Moving up: Car Seat

 

Now that our little bug is getting so big, we had to go ahead and move up in the car seat world.  We have been using the infant car seat since she was born and we have enjoyed it. It has allowed us to take the car seat with us into the house or into church.  This has been super handy if she has fallen asleep or if it is terribly hot (like it was in August) because the car seat would already be inside and we wouldn't have to worry about putting our little girl in a black, hot car seat. 


But recently, we realized that Catie has started to out grow her infant car seat.  We have had it on the highest shoulder level for several months and when we tighten the straps, it pushed her shoulders down and crunched her into the car seat.  So the car seat search began.

We did some research, looked at crash safety reports, and decided that Britax Boulevard CS was going to be the best investment.  We also learned that BuyBuyBaby was having a 25% off sale going on in February and it would be a considerable saving to buy the seat during that sale. 

So my sweet, sweet brother, Jacob Melton, seeing the need to move his niece up into a bigger car seat for her safety decided to buy the car seat for us.   So it only seemed fitting that since Jake bought the car seat, that the seat would be in a pattern that would match both of our personalities.  The print of the seat is called Cowmooflauge- I think it's a nice blend of Jake's hunting and redneck side and my animal print obsession. 

This past weekend was our first weekend using the new seat.  It took some getting used to because we can't reach our hand back and pick up toys that might have fallen out of her seat or stick her paci back in if she is tired and fussing, but the seat is very user friendly and easy to get her in and out of.  It gives us such a peace of mind knowing that if we were to get into any kind of accident, then she would be safe and is now in the right seat for her height.

So, thank you JAKE for your sweet gift and investment in Catie :)  

***Also, I should probably note that Kelly really wasn't as mad as he looks in the photos while putting in the car seat.  He was just hamming it up for the camera but the results made it look like we were in the middle of a HUGE fight while installing the car seat. lol

Taking out the infant carseat base.  (This is one of those face's I was referring to)

CowMOOOOflauge :)

Just getting it in the back seat was difficult because of how BIG it was

Reading instructions

Catie's new seat for the next 4-5 years :)

Watch me grow-27 weeks

2/17/12
27 weeks
17 lbs
27 inches long

I'm terribly embarrassed to log in and see how many 'uncompleted' blog posts there are right now.  I have become a great starter but then Catie will get hungry or blow out a diaper and all stops.  I have always been one who boasted of finishing STRONG and I think I still will, it's just on a different time table then it was B. C. (before Catie) :)

Well our little Catie Grace sure didn't wait for me to update my blog because she has grown and progressed leaps and bounds since I last updated.

At her 6 months appointment, our pediatrician did all of Catie's measurement's and told us that Catie is in the 50th percentile for her weight and 88th percentile for her height.  He confirmed that she is still growing at a perfect curve and is on a fast track to be one of the tallest girls in her class.  I have just resigned myself to the fact that my little girl will probably pass up my 5 foot frame by the time she is around 11 or 12.  Kelly is of course still thrilled that she is taking on the Rexroat height and will hopefully inherit his ball skills.  :)

With all this growing, our little Bug is outgrowing ALL her clothes.  She is currently wearing 6-9 months shirts and pants.  She has a very long torso (unlike her momma) and super long legs, so the clothes that 'fit' the best are the 6-9 months but everything is short.  According to her height, she should be in 12 months, but the pants literally fall off her.  So in order to cover up her high waters, we always put boots on her feet to cover up the inch or so of exposed skin between the top of her socks and the hem of her 9 month pants.  We will be making a trip to Gatlinburg with our church family next month and we hope to take advantage of the outlets there to stock up on her summer wardrobe.


We hit another milestone around week 22 or 23.  Catie is now sitting up all on her own.  She now loves to sit on the floor and play with her blocks and watch them fall down.

Also around the same time as Catie Grace learning to sit up on her own, she also popped in her bottom two teeth.  We went through several days of intense teething symptoms and then the pain paid off.  We have had to work on our nursing technique and Catie has learned that she can not use Momma as a pacifier anymore. 

We are still exclusively breast feeding and have not started solids yet.  We are in no rush to start solids.  our pediatrician really encouraged us to continue exclusively breast feeding till we get through the cold season.  We have been able to keep Catie healthy this winter and we credit that 100% to the exclusive breast feeding.  Catie is continuing to grow and has not hit the plateau yet that usually signals the need for the extra calories that the infants get from solids so we will keep going strong with what is currently working.  We have another appointment with our pediatrician when Catie turns 9 months in April and he said we will reevaluate the solids topic then.  

Nahna and Catie with Catie's tree

 We started a new tradition with my parents this past Christmas.  This year and every year from here on out, each grandchild will get their own living Christmas tree that we decorate and enjoy during the holiday,  After the holiday's were over we planted the tree down in Campbellsville at the farm that has been in our family for generations.   Hopefully, it will be a living timeline of the children and holiday's from Christmas past :)

 

Visiting Nana

Kisses from Great Aunt Maria

Holiday Season

Wow! This Christmas Season has passed us by in a flash and oh boy, do I have quite a bit of updating to do for yall.


Putting up the Christmas tree is always a very special time for us.  It was in December of 2008, while putting up the Christmas tree, that Kelly asked me to marry him.  He had an ornament made with the date and our names underneath two little bears, one proposing to the other.  This was the first Christmas tree decorating day for Catie Grace and marked our third Christmas tree decorating for Kelly and I. 

My family with the ornament Kelly gave me three years ago

Kelly keeping Catie from pulling stuff off the tree

Catie and I *Christmas 2011

Another family tradition that I had growing up was cookie making.  This was another tradition that I wanted to instill with Catie and Kelly.  We made gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, and neaman markus cookies.  I tried to make 'health' version of sugar cookies and that first round of healthy cookies was thrown out and given to the birds.  Literally! So we went back to the old recipes and they did not fail us :)

Adding Home-made icing

Catie Grace watching Veggie Tales

Kelly pulling Catie's hands out of the dry ingredients

She loved the feeling of flour

Baby blue eyes

Our first Christmas we celebrated this year was at the Rexroat's.  Catie Grace enjoyed time with her Uncle and Grandparents. 

Kisses from Jacob

Playing with her new lamb

The Rexroat *Christmas 2011

Grandma and Grandpa

On Christmas Eve, we made another trip out to Frankfort for the extended family's Christmas.  It was full of laughs and good food.

On Christmas day, we made the drive down to Campbellsville to be with my family.  My cousin Ronald was in with his family.  He has spent the past several years serving our country over seas and this was the first Christmas he and his family had been able to spend with us in Campbellsville for several years.  His sweet wife, Sara, was gracious enough to point out to my mother that their son, Koben , appeared to have spots on his torso that resembled chicken pocks.  Koben had not been exposed to chicken pocks but had received the vaccine two weeks earlier.  Mom did some quick research online and found that 1/20 children who receive the vaccine end up getting a mild version of the infection and when they develop the infection then they are contagious.   Even though he was contagious, we made the decision to still go.  The three kids there were asked to distance themselves from Catie and we decided that Catie would be passed around only between the adults that did not have contact with the kids.  All three kids, Koben, Kyla, and Andrew were very good about obeying our requests and we enjoyed time with family we had not seen in months and years.  This was the first Christmas without Pa, but our first Christmas with Catie.  It was bitter sweet. 

Catie and Nahna

The kids and some of the adults stayed in the family room while we stayed in the den

Chilling in the den with the Bug

UK wind suit

Cousin Steven

Catie's Princess Pony

The Melton's

On a trip back to Frankfort, Catie fell in love with this musical carousel.  :)

On New Year's Eve, we wrapped up our Christmas holidays with a trip to my Mother's mom.  Grami got the opportunity to see how much Catie Grace has grown and developed and we had the chance to catch up with Grami.

Nahna and Bug

Grami and Catie

Sitting with Grami

We also went to Russell Springs on New Years Eve and saw more of Kelly's extended family.  Kelly's aunt Karen was gracious enough to take pictures for the whole family :)

Catie with Uncle Jacob

Kelly and Sarah *New Years Eve 2011