10 months, 10 steps

So Kayleigh is officially 10 months old as of yesterday. So on Saturday in prep for her 10 month birthday she apparently decided that she was ready to stand all by herself and give walking a go. She would get a couple of steps in and crash to the floor-still enough to make this momma a little bit on the emotional side ( I know, I know-I'm a hot mess!).

So Sunday Kyle and I took her upstairs to try to get her to walk around her room. It's a lot easier for her upstairs because it's carpeted where the downstairs is hardwood. Plus it gives her a little more cushion when she does fall. So Sunday she does even better walking back and forth between Kyle and I getting about 6 or 7 steps in. She was starting to slow down a little bit, so I headed downstairs to start making dinner when Kyle yells at me to hurry upstairs. Now I consider myself a pretty laid back mom, but I shot up those stairs as fast as I could thinking she fell and got hurt or something. No-she just walked from her crib to the door which is at least 10-12 steps. I didn't see it and of course she wouldn't do it when I was up there.

Fast forward to Monday night. We take her back upstairs to "practice" walking (which I'm sure in about 2 weeks we will wonder why we encouraged the walking so much). I think we're as excited to see her walk as she is. She gets SO excited that she's standing all by herself and taking steps that her little arms just go in little circles so fast. Monday night is when it hit me. My 10 MONTH OLD is on the verge of walking....all by herself....like a big girl....AHHHH!!! And the waterworks begin. Those 10 steps I told you I missed...well I saw them Monday night....numerous times. It's so hard to believe that she is finally at this stage in her life. It is so rewarding as a parent to see your child accomplish something so big. I'm already so proud of Kayleigh. We will continue to practice with her each night until she's walking all the time. Her confidence has already grown so much just in these last couple of days. I can't wait to see her continue to grow.

No Good at Resolutions

So I realize it's been over (cough, cough) 3 months (cough, cough) since my last post. So I've basically failed miserably at one of my resolutions. I would like to think I have a really good excuse but I really don't think I do. So what's new? I guess I'll try to put 3 months into as short of a post as possible.

Kayleigh had her first tooth (bottom right) poke through on New Year's Day. Two weeks later her bottom left came in. Her top left one came in about 4 weeks ago when I was on Spring Break and the top right one poked through about a week later. The first two did not phase her at all. She was still her usual perky, happy self. The top two however were a different story. I think the fact that they were both pretty much coming in at the same time, coupled with an ear infection and an upper respiratory infection (we think RSV), and needless to say I spent my spring break with a sick and unusually unhappy, needy baby. I felt so bad for her. I literally wish I could've taken all the aches and pains away so that she would be happy and healthy again. It was not fun at all to see her like that. Luckily, we had her 9 month appt at the end of the week so we were able to get her some meds and see what the doctor had to say. Her growth continues to be on track for the most part. She slipped a little in weight this time, but nothing to worry about. She weighed 17 llbs. 11 oz. (has gained 10 lbs. since she was born now!) and was 28 in. long. She is all over the place now! She did not crawl for very long and before we knew it she was pulling herself up on things and cruising around. She's a lot faster than she used to be so it's been a big adjustment for Tucker and Zeke. I think Zeke finally gave up on trying to run away from her all the time, so he has become her jungle gym. She literally crawls all over him, eats his tail, and pulls at his ears. He doesn't budge! I LOVE IT! Makes my heart smile! Tucker on the other hand...well he growls, gets up and move away. Kyle has definitely let him know that it's not okay for him to growl at her and that he just needs to get over it. So now he growls when he sees her coming and gets up before she gets there. We think it's his way of telling us he's not happy that he's got to get his lazy bum up. It's so fun to see her personality start to come through. She definitely lets us know when she's not happy about something, but mostly when she likes something or thinks it's funny. Her favorite things to do right now are climbing on us or the dogs, opening and closing doors, and playing with my hair while I hold her. We've officially began the transition to eating actual foods. I'm excited for this part, but I can honestly say that I'm ready for it to be over already because it makes me so nervous that she's going to choke. So far so good, so hopefully that continues and we have no problems.

We ended up getting rid of Kyle's truck last weekend and going back to a car. With gas prices continuing to go up, it was just way to much gas for such little mileage. We traded his dream truck in for a 2011 Hyundai Genesis. I had never heard of these cars before we saw ours, but man am I glad we found it. It is such a nice car and Kyle and I are actually going back and forth as to who should drive it and who should drive the Outlook. Right now Kyle is driving it, but we will see what happens. I drove it yesterday up to Chicago to see Jackie and it is such a smooth ride. It doesn't hurt that I got 26 mi/gal. yesterday in comparison to the 11-12 mi/gal. that Kyle was getting in his truck. Definitely a smart decision for us. If we need a truck down the road both of our parents have trucks so we'll just have to borrow. Hopefully one day he can get his "dream" truck back, but for now it's just not realistic.

We had Thursday and Friday off for 2 built in snow days that we didn't use this year. I am SO glad too because I needed one last break before this last 6 week stretch until school is out. Kayleigh and I got up bright and early to head up to Chicago to see Jackie. It was Kayleigh's first time to the Windy City and she did great. It was a very relaxed day. We just hung out at her apartment and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. She took us over to the American Girl Doll store. If you haven't been there, oh.my.word-the place is so unreal. Very cool, but definitely hoping Kayleigh doesn't ask for one until she's like 10. It will be fun to take her up there when she gets older. It was so nice to just hang out with her like old times and catch up. I definitely miss my bestie being 2 hours away and only getting to see her once every couple of months. Hopefully that's something we can get changed.

Here are some pictures of sweet, precious doll baby. She will 10 months old in 10 days and I have absolutely no idea how this happened. It just does not seem possible. I guess I better get into planning her birthday party.

Happy Easter!