9 Months

Sleep: Kallan has started going to bed a bit earlier and has ditched a third nap. She usually gets up once or twice a night for a quick eat. Not too bad!

Milestones: This has been a busy month for Kallan. She has started clapping and sort of waving. She bangs toys together. We have started on a couple of finger foods, and she is starting to get the hang of her pincer grasp. My favorite thing she does is dance to music. She wobbles her head back and forth or bounces up and down. Even as a newborn, she has always really enjoyed music. No crawling yet, she is too interested in standing up and can stand on her own for about 15 seconds! Oh and I almost forgot... But we counted "mama" as her first official word this month! It melts my heart; she knows it and abuses it!

Feeding: We started some finger foods for snacking. She sometimes just plays with them and mushes them up! So far she likes avocados and watermelon quite a bit. I also hit my breastfeeding goal of 9 months! Woo-hoo!

Ups: We have been loving our outdoor time. Lots of time spent at parks and the beach. Kallan loves getting out of the house. Whenever we head toward the door, she starts laughing and kicking her legs like crazy. Kallan is really vocal, and I love listening to her talk. Sometimes I hear a "dada" or even a "yaya" but it's hard to say if they are real words. She definitely says mama, not going to lie, I'm pretty ecstatic that it's her first word! She is definitely showing a lot of determination. As soon as she started pulling up on my fingers, she wanted to let go and stand on her own. As soon as she would fall, she would get right back up and try again. Now she is obsessed with standing up! She and Lyla are little buddies now, and they can entertain each other occasionally so I can do other things or even just take a deep breath from a rough morning. They like to sit in their beds and they just laugh at each other. Who knows what they're laughing about, but its adorable!

Downs: We can't get her to sleep anywhere other than our bed! I don't mind having her in there too much but she crowds me and I don't sleep that great. Also, she is a huge mommy's girl, which at times I love. But other times, she will not accept a rocking session with Daddy. Poor Erik wants to give me a break, but she wants mommy only! Oh well, I am lapping it up!

Kallan is such a happy baby, always full of smiles and giggles. She has a cute little toothless smirk that is almost always on her face. I love watching the wonder and joy each day brings her. It must be pretty amazing to be a baby!

Sisters

The best part of having two kids is watching the love between them. It is so special.  It has been so fun watching Lyla take care of Kallan and to see their love really grow.  Becoming a big sister was a huge adjustment for her, and we are so proud of her. She loves to help out, and helps with diaper changes and feeding Kallan. She likes to bring Kallan toys (ones that she herself doesnt feel like playing with of course).

Lyla loves to make Kallan laugh and is constantly making noises to make her smile.  She misses her when she is sleeping, and she always wants to make sure we are bringing Kallan with us when we go places.  She is always saying, "Awww you are so cute, Kallan" or "Our baby is so big!"

When Kallan cries, she always says, "It's okay, we are here!" And she calls Kallan "sweetie" or "sweet pea." It just melts my heart. At the same time, I can't believe how grown up she seems sometimes, I just wish time would slow down for a minute!

And Kallan just adores Lyla. When she wakes up in the morning, she has a real serious face on. Then when we go to the living room to see Lyla, she flashes her a big smile. They have become real buddies, and I am so excited to watch their friendship grow over the years!

Kallan: 8 Months

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. Our building got hit by lightning some time ago, and our internet has not been working. On top of that, Lyla got out of bed one morning and went and mashed on the keyboard, and of course, half the keys are broken. Nothing important, just the period, apostrophe and enter buttons. Any period you see here has been pasted, and I guess this will be one huge run on paragraph of a blog post. EDIT* Ok I went back and copy and pasted spaces in. Might be time for a new computer. . .

 Sleep: Kallan has been sleeping about the same, usually getting up once or twice a night. I sort of, accidentally started us on bed-sharing during a teething episode as I was too tired to rock her any longer. I put her down with us in bed, and lo and behold, she magically fell asleep on her own. So she has been sleeping with us for the past month, and I really love it so much, but we have started moving her back to her bed for at least the start of the night. Napping has been much better, thanks to a white noise stuffed animal from my sister-in-law.

 

Milestones: Sitting unassisted like a pro now! And she is a babble machine, full of mamas, the occasional dada, lots of blah blah and nah nah. She has become a noisy little baby, and she can really yell! No interest in getting up and crawling or anything like that. No complaints here!

Feeding: So far peas and green beans are a favorite, also squash and sweet potatoes. Basically veggies = yay, fruit = yuck. Silly girl, just wait until she has some local peaches!!!!!

Ups: Seeing more and more of her little personality every day. Kallan is a little snuggle machine and mommys girl to the extreme. She is quite social and doesnt mind strangers too much so far. Mornings have been amazing lately. I wake up to see her sleeping next to me and Lyla climbing into bed with us, dragging her pillow and blanket along with. Those are the moments where I am reminded how blessed I am to wake up and see both my girls first thing in the morning... on the other hand I am usually also very tired :). Things feel a bit easier now that Kallan can sit on her own. Lyla brings her toys to play with, so I can get a couple of other things done while both girls are entertained. Kallan loves to watch her sister run around, Lyla makes her laugh so easily! I think Lyla has more fun with her now, too, now that she is becoming more of a little person rather than a rolly, cute blob.

Downs: I would really like for Kallan to sleep through the night, of course! But oh well! Someday! It is kind of tough because Lyla started sleeping 12 hours straight through the night early on and never went back. I dont want to compare, but Im kinda like uhhh why cant you do that! (Sorry for the lack of apostrophes, it kind of hurts to look at that past sentence). Other than that, I think things are going really well now, I think we have got the hang of things at home. Of course, now that Ive said that, something will happen to completely throw a wrench into our routine.

Kallan 7 Months

A little belated, but here's a 7 month update on our bebé.

Sleep: Kallan gets up once a night, at about 3 a.m. She recently cut her first tooth though, so she was up a lot for a couple of nights. We are happy to be sleeping better again!

Milestones: Kallan can now roll from front to back, so she is rolling all around the living room! Whenever she rolls, Lyla likes to lay down and roll around by her, too. She can sit unassisted now for quite some time but still with cushions and supervision. We can just tell she is growing up by the way she reaches for everything and fusses when a toy gets dropped or nabbed by big sister. She will look all around for a dropped toy!

Feeding: Enjoying some solid foods, some homemade, some not. So far, peas are the favorite. And Kallan finally will take a bottle! Hurray!!!! Personally, I think alone time is good for a mommy's sanity. Now I can leave the house for more than an hour and not have to worry about a hungry baby at home. My in-laws even took the girls for a sleepover, which was amazing, and let Erik and I enjoy some much needed "us" time!

Ups: It's so much fun watching Kallan's little personality shine through. She is quite a happy little girl who can really scream when something's wrong. Her cry is the saddest cry in the world, and giant crocodile tears appear instantly! She is a big mama's girl and a little snuggler. She loves to study new faces. I love seeing her when someone new holds her. She stares at his or her face forever, and then will finally either smile or cry when she's apparently established her opinion about that person. She also loves textures! Whenever we sit in a new chair, she will ditch whatever toy she has to feel and then attempt to eat the chair. Her sister makes her smile SO big! I can really see the sisterly love lately! When I get a chance, I've been enjoying napping with Kallan. We don't bed share, but I can see why people do it. I love sleeping close to her!

Downs: Kallan's bedtime is kind of late. I'm not strict on her schedule, and I kind of let her establish her own general sleep times. But she has been going to bed around 10pm. This isn't a huge deal, except that by then I'm exhausted and go straight to bed when she is down. Hence, no cleaning is getting done, no web is being surfed, no books are being read. Just pure tiredness. I keep reminding myself that this is just a phase of life, and someday I'll be able to do all these things as much as I want, and I'll wish my babies were still babies snuggling me half the night! Another down is the glasses!! We can't keep the darn things on her face! I spend half my days picking them up and putting them on and trying to distract Kallan enough to leave them on. We exchanged them for more goggle-esque ones. They aren't here yet, but maybe it will help somewhat.

Likes: Red square, biting, being surprised, being tickled (she's SUPER ticklish, just like Mommy!), sleeping with Mommy in the big bed, kicking, things that aren't toys (phones, remotes, paper), rolling around, playing in the high chair and smacking her hands on the tray, talking and "singing", Gregory Alan Isakov (works like a charm to calm her down in the car! It's magic! I must have listened to him a lot when she was in my belly), pulling off and eating her glasses, looking out the window in the car.

Also.... white noise!! My sister-in-law lent me a little stuffed giraffe that plays white noise. I've only had it a couple of days, but already it seems to have helped our no-nap situation. We've been calling Kallan "The Sleepless Wonder."

Dislikes: When we go out of her sight and she thinks she's alone, when her sister smacks her in the head with a toy (understandable), too much floor time, the bouncy chair, when people sneeze or laugh really loud and suddenly.

On another note, we are really enjoying this beautiful weather... finally! I wish I could know what Kallan was thinking a lot of the time... like what does she think about playing outside for the first time? What does she think of the grass? I wonder what having glasses is like for her.. maybe she doesn't even like the new clarity of her world. Babies' minds... such a mystery!

I Can See Clearly Now...

.. that my glasses are on!

Yes, Kallan just got even cuter (previously thought to be impossible) and has her first pair of specs! At her 4 month appointment, our pediatrician told us that she has prominent "epicanthal folds" which give the illusion that her eyes are crossed even though they aren't. We decided to keep a close eye on them anyway and sometime later noticed that sometimes one of her eyes, usually the right, was definitely crossing. So at her 6 month appointment, we were referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist (officially my least favorite word to spell out). We spent two and a half hours there, doing a lot of waiting and a bit of napping by Kallan (and Erik).  Finally, we were told that Kallan has accommodative esotropia, eye crossing due to extreme farsightedness. She needs glasses and will likely be wearing them for the rest of her life. 

A lot of people have asked how they got her prescription. The doctor dilated her eyes, at which point Kallan took a nap. We had to rudely wake her up a short time later. I imagine it's hard to have your eyes examined while you're sleeping. Fortunately, she forgave us and was quite content throughout the examination. The doctor reflected light off the back of her eye through various lenses to find the appropriate prescription. Pretty crazy! We had no idea that we would be getting glasses for our baby when we went in.

Getting fitted ..

Not happy - either about the glasses, the strange man touching her face, or the sudden clarity of her new world... probably a combination of the three

First time in her glasses!

She has had her glasses for about a week now. At first she seemed to love them, and she just gazed at everything. I'm sure her world completely changed. But if you have or have had children, I'm sure you know that babies LOVE to grab and chomp on glasses. Kallan has recently realized that she has her very own chew toy, sitting right on her face. The glasses hook behind her ears, but she manages to yank them off. She'll chew them and look at me with a big mischievous grin and laugh. Oh, cute little stinker! 

Lyla Quotes

Lyla, oh Lyla, you are just the best. Here are a couple of things you've said lately that are cute/hilarious/funny or just make you seem way too grown up.

"Oh Kallan, you're my big girl. I'm so proud of you."

"What a nuisance." Where did you get that one?!

"Sorry I yelled. I was just really mad at you." Aw!! Baby!

"It's fun to have a little sister!"

"I can't get that boat. But I can if I want to. HAHA! It's my job!" Huh?!?

"God lives waaaay up there! There's the ceiling. God lives in the ceiling!"

"Mommy, are you going to make it?" While I was attempting to exercise.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess named Lyla..." how you start pretty much every story you tell!

"Mommy, did you make another big mess?" When she came into the kitchen.

"YO do it Mommy!" "I want the one that's morado!!!!" Just a couple ejemplos of the Spanglish we've got going on here.

"WHAT?!" said in a super funny, high-pitched voice.

"La la la la.. ya ya!" How you say your name

"Kallan you're so squirmy!" Trying to hold Kallan's hand.

Us: I love YOU so much!
You: No I love YOU so much!
Us: No, I love YOU so much!
You: No, I love YOU so much!
etc.

"He just wants to be your friend." Referring to a spider I found in your room. Pretty sure he wanted to eat me, but let's agree to disagree.

I want to share this spider story as well.  I am really, really afraid of spiders. Yesterday I happened upon a decent sized one in the girls' room and managed to exit the room calmly and without screaming, but very fast. Lyla said, "Why did you come out here again?" And I told you nothing and set Kallan down. I attempted to kill the spider but couldn't find him afterwards and started freaking out imagining a vengeful spider coming after me. So in record speed, I packed the three of us up to go to Grandma & Grandpa's. You overheard me telling Grandma about the spider, and I told you that I just don't really like spiders that much, even though they are very nice. You said the above quote, and I said that I like spiders now. Not true. But then you wanted to hear stories about spiders in our home the WHOLE way to G&G's. My skin was crawling... ugh. Mom fail!

Kallan: 6 Months

A half year has gone by already! Time really flies the first time around.. but it is going insanely fast the second time. It's a bit scary.

Sleep: Unfortunately, Kallan just doesn't seem to like sleeping that much. Naps are a struggle and she is waking usually twice a night for some milkies/snuggles. 

Milestones: Kallan can sort of sit in a tripod position and will sometimes sit up unassisted for a few seconds. She loves to reach for toys and bring them closer to her. She will fuss if she drops a toy. She will occasionally look for a toy under a towel, but mostly she just ends up eating the towel. If she has a choice, she'll choose a cloth over a toy for some good munching. If you say her name, she will smile and look at you. She isn't quite ready to crawl yet, but she does turn herself around while she's on her tummy. She wants to move!

Feeding: We've occasionally started giving her some food recently. She seems to like it and wants to grab the spoon and feed herself. This usually results in a big mess, but I appreciate her enthusiasm. So far barley cereal is the least favorite. Everything else is kind of 'meh'. 

Ups: I've really enjoyed watching Kallan's little personality come out. She is a very loving and snuggly little girl. She laughs all the time and is super ticklish. I love watching her study new faces and places. It must be overwhelming to be a baby.. everything is new! The best is when she is on her tummy and laughing.. her whole body jiggles up and down, it's the cutest thing ever! Sometimes she will just be looking at me and then will put her hand on my face. I wish I could capture the feeling it gives me in words or pictures. So much love.

Downs: Not getting a full night sleep again. :( Oh well, it's not forever! Hopefully.. also she seems to be having a bit of a fussy period. A friend recently told me about the "Wonder Weeks." Someone has created a general schedule of fussy periods for babies, and one commonly occurs at about 26 weeks, which is where we're at now. This might be contributing to the night waking and nap resistance.

Likes: Her big sister, eating all the time, helping turn the pages of books, being carried in the wrap, eating books, eating cloth, eating her toes, studying hands and fingers, her red square, rolling onto her tummy, grabbing hair, crinkle toys, her exersaucer, talking, looking out the car window, snuggling, being loved on all the time

Dislikes: Loud noises, sometimes new faces, bottles, when we leave the room, cold weather... I'm pretty sure of this one, at least :), being around new people for too long

Sister Update: Lately, Lyla has been going up to Kallan and saying, "Hi Kallan, hi sweetie." "Aw Kallan, look at your little feet. You're so cute." And on her way home from a play day at Grandma and Grandpa's, Lyla said, "I really want my Kallan." Kallan is always flashing smiles at Lyla, and Lyla loves to say, "She smiled at me!!!" The sisterly love is mutual, and Lyla seems to notice that Kallan is getting more and more interactive. Lyla loves to try to make Kallan laugh, and if Kallan is crying she will run over and find her a toy or play her a song on the piano. "It's okay, Kallan, it's okay!" she'll say. Or, "It's okay, Kallan, Lyla's here."

I'm really looking forward to the next 6 months and seeing Kall