Lady Kaitlyn rolls 8 months

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  8 months today!

Family,

And a Happy Veteran's Day to you all from the Queen City.  The Munchkin officially hits 8 months of life today!  Aunt Pattie turns 19 today as well, so we've got multiple reasons to celebrate!

What a week (and month!) it's been.  The change in K from month 7 to month 8 has been meteoric -

truly incredible to watch how she's growing and changing every single day.  When we hit the 7 month milestone, K couldn't sit up on her own, had just started eating solids, and was just beginning to babble.  Now she can sit up on her own (and her posture has noticeably improved), can roll front to back and back to front (albeit with a bit of gravitational assistance still), has tried LOADS of new foods (we introduced apples and bananas this week), and is babbling (and squealing) all the time.  On the growth front, she's definitely transitioned into the 9 month clothes, as our little girl definitely seems to be lengthening.  And weighing in at 18.5 or so pounds by now, the Bull can confirm he is no longer using the infant carrier to take her into daycare.

The most common nickname at this point is "sneetch" (as in sneetches in my breetches" from Dr. Seuss), but Jenny has aptly also taken to calling her the squealer monkey, as this girl does high pitch squeals constantly.  And here I was thinking she was going to be an alto...

In terms of routines, the munch is still waking up about 6 AM every day, but this weekend has seen the rather unexpected turn of her waking herself up about 5:58 vs. us having to wake her.  JT and I think it's because we've introduced more fruits and veggies (vs. cereal) lately, so today we've added a bit more oatmeal into each meal.  It is amazing to watch the effect on her excretory system - she was unbelievably constipated on Friday and Saturday (poor thing was solid red and straining half of her waking time), but the last 2 days have been nothing shy of COLON CLEANSING.  And we just made the VERY smart decision to order some prunes...good times, they are a comin'...

K's now feeding consistently 7 times daily - 4 with the bottle, and 3 sit-down meals for solids.  She's essentially getting 4 tablespoons of single grain cereal per day, as well as 3.5 oz of 1 fruit and 3.5 oz of 1 veggie.  She's actually become less and less interested in the bottle.  In fact, we're down from 7-8 oz of breast milk/formula per bottle to 5.5 oz per bottle, which she can manage to finish (if you burp her 3 times).  The peds said that we shouldn't be below 24 oz of formula/breast milk, but luckily we're right at it (when you factor in the 2-4 oz required to mix in with the cereal).  However, we're not concerned about K failing to get her nutrients, as that girl LOVES SOLIDS.  Seriously - it doesn't matter how tired she is or when she last took a bottle - you put her in that high chair and she starts pounding her fists against the tray in excitement.  And the sounds she makes whilst eating - hilarious!  She is SO EXCITED for every bite, and you can shovel something watery like carrots into her in a matter of seconds.  Her mouth is CONSTANTLY open - too funny.

As for the week and weekend itself, this one was very special for 2 reasons.  For starters, it was a 4 day

Cutest.  Photo.  EVER.

weekend for me and Jenny (we both took off Friday).    But secondly, GRAMMIE WAS HERE!!!  That's right, sports fans - Team Taylor was SPOILED ROTTEN by my mom yet again.  I am pleased to report that our fireplace now looks flat black (no more brass), 4 of the chairs in the dining room have been assembled, the leaves in the front yard have been blown (yes - BOTH my parents have now worked through the leaves in the front yard - K, I hope you're not expecting this kind of treatment :-)), several meals were made (all consumed already), and we were showered with presents (mom took care of our Christmas and birthday presents - oh yeah, baby!!!).  We even had date night on Wednesday (the show - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty - was HORRIBLE - who knew it was going to be a ballet), and Friday we managed to hit up Fiesta Maya for an early dinner.  It was SO MUCH FUN, and I've decided that I am definitely taking off on Friday's when mom comes to visit going forward.  This time I actually feel like I relaxed and let her help vs. trying to make her take it easy, and I must say - it was SO NICE to have a third set of hands to leverage.  She was great to feed, change, tend to, and love on K, and there is NO QUESTION that K loves her Grammie!

On Saturday we also had a special treat - K's "6 month" photo shoot!  Granted, we're about 2 months late, but Faith had always said it was important that K be able to sit up for this shoot, and so we wanted to ensure that was the case.  We spent a good hour there, running through 4 outfits and poses (including 1 with a tutu and pearls - TOO CUTE!!!!!), and much like the newborn shoot - it was a laugh a minute.   Jenny and I were on both sides of her during the shoot (she was on a different chair or couch each time), and I'm pretty sure her time in the rocking chair shortened my life, as it was SO STRESSFUL to watch her rock back and forth.  However, there are few things in life cuter than K in her dress from Panama, sitting on a pink couch.  The only thing that might be cuter, in fact, is K eating her tutu and pearls whilst the photographer says, "Wow - I've never seen a baby eat tool before.  That's a desperate cry for food."  HILARIOUS!

Physical Therapy Step #1 - engage the shoulders and work the tummy.

Physical Therapy Step #2 - do NOT let her roll over - keep her on her tummy.

Physical Therapy Step #3 - keep objects at eye level to encourage proper posture.

Physical Therapy Step #4 - put objects slightly out of reach so that she feels compelled to crawl.

The only other item to report for the week is that we did visit a pediatric physical therapist this week.  The appointment was on Thursday, and it was a terrific experience.  The staff was incredibly friendly, and as is the case with pretty much all medicine in Charlotte, the facility was amazing.  The trainer took a full hour with K, watching her roll and move around on the floor, as well as interacting with various toys and stimuli.  There was a funny moment when the PT said, "I just want to watch her roll over," and Jenny and I looked at each other before I said, "I hope you have about 6 hours to kill."

To Infinity...and beyond!  Actually, I LOVE
this photo, because K is now actually reaching
for the 2 dangling critters vs. just watching
her daddy bat them into oblivion.  But now
That the jumperoo is on hold for a bit, we'll
have to await the day where she actually
grabs hold of it.

In terms of a diagnosis, we received good news - her spine and bones are fine, and she does NOT have tortichollis.  However, the PT does think she's a bit behind on her gross motor skills (largely identified by her not raising her head when she rolls), and she feels that her trunks/ab muscles are a bit under-developed.  Consequently, we were given a series of exercises and the very explicit instructions to cut back on all Bumbo and Jumperoo usage (apparently both foster poor posture and can delay muscle development).  The good news is that we now know the issue, and the better news is that strengthening muscles is just about the easiest thing you can do on a growing baby.  What hurts is that a) we felt both the jumperoo and the Bumbo were HELPING her posture and development, and b) it is frustrating when you feel you've been so diligent about all the activities you're supposed to do for proper development, only to be told you've missed one.  I must confess - between the exercises, the "discovery time," 7 meals, naps, diaper changes, outside time, reading time, and "block/play time," it's getting tough to keep it all straight and ensure it all happens every day.  And whilst I know the right answer is to draft a daily schedule of activities, I just can't bring myself to further regiment our lives, especially given all of the standing tasks already in place.  Plus I do think we're keeping it together at this point, and so we'll just keep rolling with the flow, with the caveat that we are now a lot more focused on "floor play" (and YES - when the PT told Jenny and I that our daughter needed "as much floor play as possible," I about fell out of my chair laughing).

And so our daughter is now 2/3 of a year old - how is that even possible?  2013 has definitely been a year to remember, and I must confess that I have NEVER been so excited for the holiday season.  I'm not sure what's in the water this go around, but I am definitely, definitely, definitely looking forward to getting the decorations out of the attic, the lights strung up, and ornaments on the tree.

Okay, that's it from the Mountain Fortress - chat soon!

Love,

Sam and Jenny