A tribute to Kacianna

Kacianna Lily Ford entered this word and became our third child and first daughter on December 30, 2009 weighing in at 6 pounds 9 ounces. I can't believe that a whole year has passed! Kaci has added so much to our family and is adored by all of us.

I have made a tradition of tributing each of our children with a 1st year birthday blog where I show one picture from each month of their lives thus far. Our poor princess has not had nearly the blog exposure and internet fame that her brothers enjoyed before her, so there are a few months that have more than one picture just in case I never get around to blogging about them.

If you are ever reading this Kaci, please know that you are just as well loved and cherished as your brothers. This is a very busy time in our lives and we choose to spend our limited time with you when we can and so might not get as much blogging done.

Smiling from day one, Kaci has such a sweet disposition and lots of patience (well as much as can be expected). We were so thrilled to bring home this sweet little bundle.










In Kacianna's first month, she enjoyed lots of tummy time and learned to lift up her head. Her brothers loved to lay next to her and play with her anyway they could. She wore headbands all the time, little did I know that this would eventually become impossible as soon as she learned to pull them out! You will probably be able to see in the progression of pictures about when this happened.






At 2 months old, Kaci began smiling and recognizing those in her family. I would often put her on my bed for a photo shoot/play session and she was always joined quickly by her brothers.











When Kacianna was 3 months old, we knew definitely that her eyes would be brown like her Daddy and Mason. Mason has always been so proud that his eyes are the same color as hers. Kaci continued to be a pleasant baby and loved to take things in around her. She spent lots of time in this bouncer at my feet while I worked on the computer and was never any trouble.






These pictures are also at around three months. She loved to lay on her stomach and play on her mat. She was easy to smile and we loved to make her smile. To this day, Mason and Carter have the easiest time making her smile.


We have started all of our children on baby food at 4 months. Kaci loved it. I think she took a little longer catching on, on how to actually swallow it, but she gave it good effort and was soon an expert. She would eat in her Bumbo chair and enjoyed every minute of it!At five months, Kaci was starting to scoot along with an army crawl and was enjoying her new found freedom! It was starting to be really nice outside and she enjoyed going on walks to the park and spending time outside. She loved this Minnie doll that my visiting teacher had given her when she was born and we would hang it from her car seat and she would suck on one of the hands or the feet at all times that she was in the car.

At six months, Kaci was rarely seen with a headband on, much to my dismay. :) At her one-year appointment, the trend of her weight went from being in the 50-60% the first few months to 10% or below and it has stayed that way. The doctor said it was probably because of crawling and moving more, and I definitely can attest to that. Just like her brothers before her, Kaci has been very curious and felt a need to get into everything she possibly can. (I hear from my mom that I was definitely not like this at this age so I blame David for our children's very active personalities.) :) Of course, we wouldn't change anything about her, though!

Seven months brought this heart-melting smile and lots of fun with our precious little one.















Kaci started loving the swings as soon as the weather was warm enough (so maybe 5 months?). It was more of necessity at first because I set her in the swing so I could have two hands to hoist Carter (who also loves swings) into his. I would always push her slowly and carefully and she loved it! Here, at 8 months, Daddy had taken her to the park and was able to capture her delight as she was being pushed in the swing.

At 9 months, you can see that she is just continuing to be such a beautiful little lady. Around this time, we realized her love for shoes. She will find them and crawl (now toddle) with excitement to David or I so that we can put them on her. If one falls off, she will try to put it on herself. What else would we expect from a little princess, though?At 10 months, Kacianna discovered her love for playing on the top bunk (always with close supervision of course). We can really see her little personality shining through as she giggles in delight and crawls all over the bed, trying to get away from us. :) She is still never happier than when playing with her brothers. Around nine or ten months, Kaci would pull herself up on everything and we thought for sure she would be walking soon. (She started a few weeks before she turned one taking small steps).

At 11 months, it was hard to keep things away from our little girl and she always wants to join in on everything her brothers are doing.When she sees one of them grab an apple from the fridge, she will not rest until she too has an apple to gnaw on. She actually does really well if I take the skin off and will eat most of it!

Here Kacianna is at almost a year, she loved to play by the Christmas tree and would walk occasionally a few steps.

Which brings us to our present condition...a happy, delightful princess who is full of life and laughs. We love everything about Kacianna and are so happy that she has been with us a whole year. We can't wait to see what this next year holds!