More Hair

Kinley is FINALLY getting some more hair.  It's coming in slowly, but surely.  It's lighter than when she was born, but still looks like it will be a light brown, at least for now.  I was hoping she would have a head full of strawberry blond curls some day, so we'll see.  When she's out in the sunlight, it still looks like it has a little bit of a reddish tint, so maybe I'll get my wish.

Story Time

Uncle Scott came down this way to visit Uncle Todd for his birthday, which is tomorrow.  I cooked dinner for everyone at our house, and then we hung out for a little while before Scott and Todd headed up to Huntsville.  Uncle Scott read Kinley her bedtime stories for the night.  It's so sweet that both of Kinley's godfathers love her so much!

Twins!

I have always thought Kassie and Kaitie definitely favor their dad's looks . . . and it looks like it's no different with Kinley!  Everybody tells us that Kinley looks just like her daddy, or that she's definitely her daddy's child.  Maybe the next child will take more of mommy's gene pool!!

Trying Some Cereal . . . Again

We have tried to start Kinley on rice cereal a few different times.  It has not gone all that well, and our most recent effort wasn't much different.  Several friends have told me not to even mess with cereal, because it's mostly just filler.  I think we will try a different kind of food soon and see if that goes any better.

OK, I'll give it a try, mommy.

Yeah, I really don't like this stuff!

Working

As of this past Monday, I am back on contract at school.  Last week was just working up at school on my own time, getting my room ready.  Monday I officially started back, and I was a little emotional again.  I knew I wouldn't be coming home for lunch, or just going to work for a couple of hours and coming right back.  It was real this time.  As the week went on, I was busier and busier.  On one hand, it helped, because it took my mind off of leaving Kinley at home.  On the other hand, when I got home in the afternoons, I realized how much I missed her during the day!

This week, I got up every morning and took my shower and ate breakfast, and then I would get Kinley up and feed her and then finish getting ready.  I know when school starts, I will need to be there earlier, at least in the beginning.  So, I'm not sure how well that will all work.  I know I will need to be up earlier, so I might try to almost completely get ready so I can still feed her before I leave.  I like having at least a little bit of time with her in the morning before I go.

When I have gotten home in the afternoons, she has been so squealy and giggly when she sees me.  It makes me feel like she is genuinely happy to see me, and that melts my heart.  Right now, John is staying home with her (even though he's going stir-crazy) and I like that they are really getting a chance to bond together.  I spent so much time with her when she was younger, so I'm glad she and John are developing a good relationship.  She is really intrigued by her daddy these days!

One of the girls on my team, Nikki, has a 6 month old baby.  Her little girl was born at the end of January, and she had to go back to work when she was 7 weeks old.  After having the whole summer with her, though, she's having a hard time leaving her little girl, too.  It's nice, because we have so many things in common that we have quickly become friends.  We also can go to each other for support when we're feeling down about our baby.  God really does answer prayers, in more ways that I even knew to ask for.  It has really helped to have Nikki to talk with.

I know Kinley will be just fine without me during the days.  It's definitely me that's having a hard time with it.  I have learned to really cherish my evenings and weekends with her, though.  School starts this coming Monday, and I know my days will be so busy that I will be back home every afternoon before I know it.  Even though I would love to stay with Kinley all the time, I am thankful to have a job that allows me a lot of time off to spend with her, and now I get to work so close to home!

Reading with Uncle Todd

This evening, we invited Todd over to watch the Texans preseason game.  When it was time for Kinley to go to bed, John was going to take her up to read her stories.  He asked Todd if he wanted to do it instead.  Todd gladly accepted, and it was so cute to watch him read with her.  Todd doesn't have much experience with babies, but he is so sweet with Kinley.  He loves to hold her, feed her and just interact with her.  I'm glad one of Kinley's uncles lives close to us.  I'm also glad we chose Todd to be one of her godfathers.  He really cares so much about her, and it's neat to watch them together.

Exersaucer

Today we got the exersaucer down out of the attic.  Kathy was so generous in loaning me things for Kinley.  We got this from her, and put it in the attic, knowing we wouldn't need it for a while.  Since Kinley is really good at bearing weight on her legs now, I thought it might be a good time to try it out.  I cleaned it up while she was napping, and then we tried it out after her nap.  She's so little in the seat, but she really liked all the stuff around her.  I think this is going to be our new "friend."

Not so little anymore . . .

The day that I had my first doctor appointment to confirm my pregnancy, we went to Target to pick up some things I needed.  Since we had heard a nice, healthy heartbeat on the ultrasound, I asked John to let me buy just one thing.  I bought this onesie, because I thought it was fairly unisex (even though that early on, I thought it was a girl).  This onesie is a newborn, but it was way too big for Kinley until she was almost 2 months old.  Today, I put it on her for the last time.  I have been putting all of her newborn clothes away, but I was having a hard time letting go of this one, because it was so sentimental for me.  I decided that even though it still fits, I need to just put everything away, so I put it on her one last time.  Our little girl is so much fun, but I just can't believe how quickly she is growing up!

Play Date with Isaac

Isaac and Kinley

 

 

Today, I took Kinley over to my friend Nidia's house to play with her son Isaac.  I worked with Nidia at Epps Island and she was due 3 days after me.  We kept in touch often with pregnancy related things since we were due so close together.  Nidia ended up having an emergency delivery 6 weeks early, due to developing HELLP syndrome.  I also had Kinley a couple of weeks early, so the babies are almost 5 weeks apart.  She invited us over today to get the babies together.  When I got there, Isaac was sleeping, but Nidia had made breakfast for the 2 of us - which was delicious.  After Isaac woke up, both babies were hungry, so we sat and fed them.  After that, we just let them watch each other.  Isaac was mesmerized by Kinley!  It was so cute to watch him reaching out to touch her.  Nidia used her camera to take some cute pictures of the kids.  Trying to get 1 baby to "pose" for pictures is pretty hard, but 2 is darn near impossible!  It was fun trying, though.  After that, both babies were ready for a little snooze, and Nidia and I just sat and talked for a while.  It was a lot of fun.  I imagine it will be hard now that I'm going back to work, but I hope we can do it again soon.

 



4 Months of Kinley

Another month has gone by, and I can hardly believe it!!  Kinley is 4 months old, and more fun than ever.  I think I will always miss those first few newborn weeks (not the sleep deprivation, though).  I love the little bitty sweet baby that just sleeps in your arms.  I remember staring at that peaceful little face for hours.  She is getting to be so much fun now, though, because she interacts so much with us.  I have always felt like Kinley is a very happy, easy-to-care-for baby, and this has been confirmed by quite a few of my friends.  She usually only fusses when she's hungry or tired.  She rarely cries any other time.  She is just so happy to look at everything going on around her.

Here are some highlights of Kinley at 4 months:

**  She is still wearing 0-3 month clothes.  She can still fit in a few newborn things, but I have taken them all out of her dresser and closet so I can put them all away in the attic.  She has a couple of 3-6 month things that she can wear, even though they're pretty big on her.
**  She is wearing Size 1 diapers, and I don't imagine this will change any time soon.  They still come up past her belly button and the tabs almost overlap in the middle.
**  She is eating 6 ounces, 5 times a day.  She's such an easy baby that a good schedule just naturally evolved with her, and it's about the same every day.  I was worried at 3 months that we weren't on a regular schedule yet, but it has just fallen into place really nicely.
**  She sleeps 8-9 hours overnight now.  We usually put her down between 9:30 and 10:30 and she sleeps until 7:00 pretty consistently.  Sometimes she wakes up fussing between 5:00 and 6:00 and we just go in and put her pacifier back in her mouth and she goes right back to sleep.
**  She still takes a nap between all of her feedings.  Some of her naps are short - only about 45 minutes.  Every once in a while she will stay awake from one feeding to the next, but by the time she eats, she can barely keep her eyes open.
**  She has become quite the "talker."  She loves to babble, and recently has discovered she can make this high pitched squealing noise.  Some of her talking has become quite loud lately, and I just recently read that this usually happens around 4 months.
**  She regularly giggles at things now, and it is so much fun to watch!  John and I both love making her laugh.  It's the best sound in the world!
**  She's still not rolling over, but she is much better at tummy time.  Sometimes she will play on her tummy for up to 20 minutes before she wants a change.  She scoots around a lot when she's on her tummy.  She just really doesn't seem interested in even trying to roll over, so we'll see when she decides to do that.
**  She holds her head up very well now when sitting up on our laps or in the bumbo.
**  She bears weight on her legs very well.  She can stand in our laps for quite a long time before she gets tired.  I need to get the exersaucer down from the attic, but I'm pretty sure she will still be too short for it.
**  She loves to interact with people.  We haven't found anyone yet who can't make her smile.  She is just so happy all the time!
**  She is starting to grasp things, but her hands are still really small, so we don't have many toys that she can actually hold. 
**  She already loves books!  We haven't been too consistent yet, but we're getting there with reading to her at bedtime every night.  She actually has quite a good attention span and really looks at the books.

I still can't believe how much I adore her!  I have always known I wanted to be a mom, but I love it so much more than I ever imagined I would!  Kinley is just such a huge blessing in our lives, and I tell John all the time how lucky we are to have her.  God must love us a lot to give us such a precious gift!

4 Month Checkup

Kinley had her 4 month check up with Dr. Flanagan today.  It went really well.  She has moved up some on the growth chart since her 2 month appointment.  John was happy that she's not in the 6th percentile for her weight anymore.  She's still small, but not quite as small. 

These were her stats today:
Length:  24 inches (43%)
Weight:  12 pounds, 6 ounces (24%)
Head Circumference:  15 3/4 inches (24%)

I have been reading that by the 4 month check up, babies should have doubled their birth weight.  She's almost a pound shy of that, but I really think that when she had that stomach bug, it knocked her down quite a bit.  Dr. Flanagan was happy with her progress, so we aren't worried about her.  She has met all of the developmental milestones they asked us about, so that's good.  When Dr. Flanagan came in, he interacted with her (one of the things I love about him) and got some smiles out of her.  When he put her on the table and started moving her legs around to check her hip joints, she started giggling like crazy.  It was so cute.  So, he kept doing it to get the same reaction.  I love that we have such a fun, happy baby!  Dr. Flanagan said everything looked great, so unless something happens, we will see him again for her 6 month check up.

She got 2 shots today, and an oral vaccine.  Since she had a Hepatitis B shot at birth, she won't get the 3rd dose until her 6 month appointment.  She screamed pretty loud with the shots today, and it hurt my heart.  Her legs seem to be bothering her more this evening than they did after her 2 month shots.  We had to go buy some baby motrin to give her, and though she didn't like taking it, it seems to be helping.  Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow.

Back To Work

The day I have been dreading has finally come.  I had to officially go back to start getting my classroom ready.  It was really a bittersweet day.  I am excited about my new school, and working just right around the corner.  I am so crushed about having to leave my baby girl, though.  I cried when I left home this morning.  I had to get over it quick, though, because it only took me about 4 minutes to get to school!  I know that I am so blessed to have been at home for 4 months with her.  That's a lot longer than many working moms are able to stay home.  It's not an option at all for me to stay home full time, so there's no use in lamenting over it, but it's still hard to leave my sweet Kinley.  Right now, she is staying with John.  We are hoping and praying he will find a good job soon.  I know Kinley will be in good hands with the babysitter we have chosen, and she will get lots of attention being one-on-one with someone.  I am really blessed to have been chosen to work at this new school.  It was like Christmas morning walking through the building today.  Everything is beautiful, and my classroom is a dream!  I do love teaching, and it is what I have always wanted to do.  I am lucky that I have chosen a profession that does allow me good hours and good time off to spend with my child.  And I also know from all of my child development classes that it's good for her to be exposed to other people.  I just know that I will miss her like crazy!  I'm already looking forward to next summer!  :-)

Todd's Graduation

The Graduate

Today, Kinley's uncle (and godfather) Todd graduated from Sam Houston State University.  It has been a long journey for Todd, and we are all so proud of him.  We found out during the ceremony that he was graduating Cum Laude!  Todd started basic training for the Army right after high school, and then went straight into his advanced training.  So, he didn't start school until the next fall.  He was only in school for 3 weeks before he got deployed to Iraq for the first time.  He also had another deployment a couple of years later.  I'm so proud of Todd for being persistent, even when it was so hard.  He interviewed for and accepted a job with computer services at Sam Houston, so he's going straight into a "grown up" job.  At first, Todd wasn't going to "walk" at his graduation, but we talked him into it, and I'm so glad we could be there to celebrate with him.  Our Paw Paw really wanted to be there, too, so Scott stopped in Elgin to pick him up and brought him along.  Cory and Rachel both had work commitments that kept them from coming, but Emily came with Gramps and Gran.  They stayed at our house Friday night, and Emily was in heaven with her "favorite baby, Kinley Grace Sherlock!"

After the graduation, we all went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  It was delicious!  After dinner, we convinced Todd to come over to stay at our house.  Brent was originally going to drive to stay at Scott's so he could go to church with Katie on Sunday, but he decided to stay also.  John, Todd and Brent went out to play pool and have some drinks.  I'm glad they were able to go out and have a good time.  When they got back we sat up talking until 4 in the morning (John crashed around 2).  It was a fun evening.

Way to go, Todd.  We couldn't be more proud of you!

Silly Emily sitting in Kinley's bumbo

Emily and Kinley watching TV before we left

Gran actually bought this balloon for Emily. 

After we took this picture, Scott just let it go, and we

had a VERY unhappy 3 year old!  He had

to go buy another one!!

Todd with my mom and Bob

Todd with a very happy mom

Todd and Paw Paw

Todd with Kinley

Scott and Brent with Kinley

Gran with her 2 girls

One worn out baby!