May Photos (17 Months)

Here are some photos from the month of May!

We went to Canon's annual Blossom Festival Parade. Kiana got her face painted for the first time. At first I wasn't sure if she would sit still long enough, but all we had to do was to tell her we were putting makeup on her and she was fine. A new favorite morning routine thanks to her Grandma Mary. It was a really hot day, and Kiana wasn't too thrilled with the really long parade so she decided to nap through most of it.


Happy Mother's Day. Kiana got me some beautiful flowers, thanks Kiana!


We went to the zoo for the day. Kiana loved walking with the animals as they walked back and forth.


My little daredevil didn't think twice about going down the tube side for the first time by herself head first!


She had so much fun she probably did it 20 or more times.


Here she is going up the stairs all by herself.


Kiana's favorite new hiding place is behind the couch. Since there pulled out at an angle she loves to wedge herself between the couch and wall.

April Photos (16 Months)

Kiana and I had a huge adjustment this month as I started a new job. I will be a Social Caseworker with Fremont County Department of Human Services. This is a complete change from the marketing world I have been in since college, but I'm really excited for this change and am glad that I will be able to start taking advantage of my Psychology degree. I've always wanted to do something with it, and since leaving my last job I have wanted to do something more meaningful with my next career choice. I was lucky enough to have this opportunity brought to may attention; I guess you really can do something with a Psychology Bachelors. So far I have just started my 7 week training, where I have to spend 3 days a week in Denver. It nice to get away and I love being in Denver, but I'm really missing my family back in Canon. I thought it would be easier for me to go back to work now that Kiana is older, but I think she's the one having a hard time with me being gone. Although she's fine all day long, once I get home she just screams and throws temper tantrums with me. Just when she started to stop after the first few weeks, I had to start being gone two nights a week. I hate leaving her, but it's nice to know that she's doing fine while I'm gone. It isn't until I return that I get to see her reaction, good or bad. It sure makes my day though after I was gone the second week and I came home to her running to me to hug me and give me kisses all over my face! Currently Grandma Mary and Grandpa Frank and Great-Grandma Wilma have been taking turns watching Kiana during the few days that Grant and I are both at work. Since Grant has weekdays off, for now, at least we're both not gone for five days straight.

Kiana's new joy is taking out everything that I used to store in the drawers of the coffee table. I tried baby proofing these months ago, but unfortunately they didn't work. So now all my assortment of random junk has become Kiana's new toys. She loves to take everything out then put it all back again. She could do this all day. Who needs toys when you have a house full of drawers that still open and explore in!

Kiana has become mommy's little copycat!




Showing off how she is mastering feeding herself! I still can't tell if she's going to be left or right handed. She uses them both for almost everything.


Showing off her teeth. Yet another trait she got from her daddy, and one he had hoped she wouldn't. Maybe once the others decided to grow in they'll all push together.


Happy Easter! We attended our friends Easter egg hunt again this year. Kiana was able to participate more this year than last.


Getting ready for the hunt! Can you see all the eggs in the background? Supposedly they put out over 3,000 eggs that were all picked up in less than 10 minutes! Crazy kids!

Kiana was still a little skeptic with the Easter Bunny that had a full bunny face, but she seemed better with this one, they had two at the party! It took a little persuading, but eventually we were able to get a picture.




It's egg hunting time! They had close to 40 kids this year; I think more would have showed up if it weren't raining.


Daddy sure has her trained! All we did was show her there was a football egg on the ground and she walked over, picked it up, and threw it! We didn't even have to tell her, she just threw it at daddy!








It was Markie's 3rd birthday this month and they celebrated by having a princess party. Check out that bouncer! As soon as Kiana saw it she did her classic, "OOOHHH, THAT!"

Kiana wanted to take part in the present opening, but she hasn't quite mastered the sitting still thing yet!

March Update (15 Months)

Kiana had her 15 month doctors appointment this month. She was 18.75 pounds and 29.25 inches tall. She went up a line on her scale, she's now in the 5th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height. With a 2 pound and 2 inch gain this has been Kiana's biggest growth spurt yet. I knew she grew a lot in the last month because when she was with Colin in Iowa she seemed not as short as when we saw them in Hawaii. Here's some pictures from the month.

Just showing off her crazy hair.


Grant and I took Kiana to Disney Princesses on Ice. She hasn't seen many of the Disney princess movies yet, so Micky and Minnie were her favorite part. She recognizes them from the cartoon. She did love all the action and singing though. Every time a loud noise would happen she would ohh and point "that".


Princess Jasmine and the Aladdin cast.


The show was almost three hours long...it must have been good because Kiana sat still almost the entire time. That's pretty impressive for a girl that only has a 10 minute attention span during Dora, her favorite cartoon show.


Sleeping Beauty


Beauty and the Beast


Mulan


Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs




Having fun!






Kiana's showing off her new car seat. I was looking around for awhile for a good car seat that Kiana could use for the rest of her car seat days. I wanted a good one and the one we got is supposed to be one of the best on the market. Plus it can be used from a newborn up to 80 lbs. It also has the highest rear-facing limit, up to 40 lbs. Which means that Kiana could probably be rear facing till she's around 4 years old. I'm hoping to keep her till around 3, but well see. The only downside was that no one sold them in stock. So I had to purchase it online, thank goodness Kiana and I both loved it when it arrived.




Up until this point Kiana has still required her paci in just two places, the crib and the car seat. I had a little talk with Kiana when we were going in the new car seat. I told her that big girls don't use paci's in big girl car seats. So far she has been just fine and hasn't needed it. If only we could wean her from the paci for bedtime.


It must be pretty comfy, it didn't take but a few minutes before she was passed out!


We went to a friends kids birthday party this weekend. It was at a bounce arcade. Kiana loved the kiddie castle...the big kids weren't invading this one. ;)



She's come out of the front and just dive down the slide, she's pretty gutsy!



Mommy and Daddy were having fun taking her down the big kid slides.





Kiana has two sides to her...the organizer and the master of ciaos. I was watching TV the other day as Kiana appeared to be playing with all our shoes in our entryway. I couldn't figure out why she was taking them into the living room, until I looked over and noticed that she had brought them in and paired them up. Trust me they definitely weren't paired and organized in the entry.

Then the other side of her is the chaotic side. I call it the aftermath of Hurricane Kiana. Here's what happened to the other side of the living room, in just a few minutes. At least the coffee table is cleared off.


At the end of the month Grandpa and Grandma Johnson came out to visit. They were a big help and worked on clearing out our flower beds with us. I didn't get any before pictures, but they were pretty much a bunch of overgrown bushes and shrubs. We cleared almost everything out and re mulched it. Instead of using wood chip mulch like we had before we re used recycled dyed rubber chips. It actually looks really nice, and the color is supposed to last up to 10 years, instead of just two.




One of these days Kiana will realize that when we say cheese she should smile.