Two Months

Dear Baby Catherine,

Time is going by so fast and you are growing in so many ways.  Today you are two months old.  In the last month you have begun to smile real smiles. You smile all the time!  You know how great life is, and you are enjoying it.  You love to watch people and stare at lights.  I don’t know if we will ever take down the Christmas lights on our banister.  Between you looking at them and Joey playing with them, they are the star of the house some days.

In the last month we have celebrated Christmas, the new year, and more family birthdays.  You traveled by plane, train, and automobile when you had your first cross-country trip.  We drove to visit Eckels and Colby families in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and then flew to Boston to visit the Tiedtkes and Uncle Paul.  While there, we “took the T” as we went from Hanover into downtown Boston for a day.  You are a wonderful traveler.  You slept most of the time and laughed the rest of the time.

You also went to your first movie (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), made a snow angel, and visited the New England aquarium.  You finally met Great Grandma Colby and Grandma Cathy, along with many other friends and family members throughout the month.

The cats are getting more comfortable being around you.  Joey will stay in the room while you nap, and watch you for hours.  He is still most interested in the little toy hanging from your car seat handle, though.

You are beginning to make sounds as we talk with you.  One day, soon, those sounds will become words.  We know you will have a lot to say as you are always watching what is going on around you.  You are interested in everything.

You are getting so big!  You weigh just over 9 pounds, and are growing taller each day.  Last week I asked Aunt Heather to get the next set of baby clothes ready for us.  You are getting too long for some of the 0-3 month clothes already.  When I picked you up from your nap on Saturday, you had one foot hanging out between buttons of your sleeper because that was more comfortable than being squished inside it.  Speaking of your nap—Saturday was the first time you slept in your crib.  We’ve tried on other occasions, but you would always wake up within a few minutes and not go back to sleep.  Saturday, however, you slept soundly for almost three hours.

As you are getting bigger, your periods of sleep are getting longer.  Last night, you slept for 6-1/2 hours in one stretch.  That is by far the longest you’ve ever slept.  You woke up hungry, but very happy.  Daddy and I were pretty happy with that length of sleep also.

You can hold your head up very well when we are holding you in our arms.  You dislike tummy time, but your neck muscles are getting so strong.  You can lift your head quite a bit while lying on your tummy, and you find that’s a great place to be to watch the cats, who are, of course, watching you right back.  You’ve also started sitting in the high chair during meals.  No, you are not eating solid food yet—you are not growing that fast!  We’ve always had you sit in your bouncy seat near us while we eat, but you love to be a part of our conversations and it’s just not that easy when you are in the bouncy seat.  Your high chair sits right between Daddy and me, and you smile and coo throughout the meals. 

Munchkin, we love you.  I hope you continue to be this happy forever.

 

One Month

Dear Baby Catherine,

One month ago, you entered our world.  We’d eagerly anticipated your arrival for more than 9 months.  Those last 42 hours were some of the most exciting and nerve-wracking of the whole wait, but they were so worth it.  What a joy to finally see your face and hold you in our arms!

We spent those first few days in the hospital introducing you to family and friends and loving on you.  How great it was to spend all that time together.  I loved every moment of it, but I think I loved the overnight hours the best.  At those times, it was just you and me.  We spent hours, when we should have been sleeping, just staring at each other and wondering what our lives would be like now that we’d finally met each other.

We brought you home on a chilly Saturday afternoon.  Grandma Colby was there and took lots of pictures and made a yummy dinner for us.  She stayed with us for the first week that you were home to help us adjust to our new routines.  She always offered to get up in the middle of the night to help take care of you, but I always let her sleep—that was our time to eat, talk, and be together, just Mommy and Baby.

Catherine, you eat so well.  You also eat so often!  Every time I feed you, I tell you how happy I am that we can spend that time together, just the two of us.  You hold on to one of my fingers as you watch me and I rub your feet and your back and continue telling you stories.  Tonight Grandma Hawley weighed you for us and you are up to 8 pounds, 7 ounces.  That was with your clothes and diaper on, so we have to say you weigh a bit less, but you are growing!  Your aunts say you are starting to fill out, especially in your cheeks.  We all can see how you are changing each day.

You also sleep very well.  It is very difficult to get you to sleep in your bassinette or the swing or your chair, but when you are in our arms or on our chest or stomach if we are lying down, you can sleep for hours.  I like this time, and I know Daddy does too. 

You are anxious to hold your head up and be a part of everything that’s happening around you.  From the first time I held you, you’ve done your best to hold your head up on your own.  One day soon, you’ll have it!  You are also so alert.  When you are awake, you want to see everything that is going on around you.  You track our movements if we go slow enough and you can sit for hours and take in the sights.  You especially love looking at lights or out the window.  Tonight, you enjoyed time in front of a Christmas tree.  I could see you thinking, “Look at all those lights!” as you sat in front of it.

I am so thankful that I’ve been able to spend every day with you.  I know sometimes Daddy will come home and wonder what I’ve been up to all day.  Some days I can only say that I spent the day staring at you.  You are so beautiful and you are growing so much.  I don’t want to miss a moment. 

I can hardly believe you’ve been here for a month already.  It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home, and it also seems that you’ve been here forever.  You fit into our lives so perfectly.

At one month, you:

* love to be held as much as possible
* sleep about 4 hours at a time and only wake up once during the night
* like to be swaddled in your ‘monkey suit’ when you sleep
* are very alert and love to watch movement
* can hold your head up a little longer each day
* like to hang your head back whenever you can
* have the hiccups multiple times every day
* enjoy classical music, especially in the car
* love to be jiggled by your Daddy
* can smile!

 

 

 

 

 

What would we do without you?  Happy one-month day, Baby.

Welcome Catherine!

Dear Baby Catherine,

What a joy it is to be able to say that.  I have tears in my eyes as I write this and think about the moment I first saw you.  I have waited for you my whole life, even though I didn’t always know I was waiting.  It already seems as though you’ve been a part of us forever and I can’t imagine life without you.  In the days to come I will write much more about my thoughts and feelings and the experience of your birth, but for now I just want to tell you how happy we are that you are finally here.

Welcome to the family baby, we love you so much!

Trial post - slideshow

Slideshow of belly pictures

32 Weeks

Dear Baby Hawley,

It's been a busy week for you and me.  You don't like when I sit down to do homework.  You'd much rather I stretch out on the couch or in bed so you can have more space.  You are still flipping a lot--sometimes you are vertical and sometimes you lie horizontal.  My tummy looks pretty funny when you do that, but you seem comfortable.

This weekend we went to a wedding on Saturday and a reception on Sunday in addition to all our regular weekend activities.  We still walk or swim every morning, and I'm starting to slow down.  Neither of us like walking fast anymore.

Tomorrow we will start a new schedule--the I-64 bridge from Indiana to Louisville was closed because of structural damage and all the traffic from that road will join our road.  Daddy and I want to stay out of that traffic (who likes sitting in a car that's not moving?) so we will leave the house at 5am to make it to Louisville before everyone.  I bet I'll be pretty tired by the end of the day.

Here are some photos of you today--32 weeks and 3 days.

Keep growing, baby!

31 Weeks

Dear Baby Hawley,

We are celebrating Labor Day with a picnic at the Paris house.  The weather has finally turned cooler!

Here you are at 31 weeks, 4 days.

Joey loves Baby

Dear Baby Hawley,

Joey loves you a lot these days.  Well, I know he loves the fact that I sit down more, which means a warm lap for him.  Here he is snuggling with us this afternoon.

I wonder how he will feel about you when you arrive and make noise for him....and grab his tail.  I bet he won't cuddle up so often.