6.29.09

Teeth... that's the name of the game around here! Our days are full of rosey red cheeks, runny noses, a little fussing here and there, and gnawing at anything Lilly can fit into her mouth (and then some, like my knee).

She may not roll from belly to back... ever... and who knows when she'll sit, crawl, walk and say "Mom rocks!" but she'll have a mouth full of teeth, that's for sure.



Pink: Teeth already in
Aqua: Teeth broken through the gums
Purple: Teeth right below the gums

We're really banking on those purple ones being close behind. Otherwise, we're going to have a little Jack-O-Lantern on our hands!

6.25.09

Lilly has been very clingy lately, not wanting to be put down to play on her tummy, not even wanting to go in her beloved Jumperoo! She just wants to be held. And she is only eating about 20 oz a day, which is about 2 bottles less than normal. Her doctor told us as she eats more solids, she'll probably show less interest in formula, so we thought maybe that was what was going on.

Then tonight I pinned her down, lovingly, and lifted her top lip and discovered the king of all new teeth hangin' out! It's wide and flat and was totally NOT what I was expecting to see. And, friends, it's not in the middle. Nope, it's off to the left. And I've had my eye on a white spot off to the upper right... which means if they both come in together, she's going to be Mommy's Little Snaggletooth!

The good news is that with all 3 teeth, so far, she is only in the clingy/painful phase for a day or 2 and then she's happy again. Go ahead and hate me. One word-- Colic.

6.23.09

Lilly had her 6 month checkup today and Daddy even got to come along! The only other time he's been able to go to an appointment with us was when Lilly was 3 (or 4?) days old and I stayed up all night long waiting for the doctor's office to open. She never fell asleep and never stopped crying and her urine was orange. OK, I'm getting tense just thinking about it. Moving on... so Matt came and it was soooo nice to have him with us!

Even though it drives me nuts that every time we go out in public people say the dumbest things about Lilly's size (ie: "What do you feed this kid?", "She's hasn't missed any meals, has she?", etc.) she definitly is a big baby! She's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight (18lbs, 26.75 inches, 17 inch HC). Doctor didn't seem concerned... told us to go ahead and feed her whatever we want and however much she wants. Even toast! The key is that she has steadily been in that percentile for months and she's proportionate. I mean, look at her daddy!

Shots were unpleasant, as usual, but she won't have any more until 12 months. At her 9 month appt. they'll do a toe prick and test for lead and check her iron.

Her doctor also gave her a referral to Children's for her eyes. We've been a litle worried about them for the last month or so and although we don't think she has anything serious wrong with them, we'll feel better, doctor included, hearing it from a pediatric ophthamologist. That's in August.

Afterwards we went out to lunch and enjoyed the morning/afternoon together before Matt had to go in to work for meetings all evening. It was so nice having him here most of the day! Lilly is absolutely smitten by him and won't stop looking at him if he's in the room. If he walks away, she has to keep her eye on him. When he comes back, she'll look, carry on with playing, then look again 10 seconds later, carry on, look again, over and over! She wants to make sure she knows where her daddy is at all times! He was just what she needed after her shots this morning:)

6.23.09

Seems innocent enough, right?


Let's zoom in a little closer.


Yyyyeah. That's a poopie! There's an explanation, but it's more fun to just leave it at that:)

6.22.09

To answer Rebekah, that sounds about like Lilly. She never really seems hungry for solids, but we just give them to her anyway. We first tried about a week before she turned 5 months and she wasn't interested at all. We tried a couple weeks later once she started showing interest in what Matt and I were eating and she did much better. I also noticed that she did better at school than at home. I think it's because she sits at a table at school (like the one the babies sat in on Jon & Kate back in the day) and at home she sat in a bouncy seat. I think it was easier for her to sit upright and swallow. She doesn't like the Bumbo too much, so I bought that little feeding chair last weekend (for only 29 bucks at Buy Buy Baby!) and she does soooo much better. She used to gag a lot, but I don't think she's gagged at all in the chair.

She also takes about 28-30oz of formula. She's never really gone over 30oz and we didn't change that once she started solids. She gets the same amount of formula and an 11:00 meal (usually oatmeal) and a 5:30 meal (fruit or veggie).

I hope that helps! I think solids are really confusing. I was excited to start and then once I did I was like "oh crap, one more thing to fit into the day!" But it's getting a little easier now. We even moved into the Stage 2 foods yesterday-- the Apple, Strawberry, Banana blend. From what I understand the Stage 2's are pretty much the same as Stage 1's, only they mix fruits and the containers are bigger, yet cost less.

6.22.09

People always want to know about the onesies Lilly's wearing in the blog header pictures. They are actually just stickers that you stick onto whatever you want-- I put them on a plain white onesie so it's a consistent background. It's crazy to see that 1 month picture with her arms too short for the sleeves and gangly little legs hanging out!! The company is Picky Sticky and you can buy directly from their website or find her on etsy. I always have to share that when I bought mine, the wonderful owner of Picky Sticky had been bombarded with nestie orders and accidentally sent mine out without payment. When I receieved the stickers in the mail but my PayPal payment hadn't gone through yet, I emailed her to make sure she knew I had submitted my payment. She was soooo sweet and told me not to worry about it and asked me to spread the word instead. I'm all about taking my business to great people. It means a lot when a seller takes the time to respond to an inquiry... politely! So go buy your stickers!! They're only 10 bucks for a whole year! And there's even a "zero" in there. I think I ordered after Lilly was born though, so we don't have a picture of that one.

I do my blog headers on ScrapBlog . Just create an account, make 1 blank page (don't use one of their templates and only make a single page), click on the tabs to the left of the page to upload different backgrounds, photos, etc. When you're finished, first save the page and select that you want to publish it. That just means it's officially saved. Then go up to File and export as jpeg. I always save to My Photos. Then in blogger, go to customize and upload a file into your header box. You'll want to select "Shrink to Fit" also. That's it! I also just figured out that if you don't want an actual background, to the right of the page is a box that lets you select a plain color for your background, like my yellow.

And another little secret I recently discovered... if you want a different font or background color other than what blogger offers (like the aqua on this page), you can get more colors from here. Just type the code into the box on the customize fonts and colors page in blogger.

6.21.09

Tomorrow...

Info on the onesie stickers and how to do a header with photos. Any other questions??

6.21.09

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies, Daddies of angels, Daddies-to-be and Daddies-in-waiting. Big hugs to those whose Daddies have passed or are too far away to be with today!

And now for Matt's First Father's Day.






Daddy got to go back to sleep after Lilly's morning hurrah... but not for long!

Here I am...6 months old!

I can roll, but get frustrated at night because I can't get back over. My mom has started swaddling me again and puts the biggest, bulkiest cloth diapers she can find on my bottom to keep me from flipping over. Most babies are done with swaddling by 6 months. I just started up again:)



I love, love, LOVE having anything touch my eyes, whether it be mommy or Grandma kissing my eyelids, mommy running her fingers over my eyes while I lay in my crib, or Daddy tickling my face with my blankie. I instantly relax, let my mouth hang open, and sigh a delightful little sigh.

All I want to do is stand, jump and push off with my feet. I love my Jumperoo and can get pretty wild in there! Mommy and Daddy love to watch and laugh when I bounce with one foot and stomp with the other, like I'm at a hoe-down.




My eyes are still blue, but they are very dark and have a brown ring that sometimes makes the color difficult to decipher.

My hair is growing in thicker every day. Some days it looks blonde, some days it looks dark. Mommy gets excited when we go for a walk and my head gets sweaty because my hair turns wavy! Maybe I'll have curly hair like her!


I still have just 2 teeth, but they are elusive. It's hard for my mom to get a picture of them, but if you get me to smile yourself, I'm happy to show them off!



I really love observing just about anything and everything, whether it be the other babies at school, people at the grocery store, families at church, my doggie Midas, the television, or the scary people at the Washboard Music Festival my parents took me to tonight.

I had my first swimming pool experience a couple weeks ago and could've stayed in the water all day. Since then, I've started enjoying bathtime more too!




I don't know how much I weigh, but I know I'm healthy because people tell my mom all the time. They think they're funny when they ask "Do you ever feed this girl?" or "She hasn't missed any meals has she?" They don't realize that soon I'll be walking and talking and, you know, kids say the darndest things;)



I do not like bananas or sweet potatoes from a jar. Bananas make me pucker and gag. My mom tried them and she said they were pretty bad. Maybe I'll like fresh bananas better.


I love men, but I do not like dark-rimmed glasses. If you look at me with dark-rimmed glasses I will probably stick out my bottom lip, wrinkle my brow and then burst into tears.

My dad taught me how to stick out my tongue, so I do it every chance I get. I also like to blow bubbles! With this discovery came the discovery of my feet. What's great is I can do both at the same time!



I love my life these days. I'm a happy baby and my mom loves hearing people tell her that. I gave my parents a hard time at first, but I wasn't ready to leave my mom's belly! My tummy still had some growing to do and some of my organs weren't working quite right. But now that everything is in working order, life is good!

6.19.09

Happy Half Birthday, Lilly! Since Mommy can't think about you being a half a year old without tearing up and she has a doctor's appointment with the doctor who almost dropped you when you entered the world, I'm going to save your 6-month post for later today... after we've taken your picture!

Guess who went for her first big girl ride in the stroller last night?




And now we're having a great big thunder & lightning storm, so THE END!

6.16.09

Sweet Peas... check!
Avacado... half check!
Green Beans... check!
Squash... check!
Sweet Potatoes... no check!
Applesauce... check!
Pears... check!

Today we have peaches... and bananas are coming soon. Yesterday Lilly was given rice cereal by accident, but now she likes it, so we can check that off too. I doubt I'll feed it to her at home bc I don't think it really has any nutritional value and she really likes oatmeal, but it's fun to know that she has developed her own likes and dislikes.

The 2 days she had avacado her cheeks turned bright red, especially her left one. I was told that the one-cheek-redder-than-the-other rash can be a sign of teething though, and her next tooth appears to be coming in on that side, so maybe it's not an allergy after all. I mean, who would want to be allergic to avacado????? Yum!

Some foods we'll do fresh, like the avacado and bananas, but the rest I buy from the store. Gasp, yeah, I know! I feed my kid formula and I buy her food in jars (and she's not wearing a life jacket in some of her pictures and one time I took her to the store and never buckled her carseat harness. And sometimes I don't clean her toys when they fall on the floor. And I let our dog lick her face). But look, I don't have time or energy to cook for Matt and myself, let alone steam and proccess stuff for Lilly. It's a little more expensive this way, and I give major props to the mommies who can swing it, but I am beat and food is on the bottom of the list here at the k-tell house. Lilly did really like the Earth's Best organic pears, so maybe I'll try their sweet potatoes and see if she likes them any better than Gerber. She also tried Baby Mum-Mums and made some really awful faces, but had fun biting off pieces of surfboard-shaped-rice-foam and spitting them out like a puppy takes to a pile of newspaper! And it was fun to watch!

On a different note, here are some pictures from last weekend at my parents' house. Lilly really liked the boat! She wasn't a huge fan of the life jacket (although she did enjoy eating it) but tolerated it well enough. Matt and I sat back and laughed thinking about Lilly in a couple years begging Grandpa to let her drive the boat. He may have started something here!

6.14.09

I ran away last night.

Granted, it was a planned night away, but I sure felt like I was running away and it felt great!!

Lisa and I spent the day shopping, baby registering, eating, reading gossip magazines in a gigantic hotel bed in front of a big fat plasma television, watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey and talking about everything from uncontrollable bladders to marital expectations. I believe we also watched 2 hours of cake competitions on the Food Network.

I drank 2 margaritas and ate 2 chimichongas.

I spent way more money than I planned on spending, but it was all for my baby and she loves it all. She told me so.

In fact here she is in her new not-high-at-all-high-chair, playing with her plethora of new flashy, blinky, noisey toys

6.10.09

Do you ever feel too tired, too confused, too overwhelmed or just too irritated to think about or to be able to or to know what to pray for to help get through it?

Usually things are great, I'm happy, Lilly's wonderful, Matt is fantastic, I feel blessed, I love my life, etc., etc.

Today isn't one of those days. In fact it's really not even one of those weeks. Truthfully, this point has been months in the making. I'm stressed out, unhealthy, tired, mad, guilt-ridden, overwhelmed and not enjoying my everyday life.

I'm sure it's a phase. It'll pass.

I'm in desperate need of a break. My husband thinks going to the grocery store alone is all the break I should need.

Sigh.

People ask me how I'm adjusting to motherhood. It's not the motherhood that's hard. It's the wifehood while being a mother that is difficult.

And not offing my husband while trying to figure it out.

6.8.09

What a great weekend! Matt, Lilly and I came down to my parents' house to spend some time on the boat and celebrate a few big days:) My mom and I have birthdays 2 days apart and with Father's Day coming up, we celebrated everything together.

On the boat yesterday my mom asked me, while holding Lilly, if I remembered last year's birthday. I was still having a lot of morning sickness, couldn't eat much and felt gross, but was so excited about the teeny Little Beansies in my belly. It was hard to imagine what life would be like one year from then, but here we are and we have a precious little daughter who brings so much joy and life to our world. She loves riding on the boat... there is so much to see! We also took her exersaucer out on the deck so she can play outside and, boy, does she love it! She has spent so much time outside that she's taken the best naps of her life and conks out a good half hour earlier than normal.

Matt decided to go back alone yesterday so Lilly and I could enjoy a couple more days of fun in the sun here. He's such a schemer though-- he knew that would mean Mom has to take me home at some point, which also means she'll stay for a couple days! And he gets a couple days home alone with the dog. I think it was a little bit of a ploy for some alone time for himself, but we'll take it. Sans doggie, we'll be able to stop at the outlets on our way home:) Gotta love that.

Lots of pictures to share once I'm home. I didn't bring my USB cord and my battery died yesterday, so I can't do much here. Mom and I are taking Lilly to the swimming pool this afternoon. I'm sad I won't be able to take pictures, but I'm sure we'll have many more pool days this summer. I hope she likes it! It's time to sign her up for Mommy & Baby swimming lessons at the YMCA!

6.3.09

The following scene took place at my desk today.

Ring, ring.

Me: Hi, it's Katie!

Lilly's teacher: Two questions-- has Lilly been rolling over at home?

Me: Oh yeah... I didn't tell you?

Lilly's teacher: Oh good. She's rolling like crazy and we were hoping you had already seen her do it at home. We were going to tell you to come over and see!

Me: Well I appreciate that!

Lilly's teacher: And also, when I laid her down in her crib she started fussing and flipped herself over on her belly and fell asleep. Is that OK?

Me: WHAT?? Normally she rolls over in bed and freaks out. If she's happy, it's more than OK.

WOW. She is growing so fast.

6.1.09

Ah!

I put Lilly down for a nap at 3:15 and she did her usual fussing. A few minutes into the fussing, she started crying pretty intensely. Sometimes she gets her little lovey (a small square blankie with stuffed head on the corner) over her face and she lets us know loud and clear that something is wrong, so I ran in thinking that's what was wrong.

Instead I found my squirt lying on her belly not knowing what the heck to do with herself:) I was so proud of her because she's only been rolling during naked time. I wondered if she could do it with clothes on... not only did she do it clothed, she was wearing a cloth diaper too! Those things are on the bulky side.

I'm so proud of my girl!

6.1.09

I got a phone call today from Nurse Debbie (one of the people I really love at my doctor's office) informing me that my bloodwork results came back from last week and I have mono.

Hmm.

Explains a lot. It's convalescent, chronic/recurring, which I think means the worst is over (it better be! much worse and I'd be dead) and since this is the 3rd time I've had mono (twice in college) I guess that's the chronic part?

One of our preschoolers had it about a month ago, so I wonder if the little exposure I had to him was enough to bring it out since the virus stays in your system forever. I can tell you that I have not been smooching anyone other than my husband! (and even he doesn't get much these days!!)

I'm a bit perplexed about the night I went to the ER and asked for a strep and mono test, both of which came back negative. That was about 4 days before the 2nd round of bloodwork. They had the results back within about a half hour though. In college it took a couple days. Does that seem fishy to you? Any nurses out there?

Either way, I feel so much better now that it doesn't really matter. I'm to finish out my antibiotic (not penicillen!) and take it easy. Yeah, with a 5 month old?! I wonder if I could get an Rx for a nanny. I go back to that darn doctor in 2 weeks. I thought I was finished with her.