9 Months

9 Months

Didn't I JUST post the 8 month post?  This month flew past!  Summer slow down!  I'm not ready to go back to school!

The normal monthly photo plan is not working all that well these days with a little one who rarely sits still and certainly does not like to be on her back and will roll the instant she is set down.  So we're adapting :)  BIG month this month!  Actually... most of it happened in one week!

Crawling:  We started to army crawl at the beginning of the month, but in that one big week, she suddenly was up on her knees and learning to alternate hands/knees to move where she wanted to

Pulling Up: In that same week, she typically only crawled to the nearest couch/ottoman in order to pull herself up.  This girl has always loved to stand and she is quite proud of herself!

Cruising: She also walks along the couch/ottomans just for kicks and giggles, talking all the way

Teeth: We also welcomed 2 bottom teeth and are now working on some top ones as well. 

Clapping: One morning, I woke up pretty late and checked the silent monitor, assuming this means Katelyn is fast asleep.  Nope- she was sitting up, teaching herself to clap.  Now if anyone smiles at her and claps, she'll mimic them immediately.

All of the above happened in that one week!  Big week!

Sleeping: Because of all these big moments, Katelyn struggled to fall asleep (would rather sit up/crawl/stand up in her crib despite exhaustion) but she eventually learned and is back to falling asleep on her own again.  She is usually sleeping 8pm - 7am to eat, then back down until 9ish.  She is consistently taking a 1.5-2 hr nap around noonish, another 1.5 hr. nap at 4ish, then sometimes a short evening nap (sometimes it's just a good snuggle).  She's a great helper to help her pregnant mama to get a nap in or sometimes sleep in.  (I usually stay awake at the 7am mark to eat breakfast and get a few things done, but once in a while, I'll go back to bed.  Have I mentioned I LOVE summer?!)

Food: She's getting a little picky on textures but we're slowly but surely making the transition to self-feeding.  She will pick up cheerio pieces and put those in her mouth and happily eat them, but nothing else.  I can feed her pureed sweet potato (which she loves) off a spoon, I can feed her sweet potato chunks off a spoon, and I can even put the chunks of sweet potato that are on her tray (as she watches) onto a spoon and she'll eat it but she refuses to pick them up herself to put into her mouth.  I'm starting to wonder if she's picky with what she touches because tonight when I was showing her leaves outside, she wouldn't touch them, just wanted to look?  I guess we'll find out more in the coming months!

Bottles: Little miss loves her bottles.  I've heard two schools of thought- that a 9 month old should have no more than 24 oz. of formula/milk, but then have heard that before a year that most nutrients come from milk/formula and solids are just learning how to eat?  I hate when research contradicts itself and new mommies don't know what to think... I guess I'm just going with my gut and giving her plenty of solids and as much formula as she needs.  I cut her off when it's just for comfort as she does know how to self soothe but other than that, I follow her lead for now?

Swimming: Somebody LOVES the water!  She's gone swimming several times and just loves every instant!  In fact, at the Vanderpan family reunion, she was in a little blow-up pool with her second cousin Clara and she would not stop belly laughing!  Clara wasn't doing anything to make her laugh, she was just going nuts and was very happy!  She crawled around the pool and tried to stand up and took a couple of "face plants" into the water and would give a little surprised look/cry right after, but then would go on giggling and smiling as normal.  Then, she was shivering so badly that her hand was shaking when she was playing with a toy (the water was a little chilly and the sun kept coming/going) but when I took her out, she cried and cried- wanting to be back in the water and I'm sure was cold still until she was changed/dry/snuggled up in a thick blanket.

Father's Day!: We celebrated Father's Day!  And boy does she love her daddy!  One evening, she was fussing and daddy called.  I put him on speaker so I'd have both hands and Katelyn immediately not only stopped fussing, but started smiling and whispered "dada!"  We're still not fully sure if she knows the meaning of "mama" "dada" but she's starting to convince us little by little when she uses it in these types of instances- especially as her babbling has started to involve lots of different sounds.  Mommy and daddy took a date night that evening to go to a movie once baby girl went to bed.  Katelyn also went behind mommy's back and got on the internet and ordered daddy a special comic book that is about Darth Vador raising princess Leia.  Silly girl :)

Giggles: Katelyn is a very joyful little girl and if she hears others laughing, she'll mimic them with her fake laugh (more of a cough than a laugh).  See video at very end of post

As for #2 (baby boy), he is kicking lots a

nd making his presence known quite often.  Sometimes turning full somersaults.  It's crazy how more "real" pregnancy is the 2nd time around.  With Katelyn, pregnancy felt like just a health condition I went through before a baby entered our life.  It felt like 2 separated events?  But this time, because I've seen those little baby feet on Katelyn outside my body, when I feel baby boy kicking and moving around, it becomes so much more real to me to realize that this is our son inside of me- his personality already beginning to show.  I can't wait to see those little feet in real life and to see his facial expressions as he is tired or hungry or content.  (I take it back, I CAN wait... I actually wouldn't mind him coming a bit late- but still on his own- so Katelyn has a little time to grow).  We've been hitting up garage sales to get baby gear that we realized we will use/want (we borrowed quite a few contraptions from friends with Katelyn).  Preparing here and there when we can.  It's crazy how fast his is all going!

All "4" of us :)

8 Months and other family updates

8 Months and Tufte News

-Mobility:  Katelyn is not crawling yet, but up on all fours rocking back and forth.  She also can reach things that are quite far away from her by going from sitting and bending one leg beneath her and get up on her knees and walks her hands forward until she reaches the object.  Sometimes, this means she ends up on her tummy since she's too far to move back (which she's not a fan of getting stuck) but often can get back to sitting.  From that position, it looks like she's going to take off, but it'll take some time for her to figure out how to move her knees as well.  She also knows how to push backwards (but this is usually when she's trying to go forwards)
-Standing: Katelyn LOVES to stand!  Put her against anything she can hang on to and she doesn't need a toy but is just as happy as a clam to bounce and giggle.  You can just see how proud she is!  She often lets go and doesn't use her hands to steady her and is certainly on her way learning balance!
-Sleeping: We now sometimes sleep ALL the way through the night!  From 8pm-7am!   But when she wakes up at 4 or 5 to eat, she sleeps longer in the morning to make it a full 12 hours of sleep.  Sometimes I almost prefer her to wake at 4 or 5 so we can sleep in a little ;)
-Falling asleep: We now completely self-soothe!  Sometimes, although she's tired, she has determined she's not ready to sleep and plays her in crib with the blanket and often talks to herself until she falls asleep.  But no crying!

-Babbling: Katelyn love to hear herself talk!  She often babbles "mamamama", sometimes "yayayaya" or "blllll" and makes many clicking noises with her tongue.  (See video at very end of post)

-Tongue: Katelyn has discovered her tongue!  She licks her lips and loves to hear the noises she can make as she moves her tongue back and forth.  Silly girl!  

-Piano: Let's just say she likes to sing while she plays. (see video at very end of post )

-Mother's Day(picture to right): Katelyn wrote me a very sweet card and made me feel very loved for my first mama's day (although I suspect she told daddy what to write...)

-First Family Vacation!: For mommy and daddy's 4th anniversary, we decided to take a family trip to Okaboji.  We took many walks, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and snuggled out little girl all day!  Katelyn had her first swing ride (which she loves!)

Team Tufte News

We made it officially public this month!  Katelyn's little brother will be here in October!  This pregnancy was a whole new ball game and the reason we didn't announce or make calls like we did with Katelyn once we hit 2nd trimester was because of the complications we were having.

Here's the story:

In February, my jaw dropped when I took the test.  I really didn't think I was pregnant.  I shared the news with Tyler and we were both in disbelief.  We had always talked about having kids close together and certainly weren't preventing it but I was still exclusively nursing Katelyn.    I was a little sick but not nearly what it was like with Katelyn.  The issue I dealt with more was exhaustion, but much of that had to do with waking up often with Katelyn in the night along with working full-time.  Things seemed fine until I was about 11 weeks.  I had a huge sneeze earlier that day that started some cramping but I thought nothing of it.  Later that evening, it turned worse and really felt like early labor but I brushed it off as I'm a whiner.  When the cramping was met with other more obvious signs that something was wrong, Tyler and I went home, called the dr, and headed to the ER.  We were convinced that we had lost our baby.  Although we were crying and of course very upset, we knew this was orchestrated by God and we have always said that God is writing our family exactly the way it's supposed to be.  Rewind back to 6 weeks pregnant and there was a night at youth group where I felt God asking if I was ready for Him to use this pregnancy as a testimony to our youth.  I remember thinking that meant we were going to have a miscarriage and we'd share how we got through it with the kids and I asked God to take the baby by 8 weeks so we wouldn't get too attached.  I honestly had forgotten about that moment until we were on the way to the hospital at 11 weeks when I remembered that this must be God's plan.  We were very sad, disappointed, but filled with an amazing sense of peace- trusting God knows best.  Yet, in the ER, they found that the baby was still alive and kicking with a seemingly strong heartbeat.  I went into a checkup with the dr later that week and they called it a subchorionic hommorage- Simply meaning there's blood in there that would take a week or two to go away.  When we went in for our 13 weeks ultrasound, they found that the organ that regulates the baby's food, blood, and well, everything the baby needs, had never attached to me correctly- probably causing all the blood.   The doctor told us he really could only tell us that one of two things will happen.  It could reattach itself and all will be well or it will give out completely and we'll lose the baby.  He said the next 2-4 weeks would be telling.  He had us make an appointment for 16 weeks to see which way the pregnancy will go.  Because of all this, we weren't ready to make things public.  However, we told the youth group and asked for prayer over our baby.  16 weeks came and we found the Amazing news that had the dr. not known our story, looking at the current ultrasound would have no idea that there had ever been any issues!  Everything had reattached beautifully, absolutely no scarring, and there was no more blood!  I was taken off all restrictions!  Oh AND?  We found out at this time that it's a boy!  Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow!

I am now 19 weeks and feeling great!  Starting to feel a few flutters/kicks every once in a while. Baby boy is due in October (Katelyn will be 12 months).  Everyone makes comments of how busy we'll be and I have no doubt that'll be true, but we're ecstatic and although the timing wasn't exactly planned, we know this is God's perfect will and timing and we are just so thankful!  After having Katelyn, I realize that that really IS a live baby in there!  It makes everything more exciting the 2nd time around.  The picture of his feet already has my heart full as I can't wait to play with those feet and just snuggle him in close!  I'm getting all my snuggle time in with Katelyn before I have to share my time between two babies that I love more everyday!

7 Months

7 Months!

-Rolling over both ways: Katelyn has finally mastered rolling over both ways.  She rolled to her tummy for the first time at night (heart attack for mom and dad since she used to not know how to turn her head to breathe! She has since learned, thankfully!)
-Food:  She LOVES sweet potatoes.  Everything else, she'll eat a little of and not be too excited for more (unless it's mango).  I often use mango or sweet potatoes to mix a little in with the other veggies just to get her to eat them. (this is how she got to love green beans and we're in the process of trying to help her at least tolerate peas)
-Sleep:  She has learned to sleep through the night!  (Sometimes).  It's not an every night occurrence, but when it happens, we fully enjoy it!  She goes down around 7 and often wakes up somewhere between 4 and 6 to poo and eat, and goes back to sleep until 7 or even 8 somedays!
-Kicking: Oh the kicking!  This little one LOVES to kick those legs and HARD!  Especially on the changing table or in the crib.  Sometimes, we lay a sleepy baby down and she wakes herself up to kick.  (See video)  And boy is she proud of herself for it!  Giggles and huge smiles often come with the kicks.
-Self Soothing:  It has happened!!!  Katelyn has learned to self-soothe!  Sometimes it comes with a little crying, but often, she lays down awake and rolls over to soothe herself.  I also have her sleep with a breathable blanket so she can play with that and cover her face all she wants and I don't have to worry about her suffocating.  I think these things combined together has led to the sleeping through the night.
-Chunkers!:  Katelyn is now in the process of outgrowing her 9 month clothes and is 20.2 lbs!  Growing girl!
-Babbling: Katelyn has gone from just "Hmmmmm"s to "mamamama" and once in a while a "Ba" or a "da".  We're still working on dada ;)  She often says the word mama but I do not believe she knows the meaning quite yet :)
-Warmth: Katelyn continues to love being warm.  The warmer she is, the better she sleeps and the happier she wakes up.

6 Months

6 Months!

Squeals: Katelyn often talks in a very high pitch squeal to communicate these days.  Especially when excited

New Giggles: When she's enjoying an activity and wants you to know she's enjoying it, yet it's not making her truly giggle, she does this little cough/laugh that we believe is her fake laugh :)

Food: She is LOVING her sweet potatoes and not a big fan of peas.  We've been combining it with rice cereal for her to eat it but she is not nearly as excited about them as she is with the sweet potatoes.  She often plays with the spoon after and wants to show us how she can get it to her mouth on her own.

Sleep: It's a toss-up between which nights she'll sleep incredibly well (7am-4am) and when she'll be up every hour (or somewhere in between although it's more often one extreme or the other).

First baby cold: Katelyn has her first baby cold.  Lots of snot and fussiness intertwined with her usual giggles and smiles.

Sitting Up: I'm not quite ready to leave her in the middle of the room sitting on her own as she still needs a spotter but is definitely improving on this skill an learning to balance as she reaches for toys on either side.

Rolling over: We finally have some rolls!  One day, Ty was taking care of her so I could take a nap and she rolled over for him!  She's been doing it here and there ever since.

Reaching: She is now into reaching and propelling her body forward while sitting up to get anything (but especially daddy's phone).  And of course, whatever object she reaches goes immediately into the mouth and waved around.
Busy Girl!: Suddenly this month, she has become a very busy little girl!  Constantly moving (unless she's people watching- she enjoys that too).  If you give her a cup, she will pull it up to her mouth and tip it up to mimic us drinking.  If you give her a spoon, it goes immediately to her mouth.  (well it may hit her cheek on the way but it gets there!)  It's so fun to watch her learn and pick up things we don't realize she's even noticing.

Self-Soothing: Katelyn is learning to soothe herself to sleep by arching her back and rolling somewhat onto her side with both hands up by her face.  Once she's asleep, she's back onto her back with arms spread apart as far as they go.  Silly girl.

5 Months

5 Months

Sleep: This month hasn't had any change in sleep other than waking up a little earlier and no longer sleeping in for mommy on Saturdays but those huge smiles she gives at 6:30 make the early wake-up completely worth it!  And mommy is learning to go to bed earlier to get more rest when needed.

First Word!: Okay, that's a lie but it sure sounded like it!  After her 4 month shots, she let out a very audible "Ooooooow"

Kitties: Katelyn has always been mesmerized by the cats but now she will lunge/throw her body toward them when they're near.  Tyler put her on her feet and she leaned/took steps to get closer.  She loves to run her hands through their fur (we're working on not grabbing a chunk and pulling...)

Food: Just two days ago we tried a little rice cereal  Not sure she's ready for that spoon!  Yesterday she sure seemed proud of herself for swallowing what she could of it.  Big smiles!

Giggle Spurts: Sometimes Katelyn gets in these slap-happy giggle spurts where absolutely everything is funny.  Sometimes I don't even know what brought on the giggles but we welcome them and surely encourage them :)

Road Trips and Friends: We headed down to Indianola Iowa to visit the Thomsons.  Katelyn and Elliana are 6 days apart.  They got along well- this picture was not a setup- they decided hugging was in order.  Ellie's brothers Malachi and Isaiah kept Katelyn laughing and smiling all weekend.  She really loves being around other little people.

Teething?: I'm new at this mom thing so I really don't know.  She's been drooling since she was born and chewing (not sucking) on her hands and anything else since she was in the hospital, however, it seems like things have changed a little bit- seems like more is getting into her mouth and when I bring out the teething rings from the fridge, she loves those.  Could it be just growing up that she can actually get things to her mouth? maybe.  Could it be teething? maybe.  Who knows!  When people ask, I always say "I'll know when the first tooth comes in :)"

Naps: She's finally starting to be able to put herself to sleep for naps.  It takes a quick "snack" of a bottle or nursing and then 10 minutes of "talking" and she's out.  

Mohawk: It was still alive and kicking for most of the month!  Some side hair has begun to grow in and the mohawk is starting to lay down (unless she's just had a bath)

Textures: Katelyn is getting into the feel of different textures.  Every time I try to burp her, she's reaching behind me to touch the couch or chair and just run her hands along it.  While changing her, her hands are on the wall next to her (we have textured walls).  She loves wearing her tutu as the top layer is rough and the bottom layer is smooth.  That thing rarely stays down when she's wearing it.  One of these days I'm going to find her a book that has lots of textures she can feel in it.  

Squeals: In the beginning of the month, Katelyn squealed a lot when she talked.  Now she's less interested in talking and more in humming or giggling.

4 Months!

4 Months Old!

Sitting up:  She now can sit up on our laps unsupported.  She's still a long way from rolling over, but so close to sitting on her own on the floor!

Grabbing:  This little one can now reach for things she wants and can bring them in, hold on to them, and is working on maneuvering them in her hands.  Of course most things get pulled up to her mouth or REALLY close to her face, making her go a little cross-eyed when playing, but she's definitely getting the hang of it!

Hair: No longer is she fuzzy up top, she now has an all-out mohawk.  The part of her head that had originally gone bald after birth (causing what looked like male pattern baldness) has grown back with a vengeance, causing one big streak of hair down the center of her head.  Maybe she's trying to impress Finn?

Sleep:  She has hit the 4 month sleep regression a little early and no longer sleeps through the night but only wakes up 1-2 times so I'm not complaining :)

Naps:  Not much change here- she still protests them (is currently protesting one right now!).  However, once asleep, she now often sleeps for an hour and a half or so at a time and wakes up SO much happier!
Growing as usual: The 3-6 months clothes are all officially packed away and she's wearing 6-9 months
Toes: We have officially found our feet!  She is absolutely enamored by them.  She constantly reaches for them whether she's getting changed for a diaper or in her bumbo.  The other day, when I handed her a toy to play with, she reached over the toy to play with her feet.
Foods:  Not much change here, but since she officially is at grandma daycare for 4 days a week while Ty and I work, she has learned to take bottles really well and every now and then takes a little formula.
Church: Because she's awake more often and goes longer between feedings, she is now letting mommy sit through an entire service without needing to eat.  She loves to watch people worship, take a good snooze, and lately, she sits on our laps watching the pastor, raising her eyebrows, often making little "mm" sounds as if she's taking it all in and truly finding life changes through the sermon.  Once she starts crawling and can fend for herself a little more, she'll be in the nursery with the toddlers, but for now, we enjoy her with us as she's so easily entertained.

3 Months Old!

3 Month Update

This month's accomplishments:

-Hair: Katelyn worked hard to sprout some hair that sticks straight up on the top of her head
-Fuzz-top: The nickname she's accrued because of the above
-Giggles: Katelyn has begun to giggle socially!  Oh do I LOVE that sound!  On Christmas Eve, we got an amazing video of her nonstop giggles with daddy, but it's too large to send (it's on someone else's phone) and she was only wearing a diaper and these days, you can never be too careful what you post on the internet but this video can show you a little of those giggles.

-Plane Rides: Did great on her first plane ride!  (And 2nd, 3rd, and 4th...) to the point where a lady didn't even realize there was a baby with us.  Good job Katelyn!

-Cousins: Katelyn met her 5 cousins (all 3 and under- talk about organized chaos!)
-Sitting up: Okay... not on her own, but she loves to be pulled up by her fingers and often initiates it by pulling her head and abs up a bit to get someone to pull her up.  She also loves to sit up away from my body while I read to her. 
-Sleeping: Through the Night!  In fact, she every once in a while will go 12 hours!

-First Christmas: She celebrated her first Christmas!  She received toys, clothes, and books from both grandmas, aunts, and friends. 
-Books:  Katelyn LOVES book!  Katelyn was awake as we opened her presents and I can't explain to you the excitement she had everytime we opened a book in front of her!  Her little limbs go wild, her breathing speeds up, and she stares intently at the pictures.  In fact, a book from Aunt Krystle about Noah is her favorite.  I think it's because it's a bigger book so it's kinda like imax in books.  The picutres are large and there is a lot of orange, browns, and reds (which we believe are her favorite colors- do babies really have favorites?  Or maybe it's simply as her sight develops, those are the colors that are most vibrant?  Either way- it gets her quite riled up!)  I've learned to not use reading as a bedtime routine yet- it's far too stimulating for her at this age.  Maybe later it'll calm her, but for now, it sure gets her going!

-Boy Trouble: Watch out... Katelyn has her first crush!  Okay so she can't have a crush yet, but as Finn was running down the aisle the other day at church, she quickly turned her head to follow him and she got all excited and even started giggling.  Oh boy...

It's been such a great 3 months!  It's going to be sad when mommy goes back to work this week and doesn't get to spend every minute with our little Fuzztop.