sisterhood of the girly dress

This dress was worn by me when I was one. And my sister Caitlyn, when she was one. There were photos of us, taken in the same chair, by the same photographer.

My mom gave the dress to me so that Kya could try it on when she turned one.


So today was the day. She wasn't sure about the frilly lace ... but after a while she thought it was pretty funny.


She wore the dress, but the Mandan photographer has since closed his business.
So we improvised at home.


This is me.
Kya got my teeth.


This is Caitlyn.
notice the Tic Tacs
And how can I not mention the HAIR. On both of us. Wowie.


Kya has the dress and the candy to occupy her. But the hair she does not have.
She is a country gal at heart with her jeans on under her dress.

short sleeves and shoeless

The last time Kya was outside – shoeless with short sleeves – she was less than six months old.

That was over SIX months ago! This is the last photo I have with kya outside in "summer clothes" ... it was taken in July.

Yesterday she was beyond thrilled to be outside in less than her bear suit. Way less. Short sleeves and shoeless!



Kya was happy. We were all happy. We took a little stroll across the railroad tracks to check out the ducks and geese. It is amazing what a shot of warm sunshine will do.

Another word of Kya:
- grass ("gass")

But how things change.  Today we're being warned about another winter snow storm forecasted for this weekend. Summer will be here again some day. And when it is we will be celebrating.

...

We have been hard at work coordinating our landscaping plans and getting bids.
So far, we have decided on a sprinkler guy and a landscaper to do the edging and grass seeding. The dirt work guy will be out today or Monday.

If all goes as planned we'll have a lawn started by June.

chatter box

Our little Miss Kya is a chatter box.

Her two favorite words right now are "dada" and "light" (light sounds more like "yite" when she says it). She is obsessed with lights. At the doctor's office this week, she saw the florescent lights with cloud covers - she was frantically pointing and saying "yite, yite, yite." Like she was trying to say, "look mom, I found a new kind of light."

Off the top of my head, her words are:
- dada
- mama
- light (yite)
- doggie
- duckie
- choo choo (we have a twice-daily train pass by our house, so this is also a popular one)
- cat
- baby
- hi
... I know I am forgetting a few, so I will add more when Corey reminds me of the ones I am missing :)

She signs "more"
She waves hi/bye and blows kisses


No, Kya is not potty trained (I wish!).
I use this casually. I just sit her down on it when I change her diaper and when she gets up from her nap. She usually "goes" so I figure it is one less diaper I am throwing away. Sweet.

By the way, she claps when she is done "going" ... ahhh the things that warm a mother's heart.


New this week: Kya's discovery of dunking food.
Today she dunked bread pieces into veggie puree. As you can see, this skill takes lots of concentration. She also like to place small bits of crunchy food onto a spoonful of food, as it goes into her mouth (like one Cheerio onto a spoonful of applesauce). This kid cracks me up.


Kya loves her bib and she is very excited when we give her the fork. So excited in fact, that sometimes she shakes it and then it goes flying. Sharp objects flying around the house are not in my list of likes. This skill will take some practice ... with a spoon.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone reading this had a great Easter. We had a wonderful and relaxing Easter, topped off with a sunny and warm day. Perfect.

We spent Saturday in Linton with Corey's family.

Sunday we had a quiet morning with our Easter Bunny treats.


Kya was so curious exploring the basket of goodies in the living room.


This was a much more relaxed day than last Easter last year ... spent in the hospital, recovering from labor. I think we ate pizza for Easter dinner.

We went to mass and then headed to my grandparent's house to enjoy Easter lunch with my family.


Kya was simply adorable in her Easter dress.


Kya and her best buddy, Grandma Rene.



Kya's sweater was made by Grandma Katy and it fit perfectly! Thanks Grandma!


Kya and Parker were such good pals and played all day.


I forgot Kya's change fo clothes so she was stylin' in tights and Parker's "boy" shirt.


My aunt Kristen is pregnant and they decided to leave the gender a surprise until the baby is born. We had fun testing the needle and string theory. According to the legend, she will have a girl!

Happy Easter!

kya: tiny one with big head

Yesterday afternoon, Kya and I went to her one-year check up.

Kya charmed the doctor into giving her Cinnamon Teddygrams (he has a whole jar of them in his office). The doctor said if he had a son her age, he'd arrange to have them married. He and Kya really hit it off.

Yesterday evening she charmed her Daddy into playing house.

Kya weighs 19 pounds, which puts her in the 13th percentile.


She is 29 inches tall, which is the 39th percentile.


Kya's head is 18.3 inches, which is in the 84th percentile.

I guess it appears that we have a runt with a very large noggin.

snow bunny 2011

I figure that if we have snow mid/late April we might as well enjoy it.

I introduce you to: Snow Bunny

Kya got to meet the snow bunny after her afternoon nap.

I am happy to say that most of the snow is melted  and spring might actually join us here in North Dakota ... but sadly the bunny is on his way out. Corey said his ears are now looking like floppy arms. Poor thing.

April Snow Day

Yesterday (Friday) Kya and I had a snow day at home. We got about 6 inches of snow Thursday night so Corey took my car to work. Kya and I stayed in our pajamas all day and made lots of Bison Booties.

On "break" we recorded some of our snow day fun.

enjoy!



Keep an eye and ear out for her "ffff" she learned that hot things need to be blown on, so she "fffs" at everything hot ... and many things that are not so hot. For some reason, bananas get fff-ed. Corey's tea gets fff-ed. The oven gets lots of fff-s - on or not. She saw a campfire on TV (I was watching Survivor) and she went into "ffff-ing" overdrive.

kya: spring and cleaning

Spring arrived on Monday and as a result, Kya and I spent a good part of the afternoon outside, enjoying the sunshine.


After dinner, Corey and Kya went for a bicycle ride.


Then we spent more time outside.


The windows were opened. The deck was swept. Spring is here!


We discovered that Kya really enjoys sitting on the front porch steps. This will definitely be done again (and again and again) in the coming months.

Today, Kya and I were busy in our Bison Booties factory. After lunch I cleaned up our mess and wiped the floor around Kya's chair. She watched me and then was off, busy exploring the house.


She returned with a kitchen washcloth.


That washcloth became her best buddy for the next hour.


Kya made it her mission to wipe down the floor, the table benches ...


... the windows ... on and on she went.


She was so proud of her work. My tidy little lady. She definitely inherited the cleaning gene from her father. Tomorrow I will teach her how to use the vacuum.

TAKE 2: birthday week: sunday. the birthday.

Huge thank you to "Uncle Chaz" for sending me these photos. I was so busy soaking up the fun of the gift opening that I didn't take any photos. Thankfully, Chaz came to the rescue!


Yes, she still has the runny nose and the "cold" ... which I now think is croup ... but despite it, she is quite the happy little sweetie.


My cousin Parker was the helper with gift opening, and was oh so sweet assisting Kya. He is going to be a super big brother in a few months!


Kya got the most adorable polka dot helmet from Aunt Caitlyn and uncle Chaz.


On the back of the helmet, it says "I love my brain" ... haha. awesome. She is going to look so cute (and safe) wearing it in her bicycle cart this summer.


The fun mess that is required of a first birthday gift opening.


This is a wooden alligator that "claps" as it is pulled. So much fun! Thanks Uncle Jesse and Aunt Megan!


Kya will be well dressed as a mini-fisherman, thanks to my parents. It might look a little silly now, but it will be perfect for our Alaska trip this summer.

Kya put on a little show with this bop toy from Uncle Andrew. She presses the top, which makes the little balls pop. Followed by ..

 ... lots of clapping and celebration! Then the whole thing starts all over again. She was so darn cute. Lots of fun!


Kya's interest in walking is back in full force as she shows off here with her dino walker. She will walk until she runs into something, then we spin her around and away she goes again.



Grandma and Grandpa Vander Vorst got Kya this toy that sings and pops balls out of the hole (the one Kya is sticking her arm down).


Hilarious show watching Kya figure it out ...


"What is this for?"

Such fun! We didn't get photos of everything, but I want to extend many thanks to everyone for the great gifts and wonderful company. Thank you!