The folder of webcam fun…..

While searching for a document on my computer the other day I came across a folder containing loads of pictures of Leah and her sisters. There they were, performing in front of the webcam and clearly loving every minute. There are some shots of Leah were she had the camera to herself all of which I found very entertaining. The say a picture paints a thousand words, I think these pictures captures their personalities perfectly, full of fun and always ready for a laugh. Thought I would share a few…….THERE ARE LOADS, it was hard to choose hahaha

GOTTA LOVE MY GIRLS……THEY JUST LIKE THEIR MUM 🙂

Looks that melt my heart :)

Not much  new news  in the Kay household right now……………..but there is some exciting news ahead but for now I’m going to keep a HUSH on that news lol.

I thought  would post these two pictures of Leah, she has such an amazing sense of humour in these pictures Leah will demonstrate her extraordinary ability to go from

Super Model pout to..

I’m locked up in prison please help me sadness look  hahahah just had to share them:)

How to make the most of your flexibility

Leah has discovered the art of break-dance!!! Oh my nerves is all I can say

My Beautiful Little Leah………..

We don’t have much new news so I thought I would share some new pictures of Leah with you 🙂

The Pacifier Predicament!

Leah, little girl with a big heart, determined, funny, caring and a born hugger!!!!!!! Master of the disappearing act, amazing climber, and fast like lightning, skilled sad face gets me out of trouble artist and sharp vocabulary.

I could go on but I think this covers most characteristics that makes her absolutely super special!!!!!

So take all the above ingredients… mix them up add some time (3years and 10months to be exact) and you get a very energetic, enthusiastic almost4-year-old little girl. Yeap Leah is going to be 4 years old pretty soon. I’m not sure if Leah is aware of what’s to come as this millstone is the start of a whole new life phase, its the I’m not a “baby/ toddler” time, it’s the “I’m growing up mommy you need to let go of the baby time” Yes friends its time for “Prep School”. I must admit I’m struggling to let go but what can I do “I’m a mom”

So here is the challenge at hand, my first 2 daughters were not pacifier babies but Leah is. The pacifier is the heart beat of comfort for Leah, we cant leave the house without it and we often have to form a search party when the pacifier has been misplaced, the kids do the lower on the ground level while Dad and I do the higher “throw it up in the sky” areas. I have done the whole “Fairy needs the dummy for the little baby story” Her answer to this was “ Tell the fairy she can get them at the store were you bought mine” (I had no comeback reply for that answer)

Lately we noticed that Leah has actually become a little embarrassed to be seen in public with her Pacifier, she will hide it in her bag when we go grocery shopping and she will hide it when friend come over to visit. Recently Leah left her pacifier on the floor only have Lucy our dog decided to chew the teat off, this as you can imagine cause huge drama and in typical drama queen style Leah’s reaction to the chewed up pacifier resulted in her falling to her knees saying “ WHY LUCY WHY” with Lucy just glaring back looking very confused .As Dad reached for the car keys to go out to the store to get a new pacifier I said “NO that’s it!!!!!!  LEAH KAY… Mommy has told you before DO NOT leave your pacifier on the floor and now Lucy has chewed it!! I’m sorry Leah ….now you need to be without it”

“I DON’T LIKE YOU ANYMORE” she screamed and I said “well then I don’t like you anymore” then Leah’s classic comeback  “WHATEVER idiot” the idiot part was done in a whispered tone. I walked out the house and erupted into a fit of laughter!!!!!!! My neighbor actually thought I was crying cause I laughed so loud but when I relayed the story she too was in stitches!!!!!

I am proud to say we have now been Pacifier free for 4 days and its actually been stress free, she does ask for it but that’s as for as it goes so hey “all’s well that ends well” okay maybe not………………. She has now discovered her thumb and this is were I need your help

LP moms and dads its not like Lucy can nibble on her thumb… how do I deal with this one …….anyone out there dealt with a thumb sucker before?

A quick update…

It’s been quiet on the home front and this has left the blog without new news but I had to do a update so here goes. We are all doing well Leah has been moving along full speed her progress seems to be satisfactory, her vocabulary is outstanding and after a occupational therapy assessment we were informed by a very surprised OT that in her 18 years of doing therapy she has never come across a 3year old with such good memory, Leah’s counting and recognition skill and identifying color skills is above average… so I guess I might be changing the blog title to “Raising professor Leah” LOL. But seriously just like any other child out there Leah is a bright little spirit filled with life and she is only three years old so I don’t plan on force-feeding her any encyclopedia information  , she is a very observant toddler who learns as she goes along and most of what she knows is definitely due to having 2 older sisters who “chitter chatter” from sunrise to sunset and lets not forget to thank  Barney …… our purple friend for his repetitive number and color songs . I’m sure lots of parents will agree with me when I say Barney has a way of seeping into the “subconscious mind”

I have noticed that Leah’s memory is somewhat like the saying “Having the memory of an elephant” so I understand the therapist being somewhat surprised with her memory recall ability. A funny thing happened the other day, Leah was in a really bad mood and Grandma told her “If you’re angry that’s fine with me I just won’t talk to you” Leah responded “That’s fine…. Talk to my Lawyer” I nearly choked on my coffee with laughter and once the laughter settled I realized that she had taken that quote from a television add promoting legal aid. Sometimes when we driving she spots certain familiar buildings and she is able to tell us were we going. She has the ability to recall names of people she has only met once before, and when we pray, she always asks to pray for Danielle and Dadda in heaven and she always reassures me that I don’t have to cry anymore because she can remember my tears when my Grandfather passed away.  She remembers where to find things she packed away days before and there are times she will ask me what I did with the left over macaroni and cheeses we had a week ago, she can tell dad were he left his car keys if he cant remember were he had placed them and one thing she knows for sure is if someone has moved her sweets because she knows exactly which way she places the packet in the cupboard, so we have to make sure her treats are in the same place, facing the same direction as she last placed them!! Or needless to say there will be trouble…. as she will hunt down the guilty party for touching her sweeties  🙂

The more I think of these special qualities the more I know for sure that she is Heaven sent. And I take comfort in the fact that her assertive nature is going to be to her advantage one day, she knows who she is and she never backs down, if she sets her mind to something she is determine to finish it.

On the Dwarfism awareness front, things are moving along steadily, I recently did a live radio interview about the blog and public awareness I am currently busy with a leading child magazine doing a article on Dwarfism Awareness and I have been receiving quite a bit of positive feedback from the public so I guess the word is getting out there, and I will keep pushing, and pushing… so it seems Leah does get some of her determination from her mommy after all 🙂

The Things Toddlers do….

The festive season is upon us once again!!!!!! Yes time sure does fly when one is having fun. Speaking of fun we have been having tons of fun. Leah is now a full-blown toddler, and doing all the “naughty” things that toddlers do. ( I’m sure she does some more naughty things that the average toddler) I feel quite silly sometimes because after all, I am a mom of three kids…. I should know what to expect when dealing with a toddler, but im not going to lie about it, I feel like a first time mum with Leah, in fact I felt this way with Nicole as well, Simone on the other hand was my first 🙂

I believe a mother’s brain has an automatic “memory clear” button which erases all the memories of the terrible toddler stages we have lived through. This memory loss is important because it enables us to have more kids, it is only when we are back in the toddler phase that able to recall some of the lost data… but sometimes it is slightly different than before… I think the more kids you have the more they evolve…. They become more active and daring in their toddler activities.

Leah is definitely my biggest challenge so far (thank goodness the memory clear did not have time to activate after Leah’s birth and I had the factory permanently shut down) Leah has no fear, she is an amazing climber an im sure she could put some monkeys to shame with her skills.Be it a table or chair, even the outside gate is no challenge for Leah, if she gets the right grip its up she goes…. We have not yet mastered the how “to get down” part but she knows I am nothing more that a scream away and we have successfully completed many rescue missions where we safely returned Leah to mother earth after an attempted  “Leah climb to the moon” moment. (That is what Leah would say while she is climbing the safety gate at grandma’s house)

Running is another loved activity, I’m sure most LP moms will agree, speed will never be a issue for our children and Leah can do zero to a hundred in about a split second!!!! 🙂   Only thing is the faster she goes the more she leans forward and it always ends up with a fall involving a tummy splat or a forehead boo-boo. I do hope that as she gains more understanding of her body proportions she will learn to take things slowly, but for know I run as well… and there are times (im not ashamed to admit) I just cant catch her. We are amazed at how she handles the corners at top speed. Daddy says she must have a built in stabilizer and she must be fitted with power steering and ABS breaks to allow for fast action stopping when Mommy yells “NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE”

Last but not least…. The toddler vocabulary, Leah has jumped ahead and is tipping in at adult conversation category. We really enjoy chatting, she is so expressive during a conversation and every word is were it should be in a sentence. She can be very demanding and often feels the need to say “Why you so slow… I’m hungry” while I prepare her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We do have our giggles when she calls her sisters “silly girls” because  they sometimes put her out their bedroom as she tends to disrupt their “Big girl” talks. Every night before bed Leah will give each family member a hug and a  kiss followed by a  “Leah loves you soooooo much” whisper in the ear. My good night ritual usually gets followed with a “Mommy find my dummy”(pacifier) because as grown up as Leah may seem she dose not see the necessity to part ways with her pacifier just yet and I don’t mind at all, …  after all when it come to my girls they will always be my babies…..

Little Girls

I enjoy being the mom of three girls, I am what you could call your typical “Girls girl” I have a passion for nails hair and make up clothing, bags, shoes…oohhhh yes I can shop for shoes… At the end of a shopping trip with me you would need new shoes. I guess my love for all things girly rubs off on my girls, and I notice Leah is a true moms little girly!!!!!!! If im doing make-up she want her make applied if im doing nails she wants those little nails done, there are times when she does her own nail paint and she gets angry when she smudges… which happens all the time because that fine motor coordination is still busy tuning (so mom always has polish remover in the house) and she love lip gloss the glossier the better so mom always has to wash the walls because at a lower level of wall space around the house you will find little lip prints often leading to the kitchen and stopping at the sweetie cupboard.

Leah loves having her hair styled (but she hate the wash) and we often sport around with one, or two pig tales, and there are times when we get a bit adventurous, she just loves it when I stick in some colored hair pieces (which I use on my photo shoots), at the moment her favorite is the blond and blue, so don’t worry its just a hair piece in the picture below no hair dye was used during the making of this post!!!!

We have reached a point where sometimes she does not want to wear clothing I set our for her and she sometimes chooses her own outfits which to me seem a bit Avant-Garde at times!!!!! But I guess she is becoming her own little person. I just love the look of excitement on her face when I get her a new clothing item, she just rips off whatever she is wearing at the current time in order to try on the new clothes, only problem is once the new clothes are on we have a struggle trying to get her to take it off!!! And because most of her new things are for the up and coming summer, it’s still a bit cold to be prancing around in summer gear. Because of our little body and head size we have no alternative but to try before we can buy …as all our little people moms know not everything out there is a good fit because clothing is made for average height humans… and unfortunately South Africa does not have a store that caters for little people. So our struggle at the moment is to find clothing, which has a stretchy, or buttoned neck hole, and some clothes we need to send for altering which cost quite a pretty penny. So I think I need to get my sewing skills up and running who knows Leah could soon be the proud owner of her very own little people designer fashion  range… hmmm “little L haute couture”

Just being me……..

Its been a hectic past few weeks at home, work seems to be busy and I like that because the days seems to fly past, nothing worse than a dragging work day. The other thing I have realized is that we are way past the half mark of the year!!!! Wow pretty soon it will be time to dust off the old Christmas trimmings!!!

Leah has been doing really well over the past few weeks its been a good winter with not much colds to deal with and her physical development is just phenomenal. She has become our little miss chatterbox, with some new personality traits. I have noticed that she loves being the center of attention!!!!! And she love to socialize with the older age group, now when I say older Im not talking 4 or 5 lets jump ahead to 17-21. How all of this came about is quite funny, usually Leah goes into quiet mode when we are not around familiar faces, but recently she just came out of her shell and is now the party queen.

Recently my niece Cleo celebrated her17^th birthday and besides having all the family over to celebrate… it was all the young friends who joined in the celebration well. We had four age groups dominating the get-together, we had the adults , teenagers, 6 –13 years and our little toddlers which would be Leah’s category. She however decided other wise and joined the teenagers who welcomed her with open arms. She chatted, sang Beyonce’ songs… (Leah loves Beyonce) danced and shook her little behind, posed for pictures like a celebrity and dished out hugs to just about all the young guys, yes my little Leah worked the room, and now she is the cell phone screen saver of most of the party girls and boys because to them she is just the cutest, free spirited little girl they have ever come across… There is a twist to this whole story Leah in turn got all the sweets and cakes and soda she could possibly eat from her adoring fans this uncontrolled eating frenzy lead to her being on the best sugar trip ever!!! She has formed a new fan base of friends because they (the teenage party crew) have asked her to visit soon because they miss her so much.

Best of all, they got to learn so much about dwarfism and we made them understand that the “M” word was a NO-NO. I’m sure they took every word to heart and realized that even though she looks different she was just the same as every other little 2 year old, and as the day moved on I could see that her dwarfism didn’t really matter in the end they were just enjoying Leah.

The rest of the family just sat back and wondered were did our quiet little mouse go!!!! I guess she decided its time to break out!!! Well we just had a good laughed because she really was the light of the party and I hope that when she is older she won’t allow anything to get her down, she is such a happy child and she somehow manages to make everyone around her love her for who she is. I’m sure she is going to be the life and soul of many more parties to come.

So I leave you with Leahs new photo look…..

What have I been up too…..

It’s been very busy over the past few weeks and I must admit that I have neglected the blog a wee bit!!! But here we are back on track. Besides being busy and finding myself utterly exhausted at the end of the day, it’s been pretty good in the Kay household.

Leah is growing up so fast and becoming a “little miss madam”, her vocabulary has multiplied by leaps and bounds, so there is no way that we can misinterpreted what she is saying to us. She has become very demanding in her requests, a prime example will be wanting her bottle, if she does not get her bottle within 5 seconds of her asking for it, she will go into the “I want my milky, I want my milky, repeat myself over and over mode” But I, have developed the “blank out repeat mode” where I don’t hear the moaning…. I figured it’s the only way she is going to learn that sometimes you need to be patient in life.

She has gone into the doll-playing phase, and just loves wrapping the doll in a blanket and singing the dolly to sleep, and of course all the dolls are named Leah. Leah has developed a love for cleaning as well, so dusting (the same spot for about 15min) sweeping and drying dishes (the non- breakables) are amongst her favorite tasks. Recently she has decided it would be fine to refer to Mommy and Daddy on a first name basis, I do remember Simone and Nicole doing the same so Im not too concerned, as this too will pass (I hope).

There are a few bigger issues that need to be addressed.  First is the dreaded potty, there has been lots of potty advice doing the rounds on the blogs and I absolutely enjoyed all the stories and advice, but for us it’s a firm NO right now, Leah has told me that she “no go potty” (with anger I might add) so I guess its no use forcing the issue, she dose however enjoy wearing her undies over the diaper. Second would be the bottle and the pacifier issue. Our home (grandma as well) is stocked with at least 5 pacifiers, even with all this back up stock we often find ourselves working as a team crawling on all fours searching for the pacifier, while in the background not to far away we can hear Leah screaming her lungs out “pretty much like the day she was born” I would compare her pacifier to the mute button on our television remote there are times that the volume needs to be turned down and Leah seems to have no concept of volume, and sometimes mom needs some quiet time to reflect…..  I’m still not quite sure what I am reflecting on… 🙂

The biggest of all issues we are trying to overcome will have to be the “bed”… Leah has found our bed to be very comfortable…that means between mom and dad is very comfortable. I sometimes wonder how this little body manages to use most of the bed space?? Ashley and myself have developed the art of sleeping “on the edge” and sometimes when we do roll into “Leah area” she does not hesitate to ask us to  “ move… me squashy”. She does fall asleep in her own bed, but she somehow has a built in “mom and dad are in bed detector” so the most time we have to make full use of the bed space is about 10min, after our 10 min bed stretch we will feel Leah climbing her way up the foot end and eventually takes her position smack bang in the center. So on this issue I would like to know if there are other “middle sleepers” out there… maybe I will feel better knowing that im not alone, or maybe someone can tell me how to get her to sleep in her own bed!!!!

Last but not least, and also the cutest…Leah has also been taking note of all the girly things that happen around her on a daily basis and she just loves to Re-enact what she has seen, sometimes I wonder if we have a little Makeup artist in the making….