Kyleigh's turning ONE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLEIGH ABIGAIL! It's so hard to believe how fast it goes by. She turns one tomorrow, July 13, at 6:48 pm. *wow* She's a blessing! Parenthood is really tough, but it's so worth every minute. I just absolutely love being a mom - and now that my husband has this new job, I get to be a stay at home Mom for good!!

Some things about Kyleigh: She's been walking for over two months already. She can count to three (which is SUPER cute to hear, by the way); she's still a petite little thing and doesn't even weigh 18 pounds yet!! She's still in size 3 diapers, and has just now graduated to a size 3 shoe. She also has three teeth - one on bottom and two on top. She loves to play outside - LOVES it!! She's a really good eater and loves to eat vegetables! Her favorite is green beans. She's not a very good sleeper though - and still usually wakes up at least once a night and she's really hard to get down for naps sometimes.

She can say lots of words already and knows the meaning too, including - Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandmom, puppy (comes out like "puh puh"), kitty, duck, ball, yummy, num nums, night night, shoes, oops, "Lamby" (her stuffed lamb toy that my mother-in-law gave her), no, uh oh, juice, milk, all done, hot ... I'm sure there's a few more, but that's all I can think of right now.

She claps her hands and says "yay!" when she gets excited. When you put sunglasses or a hat on her, she smiles and says "pretty pretty!" When she's upset or sleepy or just feeling cuddly, she comes to me. When I pick her up, she leans up against me, tucks her arms underneath her and lays her head on my shoulder and says "Mommy's baby". She knows how to give hugs and kisses. She follows the kitty around the house and says "meow, meow". When we see other babies in the stores, she points and says "baby!" and then usually proceeds to say "hi!" to the parents (or anyone who happens to be standing nearby and is looking her direction!) She's very social. When she's holding a phone or especially a cell phone, she holds it up to her cheek and says, "hello?" Sometimes during the day while Matt is at work, she roams around the house looking for him, saying "Daddy? Daddy?" She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and I have to make sure she's not eating things she shouldn't. She now knows what I mean when I tell her to "spit that out!" and put my hand up to her mouth. (She reluctantly relinquishes whatever small treasure she's put in her mouth!) She knows what "sit down" means because I always have to tell her to do that in the bath tub. Sometimes she even tells me "no" when I make her sit down.

Her absolute favorite toy right now is a ball. She LOVES balls of just about any kind. When we're at the grocery store, she sees watermelons, apples, onions, and other various produce items and says "BALL!" and then gets really mad if we don't put one or more of them in the cart. I think watermelons are her favorite "balls" and she always throws a fit when I don't get one. (NOT looking forward to the terrible two's, just FYI) For her birthday we got her a Dora the Explorer blow up tent thing where the bottom is filled with balls - like those kind we all used to play in at McDonald's. I got the idea from my friend Robin, who had one for her daughters Jinjer and Olive. Kyleigh was loving playing in it when we were visiting last. (Thanks, Robin!)

Being a mom is amazing - and I'm so thankful for her! I hope that the Lord will allow us to have several children. I think Kyleigh would make a great big sister someday.