Ready or not, Here I come! :)

Okay. So I know I just posted the other day, but I had to just post a quick one again.

Kayden is a walking girl now!!!! She decided to be super brave on Friday evening and just started walking across the living room! Now she won't stop! I just wanted to post a few pictures and link to my videos page so that you could go check them all out!

On my videos page, I have uploaded quite a few new videos. a couple are of Kayden walking, showing off her new skills. I also uploaded a couple videos of Kayden talking. She is saying a few new words now, such as "apple," "no no," and "uh oh." It's precious!

Enjoy looking through the pictures and watching the videos!


click here to see Kayden's 9 month pictures


click here to see Kayden's videos

xoxo

Corinne

9 Month Old Ladybug

Cuddling with Daddy

Yay! I met my goal! I am posting in less than 1 month! Pat on the back for me! ;)

The past 3 weeks since I've posted have gone by very quickly...kind of in a blur actually. We have dealt with sickness, sickness and more sickness!!! This fall season has kicked up all sorts of stuff and it seems like we are catching all of it! But I guess Kayden will have a strong immune system in the end huh?!

Kayden is dealing with another cold as I type, but that seems to be the theme right now, so it's really no biggie. Nick and I both went to the doctor this week and had flu tests done, both of which came back negative! Thank you Lord! I was so extremely concerned that if I did have the flu of passing it on to Kayden. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about that!

Kayden trying to eat her froggy spout cover :)

We are trying to stay indoors more for the time being since it seems that everyone is sick right now. We are holding off on story time at the library, and I'm trying not to take Kayden out to the grocery store or crowded places just to be on the safe side. We are spending a lot of time, however in our backyard sliding down the slides and swinging. Kayden really enjoys playing outside and the puppies love it too!

We have turned our 3rd bedroom into a playroom for Kayden to get some of the toys out of our living room and to give her a safe place to play. She really loves playing in there. We are in the process of turning our formal dinning room into an office for Nick. He needs a more private place to work, because he's on call all the time and it's kind of difficult for him to work and focus with a baby trying to get his computer and what not! I can only do so much! ;)

Kayden playing (eating) in her new sandbox :)

Kayden went in on the 16th for her 9 month well check and got a flu shot. She did great! She has moved to the 80th percentile for her weight, weighing in at 22 lbs, and the 90th percentile for her height at a little over 26 inches long. She's babbling and saying, "Mama," "Dada," "Ah ah," (for uh oh), "bab" (for baby) and a whole bunch of crazy noises as well! :) She's progressing wonderfully!

Overall, things are moving right along. No big things to report since the last post. We're hoping to all get well soon so we can resume our play dates with some of Kayden's little friends and get to sleeping better. Oh and on that note, we started the "cry it out" method again this past week on Wednesday. We had tried it when Kayden was around 6 months old, but just couldn't handle it then. We are now doing it successfully and are seeing some progress. It was getting to the point that Kayden would only sleep if we were holding her in her rocking chair or boucing her. If we tried to lay her down, she'd just wake up and scream. She wouldn't sleep in our bed with us or on the couch or in her crib....nowhere but our arms. So we knew it was time. The first couple of days were very rough, but it is slowly getting better and Kayden is really learning how to put herself back to sleep. We've gone from waking up 8-10 times a night to two times a night just to eat and go back to sleep. Night time feedings will be our next obstacle, but we're just going to focus on one at a time!

I have misplaced my camera once again (this is a daily thing), so I don't have many new pictures or videos. I am posting the few that I have and hopefully I will find it soon! :)

Kayden's most favorite thing in the world to do is read! Being a former teacher, I love, love, love that!!!!! We read a lot during the day....some books over and over again! Below is a video of Kayden reading a book to herself! Super cute! :)

Hope everyone's having a good week and is staying healthy! Until next time....

This and That

Okay. So I know this is long overdue, but I just can't seem to find the time to really sit down and write. I put a lot of thought into these blogs, so I can't just whip something out real quick. My new goal is to get one out every month instead of every week! I'll try to achieve that! :)

Lots has happened over the last month since I last posted. About a month ago, Kayden came down with a cold. Well before it got better, it got worse and developed into an ear infection. After taking antibiotics for 10 days, she finally got the all clear last week. However, the antibiotics took a toll on her body. She was having diahrreah like 9 or 10 times a day and developed a horrible diaper rash. So that also took some time to clear up. But like I said, last week we got the all clear.

Rocking her baby

So life was pretty good up until Wednesday. And that's when Kayden started sneezing, coughing and had a runny nose. "Oh great," I thought. So I waited and watched, and I decided to take her to the doctor on Friday since it was a long weekend. Low and behold she had ANOTHER ear infection. So I am foreseeing tubes in her future, but we'll see. She has been on antibiotics since Friday and just today is starting to clear up congestion wise. It's been rough, because she hasn't been able to breathe through her nose, so it's been hard for her to eat or sleep. Hopefully she's on the road to recovery now and we can mark this ear infection off the list! :)

I'm not sure where to start now. It seems like so much has happened in such a short time! The biggest things that I want to mention are some major milestones that Kayden has reached. She is now standing all by herself! She can go from sitting to standing without holding onto anything. And here it comes......she took her first steps! We got it on video, which I will post at the bottom of this blog. She was so extremely proud of herself when she did it. She had a huge grin on her face and was so excited!!!! We are so proud of her! And at 8 1/2 months old too. Goodness! I think I'm going to be in for it now! :)

I am loving this age! It's my favorite so far! Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment, and I decided to take Kayden with me. She did fabulous and everyone ooohed and ahhhed over how adorable she was! Feeling brave, I took her to McDonald's after we got finished at the doctor's office (I had to get a flu shot :( ). Kayden sat in the high chair like a big girl and ate some of my chicken and played with her toys until I was finished eating. She loved watching the kids playing on the playground. Feeling braver and less like a germaphobe, I whipped out my camera and took Kayden to the playground. As soon as I put her at the top of the slide, she got a huge smile on her face and started waving her hands in the air. She slid down the slide a few times and LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! :) I climbed all the way up to the top of the playscape with her in my arms, but decided against going down the dark tunnel slide. The thought of her screaming the whole way down or us getting stuck in there didn't appeal to much to me! :)

Kayden has now graduated to taking a bath in the bath tub instead of her big pink duck. She was just too big for that. She LOVES the big bath tub, but I have to watch her every move! She thinks she can crawl around on all fours in the water and pull up on the faucet and side of the tub. The child has no fear and never sits still! :)

She also got her first pair of shoes, which she's not too sure about, but we put them on and walk outside every afternoon to get her used to them. We are also going for walks every evening when Nick gets home from work. Kayden will now sit in her stroller if it's sitting straight up and not reclined back, so she can see everything. Also, we put cheerios or puffs on her stroller tray and she is quite content the whole way! I am excited about this, because I've been wanting to get a jogging stroller and go running with her. Looks like now I may be able to!

My brother Trent, and his fiance Amy got married on the 23rd of August, here at Nana and Grandpa's house. It was simple and beautiful. Kayden did very well, but was just a little overwhelmed by all of the people crammed into the living room.

At Trent and Amy's wedding

We've been going to story time once a week at the library, and Kayden loves crawling all over the place and sitting in the teacher's lap and playing with her puppets! :)

Kayden is completely down to two naps a day and usually takes a long one in the morning anywhere from 1 1/2 -2 hours and usually a shorter one in the late afternoon. It's been nice having her more on a solid schedule. Her bedtime still varies from day to day, but it's getting a little more predictable. She usually goes down between 8:30 and 9:30 at night. Nights are still pretty rough right now. With the ear infections, Kayden hasn't been able to breathe through her nose, so she's had a lot of trouble sleeping. She's also cutting some teeth, so she's had a hard time sleeping because of that as well. One day we'll get a good night's sleep! Someday! :)

8 1/2 moths old

I'm really enjoying staying home with Kayden and watching her learn and grow everyday. We really do have a fun time. We get out at least a few times a week for playdates, story time, grocery shopping, etc. Kayden does very well and loves going places. My little shopper! :)

We turned the extra bedroom/Longhorn room into a playroom for Kayden. We moved most of her big toys in there so our living room didn't look like a Toys R Us showroom! Kayden loves it in there!

We were having a very hard time getting her to eat anything solid for quite sometime. She just decided that she didn't want to have anything to do with it. So I talked with her pediatrician, and she said to not worry about it and that it was just a phase. She would probably go from not eating anything to eating straight table food one day. So I stopped giving her solids altogether for a couple of days and then started putting her at the table in her booster chair and offering it to her 3 times a day. Sometimes she'd eat a couple bites of bread or fruit, but never baby food. Until a couple of days ago, she was pretty much on a liquid diet again. And then we found the secret! Whatever Nick and I are eating, she wants! So we pretty much give her whatever we eat (within reason) cut up tiny for her. She has also decided that hse will eat baby food if we give it to her with an adult spoon and make a big deal when she eats it! So every night when we sit down at the dinner table, Kayden eats what we eat (thus we're eating healthier) and Nick and I clap and praise Kayden for eating her food like a big girl. She loves to eat now! :) It's fabulous! When she went into the doctor last Friday, she weighed 21 lbs and 14 ozs. So she's still gaining fine. She goes back in next Wednesday for her 9 month well check.

I guess that's all to report for now. I'm going to try to squeeze in a shower real quick before the little ladybug wakes up! Sorry it's taken me so long to update everyone. The little Miss keeps me busy! :) Have a great rest of the week!

Good News and Bad News

Can you believe that I am actually posting again and it's just been a little over a week?  That can only mean one thing......Kayden is sleeping! :)

Let's start with the bad news first...get it out of the way.  I had mentioned in my last post, that I had taken Kayden to the doctor because her eye was draining and it turned out that she had an eye cold.  So we treated that and it seemed to get better, but then she came down with massive congestion, coughing, sneezing, etc. So I took her back to the doctor last week on Thursday and her pediatrician said that she had a cold.  Let me just say, that it is so traumatizing for the Mommy and Daddy to see their baby girl have a cold.  She was completely blocked up and couldn't breathe out of her nose.  This makes it extremely hard on babies, because they haven't mastered breathing out of their mouths yet.  She had a very hard time eating and sleeping, both of which required her to breathe out of her nose.  So it's now 6 days later, and she is still congested, but nowhere near the extent to what she was.  I'm not having to use the "booger sucker" near as much, and last night was the first night that she was able to go to sleep sucking her fingers while breathing out of her nose at the same time and go the whole night without having to have her nose cleaned out.  :) Ah the triumphs of being a Mommy!

So there's the first bad news - the dreaded cold.  But there's more.  But you'll have to wait, because I need to tell you the good news first.

The good news is, that since Kayden started drinking straight formula, about a week and a half ago or so, she has been sleeping so much better!  The most that she's woken up at night is 3 times, which is down from 5-10 a night.  And before, when she'd wake up so many times at night, she'd just scream, and I knew that something was wrong.  Now when she wakes up, it's because she's hungry or can't get back to sleep, and just needs Mommy.  I will happily go and feed that child or rock her twice a night rather than 10 times! :)  I am beyond thrilled that this formula seems to be helping her sleep. I really think it was the dairy in my breast milk that was giving her a tummy ache. Poor baby.  But at least it seems we've figured it now and hopefully she'll continue to sleep better and better. I am so proud of her!

Now for the second part of the bad news. I cannot sleep.....EVER!  I have tried what seems like everything.  I have been to see my doctor twice in the past 2 weeks for sleeping problems.  I have such a hard time going to sleep, and then once I finally get there, Kayden usually wakes up and then I am wide awake again. It's a terrible cycle. So I've been extremely frustrated now that Kayden is finally sleeping, Mommy still can't!  I am planning on calling the doctor again today and seeing what another option is.  So I'll keep everyone updated, but for now, Kayden is sleeping better, but Mommy is not! :(

Um, let's see.  Since the last time I posted, we haven't really done much since Kayden (and I) have been sick.  We've just tried to lay low for a little while until it all blows over.  We did get to visit with our Italian cousins yesterday for a little bit, who are in from Italy visiting for a month or so.  It was neat for Kayden to meet her cousins for the first time, and they had fun playing together!

We are planning to go up and see my dad not this coming weekend, but the next, so hopefully we'll all be well and SLEEPING by then! :)

I guess that's all for now.  I jsut wanted to post this quick update while Kayden was napping....she's not a big sleeper during the day, so I have to get what I need to when I can! :) 

Until next time....

Major Milestones!

Well, here we are again...posting much later than I wanted to, but I just can't seem to find the time to update everyone.  And when I do have a little free time, honestly, I just want to lay down and do nothing! :)

A lot has happened since we last talked.  The biggest thing, is that Kayden is now saying, "mama," and "dada."  It is absolutely precious.  She's been saying, "dadadada" for quite a while now, but just started saying "mamama" a couple of days ago. She said it when I was trying to feed her and she didn't want to eat. She reached her arms out and firmly said "MAMAMAMA!" Like quit trying to feed me! I don't want to eat! :) It was precious and she'll get anything she wants when she says it! :)

She is also reaching for people when she wants them.  This, along with "Mamama," melts my heart every time! :) She can pretty much get everything she wants!

She has also started sleeping a little better through the night.  Now when I say better, I mean waking up less than 8-10 times a night! Last night, she only woke up twice and slept for a 5 1/2 hour stretch.  I felt great today! :) Kayden is almost on straight formula now. She has about 3/4 formula mixed with 1/4 breast milk in each bottle, but we'll probably run out of the breast milk within a week. I am anxious to see if the formula helps her sleep better.  She is on Nutramigen formula, which is made for babies with sensitive tummies due to milk allergies and colic.  It is VERY expensive, but I truly think it is helping.  We'll keep you updated on that!

Kayden also reached another milestone this past week.  She learned how to pull up!  It is so exciting and she is so proud of herself! I got a video of her pulling up onto her toy piano.  She now spends most of the day pulling up and standing...up, down, up down...all day long! :)

Every time I go in to get her out of her crib after a nap, or in the mornings, she is standing up just staring at the door waiting for me to come in.  She also is now patting my back when I hold her to get her to sleep. I've always patted her and she is now patting me as well.  She has actually been doing it for quite sometime now, but just recently has started doing it every time I hold her to get her ready for bed.  It's very sweet!

I got her a ride on car that also has a handle on the back that she can pull up on and walk with to encourage her walking. I got it out for her today, but it may take a little while for her to realize all that she can do with it!

So far, I think this is the best stage!  I love the fact that Kayden can interact with me and can express more of what she wants and needs.  It's not as much of a guessing game.  She loves to play roll the ball with her Daddy, which I also got a video of.  He will roll the ball to her and she just laughs and actually does very well with catching it.  Of course she is not rolling it back yet, but I'm sure that won't be too far off!

I took Kayden to the doctor last week, because her eye was draining.  Her pediatrician said that she still has the clogged tear duct, and is having me massage it several times a day, as well as rub an antibiotic ointment in it.  I am really hoping that this clears up on it's own.  Her doctor said that some babies don't outgrow the clogged tear duct and have to have surgery to open it up. We're praying that it goes away on it's own.  She is also cutting her 5th and 6th teeth, although I can't be sure of which ones exactly, because she just won't let me get my finger in there! :) Stubborn little thing!

Overall, everything is going great and Kayden is just a happy and healthy little girl.  She will be  7 1/2 months on Saturday...can you believe it?! 

Until next time....

(new videos posted to youtube. go to youtube.com and type "mommy2kayden" in the search box).

Birthdays and Holidays and Everything in Between

Seems like we just get busier and busier around here! 

I'm not even sure where to start, it's been so long since I last posted!

Since I last posted, we celebrated Nick's 27th birthday, the Fourth of July, my birthday and our anniversary!  

For the fourth of July, we were gearing up to go to Lake Buchanan for the day.  The night before, I got everything ready that I thought we might need at the lake.  What I didn't prepare for was Kayden waking up at 12:45am and staying up until 4 in the morning!!! We were all very tired the next morning, but packed ourselves up nontheless!  We ended up having a great time.  We had a delicious bbq lunch and got to show off Kayden to tons of family and friends that hadn't even met her yet!  She had a great day, but we were exhausted when we finally got home that evening.    

We could see a few fireworks from the sidewalk in front of our house, but they were just too far away for Kayden to see.  It was just so stinkin hot outside!  We sat a blanket out in the front yard and played and watched Daddy trim the trees.  Kayden sat on her bike a little bit, but mostly we just hung out and tried to keep cool.

Our birthdays were pretty uneventful, just hung out here at the house with the family.  After all, Nick and I already have the best birthday present we could ever ask for! :)

Kayden and I have been keeping busy around here and trying to get out and do things to change up the day a little bit.  We have been going to story time at the library.  It is a lot of fun.  It is specifically for "lap" babies, so all the kids in there are around the same age. They have puppets, songs, stories and play time.  It is really neat to see Kayden crawl around and play with all of the other babies.  I think she really enjoys it. We are trying to go at least once a week.

We have been on the hunt for Kayden some type of swing set for the past month or so.  We didn't know swing sets were so expensive! :)  She has been loving going out in the back yard with me in the morning and swinging in the hammock.  We finally found a little tikes plastic playscape yesterday on Craigslist and went and picked it up in Round Rock.  It is a castle climber with a slide and a infant/toddler swing.  It is just perfect for Kayden. It will grow with her for a couple years and then we can get something bigger and more permanent.  I'm excited to get some pictures of her in it.  I just have to get the straps on the swings washed.

We also found a play kitchen and play house on Craigslist and went and picked those up this past weekend.  Our living room is turning into Kayden's playroom, but it's more fun that way! :) 

Kayden's top teeth finally came through...actually the last time I posted, they came through that same evening.  But alas....she is already cutting another one! :)

She is sleeping better than before, where she was waking up up to 10 times a night.  She is waking up on average 3-4 times a night now.  She is still drinking 1/2 soy and 1/2 breast milk mixed bottles, but I think getting those top teeth through really helped.  For about a month or so, Kayden decided that she didn't want to have anything to do with solid foods.  I completely stooped them for about a week and a half, and a couple weeks ago, started them back.  She does not like to be strapped into her high chair.  I can now give her the little Gerber puffs, so they work as an incentive to stay in the high chair so she gets them.  However, the past 2 days, she just will not eat! I don't know what is wrong with the child! She is most definitely not like her Daddy and Mommy who love to eat at any time! :)  So we're still working on it.  

I'm trying to think of what else is worthy of mentioning.  My friend Laci, who I grew up with is coming to stay with us tomorrow through Friday, so that will be fun.

Oh oh oh!!! I almost forgot! Kayden is now crawling!!! How could I forget! :)  She crawled for the first time on July 4th when we got home from the lake. She crawled across the living room to get the TV remote.  She is now crawling everywhere!!!  It has been hard, because I've definitely had to watch her a lot closer so she doesn't hurt herself or get into something that she shouldn't, but at the same time, it's been helpful too.  This morning I was in the kitchen washing her bottles, and she was sitting in her "pen" playing.  She couldn't see me and started to get upset.  I said, "Kayden, Kayden, come here...," and she crawled all the way into the kitchen to find me.  She is getting so independent now....growing up too fast!

She is also pulling up onto her feet now.  She started that this past Saturday the 11th.  She'll pull up onto her feet from the sitting position and stand up and then let go, like "look at me...here I go."  But be ready to catch her, because down she goes! :)

Kayden will be 7 months this Thursday.  She's getting to be such a big girl!  

Check youtube for the latest videos (www.youtube.com) and type "mommy2kayden" in the search box.

Have a great week!

The Many Adventures of Kayden

I feel like it's been forever since I last posted! A lot has happened this past week and a half since I wrote last.  Where should I begin?

I think last time I posted, I talked about Kayden not sleeping through the night for the past two months and we were going to try and let her cry it out instead of swooping in each time she cried and picking her up.  Well let's just say that I lasted longer than I thought I would! :) We made it two days; two very LONG days!  Each time I would put Kayden down for a nap or down for the night, I'd put her down sleepy, but not asleep.  I kissed her, patted her and left. She screamed.  I mean SCREAMED!!! It was horrible.  Now I know babies can't rationalize or manipulate, but I sure did feel like she was thinking, " My Mommy has abandonded me.  She doesn't love me.  I'm crying, and she's not coming."  And here I am tearing up as I type this!  I know that's not what she thought, but that's what I thought! It was the hardest thing I've ever done.  Even harder than going through her colic stage.  So after two days, we gave in.  Nick was just as ready as I was to swoop in and cuddle her.  Crying it out definitely works for some people, just not for us! We tried, we really did, but in the end, I'd rather get two hours of sleep a night, than let her scream like that! :) 

Soooooo.....new plan!  After we decided that we weren't going to let Kayden cry it out in her room anymore, I was racking my brain trying to think of what may have changed, or what was different now from before.  Kayden used to sleep through the night up until she was around 4 months old.  Then I remembered that from around 2-4 months, I stopped eating all dairy products, because she was having such a hard time nursing.  Around 4 months, I started dairy back again.  She seemed to tolerate the breast milk okay.  So maybe she truly does have a milk allergy and her tummy pain is what is keeping her up at night? Maybe.  So I have now stopped eating dairy again and am supplementing with soy formula. She definitely does not like the formula, so I am mixing it with breast milk at the moment to get her used to it.  When we started supplementing with the soy formula, Kayden immediately started sleeping better at night.  She went from waking up around 8-10 times a night screaming to only 2-3 times a night. Now I don't know if it was just a coincidence, or if it is actually helping.  Once she gets on complete soy, we'll be able to tell for sure if that is it or not!  So wish us luck! I'm ready to start getting some sleep again!

Let's see....what else has been going on?  We celebrated Nick's first Father's Day this past Sunday.  We were completely wrapped up in that all weekend.  Kayden made Nick a Father's Day card with her foot prints dipped in yellow paint!  Let's just say it was very messy! :)  I tried to do her hand prints, but she'd just ball up her fingers and make a fist.  She didn't want to cooperate at all! :) We went to church and had a good day spending the day together and just relaxing.  

We took Kayden over to a friend's house last week and she got to swim in their pool. We didn't have her swim suit, so she got to swim naked, which she probably prefered anyway!  She really liked it and had a lot of fun! I also let her suck on a piece of watermelon while we were there, which she immediately threw up!  I guess either she didn't like it or it was too sweet for her!  I don't know! I guess we'll wait awhile before we do that again!

Kayden still isn't crawling yet, but sure does want to! And everyday I think, "today's the day!" She's so close! She gets up on all fours, tummy off the floor, rocks back and forth and now launches herself and falls down! :)  It's super cute!  Makes me laugh!  She is also about to have a total of four teeth! Finally!  I can see both of her top teeth, they just haven't broken through the gums yet.  Hurry up teeth!  She'll have a sweet little jack-o-lantern smile!

Nick's birthday is this coming Tuesday, so I'm sure Kayden and I will be up to our scheming ways!  We'll come up with something good for his 27th birthday!  Then the next week is my birthday and then the following week is our 6 year wedding anniversary!  Busy few weeks ahead!  

Kayden has decided that she's not really interested in food anymore, so I'm having a hard time getting her to eat anything solid.  She clamps her mouth shut and flips that head around. Whew she's gonna be a handful...well she already is! :) We gave her a teething biscuit this past week and she made a slobbery, slimy mess! She loved it though!  We also tried giving her some of those Gerber puffs, but she's not big on them yet.  I think it's the texture. She just gags when it touches her tongue! It'll take some getting used to for sure!  

Hmmmm....I guess that's about it for now, but I'm sure I've left lots out.  I'm going on little sleep. Last night was not good, so I'm going to go and try to get a quick nap while Kayden sleeps, or maybe a shower.  We'll see which one makes the top of the priority list!  I love blogging about my Kayden.  And I love it that people love love reading about her! :)

Until next time....have a great weekend! :)