Kennedy's 45 Week Check In

It has been an absolutely exhausting whirlwind of a week/weekend for us.  On Thursday, right after I left school, we drove to Pittsburgh, arriving at 3 am.  We headed straight for the airport to catch our 5:20 flight to Orlando for Pop Pop's memorial service.  Friday was spent visiting family and helping my mom, grandma and aunts prepare for the service.  Saturday was his viewing and memorial service.  It was bittersweet, always so hard to say goodbye to someone you love but peaceful to know they are free from suffering.  Early this morning we flew back to Pittsburgh and began our drive home.  Exhausting, both physically and emotionally.  Baby girl was a trooper and did really well, despite the long car rides, flights, missed naps and endless parade of new faces.  It was good to have her with us to bring smiles and a sense of "time marches on".

How Big Is Baby?

• Kennedy is still around 18... maybe 19 pounds now.  I can see her growth starting to taper off as she becomes more active.
• She is wearing 9 and 12 month spring and summer clothes now.
• Size 3 shoes are still a little big, but the 2s are long gone.
• Full time cloth diapering. Still size smalls and one sizes with 1-2 snaps out and 1-2 snaps up. 
• We did use size 2 disposables for the flights, since packing cloth would have cost more ($25 for a checked bag!  Yikes!) than it was worth.  The size 2s were a little snug, but they worked for the short trip.

Development & Milestones

• Kennedy is definitely becomming more confident with her walking.  She cruises like a little maniac, but when she gets to a point where she needs to let go, she is starting to do so more often.  She still crawls for longer distances, but seems to have no problem taking 2-3 steps to get where she needs to be, if it is close.
• She did display a little stranger anxiety this weekend, which is understandable.  She reached for mama quite a bit, but overall did well with the new people.
• She did cry for mama when she got frightened or tired, which just melts my heart.
• She didn't sign much this week although she has created her own sign for "all done" which involves (not so) politely dropping her food on the floor.  :/  I'm not a fan.
• 4 teeth on top now and still 2 on the bottom.
  

Diet/Nursing

• Nursing has been wonderful.  Baby girl nursed on the plane, all 4 flights and did wonderfully.  I am so proud of my little peanut!
• No pumping this trip... didn't even bring it with me!  Pumping at work is still going well.
• BLW is great!  Kennedy was the star of our meals in Florida.  She ate her weight in french fries (by far, her most favorite food) at the Ale House and enjoyed a brownie at the repass following Pop Pop's service.
• She has the sippy cup down!  She loves to carry it around and drink water like a big girl.  This helps on the long car rides also.

Sleep

• Sleep has been as good as can be expected with our wacky weekend.  She did sleep in bed with us, but that is nothing new.  Night time was pretty normal, though.
• Naps were... well... a hot mess.  Between the driving, flying, services and family gatherings, naps got lost.  She napped when she could and wasn't too terribly fussy.  I am looking forward to getting back to a (somewhat) regular schedule.

PP Mommy Check In

• This week was pretty good, although I tend to snack a lot out of boredom in the car.  I did indulge in some Ale House Zingers, actually a Zinger Melt to be exact... but it was worth every sinful calorie.  Yum!!
• If this rain will ever stop, I am dying to start logging some more miles.  Rain rain go away!!
• Right now I am about 121 lbs.
• *For reference, my highest pregnancy weight was 162, my pre-pregnancy weight was 130 and my goal weight is 125*

How Is Daddy?

• Kevin had a long week.  He stayed up 30+ hours to make the drive and flights.  I was very lucky to have him with me both for support and to help corral our crazy monster baby.  He did all of the driving, which was awesome!
• Weight-wise, he is holding steady at his goal weight although he cheated a bit in Florida too, but hey... when is the last time he had Zingers?

Any appointments, visitors or outings? Anything else new?

• We are excited to just hang out at home for a few weeks.  All of this traveling has been exhausting.
• We are working on planning Kennedy's 1st (eeeeeeeeek) birthday!!  I will try to sneak some pictures and write about the planning as we go.  Can't believe it is right around the corner.
• Kennedy finished her antibiotics and seems to have kicked her ear infection.
• Cloth diapering is still going great!!

Product Rave:

• Ergo- absolutely wonderful for traveling.  Because it doesn't contain any metal, I was able to leave it on with baby snug and secure when going through security.  I have the extra pouch which came in handy for holding onto our tickets and IDs.  It also helped to keep Kennedy contained on the plane.  She nursed in the Ergo and fell asleep.  Mommy was hands free and happy!

Any upcoming developments, milestones? What's next?

• A recheck with the NP next week
• Birthday countdown... 7 weeks!

Picture Time