Ears are clear!! But here's your problem.....

Last week Chris took Kailyn to the Doctor yet again. She had finished her meds Tuesday of last week for the double ear infection she had. Then suddenly Wednesday we noticed her pulling at her ear again. Great, we thought! Medicine didn't work for her. :o(
We weren't sure so we decided to make an appointment Thursday after Chris was done teaching. Doctor started his exam, looked in both ears and was happy to see all was clear. No infection, no more fluid. :-)) Then he examines the rest of her. Looks in her mouth and says, well this here is probably your problem. Point's in her mouth to a molar about to pop out!! Just shy of 10 months old and our baby girl was already getting her first molar! He said they hurt like heck and make many babies very uncomfortable. Told us we can give her some Tylenol when she seems in pain. And boy that night was she. The next few nights were not her best. But she was a trooper. Only gave her Tylenol twice.  The last few day's she on and off act's like her teeth are really bothering her.  I tried looking in her mouth a few time's but she really doesn't like it and I just couldn't see if any molars had totally cut through yet.  I felt around and couldn't really feel anything.  So I decided to just wait and let the Dr look and see at her 10 month visit.  Which was today.  Here are the stats for our baby girl that just seems to be growing up WAY too fast for Mommy.

LOVES her scrambled eggs w/cheese!

Height: 27 3/4

Weight: 19lbs 6 oz
Sleep: 8pm, usually sleeping until about 7am
Teeth: 8 - Both bottom central incisors and both top central and lateral incisors AND now a bottom left molar just about to cut through, right bottom not far behind
Food: Some of what we eat, Yummy in my Tummy Stage 3 and meals and Earth's Best meals. Favorites are scrambled eggs w/cheese and also loves her meats! Chicken, lean beef, ground or regular turkey.  She has not wanted her fruits as much this month but still loves her peaches.


She is now on all formula. Similac organic, but getting ready to switch to the regular as it seems the organic may be getting ready to be discontinued.  We have been looking everywhere for it!  She also still drinks just the liquid. (refused powder when we were weaning off BM) We may try powder again, but with less than two months left it really doesn't matter.

Waiting @ the Dr's for what we thought might just be a tooth ache. Ended up being another (double this time) ear infection. :-(

@ the doctor again (meds caused rash)
Fix my ears, fix my ears!

With a now active & mobile baby, this month has been very busy.  Also busy with many trips to the Doctor. Four visits in one month. :-(  First time we thought her teeth were just bothering her until she started with a fever.  Went to the Doctor to find out she had yet another ear infection.  A double this time.  Glad we went because that night she had a fever of 101.9, her highest temp since she was born.  We started the Augmentin that day, which was the reason for our next visit.  Thought I noticed a small rash under her PJs a few mornings later.  Chris said it was probably just her new PJs bothered her skin.  Well next day (wednesday) when I had off with her I gave her her morning dose of medicine and off to our class @ Nova we went.  In class I discovered a now VERY noticeable rash had formed all over her back, chest, neck and other areas.  Called the Doctor and went in for another visit.  Ears looked much better, so the meds were working, but they still has some fluid so they gave us a new script for another med (Omnicef) which she had been on before.  Took this medicine for one more week.  Finished that medicine and then she starts pulling on right ear again!!  So to be on the safe side took her again to the Doctor.  And this is when we discovered beautiful infection free ears and a bottom molar starting to pop out!  And then we had our 4th visit today.  A well visit this time, just for her 10 month check up.  Visit went great.  Tested her urine for a few things.  All was good.  Gave her one shot, her final Hep B.  By now Kailyn is NO longer a fan of the doctors office.  She used to just love to sit on the table and play with the fun "paper".  Now she wants nothing to do with anything in the place.  Poor thing.  Mommy was the same way growing up, as I was in and out of the hospital and doctors office often my first year.  We saw our favorite Dr. today. We mentioned how Daddy took her last week, thinking her ears were infected again.  He said he read that & that they were clear. Also said that the other doctor may have seen possible molars coming in. He says, she is kinda young for that.  They usually don't start coming in until after one year. (almost like he thought the other doctor may have just seen some swelling) Then he starts the exam, Kailyn screaming the whole time until she is beat red. He looks in her mouth. Sounding a little surprised he says, yes indeed.  Her left bottom molar is very close to cutting. Said it can still take another week, possibly two, as the molars are bigger and take longer to cut than the rest. Great! He also noticed the bottom right side was swollen, so this one may follow shortly after. So now Kailyn says, bring on the steak! lol

Celebrating Mommy's B-day

This month we had a few firsts.  Kailyn's 1st time celebrating Mommy's birthday with her. We had a few people over the house for dinner and to also celebrate Daddy's new promotion to Captain at work.  This was the same day we took her to the Dr and found out she had the double ear infection.  Needless to say she was pretty miserable that day.  I felt so bad for her that weekend.  She just wanted to be held and snuggled.  You could tell she just felt horrible. The pic below was when I put her down for a few minutes just to wash her bottles.  Daddy was on shift and she wanted to be held every second of the day.  When I put her down she whined and layed herself on the floor like that until I picked her back up.  Poor baby.  And this was shortly after an hour nap.

Kailyn also had her first Valentine's day.  I was at work and she spent the day with Daddy.  I did take a few pics of her at the park a week before to send out to some family and close friends.  Here are two favs.

I also took Kailyn to her first Renaissance Festival with my brother, SIL and her two cousins.  Turned out to be an extremely hot day for mid February.  So much that when we got home I got our her Elmo sprinkler to finally use.  You can check out some pics in her 9 month album of her playing in the water. 

We also went to the Orange Blossom with her last weekend.  Mommy & Daddy wanted some funnel cake and I also wanted to take her to the petting zoo.  She was not so sure about the animals at first, but then she wanted to pet the baby cow.

As far as milestone's, still just crawling.  She has mastered standing and also cruising with her walkers, toys or using furniture. She also likes to stand up and then let go for a few seconds. She is so cute, such a little show off! We also go to the park several time's during the week after work.  She loves to go on the swings and slides.

Do you think she is having fun?!? ;-)

Kailyn has become very fond of her days spent at Miss Pam's.  She just loves playing with all her friends there. Especially a little boy Brayden that is about the same age as her. It is absolutely adorable to watch. When I get there with Kailyn, Brayden speed crawls over to her.  Then they sit there and smile, babble and touch each others hands.♥ Miss Pam says how they play extremely well for being so young.  So funny how she had such a hard time adjusting to daycare when she first started.  Now when we come to pick her up, she pulls away from us to put her back down!! She doesn't want to leave! She even whines sometimes.  Hurt my feelings at first, but now I'm ok with it.  I have just been so used to her being such a Mommy's girl. She really is growing up too fast. And as her 1st B-day is approaching oh so fast, I find myself having anxiety when I think about it.  No lie. As much as I am enjoying each new milestone, I just wish I could slightly pause things a bit. Also her growing independence from Mommy is something I am having a hard time getting used to. She now will occasionally pick Daddy or Nana over me. I was just so used to....well....being number one to her I guess you could say. Now that's not always the case. I know this is just part of her growing up, but I guess because it is also happening after I just stopped nursing her, I some how feel like she is punishing me.  I know....I sound stupid, as Chris likes to tell me.

Well that about sums up what I can remember of this past month. As usual you can check out more pics in her album on left side of blog.

Sadly this past Friday we also lost a great man.  Kailyn's Great Papa, Chris's grandfather. He will be greatly missed by many. :*(

No....No......No.....NO.....NO.....

....NO KAILYN!! This is the broken record you will hear lately around our house.  Sometimes you can repeat it 5-20 time's and you might just see a hint of recognition on her face.  Other time's nothing and it's time to head to a different area as to avoid another 30 no's repeated.  She really does NOT get bored with this game of hers! lol

It's crazy how in the past month our little "baby" girl is no longer so much baby but beginning to be more like a "toddler". *gulp*

Height and Weight:

Not sure as there is no 9 month Dr visit

Sleep: Started pushing bedtime to 8pm, usually sleeping until about 7am

Teeth: 8 - Both bottom central incisors and both top central and lateral incisors

Food: Some of what we eat, Yummy in my Tummy Stage 3, just tried some frozen Earth's Best meals.  Also tried fish and egg for the first time this month.  Seemed to like the fish and liked the scrambled egg with cheese but NOT a big fan of the hard boiled egg.

She has been taking half BM half formula for her bottles

Things have changed so much this past month.  Mommy and Daddy are always alert as our now fully mobile daughter is on the go and into......you guessed it, EVERYTHING!  As usual friends warned me this day would come sooner than later.  Not complaining, I find each new stage some days difficult and then other days fun and exciting!  Kailyn has taken her crawling to a whole new speed over the past month! lol  When she wants something (usually something she can't have) she will speed crawl over in seconds!  I really need to get a video of this before the crawling stage is over.  I am starting to adapt more to this stage but was having major anxiety at first.  Most of you that know me know I can be a bit of a freak when it comes to cleanliness.  So the fact that my daughter now crawls all over the floors everywhere we go and then sticks those same hands in her mouth.....let's just say it was really freakin me out! We now vacuum every 2-3 days (at least) so that I don't have a chihuahua (what Kailyn looks like with all the hair) crawling around.  And I have two short haired dogs! I have NO idea how we get so much hair in the house.  Kailyn has also started standing all the time the last few weeks.  Just the past week she has been taking a step here or there while holding on to something when trying to reach something else.  (again, usually something that is not hers!)  I was thinking once she was mobile it would be so nice because she could play better with all her toys and be more independent.  Yeah, well she has the independent part down! But while Mommy gets ready in the morning, instead of staying in her play room with her toys where Mommy puts her she is off on a mission.  Trying to pull out, or better yet chew on cords. Pulling out Mommy's many air freshener plug ins.  Or trying to pull herself up on every dangerous thing she can find.  Or playing on the dog beds. *gag* Pulling out DVDs.  Grabbing and shredding magazines on coffee table.  I could go on and on.  Just when you think you did such a good job baby proofing.  Yeah well you didn't! HA!

Playing on the dog bed *gag*

We are still going to our music class @ Nova together on Wednesdays.  Kailyn loves class and just LOVES playing with other babies now.  Miss Pam told Chris the other day how surprisingly well her and Braydon play together lately.  She says surprisingly because usually at there age they don't always play well together yet as they are still learning how.  Braydon is one of the little boys at her daycare.  He is 2 or 3 weeks older than Kailyn.  

Speaking of playing, that reminds me of another thing we have discovered this past month.  Someone does NOT like it when you take something she is playing with away before she is done with it! lol  I first noticed this a few weeks ago in music class when Miss Sue was collecting back the instruments they were playing with.  Kailyn started yelling and waving her arms!  I thought it was funny and just laughed at her.  She has done this several times now.  I usually just tell her to stop it and ignore her.  She only does it for a second and then she is over it.  Maybe because I ignore her? Who knows.
This past month we have been doing half formula and half BM.  I started breast feeding less and less.  Kailyn would still want more after nursing as my supply had decreased so it just didn't make since to nurse her and then give a bottle right after, as I would really have no idea how much to even give since you obviously have no idea how much they get while nursing.  I really think if I could have stayed at home with her a week or two and just nursed, I could have gotten my supply back to normal.  But this is not an option for us with my work.  So I continued to pump my measly 3 ounces every 3-4 hours at work and home.  This has been hard on the days Chris is on shift 24 hours as I need to still pump and then give her the bottle.  Usually putting her in her jumper while I pump, which she does not care for now that she is mobile.  I used to never pump on days I had off and would just nurse.  Just easier, made more since, and at the time kept my supply going.  The past few days I have just started weaning back my pumping's.  I think by the next week, two at the most, I should be done with BFing and she will be on full formula bottles.  This was a decision that to my surprise made me very sad.  Two weeks ago while rocking her to sleep with her bottle the tears started flowing down my face and just wouldn't stop.  I was remembering the many nights, pretty much every night the past 8 months, that I nursed our baby girl to sleep.  The rooting, the little faces she would make, her little hands scratching me and rubbing my arm.  It was the most peaceful beautiful thing.  Me and her. Nothing else mattering in the world.....at those moments everything was perfect.  Something I could never fully explain, but I'm sure many Mom's know exactly what I am trying to say.  I really was a little surprised by this sadness.  I decided on this.  Bring on another head cold now, I just can't wait to down some NyQuil after 18 months! lol  Or how about a night out with some drinks and coming home to crash in bed without having to pump and dump first!  But I will miss it.....  
The formula feeding is going fine.  It's very convenient and easy.  She is taking just liquid for now as both times we tried powder she was not a fan.  I think once she is on all formula we will try again.  Powder has a much stronger odor than the liquid formula.  And breast milk really has no odor unless it has gone bad.  Just like cow's milk. 
Now that we have been giving her bottle's at night this has made it a little easier on me as she now let's Daddy put her to sleep too.  So if I need to wash my hair or something after work I kiss her goodnight and Daddy gives her her bottle for bed.  It's also a nice bonding time for the two of them.  She also let's Nana give her bottle and put her to bed now too.  If you remember from previous posts Kailyn used to only let me out her to bed.  Otherwise she would just scream and cry and would not go to bed.  Now Mommy and Daddy have been able to go out twice the past month for the evening! :o)  Next goal is to try for a sleep over!  To sleep in past 7am after 9 months I imagine would be heaven! lol
Hmmm....what else.  Still babbling like crazy.  This girl can babble! lol  As many keep saying, just like her Momma!  Among her favs are Mama, dada, baba, nahnah.  She loves to make the noise with her tongue as spit goes everywhere. lol 
So many new things we discover together each day.  As usual I'm sure there are things I have left out in our daily changing lives with this beautiful little miracle of ours!!  

One of her favorite places to be! LOVES bath time!

Kailyn's future BFF Issa, my BFF Danas daughter

Those eyes make my ♥ melt

First time eating a hard boiled egg.  Hard to see but if you look closely you can see her gag reflex kicking in.

She LOVES her doggies


Riding the Choo Choo


**You can also click the picture of Kailyn top left of blog to see many new pics added to her 8 month album**

Another 1st came and went

Kailyn's first Christmas, along with Halloween and Thanksgiving, has now come and gone.  Along with many more firsts we have had already. First smile, laugh, mama, dada, sitting, rolling, now CRAWLING!! This month I felt a bit of anxiety when I realized Kailyn is now 8 months old.  Where are the days going?? Where has my tiny little newborn gone??  I thought I would never miss those first few weeks. That felt at the time, like survival parenthood.  Oh how I do!! (not so much the colic evenings, though)  It is crazy.  Just like with pregnancy, friends were right.  Enjoy every minute because it comes and goes so fast.  I don't want her to grow up!! BUT....at the same time I am enjoying all these new milestones SO much!! She is now so fun to play with, so interactive.  And I have heard from many friends that it just keeps getting better.  So I will shed a quick tear as each month flies by, but I will spend more time enjoying each little moment of this most amazing life with her.

Height and Weight:

27 1/2 inches and 17lbs 12 ounces

Sleep: She still goes down around 7:30-8pm, sometimes sleeping until 7am or waking around 5-6am to nurse, then back down until 7am-8am

Teeth: Both bottom central incisors and both top central and lateral incisors

Food: Still doing mainly stage 2, but we have tried some Stage 3.  She is NOT a big fan of the canned Stage 3.  She would prefer Yummy in my Tummy (homemade organic food from a local store) or whatever we are having.  She is still on breast milk but we have just started adding an ounce or two of formula the past 2 weeks.

Yesterday we went for Kailyn's 8 month check up.  We were curious to see her height and weight since we have not had a well visit since her 6 month check up.  We had been to the Dr a few times since Thanksgiving for a cold she couldn't kick.  We now are realizing with each front that comes through, that Kailyn may unfortunately have allergy issues like her Momma did growing up.  For now we will just monitor her and see.  We have started seeing a new Dr in the practice who we really like much better.  He talks fast but is super informative and act's like he really cares.  We don't get the, I wanna rush you out of the door feeling anymore.  I think this visit was the longest we have ever been there! 

The nurse started by coming in the room to do height and weight and then told us things would be a little different this visit.  She would be taking a little blood from Kailyn's foot and then try to get a urine sample.  Immediately I'm thinking, urine sample?? How the heck?  Well they tape this bag around her vagina and then leave it there for the rest of the visit. Then at the end they check before we leave to see if she urinated.....of course she didn't.  So we get to take a bag home for her next 10 month visit.  And now we get to try and put this thing on correctly before we leave for the doctor! lol

Her blood test was to test her iron.  We got the results before we even left and they were fine.  Dr said how at this point her weight would slow down, that this was normal.   I was kind of freaked out when we went 2 weeks ago (sick visit) and they did a weight check.  She hadn't even gained a pound in just over a month!! This is my little girl who gained two pounds her first month of life!!  Well at this visit she gained 1 pound since her 6 month check up.  Which he actually said was still good considering she had been sick for over a month with a cold and also had diarrhea for a few days from that horrible stomach bug that was going around.  She was 67% for height and 45% for weight.  He said she would continue to only gain about a pound or so every month or two now that she is also mobile.  So I will relax I guess. ;-)  He also gave us the go ahead with table foods!! Yayyy!  Kailyn has not liked ANY of the Stage 3 canned foods we have tried. (can't say I blame her) We have given her a little bit of what we are eating here and there, but not much as we weren't sure if this was ok.  She also really likes the Yummy in my Tummy Stage 3 foods.  Which is just like what we eat pretty much.  Except it's all organic and cut up already into small pieces.  So last night Kailyn had her Sweet Potato Happy Baby puree and one of our Raviolis we were eating for dinner.  We also just tried one of the Gerber biscuit cookies the other night.  Scares the crap out of me still! She just takes it and bites big chunks off with those big teefers she has already. Then Mommy freaks out as she watches her chew, hoping she will crunch it all up before trying to swallow.  She has choked a few time's but gets it up.  One time, of course when Daddy was on shift, she started choking and wasn't getting it up.  So I hit her on the back and then reached in her mouth towards her throat. I fished with my finger, then hit her on the back again and she then vomited it up.  Yeah....let's just say I pray that doesn't happen again anytime soon!!  So the Dr said she can now eat pretty much anything.  We are still to stay away from the high allergy foods such as peanuts and honey until she is one.  Also he said he advices to wait until 10 months to try eggs.  I did already give her a tiny piece of egg the other day to try, ooops.  No reaction, though.

As far as milk, we have just started adding some formula to each bottle.  About an ounce or two.  We tried to give her straight formula 2 weeks ago and she wanted nothing to do with it.  Then we tried the liquid, still spit it out.  So then we started with one ounce added to BM.  She did fine.  Now we will do two formula, three BM.  She drinks about 4 1/2 to 5 ounces every 3 hours.  We have tried to do more and wait longer, like 3 1/2 - 4 hours.  She wasn't having it.  She still gets hungry again after 3 hours.  So we stick to the routine she likes.  After I had that horrible flu that was going around, my milk supply went way down!  It has gone back up, but not totally.  I pump every 3 1/2 hours and get 3-4 ounces average.  Well she eats 5 ounces every 3 hours.  You do the math.  At this point I am comfortable with introducing some formula.  I mean, girl's gotta eat!  And I no longer want to stress so much about milk supply like I have the past 7 months.  For now I continue to pump during the day and nurse her in the morning's, when my supply is enough for her to just nurse.  People seem to ask me lately, when will you stop??  Well, I really haven't thought about it.   I don't have a set date??  Does any woman really?  I always knew I wanted to "try" to only give her BM until 6 months of age.  I am happy I was able to do that.  Sometimes I still let my mind wander and feel a bit of guilt for introducing formula.  I think, but she only has 4 more months.  But I know I am being silly.  I think some of this has to do with how much we went through the first month.  As many of you know, nursing did NOT come easy. I still remember very clearly those meltdowns of crying.  Of feeling sick to my stomach when thinking about having to feed my daughter again because it was so painful.  Contrary to what some will hear, BFing is usually NOT easy in the beginning.  I have a few friend's who breastfed/feed.  And all of them had a hard start for several different reasons.  It is a lifestyle change and takes a LOT of effort, as many  of you Moms already know.  But once you get the hang of it, it was personally a wonderful thing for me.  As my Hubby always reminds me, what she has gotten so far is great.  And formula is not going to harm her.  Shoot, I was formula fed!  Now my husband may tell you different, but I think I turned out just fine. ;-)  I mainly did it for the health benefits, so she would carry my immunities the first 6 months.  And we made it 6 months with never being sick.  Whether it was the BM or just luck, we will never know.  But I like to think I helped with that. ;-) 

(Any formula feeding Moms, please don't take any of this offensively.  I think breastfeeding is TOTALLY a personal decision.  It was something that I personally wanted to do. And either way, baby is going to get nourishment they need.  This is a Mother's decision and I would NEVER judge one who couldn't or chose not to breastfeed.  I give any mother credit for even trying.  I definitely know it is NOT easy.  I also know without the wonderful support of my family and especially my best friend Dana, I would have never been able to continue as I did.)

This past month Kailyn has also started saying Dada.  Of course she still says Mama.  She also says baba and nana.  My Mom likes to think she is saying nana to her. lol  I am still not sure if she really knows I am Mama and Daddy is Dada, but the other day it really seemed like she called him Dada.  We are definitely realizing, although she may not look much like her Mama yet, she definitely is a blabber mouth like me!  Even in my baby book my Mom wrote things like, Nicole loves to talk and sing all the time.  Kailyn will already blabber your ear off at time's.  And she only knows a few words!

The most excited new "first" for this past month is that we now have a CRAWLER!! For about a week she was our little worm.  She really looked just like an inch worm.  It was really pretty funny to watch.  Then on Christmas Eve we were playing on the mats in the playroom.  And what do you know, she started to crawl!! Like on hands and knee's crawling!  It took about a week for her to fully master it, but now she is definitely on the go!  The best is when she crawls to you.  Melts my heart.  Chris told me yesterday that when he got to Miss Pam's to pick her up she was sitting on the mats in the playroom.  She saw him and immediately started to crawl towards him to be picked up.♥  I told Chris she was waiting until Christmas to give us our present from her. ;-)

Speaking of Christmas, we had a wonderful day.  Chris worked Christmas Eve but got home at 8:15am Christmas morning.  We had family over during the day and had sandwiches and some other foods for lunch.  It was a wonderful first family Christmas together.  And little miss Kailyn of course got too many presents.  She did great opening them up, though!  She ripped that paper right off!  Only to then try and eat it of course.

Kailyn is also losing some of her people fears now.  She doesn't cry whenever a stranger is around anymore.  I am glad to see this stage come and go.  She still will occasionally stick out the bottom lip at some people, but for the most part now she smile's and tries to show off!  Chris went with her to the mall last week and said she was trying to talk to all the people walking by.  She also definitely remembers people she sees often.  If she sees you at least once every week or two, you will get a big smile when you walk in our door.  And she loves playing with her cousins Cody and Hayden.  She grabs at Cody's shirt and watches him.  As soon as her other new cousin Kaydence gets a little bigger we hope to have many play date's too!  She has a new fascination with kids in general.  Anywhere we are, if she sees a baby/kid of any age she gets excited.  Especially if they are walking, she can't take her eye's off them.  She will sometimes even yell to try and get their attention. 

First family pic 2011

For the New Year we went to our good friend Wes and Jamie's house.  They had a few friend's over.  Kailyn fell asleep when we first got there so I put her down on the bed in their spare room.  We brought the video monitor so I set that up.  About 45 minutes later I look at the monitor and no Kailyn! I get up to run inside from the porch, meanwhile zooming around with the camera to find her.  She had crawled over to the pillows I had barricaded her in with.  So after that when she fell asleep in my arms we just took turns holding her until the ball dropped.  She then woke up to celebrate her first New Year with us.  Here is a quick video right after the ball dropped.  She thought the noise makers were just the funniest thing! lol

I think that about sums up the past month.  As usual I am sure I am leaving something out in baby K's life.  Something new every day! Oh so wonderful it is.♥

**New pics added to Kailyn's 7 month album on left side of blog.  Also you can click Winter 2010 album to see pics from Christmas.**

Here is a quick video from last week.  In just one week she is much quicker than this now!