpkin and get Kiya into her butterfly costume and take so more pictures :)

Vacation pictures

Some pictures from our vacation. Kiya hanging with her new friend Will. So cute. She even got a kiss from him :)

Taking a tour around Santa Clara University.

Trying and LOVING fish. I couldn't believe it. She ate halibut and butterfish while on vacation. We did learn that she HATES sourdough bread though.

Hanging out with Daddy and playing on the bed.

Playing with her best friend the mirror. And yes she is licking it.

Finally some pictures

So here are a few recent pictures. Kiya trying goldfish crackers for the first time.

Standing--her favorite activity.

Being completely adorable and standing :)

Her last Brewer's game of the year

Such a happy baby at baseball games. I even got to watch the whole game in my seat this time :)

Nut house

I feel like since we have been back from vacation that I have in fact been living in a nut house. Things are just a little crazy right now. I know I promised pictures but I just haven't had the time. I have had maybe 4 hours of time to myself and that was eaten up by trips to the grocery store, returning phone calls and catching up on emails, making dinner, doing laundry, etc.

Here's the scoop:

Kiya is sick. She has an upper respiratory infection. We were worried it was pneumonia but thank goodness it is not. Nothing we can do but ride it out. So I have a sick and crabby baby for the next week or so according to the doctor. Meantime, we pray for no secondary infections or fevers.

Sebastian, our 9 year old pug, hurt his back and/or neck. He has done this before but is walking very slowly and isn't being his usually feisty self. A little aspirin and a lot of rest and hopefully he will be back to normal.

Badger, our 6 year old pug, has a hacking cough. He was up on and off through out the night. Poor baby. He sounds so awful. I have a call into the vet and am waiting for them to call me back.

I haven't unpacked the luggage though I have done 2 loads of laundry but none of it has been folded. I did manage to make dinner the last 2 nights though one was frozen chicken noodle soup that I made last week and one was a meal in a box. Not my finest culinary moments but we survived.

I myself haven't been feeling super fabulous and have been getting through the days thanks to 10 calorie Vitamin Water. I am hoping all of my little ones feel better soon, that I don't get sick and that things in this nut house slow down a little bit. I see light at the end of the tunnel. We just need to get through the next couple weeks.

Vacation summary

So since we had limited Internet access for parts of our vacation this will be a summary of everything else to try and catch up.

Actual travel: Kiya is a pretty good traveler as long as we are moving. Sitting on tarmacs waiting to take off is not fun for an almost 11 month old. Once she got settled she slept the majority of each flight we took. It was great. We got lots of comments about how good she was.

Actual vacation: Lots of fun. We went for Dave's college reunion and it was nice to catch up with some old friends. I got to visit with some old co-workers and see my 'second' family. I have 3 families really. My family, my in laws and then my BFF's family and I have always been close too. I have known and been a part of Stacy's family for 19 years (wow--that makes me feel old). We were BUSY. Each day has lots of stuff crammed into it. Too much really, we could have used one more day.

Accommodations: We stayed at our favorite hotel for 2 nights and then house sat for a friend and watched her 2 dogs. That was an adventure. Her dogs have similar personalities to mine. Herbie was sweet and loveable(just like Sebastian) and Jack was NUTS (just like Badger). It was fun though. They kept us on our toes but we enjoyed it.

Kiya: She is FABULOUS. She was so good. She tried a lot of new foods including halibut, beets, sourdough bread, butterfish, zucchini, buttered noodles with Parmesan cheese, and did great with all of it except the sourdough bread. She HATED that. We have a funny video of her trying sourdough when we were are the Fish Market. too funny. I will have to figure out how to upload video as it is pretty funny.

The highs: Seeing friends and having a night out with the hubby. Kiya hung out with a friend of mine and did great. It was the first time a non family member had to put Kiya down for the night. I was not excited about that part but Kiya did great. She woke up when we picked her up and I was still able to give her a small bottle and cuddle before we put her back down for the night.

The lows: We gate checked our stroller in San Jose but it didn't show up in Minneapolis. They checked it all the way through to Madison. We packed the Ergo in the checked luggage since we had the stroller. We let me tell you, hiking it through the MSP airport with a lot of carry on bags, 2 hungry/grumpy parents and an over tired baby was not a good time. We were lucky to get to our gate to find one of the nicest people ever. She offered to entertain Kiya while Dave and I grabbed some food. No worries she was never out of our site and I am shocked I let a complete stranger hold my child but Kiya seemed okay and she could see us the entire time.

We had a great time and the weather was near perfect. Was good to be back in my old stomping grounds again but alas it is so nice to be home.

Will post pics later today if I get a chance.