Demeanor

Karen and I were discussing words to describe Kylie's demeanor.

Kylie is very thoughtful and observant.


She is curious.


She is mischievous and strong-willed.


She is happy.


And she is gentle.


We are very blessed.

Wordless Wednesday

Sleep and kisses

Sunday night was a sleepless night. Kylie, fully impressed with her new ability to roll from back to stomach, decided to roll over in her crib every few hours. Then she would get frustrated and cry out because she couldn't roll back and didn't want to be on her stomach anymore. So I would get up, go to her room and move her to her back.

She thought it was great fun. She kept giving me these smiles like, "Hi Mommy! Isn't it fun playing with me!" And I would pat her, try to smile, and stumble back to bed and then lay there and worry about SIDS.

Yesterday afternoon, I needed a Venti Iced Mocha just to keep on keeping on. Of course that made me jittery as a rabbit (forgot to make it a decaf) and gave me a huge sugar crash before dinner.

But I did have an incredible moment yesterday.

I was moving Kylie from her nursing position to my shoulder and she leaned over and gave me a large, gummy, slimy, open-mouthed kiss on my cheek.

Time stood still. We both froze for a few seconds. She just stayed there with her mouth plastered against my cheek. I could feel and hear her breathing so contentedly through her nose. We were both completely still. Then I pulled away just a bit and looked deeply in her eyes. She gave me a knowing smile and leaned forward again to nestle her head under my chin.

I know what you're thinking. It probably wasn't a kiss. She was probably just turning her head and opening her mouth to suck on her fingers and my face got in the way. You're thinking that she's too young to understand what a kiss is much less try to give one.

But I know what I felt in that perfect moment in time. My sweet baby Kylie gave me my first kiss.

More rolling

Kylie is rolling over every chance she can get. It makes me so stinkin' happy.

Here's a very short video of her (don't blink or you'll miss it). I love the contented sigh at the end.




We've started childproofing the house--covering outlets, wrapping the fireplace mantle, and putting gates on the stairs. This is more for the benefit of visiting friends who have crawling and walking children. But I'm sure we'll be glad that we've got a start on it.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Talking in the Swing

Kylie loves to talk. On the changing table, in our laps, in her bumbo seat but especially in her swing.

Our swing has a mirror on the bottom of the mobile. And Kylie loves to tilt her head back and talk, talk, talk to her mirror image. Here's a short example:


Did I mention that she likes to talk?

Foot rattles

Kylie experienced foot rattles for the first time today.


First there was curiosity.


And then shock and surprise.


And finally joy.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Rolling over

Kylie rolled over by herself for the first time on Wednesday night 8/22. Of course, it was at 11:30pm so we didn't have much of a celebration. She did it again today during play time. She's rolling from her back to her left side to her stomach. After she did it, she turned her head to look up at me as if to say, "Look at what I just did!"

I'm healing from a plugged milk duct (ouch!!). This is the second time this has happened. I seem to heal simply by nursing more often and applying moist and dry heat and drinking more fluids. If anyone knows of another remedy, please let me know, in case this happens again.

-Wendy

Ping!

Do you think it's possible for loved ones to communicate between minds (aka telepathically)?

Karen and I have often joked about it. When she travels, we will often get the strongest sense of one another. We'll look at the clock and the next time we speak, we'll ask one another about it. For example Karen will ask me, "Were you thinking of me or needing me at around 10pm Pacific time, because you woke me up here on the East coast".

We call this "pinging" one another.

Ping is a computer term. Karen taught it to me. Here's a definition of it:
Ping - A protocol that sends a message to another computer and waits for acknowledgment, often used to check if another computer on a network is reachable.

I say that it's like me knocking on her door and saying "Hey, are you there?" and her answering from behing the door, "Yep, I'm here!"

Anyway, now I'm pinging Kylie. Sometimes I'll wake up in the night and listen to Kylie's baby monitor. I'll listen for the rustling sounds of her moving because I want to reassure myself that she's fine. And sometimes, more than an hour will go by and I'm waiting and waiting. And I'll think to myself, "Kylie honey, are you okay? Mommy needs to hear you."

And I kid you not, within seconds, she will make a little grunt or sound or sigh. I'll send a "thank you baby" her way and go back to sleep.

So, am I crazy? Is it just coincidence? Or do you experience this too? Do you ping your loved ones?

-Wendy

Look deep into my eyes Mommy. I can read your every thought.

Four month appointment and milestones

Kylie had her four-month doctor's appointment today along with her four scheduled shots. Everything went well. Kylie's sleeping it off right now--shot days are so exhausting.

*She weighs 12 lbs, 9 oz which is in the 25 percentile. She's up 4 lbs, 13 oz from her birth weight.
*Her height is 24 inches which is in the 50 percertile.

We've seen lots of changes this month!
*Kylie loves to touch and grasp and shake anything within her reach. She's started sitting and playing in her exersaucer activity center and jumperoo. And when she isn't playing, she's sucking her fingers.
*She's started kicking and splashing during her bath.
*She holds her legs up and flexes her feet. She likes to touch her knees and toes.
*She rubs her feet together to soothe herself.
*She can be quieted with music and singing.
*She babbles to herself and loves to talk to the baby in the mirror.
*She smiles with delight when she sees her mommies.
*She can see us across a room and follow our movements.
*She has a bedtime routine and is in her crib by 9pm


Now forgive me while I go indulge in some chocolate. Shot days are hard on the mommies too!

-Wendy

No pictures please

I really don't want my picture taken today.

What part of "No" don't you understand?

Fine, I shall squirm away from you.

Okay Mommy, if I smile once, will you put the camera away?

Thank you sweet Kylie.

Four months old today

Today is Kylie's four-month birthday. I'll post her developmental milestones later. For now, I'll leave you with this (another finger-sucking) picture.

Fingers

When Kylie isn't sucking her fingers or playing with her feet,


she's running her drool-covered hands through her hair, which makes for some interesting hairdos.

Kylie is sucking on her fingers constantly. CONSTANTLY. I don't know if it's just an oral fixation or if it's early teething or what but her fingers are consistently in her mouth.

Yesterday, she learned the trick of closing her mouth around her fingers while she sucked them. This was an improvement over sucking her fingers with her mouth hanging open which made drool fly everywhere.



Kylie's beginning to understand her sleep routine. Karen and I sing her a song as we put her in her sleeper and close her window blinds. We then read her "Goodnight Room" and put her in her crib. Several times, she's started to get squirmy as we've read her the book, as if to say, "Uh-oh, I know what's coming next". She's ususally asleep 15-20 minutes after we lay her in the crib and leave her room.


She's been incredibly hungry the past few days. We've supplemented with a bit of formula just to give me a break and to keep Kylie full. Nursing can make me so sleepy. It seems like I'm just shaking off the sleepy effects of nursing and then it's time to nurse again. Kylie was down to only one nighttime feeding but the past few nights, she's back to two or three. Of course, this just adds to my sleepyness. For the past two days, I've felt like a sleep-walking zombie.

But life with Kylie is so delightful. She makes me beam with joy and love and gratitude everyday. The little finger-sucking stinker!

Wordless Wednesday - Kylie

Where did the summer go?

There are ads on tv for back-to-school sales. I can't believe it's time for the kids to go back to school.

I have pictures for Kylie for every week of her life but I swear this summer seems like a blur. Where did it go?

It's a strange thing but I'm oddly proud of the fact that I managed to keep our big flower basket alive all summer. With all that was going on with us these past few months, we still managed to take the time to water it almost every night.

Here are some pictures:

Thanks, I needed that!

Wow! Thanks to everyone for de-lurking and commenting. I had no idea there were so many of you. All weekend I kept running to the computer and saying, "Look! There's another comment!" Thank you so much for that big energy boost.

Lately I've been thinking about father figures. It started when we took Kylie to Babies R Us to have her photos taken. She took one look at the male photographer and let out a scream. And last week, when our neighbor Jeff came over, he gently took Kylie in his arms to hold her and she got fussy.

Now it may just be coincidence. She was nearing her nap time on both occurences. But it worries me.

I've even noticed that I screen picture books for her. For example, there is a series of books titled "How do dinosaurs clean their rooms, count to ten, etc." These are very sweet books with beautiful illustrations but I haven't got one for Kylie because Dad is on almost every page.

Kylie won't have tons of contact with her grandpas or her uncle because they live in TN. So it's up to me to find incredible men for her to be around.

If I could wave my magic wand, I would want two wonderful gay men to move into our neighborhood. They would fuss over Kylie and make her laugh (while making her mommas perfect cappucinos.)

I know, by and large, that Kylie will do just great with her two moms. At least we hold men in such good esteem. Unlike the woman I heard at St*rbucks the other day. Her little boy asked her, "Where is my daddy?" and she answered, "You don't see your daddy anymore because he is an a**hole." Ouch!

Here are some Kylie pictures. Her shirt says "Mom thinks she's in charge!" Ain't that the truth!

Sweet little girl

The reason I blog is to document my days, to share my thoughts and feelings, and to post pictures for friends and family to enjoy. I love reading people's comments on this blog. I like knowing that there is someone out there who says, "I see you."

For those of you who comment often--thank you. It means more to me than I can express.

For those of you lurking--this would be a good time to de-lurk. Just say "Hi there" or "Good post" or "Nice picture" or something.

It takes time and energy to create even the smallest of posts. It would be lovely for you to send some of that energy back. It would be helpful to me.

Thanks.

-Wendy

More Kylie pictures can be found on our Flickr site. Click here

Ramblings

I'm going to ramble for a bit.

Eating Fast
Kylie gets fussy when I eat. It doesn't matter where she's sitting or lying, how much attention I give her before or during the meal, she gets fussy.

So I end up eating a meal like I'm in a race.

That's why it's so nice when Karen and I get to go have a meal out together without the baby. I make it a point to eat nice and s-l-o-w. Hopefully this fussy-while-eating phase won't last long.

Neighbors and cries
Kylie was crying so hard last night that I guess it could be heard outside my home. Someone walked by and said "Oh my gosh, that poor thing" and said it loud enough for me to hear it in my home. It made me want to go outside and whomp them. Then I wanted to crawl under the house with embarrasment. I'm not sure which neighbor it was so now I bit nervous with the prospect of taking the baby for a walk. I'll be looking (with embarassment again) for some neighbor-woman who will be shaking her head at me.

Saving Gr+ce
Have you seen this new tv show? It stars Holly Hunter?

Holly Hunter is so tiny and cute that I just want to put her in my pocket. In the show, she is visited by an angel named Earl. In the last episode, Holly's character shoots and kills a deer (on purpose) with a handgun. And Angel Earl (who is chewing tobacco) says "Nice shot, Grace".

Now I grew up in the South and in the country. I've been around hunters enough to understand why they hunt. And I'm a meat eater who is grateful that I can buy my meat at a grocery store instead of having to hunt for it. So while I personally don't want to do it, I'm not really against hunting.

But I still jumped about a foot when I heard this character, AN ANGEL, while chewing TOBACCO, praise a person for shooting one of God's creatures for sport!

Oh, and later in the show, some environmentalists who are protesting oil distributors are made out to be the "bad guys" and one of the cops on the show says, "You can have my SUV keys when you pry them from my cold, dead hands."

Hmmm. It seems this show promoting (and not very subtly) tobacco use, guns, hunting, and gas guzzling. All with an angel.

Now....the questions is....will I continue to watch this show? Or another question is...did you watch this episode and pick up on any of this?

*Kylie*
For those of you visiting here for pictures of Kylie, here one of her sitting in her Jumperoo for the first time. The seat is so big is swallowed her up. You've gotta love her chubby chin in the second picture.

Energy Burst

Little Kylie is certainly feeling better and making up for lost time. Yesterday she played in two-hour increments and only had 45-minute naps in between. She had me on my toes! We managed to get in a 30-minute stroller walk which was nice. Last night at 10pm, she finally went to sleep and slept until 7am-- 9 hours of sleep for the both of us! I needed it too. Last night was one of those nights where I fell into the bed with a groan.