The Old Switcheroo

This morning Khloe’s breakfast eating was a raging success! Well…ok, not at first. I decided to try bananas with the little munchkin again this morning, because I am convinced that if there even exists a person in this world that does not like bananas, my little girl is not going to be one of them (Ha! As if I can decide these things…).

So I decided to give it another whirl. I peeled the banana, mashed it in the dish, and presented a spoonful to Khloe (along with choruses of smiley “Mmmm, bananas are so yummy! Mmmm…”). She took a nibble, made a face, and turned away disinterested. I made my second attempt, hoping she would become intrigued by this new flavor hitting her taste buds. But instead, she became ridiculously excited about the little white serving dish that contained the mashed bananas and wanted nothing but to take hold of it and mush her fingers in the goo. Sigh.

I then decided to abort mission and instead try the oatmeal that she (sometimes) eats for breakfast. I made it up and offered the first bite….to which she made a face and turned away yet again. Is she just not hungry? Or will this child eat nothing but sweet potatoes?? I then had an idea…

I went and got some sweet potatoes from the kitchen and again offered a bite to Khloe. As soon as the tip of the spoon hit her lips, her eyes absolutely lit up and her mouth popped wide open with saliva practically dripping in anticipation of her favorite food. OK, so now we know it isn’t because she’s not hungry. I gave her the bite and immediately refilled the spoon with a mixture of oatmeal and banana mush. She opened wide again (expecting another bite of sweet potatoes, I’m sure), and…ba-da-bing…she took the bite! She made a slight face at the unexpected different taste and texture, but she didn’t really seem to mind too much. I gave her another bite of sweet potatoes, then another banana/oatmeal mixture, and again — it worked! Score one for Mommy! I gradually increased the number of banana/oatmeal bites in between sweet potato bites until she was taking about 7 – 8 bites in between each sweet potato spoonful. Finally at the end, she didn’t even need any more sweet potatoes…she finished almost all of the bananas and oatmeal without a fuss!

It occurred to me then that of course she isn’t necessarily going to LOVE bananas right off the bat. She just has to learn to acquire the taste for them. Now that she’s been introduced to the flavor, I’m sure tomorrow and the next day will be much easier, and I won’t need as much (if any) sweet potato bait.

So now I know the trick! Who would’ve thought I’d use the old bait and switch trick with my daughter…

Happy Half Birthday, Khloe!

Wow. Our baby girl is 6 months old today…half a year already! In one sense it feels like it’s flown by, but in another…I can’t remember life without Khloe! What a joy she has been, and what adventures/trials/growth we have been through together as a family. She has almost tripled in size and I think quadrupled in fun-ness. She is such a delight and is more so each day with more “talking,” giggles, and snuggles.

Khloe had her 6 month doctor’s appointment yesterday, and she weighed in at 14 pounds and measured 25 1/2 inches in length. Exactly 2 pounds and 2 inches bigger than her 4 month appointment! She is average in height (it’s incredible for Khloe to be “average” in any size category, since she started out as such a tiny thing!), and she is in the 15th percentile for weight (which is slightly lower than where she was at 4 months). I’m sure as we really start taking off with solids now that she is 6 months old she will really start packing on the pounds. But no worries…the doctor said she’s absolutely fine, and she is doing great with her eating and growing!

As I mentioned in the previous post she is now rolling over both ways (front to back, back to front). She wiggles around so much on the floor that the small blankets we used to put her on are no longer sufficient…she twists and turns off of them in a matter of seconds! We will definitely continue to utilize the nice, BIG quilt that Allie made for her.

We have been working on sitting up, and she is still mostly a bobble-torso in need of mommy’s hands to hold onto and lean on. Although she can definitely go for several seconds sitting up on her own! She has great posture and is really getting stronger in her trunk muscles.

She is still mostly eating sweet potatoes, and sometimes she eats oatmeal once a day or so (although she doesn’t love it). If she could have it her way, she would only ever eat sweet potatoes for the rest of her life, I think! I delayed introducing more foods to her with our travels and whatnot, and I was kind of dragging my feet with her still being under 6 months. So today on her 6 month birthday we tried bananas, but she was tired and cranky and the bananas weren’t quite ripe. Blah. We’ll try again tomorrow….(or perhaps we’ll try some butternut squash or acorn squash instead that Mommy found on sale at the grocery store…). The poor girl is going to start turning orange if we don’t feed her something else soon!

It was hilarious…tonight I was feeding her sweet potatoes while simultaneously cooking up some spaghetti for my own dinner, so I was in and out of the kitchen trying to do both at once. I tried to set the bowl of sweet potatoes out of Khloe’s reach when I went in to check on the sauce or noodles, but at one point I heard some clanking and banging. I came out to the dining room to find Khloe with an extremely determined look on her face, one hand on the bowl, and the other grasping the spoon and banging on the tray. Haha…nothing will come between that girl and her sweet potatoes! ”If Mommy isn’t going to feed me, looks like I’m gonna have to do it…”

One last exciting piece of Khloe news before I end this post. When we were in Arizona Khloe tried out the walker that Grandma Kaye has for the kids she watches. And goodness, did she love it! I resolved to find something similar for her to have at home and knew that Craig’s List would be my best bet for something affordable. Well, tonight I found a really nice Exersaucer listed for a REALLY good deal. Khloe and I went and checked it out, and it was everything we hoped for and more…so we got it! She tried it out briefly before bed tonight, and oh…my…goodness. She absolutely LOVES it! Stay tuned for photos to come…

Well, the princess is sleeping which means Mommy should head to bed as well to maximize sleep. Stay tuned for more updates! I will try to start posting daily (or so) again now that things are mostly back to normal.

Aaaand We're Back!

Hello, dear ones. I’m here to apologize for our absence from the blog-o-sphere for the last few weeks and to share what’s been going on in the life of the Kaye family lately!

Kory has been gone since the beginning of September on his Chick-fil-A business trip. He spent the first week in St Louis, MO, helping to train new employees and help out with the Grand Opening there. Then he went straight to Arizona where he has been for the last 3 weeks working, training, helping, etc. with the new store out there. Life has been busy, crazy, and difficult without him here. Not only do I miss him — a LOT — but I am also trying to juggle ALL of the household responsibilities, chores, errands, and care for Khloe all by myself. It has actually made the days go by rather quickly with how busy I am! And I’m so worn out at the end of each day that after I put Khloe to bed, I pretty much head straight to bed myself. Sundays have probably been the most difficult, since it’s a day Kory is usually always home, and I am not busy working to distract myself from how much I miss him on that day. But the Lord has been gracious in strengthening me and sending people to encourage and spend time with me while he’s been gone. I’m very thankful!

And THEN…last Wednesday Khloe and I left for a 5-day trip to visit Kory’s family in Arizona and to see Kory himself! It was Khloe’s first trip on an airplane, and she did AMAZINGLY well. I know it’s because of all of our friends and family who were praying for that trip. She was so content sitting on my lap, and she even dozed off for a couple of cat naps. What a champ! It was a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa Kaye and the uncles and aunt out there. Khloe sure did get spoiled with lots of attention and lovin’! She also had an exciting milestone while we were out there — rolling from back to front! (She has been rolling front to back for a while, and she has been SO close to going the other way…she finally did it!).

We got to see Kory quite a bit when he wasn’t working, which was typically mornings and evenings. It was SO good to see him!! We drank up every moment. He also didn’t have to work on Sunday (of course – love Chick-fil-A!), so we got to spend the whole day with him then. I got to meet everyone at his church that I’ve heard so much about and had received so many notes and gifts from over the course of the past year. How wonderful to finally put faces with names!

So the trip was great and exhausting and too quick and so many things. We are glad to be home, but we miss our family out there already. I am SO thankful for that trip to break up the long 4 weeks Kory is gone. Now that we’re back, we only have one more week until Kory is home…and really, that week is already halfway over! I’ve been busy catching up on errands, chores, etc. that the days have been flying by.

I’m going to end this post here and write another entry tonight to update you on Khloe and her goings on. She just keeps growing up!

Jubilee!

I was on dictionary.com this morning (don’t ask…yes, I’m a nerd), and the word of the day today is perfectly appropriate for what I have to share today!

Jubilee \ JOO-buh-lee \ noun - Any season or occasion of rejoicing or festivity.

Usually I think of the Biblical jubilee when I hear this word, but today it applies to last night’s sleep success. Khloe was exhausted, so I put her down at 8:30pm (thinking I would certainly reap a much earlier morning as a result), and she slept a straight 9 hours until 5:30am, then I fed her a little bit and she went back to sleep until about 8am! That’s 11 1/2 hours of sleep! Wow, what a long haul it has been to get to this point…yay 13 pounds! And it can only get better from here…

After that solid night of sleep she was SUCH a delight this morning, cooing and singing to herself in the highchair while I was in the kitchen making her breakfast sweet potato + rice cereal mixture. What a precious little girl we are blessed with!

Sweet Potatoes: Cook, Purée, Freeze, Repeat.

Phew. I am sitting down and putting my feet up for the first time after a long day of taking care of babies, running errands, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and dishes. Did I already say “phew”? Phew. It’s a good kind of tired that I feel, and I am also glad that it was a busy day. Day 2 of being successfully distracted from the fact that my husband isn’t here. Until bedtime…that part stinks.

On a brighter note, Khloe tried sweet potatoes for the first time today…and LOVED it!! I mean, she isn’t quite “devouring” any of her food yet, but this was the closest I’ve seen. In her dainty way, she nibbles on each bite while gazing out the window and cooing and singing to herself. Haha, she is SO precious! By the end she was actually starting to take hold of the spoon a bit and bring it back into her mouth again and again. And she ate the whole serving I had prepared! YEAH!

On a slightly humbling/embarrassing/frustrating note, in the midst of the craziness of taking care of 2 babies today I accidentally left the ice cube trays that held the 26 servings of sweet potatoes I had cooked, puréed, and frozen last night out on the counter for too long…and they thawed. And since I’m not allowed to re-freeze them due to food safety issues, Brittany had some yummy puréed sweet potatoes for dinner. And the rest went down the drain. Boo. So Khloe and I made yet another trip to Giant (3rd time in 24 hours…don’t ask) to pick up some more sweet potatoes, and I cooked/puréed/froze some more. All with one hand tied behind my back! Well, close. With one hand holding a baby on my hip (thanks to bedtime fussiness–all she wanted was to be held by Mommy). Needless to say it took a bit longer with this handicap, but finally just before 9pm I was putting Khloe to bed after just placing the carefully filled sweet potato cubes in the freezer. And again I say, phew.

One more thing I must share before heading off to bed myself. Khloe is now officially a swaddle graduate!! She is no longer sleeping swaddled even overnight. This transition happened a couple of nights ago when she woke up in the middle of the night with the bottom of her swaddle kicked out and both arms freed, and her little body was flailing about. She’s a strong little girl! Instead of putting the swaddle back on her, I put her in her Halo sleep sack, and she went back to sleep. She’s been sleeping unswaddled ever since.

OH and since she sleeps unswaddled, she has discovered her favorite new sleeping position–curled up on her side. SO adorable! I often click on the video monitor just to watch her sleep, she is so precious.

Signing off on Day 2 of separation from Hubby. Only 14 more until Khloe and I fly out to see him in Arizona. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

Please pray for my strength (or more accurately, Christ’s strength in me).

Gobble Gobble, Oink Oink

I can’t decide whether I have a turkey or a pig for a daughter…she gobbled her food right up like a pig!

This morning’s feeding was pretty typical. Khloe half-heartedly ate about half of the rice cereal I had prepared, wasn’t that into it. Later this afternoon I realized she was still acting hungry and unsatisfied from nursing, and after reflecting that today is the 5th day of solids and I could add another feeding if I wanted to, I did! And wow, what a champ. It probably helped that I made sure it was a bit warmer than usual (it tasted yummier as a result), AND anytime she started to act disinterested or upset, I started singing her favorite song…Take Me Out to the Ballgame. And it worked! She kept opening her mouth for more until I was scraping the bottom of the bowl. She ate all of it! I had even accidentally made a little more cereal than usual. I was so proud of her! I think we’ll be starting some sweet potatoes on Tuesday….solid foods, full speed ahead!

Kory finished his assignment training the employees of the Kutztown Chick-fil-A on Thursday, and he’s been back in his own Chick-fil-A yesterday and today. But that’s it before he leaves on Monday for his grand adventures elsewhere! He will fly to Missouri on Monday, be there for a week, and then fly straight to Phoenix for 3 weeks. Khloe and I will be joining him (and my in-laws) on Sept 22nd for about 5 days. So Khloe and I just have to make it 2 1/2 weeks before we see him again. That’s all, huh..?

Kory and I had a delightful date yesterday afternoon. Our dear friend Cindy from church agreed to take Khloe for an hour or so while we had some one-on-one husband/wife time. I was so excited, I was giddy as a teenager while I waited for Kory to get home from work. We planned to go to our regular ice cream place (cute, 50′s style, homemade ice cream–yum!) and then swing on the swings at the local park. However, when we got to our ice cream place we realized it didn’t open until 5pm (boo), so we went with plan B and got some frozen treats at the nearby gas station. Yeah, Turkey Hill! We then swang for a bit, but the rusty chains and distant spacing between the swings, not to mention the oppressive heat, drove us back to the Pilot where we hung out in the cool A/C. Not as we planned, but we enjoyed every minute.

Awesome CD Finds

I stumbled across these children’s CD resources in the last few days, and they are going immediately onto Khloe’s Christmas Wish List (I’m her mom, I know what she wants ):

www.songsforsaplings.com

www.seedsfamilyworship.net

What great music to teach your children Scripture and the Truths of God! Love it!

Introducing: The Sippy Cup

Well, Khloe has had fantastic nights of sleep the last couple of nights. This has coincided with not one, but two new patterns that we have been implementing. Not the most genius thing I have ever done (didn’t we learn in 7th grade science only to change one variable at a time in an experiment?). But the same day I started Khloe with rice cereal I decided to try not swaddling her for nap time anymore either. So…is she sleeping better at night because her belly is more full (although she hasn’t consumed a HUGE amount of cereal yet…still getting the hang of it)? Or is she sleeping better because she isn’t in as deep of a sleep for a long time during naps? Or both? Or neither?

Either way, she is sleeping great…that’s all that matters to me! She slept for 8 hours straight Tuesday night (9 to 5), then I fed her and she slept until 8am. Similarly, last night she slept for 8 1/2 hours straight (9 to 5:30), I popped her pacifier back in, and she slept until almost 7am. It seems like she’s gearing up for a longer night of sleep (even longer than 8 1/2 hours!), because she used to be WIDE awake when I went in to feed her/get her at 5 or 6 in the morning. But now she’s still sleepy, and I put her back to sleep until 7 or 8. Eventually she will hopefully sleep straight through to 7 or 8…what a glorious day (night) that will be! But for now I am so, SO thankful and content with her 8 – 8 1/2 hour stretches. Thank You, Lord.

She is also continuing to do really well with naps unswaddled. She has done a couple of 1 – 2 hour naps during the day, which is quite impressive. She’s getting used to the feeling of not being tightly wrapped. I’m also becoming more of a stickler of implementing nap time, as opposed to being tossed to and fro by the waves of her fickleness — “I’m tired, I want to sleep….oh wait, just kidding, I want to be awake and play.” For example, just now she was being very fussy and acting really tired, and it was time for a nap. I put her in her crib and watched the monitor, and all of a sudden she was the most content, happy-go-lucky little girl. Ha, I know that trick. So I let her playfully kick her legs and pull at her sleep sack, thinking…if you were that fussy a minute ago, you are just going to have some rest time. And then, sure enough…a few minutes later she was out like a light. Sometimes things just need to be a little more parent-directed, I think.

So today was day 3 of rice cereal. Probably the most successful day yet! Yesterday did not go so well. I attempted to feed her at dinner time last night, and boy…was that a poor decision. Evenings are her more difficult times in terms of temperament and energy level, so it’s not really the best time to try to build a positive association with a new concept of eating. So today we went back to the morning feeding session, and it went a lot better. She’s slowly but surely getting the hang of it! And I’m also giving her a long grace period. A fellow new mother whose daughter is 3 months older than Khloe recently forewarned me that the first week or two of feeding your baby solids does not fulfill the purpose of nourishment. It’s more of a familiarizing and introductory time…so don’t get frustrated if more of it ends up on the bib than in her belly! That will come. I’m thankful for this heads up, and I’m just enjoying watching Khloe explore this new process, funny faces and all.

Today I decided to get her acquainted with another new concept. Enter, the Sippy Cup. We were given one that has a kind of elastic straw that is supposed to help bridge the gap between a bottle (or Mommy) and an actual sippy cup. Khloe actually got the hang of holding the handles and bringing it to her mouth, which I was very impressed by. She even started sucking on the straw! I’m not sure that she actually got much of the water inside, so I went ahead and just spoon fed her a bit of water. I had read that starting solids is a good time to start giving your baby some water, even just a teaspoon or tablespoon, to help the kidneys and other parts of the digestive system.

Well, Kory will be home soon, and I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the evening with him. By the way, I’m realizing how easy it is to overlook usual annoyances or pet peeves when I’m so thankful that he’s just around (Clothes on the floor? I’ll happily put them away and whistle while I do it…it means he’s here!). Hmm, sounds like a lesson for everyday life, even for times when he isn’t about to be gone for a month…. Lord, make me more thankful ALL the time!