Wrapping up 2010

It was Morgan's 1st Christmas this year!

She received so many generous gifts and was able to spend it surrounded by family! We traveled back to LaCrosse, WI for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

 Morgan met Santa for the first time and sat contently on his lap. Santa brought Morgan a nursery rhyme book that lights up and sings...she loves it!

We drove to Rosemount, MN for New Years weekend to spend time with Daddy's family. Morgan did very well in the car and spent the majority of the ride sleeping...we planned the driving around feedings and during nap/bedtime.

The latest on what little Miss Morgan is up to:
We had Miss Morgan's 4 month check-up, which included her second round of shots. She only cried when the nurse initially poked her and pretty much stopped within seconds after. Morgan is getting to be such a big girl! She is 14 lbs 14 oz. and is 23 1/3 inches long. These stats put her in the 73rd percentile for weight and 85th for height! She smiles and talks to us like you would not believe...we are still trying to figure out what she is trying to tell us, but she certainly has a lot to say! On New Years Day she rolled over from her belly to her back with a little assistance. Brad helped her position her arms and she did the rest. We continue to work on her tummy time and she holds her head up so proud! She has also started to sit in her exersaucer and is so enthralled with all the toys, lights, and sounds that surround her.

Morgan now loves to be without her diaper and has started to grab at her feet and attempts to pull them up to her mouth. She has the sweetest giggles I have ever heard and loves to be tickled. Morgan tried rice cereal for the first time January 2nd and as you can tell from the picture, she was so not impressed. We continue to try it every night, but her thoughts of it have not changed and we are pretty sure she spits more out than she actually eats.

Morgan is wearing 3-6 months clothes and even has a few things that are 6-12 months that she is pretty close to fitting in to. She no longer uses the sling in her baby bathtub and has even taken a few baths in the big tub! She seems to really enjoy bath time, which sure has changed from when she was a newborn and she would spend the entire bath screaming with her high pitched voice. Thank goodness she has outgrown that and we only hear that voice when she is really upset. If you haven't heard it...it is ear piercing! :) Morgan slept through the night last week...wasn't the case for mommy and daddy who were up 4 times checking on her :) She has continued with great night sleeping patterns and usually is up about once a night for a short feeding. Every day is such a gift with Miss Morgan and we love watching her personality take shape!

Long overdue and so many changes!

I have been slacking in the blog updating department...sorry blog followers. Morgan however has been very busy these past several weeks! My parents, two of my sisters, and their families made the trip to Iowa to celebrate Morgan's First Thanksgiving! It was a fantastic weekend with a full house, a fabulous turkey dinner made by Brad, and some great headpieces made by Auntie Sara!

 
The following weekend we made a trip to Davenport for the first time to visit Nana and Papa. The trip went great both ways now that Morgan will take a bottle on most occasions. While in Davenport Morgan went out to dinner for the very first time! We chose The Filing station which has great food, lots of tvs, and neon signs. Morgan spent the majority of dinner taking in the atmosphere and stayed really content!

We also took a trip back to LaCrosse to celebrate Christmas with Auntie Jackie and cousin Bohdi. The weekend was full of opening gifts, eating yummy food, and spending quality time together!

Morgan continues to be more and more content on her own and has even started to grab for toys. She loves being under we gym and smiles at the flashing lights and the orange and purple butterflies. She has also found an interest in the link rings and has begun putting these in her mouth along with as many fingers as she can. Morgan is talking up a storm today and her neck and legs are getting so strong! We work on these things daily both at home and at daycare.

It is hard to believe that Miss Morgan is already three months and two weeks old! She had her three month pictures taken a week ago and we are just waiting on the proofs to come back so we can share them with you all! I picked out a pretty darling outfit including fur boots that Brad insists look just like the ones Harry and Lloyd wear on Dumb and Dumber :) Pictures to come!

We are signing off for this week...promise not to get too far behind :)

The New Routine

We had a special visitor stop in last Sunday...it was Nana! Morgan and Nana spent a few hours cuddling!

Morgan had a rough day last Sunday...she didn't want to nap longer than 30 minutes, which in turn made for one fussy peanut. Come Monday at daycare, the fussiness carried right over and Miss Morgan (who doesn't skip a meal) wouldn't eat more than 1 ounce and cried unless she was sleeping. I left work early that day to take her to the pediatrician thinking she must be getting sick...turns out she is a healthy as can be! Somebody was just having a case of the Mondays. Morgan has gained almost 1 pound since her last check-up 2 weeks ago. Morgan now weighs 11 pounds 12 ounces and is in the 61st percentile for weight! After Monday night, we thought we were turning over a new leaf with Morgan's sleeping patterns...she slept 5 hours straight on Monday and 6 hours straight on Tuesday! Mommy and Daddy didn't sleep quite as sound...think we both poked our heads in her room on different occasions to make sure she was still breathing :) However, this was short lived...Wednesday night Morgan was back into her old habits and was waking every 3 hours for feedings. All in time I guess.

Yesterday we went to a friend's house to watch the Iowa State vs. Colorado football game. Morgan has officially outgrown her newborn ISU attire, so we had to improvise on a cyclone outfit. Morgan did pretty well throughout the game and even ate 3 ounces out of a bottle from Daddy! We are trying to work on bottle feeding on the weekends in hopes that come Monday at daycare, she does better for our daycare provider.

Miss Morgan continues to coo and smile more each day! We have been taking some videos of her "talking" to us, which I will try to post at some point. In the mean time, here is the still life shot:

We have also started a bedtime routine which consists of playing up until 7:00pm, then bath time, stories at 7:15, eating at 7:30, and rocking at 8:00pm until she falls asleep. The routine seems to be going well so far and we can only hope that it carries over into her toddler years :) As of this morning we tested out the Bumbo seat...Morgan loves facing forward to check out everything that is happening around her and has been spending a lot of time on her tummy strengthening her neck muscles so we gave it a shot to let her sit on her own and she did fantastic!

We are looking forward to Thursday night of this week. Auntie Kimmy and Uncle Joey are flying into Des Moines for the Kish Family Thanksgiving. Grandma, Papa, Auntie Sara, Uncle John, and cousins Trevor and Justin will all be in town on Friday! We have a lot to get done before everyone arrives so this week will be a busy one. We also have Morgan's 3 month pictures coming up in the next week or two, so have been busy shopping online for the perfect outfits! Baby Gap has the cutest stuff and that store could see a lot of our money in the future...just don't tell Daddy ;) tee hee...kidding of course honey :)

2 Months Old

Morgan is officially 2 months old! We went in for her 2 month check and she now weighs 10 lbs. 15 oz and is 23 inches long. That puts her in the 56th percentile for weight and 77th for height. Unfortunately along with this check-up Morgan had to have 5 immunizations, but actually did rather well and only cried with the pokes and stopped as soon as I picked her up. She slept well that night and never developed a fever. We were also told by Morgan's pediatrician that we do not need to see a specialist at this time for her umbilical hernia and that they think it should reduce on its own by the time she is 2. So that was great news and we will just continue to watch it. Morgan is right on track for her developmental milestones at this age by smiling back at us, communicating with some "coos", has found her hands for sucking on, tracks us and objects with her eyes, and lifts and controls her head on her own for short periods.

This week was also the start of daycare...think it was probably harder on Mommy than it was on Morgan. Our daycare provider said Morgan didn't really like to be set down the first several days and would prefer to be held...not sure why that would have been...it couldn't have anything to do with her mom and dad holding her for the past 8 weeks non-stop right?! ;) However, as the week went on, things improved, Morgan became less fussy and seems to be adjusting more each day.

Bundled for her first day of daycare

Saturday night was Begger's Night here in Ankeny. We had every intention of getting Morgan dressed in her costume and stopping at a few houses in the neighborhood. Morgan had other plans...she napped through the beginning of trick-or-treating and once she did wake, we saw that only two other neighbors on our block had their lights on, therefore, plans changed, but we still decided to put Morgan in her butterfly costume and take some pictures. Pretty sure she lasted about 10 minutes in the costume, which means we spent $1 for every minute she wore it :) Not a great return on our investment, but certainly made for some adorable pictures and fantastic memories.

Halloween 2010

Another big step for us this week has been transitioning Morgan into her own room for sleeping. Mommy was reluctant to take the plunge, but finally caved after it was recommended by the pediatrician. Daddy was very supportive to Mommy during this transition, which has made a big difference and turns out Morgan seems to be sleeping for longer periods. She wakes about every 3 hours for feedings and has started to develop a routine with her naps, eating, and playing. We h ope that this continues to improve!  Look for more fun and exciting stories and pictures in upcoming blogs!

waking from a nap in her big girl bed

7 Week Milestones

Morgan had a great week this past week. We have been doing more play time since she is up more often now and seems much more alert and content during her awake hours. She also has started to stretch out her feedings to every 3 hours on a more regular basis, which also means she is sleeping for slightly longer increments at night! This is my last week home on maternity leave...where have the past seven weeks gone. So very sad to be leaving Morgan to head back to work. We have really been enjoying our bonding time and it is so amazing to have been able to spend all of this quality time with her to watch her grow and develop. Morgan will be starting an in-home daycare in a week. We are stopping over there on Tuesday so Morgan and her daycare provider can meet. In preparation, Brad gave her a bottle on Friday night. The first try did not go so well. Morgan refused to take it and screamed until she turned bright red! We are pretty sure she was convinced it was a pacifier, which she really doesn't like. Morgan won the battle...no bottle that round. So next feeding we tried again...however, this time Brad picked her up from nap time as soon as she started to wake and slipped out the pacifier, replaced it with the bottle...success! We will try it all again this week hoping for a good transition for daycare come next week.

Morgan has also been able to fit into quite a few 3 month outfits and is slowly outgrowing her newborn size. She has also upgraded to size 1 diapers. This upgrade was a decision that was reached by Brad and I after several major blowouts! One of these resulted in mommy having some very messy jeans of her own during a feeding...yuck! Thank goodness daddy was home at the time so he could tend to Morgan and I could clean up myself.

A very special package arrived this week for Morgan from Papa...it was a doll all dressed in pink! Thanks Papa! No name has been given to the doll yet...we plan on leaving that to Morgan once her words come :) It sure will be fun to see how much she has grown when the doll finally has her name. Here is a picture for future reference.

The Karnick Family came to Iowa this weekend for a visit and to meet Miss Morgan. We had a great weekend and Morgan was showered with hugs, kisses, and cuddling! She couldn't have been more content and absolutely loved spending the time with Beth, Matt, Lily & Eliese! Lily and Eliese picked out a very special gift for Morgan... her very first Barbie! She can't wait to play with it. Thanks so much for the gifts and for driving the 4 1/2 hours to visit!

Morgan also began to smile intentionally this weekend instead of just when she had gas :) It is so fun and fulfilling to talk to her and watch her smile back at you.

This morning Morgan also let out a laugh as Brad was trying to rock her back to sleep early this morning. It was adorable! She has began to "coo" more as well and really enjoys taking naps on your chest rather than in her bed :)

Football Sunday Nap

She has taken a few naps in the crib in her room this week. I am not quite ready to put her in there at night...Brad has asked me a few times when I thought we would do the transition...still no answer to that question :) She just seems so tiny to be in that bed all by herself rather than in her bassinet next to our bed. All in time I am sure. Have a great week!

A week full of "firsts"

We had a very busy week and weekend. Monday afternoon Auntie Jackie, cousin Bohdi, and Grandma came down to Iowa to visit and meet Morgan for the first time. We did lots of playing and even attempted a Target shopping excursion, which ultimately ended with Grandma in the checkout line and both kids and their moms out in the parking lot.

 Morgan made her first trip back to LaCrosse on Thursday afternoon. Daddy packed the car and we piled in like the Griswold Family ...Daddy was in the driver's seat, Tehya sat shotgun, Morgan sat in the middle of the backseat with Mommy on one side and Taylor on the other. The three hour drive that it usually takes Brad and I has now turned into a four hour adventure with stops along the way for feedings, diaper changes, crying, and the soothing sound machine as the background noise which seems to have replaced the radio. Oh how things have changed :) Overall the drive went pretty well despite the rough start. We left our house about 1 1/2 hours later than planned because I thought packing could wait until that day while Morgan and I were home and Brad was at work...learned my lesson with that one. We left the house with a sleeping child, made a couple stops before getting on the interstate, and as we pulled onto I-35, Morgan was wide awake and crying. We pulled off the first exit ramp in Ankeny about 2 miles up the road and the crying stopped, so we got right back on and continued our trip to LaCrosse...too funny.


Auntie Kimmy and Uncle Joey made the trip all the way from Denver for this special weekend so Morgan was able to finally meet them for the first time and loved every minute with them!

Saturday was a busy day that began with the Kish family picture. As you will notice in the picture below, we had a screaming child in one shot (that was due to poor planning by mommy as we were too close to feeding time) and a sleeping child in the second shot...amazing what a full belly can do.

The next stop for the day was heading up to Grandpa Chuck & Grandma Marilyn's house to meet them for the first time. We spent some time cuddling with them.

Then it was on to cousin Justin's 2nd birthday party. Morgan spent most of this stop sound asleep even with all the excitement going on for the Thomas the Train themed party.

Last but not least...our final stop was to Grandpa Ho Ho's Pumpkin Pickin' Party! Morgan met many cousins, aunts, uncles, cousins, Great Grandma Eldridge, and Great Grandpa Sid! We went on a hayride, walked through a corn maze, and went down to pick out the special pumpkin that Grandpa Ho Ho planted for Morgan when she was better known as Baby H.

Four Generations

We like to call this one "shop til you drop"...notice her very first purse from Aunt Roxi :)

We had a wonderful weekend of many "firsts" for Morgan and couldn't be more blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives! It will be a while before another road trip is attempted, but overall, it went well and it was quite the adventure.

Saying "see ya later" to Grandma & Papa