All Smiles

Kaitlyn has started smiling at us. Such a joy to see and so cute too. Here are my attempts at catching the smiles on camera:

Health Update

Kaitlyn is doing much better in the last couple of weeks since she was diagnosed with reflux. She's only vomited a few times and those times were MUCH less volume than what she was doing in the past. She also seems much more comfortable during her feedings. The Pepcid and the rice cereal seem to be doing the trick. We go back to the pediatrician on the 7th for her 2 month checkup, and I'm hoping her weight will be back on track.

First Christmas

Kaitlyn had an exciting first Christmas. She has seen so many new things and places in the last week. Here are some highlights:

- She went out to lunch with friends a couple of times. We went with Jenny, Mike G, Karen, Brentton, Mike H, and Lily to Chili's. She also went with us and Mike G to Alamo Cafe. Another time she went out with dad, Mike G and Dallas. We even took her to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch to watch some football. She has been an angel at restaurants! The only time she woke up was at Chili's with the gang, but I fed her and she was fine.

- She met her dad's MeMom (Great Grandmother). She loved cuddling up in her lap.

- She attended her first Christmas Eve Auction at Grandma Aitken's. She got to meet her cousins on the Aitken side. Here's a picture of the 4 generations on Eric's side.

- She spent some time on Christmas day at Grandma Aitken's and at Grandma and Grandpa Bork's house. She also hung out with her Uncles.

- Santa visited and brought her a Tickle Me Elmo. She's not sure what to think about Elmo. She likes the giggles, but the belling vibrating leaves her a little wide-eyed.

- She attended her first game night at Karen and Brentton's.

- She visited daddy's work.

We can't wait until her second Christmas! Here's a few pictures of her in her Christmas outfits:

First trip to a restaurant

Tonight we took Kaitlyn to dinner with my family. It was surprisingly uneventful! We went to Chili's and she slept almost the entire dinner. She woke up once or twice to look around, but fell back asleep. We made it the entire time without having to do anything for her. That was a nice hurdle to get over. Being able to go out to dinner whenever we want to will be nice and will make things seem more "normal." I guess we should enjoy it while she will just sleep in her car seat, because before we know it she will be sitting in a high chair and grabbing everything in sight...

A Day in the Life continued

Kaitlyn provided the following update on her day:

The rest of my day went well. My dad's cousin Katherine came over and visited with me and mom (I think that makes us first cousins once removed... but regardless, I think I'll call her Aunt Katherine). I continued to wake up every couple of hours, because man - was I hungry. Looking back, I must have been going through a growth spurt since that trend has not continued (mom is thankful for that).

Well, it's off to bed. Mom let me provide this update, but I should be sleeping!

A Day in the Life of Kaitlyn (in her own words)

Kaitlyn wanted to share with you all what her days have looked like lately:

I wanted to share with you what my day is like. I'm not sure where to start, since my days and nights are so similar. So I thought I would start with the first time my mom wakes up at night. That lately has been the start of her day, so it seems like a logical place to start. Last night, mom woke up at 11:30 pm to pump. She sets her alarm to make sure she can get some pumping in before I wake up. Mom had been sleeping since around 9:30 pm. At nights, mom goes to bed early and dad takes over. Last night mom didn't get to bed as early as she should have since we went to see Santa. I'm sure my mom will post pictures of that later.

Mom hardly got her pumping in last night, because I woke up at 11:45 pm and boy, was I hungry. I only ended up eating 2 oz, and then I got all fidgety. I'm not sure what it is, but when I eat I get uncomfy and that makes it hard to finish. Mom and dad started me on this medicine, so hopefully that will help. After I finished my bottle and fell back to sleep, mom put me back in the crib. She figured I would sleep awhile, so she went back into the bed with dad.

But I had other plans! And only 50 minutes after she put me down, I woke up. Mom was deep in sleep, so dad had to wake her up. Good thing I wasn't there, because there were some bad words coming out of mom's mouth! She was really comfortable, snuggled up in bed with the cats. Big Kitty was laying in the nook of her legs that Mulder used to lay in and Little Kitty was laying near her stomach.

So at 1:45 am, I ate again. This time, I only took 1 and 1/3 oz. I was hungry because I didn't have a full bottle last time, but not so hungry because it hadn't been that long in between feedings. But hey, my grandma says I eat like a bird.

By 2:40 am, mom put me back in bed to pump. Again, she BARELY got her pumping in, when I was letting her know at 3 am that I was awake. Mom was surprised that I got up so quickly, so she tried to change my diaper. I think I might have frustrated mom, because right when she lifted my butt to wipe it, I had to tinkle. I don't think mom liked that much and had to go wash her hands. When mom was done changing my clothes (argh, I hate that - it takes so long and my arms and legs have to go in places I don't want them to and I'm cold and naked!), I was still fussy and was showing signs that I was ready to eat again. Mom was shocked, but tried to offer me a little more to eat. I ate about 3/4 oz and fell asleep.

Silly mom tried to put me down in the crib at 4 am. I was having none of that. 5 minutes later when I realized she put me down, I let her know I was still hungry. This time I ate 1 and 1/2 oz. I was really sleepy at this point since I hadn't slept much in the last couple of hours, so when mom put me down at 4:45 am, I was out like a light. On a side note, mom was watching this tv show that I was really enjoying. Some girl Meredith and some guy Derrick, or McDreamy, just got back together. I can't wait to see what happens on tomorrow's episode.

Mom took this opportunity to take a nap on the recliner. She considered setting an alarm to pump, but decided she was too tired. She woke up when dad was getting ready to leave for work and started pumping at 6:10 am. When mom was done, she figured it was a matter of minutes before I got up again, but she decided to go ahead and get back in the bed and sleep.

I woke up at 7:30 am. I took my full 3 oz, but was really fussy afterwards. Mom changed a dirty diaper (man, was it dirty!) but I was still not happy. She tried feeding me more, but I didn't want that. She then tried to put me in my cuddly pink bodysuit that has the hoodie and the ears. I usually snuggle up when I get in that to go places, so I think she thought that would work. But nope, not today.

So when I was still fussy at 8:20 am, mom decided to take me on my first "car ride to nowhere." It was raining outside, so mom didn't venture far. She just toured the neighborhoods close by and we listened to a neat XM radio show. Some lady named Gayle was talking to us. I think she's friends with Oprah. But man, I love the car. I like to nap when mom is driving.

The car ride did the trick, so when mom returned home at 9 am, I was asleep and stayed asleep. Mom took that opportunity to pump. Also, Mom ran the dishwasher again (half full, don't tell dad). Then she fed Snoopy his breakfast. I was relieved that she remembered to actually feed him in the AM hours. Everyday I try to remind her, but she just thinks I have a dirty diaper (which I usually do) or that I'm hungry (which I usually am). Poor Snoopy. I really like him, but he has a cold nose. And he is always causing trouble when mom or dad is feeding me. I think he gets jealous.

Well, I must be really tired, because I am still asleep at 10:15. I'm going to sign-off now and will let you know later how the rest of my day went.

What a Day

Kaitlyn had a rough day! I took her to the pediatrician because we were concerned about her projectile vomiting. When it first started, we thought that babies spit up - so it must be normal. But the more it happened, the more we realized that it couldn't be normal. When she would throw up - it would be all over her and all over us! Everyone would need a change of clothes. I began to think - what is the point of a burp cloth? There was no burp cloth in the world that would cover this stuff.

The pediatrician was concerned with her weight gain. The doctor thought she should be weighing about 9 lbs, 11 oz by now. But she only weighed 8 lbs, 10 oz today. The doctor was certain that she was suffering from reflux, which was causing feedings to be difficult and for Kaitlyn to not eat as much as she should. However, she was also concerned that there could be something more.

We were sent for an ultrasound to test for pyloric stenosis. I won't even bore you with what that is or what it would have meant because luckily, the results were negative. The radiologist then wanted to perform a barium swallow test. Poor Kaitlyn had to drink this nasty chalky stuff from her bottle and they took x-rays of it as it travelled through to her stomach. I stood at her head and fed her the bottle while the technician held her arms and the radiologist held her legs and did the x-rays. Luckily, she wasn't very fussy and drank very well (she was hungry)! In fact, she was really good all day.

For now, we were given pepcid to give her and told to add rice cereal to the milk. But the pediatrician was going to call me tomorrow and there might be more she wants to do. I'll post more if she does. Hopefully she will be exhausted from her day and sleep well tonight because last night was rough on mom...

Here's a picture of her sitting in the waiting room for the ultrasound:

One month old already!

I can't believe it, but Kaitlyn is one month old! In some ways, the month has flown by. On the other hand, I almost can't remember life without her. The occasion was somewhat marred by the loss of my cat, Mulder. We had to put her down after a wonderful 12 years together. We miss her dearly. It is very ironic to me that Mulder chose to "pass the torch" to Kaitlyn. Mulder prepared us so well for Kaitlyn's battle in the NICU with the feeding tube. And she hung in there long enough to meet Kaitlyn.

Here are some highlights from the last couple of weeks:

Kaitlyn was a little small for her Thanksgiving outfit, but it was still cute.

She is much more aware of her surroundings now. She loves to look around and take in the sights. This was her hanging out in her pack-n-play and looking at the animals.

The rest of her umbilical cord finally fell off, so we were able to give her a full bath. She enjoyed it much more than the sponge baths. In this picture, I was trying to get an eye booger out of her eye, but it kinda looks like I'm plugging her nose.