Anecdotes from Grandma during my first week back to school

Day one: geo was concerned that K was crying. She was lying on the floor doing tummy time and getting hungry. Geo asked "what is wrong wit Katelyn?" I said she is hungry. Geo said "oh, does she want Mommy?" I said yes, but we will give her a bottle for now. Geo then went over to K and covered her with himself, but not on her and said it is alright K, I will help you!"

Day 2 K was a little fussy in the swing. G went to the far side of the swing and gently rocked her, touched her face gently and said it is ok Katelyn.

Day 3 k was sleeping and Geo came to get me and took my hand and said "come with Grandma, we can play trash trucks and baby sit Katelyn together!"

Geoffrey's 3rd Birthday Party

Geoffrey had his third birthday party on Sunday, February 19th at Atlantis Park in Garden Grove. Atlantis takes care of everything so we thought this would be a fun, easy way to plan a birthday for Geoffrey! All we did was bring drinks and snacks (turkey rollers and snack packs) and Mickey-shaped cupcakes.

The day was cool but nice. When we arrived, we were told that the other birthday party canceled, so we were able to use the pavilion the whole time we were there. Geoffrey and his friends had a lot of fun playing on the playgrounds while we waited for everyone to show up. He ran to the swings and played with Grandma Patty, Nonna, and Grandpa Gary. He had a lot of fun playing on his favorite whale slide, too.

During Geoff's party, he wasn't too sure about being the center of attention. He didn't want to wear his crown or sit on King Neptune's lap, or play the games - but he enjoyed running around while some of the others played.

We did cake and ice cream. Geoff did a great job while everyone sang and he blew out all of his candles.   Geoffrey had a great time opening his presents, and graciously accepted help from Brooklynn and Joey.

We were so grateful to all of our wonderful family and friends for coming out to help us celebrate Geoff's birthday.

Thank you to:
Grandma Patty (and Grandpa Bobby, in spirit)
Uncle Danny, Uncle Andy, Aunt Tammy, Uncle Dave, and Lexi
Nonna, Grandpa Gary, and Uncle Blake
Grandma Bob and Grandma DeeDee
Aunt Heather
Aunt Kathy
Aunt Darcy and Karson
Andrea Joo, Cathy Roh, Joey, and Abby (WHo turned one the day of the party!)
Jamie and Cooper Wells
Angie Rigdon, Cori and Drew
Katherine and Brooklyn Urey
Paula and Remy Nguyen
Joanne, Jared, and Josie Love

Disneyland - February 15th, 2012 - Katelyn is 6 weeks

On February 15th, Katelyn turned 6 weeks old. We celebrated by taking her on her first trip to Disneyland. (Geoffrey took his first trip when he was 6 weeks, as well, so we made it a tradition!)

Steve signed us in around noon and we went to California Adventure. Geoff and I rode Heimlich's Chew Chew Train while Katelyn and Grandma watched, and then we went to see Disney Junior Live. Next we went on Katelyn Ariel's first ride - The Little Mermaid. She was awake during the ride, and she looked around with her big blue eyes.

We had lunch at Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. We shared a Sundried Tomato and chicken pasta, a field greens salad, and a mushroom and artichoke flat bread pizza, with a fruit tart for dessert.

The clouds started to roll in and the temperature dropped as we rode the Sun Wheel in a rocking car (Grandma's first time!) The rain started as we rode King Triton's Carousel. I found a great way to keep Katelyn snuggly by zipping her up in my sweater like a baby carrier. She stayed warm and dry and served as a personal heater for me, as well.

We headed over to Disneyland where we rode the monorail first thing - Geoffrey was obsessed with the monorail - it was al he talked about all day, so we went straight there. We rode in the very back, which was a lot of fun because of the cool view. Next, we rode Buzz Lightyear. Then, Geoffrey went to the potty with daddy and he went pee pee and poo poo! Good boy! Grandma and I rode Star Tours while Grant and Geoff and Katelyn rode the monorail. Then Daddy and Grandma rode Star TOurs while I took Katelyn and Geoff to change Kate's diaper. Geoffrey fell asleep. We went to Redd ROcket's pizza port while Geoffrey napped. It was freezing - even though the rain mostly stopped, the temperature had dropped to 45 degrees!

Geoff had fallen asleep with his regular underwear on, so as soon as he stirred, Grant rushed him to hte bathroom where he peed - he was able to hold it and keep his pants dry!

We went on its a small world next, and then hit a few of the fantasy land rides -SNow WHite, Pinochio, and the boys did two spins on the Flying DUmbos. We went into Pinochio's VIllage Haus to warm up and decided to call it a night. We were cold and damp and the park was closing in a half an hour, anyway. We decided to do the train another day since it was so cold.

Still - we had fun and enjoyed our trip - and Katelyn continued the tradition of visiting at 6 weeks - I guess that is Disney indoctrination for ya!

6 weeks / almost 3 years

I head back to work on Tuesday. I was feeling better about it for awhile (I noticed, looking back on my blog, that I went back only 4 days later with Geoffrey) but a few recent trips to school (one for the blue ribbon ceremony and one to meet with my sub) started making me feel stressed, sad, and worried all over again.

Sleep - Katelyn has a pretty good pattern for sleep down. She had that great night I blogged about earlier. The next night was really bad - took her forever to fall asleep. Since then, though, she has really had a good pattern. She usually sleeps for four hours, wakes up to eat, and then sleeps another 3 hours. After that, sometimes she will go back down and other times she wants some awake time, first. Two nights, she actually slept for five and a half hours - the night after we went to Disneyland, and last night, which was awesome because I was super sick yesterday and needed the sleep.

Eating - This is what I am really stressed about. Katelyn is not good about taking a bottle at all. Grant isn't worried - he thinks she'll get the hang of it - and I am sure she will - but it will take awhile and I am sad and worried about how the first few days will go.

It will be really nice, though, when she does start taking the bottle.  It is weird not being able to get a solid block of sleep, even if I want one, because no one else can feed her right now. I am sure that is a big reason why I've let her sleep with me more then I expected to.

She seems to be getting happier. She has longer periods of time where she is awake and content, even happy.

SMILES - She is even starting her social smile, which is awesome and cute and fun.

Geoffrey has been doing so well with potty training and sleeping. He is going potty - both pee and poo, very consistently on the potty now. He sleeps in his new room - and really likes it. He's just so delightful and doing so much better than I anticipated.

Katelyn in her crib!

Katelyn hasn't been in her crib more than 10 minutes total. But last night, I tried putting her in the crib, and it worked out awesome!

Putting together what I had read about reflux, I propped up her bed with a wedge so it is inclined. I have two pillows in there o support her on either side so she doesn't roll.

After I fed her, I kept her upright (she stayed swaddled, but quietly wide awake for about an hour. Geoffrey came in to visit us and we went back to tuck him into bed again first). At 10:45 she fell asleep, and she had been upright for so long that I put her in the crib just to try it. She slept until 2:45! I fed her in the rocking chair, kept her upright for thirty minutes, and then put her back in bed at 3:45 - she slept until 6:45 in her crib! I fed her, kept her upright, and put her back down at 7:45. She slept until 9:30 in her crib!

Awesome! So we're moving towards getting her to sleep in her bed and pushing her bedtime closer to Geoffrey's - last night felt very promising! I know she's young and things are still changing, but I am hopeful that we are going to be in good shape by the time I am going back to work...

5 weeks, 2 days (37 days)

Oh my gosh! SO much to say - I can't believe so many days have passed without a blog! (And it has recently come to my attention that some people actually READ this, so I guess I should try to be more diligent about posting!)

Katelyn still sleeps a lot. It seems she mostly just wakes up to eat - she has about 3 on end - but she does seem to need constant attention most of the times that she is awake.

She does really well with tummy time, and she has gotten very good at tracking objects all the way from one side to the other (180 degrees). She likes to follow the sound of a rattle, too.

Don't know if I blogged this, but at 4 weeks I took her to be weighed -she was 10 pounds, 2 ounces. She is definitely putting on weight, she feels strong and healthy. Her color is getting better, too, as the remaining jaundice is passing from her system.

I think she has some reflux issues, though. At night, after feeding her, I have started propping her upright in my arm and dozing for about 30 miunted before laying her back down to sleep. This seems to help alot. Before, whenever I put her down, she would lay for about 10 minutes before starting to make these grunting noises which eventually led to crying. I have also started inclining her bed with a wedge so she is more upright, and propping her with rolled up blankets and/or pillows to keep her in place. All the SIDS stuff is worrying but I am trying to balance all the sleep recommendations with what I know helps her sleep the most comfortably.   She still sleeps with me more than she probably should, but soon enough we will be sleep training and she'll be sleeping in her crib so I am enjoying the cuddle time.

She likes her baths - the other day when we got her out she made her first coo - a half coo/half sigh as she was cuddled up in her towel.

She has a little diaper rash, too.

Me? I am doing ok. I am still overwhelmed about going back to school, but I feel better, upon reading this blog, discovering that I went back to work at around the same time with Geoffrey. (I am going back 4 days earlier with Kate). I thought I took more time off with Geoff - as it turns out, I had planned to, but because he was 10 days late it ended up being about the sme amount of time! I went to the doctor today. One of my stitches still hasn't dissolved yet so I need to go back in about 3 weeks to check that. I have been going to the chiropractor for my hip pain - and I have been walking every day with Mom - I am definately out of shape and walking is definitely exercise for me! Alll in all, I am healing and feeling better!

Just Stuff

I started going to the chiropractor to try to deal with this hip pain. Hopefully that starts to make a difference!

Katelyn is still sleeping mostly in my bed. When she sleeps in the pack n play, the longest she's slept is two hours, but she's gone four in my bed - usually about 3.

Geoff has moved into his room. He has slept there the past 4 nights. Grant slept in there with him the first and third night, but Geoff stayed in there all night on the 2nd and 4th night. He is doing REALLY GOOD staying in his own bed!

My mood has been variable. I get really overwhelmed sometimes and have these mini melt-downs or just feel sad for awhile. I go back to work in 18 days and it stresses me out majorly! Sigh.

I can fit my pre-pregnancy jeans! I am at about 168, which is the heaviest I've been not-pregnant, when I plumped up when I stopped nursing Geoffrey. 

4 weeks

Katelyn is 4 weeks old already! I took her to the doctor to get weighed and she is now 10 pounds, 2 ounces! Woohoo! She is really putting on the weight!

Another thing - she has rolled over from her tummy to her back 8 times now. She sure is strong! None of that floppy head, either!

She really enjoys her baby gym and will stay in there for a few minutes looking at the lights and even occasionally batting at the toys.

Geoff is really starting to get used to her. The other day, Grandma was getting dressed to take Geoffrey out to Mc D's. Grandma said we were waiting for me. Geoff said, "No, Let's just go, Grandma and Uncle Danny and Katelyn and me." Ha ha - no mommy and daddy, but he's cool with Katelyn!