1st tooth!

Well Kylee got her 1st tooth! It is the bottom left. She has been drooling like crazy lately so we knew it was coming but she was never really fussy so we didn't know it had popped through. I took her up to Mike's work yesterday and our waitress (Amanda) wanted to hold her so we let her. So Amanda had her on her lap (Lucky's was slow on a Monday) and Kylee start chomping on her hand. Amanda said oh she has her 1st tooth! I was like she does? and sure enough there it was. It had to have popped through that morning because I just felt her gums and there was nothing there. Nothing like a stranger (well she works with Mike) to let you know you baby has teeth. I kinda felt bad that she was the one to find it but like I said it must have just popped out. I tried to get a pic of it but Kylee was not having it! She kept pushing her tongue over it. So the pic is one that was taken over the weekend with our neighbor Malachi.

Cider Mill

Sunday we had a 4 generations trip to the cider mill (My Gram, My Mom, Me & Kylee). We went to Diehl's Cider mill in Milford. It was a warm fall day and they had some children dancing, crafters and fresh yummy cider & doughnuts!. The cider mill was packed. After checking out all the craft booths and waiting in line for 20 minutes for cider and doughnuts we left and went to Calasanti's to eat out doughnuts over looking the duck pond. My mom let Kylee try a doughnut but she didn't really want it... she was to busy checking out the duck pond!

Kylee's in her big crib!

Well we finally put Kylee in her big crib. We had her in a pack-n-play in our room up until now. We had her in there at first for middle of the night feedings and then because it was cooler downstairs then up in her room. So Friday night we put her upstairs in her own crib and she did really well. She slept all night (she has since about 2 months). We had the monitor on and when we went to get her in the morning she was her cheerful self! She is so happy when she wakes up! I think that it was harder on Mike and I then it was for her! We miss her in our room ... but she is getting bigger and it was time to move her up.

The Elk Pig Roast.

Well summer has come to a end in Michigan. We spent one of the last warm days at the Elk Pig Roast (9/20/08). We went early and hung out with friends and family. My mom made a ton of munchies to tide us over until the pig. Kylee really wanted to try what was on everyone's plates but she had to settle for her baby food. I did let her try a cracker until it started to crumble and I had to take it away before she choked! We had a really nice day.

Kylee & Charlie

Kylee would like nothing more but to have Charlie as her buddy! Charlie is our 8 year old cat that is use to being our baby! He is a good cat and is mellowing as he ages but he is still not all about Kylee. He likes to watch her from a far. In the last month has started to get closer but still likes to keep an arm length away from her. Once in a while, if we are on the floor or holding Kylee he will let her touch him for about 30 seconds and he is out of there. This makes Kylee squeal with delight. The other day while I was feeding her Charlie curled up on the other half of my lap and sat with us (she no longer wanted the baba she wanted the kitty!). I think that Charlie knows that Kylee is here to stay and she is growing on him.... at least until she can chase him around and pull his tail!

Got shoes?

Before Kylee was born I was given A TON of clothes for her. Since she has sooooo many clothes I have told my Mom not to buy her any so..... she buys shoes! Sometimes she buys outfits that match the shoes (because what would she ware with them if she didn't LOL). Luckily I am the type of Mom that has her dressed everyday head to toe and that means she always has shoes on! I must say that it's not just my Mom though because she has got shoes from other people too. Amy next door knows what a freak I am about dressing her and she even picks shoes up when they are on sale! LOL The pic is of shoes that she has had birth til now and it keeps growing! She has a bunch more that we have not even got out yet because they are still too big! SPOILED! I have been told that I am creating a monster! It may be cute now but when she is 13 and wants shoes for every outfit I'm screwed! It won't be bad, I'll just tell her to get a job! LOL Someone better have a spring baby girl so I can pass them on.... (Stef you should work on that!)

Kylee's 1st cold

Two weeks ago Kylee started doing this little cough. She started doing it on a family dinner night. I thought she was getting sick but as soon as my family heard it they were all like "she is faking it"! and "that's the sound her Daddy does for her"! As the night went on I came to see that they were totally right! Mike does this little cough/eh noise at her and it makes her laugh so she now does it when she is no longer the center of attention! so we were laughing at her.... and yup now she thinks it's funny too! She doesn't do it when you leave the room only when you are holding her and stop playing with her to talk to someone else. So we now have a 5 month old that fakes a cough to get attention (like she doesn't get enough). Can't wait to see what else Daddy teaches her! LOL

Oh and she has started sucking her thumb a bit, but she does it on the side of her mouth!

But on a more serious note....

The weather is changing in MI and she does have a bit of a stuffy nose. It started Friday and I didn't know if we should take her in for just a cold or wait it out. Her spirits have been great and it has not seemed to bother her to much. Yesterday Mike had the day off so I had him take her in just in case ( then we would know what our DR does for cold because I'm sure it is only the beginning of them as winter approaches). All is well the DR gave her an RX because she is still too small for over the counter and told us to wait 7-10 days to bring her in for colds in the future.

While at the DR she weighed 16 lbs 10 oz (3 days shy of 5 months) that means she has gained 1 lbs 3 oz in less than a month! Lil Chunk-a-Monk!

Therapy Baby

Well as most of you know I take care of an elderly woman M-F. Her name is Freida and she is 82 years old. She is the mother of one of my Mom's childhood friends and lives across the street from my Grandma. We are very lucky because I get to take Kylee with me everyday. Mike keeps her home on his days off for Daddy/Daughter time. So Kylee ends up coming to work with me 3 or 4 days a week and just lights up Freida's day. You have heard of therapy dogs... well she is a therapy baby! Kylee, Freida and I play all day (hence why she is a bit spoiled!) and have a ball! She is always is such a good mood and coo's and lets out these little shrikes that just make us laugh and that make Kylee laugh at us! The first thing Freida asks me when I walk in the door is "did you bring my baby?" If Freida is having a down day (she lost her husband of 62 years last month) Kylee makes her smile. I think Kylee knows how special she is to Freida because she will sit next to her on the couch for hours and play with her so nicely.... and she is such the busy wiggle worm I can barely get her to sit still to eat these days. Things happen for a reason and we are lucky that God put us all together!

Photo Shoot #4

Well yesterday we had a little time in the morning before work so we did a little photo shoot. I really wanted to do it outside but my flowers are dying and it has been wet here. Great Gram got her the little flower hat at the Ren Fest. Kylee did really well with the photos and she smiles more now but she really wants to move so sitting still for photos is NOT her favorite thing right now! She had a little melt down but we got through it. Oh and She was also coming down with the sniffles so she was drooling even more than normal... and normally she drools A TON! So her poor little shirt got pretty wet. All in all we got a few cute shots and that's all I can ask for. She is just too cute I can't help myself!

She had 2 new experiences this week.

September 8th she rolled from her tummy to her back. She has only done it a few times but she is getting better at it and that's a good thing because she hates being stuck on her belly!

September 11th she tried pears. She like them much better than cereal! I think we might move onto carrots next. We'll see how that goes.

Fun in the BIG bath tub

Opps! I forgot one along the way! Kylee took a bath in the "big bath tub" August 11th. It was the 1st and last time. She has a seat to sit in to hold her up but she can't reach any of her toys yet. I'm going to wait to do it again until she is bigger. It just seems like a waste of water at this point because she can't slpash or play with any of the toys. But when she is bigger I know it will be a blast because she loves the water!

Cereal for the 1st time.

With this post I should be up to date! YEAH!

September 7th we gave Kylee cereal for the first time. She eats (drinks) really well and we thought she was kinda board with just the bottle so we gave her food. We put a towel down on our footstool and put her in her Bumbo with the tray on it and tried to feed her. We used the silver spoon that Great Gram got her. She got more on her than in her. I'm not sure if she liked it or not.... I think she kept spitting it out because it was so new. By the end of it she was crying and we fed her the rest of her dinner in a bottle. I guess only time will tell but I'm sure she will be fine, she comes from a family of good eaters so lets hope she is not picky!

Kylee's new quilt

My Aunt Mardel is really into quilting and found this beautiful bright quilt for Kylee to play on at one of her quilt shows. It's really nice because it is big enough that she has lots of room to play and she loves the bright colors!

Renaissance Festival

September 1st, Labor Day we went to the renaissance festival with my mom, my Grandma and Danielle. It was a very warm day but we all had a great day. Danielle got a henna tattoo and Kylee got a fairy hat thanks to Great Gram. We ate lots of great food, even a turkey leg that really sparked Kylee's interest! Kylee lost a shoe... but just like Cinderella it was found and returned! The festival is quite unique and a lot of people dress up... I brought Kylee a princess hat to wear (that only lasted a few minutes). We also saw a parrot that she really wanted to play with but we didn't think that was such a great idea so she had to admire him from a far. We had a great day and I want to take her back when she can get into it more.

Meeting Rachel

My BFF Rachel came into town over Labor Day weekend. This is the first time she has met Kylee because she lives in Arizona. I took Kylee over to the Smith's so Ray could see her and Kylee met more new friends.... their 3 HUGE dogs! She loved them and wanted nothing more but to pet them! The dogs did really well too.. and it's a good thing because Rachel's brother and his wife just had a baby girl too. Kylee got to meet Emma the next day when we went to a family lunch at the Smith's. Kylee looked HUGE next to Emma (she was only 2 weeks old). We had a great weekend and I am glad that Rachel and Kylee finally got to meet!

Playing with Hunter

August 23rd Kylee met a new friend Hunter. He is the son of Lisa, my oldest friend whom I don't see very often but wish that I did! Hunter is almost 3 and was very gentle with Kylee. They played outside on a very hot day while Lisa was having her garage sale. Despite the heat I think that they both had fun!

August Milestones

August Kylee really started to get to be fun! She loves all of her toys and has really started to play. I have been garage saling to find her toys. I have found that you can pay big bucks for kid toys and that does NOT mean that they will like them! Even if they like them you have to change them up because they get board! I (my Mom too) have found some really great deals. Kylee now has many learning toys and an exersaucer at our house and Grandmas. One of her favorite toys is a green frog rattle w/ 4 hoops on it..... she can eat that thing for days! Yup, everything goes into the mouth! She is a very happy baby but likes to have people to play with.... or at least be able to see them. You may say she is a bit spoiled but it's kinda hard not to be when she is w/ a family member at all times! She doesn't go to daycare, I take her to work w/ me and Freida and I play with her all day. Daddy has her on his day off and wants to spend quality time with her so they play. If my mom or Grandma have her they want to play with her... so yeah she is use to people playing with her! So needless to say when I want to get things done around here it can be a challenge. She goes to bed at 8 but by then I don't want to clean and I want to spend time with Mike. So yeah we might have dishes in the sink and my flower beds need to be weeded but I would rather spend time with her! (I do clean during her naps. LOL)

August Milestones

August 4th she rolled over for the first time! (from back to tummy) she gets mad because she can't crawl yet and gets stuck.

August 6th she found her feet and she LOVES them!

August 16th she started to try and hold her bottle (still needs help but she is trying)

August 19th four month DR appointment. She got her 2 round of shots (she did good). She was 15 lbs. 7 oz. 24 3/4 inches.

Go Tigers!

Kylee loves watching baseball with her Daddy! I think that she likes the sound of the announcers voice. Daddy loves the Braves but the Tigers are a close 2nd (and they don't sell Braves stuff in MI). On July 26th we did a Tiger's photo shoot and she had pink Tigers gear just like her Mommy! She got the baseball form her Grammy when she was born.

July

July was full of family birthdays and picnic's. We had still did dinner at Great gram's and Friday night dinners but we also had a baby shower, the church picnic and we even went to the Elizabeth Lake fireworks! Elizabeth Lake is the lake that our sub surrounds and they put on a really nice fireworks display every year. We could have went down to our beach to watch them but it's kinda a hike and very crowded so we watched them form the entrance to Stephanie's sub. The fireworks started at 10 and Kylee stayed up for about half of them (10:20). We had a great view and Kylee was all comfy in her PJ's in the stroller. She also had her 1st boat ride on Cass Lake. She was okay on the boat but not really into it. She had to wear a life preserver that was the smallest they make but still really big on her and pushed on her neck (better safe than sorry).

July Milestones

July 1st first boat ride

July 8th she giggled really big for her Daddy. He can really get her rolling!

July 15th she had her hearing test (passed) because the one at the hospital was not working when she was born.

July 16th she went in the lake (Cass) for the 1st time

July 19 she had her first professional photo shoot.

July 29th Family photo shoot.

July 30th she had apple juice for the 1st time (she was backed up and it didn't work so she got prune juice the next day)

Yet another month of pure joy! We love her so much and love watching her grow!

2nd Photo Shoot.... The Pool

We did our 2nd photo shoot on June 27th. We did a few in my flower beds but most of them were in the pool. She loves the water! She was soooo Hollywood in her movie star shades! I love these pics and we both had fun!

June "Milestones"

Kylee has done a lot since she has been born. We have Family Dinner at my Grandma's (her Great Grandma's) once a week and we go out to dinner on Fridays with my mom. She stays the night at my mom's every other Friday to give Mike and I a date night. She had a lot of "firsts" in June as well......


June 9th she started sleeping 11-6


June 10th she started eating 6 oz. and she started really liking her hands (always in the mouth)


June 15th she started to use her Bumbo (a seat that helps her sit up)


June 19th she started sleeping 9-6

June 23rd started sleeping 8-8 and we are loving it!


June 24th she had her 1st set of shots. She did really well, not to fussy at all! She was 23 1/4 inches, 11 lbs. 8 oz.


June 27th she went in a kiddie pool


June 28th she went to Daddy's work





We had a busy and fun month. She is growing like a weed and everyday we see something new in her. She started to notice her toys and the things around her more in June as her eyesight has become better. She is a great baby and really lights up our lives!

Father's Day June 15, 2008

Let me start by saying that Mike has always been a great husband, but the way he is with our little girl just melts my heart. He is the best Daddy and I love him more and more everyday for that!

Father's day and Mike's birthday were 2 days apart this year. We had a nice day, my mom came over with steaks and stuff to make an AWESOME dinner. We got him a picture frame and a few new outfits and Grandma got him a new outfit too and a bowling ball. Kylee started sitting in her Bumbo that day (it's a chair that helps her sit up). She is growing so fast!

Meet the Babies @ ELCC

We go to the Elizabeth Lake Church of Christ. When Kylee was born there were 2 other babies born about the same time. Reese (girl) was born the day after Kylee and Avery (boy) was born 10 days after Kylee. Another girl was due in August and the church had a meet the babies lunch for us on June 8th. Everyone brought in food and we got TONS of baby essentials. Our church may be small but it has a lot of LOVE. There are a lot of families with children that attend and it will be a great place for Kylee to develop friendships!

St. Mary's Fair

This is what Kylee wore to the St. May's Fair. She stayed nice and cool and the sun stayed off her had because of her hat. Memorial Day weekend is always the Polish Festival at St. Mary's. We like to go every year and eat the polish food, have funnel cakes, listen to the bands, check out the crafts and play BINGO. This year we got to take Kylee. It was a nice day and we had a lot of fun even though we didn't get any BINGOS! I'm sure she will grow up to love the fair just as I have..... but I dread the day she wants to ride the rides!.... they put them up and take them down in a week!

1st Photo Shoot

On May 4 we worked on pics for Kylee's announcements. She didn't smile but she did really well. We took a ton and there is a sampling of them above. We choose the one w/ her in the basket for the announcement but I LOVED them all! My favorite is the one of her with her mouth open w/ the bow on her butt. The other one w/ the bow on her butt shows her birth mark! TOO CUTE!

Mother's Day (May 11th 2008)

For my 1st Mothers Day we went to lunch at Gino's with my whole family. We had 4 generations all together enjoying lunch. Kylee and Daddy got me a "MOM" charm for my charm bracelet and a picture frame. We had a great day!

Cordless

Well Kylee's cord fell off May 5th and that gave us the green flag to give her a bath! We filled up the little baby bath that fits in the sink and stuck her in. She LOVED it! She is not one of those baby's that curls up into a little ball.... she loves being naked and loves the water.

We have a few doctor appointments along the way. Her 1st one was 4/24/08 to make sure all was well. She weighed 8lbs 4oz (she weighed 8 lbs 2 oz when we left the hospital).
The next visit was 5/7/08 to make sure she was back to her birth weight. She was and then some. She weighed 9 lbs even.
On 5/22/08 I took her back in because she was breaking out.... she had cradle cap that in turn gave her baby acne. The Dr. told us to let Selsen Blue Shampoo sit on her head for 15 minutes (that mad her look like an Ump Loompa) and then wash it out and put olive oil on her scalp to keep it moist. At this visit she weighed 10 lbs.

The Welcome Wagon

Kylee and I stayed in the hospital until April 21, 2008. We had many visitor that came to see us and received lots of flowers and gifts. As a special surprise my mom had flowers put in the music box vase that she received from my Grandparents when I was born. Everyone laughed at me because I dressed her to come home. Now when I say I dressed her I mean it! She had a dress, tights and shoes on! She looked sooooo cute! Once we came home we had a steady flow of friends and family to welcome Kylee. People were so generous to bring us food so we didn't have to cook. Everyone took turns holding baby girl (as I did a little "nesting"). Kylee's 1st outing was to her Great Gram's for a family BBQ on April 23rd. Sadly Grammy had to return to GA on April 25..... but Nanie and Uncle Tony Drove all the way from GA the very next day! They got to spend time with her April 26-29 and we loved seeing them.

Thank You so much to everyone! Kylee had such a loving welcoming to the world. Thank you for all the love, support, flowers, gifts and food!