Kaitlyn visits Santa

Last week we took Kaitlyn to visit Santa at Rackspace. It was a nice little set-up. And a pretty good Santa! We weren't sure how she would react. She really doesn't get too anxious around strangers, but I can't say we've ever handed her over to a large man in a red suit. At first, she was OK:

But then she decided she didn't want to be there anymore.

But doesn't it almost look like she is laughing? Santa doesn't look very comfortable...

Christmas Card Photo

Here's the photo that made the cut:

Christmas card photo rejects

Eric and I decided to try and do our own photo session to try and find a photo worthy of the Christmas card. So we dressed Kaitlyn up in her Christmas outfit and headed outside. I'm not going to share the photo that we put on the card yet - not everyone has got their cards! But here are some of the one's we didn't use:

A Little Ballerina

Kaitlyn wore a new outfit today that she got for her birthday - a tutu!

Adventures in Standing

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Kaitlyn started pulling up on EVERYTHING. The crib, baby gates, coffee table... and she is having a blast doing it. Here she is on the coffee table.

And then up on her tippy toes! (Can't she master the standing before she works on something else new?!?!)

1 year ENT follow-up

I took Kaitlyn for her 1 year follow-up with the Pediatric ENT. He was pleased with how she sounded and said that we should come back "as needed." That's good news.

When I told him about the gagging and snoring to see what he thought, he recommended the name of a pediatric gastroenterologist that we should see. We have an appointment on Thursday. Cross your fingers that they won't want to do any diagnostic tests. That would be no fun!

One of Kaitlyn's New Favorite Things

Here is one of Kaitlyn's latest favorite things to do. The video is 3 weeks old, but I couldn't resist posting.

1 year doctor appointment

Kaitlyn had her 1 year appointment on Tuesday. It was a tough visit. From the beginning, Kaitlyn was not happy. She started crying when the nurse was measuring her head and it just went downhill from there. She was not a happy girl (and neither was her momma)!

The doctor seemed a bit concerned that Kaitlyn is gagging so much when she is eating solid food. She thought that maybe it is a defense mechanism after all the issues Kaitlyn has had with her throat area. The doctor indicated that we need to keep an eye on the food situation so that she does not develop any textural aversions. We go to the pediatric ENT on Monday for our 1 year follow-up with him. The pediatrician wants to see what he says about all of this but indicated that we might need to see a speech therapist soon to deal with the gagging.

I asked about Kaitlyn's snoring. The doctor wondered if it was really snoring or if it was her stridor. She seemed concerned if it is snoring - that she shouldn't be snoring and we need to explore why. That question made me wonder, but what do you think? Is this snoring? She sounds like an 80 yr old man!

She weights 20 lbs 10 oz now!

All it took was a box…

Kaitlyn hasn't seemed too interested in pulling up on things. Instead, she has been trying to lift herself to a standing position all on her own. And man, is she getting close to doing just that. But all it took was a box (a gift for her, of course) to lift herself up. I'm just waiting for her to turn and start running!

Kaitlyn's First Birthday!

On Saturday, Kaitlyn turned 1 year old. I can't believe how quickly the year has passed. I get a tear in my eye to think how in a blink of an eye, my baby is now supposed to be a "toddler."

The day of the big event might have been a bit much for the little one. She started out the party with some tears and protests. She was not happy at all. But she warmed up to the idea of an event all for her. She enjoyed playing with some kids that were close to her age and got a kick out of charming everyone. And she got tons of cool new toys to play with and adorable outfits to wear.

Here are some pics to enjoy. This is the morning of her birthday in her cute new footie pj's. She is showing her new favorite thing to do - tug on the front of her shirt!

Here's the cake I made her. There was much debate about me doing this. I've been really busy at work, but for some reason I insisted on making her cake!

And she even had her only little piece all to herself. Much to my amazement, the piece looked exactly like this when it went in the trash hours later. She managed to flip the cake off the plate, and it landed upright. But that was it! She wanted nothing to do with it.

I decided to make some cookies too, in case we ran out of cake. My first attempt at the Aitken family sugar cookie recipe. I think they were a hit!

Here she is playing on the floor with Lyndsey and Camryn. She really liked Camryn.

Here she is playing with Uncle Scott and Uncle Russell and the big teddy bear.

Halloween - My Sweet Chick-a-Dee

Scootin' Around

Another fun weekend with my girl! No walking yet. She is still only crawling, but that doesn't slow her down at all. Here are some shots of her playing around this weekend.

Eric and I decided that since she is a week away from turning 1 year old, we'd encourage her to hold her own bottle. She is usually just content to lay there and let you feed her. I think she's been fooling us all along!

Today we took Kaitlyn to ride the train at the zoo. It was a beautiful day and I figured it was something she would enjoy. While she was generally happy for the 20 minute ride, I can't say that she looked like she was having a blast. She protested each time they stopped (so did I). It was time for her lunch, so maybe she was just hungry and not in the mood for the train. We fed her right after the ride. Here we are riding the train:

As soon as we got in the car, she fell asleep. We dropped Eric off to get his haircut and I drove around a little while she slept. Afterwards, we planned on going out for lunch but she was still sleeping. So we grabbed something to bring home with us. When we got home, we rolled the windows down and ate lunch in the driveway so she could get a full nap in! Oh the things you do so your child will nap! (She's been less than cooperative this week napping at grandma's, so we were excited that she was sleeping.)

Interesting Outfit

Eric picked out Kaitlyn's outfit today:

Doesn't she even seem to be saying, "Come on, Dad! What were you thinking?"

The Zoo

I took the day off yesterday to play with Kaitlyn - a Mommy and Me day! I decided the main event would be a trip to the zoo. In hindsight, I'm not sure what I was thinking! I've never been to the San Antonio zoo before, so I wasn't sure what to see and what to skip. Kaitlyn and I ended up wandering aimlessly. We got to the farthest spot from the front gate and she picked that time to protest. Needless to say, I wasn't eager to stay at the zoo with a crying kiddo. So the trip was cut short. We'll have to try again!

The weather has just been unbelievable, so we spent some time playing in the backyard on a blanket. I was reading a book and Kaitlyn played (and tried to help me read by chewing my book).

The End of Summer

I can't believe the summer is over. It's kinda sad that I'm not saying that until the end of September, but today was the first day it was a little cool outside. Kaitlyn has lived in shorts and onesies, so it will be interesting to expand her wardrobe a bit. Oooh, the possibilities!

Here's a picture of her in her Pooh outfit, concentrating hard at playing music. She's getting a few more hairs too:

And here she is this morning. I put some pants on for the trip to grandma's house. She cracks me up! She already as the "aww mom, another picture?" look down perfectly!

A Morning Girl?

I've been trying to catch on camera the joy that I get to witness each morning when I go to get Kaitlyn out of her crib. I think this morning I did a pretty good job. Now keep in mind that these pictures are being taken in the dark room, right when I open the door.

A little of this, a little of that

Another good weekend with the kiddo. On Saturday, she was dressed and ready for the UT vs Texas Tech football game. Unfortunately, the game had a late start time (7pm) and she couldn't hold her eyes open long enough to make it for kick off.

Here she is jumping in her cute bunny footy pajamas. I found these on clearance and was feeling nostalgic. She had the same outfit as newborn. This was after her bath on Sunday night and her hair was still a little messy.

And here she is this morning in the cute outfit her Grandma Aitken gave her. I continue to be amazed that she has no problem with hats! We hardly ever put hats on her, but she sure doesn't seem to mind. (Pay no attention to the morning milk that she is wearing...)

Mom, Dad and Kaitlyn at the Park

Today Eric and I had a day off, with nothing on the agenda. We all went to the park. We all swang and I took Kaitlyn on the slide. She seemed to like that:

The Dog Crawl

Kaitlyn has moved on from the army crawl and has gotten pretty good at crawling around the house. Lately, she added a new kind of crawl to her repetoire. I think she learned it from Snoopy:

And speaking of Snoopy, I can tell they are going to be the best of friends:

Mommy's Day Off

I took the day off work today - to relax and play with Kaitlyn. The day started bright and early at 5:45 am when Kaitlyn got up. She has been waking up between 5:45 and 6:15 for the past 5 days or so! She played in her crib for a little bit. I fed her and then she went back to sleep for an hour or so.

When we were up and moving, I loaded Kaitlyn up into the jogging stroller and we went for a jog/walk to the park. I wanted to try and see if she would like the baby swing. I got her in the swing and managed to take some pictures before she decided she had enough.

Then I loaded Kaitlyn in the car and we went to Clear Channel. We visited with my old coworkers - Lisa, Jennifer, Kevin, Steve and Bill. Kaitlyn was such a charmer - smiling and putting on a show for everyone.

After that, she went to grandma's house and I went to the spa to use the gift certificate I got for Mother's Day! Definitely a great day!

Another Great Weekend

Yesterday we took Kaitlyn with us to Ryder's 3 year old birthday party. Kaitlyn had a blast being around all of the people. I let her crawl all around on the floor - by the time we left, the tops of her feet were black! But she was so happy. She loved watching the other kids and a few of them played with her. She wore herself out but we managed to get her to take a nap in her stroller during the party. That kid can sleep through anything!

Of course, we forgot to bring our camera to the party, but here are some random pictures from this week. Here she is chewing; she has 8 teeth already, but it seems like she might be working on some more.

Lunch at the Park

We took Kaitlyn to Guadalupe River State Park today for a picnic lunch. We ate our lunch sitting on a blanket under a tree. Kaitlyn played for a bit and then we walked down to take a look at the river. It was really scenic.

She was getting hot, so we decided to put her feet in the water. We brought her bathing suit but left it in the car. So we decided to just go ahead and let her sit in the water in her clothes! She had a blast! The water near the edge was shallow - the perfect depth for her. She was able to sit and kick and splash and smile! The only downside was that she kept picking up the rocks that lined the bottom and trying to put them in her mouth. Awesome day!