Playing Catch Up

So, I am apparently pretty bad at this whole blogging thing. Part of my New Year's resolutions was to try to be better about posting, and yet here I am, half way February, and I haven't posted once. Who says New Year's resolutions have to start in January?!

Kaiya is 7 months old! I can't believe that it's already been 7 months since she joined our family. She has changed so much in such a short period of time. She started eating solids Christmas Day, avocado was her first taste of real food. We've been taking it slow because we really want to breastfeed for at least a year, but she LOVES food. As soon as the bowl comes out, she starts making a grunting noise and gets mad if you don't give it to her fast enough.So far her favorites are peas, butternut squash, sweet potato, zucchini, apples, and apricots. Really though, there hasn't been much that she hasn't really liked.

It was also around Christmas that she started sitting up unassisted. She loves to sit on her play mat with her toys and can maneuver things between both hands pretty well.

There are lots of new sounds coming out her mouth, but her first real word sound was...Mama!!! I was pretty excited and couldn't wait to tell Doug as soon as he got home, okay rub it in is more like it. But lately we've been hearing Dada and Baba a lot too, so now everyone is happy.

Last week she started to do the army crawl and gets a little further every day before getting tired. Needless to say we've already started baby proofing and know that any day now, the baby gates will be going up. I don't know if Rafiki is ready for a mobile Kaiya, but he better get ready because it's happening fast.

Kaiya loves the water and just finished her first session of swimming lessons. Swimming lessons for a 7 month old?! It's really just to get her comfortable with being in the water. It's a lot of singing and splashing, but she does go under and does just fine. I think we might have an Olympic swimmer in the making!

Doug is still enjoying his job at AAA, but wishes that he had more time at home with his girls. We cherish our weekends and Friday has become a favorite because it means that we have two "Daddy stay home days" to look forward to. I have been blessed to stay home with Kaiya for 7 months, but the time has come to get back out into the work world and find a part time job. We're still hoping that I can find a child to watch here at the house so that we don't have to put Kaiya into a day or home care, but nothing has jumped out and it looks like it may not be an option for us at this time.

I think that just about catches up on life in Reynolds home! Until next time!

1 week

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks
(not actually 1 month yet)

 

5 weeks

6 weeks

This picture pretty much sums up what
week 7 was like 

8 weeks

 

Kaiya took her first trip on an airplane at 9 weeks.
 We went to New Jersey for cousin
Steve and Katie's wedding

10 weeks

11 weeks

12 weeks

13 weeks

14 weeks

15 weeks

16 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks
Thanksgiving Day

21 weeks

22 weeks

24 weeks
(Mommy brain missed 23 weeks)

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

One day shy of 32 weeks
Happy Valentine's Day!

30 weeks

31 weeks

Has is really been three and a half months?! I will be doing my very best to get all caught up over the next week, so for now we'll start where we left off, birth day.

Everything went well with the birth and Kaiya Jane Reynolds made her grand debut on Thursday July 5 at 9:23 am. She was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long. She had 14 people waiting in the waiting room to meet her when she graced us with her presence, spoiled with love from day one! We were in the hospital for two days and had a steady flow of visitors the whole time. Doug took three weeks off from work, so it was a pretty easy transition once we got home. I was slow moving at first, but my recovery was quick and having Doug home definitely helped with that. He is an amazing husband and father and I wouldn't want to be on this journey with anyone else.

Kaiya has been a pretty good sleeper from the start, which of course, made our lives all the better. We actually had to wake her up for feedings. We still have our sleepless nights every now and then, but every night can't be perfect right?! Breastfeeding has had its ups and downs, but we've settled into a routine and we are both doing well with it now.

I must say that the last three and half months have been pretty amazing!!

Daddy's ready...

Mommy's ready...let's do this!

Kaiya's first picture (she still does this stretch)

Doug cutting the cord

First time meeting my daughter

That's one proud Daddy!

Kaiya getting her footprints done

The Reynolds Family

Proud poppa coming through! 

Kaiya's entourage

Showing off the first picture

Our first family picture (not in a hospital bed)

I'm blowing this joint!

Not so sure about the car seat

First time outside, she loves the sun

Rafiki welcoming Kaiya home

Next up, one month re-cap.....

Due Date & "Birth" Day Eve

Happy 4th of July!

Today is my official due date, Kaiya is 40 weeks! Tomorrow is the big "birth" day! We are scheduled for a c-section at 9:00am tomorrow morning and will finally get to meet our darling daughter. In the off chance that she has flipped herself into the proper position of head down, the procedure won't be needed (or wanted), but we will cross that bridge if or when we get to it. If tomorrow stands to be her "birth" day, she will share the day with her Gamma Patti who couldn't be more excited.

Doug started his paternity leave from work this week and we have spent the last few days making last minute preparations to the house. Our office is officially half guest room and the nursery is all but decorated. All we need now is our child, and she will be here before we know it.

Today we are also celebrating two years in our house! What better gift can we give ourselves than our first child? We're spending the evening bbqing in the backyard and relaxing on the couch enjoying our last night as just the two of us, for tomorrow we will be three. More to come on that later.....

Progression of the Belly

Time flies when you're having fun! It's been a busy month and I just realized it's been awhile since I've updated here.

About 3 weeks ago we found out that our darling daughter is sitting in the breech position. She's actually what's called transverse breech, which means she's laying more side to side than up and down. I had about 2 weeks to try and flip her on my own, so I was going to the chiropractor and trying some breech stretches and exercises at home to encourage her to move head down....it didn't work. We had the option to try a procedure called an external cephalic version, where the doctor basically man handles your stomach to move the baby along. There are a few possible complications that come along with the procedure, and in the end Doug and I decided that the risks outweighed the benefit and she was breech for a reason, so we left her alone. There is still a chance that she will flip on her own before her arrival, so I'm continuing to do my exercises at home and we're keeping our fingers are crossed for that. If she decides to stay put we will be scheduling a c-section for the first week of July, although I could still go into labor before then. At this point it's basically a waiting game.

I hit 37 weeks last week and am officially considered full term, yay!! I also started my maternity leave this week, double yay!! I've been washing clothes and organizing the nursery getting ready for Kaiya's arrival and I get more excited with each passing day. In honor of being full term, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of the progression of the belly. So here we go:

14 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks, halfway!

24 weeks

 

28 weeks

30 weeks

33 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks, full-term!!!