Seven month update

• You can add peaches to the list of Kaylee's favorite foods. Looks like I will soon have someone new to fight for that last piece of pie.

• Since starting the bedtime routine, things have gotten much smoother. Tonight we put her right down with no fussing at all. If tonight goes like the past few nights, we won't hear a peep out of her again until about 5 or 6.

• She's pretty good at entertaining herself. Rae and I left Kaylee alone in the bedroom for a good half hour. We poked our head in periodically to watch her entertain herself pushing a package of diapers around the room.

•Wow, can she move. After she was done in her room Kaylee decided to join us out front. Five minutes after I spotted her at the far end of her room she poked her head around the corner into the living room.

• Bath time is play time. Now that she's got that crawling thing down, swimming in next on her list of things to do. She was all over the tub the other night. Crawling, diving, splashing, squatting and finally peeing in the tub when Rae pulled her out. (At least she waited until her bath was done.)

• Climbing is also new to her list. We've found her standing in her crib a couple of times. (Usually while she is wailing away trying to fight off sleep.) She's also tried pulling herself up on tables and chairs and bed skirts and dogs and ...

Kaylee today: Babysat.

Kaylee likes carrots

Kaylee today: Orange.

Wish us luck for tomorrow night

We've been trying to break Kaylee of sleeping with us since we got back from vacation. (She didn't want to sleep alone in a strange crib in a strange room – go figure.) We haven't had much luck.

Tonight we decided she was just going to cry herself to sleep.

She fought us. Screaming bloody murder she fought us. Arms and legs through the slats in the crib she fought us. Standing up (but only for the briefest of moments) in her crib she fought us. But after three and a half hours she finally fell asleep.

Sitting up. Mouth open. Propped against the side of the crib.

Never has anything been so cute, yet so pathetic.

Kaylee today: Solo.

Father's Day (redux)

I noticed the other day that I totally neglected to mention Father's Day. Since it fell in the middle of our vacation I just overlooked it.

I had already received my gifts (because Rae is horrible at keeping secrets) before we left town. So Sunday Kaylee and I wore our matching shirts. "Little Monkey" for her and "Certified Monkey Trainer" for me. Rae did manage to surprise me with a couple of cards in Charlotte though – one "signed" by Kaylee and everything. (One of the few cards I'm sure I'll hold on to for a long time.)

That was also the day we drove into Winston-Salem where G'ma had a fresh peach pie (eat your heart out James) waiting for me. I'm sure it was intended for everyone – but I'm claiming it as my own. But most importantly – I got to share (read show off) my kid with more family.

All in all, not a bad day.

Kaylee today: Wet. (She discovered the dogs' water bowl this evening.)

Kaylee's gift

Funny Kaylee story from this morning.

But Rae won't let me tell you about it.

Rae wouldn't let me take pictures.

Rae doesn't want it on the blog.

If you're dying to know – and I know you are – ask Rae.

Photos of the day

My daughter is so talented. And snot can be cute. Who knew?*

This is officially the first photo of Kaylee where I don't see a baby – but a little kid. It really gives you a good look at who she's growing up to be.

Kaylee today: Playful.

* Pretty sure you can add this to the "Oh my god, I can't believe you took that much less put it online for the world to see. Why can't I have NORMAL parents?" list of photos. We'll find out in about 13 years.

Time to baby-proof the house

A few occurrences from the last couple of days:

* I was reading on the couch and the kid was on the floor playing when all the books started flying off the lower level of the coffee table. It seems Kaylee thought that would be a good place to explore. By the time I got over to her all you could see was two little legs poking out.

* Rae left Kaylee on her bedroom floor while the two of us closed ourselves in the bathroom drying off a wet dog. Five minutes later we heard crying and when we went to see what was wrong – Kaylee was sitting outside the bathroom door.

* Not content to just scoot across the floor, Kaylee has started pulling herself up on things. (Us, tables, Eddie, etc.) And she loves to pull herself upright using our hands and then "walk" to her destination of choice.

At this rate, she'll be driving next week.*

Kaylee today: Mouthy.

* Not my car. Like I'm going to let a baby drive the Mustang. She can learn to drive on her mom's Dodge.

Getting home

All in all we had a great time. (And had some great pie.) But we had to leave eventually.

The trip back was pretty much the opposite of our trip out. Kaylee didn't sleep at all and was fidgety, squirmy, loud, snotty and at times down-right nasty all the way home. She was pretty much that kid you dread sitting next to on the plane. Next time – I'm trying to book TWO red eye flights.

Here's hoping we can make the trip again soon. (Preferably before Kaylee can eat pie – I'll take her share.)

It's shots like this that really let you appreciate how little Kaylee still is.
And how handsome I am.

"Bye."

Vacation (part three)

Quick trip to Best Buy – new camera – more photos:

Kaylee got to meet Andrew. For some reason she really took to him.
(I say it's because they're on about the same level intellectually.)

Kaylee spent most of her time being "cute" …

… exploring the treasures of GG's house …

… taking the occasional nap …

… and even managed to get some pinano time in before we left.

Vacation (part two)

Next stop – a short drive to GG's (or G'ma for those of you without great-grandkids) new house in Winston-Salem:

Kaylee and GG's first meeting.
Since we were allowed to stay – I think it went OK.

Kaylee got a new hat courtesy of Aunt Murray.
(Which we liked – but I think she preferred the envelope.)

Aunt Ruth fell victim to the kid's roaming hands – losing both her glasses and earrings. But she kept coming back for more.

Silly, silly Aunt Rose. You have two kids. You should know not to wear big dangly earrings around small children. (I think she wore them to ensure that she would be popular with the kid.)

Uncle John managed to get some time in – it was tough to get the kid away from Rosie. And since he didn't have glasses or earrings to chase – she settled for a hand full of chest hair instead.

Then my camera died.
(I still say it was working fine until I shot that picture of Uncle John …)

Vacation (part one)

I won't bore you with the ins and outs of a comic book convention. (It's mostly unwashed man children venturing out from their parents' basements.) So here's some of the highlights:

Kaylee and Bass (yes, he really shares his name with a fish) have an argument in the hotel lobby. Bass tried using his circular logic – but failed to account for the cute factor. NOBODY wins an argument with a cute baby.

Kaylee and artist Mark Brooks (who is set to be a dad himself in about 2 months) have a little heart to heart about what he's in store for. Overall, Kaylee was unimpressed with the artists. But that's probably just because I wouldn't let her play with their papers.

Allison – one of Kaylee's number one fans – couldn't get enough of the baby at the annual art auction. Shortly after this photo was taken Kaylee ended up with her whole hand planted in Allison's mouth. You know that phrase "you're so cute I could just eat you up?" – who knew it was true?

This was pretty much the whole weekend. Friend sees baby. Friend picks up baby. Friend passes baby across table to another friend. Repeat.

"Dad. Seriously. You don't expect me to dress up next year. Right?"

Getting there

That wasn't nearly as painful as it could have been. Kaylee had a little to eat and went out like a light. Rae and I didn't fare so well. It's tough to sleep in those seats – thank god it was a pretty short flight. (Not like we were on our way to Europe or something.) All in all, a successful first flight.

We arrived in Charlotte early Thursday morning and slept for about half of the next day. Kaylee, of course, didn't want to sleep in the crib we arranged for her. So she spent the weekend sharing the twin bed with us. (The hotel didn't come through with the King sized bed I requested.)

More later

Kaylee today: Home.

Kaylee's first flight ...

Airplane takes off in a couple of hours and all I can think about is what our friend Bryan predicted for the flight:

WAH! WAH! WAH! I'M TIRED! OR MAYBE I'M HUNGRY! OR PERHAPS I'M TEETHING! MAYBE I DON'T LIKE THE ALTITUDE! YOU DON'T KNOW! BECAUSE I'M A BABY, AND I CAN'T TELL YOU! WAH! WAH! WAH!

Hopefully she just passes out for most of the trip. Cross your fingers for us!

Kaylee today: Airborne.

Now she's moving …

It's not fast. It's not pretty. But it's crawling. (more)

And Maggie – I believe that is prone to seated to prone and back again.
So there.

Kaylee today: MOTORIN'.

Still not crawling

But she is totally sitting up on her own now. She goes from seated, to prone and back up again with relative ease. That and she's starting to pull herself into a standing position – usually crawling up Rae or myself in an attempt to get held.

Too much happening way too fast.

Kaylee today: Sweaty.

Off to the doctor ...

So it turns out that it hasn't been Kaylee's tooth that's bugging her. Rae and I ended up taking the kid to the Doctor of Babies' Associate (the Doctor of Babies had the day off) today. Her fever is gone – but she's got a rash that makes her look like an alien out of Star Trek. (She's all spotted across her forehead and down her back.)

Turns out that she's got Roseola (not to be confused with Rosella – who I'm sure is not covered in red bumps) – or "infant measles."

And no, it's nothing at all like real measles. Basically it's just a viral infection that starts off with a nasty fever and general uncomfort. Then when the fever breaks – out come the spots. (Sounds familiar, right?)

Good news is now that we're at the spotty stage, there's nothing to worry about. Vacation shall continue as planned.

Kaylee today: Spotty.

Up(date) all night ...

Yeah, so last night sucked. With Kaylee up every twenty minutes or so (screaming – and I don't mean "oh she's loud," I mean "oh, she thinks she's dying") Rae and I both got about three hours of sleep. By then her fever was gone – but either her tooth or her belly or a combo of both was really bothering her.

This morning was equally fun. More screaming while I was in the shower. More screaming while I got dressed. Luckily Max decided to take one for the team. She jumped up on the bed with Kaylee and let the baby maul her (removing fist fulls of fur in the process.) Thanks Max.

And then I dropped her off at day care. Where she was fine. No problems. She even took a three hour nap. (Wish I could have. Stupid work.)

Kaylee today: Better.

Up all night ...

Why is it that when kids are sick (or at least mine) they sleep all day and scream all night?

Personally, I'm beginning to think that teeth are highly overrated.

Kaylee today: Ask me later.

Sick (again)

Kaylee picked up something from day care again. Or maybe it's related to her teething. Either way, Rae had to work from home today because Kaylee's fever was enough to keep her home. Add to that a few "tropical storms" from below the belt and the kid's not feeling all too hot.

Hopefully she gets it all out of her system (and doesn't pass it on to us) for our upcoming trip to visit G'ma Rice. A red eye flight is uncomfortable enough without having to deal with the dreaded diaper beast.

Kaylee today: Caliente.

Another playmate

Kaylee's got another cousin to play with (or perhaps kick around – after seeing how she played with Alice). Haiti Cheyenne Schafers was born this morning in a German hospital with no air conditioning. Mother and child are both reported to be doing well – just hot.

I guess it's time to get those passports ready. European Vacation in '08!

Kaylee today: Sleeping.*

*What do you want? It's early and she hasn't woken up yet.

Desperate

Still teething – Kaylee will chew on anything she can get into her mouth.
Anything.

Kaylee attended her second party ever last nite. A kind of "going away / bachelor / bachelorette / BBQ party." I was a little worried because she was grumpy going into it – but she was all smiles for the 2+ hours we were there for.

I wish we'd brought our camera, because she was introduced to what seems to be the #1 cure for a sore tooth. Cold watermelon. You would not believe how she attacked it. Maybe we'll get one so we can recreate the scene.

Kaylee today: Mouthy.

So THAT'S why she's grumpy ...

Kaylee has had some trouble sleeping lately. She'll scream in her sleep – and roll over like nothing happened. (As long as you're holding her. If she's alone in her bed, she wakes up.) She's spent the last few nights in our bed as a result.

She's flush. Her nose is a little snotty. She drools everywhere. She chews on EVERYTHING.

She's teething.

We finally got her to let us peek in that mouth of hers. Turns out there is a big white lump where her front, top left tooth will eventually be. No idea how long it will take it to come out ... but it sure is sore in the meantime.

She won't let me near her mouth to snap a picture – so I had this artist's rendering made up. She's gonna be a cutie, huh?


Kaylee today: Cutting.

Please excuse our mess

I'm just futzing around with the layout of things. (I'm a designer. It's what I do.)

More baby updates as they happen. (Like last night? She started eating pears. And she really likes them.)

Kaylee today: Cute.