Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
3 months
Caitlyn turned 3 months on Friday. It is crazy how fast time is going by. We met up with some friends at the park that morning and hung out until Eric called to say he was getting out of surgery early. We headed home to pick him up and pack up a quick lunch before heading out the door for Fort Desoto. The weather was amazing and we all got a little sun...even Ms. Caitlyn. I know! I felt horrible when I got home and saw that her face was pink. What a horrible mother! She was in the shade or in her stroller covered up 99% of the time but that 1% was enough. I even had baby sunblock with me but didn't put it on because I thought you were supposed to wait until they were 6 months before you could put sunblock on a baby. Who knows where that came from. Anyway, lesson learned.
Caitlyn Grace Three Months in Review:
Caitlyn looks just like her dad. The only thing so far I can tell for sure that is mine are her ears :) But, as she gets chubbier I have been getting more comments that she looks like her mom...go figure (haha).
She loves to talk and sing. Her favorite songs are "When You're Happy and You Know It." (especially the shout hooray! verse) :) and the "Ahhaaha" song that Ariel sings when the octopus witch steals her voice.
She loves giving kisses to mom and dad but especially to her blanket/rattle Mr. Bear. Eric would say she is the cutest when she is asleep but I think she is the cutest when she wakes up. She usually hangs out in her crib talking to herself for a little while and when I go to get her she gives me the hugest smile every single morning. Her eyes always get big. Its as if she is discovering things all over again every morning. Since day one she has been able to hold her head up and she can support her own body weight while standing. When you hold her on your lap she prefers to be standing. She was addicted to her binky since before she left the hospital but around 2 months she found her thumb and doesn't take her binky much anymore. She is starting to play more with toys but her favorite toys are her hands. They are always in her mouth. She hates her carseat unless she is in her stroller and moving or in the car and moving. She likes her swing, bouncer and play mat.
When Caitlyn was first born she ate just like her dad. Eric eats and eats and eats and doesn't gain any weight. He has an amazing metabolism. Caitlyn was the same way. She was eating and eating and not gaining weight. If only I were that lucky! Eric even gets up in the night to eat because he has what he calls hunger pains and can't sleep. I wake up in the morning to find empty glasses of instant breakfast or crumbs from midnight sandwiches. He is just like a newborn! Well, now Ms. Caitlyn is gaining weight like crazy. When she was born she weighed 8 lbs 9.6 oz. When she left the hospital she was 8lbs and by the time she had her first appointment with the pediatrician at 4 days old she was 7 lbs 12oz. A week later she was 8lbs and another week later she was still at 8lbs. She was so tall and skinny!
I am guessing at three months she is almost 26 inches and almost 14 lbs. A big baby! She should be eating a total of about 35 ounces every day and 6 oz of that is formula. She spits up a lot and has to take lots of breaks while feeding to burp. She is still eating about every 2 hours but at 2 months she surprised us by sleeping through the night and has every night since. She was going to bed around 10ish and waking up around 7ish but we are working on getting her to bed earlier. Last night she went down at 8 and slept until 6:30. She ate and went back to sleep for another hour. She normally has another nap in the morning for an hour or two and another in the afternoon for an hour or two. But she still has her days with 5 half hour naps throughout the day and not going to sleep until 11 and waking up at 5:30 but not very often. She loves taking baths. She splashes too much to go into her baby bath so we just throw into the bathtub with a couple of inches of water and let her splash away. She is as happy as can be until you take her out. Fortunately, we have found the trick to calm her down. No matter how upset she gets we just have to take her into the bathroom and plop her in front of the mirror and she instantly smiles and laughs with the baby in the mirror. Aside from the ceiling fan, Mr. Bear (and Mom and Dad of course) the mirror baby is her best friend.
She still hasn't rolled over but gets closer and closer everyday. She can roll onto her sides and scoot herself counterclockwise.
She is such a good girl and we are lucky to see her grow and learn new things everyday.
Caitlyn Grace Three Months in Review:
Caitlyn looks just like her dad. The only thing so far I can tell for sure that is mine are her ears :) But, as she gets chubbier I have been getting more comments that she looks like her mom...go figure (haha).
2 months
2 months
3 months (with her tan)
3 months
She loves to talk and sing. Her favorite songs are "When You're Happy and You Know It." (especially the shout hooray! verse) :) and the "Ahhaaha" song that Ariel sings when the octopus witch steals her voice.
She loves giving kisses to mom and dad but especially to her blanket/rattle Mr. Bear. Eric would say she is the cutest when she is asleep but I think she is the cutest when she wakes up. She usually hangs out in her crib talking to herself for a little while and when I go to get her she gives me the hugest smile every single morning. Her eyes always get big. Its as if she is discovering things all over again every morning. Since day one she has been able to hold her head up and she can support her own body weight while standing. When you hold her on your lap she prefers to be standing. She was addicted to her binky since before she left the hospital but around 2 months she found her thumb and doesn't take her binky much anymore. She is starting to play more with toys but her favorite toys are her hands. They are always in her mouth. She hates her carseat unless she is in her stroller and moving or in the car and moving. She likes her swing, bouncer and play mat.
She barely fits in her swing these days and the poor batteries really struggle to get the smallest little movement :) We call her diva because even though she is a pretty happy baby and can be independent and play by herself she has her moments when she must be the center of attention. You can be holding her and talking with her and the moment you look away to read something or type an email or answer the phone she starts whining until you look back at her and then she will give you a big cheesy grin. Total diva.
When Caitlyn was first born she ate just like her dad. Eric eats and eats and eats and doesn't gain any weight. He has an amazing metabolism. Caitlyn was the same way. She was eating and eating and not gaining weight. If only I were that lucky! Eric even gets up in the night to eat because he has what he calls hunger pains and can't sleep. I wake up in the morning to find empty glasses of instant breakfast or crumbs from midnight sandwiches. He is just like a newborn! Well, now Ms. Caitlyn is gaining weight like crazy. When she was born she weighed 8 lbs 9.6 oz. When she left the hospital she was 8lbs and by the time she had her first appointment with the pediatrician at 4 days old she was 7 lbs 12oz. A week later she was 8lbs and another week later she was still at 8lbs. She was so tall and skinny!
Eric calls this her Holocaust Survivor photo.
She was a pretty happy baby but I was afraid she wasn't getting enough to eat. I started pumping like crazy and supplementing between feedings with pumped milk in a bottle but it wasn't until I started supplementing with formula that she started gaining weight. I cried when Eric gave her that first bottle of formula around 3.5 weeks. I felt like a horrible mom. That was one of my most important jobs and I couldn't do it. Well, she started gaining weight instantly. She was only getting between 4-8 oz total of formula everyday but that was all she needed. I had to tell myself that she got her meals by nursing and the formula was more like vitamins :) Well, at 1 month she weighed 9 lbs. They like babies to regain their birth weight by one week and it took her one month. At 2 months she weighed a whopping 12 lbs and was 24 inches (3 inches taller than when she was born). She was in the 91 percentile for height and 76 percentile for weight. 
Wearing her newborn outfit. Not cool mom.
I am guessing at three months she is almost 26 inches and almost 14 lbs. A big baby! She should be eating a total of about 35 ounces every day and 6 oz of that is formula. She spits up a lot and has to take lots of breaks while feeding to burp. She is still eating about every 2 hours but at 2 months she surprised us by sleeping through the night and has every night since. She was going to bed around 10ish and waking up around 7ish but we are working on getting her to bed earlier. Last night she went down at 8 and slept until 6:30. She ate and went back to sleep for another hour. She normally has another nap in the morning for an hour or two and another in the afternoon for an hour or two. But she still has her days with 5 half hour naps throughout the day and not going to sleep until 11 and waking up at 5:30 but not very often. She loves taking baths. She splashes too much to go into her baby bath so we just throw into the bathtub with a couple of inches of water and let her splash away. She is as happy as can be until you take her out. Fortunately, we have found the trick to calm her down. No matter how upset she gets we just have to take her into the bathroom and plop her in front of the mirror and she instantly smiles and laughs with the baby in the mirror. Aside from the ceiling fan, Mr. Bear (and Mom and Dad of course) the mirror baby is her best friend.
She still hasn't rolled over but gets closer and closer everyday. She can roll onto her sides and scoot herself counterclockwise.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Aquarium
Last Friday our friends Karlie and Zanin invited us to go to the aquarium in Tampa. We had a great time and Caitlyn loved seeing all of the fish and other animals. 
Zanin flirting with the mermaid.
Caitlyn loved watching the different fish swim around. It was funny watching her try to follow them with her eyes. Sometimes they were a little too fast for her.
Occasionally the flap on the front pack would flip up. Who knows how long it had been that way. Poor girl!
Working Women
Since having Caitlyn I have decided not to return to work. It was actually a harder decision than I thought. I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom but the thought of losing our medical insurance and not having any income at all was pretty scary. Eric still has a year left of graduate school and while we have some savings and investments and will be getting more student loan funds later in the year I still was hesitant about not having a job.
I feel like I have always had a job. When I was in elementary and middle school I had a paper route. As a junior and senior in high school I worked Saturdays and summers as a waitress at a cafe. I didn't work my freshman year at BYU but got a job as a summer conference assistant right after finishing my first year. Except for a break during my mission and maybe a month or two following a semester abroad and another two months after I got married I have always had a job. Last Thursday was the date that I was scheduled to return to work but about a month ago I contacted the law firm I had been working at for the past year and a half and told them I wasn't going back. It was so hard for me and I stressed about it for months. But I know that I made the right decision. I will admit though when I received the COBRA information in the mail I almost called them and said "Never mind! I am coming back!" Eric pays for health insurance through his school but Caitlyn and I were insured through my work's policy and paid a very reasonable premium. Eric's insurance premiums were high but his school requires that he has it so there isn't much we could do. However, under COBRA, to maintain coverage for me and Caitlyn it would cost $896 a month with a $5000 deductible. I almost choked! We decided our best option would be to join in on Eric's plan. Eric was paying $125 a month. Now we still pay an outrageous $800 a month to insure all 3 of us but it is only a $100 deductible per person. Still outrageous, especially since it is student health insurance. Don't they know how poor students are? It is things like this that just reinforce the need for health insurance reform. I won't go off on that but it is just frustrating. If Eric's school didn't require him to have insurance we probably would drop his. I have thyroid issues and take daily medication for it. But I only started seeing the specialist and taking the medication when I was pregnant to make sure everything was okay with Caitlyn. I don't really think I need to continue the medication and would even be okay dropping health coverage for myself if it weren't for that silly pre-existing condition clause that insurance companies have. The irony is that maybe after a year of draining our savings and selling off some of our investments we could qualify for medicaid. Anyway, I guess this is part of life as a grown-up! Eric and I have put it off long enough :)
So back to the title of this post. My work asked me if I would come back in for a day or two to train the person they hired to replace me. I felt like it was the least I could do. The catch was that they wanted me to bring Caitlyn in with me. I don't know if they realized what they were asking. Caitlyn is a really good baby but she still can be pretty needy. She likes attention and if she isn't getting it she will let you know ;) But they really wanted to see her so I agreed to come in for a few hours one day with her and then could come back and leave her with a friend to finish things up another day. So last Tuesday morning we headed out the door for Caitlyn's first day of work. We got into the office just before 10am and didn't leave until 6pm. Caitlyn was amazing! She just laid on her blanket on the floor and talked and laughed to herself and took in all of the new things to see. She wanted to nurse about every 1.5 - 2 hours and needed lots of diaper changes and 3 wardrobe changes but didn't cry at all until about 5:30 that night when she decided she was tired and wanted to go home. Everyone at work fell for her smiles instantly and it was actually a really great day. And because we were so productive and stayed all day we were able to cover pretty much everything and I don't have to go back in. It felt so good to be able to actually work and be productive. It has been quite an adjustment to be home all day with Caitlyn but I didn't even realize how much I would miss working. Don't get me wrong. Being a mom is the hardest work I have ever done and there is still a sense of accomplishment when you get all of the laundry washed, folded and put away but its not the quite the same. Its hard to explain but it has helped motivate me to look into some job options that I can do from home. Eric is still trying to convince me to write some book series and be the next breakout young adult author and make millions of dollars. If only it were that easy.
I feel like I have always had a job. When I was in elementary and middle school I had a paper route. As a junior and senior in high school I worked Saturdays and summers as a waitress at a cafe. I didn't work my freshman year at BYU but got a job as a summer conference assistant right after finishing my first year. Except for a break during my mission and maybe a month or two following a semester abroad and another two months after I got married I have always had a job. Last Thursday was the date that I was scheduled to return to work but about a month ago I contacted the law firm I had been working at for the past year and a half and told them I wasn't going back. It was so hard for me and I stressed about it for months. But I know that I made the right decision. I will admit though when I received the COBRA information in the mail I almost called them and said "Never mind! I am coming back!" Eric pays for health insurance through his school but Caitlyn and I were insured through my work's policy and paid a very reasonable premium. Eric's insurance premiums were high but his school requires that he has it so there isn't much we could do. However, under COBRA, to maintain coverage for me and Caitlyn it would cost $896 a month with a $5000 deductible. I almost choked! We decided our best option would be to join in on Eric's plan. Eric was paying $125 a month. Now we still pay an outrageous $800 a month to insure all 3 of us but it is only a $100 deductible per person. Still outrageous, especially since it is student health insurance. Don't they know how poor students are? It is things like this that just reinforce the need for health insurance reform. I won't go off on that but it is just frustrating. If Eric's school didn't require him to have insurance we probably would drop his. I have thyroid issues and take daily medication for it. But I only started seeing the specialist and taking the medication when I was pregnant to make sure everything was okay with Caitlyn. I don't really think I need to continue the medication and would even be okay dropping health coverage for myself if it weren't for that silly pre-existing condition clause that insurance companies have. The irony is that maybe after a year of draining our savings and selling off some of our investments we could qualify for medicaid. Anyway, I guess this is part of life as a grown-up! Eric and I have put it off long enough :)
So back to the title of this post. My work asked me if I would come back in for a day or two to train the person they hired to replace me. I felt like it was the least I could do. The catch was that they wanted me to bring Caitlyn in with me. I don't know if they realized what they were asking. Caitlyn is a really good baby but she still can be pretty needy. She likes attention and if she isn't getting it she will let you know ;) But they really wanted to see her so I agreed to come in for a few hours one day with her and then could come back and leave her with a friend to finish things up another day. So last Tuesday morning we headed out the door for Caitlyn's first day of work. We got into the office just before 10am and didn't leave until 6pm. Caitlyn was amazing! She just laid on her blanket on the floor and talked and laughed to herself and took in all of the new things to see. She wanted to nurse about every 1.5 - 2 hours and needed lots of diaper changes and 3 wardrobe changes but didn't cry at all until about 5:30 that night when she decided she was tired and wanted to go home. Everyone at work fell for her smiles instantly and it was actually a really great day. And because we were so productive and stayed all day we were able to cover pretty much everything and I don't have to go back in. It felt so good to be able to actually work and be productive. It has been quite an adjustment to be home all day with Caitlyn but I didn't even realize how much I would miss working. Don't get me wrong. Being a mom is the hardest work I have ever done and there is still a sense of accomplishment when you get all of the laundry washed, folded and put away but its not the quite the same. Its hard to explain but it has helped motivate me to look into some job options that I can do from home. Eric is still trying to convince me to write some book series and be the next breakout young adult author and make millions of dollars. If only it were that easy.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)