Summer's Coming

Kiley's first time in the pool - 5.24.09

Kiley went swimming for the first time last weekend at our friend's pool. We all got to stay and enjoy Becca's Birthday party (except Jake, who was off seeing a boy movie). A few snuggles with Mama (below) and the pacifier came in handy at first, but no tears even though it was a little cool compared to her baths. Here she is all suited up and ready to go on our way in...

She's scooting all over the house now and she's fast! It's hard to keep up with her. We bought a few more toys this weekend - one to keep her contained and one to keep her entertained. We've started baby-proofing but still have quite a bit to do. She's not opening cabinets yet so that's a plus! She's splashed in the dog water at least twice and she'll play in the dog food bowls or suck on the edge of our flip flops if we're not careful.

Kiley's sweet face peering over the coffee table after she pulls up

In terms of real food, Kiley will now gnaw on an apple slice, a lemon rind, or a dill pickle. There are only two baby foods she's eaten more than a bite or two of so far - apples and mango. Today for the first time I actually saw her open her mouth for another bite of food instead of us having to try to sneak it in.

Jake and Sydney have three more days of school! I am excited about summer and enjoying less homework and more goofing as we've reached the end of the school year. I'm a little apprehensive about juggling work and a baby along with an 8 and almost 10-year-old this summer. But, I think with Megan's help during the day and Martin's total willingness to walk in the door and jump right in, we'll have a good one. A lot of people have asked how the nanny is working out and she's wonderful!

Part of my stress about summer is not being able to leave Kiley for more than 2-3 hours at a time. I haven't had success with pumping because it's like my body just 'knows' when it's my baby and when it's not, but I may have hit a jackpot this week... Kiley has slept twelve hours through the night - without any parental intervention - for the past three nights!!! This morning I was so full and achy that I pumped on one side and got 5 ounces of milk (sorry if that's too much info for anyone). If I can keep that up and not let my body adjust down to what she will eat then I might be able to have some reserves that give me a bit more freedom. I hadn't worried about it because I thought she'd be well on her way to eating mostly solid food by now but since she's not, it's become more of a concern with summer coming.

On a totally random note, I have been hoping to get a photo of Kiley sucking on her toes. I have one of Sydney at about 4-5 months in an outfit that I saved and that Kiley has worn as well. I wanted to frame the pictures side by side but no luck and now Kiley has outgrown the outfit. However, we did finally catch K's toe-sucking on camera this weekend. I don't know why I find it so funny and fascinating (was I ever that flexible??!!) but I do...

On the camera are pictures of Kiley's reaction to watermelon and of her first hair cut. Check back for those in our next post.

Also exciting to us this month is the fact that we bought a piano and Sydney is taking lessons. She's only had a few, but went to a recital practice this week and played Mary Had a Little Lamb in front of about 40 other kids. She will decide this week whether to play at the recital with the parents. I decided it could be her choice this time only since she just started playing earlier this month and since she did the practice with the other kids. If she performs, we'll be sure to get pictures.

Jake has his first guitar recital in a couple of weeks. He is also signed up for LaCrosse this summer for the first time and is very excited.

Milestones!

We had Kiley's 6 month appointment in April and she was 18 pounds, 5 oz. She has changed SO much and I want to document it before I forget. I started interviewing nannies on April 13th and Kiley wasn't sitting on her own. I remember one of the nannies sat her down and I put my hand up because I knew she'd roll right over and she did. But, by her 6-month appointment, she was sitting - that was April 22nd, one week later. Then, she first crawled (yes, I said CRAWLED) on the 30th. In literally two weeks she went from not sitting to crawling. From there, she went to pulling up within about a week. One day the kids and I were on the couch and she was on the floor and then we saw her cute little face up over the edge of the coffee table, so pleased with herself and grinning ear to ear. Today she pulled up and then let go and stood on her own for just a second. She's not yet really cruising the furniture, but she has walked tentatively behind her little wagon walking toy.

On the food front, she still doesn't like any kind of food that we can tell. She makes the most hilarious faces when you put anything in her mouth, but she'll suck on a piece of paper all day long. She doesn't have any teeth yet but we think she's getting one on top so we'll see if those help on the path to weaning :) Right now I am still much in demand (or at least parts of me are) not quite around the clock. She did actually sleep through much of the night last night. From about 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. This is the longest stretch she has slept at one time. Martin finally got her sleeping in her crib upstairs, for which I was very grateful! I still don't feel caught up on my sleep, but at least I can see the light at the end of that tunnel... She's not much of a napper so far. She takes little cat naps - typically 2 or 3 ten to forty minute naps throughout the day depending on what we've got going on. She'll often sleep in the car if Jake & Sydney aren't back there with her. The rest of the time she mostly falls asleep nursing or in the stroller on a walk. I have to admit I haven't done the job of most first-time Moms to try to get her on a schedule, but with two older kids and their activities (soccer, scouts, football, guitar, piano, swimming, etc. - thankfully not ALL going on in the same seasons but many of them overlapping) - it's hard to keep her on her own separate schedule.

I'll add some pictures or do another entry soon with way fewer words and way more photos to balance this out, but I want to be able to look back and remember what she did when, so this was important for me to put on paper (so to speak).

I hope all of my friends and family had a wonderful Mother's Day and Happy (belated) Birthday to several who share May 12th as their special day - Emily Ortiz, Ryan Wilson, and Mona Yamasaki - hope your day was fabulous!

Soccer at It's Best

This past weekend Sydney had a soccer game. She has a game practically every weekend but typically it's not like this one. This one was different because they actually had to try to win. Her soccer team, Spirit, has been playing together for 4 years and over that time have learned to play together very well. This season will be there last at their current skill level, 4 girls on each team and no goalie. The goalie rule can be debated because most teams they played against used a goalie to try to keep the scoring in check. It usually kept the score from going into double digits, it's been a good strategy for their opponents but has not kept them from coming out on top. Sydney also has a great coach.

This week they played a team that was also undefeated and gave Spirit one of their only loses last year. They are just as good and also have a good coach. Actually I don't know anything about their coach except he wears the same hat he's worn everytime I've seen him. I think that means he's pretty serious about his coaching.





Me and Kiley sat out on a blanket as we took in the game. The girls got plenty of advice from the sidelines which came in handy a couple of times that I noticed. "move to the middle", "defend the goal", "kick it into the goal". I would say the parents have learned the game as well as the girls playing.

After the first quarter they were down a couple of goals. A little in shock but not freaking out. They've been behind before and come out ahead but it took a lot more work than usual. They actually had to run and play defense. The lead changed a couple of times and there was some debate over who was leading over the course of the game, since there is no scoreboard and it's easy to lose track. In the end Spirit scored a final goal in the last few minutes of the game. We were very excited and some of the sideline cheering for Spirit led to some ugly glances from the girls on the other team directed at the parents. It's all part of the game, right. :) In the end everyone shook hands and parted with great sportsmanship. It was fun fun fun. Sydney scored a huge goal and blocked a couple of key shots by the other team. Even so, I think we were more excited than she was. She was just out there playing the game with her friends and having a great time.



Good job SPIRIT.