So Right!

Don't you just love it when your tough decisions are somehow validated and are screaming "You got it right!"?

When we dropped Katleyn off at daycare this morning this is what we saw:

Aubie made an appearance at daycare!

Then we were greeted by the owner, Mrs. P, who was sporting a bright orange Auburn shirt and talking friendly "smack" to a Bama parent. We proudly pointed down to Katelyn who was wearing her own AUsome Auburn outfit and joined in on the "smack talking"! What a glorious way to kick off the first Friday of football season!




Yep, we got this daycare decision sooooo right! :) Not that being a fellow Auburn fan was mandatory on the looong list of "must haves" for a daycare, but it certainly didn't hurt!!

In all seriousness, we wanted a daycare that was calm, focused on family, focused on child happiness and well-being, one that felt familiar and warm and when we walked into our daycare center, five months pregnant, that is exactly what we found. Warm, friendly, genuinely good people who cared about each and every child who became a part of their extended family. Each morning Mrs. P walks around to each classroom and chats with the parents and talks to the children and ooohhs and awwwwws with them...just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I'm glad we bugged the heck out of her until she made a spot available for us!

side note: when we decided on this daycare we were number 14 on a list to get in...but after months of calling and bugging Mrs. P to death, she had an opening for us!

War Eagle!!

Nine week update

Seems like a lot has happened in the past week so here's a little update:

- Katelyn's first week at daycare went pretty well and no real tears were shed by anyone. I hate to admit that it gets easier to drop her off, but it does. Katelyn's "teachers" are wonderful and they always seem to have the room under control, which is awesome!!

- Katelyn has been having a 5-6 hour sleeping stretch for the past several nights...Yay Katelyn! Thank you baby!! She has also been nursing a bit longer so I think she is going through a little growth spurt. It's so hard to know how much milk to put in her bottles because I don't really know how much she gets when she nurses. We've been giving her 3 ounces for about a month or so so we increased it to 3.5 ounces yesterday and we'll see how she does. We might need to give the little "thunder thighs" a bit more, we'll see.

- We're slowly getting the hang of the new morning routine (I drop Katelyn off in the mornings and Tim picks her up in the afternoons.) I still haven't made it to work by 8:00 yet, but we are getting closer!

- She has really started making eye contact and smiling a lot in the past week! Tim is so good at making her smile wide-mouthed and grunting while I try endlessly for a little smidgen of a smile. She really loves her Daddy!!

- She has also really discovered her hands lately and she looooooves to suck on them. We've woken up several times to smacking/sucking sounds and discovered that her little hands have escaped from her swaddle and have made it into her mouth!

- She can almost hold her head up completely by herself. She'll hold it up for a minute or two and then get tired, but she's well on her way to bobbleheadlessness. I'm so excited to try out the Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier when she does get complete control of her neck!

- We bought a new car yesterday so Katelyn rode home in style in her new Xterra! She was swimming in all the room in the back seat! We are going to love having an SUV with all of our baby contraptions and now there is room for Katelyn, Tallie AND Tucker in the back seat!!

- She finally outgrew her "newborn" size clothing and is fitting nicely into her 0-3 months wardrobe (thank you friends and family!). It's so much fun playing dress up with the little munchkin!

- Tomorrow she goes in for her first set of baby shots :( She has to get FOUR shots all in one sitting!!! Tim is a trooper and is going to take her because I wussed out and didn't think I could handle seeing her get poked that many times!

Angel wings!

We had newborn pictures taken of Katelyn when she was two just weeks old and they turned out beautifully!! Our photographer was amazing and captured some really cute expressions on Katelyn's face. I just love the little angel wings! Here are a few of our favorites!

Happy pictures!

After yesterday's depressing post, I thought I'd followup with some cute HAPPY pictures! It's amazing how much KP changes every day!!












Oh, I dropped Katelyn off at daycare again this morning and it was much easier than yesterday...no tears today!

We Survived!

So, I managed not to call and check up on her the entire morning, but I did pick her up at precisely 1:00...AND...she was fine! 100% completely F-I-N-E, fine! There she was all bundled up in her little swaddle sleeping like a champ. She had just eaten and was passed out drunk on breast milk. All five of the babies in her room were pacified and calm and happy. I'm not sure what I was expecting to find when I picked her up but it was a relief to see and hear a room full of peaceful babies! YAY! Maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be a little easier.

Together again!

They say it gets easier...

Today was Katelyn's first "practice" day at daycare. I don't start work until next Monday but our daycare suggests new moms have a practice week to ease into the new daycare lifestyle. I have been dreading this for weeks now and have tried to think of every little scenario I can think of to postpone the inevitable...but here I am two hours and thirty two minutes after I dropped off our little precious one and I'm still teary eyed.

All dressed for daycare

I got her bag ready last night: diapers, change of clothes, socks, Desitin, pacifier, a swaddle for nap time, and I prepared her bottles from frozen breast milk. I tried to spend extra quality-kissy-huggy time with her for the past few days to gear up for the dreaded day, but I don't think there is such a thing as gearing up for leaving your child at daycare. It just plain sucks!! There, I said it!

Katelyn's daycare pack


Freezer full of breast milk for daycare!

Our drive to daycare was pretty tough. Me and Katelyn's song came on the radio, Coldplay's Viva la Vida, so of course the waterworks started immdeiately. I really debated driving right past the daycare but somehow my car ended up in the parking lot. I cried the whole way through the parking lot and into the building where I was met by other mother's who got teary-eyed just looking at me. They told me it would get easier...

Katelyn all strapped in ready to go...



But she didn't want to go...



And I didn't't want her to go...

I'm forcing myself to wait until 12:30 - 1:00 to pick her up...I'll let you know if I last that long!!

A Couple Short Videos

Here are a couple little videos of Katelyn hanging out over the past few of days. Sorry, there's no sound...we're taking baby steps!