A new week

So Kennadi is almost 5 months old which is crazy! We had her 4 month check up last week and everything was great. She has met or surpassed every milestone that she should be at right now so that's awesome. She is in the 95th percentile for weight and the 100th for height. She has always been in the 95th for weight and the height is always different because you can't really do an exact measurement on the height of a baby very well. This time I had the nurse do it twice because it varies so much, sure enough the second time was 3 centimeters different that the first, but she is a tall girl! The doctor gave us the go ahead on solids and told me to introduce them one at a time every few days. We started with sweet potatoes because they are sweet enough to be similar to breast milk but not too sweet. I decided to make all of her baby food from scratch because it is very easy and I just don't like the idea of feeding her with food that is from a jar that has been sitting on a shelf for months. This way I know exactly what is in it and she isn't getting preservatives or additives. I am sure there will be times when we travel than I may have to feed her jarred food, but when we are home I will make it. It is much easier that I thought to make too, I stick it in the magic bullet, steam it and and puree it and I have 3 days worth of food from about 5 minutes of time. Later we will be able to blend whatever we are eating up and give her that but for now we have to stick to single ingredient foods to rule out allergies. Tonight we are trying carrots so we will see how she reacts to that. In the mornings I have been giving her some rice cereal so she is eating solids twice a day. The doctor said I could try to replace the 2 bottles of formula that she gets a day with the food so she can be strictly on food and breast milk. It has been fun feeding her and after just a couple of days she is already conditioned to know when solid food is coming, every time I set her in the high chair she does the same frantic noises she does when she knows she will be fed soon. I say she is like a little bird, she sits there with her mouth open doing a little whine till she gets fed.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days:

The looonnng day: yesterday Kennadi was less than an angel all day. I think she slept a total of an hour the entire day, every time she would fall asleep and I tried to lay her down she woke up and screamed. I tried everything from letting her cry for a while to the swing and nothing worked. Finally in the evening when I was trying to cook dinner and it had taken me over an hour to get noodles cooked, I decided to try out the new backpack that we got from a friend. I put her in it and strapped her to my back and poof, she was happy as could be and didn't make a peep the entire time, I made dinner and watered the lawn and eventually I felt no movement so I checked and she was asleep. Of course the minute I moved her and tried to lay her down she woke up and started the fussiness all over again. It felt like the day that would never end, and indeed later that night when I was up with her all night I realized the day still hadn't ended. I am pretty sure she is teething, she has white bumps on her gums and the doctor said they were right there, unfortunately with babies the teeth can come almost up and then retreat again so it could be a while.

This is this morning after the long night following yesterday's no sleep day. She was up half the night wanting to eat all night long and finally this morning after Chris had gotten up at 4 am I brought her into our bed and for the next 3 hours she was tossing and kicking all over the place and again wanted to continue eating, so finally I got up and this is how she ended up. She had taken over our entire bed, needless to say I am exhausted today. So far she is just as fussy as yesterday and after an hour long battle she is finally napping, hopefully it lasts for a while and she can be a happy kid when she wakes up!

Out of plain boredom I decided to try and see if her hair would go in a ponytail. Sure enough all of it went up and the ponytail was the cutest little curl, I had to take a picture it was just too cute.

Staring contest between monkey and baby; she loves the monkey Nana got for her, when I show it to her she gets a big grin and grabs it and rubs her face on it.

We took Kennadi to the playground when we were on a walk the other night, she didn't care about the swing one way or another, she was too busy watching the older kids play. She just sat back and relaxed, she was also very tired so that could also explain the indifference.

This was the most expression she had on her face the entire time, maybe she sensed my tension when Chris put her up like this, of course I knew he wouldn't let her go though:)

First taste of sweet potatoes: the first night she was fine with it, we gave her a couple of tastes just to get her used to it and she did great, the video below is the second night, it was hilarious.

Yay for veggies!

This is her sweet potato dinner the second night, I don't think she knows if she likes it or not.

Every time Chris gives her a bath I hear him laughing in the kitchen and I know I should grab the camera; Kennadi's hair grows so fast it is fun to play with it. She is a trooper when dad decides to mess with her!

More fun!

We have had a busy couple of weeks! We had my mom and Dylan here and then my dad and Lynda. Chris is on the range again so he has short hours so we got to hang out with him which is awesome! He also got his brown belt in MCMAP this week. Kennadi is growing like a weed and is so much fun. She is all smiles and laughs (most of the time) and she is so much fun to play with. 

Dad and Lynda's visit.

My dad and Lynda came down for the weekend and we went to the USS Midway with Lianne, Braden and Kama. 

This is Kennadi and Chris in the cockpit of a jet. I didn't take many other pictures but my dad took a ton so I will post those when he gets them to me. 

Our highchair!! I have been looking for a while for high chairs at consignment stores but I couldn't find what I wanted. I looked at 6 different stores around San Diego  and online and I still couldn't find what I wanted. All of them had fabric and were pretty ugly. Since we will probably have this in our dining room for the next 6 years or so (through 2 kids) we wanted something that we could stand to look at and that was easily storable. I won't go into all the awesome features of this chair, but it will grow with Kennadi until we need it for another kid down the road. My mom knew my struggles in trying to find one we could afford and that would work for us and so while she was here she said there was no use looking around when we knew which one we want so she got it for us! I am very excited to have it and now Kennadi can sit at our level during dinner and start to learn her table manners early:) I can also start to give her cereal in it rather than standing at the counter with her in the bouncy seat. If she gets mess all over this one you just wipe it down since the seat is vinyl. The chair is awesome but not as awesome as my mom for helping us out!!

Kennadi loves it too!

Mom and Dylan's visit:

My mom and Dylan came down for 5 days and we had lots of fun! Mostly we shopped since my mom doesn't have much shopping in Mammoth so we got a lot of that done. Of course my mom spoiled Kennadi (and me) with a few things:) We found good deals on some clothes for Kennadi for when she grows out of her current sizes so she got some of those. She got the high chair we and we got pictures done at Babies R Us because my mom wanted some professional pictures. We also went out and had a lot of fun. It was nice having my mom and Dylan here and as always we appreciate everything my mom does for us! 

Boomers: We went to Boomers to play golf and do some other things so Dylan could have some fun. Kennadi didn't make a peep the entire time we were miniature golfing, she was in the front pack and every time Chris went to putt she put her head up, it was funny.

Dylan on the go karts: that's all he really wanted to do. Chris and I went and did Lazer Tag and bumper boats while my mom watched Kennadi and then we switched. It was a lot of fun. 

The girls

Thanks for a great visit mom, it's always nice to see you!

More randomness:

She was playing with her feet and Chris jumped on the bed behind her, she grabbed his head with her hands and feet, it was so funny. 
I was drinking water and Kennadi kept whining for it so I gave her a sip, she drank it no problem so Chris gave her more while I took a picture. She wants to be a big girl right now!

Just because:


Happy girl in her little USMC PJs

Finally meeting Lana!! Lana (we met her and Dave out in Virginia) came home for a wedding and we met up with her one of the days. It was so awesome to see her and catch up although it made me realize even more how much I miss her!! We had so much fun in Virginia while the boys were working their long hours, I miss all of the girls being together. 

Updates

1st Meal! We decided to start giving Kennadi a few bites of whole wheat cereal during the evening so she can get used to eating before we start on real foods. Everything I read was saying that once they can sit up with assistance and once they start watching you eat and showing interest while you eat, they are ready for solid foods. We are starting slow but she loves it. She didn't spit it out or make a weird face or anything, she just swallowed and opened her mouth for more. She is a good little eater!

Trying to eat the sun, she is very persistant but then gets mad at it and yells and when I pick her up after a while she gets even more mad because she wants to play but she wants the toy to cooperate. She is a feisty little one.

On Monday I took Kennadi to her first concert. Mercy Me, which is a well known Christian band, was playing on base at the beach for free. Chris had to work but I still really wanted to go so I strapped her to my front and put a backpack on my back and we went. It was awesome! Kennadi did great, she loved the music and loved watching all the people, she was so tired by the end of it but she was fighting sleep so hard so she could watch everything. There were a ton of people there, lots of Marines and their families and it was so nice to see. Before the concert Kennadi and I were watching the kids play in the water and a lady came up and said she wanted to take a picture of us because it was the cutest thing she had seen in a long time.

Trip to Barstow:

It was Chris's grandma's birthday so we drove up to Barstow for the day and had an early dinner. It was good to see family and of course they were excited to see Kennadi.


Kennadi and Grandma

Great-Grandpa playing

Kathy and Virginia


Great Aunt Kathy with Kennadi

On the trip there she was trying very hard to get this ball in her mouth

Pool Party:

We were at a friends house for a pre-deployment pool party all day. The girls did awesome, they swam and played and we didn't have any melt downs till the end of the day when they were both just done and ready to go home, Heather and I all but had to drag our husbands out of the pool, the whole day was a lot of fun!Kennadi loves her new toy, we found it at a used kids store. It folds up and you can carry it very easily and then she can play and sleep in it and it bounces as well; it also keeps her out of the sun. We brought it to the beach and the pool and it makes life so much easier!

Our friend Nick feeding Kennadi. At first he was holding her and she got really upset so to redeem himself he gave her a bottle, she liked him after that.


The guys playing some game with a ball, they had a ton of fun.

All tuckered out and napping

Playing in the crib. I checked on her in the morning and heard her sucking so I looked into her crib and she was trying to shove all of her fingers into her mouth. It was so cute, once she saw me she got the biggest grin on her face.

I asked Chris to watch Kennadi while I showered, I came out and found this. Not sure what I think of my 4 month old playing video games, she seemed to just like to play with the controller.

This is at Heather and Seth's house. Payton and Kennadi love to play together, Payton laughs at Kennadi and grabs her, Kennadi just stares at Payton. It is so funny to watch.