The past month it has been really hard to find the motivation to update our blog... and I think it's because I am so far behind! I keep getting the urge to post, but then I remember that so many things have happened in the past month and I don't feel like updating on all of them to bring everyone up to the present. So I am just going to do a brief update now to bring everyone up to speed and then move on from here.
Kevin and I spent New Years Eve in Hoboken, NJ with Kevin's friends from Hillsborough, NJ. It was a lot of fun and really great to go out together for the first time since Kerriann was born. Kevin's parents, Katie and Tom, were nice enough to watch Kerriann for us for a few hours so we could meet up with everyone. We stayed out until 1am and were both exhausted and ready for bed by then! We don't have any good pictures to show because we decided that our camera was too bulky and expensive to take to a bar, but if I can get my hands on pictures that one of his friends took I will be sure to post some.
Two days later we made the LONG journey from central NJ to southern AL. We made two notable stops on the way. The first one was a quick stop at Kevin's Aunt Patti's house to pick up some items we had forgotton the week before. It was nice to see Patti and Kevin's cousins Katie and Kelly one more time before heading south. Our second stop was Kevin's Uncle Chuck and Aunt Valorie's house in Chapel Hill, NC. They were gracious enough to open their home to us and Kerriann for the night so that we wouldn't have to stay in a hotel. It was great to see them for the first time since the wedding, and Valorie made us a very tasty breakfast the next morning before sending us on our way!
It took us close to 20 hours total to make the trip... by the time we made it to our house in AL it was pretty late on Sunday night, and Kevin had to get up early for work the next day. Over the next couple of weeks I took my time unpacking from the trip. After being gone for over a month, we had accumulated so much stuff that it took ages to put it all away.
During our first week home Kerriann had her overdue 4 month well baby check-up (she was actually 5 months and 2 days at this appointment). She weighed in at 12 lbs and 3 oz and was 24 1/4 in. long. This was the first time that we saw the army doctors at Lyster Clinic on Ft. Rucker. I wasn't very pleased with the doctors or the overall experience... so we are debating whether we will continue to see them or return to the civilian doctor that we were seeing previously. Below are a couple pictures of Kerriann before and after her appointment:
All strapped in and ready to go!
Notice the band-aid on her leg... she had one shot in each thigh and also one oral vaccine... she did much better than she did with her previous shots.
Yesterday I felt the first signs of a tooth popping through in Kerriann's mouth, so I expect that it will be completely through in the next couple of weeks! Hopefully the tooth will bring a little relief from the teething symptoms we have been dealing with since November.
On Sunday (1-24-10) we gave Kerriann her first taste of solid food--rice cereal! She didn't seem to care for it... but I don't blame her. It smelled awful and I couldn't wait to pour it down the sink-haha! The "experts" these days recommend feeding each food for at least 3 days before moving on to something else just to rule out any allergies. So we waited 3 days and then quickly moved on to carrots. Today was day #2 of carrots and she did a little bit better. I'm hoping after another week or two she will be a pro at eating solids!
Not to jinx myself but Kerriann has been doing much better with napping and night sleeping lately. For the past two weeks she has been taking all of her naps in her crib, and for the past 3 nights she has woken once between 1 and 2am and then again around 6:15am. I still wish she was sleeping through the night, but this is much better than waking every 3 hours like she was before. She has been going into her crib about every hour and 15 minutes for her naps. She does fuss for a few minutes before her naps at times, but she is getting much better. I am now giving her a stuffed animal so that she has company and doesn't get too lonely while falling asleep ;). I'm not sure if that's the reason she is doing so much better or not, but it can't be hurting. Below are a few more pictures from the past few weeks.
Practicing drinking from her sippy cup
Jumperoo
Playing with Daddy
