Keziah is FOUR YEARS OLD!!!

Keziah is already four!  I can't believe how fast time goes by!  Look at how beautiful she is.  The top one was pictures I took 2 days before her birthday.  She got her hair cut and styled so I just had to take pictures!  The next group is of her on her birthday!  That morning we woke up and she got to open one gift-a dress up magnetic doll set.  She got to eat a special egg/toast breakfast, and later in the morning Grandma Uglum came and painted her nails a glittery silver and even used a nail dryer.  She felt pretty special to get her nails done!!  For lunch we went to McDonald's (her choice of course) and ate and played.  That night Grandma and Grandpa Uglum came over for some homemade pizzas (per Kezzie's request), sugar cookies, and of course a couple more presents!  Some clothes from g-ma and pa and her owl towel for her new owl bathroom!  She wore it everywhere the whole night!  She had a great birthday but I think she will be even more excited when she has more family and friends for her big birthday party!

Keziah has such a sweet personality but is really very sneaky in a lot of ways.  She is persuasive and kniving too!  I often have to remind her that Jesus doesn't like it when we lie!  She is such a love bug and still likes to cuddle me.  I hope that never ends!  She thrives on one on one attention and usually will request to read a book or do a craft during our alone time.  She loves her daddy a lot but I would say she still prefers her mom!  Keziah recently counted past 100 (with a little prompting on the next tens digit after 39-40, 50, 60, etc).  She knows how to spell her name and Adah's name and thinks she is spelling a lot of other things too.  Everything usually starts with a 'T' and ends in a 'Y'.  I just pretend like I don't know how to spell everything she knows how to spell and ask her what she is spelling.  I do correct her sometimes too so she can learn how things are really spelled.  She really has no interest in learning how to write things but does point out letters she has written while she is drawing.  She still has a very loud voice and has started talking a lot about cheer leading someday!  I guess she would be perfect for it!  She even spent some of her early birthday money on a megaphone and pom poms!!  I was never a cheerleader but we have had fun coming up with some fake cheers for the Chickasaws and Hawks!  She's really good at saying, "Go Red!"

Here is a picture of me at 4 years old...resemblance?  I don't think she looks like me too much, but I do see this look on her face sometimes!

Happy Birthday to my 'baby' girl!!!

UPDATE:  Keziah had her four year old well child visit today (12/8/11).  She weighed in at 36.7 lbs. and 41.5" tall.   She didn't have to have any shots today...whew!!!

Keziah is 45 MONTHS!

Keziah is so much fun to be around.  I have to be careful to not treat her too much like my friend because I feel so lucky to get to hang out with her every day.  She makes me laugh with her silliness, she amazes me with her opinionated-ness, she makes me look at her in awe with how awesomely blessed I am.  I am so thankful every day that God blessed me with her. 
Some of the things she says/does that make me laugh:
Adah made a frustrated grunting noise/sigh and Keziah goes, "I feel the same way Adah!"
She always requires 2 hugs, a regular kiss, an eskimo kiss and a butterfly kiss before nap and bed.
While at the river she had a few funny comments:
Keziah really wanted to go on the dock by herself (with a life jacket on) and I told her she couldn't be down there alone because nobody would know it if she fell in even with a life jacket on.  In a very irritated and 'duh mom' kind of voice she replied, "I won't be by myself, mom, because Jesus is always with me."  I honestly didn't know what else to say after that, except that the answer was still no!  She continued on to say something about him being in her heart and going wherever she goes.  So sweet and totally caught me off guard.
One of the days at the river I took Keziah on the dock to catch some fish.  We baited her hook and she cast it in.  She caught a keeper within just a few minutes and was very excited.  Later in the day she was down on the dock fishing with my cousin and she caught a little fish (not a keeper) and brought it to me to take off the hook.  When I got it off I didn't even give it any thought before throwing it back in the river without an explanation.  She immediately responded saying, "Hey, I was going to eat that."  I told her something about how it wasn't big enough to eat and that she should try for a bigger one.  She said, "yeah, you are right.  Someday it will grow into a mom or a dad so he needs to grow some more."

I can't even remember all the things she says that crack me up.  Most of the time she isn't even trying to be silly it's just the way her brain thinks!

Unlike many kids her age, Kezzie isn't starting pre-school this year.  Personally, I think it's a waste of money and frankly I'm not ready for her to be that involved in the school system yet!  She's got many years of school ahead of her and she isn't old enough to go to Kindergarten next year so why not wait at least one more year!  I wanted to have some sort of structure though for her age and so I went on my quest to see what a stay-at-home mom should do with a pre-schooler.  I learned that ever since she was born she has basically been in pre-school.  There isn't anything we don't do on a daily basis that doesn't teach her something.  Keziah is incredibly smart and could actually do very well in kindergarten right now according to the things she needs to know to be ready!  Keziah can easily count to 39 without any help and beyond that as long as I say 40, 50, etc. to get her started.  Kezzie knows her ABCs and can easily recognize each letter and the sound they make.  Keziah can say her first, middle and last name and can spell her first without even thinking about it!
Since I learned there isn't much 'structural' pre-school type teaching I need to do, I decided to work on just daily skills.  So this month we went a bit further with her listening chart and made it a reward chart also.  She has five chores that need to be done throughout the day.  I took a picture of each chore and printed it, laminated it and put it in an envelope labeled 'to do'.  There is another envelope labeled 'done'.  At the end of the day if she has all five pictures in the 'done' envelope then she gets a sticker on her chart.  She still earns stickers for listening, helping when asked, being kind to Adah in tough situations, etc.  And when she earns 10 stickers then she gets to pick a new book (I bought several books from the bargain store on B&N).  She can also still lose stickers though too.  I have a marker that I put an X over one of her stickers and she has to place another sticker on top of it before continuing on toward her 10 stickers.  So far, this has immensely improved her actions.  I still need to work on remembering to reward her and making sure to pay attention when she deserves to be rewarded.  I also need to be more diligent to catch her when she is whining and give her an X right away if needed (she gets one warning before the X goes on)!
Another thing we are starting to work on is Bible verse memorization.  I found a list of good verses on the internet for pre-school age children and Kezzie is doing great.  She is such a whip at memorizing things, she is going to continue to do well at this!  The bible says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11.   Another bible verse I like about verse memorization is, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 2:14-17.  I feel this really strongly on my heart for Keziah and am excited to see how God uses this in her life.  Another reason why I am so blessed to be home with my kids!
One thing I am hoping to get going sometime this next month is a calendar for Keziah.  One of the biggest challenges/annoyances I face with Kezzie is her always wanting to know what is coming next.  The next hour, the next morning, the next whatever.  I get frustrated because she asks it so frequently throughout the day.  I think if I had a daily/weekly calendar for her to look at she could see what is coming and maybe be more settled.  I think it's normal for her age but I also think it is a big part of her personality to need to always know what to expect...so this is a goal of mine and you can hold me to it in her next month post!
Until next time...

Keziah is 42 months!

Keziah is an amazing little girl.  She is so sweet and learning so much about how to be a better daughter, sister and person!  She is learning to listen and be kind on a daily basis and challenges these things quite often. 

Some things about Kezzie:
-She is starting to get into organizing.  If I ask her what she is doing sometimes she will tell me "I'm orcanizing!"  It's so cute!
-I love how she analyzes things.  Today (5/8/11)  She was watching Nemo on the way to church.  The mom got eaten by a shark and she asked as series of questions: What happens when she gets in his teeth?  What happens when she gets in his throat?  What happens when she gets into his belly?  What happens after she is in his belly?  She is such a thinker and analyzer!
-Kezzie likes to read books she is familiar with to Adah.  Adah loves it and adores her big sister and her smartness!
-After recently seeing Leora (my cousin, Kezzie's second cousin) she has become a master at story-telling!  The day they were together Leora was teaching her how to write her story out on paper (only they were using napkins) and then presented their stories to the rest of us!  Kezzie's story on her napkin was only readable by her and consisted of many drawings only she could explain!
-We instilled a listening chart to help with listening and a couple different one on one times with mommy each day to cut down on whining.  The listening chart is an idea I got from my sister.  If Kezzie listens to our words on the first try then she gets a sticker.  When she gets 10 stickers she gets 1/2 hour on the computer.  This might seem kind of easy but truthfully she rarely earns one sticker in a day.  I think I need to find more instances where she is listening (maybe I am just used to it and not realizing it) so that she will get the concept a little more.  It's a training process for me too!  The other thing is she can lose stickers for certain things.  I don't like to do this too often but I have done it a couple times for when I am at a loss for anything else.  As for the one on one time, I have been putting Adah down for a nap at least a half hour before Kezzie so she and I can have time to do something together and I put Adah to bed a half hour early at night so Kezzie and I can read books or play something on the iPad together.  I do think this is helping eliminate some whining and complaining about being bored, etc.
-A recent conversation between Kezzie and I (as Adah is flipping off the top of the couch).  Me: Kezzie did you just show Adah how to do that? (this is a problem and Kezzie has been told umpteen times not to flip off the couch) Kezzie: slowly shaking her head no.  Me: Keziah, I am going to give you one more chance to tell me the truth, did you just flip off the couch?  Kezzie: slowly shaking her head yes she says, 'if I tell you the truth I will be set free, but if I lie it will trap me'.  We have a bookmark that we use in her devotional and it is Larryboy from the Veggietales and on the back it quotes, "A lie will trap you but the truth will set you free." (from the verse John 8:32).  Kezzie has a bit of trouble with telling the truth so this is something we talk about frequently!
We love you Kezzie and can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Keziah is 36 MONTHS!

Keziah is so beautiful!  I can't help but stare at those big brown eyes and long eyelashes!  She is becoming so funny too.  She says some of the funniest things!  I have logged a few over the month (there are many more, but I don't always remember to write them down): Keziah has a really good sniffer.  It's hilarious, she always lets us know if something smells funny!  And she is always right about it too.  If Adah is poopy she will sniff with her nose and say, "it smells like poop in here."  Or if our stubborn dog poops in the house, she isn't in the room a second and she immediately identifies it and upon deep searching I always find it hidden in the corner or something.  She identifies many other smells too before I even notice them.  It's so funny!

On a ride in the car Adah was quite upset and Kezzie was becoming frustrated.  She looked over at Adah to apparently find her flailing her arms while crying.  I overheard Kezzie respond to Adah by saying, "Adah, stop hitting yourself and you wouldn't have so much problems."  She didn't say this calmly by any means! 

Another funny thing she said was to Austin.  Austin was getting yelled at by me and he and Kezzie were sitting at the table eating breakfast together and in an effort to make him feel better she says to him, "She yelled at me too Austin, she yelled at me too!"  (I didn't yell at her too but she pretended I did to try to make him feel better?!).

Kezzie is getting a very large variety of vocabulary.  Sometimes she knows what she is saying and sometimes she uses it in really weird places (ie: 'change your attitude' when really somebody is in a good mood-or maybe she is just trying to be bossy!).  She likes to say actually a lot!

Keziah is in love with her finger, blankie, and now her penguin she recently aquired for her birthday (daddy  got it for her).  She will panic if not all three are within arm's length at all times.  Although, she is ok if her blankie is in her bed and she knows that is where it's at.  In fact, her blankie is supposed to stay in her bed at all times (but that's not always the case)!

Kezzie's love for Jesus is growing too.  I love it when I ask her a question she always thinks the correct answer is 'Jesus'.  We have a devotional every night before bed.  They only last a minute or two but they include a bible verse (which she always tries to repeat after me) and a prayer (which I break up into pieces so she can repeat it after me).  I recently asked her what we were going to be celebrating at Christmas time and she answered me Jesus' birthday!  That really warmed my heart.  We talk about it, but I didn't know how much was really getting through!  I just love it!

She is looking forward to church more every week.  She has started doing crafts in the room she is in now.  Everything she decorates is typically colored blue (her absolute favorite color).  But what I love the most is that each craft comes with a slip of paper explaining what she learned in class that day.  I like being able to re-talk it over with her and just solidify the story she learned about!  God is so good and I pray that she will continue to live for and learn more about Him!

This is how Keziah spent her third birthday! We had such a great day! We woke up and I made homemade pancakes (per her request). Before daddy even left for work, we let her open her gift from us.  She absolutely loved it.  It's called squinkies.  A little story for ya: One time when we were at Fareway Austin got Kezzie a miniature puppy from one of the vending machines.  She has since wanted more and loves the three that she has so much that she carries them everywhere with her.  Well, the squinkies are kind of the same thing.  The squinkie home is like a gumball machine.  There are squinkie pennies that you put in (or you can use a regular dime or penny) and you turn the dial and a little squishy, rubbery, figurine comes out in a little plastic bubble.  This is just the beginning of the squinkies though because you can collect many different series.  They are adorable!  Her favorite one is a baby and it has a paci!  We have rules with these squinkies as this can be a huge problem with Adah around.  She can't get them out unless she is going to play on the dining room table or play when Adah is napping.  We haven't had too many problems!
Anyway, after a quick nap for Adah we headed over to playgroup at one of the mom's houses. We had a Thanksgiving party where we ate fun treats and made Indian hats that portrayed all the things we are thankful for. Keziah put all the normal things on hers such as: family, home, nice warm bed, food and clothes. After playgroup, I decided I would go out of the norm of eating lunch at home and instead take her to lunch at McDonald's and let her play for a bit with Adah.  I told the other moms at playgroup that they were welcome to join us and to my surprise, a couple of them did!  I really thought this would help Keziah be brave enough to go up into the big part with the big slide, but she got scared and I had to rescue her (yet again).  Daddy got to join us too, for a little bit, which of course made her day!  After getting home late and rushing into bed for nap, we somehow managed to forget to have birthday cake or sing happy birthday to her.  She didn't care though and instead spent the rest of the day enjoying all the many toys she received for her birthday!  Don't ask me what we had for supper or why we didn't think of singing to her then either!  It was a great day!  Happy Birthday my beautiful Keziah!  Mommy and Daddy adore you and love you so much!

Keziah is 35 MONTHS!

Here she is...my almost THREE year old!  I can't believe it!  She is starting to love the camera even more and insisted on me taking her picture in these different poses.  She is so beautiful!  She is lacking in clothes that actually fit her so in a trip to target I let her pick one shirt.  I gave her two choices and she of course picked the blue one (this has been her favorite color for a while now).  So this is the shirt she picked and I think it looks so good with her hair/eye color.
Keziah is officially fully potty trained!  It's amazing that almost a year and a half ago Kezzie was mastering staying dry during the day and now, finally, I can say even at night she is staying dry!  Ever since she was sick in early October she has been staying dry at night.  Around the same time she really started to complain about not wanting to wear a diaper at night.  She just didn't like the way they felt.  When she started feeling better she had a little hiccup and wet the bed three nights in a row.  As much as I hated changing/washing bedding I was determined to not give up!  And Kezzie was determined not to go back to diapers (I even asked her).  I decided to try a different idea...no fluids after 6:30pm and I wake her to go potty before I go to bed around 10 (sidenote: I don't want to forget something Brian said...partly because he was the one that said it but also because it is so true.  One night when I went to bed early Brian volunteered to take Kezzie to the potty.  When he came to bed after taking her potty he said something like 'she looks so peaceful when you tuck her back in, almost as if she is smiling she is so warm and cozy and happy to be back in her bed' and it's so true.  She looks so precious).  She hasn't had an accident since!  In the beginning she was waking in the morning between 5 and 6AM because she had to pee so bad and then she wouldn't go back to bed.  During this time she would run down to our room to get us up to help her go, but then we changed some things to allow her more independence.  For instance, she has to have pants on that are tight around the ankles so they won't fall off when her legs are hanging from the toilet.  If we forget this, she will wake us in her sleepiness yelling from the upstairs bathroom.  She has even woke Adah doing this-not an experience I really want to re-live! Also on the same note of how she is dressed-she literally only has her jammies on.  If she has undies on she will have the same frustration/yelling when she tries to pull them up.  She is tired and doesn't want to deal with them bunching up and getting rolled so we just eliminate them altogether.  Requirement #2...she has to have lights.  Lights are key!  When she goes potty by herself she has to have the light on.  In order for her to turn the light on there has to be a second stool in the bathroom (see requirement #3) to allow her to reach on her own.  And also she has to have the potty all set up-meaning she needs her potty seat on the toilet and a stool up next to the toilet.  It seems like a lot more work then it is.  And it is so worth it if she isn't waking me to do something she has been doing so well by herself during the day for the last year and  half!  I sometimes even hear her get up at 3AM to take herself potty and then head back to bed.  What a big girl!  I am so proud of her!
Kezzie has become a SUPER picky eater.  This makes for a very annoyed mommy and a lot of drama at the dinner table.  I mean A LOT!  Any tips in this area are encouraged!  I honestly can't tell you anything I am for sure she will eat.  Her reaction is different from time to time of making the same thing!  I think it is her age because she has also become very demanding.  ie: 'I WANT TO WATCH DORA!' (while hitting her fist on the couch), 'GET ME SOME KETCHUP' (with a very pouty face).  The list goes on!  Let's just say she is taking a lot of deep breaths, taking a lot of time outs, and giving out a lot of apologies!
One of Keziah's favorite things to do with Adah is play on beds or in Adah's crib.  Almost every day when Adah wakes from her nap Kezzie will ask, "Please open Adah's door?"  In a nutshell she is asking me if it is ok to go in Adah's room, put hundreds of toys in her crib, proceed to climb into her crib and then have tons of fun with Adah laughing and giggling and squealing!  I listen to them over the monitor and just smile at how much their relationship is growing!  I eventually go in there to break up the fun and to discover exactly how many toys/stuffed animals Kezzie has carted from her room into Adah's crib and then promptly help Kezzie put all the animals and toys back where they belong so the crib is ready for its next use!  Adah equally enjoys joining Kezzie in her bed.  There is a step stool next to Kezzie's bed that Adah has become a pro at climbing.  She will go straight for it every chance she gets.  You really have to watch her on Kezzie's bed because the only thing keeping her from falling off is a bed rail.  The two of them get pretty wild up there hiding under the covers and plopping on their backs saying 'whoa' (Adah says this with her eyes!).  They have so much fun together!  Keziah equally loves Austin's company.  She is enjoying following his lead and doing pretty much anything she is asked.  He is her favorite wrestling opponent and breakfast buddy and the one person she loves to fight with the most!  And secretly she is all those things for him too!
Keziah is doing excellent with her letters.  She can recognize almost all of them and has recently started to try writing some of the more simple ones (i and l, o, t, etc.)  And she continues to get more confident with counting.  She has even started counting backwards from 10 missing a couple until she reaches 5 and then it's smooth sailing!  Good-bye until next month...it will be here before we know it!

Keziah is 34 MONTHS!

(The big blob on the side of Kezzie's face is a princess tattoo, in case you are wondering!)
I am in total shock as I start to think about planning Keziah's 3rd birthday party!  I can't believe my baby is getting so big.  And you can see in these pictures she has an attitude to go with it!  She is loving life and enjoying every day God gives to her!

Keziah is 33 MONTHS!

This girl is nothing but fun! Just look at her personality in the pictures! I'm not sure what that new smile is all about though (top left corner)! And she really likes tilting her head to the side! I am seeing that more and more these days! There are a lot of things about her that crack me up or impress me about her but I am so horrible at keeping track of these things. Here are a few of the many...
She has discovered that she can use her fingers to show an amount (ie: she shows two fingers for her age, or if she wants to read three books she holds up three fingers!). It seems like she purposely finds reasons to do this!
She is really getting into letters (this goes in spurts). Lately her favorite game is Boggle Jr. And when she completes an image she always wants a high five...so cute! She can tell and show me many letters of the alphabet. We have a book with all the letters in it and I can ask her to point to a certain letter on the page and she can do this with almost all the letters. She can also tell me what most of them are. This is a little more difficult! She is also really starting to recognize a few words in books and can read me almost word for word/page by page a book she is familiar with. And when she just knows what is happening on each page she will tell it in her own words. I love hearing the things she picks up on.
She loves the camera right now...not necessarily having her picture taken, but taking pictures! If I forget she has the camera, she can rack up 50 pictures without me even knowing it...until I go to clear the memory card!
Kezzie is having a really hard time having her door closed all the way. This might have something to do with staying at the Thilges house when Alanna was born. I never closed the door all the way and she got really used to that.
Kezzie's absolute favorite color is blue right now. Everything she picks HAS to be blue. She will boldly state 'blue is my favorite color, what is your favorite color, but it isn't blue.' I guess she is the only one allowed to like blue!
Keziah loves to gargle. This is her new thing she has learned this month. I have had to tell her it isn't allowed at the dinner table because it is rude otherwise she will do it every time she takes a drink!
One of my favorite things Kezzie says right now is 'I love you, mom'. She will sometimes get mad if I respond with 'I love you too' because she just wants me to accept her compliment and just take it for what it is and not always respond. She does this with hugs too. Sometimes she will give me a hug and tell me not to hug her back because 'I just want to give you a hug, mom'. I was always wondering why she sometimes wouldn't hug me back she just kind of leans in to me and lets me hug her!
Keziah has been fighting with Adah a lot more. She takes everything Adah tries to play with and will put it across the room or up where Adah can't reach. She doesn't even keep it for herself. Just ornery! And now that Adah is pulling herself up to things (8/11) she gets stuck because she can't get back down. So although Kezzie thinks she is just helping, she will release Adah's hands from whatever is supporting her causing Adah to fall to the floor, sometimes flat on her back. Poor girl!
Brian and I have noticed that Kezzie's voice seems hoarse. It could be allergies but it's been going on for a while now and even before allergy season started. We are wondering if her voice is changing a little. It sounds different. Like not so babyish!
Kezzie has been going down for nap with undies on and waking in the night to go pee which allows her to wake in the morning dry. I really think we are on our way to fully being potty trained!
Kezzie wakes in the morning around 7 and really could take or leave breakfast but she LOVES her fluids. It is a must that she have something to drink upon waking up! She gets hungry for lunch by noon and lays down for an hour to hour and a half nap around 1:30. She always wants something to drink when she gets up and almost always wants a snack. It is rare that she will wake up happy from her nap too. She is ready for supper between 5 and 6 and almost always wants a dessert or treat of some kind afterwards! I don't mind as long as she eats all her supper. She gets to read two books and a devotional before going to bed by 8. We compromise on the door situation which means the door stays open during her nap but has to be closed at bed (which means she can't get out of her room without being let out). In the morning she lets us know she is awake by saying 'mom, I'm awake' and then she is allowed to get up and play or read books until I come up to let her out. She does really well with this most of the time. Sometimes if she clearly got up on the wrong side of the bed she will just yell that same phrase over and over like a broken record...this makes for a mom who gets up on the wrong side of the bed so if she does this she doesn't get to watch her episode of Dora in the morning. I don't think we have had that problem in a while!
Well, I know this is a long one, but don't ever feel obligated to read all the mumble jumble...it's just for me so I can remember these precious moments forever!

Keziah is 32 MONTHS!

My photographer suggested to try different angles so that is what I did this month and I was suprised at how I liked them. I am definitely far from being a photographer but at least there's a little variety!

Keziah is growing up so much. I love her personality and yet some days it's really hard to deal with! She is so outgoing and persistent and a go-getter. That's the best and nicest way to put it! We are working hard on listening before we have to discipline. And the whining...it's almost unbearable. Do all girls whine or just mine? We have decided now that it is time to leave the blankie in bed only since that was causing a whole nother list of problems. She was becoming super attached to it, chewing and sucking on it, etc.

Kezzie's day is still pretty much the same as usual. She goes to bed by 8/8:30 and wakes up by 7/7:30. She still takes an afternoon nap (thank the Lord) whenever Adah is ready for hers between 1 and 2. Her days consist of swimming, TV (around an hour a day-sometimes more sometimes less), books-lots of books, pestering her brother and loving on her little sister. Life would be so empty without her. She brings so much laughter into our lives...here are a couple funnies from Kezzie:
We had plans to go out with some friends for ice cream in CF...I went in to wake Kez up from her nap so we could go and when I walked into the room where she was sleeping (we were at my parents') we had a conversation that went something like this:
Me: Hi sweetie, do you want to go get ice cream with Levi and Naomi and Isaiah?
Kezzie-while still laying down shrugged her shoulders and said: Well, I'd love to but...I have to go to school. Maybe me go next time! And shrugged her shoulders again.
She must have been dreaming about something!

Another funny story is: every time we are on a walk at the river we walk by a cabin that has various holiday decor out (strange, I know). One of the things in a tree is a Santa. For the longest time Kezzie would boldly state as we walked by "Look mom, there's Noah" (like Noah from Noah's Ark-because of the beard I guess!). I didn't even think to set her straight on the concept until we were on a walk with my sister and she asked me if I ever told her who it really was. I always thought it was so cute that she thought it was Noah that I never told her any different! I think Kezzie knows who it is now!

There are so many conversations that Kezzie and I have with each other, I wish I could have a recorder on her all the time. She is hilarious and can carry on such a long conversation with you. It's so much fun!

Keziah is 31 MONTHS!

I can't believe it either...she is another month older! How does this happen? Time is going by so quickly and the saying is true "Time flies when you are having fun" and nothing describes life better with the kids God has given me!

Kezzie is getting smarter, of course! She has been able to count to 10 for a long time now but this month learned how to make it to 20. Just recently she started to count beyond 20. If you help her get started she can usually continue on to 30. She will frequently miss a number here and there though! Still, very impressive! Another thing she is doing is she is 'measuring things'. She will stretch out a toy or piece of string and say 'twenty pounds' as if to say its length. So cute! She says the same thing when she is weighing herself too. I suppose the doctor's office is where she is getting the idea from!

Every morning Kezzie gets the farm animals out of her barn and lines them up. They can't ever be lined up on the floor though, they must be standing on some kind of pedestal. She gets frustrated if she can't find something to stand one of them on. She pretty much leaves them to sit there for the rest of the day until clean up and then she does it all over again the next day. She has recently even started lining up the animals from her Little People Noah's Ark set.

She isn't doing the greatest at listening these days. I am sure it is her age but I feel like I am failing miserably as a parent...any tips on getting her to do better with this would be great!

Kezzie is starting to say the funniest things-some that make sense and some that I can see how she would think they make sense. I will be starting to record these so I can share them with you and keep them for my own records! She makes me laugh so much by her goofiness! I just love this girl!

Still her favorite thing, by far, is the Wiggles. However, Dora is coming in a very close second. I think she struggles with who she wants to watch between the two every time we get in the car for a long ride.

Kezzie has really taken an interest in Adah lately. She loves to make her laugh and smile. She will copy things that I do to get Adah to smile (ie: if I pretend laugh uncontrollably to Adah she will laugh hysterically-Kezzie will do this at random times, sometimes it works!). She is also a very big helper when I need a burp clothe or Adah's paci. I have also caught her rubbing Adah's head to soothe her when she is crying. And very often Kezzie is quick to show Adah off to people at the grocery store or wherever we venture out to. You better believe that there is also another extreme to this relationship! Kezzie HATES to share (so abnormal, huh?) and will pretty much do whatever it takes to get her toys away from Adah. I have witnessed some brutal behavior coming from such a tiny person! She will shove her, poke her and just plain yank a toy right out of her mouth/hands if she doesn't want her to have it. Kezzie will always claim that it isn't safe for Adah to have and that's why she is taking it away. What a great Love/Hate relationship!

I can't express enough how incredibly blessed we are. God has given me an enormous job and responsibility. It is a great journey that He is leading me on!

30 months!

She is looking more grown up every time I do this. A full two and a half years now! She is my big helper around the house and talking so much! She is full of attitude but is such a sweetie. Still doing great without her paci and is doing excellent on the potty. She is even napping in underwear these days! Last month I mentioned taking the safety door handle off her door so she could come out of her room when she woke in the morning, well this month we put it back on. She soon started taking advantage of that and we found her 'needing a drink or needing a kleenex' waaaayyy too often. She would open her door and help herself to the bathroom where she would hang out for a while and then run back to her room. She was also getting up much earlier than usual. Like over an hour earlier just so she could come out of her room or something! Anyway, it is back on now and things are back to normal. It is sometimes a pain to have to leave what I am doing (ie: nursing) to go upstairs to let her out of her room but she handles it really well and I would rather it be this way then fight with her to stay in her room!

Funny Adah/Kezzie story: The other day Kezzie asked if she could hold Adah, (this doesn't happen very often, in fact, it has been a really long time since Kezzie has held Adah) so I had Kezzie sit up in the recliner and I plopped Adah on Kezzie's lap. Kezzie was done in a heart beat and I thought to myself, maybe she would enjoy it more if she could actually see Adah's face and interact with her. So, I turned Adah around and put her legs so they were straddling Kezzie's tummy. Kezzie was enjoying this so much more and they were laughing and smiling at each other all the while I am supporting Adah's back and joining in the fun! All of the sudden Adah spits up A TON of spit up (she had just finished nursing) all over Keziah. The look on Kezzie's face was priceless. It went from a full blown smile to complete mortification! And she was even more offended that I couldn't stop laughing. She looked up at me and disgustingly, boldly stated 'Adah spit up' as she tried to push her off her lap. It was priceless!

I wanted to say a word on the rash on Kezzie's face too. It's been a while since I have commented on it but until this month I have still had to daily put Elidel cream on it. This is the first month that I haven't put it on in at least a couple weeks. Hopefully she is finally outgrowing this eczema that she has had to deal with for the past year now.

One of Kezzie's favorite things to do is match things. She is always trying to find things around the house that match. She will open up DVD cases and get the inserts out and match them to the correct case, she loves to match a picture that we once took of her receiving a gift to the actual object (ie: she just recently saw a picture of herself next to her Easter basket and in her basket was her stuffed animal chick, she immediately went and found her chick and put them next to each other and said ,'look it's a match'), she also has a couple matching games that she frequently requests to play!

One of Kezzie's most favorite things to say when asked a question is...'cuz I want ted to' with some very clear annunciation! This is becoming a very annoying response and just might have to be nibbed in the butt (is that the correct expression?) really soon!

Kezzie is still napping from about 1:30-4 and goes to bed by 8pm. She wakes around 7/7:30. She is never interested in something to eat for breakfast but loves her liquids! I usually mix 1/5 juice with 4/5 water. And after about an hour of being awake I offer her some cereal with milk, oatmeal, a bagel, or some toast (she hates eggs right now). She is doing pretty good with her other two meals but definitely isn't going through a growth spurt. She can't have a morning snack or you can forget her eating lunch at all, but she will always have an afternoon one when she wakes from her nap because that ties her over til supper when we eat around 6.

Until next month...we'll keep on smiling and thanking God for our precious little girl!

29 Months!

Keziah is another month older and it continues to amaze me how big she is! She is such a joy to be around. I know I say that every month, but it is so the truth! She makes me laugh all time! She says the funniest things and is learning more everyday. Every morning that she wakes up I swear she is smarter! Her sentences are becoming very complete and she almost speaks as well as some adults! She gets her words jumbled in a sentence sometimes but I can always tell what she is trying to say (ie: 'what say you?', 'where she is?', etc.)

Keziah is still taking her afternoon nap. I am just waiting for that to one day come to an end. I will cry when that happens! She sometimes has a really hard time getting to sleep and if I have her skip her nap for a day when we are busy she isn't hardly even phased by it. When she does fall asleep she will sleep for a good two hours and still sleep the same amount at night as she usually does which is great (8pm-7am). Also, we just took her door handle cover off so she is free to leave her room when she wakes up in the morning. It's only been two days and so far she hasn't been taking advantage of it. We will have to see if it becomes a problem and we need to put it back on! Every night when I put Kezzie to bed we pray on our knees next to her bed. She really loves this special way of praying and I love that I am teaching her something so important. She prays and says thanks to Jesus for many things but one thing she never forgets to say thank-you for is 'the pool'. We haven't swam yet this summer, other than at a hotel and that was over a month ago, but she insists that she thank God for it. I guess she really has a love for the pool! She also comes up with new things to be thankful for, things that I wouldn't even think of that we do earlier in the evening that she is happy about and thankful for. She will also frequently thank Jesus for her warm bed. I think we all too often take for granted things like our warm bed that we get to crawl into every night, so it really warms my heart that she thinks of those things. I think it is so sweet!

This month we also took Kezzie's pacifier away. It didn't even seem to phase her. Here is the funny story if you missed it. Another instance this month she actually found a different paci somewhere in her bed and when she came out after nap she was sucking on it. I asked her where she had gotten it and she said, 'it was just in my bed'. We had been missing that paci for a while and I guess she had found it! She is a smart girl but not smart enough to stash it away and keep quiet about it! I don't think there are any others hiding in her room anywhere that are going to emerge!

And a word on potty training...we had some major setbacks this month. I'm not sure what it was all about but she was definitely having more accidents...like one-two too many a day more accidents. All I did was went back to a day without pants on and she is back at it like a big girl. She is actually even better than before holding her pee for much longer at a time. Hopefully this will work her into a dry diaper at night time. For a while there I was actually waking her up before I went to bed to have her go potty because I wanted to see if it would eliminate her from wetting her diaper. A couple nights she stayed dry and it was successful but more nights then not she still woke up wet. I guess her body just isn't ready for that phase, so for now she will continue to wear a diaper to bed. For naps she is still staying dry but still wears a pull up. I'm just not brave enough to leave it off!

Keziah also had a dentist apt. this month (4/20/10). She did great but has a slight cross bite. I'm sure this is due to two years of pacifier sucking but the dentist thinks it should be fine especially when she gets her permanent teeth in. She just warned me that we probably need to start saving for braces! No shocker there since both her parents wore braces!

Kezzie says some of the cutest things...here are a few:

'whatever' using hand gestures and all.

'for ever, ever, ever' she will use this phrase for many different things whether it makes sense or not!

'don't you?' she will pretty much end any statement with this question. ie: I want to go outside, don't you? or I want to have a snack, don't you?, etc.

I know there is more so maybe I will be adding some again. I hope you are enjoying life with us as much as I am. I try not to bore you but at the same time there are things I want to put on the blog just for me to remember and be able to go back on! So thanks for going along for the ride!

Keziah is 28 months!

Eventually I am going to get to the point where I don't do this anymore. I don't know what point it is that it will stop, I just know one of these months it's got to! It's not like I post monthly about Austin at 11 years old! It's not that I mind doing it, it's just that it's usually days overdue by the time I get to it and I am racking my brain to remember anything and everything that I want to write for the past month. I'm too busy...or so I think!

Keziah is definitely getting older and wiser. She gets into more trouble then ever before because well, she is learning how! For example she has kind of started to get out of bed every once in a while to get a book or something to put in bed with her. This is as much as she does though so I haven't cracked down on it yet. There was one night that I kept hearing her run across her room and when I went to see what she was up to I found a huge stack of books in her bed with her. She hasn't ever done it again to that extent though. Another way she is getting into trouble is with her stool. The other day I was working in the kitchen and she asked if she could have a pear. I said yes and cleaned one for her. She always likes to stand on her stool and watch me in the kitchen so she stood at the counter and ate her pear. She happened to be in front of the fruit bowl eating her pear and when I left to go to the bathroom she must have decided she wanted a different pear. When I came back I noticed her reaching for another pear and then noticed that the bowl was looking pretty sparse so I asked her what happened to all the pears. After looking around I found them all in the sink each of them nearly half eaten. The photo doesn't do it justice. Needless to say, I had to cut them all up and put them in the fridge. We ate diced pears with every meal for a couple days! Silly girl!

One night as I was putting Kezzie to bed she asked for a hug and I said, "of course I will give you a hug!" so now every single night as she is climbing into bed she boldly states, 'of course you get a hug?' in a question sort of way!

While making decisions about things Kezzie always says, 'how 'bout this one?' Or if we are reading books and I tell her to get another she will say that! It's so cute!

Kezzie doesn't eat as much as she used to. I don't know if it's because she is just too busy to slow down and eat or what. If I sit and help her eat she will usually eat really well but I don't know if I should really have to help her at 2 years old. I hope it's just a phase and she starts doing better on her own soon!

Kezzie still loves her wiggles jammies...here is a photo of her with them on. I am just waiting for the day she outgrows them! She also loves the wiggles themselves. When doing different things throughout the day she will say for example, while eating an apple, 'Anthony likes apples'. Or when going to sleep she will say 'Jeff likes to sleep'. I can't think of the other things she has said but I would have to call her a super freak!

She equally loves her little taggie blankets. She has a pink one and a blue one that she calls her red one (the corduroy taggies that got chewed off by our dog were her favorite ones and they were red). They go everywhere with her and it is devastating if we can't find both of them for bedtime.

Kezzie has been mimicking me as a mommy. She has taken interest in her dolls more and even tries to nurse them with her belly button. It is pretty sweet!

Kezzie's sleeping has pretty much stayed the same. She does sleep in just a little later now then last month until about 7:30ish. This is nice but also hard because Adah is part way into her nursing session by then. I really liked when she was up before Adah and I could get her day going before anything else. I'm not about to wake her though.

Until next time...

27 months!

Kezzie is 27 months today! She is very expressive if you can't tell! So full of life and has waaaayy too much energy!! She is so much fun to be around and can make any grump smile without effort! Kezzie pretty much jumps from place to place and jumps even more when she is excited about something! She just recently developed somewhat of an opinion about what she wears but I can almost always still sway her decision if it's not going to work for that day. I usually give her three choices and she will be happy choosing from them. She's also gotten more willing to let me do things with her hair. She gets excited to look at herself in the mirror and will sit really good while I am trying to put it up. She gets a haircut this week and needs it if you didn't notice!! Hopefully she doesn't look too much older when it's over!
When asked daily what Kezzie wants for lunch or any meal for that matter, she will quickly respond with 'eat the wiggles' and then make a slurping sound with her tongue. I don't know where it comes from but every meal the answer is the same. Of course she says it with a smile and thinks it's silly. Another question we ask her frequently is where things are at. For example 'where is your pink blanket, Kezzie?' She will immediately respond without any thought, 'in the back yard'. 'Where are your shoes, Kezzie?' 'In the back yard'. I don't know why she says it but she thinks it's pretty funny! She has taken quite an interest in The Backyardigans lately so maybe that has something to do with it!
Kezzie now sleeps from about 8pm-6:30am. She will nap from about 1-4 (which is when I finally wake her up). I am loving this pattern because getting up at 6:30 allows me to completely get her day started before I need to feed Adah at 7. And who doesn't love a 3 hour nap break! She is really good about going to bed. She always whines a little bit but once she gets there she doesn't get up. She does try to pull the all classic stall tactics-'need keenex', 'need drink', 'need hug', 'need kiss'. She's pretty funny! I have stopped giving her a sippy cup full of water at night to see if she can start holding her pee through the night. She doesn't go as much in her diaper but she is far from holding it still. We will work on this more in the days to come. I think I will start waking her to go potty before I go to bed.

Lately Kezzie has been taking herself potty. She is doing such a great job with this. I have to make sure she gets her pants all the way down before she goes into the bathroom but she can get herself up on the toilet with the help of her stool. This is particularly helpful when I am nursing and there is a potty emergency! The biggest problem is her wanting to wash her hands afterward. If I am available to assist I usually don't mind, but when I am busy it's a problem. She puts her stool up to the sink and pumps soap into her hand (a lot of soap) but then can't reach the faucet to actually wash them. She will come out to see me, rubbing her hands together as if she is putting on lotion. When I finally become available again, I help her rinse them. I did get smart and put the dispenser in the cabinet but she got even smarter and found it! The mystery is how she got to it. I think she must have climbed on top of the counter. Yesterday she washed her hands after going potty and I helped her rinse them when I was able. They were extremely soapy so the sink was full of suds. I ran upstairs to get her some clothes since she had stripped down from her jammies to go pee, and when I came back down she was washing her naked body with all the suds. She was covered! I almost stuck her in the shower but managed to get it all off with a wet rag! Silly girl!

Her favorite show has recently changed to Dora (if you could see my face you would know I am thrilled about this). It's a cute show but not as educational as I'd like. There are back to back episodes at breakfast time. I guess there's no better way to start the day then with an hour of TV time!!

Kezzie is becoming qutie the little copy cat. She has recently been noticing every little thing I do. If I am resting my head in my hand she will try to figure out how to do it just the same way. And while playing together on the floor she will try to lay on her side and rest her head in her hand just like me. She can almost never get it on her own though. I usually have finagle her arms to do the same thing. It's the same with crossing my legs or arms. She is so hilarious. She has also started copying the way I care for Adah (nursing her babies, dressing them, etc.). I love how she wants to be just like mommy...oh how fast that will change!

One of Kezzie's favorite things to do independently is get water out of the fridge. She can't see when the glass is full so she just keeps filling it until it starts running down her arm. She uses the little cups that are from her little kitchen so they don't hold very much. This is a good thing as most of it ends up on the floor anyway. It's like Austin said the other day...'At least we don't have carpet in the kitchen!' I would have to agree with him on that one!

I will probably be adding some more things as I remember them...

26 months old!

Can you believe how big Keziah is...she is so cute! And such a big helper these days! Things she loves to help with are: picking out Adah's next diaper (she will thumb through the diapers and find the sesame street character she wants Adah to wear next), she will unhook the dirty diaper and she will try to help wipe Adah's bottom. She loves to throw the dirty diapers away. She will gladly offer to help burp Adah (she actually does a really good job and doesn't hit too hard-she will do this with Adah over my shoulder), and if Adah is crying she will help her by putting her paci in. She proudly exclaims 'Kia (that's how she says her name) did it. I did it!' when she accomplishes something big like that.

I can't leave Keziah alone with Adah in the same room anymore. Kezzie used to pretty much ignore her but it seems like she is getting a lot more comfortable with Adah and thinks she can do all the things I do...like hold her whenever she wants. A couple of times she has just picked her up off the floor. The first time I caught her doing this she just wrapped her arms around the middle of her back and lifted resulting in Adah's head just hanging there. When I caught Kezzie doing this I gasped causing Kezzie to panic and just let go. Thankfully it was only from about a foot off the floor. And after a lot of soothing Adah was just fine. It only had to happen again for me to wake up and realize she can't be trusted! Kezzie is also starting to want to help more in the kitchen and since she got a step stool for Christmas this is a little more possible. She pretty much takes her stool everywhere with her...this can sometimes cause a lot of problems as it allows her to reach many more things! Keziah also LOVES to help me switch the laundry over. She gets upset when I throw a couple things in the dryer before she can get her one thing in. I need to work on patience!

Keziah says 'what mom' in such a teenagerish way (arms crossed and all). And she will refer to me as mom, mama, mommy depending on what she is trying to get out of me or get me to do for her! Same with dad, daddy, or dada. Another thing she is famous for saying is 'why? cuz.' as if she is asking a question and answering it herself. I guess I must answer her 'why' with 'cuz' a lot. She also answers many of my questions with 'I sure did' in a singing kind of voice. I just caught myself saying that for the first time tonight. Now I know where she gets it!

Keziah is also at the age where she would rather be naked or maybe she is testing out her undressing skills...Even though it is the middle of winter, most days she is getting undressed three or more times a day. I have started making her get herself dressed when she does this and she is getting quite good at dressing herself.

Keziah's favorite TV show is called Super Why. It's an adorable show teaching reading and spelling and she is learning her letters on there. She also learned a more jazzy version of the ABCs and sings the tune quite well! And of course her favorite movies are and probably always will be The Wiggles (we are now the proud owners of not one but four Wiggles movies and a Wiggles microphone along with the famous Wiggles jammies).

Keziah's favorite color: I didn't know a 2 year old could have a preference for color but Kezzie definitely does. If you ask her what kind of skittle she wants (for going potty) she will tell you 'gween pweese'. We have actually tried to get her to taste other colors and she insists that she get the color green. And if she sees something green she will point it out to me in great excitement. She LOVES the color green. I can't describe it...she just prefers it for everything!

A couple of bad habits Kezzie has picked up are 1) spitting. She evidently likes to watch her spit fall out of her mouth because she leans over whatever she intends to spit on (a couple of her favorite places are the fireplace and the arms of the furniture) and just makes a pile of spit. This little habit will send her straight to time out! I hope we can kick it soon! 2) gold digging. She just recently discovered the holes in her nose and the goop that develops inside them. Her fingers can be found there regularly! She has also started sticking things in them. I found her shoving a piece of string from the floor up in there this morning!

Keziah loves to pick up my phone. She will bring it to me to lock it for her so she can play with it. She will then pretend to be talking to 'grandma' and have everything in the world to say to her. She will pace around the living room and even use hand gestures. You can almost never understand what she is saying even though she has a very large vocabulary. I guess jibber jabber must resemble the way I talk on the phone!!

Keziah loves drawing too. She will sometimes want me to draw along with her. Some of her favorite requests are: a barn, chicken, pig, snake and bird. She will also claim her drawings are of these things. Sometimes they look somewhat like them but mostly she can only draw circles.

Keziah is great at reading. She loves to have me read to her but when I'm not available she will gladly read me a book. I am extremely amazed at how well she knows her books. She can read me a book almost word for word because she has them memorized. She just looks at the picture and knows the words that go along with it. I love hearing her read to me!

Keziah recently started counting beyond 10. She can usually get most of the numbers from 10-20. Some of them aren't in order but she is doing great. And she is recognizing more of her letters. While eating ABC spaghetti-o's she pointed out an O and W. I was shocked...her incredibleness will never cease to amaze me!

Keziah continues to make us laugh every day. I can't wait to share more with you next time!

Keziah's 25 months!

Instead of the big brown chair I think we will start taking her monthly pictures in her rocking chair. One of these days I will take a picture of her in something other than her jammies! And this other picture is her sporting her new robe. She loves it and looks so cute after a bath!

My angel is now 25 months old. Not much changes with her these days. I would say she has become a little more ornery. I think that goes with being 2 though! And having a little sister to compete with! She really is a good girl and does very well at listening. She still wants to please me so it makes discipline pretty easy! For the really trying times she has to sit on the carpet for 2 minutes and when she gets up she has to apologize. She is very cooperative. Although there have been a couple times that I have had to send her to her room for a time out. She really hates that.

Keziah is sleeping from about 8-8 and still takes an afternoon nap for about 2 hours. Sometimes more sometimes less. She is a great eater. She loves peas (frozen or cooked) and broccoli. She will eat any kind of fruit and thinks of bread as the main course! She isn't a fan of carrots or green beans but will eat them occasionally. She gets pretty excited about mac and cheese, pizza and hot dogs but will eat just about anything you give her!

A funny thing to note about Kezzie is she has kind of started getting into Blue's Clues. And for those of you who have seen it you know that Steve 'skadoos' into pictures-meaning he can go into any picture he wants and live in it for a little bit. One of Kezzie's favorite things to do is look at photo albums and she frequently gets on top of a picture and tries to skadoo into the picture. She will say 'get in this picture'. It is so cute some of the pictures she tries to get into.

Kezzie is waking up dry more often in the morning now. I still wouldn't dare leave a diaper off but I think she is starting to hold it more. She has also woken up a couple times in the night this month to have us take her potty. One night though (I must have had my head on backwards) I forgot to put a diaper on her...that was not one of the nights she decided to hold it either. Brian and I were awakened by her saying 'all wet'. I knew exactly what she was saying because a couple weeks earlier she must have scratched her back and her diaper came loose and the same thing happened. This time though, Brian went upstairs to help her (I was nursing) and searched everywhere for her diaper. He yelled down the stairs asking if I forgot to put one on her and that's when it hit me! I don't think I will be making that mistake again!

Another funny thing...Kezzie wakes frequently from her nap with her socks on her hands. Don't know why she likes them there!

Also I have to take note of her dry skin. It has really escalated this winter and has actually kept her up itching a few times at night. We try benadryl to stop the itching and then also use aquaphilic cream and have even tried a couple other creams. I have a vaporizer in her room running but nothing seems to be making it better. One more reason to wish winter was over!

Well, that's it for another month. In the meantime, she's going to keep making us laugh! And I will tell you all about it next time!

24 months!

It's official...Keziah is 2! What a big girl she is. She is doing great at learning her ABCs and recites them regularly (see video at bottom of screen). She is so smart and it amazes me that she is able to know something so complex at such a young age. She will even sing the end part of the ABCs. Another favorite of Kezzie's to sing is 'Pinkle Pinkle Little Star'. She is starting to get the hang of a couple others too: Row Row Row Your Boat and Rock a Bye Baby. Her favorite CD is one I found from when Austin was little and it has songs like 'The Wheels on the Bus', etc. She LOVES that CD and requests to listen to it all the time.
Keziah is back to her normal sleep pattern. She is going to bed by 8 most nights and wakes by 8. She will nap a solid two hours. I wasn't sure if she would keep this pattern being that she just got into her big girl bed but she is doing so well. She rarely gets out of bed. There was one time that we 'had it out' and she hasn't gotten up since. It was a long two hour battle during nap time but she eventually gave in and went to sleep. I WIN!!!
Keziah continues to wear a pull up at nap time and still wakes dry. At night she wears a diaper and still wakes fairly wet. Someday she will get the hang of it but for now I am fine with this! She does excellent during the day telling me when she needs to use the potty.
As for the pacifier. I think we are getting close again to giving that up. She almost completely has all of her molars in which is what I am waiting for to attempt taking it away and knowing that she won't have that need to suck. With a new sister on the way and just getting into a new bed and new room, I think this is on hold for a little bit too.
At Kezzie's two year check up she weighed in at 26.5 lbs. making the 50%. She is 35" tall which is in the 75%. I don't know where she gets that from! She did have to get a couple shots which she did wonderful at. She also had her iron tested again and she was in the normal range. Yipee!
I am excited to have another little one to share our day with but I can't believe how quickly these past two years have gone by with just the two of us home during the day. It's going to be an adjustment for both of us. In the meantime I continue to cherish the last couple weeks we have together and try to do as much as possible! Keziah is so much fun to be around and I consider us extremely blessed to have her as a part of our lives!

23 months old!

Almost 2...I can't believe it! Kezzie is so much fun to be around and seems to have more and more energy every day. I think she keeps steeling it from me! She is sleeping less too which doesn't make much sense. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 and is awake between 6:30 and 7. She naps from about 1-2/2:30. She used to sleep so much more then this so I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that she is getting in the last two of her four molars (top and bottom right). She has been running a slight fever some days and even occasionally wakes at night for what seems like no reason. I really hope it's a phase and it passes soon!
Kezzie's interest in books has sky rocketed. She is always bringing a book to any of the three of us...whoever is willing! Side note: I love it when Austin sits down with her and reads her a book. Precious!

Kezzie loves to jump. If she isn't jumping she is dancing. Her feet are always moving. It is pretty funny stuff. She does really good with following a rhythm and does such a cute swaying motion as if she is slow dancing with somebody! I think I caught some video of it so I will have to post that! Kezzie is solid on knowing her colors. And has a few letters down pat. She can sing the first three letters of the ABCs and the last four letters correctly. Then you can also tell she is trying to sing the ending part of it too but you can't make out the words! She is definitely learning a lot these days! Kezzie can also count to 10. You have to get her past two though or else she will sound like a broken record! 'one, two, one two...' Once she remembers three comes next, she is golden! She loves to sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and will begin it every time she sees a star. She only knows a few words: 'pinkle, pinkle wittle star' (that's it). She also sings 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'. She says all that perfect and then she tries to continue and it seems a little jumbled and then all the sudden you can make out the words 'down' and 'stream'. She loves Elmo's World, as I have mentioned in previous posts so this is one of her favs to sing too: 'la, la, la Elmo Wold'. ADORABLE!

Kezzie has occasionally been responding to 'I love you' by saying 'wuv oo' (love you).

She has started to add words like 'and' and 'the' in between words to make sentences. And we have actually been able to carry on a couple short conversations with her too.

We have been teaching her mommy and daddy's names and she will very often call daddy 'Bian'. She hasn't caught on to what mommy's real name is yet though.

And last but not least Kezzie has a love for prayer. At meal time she likes to pray and even before bedtime she has started asking to pray (this might be a stall tactic but it's one I will go along with). I usually have to tell her what to say but it is so precious as she folds her hands and repeats after me. She is also enjoying children's church more. She gets excited to go when I tell her in the morning why we are getting ready. She used to say 'no church' all the way there if I even mentioned the word church! I pray each day she keeps growing a bigger heart for God!

On a bad note we have unfortunately entered into what seems like the terrible twos of a girl. She yells 'no' in my face, pouts and laughs at you when she knows you are at your breaking point. Time outs have become a regular thing and for the really naughty stuff- well, let's just say this mama isn't afraid of spanking! On a positive note...these discipline tactics seem to work almost all of the time! With a lot of love and discipline we will somehow get through the next 16+ years of life!

22 months old!

My baby is quickly approaching her two year mark. It's amazing how fast this year has gone. Kezzie is getting more of the attitude that comes along with turning two. It is really frustrating sometimes because you don't know how she is going to react to certain things. For example, sometimes she will be completely happy to get up in the high chair and put on her favorite bib and other times she will scream that she doesn't want to wear a bib at all. Her newest thing is putting her head on the ground and just crying...a couple minutes later she will get up and be just fine. It's funny what she will try to get attention...as if she doesn't get an abundance of that!!

Funny things she says: 'Sorry mommy', or whoever. She is really very polite when she wants to be! She pretty much always says it at the appropriate times and sometimes doesn't say it when she should. As a discipline action she sits on the carpet for 90 seconds and when her time is up she immediately says it and repeats it over and over until you give her a hug and say it's ok. She will say 'tay to (thank-you) mommy' when I get her something she wants or when I help her with something. She says 'pease (please)' as well, although you usually have to prompt her on that one. She is more likely to get frustrated about something and start yelling 'help mommy' repeatedly before she is willing to calmly say please. Her favorite ways to respond are by saying yep, yes, yeah, uh huh and sure. She has also started this really funny thing at the beginning of most of her words. It's something like this 'i-e-i-e-i-ya'. It can mean several things depending on the words that come after it. I want, I got, I have, etc. It's pretty cute. She will often say to me 'i-e-i-e-i-ya idea (I have an idea)'. Whenever she comes to me with an idea I always tell her, "wow Kezzie, that's a great idea". I guess she picked up on it! In the morning lately she will abruptly wake up yelling 'i-e-i-e-i-ya (I got to) PEE'. She is holding her bladder a lot more at night and I guess she really has to go! She will yell it over and over until somebody enters her room and then she calmly states it once more!

Favorite piece of clothing: I found a nightgown at a garage sale that is pretty hideous but comfortable looking so I bought it for Kezzie. It has The Wiggles characters plastered on the front and the sleeves are decorated in some pretty obnoxious pattern. Kezzie saw them in the laundry and thought it was the Imagination Movers and fell in love with them right away. I set her straight on who they were and ever since she calls them her Wiggles jammies. She wants to wear them constantly. If we go out to play or to run errands I make her get dressed but the minute we get home she requests to have her Wiggles put back on. She hadn't ever even seen The Wiggles before until I recently found a video at the store and bought it for her. I wish I never had! I am really hoping this phase passes quickly! I guess one positive is I am not washing as many jammies these days!

Quarks about Kezzie: It's really quite strange but we have noticed it getting worse lately...Kezzie is afraid to walk on shiny floors. Wal-mart and Target are pretty much a guarantee that she is cart-bound. Anytime we go into a bathroom when we are out she has to be carried over to the toilet. If we try to have her walk she will take the tiniest steps yelling 'help' and have a look of horror on her face the whole time she is doing it and you can tell she is so frightened. It has something to do with the reflection of the lights on the ceiling. Maybe to her it looks like the floor is missing in those areas or maybe it looks slippery to her... and recently she has started doing it in our own kitchen. If she is playing hard enough or has something on her mind enough to not be looking down at the floor and notice it then she is fine.

Kezzie continues to learn her numbers and alphabet. She will often spout off three numbers in a row. For example, if I start out counting she will usually chime in with seven, eight, nine. She can't/won't say the number one so she will never start there. She is a pro at her colors. I think this is contributed to all the things we do with colors. When she picks her candy after potty, when she gets dressed, etc. Pretty much everything we do/see is defined by its color.

Pacifier update: Kezzie started sucking her finger the end of last month but it didn't get really bad until this month. She was sucking it more then she ever needed her paci and it was starting to interfere with how much she would talk. She was laying around more and not playing purely to get the gratification of sucking. After a lot of prayer and thought we decided to give her the pacifier back (9/15/09). We have been letting her have it whenever she wants, all the time to try to get her re-attached to that so that maybe when we take it away again she will forget about her finger and be done with it all. I think she started sucking her finger because she is getting her two year molars (first noticed it poking through 9/1/09) so I am hoping she won't feel the need to go back to it. This is a process and only today has she started having limited paci time (she can only have it when she is in bed). She hasn't even once asked for it and hasn't put her finger in her mouth at all. She played really well all morning and has been talking up a storm. And she is easier to understand when she isn't trying to talk through her paci! I just pray this works! There was no way we were getting that finger away from her and it only seemed to keep the moisture around her mouth which irritated her rash even more...

Rash update: We took Kezzie to see the dermatologist on September 9. There were only three little specks on her face when we went and that morning I even contemplated going because I didn't think the doctor would know what to do for her. Regardless we went and I'm glad we did. He thought from what he could see it didn't look like yeast and he took her off all previous creams she was on (we were told she never should have been on that yeast cream for so long). He prescribed something called Elidel which is used for Eczema. This didn't seem like it was working so I took her back to see a different dermo (our first one was on vacation) on Sept. 16. This doctor said we just hadn't given it enough time and said to continue using the Elidel but to quit using any shampoos, body wash, bubble bath we were using and only use the CeraVe samples that she gave us. It's a new moisturizer. She was right. In just a couple more days we started to see some results. We put on the Elidel and then over top of that we placed the CeraVe lotion. And when she takes a bath we use the CeraVe body wash. It seems to really be working. Pretty soon we should be able to stop using it and only use it when her skin is irritated. I never would have thought she had something like Eczema! I am so thankful to finally know how to treat it. Hopefully this is something she will eventually grow out of. We won't need to see the dermo again unless we have further concerns!

Like I always say, everyday is an adventure. I must say...I look forward to putting her to bed at night but then after a couple hours I find myself excited to spend the next day with her and see what new things we will both learn! It's so much fun being a mommy!