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.
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
 |
| First family pic 2011 |
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!
