KMae Rolls!!!

Kenleigh rolled over today for the first time. I attached a video below. *Disclaimer ~ Please excuse my high pitched voice. I was super excited and I had no idea how I sounded on video. My acting career never took off. Though the dream has never died. Oh, enough about me. Back to the girlie. I was telling Zach last night that I thought she was getting close and low and behold...only a day later. She's such a big girl. I was hoping she would roll over on video and then get so excited with me...instead she rolled over and was done. She finishes off with a yawn. Time for bed! She seriously is the light of our lives. We keep wondering what we ever did before her. Enjoy!

3 Months Old

Today Kenleigh is 3 months old. I seriously can’t believe how quick time is flying. My first trimester seemed to be the longest three months of my life. I love being a mother more.than.anything! I can’t imagine anything in life that feels more rewarding. It felt like it was a tough adjustment period for me for a little while. Kenleigh was pretty fussy early on and I wasn’t sure when that would ever end. I didn’t know the right ways or the quickest ways to calm her. I am her mother and I didn’t know the right ways to calm her. This was hard. I felt like my entire life stopped so I could take care of this little girl. For a long time I felt like I couldn’t leave the house or even function in the outside world. I was constantly stressed. All while loving my new little girl. A few people had mentioned that I seemed different. Of course I was different. My entire life just changed. Yet some felt that I didn’t seem as happy as I was. This made me sad. I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t even realize I was different. Looking back though I was. I was just as happy – I was happier actually. I just didn’t know how to emulate it. Of course in a quick conversation is seemed obvious but those around me closer sensed my level of stress. I’m not really sure if it was post partum depression. I’m sure to an extent it was. I know that it was a huge release of hormones into my body all at once along with a huge life change. It was scary, it was stressful, it was amazing. Over the last several weeks I personally have noticed a change. I enjoy Kenleigh even more. I didn’t know it was possible. We are figuring each other out. I calm her now – she wants me. We have our own touches with each other. I enjoy her differently. I enjoy her constantly. I stress less. My emotions are level. She’s my blessing. An incredible blessing. My life doesn’t feel like it’s adjusting anymore. I’m a mother. I will always be a mother. I’m sad it took me a while to figure out how to be a mother. To some it is very natural, for me I had to adjust. This shouldn’t have surprised me. I still burn toast. Of course it wouldn’t come easy. Not for me! I still burn toast but now I’m a lucky, lucky mom!
Anyway, Kenleigh was so excited for her three month birthday that I think she woke up every hour the night before. Actually I know she did. This morning Zach got Kenleigh up and let me sleep in for a bit. I guess he had plans of his own to celebrate. When I woke up I came downstairs and Zach and KMae were nowhere to be found…they must be in the basement. That was out of character. We haven’t hung out down there since she was born. Literally. I went to see what they were up to and this is what I found. Zach was down there entertaining her with a little Xbox. I seriously laughed so hard. She was so content lying on her play mat watching him play. They were bonding. It was cute. Father-daughter morning in our house was fun. I let them be.
For the last couple of weeks our good little sleeper has become a bad little sleeper. I’m not really sure what happened. She used to wake up only once a night for a quick bottle and was back to bed. Lately she has been up 2-3 times a night and sometimes (too often) more. I think in the next few weeks we are going to try some sleep training with her if we can’t get her back on track. Not sure how that will go. Here are a few more updates.
*She is still smiling a lot and laughing. She has even started belly laughing. Not a ton but when she does it I can’t help but crack up myself.
*She still hates tummy time. Any suggestions?
*She still hates being in the car. She has gotten better but it’s totally random on if she’s going to scream or not…more screaming than not still.
*She is ok to not be rocked to sleep for her naps anymore. Now I just put her in the swing at naptime and she goes right to sleep.
*She is the SLOWEST eater on the planet. I have tried faster nipples and she chokes. She just likes to eat slowly. She's dainty!
*She pays more attention to her toys and is actually entertained by them.
*She has discovered her hands. She is always staring at them and sucking on them.
*She pulls on my hair.
*She is starting to drool a ton.
*She’s still perfect.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have to say Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year with having Kenleigh and all. At the very least it gave us that much more to be thankful for. In general I have always hated Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong – I’m fully aware of the meaning of Thanksgiving. I get it. I’m thankful. I’m thankful for so much. I try to remember all year everything I am thankful for. For example: I’m thankful for Thanksgiving because I get another day off work, a long weekend, and time with family and friends. Yeah right until they fall asleep on me. Brings me to one of the reasons I’m not a fan of the holiday. EVERYONE sleeps…so lame! Seriously, we never get together and we finally do and now you want to sleep? We eat food that in my opinion is top of the line gross. It’s true, Thanksgiving feasts are not my favorite. Not even close. I’m not sure why…really, I’m not. The napping though, I still can’t get over the napping. I can count on maybe one hand the number of naps I’ve taken in my adult life…I think those were all during my first trimester of pregnancy. Basically what I’m saying is that I didn’t choose to nap. My body kept shutting down…it just did it…all on its own. I couldn’t nap if I tried. So while y’all are napping I’m sitting around twittling my thumbs in front of a television of football. Oh I can’t change the channel. Inevitably someone will complain. Even though I know they were napping minutes before. This year though was different. I had Kenleigh. She has no problem entertaining me while everyone else is napping. I’m thankful for Kenleigh. I’m thankful for my new little family.
This year we went to my mom’s house early and hung out there for a while. Kenleigh was a huge hit. She is so cute…so, so cute. Not sure if I mentioned how cute she is. My nieces Launa and Teiha are always so fun with her. I’ve been a little protective and haven’t let them hold her so I decided to give in on Thanksgiving. You know – give them something more to be thankful for. I’m thinking Kenleigh wishes I wouldn’t have given in. As soon as I handed her over she had had it and she was sure to let them know! After my mom’s we went to Zach’s parents for dinner. Just the five of us…it was a quiet night. But no naps – more to be thankful for! Now onto Christmas. I love Christmas!

Launa and Kenleigh - Launa cuddles even through the screams!

Teiha and Kenleigh

Our little family

My morning girl!

This is how Kenleigh wakes up every single morning. It's the best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM7mfgNwApU

Two Months Old

So sad I forgot to take the mittens off!

Kenleigh is two months old today. That is absolutely crazy for me to say. I thought the last two months of my pregnancy would never end and yet here I am two months in to motherhood. Best role I’ve ever played for sure! Kenleigh is such a joy in our lives; we really cannot get enough of her. I only have just over three weeks left before I have to go back to work and it’s seriously breaking my heart. If anyone out there knows of part time or just more than part time work that I could get insurance please shout it out to me! I’ll do anything to go back with flexible hours!!! Zach hates it enough that he has to be away from her; we can’t imagine how it’s going to feel when I go back. Good thing we have a good babysitter. Thanks Amy! Kenleigh had her two month appointment on Monday. Everything looks great. At two weeks she weighed 7 lbs 13 oz (50th percentile) and was 20.5” long (75th percentile). At two months she weighed 9 lbs 14 oz (40th percentile) and is 22” long (70th percentile). So she is still long and lean! She had her shots and those have not been very fun. I have heard to expect them to be fairly fussy for few days and lose their appetite. She has done both. She is pretty fussy and wants to eat but when I give her the bottle she really fights it. She still eats it but it takes triple the normal time to get down. It makes me so sad. She LOVES her daddy. She had such a fussy day yesterday and as soon as dad came home he had her laughing and smiling for so long. It was really cute. Zach is great at coming home and taking over for me for a bit so I can get some other stuff done. I may take this next part back eventually but as of right now she is a great night time sleeper. She sleeps in her crib (alone!) and has since 6 weeks. I have to say ‘alone’ because this was really hard for me. I knew I had to go back to work when she was 12 weeks old and I wanted the transition to be as seamless as possible. I knew I wanted her in her room by then so I figured 6 weeks should be enough time. I am super paranoid and don’t do very well with her being without me so for the first few nights we pulled the mattress off the spare bed and put it on her floor next to her crib. It was a rough few nights. Then a few people told me she probably sensed I was there (I smell so yummy) and relied on that. I finally decided to get out of her room. Don’t worry, our room down the hall just still seemed too far away so I camped out in the room across from hers. It’s closer. After a few nights I missed Zach so I talked him into sleeping in there with me. After night one in a full size bed he was done. He convinced me to come home. I did it…for a week (almost) I have been in my own bed and Kenleigh in hers. It’s nice to have night talk again with the hubby…I missed him! It’s getting easier. I’m still up super late checking on her a million times but I finally fall asleep. She was fairly scheduled during the day. She ate every three hours with her last bottle at 8 p.m. then off to bed until 8 the next morning. However the last few days she has wanted to eat more often but the same amount of food. I tried to up her ounces to keep the every three hours but I’m thinking it isn’t working. She’d still like more often. Maybe a growth spurt. She just had one of those though so who knows? Either way, what Kenleigh wants she gets! Here are a few more updates:
*She lost most the hair she had when she was born but it’s filling back in…so cute and still red!
*She smiles a lot and is really starting to talk. She laughs and smiles the very most when I go in to get her out of her crib in the morning still. Cracks me up!
*She holds her head up so well but still fights tummy time. I think I’ll give her a rest for awhile.
*She HATES being in the car. I don’t think it’s so much her car seat though. She’s fine until she’s locked in the car!
*During her daytime naps she likes me to rock her to sleep and then I’m ok to put her in the swing.
*She still has the hiccups a lot but not as often.
*She is still just perfect!

Oh, I Love Her!

Kenleigh is eight weeks old today. That’s crazy. I can’t believe that I have a two month old. Oh how I love her. I’m going to attempt writing a blog but I’m not sure it won’t take hours. Let’s have some fun and just see. Right now it’s 1:03 p.m. on Thursday. I feel like I can’t get on the computer anymore because I’m always attending to Kenleigh. I have a feeling it’s not supposed to be this way though…or maybe it is. The only computering I do these days is on my phone. I have decided to put K-Mae in her bouncy seat and sit her at my feet. Is it gross that my foot is bouncing her chair (on top of the vibrating and white noise it’s doing on its own) just to see if I can write a post? Anyhow her it goes…I’m having emotional debates internally I do believe. We have had some rough roads with fussiness (which I’ll explain in her two month blog post) but all in all I’d say we have a pretty content baby. She is very scheduled in her eating and then I try and play with her for a bit before she takes a nap. *Note – K-Mae wasn’t having the bouncy seat…it’s now Monday morning at 9:22. Anyway, here was the problem. Kenleigh sleeps great at night but doesn’t nap anywhere but her swing during the day. Well lately I have been feeling guilty because she looks so cute, yet lonely over in her swing even though she is sleeping; so I pick her up. For some reason I think she’ll continue her nap on me or on her boppy where I don’t feel like I’ve abandoned her. Well, that never happens. Instead I just make her mad – in turn stopping me from getting anything done. All the adults in my life have recently told me to LEAVE THE BABY IN THE SWING. I guess if that’s where she sleeps I shouldn’t feel like I have abandoned her; she’ll cry if she needs me. Nice huh? Took me a while to figure that out! So….on to the real story I’m here to blog about.
I have always been told that babies love the car. If you have a fussy baby take her for a car ride. Yeah right. Who came up with that? It certainly doesn’t work for us. K-Mae will be incredibly content…we put her in the car seat and she chills…we put her in the car and all bets are off. She HATES the car. Last Sunday Zach and I wanted to go up to Park City Outlets and get her some cute outfits. We thought we’ll feed her first and by the time we get there she’ll surely be zonked out. It’s a good 25-30 minute drive. We were so wrong. She cried THE ENTIRE WAY. I’m not even kidding you. Then she was just mad. She wasn’t about to allow shopping to go on. I finally sat her down and explained to her that the shopping was for her; that she’d be voted best dressed if she’d let us shop. She finally agreed under a few conditions. Zach had to let me do the shopping while he held her facing forward close to the front door so she could look out at all times all while he was pacing back and forth. It’s true, we conceded. I shopped like I was on Shop Til You Drop. So fast… I went to check out and oh man…that woman at the checkout didn’t stop. She talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked (annoying huh?). That’s what she did. Zach begged K-Mae to cry so the woman would get the hint. She didn’t instead K-Mae sat there so content. Her timing is impeccable. So after a long…30 minutes…of Shop Til You Drop we thought surely she was worn out and the drive home would be relaxing. It wasn’t. She cried THE ENTIRE WAY. Poor girlie. But her clothes sure are cute!!! Here are a few pictures of my darling.

This is the day I tried to bounce her with my foot while I computered.

This is her getting ready to be buckled in her car seat. Happy as long as she isn't going to be put in a car!

How cute is she so tiny in her huge crib?

Waving hello from the bumbo!

Thanks Mom for finally taking me out of the dreaded bumbo!

One Month Old

Wow, I can’t believe it. A month with Kenleigh has already come and gone. She turned one month old yesterday. She has been such a joy to have around. I am however definitely ready to get out of the house a little for the remainder of my maternity leave and explore the world that has almost been foreign to me. Here is a few things Kenleigh has been up to:
*Sleeping – during the day, not at night. However, now she has developed colic or reflux or something…she cries pretty much always if she isn’t eating or sleeping. I take her to her pediatrician tomorrow to check for reflux. Poor girlie.
*She loves light. It’s funny to leave the room with the light on and go into somewhere dark. She’ll turn her head as far as possible to keep looking at the light.
*Her eyes are still gray. The never did go blue (in my opinion). We are hoping they turn green.
*She loves taking a bath – she hates getting out!
*Her neck is getting really strong. She likes to hold her head up by herself whenever possible and look around.
*We think she is smiling more just because…not because of gas.
*She recognizes our voices. When I’m gone and come into the room she gets really excited…this excites me.
*She loves to be rocked but hates her swing…great!
*She has the hiccups about three times a day.
*She got her first real baby acne yesterday on her one month birthday.

*Her hair is still red but is falling out quick. I'm excited to see if it comes back red.
*She’s pretty much perfect!!!