Category Archives: Caitlin

Moving on up

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I can’t believe we are almost at the end of February!  I’m a little annoyed at myself because so many fun things have happened in the past month that I wanted to blog about but never got around to doing it.  Instead of spending my nights on the computer I opted to lounge in my bed, relishing the peace and quiet of the night.  Anyway, here is a run down of this eventful month…

On February 10, 2008, Mark moved from sleeping in the crib to sleeping in a big-boy bed.  I was nervous about this move as I did not think Mark was ready for it, but considering Caitlin has become mobile and has outgrown her bassinet, we didn’t have much choice.  The first night he kept getting out of bed.  I think he may have been excited about his new surroundings and that he wasn’t imprisoned in his crib anymore… he wanted a taste of his freedom.  In order to curb this behavior, William or I would put him back in his crib (without his lovey) and wait till he had calmed down before moving him back to the bed.  We had to do this at least three more times.  He finally got tired of playing his game and we were able to move a half asleep Mark to spend his first night in his big-boy bed.  The next night wasn’t so bad.  He did get out of his bed twice.  The first time we did the whole put-him-in-the-crib thing.  By the second time, he had finally figured out what the repercussion was for getting out of bed that when he saw me coming for him, he ran back to his bed and did not get out of it till the next morning.  Bedtime has been smooth sailing ever since.  Naptime, on the other hand, is another story.  I did put him in the crib as a punishment for getting out of bed during naptime, but once I moved Caitlin to the crib, that wasn’t an option for me.  Naptime is increasingly difficult on the rare occasions that Aidan takes a nap.  Then Mark is so excited to have his brother in the room that he continues playing, banging walls, and screaming long after Aidan has fallen asleep.  In such occasions I have no choice but to take him out of the room and let him go without a nap that day.  I would rather have one child get a good nap than have two ornery boys on my hands.

The Boys New Bed
Aidan tests out his and Mark’s new bed.

Big Boy Mark
Mark’s first night in his big-boy bed.

In other news, Caitlin has decided to skip working on her crawl (she seems to be happy to scoouch around) and has moved on to more serious matters… sitting up.  Currently she can get herself into a tripod position, balancing herself with one arm while seated.  Of course I need to keep an eye on her because she is still not strong enough to hold herself up for too long and often ends up rolling around and sometimes knocking her head on something and getting really mad.  Also, a few days after Mark graduated to his big-boy bed, Caitlin was moved to her big-baby girl room.  I’m so excited because my house now has a baby girl’s room with a baby girl sleeping in it.  Also, I must admit, I’m enjoying having my room back.  It’s a luxury for me to be able to relax in bed at night and enjoy the silence.  I also like that I don’t have to worry about tip-toeing around the room in fear of waking the baby.

Tripod
In the tripod position.

Sitting
Caitlin can briefly support herself in the upright seated position.

One more thing before I end this post, I had a very special Valentine this year.  Now that I think about it, I think it deserves a post of it’s own.  So be on the look out for my post on my special Valentine.  🙂

The end!!

Slowly moving forward

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It may not be considered crawling but at 5 months of age Caitlin is definitely traveling.  It’s fun to watch her move but you need to watch careful because if you blink you may miss it.  What she does is get up on all fours, then uses her foot to give herself a little push forward an inch or so.  She doesn’t travel far this way but she does end up going some place.

Another milestone

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Caitlin can now get up on all fours.  It won’t be long before she starts crawling.  Btw, she will be five months in less than a week.

This may not be the best picture but, right now, it is the closest I could get to capturing the milestone.

All fours

Sliver of light in the darkness

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I’ve been out of sorts lately… just feeling completely miserable.  It’s gotten so bad that I actually hid in the closet today so that I could cry my heart out in peace.  Several reasons for this…

1.  My stagnant weight loss.  I only have 5 more pounds to lose in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but for the past month my weight has remained constant.  I guess I should be happy it is not going up, but it is still a bit disheartening to get on the scale every week (yes, I’m obsessed) and see that there has been no weight loss.  Okay, I know I should be working out if I want to see this weight gone, but give me a break.  I am a mother of not one, not two, but three kids under the age of five.  By the time my husband comes home from work, which is usually late, I am exhausted and all I want to do is crawl into bed.  Besides, I thought breastfeeding would help me burn some of that fat.  Guess I thought wrong.

2.  William and I had a talk about our finances again.  It wasn’t looking too good especially considering I am planning a trip to Canada to attend my cousin’s graduation this summer.  Although William thinks this trip is a luxury, I consider it a necessity.  This is my beloved cousin’s graduation from college.  It is a big deal to me and the rest of my family.  My parents and my sister will be attending the graduation as well.  I have warned William about this trip for over a year and I have told him that there will be no argument about it… I am going to that graduation!  Of course this means we will have to cut back on some of our other plans, i.e. sending Aidan to summer camp, and scaling down Aidan’s fourth birthday celebration.  Sadly, we have decided to have a low key (just within the family) celebration for him and have opted out of renting the bounce house.  I feel horrible since he really enjoyed the bounce house we got for Mark’s birthday and I had promiseed that he could get the bounce house for his birthday.  I’m just hoping that when his birthday comes around he will have forgotten about the bounce house and maybe just enjoy whatever we managed to do for him.  I think he will be okay with it, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling terrible for short changing my little man.

3.  Back to my earlier post.  I am extremely upset about the idea of putting Caitlin in daycare.  This is what causes me the most grief.  Another thing to add to my worry is that Caitlin refuses to drink from a bottle.  She would rather cry for hours than take a bottle.  Last night William made a futile attempt to feed her.  After an hour and a half of trying she had only drunk half an ounce.  It was miserable.  If William had so much trouble feeding her, I don’t know how the care giver at the day care will handle it.  All I keep thinking about is how this woman has five to six other infants to take care of.  She is not going to have the time or the patience to try and feed my baby.  She may even let my baby go to sleep hungry and upset rather than fight with her to eat.  I just can’t handle thinking about this.  Add to all this the image I have in my head of the sad face Caitlin makes just before she starts crying.  That is what I see when I picture dropping Caitlin off at the daycare.  How will I be able to work if that is what she does when I drop her off?  How will I be able to get through my day worrying if she is getting enough to eat?  How will I be able to live with myself if I feel like Caitlin is suffering without me?  So many questions and worries in my head and none of them have an answer or a solution.

Yet if I don’t work I will be back to having the same finance discussion with William, and Aidan and Mark will suffer because we won’t be able to afford to send them to preschool.  Which brings me to the next reason for my misery…

4.  I will have to settle for a teaching position that I may not be happy with.  I really want to teach in a middle school but currently all the openings are for high school.  If I had the luxury of waiting I may get a job that I like.  But, I don’t have that luxury, so I will have to accept whatever offer I get.  Not very promising.

Amidst my tears I read this article in the Arizona Republic about a mother dying of cancer.  It made me realize that even thought I feel like my life isn’t the greatest right now, at least I have my health, my kids who drive me crazy, and a husband who loves me regardless of how fat I am.  This does not mean that I am not going to bitch and moan about putting Caitlin in daycare, but I may learn to deal with it.  I am not going to stop worrying and lamenting about everything I missing out on by having a stranger watch my little girl, but at least at the end of the day my kids still have parents to come home to.  And, even though I may miss out on watching my child while I work, at least I have lifetime to make memories with her, the rest of my kids, and my husband.

Milestone

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On Saturday, December 22, 2007, Caitlin rolled from her back to her tummy (she first rolled from her tummy to her back on November 26, 2007).  She will be four months old on January 03, 2008.

She is a princess!

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Aidan (looking at Caitlin):  She’s a girl.
Mom: Yes, she is a girl.  Aidan are you a girl?
Aidan:  No, I’m a boy.
Mom:  Yes, you are a boy.  Is Caitlin a boy?
Aidan:  No, she’s a princess.
Mom:  😀

Caitlin and Aidan
Click on image to view larger picture

Caitlin’s birth story

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On November 03, Caitlin turned two months and wow, how much she has changed.  She smiles a lot and loves to talk (coo) to you.  For a two month old she is very alert and aware of her surroundings and holds her head up really well.  She is also a pretty good sleeper usually sleeping at least six hours at night before her next feeding.  Compared to my two boys, she is by far the easiest baby I have dealt with. 

In celebration of Caitlin turning two months old I am documenting her birth… more so I don’t forget the events of that day.

Aidan woke up at 4 am crying for the no reason.  As both my boys were born in the morning, I figured Caitlin would follow the same path.  But, I wasn’t feeling any contractions so I went back to sleep thinking, “She’s not coming today.”  I had been feeling Braxton Hicks for the past couple of weeks and thought that it was having another fake contraction when I woke up at 5:30 am to go pee.  And, there it was… my first sign that I was going into labor… I was having a bloody show.  So that wasn’t a Braxton Hick… it was a really contraction.  Oh joy!  Finally!

I calmly woke William up and told him that we should get ready to go to the hospital.  Since my contractions were not coming one after the other, I figured I had time to put myself together, straighten my hair, put on some make-up, etc.  Don’t ask me why, but I just wanted to look good for this delivery.  Lol!  William on the hand was running around, getting the car out of the garage and putting my suitcase in.  He was going from our labor experience with Mark where I was fully dilated by the time I got to the hospital.  I think he was afraid that it would happen again.  He was in a hurry to get me to the hospital. 

We arrived at the hospital at around 6:30 am.  I called Carolyn (my MIL) on the way to the hospital to tell her where we were headed and laughing told her that they probably would send me home cause my contractions were not coming so fast and my water had not broken.  She doubted they would do that and she was right.  After answering a bunch of questions in triage I was checked and told that I was 5 cm dilated.  I was then told to walk around to help my labor progress.

Boy did it progress.  An hour later I was 8 cm dilated and the contractions were coming fast.  I was moved into labor and delivery room to finish dilating.  I’m not sure how long that took but I think it went by fast.  I have to say, I’m really grateful for the birthing ball.  It, along with William’s wonderful massages, helped lessen the pain of the contractions.  During all the contractions my water never broke so the midwife had to do that for me.

I have to say the hardest part of my delivery was pushing Caitlin out… something I brought on myself.  You see, the day before I went to the hospital I had a bowl of raisin bran, but I never went to the bathroom that day.  Now, lying there on the delivery bed, I was afraid my body would let me down!  I was terrified I was going to poop.  William, Janice (my midwife), and the nurse would tell me to push and I would cry back, “No, I don’t want to poop!’  They would yell back, “Just poop, its okay!”  Thankfully I did not poop (at least that’s what William told me and I believe him cause he never lies to me), and after 20 minutes of pushing Caitlin was born.

For those interested, total labor and delivery time was 4 hours.  And, I did it without any painkillers or an epidural.  I know I shouldn’t gloat, but I am very proud of the fact I was able to do it naturally.

It seems like only yesterday Caitlin was born, but then again, it seems like she has been a part of this family forever.  I don’t know what it is about Caitlin that has me completely infatuated with her.  I love my boys, but I feel that Caitlin is special.  Maybe it’s because she was my wish come true for having a girl.  Oh, and she has the most adorable chubby cheeks that I can’t stop kissing.  🙂

Although the last two months have been crazy, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  My family is complete and life is good.  Family and friends always ask me how I’m doing and I reply with “I’m fine,” to which they look at me with amazement.  I won’t lie, it’s been tough but I seem to be managing.  Of course some days are better than other.  I haven’t gone crazy yet, which is a plus.  When I do go crazy, that’s when you need to worry about me.  For now, I’m fine.

PS:  I have to give a shout out to my beloved cousin Kawshi who came to visit us at just the right time.  She watched the boys while I was in the hospital and did a wonderful job.  Kawshi, if you can watch my kids anytime you want.  I’ll feed you in return.