More milestones

I forgot some important milestones in the last post, so let's just call this a continuation. First of all, I snapped this adorable picture of Caitlin emulating her brother's endearing habit of sucking his middle two fingers. She still loves her pacifier now, but who knows what the future will bring...

First and foremost, Caitlin started eating cereal! I was going to wait a while before giving it to her, because let's be honest, it's thrilling to start food with baby #1, but once you get to baby #2 you realize it's just another thing you have to fit in the day. However, Miss Caitlin let me know that she is HUNGRY in many ways, but mostly by eyeing everything I eat intently and grabbing any utensil or food (or non-food) within her reach and trying to shove it in her mouth. So I figured, why not. Well, she definitely took to it quickly, grabbing the spoon to get it into her mouth faster, gobbling every bite, and then FREAKING out when it was over. This routine has happened repeatedly, even when I give her a second helping! I guess she really was hungry! Here are some cute pics of her enjoying the first bites.

She also has been loving her time in the exersaucer and jumper. It took her a few weeks to warm up to it, probably because she was subjected to the wrath of her brother who regressed and decided he needed to be put into the exersaucer at exactly the same moment as Caitlin settled in. In any event, she's getting to be a pro at maneuvering her way around and pulling and pushing all the right places to make music and lights go crazy. Any baby's dream...
Finally, Caitlin started daycare a couple of weeks ago when I went back to work. She is downstairs in the transitional daycare at my office that we loved so much when Isaac was a baby. She's doing great down there, and didn't even blink when I dropped her off the first day. Jennifer, the director, looked at me funny when I dropped her off and when I asked her why she smiled and reminded me that when we dropped Isaac off on his first day we lingered for an hour and I gave her several pages of instructions, but with Caitlin I just handed her over and said, put her down for a nap when she gets tired. Second babies... :)

Coming soon - Christmas in NJ (as soon as I can get through all the pictures!)

Caitlin's Milestones and Holidays

As she approaches five months (crazy?!), Caitlin has been busy hitting new milestones. First of all she is getting big (as evidenced by the adorably chubby bath picture below), and weighed in at just under 15 pounds (Isaac hadn't even hit 15 pounds at 6 months!) at her doctor's appointment today. She is also getting two teeth on the bottom, which are causing her some discomfort and giving her adorable bright red cheeks (apparently that's a symptom of teething, who knew?). She's a trooper though, and for the most part smiles right through it. Finally, she has decided she is done with the swaddle. We had a week of very rough nights with Caitlin fighting furiously against the swaddle but being unable to settle down and get to sleep when we tried putting her down without it. She eventually gave in and slept with the swaddle only to wake up a few hours later having flipped onto her belly and without the use of her arms, she couldn't flip back over. This also made me nervous that she would suffocate against the bumpers, so I took them out temporarily. She finally worked it out, and now goes down with relatively no problem with no swaddle and almost immediately flips onto her belly or side to sleep. Unfortunately this newfound comfort has not inspired her to sleep through the night, and we are still waking up just about every three hours to the minute for a feeding. The plan was to let her cry it out this week before I returned to work, but she has a really bad cold and I don't have the heart to do it. So...another week of three hour naps for me, I guess :)

Hanukah came early this year and while we celebrated in Denver with my family, we had our own celebration at home with the kids where Bill made delicious latkes and homemade apple sauce. We also lit real candles with Grandma on Oovoo and Isaac had fun lighting and relighting the "candles" on his felt Menorah too.

We have also been busy getting the house ready for Christmas. Instead of honoring our multi-year tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree, we decided to take the easy route this year and buy a tree from Home Depot. Not as romantic, but a lot easier (and cheaper!). Isaac and Bill picked out the biggest tree they could find (shocker) that was actually meant for a house three times the size of ours, and had a great time setting it up and decorating it. I have to admit, I was not thrilled with the fact that our entire dining room was displaced, but now that it's set up, I love looking at it and smelling it too.

Isaac had his second dentist appointment last week and did great. Apparently he still hasn't gotten his two-year old molars yet. Great... It's funny, whenever he hears the word dentist now he says "ahh" in anticipation!

We have been trying to pack as much fun as possible into the last couple of weeks leading up to my return to work. Last week Isaac and I made cookies from scratch. Well, more accurately, I made the cookies, he sort of helped mix, and definitely helped eat the batter! In any event, it was a lot of fun to watch - he really is getting better and better at "helping" and doing stuff "all by myself".

We also went to the Botanical Gardens (5 times) to see the train exhibit. Every year they set up an elaborate holiday display with trains running through the whole thing - this year the theme is countries around the world, and they even have Thomas and Percy running through it! Isaac loves chasing the trains around, and it's a great indoor activity for a cold day.

Finally, on my last day before going back to work, we had a couple of inches of snow. Isaac had a great time running around and playing in the snow, though I had to tell him about a hundred times to stop eating it!

Thanksgiving - Part 2

We spent Wednesday through Saturday in Vail where my sister Jen's in-laws own a gorgeous condo and have very gracious neighbors who let half of us stay at their place for the holiday. For Thanksgiving the boys (Max, Bill, Chad and Joey) all worked together to make an amazing dinner while the kids (seven kids under the age of 7!) wreaked havoc on the house. They got along great and sat at the kids table enjoying the feast while we ate. After dinner was over, Talia lead an impromptu dance party which was hilarious to watch. Isaac got right in the mix showing off his moves and trying to mimic Talia. The rest of the weekend was a blur of really great bonding time for us, Papa Rich, and the kids - it was so much fun to watch them together, I only wish we could see each other more often.

In between meals, we had quality downtime hanging with Papa Rich, Aunt Alli, Uncle Chad, and Aunt Kristin at our condo. Isaac worked on his computer while Bill and my dad were working and learned to drink frothed milk made for him by Kristin -- which he deemed his "coffee" and now asks for every day. Thank goodness Aunt Alli was paying attention - the day after we got home Isaac got his very own frother which he is loving!! We also took advantage of being together to exchange Hanukah gifts with the kids which they all LOVED. Isaac and Caitlin made out like bandits of course - who knows where we are going to put all their new loot -- and we haven't even gotten to Christmas yet!!

Finally, we were lucky to get lots of snow while we were in Vail which the kids loved. While Bill, Max, Alli & Chad went skiing, we got the kids all bundled up and created a makeshift sledding course in the backyard which was fun. Isaac loved it the first ride, but was definitely done with the cold and snow by his second turn :) Caitlin got bundled and looked adorable, but instead of getting subjected to the cold, she got to snuggle inside with Kristin.

Thanksgiving - Part 1

We spent a wonderful and action-packed week in Colorado for Thanksgiving with lots of friends, family, animals, and snow, but if you asked Isaac, he would tell you the best part is that he got to take a bus to a train to an airplane! This was our first time travelling with both kids, and for the most part it went well. On the way up there were some empty seats so Caitlin got her own seat which was great because she slept for the majority of the trip - especially surprising since Isaac spent most of the flight climbing back and forth between his and Bill's row and our row.

We spent a few days in Boulder with Bill's brother Evan and his wife Adrienne and Isaac was thrilled to learn the art of making "milkshakers" - an activity that we brought home with us. He also loved hanging with all of Evan and Adrienne's pets - two rottweilers, a bunny rabbit and a lizard and playing loudly on their piano.

We also spent some time visiting friends, including the Samburs who are getting ready to welcome a baby girl and the Reiss family. I couldn't resist this picture of Bill and his good friend/fraternity brother Jared - they've come a long way from college to now having four daughters and a son between them!

We also got in some QT with the Kruse family who live in the same cute suburb of Colorado that my sister and mom live in. Isaac and Colin had fun shooting hoops, playing on the playground, and rolling down the huge hill with their daddies.

Finally, we spent a great few days with my mom who spoiled the kids (and us) rotten. Isaac especially had fun having two sleepovers with her and watching the prairie dogs and chasing his new garbage truck up and down the street with Grandma in tow.

Coming soon - Thanksgiving in Vail