Walking

Kaylee learned to walk tonight. I was going to put two videos in one post but it seems to not like that, or at least it's taking it's sweet time with the first one, so here's the walking video which is what everyone would want to see anyway.

Using a chair and walking.

Big day for Kaylee, she learned how to use a chair, and to walk!

Videos below:

Dancing queen pushing a walker

We got a walker from a friend of mine. I had the reaction when she offered it to me like, maybe Kaylee will walk too soon with it. Eric had the reaction he didn't want her to have it because maybe she wouldn't walk at all, and use it as a crutch. But both of our fears melted away when Kaylee took the handle, got a very proud look on her face and a pure sense of joy as she pushed the new walker around the floor. She looks like she just loves this taste of independence. She babbles with excited exclamations the entire time and quickly learned how to navigate the corners in our house. I talked to daycare about how quickly she picked it up and they said that unbeknownst to us, they have had her pushing carts and other toys around for a while so this is not new to her.  

Kaylee is now getting her molars on the top and it's causing her pain. We are treating with motrin, it seems now to be a continuous process. Nights are hardest, but dinnertime is improving and she's been eating more. Last night she ate the inside of 5 potstickers.  It was the most we've ever seen her eat. We actually stopped her because we thought maybe she'd throw it up if we didn't.  Kaylee is learning how to use a sippy cup and the other night she poured water down her outfit (very usual) and I took her clothes off and let her play in her diaper because I knew I was about to give her a bath anyway. Kaylee took her shirt into a corner, sat down and wrapped her shirt around shoulders pulling it back and forth and very unsuccessfully trying to dress herself.  It was very adorable, I thought maybe she was cold and put a robe on her.

Kaylee dances now. We took a video of that and her walking with her walker that I  hope to post here if I can get it loaded on.  She has added much to her earlier  bouncing repertoire. She bobbs her head, shakes her head, swings her torso from sides to side and last night for the first time got the lower body into the groove too. She was swinging her hips back and forth sort of like she had a hula hoop around her hips. It was so cute and funny that Eric and I hoot and hollar with laughter watching her do it. My little dancing queen. I love dancing so I am glad to  have a partner now! 

Steady on her feet, but not walking yet

Kaylee has gotten much steadier on her feet, yet is still “chickening out” when it comes to walking on her own. In addition to the cruising and crawling she’s been doing for a couple months, she can now crouch or squat down proficiently even without the use of her hands which tells us her legs are getting very strong. She can also walk one-handed with us easily now (though she prefers two hands). Her cute little new shoes I bought for her are getting filthy on the top from all the crawling and draggin them on ground. New moms out there take note, buy the robies (sp?) in a dark color.

Kaylee now has popped out two molars (almost all the way). We have been dealing with a lot of crying from pain at nights especially. We give her Motrin and Orajel as needed, but as her parents we are so not the over-medicate types. We both under-medicate ourselves and so tend to want to do that too. We wait until we’re actually sure she needs it, which sometimes seems too late and she’s gotten all upset because of it in the middle of the night.

One thing that happened this morning that we thought was kinda funny is she bumped her head on the wall by accident. She looked at the wall and said “no-no” and then went back up to it and softly bumped her head again to hear the noise it made again.

Yesterday at daycare we got a call to come pick her up because maybe she was having an allergic reaction to a cookie she ate. They also described her as lethargic. But when Eric showed up it just seemed like she didn’t get a good nap and had something stuck in her eye and was rubbing them. Anyway, I ended up at home a bit early Kaylee fell asleep on Eric’s chest and I was able to get some sun in the backyard (it was 80 degrees yesterday!) and read a book. Very relaxing, I also went and got stuff to barbeque and we had a late dinner of kabobs. Yum!

We also took a night-walk and I did very well taking two laps and only having to stop once (because I still am recovering). After the first lap, Kaylee didn't want to come out and arched her back. She played peek-a-boo with her blanket the second lap and then was happy to get out when we finally got home saying, "Up!"

High Five!

Yesterday Kaylee did two new things:

1) When the dogs were barking outside, she perked up and listened. She said “Gog”. That is how she says Dog. Anyways, I said “Do you hear the dogs outside? The dog says “woof – woof.” Then she mimicked a very guttural, realistic “woof-woof”!
2) Also last night during bath time, she was playing with a fish that looks like a ball and calling it “ball.” She threw the ball to me and I threw it back and we did this about 10 times. It’s the first time she’s played a back-and-forth game with the ball. There was a lot of giggling and squealing that accompanied the playing ball. It was a great time!

And I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned but in the last 2 weeks she’s figured out how to give people five. She takes a lot of pride and joy in giving us five. It actually not a high-five, it's a "down-low" five. :)

Saying "No" and Holding back

We finally had a good weekend! It was so fun. On Friday night we had dinner with my parents. On Saturday we spent some time with my sisters – in downtown and uptown, walking around and eating out fun places. On Sunday, my Dad watched Kaylee so Eric and I could go to a movie and out for coffee. It was very enjoyable and I needed it!
During the weekend, Kaylee learned how to say “no.” We even heard her get better at it as she goes. At first she was saying “Nah-Nah” but then learned how to say “No-no.” I say “no-no” to her because I don’t want her near wall outlets or the dog dishes. She stops what shes doing and recites “no-no…no-no….no-no” as she crawls away. Thankfully it hasn’t come through as some sort of obstenant communication (yet). She’s been saying it a lot and it seems like she’s just practicing the word, not that she’s saying “No” to everything. But I would like to teach her “Yes” too soon, because that could get us very far with her if she can start to tell us “yes” and “no” to our simple questions. Her voice is so cute, it is the cutest, softest, sweetest “No” you’ve ever heard. It helps that she doesn’t have any sort of negative tone that goes with the “No.”
Kaylee has gotten to be a little shy around people now when she’s not sure of a situation – it’s where she’s at developmentally with learning how to trust. She takes a while when we take her somewhere to play to go out with the group – she sits and takes it all in first making sure she understands her surroundings first. Also when she’s with someone she doesn’t know as well she will be a bit clingy wanting to be held all the time, or hiding behind us. When asked to say “hi” or wave she will be very tentative about it and wait until she’s ready to do it. Smiling doesn’t come as fast to her, even when funny faces are made at her in those situations. We’re happy that this hasn’t surfaced with a lot of tears and crying, it’s more of a holding back.

Happy Friday!

Simple Pleasures in honor of It’s Friday (Happy Friday!):

1. Cookie dough is so yummy! I haven’t had it in a really long time because of breastfeeding or being pregnant. I can have it now and it is soooo good!
2. Kaylee slept through the night – I got 8 hours of sleep last night. Thank you Kaylee!
3. Kaylee and I went out for a nice breakfast together this morning since it’s Friday. She said “Hi Ma” two times to me.
4. I took my surgical tape off my belly button, and it is still very cute! It is going to look normal despite a small incision that was made! Yea!
5. I lost so much weight recently I may need to go shopping! Should be fun!

6. It is good weather here - we finally don't need our winter jackets for sure!

Getting down and dirty

In case you were wondering, after sticking her finger up her nose (for the first time ever!) she did get her hands dirty eating (or just getting it all over?) birthday cake!

update

Tuesday I had my levels checked and it looks like they're seeing them plummet the way they want to see them...

I had a reaction - dizzy, nauseous Monday to the meds so I stopped taking them. I am in not too much pain anymore anyway.

I am starting to feel the emotional pain of what's happening now - starting to deal with it. It's hard but I guess I wouldn't be normal if I didn't feel it. Since I am an open person, please talk to me. I appreciate all those who have showed you care.

To top it off, Kaylee has perferred Eric much more as I recover. She knows I don't nurse her now, and now I can't play in the bath anymore either. It is sad for me as she cries with me and reaches for him, but I know it will pass too - she is too little to understand that her Mom is going through something. Eric can be Mom right now.

Update and outcome

I had to have an emergency surgery on Saturday. At midnight I was in a lot of pain and we went to the hospital. I was white, teeth chattering in pain. Went to their trauma room, they gave me pain meds (thank God) and did an ultrasound. They saw a tubal pregnancy that they recommended needed emergency surgery where they would need to remove the tube.  I was transferred by ambulance to another hosp, and the doctor spent a while getting caught up on my case. He was quite perplexed by the history,  and the HCG levels lowering while still seeing a heartbeat. He gave us two choices, to wait and see if the my hemoglobin held steady after a few hours and if it was taking care of itself or to do a surgery. It had been four hours since they had checked my hemoglobin (indicating any internal bleeding) and so Eric suggested they check again, since it had lowered from earlier in the week. They checked and it was another point lower, causing us and them to choose the surgery option. They said they'd work on preserving the tube and check my other tube. The surgery lasted a little over an hour and was done laproscopically, it turned out my tube had burst.  I am pleased with the outcome, my tube will heal itself eventually and my other one looked normal.  The pain isn't as bad as with my appendectomy I had 7 years ago.  Although I am still quite tender and tired from missing an entire night's sleep in a lot of pain and stress. 

Eric's been great. Krissy and Matt had Kaylee that night and were great. My parents were able to come right before and after the surgery, and helped us with Kaylee after it so we could get rest. Today we were able to celebrate Easter a bit with the family. I will have follow-up appointment in about a week and will have my HCG levels check to make sure they got it all Tuesday.

Anything but eating - Birthday cake photos

You want me to eat this? What? I don't think so Mom...Shhhh...you must be kidding me...

Ummm it looks like they all want me to do this? What do I do?

I'd rather do anything than eat this Mom!

Positive Distraction

Teething on my friend's figurine... while out at Panera one morning. She was pretty fussy and crying and wanted to just take a nap.

You can see in her eyes there were some tears but oh how quickly emotions turn to happiness when they are this little...just a little positive distraction and they forget what was getting them going in the first place...

Friend for Kaylee (everyday!)

Kaylee's friend from the infant room moved up today...as I brought Kaylee into the room, she looked happy, stunned and seemed to be thinking "Hey you're here! Where were you?" She sat in contented silence studying her friend as they were re-introduced, while eating their breakfasts. Eric and I are so happy she will have her friend again to play with. She did have a friend 3 days a week - but this baby is in consistently so yay!

Kaylee started to really like cheerios. She crams them into her mouth like a normal infant now, whereas before she really didn't take an interest in that at all. We are very encouraged.

Well it turns out there are advantages to not nursing anymore. (even though we did love it!)
-Don't have to worry about nursing -appropriate clothes and pajamas
-Eric stays up in the wee hours now with Kaylee, sharing in the nighttime duty - so more sleep! :)
-I don't need to be around as much (although I usually am) she's not dependent on me. She can take a bottle anywhere.
- Kaylee seems to have begun eating a bit more food.
- Hello again to CAFFEINE! YES!!!

Disadvantages: at some point I probably need to relinquish all those calories that led to guilt-free eating (but not yet), it isn't free anymore and I need to pump to make sure I don't get sick from the cold-turkey version of weaning we had to do. Pumping is boring and not as fun as time with baby. Oh well, it's working out better than anticipated. :)

quick update

The shot did not do what the doctors wanted to yesterday so they administered another shot, which hopefully will work. We are praying that will be the end of this. We are looking into which hospital we may consider for a procedure, if it comes to that. We are encouraged to know that doctor's with a hi-risk specialty seem to have done dealt with cases like mine before.

Kaylee's 1 year Dr. Appt

Yesterday I took Kaylee in for her 1-year doctor appt. Things went pretty well.

She is 20 lbs 15 oz - she did not triple her birth weight but is holding her own at the 50%.
She is 28 1/2" long and I believe this was in the 25-30% range.
Her head circumference is 47 cm which is in the 95%. (a "large head, but not abnormal") Big -brained :)

Developmentally, the doctor was incredibly pleased with her language development. She said most babies aren't quite saying as many words as Kaylee. Uusually they are saying 3-4, while Kaylee has been saying 10 or more. (Actually we are hearing more even in the last day, things that indicate to us she is understanding much of what we say, and it getting very close to talking - I thought I heard her say "I did it" a couple of times.) The doctor was happy she's pulling up, cruising and crawling well. On the down side, she is a bit concerned (as are we) with how she's still not eating real well and is on a mostly liquid diet. She is also concerned with her not sleeping through the night. She recommended that since she's on the bottle now, keep track of milk intake at night and then every couple of days bring it down 1 ounce so that we get into a range of 2-3 ounces. She said the baby will then decide it's not worth waking and will sleep (hopefully). Then the effect of that will hopefully be better interest in food and eating during the day. She wants to see Kaylee back in 6 weeks (instead of at 15 months old) to track her on this issue.

Kaylee received her Hep A and MMR shots yesterday. She was supposed to get her lead test, hemaglobin and chickenpox vaccine as well but we opted to do those when we meet in 6 weeks. I was rushing to the women's clinic to have my blood drawn and we didn't have enough time for the lead and hemaglobin tests. The doctor opted to not give her the chickenpox vaccine at this time because she said there's a risk for me, with a compromised immune system, of developing chicken pox (even though I've already had it once). Kaylee of course cried hard during the shots and I felt very bad for her. Poor thing. I guess the long term benefits outweigh the short-term pain.

Also she is referring us to an allergist to have Kaylee checked for a milk allergy - she said with the reactions we've seen she just doesn't want us to be guessing on what's okay and what's not. I asked her if this with be the scary back test with 50 tiny shots that I received when I was a kid. I don't want Kaylee going through that esp. at her age. She said they're not really doing that any more and that the tests won't be much for Kaylee. So I will set that up for her soon.

On the daycare front, Kaylee is getting more used to her new teacher and the teacher rated her day as "great" yesterday. Eric and I talked with the directors about getting another baby in there so Kaylee won't be lonely (she didn't want to play, only be held when William wasn't there). They will be moving 1-2 more babies up early from the infant room next Wednesday so we are very happy about this. She will be so happy to be with her friends again!

As far as being weaned from nursing, things get better everyday. Night before last she cried a mad, inconsolable cry while waiting the 5 min for the bottle to heat up. But the next time we fed her, she was patient and not crying. She is getting more used to just getting the bottle - I'm encouraged. I'm so happy that we have the breastmilk my friend donated, it helps me cope with what's going on a bit better and relieves the sadness I felt when throwing my milk down the drain.

I am so glad to have an amazing, supportive, helpful husband! Eric has been great, I love you Eric! My mom and mother-in-law have also been extremely great too! They're great helpers, advisors, listeners and consolers. My Dad and father-in-law are also helpful in their strong, gentle way. Also the 3 sisters I have, nobody could ask for more!!!

I got slammed hard with lots of deadline-type work on my project when I returned on Thursday. Thursday and Friday were crazy and I will have to continue working toward a deadline on Monday. I will be working from home this weekend to try to catch up. That is why I didn't have my blood drawn till late in the day and won't know how things are shaping up until Monday. But I think this is a blessing because if the numbers were still rising (which from what I've read they could be) I think that would only make me nervous. So it'll be better to see it Monday, along with the comparison to the blood draw I'll have on Monday. Then we will know more. The only new news is I'm starting to develop sores in my mouth from the treatment. They are not bad but I am rinsing with salt water and might have to use Vitamin E for it soon. I'll keep you posted on how things are going Monday.

Happy 30th to me!

Today I have been doing fine, other than being sad of course. I haven't had any cramping, pain or bleeding. I even called the doctor to make sure this was okay. They said it was fine. On Friday I will go in to have my HCG levels checked to make sure things are going in the direction they wanted it to go...I will be back to work tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for your kind words of support.

Kaylee continues to make this all a lot more bearable. We did have a hard night last night with her first time not being able to nurse, but it wasn't quite the nightmare I had geared myself up for. Eric certainly is pulling his weight and in fact, is in the bedroom with Kaylee right now rocking her to sleep for bedtime. She has taken about 4 bottles from me and 4 bottles from him so far, and we are very happy with that. A couple of times she just wouldn't take a bottle and we figure all she wanted was some comfort nursing, so we had to find other ways of soothing her and usually this meant Eric had to soothe her.

Kaylee had her second day in the transition room with her new teacher - she had 1 on 1 attention all day since William wasn't there today. She didn't want to play much probably because she didn't have any friends to play with, she missed them and is having a bit of a tough time with everything going on - so the teacher had to hold her most of the day to make her happy. I feel very bad that this transition to a new room, not having friends around and not nursing is all occuring at the same time - this is a confusing time for her I imagine. But I know she will be incredibly resilient, adaptable and that her memory isn't even that long. And let's face it things aren't really bad at all for her - she has a loving family, loving daycare environment and tons of attention. I think it's really me feeling guilty for all of this...which I will have to deal with and realize it's not my fault.

Anyways, onto a happy note - Kaylee is saying three words consistently now. When people say "hi" to her she says "Hi". It is a soft, breathy long "hiiiiii". It is the sweetest greeting you will ever hear. She also has been saying "Bye" when people are leaving, usually also with a smile and a wave. It's hard to leave such cuteness behind. Also she's been saying "Up". Everytime she wants up she says it, and then she's so happy it worked that she sort of rejoices it by continuing to say "up, uP, UP!" over and over, once she is in our arms.

I had a nice birthday today. My mom spent the day with me. I didn't want to be alone since I didn't know about the side effects I might have. We went out for a nice lunch, she helped clean up my house and fold my laundry and made us a nice dinner. At the lunch, we got a free birthday dessert and of course my Mom couldn't keep herself from singing "happy birthday" to me (thank God it wasn't the whole restaurant, that's incredibly embarrassing!) I'm hoping after Eric puts Kaylee down that we will snuggle up and watch one of my favorite movies and eat Hagen-daas ice cream.