71st Day for Kylie May

Kylie and I had a little rough start this morning, and by morning I mean 11:30ish. Kylie and I had just rolled out of bed, trying very hard not to wake a very sleepy Craig. She was in a great mood, she had just nursed, clean diaper and it was time to pick an outfit for the day. As she is kicking around on her changing table I decide now is a good time to try and cut her nails. Now I know you are supposed to try and cut them while the baby is sleeping, but lately she has been a pretty light sleeper and I have not wanted to risk waking her up. At the same time I have been suffering the consequences, those little nails scratch me every time she nurses. She likes to put her hands on either side of my breast and paw at me as if she was a little kitten, ouch. So I start clipping her nails...we are doing good, one hand down...still doing good 9 fingers done, one thumb to go...ahhhhhhhhh massive fail! I totally catch a small piece of her skin on her thumb, she starts to cry, I pick her up as fast as I can, I start to cry, we are both a mess. I reassess her thumb, yep, there is a tiny little drop of blood, I just can't believe it, I felt so horrible. Not wanting to make it hurt anymore, but wanting to clean it or put something on it at least, I decide to experiment. Breast milk has such wonderful healing power (side note, you can use it to cure pink eye, yep just drop a little milk in the eye and ta-da, fixed) so I express a little breast milk and dab it on her thumb. Who knows if it helped, but it made me feel better, at least the breast milk would have killed any little germs that might have gotten in there (another side note, I think someone should start an acne treatment line that uses breast milk, I bet it would work and it would be all natural).

After we both finally calmed down, Kylie and I made a trip to Trader Joes. Got home and fixed a little lunch then it was time for me to get ready for work. I worked a 4 hour shift at the hospital today, 3-7pm then ran to the BI to teach. Craig went in to work at the hospital at 7 tonight, leaving Melissa here with Kylie until I got home. Kylie was not such a happy girl this evening, she took a couple bottles of breast milk, but burped a lot and seemed uncomfortable. The only way to keep her from fussing was for Melissa to hold her facing outward and walk around the house, thank goodness we have a great little circle though the house, it makes the laps a little easier to do :o) When I got home Melissa was worn out and Kylie was ready to nurse and so sleepy. Once we got her ready for bed it only took her a few min to fall asleep.  I am not sure how Craig's afternoon was with Kylie, but overall I would say the day was not one of her best. The injured finger in the morning and the uncomfortable tummy in the evening were the low points, but she still spent some time being the smiley Kylie we know and love.
More to come later
-Natalie 

Kylie and Great-Grandma Gloria on Mother's day in their matching pink sweaters

Kylie May's 70th Day

After a somewhat restless night, Kylie enjoyed the first part of the day lounging around with her mommy and daddy. She is gaining better small muscle control in her hands, it is so fun to see her developing so fast. Craig got to spend some good quality time with his little princess today before heading to work tonight. Kylie then got to come visit me at the dance studio while I taught a few classes. Auntie Melissa took care of Kylie during the few hours I was teaching. Overall is was a great day, we took her band-aids off today, her little legs seem to be doing fine after her first immunizations.
More to come later,
Natalie

Holding her Sophie toy

She is still figuring out her hands

Kylie May and Her Recovery Day 69

Just like a calm follows the storm (unless we are talking Katrina, or some other major disaster), some mellow Kylie moments fluttered into our house today.  Needless to say, Nat and I were a little on edge when the miniature slumbering bear woke up this morning.  We had the tylenol in one hand and a pacifier in the other (yes we both had each of those things...it was a scary moment).  Much to our surprise and delight, Kylie woke up with a big ole cheeser on her face.  Our little fun monkey was back!  I did some very murse like assessments of her little thighs and decided, "Yep. Looks like she'll live".  Don't get me wrong, there was no way we were even thinking about taking the band-aids off, but we were glad to see her feeling well.  I think before the next set of shots I'll see if I can just slip her a nice horse tranquilizer into the ole bottle.

Since Kylie was feeling well we said, "the show must go on", and that is exactly what happened.  The hardest part of the day was hearing Kylie tell every person we saw about her traumatic vaccine experience yesterday.  We were forced to re-live the escapade over and over again.  One beautiful thing I have learned about infants, however, is that they have the memory of a goldfish.  One quick Fox Trot around the dance floor at Shake It Up was all Kylie needed to put the painful memories behind her, and move on to better days.  Now we just tell her the band-aids are a fashion statement.  Kylie's cool Shake It Up moment of the day was her getting to meet Kerry and Kyle's newest addition (Cloey, the Australian Shepard).  Kerry and Kyle got Cloey on Saturday, but she was actually born 5 days after our little munchkin.  The funny thing is that Cloey also had a Dr. appointment (ok it was a vet...same thing) and got weighed and had some shots.  Turns out,  Cloey is 4 pounds lighter than Kylie.  Yep.  You haven't misinterpreted me here.  We are comparing our child to a puppy.  Don't really know why, but they just seemed like some fun similarities.

This afternoon Kylie and I hit the road, so that Nat could have a little mommy time (to paint her nails).  We had a great walk to Gerrard's Market (where we ran into Uncle Kevin), and just perused the aisles to kill some time.  Kylie started the journey in the sling, but about 2 minutes (that may be generous) down the road, she was in her favorite spot (right on dad's shoulder), and that is where she fell asleep, and stayed.  I have to take advantage of these moments now, because there will come a day (probably sooner than later) that Kylie will choose to stay and paint her nails with mom rather than go cruising with dad.  Worse yet, Kylie will insist that I stay and join the nail painting party and get turned into a finger nail mosaic.  Yikes!  

The princess stomped out a few notes on the new piano (Nat's parents old one), then fell fast asleep at her usual 9:00pm bed time again tonight.  Nat and I were relieved to have our happy girl back today, and are now just enjoying some relaxation before we cozy up to the little one this evening.

more to come soon,

-Craig-

The big stare down. Had we not intervened, these two might still be checking each other out.

Kylie had a little Bumbo time today, and of course, spent most of it staring up at the ceiling.

She is simply making a point here:  "Hands are overrated"

Nothing like a little ebony and ivory between your toes in the evening.

Kylie May and Her Parent's Heart Broken Day 68

The foreword sets the tone for an entire book.  Here's my foreword for tonight's blog.  This was the WORST day of parenting EVER!  Okay.  Now that the tone has been set, let me deliver the details.  Background info:  Kylie is the sweetest, cuddliest, friendliest, easy tempered, and predictable (she always clues us in to what she needs) baby around.  She never fusses, without good reason or fair warning.  If she does get cranky, it's because she has probably given us about ten different cues that something is wrong and each one boarded a 747 and flew over our heads.  Most of the time, she is just as happy and content as a shop-a-holic at Nordstrom on Black Friday.  Nat and I have worked really hard, and are still working hard, to nurture this relaxed temperament.  It is our goal to create the most baby-friendly environment we can for the little nugget.  One that is free from unnecessary stress, frustration, or pain.  pause here for mini soap box: (Nat and I are of the opinion that too often kids are subjected to overwhelming, uncomfortable, and stressful situations because they are convenient for the parents)  

Play:  back to the story.  Today was Kylie May's first Immunization day.  At this point, I have to reiterate the foreword.  This was the WORST day EVER.  Nat and I are both in the medical field and we understand the importance of immunizations, but the thought of Kylie having to get poked with needles pretty much broke our hearts.  We opted against getting all the shots (it was going to be 5 or 6...really?) in one day, and instead decided to only get 2 (don't tell Kylie I said only).  We are working on doing a modified (less aggressive) immunization schedule.  I have to give Natalie a ton of credit.  We both went to the Dr. appointment but I had to leave before the doc/shots came in (work day). It took everything in my power to not grab Kylie and take her out of the room with me.  "Nope doc.  Sorry.  We aren't buying today.  Just looking."  I resisted though, and  Nat tackled the ordeal alone.  Her and Kylie were both so brave.  I nearly cried just thinking about her getting attacked by the dark spawn (injection).  I couldn't have stomached seeing it (Yes, I am a Peds ICU nurse.  It's different with your own baby).  Nat said Kylie cried harder than she has ever seen or heard. It still hurts to hear it.  When I got home from work.  I witnessed the appearance of a sad, dejected, hurt (emotionally and physically), overwhelmed, and uncomfortable little girl.  It was heartbreaking to see smiley Kylie turn into cry-lie Kylie.  The look on her face said she was trying so hard to be brave and tough, but she just kept crying inconsolably every time she moved her little band-aided legs.  To me there was nothing more helpless than seeing our little one that way. I was one sad dad. Anyone know a deserted island where there are no diseases and no vaccinations?  

 Walking through the door and seeing her so sad was the day's low point, but like all good stories, the final chapter is a happy one.  I have titled it "Tylenol.  Our dear friend"  Nat and I really didn't like the idea of introducing medicine (the first thing she has ever had besides breast milk) to the little one, but we liked the idea of her being in pain even less.  After a quick shot (no. not that word again) of tylenol cry-lie Kylie was back to smiley Kylie.  She started smiling, cooing, and playing with us again.  Seeing her happy really settled our nerves, and put our tiny family universe back into alignment.  Finally, the day caught up with her and she fell fast asleep.  In the end, the day ended just the way it started....with a happy little girl, and for that,  we are thankful.

more to come soon,

-Craig-

p.s. she was 11pound 13 ounces and 25 inches long today.  Preliminary reports are pending but it seems pretty evident that she was using stilts and hiding rocks in her diaper.  the fines will be severe miss Kylie.

Nope.  The shots didn't really help the crazy hair.  Well, at least we tried.

Kylie May's First Beach Day (67)

Natalie here... where do I begin? I had an amazing first Mother's Day. I was already awake and up when Craig got home from work. He didn't say "good morning" or "hi" when he saw me, he just said "what are you doing up? go back to bed you are ruining everything." So, with my hair and makeup already done, I climbed back in bed. For the next 10 minutes I heard Craig rushing around, in the kitchen, back to the living room, to the bathroom and back to the kitchen. What was he doing? When he was done, Craig came in the room and handed me a little card that told me Kylie had left notes about why she loves her mommy. So I got up I walked into the living room and was surprised to see little cards taped all around the room. As it turns out there were about 35 taped all around the house. Each card read "Why I love my mommy" on the top and wonderful statements about how I take care of her, how I talk to her, feed her, change her, and on and on. I was in tears as I continued to find the little notes and read all the wonderful reasons Kylie loves me. This gift was so special because it really showed me how much Craig appreciates what I do for our little girl. He put in SO much effort to make all the little cards. They were cut out cute, with stickers and everything, but the truly amazing part was the wonderful words that were inside. I am planning to make a little book out of them with photos, I want to make sure I can always have his wonderful words to encourage me.

Once Kylie woke up we went and had a delicious brunch at my parents house with my Grandma and Grandpa. It is always wonderful to spend time with my family and so fun to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom and grandma.

Next we were off on our adventure, Craig surprised me with a little "stay-cation" (what we call vacations that are only a day or two and close to home). He had made reservations at the Hyatt in Newport. We had a wonderful time walking around Balboa Island and enjoying the beautiful evening. It was Kylie's first night in a hotel and she loved it (probably because we got a king size bed so she had more room to spread out). Neither Craig nor I got very much sleep the night before, so we proudly went to bed with Kylie at 9:30pm, can't remember the last time I went to bed so early, probably elementary school :o)

This morning we enjoyed sleeping in and some good play time with Kylie. She had started to notice her hands more and more. This morning she spend about 20 min looking at her right hand while she opened and closed it. She even worked hard and grabbed her passy when we held it in front of her. It is so amazing to see her develop.

We then headed down to the beach. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, but it was a little on the windy side. Kylie stayed bundled and didn't get to play in the sand or water. We stayed for about 2 hours before heading back home, it was a wonderful and relaxing day. Craig and I love that fact that we can drive 1.5 hours and stay one night and actually feel like we got away and had a little stay-cation. Kylie was such a trooper, we can't wait for Johnson Beach Week in July, it will be so fun!

This evening Kylie and I walked to my parents for dinner and rearranging their furniture, while Craig went to work another night shift. He hopefully has the next two days off so we will get some more family time in then.
More to come soon,
Natalie

Four generations on Mother's Day

Kylie jumping on the bed at the hotel

Enjoying the afternoon in Balboa Island

Kylie staring at her hand, she was just so fascinated.

First time to the beach!

Blocking the wind so we could stay warm.

Not so happy when the sun got in her face (thanks Worthley family for the hat!)

Having a little naked time in the back of the car before the drive home.

Making faces at her daddy.

Just arrived at Grandma and Grandpas, happy to see them and Auntie Melissa.

Kylie May and Her First Mother's Day 66

Well. Kylie made sure her mommy knew how much she loves her today. Not just today, but since the supreme authority on on everything (Hallmark) says we are supposed to celebrate mom, what choice did Kylie (or any of us)really have? Can you imagine getting busted by the hallmark authorities? You would be publicly ridiculed in all greeting cards from now until the apocalypse (don't worry it's not as long as it sounds. The Mayans secretly told me that we only have 7 months left). The afternoon brought with it a surprise trip to... Drum roll please....Newport Beach/Balboa Island. We are spending the night down at the Hyatt, which was conveniently located for a short stroll to the island. It was Kylie and I's first trip there so after we got over being nervous of all the new things, we had a great time. Since I'm limited to iPad typing, which unlike apocalyptic prophecies, is much worse than it sounds, I will wrap it up and save more for next time. We plan to spend the morning down here tomorrow, and then head back to our serfdom awaiting us in the IE. More to come soon, -Craig-

Kylie May's Big Day 65

Kylie and I hung out around the house this morning while Craig got some sleep. Kylie enjoyed sitting in her swing with just a diaper on, it was so nice and warm out. Once Craig got up we took Kylie on her first trip to Target. She had a great time and tried to convince Craig and I that she needed a few new outfits, we held strong and made it out with only the essentials. Craig left for work and Kylie and I went to a going away party for my coworker Juan and his wife Amber. It was great to spend a little time with them before they leave, Juan and I started at Shake It Up the same week, it won't be the same without him there.
Kylie and I came home to a new addition in our dinning room...a piano. This piano was in my house as a kid and it has been housed with another family for the past 8 years. Tonight it found a new home in our little dinning room. I hope having a piano in our house will encourage me to start playing again. My sister and Craig's dad are beautiful piano players, I hope we get to enjoy some of their talent when they are here. We enjoyed having a piano around when we were little, I hope Kylie will enjoy it too!
 My bosses and good friends Kerry and Kyle stopped by late this evening. They introduced me to the newest addition to their family, an Australian Sheppard puppy! She doesn't have a name yet but she is oh so cute. She was born just 5 days after Kylie so they are almost the same age and close to the same size :o) Kylie was already sleeping so she didn't get to meet the cute pup, but I'm sure she will soon.

Time to go climb in with the little pumpkin and get some good sleep, Craig has a Mother's Day surprise for me tomorrow, yeah.

-Natalie

Naked swing time, so fun!

Auntie Melissa calls her "Boomer", apparently Kylie means boomerang, who knew :o)