1st Halloween

For Kaitlyn's first Halloween, she dressed up as a ladybug!!

Also, she finger painted pumpkins!

8 Months!

At eight months, Kaitlyn:

• ·        eats three meals a day and gets four 7ounce bottles a day.  She also gets a sippy cup of water or juice during meals.
• ·         has two bottom teeth that are razor sharp!
• ·         loves to feed herself.  She’s really good at it and wants her food to be ‘finger’ food.
• ·         is not crawling yet, but seems really close!  She’ll pull herself around with her arms or rolls to get where she wants.
• ·         has started to pull herself up to her knees.  She’ll grab the couch, the dog, anything to ‘kneel up’. 
• ·         She also pulls herself up to stand!  She’s been doing it more these past few days.
• ·         is still in mostly 12 month clothing with some 18 month stuff mixed in.  The constant growth spurt has slowed down!!
• ·         has mastered clapping and shaking her head no.  When she shakes her head no in the right context, it’s hard not to bust out laughing! 
• ·         loves being in the big kid room at daycare.  She gets to play with all the kids and all the toys!

It’s amazing how fast she changes……I swear she catches on to something new daily!

Playing with leaves at the park.

Kneeling

Stir-fry!

My BF experience.....Part 1

I'll start this by saying......Breastfeeding is hard!!!  My adventure started out well.  I attended the breastfeeding class at the hospital, got all of the information I needed, got my questions answered, and was feeling pretty good about breastfeeding.

Kaitlyn was born and immediately knew what to do.  Our lactation consultant came in to observe on our second and third days at the hospital and proclaimed that she hadn't seen a baby with a more perfect latch.  I was sore, but chalked it up to getting used to having a little piranha latched on to my chest. When our pediatrician came in to do his assessments, Kaitlyn was always feeding.  Dr. Gasseling just did his assessments while she was eating.

We were dismissed from the hospital and headed home.  The next few days went well.  For the first week, it felt like all I got done was feeding Kaitlyn and sleeping.  She wanted fed every two hours.......on the dot.  Nursing took about 25 minutes a side so by the time she was done feeding and I changed her diaper, I had an hour before we started the process over again.  When Kaitlyn was about 3 days old, I noticed my chest was getting more painful, was bleeding and scabbed over, had a torn nipple, and no amount of nipple cream or soothing pads would help.  Each time she latched on, my breath would catch and tears would spring to my eyes.  I knew something wasn't right, but just assumed it was something I was doing wrong.  I kept reading my breastfeeding book from class, thinking I wasn't getting her to latch on right

My chest got more tender and more sore.  I just chalked it up to getting used to nursing.  During my classes, they emphasized that nursing shouldn't hurt....there should just be 'pressure'.  When we took Kaitlyn to her one week appointment, she had gained weight (right back up to her birth weight) and was doing great!!  The doctor asked how breastfeeding was going and (stupidly) answered 'okay'.  I didn't want to admit that I was a failure.

Since we were in Kearney already, I thought it would be a good idea to stop by the hospital and talk to the lactation consultant to see what I was doing wrong.  I wasn't able to get in contact with them as they were both out of the office, but left a message for them to call me.  We headed home.  I got a call later that evening from the lactation consultant and was able to talk through it with her for a bit.  She suggested giving my chest a break and pumping.  She also reminded me that they offered a weekly support group on Tuesdays (the next day).

After I got off the phone with her, I went upstairs to grab my pump.  I remember thinking, "I really don't want to pump.  I'd rather just feed her, but I'll try it."  I'm pretty sure a man invented the breast pump......It was the most horrible thing.  My father is a dairy producer, so I was able to relate to those cows.......I'd much rather feed my baby directly  EXCEPT for the fact that it didn't hurt as much as Kaitlyn nursing.

Because Mitch had to go back to work on Tuesday, my mom came to stay with us on Tuesday.  She didn't know what kind of hormonal mess she was walking into.  After a week of nursing that wasn't going well, I was a mess.  I continued to pump for every other feeding, alternating with nursing.  On Tuesday afternoon, I fell into bed and wept.......I didn't know what to do or what I was doing wrong.  Should I just call it quits??  I couldn't.  Everyone had stressed the importance of breastfeeding.  Giving my daughter formula would feel like I failed her.....Like I didn't love her enough to deal with a little pain.  Why couldn't I do this?!?!?

Knowing I couldn't fall asleep, I walked back downstairs and announce to mom that we needed to go to Kearney.  She panicked.  I'm sure the image of her daughter in tears and clearly distressed got her to think the absolute worst.  Seeing the panic on her face made me quickly explain my reasoning.  I needed to go to that support group!

I called Mitch and my emotions ran high again.  I was bawling, still feeling like a complete failure, and told him my plan to go to Kearney....He too thought that something was gravely wrong.  I'm pretty sure he was in his pickup within the first minute of talking to him, but I calmed down enough to tell him why.

After deciding to go to Kearney, I was calmly at peace. I knew that they would be able to help me.

Seven Months

At seven months, Kaitlyn:

• has one tooth and the second bottom tooth is trying to poke through.
• is eating 3 meals a day and gets five six ounce bottles.We quit nursing a week after she hit 6 months.
• has gotten better at feeding herself....she can now grab things with her fingers instead of her whole hand.
• is wearing 12 month clothing with a few 18 month items mixed in.  She's a tall, skinny girl!
• still babbles.....she's been stuck on D for the last week and her daddy is LOVING it!
• goes from sitting to her belly and back to sitting.
• is figuring out how to army crawl.
• hasn't started to crawl yet.......she gets on her knees but doesn't seem to want to go anywhere that way.....rolling is faster.
• LOVES Buster, our dog! Also he's decided that she's not so bad.....She'll pet him and share her supper.  
• with the help of mom or dad, will chase Buster....squealing the entire time!  Poor dog is going to have to hide!

I'm not quite sure when my baby turned into an independent little girl, but it's happened!  She'd much rather do things herself and actually will squeal or grunt when either of us step in to help!

She loves to swing!

Her first 4-wheeler ride....Grandpa Smith was happy!!!

Just playin'.

Just in case I didn't remember......

When I was pregnant with Taylor, I signed up at all the baby websites to get weekly pregnancy updates.  After my miscarriage, I painfully unsubscribed from all of these.....or so I thought. This morning I received an update on my 14 month old.  It doesn't seem like it's been that long since all of the heartache.  How could I have lost him a year and eight months ago already?!?

Then I couldn't help but think of what would be......Taylor would be running around now.  And his name wouldn't be Taylor.....we had decided on a boy name from day 1.  I would be trying to keep up with a growing boy.  Learning about tractors and trucks, frogs and snakes, walking into a boy's room.  He would be talking and his first word would have been dada......

Just when it seems like I've got my emotions figured out and I'm okay, something seems to blindside me.

I miss you everyday Taylor....not a day goes by that mommy doesn't think about you.  Know that I love you always.

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...................