Can you believe she's FOUR?!

Hard to believe that four years ago this afternoon I was halfway through my second day of trying to get Keilana out of my tummy.  :)   She was an 8lb 3oz bundle of blubber (as her daddy says, she looked like a Shar pei dog).  Now she's about 45" tall, weighs between 42-45 pounds, and says things like "Mommy this flower smells lovely!" and "Thank you for dinner Mommy, it was delicious!"

So, in her four years, Keilana has lived in 7 different apartments or houses and four different towns, she has taken six airplane rides (counting all the round trips as one ride), has swam in the ocean and sat beside a mountain lake at 10,000 feet.  She's been hiking in the Sierras, played in lakes in the Rockies, picked oranges off the trees and helped make apple cider in the fall.  What an adventurous four years!!  It suits her that she came first, while we were still in a relatively gypsy-like phase of our life; if there's one thing you can say about Keilana, its that she loves to go! Mom jokes that she's still never seen the child walk--always run, bounce, jump, skip, but never just walk.  Its still hard to say whether she'll have more affection for the beach or the ocean.  While her mommy and daddy both love the beach (and miss it when we haven't been in a while), their first love is the mountains.  So far she gets equally excited about both.  I think she'll end up a mountain girl.  She loves the cold, crisp mountain air, and while she loves the beach, the ocean still makes her a little nervous.

She's such a funny kid.  This morning she walked down the stairs, saw Doug for the first time and said, "Good morning, Daddy."  Then when he started to leave, she shouted, "Daddy, I have to love you first!"  We ran upstairs so she could wave out the window as he got in the car and she said, "Goodbye Daddy! I'll see you later! I love you!"  She always wants attention and affection and is so happy to please people.  She's like a human Tigger most of the time, and happy to be so.  She likes to be the big sister, helping Dylan do things and figure things out (not that he needs or accepts much help!) and on days when I've got a lot going on or am very, very tired, she's even occasionally helped get him dressed and fed.  

Her first four years have gone by so fast!  Its crazy how life just flies by.  We're having a party for her Saturday evening, so I'll post more pictures after that. In the mean time, happy birthday to Keilana!