4th of July

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from the 4th of July. We had a great day. We spent most of the day doing stuff around the house, but we ended up at the pool eventually. Then we met our good friends, the Gaddis', to tailgate and watch fireworks. By the time the fireworks started, Kaitlin was exhausted! She watched them for a few minutes and then bounced around between Pop Pop, Mommy, and Daddy. She was definitely ready to get home and go to bed. We had wonderful food and a great time visiting with everyone. Here are some pictures from the day. There are some cute pictures of Kaitlin and Jake on Jake's blog if you want to see more.

Update

We went to the hospital for two more tests yesterday, a urinalysis and a sweat chloride test. In order to collect the sweat, they put two electrodes on Kaitlin's arm for about five minutes to initiate her body to make sweat. Then they put this little watch looking thing on her arm for 30-minutes to "collect" the sweat. After a half hour, they pulled a tiny tube out of the watch looking thing that had the sweat in it. Kaitlin was a champ for the entire process and the employees at the lab just fell in love with her. We were allowed to roam the hospital for a half hour while the sweat was collected and when we returned to the lab they told us that they'd made Kaitlin their mascot for the day. Now for the good news, all of the tests came back normal. Yeah!!! We are very relieved! We will follow up with another weight check in a few weeks. Thank you all for the encouragement and support while we waited for news! Now I must go before Kaitlin gets into something she shouldn't!

Weight Update

Keven talked to the pediatrician this evening and Kaitlin's blood tests came back normal. Her thyroid is fine and her hemoglobin was a little low meaning that she is borderline anemic, but the doctor said that is normal for her age. Hopefully the other tests will be normal as well.

The Three Worst Words

It's only noon and already this day has been filled with overwhelming emotions. I took Kaitlin to get her weight checked today. She weighed in at 15 lbs, 14 oz and is 28 ¼ inches long. Unfortunately, her weight has now dropped off the growth charts and the words "failure to thrive" were written on her chart. As a mother, I have to say that these must be the three worst words to see written about your child. Along with the overwhelming dread that there is something seriously wrong with her, I am now filled with uncertainty about my mothering abilities. What am I doing wrong? Is the schedule I have her on causing her to not eat enough? Am I missing her hunger cues? Are we giving her too many solids? Not enough?

To top it all off, I had to watch my 10-month old cry in pain and confusion as she got blood drawn. It was a miserable experience. So, now we await the results of a blood test to check her thyroid and for anemia. We go back to the hospital on Monday for a urinalysis to check her electrolytes and, although the pediatrician has assured me she doesn't have it, a sweat chloride test to check for Cystic Fibrosis. Dr. Young said that usually with any of those problems, a baby's height usually drops off as well as the weight which hasn't happened, so hopefully it's nothing, but doing some tests will help us know for sure. We'll be switching to a higher calorie formula and hopefully that will help Kaitlin get a little meat on her bones!

Water Babies

Here are some pictures from Kaitlin's Water Babies class. She seemed to enjoy it, but I think she would have liked it more if it had been a little earlier than 6:45pm and if the water had been warmer. She pretty much shivered through every class!

Fun Times!

Now that Kaitlin is pulling up, she enjoys playing in Harley's water dish. We don't usually encourage it, but we let her play for a few minutes so that we could get some cute pictures.
 
 

Stand Up!

Kaitlin pulled all the way up to her feet yesterday!
 

10-Months Old

Kaitlin is 10-months old today so I thought I would post some new pics of her latest accomplishments. Much to my dismay, we are going to have to lower the mattress in Kaitlin's crib because she is now pulling up to her knees on just about everything; her crib, boxes, the refrigerater, tables, whatever is in front of her! She hasn't quite figured out how to pull herself to her feet, but if we stand her up with her hands on something she will hold herself up. She is still mainly doing the "army crawl" but every once in awhile she will crawl on her hands and knees. The furthest I've seen her go is about 8 crawls. She also figured out how to get herself into a sitting position and does so regularly. She babbles all the time, mostly to her toys and in the car (I believe she is talking to her own reflection).

Kaitlin uses the signs for "milk" and "more" but not consistently and she waves when she feels like it. Kaitlin now has 4 teeth and is eating solids and a few table foods. She was sick for a few weeks with an ear infection and then stomach issues from the antibiotic and didn't have much of an appetite. That set her back a little with the eating. Kaitlin has also learned the word "no." There are a few things that she consistently gets into and when we tell her "no," she looks up at us and smiles really big and turns right back to what she was doing.

Some of you witnessed Kaitlin's separation anxiety when she and I traveled to Illinois Memorial Day weekend. It is still in full swing. She now cries when we leave her in the nursery at church and even cried at Children's Morning Out when I left her with her favorite worker. It's hard to leave her, but I know she stops crying as soon as I'm out of her sight. And I never get tired of seeing her reaction when I come back! I'm sure there is more to share, but can't think of anything right now. Mommy and Daddy need to get into birthday party planning mode! Here are some pictures of Kaitlin showing off some of her new skills.

Climbing on the end table














When she gets excited, Kaitlin breathes hard and makes this goofy face. I don't think she looks cute when she does it.


















Daddy, hurry up, I want to play the piano!


















Watching in amazement as Daddy makes beautiful music.


















Honing her own piano playing skills.

Fun Pics!

I couldn't resist posting a couple of cute pictures. Kaitin is doing great! She is still mainly doing the "army crawl," but occasionally she takes a few crawls with her tummy off the floor. She is also pulling up some (usually on low things) and has finally figured out that she can get into a sitting position on her own. She was laying on her tummy watching a video yesterday and I left the room for a few minutes. When I came back she was sitting up.

Here Kaitlin is watching her favorite video, Baby Signing Time.


















Playing in the laundry basket.

Pool Princess

It has been crazy hot here lately so in an effort to cool off a little, we took Kaitlin to the pool yesterday. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there this summer. On Saturday, Kaitlin and I went for a walk at 8:00am and it was already 82°. Sunday afternoon, Keven looked at the thermometer on our patio and it said 100.3 - and it's in the shade! So, here are some pictures from Kaitlin's first visit to the pool. She wasn't very smiley, but she did seem to enjoy herself.