Clappity Clap Clap

YAY!!! Kaitlyn clapped for the first time just now!!! WOOHOOOO!! Daddy was writing on his Mets blog and he has a background song on there. The song came on and Kaitlyn started dancing (bouncing actually) and clapping her hands! She's not making a loud clapping noise, but she does make a tiny clapping sound sometimes!! We were so surprised! She did it out of no where with no prompting!!! She's AWESOME!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

My Little Toddler

Ok so I know I haven't updated in a bit but having a toddler running around is keeping me VERY busy!! Even right after I clean my house she is into all of her toys and her cupboard (I let her in the plastic ware cupboard) and yanking everything out. Yeah, I know, it's what kids do but it keeps me going all day long.

Easter was ok... we didnt do anything special. Kaitlyn got a little bunny easter basket and a stuffed bunny. We figured since it was her first Easter we didnt need to go all crazy and get her tons of stuff. Grandma Lois got her enough crap! We did get her a little Bible story book and a couple other Little Golden books that she can read when she finally stops chewing on and eating all of her books. Anyway, it was a good day, we had a quick dinner with Grandma Lois and then we went to the park to play and watch daddy and his friends play basketball.

Kaitlyn has gotten SO much stronger as far as walking goes. She walks now from toy to toy or to the couch and takes the steps all on her own. We do work with her everyday for a few minutes but the rest of the day she choses to walk all on her own. She's so much more sturdy than she was too! She also stands all the time too. She is practicing all the time, she will pick things up and then let go and practice holding things while standing and she is pretty well balanced. She's even started dancing while standing when there is music or when I sing. It's so adorable!!

Her reflux has been rearing it's ugly head lately too and she has been puking a bit more than she has been. Though she doesnt really wear a bib for anything other than eating now, mainly because she doesnt want to. She rips them off of herself!

Oh, another thing Kaitlyn has gotten GREAT at is communication! She will point and let us know what she wants. When she is tired she will either go get or point to her pacifier and then will lay down on my shoulder. She only uses her pacifier when going to sleep so it's not something we will have to worry about breaking except for at night. She has gotten so much better at napping in her chair and not on Mommy. She also lets us know when she wants milk... so far she just whines and points or she will climb in her chair so we know she wants some... but we're all learning .

Kaitlyn is getting SO tall too! I have my craft table set up in the living room and she is now tall enough to grab things off the top of it! At least things that are around the edges of the table! One other reason she has been keeping me busy during the day! Needless to say, today is yet another massive cleaning day. I have been working hard to get a lot of things organized and soon I have to work on getting Kaitlyn's 12 month clothes out. Even though the 6-9 months are so big on her... the length is not cutting it anymore. The onsies and pants are getting short.

Ah well... thats about it.

Big for Her Britches

I really think Kaitlyn thinks she is older than she is! Ha ha ha! Let's see, she is doing things much before a child normally does, like, no longer using bottles and standing and walking on her own. She's just amazing to watch! A couple of days ago I noticed that she is now steadying herself and standing all alone, without prompting or anything from us! I also noticed that she will take steps to get to something she wants now instead of crawling. Not many, but a few steps! She does still crawl around and loves to find a book or a piece of cardboard or anything like that that she can put her hands on a push around the floor while she crawls. It's so funny to see her doing it and I'm not sure where she got the idea but she just started doing it one day.

She's just really growing up and she is definitely NOT a baby anymore! Now if I can only get her to talk... and say Mama!!!

10 Months Old!!

Wow... it's amazes to me to think 10 months ago I gave birth to this gorgeous, beautiful, amazing, little girl. I can't believe how much she has grown and how much she has learned. She still has so much more to learn too!! I LOVE watching her accomplish things, like crawling, standing, walking. She gets so so so excited when she does something new. Her face just lights up and she has a huge smile and she makes this weird grunting happy noise. I'll have to remember to get that on video! It's just so wonderful and much more than I ever thought Motherhood would be. She makes me so proud!

I always knew this was my true calling in life... I was meant to be a mother but never really realized how happy it would make me to be everything for my child. I love how she looks at me, I love how she needs me, I love her wet little tongue kisses - which she gives now without prompting! I just love everything about her. She's very stubborn, hard headed and sassy like me and I love that too! I used to think I never wanted a girl, because I didnt want her being like me... but this is truely how everything should be. I'm supposed to have a girl and work with her to be a great mix between me and daddy!

I just never knew the love for a child could be so grand. I thank God everyday for my special gift, my little miracle. I love you Kaitlyn more than I have ever loved anything or anyone in my life and I will forever!

Auntie Sarah in Virginia

Kaitlyn has now been in 8 states and she still isnt even one year old! We took a trip to Virginia last weekend to see my best friend in the whole entire world, Sarah. She is married to Scott and he is in the Navy, they are stationed down in Virginia for now but are both from Michigan originally. Scott is finishing up a 6 month tour out to sea right now so Sarah is home with their two kids, Hannah and Gavin. Hannah is going to be three next month and Gavin is about 2 1/2 months younger than Kaitlyn. The kids had a good time playing with each other. Kaitlyn has never really had time to play with other kids or be around them for a long period of time. I really think she enjoyed being around them. I liked it because they kept her busy a lot of the time and they are also really good kids! I do have to mention that Kaitlyn is very empathetic when other babies cry. Whenever Gavin would cry or sound like he was upset Kaitlyn would start crying. At first we thought she was scared of him but we realized that she was ok with him until he started crying or squealing. After a couple days of being together everything was ok. Kaitlyn really LOVED having space to crawl around. Sarah has a really nice open and big apartment so the kids had lots of room to roam. Thats something Kaitlyn doesnt get here in our very tight living quarters.

The weather wasnt all that cooperative, we had planned on going to the beach and the zoo but, while we were there it was either hot and rainy or chilly and sunny. Very strange weather! We did decide to go to the little Petting Zoo right near their house and the kids had a good time. Espeically playing at the playground that is there too! Well Gavin was sleeping most of the time, but Hannah and Kaitlyn sure enjoyed going down the slide and on the swings!

It was a very wonderful and relaxing weekend and I'm glad we decided to take the trip. It was actually a wonderful birthday present from Jon because I had been feeling a bit down and seeing Sarah and getting to spend some quality time with her was just what the Dr ordered. It was great just hanging out most of the weekend and talking! Sarah and I didnt shut up pretty much the whole weekend!

Anyway, I wish we lived closer, not only for us, but for the kids. They are so close in age and really enjoyed playing with each other, I know if we lived closer they would end up being best of friends, like Sarah and I!

While we were there Kaitlyn started "saying" something new... well not really saying a new sound but saying it differently. First of all, she has been saying "deh, deh, deh, deh..." and "baa, baa, baa, baa..." when she was saying the "baa's" she had her tongue sticking out of her mouth. While we were at Sarah's she started doing "Bah's" without the tongue and they sounded more like bah, rather than baa! It's so hard describing in writing what it sounds like when kids "talk." Anyway, most of the time she remembers to put her tongue in her mouth to talk but she does still say them with it sticking out.

Speaking of communication, Kaitlyn is really good at pointing for things she wants and she still signs Daddy and Mommy. She asks to be picked up and asks us to get something for her if she is unable. She's gotten good at putting things inside of things and taking them out. She likes to help me with the laundry by taking the clothes out of the basket and handing them to be to put them in the washer. It's not that helpful when she takes the folded clothes out of the basket though! She has fun and I only have to refold them so it's no big deal. One day SHE'LL be doing the laundry!

STEP by STEP!!!!!

Kaitlyn took her first steps!!!!! YAY! YAY! YAY! Jon and I were working on getting her to stand more and we worked a little on her walking and she did it!!! We even got it on video!!! YAY!!! WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

Jon also took a couple pics of Kaitlyn in her new Beach hat and Sunglasses!! We're taking them to the beach with us when we go to Virginia this weekend!!

Ketchup - Catch up!

Ok so let me catch up here... Kaitlyn is doing such cute things now. Jon and I both LOVE getting her open mouth tongue sticking out kisses! She's great and now sometimes she just gives us kisses without us prompting her! I love it!! She even kisses her toys now, especially her green Care Bear with the Kite on his belly (not sure of his name). Ohhhhh and it's so cute too because she does the tongue kiss thing and then after she will make the "Smooch" sound hahahaha she doesnt make the kiss noise WITH the kiss!! hahahaha!!

Ok so she's really growing up in the eating department. Now she's been pretty much soley on table food since she was about 7 months. A few days or so ago... maybe a week or so, we notice K would take a bite from the fork or whatever and then pull the food out of her mouth and then put it back in and she would keep doing it over and over. For the life of me I couldnt figure out what the heck she was doing and it was getting irritating because she wasnt really eating and seemed to be playing with her food. WELL! We figured it out!!! She's taking bites!!! Like we do... we put food to our mouths, take a bit and then take the food away! She was immitating us! Now I realized that she is doing that same thing and sliding the food down over her teeth to rip the food and she does it over and over too until she gets it small enough that she eats the last piece. She's just learning so much and she really amazes me everyday! I'm so proud, seeing her so happy with her acheivments makes me very happy!! YAY!!

Kaitlyn is STILL into chewing on everything and that includes my toes!! lol She doesnt realize how much those two little teeth of her hurt! Sometimes she gets ahold of my toe and bites and it literally hurts! She's very easy to startle right now so sometimes when I jump and "yeouch" she starts to cry because I scare her. Not purposely, but she is in that stage where she is very sensitive! She'll learn quick! Even a guy at the restaurant last night scared her just by sneezing! She started crying and was so upset! I hope this doesnt last too long!!

Oh the other night I gave Kaitlyn some apple slices and she had a great time eating them!!!! She held them and she rubbed them on her teeth to eat them. She seemed so proud of herself and really enjoyed her Apples!! She did a great job eating them too. She's getting so big.

I wanted to mention here that though she is still puking some, Kaitlyn did have a couple days that she didnt puke at all. She had one day of nothing coming up last week and then she had a couple days where she just spit up some... then of course she has had a few days of puking all over herself and other places I didnt realize, like the carpet! Ah well... she seems to be doing a bit better overall!

Last night was SOOOOO cool, Jon and I just stopped what we were doing to watch K. First of all she is really using her imagination. She has three "voices" now or tones of voices anyway. She has her normal voice and then she has a high pitched voice that she talks to her toys with but she also has a mean/mad sounding deeper voice that she does. It was great watching her play with her toys and get mad at them and stuff... it was amazing! I was in awe! She also - man she's creative - was taking her blocks out of the yellow container and putting them at the top of the back of her bouncy/rocker chair and watching them slide down to the seat part. She kept bending down and picking block after block out of the bucket and watching them slide down the chair. It was so great and so amazing that she would think to do something like that. She even stopped in the middle to look at us as if to ask, are you watching? hahahaha it was so cool!! She's got such a wonderful personality!

Well next weekend we're off to celebrate my birthday in Virginia with my best friend Sarah and her two kids, Hannah and Gavin. Gavin and Kaitlyn are about 2 months apart so they should have a good time playing together! It's going to be a great time, we're planning on going to Colonial Williamsburg and to the beach and the zoo too! It's going to be a good time and relaxing... plus Auntie Sarah is doing all the cooking and it sounds like we will have a wonderful range of foods to eat next weekend!! I'm excited about that!! Sarah and I are probably going to do a little crafting stuff too while we're there too. I cant wait to get away, but even more I cant wait to see Sarah and spend some good time with her! I miss her so much and even though we've seen each other a few times over the past few years, we havent gotten a chance to spend any good amount of time together. It's going to be wonderful for the kids too.

Ok I'll keep updating as the accomplishments occur!

2 Toofs

I know it's not the best picture in the world, but here are Kaitlyn's new teeth! he he he he!! The one on her right came in a few weeks ago and the one on her left is coming in now. It hasnt quite popped through the gum. I do have to say that this second tooth is much better than the first as far as her dealing with it. She hasn't been so crazy this time though she waking up so much at night. We're all getting through it... hopefully each tooth will get easier and easier for her!

Playing in the Curtains with My New Tooth

-Ok so we all know Kaitlyn loves to pull the sheer curtains down from the window and here is a pic of her with herself all wrapped up in them like some queen of of the She-Babies or something.

Please forgive me for leaving my kid in her pukey clothes... though what you see in the pic isnt half of whats really on the shirt! ha ha ha Yeah, Yeah we own plenty of bibs... sometimes I think the kid needs a break from a bib all the time. And heck, we have Spray N Wash! ha ha ha ha!


Anyway, the reason Little Miss Pukey pants is ever so pukey lately is because she is adding to her chompers! She's getting another tooth!! She's feeling like crap, not eating and puking everywhere. Man, do I ever love reflux. Anyway, I did get a picture today of her wonderful little teefs, I'll add them here when I get a chance.

We did add lots of great photos to our Shutterfly.com Collection, I think there are close to 500 pictures in there now! WOW!

Well now to find my child something for lunch that she isnt even going to eat.

.... Now Face West.

YAY!! Wow, so much happening all the time!! K just stood by herself for about 10 or so seconds! I was holding my Poland Spring water bottle and she wanted it, whats new? So I let her hold it, she grabbed ahold with both hands and after she was steady I let go of the bottle. She did so great! She didnt even fall, she started to lose her balance and she bent her knees and put her hands on the floor and sat down!! She was great!! So, needless to say we will be working more and more on this over then next week or so and hopefully we can get K walking on her own!! She is doing better and better just holding one of our hands now... she just needs some confidence that she can do it herself! YAY I'm so excited she stood by herself!!!

Wet Tongue Kisses

YAY Kaitlyn gives KISSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he he he he!! She gave us her first kiss tonight! She opens her mouth and sticks her tongue out a little and leans in to give us kisses!! It's amazing and I LOVE IT!!! NOTHING can make your heart melt more than a wet tongue kiss from your child! We keep asking for them and she keeps giving them!! It's so fun to get kisses!! Now we're going to work on hugs!!

Here, For Mama & I'm 9 Months Old!

So Kaitlyn is a little talking machine! Though we have no English words, she is certainly babbling her own little baby language very well. She has been doing ba ba ba ba, da da da da and sta sta sta sta (I think thats how you would write it) for the past little while. I believe she also thinks that the sign language sign for Daddy is also for Mommy. Though I still have some investigating to do on that one!

She's getting to be so big though, she only really gets 2 bottles now a day, one in the morning and one before bed. She drinks her formula out of her sippyh cup the rest of the day and does a super job at it! I give her the cup and lay her down on her pillow and tell her it's her "milk." She lays there and will drink most of it. Then something will catch her eye and she will have to go play with it, so after a bit I lay her back down and she will drink more.

She's also gotten into giving me things. She picks up blocks and toys and anything else she finds laying around and brings it to me to give to me. Then I give it back to her... then she gives it back to me. We go on and on like that for a few minutes at a time a few times a day. She smiles so big when I say "Oh for me? Thank you, you're so nice to share with mama!" Then she will go off and play with something else awhile and then come back to give me more things over and over. I love that she is learning all of these great things! I love to see her smile at her discoveries! She's such a little explorer!! One of these days she is going to get that pointing little finger of her caught in something! ha ha ha ha! She's so cute, she points at everything... even at me when I point at her and tell her "NO!" She will point back up and me and "uhh uhhh uhhh" her little mad voice grunts at me! Man, she's adorable!!

So Kaitlyn finally went back to the Dr for her 9 month visit. She is now 18lbs and 26 3/4 inches. Still growing fairly well and just about staying on her curve. She still only eats a small amount of formula (most kids eat 16-24oz a day - she eats 9-15oz per day) and she is on all table food. She started eating table food at 7 months and hasnt wanted to have much baby food since. She still likes her fruit mixed with cereal sometimes but would rather just eat regular veggies instead of mushed ones hehehehe. She eats everything, whatever I'm eating she wants... so needless to say, I have been eating MUCH better because she always has to have a bite! I cant let her eat bad like I usually do!! We share just about every meal. The Dr said she's growing and gaining weight so she can keep eating like she is. The Dr has no worries about any of that right now!

As for her reflux... it's still there and a big part of her life. She is still getting her Zantac (4.5mL/day now) everyday and still pukes all over the place. Last night it happened to be all over me... YAY! The Dr said he's not worried about her puking as long as she is growing and gaining weight and not in pain. I feel the same way, so thats GOOD! I'll just keep cleaning it up... and changing my clothes! I do have to say that she is MUCH better than she was months ago... she pukes much less now compared to then. Most of the time she refluxes and swallows it... I know thats gross, but the poor kid does what she has to. So once in awhile (2-5 times a day during good days - during a flare, it can be 10 times), she pukes a puddle on the floor. It's only about an ounce, at most, these days... though now she likes to play in it and crawl in it! lol :) How fun for me! I'd say some stock in Spray N Wash is a good investment!! :) hahahaha Of course, what isn't fun is when I have no idea she puked and find it later by stepping barefoot in a puddle of cold puke. The formula she is on is very oily so it makes the hardwood floors slippery! Anyway, the Dr said she could be puking like this until she is 18 months... if she still is by then, then we will look into it more... but we have awhile to go before that and hopefully she will get better!!

Playing Around the Playground

Today was such a beautiful, warm day! It was in the 60's, so we got a chance to go outside for a walk and to play on the playground around the corner. It was the first time Kaitlyn has been on a swing or anything and she really enjoyed it! She got to lounge in the baby swing while Mommy and Daddy pushed her and took pictures (and video). Since K is so into "Shake-ah, Shake-ah" I took her over to those metal animal things that you sit on and rock and she LOVED it!! She's so tiny and can barely keep herself on it, but she sat there shaking and rocking herself like crazy. She was so happy and amazed to get such an effect out of her "Shake-ah, Shake-ah."

Kaitlyn also got another first while at the playground. She was crawling, well walking through the tubes and going down the slide with daddy and we noticed when eating lunch that she somehow got a splinter in her finger! Her little finger was all red, but it wasn't a terrible splinter. Her skin is so soft and her body was very responsive... so as soon as we got home I simply pushed on the back of the splinter, or would that be the front? Anyway, it kinda floated out of her skin with a miniscule amount of blood. She was perfectly fine after that and went along playing without so much as a band-aide!

Off and Swimming

So Kaitlyn and I started swimming again and I forgot to mention it! She is doing great in the pool, really kicking her feet and generally having a good time. I'm very disappointed in the class this session, though. There is no set instructor and every week it's someone different. They don't know how to handle a class or hold the class like a class even. It's basically like we paid good money to go play in a pool together. It's very chaotic this time... like I said, I'm just very disappointed with it.

Oh and a while ago I started a "before bed routine" with Kaitlyn. Since I'm no good at remembering to read a book everynight right now, I decided it had to be something I could do with her in bed everynight. So I sing the alphabet in English and in Spanish, do numbers 0-10 in English and in Spanish and then until she falls asleep, I sing "our song." I start out with "You are my Sunshine" and then it turns into "You are my Kaitlyn, my little Kaitlyn." I just sing over and over and then she falls asleep usually holding my hand (well finger actually). It's just something special that her and I have together everynight... no matter what happened during the day!

Not much else to say right now.

FIRST TOOTH!!!!

Kaitlyn got her first tooth!!! It's been coming in for a while but today is the first day we can really feel it and it's sharp! When she bites/chews on my finger it kind of hurts now! hehehe It's still pretty even with her gum so we dont have a great picture of it yet. I'll be putting one here just as soon as you can see it in a photograph! I'm just so excited, she's getting so big and doing so much more than ever!

Lately Kaitlyns favorite things to do are dancing whenever she hears any kind of music or even when I sing to her. She does a bouncy dance if she is on her knees at the time and if she is standing she moves her hips back and forth and it's so amazingly cute! I can't believe she is doing these things on her own! She even knows what she is doing because we ask her if she is dancing and she looks at us and gets this HUGE smile on her face and dances even more!!!

Besides dancing she has been babbling so much more. Sometimes it sounds like she is going to say something but she is just having her own little conversation with herself. Most of the time she is talking to the digital clock numbers on the Cable box! She loves to squeal and babble to her puppets and finger puppets too. She gets a huge smile on her face and starts squeaking as soon as I put them on!

One thing that really has me amazed is how much she understands! She knows what I'm saying a lot of times, especially when I tell her to "come here." She always comes over on her own to have her bottle or get a bite. She also comes over on her own to let me know she is tired and ready for a nap! She's getting so big!!

There's a quick update, I'll add more soon!!!

Bite Me!

Well, I wish I had more time to update but Kaitlyn is keeping me going lately! She's a quick one and gets in to trouble a lot! She's so busy all the time and she pretty much demands attention!! She's a brat! hahahaha

Kaitlyn has become quite the little "Problem Solver," she pushes her walking toy into a corner or against something and she always seems to figure out a way to turn it around or get around the other side of it and push it backwards. Also on her push toy is a little snake that slides back and forth and makes noise and she did that the other day for the first time too. Now when she remembers that he moves she will sit for a minute or two and just move him back and forth and back and forth making the clicking noise. Kaitlyn has become quite the little climber... not only does she climb onto her push toy, she has started climbing into the trudle drawer (that really goes to her crib) that we use to put her toys in. She climbs in it and lays there on the toys playing with them! She's so cute!! I tried to get a video but she likes the camera too damn much! hahahaha

About a week or so ago Jon and I bought Kaitlyn her own Fork and Spoon (a Toddler set) and the other day I decided to give it a try and see if she would hold it and eat off of it. Well SHE DID!! I had to stab the food of course, but I let her take the fork after that and she put the food right in her mouth! She's doing a great job eating too. She doesnt really eat any baby food anymore, except for some rice cereal and pureed fruits. I bought so many I'm really just trying to get rid of it. Most of the time Kaitlyn has Mini Eggo waffles and a Cereal bar for breakfast. Speaking of cereal bars, I let her try to "take a bite" of one yesterday and she did it! Well she tried. She definitely knows what it means to take a bit but she needs a bit more practice before I go handing her something to eat.

I am not sure if I mentioned the "Shake-ah, Shake-ah" that Kaitlyn does but she does it on EVERYthing. She even laughs so hard when daddy sits in the folding chair and she shakes it and he pretends to be flinging all over the place. She just looks up at him and laughs and laughs! She even shakes a table downstairs at Grandma Lois's and does it so hard she almost pulls it over! We have to watch her close down there cause she could yank that thing over on top of her!

The other thing she has really started doing is Dancing!! Yes she dances and she knows what it means when we tell her too! If I sing, her toys play music or even the tv has music on it she dances. It's the cutest little bouncy thing that she does when she is on her knees and when she is standing she shakes her but back and forth as her "dance." It's adorable, she's adorable! I love it so much. Tonight Carrie Underwood was singing on American Idol and daddy was holding Kaitlyn and she started dancing and bouncing in daddy's arms! I HAD to get video and I did! She did notice the camera, of course, but she showed off and danced for us anyway!!

Everyday she amazes me more and more! I can't love anyone or anything more than I love her!! I do feel terrible for her because for the last week and a half or so she has been teething terribly!! After lots of screaming and a few nights of no sleep, she finally woke up this morning with a hole in her gum. There is a tooth ready to pop and I'm so excited. I hope she gets a bit of a break after getting her first tooth. We're going to try to get a picture of her gum but not sure if we can pull that one off. If you are looking at her, she is getting her bottom left tooth first!

We're really excited for her! Well I'll be here to update as soon as the tooth pops, if not sooner!! Wish Kaitlyn luck for a little ease in pain soon!! Or buy some stock in Infant Tylenol!!

Give Me the Finger?

Well not too much to update about since Kaitlyn is just practicing walking and standing and bending and kneeling (from standing). She's got it and is VERY good at it too. She stands for a couple seconds unassisted but then falls because she tenses up her body when she realizes she isnt holding on to something. She can walk using only one hand to hold on now but is too afraid to do it if we hold one of her hands... it's ok if she is holding on to toys or chairs to walk while holding on with one hand. She's REALLY good at walking all over with her push toy and actually using anything she can move AS a push toy... like her highchair, the folding chair, anything.

She has also become my little "Shakah Shakah" baby... she grabs on to things with two hands (or one) and shakes as hard as she can... and let me tell you, it's HARD! She shakes stuff off my laptop table all the time and she bangs the hanging lamp down at Grandma's too! She also shakes all of her toys (i.e. the activity table) and slides them around the floor.

Kaitlyn has found her finger! Hahaha I know sounds funny but what I mean is, she found out that she can touch things with one finger. She goes around now touching EVERYthing with her index finger! She finds buttons on things now and sticks her one finger in the memory card slots and in the vcr. When she did it before she was finding the holes with her hand and getting some fingers in. Now she purposely puts them in and pushes buttons.

The last few days or week Kaitlyn has been miserable... I dont know if it's her reflux acting up but she screams about 50% of the day - sleeps 40% and the other 10% she MIGHT smile or play with her toys. I have no idea what she is screaming and crying about... I have tried everything and she just stands there SCREAMING. I pick her up but then she screams in my ear and I have to put her down. Nothing comforts her... I'm actually at my wits end here and I feel like having a drink! I wish I knew why she was screaming... I dont know if she is hurting or it's frustration about not being able to walk or do something... but she can get around anywhere she wants by walking or crawling so I just dont get it. She still doesnt have any teeth so it could be that but it's weighing on my last nerve and this time needs to go by and she needs to stop the screaming!

Kaitlyn has finally started to babble now... when she isn't screaming she is almost constantly "talking" and making some constant sounds as well. She actually did say "Ma" once but no Mama came of it... I'm still waiting! I think she will be talking soon enough. She's got more important Gross motor skills to work on, I guess! She also has begun testing her vocals and how low and high her voice can go. Grandma Lois jokes and calls her "Madison" from the movie Splash because she squeals so high sometimes when she is doing it. She, of course, loves to squeal too. She's still doing her raspberries as well and she loves them! She will now fart and then make a raspberry and smile or laugh... she sure knows what sounds her farts make!!

Well when I get back from going insane from screaming, I'll update more!

Gamer Girl or Dare Devilette

So Kaitlyn's favorite thing to do lately is get into ALL of Daddy's video game systems that are in the entertainment center. Jon had to give Kaitlyn her own controller so that she would leave his alone while he plays games. She really just chews on it but it keeps her occupied for a bit at least. She spends a lot of time sticking her fingers in the memory card slots and in the vcr, trying to explore everything in the Entertainment center. She also is very good at opening the drawers that have all of the video game controllers and accessories in them.

I really let her do it until she is going to hurt herself or break something. I figure if I let her play with the things now she wont be too interested in them later on and I wont be digging cookies out of the Playstation or the VCR. I'm hoping she will get her fill of these things now and will stop chewing on them sooner or later! For now, our little explorer can have her adventures.

She just better give me a cut if she finds any gold or diamonds or anything worth money! Hahaha

Ohhhhhhh yeah I forgot to mention Kaitlyn is getting brave too, we were watching tv the other night and she was playing with her "push toy" and was pushing it around the living room. She managed to push it across the room and then walked around to the front of it and was pushing it backwards. She ended up getting it pushed up against the entertainment center. Since she keeps taking off the little doors on the front of it, she had a place to climb. We happen to notice that she climbed right in it and was standing there trying to reach things on the entertainment center! She's crazy, but I did manage to get a picture and a little video as proof. It's still on the camera and I will add it later.

Well when she starts climbing Mt. Everest I'll be sure to update. Hehehe

Smooooochie Smooch

Kaitlyn started doing Kiss noises today... well she's really sucking on her bottom lip but it sounds like Kisses so we're going with that! It's SO cute when she does it! Now I just have to work on her actually giving us kisses!!

Not much to write about, thats really the only new thing. Besides her getting much stronger and she's very speedy now with crawling and walking along stuff. She can get anywhere now! She still gets a little upset or frustrated when trying to get down from standing but she practices often. She stands next to something holding on and then bends down to pick things up or just touch the floor. She's getting there. She is also getting a lot better at walking while holding one hand. We're trying to get her to do that more often so that she will be ready to walk when she wants to.

Thats about it!

Something About Space

Well I cant believe how so much happens in just a week. This week Kaitlyn has learned to "get down" from standing. She's been practicing bending over now all week. She's so cute, she bends over and reaches down to touch the floor (to hold on) and then puts the other hand on the floor and plops her butt down on the floor. Oh man, it's so great to watch her! She's getting much better at not screaming her head off when she falls down from standing. Now when she falls to a sitting position, without banging her head on the floor and crying, we clap and tell her "Yay! Great Job." That way she knows that she did a good thing by sitting down from standing. I know it's hard for her to understand but it is so amazing when she does get it.

She's LOVING when WE understand HER. She will put her hand to her head to sign for Daddy and we say to her "Dada" when she does and she gets a GREAT big smile. Also because she fully understands the "Hi" sign (opening and closing hand to wave) she gets a huge smile when we do that too. She's getting so much better at understanding us and we are of her too and it seems like such a big deal to her that we do communicate what she is trying so hard to.

She's still teething like mad and this week she spiked a 103 fever one day and we were up all night with her screaming and screaming in pain. We think it was teething, anyway because she wanted nothing to do with a bottle or her pacifier or anything. She was just miserable. All I could do was pace the floor with her to keep her calm. I know she was hurting but she had Tylenol and Motrin to bring the fever down but it wasnt cutting it for the pain though. She's been better this week since then so thats a good thing.

Kaitlyn's hair is getting longer and I think it's going to have some body and curls to it. It's starting to curl up on top of her head... it's cute. She also has these cute curls on the sides of her head that turn into wings sometimes. I'm constantly pushing them back along the side of her head. I forgot to mention that she found her hair and ears. She grabs her ears to play with them and move them around and also when she is tired. I noticed, too, that she found her hair because when she's tired she will grab the hair on the sides of her head and pull it. It's funny but she doesnt mind it so she can do what she wants. I'm sure her pulling her hair is nothing compared to the reflux pain she gets!

As for her reflux, it's still sucks! She's still puking a lot and still in pain sometimes. Right now I have to call the Pediatrician or the GI to see about getting a dosage check because she is back to crying while eating and she's also not eating nearly enough again. She's cutting herself back again to about 14 ounces a day. Yesterday I gave her Maalox before her bottle and she actually ate 4 or 5 ounces but she has only been taking two or three at a time lately and thats just not enough for the calories she is burning! On that note, Kaitlyn is very into our food. I have to order her something when we go out to eat now. She get so mad if we she doesnt get to eat while we are or what we're eating. She eats just about everything we do now, except for things that will aggrivate her reflux of course. She doesnt get tomato sauces or anything like that. She does get some of our veggies, rice, potatoes and plain pasta.

As for gross motor skills, Kaitlyn is SO great at walking around the room with all her toys and her highchair and anything else she can grab on to to walk with! I even went and bought her a new pair of real sneakers with real bottoms. All the other shoes she has in the size she is wearing now (a size 2) are basically decorative and have no real soles on them. She likes to stand at restaurants and other places we go and walk around the highchair there or whatever she can and now that she has real shoes she can do that. They are cute too, I took a picture of them! Anyway, Kaitlyn and I built her a whole round circle of things so she can officially walk the entire room by herself. It's really great how independantly dependant she is, ha ha ha. Oh she's getting really good too at walking while only holding on with one hand. We've been practicing with her trying to get her brave enough to try it on her own. She is getting brave while standing on the couch and she will practice standing without holding on. She's actually not bad at it, if she wouldn't concentrate on it! When she doesn't pay attention to herself doing it, she can stand for a couple seconds.

Ah, anyway, I think that about sums up the week. We did go last night and buy Kaitlyn a coat. Though they don't make coats for babies under size 12months, so we had to get her one in that size. They really only make snow suits and stuff like that for babies that cover every part of their body... I guess they don't think a 7 month old would be walking and need her feet out! So we got her a cute dark pink coat with white stripes and a little butterfly and flowers on the front left side. At least it's big enough that it will fit her until spring. She does have a snow suit too but since it's been 60 degrees here lately (in FEB!) it's not needed.

Ok thats enough, this is long enough already! I'll update more soon!