Priceless Moments

1 Month Old
*September 20, 2009*

Thursday was a long day for both Kaitlynn and I. Kelly was gone all day Wednesday from
8:00am - 9:00pm with work and a business dinner. Thursday Kelly was unable to come home for lunch because of meetings at work from 9:00am - 1:00pm. After the long day we had on Wednesday, God blessed me and gave me priceless moments with our daughter on Thursday. Kaitlynn had a fantastic day - she was not fussy at all like the past two days. She wanted to spend a lot of time snuggling, and she had several great naps! I also was able to get her to spend some time in her Play Place for about 30 minutes. She loves looking at all the bright colors. She'll soon be able to play with the toys that are attached. I'm enjoying watching her as she realizes that she can see new things and begins to focus more on them!

*When I went to pick Kaitlynn up after a nap, I spoke to her for a minute and she smiled*


Play Place Time




*With mommy's help.... Kaitlynn grabbed & held on
to her toy for about 30 seconds!!*

Friday started of our weekend!! Kelly did go in to work, but knowing that he would be home for two days made the day fly by. I love having all 4 of us at home together - Kelly, myself, Kaitlynn & Willa. It is a joy to relax together and spend time with our girls.

Kaitlynn had another good day on Friday! She slept throughout the night from 12:00am - 9:00am while getting up for her 2 feedings in between. She was awake and wanted to "play" or snuggle for about 2 hours before laying down for a nap.

*I absolutely adore the times when Kaitlynn wants to lay on my chest and be rocked to sleep. She is so precious in those moments and I adore her to pieces!*

Saturday was a relaxing day until we woke up & got out of our bed!! Kaitlynn & I slept on the couch from about 5:30am-8:30am before her next feeding. However, once 8:30am rolled around, Kelly & I had an extremely hard time getting our daughter to sleep! She also had a rough day with her feedings as well - most likely because she wasn't napping and was tired! Hopefully she'll get some rest and pick back up with her feedings as normal. For now I'm trying to feed her what she'll take and then I'm pumping!

Other than trying to get our daughter to rest, we were able to get some house work done this morning: vacuum, laundry, trash day, etc. Of course, on top of cleaning, and trying to get Kaitlynn to sleep - Kelly did manage to watch several football games :) We also had a visit from the Cordes Family! They are in our Sunday school class and are absolutely a wonderful family. We definitely enjoyed visiting with them today!


One of our many tries to get Kaitlynn to sleep!


However, Willa Grace has no problems sleeping!

HAPPY 1 MONTH TO KAITLYNN!
Today... Sunday, September 20th, is Kaitlynn's 1 month!! It seems very surreal that we've had our daughter for one month now! We have had so many learning experiences over the past month that the days seem to blur together. We've enjoyed our time with her these past 30 days and cannot wait to see what's in store for month 2. God truly has blessed our family with a precious daughter. I cannot wait to see what he has in store for her!

We had all intentions of going to Sunday school & church this morning, but our exhausting day yesterday led to sleeping in until 8:30am - Kelly taking a nap from 10:00am - 12:00pm, and no church! We'll try it again next week! Hopefully we'll eventually make it on Sunday morning and it'll just become second nature going with a newborn :)

We did get out of the house for a hour or so. It's still tough for me getting out of the house alone with Kaitlynn so I spend most of the week inside our home or walking around our complex with the girls. With Kelly at home, we took advantage and headed to Zucca for some italian food and then stopped by CVS for some much needed diapers! We were hoping we wouldn't need to get anymore newborn diapers, but Kaitlynn is just shy of 8lbs. and cannot quite fit into the "1's" yet...so we stopped and got 2 more packs of newborns = 72 more "N" diapers. Hopefully we won't need anymore!

We spent the rest of Kaitlynn's big day at home watching NFL football. I was excited about watching football today since Carolina Panthers were playing Atlanta Falcons! I like both teams so it was enjoyable for me. Kelly was happy because his fantasy team was winning this week against Dustin's - oh the small joys of men! :)


Happy 1 month to Kaitlynn!


1 Month Old

Monday rolled around and another work week started for Kelly. I sure do miss him during the day when he has to be at work, but it's definitely been nice having him home for lunch most days!! I've tried to do my best and have a home cooked meal at lunch rather than dinner time. Today went extremely well minus all the rain! Just to let everyone know who isn't in our area.... as of 3:00pm today Smyrna, GA has received 8 inches of rain = INSANE! It has been absolutely crazy the past few days with the amount of rain we've received, but last night and today have been the worst! I don't remember the last time we experienced a thunderstorm that lasted throughout the entire night - but we had one last night! Kaitlynn & Willa didn't enjoy the storms, and Kelly & I definitely didn't enjoy the lack of sleep because of them. Today we've had a monsoon it feels like and doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have a little bit of a break with all the rain.
Kaitlynn ate this morning around 7:30am, went down for a nap around 8:45am and slept until 11:15am! Today marks the first time she has EVER gone over 3 hours during the day without eating!! I am not counting on it to happen all the time, but it's definitely nice to know that she can go longer at times :) We're slowly moving up people!! Slowly moving up.... During Kaitlynn's nap time, I was able to grab a shower, fix spaghetti for lunch, and do some housework like vacuuming! It felt great being productive this morning while Kaitlynn was asleep....especially since the weather is horrible and we're not getting outside at all.
This afternoon has been pretty easy as well. Once Kelly left to go back to work for the afternoon, Kaitlynn spent the majority of her time napping on the couch. She absolutely loves one of our cozy blankets and just sleeps the day away on it. I used to get nervous letting her sleep on the couch, but after attempting to put her down at 12:30 for a nap in her bassinet and her waking up, I'm okay with the couch :) Check out a picture:


Snoozing away.....


Willa decided to snooze as well....
1st position of the day.....


2nd position......

The rain continued the rest of today..... we ended up getting around 10 inches of rain. Kelly was planning on working out after work, but the roads were getting horrible, so he headed home instead. We spent the rest of the evening inside, relaxing! Thank goodness our shows are NEW this week! 2 hour season of House came on tonight = fabulous.

Tuesday rolled around and Interstate 285 was CLOSED! If that doesn't sound horrible enough, one of the sections that was closed was surrounding our exit. My mom had planned to come down to "hang out" for 2 days, but it got postponed to Wednesday & Thursday. Now that things are settled down a bit and I don't feel like a nervous wreck 24/7....I can actually enjoy my mom's company! Kaitlynn also had her 1 month appointment with Dr. Smail - yes we ended up changing our PED. I'll explain in one minute.... anyways - she had her 1 month appointment, but I had to call and reschedule for this upcoming Monday - September 28th because there was no way for me to get to the office. The roads going by interstate & back roads were by the Chattahoochee River = flooding. When Kelly & I took Kaitlynn in for her 1st check-up with our pediatrician office, we were scheduled to see Dr. Smail. Dr. Hassel was not available on that Monday. We actually remembered Dr. Smail from her hospital visit & remembered how much we enjoyed meeting her & spending some time talking to her about Kaitlynn while we were at Northside. After our 1st appointment, we decided to continue seeing her for all of Kaitlynn's upcoming appointments. Funny how things change!! I was planning a regular delivery....that changed to a C-Section, I was planning on using Dr. Hassel, and that changed once we met Dr. Smail.... I was planning on breastfeeding only.... well, that changed & we're supplementing a little bit with Enfamil formula as of last night. Explanation??

I called Dr. Smail yesterday and left a voice mail asking her to call back at her convenience. She called me back within 2 hours - I thought that was pretty quick! I had several questions/frustrations with breast feeding Kaitlynn. She breastfed her children so I felt confident speaking with her on the issue. The end result = whether we choose to breastfeed, use expressed breast milk, or choose formula - Kaitlynn will grow up happy & healthy. She has been a breastfed child for 5 weeks now and I wouldn't have changed that for anything. She has gotten what she needs from me especially during the first few weeks. However, Dr. Smail also told me that she supplemented with formula with her own children to give herself some breaks from breastfeeding. This also allowed her to know how much her children were getting food-wise on occassion. It was wonderful talking with her about Kaitlynn's nutrition and our goals for her & her growth & health. Kelly & I spent some time talking about what we'd like to do with our daughter once he got home from work.

Anyways..... last night Kelly tried give her 2 ounces of Enfamil, and half an ounce of breast milk by bottle and I went to bed! I woke up to a "cough" like noise at 2am, and Kaitlynn was still sound asleep so I went into the den and pumped! It had been 6 hours at that point since the last time I fed her, so I went ahead and pumped then headed back to bed. Around 5:30am, we finally started hearing Kaitlynn move, but she wasn't awake. I told Kelly I thought she needed to eat some since this was the first time we tried the formula. It had been about 6-7 hours that she had slept so I thought she needed to eat :) We got her up, she took breast milk, then we both curled up on the couch and slept until 7:30am.

Back to Tuesday...... the rest of our evening went well - we had new shows on again :) NCIS & NCIS - L.A.


How many girls does Kelly have tonight??
One more look?? Look below........


Willa Grace.......
HAHA

Wednesday..... I felt so good this morning after such a great nights sleep! Even though I was a bit nervous twice during the night since Kaitlynn slept so long, I still enjoyed the rest. We're planning on trying the formula again tonight around her 10:00/11:00 feeding.

My mom got into town around 11:30am. She's able to stay until mid-afternoon tomorrow. She has to head back to Greenville to keep Elizabeth Friday morning - Saturday afternoon! My brother and his wife are heading out of town for their much deserved 2-year anniversary trip!


Nana Watson & Kaitlynn - 5 weeks old & sound asleep!





My mom brought with her a different swing for me to try with Kaitlynn. We've tried ours, but it doesn't satisfy her at all which makes the day hard on both Kelly & I. My mom brought us a Cradle Swing and Kaitlynn used it this afternoon for 2 hours! It was wonderful - I was able to fix & eat my lunch, and clean up our bedroom..... pure bliss!


Kaitlynn & her new swing.....
The Cradle Swing


Staring at the birds above :)

After a couple hours were spent sleeping in her new swing, we had some play time which ended up being a little bit TOO much play time.... AKA: Kaitlynn was over-stimulated! We had an extremely long afternoon/night with our daughter after a full hour of play time. She didn't eat well and fought her nap time. We finally got Kaitlynn down around 1:00am this morning.... again, long night! We are definitely going to limit her play time, especially in her brightly colored Play Place for the time being.


Nana Watson & Kaitlynn playing in her Play Place





To end the week on a good note, I had my doctor's appointment this morning (Thursday 9-23-09) and it went very well. I was planning on taking Kaitlynn with me, but we got her to sleep in the swing around 7:30am and I didn't want to wake her just to go to my doctor! My mom ended up staying at the house with her while I was gone. Everything checked out great at the doctor's office - she did tell me to wait one more week on working out. I cannot believe it's been 5 weeks already! I cannot wait for next weekend when I can start the process of running again :) Stress relief....here you come! I also found out I had dropped a few more preggo pounds. I am now down to needing to loose 5 lbs. until I reach my pre-pregnancy weight. Not too shabby! I am hoping to loose a few more than just 5 lbs. once I start working out again :) But, I'll take what I can get! My incision is healing great and is starting to look more like a scar verses a cut.

Week 4....The End to a Great 1st Month!

This week for our family started off with the anticipation of the Clemson/GT football game tonight on ESPN. We decided we would dress Kaitlynn up in her Clemson outfit even though it would be a little big on her! Can't wait for the big game!

Thursday 9/10/09
My mom is heading home later tonight, but I was able to enjoy having her around to keep Kaitlynn so I could get out of the house and run some errands. This afternoon I went by CVS, PetSmart, Toy-R-Us, Barnes & Noble, and Steak & Shake. Kaitlynn did great while I was gone. Once I got home, we headed out on one of our many walks!
Tonight was the big Clemson/GT game.....started out to be an upset, then the Tigers pulled ahead, but lost it in the last 6 minutes of the game! Tough night, but they finally started playing up to their potential. We did get some pictures of Kaitlynn in her Clemson outfit as we cheered on the Tigers.


"Little Clemson Princess"


GO TIGERS!




Clemson Family Photo

Friday 9/11/09 Day 2 of me staying home alone with my two girls. Kaitlynn spent the morning sleeping between each of her feedings. She's getting used to taking naps in her bassinet away from me, which has been great! During her sleep times I've been able to get ready for the day, do some chores, and/or lay down and catch some Zzzz's. This afternoon she was awake for a good little while - I definitely enjoy and savor her awake time - she's so cute to watch and I love sitting around talking to her while she just stares at me! Kelly's parents also came in town tonight for the weekend. We spent the evening just relaxing at home!

Saturday 9/12/09
Kelly and I had a rough evening last night. We know better than to wake Kaitlynn up to eat these days. Yes, the doctors told us to wake her up if it's been 3 hours, but Kaitlynn has a different agenda! She knows exactly when she's ready to eat and doesn't want to eat before that. Kelly and I were ready for bed last night and at 9:30pm it had been 3 hours since she last ate. We decided we'd get her up, feed her, and then put her down for the night - well for another 3-4 hours anyways! Kaitlynn had different ideas.....she barely ate for us at 9:30pm, and cried for the following 4 hours! We finally got her to eat a little bit around 1:30am and got her down about 2:00am. At this point, we were both irritable and extremely tired. Thankfully, Kaitlynn slept well - she ate extremely well at 3:30am and 7:30am. We handed her off to Keith around 8:00am and headed back to bed for another 2 hours of much needed rest. That was the last time we would attempt to "make" her eat at the scheduled 3 hours just so we could get some shut eye!
Today has definitely been a better day. She has eaten and taken her normal naps today so hopefully she'll be well-rested and will sleep good tonight! Anything will be better than last night. Kelly & I headed to Babies-R-Us this afternoon after Kaitlynn ate and let Keith & Donna stay at the house with her. We bought a new glider - the one we had was from my classroom & squeaked....Kaitlynn isn't much of a fan of the squeaking. She is also a fan of laying on her back so we picked up one of the entertainment gyms for her. Our outing was a short one, but an enjoyable one! We relaxed the rest of today and Saturday evening at home with Kelly's parents.

Sunday 9/13/09 Kaitlynn had another long night last night, but not as long as Friday night. She was fussy for about 2 hours before Kelly & I tried some Mylicon Drops. After the drops, she seemed to settle down enough to eat, which resulted in a really GREAT burp, then fast to sleep! Tonight we'll be able to see if it's a consistent occurrence or if Kaitlynn was having a couple of "off" evenings with us. Kelly's parents headed out this morning around 10:00am, but before that Keith cooked us a wonderful breakfast! After Kelly's parents left, we headed out to our church for our Sunday school's tailgate party. We decided to wear Alabama colors since Thursday night we were in Clemson colors. We stayed a little over an hour - it was so wonderful seeing so many of the couples from our class today! We're going to try and attempt to go to Sunday school & service next Sunday. We really miss being at our church and going each week!! This afternoon Kelly spent the day on the couch watching the Atlanta Falcons - great game by the way! Kaitlynn was in a cuddling mood, so her & I spent the afternoon in the bedroom checking out our new glider that Kelly & I bought yesterday. I'm pretty sure we both fell asleep in it. Kaitlynn definitely fell asleep on my chest, but I'm 90% sure I took a "cat" nap. Sunday evening was just as relaxing! Kelly & I took Kaitlynn over to my dad's house for dinner. We were able to spend a few hours over there before we came back home & called it "a night!"


Papa Crawford & Kaitlynn - 3 weeks old


Nana Crawford & Kaitlynn


Our Alabama Family Photo


Kaitlynn's daddy was so proud today!
ROLL TIDE ROLL


Kaitlynn is showing off her "sassy" side!

Monday 9/14/09
Kaitlynn did well last night - she was awake from about 6:30pm - 10:30pm, but finally went down. She wasn't nearly as fussy as the previous two nights, but it did take a lot of trial and error to get her down. I took all of the shifts from 10:30pm on so Kelly could get well-rested for his big outing.
Today was Kelly's first day traveling again, and my 1st day not being able to "cry wolf" and have my husband home within 10 minutes. He headed out around 8:00am for Covington, GA - thankfully just an hour away. Today was pretty relaxing for us three girls - Kaitlynn tried out two new "toys" today! Kelly and I had bought her a Play Place which she really seemed to enjoy since she lays flat on her back. Kaitlynn also tried out tummy time today for the first time as well. I am sure she'll enjoy both more as time goes on! This afternoon we also had a visit from Natalie Berry - she brought us a homemade chicken pot pie - THANK YOU! Kelly made it home around from his meetings in Covington - said that went extremely well. The tough part will be when he has to travel over night :(


Kaitlynn in her Play Place for the 1st time!
She loves to be on her back!




Willa Grace had to check things out!


Tummy Time!


Ready for a nap!


Ahhhh.....sleep!

Tuesday 9/15/09
Today was a tough one! Kaitlynn was awake between most of her feedings with only about 30-45 minutes of nap time. When she's awake this often, she gets quite fussy because she's so sleepy! Kelly came home for lunch and I was able to put Kaitlynn down for about 2 minutes at 11:00 to stick our lasagna in the oven, and then 2 minutes around 12:00 to get our plates ready! The afternoon was pretty good - I just hate to see Kaitlynn get so fussy!!
Once Kelly came home from work, I got out of the house for about 30 minutes to take Willa to the vet. It was a close call because her next feeding would be around 6:00pm - Willa's appointment was at 5:40pm and I got home about 6:20ish. Kaitlynn was definitely ready to eat!!
Once again...we both chose to get some shut eye early around 8:30pm. We'll be able to get some quality time together again once Kaitlynn sleeps longer during the night and we're not getting 2-3 hours of sleep at one time! So.... 8:30pm bed time it is! :)

Wednesday 9/16/09
Today is the day..... the longest day so far without Kelly at home! He had a business dinner tonight and got home around 9:00pm! Thankfully he did make it home for lunch, but I'm still used to him walking in the door around 5:30 to help with Kaitlynn & Willa.
This morning I took advantage of the time that Kaitlynn was down for her naps since yesterday those were few & far between, or at least just short amount of time here and there. I cleaned our kitchen, and started cooking lunch - yes, at 8:30am! It's a lot easier to cook while Kaitlynn is sleeping and then reheat our food at lunch time if needed! Again...doing what I can when I can!
I have been trying to get her into a routine....not the kind of routine you're probably thinking about! Right now, Kaitlynn is being fed on demand. Because she's still so small, I cannot truly get her on a "routine" with her feedings. She usually eats about every 2-3 hours during the day, but if it's an hour later and she's hungry - she gets fed! The doctors told us that she could be experiencing growth spurts here and there which would cause her to eat more often than normal and to not refuse feeding her just to keep to a "schedule." So....that's what we're doing! The "routine" I'd like her to get used to is eat, play, sleep! I know she can't "play" much right now, but playtime = awake time. However, she does have her own ideas during the day which means a lot of awake time & a lot of fussy time!! We're working on it :)
After Kaitlynn woke from her nap, the morning turned a bit rough! She was wide awake for about 3 hours - barely eating, but wanting to eat about every hour. Kelly finally made it home for lunch around 11:30am and stayed until about 1:00pm to help me out. I think I experienced every emotion my body holds within that hour that he was home! Amazingly enough - he always know what's to say to me, how to encourage me, and pull me through the tough times. Like I've said 100 times, I couldn't do this without him!
The afternoon went much smoother! She fell asleep about the time Kelly left for work at 1:00pm and slept straight through our afternoon walk with Willa. She ate around 2:15pm and went down again for another nap!
I had a visit early this evening from one of the couples in our Sunday school class - her husband couldn't make it, but again, Kelly wasn't home either so it was nice to just hang out with another gal. Thanks Michele for stopping by!
Even though today was a tough day, it was also bitter sweet! No matter how many tears I cry and how frustrated I get not knowing why my daughter is crying - she is the apple of my eye.... and so very precious to both Kelly and I. I am so thankful to be at home with her each day! She's truly a blessing in our lives.

Can't believe Kaitlynn is 1 month on Sunday!

Week 3....Lots of Firsts

Happy 3 Weeks!!

Our 3rd week with Kaitlynn started on Thursday, September 3, 2009 - her actual "due date." We are so excited we did not make it until then. We have enjoyed spending time with our daughter and getting to know her cries, sounds, and expressions over the past 2 weeks.

On Friday, the 4th, I experienced a lot of firsts with our daughter. Kelly left for work as normal, but it was a different day - I was absolutely alone with Kaitlynn and no help. The morning went smoothly - she took a long nap after her morning feeding at 8:00am. After she woke up around 11:00am, I noticed she still had a lot of "junk" in her right eye. After wiping it away, after a few minutes it would start accumulating again. I ended up calling our pediatrician who wanted me to take her temperature with a rectal thermometer. I had never done that before which of course made me start crying! Kelly was on his way home so I waited for him before attempting. With his help, we took her temperature and thankfully it was normal. We were scheduled to go to the office at 1:45pm that day. Before heading to the pediatrician, we had to get Kaitlynn in her car seat. I had yet to do this on my own and still didn't want to either. Kelly got her strapped in and we headed out the door. I sat in the back with Kaitlynn while Kelly drove us to the doctor. Thankfully there was nothing seriously wrong with her except for a blocked tear duct. We were given some prescription eye drops to use for the next 5 days. We were also able to get her 2-wk. weight appointment done as well. She made it to her birth weight and actually continued gaining weight! As of Friday, September 4th, Kaitlynn weighed 6lbs. 10oz. All of my worries and fears with breastfeeding are gone! God answered my prayers and calmed my fears as soon as I saw how much she had gained. I am so excited that our daughter is so close to the 7lb. mark. She's growing!!

Kelly decided to drive himself to work after the appointment, which meant I would be driving our daughter home from his office = another first. Friday was my first day driving Kaitlynn around. I also went back and got Kelly from work after his day was over. I mastered the car seat, and getting it in the car! I also feel very comfortable driving miss Kaitlynn around and look forward to the many outings we'll have together!

Our first Labor Day Weekend with Kaitlynn started off very relaxing! I headed out to pick up dinner from Longhorn and some prescriptions for both Kaitlynn & I. We ended up renting State of Play from On Demand to watch on Friday evening. It felt like old times being able to relax at home with my husband on a Friday evening. Kaitlynn snuggled up with her daddy, and Willa Grace did the same with me during the last half of the movie before the 4 of us headed to bed. Everyone slept GREAT on Friday night even though by 6am, Kaitlynn was awake for one of her 2-hour sessions. However, my amazing husband got up with her and let me sleep until 8:30am - her next feeding time.

Saturday was spent enjoying more time together. We had an amazing breakfast - Blueberry EGGO waffles, watched Man vs. Wild (Kelly's idea), enjoyed some company from David, Michelle, & Riley McGinnis, took Willa Grace & Kaitlynn (for the 1st time) walking, and of course watched tons of football - GEORGIA and ALABAMA. Unfortunately, Kaitlynn wasn't able to wear her Clemson & Alabama outfits yet, but she should be able to wear them closer to the end of football season!! However, Kaitlynn wore NB pants for the first time today! They are still a little big on her in the legs, but finally fit her tiny waist! She also had a huge appetite all day on Saturday & throughout the "sleep" hours....she wanted to eat every 2 hours, sometimes ever 1.5 hours!! She got herself back on her 3-hr. feeding by Sunday late morning though. Saturday's feeding wore me out - I think that's all I did all day & night - feed our daughter :)


Kelly & Kaitlynn - 1st time in pants!


Kaitlynn in an outfit other an just a onesie!


"More pictures??"


Practicing the Pledge - getting ready for sports games with her Daddy!!

Sunday was quite relaxing as well. We had some Pillsbury Biscuits for breakfast before heading outside to take Kaitlynn on a walk for the first time! We would have gone for a walk sooner, but with my C-Section, walking more than inside the house has been a challenge. Kaitlynn did great!! She was in & out of sleep during our walk - didn't fuss at all. She had just been fed, so I'm sure being content and full helped! :) Willa Grace did well also - she went about the walk as normal finding sticks and pine cones to play with. Our normal 15 minute loop inside our complex took us about 25 minutes since I cannot walk very fast these days. After walking Kaitlynn & Willa, we came inside and decided to finally try out her swing. She did really well especially since we added her double headrest in it to support her head since she's still so small. She stayed in it for 45 minutes for her first time and went straight to sleep!! I'm so glad she's gaining weight and slowly getting bigger than "preemie" size so we can do some things with her outside of just holding her and using her bassinet. Kelly grilled out some hamburgers for lunch - a nice way to spend some time over Labor Day Weekend!! We spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. We're slowly getting used to getting out and doing things with Kaitlynn - definitely different though, but a good different!!


Getting ready for our walk!


Mommy & Kaitlynn - ready for our walk!


Willa Grace waiting very patiently for our walk!


Kaitlynn trying out her swing for the 1st time


Up close & personal

Sunday afternoon & evening were a bit rough for both Kelly and I. We believe that Kaitlynn was experiencing one of her "growth spurts" and going through cluster feeding where she wanted to eat every hour or so. This was hard on me since she is breastfed, but we managed & made it through. She also didn't sleep at all yesterday afternoon from about 5:00pm - 12:30am so she could have also been just completely exhausted = where all her fussiness was coming from. Thankfully, God blessed us with a good nights rest - she ate about ever 3.5 hours throughout the evening which allowed us to get some much needed rest.

Monday rolled around - we actually stayed in the bed asleep until 9:00am! Of course we were up throughout the night with Kaitlynn's feedings around 12:30am, 3:00am, and 6:00am. But, it was nice rolling over for the last time and seeing that it was 9:00am before finally getting out of the bed! Kaitlynn also spent most of the morning sleeping between her feedings. We took her out again around 10:00am for a walk around our complex. It's definitely been nice getting out once or twice a day with Kelly and walking our two baby girls. Today was also our first "restaurant" outing with our daughter. We were planning on going to Chick-Fil-A for their free sandwich if you were in your sports apparel, but once we got there it was ridiculously crowded! There were absolutely no seats, so we headed across the street and ate at Willie's Mexican. Kaitlynn did great - she slept in her car seat the entire time. It probably helped that she had just eaten before we left :) Kelly spent Monday afternoon sleeping while I played with Kaitlynn! She actually stayed in her swing for an hour that afternoon - the longest session we've had of swing time so far! She's slowly getting used to other things besides being held or sleeping in her bassinet. Later that evening we had a visit from Amy Anderson from our Sunday School class - we missed seeing Nick! They are due early December with a little girl! After Amy left, we some some of the dinner she brought - Mexican Chicken Casserole....*AMAZING* and then headed out for another walk with the girls. After Kelly gave Kaitlynn her evening bath, we spent the rest of our Monday evening relaxing on the couch & watching the golf match that Kelly DVRed that afternoon.


Kaitlynn's 1st submerged bath!! She enjoys it now that she stays warm!


Kaitlynn after her bath


Special time with daddy!

Labor Day Weekend slowly came to an end! I always hate seeing our long weekends come to an end...I enjoy having Kelly at home so much! Kaitlynn did well again (crossing fingers) sleeping on Monday night - she ate around 12:00am, 3:00am, and 6:30am. I'm not sure how long babies take before they start sleeping even just an hour longer, but Kelly & I are definitely looking forward to that at some point!

Tuesday 9-8-09 was my "official" day at home alone with my two girls. Last Friday was supposed to be my first time, but things happened - Kelly was home by 11:30am - and my "first day" alone ended quickly. However, Tuesday did end up being my first day alone. Kaitlynn napped until 10:00am, I fed her, and then took my two girls out for a walk. YES - both Kaitlynn & Willa. Kaitlynn was in her stroller and I had Willa on her leash. No worries - I did try this over the weekend with Kelly so I did have some practice underneath me. However, I walked them during a time when most people in our complex with dogs were at work, so it worked out pretty well...until the unexplainable happened! As we were almost back to our house, Willa's leash snapped in TWO! Yes...TWO! She was detached from my hand. Thankfully she was confused with what just happened and didn't move. I had to push the stroller and walk her by the collar back to our home. Luckily we had another leash on hand - an older one until I could get out in the next few days to pick up a new one. After our walk, Kaitlynn had some "swing" time - she was wide awake from 10:45 - 12:00, so she got into her swing for about 45 minutes before Kelly got home for lunch. He came home around noon for lunch - it was great seeing him as always. He loves coming home and being able to spend an hour during his work day with his three girls. That afternoon, Kaitlynn & I headed to see daddy at work! Everyone in Kelly's office was so excited to see her. Kaitlynn ended up sleeping all night from about 6:00pm - the next morning which gave Kelly and I some time to spend together!


In the car - heading to Kelly's office!


Proud daddy!
*Kaitlynn slept the entire time at his office!!*

Wednesday rolled around and my mom came back down for the night.


Nana Watson & Kaitlynn - 3 weeks old!





I took Kaitlynn & Willa walking around 10:00am and then after her 11:00am feeding, we headed to Panera for lunch, then a trip to the bank. Kaitlynn did great again being out in public after her feeding. We've learned that that's the best way to get out with her for about an hour or so - feed, then leave :) I got a "cat" nap in for an hour in the afternoon, then headed out to dinner with Kelly for a date night! We went to Atkins Park which is where we first met. It was so nice finally getting out just the two of us. We were gone for 1.5 hours and Kaitlynn did great at home with Nana Watson! We forgot how much we'd missed spending time together over the past several weeks, and how hard it has been to even spend time talking to each other at home with Kaitlynn. Right now she takes up every ounce of our time and we revolve around her since she's not yet into a routine. It was so wonderful spending time with my husband and just sitting around talking for a while!


Ready to go out!
*1st date night without our daughter*
(Thanks Nana Watson!)

**Kaitlynn ate at 10:00pm, 2:00am, and 7:00am**This is the best she's done yet and we were thrilled!**


Willa's normal night-time position!!
*Precious*


Love my baby girl

Thursday.....Happy 3 weeks to Kaitlynn!!
My mom is staying until tonight - around 7:00pm or so once traffic dies down. I'm planning on getting out of the house and running a few errands this afternoon while she stays at home with Kaitlynn. Clemson plays Georgia Tech tonight here in Atlanta....big game!!

Here are a few extra pictures from this past week!!


Heading out for one of our daily walks!


Nana Watson walking Willa Grace


Mommy & Kaitlynn


Hanging out!