Keira is busily scribbling away with crayons at her little art table. Scrunched on the toddler-sized bench next to her, I use my own orange crayon to draw various pictures.

"What's this, Keira?"

".......Cir-cle!"

"That's right! What about...this?"

".......Tri-an-gle!"

"Good job, baby! That's right. And...this?"

".......Cir-cle!"

I can't help but laugh out loud. Almost everything is a circle, and almost every color is green (although pink was THE color about a month ago). "Sorry, baby, it's actually a square. See? It has one, two, three, FOUR sides. That makes it a square."

"Cir-cle!" Keira continues her scribbling.

Watching my little daughter color away, I can't help but lean over and give the top of her head a kiss. I put my arm around her little squirmy body.

"Keira, do you love mama?"

"Yah......"

Over scribbles and butcher paper, my heart melts.

"Tinkle, tinkle, little star...How I wonder......Up above!"

My little Keira has started singing lately, and my heart bursts with love and pride with every one of her off-tune notes. On my side of the family, we all sing. My childhood is full of memories of sweet lullabies from my mom, and hilarious Chinese jingles from my dad. Tom, Rob, and I have always been surrounded by music, so I couldn't imagine raising my own children without it.

Thus, from the time Keira was born, I have been constantly humming or singing to her. As she's gradually become more vocal and fun-loving, I entertain her with goofy tunes about everything from bumblebees to kookaburras. Whether we're driving around in the car, or getting a fresh diaper on the changing table, Keira often pipes up with a demand for "Song! Song!", and I happily oblige.

Imagine my delight when she suddenly started singing along! It's only taken a few months for her to gain a bit more confidence (and actually sound like she's singing), but now, I can ask my little cutie-pie for a song for mommy, to which she bursts into her favorite solo rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle.

Granted, Keira's still struggling a bit with the lyrics, as she tends to only sing the first two words of each line. But irregardless, as a proud parent, I could not be more thrilled. Most importantly, I've been itching to capture this incredible milestone on tape, so I'm definitely planning on digging up the video camera this weekend to film my budding star.

"Tinkle, tinkle, little star!"

I'm proud to say that I finally updated our photos! "New" pictures of Keira have been posted, as well as pix from our Whistler Seven trip. Getting these updates out there is quite an accomplishment, considering how huge, pregnant, tired, and busy I've been.

Yes, that's right. From tomorrow, I have 30 days left until daughter number two is due. As with Keira, however, I am hoping (HOPING! HOPING!) that the baby arrives early. What's the hurry? Well, I believe there are three types of pregnant women out there:

First, there are those who love being pregnant. These are the ones who rave about the wonders of pending motherhood, treasure every ache and pain as a miracle, and genuinely believe in the "inner glow" that lights up the skin and radiates through a perpetual smile of peace and joy. Right...

Second, there are those who wallow in misery for the entire nine months. Every second is horrible, every smell brings waves of nausea, and the miracle is not the miracle of birth, but a miracle of survival through stabbing back pain and debilitating leg cramps. Drama queens, drama queens!

Third, there are women like me. I planned on becoming pregnant and was genuinely excited to discover I was expecting. But come on. Let's be honest. It's not that fun to be pregnant, and while I'm not the type to whine and scrounge for sympathy, I'm also not about to disguise everything behind a fake smile of bliss. Being pregnant, both the first time and the second, is....well, it's just ok. I have my good days and my bad, and now that it's near the end and I'm huge and uncomfortable, I'm simply excited to skip to the BIG DAY and welcome my child into the world.

So what will I be doing between now and April 8th? Walking. Lots and lots of walking. As far as I'm concerned, my nine months - for better or for worse - have finally and should finally come to an end!