Christmas, Snow, and 13 Months

We had a great Christmas and got to see lots of family. Only one of our family events was "snowed out" because of the first white Christmas in Georgia in a REALLY long time.

Collin was a bit overwhelmed at times and quite different from the past couple of years. In the past, he would very slowly and deliberately open each present and ask to open/play with each one. This year was completely opposite. He wanted all of the gifts opened at once, would throw toys/clothes out of gift bags, and only halfway opened some of the wrapped presents (just enough to see what it was). And he was completely uninterested in any sort of clothing item. I was a little embarrassed, because I thought he wasn't being thankful for the gifts he was receiving. I'm so glad to say that for 2 days I've heard how much he loves his toys and how thankful he is for them. He's played with them for hours. And watched Toy Story 3 five times since Christmas Eve. Hey, it's Christmas vacation, right?

Katelyn was pretty oblivious to the whole ordeal. Other than seeing lots of family, staying up way too late, and having some cool, new toys to play with, she pretty much went on about her business with all the hustle and bustle around her. She didn't really care anything about opening presents, but the tissue paper sure was fun. And of course, she loved all the eating :)

Here are some pictures from our Christmas festivities:

Christmas Eve at Gran's.

Nanna and her granddaughters.
Collin checking out what the big guy left for him.
Katelyn's favorite part.
Christmas Day.
2 of Collin's favorites: Buzz Lightyear snuggie and Zurg's Blaster
Merry Christmas.

We had snow here starting on Christmas Day and into the day after. Although it messed up our plans for another family get together, it was pretty and of course Collin loved it. He and Daddy went out to build a snowman. I told them to tell me when they were done so I could take some pictures (Katelyn was napping, so we stayed inside.) When I went out, I found that they had not made a snowman, but rather a "snow Katelyn". It was Collin's idea. Here's a picture of him and "Katelyn". Such a sweet big brother.

And on this snow day, Katelyn turned 13 months! Wouldn't you know, I didn't take a single picture of her. Here are some of her from 2 days before and after Christmas. I thought about not doing a 13 month post, but it just seemed weird not to. So, I'll add it on here with a few words about the past month. To sum it up, she's got new words (uh-oh and night night), new teeth (all 4 molars are in as well as her top front teeth), new ways of expressing herself (screaming and hitting) and new toys! And one of her new favorite things to do is talk on the phone (or any other object that might resemble a phone...or not).

12 Months!

Katelyn Leigh, you went for your 12 month checkup last week and here are some things we learned about you:
You are 19 lbs 5 oz (10-25%ile) and 29 3/4 inches tall (50-75%ile). Hence, you are 3/4" too tall for your infant carrier (and about 10 lbs to heavy for me to be lugging around on my arm anymore). Don't worry...your brand new carseats are being shipped to us currently. Since it's too cold to go anywhere anyway, we'll just try to stay out of the car until they arrive.

You continue to have one large noggin (48 1/4 cm-95+ %ile).

Your ears weren't infected! Your tubes were in place and looked good.

You were mildly anemic. We added iron to your daily vitamin and will recheck at 15 months.

You are pretty much back on track developmentally. Yay!

Mommy has to start thinking about taking your bottle away in the next few months.

You had already had enough poking and prodding for one week. (That, and you have figured out those doctors.) Thankfully Mommy delayed a few of your vaccines for you. Although the doctor said it was fine to immunize you even though your surgery was 2 days before, I just didn't feel right about it. You still got 2 shots and a toe stick for the CBC.

Here's a little bit more about you these days:

You are still on the move. You started pulling up to stand 2 days after your birthday.

You have 2 front bottom teeth and 2 bottom molars. I think the 2 front top teeth are about to make their appearance finally :)

You wear size 12 and 18 months and a size 3 shoe.

You do not like hats or gloves. But I got you a hat that you can't take off and interestingly enough, you haven't tried.

You will not keep a hairbow in your hair.

You stopped nursing right after you turned 11 months old. You now take three 6 oz bottles a day. You drink Enfamil Enfagrow Vanilla formula. Just this week I started mixing it with cows milk. You have gotten better about drinking milk with your meals.

You have a sweet tooth. You can spot a sweet from across the room. Some of your favorites? Chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, and ice cream.

You haven't been quite as good about eating your veggies lately. Especially carrots. They mostly end up on the floor. You still eat lots of green beans. And you LOVE fruit. New favorite? Mandarin oranges.

You have been consistently going to sleep all by yourself. Mommy gives you a bottle, sings 4 songs while you lay your sweet head on my shoulder, lays you down in your bed, and walks out of the room. You do not make a peep. And while I miss rocking you to sleep, I've been willing to give that up since you sleep so much more soundly (7/7:30 to 7:30). No more night wakings!

You are becoming gradually more attached to your paci. You are less willing to give it away when you wake up. You also love to have one in your mouth and at least 1 in your hand sometimes.Up until this last week, you took 2 good naps a day. This has recently gotten much more inconsistent, so it looks as if we may be on our way to 1 nap a day.

Inconsistently, you have said dada, mama, and baba. You are trying to say "uh oh" when you drop something, but only the "uh" comes out.

You have a "fuss face".You do not like to pose for pictures. But every once in a while, Mommy sneaks up on you and catches a sweet smile.
You love music. And you have some rather interesting dance moves.

You love the playroom. You get so excited every time we open the baby gate to head upstairs.

You need baby proof latches on the drawers in your room. Poor little fingers.

Big brother makes you laugh all the time and you love his toys. Although you don't always play with them appropriately.

We love you so much sweet girl! Here's to another year of milestones, laughter and silly faces.

Surgery Day

Katelyn had her ear tubes placed today, and everything went very smoothly. She didn't even fuss when I woke her up at 1130 for a bottle or at 530 to leave. We made it to 285 before she started to protest the whole ordeal. Here are a few things I learned today:

When you wake your child up at 530 (and she normally sleeps until 730) to drive 30+ minutes in the car, sit in the back seat with her.

I (still) love Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Although I'm only working there as a holiday/vacation PRN right now, I was proud to call myself a CHOA employee today more than any other day. As soon as we walked through those doors, I knew we were in the right place for Katelyn. The first words I heard (rivaling the greeting you receive at Moe's) was "Welcome to Children's". I relaxed immediately. I would have expected some slight kinks in the plan, considering her surgery wasn't scheduled until around 3 pm yesterday. But, no. Everything was perfect. From the time the pre-op nurse called me yesterday afternoon, to the polite lady who checked us in while most of us would still be in our jammies, to all the nurses caring for Katelyn during pre and post-op, to having a toy closet for her to choose a toy from to take home with her and lots of toys to play with while she was waiting, to allowing a parent to walk into the OR with their child and stay right beside her until she's completely asleep, and finally to thoroughly explaining what is happening/is going to happen and why and directions for caring for her at home. Perfect. Especially the part when they took her back to the OR 10 minutes ahead of scheduled time.Having tubes placed is FAST. Had I not been warned it would be so quick, when I saw her doctor walking into our post-op room 2 minutes after I did, I would have thought "Oh my gosh. He couldn't do the procedure."

A 12 month old can go about 2 hours awake without eating in the morning. That last hour was a little rough.You can never predict what the "worst" part of a day like today might be. Katelyn's least favorite part of the day: the pulse oximeter (tiny little device to measure her oxygen saturation) placed on her finger (and then her toe) with tape during pre-op.

When puffs can't be your life saver, Elmo's World, mommy's rendition of Jesus Loves Me, and this pop up toy work almost as good.When your child has surgery, you want them to "sleep off" the anesthesia. SO glad Katelyn did this. We actually had to wake her up about 20 minutes after she was brought to us. She was so peaceful. (Almost too peaceful. I kept trying to make Mike wait a little longer before waking her. I just didn't want her to wake up upset. But I have to admit, it was a little unsettling to see her like that.) Thankfully, as soon as we woke her, we put a bottle of pedialyte in her mouth and she was happy as could be. She also saw her puffs and started asking for them. Thankfully, the nurse said it was ok to go ahead and try solids. But goodness, we could hear many poor little kiddos who had woken up in that in between stage. Sort of reminded me of when I had my wisdom teeth cut out.

If your child does sleep off the anesthesia (and probably if she doesn't), she will continue to do so ALL. DAY. LONG. Katelyn took a 3.5 hour nap today. Less than 2 hours later, she took a 2 hour nap. And she went to sleep at normal bedtime.

Don't forget to warm up the antibiotic ear drops in your pocket. Wow, she HATED those. That will be a fun battle for the next 3 days.

Today could have been much harder. I actually saw a family in pre-op getting BOTH of their girls ready for surgery.

No matter how simple the procedure, it's hard to see your child go through it. But it's SO worth it when they are so happy and you can tell they feel better already!

All buckled up and ready to go home!
Enjoying a late lunch after her 3.5 hour nap

Say a little prayer

for our sweet little girl in the morning. I know ear tubes are simple and quick, but pray everything goes smoothly with the procedure and anesthesia. I'm sure she'll be totally fine, and I will be a nervous wreck. I was happy to learn today that one of us gets to accompany her into the operating room until she is asleep. I snapped a couple of pictures of her tonight in her cute new jammies. Maggie was upset she didn't find footie pajamas she liked for Katelyn's birthday. Little did she know she would need a nice, warm 2 piece outfit to be wearing when she is dragged out of her bed at 530 in the morning. Thanks Mag! Oh, and she's also telling me about her earache in the first picture. She's been pulling on them all day :( So, tonight this surgery = one nervous mommy but tomorrow hopefully it will = one happy little girl!
Although she already looks pretty happy, doesn't she? Now off to disturb her sweet dreams to give her an extra bottle before midnight...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

So, here's what we've (I've) been up to this past week...
1. Decorating for Christmas. Now usually I decorate in one day. Even if I have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning, it gets done in one day. For some reason, this year I've been in the middle of decorating since Monday. And it's still not done. The trees are up, the stockings are hung, and the outside is really close to being finished (thanks to Mike). It's not that I'm not in the Christmas spirit. The radio in my car has been set to 98.5 since Thanksgiving Day, my TV has been on channel 801 (Holidays and Happenings) since Monday, we have 4 trees in our house, and we have 3 reindeer, 3 inflatables, and Snoopy's countdown to Christmas in our yard. Tomorrow is my deadline as it will have been an entire week. Collin was so excited about the star on the top of the tree this year, so we let him do the honors.

2. Chasing Katelyn. She's still busy pulling up on everything and with boxes of "not for children under 3" Christmas decorations laying around, she's required a little bit of extra attention. Unfortunately even with all of that extra attention, her forehead still managed to meet the tile floor in my bathroom the other day. Nothing like some love from big brother to make it feel all better.

3. Meeting the ENT. Katelyn had her appointment on Thursday. He looked at her history and then looked in her ears. He immediately started explaining the anatomy of the ear and how tubes would help her. We left his office with another prescription and his surgery scheduler's phone number. Her surgery could be as soon as this Tuesday. We'll find out for sure tomorrow. Hoping for this week because she's been pretty miserable this weekend. But still super sweet.4. Riding the Pink Pig. I'm a sucker for holiday traditions, so we headed down to Lenox with some of our closest friends to hop on the pink pig train. We waited in line for 15-20 minutes (HUGE improvement from last time) for our 3 minute ride. Collin was such a big boy sitting with his buddy Colt on the train. He loved it! Katelyn was not as amused. Maybe next year!Hope your holiday season is off to a great start!

Then there's this...

One might think that after our busy Thanksgiving and Birthday Party-ing, that I couldn't possibly have anything exciting to blog about today. While I would have loved to stay in my jammies and play all day long, Collin was invited to another birthday party for a little boy in his class. I knew he would be very excited to go, so we went. The invitation said "Wild Reptile Party", but I wasn't sure he would be doing this:He had such a great time seeing/touching/holding all of the reptiles. And I think he really had fun playing with a lot of his friends from school. I enjoyed spending a little one on one time with my little man. It's been a while!

While Collin and I were learning about reptiles, Katelyn was home with Daddy doing this (the video is a little long, but you can get the idea within the first few seconds):

This little girl may be walking before I ever thought she would. In a few short hours, she started pulling up to stand, letting go with one or both hands, cruising around the furniture, and even taking a few steps with her new baby stroller/walker from Nanna. Whew! That's a lot of progress for one day. I bet she sleeps good tonight! I know I will.

The Party

Today we celebrated Katelyn's first birthday with family and a few of her closest friends. We were so thankful that almost everyone was able to make it during such a busy time of year. The theme of her first birthday party was cupcakes! I received my Cricut Expression in the mail the week before, so I had lots of fun testing it out making things for the party. Special thanks to Auntie Joy for helping decorate the cupcakes. I think they turned out perfect!Katelyn's CakeParty Favors

The guests started arriving...

(my sweet niece Campbell)

so I figured I better go and wake Katelyn from her nap. I had a hard time getting her down this morning, and I knew she wouldn't make it through her party without a nap. So Grammie rocked her for over an hour while she slept. I was hoping to catch a picture of her still sleeping but she woke up as soon as the flash popped up on my camera. All dressed up and ready for the party.

First, we ate a yummy lunch. She had chicken fingers, chicken fajitas, and some yogurt. She wasn't too interested in opening her presents this year, so she got some help from Mommy, big brother, and cousin Carter.When we first put her in her highchair and started singing, she wanted nothing to do with it. I had to take her in her room for a minute to calm down. We tried again and she decided it wasn't so bad.I have to admit, I thought she would get much more messy than she did. She was very dainty at first and just wanted to pick the little sprinkles off. Then she got a little more into it.And when she was done, she was done!Not sure if it was all the sugar or what, but even as tired as she was, she wouldn't take an afternoon nap after the party. Thankfully, she had some new toys to entertain her until bathtime! Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us and made her day special!