Lip-sucking concentration

Kylie's newest thing is to suck in her bottom lip while she's concentrating. It looks like this:


And this:


I simply love her determination. But it's hard not to fall over laughing when she makes faces like this:


Of course, she is still our Smiley Kylie and rewards her camera-happy mommy with moments like this:


And this:


Have a great weekend everyone!

Kylie Update

Kylie is eating her first solids with gusto. We added pureed avocado with breast milk to her diet yesterday. We are feeding her around 9:00am and again at around 4:30pm. She will enthusiastically eat the whole bowl each time. She grins everytime we say "Yummy" and she loves to talk, talk, talk while we are feeding her. She's quite the social diner.

She'll also take occasional sips of water from her sippy cup after she's finished eating. She's going to sleep around 7:30 - 8:30 these days. And for a few nights, she slept until 7:00am with no interruptions.


Her eye-hand coordination is improving. She can reach out and grab objects easily. She can also grab her toes and play with them. She's also starting to put weight in her feet and legs to stand.


Her emotions are becoming more evident. She squirms and looks at the floor when she wants down. And as you can see in this picture, we can even tell when she gets bored.


She can do a full "cobra" when on her belly and can lift her arms and legs when she's in this position.


And she's started patting the board book pages as we read to her.


As for us, we got a fabulous shelving unit with rolling baskets to add to our food pantry to hold baby food and other items. It's crazy how an organizing item will make me so stupidly happy.

And we finally found a baby gate for the bottom of our stairs and for our laundry room. The laundry room gate was tricky because one of the posts needed to be large enough for the cats to squeeze through and get to their food and litter. But we found one that works.

Kylie loves to play on her belly and I've been told that might mean she'll crawl early. So I'm proud of us for taking these first steps in getting our house childproofed.

Here's a final picture of our sweet pea.

Classes and coughing

On Friday we took Kylie to her first class at Gymboree. She got more out of it than I thought she would. We sang songs, played with mirrors, flashlights and puppets and ended with a baby massage.

Kylie loved looking at the other babies. That was the best part for her.


There were four other mothers there with their babies. It was interesting to hear how other babies are doing with their eating and sleeping. It's amazing how very different babies are!

I was reminded at Gymboree about how a baby will add coughing to her vocabulary. And sure enough, Kylie is coughing in addition to her other sounds. And she loves how coughing will make me jump! She'll cough and I'll turn and look at her and she'll grin as if to say, "Ha! Made you look again!"

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

First meal

Kylie had her first meal of rice cereal today and it was awesome. Check out this short video:




For some time now Kylie has been "telling" me that she might be ready for food. She was exhibiting many of the readiness signs.

She can sit with support and lean forward and backward.

She can turn her head to refuse food.

She has stopped exhibiting the extusion reflex.

She is nursing 8+ times a day and still wants more. LOTS more.

The time between feedings is getting shorter and shorter.

And she started showing an interest in our foods. She would hum and grunt while we were eating.

So today she had her first bowl of rice cereal. She opened her mouth when she saw the spoon coming. She moved the rice cereal around and swallowed it so easily. And then she leaned forward and opened her mouth wide again as if to say, "Yes Mommy! I like it. Feed me more!" She ate over 20 small bites with lots of enthusiasm. She finished with her first sip of water and then 3 more ounces of breast milk.

Needless to say, Karen and I were thrilled. We kept goo-ing and cooing with her and we beamed happy smiles at one another. We videoed the entire five-minute meal and took these pictures toward the end.







Happy Baby and Happy Parents!

It's been about 12 hours since her meal and her digestive system is doing just fine. She's had no allergic reactions so far. And we're crossing our fingers that she doesn't have any.

So she'll have rice cereal for the next few days and then we'll introduce another new food. I can't decide if oatmeal, pureed avocado, or sweet potato should be next. Any recommendations?

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!