She's 4 months old!

Well, little Kacey is 4 months old and just as cute as ever! We saw a new pediatrician this month since Dr. MacAulay (our usual pediatrician) had a baby girl last week. Here is some new info on her stats: Kacey is a ridiculously tall 26" and a very slim 11 lbs 7 oz. These stats place her in the 95th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight based on her gender and age. Although this sounds normal, when her growth is charted by her weight in relation to her height, she's not even on the chart. She is well below 0%. Understandably, we were concerned, as was the doctor. The new pediatrician thinks we need to start upping her calorie consumption so she starts gaining much needed weight to match her height. So, we've started adding a formula in with the bottles of breast milk she drinks while I'm at work. More on this will follow in another post soon.

Anyway, she's strong, happy and beautiful and we couldn't be happier with our little girl. Check out some of my favorite pictures from this month's birthday photo shoot!

We've come a long way, baby...

Today marks the one year anniversary of my telling Tim that we were having a baby! It's strange to think back on how crazy and scary a moment that was. When you aren't expecting to hear those words (or read them as he had too), a lesser man may have, for lack of a better word, freaked. And while he was certainly shocked, his love and support made those first few weeks so much easier on me. I'll never forget that.

Now that Kacey is here, reliving those emotions is pretty surreal. I couldn't imagine our life without her in it. She is such a true blessing and I love her with the deepest, purest, rawest love that one person could ever have for another. I can say, without any hesitation, that I would sacrifice anything and everything for her. I feel honored that God chose us to be able to watch her grow and learn each day.

Honestly, it wasn't too long ago that these pictures were taken. It was my actual due date (September 6th). Of course I still had to wait 12 more days for her arrival (she's such a Keegan like that), but being pregnant with her was one of the most amazing times in my life. Back then she was just a little Tazby!



In other news, Kacey turns 4 months old tomorrow. We have our doctor's appointment in the morning so I'll update with current stats tomorrow. Wish us luck with her shots! Hopefully it won't be too bad and she'll handle these like her 2 month shots, like the little trooper that she is!

On going back to work

Well, I officially started my second week back at work today. Timmy stayed home with Kacey since the weather was too bad for him to drive up to Wenham. All in all, I'm doing pretty well with my return. It helps that I only work 4 days a week and that Kacey is being watched by people who really love her (and keep logs on her comings and goings which I love reading when I get home). I do really look forward to Friday and the weekend. It's easier for me to treasure every moment with her now. I think my patience has really increased overall. I now am fine with the idea of spending 3 hours rocking her to sleep just because it gives me a chance to hold her at night. FYI for anyone returning to work: I love the digital picture frame that Timmy gave me for Christmas. It just scrolls through Kacey's pictures all day long and that just gets me so excited to go home at the end of the day.

It also helped that as soon as I returned, I was thrown in on a large project with a good team., one of whom is the father of a 5 month old girl so he's good to chat with (here's their blog if you want to check it out) although I try and keep baby talk to a minimum to maintain some semblance of professionalism. Anyhow, it keeps me busy enough to make the day go by fairly quickly. I'll be really excited to have Danielle come back to work next week so at least I have someone to talk baby with all of the time. I'm branching out though. I went to lunch today with a girl from the office who I've never spent much time with. She just announced she's 3 months pregnant so I thought I could be a listening board for her and "new resident expert" on all of those things that only pregnant women and new moms talk about. There is definitely a camaraderie there.

Anyway, one of the hardest parts of going back to work is all of the time I have to spend pumping in our office's "quiet room". I seriously had no idea how much time this was going to take out of my day! So far it makes me feel a bit guilty and unproductive, but I know how important it is for me to maintain my supply. Basically, I pump 3 times a day (once when I get to work, once around lunch time, and once about an hour before I go home). Each pumping session averages about 30 minutes which can really add up. I'm not getting as much output as I would like either so I've started taking fenugreek. Not only does it up your milk supply, but it makes your urine and sweat smell like maple syrup (I kid you not). So, pretty much it's a win-win, well, except that Timmy hates the smell of maple syrup...I'll let you know how that one turns out :-)

For moms returning to work from maternity leave, these are the websites that I found most helpful:

Work and Pump
Kellymom
Bluesuit Mom
Baby Center

Baptism

Miss Keegan Catherine was christened yesterday at St. Ignatius of Loyola where we were also married and attend mass weekly. It was a beautiful ceremony and she did wonderfully (despite really needing a nap!) We were just so proud of her. It was a small, intimate ceremony with just our families present and it was very meaningful to have all of them there to help us celebrate another one of Kacey's big milestones.

Timmy, Kacey and I after the ceremony

Kacey and her daddy waiting to get started

Kacey with her proud parents and grandparents

Kacey's Godmother (Aunt Sarah) and Godfather (Uncle Rory) light the baptismal candle

Yeah, she's a genius...

I don't want to brag, but seriously, Kacey is amazing. She's just started rolling over and she's SO good at it! On Wednesday, she did it 5 times in a row! Check out this video of her...it's too cute to miss.