October! and 7 1/2 months...ish

Hello!

We have just gotten back from our week-long vacation to New England, where Caitlin got to spend some good quality time with the grandparents and all the other family the grandmas shared her with. :) The little missy had an absolute ball meeting everyone again and we already can't wait to get back up there. :)

She is getting really good at standing up in her crib now and crawls fairly well, especially when there is something interesting for her to get, like mommy's computer, or miniature Reese's. She has also started straightening her legs from the crawling position, and moving her feet when we hold her hands to help her balance standing up-we will be walking before we know it. She's growing like a weed, so everything in the house is inching up further away from the floor.

She is not talking yet (thank goodness) but she is babbling in full force. Her new favorite noises are squealing and clicking like a dolphin, both of with are, of course, adorable. :) This is when she hasn't put something else in her mouth, which isn't very often--she is also very good at that. She has started working on her pincer grip (hello baby puffs), and we are starting to introduce the sippy cup. She is not too keen on the cup quite yet since regular cups are so much easier, but we will see.

Our next big events are Halloween (mommy is excited!), Thanksgiving (mashed potatoes), her nine month appointment in December, and then Christmas! Sean is already making sure I don't go too crazy with shopping for her. :) For inquiring minds, she is already wearing 9 and 12 month clothes and will hopefully still be in them by December, but the way she's growing...you never know. ;)

6 Months!

Hello!

The little missy is already 6 months old (next week)! She had her doctor's appointment yesterday and weighed in at 18 lbs 1 once, and is now 27 inches long. She is still in the 90th percentile for her age--in other words she is the size of an average 9 month old. :) The doctor says that she will hopefully grow out of spitting up and her eczema by the time she's a year old, but since Caitlin doesn't care (and keeps growing!), it's no big deal. She's a happy, social, BIG baby. :)

She is still working on teething although there aren't any cutting through quite yet. She is getting very good at putting things in her month and chewing on them, including her fingers, her toys, her parents' fingers, and mommy's hair. She is an industrious thumb sucker but is still working on closing her fingers into a fist while she's doing it. Her nose gets in the way, so it sometimes appears that she'd like us to live long and prosper. :)

She is very, very good at rolling from front to back and back to front. One of her favorite activities at daycare is rolling across the room so that she is in front of the door to the kitchen so she can wait for the teacher to come out--she must know that's where the food is kept. :) She is so good at moving herself that she will be moving to the next class in the daycare, even though she's a little younger than the other kids in that class.

She is also getting pretty good at sitting up by herself. She still has not gotten the hang of pulling herself into a sitting position, but will balance herself unless she gets too excited and pushes herself backwards. She gets excited a lot, but falling backwards is lots of fun too. :)

And of the utmost excitement, she has started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. She is not crawling quite yet, but we expect it to happen any day now. Every time we put her down, she rolls over onto her belly and gets up on all fours so she can practice rocking some more. Most of the time she laughs about it, but occasionally she whines about not being able to move herself.

Yesterday there was a picnic at her daycare and we were able to meet some of the parents of the other babies in her class(es). It was a lot of fun, and Caitlin got to try sitting in grass for the first time. She wasn't totally sure she liked it, it must have been itchier than carpeting, but she did enjoy trying to pick the grass.

We have uploaded some new pictures to the website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/crazyandol/Caitlin?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPz78bN2fSO0wE&feat=directlink#

This is a photo that I had on my phone; it's on Facebook, but just in case you didn't get to see it (you may have to copy the address and paste it into the address bar of your browser window):

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31074403&l=3a10ecf7ac&id=70002174

Also, here are the photos from the fourth of July:

http://picasaweb.google.com/crazyandol/CaitlinSFirstFourthOfJuly?authkey=Gv1sRgCPDToLq0mrH1Lg

We are still having trouble getting videos posting on this site, so I am looking at some other websites to use for Caitlin's updates.

4 Months (about)

Hello!

Miss Caitlin had her 4 month appointment today! She is 15 lbs 2 ounces and is 25 inches long, putting her in the 90th percentile for her age. The doctor was impressed with how big she's gotten, with her wonderful head/neck control, and with how smiley and happy she is. :) She didn't like the shots, but otherwise it was a very nice doctor's visit.

With the doctor's blessing, we also tried out solid foods for the first time today. Mom was looking forward to funny (and messy!) faces at the new taste and texture, but our baby is a good eater (that's how she got so big!). She inhaled the first little bit of oatmeal we gave her, and then was actually moving her head towards the spoon when we gave her a little more. We did get some pictures of her with the spoon. We also got a few of her holding the bottle we gave her after she finished her cereal. The doctor says we can try vegetables next, so we're hoping for funny faces then. :)

With all of Caitlin's other achievements, we also decided to build her "jumperoo." She is not quite tall enough to reach the ground yet so we put one of Dad's computer books underneath her feet, and boy does she like bouncing. :) She had a lot of fun checking out the new toys and moving around some of the pieces that make noise.

In other "exciting" news (we've had a lot in the past few days), Caitlin is learning to suck her thumb, instead of her whole hand, and she's learning to chew on her fingers. The doctor said it will probably be a little while yet before we see her first tooth, but it doesn't hurt to start keeping the teething rings in the freezer.

The little missy is a wonderful (big!) baby! She is still very engaged in her surroundings and loves reading books and staring at the computer with mom and/or dad. She's also really starting to get into her toys. So far she still loves meeting new people and is all smiles and giggles, especially for daddy's funny faces. :) We will be going up to New England for the fourth of July; hopefully she will be just as well-behaved for all that attention. :)

Here is the same link to the photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/crazyandol/Caitlin?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPz78bN2fSO0wE&feat=directlink#

Computers continue to thwart me, but I am still working on figuring out how to get some of the longer movies to post.

14 Weeks and Counting

Hello!

We have been enjoying Caitlin's company for 14 whole weeks now! It is getting a little tricky to keep track of weeks vs. months, since Caitlin will be celebrating her 4 month birthday in Connecticut next month (can't wait!) She was pretty good, smiles and coos, for the Grands Whaley during their visit but they are headed off this morning for New Hampshire, so Caitlin will have to wait until her coming out party for a bigger audience than mom and dad. :)

However, apparently to reward us for bringing back the super nice Grandma Honey, Caitlin flipped from her tummy to her back at daycare this morning! Then, when I put her back on her stomach, she did it again. It did not take her long at all to learn that the easiest way to get mom to come play is to roll over. :) This picture is her on her back after the first flip, trying to figure out what happened. (her arms and legs were going pretty fast :)

The pediatrician said that Caitlin should be rolling over from front to back by 4 months, so I guess mom and dad will get a gold star during Caitlin's next appointment--Caitlin, of course, doesn't have to wait that long. :)

3 Months!

Hello!

Hard to believe, but Caitlin turns 3 months old this Friday! She is hitting just about all her milestones, including really funny noises, putting everything she touches in her mouth, and drooling all over everything. :) She got her first report card last week from her daycare and they are very impressed with how alert and inquisitive (aka nosy) she is. They have a great picture of her doing tummy time while reading a book; we'll have to try that at home. :)

For Memorial Day weekend we went down to the coast and Caitlin did very well on her first long-ish car ride, which should mean good news in July when we go to CT for the fourth. Caitlin also behaved (aka slept) for most of our trip to Williamsburg, but Dad really enjoyed all of the colonial exhibits for her. :) Caitlin also had her first trip to the beach! She still seems to be neutral on getting wet but really seemed to enjoy playing with the sand. It was adorable to watch her watching her toes really dig into the wet sand right by the water, and her surprise when the waves came in. :)

This weekend will (hopefully) be Caitlin's first concert; we got a pair of headphones that is supposed to be very good at blocking loud noises from small ears--all of the reviews said they were also very good for fireworks. Then next week the Grandparents Whaley are stopping by on their way back to NH (yay!)!

The pictures online have been updated and include Caitlin awake at the beach, Caitlin asleep at Williamsburg, and some Caitlin pre-bath pictures that we have been getting requests for :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/crazyandol/Caitlin?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPz78bN2fSO0wE&feat=directlink#

10 weeks!

Hello!

Caitlin is 10 weeks old and going strong! :) As of this Monday she was up to 13 pounds, and gosh only knows how fast she'll grow now. It turns out that she had eczema from a milk protein allergy and needs special food. On the plus side, her bumps are going away and she should be able to have dairy once she's a year old. In the mean time though we just need to be careful.

In other exciting news, Miss Caitlin slept for 9 hours last night! This will be even more exciting when I stop waking up to wonder what's wrong, which I'm told will happen at some point in the next 18 years or so. :) I don't think we can expect this to become consistent behavior just quite yet, but it's still a very exciting milestone.

The little princess has also been doing well with tummy time and can hold up her head for quite a while when there's something interesting to look at. She does seem to be able to flip herself, when she feels like it, but doesn't do so very often. She has been very talkative lately and is learning to talk back. We'll be less excited about this later, but for now we have wonderful conversations. :) Caitlin has also giggled, twice, both times for Daddy. She is smiles almost all the time when she's awake, so hopefully we'll be able to translate that in more giggles that we'll be able to share online.

Below is our attempt at getting a movie of her gift of gab; fingers crossed. :) If you are having trouble seeing it (and don't get a second message that it's broken), try going to the site below--the movie should work there.

http://whaleybaby1.blogspot.com/


And, as always, the baby pictures are available at the site below. Some of the older ones have been "archived," but we can send any along on request. :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/crazyandol/Caitlin?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPz78bN2fSO0wE&feat=directlink#

Movie-Pending

Hello again:

I ham having trouble posting the video, probably of the file size. I will keep working on it and hopefully have something soon.

Thanks for your patience :)