Happy Half-Birthday to You!

*Edit- Whoops, turns out I didn't publish this when I wrote it...

Another month and another blog post.  Here we go:

• Weight (as of 8/19) 14.77 lbs (19%), height 25.39" (28%)
• Still fitting in 6 month clothes and some 9 month sizes.  I think she'll be out of the 6 month size by the end of the month.
• She eats 5-8 oz every 3-4 hours.  We've introduced some solids and if she likes the taste she will eat it, taking real bites and swallowing right away.  If she doesn't like it she will let it run out of her mouth.  She likes: Sweet potatoes (the best), Carrots, and Apples.  She dislikes: Peas (the worst), Green beans, Rice cereal plain.  
• She still isn't sitting up on her own, but she's doing better at staying up when I prop her on the couch.
• No crawling either, but she is rolling around more.  I put a yoga mat on the floor with a sheet over it to keep her off the carpet.  We'll see how long that lasts.
• She learned how to grab her foot this month, and now it's a favorite pastime.  So far she can only grab her right foot with her right hand, but she has been reaching for the left foot too.  I think she might be right-handed because she seems to favor it, grabbing toys, waving it around, etc.
• She laughs more frequently now.  Mostly when I do goofy things like dance around.  But she does like being thrown in the air, peekaboo, and Mirrors!  Sometimes I can get her to stop crying just by standing in front of a mirror with her.
• Still taking regular naps.  And it's almost like clockwork, 90 minutes after she started a bottle she is tired.  They last anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours sometimes.  She gets at least 3 naps a day, on a good day 4-5.  Sometimes she can fall asleep on her own, but the afternoon naps usually take some coaxing.
• She goes to bed around 6:30-7:30 pm and will stay asleep until 7:30-9:00 the next morning.  She doesn't cry when she wakes up, I either hear her talking or just moving around.

Doug was in New York for two weeks and Katelyn and I survived!  It really wasn't that bad at all.  She has become a pretty relaxed baby so our days were easy, and she's always been good about going to bed, so nothing was too stressful.

The day after Doug got home from New York his manager got their team together for a hike and dinner.  The hike was the Mueller Park Trail in Bountiful.  At first we were going to skip it and just meet up for dinner, but we googled the trail and it said it was pretty flat and easy to do with kids.  So we went.  We figured we'd use the jogging stroller, the trail said mountain bikers use it, so the stroller with bike tires should be fine... right?  Well.  It was not mostly flat, and mountain bikers are nuts for riding on this "trail".  It wasn't very steep but it was uphill the whole way.  The worst part was the giant rocks in the middle of the trail, at some points we had to pick up the whole stroller.  Oh, and did I mention it was 3.5 miles to the top?  Going down was a lot easier, and she even liked the bumps.  Needless to say, we won't do that again soon.  And before I even consider doing a hike again, I'll need to get her used to a baby backpack or something.  

Elephant rock, at least the view was good.

Glad she enjoyed the hike.

Her eyes are so blue! 

The problem with stickers, they come off! 

She is doing a little better in the Bumbo, but doesn't last long.

Anything she grabs goes into her mouth.

Milo was rubbing against her hand, I think he's realizing she's a person.

This is where I put her when I need to vacuum the living room.

Just woke up, she typically sleeps with her hand behind her head.

Passed out from playing too hard.

She loves these little (noisy) books. 

And this is where I put her while I cook myself breakfast.

Let the fur-pulling saga begin!

Her newest trick.

Look at the baby orangutan from the Hogle Zoo!

Too tired to eat another bite.

Poor baby, peas ARE gross!

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.

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.