7 months

Kylee turned 7 months on the 12th of this month. Its crazy how fast the months have flown by. I never knew I could love someone so much!! Here are some of my favorite things about Kylee at 7 months.

• The way that she loves to eat. She loves almost any solids. I have to shovel it in so that she doesn't fuss for more. Sometimes she cries when it is all gone.
  
  
  
  
  

• Seeing her smile when Daddy gets home.
  
  
  
  
• The way that she crosses her legs while she nurses. She is such a lady
  
  
  
  
• The way she is so proud of herself when she figures out how to pull up on something.
  
  
  
  
  
• Her smile when I get her up in the morning. She looks like she is thinking, "There you are!"
  
  
  
  
• Nursing her at 4 AM. (Okay I don't always love this, but most of the time I treasure it) After she finishes eating she pulls off and I get to rock and cuddle with her while she sleeps. I hope this isn't too graphic, but I call this her "I'm in heaven" look.
  
  
  
  
• Her kicking legs. She just started kicking her legs last week to show that she is excited. Now when we are running her bath she kicks and squeals.
  
  
  
  
• The way that she crawls across the room to climb in my lap.
  
  
  
  
• The blessing that she is in our lives. We love you sweetie!
  
  
  

Allen, TX

Last Friday afternoon we packed up and headed to Allen, TX to see my Karen and Scott's new house (sister and brother-in-law). My parents joined us so somehow we squeezed five people and all of Kylee's luggage into our rodeo! Kylee was pretty good for the trip, but got really fussy once we got into Dallas. Nothing would make her happy so we put her favorite Baby Einstein's into the computer and she was a happy camper. Here is a picture of her watching it on her lap! I always said I would never let my kids watch TV in the car. I guess I ate my words.



Karen and Scott have a dog named Wallace and Kylee absolutely loved him! She was always smiling at him and would follow him around all over the house. Yes she followed him! She is finally crawling for real. Sometimes she still crawls on her feet, but she can also crawl on her knees. I can't believe how big she is!! Here is a picture of Wallace. I got some video of them together, but I don't know how to load it yet. Stay tuned.



My mom and I decided to stay in Allen for a couple of extra days to help Karen unpack. Jonathan and my Dad had to get back to work so they left and my mom and I were planning to take the train home. But there was some sort of accident in Missouri and the train derailed. All of the the rides were very delayed and projected to take 2 extra hours. That would make our ride of 5 hours into 7! That is too long for Kylee, not to mention Mommy. That would mean that she would be in my lap for 7 hours. NOT A GOOD IDEA! So we decided to rent a car. When we called around all of the cars were gone. We had to wait until Thursday to get a car, crazy huh? It turned out to be a very good idea to rent a car. We had so much stuff there is no way we could have fit on a train. We got a Toyota corolla and the trunk was stuffed full.

It was fun to spend a couple of extra days with my sister and Scott. They have a beautiful home. Congrats Karen and Scott.

She is growing up too fast!

So as most of you know, Kylee is trying to skip crawling and go straight into walking. She gets up on all fours and sticks her butt in the air and tries to stand up. Its quite funny to watch. She has started pulling up in the bathroom when she is ready to get out, she has no fear. Tonight when we put her to bed, she fought it. She cried and cried so Jonathan went in to see what was going on. He found her standing up in the crib! She isn't even 7 months yet. So this weekend Jonathan will have to lower the bed and we will have to baby proof quickly!

Yummy!

Kylee has been doing well eating solids. If she really likes the food, she tries to help you feed her. If she doesn't really like it, she plays while she eats. But I am thankful that she is pretty easy going about it. One night she decided to chow down on my hair! Enjoy the pictures!

Catching up

I got to go down to Austin earlier this week and catch up with some old friends. My mom and mother-in-law both wanted to spend some extra time with Kylee so we stayed down there most of the week. We missed Daddy, but somehow he made it. I got to see my old co-worker and her husband, Charlotte and joe/. She made us yummy veggie quasadillas and Kylee enjoyed her squash. Charlotte just got a job teaching music in AISD so we were chatting about that and it turns out that one of her schools is my old elementary, Wooten! What a small world. So we took a drive down there and I showed her a back way to go in case of traffic. It brought back a lot of old memories!

Then Tuesday I got to see one of my old high school friends, Amanda. She has two little boys. I saw her oldest one when he was first born and I had never met her youngest. Here are Zander (2 1/2) and Dalton (1 1/2). She has her hands full, don't you agree. It was so good to see her and her boys!!





On Wednesday Kylee and I headed over to another HS friend's house, Karianne. She has a precious house in Pfluggerville and she has a little girl (Kaeta, almost 3) and a little boy (Jonah-8 months). It was so good to meet them. It's weird we have talked on email and I have kept up with her blog over the years so I felt like I knew her kids even though I had never met them.




All of this visiting made me realize that I need to do a better job keeping in touch with my friends. Our HS is not having a reunion (bummer) so we are going to have a little get-together with our closest friends. That's who we want to see anyway, right?

And here is a picture of Kylee watching Baby Einstein, isn't she cute?

My friend Amanda put this on her blog and tagged me to do the same. Enjoy!

ABC’s

A. Attached or Single? Attached

B. Best Friend? My hubbie Jonathan

C. Cake or Pie? both, cake-definitely chocolate, pie-always apple

D. Day of choice? Friday b/c I know that we will get to be with Jonathan

E. Essential item? laptop

F. Favorite color? Purple

G. Gummy bears or worms? Neither unless they have the sour patch coating

H. Home town? Austin, TX, but Belton has grown on me

I. Favorite indulgence? Movie popcorn with lots of butter. Sometimes I just buy it even if we aren't going to the movies.

J. January or July? January-its not so hot

K. Kids? 1 sweet girl and 1 sweet boy

L. Life isn’t complete without? family

M. Marriage date? December 18, 2000

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 3 sisters

O. Oranges or Apples? Apples, but I'd rather have a bannana

P. Phobias? Being in small spaces and mice

Q. Quotes? "Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away"

R. Reasons to smile? My beautiful daughter's face anytime I get her out of her crib, my relationship with Jesus

S. Season of choice? Winter, there's something special about bundling up and seeing your breath in the cold

T. Tag 4 people: Chris, Karianne, Karen, Ruth Ann

U. Unknown fact about me? I am incredibly uncomfortable in big groups of people

V. Vegetable? green beans, but only Del Monte

W. Worst habit? Letting my house get messy and then being frustrated b/c it is

X. Xray or ultrasound? Ultrasound - its the moment when you know there really is a life inside of you

Y. Your favorite food? Waffles/pancakes

Z. Zodiac sign - Scorpio, I had to look it up :)

Beneath the snot

Kylee is battling her first cold. I took her to the doctor to make sure it wasn't an ear infection and while she did have a little fluid in her ears, it did not appear to be anything more than a cold. The first night we were up from 12:20-3:00 AM. Somehow I made it through the following day. I put her in her swing with her blankie and an episode of Baby Einstein so I could squeeze in a nap.

She has been a little cranky, clingy and I can just tell she doesn't feel well. But beneath all of the snot, I have found a blessing. I get to hold my squirmy, otherwise very busy girl in a snuggly position. She cried for me in the middle of the night and reached out her arms when Daddy was holding her. She slept in bed with me briefly so I could get her back to sleep (I miss those days from when she was a newborn). I am trying to learn to treasure every moment that I get to snuggle with my sweetie. I know she will grow up all too quickly.

Party weekend

Last weekend we had my parent's 50th anniversary party. It was a very busy weekend, but it was a big hit. My sisters and I made up a song in tribute to their marriage. I have it on video, but I'm not sure how to upload it. Maybe I will figure it out soon.

After the party we headed over to Jonathan's parent's house and met up with some of our cousins. They have a little boy that is exactly a month younger than Kylee. His name is Jackson and he is a sweetie. I quickly figured out that he was a cuddler and I enjoyed that since Kylee never wants to cuddle. Here are a couple of picture of them together.





Sunday night two of my sisters and their kiddos came up to have a slumber party. The three little ones enjoyed a bath together, aren't they cute?



And one last picture: Kylee was done eating her sweet potatoes so I let her play with her sweet potatoes. She had fun!

Happy Anniversary

Today is my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations Mom and Dad! Thank you for showing us how to love and what real commitment is.

Random pictures

Kylee really wanted to play Daddy's video game last night so we gave her a controller.

Here are some pictures from our sleepover with my sister's fam.

Unexpected time off

Jonathan left for work Monday morning and then returned about 30 minutes later announcing that he had the day off. He said that there was a fire in the shop over the weekend and they were cleaning up and no one could go inside. Luckily everyone was okay. Apparently someone used the blowtorch and the embers landed in a container of transmission fluid. So we took a couple of naps and played with Kylee and ended the day making dinner together.

Yesterday they were still not done cleaning so he was off again. I was happy because Kylee was scheduled to get her 6 month shots and I would rather not do that alone. So Daddy got to go with us. She cried more this time than the past two appointments, but I nursed her and she recovered quickly. She is hovering over the computer trying\
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That was her message :)

She is in the 70th percentile for her weight and 10th for her height. Poor girl, she inherited our height. She weighed in at 16 lbs, 13 oz. The doctor said she looked great and can even start eating meat. We are still working on cereal and fruit so it will probably be a while before we add meat.

Here are some pictures from the 4th of July that I am just now getting to post.

Mimi

We headed out to East Texas on Friday to visit Jonathan's grandmother. She fell about two weeks ago and broke her shoulder. She is 89 years young and recovery has been hard. They transfered her to a nursing home right next to the hospital, but now she is back in the hospital because of complications with dehydration.

Saturday morning was Kylee's first experience with rice cereal. I fed her bannanas and cereal and she loved every bit. About an hour later she threw all of it up. We thought maybe she had just eaten too much. But then she kept throwing up. I called our nurse advisory line and she was concerned by how many times she had thrown up in such a short amount of time. She said to keep an eye on her and to take her in if she showed any decrease in activity etc. When I got off the phone I found her laying in bed with Daddy and she was totally still. That is not like her at all. She was still throwing up and it was yellow now so we decided to go on to the ER.

We were in Woodville, TX and it has a cute little hospital. They were all very nice and took great care of us. The doctor said that he didn't see anything of real concern and to give her pedialyte and not feed her for a while. I was worried about my milk supply, but my mom assured me that it would be okay, and it was. She took a long nap when we got back home and then she held the pedialyte down and finally some milk. She loves the pedialyte we call it baby cool-aid. She even reaches for it when she sees it.

Mimi couldn't see her on Saturday because we didn't want to take any chances on her getting sick so she saw her threw the window. Then we took her back on Sunday after she was all better. I'm glad her first sickness is over, and I'm glad we were with family when it happened.

Who else?

Well this is another post about Kylee. She has become quite mobile and she really will not sit still. She thinks that she can sit up and walk and gets very agitated when she discovers that her body is not as ready as she thinks it is. She had some peas and loved them. She still cries when it is all gone, or she might be crying because she is such a mess. We try to keep her hands away from the spoon, but then she sticks them in her mouth and then there is no hope!


I put her in the laundry basket the other day. It is perfect. She can sit up and play without me sitting behind her and she can still reach her toys. I have also started putting her in the sink while I get ready in the mornings. She loves it because she can grab everything on the counter and sit up like a big girl.

Bryan is home

Bryan is home for a week. We have had a great time. We went to see Wallee on Saturday and we all loved it. It was very creative and had a powerful message. Sunday we went to church and then the Locklin kids came over. They played ALL day! Jonathan and I tag teamed so that we could both take a nap. Then we headed over to their house for lifegroup that night. This was the first night that we had ventured out with Kylee past the 6:00 hour. She did very well and I think it helped that she had lots of people to hold her.

Bryan was very dissapointed in me when he found out I quit my job. He said, "Becca why did you do that? You should get your job back." On Sunday we went out to lunch with some friends and we told Bryan that he needed to order off the kids menu and not get the pizza. So when we got there he saw another kid order the pizza and he told his friends that he wanted some. They said well order some. He told them that "Becca quit her job and now we don't have any money. Jonathan has to work all the time!" We had to have a talk about money and explain that we still have money, we are just living on a budget. He still thinks that I need to get my job back.

Monday we hung around the house for the morning and then went to playgroup at church. Bryan had fun pushing the little kids around. Then that afternoon we made some edible play dough. It wasn't as good as I remembered it from nursery school. But I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I was three the last time I tried it. We put blue food coloring in it, but it turned out green!





Tuesday we went swimming and had fun. Kylee got a little frustrated b/c she couldn't reach the water while she was in her float. She was find while I was holding her because she could splash! She lasted about an hour and then we had to leave so she could take a nap.

Yesterday we made monkey munch. I have become a huge fan of Jon and Kate plus 8 (TLC). Kate makes monkey munch on the show and always talks about how much her kids like it. So I looked up the recipe and Bryan and I tried it out. It is fantastic! I call it fat in a bag. It has p.b., butter, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, pretzels, corn chex and it called for m & m's but we didn't have any. Here are some pictures!





We are leaving tonight to go down to Austin for the 4th of July! We will be swimming and grilling out. Bryan will get to see all of the family except Karen and Scott :( We have to take him back on Sunday and I am not looking forward to that day.

He has made remarkable progress in the two months he has been in Stephenville. He is speaking with better grammar, interacting with peers in a kind way, and is even able to take criticism. As one of my friends said, it is good to know that we did the right thing.

She bit me!

Last night I was feeding Kylee at the dinner table while I was eating and I guess she didn't feel that I was giving her enough attention b/c she bit me! I screeched and said "Ow!" She thought that was funny b/c she looked at me and smiled. I gave her one more chance and she did it again so I decided that the feeding was over.

That night I was nursing her to sleep and she bit me one more time. I gave her the benefit of nighttime and let her finish her feeding. Thank goodness she doesn't have any teeth :)

Plumpynut

I was just watching 60 minutes trying to distract myself from Kylee's cries. They were doing a story about all of the babies in Africa that are dying from malnutrition. Every year 5 million children die from malnutrition, that's one child every six seconds. The mothers are malnourished and cannot produce enough milk for their babies. They don't have enough money to buy milk, and even if they had it, there is no electricity to store it. Powdered milk is no good because there is no clean water. So millions of babies are dying.

A group of doctors came up with a life changing "medicine" for them, plumpynut. It is vitamin concoction that can cure a kid in three weeks. It contains powdered milk, powdered sugar, peanut butter and essential vitamins. They are using it in a country called Nigere (spelling?) Most mothers there have watched at least one of their children die. They travel hours to get a week's ration. It breaks my heart to see all of those babies.

It makes me want to go and hug my Kylee's "thunder thighs" and find a way to donate to this worthwhile cause that has such awesome results.

What a sweet hubby

Jonathan and I have begun sleep training as they call it. Jennifer J. recommended a book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." It had some really good research on sleep training so we started last night. We have been letting Kylee "cry it out" for about a month but this is how it goes. Night routine: bath, stories, feed, songs, put to bed. After 15 minutes of crying we go in and check on her. Then we let her cry for about 20 more minutes hoping that she will go to sleep. She usually doesn't so we go back in and I let her nurse and then she finally falls asleep. Our little angel will not take a pacifier and will not be rocked to sleep. If you even try to rock her she stands up and arches her back, trying her hardest to leap out of your arms. So nursing is the only time I ever get to cuddle with her.

But back to my sweet hubby. Last night Kylee cried for an hour and 15 minutes. The new method we are trying is to teach her to fall asleep without our help. Which means that we have to let her cry for as long as it takes (our limit is a little over an hour). So last night after about 45 minutes I was really having a hard time not checking on her. Jonathan thought of an errand-he needed gas for the lawn mower. So I left and when I got back she was asleep. Tonight it happened again, he sent me for super glue. I was glad to leave.

Monday he came home from work with a bag for me. It was new pajamas. He bought them for no reason at all-what a sweetie. I am always hinting that I would love for him to surprise me with something and he finally got it. My love language is acts of service, I don't really care what he gets me, or if he gets me anything at all. It is the act of thinking of me that I treasure :)

Firsts

So here are some firsts that have happened around here:

• Kylee had her first baby food. I pureed some bananas and she loved them. She got mad when they stopped coming and tried to lick them off of her bib when she was done.

• Kylee rolled over for the first time from her back to her tummy. Now she can go both ways. She seems to think that she can do anything now. She tried to take a nose dive off the couch yesterday so that she could reach the red carpet below. I call her my strong monkey. We had Lexie over the other day (she is 9) and she asked if Kylee was part Hulk? I think that describes her very well :)
  
• Kylee is now taking her medicine straight with no milk to change the taste. What a big girl.
  
• Kylee likes to type on the computer and yesterday she crawled (scooted) all the way across the bed so that she could reach my computer!
• I got my hair cut and highlighted. I was a little scared b/c I have never had any coloring at all, but I really like it. Jonathan wasn't sure if he liked it at first, but he has come around.

That is about it for what has been going on around here. Here are some random pictures of sweet Kylee.

Oh here is something very random. The doorbell just rang. It was our mail carrier. He had an envelope for Bryan from the church. They hadn't paid enough postage so I had to give him 41 cents. Weird!