Maymont in the Spring

Even though Kylah was super cranky today while trying to take pictures in the Italian Garden at Maymont, we still got a few decent pictures.  The tulips were gorgeous, perfect backdrop for springtime pictures.

Check out my teeth!

wheeeeee

We're lucky we live literally right behind an elementary school.  The weather has been so nice we decided to finish dinner quickly and walk Kylah up there and we tried out the slide.  LOVE!

 No sooner was she down the slide, she was turning around trying to crawl back UP the slide to go again!

Wordless Wednesday 3.28.12

Not sure of this whole "standing on my own" thing

11 months!

wow. my last "monthly" post. Its a little sad tonight as I took her pictures and write this post and realize we only have one more month before she turns the big 1!  We've had a busy month of sickness (both me and Kylah) so we have some idea of how big she's gotten.  My has she put on the pounds.  2 weeks ago when we took her in for her bronchial virus, she was about 17.5 lbs!  She's wearing 6-9month clothes but can easily fit in 12 month dresses (the pants are a little long on her short self).  AND!!! We FINALLY have some teeth poking through.  Its the top two, so she's totally skipped over her bottom teeth and on her way to having rabbit teeth.  I think its her way of making up for not making her Easter appearance last year as planned.  Those suckers are sharp!

Food: Over the past week, she's dropped a bottle.  We're at 4 5oz bottles a day and 3 really hefty solid meals.  We're completely off purees (except for some yogurt or cottage cheese) and strictly on finger foods.  She loves getting messy and feeding herself, and we love the freedom it gives us to eat dinner as a family.  She's become a bit of a pickier eater, deciding she didn't like vegetables anymore.  She still loves her fruit and she has been eating green beans lately, so maybe we can get some more vegetables in her afterall.  We've added watermelon and cantaloupe,  She LOVES watermelon.  I've been making home made mac and cheese and she loves that.  She also enjoys cheese quesadillas and recently had a chicken quesadilla at Chipotle!

Activities:  She's beginning to stand more on her own, letting go of things and standing there for awhile.  Last week she even took her first wobbly steps from daddy to me.  It was only 3, but we were both so excited to be able to witness this milestone.  Still babbling away, says hi and bye and "eh" when she wants something.

Sleep:  Eh, this month has been all over the place as far as sleep is concerned.  Some nights its great, others it is wretched.  Between being sick and teething, we just hope this is a bump in the road and we'll be on to more consistent nights sleeping soon.  5 nights out of 7, one of us ends up on the couch with her. 

Toys: When Kylah got sick with her bronchial virus, I had to run out to the store to get her medicine and of course I had to stop in and get her a toy, a stuffed giraffe to make her feel better.  She's been holding that as she drifts of to sleep and likes to feel on it and rub its head.  She still loves her bath time toys and her laptop.  She also loves her ride on and push behind cars.  She's actually pretty easy going with toys and will play with just about anything.

you can see my top teeth if you look closely!

Easter Pics Sneak Peek!

We had Easter pictures this past weekend.  It was a quick 30 minute session with a photographer I found on Facebook and liked her work.  It was a gorgeous day and she had a bunny, baby ducks, and gorgeous spring flowers as backdrops.  We thought for sure Kylah would love the bunny and ducks since she loves our cats and dogs, but she wasn't that big of a fan.  The best thing? The easter egg I filled with cheerios that she could shake.  Even better? when she found out there were cheerios on there and she could eat them.  We got one picture as a sneak peek of the photo session and I can't wait to see the rest.

Spaghetti Face!

Words not needed for the photos below.  The first time Kylah had spaghetti sauce, I think she liked it.

My First Haircut

So with Easter/Spring pictures coming this weekend, I was adamant about getting Kylah's locks cut.  It was getting really scraggly, between her front bangs and her back mullet, something had to give.

sporting the rattial

I finally convinced Kris to break down and let me get her a haircut.  This haircut was scheduled for this past Saturday, but then she woke up sick, so we had to reschedule.  We went to Divas & Dudes down the street, a place designed for kids.  It was really cool, she got to sit in a Barbie car for the haircut, and they had TVs with DVDs at each station - although she doesn't really pay attention to the TV.   There were video games for older kids too.  We chose the commemorative first haircut which included a before and after pic on a certificate with a lock of her hair.  She was a trooper and only started to get fussy towards the end when she wanted to be picked up.  And she looks so much better.  She's still got some length that we can put a hair clip in it, but the front is short enough that it is not in her eyes, and the best part?  no more mullet!

sitting in the barbie bug for my haircut

bye bye mullet!

this is NOT my happy face

good thing we're almost done!

I can see!!!

Pitiful Baby

Can I just say I'm sick and tired of the sickness!  Kylah was feeling much better this past week after getting the antibiotics in her from strept throat.  However, Friday night she would NOT sleep in her crib.  Kris slept on the couch with her and I slept upstairs since I was still recovering from my own illness.  Saturday morning she was still pretty restless and when I picked her up, she felt extremely warm.  Even the palms of her hands felt hot.  Took her temperature and it was 102.4.  Oh no! Baby tylenol here we come.  An hour after the tylenol kicked in, it was down to 100.9, but she had developed this raspy cough overnight as well and we decided we best take her in.  We called her pediatrician (after multiple calls to our own moms) and decided to give KidMed down the street a shot.  This was at 8am.  However, they don't open until noon.  Of course the wait for me was painful, I even had to go run errands just to give me something to do besides wait and worry. 

We got to KidMed around 11:45 and there were already 4 other sick kids waiting outside for the doors to open.  KidMed, if you don't have one, is pretty awesome in my opinion.  Its like a Patient First, but for kids.  Plus, I hate Patient First.  Its technically a pediatric urgent care.  They are open evenings and weekends.  The doors opened at noon, I filled out paperwork, and we waited.  But not long, they took us back pretty quickly and after some quick vitals (17lbs6.4oz) we saw a doc pretty quick.  He started talking RSV, which was my fear.  He watched her breathe and saw it was irregular, fast, and a little labored.  Listened to her breathe and heard some wheezing.  It all happened so quick, but it was terrifying for me.  She was a trooper and let him poke and listen, and put up a tiny fight when he did the snot swab.  They were going to run the test for RSV and we had to do a breathing treatment while we waited for the results.  Oh the breathing treatment.  Torture, pure torture.  Not only for me and Kris (ha!) but for poor Kylah too.  Poor baby had to have a face mask and breathe in the medicated air (albuterol) for what seemed like a lifetime.  She cried. the. entire. time.  Finally towards the end, she stopped fighting it, but she was still crying and whining.  As soon as it was done, she passed out, exhausted from the sickness and the fighting.  Doc came back in, RSV was negative - that's good.  Wait what? Now she has to have a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia?  Off to the x-ray area.  Luckily this was right across the hall and she was the trooper and we were in and out in no time.  More waiting.  X-ray clear.  So basically she just has a nasty bronchial virus that will take a few days to run its course.  We had to do *another* breathing treatment before leaving (torture, AGAIN).  Her wheezing was then subsided.  But, we then found out that we'd be sent home with a nebulizer and a prescription for albuterol so we could do the breathing treatments at home - fun times!  She also got a prescription for a steroid to help open her airways.  Finally, after 2 hours of being at KidMed, we went home.  Kylah was glad to be home and spent a lot of time sleeping on the couch (after fighting breathing treatments).  She seems to be feeling much better and we only did 3 treatments on Sunday and she fights them less now, still cries the entire time, but less fighting.  Kris stayed home with her today and I'll be home with her tomorrow, and hopefully after that she'll be over the hump and feeling much better.  Is it spring/summer yet and time for the sickness to dissipate?!

sleeping sick baby

:( doing a breathing treatment.

Sick again.

Sometimes you just know something isn't right with your kid.  Being first time parents, Kris and I question everything that happens, or doesn't happen because we want to make sure we're doing things "right".  Kylah's been a little off so to speak for a few days.  She started developing a little cough, nothing major, nothing consistent, and with the way the weather has been going we figured it was attributed to that.  Then she started changing her sleeping habits, for 2 nights she woke up around 3am just screaming.  She was fine once we laid down with her and went right back to sleep, but that wasn't like her.  Other than those 2 small symptoms, she showed no other signs of illness.  She was eating a ton, drinking her bottles, drinking water, playing, taking naps, and just overall her happy self.  We still knew something wasn't right.  Turns out, she had strep throat.  Really? no other signs besides a small cough and restless sleep and she has strep throat?  Another round of antibiotics is going on as I type.  However, I think she's shared her germs with me as my throat is feeling a bit scratchy.

Besides the sickness, nothing major to report, working on standing alone - and trying to get a decent picture of it.  Here's my best attempt.

a bit blurry!