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!

Wishing you all...

... a very Merry Holiday!!  It's that time of year again!  And this year we are especially excited to be spending our first Christmas with the most perfect little angel in the world!!  (ok not always perfect but she is the BEST!)  This year we decided to get a little bigger of a tree since it is Baby K's first Christmas. Yes I realize she doesn't know what is going on this year, but it is her very first X-mas and Mommy & Daddy are of course excited first time parents!

We also went to see Santa a few weeks ago.  As I figured, Kailyn was not liking Santa!  We told them, we gotta make this quick.  Chris quickly put her on Santa's lap without turning her around so she wouldn't see.  She slowly turned her head back and there went the face!  She didn't really scream, but I'm sure if we tortured her and left her on his lap (hey I've seen it before) then she would have.  Kailyn has this new anxiety with strange people so I had assumed Santa would definitely not be getting smiles out of her this year! ;-)

Last week we went to Lauren's house to make hand ornaments with baby Sophia and Carson.  Carson and Kailyn weren't exactly thrilled about this but little Sophia did great!  Kailyn wanted to touch the dough, but once you started pushing and holding her hand into it she acted like she was getting a shot! lol

I leave you with our Holiday card and wishes for a wonderful Holiday to everyone!!

 **You can check out more pics by clicking our Winter 2010 album.  You can also see new pics in Kailyn's 7 month album on left column of blog. **

7 months old...

And already a world traveler!  I have been trying to write a blog since we got back from our trip to Puerto Rico with no luck.  Just not enough time in the day!  So I am using this post to write about our trip and also the past month as Kailyn just turned 7 months today.

Height and Weight: Not sure because we don't have a Dr visit this month

Sleep:  With the arrival of four new top teeth, one after another, unfortunately her bedtime routine has been a little sporadic this month.  She still goes down around 7:30-8pm but there were more than a few times that she would wake several time's through the night.  If you looked in her mouth you would understand why. :-(

Teeth:  Both bottom central incisors and now also both top central and also lateral incisors!

Food: Breast milk and many fruit and veggie purees.  We are now going to start trying some finger foods too!

This past month started with our trip to PR. Mommy was nervous (to say the least) about taking Kailyn to PR.  Mainly the flying part, but also because we had never been and had no idea what to expect! Well Kailyn did AMAZING! Mommy and Daddy were SO proud!  She was so good the whole trip!  The flight there I nursed her (as many of you recommended I do, thanks!) when we took off.  She fell asleep for a few minutes but then woke up when the pilot came over the speaker. After that we just entertained her with toys and stuff.  The flight is just over 2 hours so it's not so bad.  I couldn't imagine flying somewhere that is much longer than that.  It was also a 2 1/2 hour drive to the hotel from the airport.  She slept part of the way and didn't get fussy until the last 15 minutes.  The rest of the trip she was great also!  My arms were ready to fall off by the end of the trip, though! lol  Everything is going up/down stairs since you are in the mountains.  The hotel they had the wedding at where we stayed was also all stairs, no elevators in PR.  Of course Kailyn was happy about this.  Little booger LOVES to be held.

The weather was beautiful while we were there.  We went to the beach Friday, which was the wedding day.  This was Kailyn's first time at a beach.  She wasn't so sure at first but ended up having a good time.  And of course she LOVED the pool @ the hotel even though it was pretty dang cold.  She just loves the water! (as you can see from this video from PR)

The wedding was also beautiful and they couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.  Unfortunately I didn't really get too many pics because Chris was the Best Man and it's a little difficult to hold a 6 month old and take pictures with an SLR camera.  They did have an amazing photographer who of course I'm sure got more than enough pics of everything.  The flight home also went smoothly.  Because it was a night flight right at her bed time she slept the whole way home.  She did get a bit cranky on the car ride to the airport, but who can blame her.  At that point I was sick of driving too!  Click here to see Puerto Rico pictures

As I mentioned above, this month also brought many new teeth for Kailyn! Dr M was right at her 6 month visit. She was definitely getting all four top teeth in at once.

Look @ those teefers!

As you can see from this pic taken about 2 weeks ago, the top two right teeth had already broken through.  The next central tooth came through last week and we are pretty sure the lateral top is just broken or about to break through.  It looks like it has but I still can't feel it so I think it hasn't all the way yet. I have felt so bad for her this past month.  I can't imagine it has been fun getting all four of her top teeth in in one month.  But considering how uncomfortable it must be she really has been a trooper!

This month was also Kailyn's first Thanksgiving.  Daddy had off and we went to Nana's for some Turkey dinner.  Everyone ate way too much and we all had a great time.  Kailyn had fun spending time with her cousins Cody and Hayden and at the end of the night she got to share a bath with her cousins.

Rub a dub dub, three cousins in a tub!

Kailyn started trying to crawl as soon as she turned 6 months.  We thought for sure by 7 months she would be.  Not so much.  She has been able to get on all fours in the crawling position for weeks now, but then goes to move and falls flat into her "fish out of water" position, as we like to call it.  Here is a quick video Daddy got of Kailyn a week ago.  It's pretty funny to watch.  And of course after she fall's she gets very pissy and wants you to sit her back up....were she then proceeds to do it all over again.  Now I don't want to rush the crawling milestone, as I know when this happens Mommy and Daddy will really be on there feet.  But this repetitive up down , up down has me wanting to pull out my hair! lol  She now hates being on her stomach but yet ends up that way every time she sits down as she wants to crawl SO bad!

We also went to the Broward County Fair this month with a few friends.  I attempted to take Kailyn on the Merry Go Round again and this time she loved it!

She kept smiling and making these faces.  It was so funny.  You can see a few more pics in her 6 month album.

We are still having the issue with Kailyn only wanting me at night.  She screams at the top of her lungs if I am not there.  This makes going out a bit difficult.  We had Chris's Christmas party a week ago and my Mom came to watch her.  She was able to finally get her to fall asleep after crying for 45 minutes.  But then Kailyn woke up at 11pm and would not go back to sleep.  So when we got home at 12:30am Mommy put her to bed.  She has been waking up a few times after you put her down the past month from her teeth bothering her.  Chris will go in and try to comfort her but she just screams and punches until I come in.  She then buries her head into my shoulder and falls back to sleep.  She doesn't even try to nurse, so it doesn't have anything to do with BFing.  Hopefully this is just another phase and she will soon grow out of it.

Kailyn just got over her first real cold. We went for our first "sick" Dr visit this past Monday.  She had had a green runny nose since Thanksgiving morning so we decided it was time to see the Dr..  He checked her out and noticed what looked like a possible infection starting in her left ear.  He said there was a 25% chance it would go away on it's own, and because of her age he felt we should go ahead and treat her with an antibiotic.  And since we didn't even realize her ear was infected as she was not pulling at it, ect., we thought it would be best to give her the medicine so it did not get worse.  Our Vicks humidifier we got for our shower has been the best during the past week.  I would definitely recommend for sick babies!  Also saline spray is great and these boogie wipes my Mom had given me before she was born.  They are just moist with saline water but also have a grape fragrance smell to them and help keep her nose from getting too raw from regular tissues.

We have been trying different foods still.  We sometimes have difficulty getting her to eat for us. She just doesn't seem to want it sometimes. The weird thing is her sitter always says how good she eats for her.  We just started giving her food when taking her to Miss Pam.  And she eats more than half of what she would eat for Chris or I.  Some days are better than others.  It's all trial and error still.  I still give her some home made puree, but also some organic store bought stuff too.  Gerber, Happy Baby and Earth's Best are a few we have tried.  We also just brought some Sprout food to try.  And we are going to try some Yo Baby yogurt tomorrow morning!

As usual I am sure there are plenty of new things we have discovered this month with this most amazing little girl that I have left out.  She may be a hand full at time's but not a day goes by that she doesn't bring a smile to our face and laughter in our home.♥

I would also like to say a quick Congrats to Kailyn's Uncle and Aunt on the arrival of their new baby girl, Kaydence Taylor Abramczyk.  She was born Thursday, December 2nd.  Kailyn is so happy to have another cousin to play and grow up with!

**You can click Kailyn's 6 month album on top left of blog too see pictures from this past month.  You can also click here to see more pics from Thanksgiving in Holidays 2010 album