07 July 2006

K is for...

Kyra!
This is one of my favorite pictures of Kyra. I LOVE that toothless smile!

Kyra was born Friday, March 12, 1999 - at 9:29 AM. She weighed 8lb, 8oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. Once she was born, a nurse asked her dad & I if she had a name (at the time, we were looking at Kyra - she was screaming). We both said, "Yes", and went back to looking at our daughter. A few minutes later, the nurse asked, "What's this baby's name?" - we both answered, "Kyra". She didn't have a middle name until later that weekend.

When Kyra was a baby & we were out places (like restaurants), people would often stop to talk to her and remark on how she had bright eyes and was so happy. I attribute the bright eyes and healthy-look to breastfeeding. :-)


The pictures above were taken June 11,1999. Kyra was one day shy of 3 months old.

The picture above, and the one below show some of her "church" outfits. The child never wore the same outfit to church two weeks in a row (one of the local dress factories used to have an outlet store here, so I could get dresses for Kyra for $5.00 or less). She was about a year old in these pictures.

Here she is, sitting on my Grandma's favorite chair. Kyra always put things in here mouth (honestly, it still hasn't stopped!).


Kyra & her Daddy. We were hanging out in the park that day.

Here's Kyra at her 4 - year birthday party. She had a Mermaid themed party at a local children's museum.

Somewhere around this time, she became the Queen Princess Kyra (my daughter didn't want to settle for being one or the other - she wanted to be both!).

Here we are in 2004, in New York city. I forget where this picture of me & Kyra was taken.

Kyra & her Daddy on the Staten Island Ferry (it's free, and you get a nice, cool breeze!). Kyra was watching for whales and seals and dolphins.



The diva!

These pictures were also taken in NYC - but later that same year. We were visiting Kyra's Grandma, Aunts, Uncle and cousins. This is Kyra's Aunt Didi's church. We had to take pictures, because this was the first that the whole family had been to church together in years.

This picture was taken in May. This is my child, acting silly.

This is her "cute" pose.

And here we have Kyra in her pool.

Kyra is outgoing, kind, caring, very sweet (she shocked a server in a Manhattan restaurant once when she asked if she could give her (the server) a hug). She's very compassionate (the downside to this is that she often cries when others are hurt). She still amazes me, every day. You expect to be amazed by the baby things, like walking, talking, etc. But I am still amazed by her - she is so smart, so kind, so wonderful, so beautiful. Kyra's also very observant. She grasps things sometimes, that I wouldn't expect a 7-year old to grasp.

Before I had Kyra I thought that parents determined how the child turns out. And to some extent, they do. Certainly you teach your child, do your best to help them to be a good person, try to keep them safe. I think that most parents do the best they can - or at least try to. Now I believe that parents are here to help our children to become the person they are supposed to be. We're just here to guide them. Often, I think I learn more from her than she does from me. Having her has helped me to be a better person - that's something that I didn't realize would/could happen when you have a child.

Before I had Kyra, I thought that love songs were written with adult love in mind. Once I had her, I thought that surely they were written about the love I felt for that baby. I loved her when I first found out I was pregnant but somehow I fell deeper in love with her once I "met" her. And I don't think I'm explaining this right - maybe it's something that just can't be explained.

When I first saw her, I thought she was the most beautiful baby. I still think she's the most beautiful - not baby anymore - just, the most beautiful!

Thanks for "listening" to my raving! MAKE it a great day!

06 July 2006

I am so behind!

Some of you may remember that I signed up for the ABC along. Some of you may know that the last letter I did was "I". Most bloggers are now on "M" or "N". Why am I so behind? Well, I got stuck on "J". I just cannot think of anything for "J". I'm going to skip it and move onto "K". The good news for you is that over the next few days, I hope to get caught up (that means I'll be posting more than once every two weeks). :-)

I've been knitting. Here's a list of what I've been working on:

I used up almost all of the yarn I won from Nancy (BronxGirlKnits). Remember? It was Lopi Alafos - from Iceland! I knit a bag (which would then be felted) from the book I also won from Nancy (sorry - I don't have links today - isn't it enough that I'm actually posting???). I liked the bag so much (and had more than a skein & a half left over), that I decided to knit a second bag. Same pattern. Same yarn. Well, I have felted those two bags (oh - no pictures today, either). I'll get pictures taken of them so that you can see how wonderfully they turned out. I also felted another bag (this one was my own "design") - that bag's story will be told another day.

I started a swatch of the yarn that Lucia dyed for me in the Dye-O-Rama Swap. I know I told you (in a previous post) that I love that yarn. But now that I've knit some of it? I LOVE it even more! The colors are SO. BEAUTIFUL. After each row, I have to stop and look at the colors! And the yarn is amazingly soft. And there's ALOT of it. I am so lucky! Thanks again, Lucia!

I got some new dpn's. Size 000, size 00, size 0, and size 1. Yep. To make socks. I'm doing a swatch of some Regia sock yarn (that I've had for a while) on the size 000 needles. Can I just tell you that these needles are like metal toothpicks. I find myself holding the needles so tightly that I have to make myself loosen my grip because I'm afraid I'll bend them!

In non-knitting news. If you're interested in Longaberger baskets, my Mom is selling a set of (7 baskets, I think) through Auction Inn on eBay. There are about 4 hours left - the last I checked, the price was around $95 (still a great price for 7 baskets!). Anyway. If you'd like to bid, head over to Auction Inn's website (just Google Auction Inn). It's under Current Auctions, then Collectibles.

That's all for today. MAKE it a great day!