The Many Adventures of Keira!

This is our page to document our family's adoption journey- starting from when we first started planning for our little one, to when we brought her home. We're also going to keep this updated with all of the things that Keira has been up to since she's been home with us here in the U.S!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Starfish, Songs and Sippy Cups

Yesterday Keira and I went on a little adventure to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. We first went to go and get a couple of my tires changed out on my car, had lunch and after that I was driving around trying to think of something fun for us to do. I decided to start heading down into San Diego to possibly go to the Zoo or Sea World, but instead made a detour to the Aquarium. Keira enjoyed Sea World when we went, but she REALLY loved the fish and tanks at the Aquarium. She was sound asleep by the time we got there, so I loaded her up into her stroller and went inside. I talked to her a little to get her to wake up and once she saw the fish...she was a barrage of "Oohs" and "Waaaas", which is her version of "Wow!" She got to touch some Starfish and had a great time. I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures. I carried her most of the time to get her nice and close up with the fish, so I couldn't maneuver the camera. After that, we took a little stroll on Girard to check out some of the shops before heading home. She took a quick nap, played and was SO zonked out that she barely peeped until 6:30am. Dan and I each went in a couple of times to check if she was breathing!
She cracks me up. I was listening to a CD one day of Agnus Dei in the car. She started trying to sing along with it, but instead of singing "Alleluia"...She starting singing "Ahhhhhhh......Laaaa". Wrong religion Keira. Not Allah. I play it for her every once in a while so that she can sing it for me since it makes me laugh. Is it bad that I laugh at my child? Well....she laughs too, so I guess it's ok :). There is also a song that I was listening to "Tell Me About It" by Joss Stone and she immediately started moving her neck like that one skit with the guys in the bar on Saturday Night Live...you know what I mean! Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in the suits... what were those guys called again? Anyway, she totally starts doing that with her neck so I start cracking up...well that makes her start cracking up...then she does it even more! So we're laughing hysterically in the car. It's the only song that I've seen her do that to so when she gets in a bad mood, I'll play it and she'll start the head move and laughing. It works for right now anyway. Until she gets bored of it :). She does love music though, so there are a couple of activities that I'm going to take her to. There are music classes by Gymboree that I'm going to try today for her in Solana Beach. Also, there is a Baby Loves Disco event in May that should be hilarious.
As for Sippy Cups, Keira has gone through about 5 of them. I get concerned that she is not getting enough fluids because he hates drinking from them, but she has to use them because if she just can't use a regular cup yet without spills happening everywhere. Dan's sister Laura sent a great one that has a straw and doesn't drip. She drank from it for a while, but I think that she has trouble sucking through it since it does take a little more effort, so she stopped using it. I found a different one for her by Dr. Brown that has the rubber tip, doesn't drip and requires very little sucking. She was using that for a while, but won't tilt it back to get more liquid when the cup isn't completely full. What she DOES love are those plastic cups and straws from restaurants, but for some reason with THOSE, she does tilt her head back and gets the drink all over her face and dress. I don't get it...
Dan stopped me this morning to show me drawings that he started making of Sippy Cup designs that he could invent. They were stick figure types of drawings, but they were a pretty good idea. He has been wracking his brain trying to figure out how he can drink his coffee while on his Harley and decided that it would work for Sippy Cups as well...although I don't think that it would work out too well having aluminum Sippy Cups. That's just how Dan's mind works...drawing Sippy Cup design at 5 in the morning.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The Coves














































We had a pretty full day today! We went for a walk around the Harbor in Oceanside this morning then had brunch at the Monterey Canners. Keira did really good. It's so funny how much she just loves fruits and vegetables. You know, I think that if given a choice, she would actually choose peas or carrots over Mac and Cheese! Dan and I actually managed to take a nap when she was napping which is pretty unheard of lately. There is always so much to do. After naptime was over, we headed over to the Coves in La Jolla to see the seals. It was alot of fun watching Keira run around in the grass. She really is getting better and better with her running although she is definitely all over the place now. The pics are from the Coves and the last one with her standing by the TV, she was doing a Teletubbies dance although you can't tell since at the moment that I took the picture, she had put her foot back down.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Big Brother Is Watching...




I always thought that I was a crazy thrashing sleeper, but I tell you...Keira takes the cake. She will start off peacefully on one side of the bed laying on her back. Next thing you know, she is completely turned around crouching on her head on her knees sound asleep on the other side of the crib. You have to see it to believe it. It's hard to believe that anyone would be able to actually sleep in a position like that. I always thought that she was waking up several times throughout the night, but it turns out that many of the times that she is crying out, she really is still asleep. She twists and turns around so much in her sleep that sometimes she gets into weird positions and is uncomfortable for a moment, but will settle back into sleep. The problem with this is that even though we had a baby monitor set up so that I can hear her, I couldn't tell whether her crying out was from this or because something was actually wrong. This normally wouldn't be a problem getting up in the middle of the night everytime I hear a cry out if it only happened a couple of times, but this usually happens anywhere up to 10 times a night. If only there were a way that I could tell whether a cry out at night were the kind where something is wrong or if it was a cry out that resolves itself a minute later. The solution?? A video monitor! Now I would be able to see what was going on in her room when she is sleeping! I found a good one with night vision that wasn't crazy expensive at Baby Depot and boy is it eye opening! For example, when she is quiet in her room taking a nap, with a sound monitor, I think that she is sound asleep. With a video monitor, I can see that she is really pulling her socks off and throwing them on the other side of her crib. With sound, I think that she is sleeping, with a video monitor, I can see that she is really pulling the blankets and sheets out of her crib and trying to pull her name picture off the wall. She is a crack up. Last night was the first trial and although I did still have to get up twice to give her the binkie or a bottle---I WOULD have gotten up about 7 times if not for the ability to see that the other 5 times were the crazy sleep cry out, so that's a LITTLE better, right? I'm trying to be optimistic. She is very funny to watch. She has spotted the camera and will look at it sometimes, but hasn't quite put 2 and 2 together to figure out what is going on. Dan was in her room dancing around like a crazy dad and I had her watch him on the monitor. She was pointing and laughing until he came out into the room a couple of seconds later. She was SO confused! She was pointing at him, then would turn around and point at the monitor with the most shocked look on her face. It really was funny. Anyway, here is a picture of her from the monitor where she was SUPPOSEDLY asleep. The other picture is of her with Dan where she insisted on wearing my boots.

I also want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and prayers for Chris, Gi and Max... also for the Fisher Family. Thank you Jen for including Chris and the family in the rememberance for Dave's Sister. It means so much to me...

Thursday, April 19, 2007

A Year Ago Today...







A year ago today, My brother in law Chris passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was an amazing person that was always there whenever you needed him whether you were family, a friend or just someone in need. He was a loving husband and father to my sister and my nephew Max as well as an amazing brother and friend to my family and I for so many years. He touched people's lives everyday when he was here through his kindness, strength and faith in God. After everything that he and my sister were going through when he was sick, he always thought of others first before himself---that was the kind of person that he was.

I have so many happy memories of him--and to this day when I think about him, I try to see his happy smile and hear his contagious laugh because it makes it a little easier to deal with the fact that he's gone. Even though I know that he isn't in pain anymore and that he is with God, I miss him...

If any of you get a chance, please say a little prayer for him and for my sister, Max and the Fisher Family. It would mean alot to my family and I...

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

A New Activity

















Things have been kind of busy the past few days and I haven't had a chance to write what this little one has been up to. We went to the doctor a couple of days ago. This doctor is a specialist with liver function etc. He wanted to do some more tests on Keira, but from her other labs previously done he said that she looks like she is doing great! He also said because her numbers are so low regarding liver inflammation, she may be a chronic carrier. This would be good news. When he said a few tests..he wasn't kidding. We went down to the lab and first I had to laugh because they wanted to do a urinalysis----uh-----how?!?!?! Obviously there are much smarter people than I am that have already thought this out and created a bag that you attach before putting on the diaper that traps the urine. Keira had JUST peed, so I figured that she wouldn't be going again for a while...that is until I realized just how many tests they wanted to run. They needed to collect not 1..not 5 vials of blood...but 12!!!!! Can you BELIEVE it?!?? Who knew my poor baby even HAD that much blood in her tiny little body! Now you know that after all of that, she was so scared out of her wits that she would have peed a gallon! They were great though and 3 of them worked together to try and get the vials filled as quickly as possible so that she wouldn't have to sit there with a needle in her arm for any longer than she needed to! Poor thing...she was such a little trooper though. The next day, I discovered that they have a Children's Museum in Escondido, so we headed up. It isn't as huge and extensive as the one in Illinois where Max plays (that one is HUGE!), but it's a cute little set up. She played for a bit..then we headed home and she REFUSED to take a nap. Wow...she was so miserable because she was tired, yet she just wouldn't sleep. That was a rough day! Here are just a couple of pictures of her sitting with daddy watching The Teletubbies. She just LOVES this show. She copies everything that they do and laughs and claps through the whole thing. Yes, it's still creepy, but what can ya do, huh? :) The other pictures are of her playing at the Children's Museum.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Earth Day and The Con Artist














































Today Keira did great at church today! She hit an all time record of about 35 minutes before she got bored enough to where I had to take her outside. Before that, it was about 15 minutes. At least it's getting longer each time, right? After that, she had her nap and then we headed back to the Mission (where we go to church) for an Earth Day Celebration that was being held. They had lots of booths, food and stuff going on. Dan let Keira run around on the grass since we didn't have to worry about her getting hurt when she fell. MAN is she running alot now! She just kind of went straight from learning to walk to almost immediately running. When she fell though, it was pretty clear that she never really experienced grass. She would get this look like "What the!?!?!?!?" when her hands would touch the grass from falling. Another thing that she has discovered that she likes to do is pushing her stroller. There is a compartment to put her diaper bag etc at the bottom that has a bar that is JUST the right height for her to use as a handle. After that, we headed over to the mall to the Playtown where she met up with a little girl that she loves named Isabelle. Isabelle is about 4 years old, but just LOVES babies according to her mother. She is a very nice girl and is so gentle with Keira. She played for a bit- then home for a nap. After her nap, we let her play around for a bit, then put her in the pigpen to have some time in her own personal space. She's such a crack up! She's a total con artist and really schmoozes you trying to get you to pick her up and get her out of the pigpen. I gave her a little bit of chocolate which you can see from the pictures on her mouth. The pictures that I am posting are first a really cute picture Dan took of her eating. After that, there are some pictures from her on the grass at Earth Day. The last pictures are of the progression of her being a con artist. First you can see all of the drama that goes on. Once she finishes with her dramatic episode, she sneaks a look around to see if you noticed. Next is the arms outstretched with the pouty face. As you can see from the last picture---it's so cute that usually daddy will give in.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Belugas and Teletubbies























We weren't able to catch up with Rod, Dawn and Chloe at Sea World yesterday, so we decided to try to make the trek with Auntie Lorraine (by the way....he took BEAUTIFUL pictures of Sea World on the Cuizon Family Blog @ http://beachfamily.typepad.com) today. It started out as a beautiful day. Sunny with just enough breeze to make it perfect! We headed down and got to see my favorite thing- Wild Arctic. I just LOVE the Beluga Whales! I also love the Dolphins...well, I love them all. Dan and I last year did the Interactive Dolphin Program where you get to get in the water with the dolphins and play with them. It was definitely a wonderful memory that I have that I would love to do with Keira one day when she is old enough. The Beluga Whales always look like they are smiling. After being there for an hour or so, it suddenly got EXTREMELY cold and overcast! I don't know WHAT happened! We ended up buying a little blanket for Keira since it was so cold. There was a toddler play area in Shamu's Happy Harbor, so Dan tried to see how she would like it. She really is weirded out by sand under her feet! We're going to have to get her used to it considering that she lives very close to beaches! Auntie Lorraine took us for some Greek food for lunch before we headed home. Keira got only a short late nap, so we're not sure how she will be tonight. I turned on an episode of the Teletubbies for her. Dan is VERY disturbed by the fact that he can actually understand what the Teletubbies are saying now after watching a few episodes. He was asking me...."Can YOU understand them too???" I should have lied and said No, huh? He would think he was losing his mind! That would have been FUN! I know.....Bad wife... :) Ok...Auntie Lorraine took a couple of pictures at Sea World. Keira is definitely my daughter as she is also in love with the Beluga Whales. The other picture is of her touching the ice wall as well as pictures of her trying to give one of her toys to Jackson. I think that Jackson would have preferred that she give him a steak instead. I'm just happy that she didn't give him any raisins!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Simon Cowell is a Genius...











The only TV show that Keira has been interested in so far has been The Wiggles. She loves all of the songs and dancing and tries to sometimes copy what they are doing. Most people that I have told that have asked "Well, has she seen the Teletubbies yet?" Well....no.....first of all because I find them to be kind of creepy! :) Well, it's not about me, now, is it? I set the Satellite to record the Teletubbies today to see if she would even be interested at all in it. MAN! It got reactions out of her that were pretty amazing. It was almost like they were speaking to her in some little baby language. She REALLY seemed to understand everything that was going on. Now, don't get me wrong...I STILL think it's creepy...even MORE so now. There was some little skit with the Teletubbies playing instead of sleeping like they were supposed to and whenever they would settle down, this creepy voice would start to sing a weird lullaby. Hello!??!? Creepy! But hey, what can you do? Our baby loves it so guess what gets recorded every day now...
Keira and I ran around doing errands all day and it was just warm enough to try to take her to the pool! I got her dressed up in her swimming diapers and her new bathing suit. I got towels and carried her on the long trek through the greenbelt to the swimming pool. As soon as we got there....guess what? The pool is closed for repairs. ARGH! Here she was all dressed up with no place to go! I took her back home and she started dancing around in her bathing suit shaking a box of raisins like a rattle. She TORE those raisins up- about 3 boxes. I started to look for other community pools that she could maybe go to online, but came up empty. I loaded her into the car and started to head out to try the beach and see how that would go...and I got up to the first stoplight before she was out cold. I ended up turning around and taking her home for an early nap. After that, Dan came home. We played for a bit, then he said that the thought that she had something in her diaper. He wanted me to check. I said that her diaper felt kind of full, but she wasn't stinky, so it probably wasn't poo, so he could probably change her! Boy was I wrong. I could hear him from the room going "Oh boy...this is a BAD one!" I went in to help out and lo and behold (not for the weak of stomach mind you) There was a HUGE load chock full of raisins. Yikes. After that, we somehow managed to eat dinner and we headed over to Barnes and Noble for Pajamarama. The pictures I am posting are just silly ones of her trying to wear my sunglasses and my eyeglasses. She's a goofball.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The Busy Girl
























Keira has been a very busy girl the past couple of days. Aside from going to the daycare at the gym to play, for the past couple of days, she has gone to both Legoland and the Wild Animal Park! With everything going on in both parks, it's so funny that the main things that she is interested in are the steering wheels for driving the boats. She doesn't want to drive the boats, mind you...she just wants to steer! The only animals that she was interested at the Wild Animal Park were the ducks and a door stopper at a shop. Does that count as an animal? She is walking better and better every day, although it is making me nervous because she has kind of skipped over to trying to run already. I put her down for a minute and she is off and running! She still hasn't gotten total control of her balance, so she usually falls over pretty fast- but that doesn't stop her. She gets right back up and starts running again! I definitely will have my hands full with her running all over the place very very soon!