Merry Christmas

Here we are on the other side of Christmas 2008 and what a wonderful Christmas it was!! Kaitlin got to experience every aspect of it and she did amazing with all the new things!!

We first celebrated our Merry Mott Christmas on Sunday, December 20. We also happened to be having a snow storm and took the opportunity to let Kaitlin experience snow for the first time. This was not our first snow storm, however she has had a pretty bad cold and this was the first time we thought it was OK to have her out in it. Needless to say she appears to be like her mom in this respect...and is not terribly fond of the snow. She sat for a few minutes without any reaction and then started to cry when we took her hand out to touch the snow. Below is one of the few pictures I got of her. I was also video taping the event.

While we were celebrating our Merry Mott Christmas, Kaitlin decided to show off her new skill of rolling over from her back onto her tummy....which she had been doing for about a week. She also showed off that she can roll from her tummy back over onto her back....which was the first time for that! YAY!!! She was a very good girl all day long and thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with Babci, Grandpa, Uncle Steve (whom she absolutely adores) and Auntie Lisa. She received lots of wonderful gifts from everyone, her favorite being this learning dog from Steve & Lisa. This was the winning gift all around!!! Despite the fun gift bags Lisa picked out (one played Christmas music and another had flashing lights that had everyone else in awe) Kaitlin was most entertained by the plastic table cloth that she could put in her mouth without getting in trouble!!

The next celebration was Christmas Eve at Dziadz's house (Wigilia). This was generally low key and Kaitlin was pretty good for most of the evening. Because of a later start (since we had to work during the day) she ended up staying up a little later than normal, therefore being a little fussier than normal. And of course she didn't want to go down to sleep because of all the excitement!!! Preview of things to come I guess....

Next we had Christmas at our house, on Christmas morning. Mom and Dad were so happy to sleep in!!! Possibly the last Christmas morning we will get to do so for many years!! Santa brought many good books to Kaitlin and a fun dog that promotes crawling. As you will see in the slide show, Kaitlin pretty much likes anything she can get into her mouth!!

After her morning nap it was off to Meme's house for Christmas Day Dinner with Uncle Nate, Tisha, Brady, Dan & Jen. We had to make a quick stop to say good bye to Babci and Grandpa, as they are leaving for FL and we won't see them for awhile. At Meme's house we had to make sure we got plenty of nap time in so we wouldn't be too fussy. It worked out perfectly so everyone could enjoy dinner and Kaitlin could still help open all her Christmas presents. The hit of the day was a fun guy from Uncle Nate, Tisha and Brady. Kaitlin was definitely ready to go home and go to bed by the end of the night....and spent a good portion of the day after Christmas sleeping as well. It was a perfect day for that!!

All in all she had a great first Christmas...with a special thanks to all of her family for making it that way!!! Please enjoy the quick slide show of pictures from all the festivities!

PS

The "Handprint that wasn't" is a funny story...Meme wanted to surprise Mommy and Daddy with this very cute Handprint ornament. She was babysitting Kaitlin one evening before Christmas and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do this. So she called in Back-Up (thank you Sally for your efforts) and together they tried to do this simple project. However, Kaitlin was not going to make it easy....and would not keep her hand open so they kept getting "fist" prints. After a few attempts at this she just was unhappy all together so they stopped trying. We were unable to try to do it because the mixture was drying up when we got home and Kaitlin was in bed....but I thought it was necessary to take a picture of the Handprint That Wasn't for future reminiscing.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that you will have a safe and happy New Year!!

'Tis the Season

As I am sure we are all too aware, we have officially entered the holiday season. And I am not saying that to be politically correct....I am simply covering all the holidays starting with a lesser known one...but very important in our family...Tree Tagging. Every year we go out in October, or this year it was November due to a family wedding in October :-) and we tag our Christmas tree. It is a fun little tradition we do, and as always, I normally take a picture of us tagging the tree. This year was no different, particularly since we had a very important addition with us! On this particular day, Kaitlin was a bit fussy due to the fact that she refused to nap, but Meme was still able to get a picture of us when Kaitlin wasn't crying. Thank you Meme! Here we are with this year's Christmas Tree....Kaitlin's First!! And you cannot really tell, but she is wearing a White Sox windsuit and looks DAMN ADORABLE if I do say so myself!!!

The next holiday we come to is Thanksgiving. We do Thanksgiving dinner at our house and this year I actually delegated most of the meal to the guests that were attending...instead of trying to do it all myself. I knew better than to take on more than I could chew, so to speak, since I never know what kind of day we will have with Miss Kaitlin. So, we took it easy in the morning and of course watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What is Thanksgiving without the parade?! I apparently was the only one who was really excited about watching it, as you will see in the below pictures:

After recovering from the nap that the parade brought on, we got her all dressed and ready for dinner. This is before any guests arrived, and it is obvious because she is smiling. Yes, Miss Kaitlin is way ahead of herself in the Stranger Anxiety department!! She cries at everyone that is not Mom, Dad, or Kathie her Amazingly Wonderful Day Care Provider. Yes, she is who we are most thankful for this year....besides Kaitlin of course!! Anyway, she is wearing a turkey bib from Auntie Lisa, and a Baby's First Thanksgiving outfit from Meme. The pants have a little patch at the bottom that says GOBBLE. Isn't she just Gobblicious?!?

The last holiday that has already passed, which most people don't really consider a holiday, however I do....is Black Friday of course! One of the best days of the entire year!! Yes I did go out shopping, as I always do...and no, I did not subject Kaitlin to that. She spent her first Black Friday kicking it Daddy Style! Which, for those of you who don't know, means hanging out in your pj's watching tv and playing video games. While I had a spectacular day shopping with my best fork, I was a touch jealous when I got home to a houseful of pj-clad loved ones!

That is all for now....but have no fear, with Christmas fast approaching, I will have plenty more pictures and stories to share!!

Kaitlin Eats Prunes

Wow! 4 Months already. I just can't believe how quickly it goes. It is not necessarily the every day things that make me realize how quick it is. It is more like when I just tried to "swaddle" her over the weekend, in a blanket I swaddled her in several times, and she is just so big it doesn't really stay "swaddled". Of course, I cried. I know it is a wonderful thing to have her growing, but does it really have to happen so FAST?!? I guess that is how it goes.


So at her 4 month check up we learned she has not gained much weight (if only I was having the same problem!!). She only gained a pound and a half, bringing her to 12.5 lbs. She is 23 1/2 inches long. She is in the 25-50 percentile. It was recommended we try increasing the amount of formula we feed her and....introduce her to solids!!! Because of some other minor issues we were having, we tried prunes first.....below are the pictures of her very first experience with solid food, eating with a spoon, and of course...prunes. The pictures say it all. We have since tried pears and surprisingly enough, she seems to really prefer the prunes!!! We could not believe it!! She really has little interest in pears. Very strange...but hey...to each their own!!! We have also increased her formula intake, as recommended, and whoa nellie....all of a sudden she is eating like a little horse....or a pony as it were :-)

Happy Halloween!!

photo taken by nate

Kaitlin's first Halloween was pretty uneventful since she is so young....however, we dressed her for the occasion anyway. We did not go overboard...we will save that for next year when she is bigger!! Below are some of our favorite pictures of the evening:

Three Months and a Baptism

On October 26th we had Kaitlin baptized. It was a very nice ceremony, which we shared with a small group of family and friends. I have a slideshow of the many pictures taken that day. A very special thanks to Uncle Nate for being our photographer. Unfortunately, because he was taking the pictures, we actually have none of him and Kaitlin :-(

Our baby is now over 3 months old and is developing so fast. We are completely fascinated with the new things she learns and discovers every single day. We never imagined how wonderful an experience this really was going to be!! We heard her laugh out loud for the first time this past week. She has been doing little laughs for the past couple of weeks, but this week was the first time she gave a real belly laugh. It is truly the sweetest sound I have ever heard!!

2 Months Old

I went back to work almost 3 weeks ago and am already slacking on the posts! I do apologize to all of you. If I could make money posting pictures of Kaitlin, I would much prefer to do that!!! However.....

Kaitlin is doing great! Her last checkup was a bit traumatic for her. She got 4 shots and ended up having some major swelling as a result so she has already had her first trip to the ER. Aside from the pain she was in, she did great!! She is in the 75 percentile for her height and weight. She weighed in at 11 pounds 3 ounces and measured 23 inches. On top of eating well, she is also sleeping well. We get at least 9 hours a night out of her...sometimes as much as 13!!! It is just wonderful!!!

She seems to just love daycare. It is not even really "daycare". She is the only one there during the day and the woman who is watching her is just great!!! If only mom was adjusting as well as baby :-(

So the slideshow I am posting this time is mainly of Kaitlin in this new bouncer we are using. We got it from Paul & Linda and she absolutely LOVES it!!! It will grow with her right up to a toddler rocking chair, so we love it too!!! AND...and folds up for easy transport. I can't say enough good about this thing!! Back to Kaitlin.....The chair is equipped with a "rattle" that is a chick (which you will see up close in the slide show), a cat that dangles from an arm that extends over the chair (and swings out of the way so you can easily get her in and out...I am telling you this chair ROCKS!!). The cat jingles and rattles....and Keaton is also intersted in it. There is also a dog that hangs from the arm. The dog has a bone that hangs down that she can grab on to and when pulled, plays "Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?". Now I am not sure how much of these you can see in the slide show, but she just adores them. When we put her in the chair and swing the arm into place she will look at each of them and smile. It just melts your heart....And I am working on getting this on film too. We have added some grabbable toys to the bone so she can reach them and she will grab ahold and get so excited that she pulls to make the music play. She has not yet made the connection that she is doing it, but it all makes her happy so it doesn't matter.

I think that pretty much catches us up. We are looking forward to the Big Wedding of Uncle Steve & Auntie Lisa and are VERY EXCITED AND HAPPY for them!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEWEST

MR & MRS MOTT!!!

The House That Ruth Built

In honor of the Yankees final game at Yankee Stadium, we put Kaitlin in her very cute Yankee outfit on Sunday. (Thank you to our Best Fork for buying it for her.) As I did with the Red Sox outfit, I will interpret the pictures we took of her:

While most of you will assume she is a Red Sox fan from this picture, I am here to correct you. She is not crying because of her attire but because it is the last game at Yankee Stadium.

See? She is happy to be a Yankees Fan!

And ever so adorable at that!!

OK, so I feel compelled to share with you that she insisted on watching the tv, which had the Red Sox game on. And when I told her she was breaking my heart by showing more interest in the Red Sox she gave me a big smile that we did not capture on film!

Maybe the new stadium will win her over....or there is still a white sox outfit to try out...At any rate, it was a sad day to see the last game played. It was an amazing place and I am glad I had the privelage to attend a couple games there!!

8 Weeks Old

Saturday marked the 8 week mark for Little Miss Kaitlin...yes it goes so fast!!! We had our first road trip on Friday and it went....well...let's just leave it at "it went". While the car ride itself went VERY WELL, particularly since riding in the car used to be a very bad experience...once we got to where we were going things quickly went downhill!! A combination of overstimulation, overtired, and major gas issues all added up to make one very unhappy meeting for my relatives. I do apologize to you....and next time you see her she will hopefully be a happier girl. It sure was a long day for her....and mom too. There is little worse than hearing your baby cry in pain and not being able to make it go away quick enough!!! A special thanks to Meme for coming with us...you made a world of difference!!

After the long day of meeting the fam, she slept all the way home and most of Saturday morning too!! We decided to keep it low key over the weekend to recover and it allowed mom the opportunity to whip out the camera for some new shots. In the last week Kaitlin has learned to hold on to "things" so I have pulled out some of the many toys we received as gifts, and try to keep it color coordinated :-) Below is a slideshow of several pictures I took of Kaitlin and Daddy playing. There are a few that are similar but I just couldn't decide which ones to post....so I just posted all of them!! Enjoy!! And in case you cannot tell from the pictures I have chosen, Kaitlin simply ADORES her Daddy!!!

Playtime With Daddy



And here are some final shots I took over the weekend that I just love...although, to be honest, there are few pictures of this baby that I don't "just love" !! Until next time....

Picking Sides

It is all interpretation at this stage in Kaitlin's life...so this is my interpretation of her expressions:

I received as a gift a Red Sox onesie....well, more than one, but this is the first time she has worn any sport attire. So I put her in it and she immediately started crying:

I couldn't resist sending this picture to ALL the Red Sox fans I know, including her Uncle Nate who insisted on giving it to her in the first place. So after I finished sending this to everyone, I took more pictures because she is just so darn photographic!!

So here she is trying to decide if she maybe does like the Red Sox:

Nope, she does not:

But she still likes all you fans anyway:

We still have a Yankees and a White Sox outfit for her try out when she grows into them...so we shall see if she will be rooting with Mom and/or Dad!!

6 Weeks Old

So we had the camera out quite a bit this weekend and I wanted to post a few more pictures that we took. The above picture is one of my favorites, and that is HUGE considering I am not a big fan of feet. But baby feet are different. Below are just current pictures of each of us with Kaitlin, and then a precious picture of her sleeping on Meme.

Finally, here is a picture of the cake Auntie Lisa and Uncle Steve bought for Kaitlin's One Month Birthday. They had a candle lit and even sang to her. Aren't they awesome?!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Kaitlin had her first bath in a bath tub this weekend...and what a cute bath tub it is!! It is an inflatable duck that quacks when you squeeze the beak!! Ok, so mom and dad are having more fun with it now than Kaitlin is, but anyway....

So, the first bath experience was a roller coaster of emotions for Miss Kaitlin. She was pretty happy before we started, as you will see below. But how could she not be happy when she is in a cute and cuddly frog towel!! So what you can't see in the picture is that she was so excited about bath time that she peed in the towel as I was wrapping her up in it...good thing we were on the way to the tub when this happened!! Daddy gave her the bath while mommy photographed and video taped it...like a maniac!! Kaitlin wasn't too impressed at first, as you will see in the below picture, but she warmed up to it after a little while. Maybe because we kept squeezing the beak to make the duck quack whenever she cried....so I think she stopped crying just to make us stop quacking!!! Anyway, by the end of the bath she was chillin out in the tub, even kicking her leg a little bit. It was very cute!!

All Smiles!!

So this week brought some changes...very positive ones!! Kaitlin has been smiling on a regular basis. We have learned certain things that almost always make her smile, without fail...and it is just wonderful!! I will post pictures below of the beautiful smiles!!!

We also seem to be doing better in the car....and for those of you who don't know this already...Kaitlin has not been a big fan of riding in the car up to this point. As a matter of fact, she has HATED it until just a few days ago. We cannot figure out what the problem is/was. We thought we were doomed to a life in the house!!! However, we have been on several car rides over the last couple of days and they have been very successful, so hopefully we have moved passed the constant screaming and crying!!

Enjoy the smiles....I will post more pics soon!!