Kayla's all healed up!

After 3 1/2 weeks Kayla seems to be 100% with her arm and shoulder now! I'm so happy and amazed she healed so quickly - praise God!

The second week of her injury she got a nasty bruise and has a small lump over the place where the bone was broken. Now there is no bruise and the lump is smaller.

I'm now getting her birthday plans together for her party on 10/31 which will be a Dora the Explorer fiesta! Can't believe she's almost 2!

First Broken Bone

I suppose it is a rite of passage but it was still hard nonetheless. Kayla fell down the stairs while we were in MD this week and broke her collarbone. She should heal up in four weeks and there is really nothing we can do other than try to keep her from putting weight on her arm. I'm so thankful she didn't have further injuries! She continues to amaze me...she is learning quickly not to use her arm and is really quite a trooper despite the pain I'm sure she has.

Two's: Terrible, Terrific, Traumatic???

Kayla is 2 months away from being 2! I'm excited for her and slightly worried about me and my sanity.

Everyday we have at least 5 (on a good day) to 10 (on a bad day) tantrums when Kayla realizes that the world doesn't completely revolve around her! She has the most trouble when I'm trying to get out of the house for something (it's Murphy's law that the faster I want to go the slower she will be). She has to feed herself, walk down the stairs herself, climb in her seat herself, and she of course decides which pace she is going to do all of this in. So when Mommy comes to speed things along - WAAAAHHHH! We have a tantrum!

The really mind boggling thing is she can be screaming, crying, stomping, hitting and causing me to wonder if I should be concerned when all of a sudden she can completely turn off the tantrum and be sweet Kayla again. Manipulation. We were born sinners and Kayla is proof. I love her dearly and I will love her through all of this. God feels the same way when he watches his children fight him for something that is actually for our good.

Kayla's two's will probably be terrible, terrific, and traumatic but what part of life isn't?

Zoo

I recently joined the Atlanta Zoo so now Kayla and I have access to the zoo for a whole year. We took our first trip last week and had a great time. We spent about four hours checking out the animals, riding the train, carousel, and letting Kayla play on the playground. I think her favorite animals were the elephants and the gorillas. She remembers going too because she will talk about it at home. Here are some pictures from our day:

Daddy's birthday

Greetings. We've been doing well. Got back from our vacation to Cancun and had a great time. Kayla did fine while we were away but I sure missed her!

This weekend we celebrated Daddy's 26th birthday. Kayla knows that birthday = cake!!!

We made homemade pizza and she got to help.

Singing the Happy Birthday song. The little piece of cake with the candle is for Kayla.

Kayla's Big Girl Bed

Well the moment that I knew was inevitable has happened. Kayla began to climb out of her playpen so I figured she might decide to climb out of her crib soon. We went ahead and moved a twin mattress up to her room and placed it where the crib used to be. I was very anxious as to how she would adjust and the first night I didn't think she would ever lay down on the bed. But she eventually got tired and went to sleep on her new bed! At 3:30am she woke up crying because she had rolled off. Night # 2 a similar thing happened. From then on she has mostly stayed in the bed. I'm so proud of her!


Here she is in her bed:

We will be traveling to Cancun next week and leaving Kayla for three nights. She will be staying with Nana and Grandpa Shu for two nights and Nana and Poppy Darden for the other night. I will miss her but I am very much looking forward to a vacation!!!

Independence Day Celebration

We're having a nice summer so far!

Friday July 3rd we went boating and let Kayla splash around in the lake a little bit. She was more interested in eating and playing with her stickers but still had a good time. Later that evening we went to the free fireworks show in Villa Rica. Kayla seemed to enjoy that as well but was out way past her usual bedtime.

On the 4th we marched in our neighborhood's pet parade but Kayla didn't enjoy that very much I think because she was so tired from being up late the night before. It was quite a sight though to see all kinds of dogs getting along pretty well. We then went to Cary's sister's pool for a little bit and then just took it easy that night.

Kayla is catching on to everything very quickly. She knows her colors, can count to 10, loves to draw and color, and of course thinks she can do everything herself. Yesterday she was in our bedroom and when I walked in she was in her playpen. I didn't put her in there so I asked her to show me how she got in. She climbed on the bed and then went from there to the playpen. Pretty smart!

With her own Declaration of Independence comes challenges of trying to keep her still and quiet in church. It's basically impossible. She is also starting to have some separation anxiety in certain situations but for the most part still adapts pretty well.

Enjoy the pics!

Family shot on July 4th

Ready for the parade.

Swimming with her Daddy

Cash is ready to walk