Baptism

Courtney was baptized on November 21st. It was the morning after all of the roads were turned into skating rinks. Luckily those intending to attend, were able to make it despite the weather! Courtney did wonderfully during the whole ordeal and slept right after her debut to the church. The baptismal gown was one my Great Grandma made for my Dad at his baptism. I wore it when I was baptized and now the next generation has worn it as well.

The star of the show!


With sponsors Nicole and Andy.

Group Photo

Laying of the hands. Boy does she look mad.

Lighting the baptismal candle.

The cake.

Stink Eye

I think this means..... I'm tired get that stupid camera out of my face!

December has been a big month!

The first half of December has been a big month for Courtney. Here are some of her achievements:

1. As you all know, she got her first tooth!

2. We started feeding her cereal as well. She really likes it.

3. She is able to get on her hands and knees and rock. She will be crawling before we know it. She already scoots backwards, turns in circles and rolls across the living room floor.

Everything has a reason...

I now know what was causing the sleeping issues. Courtney has a tooth! She is the proud owner of a nice bottom tooth. Guess it is time to get the teething toys in the fridge/freezer. I tried to take a picture of it, but she would not have anything to do with it.

Last night she was a little princess again and went to bed without issue. She only woke up once to eat. She is back to being a good baby.... all of the time.

Baby Pictures

I was sorting though some pictures while doing a scrapbook page and came across a picture of me when I was about Courtney's age. So then I went looking for one of Brian around the same age. The only one I could find of him was when he was 8 months.... It will have to do for now.

Who does she look like?

Hiatus

Looking back, I guess that it has been a while since we have posted anything besides Christmas lists! So here is my first blog to get "back in the saddle".

As you all know, I now have a partner blogger that will hopefully contribute more than just the occasional blog. I might have to nag him to do so, but it would be worth it to see what he comes up with.. there really is no end to the witty comments! His latest one:

To Courtney this morning:
" You really are a good baby..... during the day."

This quote brings us to the reason for the hiatus. Zombie-like behavior from the residents of our house over the age of 6 months. I don't know what happened to the little girl that we could calm for 1-2 minutes, lie her in the crib, and she would be sleeping without too much fussing. Someone traded that good sleeper for a little girl that wakes up every 1-2 hours during the night. We have even resorted to bringing her to bed with us for 2 of those nights. Well, really she played in between us for 1-2 hours while we slept on either side of her (at 4AM). Luckily the really bad nights were this weekend when we were forced (by the weather) to stay home. As the people at work said, it is only a phase and she will grow out of it. Hopefully it isn't a long phase.

So, I hope to be back to regular postings as the ideas are filling up the little space left I have in my short term memory :)

I love to read!

5 months old

Courtney is doing a very good job of learning how to sit up. She still is a bit wobbly... just like a weebl (except she falls down).

Stuff Heidi doesn't need

Below is a list of things that Heidi has expressed interest in.

1. Scrapbooking stuff. I assume this could be found in most department stores in the "clutter" isle. (12x12 paper)
2. Necklaces.
   
3. Small wicker garbage can (or small wicker basket to be used as a paper only garbage).
   
4. Warm fuzzy socks with grips on the bottom.
   
5. Meat thermometer. She likes her chicken just like pork medium-rare, just a little pink in the middle.
   
6. Water heater.
7. Car. Probably looking at a small SUV.
   
8. Shovel. She keeps telling me "that driveway won't clean itself".
   

Courtney's 1st Christmas List

Now it's time for the fun one to shop for.

1. 9 month warm footie PJs.
2. 12 month & bigger Clothes. She's now stretching out all of her 6mo clothes.
3. Cloth Books. She loves to play with her "Baby Animals Counting Book".
   
4. Age appropriate Toys.
5. Bath tub. Bigger than her infant one. But one that lets her sit in the big tub. So I guess you could say a tub-in-a-tub.

This is my first blog pastage. This interweb thing seems pretty cool.

Coming attraction: A list for Heidi.

Stuff Brian wants (XMas List)

Santa's still checking his list, but Brian seems to think he is deserving of toys this year. I'm not so sure. But here's a list just in case someone out there wants to give him anything.

Games for school. Get cheap/free ones, used ones, ones you could find at second-hand stores, or ones you found on the curb during trash day.

• Battleship
• Chess
• Checkers
• Sequence
• Yahtzee
• Cards
• Phase 10
• Monopoly, He really wants two versions so we will have one for at home. He must think Courtney will play with him. I won't.
• Anything else that is reasonably quiet, not stuff like Scattergories (sp?)

Ice scraper for car with heavy-duty brush.
Small office chair with arms and wheels.
Batteries (AA) for Courtney's toys.
IPad - I assume he's kidding.
Ugly Sweater, but needed by Dec 17th since there's a competition for the ugliest sweater at school.
Gift Cards (Great Clips, Dick's Sports, REI)
Sleep. Gosh he's a whiner.

Wordless Wednesday

All smiles all the time.

We are soooo blessed with such a happy, albeit pukey, baby!

My first cake

For my birthday, Lucy gave me some wonderful cake decorating supplies. So for my first cake I made........ myself a birthday cake! It was also the day of my 'thirty-one' shopping party so it was a dual purpose cake.

As you can see, I started simple and was just trying to get the hang of using the bag. I should have asked Becky for a tutorial on how to get the frosting into the bag! Wow, did I make a mess :) I also monogrammed some of the cupcakes in 'thirty-one' shopping style. Not bad for my first one!

Look what I found!

Feet!

Slanted ?

How can you tell if your house is slanted?

When the baby pees without a diaper on and it runs all the way up to her hair!

Here is our little newly cleaned level. She usually comes complete with indicator bubbles and all! I don't think we will lend her to any contractors though......

November

It's one of those months that get me thinking... not just because I get a year older every November, but because I have had many great memories in this particular month.

1. Deer Hunting: It was always nice to go out hunting. As contradictory as it may sound to some, there is something awe inspiring about sitting in a deer stand while it is still dark out listening to nature wake up! It was always a nice family time too as a lot of my relatives hunt.

2. Grandpa's Birthday: Grandpa Pankratz's birthday was yesterday (November 10th). His birthday was especially exciting for me when I was little as I got the share the spot light as my birthday was 2 days after his. I really miss him!

3. Thanksgiving: I don't really have to explain that one.

4. And last but not least, Veterans day. A day to thank all those that have made it possible to live our lives as we do.

So in honor of my Grandpa's Birthday and Veterans day. I want to share this photo with you. It is my Grandpa during his time in the Navy.

Everywhere but the crib

I had to work yesterday but it seems that either Brian wanted to see if Courtney would fall asleep anywhere or he just didn't see the point of moving her to her crib when she got tired. She had taken three naps by the time I got home at 3:30PM and had slept in her swing, on the ocean wonder playmat, and in her chair. I only got a picture of the last place as that is where she was when I got home. Pretty cute, if I do say so myself :)

Well Visit

We visited the pediatrician today for Courtney's 4 month well visit. Dr. Arrett said that Courtney is growing like a weed. She again got her 3 shots and oral vaccine and only cried for a short time.

Here are her stats:
Height: 25 1/2 inches (95%)
Weight: 15lbs 0.5 oz (75%-95%)
Head size: 42.4 (75%-90%)

I don't understand how the % range is so large, but that is what is written on our sheet.

She got her first dose of baby acetaminophen tonight, as her temperature was 100.8 and she seemed pretty miserable. Hopefully that will do the trick. I guess we just get to enjoy cuddling her tonight. Hopefully she sleeps pretty well.

Teaching a new baby new tricks......

We tried to teach Courtney how to change her own diaper..... unsuccessfully!

Baby it's cold outside.....

But I am nice and warm.......

Another month has flown by!

Courtney is 4 months old!

Happy halloween!

Courtney had a great first Halloween!

We started the evening by reading a few Halloween books to get in the mood.

We then got all dressed in our little Monkey costume. It was toasty warm!


We helped Daddy hand out candy to all the little neighborhood kids.

We went and visited two houses to get some loot!
We had a good time playing with the candy!

Getting into a pickle!

Courtney doesn't have enough room in her pack-n-play to roll around as much as she wants to. She was taking a nap last week and all of a sudden she was crying very loudly. When I went to get her, she was stuck in the corner and trying to roll into the side of the pack-n-play.

This is how she started.....

Here is how she ended up!



Here is another time that she got mad because she couldn't roll over!

Entertainment

Courtney will sit in this little chair for at least 30 minutes playing with her toys. It is perfect as the giraffe is big enough she can kick it and it has bells so it makes noise!

Updated pictures

I was told that I am not posting enough pictures our little munchkin so here are some recent pictures:

What have you been doing?

If someone asked me "What have you been doing the past week?" I would have to respond as such.... " I have been on the phone looking for a new daycare." I have removed all of the explicit language that I would have inserted had this been any thing other than "G rated". I wish that I could say I had forgotten how painful searching for day care was, but I really hadn't.

For those of you that don't know. Our daycare provider Meredith has decided to go back to school. Last year, her husband was laid off (a shop teacher) but right before labor day got a 3/4 teaching job in which he is home by 2pm every day. So a week ago, Meredith informed me that as of January 3rd, she will be closing her daycare at 3pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so she can take classes at 4pm. So I asked her some additional questions and she will proceed with those hours until January of 2012 when she will close her daycare. Courtney is doing so well with Meredith and the kids there, that I had contemplated trying to adjust my hours to fit the new day care hours. After a bit of discussion, Brian and I decided that moving Courtney now is going to be much easier than moving her when she is 1 1/2 years old. So.... here's to another round of daycare interviews...

Rolling Over

Courtney has started rolling over!

Last Monday, when she woke up from her nap at daycare, she was on her stomach. When we got home I quick grabbed the video camera when it appeared that she was going to do it again. Sorry for the bad taping and commentary!

On Friday she also rolled from her front to her back and has, only once, rolled across her blanket.

Watch the rolling from back to front.

3 months old

Time sure flies! Courtney was 3 months old on September 30th. Here are some recent pics.

Day Care update

Pick up from the Trial run of daycare on 9-14

The first week has passed and Courtney has done really well at daycare and I have done well at work. Meredith, the day care provider, has been really good about informing me of her routine and Courtney seems to be sleeping better at night with all of the activity during the day. She does go through a lot of outfits though! There was only one day this week that I picked her up that she had on the outfit that she went to daycare in. The rest have come home in plastic bags :)

She had two nights that went particularly well since the start of daycare. Tuesday night she fell asleep at 10:30PM (she had eaten at 8pm) and didn't wake up until I woke her up to feed her at 6AM. Wednesday night she fell asleep at 8:30 (after eating at 6PM) and assuming she would wake up at 9, Brian held her and just by chance happened to wake up at midnight to a still sleeping Courtney! I fed her then and she slept until 6AM when I again had to wake her to eat before I left for work. I am feeling very lucky considering the week prior to daycare she was getting up again every 3 hours.

Things at work just sort of fell into place. I have only worked in one department but I seemed to have remembered how things work :) It is a challenge to pump 3 times at work, as I get 3 20 minute breaks and have to pump 3 times to keep up with Courtney's eating schedule. I look like a gymnast trying to eat and pump at the same time :) Due to time constraints I will be eating a lot of sandwiches!

The day care group. Meredith is holding Courtney.