First night in her room alone

Katie spent last night sleeping in her room for the first time since she was born! And she did great. She has been sleeping in a bassinet in our room after we brought her home from the hospital. The first week or so, she was sleeping with us a good bit but then I started putting her in the bassinet.

Her sleeping has been a little off lately and I thought that maybe she was a little too cramped in the bassinet. So I decided that Tuesday night would be the night for the crib. I put her down in it around 9:00 and she slept until 6:15 the next morning. That was success to me.

She likes to move around while she sleeps. I put her down in the crib one way and when I came back, she had turned her body around about 90 degrees. What's funny is that she now has some extra room but still sleeps with her legs in what I like to call the "ballerina position". Michael always slept completely stretched out and he outgrew the bassinet sometime shortly after he turned 2 months old.

Here are some pictures of her first night in her crib:

She rolled over!

I just realized that this happened last week and I didn't blog about it. Katie rolled over on Thursday from her back to her belly! Of course, it only happened once so far and it was while we were at work and my mom was watching her.

She has been moving her legs and turning over to her side for a while but couldn't figure out what to do with her arm. My mom had put her in the pack and play bassinet for a few minutes and Katie got mad and rolled over! I can see that she wants to do it again but it still wondering where her arm should go. She keeps practicing and in the meantime, we are keeping our eyes on her all the time.

I can't believe that this milestone has already arrived. It seems like she is growing up so fast and it makes me a little bit sad. She has changed her sleep patterns recently as well and isn't sleeping nearly as much during the day. We also think that she is getting a tooth, as her gums are a bit red and bulging. She loves to bite down on anything and she has quite a bit of drooling. I am hoping that it doesn't cause her too much discomfort as it comes in!

Wordless Wednesday

Where does the time go?

Katie is 4 months old today. As we celebrate her birthday each month, I wonder how it can be going by so fast. She is no longer the newborn we brought home from the hospital. She is now an interactive infant.

Over the past month, Katie has learned how to pick up things and hold them in her hands. She can also pull on things to bring them to her mouth. One of her favorite things to put in her mouth is her thumb. She uses it to soothe her gums, as well as comfort herself when she is having a hard time going to sleep. It's the cutest thing, even though I don't want to encourage it.

She has also started laughing and gets a big smile on her face when she sees someone that she knows. One person who gets a lot of smiles is the big brother Michael! He knows what to say and do to make her happy, which makes him happy too. It's so neat to watch the two of them interact and I am interested to see their relationship develop and grow.

Katie also had her well visit with the pediatrician. She now weighs 14lbs 6oz and is 25 1/4 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. When I look at her, she looks pretty long to me so I wasn't surprised that she was that tall. We will continue nursing and introduce rice cereal sometime around 6 months, provided she doesn't pull my plate off the table again. I wonder if she was just pulling things or if she wanted the food. This girl likes to eat!!

Katie brings us joy everyday and I am looking forward to what new things she does in the upcoming months.

Weekend Wrapup

I know that the weekend actually starts on Friday night but I am starting this past one a little early.

Thursday night, Katie, Michael and I traveled to St. Matthews (about 45 minutes away) to visit our good friends Susan, Jason and their son, Nathan. They were visiting from Colorado for her sister's wedding. Jason's mom was nice enough to host a get-together at her house so that their friends could see them while they were here in SC. We have a very nice time visiting, even though it was too short. Michelle, Charles and their girls, as well as Stephanie & Doug were there too and it was good to catch up with all of them. I don't like that we all live far apart and it seems like too much time can go by without seeing each other. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the car, as I had my hands full with 2 kids and all of their related items! I know Susan got some good pictures that she will email to me.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for my friend's little girl, Ava. It was an Ariel and Disney princess party. I know that Michael was just thrilled to be there with all the little girls. He had a fun time playing with the toy kitchen and running around outside. He also enjoyed hitting the pinata that they had filled with candy....this boy loves some candy! Katie was entertained by my friend's grandmom for most of the party and completely content. Of course, she was being held and what's not to like about that.





After the party, we headed home for a bit and then went to our friend Mat and Jennie's house. Their daughter, Kaitlyn, who is almost 2, had her little pool set up outside. She and Michael played in the pool and also on the splash pad in the backyard. Michael also had fun going down the slide in his wet bathing suit. Talk about a funny thing to watch. It was pretty warm out and it felt good to have the water running through my toes as well.





Sunday we relaxed in the morning and slept in a little bit. Mid-afternoon, the 4 of us headed to the pool. Even after his swimming lessons last week, Michael still doesn't want to go in the big pool or jump in. He prefers to stay in the baby pool. Katie enjoys the pool more than he does, I think. Of course, at this point, she doesn't know any better. I know that she feels the cool water and will let me put her to float on her back. She even wore a new swim outfit this weekend that was adorable.



The weekend was pretty busy and after some of them, I feel like I need another one. We had a good time though and were sad to see it end!

He's not so sure about this

Michael had his first swimming lesson on Monday. He is taking a 2 week class at a local college. It is Monday-Thursday from 5:50pm-6:30pm.

This is a child who is not crazy about the water at all. He will get in the "small" pool at our neighborhood pool but won't go into the "big" one without major coaxing. I was hoping that the swimming lessons would help with his fear/dislike of the water. At the very least, I hoped that he wouldn't scream like a maniac every time he goes into the big pool.

We got to the lesson a few minutes early and were waiting outside with other kids in his group, the Tadpoles. He seemed to be OK but once the teacher came out and we started walking toward the pool, he didn't want to go in at all. The supervisor came over and told me that he would be fine and I could watch up in the stands. I walked away and they eventually got Michael into the water. He did cry for about 10 minutes but managed to get into the water several times, although he held on to the teacher for dear life!

Tuesday night was a bit better and he only put up a bit of a fight before heading into the pool. I think that watching other kids get in and swim helped him a little bit. And knowing what to expect goes a long way with him, as it does for most 3 year olds.

Here's to hoping that he becomes a little more relaxed in the water so I don't have to worry so much!

The sweet sound of.....

laughter was heard in our house last night. For the first time from Katie! And it was then followed by a squeal. I imagine that this is what we have to look forward to in the future when Katie is a teenager. She is such a happy and good natured baby most of the time. It's hard to capture her smile on camera...it's like she reserves them for you in person. She is very interactive and "talks" to you a lot.

Every milestone with Katie is just as exciting as they were when Michael did them. In fact, I have learned not to rush things with her and just enjoy them as they come. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she is our second child and most likely, our last. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that we now know the joy of having children and the experience of everything that they do, good or bad.

NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher

We went to visit my parents for the 4th of July weekend. Todd and I decided that we were going to try to see more of the local sights when we go to visit them. Michael is getting older and is interested in seeing things that he enjoys as well.

Friday we went to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. We started off the day by driving to Southport, NC and taking the ferry over to Fort Fisher. Growing up on the Jersey Shore, I had taken the ferry from Cape May to Delaware several times. We waited in line and then boarded the 11:30 ferry. After Todd drove the van on, he turned the car off and got out. We thought that Michael would like to look at the water but he was a little scared to get out of the van. I think it was the unknown that he didn't like. Todd went up to the front of the boat and after some coaxing, I took Michael and Katie up there as well. Katie loved the feel of the wind on her face and Michael just wanted to be held as he looked out onto the water. It was a gorgeous day.









After we arrived at Fort Fisher, we headed over to the aquarium. They have an area for fresh-water animals and inside they have the salt water animals. Michael loved the aquarium. He got to look at the albino alligator outside and watch it get fed. When we headed inside, there were all sorts of fish, as well as turtles, crabs and jellyfish. There was also a seashell display. We got some lunch while we were there and sat outside on the deck while birds flew around in the trees and bushes near us. Of course, Katie slept through most of this as she usually does.

The final part of the visit was the gift shop.** He chose a truck that pulls a trailer that holds a raft on it. We tried to persuade him to get something else but it was useless. I normally would have just taken in out of his hands and taken him out of the store while he screamed. But since he was so good and we were out of town, we decided to get it for him. He liked it so much he wouldn't let go of it:



After this, we headed back to my parents' house. We decided to drive through Wilmington instead of taking the ferry back for a change of scenery. It was a nice day for all of us.

**Note to self: don't let your 3 year old go into the gift shop if you don't want to buy him anything.

Michael's First Trip to the Movies

Yesterday my mom took Michael to his first movie at the theater. She also took Katie but since she didn't watch the movie, I am not sure if it should count for her or not. One of our local theaters has free children's movies on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays throughout the summer.

Todd and I had been unsure about how he would do at the movies as he has a hard time sometimes sitting still for long periods of time. We figured that the worst that could happen was they would have to leave the movie early since it was free to begin with.

Well, of course Michael surprised us all and did great. He was really excited about seeing the really big TV and sat in the chair like a big boy. The movie that they went to see was The Tale of Desperaux and he really enjoyed it. My mom said that he only started to get a little fidgety at the very end, which wasn't bad at all considering the movie lasted almost 2 hours.

Can't wait to take him to the movies with us since he did so well this time!!