12 month measurements

On 9/11/09 Kana got 3 (of 5) shots at her 12 month appt. We had the option to schedule the last 2 shots a month later so she didn't have to get too many at once. She was a champ, as usual. She cries for a second and is laughing by the time we get to the parking lot. She stayed home with Kiwi and Nana for a few days while Mommy & Daddy went to a wedding in Texas and made an appearance at the annual dive club trip in Cozumel.
She is just barely on the chart for weight now (95%) but just over for height! Her doctor says everything is great, since she is still on the same growth curve.
She is 24.08 lbs and 31.75 inches.
(The nurse used the adult scale instead of the infant one, so it may not have been accurate. Her next appointment weigh-in was over 25lbs, so she was probably 25.08lbs at 1 year - off the charts.)

We had a little scare today when the babysitter called, worried that Kana may have the chicken pox! Mommy rushed home and took Kana to the pediatrician to see what the tiny pink dots were all about. The doctor says it's just a virus, a strange rash, but Kana feels fine and it should go away on it's own in a few days, whew! That was close!
We have plans to go swimming at the beach with all her friends tomorrow.

My big birthday party

Saturday was the big one! My first party was a small one with Papa and Gramma. My second was a joint birthday celebration with Nana. Yesterday's was the big shindig! All my friends showed up and we had a great time. My Gramdpa Glenn and my godmother Steff even flew in just for the day! (Auntie Steff I'm going to get you an alarm clock for your next birthday.) We were supposed to have the party at a park down the street, but when mommy went by on Thursday the playground was all torn up and undergoing a renovation, so after some re-planning, the party was relocated to Veterans Park in Redondo Beach. The new park was nice because it was next to the ocean. I looked very pretty, if I do say so myself, in my red dress. As usual I was eating nonstop. Clearly mommy doesn't feed me enough so I am forced to take food off of other people's plates. I am such a mooch. Daddy thinks my first spoken phrase will be, "Are you going to eat that?" Nana baked me a special sugar free carrot-apple cake, it was delicious as an appetizer to the real cupcakes. I had to sample both, of course. Yum! Yum!
Thanks to everyone who showed up to my parties. They wouldn't have been the same without you.

Kana's 1st Birthday

Today is my Birthday. Yeah for me! I am One Year Young today. It has been a fantastic week. On Friday, Papa and Gramma showed up (with gifts and cake). I was very excited and pleasantly surprised. We had a small early birthday party on Saturday. We planned on going to the park but it was ridiculously hot. Then we were going to gather in the back yard but Mommy was concerned with the yellow jackets buzzing around sooooooooooooo we ended up in the shade in front of the garage. Not the most scenic place for a party, but I had a blast eating and opening my presents. I don't care how much Mommy and Daddy pay to live in this great "beach weather," I am voting for some AC. (Coastal breeze, my little fanny.) That was my first, first birthday party. We all spent the rest of the weekend trying to keep cool, mainly by not being in the house/sauna. We went to cool restaurants and to the beach. We even went over to Papa and Gramma's hotel to enjoy the pool and the AC in their room.
On Tuesday, I had play dates with all my little friends, which I really enjoyed. I shared my new birthday toys with the boys. I'm a big fan of the "Little People"!
Nana showed up with my buddy Kiwi at "Oh Dark Hundred" this morning so we could celebrate our birthday's together. I was so excited that I couldn't nap. It took Mommy 3 tries to finally get me down. After I woke from my nap, Mommy, Nana and I spent the day at the LB Aquarium ( boy do I love that place). I was laughing and dancing all day. When Daddy got home from work we went out to Red Robin for birthday celebration #2! Nana and I got free birthday dinners, and to top it off they threw in a song with Ice Cream Sundays for the birthday girls! My first taste of Ice Cream... I quite enjoyed it, as you can tell. When we got home, we opened more presents and sang the birthday song with cake again. We didn't eat this one though, maybe tomorrow. I am exhausted from all this partying so I'm off to bed.

Summer Vacation is Almost Over

Daddy goes back to school on Friday, so our fun summer is coming to an end. We've really enjoyed our daddy-daughter time together. I've been testing his patience with my crazy nap schedule lately, but I know he's really going to miss being home with me.

Mommy just got back from New York and Nana is driving down with Kiwi, so I will have a new captive audience to wear out soon.

Mommy & Daddy found a cool video monitor on craig's list, so they can SEE me napping now instead of just hearing me throwing a tantrum. I will really have to perform in front of the camera now that I know they are watching. Doggie and I will have to learn a new dance routine or something to really impress our audience. They've already seen his flying out of the crib routine.

I have my big birthday coming up next week. I am so excited to be turning 1! I can stand up on my own now, but I'm waiting to surprise everyone when I decide to take my first steps. I have a lot of visitors coming soon, so maybe I will make my walking debut then!

I'm Everywhere

The Beach, the Aquarium, Santa Barbara, the Zoo and the Butterfly exhibit in less than a week. Where will I go next?

So Cool

Wow. I am so excited I can hardly type. I just got back from my first trip to Santa Barbara and I loved it. Mommy had to do a presentation up there so daddy and I tagged along and boy was it worth it. Aunt Elaine invited us to visit her at work. Now I know that doesn't sound very cool and exciting but she works at............. the ZOO! This was my first trip to any zoo so from that standpoint it was pretty cool anyway but I got to feed the giraffes. Aunt Elaine gave us the behind the scenes tour of the Giraffe enclosure and we got up close and personal with them. They ate right out of my hand and a couple of times they kind of ate my hand too. I wasn't scared though. I'm a Tough Chick that and the fact that both giraffe were very gentle. I was surprisingly gentle as well. We fed them these red biscuits that tasted like really densely packed bran. You are probably wondering how I know that? Daddy tried one because Elaine said that humans have eaten them. He didn't care for it. We got to feed the giraffe for about 10 minutes before we ran out of food. The rest of the zoo was nice but I will write about that later when I have more time. I am supposed to be sleeping right now but I snuck out of my crib to use the computer. Well back to bed for me. Good night for now.

Raider of the Open Fridge

I have discovered a magical place. They call it the "fridge". I don't know what that means but I do know it holds a lot of food. As you may know I am kind of fond of eating. I'm not really a discriminating or picky eater. Basically if you put it in front of me, I will put it in my mouth. Daddy left the door to the fridge open the other day I decided to take a closer look. This was made all the easier since I am now able to stand if I hold onto stuff. In this shot I found a mango. If I have another opportunity who knows what I might find, maybe some turkey meatballs or some blueberries.
With this new power of standing, nothing is safe from me below 3 feet. Yes, I have quite the reach. I love to pull stuff off tables and chairs. Standing has also given me the ability to beg for more food. When mommy and daddy sit down to eat after they've fed me dinner I can just mosey on over, take a look at what they are eating and try to help myself. They call me Kiwi when I do this since he is the king of all beggars.
Did I mention I am almost 1 year old. Yep that's right. In less than a month I will be one and then I won't have to be described in months any more. When someone ask, "How old is she?" mommy and daddy can just say "1".

My Vacation

My life is tough so it was good to get away for a while. I spend 9 days with Aunt Megan, Uncle James, Harrison and Owen in Portland. It was great to have some people around closer to my age. Don't get me wrong. I like spending the summer with Daddy but let's face it, he's no spring chicken. Harrison and Owen get me cause they remember what life is like for me. Aunt Megan took great care of me when mommy and daddy went to Rome. I was on my best behavior. I wanted to be sure that I was invited back once the AC is installed. Now I can't say that I didn't show my dark side while I was there. I just showed it when my parents were around and they weren't too excited about that. I really freaked them out Sunday night after they spent 3 days getting back from Rome. I was a bit perturbed that they ditched me so I put on my best tantrums. They were so worried that something was wrong with me they woke up Uncle James at midnight to check me out. I didn't have a temp and my lungs were clear so they chalked it up to teething. Yup, I have another tooth and I think some more are on the way. I did come down with a runny nose for the flight home yesterday but it didn't really bother me. What did bother me was that I was really tired and I couldn't sleep well on the plane. I'm sure glad I'm cute cause otherwise the folks around me on the plane wouldn't have been so nice. It also helped that I greeted everyone with my big smile as they walked down the aisle while boarding.
I thought I would throw in a great pic taken by Aunt Megan of me and the boys on the lawn. We had some good times and lots of fun.

Aquarium

Had a really cool day today. Daddy took me to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was sooooooo much fun. I got to see jellyfish and a turtle and fish and well lots of neat stuff. I saw the Bat rays fed up close. So close they splashed water all over daddy. I saw some big sharks and some little sharks too. Daddy wouldn't let me pet the stingrays because he says I'm not gentle enough yet. Whatever! I bite his arm really hard one time and he thinks I'm going to pull a stingray's tail. He is right though. Those tails looked so grabbable. Maybe when I'm older. I like watching the seals and sea lions zoom by. I think my swimming abilities are not quite as good as theirs but I'm getting close. I was very impressed with the clown fish. They made me giggle. I can't wait until I can go SCUBA diving with Mommy and Daddy. Since I enjoyed myself so much, Daddy got us a membership so we can go back all the time. Yeaaaaaaah!
I'm looking froward to getting on a plane this Sat and heading up to Portland to see my peeps. Megan, James, Harrison and Owen I hope you are ready for me cause I'm gonna bring it.

My fun weekend

It's a heat wave!
We went for a long walk to the Hawaiian festival and the park on Saturday. I got a pretty new aloha dress.
I went swimming in the ocean with mommy & daddy after church on the beach on Sunday.
I was scared of the waves at first, but then I saw some nudie doody kids swimming near by and I decided to show off my swimming skills. I ate a lot of sand! It was a great weekend.