Our First Day of Skiing

After a tearful parting from Keira at Grandpa and Grandma's, Mark and I set off for Colorado with our family and friends. We got into Frisco yesterday evening and have been enjoying ourselves tremendously. I struggle to force myself not to call Jim and Margaret to check on Keira, but rest assured knowing she's in good hands. That, and Jim sends me pictures of Keira every day (so far). :-)

Yesterday we enjoyed a quiet day getting settled in, followed by dinner at a local restaurant called the Blue Spruce. Today we woke up and hit Breckenridge. This was Linh's first time skiing EVER and she did amazingly well. None of us can believe that this was her first time. She didn't even take a lesson. We got her into ski gear, gave her some quick instructions and sent her up the lift. The first time I went on a lift (about 5 years ago), I came down and fell face first. Linh came down without any effort and looked like a pro. Anyway, everyone did really well. At the end of the afternoon, Linh decided to try out the freestyle terrain which included jumping off these man-made hills. She fell, but did it with awesome style and I was amazed at how brave she was to do that and how quickly she adapted to skiing. Since she did it and egged me on, I decided to have a go at it too. I wiped out on every single hill, but the thrill of the jump was fun, even if I only came up about 6" off the ground! I'll post a mini video of my wipe out when attempting the jump when we get home.

Here we are at the top of one of the runs at Breckenridge. From left to right, Stacy, John, Van, Nam, Steve, Linh, Mark and me.

Keira's 9 Months Old Today

Time has flown by so quickly. It's hard to believe Keira's 9 months old already. It seems as though she's growing up at warp speed all of a sudden. Mark and I have to keep a close eye on her at all times or she's bound to get into stuff she's not supposed to get into. It is seemingly impossible to baby-proof all the things we should. We are having so much fun with her these days. She has a laugh I could listen to all day and she makes the funniest faces by scrunching up her nose and sticking out her tongue. I've become one of those obsessed moms who could spend hours staring at her in absolute awe and amazement. It's an incredible feeling when I see her discover something new, a warm feeling when I watch her sleep, a joyous feeling when we laugh together...Parenthood is truly amazing! Don't get me wrong though...Mark and I are still quite sleep deprived, but every day does get better and Keira really is worth it all.

I celebrated a milestone of my own a week ago - my 32nd birthday. Yes, I'm not ashamed to divulge my age. It's so weird b/c most of the time I feel like a teenager, but my body definitely gives away my age. My body aches in ways it never did before, I love to sleep and certainly prefer to spend a cozy night at home rather than a night out on the town. And, of course, there are the wiry gray hairs. I have got to see a colorist soon!

Mark and I are heading out to Colorado for a ski trip with some family and friends this Thursday. I'll try to post some photos and videos during the trip. I'm looking forward to having some newbies out on the slopes with me. I'm excited, but scared to death to get on skis again. At this age, I worry about falling and breaking my hip. Ha! Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just get cozy in the chalet and leave the skiing and snowboarding to the youngsters and athletically gifted. But, someone's gotta give the other skiers a good laugh.

Anyway, here's a photo of our Keira.

Teething, Not an Ear Infection

Keira recovered nicely from RSV and we had a good week after that. Then she started acting fussier than usual, was refusing her bottles, and wasn't sleeping well. We took her to the doctor's office thinking she might have an ear infection. We found out it wasn't an ear infection at all. Keira was teething...All the symptoms fit and sure enough her bottom two teeth popped out this past weekend! Oops...At least we now know what to expect from Keira when she's teething. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We are having such a great time with Keira. She is a spit fire and I can tell she's definitely Daddy's little girl. She is a jokester, loves to play and just wants to have a good time. She loves to play so much that she will fight sleep to play and play and play.

She's crawling like a pro and has recently started eating some finger foods though most of it ends up mushy in her hands. She's discovered our electrical outlets so I'm glad we covered those up, but she's also playing with our vents, door stoppers and blinds. I caught her pulling on the knobs of our kitchen drawers earlier this evening too. Right now the drawers are too heavy for her to pull out, but I'm sure that will change soon. We've really got to get a move on with baby proofing the drawers and cabinets. It's amazing how she's developing so quickly now. It's something new every day which is both exciting and worrisome.