Jaffa Family

Saturday, July 11, 2015

The Month of Fives

I say month of fives because on the 5th Katelyn turned 5 months old, and on the 11th I ran a 5k with her in the stroller. Here are her stats:

*Unofficial weight 13.4 lbs, height 24 inches.
Still eating anywhere from 4-7 oz every 3 hours. Since returning from San Diego it took a while for her to get back into eating as much as before.
I've noticed she gets sleepy 1.5 hours after she started eating, and when she gets fussiest it's because she's tired. Even if it's time to eat, if she's tired she would rather have her pacifier than food.
We started trying to give her solids. She doesn't quite have the motion down, she just spits or lets the food run out of her mouth. I think she's also unsure about the taste. So far we've only tried rice cereal and green beans.
She can hold her head up very steady now, and I don't use the carseat in the stroller anymore.
When she's on her tummy she will prop her chest up, and she can turn back onto her back fairly easily.
I have gotten her to laugh a few times (a real hearty laugh). Mostly with her owl toy (her favorite at the moment) or at night when I'm getting her ready for her bath she's very giggly.
She has learned how to spit and it's a favorite pass time.
She's beginning to get hand-eye coordination. She reaches for toys with both hands and when she gets them they go straight to her mouth.
She has started to really notice the cats and will get excited when they walk by her. The cats still couldn't care less about her, except Milo is always on the prowl to steal her pacifier.
I've packed up all of her 3 month sized clothes. She must've gone through a major growth spurt, because one week they fit just fine and the next week they were very snug (and I didn't want to stretch them out). Her 6 month sized clothes are fitting perfectly at the moment, but if she goes through another spurt she might have to jump to the 9 months.
I've noticed that she prefers toys that have faces, or at least eyes. Her favorites are an owl, frog, and monkey.
She did better on the plane to Chicago than I expected. She was really fussy in the airport, so I was very anxious, but as soon as we got on the plane she fell asleep. She woke up about an hour in to the flight, and got cranky for 15 minutes or so, but then fell back to sleep. On the way home it was a late flight (9 pm) and she slept the entire time. I think it helped that the night flight was dark and quiet.

It's been a pretty good month. She is learning and growing so fast. I notice new things almost daily and I think, "Was she doing this yesterday? I don't think she was." Her personality is starting to bud, and I think she's going to be a handful. She's already testing limits with a kind of fake cry when I leave the room. She still likes going for walks (but not when it's super hot outside, learned that the hard way), and will usually just fall asleep. That's one of the reasons I was able to do a 5k, going on walks was good for both of us and I thought it would be fun to put my endurance to the test. This was the first 5k I've ever done (besides the Kimber Fun Run in Grouse Creek), so I chose one more focused on fun rather than serious speed. I did the FroYo run around Liberty Park, I finished in 41 minutes, 305th place overall and 33rd in my age division. The best part? Frozen yogurt at the finish line. I'm looking in to doing another race at the end of August, 5k Cake Walk. At the halfway point you stuff your face with cupcakes, and for every cupcake you eat they will deduct 1 minute from your finish time. That's my kind of race.

We enjoyed watching Shark Week.

She was asleep the whole time.

That's me!

First time "eating" (i.e. tasting) rice cereal

Not a fan.

She likes sitting in the chair to watch me make breakfast.

Hippest baby out on our walks.

I have the cutest boy, er, girl.

Proof she is getting ready to crawl.

When she was fussy on the plane Daddy let her watch soccer.

Catching a nap in the hotel. She sleeps like this a lot.

Meeting cousin for the first time.

Happy Independence Day

Meeting ALL the cousins

All the grandkids, Grandma, and Great-Grandma

Baby cousins were not in the mood for a photo op

The perks of being mobile, you can leave when you want.

Katelyn has some chunk on her, but hard to believe they're 2.5 months apart.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

4 Months Old!

It's that time of the month again, ready for an update?

Weight 12.13 lbs (16%) Length 23.62" (23%) Head 15.4" (5%)
She still fits in some 3 month sized clothes (mostly the Carter's brand). But we've been introducing some 3-6 month outfits as well. We also just bumped up to the size 2 diapers.
Her feeding routine got a little messed up on the vacation, but it's still about every 3 hours, and anywhere from 3-8 oz.
Officially rolled over on May 27th (from back to belly, still hasn't gotten from belly to back)
She "talks" pretty frequently, sometimes it's happy noises and other times it sounds like she's upset (but she's not). She's also learning volume, her squeaks can get pretty loud. Unfortunately she's camera shy, as soon as I pull out my phone to get a video of her talking, she clams up.
On her play mat the little monkey is her favorite toy. She'll stare at it and recently has been grabbing it and trying to put it in her mouth.
She's starting to pay more attention to all toys in general, and kinda reaches/wiggles her hands around until she grabs one.
She's still sleeping through the night, some nights (especially on vacation) she'd wake up and need her pacifier, but overall she does really well.
She prefers laying on the floor most of the time, either with the hanging toys, or just looking at people (or the tv.... oops!)
She did really well on the car ride to California. As soon as we'd get on the freeway she'd fall asleep, and stay asleep until we stopped.

The vacation was really nice. We rented a condo that was just minutes from the beach. (I highly recommend it). Mom drove down with us (thanks again!) and then she flew home on Thursday and Doug's parents got in on Thursday afternoon. We went with mom to the San Diego Zoo, it was perfect weather. Slightly overcast and like 67 degrees. Katelyn looked at some of the animals, but she likes to fall asleep on stroller rides. With Doug's parents we went to the Safari Park and it was really hot, so Katelyn got kinda cranky. I think her favorite part of the vacation was getting to spend time with the grandparents and daddy, and going to the aquarium (Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach). I think the aquarium was my favorite too, since it was the easiest place to take her, and the marine wildlife is pretty cool. It turns out that Doug's company is implementing 4 weeks of paternity leave as of June 1... but if you've had a baby within the last year, you'll still get it! So now we need to plan another vacation before K's birthday.

Just after 3 months old, she likes looking at books.

Happy baby in submarine jammies.

San Diego Zoo

Grizzlies

Brand new giraffe baby.

New jaguar baby. Sleeping, not dead.

Enjoying the zoo (with her monkey pal)

Her beach attire (I don't care if she looks like a boy if it protects her from the sun). Besides, people comment that she's a cute little boy.

How she spent her time at the beach.

Pit stop at the Safari Park.

Kinda baby lions playing with a clump of grass.

It was already getting hot at the Safari Park.

Baby gorilla (lotsa babies).

Had to wear her sharky shirt to the aquarium.

The aquarium was a hit, she loved the lights and fishes.

Happy 4 months, kid.

I think this is the first time her toes have been in grass.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Good Night, Sleep Tight

Guys, it's already been another month! It feels like I was just writing her 2 month stats yesterday. Here we go.

Unofficial weight and height, 9.6 lbs and 23.5" long
Still fitting in the 3 month clothes, some are still a little big, but she fits most of them pretty well. I expect her to fit in them for at least another month before we have to move on.
The hair on the top of her head is growing so she's like a little chia pet. The sides and back need to catch up.
She's officially sleeping through the night! If I feed and put her down at 7-8 pm she will sleep until at least 6 am the next morning. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle, but if I give her back her pacifier she will sleep again. She did this all herself, so hopefully I don't have to sleep-train too much later on. Fingers crossed.
She's awake most of the day, with a nap after her first morning meal, and another nap in the early afternoon. She's doing better at staying content when she is awake, so I'm able to do things like eat, clean, and blog.
She's still eating about every 3 hours during the day, and the amount varies from 2-7 oz. She'll eat a lot when she first wakes up and then another big one in the afternoon, but the other feedings are hit or miss. (It's so fun pouring 4 oz down the drain because she decided to only eat 1 that time.... But then 2 hours later she's hungry and will eat 6 oz.)(And lest you say, "Just make a little at a time," we've tried that, but once we take the bottle away to fill up or burp her, she doesn't want to eat anymore even if she only ate 2 oz.)
She's become a drooling machine. I almost wonder if she started teething, because for a while she was running a mild fever and was fussy. No sign of little teefies yet though.
She smiles more readily and it seems she tries to imitate my sounds when I coo back at her.
She loves it when I sing Yankee Doodle or She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain while I pump her legs like she's riding a horse.
Her favorite songs are Soft Kitty, the ABC's in French, and You Are My Sunshine
She's getting interested in looking at books, especially the ones with really bright colors.
Getting close to rolling over, she'll get up on one side but gets stuck on her elbow. She almost has full control holding her head up. Most of the time it's steady, but once in a while her head flops forward.
We just got a play mat with the things that hang down so she has something to look at (other than the "spirits" on the ceiling. You know, the ones who make her smile and laugh for no reason... creeps me out.) She is fascinated with the elephant that plays music.

Things are going smoothly. She's a lot less colicky now, if she gets fussy it's usually because she's tired or bored. She typically doesn't like tummy time, so one day when she was starting to get fussy I figured I'd give her tummy time, if she was going to fuss anyways. And what do you know? 30 seconds in and she fell fast asleep. It doesn't work all the time, but often enough. I think I've really gotten to the point where I can say I truly love being a mom. Those first 12 weeks were rough for a lot of reasons. She would cry so much or intensely and it would give me anxiety. My heart rate would rise and it stressed me out so much. And when they're that new they don't have much of a personality (at least that I could tell), so it's hard to enjoy such a demanding little creature when they don't give much back. Sure there are moments when she's all cuddly and cute, but moments are just moments and they're hard to recall while you're having an anxiety attack. But now we have a happy momma and happy baby. It helps that I'm finally getting a full night's sleep on a regular basis, and I have time to make better meals (you know, more than a poptart and a can of coke for breakfast).