Homeward Bound

OK, well it's not really our home anymore, and Madison never actually was my home.  I'm referring more to the Midwest in general... you know the place where people actually smile and say hello to you on the street... and where the high and low temperatures of the day can be 50 degrees apart... where there's 4 real seasons and not an empty seat to be found at a Hawkeye (or insert your favorite Big Ten team here) football game.  Aahhh, the Midwest, we miss you!

We had a great trip to Madison over Labor Day weekend (yes, this post is a little late... still getting used to this motherhood and blogging thing)!  Kiera was a trooper on the plane.  We flew Southwest and learned to ask ahead of time how many open seats there were; that way if we knew there were going to be open seats we would just let Kiera chill in the open seat so no one would sit there.  We had the whole row to ourselves and Kiera even napped laid out across the middle seat between us.  She also practiced sitting up in the seat and even tried out her seatbelt.  : )

The wedding was great and I am so sad to report that I have no pictures of the lovely bride and groom!  Oops!  It was on their land out in the country and turned out beautifully.  They had a big white tent and all sorts of cute details like little birch tree stumps holding up the table numbers and the placecards hung on a mini clothesline with little clothespins!  I love weddings!!  It was definitely a bit challenging to have Kiera with us at the wedding reception though.  My back was very sore after holding her most of the night.  We took her out on the dance floor for a couple songs when she was fast asleep... isn't it amazing how babies can sleep in the strangest/loudest places?

We stayed in downtown Madison on Sunday night and it was so much fun!  Taste of Madison was going on so we walked around the Capital tasting some yummy food and drink before heading to the Union for a beer on the lake followed by dinner (a Gritty Burger and fried cheese curds!) at the Nitty Gritty!  The house Joel grew up in is on the other side of Lake Mendota behind us in the lake picture (not that you can see it!).

Now that we're back and have no more trips planned (yet!) hopefully Kiera will get back into her routine and start sleeping ALL night!

4 Months!

Wow, another month gone by so fast!   Kiera is 4 months old already!  She is SO much fun and I am loving every day I get to spend at home with her (and getting incredibly sad thinking of going back to work soon).  We had our 4 month check up and here are the stats...

15lb 4 oz... yes that is the 75th percentile folks
23.5 inches... 25th percentile

She is Joel's daughter afterall!  haha : )

Here is what she's up to at 4 months:

- She is wearing 3-6 month clothing, but there isn't a whole lot of room left in there and I suspect she will be onto the 6-12 month (yikes!) clothing fairly soon!

- She is wearing size 2 diapers.

- She has TWO TEETH... yes, already!  A few nights ago she was fussy and just wanting to be held and not acting like her self (along with the excessive drooling and hands constantly in the mouth, but that part was nothing new).  I finally felt along her bottom gums to see if something was going on in there and  found two teeth had already poked through and the doctor confirmed!  What a big girl!

- She LOVES to stand up and therefore loves hanging out in her exersaucer.  She is quite good at it and can do full circles to get at the toys she wants.

- She is still not sleeping through the night... she has gotten close many times but between two colds, two out of town vacations, and teething she keeps getting set back.  The longest stretch she has given us (other than the one night she did randomly sleep through) is about 7.5 hrs.  She is generally just eating once in the night, and sometimes waking more than that, but the doctor tells us this is normal for breastfed babies and not to force it until she is 6 months old, unless she is doing it on her own by then.

- She is quite a talker... she has definitely found her voice and loves to babble and make noises with her spit bubbles.

- She is sleeping about 11-12 hours at night and taking good naps (up to 2.5 hours if I let her) during the day.  She still likes to sleep with her arms stretched out above her head, and when she wakes in the night lifts both legs into the air and simultaneously drops them back onto the mattress.  : )

- She is still such a smiley, happy girl!  Still very easy going and flexible, she allows us to get out and do lots of things.

- She has rolled over from her tummy to her back three times.  She still doesn't do it frequently and usually just gets mad when she's ready to be off her tummy, but has made the move herself a few times.

To the land of fried cheese...

We're off to Wisconsin bright and early tomorrow morning for a friend's wedding!  It will be Kiera's second flight.  She did so well on the last trip, we are confident she will do a lot of sleeping and not annoy the other passengers too much.  We are looking forward to spending some time with our friends and sharing in their special day, hanging out in Madison, maybe trying to catch the first Iowa football game of the season Saturday morning, drinking a Spotted Cow, and of course, eating some fried cheese curds!  YUM!  And we cannot wait to get a Nitty Gritty Burger... an amazing burger with a yummy sauce, we have been talking about it for months!

No, this will not be a healthy weekend.   : )  But we can't wait!  

On another note, we put together Kiera's exersaucer about a week ago and she loves that thing! (Thanks Aunt Stacey and Uncle Jeff!)  She loves standing up so much that we thought she might be ready for the exersaucer.  At first she wasn't really sure about the toys but still enjoyed the ability to use her legs to stand up, but now she really likes the little farm animals and even does a 360 around the whole thing to check them out.  

New and Improved!

So... how do you like the new and improved blog design???  : )  In my free time (i.e. during Kiera's naps) I have been learning how to use Photoshop and learning some html to design blogs!  I got a macbook too so I have been getting used to a mac since I have always used PCs in the past.  I am mostly teaching myself so I still have a few things I'm trying to figure out how to do, but I love it!  I have been daydreaming that maybe someday this could make me some money so I could stay home and take care of Kiera... at this point I am not going to hold my breath, but hey, maybe someday!  I have always loved paper products and hope to keep learning and design blogs, invitations, announcements, baby books, who knows what else.  I will post again when things really get up and running, but for now I hope you like the new design and let me know if you would like a facelift for your blog!

And because no blog post is complete without a photo...

Vacation recap!

We had such a wonderful trip up to see my parents in Idaho!  We were away from home for 2 weeks which did a number on Kiera's sleeping through the night progress (she is pretty much back to eating once around 4am at this point), but it was well worth it!  Here's what we were up to:

We did some boating...

Took a few trips across the lake to our favorite restaurant Eddies...

where we dipped our toes in the water...

and took a few naps...

Mommy and Grandma did some golfing...

Kiera met her cousins Matthew and Mitchell, Uncle Michael and Aunt Deann...

and got baptized...

Kiera got to spend some quality time with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Bob...

What a trip!!!

Kiera was talking up a storm while on vacation and I got a few adorable videos of her chatting, but for some reason I'm having a hard time getting them to upload (may be too large?).  Please let me know if you have any tips for uploading videos!  Thanks!  : )

3 Months!

Holy cow!  Where does the time go??  I cannot believe Kiera is 3 months old already!  I plan to take her monthly pictures in the rocking chair so we can see how she grows.  She is growing so fast and changing so much we can hardly believe it!  There is no 3 month pediatrician appointment so we don't have her length and weight stats, but I can tell you she is packing on the pounds since her last appointment at 2 months!  I have a feeling she has surpassed the 50th percentile.  : )

So little Kiera, here is what you are up to at 3 months...

- You are now wearing 3-6 month clothes with a few 0-3 month sleepers still fitting, but the 3-6 month onesies don't seem all that large so I'm not sure they'll last until 6 months!  You wearing size 2 diapers which are still on the large side.

- You love to sleep with your arms stretched out above your head or out to your sides.  I think you are telling us you is happy to not be swaddled for sleeping anymore!

- You like to sit up with assistance, look around, and practice standing with help.

- You talk up a storm and even surprise yourself with your coos, noises and squeals.

- You are a drooler!  Don't know if this has anything to do with an early start to teething but I am constantly wiping your drool from your chin.

- You love to watch your hands.  You could just stare at them, open/close them, and put them in your mouth for hours.

- You are a HAPPY girl!  We feel so blessed to have such a happy, easy going baby.  At this point we can still take you anywhere and you will smile at strangers and nap in the stroller, car, etc.

- You still sleep a LOT!  You generally cannot go more than two hours without taking a nap so you is still sleeping between all feedings which are about every three hours throughout the day.  You can go from wide awake to sleeping in a matter of minutes.


- You are sometimes sleeping through the night.  Prior to our vacation you would either sleep through the night with an assist from the pacifier here and there or get up for one feeding during the night, but while on vacation you decided to wake up every couple hours all night long.  : )  We are hoping the sleeping through the night independently begins soon... mommy is tired.  : )  You will fall asleep on your own if placed in your crib calm, tired and with a pacifier.

- You like to grab onto your toys and try to put them in your mouth if they're close enough.

- Your hair is getting lighter and you still have quite a bit of it although you have lost some on the back of your head because you like to turn your head from side to side (and kick your legs up and down) when falling asleep in your crib.

- You still like bathtime as long as we don't try to bathe you too late (past your bedtime), although sometimes the hair washing makes you mad.

On vacation...

I apologize for the delay... we have been on vacation!!  Kiera took her first flight last Wednesday to her grandparents house in Idaho and we have been there ever since so I have been slacking on my blogging!  But now that things have slowed down (the DeGards went back to Seattle, daddy went back to San Diego, and Kiera has been baptised!) I will try to be better!  : )