1 Month Check-Up

Cassidy 1 month old!

Hard to believe that Cassidy is already one month old, but it's true. We went to her one month check-up yesterday and she is doing very well. She grew one inch (currently 20 1/2 inches) and gained 2 pounds exactly (currently 9 pounds); she is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. It was good to hear she's getting enough to eat, because somedays I was really wondering. She did have to get the second of her Hepatitis shots and she HATED that. The minute they put the needle in her face was bright red and she screamed like I've never heard before. I felt so bad and last night was a bit of a rough night with her feeling under the weather as a result of the shot. She was very fuzzy and had a low temp (another not pleasant experience was Brian getting her temperature-why again is it best to do a rectal temp for infants?!?)

Luckily once we got her to sleep last night she did ok, and seems to be back to normal today. I'm really not looking forward to the 2 month check-up that has more shots and should make her feel even more miserable.

Here are some new pics.
We had visitors last week our friends Mary, Julian and their daughter Kayleigh. Kayleigh is 6 months old so she will be able to show Cassidy the ropes as they continue to have play dates. (She really wasn't sleeping here, she just looks like it.And they're off....well sort of. Cassidy did manage to move herself a little bit across the floor by gripping her toes and scooting. Someday they'll actually be able to race-perhaps next summer when we all go camping together.
Unfortunately last week we made our first sick visit to the doctor. Cassidy had been spitting up (which she usually doesn't do) and was gagging and was gasping for breath on occassion. We went and met our pediatrician (he's great, very thorough and super great with new parents). He thinks it is acid reflux so she is now on drops three times a day to help out. It has definitely been helping, which is good because the gasping for breath and gagging is a very scary sound. The first time we gave her the medicine I wish I could have gotten a picture-the look on her face was hilarious. She is getting better at taking the medicine, but she still hates it.Last night we introduced Cassidy to Scrabble. She of course is a genius and is winning the game (to be completed tonight). We hope you've enjoyed the picture update.

Cassidy 4 weeks old tomorrow!

We've been taking lots of pictures lately around the house and decided we should update the blog with them so everyone else could enjoy them as well. Cassidy is growing like crazy (I realized this when I looked back at picture of her in her carseat coming home from the hospital). Cassidy will be four weeks old tomorrow and we are finally starting to get a handle on things. We're still getting up plenty in the middle of the night, but she's getting better at falling back to sleep after eating which is a huge blessing and two nights in a row she only got up twice (never mind bedtime was late, but we're thankful for a stretch of 3 hours of sleep these days)
Cassidy enjoys her naps during the day and is pretty content almost anywhere, we're lucky to have such a good baby.The umbilical cord finally fell off (yes it can fall off in more than one piece by the way-it took Cassidy's three pieces to be gone) so we got a real bath. It was an adventure for all of us, but we did it. Cassidy didn't mind the tub, she was sort of indifferent to it-no opinion either way. It was nice to have four hands to do the bath because it's tricky to bath them and I wasn't really looking forward to doing it alone. Cassidy had other plans 2 days later though when she decided to spit up all of her "meal" over both of us while Brian was at work. So another bath it was and I did it alone. I felt like it was a huge step for me. (thanks Kim for helping me through that tough day)

We decided to let Cassidy try to sit in the baby bumbo-she's not a fan yet, but boy does she have great control over her head. The other night she was doing tummy time and even managed to scoot herself across the floor a bit. We're sure her "finger toes" helped out a bit.
This is Cassidy at 3 weeks with the Bear her Bakka gave her, it will be fun to see how much she grows by comparing her to the bear.
Some nights are long and rough in the Gerken household, so we all need to make sure we get our naps when we can!


Tuesday Cassidy has a doctor's appointment so we'll update after that. We're excited to see how big she is getting.

PRICELESS

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Gerken for this awesome picture. We like to think it's a real smile and not just gas!

Dad goes back to work

Sorry it has been so long since an update we've been busy and there are so many pictures its hard to pick which ones to post. We'll try to update more often so it is less difficult to decide on pictures.

Cassidy and I were lucky enough to have Brian home the first week and then he only had to work 3 days last week. It was really nice, but unfortunately he is now back at work full-time. Cassidy and I are trying to figure out a routine for our days because we definitely miss him now that he's back to work.

Yesterday we began taking walks and are trying to get in at least two good walks a day, it gets us out of the house and helps us keep our sanity. Cassidy is such a great baby that I really could take her anywhere and we feel very fortunate for that. We're struggling at night since she thinks nighttime is a great time to be awake, but last night we went 3 hours without waking and waited until the 4:00 a.m. feeding to decide it was time to be up for the day.

And now what you all really want....more pictures.
Cassidy at her first doctor's appointment (1 week old) she was back to birth weight already which was great news. Unfortunately, she was hungry at the appointment so our usually very content baby was very unhappy.Grandma Kitson was watching cousin Carly for a week while her parents were on vacation so we went for a visit. Carly likes Cassidy and gives her nice hugs. We're sure by next summer they'll be great friends.
Grandma and Grandpa Gerken came to our house for a visit, we'll post pictures with Grandpa later, we have to get some of those.Cassidy got to go check out Dad's work. She slept through most of the visit, but he was very excited to show her off.Cassidy and Gretchen are becoming fast friends, and Gretchen will like her even more when she can throw her ball for her. For now they sometimes nap together and Gretchen watches over her whenever someone comes for a visit.

Well that's it for now, we'll be sure to update more often as Cassidy continues to grow and change every day.