June2008

Wed, Jun 4, 2008 8:20 PM
Today Kaya is 9 months old! She started the day with her nine month well checkup with Dr. Totoro at Paoli hospital. actually, she started the day by sleeping in with Mommy until 8:30. But after that they went for the checkup. Kaya did well at the doctor even though she had to get an injection and a hemoglobin check. She was very active while there and even managed to eat a small piece of the paper that covers the exam table. What is it with the paper obsession anyway? After the appt, Mommy and Kaya went back home to play for awhile, and then they left for the mall. Kaya had her 9 month pictures taken in the afternoon, and she did pretty well for them - although she refused to sit still and kept crawling out of the picture / off the backdrop. But everything turned out ok!

Sun, Jun 8, 2008 7:10 PM
Kaya has started saying "Mama" to Mommy finally. After many weeks of everyone (Mom, Dad, the cats, random objects) being referred to as "Dada" or just plain "GA", she started following Mommy around the house and calling her Mama. Sometimes it comes out as more of a "meh-meh". But we're working on that. :)

Mon, Jun 9, 2008 3:10 PM
Today at school Kaya drank all of her milk from her sippy cup at one feeding. This is the beginning of the end for bottle feeding. YAY.

Mon, Jun 9, 2008 7:00 PM
Today Kaya stood up on her own for at least 30 seconds. And then she carefully sat back down. It was almost long enough for Mommy to consider going to get the camera! But Mommy wasn't brave enough to do that yet. She also managed to take a half step forward..before sort of falling into Mommy's arms. We won't count that as a first step, but she could be getting close. Kaya also likes to throw her toys all over the place. She will throw or kick her shapes from her shape sorter and then chase after them when they roll away. She especially loves the blue circles because they roll really far. And she also enjoys pulling up on her bookshelf and throwing her books on the floor one by one..and then chews on the lucky winners.

Sun, Jun 15, 2008 10:25 AM
Kaya celebrated Father's Day by first going to Reading to see her Martin Grandparents. After that she came back home to see Daddy (who had to work most of the day) and then have dinner with Daddy, Mommy, and her Criddle Grandparents.

Tue, Jun 17, 2008 10:17 AM
It looks like Kaya's top 4 teeth are all coming in at the same time. Mommy is very very scared. And Kaya has been up a zillion times the last few nights as a result of the teething. Plus, yesterday after 9 months of sleeping on her back,she suddenly decided she wants to sleep only on her side or her tummy! Watching Kaya chase the cats around is pretty funny too. She seems to crawl faster and lift her arms and legs higher when she's after them. And she gets this super excited expression on her face. Apparently our cats are pretty dumb, because they don't run away from her fast enough!

Sat, Jun 21, 2008 9:04 AM
Kaya went to Abigale's 1st birthday party today and had a great time. She got to watch the other kids run around and even got to play in the Moonbounce for a little while. Mommy now wants a moonbounce for Kaya's home!! A permanent one! One tooth also came in today - the top middle left one!

Sun, Jun 22, 2008 9:00 AM
Mommy spotted another tooth this morning! This one is on the top right, not right in the center but to the side of it. A vampire tooth!

Mon, Jun 23, 2008 2:58 PM
Another upper tooth came in today. Hooray! Now Dracula is really starting to bite everything.

Mon, Jun 30, 2008 2:59 PM
For fun, Mommy is going to list some of Kaya's favorite activites: 1) crawling to the head of the bed, holding onto the headboard, and violently patting the picture Mommy and Daddy have above the bed. She does this several times a day, and can't be convinced to give up. 2) Cat chasing. Enough said. 3) trying to grab the gas line to the dryer. 4) trying to bite the straps of her changing pad. and carseat. and stroller. 5) trying to nurse while laying on her tummy. believe me, this is interesting. 6)pressing the buttons on the safe. they beep. 7) playing with the ties on Mommy's sweat pants.

Mon, Jun 30, 2008 5:15 PM
Kaya took a step tonight. And then fell! And then repeated this process a bunch. We think Mommy's promise to buy her new shoes when she starts walking is starting to inspire her!

May 2008

Fri, May 2, 2008 11:21 PM
Kaya has been crawling in some form for awhile now, is pulling herself up on everything and is into everything, but somehow her parents have never seen her roll over from back to tummy until tonight. Now she's all over the place when Mom and Dad try to put her to bed!
Sat, May 3, 2008 12:03 PM
Today Kaya took her first trip to Lincoln Financial field in the morning. No football right now though! Then she also took her first trip to Gettyburg to see her grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and cousins!
Comments:
Aunt Marcy: Hi Kaya, I enjoyed seeing you today. You are really getting around and you are sooo cute. I hope you had a good time and we hope to see you soon. Love ya Aunt Marcy
Sun, May 4, 2008 8:00 PM
Kaya is 8 months old today! She had a great day today watching Mommy run the Broad street run in the morning, and then going to Kai's first birthday party in the afternoon.
Sat, May 24, 2008 8:21 AM
Kaya has been extremely active the last few weeks. She seems to be everywhere at once. She will no longer be still during diaper changes, much to the anxiety of her parents. Once the diaper comes off she immediately twists, flips over, and basically tried to escape the situation. Then Mommy gets to chase her bare butt around the room trying to get the new diaper on!
Wed, May 28, 2008 1:47 PM
Daddy took a vacation day today so he could spend the day with Kaya and Mommy. Kaya got to eat (Puffs) at the West Chester diner, and then took a 2 hour nap with Mommy! (Mommy likes to nap. ALOT). Then the family went for a walk at the park on Paoli pike. This was the park where Mommy walked 7 miles the day before Kaya was born (maybe to encourage her to be born!!)
Thu, May 29, 2008 6:00 PM
While playing outside on the deck tonight, Kaya managed to stand up for a few seconds without holding onto anything. Mommy is hoping she masters this feat before she gets her 9 month pictures taken sometime next week!!

April 2008

Mon, Apr 7, 2008 6:38 PM
You can tell Mommy got really busy at work because Kaya's site hasn't been updated recently! Kaya is still doing great. She has been belly crawling and doing "yoga" and moving around a bit now. She also makes forward progress by lunging and crawling a bit, though she doesn't have it down perfectly yet. But she can get herself back to a sitting position when she needs to, which is nice for Mommy - who doesn't have to rescue her all the time! of course, she still backs herself under the couch every once in a while. She's also having fun experimenting with new sounds, and really REALLY likes to blow raspberries when she has a mouthful of food. Very funny (and messy!). Peas and sweet potatoes are her favorite foods for sure. She isn't that interested in any fruit type foods yet, although Mommy has tried apples, pears, bananas, and peaches. She also got her first tooth within the last 2-3 days. It's on the lower right in the front, and very very cute. Mommy is a bit scared though!

Tue, Apr 8, 2008 6:29 PM
Kaya started officially crawling on April 8 - to the point where she can be somewhat of a terror to the cats. She is into anything and everything - usually things her parents do not want her to play with, such as: tv remote, cell phone, cables, the laptop, carpet fringe, shoelaces, the straps on her carseat. everything. The cats are scared, and with good reason! Even the wood floors aren't hindering her movement anymore!

Sat, Apr 12, 2008 6:32 PM
Kaya has started to pull herself up on furniture and people now. Let the baby proofing begin! She also really really wants to eat paper. And today she sort of waved hello to Daddy when he was riding around on the tractor mowing the lawn!

Sat, Apr 12, 2008 6:36 PM
One cute thing Kaya has been doing lately is trying to lean a little forward in her carseat so she can smile at Mommy when she's driving. Don't worry, Mommy drives safe. And Kaya's big smile is so cute! And her second tooth has arrived too!

Wed, Apr 23, 2008 5:54 PM
Kaya has her first ear infection. and she HATES the bubble gum flavored medicine. Mommy and Daddy have to give it to her twice a day, and she is sure giving them a hard time! In happier news, Kaya had her first lunch out in Manayunk today. She and Mommy and Daddy ate at the Brewpub and sat outside next to the river. It was nice. Kaya had lots of fun playing with the menu (trying to eat it, of course!)

Wed, Apr 30, 2008 5:56 PM
Kaya has been able to get to a complete standing position by holding on to either the side of her play pen or on to her toy piano. She started this maybe 2 days ago. It is a little disconcerting to her parents, who after having Kaya remain in a mostly horizontal position most of her life, now regularly turn around to find Kaya standing straight up like she owns the place. And she's pretty tall!! Kaya also has been enjoying her first finger foods - puffs and cheerios lately too. At first she just played with them, but it didn't take too long for her to figure out how to pick them up and get them into her mouth.

March 2008

Sat, Mar 1, 2008 8:16 AM
Kaya ate bananas for the first time this morning! She really seemed to like this. Probably better than that boring old rice cereal! Kaya had a big smile on her face the whole time.

Sun, Mar 2, 2008 10:00 AM
Kaya rolled over for the 3rd time this morning. So we know she can do it when she wants to!

Mon, Mar 3, 2008 8:00 AM
Today was Kaya's first day at daycare. She had a fun time reading Dr Suess and doing artwork. She was smiling and happy when Mommy dropped her off and again when Mommy picked her up. And she seemed to really like seeing all the other babies too! Mommy could already see a difference in Kaya when they got home that night. Kaya is more deliberately playing with her toys, pulling them towards her, banging things together, etc. She also started making this clicking sound by pushing her tongue to the roof of her mouth. Not sure where she learned that one!

Tue, Mar 4, 2008 8:20 PM
Happy 6 month birthday Kaya! Kaya turned 6 months old at 8:20 pm. She had another fun day at daycare, after which she and Mommy came home and played and waited for Daddy to get home from work. Kaya has started to really get into her doorway bouncer - she always liked it, but now she can get what can only be referred to as "major air" when she's playing in it. Kaya also tried baby oatmeal for the first time tonight. She didn't seem to like it very much!

Wed, Mar 5, 2008 8:23 AM
Kaya rolled over for the 4th time this morning. Mommy put her on her playmat, walked 10 feet away to get some much needed coffee, and when she came back Kaya was in a different position. She seemed a little surprised.

Sat, Mar 8, 2008 7:14 PM
Today Kaya first went to visit her Grandparents in Reading for the day. She also got to nap with Mommy while she was there. Then, when Mommy and Kaya got home, they found out that a tree had falled down and knocked down the power lines close to their house. Mommy was pretty freaked out to drive up to the house and find it surrounded by emergency vehicles. That was some rain storm! Kaya then got to spend her first night at her Grandparents house in Westtown. Since they only live 1 mile away, she hadn't had the chance to really stay over yet!

Sun, Mar 9, 2008 9:17 AM
Rollover # 5. This is probably the end of documented rollovers now! Kaya has really changed so much in the last 2 weeks. She actually likes to be on her tummy now! She's SO close to crawling now too - she gets up on hands and knees and rocks forward, can move backward, and turn in a circle. Uh Oh.

Sun, Mar 9, 2008 5:00 PM
Peas! Kaya tried peas today for the first time. She gave Mommy a funny look when she took the first bite, but after that she was eager to eat more. Please Please Please let Kaya continue to like her vegetables!!

Wed, Mar 12, 2008 8:46 AM
Today Kaya had apples! I think they were a little sour tasting to her because she made a funny face for these! But Mommy is hoping to start including apples as a breakfast food!

Sat, Mar 15, 2008 8:46 AM
Kaya had a great day today. Mommy took her back to the zoo for the morning and part of the afternoon. And Kaya had sweet potatoes today for the first time! She seemed to like these alot, which is great.

Wed, Mar 19, 2008 8:49 AM
Kaya is practically crawling. she does best moving backwards still, but slips a bit when she tries to move forward on all the hardwood floors. Too bad her parents don't have more rugs in the house. She also really enjoys standing up and holding onto things, although she is not cruising along furniture quite yet.

February 2008

Mon, Feb 4, 2008 1:13 PM
Happy 5 month birthday to Kaya! Kaya celebrated the day by getting some more pictures taken professionally, during which she was NOT happy (but still ended up with great photos!). And then she went out to buy some new diapers! Exciting! Tue, Feb 5, 2008 1:09 PM
Kaya has discovered her feet, and loves to grab them with both her hands. It's very funny. She especially loves to do this during diaper changes. While in some ways this is very helpful, it's also pretty darn difficult to get the new diaper on her when she's all scrunched up in that position. lol!
Tue, Feb 5, 2008 1:11 PM
Mommy is trying to delay introducing solid foods to Kaya until she's 6 months old. But Kaya is sooo interested in eating and even gets jealous when she sees her parents eating in front of her. So Mommy has been putting a little bit of milk on a spoon and "feeding" it to her that way. She LOVES it. She started opening her mouth wide for the spoon right away. Only 4 more weeks till she gets some real food (well, rice cereal anyway)!

Mon, Feb 11, 2008 9:00 AM
Kaya has made a few new discoveries over the past week. She's figured out that she can pull down on some of the animals on her exersaucer and cause them to play music. She's been having a great time pulling the rings off of her stacking ring toy thingie and throwing them on the floor. actually she loves to throw most things on the floor. perhaps this is the beginning of the "watch mommy pick things back up" game? She reaches out to touch almost everything, and sometimes Mommy will walk around with her and let her pick up various objects like her toys, her brush, stuffed animals. Kaya doesn't always like to let go of these though! Kaya is getting much better at sitting on her own as well, but sometimes she gets lazy and let's Mommy know she's done!

Mon, Feb 11, 2008 7:00 PM
Kaya also loves to pet the cats now. Sometimes she is very gentle about it, but other times she tries to pull their fur. The poor cats are so starved for attention and love however that they don't seem to mind at all!

Tue, Feb 12, 2008 7:30 PM
Mommy broke down and gave Kaya her first taste of rice cereal tonight. Kaya has just seemed so hungry lately! Kaya did very well at eating the really watery cereal, but she didn't seem super excited about the taste or anything. But she was all wide eyed the whole time, definitely a new experience for her! Mommy also let Kaya sip a little bit of milk out of a cup, just to see how she'd do. And she did great with that! She won't be switching to cups anytime soon though since Mommy is still nursing her.

Wed, Feb 13, 2008 9:24 AM

Recently Kaya has been spending more time in her parents bed than in her own bed. Apparently a queen size bed is the right size for Kaya! At least Mommy is less worried about keeping her warm.
Thu, Feb 14, 2008 7:00 PM
Kaya asked Daddy to be her valentine today. And Daddy said yes!
Sat, Feb 16, 2008 9:00 AM
Kaya rolled over for the second time this morning. Yes, that's right - it's been 5 weeks between roll overs..probably because Kaya hates to be on her tummy, and also hates to be on her back - she only wants to sit up now, which she is almost doing without support when she's in a good mood and has the patience to try. Anyway, Mommy caught this roll-over on video. Yay for Mommy!
Tue, Feb 19, 2008 7:11 PM
Today is Daddy's 30-something birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!
Wed, Feb 20, 2008 7:00 PM
Teeth! Mommy can see a corner of Kaya's bottom left front tooth breaking through! :)
Sun, Feb 24, 2008 5:22 PM
Kaya visited lots of friends today! First she get to meet her new friend Morgan, and had lunch at her house too. Okay, well all the parents had lunch. Then she went out for coffee with her Aunt Angela. Okay, so Daddy had a moccachino, and Mommy had a latte, and Angela had a mocha. And Kaya got to meet her first puppy today - Sammie! It was also Kaya's first visit to Skippack, where Mommy and Daddy used to live.
Wed, Feb 27, 2008 4:37 PM
Kaya said "Mom-Ma" tonight! She said it really clearly..but she probably didn't really know she was saying it! But Mommy appreciated hearing the sound anyway!!
Wed, Feb 27, 2008 5:21 PM
Kaya loves to rip apart magazines. Mommy gave her a Newsweek to destroy earlier, because Mommy doesn't like Newsweek very much. Mostly because it shows up every week, and with a baby in the house, who can keep up with all that reading?

January 2008

Mon, Jan 7, 2008 11:46 AM
Today Kaya had her 4 month doctors appt. She's growing great! Afterwards Mommy took her to the mall and then to Longwood Gardens for a walk because the weather was so unseasonably nice!

Thu, Jan 10, 2008 8:00 PM
Kaya plays a new game with Daddy called "sit up, stand up". Daddy will let Kaya grab each of his index fingers in her hands, and he'll ask her if she wants to play sit-up stand up. Then if she looks interested (because hey, she can't talk yet!) he'll tell her, "Ok, let's sit up", and Kaya will sit up using Daddy's two fingers as leverage. Then he will say "Stand up" and she'll push up onto her feet until she's standing and using his fingers for balance! She seems to love this game, even though it is quite a workout!

Sat, Jan 12, 2008 5:00 PM
Today Kaya made a surprise visit to Reading to see her grandparents and extended family! That Grandma and Aunt M were sure surprised when they were out food shopping and suddenly received a picture message of Kaya and the rest of the extended family hanging out in Grandma's kitchen!

Sun, Jan 13, 2008 9:05 AM
Kaya rolled over this morning! and both Mom and Dad were there to see her do it, and cheer her on.

Sun, Jan 13, 2008 1:00 PM
Kaya was baptized today. She did really well, and spent alot of the ceremony "talking" to and laughing at the deacon. She's becoming a very social little girl! She didn't cry at all during the actual baptism, but did have a pretty confused look on her face! After that she had a big party with 36 family members at her house.

Tue, Jan 15, 2008 11:53 AM
Kaya still does not like Tummy Time, but she tolerates it for a few minutes now! She also has been very good at bathtime lately, although she does try to escape from the infant tub. perhaps she's a manatee after all! New things around the house have started to amuse Kaya over the last few weeks. She still loves to look in the mirror and laugh at the baby there. She also loves looking at a picture of herself that Mommy and Daddy have in their living room. She was 3 mos old in the picture. She is also suddenly very interested in and happy to see Tom (of Tom and Ducky). And she loves looking at the bathroom sink - or more accurately, the faucet. Maybe because she can see her reflection in it? Kaya also absolutely loves to have her diaper changed. Ok, truthfully, she likes to be naked. She always gets very excited and giggles and kicks kicks kicks when she's on the changing table.

Tue, Jan 22, 2008 7:36 PM
Kaya has been giggling for awhile now, but recently when she gets started laughing, she does it for several minutes. Mommy is having a great time getting her to laugh..and her giggles are music to Mommy's ears! Kaya is also getting really good with her hands..she moves her bink from her mouth, out to the side, and then back to her mouth over and over again. She loves moving her toys back and forth between her hands. And, when her hands aren't in her mouth already, she loves to touch everything, different fabrics, furniture, toys,and especially glassware (not necessarily good!). She also loves to sit up and then bend way way over in order to grab her feet or look at the floor closer. She's definitely interested in just about everything!

Sat, Jan 26, 2008 1:00 PM
Daddy had the flu this weekend, so Mommy and Kaya escaped to Grandma and Grandpa Martin's house for the night. Kaya had a wonderful time, and Mommy got some much-needed extra rest too!
Mon, Jan 28, 2008 7:00 PM
Kaya's newest thing to do when she's mad is to blow raspberries and make angry guggling sounds. It's SO funny. And she manages to accomplish this quite nicely even when she has her bink in her mouth too. She also has really started to enjoy textures recently - she loves to reach out and touch all sorts of fabrics, wood furniture, the cats, anything! And she's very interested in watching everything too - from Mommy eating to Grandma blowing her nose!
Wed, Jan 30, 2008 4:00 PM
When Kaya does Tummy Time now (fyi: she still doesn't like it!) she now is able to lift up her butt and sort of scrunch forward a tiny tiny bit. Don't worry, she's not going anywhere yet! Mostly because she still isn't lifting her head at the same time as her butt! It makes for an interesting yoga position however.

December 2007

December 10, 2007 2:12 PM
Florida and Disney! Kaya also took her first big vacation in December! Her parents took her to Florida to go to Disney World and also to visit her Uncle John and friends. The family left early on Sunday December 9 to board the autotrain for the trip to FL. It was Kaya's first time on a train, and her first trip out of state! Once on the train, Mommy and Daddy quickly learned that some things, such as walking around a fast moving train and trying to eat in the dining car, are really hard with a baby! Especially a very wiggly and active baby! But it was still a fun way to travel. Monday morning, the family was able to check in to Disney's Port Orleans resort early, and went to the restaurant to get lunch. However, Kaya wasn't happy sitting in the Bjorn and wouldn't let Daddy eat his lunch, so they ended up bringing food back to the room instead. Then they were going to head out to the parks, but were so tired that they all took a long nap first. That evening, they went to Epcot. This was the first time that Kaya's parents had ever driven to any of these parks - they usually took the buses before they had Kaya. So it was quite interesting as they had to learn their way around the Disney property - they definitely got lost a few times! It was also the first time they ever had to walk so far to the gates - those parking lots were huge!

Disney trip -part 2 So after entering Epcot, Kaya got to ride her first ride, which was Nemo and Friends at the Seas. Kaya seemed to enjoy the ride and was quiet and calm the whole time. After that, they visited the manatee exhibit, since Kaya's nickname before she was born was Manny the Manatee. Sometimes her parents still refer to her as the manatee. After leaving the seas, the family walked around the world showcase so Mommy and Daddy could get dinner in Japan, and Daddy could get soft pretzels in Germany. Those are the best pretzels in the world by the way (and that means the entire world, not just Disney world). Epcot closes at 9, so the family intended to go to the Magic Kingdom next since it was open until Midnight. However, after taking the monorail to the transportation center, they realized they were too tired! So they took it back to Epcot again and headed home to the hotel.

Disney Part 3 On Tuesday, the family went to the Magic Kingdom. It was very nicely decorated with all the Christmas decorations. Kaya got her picture taken with Daddy on Main Street, and then she got to ride a few rides. She rode the TTA, during which the first half Daddy held her and she was smiling and laughing as she looked all around outside. However, once the ride passed through the dark space mountain, Kaya was very very unhappy! She does not like the dark! So Mommy had to hold a not as happy Kaya after that. Kaya then napped while her parents took turns riding space mountain. She also got to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, both of which she mostly slept during, and Snow White, during which she stayed awake. Mom and Dad were very proud of Kaya and hope she will continue to like or at least tolerate rides! After a fun day at the Magic Kingdom, the family headed over to Epcot for awhile.

Thu, Dec 20, 2007 4:00 PM
This afternoon Kaya surprised her Grandma Martin by meeting her at babies R Us for a quick shopping trip! Boy, was that Grandma surprised when Kaya jumped out from behind one of the store pillars!

Mon, Dec 24, 2007 1:10 PM
Merry Christmas! Kaya's mom has been bad about updating her journal this past month! But it was a great month for Kaya. She has become very social recently both with people and with her toys. She still loves the puppy bears, but is more interested in smiling and laughing at mommy and daddy now. She also still loves to play with Freddy, especially to chew on his wings and legs. Actually, Mommy and Daddy suspect she may be teething slightly because she immediately chews on everything she can get in her hands - her hands, other people's hands, blankets, clothes, etc. And she smiles the whole time. Another new habit is the constant drooling she does. Mommy still doesn't put drool bibs on Kaya, but she will have to start wearing them soon. Kaya is also starting to show a great interest in food. When Mommy and Daddy are eating, she watches avidly, and even gets a bit jealous and cries if she hasn't been fed recently herself! Mommy was hoping to put off introducing solid foods to Kaya until she was 6 months old, but she may have to start sooner. She'll see what the doctor says at Kaya's next doctor appt! Kaya is pretty awake and active all day lately. she usually will take 1 good nap which Mommy appreciates. In the last few weeks she finally started losing some of her baby hair, but she still has plenty of hair growing in. Mommy thinks she will have a baby mullet soon. nice!!

Fri, Dec 28, 2007 9:12 AM
Kaya had her first snowboarding trip to Blue Mountain today! Kaya hung out in the lodge with both Grandmas while Mom, Dad, Grandpa Martin, Uncle John, and Jessie went out skiiing and boarding.

Sat, Dec 29, 2007 8:27 AM
Starbucks A random note on Starbucks. Kaya has been many places in her young life - the malls, the zoo, breweries, beer fests, parties, visiting relatives, disney, trains, etc..but one of the places she has been most often is Starbucks! Mostly the ones in various barnes and noble bookstores, but also the mall ones. This is because Starbucks is one of Mommy's favorites! Starbucks or Coffee may very well be Kaya's first word!!