Two months and all's well!
Kaitlin's 2-month-old check-up yesterday went great. She cried a little when she got her shots, but was done by the time the second band-aid was on. And she's growing like crazy (which we knew already by the fact that she'd started to outgrow her 0-3 month clothes, but it's nice to have exact numbers). Kaitlin is now 11.5 lbs and 24 inches long, which puts her in the 55% for weight and 92% for height.

Several unrelated events...

1) My last trip to Chicago went well, apart from my not realizing that the Blue line sucks before I got into town. It took me 45 minutes to fly from Detroit to Chicago and 1.5 hours to take the El from O'Hare to downtown. Ugh.

2) A great moment in parenting - when your child starts to fuss in her crib, and you go over to pick her up, and she stops fussing and gives you a big smile. Yay!

3) There is now a Chipotle open in Ann Arbor! We have gone there three times thus far. The first time, they were giving away free burritos. College town + free food = line that goes around the building, despite sub-freezing temperatures. The second time, it was dinner hour on Saturday night, and the line was out the door (and not moving). The third time, Jimmy went on his own (it's much easier to stand in line sans baby) and successfully got burritos! While good, they were not as good as Chipotle in Chicago, although we think this had more to do with the fact that this location had just opened than anything else.

4) Since it was 50-plus degrees yesterday, Violet, Kaitlin & I went for a walk. The Baby Bjorn we have rocks - I just strapped Kaitlin in and off we went! Much easier than trying to deal with a stroller. Kaitlin fussed a bit when I first put her in, but once we were outside, she calmed right down, and about halfway through the walk, she fell asleep. The only problem was that since it was so muddy out, I had to clean Violet off when we got back to the house, and Kaitlin didn't like when I had to bend over to get the mud off Violet's belly. Oh well. Overall, the whole walk was fantastic, though. It was great to get out and get some fresh air without having to worry about slipping on icy sidewalks.

5) Kaitlin is getting her two-month-old shots tomorrow. Poor kid. Hopefully it will go well.

Trips I'd like to go on...
One of the vintners at our favorite winery is traveling thru France. You have to read the bits of his blog about the wines they are having at meals... I'm totally jealous.

General Update

Well, I've been back at work for two weeks, and so far so good. Everything seems to be working with the scheduling, and so therefore it's time to throw a wrench in the works - I head off to Chicago tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. ET for two days in my office. It should be quite interesting - this is the first time I'll have travelled since October, and the first time I'll be away from Kaitlin for more than 1.5 hours. I'm sure that Jimmy and Lori (our nanny) will take great care of her while I'm gone, so no worries there - I'm more concerned about the affect on my body of being gone this long while nursing. I know that if I don't nurse or pump at least every 6 hours, I become very uncomfortable, so here's hoping for no delays on the planes. I guess I'll see how it goes!

In other news... I was downloading a bunch of photos from our camera to my computer last week and somehow the act of plugging the camera into the USB port (which I'd done hundreds of times) caused my computer to die. Luckily, I had everything backed up, and Jimmy was able to salvage my hard drive, so I didn't lose any data, but my computer is currently non-functional. Hence, the lack of photo updates on the Flickr site for a while. However, Jimmy downloaded our photos yesterday to his computer, so there are now a ton of new photos on my Flickr site (make sure to check the second page, too).

Last day

Well, this is my last day of maternity leave - as of tomorrow, Jimmy & I will be splitting three jobs between the two of us and our part-time nanny. Both Jimmy & I will be working full-time (although I cut back a bit on my hours) - me on Chicago time and Jimmy on swing shift, with the nanny filling in the mid-afternoon gaps. Hopefully this will work out! Luckily, I won't have to make any trips to Chicago until the end of the month, so while I will be back at work, I won't have to leave the house.

Kaitlin is continuing to grow like crazy - you can even see that we have a baby in the car seat when we carry her around now! On Saturday, we did a bit of house-hunting (we're thinking of moving sometime before Kaitlin starts to complain about not having her own room). We were away from home for about 6 hours, including church, and Kaitlin ate away from home for the second time. Once again, she was very well behaved about dining in an unusual location (the Macy's restroom, which has very comfortable chairs) which definitely makes my life a bit easier. Kaitlin's also started to play with some of her toys, like the musical number player in her Baby Einstein pack n' play. She's also imitating us when we smile, which is totally cool.

Super Bowl

We took Kaitlin to her first party yesterday - a Super Bowl party at a friend's house. Don't we all look cheery in our Bears gear? Of course, we took that photo at the beginning of the game. Ah well. Kaitlin was fantastically well-behaved during the game, even timing her eating to occur during halftime, and the party was fun despite the outcome of the game.

More photos (as usual) on Flickr, including Kaitlin having some tummy time (not necessarily her favorite activity, but she's liking it a lot more on her new playmat - Thanks Eileen & Steve!).

One month old!

Kaitlin celebrated her one month birthday today! We've had a busy few days. Our friends Jason & Lauren came to visit over the weekend, bringing me Lou Malnati's - yum!

On Tuesday we took Kaitlin for a weight check. She's now 9 pounds - a gain of 13 ounces since her last weigh-in, when she was 10 days old. I knew she was getting bigger - we've had to put away some of her outifts already (newborn sized) and the 0-3 month ones are now starting to fit (at least, it's harder for her to stick both legs down one pants leg than it used to be).

We're also getting deep into our nanny search, with a couple serious contenders. We've got a week or so left to figure it out, then my maternity leave is over. Wish us luck!

Edited to add that there are more new photos on Flickr.

Two weeks old!
Mood:  happy
It's hard to believe, but Kaitlin's two week birthday was yesterday. We celebrated by dressing her in a pink girly outfit (on loan from her cousin) which she was finally able to wear, because her umbilical cord stump had fallen off Saturday. Yay! No more sponge baths! We gave Kaitlin her first real bath on Sunday... which she hated. Ah well, we'll work on that.

One thing we've learned in our first two weeks of parenthood - babies definitely make you appreciate the simple things in life. Kaitlin gets so content after she eats, poops & pees... or just cuddling with Jimmy or I. It makes us think about everything we "need" in order to be as happy.

More new photos of Kaitlin are up on Flickr.

It is our pleasure to introduce...
Now Playing: Orange Bowl

After a long wait, Kaitlin Georgette Hougland joined us at 3:24 AM on New Years Day, 1/1/2007. Her stats were 8 lbs 8 oz and 20.5 inches long. After a day in the hospital for Kathleen and Kaitlin to rest and get checked out by the doctor and pediatrician, respectively, we all headed home around noon this afternoon. We are all settling in at home, and both Kathleen and I are thanking God for her mom’s constant help and support around the house. Photos of Kaitlin’s hospital stay and homecoming are up on Kathleen’s Flickr account.

Still waiting...

Just a quick note... the kid decided to overstay it's lease in Kathleen's womb, so we're still in a holding pattern. Otherwise, the week has been fun, having time to spend with Kathleen's mom and brother. Dom heads back to San Diego on Tuesday, but Mom was able to extend her stay until Jan 10th. So, barring major goofiness, she should be able to spend some quality time with her new grandchild.

We'll keep you all posted...