11 Months Old

In her 11th month, Kian got a visit from her Grandpa Terry. Grandpa Terry had quite the eventful trip to Amarillo and we are glad that he finally arrived here safely! he was able to spend a couple of days with Kian and we all had a good time.

For Kian's first Halloween, she was a kitty cat. She was the cutest kitty cat around! In case you were wondering, Skyla and her friend, Carly, were gangstas. Kian went trick or treating for the first time to a couple of houses around the neighborhood. She also went to her first birthday party (on Halloween) for a couple of friends from her Kindermusik class...Lucy and David turned 1 year old. Kian had a good time at the birthday party and checking our her loot from trick or treating...

Earlier in the day on Halloween, we took Kian to the Pumpkin Farm where Kian picked out her own pumpkin, got a hay ride and got to play in a tub of corn. We also went through a corn maze, a hay bale maze and saw some farm animals. Mommy and Daddy did not think the late October sun would be strong enough, but Kian ended up with a little bit of a sunburn on her cheeks.

Kian has already learned what quite a few words mean...she understands 'mama', 'dada', 'sister', 'kitty', 'up', 'lay down', 'milk', 'juice', 'eat', 'more' and 'change'. She also understands the sign for most of these words and can even do a couple of the signs. She says 'mama' and 'dada' a lot. She also says 'uh-oh' and 'ball'. she is also really trying hard to say Skyla, but she is not quite there yet.

Here are a few more cute pictures we thought you might enjoy...

10 Months Old

At her 9 month doctor visit, Kian weighed 19 lbs and was 29 inches tall. This puts her in the 56th percentile for her weight and the 92nd percentile for her height. The doctor says that she is doing fine and that her stomach problems should decrease within 3 months of when she starts walking. Kian remains on her 2 different medications 2 times a day each.

Some new things that Kian does...when you say 'hello' she holds her hand up to her ear like she is holding a cell phone. We did not think that we talk on the phone that much, but it is something we do fairly regularly. Also, Kian now makes kissing noises. When you make a kissing noise at her she will usually make them back at you. She especially likes to give her big sister lots of kisses when the are riding in the back seat of the car together. As a matter of fact, Kian gets mad when Skyla rides in the front of the car. When Mom picks Skyla up from school in the afternoon, Skyla has to climb in the back seat of the car so that Kian does not scream.

We posted a video last month of Kian walking, but she is doing even better than that now and we expect her to be walking independently soon. Kian already likes to scoot across the floor to pull herself up on the cabinets and open them. Therefore, we have been putting baby locks on all of the cabinets and in the bathrooms and kitchen.

Kian started Kindermusik last week, which is a music-focused learning group. She loves being around other babies and dancing to the music.

You might have noticed a new picture at the top of the blog. That, as well as the ones below, are Kian's 9 month photos...

9 Months Old

Tired news to report...the 6 nights in a row that we mentioned in the last posting only lasted one more night after that. We did get 7 nights in a row, but that was it. Kian has decided that she does not want to sleep through the night and likes to wake multiple times.

Kian had a busy 8th month...it started with a visit from Grandma Diann. Grandma Diann came to visit for Dad's birthday and we all went to the Big Texan. At the Big Texan, Kian (and Skyla) got a cowgirl hat as you can see in the picture below. However, Skyla will not wear hers and let us take a picture.















Grandma Diann also got to help feed Kian while she was here.















Kian has learned to move around quite well in her walker. She also manages to get herself into trouble, this time by pulling down the curtains.















Here is a cute picture of Kian playing with her dragon. She likes to put her pacifier in the holes instead of the balls that came with the toy.














Kian took her second big trip this month. We loaded up the car and took a trip to Denver for Kian to meet her new friend, Hansie, and their parents Desiree and Johan Pelser. While in Denver, Kian got to visit the Denver Childrens Museum, the Denver Zoo and we even did a picnic by the lake. Hansie was a perfect gentleman and let Kian ride in his Radio Flyer car at the zoo, which she loved. All of us had a great time in Denver with the Pelsers.

Another big milestone this month is that Kian loves to eat real food. She still eats baby food, but she prefers real food, especially fruit. Blueberries, plums and nectarines are her favorite. She also prefers to feed herself, as you can see below.

We have a couple of video treats for you...

This is a video of Kian showing off her new walking skills. She gets better and better every day and soon will not need to hold onto furniture to walk...

Here is another cute video of Kian playing one of her favorite games...Peek-a-Boo...

8 Months Old

In her 7th month, Kian has grown by leaps and bounds developmentally. She has learned to pull herself up from a sitting position to a standing position using whatever is nearby...her toys, her parents, etc. Kian can even stand on her own for a few seconds at a time. She is overcoming her dislike of rolling over and will now roll over both ways and Mommy and her play the rolling over game every night before bed. Kian has learned how to wave 'hi' and loves to wave at the kitties, but not so much to strangers. She will occasionally wave 'hi' to Mom and Dad also. She is very talkative...she goes to sleep talking, wakes up talking and even talks in her sleep sometimes. However, despite all the talking, we have not learned any words yet. She is close and has said 'Mama' and 'Dada' a few times, but nothing consistently. And the best news yet...Kian has started sleeping through the night. As of the writing of this blog, we are on night #6 (hear the sounds of knocking on wood in your head).

No updates on the doctor front, we should have more news on that after she has her 9 month check-up.

Hope everyone is having a good summer and had a great 4th of July. Enjoy the pictures and make sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for a video surprise of Kian taking part in one of summer's culinary delights.

7 Months Old

This month Kian took her first out of state trip. We went to Albuquerque and Arizona to visit family. Kian did very well on her trip, much better than we expected. On each leg of the trip, Kian slept for the first two hours and then was up for the next two hours. Overall, she slept very well considering her schedule was way off from normal. Kian was very happy to see all of her friends and family again! While in Albuquerque, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and the lady behind the counter gave us some munchkins for Kian, so we decided, what the heck, lets let her have one. See below for Kian enjoying her first donut hole.

Kian has graduated to sitting independently. She loves to sit and play with her toys and empty them out of the basket. She still has no interest in rolling over or crawling, but she is always pulling up so that she can stand. If we assist her by holding her hands, she will walk through the entire house chasing the cats around.

Kian has begun to favor her right hand. When you try to put something in her left hand, she will shift her entire body to grab it with her right hand instead.

Kian had a setback with baby food this month and twice threw up everything that we fed her. We took her to the doctor and through the process of elimination we have decided that Kian's stomach cannot handle the heaviness of the 2nd stage baby foods. So because Kian threw up vegetables both times, she will no longer eat vegetables (green beans used to be the favorite, but no more). She will only eat fruits and has become very picky as to which ones of those she will eat. She also does not care for baby foods with dairy and the ones with very thick textures.

Kian had to say goodbye to her big sister Skyla this month as Skyla is off to Japan for her 6 week adventure. All of us, especially, Kian look forward to her return.

As you can see above, there is a new main picture on the site. We just got Kian's 6 month pictures back and we have posted some additional ones below along with some pictures from our trip to Albuquerque and Arizona. Enjoy...