6 Months

Our little girl is now 6 months old. Matt and I were just talking the other night how it's so hard to imagine our life before Kaitlynn was born. We decided that we must have been very bored!

Here is a small sample of her rolling, scooting and talking skills...



I couldn't get off of work for her 6 month appt. on Tuesday so Matt took her. I of course had to type up a list of info. about her with the answers to the questions they usually ask about her. He did a very good job and got all of my questions answered! Since she is still spitting up so much and sometimes it is just clear liquid the pediatrician said that even though it doesn't seem to bother Kaitlynn that we still need to treat the acid reflux. She gave us a different medicine to try and we're going to start giving her more solids/less formula to see if that makes a difference. Hopefully it will help. It is a HUGE pain to have to constantly be changing clothes (hers and ours!) cleaning the carpet, etc.

I do think that she is starting to even out a little bit in the height and weight department. She weighs 17 lbs. 1 oz. which is now in the 75% and she is 25 1/4 inches long which is is in the 50%.

Kaitlynn and I went over to Jo and Jarred's the other night for "game night" Jo's sister's family also came over and their boys absolutely love "Baby Kaitlynn" as they call her!
Here is Nicholas trying to entertain Kaitlynn with Joanne who is currently growing baby #2 in her belly! Congratulations you guys!
Nicholas trying to make her happy by making silly faces. You can tell it's really working!
Once I took her from Joanne she immediately went to sleep but then we had the dilemma of where to put her. The best solution we came up with was the dog bed! Yes...we really used Sammy's bed...although Jo assured me that Sammy has never even slept in it and we put a clean blanket over the top so she didn't even touch the bed part. I can just picture my aunt Diane slightly freaking out right now...ha ha! She rolls so much that it makes me nervous to put her up on a big bed even with pillows around her. I was a little worried about her suffocating so I checked on her a LOT!
Saturday evening I went over to Chantay's house because Kristi and her boys were over there hanging out. Kaitlynn really enjoyed seeing her boyfriend, Drake.
Here she is giving him her best flirtatious smiles...
Averi wanted in on the fun, too! I think it's hilarious that it really looks like Kaitlynn and Drake are chattin' it up!

New Shoes/Early Halloween

Hello! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated but things have been pretty crazy around here. Kaitlynn and I are adjusting to our new schedule together and I'm starting to settle in to kindergarten and am finally getting some loose ends finished up.

First of all...here are some new pictures of Kaitlynn. I know I'm biased but I think she's just pretty darn cute!

Her aunt Sarah got her these adorable pink and brown shoes for a shower gift. They don't usually stay on for very long but I wanted to make sure we got a few pictures of her wearing them. Thanks Sarah!

Here she is in a Halloween costume I bought last week, although as you can tell in the one picture the 0-9 month size could not possibly be snapped around those slim thighs! Before I changed her I couldn't resist taking a few pictures!
Here's our little snuggle bunny!
I LOVE this one...hee hee!I was going to be a good mommy and make her a costume but I just don't see myself having time to get it done. I'm still trying to think of some ideas, though. I'm obviously going to have to return this one. Matt thought she was super cute in this but he still wants her to be a pumpkin. I'm debating on having her be a pumpkin now since we already have pictures in this...we'll see!

Some more good news:
-Kaitlynn has finally been approved for an individual health insurance plan since she's been cleared of her heart problems which will be MUCH cheaper than having her on my school plan.

-The test I took for my early childhood certification wasn't accepted in Missouri even though I passed (Long story!) FINALLY since dealing with this since my maternity leave in April my school district has agreed to help out with some of the cost and I'm going to re-activate my Iowa teaching license and then update my Missouri teaching license. Missouri is now a reciprocal state so after doing this I will then have Early Childhood on my certificate, as well as getting back my reading endorsement.

I'm just so glad to almost have this taken care of and to know that I'm going to be in kindergarten for at least this year!

Matt had Kaitlynn all day on Monday and they had a great day together. He'll have her 2 days next week! I think he enjoys spending that time with her because he really doesn't get to see her much other than feeding her and dressing her in the mornings for me. The past month 1/2 his days off have landed on the weekends and/or he's had training on his days off so she's been at Kathy's pretty much every day. It will be nice that the next couple of months his days off will be during the week and they'll get to spend a lot more time together.

Family, Blessing, Friends

Sorry it's been so long since an update. Things have been pretty crazy at my school and with Matt's work hours I'm pretty much a single mom after I pick Kaitlynn up at the babysitter so there isn't much free time to do anything, let alone add to the blog. Hopefully things will start to slow down now and I'll be able to update a little more often.

2 weekends ago we went up to Iowa to visit my family. My aunt, uncle and cousins were here from New York. We had a great time seeing everyone.

Most of the grandkids and wives/husbands
Doing her stretching with her great-great grandad Loren.
My uncle Mark always dresses up and initiates any new boyfriend/girlfriend who comes to a family gathering. This time my cousin Taylor brought his girlfriend for the first time so of course this is how Mark welcomed her!
Here's the Hardie Clan
This past weekend we went up to Council Bluffs for Kaitlynn's baby blessing.
Macee (my parent's dog) loves Kaitlynn. She kept rolling her ball right up to her thinking that she would throw it for her! Every once in a while her arm would randomly hit it away and Macee would go chase it!
My dad gave the blessing and Matt's dad gave the sermon. It was a beautiful service and we were so glad to have so much family there to share the special moment with us.
Hanging out with Grandpa Rex after the blessing and lunch.

Unfortunately the setting on my camera got switched so all of our pictures are very blurry.
Yum Yum! I wonder if these taste like strawberry?
Here she is in her adorable lady bug outfit her "Aunt" Joanne gave her. Oh yes...it's 6-9 month size!

I went over to Dan & Dana's house the other night and Kaitlynn and Courtney got to play together. It was funny watching them because they sort of looked at each other and took whatever toy was closest. It's also interesting because they are so close in age (10 days), but yet doing many different things. Kaitlynn is rolling in all directions and ALL over the place and Courtney has decided she doesn't care to roll over anymore. Courtney showed Kaitlynn how well she can sit up by herself, although Kaitlynn isn't quite interested yet!
Courtney kept trying to play with the toy on Kaitlynn's exersaucer and you could tell by her expression that Kaitlynn wasn't too sure she wanted to share it!! Don't you just wonder what they're thinking sometimes?

5 Months

We officially have a 5 month old in our house now! Here are some of the new and exciting things that Kaitlynn can now do...
-Smiles all the time
-Laughs a LOT more
-Rolls in all directions
-She can literally roll all the way across the room
-Drinks 7 oz. bottles
-Loves cereal
-Doesn't suck on her fingers as much and has now learned a new trick of taking out her own pacifier (she even manages to put it back in her mouth sometimes!)
-Can sit up by herself if her hands are in front of her pushing up on the floor
-She loves to watch Tucker and will reach her hand out to pet him when he walks by
-Rolls around in her crib and coos to herself as she wakes up in the morning
-Grabs her toes during diaper changes
-She is starting to notice faces and is grabbing at everything

Here is a video of her showing off her new rolling skills just a few minutes ago.



On another note...I have almost finished my first full week of kindergarten. I have moments that I love it and moments that I don't love it at all. My class is really cute and I think we're maybe making a little progress as far as listening, walking in lines, etc. Lately we've been trying to master closing the door when we use the restroom and then leaving the door open when they're done. They seem to want to do the opposite!!!

Our mornings are actually going pretty well but the afternoons are rough to say the least. I was talking to my mom earlier about getting ready to go home and trying to get them to take their folder, get their papers from their mailbox, then get their back pack, then actually put their things in the bag, then put on the backpack and then sit down on their chair. Once that is done then I can finally call them to get their bus tags, put their chairs up and line up but of course they can't hear me syting their names because there are kids running around the room in various stages of this going home routine! OH MY!!! Imagine 18 little bodies trying to do this in about 10-15 min. It's crazy!!!! It makes me tired just thinking about it!

One little boy today came in with the sticky price tag on his shirt which said that it was a small and it cost $6.99. After encouraging him to throw the sticker away, he informed me that he wanted to leave it on so that people would know that he just bought it! Unfortunately, he was playing with the sticker later on and it had to be thrown away.

Another little girl came out of the bathroom and informed me that her mom tells her when her poop is green that she needs to start drinking other things and that she probably better go get a drink of water. I didn't ask any further questions and let her get a drink!!

More Family/ Kindergarten/ Swimsuit

Sorry it's been a while since an update. With the first week of school things have been pretty crazy!

Last weekend most of Matt's family came down for their annual World's of Fun trip. They all came for a cook-out at our house on Friday night. We had a great time!
I don't think anybody even likes her!After she spit up all over her 1st outfit, I let Asha help me pick out a new one. I gave her about 5 options, all of which were pink except for one. She is definitely an Iowa girl because she picked out the Iowa Hawkeye outfit!!
Here's everyone checking out her new outfit!
Hanging out with her cousin David
Of course no one wanted to miss out on bath time, either!
Asha did a great job at helping because she is now the "big" cousin!


My mom came down to watch Kaitlynn for us on Mon.-Wed. because the babysitter couldn't start yet. We are so lucky to have parents who are so willing to help out even when they live 3 hours away. One night when she was here we were playing on the floor and Kaitlynn started laughing at Tucker. She just loves him and her eyes follow him wherever he goes. She has even started reaching out to pet him when he walks by! She has laughed at him before as he runs by but we haven't been able to capture it on video. I'm not sure if it's him running that she thinks is funny or if it's the sound of his tags rattling. Either way it's pretty cute!


My mom also brought her this adorable swimming suit. It even has a belt! I'm not sure if we'll make it to swim in the next few weeks but I decided to do a little photo shoot anyway!
Check out those lovable thighs...ha ha!
Yes...I do have my daddy's mouth!
Don't worry...I'm still bald

I did survive my first day as a kindergarten teacher. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home last night and went to bed as soon as Kaitlynn did! Right now I have 18 students and they are just too cute. It is definitely different starting out the first day with kids who have NO idea what it means to walk in a line, sit on the floor, raise their hands, etc. I'm used to having some kind of control over this and now I have to be patient while they learn to do all of these things! I do think I'm going to really like it but it is a big adjustment. I learned a lot yesterday (mostly of what they can't do/handle yet!) I'm sure I'll have some funny stories after we go a whole week starting on Monday.

The funniest thing yesterday was a little boy who has no clue about walking in line. He would be in a spot when we left the room and then before you know it he is either on the other side of the hall looking at a bulletin board or all the way ahead of our class!

One of my girls also got stuck in the bathroom stall! I wasn't sure if the door really was stuck or if she just didn't know how to unlock it. Have you ever tried explaining this to a 5 year old? Finally I just had her climb out under the door. I went back in a few minutes later and the other girls were just climbing underneath the door, they'd do their business and then climb right back out. GROSS!!!

A Week of Family

We have been really busy this past week and have had lots of visitors, too. Here's an update on what we've been doing...

1. I've started back at school. After teaching reading for 1 year and then 2nd grade for 4 years I am now moving to kindergarten. Was this my choice? No...but I am looking forward to the change. Unfortunately I had to take the Praxis test last Saturday. I feel like I did a pretty good on it but we won't get my test scores back until the 2nd week of school at the earliest. If I don't pass it then I'll have to move to 1st grade after I've already bonded with my adorable little kindergartners for 2 weeks.

2. Kaitlynn has gone up with me a couple of days to "help" get my new room ready. She even fell asleep on her back which NEVER happens and on her own, too! One of the other teachers daughters were up there last week and Luci was a wonderful help with Kaitlynn and even rocked her to sleep once!
3. Aunt Annie was back visiting from Wisconsin so her and Grammy and Grandpa Sewing came down on Friday and Saturday. We had a wonderful time hanging out with them. We miss Annie a lot but we know that her and Jake are getting used to married life and are enjoying venturing around Wisconsin! Kaitlynn is so lucky to have such an awesome aunt and she loves you so much! She gave Kaitlynn a little gift for her baby blessing and it's an adorable bracelet with a cross on it and a book.

Here she is sporting her new bracelet.

This is my new favorite picture. How adorable is it that she is looking right at the magazine with her arm over Annie's?!?

I'm looking at Grandpa's watch...

...I'm eating Grandpa's watch!

Seeing what she might look like with hair some day!Gotta practice that walking

Here she is "chatting" away with Grammy and Aunt Annie...Enjoy!

4. My mom has been here the past couple of days to help do bulletin boards, etc. She was a HUGE help and hopefully I'll be able to stay in that room! Grandpa Rex got to babysit his favorite granddaughter while we were up at school. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them together but I know they had fun playing together!

We did get a cute video of her laughing with Grandma Cindy...finally! Sorry that I was holding the camera up and down.


5. Here are some cute pictures of our lovable, chubby little angel! This was before her bath the other night.

Hee hee!

I love my snuggle bug so much!!