August 24-25, 2012
On Friday afternoon, Grandad came by after working in Huntsville for a bit and picked baby sister up to spend the night for the first time! Mommy was very anxious, not because she was worried about Grandmama and Grandad, but it was the first time she had spent the night without Mommy and Daddy and we weren't sure how she would do. But she did great!! It ended up being the perfect time for them to keep her since Mommy was busy getting party stuff together on Friday. Then on Saturday, we were able to spend special time with Caleb, which was really nice.
Saturday was Caleb's day. After waking up and getting ready, we headed to the donut shop for breakfast- Caleb's request. Then we had to run 2 little Birthday errands...get balloons filled and drop them off along with other decor at the gym. Then we headed to the mall where Caleb got to enjoy Build A Bear. He picked out a Tiger then filled it and gave him a bath. After that, Caleb picked out a Woody costume for Tiger to wear. It was lots of fun! Then we enjoyed lunch at Chick Fil A before heading home for nap time. Caleb really enjoyed having time with just Mommy and Daddy, but he did say several times that he missed his baby and she needs to come home. Too sweet!
Kailyn enjoyed the jumperoo at Grandmama and Grandad's
Caleb at Build A Bear:
Giving Tiger his heart.
Stuffing him.
Next, Tiger enjoyed a relaxing bath and salon blow out!
After Tiger was dressed, we named him and printed out his birth certificate.
What a fun morning!
August 21, 2012
Caleb started back to school (Mother's Morning Out) this week at our Church. He is in the 3 year old class this year- yay! And he loves it :) Mommy is so excited that he is (almost) fully potty trained and we didn't get kicked out of the big kid class, ha! It was a worry of mine all summer while potty training him. He is still going two days a week, which still gives us a lot of time together. But ohhhh how Mommy has missed school. It is so nice to take a break from the whinning, constant questions, etc. and although I still have Kailyn to deal with, it is easier to run errands with one kid vs two. So anyways...Caleb is really enjoying it so far. His teachers are Ms. Cindy and Ms. Carol and they seem super sweet and love what they are doing. Caleb has been so excited because he now gets to go to the BIG playground and it is lots of fun. He hasn't told us a whole lot about what he has done at school this week, but he does say that he had a good day!! We are so excited to see him grow and learn this year.
First day of school- Ready to go!
At school- Ready to go inside.
Standing by the door to the classroom, it was really cute and decorated like the Very Hungry Caterpillar...Mommy did a poor job of taking this picture. Boo!
Eating lunch at school. Yum!!
August 17-19, 2012
We were so excited to go back to the River this past weekend. But also sad because it will more than likely be our last trip up there for the summer months. Don't worry- we will definitely be back, but it may be fall weather before we return. We will still be able to have fun, just not as much water sports. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful weekend. We got there pretty late on Friday night and unpacked then quickly got the kids into their bedtime routines. On Saturday, we had great weather, although a little cloudy. We never got too hot all weekend, if anything a little cool. We played all day Saturday- swimming, riding the boat, golf cart riding, etc. On Saturday night, Deedee and Pappy fixed a great dinner since it was Mimi's Birthday. Then on Sunday, we were a little lazy in the morning hours. Once it warmed up outside, Daddy and Caleb went swimming while Mommy and Kailyn packed up. Then we enjoyed a boat ride to the Marina for an ice cream treat before heading home! Yum :)
Daddy and the kiddos!
Kailyn is completely obsessed with her toes :)
Uncle Great, Aunt Mimi, and Cousin Parker ready to ride.
Pops and Nana enjoying a morning on the boat.
Parker jumping off the diving board...
Pop's turn!
Caleb loves his Nana!!
Caleb and Nana "relaxing" on the way back to the creek.
Daddy and his baby girl!
Loving on Nana :)
Caleb and his Pops, absolutely adore each other!!
This week, Daddy has been in New Orleans for work. We have missed him SO much. It is amazing how much he really helps Mommy in the afternoons and nights, and it is a lot of work without him. But we have actually adjusted and managed quite well. We have stayed busy and luckily the kids have been pretty good. The only real adjustment is our bedtime routine. Usually we do both Caleb and Kailyn's baths at the same time then one parent takes one kid and the other parent takes the other kid. Caleb usually gets to pick who he wants to put him night night. So with Daddy gone, they have taken bath together then after everyone is in pjs and teeth brushed, Caleb gets to watch tv in Mommy and Daddy's room while Mommy puts Kailyn to bed. Then it is his turn. He's loving every minute of it! I just hope he transitions good with Daddy being back home and getting no more bed time tv.
On Monday, we had Caleb's friend Victoria over to play at the house for a little while. Victoria's Mommy is expecting a baby girl soon and wanted to look at Kailyn's baby clothes. We were so excited that she found some things she liked, we have very similar tastes in clothes :) Then we all headed to Red Robin for lunch. As we were sitting at lunch, the sky got really dark then the flood came! After eating, we had to let the kids play in the front lobby until the rain let up enough to make a run for it. By the time we got to the car, we were all soaked!! Then we headed home for a big afternoon nap. After naptime, we played at home a little then headed to Wal-Mart for a few groceries.
Tuesdays are our small group days and it was our turn to host. So we stayed at home all day and played while Mommy cleaned and cooked and prepared to have everyone over. Mommy cooked Chicken Cordon Bleu, Crock Pot Mac N Cheese, and rolls for dinner and we topped it off with some Cream Cheese Brownies. It was a success! Caleb had an awesome afternoon playing outside with his buddies, Jordan and Jayden and Mommy enjoyed some adult conversations!!
On Wednesday morning, we headed to the Botanical Gardens after Kailyn's morning nap. We took pictures, played, and visited with the fish, turtles, and butterflies before enjoying a yummy lunch at Clementine's. We headed home for an afternoon nap and after that, we had a special visitor. Pops came by with a pizza abd breadsticks for dinner! It was a really great visit and he helped Mommy out so much by just playing with the kids. The only bad part was the he taught Caleb to say, "Go big orange..." Mommy has quickly corrected this telling him we only say, "ROLL TIDE" around here :)
Thursday morning, we had another playdate with Caleb's friend, Victoria at Bridgestreet. Her Mommy wanted to look at some more clothes, bigger sizes and a few that she got home and decided she wanted after looking back at what she already had. So we looked at clothes in the back of Mommy's car then headed to Barnes and Noble to play trains and ready books for a little while. Caleb got to pick out a new book and he was really excited about that. He picked out a farm book with felt characters that you can move around on the pages- lots of fun! After playing for a bit, we headed to the food court area and picked up some pizza for the kids and then headed to Lime mexican where the Mommies ate lunch. We ended our playdate with a ride on the carousel before heading home for an afternoon nap! After a great afternoon nap, we headed to get Caleb's haircut so he would be looking nice for his first day of school next week. Gran Gran met us at the haircut place then we headed to Target to get a few things. After shopping, we ate dinner at Jason's Deli then headed home because it was already past bedtime!! Kailyn lost it in the car, she was completely exhausted, but once she had Mommy, she was all better- such a Mommy's girl :)
Friday was packing day! We stayed at home all day to prepare for a weekend at the River. Mommy worked hard all morning to get clothes washed and packed. Kailyn did not make it easy on Mommy, she did not take a morning nap and her afternoon nap was maybe 20 minutes! We were all so happy when Daddy came home. Then we all hurried to pack some last minute items and headed for the Tennessee River for a relaxing and fun weekend.
Here are a few pictures from our visit to the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday!
Typical....
Happy little 6 month old :)
Caleb enjoyed the "Wacky Wednesday" craft: Dinosaur book marks.
Look! Turtles!!!
Kailyn had her 6 month check up this morning with her Pediatrician. She is 19lbs 6oz (off the chart!!!), 25in tall (90%), and her head was 43.75cm (90%). Developmentally, Kailyn is right where she needs to be. The doctor was proud that she can roll over and sit unassisted. She said that is sounds like Kailyn is eating just the right amounts too. Kailyn was also complimented on how alert and aware of her surroundings she is. Unfortunately, Kailyn had to get 3 shots again, which she did not appreciate. She screamed so loud, in fact, that it scared Caleb and he started crying!!
Here are a few pictures of Kailyn at the doctor's office:
How much did you say she weighs??!
Playing while waiting to see the doctor.
Mischevious big brother in the background, ready to go home because he was hungry!
Happy 1/2 Birthday to Kailyn!!
We have enjoyed yet another busy month! Kailyn has enjoyed many playdates with friends, celebrating Daddy's Birthday, learning how to do new things, and much more!
New things: Kailyn has grown up so much in the past month. She is no longer an infant that just lounges around and coos! She is now sitting up all by herself, playing toys. If she is laying down and wants to sit up, she fusses and pulls her head, neck, and shoulders up off the floor like she is doing a cruch- trying to get up. It is cute! She has found her toes and plays with them all the time, especially when she is laying down, she will put her feet straight up in the air and grab them. Kailyn has also found her ears...Mommy thought she had an ear infection because she was swatting at them so much, went to the doctor, and she is just fine- good to hear. She has been playing in the saucer and jumperoo for a while now, but she has just learned to jump while in the jumperoo and she is really good at it. She will jump, jump, and jump some more...we have to get this on video soon. Kailyn has rolled over both ways, but only a few times. The two times she rolled from back to front, she was in the living room on her play mat and Mommy and/or Daddy were in the kitchen or somewhere else in the house and came back to her fussing because she was on her belly! She still hates being on her tummy, so we think she just isn't interested in rolling onto it. Truthfully, she would rather just sit up and play! And speaking of sitting up, she has now graduated to getting to sit in the shopping cart when we go somewhere. We rarely take her carseat in anywhere anymore because even if she is asleep, she will wake up when taking it out of the car. She is, however, getting a little better in the car. She will still cry some if she is hungry or tired, but if she is sleepy enough, she will just go on to sleep. So thankful that car rides are starting to get better! Kailyn is also enjoying the new freedom of sitting up because she can ride in the stroller now! We got a Sit N Stand stroller so that Kailyn has a front seat where she can be buckled and Caleb has a backseat that is a little bench where he can sit but still get up and down as he pleases. Big brother is also enjoying the new freedom the new stroller has given him. She is also chewing on everything all of the time. When she wears dresses, she will even pull them up to her mouth and chew on the end. Mommy keeps thinking that she will get teeth soon, but there are no signs when we check her mouth. She definitely has a little temper though, if you put her down or in something and walk away, watch out! She will cry like you broke her little heart. But if you sit with her and play with her or even take her with you when you change rooms, she is the happiest little girl you've ever seen. She is also starting to really talk and babble a lot and even squeal, which Mommy loves!
Food: Kailyn is now a baby food junkie! We started baby food with her a few days after she turned 5 months old. Since she had been eating the cereal and oatmeal for a month, we decided that there was no reason to deal with the extremely runny 1st foods and skipped over to the 2nd foods. We began with doing vegetables at dinner time for a few weeks, then moved into doing fruits for breakfast. Recently, we added baby yogurt for lunch. Now, sometimes the lunch yogurt does not happen if we are busy on a playdate or something, but she doesn't seem to mind as long as she has her bottle. She definitely still preferrs the bottle, but we think she is enjoying the food too. You just can't wait until she is too hungry to do the baby food, or she is too mad and will not eat it, just wants her bottle. We are still fixing her 6oz bottles at every feeding, with her eating part of it to begin with and saving a little for nap time, sometimes she doesn't even finish the entire bottle.
Sleep: Kailyn has mostly went back to only getting up once per night. She still will throw a curve ball every once in a while and get up twice. Most of those nights, Mommy can either give her the pacie or rock her back to sleep without having to feed her if it is still early on in the night. But when she regularly gets up sometime around 2:30-4, we give her a bottle and she will go right back to sleep. Maybe month 6 will be her magical sleep through the night month?!! Just last night, she only got up at 4:30am, took a bottle, went back to sleep until 7am...fantastic job, Kailyn :) We have also started letting her nap in her bed for the afternoon nap. Morning naps, Mommy usually just lets her sleep in the swing still because that is when she gets a shower and Caleb is usually running around upstairs. This way, Kailyn has the downstairs to herself and it is nice and quiet. She is still only able to stay awake for about 2 hours, but she is getting better about being pushed past that if she is out and about. Last week, Mommy was able to keep her awake every day until Caleb took his nap, then she would lay Kailyn down for her 2nd nap at the same time...Mommy was loving that. This month, Mommy is hoping to regulate Kailyn's sleep schedule a little more and get her on a consistent 2 naps her day routine. Maybe that will help her night sleep?
Fashion: We can definitely tell she is constantly growing, but the past month not too much. She can still wear a lot of 3-6 month clothes, but she is regularly wearing 6 month outfits. Mommy has even put her in a few 6-9 month outfits and they fit pretty well. Now, given that a lot of brands are different in sizing. Ralph Lauren usually runs a little small and boutique brands such as Petit Ami usually run a little big. And she is still wearing a size 3 diaper. Her little foot hasn't grown much either, size 1 is still fitting great. We tried on a pair of her size 2 sandals this weekend and they were still big. Oh well, thank goodness for consignment sales, we can resell it and it isn't too big of a deal that she never wore them.
Her schedule is still very variable, but this is a typical day:
6am- Wake up
6:30- Breakfast, 1-2 tbs fruit baby food
6:50-7:45- Play time
8-9:30am- Morning Nap, this is where her schedule is iffy, can be 20 minutes or 1.5 hours...if it is a short nap, she usually will need another short nap before lunch time, this is where Mommy feels we need improvement!
9:30- Get dressed for the day, part of a bottle
10-11:30- Play time, Run Errands, etc.
11:30 or 12- Caleb's lunch time, so Kailyn usually eats yogurt with him if we are at home.
12:30-3- Afternoon Nap
3:30- Bottle
3:30-5:30- Play Time, Run Errands, Play with Daddy, etc.
5:30- Dinner, she either eats before or after we all do, we try to keep her happy in her high chair so we can all eat together. This will be easier once she is able to eat puffs or some other snack while we eat.
6:30- Bath Time
7pm- Bed Time, asleep by 7:30
3:30- Middle of the night feeding
July 10, 2012- First time to eat baby food. Gran Gran fed her Sweet Potatoes and Corn for her first dinner!
July 13, 2012- Enjoying a big playdate with Church friends. Kailyn and Caleb are to the far left.
Enjoying snuggles with big brother :)
July 14, 2012- Attending Finlee's 5th Birthday party, playing with BFF Rylann at the party!
July 16, 2012- Practicing sitting up with the Boppy pillow as support.
July 17, 2012- Was a BIG day! Kailyn had lots of firsts :)
Playing with her toes.
Sitting up by herself!
And sitting in the shopping cart for the first time.
July 18, 2012- Playdate with friends at the movies, Kailyn played for a little while, then had a bottle and napped through the 2nd half of "Horton Hears a Who"
July 19, 2012- Happy Birthday, Daddy! Enjoying a family dinner at Phil's
July 21, 2012- Saturday morning, reading books with Daddy.
July 21, 2012- 5 Month pictures at the Botanical Gardens
July 28, 2012- Swimming at Grandmama and Grandad's pool
July 29, 2012- Enjoying riding in the stroller while big brother plays at the park and feeds the ducks with Addison.
August 1, 2012- Playing in the stroller while Caleb plays with friends at the splash pad.
August 4, 2012- Kailyn is SIX months old!
Check out those big, blue eyes...they are going to break hearts one day!
You can never smile too much, baby girl! We love to see this everyday :)
Playing in her bed.
Well, baby girl, you are now into the second half of the first year of your life. Your Mommy and Daddy could not be any prouder of you. You are such a joy to have around and we love snuggling and playing with you! You have grwon and progressed so much in the past month and it is so fun. We can't wait to see what you will do next...
