Keira had her one year well visit today, complete with the dreaded shots, and actually did very well. The only time she has had a bad reaction to her vaccines is when she got them at 2 months and she cried for almost 2 hours straight, inconsolably a couple hours after we got home. It was torture. Since then, she has been pretty good, and all day today she acted as if weakened strains of live viruses, additives, and mercury were never injected into her tiny blood stream.
She weighed in at a healthy 19 lbs 13 oz. So close to the 20 pound mark! One good pasta dinner and she'll be there! Her appointment was at 7:50 am and all she had were a few Cheerios and some milk, so she was at her lightest. She is 28.5 inches tall. Doc says she is in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. Perfectly proportioned as every girl strives to be. Liam at this age was tall and lanky, 95th percentile for height and 40th for weight. He has since evened out. I don't think either of my kids will be giants. My family's shortness will counteract with Kyle's tallness and create, gasp!!, average children! Average works for me. Much easier than freakishly tall or elfishly short.
As far as milestones, she is walking everywhere. Running sometimes. It kind of looks like Forrest Gump in the scene where he is trying to run in his leg braces and he can't bend his legs. And she will undoubtedly fall at some point, but she is quick to pick herself up and start again. She will climb anything; stairs, gates, her crib rails, the dining room table (yeah, picture flexed arm hang, feet dangling in the air.) I should probably enroll her in gymnastics now. She is still only saying mama, dada, and baba as clear words but babbles on and on as if she is talking about something. It knocks me out lately the things that she understands and the commands she follows. "Go give that to Liam. Do you need a diaper? Time for bed. Get your cup, it's in the fridge. Blow kisses. Where's your _____? (insert nose, ears, hair, tongue, eyes, mouth, belly)" She is turning into a full blown human right before our very eyes. And everyday I love her more and more. It almost hurts. She is truly amazing.
Posing with a live Reindeer - "Serafina" (she's Vixen's cousin!)
The "Blizzard of 09" WE LOVED IT!! The kids finally got to play in some real snow, and sledding was awesome. (See video below)
Posing with the man himself. He told Liam he would prefer red beet eggs and beer to cookies, but we left him cookies anyway!!
Spending the day and following days with family is the best part of Christmas!! Happy Holidays to all!!
I wasn't expecting him to start talking like this so early. I thought I would have until he was at least 5 or 6 to hear this phrase 20 times a day. I didn't see it coming, but the era of "OOOH, I really want that!!" has begun. Every commercial. Every toy he passes in the store. Baby toys. Girl toys. Toys that are way too advanced for him. Toys that I don't think he would play with for 5 seconds if he actually had it. He wants them all, REALLY wants them all.
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Also, here are some Halloween pics of the kids. I apologize to the friends and family who check out this blog for pictures of the kids. I know I have been slacking lately, mostly because I just upload pictures to Facebook now. I will try to do double duty. :)
Keira is so over this.
We are also adjusting to a now very mobile Keira and her endless need to climb all that is climbable. Aunt Jamie tried to feed her need with a great Kangaroo climber, and she has a blast on it, but it hasn't stopped her from trying to scale gates, climbing up onto the dining room table and getting into mini shopping carts. Making sure she doesn't fall is now a full time job!
Yes, she climbed up into the cart on her knees and turned around all by herself. I found her laying in there watching TV yesterday. She's a goober!
Liam on his first day of preschool. He goes twice a week for 2 1/2 hours in the morning. This is all going too fast for me!
Falling asleep the afternoon after school. He must have worked hard!
Keira in her favorite spot ~ the diaper box recycle bin!
At the York Revolution game after they ran the bases.
Saturday afternoon of body painting. They'll be ready for the clubs in no time.
Country Barn in Lancaster. Animals and tractors and a corn maze, oh my!
Sesame Place! 
Keira with her baby stroller. I love buying little girl toys and clothes. I love my sweetie!
Brandon, Tyler, Keira, Kylie and Liam. Wow, they are all looking at the camera and no one is crying, amazing! Although Keira was picking her nose in one of the shots.
The Olde Family in all our glory!!
And the female guilt sets in . . . "Oh, I can't believe I just ate all of that. I'm definitely going to have to do some cardio tomorrow."
And here is my little sweetie pie trying to escape from having her pictures taken this morning. She is on the move like a tiny tornado.
But he still likes to hang out with the guys, eat pizza and go to football games. So as he'll tell you himself, he's "cool".
This trip also marked the weekend that Keira stopped nursing and made the switch to formula (expensive, liquid Similac formula) but formula just the same. I do not miss breastfeeding at all. I'm glad I did it for 9 months but when your baby tries to stand up on your lap and look around with your tata in her mouth, it's time to give it up.
