11 months

2 days before turning 11 months, Kaitlyn started walking on her own- with better balance and standing to initiate it. (She had taken a few steps before then, but mostly while falling forward.) She has taken up to about 10 steps now by herself and it's so fun to watch her. I'm not worried about chasing her yet though- she's still faster at crawling.

Kaitlyn is enjoying Sophie more and more. Today she learned how to throw the ball for Sophie. I use the term "throw" loosely, more like drop really. I've been impressed with how gentle Sophie has been with K. Usually schnauzers are not known to be good with children. Sophie's favorite thing to do is to get Kaitlyn up from her nap. I say, "let's go get the baby" and Sophie runs to her room and barks at the door.

Kaitlyn seems to be going through her "attachment" phase again. She cries more when I lay her down for a nap and has been a little more whiney than usual. I'm not sure if it's because she's teething or because I worked all weekend and she doesn't want me out of her sight. When K doesn't get her quality time with mommy she becomes a bit grumpy. At least she is making it through the church service without crying. Kaitlyn is such a "quality time" person- so I think she really likes me being home more. When she spends more time with Micah on the weekends I work, she seems to prefer him more as well.

Speaking of teething, her top 2 teeth are coming in- the one on the right has broken through the the other is trying hard. She's a pretty mild teether- thank goodness! K may have a random night that she wakes up a few times whining, but otherwise, it's mostly hard to tell.

We look forward to taking Kaitlyn on her first (real) vacation this Friday. We are going to Canyon Lake as a family, staying in a time share condo my parents graciously let us use. I'm SOOO excited to get away and have my first vacation (not counting going to a family's home) since October of 2009.

New words include: thank you, diaper, dog (her favorite word), hello, all done and uh-oh (her other fav). She is talking much more than signing these days. When Katie becomes frustrated lately, she has a form of talking that is absolutely hilarious. You can tell she is fussing at you in baby talk. I hope I can get that on video. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get the walking on video yet because it happens so randomly and she's always coming towards me quickly.

In the grocery store, Kaitlyn gets compliments on her "pretty eyes." It seems to be the one thing she didn't get from me or Micah. She has blue eyes, he has hazel and mine are green. I guess the blue eyes were a gift from God based on her mama's prayers!

Kaitlyn continues to be a joyful, peaceful child. She is content much of the time and good at entertaining herself. I realized the other day that sometimes she simply wants a "hug break," and afterwards, she's happy to continue playing with her toys for a bit. (Don't worry- she gets plenty of one-on-one time that is interactive!) Favorite toys now include: any books, hair brush, holding socks/ shoes, ball popper, blocks. For you personality guru's, Micah thinks that Kaitlyn is an ENFP- Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving. It's the only type of extrovert that requires alone time to re-charge. We'll see in a year or two if he's right!

At the Mayborn museum with the Lloyd girls. I couldn't believe K sat in the chair and played tea party for about 5 minutes.
Swimming at aunt Crystal's house. Kaitlyn went swimming for the first time on Mother's Day weekend and loved it!

Allergies :(

We went for Kaitlyn's 9 month check-up yesterday. Her stats are:

Height 28 inches (75th percentile)

Weight 21.4 lbs (85th percentile)

Head 44 1/2 cm (50th percentile)

Since she has had a runny nose for two weeks with no fever, and has some dry skin the doctor feels that she has allergies. This comes as no surprise, but is unfortunate. At this point, we can choose to start her on either Benadryl or Zyrtec. I'm not sure whether to start medication or not.

Here we are at Dr. Nesmith's office.

Kaitlyn and Sophie playing.

This is her current favorite toy. It plays some annoying songs.

9 Months Already?!

Last night, I calculated that in exactly 1 week, Kaitlyn will be outside my stomach just as long as she was inside. Crazy how much faster the time flies when babies are outside the womb.

Katie Sue was 9 months old yesterday. We don't go to the doctor until next week, so I don't know her stats, other than she's heavy and growing (mostly taller)!

-She wears some 9 month clothes and now is primarily in 12-month clothes.

- She walks well when holding your fingers and is able to walk while pushing her lion and baby stroller around. She is pulling up on everything, and cruising around furniture.

- Kaitlyn is starting to exert that little will of hers. She will occasionally respond to "no," and is starting to understand that when I say "no" she shouldn't smile in return. We are even having to discipline her a little bit (light thump on the hand) to help her know that she is not supposed to eat rocks that are in our ficus tree or Sophie's dog food.

- She is getting better at letting her needs be known through signing and talking. She consistently says "dada, mama, ma (more), ba (ball)" at the appropriate times. She will occasionally say "bye-bye", wa (water), uh (up), boo (book), and hi.

- When she is ready to nurse, she will sign "More" or "milk" and expect a quick response from me. I was asked the other day if she is trying to wean herself, and the answer is no- in fact, just the opposite. She loves her milk and I will probably have some difficulty weaning her in 3 months.

- She is down to 2 naps per day at about 9-10:30 and 1-2:30.

- Kaitlyn is a quick learner and enjoys playing. Her new favorite game is to chase the red ball around the room. Great exercise for my chunky monkey! She's at a fun age, apart from the discipline (which I realize will be ongoing for the rest of her childhood!!)

We babysat Cousins Hunter and Caleb last Saturday so Josh and Melissa could go on a date. We are excited to be keeping Hunter for 2 weeks this summer while they go on a mission trip. He and Kaitlyn are almost exactly 9 months apart.

Look at those luscious lips! Don't think she'll need collagen injections.
Playing with friend, Mariah.
Let me in to get Sophie's food!!!

Big red ball (well worth the $2.50 at Wal-Mart)

Signing and Speaking

    I'm loving the age Kaitlyn is right now.  From about 6 months on, it seems like she is learning something new almost weekly  I'm so proud of our little princess.  She is starting to communicate, and nothing makes her speech-pathologist mommy happier!
    So far, she can wave "hi", sign "more" (which is closer today than the jerky movement she was making when signing "more" over the past couple of weeks), and she seems to imitate "all done."
     Tonight, it was time for her to eat before bed.  She started to whine, and I said "do you want to eat?"  She signed "Eat" for the first time.  Then I used the sign for "milk" and she imitated it!  What a smart little cookie.    I will take communication any day over whining (which she does from time to time).
     She has been babbling "dada" for awhile.  Tonight, she repeated "mama" four times on command, and I even got it on video.  It's like music to your ears to hear your child say "Mama."  I remember crying several times with my Autistic speech patients who were very delayed in speaking when they finally said "mama" for the first time.

Other updates on Kaitlyn:
Pulling up/ standing:  This morning she woke me up at 6:15 and when I looked at the video monitor she was standing up in her bed for the first time.  Micah lowered the crib all the way to the bottom before bed tonight.  She is also starting to pull up on the coffee table.

Crawling:  Katie is finally crawling on all fours rather than just army crawling.  It's still kind of awkward and she gets around faster with the army crawl (and can still hold her remotes and purple bottle), so she often still chooses that method.

Toys:  As mentioned above, her favorite toys are two remotes that we no longer use and a soft purple toy bottle that comes in a picnic set her Momo gave her.  If we let her, she will carry these with her all of her waking hours.  Once, I tried to let her sleep with purple bottle, but that was a mistake- instead she rolled around her crib playing with it for an hour.
- We have learning time daily (when I'm home with her) at her high chair after her morning meal.  I teach her about 4-5 different toys, use signs to describe them, play tea party, and have her try to differentiate between them.  Mainly just playing and building vocabulary at this point.

Sleeping:  it seems that it is time to cut a nap.  Kaitlyn is still taking 3 naps, which range from 30 mins to 2 hours each, usually averaging about 45 mins to an hour.  Hopefully if we cut her down to two naps, they will be a bit longer.  She still sleeps at night from 7 PM til about 6 AM.

Teeth:  She has her two bottom teeth in (as of about 2 weeks ago.)  Kaitlyn seems to be teething again with lots of drooling and a runny nose, but no fussiness this time, so maybe it's just allergies.  I hope the poor thing didn't inherit my allergies.

Social:  Kaitlyn loves all of her friends!   She enjoys interacting with other kids and had the best time meeting a new friend (1-year old) at a baby shower we went to today.  Thank you, Lord, for a social kid after working with so many autistic ones.

Kaitlyn continues to be a very good baby.  The word the Lord gave to Joyce for her is that she would have a "gentle and forbearing spirit."  She does seem very gentle and tender-hearted.  I wouldn't trade her for the world!

Here are some recent pictures of Katie Sue.

I love my purple bottle!

Happy Valentine's Day

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.

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?

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!

Adjusting to a routine

Kaitlyn and I are getting used to each other now.  I'm so thankful that I have 12 full weeks off rather than just 6.  And, as Micah keeps reminding me, I'm only going back to work part-time (2 days per week.)  She continues to sleep well at night.  She usually goes about 6 hours the first stretch and then an additional 3-4 after that.  I rarely feel tired, and if I do, I take a little nap during the day.  I'm so thankful that she is a good sleeper.  I guess I have the techniques of BabyWise to thank for that ( as well as the suggestion of good friends).

Baby "K" is so observant.  She is always looking around the room, listening to the sounds around her.  She is starting to notice Sophie.  I must say that Sophie is doing a great job with the baby.  I think she understands that she is ours.  Sophie likes going on all the extra walks in the mornings, even if it means she has to walk next to the stroller.  Sophie also enjoys playtime on the floor, because sometimes she gets the ball thrown for her as I play with Kaitlyn.

We read several books every day.  Kaitlyn is starting to attend to them more than the first few weeks of life.  She usually prefers to watch my facial expressions rather than look at the pages in the book.

Kaitlyn's head control is great and has been for two weeks.  She can hold her head up when she is lying on her tummy for a little while.  She is a strong little booger.  She likes to push up on her legs into a standing position.  She has a good grip, like most babies.

Kaitlyn is good natured most of the time.  She rarely gets upset.  Once, last week, I was doing a little photo shoot of her and changing her outfits multiple times.  She was fine with this until the last outfit (the beautiful white and pink dress Momo gave her to come home from the hospital in.)  She did not like the bonnet that went with the outfit and started crying uncontrollably.  It took me 20 minutes to calm her back down.  So she is slow to anger, but when you do make her mad, watch out!!  This is a very rare occurrence though.  She hardly ever cries more than 5 minutes a day.

I am starting to put Kaitlyn into her crib during naptimes.  She sometimes fusses a bit at first, and fights her swaddle.  After a few minutes, I go in there, re-swaddle her, and she sleeps.  I'm still not quite ready to have her sleep through the night in her crib.  It seems so far away from us.  Maybe at 8-10 weeks old?  She is about to outgrow the bassinet in the pack-in-play though.  I hope she sleeps as long in her crib as she does in the bassinet.

I'm enjoying getting out of the house once a day.  Monday, we brought Sonic to Micah at work.  Then he showed Kaitlyn off to his co-workers again.  Yesterday, we went to see his grandmother at her home.  Today, we plan on going to the Mayborne Museum with some friends.  As long as I have something planned each day, I don't tend to get bored, and each day looks a bit different.  I certainly have caught up on my movie-watching, between Netflix and the cable movie channels.  I've also been disciplined to set aside time each day to listen to the voice of God.  He has been faithful to speak to me each day and I have been e-mailing what he says to a friend, to hold me accountable to listening.

The Lord is so good!  I am so blessed to be a mom and to be at this stage of my life.  I am very thankful for a wonderful husband, a beautiful baby girl, supportive family, awesome friends, and to have a job I love.  I'm still not ready to go back to work yet.  It's going to be very difficult leaving Kaitlyn, even with someone I know and trust.  I don't know how moms drop their infants off at daycare.

Here are some pictures of the photo shoot I mentioned above.  Isn't she cute?!  (I know I am a bit biased.)

Kaitlyn's Tree

Ever since Stephanie saw the picture of our chosen baby bedding she has been set on having a similar tree on Kaitlyn's wall.  It has kind of become the focal point and anchor in the room.  There is a baby bed to assemble and decorations to hang but first a tree must be planted (errrrr painted).

Lucky for us we have a very artistic friend.  Natalie created a tree and I stole a projector from Baylor for the day and she went to work.  Above is the finished product.  The picture looks great and it doesn't even do it justice.

Now I guess I have a bed to assemble...

The Beta Bug

WOW!  Three Steph posts in a single day!  Her two complaints with our blog have always been it looked too boyish and posting was too complicated.  Blogger has solved the complicated issue.  You have to forgive me but I was a little skeptical about Steph posting so I didn't want to redo all the colors for nothing.  (That and a blog filled with only posts by me and yet colored in pinks and yellows would just feel strange...)

She looks like she is going to start posting so I went ahead and changed it around.  I am still not entirely satisfied but it works for now.  After showing her the new theme her first question was, "What's the 'beta' thing all about?"

That's simple.  The ladybug is for Kaitlyn and she is still in beta...

I know.  I'm a dork but I thought it was hilarious.

Kaitlyn's Bedding

So everyone is asking what the colors are going to be in Kaitlyn's bedroom. Because the walls are already painted yellow, we are going with yellow! I'm not a pink person, so I chose this bedding since it has reds in it. I love the butterflies as well! I can't wait to get the room in order- no, it's not there yet... My artistic friend, Natalie, is coming to paint the tree on the wall, so our room will look as cool as the picture!

We already have the crib and all the bedding/ accessories thanks to my parents :)