Rice Cereal, Squash, and Peaches, Oh My!

The past couple weeks mark another huge milestone for Kaylee. We started her on solids on the advice of her pediatrician, since she was showing signs of being interested and acting hungry despite drinking 32-40 oz. of formula each 24 hours. She is eating from a spoon like a champ now, though it took a little practice. Also, since eating food is MUCH messier than drinking bottles, we got her a booster chair that attaches to a regular chair. It's made by Fisher Price and is really easy to keep clean (no cracks for food gunk to build up in) and has a food tray and lid that snaps into the tray table portion - they're even dishwasher safe! Plus it will turn into a regular booster without a back or tray later, when she's older but still needs to sit higher. Here are a couple movies and pics of her chowing down:

Kaylee's very first taste of rice cereal.

Kaylee's second time eating cereal, this time on
the kitchen counter in her Bumbo chair + tray.
Easier than holding her in our arms but we need
something stable and safe that has a safety belt
to keep her strapped in! You can see she's happy
to eat food, though!


Kaylee's shiny new booster chair!

Kaylee eating some sweet potatoes for lunch
the other day, in her chair. She's got the whole
spoon thing down pretty good now, and she is
digging the sweet potatoes, just like her daddy!

In the world of play, Kaylee got a cute little dinosaur ball pit from her Grandmother for Christmas this year, and we have played with the balls with her so far, even though she's still too little to sit inside the ball pit part of the dinosaur. She seems to like it when Daddy covers her in the brightly colored balls... we got lots of giggles and smiles out of her when we rolled the balls all over her body and all around her...

Whoah! Check out all these balls!

Just hanging out with Mom after
playing in the big pile of balls...

We still spend a lot of time in the rocker/recliner chair snuggling. One new development, however, is that we've started to put her down for naps and evening bed while she's still awake. If we get it right, it only takes her a few minutes to fall asleep, and it's so cute to hear her contented sleepy sighs as she drifts off. She has also started waking up and talking and playing rather than crying and fussing...

Kaylee playing in her crib after waking up...

Here we are, assuming the snuggle position...
Usually it's only a few minutes from this point
when Kaylee starts to nod off and we carry her
into her bedroom for sweet dreams...

Here we are in the chair again for more
snuggle time. We seem to do this a lot -
but we all enjoy it, so that's what matters!

Something else that's really taken over in the past week is the teething. When her gums are really itchy and she's chewing everything in sight, she starts fussing and whining usually by late afternoon and all evening. A little baby Anbesol rubbed on her gums and some Tylenol for inflammation usually take the edge off so far. Sometimes she wants to chew on a cold wet facecloth, which feels good. We have a couple really cool teethers, as well - I found these RazBaby silicone teether/pacifiers that are berry shaped at Walmart.com. They are a little big for sucking, but great for chewing on, and they're soft and kinda sproingy and she has been really chewing on them in the last few days. Sometimes she chews on the berry part, and sometimes she chews on the leaf or the ring - it's all silicone, so she doesn't seem to care which part makes it into her mouth. We also have a vibrating teether, a teether hippo (stuffed animal with teether feet), rubber ring teethers, and the traditional water filled teething ring you keep cold in the refrigerator. She has also started going for my face and her Nana's face - we'll think she's wanting a snuggle and instead she grabs us around the head and starts biting us on our jaw line or chin. At first it was just funny, but she's actually biting pretty hard now and I know that as soon as those teeth are anywhere near the surface that it'll be pretty painful, so we'll have to try redirecting her chewing to her teethers.

Trying to take a bite out of Nana's face!

Kaylee is also starting to show some preference for some of her toys and books over others. Monkey is currently one of her favorites. He came from Aunt Courtney, and we all love him. We might have to pick up another one to have a spare on hand just in case this one gets destroyed (read: loved to death!) or lost or something...

She attacks it when she's in a giggly teething aggressive mode:

And she likes to play with it quietly when she's laying on the floor or practicing sitting in her Boppy pillow:

Sitting on the floor in her Boppy
pillow, having some monkey time!

OK, sitting lesson is OVER and it's just
monkey time now! Monkey is so fun!

Getting a few ZZZ's... Monkey is also
taking a break from some rough play.
You can see his nose isn't too far from
Kaylee's face, ready for when she wakes up!

Here are a couple more pics, just for the cuteness factor.

Kaylee sitting pretty on the couch...

Kaylee sitting kinda slouchy in Mama's lap after a meal.

Until next time!

Four Months!

We can't believe Kaylee turned four months old yesterday! She has changed soooo much. She can hold her head up with no lolling at all, she can stand up with assistance, she is starting to be able to sit up for short periods of time with minimal support, she laughs out loud, she's starting to roll over, she talks and coos, and she's just the most amazing, wonderful, cute little person!

We love her chubby cheeks, her chubby legs and feet and hands, her cute little fingers and toes, and her smiley face! When Kaylee smiles, she really lights up the whole room and you can't help but smile back at her! She smiles with her whole face, especially her eyes!

Kaylee taking a small nap in our recliner (we're in the room with her,
of course!). She used to be a tiny little ball of curled up baby in the
corner and now she is stretched out all the way across with her legs
flopped up on the arm, like most people like to sit in a recliner!

Kaylee and Daddy - quite a sight in her brown

fuzzy jammies with the pink polkadots!

Today was her four month checkup and vaccinations, so let's start with stats to see how big she's gotten:

Four Months: 1/6/09
weight 13 pounds 10 ounces 50th percentile
height 24 inches 45th percentile
head circumference 41.6 cm 50th percentile

Three Months: 12/8/08
weight 11 pounds 11 ounces

Two Months:
weight 9 pounds, 6 ounces 25th percentile
height 21 1/4 inches 25th percentile
head circumference 38 cm 25th percentile

Three Weeks:
weight 6 pounds, 2 ounces

Two Weeks:
weight 5 pounds, 10 ounces 5th percentile
height 20 inches 25th percentile
head circumference 35 cm 25th percentile

One Week:
weight 5 pounds, 7 ounces

Day we came home from Hospital (3 days old) 9/8/08:
weight 5 pounds, 8 ounces

Birth Day 9/5/08:
weight 5 pounds, 15 ounces 5th percentile
height 20 inches 75th percentile

So, she's catching up. I guess it's better to fall somewhere in the middle than to be on one end or the other, as far as having doctors being concerned about developmental stuff.

We're going to start Kaylee on rice cereal this week as well. I noticed her eyeballing my pizza slice last week and she has been kinda watching us while we eat for a while, so I think she's starting to make associations with food and our mouth. It will be fun to see what foods she likes and doesn't like over the next several months. Once we get the cereal thing under control, we'll move on to yellow veggies, fruits, and green veggies. One food at a time, just to make sure there are no reactions, and the green stuff comes last because it's typically the most gassy, and her digestive system will be more mature by then. At least that's the theory... I'm sure we'll get lots of pictures of her with different foods on her face. I guess it's time to get her a booster chair to attach to one of our chairs.



Some other new stuff going on here in the last week...

Kaylee's exersaucer arrived.... Here's a couple pics of her playing in it. It's so cute and so pink, and it looks like she enjoys it. It took a while to get it put together after it arrived... there were a LOT of pieces. But it's so fun and so girly, and Kaylee seems to like playing with the toys that are attached to it. Thank you, Nana!

Kaylee exploring her new exersaucer's toys...

Big Smile!

Also, we were surprised with a gift of a nice new crib for Kaylee. It's a gorgeous honey oak crib with a Pooh relief that's painted on one end, and it looks beautiful in Kaylee's room. It only took a little while to get it set up, as it was mostly together in the box. It even matches the dressers that are already in the room. Kaylee has been sleeping very well in it during the night time as well as nap time. Thank you, Grandmother!

Pooh's Place!

Kaylee checking out her new sleeping digs...

Another big smile...

So it's been a busy couple weeks! Until next time...

Ian, Georgine, & Kaylee :)

Movie Goodness...

Here are a couple of movies of Kaylee figuring out the exersaucer at Nana's house...

Kaylee's first few seconds in the Exersaucer -
getting her bearings...




Kaylee after a few minutes - see how she is
already on her feet and moving around?




Kaylee getting more brave and daring to take
a look around, even though the thing is moving...
You can see Mom and hear me in the background.

I thought it was fun watching Kaylee get oriented and then seeing her put it together about how to move around and play. It's so neat to see how quickly kids pick up on stuff and how they learn.

I'm excited about the exersaucer she got for Christmas (which should arrive this week sometime, depending on the holiday delivery schedule). Here's what is arriving:


Evenflo Mega Tea Party Activity Center - It's so cute, and PINK! Here's part of the description:

The Evenflo exersaucer mega tea party is mega fun for your baby! The charming pink tea party theme and toys were specifically created to be age appropriate to help your little princess achieve 10 important milestones. Your baby will become your source of entertainment as you watch her laugh, play and learn!

• Innovative design makes travel and storage easier as it folds significantly smaller than other models
• Variety of age appropriate toys designed with fun and learning in mind to help babies achieve 10 important developmental milestones
• Features a variety of songs to help musical development and cause and effect learning
• All toys are designed to help develop baby's gross motor skills, fine motor skills, object exploration, cause/effect learning, self awareness, tactile development, visual development, object permanence, hand eye coordination and musical development
• Baby can rock, spin or bounce to promote physical exercise to develop baby's neck, back and leg muscles
• Landscaped tray surrounds baby so all toys are close at hand
• Three position height adjustment grows with your child to allow for longer use
• Three flip-down feet provide a stationary position for younger babies until they're ready to rock
• Seat can lock in multiple positions
• Built-in carry handle makes travel a cinch
• Removable, washable seat pad

It got really good user reviews, and I think we'll get lots of fun out of it. Kaylee's starting to not want to be set down just anywhere - she likes to be upright and able to interact and be involved in what we're doing, and this exersaucer will help facilitate that.

Until next post! - Georgine

Christmas Cuteness and other Musings....

Christmas with Kaylee!

First of all, we tried to have a Christmas photo shoot. Why, I'm not sure, but I wanted some pretty pics of Kaylee in her Christmas dress. The one you see above is the best one we got - she wasn't really in a smiley mood. In fact, she was in a very impatient mood and we ended up with tears and screaming a few times. The next couple photo shoots I try will be on the couch where she can be propped up in a safe place without us holding her up. Anyhow, isn't the dress cute? It was a gift from some friends of ours. I recently picked up a piece of black velvet to use for a backdrop for photos and I will experiment with it over the next little while. I like black velvet because it absorbs the camera flash well and gives a clean background and allows the camera's light meter to be more effective.

Here are a few of the shots I don't like as much, but they were cute or funny for other reasons...

Kaylee furiously rubbing her nose...

Whoah, who is that guy on the pillow, anyway?

Ohhhh, it's Santa, huh? OK, I guess he's allright...
Hey, these lights are kinda fun...

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Nana and Papa's house in Plaster Rock. Nana had picked up an exersaucer for Kaylee to play with while there and we decided to see if she'd like it. It's a little early for some babies (it's rated 4 months and up) but she seemed to really like it a lot! She flopped back and forth about once, then put her feet down and started spinning around inside it and played with the toys attached to the tray.

Kaylee in the exersaucer on Christmas Eve...

And Christmas Day, after breakfast...

I love this picture of her - we don't often get
her in a quiet content mood for the camera.

And here she is on Papa's lap at the table after brunch...

Ian, Kaylee, and Georgine - Christmas Day, 2008

A picture of Kaylee on Nana's couch
in her Christmas dress...

Later on that evening, Mommy and Kaylee were playing kissy giggle, where Mommy covers Kaylee's face in little kisses and she giggles and coos and laughs out loud. It's one of our favorite activities. Yeah, I'm a big sap. But I won't get to do this forever and forever with her, so I'm going to enjoy all I can of it while she'll put up with it.



There is a bird feeder outside the kitchen window at Mom and Dad's and they get a lot of chickadees there. Chickadees are one of my favorite birds. They are the state bird in Maine, and they are just so cute and tiny and delicate and they make the most delightful noises.


Aunt Courtney and her boyfriend Chris gave Kaylee a stuffed monkey for Christmas and Kaylee likes to hold it, chew on it, and apparently she also likes to kiss it while she sleeps. Ian took this shot and we think she's so cute!

Here's one of our most common and favorite positions - Mama holds Kaylee in the rocker/recliner in the living room and puts her feet up on the couch arm to rock the chair as Kaylee is getting burped or snuggled.


And sometimes we both sleep. If Mommy gets cold, then we both snuggle under one of Kaylee's blankies. We have a few really gorgeous handmade blankies from some wonderful people who love us.

Sometimes Daddy snuggles with Kaylee in the chair as well - mostly in the evenings or when Mommy needs a break during the day and Kaylee wants to be held. Most of the time we can leave her in the swing on having tummy time on the floor, but she's very cuddly and wants to snuggle lots too.


We had a really nice Christmas. Kaylee received some really cute and some really generous gifts from both family and friends, and we are very grateful and appreciate how everyone loves her so much. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts...

I forgot to mention that she weighed 11 pounds 11 ounces at her last round of shots on 12/8. Her next checkup and shots are on 1/6/09 and I'll update her stats at that time.

We can't believe how quickly she is growing and changing. She laughs out loud now and is very aware of everything going on around her. She doesn't want to be left out and will watch TV with us as well. I started looking around all the channels with children's programming and PBS has a great children's channel called Sprout with lots of educational programming. I don't intend to have our kid become a TV addict, but I'm glad there is some quality stuff on TV. I am also starting to read to her - she has amassed quite a library so far, and I am looking forward to getting her all my favorites!

She is also not that thrilled about the swing and we haven't used the bouncy seat for a few weeks and she's not thrilled about the Bumbo any more either - I believe as soon as the new exersaucer gets here, that will be the preferred play zone for Kaylee. She can be upright, in whatever room we happen to be in, and she seems to love being free to move around and playing with the toys that are in close range. She doesn't seem to like being restrained as much as our current other seating options keep her. I think our time for the swing is just about over, and the bouncy seat will go to my cousin, and I think we'll keep the Bumbo, as we have a tray for it as well and she can have snacks in it down the road and look at books in it as well. I guess we'll have to think about babyproofing a room and getting a baby gate or something when she really starts moving around.

She has grown out of all of her 3 month stuff now and is into 3-6 months now - she's more than 12 pounds and her arms and legs are LONG. She has a pair of 6 months pants that I've been wearing on her and they are exactly the right fit. Also, her feet have grown and she is wearing her bigger socks now and will fit into her Robeez shoes in next week or two.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you much peace and happiness as we begin a new year in 2009!

~Ian, Georgine, and Kaylee

Kaylee's an elf!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I can't believe how quickly time flies...

So much has happened since I last wrote. I can't believe how quickly time flies - of course, we've been super busy for the last three weeks, too, as you'll see below.

First off all, there was Thanksgiving, which we celebrated on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. We had a full turkey dinner with the works, and Nana and Papa Green (John & Jocelyn) came over to celebrate with us.

Kaylee had another set of shots, a road trip to Florida, lots of running around in Florida, meeting lots of relatives and a few friends, a plane ride home, and a growth spurt. That was a quick three weeks! And it's almost Christmas now!!!

Here's a picture of me changing Kaylee's clothes around Thanksgiving. She thinks it's a big game and usually laughs and squirms away from me trying to get her arms into her onesies. The onesie in the following picture has now been outgrown - she seems to have had a growth spurt in the last couple weeks or so.


A few days after Thanksgiving, Papa Ted and Uncle Loran came to visit us. It was so good to see them, and we went oot and aboot (haha, private joke!) a little while they were here, with a quick trip to Caribou to pick up a few groceries and a trip to New Denmark to eat at the Valhalla restaurant. We had lots of good cooking at home too, and had a nice visit with them. Here they are with Kaylee after breakfast one morning. (L-R: Loran, Kaylee, and Ted.)


Kaylee was so tired from all the excitement that she usually slept really well when we put her down. Here she is taking a nap in her pack and play's bassinet in her room.


In the meantime, we decided to drive back to Florida with Papa Ted and Uncle Loran so we could have Kaylee meet lots of relatives. It was nice to get away for a few days - here's a shot of the fish tank at L. L. Bean in Freeport, Maine - we had a pit stop here to feed Kaylee.


Here's a picture of Kaylee wearing her pink tiara - she IS a princess, you know!!! This was taken at Robert and Connie's house in Macclenney, FL.


Here's a picture of Kaylee and I at Citrus Park Westfield Shopping Towne (otherwise known as a mall :P - stupid hoity toity names...) where we met with our best friends Matthew and Jennifer Pinder and their kids, as well as Kaylee's Aunt Courtney. Kaylee likes shopping but she got kinda tired and decided to take a nap. She barely fits in her Snugli carrier any more, and we'll need to get the next size up.


Here's the daddies and the kids: L-R: Ian & Kaylee, Emma, and Matt & Will.


A close up of Kaylee.


We occasionally had a crib available to us in a couple of hotels during our trip, but when we didn't have one, we just made do. Here's Kaylee sleeping in a cozy little bed we made up for her in our large suitcase. She didn't seem to mind... We're sure this will amuse her later in life, anyway.


Here's a small feast of her cuteness. Daddy is holding her steady in this picture. I can't believe she's three and a half months old already.


Here's a picture of Kaylee with Nana (Jocelyn) over the past weekend. Kaylee is very strong and able to stand on her own with support to steady her and keep her from falling. She's standing on the dining room table here after we've had dinner.

And here's a quick video of Kaylee from this week. She's babbling and cooing all the time now, and she's just so cute to us...



We're so blessed to have such a happy, outgoing and mostly content baby. She was a wonderful little traveler during our trip. We were in the car 3 days on the way down to Florida, then in Florida for only a few days before coming back home on the plane. She was a champ! She only fussed for maybe an hour TOTAL all four travel days. We're so glad she travels well, seeing as we love to be on the road ourselves.

Kaylee got to meet her grandmother in Florida as well as lots of aunts and uncles, and some of our really close friends as well. It was so nice to see everyone - we wish we could have taken a longer trip, but we're thankful to have had the time we did.

We're just gearing up for Christmas this week, so check back next week for an update and more pictures! Merry Christmas everyone!