Caleb's Story: Catching Up!

I want to get caught up on my blog before I go back to work in a week and a half. I will try to then maintain it at least every two weeks, because every week probably just won't work out.

By the time we got back from Nova Scotia, Kaitlyn was 4 weeks old. She is now almost 11 weeks old, so we have almost 7 weeks to catch up on. Obviously I can't remember everything that has happened, so I will mostly summarize that time with pictures.

The week we got back from Nova Scotia, we went to an event at the high school where they had a parade of fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances, and some free things and activities for kids. We didn't stay long because it was hard with both kids, but it was fun while we were there.

Caleb and his friends Grace and Charlie

The next weekend after Nova Scotia, we headed up to Freeport, Maine for Northern New England camp meeting. Because of Kaitlyn and the fact that Steve doesn't have any vacation time left, we didn't stay for the whole week like we normally do. We only stayed 2 nights and we stayed at the Peltons' house instead of in our camper. Ron and Sheri were very hospitable to us and Caleb and Ron struck up quite a friendship. In fact, Ron texted my parents that Caleb was going to be staying in Maine from now on!

The week after camp meeting, one day we went to the beach with my mother, which was very nice. It was a gorgeous day and we had fun looking for shells and of course, Caleb ended up in the water even though he wasn't wearing his bathing suit. Oh well.

Love this kid!

At the end of that week, my grandparents arrived. They were coming to meet Kaitlyn, to dedicate Levi, and to spend a week in Nova Scotia with my parents. We also had Kaitlyn's 1-month doctor's appointment when she was 6 weeks old. She was 9 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 3/4 inches long. I didn't get the percentiles, but she is growing pretty fast!

Someone pointed out how Caleb looks in this picture and it just melted my heart!

The week my parents were in Nova Scotia was a little tough because I had been relying on my mother to help me some. And I think some of our friends weren't available that week either. But we made it. We took a family trip to Heritage on Sunday, which was nice. Kaitlyn ended up having a blowout in her baby Bjorn, but other than that, it was a good time.

Kaitlyn's first carousel ride

Kaitlyn also took her first bottle during that time. We needed to start practicing for when I go back to work. She did pretty good her first time and has continued to do pretty good since then as well.

The next week my grandparents were here for the whole week and we spent a lot of time with them at my parents' house. My grandmother especially loved spending time with the kids and holding Kaitlyn. I am really glad we were able to spend that time with them.

So fun to see these two actually playing together! It will only get more fun!

I can't remember when we did this, but we went to a touch a truck event at the Osterville library. They had a fire truck and ambulance and then a helicopter landed in the field. It was cute and the kids had fun, but it was so hot!

We have kind of settled into a routine and it is nice to be getting back to some playdates with our friends. We have had them to our house some and we have gone to Heidi and Grace's house a couple times as well.

Somewhere in the midst of everything, Kaitlyn turned 2 months old! She is smiling quite a bit now, which is so cute. It is nice to know she is happy and not just gassy!

She had her 2 month doctor's appointment a week late and she had gone up to 11 pounds, 8 ounces and 24 1/2 inches long. The weight was in the 46th percentile and the length in the 97th. I am not sure that the length was accurate but she does seem long.

We have now started some play groups for the fall. We are doing a science play group on Fridays and Miss Lori's class on Mondays. I am going to switch my work schedule to Tuesday and Thursday instead of Wednesday and Friday so that we can go to some of these groups. That will work out better for my mom as well. It is nice to have some consistent things to do, but it is a challenge to have to be somewhere at an exact time because Kaitlyn's schedule is so unpredictable. But we are making it work.

Last weekend we went up to Caroline and Corey's house for the day on Sabbath because it had been awhile since we had seen Steve's family. We got there for church and then spent the afternoon at their house and left a little after 6:00 to come home. It was a nice afternoon and we were glad that they got to see the kids.

I love this picture because Caleb is in the air

So, as of right now (almost 11 weeks old), Kaitlyn is sleeping fairly well. In the last week or so, she has started sleeping longer at night and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 and wakes up somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00 and then again somewhere between 5:00 and 7:00. So basically I am only getting up once with her in the middle of the night and then the next time is at a decent hour. Then she takes a short nap in the morning and then somewhere around noon she goes down for her afternoon nap. Most days, she wakes up again half an hour later, I feed her, and then she goes back to sleep for about 3-4 hours. That is pretty great, although it is annoying that she wakes up after 30 minutes because she usually has just eaten before she goes to sleep. But, I am certainly not complaining. Caleb was a horrible napper at this age, so I am so glad she is doing better than him. Most days I have a break because they are both napping at the same time, although this week Caleb has decided he is not taking a nap most days. At least he still is having a quiet time, so I still get a break. I hope he is just in a phase and that he is not actually done with naps, but we will see.

Today we went to the dentist for Caleb and he did fantastic. Seth also said that his teeth look perfect, so that is great. I was very proud of him for how well he did because I think he did not too great last time.

I know there is so much more that I am leaving out, which is why it is good to get caught up so I can start writing more frequently and I can include more stories, etc. Here are more pictures from the last several weeks to get us caught up.