12 -15 months and growing

These last few months have been so much fun.  We have had several new changes to our family.  First off, I took up the dog grooming position in the vet clinic I work at.  I am really enjoying it and seem to doing a good job or so i am told by many people.  The other big change is we are buying a house!  We are so excited for this step in our lives, it is something we have been trying to do for the past year and have finally found the house for us!  We will hopefully be able to start moving in the middle of august if everything goes smoothy and on time.  We can't wait to have a fenced yard again!

Kayden is still growing like a weed.  She now weighs 20 lbs 4 oz and is 30 1/2 inches tall.  Not only is she walking like a champ but running, some days i can hardly keep up with her.  She can be such a busy body!



eating yogurt by ourself

One of her favorite things to do is go outside and play.  She likes to just wander around and look at everything.  We also like to go next door and pet the pygmy goats.  She is starting to get the hang of talking.  So far she can say, mama, dada, more, hi, bye, where did it go and i love you.  We have been working on animal sounds, such as a cow, a pig, a horse, a goat and a dog.  However the cow, the horse and the goat all kinda sound the same, but hey we are still learning.









When we were last in hermiston, she was introduced to raspberries and blueberries and man are they good!



sharing with Grandpa

eating all mom's blueberries

Not much else has changed.  Kayden surprises us everyday with everything that she is learning.  She loves to help me pick up the house and is so good about putting things away.  She is becoming very independant and can be very ornery some days which can be quite frustrating to me.  Some times it hard to keep a straight face when you tell her no and she practically laughs at you as if to say "really mom? was the necessary?"



enjoying a drink at starbucks, it was later we found out it was caffinated! oops

1 Year Old!!

sneaking her puffs

Wow this year has just flown by.  We have been crazy busy the last couple of months, spending most of april on the road seeing friends and family.  Kayden has changed so much.  She is no longer my little baby girl, but is now transforming into a sprite little toddler.  At her 1 year check  up, she weighed 18 lbs 1 oz (barely doubling her birth weight), and was 29 1/4" long.  Dustin and I are in shock at how fast she is growing up.  She had an ear infection that we knew nothing about.  Seems like she is going to be like her daddy and hide them.

bad hair day

March was a busy month.  Both Dustin and I were working a lot, add in a trip to Bend to see friends and we threw Kayden a birthday party in Hermiston.  She wasn't too much into smashing the cake as she was about eating all the frosting.  She really enjoyed opening all the presents.  We also threw her a second party here at home on her actual birthday.  The cake process was about the same, all frosting lol.

Opening presents at party #1

Poor Emily was so bummed she didn't get to help

Cake #1

Cake #1

Cake #2

April was also a very busy month.  With all three of our birthdays in the same month, it didn't take long before we were all caked out.  Mid april, we went to Seaside for a week with Dustin's family.  It was nice to get away and relax, only Dustin had to work the whole time which kinda sucked.  Kayden thought the beach was pretty cool though.  Although it was to cold to go swimming or really play in the sand, she did enjoy watching all the seagulls and going for walks down by the water.  We tried out the pool once, but she wasn't too fond of it.  She hung on pretty tight to my shoulder.  She spent the following weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Walker while Dustin and I headed for Spokane.  Needless to say she was spoiled and is definently a daddy/grandpas girl.  She sure knows how to wrap them around her little fingers.  The last weekend of April, we spent shooting rock chucks. Dad and Matt came down and we all had a blast spending the day relaxing. Kayden really enjoyed exploring the great outdoors.


Opening presents with daddy at Party #2

Party #2

Cake #2

Easter

Kayden really enjoys her daddy time.  She gets so excited when Dustin comes home and loves spending one on one time with him.  Her day is brightened so much when she gets her time alone with daddy.

Seaside

Hanging out with daddy on the coast

walking with grandpa long

Indian Beach

As for movement, Kayden is walking more and more each day.  She spends most of her day now walking around the house and following me from room to room.  She really only crawls now when she is very upset.  It is so cute watching her walk on her own and to see the huge smile on her face as she does it.


the guys shooting

Hanging out in Jordan Valley

at the top of the crater in Jordan Valley

10 months!

watching mickey mouse

My little girl is growing up way too fast.  We went to the doctor for her 9 month check up and she weighed 16 lbs 12 oz and was 27 1/2 inches tall.  It only took her 10 months but she has finally doubled her birth weight!  Hmm sound familiar?  She must take after her mother!

Kayden and her favorite blanket

Kayden is changing so much every day.  She is developing the best personality!  Before I know it, I will no longer have a baby but a little girl.  She is a little stranger weiry but tends warms up pretty quick.  She has also decided that she now has a favorite blanket.  It is so cute the way she snuggles up to it and sucks on it.  Make you wonder why she chose the one she did when she had a dozen to choose from.

eating a pb & j

Talk about becoming mobile this month.  Kayden has finally decided that crawling is the way to go.  Now she zooms across the floor at record speeds.  She is also crusing the funiture quite well now.  It amazes Dustin and I at how far those little hands can reach across the coffee table.  As for walking, well that will come soon enough.  She is getting brave and trying to let go.  Every now and then she will take a couple of steps toward Dustin or I.  She can stand by her self, until she realizes what she is doing and then she sits down.  She also trying to pull herself onto my lap, like I need her there all the time. lol.  She also finds it fun to tear through the dvds every day.  And every night I re-alphabatize them.  Yes I know, im crazy!  She also loves to watch Mickey Mouse.

Her hair is also starting to get wavy, so now we have some really bad hair days.  Doesn't help when the dog tries to style it with slobber.  Kayden has really explored her taste buds this past month, including things such as cat litter and cat poop. yes cat poop!  Needless to say she was not very happy with me as I was wiping it out of her mouth.  She didn't want me to touch her for a while afterwards, nope she wanted Daddy.

As of this month, Kayden has pretty much weaned herself from a bottle.  In fact we threw a royal fit the other day when I tried to give her one.  Nope we want real food.  Whether its baby food or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich it makes no difference.  Our main problem now is trying to get her to drink liquids.  We have found a couple of juices that she seems to like, but I need her to drink milk, any suggestions on how to get her to do that?

spaghetti!

We also got to have a play date with the neighbor boy Zaden, who is six months.  She wasn't too sure about him at first, but then they both did pretty good.  And the whole sharing thing?  Yeah might need to start working on that.

9 Months Old!

Wow this last month has just flown by.  We celebrated our first Christmas this year as a family and got to spend it in Hermiston with our entire families.  Its is always so much fun having everyone together.  Grandma and Grandpa's house sure was busy!  As for Christmas morning, we had a blast.  Kayden loves all the new toys, clothes and books she got from everyone.  But she was definently more interested in the wrapping paper than the toys at first.  I don't know what it is about that wrapping paper, but it sure is fun for the kids.

Kayden has changed a lot this last month.  To start things off, we had 2 more top teeth come in, so now we have 6 teeth total.  It is amazing how much they change the look of her face.

She also started eating a lot more solid foods.  Cherrios are by far her favorite and if your lucky enough, she just might share them with you or maybe the dogs.  She also loves her bananas and craisins.  Now I can't have a meal without sharing some with her.  She just loves trying new things and the satisfaction of feeding herself is so rewarding to her.  But you have to watch her, because she will pack the food away like no one you have ever seen.  I was unaware that a 9 month old could eat so much food in one sitting.




Kayden has also learned to pull herself up on the furniture, which just makes her day everytime she does it.  She is also learning that she can walk and hold onto the furniture at the same time.   She is only taking a couple of steps at a time, but before we know it she will be cruising like crazy.  Now nothing is safe!  As for the crawling thing, she can do it, but she prefers to army crawl since she is faster.





This month we also had our first family pictures taken.  They turned out great and I have to thanks Tara and Fred from D.B. Photography for doing such a great job.  Kayden did pretty good through out the whole process, even though she was not feeling the greatest.  As long as she had her puff cereal or her football, we were good.