Six Months and Counting...

So much has happened at our house since the last update! We are amazed at how fast Kaylee changes, how big she is growing, and the cool things she is learning! She LOVES books and she LOVES young children's television programming. Right now we keep the TV tuned to PBS's Sprout channel. There are lots of age-appropriate shows on, and she especially seems to love Sesame Street (especially the musical numbers and Elmo's World) and Caillou.

Also, Kaylee is such a HAPPY baby!!! We are so blessed to have a baby that lights up the room wherever she goes. Everyone comments on her great smile, enjoys her laughter and babbling, and we certainly agree with them. It sure makes the middle of the night and early morning trips into her bedroom worth it when she is so thrilled just to see us. She smiles EVERY SINGLE TIME!

On to stats: Kaylee was 6 months old on 3/5, coincidentally Georgine's birthday. It's so neat that our birthdays are exactly 6 months apart. We might start a half-birthday thing with her when she's a little older - not a big drawn out affair, but maybe a special treat on her special day.

Kaylee had her 6 month well-baby visit and shots yesterday. As usual, she charmed everyone at the clinic, especially the nurses. And she did so well, she only cried for a few seconds after her shots and was quickly consoled. It's so hard to hold your baby while they get shots and know what's coming for them - we're doing it for the better good of both her and everyone else, but she's so little.

Kaylee now weighs 16 pounds and 4 ounces, and she's 25 1/2 inches tall, basically near the 50th percentile on both measurements. I thought for sure she was over 18 pounds, judging by how difficult it's getting to carry her in her car seat now, but we probably have a couple more months before we need to move her into a bigger convertible car seat. We also need to consider getting her a stroller soon, it'll sure make trips to the mall easier, though they have strollers at the mall, too. The mall strollers are geared toward bigger children though, and they aren't very supportive for wiggly babies.

Kaylee also continues to eat cereal, fruits, and veggies, and is doing really well. She had her first soda cracker last week, and I'll probably try graham crackers or arrowroot cookies or teething biscuits soon. She loves to chew, but needs stuff that turns to mush. What messy times we're going to be dealing with soon!

She is teething hard now, and she really means business. You'll see several shots of her with her fingers and hands in her mouth and chewing on things!

Developmentally, she is passing objects back and forth in her hands, tracking moving objects with her eyes, developing a little separation anxiety, playing Peek a Boo, and starting to learn we come back when we leave her sight (leaving the room, hiding behind a blanket or a corner, etc.). It's so much fun to play with her and see how excited she gets when we come back.

On to the new pictures and movies!

Enjoying some floor time... smiling and
telling us big stories...

Playing with her dragon ball pit - she likes to chew on
the dragon's fins, as they have crinkly stuff inside and
make crunchy noises...

Completely tuckered out after a hard evening of playing.
This is snuggle time in on Mommy in the rocking chair
right before putting her in her bed...

And finally, in BED! Snoozing happily....

She's on the move now! We find her in a different position almost every time we check on her during the night. It's especially amusing when she ends up perpendicular to the crib bars. She's almost tall enough now to touch one side with her head and one side with her feet! When we notice her start to be up on her knees or grabbing the bars and pulling up on them, we'll be lowering her crib mattress to the bottom level. We don't want her toppling over the rails!

A couple pics during a little photo shoot we played around with. I *love* how these pictures turned out. All we did was drape a piece of black velvet over a rocking chair and use both natural light and a fill in flash. I love that there are no shadows behind her (the black velvet absorbs any shadows from the flash) and her features really stand out.

Kaylee and Monkey - BFF

And here's a shot of what she was doing while
we were getting these cute pictures!

She has a couple really really cute sleeper sets that are made of fleece and have cute stuff on the bottoms of the feet and on the butt. This particular pair has a ladybug on the butt. I believe I referred to it on an earlier post but never showed a picture...

Kaylee practicing sitting up. She's starting to get pretty good, but she can sit up for a LONG time when she's got her Boppy pillow for additional support. Notice the outfit she is wearing; in December it was too big, in January it fit her perfect, and by Valentine's Day, the sleeves barely reached her elbows! We're having that trouble with lots of her clothes - they still fit her body but the arms and legs are several inches too short!

Kaylee sitting with the help of Boppy!

Kaylee is mostly mesmerized while Ian plays Nintendo. The graphics are very child friendly, the music is catchy, the colors and action are compelling, and Kaylee loves to try and touch the buttons on the controller and "help" Daddy play.

Kaylee "helping" Daddy play Nintendo.

Kaylee in her Bumbo chair - I love her little CSI: bodysuit.
It stands for Cute, Sweet, Innocent.

Daddy and Kaylee playing. He is pretending to chomp her all up and she is screeching and laughing. We usually laugh just as hard as she does when we play like this.

Daddy chomping Kaylee to bits!

More Daddy chomping, in action...

Kaylee and Mommy playing one evening. She
gets VERY excited and giggly when we play!

Kaylee and Papa (Georgine's dad, John). We usually go over to Nana and Papa's for a sleepover every couple weeks to give Daddy a break, whether just to have a quiet night or to get some extra work done, undisturbed. Sometimes it's distracting to work from home! We always have a good time on our sleepovers, and Nana and Papa and Grampy Green enjoy the company. As you can see, Kaylee quite adores her Papa, too. Reminds me of Shanny when she was a baby...

Papa snuggling with Kaylee...

Another pic of Happy Girl Kaylee, playing on the
floor. See how well she is holding herself up?

Sometimes she gets quiet and "talks" to
us as she is playing on the floor...

I love this close up shot of Kaylee. She
was just quietly looking at me.

Yet another pic of Happy Girl Kaylee. Can you
believe how many happy shots we get? She's
so cute! (TOTALLY biased, here...)

Here's a cute series of her sitting on the couch with Monkey.

Just noticing the camera...

Going back to chewing on her fingers...

And giving Mom the smile she was hoping for!

Another series of some floortime shots:

Hi, Mom!

See how I can hold myself up now?

Mommy, you're laying on the floor with me! Cool!

I think I'm going to start chewing on my fingers again...

Here's a shot of me holding Kaylee, and my grandmother (also named Georgine!). This is taken at my mom's, the day we celebrated our birthdays together. My mom's birthday is on 2/27 and mine is 3/5, and ever since I became an adult, if we are together to our birthdays, we usually celebrate them both at the same time. This year we each baked a cake: Mom made a chocolate layer cake with a yummy broiled glaze and peanuts on it. I made a pineapple angel food cake with pineapple coconut whipped cream. They were both yummy, and almost everyone had a piece of BOTH cakes. MMMmmmmm, cake!!!

L-R: Georgine Johns, Kaylee Johns, Georgine Rioux

Also last week, we got a surprise in the mail from the Hundred Acre Wood. Aunt Jennifer sent Winnie-the-Pooh and some of his friends to come live with Kaylee! As soon as we opened the box and passed them to Kaylee, she squealed over each one. They are all happily living in the basket in the living room with Teddy and Monkey and the Pooh lovey and Bun-Bun the Bunny lovey, where Kaylee plays with them every day!

Kaylee and Pooh...

Kaylee and Tigger...

Kaylee and Piglet...

And a couple other friends from Disney World: Dumbo the Elephant;

and Pluto the Dog!

Also, a very nice lady from my mom's church made this adorable hat for Kaylee. It's got a really cute spiral pattern on the top, and it falls into a really cute ruffle around her head. Since the temps have warmed up quite a bit recently, I have been wearing it on her for the last week or so. It looks cute on her, don't you think?

Kaylee modeling her new hat!

Sometimes when Kaylee is playing in Daddy's office and doesn't want to be laying on the floor or sitting in her exersaucer, Daddy puts her in one of the small round laundry baskets we carry her toys around in. She's a perfect fit, and it helps support her as she is still working on her sitting skills and balance.

It keeps her toys nearby;

And she doesn't seem to mind! :)

I recently found a walker at the thrift store for Kaylee. Once I scrubbed it's nooks and crannies, I intended to bring it down to the basement and take Kaylee down there with me when I was sorting things out. However, she is scooting around really good and would get into the things I am sorting (tools, which are NOT baby-friendly), so we're just using it in the kitchen for now. So we have both a walker AND an exersaucer for her. She likes to be in the walker in the kitchen when I am busy cooking supper, where she can look at herself in the dishwasher (shiny black plastic which acts like a mirror) and bump into my legs once in a while, while she follows me around.

Following me around the kitchen...

Lots of teething - poor baby... We feed her in a booster seat that puts her at the exact height to taste the edge of the counter top in the kitchen. She's really chewing everything she can, at this point. We're just trying to keep clean chewy things within reach of her and redirect her when necessary. For how much teething she's doing, she's still pretty happy, for the most part. Don't worry, the teeth aren't actually through yet, she's still just gumming it here:

Oh, this feels SO GOOD!!!

Well, that was a LONG update with TONS of pics and movies. We'll try and do them a little more often, but hope you enjoy!

Until next time, lots of love from Ian, Georgine, and Kaylee! XOXO