Surviving Month 5

Can you believe K is 5 months already? I feel like she changes everytime I look at her. Her personality is really developing and she is such a happy baby most of the time. Daddy is the best at getting big mouthy giggles. She just loves his silly faces. She is absolutely loving food and gets better at eating every day. She's so cute when she opens up her little mouth! Last weekend was a test for Mommy and Daddy. Mommy went away for the weekend and left K and Daddy alone for the first time. Both survived with flying colors. Grammie came over to help on Saturday and was much appreciated. She was even able to tame the wild beast.

K is also loving daycare thankfully. Ms. Willis has been great and K is all smiles when she sees her. She even did her fist art project. She wasn't excited about having paint on her hands, but it's still cute.

She is getting more and more interested with the world around her and loves her exersaucer.

And is mostly just good at being adorable!

Katelyn At 4 Months

Katelyn had her four month check-up on February 21st and is now 13.8 pounds and 24.75 inches long. Such a big girl! There were also more shots, but she was a trooper. She did get a mild fever this time around so we stayed home and cuddled. By mid-morning the fever was gone, but the cranky pants stayed put for a bit longer. Happily she is now back to her cheerful self. Every day seems to bring a little something new. She's rolled over a few times and can push herself up when on her belly. She's moved from blowing bubbles to full-on screaming. Great fun for her, but not so much for Mom and Dad. Hopefully this video will work....



Rest assured I picked her up right away. She's so funny when she falls over! She doesn't quite have the sitting up thing yet.

We bought her an ExerSaucer a few weeks ago, but she couldn't touch the bottom and didn't seem to like all the gadgets. Now she can touch and is starting to look in wonderment at all the different colors. I think there is too much going on for her right now, but eventually I'm sure it will be huge fun. The nice thing is that once she's too big to sit in it, it converts to an activity table. Good job Evenflow on making something that they won't outgrow in 5 minutes! And, good job Dad for realizing it was the better purchase.

Next we're going to start working on cereal. We've tried it twice, but she's not really interested yet. I think we need to expose her a little more to our food and try again. I can't believe we're moving onto cereal already. I saw a 4-day old in CVS yesterday and struggled to believe my baby wasn't that small anymore. Crazy how fast it goes. Everyone tells you it does, but you still don't believe it.

Happy baby...


Sitting like a big girl...

January Roundup

Well, January was anything but dull for the White House. Katelyn spent one week at day care and ended up in the hospital the second week with RSV. While mostly precautionary, it was no less scary. She handled it like a champ and was really good. Everyone marveled once again at our blonde little baby. Blondes must really be few and far between.

She slept most of the time....
And looked so small in the big crib....
We've pretty much settled into a daily/nightly routine. So far our day care is working out very nicely. Our morning schedule changes day to day depending on Chris's schedule, but we're adapting. He's been traveling a lot which makes for some really long days for me. Luckily I'm able to work from home on occasion and Grammy comes over to provide relief. I love picking K up from day care and getting a big gummy smile. Chris and I also went out for a second time on our own. We had a very nice dinner at a friends house with a few other couples. Grammy was nice enough to babysit since I 1) don't know of any babysitters in our neighborhood, and 2) am not sure I'm ready to leave K with another stranger. I know I need to get over that, but I'll take advantage of free babysitting for as long as possible (love you Mom!). Not much else has been going on. Getting into a routine has been the biggest thing since I'm now back to work. It's nice to get out of the house, but the commute to DC is killing me. K still wakes up at least once and I'm not sleeping very well so that is adding to the fatigue. Add to that this really crappy winter and you have a cranky Mommy. Hopefully longer and warmer days are right around the corner. I'm excited to be able to take K out on walks and let her see the world. It is amazing how much she changes almost daily and she seems to be right on track with developing. We have her 4 month (yes, 4 already) checkup on 2/21 and I think she's right between 13 and 14 pounds. She's still on the little side, but it's nice because she's not outgrowing her clothes as fast. She's just realized she can make noise with her mouth. It is hysterical to watch. I tried to upload a video, but it won't work. You'll just have to believe me for now. I think she knows it will get her attention so she just keeps doing it and ends up covered in spit. No surprise that offspring of me and Chris would be a rascal. I know in the last post I promised to write more. Work has been crazy busy, but I'll try harder!

Now That I'm Back To Work, There Should Be More Time For Blogging

I know I've been really bad about blogging and there are a few of you not on Facebook that are probably a little peeved. I apologize. It's hard to find computer time with a new born, but now that I'm back to work I should have plenty of time. **Insert nasty comment about lazy Government workers here.**

So, what have we been up to? Well, mostly just the trials and tribulations of new parents. Luckily we haven't had to deal with anything major and Katelyn is a really easy baby. She's learning new things every day and I love watching her watch the world. Recently she learned about her thumb and that it's a good substitute until Mom can get a bottle in there.
The best thing so far, has to be the smiles and giggles. They never get old. Here is a little video, you be the judge.

She also quite enjoys bath time. So far she just sits and lets us wash her without issue. Given how much I love the water, I'm hoping this is a good omen that she will too. I can't wait to take her to the pool.


Here's the run down of November and December.
November
Thanksgiving was nice and quiet and we just had dinner at my parents house. Katelyn (which from now on I will abbreviate as K b/c I'm lazy) wore a cute dress that her Daddy picked out all on his own. Unfortunately she only wore it once before it was too small, but that's what happens with babies. December
Chris and I got to go out on our own to celebrate his 40th birthday. Yup, he's a cradle robber. Our wonderful friends Josh and Kristy came over and stayed with K for the night. We weren't gone long, but at least got some alone time and also enjoyed some great steaks. Our neighbor Steve bought K a snowsuit, so she got to go out in her first snow. We only got about an inch, but I'm counting it. She did not like the suit, but it's still cute.
Christmas came much more quickly than I was prepared for. This year K was too young to know what was going on, but we still had a nice time visiting friends and family. She even got her picture taken with Santa, and was awake!
I just realized I didn't take any pictures of her in her Christmas dress, so you'll have to believe me when I say it was cute. Grammie and Grandpa got her a bunch of books and a toy dog that teaches colors, body parts, etc. Jethro is much more interested in it at this point, but she'll get there. This is my first week back to work, and it is definitely an adjustment. K has decided for most days she'd like to be up by 4:00 am. I can't be mad because she's usually asleep between 7:30 and 8:30 pm and sleeps all night. Yes, I just knocked on wood. However, since the alarm is set for 5:00 am the early rising is making it difficult for Mom and Dad. I'm really hoping to get a good nap in this weekend, I'm exhausted! Day care is going well so far. I almost feel bad that I'm not more upset about leaving her. I definitely miss her, but I do enjoy having someone else change diapers. That about catches you up on the happenings in the White house. I promise to try and be better about posting!

I know, finally an update....

Well, here we are at the 2 week mark. So far we're surviving. There were a few rough days at first, but we've straightened them out for now. I'm actually getting a good amount of sleep most days/nights. Some of course are better than others. One day she sleeps a lot at night, and the next she sleeps all day. We're still having trouble fitting into most clothes, so sleepwear is pretty much 24/7. She's now too long for the preemie clothes, but still too small for most of the newborn or 0-3 month clothes. I can't wait to dress her in all the cute outfits, but she's swimming in them! Chris is settling in to fatherhood and loves his baby girl with all his heart. Too bad she can't talk, because he would give her the moon and stars if she asked.

Labor and delivery were very, very long (about 22 hours total), but mostly uneventful. There was an issue with the first epidural so they had to place a second one. My legs were so numb, no amount of concentration would let me move them. That I did not like, but there was some movement by delivery. Also, had I known how long I'd be "pushing" (3 hours!), I would have definitely done some bicep curls during pregnancy. I couldn't believe how sore my arms were for days after. She finally arrived 11 minutes after midnight on October 19th and is absolutely perfect. At least to us. At 2 weeks we've made it back and I think past birth weight so we're on the right track. She's already gotten to celebrate Halloween and participated in her first election. Quite the lady about town. We've even been out of the house a few times without Mom having a nervous breakdown while driving. That's about it to report. Newborns aren't very exciting apparently. Here's what you all really want....pictures!

Just after birth


Happy and swaddled


Sleeping angel


Break-dancer pose


A little smile


Happy Halloween!

As expected, the last week has been excruciatingly slow. I didn't knit any scarves, but I did knit a cool hat....
This morning we went to the hospital where they monitored me and the baby and applied a prostaglandin gel to help ready me for delivery. It did start contractions, but nothing that would indicate I'm ready, so they sent me home. Now it's just wait, wait, wait until around midnight when we'll leave for the hospital. The contractions are definitely not fun, but I have managed to get a little sleep. Tonight when we go back they will hook up the IV and start the pitocin to actually induce labor. Every time I think about this I start having heart palpitations.

The last few months seem to have gone by so slow given all the issues I've had, but looking back today makes it seem like I just peed on that stick. Chris keeps reminding me there is no turning back now, so I guess this is it! I'm still sticking by my, "one and done" mantra. I know the saying, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," but come on. It's been really rough both physically and emotionally and I give serious props to all of you that have done this more than once. I know deep down it is all worth it and I'm really looking forward to meeting my baby girl.

So...I guess that is it for now. The next post should be announcement of our little Katelyn's (or Caitlin's or Caitlyn's) arrival. Yeah, we're still working on the spelling. We'll see what the birth certificate says. Here is a picture from this morning at 39 weeks and 2 days. Love you all!

The End Is Near

Well unless she decides to make it out on her own, baby White should be making her debut on Monday, October 18th. We'll be going in Sunday morning for a check-up, and pre-induction work. Then we'll report back at 12:45 a.m. Monday. If you can call that Monday. Hopefully there will be plenty of time to nap on Sunday since I haven't stayed up after 9:30 p.m. for months. Now I just have to figure out how to get through the next 5 days without going crazy since I can't physically do ANYTHING. I have a million things in my head that I want to do, but walking upstairs to the bathroom is about all I can manage right now. I guess everyone can expect hand-knitted scarves for Christmas! That will keep me busy.

I'll post again this weekend before we head to the hospital with some pictures.