Aunt Beth's & Uncle Josh's Wedding Day

Written 6/3/2009

Caitlyn was a real trooper the weekend of May 23rd! I took Thursday and Friday off from work to do last minute wedding stuff with Beth. I took Caitlyn to daycare on Thursday while we ran errands and got pedicures and manicures. I picked her up early on Thursday afternoon and met Christy and Kim at the mall so that could hold and snuggle her (as much as she would allow)! Thursday night was the bachelorette party. It started at our house at about 7. Right before Caitlyn's bedtime. But she took her bottle and went to bed right on time. Even though we were being kind of loud...she went to sleep like our perfect angel! We had a great time out Thursday night. This was my first girls night out since having Caitlyn. Actually since finding out I was pregnant with Caitlyn!

On Friday I decided to keep Caitlyn home with me while we did our running around. I probably should have taken her to daycare so she could have some kind of schedule...but it's so hard when I'm off to not keep her with me. I miss her so much! So on Friday she went with us to get our eyebrows waxed and to the reception hall to help decorate. Then we were off to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. She and Melanie (the other flower girl) did great in the wagon being pulled by Ian and Noah. She was up a little past her bedtime and since she wasn't in her jammies when we got home I had to wake her and change her. She didn't like that much and didn't want to go back to sleep.

Saturday...Wedding Day! Jared had to work in the morning so we took Caitlyn with us to get our hair done. She was awesome while we were there. We got our hair done in 2 groups so there was always someone to hold and watch her! She took a nap on the way home and actually napped in her carseat for an hour after we got home while we all got into our dresses. Those carseat naps are few and far between anymore. We all got dressed and the other girls did their makeup. Beth and I got our makeup done at the salon. Then we all piled into the cars to drive down to the park for pictures @ 12:30. Once at the park I got Caitlyn into her dress. The weather was wonderful! It had rained a little bit while we were getting our hair done and this was the only time that Beth showed any signs of nervousness. Even though we told her that rain on your wedding day was good luck and that it wouldn't last long and the rest of the day would be beautiful (and we were right!). The guys were running late so we started with pictures of Beth and the bridesmaids and flower girls. I am so excited to see these pictures - I can't wait! The guys showed up and we finished doing pictures. This lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Caitlyn was hot and got a little tired throughout this. I tried to get some pictures of Caitlyn and Melanie together, but Caitlyn didn't like the grass and then didn't want to sit even on the blanket. She was such a trooper! She did great riding in the wagon with Melanie down the isle as Ian and Noah pulled them down. She then fell asleep in Jared's arms during the ceremony. And continued to sleep for awhile in her stroller. It was so adorable! After the ceremony the wedding party left in the limo and Jared took Caitlyn to the reception hall. She was passed around all night from person to person and loved all the attention! She ate mashed potatoes and stuffing for dinner from daddy's plate. She danced with daddy (unfortunately mommy had too much wine and not enough food and didn't think about dancing with her baby girl). She finally fell asleep around 10:30. We left for home around 11. Once home she went right to bed - our perfect princess!

Congratulations Aunt Bethy and Uncle Josh!!!

8 Months

Written 5/27/2009.

We are feeding her more and more table foods vs baby food. She only gets about 50% of the food into her mouth and I usually end up helping her so that I know she's getting some food in there! She's doing really well though and so far she likes everything we feed her! I'm getting braver with her. I still worry that she's going to choke on something, but I have to let go sometime....this won't be the only thing I worry about.

Last Friday (5/22/09) Caitlyn started crawling forward! We're in trouble now! She's drawn to the bookshelf so that she can pull all the books off the bottom shelf and chew on them. She's also drawn towards the tv and all the gadgets when we're downstairs. Doesn't matter that she has her tub full of baby safe toys sitting right there in front of her! She's starting to pull herself up on furniture but only on her knees so far. She hasn't pulled to a standing position yet. On Sunday she was trying to pull up on the coffee table and bonked her head. Poor thing. I hate those tables...way too many corners for her to hurt herself on. I told Jared we should shop for new ones! :0) She's also started clapping! I LOVE it!!! She's loves playing patty cake. Now we're working on hi & bye.

Mothers Day was wonderful this year! Jared was out of town for Josh's (my sister's new husband) bachelor party which was in Des Moines that weekend. He left Saturday afternoon and came back on Sunday afternoon. Before he left on Saturday he went and got me flowers from him and Caitlyn. They were beautiful! On Sunday we went to breakfast in the park with Jared's family (even though he wasn't there). I had debated on going because Caitlyn had been sick with a cold and ear infection. But it seemed nice enough out when I took the dogs out, so I decided to go for a little while. Of course when we got there the wind picked up and it was pretty chilly. Total bummer. So we only stayed for about 30 min. But it was still fun and some good food. And they all got to pass Caitlyn around. Then we went home and just hung out the rest of the day. It was an awesome day and one I've waited to celebrate in this way for a very long time!

The ear infection that I spoke of in my last post reared its ugly head again. Apparently she had a very stubborn infection. So 2 rounds of antibiotics...a very painful antibiotic shot...5 Dr. office visits in 6 weeks...lots of $ out of pocket...I'm told it's finally gone. Hopefully it doesn't resurface again. Poor baby girl.

Her 9 month Dr. appt will be coming up in about 2 weeks. No shots at this appt so I am very excited!!! I'll also be getting her 9 month pictures done. I'm very excited about this as well! Lots of things to look forward to!

Daddy's Girl

On Saturday we were chanting daddy so that he would come and change her diaper and Caitlyn repeated "daddy" in a low growly voice. I don't think she knew what it meant but it was so cute! She's been saying dada for awhile now but that was the first daddy! There were 7 of us there and we all stopped and looked at each other to see if we all heard it! Of course she hasn't said it since....

Another monster post will be coming soon updating on 8 months and so many other things....

7 Months

This was written April 28th, 2009.

Life for our family has been quite busy! I feel like I'm going to miss

writing about so many of Caitlyn's milestones. She's totally sitting up on her own now. She's such a big girl! She can't get from laying down to sitting yet, but she'll get there. She scootches backwards really well and the other night she took a few movements forward. She's so close to crawling she can taste it! Jared and I on the other hand are so not ready for this! We still haven't started the baby proofing yet....better get busy! She's still working on getting the Gerber puffs into her mouth on her own. She can pick it up, but can't get them into her mouth so well yet. I also gave her bits of banana's the other night, again she has issues getting them into her mouth. We'll keep practicing! She's now getting 3 meals a day of baby food. The daycare started feeding her a solid at lunch time last week.

We got her a new baby tub - it's a ducky! And when you squeeze the beak it quacks! Plus we got her new bath toys...she loves bath time!

She had a great Easter. It was our first time since we got together (almost 8 years) where we had to fit 2 family gatherings into one day. A little stressful - but we made it! She got an Easter bunny from Grandpa and Grandma Darling and she got an Easter basket with goodies from Aunt Shanna! She also got the Easter Bunny from Hallmark that dances from mommy - he's so cute. She is a spoiled little girl and I have a feeling it's only going to get worse!

She's had almost a constant cold since starting daycare in January. 2 weeks ago I took her to the pediatrician because her cough was so bad she rattled. This was her first sick visit to the Dr. Come to find out that she had a double ear infection. So we had to give her an antibiotic to get rid of that. A week later and she was ear infection free! I'm a little worried because she's been tugging on her ears the past few days and she's got another cold that started Thursday night. Hopefully the ear infections aren't back....

We also had a visit to the dermatologist. She has a spot on her head on the left hand side about an inch back from her hair line. It started out looking like a pimple so I didn't worry about it. But then it got bigger and turned an orange color. So I called the pedi and they referred me to a dermatologist. It's nothing to worry about as long as she doesn't get any more of them. And it should go away on it's own in the next year. I felt like I was acting paranoid - but I'm glad we had it checked out. Piece of mind!

Aunt Beth's wedding is coming up and Caitlyn is one of the flower girls. The ring bearer (Noah) is going to pull Caitlyn and Melanie (Josh's niece) up in a wagon. It's going to be sooo cute!

This is what happens when I don't post for a whole month! Super long messages....

A Little Bit More....

I fall in love a little more everyday with our little girl! She's now grabbing my face with both hands and giving huge open mouth kisses. And she laughs while doing it. I LOVE IT! She's also hugging me and holding on and it just melts my heart!

Daddy is trying to take on some of her solids feedings when we get home at night so that I can work out. The first time he tried to feed her she just wanted to play...so she kept blowing raspberries and spitting it all out all over herself and daddy! She's getting better about it though. I tried to give her some Gerber puffs (they dissolve in her mouth) yesterday. I don't think she's quite ready for these yet. She can pick them up pretty good - but has no clue what to do from there. We tried putting them in her mouth for her and she pushes it out with her tongue and it gets stuck on her lips. It's fun to watch! We'll keep trying.

Last week we went out to dinner with Uncle Tony, Matt & Lisa. I was eating a pickle spear and Caitlyn was grabbing for it. I decided to let her taste it. Bad idea. I didn't think she would like it. Instead she LOVED it! She started chomping on it and I got scared. I was afraid she'd choke on the seeds - so I pulled it away. She threw her first fit out in public. She was not happy with mama!

Our little girl has her 1st two teeth! I went to pick her up from daycare a week ago and the teachers asked me when she got teeth? I was like "she has teeth"? I was totally surprised because earlier that week the pediatrician had said it didn't look like she was close to teething yet. Then a few days later she's got her two bottom ones. They didn't seem to bother her too much when they broke through. We have a little mesh feeder for her and I put an ice cube in there and she loves chewing on it. Regular teethers didn't do much for her - so I'm so happy that this works.

She's back to sleeping through the night for us. Knock on wood! She does wake between 6:30 and 7:00 even on the weekends now - but on the weekends if we give her a bottle she'll go back down for a couple of hours.

She's able to sit on her own for a few minutes at a time now - but still not consistently. She's rolling around to get places like crazy! Her favorite place to roll is towards the TV so that she can play with the door and buttons on the vcr!

She loves Zeus! She is mesmerized and he's so good about coming over and sitting nicely so that she can pet and pull on him! He does still love to give her kisses and she opens her mouth wide for this. It drives me crazy!

Time just goes by way too quickly. I can't believe it's the middle of March and our baby girl is 6 months old already.

Scary Mommy Moment and 6 Month Stats

Someday maybe I'll get my act together and get on to post about these stories the day they happen...maybe.

On Saturday night Jared went to the UNO hockey game with my brother Tony so I was home alone with Caitlyn. Usually for her bedtime routine I get her changed in into her sleeper and Jared makes her bottle. Since he wasn't home I changed her like normal and then left her on her changing pad (on the floor) and went into the kitchen to make her bottle. When I went back into the room she had scooted her way down the changing pad (it has walls on the upper half) and rolled over onto the floor and scooted her way over to the wipes package and was chewing on it. Her room is baby safe except for the hardwood floors. So when she heard me come back into the room she rolled back over and bonked her head. I think it scared her more than anything - as soon as I picked her up she was fine. I was stunned that she figured out how to move around like this. If I hadn't been so freaked out I would have taken a picture! I guess it's one thing for her to do this in a wide open area - but to figure out her way around obstacles...she just amazes me everyday!

Last night we had a rough night. She woke up twice during the night and when she woke at 1 it took us an hour to get her back to sleep. Then she woke at 5:30 this morning...an hour before her normal wake up time. So when she woke up this morning I gave her a bottle and then laid her with Jared in bed. She was so cute trying to grab his face to get him to wake up and play! It was precious!

We had her 6 month checkup today. She weighs in at 14lbs 15oz (50th percentile), she's 26in (75th percentile) and her head measures 16 1/2 in (50th percentile). She got 3 shots and an oral vaccine today. She's growing at a perfect rate and the pediatrician had no concerns - she said we were doing wonderfully! We don't go back now until 9 months!

First Born
Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes but still a wonderful surprise
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes
3. HOW LONG WERE YOU MARRIED WHEN YOU GOT PREGNANT? 2 1/2 years
4. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Pure Shock!
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 29
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Since we had done an IUI - I tested - totally not thinking that it had worked. The first test was so light that I had to have Jared study it and ended up taking a second!
7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Jared
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? I didn't at first, Jared did. I didn't decided to find out until we were at the u/s and the Dr. asked.
9. DUE DATE? September 9, 2008
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? I would get nauseous if I didn't eat every couple of hours, but I never got sick.
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? peanut butter pancakes and orange sherbet
12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Having to use the restroom a lot more than normal, especially in the middle of the night numerous times.
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Girl
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No! I wanted a girl. I was more worried about how Jared felt about it - but he was just as excited!
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? We are not going here.
16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew - my sister hosted it at MY HOUSE...
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? I had major bleeding during the 1st trimester due to blood clots and high blood pressure during the last 2 weeks.
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Omaha, NE (Lakeside Hospital)
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 24 hours, 25 if you count the last hour for the c-section
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Jared, nervously. :)
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Jared, nurses, anethesiologist and the doctor
23. WAS IT Natural OR C-SECTION? c-section
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Oh heck yes! The epidural wore off twice during that 24 hour period.
25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8lbs, 11oz
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? September 14, 2008
27. DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS? her heart rate started fluctuating with contractions - hence the c-section
28. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Caitlyn Anita Darling
29. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 5 months 3 weeks