Rocket Likes Chocolate!

Okay, we didn’t actually feed her chocolate. We tried some jarred sweet potatoes, which we bought for Iris when she was visiting with Adele back in October. And for some reason, Iris kept calling them chocolate. She really loved them and seemed to think she was getting some kind of special dessert when Adele fed them to her before bed. So we thought we would try them out on Colette. She didn’t seem to enjoy the baby oatmeal or the avocado we tried to feed her, but she liked the sweet potatoes! She’s still getting used to the spoon, but she ate more “chocolate” than the oatmeal and avocado combined. And Zakk and I had a good laugh at her adorable little mug smeared with food.

Rocket Likes Chocolate

Hanging with the Hawleys

Like I said in my last post, Colette took her first trip just about a month ago to meet her Aunt Colie, Uncle Adam, and her cousins Ben and Alex. She did really well on all the flights and she got to celebrate her Aunt Colie’s birthday, my birthday, and her Cousin Ben’s birthday (a week early) while we were there.

Grammie and Papaw drove all the way from Ohio to see her again and they brought her cousins Devin and Rylie to meet her, too. It was wonderful to see how sweet and interested Devin and Ryle were with Colette. When they weren’t playing and having tons of fun with Ben, that is. I only wish I had captured some of those moments.

Zakk stayed home, but I’m pretty certain Colette missed him. I know I did. Especially because she didn’t nap well during the day or sleep well at night. That was rough. Really rough. But we made it through. I’m not sure I’ll be willing to travel without him again though. We just work better as a family.

All in all, it was a good trip. I loved sharing Colette with everyone (including Nicole’s dear friend Maureen, her sweet boys/Ben’s and Alex’s best friends Cameron and Ryan, and all of her Uncle Adam’s family!) and I feel proud of myself for having met the challenges of traveling solo with my nearly 4-month old baby. And now, here are a few photos from the trip.

Rocket’s First Flight

I took Rocket on her first airplane flight a couple of weeks ago. We set out early on the morning of Tuesday, October 22nd to visit Aunt Colie, cousin Ben, and cousin Alex in upstate NY. She didn’t have her own seat, but I set her in mine when I got up to rummage around in the diaper bag for something and snapped this photo of her looking like such a big girl.

First Flight

She was her normal sweet, smiley, cooing self for the vast majority of that first flight, only fussing a little bit a couple of very brief times. The passengers around us and the flight attendants were very taken with her, of course. I’m sure it would have been a whole different story if she had screamed and cried during the 5-hour flight, but we got lucky and she did great!

4 Month Check-Up

Colette and I went to her 4-month visit with her pediatrician this morning. Dr. Amanda said she is doing great and that Zakk and I should keep up the good work. Yay!

And now for the numbers:

Weight 14 lb, 9.5 oz
between 50th-75th percentile
a 2 lb. 9.5 oz. gain from her 2-month appointment

Length 24.25″
50th percentile
a 1.75″ gain

Head Circumference 40.5cm
50th percentile
a 2 cm. gain

She did get a shot, which she didn’t like. But she nursed the pain with a little mother’s milk and then fell asleep. She woke up a short while later and was quite cranky, but fell asleep again after another meal and has been snoozing away on my chest while strapped into her carrier for the past couple of hours.

Sleeping in the Boba

Hopefully she’ll feel better when she wakes up. Either way, Zakk’s on duty tonight. I’m looking forward to going out with some of my friends, who are also new mamas, for a glass of wine and some adult conversation later!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the cutest little pumpkin there ever was!

Photo by Jennifer Grady Kazmark

Although we’re back home now, we started celebrating Halloween earlier this week with Nicole, Adam, Ben and Alex.

Hawley Pumpkin Carving

Hawley Jack-O-Lanterns

Ben as Count Dracula

Alex as a truck driver

There will be another post soon with more photos and videos from our visit with the Hawley’s. But for now, here’s one more of my little pumpkin, because I just couldn’t resist!

Photo by Jennifer Grady Kazmark

Happy 3-Month Birthday!

Dear Colette,

I know it’s cliché, but time really does fly by. It doesn’t seem possible that three months have already passed since we first met. Your father and I are still as in love with you as we were the day you were born. Probably more so. You have changed us in ways we couldn’t have understood before and we are both so grateful to have you as our daughter.

3 Months

Your smiles are infectious, your snuggly little body nestles in perfectly on our chests, and our favorite conversations each day are when we exchange coos, gurgles, and giggles with you. It’s so much fun to watch you make new discoveries, like your hands. Yep, you love looking at your hands. You turn them over, bring them so close to your face that you make yourself go cross-eyed, and shove them in your mouth (sometimes two at a time).

You are sleeping pretty well at night. Usually you will go down for the night sometime between 10p-12a. Although you have been getting better about going to bed earlier than midnight, it’s still inconsistent. And that’s okay. We’re following your lead. We make you as comfortable and relaxed as possible, holding you, walking with you, assuring you that you are safe and it’s okay to sleep, and then you drift off when you’re ready, sometimes after fighting it and sometimes sweetly and quietly. You sleep for 5-6 hours and then another couple of 1-2 hour stretches, which is fabulous for your mama! Much better than the 2-3 hour blocks you were doing a month ago. During your daytime naps, you still like to be held. In fact, you prefer it so strongly that you won’t let us put you down unless you are really, really, really asleep and have been for at least an hour and a half. Sometimes it’s exhausting to hold you so much, but we try not to complain because we know this snuggly-cuddly time won’t last forever. Who ever heard of a 15-year old wanting to me held all the time?

Sleeping on Daddy

 

Sleeping on Mommy

 

Sleeping on Daddy 2

Your cousin Iris and Aunt Adele are visiting us right now. It seems they are as smitten with you as we are. Iris likes to sing you songs and Adele likes to hold and snuggle you. You clearly enjoy their company as well.

IMG_0464 IMG_0448

Happy 3-month birthday, sweet Rocket.

Love,

Mama & Daddy

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