Happy Valentine's Day, friends and family!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Happy Valentine's Day!
It's Katy's first Valentine's Day, and she got a cute little outfit in the mail from Grandma Kathy! She looked adorable and loved sucking on her dress. You wouldn't think that would be an important feature of an outfit, but it is to this girl!
And during our little "photo shoot" this morning, our little girl impressed the pants off of us when she whipped out the sign for "I love you". I mean come on! Talk about amazing.
Happy Valentine's Day, friends and family!
Happy Valentine's Day, friends and family!
Monday, February 4, 2013
Dear Kaitlyn: Six Months
Dear Kaitlyn,
Wow, it's already your half birthday! You are definitely not a newborn anymore, and — I know this sounds funny — you barely seem like a little baby. You may not be able to do things on your own quite yet, but you have enough spirit and personality to make me think you've been on this Earth much longer than six months, deciding what kind of person you'll be.
Your six-month photos perfectly illustrate the phase you're in. You are so happy, so curious, and ready to explore every last thing around you. Your motor skills are quite refined, actually, and I hear lots of positive feedback on this from your teachers!
You're doing so much more at daycare now, including painting, playing, reading, and watching "dramas", where your teachers act out scenarios to teach you about things like snow, wind, ice, different professions, etc. It sounds like you have fun, and they tell me that you are very quick in picking up on activities! Especially painting — apparently you "get it" more than a lot of the kids who are older than you. That's my girl! I love that they let you get messy, even at such a young age. And it's fun to pick you up in the evenings and see your art work around the classroom.
You have a friend at daycare who arrives on the early side, like you do. He's about 3 weeks older than you, so you two are at similar stages. The other morning when I was taking this picture, he "held" your hand! It's fun to see you bond with other kids. (Note the painted penguins hanging up in the background of this picture. You helped paint those!)
Sleeping: You remain a star. I am so thankful! For the most part, you go to sleep at about 7pm. On weekdays, we wake you up at 6:30am. On the weekends, you usually sleep until about 7:15am, give or take a half hour. You rarely wake up in the middle of the night anymore. And sometimes, if the whole house is quiet, you'll sleep in a little later, but not as much anymore. But we would never complain about your sleeping habits!
Daytime sleeping usually includes a couple of naps in your crib. On the weekends, you're now taking about a 1-2 hour nap in the morning, about 2-3 hours after you wake up. And then you take another hour or so nap mid-afternoon. At daycare, sometimes you will instead work in 3 shorter naps, which i think has to do with the amount of activity you're doing there.
You love to sleep in your Daddy's arms, and I love to photograph it! It absolutely melts my heart because you two always look so cute together.
And after an active day at daycare, we often find you in the backseat looking like this (oh my gosh — I just love that lip!).
Eating: You continue to love eating food, and we find you watching us eat more and more. You've tried a few new foods this month, including peaches, avocado, butternut squash, green beans, carrots, and oatmeal. You didn't care for the carrots or green beans, but we'll probably try them again to see if you take to them better on a second time around.
We've added food during the day too because your teachers said you were grabbing at the spoons of other kids. Ha! Now you usually have cereal mid-morning and fruit in the early afternoon. You're still drinking formula — about 24 ounces a day now with the addition of the solids.
Stats: I am sure that you have grown a couple of inches — seemingly in only a couple of days! I'm excited to find out your stats at your doctor's appointment in a week.
Clothes Size: You are mostly in either 6-9 months sizes (or if it's Gap/Old Navy, 6-12 months). Some of the 6-12 months clothes are a little baggy on you, but not so much that they don't fit. It's crazy to see how small some of your clothes have gotten and so quickly!
You still wear size 2 diapers, but I think we'll probably buy size 3 from now on. Any new diapers from your Grandma are size 3, so we're headed in that direction!
Milestones/Firsts: You can sit up on your own, for the most part! This is probably the most notable difference from last month. Previously, you would get tired pretty quickly if you were sitting up. And then it was always safer to have some back support for you. But now you're much better at balancing, and you even reach for things all around you without falling over.
Your hair is starting to grow in on your bald spots! So even though it's really short on the back of your head, it is covered and less irritated than before. The rest of your hair is getting much thicker too, and it's a beautiful strawberry blond so far!
You are starting to really like independent play, and you love an "exersaucer" that your cousin Joey lent you. It's fun watching you spin around and play with the different parts, and you're usually pretty content in there for 20 minutes or more.
You can scoot backwards a few inches when you're on your tummy, but so far that's the most mobility you've gained. Since you really want to crawl, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time now. And your muscles are so much stronger from sitting on your own, which I think will move along crawling.
Visitors: You had a special surprise visit from Grandma Kathy! She had a last minute conference to attend in NY, and she made a special point to fly out to Philly first just to see you. You had such a fun time playing with her. The last time she saw you was when you were only one month old!
You two got along so well, and I think we're all excited for your first trip out to Wichita!
Likes/Dislikes: You like so much right now. You still love Daddy and you light up when you hear him or see him. You love to "talk" to him and tend to get very chatty when he comes home from work. You love to sit with him and play, and you love to fall asleep in his arms, as I mentioned previously. You two have so much fun playing together, and you crack each other up!
You love people-watching, which I think is great! If we're in town on Saturdays, we usually go to the Reading Terminal Market to do our food shopping and have lunch. You are so good and contently hang out in your stroller, watching everyone who's watching you. We love watching how people react to the big smiles you give them.
You love songs and music, whether being played from a CD, from your toys, or your Daddy and me making up silly lyrics. You also like to play instruments — at daycare they have a tambourine and pianos that you love!
You are starting to have more decisive opinions about what you don't like, which I'm sure is just part of you growing up. Some things that you're not crazy about include putting on sleeves (still), getting Aquaphor put on your face, and when I take your little toy boats from you before you get out of the bathtub. I think much of these dislikes are a result of you being tired and ready for bed. Although the sleeves thing is just a general peeve, I think!
Wow, it's already your half birthday! You are definitely not a newborn anymore, and — I know this sounds funny — you barely seem like a little baby. You may not be able to do things on your own quite yet, but you have enough spirit and personality to make me think you've been on this Earth much longer than six months, deciding what kind of person you'll be.
Your six-month photos perfectly illustrate the phase you're in. You are so happy, so curious, and ready to explore every last thing around you. Your motor skills are quite refined, actually, and I hear lots of positive feedback on this from your teachers!
You smile all. of. the. time. It's like you're the antidote for gloom, grief, or stress. Your Daddy and I love to wake you up in the morning and often do so together because we both want the benefits of your big, bright smile. We both try to soak up as much sunshine as possible before we head to work!
In the evenings after work/daycare, we have our standard routine — dinner, bath, bottle, bed. Somewhere between dinner and your bath, you get feisty and giggly. It's adorable and so much fun to play with you. Those 10 minutes or so at the end of our time together for the day are some of my favorites. Our cheeks often hurt from smiling/laughing during that short time. Family time is so rewarding for all of us!
You're doing so much more at daycare now, including painting, playing, reading, and watching "dramas", where your teachers act out scenarios to teach you about things like snow, wind, ice, different professions, etc. It sounds like you have fun, and they tell me that you are very quick in picking up on activities! Especially painting — apparently you "get it" more than a lot of the kids who are older than you. That's my girl! I love that they let you get messy, even at such a young age. And it's fun to pick you up in the evenings and see your art work around the classroom.
You have a friend at daycare who arrives on the early side, like you do. He's about 3 weeks older than you, so you two are at similar stages. The other morning when I was taking this picture, he "held" your hand! It's fun to see you bond with other kids. (Note the painted penguins hanging up in the background of this picture. You helped paint those!)
Sleeping: You remain a star. I am so thankful! For the most part, you go to sleep at about 7pm. On weekdays, we wake you up at 6:30am. On the weekends, you usually sleep until about 7:15am, give or take a half hour. You rarely wake up in the middle of the night anymore. And sometimes, if the whole house is quiet, you'll sleep in a little later, but not as much anymore. But we would never complain about your sleeping habits!
Daytime sleeping usually includes a couple of naps in your crib. On the weekends, you're now taking about a 1-2 hour nap in the morning, about 2-3 hours after you wake up. And then you take another hour or so nap mid-afternoon. At daycare, sometimes you will instead work in 3 shorter naps, which i think has to do with the amount of activity you're doing there.
You love to sleep in your Daddy's arms, and I love to photograph it! It absolutely melts my heart because you two always look so cute together.
Eating: You continue to love eating food, and we find you watching us eat more and more. You've tried a few new foods this month, including peaches, avocado, butternut squash, green beans, carrots, and oatmeal. You didn't care for the carrots or green beans, but we'll probably try them again to see if you take to them better on a second time around.
We've added food during the day too because your teachers said you were grabbing at the spoons of other kids. Ha! Now you usually have cereal mid-morning and fruit in the early afternoon. You're still drinking formula — about 24 ounces a day now with the addition of the solids.
Stats: I am sure that you have grown a couple of inches — seemingly in only a couple of days! I'm excited to find out your stats at your doctor's appointment in a week.
Clothes Size: You are mostly in either 6-9 months sizes (or if it's Gap/Old Navy, 6-12 months). Some of the 6-12 months clothes are a little baggy on you, but not so much that they don't fit. It's crazy to see how small some of your clothes have gotten and so quickly!
You still wear size 2 diapers, but I think we'll probably buy size 3 from now on. Any new diapers from your Grandma are size 3, so we're headed in that direction!
Milestones/Firsts: You can sit up on your own, for the most part! This is probably the most notable difference from last month. Previously, you would get tired pretty quickly if you were sitting up. And then it was always safer to have some back support for you. But now you're much better at balancing, and you even reach for things all around you without falling over.
Your hair is starting to grow in on your bald spots! So even though it's really short on the back of your head, it is covered and less irritated than before. The rest of your hair is getting much thicker too, and it's a beautiful strawberry blond so far!
You are starting to really like independent play, and you love an "exersaucer" that your cousin Joey lent you. It's fun watching you spin around and play with the different parts, and you're usually pretty content in there for 20 minutes or more.
You can scoot backwards a few inches when you're on your tummy, but so far that's the most mobility you've gained. Since you really want to crawl, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time now. And your muscles are so much stronger from sitting on your own, which I think will move along crawling.
Visitors: You had a special surprise visit from Grandma Kathy! She had a last minute conference to attend in NY, and she made a special point to fly out to Philly first just to see you. You had such a fun time playing with her. The last time she saw you was when you were only one month old!
You two got along so well, and I think we're all excited for your first trip out to Wichita!
Likes/Dislikes: You like so much right now. You still love Daddy and you light up when you hear him or see him. You love to "talk" to him and tend to get very chatty when he comes home from work. You love to sit with him and play, and you love to fall asleep in his arms, as I mentioned previously. You two have so much fun playing together, and you crack each other up!
You love people-watching, which I think is great! If we're in town on Saturdays, we usually go to the Reading Terminal Market to do our food shopping and have lunch. You are so good and contently hang out in your stroller, watching everyone who's watching you. We love watching how people react to the big smiles you give them.
You love songs and music, whether being played from a CD, from your toys, or your Daddy and me making up silly lyrics. You also like to play instruments — at daycare they have a tambourine and pianos that you love!
You are starting to have more decisive opinions about what you don't like, which I'm sure is just part of you growing up. Some things that you're not crazy about include putting on sleeves (still), getting Aquaphor put on your face, and when I take your little toy boats from you before you get out of the bathtub. I think much of these dislikes are a result of you being tired and ready for bed. Although the sleeves thing is just a general peeve, I think!
You are just full of joy, Kaitlyn. We are so happy and proud of our little family of three. Your love of life and overall sunshiny demeanor have rubbed off on both of us and have helped us to remember not to get too bogged down with work or stress. No doubt, you have helped us learn so much in your six short months of life!
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