Baby Christmas Dress-up

Holiday time is a fun time for mommies of little girls.  There are so many cute things, and thankfully, Braska has a good stash to share with KiKi.  I can’t find the old pics right now of Braska in this, but I hope to….someday. Or never.  We’ll see.

And this one was an outfit that says “Baby’s first Christmas” on it that we picked up a few months ago at the resale shop we love.

There’s one more, but I haven’t managed to get  a picture yet.  I’ll try to get to that soon since time’s running out, and it’s not cool to have a kid in “Christmas wear” post Christmas!

Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree

KiKi got to participate in the photo shoot of cute p-jammies yesterday that Braska and Jack had.  She didn’t want to be involved as much as we had hoped, but that’s ok. 

Toward the end, she sat in the chair and decided that was kind of fun.
 

As we put the hat on her, she had a similar face, but it was leaning toward the unhappy side, ending up in pure torture, if you ask her. (But don’t miss Jack’s face on the left side of the pic below.  Priceless!)

10 Months

I’ve fallen to a new low in the Kinlee-blogging habit.  I’m missing so much!!!  But today it’s about 10 months.  Amazing. 

 

To help her leave the letters alone next to her, I gave her one to chew on and keep her busy. And it worked…for a little bit.
 

Here’s a couple video clips of the post photo shoot outtakes.  I realized that I don’t take enough simple little videos of KiKi… so these are just that.

And then this one is from tonight…she didn’t do her best performance, but she’s pretty good with mama, dada, and sis-sis, and usually belle-belle too. 

Stats: 18 lbs 7.5 oz, 28 inches.  She’s wearing mostly 12 months, especially for length, though she can swim in the room around her in a 12 month sleeper.

Highlights from this month:  This kid is eating everything, and I’m continually amazed.  She likes fish, she likes veggies of all kinds. She likes chicken and rice, stroganoff, tortillas, pasta, and a variety of fruits.  She can eat a whole multi-grain/fruit bar for breakfast in no time at all.  She much prefers to feed herself, but she’s been better lately about taking from a spoon as well.  She can drink from a straw like a pro, and she does well with an open cup too. 

She is walking with only one hand assistance, and she loves going around with the walking toy or anything else she can push and walk behind…laundry basket, Braska’s tricycle, empty boxes, etc.

She is mostly sleeping through the night, but still has fairly frequent nights of waking at least once, sometimes going to sleep again quickly, sometimes not so much.  She’s got 8 teeth now and I think there might be some more on the way soon.

She misses her sister when she’s at school each morning, but she’s adjusting pretty well.  They do really love to play together, and if KiKi would stop yanking Braska’s glasses off her face, things would be just about adorable when they interact.

Here’s to month 11! (More posts soon!!! So many pics to share!)

Just a-shoppin’

KiKi went with Rachel the other night for some errands and to play with her Uncle Patrick, and Rach snapped this with her super nifty Droid while they were out.  It ranks as one of my fave pics so far.

9 months

These photo sessions are getting a bit more difficult. Before I could get the first shot, she had a letter in hand. (Don’t mind the diaper that’s a little too big… ran out of our normal kind.)


Then Mommy took it away in an attempt to get a pretty shot. Yeah, that worked well.


So I gave up and let her go at them.


Highlights this month: She’s finally cruising.  It seems she took a little break in her speedy development between pulling to stand and cruising.  That’s ok with me, but now she’s on the move again.  Several people are betting she’ll walk in the next 6 weeks… I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me.  She loves to walk with two hands held, but she’s hesitant with just one.

She’s enjoying feeding herself, prefers it BY FAR to being fed with a spoon.  She likes all kinds of veggies, bananas and apples, multigrain fruit bars, all kinds of crackers, breads, puffs and cereals.  But as for *real* food, we’re struggling because we’re real-food challenged around here.  We need to fix food she can eat, but that’s going to be a big change.  It’s a process to eat less processed foods.

She’s working on teeth 5 and 6 right now, on either side of her lower front two.  Here’s a peek at 5 of them. 

The uppers are through, one more than the other, and the 6th tooth is just finishing cutting through.  How painful must teething be?!?

In the last couple days she’s decided she wants to clap, so that’s fun.  At first I thought she was trying to sign more, but it’s evolved into a flat-handed clap, so we just chime in with “YAY!” whenever she starts a’clappin’. Here’s a few seconds of her showing her new skill, though a little dark.

1st Halloween

Wow, almost a month since I posted. That’s ridiculous! And I’ve got so much I’d like to document and keep track of… I just can’t get things together. 

For now, I wanted to group a few shots from the last couple weeks related to the holiday.  Rach got Kinlee this outfit, and it was almost too small, even though it should be too big.  This kid… she’s so long!  And after she fussed through the picture time, I realized her shoes weren’t fitting right anymore.  Oops! They went away to the “grown out of” bin.

These were more pleasant, though she slowly crumpled to the floor.  I don’t know what this is supposed to be, some little monster I guess. It was cute, from Children’s Place, and also a gift.

A week early, we went to the Trunk or Treat at Grandma C and PaPaw’s church, and the girls had a very good time. 

On the 31st, we dressed again and went to our church’s festival. It was a very big deal, but mostly for kids who were a bit more mobile than our girls, so we said hi to some friends and then went to Jack’s for pictures of Jack and Braska together.  Of course, KiKi is never far behind her sister. Like a little shadow…
 

8 Months

Once again, we're here to mark another month. This will be quick since I'm borrowing M's computer again, and I don't have the same little gadgets I usually do. (Blogger is hard sometimes! Relatively, of course.)

Before baths this morning, we snapped a few pics. These little shoots are getting tougher as we go. Lie still?? Yeah right.


And Braska wanted in on the action, so in she went. Hugs and kisses are always first on the docket for her.


Then KiKi returned the favor, as she usually does, by pulling hair. Hard.


Then they were both up in about 10 seconds, ready to go. So to the bath we went.


Highlights this month: I can't even keep up. I really need to document better. She's eating pretty well again, after her little phase. She much prefers to feed herself, and gets frustrated when she can't do it all herself. But really, pureed foods, at this stage and self-feeding?? I don't think so. We're doing alot of little "meltables" and such, and she's quite good at it.

Today, she did her first cruising down the side of the couch. She loves to pull up on anything at all, and she really likes the walking toy also, and spends alot of time going around with it. Crazy girl, I just can't get used to this kind of skill with motor. It's so amazing to me. She is mimicking a little with sounds, mostly da da da when we are changing her diaper. She loves to babble with Braska. They seem to have some inside jokes, and they get tickled by something and just sit there and giggle. Too cute.

Here we come, month 9. Ready for what's next. Maybe.

Upwardly soon-to-be-mobile

Yes, that’s my 7-month-old. Yes, she is standing with one hand on a walking toy.  Yes, she stood up at the toy and pushed it across the room.
 

She is officially pulling to a stand on whatever type of surface or object she wants. She especially loves her sister’s little wooden chair.

This is her favorite way to sit, but it requires assistance.


She thinks she can manage herself, though.  And she made decent progress before she got stuck.

Hopefully her speed will continue with her ability to get herself down from standing.  Currently, she stands, remains there quite a while playing and chattering, then starts complaining because she wants to sit again.  Unless her sister helps by knocking her over, she stays there until someone rescues her and shows her (again) how to sit down.  Granted, this has all come about in like 4 days.  I guess I have to give her a break.

KiKi Update: Sept 09

I keep saying I need to just stop and get some stuff down, and I keep not getting it done.  Story of my life lately.  So while Blue’s Clues is on and both girls are entertained—detained in Kinlee’s case, in the ExerSaucer—I’m going to e-scribble down some items.

General health: She’s been great for all her 7 months, til last week.  If you read the recent posts on my blog this week, you saw that she’s been a crabby mess and more difficult than usual.  The pediatrician said that she has blisters on her throat, something like hand, foot, and mouth, except it’s not on her hands or feet. ??  Anyway, she said there was nothing to do but manage the sore throat that would accompany it.  We saw the dr on day 8 and she said it lasted 5-9 days usually.  That was Monday.  It’s Friday and she’s still not herself. Not eating (solids) well, but she is a tad less fussy.  Maybe it’s on it’s way out.  She’s got a congested nose and upper airway, but that doesn’t seem to bother her too much.  She’s loving very cold milk, so I’m guessing it feels good on her throat. If she’s not better by Monday, we’ll go back and have her throat checked again and get an updated plan.

Sleeping: She had been doing well-ish in the sleep department.  She was going from about 9pm or so to about 5:30am.  But when all this strangeness started the beginning of last week, she began waking 2 or 3 or even 4 times a night.  Not my favorite thing.  The last two nights she’s been better, but I helped by giving her some Benadryl to help with the congestion over night, and the added sleep help, of course.  She’s gone from about 8:30pm til about 4am, then back to sleep and up again at 6:30am for the day.  I’m so jealous of those 10 and 12 hours that some kids are blessing their parents with.  Neither of mine have ever done that.

Eating: Other than her issues with her throat, she’d been doing pretty well.  She’s worked her way through the veggies, except green beans… she is NOT a fan.  We have barely touched on the fruits, and she’s a big fan of some of the other combos in level 2 foods, especially apples and chicken as well as sweet potatoes and turkey.  I want to do more finger foods for her, because she likes to feed herself, but I’m totally at a loss as to what to give her.  I’m hoping to be able to do a little research on that next week.

Milestones: She’s a champ when it comes to strength and motor milestones.  She’s crawling quite fast now, she’s pulling to a stand on the couch (nothing to grip…amazing), and she moves constantly.  This is not my favorite trait of hers, but we’re learning to deal.  It’s exhausting.  She is signing “milk” and working on “more” and “eat.” 

Growth: She has outgrown everything, it seems.  Her 6/9 month sleepers are too short.  Two of her could fit in them for width, but she’s so darn long for her weight.  She came in at 28” at the doctor’s office, only a couple ounces short of 17 lbs.  Her feet are already getting close to needing her size 3 shoes.  (Braska still wears some size 3.)  She’s in a size 3 diaper, same as her sister.  Crazy.

She’s a mommy’s girl, which is flattering, but a bit frustrating also.  Hopefully, her little challenging phase will be balanced by some peaceful phase next.  Delusional? Maybe I am.  She’s been going to the nursery at church for a few weeks, and she seems to do ok, though she does do some crying.  The people in the baby room are just wonderful, so they are very patient with her.

She loves her sister. She wants to be everywhere Braska is, often between Braska and B’s intended toy or book.  She crawls down the hall to Braska’s room to find her when B sneaks away for some peace and quiet.  She’s a much happier baby when Braska is present.

Overall, she’s a keeper, just one that’s going to demand more from us than Braska has.  And that’s ok. She’s her own girl. We just need to adjust in ways we didn’t expect. She’s worth it though.

My little weed-ette

Just a quick note to remember what the measurements were for KiKi yesterday.  She weighed 16 lbs 10 oz and was 27 inches long.  Long and lean, they said.  Yeah, that runs in our family.  Not. 

Speaking of growing and development… is it possible to start the terrible 2’s at 7 months?

Little weight bearer

KiKi is all about the standing.  She’s been into standing on laps for a while, but now she wants to stand up everywhere.  And she will only hold on with one hand, crazy girl.  Amazing thing is…she can do it.  She can balance herself holding onto just one hand.  This girl is just bananas!

Sunday evening, ready for the Bears opener. (More on that later.) 


Tuesday, ready for lots of errands and appointments.


And this was today… it blows my mind.

7 Months

Once again, it’s time to mark another month passed and look forward to the next one. 

7 months.  Time flies.

The photo shoot today went a little less smoothly than the last few.

She giggled and grinned for about one second before she got a little giddy and all kicky-like.


Then, in her jostling around, she bumped and thereby noticed the letters….and it was over. 


And what in the world???  I think we’re in for a crazy month…again.


Highlights this month: Gosh, I don’t know if I even remember them all. Army crawling, pulling to stand, crawling, transition to sitting from lying or crawling, lots of veggies and foods eaten (squash, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes with turkey, apples with chicken, lots of oatmeal cereal with pear juice, apple prune juice, and of course lots of milk).  She got her first tooth and is working on the next one.  She is all about NOT wanting me to leave her in a room without her sister right next to her.  She and Braska are having a blast playing together and giggling alot.  Kinlee loves to rip Braska’s glasses off her face. Over and over and over and over.  It’s wonderful.  But not so much.  She is obsessed with cords, much like Braska is/was, and she’ll crawl all over the house to find just the cords you don’t want her to have.

I can’t believe how fast she grows.  I get it now when everyone always says, “Oh, they just grow up so fast.”  Now I get it.