Too fast!

Keeley is just growing up too fast!!! Today she put one of her shoes and then actually managed to scoop some of her oatmeal out of a bowl and into her mouth - all by herself!!!

Sleep

I no longer believe my daughter is a light sleeper. Today, after she FINALLY decided to take her afternoon nap, the lawn crew showed up. She slept. They rang the doorbell asking me to let the dogs in. She slept. The dogs ran through the house barking at the lawn crew. She slept. I am choosing to believe now that she only sleeps when she wants to. She wasn't overtired because she slept late and took a great morning nap - I think she just didn't want to be awake when all the commotion was occurring. I don't know how you fight that at the times when she doesn't want to sleep...but, for today, I'm thankful that she wanted sleep more than play time!

Style 101

What is she wearing you may wonder? Kelly wondered the same thing. She is wearing her cute outfit that she wore all day. She then got out a jacket that is too small and her sun suit from last summer. She then found a sock. She cried, holding out the jacket until I helped her put it on. Then she signed more until I put the sun suit hat over her head. Then she wanted the sock on her hand. She knows what she wants. :-)

More ER trips in our future

I definitely see more ER trips in our future. This is what I found Keeley doing today. Yes, she is completely in that little sink. She was pulling the handle up and down because it sings a song.



This is her after I said "Keeley Culhane. What are you doing?" You'll notice she quickly tried to get out and looked away as though if she wasn't making eye contact I would fail to see her.

Around the house

Not feeling well last week, the trip to the hospital to stop Kayden from coming early, and my status of bed rest and modified bed rest has prevented me from updating much about Keeley. She has been up to her regular antics though so I thought I should post an update about our strong willed child.

This is Keeley going to the door to greet her play date guests. Do you see the shoes? I have no idea why she insisted on wearing two that didn't match and then carrying another around. She wore those two shoes the entire playdate.


Keeley has decided that she should be pushed around in any container. She climbed into her toy bin (full of toys) and started signing "more".

As she was getting pushed around in her car, she had a few items she insisted on picking up. She would say "ooo, ooo, oooo" and sign "more" until we stopped and she picked them up. She is clearly not happy with me for taking her picture!



Yes, she is wearing 4 hats. She kept putting them on. I have no idea how that obsession got started because she used to hate hats when she was little.



So serious. That is her penguin that her Uncle Kendall got us when he was in China. She decided that it needed to be carried in Maggie's empty dog bowl.



Best ride ever! Keeley has started sitting in the laundry basket and signing "more" whenever you find her. I can't pick her up in it so she just gets scooted around when I'm home. Dad can pick her up though and give both her and her teddy bear a ride.


She has started to really like stuffed animals and carry them around with her. Her favorite is this learning puppy from her grandma. She likes to carry it on her hip while she "vacuums" with her vacuum. The only unfortunate thing about this is that the puppy makes noise everywhere you touch it - and the vacuum does too. You can definitely hear her coming!


This is a true testament to how strong willed our little one is. She seems to believe that she can exist solely on milk and strawberries. I've started having to restrict the times that she is allowed to have milk. When she asks for it at a time that she shouldn't be having it, I tell her she can have water and give her a cup of water. This is usually met with an angry face and pushed away. Today, however, she was thirsty. She took the water and drank from it for a few moments. Then, as if to prove that she really was angry and that she really wanted milk, she put the cup in the dog bowl.


Then, she went to the cabinet and got Kelly's hockey water bottle and with a smug little look, took that into the living room. I guess she felt she was besting me.

You'll notice she is walking to the door. This made her decide that she wanted to go outside. It was not time to go outside because I was in the middle of laundry and trying to go take a shower. I told her we couldn't go outside. She proceeded to follow me around with my flip flops. Every time I stopped, she would throw them down, sign "more" and say "out". The other day, she made Kelly wear his all day. Every time he took them off, she would put them at his feet and sign "more". If he didn't put them on, she would put her foot in one as if showing him how to do it.

She definitely keeps us on our toes!

Gramma and Grampa

How cute are my grandparents?!?! This was taken at my aunt's surprise 50th birthday party. The theme was luau - they really got into it!

Two Signs

Hooray!! Today Keeley was at the refrigerator whining and when I asked what she wanted she signed "more" and then "milk". Maybe we will soon be through with her signing "more" and then pushing your hand out of the way angrily until you figure out what "more" she is wanting!

Helpful Keeley

Keeley has been cracking us up lately with how much she likes to help. She loads clothes into the hamper when you have a sorted pile to take to the laundry room. She'll hand you pieces from the basket to put in the wash (very helpful for me as bending over is tough!). She closes the dryer door (sometimes a little too soon). She likes to take the dishes out of the dishwasher. Last night, we told her it was time to clean-up her toys and we started putting them in her big blue bin. She gladly helped out. It was really funny after a little while because she started taking toys out of other bins so she could put them in the blue one. By the end of our clean-up time, the blue bin was piled high with toys!

Today, the cleaning people came. I have appreciated this service since we started it the week after Keeley was born but I REALLY appreciate it now that I am getting so much bigger. Anyway, Keeley decided she needed to help them. She dug her vacuum out of the blue bin and followed them around for a bit.She has a jacket on because we had just been outside. She's funny with her jacket. She'd been wearing a hat and I told her we had to put a jacket on because it was chilly. She promptly threw her hat on the floor. I think she would have left the hood up for the rest of the day if I hadn't taken the jacket off.

As a side note, Keeley does NOT help me vacuum. When I vacuum, she likes to try to pull the cord out. Or, when I vacuum her room, she likes to laugh at me from her crib and throw pacifiers in my way!

First ER trip

Well, it was going to happen - that is an inevitable part of raising these little people. I just hoped it would happen a little later in life! Although, in reality, it is sort of amazing it hasn't happened yet as fearless as Keeley is.

We spent last night at the ER with Keeley because Star (Mom's dog) tried to wake her up last night by pawing at her face through the crib rails. Unfortunately for Star, Keeley did wake but was screaming, not playful. The screaming, injured baby just made Star have to go straight back outside which I am sure was not her plan with the original playful swat.

Here is a recap of the weekend. Kelly's birthday is Monday so he took Friday off and we played together all day as a family. Mom volunteered to watch Keeley all weekend and we boarded the dogs so we could have a nice relaxing, responsibility free weekend before Kayden gets here. Responsibility never ends when you are a parent I'm discovering!

We didn't leave town because I'm really too far along to travel anywhere safely or comfortably. The weekend started out wonderfully. Kelly and I got to go to dinner, we watched a late movie, slept in until 10:30 (three and half hours later than we can any other day of our life!), went to the Dallas World Aquarium, wandered around the West End, ate dinner, went to another restaurant when we decided we wanted dessert, and then finally made our way home to watch game 2 of the Stars playoff run. It was a FABULOUS weekend. I don't miss for a minute having that life all the time because Keeley fills our life with so much more joy and entertainment than I ever could have imagined. However, it was nice to be able to do all of that and not have to worry about naps or a daughter that only eats milk and berries.

Mom called at 9:10 to say that Star had scratched Keeley's eye while she was asleep and that we needed to come get her to have it looked at - abruptly ending our weekend unfortunately.

By the time I got down there, all the Acute Kid and urgent care places were closed and we were forced to go to the emergency room. In retrospect, had I known how the night was going to turn out, we would have taken Keeley home and gone to bed last night. Then today, when everyone was well-rested, we would have gone at 12 to the acute kids care place up here. That, however, is not how the mom in me responded when I got to Mom's house and saw that the white part of Keeley's eye was red in the corner. I wanted it looked at NOW. My daughter's beautiful blue eyes are very important!

So, I called Kelly and told him that we were going to the ER and he met us there. (Random side note - neither one of us had gas. What are the chances of that? I assure you, that will not happen again because it was an unexpected twist in a stressful evening). I checked in to the ER with Keeley at 10:30. Keeley (as we all know) fights sleep. She'd gone to bed 2 hours later than normal at Mom's on Friday and still woke up at 6:30. Since 6:30am, she had slept for a total of 1.5 hours by the time we checked in to the ER at 10:30. That is 1.5 hours in 16 hours of high energy awake time.

At midnight, they finally called us back. Keeley was quite the source of entertainment in the waiting room. She was flirting with people, giggling, taking her hat on and off, etc. Not acting tired in the least. We went straight back to a room and within 10 minutes, a doctor came in and told us what was going to happen. He said that the white part of the eye is not as serious of an injury as the colored part but still prone to infection. He said they were going to come back and put some drops in her eye to numb it but that they would sting for about a minute and then they were going to put some dye in it to make sure that the cornea didn't get scratched (they look with a black light at that point). He assured me that the actual pain only lasted a minute but that Keeley would hate all of it because we had to hold her down and we couldn't explain it.

I was happy. It was only midnight and the exam sounded like it would just take a minute and we'd already seen the doctor. I figured he would go get the stuff and come back. I was wrong. Keeley played and stomped her feet playfully on the different colored tiles and flirted with all the nurses and the other patients.

At 1:05, I went to the nurses station to ask how much longer it would take because we were going to leave if we weren't seen soon. It wasn't that I didn't care, I just figured that my daughter's sleep was going to help the healing and we could go to another place in less than 11 hours. The doctor early acted as if we were just checking as a precaution so my "mom panic" was greatly lowered. I wasn't annoyed when I talked to the nurse, I just wanted to know. She told me she'd get me seen in just a second. She held true to her word because less than five minutes later, the doctor came back to do the exam. Keeley didn't like it and screamed really hard. Fortunately, by that point she'd been awake for 19.5 hours with only 1.5 hours of sleep so she wasn't strong enough to fight much. Good news, the cornea wasn't scratched. He left the room at 1:15 telling us that we needed to use an antibiotic in the eye (since it was a dog scratch) and follow up with an ophthalmologist.

1:30 - We are STILL waiting for discharge papers and have now been at the hospital for 3 hours. I go to the nurses station again (yes, I was being that parent) and ask if Keeley really needed to still be there or if I could take her home so she could go to sleep and let Kelly take care of the discharge stuff. This was a great option since Kelly had driven down separately. She went to check with the doctor and came back saying we could leave.

Keeley slept the whole way home and didn't even wake up enough to hug my body when I got her out of her car seat. That has NEVER happened. Kelly left about 20 minutes later and went to fill her prescription. I put Keeley in her crib at 2am. What time did she wake up this morning? 8:30. She just doesn't have it in her to sleep late!

Humorous things about our trip:
* I had to hold her all three times I went to the restroom for the entire time because public restrooms are gross. Why couldn't I let Kelly watch her? Because that resulted in instant crying.

* She acted like she was getting tortured when they put her hospital bracelet on her. She also acted as though her hand was then broken. She wouldn't use it and carried it at a funny angle or held it to her chest. Periodically she would look from one wrist to the other in confusion.

* She hates stethoscopes and we had to hold her hands down because any time the doctor or nurse got it close to her chest she batted it away angrily. I don't even know why they had to use those. She was clearly okay and the EYE was the issue.

* She insisted on wearing her hat most of the time - or making Kelly wear it which she thought was so funny. Everyone else thought it was pretty funny too :-)

* She was happy the entire time we were there (minus the exams) and everyone she flirted with commented on how happy she was and what a good baby she was being. Every other baby or kid that was in the ER (and there were way too many) was dead asleep in a stroller or their mother's arms. Not my Keeley. She was going strong!

* The doctor told us we only have to put the ointment in Keeley's eye 3 times a day for the next 7 days. He clearly does not have children because that is not going to be an easy task!

* We realized we don't have Keeley's social committed to memory. Fortunately, they didn't push us on that.

* Kelly learned he cannot listen to Stars games on the radio because they did horribly during his drive to the ER but ended up winning 5-2 (although we didn't know that until we got home).

All in all, not the weekend we had planned but a good life experience. Keeley woke up wanting to play with her ball and go outside or ride in her red car so I think she's fine! This is her only injury.

Mind of her own

We had a very long day on Wednesday. In fact, I ended up having to put Keeley in the sling and carry her around on my hip for about an hour in the afternoon. I didn't even know you could wear the sling if you were 8 months pregnant - you can. It was the only way I could get anything done. If I put her down, she looked up at me and cried until I said "use your words" and then she said "up". By 3 o'clock, I no longer wanted to listen to crying nor did I want to have to actually carry her. The sling solved the problem as I vacuumed, cleaned up in the kitchen, and took a short walk with her.

Keeley is pretty strong-willed. Here is a run down of our day.

* She wanted to go out. I was aware of this by the fact that she kept walking to the front and back doors, tried to open them, and kept saying "out". We had to put shoes on as soon as she woke up because she thought that would make her get to go out. If I let the dogs in or out, she would hurry to the door saying "oooo, oooo, oooo" and stomping her little feet in excitement. The excited foot stomping quickly turned to temper tantrum and tears when I closed the door and made her stay inside with me. I finally relented when she walked in her room, found a different pair of shoes, brought them to me, and said "out" as though this new pair of shoes (she was already wearing one pair) would make it okay to go out. It was not, however, enough for me to sit inside with the door open and watch, I had to go outside as well.

* She then remembered that her red car was in what will be Kayden's room and kept standing at the door, stomping her feet, saying "car" while signing more. She was NOT pleased when we did not get the car out.

* She would hand me one of her "busy books" and sign "more" for me to help with the buckle. She would promptly swat my hand away and grab the book back. This was repeated several times.

* Then I had to wear her or listen to the crying. After that no longer worked, she played in her water station making a huge mess while I made dinner - but at least she was happy.

* She insisted on eating her cereal by herself and got it all over. That's okay...totally age appropriate.

After all that, I had to change her clothes because she was soaked from the water station and filthy from the self-feeding of the cereal. I managed to change her diaper, but she refused to let me put more clothes on her. Not a battle worth fighting at 5pm so she remained in her diaper until bedtime.

Here are some pictures from our day.

Playing in her water station. Wearing the hat she insisted on wearing.

Diaper and shoes. Why she insists on wearing shoes all the time I don't know.

Asking to go out. Can you see the necklace? Interesting ensemble.
Like I said, a mind of her own!

She said it!!

She was outside playing with Kelly and she kept looking inside saying "mama"!! Hooray!! She does know it is my name!

Miss Independence

We went out today with Kelly's dad for an early birthday lunch. Keeley insisted on walking from the car to the restaurant. I tried to hold her but she kicked and squirmed until I let her down. I guess she wanted to show off for her Grandad. Then, we had 7 big steps to walk up. By big, I mean big. I was a bit intimidated to climb them being as pregnant as I am but Keeley, again, insisted. She could hardly get her leg high enough to clear the step but she did it. And, as soon as we got to the top, she turned around to walk back down them. We did this several times throughout our lunch. I think the day is not too far away when she is simply too busy for us. Fortunately, I have a few more months at least of receiving her "gifts" of grass, rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. before she moves on and decides that she doesn't have time for me!

First Adolescence

Just last night I was reading about what to expect during Keeley's second year of life. The book referred to this as her "first adolescence" as she will go back and forth between asserting her independence and wanting to be our baby. Some of that was witnessed today. When Kelly got home from work and we finished dinner, Keeley wanted to go outside. It wasn't really time to go outside - it was time to get ready for bed.

We tried to tell her this and get her settled in my lap for her bedtime milk (part of our routine). This was met with INSTANT tears and crying and pushing away of the milk. She squirmed out of what was left of my lap and said "out" and proceeded to leave her room. After being dragged to the front and back doors a couple of times, we finally relented. After all, it wasn't really late yet and Kelly hadn't even been home for an hour yet. Plus, it is just hard to look at that little face asking for "more" and saying "out" and not give in.

We went out to play for a few minutes with the dogs. When we came back in, we told Keeley we were going to start getting ready for bed. She came in and even sat in my lap, but the minute we turned the light on, it all started again. This time, there was severe flailing as I tried to get her undressed for her bath. She made a quick breakaway but we managed to coral her in the bathroom. She played in the bath for awhile and then stood up and gave me a very sweet, very wet hug where she laid her head on my shoulder and looked right at Kelly. We asked if it was time for bath time to be over.

Clearly, that was not what she wanted to hear. Again, instant crying and flailing as Kelly picked her up to dry her off. She also managed to make her 20 pounds seem like 40. As soon as we put her down to get her dressed, the kicking started. Once dressed and in my arms for our books and songs she calmed down (thankfully).

Man oh man what are we in for? I thought tantrums started in the twos, the "terrible twos". We aren't there yet!!

Ready for life

Today Keeley made a soccer ball omelet with the pan from her play kitchen. I'm really quite impressed that she was able to get the soccer ball in the pan and walk around with it. Yes, that is technically a dog toy. Somehow, her Oma managed to send it home with us. Keeley carried it around ALL day today.


Later in the day, she got my keys and my wallet. She first fished out my credit card and then climbed in her car. She was ready to go!

Communication Issues

I am thrilled that Keeley can communicate as much as she can. She can now sign, gesture, or say the following: dog, out, dada, milk, more (which also means "eat" frequently), feet/shoes/socks/toes (giving you her foot), up, tummy, and head/hat/hair/hers (patting her head). This has significantly cut down on the amount of random crying we had before. I am happy for that. And, for those of you that are wondering, she can say "mama" now but doesn't really do so unless she is repeating what someone else has said. Her way of communicating that she wants me is to stand at my feet with her hands held high and cry with her head WAY back (otherwise she can't see me because my tummy gets in the way).

I'm discovering, however, that it can still be frustrating for both of us since the communication is fairly limited so far. Sometimes, those "wants" are not able to be met. But she has no way to understand that really. Today her "schedule" (and I use that term incredibly loosely) was messed up because she was awake from 4am - 5am and then I had to wake her up for a meeting at 6. She didn't eat much because she was distracted trying to eat at the meeting and was too interested in playing when she got home. This meant the entire time we were at Little Gym, she followed me around and signed for "milk". I finally gave up, cut class short, and came home.

I pull up to my house to discover a man spreading fertilizer next door and completely blocking my driveway with his truck + trailer. I rolled my window down and said "excuse me" and "hey" to the man that was less than 15 feet away. He either couldn't hear me or was ignoring me because I finally had to honk. He turned around and this is our conversation:

Me: pointing to my house "That's my house"
Him: looking at his truck blocking my entrance "I'm sorry. I was just going to spread this really quickly"
Me: "I'm not going to sit in the street while you fertilize their lawn"
Him: turning around with sigh and shrug "What I meant I guess was that it was unfortunate timing"
Me: staring at him in disbelief
Him: "I'll move my truck now"

Really!??! Was all that conversation necessary? Shouldn't he have just apologized and IMMEDIATELY moved his truck so that there was not a pregnant lady with a one year old stuck in her car in the street. Okay, okay. I realize he didn't know I was pregnant and probably couldn't see Keeley - but STILL!!

and the diaper is off!

We are trying to encourage Keeley to walk as much as possible because
1. it is hard for me to carry her now that I am so big.
2. Kayden is going to be here soon and we can't carry them both very easily.

This means that she is getting to walk places we would normally carry her. For example, once we are clear of the street, she walks into the grocery store. When we get home from the grocery store, she walks with me as I unload the groceries. She has also started walking from the chair in her room where she drinks her milk into the bathroom for her bath. I give her the milk and then take her clothes off and she walks to Kelly in the bathroom in just her diaper - until last night. Last night she made a break for it and started taking her diaper off in the process!

Here she is making her get away. Notice part of the diaper is undone.

She heard Dad and tried to turn around but got twisted up in the diaper.

Naked baby butt!

Whoops! Lost her footing on the tile. Diaper barely hanging on...

Figuring she should hold on to it so that doesn't happen again.

SO happy that she found her bath ready for her.

Side note: If you are wondering why we have an exercise ball in the bathroom it is because Keeley is sick. We've been spending time sitting in a steamy bathroom and the only way I can sit comfortably in there is on the exercise ball.