Gerken's Give Thanks

In honor of Thanksgiving we would like to share what we are thankful for! We have so much to be thankful for this year.

• A beautiful, healthy, vibrant little girl who has come into our lives and forever changed them (God knew what he was doing when he sent her to us!)
• Our health and the health of our friends and family
• Great families
• Great friends
• Good jobs and the ability to pay our bills
• A new wonderful house

There is so much more, but that is just a few things we are so thankful for this year and we hope that you and your family will have a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving!

Cassidy was 4 months old yesterday and here she is with her Bakka Bear, amazing how she is now bigger than her bear and she's 2x the size of her Gretchen now.

Cassidy at 4 months a snapshot:

• Talks a lot (hmm wonder where she got this)
• Loves her jumperoo
• Looks like her daddy, but has the personality of her mommy
• Is fiercely independent
• Gets frustrated easily when her toys won't cooperate
• Looks skeptically at almost everything and everyone
• Is mesmerized by the tv
• Loves to look at herself in a mirror
  

Cassidy and I had a great visitor this past weekend, my friend Sara who was meeting Cassidy for the first time. Sara spent the day with us and Little Miss Cassidy wanted Sara to see her entire wardrobe so we had 3 outfit changes thanks to spitting up on us and a blowout. Really we could have just shown her the closet, but that's not what Cassidy had in mind.

Just a cute picture that Sara took of us.

Long and Lean

Just a quick update from Cassidy's 4 month check-up which was yesterday. Let me start by saying those darn percentile charts are confusing and I gave misinformation to everyone yesterday who I spoke to about her appt. Apparently her weight was only in the 5th percentile based on babies her length. Here are the real facts.

One week shy of her 4th month her stats are

Weight: 12 pounds 15 ounces (she is in the 50th percentile for weight)
Length: 25.5 inches long (she is in the 95th percentile for length) (up from 75th percentile last appt.)

So far it looks like she's taking after her daddy, which is fine with us. The doctor thought she was perfect and in fact commented on how perfect her head was on several occasions. She was amazed at how round it was and she thought we were rotating how she sleeps. Nope, she does that all on her own. The doctor said to just keep doing what we're doing because she looks great and she said cereal is fine so we'll continue with cereal (next week upping it to twice a day). Next month she wants us to introduce yellow vegetables as well.

Cassidy was her usual self at the appointment (very serious). The doctor kept trying to get her to smile and finally told her she'd need to lighten up and that her face would wrinkle like that if she kept furrowing her brow. (hmm I've heard that line before about myself). She's very serious and even keel.

Next week we'll update with her 4 month picture!

Any gypsies out there?

Big things happening around the Gerken household these days. Sorry we haven't updated in awhile we've been busy with work, finding time to enjoy our little one and finding time to sleep. Sadly our sleep has actually gotten worse (we didn't think it could). Little Miss Cassidy has decided that reverting back to the sleep patterns of when she was just a newborn is a good idea. We're still hopeful that someday before she turns one we'll get to sleep through the night, at least she's cute and has that going for her. As Brian and I like to say she's being sold to the gypsies as soon as they come by our house! And now onto the pictures and big developments.We had an absolutely beautiful weather day last Saturday (60 degrees and sunny)so Brian went on a run and Cassidy and I went on a nice long walk. She was awake, but relaxed the entire walk, then 2 blocks from home she fell asleep. so she took a nap in her stroller while Gretchen and I played ball in the front yard. Everyone enjoyed the sunshine!

On Sunday night we were just relaxing in the living room and I decided to get down on the floor to get a cute picture of tummy time. Immediately after I put down the camera Cassidy rolled onto her back, scaring herself. We cheered and she cried wonderig how in the world she got there. This was her first experience with rolling over...we're sure more is to come soon.

Sunday night also brought the first experience with rice cereal. It went as well as could be expected. Most ended up on her chin or bib, but she did open her mouth for more a couple of times. We'll continue practicing and hopefully soon she'll get the hang of it.

Finally, after weeks of trying to capture in on camera I was to get a smile. I worked very hard to get her to smile for the camera and it finally worked. What a cutie she is!This is after she was done eating last night, most on her chin and big again, but we had fun.

Brian was playing with Cassidy in her room and called me in to see. She is very strong and likes to stand supported. He decided to have her stand next to the toybox and she was able to stand alone for a few seconds.

She started to get fussy last night and I grabbed this Tigger who when you press him down he bounces and sings. Once I pressed him down, she immediately stopped fussing and couldnt' take her eyes off of him. Hmmmm, I hope this trick continues to work.

Eventually she was brave and just knocked Tigger over, it was cute. We'll have to get video of her and Tigger together.

Well that's it for now. Thursday we go for her fourth month check-up so we'll have updates on how big she is getting. I'm very interested to get the updated stats because from lugging her and carseat around I'm thinking she gained a few pounds.

Editors note: We will not actually sell her to gypsies, but anyone who wants to come over and stay the night we'll gladly let you have night duties while we go upstairs and get a good night's sleep.