Seven Months

Aside from being St. Patrick's Day, yesterday was also Kate's seven month birthday. She had a couple of green beers to celebrate. More of the pictures we've taken in the last month are available on our picture site...I uploaded almost a hundred new ones:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate6Months

Kate's been going strong for the last month, and she just gets cuter every day. Someone told me the other day that nine months old is the pinnacle of child cuteness, and that it just goes downhill from there. If so, I'm really looking forward to the next two months. Obviously we are incredibly biased, but we also hear all about how sweet she is from random people we run into in restaurants and stores. Beyond her appearance, her personality is fantastic (if I do say so myself). She spends a good portion of her day smiling and laughing, she's very well-behaved and mellow, and even her worst outbursts are generally very manageable. She's definitely not frustration free, but we've been very lucky.

We've continued introducing Kate to new "solid" foods, though solid is somewhat of a misnomer. After steaming and blending various fruits and vegetables, they all end up as a similar consistency, and it's far from solid. At this point, Kate's tried sweet potatoes, peas, peaches, pears, green beans, butternut squash, avocado, banana, prunes, and oatmeal. I say "tried" because not all of them were a success. The banana was a little too solid, avocado was less than a hit, and the peas were interesting all around. When D made fresh peas, Kate had a grimace on her face through her entire meal. The second time she tried them, she gagged enough to make herself vomit....it was a real Exorcist moment. I think perhaps the flavor was too strong, because she doesn't mind Gerber's version of organic green peas. D has made almost all her food from fresh, organic ingredients, but peaches aren't in season and Kate's been clear on her pea preference.

With the new food comes some new challenges. Aside from steaming, blending, storing, freezing, thawing, and feeding, we also have to worry about what comes later. Sweet potatoes are, shall we say, a constipating influence.....maybe that's what they mean by "solid" foods. We've read about several analogies for what diaper contents are supposed to (or not supposed to) look like....peanut butter, Tootsie rolls, rabbit droppings, etc. [Author's note: I just realized how disgusting this conversation is. I apologize for my candor regarding random parenting issues and I hope you're not eating while you read this, but I will continue.] We've been playing catch-up with Kate's digestive system. When she gets backed up, we give her extra fruit and bottles with a prune juice/water mixture. Then she clears up and we go back to a normal menu.....and then the cycle starts all over again. We'd rather not give her natural laxatives all the time, so we're still trying to figure out the right balance.

Kate still isn't crawling, but she's definitely more mobile every day. After setting her on a blanket on the floor, she could end up several feet in any direction. Most of the movement is turning, reaching for things, and rolling over.....it's a little bit of controlled chaos. She's much more dexterous with her hands, and enjoys grabbing at anything in reach (even in stores, from her stroller or shopping cart). She's even reaching for the camera when I take close-up shots...the other day she caught the strap and tried to reel me in. You can see a couple of her reaching/playing poses in the pictures....here's one.

It's softball season again, and though D is only teaching every other day and has Kate to worry about in the afternoons, she's trying to help out as much as possible. She goes to practice after school on work days, and has gone in a couple of times on her day off. There was a tournament last weekend, and we packed up Kate and headed out to Poway for a couple of games. Kate enjoys seeing all the other people in the stands and interacting with the softball girls, though she doesn't pay much attention to the game itself. She especially liked the four year-old brother of one of the girls, and he enjoyed Kate as well.....he followed us around all day. Check out what a great time Kate was having...

I had to go to Hawaii for work last week.....and I can already hear you now, "Oh you had to, did you? You poor baby." Trust me, it sounds more glamorous than it really is, and the majority of my time there was spent in meetings in basements of government buildings. Of the four full days I was gone, I had two short afternoons to actually enjoy myself. Fortunately, I was on Maui at the time, and it was my first time there....I was able to go whale watching one day and take a drive on the Road to Hana the next. I might post some whale pictures in a few days.

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be about me. I was away from home for four days, and Kate managed to change while I was gone. Her face looked a little bit different when I got back...it's much harder to see the changes when you're with her every day. She also learned to fake-cough and fake-laugh. She'll start to "cough" and then it will turn into a little chortle. It's still very cute, though I can see us getting tired of it over the course of the next couple of months. She also has plenty of genuine smiling/laughing moments....when I catch her eye from across a room, when she sees Willow, when she looks in a mirror, when we play peekaboo, when we clap and cheer (for anything), and even when she sees a picture of herself. Looking through pictures on my computer the other day, she noticed herself and started laughing...it's hilarious.

Kate used to enjoy herself just a bit when we put her on the ground on a blanket, and only as long as we put a toy right in front of her. She's now getting a little more independent and a lot more mobile, and she can sit up unassisted for long periods of time. She'll reach out and grab any of her toys and play with them for a while, so we've tried to offer her a variety of playthings. I bought an electric keyboard on Woot a couple of weeks ago, and pair of bongos a week before that. Since banging on anything in reach is another favorite pastime, Kate has turned into a pro. Maybe we'll post a video sometime soon.

We want to expose Kate to as many new experiences as possible, and also take advantage of the great weather we're having in San Diego. The "winter" storms seem to have passed for now, and last weekend was gorgeous...we decided to go to the beach to take some pictures. Kate really enjoyed sitting in the sand and playing with it. She squished it between her fingers, dug down into it, grabbed handfuls to "throw," and even tried to stick it into her ear. Fortunately, we minded the ear (it didn't get all the way inside) far less than when she tried to put it in her mouth. She got a tiny taste, and realized pretty quickly that it doesn't have the best flavor. She mostly avoided her mouth after that. There are a lot more on the picture site, but here's one shot:

Even with the great weather, the California Current ensures that our ocean water will be freezing, and it definitely felt that way when we waded in a bit. However, we wanted Kate to feel the water, so we dipped her feet in. She was definitely intrigued by the waves, and didn't seem to care about the cold at all. As the water lapped at her legs and feet, she smiled and laughed....success!

Sleeping is still going well, and we've only had to go comfort her once or twice since we focused on it a month ago. In fact, we've been putting her to bed even earlier, around 6:30pm, and she continues to sleep until 6am. When she wakes up earlier, she's usually able to keep herself entertained in her crib until we come to get her. Naps are still more of a challenge, but we're glad that she's getting enough sleep at night....it helps with her mood, because a tired baby is not a happy baby.

It's been a busy year so far, and it appears the spring and summer will be even busier. We're already looking forward to get-togethers (like Easter), vacations (Phoenix, Mammoth, etc), and other fun summer events. D and I are looking into heading back to Bora Bora (one of the stops on our honeymoon cruise). I have enough airline miles and hotel points that the transportation and lodging should be cheap/free, so we can't pass up the opportunity. We haven't booked it yet, but we're excited by the idea.

It's been a long time since I've written this much on a blog post....thanks to D for picking up the slack. I'd like to start posting more, but they might be shorter and less encyclopedic entries. I want to be able to post quick thoughts as well, since not everyone is on Facebook and I'm not a Twitter fan. So, if you can handle lighter comments on more mundane subjects, we'll try it out. Until then, I hope everyone's well!

Snuggle Bunny

Now that Kate is six months old she wants to be on the move constantly. If she is awake, she wiggles and squirms and tries her hardest to go exploring. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when she can actually crawl. I don't expect to be able to sit much as I presume she will do laps around our living room and try her best to get in to everything.

Every so often, though, she still will spend some cuddle time with us on the couch or in bed. There's nothing better than having a warm baby next to you and a loyal puppy at your knees. Here are some of our favorite pics of Kate in her quieter moments.

Kate and mommy relaxing on the couch.

Aren't I the cutest baby ever?

Daddy, can you please stop snoring? We are trying to sleep here!

Even Auntie L loves to cuddle with Kate.

Six Month Update

Can you believe it has been six months already? Half a year has gone by but it feels like just a few short weeks ago that we were bringing home our helpless nine pound newborn. In those early days of sleepless nights it was at times challenging to see the light at the end of the sleep-eat-diaper, sleep-eat-diaper tunnel. Fortunately, it seems like we have emerged and we are really loving being parents (well maybe except for the early mornings- we are NOT morning people!).

Kate is becoming such a funny, happy wiggle worm. She seems to always be on the move and not satisfied sitting still on the couch. Whether it is lunging after Willow or bouncing in her bouncy chair, Kate is a bundle of energy. From what my mom tells me, she is already taking after me as I was always on the move when I was young.

J started a new folder of pictures from 6 months on. You can check a few new pics here. It has only been a few days, though, so check back in a few weeks for more 6 month pics.

We have been working hard on our sleeping- stayed tuned for a cute blog about napping in the next day or so. J and I are lovers of sleep, not that we expect Kate to follow suit right away. We do realize that she is a baby and thus won't sleep in until noon. So, we all have been working on altering our sleep patterns. That said, Kate has always been a great sleeper. Ever since we moved her out of our room at around 2 months, she has slept at least 6 hours a night. Fortunately for us, she has slept through the night for the last few months. I guess that is one of the great things about having a larger baby, though my back would disagree. We have had a few hiccups lately, so tried a little gentle Ferberizing the other night. Night number 2 was slightly painful, but Kate gave up and went to sleep after about 30 minutes. Ever since, she has slept all night without really crying. Let's hope it sticks because she seemed very happy this morning! Naps are a whole different story that I won't get into right now.

Kate has really made huge leaps in her motor development. She can roll over in both directions and sit unassisted for a decent amount of time. She even seems to be trying to get her crawling legs underneath her. I wouldn't be surprised if she was up and cruising in the next few weeks. We have found her in countless places in her crib, and we have no idea how she ends up in some of the positions we find her in when we go to pick her up in the morning.

One of the exciting aspects of Kate sitting up is her ability to sit in a high chair at the table with us. She seems to really love being able to look around and take in everything. She also loves throwing her toys on the floor so that mommy and daddy have to go find them. We'll be looking for a solution to that endearing yet slightly annoying game in the near future.

Kate had her six month appointment this week. She passed with flying colors. She is a gigantic 22 pounds 8 ounces and 28.5 inches long. She is significantly above the 100% line for both height and weight but technically 120% doesn't exist so she is classified in the 100th percentile. It seems like she has slowed down a bit so we hope we will be able to keep her current set of clothes for awhile.

Speaking of clothes, Kate just transitioned into her newest set of clothes. We are starting her on her set of 12 month outfits. Yes, our 6 month old wears 12 month clothes. We expected a big girl as daddy is 6'4", but we never expected her to race through her clothes as quickly as she has done to this point. Hopefully, this set will last a bit longer as she starts to be more active.

In addition to the routine check up and icky shots (don't worry, she only cried for about 5 seconds) Kate got the green light to start some real solids. Kate has been eating rice cereal once a day for two months now, but we are now ready to open her up to a whole world of food and we are pretty excited. I got a wonderful gift from my sister for Christmas and I have already put it to good use on Kate's first set of food.

J affectionately calls it the BabycookER, but it is the Babycook and it is an all-in-one steamer, blender, and defroster to make baby food. Our first trial was sweet potatoes. I made a few batches, and now we have a few days worth of fresh, organic food for our little eater. I am really hoping I have the energy to keep up making baby food at home. It was really easy and I am loving my Christmas gift (thanks Auntie L!).

We have eaten sweet potatoes for two days and Kate seems to be somewhat satisfied with them thus far. She doesn't seem to LOVE them, but she ate them nonetheless. I hate sweet potatoes - a distaste which I hope not to pass on to Kate - so I started her out with them early. I can be a picky eater at times - don't even get fish near me - and I really want to eradicate that trait in Kate. We're really looking forward to introducing her to some of our favorites over the next few months.

Finally, a funny picture for those of you who made it to the end of this long update. Kate has found her tongue, lips, and mouth recently. Her new favorite pastime is sucking on her lips. She looks like an old grandma with no teeth. We keep telling her to put her dentures in, but she doesn't seem to get the message.

When You're the Best of Friends

Happy belated Valentine's Day. We hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones.

J and I had a wonderful combination Valentine's and birthday (mine) celebration. Grandma K came down to watch Miss Kate for the night and we headed downtown for an overnight celebration. We checked in at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, relaxed and watched a little Olympic coverage, then got ready for dinner. We had a lovely dinner at Morton's downtown. To cap off our romantic evening, we did what every parent longs for on her birthday. We went to bed and slept until 11am; we even asked for a late check out. It was a well-needed break from babyville. Though, we were happy to see Kate later this afternoon after some catch-up on our sleep.

Now for a Kate update. J has uploaded some new pics to the picture page for your viewing pleasure. Our 6 month appointment is next week so we should have some interesting updates from the doctor including a new weigh in and height check. We are amazed that our little girl will be 6 months old on Wednesday. It is incredible how quickly times passes (not to be cliche).

Kate has a new passion in her life: Willow. Perhaps obsession is a better word. Kate started to notice Willow a few months ago, but her delight with Willow has really seemed to increase over the last few weeks. Kate's little face lights up every time Willow enters the room. When we come home, Kate strains in our arms to look for Willow, and when she finally catches a glimpse, she practically throws herself out of our arms to get to her. She gets the most excited when Willow joins us on the couch and tries her hardest to lick Kate. We do our best to keep Kate kiss free, but Willow has a missile-like tongue, so it is hard to keep her away all the time. It is so wonderful to hear Kate's peals of laughter as she watches Willow.

Willow has been a wonderful, albeit costly, addition to our family. We were a bit nervous about Willow's feelings over our newest addition. She has been the only baby for most of her life- she even started out as the only puppy in her litter. Though she shows a little bit of jealousy every so often, in general, she seems as smitten with Kate as Kate is with her. We are hopeful that as Kate grows older that she and a healthy Willow will become wonderful friends. We seem to be off to a good start thus far.

Here are a few pictures and a video that really capture Kate's love for Willow.

Kate and Willow sitting on the couch. I'm pretty sure Willow is getting in a little foot lick while Kate smiles at the camera.

We're trying to teach Kate how to be gentle with Willow, especially her back, but sometimes Kate can't help herself. She just has to reach out and grab Willow for a big Kate hug.

Willow going in for the lick again. Kate loves the attention and would let Willow lick her all day long if we would allow it.

Though Willow seems to enjoy Kate, there are times when she would prefer to have Mom all to herself. She somehow managed to squeeze herself in the middle of floor time and wanted her own Willow time. Don't worry about her being too jealous, though. She was trying to lick Kate a few moments later. So maybe not jealousy but a sneaky maneuver to lick Kate.

Finally, here's a bonus video that shows how much Kate enjoys Willow and how much Willow likes to lick Kate.

Milk-a-what?

I love this little E-trade baby and the picture below made me think of this funny commercial from the Superbowl.

Our own little milkaholic!

Some long overdue videos

So, we have been pretty good about the pics, but not so great with the videos thus far.  Here are a few highlights taken on D's new iPhone (thanks Mom!).  We'll get the HD videos up one of these days.


Kate was pretty silent up until the afternoon of her four month doctor visit.  We had just told the doctor that morning that she wasn't really vocalizing a whole lot, and then we got this for the rest of the afternoon.  She hasn't stopped since.  Apparently she didn't like us talking about her to the doctor.



Ok, so this video is very random.  J and I were listening to NPR in the car and they were doing a report on Iran.  I was talking to J about Ahmadinejad and Kate heard me and started laughing.  She laughed for days every time we said his name.  Perhaps it is the funny voice or the fact that we are laughing.  Nonetheless, she apparently thought it was hi-lar-i-ous.  I hope his people don't see this and try to come and hunt us down.



Kate rolled over from tummy to back about a month ago, but hasn't done it since.  She has mastered the back to tummy roll.  Unfortunately, she isn't a huge fan of being on her tummy.



We started letting Kate play in her jumperoo a month or two ago (a little early... don't tell the doctor).  At first she would sit and bounce a little, but recently she has really gotten the hang of bouncing and thoroughly enjoys her time in it.  Unfortunately for her, though, she is going to outgrow it very soon.  She is already on the second height level and is quickly approaching the weight limit.  Anyone want to borrow a Rainforest Jumperoo until we have number 2?  As the video proves, this toy gets the Kate Ryan seal of approval.

Five Months

No excuses....moving on.

A lot has happened in the last month and a half, so let's hit the highlights. First, easy access to the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate3Months (the most recent pictures)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/KateFans (people holding Kate, with updates)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate When she was tiny (nothing new)

Next:

• A few days after my last post, Kate visited the pediatrician for her four month checkup. The doctor was happy with her progress and not worried about her size....she happens to be a very big baby. The official measurement was 27 inches and 19 pounds, 12 ounces. She was wearing clothes and a diaper, so it was likely more like 19.5 pounds, but both measurements are still in the 100th percentile. By its definition, there's nothing higher than 100 percent, but her curves are far above those on the chart, which stop at 97 percent. Fortunately, she's still proportional and baby fat isn't concerning at this point. The one thing that D was a bit concerned about was Kate's lack of speech. Obviously she's not supposed to be talking at four months old, but she is supposed to be babbling and cooing and making non-crying sounds; the pediatrician said that some babies are just quieter than others, and to give it some more time.
• Our appointment with the pediatrician was in the morning; by the afternoon, Kate wouldn't shut up. She found her voice and was talking up a storm. Ever since then, she's been a lot more vocal, and D's not worried in the slightest.
  
• Another thing that the pediatrician told us is that Kate could start eating rice cereal at one meal per day, since she's obviously not lacking for nutrition and is sleeping through the night. The rules are still pretty strict....only one meal a day, only mixed with breast milk or prune juice, and only a quarter-cup. Her first food experience was about as expected...most of it ended up on her shirt. The second time, we took her shirt off before she ate, and then it ended up everywhere. We've been using bibs ever since, but she's also gotten much better at it; about three meals in, she had totally grasped the open-as-the-spoon-arrives, close-when-it's-in, swallow-when-it's-gone concept. Her face and hands still need a good scrub-down after every solid meal, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she's good at eating, no matter what form it takes.
  
• We initially started by mixing her rice cereal with breast milk, and then moved on to prune juice; apparently prune is the one type of juice that no infant has ever become addicted to, which is more than they can say for sweeter varieties like apple juice. She seemed really excited the first time she tried it, I suppose because it was something new. She managed to smear it all over herself (see the pictures below), and enjoyed her first several tries. Then we noticed that she started crying after every bite...we didn't know if she didn't like her booster seat, if she was tired of solid foods, or if she just wasn't hungry. After two meals like this (smile, bite, cry....smile, bite, cry), we went back to breast milk as an experiment, and that seemed to solve the problem. Apparently there's a reason kids don't get hooked on prune juice....it's disgusting.
  
• Christmas was about a week after Kate's appointment. We had a great holiday, managed to drive around a tiny bit less than during past years, and even had Christmas dinner at our house. It's always been my favorite time of year, mostly because of the opportunity to get together with family; we weren't able to see everyone this year, but it was still a wonderful break from work.
  
• We're spoiled at Christmas every year, but this was Kate's first opportunity to join in the fun. She got all kinds of clothes, lots of stuffed animals, and a couple of big items (check out the picture page). Throughout the season, Kate was able to wear some great winter-themed outfits. Santa hoods, reindeer costumes, penguin/snowman/Santa pajamas, etc. Fortunately they were almost all nine months, because she's wearing clothes way ahead of her actual age. She turns five months old today, and she's just about to move into 12 month outfits.
  
• From a physical perspective, Kate's come a long way in the last couple of months. She has a lot more control over her limbs and interacts with her environment in a much more active manner. Though she rolled over once from tummy to back quite a while ago, she still hasn't replicted the feat; instead, she's focused on going the other way, from her back to her tummy. The good news is that she's now a pro....after doing it once or twice, she got to the point where she can do it whenever she wants. The bad news is that she still doesn't particularly enjoy being on her stomach, so she rolls over and then gets frustrated. A couple of times, we've found her on her stomach and turned around in her crib in the morning, whining at her predicament.
• Kate's really enjoying her toys at this point....she can grab them, pass them from one hand to the other, and even toss them away. When propped up in a Bumbo-like chair or sitting up in our laps or next to us on the couch, she can keep herself occupied for a while with a couple of toys. Of course, her favorite game is "How can I get this in my mouth?" She's definitely in her "oral phase," and will put literally anything in her mouth, including her toys, her hands, her feet, our hands, our shoulders, our arms, etc. She's a little less fixated on her pacifier than she used to be, but that just means she's less picky.
• When D went back to work in November, we had help from our moms with the baby. It was great, but unfortunately we couldn't ask them to do that forever. In January, we switched Kate to day care every other day; she's at a house next to D's high school, in a day care run by a teacher's wife. They have seven kids of their own (six are in school), and are great with Kate...we've been really happy with it so far.
  
• In the weeks just before and after Christmas, almost everyone we know got sick, and we were no exception. D got it first, then I got it....and I've kept it for the last three weeks. Earlier this week, Kate got it too. At first it was just a little sneezing and stuffiness, but then we could tell it was getting worse. D took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with double ear infections. Growing up with lots of ear infections, I know how uncomfortable it can be, but she's been a real trouper.
• She's now taking two doses of amoxicillin per day, and she hates it. Apparently she's too young to appreciate its bubble gum flavor, because she's been making it as difficult for us as possible. It's a liquid dose, delivered orally via a syringe; she completely spit out her first dose, right onto her shirt. Since then, we've tried mixing it with milk, mixing it with rice cereal, mixing it with prune baby food, sneaking it in when she's half-asleep and docile, and finger-feeding her with a tiny tube attached to the syringe.....no dice. The rice cereal has been the most effective, but we can tell she still tastes it, and she makes faces and squirms. She's starting to feel better, though she's still stuffy with a head cold and a runny nose.
• Since she's been a little stuffy, she hasn't been that excited about drinking from a bottle either....it's possible that it hurts when she swallows, or that the pressure is too much for her ears. Two days ago, Kate saw D drinking water and reached for her cup. After we let her have it enough to demonstrate that she knew what to do, we got a little shot glass for her to drink from. She's not quite ready to do it with her own hands (she tends to shove the whole thing in her mouth), but she's definitely able to drink from a cup. It's still messy....we put a bib on her for her second try....but it's interesting to see her learn new things just by watching us.
  
• When she was at the pediatrician for her ears, she also got a new official weight....21 pounds, 2 ounces. Big girl.
• Because she's so big and has so much control of her body (for her age), we've been introducing new experiences. She loves her bouncer, she likes sitting in her faux-Bumbo, and she's even pretty good at staying sitting up once she's raised into that position. I've been putting her on the couch next to me, and she sits there on her own while we play with a toy or read a book....it's darn cute. Yesterday we put her in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time. She did a great job, she was happy throughout, and she looked completely comfortable. She was even smiling at a 14-month old sitting in a high chair across the aisle.....they looked like they weighed about the same.
• I'm about caught up, but there was plenty of other stuff that's happened in the last month that I'm sure I've overlooked. We got to watch Kate's Auntie JJ become a three-day Jeopardy champion (we went to the filming back in November), we had lots of visitors (check out the KateFans page), I've had a lot to do for work (more on my trip to Delaware later), D's taking Kate to an infant play group every other week, etc, etc, etc.
  
• Okay, it's 8am and I haven't really slept much, so I guess I'll end this now. Check out the pictures below, but remember they're just a teaser for the picture site linked above.
  

Here's one of Kate's Christmas presents (the chair), hand-made and beautiful.

Here's one of Kate's first experiences with prune juice-based rice cereal. Every baby has a "messy face" picture, and I'm sure she'll dig into a chocolate cake with her bare hands at some point and produce another outrageous photo, but this one's pretty good for now.

Kate really enjoys when we read to her, and she always tries to grab the book while we do. From day one, she's held them pretty well, with one hand on each side....she's a born reader.

Here she is yesterday in a high chair at a restaurant. Being at the table made her feel all grown up, and she kept herself occupied the entire time.

We decided to use some of our Christmas money to upgrade our camera, so we have a great new DSLR speeding its way to our house on a UPS truck. Hopefully this will mean better (and probably more) pictures of Kate. Lucky you!

Picture Time

Okay, it's time for a major picture update. First, though, let's see what's happened in the last couple of weeks:

• Kate hits sixteen weeks old today. We haven't been counting by weeks, but it's fun to do the calculations every now and then, so I don't have to say she'll be four months old in ten days.
• Kate rolled over for the first time on Saturday. She was in the middle of tummy time and decided she had enough....and over she went. Unfortunately I was in the shower at the time, and she wouldn't repeat the feat for Danielle to get a video. She remembers that she did it once and wants to do it again, but can't seem to get her limbs working together again in the right way.
• Kate's been sleeping really well, which we are very happy about. She usually goes to bed around 8pm....sometimes sooner, depending on how tired she is. And for the last couple of weeks, she's slept straight through until 6 or 7am, without getting up even once to eat. Being a night person makes the 6am a little difficult, but we're excited she's sleeping at all.
• Kate is addicted to television. We haven't been allowing her to watch it, but any time that it's on and she's in range, her head swivels like it's being drawn by a magnet. Then we have to pause the TV or turn her around. We have a video that we will post at some point.

Let's get to the pictures before I put this off any longer. I've started a couple of new photo albums, one for more recent photos (since she turned three months old) and one for pictures of Kate with her adoring fans. Here are the three albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate (no new additions since the last post)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate3Months (the most recent pictures)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/KateFans (people holding Kate)

Here are a few shots from the 3 month album.

Kate loves her little bouncy chair (for about 20 minutes at a time). There are three little animals with rings to grab hanging from the overhead bar. In the span of a few days, she went from being completely bewildered by it to being able to reach up and grab any of the three.

We wanted to take pictures for a Christmas card, so we set up a little photo area and put Kate in this "Baby's First Christmas" outfit. Some of them came out okay, but I'm not sure if any are worthy of a Christmas card.

This picture makes me think of her as a belligerent baseball fan, yelling at an umpire. In reality, I think she was just yawning.

I love this picture. We had just come in from the cold, and Kate was laughing and smiling like crazy. Believe it or not, I actually missed her cutest smile, but this one is still really great.

Three Months

Yesterday was Kate's three month birthday, so I figured it was time for an update. We don't have any new and ridiculously large measurements, as we don't have another pediatrician's appointment until four months....that said, we think she's about 17 pounds and 25.5/26 inches.

I've uploaded some new pictures, but I think this is it for the first album. After this, I'm going to start a new album for the upcoming months, as I've already posted enough pictures from her first three months (251) to make it hard to manage.

Coincidentally, Kate has a sour look on her face (or at least a disinterested one) in many of the most recent pictures. This is a bit misleading, because she's been more alert, happy, and interested than ever. She's smiling quite a bit, and even laughing a little....she's just starting to add the vocalization part of an obviously laughing expression. She's also noticing everything around her, including Willow, toys, and TV.

I've been crazy busy with work, and D is back at school every other day....it's made for very little sleep and some interesting schedules. Fortunately we've had help from both our moms, especially on days when we both need to work. And considering that one of those days will be starting in an hour and a half (did I mention very little sleep?), let me get right to the pictures.

Newspaper day was a couple of weeks ago....D has to go into school and help the students get the paper published. This time I stopped by with Kate, who is now the official Lancer Express mascot. When the paper was finally printed, D made sure to take plenty of pictures with her first issue.

Kate has a great disposition most (95%) of the time, and fortunately that has extended to bath time. As long as we don't get too much water in her eyes and the water is sufficiently warm, she doesn't mind it a whole lot. Plus, look how cute she is when she gets out!

You can see the additional alertness in her eyes. When propped up, she'll sit up and look around at everything in a room, taking it all in.

She's also been much better at tummy time. She still doesn't last that long - her head slowly sags until she is face-down on the floor - but it's a little longer every time and she doesn't seem to mind it as much. We've also been working on rolling over. She hasn't done it completely on her own, but she's getting more comfortable with the process.

Happy Halloween

This first photo isn't exactly Halloween related, though she does look like a scary cannibal.

Kate was a ladybug for Halloween, though she was a little hot when we first put it on. She wriggled and squirmed until we got outside where it was cooler.

We went to a neighbor's place for a soup-themed open house...I plan to go back today and ask for their jambalaya recipe. Then we set up shop in our driveway with a cute little ladybug and two big bowls of candy. We had a lot of trick-or-treaters, though not as many as you'd think from a neighborhood where there are 32 kids on our street alone.

Kate enjoyed being out and about, but eventually crashed in her stroller while we were talking to some of the neighbors. When we came back in, she was out like a light....and much easier to take pictures of. In this one, she's smiling about her very successful first Halloween.

Hope everyone had a nice night! There are a few more pictures, including Kate's impression of Dr. Evil, on the photo site.

Traditions

Last weekend provided an opportunity for some traditions, both old and new. First, on Saturday we went to Nate's Butt Farm....I mean, Bates Nut Farm.....to pick a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch. We got a few pumpkins and tried to take some pictures, but Kate was asleep most of the time. When we woke her up for picture time, she was either half-asleep or the sun was too bright....she basically laid there like a lump. We also weren't the only ones with the same idea, so most of our pictures had crowds of people walking around behind the pumpkins. I don't know that it was worth the drive to Valley Center, but I think a trip with Kate to some pumpkin patch is definitely going to be a tradition.

On Sunday, we went to the annual Hallowiener Picnic in Balboa Park. There are four dachshund picnics every year, organized by the San Diego Dachshund Club, but this is the only one at which the dogs wear costumes. There were a couple hundred doxies, and we had a fun time looking at all the cute puppies. We've been going to these picnics since Willow was young, but this was Kate's first multiple-dog experience. She was definitely curious, and started looking around a little more than normal. Willow also behaved really well....I was worried that she would get defensive around so many dogs, now that she's blind, but there was nothing to worry about.

Kate wore a special onesie for the occasion. Everyone knew who she was with. The outfit was actually a gift for Andrew from K&K, but we're happy she got to wear it.

The weather turned cold a couple of days ago, dropping almost thirty degrees in a single day. We went from needing the air conditioner to being all bundled up, which gave Kate the opportunity to get snuggly as well. I love the hood!

We haven't been getting Kate enough tummy time as we should, mostly because she doesn't really enjoy it. She was happy when lying on our chests, but she didn't appreciate being flat on the floor. Yesterday D decided to flip her over while she was on the couch, and all of a sudden she pushed up and looked around like she'd been doing it forever. It was by far the most she'd ever done while on her tummy.....looks like we've had a breakthrough.

A lot has happened since I posted last, so there are lots of new pictures....32 to be exact. Take a look, because there are some nice family shots and some from Kate's first attempt at a jumperoo. Plus lots of smiles!

While you wait...

I've got cute pictures and stories from this weekend, but I'm very tired and have to drive up to LA tomorrow monring.....so, I'll just mention a couple of unrelated subjects and save the good stuff for later.

First, I realized after my last post how crazy Kate's growth has been....I wrote the numbers, but didn't really think about what they meant.  She initially lost weight after birth, so by August 21 she was down to 8 pounds, 2 ounces.  When she was measured at the pediatrician's on October 21, she came out at 15 pounds, 12 ounces....we then estimated at 15 pounds 8 ounces since she was wearing a (clean) diaper and a shirt.  That means that in exactly two months, she has almost doubled in weight.  Looking back at pictures, I can see the progression, but it's really difficult to see the incremental growth when you're with her every day.

Second, a belated thank you for all the birthday wishes.  I got to eat some yummy dim sum and hang out with the family....then we went and bought a new couch.  The two events were completely unrelated, but it's a sign of 31's relative unimportance.  I actually feel older than I did last year....I didn't mind 30, but this one kind of sucks.

And, last but not least, today is the anniversary of when D and I started dating.  It's since been replaced by the anniversary of our wedding, so we're not really celebrating, but it's still a great milestone because it's the "big" number.  We have been dating since October 26, 1997 - that's 12 years!  Good and bad, we've gone through them all together, but the last year has definitely been one of the best.  It started with us living in a small condo and trying desperately to get pregnant.  It has ended with a beautiful new baby in a big, fantastic new house.  Here's hoping the next year will bring the same kind of joy.

Long Overdue

I've got a lot of updates, so let's get right to it. First, the pictures. There aren't a lot, but they include the first picture of Kate actually smiling. Most of her cutest moments are either while I'm holding her, when it's hard to snap a pic, or while Mommy's holding her, when I don't want to intrude.

Kate's recently taken her longest-ever trips, first to Orange County for lunch, then to the Bay Area for a long weekend....she handled both beautifully. She slept in the car to and from the OC, and got to visit friends and relatives while we ate. Then last weekend, we drove up to Danville and stayed with Kate's great-aunt and great-uncle (ha!). We took a side trip to Calistoga to visit Kate's aunt and uncle on Friday. Kate practiced her winemaking (see the picture below), we got a great little tour of Napa, and we had a really enjoyable time. On Saturday we went to my cousin V's soccer game and had a great family/friend get-together afterward. On Sunday we drove into San Fran to watch the Nike Women's Marathon and cheer on our close family friend. She did a great job and Kate slept almost the entire time. That actually seemed to be a theme....she slept on the five hour trip to Danville, she slept to and from Napa, she slept through the marathon, she slept through the seven hour drive home (aside from a dinner stop). Of course, with all that sleeping, she was a little more active at night. All in all, though, she was a great baby all weekend.

On Wednesday Kate had her two-month checkup with the pediatrician, though Saturday was the actual milestone. She got her first big set of vaccinations and handled it like a trouper. After a big injection in each thigh, she cried for about twenty seconds and then recovered quickly. She was a little cranky last night, but a dose of Infant Tylenol did the trick. The pediatrician was happy with her progress in all other areas, and her measurements were particularly noteworthy. She's now 25 inches long, which is in the 99th percentile. It's a good thing she's long, because she's also 15.5 pounds, which is in the 100th percentile. Her head circumference is in the 98th percentile, giving her the big girl trifecta.

Aside from objective measurements, Kate's also come a long way in the two weeks since my last post. She's hit some great milestones, but most don't show up in pictures.

• She can now hold her head up consistently....it's still a tiny bit wobbly, but it makes it much easier to carry her around.
• She's also smiling, and the difference between gas smiles and real smiles are now very obvious....I think the gas smiles are still a little bit cuter.
• She still doesn't enjoy "tummy time" that much, but she's pushing a lot and bearing weight on her legs....it's like she's going to walk before she crawls.
• She's not very vocal, but she can make some basic non-cry vowel sounds, which is all that's really expected at her age.
• She's discovered her hands, and will routinely suck on her fist, swing her arms around, and (gently) hit anything in range, including herself.
• She'll hold onto anything within reach, including blankets, pacifiers, and our shirts.
• She can roll from her back onto her side, but she hasn't made it all the way over onto her tummy.
  

She really changes from day to day. We never know what she's going to do next, but we're looking forward to finding out.

Isn't this outfit awesome? She looks like a dramatic New York retiree, but she's darn cute. She's also demonstrating how she can sit up (when propped against something) without needing her head supported.

While in Napa, we stopped by and checked on the next batch of the family wine. Kate's learning how to do punch downs so she can help the next time she visits.

Here's the family at V's soccer game...Kate slept through most of that as well.

This is one of the first real smiles I've captured on camera. They get cuter, and she's getting better at it by the day, but it's nice to have photographic evidence.

Tidbits

Diapers- Though we do have the occasional blowout, overall I'm very impressed with how dependable they've been.  I've seen what comes out of this little girl, and it's incredible that every diaper isn't a blowout.  Between the force of expulsion and her constant squirming, I'm amazed the diaper can hold it in.

Hiccups- I know that it'll be awful the first time Kate gets sick, and heartwrenching the first time she hurts herself, but right now the thing that bothers me most is hiccups.  She gets them all the time, and I hate it.  I know she's not as bothered by them as I am, but I can't help putting myself in her position...empathy sucks.  Her whole little body gets into the hiccup, and I find myself counting the minutes until they go away.

Fussy- Kate's been a little fussy the last two days.  Her morning grumpiness has turned into morning-noon-afternoon grumpiness, and she's been restless every time we put her down to sleep.  We think we may have it diagnosed (the Internet is a wonderful thing) and it's nothing to worry about.  Aside from the grumpiness, she's perfectly fine, but it's made for an extra-tired Mommy and Daddy.

TV- There's a lot of new TV on....an almost overwhelming amount.  I'm trying to narrow down the shows that will be DVR regulars.  A few have already made the cut, and some others have gotten the axe.  The rest will get at least a second chance before I make a final decision.  "the forgotten" and NCIS: LA have gotten the thumbs-down, with Hank soon to follow; Modern Family, Community, and Glee (among others) have gotten the thumbs-up.  Still on the bubble: FlashForward and Eastwick.

Cuties in Booties

Several more pictures here, and a few below. Not much to report, and I'm very tired (early mornings and no naps), so I'll keep it to pictures tonight.

First, a very intelligent look directly into the camera.

It's been cooling off a bit, so now we can try out all the outfits with booties.

Willow likes to stay involved, even when it means sleeping in uncomfortable positions.

Kate's the only one getting plenty of sleep in this household, and even she's yawning.