In a Blink of the Eye

We all know that children are very observant and brave, right? Well, Kayin has once again amazed me (not to mention freaked me out). In previous blogs I have mentioned how her understanding of vocabulary has increased dramatically and today was no different. We have really been working on following directions and today was quite the eye opener. I was getting our lunch ready and had her by her highchair saying, "it's time for lunch." (Keep in mind all of our dining room furniture is at the new house except for our two chairs and her highchai. I went into the kitchen to get our food, which is about 5 steps away, and to my surprise, Kayin had literally climbed all the way up into her chair and was sitting there ready to eat!!!!

Another new word

Today Kayin and I were reading one of her new books (thanks to the $1.00 bins at Target) and we were reading all about the fruits. I pointed to several of them and she just kind of stared at me. When I pointed to the apple and said "apple", Kayin followed suit and pointed to the apple and said, "appa". Which as a mother, is close enough to another new word!!! I must also share that I think I heard her say "Mimi" which is what my Aunt Sharon is going to have her call her. Although, I must admit, over vacation, we could have swore grandma, grandpa, nana and papa all came out.

Visit in Cedar Rapids

As a final stop, we visited Corey, Amy, Graham, and Mitchell in Cedar Rapids. The boys had a great time with her and especially loved showing her their trains and basketball hoop. Mitchell even read her a story! Thanks guys for letting us crash at your place! By the way, we remembered that you sent some Scotch-A-Roos home with us right when we got Kayin down for bed last night. They were a great midnight snack after a week of being gone from home!

Wedding Time

As I surprise for his bride, Mark had a horse and carriage waiting for them after taking pictures. As you can see, Kayin was fascinated! At first, we all weren't too sure how she would react, but as you can tell, all she wanted to do was pet them and give them kisses!

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Cepon!!
If you look really close, you can see Kayin is looking at Kristina. She could not keep her eyes off of her! She stared at her the entire time we were there. Not to mention her dancing shoes with the polka! We had a great time and it was a fun and sleepless week in Chicago!

Here is Justin getting his dancing grooves on with Al, another great friend from college. As the night when on, the pictures got more and more interesting (I tried to find the most decent one that we took)!!

Vacation - Part 2

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning were spent with some friends in Arlington Heights. We then made our way down to Bolingbrook for a couple of nights with Justin's mom and dad. Kayin loved to spend time with them and enjoyed the trip to Chicago we took on Friday morning. Of course, there were moments of shopping in between and I got a glimpse of what my life will be like in the near future!! And for all you photographers out there, this was NOT STAGED!! She walked right up to the rack and started shopping!!

Here is Kayin with her Grandma and Grandpa Brinkmeyer. We tried to get the city skyline in the background, but it was rather hard! :) She absolutely was glued to all the boats out getting ready for the race to Macanaw Island this past weekend. We were astonished at the number of sailboats racing this year that were docked at the pier. Kayin also found a pigeon or two to feed her puffs to!

This was is a little hard to see, however this is Kayin on her first trolley ride in Chicago. She wasn't too sure about it at first because she couldn't see daddy anywhere. But as you can tell, she spotted him!

Vacation

Well, I have some catching up to do!! We just returned from vacation and we have lot of pictures and stories to tell!! We enjoyed our time, but are happy to be home (although we are moving to our new house in a week)!! We were fortunate enough to catch up with our friends Kevin, Shannon and their 14 month old Brianna for the first part of our trip. The girls are actually three weeks apart -- Kayin being the older one of the two. We had lots of play dates and Kayin especially loved this toy of Brianna's!! Brianna wasn't too sure, but they got the hang of sharing by the end of the two days we were there. Thanks you three for letting us visit!!

She let me have the spoon!!!

Kayin has been working on her feeding skills. She is at the stage now where she woud rather not have people feeding her...lil' Miss Independent!! My mom says she reminds her so much of me when I was little (I think there is some truth behind that)! Anyhow, I had sat down with our lunch and thought to myself, "Oh, just let her do it! The only way she is going to learn is to practice even if it does get her all messy!!" Well, I did and check these photos out! I have video as well and I am still trying to figure it out. I tried it the other day with the pool and I can't get it to go....any troubleshooting suggestions?

Yes, the bath water was ready at this point! She had a great time and managed to get most of the pudding inside her mouth, although this picture shows different! She realized that the spoon acted as somewhat of a paintbrush ... a little dab'l do ya!!

Venturing Out

While Justin's friend from high school was here visiting we deciding to show him around Lincoln. We have lived here for about a year and have never been to the Sunken Gardens, so we ventured down to have a peek! WOW!!! Kayin was amazed by all the flowers and when we pointed them out, she would say "WOW" and point to them. The best part of all was at the coi pond...she wanted to jump in and swim with them. We tried our hardest to get her to stand still by the waterfall, but again, she wanted to jump in and swim!!

Happy Fourth of July!!

Kayin had her first lake experience this 4th of July. We have some friends in Lincoln who have friends that own a cabin at Lake Wauconda oustide of Union, Nebraska and were invited to join them for the 4th! This was the first year in what we think has been about 4 years Justin had the 3rd and the 4th off!! She enjoyed many "firsts" this trip and we must honestly say that it was so much fun to see her excitement!! Is this picture, we are getting ready to go out for a morning boat ride. Kayin was amazing...the minute we put her in a life jacket she was ready to go. (She must take after her Unlce Joshy with water!!) She didn't fuss about wearing a life jacket and by the end of the two days, had it down pat where to put all her extremities!!

The picture above is with her friend Mia, in what may be the best invention to get kids to laugh!! A hammock!! These girls had so much fun and I am doing some troubleshooting to figure out how to insert a video from our camera because to hear their laughter is hysterical!! The picture below shows her swimming with daddy on the right and our friend Jenni with her daughter Mia.

My New Reading Spot

Kayin has recently discovered that reading in her Dora ballpit from Uncle Joshy and Auntie Maggie is a fantastic place!! When she first opened this and we set it up in our livingroom, she wasn't too sure about it (and quite frankly, I wasn't either with the 150+ balls that Uncle Joshy supplied her with). But Justin and I have become quite accustomed to this apparatus and so has Kayin. Now, she doesn't even think twice before running and falling in, or finding a comfy spot in it to read her favorite books!

She's growing up too fast!!

As Kayin and I were hanging out today, I noticed a funky smell coming from her. Well, we all know what that means!

I said, "Kayin, let's go change your diaper."

Immediately, our little angel went into her room, got out a diaper from where we keep the extra stock, and looked at me as if she was waiting for a party in her room!!! I was floored.

But, it gets better! Tonight, when it was time for her bedtime story, I asked her to go and pick out a book and sit in her chair. Without hesitation, she ran (and I mean ran) to her book bin, grabbed her favorite book for the week, The Hungry Caterpillar, and sat in her chair! Of course, she had to have her "bebe" and her blankie by her side for this event!! I am still so amazed at how quickly she is learning the last couple of months. If this is what I am missing by working full time I may have to reconsider this!!

Desperate Times

For all the mothers out there--I thought you would appreciate this one! I was in desperate need of a shower today and Kayin would not lay down for a morning nap and we had plans for the afternoon. So, in all despair, I put her in the bathroom with some toys and shut the door (praying that all would go well). She was doing fine throughout the whole shower until she remembered mommy's "basket of goodies" underneath the sink. The basket contains make-up, brushes, curling irons, a flat iron, and yup, you guessed it, feminine products!!! As mentioned earlier in a blog, she is exploring and today this one made me laugh!