Story of our child, born in India, raised with love in Canada!

DNA testing and spitting up

2012-02-08T08:58:00.005-05:00

This week on TNF we finally get our DNA testing! I say finally, but really, it all went so quickly!! Here is the link if you want to have a read.. http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

Huge Congratulations to Mandy and Rick on finally having a positive pregnancy test, and making it to 16 weeks today!! YAY!!!

Cailyn finally is sprouting hair...

When we were in India, we had the pleasure to meet Temmy. Temmy gave Cailyn two adorable dresses, with matching shoes. Well, these now fit and OMG..they are just too cute!! Here is Cailyn in the all pink outfit from Aunt Temmy!

Aunt Temmy with Cailyn in India

Cailyn continues to amaze us every day. She is now very mobile on her back...scooting around on her back! She says "hi mama, hi pop pop, bye and I love you". She has two bottom teeth and now the top two are ready to crack any day now! Spitting up is still her task of choice, but fortunately she is a happy spittter and it's more of a laundry/clean the house issue. For some reason she loves "The Wiggles"...oi vey.
Cailyn loves to watch The Young and The Restless with mommy and daddy...yes, I wrote daddy...and now, chooses to have her bottle on her own like a big girl while watching!

Everyday is a joy and a privilege with Cailyn!

Just after posting this, Cailyn gave me a great spit up shot to share:

Almost 6 months!

2012-02-01T22:28:00.004-05:00

Those of you who were on the old SI forum may remember Nicolle. Nicolle came to meet Cailyn, and thank god her first son was a spitter upper as Nicolle left with wet pants and didn't even bat an eye at it!! Cailyn enjoyed meeting Nicolle and loves the beautiful book she brought.
Cailyn also had a play date with Kai. Kai is 4 months old today, so about 6 weeks younger than Cailyn. Cailyn has two teeth and it seems like any day now she will have one more.
My update is on The Next Family - this week I write about Cailyn being discharged from Spring Meadows and heading to the Canadian High Commission for the second visit. Here is the link if you wish to have a read: http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

Cailyn continues to spit up, so I thought about a few pro's and con's of spitting up, and here is my take on it:

Pro's

*Your floors are clean - cleaner than ever as you have your daily routine of mopping the whole house at end of day. See the con's list as to why this is imperative and prevents accidents.
*You might get to go shopping for yourself as your clothes are constantly splattered with spit up formula, which can look like bleach splatters on dark coloured clothing. Shopping for yourself changes from fashionable and needs to be ironed to comfy, dries easily, washes well and is a spit up hiding colour!
*A clean baby! The spitting up becomes an annoying discussion with those around you so you work very hard on keeping baby clean. Since spit up can land in baby's ears, trickle into their hair if they are laying down etc, you are constantly on scrubbing up duty - people will compliment you on how lovely the baby always looks! Little do they know it is a constant cleaning battle. This could also belong in the con's list.

Con's

*Baby is always wet...shirt's, pants, neck, hands, blankets, coats...you get the point...everything is wet!
LAUNDRY - having a singleton spitting up feels like having twins! Lot's of laundry, but thank god the baby clothes are small and alot fits into one load.
*Hazardous conditions - when spit up formula dries on the hard wood, or the tile it becomes like a skating rink. Anyone who scoots across the dried spit up wearing socks or slippers risks wiping out and falling hard!
*The never ending comments from those around you. I continue to get frustrated when people say she is "throwing up". Throwing up is from sickness, spitting up is the diaphragm still developing. I just know my in laws tell all their friends our baby throws up all day and these people will automatically assume we have a sickly baby. grr...enough...oh my blood pressure....

Here are some recent pics of Cailyn

Holding her own water bottle

Getting a little too fresh with Kai!

Awe, too cute!

5 minutes before bed last night..such a smiley girl!

Chunka munka after her bath (no, not mommy!)

Daytime fun - notice how wet her top is...ah..spit up is fun!

Squash...YUM!

More squash please

Kooky face playing her piano

She has found her feet...well we think she has leaned out and is no longer trying to look over her belly! She has actually put her toes in her mouth!

It is very hard to imagine this was Cailyn just a year ago!!

Citizenship, cereal and a tooth!

2012-01-26T09:09:00.000-05:00

I love being a Canadian. I love being part of a country that can end any sentence in "eh" , and that says the word about like aboot . I would also love for Cailyn to finally be recognized as a Canadian citizen!! The process is simple, just it seems to take a very long time to actually receive the final judgements. Yesterday we received a letter about her citizenship application stating that is now in the hands of the Program Support Unit, thus, causing a delay in finalizing. Hmm... she is a citizen by descent, yet we have to go through all the hurdles to have actual recognition. It is a little frustrating as we cannot get her a Social Insurance Number until this is finalized, and without a SIN number we cannot open a proper education savings account. On the contrary, the government has approved us for the Universal Child Care Benefit where we get a pittance every month to assist with our child care needs and we received our first cheque yesterday, retro active to her birth. This is very impressive to us and we are grateful to have it! The UCCB did have some challenges as they followed upon our application asking for proof of Cailyns refugee status etc... which was comical to us. We were able to satisfy their needs quickly with our Indian birth certificate, and 2.5 months later, we received our first cheque.

This little Canadian girl has a tooth now, yep, lower right chomper has made an appearance! Feeling the tooth on day one was like feeling the tip of a razor blade, or the sharp point of a sewing needle. She is obsessed with this tooth, sucking on it and touching it all day. It is adorable to watch her recognize that something is different in her mouth.
We also started her (a little early) on rice cereal. We started earlier than planned to see if this would help with her intestinal trials, and luckily it has!! Cailyn LOVES to eat her cereal and the sheer excitement of sitting in her high chair waiting and watching as the cereal gets made causes her to either squeal or coo with delight. As a result of a few days of cereal, she has actually worn the same outfit for more than one hour and her laundry basket is quite empty! Yesterday she wore the same outfit for the entire day, what a change for us! YAY for solids!

Yum, cereal!

The Liebster award - wow!

2012-01-24T11:26:00.002-05:00

Seems there is a series of Liebster Awards being mentioned on blogs, all started by Doug and Bill , and then we were mentioned in the awards list by Douglas and Chad . We feel quite honoured to have been mentioned and understand that we must pay it forward as a grateful recipient.
Now, this feels a bit like Survivor to me, that we have won the reward challenge on day 29 and get to choose one person to come and eat with us, leaving the rest behind. We enjoy so many blogs about surrogacy, that it is difficult to highlight just a few!

I decided to go old school and highlight the blogs of families who started out with us in 2008

Made in India - two beautiful boys born after some drama in Mumbai. Nik and Lisa have become friends, for life.   We had many a beer with Nik while in Mumbai in the summer of 2009.

Baby Masala - we had the pleasure to meet this family in Mumbai in 2009. If you go back in their blog to the beginnings, you will see a very heartfelt post about taking this plunge and the uncertainty that came with it.   We love the updates on Micah, seeing him grow up into such a wonderful little boy.

Procreated In India - we had the pleasure to meet this family while in Mumbai in 2009. They have a beautiful baby girl, and I hope that when they try for baby number two they continue to share their experiences!

Amani and Bob's Indian Surrogacy - Amani and Bob - beautiful Tobias born in 2010! Meg and Bob had their own hurdles throughout the early parts of their journey, but pressed on to have success and now are expecting baby number two with SCI.

Oh Mandy!!!   We all hoping and praying that Mandy and her hubby Rick finally get the news they so desire. After I think 4 failed attempts in India, it is their time!!

I just wanted to pay homage to some of our pioneers who have stayed in touch with us as we struggled through 8 attempts at a baby in India. There are just so many great blogs out there now that there is no way I can make a top ten list! Sometimes I worry our blog could scare the crap out of people - well our earlier mishaps and blunders anyway. I hear from people daily that our blog has inspired them, and for that we are grateful.

And, this list would not be complete without mention of Dr Shivani's blog, and The Next Family. Both of these places are very special to me, and I feel like they have helped me grow my friends list beyond what I could have imagined.

To access the blogs I mentioned just click on the name and you will be redirected.

Interview

2012-01-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

TNF has conducted interviews with it's writers and mine was published today.  Here is the link: http://thenextfamily.com/2012/01/interview-with-kerrie-olejarz/

If you want to see an adorable video of a sweet little 3yr old girl trying chewing gum for the first time, click HERE. This angel belongs to Brandy at The Next Family.
Seeing this video really makes me excited to see Cailyn try all these new things in life!

The last week has been much improved here. The new formula seems to be doing the trick, but sadly, the ingredients are far from what I would feed her in a perfect world. I had such high hopes of an all organic formula, snacks etc, yet, the intestinal trials of one Cailyn Olejarz have pulled me far off this path of idealism.   I am so over it...I try my best and will always make the best choices on her behalf. In this situation we need her to eat, spit up minimal, BURP and feel good, so, so .... so be it...its not organic and the ingredient declaration is far from ideal.    Sometimes we have to compromise.   That's life!

Cailyn is super long and I think her next dr. visit will show her length beyond her previous 50th percentile. Teething is fun, but since we keep Camilia on hand and use as needed we have figured this out!   http://boiron.ca/en/products/children/camilia/

Late October....

January 2011 - oh how she has grown!

Everyone loves a hooded towel!

Must have's and 5 months!

2012-01-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

This week I decided to post our list of must haves for baby pick up in India. For those of you who have picked up you baby, I would ask you to add to the list in the comments section of my Next Family blog. Sharing our experiences really helps others, I hear this everyday!!

Click on the picture to be redirected to the page:

http://thenextfamily.com/2012/01/list-of-must-haves-when-picking-up-a-baby-in-india/

Now, onto Cailyn. She is 5 months old tomorrow (the baby ticker at the top of the blog page seems to calculate based on 30 days in a month..) I cannot believe she is already 5 months!! Where does the time go! She can sit up on her own for short periods of time and tries hard with her little abdomen muscles to pull herself up from the lying down position. She loves her hands and feet and now reaches out to grab things...like daddy's burrito! She sleeps very well through the night, thank god, and now has a two hour nap in the late afternoon (another YAY for mommy). We do to Body Morph everyday and Cailynis a very popular girl there. As all of us women jiggle our way to a thinner self, Cailyn smiles and entertains all of us. She loves to see everyone jiggling, especially mommy! Speaking of Body Morph, my first month doing it proved to be successful...a total of 8 inches lost!!
Her reflux is still a small beast and we are working to keep her comfortable. Saturday she started getting back to normal, still spitting up like crazy but seemingly in less pain. We are hesitant to use Zantac, but may get the script for the acute attacks. We have always made a "concoction" for her of warm water, flax oil and some added gas relief (like Oval or Coxcyntal). She loves to drink this, and I think she knows it helps her gas pains. We are continuing with the new formula with hopes it also helps...so far it seems to have improve things..fingers crossed. Fortunately, through all of this, she continues to sleep through the night for 10-11 hours, which helps keep us sane!
Everyday with her is a joy, and even the challenging moments are looked back on as such a privledge in our life.

Little girl in what seems a large high chair!

Finally growing some hair

Trouble!

24 hours of insanity

2012-01-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

Caused by gas...reflux...colic...who knows but poor Cailyn has had a rough 24 hours. We have tried everything to calm her and take away her pain. Finally, out of pure exhaustion and concern we got her into a rush appointment at the doctor who said she is fine, maybe needs some Zantac but lets wait til tomorrow to see if this is still continuing. In the meantime, we have moved to a new formula, continuing probotics and praying that this resolves as quickly as it came on. My poor sister came over today to give me a mental break, so I decided to head out and get some formula with Mark (who managed to come home early) Shortly after leaving my sister called and was dealing with a poor screaming baby. We paid for our purchase and raced home, called the doctor and booted out the door. Cailyn had always spit up but this has progressed quickly into a not so good situation. Today was the first time I had a mini melt down as I could not help her, no matter what I tried...nothing worked. And, coincidentally, a new blog on The Next Family went up today that gave me a sense of kinship, and also put into perspective that it could be worse. Read about Tanya's experience here: http://thenextfamily.com/2012/01/baby-has-bad-acid-refulx/comment-page-1/#comment-67232
Tonight as I write this Cailyn is soundly sleeping, more than likely exhausted from the last day of pain and crying. It is awful to be a parent and not be able to fix what is wrong..immediately. Sadly with reflux or colic it becomes a trial and error scenario that takes time to figure out. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for all of us!

Almost 5 months!

2012-01-09T22:36:00.002-05:00

Well, Cailyn is rounding out the last days of her fourth month. She continues to be beyond happy, smiling and engaging with people all the time! It is really nice to see her interact in such a fun and social way. As of today Cailyn has found her "squeal" voice...she squeals high pitched, at intervals of...well alot!! It is too cute and as annoying as it could be to some, for us, it is a squeal that melts our hearts. Cailyn also has a boisterous giggle type laugh, and tries to talk alot. She continues to say "hi!" and it's not just mom and dad who have heard it. Cailyn continues to spit up what seems to be all she eats. The doctor is not worried as she continues to put on wait and is growing nicely. We are considering switching formulas next to see if this helps at all, as it seems it has progressed into reflux. For now, until we use up the rest of the purchased formula, we are giving her Bio Gaia probiotic drops and after 4 days we have noticed a substantial improvement! We are starting to see a shimmer of hair on her head - she has been bald since all her birth hair fell. I cannot remember who gave us the pink moccasin style slippers, but whomever did THANK YOU!! They are just so great!! Seems there are no socks for this age/size and the slipper are perfect! Cailyn loves to be bare foot, but once we feel her feet getting cool, we put on the slippers and all is good. Cailyn can almost sit up from a laying down postion, can sit unsupported in the tripod position and loves to lift her legs up over her belly with her legs stretched as straight as can be! She surprises us daily with new things she does and sounds she makes. Every day is a blessing with her, and every day we are so full of love and also so very thankful to Dr S @ SCI!

Busy legs!

10/10/2011 - look how tiny she is compared to the pic above...oh how quickly they grow!

Too cute!

Collection of Sophie's for teething

Cutie patootie!

Fun feeding

More fun feeding~!

Sometimes Cailyn will only burp when propped into her Bumbo

This week on TNF I write about Cailyn's treatment for jaundice in India and also our chance meeting with our surrogate Sumita

http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

The Canadian High Commission

2012-01-04T08:16:00.000-05:00

For any Canadians going to Delhi for surrogacy, you can read about our Canadian High Commission experience on TheNextFamily.com

This week I detail our first visit to Consular Services. The process is quite simple, just takes time. Be prepared to stay for 3.5-4 weeks after you receive your baby(ies) birth certificate.

http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

December update

2012-01-01T11:03:00.000-05:00

The last week has been so super busy, with many visits, social engagements, Christmas and now New Years! Whew...the time went so quickly! Finally, this morning I can check the blogs and see what has been happening over the past week.
Cailyn is teething with fury, and thank god for Boiron Camilia! Since she continues to rub her tongue on the top part of her mouth, we are pretty sure that is where the first tooth will bud. And of course, intense teething brought on a mad case of cradle cap (YUCK!). We happened to visit our naturopath yesterday who gave us some cream to try - one that will help manage any inflammation as well.
We received many lovely photo Christmas cards from our surrogacy friends around the world and these will definitely go in Cailyn's 2011 memory box!!
2011 was a wonderful year for us in the Olejarz household and we are so looking forward to 2012 with Cailyn!

Oh so pretty!

Auntie Christine loving Cailyn!

Christmas apparel....

Daddy looks way more excited about Christmas than Cailyn

Look up, look way up and I'll call Rusty!

Merry Christmas!

First gift ever from Bobcia.

Uncle Stan gave Cailyn a Jolly Jumper! So much fun!

Nice pic of Mark

Bumbo'ing in her Merry Christmas onsie.

Awe!!!

This hat sucks!

All smiles!

Lala - the original Teletubbies doll I bought in 1997 (for our first baby)...Cailyn LOVES Teletubbies!

First attempt at the exersaucer

Adorable top from Australia!! So cute!

Action shot in the Jolly Jumper!

Thenextfamily.com update is up, detailing our first morning with Cailyn in India. Also, on the TheNextFamily.com website the resident surrogate is newly pregnant, carrying for an international family! YAY! I cannot wait to follow along, hope you all will too! ------->

Four months already!

2011-12-21T08:59:00.001-05:00

My goodness the time is flying!! It is hard to believe that one year ago we were home biting our nails waiting for the results from SCI and now, we have a four month old daughter! Just shows, dreams are possible and persistence pays off!!
Cailyn continues to be a happy happy girl, smiling all day and at anyone who even looks at her. She went with me for my blood ozone treatment last week and sat on my lap for the whole procedure. She grabbed the IV line that was full of my ozonated blood a few times but other than that she just enjoyed the visit with the doctor. We also had a visit from Ursula, a visit from Stephanie and went out to a daytime party. At the party, Cailyn found all the kids fascinating but was particularly taken with baby Kai. She smiled and kicked alot when he entered the room - it was really cute to watch!
Cailyn continues to sleep through the night with no issue! She is really good at tummy time and can roll over from tummy to back. When she rolls over the landing is quite the site. She slams her heals into the floor and spreads her arms out to the side, all the while smiling pleased with her accomplishment!

A visit from Ursula

Sleepy baby after playing with Ursula

My birthday flowers

Holy hannah. what a big coat!

Cailyn was very interested in baby Kai!

Notice Cailyns' red bangles bought in India...everyone was covered in glitter after holding her!

Tummy time - I like to move it..I like to move it...

What???

Christmas will be quite enjoyable this year (finally), now that we have our very own Christmas angel. For those of you out there that are struggling to get pregnant or have suffered recent losses I want you to know that we all hope and pray for your success. The holidays are a horrible time for most people travelling the infertile road. I do know the pain and how exhausting it can be to try and put on a happy face during these times. Stay as strong as you can or want to, and do not feel obligated to always be the happy aunt/uncle, and if it gets to be too much - do what you need to do - go home, drink wine, cry, whatever it is, it is ok. One day you will hold your own baby, sadly, just not today. I often remember our first Christmas after burying our first born child...it seemed that Mark and I were the only ones who remembered that this happened. We had no joy, we had no interest in the festivities, yet, sadly, everyone around us did. We wanted to crawl home and feel crushed and just stay that way, and, we just wanted to tell EVERYONE to F-OFF! The thought of going to the grave site was overwhelming, yet the feeling of guilt for not wanting to go, especially at Christmas was equally as troubling. The emotional turmoil of a loss goes way deeper than what we see on the surface.

Try to find some peace this holiday season, and if not peace, find hope. We found hope in India and that was all that kept us going.

One year ago....

2011-12-16T12:40:00.001-05:00

One year ago (Dec. 16/2010) we had 6 little embryos transferred in India, the same day baby Isla was born. Happy first birthday Isla!!!! Last year on this day we were very busy packing to fly home after our IVF in New Delhi. We were anxious to hear about our transfers (2 surrogates) but were quite occupied with sorting out going home. It was also on that day that I turned 40 and got to be 40 for 10.5 hours longer due to the time change in India!
Oh how a year can change life!! I will always remember turning 40 as such an optimistic time in my life!

TheNextFamily.com update is live today. This week I detail Cailyn's second day at the hospital and finally getting to hold her and bring her home!

http://thenextfamily.com/2011/12/second-day-in-india-with-baby-born-there-by-surrogate/

Having multiples!

2011-12-13T23:19:00.000-05:00

No no, not us, just wanted to give a big shout out to all our friends who have had multiples! Mark and I often make mention of how hard it must be to have multiples, hard, yet joy filled. Tonight as I write this, I am exhausted. We have a little girl who feels no need to sleep from 9 am to 10:30 pm and I can only imagine the fatigue that would come with two, or three , or my goodness four! We love every minute of it as do you I am sure. Besides the busy-ness, there are the constant wardrobe changes due to Niagara Falls style spit up. Bibs...what a waste of time! So, my friends, parents of multiples, I have huge respect for you! I am not sure how you stay standing, but god love ya for being such wonderful parents!!!

Onto the princess diaries....

Cailyn's 16th week started as previously posted with vaccinations. The aftermath of diarrhea, increased spit up and general fussiness ended about 72 hours after the shots. Cailyn attended a birthday party for a 2 year old and was much enjoyed by the parents and the birthday boy, who just happens to be the sweetest most gentle little guy (xoxo Nathaneal). Week 16 also found mommy and grandparents all sick. Mommy recovered quickly and we continued on about our daily routine of getting me into shape. Mark came home from work early most days in week 16 so Cailyn really got to enjoy time with her daddy. The daily dance party continues, have video to upload of her "rockin out" - planning to do this over the next few days. Cailyn is teething like a bastard and the drool only adds to the ongoing wardrobe changes. She likes "Sophie" but Sophie is a bit big still for her to gnaw on.

Sophie is too big for my mouth!

Chillaxin in the king size bed

Reading in the king size bed

All bundled to go out! (And yes, thats a sun hat on her head...if it fits, wear it!)

Childrens Christmas party

What an angel when she DOES sleep! The sleeping bag is from India (Mom&Me)...thanks Nilesh!! I wish we had a few more of them as they are the best we have used so far!

Tummy time in jailbird stripes!

Tummy time is FUN!

Laughing during tummy time

Rolled over to the reward of pastic keys on a ring.

Week 15

2011-12-05T08:05:00.004-05:00

So, we vaccinated. It is with a very mixed heart that I say this. Since my life tends to take a naturopathic approach, I/we have agonized over vaccinating. This was an extremely difficult decision for us. I know most parents vaccinate because that's what "we" do and the doctor's appointment progress in such a way that it just becomes part of the routine. I on the other hand question everything especially concerning pharmaceuticals. We are fortunate to have a doctor who supported us either way, but when I walked into her office to say we were vaccinating, she was very pleased. She mentioned a recent study that linked vaccinating to lowered incidence of SIDS. I told her this was not a selling point for me nor are any of the other studies, and fortunately, she understands me and continued on to make sure I was super comfortable and "ok" at that moment (which I wasn't).
The first part of the visit was a general check up. Despite spitting up what seems 4 of the 5oz Cailyn eats, she has packed on some weight and grew a few cm's in length. She remains in the 50th percentile which is great, tracking at average on all measures. After the check up the two dreaded needles came out. Dr P was super quick, one in one leg, the second in the other leg. Cailyn had a delayed reaction and shortly after the second one started to cry. It broke my heart. I felt uber guilty that I had done this too her. Fortunately she is such a great little girl that she recovered quickly and was ready to get the heck out of there! Once home for the rest of the day, Cailyn did well. Late in the afternoon she showed signs of being a bit fussy and had a little cry to let me know. She then had a nice sleep, then a little cry then another little sleep - these things are all outside of her norm. She doesn't cry and she rarely naps so I knew the pattern was her dealing with the medical toxins and discomfort at point of entry. Poor little sausage.
Cailyn continues to say "HI!" and feels the need to interrupt adult conversation with her boisterous and adorable Hi! She can hold rattles, toys etc with ease and sits up with support - not long now until she can sit up on her own. We have not started her on solids and do not plan to until she is minimum six months. The timing of feeding solids is another parent controversy with different schools of thoughts. Cailyn continues to sleep through the night YAY! Every day is full of fun with our little girl!

Al dressed to head out!

An adorable ensemble from Rinku!! Notice the gorgeous faux fur vest - what a riot!! By Cailyn's expression you can see she is not loving being all dressed up.

The preferred choice of clothing by Cailyn, happier.

Post strip down, having fun with daddy!

Birth weight	6.37 lbs
Weight at 5 weeks	8.08 lbs
Weight at 8 weeks	10.11 lbs
Weight at 15 weeks	14.02 lbs

Length at Birth	49.5 cm
Length at 5 weeks	53.34 cm
Length at 8 weeks	56.00 cm
Length at 15 weeks	62 cm

Week 14

2011-11-29T08:35:00.000-05:00

Cailyn is 14 weeks old!! Soon we can call her 4 months! I previously posted a pic of Cailyn with Santa, but wanted to show off how cute she was in her Christmas gown! Not alot to say other than Cailyn is always smiling, always giggly and now can hold rattles, sleeps through the night and finds it hilarious when I exercise. I have joined BodyMorph - vibrating oscillation workout. Cailyn and I go every day, and she finds it hilarious as all my rolls and jelly butt wiggle and jiggle. She laughs, but I am down 5 pounds in the first week! Check out thenextfamily.com this week to read about our surprise that finally, we have our baby....girl! ------->

Life is great with Cailyn!

Something came from Australia!!! Cailyn spit up from sheer excitement!!!

The second dress for the next picture

My work has a Childrens Christmas party, Cailyn looked adorable....

Oh dear, we couldn't resist!

2011-11-23T20:25:00.002-05:00

Week 13

2011-11-22T07:36:00.000-05:00

Besides the fact that it is starting to get super cold here, not a lot happened in the last week. We had some nice social visits with other surrogacy clients who all enjoyed the pure chubbiness of Cailyns' little legs.
Cailyn eats, poops, sleeps and has very impressive social skills. She lets anyone hold her and always has a smile (except when she feels the fussiness of spit up making its way up her esphogus). She has discovered television! Oh ..not good. She will turn her neck in true exorcist fashion to watch it, and has even given me the business when I turned her away from it! Time to nip that in the bud!
Cailyn gets very excited when Mark comes home from work. At that time, for about one hour, mommy no longer exists. It is really adorable to watch her coo over her daddy. All of this is exactly what we have wanted for all these years. Life is good with Cailyn in it!

Sometimes she eats in her bathrobe!

Look at those arms!!! Looks like she may be strawberry blonde.

The shirt was given to us by Lara and Posh while in India. It is just so adorable (and almost too small now)!!

Daddy and his girl chillaxing. Notice the tarp like bib on her to catch the pools of spit up!

Surrogacy in India...a good thing!

2011-11-14T08:26:00.002-05:00

Where do we start?

Firstly, congrats to the whole gang in India with all the twin births!! Three sets of twins to three very deserving families! The twin goodness is found on their blogs which I have the links on my sidebar...go check them out!

Our nextfamily.com update is live this week...I keep the link updated over here now ------------>

We have a new feature page on Surrogacy.ca! We opted to put our story out there, beyond this blog and thenextfamily.com to show a very positive experience in India. Sometimes only the unfortunate stories get published in mass and we are anxious to override them! There is always good and bad in every situation, but as of late, India is providing all great positive stories with happy healthy babies and parents! Please have a look at the link: http://surrogacy.ca/intendedparents/markkerrie.html

Onto Cailyn...
Cailyn continues to grow grow grow! She is sleeping a fair bit these days which is a good sign of a growth spurt. For the last 5 weeks , Cailyn rarely slept during the day, anxious to not miss a thing! As of last week, she sleeps a bit during the day and is sleeping 10 hours at night. Grow baby grow!

We really struggled with the whole vaccine dilemma. Cailyn is the most precious thing in our life and the thought of putting her at any risk has made the decision very difficult. Canadian guidelines recommend vaccinations start at 2 months...well, that time has passed and we took this time to really think about it, weighing out the pros and cons of going either way. In our research we have found that most people are very misguided about the local regulations especially when it comes to schooling. So, with very mixed thoughts, we will vaccinate...ugh. It's a terribly hard pill for us to swallow. I know that the vaccines will protect her from polio, measles etc, but at the same time I hate the thought of injecting her with even the smallest dose of medical poison. We plan to do it this Friday so that daddy is available to help out overnight if needed. Wish us luck!

We picked up our new ride on Wednesday! The back has privacy tinted windows and its own set of heat/air vents! Cailyn seems to love it so far!

Daddy feeding - Cailyn is so long now she has to put her feet up on mark's chest!

Oh so little before...

Ah, being on the tummy - causes a nice milky drool!

Cailyn had a visitor all the way from India! Despite the language barrier, Daadi managed to coax Cailyn into a nice little nap.

This is our girl, always smiling!! (iPhone pics really are bad quality)

Chillin in polka dots. (another crummy iPhone pic)

Week 11

2011-11-07T11:02:00.000-05:00

My goodness, the time goes so quickly!! Cailyn had a visit from baby Kai who is one month old, and seeing him reminded me of how much Cailyn has grown! We opted to buy a new vehicle and sorted that out on the weekend. Hopefully, god willing, we will be able to have a sibling for Cailyn so we opted to go for an SUV that could accommodate all the baby gear and hopefully another baby one day. We are just waiting to hear on the availability of the new vehicle..hopefully soon (like this week) so we can have a family vehicle again, that is safe for all of us.
Last night Cailyn decided she was ready to laugh, out loud! It was the cutest thing ever!!! She definitely has a girlie laugh! Cailyn has also started to cut a tooth! White bud is visible and the clear never ending drool too. It's early but there is not really a textbook baby is there. Cailyn also says "hi" frequently, and it's not just us who hear it. She has said "I love you" when we sing Skiddamarink a few times also. She is a busy busy girl who chooses NOT to sleep during the day for fear of missing something fun.

Cailyn is a chunky monkey for sure! Sweet little Kai checking out the couch cushions.

She needs to dance!

Sunday we went for a walk in the marsh with my sister.

This is from this morning, our always smiling little gem!

Our little pumpkin. Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:42:00.001-04:00

Oh dear, not a happy girl! She decided she was suddenly hungry!

Much happier! (post bottle)

Curious.

Ahhh...so pretty!! She had fun now that her belly was full.

Happy Diwali!

2011-10-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

Week 9

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Week 9, hard to believe Cailyn is 9 weeks old! Cailyn now sleeps 5-6 hours at night before needing a feed! YAY for mommy sleep too!! Cailyn continues to be a very happy baby, all smiles except when she has a gassy episode which are thankfully few and far between. She loves to be carted around in her stroller and even manages to sleep the entire walk through the rough trails of Rattray Marsh.
We went to a car seat clinic put on by GM Canada and learned alot about car seat safety and local regulations. Sadly, it seems my car is not car seat friendly so we are now on the hunt for a car that is. I can keep the car seat safely in my car but it means I cannot have a passenger in the front seat, nor can we really use it as a family vehicle which has always been the case. Our car seat is one of the more compact ones on the market so a new seat will not resolve the issue. I AM NOT GETTING A VAN!
So, onto cuteness....

Cailyn loves to dance...ignore the shaky camera work as I was apparently grooving along with her!

Exhausted after going to the mall to by formula.

Put up your dukes!

Car rides are exhausting!

Smiling (stupid iPhone camera)

Sleeping bag from Nilesh in India

Just chillaxing in the vibrating chair

Cailyn LOVES to dance, put on music and she moves!

Another relaxing day at the office with wubbanub.

So alert! What a doll.

Enroute to buy formula.

TNF update and this and that...

2011-10-19T19:42:00.000-04:00

My nextfamily update went up earlier this week and shame on me for being lazy about posting it here. This update details my last few weeks at work and preparing to go to India for baby pick up and preparing for my long over due maternity leave!

http://thenextfamily.com/2011/10/preparing-for-time-with-the-new-baby/

The VERY best advertising ever!!! I could watch this over and over...she is the best!

And lastly, I have to put a pic of Cailyn up...

Two months already!

2011-10-17T12:26:00.002-04:00

Cailyn is officially two months old today and where the heck has the time gone! Cailyn is truly an angel and a no fuss happy girl. We have resolved her constipation issues with pro-biotics and flax oil added to every bottle. Cailyn had her two month check up today and she is growing nicely. She is in the 50 percentile for all measures so she is right on track! Here are her update stats:

Birth weight	6.37 lbs
Weight at 5 weeks	8.08 lbs
Weight at 8 weeks	10.11 lbs

Length at Birth	49.5 cm
Length at 5 weeks	53.34 cm
Length at 8 weeks	56.00 cm

After the doctor Cailyn went to see her friend Tori. Here are the two girls together lounging in their pj's. Tori is 6 months old and a lovely little girl. Cailyn chose to play the shy girl for the photo shoot!

Cailyn is pretty much out of newborn sized clothes. Some still fit her, but her length makes some of them a challenge. I really love pants - add socks and you are set! Tori has given Cailyn so many of her hand me downs that we are set for the next stage in sizes!
Cailyns other little friend Harper gives her wonderful hand me downs too. Harper is 7.5 months old. We went out with Harper and her mom last week to cruise the mall. Of course, both of us being bad moms forgot to snap a pic... Here is Cailyn all dressed to go to the mall..

looking like a living doll!

Shortly after we returned from India a parcel arrived from Australia! Nik, Lisa, Taj and Alex sent Cailyn some lovely clothes, alot that are sporting how proud the Aussies are! Here is Cailyn wearing her leggings from Australia and her green Angel bejeweled shirt I bought at Liliput in M Block for her. She seems to be getting the posing down...

Cailyn now smiles all the time!! She recognizes us as we enter a room and beams a big grin at us. She loves having visitors and is comfortable with complete strangers. She attempts a giggle and we know anyday now this will become a hearty laugh, which we cannot wait for! She sleeps in her crib and can go 5 hours if she is really pooped out, especially if she spent some time in her jungle gym kicking her legs and punching at the hanging animals. She has kind of lost interest in her swing and bouncy chair - this may be a phase, or permanent..only time will tell. She is drooling like crazy so we wonder if she will cut teeth early? She loves to be sung to, and it seems Kiss "I wanna rock and roll all night" is a big hit, and her favourite song on the iPod that gets here dancing is Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People. It is a bit of a Pavlovian experiment with her - when we put on the iPod or sing the Kiss song she automatically starts dancing (I guess better than salivating like the dog did in the actual experiment) And lastly, her fine little wrists are no longer. They are now adorable little pudgy sausage rolls!

A picture for Allie and one for Kathy

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Another adorable bib from Steph and Adam...a good pic for Allie :)

The gorgeous sleeping bag from Kathy and Dave!! We call it her Angel bag! Thanks Kathy and Dave!!

Just a cute pic of a very inquisitive girl in stripes.