One Year Well-Baby Visit

Katen visited her pediatrician for her One Year Well-Baby Visit today.

She got her finger pricked to check lead levels and received her Hep A shot. We'll go back next month to get her MMR shot. I chose to delay the Hep B and Varicella shots for now. The reason I asked to go back later for the MMR shot is so that it's the only shot given at that time.

The MMR is a combo shot of three vaccines and I feel like that's plenty for her little immune system to fight off on it's own. Based on research I'm feeling okay about doing the MMR combo though, despite concerns raised about links to autism. A very solid study was conducted in September of 2007 by several reputable medical institutions showing no link between the MMR shot and Autism. Regardless, it's still a lot of vaccine at one time and I think Katen's glad that she didn't get 4 shots in one day. I can't imagine feeling the pain of one shot in each leg and then seeing that they're going to do it all over again once more. I know I personally wouldn't be too happy about that. We'll go back, thank you.

Here are the stats for 12 mos:

• Height: 29 inches (2', 5")
• Weight: 21lbs
• Both in the 50th percentile
• Her soft spot is nearly closed and head circumference is in the 75th percentile.
• We've finally been referred to the allergist to nail down the source of Katen's allergies
• Katen has successfully weaned off of the bottle and uses only sippy cups for drinks
• Next we'll work toward using a regular cup and will begin potty training if interest is shown
• Based on our milestone check, Katen is performing at the 18 month level.
  

She's able to do the following--

13 months milestones:
Bends over and picks up an object
Crouches
Enjoys gazing at reflection
Holds out arm/leg to help dress
Combines words and signs to to indicate needs
Rolls a ball

14 months

Eats with fingers

Empties containers
Imitates others
Walks well
Initiates games
Responds to instructionsUses utensils
Matches lids with containers
Pushes and pulls toys while walking

15 months
Walks backward and Runs
Adopts "no" as a favorite word

16 months

Turns the pages of a book
Has temper tantrums if frustrated
Is attached to a soft toy or other object
Enjoys climbing
Can stack three or more blocks
Is able to take off at least one piece of clothing
Becomes a pickier eater
Takes one nap per day

17 months
Uses six or more words regularly
Dances to music
Kicks ball

18 months
“Reads” books on his own
Strings two words together

--The things she doesn't do yet within those milestone guidelines are in the advanced category and not required to have met the month's milestone:
Points to one body part when asked (we're close – she can tell you what certain animals say though)
Scribbles with a crayon – she'd rather eat them or bang them on the paper
Sorts toys by color, shape, or size

We're pretty excited to see what she learns next.

Now that I'm staying home with Katen every day instead of working, I have more of a chance to take charge of her learning and also to experience her discoveries right along with her. I'm pretty excited about that. I know she's going to miss her toddler friends though.

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Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

It's hard to believe that our little Pickle rushed her way into the world a year ago today. I can't say she's become any more patient to this day. Ha! New Year's Eve will be the anniversary of her arrival home from the NICU. She was so delicate and helpless back then, and now she's practically an independent woman. One year old going on 21. :)



Katen was born the day before a very large snowstorm in 2007 and on her birthday in 2008 there was no storm (it occurred the week before) but the temperature was -2 degrees with a windchill of "too cold for a polar bear." We put some extra leg warmers on over her tights for the ride to her party location and she was looking pretty spiffy.



Here are some pictures from the party...



Birthday Breakfast - waffles and a birthday hat

"This bag is bigger than I am!"

Tissue paper is FUN!

Clapping YAY!

So much for smashing into the cake. Our little girl eats like a lady.

(I was kind of hoping for some fun pictures with cake all over her face.)





Zzzzzz.... 5 minutes after leaving the parking lot.

Happy Birthday sweet girl. :)

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California Baby

We took our annual trip to SanDiego last week. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa R. for your hospitality! Here are some pictures from the trip...

Our little pickle eating a ...pickle. Seriously, she'll eat anything. Even lemons.

Also, this little vineyard's cafe had the best lunch food I've ever eaten. Yum!

Hey Mom, is it a bird or is it a flower? You don't see too many of these back home. :)

Sitting in the carry-on luggage sizer during a layover. Instant playpen! I had no idea, but Katen totally knows her way around a straw.


Eating lunch with Mom, Dad, Dave, and Kortni at Panera. (Panera had wireless internet so we ate there often so Daddy could keep up with important things... like Fantasy Football.)

Katen loving her Great Grandpa R. after knocking herself over backward still attached to her highchair that was buckled to the restaurant chair. The kid is clearly indestructible.

Hanging out with Grandpa R. at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Hot air balloon at the SanDiego Zoo.

Lion watching...

Hello Rhino! (It's hard to pose in a Moby wrap.)

Checking out the "Foo Dogs" at Great Grandma and Grandpa's place.

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All I want for Christmas is a Silent Night

...and I got it!!

After nearly a year of broken sleep, Katen and Mommy are sleepin' through the night. Hallelujah!

I truly wish I'd started sooner but this is how we did it.
Katen was waking at 12-ish and 3 or 4-ish in the morning wanting a bottle. She truly as hungry and would wolf it down in no time before going back to sleep. In order to break the habit of needing the extra calories in the middle of the night, I cut back on the amount of formula in her bottle adding water instead.

Night one, her bottles contained 4 oz formula and 1 oz water.
Night two, her bottles contained 3 oz formula and 2 oz water.
By Night three her bottles contained 2 oz formula and 3 oz water and she was done with it. She did not want the watered down bottle. She's start sucking and then stop. I'd rocker her a little and then put her back in her bed. She'd fuss a little while she got comfy but went back to sleep.
On night four she skipped the midnight feeding and only fussed a little at 4am before putting herself back to sleep. She did the same on night five and six, but by night seven (one week!) she was sleeping through the night. Wahoo!
Like I said, my only regret is that I didn't give this a shot sooner.

I was worried that our sleep training would all go down the toilet when we took a trip to California (two time zones away) two weeks after starting but everything ended up just fine. She slept mostly through the night unless she was cold (the heat in our condo was funky) in which case Katen got to cosleep next to Mommy for the first (and probably last) times. Admitedly... I liked it. She's a great snuggler and doesn't move around too much. Nonetheless, I didn't sleep much after she came into the bed with us. I definitely wouldn't do it full time.

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Getting ready for Christmas

This Christmas will not be Katen's first. Here's a picture of her a year ago on Christmas day. I remember that the nurse wasn't supposed to remove her from under the Billy lights but she let us anyway. I was so grateful to her for that moment. She wasn't much bigger than the length of my arm.





My Oh My what a difference a year makes...

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Have you seen my two teeth?

Here's Katen showing off her little chicklets. Only two teeth so far.







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Walking in a Winter ONEderland

Yep that's right, she's WALKING! Consistently. She's up to 16 steps at a time. I need to get some video but Katen is so proud of herself that she'll walk a little ways and then get so busy clapping for herself that she falls over. Ha! She had a great time entertaining everyone at Thanksgiving with her new skills.

This new milestone marks her transition into the "toddler" room at daycare and the requirement that she wear shoes while she's there now. That's not a problem though. She's got a few pairs of pretty snazzy shoes including red patent leather, cheetah spots, and some snazzy sneakers. Katen loves her pediped shoes.

I've also been working on the details of her first birthday party which will be a "Winter ONEderland" theme.

Here's the cake (except it will have blue satin ribbon as opposed to the red velvet in the picture)

This little guy will sit on top

Here's her dress and bow (the white ribbon on the bow has snowflakes on it)

And the invitations - "It's a winter One-derland. Join us for some frosty fun to celebrate Katen turning one."

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Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving, mostly... except for when Katen screamed for the entire hour-long trip to Aunt Tammy's house. Mommy and Daddy wanted to bang their head against the steering wheel.

Here are a few pictures of Katen helping mommy taste test the pumpkin filling...

Yep, she approves.

Note to Santa: Bring Mommy a new kitchen, please. :)

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Rock A Bye

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This video shows Katen rocking to the sound of the music. She looooves any kind of music and always either rocks or does a little dancy dance if she's standing. I think this is particularly cute.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Today we had our second measurable snow of the year, so I bundled Katen up and we headed outside. She likes snow about as much as she likes grass.... not much. (She gets that honest.)

She also doesn't like hats. She's more of a hood girl apparently. :)

I've fallen and I can't get up. Yeah so now what?

AAaaaaaa! Get it off! I am not wearing this ridiculous thing. Not now, not EVER!

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