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!!

Daycare musings.....

I was terrified of sending Kaitlyn to daycare.   How was someone else going to take care of my daughter??? I'm a very hands on mommy....and dropping her off for someone else to take care of did not sound like something I wanted to do.  I knew I had too.  It was necessary to continue our lives as we know it....we could hunker down, cut out all of our 'fun' costs, and hubby's salary could cover our bills.....but that's not something we're willing to do.  So with that, Kaitlyn started daycare.

My worrying was useless!!!  It was really tough on me to drop her off in the morning, but thankfully I go feed her during lunch so I don't have to go long without seeing her!  The time that she's at daycare seems very odd to me.  I've been so used to her being with me all day, that it seems like something is missing!

What makes it SO much easier is that she LOVES daycare!!!!  She gets very excited in the morning when I strap her into her seat.  When we get to Cathy's, she 'happy' screams and kicks and laughs!  She loves being able to talk to Evie (a baby her age) and loves to watch the older kids throughout the day. It also helps that Cathy is so understanding, attentive, and helpful! She is such a wonderful daycare provider!

It makes this mama very happy to see her girl happy and makes me feel so much better about the whole daycare thing.  I'm sure that as daycare becomes part of our routine (it's only been 2 weeks) that it'll be much easier for me to accept.

First Day of Daycare

We were fortunate that we were able to find daycare for Kaitlyn.  Cathy is one of the best places to go in town and is the hardest to get into.  I called at just the right time, had the right age of child, and needed care for the right days.  God sure was watching out for us!

As good as I know Cathy is, it was HORRIBLE having to leave my little girl this morning! What made it worse was that she was crying!  Nothing could have prepared me for having to drop Kaitlyn off at daycare.  After I left, I called my hubby bawling and told him that he should have dropped her off.  It really broke my heart!

What made it a little easier was knowing that I would see her in a few hours.  My plan is to visit daycare over my lunch hour and nurse her, so I don't have to pump and so I get some time in with my baby!  I literally was counting the minutes this morning until lunch time and seeing my little girl - even if it was for just an hour, that hour really helped ease my nerves!

She was happy when I arrived and when I had to leave, she was happy when I handed her back to Cathy.  I'm sure that dropping her off in the mornings will get easier, but for the time being I'll be going through a lot of Kleenex!!

3 Months

At three months old, Kaitlyn:

• is still sleeping through the night.  Bedtime is at 8pm and she wakes up around 7am. 
• laughs!  Mitch got her to laugh the other night, and it is the most precious sound!  I've been trying to get her to laugh for me ever since!
• is super talkative!  Mitch comes home from work and she tells him all about what he has missed!
• squeals!  We wake up every morning to a happy, squealing baby.  It's wonderful. 
• Eats every 2-3 hours and takes 5 ounces at a time.
• pays attention to every thing and every one.  She is super curious!
• wears 3-6 month clothing and a few 6-9 month outfits. 
• is sleeping in her crib.  We moved her from her bassinet a few nights ago. 
• will be going to daycare (scary!!!). We visited daycare on Friday and she seemed to really like Cathy, but mom's not so sure that she's ready for daycare even though Kaitlyn is!
• drools all the time, all over everything!  Her shirt is constantly in her mouth and soaked.  She goes through at least 3 shirts/bibs a day!
• loves to stand.  Most of the time, we only have to keep her from falling over.....she holds herself up!
• sits up in her Bumbo and loves it! She hold herself up, we just keep her from falling over.  
• puts everything in her mouth.  If she can grab it, it will be covered in slobber in seconds. 

Oh, how time flies!

Wow, time flies fast!!  It's hard to believe Kaitlyn is almost 3 months old already!  My agreement with the church is that I can bring her to work until she's 3 months old, so the dreaded first day of daycare is looming!

We are going to visit her daycare on Friday and fill out all the paperwork, get a tour, and finish up last minute stuff.  I only have a week left of bringing my little girl to work with me.  It's very bittersweet!  I've been 'babying' her a lot lately.....knowing that I'm not going to get the chance to snuggle with her all day, everyday again!  I'm sure our daycare provider will have a rough first week with her since I've been letting her sleep on me/ wrapped up in the moby for the last few weeks.....getting her to take an afternoon nap will probably be a challenge!

I'm pretty sure I don't have a baby anymore!!  She's started to sit herself up and likes to hold her own bottle!  She's talking up a storm and hubby and I wake up to playful squeals every morning.  Is it possible to have baby fever when your oldest isn't even 3 months old????  Maybe I'm crazy!!!!!

2 Month Appt

Kaitlyn had her 2 month appointment on Monday.  It was a week late because her pediatrician was out of town the week before.  She's growing like crazy and getting so big!

She was 13 lbs, 12 ounces (up two pounds from her 6 week check-up) and 24.25 inches long.  She's in the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height......Told ya we have a big girl!!!

The worst part about the appointment was that she had to get shots.  I've read up on all the vaccination facts and read about how to make getting shots easier on your baby.....but how can they be easier for mom????  I was not a fan of her screaming bloody murder.  I was also not prepared for the after.....after we left the doctor when we got home.  She was miserable!!!  Her little legs were bright red and she fussed until she fell asleep.  Not even bath-time helped....and she LOVES bath-time!!!

I'm sure that after the next few appointments when she'll get shots, I'll be a pro at this.  But for the moment, it's breaking my heart!

Two Months

At two months old, Kaitlyn:

• sleeps through the night.  She goes to bed at 8pm and wakes between 7am and 8am. 
• is chattering and loves to sit and 'talk'. People will come into the office and she LOVES to talk to everyone. 
• eats every 2-3 hours and takes about 5 ounces at a time.
• is starting to reach for things.  She'll hold onto her rattle and grabs at things on her activity gym.
• takes a short nap in the morning and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.
• is wearing 3-6 month clothing. 
• still isn't a fan of tummy time.  She'd much rather sit up and be able to look around. 
• is still trying to find her thumb. She would love to suck on it, but for some odd reason can't get it to go in her mouth very often. 
• smiles a lot!  She's such a happy girl, especially in the mornings. 
• loves her mommy. Since she's with me most of her waking hours, she's not happy when I'm gone. I'm guessing daycare will be a challenge for the first few weeks. 
• still loves going for walks in the stroller!  It no longer puts to her sleep unless she's tired.  She loves to look around when she's awake. 
• doesn't mind her bouncer, but still isn't a fan of her swing. 
• is sleeping in her bassinet, but will soon make the move to her crib. 
• is getting so big!!  I don't feel like I have a baby anymore. 

Kaitlyn is growing and changing everyday and we're loving every minute of it!  I'm so thankful that God entrusted this amazing little girl into our care.  I don't want to miss a minute of it!