Just a quick update...

Kiera got her third tooth within the past week...we don't know exactly when because she's such a good baby that there was no lost sleep, crying, etc...but it's here!! And the fourth is on it's way. It's so sad to think that she's going to be this little person with a fullish set of TEETH soon!! Bring on the steak!

Sean has been away a lot lately...and all this week. I don't know how single moms do it and I praise them for it! It's so hard not having an extra set of hands at home. I have to do laundry tonight like you wouldn't believe and I'm actually planning out how to get it all done so that I can get everything else done tonight!! It's unreal. Oh well...I love spending time with Kiera, so I can wear dirty clothes or let the house fall to pieces and I feel good about it :)

Nicole just sent me a picture text of Kiera in a shoe store with her new sneakers that she got her for her birthday! What am I going to do without her next year??!!! Will anyone love her like she does when I can't be with her???? I hate the thought of it. I'm on the search for a new sitter...Nicole is going back to work...and it's not easy...sigh. Nicole was my savior and we were so blessed to have her in Kiera's life during such critical months...and now we move on.

So much for a quick update.

11 Months Old!

Kiera Rita is 11 months old today! Where does the time go?? Last year at this time we had just wrapped up my baby shower...where we were spoiled rotten!! Here are some of the absolutely amazing things that she's doing now...

• Huffing and Puffing through her nose when she doesn't get her way.
• Standing alone for seconds at a time...when she doesn't realize she's doing it.
• Takes a few steps when we hold her hands...and then becomes lazy and gets back to crawling around like a maniac.
• Sorts objects from one bucket to another.
• Eats and eats...anything she can get her hands on!
• Drinks from a sippy cup.
• Has always LOVED music, but loves is so much now that she looks to find where it's coming from.
• Drinks the bath water...actually enjoys licking it...oh well!
• Stands up in the tub all the time...lies down too! Can't take your peepers off her for a moment.
• Loves Noggin...there's an addiction growing and if it allows me to go to the bathroom, I'm cool with it :) I watched TV (probably too much and do now) and have a master's degree....so we're all good :)
• Says Mama and Dada discriminately...and knows what her "baba" is and asks for it, and we think says "rara" for Roman.

So it's all terribly exciting! She's just this little ball of energy and I love every minute of it! She's so much more than anything I could have imagined and I feel so blessed to have her in my life every single day!

Last week I was so sick. I had a terrible stomach virus that lasted for around 12 hours with the bad symptoms...and then up until yesterday with the residual effects like not being able to eat anything that wasn't bread. I prayed so hard every minute that I could that Kiera didn't get sick...every minute! Sean was away for work so I had to do everything...like feed her, give kisses :), etc...so I was deathly afraid that she would get it and be a mess and I don't want to see her like that just yet. Thankfully, knock on wood, knock on wood, knock on wood...nothing has surfaced (yet). So I'm optimistic.

But every time I get sick I worry and worry that something more serious is wrong with me. I think it's really hard not to when your mom died at 49. I become obsessed with dying and leaving Kiera and Sean behind and I hate hate hate those thoughts. It's so unbelievably easy for Sean to say, "stop thinking that, you're fine." And I know that he's right, but in the back of my mind I can't help but think it and it makes me so upset and sad. I don't know how my mom felt when she knew that she was going to have to leave her daughter and husband behind, but it couldn't have felt good.

So, what I have to do every day that I have those thoughts is to remember to "think good thoughts, think good thoughts, think good thoughts..." and I'll be ok?! My very good, amazing, charismatic, fabulous friend, Molly (my Molly-lama) gave me some meditation cards recently that are advice from a mother to a daughter (she's so thoughtful all the damn time) and I can't get enough of them. One of them says, "Breathe. You're stronger than you think you are." Simply put and so true. And I can just envision my mom saying those words to me all the time.

That's the scoop from here...one month to go until my peanut is ONE! I simply cannot wrap my brain around it. I love her more and more with every passing minute and wish that all her loved ones who aren't with us anymore could meet this extraordinary little person!