5 Months!

My first attempt at a 5 month picture involved a little too much drool on the dress.

Much better! 

Well back to work has meant belated posting!  It is so hard to come home and only have a couple hours with Kiera, wash all of the pump and bottle parts from the day, make and eat dinner which also may include a trip to the store, clean up, and find a few minutes to relax before going to bed!  I wouldn't trade it for the world (well, ok I would be willing to stay home, but I wouldn't trade motherhood!), but it keeps us BUSY!  


Kiera has been growing and changing so much, it is truly amazing how much a little being can grow and learn in 5 short months.  I truly remember the doctor handing her to me (ok, well I guess I actually handed her to myself since he asked me to basically pull her out!) like it was yesterday.  
Here is what she was up to at 5 months:

- We don't have a doctor's appointment till next month so no stats yet, but I assure you she is still a growing girl!  Although I feel like she is starting to thin out a bit (just a bit!) and isn't growing quite as fast as she was.  


- Everything goes in her mouth!

- She is still wearing mostly 3-6 month clothing, along with a few 6-9 month and 6-12 month items.  

- She is wearing size 2-3 diapers.   


- She is sitting up extremely well and loves to sit up on the bed (where she topples over occasionally) or on the floor with her Boppy pillow around her in case she tips.  

- She still to stand up and therefore loves hanging out in her exersaucer.  One of her absolute favorite things to do is hang out in her exersaucer and chew on Mr. Crabby or throw her balls on the floor!  

- She has been sleeping through the night since about 4 1/2 months.  YAY!  At first this still involved an occasional waking where she couldn't settle herself and required an assist from the pacifier around 5:40am, but she is generally able to settle herself if she wakes.  She is such a good sleeper and sleeps from about 7:30 or 8:00pm until 7:00am or so.  She is also a good napper and naps in her crib 2 to 3 times a day.  The first two naps are 1.5-2 hours and the third is usually only about 30-40 minutes.  


 - She is eating 5 times a day and every 4 hours: 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 10:30pm.  When I am at work she gets 2 6 oz. bottles of pumped milk.  We gave her the first taste of rice cereal on her 5 month birthday (Dr. said it was ok anywhere from 4 to 6 months) and she did pretty well!  A little unsure at first, but ultimately liked it and swallowed more than she spit out.  

- She is very vocal and makes all sorts of noises- squeals, dolphin and horse noises, and grunting are some of her favorites.  She loves it when you imitate her sounds and will hold a conversation.  : )  

- She still loves her baths, but we are starting to consider a way to put her in the big tub because she loves to kick her legs and splash the water all over the kitchen!
- She is so happy and fun to be around.  She loves to be outside and look at the trees, although the occasional loud downtown siren sometimes scares her.  

- She has rolled over from her tummy to her back a total of six times now.  She started to lay her head down when she is tired of tummy time instead of working to turn over.  


- She started to laugh and we are having fun finding ways to make her laugh.  She don't give us the laugh very easily, but tickling the thighs and neck/shoulders will generally do it.  


We have been blessed with such a wonderful, healthy, happy baby girl!  : ) 

Did you miss this face or what?

I have a new found respect for women who work outside the home and manage to do regular blog posts!  (I am by no means saying I do not respect women who stay home, in fact I wish I was one of them!)  I have been back at work for almost 3 weeks and the posting has come to a sudden halt!  : (  I am going to do my best to get back to posting a couple times a week.  For now, here is a quick video of Miss Kiera.   Belated 5-month post coming soon...

Back to Reality!

Monday was my first day back to work, although I worked from home on Monday so it doesn't really count.  Tuesday was the real test.  A full day back in the office away from Kiera.  The longest I have been away from her since she was born was about 5 hours to go to a concert, most of which she was sleeping, so I was definitely not looking forward to this.  But the reality is that unfortunately we cannot afford for me to stay home so it was back to work.

Leaving her in the morning wasn't as bad as I expected.  Joel's mom is watching her on Tuesdays (I'm home Mondays and the nanny comes Wed-Fri) so I knew she was in good hands and Barb has spent a lot of time with her so she knows her and her schedule pretty well.  Since I took on a new role at my company my manager and another person came down from Orange County to go over things and begin training me.  There is a LOT to learn so as the day wore on I started to stress more about being away.  The worst part was looking at the clock at 6:00 and realizing that Kiera goes to bed in an hour and a half and I was still at work.  : (  I finally told them that I needed to head out shortly after 6:00 and hopped in a cab (I would normally walk since it is only about a mile!) and headed home.  When I walked in the door I was overcome with emotion from being away, realizing that I missed so much of her day, and what little time was left with her.  I shed a couple tears and then spent the rest of the evening thoroughly enjoying the moments I did have with her.

But today was much better, a more normal day.  I got home at 5:00 and felt SO much better about that.  There is such a difference to me in having 2.5 hours to spend with Kiera vs 1 hour.  I think it will just get easier from here.  I am so thankful to have found a new position that will allow me to stay home one day and make it home at a reasonable hour, to have a great mother in law to help out, and to have found a sweet nanny to watch Kiera the rest of the time.  Oh and for having such a ridiculous maternity leave that allowed me to spend the first 5 months at home with Kiera!  Things just really fell into place and I'm so relieved.  I do wish I could stay at home with Kiera, but I guess the next best thing is having a flexible schedule, great people to care for her when I can't, and to enjoy the time we do have together!

On another note, we had some visitors last weekend!  Kiera's Uncle Ryan, Aunt Kristin, Cousin Brady, and Cousin Addison came down for the day from LA and her Uncle Michael was also in town for a conference from Seattle.  It was so fun for Kiera to get to see Michael again and meet the rest of the crew for the first time!  Brady really took to Kiera and wanted to constantly hold her, play with her, sit by her, push her stroller, etc.  It was so cute!  A few pictures from the weekend...