Weekend Update

We found out Friday that Billy will be going to Ohio for work on Monday (today). We're not too thrilled about it, but I guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do. The plan is for him to be away 2 weeks, home for the weekend, then away 1 week, home for the weekend... for several months. I'm anxious about having to do all of this alone... taking care of the baby, the house, the animals, etc. Billy is such a huge help around here and I'm worried I'll be a frazzled mess when he gets back. Hopefully Kaylin and I will quickly fall into a routine that works for us. We got a web cam so we can all chat, so maybe that will help us feel connected. We spent the weekend mainly getting ready for his trip.

Kaylin sat in her Bumbo seat for the first time the other day. I think she enjoys sitting up.

She tried rice cereal Friday night. We tried to feed it to her with a spoon, but we quickly found out she still has the "tongue thrust reflex." She kept trying to push the spoon out of her mouth. We 're going to wait a couple of weeks before trying again.

I've mentioned that Kaylin likes to watch TV while I get ready for work. I got a video of her watching Elmo. For obvious reasons, I've named this clip "Penguin."

On Sunday. Kaylin took her first nap in her crib! I was so proud of her -and me! I turned on her Bob Marley lullabies CD, rocked her until she was just about out, then put her down. Presto! She slept for about 45 minutes... and I probably checked on her about 8 times. :) For now, it's still much easier to keep her in the bed with us at night because I'm nursing, but maybe she'll start napping in the crib during the day.

Kaylin Goes to the Beach!

We had an amazing time on our road trip! Kaylin was an excellent baby - she is so laid back and just goes with the flow. Here's a summary...

Thursday night after work we drove down to Albany to spend the night with the grandparents. On the way, Kaylin visited her first rest stop after having a seriously messy diaper. We got to Albany around 11pm and visited with g-ma and g-pa until about 12:30 when we all crashed. No pictures of this visit due to the late hour, but, as usual, it was great to see them. We got up early Friday morning and were on the road at 7am.

I must still be all hormonal from having Kaylin because I teared up when we crossed into Florida. Billy looked at me and said, "Seriously?" Ha. I was surprised to be welling up, too, but it was a big deal. My baby's first time in Florida! We went to see Kaylin's other grandpa (we need another name for one of the grandpas... suggestions?) before heading out to Kelly's condo. He hasn't seen Kaylin since she was 1 week old! It was great to see him and catch up.

When we got out to the condo, the weather was nasty so we just chilled for a while. The weather channel made it sound like we weren't going to have any good weather the whole time we were there, but luckily that wasn't the case. We went out for pizza later that night. I'm trying to forget that I dropped a warm pepperoni on Kaylin's leg while nursing her and eating. I feel like a tool. Maybe I should stop multi-tasking.

The weather was still gloomy on Saturday, but that didn't stop Billy from putting on his swim trunks first thing. (Ha! Love you baby!) We got Kaylin in her bathing suit and went out for a bit. Since it was so nasty and I didn't plan on staying out long, I didn't put on any sunscreen. Big mistake. Kelly's over there slathering on tan accelerator and I'M the one who gets fried. I was only out for 30 minutes, then applied SPF 30 and went back out for another 30 minutes. Ugh. Anyway, Kaylin had on SPF 55 and was under her shade for most of the time. (unless she was nursing) She played for a little while but mainly napped in her car seat. We didn't put her in the pool because the water was pretty chilly. Maybe next time. It was really windy but we did walk down to the beach and dipped Kaylin's toes in the water for the first time.

We went out to eat at The Crab Shack later and had some fantastic seafood. I ate about 2 lbs of crab legs and Billy had a shrimp po-boy. Yum! Kaylin demanded a feeding when we arrived, so while I nursed in the back seat of the car, Billy and Kelly had a drink at the bar. Thank goodness Kaylin didn't need to eat during dinner - my hands were covered in crab and melted butter!


We finally got to spend some time out on the beach Sunday! We set up the tent so Kaylin and I could stay out of the sun. She played for a little while then nursed and fell asleep. (Are you seeing a pattern here? We nursed all over the place...the pool, the beach, restaurants...) We (and by "we" I mean Kelly) cooked a great dinner - boiled shrimp, corn, potatoes and hush puppies - and ate it outside. Good times!



After dinner, we took a walk on the beach. It was so nice ... soft sand under our toes and a nice breeze coming off the water. Kaylin was oblivious - she fell asleep as we left the condo. Sweet baby. :) When we got back, Billy packed up most of our stuff so we could get an early start for our drive back home.

Kaylin was a good baby on the way back, but we could tell she was getting tired of being in her car seat. We stopped a couple of times so I could nurse and change her, then again to have some lunch. By the time we got on GA 400 she was DONE with being in the car.

I'm proud of us for doing a road trip with a baby this small. Was it a challenge? Definitely. Was it different than our previous beach trips? Absolutely. But would we have rather stayed at home? Not a chance!

We're home!

Of course our beach trip didn't last long enough (does it ever?!) but we had a wonderful time. I'll tell you about our trip tomorrow, but for now here's one of Kaylin looking adorable...

Oh, and she's 16 weeks old today!

Beach Bound!

We'll be back on Monday with lots and lots of pictures to post!

Happy Memorial Day!

The latest

There hasn't been much to report. I was sick all last week. I stayed home from work on Tuesday, came home early on Wednesday, and stayed home on Thursday. I made Billy come home early on Thursday so I could go to the doctor without Kaylin. I got some antibiotics and am finally feeling better - hopefully I'll be back to normal in time for our beach trip this weekend.

We went to our friends Meaghan and Brian's house yesterday to celebrate their son's 2nd birthday party. They did a great job and everyone seemed to have a great time. You could feel the love in the room for that little boy. It was really sweet. I hope Kaylin's first birthday has the same feeling. Kaylin was a good girl - I think she was overwhelmed with everything that was going on. Her little jelly shoes were a hit.

We're really looking forward to our trip to the beach this weekend. The plan is to spend the Thursday night with the grandparents then do the rest of the drive early Friday morning. We'll go see my dad Friday when we get in and spend the rest of the time on the beach. I'm sure this beach trip will be much different than ones in the past now that we have a baby, (apparently she can't stay on the beach all day?!!) but we're still excited.

Here are some random pictures...

Mommy's blogging again:

Stretch!

After bath:

Have a good week!

She laughed!

Kaylin laughed out loud for the first time on Thursday! It was the most amazing sound! I had just changed her diaper and was kissing her belly and she let out the loudest giggle. It was so funny!! I tried to call Billy so he could hear it too, but I got his voicemail and couldn't get her to do it again anyway. Luckily, she laughed for him yesterday. He tried to get it on video so we could post it, but I guess she doesn't like to laugh on command. Hopefully we'll get it on video soon so you can hear it. :)

Mommy's sick.

I stayed home from work today because I feel like crap. Kaylin is home with me and she's been pretty good about letting me lay around and sleep, although I have to say it's much harder to rest now that I'm a mommy. Sick days used to include sleeping, taking medicine and watching TV. Now a little person needs my attention whether I feel up to it or not. Daddy should be home soon!

Cinco de Mayo & Mother's Day

This week has been a total blur! With our crazy long commutes and interrupted sleep, I just didn't get around to posting. Here I am now, though! I've been told I don't post enough pictures, so I'm going to try to add more. Although... are there ever enough pictures for grandparents?! ;)

We didn't have anything planned for last weekend, so this is pretty much all we did:

It was nice, especially since all it did was rain.

Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo, so we went to our local Mexican restaurant for cheese dip and margaritas. Yum! Kaylin slept through most of it even though the place was pretty loud. When we left, she decided she was hungry even though she had recently eaten, so I nursed her in the parking lot. When baby's hungry, baby eats!

On Thursday, I had a meltdown because I had to give Kaylin formula for the first time. She usually eats 16 oz. while at school and I've only been able to pump about 13 oz. each day. I've had milk stocked in the freezer to make up for the extra few ounces, but we ran out this week. So... on Thursday and Friday, she had breast milk mixed with formula. She was fine, but I've pumped a lot this weekend so (hopefully!) I can avoid giving her any more formula. I've upped my water intake and started taking an herb to help me produce more milk. Fingers crossed!

On Friday, Kaylin stayed home with Daddy while I went to work. Grandma and Grandpa came up for a visit, and Billy and Kaylin met them for lunch. It was her first time going out for sushi! I was bummed I couldn't join them, but was happy there was a California roll waiting for me at home. We enjoyed having them over!

On Saturday, we went down to Newnan to celebrate cousin Amber's graduation and Uncle Dick's birthday. We took over a section of La Parilla for about 3 hours, and no, I'm not exaggerating. It was so nice to see everyone. Kaylin was worn out after being passed around so much!

With Aunt Pam:

With Amber:

With Grandpa:

Kaylin's not in this picture (obviously) but it was too funny not to include. Uncle Dick & Caroline:
With Uncle Dick & Grandma:

With Mommy & Daddy:

With Aunt Molly:

Today is my first Mother's Day. I woke up to two cards (one from Kaylin, one from Billy) that of course made me cry. Billy cooked grits and eggs and chocolate chip pancakes for me - yum! As I sit here typing with a sleeping baby in my lap, I am overwhelmed by how much I love this little girl and how thankful I am to be her mommy. We went through so much to accomplish our goal of starting a family and now that she's here - healthy and happy - all I can think is that she was so worth it. I love you, sweet pea.