Animal Noises, Big Change and a Birthday!

It's been a while! Since my last post Kate has mastered the sounds of the lion, owl, dog and monkey! It really is so cute. I have yet to get them all on video because every time I pull out the camera she gets distracted and just wants to play with it...but I will post the lion video now, and others as I get them.

One gigantic happening in our little Toombs life in the past couple weeks is that Kate has FINALLY transitioned to sleeping unswaddled! This has been a huge deal for us and I am thrilled that it's going so well. It's hard as a mom to question the choices you've made along the way and wonder whether they were the right ones, and the issue of the swaddle is no exception. For so many months I thought Kate was incapable of sleeping without it (for fear she'd scratch her face off) and now that she's adjusted so easily I find myself wondering if she would have been better off had I been brave enough to try this move during month 4 when we taught her how to fall asleep on her own! Oh well, I'm told I'm not really supposed to think in those terms so I'm (kind of) trying not to. Here are a couple pictures of our little cutie pie sleeping "au natural."

We celebrated Brian's birthday this past Saturday. It was a perfect day. Kate had a card and a small gift ready for her dad when he woke up. Her card featured pictures of all the fun and silly things her dad does with her -- arguably some of her favorite moments since she was born!

Her gift was a bug net for our Kelty frame pack so that we could take our first real hike of the season. It was a big hit! So, after Kate's morning nap we ventured down to Monument Mountain for a beautiful, sunny hike.

That night, we had my cousin Mike (also Brian's good friend) over for a yummy lamb dinner and homemade chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting -- the first attempt I've ever made at a cake and a successful one at that! All and all it was a great day! Happy 26 to my hunny!

Highlights

I can't believe how much Kate is changing every day. A couple days ago I started teaching her animal noises. I began with "What does the owl say?" because she can already make the "whooooo!" sound. Yesterday she put my question and her response together for the first time!! I have yet to get it on video but I'll be sure to post it when I do! (Incidentally, if I ask her what the doggie says her response is also, "whooooo!" Like I said, we're working on it.)

Our friend Caroline was out for the weekend to visit us and see Kate. It was a pretty short visit but we had a fun and relaxing time. Kate really liked Caroline -- actually, she seems to pretty much like all of our friends, for which I am extremely grateful! Here are a couple shots of the two of them together and then a family picture Caroline took for us out in front of the house after a walk.

We had our bathtub re-enameled on Tuesday so we've been without the tub/shower since early Tuesday morning. As a result, Kate has been taking her evening bath in the kitchen sink. I have to say, it's much easier to bathe her in the sink than in the tub now that she's sitting up on her own! She really enjoys it, too!

As you can see, our little girl has taken to flashing this cheeky little grin whenever the camera comes out now! She really is such a ham. Aside from a little bit of teething-associated fussiness, she's been in very good spirits over last week. In fact, she's been so good-natured, she didn't even mind falling multiple times in a row for the camera a few days ago!

Dr. Miller

We've been taking Kate to our good friend and osteopath, Dr. Miller, since she was just five days old. His office is out in Carlisle, MA (near Concord) which is about a two hour drive from our house. At first we went every two weeks or so and now we go once a month. It might seem a little excessive to you, but this man can work wonders. He has treated children with myriads of physical/developmental disabilities with great success. These are kids whose pediatricians had assured their parents there was nothing to be done for them, they would never walk, speak, etc., etc.. Well, there is a lot that can be done for most of these children and it starts with the skull! You see, there is often some overlapping in the plates of the skull that occurs either in the womb, during childbirth (especially those with any trauma/intervention) or at some other time and this overlapping crowds the brain and does not allow it the space to grow properly. So much harm can come from this! Fortunately, when a baby is very young, these plates are soft and movable -- a trained/experienced hand can actually manipulate them ever so slightly in order to place them side-by-side again, thus allowing for healthy brain growth. Amazing, huh?! It sounds a little far out, but believe me it's true! So off to Carlisle we go each month...

We had an appointment yesterday and of course, eight months later, Doc can't believe how Kate has grown into such a beautiful little girl. She played happily in her exersaucer while I had my treatment (you didn't think I was going to let Kate have all the fun, did you?) and then he treated her. I'm happy to report that she is developing wonderfully and we have Doc to thank for his help in starting her off on the right track!

Weekend Get-Aways

The last couple weekends have been a lot of fun.

August 7-9 we were in Portsmouth, NH (actually Eliot, ME, but close enough!) visiting my college roommate and buddy Jenny and her husband Aaron. We had such a nice time relaxing and visiting with them. They are definitely two of the very sweetest people I know. Brian and I are considering trying to relocate to Portsmouth after he finishes school so it was fun to get the lay of the land -- and the weather even cooperated!

We were also fortunate to have a visit from my friend Erin and her boyfriend Eric who were able to make the trip down from Portland, ME for an evening BBQ. Erin just moved back north from Florida a few months ago and it's been so nice seeing her a little more regularly!

Although you can't tell from the pictures, Kate was with us too and she had a great time! She really took to Jenny and Aaron which is lucky for her because she's going to be seeing a lot more of them!!

This past weekend we went out to Oneonta, NY to visit Brian's family. It was the hottest weekend all summer which was a bit challenging for Kate in the sleep department, but otherwise the trip was a success. It was nice to spend some time with Brian's family since we haven't done more than just a day trip here and there since Kate was born. We spent Sunday up at Brian's family's lake house on Arnold Lake. It was absolutely beautiful and Kate had a blast! She was able to enjoy her first kayak ride with dad and her first dip in the cool lake water. I'm sure she'll really enjoy it next summer when she's a bit older!

How Kate Sleeps

It's 7:40 a.m. and Kate is still sleeping. This is the second day in a row that she's surprised us by sleeping past her usual 5:25 a.m. (or earlier) wake-up. Brian left for work a while ago feeling a little sad, as he's used to having some quality time with the baby in the morning. We're both quite shocked, but excited by the possibility that she's turning over a new leaf!!

In light of this, I thought I'd write about how Kate sleeps. Before she was born, I read a book about the benefits of swaddling a young infant. Supposedly, the swaddle emulates the sensation of being in the womb, which is very comforting to the baby. It also keeps their little arms and legs from waving around uncontrollably and calms the startle reflex they have at such a young age, so they tend to sleep a lot longer -- in the beginning -- if they're swaddled. So, we swaddled Kate as a newborn...

We thought for sure she would naturally grow out of the need to be swaddled for sleeping. Unfortunately, our sweet baby has a bad mold allergy which causes pretty severe eczema. It didn't take us long to discover that sleeping un-swaddled was not an option as it resulted in a terribly scratched up face. And so, we continued to swaddle...

It got to the point where Kate was too strong for a normal swaddle to contain her arms so her Grandma Toombs sewed a little band for us to securely tuck her arms into before wrapping her up!! I know it sounds a little strange, but the girl will not sleep without that swaddle!! I have to wonder how long this can possibly go on...will my one-year-old be sleeping like a newborn?? I guess if this is our biggest worry, we're doing just fine! And after all, it's almost 8 a.m. and she's still sleeping...

First Things First

Our baby, whose sex we did not know until birth, was due December 12, 2008. My pregnancy was pretty routine -- morning sickness during the first trimester, a minor placental issue (which resolved itself), but mostly just your run of the mill pregnancy. I have to say that I looooved being pregnant!! I enjoyed having a belly, wearing maternity clothes, thinking and planning about how life would change when the baby arrived -- it was all wonderful! When December 12 came and went, however, I started to get a little impatient. When would our baby arrive?

(This is a picture of me, 3 days past due.)

On December 17, my parents' anniversary, Brian and I had a leisurely morning sitting at Panera writing Christmas cards. We rented a movie on the way home and planned to just relax and veg out for the day. At about 3:30 p.m., just as I was contemplating whether or not I'd make it through all of Horton Hears a Who, I felt a pop...slight pause...did something just happen?...maybe I should head for the bathroom...made it...and then...GUSH!!! Our baby was officially on the way!

I had my heart set on a natural childbirth (as few interventions as possible -- preferably none) and with that in mind Brian and I had hired a doula, Lisa, early on in my pregnancy. We packed for the hospital and headed out the door. By the time we reached the hospital (about 25 minutes away) my contractions were 1.5 to 2 minutes apart and it was about 5:30 p.m.. "Your baby will be born by midnight," they said. My labor progressed, but midnight came and went and still no baby. Around 6:30 a.m. on December 18, Brian called our parents to let them know the pushing had begun. And on it went...for 5 hours. The combination of a cervical lip, one very large baby head, and the pairing of a weak contraction for every strong one was decidedly the cause of such a long pushing stage. Fortunately for me, I did not realize at the time that 2 hours is the so-called long range of that stage. With the help of my amazing husband and our indispensable doula, great nurses and a wonderful doc, our beautiful baby girl, Kathryn Ann Toombs, was born at 11:30 a.m.. No pain medication and not one intervention -- HOORAY!!!

Kate was bright-eyed and alert from the very beginning and continues to be very aware and engaged now. Even to my occasional dismay, this girl does not miss a beat! She is happy, quick to laugh and smile, and extremely social. It seems weird to say that a seven and a half month old baby has a great sense of humor, but she does!! I will give a good portion of the credit for this to her Dad who, from day one, has taken pride in finding a plethora of silly things to do with her. I don't think either of us realized that having an infant could be quite so much fun.

Big Happenings

Here's Kate. She was born December 18, 2008. She's about the same outside the womb as she was inside -- silly and wonderful. Last month we vacationed in Rhode Island with my family, including my sister Ba and her then sixteen month old daughter Anna. Anna can say just about any word you can think of, but one that she tends to use A LOT is "Uh oh!" Well, after hearing her big cousin say it over and over again for a good two weeks, my little parrot decided to give it a try for herself! This is what she sounds like:

She now says "Uh oh" all day long. She says it when she wakes up, when she goes to sleep, when I change her diaper, when we grocery shop, when she drops a toy, when she's happy, when she's cranky, and just about everywhere in between!!

Kate also learned to clap about a week ago. There was no sign that this was on the horizon, one day she just did it! Don't get me wrong, we had been trying to teach and encourage her to clap for a couple weeks leading up to it, we just didn't realize that she was ever actually paying attention until this day:

One day, I caught her wearing these ridiculous white tube socks and practicing her clapping. What a little turkey!

Needless to say, the Toombs household is quite the interesting joint these days...and we're loving it!