Kanyin is ONE

No wonder babies have to sleep all the time...they grow so much in one year! Kanyin turned one on February 25th. It's hard to believe a year ago, our lives changed completely! After having a baby, I decided that birthdays should also be a day of celebration for the mom. It took a lot to get Kanyin here, so I think I should get a cake or something. :) I really can't imagine life without her now. Thank you to those who helped celebrate with us and sent her packages etc. She is a spoiled happy little girl. Her birthday ended up not being all roses though....poor girl got her hand caught in the oven drawer while her birthday cake was baking and got some really nasty burns on her fingers! I felt so bad. I still feel really bad. Especially when I get comments in the store like "oohh her poor little fingers." They are pretty much healed now, but it was for sure a traumatic day for the both of us. What I don't get is she still wants to play with the oven drawer.

 Kanyin took her first steps a few days before she turned one. She could walk, she is just hesitant. Growth wise, she is pretty average, except for her head which is in the 90th percentile. Not sure what happened there. 

  

Kanyin has turned out to be quite the character. Some of her LOVES include:

-Dora the Explorer  whenever I ask if she wants to watch Dora she says "de de de" and gets really excited

-Cheese  She could eat cheese all day if I let her

-Books  This girl loves to read. Especially Dr. Seuss books. Sometimes I will find her surrounded by toys, and there she is looking at a book. Her favorite thing to do in the car is look at pictures in a book. She has just started talking gibberish while she is holding her books. SO so so cute. 

-Play Chase (especially with her dad) She loves it when we get down on the floor and say "I'm gonna get you!" She will turn the other way, scream and crawl as fast as she can. 

-Baths no matter where she is or what she is doing, as soon as she hears that bath water running, she is right there ready to go. 

-Walks Kanyin is usually always on the go, except for walks, she is usually really content and enjoys the outdoors. 

-Emptying the kitchen drawer it's pretty much a ritual now that while I am cooking she empties the tupperware drawer. At least it keeps her happy and allows me to cook. She just started learning that there are other cupboards and drawers with exciting things inside. Most of which are not baby safe, so we need to do something about that. 

We have loved being parents. It has been such an enjoyable time with lots of learning experiences in between. Shawn and I thank our Heavenly Father through prayer for bringing Kanyin into our family. It is a great responsibility becoming a parent. Whenever I think about all the negative in the world today, I get nervous about being a mom.  I think about Kanyin going to school etc and how I hope what she learns at home will help her to be a strong girl. I love this quote:

"Raising our children is a much greater responsibility than we can do alone without the Lord’s help. He knows exactly what our children need to know, what they need to do, and what they need to be to come back into His presence. He gives mothers and fathers specific instruction and guidance through the scriptures, His prophets, and the Holy Ghost."

—Cheryl A. Esplin

This does give me comfort knowing as long as ask for the Lords help and stay on the right path doing those little things to have the spirit in our home, he can guide us and help in raising children.

Happy Birthday Kanyin!  Click Here for the link to my photography blog where her one year pictures are posted. 

I also made this video to document her first year. My goal is to do this with all our future children as well. We will see if that really happens :)

Sometimes the video won't work in blogger. So here is the link if it won't work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GDiYNWvzFA
Happy Birthday Kanyin