Unique sense of style!!!

Honest...this was all her...lol. Who am I to judge what is a fashion statement. I may have to intervene though when it comes to going to the beach. She was sure that the swim pants were a sun hat.

Happy Birthday to meeeee

Another year older *sigh*.

I took these pictures tonight at my birthday party BBQ - Thanks so much Brad, Cheryl & Jack- very thoughtful and a ton of fun. I love having a child that thrives in party type situations. Dancing, snack food, being outside and paying with people other than us is just what the Kailey bear likes. She can go way past her bedtime and not be cranky at all if she is out on the town. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my little party animal. Thank you to everyone who sent me best wishes...I will be calling you personally as soon as I can.

Breakfast...she got a little on her. ;-)

One happy Chicky.

WOW...

Yay...I love you..

She is saying I love you now. Sounds like 'I duv ewww". It is so cute. She is also saying 'dip dip'. She loves to dip things right now. French toast in yogurt, cucumber with ranch, pieces of potato with sour cream and chives...you name it the kid is a dip'aholic. I took some videos tonight of her being a happy Kailey Bear. Oh and her accessory of choice today was mickey ears. She wanted them on ALLLL day. Some other words she is mastering: hello, plane, boom, tickle.

The other night she was outside for most of the day and she actually fell asleep in my arms while I was reading her a story. I savored every moment of that. I rocked her for a better part of an hour and then slipped her in bed. She slept 14.5 hours...the outdoors just poops her right out. While I was watching her sleep I realized how much she is changing yet how similar she is to when we first brought her home...if that makes any sense. She still rubs her nose with the corner of the blanket. I was her hero as I found all four corners for her the other night. hahaha. She still curls her toes the same way. She still likes to have her binky to fall asleep. I just adore everything about her.

Long overdue post.

WOW...I think this is the longest I have gone without some sort of post. A ton has happened since the last one so I will just skim over the highlights.

She had her 18 mth check up and she is doing great. She weighs 28.4 lbs. and is very very very long (I forgot the exact number and I am too lazy to look it up). She is in the low 90's for weight and wayyyy off the charts for height. Basically she is all legs. She is wearing size 2T for pants now and anywhere from size 18mth - 3 in shirts. She has a few sweet Summer dresses I cannot wait to see her in. Her hair is very curly and is coming in very fast all of a sudden (yay).

If she had her way she would live outside. She loves everything about the outdoors and anything that flies, whether it be an F-18 or a bug it is a 'bir'...as in bird. I thought I was sick of hearing her say 'shooooe'...She is a real sponge right now and her vocabulary has sky rocketed. Some interesting ones are: umbrella (brella), cuddle, papa/pacman(is Grandpa for some strange reason), cold, apple, banana, cookie, turtle, water, stinky(tinky), toes, button(belly button), ears, hair, poop, too many to list, but you get the idea.

She has pooped in her potty a few times and she is totally grossed out by it...hahaha. While she was going she was saying "eeewwww...tinky" and "yuck". She loved flushing though so it made it all worth it. She is still figuring things out, but there have been a few times that she came racing over to me to tell me she had to go. The minute she pees she grabs her diaper and says poo so we are still trying to figure out the timing of that. She will not say pee...everything is poo...lovely.

We bought her a really cool sand and water station that is a real hit. She spends a huge chunk of the day playing and creating.

I also set up a little library for her where she can pull out her books from a shelf and sit in her little chair to read them. She is so excited to have this space that is all hers in the front room. She has quite the collection of books. She loves to be read to and is also really into 'reading' to me. She is attached to her doll now and loves her stuffed animals. I feel like I am illiterate right now so I am hoping I am not coming across as such...I am totally worn out. I guess I am trying to accomplish too much.

I have a major craving to plant stuff this year. I bought the most amazing Birch tree last night (approx. 10' tall and very lush). I have many fond memories of my Nan's big tree growing up so I felt a strong attachment to this tree when I spotted it (read that as...there was no way I was letting those pushy, rude perfumed women who were eyeing it and throwing elbows a chance..grrrrr). Anyway...enjoy the pictures. :-)

I love this picture.

Isn't it funny when you are not even trying sometimes is when you take the best pictures. I love this one of her and all I was doing was trying my zoom feature out on my camera.

look at my curly hair...and my tongue?!

A day at the park.

This afternoon Kailey and I went for a walk to one of the parks by our house. You will notice she is sporting a puppy backpack. What you will not see in the pictures is the fact that a tail (really a leash) attaches to the back so I can keep Kailey somewhat under control. She has one speed and that is FAST FORWARD and she is very unpredictable where she decides she wants to dart off to. I swore I would never 'leash' my child, but I can totally see the value of it. I took it off for pictures and once we were in the park, but she has this set up on all the time. The swings were her favorite thing last Summer, but she was almost insulted when I tried her in it today. She gave me a look as if I was cramping her style. She put her arms up and said 'up'. She much preferred the slide, but was very upset when she realized she dirtied her shoes with wet sand. Every time she would sit down she proceeded to try to wipe off all the dirt. She didn't mind the fact that her pants and hands were filthy...but not the shoes!!! hahaha. There was a dog parking in one of the yards, so off she went like a little roadrunner saying 'hey pup' over and over again. I had an absolute blast with her today. Watching her discover her surroundings one blade of grass at a time has to be one of the most rewarding experiences one can have. We have the Dutch here with F-16's and they were flying overhead and she looked up and said 'wow' and wanted my reaction. She is a little sponge and I am catching her mimicking me all the time. I was pulling my hair back in a pony tail and she found an elastic later and tried to put her 'fluff' into a pony too. It was so cute. She wants hand cream now and pretends that she is painting her little toes. What a cutie.

Fancy Kailey Toes

OHHHHH do I love having a girl. She let me paint her toe nails this afternoon while she munched on some snacks. How cute are little toes in sandals as it is?...add some nail polish and the cute meter is blown to bits.

I forgot some of her other words:

milk - 'mil mil' in a rather deep voice.

color - cudder

yuck - uck

ewwww

stinky - tinkee

Another great thing I discovered today is that some of her really cute jeans that are too short are going to make great little Capri pants. YAY!!!

Oh Toodles...