As I'm writing this on my bed, K is sitting next to me holding a bag of Gobstoppers.  It's amazing.  Last week she was sitting up pretty well but she leaned forward a lot to keep her balance.  This week?  She's sitting up like it's no big deal.  She usually catches herself before she falls over and she reaches out and grabs things that are near her while she's sitting.

I think the pivotal moment in her learning to sit up was a few nights ago when I sat her down in my room in front of the mirror.  She was sitting just fine on her own, leaning forward, when all of the sudden she threw herself back and hit her head pretty hard on the floor.  I wasn't close enough to catch her with how hard she threw her weight back so I blame myself and I feel bad because she was really upset that night.  But amazingly enough, the day after when I sat her up, she sat just fine.  And now she won't stop sitting.  She gets upset when I don't sit her up and I lie her down instead.

And in case you were wondering, I'm going to continue writing on this blog for a while.  I've noticed my journal writing has greatly decreased since July and so I will continue this and print it off every now and then instead of handwriting everything in my journal.  It's just so much easier to blog than journal-write, don't you think?

Every 3rd Sunday, Mike's family has a Family Home Evening.  Last night was no exception.  Right before the lesson, all the kids sat down on the ground and Mike sat K next to the kids so she could sit with the kids.  She loved it.  She was so excited that she wouldn't even sit up by herself (which she can do now for longer periods of time as long as she doesn't get too excited or too distracted).  After the newness wore off (for K and her cousins), she just sat there with all the kids and it was so cute.  Being one of the younger kids that go to FHE, however, I'm sure once she's mobile, she'll be following all of her cousins doing exactly what they do. 

Although she's not even 5 months, she has become quite the little toddler in the way she acts.  She has developed this weird thing where she likes being held by Mike and I but only very few select others are able to hold her without her crying.  I'm not sure how she chooses them but she does and although I enjoy when she'll go to others so I can get something else done, it's always satisfying when she's crying with someone else and then stops crying when I hold her.

She also has realized that when she doesn't get what she wants, she can cry and let me know how she really feels about it.  People keep telling me that she must not be crying for the reason I think she is because she's too young but I think I know exactly what's going on ... and they're all right ... she's way too young to be doing this.  I take her away from toys, from the computer screen, from looking at clothes, from looking at a certain person or thing, and when she wants to still play or look, she'll go straight from "I'm liking this" to "I hate everything about this" and cry until I can get her distracted with something else.  I have no idea where she learned this or why this is happening so soon, but I must admit, it's pretty funny.  She's just so dang cute and she cries for such menial reasons that I can't help but laugh when she cries because of these things.  I just hope that since it's starting so soon, she'll be grown out of it by the time she's actually expected to act like this ... but don't worry, I'm not counting on it.

I've been debating whether I should stop this blog or not but I haven't come to a decision yet so I guess I'll make a post.

Today I helped K stand up in front of the mirror and she loved it. We probably could've stayed there much longer than we did but I thought 5 minutes of vanity was enough for now. But she loved it. At first she seemed confused and amazed. She just stared. But then she smiled and laughed. Then we would play rocket and she would burst into the air and return safely to land. She loved that too. She loved watching herself.

Everyday she gets better at sitting up by herself. She's so determined and she enjoys it so much. Unfortunately she still doesn't enjoy rolling but I'm sure she'll get there one day. I hope she does. After my inservice meetings I used to have for my motor aide job, I've learned that kids develop at different rates and learn different things at different times so I'm not too worried. I just think that it'd be so much easier to roll and crawl than walk but I can't stop her so for now, I'll still say every time she stands, "Look at you! You're doing so good!" and she'll continue to love every praise I give her ... and I love it so much more than she does!

I smell like spit up.  I'm not sure where it's coming from so I can't get rid of it.

It's just there.

And it's driving me crazy.

As usual, last night, Mike and I sat down with K to read a bedtime story.  These fairytale stories are about 12 pages long - writing on one side, a picture on the other.  I was reading last night and about half way down the page, K started talking.  I just wanted to get the story over with (secretly so I could go play Mario Kart with Mike) so I kept reading over and around her talking.  At the end of the page, however, she was too noisy and that's when it hit me - she wanted to read the bedtime story!

So Mike and I listened to 6 well-read pages of this fairytale.  She pointed to pictures, pointed to the words, and occasionally tried to chew on the pages, but at the end of the story she was done talking and Mike and I felt very satisfied with the story she had just told.  We're looking forward to tonight to see what kind of story she comes up with next!

K's learning to sit up on her own.  It's so fun and it's really funny when she has herself balanced leaning forward on her hands and all of the sudden her balance is gone and she head dives right into the floor.  Well, at first it was really scary and she cried but now we just sit her back up and she continues like nothing happened. 

We just have to keep remembering that these are just the beginnings of all the falls she's going to take during her lifetime.  Lucky for her she's only 25 inches so when she falls, it's not a bad fall at all. 

In other news, she still hates when we try to encourage her to roll or crawl, well, she hates it if I'm around.  If it's just Mike, it's questionable as to how miserable it is.  I guess when she's ready, she'll attempt it.  For now, however, she'll only stay on her tummy for a max of 5 minutes and she'll go into complete screaming if we don't sit her up before she gets upset.  But as soon as we sit her up or help her stand, she's fine.

By the way, the other day Mike and I realized that when K grows 4 1/2 more inches, she will be exactly half as tall as me.  Wow.  They grow up so quickly.

K didn't really sleep much yesterday.  We tried to get her to sleep in arms and in her car seat, but she probably had only about 2 half-hour naps between 1-9 pm which isn't enough for her.  She was pretty grumpy yesterday.  She went to sleep at 9 (an hour later than her usual bedtime) and slept until 8 am.  I'm so glad she like sleep as much as I do.

We also realized yesterday that she's sensitive to motion when she sleeps in the car.  She'll sleep in the car on the freeway but as soon as we start slowing down, she starts to stir.  She'll also sleep in the car when not on the freeway but nowadays, it's pretty rare.

For those who don't read my family blog, I'm posting the same stories here ... so if you've read the family blog, I'd just skip this post, unless you love these stories that much.

Mike and I don't argue much.  When we do, it's usually about the most menial things that usually end up in us laughing because once again, we're debating whether chickens are white or off white, or whether our home-cooked meal cost us $1 or $2 ...  Anyway, K's not used to arguing that involves voices above a normal decibel level.

Well yesterday at a staff meeting, everyone got pretty riled up about what we were going to do for a talent show.  In the height of the arguing about which act would be best (it was actual arguing with a couple of strong opinions and really loud talking ... and almost everyone talking at once), K burst out in screaming.  It definitely quieted everyone down and I had to tell everyone that K doesn't like arguing.  She's very good at getting people to stop arguing.

Another funny thing about K is that she really likes to be praised for her sitting up and standing.  She loves when she does because Mike and I will just go crazy about how well she's doing and what a big girl she is.  She eats it all up.  Well, today we were at Christa's baby shower and were sitting next to my coworker Emily.  K stood up on my lap and looked over at Emily.  K just stared at her and would not look away.  I ended up telling Emily that she really likes praise when she stands up so Emily told her she was doing a good job and K busted out her biggest smile. She's such a funny girl.  And I'm lucky to have friends who are willing to support our obsessive habits of praising our little girl!

I endured 75 straight minutes of crying yesterday.  K is not one that cries much - only if she's hungry, tired, or you're really getting on her nerves because she wants to be doing something else.  I get that last cry a lot.  She spends hours training me everyday so I know what she wants.  But those cries don't last long at all.

But yesterday she got her 4-month shots.  I thought she wasn't going to cry but 4 hours after getting them, she let me and all of our neighbors know that she didn't enjoy her shots.  I finally got her to go to sleep right before Mike got home and I had to leave as soon as he got home.  

I got home 75 minutes later and I guess she slept the entire time because Christa was over helping Mike with math and when I walked in the door, Christa looked worried and matter-of-factly said, "You guys have a kid. ... Where is your child?!"  So funny.  She thought I had K but didn't see me walk in with her, but K was just sleeping the evening away soundly in her crib.

K's doing much better today though.  Just like the last time she got shots, she cries the day of shots but the next day she's fine.  She's such our good cutie.

First, I'd like to make a shout out to blog2print.com.  I recently got this blog printed off and I love having it in a book form.  I reread some of my blog last night using my new book and it was interesting to read.

Second of all, it's been 1 year, 2 days since we found out we were pregnant with K.  What an emotional day it was!  And now look, one year later and we've got this beautiful little girl!

It was interesting to read about how I didn't think I'd have much free time or very good sleep.  I was right about both but only at first.  Now that she has a schedule, I have some free time (usually goes to work or cleaning) and I could potentially get lots of rest. 

K went to the doctor's this morning.  She's doing well and very average concerning height and weight.  One interesting thing we found out today was that she has these things called Mongolian Spots.  They look like she has bruises on her but they're not.  She'll have them for the rest of her life.  Apparently they're commonly found among Asian races.  But her doctor marked her down for having them because if we ever switch doctors and the docs don't know about these spots, they may think we're abusive.  Apparently there have been cases where children get taken away from their parents because the doctors don't know that the marks are normal and not bruises.

Last Wednesday, K reached out for the wii wheel that Mike was holding.  With great precision, she looked at it, put her arms out, and grabbed it.  It was amazing. 

A few days ago, K began to sit up on our laps on her own without us holding onto her.  Although, we still had our hands ready to catch her when she got too excited and would throw herself back.  That was amazing.

Well, today she mastered something that is most amazing - she can sit on our laps and catch herself before she falls forwards, backwards, or to the side.  I don't know how she suddenly learned this skill, but she did, and it's amazing.

She loves practicing sitting and standing when she's awake.  It's so funny to watch people try to hold her sometimes.  If they don't know her well or haven't watched me interact with her, she'll cry because she likes to practice her new-found skills instead of being held.  She'll let me hold her when she's sad or when she's really tired, but other than that, she likes to be learning. 

She also loves airplane rides.  I don't think most things make her as happy as airplane rides.  Except for first thing in the morning when she's getting her first burping of the day.  We're always in her room and there's a picture Mike and I made back when we first started dating.  We tell her all the time that we'll add her little hands to the picture when she gets a little older.  Well, the first smiles of the day go to this picture.  She'll look for it on her wall and once she finds it (now she knows exactly where to look), she'll just smile away.  It's so cute but I really wish it was me she was smiling at sometimes.

top middle picture
these are each separate pictures that my previous roommates and I made