5 months, 4 weeks

 

Lately, we have been able to explore Kerala's closet a bit more and put her in clothes 6 - 9 months old. Everything is still a bit big (some are really big), but it's nice that she is moving up in size. She does have quite the range - there are a couple of sweaters from when she was 0 - 3 months that she can still fit into, but for the most part she is in either 6 months or 9 months clothes.

Kerala has gone to sleep so well the last two evenings. When I put her in her crib she doesn't fuss at all, but instead goes right to sleep. Although I doubt it will, I hope this trend continues. I wish I could say that napping is going as well. Kerala had a particuarly rough time going to sleep during the day - some days she falls right to sleep and some days she does everything she can to fight sleep. Any suggestions for naptimes would be greatly appreciated by us (and Ellen)!

This week Kerala attended her first story time. A local children's shop hosts story time every Wednesday. Ellen said Kerala was fascinated by the other children there and the actual storyteller who was apparently very animated. Ellen and Kerala even picked up two new books that Kerala is really enjoying chewing on. One day she will love to read and not just eat her books.

Finally, I forgot to mention Kerala's new activity in the bathtub. If you trickle water from a cup right in front of her she tries to grab it with her hand. It's really cute to see her grasping at the water and trying to figure out why she can't grab hold of it. Also, bathtime seems to be getting more and more crazy with water splashing. We bought her these cups that she can fill up with water and she has gotten quite good and splashing the cups so that water goes everywhere (including all over Troy's face).

5 months, 3 weeks, 4 days

 

Lately, Kerala has been trying to grab everything in sight - including the camara. If she is anywhere near the camera, she starts to do everything she can to move towards it, which is pretty funny to watch since it's a lot of wiggling around. Her interest in the camera lets us take some pretty good close ups of her.

Today, Kerala seemed to have a pretty rough day sleeping wise - Ellen has noticed that Mondays tend to be the hardest day for her, which is a bit sad. Overall she seems to be adjusting to Ellen really well and super pschyed to see her in the morning, but I think it is hard for her after we have been together all weekend. Although this past weekend, I didn't get to play with her as much as normally would because I get pretty sick and ended up having to go the doctor on Saturday to get antibiotics. Fortunately, my illness did not prevent us from going to music class with Tamra and Silas. It was really fun to go to music class with a friend - unfortunately, now someone I know will know how horrible my voice is.

5 months, 2 weeks, 5 days

 

Kerala has officially moved from her infant stroller to her infant/toddler stroller. She seems to like it for the most part, although she does have a hard time going to sleep in it because it doesn't recline as much. We have been pretty busy since we last posted. Our friends, Joel, Chika and their two sons - Noah and Ren, were in town. Unfortunatley, I was unable to visit with them because I was working, but Troy and Kerala got to hang out with them. Kerala and Ellen went to yoga on Friday. Ellen said that Kerala was a big hit in the class. Over the weekend, Kerala went to a birthday party for her friend Camille who turned one years old - happy b-day Camille! On Monday, we headed to the zoo with a few other families. It was really hot and sunny, but overall a really good day. Kerala was great - she really didn't fuss much during the day.

I can't believe it, but in two weeks Kerala will be 6 months old! We are anxiously looking forward to her first meal of solids after we get the clearance from her pediatrician.

5 months, 1 week, 3 days

 

So Kerala's hair has been growing like crazy lately ... actually, Troy just wanted to see what she would look like with a ton of hair so he borrowed some of mine. Kerala and I were actually napping during this photo shoot. Last week I completed my second week of work. It's been going okay - I try to leave by 5:15 or so, that way I can spend sometime with Kerala before she gets really fussy. While it's not ideal at all, I do get to spend about a hour and half with her in the am and then another hour and half in the evening.

We had a really good weekend. We went down to Bloomington to see Grandma Sue. Kerala was really good. Evening her sleeping wasn't so bad and that's something that we have been really working on this past week. A really pleasant surprise for us was the car ride. Both ways, Kerala was either happy and playing or asleep. There was never a moment when she was really upset in the car, so that was wonderful. We finished up the weekend at Grandma Phyllis' where we had a very nice dinner.

As far as Kerala is going developmentally, she is progressing really well. She can sit up for long periods without any assistance. She still topples over every once in awhile, but that's to be expected. Troy and I have also noticed that she really loves other children. Troy took her to yoga class this week and he said she was super psyched to see the other babies. Also, she got really excited to see herself in the mirror and to meet Grandma Sue's next door neighbor Ben, who is a year older then Kerala. It's really fun to see her interact with other children or herself, as in the case of the mirror - I would love to know what she is thinking.

5 months, 3 days

 

Well, this was my first week back at work and it seemed to go pretty well. While I am at the office a bit more than I would like, I have been able to get home before Kerala gets too fussy in the evening and spend some quality time with her. Kerala really seems to like Ellen and Ellen has been doing a really good job at trying to get Kerala on a sleep schedule. We are still working on it, but hopefully over the next few weeks she will sleep on a more regular schedule.

This past weekend was very exciting for us because Kerala has really began to sit on her own. We have been using her bumbo chair for the past two months to help her with sitting, but this past weekend we were able to remove the support around her and let her sit on her own. She still tumbles over, but she can go some pretty long stretches and totally be fine. It's also nice to see her try to regain balance once she starts to tumble. It also seems like she is laughing a lot more lately. She really likes to laugh at big arm movements - it's pretty funny. We also enjoyed a play date with Silas, Henry and Tamra yesterday. Tamra took some really cute photos of Kerala and Silas doing tummy time together. I will share the photos once Tamra posts them. We finished the weekend with a trip to my mom's for dinner. Kerala was terrific despite being a bit tired.

Last Day of Maternity Leave/4 months, 4 weeks

 

 

Well, today is my last day of maternity leave. I am not really looking forward to going back. I am a bit more at ease because we have a really great person watching Kerala. Kerala really seems to like Ellen and I think they will have fun together - I am just sad that I won't be around all of the time with Kerala.

This past week we went back to our yoga class. We had not been for a few weeks and I was a bit concerned about how Kerala would be in the class. Kerala had her best class ever. She did not fuss a bit and really seemed to enjoy the class. Also, Ellen and I attended an infant massage class for Kerala. Kerala didn't really nap very well before class, so she only enjoyed about half of the class. Also, this past weekend two of my sisters were staying with us for my Dad's memorial service. Kerala really enjoyed spending time with her aunties. Auntie Kim discovered that Kerala really likes it when you do cheers in front of her. Right now her favorite one is "Explode! Ignite! Kerala is dynamite!" Kerala laughs so hard when Auntie Kim does that cheer. She also enjoyed spending time with Auntie Heather because Heather knows absolutely every baby song ever written (and she sings a lot better than me).

Our goal for this week is to get Kerala back on a regular napping schedule. Right now she wakes up at 7:00 and then goes down about 8:00 or 8:15 and then after that she is all over the place. Wish us luck!

4 months, 2 weeks, 6 days

 

As some of you may have noticed, we haven't been blogging a lot lately. As some of you know, my father has been battling leukemia for the last several months and passed away this past week after being in intensive care for the past few weeks. He was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after Kerala was born and it moved really fast through his system. I keep thinking about how my maternity leave started with the happiest event of my life and it is ending with the saddest event of my life. The blogged photo was taken back in June and is one of the last photos I have of my dad and Kerala. Troy and I will start blogging on more of a regular basis in the coming weeks.