Mother's Day

So... getting caught up (story of my life)... last week was my first Mother's Day! Kaylee and I were in Gatlinburg that Sunday morning with my Mom and Grandma (note to self: finish that post already!) and went out to eat for breakfast before Kaylee and I headed back home to meet up with Daniel.

When we got home I got my Mother's Day gifts... a teddy bear with a necklace hidden around its neck, a little plaque with a sweet saying on it and cards from Daniel, Kaylee, the dogs and the cat, lol! Daniel had also bought Kaylee a little teddy bear that she absolutely loved, she would not put it down and now sleeps with it every night!

We went to the mall to buy Daniel some new clothes and had planned on going out to eat at Firebirds but I think Kaylee was over being out and about and just wanted to go home and play. So we got our food to go and came back home to relax for the rest of the night. It was a great first Mother's Day being able to spend time with family!

Here are a couple of pictures of the little monster and I after we had breakfast.

It figures... I get a picture with Kaylee actually looking right at the camera and I look drunk!

Kisses for sweet baby girl!

9 Months

Another month has gone by and you are getting closer and closer to that 1 year mark... it makes me sad... but excited at the same time because you are learning so much everyday! I say it every month but this past month you have really become more active. Your new favorite thing to do is stand up, whether it's in your crib on your own or with your Daddy or I holding your hands you just love showing us the new things you are learning!

• You are still in size 4 diapers. They are a perfect fit right now but it seems like you never stay in one size for long!
• You are still taking 4 bottles a day but we have cut them down from 8oz to 6oz. After you were on solids twice a day for a few weeks you started not finishing your bottles and it eventually got to where you'd leave 2oz in every bottle. Your bottles are still on a schedule, just not as exact like last month. I have been feeding you breakfast in the morning and then you play for about 30 minutes before you have your first bottle. Then you will have a bottle around 12:30, then one at 4:00 and then your bedtime bottle which has usually been around 9:00.
• You are still eating solids twice a day but I plan on changing that to 3 times per day within the next week and hopefully cutting back to 3 bottles a day. You are such a good eater! You will eat pretty much anything I give you. When we went to Gatlinburg last weekend you ate more table food and loved it. You had eggs for the first time, spaghetti and even ate a tomato (this was funny because I hate tomatoes and when I told your Daddy he said, "that's not our child" because he doesn't like them either!). You are doing better with eating thicker foods so I feel like you are getting much closer to being able to eat more of a variety of foods. It's so important to me for you to try many different foods and learn to like them. I'm such a picky eater and I don't want that for you. You have tried so many different foods like fish, chicken, cantaloupe (at first you didn't seem to like it but now you will eat it by itself), mango, broccoli, cauliflower (this and spinach are the only two foods I have to mix with something else to get you to eat), blueberries, cherries...really too many things to name off. I bought a new blender so that I can buy fruits and veggies and continue to make your food. We really only feed you baby food from a jar when we are out somewhere and don't have access to a microwave. I also bought you some Yo Baby yogurt that you love! In the past you would never eat anything cold but now I'm able to give you the yogurt and your fruit cold and it doesn't seem to bother you.
• You are slowly learning how to use your sippy cup!
• You are still in 12 month clothes but they are definitely getting tight on you. For the most part, 18 month clothes fit you the best... I think I'm going to have to go shopping again soon!
• You are still doing great sleeping through the night. Just like last month, most nights you will sleep 12 hours... but sometimes you only make it to 11 hours. You have been doing SO much better with your naps over the past few days. What used to be three 30 minute naps a day are now all at least 1 hour naps! To me this is one of the things I am the most proud of. Not too long ago your Daddy and I could never get anything done because it was a constant battle to get you to fall asleep with us holding you and we were doing good to get you to nap for 20-30 minutes... then there was the issue of you not wanting to sleep in your crib and me always wondering every time I put you down for a nap if you were actually going to go to sleep. Now I lay you down for your naps knowing you will be falling asleep, usually within 5 minutes! It's one of those things I look back and I'm so glad I stuck with it when trying to get you to learn to nap on your own.
• You now have 3 teeth that are in (2 that came in a few months ago and 1 that just broke through) but I think you have another 2 coming in on the top. You poor baby, I know this just makes you miserable sometimes. I will be glad when all of this is over!
• Your reflux has came back this past month. No where near as bad as in the beginning but you have gotten choked several times. You are still taking your meds once a day but I forgot to give them to you one night and the next morning after your bottle you got choked and had milk run out of your nose again. This hasn't happened in over a month and the medicine isn't supposed to affect whether or not you have milk come up, but it still seems like it does. I feel bad for you because sometimes you have milk come up into your throat and you will manage to stop it but your eyes get all watery and you just sit there so quietly. I keep telling myself at least it's better than it was...but I wish you didn't have to deal with it at all.
• Like I mentioned in another post, you love jumping on the bed while I hold your hands! You have also learned how to clap your hands and will sit in the floor and just smile while you're clapping! You love to try to chew on Liza's nose if she walks up to you while you're in your bouncer and you will try to grab Remi if he comes up to you while you're playing in the floor.
• You still haven't figured out crawling but you are getting so close. You crawled maybe 2 ft. just the other day when you were in your crib. Your Daddy and I think you are just thinking about it too hard because after you crawled we moved you back and tried to get you to do it again and you just couldn't figure it out.

You go tomorrow for your 9 month checkup and I can't wait to see how much you have grown! I am a little worried though because at your 6 month appointment the doctor said that if your head measurement doesn't level off she wants to have a CT scan done on your head to check for hydrocephalus. Hopefully nothing is wrong and you just have a big head! I will put your measurements on here tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of you from the past month... I swear you get cuter every day!

Playing with your cell phone and monster truck...what a combination!

Silly bug

Precious smile (and look at those teeth!)

At least you can crawl backwards...

All stretched out and relaxed!

I love you so much Kaylee bug, please don't grow up on me too fast!

Love,

Mommy

My little monkey... jumping on the bed!

Kaylee's newest 'thing' is jumping on the bed... I swear this kid has too much energy! She started doing this last weekend in Gatlinburg, I think she was having withdrawals from missing her bouncer! If you put her in her bed and let her grab your hands she will pull herself up and start jumping (except her feet aren't coming off the mattress...she just keeps bending her knees). It's so funny because her knees aren't that strong and her legs end up going everywhere!

The look on her face is priceless when she starts jumping. She just looks like she is having so much fun and has such a big smile on her face! It's little things like this that make me glad I started this blog... so I can go back and remember all the funny little things Kaylee did growing up. She also crawled for the first time Sunday night! It wasn't very far (just from one end of her crib to the other) but she actually crawled instead of just pulling herself with her arms. Watching her crawl was so exciting because that is another one of those big milestones that reminds me just how fast she is growing up. For the past 9 months I've been able to just sit her somewhere and not have to worry about her crawling away... those days will soon come to an end!

My sweet little buggie

I just love the look on her face!

She is definitely 'Daddy's Little Love Bug'

My favorite 'Mommy Moment' so far!

Since we brought Kaylee home from the hospital there have been several special 'mommy moments' but I'm not sure any of them were as sweet as what happened a few nights ago...

After being asleep for about 45 minutes I heard Kaylee screaming. I ran into her room and tried everything I could think of to get her to calm down but nothing would work. Finally I picked her up and started quietly talking to her. That calmed her down but when I would try to put her back in her crib she would instantly start screaming like she was terrified... so I picked her up again and sat down with her in the rocking chair. Normally this wouldn't work because she won't sit still and usually the only way to get her to go to sleep is to put her in her crib and leave the room. As soon as I sat down she wrapped her arms around me and laid her head on my chest and calmed down... I couldn't believe it! It seems like something so small but she hasn't let me hold her while she falls asleep in months!

Things have been so stressful around here lately and I can honestly say that sitting there in the rocking chair with her by her little night light, nothing else mattered... I was able to relax... and just enjoy the feeling of knowing that she needed me there. It was one of those special moments that I never want to forget!