Kamrynn Update: 9 Months!

Time is flying!  I cannot beleive Kamrynn is nine months already!  She has grown and changed so much, so quickly!  At nine months, she weighs 21 pounds and is 29.5" tall and has four teeth (two new ones on top, and two on the bottom).

New Top Teeth

Kamrynn loves to have a finger in each hand and RUN around the house.  There is not walking for these feet... she moves them as fast as can be!  She is also becoming quite the crawler... she not only crawls on flat surfaces, but over boxes I used to baracade her out of my sewing area, and on her daddy's new gun case.  The gun case is her favorite.  When laying on the ground, it sits about 6 inches off the ground, and she like to climb up and sit on top... usually falling off backwards and having Dada catch her.  :)  She also loves to climb up and down the stairs at Gama and Papa's house.  I have a LONG video, when I get some spare time, I'll edit it down and post it.

New foods Kamrynn likes include, raspberries, watermelon, cheese, plain yogurt (w/blackberries), steak, stuffed mushrooms (she had already had mushrooms, but apparently they're better stuffed), triscuts, and scrambled eggs.  She gobbles up almost everything I put in front of her!

Stuffed Mushroom

Cantelope - I have to cut bigger chunks now.....

Spaghetti - the all time favorite!



Kamrynn has been learning sign language since she was about 5 months old and is starting to sign.  Currently, she can sign "milk," "more" (she claps her hands), and today signed "potty" correctly (she had just been shaking her hand, but today she put her thumb under her finger)!  She didn't potty when I took her, she had already gone, but that's OK!

We are all finally starting to sleep better.  Kamrynn only woke once at 3:30 last night.  I changed her, offered the potty, then nursed and put her back in her bed wide awake.  She woke me up, happily jabbering away, a little after seven.  I was incredibly tired of being up every hour or so all night and up for the day at 4:30AM, SO, Kamrynn went on a schedule that includeds Plenty of sleep!  The schedule starts at night and is as follows:

8:30pm - Bath time, Potty, lotion/massage, songs & PJ's, prayer, nursing until drowsy. 
9pm - ASLEEP - she MUST be asleep by this time or I leave the room for 60 seconds come back and do more nursing until drowsy.
8AM - Wild Wake-up, Potty, Nurse- Anytime she wakes up before 8am we change diaper and nurse until drowsy, any time after 8am we throw open the curtains and act all excited that it is time to get up, potty and nurse.  Then we have some breakfast and shower and go through a modified bed time routine getting ready for our nap.
10AM - Nap Time - Whatever time we get up for the day, she must be ASLEEP no more than two hours later for her morning nap.
NOON - Wild Wake-Up, potty, nurse - then we have lunch, then either have play time or we run erands.
3pm - Nap Time - no more than three hourse after wakeup from morning nap.
5pm - Wild Wake-up, potty, nurse, fix dinner/eat, nurse (for some reason, she likes to nurse before and after meals), then play time
5:30 - Optional Nap Time (If she didn't sleep for 2 hours in the morning and atleast 1.5 hours in the afternoon, she takes a 45 minute nap)

The schedule has been modified from "The Sleep Lady."  The Sleep Lady has babies going to bed and getting up at 7pm and 7am.  For Kamrynn's age, she should be getting 11-12hrs of sleep at night and taking one 2hr. nap and one 1.5hr. nap.  Currently, Kamrynn is getting about 10.5hrs. at night and taking two 2hr. naps.

Here are some super cute pictures of my cutie!

Her "I'm gonna get you" face.  :)

Up to no good.... she's knows she's not to touch the fan!

Fishing with Dada

Driving Papa's boat in the driveway!  Cant wait for the lake!

Excess Lipase

I pumped excess milk as I had it and began to build a small freezer stash so if I wanted to go somewhere for the day and leave Kamrynn with daddy, grandparents, or sitter, I could.  The maximum ammount of time it is safe to store breastmilk in a standard kitchen freezer is 4 months.  Our freezer's gasket doesn't completely seal, but still keeps ice cream hard, so I didn't feel comfortable letting the milk go much longer than 3 months.

I thawed a pouch of milk in a sink of cool water and poured it into a bottle.  I smelled it and thought it smelled funny and had Trevor smell it.  He thought it smelled funny also, so I dumped it out and nursed her, thinking it was bad and not wanting to mess with unthawing a second pouch.

The next pouch was the same.

The third pouch of milk was barely 2 months old, so thinking I was safe giving it to her, I proceeded to thaw, put in a bottle, warm and sat down with Kamrynn in my arms.  Having never tasted breastmilk before, I tasted what I had tested for temperature on my wrist.  It tasted gross!  Kinda rubbery/plastic-ish.  Trevor had tasted fresh breastmilk a few weeks after Kamrynn was born so I had him taste it to ensure THAT gross taste was what it was SUPPOSED to taste like.  NO!  He made a face, rubbed at his tongue with his shirt and finally brushed his teeth.  I nursed Kamrynn.  And did some research.

Certaintly the milk hadn't gone bad.  I had done everything I was supposed to do to store it, and it was well within the storage time frame.  I soon learned that spoiled breastmilk will taste and smell sour - similar to cows milk.  This was not a sour taste or smell.  After more research I determined I have Excess Lipase.  You can read about it here.

The milk is not bad, nor will it harm Kamrynn.  It is just as good for her as fresh milk.  If she will drink it, it is fine to give her.  If she wont, I'll consider donating it - where it will be mixed with many other mother's milk and diminish the taste.  I know I wouldn't drink it.  I haven't decided whether I'm going to try it with Kamrynn or just donate it.  I have about 50oz frozen (most milk banks require a minimum amount of 150oz.).

I now know why I haven't been hired for any of the jobs I've applied for.  If I worked, I would have to pump and scald the milk to prevent it from changing.  Scalding ruins some of the good properties of the milk... still better than formula, but not as good as fresh.  The milk has to be immediately scalded and frozen, something that is unlikely that I would be able to do in a classroom (although most science classrooms have hot plates, they dont usually have a freezer).  My number one job is taking care of Kamrynn to the best of my abilities.  I guess the answer to my prayers for a paying job is, "No."

So, here's to being a Stay at Home Mom!

A Day at Our House

I've had many people express shock that Kamrynn sleeps through the night.  I really dont think it is anything we're doing, God just blessed us with a great little girl!  Anyway, here's what our day looks like:

8am - Kamrynn usually wakes around eight (occasionally she wakes around six to eat, and after feeding and changing, we reswaddle and place her back in her bed where she falls asleep very quickly), ready for the day!  I feed her, change her diaper and dress her.  Then I put her back in her bed, and wheel the whole thing into the bathroom where I shower.  She may or may not fuss, but if she does I just talk to her or we sing Old McDonald, and she is happy.  I try to eat some breakfast.  Kamrynn is usually happy in the mornings as long as you're interacting with her.

11am - Some time between ten and eleven, she becomes unpleasant and needs a nap.  Sometimes we really have to work at it to get her to sleep.

Noon - Wakes from nap to eat some lunch.  Goes back to sleep very easily.

3pm - Wakes  to eat and is happy for several more hours.

5pm - Becomes unpleasant if not interacting with her.

6pm - Dinner Time

7pm - nap

9pm - After the feeding closest to 9pm we start our bedtime routine.  We eat, take and play in the bath, put PJ's on, chatter for about 20 minutes.  As soon as we become unpleasant, we swaddle and place her in her bed.  She normally falls asleep within 10 minues without fussing.

If she stirs in the night enough to wake me up, I gently rest my hand on her or jiggle her until she stops moving about.  If I dont catch her in time and she comes unswaddled, I reswaddle her.

I let her fuss, but I dont let her cry.  I see no point in leaving her to cry all alone in her bed.  It is not her fault we dont undersand what she is trying to tell us... so I hold her and try to comfort her.  I change positions I'm holding her until something works.  Sometimes I can just talk her out of crying by smileing really big and talking super happy to her.





Kamrynn is a great baby!




First Swim Meet (Willamette Alumni Meet) - and she slept through it!

Babies

We're at 40+1weeks today!  One week from today and half of US babies have been born by then (those who are healthy, and mother's aren't induced by impatient doctors).  One week, six days from today, and half of babies world wide have been born by then.    Three weeks from today and the vast majority of all first, singleton, babies have been born by then (not sure if that is world wide, or just for the US).  I really thought our baby would have been here shortly after it was safe for her to come out at 37 weeks (considering she has a very impatient father who wants everything NOW), but it looks like that's not going to happen.

I have only two things left to do before I am as ready for her as I'm going to be....  I need to steralize the receiving blankets, and clean out the car and figure out how to get the carseat installed so Trevor cant come along and move it more than the 2" it is allowed to move!  Oh, and I also need to pick the house up once more....  It stays clean all four days that Trevor works, but for some reason, by Thursday nights it is a disaster!  I wonder why that is....  :)

We watched the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD the other day.  Pretty much, the steps to quieting a baby are:  1)Swaddle 2)On the side 3) Jiggle 4)Shhhhhhhhhhhh 5) Uh oh...I forgot!  Guess I'll have to look that one up!  I also looked into the Dunstan Baby Language.  Apparently babies tell us exactly what they need when they cry:  A hungry cry sounds like NEH; Tired is OWH; needing to burp is EH; having gas is EAIRH; and just uncomfy is HEH.  I am beginning to be able to distingush between some of them when I listen to them on YouTube, so hopefully I'll be able to tell what the baby needs without too much frustration!  Trevor thinks our baby wont make the same noises, but we'll see!

Here's some pictures for you!

 Sucking my tummy in!  Cant do that for very long so Trevor has to be quick taking the picture!