Happy Birthday Kiki!
And uncomfortable.
And someone kept kicking me!
It was my little baby girl preparing to make her way into the world.
Kiki came into the world in the usual way (that phrase always reminds me of Cat Stevens' Cat's in the Cradle song); she took me from 5 to 10 cm in 10 minutes and pushed herself out in three pushes. She was a fighter, that was evident, and it was a character trait that served her well in her first few years of life. Aah, who are we kidding? It still serves her well to this day...
(The first few pictures are graphic. They may be disturbing. Consider yourself warned.)
Here we are basking in the glow of our new born baby girl. She's so precious; pink (a tiny bit purple, but aren't all babies?!) and calm as can be. Aaahhh....
This is Kiki 13 days later after she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and had to have surgery at 5 days of age. Her feisty nature served her well through her long, arduous surgery and recovery. There were so many instances of one step forward, two steps back that we thought we'd never get to bring her home, but after 28 days in the ICU she was ours to take home! Her first day home was Halloween but we didn't dress her up; after the ICU finished sticking IV's into her head she looked enough like Frankenstein that we didn't have to bother with a costume.
All of those machines were for her! She was so swollen after her surgery that the doctors were unable to close up her chest for 3 days. They offered us the opportunity to look at her heart beating through the little 'window' they had stitched on to her. Umm...no thank you!
After we brought our pumpkin home, who was pink from head to toe rather than a mixture of blue, pink and purple, she weighed only 6 lb 9 oz which was a far cry from her 8 lb 6oz birthweight. As you can see in this next picture, she chubbed up really well and even gained as much as 1 lb in one week (I believe the exact number was 17 oz!). I am a milk factory by the way; during the month that Kiki was in the hospital I pumped over 100 bottles, a majority of them being 8 ounces! Here's my chubby bubby at 3 months of age...
Yay, Kiki is one!
(Phew...what a year kiddo! )
Two years old:
Kiki has just returned from her first Halloween here. The curls in her hair just appeared out of no where one day. She had all these strange straggly bits so I took her for a hair cut and POOF, out came these amazing curls!
Kiki loved our dog; she would walk her on a bungee cord (don't ask why, I don't know) and she'd talk to her unceasingly. Thank goodness for the dog or else my ears would have exploded!
Three years old.
Here's Kiki at age three, dressed up as a doggie for Halloween. She was Toto and her sister was Dorothy. So cute. She is pictured here with her very bestest friend; they're 3 weeks to the day apart and have been buds 'since the womb.'
Four years old:
Kiki became a big sister a couple of months after turning 4--she still talks to her brother like he's a baby and he's almost 6! Look at her toes sticking out of her tights...someone really should mother this poor child!
Summertime and the livin' is easy; especially when you're four. I loved her hair like this; we called these 'floppy pops.
Five years old:Growing fast! Off to Kindergarten.
Princess for a day? Nope, something even more special...a flower girl for her cousin's wedding. Here she is with my other niece, Jordie.
Six years old.
Beautiful ballerina
A snowy spring break on a local mountain:
Seven years old.
Starting to become interested in 'fashion.'
Found: One fossil in Drumheller by seven year old with very good eyes!
Eight years old
Baptism day with Grandpa...
See and Kiki...best buds.
Nine years old
...and tomorrow she is TEN! There were many times throughout her life that I wasn't sure if Kiki was going to see her 10th birthday. Despite her rough start she has been a beacon of strength for all those whose life she blesses. Many people don't believe in miracles anymore but all I have to do is look into the face of my little girl and I KNOW that miracles are not a thing of the past.
Happy, happy birthday, my little earth angel. I love you endlessly!
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