Tantrums

Kaelyn isn't yet one year old and when you see her sweet face you think no way could she EVER throw a tantrum! A friend of mine has an almost 2 year old and has described how those things occur at times. Sometimes the child wants to do something himself but can't and refuses help. Sometimes he wants to eat but isn't allowed and melts down. Sometimes for no reason at all. It seems to be a common thing for kids around that age. They can't quite communicate fully and get frustrated and they want what they want and instead of being adult about it they throw a fit.

When I see kids freak out in the store I often wonder, will Kaelyn do that? Sure she will at some point or another. At home, in public, a little of both. It's what kids do. I've already seen a tiny bit of it. In the grocery store Kaelyn just LOVES to snatch my credit card and play with it. That's all fine and good, I guess...except for when I need to swipe the card! I got out the card one time, she reached for it, I wouldn't give it to her, she screamed at me.

I let Kaelyn play in our tupperware cabinet. Kitchen drawers are pretty much free reign. But the china cabinet...a different story! She opened that door once and when she gets into a cabinet she likes to toss things out and see what sound they make on the floor. She grabbed a piece of my grandmother's crystal and I grabbed her! I wouldn't let her toss the china can you imagine the nerve? Boy did she yell at me!

Kids want what they want and they don't understand that you don't let them do just anything for their best interest. They don't have reasoning mechanisms yet and they don't understand why they can't have what they want or do what they want. So they scream. They throw a fit. They can't communicate exactly what they're feeling and that frustrates them so the meltdown begins.

Fortunately, with Kaelyn, for now, it's short lived. I distract her with something else and that's that. I just wonder what she'll be like when she's older and more prone to such events. I hope she's an easy, sweet child. But I'm positive there will be moments. And I dread those moments. I love her so much I just HATE when I feel frustrated with her or when we have a bad day and my husband comes home and I pass her off because I just can NOT entertain her anymore. I hate needing a break. Everyone does, I suppose. But on the good days, I want to play with her till the world ends! I just wish all days were good days. Sign me up for more of those!

Only time will tell what Kaelyn will be like when she approaches 2 and beyond. I hope the tantrums are minimal and easy enough for me to handle. I'm pretty sensitive to her screams. I think sometimes they hurt me way more than they do her!

Hand it over

This is Kaelyn's new favorite passtime. Sean hung the swing under the deck over the weekend and now every time we go down there she reaches for it. She doesn't want to swing on the big swing with me anymore...bummer for me! I will miss those cuddles. But she sure loves this baby swing! If I raise the swing up as high as I can reach and let go I usually get a nice sized squeal or at least a big smile. I usually have her hat on but when it's nice enough she loves feeling the wind in her hair as she goes up and down. She just chills in there. It seems to relax her quite a bit. She leans back and enjoys the breeze and grins. I think we'll be spending quite a bit of time with that swing! We already have and it's only been one day!

Yesterday Kaelyn and I went to Kohl's with my mother in law. She wanted to get some spring clothes for Kaelyn and do a little birthday shopping. She got her several things, among which were a pair of white sandal shoes. She left those
here for us to try because as you may remember Kaelyn hasn't been the biggest on trying on shoes! I still don't know if she'll wear them but she absolutely LOVED handing them over last night. Sean got home and all she wanted to do was hand him her new shoes. Then take them back. Then hand them over, then take them back. That's one of her big things right now, handing people stuff. Rocks, toys, shoes apparently, whatever. Isn't is nice of her to share? I hope that sharing attitude continues! I know kids usually reach a stage where everything is "MINE, MINE!" I'm glad to see that Kaelyn has a good sharing attitude...at least for now!

Today we're going to hit the zoo. We haven't been in...let's see...three days! So we're feeling a little out of the loop with our favorite animals! :) I'm looking at this picture in the swing to the right and I still can't believe how old she's getting. Kaelyn will be one year old in less than a month! She's been toddling around since 9 1/2 months and practically running since 10 months. What new thing will she come up with for a year? Maybe putting things in her mouth?! That would be nice...as long as she sticks to just food items. What are the odds there? Probably not good. A mother can dream, right?

ALMOST sleeping through the night

Here's Kaelyn in the midst of snack time after her second nap. She still won't put anything in her mouth. Here's what she does when I give her the snack bowl. Sometimes people say, she won't put anything in her mouth...what happens if you give her a bunch of things. THIS is what happens. And I don't care, I let her do it everyday!

So, the big news, Kaelyn ALMOST slept through the night! Let me explain...technically they say the definition of sleeping through the night is like 5 hours, midnight-5am or something. That is NOT my definition. My definition is sleeping from the time she goes to bed until the time she gets up...like 8pm-7am. She didn't get up till 6am! And then went back to bed. That was a close one!!!

Yesterday I decided to experiment with her nursing. I wanted to try to cut out the 2pm session leaving only the first thing in the morning and last thing at night sessions. She got cranky near 2pm so I fed her yogurt. She was on her princess toy and I was pulling her around and she'd get bites every time we went past the bowl. It took half an hour but she ate the WHOLE container and was then happy again. She napped normally and woke up happy so I deemed it a success...only problem? I about exploded! Nursing moms can relate. I was REALLY ready for her to go to bed so she could nurse! And she had plenty to eat at that time! I told my husband if she isn't filled up now for the night, she NEVER will be! And apparently she came pretty close! Making it till 6 and all!! How exciting. I thought this day would NEVER come. And it almost never did after over 11 months! :)

Today my mother-in-law is coming up for some shopping and tomorrow we'll hit the zoo with a friend. It's supposed to be REALLY nice this week so I'm sure we'll also spend a lot of time on the swing Sean hung up yesterday. Kaelyn's in love with it. #1 she's outside. #2 she's swinging. #3 she can put her finger in the safety belt. Life is good.

Speaking of fingers, Kaelyn was clutching the 1/8tsp measuring spoon when nursing before bed last night. When I went to put her in bed it wasn't in either of her hands and I couldn't find it so I figured oh well. It won't hurt her. When she got up at 6 I saw it in the corner of the bed. So I guess she slept with it all night. Whether she knew it or not!

I hope tomorrow night is even better than last night. Maybe she'll sleep till 6:15...or have I just jinxed myself and she'll be up all night?! :)

Rock the kitty

Another one of Kaelyn's favorite games is rock the kitty. The cat doesn't really appreciate being woken up from his naps, but he's a good sport about it. He just takes the ride or gets up and leaves. He and Kaelyn have become pretty good buddies, though, really. He often guards her door at night or sometimes even hides in her room when I close the door. I don't even know he's in there till the middle of the night. He'll just be sitting in the chair across the room from her. And he still hates it when she cries. He'll just howl and howl. But thank goodness she doesn't cry that much anymore!

We went to the zoo yesterday, taking my mom as a birthday treat. We were there for two hours but saw a large majority of the zoo. Kaelyn got a little nap in in the stroller but was awakened by those darn peacocks howling. They sounded like a huge cat in pain or something! Stuff it peacocks! Don't you know there's a baby napping?! In the jungle portion of the zoo there were these mid-sized monkeys howling too.
They sounded like lions. I really thought they had moved lions into the jungle! I'd never seen them before but you never know! When we finally found the animal making that roaring sound it was these four monkeys! Sheesh! Think they were hungry or what?

We had so much fun at the zoo and it was SO nice out I'm seriously considering another venture there today on our own. It's going to be nice again and we have no plans so why not!

Speaking of today, I think I hear Kaelyn rousing now. She was nice enough to let me run a mile this morning while she slept in a bit. I ran it in a little under 11 minutes this time. I JUST started running again this week. I used to run about an 8 minute mile so it'll take a little time to get back! But it's nice to move again after 11 months of just moving when she wanted me to! :)

Easter Eggs and Mobility

Easter is just around the corner and it seems that Easter eggs in a basket are very entertaining. Kaelyn had a blast inspecting each egg, handing them to me, tossing them, even twirling them on the linoleum. I think she put ONE back in the basket but mostly enjoyed tossing them out. So I replaced them. That was my job of the day! Ah the things that entertain an 11 month old!

Since it's been getting nicer we've been able to go outside more. That is SO helpful. The first day we went outside Kaelyn sat by the landscaping out front and inspected each rock in it. Okay not EVERY rock, but enough that it seemed like a lot of rocks! She turned them over and over in her hands and then either handed them to me or threw them onto the sidewalk. I had to sweep them back in with my foot later, but it was worth it, she was having a blast.

We have a big swing that hangs under our deck and I've discovered at the right time of day, that swing calms Kaelyn.
I've taken to going down there not long before a nap. We swing and I sing or hum and she cuddles right against me. Maybe partly because it's still a little chilly to be out! I have to keep an eye on HER eyes to make sure they don't get TOO droopy! She just loves swinging and looking around. We do that for a bit then it's pretty easy to get her to nap. We have a baby swing that we're going to hang under the deck hopefully soon. We just need to get the right hooks. She enjoyed swinging so much at her cousin's recent birthday party I can't wait to get that up to use. I picked out a good spot to hang it under the deck that's shaded for the longest during the day. That way in the nasty summer heat/sun we can still swing and not melt...hopefully. That's the idea at least.

I'm not really sure what the specifications are for being a "toddler". A kid probably has to be over a year of age. Kaelyn is only 11 months but she toddles EVERYWHERE. Sometimes she even almost runs. Mostly when she's naked before getting her pjs on at night! :) She picked up the walking thing fast and went from taking just a few steps on her own at a time to walking clear across a room. Now if you TRY to help her walk she just pushes your hand away. I can do it myself mama!! With this new mobility has come an increased curiosity for the world around her. Now she can get TO the cabinets. And get them open! And explore! For the most part I let her. But I drew the line when she tried to toss some crystal stem glasses of my grandmother's to the floor. Boy, she does NOT like when I don't let her do what she wants! But come on...crystal?! I don't think so sweetie!!

I put a cabinet lock on the cabinet under the sink where I keep the soaps etc. Kaelyn was messing with it briefly one day and all the sudden she turned around and had it in her hand. Look what I did mama! I couldn't believe it! I can't even get that thing off without a struggle, how did she do it?! Is nothing safe anymore? Yeah, not really!

Stair climbing is a huge pastime. She likes to climb and toss things off so I have some noisy items on the stairs that she can throw and make a good sound when they hit the tile at the bottom. Course, then I have to retrieve it, while keeping a hand on her which can sometimes get complicated. She climbs like a mountain lion. But when she wants to go down she just turns around and dives. Therefore no climbing adventures are allowed alone, that's for sure! She'll have to learn a better technique someday! And she's so interested in the stairs that she keeps taking off when we put away laundry. She used to be entertained by helping me empty the basket. Though she still doesn't fold the clothes for me! :) Now, though, she's like, whatever mama, I'm outta here! And off she runs. So I have to close her in our bedroom with me or I have to continuously chase her and bring her back to the room, away from the stairs. It took me a couple of laundry episodes to realize, oh, I could just close the door and not have to chase her every 2 seconds! Duh!

Kaelyn is doing pretty well on weaning. She nurses three times a day now, first thing in the morning, around 2, and right before bed. I'm starting to think about how to get rid of the 2pm feeding. She still seems to genuinely need it at this point but soon I'd like to substitute another food, I'm just not sure what to try. She eats her baby food at mealtimes and some cheerio type things for snacks after naps so I'm trying to think if there's something else she can have. It would be way easier if she ate real people food but we're still limited to baby pureed things and things that melt easily in her mouth. Everything else I try she'll take one bit of and then push it away. What do you do.

Overnights are getting a little better. My husband has been going in when she wakes up in the middle of the night. I only go in if it's 5am or later. He's usually able to calm her pretty quickly with some patting. Recently there was a 2 1/2 hour scream session in the middle of the night which I'm blaming on teething, but for the most part it's working out well. She knows she can't eat with him and may as well just go back to sleep! I actually slept 8 hours straight last night! And couldn't go back to sleep at 5am! So I got up and got a bunch done before Kaelyn woke for the day. It was kinda nice!!!

Part of me can't believe she's 11 months old already but there are some days when I'm like, it's only been 11 months?! :) I'm sure all moms feel that way! For the most part she's a great kid and for EVERY part, I love her.

My high school wish

As Kaelyn grows older by the minute I start to look ahead to her future. What will her school years be like? What will she be like in grade school, high school, college? My wish for Kaelyn is that she has some of my high school experiences.

Let me explain. A friend of mine from high school and I keep in contact and we were talking once about our high school days. We referred to ourselves as "band geeks". We played in the marching band, the concert band etc. As far as I know, the school in general didn't call us "band geeks" but that's what we called ourselves. We were a tight group, much of the band was friendly and within the band were groups of even closer friends. Most of my friends came from the band and that made sense because we spent a lot of time together practicing, at games, at competitions etc. You hear a lot about peer pressure. Kids feel pressure to do drugs to drink etc. My friend and I were discussing how we never even FELT that pressure. No one invited us to the parties where they drank! No one asked us to do drugs! I guess they knew what the answer would be. We didn't even know who drank or who did drugs. When we heard rumors years later we'd be like, oh really?! We had no idea so and so drank back then!

My wish for Kaelyn is that she can avoid any pressure like that that you hear so much about in the media. There is much about my high school experience that I would change or improve, but that's one thing I can't say I missed out on. I never felt ANY peer pressure to do bad things.

My group of friends were quite reckless. We would rent movies, come over to my house to play pool, go bowling, go to a movie, perhaps even go mini-golfing on a really big day. My family moved across the state after my freshman year in high school. The room I had in our new house had glow in the dark stars ALL over the ceiling. When my family first moved in we thought, how tacky! And then I slept in the room for the first night and was like COOL!!!! It was so neat. It looked like the full sky above me. The person that put it up had even put constellations in there. At least the big and little dippers. Or so I thought! Now, this is how my group of friends spent our time. They'd come over to my house, we'd go up to my room, lay with our heads in a circle, turn off the lights, and gaze at the stars. I must admit, that freaked my dad out because there WERE boys in the group. We were all upstairs in my room with the lights off. My dad sent my mom up to check on us once and she turned the lights on to see us all laying on the floor, heads in a circle, pointing out fake constellations. Worries sidelined!

I want Kaelyn to have such friends. Friends she can do silly things with and be a KID with. Not anyone she has to worry about asking her to drink, do drugs, be stupid. Just people she can enjoy and never have to wonder what they may try to entice her with next...other than a bowl of popcorn or some chocolate, that is.

By the time Kaelyn hits high school I'm sure the world will have changed completely. Cell phones were just coming on the scene when I got to high school. A few people had those bag phones in their cars. Computers were just becoming huge, the internet was spreading. Can you imagine what will change by the time my almost-one year old hits high school? But one thing will never change...good friends. If Kaelyn can have that, high school will breeze by and she'll be off to college in no time. Goodness, did I really just age my under 1 year old to adulthood in one sentence?!

Separation Anxiety and Shyness

Around the 4 month mark Kaelyn started becoming leary of strangers. Let me define strangers...anyone who doesn't spend all day everyday with Kaelyn. That means anyone but me. Though she is okay with my husband on occasion and also my mom who comes once a week to play with her while I work. We're talking about friends, family members, grandparents, aunts, uncles, you name it, Kaelyn will yell at them if they're not me...which how could they be?! :)

Shortly after this "separation anxiety" began I read in a parenting book that it's really common and generally occurs in the 5-9 month range. Huh, I thought, Kaelyn started at 4 months, perhaps she'll be done by 8 months! Start early, end early, right? No such luck. By month 9 she was still a mama's girl. Anyone trying to take her from me gets severely yelled at. If we're all on the floor playing she has to practically be in my lap or on top of me a majority of the time. I then read in a parenting magazine that month 9 was the peak of the separation anxiety. Well, the book said it'd be DONE by 8 months and now I hear the 9th month is the peak of it! :) Get your facts straight people! haha. As if there's any way to predict even just ONE kid much less the mass majority of kids!

Kaelyn hit 10 months and I thought, surely the separation anxiety will magically disappear now, right? None of the books or magazines said anything about past 10 months! Then I read somewhere it's common in the 12-18 month range. What?! Sheesh!

It seems to be a tried and true fact, Kaelyn doesn't like people messing with her. Look at her, fine, talk to her even, fine. But get too close or heaven forbid TOUCH her? You WILL get yelled at. If you're someone Kaelyn doesn't know well, which means you're not me, my husband, or my mom, and you try to hold Kaelyn...whether taking her from me or from the ground you WILL get screamed at.

I was at a mops group meeting earlier in the month and they had food out. I went to get some food (taking Kaelyn with me on one arm, hard to do!) One of the moms said, oh, do you want me to hold the baby while you get your food? As much I would have loved to take her up on that I knew she'd get yelled at and I wanted to avoid that scene! Oh, thanks, but that's okay! I said instead.

I'm starting to think maybe Kaelyn is shy. My husband and I were at a home show recently. His brother has a remodeling/construction type business so he had a booth at the show. Kaelyn was cool hanging out in her stroller for awhile but when she wanted out my husband took her and she burrowed her head into his shoulder and just hid the rest of the time. It wasn't naptime so she shouldn't have been hugely tired.

I had that same experience at the library the other day. Kaelyn ran around awhile and pulled some books from shelves, picked a few out to take home and had a ball. We went to check out and a library worker approached. Kaelyn had a big scratch on her forehead which appeared overnight...I'm guessing she had a sharp nail and scratched herself somehow, I cut them the next day, just so you know! Anyways, the library worker was talking to her about her scratch and got a little too close (I guess!) She (thankfully) didn't yell at him but buried her head in my neck as hard and fast as she could and didn't resurface until we left.

Though at other times, we go places and she's just fine. We go to the grocery store and plenty of people talk to her there. She happily swings her legs in the cart and is just her jolly self. We meet some co-workers of mine for lunch on occasion and she's will yell at them if they get too close, but when she's in the high chair eating she's happy as a lark, making her happy screams and having the time of her life. And the last couple of times we've gone to the zoo she's been calm and happy in her stroller. There are people all over. And I'm BEHIND her pushing the stroller so she can't even see me and she's fine. So who knows. Maybe it's her mood of the moment that matters most. But she definitely shows shyness at times, I think.

I'm sure it makes a difference than I'm with her virtually all the time. Other than my mom, we haven't really had any babysitters. Other than my husband, she doesn't regularly spend time with ANYONE but me. And she's only with him a couple hours a day after work before bed. Hopefully she'll grow out of it and be the kind of kid that makes friends wherever she goes! Once she realizes sometimes mama goes away but ALWAYS comes back, maybe she'll be more okay with other people.

Again, I think perhaps I'm part of the problem. I don't leave her with anyone because she cries and seems afraid so I don't really try. If she yells at someone I take her back and she calms down. Why make her cry if I don't have to? If I know taking her will make her stop? I may partly be to blame. But from what I've read, it's normal for kids to have that separation anxiety tendency. 5-9 months...12-18 months, lots of variation depending on what you're reading!

As a grade school I was anything BUT shy. I was the leader of my "group" of friends and my friends included anyone and everyone close enough to chat with and play with! However, in junior high I got much more shy and closed off. I never cared about fashion or hair much so maybe I wasn't the "cool" one anymore and therefore stayed out of the limelight a bit more. And today I would definitely say I'm shy and quiet. Though people who know me might disagree. But that's the thing, you have to REALLY know me to feel that way. Just meeting me? You'd definitely say I was shy and quiet. In college one fellow student even told me she thought I was stuck up because I never talked to her! And then she got to know me and we became great friends. I guess shy=stuck up in her world! :)

And my husband is definitely the quieter type, to say the least! So maybe Kaelyn has inherited those qualities from us. She probably thinks I'm anything BUT shy and quiet as much as I talk and sing to her! Continuously. All the time. All day. Every day. Day in. Day out. You get the idea.

Only time will tell how Kaelyn will shape up and what her qualities will be. I hope sooner rather than later she at least gets over yelling at people other than me simply for existing! If they pinch her, fine, yell at them, but just for looking at her or talking to her or getting too close? Chill out girl!

Babies Crying

Why is it that a baby crying is the worst sound in the world? At least when it's YOUR baby. My father-in-law always says hearing Kaelyn cry is the most beautiful sound in the world. I disagree because when she cries it means something's wrong. She's tired, hungry, grumpy, uncomfortable, scared, whatever. There's SOMETHING off and I don't feel comfortable again until it's fixed.

Maybe that's part of my problem, everytime Kaelyn cries I jump! She has me well trained! But I can't help it! When I hear her wail my heart beats faster, my pulse races, my blood pressure probably goes up (which isn't all that bad since I have very low blood pressure to begin with!) Occasionally my husband will say, just let her cry! And I say I can't! Maybe he doesn't understand...he goes to work everyday. He has other things he does with his life! I feel like my sole job, my whole purpose in life right now is to keep Kaelyn happy, healthy, thriving. So when she gives me a cue that something is wrong, I don't have anything better to do than wonder what's wrong and try to fix it!

Am I the cause of our nighttime issues? As in Kaelyn is getting closer and closer to a year old and STILL doesn't sleep through the night? Perhaps I am. I often wonder that. I often think, I need to just let her cry. But then she cries. And I can't do it. I feel like, she's little, she doesn't understand what's going on. All she knows is something's wrong, whether she's hungry or scared or just lonely. I can't just leave her!

I did try the whole "letting her cry at night" thing. She cried for 4 hours. She broke me. I couldn't do it. She was around 8 months old at the time, I think. And now she's so mobile, when she wakes up she rolls over, sits up, even pulls herself up in the bed sometimes and I think, would she EVER go back to sleep? Would she ever wear out from crying and lay back down? Probably I guess, but how many hours upon hours would it take?

The nights have gotten alittle better lately. I relented to letting my husband go in to Kaelyn wheh she wakes up at night. She knows he can't feed her. She knows he won't pick her up. Generally speaking, she calms down faster (though she occasionally yells at him for an hour just for fun!) She still eats around 5am but has been sleeping until 7 and generally only getting up one other time at night.

I also keep telling myself I need to do something at her naptimes to get her to go asleep alone. But what? How?! If she misses a nap she's a total crab. If I let her cry for an hour or longer to go to sleep she'll sleep too long and mess up the whole day (including the all important bedtime!) So how do I go about making big changes like that? I have no idea. I'd love it if I could just put Kaelyn in her bed and walk out and let her fall asleep on her own. So far, no luck. The closest I've gotten is every now and then at night she's still awake when she goes to bed and she'll just lay there and look around awhile and then go to sleep. But I have to stay by the crib. If I leave she rolls over, sits up, and screams. I know I need to teach her to sleep on her own, I just don't know how!

As I've said before, nothing lasts forever. It'll happen. I just wish I knew when and how, if there is a way, I could help her get there. Maybe I'm spoiling her by answering her cries too quickly or too often. If that's the case I don't think I have much choice but to spoil her because my heart can't take it! I know crying won't hurt her, she'll still love me the next day, and hey, she won't even remember it when she's older. But I will. I remember that night when I let her cry for four hours. I remember getting up the next day and saying I canNOT do that anymore.

In the end it'll all work out, I'm sure. I've talked to lots of moms with different styles. One will say, I let my baby cry starting at 6 weeks. Another will say, I nursed my baby EVERY time he woke up until he was 2. Some will rock their babies, some will pat, some will go in after 5 minutes, then 10 minutes of crying etc. I don't think I've run across two parenting styles that were exactly the same. And ALL of the kids have grown up. All are healthy and seem secure and like good kids.

This leads me to believe there is no right way to parent. There's only a right way for YOU. And until I figure out a better/easier way, I have to do what my heart and instinct tells me to do. So Kaelyn, as soon as you cry, here I come! :) If you're sick of me, don't cry and I'll leave you alone for awhile, promise!!

Trying to find the right toy

Kaelyn is 11 months old on March 24th, 2010. Her big thing right now is tossing stuff. She likes to inspect things and then toss them in order to go on to the next thing. This includes tupperware from the cabinet (remind me to wash any and all measuring spoons before I use them!) coasters from the low tables, empty CD cases I leave on chairs just for that purpose, stuffed animals from the footstool, toys from her high chair tray, papers from the fireplace, and even toys from her very own toy box as is evidenced in this video. Give her a box full of random stuff and she's happy inspecting each piece and then tossing it. One of her favorite times to do this is snack time after her second nap. She snacks from a small baby food bowl. Cheerios and veggie puffs, things like that. I usually sit her on my lap and we read books and have snacks for awhile. Then when the snack bowl is more empty I turn her loose with it on the floor. Snacks everywhere, as you can imagine. And yes, I feed them to her from the floor (she still won't put things in her mouth herself). I clean the floors on occasion and a little dirt never killed anyone, huh! :) You do have to watch out where you sit, though, when she's going at it on the toys in her bin. Some of them are hardy and plasticy and hurt if you're sitting too close!!

How to entertain a 10 month old

Here's a video of what Kaelyn currently enjoys. Quite a bit! This is actually from a few weeks ago. Since then I have attached a belt to the toy to drag her around. Though I don't go nearly as fast that way. She'll honk the horn if I stop somewhere. Go mama go! I like to have her on the toy at suppertime while I'm cooking. I'll drag her around the kitchen, stop, flip the chicken, she'll honk honk honk, we'll go around the kitchen again, I'll stop, make the drinks, around again, etc! This toy is what we spend most of our time playing with. Whether she's riding it, pushing it, or standing beside it pushing buttons on it.

Kaelyn has also gotten into emptying cabinets in the kitchen. When I need a few minutes I'll plop her in front of the tupperware cabinet and open the door and she goes wild. Sometimes she'll empty every single item and other times she'll just take out the measuring spoons and throw them around.

She has a small tiger on wheels toy that we keep on top of the toy box in the playroom. This toy has been the key to MANY hours of entertainment. Kaelyn throws it on the floor, I put it back up, etc. I have to say WHOA when it hits the floor or it's just not the same for her!

Kaelyn also still HIGHLY enjoys the burp cloth game. I put the burp cloth on the couch and say, now don't you touch that! You leave that up there! Don't you DARE! Etc. She looks at me and grins, moving towards the cloth, watching me out of the corner of her eye. We both know what she's about to do. RIP, down comes the cloth. HEY! What do you think you're doing?! I shout. She either bangs on the couch in excitement or throws herself into my arms giggling. I take the cloth, put it back up and say, now you leave that up there this time! Repeat. It hardly ever fails. Sometimes when Kaelyn is riding the princess toy THROUGH that room she'll jump off JUST to jerk the cloth off the couch. :)

Laundry can also be fun. Sit her in front of a basket of clean clothes and she'll empty it! One sock at a time! Of course, nothing is neatly folded or sorted...more just throw on the floor in a jumble, but whatever!

Metal chairs are a source of endless entertainment. Put something on the metal chair, Kaelyn throws it off, then beats on the chair making all sorts of fun noises. When we go out to eat once she's tired of the high chair I always get down on the floor with her, pull out a chair, and let her toss something off of it. This usually buys us a good chunk of time to stay AND keeps her happy all at the same time.

Kaelyn probably thinks we do all these things for MY entertainment. And I guess they DO keep me entertained! We could probably do all of these things and more in an hour. So these items get done over and over again in one day's time, that's for sure! Along with playing with every toy within reach several times and outings for groceries etc. We can't wait for spring! :)

Sleep when the baby sleeps

I don't remember anyone actually giving me that advice when I was pregnant "sleep when the baby sleeps". But I do remember hearing not to worry about housework, dishes wait, etc. I have taken BOTH to heart. For awhile I felt like I did nothing BUT care for Kaelyn when she was first born. My mom did the shopping for me, I'd make supper once Sean was home and the laundry just waited! My mom actually has complimented me on this, the fact that I did little to nothing! :) Because I guess that means I'm more free to enjoy moments with Kaelyn. Ever since she was born she truly has come first and everything else can wait.

But probably more than anything else it's the fact that when she's awake I don't have time to do much but play with and care for her and when she's sleeping, I'm exhausted and want to rest myself. A lot of Kaelyn's morning naps are taken in the car as we drive somewhere, so obviously I don't sleep then! But often in the afternoon when she sleeps, I at least TRY to sleep. Sometimes I just lay there thinking of all the things I SHOULD be doing and other times I konk out and get alittle snooze in myself. And I think it's probably the smart thing to do. I want to have as much energy as I can to chase Kaelyn around! She's almost 11 months old and practically running. Or at least walking and crawling quite fast!

The only problem is, there's never any time for anything else! I LOVE to read. I never get to. I have a massage bed in the basement I used to use EVERY day. I rarely get to. I used to run 5 miles every morning. I haven't run a step in almost a year. How do parents do it? How do they find the time and/or the energy to do things for themselves? If you sleep when the baby sleeps (and mine doesn't particularly care for sleep!) when do you get to do anything else you want or need to do?

I do get a tiny bit of reading done. Not many novels, but the occasional magazine. On occasions here and there Kaelyn will be so occupied with a toy she won't be paying attention to the fact that I'm in the room. Ah ha! I think. At last! I see my chance. I grab the magazine I have handy and frantically read a paragraph or two. And then she turns my way, crawls over as fast as she can and RIP. She just LOVES my magazines. Thankfully no books have met the same fate as of yet but probably because I rarely get to read an actual book and when I do it simply canNOT be done when she's around!

I do get massages on occasion. When we've had a rough day and my husband gets home and I'm like, here you take her! Then I disappear for awhile to relax. Or when my mom comes to visit weekly I'll often get to run down for a visit to my massage table. It's definitely not a daily event, but it's something! And I love every second I get!

I do NOT get to work out. EVER. How?! I've been trying and trying to devise ways. Sometimes if I actually wake up in the morning before Kaelyn maybe I could. But then I think, yeah but she'll be up ANY second. And she is. I'd be interrupted anyways. There are naptimes, but like I said, I'm usually so exhausted by then I need a break. Not a break to exhaust myself more but a nap or at least some rest of some kind! And, like I said, Kaelyn isn't much of a sleeper. She may nap up to an hour and a half, but generally in smaller chunks between which I have to go back in to her room to calm her and get her back to sleep. So I don't feel like I can leave her on the second level and go ALL the way to the basement where the elliptical machine is and work out. By the time I'd get back up to her room during one of her wakings, she'd probably be fully awake and up for the day. Which means the rest of the day with a crabby baby.

I've never been one to claim I have it all figured out when it comes to kids, that's for sure. And before I had Kaelyn I heard lots of moms saying they never had time for themselves. I guess I didn't really know what that meant until I experienced it myself. I never dreamed I would stop working out. I never thought I'd be unable to read.

But some of the best advice I've received that I've already seen to be true is that it will pass. Kaelyn will grow up and play more independently. She'll go to school. She'll make friends and talk on the phone. Playing with me all day everyday...hanging on my lap constantly...taking up every waking second of time, will all pass. And, from what people say, too quickly! So until the time comes, Kaelyn gets my time. Even if it means I don't get much for myself. I've had a lot of years to myself to do what I please. I'll have many more years to come, so for now, I will give her my time while she wants and needs it. And try to enjoy every second as people recommend because Kaelyn will never be 10 1/2 months old ever again. She'll soon be 11 months. Then 12 months. Then 18 years! :) I just keep reminding myself that when there are things I want to do but don't feel that I can. Someday I'll have all the time in the world to do those things and will wish Kaelyn would play with me all day again! :) Maybe.

Swinging

Kaelyn had a big weekend. We went to visit my parents in Iowa. Friday night we gathered to celebrate my nephew's 4th birthday. We had supper, he opened presents, ate cake, played games, that sort of thing. Saturday was his big birthday party at a Rainbow Playstation indoor play place. There were a bunch of swing sets that kids could play on and swing and climb and slide. Kaelyn got to swing in a baby swing for the FIRST time. She LOVED it. She was in that swing most of the time we were there. She was either real calm and cool about it or grinning and squealing. Depending on how high she was going, I guess. We have a baby swing in our garage that now we just MUST get out and hang ASAP! I want to hang it under the deck where it's nice and shaded so we can swing the summer away! My husband has to get some hooks to hang it with, but I hope we can get it up soon because she was so calm in it and loved it so much and the weather is getting nicer so let's get to swinging!! Kaelyn also got to slide a few times. She wasn't impressed at this point. I think Sean took video of her swinging but no pictures, bummer!

Also in our weekend trip was plenty of Chick-Fil-A! I still can't believe we don't have one around here. I worked at Chick-Fil-A all through high school and part of college. Usually when a person works at a fast food place they NEVER want to eat there again but I actually want to eat there MORE. It's just SO good. So my parents try to take me there as much as possible when I'm visiting so I can get in as much as I can when I can! :) I don't protest. The nuggets, the fries, the lemonade...okay, now I'm hungry.

Today we went to the zoo again. It was a VERY successful trip. No complaints at all! Though I guess it was a little chilly. IT was supposed to be 50 and sunny, wonder what happened to that! We got there when the zoo opened at 9:30, met my friend Andrea and her son Logan. Both kids were perfect angels. Stayed in their strollers, enjoyed the ride, looked around. I was SO hoping that Kaelyn would take her morning nap in the stroller so we could keep going and I wouldn't have to leave so soon. Logan and Andrea went to the petting zoo part of the zoo so I kept Kaelyn moving in the stroller and it worked like a charm, she fell asleep nicely and slept for nearly 1/2 an hour. She was a happy camper when she got up. We saw pretty much all of the indoor parts of the zoo and a little outside. But like I said, it was a little cold, so we stuck mostly to the inside parts. Even the jungle worked this time! Kaelyn just looked around and cooed, not scared at all this time around, yeah! I can't wait to go back. Maybe later this week? :) The shorter nap and all the sights must have worn her out because she fell asleep nursing at 2. She hasn't done that in quite sometime.

The zoo trip and the semi nicer weather and the swing ride this weekend made us realize...WE'RE READY FOR SPRING! Can it be here already? My husband said there might be snow in store this weekend and all I can think/say is NOOO! Being stuck inside is the pits! And Kaelyn and I are BOTH happier when we can get out and do things. She's going to be hard to get INSIDE, I think, once the weather is nice!

I think we need to make a grocery run tomorrow and perhaps a trip to the library is in store. Though I may try to check out a lot of the same books we have because she likes them so much. Maybe another zoo trip later in the week? I think we'll have that place memorized in no time!

Within the last few days Kaelyn went from walking a few steps at a time alone to walking all the way across a room alone. She's walking just as often as she is crawling now. For some reason, when she's naked, she practically runs! Must be the freedom from the diaper. I definitely say she's officially walking pretty confidently. Though of course she flops down on occasion! She's still doing pretty well with nursing less. 3 times a day is all, down from 5. She's eating more baby food at mealtimes and snacks between. Though she still doesn't put anything in her mouth on her own. And she doesn't like REAL people food. She still gags on it and pushes my hand away after trying only one bite. I'll keep trying! She has to get used to it eventually! I doubt baby food can sustain her forever! Especially with spring (hopefully) on the way and her running around only mounting!

Perhaps later this week or at least over the weekend we can get the swing up so when we don't go anywhere and it's nice we can swing the day away. Options of things to do is a GOOD thing with a kid! Short attention spans, you know!

Things to take to bed

Some kids pick a toy, a stuffed animal, a blanket, to take to bed with them. Something to cuddle with. Something to hold on to. Something to keep them safe. Kaelyn hasn't chosen such a toy, but she has taken random things to bed with her. Mostly at nap time but occasionally overnight as well. Here are some of the things Kaelyn has chosen:

-Her large pink plastic diaper pin
-An iced tea spoon
-A 1/2 tablespoon measuring cup
-A Starburst candy wrapper
-A plastic painted sun catcher
-A small concrete Isabel bloom hugs statue
-A static cling St. Patrick's day window decoration
-A 2" square rubber piece meant to be a dart gun target
-The cat's toy jingle ball

I could probably go on. She doesn't take something every time, but when she does, it's always something strange like that that you would never dream of cuddling with! I wish she could find her special toy. I think the closest she has is that large pink plastic diaper pin. We take that with us a lot when we go places. When she gets scared or upset if I give her that it seems to help. It's a good size for her to clutch and she still loves putting her fingers in holes and the pin has a couple of nice sized holes for her to inspect. But not exactly a cuddle-worthy toy! What do you do! A friend of mine has a son and says he always wants to take a ball to bed. Also not something you'd think would be a good bed toy!

Kaelyn slept really well last night. IT was probably one of our better nights of sleep since she was born. She got up at 3:30am and my husband went in and was probably only gone 10-15 minutes. She then got up at 5am and I let her eat and she's still in bed now after 6am. I actually got up because I couldn't sleep anymore! I don't know if that's happened at all since she was born! Maybe I couldn't get back to sleep because I had some things I wanted to do for work. Because now that I think about it, I am getting tired again! Oh well, there's always naptime!

With any luck maybe sending my husband in to Kaelyn the last few nights instead of me has helped. She doesn't expect him to feed her so she stops screaming easier for him. With me she'll just scream till she gets it! I hope it's helping and not a fluke because boy we sure would enjoy sleeping a whole night again! It's been over 10 months! It's time, already!

Yesterday Kaelyn and I met some co-workers for lunch and sometimes I have trouble with her falling asleep on the drive home. It's a 30 minute drive and we usually get home between 1 and 1:30 but naptime isn't until 3 or so. So if she falls asleep on the drive home for 10-15 minutes sometimes she doesn't want to nap at her normal time and then is a major crab in the evening. Yesterday I took a light up, musical ball that activates on motion and I gave that to her for the drive home. She played with it for a little while but then put her head back in her cozy, sleeping position. But since we were bouncing down the road the ball kept going off. Lights. Music. She stayed awake the whole drive! I don't know if it was the ball or not but whatever it was, she was awake and took a nice nap later and was in a great mood all evening!

If we could just get this sleep thing more permanently worked out, she'd be a totally awesome kid. That's been the biggest issue. If she sleeps she's in a better mood all around, as am I. I did buy a book that a listener emailed me about to recommend. Called Sleep Easy or something like that. The book says it helps you customize a sleep plan and then teach it to your child and you should see results in less than a week. The problem? Kaelyn hardly allows me time to read. SO if I even get to READ the book, hopefully it'll give me some pointers as well!

We're looking forward to my nephew's birthday party this weekend. He'll be 4. He's having a party at a Rainbow Playstation type place. It's an indoor swing set sales place that they open in the winter time for parties. Kaelyn has never been on a swing set so it'll be fun to see if she likes to swing etc. I was hoping to build her a swing set in our yard this spring. In my mind, we'd spend hours out there swinging. We'll see if she agrees after the party!

We also need to install her new carseat. She's really overflowing the little baby one. The straps are supposed to be AT the shoulders and hers are well behind her shoulders so it's definitely past time. We have a convertible seat from my sister that can ride backwards and forwards. It had ice cream all over it from my nephew but my mom got it all cleaned up. I finally got ahold of someone at the company that manufactured it and they said its lifespan is good till October of 2011 so we'll put it in my car this weekend. I hope Kaelyn likes it! We've had it sitting in the kitchen for a few weeks now and she's crawled over to it to play with the straps quite a bit so hopefully that will acquaint her with it enough that she'll enjoy it when she actually gets in it.

I'll keep searching for the perfect little cozy toy for Kaelyn to take to bed. Until then, watch out ice tea spoons, measuring spoons, and candy wrappers!

Life with a Wiggly Toddler

Going places where you need to sit semi still is becoming more of a challenge. We used to go to church on Sunday and Kaelyn would sit happily on my lap and look at books or play with a few toys. No more! Now it's I want down down DOWN. I want to go go GO! I think she lasted 10 minutes this last week. So I took her to the back of the church where there's a big open area thinking she could crawl around. Did she want to crawl around back there? Of course not! She wanted to crawl right down the aisle of the church, where all the action is! Redirecting her just made her mad. But what do you do! We made quite a mess with toys back there. And breakfast time hit so we made a mess on my pants with banana yogurt too. I forgot to bring a bib. Why that means it ended up on my pants, I'm not sure.

Yesterday we went to the community center for a MOPS (Mothers of pre-schoolers) group playdate. I knew we wouldn't be there long because the meeting was at 10am and Kaelyn slept in that day meaning naptime would be at 10:30 or so. That place is really neat, though. It has a great pool with a baby side that even has a slide. I think we'll be going there someday and having a great time. Just as I thought, everyone arrived and we just started playing and chatting and Kaelyn was having fun, but then fell. And falling near naptime is super traumatic. She got screamy so we had to go. She napped in the car and was good to go after that. We didn't have anything else to do that day. I did try to take a walk after lunch since she seemed to like the stroller at the zoo the other day. However, the stroller was similar to a car ride, I think and she was looking VERY sleepy. Since I didn't want her to fall asleep and ruin the afternoon naptime, we headed home pretty fast and put away laundry instead. Kaelyn is very helpful, as you can imagine. She stands at the laundry basket and throws clothes out behind her. She's not much on sorting or folding, but what do you do! :)

Today I'm hoping to take her by work to see a fellow co-worker who I used to work with and is now back with us. I haven't seen him in years so it would be fun to catch up for a few minutes. We have a Culver's lunch date out that direction anyways. Which means if someone sits in a booth next to ours, they'll get poked. And lids will get played with. And tossed! :)

I'm still working on weaning a bit. I got her down from 5 feedings a day to 4 pretty easily. We're trying for 3 now but it's not as easy. For the most part it's going okay, but she's starting to sense that I'm trying to change things, I think.

Also, overnight, my husband has started going to her more so she won't eat as often. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. She's been up for longer at a time, but is sleeping in later as a result! I don't know which I prefer! She's hanging on my leg now so I guess I better go play!!!

Zoo Visit

Kaelyn and I had all day Saturday with no plans so we decided a trip to the zoo was in order. Rain was in the forecast but it stayed dry during the time we wanted to go. It worked out well, she napped in the car on the way there, nursed when we got there and then we headed in. It was still a little damp and chilly so we wanted to look at the inside stuff and not walk around much outside. We started with the aquarium because last time we went, which was MONTHS ago, Kaelyn really liked it in there. She liked it again. We watched the penguins for a long time. Not too many were swimming but when they did she was all eyes. She flailed her arms a bit but mostly sat there calmly in the stroller. Next came the fish. They were so bright and full of motion, she probably could have sat there all day watching them. But no, mama made her move on! :)

I was actually pleasantly surprised. When we decided to visit the zoo I expected to enter the aquarium and stay in there the whole time. I figured Kaelyn would want out of the stroller and we would just walk, crawl, and wander that one area. But she sat so nice and calm I decided to branch out farther. Not far from the aquarium is the elevator that takes you down to the level with the gorillas and monkeys. I thought they might be full of motion and enjoyable to watch for awhile. The gorilla part was cold and empty. We were disappointed walking through there. But then we got to a more indoor part of the gorilla area and there they were! One huge gorilla was even climbing ropes and swinging around. I'm pretty sure Kaelyn saw him (or her!) Otherwise, though, she more enjoyed watching the people around her and playing with her hat. Of all things! We came to the zoo to look at animals and you're looking at people!

We thought about strolling through the cat complex but time was starting to run short and I didn't want to get too far away from the entrance in case she wanted out of the stroller. So we went back up the elevator. I thought about going through the aquarium one more time before leaving but decided to give the jungle a shot. Last time we were at the zoo, Kaelyn was in the stroller for like 5 minutes of the jungle. Then we went through a dark cave and she freaked out. I had to put her in the tummy pack and carry her that way the rest of the time. Much to my back's dismay. Pushing the stroller at the same time wasn't easy either. So I was pretty brave, I thought, to try the jungle. MY glasses fogged up so badly upon entering I had to take them off for awhile. Boy it was warm in there! Kaelyn was so nice and calm in the stroller I thought we had it made. Then I bumped a wall. Startled her. The screaming began. I couldn't get her to calm down so I had to take her out and carry her. With NO tummy pack. AND try to steer the stroller. So we didn't much enjoy the jungle. We hightailed it through there and got back outside. She was okay going back in the stroller once we were out and we headed back to the car to get home for lunch. I wonder if she would have been okay in there had I not bumped the wall and scared her. Until then she was all eyes and enjoying the view. Such a bad driver, I am! :)

Since we got a zoo pass for Christmas from Sean's parents I really want to go every week or so. Especially if Kaelyn enjoys the stroller okay like she did this past weekend. And especially when the weather gets nicer. Or if she can walk better on her own, that'd be okay too, just as long as I don't have to carry her! AND push a stroller! :) We're busy all this week but I'm thinking another visit should be in store the week after. It's a great way to kill time. Fun for her to see all the action, and I sure enjoy it too!

Babies and Stairs

As you can see from this picture, Kaelyn has on shoes! They're called Robeez, I think. They're just little pieces of leather/canvas, there's not much to them. And she DID still protest in putting them on. My mom put them on her when she was nursing. Then we went and ran some errands and had lunch and Kaelyn was SO still and calm the whole time. But once we got home she had gotten used to them and I had them on her again today. It hinders her walking a little but she's adjusting.

Also, in this picture, she's on her favorite toy. The one grandma and grandpa (Sean's parents) left here last time they visited. I dread their return in case they take the toy back home with them! Kaelyn rides it ALL the time! We hooked up a felt pull on it so I can pull her around slowly instead of bending over all the time. She honks the horn when she wants to start up again if we stop for whatever reason. Yesterday I was stopping by the big back windows because there were a bunch of deer out there and she watched them for quite some time. But then honk honk, time to go mama!

From the title you may have guessed, Kaelyn climbed her first stairs today. We were playing in the playroom which is right next to the stairs that go to the upper level. Sometimes she'll crawl over to the stairs and pull herself up on the bottom one and pound on it or whatever. Today she did that. Sometimes I use that time to read a couple of sentences in a magazine I have nearby or whatever. Today I watched her and she put a knee up on the bottom step. Uh oh! So I got real close and sure enough she pulled that other knee up after it and away she went. She went up four steps before she herself started to wonder what she was doing. Then she turned around and tried to dive back down face first. That's where I came in! :)

Our event of the day was lunch with an old college friend of mine. He's not all THAT old...just a year older than me! ;) But I hadn't seen him in almost two years despite only living 30 minutes apart. We met during his break from work and got caught up. Kaelyn eyed him warily but never yelled at him. But then again, he never held her, touched her, or got all that close to her! :) I did end up with wet pants during the lunch. Kaelyn ate like a horse but when she wanted out of her seat, I had her sit with me. I gave her the lid to my water and she was happy with that for awhile. But proceeded to dump the water on my lap eventually. I had to change when we got home. And ride in VERY wet VERY cold jeans all the way home. It was ICE water, afterall.

We played for awhile after that then emptied the dishwasher. Kaelyn is a big help with this. I carry her and empty with the other hand. She pounds on whatever I get out as I put it away. It was right before naptime and she ended up with a big long ice tea spoon. The things she chooses to take to bed! Once she was relaxed and asleep I managed to pry the spoon from her fingers. I put it at the end of the bed far from her feet. When she got up, I went in and she was sitting up, spoon again in hand, happy as a lark, holding it up for me to see. She must not have been quite done napping, though, because I picked her up and she cuddled into my shoulder and fell back asleep for 10 minutes. Spoon still tightly clutched.

She's having fun with the tupperware at the moment. But I Think they're ALMOST all out of the cabinet so I better go see what I can do about rearranging them! :)

Tupperware

Kaelyn discovered the tupperware cupboard last night. I was trying to clean some dishes and put away supper stuff. I may have opened the cabinet. I may have set her in front of it. But I most certainly didn't help her pull things out of it! However, I DID let her! She was having a great time. She even took the cup that holds the measuring spoons with her when I was done cleaning and dropped a spoon here and there all about the house as I carried her upstairs to brush my teeth and then hers. We had quite a mess. And I'm sure we will have quite a mess again. And again. And again because she really enjoyed it! And why not, it was something safe to occupy her for awhile!

One of Kaelyn's favorite times of day is right before bedtime. Every night at about 7:45pm I strip all of her clothes off, diaper included and she runs free for awhile. Even if she's being crabby, once those clothes are off, she's a new girl! And a nude girl, huh! She just runs and plays and giggles. Sometimes she'll crawl into the kitchen to beat on a chair, sometimes she'll walk to her toy box and throw as many toys out as possible. Whatever it is, it's done in sheer joy. I'm not sure if it's beacuse she's naked or if she knows it's almost bedtime and is trying not to act tired! Either way, it's a great time for her and fun for us to watch too! Yes, things get tinkled on on occasion, but really not as much as you would think! She's must more apt to tinkle in the morning when she's running around nude in the bathroom as I get the bath ready. Must be the running water.

It's supposed to finally be nice this weekend! Though maybe rainy. My husband is busy on Saturday so I'm seriously considering a trip to the zoo. I don't know how much or for how long Kaelyn will ride in her stroller since it's been awhile since we've had much exposure to it. But the zoo has so many neat indoor areas. Last time we were there she just LOVED the aquarium. And the aquarium isn't far from the entrance so I thought maybe, just maybe, we could go to the zoo and get out of the stroller in the aquarium and she can crawl and walk around and explore for an hour or two. After her first nap, before lunch, it would help kill some time. I just hope since it's the weekend it's not too busy. I think this spring and summer we'll probably go to the zoo every week now that we have a membership!

Also this weekend we probably better look into getting Kaelyn's new bigger car seat installed in my car. She's overflowing the baby one. I remember reading the car seat straps are supposed to be AT the shoulders. Well, the ones in Kaelyn's car seat now are way BEHIND her shoulders. The carseat is supposed to be good up to 22 pounds and she's nearing that range as well. It's just time! Plus, getting that baby car seat in and out of the car with a heavy baby in it is getting to be quite a challenge! I've been taking just her out more and more because it's easier. I will miss keeping her contained in the car seat right before we go somewhere. It gives me a few seconds to go to the bathroom before we leave. And it was nice keeping her in there to run into the post office or somewhere fast rather than unbuckling her and taking her out then having to immediately put her back in. But what do you do! She's a big girl now! So hopefully we can get the new seat in and hopefully she likes it! She'll ride backwards for another couple of months before we flip her around to the front, I suppose. She has to be a year old AND 20 pounds to ride facing front. She's 20 pounds now but not quite a year old.

I think the tupperware are calling, I guess we better go see what kind of a mess we can make today! :)

Restless Sleeping and diaper incidents

Ever since Kaelyn was a baby she's been a restless sleeper. She would kick her legs up in the air and just SLAM them down. Repeatedly. Pretty annoying when you're trying to sleep just feet from her head. She still does that on occasion but now she's taken to rolling over. And that usually wakes her up and makes her mad. Here's a picture of her in her bed from her nap yesterday. She started off in the middle of the bed on her back. Then rolled to her side, then her back, then her side, then finally this. It looks like a mid-crawl position but she's still sound asleep. Which is unusual. Usually when she makes it to her stomach she wakes up and sits up. Guess she was really tired!

I've decided I really need to set a date and stick to it. A date to stop feeding Kaelyn in the middle of the night. Maybe even send my husband in to comfort her instead of my going so she CAN'T eat. She can't even EXPECT to eat. She's 10 months old, I know she doesn't NEED to. Two night ago she got up at 9:45 and my husband went in and she went back to sleep till 3. Last night she got up at 12:15 and I went in and patted her and she seemed to go back to sleep but was up again at 12:45 at which time I fed her because I SO wanted to go back to sleep. This kid is a problem sleeper, I tell you! She has me well trained, I guess.

I don't think I wrote about our two-bath-before-breakfast incident last week. When Kaelyn gets up in the morning I nurse her, then I put her in her stroller and she watches me get ready. Then I eat breakfast and give her a bath. She LOVES bathtime. I take her pjs off and she stands at the side of the tub while I fill it (sometimes tinkling on the floor, yes) just GIGGLING and squealing in anticipation. She splashes and plays and has a great time in the bath. After her bath I wrap her up in her towel and she just lays there SO still. It's the most still-time she has ALL day. Including sleep as you can see from the above example. I put lotion on her, diapered her, put on fresh clothes, combed her hair, we were good to go. We went downstairs and started our day of play. She grunted around a bit so I was pretty sure she had dirtied her diaper. Doesn't that figure! JUST after her bath, I thought. I had no idea what an ordeal it would be. I took her pants off, peaked in the diaper...uh oh. It was one of those "up the back and around the corner" diapers. It was on the onesie. So I had to completely change her. ONce I got the diaper off, though I realized how far up the onesie the nastiness went. Great, JUST after a bath! I took the onesie off VERY unsuccessfully. How so? Well, because she ended up with poop not only above the diaper line but all the way from the diaper line to her neck...and into her hair. I got out a wipe and started wiping and then thought, this is going to take a WHOLE package of wipes and she still won't be clean. It was THAT big of a mess. So I wrapped her in the blanket she was laying on so I didn't get it all over ME and we went back to the tub. I held her in the blanket while filling the tub so she didn't get it all over the bathroom as well. While the tub was filling, though, she tinkled all over me. What a morning. SO she got her second bath, her second pair of clothes (oh by the way, I put her in the bathtub with her socks still ON, the only things that were still clean!) her second diaper, the whole works. All BEFORE she even ate breakfast. Then after she was cleaned up I had to completely change my clothes because I was soaked from the tinkle incident. And then we started the laundry to wash all the nastiness off of all the clothes. The onesie I had to wash TWICE. And it's STILL stained. Good times good times! The good news in all that was that Kaelyn didn't yell at me throughout the whole thing! I think she kind of enjoyed the extra bath!

Back to sleeping, everyone tells me someday she'll sleep. I keep thinking I know I know, but WHEN?! I wonder if stopping the nursing at night will help. But I still think my husband will have to go to her if we want to try that because she just won't give up with me until she gets it. My fault, I'm sure. I've given it to her way too long, she expects it now. What do you do. I desperately want her to sleep at night. Not just because I want to sleep but because she's in SUCH a better mood the next day when she has a good night. Everything is SO much more fun. And I'm more fun too! I'm planning on setting a deadline. Maybe I need to set a deadline for myself. I will set a deadline by THIS date! :) I'll let you know how I do on that!