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Sun, Jan 30, 2005 8:00 PM
Now that Katie has been sampling solid foods for over six weeks, I thought I'd recap what she's eaten:

* Rice cereal
* Oatmeal
* Apples
* Bananas
* Pears
* Sweet potatoes
* Carrots
* Yogurt
* Biter biscuits

We usually mix a fruit or veggie in with her rice or oatmeal cereal. So far, she likes everything she's tried!

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Thu, Jan 27, 2005 5:00 PM
Today was Katie's six-month checkup. She is in the 50th percentile for both weight and length--15 pounds, 10 ounces and 26 1/4 inches. Today's nurse said she thinks the four-month measurement of 23 inches was incorrect. (As you eagle-eyed readers may recall, that measurement had dropped her to the 25th percentile.) In any event, she's growing the way she's supposed to be growing.

Once again, she got four vaccinations--two injections in each leg. And, once again, I had the dubious honor of holding her legs straight while they were administered. The shots seemed to upset her more this time; she cried longer and kept giving me these looks (or maybe that was my imagination?!). In any case, here we are just over an hour later, and she's happy as a clam. I guess there's no permanent damage.

Even if she didn't actually grow three inches in the last two months, I already knew she had gotten significantly longer. She's busted right out of size 3-6 months and is snug in the 6-month size. This week, I laundered a TON of stuff that is size 6-9 months. So far, they're fitting her fine. I can't believe it. Six months ago, I looked at these clothes and shook my head, thinking, "I don't know why we even have this stuff. She's never going to be big enough for it!" Sigh.

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Tue, Jan 25, 2005 6:30 PM
Following our long weekend away, Katie has quickly gotten back into the swings of things. (Pshew!)

Yesterday she was very happy to see Miss Mary and her kids. The girls were home from school (snow day), so there was plenty of excitement for Katie. When I arrived after work, she was in a fantastic mood.

Mary told me a funny story about Katie and her son, Colin. Apparently Mary caught Colin just as he was "sharing" a chocolate Teddy Graham with Katie. It was in Katie's mouth only a second, but long enough for her to get a taste. Mary quickly told Colin not to do that, which made him cry. Then Katie--ticked off that the cracker had been taken away--threw one of her temper tantrums. (Mary said Katie had also wailed earlier when she wouldn't give her a spoon she was using to stir their dinner!)

Perhaps it is too soon to gauge her personality. But, so far, she seems to be generally happy--and also quite stubborn when she has set her sights on something.

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Mon, Jan 24, 2005 12:00 PM
Danielle's pics have been added to the album! Thanks, Danielle. :-)

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Sun, Jan 23, 2005 10:30 PM
We are back from Orlando and our first family vacation with Katie. We had four days and four objectives: visiting the Disney parks, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Steve's Aunt Sandy and Uncle Willie, checking out the investment property we have under construction, and, oh yeah, relaxing a little bit!

Even with such a jam-packed agenda, we had a great time. We thoroughly enjoyed the weather and our time together. Of course, we encountered delays and headaches on both ends of our return home today. But, it was worth it.

I've posted numerous photos in the "Katie's First Family Vacation" album. Danielle also has a ton of great shots on her digital camera. As soon as I get those from her, I'll post them, too. :-)

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Wed, Jan 19, 2005 12:00 PM
We're about to leave for our first family vacation with Katie! We're heading to Orlando tomorrow morning, and we're *supposed* to return on Sunday morning. (The weather dudes say we may get hit with a ton of snow on Sunday, so the return trip could be interesting.)

Last night Katie and I went with Steve to his salon. Despite being visibly appalled by the lack of attention I pay to Katie's hair, the stylists urged us to submit her to the Beautiful Baby competition on the "Live with Regis and Kelly" show. Gran had already made that suggestion, too.

So, we decided to give it a shot and see how she fares. I'm certain we're the only parents in the country who think their baby is incredibly cute. Yeah, riiiiight! :-P

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Sun, Jan 16, 2005 2:30 PM
This morning Katie finally rolled over on her own! In fact, she did it twice. But by the time we got out the camcorder, she wouldn't do it again (of course!). However, while I was at Genuardi's, Steve got some great footage of her feeding herself a bottle! (We're going to get some of these clips converted to a digital format so I can post them on the site.)

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Fri, Jan 14, 2005 9:30 PM
Today I returned from my overnight business trip. While I was gone, Katie had a great day and a half. She slept well, ate well, and had a ball with her dad, her sister, and her furry "niece," Angel. In other words, I think I missed her more than she missed me!

Steve was happy to see me, though. He said he was glad the "real" CEO was back so he can resume his role as Director of Recreation. ;-)

(P.S. A gigantic "THANK YOU" to Danielle for filling in today when our sitter didn't arrive as planned.)

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Mon, Jan 10, 2005 12:00 PM
Katie is doing great with the set routine. She has slept through the last five nights! Here's a summary of other news:

* Rolling over. Katie still hasn't rolled over on her own. On Saturday morning, Steve was working with her on a giant blanket on the floor. He would place a desirable object just outside her reach and then coax her to roll toward it. But instead of rolling over, she would grasp a section of blanket and pull it--and the desirable object--right to her!

* Sitting up. The other day, I put Katie on the floor while I did some work on the computer. I inadvertently set her down in a sitting position, but she was able to hold it on her own. That's the good news. The bad news is, when I looked back down at her, she was chewing on my shoe!

* Eating out. The days of peaceful restaurant meals have come to an end. The other night at a diner, Katie was bang-bang-banging one of her toys on the table. When I put a blanket on top of the table to muffle the noise, she just moved that out of the way for more BANG-BANG-BANG. And yesterday at a pizza parlor, she went right for Steve's pepperoni and cheese. She almost got a handful, too. She's fast! (The best part of all this is hearing Steve tell her, "You don't stop moving, do you?!" Reminds me of that saying about the pot and the kettle.)

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Fri, Jan 7, 2005 8:00 AM
We're two for two. Last night Katie fell asleep around 8:30. This morning she was still sound asleep at 6. And at 7:40, I found her in her crib playing quietly--with a big smile on her face. I have a big smile, too!

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Thu, Jan 6, 2005 7:00 AM
Hooray for Katie! Last night she fell asleep around 8:40. Just after 6 a.m., I asked Steve to peek in on her. He found her wide awake in her crib, playing happily with her blanket. In other words, we got a good night's sleep! Yeah! A few more nights like this and we'll feel as if we've won the lottery.

P.S. Last night I followed one of my co-worker's advice and kept the doors closed and the monitor off. In other words, even if Katie did wake up and fuss for a bit, we didn't hear it. And she must've put herself back to sleep, which is fine by me.

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Tue, Jan 4, 2005 9:30 PM
Today we had a first that I'm not too thrilled about: Katie had a bottle of formula at Miss Mary's house. I just didn't have enough milk to get her through the day today. In addition, I have to be away overnight for work next week. There's no way I can meet her current demand AND store away enough for 36 hours of separation. I figure it's better to test out the formula now--while I'm here--than when that's the only food available.

Mary said that Katie drank the bottle of formula begrudingly--stopping often as if in search of something else, but then resuming out of sheer hunger. Mary also said that she spit up more than usual afterward. I feel both satisfaction (that she clearly prefers my stuff over Enfamil) and guilt (that she had the Enfamil at all).

Logically, I know lots of babies grow up healthy and happy on formula. But, on a more emotional level, I just really wanted her to have only my milk for the first year. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm starting to wean her--far from it. I'm just giving us another option. I guess that's OK, right? I hope so.

On a more upbeat note, Katie is becoming even more vocal. In fact, she's a real loudmouth at home! (Considering that Steve blames her notorious gassiness on my gene pool, I think it's only fair that his side assume responsibility for this tendency...Ha ha!) Anyway, this baby has a lot to say--and she has no qualms about making very loud "proclamations." Heaven help us once she has a real command of the English language!

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Tue, Jan 4, 2005 7:00 AM
I need to take some new photos, but in the meantime, I thought I would post an update.

First, we are slowly transitioning from our very laid-back approach--which worked great with a newborn--and developing more of a consistent routine--which ought to be better for our (almost) six-month-old.

Over the holidays, we established set times for her rice cereal and apples (noon and 7 p.m.) and for bedtime rituals (8 p.m. for reading, quiet singing, and one last feeding, then lights out at 9 p.m., if not sooner). We have yet to tackle naps; I figure we can start on that once she's consistently sleeping through the night. Speaking of which, she's doing much better. She's slept through a couple of times, and then gotten up only once a couple of other nights.

Also, I, along with her sitters, have started keeping a log of her food intake and sleep patterns. Why? Because at every appointment, the pediatrician asks me a ton of questions--how often is she eating? how much? how many naps does she take? how many hours does she sleep at night?--and I never have the data. I have always shrugged my shoulders and replied, "She eats when she's hungry, and she sleeps when she's tired."

And that's still true. But now I'll finally be able to tell them just how often she's hungry and tired.

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Sat, Jan 1, 2005 10:00 PM
Happy New Year! Appropriately, we experienced a couple of Katie firsts today.

From the "It Was Bound to Happen Sooner or Later, But Why, Oh, Why Couldn't It Have Happened to Steve?" category, Katie spit up while I was holding her over my head and giving her a giant, open-mouthed smile. Get the picture? Yeah, it was GROSS.

Later today, after I inadvertently pumped too much, I asked Steve to give Katie a small bottle of milk. He placed her on his legs and offered the bottle to her. The little devil took it away from him and proceeded to feed herself. (See photo in the new January album.)

She even tipped the bottle back progressively more as she rapidly emptied the contents. Toward the end, she'd pull the nipple out of her mouth, spot just a tiny bit more milk, and then re-insert it. Good to the last drop, I suppose!

Perhaps this is a trick she's done for her sitters a million times. But, since we seldom give her bottles, it was new to us. And, being doting parents, we thought it was a hoot to watch. :-)

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