It's a New Year!

How exciting! Kaitlynn experienced her first New Year's Eve on Friday, December 31st! How did we celebrate it with her?? Kaitlynn went to bed at 8:00pm, and Kelly & I went to bed at 9:30pm! Kelly & I have not seen a New Year's Eve since we were dating in 2007. New Years day has always been very special to both of us - especially me! Kelly proposed to me on New Years day 2008. I got my precious Willa Grace, a beautiful ring on my finger, and an amazing husband-to-be! What an exciting day that was.

A recap from the past year of our life........

JANUARY 2009:

Announcing our pregnancy to family and friends, and our 1st ultrasound

FEBRUARY 2009:

Chris & Angi's baby boy is born

MARCH 2009:

Willa's first snow

APRIL 2009:

Trip to Callaway Gardens, found out we were having a baby girl, and my 25th birthday!

MAY 2009:

Kelly's 31st birthday, finished teaching for a long while

*no picture*

JUNE 2009:

Baby showers in Atlanta & Greenville, Anniversary trip to Gatlinburg

JULY 2009:

Kristin & Shea's wedding, and our niece - Elizabeth - is born!

AUGUST 2009:

Our daughter, Kaitlynn Leane is born

SEPTEMBER 2009:

Visits from our families & friends to meet our daughter, & Kaitlynn turning 1 month old

OCTOBER 2009:

Kaitlynn's 1st Halloween!

NOVEMBER 2009:

Our 1st Thanksgiving as a family of 4

DECEMBER 2009:

Our 1st Christmas as a family of 4

This year, Kelly, Kaitlynn, Willa Grace and I all loaded up into the car New Years morning and headed to Columbia, S.C. to spend the weekend with Eric, Blythe, Hendrix, Maddax, & Gracie! We had such a good time with them over the weekend. David & Sally Ann brought Abigail up for the day on Friday as well. It was a full house, but definitely an enjoyable one! The guys watched football all day, and does anyone know what us ladies did?? Right! We talked about our precious babies! Blythe & Eric had the neat idea of having a fondue dinner, and thankfully David & Sally were able to stay long enough to eat with everyone!

Playtime with the babies! Hendrix - 2 months, Kaitlynn - 4 months, Abigail - 5 months

All the new parents & the babies!!

Using Hendrix's Pod. We bought Kaitlynn a Bumbo seat the next day!

Time with our baby girl.

Eric had to go to a wedding Saturday in Greenville, so Blythe, Hendrix, Kelly, Kaitlynn & I headed out to McAlisters for lunch, and then to Target for some shopping & Starbucks coffee. Kelly & I purchased a Bumbo seat for Kaitlynn. She's sooo tiny as it is, that she needs all the support in everyway possible to help her strengthen those back & neck muscles while sitting. It has been a great purchase so far! After Eric got home - Jeremy, Karen & Maggie all came over for dinner on Saturday evening! Kelly & I haven't seen them since this past summer when we were pregnant, so it was wonderful getting to catch up with them! Kaitlynn went to bed before they got to Eric & Blythe's house, but woke up around 9:30pm so they were able to see her for a few minutes before heading back home.

We headed out early Sunday morning - around 8:30am - Kaitlynn did great on the 3-hour trip down to Columbia during her morning nap time, that we wanted to make sure we drove back at the same time! Kaitlynn did great in a new location, especially after the busy holiday season we just had! We did experience some irritability & fussiness - however, Dr. Smail told us at our 4-month well visit that she was quite sure Kaitlynn was in the teething stage. We're not sure how long it'll take her to go through both stages for us to see teeth, but we have bought several things to help ease the soreness!

I took Kaitlynn by Sweet Apple ES on Monday after her morning nap. My old co-workers hadn't met Kaitlynn yet. Since she was born right before flu season hit, I decided to wait until at least 3 months to take her into an Elementary school. After she got so sick with bronchiolitis, I made the decision to wait until their January teacher workday! From what I remember, the cleaning staff comes in over the holiday break, and there are no kids in the building for 2 weeks! So, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take her while it's as germ free as possible. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone again - hadn't been by the school since July! Everyone loved meeting Kaitlynn as well.

It's been so cold, that I decided to keep all of us girls at home on Tuesday! After going nonstop throughout the holidays & New Year, it was nice to be at home. However, by Wednesday morning I was ready to get back out and do some things with Kaitlynn! It's amusing to me that I didn't feel comfortable going anything for the first 6-8 weeks (Kaitlynn was SO little....), but now we have to do something at least 3 times a week during the work week! Kaitlynn took her morning nap very early on Wednesday morning, which resulted in her taking three naps instead of two! In between her three naps, we headed to Target, and had a free estimate taken from a cleaning company! With the new year already here, and our house on the market, Kelly & I decided to have our home deep cleaned! I do all the cleaning, but it really takes time to get down on your hands & knees to thoroughly clean a home! We are heading out the next two days as well - not sitting at home all day until next week! Tomorrow (Thursday) is our MOMS playgroup, and then Friday is our MOMS Club Meeting! YEA for being around other moms!

LEFT: One of Kaitlynn's favorite past times - playing with her feet!

RIGHT: **Does someone want to be rocked to sleep??**

Our two baby girls!

Bumbo seat time! Anyone else find this picture of Willa pretty funny??

Kaitlynn is finally back to taking around 4oz. at each feeding! She's actually taking more than 4.0oz some days! We hit the 5oz. mark on Tuesday 1-5-09! We'll see if it becomes a pattern for her to take that much every 4 hours. She is also sleeping 8-10 hours at night before waking up. We are finally getting back to where we were before she got so sick. She was sleeping 10-12 hours without waking up! We're getting there!

On top of the changes with her eating & sleeping patterns, Kaitlynn is still mostly taking two naps a day now, with the exception of taking three naps some days! It's completely up to her each day based on how many naps she needs! It's nice being able to be so flexible with her routine! Kaitlynn has now found her feet! Not only does she turn herself in circles on the floor, and roll to both sides, but she loves to grab onto her feet. Our precious daughter is full of smiles and laughter, much more now than before! Her smile melts our hearts, especially Kelly's! She still hates laying on her tummy, however we do spend some time with her on her tummy each day! She is doing much better arching her back, and starting to use her arms to help her push up - progress! However, we have realized that the best time to try tummy time with her is after a nap! She definitely doesn't do well on her stomach if she's tired. Kelly and I still think Kaitlynn has started teething, just no signs of teeth yet. We'll keep you updated!

Wednesday 1-6-09 marks the first day that Kaitlynn used syllables! She said "mmmm mum mum" twice tonight as I was putting her to bed! It was too cute! Kelly was even able to hear her say it once as well. We cannot wait for her to start using more syllables in her babbling!

Lastly...... why in the world is the south SO cold?? Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

4.5 months old!