Caitlin Turns 5 Months!

Sunday was not only Father's Day, but also Caitlin's 5 month birthday!  We had a great Father's Day weekend... Bryce played golf Sunday morning so Saturday was virtual Father's Day where we made him french toast, gave him some gifts and cards, and let him relax. Pretty lucky guy to get two days of celebrating but then again, he's a pretty great father so he deserved it!

But, Caitlin also turned 5 months.  No Drs appointment so the stats are just rudimentary measurements but here's our best guess:

Weight: 14 lbs

Height: 25 inches

She's just as happy and healthy as last month.  She definitely seems to be growing.  She loves to laugh and smile and now she squeals!  It's both cute and ear piercing at times.  She is enjoying tummy time more and grabbing toys.  She still loves to suck her thumb and grab her feet.  She has not rolled over yet but she's really close, and I expect she will soon. Caitlin is doing great with both our nannies and taking the bottle really well.  She's moved up to size 2 diapers which seems to be helping the poop explosion issues we were having (sorry if that's TMI but with two kids in diapers, poop is a big topic in our house).  The biggest development is that she's started solid foods!  We started with rice cereal which she handled pretty well.  And now we've started oatmeal which she seems to really like.  Soon we'll be starting orange vegetables... bring on the mess!  She's sleeping in her room and mostly through the night although she's had some night waking again.  Sometimes she puts herself back to sleep but other times, I am getting up to soothe her.  Let's hope she does it herself more often than not since I have to go to work now, and I really don't want to do the whole cry thing. 

I've uploaded new pictures to picasa in a new 5 month folder and also added a slideshow on the right side of the blog.  Here are just a few cute ones.  It's hard to believe she's already 5 months old... can time slow down just a little? It's going too fast.  We love you so much Caitlin!

She fell asleep in her exersaucer one day! Too cute!

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First week back at work

My first week back at work is almost over and thought I'd give a little update on how it's been going.  It has definitely been busy but overall, it's gone really smoothly.  Our main nanny Elizabeth started this week.  She has watched Evan before so I was pretty comfortable leaving the two kids with her.  And of course she's doing a great job with them.  Her daughter Lucy comes with her, and she is 4 years old.  She and Evan get along well, and I actually think it's good for him as he tries to imitate her and is learning more about sharing.

The first day was a little crazy as that day at nap time, Evan decided he could climb out of his crib!  He's never done that before so I was pretty shocked when she told me.  But, he also has not done it since.  She said he wasn't upset... rather he was pretty proud of himself and super excited that he got out!  Hopefully, he doesn't remember he can do that because I don't know if I'm ready for him to be out of his crib yet!  Caitlin is also doing really well with the transition.  She has been taking the bottle just fine so no worries there.  She's begun experimenting with her voice though and has discovered screaming.  She's usually not upset, just likes to scream but it's a little ear piercing!

It's definitely a change not spending as much time with them but it's really only Tues/Thurs since those are the only two days where I work a full day.  And I've enjoyed seeing all my co-workers again and getting back into my job.  It's really a nice balance so hopefully it continues going well.  Here are just some random pics to post with the blog since I haven't been taking pictures lately since I've been working.

Enjoy!  We are a looking forward to a relaxing Father's Day weekend.

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go

Well, this was my last weekend before heading back to work.  I officially start back today.  But, I am lucky in that I will only be working about 30 hours a week so I still have time with the kids and can ease back into everything.  I have two nannies who'll cover watching the kids for the week so I'm really happy about that situation.  I've enjoyed my time off these last 5 months and spending so much time with Evan and Caitlin.  I can't believe Caitlin is going to be 5 months this week!  At first, I wasn't sure about being home EVERY DAY, ALL DAY with two kids.  But now that I have to go back, I'm really going to miss hanging out with them all day, every day.  Still, I'm excited to be working part-time because I like the adult interaction.  Kind of the best of both worlds - get to work and get to be with the kids. 

Here's some videos from our last couple days.  We got to hang out with friends on Saturday and have family dinner on Sunday so good times!  Oh, and now that I'll be back at work, there probably won't be as much blogging so sorry!  I'll try to post at least once a week, but I'm not promising anything until I see how it all works out.

Caitlin still hasn't rolled over yet, but she loves to grab her feet. And now, she is sucking on her toes! It's kind of funny and cute as you can see for yourself in the video below.




At family dinner on Sunday at Brett and Michelle's house, they let Evan try out the drums.  He loved playing them.  Here's two short videos of our future drummer.

Caitlin starts solid foods

Now that Caitlin is about 4.5 months, the Dr. gave the green light for starting solid foods (rice cereal).  So, we decided on Tuesday this week that we'd see if she was ready.  We made it pretty liquid to start.  Bryce took a short video so here you can see her first meal.  She did pretty well!  In the days since, I've made it a little thicker and she is still getting a good amount down.  And she's also handling the spoon pretty well so I'd say she was ready.  Quite messy but that's what bibs are for I suppose.  Next up will be oatmeal after a week of the rice cereal.  She's growing up so fast!

Enjoy the video!

Hot Springs National Park

On our way home from Michigan, we had about a 24 hour drive ahead of us.  So, we broke it into 3 days of travel.  Sunday, we headed from Michigan to Indianapolis to see my family one more time and spend the night.  On Monday (Memorial Day), we left about 10am and drove to Hot Springs, AR.  Why Hot Springs, AR you ask?  Well, if you don't know, Bryce and I have this quest to visit every national park together - that's National Park - not Wetland, Forest, Monument, etc as then we'd never accomplish the goal.  We've been to quite a few already like Big Bend, all 5 in Utah, all 3 in Florida, and more.  You probably didn't even know there was a National Park in Arkansas... and for good reason.  It's very different from most National Parks as there really isn't a park... it's all about the Bath Houses. 

We arrived about 8:30pm on Monday evening and promptly checked into our hotel and started baths/bed for everyone.  Evan actually slept pretty well which was a relief because we were in a hotel.  Caitlin did okay as well.  We were all up early though so I took advantage and went to the one bath house that still operates to try it out.  It was an interesting experience.  The whole process took about an hour but it was neat to do all the steps.  The first step was relaxing in the whirlpool bath for about 15 minutes. Then a sitz tub for about 10 min, a sauna like metal box for a few min, then the hot pads which was also relaxing, and finally a needlepoint cool shower.  It would have been nice to top it all off with a massage, but I didn't have time since I'd left Bryce with the kids and we had a National Park to see!

We got all packed up and headed to the visitor's center for the park which is in the Fordyce Bath House.  After talking to the ranger, we realized there wasn't anything to really see except this Bath House as all the others were just buildings now.  We toured the bath house which was interesting... Evan enjoyed running all over the place.  After, we walked along the Grand Promenade behind Bath House row.  There are a few trails on the hill behind the bath houses, but they were really short and didn't offer much so we just did the promenade.  We got to see and feel the hot springs coming out of the mountain though.  And after that, we'd done about everything that had to do with the National Park so we headed for Austin.

I definitely only recommend this park if you happen to be driving through.  There's not enough to do to make it a vacation on it's own in my opinion.  I'm glad we took the time to see it though.  If we'd had more time, they have an observation tower (not operated by the park) that I might have liked to have seen.  And driven up the mountain more.  The area is very pretty.

Evan in the needlepoint shower

Evan and Bryce in a bath

Evan and Caitlin in the men's bath area

Evan and I in a shower

Bryce and Evan by the hot springs - the water is really warm!

Evan taking a drink of the hot springs water

Bryce and Evan by the sign for the Grand Promenade

The four of us by the hot springs

Caitlin Turns 4 Months!

I know this may seem delayed (and it is by 2 weeks), but we just had Caitlin's 4 month appointment today since we were out of town.  And she is doing great - well, except for the fact she had to get all those shots today... she was very brave but I hate when they get shots!  Here are the stats:

Weight: 13 lbs. 8 oz., 50%

Height: 24 in, 50%

She loves to talk and coo and laugh.  She's very friendly and loves to smile at anyone who will pay attention to her.  She is very alert.  She has been sleeping through the night since about 3 months old (although in the last week she's started waking up once a night sporadically).  She sucks her thumb... sometimes, I swear she can get both those hands in there too!  She still won't take a pacifier though.  She's taking the bottle pretty well although we don't give it to her often since I'm usually around.  She loves to grab her feet.  She has rolled from front to back a few times.  She is so close to rolling from back to front... she usually just gets to her side and then stays there and rolls back.  She is enjoying tummy time much more now.  She also has started using her exersaucer and the bumbo.  The Dr. said we can start solids so sometime soon will we see if she's ready for rice cereal. 

I've uploaded new pics from month 4 to the picasa site (also you can see the slideshow on the right side of the blog).  Here are some pics and a few videos of her rolling attempts.  It's hard to believe she's over 4 months old.  She's just as adorable as when she was born, and I love her so much.  She's a great baby and such a joy in our lives. 

These are a couple shots from her 3 months photo shoot with Kathy Whittaker (they were taken just after her 3rd month birthday so technically in the 4th month).