Half Birthday!

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old already!   Where has the time gone??


At six months, Kaitlyn:

• is sitting up!  She's much happier sitting than on her tummy all day!
• wears mostly 12 month clothing.  She does still have a few 9-12 month clothes that fit. 
• is still waiting on teeth.....I wish those darn things would pop through already!!!
• babbles all the time.  It seems like each day she learns a new letter and repeats it all day long.  Yesterday it was G. 'ga go ge'   Can't wait til she gets to M!!
• is ticklish like her mama.  Her collarbone and feet are always ticklish and I can usually find a spot on her ribs.  I love her giggles!
• has been eating three meals a day.  She'll eat about 4oz of food at a time and gets grains, fruits, and veggies.  We're going to introduce chicken this week!
• Still gets 30 ounces of milk a day.  She nurses in the morning, gets a 10am bottle, bottle at 12pm, bottle at 2:30, and nurses at 7pm before bed. I've started weaning her. 
• LOVES feeding herself.  It is super messy and always leads to putting her in the bath right away, but she loves it!
• is my shopping buddy.  She squeals all through the grocery store, talks to everyone, and loves to grab at things on the shelves.  
• is getting faster at walking.  Poor buster..........He's going to have to go into hiding.
• has been trying to stand up.  Her legs are strong enough to push her up, but she hasn't quite figured out how to use her arms to help herself. 
• has pushed herself up to her hands and knees a few time while on her tummy......we really need to start baby proofing!

Happy to feed herself.

Bath time is her favorite time of the day. 

Bucket of toys = happy girl!

Kaitlyn Grace......you are such a blessing.  I never would have imagined that I could be capable of feeling this much love or that my life would change so much.  I am grateful that God put you in my life.  I love you baby girl!

Homemade Baby Food

Kaitlyn's been eating baby food for a couple months now and we've been trying to keep up with feeding her fresh food.   I'll tell ya....it's hard.  Our baby girl eats like she's starved.   She'll eat 4oz of food at a time...much more than most babies her age.  Maybe it's because she's off the growth charts!!

We planted a garden in May and hoped we'd be able to put up lots of baby food!  We planted tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beans, onions, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantelope. I wish we would have included peas, because Kaitlyn LOVES peas!  Oh well.....next year.

I've been freezing green beans and carrots like crazy for her! I love that her food is preservative free and it's also much cheaper than buying it.

Chopping green beans....

LOVE our Magic Bullet for pureeing food!

Ready to freeze.

Now, if only my hubby would plant some fruit trees...................

Memorial Tattoo

I've finally decided on a tattoo and placing!  I'm very excited to get it! It's been a little over a year since my due date, and I'm hoping to get it done soon.

I'm going to get this design in light blue on my left wrist. 

I carry you within my heart

as I will never carry you in my arms.

For every step of my life

and when God calls me home,

I will see you, and know my baby.

5 Months

At 5 months, Kaitlyn:

• Is starting to teeth.  Her little gums are swollen, she's a little cranky, and chews on everything all day long. 
• Has been sucking on her bottom lip...she looks exactly like the little baby on the show 'Dinosaurs'. 
• Is talking and squealing more and more. 
• Laughs when you tickle her, make a funny face, or 'drop' her.  She loves being scared!!!
• Is wearing 6-9 month and 12 month clothing.  She outgrows everything SO fast!!!
• Rolls over like a champ. She spends more time on her tummy than her back.  She now loves tummy time. 
• Is sitting up more.  She sits up in her bath and in chairs. She's still working on sitting well on a flat surface. 
• Eats 3 meals a day.  She has rice cereal and fruit for breakfast (3-4oz of food), rice cereal for lunch(3oz), and oatmeal and a vegetable for supper(4oz).  Her favorite food so far is bananas. 
• Also gets 30 ounces of milk a day.  She nurses in the morning, gets a 10am bottle, nurses at 12pm, bottle at 2:30, and nurses at 7pm before bed. 
• Loves to walk!  We hold her hands and she loves to walk all over the house...usually trying to chase the dog.....poor Buster!
• Scoots around in her car.  She only scoots backwards at the moment!
• LOVES the water!!!  She's gonna be our little fish! Hubby better get to digging out a spot for a swimming pool in the backyard!
• Has a budding personality.  She's starting to let us know what she wants and why!

She makes the funniest faces. 

LOVE her laugh!!!

She loves books, especially the ones she can chew on!

Trip to the Zoo

This past weekend, we ventured to the zoo with my parents, brother and his girlfriend.  I didn't expect Kaitlyn to do much other than chill out in her stroller, eat and nap.  Boy, was I wrong!  In the morning she did exactly what I expected.....just chilled. But in the afternoon, we ventured to the aquarium and that is when she surprised me!  She was sick of sitting in her stroller, so I took her out and just carried her around.

She was fascinated by the fish!  She loved  looking at everything and I'm pretty sure her eyes couldn't open any further!

Missing out??

As we approach my due date, I find myself thinking about what I would be doing now if things had happened like I wanted them too.  Right now, I'm sure I'd be busy planning a first birthday party and putting invitations in the mail.

I'm conflicted inside.  Part of me misses Taylor and thinks about what would have been.  The other part of me knows that we were blessed with Kaitlyn because we lost Taylor.  It seems like an impossible situation to be in.  I feel like if I'm missing Taylor, I'm wishing Kaitlyn wasn't here. On the other hand, if I'm giving all my attention to Kaitlyn, I'm feeling like I'm forgetting that we lost Taylor.  Some days are easier to handle, but today is one of those overwhelming days.

I'm lost.  That's what it boils down to.  I feel like I'm on a road and instead of it forking into two, it forks into a circle....I just keep going to circles inside.   I haven't been able to be at peace with my loss and I haven't been able to be at peace with our child.

I'm sure one day, I'll look back and realize this was all part of God's plan for me.  I know that my struggles bring me closer to Him, but at the moment I really wish I wasn't struggling with this.

A life worth remembering and celebrating...no matter how short.

4 Months

Our little princess is growing so fast!!!  At the doctor this past week she was 26 inches long and 16 pounds 14 ounces.

At 4 months, Kaitlyn:

• still sleeps through the night.  Every so often she'll get her limbs stuck in the crib and needs help getting them out, but she always goes right back to sleep. 
• has learned to talk with her lips closed......it's the only way she's been talking for the last week.  Her daddy is sure that she'll be a ventriloquist someday. :)
• is talking and babbling a lot less.....I'm pretty sure it's because she's watching everything and everyone so closely that she doesn't have time to talk. 
• takes a nightly bath.  She loves to splash and kick and squirm!  I'm pretty sure that it's her favorite part of the day!
• is still eating every 2-3 hours (depending on naps) and still eats 5 ounces at a time. 
• wears a mixture of clothing sizes.  Most of her clothes are 6-9 months, but she has a few 3-6 months and few 12 months mixed in. 
• LOVES daycare!  She gets excited in the morning when I strap her in the car to go and is all smiles when I hand her over to Cathy!
• has discovered that she can bounce in her activity gym.....sometimes she gets a little crazy and jumbles herself up too much resulting in a little spit-up. 
• rolled over for the first time this past Saturday!!! I've been trying to get her to do it again, but she's teasing me!
• still loves to stand up.  Hubby and I have been just giving her our fingers and a little boost to get her from laying down....the rest is all her. 
• likes to scoot around in her 'car'.  She's not quite tall enough to push it around with her feet yet, but her daddy indulges her. 
• has figured out that she is flexible enough to put her feet in her mouth.  This morning, I had to peel slobber-soaked jammie feet off of her. She is absolutely amazed by her feet. 
• laughs a lot.  She laughs the most when she is scared.  If you scare her enough to make her jump, there are lots of cute, loud laughs pouring out of her mouth!

Update:  At her 4 month doctor's appointment, Kaitlyn weighed 16lbs, 14oz and was 27 inches long!  She's in the 95th Percentile for weight and off the chart for height!!