A Keira Update...LONG overdue

Hi All-
Just to warn you, this post is going to be a bit lengthy...I have been wanting to catch up on Keira updates, and finally got around to it. This part of my blog is mainly so I can go back and look at the things she has done, as I know I will forget, so please don't feel obligated to read this whole post. I am sure that you all do not think my child is quite as smart and charming as I do! :)

To start with:
Keira's 2nd birthday party (which occurred 2 months ago) was a great success! :) The theme was Pink and Puppies, and was alot less expense and stress than the first party. Austin made her cake, and Leighanne and I spent ALOT of time working on a puppy jello mold that turned out adorable. She had a lot of fun playing with her little friends, and got spoiled rotten with lots of new toys. One of her favorite being the Barbie ATV that Ama Lea and Papa Steve bought for her. She calls it her "bike" and loves to ride it in the bank parking lot across the street!

Another thing that Keira and I love is our cuddle time at night. We have made a habit of sitting and rocking, reading books, etc. for about a half hour before she goes to bed. I LOVE this time, as I get to relax at the end of the day, and pretend she is a little baby again. She always looks up me and pleads to rock by saying, "Mommy...gock a bit" :) She loves to read "GOORGE monkey" books (Curious George)....I think 1/2 the reason she likes these is because they are some of the longest ones that we have! haha!

She also likes to practice her songs at night. We have been teaching her Sunday School songs that I learned when I was little...it is funny how those things come back years later! Her two favorites right now are "Who's the King of the Jungle" (because she LOVES to act like a monkey and blow bubbles), and "My GOD is so Big"....which she also loves for the actions!

She has also been learning to "obey" which is a term that Ama Nane (my mom) uses with her quite frequently! I normally say "listen" but she has picked up on "obey" from Grandma Jane. If you ask her about obeying, she normally begins her list of people that she should obey...starting with mommy, daddy, Ama and Papa, and usually ending up with friends such as Thomas and Levi. She has quite the list of people to obey!

One night I was rocking her to bed and she just kept saying the cutest things!!! First of she said, "Ama Nane...My naughty!" (which is her way of saying that she was naughty for Grandma Jane). She is SO honest, it is hilarious! She now has a habit of telling people "My naughty" even when she hasn't been. At least we know she has a sensitive conscience! :) She then went on to talk about Daddy who was at class that night. She looked up at me while putting her hands on both my cheeks and said, "Daddy at Tass....my miss him!" It was the most precious thing, and just about melted my heart. Needless to say, I couldn't resist, and let her stay up to see Daddy a bit when he got home that night! :)

She is also very big on saying her prayers at night. She will remind me by hollering, "PAY MOMMMY!!!" if I start to walk out before saying them with her. I have made a habit recently of not only praying with her, but asking her who she wants to pray for each night. It is so fun how she always comes up with a different person/ group of people. I can tell what she is thinking about, based on who she picks. It is normally someone who we have seen recently, and the people that she categorizes with them. For example, last night I asked her and she said, "Nennon, Mia, and Mia Mommy"...which are some of the people in our small group. None of them had been at our house, but another couple from our small group had been at our house that same night. She is great at knowing what people are together, and who their kids are. :)

Keira recently is very interested in what Mommy and Daddy do in the day when she goes to Grandma's house. She knows that Daddy work at the "Nank" (bank) and that she gets "Huckers" (suckers) when she goes to visit. She even knows which branch is his, and that the other one in town is his bank, but not the one he works at. She also knows that Daddy normally wears a tie to work each day. One Friday she was up early, and saw Austin getting ready to walk out the door. She noticed he didn't have a tie, and went frantically running to the bedroom saying, "Daddy! Wait, a tie for Bork!!" He tried to explain to her that he didn't have to wear a tie on Friday, but ended up just taking it with him, and she was having a breakdown that he would not take it to work. TOO FUNNY!

A week or so ago, she got to come to work with Mommy for a little bit one morning. She was so funny as she walked right behind me, and did exactly what I did. She was SO excited to come to the "ossice" (office). I walked in and leaned around the corner to the conference room where some of the guys were meeting. I said, "Morning!" and kept walking. She preceded to do the SAME thing...including leaning her head in, saying "Mooring" and keep walking. They all busted up laughing, as she seemed to think that she was the newest employee on payroll! :)


She does a VERY good job of talking now, saying 4-5 word sentences all the time. She can say pretty much everything, however her name still sounds like, "Tia". Austin and I have actually made the mistake of calling her Tia instead of Keira because she calls herself that SO much! She also says, My, instead of I/me when she is talking. She only uses one tense, and that is "my". :)

She likes to watch sports with Daddy, but thinks that all teams are "Huckers" (Huskers). No matter what sport is on/ who is playing she will stand and scream at the top of her lungs, "GO HUCKERS!!!"

Her favorite drink right now is "Bah-berry milk" (strawberry milk). Most days she thinks she is TOO big to drink out of a sippy cup, so she insists of sipping it out of a normal cup, or on some days a plastic wine glass! She is quite particular in picking out her eating utensils! :)

She is getting better at playing with other kids and sharing, although her favorite phrase is "My HURN!" (my turn)...I say that we are making progress, at least she know what a "turn" is! :)

We are noticing just how BIG and non-baby she is getting, as we are slowing getting rid of all her baby type habits/ things. She has not had a Paci since November!!! I thought we would never get rid of that darn thing, but Austin was an AMAZING dad and broke her of it when I was gone for a week in November for work. It is so nice not having to keep track of one of those things! :)

We are also working on potty training, but not vigorously. I have decided that I am not really a fan of the whole process, so we are going to take it slow, as I really do not feel like having potty training horror stories, if at ALL POSSIBLE! So far, she is doing really good for how little time we put into it. She will tell me sometimes if she has to go, and we will put her on there. She will also usually go anytime you set her on the potty, as she gets two M&M's...and likes to work to get those as often as possible. :) We just need to work on being more consistent, so that she not only is going on the potty, but also NOT going in her diaper! :)

Well, I was going to post one more thing about her 2 year old appointment, but it is late, so we will save that for another night! :)

Missing Bullets!

So, Keira got a HUGE nerf gun for her birthday from the wonderful Thomas Peace and Levi Anderson. They got it for her as primarily a joke (who gets a two year old girl a Nerf gun that is a big as her?!) However, she has decided it is great fun, as she can push the button and the thing just starts spitting out bullets with a fast and furious pace! She has come up behind me in the mornings and I turn to see her saying, "SHOOOT mommy" SHOOT puppy!" I have told Levi and Thomas that they "may" not be setting the best example with that gift, and they just laugh. :)

Anyway, it is hilarious to listen to Keira, as she will say, "My BOOLETS, My BOOLETS" when she runs around the house after she has shot them all out, and can't find any more. The thing started with about 20, and we were down to have none at one point. We joked that the bullet monster stole them.

However....tonight we found out who the true bullet monster was! I kept doing laundry, and finding one here, one there, in the laundry. I couldn't figure out why they kept coming up in there, but didn't worry too much about it.

Tonight we put Keira is some jammies from the laundry. They were the kind with the feet in them. She put her left food down, and said, "OW!" and starting pointing to her feet. Austin then stuck his hand in there to see what the huge mound was, and guess what?! There were bullets in the bottom of her pajama feet. He pulled four out, and I started laughing hysterically. Then he continued to pull more out...and she kept complaining, until we had pulled out close to TEN BULLETS, plus all the ones from the laundry! Apparently Keira was stockpiling for the next war by placing all of her bullets in her pajamas. :)

So...the moral of the story is "WATCH OUT...Keira may look innocent, but she is packing bullets in those fuzzy little kitty jammies of hers!"

I took the night "off"

This week has been one of the most insane as of late.

Work has been crazy, as I am juggling still being the billing manager, managing all partner and vendor relations, all of my normal business operations duties, and also heading the project of moving all of our staff except me to new offices. I have gotten into a really bad habit this week of having coffee in the mornings, some chips, and then nothing till I get home for dinner at night. Today was more of the same, and by about 4:00 I had hit my limit for stress. I bluntly dismissed every one who needed something, and then actually got down to work. I called Austin and had him pick Keira up and told him that I was not coming to AWANA tonight. I stayed at the office till 7, and when I left felt the most relaxed that I have all week! :)

I then decided to go tanning, and pick up some good deals that I had coupons for at Walmart. I felt bad that I missed AWANA and didn't get to see Keira until 8:30, but the catch-up break was much needed!!!

Now, if I could just get caught up on those mounds of laundry at my house, I would REALLY be doing well! haha! :)

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

This has been a topic that I have been thinking about quite a bit over the past week or so.

The first thing that prompted it was a business meeting where one of the guys asked, "When we meet again in 5 years, what do you think we will be talking about?" I thought it was an interesting question, as it is always fun to dream about the future, although it almost always ends up WAY different than we ever imagine.

This got me thinking...my dad always used to ask this question when we were younger. When we were on family vacations he would always ask where we see ourselves in 10 years or something like that. Looking back on that, it seems so ironic what my answers were. I always thought that sounded so far away, and I also had the most ambitious dreams. I remember answering with things such as "I see myself married, and being a top level exec in business" or something similar. Through the eyes of an 8 year old, life is always so much more simple. I always thought that time was an endless resource, and that I could do whatever I dreamed. There was no such thing as obstacles, and the sky was the limit.

As I was driving the other day, I started thinking about how naive and ambitious I used to be, and I was wishing that I was still that way. Then I realized: if I look at my life as an outsider, it is beyond what I dreamed of wanting "in the next ten years" as a little girl. I have been blessed with a husband who was made JUST for me, a BEAUTIFUL little girl (which was always my dream to have), a job in business getting to do TONS of different things that I love, supportive friends, and a GOD who loves me and cares for me all of the time. When I think about it that way, it just blows my mind to think that while I was often looking at the spec of dirt under my nose, God was guiding my every move to bless me with all that I have now. THANK YOU LORD!

We were watching family videos over at my parents tonight and there was video of Faith, my youngest sister, at Keira's age. It was AMAZING to see how much alike they are! They sound alike, act alike, and even have the same facial gestures. (So I guess Keira does have some Oswald in her!) It just hit me how quickly life flies by...as that was 14 years ago, and it seems like just yesterday! Once again, a good reminder to making the most of our time on Earth for JESUS, and this is only a temporary spot for us.

So...I guess the summary of this post is this: I think it is fun to look at the future and plan and dream about what options it may hold. However, I think it is just as important to look at the past and realize how much God has blessed me and guided my every decision, in the times I was seeking his guidance, and even when I was not.