A week of Christmas

     This has been a crazy week of visits and visitors.
Monday: Monday, we went to my mom's house for Christmas. We waited for the bus for 30 mins, apparently that's how long it took for it to leave the mall. We made it, and so did my older brother who we've not talked to in years. It was very informal, presents and pizza. Kaelynn got a Glo-Worm from Grandma. I love it. Uncle Eric also gave her her first LITTLE PEOPLE.
Tuesday: Daddy and aunt Sarah had to go to work, but in the afternoon, everyone came over to our place for dinner. Great grandparents, great aunts and second cousins (plus a boyfriend). Food was good, company was pleasant. Kaelynn got a doll she is a bit too young for, but we found hilarious. It's a potty training doll that sings and has a bottle. She decided she wanted the bottle. She also received her first sled from her great grandparents and great aunt Jen.
Wednesday: We stayed in our pjs all day and opened eachothers gifts. Daddy got us large penguins and a deer. We got her THE HUNGRY PELICAN, because she has an obsession with feeding people. I think she likes it.
Thursday: Boxing day. We did Christmas with my dad. Breakfast and shopping. I got deals on her birthday gifts. We also had Dad get us a together gift. We got a toy organizer. This little baby has a lot of toys.
Friday: Today, we hung out with a best friend from out west who is home for the holidays. She loved the hugging mugs I got her and I loved the "my first fish bowl" toy she got Kaelynn. They go well with her pelican. I love the hedgehogs she crocheted me. We did some running around and errands, I got a cactus garden from the toy store (hello plants) and other baby things needed (baby booties and little people BEAUTY & THE BEAST). My other friend and her family dropped by to drop off gifts: piano for baby and donut maker for mama.
Saturday: to be announced. We have a play date in the country with friends.

*many things missing because it's 10:40pm and I am in bed. Kaelynn keeps waking up every hour in the night. Not cool baby girl. Not cool.

Human bean

I'm currently trying to crochet loot bag favours for her bday party in February. I've had to give little miss one of the bands to play with while I get things done. She is currently taking it for a walk, babbling, and trying to feed it to me.
I am taking breaks and just watching her.
I just love her so. Sometimes, my heart breaks. Sometimes, I still cry because I love her so.
Moments like now, when she won't give kisses, but will lean in when you make kissey sounds so she can laugh at your face when you kiss her head.
This little human bean of mine is turning into a real flower.
I feel complete.

10 Months

     Holy! We're almost at a year! You're growing too fast.
   

      There are no words except "yea" "ma" "da" "kikki". There are no signs of teeth. But...we have walking. She started to take steps, and is slowly gaining momentum. With the big, shiny tree up and a toddler (before she is one), there is a lot of "no" being said.

9.9 months

8.9 months

     She is learning cause and effect. She will head butt me in the nose, I will be in pain. She will look directly at me and do it again. She will touch something, you say "no", then she will look at you and do it again. Along the same lines, she loves the game Peek-a-Boo. She's too smart. She will look around to see you, remove the blanket, or just wait.

     We're finally in age appropriate sizes of clothing. I am loving using her smaller diaper shirts as shirts with the tails all undone - she then reminds me of a penguin.

   

Big steps

     In the past 2 days, there have been some big milestones.

     Kaelynn has her first cold. She's so congested and snotty.
I feel so bad for her. Nursing is hard, sleeping is hard, wiping her nose is hard.
She is in very good spirits.
    
     Last night, she took her first steps! We're not fully counting them - daddy missed them (and got sad) and I only saw half of her. Grandpa Mike saw them.
     After dinner, aunt Sarah held her hands and took her for a walk around the dining room. I went to the kitchen to put stuff away. From the corner of my eye I see a tuft of pony tail waddling into the kitchen. I thought Sarah was still holding her hand. I'm all "what are you doing?!" as I walk around the kitchen wall. I see she is by herself. "Come to mommy. Walk to mommy". She then falls into a crawl and has the biggest pout/cry face. I scoop her up and snuggles are had.

Snow, strollers, and babywearing

    We've had our first real dumping of snow lastnight. Before breakfast, we went out to play it. I knew we would have a long day before it got dark. I made sure we got at the white stuff before the dog or other kids.
     Kaelynn was unsure. She didn't like it to begin with. I placed her sitting in the snow, but she fell over backwards and was unhappy. I picked her up and put her on her belly. She was upset because she couldn't crawl. I decided to make a quick snowman before we went back inside. She loved watching me roll quick, lumpy balls and listening to me explaining what I was doing.
     This afternoon, we went out with my dad in search of more picture frames. By the time we got home, she was passed out.
Aunt S and I had planned on going to the mall when I got home. She was still asleep, so I plunked her carseat into her stroller, just so we could make it to the bus on time. No sense waking a sleeping baby. She would have woken up mad as a wet cat.
Unthinking, we found out the sidewalks weren't plowed. I had the handles, S had the bumper and we carried her through the snow. At least for the bus home, we took a different route that dropped us at the other entrance of our neighbourhood.

9 Month Check Ups

     Thursday was a busy day. Kaelynn had 2 doctors appointments. First stop, her 9 month check up.
   
     Her 9 month appointment went well. Everything is going up, and she's healthy.

    Weight: 16.7 lbs 

Height: 67cm

     Next stop was her ultra sound for her neck. The tech was telling us that she had never seen a baby return, until that day. For the one side of her neck, she was asleep. For the good side of her neck, she was awake and having none of it. The tech again, told us what she was seeing on her screen - after she went to talk to her doctor. There is nothing to be worried about, the muscles are slowly loosening and in the words of the doctor "it takes time".

9 Months

                                 

   9 Months in

9 Months out

     Nine months have passed already and so much has happened. Through the stress of tantrums, teething, growth spurts, and moving, I love you so much.

    Next Thursday, she has her 9 month appointment and ultrasound, so measurements then.

Everyday, we're getting closer to walking. Her favourite thing at the moment is to try to free stand and walk around the furniture. I even had to go to LOWES and buy pipe insulation to wrap around the coffee table, just need to get tape since she keeps ripping it off and waving it around.

     She is loving all types of food, basically we are off purees. She is eating bits of our dinner, or if it's inappropriate for a  baby I make her something special. When it comes to snack time, she loves to share: a bite for her, a bite for me (this actually applies to anything as she just tried to stick a fake icecube in my mouth). 

    Her favourite activity, aside from walking, is blowing raspberries. The more the spittle, the better the raspberry. She loves if you blow them back to her too. She has a quirky tongue too - it goes sideways. 

      Her hair is growing and growing. More than not, it's "styled" in a unihorn. It's long in front and long in back, but putting it in a big girl ponytail, it falls out. 

     We are working on separation anxiety. She freaks out if I am not around or in eye-shot. If I happen to not be around, she is fine..but if I come into the room, she freaks out. We had a date night at the movies and my mom watched her. She freaked out for an hour, napped, and freaked out again.  I fed her before we left and left snacks with my mom. She devoured them, and still wanted more. In 3 hours, she needed all the snacks. I've heard S.A lasts about 2 months, I am hoping this is true. Sometimes, I feel like I am losing my mind. Even if I love her so. 

     To semi deal with the S.A (and all  the stairs in the new house), I purchased an Ergo carrier. All the babies shall be worn, plus it puts her to sleep when I'm doing chores.

     

   

Christmas Crafting

     Even though it's mid November, I have started to think about Christmas. Presents are bought and half are wrapped. Half need to be finished or purchased. Yesterday afternoon, we had a crafting day.
     Kaelynn and I found things to make a topiary. I've seen a few on Pinterest, and got curious. A burn on my hand, glitter everywhere, and a little helper, a table top topiary was completed.
    I am getting excited for her first Christmas.

Move and then some

     Holy cow, it's been a crazy month! I am just able to sit down and write now because I have a nursling and a cup of tea.

    We have "successfully" moved into our new house. There is crap everywhere, but it's only been 3 days. Let's rewind a ways back.

Physiotherapy

     There will be no more neck stretching in our house. She was cleared for movement. We do have to go back in 2 months. In 2 weeks, she has another ultrasound on her neck. She still has a lump of muscles, that should have gone away. She's not growing very tall, I'm hoping they've not grown out yet.

The move
     We moved across town on Halloween, to combine two households of family. A lot of stuff, a lot of change, and a lot of tears (my part).  Moving until 330am, too much junk everywhere, screaming baby and a hiding kitty really did this mama in. Everything is slowly coming  along.

Halloween
     I escaped for a bit Halloween night to go trick or treating in mom's neighbourhood. We just did the townhouses across from her apartment. The little moogle got candy. Good thing she's a sharer and doesn't even know it.

8 Months Old

     It's been a crazy week. Almost a week since she turned 8 months.
To celebrate, we had Thanksgiving dinner (convenient it was on Thanksgiving). Her aunt Sarah and Grandpa Mike came over. In between that, there's been loads of packing going on. We move to a new house on Halloween.
     8 months is crazy. Kaelynn stood for 6 seconds. She's crawling all over and pulling herself up on everything. She's become very vocal, including talking with her mouth full.
Between being mobile enough to chase me & curious enough to needing to be by my side all the time, moving is fun.

     On Thanksgiving, she tried new foods and MEAT. This lil monkey likes her turkey. I made her a puree of turkey, potatoes, squash and brussel sprouts, she loved it. The next day, I gave her a piece of meat to chew on and she gummed it to bits and pieces. I am aiming for a mixture of baby lead weaning and purees. Slowly, I am making things more chunky for her to get used to them and also giving her new foods to try and hold. So far, nothing that shes held has made it into her mouth.

     This post has been sitting for a few days due to everything that's going on, and she's currently napping from a quick outting to pick up her Christmas present, so I should get my wheels in gear. The house we currently live in is being shown tomorrow morning at 11am. EEEP. If she wakes up, packing and cleaning the kitchen while Spice Girls play is always a good option. <3

Little Big Girl

     We're a week away from being 8 months old. There are so many smiles from this little girl that I can barely contain my love for her. Every day, I see so much growing up in her.
     She loves to stand and crawl. If there is something she wants and isn't supposed to have, she can crawl super fast. She recently has started to growl at everything - mostly the kitties. She's even taken a few steps while holding onto fingers or a laundry basket.
     Yesterday morning, we had a lovely play date with a friend that moved to Ottawa. Kaelynn played with a most adorable 11 month old girl. Daddy was even social, and this was his first time watching his daughter interact with other babies. "She's a good little player", he said after everyone was gone home. During the visit, we received a walking toy. She loves it. She plays with the knobs and spinners on the front, even if she still is too short to walk with it (that's what laundry baskets are for).
     Speaking of laundry baskets, they are the best baby toy ever. They make boats for when they decide the floor is lava and don't want to be put down. They are walking tools. Flip them on the side and they are caves. Place a blanket under the meshy part and the child is confused and determined to get the fabric. Plus, they are awesome for bath time, when you don't want to worry about your kid falling over or toys escaping.

     Hallowe'en is coming up and mommy loves dressing up and making things. I got crafty and made her 2 costumes. She will be a Moogle and a mermaid. I purchased an H&M suit and added my own details of wings, larger ears and a pom pom. I crocheted the mermaid costume (tail, bra, netting hat with starfish). For her 8 month photos, she is going to be fully dressed up.
     With Hallowe'en approaching as well, we have a move coming and are looking for some place to go.

Sept 21st, her grandpa John passed away from cancer. We are looking for some place to house us 3, sister in law and their dads BFF (who is basically family). We've already started packing yesterday, until we ran out of boxes. Kaelynn slept the whole time. We'll see how the rest of packing goes. 

Keep Calm and Crawl On

 

  We've entered the stage of randomly screaming at the top of her lungs. Not just any type of screaming either, high pitched, making the cats' ears go back, screams. These, on top of teething screams, are making this a deaf household.

     Today was a horrible teething screaming morning. 15 mins (I know, I know that's not a long time) of inconsolable scream/crying while trying to get ready to go to the park. I managed to get her all ready and with J's help we put her in her wrap. Snuggled in close, she fell asleep a block from home. Once we got to the park, she woke up. We played with my friend and her new dog, and everything was right as rain. Back in her wrap for the walk home and she was out again. Today was the first time I had managed to pee while baby wearing. NOTHING SHALL WAKE THE BABY! I did need help removing my sandals though.

 

 The other night in the bath tub, we had lots of snuggles. Seeing how big she is getting is making me sad and proud at the same time. She's doing SO much. She's growing SO much. She's getting SO much hair. I have a feeling I will be one of those moms that cling on and hug extra long. The embarrassing kind of mom that everyone hates but loves at the same time. I kiss and squeeze her so much, and as often as possible. People say their spouse is their true love, wait til you have a child.

     I have also realized that I had taken her not moving for granted. This morning I was making tea and heard the coin candle holder jingling. I thought she was just playing with it. I look out the door way and YELL at her. She had pulled herself up onto the TV holder and was trying to get the XBOX charger station. Our TV center is one of those cubicle kinds from IKEA, I still see little finger prints in the dust by the XBOX. J asked me why I was yelling at her. He said from now on she's not allowed in the living room unsupervised and has to be put in the Ring of Neglect (exersauser) or brought along for the ride wherever we're going. I have a feeling as she grows older and more adventurous, he is going to be the super worried type. I am already "as long as she's not going to lose an eye or limb, she can try it out" type.

     As for crawling, I have a feeling she is going to skip that all together. When she is getting super fussy, just hold her up in the middle of the room, or flip a laundry basket so she can stand by herself and she is happy. According to Grandma L, J skipped crawling. Crawling is for chumps!

7 months

     7 months have come and gone. It really is crazy how fast time flies.

      She still has no teeth, but is teething on anything she can get her mouth around. Hopefully, they break her gums soon.

     She is getting better at crawling, even if she is showing a disinterest in it and would rather try to pull herself up on things instead.
She is loving eating food. Pickles, pineapple, apples are amongst some of the solids she loves. She loves carrot, squash, and pea purees.

    There recently was a big temperature change here. I think she might be getting her first cold. Mama is here to make it better.

 
     Milestone wise, I don't think there has been much new. We're just playing, learning and exploring the world around us.

Personality in Pictures

6 month physio

     This morning was our physio check up. Everything is.coming along nicely. She is holding her head up straighter, but when she gets lazy or tired, the tilt comes back.We we're doing her stretching exercises morning & night, but was advised to do them throughout the day, still totalling about 10 stretches.

     A med student came into the room to do the initial check up and he got the best/worst stink eye face ever. He was poking her neck to feel her tightened muscles and little miss did not approve. He seemed impressed by how well she sits by herself.

     I am glad Daddy was able to come to this appointment and she doesn't need a helmet or collar.

Play date pictures

      The fabulous Allie over at Dear Darling Baby took some snaps of Kaelynn while having a play date at the park. My little girl is full of personality.