Monday, May 10, 2010

One Third

Just over a week ago our little sunshine baby girl turned 4 months old! Yes, 1/3 of a year has passed since her much anticipated and prayed about birth... actually it's been 4 months 1 week and 3 days if I'm doing my math correctly.

Where did the time go and what happened to the tiny baby we brought home from the hospital??? I know times goes quickly when you have children, but I didn't anticipate it going by faster and faster with each child. You live and learn, that's for sure!

Here's a little collage I've made of how she's grown (beginning at 1 month as I forgot to do the newborn pic in the chair - still mad about that):I even got a picture with my newest baby on Mother's Day - a first as I've never gotten to have my pic taken with any of my babies (they'll always be my babies, even when they are parents themselves). Not too bad if you want my opinion :)

As far as stats go, here they are as of 1 week ago (5/3/10):
Weight: 14 lbs 11 oz - 74 %ile
Height/Length: 24.5 in - 60 %ile
Head Circumference: Can't remember measurement but it was the 63 %ile

Here's even a few pics from the doctors' office while we were waiting:

"Dancing" (as we call it) on the examining table
Eating her fists
(one of her favorite things to do these days & YES she can fit her entire fist into her mouth)
Flirting with and showing off for the camera :)
So as you can tell (based on the numbers and the pictures) my little love-bug is growing quickly! She even started eating baby oatmeal cereal last week. Seriously, like I said, where has the time gone?! As you can imagine, C wasn't sure what to think of the whole first "real food" experience, as some call it.

Preparing for 1st "solid" food...
This might be good...
The girl didn't want to open her mouth.
Mommy giving some encouragement and Tegan showing Miss C how it's done.
I'm not exactly sure how much even made it into her mouth let alone her stomach, but since then the girl has become a oatmeal cereal eating champion! Today she even "asked" for some cereal at lunch time. When I say she "asked" i mean she got super cranky even after nursing, specifically the same kind of cranky she gets now if I don't feed her her dinner-time cereal... so it's not yet a very fun or nice way of asking, but I seemed to know what she was asking for once I realized it wasn't from being overly tired. SO, she got cereal at lunch and did pretty darn well. She didn't eat quite as much as she tends to at dinner, but a fair amount. I just wish she'd go longer between nursing feedings now that she's getting extra calories between a few of those feedings... eventually, I'm sure.

Developmentally Casey is right where she should be if not even a bit advanced. She not only brings her hands together but she is getting them to her mouth and even starting to grab for objects. She is rolling from tummy to back on a fairly consistent basis (did a handful of times today alone, plus several times yesterday and last week). She is pushing up with her arms and thus holding her chest up off the floor for "extended" periods of time when lying on her tummy. She is "talking" with us (not sure what on God's green earth she's saying most of the time, if at all... but she seems to). She is smiling SO much and favors especially Mommy but also Daddy. She LOVES standing up and often times even locks her knees and hips and doesn't want to bend/sit. It's really funny to see us try to sit her down when she's this way - despite her extra padding/pudge she's one strong girl!

The little stinker is even starting to show interest in TV...
though I'm sure it's more the bright moving colors than anything.Doing 3 of her favorite things:
1) Standing 2) Sucking on a fist & 3) spending time with Daddy

At night C generally sleeps from 7-2 or 3 before she wakes, though the past week or so has been much more unpredictable and she'll wake at 11 or midnight wanting her pacifier and then fall back asleep until anywhere from 2 to 4am. On Saturday she pulled a fast one on us and seemed to go to bed for the night at 6pm after throwing a nearly hour long crying fit. Then, at 9pm she woke up hungry. After a little socialization and some food she fell back asleep around 9:45 and slept until 5am! Happy Mother's Day to me, that's for sure! Thank you C for that one! During the day, though, she's still hungry about ever 3-3.5 hours. Occasionally she'll go 4 hours between feedings, but that happens maybe 1-2x a week, so not much.

As far as Tegan goes, Casey thinks he's the bees-knees! The way she smiles at him is priceless and when Tegan sees her smiling at him he melts just a much as we all do. He'll often say, "Mama, Casey is smiling at me. I think she loves me." So sweet!!!

T and C exploring the exersaucer

That pretty much catches you all up on all things Casey... Hope you enjoyed all of the pics and that this finds you and your loved ones happy & healthy!

Love to all!!!
~j

Friday, May 07, 2010

Mr. Thirsty Straw

Yesterday marked the beginning of a now life-long experience for Tegan - he had his first trip to the dentist! I'll admit that I was not only nervous about him freaking out and refusing to open his mouth but also that he would have a cavity (or more than one). He hasn't been complaining of any tooth pain but the kid is a juiceaholic and his favorite snacks are Florida's Natural brand fruit nuggets (like fruit snacks but not as squishy and made from like 90% real fruit and juice) and fruit bars (similar to fruit leather). Thankfully, though, neither one of my fears came to fruition! YAY!

The visit began by Tegan playing in the toy room while we waited for his appointment to begin. After a few minutes Heidi, the hygienist, came in and introduced herself to me and Tegan. Then she got right down on the floor to play with him and gain his trust. After a few minutes of talking and searching for the balls that go to a toy Heidi invited T back to the room and off we went.

I'm not going to lie, though, Tegan did not want to sit in the special chair despite seeing Mommy do it and with the bribe of watching Dora while in the chair but Heidi, the hygienist, was A-MAZING! She invited T over to her little work are to meet the dental tools including the water & air squirter, Mr. Thirsty Straw (the suction straw), and Mr. Zebra who wasn't working and then was switched to Mr. Tiger Tooth Cleaner (tooth polisher). He even got to hold and use Mr. Thirsty straw to drink up the water that Heidi squirted into a cup. It was too cute and Tegan was very excited to be allowed to touch the tools. Go figure, the kid figured out in a matter of seconds how to turn Mr. Thirsty Straw on and off. HA!
After "working" with Mr. Thirsty Straw Heidi invited T to hold Mr. Tiger. She explained that if T said "Spin Please" Mr. Tiger's mouth would spin and "eat" up the toothpaste (strawberry, just like at home but after a taste T decided it was better than ours). So after a few "gobbles" of the toothpaste Heidi asked T if she could help Mr. Tiger help her count T's teeth and, to my pleasant surprise, T thought that was a fun idea. So standing there (with one shoe on and one shoe off no less) Miss Heidi polished T's teeth. HA! It was definitely quite a sight. I wish I took some pics of that, but I was more focused on keeping T calm. After a few shor minutes we "learned" that Tegan has 20 beautiful, healthy & big teeth (yes, she commented that he has big teeth - he got that one from me. Hopefully he won't have big adult teeth, too, but I'm sure if he does he'll still be a beautifully handsome boy!)

After the cleaning T decided he wanted to sit in the dental chair so up he went and Miss Heidi let him go for a "ride" up and down and back and forth.


Then he wanted to watch Dora so on the headphones went and he was zoned-in before we knew it. A minute or two later and Dr. Jeff was in to say "hi" and take a look. T thought it was cool that Dr. Jeff had on Crocs just like he did, but Dr. Jeff's were army green and T's were/are red. Tegan even got to try on Dr. Jeff's fancy glasses (no pics of that one, it was a fast experience!).


Again Tegan opened wide and his teeth were counted and checked and confirmed Miss Heidi's observation that T has a mouth full of strong and healthy teeth. YAY TEGAN!!!


While Dr. Jeff was examining T's teeth Miss Heidi took some pictures with the office camera. As I was leaving she offered to email them to me and the following was in my in-box before I even got home!


If you're looking for a dentist in the Shakopee/Savage area I'd highly recommend Crossings Dental Care! The entire staff is SO friendly and I was beyond impressed with how positive they made Tegan's first visit!

Love to all and Happy Friday!
~jenn

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Young Love

So I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here or not but Tegan has his "official" first girlfriend. He tells everyone about her now. OK, so not everyone but lots of people, especially his friends at daycare. When I picked T up from daycare on Wednesday I was informed by our daycare provider "Rolie" (really, her name is Laurie, but that's how Tegan says it) that Tegan asked several of his daycare friends if they knew what his girlfriend's name is and then quickly and very enthusiastically shared that her name is Lilly.

Yes, her name is Lilly (Lillian, really, but she goes by Lilly) and she is a true southern belle. Born in Dallas, I believe, and her family is mostly from Alabama and with her mom and dad both having the awesome southern accent little Lilly has one too - it's SOOOO cute!!! It's a rare occasion if you see her without her rhinestone sunglasses and I don't think I've ever seen her without her hair "done" whether up in a ponytail or curled or something. Seriously, the girl is precious!

Anyway, we had Lilly and her family (Mom, Dad and baby brother) over for s'mores and a bonfire a few weeks ago and the two (T & L) decided to play Ring-Around-The-Rosie. Not sure where they learned this version...


If that's not cute enough then here's another display of T's fondness for Miss Lilly. On our front porch we have 2 chairs and a small table (not a bistro set, but similar). Generally the table is located between the chairs. Let's just say that when Lilly wanted to sit on the porch it was decided by a certain 3 year old boy that the chairs should be located immediately next to each other. As it's true southern style, Lilly also goes along with what her "man" says/does, so when T didn't want his picture taken, neither did she. The following is a series of pictures demonstrating just that:

Tegan: No, I DON'T want my picture taken!
Lilly: [giggling] No, don't take my picture.
Lilly peeking to see if T was still "blocking" the camera (that's what he calls it, "blocking")
Tegan post offering Lilly some of her water
(and yes, he holds the bottle for her as she drinks, ha!)
This is (obviously) from another day when the 2 love birds were blowing bubbles together.

I'll stop there for tonight. Hope all's well with you and yours...
Love to all!
~jenn