Own Room

For the past two and a half weeks, Kayley has been sleeping in her own room in her crib. No more sleeping in her Pack N’ Play next to our bed and sometimes sleeping in bed with us. We were a little worried about how Kayley would react to the big change, but she handled it a lot better than we thought she was going to.

For the first four days I was the one who went into Kayley’s room to help her realize she can lay back down and go back to sleep on her own. I usually found her standing up, holding onto the side of her crib, jumping. So I would just sing as I laid her back down and would rubbing her tummy and head to help calm her down(she likes it), nothing more.

Andrew took over after that so Kayley wouldn’t learn that if she cries at night, she get’s mama. He’d do the same thing I did. It has been hard for both of us to walk away from the crib, say “goodnight” and “I love you,” while she continues to cry, but she eventually falls asleep again.

We’ve been lucky that the wake-ups have only been typically once a night.

For the past six days neither of us went into her room. In fact, three of those six days she slept from about 9:45pm to 7:00am without waking up at all. The other three days she woke up, cried for about a minute and fell right back to sleep. We’re hoping this continues!

With Kayley moving fully into her room we also decided to make it more of her room. The huge bookshelf that was in there is now in our room, and we’re planning on moving the desk and computer. We also rearranged her furniture and put more pictures on the wall. It’s finally looking like a little girls room! 

Kayley and her room

She now has her own reading corner. Andrew reads to her every night in the blue chair.

Tad-da! Looks a lot more like a baby's room

This is how she usually falls asleep after crying (a picture taking during nap time)

9 Month Check-Up

Kayley and I just got back from her 9 month check-up. I love getting a report that she’s doing great. ^_^ I mean, I know that already, but it’s nice to hear Z say it.

Kayley had a little toe prick so they could check her blood (no tears!). Turns out she’s like her mommy; her iron level is low, but she’s not anemic. Thankfully we just discovered she likes turkey (she doesn’t care for chicken much at all), so hopefully that will help get some more iron in her. Plus she likes olives and I haven’t given them to her in a while, so that’s something else we can do.

Kayley really liked seeing the nurse and Z again, though she did show a bit of stranger anxiety. While there Kayley tore up the paper like usual and did great when Z was checking her out. Here are her 9 month stats:

Weight: 18lbs and 9ozs (50%)

Height: 29inch (that’s 2 ft 5 inches!!) (90-95%)

Head circumference: 17.5inch (50-75%)

She’s tall, lean and healthy!

Z checked out her skin again to see if there were any signs of eczema since last time it looked like she could have it. Right now it looks like it just might be sensitive skin like me, but no eczema. Hopefully she doesn’t have it. We figured she’d have sensitive skin like me. We just put Vaseline and/or Aveno lotion on her after every bath and when her skin looks or feels like it needs it.

At the end of her appointment she got a flu booster shot. Poor girl started crying huge crocodile tears. =( It took her longer this time to recover and it seemed like she was almost looking at the nurse and I accusingly. It was really difficult to look at her eyes. =( Thankfully when we left she smiled at the nurse forgivingly and had already given me several hugs. ^_^

Kayley: Why do they always give me shots when I come here...?

As Kayley’s little reward for being so brave she got to eat an extra mumu cracker and is currently watching an episode of Blue’s Clues. She loves Blue’s Clues. 

Helping Steve find Blue's Clues

9 Months! New Developments

Kayley turns 9 months old today! 

In the last month she has fine-tuned skills and acquired some new ones.

Kayley now crawls without reservation. She’s all over the place and can be super fast when she sees something she wants (like the cat) or wants to get somewhere (like to mama or dada’s legs, or on top of the cat). She also likes to crawl while holding things in one or both of her hands.

Crawling with a ball in hand. It's tricky, but she has figured it out

She waves hi to lots of people. People who come to visit, people at church, strangers at restaurants, animals she sees on walks, etc. We’re still working on bye, but she does it sometimes.

Kayley has had her own way of clapping for the last couple months. She holds her hands together and then makes them go up and down in her lap. Took us a while to realize it’s how she claps. Sometimes she claps the “normal” way with her hands almost all the way open.

She likes to climb! I think she misses the stairs at my mom’s place. We don’t have any stairs, but we’ve been using boxes to block her from going into certain parts of our apartment. If she wants to she climbs right up on top of them. She just doesn’t know how to get down gracefully yet. 

Boxes only slow her down, the don't stop her anymore

Sometimes she bounces up and down when music plays. It’s fun to see her dance.

Kayley is starting to share (aka hand people toys). You can sit with her for a few minutes now passing a single toy back and forth many times. If you don’t take the toy she is trying to hand you she drops it on the ground. Sometimes she picks it back up, other times she waits for you to pick it up.

Playing with her ball that she was passing back and forth with her dada

She is starting to choose to go out of sight to play for short periods of time. Don’t worry it’s all in a baby safe environment, and I keep an eye on her. I want to encourage her self-play and teach her that I do not have to be right next to her all the time, so I’m thus happy and proud (and yet a little sad) that she has started to do this.

She’s getting down her pincher motion. Last week we started a new snack time routine. Instead of me feeding her the whole time with a spoon, I feed her a little, and then I give her pieces of food to pick up and eat herself. She’s getting quite good at it and seems to really enjoy the time. 

Using her little fingers to feed herself bananas and a mumu cracker

There are more areas she has developed in, but these are the skills she shows the most and is really getting down. I love watching her learn and develop every day. One of the many blessings from God of being a stay at home mom. ^_^

Always Chewing

On December 1^st we noticed Kayley’s first tooth cutting though. Since then her two bottom front teeth have come in basically all the way. Now her top two front teeth are preparing to cut through. Thus, Kayley has been chomping on everything. It’s very normal to see her holding a toy in her mouth as she crawls around or plays with other toys. She looks absolutely cute and silly doing it sometimes, but I’m sure it’s helping to relieve some of her discomfort.  Hopefully these two teeth will cut through soon.

Check out her two teeth

Chewing on the rattle Uncle TJ made her while trying to climb

Chewing on her turtle while bathing

Chewing on her frog in the kitchen

Blurry, but cute!

Chewing on her teething ring while playing

Auzzie

My family got Auzzie as a 3 month old puppy during Thanksgiving of 1998 from an animal shelter. My brother Tim and I picked him because he was a playful puppy full of joy. He was in his cage playing with a squeaky soccer ball all by himself, tossing it around and dashing after it. He even brought us the ball and we threw it to him from between the bars. 

Auzzie the week we brought him home

We took him on all of our family trips: camping, road trips to see family, to the ocean, etc. He loved being with us and we loved having him. Auzzie loved flipping treats off his nose, chasing his toys down the stairs, going on walks (unless it meant his feet getting wet), “helping” you do chores outside, and going on car rides. Each of us has so many wonderful memories of Auzzie, the dog who always thought of himself as a puppy. 

Camping near Shasta

Kisses!

Always playful

Kayley and Auzzie

Sadly while in Cali I had to say goodbye to Auzzie for the last time. I’m glad Kayley got to meet him and giggles when Auzzie gave her kisses. And I’m glad I got to be there with him during the very end. Auzzie was the sweetest and best dog anyone could ever have. 

Saying goodbye

Saying goodbye

We love you, Auzzie. Goodbye.