10/29/11
15 weeks old
13.2 lbs
24 1/2 inches long
WOW! I can't even begin to start this blog without looking at this 14 week photo of Catie Grace looking at those LONG legs! I guess its no secret who she got those from. :)
Well first off, Catie is now ROLLING OVER!!! We truly are starting to have a big girl on our hands. For a long time, she wanted to be placed on her side when sleeping and she would then occasionally roll over onto her belly from the side position, but she has now figured out how to roll from her back to her side to her belly. The process of rolling from her back to her side is actually pretty amusing. Catie does this 'air guitar' move where she slings her arm from her side, over the top of her head, and back down her belly, as if she is playing an air guitar. After making her signature move, she will sling the same side leg over her body to give herself momentum. Usually after about 3 attempts, she will be up on her side.
Another developmental step we took around week 14 was that Catie started to really purposefully reach out for objects and to grasp hold of them. Once she get a hold of whatever she is reaching for, whether that be your finger, her ladybug toy, or a stuffed animal, she will then proceed to carry on a full length conversation with it. (I'm going to post a video in the next blog that caught her carrying on a conversation with the ladybug).
 |
| 13 weeks |
 |
| 14 weeks |
 |
| 15 weeks |
Another trend we are starting to see more of is Catie sucking on her whole fist or her thumb. She will usually just suck on her whole fist because it is much easier to navigate to her face. When she does achieve getting just her thumb in her mouth, then she usually ends up poking herself in the face with her other four fingers. It was just more recently that she figured out that if she left her hand open while sucking on her thumb, then she would avoid gouging out her eyes and scratching her face.
 |
| Caught that thumb |
During week 14, Catie Grace went through a fairly large growth spurt. We had a few days where she wanted to nurse just about every three hours, day and night. It was during this time that I was reminded how grateful I was that we were choosing to co-sleep because we would not have been able to get through the days if we had to stay up and nurse her in the nursery, let alone if we had to actually get up and fix a bottle every time she started to cry. But I also went through a learning curve myself during that week. Kelly and I prayed and decided that the best method of family planning for the next few months was going to be for me to start on an OCP. I did research and found that a Progestin-only OCP is the only one that MIGHT be effective for me to use while still nursing, but I soon regretted that. The very first day I stated on the pill, we stated to see changes in Catie and her behavior. She wanted to nurse for longer periods of time and much more often. She would also show signs of being very frustrated and mad after she got done eating. These behaviors were ones that were very similar to ones we see if I would time my pumping badly and end up needing to nurse Catie Grace right after I had finished pumping. Because there wouldn't be as much milk for her to consume due to the pumping, Catie will get frustrated after nursing because she is still hungry and we would have to wait for my body to produce more to satisfy her. These were the same behaviors we were seeing that first day of taking the OCP. I also noticed that when I would pump, I was not getting anything close to the normal amount. So, you would think I would put two and two together to equal four right? NOPE! So we proceeded on with days 2, 3, and 4. Each day getting continually worse and also during this time, Catie had not had a single dirty diaper. We were going on four days of having a fussy baby, who was constantly hungry, and had not filled a dirty diaper in over 4 days. It was at that point that we decided we needed to start eliminating possibilities that would create this much of a change in our daughter, and PTL the first thing we did was eliminate the OCP. After 12 hours of no OCP, I saw a HUGE change in my production and Catie had her first dirty diaper in 5 days. After 24 hours, Catie Grace was back to being satisfied after every feeding and my pumping numbers were back to where they should be. Now now, I know what you are thinking, and no you will not be hearing another announcement in the next few months. Even though this method of family planning didn't work, we are still pursuing other methods. Our desire is to have a large family, but with about two years between each child. We know we serve a Sovereign God and HE could change everything in a moments time, but for now we are enjoying Catie and planning for the future, but with a more natural approach.
 |
| Falling asleep on Daddy |
Overall, it's been an extremely busy and active past three weeks and these are just the big highlights. But in these hectic weeks, we have watched our daughter developmentally and physically grow leaps and bounds!
