Kyah Babbles & Shows off Some Tricks

Goodness gracious at how fast my child is growing up. People always warn you about it, but you don't fully grasp it until you have a child of your own. 

Kyah will be 17 months old on February 3rd and each day he learns something new. He is always observing and taking in what we do. He is just so smart. I could list a bajillion things that he can do, but I'll refrain.  Instead you can watch a video. I tried to capture a few things on film, but doing this before nap time probably was not the best idea. Needless to say that my attempt at having an "On-Command" baby was a bust. 

His vocabulary is quite lengthy as well and he can even put a few words together. 

I am sure that I am forgetting a few, but here's what I can remember of the top of my head:

Banana

Nana {this could mean Banana or any other fruit}

Tom-a-to

Cheese

Boo {Blueberries}

Daddy and Dada

Mama

Kah Kah {Coco/Cohen... our dog}

Jeesss {Jaycee, our other dog}

Nigh Nigh

Ou-si {outside}

sroller {stroller}
Ball
Fan {as he points to the ceiling fan or any portable fan}
Fooball {this includes majority of balls that he sees}

what's that

in there

I got

open

oush {ouch}

When I tell him to say "please" he grunts. Still working on that one. 

I'm sure that there are tons I can't think of right now. He's off napping and not talking to me or I would be able to remember more. I have been so bad about writing them down these days.  At the rate that he is growing up I can't keep up anyhow. 

All in all, like most children his age, he has his own language. We like to call it Kyahneese. 

The facial expressions make it all the better.  Here are a few videos of my sweetie watching Winter Wipeout. 

I no joke hear these babbles all.day.long.  He is the sweetest, most entertaining little buddy I know. We are so blessed to call him son!

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Toddler Room Makeover!

One reveal or Two Reveals?  Who am I kidding! I only have one room even remotely done.  I am so behind on decorating. I did however make one particular room my priority. That my friends would be Kyah's new room. Since we needed a primary place to play, I knew that my focus needed to be directed to his space first. You may remember his last room {here} in the old house. 

As much as I hate to admit it, he's no longer a baby. He's a toddler and he needs a toddler kind of room. Boyish, fun, playful and well... a nice area to mess up but that's easy to clean up. 


I would like to welcome you to his new abode. {warning: picture overload}

{the view from the door}

his "crib"

I got this adorable Skip Hop Backpack from oompa toys with my $25 giftcard.

I knew the colors that I would be using in his room and it matched perfectly.

We now carry snacks, his diaper pack and a toy when we leave the house.

I made this frame by attaching some left over fabric to the mat. I then printed off the alphabet. To make it even more personalized, I used the colors of the room to highlight his name.

Kyah {in green} Everett {in brown} and our last name in another color. The other color used is just to match the room. Personally, this is one of my favorite things in the room.

I had the blue and green shelf on hand {they were walnut finished}. I picked up some spray paint to match his room and gave them a new look. I picked up the cute little basketball shelf for $2 at Goodwill.

I found these balls at Ikea. They add just the right amount of {pop} that I wanted.

The blanket on the crib was a purchase from ebay. It's adorable, but it's more for decor. Kyah has his favorite and this is not it. The pillow in the background is HUGE. I wanted to make Kyah a beanbag chair, but opted for this large fleece, fluffy pillow instead. It's perfect and he loves it. We lay on it and read books just about everyday.

The "mobile" that is hanging above the chair cost me $6.99 at Ikea. It's a set of 5 square picture frames. I used scrap paper I had on hand and printed off the numbers 1-10 in coordinating colors. It completed the Alphabet series.  I love to add educational elements to rooms.

 

This is the Closet Door View.

I hand made the 12x12 Photo Canvases {I will post a how-to soon} and I used the White Letters from above his crib in the previous nursery to hang above the doors. Of course, I used a bit of spray paint so they would stand out more and match the room.

A better picture of the Canvases.

I found a vinyl decal to place under his name. I love it!

There you have it. Kyah's new room. A work in progress, but a room nonetheless.

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What's That?

The reasons I love having a 16 month old "talker". 

We enjoy conversations. Some made up, some very real. 

It helps eliminate the tantrums that can come from not being able to communicate. This is great because I was sure getting tired of the throw-myself-on-the-ground-because-the-world-is-over-tantrums. {want proof- @ 14 months}

He is able to tell me exactly what kind of snack he wants. "Cheese, Blueberries, Apple, Banana, etc". 

He will say "stroller outside" when he wants to go for a walk. Sometimes {like today} when there's an arctic blizzard outside, he gets mad when I say no. 

He will happily come and tell me "uppies" and point, when they are in something they shouldn't be in. While this is helpful at times, I am bewildered at the fact that this {also known as tattling} is not something that we taught him. He actually learned to tattle on his own. 

And my all time favorite occurred this morning when I was getting in the shower. As I am standing there, in my birthday suit, Kyah points up at me and very seriously asks me... "What's That". 

Oh the joys!

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Deceptively Delicious

Without going into too much detail, I just wanted to share this amazing book/site with my readers that have kiddos. I am a huge fan of eating healthy. Always have been and I suppose I always will be.  


Now, before people go thinking I'm crazy, I love junk food too {hence the reason I can not keep it in the house}. I would seriously eat an entire bag of candy {any size} if I open it. I have absolutely no self control when it comes to sweets. 


I do not eat organic. I drink bottled water even if it does have "plastic leeches".  I love butter and salt, but in moderation.  I just simply eat healthy.  I do not cook fried foods. I'm a bake and sauté kind of gal. 


Some may call me a mean mommy, but Kyah gets what we eat and nothing different. I do not make food that he is not able to eat and vice versa. We all eat the same thing... {minus steak and such}. He is presented with the food I prepare for a meal and that is his only option. If he chooses not to eat at that time, I assume he is not hungry and he will have that same meal the next time we sit down to eat. Each family has their own rules and this one works great for us. 


With that said however, I do make sure that he is "presented" will healthy food choices for meals and snacks. He may not choose to eat that much, but what he does eat will be healthy. It seems these days that he is refusing all veggies and meats. That boy loves him some fruit, and while that's all fine and dandy, he needs more nutrition. As his mommy, it's my job to make sure that he gets it. 


I bought a book when I was pregnant knowing that someday it would come in handy. What I didn't realize is that I would regret not cooking from it the day I bought it. 


The cook book is called Deceptively Delicious and it was written by Jerry Seinfield's wife, Jessica.  

It's perfection. Simple, easy and healthy foods for picky eaters the whole family. 


As promised, I'm not going to go into too much detail, but I do recommend that you check it out if you want to get more veggies and protein into your household tummies.


A few of our favorites are: Mac and Cheese with Butternut Squash Puree. Kyah devours it and has no idea that is has a veggie puree. Heck, I don't even know that it has a puree. It's so creamy and takes about 3-4 minutes longer to make than the store bought stuff. 


We also like the Meatball Soup. It has Squash Puree in the sauce and Carrot Puree and Whole Grains in the meatballs and is made using whole wheat pasta. SO DELISH!


Using Veggie Puree's {and fruit puree's} Jessica has created numerous recipes that your kids {and hubs} will love.  There are breakfasts, lunches, snacks, dinners and desserts.  She even has a blog that you can get recipes from. http://www.doitdelicious.com/blog


Mmm... 


Now I'm off to buy her second book. I'm THAT hooked!

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Flip Flops and Football

My two boys share two of the same interests. Ok, well, they share more than two, but these two are just cute when put together. Football and Flip Flops. 

I'm pretty sure that if I let him, he would eat with a football in his lap {at every meal and not just  at breakfast, lunch and dinner}, sleep with a football {at least one of the 5 he owns},  and play football {all day everyday}. 

Kyah has insisted since he has been able to walk, that he needs to wear his flip-flops. He will bring them to me, sit down in front of me and hand me the shoes. I of course, unable to resist his adorable little squishy face, must immediately put those little flip flops on his size 6 feet. As he squeals in delight, the world indeed becomes a better place. 

What could make things better?

Playing football in his flip flops.......

With his Daddy!

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Member Me?

Well, folks, it's been a while, and while I am still regaining energy my blogging break was much needed and it was greatly appreciated. During my time away from the blogosphere, so much has happened. I will spend a fews days this week posting pictures and telling stories to get caught up. 

::: Here is a brief run down for the impatient people like me :::

From the day that we purchased our new home, November 18th, we have pretty much been running the roads since. My father in law was able to visit the 20th-23rd to help get a few things done around the house. 


November 23rd-29th we traveled back to Dallas to see family for the Holidays. It's also the time that we celebrated my nieces birthday. 


We then had roughly 1.5 weeks at the new house to get things done before we traveled for Christmas. During this time, I scrambled like a mad lady to get Kyah's room in order, completed all of the Christmas shopping, literally dig a tunnel through the mayhem of boxes in the garage {to find wrapping paper} and got all of us ready to leave again. 


Mid December we traveled back to Dallas for Christmas. We stayed at 2 different family members homes. CRAZY! We had a blast celebrating Christmas with both of our families and returned home no less ragged than when we left. 


We retuned to our humble abode on the 27th and had 3 days to recoup before family arrived to stay with us for a long weekend.  We celebrated "Family Christmas" with my family {as Christmas eve is dedicated to extended family celebrations on my side}.  


It has now been a total of 4 days that we have been living in our new home, with no travels and no family. This is however, not to mention I will be traveling back to Dallas next weekend for a baby shower.  Whew!


Needless to say, taking a break from blogging was amazing!


And of course, because I know that you have missed this little face so much....

Kyah in "Christmas Spirit"

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