Its the most wonderful time of the year!

Its amazing how time flies when you have a little one! Kiralie is almost 9 months now and she isn't slowing down one bit. She is getting into everything; like climbing up the stairs, and taking ornaments of the Christmas tree and taking the bags out of the trash, just to mention a few.


She is a great joy and so much fun to be around. Just looking into her eyes makes parenting so worth it. Even in times when we get frustrated and so overwhelmed.
We are very excited for her to experience her first Christmas just as we were for Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to all. We hope that the coming year will bring much joy and peace in all our lives. We love you and hope that there is a lot to be thankful for, this season.


                                 Afenhyiapa ooooooo! Afe nko mboto hen bio!

Kiralie is finally crawling!

I am very excited that my baby girl is finally crawling. But it is also sad cos she isn't my little dependent baby anymore. She moves around and plays whenever she wants. Plus, she will be getting into all my stuff as she has already started.

On Tuesday the 26th of Oct., after I returned from Effie's place, and just relaxing on the couch when little miss started to crawl. She has been trying to scoot and crawl for about 3 weeks now and we were all waiting for the day that her frustrations will be over. Now she crawls and feeds herself and just plays with anything and everything that she finds. She is talking a lot more now too. She has already tried to pull herself up on anything she can get her hands on.

I just had to share this so that you can see how fast she is growing. We will post pictures really soon. Love you

Photo Shot session

So I found this photo studio on facebook and I totally fell in love with their price. So I went online Saturday and found out they had an opening that evening and booked it before I checked with Tim to see if it would work. Well, he agree and so we went to take some pix of the family. And these are a few of what we got.

 Hope you've enjoyed these as much as we have.

A lot has happened!

I don't even know where to start.
I guess I will start by saying that, we are grateful to our father in Heaven for our many blessings. We have life and breath and we have wonderful family and friends that support us in all that we do. Most of all, we have the gospel of Jesus Christ to strengthen is when we are down and lowly.

A lot has happened this last couple of weeks. We've had a sewer problem in the house and so we had to move to Rosie's place while we figure it out. She has been a wonderful mother, mother-in-law and most of all, grandma. We love her and don't know what and how we could have done anything without her help. Even though I miss my home tremendously, I think it will be very hard on all of us to go home. Especially, Kiralie who is so use to seeing grandma in the mornings and playing with her in the day.

Kiralie has been trying to crawl these past couple of weeks and it looks like she makes progress everyday. She is on all fours now and tries to move both hands and legs with no success. But we all know that, she will figure it out sooner or later and will be in everything. She is very good at going backwards though. She is able to move all over the place that way. Lately, she has learned how to stop herself from going backward and is trying to figure out how to move forward.

That hair just keeps growing

She is just a joy to watch and a delight to be around. Its amazing how big she has gotten since she's been home with us.
One other thing that has happened, according to Tim and grandma Rosie and everyone else but me, she has said her first word, "dada". I think she is just saying gibberish like "dadadadadaada". I say her first word will be "mama". I think I deserve that honor. Nevertheless, I still love her and whatever she says is secondary. But I wish "mama" came out first though.
Kiralie is also able to hold her own bottle and put her binkie back in her mouth when she feels like it. And most of the time, she doesn't feel like it. We love her all the same.

Our sewer problem is being fixed and hopefully, we all get to sleep in our won beds tomorrow night. We have enjoyed being with Rosie and will love to stay with her forever. But I think it's about time she got her home back and we took our crap back to our house. Its amazing how much closer you get when adversity strikes.

We love our family so much and we appreciate all your prayers and love. We hope to keep you posted on what is going on in our lives more often. Until then, enjoy the pix of Kiralie. Will be adding some more soon

The Power of PRAYER!

Well, it's been quite a while since we last posted on here. Kiralie is growing so rapidly like a "bush fire". She hears her name and usually ignores you for a while and then starts to laugh before she looks up. I think that is really cute.

So this is where it all begins.
Kiralie has been a very great baby ever since we brought her home. We've had a few incidence where she gets very fussy. She woke up with a big red spot right on her forehead. I wondered what happened but just could figure it out. She has bumpers in the crib and there isn't any hard toy in there to give her a bump. I tried to touch it to see if it hurt but she didn't really seem to care. She wasn't crying or anything either. I took her to grandma Rosie's so that I could go to work and she was fine and playful as always.

Grandma says she had a great time as always. When we came home, she played while I did dishes and  we played for a little bit too. Well lately, she goes to bed really early. She went from 9pm to 7:30pm bedtime.
Tonight wasn't any different. But when I put her down, she started to cry and just wouldn't stop crying. She cried so much, and I got so frustrated, I just wish I had someone to call to just come take her off my hands for a little bit. Unfortunately for me, Tim wasn't at home and that frustrated me even more.
After, about an hour of consoling her here and there, I decided to say a prayer with her. She stared into my eyes and I hers until the prayer was done and then she gave me the biggest laugh. I had an incline to take her outside for a little bit so I did. She was calmer and just enjoyed the cool breeze and the the cars that passed by. After a few minutes, I took her back upstairs to try putting her down to sleep.

Wow! The difference was very clear. I gave her her binkie and she just lay there starring into the ceiling and not a peep escaped her mouth. That was it. She just went to sleep. Just like that! I didn't have to do anything.
I know someone might think that, she was tired and so she went to sleep. I say, it was the spirit that she felt that calmed her down. Who says they cannot feel the spirit? Babies can feel the spirit. And Kiralie showed me that she felt it tonight.


I love my Heavenly Father and the opportunity I have to go to him in prayer whenever I think my burdens are heavy. He gives me the peace that I need to think clearly and also calms the situation. I am grateful that He helped me get through this tough moment. It was brief but I don't know how I would have gone through without Him. I am grateful that, I could share that moment with my daughter. We have prayed many times.But tonight was different and special.
I have a stronger testimony of prayer and I want to share it with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Whats up!

Its been a little while since we last posted. We have been a little busy. But I will love to use this time to say Happy birthday to Faustina Aduafua Ashong-Botchway. She is a wonderful woman and she has been a blessing in our lives. I know I wouldn't be where I am today without her righteous example and influence. We love her dearly and can't wait to see her soon. We love you auntie Faustie. And we really appreciate all you do and your prayers. We can feel its influence all the way here. Please keep doing what you do and this worl will contiue to be a better place.

SO, back to the subject,
A lot happens when you are having fun. We are all doing well by the grace of our Heavenly Father. We have been faced with some trials but, hey, who doesn't get trials? We know that the Lord will hold our hands and guide us through it like He always does. And we are going to grow stronger as a family and more closer to Him. Kiralie is growing so fast. She is able to sit by herself for long now and she is beginning to play a lot with stuff. We are enjoying her so much at this stage and I know it only gets better. She laughs when you tickle her and laughs at silly sounds and loves to pound on the keyboard( computer or piano) and she loves to take her baths cos she cans plash the water everywhere. She is also enjoying her solids and eats about 5 oz of veggies at a sitting. She also loves to stick her tongue out. I don't know who she learned that from. Probably me. I also just started work part-time not too long ago. I work 9am to 1pm  so that I can be at home with the baby as much as I can. Its been great and Kiralie has adjusted pretty well to the new schedule. She gets to spend a lot of time now with grandma Rosie and she really loves it. Am sure grandma Rosie loves to hang out with her too. We love you grandma Rosie and we appreciate your support for our family. We might not say it much but we really do. We don't know what we would do without your help especially at this time.

I like the being back at work. It gives me adult interactions  in the day and I am happy that I still get to spend the rest of the day with the baby.
We will keep you updated with some photos and videos when we get to it. We love you and hope you keep us in your prayers and we will do likewise.

Kiralie's first trip to the Dinosaur museum (Thanksgiving Point)

We got a call from my cousin Milli yesterday while I was lazying around the house and she invited us to go to the Dinosaur museum with her, and her friend Dina and their kids.
I jumped right into it cos we had no plans for the day and I hadn't been to the place my self. So practically, its mummy and Kiralie's first visit to the Dinosaur museum. lol
It was so much fun. Wish Kiralie was a little older to interact more with their hands on exhibits. But she had a lot of fun nevertheless. She looked so interested in the exhibits that it really surprised me. You would wonder what she really sees at this age. But she just kept staring at the stuff and all the other kids. Am glad we were able to do this together.

Thanks Milli and Dina. We really loved it.

Kiralie's and Missy's first camp out!

I know it's a pretty daring thing to do when you have a 4 month old, as we were told by Kiralie's pediatrician. But we just couldn't resist the opportunity we had to go camping with our ward (Mountainview ward). We've wanted to go camping this summer but couldn't find the right time to do it. So when the opportunity came, we just had to jump in.

The drive up to the camping ground took about an hour and a half but Kiralie slept through the whole thing. We kindda joked about the fact that, she rides in the car just like her mother. lol. When am riding in the car and the wind outside feels good, its nap time! We got there safely after getting lost for about 15 minutes. Thank goodness for a lady who realized we were lost. We probably would have been lost longer if it wasn't for her divine intervention. We followed her directions and realized that, if we weren't too absorbed in our conversation, we would have seen the sign the ward had placed by the road. Anyways, we found the place and were very relieved.

When we were ready to find a place to put up our tent, there was the war of where to put it. Was it going to be close by the river in the middle of the trees (Tim) or right there by the eating area where the ground was leveled for us (Takyiwah). You probably know the answer to this. I won. Cos I wasn't going to sleep so close to the river for the bears to come knocking at my door when they come fishing. lol. At least by the eating area, I could call for help and it would be right there since most people put up their tents nearby.
Then it came to where to place the door of the tent. I had to give in to Tim cos I won in the previous war. And when it came to how to put up the tent, it was very interesting cos we both had different ideas. But am sure Tim agrees as much as he will deny that, my idea was the best.
And where was the baby while all this was going on? She was chilling in her car seat with missy by the camp fire.

We tried to make the tent as homey as possible for the baby. So we set up her pack and play and loaded as many blankets as we could. Even though everything was green, she had her pink blankets to make it feel like home. lol
We went to get something to eat after the tent was up and all our belongings were in it. It was cold up there and all I had packed for myself was shorts and short sleeve shirts and a pair of sweats to sleep in. How was I supposed to know that I had to pack some warmer clothes when I was only told that it got cold at night? lol It was only 6pm and I was freezing. Thank goodness for Tim who packed 2 sweaters so I borrowed one.
The funny thing is, I packed a lot of warm clothes for the baby; snow suits, mittens, etc. But forgot to do the same for myself.

There was a lot of fun games for all to enjoy that evening. And the little kids got to go snape (snipe) hunting, as they called it.
Kiralie enjoyed the camp fire and so did missy. And the stars were so beautiful in the sky. It was very peaceful and relaxing not to have the computer and cell phones and TV and all that crap. It's amazing how much fun you can have with so little.
Amazingly, Kiralie had no problem going to sleep and slept pretty well through the night. Considering that was her first night not sleeping at home in her bed. Yay for her. She did very great.

Saturday morning was great for me. It was the first time in forever that Tim slept in. And the baby wasn't awake either so I had some time to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and just relax by the fire. It felt like having a special treat at a spa.
When Tim finally got up, we had some breakfast and got baby ready for the day when she eventually woke up too.

So the plan was to hike to Wall Lake that morning and be back for lunch. I had everything we needed for the trip. Or so I thought. When we got to the trail head with the rest of the group I was so pumped. It had been a while since I did something like that and I needed that fix badly.
Just as we were about to get the baby into her sling, we realized she had suffered a blow out (anyone that has baby knows exactly what am talking about), ruining the cute outfit that she had on. Well, we got her in the trunk of the car (it's a wagon) to change her diaper. I knew I had a change of clothes in the diaper bag so we were going to do this as quickly as possible and join the rest of the group. Guess, what? I didn't have the change of clothes that I thought I had. I left it out of the bag when I was putting her bottles in.
So we had to go back to camp and get new clothes for her, while the rest started without us. Bummer! It was all my mistake. She is just a baby doing what babies do. I should have been prepared.

It wasn't such a bad idea to turn back cos we realized there were a dozen things that we really had to do and get before going on that hike. So we took our time this time and got everything that we needed and even grabbed some snacks for the hike. It wasn't so bad after all.
We hiked to the trail head instead of driving. It was fun cos we got to see the Washington Lake while we were at it. We also had the company of a friend in the ward (Nancy Ayre) and her daughter (London). It was a short hike (about a mile and a quarter) but it kicked my butt as I was totally out of shape.

The view out there was great and it was fun to watch the young men and women, jump of the wall into the Lake. Even some adults got into the fun. But if you know me, you will know that, that is definitely out of my league cos I can't swim. And so I wasn't risking it. And Tim had an excuse too. So we plan to do it together sometime when I am competent enough to do so.
We had a good time there. Missy had fun taking off on her own little adventures and baby didn't seem to mind the sun at all. She didn't cry or fuss. We were truly blessed on this trip.
On our hike back, we came across some horses on the trail, and Missy didn't know how to act. At first she stood her ground and wouldn't let the horses (big dogs) pass. Finally we got her to move out of their way, but she sure growled and barked and gave them a hard time. It was so funny.
Also on our way back, we passed by the little river that run down the little hill by our camp site. It was beautiful. And I understood why Tim wanted us to set up our tent close to it.
A lunch, game of cards and a nap later, it was dinner time. After dinner, it was time to head back.
By that time, everyone including missy was tired and ready to come home to a good shower and warm bed.
The trip back was very peaceful and short cos I slept through the whole thing and so did missy and Kiralie. We are thankful to our daddy Tim, who stayed awake to get us all home safely.

Her bed away from home

she was ready to go back to camp

We are grateful to our Father in Heaven for a safe and fun trip. And we a grateful that, we can spend such family times together to build memories. It wasn't an expensive vacation or retreat, but we did it together and had a lot of fun while at it. We are definitely going to do this again. If baby loves it, we surely can.

Taking a walk by the canal

So we have this canal across the street from our front door. And we love to talk walks there. Yesterday was the first with Kiralie and grandpa. The weather was perfect and so we took a walk. It was a lot of fun cos I got to test missy's swimming skills. I threw her into the water twice. She didn't didn't really like it but she didn't take off like she did when I threw her into the Jordan river when she was a puppy. I guess I can say she is getting used to it. Am sure by the time am done with her, she will love to swim.

What we've been up to

So Kiralie has been rolling over to the side and occasionally, she rolls from her stomach unto her back. I realized recently that, immediately you put her on her stomach, she rolls unto her back. Her upper body is getting really strong and I just want to share this video with you.

We took the opportunity with grandpa being around to visit temple square and also a Salt Lake City Bees game. I am not a big fan of baseball, but I do it for the hubby.

We also visited the Salt Lake City library. Can't believe I've lived in this county for 2 years and I haven't been there. Oh well.

Salt Lake temple

us with grandpa

family

 

Its been so fun to have my dad around. We will miss him when he leaves. But the memories will be with us forever. There are a zillion pictures I will love to share but I have room for only a few and I really don't want to overwhelm myself. lol