The Princess Who Won't Sleep...

Kyliava is "The Princess Who Won't Sleep Through The Night"! That could be the title of a children's story, right?

It is SO easy to get her to go to sleep... I just nurse her and she drifts off so peacefully! But she is still waking twice in the night to nurse. It's not really a huge deal, though, because she goes right back to sleep. And I waited so long for her, what's a few night wakings when I have such a Blessing?

I don't understand the books that tell you to let a baby CIO (cry it out). It seems to me that the baby learns that mommy isn't going to tend to his or her needs when he or she cries out for help (so why bother, huh?), resulting in a baby who doesn't feel as loved and secure, but learns to be content in being ignored... and how would you like to be left laying there all alone to cry your heart out?!

It upsets me just thinking about it... God trusted me enough to give me these three wonderful children and I could never make one of them feel like that!

Kyliava Helping With the Dishes

Kayla was doing the dishes and Kyliava was in the kitchen with her. Kayla turned around to put some dishes in the cabinet and the baby was climbing into the dishwasher! At least our Princess is happy to help!

Kyliava's 1st Birthday

This is one of my favorite pictures from her 1st Birthday!

My other favorite is of her staring at a huge slice of birthday cake... she wouldn't touch it until we gave her a fork!

We always said we were going to write down things that our children said and did, but didn't do it nearly enough. So I'm taking the opportunity to take note of the things Kyliava does!

Her vocabulary:
mama
dada
ayla (Kayla)
at (that)
up
buh bye
hi

no no
bruh bruh ('boobie' when she wants to nurse)
rarr (When we ask, "What does the Lion say?")
baaah (When we ask, "What does the Goat say?")

Body parts she can point to:
head, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, belly, foot, hand

She brings you a diaper when she wants a change... Time to start potty training!
Wooden puzzles are a favorite of hers, as are touch-n-feel books.

She loves to scribble on her drawing board.

She loves to run around the backyard, and has tons of fun climbing on things.

Disney Princess dolls are her favorite.

Her grandmother bought her a lavendar blanket with butterflies on it when we were at Disneyworld in February... she runs and gets it when she's ready to nap.

She loves to look out of the window at our goats.

When she wakes up in the morning, she runs down the hallway to Kayla's room and taps on the door, she just adores her big sister!

Kevin always makes her smile and laugh, she loves his nuttiness! He will come to me and say, "Mom, isn't she a Blessing?" and my heart just swells with love!

A Miracle

This is our much-awaited miracle, Kyliava Mikayla. We tried to have her for nineteen months, even went through two months of fertility treatment that failed. Casting Crowns has a song, “I Will Praise You In This Storm” that really spoke to my heart, it would make tears come to my eyes when I heard it, because even though I felt this trial was a horrible storm, I was continuing to praise God and trust him in this, hard as it was.

Finally, in January 2007, after nineteen long months of praying for a baby, I fell on my knees and told God that I was tired of praying for a baby, and that if He wanted me to get pregnant, then I‘d get pregnant. I didn’t pray for a baby any more. I was beginning to feel that we would never have a baby, even though I felt an earnest yearning in my heart for another. It constantly broke my heart to see what seemed like everyone around us either pregnant or with a new baby. I couldn’t help but continually ask God why He would do this to me.

In February, I took a pregnancy test, as I had many times before. As usual, it was negative. Crying, I fell to my knees and begged God to make it be wrong. Two days later, a month since I had told God that I wasn’t asking him for a baby any longer, I took another test and got the positive that we had waited so long to see. On September 26, 2007, Kyliava was born, a perfect seven-and-a-half pounds, absolutely beautiful, with a head full of gorgeous black hair. She is now a year old… and I am still in awe over her. I still can’t believe we have her. I look at her, and I truly can feel my heart smile, it‘s a feeling that I can‘t describe. An answered prayer, a dream come true.

I thank God every day for my three wonderful Blessings!