6 years ago
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I'm a bad blogger
There. I said it. Not only have I not posted an update in nearly 2 months, the last one I posted was actually back-dated so that it would appear as if it was posted in a timely manner, when in fact it was not. And that's not the only time I've done it, either. I'm on a mission to get back on top of things, but don't be surprised if the next couple of updates have screwy dates as well. And who am I kidding here? I'm probably making my big confession to a big ol' empty room, since I'm 99% sure all of this sorry excuse for a blog's once-readers have long since given up on me. I'd say I promise to be better in the future, but...yeah. Lets just say I'll try my best and leave it at that!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Kyveli is 9 months old!
It's official - Kyva has now been an outside baby for as long as she spent as an inside baby! Kailen suggested throwing an "inside-outside" party to mark this important milestone, where all of the attendees would be required to wear their clothes inside out. Somehow the time got away from us and it didn't end up happening. Great idea though! Here are our favorite photos from your 9 month pics:
Soooo sleepy:
Dear Kyveli,
Welcome to your 9th month! We had a wonderful week-long visit with your Grandma Renee and Aunt Madylan this month. They came to spend your first Thanksgiving with us. Grandma Renee was afraid that you'd be timid with her since you hadn't seen her since August and are at prime stranger anxiety age, but after a couple of days you were total BFFs. Somehow I neglected to take any pictures during their visit with our camera (including Thanksgiving dinner), but we did do a fun photo session at Ortega Park with our good friends Shuka and Jojo, and Prabha and Sahana. Jojo was born one day before you and Sahana is a couple of months ahead of you, turning one in mid-January. Shuka's friend Yuki Yamashita was planning to spend the day with her, and wanted to gain some photography experience. The results came out so cute!
(L-R: Sahana, Jojo, Kyva)
This last picture, besides capturing a really sweet moment between the four of us, shows you doing one of your latest tricks: giving hugs. If you're feeling tired or are just in the mood for a snuggle you'll lay your head down on our shoulders for a bit. I love that you are now able to genuinely show affection and I hope you'll always be a snuggly kid.
We had a nice Thanksgiving at Sage and Pete's house. We got to see Mireille, our wonderful doula who happens to be the mother of Pete's youngest son, Sequoia, and a good friend of Sage's. We hadn't seen her since you were only a couple of months old and she couldn't believe how big you are now. She's expecting her third baby, and she's due a week after your first birthday! I mentioned to her that next Thanksgiving she'd have a baby as big as you are and she started welling up with happy tears at the thought. It feels very special to see her just like I looked at the same time last year, six months along in her pregnancy. We are all very thankful for you this year, our very own little butterball turkey!
Earlier in November we had our belated Bradley reunion at Harmony. Two other sessions joined us and it was really fun seeing all of the babies, including Kassandra, our instructor Kimberly's daughter who was born in September. Kimberly announced her pregnancy during our session, which was really neat! The other two families who made up our session were both able to attend, as well as a few other families that we have met through Harmony since then. Here are the babies who made it to the end of the reunion when we finally remembered to take a picture of all of them together. You're on the far left. Right next to you is Charlotte, whose parents Chrissy and Tim were in our Bradley group. Chrissy and I both attended the new mom's support group at Good Sam Hospital (even though you weren't actually born there), but we hadn't seen them in a few months. On the far right are Suman and Simran, twin daughters to Pallavi and Jay from our group. This was our first time meeting the twins!
You are really into pictures of babies right now. I picked up a couple of picture books of babies for you to flip through and you absolutely love them. . Each time you turn the page and see another cute baby, you get so excited that you squeal with delight! Here is a video of you with your favorite picture book (just turn your head to the side and pretend the video is right-side-up while we iron out our technical difficulties):
This video also shows how you can now imitate some of the sounds we make. You were saying "mama" earlier this month, but now it's "dada" all the way. Well, that and something between "lala" and "yaya". Sometimes a "ga" comes out too. Daddy even got you to make kissing noises one day, but those have since gone the way of "mama". It's kind of funny, whenever we try to get you to say "mama", try as you might, "dada" is what comes out. Either that or it's your own way of making a little joke. Perhaps Daddy has been brainwashing you while I wasn't looking? Oh well, I can be patient. It's all still babbling at this point, but soon enough you'll assign meaning to these sounds through all of the reinforcement you get. I wonder what your first word will be? As much as I'd love it to be "mama", I'd also settle for "cat" since you're completely obsessed with Pitsie and Nunu.
Though you're still refusing to be fed from a spoon 90% of the time, we have made some major progress in the finger foods department! You really seem to enjoy feeding yourself, and I continue to rack my brain to come up with new and interesting things to offer you. Some of your recent favorites include little cubes of marinated and baked tofu, pears, bananas, shredded cheese, sweet potato fries (baked, not actually fried), thawed frozen peas and mixed veggies, quartered grapes, blueberries, and as always, puffs. All with a sippy cup of water on the side - you take after your mama in the water guzzling department. We limit your water intake to 3 ounces or so per meal so that you don't overhydrate yourself, but if we didn't I'm confident that you'd be happy to drink water all day and night!
Another recent favorite are Baby Mum Mums. These ingenious little rice cereal bars dissolve easily in your mouth, and when broken into pieces, are the perfect size for holding in your little hands. You shove the whole piece into your mouth and then take the tiniest, daintiest little bite! You've also started holding out your little arm and offering your food to us, which is ridiculously cute. You explode into giggles when we pretend to take a bite and then dramatically thank you for your generosity and good sharing. Your ability to feed yourself has given us a new freedom during mealtimes, since we don't have to sit there with you the entire time trying to convince you to let the spoon come anywhere near your mouth. Now I can unload the dishwasher or *GASP* make myself a sandwich and actually eat it while you happily shovel food into your face. You do still allow us to feed you sometimes, so now I am wondering when to stop offering it. We'll keep going for now in the hope that it's just a really long phase.
We've also made major progress on the sleep front, which was frustrating us so much last month. I was getting to the end of my rope with the nighttime wakeups, which were beginning to average 3-5 per night. Out of desperation, we decided to let you cry it out for one night. This is something I intended not to do (I have nothing against other parents who choose the CIO approach, it just wasn't for us since we try to follow the Attachment Parenting style), but it's amazing what you're willing to try when you haven't had more than 3 hours of solid sleep in 3/4 of a year. The first night, after our normal bedtime routine of jammies, stories in bed with mommy and daddy, lights out, nursing and then humming you couple of lullabies, I set you down in your crib, quietly told you I loved you and would come back in a few minutes to check on you. To our utter amazement, you were asleep before 5 minutes had passed and never even escalated into full-on crying! You just fussed for a few minutes while you got yourself all comfy on your tummy with your knees tucked under you and your booty in the air, and went to sleep all on your own. It turned out that we probably had been distracting you from falling asleep by lying there with you every time. Then when you woke up at night, I only nursed you at every other waking, letting you fuss a bit and going to your crib to check on you every few minutes the other times you awoke. By the third night you were down to only 2 night wakings, and a few times since then you've only woken up once! We are all feeling the life drain back into us and seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel that you might actually sleep through the night at some point.
Since she wasn't using it and thought you might enjoy it, Sahana very generously lent you her doorway jumper. Lets just say you're a fan! You knew exactly what to do the very first time we put you in it and just jump, jump, jump! Here's video of you and daddy having way too much fun:
Well my sweet girl, thank you for another fun month. Now on to the next one!
Love, Mommy
Soooo sleepy:
Dear Kyveli,
Welcome to your 9th month! We had a wonderful week-long visit with your Grandma Renee and Aunt Madylan this month. They came to spend your first Thanksgiving with us. Grandma Renee was afraid that you'd be timid with her since you hadn't seen her since August and are at prime stranger anxiety age, but after a couple of days you were total BFFs. Somehow I neglected to take any pictures during their visit with our camera (including Thanksgiving dinner), but we did do a fun photo session at Ortega Park with our good friends Shuka and Jojo, and Prabha and Sahana. Jojo was born one day before you and Sahana is a couple of months ahead of you, turning one in mid-January. Shuka's friend Yuki Yamashita was planning to spend the day with her, and wanted to gain some photography experience. The results came out so cute!
(L-R: Sahana, Jojo, Kyva)
This last picture, besides capturing a really sweet moment between the four of us, shows you doing one of your latest tricks: giving hugs. If you're feeling tired or are just in the mood for a snuggle you'll lay your head down on our shoulders for a bit. I love that you are now able to genuinely show affection and I hope you'll always be a snuggly kid.
We had a nice Thanksgiving at Sage and Pete's house. We got to see Mireille, our wonderful doula who happens to be the mother of Pete's youngest son, Sequoia, and a good friend of Sage's. We hadn't seen her since you were only a couple of months old and she couldn't believe how big you are now. She's expecting her third baby, and she's due a week after your first birthday! I mentioned to her that next Thanksgiving she'd have a baby as big as you are and she started welling up with happy tears at the thought. It feels very special to see her just like I looked at the same time last year, six months along in her pregnancy. We are all very thankful for you this year, our very own little butterball turkey!
Earlier in November we had our belated Bradley reunion at Harmony. Two other sessions joined us and it was really fun seeing all of the babies, including Kassandra, our instructor Kimberly's daughter who was born in September. Kimberly announced her pregnancy during our session, which was really neat! The other two families who made up our session were both able to attend, as well as a few other families that we have met through Harmony since then. Here are the babies who made it to the end of the reunion when we finally remembered to take a picture of all of them together. You're on the far left. Right next to you is Charlotte, whose parents Chrissy and Tim were in our Bradley group. Chrissy and I both attended the new mom's support group at Good Sam Hospital (even though you weren't actually born there), but we hadn't seen them in a few months. On the far right are Suman and Simran, twin daughters to Pallavi and Jay from our group. This was our first time meeting the twins!
You are really into pictures of babies right now. I picked up a couple of picture books of babies for you to flip through and you absolutely love them. . Each time you turn the page and see another cute baby, you get so excited that you squeal with delight! Here is a video of you with your favorite picture book (just turn your head to the side and pretend the video is right-side-up while we iron out our technical difficulties):
This video also shows how you can now imitate some of the sounds we make. You were saying "mama" earlier this month, but now it's "dada" all the way. Well, that and something between "lala" and "yaya". Sometimes a "ga" comes out too. Daddy even got you to make kissing noises one day, but those have since gone the way of "mama". It's kind of funny, whenever we try to get you to say "mama", try as you might, "dada" is what comes out. Either that or it's your own way of making a little joke. Perhaps Daddy has been brainwashing you while I wasn't looking? Oh well, I can be patient. It's all still babbling at this point, but soon enough you'll assign meaning to these sounds through all of the reinforcement you get. I wonder what your first word will be? As much as I'd love it to be "mama", I'd also settle for "cat" since you're completely obsessed with Pitsie and Nunu.
Though you're still refusing to be fed from a spoon 90% of the time, we have made some major progress in the finger foods department! You really seem to enjoy feeding yourself, and I continue to rack my brain to come up with new and interesting things to offer you. Some of your recent favorites include little cubes of marinated and baked tofu, pears, bananas, shredded cheese, sweet potato fries (baked, not actually fried), thawed frozen peas and mixed veggies, quartered grapes, blueberries, and as always, puffs. All with a sippy cup of water on the side - you take after your mama in the water guzzling department. We limit your water intake to 3 ounces or so per meal so that you don't overhydrate yourself, but if we didn't I'm confident that you'd be happy to drink water all day and night!
Another recent favorite are Baby Mum Mums. These ingenious little rice cereal bars dissolve easily in your mouth, and when broken into pieces, are the perfect size for holding in your little hands. You shove the whole piece into your mouth and then take the tiniest, daintiest little bite! You've also started holding out your little arm and offering your food to us, which is ridiculously cute. You explode into giggles when we pretend to take a bite and then dramatically thank you for your generosity and good sharing. Your ability to feed yourself has given us a new freedom during mealtimes, since we don't have to sit there with you the entire time trying to convince you to let the spoon come anywhere near your mouth. Now I can unload the dishwasher or *GASP* make myself a sandwich and actually eat it while you happily shovel food into your face. You do still allow us to feed you sometimes, so now I am wondering when to stop offering it. We'll keep going for now in the hope that it's just a really long phase.
We've also made major progress on the sleep front, which was frustrating us so much last month. I was getting to the end of my rope with the nighttime wakeups, which were beginning to average 3-5 per night. Out of desperation, we decided to let you cry it out for one night. This is something I intended not to do (I have nothing against other parents who choose the CIO approach, it just wasn't for us since we try to follow the Attachment Parenting style), but it's amazing what you're willing to try when you haven't had more than 3 hours of solid sleep in 3/4 of a year. The first night, after our normal bedtime routine of jammies, stories in bed with mommy and daddy, lights out, nursing and then humming you couple of lullabies, I set you down in your crib, quietly told you I loved you and would come back in a few minutes to check on you. To our utter amazement, you were asleep before 5 minutes had passed and never even escalated into full-on crying! You just fussed for a few minutes while you got yourself all comfy on your tummy with your knees tucked under you and your booty in the air, and went to sleep all on your own. It turned out that we probably had been distracting you from falling asleep by lying there with you every time. Then when you woke up at night, I only nursed you at every other waking, letting you fuss a bit and going to your crib to check on you every few minutes the other times you awoke. By the third night you were down to only 2 night wakings, and a few times since then you've only woken up once! We are all feeling the life drain back into us and seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel that you might actually sleep through the night at some point.
Since she wasn't using it and thought you might enjoy it, Sahana very generously lent you her doorway jumper. Lets just say you're a fan! You knew exactly what to do the very first time we put you in it and just jump, jump, jump! Here's video of you and daddy having way too much fun:
Well my sweet girl, thank you for another fun month. Now on to the next one!
Love, Mommy
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Kyveli is 8 months old!
Wow. Just...wow. I'm in shock, I think. I'm sure this is getting really old since I say the equivalent in just about every monthly update, but how on earth do I have an 8-month-old?!?!! Soon this year will be over and January will be upon us, and then there will only be a couple more months to go until her *gasp* FIRST BIRTHDAY! I'm resisting the urge to begin planning now, but it just sounds like so much fun! Speaking of first birthdays, we received the first invitation to one of her little friends' parties (thanks Madison!). It's going to be a fantastic few months filled with first birthdays to celebrate as Kyva and all of her little friends begin to mark that special milestone. I can't believe how much they have all changed in just a few short months. On that note, here are some of the highlights from her 8 month photos:
Dear Kyveli,
First of all, big news! Remember that disappearing tooth I mentioned last month? Well, it finally popped through! One morning (November 1, in case you're keeping track) I felt your gums while feeding you breakfast, and sure enough, there was the tiniest sharp little corner of the bottom right incisor peeking through the surface. We couldn't even see it yet, but it was definitely there. Within a week, it had come through completely and the one next to it was also beginning to emerge. See?!
Thankfully, it didn't seem to cause you much distress when it broke the surface, although in looking back, your daddy did tell me you were practically a drool faucet the couple of days leading up to my little discovery. I'm hoping this will put an end to your restlessness at night (at least until we get to the next bout of teething).
For the past few weeks you've been waking up several times each night wanting to nurse. Because we're too tired during these nighttime wakeups to have the forethought to do anything else, you usually end up in bed with us so that you can nurse back to sleep and mama and daddy can drift off again ourselves. We all love snuggling together in the same bed at night and wouldn't mind our co-sleeping arrangement being a permanent one, but I'm beginning to wonder if sleeping right next to us is actually contributing to your wakefulness at night, since you tend to wake up when either of us moves or gets up to use the restroom. Also, since you know I'm right there, you also know that you can have a little snack whenever you want and the constant source of warm milk being practically smooshed in your face may also be a contributing factor. And although you're not crawling or even rolling from your back to your tummy yet (you mastered tummy-to-back rolling months ago), you're going to be doing both of those things very soon and because our bed is pretty high off the floor, we need you to be able to sleep in your crib for safety reasons. So we've been concentrating on helping you realize that your crib is a nice place to spend time by letting you play there during the day while I fold laundry on the bed or get ready for the day. Your crib is in our room so you'll still be right there with us all night, but just in your own safe little nest.
Nighttime sleep isn't the only difficult kind lately. You've also been fighting naps. It can routinely take me 45 minutes of bouncing, rocking, and/or standing in the dark closet with the door closed to get you down for what will end up being a 30-minute nap. And then you're cranky and extra needy when you wake up because you didn't get a long enough nap, which oddly makes it even harder to get you down for the next nap. It's been a rough cycle, and is making it difficult to make any plans or leave the house during the day. We had a particularly awful day not long ago where you refused to nurse all day long, and you fought your naps even more than usual. I was getting really worried because you hadn't wanted to eat any solids either. You were still drinking water from a sippy cup so I wasn't worried about you getting dehydrated, but I put in a call to the advice nurse just to be on the safe side. Eventually I was able to get you to take some pumped milk in a sippy cup and eat a small meal, and Dr. Gruver called back that evening and the next day to check on you. Thankfully, by then you had given up your little food strike and were nursing normally again.
An entirely new dynamic has been added to our daily routine now that you are eating solid food 3 times per day. Especially since you're a S-L-O-W eater just like your mama. Unlike your mama however, you've become super duper picky all of a sudden. A few weeks ago you'd eat pretty much anything I spooned into your cute little mouth, but lately you've been asserting your will and BOY is it a strong one (wonder where you got that from? *whistles*). If you're not in the mood to eat, you block our advances with the spoon with your chubby little arm. We used to be able to get away with distracting you just enough with a Baby Einstein video that you didn't notice us sneaking you bites of food, but not anymore. It helps somewhat if we give you a spoon of your own to play with but that's no guarantee either. You seem to only want to feed yourself, which would be fine if you'd feed yourself anything other than baby puffs, graham crackers and water while all the nice, homemade, organic baby food I so lovingly made languishes in the freezer. I've been racking my brain trying to think of other things you might like to feed yourself. Your Auntie Sarah suggested freeze-dried fruit bits - genius! You'll now nibble on freeze-dried apple, banana and mango pieces, as well as yogurt melts (aka freeze dried yogurt, sounds weird but it's good!). I try to convince myself that this, in addition to your beloved water, is pretty much the same thing as an actual meal. I also try to remind myself that you're still getting the bulk of your nutrition from nursing, and that at this stage of the game it's really all just for practice. Still, it gets frustrating wasting so much perfectly good food. If you're anything like your parents though, this will be a temporary stage and you'll be a great eater eventually.
We've been taking a Baby Sign Language class for the past few weeks. This is something I always hoped to do when I had a baby of my own, since I've seen the results first-hand with other babies. I was able to find us a great, affordable class within walking distance, and we've made some nice new friends with the other mamas and babies in the class. We're just getting started but I already can't wait until you sign to us for the first time!
One of your favorite activities these days is looking at yourself in the mirror. As soon as you catch a glimpse of yourself, you get a huge smile on your face and squeal with delight. I don't blame you since I do exactly the same thing every time I see you too! Here are some pictures of you and...you:
We had a fantastic visit with your Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle John Unger recently, who were visiting from Virginia for your 2nd cousin Paige's 5th birthday. We met them, Nate, Michelle, and Logan for a short hike at Sanborn Park, which was where your daddy and I were married 3 1/2 years ago. We've been back there a couple of times since our wedding, but this was the first time that we got to bring you along. It felt very special to revisit the beautiful redwood trees that watched over us as we tied the knot, but now with you. (It also provided a great opportunity to try out the super cool hiking backpack Shenoa and Dan gave us when you were born):
The day before that we all spent the afternoon at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Your Aunt Heather, Uncle Brian and cousins Shasta and Jevria drove down from Sebastopol to join us. It was a beautiful clear day with great views of the ocean to the west and the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge to the north. Paige and Jevria loved playing peek-a-boo with you and a good time was had by all:
What a busy, fun month! The next couple of months promise to be just as busy and just as fun since they'll include your first Thanksgiving, a visit from Grandma Renee and Aunt Madylan, AND your first Christmas. Then I will attempt to stop time before your first birthday sneaks up on me just as quickly as the last 8 months have slipped through my hands. We love you so much, little sweetie. We can scarcely imagine or remember what life was like without you.
Love,
Mommy
Dear Kyveli,
First of all, big news! Remember that disappearing tooth I mentioned last month? Well, it finally popped through! One morning (November 1, in case you're keeping track) I felt your gums while feeding you breakfast, and sure enough, there was the tiniest sharp little corner of the bottom right incisor peeking through the surface. We couldn't even see it yet, but it was definitely there. Within a week, it had come through completely and the one next to it was also beginning to emerge. See?!
Thankfully, it didn't seem to cause you much distress when it broke the surface, although in looking back, your daddy did tell me you were practically a drool faucet the couple of days leading up to my little discovery. I'm hoping this will put an end to your restlessness at night (at least until we get to the next bout of teething).
For the past few weeks you've been waking up several times each night wanting to nurse. Because we're too tired during these nighttime wakeups to have the forethought to do anything else, you usually end up in bed with us so that you can nurse back to sleep and mama and daddy can drift off again ourselves. We all love snuggling together in the same bed at night and wouldn't mind our co-sleeping arrangement being a permanent one, but I'm beginning to wonder if sleeping right next to us is actually contributing to your wakefulness at night, since you tend to wake up when either of us moves or gets up to use the restroom. Also, since you know I'm right there, you also know that you can have a little snack whenever you want and the constant source of warm milk being practically smooshed in your face may also be a contributing factor. And although you're not crawling or even rolling from your back to your tummy yet (you mastered tummy-to-back rolling months ago), you're going to be doing both of those things very soon and because our bed is pretty high off the floor, we need you to be able to sleep in your crib for safety reasons. So we've been concentrating on helping you realize that your crib is a nice place to spend time by letting you play there during the day while I fold laundry on the bed or get ready for the day. Your crib is in our room so you'll still be right there with us all night, but just in your own safe little nest.
Nighttime sleep isn't the only difficult kind lately. You've also been fighting naps. It can routinely take me 45 minutes of bouncing, rocking, and/or standing in the dark closet with the door closed to get you down for what will end up being a 30-minute nap. And then you're cranky and extra needy when you wake up because you didn't get a long enough nap, which oddly makes it even harder to get you down for the next nap. It's been a rough cycle, and is making it difficult to make any plans or leave the house during the day. We had a particularly awful day not long ago where you refused to nurse all day long, and you fought your naps even more than usual. I was getting really worried because you hadn't wanted to eat any solids either. You were still drinking water from a sippy cup so I wasn't worried about you getting dehydrated, but I put in a call to the advice nurse just to be on the safe side. Eventually I was able to get you to take some pumped milk in a sippy cup and eat a small meal, and Dr. Gruver called back that evening and the next day to check on you. Thankfully, by then you had given up your little food strike and were nursing normally again.
An entirely new dynamic has been added to our daily routine now that you are eating solid food 3 times per day. Especially since you're a S-L-O-W eater just like your mama. Unlike your mama however, you've become super duper picky all of a sudden. A few weeks ago you'd eat pretty much anything I spooned into your cute little mouth, but lately you've been asserting your will and BOY is it a strong one (wonder where you got that from? *whistles*). If you're not in the mood to eat, you block our advances with the spoon with your chubby little arm. We used to be able to get away with distracting you just enough with a Baby Einstein video that you didn't notice us sneaking you bites of food, but not anymore. It helps somewhat if we give you a spoon of your own to play with but that's no guarantee either. You seem to only want to feed yourself, which would be fine if you'd feed yourself anything other than baby puffs, graham crackers and water while all the nice, homemade, organic baby food I so lovingly made languishes in the freezer. I've been racking my brain trying to think of other things you might like to feed yourself. Your Auntie Sarah suggested freeze-dried fruit bits - genius! You'll now nibble on freeze-dried apple, banana and mango pieces, as well as yogurt melts (aka freeze dried yogurt, sounds weird but it's good!). I try to convince myself that this, in addition to your beloved water, is pretty much the same thing as an actual meal. I also try to remind myself that you're still getting the bulk of your nutrition from nursing, and that at this stage of the game it's really all just for practice. Still, it gets frustrating wasting so much perfectly good food. If you're anything like your parents though, this will be a temporary stage and you'll be a great eater eventually.
We've been taking a Baby Sign Language class for the past few weeks. This is something I always hoped to do when I had a baby of my own, since I've seen the results first-hand with other babies. I was able to find us a great, affordable class within walking distance, and we've made some nice new friends with the other mamas and babies in the class. We're just getting started but I already can't wait until you sign to us for the first time!
One of your favorite activities these days is looking at yourself in the mirror. As soon as you catch a glimpse of yourself, you get a huge smile on your face and squeal with delight. I don't blame you since I do exactly the same thing every time I see you too! Here are some pictures of you and...you:
We had a fantastic visit with your Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle John Unger recently, who were visiting from Virginia for your 2nd cousin Paige's 5th birthday. We met them, Nate, Michelle, and Logan for a short hike at Sanborn Park, which was where your daddy and I were married 3 1/2 years ago. We've been back there a couple of times since our wedding, but this was the first time that we got to bring you along. It felt very special to revisit the beautiful redwood trees that watched over us as we tied the knot, but now with you. (It also provided a great opportunity to try out the super cool hiking backpack Shenoa and Dan gave us when you were born):
The day before that we all spent the afternoon at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Your Aunt Heather, Uncle Brian and cousins Shasta and Jevria drove down from Sebastopol to join us. It was a beautiful clear day with great views of the ocean to the west and the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge to the north. Paige and Jevria loved playing peek-a-boo with you and a good time was had by all:
What a busy, fun month! The next couple of months promise to be just as busy and just as fun since they'll include your first Thanksgiving, a visit from Grandma Renee and Aunt Madylan, AND your first Christmas. Then I will attempt to stop time before your first birthday sneaks up on me just as quickly as the last 8 months have slipped through my hands. We love you so much, little sweetie. We can scarcely imagine or remember what life was like without you.
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Kyveli is 7 months old!
This has been a really fun month. So much fun that I didn't want to take a break to write this blog update! Kyveli is such a fun age right now. She is becoming more and more independent and can happily entertain herself playing with toys on her play mat or in her crib, which has given our arms a nice break. But even though she's getting to be a big girl, she still gets lots of cuddles from mom and dad. And she has started cuddling back! Sometimes when we're holding her, she'll lay her head down against our chests and just hold it there, as if she's giving us a hug. I can't wait until she starts giving those big, open mouth kisses! Here are some of our favorites from her 7 month photos (the rest, as always, can be found here):
Playing her new favorite game: peek-a-boo!
It's getting harder and harder to take these pictures, since she just wants to grab the camera instead of smiling for it. We end up with a lot like these:
Still, we managed to get a few decent ones:
Dear Kyveli,
We took you to your 6 month checkup a few weeks ago. We weren't crazy about your original pediatrician, so when I found that the one I had chosen before you were born was once again accepting new patients, I jumped on the opportunity and switched you. We love Dr. Gruver! She didn't make you cry once during your exam, which was a very welcome change. And it's not just our imagination - you really are growing like a weed. Since your 4 month checkup you have shot up from the 55th percentile to the 90th in height, and now measure 27.5" tall (up nearly 3" since the last visit and almost 10" since birth!). You're definitely a chunker now at 16lbs, 14.5oz - up 2.5lbs since last time and almost 10lbs total since you were born. Seeing you healthy and growing is so gratifying, especially since up to that point all of your nourishment had come from me. You had to get 2 more shots, which we always dread for weeks beforehand, but you did just fine.
On the eve of your 6 month birthday, we fed you your first solid food. We chose avocado, because you're such a California girl! You played along at first, even though you had no idea what was going on. You seemed to enjoy the fun new props the best:
Here you are tasting your first bite of non-breastmilk food:
What ensued was, of course, hilarious:
Since then, we've realized that you're kind of particular about textures. You like your food pureed smoothly instead of mashed into chunks. In addition to avocado, you've now tried bananas, sweet potatoes, apples (both baked and steamed), pears, butternut and acorn squash, green beans, zucchini, carrots, plums and mango, plus baby oatmeal and multigrain cereal, and whole milk yogurt. Your favorites are sweet potato and squash. Next up will be peaches, peas, tofu, and in honor of your upcoming first Halloween, pumpkin! We've been making 99% of your food at home, which has been easy and fun. Once or twice a week, we just make a few extra servings of whatever veggie we're having for dinner or bake up some fruit, puree it using the hand blender, and freeze it in our super cool covered ice cube trays. All of this attention to your growing nutritional needs has helped us to eat even healthier than normal as a result, so thank you for that!
I mentioned in last month's letter that we were planning to go camping with our good friends Coco and Louisa and their daughter Jane at Big Basin in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was so much fun! You and Jane really are two peas in a pod. You both napped and went down for the night at roughly the same times, which made things very easy on the mommies and daddy.
Here are the mamas in the morning, happy because we have coffee. You're napping on me in the Moby (and giving me an idea of what it might feel like to be pregnant with a 17 pounder) while Jane naps in her tent.
Being a happy camper in Jane's Bumbo chair:
You and Jane had fun playing in the pack-n-play during the day and you both slept great at night. We went on a couple of hikes through the beautiful redwoods, and as usual you were mesmerized by the light filtering through the treetops. Despite a very loud and obnoxious troop of Boy Scouts who were up and making lots of noise so early in the morning that they actually WOKE UP the babies, we had a wonderful time. We wished we could have spent a few more days there but alas, we had to return to our regular lives when the weekend was over.
Oh, and remember that little tooth bud that was *just* on the verge of popping through? Well, it still hasn't! In fact, it disappeared completely one day. Just vanished. I've read that teeth can "float" up and down beneath the gums for awhile before surfacing for good, and apparently that's what happened. I can't even feel a bump anymore, and it's been well over a month. Not that I'm in any particular hurry for that first tooth, but it keeps teasing us and I'd just like to get it over and done with already.
And finally, to leave this month's letter on a fun note, here are some pictures of one of your first experiences with swings! Lets just say you're a big fan.
We love you, Kyveli, and we're so thankful for every day that we get to spend with you. Until next month.
Love,
Mommy
Playing her new favorite game: peek-a-boo!
It's getting harder and harder to take these pictures, since she just wants to grab the camera instead of smiling for it. We end up with a lot like these:
Still, we managed to get a few decent ones:
Dear Kyveli,
We took you to your 6 month checkup a few weeks ago. We weren't crazy about your original pediatrician, so when I found that the one I had chosen before you were born was once again accepting new patients, I jumped on the opportunity and switched you. We love Dr. Gruver! She didn't make you cry once during your exam, which was a very welcome change. And it's not just our imagination - you really are growing like a weed. Since your 4 month checkup you have shot up from the 55th percentile to the 90th in height, and now measure 27.5" tall (up nearly 3" since the last visit and almost 10" since birth!). You're definitely a chunker now at 16lbs, 14.5oz - up 2.5lbs since last time and almost 10lbs total since you were born. Seeing you healthy and growing is so gratifying, especially since up to that point all of your nourishment had come from me. You had to get 2 more shots, which we always dread for weeks beforehand, but you did just fine.
On the eve of your 6 month birthday, we fed you your first solid food. We chose avocado, because you're such a California girl! You played along at first, even though you had no idea what was going on. You seemed to enjoy the fun new props the best:
Here you are tasting your first bite of non-breastmilk food:
What ensued was, of course, hilarious:
Since then, we've realized that you're kind of particular about textures. You like your food pureed smoothly instead of mashed into chunks. In addition to avocado, you've now tried bananas, sweet potatoes, apples (both baked and steamed), pears, butternut and acorn squash, green beans, zucchini, carrots, plums and mango, plus baby oatmeal and multigrain cereal, and whole milk yogurt. Your favorites are sweet potato and squash. Next up will be peaches, peas, tofu, and in honor of your upcoming first Halloween, pumpkin! We've been making 99% of your food at home, which has been easy and fun. Once or twice a week, we just make a few extra servings of whatever veggie we're having for dinner or bake up some fruit, puree it using the hand blender, and freeze it in our super cool covered ice cube trays. All of this attention to your growing nutritional needs has helped us to eat even healthier than normal as a result, so thank you for that!
I mentioned in last month's letter that we were planning to go camping with our good friends Coco and Louisa and their daughter Jane at Big Basin in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was so much fun! You and Jane really are two peas in a pod. You both napped and went down for the night at roughly the same times, which made things very easy on the mommies and daddy.
Here are the mamas in the morning, happy because we have coffee. You're napping on me in the Moby (and giving me an idea of what it might feel like to be pregnant with a 17 pounder) while Jane naps in her tent.
Being a happy camper in Jane's Bumbo chair:
You and Jane had fun playing in the pack-n-play during the day and you both slept great at night. We went on a couple of hikes through the beautiful redwoods, and as usual you were mesmerized by the light filtering through the treetops. Despite a very loud and obnoxious troop of Boy Scouts who were up and making lots of noise so early in the morning that they actually WOKE UP the babies, we had a wonderful time. We wished we could have spent a few more days there but alas, we had to return to our regular lives when the weekend was over.
Oh, and remember that little tooth bud that was *just* on the verge of popping through? Well, it still hasn't! In fact, it disappeared completely one day. Just vanished. I've read that teeth can "float" up and down beneath the gums for awhile before surfacing for good, and apparently that's what happened. I can't even feel a bump anymore, and it's been well over a month. Not that I'm in any particular hurry for that first tooth, but it keeps teasing us and I'd just like to get it over and done with already.
And finally, to leave this month's letter on a fun note, here are some pictures of one of your first experiences with swings! Lets just say you're a big fan.
We love you, Kyveli, and we're so thankful for every day that we get to spend with you. Until next month.
Love,
Mommy
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