Kaister

My baby girl is growing up and for the very first time in my life I am wanting time to slow down.
When I was pregnant with Kailyn I specifically remember promising Heavenly Father that if he would let me have a little girl I wouldn't stop having children just because I got my girl. At my ultrasound when they told me I was having a girl I kept asking them over and over if they were sure.

We had picked out a name for our first girl years before. We were listening to The Grateful Dead and there is a song with a line that goes- Sweet Ann-Marie she's my heart's delight. We knew that when we had a little girl that is what we would name her and that she would be our heart's delight. We moved to North Carolina when I was six months pregnant. During those last couple of months Travis and I decided we didn't like the name Ann-Marie anymore so we started searching for a new name. We had it narrowed down to Megan or Kayla but then I saw the name Kailyn in a baby name book two days AFTER my due date and fell in love with it. Travis liked it as well. He wanted to keep Ann-Marie as the middle name but I thought it was too long so we decided to go with just Marie. Even though we didn't name her Ann-Marie she still has always been our heart's delight.

She was due September 1st and because Allias had come early I was sure she would as well. Ten days after my due date I was still very pregnant and very ready for the baby to come. The doctor set an induction date for September 14th. I wasn't nervous as I had been induced with both boys.

On the afternoon of September 13th I was walking around the mall with my mom when I had a contraction. Now this was very unusual because in three pregnancies I had never had as much as a braxton hicks. I was soooo excited about the prospect of going into labor on my own. We headed home and during dinner I had a few more contractions. By eight o'clock that night they were a minute apart and we decided to call the doctor. We headed to the hospital and by ten pm I was ready to have the baby. Unfortunately there weren't any doctors in the hospital and so I had to hold back pushing for almost thirty minutes. By that time I was telling the nurse that the baby was coming whether a doctor was there or not. The doctor arrived just in time.

Kailyn Marie Nelson was born at 10:27 PM on September 13th 1999
She weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 22 1/2 inches long.
She was sooooo dry from being overdue that her little toes were cracked and bleeding but she was sooooo beautiful and so sweet from the get go.
I was in such awe that I had a daughter.

She was such a loving baby always happy and smiling and always giving kisses and cuddling. We always said if all babies could be like Kailyn we would have had 20. I never got the chance to fulfil my promise to have more children but I am so thankful Heavenly Father blessed me with three beautiful (inside and out) children and with a daughter like Kailyn.

Her first word was Hi

She didn't walk until she was 17 months old

She used to scoot around on her bottom talking away

She carried a baby doll (or two) with her wherever she went

She would scoot around holding that baby on her shoulder rocking it while talking on her toy phone

She has always been a very interesting little person with lots of quirkiness

She LOVED her binky- I honestly can't even remember how we got her to quit sucking it. I do remember that she was over three.

She NEVER wore shoes. Her first day of Kindergarten was the first day she wore shoes and to this day we never know where her shoes are. I think she has one of several pairs of flip flops in our shoe closet. Everyone at church knows if they see shoes lying around somewhere they belong to K.

We are constantly giving her nicknames- KayKay, Princess, Boo, Monkey, Kaister, Kaister Marieski, Kaister Monkey, Kay, Lover....

She has always been AMAZING at entertaining herself- she will play in her room for hours just talking away.
She has a fantastic imagination and writes wonderful stories.

She loves her dollhouse, roller coasters, Webkinz, Build A Bear and her dog Molly (she is always saying "I just can't believe it I have my own dog")

She is very very good with little children and will be a wonderful mother someday

School and homework have always been a struggle-

In spite of her academic challenges ALL of her teachers have LOVED her so much and have said she is so sweet and a GREAT friend.

Happy 10th Birthday Kailyn- we are sooooo lucky to have you in our lives!