Mom's visit

My Mom just left for TN from her week-long visit to our home in Oregon. We mostly hung around the house and oohh'd and ahh'd over the baby. We snuck in a visit to Powell's City of Books where I picked up a few books on feeding babies.

Here's a quick poll: at what age did you start feeding your baby rice cereal and/or baby food?

Oh...and here's some baby pictures for you!

-Wendy
Granna bought her this cute outfit:


Granna reading to Kylie:


Smilely Kylie:

Finished

Kylie says, "You've finished the last H*rry P*tter book? Can I read it next?"

Yes, I finished it. I really didn't know how Rowling could finish this amazing series to anyone's satisfaction. But I, for one, am impressed with her story-telling.

-Wendy

Wordless Wednesday - Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Ice Fall at Hubbard Glacier - May 2006





I picked these for Wordless Wednesday because it's so stinkin' hot outside. I wanted to remember the blue ice of Alaska's glaciers.

Nose and mouth

Kylie has started playing with my nose and mouth. When I have her on the changing table, she reaches out and touches my lips and my nose. She's surprisingly gentle about it (for now). Of course, I make funny ba-ba-ba noises when she does it so she can feel my lips move.

She hasn't got the hang of sucking her own thumb or fingers yet. She tries to stick her whole hand in her mouth or she grabs her tongue with her fingers and pulls which makes her cough and gag. I imagine she'll have it figured out soon.

What a difference a month makes

Kylie is nearing 12 pounds. As such, she will soon outgrow her three month Carter onesies. It shocks me that the next Carter size is 6 months and that they don't have a 3-6 size like other brands do. I don't know if I can put Kylie in a 6 month outfit. My brain yells, "It's too soon! It's too fast! I'm not ready!"

Somehow we ended up with lots of onesies in the three month size and I have dearly loved all of them. I've never been sentimental about my own clothes so I'm surprised that I'm feeling sad about taking her three month clothes off the shelf.

This green outfit is one of my favorites. Here is Kylie last month on June 13th- just shy of her two month birthday. She's got that milk-blissed, barely awake look about her.


And here she is at three months- awake and playing (or full of spit & vinegar as we Southerners say). What a difference a month makes!

Wordless Wednesday - Phoebe & Chloe

Three months old!

Today is Kylie's 3 month birthday.

Here are some milestones:

She weighs 11lbs, 10 oz.

She loves to sit upright and can hold her head steady.

She likes to sit in the corner of Karen's chair and in her Bumbo.

She accompanies us in her stroller on our nightly walks.

She frequently brings both hands together and she sucks on her hands.

She plays with her toys that rattle.

She gives us lots of smiles, gurgles and coos.

She started to talk to us with her "ah-goos".

She squeals with delight.

She squirms in anticipation of nursing.

Her favorite book is "Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy" by S. Boynton. She also enjoys "Animal Kisses" by B. Saltzberg and "One Fish, Two Fish" by Dr. Seuss.

Each day, she delights us. Just check out these funny faces!

Baby spells

I've been cooking like crazy today. I decided to make twice-baked potatoes because of this post. Yum!! I also made a casserole for tomorrow night and the delicious "Peach Betty" dessert compliments of my friend Heather's recipie.

As I was cooking, I was thinking about the upcoming H*rry P*tter books and movie--I'm so excited to see them both! I was wishing (again!) that I could be a student at Hogwarts.

These days, I would want to learn a few spells to help with the baby. I think the most helpful spell would be "Wingardium Leviosa". I would use it to lift my daughter off my lap when she has fallen asleep nursing and to lay her gently in her crib without her waking. I would also use this spell to pop her pacifier back in her mouth.

I would also want to learn "Scourgify" to clean those baby bottles.

Is there a spell you would use to help with your children?

-Wendy

These pictures are from the weekend. We bought Kylie her first pair of jeans. I thought she looked so cute (and so grown up!) in them.


LOOK MOMMY!! JEANS!

Play hard, rest hard

Kylie is sleeping more during the night. Lately she goes to sleep around 10-11pm and sleeps for around 7 hours. We don't get this every night but we love the fact that her sleep is stretching out.

She's also playing more during the day- 30 minutes to an hour. She's fascinated with her plastic, rattling toys; not so much with her softer stuffed animals. Her playtime is such a joy to us. She's so smiley and happy and it's fun just to watch her explore.

She gets the 5:00pm fussies where nothing will really soothe her (not even nursing). She'll settle for just a bit and then she is the QUEEN of fussy from 7:00 to 8:30 or 9:00pm. Lots of pitiful crying. Karen and I just grit our teeth and ride it out. We do best when we can tag-team our inconsolable blob of a baby. Each time she does it, we discuss whether she might be teething (we really don't think so), how much sleep she's gotten during the day (usually the perfect amount), what I've eaten (did I have anything with onions?) and whether it's a growth spurt.

Yesterday I went to the mall to look at baby clothes. As I was shopping, pregnant shoppers around me would look at my belly. I could practically see their thoughts of "Well, there is a belly there but I can't tell if it's a pregnant belly". So they look away instead of giving me that special smile that only pregnant women share with each other. These days, I'm casting that special smile to mothers with little babies. It's a smile that says, "It's hard, it's wonderful, and I'm with you babe--hang in there".

But back to the belly business. I've read several blogs of moms of babies around 3-4 months of age. It seems that we are all feeling the pressure to start losing the rest of our baby weight, to get back in shape, and to get back into our pre-pregnancy clothes.

I wonder where this pressure comes from? My wife, family and friends aren't saying anything of the sort. But I still feel it. There's this very loud voice in my head that says, "All right. You've had your three months of rest and recovery. It's time to stop eating so damn much and to get your ass in shape!!"

During Kylie's naps, I could get on the treadmill or go to the pool or try to get to a Jazzercise class. I think I would probably feel better if I did. But instead I do other things that nurture me-like reading blogs, or cleaning our home and cooking or scrapbooking.

I tell you, the thought of exercising just makes me feel tired. I think, "Good grief, is it time to get back on that wagon?" Can't I extend my permission slip just a few more weeks (or months)?

Anyway, to add to this rambling post, here's a photograph I took the other day. This is the nightstand in Kylie's nursery that sits between my glider and Karen's chair. I love this photo. To me, it represents everything that is momma & baby right now. It's overflowing with the breast pump and water glasses and toys and our books and magazines and baby books.


Lastly, I downloaded some video we've shot of Kylie over the past few days. I've got one video posted to my old website (ha!! here's a test for my family. Do you even remember that website? It's got web.mac.com at the start of the web address.) I was going to provide a link but then realized that this website has my last name all over it. I don't think it's prudent to post a link here on blogger. So now I'm trying to decide if I should upload it to youtube. It's the kind of video footage that probably only family would want to watch so I'm undecided about it.

Anyway, if you made it all the way to bottom of this long, rambling post, I suppose I should reward you with some Kylie pictures.

-Wendy

Wordless Wednesday

Scrapbooking

In my free time, I've been scrapbooking. And if you click here you can see some of my pages.

Karen laughs because it takes me over a week to get two pages completed. I'm a beginner at scrapbooking. So I spend a lot of time just standing and staring at the pages I'm trying to make, weighing the choices about how they should look. I'm also trying to figure out how to properly photograph my finished work. But until then, I thought I would share what I've done so far.

For example, here is Kylie's two month pages.




We have two scrapbooks in process. One is all about Kylie--her birth and monthly milestones. The other is for our 2007 special events such as parent's visits. Here is a two-page spread about my parent's recent visits.





Also, if you like scrapbooking or cards, you might want to check this site out. I just got my package in the mail and I'm so pleased with the quality of it all. I can't wait to get started with it!

Cheers!
-Wendy

Toys!

I'm so excited and happy! I just watched (and photographed) Kylie picking up a toy and bringing it to her mouth! This was the first time she's done this and it was fantastic!

Here's a play by play:
Sheer determination


It's lifted!


It's heading towards the mouth and the mouth is open.


Contact!


I was sitting on the floor, holding my breath, snapping the camera away. After Kylie tasted her rattle, she gave me this look like, "Did you just see what I did!!" I smiled and praised her and said, "Yes! You did it, my darling! Well done!"

She's one day shy of 12 weeks and is lifting toys! She lifted it several times and was so pleased. I was so happy and proud of her--stupidly giddy over it all.


After about 30 minutes of play, she passed out asleep in my sling. I've still got the silly grin plastered on my face.

-Wendy

Pictures

Kylie went to her first birthday party yesterday. The party was held by our good friends Jeff and Heather in honor of their son, Ethan, turning one year old.
Here's a few pictures we took prior to the party:






I thought this one looked nice in black and white.


Now that's the way to eat cake! Happy Birthday Ethan!

The chair

My dad has always had "his chair". While it has been different colors over the years as he upgraded from one old worn out model to another, it has always been basically the same chair. A huge Lazy Boy recliner that can lay almost flat when pushed back. The chair was his place to sleep on Sunday afternoons while watching football after church, his place to relax after long days at work and long evenings following us kids around from one activity to the other during our childhood, his place to hold court to advise or lecture us, and it has been his place to hold his grandkids and nap with them on his chest (this photo is of my dad and my niece Allie from about 6 years ago).



It's a warm, comfy and sweet place. And the chair is always his...if someone else is sitting in it and my dad came into the room, it was just understood that the person would get up and return "the chair" to its' rightful owner. Dad's chair was (and still is) his, and his alone, place of rest and relaxation.

Frankly, until Kylie arrived, I never really understood the appeal of having "a chair" all to oneself. I thought it was just a cute "dad thing" but didn't actually realize the true power of the chair until I got one for myself. You see, we bought a rocker/glider for the nursery and sized it to fit both Wendy and I. In other words, it's about right for Wendy (maybe just a bit too deep for her but the ottoman helps with that) and just a bit small for me. However, in general, it's pretty comfortable....or at least that's what we thought. After Kylie came home and we began to spend countless hours in the nursery, I soon realized that the rocker we had just wasn't going to cut it for me. Besides, since we only had one chair in the room, whenever both of us were in there one of us would either sit on the floor or push in an ottoman from the living room couch or get a chair from the dining table. Ick.

So finally, after Wendy cajoled me just a bit...actually I think she said "honey, don't you think you'd like to have your very own chair in here?"... and off I went to the Chair Outlet to find myself a comfy chair. Now, this time - unlike when we were shopping for the original nursery rocker - I was searching for a chair just for me. That meant I could get the biggest, longest, deepest chair I could find without having to worry about it swallowing Wendy. And, what I found was my version of dad's chair...but now, it's "my chair"!

I love this thing! I mean really, really love it. I knew it was the chair for me when the salesperson handed me a brochure about it and it showed a picture of some 6 ft. 9 in. 300 lb. linebacker from the Green Bay Packers lounging in it and looking like he had room to spare. So, I sat in it. And I do mean that I sat "in" it...no on it. This chair is so big and roomy and cushiony that I feel like a little kid in it. Do any of you remember that bit on the old show Laugh In where Lily Tomlin played the part of 5 year old Edith Ann and sat in this huge rocking chair? (Yes, I know I'm old!) Well, my chair is big like that and it makes me feel oh so wonderful when I sit in it.



But, the best part of "my chair" is that I can hold Kylie up on my chest and lay it back and just snooze with her. She will lay on me for hours at times and I love it. I get up with her in the mornings and after I feed her, she'll often go back to sleep on my chest and we get another couple of hours of sleep in together. I l-o-v-e it!



So, now I see the appeal of "the chair"...actually it's not just that I see the appeal of having my very own chair, it's that I'm now a "my chair" addict! After all these years, I now have "my chair"...my very own chair! I highly recommend you get one of your own too....it's marvelous.

- Karen

P.S. Dad, when next you visit, be prepared to move out of "my chair" if I enter the room!

Strollin'

We didn't take many stroller walks with Kylie when she was a newborn; she would get too fussy.

But we recently converted the carry-cot to a stroller seat and now she is one happy baby. Kylie loves to sit up and is enjoying the view as we walk around our block in the early evening.

Here's Kylie at 9 days old in her Bugaboo stroller with the carry-cot.




And here she is at 11 weeks old.




Wow! I have to tell you. It's a bit of a shock to see how much she has grown. Many times now I'll look at her and think, "Oh, she's still so tiny" and other days I'll think, "My gosh! She's getting so big!". Yes, I know......I'll have many more months and years of those thoughts.

The best two-fer ever!

I'm so happy I can barely stand it. My adoption of Kylie is final and I'm "officially" her momma. The final paperwork showed up in the mail yesterday and I cried when I opened it. I've never had any doubts that I was Kylie's momma, but knowing that everything is legally official now just seals the deal. Sweet...very sweet.

And, I'm also the proud owner of a new iPhone. Now, my phone is also capable of surfing the internet, holding tons of great photos (of Kylie of course!), playing my favorite music and a bunch of other fun stuff. This thing is wicked cool. Wendy has been very sweet about letting me play with it and get it all loaded up these past couple of days....thanks hon!

So, I'm a very, very happy camper. Woo hoo!

- Karen

Happy Fourth of July!

Tie-dyed girls

One of the things I love about Karen is her love of tie-dyed shirts. She has several and looks great in them.

So when I saw this tie-dyed onesie, I had to have it!

Here's my tie-dyed girls:






PS - Karen got her Iphone. Hurray!