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!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATELYN!

Katelyn Leigh, you are a big ONE YEAR OLD today! Today, you even looked older to mommy. I think it's because your hair is finally growing! We celebrated your birthday today by staying at home and preparing for your big party tomorrow. (Except for mommy's short trip to Target, Kohl's and Toys R Us to get a few black friday deals.). Big brother just couldn't wait for Daddy to get home from work for you to open your presents, so he gave you his gift this morning. He picked you out a stuffed character from Toy Story 3 (go figure). Her name is Dolly and we think you love her.
Auntie Joy gave you a cute new outfit too. Here you are wearing it. I think you are probably thinking "Ok, enough with the camera. Can you please help me get this big box out of this bag?"
At first, you weren't too interested in your cute little kitchen, but it did provide some good entertainment while mommy baked cupcakes a little later.
And you also got your first bouquet of flowers today...from Daddy.Earlier today, I had all intentions on writing about what you've been up to the past month in this post, but I think I will save that stuff for after we head to the pediatrician for your 1 year checkup! I can't wait to celebrate your birthday with you tomorrow, and Mommy needs to go to sleep.

Happy 1st Birthday sweet Katelyn! We love you so much!

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho

It's off to the ENT we go.

I knew something wasn't quite right when I laid Katelyn down in her bed last night and she did not even so much as whimper when I left the room. When I went back in to check on her, she was running a fever of 104.4. Scared.me.to.death. Especially since she has only one other time had a fever higher than a low grade fever. I moved her away from her bumper pad and uncovered her and it went down to 102. When she woke up a couple of hours later, I gave her Tylenol, changed her into cooler jammies, and put her back to sleep. She ended up in my bed an hour later.

I got her into the doctor as soon as possible this morning. Before the pediatrician even looked in her ears, she was talking about our referral. Well, she was right. After she cleaned out the gobs of wax from both ears, she was able to see the bulging double ear infection once again. Not even 2 weeks after we got rid of it.

So, we've got Augmentin for now, even though the pediatrician wasn't confident it would do anything for her. I guess we just wait until December 2 and hopefully get some answers about how to help her poor little ears.

On a good note, even with her yucky, infected, fluid-filled ears, she discovered a new sound today. She was saying "bababa" all day long. So cute. And a few days ago, she crawled over to me, laid her head on my chest, and (I swear) said "mama". It could have been a muffled "b" sound I guess, but I'm counting it.

And I rarely post without pictures, so here's a cute one of Katelyn and her buddy Ethan from their playdate on Friday. They (and I) had so much fun! And P.S. I cannot believe this little munchkin is going to be a big 1 year old in 11 days!!

It's official

Well, it's been a week, so I guess we're officially done. Nursing that is. We had dropped a feeding in attempt to get her to have longer nursing sessions (and because she was pretty much refusing one a day anyway). For about a week, she did great nursing three times and continuing to eat her solid foods like a little piggy. Last Tuesday morning, she nursed well. And that was it. She just completely refused and had no interest whatsoever after that. I offered for every feeding for a week. I have mixed emotions about this abrupt stop. Part of me is sad, because I know that bonding experience is over for me for good. But part of me is thankful for the freedom it brings as well. I think I will have a large slice of chocolate fudge cake and and fully caffeinated Starbucks to celebrate almost making it to her first birthday.

Thankfully Enfamil came out with their Enfagrow Vanilla Toddler Formula for 12-36 month olds (yes, I know she's not 12 months yet. keep reading.) and sent a $12 coupon in the mail just in time. Otherwise I don't know what she would be drinking. She gags on regular formula and only takes a few sips of cow's milk at a time. So although it smells like she is drinking vanilla cake mix, maybe she's getting what she needs, right? Still a little worried she's not getting quite enough. Pediatrician says a minimum of 16 oz per day and she's only taking about 12-14. I think she would just rather eat.

I guess my little girl is growing up. It is so much fun to watch her figure things out. I took some pictures of her a week or so ago while Collin was carving his pumpkin with daddy. She was playing with the refrigerator magnets.

I know this goes in here somehow...

That's not quite right...

Got it!Yay Katelyn!Just another cute one.