Tonight is NEW YEARS EVE and I am so behind in blogging. I swear there is a good reason for it. This 22.5 month old of mine never slows down.
Words are coming along. When she talks, you can figure out what she wants. Sometimes, you have to think or look where she's pointing, but you'll understand. We're still planning on keeping her speech therapy appointment in May. One thing I've noticed she does is say a word twice: "Mum Mum" "hot hot".
Christmas was great. Everyone got spoiled to the best of our ability and Kaelynn was spoiled beyond that. Gifts and love and food all over the place.
This year, it was a Frozen, My Little Pony, Lego Christmas. It's all over.
Along with the Christmas gifts, I've been keeping a secret. I am currently about 14 weeks pregnant with #2. More on that in another post of it's own.
Tonight was Halloween. It was super fun.
Daddy decorated the drive way and I took Kaelynn out. Daddy, his friend Aaron, and Aunt Sarah scared children and handed out candy. Daddy said "the screams fueled him" - weirdo. Halloween is the only holiday he really likes, so I guess that's acceptable.
I made our Halloween costumes and made the masks for the scarecrows in the driveway: one for Aaron and one for a dummy. I was really happy when people knew who we were supposed to be. Daddy said I chose something "obscure", but I think it was cool. Another mother gave me a high five because it was awesome and she had just introduced her daughter to Rainbow Brite. A garage of 3 guys around my age knew who we were before we got there. They were so excited and gave extra candy. As we got further down the street, I could still hear them talking about Rainbow Brite.
We were given extra candy because Kaelynn was so cute. I asked her to say please (peaaaas) and thank you (yoooou *with big puckered lips). One woman even told her to pick all she wanted, we were there a while. We hit almost all the houses in our complex that had their lights on before arriving home again. Some houses even warned us about "the scary house around the corner". I thanked them and said we lived there. They loved it- cute costumes and a scary house.
We came home. Watched some Curious George and had warm drinks before a warm bubble bath. We split a fun size package of Smarties and went to bed. She has been asleep a while, daddy and his friend are playing video games and I am about ready to pass out.
Happy Halloween!! I hope it was safe for everyone! <3
Today was a busy busy day. Daddy babywore Kaelynn on his back the whole way there.
Little Ray's Reptile Zoo was having a demonstration at the local library. I found out about this last week and had planned for it, unfortunately, many mothers did not.
We had to be at the library at 1pm to pick up free admission tickets for 2pm. There was a line when we got there and tickets were gone in 3 minutes.
5 tickets in hand, we popped over to the mall for lunch and a quick errand.
2pm and we go through the door. We sit near the front with the other children. Daddy hung off to the side. I am surprised that Kaelynn seemed interested in touching the reptiles, maybe because everyone else was. My friend and her daughter showed up late, and we made room. Daddy moved to the back.
Kaelynn spent time playing with my camera, touching the reptiles as they came around, looking out the window, and babbling at her daddy from across the room.
I am proud that even I touched them...and they freak me out.
Afterwards, we came home and went for a swim. Somehow in all the clothes we have, I found a swim suit to fit my friend's daughter.
Before dinner, she fell asleep. She stayed asleep while I transferred her to her high chair. I ate and then woke her up.
For the past 2 months, I have been using flour sack towels as inserts in my cloth diapers. I am loving them!!
What are flour sack towels? They are 100% cotton kitchen towels. You've probably seen them in your grandmother's kitchen, maybe with embroidery on them.
I read that you could use them as inserts, and was curious. Currently, I use microfiber and they're getting old. I was looking for a budget friendly way to replace them all. At Target, I purchased a.pack of 4 flour sack towels for about $5-6. I figured, if I did not like them, I could use them for cleaning.
I liked them.
I fold them in half, half the other way, and then the ends towards the middle. This gives me 4 layers and fits most of the pockets perfectly.
If you cloth diaper and are looking for something new as an insert, I highly recommend flour sack towels.
Three days shy of 17 months, little miss grew 3 teeth. I'm a few days late with this post, but she still only has 3 teeth.
When it comes down to words, we are lacking. She makes more sounds, and we pretend they are words. She makes it perfectly clear if she wants something and if we get it wrong.
Getting her to sleep in her own bed is the same struggle. She spends from about 11pm-3am in it before waking up and not settling herself. There are some nights where I don't remember getting her, but there she is in the middle.
We were in a wedding on Saturday (07/12/14) and she took it like a champ. She was a well behaved flower girl.
She refuses to stack blocks, preferring to knock them down. She does love to nest and line up objects.
A friend from Saskatchewan is back in town and came for a visit today (and tomorrow). Her, Kaelynn, daddy and I took a trip out of the house together. And today was all about daddy.
Daddy rode in the back seat of the car with her, and wasn't the one to put her in her carseat. Daddy was the one pushing her in the cart while mommy and friend looked at shorts. Daddy was the one giving her French fries when we had lunch. Daddy was the one to buy her a new toy. Daddy was the one that spent all last night pushing her in a tiny wagon.
Instead of getting crappy take out, we hit up Dennys for a bum change and lunch. She was chair dancing and stabbing my ice cubes with my straw. Random old women came over to talk yo her, say she was a good girl, and they didn't even know a baby was in the restaurant with them. She loved her French fries and the lemon wedge from my water.
Wal-Mart did not have the fish food my friend needed, so we stopped in at PetsMart. She was loving looking at all the fish and the HUGE cats. When our cats go to the Rainbow bridge, we're thinking about fish. She helped carry the container of fish food to the cash- tripping a few times and even putting it in the shopping baskets at the end of each aisle. When we got to the cash, she grabbed a pink raccoon dog toy and was in love with it. She laughed every time she squeezed it. Daddy forked out $2.25 in change for it, and said he would regret it later if she kept squeezing it. Unlike toys made for babies (Sophie) that she can't make squeak, she can make it squeak.
I have a feeling she's decided to drop to one nap a day. Even though we were gogogo, there was time at 11am to nap like normal..but she didn't. She didn't nap until 6pm, and then I woke her up for late dinner. She was back asleep after playing in bed with us at 8-9pm...and now I must move her so I can snuggle in.
This morning, we had our 15 month well baby check up. It went as well as I expected.
She did not want to be naked/ weighed/ measured. She did not want to let the doctor look and feel around in her mouth. She put up with the stethoscope.
When we discussed her teeth, the doctor has to call a pediatric dentist and will be in contact with us. She doesn't know what we really can do, aside from waiting. When I've googled, they can do xrays (but even in Canada, I'd have to pay out of pocket). There was no concern about her not knowing animal noises, but it's something we should work on.
We decided to vaccinate against chicken pox, and she was a trooper until the end. She was either staring at daddy or the doctor, at one point her arm twitched when the needle was being removed and she started to cry. It didn't last long, and she didn't even need milkies.
I was making her 18 month appointment (one hour long, bejebus) and daddy was getting her ready, trying to as Kaelynn stared at a babybaby. She came to me with her arms out to put her coat on, I told her to bring her head to daddy for her hat, then she came back to me to do it up. Smart kiddo.
Even if she's not really stacking blocks, talking up a storm, or entirely knowing her foot from her nose, she is learning useful skills: she tidies her own messes, understands when we want her to bring us stuff (and gets it right sometimes), and is enjoying being a free range baby.
Today Kaelynn is 13 months old. It is also her dad's birthday.
We spent the morning drawing pictures for daddy, then we got ready to go swimming with some friends.
At the pool, stubborn baby decided she wanted to try to swim by herself and kept trying to escape. She loved the water, even if it was a bit cold. We spent about 2 hours in the pool. She loved watching the big girls swim around and playing with daddy.
I am excited that we got her a small pool for herself. However, her swim diaper JUST fit. Time to save up for a new one.
So many crazy things are going on with her. She is saying more "words". Mama, Dada, dat (that), kiki (cat), rahrah (Sarah?),hi, yea, yum. She is all over the place & has started to explore the stairs willingly. There are no teeth, but it looks like one (or two) are trying to break the surface. I am hoping teeth are on the way, she's not sleeping too well. She is still into everything. If you get her attention and tell her "no", she will run over, put her head on you and go "hi" all high pitched and cute.
We are still nursing and she is eating all the food...even gets mad if you don't share Oreos.
This small little child is my heart.
I have always strived to be organized but have never done the follow through. I would start something and then get bored or distracted. Since becoming a mom and having house mates, things have gotten better.
The first step was a joke with my guy. I'm the one that does everything & got fed up. I said I would get a label maker and make him put his own things away. DONE. I bought a label maker that week from Staples and started to get to work. His dresser, Kaelynn's dresser, kitchen cupboards and even light switches. I pulled it out again and labeled some bins on the toy shelf.
However, I just got made fun of for labeling what goes in what bin. I resisted the urge to take a pic of what toy belongs in what spot. It's neat and "organized" now. This way everything can get put back in its place and is easily sight inventoried.
Winter is almost over and so far it seems like the bitterly cold is over. We had a dumping of snow and daddy decided to do something with the giant snow bank in the backyard.
Daddy made a slide.
It's still a work in progress, we tested it out just now. It's a perfect fit for her, but it didn't get super icy. Another pitcher of water, digging out the side to reach her better, and after something with food colouring, we should get a super slide!!
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.
