Kaylin’s Half Birthday!

Kaylin was six months old yesterday! My sister, Kristi suggested half a cake for Kaylin’s half birthday! Instead, Colin and I bought Kaylin a set of bath toys! It’s hard to believe that six months have gone by so quickly. When I was pregnant, the anticipation made time seem to move in slow motion. Now that Kaylin is here time is zipping past. I feel a little conflicted about how fast Kaylin’s infancy seems to be going. Part of me loves seeing how quickly she learns and develops and is looking forward to all the new things she will discover and be able to do soon. The other part wishes I could slow things down and savor these baby moments forever.

At six months old, Kaylin is full of energy and trying to get into everything. She is an adventurer and a thrill seeker. She loves to try new things. She enjoys being tossed into the air, turned upside down, and walking while holding my hands. She is very strong for her age and has even pulled herself to standing several times. She is a big fan of swinging whether it is in an actual swing, her car seat or blanket. She is crawling and sometimes seems to prefer paper, shoes, wires, remote controls and cat toys over her own play things. She likes ribbons, straps, and tails of all sorts and can’t wait to chew on them. If a stuffed animal has a long stringy tail, Kaylin is sure to find it and put it in her mouth. Kaylin likes my hair and jewelry and is constantly pulling on both and trying to put the jewelry in her mouth. She is also fascinated with Colin’s glasses. I’ve given her an old pair of my sunglasses, which Colin sometimes uses to distract her from ripping his glasses off his face or putting her little finger prints all over them, while he’s holding her. Kaylin is ticklish now and laughs uncontrollably when you tickle or kiss her belly or feet.

Kaylin was so good when I took her to the pediatrician today for her six month check-up! The only time she cried was just for a moment after she got her five vaccinations. She’s such a sweet baby! Since her last doctor’s visit Kaylin has really grown. She’s now more than double her birth weight. She weighs 17 pounds and is 27.5 inches long. That puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height!! I think she’s going to be tall since Colin & I are both pretty tall. It helps that Kaylin is such a good eater. She seems to be excited about whatever we feed her. She trembles and squirms with anticipation for her bottles and opens her mouth up wide for every bite of baby food. Sometimes when I’m feeding her she bites down on the spoon and laughs. Baby humor!! I am trying to teach Kaylin how to drink from a cup. She is always eager to try it, but hasn’t quite mastered it yet. She tries to bite the cup!

Kaylin has fun splashing around in the bath tub and in her baby pool and loves being rubbed down and massaged with baby lotion when she gets out of the water. I love dressing Kaylin. She looks so adorable in whatever she wears. Actually getting the clothes on her is a different story though. Changing Kaylin’s diaper and clothes has become quite a challenge as she likes to roll all about, kick, and try to crawl away while she is being changed.

Kaylin loves animals and babies. She loves to watch and chase our cat, Stripes. Whenever she sees him, she laughs and calls out to him. Recently, we went to our friends’ home. Kaylin was in absolute heaven when their dog lay down and calmly let Kaylin pet him. Kaylin adores other babies and likes to see herself in the mirror too. I’m not sure if she knows she looking at herself or if she is just thrilled to see another baby. Either way it is just adorable how excited she gets.

Kaylin is already the queen of technology. She still loves to watch television especially her Baby Einstein DVDs and tries to control the TiVo remote. She also enjoys “talking” on the phone and gets excited when she hears me dialing. I often put Colin on speaker phone so Kaylin can hear him. She always smiles at the phone when he is talking and sometimes she "talks" back. Kaylin loves to have her photo taken and cheeses for the camera without being prompted! My little ham!

These last six months have been both crazy and wonderful! I feel so lucky! I love having a baby, and I love Kaylin so much! I know Colin whole-heartedly agrees with me!