6 month check-up

Kaitlyn is 6 months old (well, she was on the 14th).  We had her check-up today.
She is 26 3/4 inches long.
She weighs 19.6 lbs (I could have sworn it was over 20 lbs!)
Her head is 43 cm.

She is just getting over Viral Croup, which started on our trip last weekend in Louisiana with a fever (102.3) and a barking cough.  I woke up in the middle of the night and thought it was my parents' old dog barking instead of my little girl.  It nearly scared us to death!

After a trip to the doctor on Monday, she has been on steroids for inflammation and a cough syrup.  We have had a few rough nights, but she is doing better.  Thanks to Grammy for putting off her Christmas shopping to watch her for us!  Now she just has a congested cough, so the doc gave me a pediatric expectorant.  Fun!

The doctor was so impressed with her good, calm nature.  He already projects that she will be a good student and an obedient, rule-following child.  We'll take it!  He attributes it to the calm nature of her parents (ha!).  We are thankful all the same, for our sweet little girl and hoping that our next child is not a terror!

In the last month, she has rolled all around the house, become a tummy sleeper, and started eating solid foods.  She now has eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, prunes, bananas.  We are taking things slowly and trying not to introduce too many foods at a time.  The doctor said that she is cleared to drink water, but so far, she doesn't seem to enjoy it by itself.  Mixed with breastmilk, she's fine with it.

She is vocalizing more, but doesn't seem to be a big talker.  She has said "mama" and "dada" and "baba."  One day, three times when she saw Micah, she coincidentally said "dada."  He claims it to be her first word!

Kaitlyn continues to be a good traveler.  She prefers a 6 hour drive to the 7-hour Louisiana drive, but if you get in the back seat with her and entertain her, she will make it the final hour.

Kaitlyn is now breastfeeding 3x/ day and eating twice per day.  She sleeps from 7 pm til between 6-7 AM.  We still have trouble with her taking consistently longer naps. She tends to wake at the 45-minute mark.  The doctor recommended having her try to take a longer second nap by allowing her to cry a bit to see if she will put herself back to sleep.  I'll try that when she is feeling better.  Making her room darker has seemed to help some.  Once her second nap is consistently longer, then we will likely drop the late afternoon nap.

She enjoys books.  We read her storybook Bible every morning and multiple other books throughout the day.  This week, we have been reading the Night Before Christmas book she got from Mamaw.

Here she is at the doctor's office today.

Church Pics

I was hoping these would come in by Christmas and they did!  Too bad they didn't get here at this time last week, so we could have brought them to Louisiana.

I think Kaitlyn is much more photogenic than her mother!

Thankful

A couple of weeks ago, our pastor challenged us to set our phones/ watches for every hour, and to take a minute to ATL- Acknowledge God's presence, be Thankful, and Listen to His voice.  So from 6 AM until 10 PM, our phones go off on the hour to remind us to do so.  It has been a challenge, but it has helped me to focus on the Lord more throughout the day.  So often, I spend time with Him in the morning through prayer and Bible study, and then as the day goes on, drift further and further away from the sound of His voice.
Usually, at Thanksgiving I spend at least an hour journaling about all of the things that I am thankful for.  I will give you the 3 minute version:
 I am thankful that I am a child of God- that He loves me, cares deeply for me, and wants to be actively involved in my life.  I can't imagine what my life would be like if I were not a Christian.
 I am thankful to be a wife of an awesome husband- who provides for us, who is encouraging, and who I love deeply.  I am thankful that he is also my best friend.
I am so grateful to be a mommy.  Kaitlyn is such a joy and has been long anticipated.  She is a miracle!
I am thankful for our extended family- parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins etc.  We are loved.  We have been provided for.
I am thankful for the friendships God has blessed me with- from my best friend of 22 years, to some of my closest friends in our church group now.  Being an only child, friendships have been really important to me throughout my life.
I am thankful for God's provision through our jobs.  That we both enjoy what we do and that we both like to help people.  We have never been without food, shelter, vehicles etc.  We are blessed.

Just because Thanksgiving is over, doesn't mean we should ever stop being thankful, on a daily basis (if not an hourly basis) for all that God has done for us.  Lord, help me to be "overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:7).

5 Months!

Time really does fly with an infant.  It didn't seem to go nearly as fast when I was pregnant.  

Kaitlyn turned 5 months on Sunday.  There is no 5-month check-up, but she is still a big girl.  She is wearing some 6 month clothes, and some 6-9 month clothes.  My guess is that she weighs about 19 lbs now.

Her new trick is to crawl on her back to get around the room.  She also does this in her crib and ends up in one of the corners, unable to move any further.  Her bedtime is 7 PM and she usually sleeps til 6 or 6:30 AM.

She is consistently rolling from stomach to back, and very close to rolling from her back to her stomach.  She sits with just a little support and is able to sit in a high chair and the grocery shopping cart.

We will probably start rice cereal soon with her mainly to work on feeding skills to prepare her to start eating at 6 months.  I made my first batch of pureed sweet potatoes the other day for her.

Kaitlyn remains a very calm and sweet baby.  Absolutely no complaints out of this mama, other than the fact that she took about a week to adjust to the time change and was waking me up at 4 and 5 AM!

Kaitlyn now loves bottles, helps hold them, and grabs for them.  I have been away from her for at least a few hours the past 4 weekends, and she has done great with daddy.  He gets her again this Saturday for my first out-of-town adventure without her.

The Bumbo is getting a little tight for her juicy thighs, but her new favorite thing is the standing jumper.  Even when she isn't in it, she likes to pretend she is jumping!  I'm hoping this helps some with the thigh issue mentioned above! :)

Kaitlyn enjoys looking at books, listening to mom sing, drooling, chewing on toys, vocalizing (especially when in the car), watching people, and smiling.  She continues to be a joy and reminds me daily of the goodness of God.  I am so thankful!

 Her favorite jumpy thing!

 She has almost outgrown the swing.  I moved it from the living room into her room today.

 Playing dress up!

 Check out my thighs!

 Doing the crab crawl

On the go!

Baby D

Kaitlyn was dedicated to the Lord last Sunday at Antioch's "Baby D" celebration.  It was a nice service, and all of Micah's family was able to attend (even his sister and her boyfriend from Austin.)  We also had good friends from Lifegroup come to see both Kaitlyn and Aubree dedicated.  They had a brunch following the ceremony.  Kaitlyn was actually still able to wear the size Newborn dress Momo gave her.  It fit a little differently than it did when she was in the hospital.

 Kaitlyn and cousin, Hunter.  They are 9 months apart.

Kaitlyn made it from 6 AM til 11:15 without a nap.  She was exhausted!

Visiting Relatives

On Friday, 11/5, Aunt Crystal came into town unexpectedly and hung out with baby K and me.  She had lunch and dinner with us before going to the Robinson High football game.

Then on Saturday, after the Antioch Women's Conference, my parents came into town briefly to see their grandbaby, on their way to Houston for my dad's eye appointment.

 And yes, Kaitlyn is now gladly taking bottles! :)

Here, she is grabbing Granddad's lip.

Fall Festival

On Saturday night, we went with some friends to the Fall Festival at the First Baptist Church in Robinson.  We were actually impressed with all the work they put into it!  It was a Noah's Ark theme, where the children were asked to dress up in non-scary or animal costumes.  Since Kaitlyn is only 4 months old, we were not going to take her trick-or-treating, so this was a good, safe alternative and an opportunity for her to wear the cute lamb outfit her Momo bought her.

 She got to help feed the baby goats!

Kaitlyn also got to ride her first pony.

She was talking to the photographer.

The evening ended on a high note, with an amazing win by Baylor over UT.  So exciting to finally have a winning season and know that we will be going to a bowl game.

Sophie is healed!

Our miniature schnauzer, Sophie, passed a bladder stone about 6 weeks ago when she suddenly peed on the floor in the kitchen. We immediately took her to the vet and they found two more larger stones in the bladder.  They put her on a canned S/D diet and said to come back in 3 weeks.

At the 3 week check-up, she had 1 larger and multiple tiny stones.  They said to try this special (very expensive) diet for another 3 weeks, and if the stones weren't gone, we would have to do surgery.

Sophie and I went back to the vet this morning, and the x-ray showed no bladder stones! Yippee!!  So she doesn't have to have surgery and we don't have to pay for surgery.  She will continue to require an expensive diet for the rest of her life, but that should prevent the stones from returning.  No more table scraps for poor Sophie, but she is approved to have an occasional carrot, which is her favorite snack.

I Can't Believe I Found It!

And soooo completely by accident.  I made a picture a very long time ago and I thought it was lost.  Today in trying to recover from one catastrophe and avoid another I stumbled on an old external harddrive.


I plugged it in to see if I could erase it and use it for other purposes and staring right at me was a folder that rang a bell in the far depths of my memory.


I found it.


I give you the Smith kids.

The hilarious part is that Ryan and Angela were just in town for Homecoming and this picture came up and I said that I was pretty sure that it was lost forever.

Homecoming

Homecoming 2010 was fun and interesting!  Usually we have about 6-8 people staying with us, but this year, it was just our friends Angela and Ryan.  They are some of our favorite couple friends, so it was lots of fun spending time with them.  Not sure if having a baby scared other people off or what!

On Friday night, we threw Kaitlyn's schedule off by taking her to bonfire at 10:00.  We missed the big flames, but got a few pictures.

 We borrowed this cute bear costume from a friend.

 Family pic at Bonfire

Saturday morning, we went to the parade and got caught in the rain.  We had the best seats on campus that we have ever had!  (We won't say where, so we can get them next year!)

At the last minute, I decided to go to the game and got Micah's mom to watch Kaitlyn.  I probably shouldn't have spent the $40, because 1 and 1/2 minutes into the game, it got delayed due to lightning in the area.  Then a huge storm came right over the stadium.  We decided to run to the car, but waited 10 minutes too long and got drenched.  Everyone came back home to quickly shower and change.  At that point, I decided not to go back and gave my ticket to a friend.  Angela stayed for a bit, got cold, and ended up coming back to the house as well!  Cold and wet did not seem like a good combination.

That evening, our friends Lisa, Brian and her baby Kaylee, as well as Suzannah and Bo, came to eat a late dinner at our house.  It was fun to catch up with everyone.  I fell asleep on the couch with our company still there at 10:15.  Hope they weren't offended!

Kaitlyn and Kaylee playing.

4 Months!

It's hard to believe my little angel is already 4 months old.  How time flies!  I'm loving every second we get to spend together.  It is such a privilege to be her mom.  She is SUCH a good baby.  I hate to brag- but she is, so I'm going to say it!

We went for her 4-month check-up yesterday, about a week after she turned 4 months.
She is now 25 1/2 inches tall.
She weighs 17.45 pounds!  (I don't think she looks that big unless you look at her thighs!)

I can't believe how quickly she has gained weight.  I was a fat baby and so was my mom, so I guess it runs in the family.  I certainly don't worry about breaking her anymore!  I asked the doctor if I should be concerned, and he said, "no since she is growing along her growth curve and started out as a fairly large baby."  He thinks she will even out when she starts to move more.  He calls her "appropriately chunky."
I think we will wait to start solids (rice cereal) because she seems to be doing just find with breast milk alone.  She is doing better about taking bottles, but still prefers mom, if given the choice.

Her personality is really coming out.  She is fairly laid back most of the time.  Content.  She rarely cries, and when she does, it is certainly not for long.  She cried for about 15 seconds when she got her shots yesterday.  She continues to be very observant and has been almost since the first week she was alive.  She loves to watch people.

Kaitlyn has been battling allergies.  I have a theory that she may be allergic to cats.  The two times she has had reactions, she was in close contact with cats.  The doc said that was possible, but not to completely avoid cats at this point.  It could also be the weather change, high ragweed counts, the fact that both of her parents suffer from seasonal allergies.  Who knows!  All I know is that it's so hard to have a sick baby.  Especially when she has fever and seems like she can't breathe through her nose.  She's finally not congested anymore (13 days after the initial attack.)

I think she is going to be a talker.  She likes to hear her voice.  She is doing a lot of vocal play with mostly vowels and some consonants.  I swear it almost sounds like she says "mama" when she is frustrated.

Kaitlyn has discovered her feet.  She loves to grab them and play with them.  She is close to rolling over onto her tummy.  She is also starting to scoot just a little bit while on her tummy (but I bet it will be awhile before she is really crawling.) She is sitting up better and better each day.

In the past week, she has laughed for the first time.  Such a sweet sound.

This weekend, she will get to go to her first Baylor Homecoming.  We are taking her to Bonfire tonight and to the parade in the morning.  Hopefully, it won't rain on us tomorrow!

Here are some recent pictures.

 Love her expression here.  This dress was given to her by cousin Claire.  We have her infant dedication at the church on 11/14 and I hope it still fits, so she can wear it then!

 After lifegroup one night, she actually took a pacifier! It was worth taking a picture of.  This is a very rare occasion, but luckily, most of the time she doesn't need it.

 She hasn't quite learned how to jump in it yet.

 Go Baylor!  Hope we get to a bowl game.  Micah says he is going if Baylor makes a bowl game- and I can go with him if I want! Ha!

 At Starbucks in College Station on our way back from Houston.  

 Mandy gave us lots of 6-month clothes including this cute bear hat.  We were trying it out for the big debut at Homecoming.

Butterflies

Butterflies.
They remind me of life, new life.  I decided to do Kaitlyn's bedding in butterflies and flowers.  Red, of course, because I'm not a pink person.  The scripture that came to mind when I think of newness of life is John 10:10.  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."  In the past, I have preferred just the second part of that verse.  I have the whole verse framed in her room.

Since Kaitlyn was born, I have struggled with this fear of death- her death.  I don't fear my own, or at least didn't before becoming a mom, yet I am constantly battling fear of her death.  I think that is why the Lord gave me this scripture awhile back.  I almost forgot about it.  The Lord has promised me he would protect Kaitlyn's life.  He watches over her when I can't.  He is her ever-present help in times of trouble.  He is emmanuel- God with us.  He will never leave her or forsake her.  I believe that.

Butterflies.  Do you know what God has done to reiterate his promise to me?  I keep seeing butterflies everywhere!  I see them as I drive, when I walk, and when we're out in the yard.  It's just a tangible reminder of his love for me and my baby.  He promises fullness of life.  God loves to speak to us.  It's fun when he does it in unique ways.

How has the Lord spoken to you recently?

AH-CHOO!

You can't truly understand what it is like to be a parent until you are one.  You can't truly understand what it is like to have a sick child until you have one.  And it's awful.  Just awful!  You feel helpless.  You don't understand why it has to happen to such a sweet, innocent little person.  You wish you could take the illness upon yourself.  You pray and pray.  In fact, I prayed 93 healing scriptures for Kaitlyn.  No significant results.  But in a few days, it passes.  She survived.  And I start to pray about it a little less.  Why don't I pray as much in the good times as in the tough times?  If God has really called me to be an intercessor, which I feel like he has, then what is wrong with me?  I'm thankful that it is not about performance.  But I also know that if I would "pray without ceasing" in all circumstances, I would start to see awesome things happen around me.  My faith would be built up.  Others who I pray for would be blessed.  It would so be worth the time invested.  When will I learn from my mistakes?

Yesterday, I listened to 2 one-hour videos by Beth Moore on Believing God.  My faith was so stirred!  I do believe God is real, but do I believe He can do all things?   Joshua 3:5 talks about walking into our promised land.  The #1 hindrance to doing so is unbelief.  She asked that we stand on the following statements:  1) God is who he says he is, 2) God can do what he says he can do, 3) I am who God says I am, 4) I can do all things in Christ, 5) God's word is alive and active in me.  These 5 statements make up the shield of faith.

When Kaitlyn was sick, I found myself questioning God's goodness.  Why would he let it happen?  Why didn't he choose to heal her quickly as I prayed?  I had the thought that he may not want to heal her- but that does not line up with the Word of God.

Here is the bottom line.  I know God.  I know that he is good.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loves me.  Jeremiah 29:11 says he wants to prosper me and not to harm me. The same goes for Kaitlyn.  I need to stop walking in passivity.  I am constantly reflecting who I believe God is.  I want it to be a positive reflection.  I want to stand in faith no matter the results.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).  His word has to be immersed in me daily to build up my faith.  The word has to come in so that it will come out when other people need advice, prayer etc..

It's time to turn a corner in this journey.  It's time to walk out what I say that I believe.  I can't wait to see what God will do.

Bringing Up Suppressed Memories

So Davey Ovey twittered the image below and said he just received it in an HTML spam email.  He felt violated.  Instead of feelings of violation, it waxes more nostalgic for me. (That is probably because I was not blasted with it from an unexpected email.)

There are several things from the land of web that have faded away over the years.  Just a few of my favorite are the blink tag, bevels on EVERYTHING and animated GIFs.  Every now and then I will come across someone "holding on" to one of these old trends.  I go back and forth in my head whether or not they are attempting to be retro or are they just clueless (I'm looking at you BAA). 

Given the word "Retro" in the GIF below I tend to think they are trying to be clever.  I guess this is kind of like wearing huge white socks with thick colored stripes at the top of them.  I love those socks.

(click the graphic for full animated goodness)

Heart-Shattered

I was reading through Psalm 51 this morning and decided to take a look at it in "The Message".  One line struck me.


Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice. 


"The Message" has some funny way of saying things from time to time (John 1:14 is a good example) but something in the phrasing of this verse resonated with me and I wanted to share it.


Psalm 51 (MSG)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Kaska Family Farm pumpkin patch this morning with our friends, the Rogers and the Wards.  Kaitlyn slept through half of it.  We got lost in the corn maize (literally, and had to go back out the entrance, only to find out we were about 50 feet from the exit!)  We took a tractor ride in a cow car.  Kaitlyn wouldn't smile much for the camera, but we got a few funny shots.  I'm hoping Mandy got some better ones with her high quality camera.  Here are a few pictures from today.

Banning All Bottles

All of a sudden, Kaitlyn has decided she does not want to take a bottle.  Today I had to leave work in the afternoon to go nurse her because she had gone 6 hours without eating.  Starting at age 1 month, we would give her an occasional bottle, and she only refused one (because it was cold.)  When I brought her to Natalie's, the first day I went back to work on 9/1, she did not want to take that first bottle especially.  After that, she did okay, although it was not her favorite activity.  This past weekend, I was on-call for the hospital and (of course) had to go in for 4 hours both days.  Micah kept Kaitlyn and she absolutely did not want her bottle on Saturday (crying louder than she ever has.)  On Sunday, she took a little, got choked, and then refused the rest.  Perhaps the flow-rate is too fast for her?
Tonight Micah bought two new kinds of bottles- Dr. Browns and Playtex Drop-Ins.  So far, the Playtex one has not been effective.  She played with it a little, but did not get any milk out.  I have read that Mom is not the best person to give the bottle to baby because they can smell the breast milk, and prefer that of course.  I'm going to call the wonderful lactation consultant, Gayle, at Providence tomorrow to ask for further advice as well as the pediatrician.  I've read that if the baby is hungry enough, they will take it, but today, Kaitlyn proved this was not true for her.  She is stubborn enough to hold out for mom.
I'm not worried about her wasting away- the child has plenty of extra reserves.  It does stress me out to no end to know my baby is not okay when I"m off at work all day.  Makes me feel guilty.  Makes me feel really bad for Natalie.
Going back to work has brought on mixed emotions.  On the one hand, it's nice to do something different during the day twice a week, see all my patients, have adult conversations, make some money, use my skills etc..  On the other hand, it is painful to leave Kaitlyn.  I now know how working moms feel, especially when they want to be at home with their little ones.  I love my job and they have been more than accommodating with my hours/ days of the week etc., but my priorities have changed a bit in the last 3 months.  It's a hard switch when I used to be somewhat of a workaholic.
I know that there are numerous hurdles that will come up in raising a child.  This is one of the many things I will have to deal with- be persistent with.  I want to just breastfeed her whenever possible and not have to worry about her crying or not liking bottles.  I want to take the easy way out.  BUT, if I choose to work (and if I think I'm supposed to work), then the child will have to take some bottles.  It would also be nice for our date night (if we ever have one) and other occasions.  We will try again tomorrow.  Hopefully she will make some positive associations with the bottle and we will get past this resistance.  I'm praying so!

Good Little Traveler

We went to Louisiana for Labor Day weekend to see Kaitlyn's maternal grandparents and great-grandparents.  Cousin Barbara, whom Kaitlyn will call "Aunt Barbara" since I'm an only child, and my uncle Jimmy and aunt Carol also came to see her.

Kaitlyn was great both ways in the car (7 hours each way).  Hardly a peep out of her!!  She slept most of the time, but would stay awake when I sat in the back with her for awhile.  We stopped twice to nurse her and the trip that usually took us 6 1/2 hours now only takes 7.  On the way, we decided to get up at 4 AM to leave so that it would still be dark and she would sleep better.  We considered doing the same on the way back and decided not to so she could get more time with the grandparents and so we wouldn't be so tired.  Her schedule was thrown off a little bit, but not too bad.

The first night we were there, Kaitlyn came down with what we hope is allergies (severe congestion, no fever, still good disposition).  We considered going to the emergency clinic there in Alexandria, but it seemed like overkill for her symptoms.  We are going to Dr. NeSmith today to confirm our diagnosis and determine whether there is anything we can give her with her being so young.  She sure hates the saline drops up the nose and the "booger sucker."  We haven't been able to let her sleep on her back because she has trouble breathing, so she has been sleeping either in her car seat or in the swing.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

 On the way in the car- A happy little camper!

 A shot of her chunky little hand.  So sweet.  I need to cut her nails.  I can't believe the I-Phone 4 takes such good shots.

 What a good Granddad!  He liked to hold her even though she would poop or spit up on him.

 "Aunt" Barb

 Momo and Kaitlyn napping together.

Kaitlyn and Mamaw.  My child does do more than sleep, but I always seemed to have the camera out when she was sleeping.

She better get used to the trip- we are planning on going again for Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas.