11th month

Language. She continues with the babble. she loves to say Shhh, mama, dada, Ttttt, and a very high pitched soul piercing scream. We definitely have a talker on our hands.

Motor Skills. She has moved on from crawling being second nature to walking in her walker being second nature. It took her about 10min to figure out she could walk with the walker. She has completely mastered the art of moving. She even learned how climb stairs, that was a total shock since we dont have stairs for her to practice on.. She still loves to run crawl away from mommy and daddy when she is getting into things she is not supposed to. She is also starting to master the art of standing. she can stand unassisted for about 10-20 seconds.

Growing up. she has started mimicking things mommy and daddy do. she shocked me one afternoon I stuck my tongue out at her and she stuck it back out at me. I almost died laughing. she also mimics words we say along with clapping and waving.

7 weeks

Waist Measurements: 33 inches at the belly button

Weight in: 125lbs 

Pregnancy Symptoms this week:

• Slight nausia

Belly Shot: 

What the baby looks like this week: Baby has doubled in size since last week. S/He is staring to develop arms and legs and is about the size of a blueberry. Also, see title for additional milestones.

6 weeks

Weigh-in: 124lbs

Waist Measurements:  33 inches

Belly Shot:

Pregnancy Symptoms: Slight nausea. Barely noticeable but definitely there. Fatigue

What our baby looks like this week:  This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil. 

• Has tripled or even quadrupled in size and is now three or four entire millimeters long! Godzilla baby!
• Is working on growing a nose, some ears and a mouth.
• Is also growing flappy little leg and arm buds.
• Has a heartbeat that can be seen on an ultrasound — 100 to 160 beats per minute.

week 5?

Weigh-in: 124lbs

Waist Measurements:  34?inches


Belly Shot:

Pregnancy Symptoms: Slight nausea. Barely noticeable but definitely there.

Dr. Visits: had one to request a referral to south coast midwifrey.

What our baby looks like this week: This week s/he is the size of a sesame seed and looks like a tiny tadpole. S/he is made up of three layers- Ectoderm, Mesoderm and Endoderm. 

Were having a baby, My baby and me!

This morning I took a pregnancy test, expecting it to be negative. I've taken many in the past couple of months but because I am still nursing I never expected them to come back positive. I started off with a cheap DollarTree one, and a very faint line showed up. I though NO WAY! I have to be seeing things, I thought, so I went into our bedroom and woke Paul up. I asked him to confirm what I was seeing. Sure enough he saw it too. We hugged and got teary eyed. I have never seen him wake up so fast, for those that know Paul you know that he takes a very long time to wake up. He asked me if I had a digital one to take to confirm. We didn't, so he got on his bike and rode off to Albertson's to buy one. He came home a few minutes later with the digital test and a bouquet of roses. I drank some water to recharge and went in to take the second test. Paul distracted me so I wouldn't sit there staring at the test. I went back in a few minutes later, which felt like hours, and sure enough it was positive. :)

We hugged and said oh crap and cried with joy. We are adding another bundle of joy into our family. We are so incredibly excited and feel so blessed and can't wait to meet our little frijol in 9ish months.

Once the news set in we let our siblings know.

Weigh-in: 125lbs

Waist Measurements: 33 inches

Pregnancy Symptoms: Slight nausea. Barely noticeable but definitely there.

What I Learned: 

Pregnancy "First" this week: Were pregnant. Let the journey begin. I'm so excited to meet the new baby and to old both Katelyn and Baby Richardson.

Dr. Visits: Not yet! just a positive pregnancy test.

What our baby looks like this week: This week s/he is the size of a sesame seed and looks like a tiny tadpole. S/he is made up of three layers- Ectoderm, Mesoderm and Endoderm. 

10 Months

Language. She is starting to form unrecognizable conversation with her self. she spend all day talking with herself, toys and daddy and I. Its almost like is really thinks she is talking to us. th inflection in her voice varies, the expressions on her face speak for themselves. It wont be long till she is talking to us in a way we can understand her. I cant wait to hear her say Mommy I love you!

Motor Skills. Crawling is now second nature to her. She easily goes from sitting to standing to crawling and back to sitting. She especially loves to run crawl away from mommy, especially when she is doing something she is not supposed to be doing. It wont be long till she is taking her first steps and I get the pleasure of running around after her.

6/19- shoulder shrugs

crawling

6/21 pulled up to standing

Growing up. I don't know where she hides all her food, because this little girl can eat...more than me at times. Everyone around her is always surprised to see how much she eats. Maybe she'll be a professional eater when she grows up? Oh yeah she doesn't like to be fed anymore.

She had her first overnight trip this month, we went up to big bear. Overall it was a very successful trip and we all had a blast. I'm just sad that i forgot to charge the camera. Lucky there was an emergency camera available

She fell asleep on daddy shortly after this picture.

Plotting to steal grandpa's Porsche!

Focus. This one has switched over to me I have to perfect my focus to keep up with her. :)

Activities. Zoo, Disneyland, Cabin, ...
Sleep. Finally Sleeps completely through the night :) 7ish to 7ish. 

This month in pictures

9 months

Language. The chatter continues :)

Motor Skills.  She is now siting up unassisted, and starting to pull up to standing

Growing up. She has started clapping unintentionally and its the cuttest thing ever. Her attitude is forming, and has started throwing small temper tantrums. She is eating on her own and eating everything under the sun. Lastly, we finally put the snack try on the stroller and she lovves snacking in the stroller.

Other new things thins month:

5/19 tooth #6 bottom left

5/25 tooth # 7 top right

Top left

Sleep. crying it out sleep if finally really good.

This month in Pictures

Motherhood...

Has been much more challenging than I expected. Don't get me wrong I love being a mom, but you don't get days off with this job. Sometimes it can be very overwhelming to know that there is no way out of this job there is no option to quit. It it also hard to accept that I won't always love being a mom, sometimes I will get frustrated and and say or do things that I don't necessary mean.

This past month has been especially trying for me. She has had a cold along with teething and has not been sleeping well and to top it off she has started biting me while nursing. This has put me on edge and at one point I snapped and yelled at Katelyn, I know she didn't understand because she just smiled back at me, which on turn only made me feel worse. I felt guilting for not loving my "job". It is then that I came to the realization that I don't have to alway love it, there are going to be times that I will want to quit and take the easy way out for me and go back to work, because it seems that at this point that would be easier. However the sacrifice that I am making is worth it to me and Paul. These first 5 year are crucial in who Katelyn will become, and any other children we choose to have.

So will this feeling of guilt ever go away? I doubt it. Will I always love my job? doubt that too. But one thing is for sure...In the end it will all be worth it and at the end of the day the smile on my daughter face makes me forget any frustrations the day may have left behind.

In the mean time I really need a couple of hours off to regroup and refresh so that I can be the mom I need to be.

8th month

Language. Talk talk talk is all she does all day

Motor Skills. She is now standing while holding on to something with no assistance she is sitting completely unassisted now. she gets into crawl position and into pushup position

We also have to put up the bar up on the crib since she is now rolling around in her crib.

Growing up. There are only a few additions to her diet this month she now has has teething biscuits. cherrios and un pureed food like rice avocado water melon beans.

Here are some other growing up thing this month:

First cough

Tooth #4 top left 4/?

Tooth #5 top right 5/2

biting while nursing

out of size one shoe

size 9-12 clothes

Focus. she has almost perfected her hand eye coordination, she is starting to eat bigger chunks and feeding herself..

Sleep.

7th month

Language. Katelyn continues to be chatterbox, she is officially saying dada all day long. She has recently starting yelling dada in a raspy voice. She is going to be a death metal singer when she grows up.

Motor Skills. She is now sitting with no assistance she will still tip over if she leans to far but for the most part has mastered the recovery. She also is rolling around like crazy. When I put her down for her nap I always come back to find her in a new position.

Growing up. Food is now becoming a big part of her diet we have now added the following : peas, split peas, chicken, beef, chayote, yuka, garlic, onion, beans, broth, split peas, pinto beans, cabbage, yogurt, strawberry, and blueberry. She has also started finger food, she has had yogurt bites and puff cereal.

On the down side of growing up Tooth #3 made its debut on 3/30 (lower right lateral incisor) this one was a surprise tooth. She was at her first swim lesson and when she out out of the pool she started crying hysterically we look in her mouth and sure enough the tooth had just cut through. it was quite a shock because we were just showing off her first two before class so we knew there was no 3rd one yet.

Another down side was that she finally got her first cold, I think it was harder on me than her, I hated seeing her congested and not being able to do much about it. I set up her humidifier and suctioned her nose as much as possible, and had her sleep sightly elevated, but aside from that there was nothing else I could do.

Now that she is getting older its easier for me to go out and do stuff with her, she can go longer between feedings and she is much easier to entertain. This month we have started going to story time and swim lessons as mentioned above.

Focus. she is getting much better with hand eye coordination, she now holds her sippy cup or bottle and everything that is within reach is grabbed and brought straight to her mouth.

Sleep. has gone out the window.