Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday! (Picture Heavy)

We had two parties for the Princess! One, just a small dinner/get together with the inlaws since they weren't going to be able to make it Saturday, and then her big party with friends and the rest of our family.

Let me just say, her  big bday party didn't end up as planned. It turned out just great, don't get me wrong! It was supposed to have a theme. Princess and Polka Dots. I couldn't find any pink polka dotted stuff, what's up with that!?  I didn't really get the decorations up, and well... I just had a lot more plans  for food, decor, fun, etc. It didn't happen because there just wasn't enough time or energy. I got her cold, so I felt like shit, and the weekend previous to her bday was spent on the couch snuggling my sicky instead of out shopping and getting things prepped like I wanted to. So it all ended up last minute, and an hour before guests were supposed to show up, I said fuck it to the decorations. But like I said, it still ended up great. Great times with friends and family. :)

The first cake "smash". This girl just wasn't too crazy about cake. :)

 For me?

 What's this?

 She did end up having a little bit of fun with this peice of cake. :)


The big Princess Birthday Party:

 See my lack of decor?

 The Princess!

What do you get boys for a princess party? Mustaches!

 Cake made by my sister in law. :)

\

ONE

Cailin turned one on Friday! This also means, Mommy and Daddy have survived our first year of parenthood. Go us!

This year has been the best year ever. So many happy moments, some frustrating ones, but all and all it has been great! I don't usually say this, but we are so truley blessed to have such a wonderful, happy, beautiful, healthy baby girl. It makes me so happy to see her grow and learn, and so sad at the same time that she's getting so big so fast.

We had two (yes two!) birthday parties! One was just a small get together with the inlaws, since they weren't going to be able to make it to her party, and then we had the big party the next day. More on that later. :)

What Cailin is up to this month:

• Still amazes me with words and signs.
  Says:
  New words - Ball, Kitty, Tree (Christmas tree).
  Perfecting old words - Mom, Dad, Hi, Baby, Dog.
  
  Signs:
  New Signs: Baby (my favorite. It's sooo cute!), I love you, Kitty, Apple.
  Old Signs - Milk, More, Eat, Banana, All Done, Please, Dog.
  
• She points at EVERYTHING wanting an explaination. She's so curious about the world around her.
  
• Still not interested in walking. I thought she was going to be walking by Christmas there for a minute. On Thankgiving weekend she was taking an interest in it. Even taking a step towards me, and standing unassisted. She'll stand unassisted, until she realizes she is and then she'll sit down. Like she's scared or something. So she hasn't really tried since then. Oh well, I'm not worried. She'll do it when she's ready. :) In the meantime I've been stocking up on shoes. I'm sure it'll happen like overnight.
  
• She has boycotted sleep. :( She has not slept through the night since Halloween weekend. Or a few days before that anyway. She got a cold that weekend, which lasted a good 10 days. She does not sleep when sick. Then when she got better, she would still wake up in the middle of the night! I thought, okay she's thrown off because she of her cold... Then a week later she was still waking up! I thought, okay she's going through a growth spurt cause she was wanting  a bottle in the middle of the night. Then She was STILL waking up a couple weeks later! I knew she had two teeth coming in, so I thought, okay she's just teething. Then she got another cold last week, which made it even worse! Now she's been waking up several times a night! It's so frustating! She's always been a good sleeper until this past month and a half.
  
  She's over her cold and is still not sleeping. Waking up anywhere from 1 - 3 times a night! Screaming and crying bloody murder in her crib.I've tried letting her cry. I let her go 15 minutes the other night (coming from a non CIO mom, that's serious), and it just escalated until I went and got her. At 4AM. She won't sleep in her crib at night either! She's wanting to be rocked to sleep. Fine, I have absolutely no problem rocking her to sleep. I would gladly rock her till she's 3. She stopped wanting to be rocked months ago, so like I said, I don't mind. But as soon as you lay her down in her crib she wakes up screaming. Either that, or she'll wake up an hour later screaming. The past few nights she's slept in bed with me. I guess I don't mind as long as we're all getting some sleep. Separation anxiety? I dunno. I just hope it goes back to normal soon. I also don't mind sharing the bed with her, but she's been tossing and turning a bunch. I'm a light sleeper, so it wakes me up, so I turn around and cuddle her, or pat her back until she's fully asleep again.
  
• Teeth: She has 6 teeth now! Her bottom two, and top 4. Or should I say top 3.5. The right one next to her two front teeth isn't fully out yet, but it's poked through. Doctor says she thinks she may have some molars coming soon... grrrreeeeat.
  
• Speaking of the doctor, she is 21.9lbs (hasn't gained any weight in 2 months, actually she lost an ounce). And she's 29 1/4 inches long. So she's grown taller, but is definitely thinning out. She looks so much like a little kid now and less like a baby every day.  And so much more like her Daddy!
  
• We've made the switch from formula to cow's milk now. She still only takes it from a bottle though, and it has to be warmed up a little. She's in the "I just throw my sippy on the floor" stage right now. I've been trying several different sippy cups to see which she likes best. Before she really seemed to like the straw sippies, but she doesn't like drinking milk from it, just water. So we'll keep trying.

Last Christmas Vs. This Christmas

About a week ago, we met with Latricia again for Cailin's 1st Birthday/Christmas photos. We didn't get too many birthday shots thanks to uncooperative weather and an uncooperative baby, but we got some great Christmas ones! And she made our Christmas cards. OMG they're amazing! So excited to send them out!

Anyway, just looking back at Cai's first Christmas compared to this one. Has it been one year already?!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Turkey Day

Thanksgiving was good! We went to my sister in law's for dinner, and everything was super delicious! We all stuffed our faces, including Cailin!

 Mmmmm this is all so yummy!

 washing it down with some water

 Yay for Thanksgiving!

Oh I'm so full!

I really have so much to be thankful for this year. A wonderful husband, an awesome job at a great company, and most of all, this girl.

11 Months

One more month and I will no longer have a baby. I told my husband the other day while we were putting up a photo wall (and most the pictures were of our baby) that I now know why people have more babies. I really do miss having a little baby. Don't get any ideas though, no more for a couple years!

Let the first birthday party planning commence! The theme? Princesses and Polka Dots! Lots of pink of course. I just spent the first half of my day printing her invitations and that was way more of a hassle that it was supposed to be! But I got it done, now I just have to put them together and send them out. :)

Cailin has gotten so smart this past month! She's saying words and signing up a storm!

She says:
 * Mom - Not mama. Not Mommy, but Mom. Just Mom. She's not allowed to call me that until she's at least 12. Doesn't she know this?
* Dad, Dada, and Daddy. Yeah. Apparently he's special.
* Hi - her favorite.
* Baby
* Dog

She Signs:
* Milk, which was her first sign.
* More (which looks like she's clapping, but Aunt Jen and I know what she really means).
* Eat
* Please
* All Done
* Banana

So smart!!

She loves...  Talking (Hi is her favorite word), Being a silly goose and making silly noises, playing patticake and Itsy Bitsy Spider with me, and taking her laundry that I just folded and throwing it all over the floor.

Hates... Diaper changes. God she throws a fit every.single.time. The step in our living room. We have a sunken in living room, it's like one step down, and when she was army crawling she got up and down that thing, no problem. Once she started really crawling on her hands and knees she ate shit a few times and now she is scared to come down. She goes up just fine, but if she wants to come back, she crawls to the step and just sits there and cries until I come get her.

Is there some sort of 10/11 month growth spurt? She's been waking up in the middle of the night for the passed couple weeks, and she's hungry. I wake up to her crying (which is just her "thing" these days let me tell you), and I'll ignore for a few minutes to see if she's going to go back to sleep. But no, it escalates so I go get her at 3am. Then I shush and snuggle her, but she still cries, so I make a full bottle and she gulps it down! I've started making the bottle now before I even go in there, cause obviously it's what she wants/needs. So I'm chalking it up to a growth spurt. Not sure what else it could be!

Halloween

Halloween was ok. Cailin came down with a nasty cold last Thursday, so it kind of screwed up our weekend plans, and she still wasn't feeling too hot on Monday, so she wasn't that into it. I'm glad that we went up north to the Camp Verde Fall Festival the previous weekend. It wasn't a great pumpkin patch, honestly. They basically threw a bunch of pumpkins in a field of horse shit. But we still had fun.


For Halloween Cai was a garden gnome. Our nieces kept calling her Juliet from Gnomeo and Juliet! Thanks to Lisa for coming through on her costume! Long story short, I ordered her costome, they sent the wrong size, I sent it back and then they were out of stock! Ugh. Still trying to get my refund on that by the way...

 Cailin and her BFF Khloe (My BFF's daughter, she's 6 months old)

 Daddy and Cailin picking out pumpkins

Momma kitty and my little Juliet. <3

Wordless Wednesday

Doing what she does best!

10 Months!

Miss Kiki is 10 months old now! Since I just did her 9 month post, nothing much has changed. of course there's that HUGE milestone of saying her first word, which is "Hi"! 

She just started pointing as well. Other than that, she's just getting smarter and bigger by the day. It amazes me to watch her grow and learn. She's definitely showing LOTS of personality! I am loving this age, even though I'm constantly chasing her around, pulling things out of her hands and mouth.

Oh yeah, I finally got her into the doctor for her 9 month well check. She's weighing in at 21 lbs 6oz and 28.5in tall. Still in the 75th percentile all the way around. We only have one more head manipulation appointment left and her head looks almost perfect! I'm so glad we went that route.

Loves:
*I think I've said this before, but eating. Seriously, this girl is a foodie! She especially loves to feed herself. I really wish I had my camera the other day because I had 2 dogs and a baby begging for food, it was hilarious.
* Loves getting into shit. Constantly. She's an explorer, this one! She LOVES to empty the diaper bag.
* She also loves climbing anything she can, and opening and closing doors (as you can see in the video below). She doesn't even play with her toys. Who needs toys when you have doors, I guess!
* Screaming and yelling is one of her favorite thinsg to do. Especially in places like the bathtub where it echos and breaks your ear drums. Oh, and in public is always fun!
*Playing peek-a-boo!

Hates:
*The carseat. Well, really anything she is strapped into. The stroller is also evil in her eyes.
* Having things taken away from her, not unusual for a kid.

Other than that, she really is such a good baby. I really am so blessed to have her. I cannot even imagine life before or without her. I love her so much, and wish I could spend every minute of every day with her.

Happy 10 months my beautiful princess!

Cailin Says "Hi"!

I'm calling it as her first official word! She started saying it yesterday afternoon. We were at the doctor for her 9 month well check (yes, a month late), and she was standing on my lap looking out the window and she kept saying "hi! Hiiiiiii!" And I was all like, "did she just say "hi"? No,  it's probably just baby talk and it just sounds like she's saying hi." And then the rest of the evening she was saying it. She even waved and said it a few times. Here's a video of her saying it last night. It's at the very beginning. Right as she pulled herself up on my legs

So today when I picked her up from Aunt Jen's, I asked her if she was saying it and she said yes. She said she said hi to her husband when he got home! So there we have it. Miss Cailin's first official word is Hi!
.

Once Apon a Time, My Kid Was 9 Months Old...

Yeah, so I'm a couple weeks late here. It's been crazy busy! Camping trips, weddings (2 in 1 night), work, work and more work! Busy busy!

Good news, I'm getting used to working out of the home, and handling nights alone with Cailin, since it looks like Daddy will be out of town longer than we thought. It's hard. It took some adjusting, but I'm dealing now. Now that I think (I HOPE - knock on wood) I'm done being sick. I've been at the new job now for a month and pretty much sick the entire time.

Anyhoot. Enough about me.... Cailin turned 9 months old back on September 16th. Wait, it's October now. Yeah, told you we've been busy!

What has Miss Cai been up to lately? Or should I say INTO, which is everything! This girl is crawling everywhere and climbing everything! And if you dare to put her in "baby jail" aka the pack n' play, she gets pissed. Seriously pissed.

Which leads me into the next topic. Fits. She throws fits. Already. at 9 months old. If she doesn't get her way, or she's strapped into the carseat or stroller, all hell breaks loose. She fights sleep. I've had to let her cry it out (more like throw a fit it out). Something that I'm against. But you know what? She didn't want to be rocked, so I finally gave up and let her have it out until she fell asleep. I knew she was just over tired. It was a last resort type of thing.

Something else I've never done? Bought baby food. Gasp! I bought baby food. In a jar! Yeah, no time lately. Although I am working on some pumpkin, acorn squash, apples, spinach and chicken now. Cause, yeah. Baby food is expensive! I've been spending like $20/week! No bueno.

Her hand eye coordination is amazing these days. She's learned to clap, waves bye bye, and blows kisses sometimes! Too fricken cute!

She says Mama!!! Finally! And not just baby talk but has actually looked me right in the eye and said mama. She actually says Mom. Usually when she is crying or needs me, it's like MmmmmmMoooooooommmmmmmmmmm. She says Mom more than mama, which is weird to me. Or the last ma is like a separate word. Like, "mom. ma." She's also putting different sounds together more and more. Like she's actually got something to say, not just playing with her voice.

She gives the sweetest, most slobberiest kisses. She's been doing this for a couple months, but I wasn't sure if she's really giving kisses or just eating my face. But no, she gives other babies kisses, it's too cute! Yesterday I woke up and went in her room and got her out of her crib. She grabbed my face, pulled it to hers and planted a big wet one right on my lips. Then we went back to our bed to cuddle with Daddy and she crawled right over to his head and planted one right on his face. LOVE her so much!

I can't believe in just 2.5 months she'll be ONE YEAR OLD. Where the hell has time gone?!

Such a happy camper! She absolutely loved it!

Camper Cailin ;)

Uh Oh

This is what's been going down (or up) at my house for the past few weeks. Yep. Miss Cailin has learned to pull herself up. This is what she does when she's supposed to be sleeping. Or when she wakes up. She's now pulling herself up on ev-er-y-thing. And I just had Husband put the mattress down because she's climbing as well! She's even started taking steps while holding onto furniture. Oi! I'm not ready for her to walk yet! I know it's just a matter of time. Crawling is exhausting enough! I'm so proud of her of course at the same time. My big girl. Learning and growing so much every day. She's 9 months now, and I'll get to that post sometime before she turns 1. ;)

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I started a new job this week. And I got a horrible stomach flu the first day, and was sick literally all week. Go me! Just my luck,!

On the bright side, I made it through my first week at a really great company. I'm not going to share what company that is, because this blog is not private, but if you know me IRL, you know where that is. I'm really excited though. It's a pretty good pay raise, as well as awesome benefits! The next 6 more weeks I'll be in training, so blogging will be sparce while I get used to working out of the home again. That's the only crappy thing. I was working from home before. It's a good thing too though, because I am so lazy when working from home, so it'll be good for me. It's just going to take some time to adjust.

So, until then here's a picture of my sweet baby girl.

Wordless Wednesday - Brains...

... It's what's for dinner. ;)

Nom nom nom

These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things

I've been meaning to write this post for.ev.er. I started it months ago, but I never finish. So I'm freaking finishing it now, geeze.

* Graco Pack N Play
When Cailin was a newborn, she REFUSED to sleep in the bassinet someone gifted me. After 8 weeks of sleeping in my arms, I had Husband bring the PNP in our room. It was set up in the living room, and she would nap just fine in it (sometimes), so one night he brought her in, and laid her down in it, and she slept a few hours before she wanted me to hold her. Then the next night, after a feeding, a few more hours, then a few more the next night. Finally she was sleeping in there every night, all night, until she went to her crib at 4 months old. Should've done it sooner, but I won't lie, I liked bed sharing. It comforted me as well. My back, however, wasn't too happy with it. Now we have just the play pin set up in our living room as a "baby jail". Meaning she's too damn mobile, and can't be left alone for 2 seconds, so we sit her in there with some toys while I brush my teeth or get dressed.

* The Moby Wrap - This is my #1 favorite! I don't use it too much now, at least for long periods of time because she's so heavy, and it is a little hot in the summer, but I 100% recommend this to any mom. I wear used to wear my baby pretty much every where we went. Grocery shopping, a day out, walks, mall, etc etc. Sure, it definitely does take some practice at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. I will say the hardest part to learn are the holds. Keep those directions in your diaper bag until you get the hang of it.

 We use the outward facing Hug Hold the most. She will get pissed if I try to put her facing me. She wants to face outwards and look around. Now that she's bigger, I'll do the hip hold, that way it doesn't kill my back.

* Fisher Price Seahorse 
This was great when she was a  newborn. It helped soothe her to sleep. Of course, I wish it played longer. I did have to go in and restart it 3 times on average, but other than that it's great.


* Fisher Price Little Lamb Swing
She lived in this for a couple months. Worked wonders putting her to sleep. She's grown out of it, and it's been put away for a couple months now, but I would call this a necessity!

* Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair
Awesome. Fits perfectly on our dining room table, and we plan on taking it with us camping in a couple weeks.

* Eddie Bauer Shopping Cart Cover
Love this thing. It has little hooks to attach toys to, as well as a pocket w/a zipper to hide your grocery list and coupons so your baby won't eat them put your keys in. I also love the harness. It was great at holding her up before she was fully sitting up on her own.

* Fisher Price Monkey Toy
Move over, Sophie! This monkey is the star of this household! I saw this toy at her head doctor appointment when she was 2 months old. It's what they used to distract her/keep her still while taking pictures. She loved it. So when I saw it at Target, I had to swoop it up. It's her favorite toy. We don't leave home without him. He has a teething toy, the leave crackles, his tail is a rattle, and his nose plays songs and makes nature sounds. Although I'm still wondering why he ribbits like a frog...  I even bought my friend one for her new baby. I hope he enjoys it as much as Cailin has.

Other Must Haves:
Bouncy Chair. I don't really think it matters what brand. We have a Fisher Price one and it's awesome. A bouncy chair (preferrably one that vibrates) is definitely a must have baby item.
Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo - Fun! Tons of toys and lights and music. Bounces great. She loves it! She also loves the Evenflo jumperoo at my sister in law's.
Boppy Pillow

Fail:
Infantino carrier - not comfortable for either of us. I can't remember which one it is, but I didn't really have high expectations for it. I got it at TJ Maxx on clearance.
Bumbo- She hated it. I tried and tried and tried, and every time she would scream. I really wanted her to like it. I have the tray as well, which is a pain to get on by the way. I've given up on the Bumbo.

Just Okay:Sophie the Giraffe - She likes her okay, but she's not a star in our household. Probably could've saved myself that $20.
My Travel System - I will be honest, while pregnant baby stuff overwhelmed me. I wasn't sure what exactly I was looking for, so I just went with a design I liked. I ended up getting the Graco Snugride carseat and matching stroller. The car seat is one of the cheaper models, and while there's nothing wrong with that, I don't like how the straps are so extremely hard to adjust. It doesn't have that loosening part in the front, so it was extremely difficult to get the tightness just right. You don't have the option to loosen it to get her in and out, so it was a pain in thte ass to get her arms in and out, or if she was wearing bulkier clothing, then you had to loosen it from the back, which was extremely difficult. The stroller is too big and bulky. It barely fits in my trunk. I'm thinking about finding a better lightweight stroller. Nothing against Graco. I do like their products, just wish I went for a different model. It did it's job though, so I won't give this a complete fail. Just look for a better model, like the Snugride 32 or 35.

8 Months!

My has she grown this month! I feel like she's learned so many new things this month. She's 19lbs 7oz.I know that because of her last head manipulation appointment this past Thursday. I need to write a post about that.

She's sitting completely now. No falling over. In fact, she's learned how to get herself in the crawling position down so she can go after whatever it is she has her eye on (Gizmo's tail for example). She's getting strong too. She can catch herself if she starts to fall. Really exercising her core! She can also look up at you, or turn her head around w/out falling over as well. She's got sitting down to a T!

Still army crawling, but boy is she fast! She gets up on all fours, but then it's like she gets impatient and just plops down and army crawls to her destination. We really need to get on that baby proofing thing. The only thing we've done is put the little plug thingies in.

She can stand while holding onto something sturdy. She doesn't pull herself up, but she can hold herself up.

She signs "milk"!! I've been teaching her baby signs for the past two months. Milk is probably what I do most, mainly because for a while there she was laughing and making the funniest face when I made that sign, so I would do it over and over again, just to get her silly "milk face". But now, she's understanding. When she's eating solids and she's over it, she starting whining and signing "milk" until we get her the bottle. I'm so proud of her!

 See? Silly milk face right there.

Speaking of solids, she's up to 3 meals a day now. What new things have we tried this month? Chicken. I pureed some chicken with carrots and she actually really seems to love it. I think it makes her a little gassy though. Hmm... what else have we tried lately? Peas, Acorn squash (which she likes better than butternut squash), little bits of mango and plum raw, not pureed as well as little bits of cooked chicken (shredded and cut small). That's really the only new things she's had. She LOVES to feed herself. I'll give her small pieces of avacado or banana (or a mix or with the other things listed above) with some puffs. She goes to town. She seriously loves it! She's really good at it too, I would say more than half ends up in her mouth rather than in her lap or on the floor. AND she's drinking out of a straw now. I realized she could actually do this the other day while sharing some water with her while we were out, and so I went out and got her a straw sippy. My big girl!

Mmmmm!

She's waving as well. She won't really do it on command (she doesn't really do anything on command), but if you sit her infont of a mirror she'll sit there and wave to herself. Super cuteness!

She's finally starting to mimick people. For example, while teaching her how to wave, I swear she said "bye bye" a couple times. I was waving to her saying, "ba-bye", and she said "bye bye". And then I was like, "what? did you just say bye bye?" So I said it to her again, and she said, "bye bye". So yeah, I'm pretty sure she said bye bye. She's also clicking her tounge now. I've been doing this to her for months, but usually she just laughs, now she does it back.

Still in 12 month clothing and still in size 3 diapers.

I finally got her a big girl car seat (and yes, she's still rear facing, I'm not stupid). We ended up getting the Safety 1st Onside Air Covertible in Adeline. I had such a hard time making a decision. This was on sale and had good ratings, so I went with it. It's comfortable and works well.


That's about all I can think of. Here are some more pics for you to enjoy. :)

She is awfully hard to take pictures of these days. She does.not.stay.still.