Happy Birthday!

It's Kaiya's first birthday!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Kaiya,
Happy Birthday to you!

You are truly an amazing blessing in our lives. It has been a fabulous year, and we love being your parents.

Pictures on her birthday

Pictures from Kaiya's first birthday party

Around the World

So, our posts have been few and far between, but the miles Kaiya has traveled have been many!

At the end of September, Chris completed a triathlon as a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We took a weekend trip down to Florida (we flew), and Kaiya went to Rain Forest Café and Walt Disney World for the very first time (we visited Epcot). We also got to ride in the very front of the monorail with the driver.

State count: 10
Country count: 1






MAKING NEW FRIENDS
The day we returned from Florida, we met a new friend in the Dayton airport. Laura is a friend of ours from Scotland, who will be living with us for a year before going to University in the fall. It took a few days for Kaiya to warm up to her, but now they are great friends!

CORN MAZE
To help Laura make new friends, we went to a corn maze for the first time. It was lots of fun, and mom, dad, and Kaiya made it out first!

WALK THIS WAY, TALK THIS WAY
October 3: Kaiya said her first word – “Mama!”
October 11: Kaiya takes her first steps!

GRABBED BY THE GHOULIES
In October, Chris, Kaiya, Laura and I all entered the Ghosts and Goblins 5K run/walk. The ladies all enjoyed the stroll. It was a bit wet and rainy, so we tried out the jogging stroller with a newly-purchased rain cover. It worked quite well and kept her toasty. I think next year I’ll enter her into the costume contest! Speaking of costumes, we did take Kaiya out around the neighborhood on Halloween. We put her in this outfit from Japan.

ANOTHER WEEKEND TRIP
At the end of October, we went up to Pennsylvania for an RP Missions trip. It was here that Kaiya decided to show off for everyone. She mastered the art of walking. I think she was trying to get it in before she turned 11 months!
State count: 11
Country count: 1

IRON BABY
So maybe Kaiya didn’t swim, bike, and run 140.6 miles in early November, but she completed an “Iron Baby” challenge of her own. We drove down from Ohio to Panama City, Florida, for Chris’ race – we drove through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. She was a champ in the car! Then on the day of the race, we woke her a little after 6 a.m. for the start of the swim, and she didn’t get to bed until after midnight when the race was over! And, for the most part, she was very well behaved. During the day, we were up in the room, and Kaiya was walking around carrying thunder sticks and saying DaDa! DaDa! – How Cute!

We spent a week in Florida while Chris was recovering. Kaiya had mixed feelings about the sand, but she at least played in it a little bit and walked some – a huge step for a child with sensory and texture issues!

First Sand Castle

On our way home, we stopped near Chattanooga to visit some college friends and introduce them to our sweet Kaiya. So, our drive home skipped Alabama to go through Georgia.

State count: 13
Country count: 1

The Skinny on Kaiya

Part of the reason life has been so crazy is that Kaiya has been having some health issues. Here is a brief summary to bring you up to speed.

June: Kaiya turned 6 months at the end of May, and we decide to start trying solid foods.

July: Kaiya still not very successful with eating "solid" food, begins to refuse bottle.

Kaiya will suck on different foods, but as soon as bits fall off in her mouth, she spits them out. Here she is trying out a french fry.




Early August: Lisa begins to get concerned about Kaiya's eating, notices a drop in milk supply.

Mid-August: Kaiya going longer between feedings, but not actually eating more. Lisa takes her to the doctor's office. They aren't much help.

Late August: Kaiya goes for her 9 month check up. In just a short period of time, Kaiya has lost weight. She seems pretty miserable and is no longer nursing well. Still no progress with eating solids. Doctor seems to take it pretty seriously, because Kaiya's net weight gain from 6 months to 9 months is only an ounce. She now weighs less than 14 lbs. Kaiya categorized as "Failure to Thrive" and referred to a gastroenterologist.

While all this was going on, Lisa was impatient with the progress. So, she contacts Help Me Grow for a developmental evaluation. Kaiya is on target in every area except eating. Kaiya also begins visiting the chiropractor.

September: Chiropractor visits are improving Kaiya's nursing. Lisa's milk supply having problems keeping up with the demand. Talks with a lactation consultant on different ways to boost supply. Kaiya begins to gain weight again.

Kaiya is approved for occupational therapy services through Help Me Grow. At the same time, she goes to the GI specialist, who does some testing. Kaiya seems okay. May have a full feeding evaluation.

October: Kaiya is beginning to take the bottle again. She is up to 15 lbs! We take her back to the GI specialist for a weight check soon, and then a visit at the end of the month to check her progress.

Occupational therapy just started. She goes once a week for 1.5 hours. She had a lot of fun playing. We will keep you posted.

Now to leave you with something quite cute... Kaiya taking a few bites of baby food!

Standing Ovation

Wow! I started this post more than a month ago! As you may have guessed, life has been pretty crazy the last two months. There is so much to tell you about Kaiya – the last two months have been pretty eventful!

Kaiya started crawling in July, and she has been on the go ever since.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SSNW1ND_vCo (BTW, every time I try to load the videos, Blogger clears out everything in my post. So, you'll need to click on the links to view the video.)



Just a few days later, she started pulling herself up on objects. Now she is cruising along the edges.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hDqPwMuaOyg

Kaiya also attended her very first wedding in July. A co-worker of Chris’ got married up in Columbus. The ceremony was held in a conservatory, and we were able to get a tour. Kaiya loved looking at all the plants and butterflies.



The reception was held at a golf course.

While we waited for the bridal party, Kaiya entertained us with a game of peek-a-boo.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=52K0zkdWx5Q

In August, Chris’ brother Karl and our 5-year-old nephew flew out from Virginia for a visit. It was great to see them – it had been way too long. Kaiya and Gredan had tons of fun together. I almost wish that Kaiya had a big brother or sister to play with!

Kaiya has really started “talking” a lot, and she is already speaking in complete sentences. She says, “I did it” or “I do it.” Of course, she doesn’t realize what she is saying, but it is really cute. She is also imitating the sounds we make. She says “aiya” and makes g-sounds that sound like she is trying to repeat “good girl.” She also repeats sounds after we say “I love you,” so it sounds like she is saying it back to us.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p63SKyu0hHc

The other night, Kaiya finally discovered the stairs. To this point, she hasn’t really shown any interest in them. But, she decided it was time to try them out. Not only did she make it up a step, she decided to crawl all the way to the top!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=biIjESPZxBU

Here are some cute photos of Kaiya:

Coast to Coast

Yes, that's right. Our little Kaiya bear has been coast to coast in just one month!

July began with a family vacation to California to visit an old friend and his family. Chris and I hadn't seen Tim since our wedding in Dec. '99. Since that time, Tim has gotten married and had three children. With great airfare on Skybus, we decided it was time to get caught up in person. Not only was this Kaiya's first time to California, but it was also a first for both Mommy and Daddy.

Here is a run down of our trip...

July 3: Drive up to Columbus and spend the night with Grandpa Branson and Aunt Sara. We celebrated Father's Day and went to dinner at Dave and Busters.

July 4: Fly to California. We woke up at 1:30 a.m. Pacific time to catch our flight. Praise the Lord for a direct flight into California. Once again, Kaiya was a champ!

We got into CA about 8:30 a.m. and drove about 3 hours from the airport to Hanford, which is near Fresno. Spent the day recovering and getting to know the Kochendarfer family. That evening, we went to a church Fourth of July picnic. It was over 110 degrees! The three of us couldn't stay awake for fireworks and went back to the house a little early. Even with the 3 hour time difference, Kaiya kept us up until 10 p.m.

July 5: We decided on a day trip to Sequoia National Park to visit the giant redwood trees. MapQuest said it would be about 1:45 hour drive, but with road construction on the mountain it wound up being about 3 hours! The Koch kids were great at entertaining Kaiya during our long wait.

Once we got to the spot, Chris strapped Kaiya on for a walk. At the higher elevation and under the shade, the weather was actually quite nice.


The highlight of the trip was seeing the The General Sherman Tree, which is 274.9' tall and 102.6' in circumference at its base. With 52,500 cubic feet of wood, the General Sherman Tree is the World's Largest Tree.

Family photo next to a redwood cross-section:


We rode a bus back up to the parking lot. With all the traveling she has done, Kaiya is a pro at riding public transit :-)

July 6, 7: We all decided it was just too hot, so we went to Pismo Beach for an overnight trip. The weather was perfect -- low to mid 60s! It was - surprise, surprise - about a three hour drive! But, on the way there, we stopped for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (yummy!)



The hotel we stayed at was on the coast. Here Chris and Kaiya are chillin' on the gazebo.
Here is the beach area at the hotel. It was a bit of climb to get down there, so it wasn't very visitor friendly - beautiful nonetheless.

July 8: We worshipped with the Kochs and really enjoyed the service. Our brothers and sisters in Christ at New Hope OPC were very welcoming.

July 9: DISNEYLAND!
Disney was totally worth the 4 hour drive. Chris and I have visited Disney parks in Florida, Paris, and Tokyo, so it was time to visit the original.

We decided to ride on the new Nemo submarines first. It must have been the right choice, because one of the boats was named Scout - that's what we called Kaiya before we knew we were having a girl!

Here she is on her very first amusement park ride!

Her favorite ride was It's a Small World, so we rode it twice. She just looked around and couldn't absorb it all fast enough. Too cute. Watching her on the ride was really the highlight of our trip to Disney.

July 10: We flew back home to Ohio. We got into Columbus at 1:30 a.m., so we spent the night in Columbus. We had a great time with the Kochendarfers. Lord willing, we won't go 7+ years again without seeing them again. And, now, we can say our longtime friends Tim and Leeann!

Top 10 firsts on her trip to California

1. Flight with Daddy: She and Daddy were inducted into the mile high diaper club!
2. Seeing "brown mountains"
3. Temperatures over 100 degrees: We made sure she had plenty to drink to stay hydrated. (It was kind of sad to see her with red cheeks.)
4. Visit to the Pacific Ocean: It was too cold to go in the water.
5. Sleep over: Kaiya absolutely loved Kaelyn, Lannie and Iden (Sorry if these are misspelled!).
6. In-N-Out Burger: This was one of Daddy's favorite parts of the trip. We wound up eating there 4 times!
7. Worship at an OPC: And maybe soon she will get to hear her Grandpa Knodel preach.
8. Disney park: The legacy continues... Disney World in September!
9. Amusement park ride: She was absolutely adorable on every ride.
10. Mouse Ears: Just like Mommy!

She was such a good girl the entire time, even though we spent about 24 hours driving just in California. I can't wait for our next family trip!

State count: 9

Country count: 1