Morning Playtime

I think I may need to raise her mirror up a little. But I love that she can occupy herself, and has a great time too.

I am so thankful for our happy little girl.

First Snow Day

Kate's Grandma gave her a super fuzzy snowsuit for Christmas. And Luckily, it snowed on Christmas eve! 

Just in time for us to try it out.

After taking these pictures, and getting her back inside for a nap, it snowed harder- with bigger flakes- which would have made for better pictures. But she still got to see the snow falling. And she loves just being outside anyway.

Growing Pains

Kate is a super speedy crawler now, and has been practicing her pulling-up/walking/climbing skills for a few weeks. All that practice should make her tired and sleepy, right? Nope. Apparently babies who are learning to walk focus all of their energy on practicing this new skill and will even wake themselves up to practice (you can watch a video explaining this here).

So that explains the crappy sleep we've been having lately.

I even went in last night this morning (4am) to comfort her and as I picked her up she was trying to climb up my body. Her little legs moving like crazy!

I'm looking forward to her first steps, but scared at the same time. She's going to be everywhere and get into everything!

using the ottoman to walk and get Cookie Monster

Baby Stybs

I'm starting this blog to serve as some sort of scrapbook for Kate. I realized that it wasn't blogging that I didn't like, it was the lack of focus I had. I really did miss writing down things that happened, or what Kate has done. So here I am, blogging again, with no expectations to post every day- or even every week, but to just write when there is something to write about.
I will not check my stats- and won't be shamelessly self promoting (spamming as adam calls it)the blog to gain followers.

I'm writing for me.

And for Kate.

(I've imported the posts about Kate from the old blog, to keep everything in one place)

Playroom Art

I shared Kate's playroom, but what you didn't see was the vast blank walls surrounding it.

That small art print just wasn't cutting it so it was time for some COLOR- I wanted to make some bright and cheery art for Kate. I took the two large canvases that were hanging in the guestroom

And used leftover gloss paint from the basement bathroom to cover the dark blue pattern (I didn't have gesso, and it can be a bit expensive, so I just used what I had). It was nice and thick, and covered the pattern in one coat.

So with my fresh canvases I was ready to try my hand at some abstract art.

I pinned this

From: http://blog.mrhandsomeface.com/diy-wall-art-bubbles  

And knew it would be perfect for the playroom. Plus I already had everything I needed.

So with just some tissue paper, cut into circle of different sizes, I arranged them on the canvases and used modpodge to glue them down.

Under 1 hour, free and easy, DIY playroom art. Can't beat it.

Not sure what to put above the art. Maybe I'll just leave it as open space to hang Kate's drawings and things  in the future.

Movin' & Shakin'

Yup. Kate's crawling now. Not very fast, not very far, but she's on the move. I guess baby gates will now become a permanent fixture in our house.

To see Kate's 7 month pictures, check out her flickr page.

Kate's Playroom

Kate is getting so close to crawling. I encourage her all the time but she just cant go forward. She needed some bigger play space to practice, and to help contain her toys, so we made a really inexpensive 'playroom' for her in the little corner of the basement. This was where my desk moved after we made the nursery and my office was reclaimed as a guest room. But since I don't really need an office, and I usually use the laptop while I sit on the couch, this was the perfect space for Kate.

We got this rug from Ikea and a $5 door mirror from Target. The toys were hand-me-downs or gifts, and we already had the coffee table which will become her coloring/play table when she's able to stand.

It's been great having this space for Kate to play, and not having to worry about cleaning everything up every day. Plus, it'll be able to grow with her and she plays with cars, trains, and blocks. I already have ideas for storing her barbies and other dolls when the time comes.

Sheep? Llama? Pikachu?

That was literally the text of the message I sent Adam.

Why?

Kate has a new, adorable sweatshirt from her aunt Andria.

 I think it is a sheep.

Or maybe a llama.

But it reminded me of pikachu...

Any other guesses?

6 Months

Holy cow, where did the time go?

Kate is happily sitting and scooting now. She even lifts her tummy off the floor when she's playing.
She's going to be crawling before we know it, and, while I'm excited for that milestone, I am not ready for her to grow up so fast.

My big girl is now: 17 lbs 6.5 oz and  26.5" long. I'm going to have to switch her car seat out for the bigger convertible seat soon.

She's still nursing morning and night, and she gets food and some formula during the day at my Mom's. She loves every kind of food we have given her, including those nasty peas... and she's even practicing her chewing with some sweet potato puffs.

Some of her favorite things to do are: bouncing (in the bouncer or on you), playing with (and trying to eat) everything, and mickey Mouse Clubhouse (she shows no interest in Wonder Pets or Dora, but she squeals and 'talks' when MMC is on).

Check out all her monthly pics here.

Rice, Rice, Baby

playing with a spoon

Kate had her first experience with rice cereal this weekend. It was 1 Tbs of cereal mixed with 2 oz of milk; a little more than recommended but it was what I had ready, and I didn't want to waste any milk. It was basically the consistency of milk, it didn't seem thickened at all, but since it was her first time it needed to be pretty liquidy.

two spoons are better than one

A lot of the milk/cereal ended up on her pajamas, and it took 15+ minutes, but Kate seemed to enjoy eating from the spoon. At first she wasn't too sure, but by the end she was opening her mouth for the spoon and acting like I couldn't feed her fast enough (which was probably true, do you know how hard it is to move a spoon of milk through the flailing arms of an infant?).

Overall it was a success. Happy baby = happy mommy.

4 Months

My four month maternity leave is coming to an end. I love that I had all summer with my baby girl, and really don't know how other moms do it- going back to work 6 weeks (or sooner!) after having a baby. It's going to be hard, but thankfully she loves my mom and does really well there during the day. I'll also be closer to her at my new school so I'll have more time in the morning and afternoon with her.

Our big girl is now 15 lbs 3 oz. We'll be starting cereal soon and have already had her 'joining' us at dinner in her high chair with a spoon to play with. She's now 25 1/4 inches long- too long for 3 month one-pieces/sleepers, though she's not quite chubby enough for 6 months.

Highlights:
 She has rolled over a couple times from her tummy, and a few more from her back. She is also is holding her head up/ pushing her self up when she is on her tummy. She'll scoot around, too, so I'm sure she'll be crawling before we know it.
When she babbles, she likes to say 'ah-goo ah-goo' and I respond by singing "I am the Walrus" by the Beatles (goo goo ca choo). She has also taken to shrieking. Whether she is excited, playing with her toys, or just babbling she gets an ascending, really high pitched 'ahh'. It's cute, for now.

You may have noticed I didn't post a 3 months post, I'm only posting for the months we have Dr's appointments so I can update stats and milestones. But I am taking a picture every month- I'm keeping her monthly photos on Flickr.

Beach Baby

I love that I have the summers off. I love going to the beach. What I love even more is that my parents have a condo at the beach. I have taken Kate down a few times already and look forward to many more trips. She is OK at the beach, on the sand and near the water.

 What is really fun, though, is swimming in the pool. She loves it.

Kate's Name Art

I love painting names for babies' nurseries. I made them for my niece, nephew, and coworker's son. When it came time to make one for my own child I was stumped. I couldn't make it before Kate was born because we didn't know that she would be a she (and in all honesty- had I made it while I was pregnant I would have made "Alec". Yup we thought she was a boy.)
So after seeing something pretty simple on pinterest, I painted 4 canvases in yellow and green stripes. It would serve as the backdrop for either Alec or Kate. They turned out pretty well too; I was very happy with them.

Then Kate was born and I finally added her name to the canvases. The letters were white and didn't stand out that much, so I went for a deep pink/red. Kate loves the high contrast and will stare at the letters, but I wasn't happy. They didn't look like I wanted. I am a perfectionist in a lot of ways, and her name just looked sloppy.

So the weekend she was turning 3 months I finally figured out how I was going to fix it. I was reading her the book "Eric Carle's ABC" and thought how cute it would be to have the letters and picture of the animal to spell out Kate's name. So I scanned the pages (if I had another copy I would just cut the letters out of the book) and Adam cropped them and printed them on cardstock.

But when I started to mod podge the letter to the canvas board the ink started to smear.

I also realized the white background on the white canvas wasn't doing it for me. So I sprayed the letters with a clear coat sealer, and painted the canvas boards in the colors of the letters- Eric Carle style.

 So after Finally finishing this should-have-been-quick project Kate has a cute and animal/artsy name piece.

 I hope she likes looking at these letters and animals as much as she liked the high contrast pink on yellow.

Father's Day

I didn't know what I would be getting Adam for his first father's day. For mother's day I got flowers and a pint of ice cream (a few days early- the flowers died before mother's day and there was something wrong with the ice cream- like it melted then re-froze before I even peeled off the plastic liner under the lid). So I knew Adam wasn't going to expect anything really big or expensive. I was going to make a shutterfly book since i had a free promo code- but I don't have enough pictures to make it worth it- maybe next year)
I finally decided on something that had been floating around pinterest for a while.

A Salt-Dough keepsake of Kate's foot.

*not Kate's foot*

I had heard of salt dough ornaments before, but never tried to make any. The recipe is from here, though I needed to add more water.

I wanted to make an impression of her hand, but being 2 months old Kate's hand is basically in a permanent fist. So I went with her foot. Which was much harder to do than I thought. Push too hard- squished blobby toes that look like she is swollen (or has hobbit feet). Push lightly- no clear impression.
When I finally got it right, I put it into the toaster oven. I found out my toaster oven will only cook for 2hrs at a time, so I needed to go back and add another hour to the baking time.

 I painted the inside and added her name and the year. Adam declared it 'cute' and can take it into work.

We spent the day at my parents' and Kate did pretty well with her naps. My only request was to have a picture taken of us all together.

 Happy Father's Day!

2 Months

Really? Another month has gone by?

My big girl is now12 lbs 3 oz and 23 1/4 " long.

Highlight of the month: more cooing and babbling. It's so cute to watch her 'talk' to me, my family, and her toys. She's also almost rolling over. She's gotten as far as one arm and both legs over, but her other arm got stuck. Adam gives her 2-3 more weeks before she is fully rolling over.

We've also just started a sort of sleep training. I couldn't take her 20 minute naps and wanting to eat every 2 hrs. So I've been watching for her sleepy cues- which are usually about an hour-1.5 hours after she wakes up. I guess I didn't realize how much babies sleep. So far we have been able to get her to nap for an hour (on average) and she's eating every 2-3 hours.  She's not sleeping through the night consistently yet, but she has stretched out her nighttime feedings (and dropped one) so I only have to get up once in the middle of the night/early morning.

I can't believe that if I had her at a different point in the school year I would already be back to work. She's still so little, how would I leave her all day? I'm really lucky that she came at the perfect time of  the year.


Oh baby girl, you're getting so big.

Snugli Kate

Sometimes I just want to be able to clean the kitchen or swiffer the floor but Kate doesn't want to be put down. This is where baby wearing comes in. I got the Moby wrap after it was recommended by almost everyone. The problem, though, is that Kate doesn't really like it. When She's awake she wants to look around. That means she moves her head from the 'correct' spot and puts it right in the center of my chest.

Because the Moby is made of a stretchy jersey type fabric I didn't feel safe wearing her that way. And when I tried another position Kate stretched her legs out, not staying in the fetal position, making carrying her that way even worse.

Then I remembered my sister gave me her Snugli carrier. A little harder to get Kate in and out of, but she was able to look around and I didn't feel like she was going to fall out. I even was able to carry her grocery shopping (a quick 15 minute trip in Trader Joe's) and she did so well.

I know there's been some controversy over this type of carrier (like the Baby Bjorn) for causing hip problems. I've looked into it and have found conflicting information. Some sources say the carries will cause hip dysplasia, others say it's perfectly fine and won't harm baby's hips, and still more say wearing it for short periods of time are fine, but longer than 20 minutes can harm baby. So I will just stick to wearing her this way around the house or for quick errands by myself (If I'm with someone else I keep her in the stroller).


I guess I could opt to buy a 'better' carrier (like the Ergo) that hold the baby in a sitting position, but at over $100 I'm not so sure. Who knows, maybe Kate will like the Moby when she's a little bigger?

My First Mother's Day

And I have no pictures.

I really wanted to get some pictures of me and Kate/ Kate and other family members but I spent most of the day in my sister's bedroom trying to feed/comfort Kate and get her to sleep.

After spending a few days at the beach with my mom we went to my sister's house for Mother's Day. Kate was definitely off her 'schedule', passed around to the family member who haven't seen her, and definitely overly tired. I tried feeding her and did all the 'tricks' that work at home to put her to sleep. It didn't work. I think there were just too many people and too much noise/stimulation for her. She did finally fall asleep in her carseat, as she was rocked by Adam with Rockabye Baby playing on his phone.

But in the end Kate gave me a wonderful Mother's day gift- She slept for 6 hours straight last night. 9:30-3:30. I slept when she did, meaning I missed 'My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding' but it was so worth it.

 Thank you, baby Kate.
I love being your mom, even when you keep me holed up in a room for hours and change my sleep time from 11, I wouldn't change a thing.

One Month

Seriously, where did the past month go? I feel like I just brought her home a few days ago.

Highlight of the month (aside from actually having her): She smiled at me. I swear it wasn't gas. I put her in the swing, she looked at me, I said "Hi, pretty girl" and she smiled at me and cooed. And she did it again! It's amazing how in just a month she went from hardly opening her eyes to finally making eye contact and finally reciprocating a smile. She is finally communicating in a way other than crying or sucking on her fist (when she's hungry).

Stats: Kate was 8lbs 2oz and 21" at birth. Now she is a whopping 10lbs.

I'm going to take her growing pictures in the glider with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I also want to go the YHL route and take monthly pics on fun fabric. Hopefully after a year I will be able to turn the different fabric into a blanket for her.

I know I'm biased because I'm her mother, but Kate is one seriously cute baby. I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Grover and Kate

I was nervous about how Grover would react to a new baby in the house. A couple weeks before she was born he decided to start pooping and peeing on the carpet and in his play tunnel in the basement. We didn't know if something freaked him out in the laundry room (where is litter box is) or if he could tell something was about to change. Thankfully after moving his litter out of the laundry room he hasn't had anymore incidences.

But we still wondered how this cat, who thinks he owns the house, would handle another small creature.

He thinks he owns the house, and obviously the play space was to be his too

After delivering Kate, Adam took her hat home to let Grover sniff it and get used to the smell. Then when we brought her home, we left her in the carseat in the middle of the room and let Grover come up to her and sniff her.

For the first couple days he wanted nothing to do with her. He didn't act meanly or anything, he just avoided her. He spent most of the time sleeping on our bed, and I tried to keep Kate out of our bedroom so he wouldn't feel intimidated.

Within a couple more days Grover has 'loosened up' a bit. If I have Kate in bed, he has no problem sleeping at my feet or walking by her to look out the window.

I'm so happy he hasn't freaked out and think the slow transition and introduction helped him adjust well.

How did you introduce your pets to a new baby (or a new pet)?

How does this happen?

I have been blessed with a child who sleeps (on average) for 3-4 hours at a time. This makes night feedings tolerable.
I woke up today before 8, Kate wasn't up yet, so I decided to peek in on her.

This is her  typical sleep position (yup with her arms up above her head and everything):

This is what I saw:

There she was, squished in a ball in a completely different spot then I remember putting her in.
She will usually kick out of her blanket, or scoot a couple inches toward the center of the pack n play, but this is the first time she completely changed positions.

How does a 2 weeks old squirm so much that she moves across her bed?

41 Weeks

Exactly 1 week past my due date we welcomed Kate into our lives.

It was a shock when the doctor told me it was a girl- we were all expecting it to be a boy. Even my mom was saying 'Come on, Alec' as I was in labor. But now that she's here I wouldn't trade her for anything.

So at 2am Monday morning I woke up with contractions and we were on our way to the hospital an hour later. I labored all day and ended up delivering by cesarean at 11pm.

She has made the transition from the hospital to home, sleeping in her room for hours and eating well. Family have been stopping by all week, I think my mom has seen us every day, and we have already been to the pediatrician. Now that the weather is warming up again, I can't wait to get cleared to take her out for walks and get out of the house more. But for now I'm enjoying my time at home.

So was your prediction right? Did you think we were having a girl?