Kyllan celebrated her first birthday as a mother earlier this week. To celebrate we had Lunch with Kyllan’s sister and our nephew. Later, Laurel and I threw her a birthday party complete with decorations and goodie bags. (Kyllan thinks birthday parties should have goodie bags. I don’t, but it wasn’t my party.) Laurel did a great job of picking out gifts for her mommy. She gave Kyllan several beautiful pictures. I was actually a little jealous. My gift was slightly more mundane. Kyllan and I both recently read David Allen’s Getting Things Done and we are feeling pretty energized. She received a few items to help her get started. Laurel and I are both ready to celebrate Kyllan again, this coming Sunday, on her first Mother’s Day. As always, pictures can be found on my Flickr page.
Birhtday Card From Daughter
Your Gift is Looking at Me!
Presents!
Bubbles!
Dear Laurel,
Another month has quickly gone by and this week you turned 9 months old! Only 3 more months until your turn 1 and I can hardly believe it. Over the weekend, you met a new milestone… crawling!!! You have been doing what daddy refers to as the “military crawl” for several weeks now, but just this weekend, we noticed that you pushed up and can now support your weight and crawl. Now that you have learned to crawl, you are moving all over the place. Another milestone for you was that you graduated to the Infant 2 room at daycare! You went from being the oldest in the room to being the youngest, but you seem to be fitting in great. I was a little bit nervous because we had become very comfortable with the teachers in Room 1, but Room 2 has some great advantages. First, all of the babies in your new class are crawling, so it encourages you to move and “explore the world”. I’ve also noticed that the teachers seem to spend more time interacting with you and your classmates on the floor, which is great. You are adjusting to your new classroom very well, so that definitely makes me feel a lot better.
You are still enjoying food although you still seem much more interested in paper and non edible items. You haven’t quite figured out what to do with table food yet. We have put a few things in front of you, but you tend to play with them or just stare, you haven’t been very interested in eating table food.
You are sleeping much better recently and have had a couple nights of sleeping through, but it’s not consistent. I thought last week perhaps you were teething and a tooth would emerge and I could say that was the culprit of the , but still no teeth.
Your favorite things at 9 months are:
- Music… You love it! You try to dance and sometimes “sing” along
- Bath time… you splash your hands in the water as hard as you can and get water in your eyes and all over mommy
- Rolling over… especially when you are on the changing pad and we really need you to be still
- Crossing your ankles… you cross your ankles 99.99% of the time (in the carseat, stroller, on the floor). It’s actually pretty cute
People at daycare are constantly telling us how happy you are and you definitely are. Today when you came home, you were smiling and giggling… it was so much fun to watch! I hope you always remain this joyous and I certainly look forward to the fun the next few months will bring!
I love you!
~Mommy
Today, despite the poor weather and tornadoes, we celebrated William’s birthday.
Happy Birthday William!!
Happy Birthday!
I'll help you eat the cake Daddy!
I got you a card!
and... I signed it with my handprint!!
since I couldn't have cake... may I please eat the envelope? It looks yummy too!
In case you were wondering…. yes… Laurel still wears her helmet, but she wears it 23 hours a day and gets one hour with it off each day to clean the helmet and bathe her, so these photos were taken during that time. Below is a picture with her helmet. We are getting designed wrapped this weekend!
Two of mommy's favorite people
Dear Laurel,
On Saturday you turned 8 months old. Daddy and I are shocked at how quickly the time is passing. We have already begun discussions about your first birthday!!
There have been a few new developments since you turned 7 months old. You started saying “mama”!! You said it for the first time while daddy was out of town. I knew he wouldn’t believe me, so I recorded it to have proof! You still babble quite a bit, but have not said many other words besides dada and mama.
The other new development is that you are beginning to like food more and more. I can actually get you to open your mouth for food now. I am trying to get you to a solid 2 meals a day along with your milk. You usually have oatmeal and fruit/veggies at daycare and then veggies or a “dinner” at home in the evenings. Your favorite veggie so far seems to be squash and pears or apples are probably your favorite fruit. We just started the “dinners” last week and you seem to love them! You could not get enough of the chicken and rice dinner. We also started green veggies. Initially it seemed like you were not interested in the peas, but I think it was just a new taste for you. When you taste something new, I usually smack my lips and say “mmmmm” and you smile and keep eating, but there is always that initial pause 
You are a very messy eater. You like to stick your fingers in your mouth while you are eating, so your hands and face get so messy. Then the food on your hands gets all over your high chair try and then on your arms and sometimes your clothes. But… that’s ok because you are eating and enjoying food!
You are still not crawling yet, but you can scoot to where you want to go very well. Daddy and I think you have made a couple attempts to crawl, but you’re not quite there yet. It doesn’t seem like it will be long now. You still roll quite a bit also. I thought you would have trouble adjusting to your cranial band, but it does not bother you one bit. The one advantage of the cranial band is that your head it protected when you start rolling and hitting your head on things. The helmet protects your head so you can’t feel it, which will be a problem when it comes off! Speaking of your cranial band, you are getting it decorated in 2 weeks on Good Friday. It will give it some personality instead of the plain white band.
You are making much more noise these days. You like to scream and “sing in the car”, and you know how to get our attention when you are hungry or uncomfortable. Much different than newborn Laurel that barely made a sound!
You are still not sleeping through the night. In fact, you tend to sleep a 4-5 hour stretch when you first go to sleep, but then you decide to wake up every 1 1/2 to 3 hours after that. I am hoping it’s a teething phase or something and you go back to only waking up once during the night or making it all the way through!
Your favorite things at 8 months are:
- Jump and bounce in your jumper
- Chew on everything: pacifier, burp cloths, spoons, toys…
- Play with your stuffed elephant and chewing on his ears that make a crinkly noise
- Feel different textures (you like to touch faces, carpets, materials on couches and pillows, your crib)
- Take your socks off (and often sticking your feet in your mouth).
I love you and look forward to what month 8 has in store for us!
~Mommy
p.s. I will work on getting some videos and pictures posted this week.
First time she has ever been excited about solid food! twitter.com/CodyReport/sta…
— CodyReport (@CodyReport) March 19, 2012
Been a little over a week with the docband. Doesn’t seem to phase her one bit. twitter.com/CodyReport/sta…
— CodyReport (@CodyReport) March 14, 2012
This past weekend I decided to try supplementing blog post with tweets. Kyllan and I are finding it harder and harder to find time to post to the blog and there have been so many times I have wanted to grab a quick picture or make a quick comment on something. That, and I’ve received complaints from friends that all I do is post science articles with my original twitter account. So, now I will be using @CodyReport to tweet about personal stuff. I’ll continue to post a lot of those comments to the blog, like I did this weekend.
Speaking of this weekend, my parents were in town for a visit. We had a lot of fun just hanging out. We took a Cody family walk and a trip to the park turned into an impromptu photo session with Laurel. As usual, you can find the photos on my Flickr account.
Look who’s in town! twitter.com/CodyReport/sta…
— CodyReport (@CodyReport) March 3, 2012
Took a trip to the park twitter.com/CodyReport/sta…
— CodyReport (@CodyReport) March 3, 2012
Laurel turned 7 months old this past Friday and William and I are still trying to figure out how we have a baby that old already. She seems to be growing so fast!
Laurel is still rolling quite a bit, but she is a much better roller than she was a month ago and her arm doesn’t get stuck like it did before. She is also sitting up on her own quite well. She can sit up for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes without tumbling over and even if she does, she just rolls and looks for something to play with. She doesn’t seem to mind playing by herself, but certainly enjoys for mommy and daddy to play with her.
She is still not going crazy over food yet, but this weekend I introduced her to peaches and she seemed to enjoy that more than other foods she has been eating recently. I sent some to daycare today and they said she tolerated eating the peaches more so than any food they have fed her, so perhaps we are making progress. I am hoping that if we can at least find something she likes, it will get her used to the concept of foods and she will eventually want to try more. Most of the other babies her age are loving food, but she seems to be ok being different.
We have still not noticed any teeth yet, but she is continuing to drool quite a bit and loves putting EVERYTHING in her mouth… clothes, paper, toys, phones, straps from her carset, … EVERYTHING… except food William did give her a cracker which she did actually lick on for a while, but the moment it broke in her mouth, she looked quite confused and disappointed. It was actually pretty funny.
She is babbling more and more each day and has perhaps started to form her first word, which of course is not mama, but yep.. you guessed it….dada. She makes a continuous sound of da da da da da da, but William is of course convinced she is saying dada.
She is still pretty mellow and laid back and still loves watching football. This weekend the NFL scouting combine was on television and William was watching at one point. She began to gaze at the television and seemed mesmerized. I am not sure what it is about football… maybe all the action, but she really enjoys it. We did watch some Sesame Street on Saturday and she seemed to enjoy that as well. She also still enjoys being read to, although she is very interesting in seeing what the pages taste like… seriously… everything goes in her mouth except food.
Her sleeping is still a bit off. She’s had a few 4 or 5 hour stretches, but I can’t seem to get her back to those 7-8 hour stretches. Last week was pretty brutal when she woke up every 2 hours with a few 1 hour stretches mixed in. It was either a huge growth spurt or she was teething. She fussed and did not want to go back to sleep unless I fed her. That was fun.
It’s hard to believe I have made it through 7 months of breastfeeding without having to supplement with formula. There were some stretches in the beginning where I wondered if I would make it to 3 months, and now I can easily see myself going 10-12 months. I do look forward to her weening soon and eating more solid foods. It will be nice to have some freedom back without looking for a baby or a pump every 3 hours.
Laurel did have a first this month, although we didn’t expect for it to happen this early…. she had her first haircut. William and I had no intention to cut her hair, but we unfortunately did not have a choice. We have been watching her head growth and shape since about 2 months now and noticed some flattening pretty early on. Despite efforts to reposition her when she slept or let her sleep on her stomach during the day when we could watch her, her head is still pretty flat. Her pediatrician recommended she be evaluated for a cranial band, sometimes referred to as a helmet. The evaluation revealed she could benefit from the cranial band and we agreed to proceed. However, in order to get good measurements for her custom made cranial band, they asked that we cut her hair. Because her hair is so thick and curly, it did not lay flat enough against her head to get a good measurement. We almost considered not going forward. Neither William or I wanted to cut her hair. Although it was kind of wild and crazy, it seemed to be a part of her personality and give her some character. However, we realized that her hair would grow back and we didn’t want her to question why we didn’t try to correct her head shape. I shed a few tears when we called to schedule her appointment and they reminded us “there is a note in the system that says she needs a hair cut”. I know it seems silly. If someone told me they were going to have to cut their baby’s hair, I would have said it was no big deal, but it’s so much easier said than done. Despite our hesitation and sadness, Laurel did great and was not phased at all by her hair cut. We gave her some toys to play with in her high chair while William carefully took the scissors and cut her curly locks. I had no idea how long her hair was until he began to cut. I miss her hair, but it seems to have grown some in just a weeks time.
She will get her cranial band next Monday and I am praying that it will be an easy adjustment for her. It seems most babies do not mind wearing the band, but I am very anxious to see how well she will sleep in it. The band has to be worn 23 hours a day, essentially all the time for 8-16 weeks. I am hoping it will be closer to 8-12 weeks, but we’ll just have to see how quickly her head adjusts. I guess if all goes well, she should have it off at the beginning of July, just in time to take pictures of her perfect head in preparation for her 1st birthday!
Well… that’s the update for now. William and I will try to post more frequently, but being full time parents and having full time jobs outside the home has definitely made free time a bit of a luxury.
Below are a few pictures. I will post more including pictures of her first hair cut over the next few days.
Dallas
76°
