the story of Kayleigh Alexa

the story of

Kayleigh Alexa

Once upon a time in the great state of Vermont, there lived a young family. The father was Kevin and the mother was Jill. They had one child ~ a little girl named Sydney ~ but they knew wanted another child in their family.

When your parents found out they were having another baby, they were very surprised. They wanted another baby in the family, but didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

Your due date was November 3^rd, but mommy picked November 1^st as the day you were to be born. Because you were the second child, your mommy and daddy didn’t take any classes or read any books to prepare for your arrival. Mommy’s friends from church, did however, throw her a special baby shower where she got lots of gifts for you (clothes, toys, diapers and books).

On the evening of October 12, 2006, your mommy was on the phone talking to another violin teacher when suddenly her water broke and she was bleeding.  Mommy, daddy and Sydney quickly got ready and headed to the hospital to see what was going on. On the way there they  called Grandma Hall and asked her to start driving from New York, but they were having an early snow storm and she couldn’t get out of Buffalo. So then they called Grandma Redman, who was in Michigan at the time, and told her they were headed to the hospital and she should get a plane ticket and head to Vermont!

When they got to the hospital, your arrival was imminent and getting you out of mommy became urgent. You were born at 11:54 pm – making you three weeks and six minutes early.

Kevin and Jill had a special name picked out for you before you were even born. Although they thought of several names for you (Adelaide, Ella and Lydia), they decided on Kayleigh Alexa. Kayleigh means “celebration” in Gaelic and Alexa is just a name they liked. Your arrival into our family was cause for a big celebration!

There were so many changes as you grew the first year…every new stage was a “first” for all of you. Some of the highlights included:

• 2 months ~ smiled
• 4 months ~ laughed
• 5 1/2 months ~ rolled over
• 9 months ~ crawled and got first tooth
• 12 months ~ danced
• 13 months ~ took first steps
• 14 months ~ said “ish” (fish) – your first word

It was a busy year!

When you were 1

You loved to read books, take baths and sit on or ride things (giraffe, rocking horse, little car). You also liked to wear hats, play with your big sister and “help” mommy with laundry. Your favorite book was Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. We lived in Minnesota when you were 1.

When you were 2

You liked to dress up and dance. You would put on your purple tu-tu and then accessorize with hats, beads and sparkly shoes. You also loved to play with Rachael. Your favorite songs were ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle. You started playing the violin when you were 2 and we lived in Michigan.

When you were 3

You had a very unique sense of style. It was common to find you wearing a princess dress with rain boots and a rain jacket playing soccer. Or a princess dress over your regular clothes with a Santa hat on. Or a striped dress and striped tights that did not match, except that both were striped. You loved to “help” me with housework and loved pushing your baby around in the stroller. Sparkly shoes?...a must! We moved to Oregon just before you turned 3.

When you were 4

You were ALWAYS dressed up. You had many princess dresses (Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, Ariel) and other beautiful dresses and sometimes you would wear 5 or 6 a day! If you didn’t have a beautiful dress on, then you had a ballet costume on or a crown. You were fascinated with princesses and wanted long hair. 

When you were 5

You got your first scooter and loved to ride it around the neighborhood. You branched out from princesses and began loving Narnia – especially Susan and Lucy. You began teaching Sydney and mommy ballet lessons.

When you were 6

You really began reading on your own after several years of trying to learn. You loved playing legos with Sydney and became interested in unicorns and horses. You loved to sing and practiced your violin every single day.