Spring Break

We have been busy, busy, busy during the last week! My teacher friends and those taking classes were on spring break, so we went to visit with friends! Let's see, where to start:

2 weekends ago: I took a much-needed trip to Silverton to go visit friends I taught with my first year teaching! I haven't seen them since my baby shower and the hospital when Kalaya was born! It was a lot of fun just hanging out and catching up with my mentor teacher Jennifer and her almost 4 year old son Tommy. We walked to a duck pond, had lunch and just spent time together chatting. Being moms together has brought us even closer and it was so good to see her! Tommy was so sweet with Kalaya, he kept saying he wanted a baby sister too!

1 weekend ago: We drove down to Cottage Grove to see our friends Chris and Lindsey Morin who just had a baby at the beginning of February named Stella. We were all on the orientation team together in college and all started dating our now spouses right around the same time. We also got married the same year and now our daughters are less than a year apart. Fun! We spent a Saturday night at their house, went to dinner and hung out. It was really fun, but at first very frustrating. Stella is the absolute lowest maintenance baby I have ever been around. She is only 6 weeks and can completely fall asleep on her own, sleeps on anyone, anywhere and in any situation. She didn't cry the whole time we were there!! At first I was completely jealous and in shock (as was Nelson), but then came to some realizations. I realized that as nice as that would have been, I realized that babies truly, truly, TRULY are all different. It wasn't anything we did or did not do that made Kalaya's sleep habits they way they were/are. There's nothing Stella's parents are doing/did to make her sleep the way she is. It was definitely an "aha moment" for me to see just how completely different newborns can be. And, if truth be told, I'd rather have a high needs baby first, so I didn't get the complete shock the second (or third, or forth) time around. That being said, Stella was beautiful and Kalaya was totally fascinated by her.

Last week/this past weekend: We had play dates almost every day! We had a mommy group play date at our friend Naomi's (and Emily!) house. We had a play date with Elena (and Sarah!) with a walk through Portland on a beautiful sunny day and a trip to meet the daddies for dinner at Hooters. (yes, that's right. I love their wings, what of it???) We had a super fun reunion with other girls from my college of ed group with 4 babies, 4 mommies, 1 daddy and one extra friend. We stopped to see our friend Marlee, who I used to nanny for. We had lunch with Naomi, Emily, Heather and Nathan. We went shopping. We went to Salem for a funeral, thought it wasn't for anyone I knew, we just went for support and to see family. We went to our first Easter egg hunt! Kalaya was good at picking up plastic eggs and putting them in her mouth, but not so much at finding them or putting them in her basket herself. She did find a special egg though that meant she got a special prize of sidewalk chalk shaped like eggs! Fun! Whew, that's a lot of stuff! It was a fun week, but today we took the day completely off and rested. (and did a lot of laundry and cleaning!)

Kalaya is now doing 3 signs regularly! She signs dog all the time when she sees Pippy or someone says dog. She does the more sign when prompted and when eating. Tonight she did it in a different context; we were singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and when I finished, she did the more sign to sing it again! She is also signing nurse/milk when prompted. Last night she was sitting on my lap and started pulling at my shirt and when I looked at her, she signed nurse! It is amazing to see her communicating!! We're working on "eat", "water" and "all done" next! Oh and "Mom" and "Dad" too!

Kalaya has outgrown her infant car seat! She is now in a seat that will last her almost until she is out of a car seat! (until she is 65 pounds) She is not quite too heavy for her infant seat, but she is too long! I did a lot of research and found a seat that will be rear facing until 40 pounds and has a 5 point harness until 65 pounds. It is the longest for each that I could find for a reasonable price. And it is side-impact tested. This thing is huge and safe and she seems to like it! She is growing up so fast....I am in total denial that we're just over a month away from her first birthday. I'd better get out of denial a little bit to start planning the party! She also went from laying completely down today to sitting all the way up without help today. She is creeping "army style" around, usually to get to Pippy's dog toys; gross! She has been pretty fussy today and when I stuck my finger in her mouth, I felt 2 molars starting to poke through! I bet that HURTS! Hopefully she can sleep through that challenge!