First birthday

     It's been a crazy busy 3 days of birthday celebration.
    
     THURSDAY
     Thursday afternoon we got together with grandpa and had a birthday lunch and cake pickup. Afterwards, we went around picking up last minute party things: balloons, helium, babygate that was on sale.
Grandpa got her a most Canadian book (I want my hat back) and I got a copy of The Paperbag Princess. We came home, had a nap and started to get ready for the at home festivities.

Lunch

     Friday
     In the morning, I started off by baking cupcakes. One box of devils food and one box of white. The white ones I swirled food colouring in. After they were cool, I hollowed them out and put them away in a safe spot.
     Around noon, my mom, little brother and his girlfriend came over.
We opened gifts (a TY unicorn and Share Bear). Eric and his girlfriend left, and we had dinner (lasagna and bread and salad). I clearly didn't think anything through. We had cake and then presents from the family. In between, she had a quick bath. She loved her cupcake and didn't even try the icing. I'm a little sad she didn't face plant in her boob cake. She was unsure about it, even after we broke it up.
     Thankfully, she didn't get a sugar high...but was still awake until midnight. I'm blaming the full moon.

     Saturday
     I was up early to make eggs benedict for friends that were coming over to help me set up. Good thing I had already decorated. Streamers and balloons all over.
    Around noon friends started to arrive. A few friends couldn't make it due to illness, but it was a full on baby invasion.
     There were a lot of snacks, talking, not a lot of crying babies. Some of my friends came, Jake's aunt and cousin, and Kaelynn's babies.
     She received lots of clothes and thoughtful gifts. She is so lucky to have so many people that care about her.

     I can't even really put into words this weekend..and it's not over yet. Tomorrow we have a bridal shower for a wedding that we are in this summer.
    Next post will have pictures when we get them back. I have 2 lovely friends that have amazing cameras.

Baby Invasion

Every one is busy prepping

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!

6 month doctor visit

     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.  

Kaelynn's first zoo trip

     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.

6 months old

      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.





Pass The Peas, Please

     Kaelynn is 5.5 months old now. She seems to have a strong interest in our food, so this morning she got some Baby Bulleted peas and breast milk.

     She was unsure about them. She would open her mouth for the spoon, but once the food was in her mouth, she decided she didn't want it- I didn't force them upon her. We're going to try again later this afternoon. It could just be she wanted what we have when we have it. She LOVES licking food juice off our fingers.

     Throughout the day, I fed her more peas. Peas after I had lunch, peas after I had dinner. It got to the point where she was opening her mouth for them. I haveno real idea how much I should feed her, but the jar she polished off only had about 2 tbsp worth of peas in in. I figure all day she must have had 1-1.5 tbsp of peas.

      A video from her finishing off her peas for the night.Notice she grabs the spoon to shove it in her gob & keeps lookimg towards her pea pot?  I'm thinking she likes them.(I'm also hoping I don't sound as silly in person as I do in video).

Blurbs from the boyfriend:

"But it's SO watery"

"Think about what she eats on a daily basis.."

5 Months Old

     Five months already. Pretty soon she is going to be all grown up, but I won't think like that.
Kaelynn is getting to be such a big girl. Even in her 5 month Mommy picture, she looks big.

     She is increasingly becoming more vocal & more personality is growing. She has become WAY more interested in food, but I'm waiting. She's getting to the staring/grabbing/angry/feed me too stage. As her Aunt Sarah said on Thursday (while eating Menchie's), "she's making me feel bad". She's been playing with her new Munchkin spoons, and sometimes even gets the right end in her mouth. She hates when it's empty, so when it's time for homeopathic allergy "meds", I place a small bit on her spoon.

     Her sleep has definately changed in the last little while. Recently, she has been trying to roll from her back to her front, and this has carried over into sleep. I lay her on her back to sleep, and she will roll over half way, wake herself up and have a freak out. She's also got the skills now to pivot herself. I place her in the bed facing in one direction, and in a few minutes she will be the farthest thing away from the first position.
     For the past 2 nights, I have brought back the bassinet and she's been in there. She JUST fits. Lastnight, she was in there until 4am, but then from 4-9am, she was in bed because she didn't want to be in her own bed/or tired me didn't wait long enough to put her down.

 

 

     She's become to get more interested in her toys. I was at Toys R Us picking her friend up a birthday gift, and of course we had to walk out with something for her. I got her an OBall. She loves it. I also got her a rattle a few days ago, and she's just getting into that too - with lots of head smackings.

 

     As in the previous Torticollis post, she now is able to sit by hersel unassisted for a little bit. She is even able to sit up, and not in a tripod position. I am always close by, but it makes me happy - even if sometimes she almost topples over on top of Bandit.

     There are the beginnings of tooth nubs in her gums too. Tiny teeth for a tiny baby. Yet, they cause her big stress. I feel so bad that I can't really do anything to help her. She doesn't like her teething toys, she spits out fingers now, teething homeopathic liquid doesn't seem to help. I am so glad that adults don't remember teething.

 



    ...and now for a touch of cute...I love making cute lil baby leg warmers now, pity it's Summer time.