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".
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
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.
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 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.
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.
Yesterday was Kaelynn's 6 month doctor visit. Jake had the day off, so he got to experience his fist immunization and everything else.
She had fun destroying the paper and just being all out cute. She took her needle like a champ and was fine until she realized what happened. Then the AngryScreamies came out again until we all got home. Everything was fine at her appointment. Even according to her doctor she's had a substantial gain in weight. That makes me so happy.
6 months
Weight- 6.48 KG/14.3lbs (+2.5lbs)
Length- 63cm/24.8in (+1.2 in)
Head circ- 43cm/16.9in (+1 in)
4 months
Weight- 5.36 KG/11.8lbs
Length- 60cm/23.6in
Head circ - 40.5cm/15.9in
We've tried some new foods this week. I made her some zucchini, but it just came out watery once removed from the freezer. She didn't like it, so I'm going to try making it over again. I also gave her some avacado. She put it in her mouth, spit it out and then cried. Lastnight, because she didn't like her veggies, I made her up a small bowl of barley cereal. She was just scraping it out of her mouth and was generally unpleased by it.
Saturday, August 17th, 2013, we took our first family trip to the Toronto Zoo.
While the drive was long, Kaelynn was a champ. About half way there, she started to fuss. I had a feeling it could have been teeth. I gave her some shots of Camilla and let her suck on the bottle of Jake's aluminum water bottle. She passed out. We made 2 OnRoute stops to pee, feed her, and basically let everyone stretch out.
Jake, his sister Sarah, and us arrived around 1. We had a picnic in the parking lot. Vegetable bread is delicious. We were in the far parking lot, so we followed the great parade to the main entrance.
Let the animals commence.
VERY unflattering picture of mama
All in all, it was a very good trip. There was plenty of unhappy children and babies hanging around, but she was not one of them. Due to her great behaviour, daddy bought her a pink and black panda - to commemorate the first of 5 years of the pandas at the zoo.
We left town at 9 am and arrived home around 1030pm. It made for a long day, but I like to think she enjoted it too.
Happy half birthday kiddo! Time feels like it has gone by so fast! You're getting bigger everyday and you're learning so much! I look at you and wonder "where did my little baby go?"
You're able to blow raspberries, half attempting to crawl (sometimes), and always attempting to stand. You've got your moods and are now refusing to sleep in your crib, but I am taking all the baby snuggles I can get before you're "too old".
There are no signs of teeth yet, still a little tooth nub that is causing Kaelynn to eat her fists all the time. Even toothless, she is enjoying food. So far, peas, carrots and squash have gone over well. Next we have avacado and zucchini.
Some favourite games are being a Baby Hat. Kaelynn is placed on top of someone's head and while bouncing, someone says babyhat over and over. Hands placed properly, once she's flipped upside down, it's a giggle fit. She's starting to use her Sophie like a teether and has been taking a soother more often. She's gotten into reading her own books and playing with flyers. She will turn the pages and help.
On Monday, she has her 6 month shots, so her stats aren't too far behind this update. This is convient since on Saturday we are going to the zoo. I hope she enjoys it. (reminder: check Toronto weather).
Today, we gave her a first taste of lemon. She loves garlic pickles, so I was unure about how she would react. Of course, I had to wait for Daddy to come home.
Yesterday was our first road trip as a family. A few friends were going to a water park in Quebec with their boys & had invited us along. It was interesting to say the least.
We get picked up & hit the road. She slept most of the way there, after staring at the boys for a while. We have a pit stop to stretch & I feed her the travel bottle I packed. Back asleep she goes.
We finally arrive & change into suits. There was a children's splash pool that we waded in for a while. Lots of feeding due to being in the sun/ watching Daddy and the boys run off for the bigger slides. At one point, a mother and her daughter approached me. With everything that's been going around about breast feeding in public, my mind automatically went to they were going to tell me off. Instead, they offered to let me borrow their beach chair, but I was more comfortable sitting on the deck. (What got me was all the little babies around, there was a lack of breast feeding going on). After a feed, Kaelynn just passed out - to the point that I just placed her in her big girl stroller all bundled up to keep warm/sun free.
One of the dads was unable to go on any slides. He was okay with watching a sleeping baby while I went on some slides - I paid admission, I should have some fun.
I went down with my brother's girlfriend on most slides. We went down Black Magic a few times - an enclosed slide. Than Jake, a friends son, Kaitlynn and I went down Tornado Alley. The whole time I was screaming "I NO LIKE". The funnel spun it so I was backwards, plus it was dark.
Jake deserves some sort of medal for being a baby wrangler. He spent most of the day riding with the younger boys or at least following them to where they wanted to go. He made sure an over zealous 3 year old didn't drown in the wading pool.
We stayed at the park roughly 5 hours. Going home was a whole other story. Grumpy baby. 5 year old in the back, yelling to the front (then complaining about the screaming baby). We had to stop and get something to eat and feed/change her. Once on the road again, nothing seemed better. I gave her crinkly things to play with, fingers to suck. Nope. In the end, I had to creative nurse her. Lesson learned: for our zoo trip in 2 weeks for my bday, bring my battery powered pump.
