Our Lil' Buddy

A few pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Kyra loves to suck on her fingers

Kyra likes to snuggle up

A little cuddlebug

Geoff likes to call Kyra his buddy, and so we couldn't resist this onesie!

Daddy is a great lounge chair!

Watching the Lakers...too bad they lost tonight :(

Just kickin' it on Daddy!

The Tipper Family!

Tummy Time!

Enjoying tummy time...

Kyra's not a fan of naps by herself, but she loves naps with Daddy

Another Paul Frank monkey onesie - this one was a surprise gift from Daddy!

Kyra's learning to roll on to her sides

She's also very good at turning herself around on her play mat or in her Pack N Play.

Kyra: "Please don't put me in my crib to nap. I'll scream if you do. I'd much rather just lie here with Mommy and rest my eyes for a few short minutes."

Kyra: "I love to drool and burp during tummy time."

Enjoy the video above, complete with some smiling, burping, and drooling all in one!

Kyra has been practicing her rolling skills a lot lately, rolling from side to side on her play mat. We help her out with rolling on to her tummy, and she always lets out a burp and some drool during tummy time! Right now, she only enjoys a few minutes of tummy time before getting a little fussy, but she's doing great with lifting her upper body up while on her tummy! Kyra's also been working on her grabbing skills and vocal skills. She makes all kinds of noises now, and I swear I'm hearing the beginnings of laughter and giggles! I can't wait for the giggles!

We've also been introducing her to some of her "deet deets" (little snuggly blanket animals, named "deet deets" by Kyra's cousins when they were babies), and she has been enjoying snuggling and playing with them during the day.

Kyra is such an amazing nighttime sleeper, but she doesn't seem to like napping much during the day. We take her out for long walks in the stroller, where she might nap for around 30 minutes or so. She loves looking around at everything outside, so lately our walks have been averaging around 90 minutes.

I'm reading up on solid foods because I anticipate that Kyra's pediatrician will want us to start her on solids shortly after her 4 month checkup next month. I've been learning about Baby-Led Weaning, which has babies exploring foods with their hands and feeding themselves. It's a concept that helps babies become less-finicky eaters by letting them choose for themselves, discover new tastes and textures, and eat at their own pace. I'm guessing we'll probably end up doing a combination of Baby-Led Weaning and organic baby foods, but we'll see what works best for Kyra.

The weather has been unseasonably cool and cloudy here lately, but the hot and sunny days are heading our way. I've been looking at pool floating devices for babies lately and will probably be ordering one soon. The heater in the pool in our complex is officially on, so we're just waiting on the weather to warm up a little before we put Kyra in the pool for the first time. Should be soon though! Hopefully she'll love the pool as much as she loves bath time!

First Mother's Day

Picture time for the cousins

Kickin' it with the big girls

Mommy and Kyra on Mother's Day

The mommy's and their babies!

The girls looked adorable in their matching dresses (thanks Carol!)

I love my baby girl!

Every day is Mother's Day, but our first official Mother's Day was pretty great!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there! Yesterday was my first Mother's Day, and it was a great day! We had so much fun getting all the kids together - Carol made matching dresses, so of course a photo op was a must! It was a bit chaotic trying to get all 4 girls posing for the camera, but we managed to get some cute shots.

Kyra was passed around throughout most of the family, and Mia and Maddie were especially interested in holding her. She was a good sport through it all, but by the end of the day Kyra was a little tired and cranky. But can you really blame her?

It's hard to believe that it's already been over a year since we were trying to get pregnant. I remember last Mother's Day, a few of our family members were anxiously awaiting a surprise pregnancy announcement that they were expecting me to make, and I was very sorry to disappoint them that day! Mia even asked me if I had a baby in my tummy, which broke my heart a little...But it was just a couple of weeks later when I did actually get pregnant, and now my little Kyra is already 3 months old (tomorrow)!

I'm already looking forward to next year's Mother's Day, when Kyra will be moving around and playing with her cousins...but I guess I'll settle for a fun first Father's Day for Geoff next month! Geoff is such a great Daddy, and Kyra can't wait to celebrate him!

12 Weeks, Almost

How is it possible that my little baby girl is going to be 12 weeks old tomorrow? I think this will be the last time I'm able to tell people how old she is in weeks. After this, I'm going to have to move on to months, and then years! So I'm going to try to savor this next week as much as possible. Kyra will be 3 months old on May 11, but 12 weeks just feels so much younger!

Mom, Dad, and Grandparents have all been sick with colds over the last week or 2 but, luckily, Kyra seems to have remained healthy. We're all on the mend now, so hopefully she won't catch anything now. She's been working on her hand/eye coordination lately, learning how to hit at her toys and try to grab them. She'll grasp things if you put them in her hands, and loves to grab at her Sophie Giraffe toy. On her playmat, she's able to slowly wiggle and turn her body so that she starts with her head facing one direction on the mat and ends up facing the other side. She also loves to "stand" if we hold her up. She wiggles and shimmies her whole body. She's so strong!

Kyra's been developing her vocal skills lately, making all kinds of adorable squeals. She's also been smiling so much! It's the cutest thing! But she's been making it pretty tough for us to get photos of her smiling. She's much more interested in looking at our faces than at our cameras! I included a smile picture above, but that's just a small smile compared to her full-face smiles!

Kyra got to play with her Aunt, Uncle, and cousins last Saturday, so there are also a few pictures from that afternoon!

Oh, by the way, Kyra's Daddy has started blogging. You can follow his blog at "Tipdawg's Love/Hate Relationship With The World." I don't know how to make the title a hyperlink (is that what they're called?), so I'll just include the regular link here: http://tipdawglovehate.blogspot.com