Happy 1st Birthday Kaylee!

Today Kaylee turned 1 - see her in her cute birthday hat at daycare? Really sweet.

Today is a day with mixed emotions as I had to have a pregnancy ended because of complications (cervical ectopic). I had an injection that will affect my breastmilk making it impossible to nurse for 7-10 days, some doctors say 3 months. We are going to use this as an opportunity to move Kaylee to soy milk. A friend with a stockpile of breastmilk has volunteered to donate to us so that we can cut it with soy milk to make it less sudden on her little baby stomach.  I am not looking forward to tonight's heartbreaking cries for nursing...we will make it through and thankfully she loves to sleep in her carseat so we are anticipating taking her for long drives. I called her pediatrician today and she was a lot more concerned with me than with Kaylee. She said Kaylee can do fine with this although the transition will be hard.

I didn't plan on sharing this with everyone but everyone is beginning to find out anyways and it may as well be from me, straight from the source. I will post on how I feel tomorrow - so far I don't feel any different - it was just a shot to the butt.  

We were told the pregnancy had no viability to continue and that it would be very dangerous for me to wait for it to end itself - possible hemorrhaging and hysterectomy would've been on the table. So I got three doctors opinions in the process, and all recommended this route so we are comfortable with our decision. The baby had no heartbeat at all yet - if it was a baby at all we weren't sure of that either from the ultrasound images. 

Today Kaylee moved up to the transition room. Dropping her off was hard because William was crying his head off and that of course made Kaylee cry too. But we snuck in to pay our bill about 2 hours later, and she was sitting at the table eating her lunch and she looked happy. And you can see from the birthday hat photo that she looks very content. My little sweet giggling beautiful ray of sunshine is making dealing with this loss a lot lot easier.  I will be able to get pregnant again someday (but must not for 3 months at least)...

We are very happy to have had the chance to celebrate her birthday at the parties we had this past weekend. It would've been harder to celebrate at this upcoming weekend with all that is happening. We have those happy memories - thanks to everyone for making it so special!

Photos from birthday party

Twirling in her tutu

A photo from the family party we had on Saturday! Aunt K gave her a little tutu that was so very cute on her! My little princess.

We had a great time visiting with family and having the Smiths in from NM. Will post more in a bit but wanted to give you a photo today.

Almost 1, baby!

Kaylee's been saying a couple new words this week: "bye" and "baby." She waved her hand bye-bye to her Daddy and said "bye" along with it as I was taking her off to daycare this morning. She has also learned to put her finger over her lips and move it up and down while she makes noises, and that it sounds funny. She laughs and smiles at us, as we laugh and laugh at her.

She can now walk with us only holding onto one of her hands now. Soon it will be both, she is looking really steady lately. Her crawling is only getting stronger as well, she's able to crawl over obstacles now like over the rail on her highchair and over us as we lay in bed.

At daycare this week, they are getting ready for Kaylee to move up to the next room by painting the room a new lavender color. Also a baby boy she started out with in daycare, William, is coming back to daycare after being with his mom at home and will be in 3 days a week. We are glad she won't be the only baby in the room with the new teacher/room.

Yesterday I dropped her off in the middle of the music class and got to see how much she loves it. She barely noticed me at all and look super excited to have arrived to class!

We are getting ready for Kaylee's first birthday party and are busy with all that. We can't wait to see how she does with the party and the cake! Thankfully she doesn't have to get her shots until next Friday so that's good! Her grandma/pa are coming into town for her party today. We can't wait to see them! Oh and that reminds me, the other day when crawling up to her Grandpa (my dad) she seemed to say, "Gpa." So sweet! :)

Sense of Humor, "Stinker" Behavior

Kaylee has been able to get down from cruising now for about a month, and is now confidently walking between pieces of furniture. She crawls really fast when she wants to, and yesterday for the first time she stood solo and took a step! It was a small step though. Anyways, a new game she loves is for me to let go of her when she's standing and then to fall into my hands. She laughs histerically at this.

She was also playing another game this morning, she thought it was really funny to drink out of her cup. She was blowing into it, sipping it and drooling out tons of water onto her outfit. She also loved putting her hands into her cup (she's been doing this for a while, much to my chagrin).  She laughed and laughed. She didn't like being changed out of her wet clothes afterwards though.

I've noticed a few times Kaylee had said "Ba Ba" when I'm about to nurse her, I will have to ask daycare if she is saying that about the bottle too, they may have been teaching her this one, I know I didn't... :) Kaylee is now definitely calling me "Mom" and Eric "Dad." 

Kaylee is a little bit of a stinker at daycare lately. She likes to steal nukies from other babies mouths sometimes. She sits within inches of their face, and waits until they don't have a good latch on their nukie. Then she snatches it from them and plays with it, teething on it while the other baby is quite upset.  She doesn't actually want her own nukie though and doesn't use one, I'm not sure what the fascination is. She wants what they want I guess. Anyways, I hope she gets over this phase soon, it doesn't sound very nice of her!

I have been sick today and yesterday with the stomach flu. I am getting well enough now to eat a bit of food, so improving. I hope to feel better for tomorrow and the weekend!

this is a test

Kaylee update:

Kaylee had fun playing bubbles in the bubble machine at daycare a week or so ago. I bought some bubbles at the store after that to see if she would like to play at home. She had a great time, but I think we played too long because she seemed to get overstimulated or maybe she didn't like the way her hands got wet, and we had to stop. It was cute to see her reaction and how she went after the bubbles, though.

We are really liking that the weather is improving up here. It's been around 40-50 degrees and we've enjoyed taking Kaylee out for walks the past few days (with the dogs too). They took them out at daycare too and they said Kaylee didn't want to come inside she loved it so much.  Every day at daycare they've been taking Kaylee and her classmates to the next room up, the "transition room" to play and get used to the surroundings. She had a great time in there today. I don't think I've mentioned here that I'm a bit nervous about her transition because they are going to have Kaylee sleeping on a cot. It is a little cot about 6-8 inches off the ground, instead of the crib she sleeps in now. The teacher tells me she will be teaching Kaylee how, and that it will go just fine. Kaylee also attended a music class, even though she's not enrolled (she's too little). They had all the babies in the back in the buggy listening. Then they left after about 10 minutes, I guess Kaylee put up a fuss and they brought her back in and she was able to listen to the rest of the session with one of the infant room teachers. Sounds like we'll definitely need to enroll her (it's a small fee, and is one day a week) when she's older.  

The other day was so cute, an exchange between Eric and Kaylee:

Eric: "Kaylee, can you say DaDa?"

Kaylee: "Dada!"

Eric: "Yes! Kaylee, can you say Dada?"

Kaylee: "DADA!"

Eric: "Kaylee, can you say Mama?"

Kaylee: "DaDA!"

Precious! I couldn't believe she did so well with that I didn't even care she didn't say Mama. Though, she is getting better about saying "Mama." She doesn't do it anymore only when crying, she does it when she wants me to pick her up or hold her too.  Oh and by the way, she can say "Up" sometimes now.  The other day I heard her say "Mom Mama Ma Ma Mom Momma." She was like "Mom, how many ways do I have to say this for you to understand, pick me up!" :)

Kaylee is getting pretty good at some gestures, like reaching out for us and giving us five. She does it her own baby way of course. The other day she was crawling into the other room, she looked over her shoulder at me and reached out her hand, as if to say "Come on Mom, come with me!"

Kaylee sounds like she's speaking a different language now. It's her own version of a sophisticated baby gibberish. It's full of unusual sounds, garbles, squeaks and exclamations.  It's full of vowels and consonants. Sometimes I listen hard to it expecting I'll hear something real, it sounds pretty convincingly like a language.

We are still having issues with her waking up a lot at night, she wakes up between 2-4 times usually. 2 would be great!  We see a bit of a cusp of a molar coming through, and think that is the culprit.

Kaylee likes eating chicken and mashed potatoes too now. But she definitely has her favorite, spaghetti. She really chows down on it.

I can't believe Kaylee is going to be 1 year old in less than 2 weeks! Wow! My big girl! She is about 20 lbs I believe, she will have her 1 year appt. on April 3. 

Another tooth!

Again! She has 8 teeth now! The two side front bottom teeth are making their way out of her little gums. You can see them when she smiles it's so cute! I'm hopeful that when she starts to get her molars in the next couple months, that eating will be an easier thing for her. After all, it is hard to chew things with your front teeth only. I think that's why she likes spaghetti so much because she can break up the noodles easily with her gums.

Kaylee is now an expert in getting down from standing and frequently practices her squats. She is better at doing an exercise regime than I am! She continues to love shaking the baby gate and trying to get at the dogs when they're waiting to come upstairs - it's her favorite pasttime. She loves to sit under her jumperoo at home and at daycare for some reason - it must be kind of like a fort. She and Lucas at daycare hang out under the jumperoo together sometimes.

The other day when I was giving Kaylee a bath I was doing the "This little piggy went to market" on her toes. When I said "Wee Wee Wee all the way home", she then said "Wee Wee Wee." Along with a very cute proud smile at me. I got very excited and then of course called Eric in the hear it. And of course she wouldn't do it again. Oh well.

The other day we took Kaylee out to dinner with some friends to a Thai restaurant. She didn't want to sit in her highchair and preferred being passed back and forth between Eric and I. She was very restless and when she wanted attention she would smack on my face a bit. The little stinker! She wasn't exactly bad because she didn't yell or scream or cry or make a scene, she was just kind of pain to have out. Although we were still glad to be with her, as always. Eric and I are going to try to keep her in her highchair more consistenly while we're eating, teaching her it's the place to be while we're at the table. But I think one can only control an infant who's bored so long...it will be really nice when she sees eating as an activity at the table that she can spend her time on.

Another tooth!

Kaylee just popped another tooth out on the left bottom front! And she didn't really fuss too much at all either. It could explain some of the unpredictability in her sleeping and her not sucking on toys as much, if it is tender. I felt really bad that I wasn't the first one to notice. Eric noticed but didn't say anything, on Saturday we went to a friend's house and the wife (mother of three) said "Oh I see she has three teeth on the bottom." I was like, "What! Are you sure?" I had to immediately check her mouth...I guess with all the changes she's been going through I shouldn't expect to be the first to witness every single one of them.

Kaylee has liked exploring things that aren't toys more and more. She loves rattling the baby gate, it's one of her favorite things. She also likes to try to pull up to the stereo, one of these days she's going to hit the buttons and crank the volume (we have to move that. She also loves to swing doors open and shut. This morning in the bathroom she did it so hard it made a dent in the wall. We gave her her own designated remote control to play with. But now she seems to know it's not off limits and has set her sights again on the real thing. She loves to explore my purse. She endlessly enjoys taking out my keys and my cell phone. I have to make sure every day that I don't have any loose change (choking hazard) or any paper in there that would get chewed on. She has all these cute toys and she does like them, but I swear she really is enamored so much more with the items that aren't hers.

Also, Kaylee seems to like looking at herself more and more in the mirror. She has always liked it a little bit. But I think in the past month or so she is recognizing that it is her own face, that everything she does is mimicked and that her Mommy's in the mirror too. She smiles, tries to touch and reach out, and bounces up and down while looking at herself. She loves that she has a mirror (horizontal) on the playmat. She plays there and enjoys crawling up to herself and peering at herself. I use this as an opportunity to try to teach her the words "baby" and "Kaylee."

Oh and an update on the spaghetti dinner...she's had about 8 meals of spaghetti in past week or so. She continues to devour it and we are loving that she finally likes something. Last night I tried to give her a variation with different noodles and some meat in it, but it didn't go over as well. So I gave her some more spaghetti and she ate it right up. We'll continue to offer different options in order to try to add nutrition as we are able.