Baby Jail

So Kaylee started crawling on Ian's birthday, May 27. Within two weeks, she got VERY GOOD at it. Within another week, she crawled so fast that I could hardly keep up with her, and I couldn't set her down without following her every move. So I was having a hard time to get anything done.

Complicating that matter was the fact that at about the same time, Kaylee figured out how to get out of her walker. I was in complete shock one evening, as immediately after I set her in her walker to go get a drink, she gave me a look (most parents will know the LOOK), reached her little arms over the walker's tray, grabbed the edge in her little chubby hands, and heaved herself out using her arm and stomach muscles. After we got over the shock, we laughed our butts off and knew we were in big trouble.

We had to get a gate. Not just ANY gate, but a BIG gate. Our living room is the simplest room to baby proof, and the TV is in there (she LOVES television!), so we had to get a gate 6 feet wide! The simplest and least expensive solution was to buy a dog gate.

So here is the new Kaylee Containment System. Not sure yet how we're going to circumvent Kaylee with the simple open/close mechanism once she figures it out... but we will (very soon!) have to install a plastic shield on the inside of the door with some cable ties or something, as there is a pet door there and she will eventually figure out that she can use it to climb up the gate.

This gate is nice and high though - higher than her crib rails with the mattress dropped to the lowest setting. I hope she doesn't start climbing out of that anytime soon...

The new gate. We actually have the joints locked, but
Kaylee is strong enough to bend it out of square, so it
looks a little crooked here, because it's somewhat flexy.

Sometimes Kaylee likes to shove her legs
through the gate and visit with us while
we are doing stuff in the kitchen.

Sometimes she just yells. :)

Starting to get a little perturbed...

Hi everybody! Can anyone come
and open this door for me?

S'mores and more!

Last night we thought we'd try and do something productive. We have a fire pit in the back yard and it had been laying in disrepair (half of the cinder blocks are broken and the walls were semi collapsed from a couple seasons of snow, and there were large weeds growing all around and through the fireplace). We thought we'd take Kaylee down to play outside on the grass, and that we'd at least re-stack the bricks and clear out the weeds and grass, and when we went down to check it out, it had already been fixed up and cleared out by our neighbor, Glenn. (Yay, Glenn! You rock!) So we decided that maybe we could have a campfire, since it was all ready to go, and we had lots of wood.

In this area, you're supposed to get a burn permit before making a fire. In Caribou, it was a seasonal thing; you get the permit and keep it posted near where you make fires. In Limestone, we weren't sure about where to get it and what the regulations were, so we did what we always do: we live next door to the police station, so we went to ask the officer on duty what the deal was in this area. He wasn't sure, so he did some calling around for us, and then offered to drive Ian over to the Base Fire Station (Loring AFB - now defunct) which is still manned 24-7, to pick up a burning permit. When Ian got back, he told me that our burning permit was only good until midnight and that we need to run out there and pick up a burning permit EVERY SINGLE TIME we have a fire. Which makes sense, in one way, but is totally annoying at the same time. Anyhow, now we know where to go and how it works here...

So long story short, we got some supplies from our camping gear and decided to cook our supper (Kaylee had already eaten) and treats over the campfire. It took a while to get the fire going, as our wood was still too green, but we eventually succeeded with some fire starter bricks (the sawdust/wax kind), and we had fire roasted hot dogs, toasted buns, and s'mores for dessert. We invited our neighbor, Kelly, to join us as well - after all, the more, the merrier, and it was such a nice evening for a visit by the fire.

The mosquitoes and black flies were out in full force, but we had a citronella torch burning behind us, and it really helped. I only had one mosquito bite and Kaylee had two blackfly bites on her little head when we went back inside. It was cool to watch the bats swooping around eating mosquitoes as twilight got darker and darker, and there were even a few fireflies left, flitting around and blinking.

Kelly brought her camera and posted the pics on Facebook, which I am sharing here with you all... Thanks so much for the conversation and pictures, Kelly!

Georgine getting the first round of hot dogs
going on a hot dog/marshmallow roaster...

Ian holding our very active Kaylee!

Roasting our all-beef Oscar Mayer weiners... mmmmm,
they smelled sooooooo good as they started sizzling!

Kaylee trying out her first marshmallow. :)

Giving it a little lick, to see what it is...

Mmmm, this marshmallow tastes pretty
good, Daddy! (see all the little bites she
took off it?)

Pure sticky cuteness!

Molly, who is Kelly's owner... :) She seemed to enjoy
the campfire and especially all the graham crackers
dropped on the ground by Kaylee...

Ian toasting up another hot dog bun
while Georgine and Kaylee watch...

Georgine about to re-place the hot dogs on the skewer
for Ian so they won't fall off into the fire.

Kaylee likes campfires!

Molly just chilling out by the fire (actually by the bag
that had the leftover hot dogs hiding in it...)

Molly intently watching Georgine finish making her
s'more, hoping for a s'more incident to provide her a
sticky, melty treat!

Eggs and teeth. And cuteness!

It's been another big week....

At Kaylee's doctor appointment last week, the pediatrician suggest we start giving her proteins and more table foods. Of course I'm paranoid and terrified that she'll choke, as she sometimes gags on anything with too much texture if I feed it to her on a spoon... but surprisingly, if she can feed herself small pieces, she seems to chew and gum on it and do OK eating it. We're still working out the mechanics of having a drink and a meal - Kaylee eats very well but doesn't seem to have a huge appetite for formula or juice or drinks - so I push bottles on her during the times in-between meals.

Tonight we decided to start her on real people food, and started with scrambled eggs. Since I didn't think one egg looked like much after I beat it with a fork, I added a second egg. She ate most of it by herself! And she seemed to enjoy it... We got some pics that also show her teeth. She has 6 in now, the two uppers have come down enough to see in pictures now, and she is chewing like there is no tomorrow so probably has 2-4 more teeth imminently approaching.

Kaylee showing off her mad egg eating skillz!

Look at my SIX teeth (and bits of egg!)

She's such a tall baby now.. she can reach up and grab my computer, the remote control, the phone, anything off my lap. And usually does so with great pleasure and giggles.

We had Shannon visit us for a few days last week as well, and here's a photo of Shanny and Kaylee. I think they enjoyed each other. Kaylee certainly seems to go to her cousins without hesitation.

Cousins Shannon and Kaylee

Taken by Shannon in the car en route to Presque Isle

For Independence Day we went to Canada to visit some of our relatives from Fredericton and from Red Deer at Georgine's grandparents. We did dress for the occasion, though.

Red, White, and Blue Jeans!

I just love Kaylee's ear to ear crinkly nose smiles she's been giving us...


Until next time!

Our Well Baby!

Kaylee & Daddy being silly!

Today was Kaylee's 9 month checkup (postponed from June, when we had some stuff come up causing us to reschedule). She did not receive any vaccinations today, but they pricked her finger to check her hemoglobin which was good, and to take a small blood sample to check her for exposure to lead (standard in this state).

So our baby girl is growing by leaps and bounds! She has only gained one pound since her last checkup in April - she weighs 18 pounds 10 ounces now.... but she has grown FIVE INCHES!!! Today she was 30 inches tall!

Also, she has been very active lately, climbing and walking around on the furniture and pulling up on everything, not even needing a good grip any more. She can stand in her crib, her pack and play (play pen), on all the living room furniture, and against the walls, kitchen cabinets, and the bathtub. She doesn't like to be restrained at all, and is on the run anytime she is on the floor. She even demonstrated her amazing ability to get out of her walker yesterday by defiantly climbing out of it while we watched her. The walker is now put away, and the exersaucer is not far behind (we're currently using it to block off a set of electrical outlets we have the TV gear plugged into).

Good thing her baby gate arrived today. We are going to have the living room be a baby safe zone. :) It's currently where her toys, books and the TV are, so we'll use it as a play area. We'll have to get a doorknob cover and install a hook and eyeloop combo on the door on the exterior door, so she doesn't accidentally get the door open.

She is also paying more attention to TV shows, looking for toys when we hide them, playing pat-a-cake responsively, waving hello and goodbye, and trying to say different words. We're going to try more foods on her as well, including more proteins in her diet, and more self-feeding bite sized foods. Should be an interesting experience.

Can't believe how quickly she is growing and changing... better not blink!